**NOTE: During the writing of this, I remembered that there is such a thing as a blood meal. It's a plant food that is said to be pretty good for roses. And yes, it really is made from blood.
Jotaro lay on the bed unable to do much more than sleep and moan in pain. His breathing had become horribly shallow. The vines had grown so plentiful that they all but replaced his entrails. Every breath he took caused him excruciating pain as his lungs would press into the thorns that surrounded them. The plant had grown to a worrying size. Jotaro had also lost his ability to see. The vines had begun to expand past the inside of his body to the point that they had actually pushed his eyes completely out of their sockets.
There was a bright side to all this though. For one thing, he stopped having nightmares and started dreaming of thick, heavily perfumed jungles where he lived with you in domestic bliss. There was no one around to bother you two, and no one around to try to take you away from him. No threats, no enemy Stand users, nothing to keep you apart. And the best part is, you actually loved him. You wanted to be by his side. Jotaro had already experienced Hell in that dream with DIO, but this had to be Heaven.
The other consolation he had was that this agony would be over soon. Both the pain of the plant taking over his body and the pain of not being the one you loved wouldn't matter anymore. He was certainly on his last legs now and would fortunately be dead soon. Jotaro wanted nothing more now than to just hurry up and die. He had never felt more helpless and miserable than he did now and he just wanted it to end.
Star Platinum was just as attentive as always, keeping him clean and hydrated… and fed. The first few times Star tried to feed him from the thermos, Jotaro resisted. He tried pushing the thermos away, not wanting anything to do with it now that he knew what was in it. But he was too weak to put up much of a fight when Star Platinum forcefully put the thermos to his lips and all but drowned him in its contents. Once he got a taste of the blood, Jotaro wouldn't resist anymore and would drink with a ravenous fervor. He would let the euphoric feeling overtake him and allow himself to sleep, just so he could once again dream of you.
Star Platinum had dragged the captive into the room with Jotaro so that he wouldn't have to go far to feed his user. The captive had grown so pale and frail that Star knew that this final feeding would be it for him. Sure enough, once the Stand filled the thermos the captive breathed his last. Now Star would just have to carry the body to the incinerator…
Suddenly, the vines that grew from Jotaro's eye sockets began to slither towards the body. They jabbed themselves into the corpse and began to drain the remaining fluids from the body, reducing it to a mummified husk. Well, that made disposing of it that much easier. Now it would be easier to dismember it without making such a mess and put it in a trash bag before incinerating it. He still would have to avoid being "seen". A floating trash bag of human remains making its way downstairs to incinerate itself was bound to draw unwanted attention.
As Star Platinum began to deal with the corpse, he noticed small red buds beginning to form on the vines. He stopped what he was doing to watch as the buds began to unfold into blood red roses. The vines were blooming! Finally! It was time! The Stand quickly disposed of the body, being careful to stay out of sight of anyone roaming the dorm. Fortunately, the dorm was mostly empty this time of day. Everyone was either in classes or remaining in their own rooms. He dumped the body into the incinerator and headed back up to check on Jotaro. To his horror some of the vines had burst through Jotaro's stomach and chest. Fortunately Jotaro was still under the influence of the pheromone so he was unable to feel anything, otherwise that would hurt like hell. Star Platinum checked his user over to make sure he wasn't in any danger from this new development. He wasn't bleeding much. The wounds made from the vines were already healing and didn't seem to be fatal. Though if Star didn't act quickly, the plant would tear its way out of Jotaro's body, killing itself, Jotaro, and himself as well.
He didn't know why, but other than the first time the plant manifested within Jotaro, Star found himself spared from the pain and damage it caused its user. He could only guess that this was because the plant had given him immunity due to needing his aid to stay alive and get what it needed to thrive. Speaking of which, Star Platinum had become aware of a sweet aroma that began to fill the room. This was what he'd been waiting for. Quickly, he began going around the dorm opening up the windows and doors to let the smell of the blossoms seep out onto the rest of the campus.
After a few moments, many of the students and faculty began noticing the smell, starting with Jotaro's dorm neighbors.
"Hey, did you light some candles or something?" asked one student as he burst into his roommate's room.
The other boy shook his head and gave his roommate a weird look.
"No, man. I'm not into that frilly shit. I thought that was you!" he said.
More and more of the people on campus began to wonder about the strange but wonderful smell. It was alluring, and lulled everyone that smelled it into a strange euphoric state. Eventually it made its way to you and your friend who had just come back from lunch. The effect it had on you was a bit different. In the middle of your conversation, you suddenly found yourself thinking of Jotaro. You stopped talking as the realization of how long Jotaro had been out of class suddenly came to you.
"Hey, have you seen JoJo lately?" you asked your friend.
He turned to you with a look of disgust.
"No. What made you think of that asshole all of a sudden?" he asked.
You gave him an annoyed look and said, "He's not really an asshole, okay? He's just kinda rough around the edges. Not very good with talking to people, you know? He's not a bad guy, even if he does act like a jerk sometimes."
Your friend gave you a questioning look.
"You sure have a lot to say about him today. Normally you don't ever say more than two words about him. I'm surprised you even noticed he hasn't been around lately. Whenever he is hanging around he's always looming over you and glaring at people. But he never says a damn word. Weirdo."
You rolled your eyes.
"He looms over everybody that's under six foot five… and he only glares at you, but that's because you keep giving him a reason to." you said.
Now it was your friend's turn to roll his eyes.
"If you're referring to that time I called him a creep to his face, then yeah, I guess I kinda deserve it. Though, he actually is a creep. Dude straight up stalks you and you don't even notice, or you're just in denial about it. I'm telling you, that guy is up to no good. He's probably been out of class all this time because he's plotting something."
"Plotting something? Gimme a break, will you? He's just sick or something. Stop talking about him like he's some kind of supervillain." you said, not really wanting to believe such a thing about Jotaro. You pointed a finger in your friend's face accusingly.
"I think you're the one in denial here!" You said. "You're jealous of JoJo! Admit it!"
Your friend pushed your finger out of his face and gave you a serious look.
"I'm not jealous. I'm concerned. If only you paid attention to your surroundings instead of daydreaming all the time you would notice how menacing he is. Jotaro is not a good guy, no matter what you want to believe. Haven't you heard about the stuff he got into in high school? All the fights he got into? All the times he's ended up in jail? How about the way he treats the girls that hang around him all the time? He's straight up gathered his own harem and he treats those girls like shit! And besides, have you ever heard of Jotaro getting sick?"
You sighed and rubbed your temples. This is an argument you'd had with your friend many, many times and you were getting beyond sick of hearing it.
"Okay, first: Everybody has done some shady shit in high school at least once. You above everybody should know that. Who was the one that almost got kicked out of school for possession of a little baggie of suspicious powder?"
Your friend blushed at the accusation and opened his mouth to offer some excuse when you cut him off.
"Second: JoJo does not have a harem. He never asked those girls to start following him around. Those girls are a bunch of horn dogs that throw themselves at his feet every time they lay eyes on him. He treats them like shit because they are constantly up his ass and refuse to leave him alone. They don't take no for an answer and hang all over him even when he's told them time and time again he wants nothing to do with them. Can you imagine if the roles were reversed and it was a bunch of guys hanging all over one girl even when she's told them a thousand times to leave her alone? People would step in and try to put a stop to it in that case, but people look at JoJo and just comment on how 'lucky' he is. That's fucked up, don't you think?"
Your friend sighed.
"Third," you continued, "Everybody gets sick. JoJo's human like the rest of us."
"Fine, you have a point. The guy is still a creep though."
You huffed in annoyance and threw your hands up.
"Whatever. Look, I'm going to go check on him. He hasn't called in a long time, which is unusual for him. He usually calls me at least once a day. He also isn't picking up his phone which is worrying. I was gonna leave him alone and let him reach out when he felt like it, but it's been too long."
You turned and began to walk in the direction of Jotaro's dorm when your friend stopped you.
"Hang on! I'll go with you." he said and began walking along beside you.
You didn't acknowledge him but didn't stop him either. You just headed for Jotaro's dorm with a single-minded determination. You couldn't say for sure why you suddenly found yourself concerned with him, but that sickly sweet smell in the air was making it hard to think clearly. You could only seem to focus on thoughts of Jotaro and if he was okay. You had wanted to give him his space. If he was sick or dealing with something else, you knew that he would prefer to deal with it alone. Your interference would only serve to annoy him. That's just the way Jotaro was. He liked being able to take care of his own problems without outside help. He did NOT like being babied and treated like he couldn't handle things by himself. You guessed that if Jotaro was afraid of anything, it was being utterly helpless.
The closer you got to Jotaro's dorm, the more overwhelming that flowery smell got. Was it coming from the dorms? You thought it may have been something that had been planted around the buildings but all you saw were hedges and small bushes. Absolutely none of them had flowers. What on earth was causing that smell? You climbed the steps to Joatro's dorm and reached out to knock on the door… only to find it partially ajar. That was not a comforting sign.
"JoJo! Are you okay? Please don't be mad, but I came to check on you." You called out as you flung the door open. You entered the dorm, feeling your friend come in behind you. You heard him gasp as he must have noticed the same thing you did. The entire dorm was covered from wall to wall and floor to ceiling in climbing rose vines! Not only that but they were moving! They stretched and squirmed and wriggled all over every available surface. They wrapped themselves around floor lamps, chairs, and anything else that could serve as a support.
"Are they… alive?" Your friend asked as he approached one of the rose blossoms.
You just stood there in stunned silence.
Well, they're plants, so of course they're alive, you wanted to say. You knew what he meant by the question. Plants, though living things, didn't move in such a… sentient way. These vines writhed around like snakes looking for a place to hibernate. You were no expert on botany, but you were certain that there were no plants that grew this quickly and certainly none that moved around like this.
"JoJo!" You called, moving further into the room. The vines squirmed away from your feet in an odd show of politeness. They let you pass. Your friend, however, was not so lucky.
As he placed a curious finger on one of the rose's petals, the flower unfolded completely revealing a squealing, hissing mouth full of sharp, pointed thorns that served as teeth. The monstrous flower lashed out and sank its thorn teeth into your friend's hand. The boy shrieked in pain as the thorns bit into him and he tried to pull free only to find that his legs had been completely encircled by the vines. They began to climb up his body, constricting him like a mass of pythons and purposefully jabbing him with their thorns. Your friend called out to you but you disappeared into another room. The pheromones from the blossoms had deafened you. The only thing you could hear now was Jotaro's voice calling to you from the other room.
The frightened boy tried calling to you again only to have his mouth stuffed with vines as they wrapped around his head and acted as a wriggling, thorny gag. His arms were lashed to his sides as the vines completely cocooned him. He struggled and screamed as much as he could, but his cries were muffled and his struggles were in vain. The vines contracted around him, stabbing their thorns deep into him and drawing blood. Then, the plant began to feed, drinking up the boy's blood right through its epidermis. The boy's squirming came to a halt as his body began to shrivel and dry up. Eventually, he was nothing more than a wrinkled lump of human jerky. The plant drained every bit of fluid from the body before letting it drop to the floor with a thunk.
Star Platinum had closed and locked the door when you and your friend stepped into the dorm. He was stealthy enough that neither of you had noticed the door slowly shutting behind you. The Stand watched with grave satisfaction as your friend was eaten alive by the plant. He had planned to deal with the boy as soon as he set foot in the dorm but the plant had gotten to him first. Star Platinum did nothing to stop it, happy just to have the rival taken care of in such a painful manner. He looked on as the boy died feeling nothing but glee that the pest was out of Jotaro's hair forever. This was one death the Stand felt no remorse over. Now there was nothing keeping him, or Jotaro, from you.
You entered Jotaro's room, not really knowing what to expect, but you certainly weren't expecting what you found there. Jotaro lay sprawled out on the bed looking like he was ready to expire any moment. He gasped for breath and you could actually see his lungs contract and expand as he did so. You realized this was because his torso had been torn open from the inside out and a horde of flowering, thorny vines flowed out from it. You could see his green heart beating and pumping blood through green vines. His green lungs convulsed violently as Jotaro suddenly started coughing. Dark blood splattered everywhere. Jotaro painfully sat up and turned his head to the side. He spat what looked like bloody petals onto the rug next to the bed, staining it red. He flopped back onto the bed with an aggravated huff.
You looked up to his face and saw that his beautiful blue-green eyes were gone. Vines grew out of his empty sockets and clung to the wall behind him. The little roses that grew along them seemed to turn towards you as if looking at you. They opened up into little thorn-toothed mouths that growled and chattered at you. You should be horrified by the scene. You should run screaming from the room to find your friend and tell him what happened to JoJo. You should be trying to find help for him right now, but you were frozen to the spot. As you stood there you could feel something closing in around you as if a massive person had come up behind you and was pushing into you. Invisible arms encircled your own and invisible hands held you by your wrists. Something nuzzled the top of your head like an oversized kitten wanting your attention. You should be startled by this… but you weren't. Your brain was too muddled, too hazy and it was hard to concentrate on anything. Jotaro's cologne was so strong it was making you dizzy. You liked the smell of it, though.
It suits him, you thought, a slight blush forming on your cheeks.
Jotaro sensed your presence and was both elated and enraged. How dare you!? How dare you come to him now when he was like this?
"Took you long enough." He growled.
You jumped at his snappish tone.
"I-I'm sorry, JoJo." you apologized. "I thought you just wanted some space. I didn't think you were this sick! I tried to call you, but you never picked up…"
"You sure? Or maybe you were occupied." he accused, not even trying to hide his jealousy. You had your suspicions that your friend and Jotaro had some kind of jealousy for each other, but you never guessed that it was over you!
"JoJo…" You started.
A dizzy spell overtook you then. You wobbled on your feet a bit and had to catch yourself on the dresser. The roses growing on it leaned a little closer to you, but avoided touching you… for the moment.
"JoJo, I'm sorry I didn't come to check on you. If I thought for even a moment that you wanted me to be here, I would have dropped everything to come over. I just didn't want to intrude. I didn't know what was going on and I didn't want to shove my nose into your business. I know how much you hate that kind of thing…" You explained.
Jotaro's eyeless glare softened a little.
"You're the only exception." He muttered, sheepishly and turned his head away from you, embarrassed that he said such a thing out loud. He reached up to pull the bill of his hat down out of habit, only to remember that he wasn't wearing it.
You continued, not fully acknowledging what he said.
"I'm sorry if you thought I didn't care, JoJo. I do care about you." You added, pushing away from the dresser to stand up right. You wiped some sweat from your brow. It felt so humid in here, like you'd been walking through the Amazon right after a rainstorm.
"Not like I need you, to." Jotaro whispered in a pained tone. Your lack of feelings for him were the reason he was like this, afterall.
You hadn't heard him. You were too busy trying to catch your breath. The air was too hot and your lungs were beginning to burn.
Jotaro said something that sounded like a command to bring you to him. You didn't know who he could've been talking to just then. There was no one else in the room but the two of you, at least, no one else you could see. Unless he was referring to whatever the thing was that was clinging to you since you entered the room. You found yourself being pushed towards the bed where Jotaro lay. You tried to pull away only to end up backing into what felt like a very heavily muscled chest.
"JoJo! I can't move! Something's got me!" You cried, fear beginning to well up inside of you.
For a moment, you regained some clarity and almost realized how deranged the situation was when one of the rose blossoms puffed its fragrance directly into your face. You coughed and your eyes watered. After a moment that wonderful fuzzy feeling came over you again, only much stronger this time. Your skin tingled with a pleasant sensation and your head swam with nothing but happy thoughts.
You were pushed onto the bed where Jotaro wrapped his arms around you and pulled you onto his chest. You were pressed against the vines growing out of him and the thorns pricked your skin slightly.
"Ouchie!" You giggled drunkenly.
Jotaro frowned. He hated the idea of having you like this. It felt wrong and he felt like scum keeping you in this blitzed out state. But he knew that if he let you be in your right mind, you would run from him. You would take one look at what he'd become and run screaming into the streets. He would never see you again and he couldn't have that.
He sat up, cradling you in his arms. Your head rolled back and you found yourself staring up at the vine covered ceiling. The roses seemed to stare down at you, their little mouths opening and closing as they wordlessly babbled at you. Jotaro cupped the back of your head with his hand and lifted your head so that you were looking at him again. How he wished he could see you, but at least he could hold you. At least he had you close to him at last. He was willing to sacrifice his sight for that.
"I need you to listen to me." He said, his tone deadly serious.
Your glassy eyes rolled to look at him. He looked sickly to you before when you saw him lying on the bed, but up close like this you could see that his skin had a slight greenish hue to it. You watched his mouth as he spoke, watching his chapped lips move over pointed teeth that looked like thorns jutting up from blackened gums. His tongue flopped around in his mouth like a big, dark green leaf caught in the wind.
You squinted up at him, trying to understand what you were seeing. He was talking to you but your mind could only concentrate on one thing.
"JoJo… w-what happened t'you…?" You said, your words slurring together. Why was it so hard to think? That sweet smell was so overpowering. It filled your lungs when all they wanted was oxygen. You needed some fresh air.
Jotaro huffed in exasperation. He leaned down and spoke directly into your ear. You giggled at the tickling feeling of his breath against your ear and pushed his face away from you. Jotaro snarled at your antics.
"Will you quit acting like that and just listen to what I have to say!? I need your help, dammit!" Jotaro thundered.
You froze, cringing in his hold and half expecting him to strike you. He didn't, though. He just snorted through his nose like a bull once then sighed sadly.
"I don't know how to explain this to you. It's too weird, even for me. Just trust what I say, okay? And please, just listen to me!" Jotaro all but begged. His tone caught your attention. Never have you heard Jotaro sound so desperate before.
"I'll help you, JoJo." You said in such a sweet tone that it set Jotaro's exposed heart racing and froze the breath in his exposed lungs. "You don't need to explain. I'm your friend. I'll do anything to help you."
Jotaro was at a loss. Hearing you offer to help him so readily made his heart soar but hearing you refer to him as a "friend" very nearly killed him. The moment the dreaded word left your mouth he could feel the plant surge inside of him, growing double in size and sucking up some of his life force in the process.
You felt Jotaro seized up in pain and you were immediately alert.
"JoJo? JoJo, what happened? Are you okay?" you asked, deeply concerned.
"Uuugh, are you kidding?" Jotaro said, voice strained in pain. "Do I freakin' look okay to you?"
"JoJo, let me help you." you begged. "I'll do what I need to. Just tell me what I need to do."
Jotaro grinned, his thorn-teeth glistening with blood.
"Thank you. Thank you! That's all I needed you to say." He said, breathlessly.
He pulled you closer to him, pressing your chests together.
"Jotaro…" you said in a wary tone. You were beginning to sober up again and were instantly regretting saying you would help him. You had both hands pressed against his chest, trying to push off of him, but his hold on you was like steel.
"This is probably going to hurt a bit…" Jotaro told you. "No, I can't lie to you. It's gonna hurt like hell. But just remember, you promised to help me…"
"Jotaro… I-I c-can't breathe…" you gasped. The air in the room was so thick with heat and the husky scent of what you, in your dazed state, passed off as cologne that your lungs felt like they were going burst if you didn't get some fresh air soon.
"That's okay." Jotaro said, pressing your head against his beating heart.
You winced in disgust when you felt the hot, sticky wetness of the exposed organ's tissue against your face. It pulsed faster when you touched it. Fear and revulsion coursed through you and your own heart felt like it was going to jump out of your own chest.
"I can help you." Jotaro said. His tone was the softest you'd ever heard him use and in any other circumstance you might've fallen for him a little. But you couldn't ignore the undertone of hunger in his voice that sounded like it came from someplace very dark inside of him.
"Jotaro! Please!" You begged and he petted your hair as if that could possibly soothe you now.
"I'll help you just like you're gonna help me. That's what friends do, isn't it? Friends help each other…" His voice became a cold, inhuman growl that sent chills down your spine, even in the sweltering oven of a room.
"Ready?" he asked.
You began to slap and punch at him, hitting him in the face and exposed internals. It only served to annoy him.
"JOTARO! LET ME GO! WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO!? PLEASE JUST LET ME- AAAAAAAAAAAA!"
You screamed and flailed helplessly in his hold as the vines stabbed into your belly and chest. While you cried in agony, Jotaro sighed in relief. The vines constricting his lungs loosened and entered into your body. They relished in the extra space and began to absorb your insides to make even more room. The roses puffed more pheromones into the air. Eventually, your wild thrashing gave way to weak twitching. Your cheek lay up against Jotaro's beating heart expecting to die any moment. There was no way you would continue to live after what had been done to you. Blood bubbled and frothed out of your mouth and nose. Your cries of pain were nothing more than weak gurgles now. As you began to fade, you thought back to what your friend had said about Jotaro. He tried to warn you. God, if only you'd listened to him! You just didn't want to think that Jotaro could be such a… monster. Well, it was too late now. All you could do was let yourself grow cold as you drifted off into whatever came next…
"Where do you think you're going?" Jotaro asked, interrupting your final thoughts.
You felt things shifting underneath and inside of you and suddenly, you could breathe again. Jotaro pushed you a little higher up so that your head rested just under his chin. You could feel your heart beating again. Your stolen insides had been replaced somehow. After a minute, you put two and two together. You were somehow using Jotaro's insides instead of your own. His lungs were giving you air and his heart was pumping his blood through your veins. How such a thing was even possible, you didn't know, but you had witnessed quite a few impossible things today, so was this really all that surprising?
"Breathing easier now?" Jotaro asked, sounding satisfied. "The pain should have subsided by now, too."
He was right. Your body felt light and tingly with pleasure not pain. You welcomed the feeling, if only so you didn't have to feel that agony again. You relaxed into his hold, sighing contentedly. The voice in the back of your mind tried to reason with you and tell you that nothing about this was okay. You shouldn't be happy right now, you should be horrified. Jotaro squeezed you against him and pressed his bloodied lips against the top of your head, leaving a crimson smear on your hair.
"I'm sorry I hurt you," he apologized, but added in a dark tone,
"But you hurt me first."
If you heard what he said and how he said it, it had no effect on you. You just let out a sigh of ecstasy and began absentmindedly stroking his arm with your hand.
"Maybe things are better like this. We're stuck with each other now. I can't live without you, and you certainly can't live without me. Literally." He said.
He leaned down and whispered into your ear. You giggled at the sensation, but this time it didn't bother him. He just smiled and kept talking. "The best part is that no one can take you away from me now. I've already taken care of that smart-mouth shit head you seemed so fond of, don't know what you saw in that guy…" Jotaro trailed off, trying to reign in his temper at the mere thought of your friend.
"Anyway, there's nothing between us now. It wasn't the marriage I would have wanted for us, but… it will do." Jotaro yawned, his thorn teeth gleaming as he did so. "I think we all could use some rest…"
You were already sound asleep and Jotaro smiled as he gazed down at you. A tremendous sense of triumph filled him and he couldn't help but feel a little smug. The old Jotaro would be appalled and sickened at the things going through his mind right now, but he had long since accepted the truth. The plant wasn't a parasite nor was it merely a part of him. The plant was him, at least in a sense. It was the manifestation of all the things Jotaro wanted to hide from the world, from himself. It was all of his dark desires, his bitter resentments, his jealousies, his obsession, and possessive thoughts all brought to green, slithering life. Maybe dream DIO was right. Maybe he was every bit the monster the vampire was, just a different kind of monster. A disgusting mutation brought on by jealousy and rejection that grew and festered until it completely changed who he was on the outside to be just as odious as he was on the inside.
"Tch." Jotaro scoffed. As if he gave a rat's ass about any of that now.
He got what he wanted and that's all that mattered. He slumped back against the pillow, pulling you closer to him and prepared for a long nap.
Star Platinum watched the scene with a pleased expression. The Stand then gave a satisfied sigh and stretched, feeling the exhaustion of the past week or so weighing down on him. Jotaro was safe and happy, so it was worth the strain of staying manifested for so long. He was glad Jotaro finally accepted the plant rather than wanting to get rid of it. That made things easier. Star hadn't liked what the plant wanted to do either, but trying to fight it would only cause problems that might have ended with Jotaro getting hurt, or worse. Star Platinum stood next to the bed and let himself drop down back into Jotaro's body. Jotaro flinched at the sensation, but relaxed back into a dreamless slumber. For a brief moment before he fell asleep, Jotaro had the faintest feeling that somewhere…
Somewhere, in a place that he'd only seen once in his nightmares…
Somewhere…
…DIO was laughing.
Two days later…
Joseph Joestar huffed as he climbed out of the car, using his cane to steady himself. It was getting harder to walk without some kind of extra support and nearly everyone he knew was rude enough to keep reminding him of it. Alright, so he was a little wobbly getting in and out of vehicles, that didn't mean he was some old fogey that needed to hobble about on a cane all the time!
"We'll be waiting right here when you need us, Mr. Joestar." said the Foundation sanctioned driver.
Joseph turned to him looking befuddled.
"Beer? What for? I don't have time for a drink, right now!" the old man bellowed in exasperation.
The driver just looked at him with a confused expression before realizing that he'd been misheard.
"N-no, Mr. Joestar. I said we'll be here when you need us." he clarified, talking just a little louder than before.
"Oh… well, speak up next time." he grumbled and plopped his hat onto his head.
That was another thing, he wasn't hard of hearing, it's just that everyone else needed to stop mumbling. He did NOT need a hearing aid, no matter what Suzie Q said!
He made his way into the University, not expecting the chaos that awaited him. Everywhere he went, both students and faculty were lying about laughing like loons. People were draped out of windows, slumped against each other in the hallways, or just lying in the middle of paths and sidewalks. Joseph had walked into a madhouse!
"What!? Just what the hell is going on here!?" he shouted. Some nearby students leaning against the walls giggled at him stupidly.
"I've heard of these colleges and their wild parties but this is going too far!" he scolded. "You people should be ashamed of yourselves! Who's in charge around this dump!?"
No one bothered to answer him. They just laughed as if he was performing some kind of stand up routine or stared at him with glassy, bloodshot eyes.
Joseph growled in outrage, and stepped over the "drunken" students, nearly tripping over a few of them in the process.
"If I find out that the reason Jotaro hasn't been answering his phone and worrying poor Holly sick is because he's involved in this kind of shit, I'll take a cane to him the same way Grandma Erina did for me! That's the trouble with him! Holly mollycoddled him instead of straightening him out when he smarted off at her! Although, his attitude has improved a bit lately… but that's no excuse for making his mother worry. I swear, every time she calls me to come deal with him it's because he's gotten into some kind of bizarre mess!"
Joseph continued to grumble his way around the campus until he found what looked like an office of some kind. A young woman was slumped over her desk with her face buried in a pile of papers.
"What the hell? Even the staff is hammered?! Do you people have no limits at all?!" Joseph shouted.
When the woman didn't respond, Joseph slammed the end of his cane down on the desk next to her head. She yelped and sat up, some of the papers sticking to her cheek. She brushed them away and gazed up at Joseph with glazed eyes.
"I'm looking for Jotaro Kujo. I'm his Grandfather and I want to know why the hell he hasn't been answering his phone!" He said, slamming his mechanical hand onto the desk.
At the mention of the campus heartthrob's name, the woman flushed and fanned herself.
"You mean JoJo?!" she cooed, giggling stupidly. "I wish I could get to know JoJo!"
She proceeded to swoon and clutch at her chest as if she were hugging something.
Joseph was fuming. He'd been bombarded with stupidity since he arrived in this place and he was in no mood to deal with anymore incompetence.
"Oh my god!" he groaned and hopped over the desk, using his cane as a vault. He walked over to the files and began rifling through them, hoping to find something, anything on Jotaro. He had no idea what this office was, if it was student records or anything else, but he was hoping he'd find something that would at least give a clue to Jotaro's whereabouts and what he'd been up to.
"Oh, wait… you can't-" the woman slurred.
"Can it, you dizzy bimbo!" Joseph snapped. "If you're too smashed to do your job, I'll handle things myself! Why don't you just go back to sleep and mind your own business?"
The woman pouted at Joseph's rude tone, but took his advice and plopped her head back down on the desk. She was out like a light in seconds.
"Ah! Found something!" Joseph said a few moments later.
What he found was a disturbance report that had been sent to campus security a day ago. Someone heard screaming from their neighbor's room. That neighbor turned out to be Jotaro. Security was sent to check up on it, but nothing further was reported. Joseph didn't like the sinister implications of that. He couldn't imagine what kind of insanity Jotaro could be up to, but he didn't like the idea of his grandson involved in something… objectionable. Jotaro was a delinquent; rough, rude, easily annoyed and quick to voice his displeasure about things (usually with his fists), but he was a good kid. Still, dread began to eat at the old man's soul as he made his way to Jotaro's dorm. He couldn't shake the feeling that what was going on in this place was more than just a college party that got out of control.
"Dammit! Why do they have to make the sidewalks so high?" Joseph muttered when he nearly tripped over one of the flagstones on the walkway leading up to the dorm.
That strange, rose-like aroma he'd smelled in the main building was stronger than ever before. He thought it was some kind of air freshener they were using, but ruled that out when he discovered it was even stronger outside. Thoughts of some kind of biochemical attack on the college crossed his mind. The smell was even beginning to make him feel a bit giddy now, and he began filtering it out of his system using a breathing technique he remembered from his training with LIsa Lisa. The older he got, the more he lamented not keeping up with his Hamon training.
He neared the building and noticed a bloodied figure lying on the ground. It was a young man, probably someone who lived in the dorm. Joseph rushed over to see if the boy was still breathing. He was.
"Hey! What happened to you? Were you attacked?! Did… did Jotaro do this to you?" Joseph asked, dreading the answer.
The young man sputtered up some blood, but grinned up at Joseph, giving him that same dazed expression everyone else had been giving him since he arrived.
"Jotaro?" the boy questioned. "Naaaaaw, man. I fell off the balcony. That one waaaaay up there!" he said and pointed to a balcony on the top floor.
It was a long way to fall. The young man was lucky to have lived after a fall like that.
"I don't know what they're hotboxing over there, but that's some good shit!" He said with a giggle, before clutching at his stomach and groaning.
"They must not have the room sealed too good because it's all over the place. We thought it was candles or something, but there ain't no candles that make you feel this good!" he added, before wincing in pain. "Hey… I think… I think my back's broken…"
Joseph was already sprinting up the stairs, cane be damned. He left it out on the lawn next to the babbling student. He'd call an ambulance for the kid later. Right now, he had to see what kind of madness Jotaro had gotten himself into. He found the door he now knew to belong to Jotaro's dorm and kicked it wide open. HIs back muscles clenched as he did so. He groaned and had to lean against the doorway, deep breathing until the pain subsided.
"Knew I shoulda kept up my training…" He grunted.
Once he straightened himself out, he entered the dorm only to be nearly blasted back by the heat and the overwhelming smell of roses.
"What the-? It's like a sauna in there!" He cried.
That smell was making his head swim. He reared back, bracing himself against the railing behind him, trying not to end up baked out his mind like everybody else. He pulled a handkerchief out of his coat pocket and pressed it over his mouth and nose. He took a few long, deep breaths before entering the dorm.
"Jotaro! It's your grandfather! Where are you?" Joseph called into the room. That's when he noticed the vines.
"What the hell is this?! Jotaro, I thought you were studying marine biology, not botany!"
No answer. That feeling of dread in Joseph's chest was growing into a full on panic.
"Jotaro, please! For the love of God answer me, will you?!"
Joseph pressed deeper into the dorm. The vines slithered and squirmed out of his way making the old man shudder. He was beginning to think this was something way worse than just a science project gone horribly wrong. This had to be the work of an enemy Stand user! It had to be. He could think of no other explanation.
"Hermit Purple!" He called forth his Stand, making sure to infuse it with Hamon for an extra punch.
The purple vines wrapped themselves around the green ones, giving them a good zap of Ripple energy. The vines did not sizzle and burn away as Joseph had hoped. Instead the attack seemed to have the exact opposite effect. The vines shivered for a moment before expanding and growing to twice their original size. The thorns lining the vines grew longer and sharper and the blooms grew bigger and opened up revealing their snapping mouths to Joseph.
"Holy shit!" he cried as the vines wrapped around his arms and yanked him closer to the flower mouths. They squealed and gaped like baby birds, wanting more of whatever that delicious sun-fueled power was. Joseph braced both feet against the wall and tried pulling himself free from their hold. Hermit Purple slapped at the bigger vines, whipping the monster roses in their "faces". That seemed to do the trick as their hold on the old man loosened and Joseph pulled himself free. He fell to the floor, landing on something lumpy. Thinking it was more vines, Joseph scooted away from whatever it was and prepared another attack with Hermit Purple. There were vines there alright, but that wasn't all. Among the writhing vines was a mummified face that stared up at him with blank sockets, the eyes long having turned to dust.
"HOLY SHIT!" He shouted and sprang to his feet. His back muscles clenched again but he tried to ignore it.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!?" he shouted, backing away from the body in horror. HIs foot caught against something and he almost fell. He looked down to see another mummified corpse at his feet. He had the horrible thought that one of these bodies could be his grandson, but after looking them over he was relieved to see that wasn't the case. One body was wearing a crumpled "campus security" uniform and the other just wasn't tall enough. Then where was Jotaro?
"Jotaro?! Where are you?! JOTARO!" he called.
Joseph yelped in surprise when something grabbed him by the shoulder. He spun around to see Jotaro's Stand hovering there, rubbing one eye and looking like a grumpy toddler that someone had just woken up. Did Stands even need to sleep?
"You?" Joseph questioned, wondering why Star Platinum was there without Jotaro. At the very least the Stand's presence meant Jotaro was still alive.
"Where is Jotaro?" Joseph demanded.
Star Platinum pointed in the direction of Jotaro's room. Joseph went straight for where the Stand pointed, shivering as the vines squirmed out of his way, as if they were worms trying to avoid being stepped on. He reached the door and flung it open.
"Jotaro, are you alright? Your mother's at her wit's end. She-" the words caught in his throat when he saw the grisly sight before him.
"OH MY GOD!"