Out of Place

Empathy

Somehow Dimentio found this far worse than when Dio just left. At least then he thought that perhaps things would get better when Dio had just gone away, but now? How could things get better? How could they, knowing that this had happened? It was almost as if he had reopened wounds that closed long ago. Tore off bandages that were not yet ready to be torn.

Dimentio could feel the very moment Dio stopped breathing, the very moment his heart slowed to nothing. His death wasn't instant like Oitnemid's. It was longer. He probably felt more pain because he wasn't lucky enough to die quickly. But nevertheless, it happened.

"No..." Dimentio squeaked as soon as he heard the gently slowing rhythm of Dio's beating heart stop. He didn't let go though. Letting go would make it feel more real, and he was not ready for that yet. "No, no, no. Please wake up."

Everyone else just stared in silence while Dimentio sobbed. Luigi was heartbroken, Mr. L was devastated. Nastasia and the rest of Team Bleck were torn between shocked and horrified.

"Dimmy's crying..." Mimi softly whispered, as if it wasn't obvious.

"Hush Lass. Be respectful," O'Chunks quietly told her.

Dimentio ignored them all. Yes, he heard them and he knew they were looking, but he didn't let that affect him. He didn't let the fact that they were there send him away into more hiding. 

There was no need to hide anymore.

"Uhh... Dim?" Mr. L asked after the night finally began to fade and the sun began to rise, signifying that the new day had been upon them all. The man in green carefully walked over and kneeled down, gently touching Dimentio's shoulder, which was trembling.

"No," Dimentio immediately whispered, hugging Dio even tighter.

"Dimentio... it's ti-"

"No!" Dimentio repeated, louder this time. "D-don't say that."

"Dim..." Mr. L gently breathed rubbing Dimentio's shoulder. Dimentio paused, then slowly released Dio, turning and looking up into Mr. L's eyes to see that they too were filled with sorrow. They too were red with tears.

Even though they had hardly known him, it felt like they were all losing a part of themselves by losing him. Luigi could recall the way Dio saw the world, which was a similar way to how he used to see it, so it hurt to see the world treat someone like that so cruelly. Nastasia and the rest of team Bleck too felt a deep sadness, even though they hardly knew him at all. A part of it was them feeling for Dimentio, but they also just felt bad, since Dio seemed to be nothing more than an innocent caught in the crossfire. L felt slightly worse than all of them since he had actually gotten to spend the most time with Dio and found himself considering the guy a friend. Dio was the one to teach him to start to trust once again, and now he was gone. It hurt.

However, Dimentio was the one who felt the most pain by far. For reasons that he could only explain through sobs.

"He's crying"

Mr. L sat down on his knees, then held his arms out. Without any hesitation, Dimentio tightly hugged him, sobbing into his shoulder.

"...He's crying," Dio repeated once again, his voice small. "But he's asleep. Does... this happen often?"

Mr. L sniffled as he remembered that night. It felt so long ago now. Back then he didn't reply. He didn't want to say 'yes,' but that was the truth. He remembered the first time he had heard Dimentio crying in his sleep, back at Castle Bleck. It was a normal thing that everyone had gotten used to and just dismissed. He remembered hearing it one night when he was walking the halls to work on one of his machines. He wanted to go in and see what was wrong back then but decided against it because he didn't wish to be a bother.