Chapter Text
Of course I had to make the start of the journey chapter titled as stand proud ;)
You ended up staying awake well into the night despite you wanting to sleep earlier since you knew you had school. But Joseph had other plans and you ended up staying awake with him, Caesar and Jotaro, you weren’t doing anything special, you were all just chatting and playing with a deck of cards. Time flew by way too quickly and before you knew it midnight had rolled around the corner, Caesar quickly ushered you and Jotaro to his room after realizing what time it was. But Jotaro being Jotaro convinced you to share a beer with him before bedtime, you didn’t want to drink a full can so he finished yours when you were halfway done. At that point, you were too exhausted to change out of your school uniform but you still gargle-washed your mouth, you didn’t want cavities that was for sure.
You woke up a little more tired than you usually are but that was to be expected, still, you got out of bed and dragged your heels over to Jotaros futon. You let out a yawn and stretch a little as you rub the sleep from your eyes as you give Jotaro a light shake by his shoulder.
”Get up Jotaro.” You mumble out with half squinted eyes, the light pouring in from the window was too bright for your sensitive eyes, not much to your surprise he doesn’t react much besides a grunt of annoyance.
”I know you’re not a morning person but we have school, you can’t just lay here all day Jotaro, cmon get up.” You say more awake now and shaking him a little rougher, causing him to glare at you with half-lidded eyes and a scowl prominent on his face. “Don’t give me that face, you know you have to get up.” Right as you finish your sentence you hear the door open and you see Holly-San enter the room.
”Time to get up you two- oh, Veronique, you’re already up?” Holly-San says a little shocked.
”Yep and I’m trying to get this grumpy guy up but he refuses to budge…” you say with your voice trailing off, remembering what Holly-San had told you a while ago on the day when you had fallen on Jotaro trying to put that baby bird back in its nest. Holly-San said something about him having ticklish sides.
”Last chance Jotaro, I’m warning you.” You say sternly and he doesn’t even look your way. “Alright then, be difficult.” You say as you move your hands away from shaking his shoulders and immediately dive in for an attack on his sides, you see his eyes widen as he jerks around a little the moment you make contact with his sides. You see him turn to scowl hard at you but you can see he’s holding back laughter, not like he could help himself. Although, you didn’t think anyone could look so angry while trying to hold back a laugh but Jotaro proved you wrong. After a few more moments of Jotaro swatting away your hands and one punch to your shoulder you finally stop.
”Will you finally get out of bed now?” You ask with a smug smile and coy tone, Jotaro looking rather irked with how you woke him up.
”Good grief woman, I’m up.” Jotaro snaps at you as he sits up and rubs his eyes, getting adjusted to the lighting in the room and you stand up to let him do that.
”Want me to pass you anything for breakfast while you get ready, I’m already dressed up and ready to go.” You ask walking over to the door of the room, stopping at the exit as you await his answer.
”Toast.” He replies getting up and walking over to the bathroom.
”Alright.” You call after your already long-gone friend, although you couldn’t blame him for being sour, you knew he wasn’t a morning person.
You assumed Holly went back to the kitchen since she saw that you were waking up Jotaro. Honestly, you had no idea how she did that every morning. It made you wonder if she ever had to tickle him.
You walk over to the kitchen and look at Holly-San, something about her seemed a little off to you, she was very pale and you could see a thin sheen of sweat over her creamy skin.
”Hey Holly-San are you okay, you look a little pale and seem kinda out of it.” You say putting a hand on her shoulder and you see her jump and flinch a bit at your touch as she turns around looking shocked.
”Oh my Veronique you scared me.” Holly-San says with a chuckle as she gives you a smile. “Don’t worry about me I’m fine.” Holly-San says waving her hand dismissively and you can’t help but feel like she’s lying so, probably not wanting to worry you.
“Alright if you say so, but if you’re not feeling well you should get some rest and take it easy, oh yeah I’m gonna get Jotaro some toast, mind pointing out where the bread is?” You ask following where she pointed as you grab two slices for your large companion and pop it in the toaster.
“Don’t worry about me dear, I’ll go see you and Jotaro on your way out.” Holly-San says passing you two mugs of coffee which you accept and place the toast on a plate, you weren’t hungry right now so just having coffee was fine with you.
”Thanks Holly-San feel better soon.” You say leaving the room as you walk back over to Jotaro's room who just exited out the door in his full school attire. You hand him the plate and one cup of coffee as you both sit down in the living room area where Joseph, Avdol, and Caesar were currently at.
”Good morning you two, how did you sleep?” Joseph says in a rather cheery tone.
”I slept fine, don’t know about grumpy pants over there though, he ain’t a morning guy.” You answer pointing a thumb at Jotaro as you sip on the warm bitter liquid, you never drank coffee before so it was definitely more bitter than you thought. Thankfully Holly-San put some milk and sugar for you but you weren’t too sure how to feel about the taste, it was definitely something new but you weren’t too opposed to it.
”Shut up woman, you’re so damn annoying.” Jotaro says with a scowl on his face as he drinks his coffee and eats the toast you got him.
”Jotaro! That’s no way to talk to your friend!” Joseph says appalled at his grandson and you let out a laugh knowing Jotaro couldn’t care less.
”It’s fine Joseph I don’t mind, he’s always like this.” You say with a shrug as you continue to sip on the warm liquid.
”He’s always like this?” Joseph yelled even louder, you might have been used to his explosive personality a few months ago but this early in the morning you found him too loud.
”Shut up old man, you’re too damn loud this early in the morning. I talk how I want, to whoever I want.” Jotaro snaps out in a cold tone at his grandfather, his non-morning self shining through clear as day.
”Joseph trust me I really don’t mind the way he talks, I find it rather amusing actually. How else do you think I could survive being his friend for over half a year now.” You say with a smile, happy to say out loud that you have a friend, it still baffled you from time to time to think you had a friend, Jotaro Kujo of all people.
“Well as long as he isn’t hurting your feelings or being too rude. But still, you're a girl he could be nicer.” Joseph huffs out mostly at his grandson while he was addressing you.
”Don’t worry he’s never over excessively rude unless I purposefully provoked him.” You say with a mischievous smile as you continue to drink the bitter liquid.
”Well I can tell the two of you are good friends signorina.” Caesar says with a chuckle as you see Avdol nod his head in agreement. You wanted a chance to get to know Avdol a little better since he was Joseph’s friend after all.
“Yeah, you could say that, he’s the only person I hang out with after all, at school he’s my only friend.” You say with a soft chuckle knowing full well why people wanted to stay away from you.
After that display of you and Jotaro beating up some thugs and getting arrested people associated you with the delinquent and that you were both dangerous. Which you didn’t really mind, it meant that people would steer clear of you and leave you alone, which meant the less obsessed Jotaro fan girls left you alone. However the main three didn’t stop trying to get on your nerves and constantly tried to force you away from Jotaro, you knew they’d never succeed but it was very annoying.
”How come you can’t make more friends at school?” Joseph inquires as he sips on his American-style coffee since he refused to drink the Japanese coffee.
“Jojo idiota, don’t phrase it like that, it’s rude.” Caesar scolded his friend giving Joseph his usual smack on the back of his head.
”Ow, that’s just unnecessary Caesar, it was a reasonable question.” Joseph whined as he rubbed the back of his head with his prosthetic hand.
”Well I’m not very good at making friends believe it or not, and now I have a reputation at school for being associated with Jotaro and beating up some thugs. Not that I mind, it’s actually nicer like this, people aren’t as annoying to me.” You say with a shrug as you finish drinking your coffee.
”Well aren’t you a little troublemaker?” Caesar says with a chuckle as he ruffles your hair with one hand.
”Just a little bit.” You say standing up before looking over at Jotaro who also finished his coffee and ate his toast. “Anyways I and Jotaro should get going now, don’t want to be late for class after ditching, I wonder how my parents are going to react…” Your voice trails off at the thought of what your parents might do to you but you shake it off for now.
”That’s a future me problem, for now, I’m fine.”
Jotaro makes a grunt of acknowledgment like he normally does as he stands up alongside you.
”Alright have fun at school you two.” Joseph chimes in with a smile as Avdol and Caesar say their farewells to you both. You wave bye to them all as Jotaro ignores them and walks out of the room, picking up both your bags along the way, making you have to do a little jog to catch up with him.
But once you get to the exit and put your shoes on something felt off, Holly-San had told you that she would see you and Jotaro on your way out. You also knew that Holly-San always gave Jotaro a goodbye kiss whenever he would leave for school.
”You also get the vibes that something is off?” You ask Jotaro who was staring at the doorway as well, likely also expecting to see his clingy mother saunter up to you both and say her goodbyes.
"Yeah, it's strange, the old bitch normally comes by before I leave." Jotaro says slipping off his shoes as he walks back inside, you following not far behind, a feeling of dread looming over you as you and he heard a commotion coming from one area of the usually quiet home.
The two of you quickly pick up the pace as you make your way back to the kitchen you see Joseph standing at the doorway and you and Jotaro quickly join him.
When you peer inside the kitchen you see Holly-San passed out on the floor and Avdol holding her and inspecting what’s wrong. You could see her uneven breathing and the sheen of sweat on her body, but worse of all you could see a thorny-looking stand on her backside.
“She… Has a stand? Holly…” Joseph says in disbelief mostly to himself and you see the two men visibly stiffen up. But to your surprise, you hear Joseph let out a frustrated yell of anger as he grips Jotaro aggressively by the collar of his jacket as he slams him into the wall. His fit of anger was short-lived as his angry yell turns into soft weeps. Jotaro was just standing there and taking it like a champ but you knew he wouldn’t let Joseph cling onto him for much longer.
”This is the thing I feared the most, this is the very last thing I ever wanted to happen. My daughter has developed a stand as well, I’ve always known she’s too weak she can’t withstand it. I knew when this day came it would destroy her, she doesn’t have the strength needed to repel Dio’s curse.” Joseph says with a few weeps as Jotaro seemingly got fed up with him and grabbed him by the wrist harshly, making Joseph look him in the eyes.
”Tell me, what can we do?” Jotaro says shoving his grandfather away from him as he releases his grip on him.
”Is there anything we can do to help her?” You ask while worriedly glancing over at the woman who made you feel like you mattered. You knew Holly-San longer than you knew Jotaro and she was the first person who ever made you feel cared for, made you feel wanted in a very long time.
”Okay.” Joseph starts off grimly. “To start we must find Dio, the only way to break this curse is to find Dio and kill him!” Joseph yells out with annoyance. “But finding him is the problem no matter how many times I try he’s always hiding in the darkness, in every spirit photo I take the background is black.” Joseph explains as Avdol carries Holly-San to her room as he lays her down, Joseph putting a cold compress on her head as he covers her up with the blanket. Joseph states as he and Avdol take out the photos of Dio and lay them on the floor near Holly-San, you sat on the floor and looked at the photos. If your memory was serving you right then you were fairly certain he was in Cairo, Egypt, but you didn’t want to give false hope until you were certain. You looked at the photos of the familiar blonde man, it feels like it was so long since you last saw him, it was kinda nice to see him again, even if it was just a photo.
”We won’t be able to locate him with my photographs.” Joseph sighs out as he puts the photo down, staring at his daughter with worry in his eyes.
“We’ve used various methods to try and analyze them, but with this darkness, we always come up with nothing.” Avdol says as he holds one of the photos, trying to see if he could find anything in the darkness.
”Hey, you should’ve mentioned this to me sooner.” Jotaro says walking over from the wall he was leaning on, reaching for the photo Avdol was holding which he handed over to Jotaro. “Let me look, I might be able to find out.” Jotaro states as you see Star Platinum manifest behind him, looking over his shoulder. “What’s hiding in that darkness.” Jotaro says as he lets Star Platinum look into the photo, its pupils dilating as its eyes scan the photo. “It’s found something within the shadows.” Jotaro states as he grabs a pencil and sketch pad out from a drawer. “My stand can move accurately enough to pull a flesh bud from someone’s brain and catch a bullet, let’s have it sketch what it sees.” Jotaro finishes as he holds the sketch pad for Star Platinum, he began to sketch with incredible speed and accuracy as you, Joseph, and Avdol all looked at Star with curiosity. An image of a very familiar fly was finished being drawn by Star and you had to admit you were a tiny bit jealous of how well he could draw.
”No way! It saw a fly through all that.” Avdol exclaims as if he couldn’t believe his eyes.
”Yeah but how the hell is a fly going to help us.” Joseph says rubbing his chin.
”Well that’s simple, that specific fly is only located in the Aswan region, it’s a Nile Tsetse Fly, it normally stays near the banks of the Nile river. But it’s specifically an Aswan Tsetse fly, you can tell from the stripes on its legs, but if my memory serves me right he should be in Cairo, Egypt.” You say thinking back to the time you had spent in Egypt with your father since you couldn’t go out during the day you had a lot of time to study what you could indoors. He made sure to teach you the normal stuff since he couldn’t send you to school but he also taught you some random things, the insects you found indoors being one of those things.
”So he is in Egypt after all.” You hear someone say from the doorway, you, Jotaro, Joseph, and Avdol turning to see Kakyoin and Caesar standing by the doorway.
”What do you mean by that?” Joseph inquires raising an eyebrow at the red-haired boy.
”The flesh bud was planted into my brain three months ago, that’s when I met Dio. I was on a trip with my family in Egypt, we were there touring the Nile.” Kakyoin states as he and Caesar enter the room. Caesar goes over to Holly and gives her water as he talks quietly to her.
”You were in Egypt too? It seems for some reason Dio wants to remain in that area.” Avdol says scratching his chin curiously.
”So when are we all leaving? Because I’m going with you.” Kakyoin states calmly as everyone lets out a small gasp, even you weren’t expecting this guy to want to tag along.
”Seriously? Why would you want to do that?” Jotaro asks visibly confused.
”To be honest, I have no idea why I want to either, it’s just something I feel compelled to do.” Kakyoin says as Jotaro scoffs putting his hands in his pockets.
”Let’s just say you’ve opened my eyes, it’s that simple.” Kakyoin says tapping his forehead where his flesh bud once was and it finally clicked, Jotaro saved his life so he was repaying him by helping save Jotaros mother.
”Wait you’re all going? Where to?” Holly says weakly as she looks up at you with glossed over eyes.
”We’re going to go and make you feel better okay? You’ll be good as new when we come back.” You say with a tight lipped smile as you pat her hand gently, you hated seeing her in this state. You also had unfinished business with Dio, you knew you couldn’t give him the slip forever and what better time to confront him than before he dies.
”Will you all be alright?” Holly-San asks with furrowed eyes brows as she grasps your hand weakly in hers. Her glassy green eyes staring up at you with motherly concern.
”We’re all going to be fine, just rest up Holly-San alright, we’ll come back to you safe and sound. I promise to keep Jotaro safe.” You say the last part quietly so only she heard you, she gives you a weak nod before her eyes flutter shut and she falls limp, her hand no longer clasped on yours.
”She passed out again.” You say somberly, watching this wonderful and sweet woman in so much pain made you feel unimaginable anger and sadness. Especially since you couldn’t do anything to help her besides killing Dio and breaking the curse, which you also didn’t really want to do. You unfortunately or considerably, fortunately, had a history with the vampire, not all of it good, but n most of it wasn’t bad.
”Holly… we’re going to save you no matter what, you have my word. There’s nothing for you to worry about, we are going to make you better I promise, just take it easy.” Joseph spoke quietly as he kissed her forehead, everyone looked at her with sorrowful eyes, you couldn’t imagine how hard this was on him and Jotaro. You knew how much Jotaro cares for his mother, even if he didn’t show it often, but you could see the hurt, pain and determination in his eyes as he looked upon his unconscious mother.
”Alright listen up men...” Joseph says before seeing you in the corner of his eye. “And Veronique, we’re running out of time we need to leave immediately, I will go call up the Speedwagon Foundation to look after Holly. I need everyone to go grab their things as quickly as possible, make sure to pack light, I will cover the costs for everything.” Joseph instructed everyone as you all nod your heads.
”Veronique can me and Caesar talk to you real quick while everyone gets ready.” Joseph spoke gently as the others left the room, Jotaros figure lingering in the doorway for a moment before he disappeared.
”Yeah what is it?” You ask walking closer to your now much older friends.
”There isn’t any easy way to put this but are you sure you want to tag along, we don’t want you to get hurt on this journey. You fought the pillar men a few months ago, for me and Caesar it was so many years ago, are you sure you’re up for this?” Joseph asks with concern as he puts a hand on your shoulder.
”I’m certain I’m up for this, Holly-San was the first person who made me feel like I belonged in a very long time. I was in a very dark place before I met her, she was like a light in the dark that also lead me to meet Jotaro. Those two mean the world to me and there isn’t anything either of you can say to make me want to stay behind.” You say sternly to further prove your point that you weren’t going to budge.
”Alright piccolina, if that’s your wish then you better go grab your stuff and passport.” Caesar says with a smile patting your head gently as you smile back at them both.
”Will do, that stuff is at my parent's home though, I wasn’t able to snag my passport when I ran away.” You say as you walk towards the exit.
”If that’s the case get Jotaro to come with you, I don’t want you to go alone, me and Caesar will talk to the Speedwagon foundation guys, try and be quick.” Joseph said and you nodded your head before walking over to Jotaros room, who already exited with a small bag.
”Hey, Jotaro.” You say getting his attention as he looks over at you. “Joseph told me to ask you to tag along to my parent's place so I can grab my passport but you don’t have to if you don’t want to, I can manage on my own.” You say walking past him and going over to the exit as you slip on your shoes. You knew if he wanted to come he would just follow along quietly after you, which he did as you exit the place, breaking into a speed walk but to your surprise, there was a car upfront already.
”I called someone to give you a ride to make it quicker.” Joseph yelled from the door as you shake your head with a smile on your face.
”Well that was quick.” You say shocked as you and Jotaro get into the back of the car.
”Where do you two need to be taken to?” The driver asks as you tell him the rough location of the forest.
”I need to get something from my real home first before I go to that hell hole.” You tell Jotaro and he nods his head, once the driver gets close enough to your location you get out and sprint into the forest. You told Jotaro to wait in the car for you since it wouldn’t take very long, once the car was out of sight you used your vampiric abilities to run quickly through the forest. Once you get inside your tent you grab your school bag off your back and dump out the unnecessary stuff. But you kept your notes and textbook so you could keep up with some work, along with your sketch pad since you needed something to do. You grab your extra underclothes since you just had your school uniform, you didn’t want to bring your work clothes.
“Shoots, what am I supposed to do about my work?” You think to yourself panicked as you try and come up with something to say, but you knew if you wanted to go on this trip you would have to quit. You really didn’t want to, but if this was the only option so you could save Holly-San you were willing to quit your job. You quickly exit the tent and zip it up and sprint back to the car quickly as you tell the driver the location of your old home.
Your mind was conflicted about quitting and you felt dread pool in your stomach at the thought of optionally going back to your old house. The drive there was pretty quick, it was only five minutes from the forest area, but once the house came into view your stomach churned at the sight. So many horrid and suppressed memories came flooding back but you forced them down your throat, your mind was on getting your passport and saving Holly-San.
”Alright we’re here, is this your last stop before we head back?” The driver asked as he turned around to face you.
”Yeah it is.” You say meekly as you open the door with shaky hands.
”I’ll come with.” Jotaro states as he also gets out of the car, leaving you no time to protest. You take in a deep breath as you walk up the trail to the lavish-looking house you rasp your knuckles against the front door as you feel Jotaro looming behind you.
"Coming." You hear a woman say in a cheery tone as the sounds of footsteps coming down the stairs follow shortly after.
"Jotaro they'll know you're my friend after this, what if they do something to Holly-San while we're gone." You say with a panicked tone as you turn your head to look up at your friend.
"They won't be able to do sh*t to her, I'll make sure of that." Jotaro says with a cold voice as he stares at the door ahead of you both.
"How can I help-" Your foster mother's voice cuts off at the sight of you as her eyes grow wide looking at you and then Jotaro.
"Hello female guardian I need something that I left behind here and then I'll get out of your hair." You state with a tight-lipped smile, hoping that maybe she will be civilized because of Jotaro. She doesn't say anything but stares at you with her mouth agape as she steps back and lets you and Jotaro step inside.
"Who was at the door honey." You hear your father's voice slur as he walks down the stairs less coordinated than he should be. The moment you smell the alcohol lingering on him you instinctively move closer to Jotaro. "If it was one of those salespeople again you can go tell them to go fuc-" He stops midsentence as he looks at you with wide eyes as he descends down the steps, his face contorting with anger and disgust.
"What the hell is she doing here? And who is that behind her?" Your foster father yells out angrily stomping over next to his wife as he looks you up and down. "And why the f*ck did we get a call yesterday saying that you were absent from class, did you skip class with this guy over here you damn slu*t." He yells, spit flying out from his mouth.
"That doesn't matter right now, I am going to take my passport and other identification, and then I'll be out of your hair. Isn't that what you want after all, for me to just disappear and be gone form your lives?" You say surprisingly calm yet bitterly, having Jotaro here made you feel much safer and like you could finally find your voice. Even if your heart was beating at an insane rate inside you, you wanted to stay strong.
"Why the hell would I give you that? Are you just f*cking this guy to get by in life? I knew you were a pathetic girl. Good for nothing but selling your body to live on the streets." Junichiro says as he steps closer to you, his warm muggy breath falling on your face, the sent making you want to gag.
"Back the hell off old man unless you want trouble." Jotaro says shoving Junichiro back by the shoulder roughly as he sends him stumbling back due to his drunken state.
"Oh, the big boy wants a fight, doesn't he? Well back the f*ck off this is a family matter and last I checked you aren't a part of this one so I can damn well do as I please with my daughter over here." Junichiro states as he straightens his posture and sobers up a little from getting shoved.
"Why do you need your passport, you aren't planning on jumping countries are you?" Ahmya chimes in with her friendly exterior faltering as a snarl was placed onto her face.
"I need to but I'll be returning, I know where it is, so just let me get it peacefully and you two can go about your day." You try to stay calm to defuse the situation, you really didn't want to be near your foster parents right now.
"You will do no such thing, Veronique, you are not missing more school and going on some random vacation during your senior year with this delinquent. Are you trying to tarnish the Suzuki name?" She yells at you also stepping closer, but as she moves closer you can practically feel Jotaro almost pressed up behind you in a defensive stance. His height and large build likely intimidated the two shorter adults in the room who were much weaker than he was physically.
"Last I checked I wasn't a Suzuki, you did change my last name but not to yours. The only one ruining your nonexistent reputation is yourself. Just leave me the hell alone I haven't done jack to either of you yet you're both so hell-bent on making my life difficult. So whether you like it or not I'm going to get my passport and leave." You yell at them, walking over to the stairwell as you start climbing it. Jotaro stayed at the bottom to make sure they don't follow you up there.
"We'll report you missing and that you were kidnapped by whoever you're traveling with." Ahmya screeches to you as you turn your head back to face her.
"Go ahead, I'd love to explain how I have this many scars at my age and why I'm living on the streets when I have legal guardians." You deadpan, continuing to ascend the stairs as you hear your mother begin to scream from frustration. You let out a long sigh you didn't know you were holding in after you were not in the proximity of your parents.
"Shut up you bitch, you're screaming is annoying!" You hear Jotaro yell as you walk over to the office that you were never allowed inside, you rummage around through the drawers and find your passport and birth certificates, the old and new one. After you were adopted they changed your last name to something they considered to be 'lesser' and a non-white last name so you wouldn't look like you had any privilege. You hadn't understood what that meant when you were younger. But now you knew they were just being racist bastards since you were half Filipina and they thought that being half Filipina made you lesser than they were.
So from your name being Veronique Brando they changed it to being Veronique Reyes. Knowing that this trip meant to kill the man you thought of as a father greatly hurt you. He had raised you until you had to leave. But that was going to be a different issue you had to worry about once you got there. You exit the office and walk down the stairs, you saw Jotaro standing by the door with his shoes on as he held the door open waiting for you.
"Alright, I'm done." You call out as you go down the steps quickly holding your documents tightly in your hands in case they would try and snatch them from you.
Being near your foster father again made your legs feel weak once again, every step you took closer to go to the door you felt your heart beat faster in your chest. Your palms felt clammy as the many memories you had of them beating you and cursing you out flooded your mind as Junichiro walks over to you.
Before your brain could shut down and go into panic you see Jotaro at the corner of your eye standing by the door. He was watching you so intensely as if he was waiting for an excuse to beat up the old man, you could see the anger and care mix into his blue eyes and the sight of him had instantly calmed your nerves. Your mind wasn't fuzzy and clouded and your fear had been forced right back down where it came from.
"Give those here bitch, you aren't allowed to leave with that boy over there, that’s an order." Junichiro yells at you as he tries and reaches for the documents, you instinctively dodge out of the way like it was any other fight you had been in before and you drive your fist into his gut. He clearly wasn't expecting that as he doubled over in pain immediately as he gagged and almost threw up all the alcohol he had drank.
"Listen up old man I'm not that scared little girl anymore that you can throw around and abuse, I'm done with you and all your bullsh*t. If you want a fight I'll make sure to kick your ass." You say coldly to him as you walk towards the door, Ahmya staring at you in shock.
"What happened to you? You aren't acting like yourself anymore, did this boy have a bad influence on you." Ahmya said trying her usual motherly façade as she puts a 'loving' hand on your shoulder, but you knew better than to believe what she was saying and you smack her hand away immediately.
"What happened to me is that I grew up. I finally made a friend who I would be willing to put my life on the line for because I care about him and his family. I've only known him and his mother for a little over half a year now but they've treated me better than you ever had." You say brushing past Ahmya and out the door as you turn to look back at your foster parents with hate in your eyes.
"Oh, and for the record you’re right you know, I did change. But I changed for the better." You say as you and Jotaro start walking back to the car.
However, before you went very far you felt something cold and hard hit you at the side of your head as the glass from the beer bottle shattered against your skin, cutting your face in several places. You bring one hand up to your face and smell the liquid on it before turning back to shoot Junichiro a questioning glance.
"You'll always be our bitchy daughter no matter what. I should've sold you off to another man when I had the chance." Junichiro yelled out in the last attempt to take a jab at you, but his words meant nothing anymore. You wouldn't let them hold that power over you anymore. You were done taking the abuse and garbage they would throw at you.
"Wow, you're just as pathetic and cheap as the beer you drink, get some good quality stuff if you want to drink booze like a horse old man." You spit his way as you and Jotaro keep walking. You had to tug Jotaro by the sleeve of his jacket so he doesn’t go back to beat the crap out of Junichiro for throwing that at your face.
”Don’t they aren’t worth it. We’re in a rush after all.” You say calmly as Jotaro lets out an aggravated sigh as you both step back into the car. You didn’t want Jotaro to get into a fight with your foster parents and make it take longer for you all to leave for the airport. The moment you sit down and buckle up you let out a few hyperventilated breathes, what you did took everything in you to do. You were pretty sure you would never be able to do that without Jotaro. You take a moment to calm your heart rate and rapid intakes of breath before you tap on the driver's shoulder.
”Excuse me do you have a phone in here that I could use really quick, I need to make a call.” You ask the driver politely as he reaches into a compartment to grab out a wireless phone.
”Here you go, miss.” He says holding it back for you to grab.
”Thank you.” You say with a small bow as you dial Yui-Sans personal number, she had given it to you some time ago.
”Hello this is Yui, can I help you.” You hear her say cheerily.
”Hi Yui-San.” You muster out in a friendly and cheerful tone, despite you feeling horrible about your decision.
”Oh, Veronique! What a lovely surprise what are you calling in for?” Yui-San spoke clearly as you hear her focus more on the conversation instead of whatever she was doing.
"I hate to say this especially on such short notice but I'm afraid I'm going to have to quit my job, due to Holly-San falling ill I need to travel with some companions to cure her and it might take a while. It would be unfair of me to ask you to keep a position open for me, but just because I won't be your employee anymore doesn't mean I won't visit you, I love the store and I want to see it thriving. You've become so much more than just a manager for me, you became like a mentor, someone I could trust and rely on, which is why it pains me to quit like this." You rant out quickly as you try and keep your cool, you would be able to find a new job.
"Oh no what happened sweetie, is Seiko alright?" Yui-San asked with a concerned voice, you knew she referred to Holly-San as Seiko.
"I hope she will be, once again I'm so sorry Yui-San I wish I could tell you the details of everything that's going on but it's very complicated and I wouldn't know how to word it in a way you could understand." You sigh out into the phone as your eyes meet Jotaros, he's looking at you with concern in his eyes that you were giving up your job.
"Honey, can you be honest with me with the question I'm going to ask." You hear Yui-San say in a more serious manner as you focus back on the conversation you were having with your soon-to-be ex-manager.
"Yeah of course Yui-San what is it?" You ask with a more curious tone as you fidget with your fingers in your lap.
"Does this have anything to do with your stand?" Yui-San said in a quiet dead serious tone you never heard her use before and you felt your throat go dry as your breath hitched in your throat.
"How..." You managed to say before collecting your composure. "What do mean by that, how do you know what that is?" You ask with a more panicked tone as you grip the phone tighter.
"I will answer your questions in a moment but first answer mine, okay?" She said soothingly like she was talking to a young and frightened child.
"Yes, in a sense it does have to do with that." You answer out with a sigh as you fidget with your hair as you shift around in your seat. "But how did you know about that." You ask nervously into the receiver.
"Well, you always wondered how I always got the best employees and knew everyone's true intentions at heart and what they felt." Yui-San says as you reply with a hum of acknowledgment wondering where she was going with this.
"That's because of my stand Rose garden, she lets me see peoples true intentions at heart and it displays their emotions to me letting me understand people better. It's how I knew hiring you would be a good choice for both of us, I could see the emotional burden you were and still are carrying, but despite all of that you have a pure and kind heart." Yui-San said with a calm voice and everything she said left you speechless, you didn't know what to say.
"Stand users attract other stand users, I noticed your stand after a month of you working here. You were stocking a shelf and many items fell down at once and I saw the ghostly extra pair of arms help you catch everything. Now I know this must be confusing but if you are in a hurry we need to make this quick, what's wrong with Seiko?" Yui-San asked with worry in her voice.
"She can't handle her stand, it's killing her due to her being too kind. She has a curse and we need to kill the man who awakened that curse." You say somberly thinking back to Holly-Sans worsening condition. You see Jotaro go wide-eyed at your words as he mouths 'who are you talking to?' and you hold up a finger to tell him to give you a moment.
"I see, well there isn't any reason for you to quit dear, I know the struggles of stand business after all. You don't deserve to make the tough choice of being able to support yourself or choosing between saving someone else's life. After all, you needed to use up some of those vacation days dear." Yui-San says sweetly as you feel yourself smile and your eyes water a little bit.
"What did I do to deserve such a kind manager, thank you Yui-San how can I ever repay you?" You say as you wipe the water from your eyes.
"Save Seiko for me and come back safe, that's all I want. I have to go now dear but good luck on your adventure, tell me all about it when you get back alright?" Yui-San says with a calm but warm tone, she truly was a wonderful woman to you.
"I promise I will do that, bye Yui-San." You say cheerily.
"Stay safe dear." Yui-San replies before you click the hang-up button and pass it back to the driver with a bow and a thank you.
"Why were you talking about stands with your manager?" Jotaro inquired with a raised brow.
"Well she's apparently a stand user, I was calling to let her know I had to quit in order to go on the journey to save Holly-San. But turns out she knows how hard stand business is and she let me off the hook, save for the fact that I won't have any more vacation days anymore. But I think that it's worth it to keep my job." You say happily as Jotaro looks at you before grabbing your chin with one hand.
"What are you doing?" You ask confused looking up at him,
"Stop moving, you have some glass stuck in your face from that old f*cker who threw that bottle at you." Jotaro said in a pissed tone as he pulls out a few pieces of glass from the right side of your face. You keep still and only when he pulled out one that was fairly deep do you make a small wincing sound from the pain as he lets go of your face.
"Thanks." You say knowing full well he wasn't going to say you're welcome, you just wanted him to know you were grateful.
The rest of the short car ride was in silence as the two of you thanked the driver, well more like you said thanks. Jotaro made a grunting sound of agreement. You see the other men upfront putting the few bags into the back of a van as you and Jotaro walk up to them and join the group.
"You two ready to go- oh my gosh what happened to your face piccolina?" Caesar exclaims as he rushes over and looks over your injuries, getting the other men's attention as they walk over as well.
"Relax it's nothing, just a parting gift from my foster dad is all." You shrug it off as you toss your bag into the back of the vehicle as you turn back to face the worried-looking men.
"What? It's not even that bad he only threw a mostly empty beer bottle at me and it shattered on my face. Aren't we supposed to be in a hurry? Let's get moving." You say with a little hint of annoyance in your voice, you didn't like being coddled like this. You could handle yourself just fine, it really wasn't all that bad.
"I'll take a look how at that is once we're driving there for now let's pile into the van." Joseph states as everyone starts getting in the van.
"Jojo! Jojo wait!" You hear a familiar annoying shrill come from nearby as you see Leiko running up to where you were all getting into the van.
"Good grief." Jotaro mumbles out to himself as he ignores her cries and gets inside, leaving you to have to face her alone.
"Gee thanks Jotaro, she wanted to talk to you not me." You huff out as you turn to face the panting school girl you hear Avdol talking to Jotaro about naming his stand through tarot cards but you couldn't pay much attention to that.
"What is it Leiko, we're sorta in a rush here." You say with an annoyed tone as you place your hands on your hips and tap your foot impatiently.
"First of all, I want to speak to Jojo, not you." She hisses out while still short of breath and you roll your eyes like you normally do. "Second of all where the hell are you going with him, why wasn't Jojo at school yesterday after that pipe burst open." She snaps at you with a snarl on her face and you really weren't in the mood to deal with her.
"That isn't any of your business now leave us alone we have somewhere important to be." You say turning away from her as she grabs you by your shirt and spins you around, you don't fight back at all as she grabs you by the collar of your shirt and looks up at you.
"Listen bitch I asked you a question, I don't why your face is all screwed up and bleeding but you likely deserved it with your attitude. So how about you shut up about that useless sh*t and answer my questions, I don't like how friendly you and Jojo are!" She yells out in a whiney high-pitched voice as you stare down at her with a blank expression.
"Like I said Leiko, that's none of your business." You repeat yourself with a sigh.
"Of course, it's my damn business when there is some skan* trying to steal my boyfriend away from me!" She shrieks as she slaps you in the face, you feel your right eye twitch and you were finally really fed up with her. You had put up with her and her gaggle of groupies for too long now and you were just about ready to snap and tear into her.
"You are such a f*cking bitch and a homewrecker." She yells again going for another slap to your face as you catch her by the wrist tightly and stare down at her.
"Listen up Leiko I am so tired of your deranged little accusations. You're really getting on my last nerve here and I've been too patient with you. First of all, Jotaro isn't and never will be interested in you because you are an obsessed crazy girl who invades his personal space. Second of all, you must have forgotten the kind of person you're messing with, I'll be glad to give you a reminder though." You say with a cold tone as your grip on her wrist tightens as you use your other hand to make her let go of your shirt.
"H-Hey let go of me, I will get you into serious trouble, do you have any idea who my mother is?" Leiko stammers on her words as she tries to make you let go, which you do before grabbing her by the collar of her shirt and lifting her off the ground so you could be at eye level.
"I will only say this once so you better let this sink through that thick skull of yours, leave both me and Jotaro alone or I will give you hell." You growl out in a low voice to her. "Got it!?" You assert louder as you jostle her around a bit in your grip to get your point across further.
"Okay! Okay! I get it I'm sorry, please just let me go you're crazy." Leiko says as she starts tearing up. You let out an annoyed huff of air as you release her from your hold and she lands back on the ground.
"You're a crazy bitch who stole my boyfriend!" She yelled as she ran away crying, it wasn't your intention to scare her that much but you supposed all the anger you felt towards her finally boiled over. You shrug it off hoping she learned her lesson as you stepped into the van with the others, who were all staring at you with their mouths agape, everyone except Jotaro who just had a smirk on his face.
"What?" You ask them all as you close the door and buckle up. "Are you going to keep staring or are we going to get going?" You add as the driver nodded his head and began driving.
"Well that sure was something, what did that young lady do to make you so angry Veronique?" Avdol asked still looking a little baffled at your rather violent display.
"Oh sorry you guys had to witness that, she’s been harassing Jotaro and me for a while now and I guess I sorta snapped. I didn’t mean to make her cry though, but I can’t say that it wasn’t satisfying. Hopefully, she and her little gang will stop stalking Jotaro and trying to spread rumors about me at school. Her attempts at bullying me is really pissing me off.” You sigh out as you feel your anger fade away, you took it all out on Leiko. Which would’ve been unfair of you if she wasn’t being rude 24/7.
”That sounds horrible, hopefully, things aren’t too bad for you.” Kakyoin said with a worried tone.
”It’s gotten better since they saw me and Jotaro beat up some thugs, they think I’m dangerous and want to steer clear of me, which I will gladly welcome if that means they'll leave me alone." You reply as you cross your arms over your chest and get comfy in your seat.
"Well haven't you become quite the little troublemaker, has Jotaro been a bad influence on you?" Joseph asks with a raised eyebrow as he looks back and forth at you and Jotaro.
"Far from it actually, I know it isn't exactly ethical but if someone wants to try and pick a fight I will gladly kick their ass. I'm tired of trying to solve everything with words when it doesn't work." You say with a smile, thinking back to when you punched your foster father in the gut, it was well deserved and you wish you had done more but you knew that it wouldn't solve anything.
"Besides violence works the best, who needs to tell people to piss off when your fists can do the work for you. I don't have favorites I'm perfectly fine with punching anyone who deserves it." Jotaro adds as you nod your head in agreement.
"Well you must have a decent amount of strength then Veronique, you lifted that girl up without your stand and she was only a couple of inches shorter than you are." Kakyoin spoke rather astonished considering you were fairly small in comparison to all the men in the van. If only the others knew that due to being part vampire you were technically physically stronger than all of them. The very thought made you want to laugh that in a van of beefy men you could beat all of them in an arm wrestle, but you'd let them keep their pride. Unless they were asking for it like Messina did.
"I suppose." You hum out knowing full well how you were able to pull that off.
"Piccolina let me take a look at your face now." Caesar said from the other side of you, you were sitting between Caesar and Jotaro in the back since you were smaller and could fit snuggly between their broad shoulders without it being too cramped.
"Sure." You say turning the right side of your face to him, only two cuts were pretty deep and a bit of blood dripped down your neck, thankfully you wiped it away before it could stain your uniform.
"Veronique I thought you said it wasn't that bad." Caesar said lightly gripping your face to get a better look at your small little cuts.
"Yeah it isn’t that bad, barely even hurts." You said knowing that you weren't lying, being part vampire gave you a much higher pain tolerance since vampires normally can't feel pain unless it's from hamon. But you were still human so you could still feel pain, it was just more dulled down for you which was one of the perks you liked about being one-third vampire. At least some perks came out from Dio doing this to you.
"Can't your stand also heal you up Veronique?" Kakyoin asks as you nod your head to confirm his words.
"Your stand has healing properties?" Avdol inquires.
"Yeah but it only helps speed up the process and closes any open wounds, I can't help if your arm is cut off, I can only stop the blood flow and ease the pain. The catch is it has to be done through an act of affection, whether it's physical or verbal, the more meaningful it is the more healing is provided." You answer Avdol as he nods his head and pondered more about your stand as he talks to Joseph.
“Well if that’s the case signorina allow me to assist in getting rid of those cuts for you.” Caesar says with a smile as he pats you on the head and ruffles your hair. "Just rest until we get there, it's an hour and a half drive to the airport, you can lean your head on my shoulder if you like piccolina." Caesar says as he pulls you closer to his side so you can get comfy and take a nap.
"Alright, but only because I went to bed later than I'm used to." You say with a yawn as you snuggle up to Caesar's side as he strokes your hair gently, lulling you to sleep quicker than you thought you'd be able to sleep. You were surprised that even after all this time Caesar still had this warm energy that would calm you down and let your guard down, you were beyond happy to have him and Joseph back in your life.
"Hey Joseph, Caesar." You say breaking the silence, sitting up on the pillows you had on the floor.
"Yeah?" They both reply looking over at you as they prop themselves up on their elbows. The three of you were just chilling on the floor of Caesar's room late at night on a bunch of pillows.
"How do you think the battle against the pillar men is going to go, do you think we're all going to be alright and get out of it alive?" You ask as you run one hand over your chest, feeling the cold ring wrapped around one of the arteries of your heart as you clutch your hand against your shirt.
"We are all going to be okay, otherwise all this training we did is pointless, I would be so damn pissed if one of us died after all this training." Joseph huffed out as Caesar scoffed and let out a huff of air from his nose.
"Don't worry so much Veronique, all of us are going to be okay. Are you worried about the rings?" Caesar asked looking at you with concern as you let go of the area of your shirt you were clutching onto tightly.
"Yeah a bit, what if I or Joseph get hit too hard where we have our rings, they said if it got damaged at all then it would dissolve." You say with a sigh as you cross your arms over your chest and you feel the worry bubbling up in your gut.
"I've had those thoughts as well, but we just have to hope that we can defeat the pillar men on time and get those antidotes, we have a few days after all so we should be fine." Joseph spoke as he brought one hand up to his neck where his ring of death was placed.
"All three of us are going to live. You two shouldn't worry, we're going to make those pillar men wish they woke up just a few centuries later so they wouldn't have to deal with us." Caesar said lighting up the mood more.
"Hell yeah, we are going to kick their ancient butts." Joseph said more lively as he sat up and you couldn't help but smile and start laughing a little at Joseph's sudden enthusiasm.
"That's the spirit Jojo." Caesar said with a short laugh as Joseph wrapped one arm around his friend's shoulder.
"Yeah, I guess we don't have anything to worry about then, as long as I have you two dorks by my side." You add on with a giggle. They really were two giant dorks that you cared deeply about.
The three of you continued to banter and talk well into the night until Caesar decided to be the responsible adult he is and made you and Joseph go to sleep despite neither of you wanting to.
"Veronique wake up, we're here." You hear Caesar say as you get shaken lightly by him, you stir from your slumber and rub your eyes a little.
"We are?" You say with a yawn as you pat your face where you were supposed to be injured, but all the wounds had closed up now due to Caesar showing his brotherly affection towards you, all that was left was two small scars that would heal in no time.
"They took all the luggage out and Joseph let you sleep for as long as he could, but now we need to get going otherwise we'll miss out flight." Caesar said as you both unbuckled and got out of the car, the sun was high up in the sky and you squinted your eyes a little to adapt to the brightness level better.
You and Caesar caught up with the others and got into line, thanks to the SPW foundation you were able to get fake papers with your parent's signatures that allowed you to travel with these men, otherwise, you would've had to forge it yourself. This wouldn't be the first time you forged your parent's signatures for things but you weren't going to admit that, thankfully the SPWF had you covered.
"What were you dreaming about Veronique, I heard you mention something about rings in your sleep." Kakyoin asked as you all waited in line. Jotaro looking back at the two of you as he listened in on your conversation.
"Oh that was more of a memory, I was just dreaming about the time me, Joseph, and Caesar were staying up late at night a few days before the battle with the pillar men. We were talking about the wedding rings of death that were stuck in my and Joseph's bodies and how we were nervous we might not be able to kill them. I was especially scared that one of them might die. Thankfully that didn't happen but there were many close calls along the way, it was a nice dream though despite the talk of death." You say as you and your group move further down the line to board your plane.
"Well that certainly is a memorable moment, what did those rings feel like, how did they even put it inside you?" Kakyoin asked as you see his question had intrigued Jotaro as well, both of them wondering what your response will be.
"Well it was Wamuu who put his ring around one of the arteries of my heart, he punched me in the gut and I felt his hand and arm enter into me as my organs and bones somehow made room for his arms. It felt like I got the wind knocked out of me and having the ring there hurt at first as my body readjusted after he removed his arm from my body. Afterward, the ring was just so cold and a painful reminder that it was going to dissolve in a month's time, but yeah it really was a strange feeling, it was literally a weight on my heart." You reply as you all get onto the plane, you sat next to Jotaro, Kakyoin sat behind you next to Avdol, and, Caesar and Joseph sat behind them.
"That sounds horrible, when did that happen?" Kakyoin asks as you turn your head around to look at him.
"Over the summer break." You say before buckling up, the plane was going to take off soon and you knew it was a very long flight from Japan to Egypt, you also had to swap planes at some points since none went directly to Egypt.
"How does- Oh yeah I forgot you said your stand lets you jump through time and dimensions." Kakyoin said mostly to himself as a reminder as you hear Avdol let out a chuckle.
"It truly is a remarkable ability, so you can jump back into the past, but what about the future?" Avdol asked curiously.
"Well I did once, it was for a very short amount of time when I was younger, I think I might have been 9 or 10 at the time. I was somewhere in Italy and my only job there was to beat up two strange-looking men, I didn't know it at the time but they were stand users one of them had a weird shark-looking stand, I wasn't too sure about the other one though. I was supposed to kick their asses to save a group of very strangely dressed men who were protecting a pink-haired girl. I remember two of their names, one was named Bruno Bucciarati and the other was named Giorno Giovanna, I can’t remember the other people's names.” You say tapping your chin as you remember what each of the men looked like, they really did have a strange taste in fashion but you weren’t one to judge, you had no fashion sense either. (I’ll write this flashback later in a dream for the fun of it.)
“How intriguing to think that you’ve been able to see both past, present, and future, I’ve never heard of such an ability for a stand before.” Avdol said as you could feel the airplane taking off. It shook a little and you remembered you had never been on an airplane before. You didn’t have any idea what to expect and the whole thing was shaking making you clutch to your seat just in case.
”Something the matter?” You hear Jotaro say as you turn to face your seatmate.
”I’ve never been in a comercial plane before.” You say with a nervous chuckle as your grip tightens on the seat.
”Don’t worry only the takeoff and landing is normally shaky, unless there is some turbulence mid-air but it should be fine." Jotaro said in what you believed to be an attempt at comforting you.
"Huh, well I can get a little bit motion sick sometimes so hopefully it won't be too shaky." You say with a nervous chuckle. "I mean I've ridden in a military fighting plane but not this, they are very different style-wise and flying-wise."
"You've been in a military-style plane but not a commercial one?" Jotaro questioned you with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah it was a German plane from World War two. Joseph was flying it and I was his co-pilot, well a very useless co-pilot I had no clue what to do. Its when I and Joseph were running away from Kars when he had become the ultimate life form, given we did crash it though. I have no idea why I was worried during take-off, maybe because my only experience flying ended up with me, Joseph, and Stroheim crash landing in a volcano." You say feeling rather stupid now, you had literally crawled outside of a German fighter plane to push Kars further on the destroyed metal.
"Seriously I was on the outside of a damn plane as it was about to crash into a volcano to push a god-like being further into the broken metal on the front of the plane, and yet I was nervous about a little turbulence. Man, I feel stupid right about now." You think to yourself while facepalming.
"What kind of crazy sh*t did you and my old man get up to back then?" Jotaro said shaking his head back and forth.
"I'm not exactly sure want to give you the answer to that question, otherwise I fear for my safety and well-being. I can tell you the stupid things we did though, those are things you wouldn't want to kick my ass for." You say with a chuckle as Jotaro narrows his eyes at you. "I'll tell you about that stuff later, maybe Kakyoin or Avdol want to hear about Joseph's crazy young days and the stuff we got up to." You reply to quickly save your skin, the last thing you needed was a grumpy seatmate for a long flight.
"Whatever woman just get on with it." Jotaro huffs out as he tips his hat lower and folds his arms over his chest.
"Well I and Joseph may or may not have snuck out off the training grounds and went inland until sunrise one time, and were dead tired for training. Joseph literally collapsed on the floor and we both got an earful from Lisa Lisa. Later that day Caesar scolded Joseph for being a bad influence on me, but the funny thing is I was the one who suggested we sneak out, not that he knew." You say with a devious chuckle as Jotaro shook his head back and forth.
"So did the old man and Caesar give you that necklace?" Jotaro said pointing at your neck, you always kept your necklace tucked into your shirt to keep it safe, you knew that if Leiko and her gang saw it they'd try and break or steal it.
”Hmm? Oh yeah they did, it has a picture of us before I had to leave and go back to my proper time.” You say pulling the golden necklace and opening the heart pendant to take the photo out. You unfold it and look down at the photo, it was in black and white since color print wasn’t available back then. You smiled looking back on this memory, you were happy to be reunited with Caesar and Joseph but you wish you had gotten a chance to see the others once more. Jotaro leaned closer and peered over at the image as you looked over the familiar faces.
”Here you can take a look at it, we took three photos for every time I visited.” You said handing him the photo when you first had to leave, when you visited 5 years later and when you visited 10 years after that. Jotaro took the three photos and looked them over before he handed them back to you.
”It’s strange to see you in these old photos not changing a single bit even as I look at you now." Jotaro comments before handing you back the photos which you immediately tuck back into the pendant and close it.
For most of the flight you and Jotaro chatted occasionally. He was mostly curious about your hamon training and what you did back in 1938 which you were happy to answer and talk about. It felt so good to be able to tell him the truth and not need to lie, well about most things anyway, you wanted to wait for the right time to let Jotaro, Kakyoin, and Avdol that you weren't fully human. It wasn't the easiest thing to talk about and would likely prompt them to ask you a bunch of questions about your past that you just weren't ready to talk about.
Not even Joseph or Caesar knew that Dio was the man who raised you, the man you considered to be your real father even after what he did. He was the one who turned you into this strange vampire hybrid after all, given he didn't know it would turn out like this, neither you nor he knew that you had hamon at the time. But since it was so weak at the time instead of killing the vampiric cells they fused together in some strange amalgamation making you some sort of missing link between human and vampire.
After some time most if not all the passengers fell asleep on the plane and the windows were all closed, no one was talking at the moment which is why you were all able to hear the sudden buzzing sound that flooded the quiet plane. The others clearly hear it as well since they all sit up straight and look around to try and see where the sound is coming from. The buzzing sound only increases as you swear you see a small bug flying between the seats, but it was hard to tell due to the darkness of the room, the bug now flying into everyone's view.
"A Rhino Beetle?" Kakyoin says trying to get a better look at it.
"No, it's a stag beetle." Jotaro points out in a concerned tone.
"Hey, Avdol! Is that a stand? Are we already encountering another stand user?" Joseph says from behind as he and Caesar stand up, the rest of you following in suit just as a precautionary measure.
"It's possible, this could be a stand that takes the shape of an insect." Avdol says as the fly maneuvers around the seats nearby.
"What the, it hid in the shadow of the seats." Joseph said stating the obvious as you all try and get a better look at where it might've gone.
"Damn, it could be anywhere." Avdol added as you all strain your ears to try and hear where it is.
"Let's air on the side of caution and assume it's a stand then." Caesar spoke up as the others agreed, the buzzing became louder once again but you could tell it was now very close.
"Jojo! It's next to your head, look to your right." Kakyoin yells out as it flies to the side and right above the seats in front of you and Jotaro.
"Wow that thing is so huge, I think you're right Mr. Zeppeli it has to be a stand, no doubt it's here for us." Kakyoin says as you and Jotaro quickly move away from your seats and into the aisle as it lets out a shrieking sound, some weird liquid dripping from its mouth.
"That's disgusting!" Jotaro says as the two of you cringe at the ugly-looking stand. "Just sit tight, I'll take care of it."
"Be extremely careful, I've heard there is a user of an insect stand that likes to rip out the tongues of its victims before they die." Avdol warns Jotaro as Jotaro summons his stand.
"Star Platinum!" Jotaro yells as his stand attempts to swat the bug but to everyone's surprise, it was able to maneuver around Star Platinum's fists, your eyes grow wide as the others gasp in shock at the sight.
"It dodged you! I- I can't believe it, it's faster than Star Platinum, a stand that has the speed and precision to grab a flying bullet." Avdol rambles out completely astonished and at a loss for words.
"Then there's no doubt about it, that bug can only be a stand. Where is he? Where is he hiding, where is the one who's controlling it? We need to find him!" Kakyoin says in a frustrated voice as his violet eyes dart around the passengers who were all sleeping. "He's getting ready to attack!" Kakyoin yells as the stand extends a strange appendage from its mouth and launches it at Jotaro. His star Platinum tries throwing a barrage of fists at the fly but it nimbly dodges every single punch as it flies for his mouth, its strange tongue went through Stars hand and went straight for its mouth.
"Jotaro!" Everyone cried out as you all felt hopeless, there wasn't anything you could do to replace his tongue, sure you could stop the bleeding but that was it.
"Wait look, Star Platinum caught its needle with his teeth on time." You say with a sigh of relief, the blood dripping from his mouth was something you could heal up easily. But it did look painful and you could see his face contort with pain as Star tried to punch it once again with another barrage of fists but it just pulled away and left the needle in Star's teeth.
"It's just as I feared, it's going after Jotaro's stand's tongue. It's him, represented by the tower card of the tarot, symbolizing calamity and the interruption of a journey, this stand is called. Tower of Gray." Avdol says a tad overdramatic but you don't interrupt him as he continues to speak. "He's responsible for countless murders, which he made to look like unfortunate accidents, the plane crash last year in England that caused over 300 deaths was likely his work. And how many more have there been over the years, I've heard rumors, but to think he's teamed up with Dio." Avdol says with a panicked tone as Star Platinum tries in vain to punch Tower of Gray.
"I can't believe my eyes, it dodged that attack as well, and it was another whole barrage of attacks." Caesar gasped as the Stag Beetle began to laugh at everyone and their dumbfounded expressions.
"Even if you had 10 guns to shoot bullets from one centimeter away, they would not be able to touch my stand, not that you could kill a stand with a gun anyways. You're all going to die with the rest of these weaklings." The stand laughs once again as everyone tries desperately to look around for anyone who might be the stand user.
"He has to be on this plane with us, who is it, who is the one controlling the stand?" Joseph mumbles out to himself as he takes a look at all the sleeping passengers on board. "Which one of the passengers is he? If we can track him down we can squash him."
"Joseph." You say tapping his arm lightly as he turns to look at you. "If we can get just the smallest scratch on his stand I will be able to identify who it is based on the blood, or if I can get close enough to get a good enough smell on the stand. Everyone's blood is slightly different from one another even if they have the same blood type and being part vampire helps me to identify that." You whisper to him as he nods his head.
"Damn it, it disappeared again." Jotaro said as everyone stood on guard, you could all hear the buzzing sound nearby but no one spotted it just yet as it went around the other sleeping passengers.
"Heads up, it's over there now." Kakyoin said as you see him sweating a little, he was obviously a bit nervous about the whole situation.
The stand began to let out a few sickening chuckles as it approached a man's head from behind the seat, everyone stood still waiting to see what the bug was going to do. Just as quickly as it had approached behind the man it tore through the cushiony seats and came out from the man's mouth, every single one of the four men he punctured he tore out their tongues. The men all jerking forward and slumping over in their seats completely lifeless as a red stream came from their mouths as the Stag Beetle flew up holding each of their tongues like it was some trophy. Everyone gasped out in horror at the sight and you felt your stomach churn a bit at the sight, it was disgusting to see this thing rip out the tongues of innocent people who had nothing to do with your journey. The stag beetle dangled the tongues freely and let out a loud laugh as he swayed the tongues back and forth to show it off more.
"Bingo! Got their tongues, now for the best part." The beetle laughed out as he slammed the tongues against the wall and began to spell out something with the blood.
"What is it doing?" Caesar spoke with a shudder, seeing something write out a word in the blood of its victims wasn't the nicest sight to behold and everyone was disturbed by it.
"No, I can't believe it, i-it actually did it." Kakyoin spoke with a small tremble to his voice.
"Fine, I'll burn that damn bug alive, go Magicians Red!" Avdol yelled as his stand was summoned forward and he got into a fighting stance.
"Avdol! Just hold on a second." Kakyoin yelled to get Avdol's attention, Avdol and everyone else turned to Kakyoin curiously as Avdol made his stand disappear. Before Kakyoin could continue to speak you hear someone beginning to stir awake from their sleep, it was an older man who wiped his face with one hand as he rubbed his eyes. He began to talk about how noisy the plane was and how he was going to use the bathroom as the bug neared his face.
"Be careful!" Kakyoin yells as the fly moves away from the older man.
The older man stood up and began to walk when his hand touched the blood on the wall, he then began to scream before Kakyoin quickly went behind him and hit him in the back of his neck, causing him to pass out.
"We have to defeat it before the other passengers start to panic, easier said than done though." Kakyoin spoke as he turned back to look at Avdol. "Mr. Avdol, using an active stand like you Magicians Red inside an airborne plane could make it explode, killing all of us. Jojo if your power were to trip a hole in the fuselage it'd be a catastrophe. Veronique your stand also has decent power and you haven't gotten a chance to use it much yet, if your shield were to end up ripping a hole in the plane or hit a passenger it would also cause immense panic. This calls for a quiet and indiscreet stand, my Hierophant Green is most suited to defeating it, let me take care of the pest control." Kakyoin says as he approaches the bug, getting into a fighting stance as the stand began to laugh at him.
"Noriaki Kakyoin, ay? I've heard all about you from lord Dio, don't bother. You think you have silence on your side but your stand cannot keep up with my speed." The Beetle says as it drips more froth from its mouth making you grimace in disgust.
"You sure about that?" Kakyoin says as he stands upright summoning his stand. "Emerald splash!" Kakyoin calls out as he sends a barrage of emeralds towards the beetle but it easily dodges it like how it did with Star Platinum.
"Kakyoin knows he isn't faster so what is his plan, he's obviously buying time but for what?" You think to yourself as you observe what Kakyoin might be planning, you look along the bottom of the seats and notice Hierophant Green's tail running along under the seats. "Of course. He's laying a trap." You thought to yourself with a smile, Kakyoin was a lot smarter than you thought, maybe that flesh bud had dumbed him down a bit since it did block off his thinking capabilities.
"Emerald splash again!" Kakyoin calls out once more as you see Hierophant place its tendrils right under the seats, ready to attack.
"You seem to think you can hit me if you fire enough shots but you haven't hit me at all." The beetle says as it nears Kakyoin laughing maniacally.
"Not good, it's dodging everything he throws at it." Avdol says as you see the Beetle target Kakyoin's stand and hits it directly in the mouthpiece, causing Kakyoin to spit out blood and fall over. You knew he would be okay but you still felt bad about him getting hurt.
"Kakyoin!" Jotaro says as the other men let out a wince. Avdol and Jotaro looked like they were going to step forward to help him out but you put your arms in their way to stop them both in their tracks.
"With all due respect boys, Kakyoin can handle himself just fine, no need to interfere." You state as the other two give you a questioning glance, seeming unsure about your words.
"I'm just too fast for you!" The stand laughs with joy as it flies around in circles to show off its incredible speed once again. "You're way too slow to land a finger on me, oh and Kakyoin with my next attack I'll stab your tongues with this tower needle and rip it out. Won't that be fun?" The Tower of Gray laughs once again in Kakyoin's face and you see that he was in pain already from the first hit.
"Emerald splash." Kakyoin yelled once again.
"Don't you get it?" The stand yelled laughing even crazier and louder than before as it maneuvers perfectly around the emeralds firing at it.
"Damn this is impossible, how can he win if his attacks don't hit their mark." Avdol says with a hopeless expression as he and Jotaro turn to face you once again, as if silently telling you to let them help out.
"Have more faith in Kakyoin you two, he's going to win this, trust me." You say looking back at Kakyoin, hoping that you were right, you knew he laid out a trap but you were really hoping it would work.
"You'll go mad from the pain, once this rips its tongue out, how exquisite." The Stag Beetle laughs over and over again, flying towards Kakyoin so he would be in range.
"Is that right? If its tongues ripped out I'll go mad form the pain?" Kakyoin questioned as it launched its attack, aiming at Hierophant Green's face. "My Hierophant Green will go mad alright." Kakyoin said with a co*cky voice as you see the tendrils launch from all directions as it penetrates through the stand since the user had gotten too co*cky and comfortable.
"Gah, what?" The stand chokes out as blood drips down its small body as it begins to twitch.
"If it rips you apart it'll go mad... From pure joy." Kakyoin states rather coldly as the stand tries in vain to struggle as it makes out choked noises of pain. "His appendages had already slipped beneath the seats, I just needed enough time to set up my little trap. You didn't realize I was using my emerald splash to keep you in one spot?" Kakyoin says with a smug smirk as he follows through with his words and tears the stand apart.
The old man Kakyoin had knocked out earlier began to twitch on the floor as his tongue split in half and many fresh wounds began to gush blood.
"What the?" Joseph says with a disgusted face.
"So that geezer was the user all along huh? Heh, guess I should've expected as much, a repulsive stand usually has a repulsive user." Kakyoin said shaking his head back and forth as you walked up to him.
"Good work Kakyoin, it was clever to lay a trap out for him, he got over co*cky." You say looking over at the old man, you pick the old guy up and put him on a seat nearby.
"Thank you, I knew I couldn't beat his speed even outright if I wanted to. All I had to do was outsmart him, which wasn’t too difficult." Kakyoin replied as you give him a small smile. "Well that's strange, it doesn't look like he had Dio's flesh bud in his forehead." Kakyoin says as he fidgets with his long strand of hair up front.
"Tower of Gray was always evil, he killed tourists by the hundreds and got paid for it, he'd make it look like an accident and got away with it every time. I'm sure Dio was able to use him because he was easily bought and blinded by greed." Avdol said tossing a blanket over his unconscious body, he was just fairly injured but he wasn't dead.
"How did you know he had a trap ready Veronique?" Avdol questioned as Jotaro nodded his head likely wondering the same.
"Well it was obvious that Kakyoin knows his abilities very well and that he was buying time with his emerald splashes, I just happened to notice his Hierophant Green's appendages running under the seats is all, and I came to a conclusion of what he might have planned." You say fidgeting with the ends of your sleeves as you feel yourself lean a little to one side of the plane like you were off balance.
"Somethings wrong." Joseph says as you see a cup fall over and the sleeping passengers lean more towards one side. "It could be my imagination but I'm feeling that this plane isn't flying straight anymore. It's crooked no doubt about it, it can't be." Joseph said taking off towards the co*ckpit area.
"Well, I'm not just going to stand here." You say walking after Joseph, you didn't find a need to run as Jotaro and Kakyoin do a little jog past you to catch up with the older man.
"Sorry sir you can't be up here, the co*ckpit is up ahead, passengers may not enter." A flight attendant with short dark brown hair says as Joseph calmly moves her out of his way.
"I know that." Joseph spoke brushing past the woman.
"B-But sir wait!" The woman said as she and another flight attendant tried to follow after Joseph. Both the scared women clearly didn't know what to do since it was obvious they couldn't physically restrain Joseph as Jotaro tried to get by them as well. Jotaro looked down at the two women, and you knew he was silently telling them to move it but how were they supposed to know that, if anything the two women began blushing as they stared up at him.
"Move it bitch." Jotaro said harshly as he shoved one woman into the other with one hand as he strolled on by the two starstruck ladies as they land in Kakyoin's arms since he wasn't far behind Jotaro.
"Woah there, sorry ladies, his disrespectful behavior towards you two is incredibly rude but we have an emergency on our hands, please forgive him for me." Kakyoin says politely with a smile as the two women let out small gasps of awe, clearly entranced by the two men.
"Okay." Both women reply dreamily as he gently puts them aside.
"Uhhhh?" Avdol and Caesar both say with a raised eyebrow as they turn to face you, all you offer them is a shrug.
"I'm just as confused as you two are but I'm used to seeing girls trip over their own feet around Jotaro." You reply as you hear Joseph yell from in the co*ckpit, you quickly jog over there to see what the matter was as you see the pile of dead bodies.
"Damn it, this is horrible. That damn stand user killed them all." Joseph said, clearly disgusted by the dead bodies.
"Their tongues have been ripped ou. That damn rhino bastard, he killed the pilots before we knew he was here." Jotaro said with a strained and ticked off-tone as you crouch down to look at one of the pilots. Warily raising one of their heads after feeling for a pulse which you could unfortunately not find. Even after raising his head slightly, you could see the pool of blood beneath the man as it pours out of his mouth like a broken faucet. His face looked horrified and you couldn't blame him, he did die a horrible way. You close his eyes with your hands and gently lower his face back down, taking a moment to respect the poor man who was slaughtered inhumanely.
"We're losing altitude fast, the autopilot has been destroyed as well." Joseph says slamming his fist onto the control panel lightly clearly pissed off with the situation. "Damn it, we're going to crash!" Joseph says as you hear a burst of horrid choked laughter coming from the doorway and you see the man standing there with the blanket on as he drips blood on the floor.
"What the." Jotaro says shocked that the old man was conscious somehow.
"My stand is the tower card which signifies horrible accidents and the end of journeys, I'll keep you from lord Dio if it's the last thing I do. Even if you manage to survive the crash, you're still ten thousand kilometers from Egypt, those who swore loyalty to lord Dio will peruse you relentlessly, you don't stand a chance in hell. There are stands in this world with powers that deify the very limits of imagination, lord Dios power is the one that rules over all of them. He is the master of stands reining over the world like a god among mortals, there's no way you'll reach him alive. You bastards won't even see Egypt your deaths will-" You cut the old man's speech short with a swift punch under the jaw as he falls backward and lands on the floor, his blood pooling around him slowly.
"Yeah yeah we get it, your stand is the tower card that signifies horrible accidents. Trust me, I can tell bud you are most defiantly a horrible accident, no wonder why that was your tarot card." You say wiping the blood off your knuckles as the flight attendants shook with fear but didn't make a noise, besides light gasping sounds since they looked horrified right about now.
"You're definitely professionals, good thing you didn't scream that sh*t annoys me like hell. Now I've got a request, this heap is going to hit the water and this old man and my friend over there are going to land this thing. Go put lifejackets on the other passengers and make sure they're buckled up." Jotaro says casually leaning on a chair like he owned the place.
"Uhmmm y-yes sir." One woman says as they both run off, Kakyoin and Avdol leaving as well to go assist them.
"You two got this?" Jotaro says with a stern tone as he looks back and forth between you and Joseph as he drags you over to the copilot seat.
"I have some experience with prop planes but this..." Joseph starts before getting cut off.
"Prop planes, just great of course that's all your used to." Caesar says with a facepalm.
"But Jotaro this will make three plane crashes for me, and two for Veronique, have you ever heard of someone being in a plane crash three times and two of those three being with the same person. Let alone surviving each one." Joseph says with a shrug, looking at the controls.
"That settles it I'm never riding in a plane with the two of you again." Jotaro sighs out as you let out a light giggle.
"Well, at least we aren't crashing into a volcano this time with Kars of the front of the plane." You say with a laugh, elbowing Joseph in the side who joins in on your laughter.
Thankfully even with a lot of yelling from both Caesar and Jotaro, you were able to help assist in landing the plane safely 35km off the coast of Hong Kong.
Quick note: Thank you so much for reading this fic I can’t believe I got over 1500 reads, but unfortunately, updates are going to be very slow during January and I have no idea how much I will be able to update due to me having summatives for school. I'll see if I can write at least a bit but the updates are going to be very slow from now on until late January or early February, thanks for understanding.
