Funny had led them to a secret underground facility that was under the church after giving them the head that Jorge, Narancia, and Chiyako had managed to retrieve. Karaat was relieved that they had managed to do it, though he felt bad that they had to find a head to make it possible to kill Dio. They were told to be quiet, especially since they were trying to catch Dio off guard. Karaat felt like he was in a video game with just the idea that there was an underground facility under the church. A part of him didn't even want to think of what it was used for. He did not need his imagination to go wild and end up distracting him.
The trip was filled with tension and Karaat found himself looking around, as if expecting Dio to pop out and destroy their plan within seconds. Luckily, that didn't happen. Maybe Kars was right and Dio had gotten too cocky. What did happen was when they got close, he could hear voices. And Dio's wasn't the only voice he could hear. Someone named Erina Pendleton, Murasaki, Jorge, Narancia and Chiyako were all there. What he didn't expect was Erina to immediately start yelling at Dio, and from the looks of it, she was scolding him! Karaat had to restrain himself from attacking. He was furious seeing his wife in this mess. That Funny Valentine was a sick man.
Erina was quite beautiful and he could see why anyone would fall for her. She was fair skinned and had blond hair that was neatly tied into a ponytail. Light blue eyes only accentuated how young she was. Karaat could imagine that anyone would fall for her, especially when she smiled. But right now, she wasn't smiling. She was frowning, her hands on her hips as she faced Dio, as if she didn't fear him.
It was quite a shock to see this woman, who was very clearly mortal, facing off against Dio. And she wasn't even physically fighting him! She was scolding him! It took everything in him not to bust out laughing, especially as he saw Dio was looking around, clearly as confused as he was. Murasaki was nodding along, glaring at the man while Jorge and Narancia watched them, unsure if they should cut in or not. Honestly, Karaat didn't blame them. It probably wasn't wise to get in the way with a scolding woman, unless it was to save her from an attack.
"How dare you, Dio Brando! Even your father, Diego, would never act like this in front of anyone, let alone George Joestar I. Have you no sense?! Have you no decency anymore? Look at you, all these years and you're still trapped by the same parental curse. And after a century, dear gods! You would think a man like you would have a lick of sense, but apparently not! Apparently not Mister Dio Brando! You still refuse to take responsibility for your own actions! For anything actually! The nerve of you, Dio!"
Karaat was expecting Dio to lash out, to kill her even. But what he didn't expect was a look of confusion on his face. He scanned all of their faces, focusing on the woman with her hands on her hips scolding him as if she was his mother or older sister. It was like she didn't even care if she died by yelling at him! And, even worse, the woman next to her was nodding along, as if she was also not afraid of him! Had they never explained the situation, or how deadly he was? No, Erina should know first-hand just how dangerous he was. So, how were these two staring him down, as if they didn't value their life!
Suddenly, he growled, finally turning to the others again, even as Erina huffed and made it clear she was ready with another round of scolding, this one probably adding the fact that she felt he was ignoring her. "I'm sorry," Dio started, flinching that he even apologized to these mortals. Shaking his head, he clenched his fists before roaring in anger, "Who's fucking bright idea was it to bring a pregnant woman into a gods damned battle zone? Does any one of you have a lick of sense in those pathetic skulls!"
"Now you watch your language, Dio! I swear, you really need to behave more!" Erina scowled, shaking her head. "Still bratty as ever! Your father would be ashamed! A whole century of chances to mature. A century, Dio! The only redeeming quality about you is your care for a pregnant woman on the battle field. A battle field you're making because you're being incredibly stubborn and too proud for your own good! You didn't seem to mind endangering others before, pregnant or not!"
Karaat shuddered, almost feeling bad for Dio. He had been subjected to quite a few scolding's by Murasaki. He had always felt terrible after, especially when he knew he deserved those scolding's. He couldn't imagine how Dio felt. After all, he was a vampire, getting yelled at like he was a five-year-old that had broken a toy. He couldn't help but smirk to himself, once again trying not to start laughing. Maybe they didn't need to fight. With Erina scolding him and Murasaki gearing up to probably join, they might be able to defeat him just with a woman's wrath.
As her scolding continued, Dio once in a while finding the courage to reply, or at least to scold Jorge and Narancia for bring a pregnant woman onto the battle field, Kars nudged Karaat. He pointed to the Saint's Corpse, which, from the looks of it, looked unguarded. They might as well get started. As long as Erina could keep scolding and Dio kept enduring the rather comical scolding, they might be able to get away with this. He was tempted to motion to Jorge and Narancia to keep the arguing going, but he didn't want to risk getting Dio's attention so he followed Kars to the corpse.
It took them a few moments, since they were trying to avoid getting Dio's attention, but they finally got to the corpse. Karaat cringed but he knew it had to be done. Luckily, there wasn't as much of a smell as he imagined there would be. He looked up, relieved to see that Dio was still distracted by now both Erina and Murasaki yelling at him. He shook his head; glad he was not him right now. It wasn't until they were working on cutting off the head that Dio finally noticed something was going on.
He turned around, ignoring Erina and Murasaki. Damn it all, those women had distracted him all this time! He really should have killed them. But right now, he didn't have the time. Starting to approach, he shouted, "How dare you! Don't you dare, that's my body!" Damn his noble heritage and letting those women scold him!
But it was too late as Karaat looked up. With a smirk, he put Jonathan's head on the body, the skin immediately started to heal, only leaving a line around the neck. Kars took the opportunity as Dio's rushed towards the corpse to use Made in Heaven Ultimate Requiem to destroy his ultimate powers. As Dio could see that he was losing, he tried to move away but Kars was too fast and with Hamon, sent a shockwave powerful enough to kill the vampire. The scream echoed through the room and Karaat cringed, ducking behind a pillar as light came from Dio's body before he exploded into dust. Shivering, he looked up and sighed in relief to see only Kars standing over the pile of ashes. Dio's reign of terror was over and they had somehow made it! They had somehow survived!
"Erina!" Jonathan shouted, finally making sense of what was going on, or at least as much as Karaat assumed he could. He didn't know how long the guy was dead, if he had been dead, but at least he seemed to be able to remember his lover. Jonathan rushed towards her, holding her close. "You're alive, we all are. Was that Dio just now? What happened?"
"Yes, dear. But it's alright. We're safe now. Worry not!" Erina smiled holding him close as she leaned up kissing him. "I'm truly glad to see you again! Oh, I've missed you so!"
"Murasaki! Chiyako!" Karaat was also relieved and rushed over to his wife and the girl he had thought about for years. He hugged them both, sighing in relief even as Murasaki was asking him thousands of questions. He didn't mind, they were all alive, and that's all that mattered!
"Where have you been? And how the hell did you even get so buff? Not complaining but what the hell happened? Also, not being jealous but how in the world is Chiyako here? What's going on?" Murasaki asked, confused but also grateful to be in her husband's arms. He was safe, and she knew that's all that should matter but still!
"I promise, when we get home, I will explain everything," Karaat replied, kissing her forehead before hugging them both again. He didn't want to let them go but he would explain things when they had a moment. "Though I have a feeling there's something we need to do. Kars, what do we need to do?"
"And you would be right," Kars said, "We need to get everyone home. I highly doubt everyone here would like to stay in this era and this universe when you have your own lives to attend to. So, everyone, over to me. Worry not about explaining things to Chiyako, Karaat. I will have a gift for you when you get back. So put your trust into me, alright?" When he nodded, he smiled. "Then, everyone gather close to me. It's time we all go home."
As everyone gathered around him, Karaat noticed Erina was clinging to Jonathan as if the tall dark-haired man was her lifeline. Though, if the stories he heard were true, he really didn't blame her for wanting to be so close. He couldn't imagine how scared she might have actually been while she was scolding Dio. He definitely was keeping Murasaki and Chiyako as close as possible. Whatever Kars was planning, he hoped that it involved Chiyako, but at this point, as long as everyone was safe and happy, he really didn't care. This whole trip had been a crazy ordeal, one he knew he would have a hard time explaining to almost anyone. And yet it was real, all of it was real.
Karaat turned to Jorge and Narancia, smiling softly. "Hey, you guys did great. And wherever you end up, I hope you don't have to face something like this again. Try to be teens, well as much as you can be."
Jorge smiled slightly, shrugging. "We'll try, but no promises. You did great as well. Thanks for all your help. And thank you, Kars, as well. Without you, we wouldn't have lasted more than a few minutes."
As Narancia nodded, Kars chuckled and said, "Four hours, actually. Remember, that's all the oxygen you had in that funny little U-boat all this time ago." As Narancia grumbled, he patted both of their heads. "Either way, this trip was quite an interesting one. Like I said before, humans are always finding ways to surprise him. Especially you, young lady. In all my time, I never thought a human would consider scolding a person into submission. Both of you, actually. We're grateful for the distraction."
Murasaki smirked and said, "Well, we're just glad that worked and we didn't have to resort to stands. To be honest, I was absolutely terrified, even with Jorge and Narancia right next to us! But once I realized it was working, I knew we had to keep going to help out. Most of the credit needs to go to Erina. You were amazing!"
As everyone nodded in agreement, Erina smiled and waved her hand, saying, "Oh, no! I was absolutely terrified! But I knew I had to hold strong. I thought of how Jonathan would stand in front of Dio, doing his best to protect the people that mattered and I tried to emulate that, even if I couldn't fight like he could."
"And you did a wonderful job, dear." Jonathan said, kissing her cheek. "Thank you all for what you've done here today. Hopefully this means we won't have to worry about Dio anymore. I just wish I had been able to do more."
Kars smirked, "I think it's time we finish saying all of our goodbyes so I can send you home. I am proud to call all of you, my allies." As they hugged, he glanced over at Karaat and winked. "Don't forget, I'm sending a gift to you at your home." Once he nodded, he smiled. "Alright, it's time."
After everyone said their goodbyes, Kars nodded and focused. He brought them all back to their respective timelines. He would not leave them stranded after all. They were his allies now. Though, like promised, he did give a small gift to Karaat at his home as well as a little surprise for them and Chiyako. After all, they deserved a happy ending, even if they were humans.
When they got back to their respective timeline, Karaat was relieved to see that Chiyako was with them. Grinning, he hugged her and held her close before doing the same to Murasaki. Luckily, she didn't seem to mind that Chiyako was there. In fact, she hugged her as well, telling her it was good to see her again. They were only a block away from their house, which is where Murasaki said they had found her and brought her to the battle. She had been going on a walk when Funny Valentine had approached her and did their best to explain the situation. Luckily, she didn't question them too much and that's how she came to be at the church.
"Well, we're here," Karaat said as they rounded the corner, the house coming in to view. "It's not much, and we might have to move things around but... Wait a minute." The house was definitely not that big when they left! Before, it had been a modest two-bedroom house, one bedroom being converted to his office for grading paperwork. Now, it was definitely larger than that, though he wasn't even sure just how many bedrooms it was. Either way, it was at least two to three times larger than it was before! There was a huge yard as well and he could see a veranda on the side that looked almost similar to his at his mother's house.
"Woah!" Chiyako said, smiling. "It's huge! I don't think we'll have a problem at all."
"No, somethings off," Murasaki said quietly. "It wasn't this large when I left with Valentine earlier. Something happened." Noticing Chiyako was getting nervous, she and Karaat summoned their stand and carefully walked towards their house with Chiyako behind them.
When they walked in, the living room was at least three times the size of their original one, though it had a similar design. There was more furniture there including a large sectional couch. That sectional couch is where they saw Sakura, Kotoha, Mari, Ichiru, Shizuku, and Nene, all alive and, from the looks of it, waiting for them to arrive. This was Kars' surprise. And that explained why he had been winking at Karaat before he brought them back to their world!
Chiyako tensed as soon as she saw them, groaning as her head started to throb. Suddenly, memories started to flood in and she gained all the memories and feelings of the Chiyako in this universe. Blinking, she rubbed her head when it was done, noticing Karaat and everyone was looking at her with concern. Shaking her head, she muttered, "I'm alright. I guess, well, to put it simply, Kars set this up. He wanted you to have a happy family so he gave me the memories and feelings of the Chiyako of this universe, the one you couldn't save. And, well, it looks like I'll be here to stay. And so will everyone else." She gasped as she was pulled into a hug and she buried her face into his chest. She was home.
"I'm relieved. One big, happy family," Karaat said and soon everyone was in a group hug, just relieved they were all safe and together. He still couldn't believe it but he was relieved. Not only did he manage to save Chiyako, thanks to Kars, but now he had all of the deadlies with him. It was like a huge weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. As he held them close, he sighed in relief. After a few moments, they started to walk around the house, looking to check out all of the upgrades and making plans for settling in. It was almost like how he felt that summer, but even better. All of them were alive and were here to stay!