It was over. It was all finally over.
It had been so long since Johnny had felt this sort of peace, this final closing scene of this mad opera that had become his life over the past few months since this race had begun. But now, it was over. The corpse was gathered, the spin mastered, the race finished, friends gained, and others… damn.
The beach was still in the quiet hours of the early morning, not even the sun out yet. The young man was met with silence besides the rhythmic rolling of the waves, not a creature there to greet him. Dismounting the horse who had carried him all this way, he gave the animal a grateful pat before he stepped out towards the water.
Taking a few shaky steps, sand crunching under his boots, the tired young man's eyes met with what he had returned for, or rather, who he had returned for. Even in the dark he could see that still figure washed up on the shore, almost as if sleeping. Oh God how he wished that were just the case, but Johnny knew better, the foreign blood still staining his shirt reminding him of what had happened, of what was still the truth no matter how he tried to deny it.
Pushing through, he fell to his knees besides the man who should have finished the race by his side. Instead, here they were, Johnny left with nothing but the numb ache of his bones and a deep, powerful feeling of gratitude towards his friend who had left him all too soon.
Opening up the blanket he brought to wrap around what was left of Gyro Zeppeli, Johnny looked up to see the faint purplish-red colour of the sunrise just being to streak across the darkened sky. He remembered how the two of them so many times on their cross-country journey had been greeted by this same sight, the sunrise giving the young Joestar the courage to press forward until the end. He could recall the two of them up to let the first sunlight of the day wash over them as they readied themselves for their next day of riding, Gyro usually starting them off with some weird gag or story. The faintest smile crept to Johnny lips as he thought back to those times, though that sad look was still lingering in his eyes. He never thought it would be over, not like this.
"C'mon, Gyro… I think we can watch one last sunrise together, right?" Pulling his friend up into his arms, Johnny reached forward to smooth out Gyro's long drenched hair as he cradled the lifeless figure against his chest. Once again, Johnny let the silence of the beach wash over him, letting his mind wander back to better times as he held his friend close.
In the lonely quiet of the dawn, he soon felt the warmth of the sun hit his skin, awakening something in him that he knew before long he was going to have to grab ahold of once again. It was one of the many things that the foreigner gave to him over these past few months that Johnny was so sure he had lost forever.
Hope.
"Time to ride out, Gyro. One last journey." Holding him tight, he left a small kiss atop the Zeppeli's head before he began to bundle to corpse in the blanket, wrapping it tight. He carried him to his horse and lifted him onto the tall animal, but not before Johnny turned back to look at the sun one last time. Riding out, that small smile was once again gracing his lips, though it wasn't accompanied with that numb and empty look in his blue eyes. No, something else replaced it, that fire that Gyro had ignited within him shining through. Things might have ended here for his friend, but this would be only the beginning for him, and Johnny was determined to live on for them both.
