Flipped (Super Paper Mario SWAP AU)

Wounded Pride (24)

The heroes were making progress quickly, all thanks to the blonde one keeping them on track. Well, her and the little bug guy. Dimentio said his name was Bleck and he was a pixl. Prince L made sure to memorize that word. Pixl.

Per the prince's request, Dimentio placed a clock in the green room, as well as a throne for Prince L to sit in while watching through the window. Almost every desire requested was given to him instantly. If he wanted a shroom shake, Dimentio would get one from him. It was nice, being treated like the royalty he was. He could get used to this.

The throbbing in his head had vanished days ago. He knew who he was now. He knew his purpose. He was Prince L, and this was his castle. Not only was he a prince, but he was the prince in green. Everyone else was below him, they were nothing more than juniors.

Dimentio occasionally disappeared to talk to his countess. Prince L was never permitted to go with him. At first, he was curious, but it was hard to care about people as minimal as that countess. Dimentio claimed she was important, but more important than a prince?

No, the countess wasn't of any interest to him.

However, Nastasia...

Dimentio warned him about her. He said that if there was anyone to watch out for, it was Nastasia. Not that he had to watch out for anyone, he had remained hidden as far as he could tell. Hidden, but not imprisoned. Yes, he wasn't allowed to leave yet, but Dimentio assured him that his time was coming soon.

The heroes arrived in a once lively world. Countess Tippi appeared to them and made the gash in the sky widen and consume what was once such a colorful and lively place in a bright light, erasing all the color and shadows. The prince would be lying if he said it didn't scare him a little, but he didn't want to think about feeling afraid. The countess wasn't someone he needed to worry about. 

He didn't think about how there was a certain darkness in colors. There had to be, otherwise they'd all be nothing more than pure white, like what that world had been left in.

Then, there was Ms. D, holding a faded white shard of the Chaos Heart.

"Dimentio, you might want to see this," Prince L said. The corner of his lip twitched slightly as he leaned forward. Watching the heroes for the past few days had begun to feel like watching a movie. It was like he was binging a show, and quite an interesting one of that.

Ms. D smirked and held up the heart as if she was observing it. "Hmm, I wonder how much money I could sell this for," she snickered to herself as the heroes all narrowed their eyes at her, getting into their own fighting stances. The only stance that was actually threatening was the one from the blonde heroine. The prince in red looked like he could be easily knocked over and the ghost was, well, a ghost. What would he do, fly through her?

As if summoned by his voice, the jester appeared next to him. "Ms. D's already there?" Dimentio asked.

"Oh? You knew she'd go?" Prince L replied, his eyes glued to the large window.

"You," the blonde heroine hissed, clenching her fists. "You were the girl we fought in space!"

"Ah! Memories..." Ms. D teased, though she didn't take her eyes off the heart. "Did you miss me?"

"Hardly!" the stupid red prince cried out in an attempt to look brave. If only he could see how ridiculous he really looked...

"Nastasia practically sent her," Dimentio replied calmly. "Without the countess knowing. It was quite sad, really. I didn't think Ms. D the type to fall for such obvious manipulation."

"Wow. Would you like some cheese to go with that whine of yours?" Ms. D teased playfully.

"Did you tell the countess?" Prince L asked.