Hospital Room #221, 35 Days to Save Holly
Joseph looks up at his grandson, reclined back in his hospital bed. It was a long day waiting for the Speedwagon Foundation doctors to arrive, filled with wringing hands and a talkative younger self, but now everything is going to be okay…
Will it? Most of us are injured, hundreds dead in a major airport, and all of our plans have to gone to waste…
"Gramps." A voice stirs Joseph from his thoughts. Jotaro opens his eyes, matching his grandfather's gaze. "I'm glad you both made it."
Joseph scans the rest of the room. A sleeping Hol Horse lies across from Jotaro, with Anne on the other side of the room behind a closed curtain. His younger self is, surprisingly, not present in the room.
"Yeah. Kakyoin and I are alright."
"No, I mean both you and the idiot you used to be."
"Ah." He swallows in vain, trying to get the lump out of his throat. Joseph's eyes burn a bit, restrained tears searing at his vision. "You…you really risked your life for him."
"He may be an idiot…" Jotaro sits up and straightens, looking at the hospital garb on him with disdain. "…But he's just like you. He would do anything to save the people he loves. I owed him the same treatment."
"Oi, Jotaro, lay down. Get some rest, that wound won't heal so-"
Jotaro, instead, swings himself up and grabs his folded clothes, the various tubes and devices hooked to him ripping off with the movement. Something catches Joseph's eye as he watches his grandson close the curtain to change. The back of Jotaro's arm, which formerly had a perfectly circular hole in it, seems to have closed up entirely.
That hole…it healed up that quickly?
Once again, Joseph is stirred from his thinking. The curtain swings open, revealing Jotaro in his normal clothes.
"Good grief, Gramps. I'm alright." Jotaro offers a hand to help Joseph up. Joseph eyes it momentarily, before seizing it and yanking himself up to stand.
"Oi. I don't care what you think, Jotaro. Don't risk your life for that idiot. You're far more important to me."
"Hmph." Jotaro shrugs as he turns to leave. "That's what he'd say about you, too. Grow up, Gramps. It's not all about what you want people to do." As he finishes, Jotaro opens the door and quietly closes it behind him.
"J-Jotaro…" Joseph hangs his head a bit, then looks out the window behind him at the night sky.
That kid… he's smarter than I ever was, that's for sure.
In Room #223, Playing Chess with a Younger Mr. Joestar
"Will you stop calling me 'Joestar-san'? That sounds like an old person name, just call me Joseph!" The younger Mr. Joestar says irately as he grabs a pawn and clenches it between his fingers.
"Okay, then, Joseph. Hurry and make your move. Your timer went out a minute ago." Kakyoin replies politely.
Hm. Impetuous, quick-mouthed, but still impossibly cunning. He's absolutely winning this game…
"So, uh, you went to high school with my grandson?" Joseph forcefully puts down his pawn with a triumphant smile after speaking, after which Kakyoin quietly moves a bishop and hits both sides of the timer by the board, resetting it to Joseph's turn. Realizing the question, he curls his lip in embarrassment and looks away as he speaks.
"Well…I tried to kill your grandson in his high school, yes." Without even looking at the board, Joseph grins as he advances a knight. Kakyoin sighs and hits the timer.
"Hm, no wonder Jotaro speaks highly of you. Most of my closest allies attacked me before. Jotaro did that, too, it's why I trust him so much!"
Kakyoin looks at him with a mild look of confusion, before capturing a knight with his bishop.
He's…he's just moving randomly, isn't he…
"Tell me, Joseph. How much do you plan these sorts of things?"
"What, my friends or my chess moves?"
"Either." Kakyoin stares straight into his eyes, trying to glean whatever insight he can. Suddenly, the door swings open and Jotaro steps in. "J-Jotaro? You're up already?"
"Yeah, his strong Hamon probably sealed up that wound over the course of the day. Helps you survive some impossible things. Did my old crotchety self ever tell you I fell from a flying piece of a volc-"
"Oi, Kakyoin. Don't play chess with him." Jotaro interrupts Joseph as he prattles, pointing at the board.
"Hm? And why is that, Jotaro?" Kakyoin responds calmly, eyes following Jotaro's indication.
"He cheats."
"Get out of here, Jotaro, go bug someone else!" Joseph fusses as he crosses his arm.
He…cheats?
Scanning the board, Kakyoin counts each piece, trying to remember their positions…
He cheats.
Sure enough, most of the pieces had been shuffled to Joseph's advantage. Probably done each time Kakyoin had flipped the timer, and more than likely when Jotaro came into the room.
"I learned something about you today, Joseph."
"And what's that?"
"You plan everything." And with that, Kakyoin chuckles a bit.
I was a fool to challenge someone with that kind of sleight of hand. Glad Jotaro was here to catch it, or I would've thought he was a genius.
"Did you come just to ruin our game, Jotaro, or-"
"Go talk to yourself in the other room. You chatted about nothing all day, go talk to him about what's been bugging you, really." Jotaro glares at the young Joseph until he relents.
"Fiiine. It was nice playing with you, Kakyoin. And chatting with you two, as well." He winks and snaps at the unconscious Polnareff and Avdol as he gets up and leaves the room.
"He seems like a handful, Jotaro." Kakyoin speaks calmly as he resets the board.
"He's the only reason I made it back to you guys."
"How's that?"
"It seems most of the assassins really want to kill him. The airport was the first time I was really attacked."
"Hm…" Kakyoin ponders for a moment, trying to suss out what the motive for that might be.
"Stop thinking about it too much, Kakyoin. There's only one reason for it."
"And that is?"
"He has the worst luck out of any person I've ever met." Reaching into his jacket pocket, Jotaro pulls out a tape deck and some headphones, donning them and pressing play as he looks at the reset board. The music is loud, but Kakyoin can only make out a few lines before it's his turn to play.
"I chose to be honest with myself and have a smile."
Some Hospital Room, 1988
"Ugh." The younger Joseph scoffs as he walks in the hospital room.
"Oi. What's with you?" The older Joseph looks in the reflection of the window, not turning to see his younger self.
"Jotaro said I have to come here and talk with you."
"What, don't like your grandson bossing you around?"
"No." The younger Joseph jams his hands in his pockets, frowning as he thinks.
I hate people talking to me like they know better…
The young Joseph's eyes stare at the back of his older self's head.
But…he probably does know better.
"Listen. I wanted to hear it straight from you."
"Eh?" Finally turning from the night sky outside, the older Joseph meets his younger self's gaze.
"About Caesar-" At the mere mention of the name, the older Joseph butts in.
"Stop it, Jojo."
"Wha-" A little stunned by abruptness, the younger Joseph is again interrupted.
"If you're like me, you've been obsessing about it for a long time. And I came to my own conclusion very recently. Caesar was…arrogant. Self righteous. Cocky. A lot like you."
"-Hey-"
"-I'm not done. He was a lot like you, a lot like I used to be. But he always had something we didn't. A reason to fight. Something to work for. I remember…I remember fighting because I could. Fighting for Granny Erina and old Speedwagon, but…in the end I fought because it was interesting. I could be cool, people could look up to me. And after all that fighting, I thought Caesar was just like me. But…"
"…You're saying he died because he had something to fight for. That he had a sense of urgency I didn't have, is that it?"
"Not just that, Jojo. He fought because he had a future in mind. A family in front of him, that he couldn't have until the world was safe. And Jojo…the world has been safe. For nearly fifty years, there's been no great evil stalking the world. I finally had the opportunity that Caesar didn't get."
"So this is all for Caesar then, this utter lack of preparing your grandson, you looking like an out of shape-"
"I know you're mad, Jojo. But listen to me. This isn't for Caesar. I didn't just steal Caesar's dream and give up on my own…He died giving me this opportunity. That beautiful world he wanted…I realized that…that was my dream as well. Fighting isn't the only thing that makes you cool, Jojo. Telling stories to your daughter with shadow puppets is cool. Spending time with your wife holding shopping bags is cool. Being there for the people you love as they run for election, as they die with their family beside them, as they fight for their family. Those are cool, too, Jojo. There's more to life than conflict. And what I tried to give to Jotaro, hell, what I'm STILL trying to give him…" The older Joseph gulps a bit, before turning back to look outside. "Is that opportunity. To live in peace and realize that life is the people you love. I'd give my life just like Caesar did if it gave my grandson the chance to be by his mother and his future kids for the rest of his life."
Silence filled the hospital room. There wasn't much to say anymore. What could someone so young say to himself after he had lived out and thought through everything so thoroughly?
"Woooow, you guys say a lot of uncool things despite trying so hard to be impressive." Anne whips open her curtain with a mischievous look on her face, to the absolute shock of both Josephs.
"Nani?" The older Joseph shouts, in Japanese.
"What the hell, Anne? Did you ever think we might need some privacy when we're being vulnerable?" The younger Joseph storms up to her hospital bed, fuming.
"Oi, Jojo, she's still heali-"
"She's FINE if she had the frame of mind to eavesdrop when you were kind enough to be honest with me." His mechanical hand twitches in time with his frustrations, but Anne unflinchingly smirks right at his face.
"Hey, asshole. I owe you this one." With a wind back, Anne looses a punch that seems to extend farther than it should. "ZOOM PUNCH!" The tubes and needles fly off her arm as she nails the young Joseph right in the nose, sending him tumbling backwards and crashing into Jotaro's former hospital bed.
"What was that for?" He clambers up, clutching his bloodied nose indignantly.
"You ran away when Jotaro and I needed you! Leaving me to deal with the creepo by myself!" She turns, speaking as she's about to point at the older Joseph. "You got a lot reliable when you got olde-"
Suddenly, Anne stops what she's saying. Her eyes flare up…right as she locked onto the still sleeping Hol Horse.
"This FUCKER tried to shoot me!" With lightning quick movements, Anne ripped out the rest of the devices connected to her and readied herself on the bed. As she pounced over to Hol Horse's bed, presumably to strangle him, the younger Joseph thinks to himself.
Well…I think I've grown up a bit…Caesar.
END of CONVERGENCE 8