Blumiere's father sat alone after summoning Dimentio, smiling to himself and holding the lily his son gave him that morning. He couldn't help but wonder which lovely tribe member his son had fallen for.

He didn't really care what kind of person they were, so long as they were a part of the tribe and they made him happy.

Meanwhile, Dimentio nervously poked his head into the room, looking quite pale. The tribe leader cleared his throat, trying to stay professional while signaling for Dimentio to step aside.

Dimentio nervously stepped in, straightening his back and holding his arms behind him, doing his very best to act natural and calm. He WAS an important member of the tribe, after all. It was his duty to look and act how the other noblemen acted. He walked up to his leader and bowed his head slightly, a classic sign of respect.

"You-" he started, when his voice cracked. The teenager's face turned even paler as he cleared his throat, speaking in a deeper register than usual. "You called for me, Sir?"

Blumiere's father hid his smile and spoke with his usual stern, serious voice, brushing off the blue gem atop his staff as he spoke.

"Now, Dimentio. I'm... concerned about Blumiere," he started, raising an eyebrow. "Have you noticed that he's been acting rather... odd, lately."

"Odd?" Dimentio asked, his heart racing. "W-Well, sir. In my opinion, your son has always been rather odd, wouldn't you say? In fact, it would be odd if he WASN'T acting odd. Ah ha ha ha..."

The tribe leader softly chuckled to himself, then turned his attention from his staff to Dimentio, who had a line of sweat dripping from his forehead. Blumiere's father could tell he was hiding something. It was so incredibly obvious. Dimentio wasn't quite as good at keeping secrets as he thought. 

"Dimentio," The leader said, smiling slightly. "I know you've been keeping something from me..."

Dimentio nervously swallowed, scratching the back of his neck and avoiding his leader's eyes. "K-keeping something from you...?" he asked.

"About Blumiere..." Blumiere's father stated. "In love...?"

Dimentio bit his lip, then dropped to his knees, bowing his head and crying out in defeat. 

"I TRIED TO STOP HIM! I REALLY DID!" Dimentio cried, lowering his forehead to the ground in shame as if he was begging. "BUT HE WOULDN'T LISTEN! I TOLD HIM TO STAY AWAY FROM HUMANS! I SAID THAT THEY WERE BAD! THAT THEY WERE TROUBLE! BUT-"

"Humans?! What about humans?!" The tribe leader asked, his smile fading and his voice becoming much firmer. His expression hardened slightly.

Dimentio looked up at him, then wiped a few tears away, standing up and trying to smile it off. 

Not that it mattered. He already messed up. 

"H-Humans?" Dimentio chuckled nervously, taking a few shaky steps back. "Who said anything about humans?"

The leader paused, slowly putting the pieces together. Dimentio couldn't help but tremble, waiting in the silence for what felt like years when Blumiere's father suddenly seized his wrist and started dragging him out of the palace.

Dimentio let out a small yelp of surprise. Blumiere's father's eyes hardened to an intense glare as he lean in close to the terrified boy.

"You are going to tell me everything," Blumiere's father hissed, his voice harsh yet steady.

. . .

Blumiere happily skipped back to his secret little cave filled with treasures from the land above the cliffs. He set the music box down in the middle and opened it up, looking at the small Timpani figure longingly, smiling to himself.

"It looks just like her," he whispered to himself, winding the box up so she would spin. "It even has her eyes!"

He was certain that if Dimentio was there with him, he would be making fun of him and calling him creepy. But he didn't care. He never felt this way before. It was a good feeling, and he didn't want it to go away.

If he couldn't be a part of Timpani's world, at least there was this small part of her in his world. 

It wasn't enough, but it was something.

He happily set the box down and twirled around himself, when his eyes suddenly locked with two harsh blue eyes like his own. 

Blumiere immediately gasped and froze up, looking up at his father, who was giving him the harshest of glares.

"F-father...?" Blumiere asked, his eyebrows knotting together. He bit his lip, then looked behind the tribe's leader, where Dimentio was standing, looking down guiltily.

Did Dimentio sell him out...? No way, even Dimentio wouldn't do that! Right?

No, he wouldn't! They were just starting to get along! 

"Dimentio...?" Blumiere asked.

Dimentio refused to move. He refused to even look Blumiere in the eye. He simply turned his back to Blumiere, hugging himself and keeping his head down.

Blumiere's father stepped forward, slamming the bottom of his staff on the ground as if trying to grab Blumiere's attention.

"I consider myself a reasonable man..." Blumiere's father started. "I set certain rules, and I expect them to be obeyed!" 

Blumiere bit his lip, picking up the music box and clutching it to his chest, trying to protect it. "But father, I-" 

"Is it true that you rescued a human?!" His father demanded.

"Father, I had to!" Blumiere cried.

"NO! YOU DIDN'T!" The tribe leader exclaimed. "CONTACT BETWEEN US AND THE HUMANS IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN! BLUMIERE, YOU KNOW THIS! EVERYONE KNOWS THIS!"

"S-She would have died!" The boy stuttered, taking a step back as his father took a step forward.

"GREAT! THEN THERE'D BE ONE LESS HUMAN TO WORRY ABOUT!" His father spat.

Blumiere shook his head, utterly appalled. His father always acted like he wanted what was best for everyone, so how could he say something like that?! He preached being a good person, so how could he openly say that he would be fine with letting a human die?!

"Father, you don't even know her-"

"Know her?! I don't have to know her!" Blumiere's father stated. "They're all the same! Spineless, savage, selfish, stupid humans incapable of feeling any compa-"

"FATHER, I LOVE HER!" Blumiere cried, tightening his grip on the music box.

Dimentio inhaled sharply, turning his head and looking at Blumiere in fear.

This wasn't going to be a pleasant family conversation.

Blumiere's father tightened his grip on his staff and took another step forward, grabbing his son's chin and making Blumiere look up at him.

"Have you lost your senses completely?" He asked in a much quieter, scarier voice that even gave Dimentio chills. 

Still, Dimentio couldn't speak up. He only stood there silently.

Blumiere stayed silent, looking to the side and avoiding his father's icy glare as he was lectured.

"She's a human! You're a tribesman!" The tribe leader pointed out.

Blumiere looked down at the beautifully made music box, at the small figure that was made for that beautiful girl.

"I don't care." Blumiere snapped, his voice coming out in a harsh tone similar to his father's, as opposed to his usual soft and gentle voice which he inherited from his mother.

His father chuckled, though it was not out of humor. It was a much darker, crueler laugh. "Oh, so help me, Blumiere. I'm going to get through to you. And if THIS is the only way to do so, so be it."

Blumiere's eyes went wide as the tip of his father's staff began to glow. Before he could cry out, his father sent a line of projectiles at the shelf behind Blumiere, destroying all the human supplies the boy had collected.

Blumiere dropped the music box and ran up to his father, helplessly pulling on his arm and begging him to stop.

Dimentio had to cover his mouth and look away, squeezing his eyes shut while listening to Blumiere's cries of anguish.

"FATHER! PLEASE STOP!" Blumiere begged as his father continued to destroy trinket after trinket. All these precious things which Blumiere had spent years collecting, destroyed in an instant right before his very eyes.

That was when his father looked at the music box. With one swift flick of the wrist, he sent a projectile at the box, shattering it to pieces until it was unrecognizable. 

Blumiere shook his head, then let his father go, dropping to his knees and picking up the pieces, watching as they fell away through his fingertips.

He slowly began to sob, tears welling up in his eyes. 

The harsh, icy glare in the tribe leader's eyes slowly softened as he looked around at all the wrecked items. The items he destroyed. He let out a small huff, then turned away, walking past Dimentio and out of the cave without another word. It was harsh, yes. He knew he was being harsh. But he also knew that this needed to be done. He had to protect his son by any means possible.

Still... hearing his son sob like that hurt.

Dimentio nervously swallowed, then carefully walked over to Blumiere, kneeling down next to him and shakily reaching his hand out. 

"Blumiere, I..." He started, his voice shaky.

"Just go away," Blumiere whispered between sobs, bringing his hands to his face. 

Dimentio drew back, his eyes glassy as well. The boy swallowed, then looked down and nodded, turning and slowly walking away, feeling defeated.

This was all his fault, and he knew it. Blumiere knew it. Everyone knew it. Some nobleman he was. Couldn't even keep one secret...

Blumiere was left alone, sobbing to himself. He didn't even know what to do with himself anymore. 

"Oh, you poor, sweet child," A voice hushed, making Blumiere flinch and look around himself, his eyes still puffy.

"Wh-who's there?" He asked, looking around himself when something that looked like a small shadow emerged from the darkness.

"Oh, you poor, sweet boy," She cooed. Blumiere could tell that the voice was somewhat feminine. She took a few steps closer to him, then walked around him, looking like a vulture circling its prey. "Seeing something so... unfortunate makes me so sad. If only there were something I could do to help you..."

She lightly laughed to herself, then raised her index finger, acting as if she was just hit with an idea. 

"Ah wait, but there is!" She giggled.

Blumiere nervously swallowed, wiping a few tears away. His breaths were still slightly uneven. "Who are you?" He asked once again, this time fighting his stutter.

"Oh... don't be scared. I'm no one," the shadow chuckled. "I'm merely a small hint of darkness, here to represent someone who can help you... someone who can make all your dreams a reality..."

She giggled, sending chills down Blumieres's spine as he scrunched his face up, then turned to look at her with wide eyes. "I don't understand..." he trailed off.

The shadow paused for a moment, then held its arms out. "Shadoo... has great powers."

Blumiere's blood ran cold at the mention of the name. Everyone knew shadoo. She was like a witch! Banished from the tribe AND the humans for what she had done to the world many years ago. Currently, the leaders of the tribe of ancients and the humans were working on a way to contain her, but for the time being she was basically an outcast. Her powers were only a fraction of what they once were, but she was still dangerous.

"The pixl queen? The shadow witch?" Blumiere asked, shaking his head no. "I-I couldn't possibly... NO! G-get out of here! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" He cried, waving the shadow away and covering his face once again.

"Okay... suit yourself. It was only a suggestion," the shadow teased, turning and slowly walking back into the shadows while softly humming the same melody that the music box would play before it broke.

Blumiere slowly looked up, listening to the soft humming and remembering the feeling he got when he listened to the box. The feeling he got when he met that girl. When he imagined the human world.

"... Wait," Blumiere whispered.

The shadow paused, then turned to face him once again.

"Yes?"