Three Months

Memories

Dimentio didn't leave the forest. He couldn't leave. Not until he actually came up with a decent plan. The fact that Luigi knew he was there was already a major problem, considering the fact that he'd probably tell Mario, and Mario would tell Princess Peach, who would spread the word amongst other kingdoms until it got back to Flipside, where Nastasia and the rest of Team Bleck would hear and send out some sort of revenge search party in the name of the count or something.

He almost felt sick just thinking about it. He'd have to find a way to stay hidden and get away from everyone who knew of him as soon as possible. After that, he could focus on finding a way to extend his three months.

Not having magic proved to be much harder than he thought it would be. He couldn't teleport to get food, water, or any necessities for life. He was hesitant to drink from the creek, but eventually, his dehydration gave in and forced him to. He hoped that he wouldn't get dysentery or something of the sort. He couldn't waste any of his precious time being extra sick.

Food was the issue he couldn't seem to get around. He was too afraid to go into town for food, yet, he didn't have the proper plant knowledge to tell which herbs were and were not edible. So, he instead decided not to eat, thinking that it wasn't of utmost importance and could be dealt with later. Yes, his stomach hurt, but he couldn't risk going into town and being spotted. The average person could survive at least three weeks without a proper meal, so he was sure he'd be fine.

Not having a roof over his head and a team to help him get through the day also proved difficult. Throughout the day he often found himself thinking about how nice it was that Count Bleck had provided three meals plus snacks to his minions each and every day. The castle also had decent air conditioning, though the hallways were slightly colder than comfortable. He even found himself missing the daily schedules that Nastasia had set for everyone. She had always taken care of all the small things so everyone else didn't even have to even think about them.

Dimentio didn't move much. He walked around a little, pacing and trying to clear his mind so he could come up with an actual plan. But the problem wasn't that his mind was too filled with thoughts like usual. Instead, his mind was too empty. He could hardly think of anything. It was like he was stuck within a block, unable to even come up with bad ideas. There was just nothing. 

It was frustrating.

He found himself wasting an entire day, just sitting there and trying to come up with a plan. He wasn't sure why it was so difficult now. He had always been good at finding the loopholes and working his way around blocks like this. Perhaps it was the fact that he didn't have his magic that made this so hard. He already missed it.

The sky above soon turned to a darker blue, later fading to almost black. The air became chillier and crickets began to chirp. For some reason, the forest seemed louder at night than it did during the day. However, it didn't look eerie like Dimentio had thought it would. If anything, it looked peaceful. He liked the glow of the moon and stars streaking through the tree branches. 

It was cold. He liked the cold feeling. When he thought he was gone for good before, being cold was one of the few things about life that he missed.

At that point, there wasn't much else about life that he missed. There really wasn't anything else he HAD besides the hope for a better future. It was almost sad. No, it WAS sad. Especially since the people he had surrounded himself with during his lifetime all seemed to have things that mattered to them. 

Mimi loved clothes and pretty things. Especially expensive items and fancy artifacts. She would most certainly miss those if she were to die. O'Chunks secretly loved baking. He'd surely miss being able to cook and work out if he died. Nastasia had her piano playing, as well as her teammates who were almost like a family in her eyes. She'd miss them all so much if she were to go.