#Chaos heart | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

russetruse · 9 months ago

Text

I know I don’t post writings here often, but I wanted to write something for @lizadale’s Dimigi!au. I don’t know Libby if you dream about the Dimigi!au but sometimes I do. I blame you sis. But also I added a lot more since you read the smaller version, enjoy almost 3k words on only part one of many.

Sorry it is written in 2nd person, but I blame Libby for getting me to only function in this style of writing but I can’t seem to write in any other prospective anymore lol.

I color coded characters, but what sucks is that this one doesn’t have black so I can’t use one of my original colors for characters speak. So the color I planned for one character had to move to the heart and the hearts color was originally black >:[ But I hope you enjoy.

Calamitous Revelry

Part I

Luigi Prov

CW/TW: Trauma, abuse, triggers on abuse, mentions on drowning/strangulation

You run your fingers through his greasy, tangled hair. Every time he goes on a mission, it seems he neglects basic bodily functions. The longer he’s off on one of his Merloo missions, the more worried you become. It brings you back to the days of the Castle, how he only seemed to eat when the other members were shoving food in his face at the required meetings. Even back then, his mask didn’t hide much from you. He had long given up before joining that group. It just frustrated you so much, he puts his own well being always being last on his list.

”Can you be more gentle?” He spoke very softly, but the voice cuts through the silence. His fragile, small body, leaning against the frame of the claw foot bathtub. It knots your stomach seeing him like this. Why did he always do this? Why was being away from you for any extended amount of time so collapsing to his mental state? Were you the only thing keeping him from self-destructing?

”Sorry. You really knotted your hair this time. I am trying my best to be gentle.” You reply softly, not wanting to cause him to jump and flee. This was close to being just as bad as when you found him almost dead in the deteriorating remains of Castle Bleck. Dimentio being caked in blood and dirt. You were hardly able to handle how much came off of him then, but even this was trying to match up to that day. Right now, the bath water was darker than your tan skin. You click your tongue, a Dio habit that you had seemed to pick up sometime throughout the course of living with him. Very glad that you had rolled up your sleeves above your elbows before even starting to wash him. And the water being this dirty before you even started to actually scrub his body! You click your tongue again in annoyance and frustration.

You knew Dimentio wanted to teleport away. Especially after he walked into the house. Well walked was even an understatement. He half floated, half dragged his feet across the threshold when he opened the door to your entrance. You swore he was going to collapse there in the entrance if you hadn’t been there to grab him and hold him with your own weight.

What shocked you more was the jester actually complained as you fondled him in worry, going down your own checklist in your head as you did so. First, checking him for injuries since he did have some blood caked on his clothes, and you weren’t sure if that blood was his or another’s. Which raised even more questions that you knew he wouldn’t divulge answers to you. So giving up on even prying into the matter, you scoop him up bridal style, and rush him up the stairs. Your lips placing kisses on his scars around his left eye, making sure to not miss a spot and to distract him from what you had planned ahead.

He started struggling in your grasp as you started running warm water in the tub of the finished guest room and declothed him. The caked on clothes were a pain to get off of his dirtied skin. Through the frustration of removing the clothes piece by piece, you confirmed at least most of the blood on his clothes were not his. Which did not lighten the feeling of comfort you wanted from his return, it concerned you more. Whose blood was this and did they deserve such injuries from him? But you shake your head, another series of questions you would not get answers to. You needed to get him clean before you would even get any chance to put food in his system. Let alone would your mind allow you to put him on the back burner and cook food when you knew he needed to be cleaned up right away.

The jester complained as you worked on completely bringing him down to his birthday suit, still double checking for any injuries that may need stitches or extra care. He complained to you until you submerged him into the warm bath water, that’s when his demeanor changed. He then held onto you as if his life depended on it. As if the water in the tub would drag him below the water's surface and take his last breath. You also knew if you looked away, he would quickly teleport away. And your goal to get him cleaned up would long be abandoned.

It takes you way too long to comb out the knots and grime out of his hair, but this makes you feel a bit better. Well, until you wrap your arm around him; your forearm resting across his chest and placing your hand under his armpit. It always takes you by surprise at how tiny he is, not just in height, but in size. Your body is giant compared to him. And you were use to being called “too skinny”, but even you didn’t complain to the man you held in your arms.

You lean forward, and with your free hand, you begin to drain the dirty water in the tub. You really needed to replace it with fresh, warm water. His body tenses at the water starting to run again to refill the tub. The jesters heart was beginning to race in a panic from this. You press him tighter to you, slowly soaking your own shirt. What good did you get from rolling up your sleeves to only press a wet twink to your chest. But still, you do not let him pull away, hoping that he can feel your heartbeat through the wool top. Yet you also hope that he doesn’t feel the Chaos Heart beating as well in your chest.

”I am NOT letting you go.” You whisper softly into his right ear, your mustache tickling it. Dimentio squirms in your grasp, fighting his own instincts to flee. Every nerve he had, you knew told him to get away quickly. You bring your lips to his ear, pecking it with a soft kiss. His body squirms more at his own signals being challenged. A challenge to fight staying and be adored by you or flee due to the rising water in this situation.

”I won’t let you drown.” You speak sternly to him, not sure if it was in assurance for you or him. You start to nibble on his ear, your free hand grabbing the washcloth and rinsing it under the spout.

You can feel his fingernails dig into your arm as the water rises above his hips. You wince at this, but start to scrub the dirt and grime off of his legs and feet. You take extra time on his swollen ankles in another attempt to calm him. Letting your hand through the wash cloth slowly message his swollen ankles to make sure he didn’t do more damage to them then what appeared on the surface. You find yourself at a loss when you run the washcloth over his ribs. Your stomach turns seeing the jester's ribs through his skin so easily that you could count every one of them. It upsets you so much that he is neglecting himself when he is away from you.

”Luigi.”

You grumble, tightening your grip, mumbling under your own breath. Why was he like this? Why was he so willing to throw his life away? So many cared for him. He had more worth than he thought or believe he had.

”Luigi!”

You can feel your own anger bubbling and building in your body.

No one.

Not even yourself. Not even in the dreamscape. Not even against the chaos heart, or even in your own dreams, were you willing to throw your life away so easily. A growl builds in your throat and comes out through your own words. “Why are you like this?”

“Lui!”

Thu-Thump…

You freeze up, your body stiffens at your own thoughts. Only Dimentio was ever able to rile up so much negative emotions in you. King boo wasn’t even able to do this to you.

“Lui-“

Thu-Thump.

You feel his fingernails claw at both of your arms now. Digging deep enough to draw blood.

Thu-THUMP.

The nails dig deeper and deeper into your arms, clawing down from your elbows to your hands. With what little nails the jester had left, were tearing at your arms. You knew he feared water, but this was ridiculous at how much he was trying to get out of being cleaned by you. You tighten your grip to this, growling loudly in frustration and anger at Dimentio.

THU-THUMP!

Water splashes onto your pants, snapping you out of your own thoughts. The buzzing sound in your ears is replaced with the sound of splashing. Your eyes widen in shock as you quickly pull your hands away from his neck. Your arms and hands dripping from blood from the number he did on you.

You watch him in worry and shock as the ancient quickly yanks himself from under the water's surface. Dimentio’s body was shaking uncontrollably from fear, coughing and gasping from the need of oxygen that deprived him. You were unsure of how long you had held him under, but the water he was coughing up said enough. His lungs were trying their hardest to clear the water that you had forced into them. The ancients eyes never leave your bloody, shaking hands.

No…

No.

No! You would never do that to him.

Never!

THU-THUMP!

You can hear the heart beating loudly in your ears and chest.

”I’m sorry Dio. I-It wasn’t me,” you stutter though a shaky voice, “I promise. It was th-“

You reach your shaking hands towards him in assurance. But the second you do, the familiar sounds of the jester teleporting away before you can even finish your explanation. Your eyes now staring at a bodiless bathtub full of fresh water, with swirls of red in it.

”C-Chaos H-Heart….” You finish, your voice trailing off to a soft whisper.

THU-Thump…

You let your arms drop to your sides in disbelief. The heart had found another opening, this time by your emotions. It had taken advantage of your emotional loophole, and went after what was the biggest threat to it. The one you loved…

It wasn’t you. You would never do that to him.

Never…

Never!

The image of Dio’s scared. No, scared was an understatement. He was terrified. And when you closed your eyes, that expression from Dimentio showed on the back of your eyelids. The bathtub overflowing, starting to soak your jeans and socks.

You needed to fix this. But could you even fix it? You stand, ignoring the tub overflowing and slowly flooding the bathroom. Your soaked socks splash in the water as you walk over to the sink, ignoring your own discomfort. You pick up the phone with shaky hands. You were having such trouble dialing the number correctly on the keypad, that you changed to your call list and clicked the forth or fifth recent call down.

You lift the cell to your ear and after a few rings you hear an ecstatic voice that didn’t match the feelings you were having right now.

”Gigi! It’s been a while. What-“

”Mimi. I fucked up badly. I need Nassy’s help, now. It’s too much to explain. Please…Please tell her it’s urgent.”

”That bad? I’ll get a hold of her ASAP. Keep your door unlocked Gigi. You better be ready to explain then.” You hear the phone click to Mimi hanging up and you drag yourself out of the bathroom. Your wet socks slush against the carpet of your guest room, and you force yourself down the steps. The house sounds oddly silent, except for the sound of what you believe is still the bathtub running. You must have forgotten to turn off the water, but you don’t seem to have the energy to bring yourself back up the stairs.

You bring yourself to the couch and work on removing your drenched socks. Your hands are shaking so badly that the simple task is more of a challenge than it should be. You discard your socks on the floor near you and you pull your legs up to you on the couch, making yourself as small as your body would allow you to.

You bring your eyes to your hands. Your hands rough with calusis from all the tinkering and hard work you did, middle class work. Though it had been a while since you had seen blood oozing from them. You shake your head.

His body was so small, so fragile. He was so easy to force under the water with your hands. It was even easier to wrap your fingers around his thin throat and start squeezing. He would have been easy to break, easy to finish off. You could snap him like the twig he was. Would anyone really miss him? Didn’t he deserve to be dead? He still attempted to go after IT. He still wanted to go after his original goal with the heart. He wasn’t a fighter, he was weak in that aspect. You could so easily break him, all you would have to do is grab his neck and snap it. He deserved that.

“Enough!” You yell to no one in particular, grabbing at your own greasy hair. Heck there were times you would have never fought those thoughts after everything he had put you through, but these thoughts weren’t your own. You growl at yourself for letting the heart dig into your thoughts and emotions over Dimentio. He confused you so much and had your emotions everywhere. You had anger towards him, frustration, confusion, annoyance, but most of all…you loved him.

Thu-Thump.

You grasp your shirt above your own heart. You couldn’t imagine a day without him anymore. You wanted to spoil him with affection that he was long deprived of. You wanted to show him what the world should have long given him. You so badly wanted to let him figure out what the true meaning of his emotions towards you were. Why did this relic have to be such a problem, and everyday you were losing more and more to it. You bite your bottom lip. You couldn’t lose to it, so many would fall if you lost. It would return to where it was taken from. It would reopen the void that you had worked so hard with your friends to close. If you could rip it out yourself and stop it from what it was made to do you would, but you were already told what that outcome would be.

A loud bang on the door causes you to jump from the couch, almost hitting your head on the ceiling from surprise. Only for the silence to be followed by the door slamming open before you can even take a step towards the entrance. The voice booming louder than the door hitting the wall or knocking combined.

“Ye here lad? We rush’t here as fas’ as we coud. Dimensoon stil’ a’ problem withoot tae wee yin crossin’ tae gap fir us.”

28 notes · View notes

mochilorddrakeinferno · 1 year ago

Note

(another spm thing haha I should actually play the game at some point also I read your entire dimentio doc and I LOVED IT) why do you think Luigi is the ideal host for the Chaos Heart?

Oh, glad you liked it, thank you! As for your question, it's a good one, but... I don't know if I really have a great answer on it. Let's start with some important information about the Chaos Heart. Its name in the original Japanese is the "Love Power of Chaos". This is significant because it tells us a lot more about the type of thing it is. Throughout Super Paper Mario, it is repeatedly emphasized that the power of pure love is capable of... well, just about anything. Reviving the dead, restoring the *beyond* dead, bringing worlds back from non-existence, even defying fate itself.

But that power isn't a purely positive one. Love at its core is passion, it's caring about someone, it's a bond between hearts. But that care isn't always mutual, benevolent, or healthy. Obsession is a kind of love, unhinged devotion a kind of care. But it's a different kind of love, something corrupt. Chaotic love. Where pure love is a thing of light and restoration and possibility, chaotic love is a negative power, associated with destruction, darkness, inevitability, and madness. So when Peach and Bowser completed the worst marriage ever, that is why the Chaos Heart was born.

(Side-note: The fact that he would later try to marry her again in Super Mario Odyssey does suggest it's a one-time occurrence that wouldn't happen if they got married a second time, which in turn probably means the specific circumstances of the wedding in SPM and/or the Dark Prognosticus's prophecy played a part in things, but to what extent is unclear.)

Now, the other thing about the Chaos Heart is it's weirdly parasitic in behavior. We know from Count Bleck's tattle that it grants certain powers (presumably related to dark magic) to its bearer, as well as placing a protective barrier around them. But unlike the Purity Heart, it needs a host to continue existing, disappearing if they die and fleeing a mortally injured host. It makes sense that the Chaos Heart would get along with Count Bleck. He's a man haunted by overwhelming grief, swimming in the exact sort of chaotic love from which the Chaos Heart was made. Dimentio's ego could suggest a self-absorbed form of chaotic love is at play with him as well. But then where exactly does Luigi come into this?

Some theorize that he's a perfect host for the Chaos Heart because he wasn't actually Luigi at the time, he was Mr. L. This doesn't really work, as Dimentio only refers to him as "man in green" in the Japanese version of that scene, with Mr. L's name just being invoked in the English localization for some reason. There might be some merit to the idea that he wasn't truly Luigi at the time, but by that metric, he also wasn't... anyone. In Japanese, Dimentio specifically says the Dark Prognosticus predicted Luigi's *body* was the "perfect vessel" for the Chaos Heart. This, along with the fact that Luigi spends his entire time as part of Super Dimentio with his mind overwritten, weirdly kind of implies that his mind and so his personal connection to chaotic love might be irrelevant to what makes him a good host for the Chaos Heart.

However, since that matter is rather unclear, it's worth looking into another popular theory that does touch on the actual mind of Luigi and what chaotic love he may feel. Namely... the universe is not always kind to our plucky plumber in green. He's far less popular than his brother, often the butt of circumstance's jokes, and often disrespected by those around him. Some believe that this has created a repressed jealousy within Luigi for his brother, such that even though he loves his brother deeply, there is a wellspring of chaotic potential beneath it. And... this is a good idea to explore in fan works, there's a lot to dive into, fascinating interpretations you can make of Luigi's character through that lens, but from a canonical perspective, it's just not very supported.

For one thing, you never see it explored in the game. Super Paper Mario features one of the most confident showings of Luigi we've ever seen. Luigi never expresses dissatisfaction in his relationship with his brother, and he isn't even really mocked or negatively compared to Mario, at least not in any way that's given much thematic weight. Heck, even as Mr. L, who's lost all his memories and been hypnotized into a whole new purpose and identity, he still develops a brotherly connection through Brobot. And looking to other games, we continue to see their brotherly bond as not only positive, but aspirational.

Starlow comments on how much they trust each other. On Star Hill, wish is to be a great plumber like Mario. In Dream's Deep, we see his thoughts and feelings toward his brother laid bare, and they're all supportive and positive. Mario and Luigi's relationship may not be perfect, no relationship can be, but from all indication those two are about as close as you're gonna get. The closest we ever really get to a hint of a negative side to Luigi's perception of Mario is in Luigi's diary in PM64, where he says it's unfair that Mario went on an exciting journey alone. In other words... he's upset that he didn't get to go along and spent time adventuring with his bro. Hardly a statement of resentment. So the resentment theory analytically seems to fall flat as well.

This leaves only two real options of which I'm aware, and they're kind of the least narratively satisfying ones. One is that it's just a mystery and we don't know why, and the other is that it's true because it's what the Dark Prognosticus predicted. He's the perfect host because destiny says so. There is quite some evidence that the Dark Prognosticus itself is the reason many of its prophecies occur, and indeed that it may be what forces them to, but for a case such as how suited a person is to being the vessel of a very specific kind of dark power... well, like I said, it's not especially satisfying as a conclusion. So this is kind of a roundabout way of saying I'm not sure there is a definitive answer here.

#super paper mario #super paper mario lore #mario lore #luigi #chaos heart #dark prognosticus #dimentio #super dimentio #Mario and Luigi #mr. l

25 notes · View notes