A/N: I'm doing a playthrough of Super Paper Mario and it's making me want to write things about it. I love the 'villains' of this game (doesn't everyone?), and like imagining what their relationships might be outside of what we see on-screen. I'll probably end up doing more about them (albeit nothing with O'Chunks because I can't write his accent).

This is not DimentioXMimi since they barely know each other here, but I do kinda like the pairing and might do something with it in the future.

Enjoy!

'Dammit, Dimentio! You – you freak! Give me my diary back!'

Mimi's face was contorted in rage as she sprinted through the castle corridors, chasing the small flying figure that always seemed to be at least one corner ahead of her. She knew full well that she looked and sounded ridiculous, which did nothing to improve her mood. By the Stars, if she ever managed to catch up with him...

'Oh, why did the Count have to hire you!' she yelled, finally coming to a stop ten minutes later when she was so exhausted that she'd tripped and fallen, landing heavily on her hands and knees. She was furious, embarrassed, and practically burning with the desire to grab Dimentio by the neck and shake him until she wiped that smug grin off his face. She was so tired – tired of chasing him, tired of having her diary stolen, tired of him existing. She knew Count Bleck must have hired him for a good reason, but that didn't change her opinion of him one bit.

She wasn't expecting an answer, and so nearly jumped out of her skin when the jester suddenly materialised in front of her. 'Poor Mimi,' he said, his voice quiet and whimsical. It was a voice that she found impossible to trust. 'Maybe you should just give up. All this endless running about, it's so unbecoming! Not to mention terribly unhealthy. Why, you look like you might keel over from a heart attack at any moment...'

Mimi screeched in rage and took a swipe at him, but he simply leaned backwards to avoid the clumsy blow. She was so exhausted that he didn't even need to teleport to get away from her. The realisation only soured her mood further.

'What the hell do you want, Dimentio?!' she snarled. 'And why are you so interested in my diary, anyway?'

He tilted his head. 'Why, isn't it obvious?'

'No, it isn't! Explain yourself!'

He sighed. 'It's often said that patience is a virtue... not that I expected to find it in you, nor any of the other hopeless 'minions' in this castle.' He snapped his fingers and Mimi's diary materialised beside him, floating in mid-air. Seeing the familiar green cover with her name written on the front, Mimi made a lunge for it, but Dimentio casually levitated it out of her reach.

'Ooh, you want to play dirty, do you?' she growled. 'Well, I can too!' Stagging to her feet, she summoned a Rubee, which floated above her head for a split second before flying like a knife towards Dimentio.

He raised a magical barrier that deflected the missile straight back at her, forcing her to dodge.

Mimi kind of wanted to cry.

'Look, please just give me my diary back,' she said. 'Why do you want it so badly anyway?'

Again, he ignored the question. 'If I give it back,' he said, 'will you stop attempting to sneak into my private room when I'm not there?'

Mimi considered. She had been trying to get into his room lately – but that was only because he was so damned secretive about it! Nobody else in the castle kept their rooms protected by magical wards that prevented any outsiders from getting in. She'd already been in the Count's chambers more than once to admire his possessions and relish the thrill of being somewhere she shouldn't, and he hadn't even known! Ever since Dimentio had moved into the castle a week ago, he'd kept his door blocked by a strange barrier that nobody had been able to break through. Even Count Bleck claimed that he didn't have the ability to access Dimentio's room, and Mimi knew that his magic powers were immense.

How could she possibly resist the urge to try and get in there? It was a forbidden room, and Mimi loved forbidden things.

However, she was so desperate to get her diary back before Dimentio started reading it again that she immediately nodded. 'Yes, I promise, now just hand it over before I throw more Rubees at you!'

'Oh, we wouldn't want that to happen, would we?' he replied, not sounding concerned in the slightest. He grabbed the levitating diary and dropped to the floor, his feet making a soft thump on impact. 'Here, come take it,' he offered.

Mimi scowled. He was standing a good five feet away and had her diary clutched firmly in his hand. She'd have to actually walk over and take it from him. Obviously, he thought she'd be too afraid to do this and would give up, but Mimi was not scared of him.

She marched forwards and snatched the little book back. For an instant, Dimentio's expression showed surprise before shifting back to its usual mask-like smile.

'Have it your way,' he said. 'Honestly, I'm disappointed that you weren't able to catch me. After hearing the Count go on and on about how 'powerful' you were... Well, I expected something more.'

Mimi had had enough. Taking advantage of their close proximity, she lashed out as fast as she could and gripped Dimentio's ruff, jerking him towards her so that their eyes were barely an inch apart.

'Now listen here, freak,' she hissed through gritted teeth to the stunned jester, 'the only reason I haven't killed you is because the Count wants us to work together, and I'm loyal to him. But if you annoy me enough, then maybe I'll find a way to get rid of you without him knowing...'

Dimentio's shocked expression remained for a moment longer, then changed back into a smile. The material under her fingers suddenly fell away as he teleported out of existence. She realised then that his apparent surprise had been nothing but an act, and she screamed out loud with sheer frustration.

Then she felt a movement at her back and a gentle pressure against her throat, cutting off her scream and making her stop dead. Dimentio had reappeared right behind her and had his gloved hand wrapped around her neck, not tightly enough to choke her but tightly enough that she was scared to move in case he did something worse.

'Mimi, Mimi,' he said, shaking his head with a theatrical sigh. One of the bells on his jester hat swayed in front of her face with a hypnotising motion. 'You really ought to be more careful. Trying to sneak into my room... challenging me... you don't know half of what I'm capable of. And I'm sure the Count will be very disappointed if you... hmm... disappear, don't you think?'

His fingers squeezed her neck and Mimi started to feel herself going lightheaded. Not from lack of air, but from terror. In the week he'd been around, Dimentio had never shown this side of himself in her presence. She had considered him nothing more than an annoyance; never a real danger.

Now, she realised that she'd been wrong. Terribly wrong. He was dangerous, and she had no doubts that he could make her disappear if he really wanted to.

'OK, OK, Dimentio, I'm sorry!' she squeaked. 'I'm sorry for trying to get into your room! It won't happen again! Just let go of me and we'll pretend this whole thing never happened, OK?'

'Never happened? But how could I forget such an invigorating encounter?' He was practically breathing the words into her ear. She could feel so much of him; not just his hand curled around her neck but also most of his body pressed up against her back. His other arm had draped itself lazily over her shoulder and she could see dark fingers out of the corner of her eye. Mimi drew in a long, calming breath. Despite her terror, she also couldn't ignore the fact that he was a guy – a mysterious, powerful guy – who was pressed so close against her that she could literally feel him breathing. No heartbeat, though. She wondered if he even had a heart, physically speaking.

'Dimentio,' she said through clenched teeth, 'if you don't let go right this second, I'm going to tell the Count about this, and he'll throw you out. I'm not kidding.'

'Are you sure he'd listen to you? He hired me for a good reason, you know. I don't think he'd make me leave over such a trivial thing as this.'

Mimi started preparing to teleport. It was moments like these when she was incredibly grateful to have the ability, especially since not every one of the Count's minions did. However, it tended to exhaust her, and she was already exhausted enough. That was why she hadn't tried until now. But she was beginning to think that she didn't have much choice.

'You're going to run away from me,' breathed Dimentio, and she froze. 'I can feel it. You're scared to face me, aren't you, Mimi? When you're angry with me, you're not afraid... but as soon as the tables are turned, you want to run, like a disobedient child fleeing a parent.'

His voice was softly amused, and his grip on her neck hadn't tightened in the slightest. But Mimi could sense more danger radiating from him than ever before. In that instant, she knew that she had no chance of ever beating him. He was a magician, armed with dark magic that she'd seen no-one else but the Count use, and he wielded it with far greater ease, too. If he wanted to, he could easily dispose of her while simultaneously erasing any evidence of himself being the culprit.

Without a word in response, she teleported.

Dimentio didn't seem surprised to find himself suddenly alone in the corridor, his hands empty. He merely gazed around with a slight smile, waiting to see if Mimi would reappear somewhere nearby, and when she didn't, he snapped his fingers and teleported back to his room.

Elsewhere, Mimi sunk to her knees with a shuddering gasp, both from exhaustion and relief. She'd almost expected Dimentio to have some way of stopping her from teleporting. Either he didn't, or he did but had chosen to let her escape. Heart still thumping, she stood up shakily and began to make her way to the training room where she could hear O'Chunks viciously attacking a punchbag. He was dull company, but she desperately needed to be around other people – people who weren't creepy. The idea of sitting alone somewhere and having Dimentio appear behind her was more than she could bear.

'Yer all righ', Mimi?' O'Chunks rumbled when he noticed her entering the room. He was surprised and it showed clearly. Mimi didn't come in here very often, preferring to hone her combat skills alone.

'I'm fine,' she replied, her mind somewhere else.

'You've got that look on yer face again. Y'know, when Dimentio's been botherin' yer. 'As he been stealin' yer diary again?'

Surprised that the gruff warrior even had enough perceptiveness to notice such a thing, Mimi nodded. Then she jumped slightly as O'Chunks walked towards her and patted her firmly on the shoulder in what was clearly supposed to be a reassuring gesture.

'Well, nevermind him! C'mon, let's go get some training done! It'll help take yer mind off things!'

Mimi thought he was probably right. And so she spent the rest of the morning practising her battle moves in the training room, quickly forgetting about Dimentio as she lost herself in thoughts about the Count's plans to create a perfect new world instead.

She wouldn't let Dimentio bother her, she decided. All she had to do was tolerate him until the Count didn't need him anymore.