Dio gave Joseph one final pointed stare before returning to the broken window and dropping to the ground. The sky was dark but tinged with orange as the last hints of the sun dropped beneath the horizon. Dio first went to the killer's house; the inside was dark. He swung open the busted front door and peered inside. Nobody appeared to be inside; he ventured into the room where the camera had been. Pushpins were scattered all over the floor and the camera was broken.

Well, the Joestars had defeated the man with the camera Stand, as expected. But where had they gone after that? Dio had Jotaro's hotel room number from Rohan's contact book; that was as good a place to start as any.


Jotaro's hotel room was on the first floor and had some windows facing out toward the sea. There were lights on inside and the curtains were thrown open; Dio could see Jotaro pacing with his head tilted as he pressed a phone against his ear. Dio weaved his way through some decorative shrubs and past a noisy air conditioning unit, walked up to the window, and knocked. Jotaro was startled and turned to face him, the phone clenched so tightly in his hand that it was at risk of snapping in two. Dio smirked and made a short, upward motion with his hand at the window.

He could just barely hear Jotaro through the window. "Nevermind. Fuck's sake. He's literally right here." He paused, listening to whoever was on the other end. "Yes. Just in case." He slammed the phone down on the receiver and glared at Dio, who just gestured for him to open the window again. Star Platinum's arms appeared and the glass slid upward. Dio peered up at Jotaro and grinned. "May I come in?"

Star Platinum yanked at his shoulders and his head slammed into the sill. Jotaro stared down at him, his eyes burning. "You gave the arrow to the killer's father. Why?"

Dio grimaced as blood seeped past his eyelid, but the cut on his forehead steadily healed. Star Platinum's grip on his shoulders twitched as if Jotaro were considering slamming him into the window frame again. "Would you believe me," Dio asked, "if I said it wasn't me that did that, but instead my evil twin?"

Star Platinum didn't shove him, but its grip tightened. "You can use The World again, somehow, can't you?" Jotaro stated. "That's the only way to explain how you disappeared after that. Did you do something to Rohan?"

"I have done nothing to Rohan," Dio answered, "except annoy him. The answer to your other question remains the same as before."

Star Platinum pulled until Dio lifted from the ground. The sill dug into his neck and Star Platinum lifted one hand to lower the window, trapping Dio's head inside. "Decapitation won't kill you, I know." The window pushed down and his neck ground against the sill. Jotaro looked down at him, expressionless. "But it will make killing you much easier. Tell me what you're planning."

Dio twisted his head as much as he dared in order to look up at Jotaro. "If I were planning something terrible, would I have come knocking on your window to tell you about it?"

"I don't know. Could be a trap. This is all weird." Jotaro frowned. "You're acting fucking weird."

"I'll gladly explain everything if you stop trying to guillotine me with the window," Dio stated. "But I also want to ask you questions of my own."

The seconds dragged as Jotaro thought. Dio stared up at him, his face held carefully blank. The phone rang. Star Platinum kept steady pressure on the window as Jotaro grabbed the phone off the receiver and answered it. "Gramps." He listened for a few moments, his expression growing more confused. "Who ?"

Star Platinum let go of the window. Dio clambered inside and adjusted his scarf with a sigh of annoyance. Jotaro glared at him as he listened to Joseph. "If he was trying to kill us by going back in time and killing your grandma, he would have done it already. Something else has to be going on. Just wait." Jotaro set the phone back onto the receiver lightly, then scowled at Dio.

Dio tilted his head. "You're a marine biologist, correct?"

"Yes." Jotaro's glare somehow managed to become more severe. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Do you have any paper? And a pencil?" Dio glanced around the room, noticing a desk covered in notes and a boxy computer. He began to approach it, but Star Platinum appeared and blocked his path.

"Just answer my questions," Jotaro said. "Talk. What's going on?"

Dio frowned at the impassive Star Platinum, then turned to Jotaro with a sneer. "I'm going to be completely honest with you, Jotaro. Every word I say will be the truth. I need you to trust me, and I'm going to trust you in return. Got it?"

Jotaro took a deep inhale, squared his shoulders, and then gave a begrudging nod.

"In another world, you didn't defeat me in Cairo. That version of myself was able to evolve his Stand enough to claim heaven for himself and become a god. Now that me goes from world to world, hunting for other versions of myself. My theory is that he does so in order to kill them and become even stronger." He paused and lifted a hand to his neck. "You know that I stole my body from your ancestor. When I first appeared in Morioh, it was that body that had Rohan's rules." He tugged off the scarf and tilted his head, stretching his unscarred neck. "I am not the one that gave the arrow to the killer's father. It was the me that I'm being hunted by."

Jotaro did not move, but Star Platinum shifted defensively. "So you do have The World back."

The World appeared behind Dio and Jotaro tensed. Dio expected him to stop time and attack him; to his surprise, Star Platinum faded away and Jotaro shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Yes, I have reobtained The World and much more," Dio answered. "My double pierced me with three Stand Arrows. The World has evolved."

"Great." Jotaro's voice was completely flat. "But it still isn't strong enough, is it."

"Of course not." Dio waved his hand dismissively. "If I want to have any chance of defeating my double, I'm going to need more help."

"You want me to help you," Jotaro stated.

"Possibly. I have a few different ideas of how to defeat him. That's why I wanted that pencil and paper."

He started towards the desk again but Jotaro held up a hand. "Why the hell would I help you? It sounds like the only person your double has a problem with is you. I'm not involved at all. It seems like none of the Joestars are."

"Oh, I wasn't expecting you to help me out of the goodness of your heart, Jotaro," Dio replied, tone dripping with saccharine venom. "I'm offering you something in return." He strode towards the desk and lifted a framed photo from atop a stack of books. "You really cared for them. To hold onto a photo like this years later, even if seeing them is painful... those are memories you cherish and hate all at once, aren't they?"

Star Platinum threw him to the floor and Jotaro wrenched the photo out of his hands. Dio allowed it. "Don't use my dead friends as bargaining chips," Jotaro growled.

"I'm offering this to you with no strings attached," Dio replied. "I could easily bring them back and I expect almost nothing in return. I'd even feel bad for them if you refused," he said with a smile, and Jotaro gave him a look of revulsion. "It would be as if they were in the hospital on the verge of death and you said no to a cure just because you didn't like the doctor doing it."

Jotaro clutched the photo tightly and Star Platinum looked prepared to punch Dio into a paste, but beyond the anger and disgust in Jotaro's expression, Dio could sense the tiniest glimmer of guilt. Dio grinned when Jotaro gave a glance toward the phone.

"Think it over, Jotaro." Dio stood and dusted himself off as Star Platinum hovered beside him warily. "Sleep on it, if you need to. I'm going to have everyone meet at Rohan's around noon tomorrow. I'll be explaining myself again, which will be annoying, but I suppose Josuke and the rest of Team Morioh should be brought up to speed." Jotaro was silent, his stare hard and fiery as Dio smiled at him. "I suppose I'm sorry that I upset you, but it's your fault for being so stubborn. I had to get my point across somehow." He slid the window fully open and heard the sound of rustling leaves. He froze. So did Jotaro.

Wary of Jotaro trying to chop his head off again, he used The World to brace the window open as he peered out into the darkness. He saw nothing but he could smell the faint traces of sweat and fear.

"What do you see?" Jotaro set the photo back on the desk and stood beside the window. "Was someone listening?"

Dio nodded. "Yes."

"The other you?"

"No." Dio squinted and sat on the windowsill, then swung his legs over to the outside. "If he were here, we'd know it. But this is familiar, somehow. Stay here," he said as Jotaro moved to follow him. "And tell Joseph to think about my offer, too. I know you didn't hang up all the way," he said, nodding at the phone that was just barely off the receiver. "You had him listen just in case I threatened you." He dropped down from the window and looked back at Jotaro. "Oh, and if you have the time, can you consider the idea of the food chain for me?"

Jotaro stared at him silently. The World pulled the window shut. Dio stopped time and looked down at the ground. The mulch didn't hold footprints very well, but Dio could see his own as well as a second set that seemed larger. He strode around the side of the hotel and looked over the grassy lawn. There was a man running away, his legs frozen in the air as one hand was out for balance and the other held onto his hat. Time began again and he dashed forward, nearly stumbling over the curb as he reached the road.

Time paused and began once more. The man skidded to a stop as Dio appeared in front of him.

"Hol Horse," Dio said with a wide smile. "How nice to see you again."

"Oh, shit," Hol stammered. The Emperor appeared in his hand but he held it more for reassurance than out of any intention to aim it at Dio.

"Whatcha doin' here, Hol?" Dio asked in a terrible imitation of an American accent. "And calm down, would you? Even though you failed me in Cairo, I'm not going to kill you."

"That kid," Hol answered. "Boingo said you were back. I thought maybe he was havin' hallucinations from stress or something. He's never been good at traveling and he took a plane ride to Japan to meet some famous artist or whatever. But he called me and wouldn't shut the hell up about his Stand book sayin' the world was gonna end." Hol took a deep breath and wiped sweat off his forehead, his hand brushing against the mottled scar just below his hat where he had accidentally shot himself. "He said that the artist said you were harmless, that you couldn't use your Stand, but you just... back there, you had it. When you were talking to Jotaro."

"The end of the world?" Dio crossed his arms and gave Hol a curious look. "Tohth had a prediction about the end of the world?"

"Yeah. I guess. I don't really know, Boingo wouldn't show me. But it had somethin' to do with you." He frowned and gripped Emperor tightly. "I only made it here today. I got real lucky and saw you just as I was leaving the hotel. Did you do somethin' to the Joestars? Why don't they care that you're here? Did you find a way to control them?"

Dio lifted an arm and Hol shied away from him. "Aw no, no flesh thingy, don't -"

He simply placed a hand on Hol's shoulder. "Hol, I'm so glad you're here."

Hol blanched. "What?"

"The Joestars and I are very absolute people. We'll do what we set our minds to, even if it kills us. You, however," he said, squeezing Hol's shoulder, "I won't insult you by saying you're a coward, Hol, but you have a finely attuned survival instinct. I admire that. I could use your perspective."

Hol frowned at him. "Perspective? Perspective on what?"

"You didn't hear what Jotaro and I were talking about?" Dio asked.

"No, I mean, I tried," Hol said, his eyes wide and unsure. "The damn AC unit was too loud. But I saw your Stand."

"Oh, but you didn't see all of my Stand," Dio replied. Hol squinted at him in confusion. Dio pulled him by the shoulder and wrapped an arm around him, forcing him to turn and look at The World as it appeared. The World reached forward and Hol lifted his gun protectively-

The World opened its fists to reveal the calendar, the map, and the sheet of stickers.

Hol lowered the gun. "Huh?"

"Go to any time, go to any place, and bring someone with me," Dio replied, pointing to each of the items in turn.

"Your Stand evolved," Hol said in awe as he stared at the objects. "So you can just go any place at any time?"

Dio sighed. "Yes, Hol. Though I suppose there are some limitations. I can't go any earlier than 1889."

Hol frowned in thought. "You can go to the future, though? As far as you want?"

"Hm." Dio picked up the calendar and looked it over. He bent it slightly and let the pages rapidly flip. The years advanced into the 2000s, then the 2010s, and then-

There was a final page. Dio peered down at it. The date at the top read March 21, 2012, but beneath it dozens of other dates were printed. By the bottom of the page, so many dates were listed that the ink ran together into a solid black mass.

"Hol," Dio said quietly, "do you believe in gravity?"

"The thing that makes shit fall to the ground?" Hol frowned and took a half-step away from Dio, disentangling himself from his arm. "Yeah, I'd say I believe in it."

"You said Boingo called you." Dio ran a finger over the calendar page. "You keep in touch?"

"Only kind of," Hol admitted. "I try to keep a low profile but sometimes the kid needs help. It's not like the survivors of your old Cairo crew hold reunion parties or anything."

"Have you heard anything from Enrico Pucci?"

Hol frowned and looked away. "No. Haven't seen that guy in years. He kinda kept to himself, anyway. I was a little worried about how he would take it after… well, whatever the hell actually happened to you, since you ain't dead. Like you said about yourself, Enrico is, uh… a pretty absolute guy."

"Yes, he is. Perhaps even more so than I." Dio flipped the calendar back several pages, settling on one week before the final page. "I wonder… in this world, does he take Heaven for himself?" He took the sheet of stickers and the map from The World and looked them over. "Say, Hol, which do you prefer? 'Way to Go' or 'Awesome!'?"

"Uh." Hol took a step away. "I don't want either of them."

The World grabbed his wrist. Dio ignored Hol's protests as he pressed 'Way to Go' onto his hand.

Dio pulled the pen around the coordinates he knew by heart on the map, then circled March 14, 2012 on the calendar.