Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

            Jotaro was not the normal human being, he’s six foot four with a hat that seems to merge with his hair and muscles that rival those of a wild animal. That’s as far as the normal human can see. Those like him will notice that he is probably the strongest Stand user in the world: the user of a Stand with more strength than an ox and faster than a cheetah, the latter partially due to its ability to stop time. Using this superpower for good should grant him a life free of fear. Or at least, it should.

            He was definitely scared now that everything was stopped around him and he hadn’t caused it. He wouldn’t have noticed, it was something that only happened for a few seconds. He was not totally mobile, so he knew he didn’t do it. The last time he felt this way, like swimming in maple syrup, was six years in the past in 1988. The enemy Stand User in front of him was frozen mid-attack and Star Platinum gave its User the same look of confusion and fear. Jotaro gave him the signal to take the advantage to finish the foe now. I must have triggered it unconsciously. It was the most reasonable explanation. Yes, he’ll make do with that for now.

            Time resumed and his mind still hadn’t left the matter alone. That was over five seconds and thus not his doing, not an accident. The enemy went flying back, crashing into a nearby wall with a sickening crunch, not that it mattered to him. This had to be reported to the Foundation.

            That he did when he wrapped up the case and made his report. The Speedwagon Foundation’s researchers seemed shocked. There were two of them in front of him, both looked at him with uncertainty and paranoia. “Are you sure that you didn’t trigger it somehow?” asked the head researcher.

            “Are you calling me a liar?” He glared sharply, “I know what I saw.”

            “Alright, well, uh,” the head researcher felt pinned down by the look in his eyes and looked down to shuffle papers as if it was necessary for a greater purpose than to change the direction of the conversation, “We’ll send a crew to look into it. Inform us if you experience it again.”

            He went home late that night for what felt like the first time in forever. The case took half a month and wasn’t worth wasting his time on. Apparently, some detectives, even the ones under the Foundation, needed information to “Have enough evidence” and can’t just go on what they know is right. He kept grumbling about it to himself as he rid himself of his clothes and stepped into the shower. He didn’t even know when he got to the bathroom, his feet simply guided him there. He sighed into the rising steam, Sweet relief.

            Just when he settled down, he curtain suddenly jerked open and a viciously blunt object hit his leg while a child yelled “I got you! I got you now!”

            Star Platinum yanked the weapon away, revealing the face of a very Asurprised daughter. Jotaro blinked in recognition of his daughter and turned off the water, wrapping a towel around his waist. “Hey JoJo,” he grinned at his astonished attacker.

            “Daddy!” She reached over with her tiny four year old arms and hugged his knee, getting herself somewhat wet, “I defended the house like you told me to before you left!”

            “That’s right, I did,” He was used to Jolyne’s lack of sense of personal space, so these interactions didn’t bother him as much as it used to. It was almost welcome with the type of day he’s had. He pried her off, “Wait in bed so you can tell me all about it, okay?”

            “But I even got a dog to go away! I hit it hard with a rock from across the yard!”

            “Sweetie, I need to get dry. Daddy’s had a long day.”

            “Fine,” She sighed and scampered off to her room. She didn’t have to wait long, he returned in white pajamas and a tired look on his face. He sat on her bed, listening to her immediately ramble on about the various violent encounters she initiated. He nodded and stroked her head with his fingers as she waved her arms around in elaboration.

            “Not every fight needs to be violent,” he said when he finished, “You need to use your mind in your fights, too. It can be your greatest weapon.”

            “Yeah, but hitting is funner!” She punched the air on top of her in the way he taught her, the “proper way”.

            He shook his head, “It can get you into more trouble than it’s worth. But fighting with your mind is also fun, I once made a man pass out by bluffing in a card game.”

            She blinked, “You can do that?”

            “If you try hard enough, yes.”

            “That’s so cool! Teach me teach me teach me teach me teach me!”

            He smiled, “Maybe tomorrow. We can do whatever you want tomorrow, it’s your day.”

            “Can we have ice cream for breakfast?”

            “I’ll ask mom.” He felt the tiny arms encircle his own in an attempt at a crushing grip. He feigned a pained gasp for her, who felt encouraged enough to entertain her with a faux fight. She was one of the best things that has ever happened to him, her smile can ease him. At least, it usually does. But tonight he couldn't settle down as much as he'd like. The thoughts of Egypt hit him hard. He lost his best friend that night. If Dio didn't die even after all that, he didn't think he could handle it.

            "Daddy, what's wrong?"

           He'd been sitting quiet for a while, staring at the stars outside. Maybe some of them were his dead friends. It's a childish thought, an idea his mom planted into him as a child to make him believe his ancestors were watching him through the stars. What if? No, that's stupid. He shook his head away from the sands of the past and into the promising greens of the future and its present seeds. "I'm fine," he lied down on his side next to her, the latter giggling and trying to push him off for he took so much space being the giant he was.

            He panicked and almost lost his marbles that morning before realizing where he was; He grows used to those rooms the Speedwagon Foundation provides way too quickly. It took him a moment but he recognized the room’s décor: Light blue walls with butterflies and dolphins as wall stickers, glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to the roof with adhesive, and toys lining everywhere else. It’s a miracle he didn’t trip in this minefield last night, but Jolyne knew the layout of the floor like the back of her hand.

            Jolyne! He realized that she was gone from the bed and at this ungodly hour of 7:34! He got to his feet soon after looking at the dial clock on the wall and rushed off in search. “JoJo!” He rushed into the kitchen, seeing Jolyne and her mother, Roxanne, mixing a bowl.

            Roxanne turned sharply and yelped in surprise at the sudden shout. Then her eyes widened, “JoJo! You weren’t supposed to be home for a week!” Jolyne looked up at the mention of the shared nickname, but realizing it wasn’t her she meant she looked back down.

            “I know,” He came over and they kissed, which gained a sound of disgust from Jolyne. “I finished early,” so I could see you again. “You trust her cooking?”

            “It’s just pancakes,” She assured him, “What could go wrong?” She turned to watch Jolyne singing and swirling the mix while balancing herself on the stool Roxanne brought to let her reach. She was content and that was all Jotaro needed to feel safe before the thoughts—no. No thoughts. No memories. Just now. He had to remind himself of this often, and he tried hard not to think about—No! He chastised himself and focused on his breathing, focused on his family. There we go.

            “Honey, did you take your pills?” She recognized the look on his face.

            “No, I haven’t.” He reached up to the cupboard where they kept several things, specifically medicine and other health-related items like a first-aid kit. He grabbed two bottles from the end of the shelf and took one pill from each, downing them dry; A shocking feat indeed.

            This was how things should be every day for the Kujo family instead of him being anywhere else in the world without his family. However, to him these are selfish thoughts he needs to abandon on a whim. Jotaro believes he was born to protect the innocent from jerks who think they’re boss, innocents like Holly. Mom… I should call mom sometime. For the moment he enjoys the peace.

            And then again, it happened. The same week and he was frozen, Star Platinum not even out at the time. Something's definitely up. He left Roxanne in bed and pressed a kiss to her cheek before heading for the house phone. He looked at the numbers written on the top in Sharpie in his handwriting and dialed it in, letting it ring. The ringing stopped and as soon as he heard the static of an opposite end he started, "Jiji,"

            His grandfather's voice groaned, "Jotaro?"

            Jotaro continued as soon as he confirmed that it indeed was his grandfather, "It's happening again. I've been feeling periods where time suddenly stops, and it's not from my end."

            "What's that supposed to mean?"

            "I fear that another Stand like mine has realized its power. I've been suspecting that something like this would happen, but I wanted to let you know. Where are you right now?"

            "At home."

            "Please try using your Hermit Purple."

            Another groan, "Now?"

            Jotaro tapped his fingers against the phone in his hand, "Yes, now."

            Joseph said nothing, rustling noises the only sound from the receiver for a minute. Joseph suddenly speaking startled Jotaro, "Well, how's Jolyne doing? I heard she's growing up quickly! She's turning four soon, right?"

            Jotaro looked around before admitting the following, "Yes, she is, and she's certainly a work of art. I wish the I could have more time with her, but it's a sacrifice for the greater good."

            "You need to stop overworking yourself. Between marine biology and the Foundation, you don't rest!"

            Jotaro sighed, "Are you checking yet?"

            "...No."

            "Good grief, hurry up." He heard Joseph's footsteps and then silence. He was about to speak when he heard the babbling of a TV as if its channels were being surfed quickly. Then the quiet settled in again for around twenty seconds until Jotaro growled "Jiji? Don't tell me you fell asleep again."

            The howling from the other end had him holding the phone far from his ear, "Oh my God, Dio's not dead!"

            Jotaro's heart dropped, "What?!"

            "He's in a car right now! I see him driving."

            "Is there anyone else there?"

            "Let's see... Yes, but I can't see him. I just see a shape." An accomplice already? Or has he been out for a long time already? When Jotaro didn't respond, Joseph prompted "JoJo?"

            "Yes, I'm here."

            "What are we going to do?"

            Jotaro hesitated, thinking. Then, "We're going to finish what we started, I'm calling Polnareff." He hung up and looked at the list of numbers again, searching for the Frenchman's name. He punched the numbers in and didn't have to wait long.

            "JoJo! What's up kid, what brings you a-callin'?"

            "I have something important to talk to you about. About Egypt,"

            Polnareff stopped in his tracks, "Yeah, what's about it?"

            "We didn't win. We thought we did, but we lost,"

            Polnareff's tone went from excited to dark, "We all lost people that night--"

            "Let me finish, I'm not up for your sappy shit. I don't know how, but Dio's alive. Something happened and Dio's back from the dead again."

            "What? It can't be!"

            "But it is. I want you to meet up at my house by the end of next week, we need to do something about this. We just can't let this monster back out on the world."

            "Yeah, yeah I get you. Hey, how's JoJunior?"

            "I thought we agreed to you never using that name again."

            "Hell no, that's a waste. Well, how's the little bugger, anyway?"

            "She's fine, doing well all around. I'm worried, though,"

            "No need to worry, she's a toughie! She's the kind of kid who beats the shit out of anyone who gets in her way."

            "Heh, no kidding. She beat up a dog because it got in our backyard while I was away."

            "Whoa, that's crazy! I wonder what her Stand will be..." Polnareff drifted away into his thoughts and almost didn't hear Jotaro when he spoke after a pause.

            "I don't want her to get a Stand."

            "You what?! But JoJo, what if--"

            "If she gets a Stand, she'll get involved with other Stand Users and that can only lead to trouble. I don't want her to get a Stand unless the world depended on it."

            "Now that Dio's out again, she kind of does."

            "She's four years old, how the hell is she going to defend herself against anything?" At least I got home in case anything bad happens.

            "Still!"

            "Whatever, I have to call the Foundation and let them know." He hung up, shaking hard. Out of concern, he stepped as lightly as he could through the carpet to Jolyne's room, which had its door open.

            Peeking in, he saw an illuminated lump of covers rising from the top of the bed. It squirmed and giggled, hummed and jiggled. He approached slowly as to not disturb her. He succeeded halfway through until he tripped and fell like a boulder down a cliff. Jolyne screeched and the mountain collapsed, her flashlight pointing at her surprised father. "Daddy, what are you doing?!"

            "Sorry sweetie," He grunted and stood with all the grace of a hyena.

            "Don't scare me like that again, what's wrong with you?"

            "Sorry," Great, you're being scolded by your own daughter, "What are you doing?"

            "Nothing, just couldn't sleep." She sounded terribly sheepish, like a kid lying in a cartoon.

            "A flashlight would just make it worse. What were you doing?"

            "Coloring," She said no more than this, and he didn't push any further. What could a four year old be doing that would be terribly wrong?

            "Hmph," He grunted, sitting next to Jolyne and holding his head. He wiped his nose, seeing blood's ominous glisten on the back of his hand.

            Kakyoin was in front of him again, lifeless and much lighter without a considerable amount of his body. The blood covered his hands and rendered the both of them pale. He set the body down into the wooden box in the hole in the sand besides others of differing sizes with his other friends, but nothing could replace his best friend. They say two can keep a secret if one of them is dead, and how many have they exchanged? The whispers at night, the giggles. He could still hear his voice calling him to show him something stupid he had found, something to elicit his rare beam. "JoJo, look! I brought you something!"

            "Hm? What?" Jotaro once turned to face his friend, who was out of breath from the run he had to do to keep up after staying in a shop for a while.

            Kakyoin brought a keychain out of his pocket with a dolphin on it, the thick blue glass shimmering as much as its holder's eyes. He gave him a wry smile and said "I saw this and figured you'd like it."

            That day, Jotaro had rolled his eyes and muttered "Good grief," and taken it anyway, not even suppressing a grin, "You're so annoying." Both knew he didn't mean it, best friends have that sort of wavelength with each other. He didn't show how much he adored the gift, but he figured that Kakyoin would have known anyway.

            "JoJo," Jotaro whispered to himself, but drew his daughter's attention anyway.

            "Yeah?" Her voice brought him back to the present, the times after friendship died.

            He turned to her and brought the very same keychain out of his breast pocket, "Do you want me to tell you a story about this old dolphin?"

            She nodded, drawing her legs to herself and crossing them. "Sure,"

            He told her of the man who should be here today, the one she should be calling her "Uncle Noriaki" and their silly games. The flashlight was aimed at the keychain the whole time, giving no way for her to know about the tears that run down his face in a stream while he kept his cadence without a crack.

Chapter Text

            It's Jolyne's birthday, a few days after calling in about the last time stop incident, and Jotaro's day couldn't get any worse. Some teenage idiot decided it was smart to get through the yellow light as fast as possible before it turned red and tried to go around Jotaro's car, which ended up ripping the lights and paint job on the right side of his Ford. They both ended up at the side of the road, where he sat outside of his car staring at the guilty party with utter disdain.

            When she started walking over, he stood and glared her down. Before he could say whatever rude thing came off his tongue, she spoke with an Italian accent, “I’m so sorry! I’m Maria,” She held out her hand.

            He didn’t take it and growled, “An Italian, no wonder. What the hell were you thinking?”

            “I apologize, I just have to get to someone’s house. They borrowed a book from me, I was going to pick it up,”

            “Doesn’t excuse your shitty driving.”

            “I’m sorry,” She frowned, “I needed to get it back as soon as possible.”

            “I needed to get to my daughter’s birthday as soon as possible.”

            “Oh! How old is she turning?”

            “None of your business,” he hardened his expression, “I don’t have time for this.”

            “Well, hello!” Oh great, another Italian. He turned to see a cheerful man leaning on a strange orange van with silver swirls coming from it. The man was parked a few feet away from the scene.

            “Mario, what are you doing here?!” Maria exclaimed, running to him.

            “You know her?” Jotaro asked.

            “Yeah, she’s my sister. I felt like she was in trouble so here I am!”

            “Your parents must hate you two for giving you the same name. Just a question, are Italians usually as bad drivers as your sister, or is she just worse?”

            Mario didn’t seem to take offense, “Nah man, we suck at traffic,” He laughed, “Now, I’ll take you both where you wanna go once we clear this mess up.” He made a sweeping motion with his hands to demonstrate.

            “I don’t have time to wait, I was running late already.”

            “I can fix that, no worries!”

            “Look kid, you’re annoying me. It’s physically impossible,” He spoke slowly, “Do you understand?”

            “You need some faith in miracles, man,”

            Maria grimaced, “Oh no, don’t start with the miracles.”

            “Look, we just so happen to be born, lived up to now without losing a limb or anything, we have good health. What do you call that?” He raised his arms in a cosmopolitan gesture, “A motherfucking miracle.”

            Jotaro’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t reply with more than an annoyed grunt. They handled everything with the law and reluctantly decided to allow himself to carpool. After watching the arts get towed off to their respective homes and making calls, he took another glance at the van. The silver swirls were coming off the van like a dust and coming from nowhere in general. A Stand? “Hey kid,” He stopped Mario from getting into the driver’s seat, “You’re a User, aren’t you?”

            “I’m a user of many things,” he slipped past him and got into the driver’s seat.

            Jotaro still didn’t feel convinced but got in the backseat anyway, tipping his hat down over his eyes. Maria crawled in next to him and looked over him anxiously. “So what do you do for a living?”

            Jotaro turned and regarded her, “Marine biology,”

            “Oh, neat. I don’t know what I want to major in yet,”

            Mario asked for an address and Jotaro provided the Chuck E Cheese's he was heading to. When the car shot forward Jotaro was taken aback with the ridiculous speed pinning him to the chair. He saw nothing but streaks of light out the window glass like something of a science fiction film. He grit his teeth and turned to Maria, who didn’t look slightly fazed. “S-Star Pla-“

            Maria leant toward her brother in front of her, “Hey, Mr. Joestar just texted, he’s saying it’s his great grand daughter’s birthday today!” Joestar?!

            “Oh, tell him I say congratulations.” Mario swerved and Jotaro could’ve sworn the van did a barrel roll along with Jotaro’s stomach.

            “Joestar?” Jotaro asked, “What do the Joestars have to do with you?”

            Mario leant his head back to answer him, “See, for whatever reason, the Zeppeli family has this pen pal, some ‘Joseph Joestar’, he says he likes to keep up with his old friend’s family. Personally, I think that’s weird but if it makes him happy to see what his dead buddy’s family is like, that’s fine.”

            “They did magic together or something,” Maria pitched in, “And our

            “How

            Zeppeli… Jotaro vaguely remembered a story Joseph would bring up sometimes in the long car rides to Egypt about fighting gods with a friend he regarded as an “Annoying playboy” or “Casanova wannabe,” but he said this with the fondness of a friend, not unlike how he talked of Kakyoin. The Zeppeli name came up once or twice, but he didn’t think he’d hear it again.

            “I’m his grandson,” Jotaro informed them, “Kujo Jotaro.”

            “No way, really?” Mario turned his eyes off whatever sky road was in front of him, which terrified the tall man, and took a good look. “You got his eyes.”

            “Is this your Stand?”

            “Yeah, you can call it that. I call it Subway to Venus. Oh, we’re here.” The vehicle stopped suddenly and Jotaro thanked the invention of seat belts, but he had a headache.

            Thank goodness, "Thanks for the ride. Where'd ya say you were going?"

            "Yeah, where we goin'?" Mario turned to Maria.

            "Uh, he said his house was... Hold on, I got it written down."

            Jotaro scrambled out and only had to stand around for five seconds to see it shoot off like someone turning off a flashlight. He gave himself a moment to recover before turning to enter the children's equivalent of a casino. After getting the ID Stamp at the entrance, his eyes scanned the room full of kids, searching, searching, there. He picked out the two buns fidgeting. There was Jolyne, proudly holding a wad of tickets she won, back turned to him as she showed her mother her winnings. Roxanne nodded to her before she saw her husband and waved him over. She scooted aside in the table so he could sit.

            "Daddy, daddy!" Jolyne held up her tickets, "I got more tickets than Jamie and Alex so far!"

            He nodded, his stoic face melting at the sight of his daughter bragging. He recalled Polnareff's reassurances, "No need to worry, she's a toughie! She's the kind of kid who beats the shit out of anyone who gets in her way."

            “Yes, very good,” Jotaro nodded, not understanding what that meant, and picked up the little child in his arms with little effort, who in return giggled and squirmed. These were one of the times where even the blind can see the warmth radiating from his eyes, the light in his life.

            Jolyne tugged on his hat, “Daddy, let’s play skeeball!”

            Jotaro opened his mouth to say no with all the exhaustion of the day, but after experiencing a hard look from Roxanne, he changed his mind. “Alright. Where is it?” he put her down way, way down to the ground and followed her as she sped to the skeeball machines. She grabbed a token from her pocket and shoved it into the slot, letting the balls roll out into the dispenser.

            He took the first ball and rolled it up the ramp, watching it fall into a hole and he scored a 40. He straightened up, proud of himself, and turned to his daughter. She took a ball in her two hands and tried the best she could to do what he just did, but it just rolled up the ramp a few feet and rolled back. She pouted until she felt his right hand take hers, and saw his left give her the ball. Their fingers curled around the ball as he maneuvered her arm to swing back and forth a few times before letting it slip out of her hands. It rolled up to ten and the points were registered in the red glowing counter above the game.

            “Daddy, I did it!” she turned and cheered.

            “You did it,” He confirmed, handing her another ball before taking one for himself and rolling it up the ramp. With a little help from Star Platinum, he scored a 100. He turned to see Jolyne starting to swing a ball, looking determined. "Do it hard,"

            She nodded and swung it forward as hard as she could. It started slowing down to her discontent.

            "Star Platinum, The World!" Time froze around him, so he took the advantage. Star Platinum approached the ball, took it, and rolled it forward hard. No child of his was going to think of themselves as a loser! Time continues.

            The ball zoomed forward and scored fifty. Jolyne turned to him in shock. "Daddy, did you see that?!"

            "Mhm, good job!" He crouched to offer a fist bump, which she took as an opportunity to punch his stomach. He wheezed in surprise before standing up straight, looking down at the giggling child. They played a few more throws like this, although he was careful to dodge her attacks this time around. "What now?"

            Roxanne came over, taking a break from talking to the other moms to hand each of them a slice of pizza. Jolyne took it greedily, stuffing her face with as much of a bite as she could while her father gave his wife a brisk kiss before taking it from her hands, eating it in slow bites.

            Jolyne answered his question after swallowing the first bite and taking the second by pointing at a whack-a-mole, of course stylized to fit the theme of the place: Whack-A-Chuck E. Jolyne grabbed the rubber mallet and swung at her father. He caught it in one hand and took it from her, looking down into the holes. She slides a token into a slot and a trademark mouse poked a head out from a hole. He tapped it "lightly" so it would go down, as any whack-a-mole goes.   He handed the mallet to her so she'd hit one, but just before she hit her target it went down.

            Jolyne growled, hitting her next target on time, but missing the next one. Two were coming out at a time, then three. She couldn't handle all that, so Jotaro pitched in by punching them down. "Ora! Ora Ora!"

            That machine was down for maintenance for a while, but whatever works.

            When Chuck E. came over to the table, Jotaro eyed it suspiciously. He didn't like the way the costume looked, especially since whoever was in it had to be voiced over by whoever it was that did that annoyingly goofy voice. He glared at it with all the distaste he could muster. This is why he's never let his wife hire a clown, he hates them with a passion. "Oh, let me set off a trap I deliberately set for myself! Let me talk in this stupid voice and wear utterly impractical clothes!" Breathe, he looked away to see his happy little daughter. Breathe, look at her smiling. Isn't she cute?

            Breathe.

            They sang happy birthday and ate cake and whatnot. Before leaving, they cashed in their tickets and searched for a prize they could afford with the winnings. Jolyne pointed at a giant plush dolphin. "Daddy, do you want it? I do!"

           Jotaro looked at the price of the dolphin before anything else. "I don't think we can afford that."

            Jolyne frowned. "Why?"

            "That's 3,000 tickets. We have 2,000."

            "Then let's go back get more!"

            "But sweetie, it's time to go,"

            Roxanne put a hand on Jotaro's shoulder, "I'll handle this, okay?"

            Jotaro could only nod before giving another look at the dolphin and tipping his hat to cover his eyes. "Fine."

            Early the next morning, when Jolyne found herself hugging something big, she didn't question it. That is, until she sat up to look at what it was and recognized the very same dolphin plush. She grabbed it and walked into the dining room, where she knew her father would be this early. And sure enough, there he was reading papers from work while sipping coffee in full white attire. "Daddy, did you get this?"

            Jotaro looked over from his papers and saw the dolphin before anything else. It wasn't because of admiration but because it was just so much bigger than his daughter that he couldn't see much of her except the arms holding the dolphin. "Don't tell mom I got it, okay?" There was no point in winking, she wouldn't be able to see it.

            She got the gist of his words anyway.

Chapter Text

            Once comfortably seated across from Jotaro, Polnareff and Joseph noticed the look of contempt on the young adult's face. "Jotaro, you said you had something you wanted to talk to us about?"

            "Yes..." Jotaro closed his eyes in thought.

            "Well, what is it?" Polnareff asked impatiently.

            "Don't get your panties in a twist, let me gather my words. This is what happened today."

            Today was a fast day for Jotaro. He'd been out the door before anyone else was aware he had gone, leaving a note that he went to work, ate on the way to work due to whatever fast food chain he found first that served breakfast, checked in, and sat down to finish eating and waiting for the coffee machine to finish making his cup. All these events were just a blur to him and he was hoping he could just care for the life here and go back home. Of course, this wasn't happening and he knew this the moment he saw a coworker walking up to him.

            "It's your turn today," the coworker patted his shoulder, to which Jotaro flinched and harshly shrugged him off.

            "For?"

            "Tours."

            He sighed, "Can't you do it?"

            "No way, I did it yesterday!"

            "What about Melissa?"

            "We've all been covering your ass while you've been going on these crazy long trips, alright? It's your turn."

            It's not like I enjoyed those trips. He stood to his full height, leaving the other in his shadow with only his brilliant eyes to pierce him. "Fine, but never talk to me like that again."

            The other scoffed and muttered quietly as Jotaro poured himself the coffee and took a swig, burning his throat in the process. He didn't express that pain, he doesn't do that. Ever. He didn't even react to getting hit with a ceiling fan in the shoulder all those years ago.

            Jotaro was outside of the lounge and met with a woman in the lobby, who looked up at him with those same eyes that women tend to give him. She looked down at her hands and smiled before looking up at him again, "Hello, my name is Ms. Valdez, thank you for taking my class on a tour today," She held out her hand for him to take, but he bowed as is his natural custom. She awkwardly withdrew her arm, "Asian?"

            "Yes, I am."

            "Oh, how's it like?"

            "Normal, at least for me, it's different from here. Now, where's your class?"

            "They're outside," She giggled at being the subject of his gaze and turned to the door, opening it for him, "So what's it like to work in an aquarium?"

            "I'm an intern, but I can describe the experience in one word."

            "What's that?"

            "Wet," As soon as he stepped out, a feeling strong enough to be considered a sharp tug made him turn to one of the children. His eyes fell on a young blonde with curls in his hair and the same eyes as he, who seemed taken aback. Have I seen him somewhere before? "I'm Professor Kujo, I'll be guiding you kids today. Please remember to not touch anything without permission or you'll get hurt." He unconsciously took on a wary tone to reflect his high guard.

            Ms. Valdez piped in, "Yes, please don't break any rules,"

            He turned from the now timid lad and began the tour, walking up to the first exhibit with the kids following in a group. He didn't bother lining them up, that serves no purpose here. First they went to a tank full of octopi, taking a moment to recall any knowledge on them to make a trivia question. "Can anyone tell me what the common octopus preys on?" Nobody raised their hands because these were little kids who don't know the first thing about marine biology. Jotaro has unrealistically high expectations of children. I'll have to pick one and correct them, then. His eyes traveled through the crowd before landing on the previously stated blonde. "You, curly! Do you know?"

            The child looked up nervously from the back of the crowd, taking a glance at the guide before settling his sight on the tank. "The ones who live on the bottom eat stuff like clams and crustaceans, the ones who swim around a lot eat fish!" Though his voice cracked near the end, he seemed confident in his answer.

            Jotaro blinked in surprise that someone actually got it right. "That's right. By poisoning their prey, they achieve this. What's your name?"

            "Gi-Giorno!"

            Another Italian, why do I meet so many Italians? "Why don't you come up here, you seem to know your animals?"

            Giorno muttered something and walked around the tour group to the front. The moment the child stood next to him, red flags were hoisted to mark each other's danger. Is he a Stand User? No, this is different.

            "Giorno, you like creatures. It'd be good to have someone with your knowledge saving them." He seemed to strike a positive chord in the little one, and he actually meant it. This second job of his had his real concerns over the world of inner space as he did with the Earth in his first job.

            The child didn't say anything for a second before pointing at Jotaro's clothes and saying "I like your dolphins."

            "Thanks."

            The tour went on in a similar pattern. Jotaro would ask a trivia question and if nobody answered, he asked Giorno. If Giorno didn't know, he would give the answer. This was astoundingly simple and went on until they went to see the shows rather than provide information. Jotaro enjoyed these shows, they reminded him of the times he went with his mother as a child to aquariums like these. He and Giorno sat in the splash zone, now that he had the excuse to do this and not look childish. Giorno's giddy squeals of delight at being splashed in the hot climate of Florida was reflected within Jotaro, who simply smiled.

            Even in this momentary bliss he could notice that a shot had missed him. The two boys turned, feeling a friction burn on both of their cheeks, despite the lack of contact. All that had gone between them was a large, golden hoop of an earring.

            The two stood to face this enemy together. Jotaro turned to bark an order, "Get behind me, stay out of this!" He summoned Star Platinum, who immediately reached out to stop another accessory from the air and burn his fingertips in the process. He felt Giorno get thrown back by the Stand's movement but he couldn't stop to help him at the moment. Star Platinum looked around, then zoned in on a spot in the rows. It hurled the earring with a loud "ORA!"

            A small golden Stand with inverted color ladybugs and what looked like goggles for eyes materialized next to Star Platinum in time to swat a ring away with a yelp. Jotaro gave the little Stand a glance, So he is a User. The boy piped up, "How are we going to fight this?"

            Jotaro's guts turned, "What do you mean 'we'?"

            "Just answer!"

            He won't budge no matter what I do, He pointed out at a seat. "You see the woman sitting on the third row, five seats from the left end? That's the user. Attack her, but keep up your defense."

            A rain of beads hit them, throwing them around aimlessly; They didn't seem to come from one specific direction. "They're coming from everywhere!" Giorno screeched, covering his eyes.

            Jotaro cried, "Star Platinum: The World!" His Stand granted him a few seconds to get closer to the User, although it would look like teleporting to anyone else. He used his Stand to knock the beads out of his and Giorno's way before time resumed.

            A few seconds after time resumed, Jotaro's Stand noticed a scrunchie coming his way and caught it, but this time it was from Giorno who yelled "Throw it!"

            Jotaro willed his Stand to do so, watching it turn into a scorpion in midair. When it landed on its target, the woman screeched and threw it off. This led to a chain of panic from that area as the poisonous creature was thrown around. The woman covered a spot on her arm with a hand and ran out of the row, pointing at Jotaro. "This isn't over!"

            Jotaro tipped his hat down and uttered his signature catchphrase, "Good grief," turned around, and added "What a pathetic retreat." He let Star Platinum recede before turning to the young Stand User. The tug was still there, a tug all too familiar. "You! Why did you protect me?"

            Giorno blinked with confusion, "I thought she was attacking me."

            Jotaro suddenly felt the weight in his jacket's breast pocket. He reached into it and pulled out a picture of the man he's long dreaded, having forgotten that he had placed it there. He stepped up to the child and pointed at the picture, "Do you recognize this man?"

            Giorno's eyes flashed with recognition, but he shook his head. "No,"

            "I don't believe you," Jotaro admitted, "Does he mean anything to you?"

            "I said no,"

            Jotaro squinted, "Why are you ly-"

            "Professor Kujo!" a concerned teacher called, "What's happening?"

            "Personal business between me and Curly here." Jotaro responded, his hand firm on Giorno's shoulder.

            The golden Stand's hand parted from its user's right arm and pried Jotaro's off. "Please leave me alone," Giorno started tearing up, making Jotaro feel a twinge of regret but he had to keep going.

            "Are you going to answer my questions honestly?"

            Giorno stayed silent, intent on avoiding Jotaro's penetrating eyes. "I don't want to hurt you, why can't we be friends?"

            Jotaro pressed his lips with frustration. He knows something. Why is he so intent on hiding? He sighed, I won't get anything from him this way. "Alright," He let go of the child. While Giorno scurried back to his friends, the marine biologist approached his teacher. "We need to talk about your student."

            Jotaro and Giorno sat in his little office. It was sparsely decorated and not very comfortable, but Jotaro never did spend much time in here anyway. The rest of the class had already left after much convincing. Giorno twiddled his thumbs nervously and kept his eyes off of the older man, who was punching numbers into a phone across from him. He didn't have to wait more than two rings until the retched man on the other line picked up.

            The vampire from so long ago had picked up the phone with a cheerful tone. "Yes, hello?"

            "Dio," Jotaro started in a dark tone, one Dio couldn't forget.

            "JoJo," Dio sneered, "What do you want?"

            "I have your son with me."

            "And?"

            "He'll be leaving with me unless you're willing to come here and take him."

            Dio hesitated on the other end of the line. "If you touch a hair on his head, you're as good as dead."

            "Really, now? You better hurry, then. I'll give you half an hour." Jotaro hung up and set the phone down, looking at Giorno. "So he is your father," Giorno simply nodded in response, "Has he hurt you?" Giorno shook his head in denial. So that means he's raising him well for his own purposes. From what he recalled from Abdul's and Kakyoin's... Kakyoin... their stories along with those of his followers, Dio would speak in dulcet tones, searching for appeal through seduction, money, conviction. Polnareff once confirmed that he'd been pulled in with the promise of finding his sister's killer, despite it being an empty one. What would make his son any different to him?

            Giorno broke him out of his trance. "He's sick. He can't go out in the day."

            "Yes... I suppose 'sick' is one word for it. Isn't it miserable to be raised by that horrible being?"

            Giorno's head snapped up, "He's not horrible! Daddy's very nice, and he plays a lot with me! He doesn't hurt me at all!"

            Jotaro was hit with an idea, "I have an offer for you."

            Giorno tipped his head. "Offer?"

           "Yes, I think it's one you would like. When your father comes, he will tell you all he's done in the past, horrible things. When he does, you can either stay with him and have that knowledge in mind or you could come and live with me, my daughter, and my wife."

            Giorno just stared in disgust for a moment before saying, "He's never done anything horrible! He would never lie to me!"

            "What if you think you're wrong later?"

            Giorno gave Jotaro the glare that trumps any other, one that raised the room a few degrees. "If I am wrong then I will be wrong, but if I am young and right, why should my age matter?"

            Jotaro leaned back in his chair, absorbing the reply with the expression of someone who had just been lashed. "That's one hell of an answer. We'll see about that."

            The door then slammed open and two furious men walked in. Jotaro recognized Dio with all the repulsion that comes along with his stupid smug face, but not the other. The other was a dark skinned man who seemed about as old as Jotaro himself. He brought a minion? Dio's eyes landed on his old enemy. "Hand over the child."

            Giorno smiled, hope shining in his eyes. "Daddy!"

            Dio looked at his son, relieved to see him unharmed. "Let's go, Giorno, no reason to dwindle with a filthy Joestar."

            "You're not going anywhere until we're through," Jotaro interrupted and mustered any emotional armor he had to keep himself from breaking at his next line, "Kakyoin Noriaki, Muhammad Avdol, Iggy; Do those names mean anything to you?"

            Dio's eyes darted between him and his son, and grinned. "They were just loaves of bread."

            Jotaro's Star Platinum threw the first punch, but it was caught by Dio's The World. Pucci's White Snake emerged, reaching to Jotaro, but Star Platinum whacked that away too. Giorno watched as the three men fought it out. "Why can't we be friends?"

            "Have you not told your son what you've done?" Jotaro mused, "How about I let you three leave unharmed... in the condition that you tell your son the truth: About who you are, and what you've done to my family. Or should Giorno hear it from me after I beat your smug look off your face?"

            Giorno looked at the enemy with irritation, "My daddy's no liar," Then looked at his father, "Right?"

            Dio hesitated for a minute. The silence hung as a drop of thick syrup before finally falling with his sigh, "Very well."

            "Dio, no!" Pucci gasped, "We have an advantage, it's three against one!"

            Holy shit, that worked?

            "Giorno, you don't know everything about daddy. My story starts in the Joestar mansion, over one hundred years ago. I was a fool, I didn't know what the world had in mind for me. I made bad choices, and..." He inhaled, pain in his voice when he exhaled the truth: "I put on a mask, and I became a vampire."

            "Whoa, that's so cool!" Giorno exclaimed, but faltered. "Daddy, vampires aren't real."

            "They are," Jotaro assured him, leaning against the wall as he kept his eyes on Giorno. "Carry on." He put his hands in his pockets and expected the worst from the child, enjoying the struggle in Dio's eyes.

            "I fought a lot with Jonathan Joestar, remember the stories I told you? That's why I, Dio, have that scar around my neck. To prevent his Hamon from killing me, I had to cut off my head. I survived, then I cut off Jonathan's head. That's why we have the same stars on our left shoulders, because as much as you're my son, Jonathan is also your father," Giorno listened attentively, but his expression gave nothing away. Dio continued, "As soon as I had my new body, I escaped in a box to save myself from the exploding ship I've told you about, but I wasn't there for ten days as I used to tell you. I was trapped for one hundred years under the ocean. When I woke up, a century had passed. In Egypt, I began to become stronger, healing by drinking the blood of young women who were brought to me. I didn't know the Joestars were still alive, I thought the bloodline died off with Jonathan in the ship. That's gravity, I suppose. When I got a Stand using a magical arrow, the rest of the Joestars got them too, but one Joestar became sick because of this, and the only way to cure that was to kill me."

            When he stopped, everyone waited for Giorno to cry out in repulsion or hatred, but he remained silent. So Dio continued, "To defend myself, I sent out Stand users to stop the Joestars and their friends, but two of them joined their side and the rest either died or retired.   However, one of them was able to kill two of those friends. I was able to kill another. But alas, Jotaro defeated me."

            Something's missing in the story. "You were dead, we made sure you were dead," Jotaro corrected, "How the fuck are you here?"

            Dio's hateful red eyes swerved to him and Jotaro's hairs stood on end, as much as it humiliated him. The vampire regarded the human before adding to his story, "My dear friend, Pucci, brought me back. Then a woman left Giorno with me and said he was my son, and l've been raising him ever since. Until then, I was the bad guy." He turned his vision back to his son, "Giorno, you changed me, can't you see?" He approached his son for the first time in the discussion, "I told you what made people special when we lived in Italy." He took Giorno's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze, "Haruno... please don't hate me."

            Now's my chance. "Do you remember my offer?" Jotaro asked, "Has your mind changed?"

            "Offer?" Pucci prompted.

            Giorno stood from his seat and looked up at his dad, almost comical in the regards of the height difference. "No. Daddy did bad things, but you Joestars aren't my family. I'll never love you the way I love daddy and Uncle Rico."

            Dio smiled at Jotaro, whose hopes faltered at the child's reply. "That's right, JoJo!"

            Jotaro balled his fists in the soft white pockets. "Sou desu ka?" he uttered.

            "What's wrong? Is your confidence failing you?" Dio chuckled, hands on his son's shoulders in a possessive way.

            JoJo growled, "You have your son, now get out of my sight."

            And that was that.

            Joseph and Polnareff sat in Jotaro's living room, shocked by the story he'd given them. "Holy shit!" Joseph finally reacted.

            Polnareff tried to chuckle it off, "That's a joke, right? Nobody would want to have a kid with someone like-- actually, wait. Never mind, there's this neighbor in France who I want to throttle so bad--"

            "-Polnareff," Jotaro interrupted, "No rambling. And jiji, don't curse in front of Jolyne."

            Jolyne was playing some weird game of pretend she made up, one of those only the most creative children can fathom. She was running around, yelling in some gibberish secret language. Her black hair was up in two buns, which jiggled with each step. "Ah, come here you little bugger!" Polnareff said and picked up Jolyne, who started screeching frantically.

            "No, put me down!" She squeaked.

            "Roar!" Polnareff started tickling her with one hand and held her still with his opposite arm, Jolyne laughing to the point she cried. He let her go, she rolled to the floor and threw a doll Holly made at Polnareff, who feigned pain and woe.

            Joseph grinned with warmth, "Having a child is a wonderful journey."

            Jotaro thought about that. "Dio said that Giorno had changed him."

           Joseph beckoned his great-granddaughter, who walked over. He booped her nose and turned her to Jotaro, "Seeing a new generation in front of us makes us realize a lot about ourselves. If someone as wicked as Dio can see that, I don't know why you haven't." He let go of her, letting her back into her game.

            "Oh damn!" Polnareff hollered, "That's a burn!"

            "We've all lost someone dear to us to that man!" Jotaro argued, "Why aren't you guys serious about this?"

            "Jojo," Joseph called, catching the attention of both Kujos, "I still grieve over our fallen friends from our battle in Egypt, as much as any of us do. But what if this isn't the same man we fought in Egypt? He's had about seven years to go after us, but we didn't learn about this until a little while ago. He doesn't 'want beef with us', as the hip kids say."

            "Good grief, you've both grown soft."

            "We haven't grown soft, we've just moved on. It's about time that you do as well. You were fine until you heard that he came back."

            Jotaro's fierce green eyes moved to Jolyne. She's been his fleeting comfort, the greatest distraction from his past. Iggy had grown on him since their first fight together against N'doul. Avdol was a great guy to come for advice, and he's been trustworthy and good company. The death that had affected him most, however, was Kakyoin. With all the time they spent together, learning about each other fast and all the fun they had staying up at night making fun of anything ridiculous, such as a story of Polnareff's misadventures, they were close friends. For forty five days, they enjoyed each other's companionship and looked forward to having a class together. For forty four nights, they could have sworn that they'd grow up to be called "uncle" by each other's kids.

            But on the forty fifth night, Kakyoin was dead. All their dreams, their plans, their memories were ashes on the ground, and everything is dust in the wind. Jotaro cannot forgive anyone, no matter how many years go by, who can destroy something so precious. Joseph could say anything to convince him that a kid can change all that. Excuse me, Jolyne, he thought, but I find it hard to believe I'm in heaven.

            On the ride home, Giorno spoke to the box his father hid in. "So you're really a vampire?"

            "Yes." Dio's voice was muffled by the container.

            "That's so awesome! Can you do that thing where you look people in the eyes and do some crazy mind control thing?"   

            "No, my words manage well enough."

            "Can you become a bat?"

            "No."

            "Aw! Can you..." Giorno thought about his next question, "What does blood taste like?"

            "Metal, it's not tasty. That's why I suck it from my fingers."

            "Whoa, really? That's so weird, how do you do that?"

            Dio withdrew a sigh of annoyance. He was still traumatized by the fact that he could have lost Giorno to the Joestars today. Giorno had told them when Pucci asked again about the offer when they left Jotaro alone. Dio instead sighed with respite. I'm glad that my son is with me now. I hope he stays like this forever.

            It's been a rough set of years for Dio. He had to learn more about parenting thanks to the presence of this new child, just appearing on his doorstep one night out of the blue. It's had its difficulties, but the truth is that he meant what he said about Giorno changing him for the better. He's felt something he had not felt in over a century, an affection you could only have through special people you're bound to. That last person had been his mother.

            And that feeling was akin to love.

Chapter Text

            Jotaro dreaded the call from the Speedwagon Foundation at six in the morning saying they had another mission for him so he took his sweet time before picking up the phone in the kitchen. “Yes?”

            “JoJo,” spoke a voice on the end, the head researcher, “There’s a dangerous task we have for you. Very dangerous.”

            “I just got home from one, no thank you.”

            “It’s really close by you, just an hour away from your house. A serial killing.”

            Jotaro stared down at the dial, considering the case. He looked down the hall to make sure nobody was listening though nobody was home, he knew that. “What can you tell me about it?”

            “The murderer is suspected to be female, although their victims aren’t any specific group besides being attracted to women. She goes to sleep with the victims in motels before killing them, men and women alike.”

            “Why are you assigning this to me, then?”

            “Because you’re close by.”

            Jotaro’s tone became more expressive of his annoyance, “This doesn’t sound like a Speedwagon problem.”

            “But it is. The victims seem to all have died from natural causes.”

            “Natural causes?”

            “At alarming rates… I’m guessing your silence means your cooperation?”

            “Where do I meet the crew?”

            "The old pizzeria on Flagler, we've been there before."

            "Alright, see you there." Jotaro put down the phone and shrugged his white coat on and covered his messy hair with his cap. He poured himself another cup of black coffee and drained it within the first half of the minute before heading out the door.

            "Heart attacks, strokes, disease. The victims had at least one of these." The researcher tapped the pictures and autopsy reports.

            Jotaro only glanced at the photographs. "It's possible to get heart attacks during coitus."

            "If you're unhealthy, sure," The researcher, a man in full suit with a blue collar to match his bowler hat, tapped the reports again for emphasis, "But they were all healthy minus the occasional disorder, but those are irrelevant."

            "Any disorder is relevant."

            "Yes, because Osgoode-Schlatter and arthritis can give you strokes."

            "You weren't specific."

            The researcher pinched the bridge of his nose. He's a genius, but he's so frustrating! He looked around the pizzeria, unusually empty for a weekend. There were two other tables with people but no more than three seated in each. "Yes, yes. As for disease, they were perfectly healthy beforehand. I can't imagine Alzheimer's affecting someone in their thirties."

            "Dr. Styx, I know we're dealing with a Stand. This Stand has something to do with blood, obviously."

            "Blood?"

            "The complications you've listed are all cases involving a problem with blood."

            Dr. Styx blinked and tilted his head. This is why we hired him. "Y-yes... I see now."

            "When are you taking me to see the bodies?"

            "Why would you need to see the bodies if we have the reports?"

            "I'm guessing that these were autopsies performed by non-Users."

            "Oh? But everything was written here!"

            "There may be something only we can see."

            "Fine. I'll send in another User to help you with this."

            Jotaro narrowed his eyes at him in annoyance, "I don't need a partner."

            "Sure, that's what you think!" Styx scoffed before leaning in. "It's her first mission, she needs the training. I think you'll set a good example for her."

            "Yare yare da," Jotaro raised his empty fingers to his lips as if to drag from a cigarette, a habit. "Fine. Where is she?"

            "She said she'd be here in," He paused to check his watch quickly, "About ten minutes."

            An employee stopped by to give Styx his order of pizza, smiling at him. He smiled back and said his thanks before the employee left right after. Jotaro gave the pizza a look. "Spicy salami again?"

           "Again? What do you mean again?" Styx arched his eyebrows.

            "I've only ever seen you order one other topping and it was the first times we met here. This is the sixth, and you've had spicy salami ever since."

            Styx leaned back in his chair in wonder. "Why do you remember something as trivial as that?"

            Jotaro shrugged and took the first slice for himself. This place was good, even if it was far from home. Too bad it's a small business. Jolyne would love it here. His daughter was handed to Polnareff and Joseph for babysitting since her mother was visiting family. Styx took his own slice and seemed content enough to not notice the door open, which made Jotaro turn in his seat at the subtle sound. She's early. She had brown eyes and hair, wore a black tank top with Nirvana's name and logo on it with ripped jeans, and held a motorsport helmet under her arm. Edgy. She looked around and noticed Styx in his own little heaven before walking over and tapped his shoulder.

            "Oh, Katy! Didn't see you there!" He held out his hand for a shake, which she didn't.

            "I'm not touching your greasy fingers," She turned and took a look at Jotaro. "You're my partner, right?"

            "Looks like it."

            "Cool."

            Styx chuckled, "That's not how you greet people in a business setting but you there's no point in telling that to you two! Would you two like a ride to the morgue?"

            "Nah, I'm not leaving my bike here." She scoffed. Jotaro merely shook his head.

            "Alright then, you two get along now!"

            "You're not gonna give us the address?"

            "Oh! Right, right." He drew out a pad of sticky notes from his pocket along with a pen and scrabbled down the address twofold. He handed the purple cuts to both of them, who read it to themselves. "I'll just be here. Take the folder, please, one of you."

            Katy reached forward first and flipped through the pictures. She closed the file and gestured to Jotaro with her chin, "Let's go."

            He glared at her for giving him an order but stood up. No point in arguing. He walked past her and got into his repaired car. He took a look at the black motorcycle parked next to his car. It wasn't anything special, no particular designs, but it was notably muddy.

            During the drive, when he looked into the mirrors, he saw her behind him. He kept in mind not to stop too suddenly, he didn't want another accident. They arrived at the morgue quickly enough.

            The receptionist looked up from her book. "May I help you?"

            Jotaro glanced at Katy, who said nothing, before pulling out an ID. "Speedwagon Foundation."

            "Again? We already let you guys check the bodies!"

            "Well we're checking again."

            The receptionist shrugged and marked her book, setting it down on the desk before standing up and guiding them down a hall to the left of the desk. The white walls matched Jotaro's clothes as he followed, not looking back to see if Katy was still there. They reached the end of the hall, where there was one door left. She slid her identification card into a slot near the doorknob and with a kachak, she unlocked it and opened the door.

            This room looked no different than the others but it was to be suspected that its contents were different. Instead of containing loved ones who died of an overdose or stupid accidents, it contained the deliberately murdered. Eight metal drawers were on the far side of the wall, their numbers preceded by the indication of "SPW" and then their names. "Room is yours, tools are in the box next to the bed. Have fun." She exited, going back to read her book.

            Jotaro looked over the drawers, "Take your pick."

            Katy started pointing at them all, "Eenie meenie minie mo," When she finished the little chant, she pulled open the drawer her finger landed on and tugged it open. In it was a young man, still clothed. He had a hickey on his neck, well exposed. She reached forward to tug down more at his shirt collar before Jotaro stopped her.

            "Don't touch him. Get the tools."

            "Oh, right." She slipped on sterile gloves and took one of the kits of disposable tools.

            "How did he die?"

            "Let me check," She put down the file on the empty metal bed in the middle and flipped it open.

            "If it was from a stroke, it's reasonable that the hickey caused it."

            "What, why?"

            "Hickeys aren't different from a bruise, they're both blood leaks under the skin from when you break the vessels. When you give someone a hickey on the right place on their neck, the blood won't reach the brain, causing a stroke."

            "That's crazy!" Katy exclaimed before adding, "Ah, found it. Wasn't a stroke."

            "What?"

            "I said it wasn't a stroke."

            "No shit, what was it then?"

            Katy turned around, "Heart attack."

            Jotaro grunted. He started unbuttoning the shirt, feeling something against the man's chest. Shirt open, he saw something resembling a very short undershirt. "What's this?"

            Katy came back, tugging at the tight article. "A binder,"

            "Binder?"

            "It's when you want to flatten your tits."

            Jotaro stopped to analyze that statement. "I don't think that can cause a heart attack."

            "Yeah, no. Do you want to take it off?"

            Jotaro grunted and began to slip it off the corpse. It was difficult and clung like a second skin, but he managed. How can people stand wearing these? His eyes caught a shimmer on the left breast and tapped it. Metallic, it seems, possibly copper. Once the binder was completely off, he sat the dead man up. There were two metal circles on the front and back of the man, both over his heart.

            "What's that?" Katy poked the circles.

            "Must've been the enemy Stand."

            Katy nodded and grew quiet, her face turning red. "Um... Kujo?"

            "Mm?"

            "Wha-what's your Stand?"

            Jotaro looked up at her and summoned it, "Star Platinum." It had its arms crossed and inspected her, making her shudder at the sharp eyes. It floated above Jotaro and analyzed the circles. "N' you?"

            She grew embarrassed and looked away as her own Stand materialized next to her. "Year of the Cat." It was a small cat holding an elliptical stone - a calendar. The cat had dark brown fur and orange eyes with white paws that held onto the stone like a ball of yarn.

            Jotaro didn't say anything about its appearance, to her relief, so she made it disappear again. He just continued looking at the circles until Star Platinum pointed at it. "Ora!" It began to reach into the body. Katy cried out in surprise and worried about him destroying the body, but it didn't do more than feel the circles from the inside. Jotaro reported its findings as the purple Stand ran its fingers down a thin tube connecting the two circles. "No internal bleeding in the region."

            She opened another drawer, one which she guessed belonged to a stroke victim since the pins were going through the head. "What are they?"

            "An extension of the Stand."

            She clicked her tongue, "What can we do about it?"

            "Finish reading the autopsies. I'll remove these and take them to the Foundation." He started directing his Stand to find a way to remove the pins without harming the body.

            Silence as each one went along. As a manner of removal, Star Platinum tried to snap one of the circles off the tube but the whole pin ebbed into nothing. He cussed under his breath and moved onto the body Katy had drawn out to try another method. The circles were solid while the tube had some capability to displace matter, so the whole thing was kept in place. The only way to draw it out would be excising it surgically. He left that one alone and decided that he will look through the others for one with disease. He looked through the materials kit for operation materials.

            "They did a DNA analysis on everything they found," Katy said, "They couldn't find anything, even in the hickeys and hair."

            "So the Stand's doing it remotely?"

            "Yeah."

            Jotaro put on a mask over his face and took out a thin metal rod and scalpel. Once he found a body with disease, which was very badly deformed. The pin was stuck into the forearm so he had Star Platinum direct where to cut as he made the incisions slowly and carefully through the skin, muscle, nerves. The rod was kept there by the mass surrounding it and replaced a part of an artery wall. He prodded that part open as Star Platinum drew it out, completely intact. He bagged the bloody pin and set it on the empty metal bed as Star Platinum got to work making sutures.

            "None of these victims were found with clots," Katy then looked up, "Oh, you did it!"

            Jotaro grunted and took papers out of the file to read. "That's all."

            "What?"

            "We're done."

            "For now, right?"

            "Yeah."

            "Let's go then, this place smells like crap." She sashayed out and Jotaro followed as he wondered about her Stand.

            Polnareff was taking a piss in the bathroom at Disney when he heard someone dart into a stall next to him retching and wheezing. He felt somewhat disgusted by the sounds but he reasoned that it was an old bloke who rode the Tower of Terror. He spoke in his French accent, "Yo, you alright?"

            A tired, British accent spoke back. "Yes, I'm fine. Mind your own business." Polnareff found the voice to be familiar, but he couldn't place a finger on it so he continued.

            "I'm guessing you did the Tower of Terror."

            "Yes... that cursed, foul structure deemed as 'amusement'."

            "I know how you feel. My niece made me go on it, and those sorts of thrills just get to you, you know?" He flushed, left the stall, and turned on the sink to wash his hands.

            "I suppose it does. Although I never was into these sorts of things as a kid, never been at all." The other man exited and rushed to the sink to wash off his ruined makeup in front of the mirror.

            Polnareff turned and gasped in surprise, seeing the face of a creature that has haunted him for years. The man looked over with knives for eyes. "You?"

            Polnareff pointed and staggered at the vampire, "Sacre bleu! Silver Chariot!" He called and summoned his Stand. He was again faced with the man who threatened his life so many times. Then he gave it some thought and bubbles of laughter rose and popped. "You? In Disney World? A-And you're scared of rides?"

            The vampire frowned, crossing his arms and leaning back in his famous pose. "I, Dio, feel no fear from such contraptions. I supersede machines!"

            "Why are you even here?"

            "My son's birthday. He'll gladly kick your arse if you do not cease your laughing."

            Polnareff couldn't take this seriously. "Oh, whew. That's just great." Fucking Disney World, man! He bent over, continuing to tease him.

            Dio stopped time to rid the soiled make-up quickly with remover, water, and soap. He turned away from Polnareff and let time resume as he walked out. Not long after, he could hear Joseph screaming and Jolyne's yelling of assurances.

            Jolyne overheard the conversation between the blondes, though:

            "Daddy?" Giorno tugged on Dio's sleeve as they walked.

            "Yes, dear?"

            "Why is that man screaming?"

            "Let's go, Gio," He led his son away from the two Crusaders before a fight could break out, "Do you know who that was?" When his son shook his head, he explained, "That's Joseph Joestar."

            Giorno was unsettled by that. "Why don't we take him down?"

            "Look at him... he'll die of a heart attack in a few minutes, maybe. He's so old, he can't fight anymore."

            "But you're a hundred and thirty."

            "That's different."

            Another man, a priest, dashed over, winded after the Brando's getaway from the ride. "Hey..." he panted, "There's an Ace Ventura show nearby that's about to start."

            "Ace Ventura!" Giorno cheered, "Let's go!" He launched himself forward, letting go of his father's hand. The two adults sped after him, telling him to slow down as he bumped into people and continued to zip through the crowd to see the animal detective.

              Jolyne wished her father was here with her.

Chapter Text

            The Kujos today could be found on the couch watching The Little Mermaid on the couch. It was probably the ninth time they've done so but Jolyne insisted to, especially when her father was around. Jolyne hopped around, singing. "Under the sea! Under the sea!" She waved her arms around as if she was swimming, smiling from ear to ear. Jotaro allowed a grin, tapping on the sofa to the beat. After a while, he even allowed himself to hum along. As the movie went on, he quietly sang the parts of the chorus he did know in the songs, of course "quietly" being used when compared to Jolyne, who was squealing as best she could. She even got on the couch to reenact the end of "Part of Your World" where Ariel poses on the rock.

            When the movie was over, Roxanne went on to start with lunch. Jotaro turned to Jolyne, happy to have spent time with his family for once while preparing his words for her. "Y'know, The Little Mermaid started as a story way back when and it's really different from this."

            Jolyne looked at him, "Really?"

            "Yeah. See, when she started to crush on him and she sold herself to Ursula, she did a spell and made it so every step she took it would feel like there are pins in her feet. Then when she went to the surface he made a dancer and pet, telling her about the ocean and 'how much he knew' while talking about how she also looked like this girl he's in love with who he thought saved his life."

            Jolyne's expression dropped to one of contempt. "Was it Ursula?"

            "No, she never comes up again. Also, the Ariel chick had to sleep and the foot of the bed instead of actually on it, the cunt of a prince. So for some reason these mermaids don't have souls so they can't go to heaven unless they get a human to fall in love with them so guess what happens?"

            "What?"

            "The other girl finally ended her training at a temple or something and came back so the prince married her and invited the mermaid to the wedding."

            "What a jerk!"

            "So the mermaid tries to kill herself when these air fairies come out of the clouds and say that if he spends the next three centuries as an air fairy blowing winds and smiling at good little kids."

            "W-What?" She looked down, disappointed, "But he goes to look for her, right?"

            "Nope."

            "That's it?!"

            "Pretty much."

            "But..." She frowned, pointing at the TV then back at him, "That's not a happy ending!"

            Jotaro looked away from her, resting his eyes upon a piece of wall instead, "Not everyone gets a happy ending,"

            "That's not fair! I like the movie better!"

            He nodded, already lost in thoughts. He remember when he read that story on his trip to Egypt. Abdul was shopping for books to take back home when the trip was over when he pointed at a collection by Hans Christian Andersen. "JoJo, have you read any of his stories?"

            Jotaro shook his head, picking up the book and flipping through it. "Fairy tales? I'm not a kid."

            "Fairy tales, yes, but interesting nonetheless. Besides, I don't think these would make kids very happy, they're rather... morbid."

            "Morbid?"

            "There's one of a girl who sold matches and her father wouldn't let her go home until she sold them all, but nobody wanted any. She was freezing to death at night so to stay alive she started burning a whole boxful and each stick granted her a hallucination to escape into. The last one was of her grandmother in heaven eating a warm dinner. The next day the townspeople found her dead on the floor, smiling."

            "Good grief, that is morbid! That's for kids?"

            Abdul gave a smirk at having caught the teen's interest. "Supposedly, but I think it has good intentions, teaching them about the world and whatnot."

            Jotaro stared at the book for a moment before shutting it. "Do they sell it in Japanese?"

            "Whatchya readin'?" Kakyoin rolled over on his bed to spy on Jotaro, "Another book about boats?"

            "No," Jotaro tore at the words with interest, lying on his belly as he read.

            "Oh? Animals? Could it be you've grown fond of my dolphin and you wanted to know more?"

            Jotaro grunted, rolling his eyes. "It's fiction,"

            "You're joking," Kakyoin received an annoyed look from Jotaro when he dropped his mischief, "Oh shit you're serious?"

            "Yeah, Abdul showed it to me."

            "What's it about?" He got off the bed and threw himself next to Jotaro, sprawling out for space. "Andersen?"

            "You know 'im?"

            "I've read a little. Did you know that he'd go interview hookers in brothels and pay them for that?"

            "Pillow talk?"

            "Nope. Dude died a virgin."

           Jotaro looked at him with doubt, but Kakyoin simply nodded. His pink hair bounced doing so. "Pfft!" Jotaro covered his mouth.

            "What?"

            "You hair!" He started chuckling lowly, "It bounced!"

            "So?" Kakyoin's eyebrows shot up, never having seen Jotaro laugh at something so simple.

            "It's- ah!" He took off his cap and rolled to lie on his back, "It's like... I don't know!" He continued giggling, feeling ridiculous for doing so.

            "Your laugh sounds like you got possessed by Scooby Doo."

            Jotaro looked up at Kakyoin, grinning from ear to ear, the latter returning the look but rather more sly.

            Jotaro snapped back to reality, looking up to see Roxanne scowling. "What the hell did you tell her?"

            "What?"

            "She won't stop arguing about The Little Mermaid now, what did you tell her?"

            "Well, I told her about how it's totally different from the original story,"

            "And?"

            "Told her what the original story was about."

            Roxanne shook her head, sighing as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Are you kidding me?"

            "What?"

            "You don't tell kids that!"

            "Why not?"

            "Because you make them think the world is a bad place!"

            "Is it not?" Jotaro crossed his ankle over his opposite knee.

            "It's not so horrifying!"

            Jotaro clenched his teeth, "But it is."

            Roxanne's face dropped. "Oh... That." They stared at each other in silence understanding for a while before she continued, "Just because it happened to you doesn't mean it'll happen to her. You need to let her live innocent,"

            "I know," Jotaro grunted and looked away,

            "Why are you so obsessed about that? I know they were your friends and I have no idea what happened, but..." She sat down beside him, putting a hand on his lap, "Why?"

            "You've never lost your closest friends, you don't know-" He felt a tear running down his cheek, "You don't know what it's like!"

            Roxanne put her arms around him, shushing him as she patted his shoulder. He leaned onto her, shuddering as he sobbed quietly. It was rare moments like these where Jotaro expressed any remorse in front of Roxanne out of fear that she'd get worried. He's only told her little bits about his friends despite his urge to tell the whole world about the Stardust Crusade if not for the fact that he'd be written off as insane. Only Polnareff and the old man understand what it was like to watch them lose their lives to save someone they hardly knew. They died for nothing. Even though Roxanne knew nothing about what happened in Egypt so many years ago, she got the gist.

            It was later on that week when Jotaro was called down to Jolyne's daycare center for behavior. It wasn't the first time she's caused problems but only Roxanne ever dealt with it, it was his turn now as a father. If Dio does it, so can I. He shuddered at the thought of Dio being a better father than him. Yeah, right.

            "Mister Kujo," The supervisor extended her hand and he took it. She retracted it, continuing. "Your daughter has been showing signs of poor behavior recently,” Jolyne squirmed in her seat with distaste for the authority as she continued, “She’s been fighting her classmates and skipping in lines. We’ve given her a week of warnings and minor condemnations but she won’t seem to improve,”

            “Who are they?” Jotaro asked, “The students.”

            “It’s not any one group-“

            “Jerks!” Jolyne cut in, “They’re all jerks!”

            Jotaro gave her a look of warning before answering, “Did she start the fights…” He paused and looked at the nametag, “Miss Jackson?”

            “Well, we don’t know, but when we-“

            “Did those kids also get a parent-teacher conference?”

            “Well no, but-“

            “Then why is Jolyne the only one?”

            Miss Jackson paused before slowly responding, “Because the other children were badly injured and she wasn’t. It’s safe to assume-“

            “It’s safe to assume she might have acted in self-defense,”

            “Sir, even if she acted in self-defense, all violence is condemned by-“

            “If all violence is condemned, even self-defense, you suppose that she’s supposed to take the hits like a sandbag? Let them give her injuries that could affect her wellbeing in the long run and just tell a teacher about it?”

            Miss Jackson frowned, “These aren’t my rules, sir. We have to enforce them whether we like them or not!”

            “Provocations leading to violence are equally condemned, are they not? Verbal and physical offense?”

            Jolyne’s eyes sparkled as her father continued to defend her. She thought he was going to join Ms. Jackson in castigating her but here he was, holding an argument. When the discussion ended, Jotaro stood and took Jolyne’s hand as they walked to his car. She crawled into the comfy booster seat while her father got into the driver seat and shut the door hard. He was annoyed, gripping the wheel with white knuckles and furrowed brows.   He uttered Japanese curses as he revved the car to life and led it into the traffic. He quietly gritted his teeth before pulling into a Taco Bell and getting off. He opened the door for her, the latter confused.

            “Why are we here?” she asked as she exited, closing the door behind her.

            “I need a taco,” he grumbled with irritation as he walked in, pulling out his wallet as they arrived at the counter to order.

            Jolyne clutched what she could reach from her father’s coat. “Where are we?”

            He elongated the syllables, “Ta-co Be-llu,” he looked up at the menu, “Do you want a taco? A burrito? What?”

            “Uh… soft taco please!”

            He ordered himself a burrito and a hard taco with his own customizations and such. He had a feeling Roxanne didn’t bring Jolyne here because of the salmonella threats from a few years ago but he was more open minded to this. Besides, Jotaro wasn’t going to calm down until he satisfied the craving he’s had all day. He took Jolyne’s hand again and rubbed it affectionately, taking his order as soon as it arrived with one hand as they took a booth.

            He handed her the soft-shell taco. “You hold it up like a hot dog.”

            She opened the wrappings and bit into it hesitantly. She consumed with zest as much as her father, who was looking out the window and contemplating the two murderers he has to deal with, not that she knew about that of course. She blinked up at him, “I’m sorry for fighting the kids,”

            “It’s not your fault. Some jerks deserve getting their noses broken.”

            “But I got in trouble and you had to come for me!”

            “And?” he looked at her troubled face and sighted, “More often than not you get in trouble for what others start. Doesn’t mean you’re always guilty,”

            “So I’m not time-out?”

            “Why would you be?” he smiled and added, “When I was younger, I’d stir up a lot of trouble. I’d scare awful teachers so bad they never showed up again. Believe me I’ve done worse.”

            “Whoa!” Jolyne gaped at him, “Cool!”

            “I’m not saying you should do that!” Jotaro shook his head.

            “I wanna be like you!”

            “So you want to go to jail?”

            “You went to jail?!”

            “Yeah,” he straightened up, “Beat up a gang that was trying to mug me,”

            She leaned in close, eager to hear the full story. As he went on about what exactly he did (portraying Star Platinum as himself, of course) as her eyes widened and she nodded.

            When they left the fast food joint, she tugged on his hand. He looked down at her and when he did, she smiled. “Thank you.”

            His heart did a flip and he nodded, “Anything for my little girl.”

Chapter Text

            When Jotaro entered the Starbucks Dr. Styx told him to show up in, his hands were in his pockets, eyes covered by his hat's brim, and his scowl etched for the public. Katy was already there, sitting next to Styx talking about something. While Styx remained with his usual blue suit, Katy was wearing a Led Zeppelin shirt, jeans, and a leather jacket. She looked over to Jotaro, nodding at him in greeting.

            He sat across the table from them. Styx had a cheery expression, obviously elated by whatever conversation he was having with her. "About time! What were you doing, coming so late? Never mind that, the police have involved the FBI against our orders so do expect questioning. Eh, the sample you two provided was very helpful. It would seem that there's one old case in which this particular Stand struck!"

            "Really?" Katy cocked her eyebrow.

            "In the first case, the victim was a swindler. Apparently he'd sold some lotions that he claimed were meant to remove body hair."

            "Like Nair?"

            "Yeah. Thing is, they apparently started causing skin burns. When they went through the ingredients, they had faint traces of sulfuric acid,"

            "Yeesh,"

            "When they found the victim, it said he had the lotion all over him. They thought that he got some sort of infection through the injuries but when the morgue looked into it, they said that he had advanced ebola. There was no sign of ebola in the days before nor any traces in and around his apartment. We accessed the body and when we did, there were a bunch of those metal things all over!" He slid a picture of a rotting corpse to the center of the table, showing pieces of fallen and still hooked pins stuck throughout the entire body.

            "Yare yare, how exaggerated," Jotaro sighed, crossing his arms.

            "This means that we have a whole list of suspects to choose from, which is better than nothing. It will be your jobs to interview these previous contacts. I've crossed off the ones that couldn't have done it already, so just talk to the others."

            "How do you classify who couldn't have done it?"

            "Deceased, ill, moved away, or don't fit the criteria."

            Katy scratched her chin, "Criteria?"

            "Female,"

            "I wouldn't be so quick as to cross them out for being guys," she warned, "Some of the bodies we found weren't eh..."

            "Eh?"

            Jotaro pitched in, "There was a transsexual."

            "Oh, I see! Well, let me look over the list again and I'll circle the names back."

            Katy pressed her lips together, her emotions unreadable. Jotaro began to formulate theories, starting with that reaction and her signs of knowledge. They rebounded against each other and were spawns of new ones as some old ones withered, the process taking milliseconds.

            "Now that that's done, you have eight suspects. You have the information for the women in the folder, though you'll have to go get the ones for the men yourself."

            Katy carpooling with Jotaro, the pair had gone through five houses so far and one was empty, it was getting dark. The first thing they had done was get the information on the males before heading out, but they had nothing. They even summoned their Stands throughout their interviews but nothing.

Katy groaned in frustration, face in her hands. "This sucks! Man, he really gave me a fucking hard job!"

            "Who?" Jotaro asked, eyes on the road.

            "Kilroy," When Jotaro didn't answer, she continued, "Styx."

            "Are you two related?"

            "Yeah, he's my uncle,"

            "You two do look alike,"

            "Yeah. I was messing around with my Stand one day at my uncle’s place and he picked up on it. So here I am, busting criminal ass because he wants me to,"

            Jotaro hesitated. He wasn't surprised at all by her words, he agreed as much, but he wondered about their relationship. "My family's not the best either. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if I had an uncle somewhere, my grandpa's that kind of guy,"

            "You got a girl?"

            "Yeah,"

            "Hah, for real though... Wait, you're serious?"

            Jotaro nodded, showing off his left ring finger. "Four years,"

            "Well, no shit! I mean, I'm single right now, single-Pringle. Can I see a pic' of her?"

            "Pringles are good," He opened his wallet on the dashboard with one hand and tapped on a picture of Roxanne holding a crying newborn Jolyne. The corner of his lips curled up at the glance, his eyes turning back to the street.

            "Aww, you have a kid, too? She's hella adorable. What's her name?"

            "Jolyne,"

            "Oh, Jo-Jo! You're passin' down a tradition! How old is she?"

            "Turned four a while ago,"

            "Damn, you knocked ‘er up and proposed? Scandalous!"

            Jotaro sighed, “Yare yare,”

            “But you’re lucky you got a family like that, real sweet,”

            “Katy-chan, do your feelings against your family have to do with your gender?”

            “What? No!”

            “You know a lot about transsexuals,”

            “Oh, that’s because of my best friend, he’s one,”

            Jotaro grunted and stopped the car, pulling into a driveway. Number seven was ahead. Exiting the car, they knocked on the door. Next to the door the curtains rustled momentarily. Jotaro stepped to the window and knocked on it, holding up an ID badge. “We’d like to ask some questions,”

            After a few seconds the door opened and there stood one of the most beautiful women Jotaro’s ever seen. She was scarily perfect in every way, so naturally something had to be off. She smiled, “Come in,” she turned, her hips swaying side to side as she walked.

            The two Foundation workers entered the house, quickly scanning their surroundings. Jotaro looked at Katy, who watched him with worried eyes. The woman led the two to a lavish living room, where there was a couch, a reclining chair, a TV and a coffee table. She sat on the reclining chair, crossed her legs, ideal legs, and looked at Jotaro with light eyes. “What do you two need?" Her voice was invigorating, like a singer.

            "Yes," Jotaro sat on the couch and Katy followed suit, both taking opposite ends, "We'd like to ask you a few questions. Where were you on Saturday, April 5th of this year?"

            The questioning proceeded like the previous ones. Katy held a firm face of sympathy as Jotaro concentrated. The former summoned her Stand behind the sofa they sat on, letting the cat off the ellipsis to stroll out in plain sight. However, the woman's eyes didn't seem to move from Jotaro, only moving if he did; surely a staring contest like no other. Not once did she so much as glance toward Katy, which angered her as much as relieved her. She willed the cat to jump onto Jotaro's lap. He looked down at the cat, a mistake on his part. Katy seethed at his reflex, but Jotaro quickly acted like he had a minor itch on his thigh.

            The woman looked down regardless. The cat quickly turned and pounced on her, grazing her face. She moved fluidly, inhumanly, over the chair and into a standing position behind the seat, the injured cheek left with indentations but no blood. Jotaro stood up and summoned Star Platinum, sending a barrage of fists in the enemy's direction. She skirted around it, hand reaching out to scratch at him.

            Star Platinum appeared next to the Stand, suddenly, grabbing the head and shaking it violently. She reached up, puncturing its arm with super-sharp nails. Jotaro looked at his arm, seeing pins manifest. He jolted and snapped them off as soon as possible. He nodded to Katy, whose Stand immediately took over as he withdrew his to pluck out any viruses the pin had given him.

            The cat portion of Year of the Cat bit away at this enemy Stand, who tried to kick it off. She bent over to claw at it but the elliptical Mayan calendar slammed into her stomach, sending her backwards. She shuddered, coughing blood before fading, having gone back to its user.

            "Shit!" Katy shouted, "Where'd she go?!"

            "She can't be too far away," Jotaro covered the punctures, now cured of whatever infection had gotten in thanks to his Stand's precision, "Let's search,"

            Katy explored inside of the abode while Jotaro searched around on the outside. They lost her, but Katy found a critical piece of information: an identification card.

            "Evangeline Zoe Love," she read, "Guess I made the right call on the whole trans thing," She pointed out the sex marker.

            "Yeah," he nodded, "But we have no clue where the user is now. We'll turn this in and wait for the Foundation to track her down,"

            "Right," she looked back at the ID, "E. Z. Love... Could've sworn I've heard that name before..."

           When Jotaro returned that night, Roxanne had just drove off. As soon as he walked in, Jolyne pounced from the couch and onto him. "Daddy!"

            He caught her, stumbled, then regained his balance with a quick catch by his Stand. "JoJo!" He swung her around before putting her back down, "Where's mommy going?"

            "She said she had to buy gyuunyuu for tomorrow," Jolyne smiled proudly at her use of the Japanese word for milk.

            "Alright," He ruffled her hair, looking around.

            "Daddy, I made you something!" She stumbled over to her little play table full of Legos and picked up a bracelet. It was a bead bracelet with hearts, dolphins, and butterflies threaded through them. She swears she had spent years (Half an hour) working on it, so she had a determined look on her face as she held it out to him.

            He stared at the bracelet, unsure how to pick it up without accidentally breaking it. Eventually, he decided, "Could you tie it on for me?" He held out his arm, slightly tugging up his jacket sleeve.

            The sight of his arm startled Jolyne, "Daddy, there's blood!"

            He looked at his arm, cursing in Japanese, "Yeah, one of the sharks got friendly with me,"

            "Sharks?!"

            "When I was feeding her,"

            Jolyne grabbed his uninjured hand, trying to rush him into the bathroom as fast as she could, as if he were a patient in the ER. He let her take him, watching with warm eyes as she pulled up his sleeve, guiding the arm tenderly into the sink as she started washing off the crusted blood with water. She then grabbed a box of Band-Aids that always sits next to the sink and took two out, applying them as best as she could onto the wound, though they looked sloppy regardless thanks to her hands. "There! You're better now!"

            Jotaro chuckled at her efforts, "Thank you, Doctor,"

            "All in a work's day!"

            "Day's work."

            "Same thing!" It was then that she clumsily tied the bracelet to his wrist; It was somewhat tight but not too tight. "Don't be stupid again!"

            "Alright, I won't. Want to write a prescription note?"

            "Yeah!" She went to the kitchen, pushing a chair near the counter so she could reach a notepad and a pen. She wrote down: "Don't be stupid again!" She tore off the page and handed it to her father, who had followed her here with a smile on his face.

            He looked at it, squinting. "At least you have the handwriting of a doctor,"

            "What's that supposed to mean?!"

            He laughed, shoving the paper into his coat pocket, "Nothing!"

            "Dad, you're being stupid again, you're laughing like Scooby!"

              He wiped tears from his eyes. This was the best laugh he'd had in a long time.

Chapter Text

            Evangeline Zoe Love was once known as Edward Love and called herself that until about the fourth grade. It was then that she started to print varying names onto the worksheets she handed in, giving everyone a different name to call her by, but none of them felt right. Those who did call her out were always confused, because someone would argue that it's not her name. None of them ever did get it right.

            Her parents found out about the ordeal maybe a few months later when she came back beaten up, where she was soon taken to a psych to be looked over. She was diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder, something that she could trace a few incidents beforehand that she hadn't realized. She finally had a place to put blame. The psych recommended a sort of experimental therapy that has been used to try to cure such an issue, and of course her parents took the advice of a person with a job over their own blood.

            She was taken into a room and sat on a peculiar chair. It was a strange chair, not like the ones psychological professionals use nor beds. It was a room she came to dread over the course of an hour, an hour full of electric nodes and convulsions and screaming. "You are not a woman," the administrator said, "You will never be. Repeat that."

            She did not.

            She was returned to her parents a heap, though she refused to admit what had happened. These shocks were not enough to be seen, but their effects sure did leave an imprint on her. Within the week, she was admitted to the hospital, several organs having failed. Her parents cried in the living room, crying for what they did to the son they never had.

            Now comes middle school, the worst years. She grew out her hair, refusing to let anyone lay a hand on it but her. She'd steal bras and padding from her mother and stuffed them into her backpack to put on at school, feeling better about herself that way when nobody else would. Sometimes, her parents would see wounds and tell administration, but they never did anything about it. Nobody ever stood up for her, she was alone and only accompanied by drawings she would make of what she thought she must look like as soon as she moves out.

            She hated herself. There wasn't a day that passed by where she tried to chew off her skin, her body, her existence. Everyone told her that what she felt was wrong, that she "shouldn't be acting like this". Middle school came and went without as much as a friend. The ones she thought she had in elementary were never really friends.

            She dreaded high school. This is the time where things change! People would say, but for the better or for the worse, who knew? She knew: More teachers teaching more subjects with more pupils, all the more people who would frown upon her. But she graduated. University was the same exact thing.

            Who said she never tried to escape? Of course she's attempted, multiple times, but to no avail. It would seem that fate fancied her suffering, her begging to stop being so badly formed being its entertainment.

            She moved out, got a good job in the field of chemistry, got money, got treatments, proper treatments. She began with hormone therapy before the final name change and surgeries. All this happened over a course of years.

            Evangeline Zoe Love now has a job in chemistry, her pen name was "E.Z. Lover" in papers, and not once did the manager question the marker on her birth certificate, he didn't really care, for she was convincing. Not her, per se, but this seemingly ethereal representation of her. Since she moved out and officially had nobody to talk to but her coworkers in her former job for important things, it didn't surprise her that she started to see things: the sexiest woman she'd ever seen. She didn't question it, she didn't care; It was nice to have someone to talk to.

            Nevertheless, when she first saw it in her apartment, she threw a bottle of wine at it, a cheap one she'd been using to drown herself away from her sadness. The cuts that the lady seemed to develop were reflected upon herself.

            "Who are you?!"

            "I am you,"

            "No you're not, I'm me!"

            "And I'm you, too," Evangeline came to realize that the woman was stylized the same way she'd draw herself when she was younger.

            "Am I going crazy?"

            "I wouldn't say so, I'm your Stand,"

            "Stand?"

            The mysterious Stand proceeded to give Evangeline a lengthy explanation of Stands, "Just call me Maneater,"

            "So if you have powers, what are they?"

            "Well, as far as I know I can give someone a blood disease if I cut them,"

            "Like ebola?"

            "And heart attacks,"

            "What about AIDS?"

            "If you want it to be,"

            "Huh... That's pretty cool,"

            So they got to know each other, started treating each other like friends rather than a part of themselves. They were pretty close, so of course when E.Z. got a patch of dry skin on her elbow, bought some lotion, and used it on herself to find that it was damaging her, they were against the vendor together. They entered his house and straight up killed him. That was the first use of Maneater's ability.

            It was used a few more times against thugs but that was really it. Then she went to the bar one day with her Stand, acting like they were best friends since little kids in case anyone came to ask. Although, the remarks certainly weren't the nicest.

            "It's a shame you have an ugly friend."

            "She's not ugly!"

            The argument went on until Maneater got a chance to dig her nails into the commenter's arm. Evangeline thought for a minute before deciding, Syphilis.

            From then on, whenever she needed to vent, they went to the bar. Any cold remark would leave them with a pin from Maneater leaving behind a sort of disease. As they say, the rest is history.

            Thus is the life of Evangeline Zoe Love, E.Z. Lover.

            Evangeline was rooming in a motel, wanting to sleep but her heart was beating so hard that she couldn't. From her bed she kept an eye on the window, the door, any possible entrance for her hunters. She brought Maneater out to sit next to her, having questions. "How many other people are there like me?"

            "Like you how?"

            "Stand-Users?"

            "Not many, but those two definitely were,"

            "No shit, but there's enough for there to be a police force?"

            "I guess,"

            "Tch, perfect..."

            "We can keep going if you get some sleep, get away father. I don't sense any Users around here but one, a weak one at that,"

            "Any User is dangerous,"

            "His Stand is literally just an orange van,"

            "I see your point... Actually, I think that's good news!"

            "Good news?"

            "Yeah, we can use him to get away!"

            "I see!"

            They nodded at each other, giving each other a reassuring smile. They hugged, feeling good about themselves.

            Morning came, she'd dozed off at some point in the night. Maneater claimed that the User was still there, so Evangeline checked out at the desk before knocking on the door Maneater pointed out before retreating. It took a few minutes but the door opened, revealing a tired young man still plenty underdressed, holding a roll of what reeked of marijuana. "Can I help you?"

            Evangeline composed herself in front of this uncareful swine, "My sources say you're a Stand User that can drive fast?"

            "Oh, I'm famous?" The man perked up, "That's pretty damn cool," He rubbed at his eyes with his free hand, "Who might you be?"

            "Nobody you need to know. Look, I'll pay you if you can get me out of town fast,"

            "How much?"

            "What's your price?"

            "Hmm, where you goin'."

            "Fine, let's just go!"

            He closed the door and quickly dressed himself, finishing his cig fast before getting into his van. Evangeline didn't trust this bum anymore to drive than the next, but did she have a choice? She got in the backseat as he revved the vehicle to life. "So, where'd you hear about my Subway to Venus?"

            "A friend,"

            "Oh? That's awesome, glad to know I'm of service! I'm Mario,"

            "Evangeline,"

            "Ooh, Evangeline, what a savory name~!"

            Is he really hitting on me? That's a first. "Italian?"

            "Yep!" Subway to Venus shot forth, hovering off the ground, "Where to, sweetheart?"

            "Anywhere,"

            "North it is!"

            The ride was rather short, Subway to Venus being a fast Stand and all, and it stopped somewhere Evangeline didn't recognize. "Where are we now?"

            "Same town, more up North, though. Twenty bucks,"

            "Twenty? That ride lasted a minute!"

            "It's a normal cab fare for the distance covered, it's twenty."

            "How much distance?"

            "Few miles,"

            She looked around for a street sign and realized he was right, they were away from the motel. The speed certainly is potent, she admitted quietly. "Thank you," She got $20 from her purse, handing it over to him.

            He put the money in his pocket, "There's a bus station a block from here. I'd drop you off but it's a busy intersection, I don't want to crash myself,"

            "Yeah?" She looked up.

            "There's also this really nice pizza place, it's called Pizza Time. It's right behind it. I'll eat there with ya', I'm pretty damn hungry,"

            "I'm not hungry,"

            "Sure you are, you oughta' be!"

            "Fine, we'll have some. We split half and half, deal?"

            "A'ight,"

            So they went to Pizza Time, the next bus not coming for another hour or so. They sat down, waiting for their order, and Mario pulled out his phone to text. Evangeline looked out the window until he interrupted her thoughts, "So, why you headin' out?"

            "Cousin's getting married,"

            "Yeah? Tell 'em I say congratulations!"

            "They don't know who you are, though,"

            "You don't need to know someone to make them happy, or even want them to be!"

            "What if they're completely against what you believe in?"

            "They're against it for a reason, and being against something is not being happy,"

            "...I guess you're right,"

           They got their cheese pizza and ate, it was a pretty good pizza. Best one she's ever had, definitely. He offered to pay but he did it with the $20 she'd given him, so really, she got a ride here in exchange for pizza. What an interesting Stand User...

            Mario suddenly looked up at her, "I'm going to the bathroom," He announced, standing and walking to the restroom.

            Evangeline blinked in confusion, Interesting indeed...

            "ORA!"

            She was hurled forward from the booth and into another, hissing in pain as she rolled over. The pair from yesterday! "Maneater!" Her Stand immediately shot forth, going for the young man. His own Stand was drawn, grabbing her's by the arm and slamming it down into a table. The other customers and staff were shocked by the fact tables seemed to be breaking by themselves, but the four users in the room knew better. Mario hadn't even gotten a chance to get into the restroom, so he was hit with the flying splinters.

            Katy and Jotaro had gotten Mario's text and arrived before the bus did, thankfully. "E.Z. Lover," Jotaro said, "Who could've guessed it? Yare yare, you left your ID at home. I've met few Users who'd do something so dumb,"

            Evangeline looked up angrily. He set me up! She spit out some blood, looking at the two investigators. "They made a fool of me, I paid it back in full,"

            Katy scoffed, "Killing people doesn't fix anything, it just makes things worse in the world. Then we need more people to fix it, saying their generation will put it right. They never do, it just makes a bigger land of confusion," She looked out the window, and Evangeline followed her gaze.

            "A cat?"

            The cat looked over as if it knew it was being talked about and darted to the door. Katy kicked the door open and in came the cat. She followed it with her sight as it pounced onto the enemy, followed by Year of the Cat. They bit at Evangeline's neck, who was trying to swipe them away as she cried out in pain.

            In came a barrage from Star Platinum, "ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!"

            Maneater stumbled backward when it tried to move, the deep imprints of bites and the most powerful punches going at piston speeds, never overlapping. They worked together to make the body a mangled mess, a pity.

            There lied Evangeline, someone who faced the consequences for being misled and misunderstood. It’s a shame what the world has done to her.

            Back in Jotaro’s car, he looked over at Katy. She was looking down sadly, twiddling her thumbs. “Are you alright?”

            “I took a life today, someone who’s been in pain all her life,”

            “She took more lives than you did,”

            “But-“

            “Katy, taking your first life is never easy. It’s going to shake you up, but I personally think you’re strong enough to handle it,” he wasn’t sure what he was saying, but it felt right, as much as it was odd to hear himself say it. He paused to give Katy a chance to respond before continuing, "She would've killed more people if you didn't."

            "Yeah... You're right," She sighed, looking out the window with a glum expression, "Still, it sucks to build towards something just to lose it all,"

            Jotaro pursed his lips, the road in front of him becoming nothing much but a visual while his thoughts went elsewhere: Abdul's arms, Iggy's matted and blood-caked corpse, Kakyoin's body. And for what? So one person could live?

            Stop that, she's your mother.

            One life versus three.

              He came to a red light at an intersection, sighing solemnly, slowing to a stop. Katy looked at him and for that second he looked old and broken. She knew better than to ask what was wrong, figuring that he's had his troubles too, worse ones. She wondered if her uncle was to blame in the matter.

Chapter Text

            E.Z. Lover is gone. Dio's been quiet. Nobody's gone missing for too long, no strangely mangled bodies, no calls from the Speedwagon Foundation regarding vampires, simply mundane Stand Users who discovered their abilities. Jotaro's been going to his actual job, coming home to an actual family, having an actual life.

            "Daddy, lift me up!" Jolyne was holding the tree star above her head. It was early December, the family had worked together on putting together this year's ornaments. This year's colors were white and blue.

            "Alright," Jotaro reached down and lifted her from her arms. She squealed and kicked, trying to fit the tree onto the top. As soon as it did, she cheered and Jotaro put her back down.

            This moment lasted less than thirty seconds and it was already a memory they were both fond of.

            It's Christmas Eve, Roxanne decided to throw a party and invite her friends and family. By extension, she invited Jotaro's friends and family. He had no problems with this, for it was the holiday season after all. Jolyne looked her best, wearing a green dress and a yellow headband to resemble a Christmas tree. She was excited whenever someone in her age group walked through that door: Classmates, cousins, etc.

            "Uncle Pol!" She cheered upon seeing the familiar face walk through the door. He had an arm around a new woman, who looked rather large. "Uncle Pol is gonna be a dad, daddy!"

            "So he is," Jotaro affirmed before introducing himself to the woman. "I must say, Polnareff, I didn't expect you to find someone,"

            "What?! Jotaro, I've told you about her over the phone a dozen times!"

            "Doesn't ring a bell," He let his smirk slip through, giving the legendary 'Sussudio' a smile of acknowledgement.

            "Y-you dog! Don't yank my chain!" Polnareff slapped Jotaro's back playfully.

            "Excuse me," Spoke a voice Jotaro recognized. Polnareff moved aside to present the ever familiar Katy Perry, who had a young man by her side. He must've been in his teen years. "Jotaro, what's up?"

            "Katy," Jotaro greeted, "You brought a friend."

            "Hello," the twink spoke shyly. His voice was strangely high, "I'm Nathan,"

           "This is the best friend I told you about at work!" Katy smiled.

            Oh, Jotaro looked over the stranger, who didn't seem to pose much of a threat to anyone. "It's nice to meet you," He held out a hand for him to shake.

            Nathan took it firmly and shook it, staring up at Jotaro with a renewed confidence. "You too, sir!"

            Jotaro withdrew his hand from the enthusiastic teen before letting them pass by, allowing more guests in. At some point the flow stopped, everyone was here. Even Joseph, who immediately started socializing with the others. Sadao hadn't come, of course he didn't. He was busy, as always. However, Holly appeared, as expected. She seemed relieved to celebrate Christmas the way she grew up knowing how, with a bottle and presents.

            Katy was busy gushing over Jolyne with Nathan, whose lips were pursed. "What a cutie! The pictures Jotaro showed me don't do you justice!"

            Jolyne put a hand on her hip and jut it out, beaming, "Of course they don't!"

            Nathan crossed his ankle over his opposing knee, "You look like a Christmas tree."

            "That's the point, stupid!"  He clenched his jaw, searching in himself for some sort of patience as she continued, "What about you? You look like you're in a gang or something! Is that any way to come to a party?"

            Katy stepped in, "He's part of a gang, he has a knife and everything!"

            Jolyne faltered at the lie, stepping away, "Oh, I'm sorry!"

            Nathan nodded, smiling and reaching into his hoodie pocket slowly as if he were to actually draw one out. Jolyne squealed and distanced herself further. He stood up and went to get more food, stepping right past Jolyne, who looked utterly terrified.

            "He won't hurt you, he doesn't hurt kids... Usually," Katy snickered, picking Jolyne up and sitting her on her lap. "So how's school, JoJo?"

            "Terrible! It's boring and I keep getting in trouble!"

            "Hehe, I thought you'd be that kind of kid! Bet your dad was just as much of a problem child, eh?"

            "That's what daddy always says, and mommy says that's a good thing!"

            "She says that it keeps ya' from being boring, right?"

            "How did you know?!"

            "That's exactly what boys would tell me in middle school,"

            "All the boys in my school are idiots!"

            "I know, sweetie. At your age, they all are, right Nathan?"

            Nathan had just returned with a Dr. Pepper and a plate full of food and had no idea what the conversation was about, "I guess?"

            Jolyne smiled, "You're not so dumb, then!"

            "Of course I ain't, I'm perfect!" Nathan flipped his hair for dramatic effect and sat down, stuffing his face immediately.

            "Oh, really? What makes you say that?"

            "I'm a fortune teller, so I can tell you right now what will happen to you later tonight,"

            "Tell me, then!"

            "It'll involve rocks,"

            "That doesn't mean anything!"

            "Just you wait," Nathan put down his fork and chugged his soda to demonstrate his superiority, making his throat burn.

            What a nerd.

            Polnareff had stepped away from the rest as soon as Sussudio was distracted, dragging the Joestar men along. "I need both of your help! How the hell do I propose?!"

            Jotaro scoffed, "Well, you get on one knee and hold the box out--"

            "Are you kidding me, Jotaro?" Joseph interrupted, "Don't tell me that that's how you proposed!"

            "It works, doesn't it?"

            "You gotta surprise her! Put it where she doesn't expect it!"

            "Uh," Polnareff looked at Joseph questioningly, "Like where?"

            "It's simple, Polnareff--" Jotaro started,

            "Next you're going to say: 'Put it in her glass!'"

            "Put it in her glass-- good grief!"

            Polnareff smiled, "Not her glass, then. What about her purse?"

            "That's how you lose it," Joseph shook his head, "Put it in her pocket!"

            "Dresses don't have pocket, Jiji."

            "Sometimes, Polnareff," Joseph smiled, "When you have to think outside of the box, you go to the gutter!"

            Jotaro shook his head, "That's ridiculous."

            "That's perfect!" Polnareff shook Joseph's hand vigorously, "Thank you, Mr. Joestar!"

            "It's common sense!"

            "Momma," Katy called, "JoJo pricked herself!"

            "Oh, with what?" Roxanne walked over to where Katy and Jolyne were in the living room, where Nathan was also downing his fifth can of Dr. Pepper like it was a drinking contest.

            "The-" Jolyne sniffed, "The mean boy was right!"

            "She pricked herself with a stone," Nathan explained before going off to find his sixth can.

            "Let me see," Roxanne kneeled in front of her daughter, taking a look at her finger. It was bleeding a lot but the injury itself was nothing serious, "I'll get the band-aids," She got up again, going to find the box.

            "Why is there a cat next to you?" Jolyne asked, looking at Year of the Cat, who rested its head on Katy's lap.

            Katy looked shocked, "What?"

            "There's a cat on your legs. I don't remember any cat coming inside!"

            She suddenly became a Stand User? Just like that? "Is it okay if I bring JoJo senior here?"

            "Jiji?"

            "Um, your dad?"

            "Oh, I mean, I guess,"

            Katy got up and brought Year of the Cat along on its calendar portion, which seemed to astound Jolyne completely. "It's flying on a rock!!"

            She made her way through the crowd, finding Jotaro and Nathan talking near the table with all the food. "...and that's how it works," Jotaro finished explaining something, although the youth looked indefinitely confused.

            "Jotaro, can I talk to you for a second?"

            "Yes, of course. What happened?"

            She waited until the others were out of earshot, taking him aside before speaking, "Your daughter just saw my Year of the Cat after she pricked herself with a rock,"

            Jotaro's eyes widened. "How did she get a hold of it?"

            "The rock? She found it on the floor, she was showing me something in your office,"

            A piece of the Arrow. "Show me."

            When they returned to the living room, Roxanne had put a band-aid onto Jolyne's finger and stood up to leave. "She says she wants you," She said to Jotaro before walking out... Was that jealousy in her tone?

            "Daddy, there was a cat on Katy and it was flying on a rock!"

            Katy and Jotaro exchanged a look. Jotaro let Star Platinum emerge momentarily, its eyes looking at Jolyne. "Can you see this?"

            "There's a ghost! A purple ghost!"

            Jotaro pressed his lips. He'd been prepared to have many talks with Jolyne, as any father would. He didn't think the first one would be about Stands. He searched for words, a way to explain what was going on. Polnareff's the best one out of all of us to explain this sort of thing, he was born with his- No. It must be me. "JoJo, what you call a ghost and a cat on a rock are called 'Stands.' They're a sort of representation of your spirit."

            "So those are your spirits?"

            "Yes and no,"

            "Why can I only see them now?"

            He stopped, "The rock you touched that I constantly tell you not to touch is dangerous. It gives people the ability to see Stands, hopefully even provide them with one. You may even have one now."

            "Am I going to get a ghost?"

            "Maybe."

            Katy cut in, "JoJo, you're going to love having a Stand! It'll make you the coolest kid in your school!"

            "Yeah!" Jolyne beamed, standing up, "I'm going to show everyone who's boss! Right, daddy?"

            Jotaro eyed her. This was the last thing he wanted: To doom his own daughter into the same fate that he had been cast. How do you tell that to a four year old? ...You don't. "If you use it responsibly, you'll enjoy the experience."

            "I'm going to have a superpower!" She shrieked happily, "I'm going to be a superhero!"

            Katy smiled at Jotaro, "It's going to be a family of bada- kickbutts!"

            Jotaro could only be filled with worry from here on out. He nodded and excused himself, darting to his grandfather. He explained the situation quickly with a rare hint of panic in his voice. "Stand Users attract other Stand Users, I don't want her to get into trouble."

            "What's done is done, don't worry about it!" Joseph responded in his natural carelessness, "We'll take things as they come."

            Polnareff slipped back to the Joestars, having been eavesdropping, "Did I hear that correctly? Jolyne got her Stand?"

            "It's true," Jotaro spoke grimly, "And she's already one to get into trouble often."

            "Like her father!" His similar disregard for the consequences annoyed Jotaro.

            Why can't anyone see that this can only lead to trouble?

            Cleanup the next day was hastened with Star Platinum's aid. Jotaro simply wasn't in the mood for responsible Stand usage thanks to last night. It was early morning, nobody would be awake for another hour or so. He figured that he might as well get this out of the way, spare Roxanne the trouble. I've missed enough already.

            He heard his daughter running into the living room before he had time to react, feeling the small arms latch onto Star's leg. He turned to see his Stand give Jolyne a warm look. The only times he's ever seen it smile was when it was beating someone into the ground, so naturally, his fatherly instincts kicked in. "Don't hurt her,"

            "What's his name?"

            "Star Platinum,"

            "He looks awesome! Like one of those models on mommy's magazines!"

            Jotaro gave her a look of amusement. "Magazines?"

            "Yeah! The ones with the really big guys!"

            "Well, I assure you that they can't beat Star Platinum, even if they teamed up."

            She was about to respond but was suddenly swooped up by Star, who had dropped everything to give the child some attention. She squealed and kicked as he placed her to sit on one arm as the other ensured her safety. "He's really strong!"

            "Ora!" Star Platinum nodded in acknowledgement, thanking her for the compliment. His grin grew, replicating her own, and he started tickling her tummy, making her giggling and double over.

            Jotaro shook his head and finished his cleaning. He was surprised that his Stand was more distracting than the prospect of Christmas to his daughter, who seemed to be having lots of fun. He didn't realize why until they were opening the presents together and realized that some of the presents he'd wrapped yesterday were missing. Good grief, of course she did. Despite what he muttered, he did so with a smile. He was just glad to see her happy. Roxanne noticed his efforts and gave him the proper credit in silence.

            They were a family once more.