Chapter 2: New Threats
Cold.
A moment before Josuke's body was on fire from all the pain and adrenaline rushing through his blood, but now it was so cold; his muscular body shook from the chills that went up his spine. He was standing in the middle of a snowstorm, a blizzard that seemed to rage endlessly and made it impossible to see anything. Darkness was the only other thing that kept Josuke company as he realized it was some time at night. He had trouble seeing his body through the dark and snow, and he was unable to clearly make out any of his surroundings.
The hell? He thought, wondering exactly how he ended up in the middle of Antartica, hugging himself in an attempt to stay warm.
How did I go from freaky light tunnel to frozen wasteland? Josuke looked down and saw that all of his wounds were gone, even his clothes had been repaired, and all the pain he had been feeling seconds ago now a distant memory. And what the hell happened to my wounds? I shouldn't even be standing right now.
The confusion within his head was overshadowed by the fact his legs were quickly becoming numb from the sub-zero temperatures. Josuke clutched himself even tighter, his finger digging into his jacket sleeves as hard as humanly possible. His teeth chattered, breath coming out in thick clouds of vapor as he began to walk forward against the blizzard, hoping to find someplace or someone to help him to get out of this storm. He could figure out where he was and what happened to him later, right now he needed to get out of the frigid winds.
Walking through snow that went all the way up to his ankles, Josuke searched for any signs of life or a suitable place to ride out the storm. Josuke tried to focus on anything besides the icy weather around him, but could not. Josuke had never liked snow, preferring hot sunny days as opposed to cloudy, miserable, and all around shitty days where you could die from frostbite. It also didn't help that he almost died because of snow, and the unpleasant memory that surfaced because of the bitter and deadly blizzard in front of him only made anger bubble in his chest.
"God damn it!" Josuke shouted, putting his arm in front of his head in an attempt to stop the snow from attacking his eyes. It partially worked, but his eyes were still pummeled with the droplets of frozen water as he continued to walk. Each step seemed harder the last, piles of snow building on top of his hair and shoulders. He tried to shake off the snow, but as soon as he did, even more snow instantly made another pile on his shoulders and hair again.
"Crap, I think it's getting colder," Josuke said, his shivering getting worse as he felt his movements become slower. He had no idea how long he had been wandering in the blizzard, but for Josuke, it seemed like he had been aimlessly walking for hours. As each second passed, he found it harder and harder to move. He could feel his body temperature dropping with every step as his breaths became more labored.
Josuke knew that if he did not find anything soon, there was a very real chance he would die from frostbite. Unfortunately, his eyes could see nothing through the darkness, and it wasn't like he had anything to help him with-.
He paused mid-thought, as he realized he did have a something to help him in his current bind. A humanoid warrior whose vision he can share and had the eyesight to see miles ahead, far better than Josuke's own eyes.
"Crazy Diamond," Josuke said, searching inside himself for the energy flowing through his body before channeling it to form his Stand.
At least that's what should have happened.
Josuke had focused and summoned the energy the same way he always had, but for some reason, Crazy Diamond did not appear next to him. He blinked once, then twice as his eyes widened and he whipped his head in every direction, hoping to see his Stand appear at any moment.
It never did.
"Crazy Diamond!" Josuke shouted, once again channeling the energy flowing in his blood and tried to call his Stand. But once again nothing came, and Josuke felt panic creeping within his stomach.
"CRAZY DIAMOND!" He shouted as loudly as possible, a dark purple aura surrounding him and growing exponentially as he summoned as much energy as he could concentrate. He was sure that if he focused an enormous amount of energy he could summon his Stand and it would appear next to him like it always did.
But no matter how much energy Josuke used, Crazy Diamond would not appear, and Josuke stood alone in the storm. And the feeling of pure dread that coursed through him was far colder than then the blizzard around him.
"Crazy...Diamond," Josuke's voice was barely above a whisper as his mind tried to process what was happening. His Stand, his trusted partner, a being that was a literal part of him...was gone. An entity that had been a part of Josuke's life for so long, an ally Josuke could always rely on to help him out in a fight suddenly was no longer by his side. To Josuke, it might as well had been his soul that was taken, as the personification of will was for all intents and purposes...Him. Crazy Diamond was Josuke Higashikata.
And without it, he didn't feel whole.
Josuke collapsed onto his knees, hand digging deep into the snow, not even caring about the sting of the snows cold temperature as despair consumed him.
How? Why? This shouldn't be possible; this shouldn't be happening to him, not after he had finally killed the bastard who had terrorized his town. He should be jumping in joy, celebrating with his friends along with his Stand.
But instead, he was freezing to death in the middle of a blizzard. Alone.
Was he seriously going to die here?
...No, screw that! Like hell, he was gonna let it all end because of damn snow! He would never hear the end of it from that bastard, Rohan, if he died now!
Focus, Josuke thought, ignoring the dread and concentrating on the anger from being unable to summon Crazy Diamond. He rose from the snow, wiping off as much of the white stuff from his hair and shoulders as possible. Focus on trying to get the hell out of this blizzard, and then worry about Crazy Diamond later.
It wouldn't do him any good if he froze to death, not after somehow being healed and defeating Kira. He was going to escape this storm, figure out why he couldn't call his Stand, and then reunite with his friends.
That was a promise, and Josuke Higashikata was a man of his word.
You'll figure it out Josuke; you have to. He had beaten Kira, avenging his friends and redeeming himself for failing to stop the insane killer so many times before. So figuring out this mess should be no problem
He hoped.
It was then suddenly, Josuke was hit by a bright light. Amidst the blizzard, Josuke could see in the distance a light coming from within the storm. He couldn't make out exactly what was making the light, but to Josuke it meant that either there was someone else struggling against the storm, or there was someplace close by where he could get away from the snow shower.
"Hey! Is someone out there!?" Josuke shouted, but he received no reply. "Hey, if someone can hear me please answer! I promise I don't bite!" Once again receiving no response, Josuke grunted slightly as his eyes narrowed. He could partially make out the outline of...something ahead of him, though the snow made it impossible to determine what.
Screw it, there's something out of there, and right now I need to hurry up and escape the storm before I freeze. Without wasting another moment, Josuke walked through the snow, his legs getting more and more numb with each step but still, he pushed forward. His shoes were full of snow by now, his hair becoming wild and untamed as the winds from the blizzard grew stronger, but he wasn't about to give up now.
"Almost there Josuke," He said, trying to distract himself from the cold as he saw the source of the light getting closer with each step he took. The closer Josuke got, the more he could make out where the light was coming from. To Josuke's eyes, an outline started to form as he moved deeper into the blizzard, and it looked big and bulky. Almost like a ca-
Before Josuke knew it, the light was moving deeper into the storm and away from him. His eyes widened as he tried to run after it, but no matter how fast he moved the light was moving farther and farther away from Josuke as he soon found himself back in the darkness as the blizzard became stronger. The winds were whirling around him at speeds that seemed impossible for any type of storm. To Josuke, it suddenly felt like he was in the middle of a tornado. The snow was whipping around him so violently that when he tried to stick his hand through the whirling snow, he had to immediately pull it back for it had been severely scratched, blood now dripping down his fingers.
"Oh, Shit!" Josuke shouted, the anxiety that had been building inside his chest threatened to explode as the hurricane around him grew by the second. As he looked up towards the black sky through the eye of the storm, he saw the sky suddenly illuminated by a white light. The white light was so blinding that Josuke had to cover his eyes with his arms to shield his vision. And as the light grew brighter, Josuke saw the tornado enveloped in the shining glow, just before his own body was swallowed by the light.
Josuke awoke with a startled scream, his eyes wide with horror as his breaths came out as gasps. His pupils were assaulted by light when they opened, causing him to shut them as his eyes started to burn. After a few moments, he slowly reopened his eyes, and they quickly readjusted to the brightness of the room. His head snapped in every direction, expecting to see more snow, but instead saw white walls and a clock above a pale blue door a short distance away from him.
"What the...?" Josuke looked took in his surroundings, his heart still hammering around in his chest but the feelings of fear and shock were slowly fading away as he saw he was no longer in danger of freezing to death. Instead, he was in a room with only one window located to the left of him, and to the right of him he saw his arm was hooked up to an IV tube, the clear plastic bag the tube was connected to periodically dripped an unknown liquid into Josuke's blood stream. Several complex machines scattered throughout the area and Josuke saw curtains dividing the room into sections, and he was partially able to make out the outlines of empty beds through the sheer fabric.
Looking down, he saw that his clothes had been taken off and placed on a chair next to the door leading outside of his room. All of his wounds were wrapped in thick bandages, especially around his chest and right arm. He raised his left arm, wincing slightly as a sharp ran through his limb, and traced his fingers along his face. Josuke felt several bandages cloaked on his head, and also felt the loose strands of his hair sticking out, no longer neatly combed into their usual pompadour shape. And since he was now wearing a green hospital gown, it didn't take long for Josuke to realize where he was.
A hospital, he thought, the hammering in his chest had ceased as he looked at the white ceiling. Then that shit with the blizzard was just a dream, which means...
Quickly reaching within himself and calling on the energy that flowed through him, Josuke's usual dark purple aura surrounded him, and Crazy Diamond appeared. The Stand was floating in the air a few feet in front of him and was also a few inches above the bed Josuke was currently resting on.
"Oh thank God," Josuke said, letting out a relieved breath he did not know he was holding. "Crazy Diamond, it's good to see you."
The Stand did not give a verbal reply, simply nodding its head as its blue eyes stared at Josuke. But to Josuke, Crazy Diamond might as well have been talking since he understood his Stand completely without it uttering a single word; almost like he could hear its thoughts.
"Yeah, I messed up my body badly this time," Josuke said with a chuckle, though it immediately turned into a violent coughing fit. Slowly his coughs died down, and he rubbed his incredibly parched throat. It felt like he hadn't had anything to drink in months. "Damn, what I give for you to have the ability to heal my wounds."
Once again Crazy Diamond said nothing, this time shaking its head slowly from side to side. Josuke had learned a long time ago his Stand would never talk, why he may never know, but it never bothered him. Josuke could communicate with his Stand just fine, having learned all of its subtle facial expressions and deceivingly simple actions. Since his Stand was a being of his will and fighting spirit, whenever they were in a difficult battle or under an immense amount of pressure was when their teamwork was at their best. To say they had a unique bond would be an understatement.
"So where did the tunnel thing take me to anyway?" Josuke asked as he turned his head in search of something that could help him identify where in Japan he was. But that was when his eyes locked on to a sign above the doorway to the room. What stuck out to Josuke was the fact that the writing was in English letters.
"What the hell?" Josuke said, and he was sure that underneath Crazy Diamonds helmet the Stand was raising a brow—well if it had one—also a tad confused like Josuke.
And that was when a doctor came in through the door, and once he saw Josuke, his eyes widened a little before he walked over to the Stand User, quickly pulled up a chair and then introducing himself and proceeded to ask questions.
And it was here Josuke noticed two things. One was that the doctor in front of him, in addition to being old, a little short, and having a gray head of hair, had no traits of being Japanese; the tone of his skin and the shape of his face were exactly like that of an American. And the second thing he noticed was that just like the signs, the language the doctor spoke in was English.
And it was at this moment Josuke thanked God for his mother. For Tomoko Higashkiata had drilled Josuke in every form of the English language into his brain since he was five years old. He had always thought that it was normal for a kid to be schooled in two languages, but as he got older he soon realized that he was one of the rare teenagers who could fluently speak two languages with ease. When he had asked his mother why she taught him, she replied with a fond smile. "Your father is a foreigner," she had said, "and his Japanese is pure garbage. I thought it would be best if his son knew his own language. So that way when he finally gets off his sorry ass to visit Morioh, you two can talk without the worry of a language barrier. And I'm sure you two will get real close once you meet each other since you both have the same annoying ass personality."
That was one of the rare times his mom would talk about his father, and upon meeting Joseph Joestar, he realized she was right.
His Dad's Japanese was trash.
"Umm," Josuke started, racking his brain for the right words in English to make sure he was understandable. "Excuse me," He said, his voice sounding different as he pronounced the unusual syllables. "But, where am I?"
"You are in the Sugar Medical Center," The doctor answered, "We found you just outside our doors, losing so much blood that you should have died from blood loss hours ago, but somehow you were still alive. You had to go through extensive and risky surgery, and still we thought that your body might not make it, but somehow you held on and lived." The doctor smiled as he looked over Josuke. "You must be one hell of a fighter."
Josuke gave the doctor a quick nod as he formed the next question in his mind before speaking. "And where am I..." He trailed off, searching for the correct translation of the word he needed. "Geographically?"
The doctor looked at him strangely, raising an eyebrow before responding. "You're in America, son, New Jersey specifically."
He took that news as well as he could, given the circumstances.
"AMERICA!?" Josuke shouted, and the doctor had winced at how loud Josuke's scream was. Jouske up from his bed, but immediately regretted this decision as a searing pain shot up from his legs all the way to his right arm. "Shit!" He shouted again, this time from pain as his entire body recoiled and he slammed against the bed.
The doctor reacted quickly, coming next to Josuke and placing a hand on his back. "You shouldn't move yet; your body is still recovering from all the damage it has received."
Josuke was barely listening, his mind beginning to go into shock as he tried to process the information he was just told. Floating to the right of him, Crazy Diamond eyes were wide with shock.
What the fuck happened to Japan! Josuke mentally screamed as he looked around the room, his eyes full of confusion and frustration. Not only did the tunnel of light take him away from his home, but had placed him on an entirely different continent thousands of miles away! How the hell was he suppose to get home now?1 He didn't have any money on him, so he couldn't even afford a taxi, much less a plane!
But throughout his inner ramblings, there was something growing within Josuke. Something that festered and spread throughout his body and Josuke soon realized what it was.
Fear.
He shoved those feelings away, reasoning with himself that even though he was in another country, he still could get home. All he had to do was find some way to contact his friends, Jotaro, or hell, even the Speedwagon Foundation, and he'd be back home in no time.
Relax, Josuke, just get out of this hospital and find some way to contact someone back home, and you'll be fine. He thought, and he realized the doctor had been asking him questions while he was thinking.
"I'm sorry what did you say?" Josuke asked, and the doctor had asked where Josuke was from, how did he get so injured and other similar questions. Josuke was glad he had such a good poker face, it made lying his way through shitty situations so much easier. He was also thankful that he had hammered all the tips Jotaro had given him on keeping his cool in stressful conditions. Once the doctor had finished asking Josuke questions, believing his bullshit answers, he got up from the chair and went towards the door.
"Well, for now, I would highly advise you to get some rest. I'll be back later, so try not to exasperate your wounds." Once the doctor had left the room, Josuke waited a few moments to make sure the doctor wasn't coming back; and then once he was sure, he ripped out the IV tube with his left hand. He grunted a little from the sudden stinging pain, a small amount of blood leaking from the hole the tube had made.
"Sorry Doc," Josuke whispered as he slowly sat up from his bed, wincing a little from the pain of his injuries as he did so. "But I absolutely hate hospitals." He then looked up at his Stand, who nodded as if Josuke had just given him a command even without talking. Crazy Diamond floated down towards Josuke, placing the high school students arm over its neck, and then carefully lifted Josuke's body into the air. Once Crazy Diamond and Josuke were hovering a safe distance away from the bed, the Stand cautiously levitated down to the floor, placing Josuke down next to a medical counter as the high school student leaned against it to support his weight. Not needing his Stand anymore, Josuke ceased channeling his energy as Crazy Diamond disappeared from existence.
"Shit, my legs feel like jelly." He muttered, banging his legs against the desk in an attempt to regain feeling in his limbs. It somewhat worked, his legs now able to stand on their own, albeit they were still shaking and more than a little sore from the banging. "Alright then," Josuke slowly limped towards a nearby sink with a mirror and turned the water on. He splashed cold water on his face, and even drank a little from the sink since his throat was begging for some form of liquid before looking in the mirror.
"Damn, my hair's a mess." Josuke didn't have his comb or any sort of hair product, so he used the water from the sink and his hands to try and mold his hair into its usual pompadour shape. After a few minutes of trying, he was able to succeed partially, his hair back into its usual form, with only a few strands here and there out of place.
"Alright, now I just have to get out of here," Josuke said before looking at the chair that held his clothes. He quickly stripped out of his hospital gown and put on his old outfit. It was difficult to put on his pants since his legs were still shaky so he ended up having to sit down in order to properly put them on. And when he put on his Jacket, he had extreme difficulty moving his right arm, having to bite his lower lip to prevent himself from shouting. He knew he shouldn't be moving when his body was clearly still in pain, but he had to get out of here now. After a few moments, Josuke had gotten fully dressed, putting on all of his metallic emblems in the right places, and once again looked in the mirror.
Josuke saw there were multiple holes of all shapes and sizes scattered from the top of his jacket to the bottom of his pants legs. The right sleeve of his jacket was almost torn to shreds, exposing a large portion of his arm. Josuke knew his clothing was a little... rough around the edges, but he could take care of that in an instant.
"Crazy Diamond," the dark purple energy once again surrounded Josuke as he summoned his Stand. Crazy Diamond then quickly launched a fast jab at Josuke but stopped short of actually hitting the teen as its fist just touched his jacket. A dark yellow glow surrounded Josuke as he waited for his jacket to be repaired. For several seconds Josuke stood patiently, the dark yellow aura still enveloping his body as he waited for the shredded bits of his clothes to come flying tow.
But what Josuke did not expect was for the golden aura to suddenly fade away and for his clothing to still be ripped apart.
"The hell?" He asked, looking up at his Stand, Crazy Diamond's expression held a touch of surprise as it brought its arms up to its face. "Whats wrong? I didn't stop using my power, so what happened?"
His Stand did not look sure as to why its abilities had failed, and simply gave Josuke a short apologetic bow.
"It's fine; it's not either of our faults. We're probably too far away from the actual pieces of my jacket to reform them." That made sense, and right now it was the only explanation he could think of.
There was an inkling of dread that began to pool in his stomach, but he ignored that feeling. Just because Crazy Diamond couldn't repair his clothes didn't mean anything sinister was going on; such as an enemy Stand blocking his powers.
But just in case, Josuke made sure to take move a little faster as he exited his room. Crazy Diamond soon faded away from reality as Josuke stopped channeling his dark purple aura. He wanted to conserve as much energy as he could since he might need Crazy Diamond later.
It'll be a little weird walking around with ripped clothing, but maybe I can find some tailor to fix up my clothes. And as for money, worse case I use Crazy Diamond to help pickpocket people. Josuke thought as he turned a corner and went down a wide hallway, passing nurses and other patients as he walked. For now, though, I have to find out how to get in contact with everyone in Morioh. I doubt I can just call them on a random payphone.
Sneaking out of the hospital was surprisingly easy. All Josuke had to do was pretend his injuries weren't sending flares of pain across his body, making sure not to limp and walk normally and not even security tried to stop him. Josuke did receive some glances from people, probably because of his ripped clothing and heavily bandaged body, but otherwise, no one noticed the purple haired teen. He did end up taking a stray newspaper from the lobby just as he exited the building. It was a long shot, but he figured there might be some information in the paper to help him.
"Okay," once Josuke had exited the hospital, he walked down the busy streets of New Jersey, careful not to bump into and to not make his injuries any worse. Once he reached the end of the street, he turned left and leaned up against the wall of, what looked like, a dry cleaner and began to read his newspaper. "Let's see what we..." He trailed off as he noticed something very strange about the people and the buildings around him.
For starters, the people around him were carrying small rectangular devices that fit in the palms of their hands, and some had the strange device up against their ear and looked like they were...talking to it. The paused for a few seconds before continuing to speak, as if they were talking to another person. Other people on the street who were not talking into the little rectangle had their eyes glued to these strange devices, seemingly unable to look away as they for some reason repeatedly tapped on the screen.
Then there were the buildings. Josuke had expected them to look different when compared to the ones in his home; after all, he came from a completely different culture. But he never thought the buildings around in America would look so...advanced. Japan was supposed to be the leading country in technology, yet here Josuke was staring at buildings that put everything he saw back home to shame, the metal constructs towering over everyone and yet no one but Josuke seemed to be astonished by this fact.
But what really caught his eyes were the large variety of posters stapled on almost every building. Some were advertising new movies Josuke had never heard of, which was strange because he almost always kept himself up to date on popular American movies. Others had pictures of computers, underneath the price for said device, and these computers were far smaller than the ones he was used to. And some of the banners were promoting new types of cars Josuke had never seen before, but there was one thing Josuke quickly noticed that made his eyes glued to the billboards in horrid fascination. One thing each ad had that only the young Josuke found absolutely terrifying.
The dates.
At the bottom of each ad, the year was stated in a somewhat small font, but Josuke still saw it and his heart sank into a deep, dark pit.
2016.
2016. Not 1999, but a full seventeen years later. Josuke was praying to whatever God was listening that this was some kind of mistake, that all these ads just had misprinted the wrong dates or something. But then Josuke slowly glanced down at the newspaper in his hand, only noticing now that his arms were trembling as he read the date on the paper.
2016.
"No..." Josuke whispered, feeling the sheer terror on his face spreading throughout his body. His eyes were wide, brimming with fear, and his blood stopped flowing for a moment. He dropped the paper, both because he couldn't look at it and because his hands were shaking too much to hold onto anything.
No way, Josuke had broken out into a cold sweat, his legs feeling numb not from his injuries but from the dread sinking its black and soul-crushing claws into his body. With shaky steps, he politely tapped on a business man's shoulder, who turned around and gave Josuke an irritated look.
"Excuse me, what year is it?" Josuke had never heard his own voice sound so quiet; so weak, so...destroyed.
The man raised a confused brow; his expression now looked as if he was wondering if Josuke had told a bad joke.
"2016," The man answered, before walking away from Josuke without another glance.
And Josuke stood perfectly still for a minute, and then promptly fell onto his knees on top of the dirty pavement below. A few people gave him odd looks, but he did not notice them.
He was too busy being absorbed by the storm of emotions going through his body to notice anything right now.
What? Josuke thought, and it felt like he had just been pummeled and had his heart ripped out in front of him.
This is...the future? His body went cold. And to Josuke he was back in the blizzard from his dream. He felt like he was back in the freezing snow, his body so stiff and unable to feel anything through his normal senses. All the breath had been sucked out of him as his heart hammered against his ribs.
And then, without any warning, Josuke's body no longer felt cold as a new emotion took over.
Anger.
Suddenly all Josuke could see was red, growling like a furious animal as he quickly stood up. His body was no longer trembling because of the overwhelming fear and panic he had just felt, but instead, he was shaking because fury was exploding within his soul. His face was coursing with rage as he looked up the sky before screaming so loud everyone in the city could hear his voice, switching back to his native tongue as he did so.
"WHAT THE FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCK!?"
"You sure you know where we're going?" A girl asked Steven, who gave her a big, goofy grin in response.
"Of course!" He shouted, feeling the fast winds flow through his curly locks. He was wearing his usual pink shirt and shorts as he admired the slightly cloudy sky above. "Well kinda, but don't worry, we'll get there. Isn't that right, Lion?"
Steven was currently riding an enormous beast running up a sharp and steep hill. The beast in question was, as its name implied, a lion, but not the usual lion one might see in a zoo. This lion fur was not brown or yellow, but instead, dark pink and had a dark brown heart shaped nose. Its mane was a lighter shade of pink than its fur, shaped in the form of a star. Its long tail was equally pink as its fur, and at the end of it, there was a tuft of soft and fluffy pink fur that would swish against the winds blowing on its body.
His almost chocolate black eyes looked up at its male passenger and offered Steven a soft growl as if agreeing with the boy. Lion was still a mystery to Steven, even after finding him in the desert so long ago, but Steven thought he was getting better at understanding his pink companion. There were still times, though, when Steven wished Lion would make an effort to try and communicate with Steven as opposed to him banging his head against a wall to try and figure out what his friend was saying. However, Steven knew his Lion would always be there for him; and vice versa.
"See, if Lion says yes then you know we're close. Since you can always trust magical lions."
The girl behind Steven gave a short chuckle, which Steven couldn't help thinking about how cute her laugh sounded, as she smiled at the Gem. "I guess."
The female passenger riding alongside Steven was a young, dark-skinned girl who was two years younger than Steven. She had long, waist length dark brown puffy hair, and on her wrist was a red neon plastic bracelet. She wore red sneakers, high-waisted blue shorts, and a white button-up tank top. Dark black eyes stared into the distance as she searched for their target.
"I just hope we find it soon, or else we're gonna miss the new episode of The Crying Breakfast Friends."
This was Connie Maheswaran, Steven's best friend, and a fierce fighter when she wanted to be. Steven and Connie had been through so much together; it was a bit shocking to the Steven that the girl behind him used to be so quiet and shy. Connie had grown so much, even learning how to fight with a sword, that Steven couldn't help but think of her as one of the most amazing people he had ever met.
"Don't worry I recorded it, so we can take all day if we have to," Steven replied, though he kinda hoped it didn't take that long. He had a Cookie Cat waiting in the fridge with his name on it, and he really hoped Amethyst didn't already take it. "And I think we're almost there!"
"You said that fifteen minutes ago."
"Well, now we're even closer to getting there!"
Currently, the three were traveling in a forest-like area located on the outskirts of the main town. A plethora of trees surrounded the three adventurers even as Lion continued to run up the incline of pebbles and dirt, the tall oaks around them made it look like they were still in the same place. Every now and then Lion would circle or jump away from a tree in the middle of their path, causing Steven and Connie to let out surprised yet excited shouts.
The reason why they were riding on top of Lion in the middle of the vast woodland was because they were hunting for ghosts.
Well, according to Ronaldo anyway, one of Steven's more...eccentric friends. Ronaldo had declared with astounding confidence that he had found proof of the supernatural in one of Beach City's abandoned houses. Apparently, he had been investigating the woods too, in his words, "finally get in contact with our big-headed overlords;" he had climbed one of the tallest trees to get a better signal for a device that looked a lot like a microwave with a rusty antenna taped to its back.
And while up there he swore he saw something moving from a house at least a hundred feet away from him. Taking out his binoculars, Ronaldo said he saw that through the window of the house, and behind the curtains, there was...something moving there. Ronaldo had told Steven and Connie nobody had lived in the abanded house near the woods for years, so he figured it had to be a ghost.
Of course, he never got to confirm his suspicions, for he lost his balance while up so high in the tree, and promptly fell painfully to the ground below.
That was probably why the blond teen's arm was in a sling when he told him the story. Ronaldo then asked the two members of the Crystal Gems to investigate this matter in his stead, and he promised that if there were otherworldly dealings going on in that house, he would make sure they get the credit they deserved.
"I think I see it!" Steven shouted, and Lion finally reached the edge of the forest, leaping into a dirt road as the three had finally found exited the woods and could now see the house.
Ronaldo was right when he said the house was abandoned. What was once a tall, wide, Victorian gothic-esque house now looked like something out of a horror movie. The black paint had long since decayed, disgusting patches of brown mold now growing in certain spots and the insides of the outside wall were now exposed to the elements. The roof looked like a giant fist had smashed it, the tiles sinking down into the interior of the house; and to Steven, it looked like it might collapse from even the slightest touch. There were long streaks on the side of the house where the paint would coil up, looking like some kind of violent beast had scratched the already ruined building. Next to the house, there was what looked like the remains of a driveway, the stones now having large cracks that exposed large portions of decayed earth. All the windows scattered on the house's face were covered in cobwebs, the stills looking like they would fall off and hit the ground at any moment. The grass around the house was brown, so fragile that when a tiny breeze came by, bits of the lawn crumbled against the wind, now just specs floating through the air.
All of this made Steven a lot less excited, and he would be lying if he said if he wasn't creeped out.
"Huh," Connie said, hopping off Lion and walking on the dirt road. There was a touch of fear rising in her eyes as she stared at the house. "So...this is it."
"Yeah," Steven said slowly, getting off his trusted animal friend, looking over each and every part of the house. "Ronaldo wasn't kidding when he said the house was abandoned; this place looks like something I see in Kindergarten."
"It's really creepy," Connie said, and Steven could hear fear within her voice. "Maybe we should have gotten the other Gems."
"Oh, um," Steven hesitated, looking from side to side as he coughed into his fist. "I figured this wouldn't be a big deal, I mean, I just assumed it wasn't anything we needed to bother the Gems with. Ronaldo did say it was just a ghost and not some big monster."
"Well, and I don't wanna sound mean or anything, but do you really think Ronaldo saw some kind of a ghost?" Connie asked, raising a curious eyebrow toward Steven. "I don't know him that well, but he seems a little...obsessed; like the kind of guy who thinks anything remotely weird is automatically something paranormal."
"Yeah..." Steven hesitated again, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. "He's a little out there, but still he's my friend, and I felt bad he couldn't investigate this creepy...almost menacing... and most likely smelly house." As the words left Steven's mouth, he became a little less sure as to whether or not it was unlucky that Ronaldo had broken his arm, looking at the house with dread and anxious filled eyes.
He quickly shook his head as he got rid of those thoughts. He was a Crystal Gem, so he shouldn't be afraid of some house. "But still, he basically begged us to go have a look, so I think the least we can do is search the place just for a few minutes."
Connie still looked a little fearful, and even Lion was letting out low growls of anger, as if sensing something was wrong with the house. But still, they had to go in there. "And for all we know, Ronaldo might have seen some kind of corrupted Gem, and if it is one, we have to at least try to take care of it. And if we can't, well, I guess we just go back for help."
Connie still looked unsure, looking at the house with nervous eyes. So, Steven wrapped an enthusiastic arm around his friend. "I know it looks a little scary, but we've been through way worse stuff than this. Even if there is some kind of Gem in their, we can handle it. We did beat Jasper after all."
"... Yeah, You're right Steven," Connie said after a short pause, before smiling slightly at the shorter boy. He was glad he could make his best friend smile again. "At least I'm going into this place with a lion and an awesome butt kicker like you."
"Heh, thanks," Steven looked back towards the house, noticing that there were more clouds in the sky which blocked the sun and made the world around them a little darker. Slowly, he became lost in thought as he walked forward along with Connie from the dirt road towards the lawn, Lion following slowly behind them and still letting out displeased growls.
Truth be told, there was another motive for Steven not wanting to ask the Gems for help. He wanted to prove to himself that he had gotten stronger and that he wasn't a burden to the Gems, especially for solving simple matters such as this. The ominous warning Ruby had told them about the future had made Steven get more serious about his training, making sure he could and would protect his family and friends. His body became a little cold as he remembered the way Ruby trembled, and how Sapphire would not wake up.
That had been several weeks ago, and since then the Gems and Steven had been on edge. Immediately after Ruby and Sapphire refused into Garnet, Steven and Amethyst had gotten Lapis and Peridot, all of the Gems meeting in the temple as they listened to the fusion. While the leader of the Crystal Gems could not remember the specific details of what she saw, she knew that the visions she had seen told her something dangerous was coming to Beach City and the Gems had to be on the lookout for even the slightest disturbance.
And so, ever since the foreboding warning Garnet gave, Steven and his family had been dealing with a variety of enemies. Though Garnet wasn't sure if these were the people her future vision had warned her about, that didn't make them any less of a threat. Like Jasper, the fierce Homeworld warrior who they finally managed to capture and end her schemes before she could even execute them. Unfortunately, she had corrupted her gem after a battle between her and Smokey Quartz, Amethyst and Steven's fusion. Then there was the time they had tricked a squadron of Rubies into taking him, Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst up to the moon in an attempt to get the little soldiers to leave earth once and for all. But when he and a Ruby he nicknamed Eyeball ended up floating in one of his bubbles through space together the warrior from Homeworld had tried to kill him; Steven was forced to push the red Gem out of his bubble and into the never-ending void of that was space.
And then there was Bismuth...a Gem who Steven should have been friends with, a kind and warm person the young Gem and everyone seemed to like more and more with each second they spent with her. Someone who only wanted to help her friends, but her hatred for the Homeworld Gems made her do things that she thought was for the greater good. However, in Steven's eyes, Bismuth's actions and belief of doing whatever it takes to defeat the ones who made her friends suffer so much made her just as cruel as the Homeworld Gems. Which was why...he had to bubble her before she could hurt him or anyone else with her powerful weapons or dangerous ideas.
He tried not to dwell on these thoughts too much, but that was proving more difficult with each passing day as his mind kept bringing up those painful memories. Guilt ate away at his conscience almost every day since he had to imprison Bismuth in the same way his mother had so many years ago. And lately, his mother was another thing he had been obsessing over the last few weeks, stirring up so many feeling, some ranging as far as hope and others sinking below to despair, as he sometimes heard Bismuth's voice whisper into his ear.
"You really are better than her."
Who was Rose Quartz? Why did it seem like the more Steven learned about his mom, the more he realized he didn't really know her at all. She had so many secrets, but why? Why couldn't she share them with anyone, like the Gems or even his dad? Why was it Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet always assured him his mother was the kindest person imaginable when as of late Steven had-
"Steven?"
"Huh?" Steven was so absorbed in his thoughts he had forgotten he was with Connie, his best friend looking at him with a worried look in her black eyes. "Sorry, did you say something?"
"I was just asking if you're okay, you looked like you zone out for a bit," Connie said as she looked Steven.
"Oh, sorry, I was just...thinking about some things," Steven said, and before Connie got a chance to ask what he was thinking about, he put on a big smile and grabbed her hand. "But don't worry about it. Now, let's go into that haunted house!" He shouted as he ran at full speed, the grass beneath crumbling under his sandals as he and Connie let out small laughs. Lion quickly followed, rushing to catch up to the two children, though it still looked uneasy going near the house.
He couldn't let Connie worry about him, that wouldn't be fair to her. So he decided to bubble away his feelings like he usually did and instead focus on the good things around him. Such as helping his friends and going on fun little adventures like the one he was on now. He really doubted there would be any trouble inside the house since it was Ronaldo who reported the strange occurrences, and it was likely he saw nothing and was just imagining the whole thing.
(And as Steven ran towards the decaying home, he never noticed there was someone lurking in the shadows behind a set of curtains, watching the three through a window as they entered the house. The figure then narrowed its eyes and frowned.)
It was worse than he thought.
If someone had told Josuke ten minutes ago there are worse things then being stuck seventeen years into the future, he would have had Crazy Diamond beat them to a pulp and not stop until that person was a bloody corpse.
But now he realized there were worse things than being transported to the future.
Like being transported to an entirely different world.
Soon after he had let out his anger in an ear-shattering shout, he had rushed to the nearest library, intent on finding a computer to look up his home. He needed to learn what had changed, if his friends were still alive, and what had happened to Morioh since he was gone. And he realized the fastest way to do that was to use a computer. So despite his wounds roaring in pain as he ran at speeds no one so injured as him should be able to, he searched the city as he pushed past the pain burning inside him. Once he had found a library, he quickly found the nearest computer and started to type away. The internet had changed a lot since 1999; it was faster and much easier to get the information he needed.
He wished he never found the damn thing.
For once he had typed in Morioh into the machine, he had found nothing about his town.
At first, he thought maybe the computer wasn't working properly, but the librarian, a tall brown-haired man in his late thirties, told him they were working just fine. He also said that the search engines looked through millions of articles, data, and websites so if it didn't find anything he suggested that maybe Josuke had misspelled whatever he was searching for.
But he hadn't. He had tried every variation he could think of for Morioh in the English language, but he still came up with nothing. He then decided to take a longer route, looking up The Miyagi Prefecture and then searched through the hundreds of towns and cities within it.
And out of all those hundreds of towns, not a single one of them was Morioh.
He was getting angrier with each word he typed, which was good because his frustrations blocked out the panic rising in his chest. He decided to type in The Speedwagon Foundation, no longer bothering to try and find Morioh on the computer. He decided he should focus on finding some way to get back to his friends, he would figure out what changes the future had done to the world he knew later, and the Speedwagon foundation should be able to do that once he found their contact information. And since it was such a large and well-known organization he was sure that this dumb computer would find something.
It didn't.
Josuke started to get desperate, his anger slowly fading as the fear inside him kept doubling in size with each search he conducted.
He typed in Jotaro Kujo, a respected marine biologist who had made breakthroughs in his field, but got nothing.
He typed Kishibe Rohan, who was one of the most famous modern mangakas and had sold millions of copies of his work worldwide
He typed in Joseph Joestar, a famous real estate mogul and who owned several organizations in America, but got nothing.
By now his eyes had practically widened out of their sockets; the terror he was feeling was clear on every part of his expression. And slowly, a thought crept into his head and with great trepidation, he typed in several extraordinary events that had happened throughout history. The massacres that had happened in Egypt caused by things that no one had ever solved and the damage that had been done to its land. The volcanic eruption that happened in 1939 near Sicily that had massive effects on the environment for decades. He typed in every strange and supernatural story that had captured the attention of the world into the computer.
And like before, he had found nothing.
It was as he was shaking like a leaf, his anger long gone and his heart plunging into a seemingly bottomless abyss of horror, that he had a thought. A stray, random thought that just appeared in his mind without any warning.
The reason why he couldn't find out anything he knew about the world on the computer was because this wasn't his world.
He had honestly laughed at the thought; a cold, bitter laugh escaped his lips before he even thought about it. There was no way that was true. Sure, he dealt with things that no normal person ever had to deal with, but traveling to a new world was a stretch even for him. It was stupid to even consider that was a possibility.
He had let out another hollow laugh after that. And then without meaning to, he had thought back to several books and movies about dimensional travel; he thought of stories where the hero would be in denial over the obvious fact that they were stuck in an entirely new world. He always thought it was dumb that they never noticed how all the evidence was supporting-.
More laughs escaped him; a twitchy smile had spread across his lips.
No. There was no way. There was...there were plenty of reasons to explain what was happening.
More laughs. And each one had been incredibly brittle and quiet.
After all...traveling to dimension was impossi-.
Josuke had suddenly remembered everything that he had gone through. Fighting against spirits of will, getting burned and beaten by powers that should not be possible. Having to train his own impossible abilities so that he could defeat a man who should not exist. A man who should not be possible.
And then he had remembered Jotaro's words.
For us Stand Users, anything is possible, Josuke.
And it was then that he accepted the horrible fact, and every part of him seemed to shatter.
His home and everyone he knew was gone because he had left their world. He had somehow traveled across dimensions or universes or whatever the fuck was the term and was now as far as any man could be from his home. And it was then that Josuke realized why he was scared in the hospital. Not because he was in America, but because there was a part of him that believed he would never get home when that doctor told him he had been ripped away from his town. Somehow his instincts thought that he would never get to see his Mom, Koichi, Okuyasu, Jotaro, hell even Rohan or any of his friends ever again.
And they were right.
His lips had never been in a deeper frown as he stared at the computer with unblinking eyes.
"Motherfucker," Josuke whispered, slowly reclining back in his chair as his entire body now felt numb. "This is just..." He trailed off, unable to finish his sentence as the misery swirling within him continued to grow.
Never had Josuke felt so depressed. Never had the purple haired teen felt so alone. He should have just died in that tunnel. At least then Josuke wouldn't have to live in a hell where he was alive, but he couldn't tell any of his friends or family he was still breathing. What were they even thinking right now? That he had died, protecting his town? That he had sacrificed everything in order to avenge his fallen friends? Were they worried that he was still alive somewhere, bleeding buckets of blood and praying they would find him in time?
Josuke found himself sinking deeper and deeper into the dark recesses of his psyche as he sighed; a large, melancholic sigh.
Well, whatever they're thinking about, I doubt they could ever guess that I was transported to another damn world. Josuke thought bitterly, his mouth shifting into an angry frown. He hated seeing his loved ones suffer, and them brokenhearted as they wondered about Josuke's ultimate fate was the cruelest deed he had ever committed to them. Why was it that just whenever it looked like Josuke and his friends were finally about to get a happy ending, the universe just had to fuck them over?
"Damn," Josuke said, voice still a whisper and eyes now full of sorrow. Slowly he got up, limping away from the computer. He had no idea where he was even walking to, he was so lost as to what he should do now, and for a moment he thought about just living the rest of his life in this crappy library; but he crushed that thought in almost an instant. He kept thinking about how isolated he was from his friends, from his home. With each step he took, sorrow grew in his chest; his entire body now felt heavy and immovable, and it wasn't because of his wounds that he felt so...exhausted.
God damn it, being alone in a new world sucked ass.
As he was walking down a set of long, empty stairs, not sure when he had gotten there, his eyes looked to the floor.
Damn it...what the hell was he supposed to do now?
He took another slow, painful step down.
How...how the hell was he supposed to get back home? He had nothing in this new world; no friends, no resources, just...nothing.
Another step.
Could he even get home?
His frown somehow got even deeper.
...Right now, it didn't look poss-.
He had been so absorbed in his thoughts that he bumped into someone as he took another step down the stairs. He bit back a hiss of pain as he quickly grabbed onto the staircase railing to prevent himself from falling.
"Sorry," Josuke said, even though he didn't really mean that word. He looked up from the floor to whoever he walked into, "I didn't..." Josuke didn't finish his sentence as he realized the person he had hit was not some random person.
Instead, what he had walked into was his Stand.
Josuke blinked, staring at Crazy Diamond as it floated a few feet ahead of him.
"What's wrong?" Josuke asked, slowly turning his head from side to side. He hadn't called his Stand, and it only ever came out by itself when-.
Josuke sighed.
"God damn it, is someone trying to attack us again?" Josuke asked, and that thought should have worried him. But he didn't feel even slightly anxious as his voice sounded almost...dead.
Crazy Diamond shook its head. And Josuke raised his brows at his Stand.
"Then, what is it?" Josuke asked, and at first, his Stand did nothing.
But then Crazy Diamond slowly pointed a metal covered finger at Josuke. The Stand then clutched its hand into a fist as it slammed its hand hard against his chest. Specifically over the silver heart motif that was in the same spot as Josuke's.
He blinked a few times at his Stands actions. And then his eyes widened as he remembered.
He remembered all the times he trained with his Stand.
The times he spent trying to figure out new ways to use Crazy Diamond abilities to their maximum potential.
And all the times where he and his Stand had fought together. Side by side, always helping each other and always being there for the other.
He instantly understood what Crazy Diamond was trying to say.
You're not alone.
Josuke smiled. A small smile, but it was still genuine as he stared at Crazy Diamond. "You're right, I'm not alone," he said letting out a small chuckle. "It could get a lot worse, but at least I've got you by my side."
Josuke wasn't alone. He had his Stand with him, and while he might be stuck in a new world without any clue as to how anything worked, at least he had someone he could always count on resting in his soul.
For a second, Crazy Diamond allowed a ghost of a smile to grace its lips. Josuke then continued to walk down the steps as Crazy Diamond floated by his side.
Still, he would be lying to himself if he said having Crazy Diamond around made this world suck any less. He was still away from his family, and he had no idea as to how to get back.
Josuke's lips moved into a firm line.
But he would get back. He had to get back. There had to be some way to get back; if he traveled through dimension once, then he could do it again.
"Well, if-when I do get back it will make one hell of a story." He let out another chuckle, though this one barely had any humor in it. Josuke then turned his head towards Crazy Diamond. "At the very least, having you me should make adjusting to this place a hell of a lot easier." Once Josuke reached the bottom of the flight of stairs and onto the landing, he noticed a large window on the right wall that let him view outside; Josuke saw that at some point it had begun to rain as the window dripped with thick streams of water.
And suddenly, the city in front of him transformed into Morioh. Specifically, into the streets where he and Kira had had their last battle. Josuke could see the murderer, bloody and standing on wobbling legs with his Stand levitating right behind him, giving Josuke its emotionless stare. Josuke could still remember the look of terror Kira had on just before Crazy Diamond had clobbered the murderer to death.
"He's lucky he got off that easily." Josuke eyes narrowed as he thought more and more about the murderer. At the very least, he could say he had saved his city from the psychotic Stand User. That was the only thing that truly raised his spirits, knowing that he had rid the world of such a cruel psychopath and prevented him from ever hurting anyone else again. And now that he had ended Kira Yoshikage's life in that tunnel, his friends could rest in peace. The bastard was probably rotting in hell right now.
Josuke continued to stare at the window. He continued to think about Kira and the look the murderer gave him just before he disappeared into that wall of light.
...Probably?
Josuke saw Kira glaring at him. He saw the man who somehow always outmaneuvered him and his friends. The man who somehow always got away when by all means he should have died so long ago.
Probably?
Josuke could only see Kira's smile now. That arrogant, superior smile he had worn when Killer Queen had held Hayato in its hand. When it had seemed like Kira had once again overcome all the odds.
"No..."Josuke whispered, his eyes slowly widening. There was no way...it couldn't be. Thinking like that was stupid. Kira was dead; he would never harm another person ever again.
...So why was there a part of him that was almost screaming that the bastard was still alive?
"There's no fucking way," Josuke said, scowling as he clenched his hand into a fist. "I broke every bone in his body, and that bastard was swallowed by that weird ass light tunnel. There's no way he could have survived-."
Josuke stopped talking as he realized that it was possible. Because he had survived that tunnel. Josuke was badly injured, absorbed by some kind of black lava, and ended up in a new world alive and well. So why couldn't Kira, a man who always beat the odds, a man who was one of the strongest Stand Users Josuke had ever met, live through the same ordeal he had?
Josuke let out a growl. A growl that was full of anger as he gnashed his teeth together
"No..." The lines on Josuke's face tightened as he glared at the window; Crazy Diamond expression had become grave as it now stood right next to its master. If Kira was alive, then that means he was living his normal "tranquil" life of blowing people up and turning their bodies to dust.
Slowly, Josuke reached into his pocket and pulled out a ball of ripped clothing. Somehow Josuke had held onto Kira's makeshift bomb, and inside the piece of discarded robes, there was a single strand of Kira's hair.
"Just stay dead you sick fuck," Josuke said, and despite his anger, there was still fear creeping within his voice as he gave the strand to Crazy Diamond, who held it in between its pointer and thumb. Crazy Diamond reformed objects, if said object was something connected to living matter, both Josuke and Crazy Diamond could feel the presence of the living object as if it were right in front of them.
So as the strand of hair was covered in a yellow aura, Josuke could feel Kira Yoshikage's life energy; and to him, the murderer might as well had been standing right in front of him. The intense and violent energy Josuke felt from this single strand of hair was enough to confirm his theory, his chest flaring with a fiery rage.
Kira Yoshikage was alive.
"No!" Josuke shouted, hands clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white.
And then the strand of hair flew away from Crazy Diamond's fingers and flew to a brochure pinned to the wall right across from Josuke. The Stand User ran towards the wall and saw the hair had stabbed itself right into the brochure.
It was advertising for people to visit a town called Beach City.
"Well, nothing so far," Steven said to himself, eyes glancing around as he took in his surroundings. "But, I should probably keep looking, just in case."
After entering the house, he and Connie had decided to split up to better cover the abandoned building, Lion going with Connie and looking downstairs as Steven took the upstairs. And after climbing a long staircase of rotten wood, which was so unstable that Steven's foot had made a hole in the steps, Steven had entered a long, wide hallway. What were once dark purple walls and red velvet floor had now lost their colors, looking ten shades darker than they should be as mold grew in a few spots. Old paintings were hanging on the wall, but of what Steven couldn't tell because they were smudged beyond recognition. Several doors were built into either side of the hall, but most had rotted so much that the paint had fallen from their frames. Insects of all kinds seemed to build their nest inside the splinters of the wall, and Steven had more than a few times walked into a spider's web. And the ceiling above Steven had large cracks going through it and was so unstable that the young Gem had to dodge a chunk of brick and concrete that fell from above, almost hitting his head.
This was not a very safe house to be in. Still, Steven continued his search for anything out of the ordinary. He would admit that he was still unsettled going through such a gloomy house, but the longer he spent searching, the more he got used to the creepy atmosphere. And so far Steven had found nothing, checking all the rooms on this floor, looking under smelly beds and inside dusty closets for any kind of specters; but so far Steven had found nothing.
Though, maybe that was because Steven wasn't sure exactly where a ghost would be hiding since he never met one before. The closest thing Steven had met to a genuine spirit was when he had been to the lighthouse for Ronaldo's horror movie club and had encountered a Gem that acted like a poltergeist. But other than that, Steven really had no idea how to find a ghost, or even know if there was some spirit near-
Suddenly, as he was searched another room, his head looking inside a dusty vase, he heard the wood creaking behind him. Pulling his head out of the vase, he turned around and saw that the door behind him was slightly cracked opened, swaying a little as Steven moved closer.
"I thought I closed that door?" Steve said as he peaked his head out into the hallway, eyes scanning the long hall before exiting the room and into the wide passage. Steven looked around to see if there was anything that shouldn't be in the hall but found nothing out of place.
"The wind probably opened it or something," Steven muttered. And just as he said that, the door behind him slammed shut, the loud noise echoing in the empty hall. Steven let out a frightened yelp as he jumped forward a little, whirling around to the door as his heart leapt to his throat.
"That was probably the wind too...right?" He asked himself, trying to calm his nerves as he took a step back. However, through the corner of his eyes, Steven saw a shadow run from a door behind him towards the stairs. Steven once again let out another yelp as he whipped around, but the shadow was gone already.
"L-Lion?" Steven raised his voice a little, hoping to hear the familiar growls of his pink friend. "Connie? Is that you?" He was hoping for one of them to answer, but Steven heard no reply. And all of sudden, the dark corners of the walls and floors looked a lot more intimidating to Steven. And for a second, he saw flashes of Eyeball, Jasper, and Bismuth appear before him, each Gem ready to end him with their attacks. And in the next second, he was back in the threatening house as he swallowed audibly.
You're a Crystal Gem Steven, you can't be scared of a ghost. He thought, before clearing his throat to speak. "Um, am I speaking to the ghost of this house?" Steven asked seemingly no one, as he walked forward to the end of the hall. "Because, if I am, I just want to let you know I don't mean any harm. I'm just here to help out my friend, who actually really loves the supernatural, so there's no reason..." Steven trailed off as he reached the end of the hall, now having to turn right at the corner to get to the stairs. The same stairs he was sure that shadow headed too. "To do whatever it is spirits do to people they don't like."
Steven let out a shaky breath, steeling himself as he tried to control the fear growing within him. In the next moment, Steven jumped around the corner, his quartz gem glowing pink as he prepared to face some kind of ghost.
But all he saw were the crooked stairs.
"Whew," Steven let out a relieved sigh as his gem stopped glowing. "You were just overreacting Steven," He said, but then he felt something... awful coming from behind him; it made the young teen break out into a cold sweat. He slowly turned around, and what he saw made his eyes widen in fright.
Steven found himself staring at a man, he couldn't see what the man was wearing or really see any of the man's physical traits except for his black eyes. But even though he could barely see the man, even though Steven knew that he was just looking at a man and not some ghost or alien...in this moment, Steven Quartz Universe had never been more terrified in his entire life.
Because the man's eyes were cold and unfeeling, they were eyes that promised Steven pain. The man in front of Steven was radiating malice, his terrifying gaze drilling into Steven who suddenly felt like he couldn't breathe. Most of the man's body was covered in the shadows of the house, and those shadows only made the man look incredibly intimidating. The man in front of Steven looked like scarier than any Corrupt Gem he had faced; Steven could see claws hanging in front of him and ready to tear him from limb at any second. A black aura seemed to surround the man, and through the man's uncaring eyes, Steven could see a monster about to strike, a monster that lived within the man's soul. And as the man took a single step away from the shadows, all the terror Steven had been feeling tripled as the cruelty coming from the man enveloped Steven; the cruelty was so heavy it crushed every part of his body. And something else had attacked every fiber of Steven's being... Something he could not recognize but he knew it was something evil.
Steven's entire body was trembling as he took a step back. However he was not watching where he was going, so he tripped on a loose floorboard, which sent him spiraling down the long staircase behind him.
"AAAAAAAAH!" Steven shouted as he tumbled painfully down the winding staircase, crashing into the railings as he descended. After dozens of painful steps, Steven finally reached the end as he crashed headfirst onto the floor. He had tumbled all the way back to the lobby right in front of the entrance.
"Owww," Stever groaned. Thankfully his Gem biology made it so he only got a few scratches from his tumble, but his head was still screaming from all the punishment it had just taken.
But through the dizziness, Steven could clearly hear the sounds of footsteps walking down the same stairs he had just fallen down. Despite the fear twisting his blood, Steven quickly got up; he whirled around and prepared to take out his shield, his gem once again glowing bright magenta. He dealt with monsters on a daily basis, so the fear he was feeling right now towards a random person was ridiculous.
However, just as he turned to face the man, he spoke.
"Are you alright?"
That stopped Steven for a second as he quickly looked over the man, now able to see him in full clarity. The man had a loosely combed head of wavy blond hair, with only a few strands out of place and had a dark blue business suit with equally blue pants. Underneath the jacket was a white, buttoned-up business shirt that had purple pinstripes running down it in straight lines. He had on an expensive-looking watch, well-shined black shoes, and a black tie patterned with a column of skulls with almost cat-like ears.
But the two things that stuck out the most to Steven was one, the man's eyes were...purple? Steven was sure they were black before. And the second thing was that all the pressure he had felt from the suffocating aura Steven thought the man was emitting was gone. Instead, the man eyes' were warm as he looked over Steven's body in concern. Seeing such care and sympathy within the man's expression, Steven was a little shocked. Had he imagined all those terrifying features from before on the man? He would admit, he had been more than a little stressed lately, and he probably could use some more sleep if he were being honest, so maybe he had imagined all of it.
It was then Steven noticed the man was crouched down, extending the hand towards the young Gem who was still lying on the floor.
"Um...yeah, I'm fine, just a little roughed up," Steven said as he reached for the man's hand.
"Well, that's good, I was worried for a moment." The man said, a hint of an accent in his voice, but from where Steven could not tell. The amount of kindness in the man's voice cast away any lingering doubts; what he saw had just been his imagination. Steven was feeling a bit embarrassed that he thought such a nice man was some kind of monster.
Just as Steven was about to touch the man's fingers, he saw from the corner of his eye a pink comet rushing from a long hallway to the left of him and slam into the man.
"Gyaaaah!" The blond haired man shouted as he crashed onto the old floor. It was then Steven saw the pink blur was in fact, Lion, but for a second Steven didn't recognize the pink beast.
Because Lion's eyes were pure white, his friend letting out loud and vicious growls that reminded Steven that Lion was still a ferocious animal. Lion's teeth were dangerously close to the man's throat, and the man looked like he was having trouble dealing with Lion's weight as his expression became a little strained.
"Wha-Lion get off him!" Steven quickly shouted, running towards the pink animal and attempting to push his friend off the man. But Lion would not budge, still snarling at the man and glaring at him with furious white eyes.
"I..said...get...OFF!" Gathering every bit of strength within him, Steven gave one mighty shove and the pink beast was finally pushed off the man as Lion landed a short distance away. The blond haired man let out a few coughs before he got back on his feet; and despite the fact he just had a lion charge into him, he looked uninjured as he calmly wiped the dust off his suit.
"Are you okay?" Steven asked the man, who looked down at Steven with a small smile.
"Yes, you're pet just took me by surprise." Right as the man said that, the two heard Lion let out another roar as it charged at the man again. This time, though, Steven was able to intercept the pink beast, wrapping his short arms around Lion's neck just as the beast got close and was able to stop his friend from moving any further. Though, this did not stop Lion from thrashing his head about in an attempt to get Steven to let go of his neck.
"Lion, what's wrong with you?" Steven said as Lion continued to growl and snarl at the man. Steven shot a glance back at the man as he gave him a nervous smile. "I'm so sorry, he's normally not like this. I swear he's really sweet once you get to know him."
"... You'll forgive me if I find that statement a little doubtful." The man said as he narrowed his eyes at both Steven and Lion, and that simple act made Lion thrash even more violently.
"Lion, seriously, stop!" Steven raised his voice at his lovable friend before giving a quick but powerful flick to Lion's nose. Lion actually staggered backward a little from the hit. Steven knew how sensitive Lion's nose was so that flick probably stung a lot. He had never had to resort to punishing Lion before, and he instantly hated the fact that he caused his good buddy pain, but he had to stop Lion before he did something stupid.
Honestly, why was he acting so strangely?
"Bad Lion!" Steven shouted, pointing a finger right at Lion's face. "You can't eat the nice man over there! Understand?!" Lion looked at Steven with a large frown, looking at the young teen with his usual impassive expression, and Steven had on an unusually serious face as he glared slightly at the pink animal.
Finally, giving one last snarl to the blond man, the pink lion let out a displeased growl as he nodded its head begrudgingly.
"Glad we're on the same page," Steven nodded his head as he turned towards the man; and as he did so, he saw Connie emerge from the same hallway Lion came from and running towards him.
"Steven, are you okay?!" She said, slightly out of breath as she was now only a few feet away from Steven and Lion. "When I was searching the house, Lion suddenly stopped walking, and then it bolted, and then I heard your scream and I was so worried.
"It's okay I'm fine," Steven said, cheeks blushing slightly as he learned Connie had heard him screaming over nothing. "I just fell down some stairs."
"Are you sure you're..." It was then Connie noticed the blond haired man standing a dozen feet away from them. "Who's this?" Connie asked.
"The owner of this house," The man said, raising a brow at the three of them. "And I'm rather curious as to why two children and a lion are in my humble abode."
"Oh, we're so sorry sir!" Connie quickly apologized, her face growing incredibly flustered as her eyes glanced nervously to the floor. "Our friend thought he saw something weird going on here, so he asked us to come check out this house. And we figured no one lived here because it looks so-." Before she could finish, a large chunk of the ceiling fell and crashed loudly onto the floor.
"...Abandoned," She said, trying to use a somewhat nicer word than awful.
"Well, I can see how you could make such a mistake." The man began, adjusting his tie as he looked around the lobby. "Truth be told, I know this house looks ugly, but it speaks to me, and ever since I bought it I feel comfortable whenever I enter this place."
"So..are you new to Beach City? Where are you from?" Steven asked, excitement running throughout his voice. He had never seen the man before, and from how the man made it sound like, the blond-haired man seemed to have moved into this house only recently. Ae loved meeting new people, to him it was a chance to make new friends.
"I'm from Japan, Sendai if you want to be specific. And I've been here for about a month now, so I suppose I'm technically new." He answered
"Wow, I've always wanted to go to Japan, It must be awesome there," Connie said before raising a brow in confusion. "And...aren't houses like this usually not for sale?"
"Well, it wasn't, but I made the former owner an offer he couldn't refuse." The man said, before giving the two children a smile. "And I must say, ever since I moved here this town has been nothing but a delight for me. I haven't been this happy in a long time."
Steven smiled at those words. "Yeah, Beach City's great." Curiosity filled Steven's face as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "So, how come I haven't seen you in town?"
"I am a rather quiet person, you see." The blond man said, "I usually don't talk with anyone, and since I am new here, there's no one to talk to."
"Well, now you know some people!" Steven exclaimed as he wrapped his arm around Connie. "I'm Steven Universe, and to my right is Connie, while to my left..." He gave a nudge in Lion's direction. "Is my good pink buddy Lion."
Lion responded with a short roar at the blond-haired man. Connie jumped a little, not expecting the normally quiet Lion to let out such a hostile roar. She looked at Steven with a confused expression, most likely trying to ask Steven what was up with his friend.
"Hehe, I'm really sorry, I don't know why he's acting like this," Steven said nervously.
"It's alright, bar a few exceptions, animals have never really like me." The man said, looking at Lion before giving a small chuckle. "Though as to why I have no idea. It's like they see something in me other people don't." He then raised an eyebrow as he looked over Steven. "And did you say Universe? As in, the same Steven Universe who is a part of the Crystal...Diamonds?
"The Crystal Gems!" Steven corrected, as his lips turned into a wide smile. "You know about us?"
"I thought you two looked familiar," the man said, placing a hand under his chin. "When I first arrived at this town, and whenever I go out to get supplies, everyone won't stop talking about how amazing you two are. Even on my first day here, I saw you two bravely stand up to two monsters rising from the sea right before you defeated them with ease."
The two children looked abashed at such praise. Connie let out a shy chuckle as Steven rubbed his head before speaking. "It was nothing really; we were just doing what we do."
"I've never seen such creatures before in my life, Corrupted Gems I believe is the official term. And I've heard that you defeat such terrifying monsters on a daily basis. Is that true?"
"Well, not really monsters, more like...misunderstood and confused animals, but yeah. Me, Connie and the other Gems do that," Steven replied.
"So, is it also true you store all these 'animals' in that statue on the cliff?
"Oh you mean the temple," Connie said before she nodded her head. "Yeah, I've never seen it myself, but Steven says he's got hundreds of Corrupted Gem's stored in bubbles that just float around all day in one of the rooms." She explained
"Well, after seeing what you two can do, I have no doubts you've defeated plenty of those frightening creatures. I'm sure you two must be very proud of your skills. As I'm sure your families are too."
Connie gave the man a sheepish smile, and Steven also gave the man a smile, but his seemed a little forced. After all, his abilities when compared to his mothers were subpar at best. And though the other Gems constantly told him he was making great progress, he couldn't help like they were lying to him just to spare his feelings.
It wouldn't be the first time they did something like that.
"Well, I think we should go and tell Ronaldo that his ghost was just Mr... I'm sorry I don't think I caught your name?" Connie said
"Oh, of course, It's K-" He stopped himself short before continuing. "Araki, Araki Hirohiko." The man now known as Araki Hirohiko finished.
"Well, It's nice to meet you, sir," Connie said, extending her hand, but Araki looked at her palm quizzically.
"Ms. Maheswaran, you appear to have cut yourself." Both Steven and Connie looked at her palm and saw a diagonal cut in the center of her palm. The tiniest bit of blood dripped from the wound.
"Oh, I guess I must have scraped my hand on the wall or something."
"Allow me," Araki pulled out a bandage from his breast pocket as he lightly placed it on top of Connie's cut. "I would advise you to be a bit more careful in the future, Ms. Maheswaran. A woman's hands are very delicate...and very beautiful things." He wiped away the blood trickling down Connie's palm with his fingers. "It would be a shame if something irrevisable happened to your hands before you reached adulthood. So do try and be careful in the future."
Lion let out another intense growl, which made Steven narrow his eyes at the pink animal. "Lion, stop it."
"Um, Okay I will," Connie said, looking a touch confused as to what Araki was trying to say. "And you can just call me Connie."
"Alright then Connie," Araki then shook his friend's hand. "It was a pleasure to meet you." He then looked towards Steven, giving the young teen a big smile with closed eyes. "And it was a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Universe."
He extended his hand towards Steven.
"Steven's fine Mr. Hirohiko," Steven said as he shook the man's hand.
"And you both can call me Araki." Steven and Araki stopped shaking each others' hand as the young Gem and Connie walked towards the door, Lion following behind the two. They waved goodbye as they exited the house, and Araki waved back as he slowly walked up to his door and closed it.
Though, for just a second, Steven thought he saw something standing behind Araki.
But whatever he thought he saw, it was gone in the next second. Steven shook his head as he believed that it was just his imagination acting up again.
"He seemed nice," Connie said, snapping the boy's attention back to reality.
"Yeah, I think he's a good guy," he then looked back to Lion, who was looking at the decaying house with a snarl. "But Lion doesn't seem to think so."
"I wonder what's got him so angry?" Connie asked
"I have no idea," Steven answered as he approached Lion. "It's time to go home, buddy. Think you can give us a ride?" He asked with a tiny grin. Whatever was bothering Lion, Steven would make sure to get to the bottom of when they got home. It wouldn't be good if Lion tried to maim Araki every time he sees him.
Lion gave one last look to the house, and then he signaled for Steven and Connie to hop on. After the two were firmly seated, Lion took off like a bullet, almost like he wanted to get away from the house as quickly as possible.
(It would not be until much later that Steven and Connie would learn why Lion seemed so distressed by Araki.
And it would be much later that they would learn of the true monster living in that house.)
After "Araki" closed the door, he was still smiling. However, his eyes now held a maliciousness that made the smile seem positively demonic.
"Araki" soon walked towards a full body mirror that was placed near the bottom of the stairs. For several minutes "Araki" looked deeply into the mirror, running his fingers along the lines of his face and cheeks.
"I still can't believe this is happening," "Araki" said, chuckling as he took a step back. He had never realized how good it was to see one's face looking back at you through a mirror. The sight of his healthy face and slick hair made him truly appreciate how comfortable it was to be in your own skin. "I have my face back, I have been transported to a place I can live my ideal life, and best of all almost all of my enemies are gone now."
Almost being the keyword.
A spark of anger was ignited within "Araki's" chest as his lips moved into a frown. He did not know how, but he knew there was someone hunting him. Somehow even after going through that tunnel, somehow even after he had survived through his injuries and a hell that would make other men weep, somehow even after traveling to an entirely different dimension... Josuke Higashikata was still the needlessly stubborn splinter that "Araki" could not get rid of.
"Josuke... I don't know where you are, I don't know if you'll find me," "Araki" looked through a dusty window to the town so far off into the distance, a smile on his lips. "But if you do, I can promise you, this time, I won't lose."
Of course, there were other things that might get in "Araki's" way. Such as the Crystal Gems, a group he thought was just the inane rambling of idiots until he actually saw them on the very first day he arrived in this town. After seeing that, he had learned everything he could about the "protectors" of Beach City.
"I never would have thought aliens from another world would live in a town such as this." "Araki" would admit it was a bit of shock to hear aliens existed in this dimension, but he had seen far stranger things back in his old home.
So when he saw one of them in his house, for a moment he had thought about turning the boy's shirt into a bomb and watch the fireworks that followed. But he ultimately decided against that, as it would no doubt cause future headaches if he did.
No, he would not do anything unnecessary. He had finally gotten a fresh start, a home he did not know even existed, and he was going to hold onto it with a death grip. And if anyone tried to take it away from, he would show them a strength the likes of which no one had ever seen.
"No one will ever again be able to stop me from living my tranquil life." His eyes became cold, walking away from the window as he approached the stairs. "Neither alien nor teenager shall ever again force me to relive the humiliation I've endured countless times before."
A dark purple aura soon whirled around "Araki," and it only grew by the second as the blond-haired man finally reached the steps. "Yes, no one will stop me this time, for I have evolved once more. I have obtained strength that has no equal."
His frown turned into a small smile as he stared up into the air. "Yes, we've both evolved haven't we..."
A being materialized in front of "Araki." Cold and lifeless pink eyes stared at its master.
"Killer Queen." "Araki" finished as the frightening humanoid continued to float off the ground. "Yes, we have attained new levels of strength that we never thought was possible. Josuke might fight us, he might even be able to hurt us, but this time we will put him in the ground."
The well-dressed adult started to climb the stairs.
"Yes, this time, I will come out on top. If Josuke arrives here and tries to take away my life once again, then I shall kill him in a silent explosion."
He was halfway up the steps by now.
"If those Gems and that foolish boy and girl try to stop me, then I shall watch them burn until they are nothing but ash."
He had reached the top of the stairs now, and he took in every inch of his house, Killer Queen watching its master impassively.
"Yes, people will try to end me, but they will fail... because now, no one can ever stop a monster like me. No one can hope to defeat such an immensely strong and sadistic man such as I. No one knows how powerful I have become."
"Araki" spread his arms out wide, a large, incredibly threatening smile growing on his face.
"No one can hope to end Kira Yoshikage... For I have finally found peace."
And with that, he let out a chilling laugh, barely above a whisper but it echoed throughout the empty house. And Kira Yoshikage smiled; for at this moment, he was finally basking in the peace he had craved for so long.
To Be Continued~
Wow, this chapter was a lot of fun to write and is probably why I finished it so fast. I know I should focus on my other stories, but the ideas for this chapter would not stop floating in my head and I had to get it down. I am aware there was barely any action in this chapter, but I needed to set up some things for future events. And for those wondering when this chapter takes place in the Steven Universe canon, it's after "Kindergarten Kid" but before "Know your fusion".
If you have any thoughts, suggestions, or predictions on where this story is going, don't hesitate to say so in the reviews. This is The Black Mage of Phantasm signing off. Peace!
