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 43: Broken Bells Part 2
October 2005
It had been just over a month since Sebastian, Bono, and Karmiel joined Dianne and Greta. Bono had informed Dianne of a mansion his wealthy father used to own before he got mutated by Dio's flesh bud. It was now completely abandoned and theirs for the taking.
"Why did your dad own a mansion surrounded by nothing but trees?" Dianne asked as she looked out of Van Fleet's window and saw the mansion.
"Funny story," Bono said, "My dad always wanted to go camping with me during the summer. So he bought a mansion in the middle of a forest. He told me to think of it as a 'big, luxurious tent'."
"Wow, rich people are something else," Greta said as she shook her head, "Where do I park Van Fleet?"
"Hm, I haven't thought of that," Bono said, "A car can fit next to the mansion, but I don't think an airship like this can. Can you shrink it by any chance?"
"Of course, I can," Greta said. The interior of Van Fleet began to compress as Greta shrunk the airship to half its size, "There, is that enough?"
"Yes," Bono said, "I'm sure it'll fit now."
After Van Fleet landed, Bono introduced everyone to his mansion, "It's four floors in total. Three normal floors and a basement. It has a staircase and an elevator."
"This place is amazing!" Greta said, "How did your father even afford this?"
"He was a close accomplice to Dio. He was paid very well."
Sebastian laughed, "My dad didn't nearly get as much money as this. Looks like yours was way higher up in Dio's hierarchy than mine. What about you, Karmiel?"
"I dunno," he said, "I was five when he mutated, I don't remember too much."
Sebastian laughed again, patting Karmiel on the back, "Sometimes I forget you're the youngest one of us!"
"H-hey! You're only a year older than me!"
Bono shook his head and sighed, "Sorry about those two, they can get pretty rowdy."
"No, it's quite alright," Dianne said, "At least they can still laugh. After everything they've been through…"
Bono shook his head again, "I appreciate the compassion, but we're all doing good. Sure, Dio may have taken our fathers away from us, but it was their fault for being tempted by his evil charisma anyways. We're just here to make sure his lasting influence doesn't harm any others."
"Speaking of which," Greta said, "How are we going to go about doing that? Dianne, you said that the only Joestars you're familiar with are Jotaro and Holly Kujo, and Joseph Joestar. But the memories you've inherited from your mother are from almost twenty years ago, how are you going to go about doing this?"
"You see, I have a theory," Bono said, "Karmiel, Sebastian, and I acquired our Stands when our fathers got theirs. It must be some sort of blood link. But the three of us found each other out of pure coincidence. I think that Stand users tend to be drawn to each other. I'm not sure how to explain this phenomenon."
"Dio had a similar theory," Dianne said, "But where are you going with this?"
"We'll need more people with us if we're going to pull this off," Bono said, "We'll need more Stand users. I've been with the Speedwagon Foundation long enough to know that Stand users are slowly appearing more and more in this world. We can use that to our advantage."
"What do you suppose we do then?" Greta asked.
"You should head out, Greta," Bono said, "Perhaps even take one of us with you, but we need to find more Stand users. We need to increase our numbers as much as possible."
"What?" Greta asked, "We're just gonna go run around looking for Stand users?"
"Yes, that's exactly it," Bono said, "You're the one with the high-speed airship. As I said, you may bring escorts as you wish, but Dianne and at least one more of us need to stay."
"What? Why?" Dianne asked.
"We'll need you to stay here, Dianne. As the head of this whole operation, you need to stay here, we can't risk you in case some of these Stand users end up being hostile."
"Oh, but we can risk Greta? Is that what you mean?" Dianne gave Bono an angry look as she refuted his point.
Bono sighed, "Perhaps I've said some things I didn't mean. I'm sorry, Dianne. I'm sorry, Greta."
Dianne was surprised by Bono's sudden apology. She had expected him to argue but was pleasantly surprised that this wasn't the case.
"We should discuss this more with Karmiel and Sebastian," Bono said, "Please make yourselves at home. Most of the bedrooms are on the third and second floors. You can choose whichever rooms you'd like to."
Once Dianne and Greta left to go find some rooms, Bono walked over to Karmiel and Sebastian, who were laughing as they joked about how much "older and mature" one of them was compared to the other.
"Hey guys, cut that out," he said, "Listen if we're gonna help Dianne get revenge on the Joestar and Dio bloodlines, we're gonna need some more help. At some point or another, we're gonna have to go get more Stand users. We need to be there for Greta and especially Dianne to make sure that none of the Stand users we find end up hurting her."
"Yeah, that would be a problem," Karmiel said, "Have they even agreed on getting more Stand users yet?"
Bono shrugged, "I think they have, but I'm not one hundred percent sure. Do you two have any leads?"
"Actually," Sebastian said, "I was doing some research, and I have two places we can check. First, apparently, there's an entire organization of Stand users in Italy, and their leader is supposedly the strongest Stand user. But these are just rumors I've caught from the Speedwagon Foundation. Polnareff dispelled them pretty fast, saying that they're all false."
"That's kinda weird, don't you think?" Karmiel asked, "Maybe Polnareff knows something."
"Then it's best to keep away from this organization," Bono said, "If they know and are well acquainted with Polnareff, then I doubt they'll help us at all. That's out of the question. What about the other place, Sebastian?"
"Yes, there's been word that in the past years, six men have conquered the Cairo underground. It is extremely likely that they're all Stand users. They're worth investigating at the very least."
"That sounds interesting," Karmiel said, "Are we gonna head there?"
"It all depends on what Greta and Dianne have to say about this," Bono said, "But I think this is definitely worth a try."
"Yeah," Sebastian nodded in agreement, "Quick thing. I know it's kinda outta nowhere, but do you think Mistress Dianne would say yes if I asked her out?"
The serious conversation stopped with Sebastion's question and Karmiel and Bono's bursts of laughter.
"You've gotta be kidding! Go for it, man!" Bono could feel tears rolling down his eyes.
"Only if I can record it!" Karmiel said, clutching his stomach, "Don't you think she's a bit out of your league?"
"Why, because she's Dio's daughter? Don't you guys have faith in me?"
"Because you call her mistress, dude," Bono said, still laughing, "That's a bit weird! But go for it, I'm sure she'll say yes!"
Just then, Dianne and Greta came down the stairs.
"That room on the third floor with the big fancy door," Dianne said, "Does it belong to anyone?"
"That's just some fancy schmancy room," Bono said, "You can have it if you want, it's too big for my liking anyway."
Sebastian nodded in agreement before Karmiel nudged his side.
"Oh, um," Sebastian swallowed before stepping up to Dianne and grabbing her hand, "Mistress Dianne, I was uh… wondering… if you um, maybe wanted to perhaps… Well, you know…"
Just spit it out! Sebastian thought to himself.
"...Go out with me?"
There, I said it!
Nobody said a word for several seconds, but to Sebastian, it felt like several minutes.
Finally, Dianne let out a light giggle, "Sorry," she said, "But I'm already in a relationship."
Sebastian's jaw dropped, "Wha-? Mistress Dianne, who? Who are you in a relationship with?!"
Dianne laughed again, "You didn't know? I didn't tell you?" She gave Greta a hug and brought her close, "I'm with Greta."
Bono and Karmiel burst out laughing again, "He really didn't know?!"
"Wh-?" Sebastian swung his head toward the other two, "You guys knew and didn't tell me?!"
"We couldn't let an opportunity like this slip!" Bono said, "Funniest shit ever!"
"Keep laughing, Asshole!" Sebastian yelled, "I built up a lot of courage to even ask her out!"
"Sorry," Karmiel said, "But Bono's right, this is the funniest shit ever!"
"What kind of sorry excuses for friends are you anyway! You can't just do this to me!"
Fuming, Sebastian stomped past Dianne and Greta as he went up the stairs.
"What was all that about?" Greta asked.
"Ah, don't worry about it," Bono said, "Karmiel and I just had an opportunity to get a good laugh and we couldn't let it slide. Anyway, we were thinking that we should take a trip to Cairo."
"Cario?" Dianne asked, "What for? Isn't that where Dio died?"
"Yeah," Karmiel said, "Apparently there are six powerful Stand users there. If they're in Cairo. Then they surely know about Dio."
"The question is," Greta asked, "Are they friends or enemies of his?"
"Well," Bono brought a hand up to his chin, "Wouldn't it benefit us either way? If they're his enemies, then they would have reason to join us, if they are his friends, then we can get rid of some more of Dio's followers and lessen his influence on this world."
"But didn't you say there were six of them?" Dianne asked, "If they're our enemies, how will we fight off six Stand users?"
Bono held up two fingers, "There are two easy ways to do this. First, allow me to curse them with Ultra Violet. Since there are six of them, I can't give them all something as specific as they can't kill us, but I could work with what I have and make it so they can't kill other Stand users. That should leave me with four curses left."
"Alright," Greta said, "And the other way?"
"For those, we'll need the help of Karmiel," Bono gave the person next to him a pat on the back, "And if Sebastian's not crying his eyes out, we'll need him too. Piece of Me is essential for this second scenario. Once we spot our targets, we'll have Sebastian create some of his homunculi. The homunculi will make their way toward each of the Stand users and nick away a small chunk of their skin before making their way back to us. We can give the skin to you, Dianne, so you can have their Stands, and we'll give the blood to Karmiel so Uncontrollable Urge can kill them all in case anything bad happens."
"I'll get six new Stands then?" Dianne asked, "Let's do it then."
"Alright," Karmiel said, "I'll go get Sebastian."
"Good luck with that!" Bono smiled as Karmiel walked up the stairs to where Sebastian had run off to.
Dianne smiled warmly at the entire interaction she had witnessed, "I don't know how to explain it, but you guys make me so happy… Just over a month ago, my brother died and my life was turned upside down. The only one I had with me was Greta." Dianne gave her girlfriend a kiss on the cheek, "But drunk love could only mend my wounds so much. Having you three with me, laughing, joking, bickering, it… it reminds me of my brother. It's as if he's still here."
"I'm glad we could have been of service to you," Bono said, "It makes me think that Dio couldn't have been that bad if he ended up helping create someone like you."
Dianne laughed, "I'm glad you're glad. But my father was pure evil, through and through. It was the heart of Jonathan Joestar that helped guide him toward my mother. I have Jonathan to thank, he's my real father."
"Jonathan Joestar?" Bono asked, "I'm not sure I'm aware who that is."
"Just an old friend of Dio's. A brother even."
...
The five had been in Van Fleet for a few hours now, heading their way toward Cairo. The airship was flying by itself, so everyone was sitting down, playing cards on a table. Greta leaned back in her chair to stretch her back as she peered out the window. They were flying over a roadside cliff. It looked like an earthquake had recently hit it since part of the road had collapsed.
"Hey, check this out," she muttered, "That road collapsed."
Dianne, Bono, Karmiel, and Sebastian looked out the window.
"Hey! There's a car!" Karmiel said as he pointed, "A car fell off! Somebody's in there!"
"Dammit," Greta said, "We need to at least check if the person's still alive. We can't just leave them there."
Bono sighed, "I suppose you're right. What's the point of having a Stand ability if you're not going to use it for something other than your own benefit?"
Everyone else nodded as Greta landed Van Fleet next to the car.
"You three stay here," Dianne said, "Greta and I will get him out."
"Alright," Sebastian said, "Be careful."
Dianne and Greta nodded as they stepped out of Van Fleet. They rushed toward the car and saw that a man was inside of it, bleeding out of his head and stomach. His eyes were barely open and just managed to catch a glimpse of Greta before they fully fluttered closed.
"He's still alive," Greta said, "Dianne, how do we get him out? His feet are stuck. He's bleeding too much, he's gonna die."
"Damn," Dianne said, "Let me try pulling him out."
Dianne leaned over and grabbed onto the man's body. She quickly took her hands off, however, feeling some sort of presence within her.
"Dianne, what's wrong?"
"N-no way…"
"What? What is it?"
"Bono was right. My father was right. They were both right."
"What do you mean?"
"Stand users are drawn to one another."
"Dianne, you can't mean…"
Dianne nodded, "Red Nightmare." The red Stand appeared next to its user before transforming into something the two hadn't seen before. A metallic Stand with no arms and a megaphone-shaped head.
"This man is a Stand user."
Dianne had no idea what this ability was and tried to get it to do something. When a rock fell nearby, Dianne, along with the Stand were transported there.
"Dianne? Where did you go?!"
"Over here. This ability… I think it allows me to transport towards sound…"
"What?"
Dianne and the Stand appeared next to Greta when she spoke the words.
"I think I can get him out of the car like this," Dianne said as the Stand held its head to the unconscious man in the car.
"Are you sure that'll work?"
As soon as Greta spoke her doubts, the man and the Stand appeared right next to her. Dianne picked the man up, "Let's get back on Van Fleet. We need to take him to a hospital now."
Greta nodded as she helped Dianne carry the man towards Van Fleet. Just before they let him in, his eyes fluttered open suddenly. Dianne took notice of this.
"Calm down, we're taking you to a hospital. You've been in an accident and you're severely injured."
"Thank you…" he muttered out, "My name is… Khan Miran… Who are you…?"
"Dianne Donovan. It is a pleasure to meet you, Khan Miran. You seem to have a peculiar ability. There are others out there with these abilities, did you know that? I'm going to need you to repay the favor. We'll come back and get you from the hospital. When we do that, I'd like to talk to you. That's all I ask, just some of your time to talk."
"Don't you think you're being too blunt, Dianne?" Greta asked, "This man almost just died and you're already trying to get him to join us?"
"We'll need all the help we can get, Greta. Plus, I'm just asking to talk to him, I'll convince him to join us after he's all better."
On the cusp of losing consciousness, Khan managed to say one last sentence before closing his eyes once again, "Dianne Donovan… you saved my life… I am in your debt."
...
"We'll go visit him on our way back," Dianne lounged on one of the cushions of the airship, leaning her head on Greta's shoulder, and placing a hand on one of her legs, "The doctors said he'll live, although he will need immediate surgery."
"I see," Bono said, "And this Stand… You said that it can transport through sound?"
"Yeah, that's pretty much its ability."
"That's kinda strong, isn't it?" Karmiel asked, "You can escape any situation and be transported anywhere you can hear. That would be very useful if you're trying to escape through rain or a crowd of people, right?"
"Yes," Dianne said, "I'm actually very happy to have come across this Stand. It could prove useful in the future. This puts me at seven Stands. My mother's, my brother's, Greta's, your guys', and now Khan Miran's. There's a high probability I will gain six more in this encounter with the Stand users in Cairo. Just how long until I have all the abilities in the world? Just how long until I can stop those I care about from dying? Just how long until I can bring my brother and mother back?"
Greta could feel her leg tighten from Dianne's grip. She clearly blamed herself for allowing her brother to die.
Bono sighed as he leaned forward, "I apologize in advance for what I'm about to say. It is foolish to wish to revive the dead. There are forces that not even Stand abilities can transcend. The biggest of that force is fate. Dead is dead, fate has decided. Think about Voltaire. It can either replay events or fully delete these events causing them to happen again without anyone's memory, correct? That is proof of fate. Not even Stands that can turn back the hands of time are able to escape fate. If you try to break fate's rule, break fate's edict, it will have dire consequences. I am terribly sorry, but it is impossible to bring anyone that's dead back. I apologize once more for my bluntness and rudeness, but I can't let you get punished by the hands of fate."
The airship was quiet. Karmiel and Sebastian already knew Bono's words to be true. But for Dianne and Greta, who hoped to somehow take back the deaths they caused, these words hit hard.
"Are you saying…" Greta fought back the urge to cry, "That Dianne can't find an ability that will allow her to reverse death? Are you saying that those twenty-three people I killed will stay dead?!"
"Yes, that's exactly right," Bono looked away, not wanting to see Greta's pained expression, "You must carry the burden of those you've killed and find some other way to make amends."
After that sentence, nobody else spoke a word until Van Fleet landed in Cairo. The entire time, Dianne hugged Greta, stroking her head, and letting her know that everything was going to be okay. That somehow, someway, they were going to make everything better.
When Van Fleet landed at its destination, the five stepped out.
"So how are we going to find them?" Karmiel asked, "Cairo's a big place."
"We can't solely rely on the fact that Stand users are drawn to one another, can we?" Sebastian asked.
"No," Bono said, "We won't solely rely on that. We know that these six are the kings of the Cairo underworld. I'm sure if we ask around enough, we could get some sort of information."
"What if they're not even Stand users?" Greta asked, "We're not even sure, are we?"
"No, we're not," Bono said, "But I can't think of any other way for six individuals to rise to such power so fast. Especially since there are rumors that they're foreigners from another country who were abandoned here as children back in the 80s."
"The 80s?" Dianne asked, "Could they have something to do with Dio after all? He escaped his coffin in 1986 and was later killed in 1989, there's a chance he's the reason they got Stands in the first place. But from Dio's memories, I don't recall anything out of the ordinary involving six young boys. But maybe one of his followers has something to do with this."
"I could even send a few scouts to make searching for them easier," Sebastian said, "If what you say is true, then the possibility of these six being Stand users has increased." Several small homunculi formed from a small layer of Sebastian's skin, "I can see what they see, hear what they hear, feel what they feel. I'll only make about a dozen right now, I don't want to peel my skin off too deep, and I want to save my skin for some other homunculi in case they're needed."
"That's a good idea," Karmiel said as he checked his pockets, "I've brought the poison with me as well. Enough to kill six men."
"Then we're all set," Bono said, "Let's go looking for them."
The five made their way into the heart of the city, asking around for any information anyone might have about the Cairo criminal underground. Unsurprisingly, all the people they talked to weren't very helpful. After over an hour of searching, Sebastian suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong?" Karmiel asked.
"I think I've found them. Five of my homunculi have just been killed. It was no mere accident either, the people who killed my homunculi could clearly see them. They could see my Stand. They have to be Stand users. The other seven are heading toward the location as well, follow me!" Without skipping a beat, Sebastian ran in a direction and the others followed. After ten minutes, he stopped next to an alleyway.
"This is it. Six more of the homunculi were killed. They purposely let one live. They wanted us to find them. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to extract any of their skin."
"That's fine," Dianne said, "I can use Piece of Me as well. I'll find a way to get some of my homunculi to touch them if necessary, you've done well enough finding them, Sebastian. Thank you."
Sebastian wasn't able to hide his blush from Dianne's thanking words. He cleared his throat as he brushed his sentimental feelings aside, "They're through here."
Bono nodded and the five made their way through the long alleyway, making a right turn at the end and continuing until stopping at a wall. On the ground was a picture album.
"Wait," Sebastian said, "They were here, I'm sure of it!" he pointed at the last homunculus who came scurrying from the end of the wall and absorbed itself back into Sebastian, restoring a small portion of the thin layer of skin he had lost.
"What's up with that photo album?" Greta asked.
"It could be a trap," Dianne said as Voltaire appeared next to her, "I'll pick it up. If something happens, I'll replay ten seconds."
"Smart idea," Karmiel said, "Be careful."
Dianne nodded as she went to pick up the album. Just before grabbing it, it flipped over and six men seemed to come out of it as a cloaked pink figure tipped its hat to Dianne.
"I knew a suspicious individual was searching for us," one of the six men said, "But I didn't expect there to be five of you. My name is David Gil Moure, and these are my associates. You can call us The Wall."
...
A/N: And that's chapter 43! Not sure how much you're enjoying these flashback chapters especially when we're so close to the end, but I feel like they're necessary to understand the pain Dianne and Greta went through and why they're doing what they're doing. As said before, I would've liked to have made this a 5 chapter arc, but for the sake of keeping this a 48-chapter story as originally planned, I'm gonna have to hold off and end the flashbacks with next week's chapter. But two really important things happened in this chapter. First, we get to see how Khan met Dianne which we got a glimpse of in Khan's backstory way back in chapter 17, but it was more fleshed out in this one, and we'll see Khan again next chapter as well. And second, we get to see how The Wall met Dianne in the others. We know from The Wall arc that an encounter with The Wall is going to leave them cursed, and Karmiel, Sebastian, and Bono dead, so we'll get to find out how exactly that all went down next chapter. A lot of stuff to look forward to next time, so be sure not to miss it. Anyway, see you all next week for Episode 44: Broken Bells Part 3!