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Pinned Down

"Impaling"

A JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Fanfic

"Jojo, watch your back!"

Caesar's sharp shout had Joseph spinning around, barely dodging as another of the Pillar Men's zombies flew down from the rafters, preparing to take him out from above. He spun the knife he was using, taking a breath and infusing the blade with hamon before slamming it into the zombie's chest, pushing it back with a foot to the midsection.

"I've got it," Joseph replied to Caesar with a grin as the older man rolled his eyes and sent a vicious bubble launcher toward another zombie.

"Just keep your focus, idiota. I'll take the others here. Make sure those two who dashed out of here don't get away."

"On it," Joseph said and bolted away, boots pounding up the stairs. They were currently in an old house that the surrounding people had said began to have strange sounds coming out of it nightly. They thought it was haunted, but Joseph and Caesar had gone to investigate it, and found that it was actually some of the Pillar Men's minions who had been creating havoc in town, responsible for several disappearances now. Joseph didn't want to think about what had happened to those poor souls.

Thus, the two hamon warriors in training felt duty bound to take out the whole house full of them.

Also, they had been spotted so they didn't really have much of a choice.

Joseph caught sight of the zombies he had gone after up ahead. They were currently prying at a shuttered window in an attempt to get out.

"And just where do you think you're going?" he demanded, brandishing his knife and also pulling out his clackers, beginning to charge them with hamon, working up momentum.

The zombies spun around the lunged at him. Joseph swung his clackers and took one of them out.

Unfortunately, the other was already on him, throwing itself at Joseph. The young Brit lashed out and slashed the zombie across the chest before he hit the floor with a resounding crack…

And kept going.

It took a second for Joseph to realize he was no longer on solid ground, and then he slammed into something below, the air getting knocked from his lungs, and everything going black.


He didn't know how long he was out. Maybe just a second, or maybe longer, but when he blinked his eyes open blearily, he realized he was lying on his back, staring up at a jagged hole in the ceiling where light flowed through.

How the hell had that happened? The house was old, but the floor must have been really bad off for him to have simply fallen through like that.

He could still hear the sounds of fighting and knew he had to get back up to help Caesar. He took a deep breath, and sat up.

Except he didn't even get past the first step.

Joseph felt an excruciating pain rip through his chest and abdomen as he tried to fill his lungs and reached down to feel the spot the pain was radiating from, right under his ribs…

His hand hit something hard.

It took Joseph a second to even make sense of what he was feeling. Even when he glanced down, it didn't really register what he was seeing except that it was bad. He touched the object with a shaking hand and even that sent another wave of agony through him, forcing a gasp out of his lungs.

There was a metal rebar coming out of his side. He didn't know how it had gotten there, but there it was, sharp and covered in his blood as it kept him pinned to the ground amidst the debris from the floor he had fallen through.

Joseph started to panic. His chest tightened, and his breathing stuttered. That only made the rebar shift inside of him, which caused more injury in turn. Joseph felt the sudden need to cough, and did so, whimpering from the pain that shot though him as he tasted blood in the back of his throat. He reached a cautious hand up and wiped his lower lip, finding blood there as well.

"Damn," he whispered, shaking even more.

"Jojo!"

Caesar's voice suddenly shouted from above and Joseph looked up, instantly relieved to see his friend peeking through the hole, eyes wide. "What are you doing down there? Are you all right?"

"Cae-Caesar," Joseph gulped before another cough burst from his chest and he let out a sharp cry, his breathing so erratic he was seeing stars.

Caesar seemed to see that something was wrong, and he jumped down landing lightly, before he stepped over with a cautious frown. "What's wrong, Jojo?"

He stopped, as he finally moved out of the light and it illuminated the rebar that was currently impaling Joseph.

"Dio mio," Caesar breathed as he rushed the last few feet forward, and fell on his knees next to Joseph, grabbing his flailing arm and slipping his other hand under the younger man's head. "What happened?"

"F-fell through th-the f-floor," Joseph gulped, swallowing down more blood. He hiccupped back another cough and watched blood pool around the rebar in his side, feeling woozy and nauseous. Caesar seemed to see he was really struggling and squeezed the back of his neck.

"Easy, you need to calm down, Jojo."

Joseph's wandering hand latched onto Caesar's jacket, tugging. "C-Calm down? That's rich. You don't have a-a rod through your bloody side!" The outburst caused his lungs to spasm again and Joseph choked on more blood, eyes blowing wide as he felt like he was drowning.

"Jojo!" Caesar snapped, squeezing his wrist tightly. "I told you to calm now! It's damaged your lung, which means you won't be able to use your hamon to help free yourself. You need to stay still and let me handle this."

Joseph was still trembling, toes curling from the pain, doing his best to fight against the panic of not being able to breathe. "Wha-what're you gonna do?" Joseph croaked.

Caesar carefully laid him back as flat as possible and leaned over to inspect the rebar. He cautiously slid a hand beneath Joseph's back to feel the spot the metal rod had gone in. Joseph's breath hitched in a bitten off whimper.

"You can still move your legs, right?" Caesar inquired.

Joseph twitched his feet in answer. Caesar bit his lip as he looked around the room.

Joseph started to get annoyed. "Hey! You going to help or—or what?" he demanded shakily.

Caesar narrowed his eyes at the other warrior, but there was none of his usual annoyance. If anything, Joseph thought he looked worried.

"Look, I can get you off of it, Jojo, but it's not going to be pleasant. Maybe…maybe I should go get help. Lisa Lisa might know something—"

"No!" Joseph cut in quickly. He didn't really want to admit it, but the thought of being left alone like this was terrifying. Especially if more of the zombies showed up…

Caesar's face softened and he nodded. "Okay, then what do you want me to do?"

Joseph bit his lip, a breath shuddering in his throat. "D-do it. Get it out of me. I—I trust you."

Caesar sat up straighter, his face pale, but determined. "Okay, Jojo. But I warn you, I am not very practiced with hamon healing. If this goes wrong…"

"I could bleed out by the time you get back anyway," Joseph pointed out. "M-my lung might collapse soon. Just…get it over with, okay? Like ripping off a plaster."

Caesar let out a short huff and nodded. "Fine. And I know this is a lot to ask, but try not to tense up. It will make it worse."

Joseph took a wet, shaky breath and tried to go as limp as possible as Caesar bent over him, hands under his back. One above and below the rod.

"Okay," he said, taking a deep breath and hamon suddenly appeared around the rod, creating a barrier between the metal and Joseph's flesh in an attempt to make the passage smoother. It tingled, and Joseph's breath fluttered.

"Caesar…" he tried but his friend had already started moving.

Caesar, to his credit, was swift and efficient, heaving Joseph up and off the rebar in one motion. That didn't stop the utter agony that crashed through Joseph.

He screamed, arching his back, feeling like fire was tearing through his middle.

"Jojo!" Caesar shouted, grabbing his flailing arms, trying to keep him from injuring himself further. "Easy!"

Something gripped his lung and squeezed. Joseph gasped for breath, choking as more blood, frothy this time, seeped from his mouth. He grabbed hold of Caesar, eyes wide in alarm.

Caesar's own eyes went wide. He hurriedly settled Joseph on the floor and pressed a hand against his chest, forcing hamon into him. Joseph fought, the hamon feeling like electricity shooting through him. He choked out a pitiful whimper.

"Jojo, stop fighting it!" Caesar commanded sharply, reaching up to grip his shoulder with his other hand. "I'm trying to help you, just relax!"

Joseph did his best, and as he fought against the panic, he did finally feel Caesar's hamon working. His lung felt less tight and he could breathe. It was still painful, but he could get air in without coughing blood.

Caesar finally pulled back and Joseph slumped fully on the floor.

His eyes fluttered, feeling extremely exhausted as he watched Caesar yank his coat off and start binding it around Joseph's middle. He felt sticky, there was a pool of blood under his back and his whole torso was drenched in red. He swallowed hard.

"Caesar," he mumbled.

"It's okay, Jojo, I'm getting you help. Just hang on," Caesar told him.

Joseph wasn't sure he would be able to. He was so tired. All he could think of was his blood dripping away. It seemed to have really started flowing in earnest the instant the rod was out. He felt the electric warmth of Caesar's hamon again, but was too tired to care. The last thing he was aware of was Caesar lifting him off the ground and the weightlessness finally put Joseph over the edge. His head fell back and he succumbed to the encroaching blackness.


The next time Joseph woke, he was back on Air Supplena. Someone was humming, and he felt the swipe of a warm cloth against his face. He blinked his eyes open and through the bleariness saw Suzie Q bending over him.

She gasped softly as she saw his eyes open. "Jojo! You're awake!"

He managed a grin and a wink. "Looks like it. No need to stop on my account."

She blushed and ducked away out the door. Joseph sighed and lay back staring at the ceiling, flashes of the events that had led up to this crashing over him. He shuddered and brought a hand up to press against his side, feeling thick bandages there.

"So, you're awake."

He looked up to see that Caesar had come into the room, Suzie hovering behind him with a bowl of water and cloths.

Joseph managed a small smile. "Yeah, thanks to you, I'm still here."

"Hm," the Italian looked like he was fighting a smile. "It appears I need to try harder to keep you from doing idiotic things."

"Oh, like you're one to talk," Joseph snipped and Caesar's lips quirked up in a smile, shaking his head. Joseph gulped. "How bad is it anyway?"

"You'll recover," Caesar promised. "It's mostly closed now, but you'll have to rest for a couple more days."

Joseph sighed and lay back more firmly in bed. "Well, I suppose it won't be too bad. Kind of nice to be waited on—agh!"

Caesar tossed a bottle of pain pills at him and they bounced off his forehead. Joseph glowered, rubbing his head as he grabbed the bottle.

"There you go. Time for your medicine," Caesar told him, glaring at Suzie as she went to fuss over Joseph, holding a glass of water for him to drink from. "He's not hurt, stop feeding his pathetic whining."

"Not hurt, I am actually an invalid!" Joseph pouted. "You said as much."

Suzie smiled. "It's okay, Jojo, I'll get you what you need. All you have to do is tell me."

Caesar rolled his eyes as she skipped off and Joseph turned to him, sticking his tongue out. "See? That's how you treat a wounded warrior."

"Oh, shut up," Caesar grunted.

Joseph sobered. "Really though, Caesar, thank you."

The Italian sighed but nodded. "I'm just glad you're okay." He held up a finger. "But I am not waiting on you hand and foot."

Joseph shrugged. "That's fine. Suzie's prettier anyway."

Caesar huffed a laugh and reached down to ruffle Joseph's hair, causing him to snarl in annoyance. "Just be good to her. Or I'll kick your invalid ass."

Joseph pouted but lay back, relaxed, as Suzie came back in with a tray of broth. He really was grateful to have such good friends watching out for him.