Good morning, readers! It's been a bit of time since posting the last chapter due to busy schedules and projects, but I'm here with a bit of a longer one for you today to make up for it! I ask you for this update to bear with me a bit, as because several things are supposed to be happening at one time, there are many breaks and shorter scenes. Also, you will be seeing some stats today because- that's right! We're taking a look at our next OC stand user today! Are you ready for what's in store? I hope you all enjoy, and please leave a nice review with your thoughts!

Polnareff opened his eyes, furrowing a brow when he saw nothing but blindingly white halls in what seemed to be a hospital. He grunted as he came to a seated position, rubbing his head. "What the hell? Where am I, how did I get here?" He asked himself. He finally came to stand, a bit uneasy when he saw that no one was around. "Kakyoin? Jotaro? Mr. Joestar! Hey, where'd everybody go?"

'Jean.'

Polnareff whirled around at the voice, but saw nothing. "Who was that?! Hey!" He shouted, running down the long, seemingly unending hallway. There were no windows, light seeming to emit from nowhere as he began to grow weary. He finally reached an elevator, furrowing a brow. There seemed to be someone standing inside as he peeked through the small window.

"Sherry...?" His eyes widened as his hands groped at the wall to smack the button, the door beginning to open. He winced with surprise as an ear piercing grinding and squeaking was heard, the door making an almost chalkboard scratching sound as it opened. When it finally did, his joyous expression completely changed, stepping back as he looked on in horror.

Kakyoin hissed, holding his head as he sat up. He groaned as he came to sit up, looking around to see that his parents were sitting right in front of him. He jumped back a bit, not understanding where he was or why they were there.

"Mom? Dad? Why... what are you doing here?" Kakyoin asked. "Where are my friends?"

"Noriaki, sweetie..." He noticed they were wearing sunglasses. "You have no friends, sweetheart." His mother smiled as she took his hand.

"The school nurse called. We're here to take you home." His father told him.

"W- Wait, what are you- I'm not- I'm trying to get to Pakistan, I have to help Mr. Joestar save his daughter and-"

"It's worse than we thought, dear." His father said. "We'll have to take drastic measures."

"Maybe the children can help him. Once he's all fixed, our little Noriaki can come back home. We can have a picnic. We can buy him new clothes that the other children wear. We can give him a haircut. Then we can tuck him into bed, nice and snug." His mother smiled.

Kakyoin was at a loss for words for a moment. "Why are you speaking like this? I don't understand!"

"No, Noriaki. We don't understand. We don't understand because we don't see. You have to conform. You can be normal again."

They both took their sunglasses off to reveal black voids where their eyes should have been. Kakyoin screamed, trying to flee the room. When he burst through the door, he gasped when he was suddenly surrounded by an endless sea of faceless schoolchildren. They began to seize him, dragging him into a room where he was strapped down. He cried out for his friends, but his cries were left unanswered. There was a mirror next to where he was, looking over to see a younger self in his reflection. His head snapped forward when he heard the door open, two individuals in coats and face masks entering.

"It's time for your picnic, Noriaki." The voice of his mother said, holding up a large needle. "It's very nutritious."

"Mom, what are you doing?! Why are we back in my school, why-" Kakyoin was cut off, screaming as his mother stabbed the gigantic needle into his arm, able to hear his own racing heart pounding into his head.

Anne wandered aimlessly out of her childhood home, her eyes fixated on the setting sun. She had no idea why her skin wasn't burning. Had she died? Was this heaven? She felt a light, airy feeling. A feeling of euphoria. She smiled to herself, closing her eyes as she twirled. She had no worries, no guilt, no responsibilities. She fell back into the soft embrace of the grass, sighing lightly as she looked up into the sky. She opened her eyes after what seemed to be an eternity, sitting up to see that an apple tree had appeared. She seemed drawn to it, practically floating on her feet as she made her way towards it. She reached up, taking one of the succulent fruits into her hand, smiling at how ripe it was. She closed her eyes, biting into the apple.

She failed to notice the red liquid dripping from her lips as she consumed the fruit.

A cold breeze made her shiver, causing her to open her eyes. The sun was no longer there to light the sky, which had become a dark, blood red hue. An ominous feeling crept into the air as Anne slowly looked down, gasping and dropping what she was holding. No longer a delicious apple, but a still beating heart, a large chunk missing from it, landed on the ground. She slowly looked up at the tree, which had now become a twisted form of arms, legs, heads, twisting and writhing.

Her family.

Anne shrieked, staggering back before falling to her knees. The soft, lush grass had disappeared, slimy, filthy mud being left in its wake. A hand grabbed her arm, trying to keep her down as she looked back. She struggled against it until the arm pulled itself up, seeing someone familiar. Before she could even cry out their name, she was yanked by a chain she did not even realize had been tied around her neck. She cried out, groaning as she tried to push herself up, only to be yanked forward again, dragged through the mud. When she was finally able to look up and see who was holding the chain, she clenched her teeth, her eyes burning with fury.

Young Anne blinked as she witnessed the adults before her acting strangely, seeing things, sometimes moving not of their own accord. She took a step back, furrowing a brow. "What the hell is wrong with them?" She asked, looking up at Chibi as she stood petrified. "You have one of those things, don't you? The things I can't see, they keep calling them stands... it's some sort of magic, isn't it?"

"Don't come too close, it will get you too!" Chibi cried.

"WHAT will? I don't SEE anything."

"It doesn't matter... you'll still see it... it scares you until you die. That's why I have to do it to other people so it doesn't to me..."

"Scare? I'm not afraid of anything." Young Anne said. "You're such a big baby, you seem afraid of everything!"

"I don't want it to kill my mommy and daddy!" Chibi cried. "I have to do this to them or the cold man won't help me!"

"Cold man...?" Young Anne raised a brow.

Stand User Name: Chibi

Stand Name: Birthday Massacre

Abilities: Become a form or an environment based on an attacker's personal fear or trauma in order to drain their energy by creating a sense of fear, dread, paranoia or doubt. It traps the opponent within its attack, preventing the user from using its stand against it. The only way to defeat the stand is to break out of its grasp on the user's mind.

Destructive Power: B

Speed: C

Range: B

Durability: C

Precision: D

Development: A

Joseph grunted as he blinked his eyes open, sitting up. "Hm... this is strange... it feels cold. Wait... am I in- it can't be!" He exclaimed. His breath could be seen upon the air, snow crunching under his feet as he rubbed his arms from the frigid temperature. He wandered for a bit until he noticed droplets of blood in the snow. He frowned a bit, and though something in him told him he should stay away, he went against his instincts to follow it. He gasped upon seeing what building lay ahead. "The mansion... this is where..." His voice trailed off as he broke into a jog, throwing the double doors opened once he reached it. He entered the old mansion, raising a brow. It appeared magnificent, his footsteps echoing as he walked on the marble floors. He then heard an airy whisper, the door shutting behind him and extinguishing the candles. He gasped when only light from the windows flooded in, and he saw something moving in the darkness. He heard cracking beneath him, looking down just in time to see something shoot out from the floor, wrapping around his wrist and ankles. "Vines!" He cried, yanking his arms away from them as he grunted, clenching his teeth. As he began to do so, he heard a voice echoing above him.

"No, please, stop!"

"Huh? Who is that? Where are you?!" Joseph shouted.

"You're hurting me! Please, stop this!"

Before Joseph could inspect further, he saw flickering lights moving within the shadows. "Are you working for Dio? Come out and tell me who you are!"

"You don't know her voice, do you?"

"You don't know any of our voices. You only know those which you hate. You see only that which you hate."

"It is why you do not see us. You purge us to settle your mind. But you cannot keep us away forever. Your walls are crumbling. Your fortress will fall."

When the figures began to emerge, the vines beginning to seep into the shadows, Joseph widened his eyes in disbelief.

Jotaro opened his eyes to find darkness. He heard a crowd of muffled voices and what seemed to be a concert playing. He was a bit dizzy, wobbling as he slowly rose to his feet. He wandered in the darkness, his hands outstretched as he tried to find any source of light.

"Star Platinum." He tried to summon his stand, but it did not appear. He groaned in frustration before he finally spotted a thin, vertical line of light. He stumbled over, but instantly regretted it when he widened the gap. It took him a few moments to realize it had been a curtain, the crowd cheering as he stepped onto the stage. He looked around, an endless arena of people cheering on the music playing around him. When he heard a familiar voice, he slowly looked over raising a brow. "Dad…? What the hell are you doing?"

"What I love, son! About time you showed up! Come on! They're going wild, they love you!" Jotaro's father beamed.

Jotaro was genuinely weirded out, blinking. "The hell is this shit? How did you even find me?"

"I didn't find you, son… they did. You have to keep them happy or you're out of showbiz. That's why I can't come home… once they're hooked, they never let you go."

Jotaro tilted his head in bewilderment. "Dad… what in the fuck are you talking about?"

"Well, look for yourself." His father said.

Jotaro looked out into the crowd, and then it finally hit him. He took a step back, appearing to be uneasy.

Polnareff took a step back, shaking his head as he looked upon his sister. She appeared to be rotting, stumbling towards him as she screeched his name. Polnareff continued to back up until he tripped, falling back into the elevator which had appeared behind him. Inside was utterly filthy, rusty, decrepit as the doors slammed shut, the elevator plummeting at incredible speed as he crashed at the bottom floor. He whimpered as he could hear his sister's screeching from up above, echoing through the elevator shaft. The doors opened, Polnareff shakily getting to his feet as he witnessed an even more deteriorated corridor. Bugs crawled on the walls. Slime seemed to seep and ooze from the walls. From the other end of the corridor, he heard something metallic scraping. He flinched and trembled at the filth and crawling creatures around him, finally approaching the end where he stopped. He shook his head slowly, a lump forming in his throat. Strapped to a wheelchair which he tried to roll forward in vain, was himself. A wheelchair chained to a wall, he looked upon himself malnourished, frail, wheezing as he seemed to wither away more by the second. Polnareff clenched his teeth as he looked upon this horrific reflection present before him.

"What the fuck is this?! What the hell are you?!" Polnareff screamed. He slowly watched himself lift his head, his jaw tightening more when he saw his emaciated face- thin, hollow, almost dead, his eyes rotted holes. "I said what the hell are you? How did you get me to this place?!"

The horrific counterpart tilted his head a moment before slowly opening his mouth, a shrill cry piercing the air as insects and snakes spewed from his mouth and eyes.

Young Anne bit her lip worriedly as the conditions of the adults before her continued to deteriorate. "Did you feed them drugs or something? Hey. I'm talking to you!" She exclaimed, pulling Chibi's hands from her face. They're my only ride so you better start talking!"

"I can't stop it!" Chibi cried. "I can't control it no matter what I do! The cold man found me and he promised to help me control the red light so that it won't hurt my mommy and daddy!"

"Well, what the hell is it doing to them?!" Young Anne exclaimed.

Kakyoin continued to scream as he was forced into a hospital gown. Then, his father approached with a buzzer.

"This just won't do…" He mumbled as he began to shave Kakyoin's hair as he felt something being strapped around him, constricting his movement.

"And now you're all tucked in, dear… now the nurse can arrive and she'll take care of the rest." His mother smiled, her eyes still black voids as they exited the room.

"No! Mom, dad, why are you doing this?! Come back!" He screamed, grunting as he tried to free himself to no avail. He froze when he heard the door open, a nurse entering as faceless children came inside, their soft, freakish giggling surrounding him as they seemed to watch. He remained still as he stared at the nurse's face. "… Anne…?"

"DIO!" Anne screamed as she tried to hoist herself out of the mud, only to be pulled back down by her chain.

"Soon you will cry my name in a manner more akin to my liking." He smirked. "You have nothing… no one… come now, Anne… is it not time to join what you cannot defeat?" He crouched down, offering her his hand. She glared at it, curling her lip before screaming, wrestling the sinister vampire into the mud.

"I… am not… afraid of you!" She cried, strangling him. As he choked, a red light glowed from within his eyes, blinding her for a moment. When she blinked them open, in his place was the one whose hand had grabbed at her before. "Jean?" She grunted, hoisting his body from the mud. "Jean, can you hear me?" She looked down at her former lover, slowly shaking her head. "No. This is a trick. You are all already dead, this-" She turned to look at the tree. Where her family had been, now was her newest friends. Her brows furrowed as the chain around her neck began to pull from within the mud. "Noriaki?! J- Joseph-!" She screamed as she was pulled into the mud, her hand the only thing still surfaced after a few moment's time.

Kakyoin inhaled sharply. "You have to help me out of here. Anne, we've been trapped."

Anne looked up, shushing him as she sat beside him. "Hush now. I'm going to give you exactly what you need." She smiled before getting up. Kakyoin's eyes followed her unsurely as she began to attach nodes to his head. "Anne… what are you doing?"

"If you're good… I'll give you a kiss." She smiled, going over to flip a switch. Kakyoin clenched his jaw as electrical currents surged into his head, crying out. As soon as it began, it ended, panting for air. "Brains are simple to control after all, you see… what do you think creates that… wonderful feeling? You know of what I speak." She chuckled when Kakyoin looked up at her with fearful confusion, swallowing thickly as his skin became shiny, sweat rolling down the side of his head. "You know what's right, but you can't ignore what you see, can you?" She asked, leaning down to kiss him. It was a small, lingered, teasing kiss. He couldn't resist nor pursue it if he tried, unable to move. "If you're good, you'll get another."

"A- Anne… something is wrong-" He was cut off by her finger.

"There is something wrong with you. You see things that… do not belong. When we're through, you won't see anything." Anne replied.

Joseph heard the sickening sound of something tightening in the darkness, constricting someone's breath. He followed the sounds of the choked scream until he finally found the source. "Holly!" He cried, gasping when the vines hoisted her into the air.

"You're too late."

"You had the chance to be there. Now the chance is gone."

"Blinded by your own arrogance. All your life you've taken everything for granted."

Joseph turned, trying to identify the voices until he finally spotted a small boy holding a lantern. Thorn vines began to shoot up from the ground, restraining him. Three hooded figures emerged from the darkness, each holding someone with a scythe to their neck.

"No… Ceasar?" Joseph whispered. The first reaper sliced his neck open. "No!" He cried, trying to free himself. The second shoved his wife forward, Joseph's face twisting with agony as her throat was also sliced open. The third shoved a young man forward, who fell upon his knees.

"For the mistakes you have so carelessly committed, your inaction. This is your redemption." A voice spoke before yanking the hair back of the young man to reveal it as himself, his throat being sliced. "Now you will suffer like those before you."

Joseph suddenly couldn't breathe, the thorns lifting him up so he was face to face with his daughter. Her own vines were crushing her trachea, but there was not a thing he could do about it.

Jotaro tried to scream. He tried to shout. He tried to emit some morsel of sound as the unending crowd of schoolgirls began to screech and cry inhumanly, their faces warping and contorting. The jazz music was now just a garble of incoherent banging of instruments and run-on sentences. He was completely frozen to the stage, unable to move a muscle. The girls began to crawl onto the stage, their spindly fingers grabbing at his jacket, his hat, his pants, tearing at it like vicious beasts. Only Jotaro's eyes could move, his heart rate increasing. He never felt this helpless in his life. What had paralyzed him? This was not who he was. This was not how he handled things. This was not going to be his end.

He felt the energy concentrating. How could one overcome such a powerful force, the physical constriction and presence of fear? Fear. It was not something Jotaro was familiar with, and he was not going to become acquainted with it now. The girls began to screech with laughter as they viewed him in nothing but his underwear. He was getting pissed. He was getting sick of this game. He was not going to give into whatever sick hallucination this was.

In that moment, the screeching stopped. Everything stopped.

His finger had moved.

All around him, everything began to crack, a red light coming from within them. He began to hear a voice echoing all around him.

"Jotaro… Jotaro, can you hear me?!"

Just then, the red light overwhelmed him until it became a blinding white. That was until something obscured it.

"Hey, snap out of it!" Young Anne shouted, slapping his face.

"What the fuck- Hey, alright, alright!" Jotaro shouted, shoving the teen aside. "I'm up." He said a bit calmer, brushing himself off and noticing he was back in the cliffs, his clothes and hat unscathed along with himself. He felt a bit dizzy as he got to his feet.

"How did you get out of… whatever that was?" Young Anne asked.

"The hell are you talking about?" He then noticed Chibi approaching him slowly.

"How did you do it? How did you make the red light go away?" She asked quietly.

"The two of you stop asking stupid questions and-" Jotaro turned around, raising a brow when he saw the state of the others. "The hell is wrong with them?" His eyes traveled to the red light hovering above them.

"Don't ask stupid questions." Young Anne made a face, sticking her tongue at him.

"Good grief…" Jotaro sighed. "So that's what happened… we were all hallucinating. Not much either of us can do. I tried to make Star Platinum appear but it didn't happen. We don't have a choice but hope they figure it out like I did."

"Well, how did you do it?" Young Anne asked as Jotaro stared at his friends with a calm gaze.

Joseph choked as the thorn vines constricted his airway, clenching his jaw as he watched the vines around his daughter tighten. His arm was outstretched, just out of reach as he struggled.

"It's no use. You've neglected her for too long. You've neglected all of us." Caesar said from below as Holly began to wither away, still laying on the ground with his throat slit open. "Your grandson, whom you were never there for, will be without his mother… and it's all your fault.

"I… didn't… I… love them…" Joseph choked out.

"Really… is this why you continue to betray us?" Caesar chuckled. "You try to ignore something for long enough, it will grow like a weed. Soon, it completely takes over and squeezes the life from you."

Joseph glanced back, beginning to see spots. As he did so, his eye caught something that he knew wasn't a trick.

The Ruby necklace around Caesar's neck.

Joseph was no fool. He may have been getting older, but he knew of something he had been in possession of for about half a century. Using all the strength he could muster, he grabbed one of the vines, yanking it and tearing it away. He began to do the same once he gained a bit of movement to the ones around his neck.

"Now I can finally speak, Caesar… or are you?! You're dead! You are an imposter!" Joseph shouted.

"Me, an imposter? Would you say the same of your family, or are your eyes deceiving you as you have done so many times before!" Caesar laughed.

"No, my eyes aren't deceiving me…" He snatched the necklace off of Caesar, holding it as he gasped, groping where it had been. "You're a fake. Caesar Zeppeli died fifty years ago and I have kept this ever since. This is not real and I demand to see my grandson-" He stopped when red light began to shine from the necklace, looking around as everything began to crack and crumble around him, red light coming from the cracks. He was blinded momentarily before he rubbed his eyes, groaning as he sat up.

"Old man. Can you hear me?"

"Huh…? Jotaro? Oh, thank goodness I found you!" Joseph exclaimed.

"No, you were here the whole time. You overcame whatever trance this stand put us under." Jotaro said, helping his grandfather to his feet, wobbling a bit. When he was confused, Jotaro turned him around to show the state of Anne, Kakyoin and Polnareff.

"Oh my God…" Joseph widened his eyes. "What's happened to them?"

"The stand belongs to that girl who was with the speed demon. Apparently she has no control over it." Jotaro said. "So until they snap out of it, we're stuck."

"They don't have much time…" Chibi said then.

"What do you mean?" Joseph asked.

"My stand makes us feel the worst things… being scared, or hurt, or sad… sometimes it's so bad that there's nothing you can do… the feelings get worse and worse until you feel like dying." Chibi frowned deeply.

"So that's how this stand attacks… it emotionally drains us until we feel too exhausted to go on… that's why I feel so dizzy still!" Joseph exclaimed.

"The longer they hang around in their heads, the worse it gets. Look at them, they're becoming more lethargic by the second." Jotaro said.

Kakyoin bit his lip as Anne let up from kissing him again. "Why do you think you're here, Noriaki? Do you believe that people have control over their lives? We are governed by what fate decides for us. Sometimes you are given some control over yourself, over others. But there is no changing your fate. You were meant to conform to the standards of society and then die. Your soul is rejecting the inevitable. I am giving you what you have wanted but it isn't satisfying, is it? Because there are restraints… limits…" As she said this, Kakyoin winced as his straight jacket grew tighter. "… of which you cannot escape from. The sooner you understand this, the sooner you will finally be like them, as it should be. You will not longer feel sadness or disappointment, but joy that you are finally serving those which have given you this wonderful gift… nurture you. Or… you can continue to resist… and the life will be squeezed from you until you can never be fixed." Anne smiled smugly, petting his face. "So… ready for another kiss then?"

Kakyoin looked over into the mirror, no longer seeing his child self, but seeing himself as he was in reality. In the reflection, he had no restraints, bound to nothing, no others present. He slowly looked up at Anne.

"Certainly." He said with new determination.

Anne chuckled. "You will learn soon enough, Noriaki." She said as she leaned down.

"No… I think I already have." He growled as he craned his head forward, biting her lip when she came close enough. She whimpered, trying to pull away. As they struggled, a small side table of tools fell over, sending objects flying. The faceless children began to back away as Anne finally managed to tear away, her lip bleeding. "You're not her. You are an emotionless copy like they are. You're not going to turn me into what you are. I am Noriaki Kakyoin and I know who I am."

Anne began to gasp and wheeze, the mirror cracking from being impacted. As it did, Anne did the same, red light emitting from the cracks. The more severe it became, the louder she screeched before Kakyoin was blinded by white light. He inhaled sharply as he sat up, regretting doing so when everything began to spin. He felt someone hoist him up, keeping him steady as he adjusted.

TO BE CONTINUED | \/

Well, as I said earlier, there is a lot of jumping around going on; each protagonist is dealing with their own battle. It has been rare in the series where a character through season three (aside from perhaps Jotaro a few times) has been forced to deal with an opponent without a group effort. Being forced to overcome something personal to them, I feel, has given Revolver and I the opportunity to really dig a bit deeper into each character and flesh them out a bit more. I hope you all enjoyed our insight for this chapter, and the next update will conclude the standoff against Birthday Massacre. Will the remaining protagonists prevail? Find out next time, and thank you again for reading!