One Complete Heart

November 17th

Dimentio had been unconscious ever since he was found along the shore. It was a miracle that his bones weren't broken, considering how violent the ocean was. Perhaps fate is what sent him to the sandy part of the beach instead of the rocky terrain. 

Mario was gone that night. Daisy was on her way over, though it would take her a few hours. Apparently, she had some sort of Princess duties she needed to wrap up first, so Luigi was alone. Well, not quite alone, but alone in the ways that mattered. 

He hadn't felt nearly as sick as he used to. Ever since he found Dimentio, he almost started to feel like himself again. There were occasional instances when the pain would swell back, but those were brief. 

Things were supposed to be fixed soon. Mario was off finding Blumiere and the rest of that little team of former bad guys to discuss what happened and how to move forward. The man in red was hesitant about leaving, but it was clear that Dimentio wasn't going to be waking up any time soon. 

There were a few scrapes and scratches which covered Dimentio's face and arms. They hadn't started to heal yet, which was strange since it had been a few days, but Luigi didn't think to question it much. After all, Dimentio wasn't quite human. 

The man in green actually didn't know what he was. 

Luigi started making himself breakfast. He wasn't supposed to be downstairs, but no one was home to stop him. Dimenito had been handcuffed, so on the off chance he did wake up, they'd hopefully prevent him from doing anything crazy. Although, knowing Dimentio, simple handcuffs probably wouldn't be able to stop him. 

Polterpup started barking as soon as Luigi poured himself a warm cup of hot chocolate, though the man in green dismissed the dog. It usually got like this whenever anyone stepped foot into the kitchen. Luigi could only assume that its begging habits only got worse ever since Mario started to become more of its primary caretaker. The man in red always had a hard time saying no. 

"Not now, Polter," Luigi said. "Dogs can't have chocolate."

He wondered if chocolate would really hurt Polterpup. It was already dead, right? Could anything really hurt it?

The dog continued yapping for another minute, though the barking wasn't directed at Luigi. It was funny, really. Sometimes, it was difficult to tell where Polterpup was directing its barking since it was a ghost, so the sound waves didn't work the same way normal ones did. Sometimes, its voice was almost transparent, like the rest of his body. Professor E. Gadd gave an explanation for it once, but that was months ago and Luigi didn't really take the time to get it memorized.

"Is there a bird outside or something?" Luigi asked. Sometimes Mario complained about Polterpup getting too worked up over birds and squirrels. That didn't make much sense, though, because it was fall, so all those animals should have been leaving. He supposed it was entirely possible that there were a few stragglers left. 

Another bark. Maybe Daisy was close. It seemed a little early, but Polterpup loved it whenever she was around. She was the kind of girl who'd talk to it as if it was a normal person, which was a little strange. Or maybe the way everyone else talked to dogs was strange. 

Luigi shook his head and stirred a few marshmallows into his hot chocolate, ignoring the dog. He made himself some soup and sat down in the single seat that remained at the dining room table. Now that Dimentio was there, maybe he'd be able to get his chair back. Maybe he'd be able to get everything back. 

The barking grew louder and louder as Luigi started to eat his meal. He was content with ignoring it until he heard a hushed, raspy voice hiss "Shut up."

Then, he stilled. His spoon was still half filled with soup, frozen in the air inches in front of his face. 

His hand trembled, then he dropped it. The spoon landed back in the soup bowl, though the splash sent a few droplets of soup flying, splattering across the table. He'd have to clean those later.