A/N: Let's get a few things out of the way before we can begin.
1. If you don't know by the summary, Part 6 does not exist in this universe, the only original character from Stone Ocean present in this story is Jolyne. So Dio never had a diary and whatnot.
2. I know that there are many returning characters from part 3, especially part 4, but this story isn't really about them. You'll see in future chapters that this story will really be about my own original characters and their own Stands, (I've made 20+ original Stands for this fanfiction).
3. This will be updated every Friday with no exceptions. Doesn't matter if it's a holiday or not. So expect a new chapter every Friday without any breaks until the story is finished. If I don't post on a Friday, then assume I'm dead. Or my internet's down. You choose.
4. Lastly, there is a bit of cursing in this fanfiction, but there will be no slurs or f words. Enough rambling, enjoy and feel free to comment, I will respond to all the comments I can, so feel free to ask questions.
...
Episode 28: Hot Soft Light
Henry Binns was born in 1977. His family moved to Japan when he was only four years old. At the age of 18, Binns met the love of his life, a woman named Catherine, who worked for the Speedwagon Foundation. Upon marrying her when he was 21, Binns joined as well, easily rising among the ranks. At the age of 25, the two had a baby girl named Aurora. At the beginning of the year 2005, tragedy struck. An escaped convict from the Speedwagon Foundation who had broken out in 1994, had reappeared. He became a hitman, taking on odd jobs from wwhoevercould pay the high price. In one of his assassinations, Catherine, who had taken a three-year-old Aurora for a walk through the park, was a witness.
The assassin ran after her, not wanting to be reported. Catherine, while running away with Aurora, managed to give Binns a call. She told him the situation and pleaded for him to hurry over.
Binns, who was putting away a Stand arrow that Jotaro had brought back from one of his expeditions, got the call and swiftly moved out of the room, accidentally cutting his hand in the process. He alerted his squadron and they rushed toward where he had told Catherine to hide. But by the time he arrived, it had already been too late.
Catherine and Aurora had already been suffocated to death.
Binns let out a yell as he rushed, in search of their murderer. Outside, he could see a man running. Binns and his squadron pursued the man. Binns ordered them to fire, but the bullets seemed to bounce off of the assassin. Only Binns could see what was going on. Some sort of yellow, gelatin-like substance was shielding the man. Eventually, the assassin was corned and held at gunpoint. When Binns got a good look at the assassin's face, he realized who he was.
The man had escaped from a Speedwagon Foundation facility nine years ago. His name was Rubber Soul, and his Stand was Yellow Temperance. The Speedwagon Foundation had been tracking him down for years and now he was finally found. Rubber Soul didn't go down without a fight. He attacked Binns' squadron. Binns was the only one able to see Yellow Temperance and was the only one who managed to avoid the attack and survive.
"Can you see my Stand?" Rubber Soul asked as he finished killing the last member of Binns' squadron.
"Damn you…" Binns was filled with so much rage, he couldn't think straight.
"It doesn't matter, I'll kill you anyway. I need to repay the Speedwagon Foundation for my five years of imprisonment anyway."
Yellow Temperance wrapped its way around Binns' neck and began to strangle him. But once Binns stopped his breathing, Rubber Soul's Stand disappeared.
"What?! What did you just do to my Yellow Temperance?!"
In an instant, Binns drew his gun and unloaded all the bullets into Rubber Soul's head, yelling out as he did so. In the following months, Binns suffered from severe depression. Not being able to handle the loss of his wife and daughter, Binns was planning on killing himself. But right as he put the gun in his mouth and got ready to shoot, his radio activated.
"Officer Binns!" the voice on the radio spoke with urgency, "There's been a bombing! twenty-three victims! We believe a Stand user is behind it!"
Binns, wanting to avenge the families that were lost in that bombing took the case and began to hunt down the Stand user. In his investigation, he found that the Stand user thought to be responsible for the bombing was working with two college students. Binns and his new squadron tracked down the car they were in and followed in pursuit.
Binns was filled with rage and anguish, so when the suspect's car crashed, and he saw that one of the college students had a Stand, he ordered his execution immediately. After the student had been shot, time seemed to be reset. The same events happened, and the student was shot once again. It was only after the student, later confirmed to be named Damien Donovan, had been killed, that the memories of him being shot the first time came into Binns' mind. In the distance, an airship could be flying away. The others had gotten away.
In the following four years, Binns continued to rise in the ranks of the Speedwagon Foundation. He resented all Stand users and vowed never to use his Stand again.
...
"M-my Stand!" Dianne said in disbelief, "What the hell did you do?!" She stared in shock as her Red Nightmare wouldn't activate, and the Speedwagon Foundation officers drew their guns.
Binns did something! Dianne thought I always assumed he had a Stand. He was the one who detected Damien's Voltaire. But this ability… It's beyond anything I could've ever imagined. Binns started holding his breath and then my Red Nightmare disappeared. His breath might be what's linking him to his ability.
Dianne quickly kicked up a rock from the grass and threw it at Binns' head. Binns exhaled as the rock scraped through the skin of his head, and knocked him out.
"Sweet Little Rock!"
The Speedwagon Foundation officers shot their guns, and Dianne quickly used Sweet Little Rock's shield to block the bullets.
"That was a good move," Dianne said, "I almost didn't make it in time."
"B-Binns!" Tenmei said, still failing to get on his feet.
"This is the most stressed I've ever felt," Dianne said, "You're not making this easy, Kakyoin, I'll be honest. But I will achieve my goals no matter how hard you try to stop me."
Kenna got out of Redbone and helped Ally inside, "What happened?" She turned to Tenmei.
"Binns is down," Tenmei said, "He used The Space Between to shut down Dianne's Red Nightmare, but she knocked him out and used Sweet Little Rock to protect herself."
"We need to wake him up!" Kenna yelled, "He's the key to stopping Dianne."
Dianne looked at the rock that hit Binns, a small smudge of his blood was on it, "Elastic Band!" The rock Stand broke apart into a red mist and reformed into Elastic Band. The red and blue Stand stretched its arm to grab the rock and returned it to Dianne. The Speedwagon Foundation kept shooting, but the bullets bounced off of Elastic Band as it protected Dianne.
"She's planning something!" Tenmei said, "What is she planning on doing with that rock?"
The sound of guns firing stopped, "We're out of ammo!" one of the SPW officers said, "What do we do?"
Binns groaned as he slowly woke up.
"Binns!" Tenmei called, "Use The Space Between now!"
Elastic Band turned back into Red Nightmare's mist. "Here's a new trick," Dianne said, "I haven't used this Stand in two months." The mist began to turn into a figure over two meters tall. It looked like a mummified man who had been starved to death. Its stomach and body were skinny and bony. Its right arm was larger and thicker than its left with long sharp claws.
"Allow me to introduce you to the Stand that killed Hol Horse," Dianne said, "Uncontrollable Urge!" Dianne gave the Stand the rock with Binns' blood on it, and the mummy swallowed it whole.
"This is bad," Kenna said, "The Stand that killed Hol Horse? Weren't his stomach and throat shredded by razors? And wasn't an entire liter of chemicals found in his stomach as well?"
"Yes," Tenmei said, "Hol Horse died from poison and blood loss. I faintly remember Dianne talking about it. This must be the Stand ability that did this. Binns! Use your Stand now!"
"It's too late, Kakyoin!"
Uncontrollable Urge grabbed something out of Dianne's pocket.
"That's Khan's knife!" Kenna yelled, "She took Khan's knife!"
Uncontrollable Urge put the knife in its mouth and swallowed it in one bite. Binns yelled in pain as the knife appeared inside his stomach.
"He'll never be able to hold his breath while in such pain!" Tenmei said, "Kenna, you need to heal him!"
"On it!" Kenna said as Redbone's chest opened up and a fully healed Ally came out, "Sorry June," Kenna said as she ran towards Binns, Redbone following, "I'll get you after!"
"It's… fine…" June groaned, gripping her stomach.
"Thunderstruck!" Uncontrollable Urge turned into the blue Stand and charged at Kenna. Kenna instinctively used Redbone to block the attacks but got three punches landed on her which sent her to the grass.
"I'm not going to let you heal him!" Dianne yelled, "Nothing's going to stop me from avenging my brother!"
Thunderstruck punched Kenna a fourth time, Kenna threw up blood, as she felt her ribs crack.
"Fletcher," Dianne said, "You have proven to be the biggest hindrance in my plan. I'll dispose of you first." Kenna closed her eyes and braced for impact as Thunderstruck got ready to punch Kenna's head to finally kill her. Right before Thunderstruck's punch landed, the Stand disappeared.
"What?!" Dianne yelled in surprise. She looked over at Binns, who was sweating profusely from the pain in his stomach. He was holding his breath.
"Y-you!" Dianne yelled in surprise, "How? Even under this much pain, you can still concentrate enough to hold your breath?!"
"Kenna!" Tenmei yelled, "Heal me now, we don't have much time!"
Redbone's chest opened up as it lunged at Tenmei. Tenmei quickly went inside. After about five seconds, Redbone's chest opened back up, and Tenmei ran out. He conjured up the blood that Kenna and Binns had spat out and wrapped it around Ruby Tuesday's fingers, protruding spikes. Ruby Tuesday punched Dianne in the gut. The spikes pierced her stomach causing more blood to come out.
"Dianne!" Tenmei yelled, "This is for Mr. Hol Horse and Mr. Polnareff!" The blood from Dianne's gut turned into a knife, and Ruby Tuesday plunged it all the way through Dianne's neck. Dianne puked up blood before falling over.
"It's over," Tenmei said, "Dianne's finally dead."
Binns exhaled in relief, "Please get this knife out of my stomach!" he yelled in pain, "Damn! This hurts like a son of a bitch!"
Redbone opened its chest and helped Binns in. Right as it closed its chest, Binns was back on the grass.
"What?" Kenna said, "What just happened?"
Tenmei looked at Dianne, she didn't have a wound on her. A stone angel stood idly next to her.
"She used Voltaire!" Tenmei yelled. Ruby Tuesday charged her again, but the stone angel turned into an armless metal Stand with a megaphone ahead.
"Amplifier!" Dianne vanished.
"Where'd she go?" Tenmei asked.
"I don't know," Kenna said, "Do you think she ran away?"
"I'm not sure. Make sure to heal Binns, we need him."
"Right!" Redbone opened its chest again and healed Binns. Redbone then healed June and healed Kenna again. They all stood on the small field for several minutes, but nothing happened.
"She's gone," Ally said, "She probably left with Greta."
"Are you sure?" Tenmei asked, "We need to be positive that she's gone."
"Look," June said as she pointed to the sky. An airship could be seen in the distance, slowly flying away.
...
The bodies of Khan Miran, Danielle Miller, and Bill Cliff were gone. Dianne had taken them before leaving. Loni Dodson's body remained, and she was soon buried in Morioh. Joanne was taken to an SPW hospital and got a blood transplant. Her condition became stable, but she hadn't woken up yet. No innocent lives were taken away during the assault on Morioh. Soon, the sun began to set and things slowly grew back to normal. Everything except for Joanne, who laid in her hospital bed, unconscious. Kenna sat down on a chair next to her bed, waiting for her to wake up.
Tenmei came into the room and put a hand on Kenna's shoulder, "Just give her a few more hours, the Speedwagon Foundation doctors said that she'll be fine."
"I know," Kenna said, not taking her eyes off Joanne, "I'm just in disbelief. Earlier today, I never could've guessed that all this would happen."
"Today has been eventful, that's for sure. But Dianne is running out of allies. With Loni Dodson, Danielle Miller, Bill Cliff, and Khan Miran gone, and with Ally and June on our side now, the only people she has left are Greta and The Wall. Plus, Jotaro, Jolyne, and Portobello will be arriving in Morioh next week. We know The Wall has only six members, so by adding Greta and Dianne, we have eight enemies. By counting myself, you, Joanne, Ally, June, Jotaro, Jolyne, Portobello, and even Binns, that makes nine. And if we're willing to bring Hozier with us, we'll be at ten. We outnumber them. Today they've taken a heavy toll. We haven't. We haven't lost anyone. Do you get what I'm trying to say, Kenna? We're winning. There's no need for you to worry."
"Yeah," Kenna said, "Soon after this will be over."
"We almost defeated Dianne today, we forced her to retreat. We know all her tricks. She won't survive another battle against us." Tenmei stopped to look at his watch, "Listen, I've gotta go sort some stuff with Binns. I'll try to convince him to join us. The Space Between is the main reason we won today. I'll see you later, Kenna."
"Yeah. I'm gonna stay here a little longer. I don't wanna leave Joanne alone."
"Okay. Make sure not to stay here too late. Joanne's probably going to spend the night here."
Kenna nodded as Tenmei left the room, gently closing the door behind him. Kenna looked back at Joanne.
We won, she thought, today was a victory. It's all thanks to you.
Kenna stayed for a couple more minutes, but as the setting sunlight entered the hospital room, she decided that it would be best to go back to the Morioh hotel. Right as she got up to leave, Joanne's eyes slowly fluttered open. In her weakened state, Joanne's mind was barely active. She gazed up at Kenna, illuminated by the orange sunlight, and uttered the first words that popped into her head.
"So… Beautiful…" the words were barely audible, but Kenna heard them loud and clear. Joanne's eyes closed again and she lost consciousness.
Kenna stood in shock as she looked at Joanne, also illuminated by the orange sunlight. She took a second to process what had happened and smiled.
"You're beautiful too, Joanne," she said, "We'll have to discuss something when you wake up again." She walked closer to her and pulled the bedsheets comfortably up to Joanne's neck before giving her a small kiss on the forehead.
"I have feelings for you, Joanne," she whispered, "Ever since you saved me from that flesh bud two months ago. I want to be with you for the rest of my life. I've been keeping these feelings to myself, but it's time I tell you. When you wake up, I'll tell you everything."
Kenna felt something warm and soft grab her hand and looked down to see Joanne's hand lightly gripping her. Kenna almost jumped in surprise as she noticed Joanne's eyes opening again.
"I know…" she said softly, gripping Kenna's hand slightly tighter, "I feel the same way…"
Kenna smiled, "Get your rest for tonight. Take your time to heal up. But after you get out of the hospital, would you want to…" Kenna paused for a second, her face blushing, "Go on a date with me?"
"A date? Like, go out to eat together or watch a movie?"
"Yeah…" Kenna averted her gaze, "Something… like that. But it's fine if you don't want to, I was just—"
"I'd love to," Joanne interrupted, "One thing though…" this time, Joanne began to blush and looked away, "I've watched rom-com movies and tv shows and… If we're gonna be… you know, a thing… then um… Should we give each other nicknames…?"
"Nicknames? What do you mean?"
"Well…" Joanne paused for a second, slightly embarrassed, "When I was in middle school, this girl I had a crush on used to call me Jojo because my first and last name both start with 'Jo'. I thought it was a really cute nickname…"
Kenna laughed, "Alright then, Jojo. How about you call me Ken? It's what my foster parents used to call me."
"Ken…" Joanne repeated the name slowly, "Does this mean that we're a thing now…?"
"I guess so, Jojo," Kenna said, "Make sure to get some rest, we've got a date tomorrow."
"Can't wait, Ken!"
Kenna left the room as the sun fully set, leaving Joanne to her thoughts.
Holy shit! We're going on a date! Holy shit! Holy shit! Joanne thought
Abstract appeared beside Joanne, "What's going on Jo?"
"Ken and I are going on a date!"
"Ken?"
"Don't worry about it. But we're actually going on a date! Abstract, can you believe it?"
"Do I get to go out with Redbone?" Abstract joked as she began laughing, "Maybe we'll even kiss. And we'll start making out. And if I get lucky, that night we'll get a hotel room with a big bed and we'll have se—"
"Shut up, Abstract! Don't you dare finish that sentence! Listen, you better not interrupt our date tomorrow!"
"Wouldn't dream of it, Jo. Just don't get too carried away on your first date."
"Yeah, yeah." Joanne yawned, "Anyways, it's getting late. We'll probably get released from the hospital tomorrow so we should get some sleep."
"Sweet dreams, Jo," Abstract said as she disappeared.
Joanne smiled as she thought about her upcoming date with Kenna. She fell asleep calmly that night.
...
"You'll be let out in five days, Mr. Kujo," the doctor said as he exited Jotaro's room.
Jotaro, along with Jolyne and Portobello had been in the hospital for the past two months. Their injuries from fighting Scallion and Stevana had been severe. Jotaro's fall from the second floor had broken several bones, and they had only just healed. Jolyne had been stabbed in the stomach and had to go under immediate surgery. Luckily the surgery was a success, and her stab wound slowly healed. Portobello Belle was in the worst condition of the three, he had burns all over his body and had lost his right hand under the elbow. He didn't seem very troubled about this, however. Jotaro had called Speedwagon Foundation doctors to take care of them. Portobello had specifically requested several elements and compounds of varying grams. Once given what he wanted, the doctors asked him what he planned to use them for.
"Watch this," he had said as Expresso Love put the elements and compounds on its table. Portobello held his arm stump next to the table and in a flash of light, his arm was returned and the table was empty. "The items you gave me made up the exact elemental composition of my missing arm. The only thing unaccounted for was the hair on my hand. As you can see, my hand doesn't have any hair and probably won't be able to grow it back ever. But everything else should function just the same."
Surprisingly enough, Portobello was the first to make a full recovery. Jolyne was a second after just under one month. Jolyne spent her free time mostly with Portobello, rarely talking with her father. Jotaro, bedridden from his broken bones, tried to talk to her once.
"Jolyne, what's going on? Why are you avoiding me?"
"Shut up! I don't want to talk to you."
"Jolyne if this is about me not wanting you to come with me to fight Dio,—"
"It's not that! I don't give a damn about that."
"Then what is it?"
Jolyne hesitated for a second, "Why were you more of a dad to Portobello than you were to me? How come you cooked for him? How come you were always there when he needed you? Why weren't you ever there when I needed you?! Why did you refuse to be my dad?!"
Portobello heard the yelling and walked into the room, "Is something going on?"
"I'm not sure," Jotaro said, "Jolyne, what are you talking about? I've met up with Portobello twice before going to this hospital."
"Bullshit!" Jolyne yelled, "Portobello's told me about all the time you've spent with him and how you cooked scrambled eggs for him!"
"I've never cooked, Jolyne," Jotaro said, "I don't understand what's going on."
"Don't lie to me! Portobello, tell him about everything!"
"Who me? I'm not quite sure what you mean."
"You said that my father always cooked scrambled eggs for you. Don't you remember, Portobello?"
"I never said anything about your father—Oh wait! I see what's going on!" Portobello grabbed a nearby chair and sat down, "You've got this all wrong, Jolyne. I never said that your father always hung out with me and cooked scrambled eggs for me. I said that Jotaro always hung out with me and cooked scrambled eggs for me. It's okay, I can see where you made your mistake."
"What?" Jolyne asked, "Portobello, what are you talking about?"
"I wasn't referring to your father, Jotaro. I was referring to Jotaro, my best friend. You see, after I shot my real dad six times—" Portobello stopped for a second, "Wait no, I'm not supposed to say that… After I uh… Left my father. Yeah, let's go with that. Anyways, after I left him, I developed my Stand ability. You see, my father was a Stand user, so I guess I've had a Stand ever since I was born but just hadn't realized it. I'm getting off-topic, back to what I was saying. When I first discovered my Expresso Love ability, I created my first clay doll. This was around the time I had met Jotaro for the first time so his name was fresh on my mind. I decided to name my first clay doll, Jotaro. Jotaro and I did everything together, we watched tv, played outside, went to school, and even read bedtime stories together. He's the one that cooked all those amazing scrambled eggs. Anyways, one day Jotaro fell over and died. I cried for at least two weeks. What an impactful moment of my life. I remember the day of the funeral. I was there, and so was my mom, and a plant from our house. It was really sad. Just thinking about it makes me wanna cry again. But that's what I was talking about. When you first said Jotaro's name, Jolyne, it reminded me of my old friend."
"Portobello…" Jolyne said, "That made zero sense. You brought a clay doll to school? You said it read? Since when can your clay dolls read?"
"Eh, you got me," Portobello said, "I might've made most of that up just now. But the scrambled eggs part happened. I tried to make Jotaro cook for me. The eggs tasted like clay, dirt, and shit, but I pretended to like them to not hurt his feelings. After that, I got mad so I stabbed him seventy-six times with a kitchen knife and crushed his head with my Expresso Love. Nobody serves me shit food and gets away with it!" Portobello looked at Jotaro's and Jolyne's confused faces before blanking out, "Anyways, what was I doing here? Oh, hey Jotaro, hey Jolyne! How are you two doing?"
"Portobello, I'm surprised that you remember how to breathe half the time," Jolyne said, "But you lied to me, you piece of shit! I thought my father had neglected me and taken good care of you! You little shit I'm going to beat the hell out of you!"
"Hey hey!" Portobello yelled, "Don't shoot the messenger, why didn't you ask me to specify which Jotaro I was talking about, then none of this would've happened!"
"Why the hell would I ask that?! Come here you little…!"
Jotaro sighed, "Yare yare daze."
Soon, Jotaro was fully healed as well, and the three left the hospital. Jotaro wasted no time setting up a private Speedwagon Foundation airplane. The three boarded the plane which was driven by two SPW pilots and had no one else on board to limit the risk of an enemy Stand attack. Once they were seated, Jotaro called Tenmei.
"Kakyoin, it's Jotaro," he said, "We're on the plane. We'll meet you at the airport in seventeen hours."
"Got it," Tenmei said on the other line of the phone, "Did you get my email on the Stand attack in Morioh six days ago?"
"I did. Good job on taking out so many Stand users in one day. And your side had zero lasting casualties."
"I had a lot of help," Tenmei said, "But I'll finally be able to rest easy when you make it here, Mr. Jotaro. The Wall could attack at any time, and we need all the help we can get as fast as possible."
"I'm a bit worried too. Those two Stand users Dianne sent two months ago nearly killed all three of us. And The Wall is supposedly way stronger than those two. But I really am surprised that Dio's daughter has been pulling all the strings. The only other child of Dio I knew about was this kid named Haruno Shiobana in Italy. I never met him, but Polnareff did."
"I remember Mr. Polnareff talking about him a little bit. I asked if it would be a good idea to recruit him and his team, but Polanreff was against it. He said that Haruno, now known as Giorno, had a gang to control and that him leaving Italy would be a bad idea."
"Yes," Jotaro could hear the plane begin to take off, "I'm gonna hang up now, see you at the airport."
"Goodbye, Mr. Jotaro," Tenmei said as Jotaro hung up the phone.
The plane took off in the air, beginning on its path to Japan. Jotaro looked at Portobello and Jolyne, who were seated next to windows on either side of the plane.
It's because of them that I survived my encounter with Scallion and Stevana Pryce. I didn't think I'd be needing their help, but now that Dianne's true intentions are revealed, we're never gonna be safe until she and the Stand users under her control are eliminated. The Wall worries me. If they're anything like the Egyptian God Stand users I fought twenty years ago, then the next few Stand battles are going to be some of the most grueling yet. Kakyoin's correct, we're going to need all the help we can get.
"The Wall," he said silently, "They have a seemingly undying loyalty towards Dianne. But why? Could it be that they were loyal to Dio and are now following his offspring? If that's the case then how come I've never heard of them before? According to Tenmei's reports, they're rumored to be one of the strongest teams of Stand users out there. So why haven't I heard about them? Better yet, if they were Dio's henchmen, why didn't he send them to attack us twenty years ago? Something's not adding up." Jotaro took one last look at his daughter, "The Wall might be the biggest threat we've ever faced."
...
A/N: And that's chapter 28! This chapter, Hot Soft Light, is named after The Hold Steady's song of the same name. This marks the end of the second major story arc of the story! The Stand that Dianne used to kill Hol Horse, Uncontrollable Urge, gets its design and form revealed. Previously, in Sacred Heart and Holy Diver, the ability was only seen and mentioned, the actual Stand was still ambiguous. Jotaro, Jolyne, and Portobello are officially back into the story as well. And Kenna and Joanne are finally getting together. I wasn't sure how to go about their romance, and I don't think I'm extremely talented in writing romance, so their relationship will be a subplot. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed, and see you next week for the beginning of the third major story arc with Episode 29: The Wall Part 1!