Current Day

Stand City, Nevada

"So, when did you move here, Izzie?" "Well;" She paused. "I never really 'moved' here. I was technically a resident when the city was first founded!" Izzie smiled proudly. "Neat." Jacob responded plainly.

The two were currently navigating to the school, Jacob following Izzie through the crowds of adults hustling to get to work, school and other places which Jacob could only guess at. While Jacob was constantly bumping into people, Izzie expertly navigated through the crowds nigh-supernaturally. It was almost like she had lived here her whole life. "Oh wait," Jacob thought, "she just said she has."

"Man I am not on point today. I mean, I just developed a Stand, and I just sorta stood there as Izzie beat the stuffing out of that guy. What is up with this girl anyways? And why am I following her blindly?" The nagging feeling from earlier returned, this time pulling on his consciousness like a fish hook. That's when Jacob stopped. Well, after he crossed the street. Izzie looked back at him.

"What's wrong?" she asked. Jacob strolled towards her, the people around him making way for the scowl-faced teenager. "Yea, I have a question for you 'Izzie'." He use finger quotes when he said the word "Izzie". She responded almost immediately, a confused look beginning to grow on the calm garden of her facial features. "What's up?" Jacob approached her and poked her in the abdomen.

"Who are you really, Izzie Joestar?"

The young girl frowned. "If you shut up and stay close to me, I'll tell you after school. Well," She turned around and got back on track, walking away as she spoke. "If you survive Initiation, that is." Jacob ran behind her, catching up while his mind tried to catch up to his racing thoughts. Initiation? What the heck is she talking about? And why didn't she answer my question? He resumed his previous pace as he walked behind her. He frowned. "Today has been one weird day, and school hasn't even started yet." He thought as he walked through the large portcullis-like archway that led into the front yard of the school.

In the yard, rows of folding chairs were positioned in lines. The yard was packed with young students, all wearing the same kind of uniform as him. Black, button-up suits with a cloth badge on the chest pocket. However, a few students stood out from the crowd as Jacob waded through the typical students.

The closer he got to the stage, the weirder the attire being worn was. One girl was wearing a rainbow striped uniform while donning a baseball cap with "SC High School Girl's Baseball" embroidered on it. Another one was wearing a torn tuxedo, seemingly ripped to shreds with a white undershirt beneath, while the student sitting next him had a tuxedo and bright red bow tie.

One row had seven girls with the same formal attire, including name tags that said "Hello! My name is Jan!" on each one. Two of the girls were playing a handheld console, two were reading, and the other three were bickering about something.

As Jacob followed Izzie, he felt their stares boring into him like Dio's Space Ripper Stingy Eyes. He chuckled for a second. Izzie looked back at him. "You can sit next to me. Consider yourself lucky! I'm pretty popular here." "Knowing you, I wouldn't doubt it." Izzie took a seat at the end of the left-front row. Jacob was about to sit next to her when, out of the blue, his head started to feel heavier. Jacob tried to ignore it, chalking it up to stress or a migraine. He was about to sit down next to Izzie, when his head started to pull itself towards the ground.

Jacob looked around, trying to understand what was going on. He looked around while his head was being pulled towards the ground. After about 3 seconds, he saw something that stuck out. About 3 rows back, there was a large, well-toned teenager with a light tan and a YOLO t-shirt. What made him really stand out, however, was the smile. The smug, in-your-face smile was sticking out like a sore thumb. Just as he was about to say something, Jacob's head began to gravitate towards the ground with more force. It was becoming too hard for Jacob to resist the pulling, but when Jacob neck muscles ran out of energy, his head slammed towards the ground.

"Wake up, inmate!" The warden yelled. The young boy in the cell began to blink his eyes, seemingly coming out of his stupor. Warden Sam never liked being stuck with the sleepy ones. "Jeff in Cell Block A doesn't have to deal with this kind of stuff. He gets all the best inmates." the warden thought. "Where am I?" the young boy murmured. The warden sighed.

"You're in jail. Why else would I be calling you an inmate?" "Wait, what?!" The boy shook himself awake, and proceeded to sit up in his cot. "What in the blue blazes happened?" the lad yelled. Warden Sam pulled his clipboard out of his back pocket, and read the prisoners profile.

"Name: Jacob Williams, Charge: Knocked out by the ability of [Muscle Bound], Sentence: Week in Prison" Jacob responded immediately, in the angriest tone he could muster. "What kind of charge is that?" "The kind of charge that gets you locked up in Heathen's Penitentiary." The warden said plainly, almost as if he had said the exact same thing one-hundred times before. The warden anticipated the boy's next line like a fortune teller, and responded before Jacob could even open his mouth.

"Yea yea, you've never heard of Heathen's Penitentiary. Nobody has, kid." The kid opened his mouth to respond, but promptly shut it and put his hand on his chin in contemplation. "What the heck is [Muscle Bound]?" Jacob asked. "I don't know and I don't care. Anyways kid, it's about time for lunch, and I have to escort you to the cafeteria. Apparently you're considered a 'High Risk Inmate' and have to be escorted by an officer to any facilities." The sheriff looked the boy over once more.

He didn't look like much of a fighter or an escape artist, so why was he considered a High Risk Inmate? As with most things in life, the sheriff didn't want to know and he didn't want to care. He was the warden of Cell Block H of Heathen's Penitentiary, and was only paid to stop escapes and maintain order amongst prisoners. He wasn't paid to care about things like danger or risk.

"Well, I am pretty hungry." Jacob puts his hands to his sides, and the cell door opened in response. Warden Sam put a pair of handcuffs on Jacob's hands and led him through the prison. As he was led through the prison, Jacob noticed something odd. All of the prisoners he saw did not look like hardened criminals, or even normal adults. They were all teenagers, just like him. Most of the teens looked young enough to be freshmen, with a small number looking old enough to be juniors. Jacob tried running through the current situation in his head.

"Okay, I was at school, got knocked out by some sort of Stand power called [Muscle Bound], and now I am in prison. The key to figuring out how I got to where I am now is in the question I asked earlier. Why am I in prison for being knocked out? Well…" Jacob's train of thought was interrupted by Warden Sam.

"We're here. I am required to tell you today's lunch is Soul Gumbo." The lunch line was packed with teenage prisoners, all waiting patiently for the source of the pungently spicy, yet pleasant, aroma that permeated the atmosphere of the cafeteria.

Jacob got in line, got some gumbo, and sat down at an empty table. He looked around the lunch room and tried to take mental notes on the inmates. But, he could not find anything of importance amongst them. At least, until he saw a small, lanky teen with a black-striped jumpsuit being pushed around by a group of bullies.

They weren't the brawniest or largest of the prisoners in the lunchroom, but they were the most intimidating prisoners in the room. The boy in front of the lanky kid, who looked to be the leader, projected an aura of darkness around himself that Jacob could feel from across the room. It was not so different from the aura some of the guys who bullied Jacob back in Japan, but this aura was so strong it was most likely from a Stand. The lanky kid backed into a corner while the bully in front of him cracked his knuckles. "Nobody takes my gumbo and gets away with it, got me?" the bully said, confidence seeping into his statement while he spoke. "I was hungry!"

Jacob noticed the bully's aura was beginning to take shape, forming into a long-armed, slender figure with a frilly white masquerade mask for a face and four spider-like legs. It was indeed a Stand, just as Jacob predicted.

Just as the Stand wound up a punch, something grabbed it's hand. The scrawny runt in the corner had summoned his Stand, which appeared to be a pair of bulky gauntlets on his hands. The gauntlet was decorated with red jewels and crimson flame streaks. The scrawny kid cleared his throat, and spoke while keeping a tight grip on the slender Stand's fist. "Jim, this is my Stand, [Fire Fist]. [Fire Fist], this is the local bully, Jimmy Rich." The billy gritted his teeth, obviously infuriated with the turn of events that was transpiring. "Don't mock me, Nerdwad! [Dark Side] has a Power rating of B, more than enough to break your weak Stand!"

It was at that moment Warden Sam decided to intervene. Both of the boys had been disrupting the other prisoners, and therefore were disrupting Warden Sam. The Warden was known by some of the veteran prisoners as "Speedy Sam", and he was about to show the new inmates why you don't mess with a man holding a Stand Neutralization Baton. Jacob, at this point staring at the ongoing dispute, almost missed it. In what Jacob estimated to be about 2 seconds, both the scrawny nerd and the intimidating jock were on the tile floor, handcuffed and knocked out.

And the Warden stood over them.

"Inmates, please return to eating your lunch. After you finish, return to your cells." Sam said with no discernable emotion. "He's not human," Jacob pondered. That was when everything came flooding into his mind, like a river breaking a concrete dam. "And this is not a normal prison."

Jacob finished his Soul Gumbo, as instructed. Being accustomed to Japanese cuisine, Jacob had never tasted the Louisiana specialty dish. It had shrimp, tomatoes and a whole lot of spices for flavor. "When I get out of here, I'm going to have to try making this. It's quite good for prison food!" And then, he returned to his cell with no interruptions.

After an hour of lying in his cot, Jacob heard was startled by an announcement on the intercoms from Warden Sam. "For those of you who are not in clubs or involved in after-school activities, you will now be returned to the real world. As always, be aware of Soul Shock. Have a good day, everyone." Jacob knew what this meant. He had already figured out the secret of Heathen's Prison.

It was not a physical prison. It was some sort of prison for souls! And as Jacob felt a wave of unconsciousness flow over him, he theorized about the true nature of Heathen's Prison. It was a Stand. The cells, Warden Sam, the delicious Soul Gumbo, it was all just one intricate Stand ability. But why would anyone imprison the souls of high schoolers, and who was the Stand User controlling everything?

The young boy stepped outside the school grounds, and that was when everything hit him like a ton of bricks. He stopped dead in his tracks. Izzie looked at him, that trademark Izzie Joestar grin dawning on her face. Jacob turned to her, a frown emerging. "You… But the prison… What is happening?" He knelt down to the ground, holding his head in his hands and staring at the ground. Izzie bent down and whispered in his ear.

"The Initiation has started. Welcome to SC High."

Well then, a couple of things. First off, I think this chapter turned out okay, but it took a REALLY long time to finish. Like, "a year and a half" long. If you have any complaints about the content of the chapter or how long it took to publish, please feel free to message me. And please, leave a review with any Stand ideas, recommendations, or questions! I hope you enjoyed this latest chapter.

P.S.

I promise the next chapter will not take as much time to publish as this one. Look forward to [Heathens] Part 2!