Out of Place

Jealous

"You can do that?" Dimentio asked, his voice sounding almost as small as Dio's for once. 

His eyes didn't hold the same look of awe as Dio's did, however. When Dio watched Dimentio do tricks, he was fascinated. Dimentio, yes, was fascinated by this, but was more so wondering why the heck he never could do such things. He had never been able to do any form of healing!

"Yes, can't you?" Dio asked, finally letting go of Mr. L's arm and grasping his own right shoulder in pain, doing his best to ignore it as he blinked up at Dimentio.

Dimentio hesitated before answering. How would Mr. L and Dio judge him upon hearing that he could in fact not heal or transfer injuries? Would they think him weak? Would they think him lesser than this other version of himself?

"You can't..." Mr. L said, looking up at Dimentio and smiling slightly as if this was humorous.

Dimentio wanted nothing more at this moment than to wipe that smug look off his face. "I... said no such thing," Dimentio quietly replied.

"You didn't need to," Mr. L shrugged. "The look in your eyes says quite enough."

"I-" The jester was stumped. He didn't want to speak, because he simply didn't have a counterargument for that. He couldn't outright lie because outright lies were easy to catch, and though Mr. L was indeed gullible at times, he was no true idiot. He could indeed catch a lie as blunt as that.

But, Dimentio couldn't just outright say that he had no idea how to use magic that way. It would be like admitting to a weakness. And he knew that Mr. L would hang the fact over his head forever, so he just stayed silent.

"... Do you want me to teach you?" Dio asked, smiling slightly.

Now, this was even more humiliating and insulting. He was supposed to be teaching this lesser version of himself how to do magic. Not the other way around. What, was Dio just trying to look superior in front of Mr. L? Was he showing off the fact that he could do this one thing better than Dimentio himself?

"No." Dimentio flatly said, looking away. "I do not."

Jealousy. That's what it was, and he knew it. He knew the feeling all too well. He had been a jealous person ever since the day he lost everything. He had been jealous of all those who still had their families. Jealous of everyone who had a home to go back to. But he had never been jealous quite like this.

Jealous of another version of himself. Jealous of Dio still having hope. Still having that chance to get that world back. It stung because he could never get that. Not only was this other version of him still kind like he had once been lifetimes ago, but he still had hope for getting that beautiful, perfect, golden life back. He had everything. 

He had EVERYTHING!

Why was he even helping? Dimentio knew that he himself was manipulative. Manipulation had always been a skill of his. He just never thought that he would be on the receiving end of it.

No... when he was young he was used to being on the receiving end. Because, truth to be told, there was one person who was always better at manipulating others than he was, and that was his little brother. He could manipulate him into playing with him any day of the week. For his whole life, all his brother would have to do is bat an eye and say please, and poof! Dimentio would come running. Only in the last year of his life did that trick stop working on Dimentio.

He wished it didn't. He still wished that he had played in the woods one last time. But that is beside the point. The point is that Dio is JUST like he was, using that child-like quality to manipulate others.

He hated that. He hated that so much.

He just needed to teach him quickly, then send him away forever. THEN he could finally continue what he was planning. Finish what should have been finished long ago. Even though his plan was fuzzy and hardly a plan at all.