Outside Yangon, 4165 Miles from Cairo
Avdol stares with steely eyes at the smirking baby in front of him. He hears a quiet whimper from behind him and, looking to the rear bus seat, notices a sleeping Polnareff twitching as his head bobs against the window.
This cocky child…I'm half tempted to put Magician's Red in front of its face but…I'm still not sure what its Stand truly is.
Suddenly, the bus comes to a halt. Looking out the window to his right over Joseph, he sees that instead of a bus stop in the midst of the city, they appear to be stopped at a fenced part of the road. Soldiers are holding their hands high and shouting at the bus, while the bus driver at the front opens the door.
"Mr. Joest-"
"It's a military checkpoint, Avdol. This place just had a coup earlier this year. Don't worry, all of our paperwork is in order."
"Ah, I see. Prepared as always." At that, Avdol turns to face the baby again, only for Joseph to peek his head around and speak.
"Ah, Avdol, I see you're worried about the kid. Ma'am, if you don't mind me asking, you DO have paperwork to enter Burma, don't you?" The woman visibly shudders and holds the baby closer, the baby itself breaking a bit of a sweat.
"Ah, no…"
"I see, well don't worry, miss. As far as I know they'll just detain you for questioning for a day at most."
"Oh, no, I need to get this chil-" Avdol's gaze narrows, and cuts her off mid-sentence.
"This child? Isn't it yours?"
"Oh, yes, sorry…"
"You never mentioned, is your child a boy or a girl?"
"I-"
"Avdol, you really do care about that baby, huh?" Joseph nudges him with a goofy wink and smiles.
"Mr. Joestar." Avdol just stares at him, nonplussed.
"Bet you wish you had one at home, eh?" At that, Joseph starts in a raucous laugh and smacks Avdol's shoulder.
"Mr. Joestar, quiet yourself."
"Oh c'mon, Avdol, that was a good one."
"Excuse me, gentleman, pleas-" Before the flustered mother can speak further, the soldiers have boarded the bus and are now going down each row requesting paperwork. She seems to be sweating profusely at this point, almost shaking. The baby starts crying, too, and she starts to stand.
"Sorry for being so loud, miss!" Joseph is about to stand, but the boarded soldiers shout indistinctly at him. He sits back down with a calming gesture, though the lady continues to stand. The one closest to her starts to raise a pistol at her, but she simply motions the crying baby at him.
"Please, I just need to…change the baby." The soldier looks back and receives a nod from his compatriot behind him.
"Go, and make sure to get your papers when you are back."
?
Polnareff huffs as he collapses to his knees behind a carnival game tent. His breathing is heavy and ragged as he pats the top of his head.
That bastard clown cut the top of my hair! I can't even call Chariot here…
"Lali-ho!" The floating reaper slices an X shaped opening from within the tent, sending Polnareff into a backward dive. He stumbles as he lands and his vision starts to blur.
This sucks. Bastard must be attacking me while I sleep.
"Oh, Polnareff. Can't you see you're helpless here? Why not just enjoy the atmosphere here while I hack you to pieces?" Polnareff spits at the ground underneath the clown-faced monster and sneers.
"You're just a coward. Can't even fight me one on one with Chariot."
"I may be a coward, but you're a fool, Polnareff. Why would I ever try to fight you alone?"
"You-" The reaper's grip on its scythe tightens as it raises the blade high above its head.
"By the way, Polnareff, I'll give you the benefit of knowing who killed you. You're in the realm of Death 13 and, in the end, a mere baby slaughtered you." And with that, Death 13 goes to slam the edge of the blade straight into Polnareff's solar plexus.
1988, dans un bus en Birmanie
With a jolt, Polnareff awakens to a pistol to his head. He snaps to attention, with Chariot's arm extending out of his own right arm. Polnareff feels a hand nudge his shoulder and, turning, sees a worried Kakyoin.
"Polnareff, they want to see your paperwork, it's okay." With a look of confusion, Polnareff raises his hands and faces the soldier.
"Easy, easy. I was just napping. I've got them right here…" As he reaches into his rucksack, he feels a slight sting under his shirt in the center of his chest.
Weird. I woke up feeling like I ran a mile…I'll have to check this pain out later. What happened while I was sleeping?
1988, 41 Days to save Holly
"Avdol, have you ever noticed how much Polnareff sleeps?"
"He sleeps like everyone else."
"I don't know, it always feels like I'm looking over and he's dead asleep." Joseph eyes the soldiers as he continues to make small talk.
"Mr. Joestar, you're the one that has an abnormal sleep schedule."
"Whaat? I get all the sleep I need!"
"An hour or two of sleep is abnormal."
"Yeah, well it turns out after a month of Hamon training you don't need muc-" Joseph sees the woman from earlier come out from the bathroom without her baby, hurry over to her seat, and crouch down, pulling out at the luggage underneath. She rifles through it a bit, still crouched, before pulling at the bags to retreat to the bathroom. The soldiers start to pull open the bathroom door, but Joseph raises his voice a bit.
"Oi, you guys. Be kind to the lady, don't hold her up too much." The soldiers glare at Joseph in response, as they open the door and motion her to step off the bus. He hears Avdol exhale strongly from his nostrils beside him.
"What, Avdol?"
"Nothing. I'm just hoping we leave sooner rather than later." Joseph watches as the woman is taken away, whatever bags she had still in the bathroom, though she has a cloth bundled in her arms. No doubt the baby extra swaddled for what's to come.
She should be okay. From what Speedwagon said they just send you back if you don't have papers. The child should be fine as well. A few more miles and we can ride to the pier from Yangon…
1988, dans un bus en Birmanie
Polnareff braces himself against the wall as he stares into the bathroom mirror, the bus's shaking frame jostling him around as he tries to look at his chest while lifting his shirt. In the center, right between his ribs, he sees a nasty gash.
When the hell did I get this? Is this a Stand user's doing? I don't remember getting this…I just remember some bad dream…
While still racking his brain in thought, the bus hits a large bump and sends Polnareff stumbling around the cramped bathroom. His feet find themselves on a couple of bags, which he recognizes as the bags dragged in by that lady earlier.
Huh. One of these looks like Kakyoin's bag. Must have left it while I was asleep.
He bends down to pick it up and, as he does, he notices it being quite a bit heavier than expected. Shrugging it off, he grabs it and exits the bathroom, returning to his seat right by the door.
"Hey, Kakyoin. Got your bag."
"Oh, I don't remember misplacing it…" Kakyoin grabs the tip of his chin in thought, but Polnareff just slides the bag roughly under the seat.
"Eh, don't worry about it. I forget stuff all the time. I had this rough dream a little bit ago, but I can't remember any of it."
"You did seem rather disturbed. It might've been the baby crying."
"Ah, yeah. I can't really stand the sound of babies crying. Shame that lady got taken."
"As far as I know they'll just send her home." Polnareff yawns loudly as he nods at Kakyoin's statement.
"Man, I'm beat. I just woke up exhausted, but for some reason…hey Kakyoin, we weren't attacked while I was asleep, were we?"
"No, not that I recall."
"I got his bad cut…no clue where."
"Hm…we should be cautious. We have no reason to think that we're safe at any moment."
"You're right. I'll keep an eye out on anyone suspicious. No sleeping 'til we're out of the public eye." Polnareff straightens himself and smacks his cheeks with his palms.
No sleeping, Polnareff. Stay focused. Have to keep everyone safe.
While looking at the rest of the bus, he swears he hears a rustling from underneath his seat. He writes it off, though, and continues to examine each stranger in detail.
No, too old…too big…damn I wish that cigarette trick Jotaro fooled us with worked. Make finding Stand Users so much easier…
At a pier on the Burmese coast, helping Avdol get the bags loaded
After the bus ride, the Crusaders had found themselves rushing to get to the boat. They only had a brief window to depart so they could catch enough sunlight to keep moving. The solar powered speedboat couldn't make the trip on one full charge, but thankfully if they timed it right and rode overnight they could make it. The boat is a bit larger than a normal speedboat, more just a recreational boat.
"Mr. Joestar, this is fairly spacious. It even has a canopy over the wheel…"
"Yes it does, Kakyoin. Only the best of the best." Joseph grins in pride.
"But I wouldn't really call it a speedboat."
"What do you mean? It's fast and a boat."
"Well, a speedboat is usually…"
"Yeah yeah. Save it for Calcutta." Joseph grumbles quietly to himself, "Kids these days…"
Kakyoin passes Avdol another bag, this time Kakyoin's own bag. Avdol eyes it, before gently setting it by the pilot's seat.
He's been staring and weighing each bag…I'm glad Avdol is so careful. I should've probably checked my bag before I left the bus, especially after what Polnareff said.
Polnareff heaves his bag to Kakyoin while he stretches. The look on Polnareff speaks of utter exhaustion, as if he were waiting his whole life to sleep on this boat.
"Polnareff, what's in this thing?"
"Oh, I just thought my bag was heavy because I was tired. My clothes must have gotten wet or something…" Polnareff sleepily yawns, and Kakyoin hands the bag over to Avdol. With another critical look, Avdol tosses the bag up and down in his hands. He smirks a bit, before violently chucking the bag next to the others. Kakyoin could almost feel the pain from the bag's impact.
"Oi, Avdol! Why'd you throw my bag like that?"
"You said it was wet clothes. Maybe I could help dry them?" Avdol winks as he summons Magician's Red, flames wreathing his Stand's arms.
"You're gonna light the damn thing on fire, cool it Avdol!" Polnareff scrambles onto the boat, but Avdol laughs heartily instead.
"It was a joke, Polnareff. I'm going to set up something to make sure we know when something's coming. We are to face the Sun and Death on this leg of the journey." Polnareff scratches his head in half-recognition, but shakes it off as he slams himself down into a cushioned seat below the canopy. Joseph turns the key and faces everyone else.
"Alright everyone. Avdol and I have determined another two enemies should assault us shortly. Keep your eyes peeled, this will be a long trip by sea. We can't afford to be stranded, so if you need to sleep we will do so in shifts."
"I'm first." Polnareff eagerly raises his hand.
"Hm. Let us wait until we are a ways out at sea. Any smart attacker would try and get us before we're out too far." Avdol looks at Polnareff with concern, but raises his hands in an odd formation. Soon, what appears to a compass rose made of fire emanates from Magician's Red, which floats over the center of the boat.
"With this, we can see them coming. I will try and hold this all night, but it is exhausting over long periods." The compass rose seems to light up on the prong facing the front of the boat, but otherwise remains still.
An excellent technique. We can get the jump on them before they know we're coming. It'll be troublesome, though if it wipes Avdol…
"I can take over after you, Avdol. I can have Hierophant probe in front of us once day comes."
"Good, Kakyoin. Don't wake me if I'm sleeping, either. I plan on having a good dream tonight." At that, Avdol goes to take a seat above the pile of bags and, while sitting, gives a swift kick to Polnareff's bag to tuck it under more of the luggage.
"Hey, stop that!"
"Polnareff, if you fall asleep I'll do the same to you."
END OF INTERLUDE 7