Dimentio gasped for breath as the black ink-like substance fell to the floor. Dimentio collapsed onto his knees. He felt... different.
Dimentio looked up and down his hands. It was as if his gloves had been melded onto his skin and his fingers had been turned into claws.
He was distracted as soon as the shadow began to take a human shape again, staring at him with empty eyes.
"Ah ha ha ha ha ha... Good luck."
It fell onto the floor limp and changed shape. The shadow looked like a bloody, gutted, corpse of Dimentio!
"What the..." Dimentio muttered.
Dimentio could hear Blumiere running down the hallway.
"Good! He can help me get rid of this thing." Dimentio said to himself.
Dimentio picked up the shadow copy and dragged it out of the room. He spotted Blumiere at the end of the corridor.
"Hey! Blumiere!" Dimentio shouted.
He didn't seem to hear him. Dimentio waved his arms to try and grab his attention.
"BLUMIERE!" Dimentio shouted.
Blumiere didn't hear him but turned his way regardless.
"Blumiere, help me with this thing," Dimentio said, gesturing to the shadow corpse.
Blumiere's expression pretty much DEFINED the words horror and shock as he pointed at Dimentio.
"D-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-" Blumiere stuttered.
Dimentio raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Blumiere?" Dimentio asked.
"DEMON!" Blumiere shouted.
Dimentio felt his blood go cold.
"...D-demon?" Dimentio questioned.
Did he just call me..? Dimentio thought.
"Blumiere! It's me!" Dimentio exclaimed, "Stop joking around! It's not funny!"
"It killed Dimentio!" Blumiere exclaimed.
Blumiere got into a fighting stance. Dimentio held his hands up and began to back away.
"Whoa, B-Blumiere calm down! I-it's me!" Dimentio stammered.
"BEGONE DEMON!" Blumiere shouted.
Tears began to well up in Dimentio's eyes.
Why would he say that..? Dimentio thought to himself.
Blumiere summoned his staff and started towards Dimentio with anger burning in his eyes. The Chaos Heart told him to fight, but his mind said...
RUN.
Dimentio dropped the shadow imposter and flew down the halls. Everyone was now waking up from the commotion Blumiere started. Dimentio practically almost crashed into Nastasia and O'Chunks. Nastasia and O'Chunks seemed to have the same reaction as Blumiere. O'Chunks went as white as a ghost while Nastasia could only point, unable to form any words. Dimentio choked on tears as he hurried past them, fearing that Blumiere could be close behind for whatever reason he seemed to have. Dimentio kept going and going until he collapsed in the mirror hall in sobs.
"W-w-why would they say that?! WHY?!" Dimentio cried.
Why don't you check a mirror for the answer~? Dimentio could hear the shadow hiss.
The last thing he wanted to do was trust the voice, but at this point, Dimentio just wanted to know why everyone changed their demeanor so quickly. He pulled himself off of the floor and looked at the nearest mirror. Dimentio immediately recoiled at his reflection and backed up into the opposite wall.
"WHAT IS THAT THING?!" Dimentio exclaimed, "Wait..."
Dimentio slowly crept towards the mirror and placed his hand on the smooth, reflective surface.
"Th-that's me..." Dimentio muttered in disbelief, "I-I'm a-a-a..."
Demon.
----------------
Blumiere knelt by the fake corpse of Dimentio, believing that it really was Dimentio. He took the copy's wrist and placed his fingers on it, searching for a pulse. There was nothing. The body was as cold as ice and the Chaos Heart was gone. Blumiere pulled the corpse into a tight embrace as tears raced down his face.
"Oh, Dimentio... Oh, Dimentio... I shouldn't have brought you and Luigi here. I just put you in danger and now your dead and that thing has the Chaos Heart. All because I didn't listen to you... Oh, Dimentio..." Blumiere sobbed, "I promise to avenge you... my friend..."
Timpani came running towards him in a hurry.
"Blumiere! What's wrong?!" Timpani exclaimed.
Blumiere held out the body for her to see. Timpani let out a gasp as she covered her mouth in horror and shock.
"D-Dimentio?" She squeaked, her whole body trembling with sobs.
Blumiere nodded. Timpani cried as she held onto Blumiere, both of their tears falling on the corpse.
"We should get the others... Let them say goodbye..." Blumiere murmured.
Timpani nodded as she stood up, choking on tears.
----------------
Dimentio stood frozen in fear and shock as he looked over his new appearance. His teeth were sharp, his tongue was forked, both of his eyes were pure yellow, his skin was dark purple save for a few patches of red, he also had purple horns and a tail, and his clothes seemed to have melted onto his skin. But there was a yellow heart marking on his chest, indicating where the Chaos Heart was.
"W-what..." Dimentio murmured in disbelief.
His now pointy ears twitched as he could hear what sounded like... crying. More specifically, Blumiere, Timpani, Nastasia, Mimi, O'Chunks, and Luigi crying. Dimentio tried to turn himself invisible to find out what was wrong, but his powers seemed to be once again handicapped.
"There is no way anyone can see me," Dimentio muttered.
Dimentio looked up, saw a loose vent, and sighed.
"Guess we're doing things the hard way." Dimentio sighed.
Dimentio floated up and took the cover off of the vent then scrambled inside. After a few minutes of crawling, he found the source of the sounds. They were coming from his room. On his bed was laid the bloody imposter's body, and around it was everyone else bawling their eyes out. Well, everyone except Damien was crying.
"I-I-I-I can't believe he's gone..." Luigi murmured.
Timpani had bandaged up Luigi enough so she could wheel him over in a wheelchair.
"But... He's not gone." Damien said.
Everyone ignored Damien's comment.
"A-and the last thing I ever did was fight with him! WAAAAHH!" Mimi cried.
"But he's not dead," Damien replied.
"And look at what that creature did to him. I-it's terrible..." Nastasia muttered.
"That's not uncle Dim!" Damien stated.
Blumiere took Damien by the shoulder.
"Damien! How could you say that!" Blumiere exclaimed.
Timpani went to calm down Blumiere.
"Sh... he's too young to understand dear..." Timpani whispered.
Blumiere sighed.
"Mimi... Could you please take Damien somewhere else?" Blumiere asked.
Mimi wiped her dripping nose with her sleeve.
"Yeah, sure... Come on Damien." Mimi said.
Mimi tugged Damien along and out of the room. Dimentio watched as eventually everyone left the room. He let out a grunt as he kicked the vent open and dropped down into the room. He grabbed the corpse by the collar.
"Alright. I know that you are faking. Wake up." Dimentio hissed.
The shadow copy chuckled as it opened its empty eyes.
"Hahahahaha... How does it feel to be a demon~?" The imposter chuckled.
"Why do you look like me?! And why can't they hear me?! Are you some kind of Duplighost?! ANSWER ME, DEMON!" Dimentio shouted.
"Hahahahaha... Demon? Me? No, no, no, no, it is YOU who is now the demon!" The shadow laughed, "And I came to finish my job. I shall get the Chaos Heart from you and fulfill my master's wishes."
"Well, you're going to have to play dead for a while. Because as long as I live I shall not let someone like YOU take it." Dimentio hissed.
The copy laughed.
"What was it you said earlier~? You would DIE before I touch him~?" The imposter repeated.
"What are you..." Dimentio realized what he was talking about, "NO! I shall not let you-"
The shadow creature melted out of his grip and snaked across the floor and out of the room after Damien. Dimentio pounded his fists onto the floor in frustration.
"I cannot let Damien come to harm! But I cannot be seen as well..." Dimentio muttered to himself.
Dimentio looked up at the ceiling and sighed. He clambered back into the vent.