Jotaro stood, breathing slightly ragged, in the almost silent street of Cairo that Dio had taken him to whilst they were fighting. Before him lay a half destroyed corpse, arms and legs splayed out in the freefall of someone thrown backwards violently, and the left limbs and head were completely missing- pulverised beyond even a single shard of bone to identify the puddle of reddish liquid as a body part. Next to him, a silent presence, floated his stand, Star Platinum. It was finally over. His mother could recover in peace, without the curse of Dio forcing a stand out of her.
He made to step past the body, to where, even despite his blood blurred eyes, he remembered his Grandfather being tossed down. Each step felt heavy, like lifting a block of lead, and his head spun. Blood loss and adrenaline fading, he sat down slowly on the ground, trying to catch his breath, but soon darkness overcame him, despite his resolute will.
When Jotaro started to regain his senses, the first thing he noticed was the sound. Rather than the expected aftermath of such a fight, there was only the occasionally muffled sound of a car, or footsteps to greet his ears. He opened his eyes slowly, reaching a hand to wipe away some of the still damp blood that remained there, cautious of possible bright light. He was greeted by the unsettling sight of the darkness of a shadowy alleyway, vague shapes manifesting as bin bags, and old beer bottles.
Wooziness fading to give way to the battle ready state of alarm he'd grown so familiar with over the last month or so, Jotaro stood up sharply. This place around him- this was not Egypt- definitely not Cairo. It was far too built up, all sharp building edges and clean windows, and not a sandy corner to be seen. Stepping out of the alleyway assured him his deduction was correct, as he knew exactly the sort of place this was. The backalleys of shopping districts always looked similar, but the particular mix of piping, vending machines, and wiring over head lead to a distinctively Japanese location. How the hell had he gone from Cairo, Egypt, to Japan, without even the blood on his face drying? An enemy stand?
"Oi! Who's that?" A voice shouted, from across the street. Jotaro turned his head sharply, and saw two, visibly drunk men approaching him.
"I don't know, he's got some kind of uniform on though. I reckon he's a lil school brat!" The shorter of the two laughed, clearly amused by the idea.
"Its like, midnight though." The tall one stepped closer to Josuke, "Hey, brat. What you doing out so late, huh? Some kinda vigilante?"
Jotaro's expression remained flat, "No." Hopefully, the two would get the memo and walk on past. He didn't want to beat people up without good reason- especially since Star Platinum often grew too bloodthirsty to command more precisely than 'attack that' during a fight.
The taller of the two's expression twisted into a sneer. "See, you're out here in the middle of the night, wearing some crazy outfit, hanging around the bad part of town- and you say you ain't a vigilante?" A hyena like laugh erupted from his lips.
"No." Jotaro's expression grew dark. Trying to puzzle out the reason he was insisting on calling him a vigilante was leading nowhere. Without much thought, his Stand appeared by his side, a reassuring presence that would never leave him. He straightened up, levelling a dark stare at the still cackling drunkard.
"Oh, oh! Look at that!" The short one laughed, holding some dark square of plastic up to his eye. "He got a sparkly quirk! What you gonna do? Bedazzle us to death?"
The tall ones hands, abruptly and without even a stand cry, set alight, and he charged. Jotaro grit his teeth. Star Platinum grabbed the man, holding him up by his forearms, much to the glee of his friend.
"Is that it?" Jotaro asked, almost surprised by how quickly the battle seemed to be done with. "Star Platinum will break your arm if you try anything funny."
"What's going on here?" A voice, gravelly and tired sounding, called from the rooftops. A shadowy figure dropped down, revealing themselves to the two fighters. Dark loose clothing, like a ninja, dull yellow goggles and a half covered grey belt, topped off by a loose, light grey scarf about his neck.
Slit goggles turned to observe Jotaro for a moment, and that was all it took. Like a piano wire snapping, Jotaro felt Star Platinum vanish. Not merely from his control, or from view- it was like before all of the mess with Dio began- when he simply didn't exist. Confusion bubbled up from somewhere deep within him, and Jotaro clenched his fists. The two drunk thugs who were trying to pick a fight with him were already backing away, their half babbled apologies already muffled by the pumping of blood in his ears.
"What did you do?!" Jotaro half said, half growled out. This man had somehow managed to sever the unbreakable connection between Stand and User, and now he had no way of telling if this stranger was going to use a stand to attack. He hunched his shoulders a little, staring with utmost focus at the man.
The dark clothed man took a moment to level a blank stare at him, before releasing a somewhat irritated sigh. "I erased your quirk. He'll come back when I allow it. For now, though… What was going on here?"
"Th-this lil kid was definitely trying to start a fight! Why else would he be out at like midnight?" Jotaro scowled in their direction, and they quickly shut up.
"What about your side, then? A vigilante?" The man with the strange goggles stepped a bit closer, and for a moment, Jotaro felt Star Platinum return- and then it vanished just as soon as he registered it. In that instant, a small idea came to mind.
"No." He said, carefully, looking down into the strange man's goggles. "I woke up in the alley."
"Why were you asleep in the alleyway?" The man seemed almost put off by the casual delivery of such an odd statement. Jotaro stared him down silently in response. "Right. Let's try a different approach… What's your name?" It was said in that half expectant tone parents adopt when asking a child to spit something out.
"Kujo Jotaro." He said, simply, and then for another small- impossibly so- moment, he felt Star Platinums presence return. Without even calling out the command, his stand knew what to do. Time froze with that strange sound he'd heard so much fighting Dio just an hour or two ago. He jumped up, Star Platinum boosting his strength, and landed heavily over a wall, in some small area littered with cigarette stubs and broken beer bottles. Time began again suddenly, like dropping a too heavy weight, and he held his breath, willing himself to be quiet enough to not be seen or heard by the strange man.
"Damn, where'd that kid go?" He could hear the softly spoken curse from just behind the wall he was leaning on- that he'd jumped over to hide from him- and he hoped that they would give up searching for him so he could try finding some information about where he was exactly- or even possibly Polnareff.
Once he heard footsteps moving away from his hiding spot, he straightened up, crouching a little to avoid his head reaching above the wall, and started moving through the small labyrinth of alleyways, careful not to make too much noise lest he notify someone of his presence. He was injured, he knew that much, but he could keep going for long enough to find someone he knew, or a hospital. Star Platinum floated silently along beside him, the stand's vivid blue eyes scanning the area for any threats.
His thought processes were cut off sharply by a strange whipping sound. He turned his head, Star Platinum rushed forwards, reactions as swift as ever, and grabbed the source, tugging it forwards. A length of grey fabric came spooling onto the alley floor, and soon, the strange man stepped from behind a corner, now without a scarf.
"Could you not steal my scarf?" He said, irritation seeping in his voice. "I just want to find out what the hell you're doing in the middle of the night."
"I told you. I woke up in that alley."
"Helpful." The man muttered. "Could you tell me how?"
Jotaro decided to humour him, seeing as he didn't appear to be angling for a fight, "Good grief… I was fighting in Egypt, and fell unconscious after the fight, I guess. Don't know how I got here."
"You're telling me you went from Egypt to Japan without even a moment passing?"
"Mh."
"Where do you even live?"
"Japan." Jotaro allowed a small smirk to slip onto his face.
"Could you be any less specific? No- don't answer that. Who do you live with, then? Could you answer one question straight at least?"
"My mother." He said simply, and then, alot softer- clearly not intended to be heard. "I hope the bitch has recovered..."
"Look, its nearly the end of my shift. You don't seem to be a villain, or a vigilante. Why don't we just go to the police station, fill out some forms, and sort out how to get you somewhere to stay-" He paused, and rolled his eyes behind his goggles. "Or hell, even home if you decide to open up."
Jotaro was silent for a long moment, then nodded. "Sure."
The waiting room that Jotaro found himself in while the man- 'Eraserhead'- went to get him was almost completely empty. There was a receptionist, sipping on coffee and doing paperwork. Occasionally, someone would hurry past- uniform marking them as a regular police officer, clutching papers and with dark circles under their eyes, but it was alot less busy than Jotaro remembered the police stations in his home neighbourhood being. Maybe they had lower crime rates in this area? He closed his eyes, letting a soft sigh out.
His thoughts were interrupted by a calm voice from across the room. "Mr. Kujo Jotaro?"
"Yeah, thats me." Jotaro opened his eyes, and almost did a double take. Stood across from him, like nothing unusual was going on with him, was a cat headed man. He summoned Star Platinum- just to borrow the stands eyes to see if he was really seeing such a strange sight. He was, and through those crystal lenses it was even more bizarre.
"Is- something the matter?" The lamp like eyes watched Star Platinum with equal doses of caution and curiosity. Could everyone see stands? This situation was getting stranger by the minute. Jotaro dismissed the stand, and the cat man's lips quirked up at the sparkly exit.
"... No." Jotaro straightened up, looking expectantly at the officer. "Where are you taking me?"
"Just a meeting room- it's not far down the hall." He smiled, "You know, you've got quite a cool quirk. Have you considered Hero work?" Jotaro's somewhat confused silence was apparently taken as a cue to expand on the topic. "I wasn't cut out for it myself, but a companion quirk like yours seems really suitable. Ah, here we are."
The cat man opened the door to the room with a smile, and with a nod of thanks Jotaro stepped into the small room carefully, and closed it behind him. Behind a desk sat two men. One of which he was familiar with by the loose black garb, and the other unfamiliar. The unfamiliar one was dressed in a trenchcoat, and had dark, squarish eyes and a pleasant face.
"I am detective Tsukauchi, and you've already met Pro Hero Eraserhead. Can you give us some more details about how you ended up in the alleyways Eraserhead found you in?"
Jotaro frowned, weighing up his options. On one hand, he wasn't sure he could fully trust the police force. They were hardly reliable during his journey to Egypt, but on the other hand… He had no idea how he ended up here, and things were looking subtly- but definitely significantly- different to what the world was like before he woke up here. He decided, after a long moment of contemplation, to just go with the pure truth. It was so absurd they'd either let him go or know exactly what his situation was.
"Good freaking grief… Before I woke up there, I was in Cairo, fighting DIO's 「The World」with 「Star Platinum」. I managed to defeat him, and then I passed out from my own injuries." The detective's eyes flicked to the dried blood still stuck on his face. "Next thing I know- I wake up in an alleyway somewhere in Japan and two drunk bastards try and start a fight. Then this guy shows up."
A long moment of silence stretched, then Eraserhead scoffed. "At least you stick to your story."
"It seems to be true." Tsukauchi's voice was a little perplexed. "Just to confirm, you passed out in Egypt and have no knowledge at all of how you got here?"
"None."
Tsukauchi exchanged an odd look with Eraserhead, and Jotaro wondered what was so concerning to them. Stands were capable of ridiculous things, so shoving someone halfway across the world wasn't that out of the ordinary.
Tsukauchi straightened up in his chair, an idea coming to him, "Do you have anywhere to stay, or any school records? I can go see if we can sort something out for the short term if you can give me some information."
Jotaro nodded, and gave them his address and school, seeing no harm in it. The plain looking detective stepped out of the room as soon as he had it scribbled down. Silence stretched for a long moment between Jotaro and Eraserhead, before the tired Pro Hero broke it.
"Why don't you tell me about your quirk? Since you're here without forms you'll have to redo most of them and that one's easiest to start with."
The dark haired teen furrowed his brow for a moment, as though trying to puzzle over something. "You mean, Star Platinum?" Upon receiving a hum of agreement, Jotaro's usually stoic face grew dark. "Why should I tell you what it does? You can already remove him from this world with your strange Stand."
Eraserhead blinked. "It's the law, kid. Did you not fill out a form before?" Jotaro remained stubbornly silent. "I can fill it out for you with what I gleaned from the fight, if your so stubborn… But it'd be a huge pain in the ass." He paused, an idea coming to mind. "What does Star Platinum think about it, though?"
After a small eternity, Jotaro sighed, "Star Platinum… Doesn't really think." He grumbled out, manifesting his Stand to prove his point. The tall, purple warrior stood up straight next to him, and watched Eraserhead with a firm gaze. The Hero leaned back in his chair, meeting the stare evenly. The warrior spirit didn't appear to breathe, and its features were sharp- not quite of the constraints of flesh, even considering the proportions Quirks allowed for in the modern populace. Overall, the imposing presence it gave off was mostly due to the sheer size of it. 7 foot or so was a rare height, and coupled with the muscle power the spirit was packed with, it made for a strong presence.
"You sure about that?" Eraserhead trusted the kid's judgement of his quirk, since it was his quirk and not Eraserhead's, but it was an unusual assertion to make about a Companion Type quirk. Those typically acted as a lifelong friend, or pet of sorts, that the person could not be rid of under most circumstances. Some degree of Sentience was not uncommon in them.
"Yes."
Eraserhead was saved from trying to probe the recalcitrant teenager any further by the return of Tsukauchi, bearing a few printed sheets of paper and a mildly perplexed expression. "The address you gave was torn down in 2005 for a large apartment block, and the school doesn't even show up on the old record system."
"2005?" Jotaro questioned, subtly, ignoring the fact that his school had apparently vanished for the more perplexing piece of information. Although his own expression didn't shift at all from the stony masquerade he wore as default, Star Platinum's mildly perturbed expression betrayed his confusion.
"Is there something wrong with that?" The detective seemed genuinely confused.
"... Its 1988." Jotaro said slowly, and the detective's expression went from mildly confused to genuinely shocked.
"That's a long time ago. Are you saying your a time traveller, as well as somehow travelling across the world in an instant?" Despite the detective's incredulous tone Jotaro remained silent.
Eraserhead finally spoke up. "Even if he's lying about how he got here and what year it is- for whatever reason- he's still a minor with no records. I think the next course of action would be to get him enrolled somewhere, and all his forms filled out."
"Yeah… You're right." The detective shook his head. "I'll sort that out for tomorrow. But, what about where he'll stay?"
"I can just stay in a prison cell."
"What?"
"It's just a place to stay, isn't it?" Jotaro levelled a dark look at the detective. "Besides all that, I am here 'illegally'. It's not like you're keeping a civilian in for no reason."
A.N
Hey! Back from the dead. Here's a fic. It'll probably update roughly monthly. Just a lil fun project for now... Please leave a review, and follow or favourite if you enjoyed!