…and he goes west to Florida. Goes to Jotaro. He doesn't know where else to go. Polnareff has no place else to go.
He's been trapped in Italy so very long that in any other circumstance, he'd be ecstatic to leave, but he gets off the plane and he tastes bile at the back of his throat.
He should have known how this would end. Things never end happy for him. They always fall to pieces, cut away.
Sherry. Avdol. Kakyoin. Even the fucking dog. And now this.
"…You did your best. Given the circumstances, you did your best," Jotaro says over drinks. Even when he was a teenager, he was not a person given to many words; he still isn't. It used to frustrate him but right now, he appreciates it. He's extremely fond of Joseph Joestar and he is excited to see him again later, but he's glad he isn't here right now. Joseph pokes and prods and Polnareff doesn't think he could handled him right now.
His whiskey is probably good. Polnareff doesn't taste the flavor, just the fire.
"Given the circumstances…"
The bar is nearly empty at this hour, the bar is nearly silent, and it's still too damn loud.
"Jotaro…"
No, he's mistaken. The bar is fine. It's just his head that's too loud. It's hard to tell the difference. He feels like he's coming out of his head.
"Jotaro, they were kids. All of them, they were just kids."
The room is shaking.
No.
No, he's mistaken. He's shaking. It's hard to tell the difference. He's coming out of his head and he feels like he's floating five inches to the left of himself.
"I don't care if he was Dio's son, I don't care, Jotaro, he was a good kid, he was a real good kid, and if I did my best given the circumstances, he wouldn't be dead right now. They were all real good kids."
And Jotaro says nothing because there is nothing to be said, nothing that can be said to make it better. Star Platinum can do a lot but it can't bring back the dead, no matter how much he wishes it could.
So Jotaro stays silent. He listens. He owes that to his old friend, his last remaining friend. You can't really say anything that takes the sting out of being the last person alive. He knows that far too well.
"He was younger than Kakyoin. A couple of them, a couple of them were Kakyoin's age or younger."
Someone else in the bar turns to look at him, turns to stare as the dam breaks and the tears fall, but with a glare from Jotaro, they mind their own damn business.
"Jotaro, I'm so sick of dead kids."
"Polnareff…"
There's something in Jotaro's voice quavers for a moment but he does not cry because Jotaro has no more room in his heart left for tears. He can't cry.
"Polnareff…Jean Pierre…I am too."
He should have known.