Prodigal Son

Family Reunion

Blumiere chased after Timpani, calling after her every so often. He lost track of where she ran.

"Timpani?" He called out.

Blumiere could hear her sobs in the Inner Sanctum. He went inside and found Timpani sobbing over two pictures.

"Timpani? What's wrong?"

Blumiere realized that was a stupid question.

"Look, I should have shown you the letters sooner. It's not your fault that he-"

"I thought I could save him..." Timpani muttered.

"What?"

Timpani held up the photo from the attic. Blumiere took it and looked over its damaged film. Timpani then handed him the picture she found in Dimentio's room. Blumiere's jaw dropped.

"Our son is alive..." Blumiere whispered with disbelief.

"Was." Timpani stated, "I thought that I could save you and Dimentio. No. I thought that I could save you and our son. But all I did was get in the way."

"Timpani. It wasn't your fault. He challenged me for the sole purpose of wanting me to end his game. And he got what he came for." Blumiere said with an air of defeat.

He hugged Timpani as she sobbed into his cloak. Nastasia came running in seconds later.

"Guys! Dimentio is alive!" Nastasia exclaimed.

"What?" Timpani asked, wiping tears from her eyes.

"He's awake! Hurry!" Nastasia said, motioning for them to follow.

Blumiere and Timpani hurried after her. They stopped outside of the door to the room.

"Nastasia, do you mind if you stay out here?" Blumiere asked.

Nastasia stepped back from the door. Timpani took a deep breath and opened the door. Blumiere and Timpani gasped in horror at what they saw. It was Blumiere's father, and he had Dimentio. They stood frozen in terror as the man chuckled at them.

"Now Blumiere, don't be rude. Why don't you say hello to your father?" He laughed.

Dimentio thrashed as the man's grip on him tightened.

"I-I thought you were dead! I watched you die!" Blumiere shouted.

The man chuckled again.

"Ha! One false heartbeat and you think that anyone's dead."

"Unhand me!" Dimentio shouted.

Blumiere's father took his gloved hand and ran it along the side of Dimentio's mask, causing him to scowl.

"Didn't your father ever tell you it's rude to speak with a mask on?"

He grabbed ahold of the edges of his mask and ripped it clean off, revealing Dimentio's pale grey face and mismatched eyes.

"There. Isn't that better? Now to business." He pulled out Dimentio's knife and held it to his throat, "Where is the Chaos Heart?"

Blumiere stood frozen in fear, he glanced at Dimentio. Blumiere saw the magnitude of his attacks, he knew that Dimentio was still in possession of it.

"Fine. I will give you one hour to bring me the Heart, or your son dies." He glanced at Timpani, "And come alone. You'll know where to find me."

With a snap of his fingers, Blumiere's father teleported away with Dimentio as his hostage. Blumiere collapsed to the floor on his 'knees'. Timpani knelt next to him.

"What does he mean?" Timpani asked, "I thought the Heart was destroyed!"

Blumiere shook his head.

"So did I. But, Dimentio appears to have had it this whole time. How my father came to know of  the Heart baffles me."

Nastasia opened the door to the room and peered in.

"What happened? Where's Dimentio?" Nastasia asked.

Blumiere stood up and wiped the tears from his eyes.

"I'm going to go get Dimentio," Blumiere stated.

"How?" Timpani wondered, "He said that if you didn't give him the Chaos Heart he would kill Dimentio! And if he finds out that Dimentio has the Heart he will KILL HIM!"

"Then I will just have to buy time," Blumiere replied.

He pulled Timpani into a hug.

"I will bring him back," Blumiere whispered.

Blumiere let go of her and then teleported away.

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

Blumiere arrived back at the desolate landscape where he was fighting Dimentio. As he walked, he could see the puddle of blood where he impaled Dimentio with his staff. Blumiere shuddered as he tried not to think about it.

He scanned the horizon, there was a mostly intact castle off in the distance. The castle, Blumiere recognized, was his former home. It was almost dark out, he had a little under half an hour.

"I need a decoy." Blumiere decided.

Blumiere looked around and saw a cluster of rocks. He picked up a rather large one and waved his hand over it. In a matter of seconds, it seemed to transform. The rock smoothed out into a glassy surface and changed into the shape of a heart. It turned black and see-through. Small heartlike shapes floated inside. It looked like an exact replica of the Chaos Heart.

"I hope this works..." Blumiere muttered.