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.

But Dimentio? He never really took the time to make those little connections to life. He always told himself that he would be able to make those connections once his perfect world was created.

Although... if there was one person he saw who made the most connections, it was Mr. L. During the man in green's time at Castle Bleck, he made the most of everything. He would talk to EVERYONE as if they were friends. Yes, he was quite arrogant, but it was more like he was trying to see the best in himself. Even though the man in green was in a rather dire situation, being brainwashed and used for the dark prophecy and all, he still managed to try to make the best of his time there in that dark forsaken palace.

Dimentio could distinctly recall Mr. L having a book on constellations that he'd read over at the breakfast table while he lectured O'Chunks on astrology, even though everyone knew very well that all that information would go in one ear and out the other with the big oaf. Mr. L would also ask all his teammates to "hang out," quite often. He would often sneak onto the roof of the castle just to look at the sky, risking a stern punishment from Nastasia for being where he wasn't supposed to be. (She had to keep close tabs on the man in green during his stay with them. Especially at first, when the brainwashing was settling in.)

Even though the man in green was aware of the gravity in his situation... he still managed to find joy in the things around him. How did he even do that? Especially with being limited to staying in the castle most of the time, surrounded by enemies. How did he still manage to act as if he belonged? Was there some sort of secret to it, or was it simply due to the brainwashing?

Well, brainwashing can't entirely change the way a person functions. At least not the hypnosis form of brainwashing that Nastasia used. Yes, it could change a few key components and make someone like Luigi switch sides of the prophecy. However, that being said, hypnosis cannot actually change who someone is. The fact that Mr. L could do all of that meant that the odds were Luigi could too. It was just something that he could do.

Dimentio envied him for that.

______

The next day, nothing had changed. Dimentio was lucky enough not to run into Luigi again, which he was grateful for. He half expected to wake up to see fifty toads ready to arrest him, so seeing nothing but the branches which shielded him from the rising sun was quite a relief.

He wondered why Luigi was just walking around the forest the previous day. There wasn't a specific trail or anything. It seemed completely random and a waste of precious time. Luigi was lucky he even HAD the time to waste.

Dimentio's stomach hurt, but he still didn't go to town for food. A body could survive up to weeks without eating, he kept reminding himself. Food still wasn't a top priority. He was sure he'd be fine and able to hold over until he came up with a real plan, which still was sadly not coming to him.

Day after day and night after night, he found himself getting nowhere. He couldn't come up with anywhere to go, knowing that all neighboring kingdoms were close with the Mushroom Kingdom and would surely alert the authorities if he was spotted and recognized. He also couldn't figure out any way to extend his three months. He did consider somehow getting to Flipside and forcing one of those useless ancients like Merlon to extend his deadline, but that plan brought upon a list of problems, starting with the fact that he couldn't even get to Flipside from the Mushroom Kingdom without a return pipe and ending with the fact that Nastasia or one of his teammates could spot him and go on a revenge rampage.

He could feel his body getting weaker from the lack of nutrition. It felt like the world was spinning and it was hard to even get up in the mornings. He wished that he had at least spent a little time during his life reading books on plant life so he could figure out what was edible and what wasn't. This almost felt like torture, and it was hours wasted that he'd never be able to get back.

An entire week passed before he truly began to panic. He was afraid of starving himself and cutting his time even shorter. He was afraid that he'd die again before he got to experience really living. He was afraid of the fact that he may not be able to come up with a plan at all. He needed something. He needed food, he needed clean water, and he needed to learn how to magically make the three months worth it, just in case he couldn't find a way to extend his time.

That's when he finally caved. He finally gave in, knowing that Mr. L was a master at making any moment seem worth it. Every night when Dimentio saw the stars, he thought about how much joy the man in green seemed to find in them. He wanted to learn how to do that. No, he NEEDED to learn how to do that. He needed to learn how to at least find something that he'd miss when he was gone. He didn't care if it was the stars or the trees or even something as stupid as robotics. He needed to learn how to find happiness in this blasted, imperfect, cruel world, because gosh darn it, he wasn't about to waste these entire three months just sitting around and waiting for a plan to come to mind.

This was his new plan:

Step 1: Find Luigi and force him to teach him how to find happiness in the stupid things.

Step 2: Find a way not to be arrested for nearly ending all worlds, (which was going to be quite difficult, seeing as Luigi was directly connected to those events and still likely to turn him in, even though it had yet to happen.)

Step 3: Come up with a way to extend those three months.

He absolutely hated the first step of this plan, but his empty head couldn't come up with a single other solution to his current problem. He was starving, weak, and unable to think. Although he knew that he would be basically walking right into a prison cell, this seemed like the only option left. If he were to sneak around town, he would get caught right away. His best bet was Luigi since the idiot was known for his kindness. If worst came to worse, (which seemed likely), the man in green would probably be decent enough to give Dimentio a grain of food before turning him into the proper authorities.

The fact that he was wagering his freedom on another man's kindness was deeply concerning, but at this point, he couldn't think of anything else he could do.