Two years later, Dio and Giorno found themselves in Liverpool. The two had been travelling as half-brothers, Giorno's ever present fruit sales funding the trip. Giorno had made sure to devote a good portion of the money to Dio's education (as well as his own studies, since many things he knew hadn't been discovered yet and were thus "wrong"), so the boy was well on his way to joining high society. As it was, his manners were impeccable (when he wanted them to be), and he could charm just about anyone he spoke to. Though he had a bit of an attitude, he and Giorno got along well.
When Giorno had finally decided to settle down in Liverpool to start up a real fruit farm, buying enough acres that he would have no reason to limit the types of fruit he could sell, Dio asked him why. Why Liverpool, after travelling so far and for so long?
Giorno's only response was that it felt right. He didn't know why he wanted to live there. But something about Liverpool felt right. Like there was some invisible force pulling him there.
One day, about a month after the two "brothers" took up residence in the town, Dio met a boy around his age, chasing after a spotted dog.
"Danny, no!" The boy cried, chasing the dog down near the river. "Give it back!" he shouted, running as fast as he could after the dog. Which, conveniently, was toward where Dio and Giorno were standing.
"Hm?" Dio hummed, watching the dog come near. As it neared them it suddenly threw whatever it had in its mouth away, the item falling into the rushing river.
"Danny! Oh no, what am I going to do now!" The boy fell down, twenty or so feet away from the two blonds.
Dio looked at him momentarily before, with a nudge from Giorno, hopping into the river to grab the item which was passing by them. The current was strong, almost dragging him away, but Giorno's grip kept Dio from going anywhere. Giorno then pulled Dio out of the water, smiling at him while Giorno gave him an angry frown. Clearly, he wasn't happy with having to jump in the river to help some random boy he'd never met, especially not one that seemed to hold a "woe is me" attitude, but he wouldn't say no to Giorno.
"Did you lose this?" Dio said, walking up to the sobbing boy.
"Huh?" the boy said, looking up. "Oh, my watch!" he exclaimed, "Yes, I did. Thank you so much! I don't know what father would have done had I lost this."
The boy's smile was bright, and for whatever reason Giorno felt some sort of kinship with him.
Dio frowned again. "Well, be more careful next time. Watches aren't chew toys. Don't give them to your-"
"Dio," Giorno warned.
Dio sighed. "Sorry, what I mean is watch your things next time. It may have worked out this time, but you don't know how things will go next time. Just be careful, okay? Not many people are willing to dive into rivers for strangers. You should be honored."
The boy laughed. "Yeah, sure. You're a real gentleman, you know? Doing something for someone even though you don't know them. I aspire to be that kind of person. I'm sure Father would be happy if I was. Speaking of Father, he's probably wondering where I am right now. I have to get back! Anyway, it was nice meeting you, and I hope to see you again! Bye!"
Running back the way he came, the boy gave a small wave, calling for his dog to follow them. Once he was out of sight, Dio scoffed.
"What a dumb kid," Dio muttered.
Giorno gave a short laugh. "Oh come on, Dio. He's not that bad. Maybe a little naive, but I bet he's smarter than you'd think."
"He's lazy, that's what he is! When his own very expensive looking watch fell into the river he didn't even bother attempting to retrieve it!" pressed Dio, gesturing to emphasize his point.
"Dio, if he was lazy, he wouldn't have bothered chasing his dog all this way. And you felt the current when you dove in. Had I not held onto you, you would likely have been swept away. Had he jumped in without support, he most definitely would have been swept away. So he's no dumb kid. He knew when to try, and when not to. He's just a little unfortunate," Giorno would defend the silly boy's case. He felt the boy deserved it.
"Whatever you say, Gio," Dio finally relented.
"You know I'm right," Giorno shot back.
"Psh." Dio turned and walked away, heading toward their house and a set of dry clothes.
A week later, Dio and Giorno were walking through town when they heard a familiar voice shout: "Hey, it's them!"
Turning, they saw the boy from the river running toward them, followed by a tall, nicely dressed man.
"These are the men who helped me a week ago! The younger one is the one who heroically leapt into the raging river to save the watch you gave me!" The boy rushed with excitement.
"Oh really?" the older man, likely his father, responded. He looked toward Dio. "Tell me young man, is what my son says true?"
Dio gave a small bow. "He makes it sound more impressive than it was, but yes, sir, I did help him get his watch back from the river about a week back."
The man smiled, the wrinkles around his eyes crinkling somewhat. "Then that deserved thanks. Tell me, what are your names?"
"My name is Dio Brando, and this is my older brother, Giorno Giovanna," Dio said, gesturing toward Giorno.
"Different last names?" the man sounded confused, looking toward Giorno for an explanation.
"Though we have the same father, we have different mothers. My mother raised me in Italy, where I took on the name Giovanna. Dio, on the other hand, was raised in London by our father Dario." Mastering the accent proved harder than Giorno had imagined, so he decided saying he was born in Italy would work better. Most British people wouldn't realize his Italian accent wasn't that currently spoken in Italy, as it was close enough to the correct accent, and they hardly met any Italians anyway.
"Dario? Wait… Your father wouldn't have happened to have mentioned anything about a carriage accident he happened upon 12 or so years ago, would he?"
"He did, why?" Dio had a puzzled look on his face.
"Tell me, how is Dario?"
Dio's face darkened, and Giorno took the opportunity to speak. "Unfortunately he fell ill around two years ago. I took Dio in around then, and we've been travelling ever since. We've finally decided on settling down here, though, so we won't be travelling much from now on, though."
"Ah, I'm sorry for your loss. Dario helped save the lives of both me and my son Jonathan here those 12 years ago, and I've felt as though I've owed him a favor ever since. Now his son has done my son a favor, and I am once again in debt. Tell me, will you two join us for dinner? It's the least I can do."
'Jonathan…? Wait does that mean…'
"That sounds great. What do you think, Gio?" Dio looked hopeful.
"I think that's a great idea as well," Giorno replied.
"Fantastic! Well then, introductions are in order. My name is George Joestar, and as I briefly mentioned, this is my son Jonathan. Our mansion is quite a ways away, so you'll have to wait a few minutes for the carriage to arrive, but I'll show you around our humble abode quite shortly. If you would wait here a short moment, I have some quick business to attend to."
George then left, leaving Jonathan with Dio and Giorno.
They were quiet for a moment, before Jonathan suddenly perked up. "Hey, is that a copy of The Mysterious Island? I've been looking for that everywhere! I've already read Around the World in Eighty Days and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, but from what I've heard that one is even better! Do you think you could lend it to me?"
Dio blushed slightly, taken aback. He looked to Giorno, who smiled down at him and whispered "I guess you were right," before patting Dio to tell him to respond.
"Yes, it is. And what you've heard is right, The Mysterious Island is surely one of Verne's better works, because…"
Giorno chuckled, looking around. It looks like destiny had a way of making things right, somehow. There were Jonathan Joestar and Dio Brando, united, but this time as friends rather than enemies. And there Giorno was, finally getting a chance to bond with his father, even if it was as the older figure of the pair.
He didn't know why he had been transported back to 1878. But he did know that he was thankful for the chance.
Author's Note: And there it is!
I haven't read Over Heaven (mostly because I've heard it's terrible, and messes up Dio's character) so if anything I've written contradicts that, then too bad. It's technically not canon, anyway. But I do know that there's something between Dio and Jonathan involving a watch. So here's this universe of that. I also had the two meet because it just wouldn't be JoJo without that, you know?
Anyway, I hope this was okay! If you have time to leave a comment, that would make my day. As for Dio's character, he starts out this fic as 10 or 11 (the wiki says Dio is 20 or 21 at the end of Phantom Blood, so that's why he gets an "or" age), which is why he might not be as sharp witted/use as nice phrasing as he does in canon. I upped it a little for the end, as you can hopefully tell, and I hope I did him justice! He's a kid, and hadn't yet been driven to the point where he decided to poison Dario, so that's why I show him as a little softer. That, and Giorno is there, who I think is probably the softest of all the Jojos bar Jonathan. Even Josuke is a little harsher (at least in general. in his way of speech, at least, giorno is a little more polite). So Giorno's presence would change Dio a little, but hopefully I didn't go overboard. And as for Jonathan, he's a little overdramatic brat when he's introduced in Phantom Blood. More-so in the manga than the anime, but overdramatic and a bit whiny nonetheless. I still love him though.
Thanks again for reading, and leave a comment if you want me to continue this. I don't know if I will, but if you guys want a continuation, then I'll try to think something up.
Eruran out.