His breaths where soothing. His pulse beating in his ears. He opened his eyes; greeted by a still ocean. Water blurring the stars above. He was drowning. He was still alive. It didn't hurt. Not anymore. Dio had been here before. This dream had come back again.

He reached for the surface. Knowing his feeble attempt wouldn't do anything. The water flowing around his fingers. It was calming. A strange sense of nostalgia, fondness, rather than fear. Having been here so many times, the thankless embrace of death was absent. This time.

Dio waited. For death to take him. To wake up back in his coffin.

But it didn't.

There was no death to take him. He studied his hands. Studied the rest of his body.

Nothing.

Only him floating in the peaceful ocean at midnight; under a sea of stars. He swam to the surface. A ship in the distance, quite a swim away. Dio paddled on the surface. Even though the dream hadn't ended, fear couldn't envelope him.

He stopped and studied the stars. Two stars twinkling next to each other. Minding their own business.

"Hello!"

Dio froze and turned to meet the voice. This dream was his alone. So how? How could there be someone else here? Out in the linear array of black and blue?

The figure swam closer until they where side by side. Dio let him join him. His company was better than none.

"It's been a while, Dio."

"Jojo. What are you doing here?"

"I saw you swimming alone, thought I'd come join you. Why are you swimming here at such a late hour?"

"I don't know. Death should've taken me by now."

"Death? You want death?"

"No. But that's how this plays out. I die and and wake up from this stupid dream!" Dio wanted to cross his arms but he needed something to keep paddling with.

"I see. Maybe we can find a way for this dream to end differently?"

"I'm going back under." Dio did just that. He let his body sink beneath the ocean waves. Jonathan followed.

"It's so pretty down here."

As they returned to the clear waters below, the surface faded from view. They had gone far out of reach from the clear night air.

"Just lay here. Close your eyes." Dio breathed deeply, letting the water drag him under. But death never came.

Jonathan copied him. But couldn't resist a sneak peek a Dio every once in a while.

"Maybe it's not your time yet?"

"Shh."

"Maybe you need to see the stars again."

"Shut up."

"You'll never achieve heaven, whatever that means, down here." Jonathan began to swim towards the surface. It blurred back into view as Dio opened his eyes. He hurriedly swam to catch up with Jonathan. But as his head hit the break between sea and sky, he resurfaced in his coffin. Woken up from the sinking dream.

He sat motionless for a while. The unfamiliar air now inhabiting his lungs. His senses gradually returned. His mind coming back from what he had just experienced.

Questions raced around his mind. He gasped for breath, still not used to the air.

"I hate that dream" He ground his teeth as he recovered his breathing. "Every time!" He fell back in his coffin. His panting slowly receding.

"What stars do I need to see?" He forcefully closed his eyes, trying to grasp a dream to answer his question. "What stars?" His frustration left. Leaving subtle tears on his cheeks. "What stars, Jojo? Please tell me." It came out almost as a whimper, a plea.