Luigi looked at all of team Bleck with a bored expression on his face, waiting for a response while the three of them remained silent, not sure what exactly they should say. Nastasia wanted to yell at Mimi for exposing them all but didn't on account of wishing to appear calm and collected while being confronted for doing something as immature as eavesdropping.

"Huh? THIS ISN'T THE CLOTHES STORE!" Mimi nervously laughed. "Chunky, you got the wrong address-"

"Give it up, Mimi. We're caught," Nastasia breathed, standing up and dusting herself off.

After Nastasia saw Luigi earlier, she immediately knew that something had to be wrong. There was no way he'd just show up in Flipside without a reason. Not after everything that had happened. So she did the only logical thing to do. Grabbed her friends and carefully listened in on their conversation to find out what was happening.

The three former team Bleck members then turned their attention to the cloaked boy, who was looking at them with nothing other than confusion. No spite, no hate, nothing more than confusion.

"OH MY GRAMBI NASSY, HE'S SO CUTE!" Mimi suddenly gushed, rushing up to Dio and reaching for his face, only for him to quickly place a hand on her forehead, holding her back so she couldn't quite grab him. He was only slightly taller than the green girl.

"Aha... who is this...?" Dio questioned, nervously looking at Luigi.

"Um... that's Mimi," Luigi muttered. "And the other two are O'Chunks and Nastasia."

"Ah! Well, it's a pleasure to meet you all!" Dio chimed, still holding Mimi back by the forehead as she desperately tried reaching for him, a childish look in her eyes.

"Nassy! Is this what Dimmy actually looks like?!" Mimi frantically questioned. "Why did he always hide his face?! It's so adorable! Can I give him a makeover-"

"Mimi, no." Nastasia breathed, readjusting her glasses and then holding her hands behind her back in a professional manner. "We've got more pressing matters at the moment."

The green girl sighed and stepped back, crossing her arms and pouting in a very child-like manner as if she just remembered why they were eavesdropping in the first place. "Oh, right. The whole Dimmy issue,"

"Yeah," Nastasia stated. "We've got questions."

"I probably don't have answers," Dio replied with a smile and a laugh.

Nastasia seemed to ignore him and stepped forward anyhow, pulling out a small clipboard from seemingly nowhere and reading off a list of questions she had prepared. Luigi couldn't help but be astounded as she read them all off to Dio. When did she find the time to write all of this?! And so neatly. Her handwriting was fairly organized, but not as text-like as Merlon's. The letters were more curved and loopy, but it wasn't quite cursive. It was nice.

She continued casually stating about twenty questions, just reading down the list one after the other, not even giving Dio the chance to hear or process them. In fact, Dio hardly understood a word she was saying. He was too busy trying to process and piece together all her words as they quickly left her mouth. He missed most of her questions, but the ones he could piece together were "Why are you here," "Are you really Dimentio," "Is this all one of your stupid tricks," And the last one,

"Can you bring the Count back?"

"Uhh," Dio trailed off, nervously laughing. "I'll be completely honest with you because lying and deceit are wrong. I missed approximately 75% of what you just said."

"Lying and deceit are wrong, hmm? That's quite humorous coming from you," Nastasia replied, adjusting her glasses and lowering the clipboard.

Dio frowned for a moment but decided not to take the time to wonder what she was implying by that. He then explained to her that he was only here because he was trying to get home. He told her that yes, his name WAS in fact Dimentio, but that Luigi was calling him 'Dio,' to avoid confusing situations like this one. He then stated that he wished he was capable of pulling stupid tricks as elaborate as this. And lastly, he told her that he had no idea who this 'Count' was, and if he did, he didn't have the magical ability to bring anyone back, especially if he didn't know where he was bringing them back from.

The last response disappointed Nastasia and left the whole room in a slightly more grim mood than before, which in turn brought Dio's mood down as well. He felt almost as if he had disappointed someone somehow. He had disappointed her by not being strong enough. He felt guilty.

Nastasia then shook her head and spent the next fifteen minutes or so lecturing the entire group on how idiotic this was, being very clear about all the pain the real Dimentio had caused everyone. Who was to say that this Dimentio wouldn't end up doing the same thing? What if he was just playing them all? What if this was a trap?

To this, Luigi argued that it very well could be a trap. But... what if it wasn't? What if Dio was someone who really did need help? He just wanted to get home, and they couldn't just turn their backs on him.

But this wasn't the argument that won her over. No, the real argument that convinced Nastasia to let this slide came from Dio a few moments later, after Nastasia proposed they keep Dio locked away in case he was plotting something.

".... Maybe, if you let me find other me and learn how to use my magic, I can learn how to bring your Count back," He muttered in a slightly hopeful tone.

He was merely trying to get rid of the dark and unsettling feeling the room had by replacing it with hope. He was trying to replace it with hope because even false hope felt better than no hope. Did he truly believe that he could bring the count back? He wasn't sure. But maybe if he brought up the possibility she would let him try.

And his calculations were correct. This is exactly what she needed to hear from him. These words, the very idea of a possibility, made the whole room fall silent. Everyone stopped talking, stopped breathing, and stopped moving. It was almost a little frightening. It was like the world froze, waiting for him to say something and unfreeze it.

"I mean... I can try," Dio continued, slightly louder than before. "I-I can try to bring him back... if that's what you want-"

"You can bring County back?" Mimi asked, her voice soft and slightly hopeful as well.

"I didn't say I could-" Dio started, when he was immediately cut off.

"'Oi! Te Count's comin' back!" O'Chunks exclaimed happily in a booming voice, pumping his fist in the air and wearing a bright, toothy grin.

"Please don't place all your hopes on me-"

"Alright." Nastasia breathed, holding her hand up and signaling for Mimi and O'Chunks to respectfully shut up and remain quiet. "... If... if you promise to bring him back to us, then I suppose we could let you go."

That seemed a fair deal. But, it seemed she ignored a very important aspect of Dio's argument. He had no idea if he actually could. He just said that he would TRY. He never said it was something for certain.

He knew his own power. He knew bringing someone back from some unknown location was not within his skill set. But...

"...Okay," He breathed, softly smiling. To this, Luigi furrowed his eyebrows and frowned. How the heck did Dio expect himself to do that?! He couldn't even teleport!

"Okay," Dio repeated, happier now as if he was more sure of himself. "I'll bring him back for you! I promise!"

A promise he wasn't sure he could keep.

He always did look down upon liars. His mother warned him to never lie. But this wasn't lying, right? He WAS going to find a way. He had to now. He promised.

______

So, everyone let him go. Luigi started walking him up to the dimensional door on top of the tower, slightly more worried than before.

"...Can you REALLY bring the Count back for them?" Luigi asked in the elevator. "Or did you just say that so they'd let you go?"

"I intend to bring their Count back for them," Dio replied, lightly smiling and turning his face to Luigi's. "So... the Dimentio you know... now that you know he's me, does that change anything?"

"He's not you," Luigi corrected.

Dio raised his eyebrows as if waiting for an explanation since it was clearly stated that they were indeed the same person.

"I mean... technically he is, but you guys aren't alike. He's a bad guy." Luigi elaborated.

To this, Dio's eyes softened, but his smile didn't quite fade.

"He's not."

"Huh?" Luigi asked.

"A bad guy. He's not a bad guy," Dio clarified, looking forward again and nodding as if he was certain.

"Um... no offense, but you didn't see what he did. He's pretty messed up," Luigi explained.

"He may be messed up... but he's not a bad guy. Just misunderstood. There are no bad guys. Just... people who get lost. And sometimes, they just have a hard time finding their place again." Dio smiled. "Your cloaked ancient friend briefly explained what happened to him to me. It sounded awful. I can't imagine why no one helped him, but it appears no one truly did. So no wonder he got so lost."

Luigi didn't respond to this. He didn't know what to say, because those words, that analogy, was exactly how he used to see the world before everything that had happened. It was how he used to see things.

It killed him inside that he couldn't see anything that way anymore. But sometimes, you just have to be realistic. There are plenty of bad people in the world. There are bad people everywhere. Some people are just... bad.

"You know, green's my favorite color too!" Dio suddenly chimed, interrupting Luigi's thoughts with a completely random subject change. "It's the color of earth and life! It's a perfect blend of warm and cold colors!" He was merely trying to make small talk and defeat the awkward silence, trying to move to a less sensitive topic. "I never wear it though because it simply doesn't look good on me," Dio giggled, covering his mouth and hunching forward slightly. "I usually stick to purple."

Luigi paused. Dio had said 'too' as if he was assuming green was Luigi's favorite color. "Well actually... my favorite color isn't green," Luigi muttered, slightly smiling.

"Really?!" Dio gasped.

"Yeah. It's blue. Because that's the color of the sky, the sea, and the rain. It's just... a really calming color," Luigi explained. "But I always wear green. I mean... green's my color. I'm the man in green. It's just the color everyone expects me to wear."

Well, what do you know? Turned out that the man in green's favorite color wasn't even green. "Hmm... well I think you would look cool in blue," Dio chimed. "It would bring out your eyes. You know, there is something about your personality that reminds me of the water element. You seem to flow. You remind me of a gentle stream moving from the mountain tops to the oceans."

That shouldn't have made Luigi as happy as it did. In fact, when he told Mario about his favorite color, the man in red just laughed. Dio was different. It felt nice.

Luigi paused, then turned to Dio and lightly flicked his purple hood off. He then took his own hat off his head and placed it on Dio's. "You don't look as bad in green as you think you do," Luigi smiled.

And the elevator doors opened.