tJfaJ: Chapter 23

"I wonder why the sky's blue…" I asked aloud to the empty hallway.

I heard the demon shift within my mind, giving a heavy groan of frustration at my intense boredom interrupting her nap once again. "The sky is not blue, you ignorant twit…" she hissed irritably. "The sky is purple."

I sighed, folding my arms on the window I sat at, staring out in to the void that hung over and around Castle Bleck. "…yeah… but everywhere else, it's blue."

"Because some perfectly horrid higher being decided it was an appropriately atrocious color for the sky of an awful world." My demon seethed. "Let me rest, girl."

I gave a short, sharp breath. "I'm just talking to myself. You don't have to answer me."

She growled loudly. "It is incredibly difficult to obtain decent peace with you constantly prattling away your nonsensical wonderings in my ear."

"I'm bored." I stated plainly. Not in the whining tone I used on any of the others that really meant "entertain me," but simply the stating of a simple fact. "I've got nothing better to do, so I'm just wondering."

She snarled at me. "The world is how it is, and that's all there is to it. Don't waste your stupid time wondering about it."

I was silent for a little while. She seemed to settle back down, and I thought I felt her jump when I spoke again. "Why do you think the sky's blue?"

"Because… I don't know!" She shrieked.

"Well, don't you want to know?" I gently asked.

She growled. "No! Be quiet!"

I could tell she was in a bad mood. I could help it, though—I was curious. I wanted to know not only what was happening around me, but why. I wanted to soak up all the information I could. The demon, on the other hand, was disgusted by my world, and only ever saw it as she did now—something to occupy my thoughts and interrupt her naps.

"…was the sky blue in my home?" I asked quietly.

Another growl echoed in my head. "I thought I told you to be silent."

"Well, was it?" I insisted. "…I don't… remember…"

I expected her to snap at me again, but instead, she simply sighed heavily. "…no." she said at last. "The sky was pale yellow—almost white."

"…was it really?" I asked in awe. "…what was my world like?"

She paused. I was very surprised that she answered. "…it was not so different from others… there were creatures of your race that built up villages and castles. They hunted the lower beings of the world, and grew nourishment from the ground. They were different, in a way, but to me, they seemed not very different from any other world I had ventured to."

It didn't exactly make up for all my years of forgotten memories, but at least it was something. "…what about your world?"

There was silence at my question, almost as though she were still uncertain of whether or not I had actually asked it. "…what?" she demanded after a moment.

Strangely—though her tone was sharp—there was no harshness in it. She hadn't told me to shut up either. "What was your world like?" I asked again. "You keep saying you can't survive well in mine… but you had to come from somewhere right?"

She was silent again for a very long time. "…it was very dark…" she decided at last. "…my people are not like yours… we are far worse… not in bad ways, I think, but certainly in ways that every other race has been taught their entire life to avoid…"

I gulped slightly. "So you're the bad guys."

"The epitome of this cliché you call 'the bad guys'." She corrected.

"Do you guys have families?" I naïvely asked.

She breathed deeply. "Don't be ridiculous. No one can simply be. Everyone came from some family."

I twisted my face. "What were your parents like, then?"

"I don't remember." was her blunt response.

I blinked. "…did someone take your memories like you took mine?"

She kept pausing. I don't think she liked answering all these questions, but if she really wanted me to stop talking, she had the power to shut me up. At the very least, she could ignore me. But, again, she answered me. "No. I suppose I never had any time to make any memories worth stealing. I was raised in the castle, and wormed my way to a position beside the King of our land."

"Did you love him?" I asked, a bit of a smile twitching at my lips.

"Of course, everyone adored the King." She stated matter-of-factly. "Those who didn't love him were executed."

"…Oh." I said quietly. I decided it best to steer off of that particular subject. "Did you have any friends?"

"I had allies and fools that bent to my will." She snarled, and I knew she was referring to me in a way. "I had no time or use for 'friends.'"

We sat there in silence for a while. She didn't seem to have much at all in common with whatever life I seemed to have forgotten. I wanted to know more about her, but then again, I wanted to keep a safe distance from anything that might have something to do with her. I think that was kind of what she was aiming for.

Finally, though, I decided on a question she had to have some answer for. "…What was your name?"

"What do you mean what was it?" She demanded sharply and a tad sarcastically. "Has my name changed or vanished without my knowledge and against my will?"

"Well, no, I guess not." I mumbled, silently relieved that she as least seemed to have an answer—even if she was kind of dodging giving it to me. "You've just… never told me what it was."

"What business is it of yours?" The demon snapped, a growl hiding at the edge of her voice.

I shrugged. "I guess it's not. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. But, it'd be nice if I could call you by your name."

Silence stretched between us, and I determined that she was either ignoring me or had simply found a way to block me out and go to sleep.

And suddenly, without warning, a single word sounded sharply in my mind. It lasted for only a brief instant, and was gone in the next. "Miinyx."

I blinked, stunned. "…what?" I asked, shuffling through recent thoughts and miserably groping for the vanishing word. The demon held her firm silence. Finally, though, I found it. "…Miinyx is a lovely name." I decided. "Would you mind me calling you that?"

"…I suppose not." She whispered stiffly after quite some time. I smiled at my accomplishment, but decided I had pressed her far enough, and was quiet lucky to still be in one piece. So I went back to staring out the window and keeping my thoughts quiet and my voice silent. After a minute or so, I felt the throbbing in my head ease and I knew she was asleep.

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My feet slapped hard on the ground as I dashed through the corridors as quickly as I could. Miinyx was shrieking at me again, but I ignored her. I couldn't even hear her. It was after nearly a half-hour of running that I found myself in the correct hall. I screeched to a halt and dashed over to the window panes. Nastasia had explained to me that they were one-way vision. I could look into the meeting room and see and hear what was going on, but no one could see me—or even that the wall dissolved into window at some point.

I pressed my face firmly to the glass, searching the pedestals down below. There he was—Dimentio was back.

"…and that is how the ruffians managed to best me…" He gloomily informed the Count, hanging his head in shame. I could tell from here that Dimentio's cloak was tattered, his body beaten, and his pride horribly wounded.

My heart felt a pang of sympathy for the jester. O'Chunks stood behind him, but he didn't look all that sympathetic. None of them did, actually. Of course, we had all expected Dimentio to throw open the chamber doors and saunter into the room and offer Count Bleck the hero's head on a silver platter. No one had even thought he'd drag himself beaten and bruised back to the Count like O'Chunks and I had.

We'd all failed. None of us could beat them.

Dimentio gave a half-hearted chuckle, glancing hopefully up at the Count. "They are strong, to be sure… Dare I say—they may even be strong enough to defy the prophecy!"

Count Bleck waved him off, turning with a dramatic whoosh of his cape to begin pacing back and forth on his podium. "Spare Count Bleck your theatrics." He said sharply. The Light Prognosticus is false—the Dark Prognosticus holds any prophecy we may need to halt the uprising of the heroes."

"Dimentio failed as well, did he?" I heard my demon snarl, an interest in the conversation seeming to slowly creep over her. "How curious… I was under the impression he was much stronger than that…"

My hands clenched into fists. "He is." I declared firmly. "I'll bet those good-for-nothing heroes played dirty just like they did with me. Two against one isn't fair—and now they've got a third one too!"

"Whatever you say, girl…" Miinyx hissed, returning to silence to allow me to listen.

"Nastasia!" The Count said sharply, snatching my attention abruptly back to him. "It's time we set him on these pests."

Nastasia pulled out her clipboard and jotted something down as she spoke. "Uh, right. I can take care of that for you right away, Count."

"Lovely, exclaimed Count Bleck." And I saw a sinister smile cross his face as he said it. I was curious as to what he meant—and the others seemed to wonder about it as well. However, I saw Dimentio open his mouth to inquire the Count's intentions, but he was cut off by the Count snapping "Return to your posts, minions!"

Dimentio and O'Chunks each gave a sharp "Hail Bleck!"—Dimentio's accompanied by a low bow and O'Chunks' by a sharp salute before the two vanished into the castle.

I started running the moment they were gone. "Wait, girl!" Miinyx snapped.

"But, I wanna see Dimmy!" I whined, screeching to a halt despite the fact.

"Shh!" She hissed, and I could feel her fidgeting anxiously in my mind. "That Count of yours is still speaking! What's he saying?"

Curious, I couldn't help but wander over to the window. "That is enough, Nastasia." The Count said sharply, turning away from the secretary. Nastasia held her place on her pedestal, face downcast as she listened to Count Bleck's words. "We have already come this far, so we will forge on!"

The Count paused in his steps, and was silent for a moment. "…you need not stay by Count Bleck's side, though." His voice was softer this time. It took me and Miinyx a moment to determine what she had said. "If you so desire, you may depart now with my blessing."

Nastasia looked shocked to hear that. She quickly shook her head in a violent motion. "Um, no, my Count. I won't be doing that." She curtly informed him. "My life has been sworn to you since the day you saved me… I'll be sticking it out with you until my game ends, 'k?"

There was silence, then Count Bleck solemnly bowed his head. "…if that pleases you." He decided. And with that, he left, Nastasia following soon after.

And with nothing left to hold Miinyx's interest, I had a jester to hunt down.

It was only a few moments of running later when I found Dimentio, only floating away from the meeting room just now. "Dimmy!" I shrieked, flinging myself at him immediately.

He was surprised, and clumsily caught me on reflex alone. "Ah, Mimi! You surprised me!"

"What were you doing in the meeting room?" I questioned, and I was a little uncertain whether it was me or Miinyx that asked it. "I thought the others already left."

"Ah, I had simply forgotten something, my dear." Dimentio explained, setting me on the ground with a bright smile and a pat on my head.

"Did you hear what the Count and Nastasia said?!" I demanded instantly. "Do you know what they were talking about?"

Dimentio blinked, and I thought for a moment I saw his smile waver a fraction. "Ah, I'm afraid I haven't the faintest idea, my dear."

"Well, let's go ask 'em!" I cried, bolting past him.

Dimentio was in front of me in the next moment, and before I could blink, I was off the ground, in his arms, and being carried quickly away. "No, no, no, my darling Mimi, I'm afraid we can't do that."

"Why not?" The words shot out of my mouth before I could blink. "Aren't you curious?"

"Extremely." Dimentio assured me. "But, the Count and Nastasia, as I understand it, have a rather… complex relationship. It's best for us to stay out of it."

I went silent for a moment. "What happened? Did the Count really save Nastasia's life?"

Dimentio sighed, and I could tell he was getting tired of me. "As far as I can tell, that appears to be what has happened."

"How?" I continued to pester. "What happened?"

"Mimi, darling, as much as I enjoy these conversations…" I knew when a sentence began like that, he was being very sarcastic, and also trying to either shut me up or get rid of me. "…I'm very tired, and in desperate need of a very long nap. Could you possible hold this ridiculous mountain of impossible questions for some other time?"

I sighed, folding my arms over my chest and settling deeper into his arms. "I guess so… I think I'm kinda tired too, actually."

Dimentio smiled down at me. "You're more than welcome to join me in rest, if that would please you, my dear."

I smiled brightly in return. "Sure, Dimmy. Sounds awesome."