You don't know how long it's been. You find you don't need food to survive. Or water for that matter. But still, your stomach hurts and you long for a meal. The same way you long to breathe. It's these basic things you do that make you feel alive.
However, you don't want to leave this darkness. It's safe in here. No one can see you in here. You don't have to face anyone.
But, eventually, your boredom gets the best of you. You long for something, anything to do.
The burns on your arms won't heal, and the bleeding won't stop. It's like you are permanently stuck in the state you were in when you died. It still hurts.
You really don't know how long it's been, but you're guessing at least a month. Sometimes it feels like it's been years. Sometimes it feels like it's only been a day. So, you finally summon all your courage and step out.
Thankfully, no one's there. You're silently grateful, then start walking around. You don't know if there's food down here. Probably not, since people don't need it, but you search anyway. You don't like the idea of never being able to eat again. You don't want to have to deal with this starving feeling for the rest of your after-game.
You continue walking around the back of the palace. You can't help but be slightly fascinated at the size of the Underwhere. But you suppose it makes sense. It has to be huge to hold all these souls.
You wonder how it doesn't get overcrowded.
You continue walking, seeing a light purple fog cover the ground. It goes up to your knees, giving the whole place an eerie vibe.
Then...
You hear footsteps behind you and instantly snap around to see no one there. You can hear your heartbeat in your ears. It's very dark here, but not quite as dark as the cave. There is an eerie purple glow illuminating the land which gives you enough light to see.
"Hello?" You quietly ask, shocking yourself with how small and weak you sound. Since you've been alone it's been a while since you've heard your own voice.
No one replies. Perhaps you're just hearing things. You continue walking, only to hear more footsteps. You immediately freeze again and turn around. "Hello?!" You ask, slightly more annoyed this time.
But still, you see nothing.
You walk more, then hear whistling. You stop and turn, seeing a welder's helmet quickly disappear down into the fog. You sprint over and grab the man's collar, pulling him above the fog.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" You scream. The guy holds his hands out in front of him when you throw him backward and step a few steps back. "WHO ARE YOU," You demand. "AND WHY ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME?!" You hold your hands up like how you used to when preparing a magical attack. Of course, down here your magic is useless, but still, the stance is threatening. Or, it at least should be threatening. If you really think about it, you probably just look ridiculous. You don't have enough body mass to actually look all that threatening. It was one of your strengths while you were alive. You were able to go unnoticed since you were so small and quiet about your true ambitions.
He immediately stands himself up and flips the helmet up so it isn't covering his face. "Wait, wait, wait! Dimentio, it's me! It's just me!!"
You freeze and look at him. You recognize those eyes and that stache. You groan and lower your guard. "Mr. L??" You ask, trying not to sound shocked.
He's covered in matching burns.
He nervously scratches the back of his head. His speech seems somewhat rushed and breathy. Much more so than when he was alive. You're half convinced that this isn't Mr. L you're talking to, but Luigi. However, you know that this is not the case because you saw Luigi get thrown out as Super Dimentio went up in flames. Lucky jerk.
"Um, yep! Hey, Dimentio! Gonna be honest, I didn't expect to see you down here." Mr. L says almost too quickly.
You cross your arms and glare at him. "Oh? And what's that supposed to mean, exactly?"
"Oh, you know," He starts, shrugging. "I just... didn't expect to ever really see you again. You know... since you killed me. When I asked the Count, I er- I mean Blumiere, about you, he didn't want to say anything. Eheh..."
"Sure, Sure," You say, trying not to let your pitch raise from hearing that Count Bleck was down here too. "So why were you spying on me?"
"Me? Spying? No no no-no-no. I wasn't spying on you! W-what would make you think that?!"
You say nothing and just raise a masked eyebrow at him, before gesturing to the helmet on his head.
"Ohhhhh, right right right!" He starts. "Well, don't worry. I-I wasn't looking for you! I was just searching for Blumiere."
"Blumiere?" You ask. "Why? Has the dear Count gone missing? What a shame...." You say dryly. "Whatever shall we do??"
"Well, he went missing about two weeks ago. I was hanging around him before that since he was lonely, and I felt it was my duty as a former minion to still help him. But I haven't seen him since. It's the most bizarre thing!" Mr. L says, not detecting your sarcasm.
"Wow. How bizarre indeed. I still don't care."
You turn and start walking off, hoping that he'll get the hint and end this unpleasant conversation. He doesn't, the idiot, and proceeds to follow you.
"You know, I can't help but notice we have similar burns. Did you perhaps kill yourself like how you killed me with the execution box? Was the guilt of murdering me too much?" He asks. You are disgusted that he'd even think you'd do such a thing. "NO!" You immediately snap. "I'll have you know I didn't feel a drop of guilt when I ended your pathetic life. What in the worlds would make you think I'd throw away my life simply because I murdered you."
"I don't know. I just saw the burns and assumed-"
"Well, you assumed wrong," you say, continuing to walk.
You briefly glance back at him to take a better look at the damage you caused him. His pants are ripped on the left side revealing a burned and bruised knee. He's somehow managed to find a black cloth to wrap around his right arm. Overall he looks less messed up than you. There's a small scrape on his right temple and a cut on his forehead above his right eye, but what really catches your eye is that spot on his neck. You can see that he's tightened his bandana to cover it, but can still see some of it peaking out. It's one of the worst burn scars you've ever seen, snaking its way from his collarbone up around the back of his head. You shiver and look away, continuing to walk.
"Oh. I-I'm sorry. So what are you looking for?" He asks, still following you.
"Don't know," You admit. "Something to do."
"If you want, you could hang around me-"
"HA! Aha ha ha! How cute," You laugh. "What gave you the idea that I would want that?"
"I don't know," He admits. "It's preferable to being alone."
"No, it isn't," You reply dryly.
"I think it is-"
"It's not," You repeat, turning and smacking him in the back of the head. He immediately recoils with a small, "Ow!"
"And I don't appreciate being followed." You snap. "Especially by crazy mechanics."
"Cool, cool." He says, rubbing the back of his head. "You didn't have to smack me...."
He still continues to follow you. You roll your eyes, but suddenly stop when looking at the wall. There are two large eyes carved into it.
You take a moment to look at it.
"Oh, those?" Mr. L starts, seeing that your attention has been grabbed by the eyes. "Do you like them? I don't know where they came from, but Blumiere liked them too! You know, before he disappeared he..."
You begin to tune out Mr. L's voice as he continues rambling on, just looking into its eyes. Those eyes feel like.... they're speaking to you. Like they're telling you something.
They're beautiful. You can't tell if they look more like eyes or gems. But they give you a warm feeling.
Your own eyes slowly drift down to a tiny door below the eyes. It appears to be about two feet tall.
"Although I think Blumiere was just going crazy because I checked and-"
"Has anyone ever told you that you talk too much?" You ask, a hint of edge in your tone.
He stops talking and just looks at you with a strange expression. You can't tell if he's hurt or confused.
He stays silent for a moment, and you're grateful.
"Do you know what's behind that door?" You ask him. He waits in silence for another moment.
"You may speak now," You say, rolling your eyes.
"Okay. As I was just saying, Blumiere was pretty fascinated with that door. He constantly talked about all the wonders behind it. He said that the eyes spoke to him, offering him stuff or something. Although I told him he was going crazy because when we opened the door together, there was nothing. See?"
He kneeled, pulled out a small key, and opened the small door, showing nothing but a brick wall. He knocked on the wall and lightly laughed. "Blumiere must have been having some weird dreams or something."
"Where did you get that key?" You ask, eying the key. It was black with a skull on the end. Yellow eyes. Very strange key, indeed. You've never seen another like it.
"Oh, this?" Mr. L asked. "Blumiere said he woke up one day with it in his pocket. He gave it to me before he disappeared. That morning he was acting pretty weird. He said something like, 'don't worry, my friend. Soon you'll see things as we do.' Pretty weird, right? I think the poor guy was just going crazy, you know? Being separated from Timpani. Did he ever tell you about Timpani? When he got down here, at first he wouldn't stop talking about her! She's his wife now! Although, once they died he was sent to the Underwhere while she got into the Overthere. So that was pretty heartbreaking for him-"
"Yeah, yeah, I know who Timpani is. She's the little Pixl he was willing to destroy all worlds over," you say, slightly annoyed.
"Can I...." You start, unsure of why you're asking. "Can I... have that key?"
"The key? I mean... sure. I don't see a use for it, since there's nothing behind the door, so sure!"
He tosses you the key, then puts his hands in his pockets and rocks back and forth. You smile and pocket the key.
"Well," He starts. "I'm gonna be off. I still gotta look for Blumiere."
He smirks, then flips his helmet back on and starts walking off. "I'll see you around, Dimentio!"
He kneels in the fog and starts searching for more clues. You let out a sigh of relief, grateful that you don't have to listen to his very annoying voice when he suddenly pops up again. "Wait! Dimentio, one more thing!"
He keeps his helmet over his face and walks up to you, reaching behind himself and handing you a small doll of yourself.
You frown and want to know why in the worlds Mr. L has a creepy little doll of you. The eyes aren't even accurate. Only one of your eyes are yellow. Whoever made this clearly was an idiot.
You give him a strange look. "What... what is the meaning of this?"
"I dunno," He admits. "This was with Blumiere's stuff. I had to search his things for clues when I came across this. I found it pretty strange, but it looks like you, so... here!"
You look down at it. It looks exactly like you, only no burns, no cracked mask. Very strange indeed.
Mr. L then salutes and rushes off. You don't wave him goodbye. To be honest, you don't care for Mr. L. While working with him in Castle Bleck he was arrogant, rude, and he thought too highly of himself. Now you see that he doesn't seem as arrogant. It's been replaced with this annoying, somewhat twitchy quality. Perhaps the way you killed him helped put him in his place. Good, you think.
However, he still talks too much.
You stare at the door another moment, then into the eyes drawn on the wall, just looking into them.
For some reason, you feel something you haven't felt in a long time while looking at them. A sense of... belonging? Happiness maybe? You don't know, but you like the feeling.
After a moment of just staring at the door, you decide that you've had enough excitement for the day, and head back to your lonely, peaceful little cave. Your burns still hurt. You wonder if you'll ever be able to get used to the constant pain they come with.
Hopefully.
You desperately hope you don't run into Mr. L again.