Dysfunctional Family

Astor's Unlikely Adversary

"None of you are leaving this room until I know what my next plan of action is!" Dimentio exclaimed, locking the door behind himself, "You destroyed my lifelong goal, so you BOTH are going to give me one good reason not to end your games!!!"

Dimentio had teleported both Astor and Mr.L back to his room at Castle Bleck and was currently ensuring that no one could get out without Dimentio's permission. Mr.L was finally starting to grasp the situation while Astor was trying to figure out the best way to get what he wanted in the end. Astor was still conflicted in his mind over if he should kill or spare Alastor and Timpani when he eventually went back, but for now, he just needed to find a proper spell to pull off what he wanted.

Thankfully, Dimentio wasn't the only cunning and manipulative Bleck in the family. How else did Astor find a way to get into Castle Bleck; by playing on Timpani's goodwill and empathy. Originally, Astor's plan had been to simply kill Alastor and escape with the Chaos Heart when Blumiere's guard was down so he could use the power to revert the worlds back to what they were, but this made for a much simpler solution.

After all, it would be easier to cut something off from the source.

"I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything; so the count had a SON, which is YOU, and he doesn't even know it!?" Mr.L questioned.

"Sounds to me as if you comprehend perfectly." Dimentio retorted, glaring at Mr.L, "Now, you may have learned of my soft spot for you but go squealing any of this information like a classroom tattle and I will not hesitate to follow through with my first plan..."

Dimentio held up a projectile in one of his hands and Mr.L paled slightly in the face.

"U-uh..." Mr.L trailed off, trying to figure out a way to change the topic away from his death, "Sooo... Should I now call you Al or Dim?"

"Just get out..." Dimentio sighed, pointing to the door.

Mr.L warily nodded in response and started for the door.

"And what you heard today REMAINS A SECRET, CAPISHE?!" Dimentio exclaimed.

"Okay, okay, got it!" Mr.L quickly replied, "But what should I call-?"

"OUT," Dimentio demanded.

Mr.L quickly nodded and then rushed out of the door, closing it behind himself. As soon as Dimentio was certain that Mr.L had gone out of ear-shot, he turned to face Astor, his masked expression back to its natural grin.

"You... You have much explaining to do." Dimentio stated, "You claim to be Blumiere's father, yet I know for a fact that Count Bleck prides himself on killing off every tribe member."

Dimentio walked over to Astor and then floated up to his eye-level, staring deep into Astor's red eyes for any sign of breaking down.

"My entire life's goal has just been derailed by you convincing me to spare L, so you better have a good reason for me not to end your game right this moment," Dimentio said.

Astor took a deep breath as his mind patched together a quick make-shift plan.

"As I already told you, Alastor, I am Lord Astor, your grandfather," Astor internally winced as he admitted to being related to this boy, "After everything that takes place here in the next week or so, you almost parish and both Lord Blumiere and Lady Timpani revive themselves to their former selves."

Dimentio's masked expression fell blank as he slowly floated down to the floor.

"R-really?" Dimentio asked, a small tinge of hope in his voice, "If what you say is true, then I have no need to-!"

"Let me finish first." Astor interrupted, "I wasn't able to witness the event; but, they return happy together again, and you're still alive, but neither Timpani nor Blumiere even remember you. They never remember that they ever had a son."

Dimentio went wide-eyed as he stared at Astor. Astor immediately registered in the back of his mind that he was conceiving a lie, but actually it was the truth, just not all of it.

"Nothing..? Not even... Blumiere..?" Dimentio asked, as if hoping he heard wrong.

Astor shook his head in response and Dimentio frowned.

"Why should I believe you? Why should I trust you?! You had banished my mother and now she's a PIXL!!!" Dimentio exclaimed.

"When I could have easily killed her myself instead?" Astor offered, "I banished her with the hope of averting this crisis."

Which wasn't very far from the truth either; after all, Astor had the intention when cursing Timpani to avert a crisis, but also unknowingly caused one. As to the reason why Astor simply didn't end Timpani's game; Astor knew that if Timpani was game-overed, Blumiere would simply find a way to either bring her back from the after game or kill himself, neither of which Astor wanted.

Dimentio, however, seemed to be slowly buying into what Astor was selling; now all Astor needed to do was sell Dimentio his plan.

"Heh... I suspected that rash and horrible decisions were genetic..." Dimentio chuckled, "So... I should probably be thanking you for stopping me from killing L... Heh, I guess that you helped history from repeating."

Dimentio walked over to a chair and sat down, turning to face Astor.

"So, I assume that you have a greater goal here, considering that you claim to be from the future." Dimentio stated, "Is there a way..... For my parents to remember me..?"

Dimentio looked up at Astor, that spark of child-like ignorant hope shining through the hard shell of insanity he crafted over the years.

"Yes, but the way is tricky..." Astor replied, "To successfully pull this off, you would need to get me the Dark Prognosticus before the heroes fight Count Bleck."

The Dark Prognosticus had been lost after the Ultimate Show had taken place, so getting his hands on the book was imperative. Astor was certain that there would be a time-alteration spell strong enough to send him back to the start.

"The Dark Prognosticus..?" Dimentio questioned, arching an eyebrow in suspicion, "Why? I thought that you were forbidden from reading that book?"

"Well, the main prophecy is already being fulfilled, so there can't be much harm left in the book, right?" Astor offered.

Dimentio seemed to take the bait as he slowly nodded in response.

"Alright... I can get you the book. But I do have a question first." Dimentio said, "When will I be able to be with both of them again..? W-will I really be able to be with them again..?"

Astor didn't even need to look that hard to figure out that Dimentio was crying behind his mask, hope finally bubbling its way to the jester's surface after all these years. Astor's gaze softened a little as he looked down at Dimentio, remembering that moment when he looked up to him as a little boy and asked him when he would see his mother again.

"When will she come back from away?"

Astor shook his head, not wanting any sentiment or empathy to cloud his vision. He took a deep breath as he struggled to keep his tone flat while addressing Dimentio.

"Hopefully soon." Astor simply replied.