12:01 AM

"Dimentio?" Luigi asked softly, no longer hearing his heartbeat. The man in green sniffled and sat up, looking down at Dimentio, who didn't look quite like he was sleeping. Sleeping people were very clearly alive. Their breathing could be seen and heard. Dimentio... he wasn't sleeping.

He just looked at peace.

Luigi held his breath to hold in a sob, then gently grabbed Dimentio's wrist, using his thumb to check Dimentio's pulse. He grew up learning to never check someone's pulse with his own thumb since he would only end up instead feeling his own heartbeat, but that was the point. He wanted to give Dimentio his heartbeat for a moment before really checking.

The pulse was steady and strong. A pulse that would likely stay that way for many many years. Luigi softly smiled through the tears, then really checked Dimentio's pulse, this time not giving him his heartbeat.

Nothing.

Pure nothingness.

There was no pulse, no heartbeat, no breathing, no life. He was dead. That was the hard truth.

Luigi let the breath he was holding go and immediately wrapped Dimentio in a hug, wishing Dimentio could feel the hug. Wishing Dimentio could still listen to his words. To his cries.

But, no matter how loud he cried, Dimentio would never hear.

He went away too quickly! He was just there a moment ago! How could he already be gone?!

He was just there...

He was just there.

"Please don't go," Luigi whimpered. "I love you. I never got to tell you. Please, please just- just come back so I can tell you."

Polterpup softly whined at Luigi's feet, sitting by his ankles and leaning its head on him, as if the dog was trying to offer comfort to him. Luigi hardly noticed. He was too busy wishing. Wishing he just had three more minutes so he could tell him.

He stayed in that room until the sun rose, not wishing to leave Dimentio's side until the new day came and the sun rose again. For once, he was actually dreading the turning of pages. He was dreading the new beginnings that came with a new day.

Even after Luigi left, Polterpup refused to leave Dimentio's side, curling up next to him and softly whimpering. The ghost dog did occasionally nudge Dimentio as if it was trying to wake him up, but Polterpup knew as well as Luigi did that this was over. This was the end of the story.

When Luigi walked down the stairs, his eyes had dark circles under them and there were tear lines on his face. Mario had woken up on time to make breakfast, as he was doing more and more often. He turned and smiled as soon as he heard Luigi's footsteps, only to frown immediately upon seeing the man in green's heartbroken expression.

"Luigi?" He asked, oblivious as to why his younger brother looked so incredibly devastated.

The man in green looked up at his older brother, then immediately burst into more tears, bringing his hands to his face. Mario immediately turned off the stove and rushed to his brother, wrapping him in a hug and rubbing his back. "Hey, hey, shh.... It's okay, I'm here. What's wrong?" He asked in a gentle, hushed voice.

It has been a long time since he had seen Luigi cry, especially like this.

"Dimentio-" Luigi whispered, breathing heavily as he sobbed, gasping and sputtering for air as he continued crying. "H-he left."

"Oh..." Mario trailed off, pulling back and grabbing Luigi's shoulders, using his right hand to wipe one of Luigi's tears. "Maybe we can find him again someday. Or-"

"N-no. He's gone," Luigi choked, squeezing his eyes shut and bowing his head as more tears fell, seeming to go faster and faster. "He's gone."

Mario frowned for a moment, then his eyes widened with realization. He paused for a moment, then brought Luigi back into the tight, comforting hug.

"Gone... is a funny word," Mario whispered with a soft, almost shaky tone. But he had to stay strong now. He had to be strong for Luigi, just as Luigi was strong for him all this time. "Even if it seems permanent... it never is. He's not gone. He's just... a little far away right now."

"Mario, he's-"

"You always find a way to see the good, Luigi. Even when it's hard to see. This is one of those hard-to-see times," Mario interrupted. "He's not gone. His memory is here, isn't it? You guys made memories that'll last a lifetime, right? And someday, hopefully in a long, long time... we'll be able to see him again. I promise."

Luigi's sniffling slowed ever so slightly as he pulled back and looked up at Mario with watery eyes. He nodded, wiping his tears with the palm of his hand.

"I... I'm gonna take a walk," He sniffled. "I need... I..."

"Go ahead," Mario softly smiled. "You need to be alone. I'll be here for you when you need a brother."

Luigi nodded, then turned away, hugging himself and walking outside. Mario followed him to the doorway, watching as Luigi quickly rushed into the woods, still crying. He waited until his little brother was out of sight, then gently closed the door, closing his eyes and resting his head against it, allowing a few of his own tears to fall as well.

"Dang it, Dimentio," He whispered through tears. "You were supposed to stay."

______

The funeral was short and quick. The location really was beautiful. It was easy to tell why Dimentio chose it. It was quiet, peaceful, and a lovely place to rest. Polter liked to run around the two trees. In the springtime, those trees would rain pink blossoms. In the summer, sweet cherries would always be there.

Mario left early, saying he wanted to give Luigi some alone time. In reality, he just didn't want to get teary in front of his little brother. One of them had to appear strong. He didn't love Dimentio like Luigi did, but it still broke his heart to see him go. It hurt more than he would have expected it to.

Death always hurt, but this was a different kind of sting. This was unexpected and neither of them had time to prepare.

Is anyone ever really prepared though?

Beforehand, Luigi didn't change anything about the guest room Dimentio had been staying in for those past three months. He kept everything exactly the same for Dimentio, just in case he decided to come back somehow, which he never would. Mario had asked him if he wanted to clear everything out, but Luigi refused.

After the funeral, Polterpup seemed to vanish. Luigi guessed that the little rascal went home since it was around lunchtime. Not that he minded. It was almost nice to walk alone and gather his thoughts.

Oh, who was he kidding, it was the worst. He hated this feeling he had. Dimentio had always told him to express his feelings before it was too late. Well, now it was too late. It was too late, and there was nothing that could be done about it.

He wished Dimentio was walking with him. He wished he could talk to him about how he was holding up. He wished he could show Dimentio how much of a wreck he was now that he was gone.

"You really broke me," Luigi lightly chuckled, wiping his tears and softly smiling. "I... I wish you would have told me so I could have prepared..."

No response.

The air was deathly still, like always.

"But... I see why you didn't," Luigi admitted. "You... you knew there was no solution, so you wanted to make the most out of the time you had... right?"

Again, no response.

"I suppose that's fair..." Luigi trailed off, forcing a sad smile. "You wanted us to both spend those three months living instead of wasting all our time trying to prevent the inevitable."

He wished a breeze would blow or something. Was everything always this quiet?! Was the air always this still?!

"I've thought about it, you know... I mean... I could die right now and join you." Luigi pointed out.

He looked down at his hands, opening them up and seeing all the lines and callaces. He could see the patterns on his fingertips which made up his fingerprint. His hands trembles slightly, but he could feel the life and electricity in them as he sighed.

"But... that's not what either of us wants, is it?"

He paused for a moment, then sat down on a soft patch of grass, looking up at the trees above him, seeing the golden sunlight stream through the uneven branches.

"I'm going to keep living. For both of us," He promised. "I... I'll try to make the most of it. For you."

The leaves above him were an assortment of greens, yellows, oranges, and reds. Luigi couldn't help but smile with watery eyes at the colors. Dimentio would have loved them. The way they changed from season to season, yet would always end up repeating their cycle, dying and coming back to life each and every year.

A small red leaf then fell from the branch right above the man in green, spinning and dancing as it fluttered down and landed on the ground, right next to Luigi's left hand, the stem touching his pinky. He turned his head to look at the leaf, then carefully picked it up. It was delicate and small. He knew what it once was. A vibrant green leaf full of life and purpuse. A part of a community of other leaves, all connected to the same tree. It may have been dead now, but it was still beautiful. It always would be beautiful.

He then held the leaf to his chest.

"I miss you," He sniffed, feeling the tears come again but trying his best to contain them. He stayed like this for a few minutes, just hugging the leaf to himself until he finally found the strength to stand and let the leaf go, watching as it fluttered down to the ground.

For some reason, the second it rested on the ground and joined the other fallen leaves, Luigi broke into tears once again.

When he got home, he couldn't help but realize how truly quiet his place was. It was almost unsettling to be there now. For some reason, without Dimentio it no longer felt like home. He had gotten so used to the presence of a third person, so now that he was gone, this house simply didn't feel right. It was as if there was a missing piece to a puzzle that he worked three months to build.

"Hey," Mario muttered once he saw that Luigi was home. He grabbed a small bag, throwing it over his shoulder and giving his little brother a small smile. "I... I'm going to Flipside to do a little research and visit Merlon and Nastasia. Wanna come?"

Luigi debated for a moment but shook his head no. He just wanted to be home for a while. Mario nodded in understanding, then hugged his brother before pulling out his return pipe and heading off. Luigi let out a short sigh, then walked over to the dining room table, where Mario was sitting before he arrived, seeing a few books lying out, including a notebook.

They were all Dimentio's books about diseases, mythology, and death. Luigi couldn't help but kick himself over how obvious it was that Dimentio was dying, now that he thought about it. He sat down and looked over Mario's notebook, inside which were a number of scribbles and frustrated notes.

It looked as if Mario was searching for a way to bring Dimentio back. Of course, there was no solution, but the fact that he tried finding one made Luigi softly smile as he closed the notebook and took all the others back to Dimentio's room, where they belonged. He wouldn't be returning them to the library any time soon.

He might have been mad that Mario was leaving him all alone, but he knew what Mario was doing in his own mind. Mario was trying to fix this for him. Even though he knew that there was no fixing this, Luigi couldn't help but be grateful for his older brother.

After he put the books away, he sat on Dimentio's bed, which was still unmade. He didn't want to make it again after Dimentio left. He did however place the small cloth he bought Dimentio that one time on the pillow. He lightly smiled at the item, secretly wishing that it could have somehow protected Dimentio from his fate. But then again, no one can ever truly be protected from that fate. People can push it back, but in the end, there is no escape.

And that's okay.

Luigi left that room, closing and locking the door behind himself so no one would go in and mess it up. He wanted to perfectly preserve each and every element of it. Each fleck of dust on the floor, each book scattered around, each grain of sand that had fallen off Dimentio's hair and onto the pillow, he wanted to save it all.

Then, he went back to his own room, reaching for the window and opening it. He promised himself right then and there that he would never close that window ever again. Not even during the harshest of storms.

He wanted it always open, not to see the stars or the moon, not to watch the sun rise and set, not even to feel the change in temperature signifying the coming and going of seasons.

He kept it open, just in case a breeze were to come by. He kept it open so Dimentio could find him.