Chapter 21: Be With You Part 1: Think
The next day, MC walked to school with a heavy heart, Sayori walking beside him. Upon reaching, they oddly noticed that the guard at the gate was missing. There was also a note attached onto the gate.
"All students are requested to move to the gym immediately?" Sayori read out loud. "Why? MC, what do you think?"
"I don't know," MC said, looking at the poster as well.
"You guys ready?" they heard another voice call out from behind them. Looking back, they saw JoJo waltzing up to them, no bag in hand.
"Yeah, but there's this," MC replied, pointing to the poster.
Walking up to it and reading it, JoJo frowned. "I don't know about you guys," he said. "But I've got a very bad feeling about this. Has this ever happened in the past runs?"
"Never," Sayori replied. "This is the first time."
"Then it's an instigated change," JoJo realized, swiftly tearing down the poster. "The school's probably a hazard now. Most definitely Monika's doing."
"Huh?" the trio heard a strange voice from nearby. Upon looking, they noticed that it was a random girl student walking into the school. "Why did you tear that down? And where's the guard? W-What's going on?"
JoJo sighed as he walked up to the girl, unknowingly making her tremble as he towered over her with an stern expression. "School's closed today," he declared, making the girl flinch. "Something's going on inside. We're going to investigate. You stay here and lock these gates. Also, leave a note saying that the school is closed if you can."
"H-Huh?!" the girl responded while taking a step back, bewildered. "D-Do you have t-the authority for that?!"
"No, we don't," JoJo replied. "But none of this should be happening today. If we're correct, entering the school right now would put you in immense danger. If we're wrong, we'll come back and let you know."
"He's right," Sayori said from nearby. "We're being dead serious about this."
"Y-You're… Sayori, right?" the girl asked. "W-We share a class. Umm… I-I guess that if you're saying it, then I'll listen."
"Thank you," Sayori bowed to her. "Please, spread the word. School is closed for the day. If you fall in trouble for it, then put the blame on me. On us."
Suddenly, Natsuki and Yuri walked up from behind the girl. "Hey, what's going on?" Natsuki asked, now looking at the girl with crossed eyes. "Who's this? Another Stand User?"
"Stand User…?" the girl asked, quirking a brow.
"No, she's not, as far as we know," JoJo replied. "But Monika's made her move. I think she's in control of the whole school now."
Natsuki grimaced as she looked away. "T-That jerk…" she mumbled.
"Okay, everyone," MC declared, unknowingly using Monika's catchphrase. "Let's go in. Be prepared for anything."
"W-Wait!" the girl called out to the group of five right before they could move in.
"I-I don't know what you're talking about…" the girl slowly admitted. "B-But I hope everything turns out fine."
MC slowly smiled as he nodded at her.
"Thank you," he said. "And I swear to you, everything will be fine in the end."
As they entered the grounds, they immediately felt the same off feeling that JoJo felt earlier.
Normally, there would be the standard hustle and bustle of students mingling among themselves, scribbling in their notebooks to finish unfinished work or even rush to their classrooms before time. But this time, none of that was there.
The school was quiet. There was no one roaming outside.
"M-Maybe they could have all gone to the gym?" Sayori slowly asked, finding it odd how loud her voice could go when it was all quiet.
For their own sake, no one decided to grace Sayori with an answer.
As the group of five finally walked into the school, they noticed that the school hallways were also similarly barren. Devoid of the cluttering of lockers and standard disarray of a high school.
A sign of normality that just turned everything even more abnormal was the presence of Monika on the other end of the hallway past the lockers, with numbers of classroom between them.
"Hello, everyone," Monika greeted them with a somber smile. "I guess it's time for this, huh?"
Slowly, MC stepped up from his group. "Monika," he said, gripping his fists. "I don't care what happens. We're going to save you from this. From yourself."
"Save me?" Monika chuckled. "You can't, MC. Only they can. And as I said, I will stop at nothing to find them."
Before MC could say anything else, Monika clapped, the sound reverberating across the entire hallway.
"Okay, everyone~!" she announced. "You can all come out now!"
Suddenly, the doors to the classrooms nearby burst open, revealing all the students and the teachers in the school turning to the five with hungry looks on their faces.
"Oh, god," Natsuki grumbled. "House of Gold, Raised by Wolves, now this? How many times are we going to fight groups?!"
"Monika, what did you do?!" Yuri asked, warily stepping up to her.
"Oh, I just hypnotized every single one of them with my Stand," she revealed. "Now they won't stop until you're all killed."
"Monika…" Yuri widened her eyes as she watched the people slowly walking to them like zombies. "How… How are you okay with sending so many people to their deaths?"
JoJo ignored their exchange as he stepped up and summoned Renegades. "Yuri," he called out. "Have an escape route ready. Also, keep watch."
Grimly nodding, Yuri moved back and brought out The Knife to form a portal behind them.
MC stepped up beside JoJo as well. "Sayori, you can give us their energy," he commanded. "JoJo, Natsuki, you're with me on crowd control."
Natsuki grinned as she stepped up to MC, Sweet Victory by her side. "With pleasure."
JoJo had Renegades charge up a fist with aura. "Let's start this dance, then."
Renegades shot out the aura to their side, compressing the space between the assailants and MC's group, initiating their retaliation.
"KIAIAIAIAIAIAIAIAIAIAIAIAIAIA!"
"BAKABAKABAKABAKABAKA!"
"DORADORADORADORADORA!"
Despite the numbers of the people coming at them, they were no match for the immense strength wielded by the Stand Users. With Sayori refueling their energy with rope tied to their legs and fluttering over the hordes of people, they were able to carry on with their Stand Rushes for long enough.
Looking ahead, Yuri noticed that Monika was slowly walking away from them. She also spotted on of her Stand's scratches in the hallway ahead of her path.
"MC, come here!" she called out, opening the respective portal there and sending The Knife in MC's direction. "I'm sending you to Monika!"
Turning around, MC leaped into the approaching portal, letting him drop out in front of Monika, much to her surprise.
Running up to her, MC yelled out. "Day One!"
"Mess is Mine."
As the two Stands emerged, Mess is Mine slowly floated over to MC, reaching out for him. Yelling, Day One cocked back a fist and let out a punch on the approaching Stand.
However, Day One's punch just phased through Mess is Mine's body without hurting it or its user.
"Huh?!" MC shrieked as he experienced the intangibility of Monika's Stand for the first time.
Monika, however, chuckled. "You know," Monika spoke. "If Stands were Pokémon, Mess is Mine would, without a doubt, be a Ghost type. It is completely intangible, even to fellow Stands."
To MC's surprise, Mess is Mine started tofade away from sight. However, its signature "Tokkeaa…" groan could still be heard.
"It may be incredibly slow, but it can also go invisible. Even to Stand Users."
Suddenly, Mess is Mine reformed right in front of MC's face, arm positioned above his eye ready to strike.
"Day One!" MC yelled out again, making his Stand punch the rogue one once again. However, like before, the Stand's fist had simply phased through.
And Mess is Mine drove its arm into MC's eye.
MC went slack jawed as he found that he could not hold Day One out anymore, letting it dissipate. He was immediately forced to his knees as he felt the faculty of his own senses slowly leave him.
"Shit!" JoJo yelled out as he looked at MC past the bodies he was deflecting. "We need to help him!"
Yuri gritted her teeth as she exasperatedly said. "I don't have a portal there! Someone will have to go in there to grab him!"
JoJo withdrew his Stand and chuckled. "You know," he recited with a wide smirk as Natsuki finished the last of the incoming hypnotized students. "Us Joestars have a very special method of dealing with issues like this. A secret technique, if you will. Passed down to me by my great great grandfather, Joseph Joestar, who used it to kill a god."
"A secret technique?" Natsuki asked, turning back to JoJo while wiping off the sweat on her forehead. "One seriously strong enough to kill a god? What could it be?"
JoJo gave out a hearty laugh as he summoned Renegades, charging up a fist.
"Yuri, get a portal ready to move us to safety," he said. Yuri nodded and formed a portal behind her with The Knife.
"Now, everyone," JoJo said as he willed Renegades to charge its second fist as well. "Follow this to your last breath. Do not stop until you've found that you've succeeded."
Letting loose his charged punch to the side, he compressed the space between himself and MC and Monika. Acting quick, he grabbed MC by the shoulders and phased him out of Mess is Mine's grasp. With his Stand's second hand, he punched into the space he set between himself and Monika, expanding it and pushing her further away.
"NIGERUNDAYOOOO!" JoJo shouted as he shoved a yelling MC onto his shoulders and ran back to the already prepared portal.
"W-What the hell?!" Sayori reacted at the sudden sight before regaining her senses. Pulling a still stunned Natsuki along, she dove into the portal as well, letting Yuri finally enter last.
They found themselves in their clubroom. Surrounded by another group of hypnotized students.
"Shit!" JoJo yelled as he brought out his Stand and started to attack them all alongside Natsuki, dropping MC's body. "I thought that it would work!"
"Damn, and here I thought you were going to show us something cool!" Natsuki yelled out as he kept intercepting the incoming people, having to switch directions to deflect the inward flow.
"Hey, I was serious about the god thing!" JoJo yelled in reply, still punching his way through. "Don't knock it till you've tried it!"
"MC!" Sayori shook her boyfriend's slowly waking form. "Are you okay?!"
"Y-Yeah, what happened?" MC slowly spoke, then widened his eyes as he shot to sitting up. "Monika! She got me!"
"W-What?" Yuri stammered. "I t-thought you said Mess is Mine was supposed to be weak?!"
"I s-said that I wasn't sure, because I hadn't seen it in action," MC replied, rubbing his head. "Her Stand… it's intangible. Even to other Stands. I hate to say it, but the only way we can beat it is by either defeating Monika or… running away from her Stand."
"Wait, what the hell?!" JoJo yelled out, still in the middle of having his Stand beat up the thinning herd of hypnotized people. "We can't touch it?!"
Sayori looked back at MC again. "I didn't see it come to you, though," she revealed. "Are you sure it attacked you?"
"Yes, I am," MC shot her a look. "Monika's Stand can also go invisible, so it probably made itself visible to only me and no one else."
"Shit," Natsuki cursed in the middle of her punches. "How are we going to beat that?!"
"Target the user, that's our only choice," JoJo explained, still attacking the incoming horde. "We need to defeat Monika, and stay the fuck away from her Stand. MC, are you alright?"
"I think so," MC grumbled, still rubbing his head. "She did a number on me, but I think I got out of it in time."
"Good," JoJo sighed as he punched the final person in the room with a loud "DORA!". Standing amidst collapsed and suspended bodies yet again, JoJo turned to MC. "We can't have you compromised yet, after all."
MC stumbled up to a stand, bringing out Day One beside him as well. "Yeah, I know."
Suddenly, the heard a short shriek from Natsuki. However, it was quickly stopped, leaving Natsuki in the same catatonic state that MC was in earlier. Sayori ran up to her, ignoring the bodies flying from her sudden loss of control over their midair freezing with Sweet Victory's ability fade, and pulled her away.
"Tokeaa…" they heard a signature groan from nowhere as Natsuki coughed back into consciousness.
JoJo paled. "Is that…"
"Mess is Mine, yeah," MC replied. "It was invisible. She probably expected us to move to the clubroom. We should have expected that. Natsuki, are you alright?"
"Y-Yeah," she managed to choke out between raspy coughs. "I-I could see it though. That Stand's creepy."
Suddenly, JoJo yelped as he shifted his head to the side. However, he still groaned in a moment of agony.
"Did it get you?" MC asked him.
"Y-Yeah," JoJo said, regaining his form. "It missed my eye, probably low precision, but it just brushed past my head. It still hurt."
"Shit," MC said. "We're sitting ducks here! We have to get going!"
Just as they got up, Sayori leaped away from them.
"It's Mess is Mine!" she yelled. "It almost got me, but it's blocking my way ahead! You guys move on, I'll catch up!"
MC froze for a moment, but slowly nodded. "You'd better come back, alright?" he said.
Sayori grinned and manifested Take Me to Church on her arms. "Of course, I will."
However, just before they could run out, a whoosh of purple wafted over to Sayori's form and formed a portal under her. The Knife pushed her through a scratch portal on the wall of the club near Yuri.
"I can't believe you forgot about me," Yuri chuckled as she ran out of the room before everyone else.
"Shit, thanks, Yuri!" Sayori laughed as she ran out behind her, seeing the others follow behind her.
However, the moment they stepped out of the hallway, they faced Monika at the end of the hallway once again.
"Mess is Mine," she said, slowly walking forward, letting her gray Stand manifest right next to her.
JoJo growled as he ran up to her, manifesting his pink and red Spartan Stand beside him.
"Renegades!" he yelled out as he made his Stand elongate space to the side, bringing him even closer to Monika.
However, before his Stand could land a punch on him, Mess is Mine shoved an arm into his eye just as quick, rendering him immobile and unable to use his Stand.
"Shit!" MC yelled as Monika turned a teasing eye to them all, as if daring them to come at her.
MC still ran up to her, ignoring her obvious taunt. Just as he reached her, Monika made JoJo lift his arm up to intercept his path.
"Rollback!" he shouted as he leaped up with Day One boosting him up.
As MC slowed to a midair hover, he saw time roll back past JoJo getting stabbed by the Stand and him bending space to meet her, to the point when they had just left the clubroom.
As time faded back to normal, MC found himself dropping onto Monika's body, leaving her caught in surprise.
"Day One!" he yelled out, manifesting a white-gloved green star-speckled arm over his own.
"Mess is Mine!" Monika yelled out with a wary step back as the Stand shot up to MC's path and held its short arm out.
MC used his Stand's other hand to punch himself into the air lightly, pushing himself above the incoming arm from Mess is Mine to land straight onto Monika's form.
As he held his arm cocked back, Stand manifested around it again, he regarded Monika staring up at him, shooting him a bewildered look.
And for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to push his arm forward.
As Monika swiftly stepped to side to let MC collapse onto the ground, she called out "Mess is-"
"Renegades!"
Despite the interruption of the Spartan Stand and being brought closer to the group she was fighting, she had her Stand drive one arm into MC's eye and the other into JoJo's incoming form, him not being fast enough to avoid it in time.
"What the-" Sayori yelled out. "Her Stand was never that fast!"
Monika chuckled as she brought the two boys to their knees. "Mess is Mine is faster near me. It's a feature arisen from its desire to protect me, as its user."
As Monika was speaking, Yuri sent out The Knife to the two boys in front of her and formed scratches under them. Zipping back to her, she made them both come out of the portals one by one to their side.
"Agh," Monika groaned as she finally noticed the two boys missing, knowing that their heads just phased through Mess is Mine's arms due to gravity. "Yuri. Out of all the abilities you could attain, why did it have to be portals? They're so annoying."
Ignoring her taunts, Sayori and Natsuki quickly pulled MC and JoJo along as they ran away. As they approached the stairs to go down, they noticed a new rush of hypnotized students running up the stairs.
"Yuri!" Natsuki turned to her, bringing out Sweet Victory once again. "Take JoJo! Run! I'll hold them off!"
Nodding, Yuri took JoJo's body off Natsuki's hands and started dragging him away with Sayori doing the same to MC while Natsuki attacked the incoming group of people.
Dragging the bodies across the hallway for a while, they noticed the door to the teacher's lounge nearby. Sayori pointed at it.
"Yuri, that could be locked!" she yelled. "Make a portal behind that door! Let's go in!"
Nodding, Yuri manifested The Knife once again and made it phase through the door. Making a scratch at the opposite end of the door, it returned back outside and formed a portal into it. Yuri and Sayori pulled the bodies behind them through the portal while Natsuki shot one last burst of frozen air at the incoming horde before entering through the portal behind her, letting Yuri close it before anyone could make their way through.
Natsuki, now in the empty teacher's lounge, collapsed onto her knees and heaved loudly to catch her breath. Yuri and Sayori were heaving from their exhaustion as well, as they dropped the bodies they were dragging by their sides.
"Are… they okay?" Sayori wheezed out as she gently bent down to check on the two boys. Yuri slowly walked up to the door's lock, inspecting it to make sure that it was locked. Upon seeing the opposite, she quickly pushed the lock in right before they heard a loud pounding from the opposite end.
"Close… call…" Natsuki wheezed out from nearby, still catching her breath. "I… don't think… I can use my Stand anymore…"
Yuri, upon hearing those words, suddenly felt her breath hitch. Slowly turning her neck to look at Natsuki's heaving form, she could easily make out how worn out she was. Her hair was in incredible disarray, her uniform completely soaked with sweat. She was unconsciously letting drool slop out of her mouth as she did everything in her power to catch her breath. Yuri, for a moment, wondered why she hadn't collapsed onto the floor already.
'If Natsuki is tired, and JoJo and MC are unconscious,' Yuri thought, 'then who's going to fight?'
"They're fine… I think," Sayori spoke up from nearby, breaking Yuri out of her thoughts. "I can still feel energy in them. They'll be okay."
As if on cue, MC let out a loud groan, to which Yuri let out a sigh of relief. The dark-haired boy slowly sat up, still rubbing his head like he had before.
"Monika… What happened?" he groaned out as he looked up to see the other three members of the club in front of him.
Sayori beamed a wide smile, seeing her boyfriend now awake. "MC, you're up!" She suddenly dove down to wrap him in her arms. "I thought I lost you…"
Yuri briefly made out MC mask a flash of irritation before slowly prying Sayori's hands off of him with a smile. "Y-Yeah, I'm good, thanks," he said, after which he slowly shook up the boy next to him.
"Oi, JoJo," he told him. "Wake up."
"Gah!" JoJo yelped as he shot up to a seat. "What… what happened?"
"Monika got us," MC told him. "She was good. Didn't expect her Stand to be so fast when we closed in."
"Damn," JoJo replied with a chuckle. "You're right. Holy hell, that felt like shit."
Sayori shook her head. "That doesn't matter, guys." She nudged her head to the door, that was still being pounded by the hordes of people past it. "What do we do about that?"
MC groaned as he rose to a slow stand. "We… just have to fight," MC said, manifesting Day One by his side. "Natsuki, are you good?" he turned to her and asked.
"N-No," she moaned out. "Too tired…"
Sayori grasped her by the shoulders. "I can refuel you when we open the door again," she said. "I don't think that it will hold for much longer."
Sure enough, a splinter of wood just shot out from the door as Sayori finished speaking, making them all flinch and the pounding on the opposite end to get louder.
"Damn, you're right," JoJo agreed as he painfully groaned his way into a stand. "We need to fight now."
Yuri nodded, after which she stood behind the others.
"Alright, everyone," MC said as he walked up to the door alongside JoJo, Sayori and Natsuki behind them, followed by Yuri. "Are you all ready?"
JoJo merely grinned at him, Sayori hummed in approval, Natsuki groaned out a yes and Yuri let out a quick breath.
"Let's continue, then," MC said as Day One and Renegades drifted to the door, ready to beat it up.
But then the pounding suddenly stopped.
The club stood frozen as they heard footsteps walk away from their door, shadows drifting away from underneath the door. However, in a few seconds, they found a singular shadow right in front of the door.
"You know what?" a familiar voice called out. "I'm done playing with you all."
Suddenly, Mess is Mine manifested through the door again. Yuri and Sayori pulling Natsuki along managed to jump out of the way into opposite directions: Sayori closing herself onto the wall with Natsuki, with Yuri moving into the far end of the room. However, the Stand managed to catch JoJo and MC in the eyes yet again.
This time, however, Yuri had no time to react and make a portal underneath them like before. Uncannily, Mess is Mine's arms left their heads in just a few seconds, leaving them stare wide-eyed at the door.
"Now, open the door," Monika voiced out from the opposite end of the door.
To the horror of the rest of the club, MC's and JoJo's eyes glazed over as they walked up to the door and undid the push lock. They swung it open to reveal Monika on the other end, Mess is Mine by her side.
"No!" Sayori yelled out, dropping Natsuki to the side and running up to her two lost teammates. "Take Me to Church!"
Monika simply smiled at the arrival of the ropes in her direction and snapped her fingers.
"KIAIAIA!"
"DORADORA!"
The quick punches from the Stands of the now hypnotized two boys sent Sayori flailing in the opposite direction, them completely ignoring the incoming rope.
"Oh, this is wonderful," Monika chuckled as she walked into the lounge. "After all, there's no better way to break MC than have him be the one to kill the others."
Natsuki trembled with a growl as she crept up to a Stand, but then fell back onto the floor once again.
"Oh, poor Natsuki," Monika walked up to her. "I see you're too tired. Let me help you there."
"Yuri!" Natsuki found energy to yell as Mess is Mine appeared in front of her. "Run away! Use your Stand and run away! Keep yourself safe!"
Yuri couldn't move as she saw Mess is Mine drive another arm into Natsuki's eye. With another snap of Monika's fingers, JoJo started to charge up a punch with Renegades. He turned to Yuri as he released it to the side, stretching space to bring Yuri closer to him almost instantly.
As the Spartan Stand approached her, Yuri quickly shielded her tear-stricken face as she frantically yelled out, "The Knife!"
Manifesting right in front of her, The Knife managed to form a portal to let Yuri move through right before Renegades could finish its punch.
Yuri stumbled onto a wood-tiled floor. Finally opening her eyes again, she found herself within her room back home, reappearing from the scratch she had placed the previous day beneath her, on the floor.
Realizing what she had just done, she felt a new rush of bile flooding her esophagus. Barging through her room's door, she found her home's bathroom and retched her morning breakfast into the closet.
Shivering as she finally stood back up, she wiped the bile from her lips and crept up to the sink. Washing her hands and her mouth off the vile vomit, she unconsciously looked up at the mirror.
She was always self-conscious of her appearance. She knew that she was fairly attractive and that she was slightly more developed than most girls her age, but none of that could hold back her self-induced spite for herself due to her inability to efficiently socialize with others.
However, now that she looked at the mirror, she only saw the most unfaithful excuse for a girl in the world. Someone who wasn't willing to even protect those that were willing to be her friends at a time of need.
"Everyone…" Yuri whispered to herself as she remembered every member of her club that had fallen to Monika's hands. "I'm… I'm so sorry… I couldn't save you…"
Looking at her reflection once again, she found useless tears fall down her cheeks. No matter how much she tried to wipe them off, she found that they kept coming. No matter what she did, the tears were always there.
'Just like these tears, I'm useless,' she thought, unknowingly gripping the sink even harder and clenching her jaw. 'I can't save anyone by myself. I'm not worth anything. Even my Stand is significant of that. An ability that just helps me run away.'
Yuri finally left the bathroom, still letting her tears drip onto the hardwood floor beneath her. Climbing down her stairs, she found herself in her hallway, knowing that no one was there. Her father and mother both had jobs to attend to, and she knew that they were busy that day. They wouldn't expect Yuri to return so soon from school, after all.
Yuri kept choking on her tears as she collapsed onto her ash sofa. Seeing her tears darken the fabric beneath her, she found herself unable to do anything. Unable to hide her face with her hands. Unable to wipe her tears away in her fruitless endeavor. Unable to keep forgiving those that she had abandoned.
However, from her peripherals, she noticed a maroon hard-cover book nearby.
Slowly shifting her head to the direction, she found two copies of a book that she was incredibly familiar with.
"The Portrait of Markov…" she muttered.
'Monika may come here soon. I can't stay here for long,' she thought as she gingerly reached out for one of the copies. 'But… I think I can take a moment.'
Holding the book in her hands, she once again saw the red eye on the cover staring back at her.
'This copy… I was going to give it to MC, wasn't I?' Yuri pondered with a light chuckle. 'I can't believe his arrival changed the club so much. I must have set it out on Tuesday, but travelling back in time made me not care about this book as much anymore.'
Flipping over to a random page, she started to read an excerpt aloud.
"Crimson trailing her shriveled cheeks, Elyssa witnessed the grey-clad guards before her, split apart by grills of cold metal. Watching the crimson on their hands, she whimpered as the smell of her doctor hit her."
"'You…', she found her capacity to speak once again. 'Renier… you killed him…'"
"'He was getting too attached,' replied the guard, walking up to his prisoner with no worry of how much power she could wield. 'You know the rules, Libitina.'"
"Elyssa felt something burn within her. Something writhing, something unholy. She knew that this was her devil, and that she should never fall to it. Yet, in her anguish, and her anger against the ones before her, she found herself feeding the beast within her."
"Her eyes turned as crimson as the blood on her face, while a new flow of blood fell from her eyes once again."
"The test was successful."
"The metal bars holding her back dissolved into nothing as the guards crept away, now realizing the peril that they had willingly placed themselves into. Metal rust drifted into Elyssa's grip, reforming into a blade of steel that would turn as red as her eyes in mere moments."
"Closing her eyes, Elyssa Libitina found it within her, for the first time, to hold her Third Eye back.'Renier was the closest thing I had to a friend,'she said as she crept up to the cowering guards, with still closed eyes. 'And you took him from me. I will not unleash the full wrath of this power on you. You deserve worse. So, I will use my Third Eye blind, and make you feel every bit of suffering that you induced upon him and me.'"
Finding the following gory details hitting far too close to home, Yuri closed the book and looked ahead.
"Elyssa was scared too," she muttered to herself. "Renier was the only one who supported her in the laboratory. His death had crushed her. And yet, she had done everything in her power to avenge him."
Looking back down at the eye on the book, she continued, "But those guards did not have an activated Third Eye. Elyssa was stronger than them. In my case, everyone that I am fighting have Stands. I can assume that the other club members are now influenced by Monika, so how would I fight them as well?"
Flipping through the pages once again, she widened her eyes as she found the answer she needed.
"Elyssa did not want to die there, didn't she?" she realized. "She wanted to escape. She wanted to be free after what had happened to Renier and the numerous tests carried out on her."
"Can… Can I do that?" Yuri asked herself. "Am I willing to… kill people, like those around me and Elyssa herself did? Can I go that far? Can I actually make an impact all by myself?"
Taking a moment to ponder about the question, she eventually sighed.
"M-Maybe not, but… I… I want to be free from this hell, too," Yuri closed the book and set it aside, standing up to wipe the tears from her face once again. "I… do not want to be a slave to Monika, to myself, anymore. That means that I must do everything in my power to fight back against those against me. Against those that try to kill me as well. I may not have the power of the Third Eye, but I do have The Knife."
Seeing her purple Stand manifest once again by her side, she managed to find it in herself to smile.
"The Knife," she addressed her Stand. "It's time for us to go back. I'm going to be the protagonist of this tale for once."
Stand User: Monika Takeyama
Stand Name: Mess is Mine (named after a song going by the same name by Vance Joy)
Type:
Ghost-Type Stand: This Stand is intangible and can turn invisible, even to Stands and their users. It is impossible to land a physical hit on this Stand. It can also reappear back to its user's side immediately, no matter where it is. It can also make itself exclusive to certain people exclusively. However, in order to use its ability, it has to become visible to the victim at least. Even then, the first Stand rule applies.
Abilities:
Mental Manipulation: Mess is Mine is able to read and adjust the functioning of the human brain by digging its intangible arm into a victim's head. It can freely adjust emotions, personality, and memories. It can also read these when piercing it. However, quick major adjustments are weak, and can be easily fixed by knocking a psyche back into shape or by exercising the victim's will. Drawn out changes are far more permanent and harder to break. If the victim has a Stand and are controlled, the user can will him or her to use it as well. However, they cannot use it if the user cannot remain in constant track of them, or if the ability is out of the scope of Monika's senses.
PWR: None
SPD: E (Becomes B when within 1m of its user)
RNG: A
PER: Infinite
PRC: D
DEV: C
Nigerundayo, if you don't know, means "Run away".
A/N: I actually planned to upload this with its second part included, but there was so much happening and the chapter got a bit too long. That's why I thought it best to split it into two chapters. So, if you found the last bit of this chapter unsatisfactory, just wait for the next part. Your wait will be worth it.
And here we have the reveal of Mess is Mine's stats. Now you know why I was building this up so much. A Ghost-type Stand was one that I had thought about a while ago. One that couldn't be hurt, even by other Stands. On the flipside, it will have absolutely no physical strength. I've always wondered how dangerous a Stand like that could be, which is why I decided to give it to Monika.
Finally, Yuri is getting character development! I knew that she was one that I had to build up for a while. Sayori is far too traumatized for actual character growth, even though she was still growing regardless. I could never see how to develop Natsuki's character. Maybe help her get a little milder. I knew for certain that the worst fit for Stands in the club was Yuri. Normally, she's far too meek to handle one. She would have also developed Stand Sickness like Sayori if it weren't for her fight against Sakimoto and Stupid Deep.
Next chapter is epic. One that I had planned from the very genesis of this story. Seriously, I was getting shivers writing it. It's actually more or less complete because I wrote it in tandem with this, but it needs a lot of touching up and enhancing. I'll be taking my time for that aside from watching other anime.
Review!
IzuOchaShipper99: Sorry to say it, but there are no Brando's in this story. A shame, really, I agree with how it could have been fun. You're spot on about this being in the Stand Arrow universe, though. No Spin, no Holy Corpse, no manga spoilers. But for 'Markie', it's actually just a nickname for someone we all know and love. Mark Caulfield, a.k.a. MC. As for why Wallace is using a nickname other than MC for him, you will have to see in future chapters.
And that's it! I knew I said that I'd take some time to upload this, but I found time in my schedule. I also just wanted to write to get my ideas out.
That's all for now! I'll see you all next chapter!