Prodigal Son

Impure Blood

Blumiere and Dimentio stood facing each other, gasping for breath. The fight had been raging on for hours, and the destroyed landscape with large craters proved that. Their outfits were covered with ash and their skin was covered with bruises. Blumiere wiped away a line of blood from his mouth.

"I'll admit that you've gotten stronger, Bleck. But you have yet to show me your true colors!" Dimentio shouted at him, "I know what you and your kind are really like. You discard all that hold no importance to you. I want to fight the man that I learned and lived to hate. SO WHY WON'T YOU FIGHT ME, YOU COWARD!!!"

Dimentio lunged at Blumiere again, swiping and slashing with his knife. Blumiere grabbed him by the hand and tossed him back.

"I refuse to fight you because I still care about you! Even after you left." Blumiere yelled back.

Blumiere lifted up his cape and created a magic cage around Dimentio.

"Care? CARE?!?! I DON'T BELIEVE YOUR LIES FOR A SECOND!!!" Dimentio hissed.

Dimentio's eye turned red and his yellow charm glowed black. Without so much as a finger snap, the magic cage was obliterated. His breathing grew heavy.

"IF YOU TRUELY CARED YOU WOULD END MY GAME ALREADY!!!" Dimentio shouted, "I SHALL NOT BE FORGOTTEN!!!"

He raised his hands in the air, a dark aura surrounding his body.

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"Nastasia, please! I beg you!" Timpani cried.

"I'm sorry but I can't!" Nastasia told her, "I can only teleport one person! And if I send you after him, I-I can't guarantee you'll come back!"

"I wouldn't be able to live with myself if either Blumiere OR Dimentio dies!" Timpani replied, "So just send me already!"

Nastasia sighed. She grabbed ahold of Timpani and looked at her with tears in her eyes.

"Promise me that you won't get hurt," Nastasia told her.

Timpani didn't respond.

"PROMISE ME!!!" Nastasia shouted.

Timpani hugged her.

"I promise."

After a few minutes of their tight embrace, they let go. With a reflection of her glasses, Nastasia teleported Timpani.

-------------

Timpani arrived on top of a hill. She looked around and had to hold her nose at the repugnant smell of ash. The landscape was barren and covered in fire, ash, and ruins. The sky still a blood-red color.

"Where are they?" Timpani wondered out loud.

She was answered shortly after by the sound of a loud bang. Timpani clambered over another hill and looked down. She gasped as soon as she saw Blumiere and Dimentio firing bolts of magic at each other.

"I need to stop them!" Timpani exclaimed.

She didn't know how but she knew that she had to do it soon. Timpani started to run down the hill.

Meanwhile, Blumiere and Dimentio were throwing a projectile back and forth, the projectile gaining more energy with each deflection. Blumiere grabbed ahold of the ball of energy and absorbed it into his staff, causing the gem to glow an eerie dark blue.

"Last chance Dimentio," Blumiere said to him, "Stand down."

"I didn't come this far to surrender to you," Dimentio growled.

Blumiere brandished his staff like a spear, ready to throw.

"STOP!"

Blumiere flinched and the staff went careening towards the person who shouted. It was Timpani!

"TIMPANI!" Blumiere shouted.

Timpani squealed in fear as soon as she saw the staff coming straight for her. Dimentio dove in front of the spear and it went straight through his chest. He collapsed onto the floor instantly, the staff sticking out of his stomach area. Blumiere was frozen with shock.

"DIMENTIO!!!" Timpani exclaimed.

She knelt down next to him, unsure about what to do with the staff. Dimentio coughed out blood as Blumiere ran over.

"What have I done..." Blumiere muttered.

"NO! Don't leave us again!" Timpani cried.

Blumiere was perplexed on why she said 'again', he assumed that she was talking about the Chaos Heart incident.

"It's fine... *COUGH* This is what I came here for..." Dimentio told them in between gasps of breath, "Leave me."

"No. You're coming with us and we're going to heal you." Blumiere stated.

Blumiere picked up Dimentio and snapped his fingers. The three of them instantly teleported back to Castle Bleck.

-------------

Nastasia was walking down the hallways, unsure if any of them were going to return. Her ears perked up at the sound of someone teleporting.

"Blumiere!" Nastasia exclaimed.

She ran towards the sound and stopped in her tracks as soon as she saw them.

"Blumiere! Timpani! You're alive!"

She gasped as soon as she saw Dimentio with the staff sticking out of his chest. Dimentio was bleeding EVERYWHERE and his breaths were shallow and forced.

"We'll get him to his room!" Nastasia told them.

They followed Nastasia down the hall and went into Dimentio's room. Blumiere laid him across the bed. He held his hands over the staff.

"This is going to hurt a lot," Blumiere told him.

Blumiere grabbed ahold of the staff and pulled. Dimentio yelled out in pain as it was removed. He collapsed back onto the sheets as Blumiere tossed the bloody stick to the side.

"Now hold still."

Blumiere held his hands over Dimentio, a yellow glow emanated from his hands. The warm glow seemed to wash over Dimentio as the hole in his chest started to heal.

"It's working!" Timpani exclaimed with tears in her eyes.

Blumiere began to sweat as the spell finished. Through the rip in Dimentio's poncho, they could see that the wound was fully closed.

"Is he?" Timpani asked.

Blumiere pressed his head onto Dimentio's chest, listening for a heartbeat. He looked up at Timpani and shook his head. Timpani broke into sobs and ran out of the room crying.

"Timpani, wait!" Blumiere shouted after her.

Blumiere ran after her and Nastasia stayed by Dimentio's bedside. After a few moments, Dimentio gasped for breath. Nastasia stood up and gasped in shock.

"You're alive?!" Nastasia exclaimed.

"Ow. Unfortunately." Dimentio said in between stabs of pain, "This wouldn't be the first time I came knocking on death's door."

"I need to tell Blumiere and Timpani!"

"No, please don't!" Dimentio begged.

Nastasia couldn't hear him, because she was already far out the door. Dimentio sighed as he laid back onto the bed. A shadow crept along the wall.

"I guess this is where I have to come clean..." Dimentio muttered.

He started to get up only to be thrust back onto the bed. Dimentio gagged as the dark figure put a hand over his mouth.

"Shh..." The mysterious figure hissed, "We don't want to spoil the family reunion..."