OF2: Chapter 2

Livi awoke with a violent start, bolting upright in bed. She immediately regretted it, doubling over and clutching at the leg she felt pain shooting through. After a minute or so, her leg was still throbbing, so she forced herself to lay back down—sighing in relief when that seemed to do the trick.

Once that fiasco was out of the way, Livi looked around to take in her surroundings. She found herself in a brightly-lit, white room. She was lying in bed. There was nothing else around.

"…what the…" Livi propped herself up on her elbows, trying to better sort herself out. Still, nothing seemed to ring any bells. Literally, the last thing she remembered was flipping her bike.

Her eyes went wide the moment the memory surfaced, and she reached down and quickly yanked back the thick blankets that lay over her.

The fangirl grimaced, turning her face away as she slowly laid the blankets back in place. Her entire leg was wrapped in a thick, black brace—bandages and casting underneath.  She flopped back into bed, mumbling a curse under her breath as she irritably massaged her temples.

Knock knock knock

"What?!" Livi barked—currently in no mood for visitors.

The door slowly creaked open, and Luigi hesitantly stepped inside, closing it behind him. "I come in peace." He quietly informed her.

Livi flashed him a weary smile. "Heya, Weegee."

The hero stepped over and gently stroked her hair. "How you feeling?"

She shrugged. "Okay, I guess. Just my freakin' leg…"

Luigi laughed. "Don't worry about it. A few more super shrooms—you'll be good in no time."

"Really?" Livi chirped, immediately brightening up.

Luigi nodded. "Really." He assured her.

Livi bolted upright, ignoring the pain in her hip. "So, I can pick up on the next race, right?"

Luigi just stared at her.

"…Weegee, c'mon…" Livi snapped, her expression falling to a glare. "There's gotta be some rule that says if I'm hurt—"

"You can keep racing later." Luigi finished. "Normally, yes. You've been unconscious for a while, though—they think you hit your head when you landed. We've already gone through two more races."

Livi's face fell completely. "…wha… seriously?! I missed everything?!"

"Not everything…" Luigi said, trying in vain to soften the blow. "Just… enough…" He sighed. "…you've been disqualified, Livi. I'm sorry."

Livi groaned again, flopping back onto the bed dramatically. "…you've gotta be kidding me… my first Mario Kart race, and I'm freaking disqualified! Just freaking peachy!"

Luigi smiled. "Don't you think you're being a tad dramatic?"

"You said it yourself!" Livi continued, ignoring Luigi completely. "A few more shrooms and I'll be good as new! And they go and freaking kick me out of the race!"

"They didn't kick you out because of your leg…" Luigi reminded her. "You were disqualified because you were unconscious for two whole races."

Livi gaped at him. "…and is that my fault?!"

Luigi laughed and rolled his eyes. "Anyway… I'm really sorry—but there's just nothing to be done about it now…  I did bring you something to cheer you up, though."

Livi rolled over, yanking the blankets up so they covered her head. "Unless it's a spot in the race, I don't want it."

"You sure about that?" Luigi wondered as he headed back to the door. "I think you'll really like it."

"I'm in a bad mood." Livi declared firmly.

Luigi sighed, opening the door and stepping outside. "Alright, if you're sure…"

"Oh, and I thought she would be so excited to see us!"

Livi immediately bolted upright in bed at the sound of the voice—all pain completely forgotten. "DIMENTIO!" She screamed.

Dimentio smiled in return, throwing his arms out as he floated into the room. "Ah, there's our darling little fangirl!" He sang, wrapping her in a tight hug. "So wonderful to see you again!"

"Omigosh!" Livi cried, flinging her arms around Dimentio's neck and yanking him down as she flopped back again. "I can't believe you're here! Weegee said he hadn't spoken to you guys in forever!"

"He didn't." Mr. L's voice called—and Livi pulled Dimentio aside to find him making his way into the room as Luigi quietly snuck out and shut them all inside. "We came and found him after we saw your bike flip."

Despite the fact that nearly the entire world had seen her screw up, flip her bike, bust her leg, and get thrown out of the race, Livi beamed and wrapped an arm around Mr. L. "Aw, you guys were watching?"

"We've been at the race all day." Dimentio clarified, settling himself beside Livi on the bed.

"No way!" Livi yelled.

"Yeah— We went and found Luigi after you wrecked, though... had to make sure you didn't game over before we got to see ya." Mr. L joked, tussling Livi's hair around roughly.

Livi hugged them both again. "Well, I'm glad you came. What about the other Bleckies? Are they here?"

"Ah, that would be no." Dimentio said with a nervous laugh.

Livi pouted. "Aw, why  not? I kinda wanted to see Mimi…"

Mr. L snorted, scratching the back of his head. "Well, uh… as far as they know… we're not even here."

Livi raised an eyebrow. "What, you snuck out? Why? I'm sure Nastasia would let you come."

"Well, she would…" Mr. L said, glaring at some distant spot in the corner of the room. "…If we weren't grounded."

Livi laughed. She couldn't help it. "Grounded?! The two of you?!"

"Exactly!" Dimentio cried—obviously being quite upset about the matter. "Can you imagine?! Who does that devilish little witch think she is to ground us?!"

"What did you do?" Livi gasped out, still laughing uncontrollably.

Dimentio shrugged. "Well, there may have been a small, miniscule incident involving a certain Brobot and the sudden, inexplicable desire to take said mechanical beast for a… what was the term, L?"

"Joyride." Mr. L supplied, grinning madly. "It was fun, too! I totally forgot that I never took Dimentio for a ride!"

"Ah, yes, quite an interesting experience, it was." Dimentio smiled, nodding in approval. "You've no idea the wonders this man can work with a machine! I simply have no idea how he does it!"

"Thank you, thank you!" Mr. L declared, giving a low bow to the two of them.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Livi interrupted, waving her hands spastically around. "Where did you even get Brobot?" She demanded of the Green Thunder. "I thought the heroes busted him up?"

Mr. L shrugged, grinning proudly. "Dimentio and Mimi went off and found him for me. He was in pretty rough condition, but I fixed him up—now he's better than ever!"

Livi blinked, nodding slowly. "Okay. Gotcha. So, why are you two grounded again? So you took him for a joyride—did you go off and destroy a city or something?"

Dimentio shook his head immediately. "Oh no, not at all! We never even left the castle!"

"Well, if you never left the—" Livi stopped suddenly, blinked, then leaned back into the pillows. "Ooooooh, I see… how bad was it?"

Mr. L snorted again. "We, um… may have… accidentally—"

"Entirely on purpose." Dimentio amended.

Mr. L gestured to him. "Right… we sorta punched a hole through Mimi's wall."

Livi's hands flew to cover her mouth. "No you didn't. Why?!"

"She bullies Dimentio all the time!" Mr. L snapped, rage hiding at the edge of his voice.

The fangirl turned to Dimentio with disbelieving eyes. "…and you let her?"

"Well, it's more complicated than that…" Dimentio explained with a tired sigh. "…you recall, I presume, the negotiations I made with Jaydes to restore Mr. L and myself to life?"

Livi nodded. "Yeah, I think so. What about it?"

Mr. L let a short laugh slip, scratching his nose. "Apparently, there's a bit of a catch to it."

Dimentio shot him a glare, then sighed again, as if admitting defeat. "…apparently… Jaydes meant her words far more literally than I had anticipated… Being bound to Mimi has named me as her 'Protector'—an occupation one does not take lightly."

Livi raised her eyebrow at this, thoroughly confused by this point. "…Protector, huh? What does that mean?"

"It means Jaydes tricked him into being Mimi's around-the-clock babysitter." Mr. L sneered.

Dimentio's lip curled into a snarl. "Oh, aren't you just hilarious, L…  though, I'm afraid he is correct… I can't let so much as one little scratch intrude upon Mimi's delicately flawless form."

Livi gave him a sympathetic smile and a pat on the shoulder. "Aw, poor Dimmy… it doesn't sound as bad as you're making it out to be, though… I thought you loved Mimi?"

"If that's the idea she's fed you, alright then…" Dimentio said, off-handedly rolling his eyes.

Livi glared. "Oh, be nice… anyway, I would think you'd want to protect her."

Dimentio nodded. "Oh, of course."

"The thing is…" Mr. L said, choking back a laugh as he rested his arm on Livi's head. "…Mimi tends to let power go to her head… a lot…"

"A lot." Dimentio confirmed with a glare.

"Ah. Gotcha." Livi smiled with a nod. "Well, at least you got your revenge, and you got to sneak out without her! Everything works out!"

"True, true." Dimentio agreed, regaining his usual silly smile. "And it seems as though you've been having a lovely day yourself. Well… up until now, anyway…"

"Yeah, lookit you, kickin' ass out there!" Mr. L chimed in.

"Seriously!" Livi agreed. "And look! Got my own logo and everything!" With that, Livi sat up and yanked the white racer's jacket she was wearing over her head. She laid it face-down on the bed, spreading it flat so the other two could see her personalized logo on the back.

It was very basic. A simple orange ring circled behind a large five-point star. Each of the star's points was a different color. "How lovely!" Dimentio cried. "Did you design this?"

Livi nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! It's the fangirl logo! Look… orange is me." She declared, laying her finger on the ring. She then started at the topmost color, and circled around to the right. "Green is for Luigi… The blue one is Kamek… Red is Fawful's… and you two are Purple and Black!"

"Aw, how sappy!" Mr. L cried. "It's all of us!"

"Oh, how that brings back memories…" Dimentio sighed, wrapping his arms around Livi's shoulders. Whether he was being sarcastic or not, the others couldn't quite tell. "I do so miss the others…"

"Really…" Mr. L agreed. "'sides Dimentio, I don't think we've spoken to any of the others."

Livi shook her head. "Apparently, no one has… Luigi said he and Kamek have been writing…"

"Oh, have they?" Dimentio sang. "How adorable!"

"I know, right?!" Livi immediately agreed.

"What about Fawful?" Mr. L asked, lightly thumping Livi's arm. "He still crawling around in the sewers?"

Livi suddenly went silent. She lowered her eyes, and quietly whispered, "…Fawful game-overed."

Mr. L gaped at her, looking horrified. "…are you serious?"

Dimentio's hand flew to cover his mouth. "Oh, how awful! What in all the dimensions happened?"

Livi shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure… He really just lost his mind all of the sudden… He tried to get this thing called the Dark Star, and use it to take over the world… things… backfired, to say the least… it consumed his mind—not entirely unlike Dimentio and the Chaos Heart…"

Dimentio's head dropped into his hands upon hearing that. "Oh, the poor dear… that's just awful… He's too young to have gone like that…"

"I know…" Livi sighed in agreement. "I just hope he's better off, wherever he's gone too… I felt so bad leaving him here alone…"

"Holy shit…" Mr. L breathed, taking a seat on the bed. "…he was all alone, wasn't he?"

And with that, Livi was sobbing. She threw herself around Dimentio and cried and cried. Dimentio only hugged her in return as Mr. L slowly stroked her hair. They couldn't think of anything to say, so they said nothing. Everyone simply sat around in silence and let the pain wash over them.