Chapter 2

"What the hell is your problem!? I was never this rude to you, and you had to blow me up to get me here!"

"My problem is that I'm now being forced to share a room with someone who's POSSESSED BY A DEMON!"

"I keep telling you, IT'S NOT A FUCKING DEMON!"

"Well what else is it supposed to be!? I've never seen or heard of anything like it before!"

"I already told you, it's called a 「Stand」! It's not my fault you're too busy having a goddamn panic attack to pay attention when I try to explain this shit to you!"

John seethed with frustration as Louise steadfastly refused to calm down, hiding in the corner as he sat at the small table that adorned her dorm room. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he sighed and looked up to offer Louise a strained smile.

"Alright, I'm going to explain this one last time. So please pay attention, okay? I'm telling you it's not going to hurt you."

Louise stared back at him for a few silent moments before slowly uncurling herself from the ball she'd folded herself into, "…Do you promise?"

"Yes, I promise."

Louise carefully stood up straight and dusted herself off before slowly inching her way towards the empty seat at her table, looking all the while like a rabbit about to bolt at even the slightest provocation. As she gently lowered herself into the chair, she offered him a look of wary suspicion.

"So where did it go?"

"It went… back inside me, I guess? The Foundation people weren't all that forthcoming with the details; I was lucky to get the information I got."

Louise gave a slight nod, but her eyes sparkled with unspoken questions.

"The Foundation?"

"Yeah, the Speedwagon Foundation," John nodded, spreading his hands out wide to his sides, "HUGE organization; very rich, very powerful. The dude that founded it was apparently friends with the ancestors of some pretty hardcore 「Stand Users」, and now, in addition to all the philanthropic and business stuff, it functions as a sort-of Stand research society and support group. When they found out I had a Stand, they tracked me down to ensure I wasn't misusing the power and essentially gave me a crash course on all the stuff they thought I needed to be aware of."

Louise nodded again, some of the tension seeping from her shoulders as John explained more and more.

"But, what is a Stand? And if this 'Speedwagon Foundation' is so powerful, why haven't I ever heard of it?"

"You've never heard of it because it doesn't exist here. Back on Earth, where I'm from, they were a household name. Here though? I'm probably the only person who would even recognize the name 'Speedwagon'. Different worlds, ya know?"

Louise offered the older boy a skeptical look, "I'm not sure I believe that… but I suppose it doesn't really matter right this moment. Now, answer my question- what is a Stand?"

"Alright, alright. Jeez…"

John crossed his arms over his chest and took a moment to collect his thoughts. In all honesty, even he wasn't really sure what Stands were. Oh, the Foundation people had explained it to him, certainly. But hearing an explanation and understanding that explanation are two very different things. He'd picked up some of it and inferred a bit more on his own, but for the most part he still considered his own powers to be something of an enigma. He'd only recently gotten the hang of the way that 「One More Time」 functioned, and it hadn't been all that long ago that he'd been a normal guy with absolutely no connection to the supernatural world whatsoever.

"Okay, so it's like this- Stands are a kind of… 'manifestation' of their user's spirit or will, and they protect and watch over you like a guardian. In a way, they reflect who their user is as a person, so they're connected to their users on a fundamental level. If one dies, the other dies with them. They all have special powers of their own, and because they'll always stand beside you if you call for them, they're called 'Stands'. Get it?"

"I think so…" Louise lowered her gaze to the table in front of her, a thoughtful look on her face, "So why am I the only one besides you who's able see your Stand?"

"Ah, right. Supposedly, only people who have a Stand of their own are able to see other people's Stands. I'm not sure what your deal is though."

"Maybe it's the familiar bond?"

John quirked an eyebrow at the blonde girl's words, "The what now?"

Louise rolled her eyes, "The familiar bond. You didn't think that familiars were connected to their masters in name only, did you? Supposedly there are a few perks of forging such a connection, like being able to share senses, but…"

Louise curled back into herself slightly once more and gave John another wary look, "I don't think I want to try that with that… thing. Your Stand…"

John frowned at her words. Was she seriously still afraid that he was going to hurt her?

Although, upon further review, he supposed that from her perspective it was probably a completely reasonable fear. After all, her first encounter with his 「Daft Punk」 had been when it literally popped into existence in front of her- a seven foot tall faceless giant in black and gold armor screaming at the heavens in wordless rage about two feet in front of her face.

Okay, in hindsight, he probably should've been a little more understanding of how freaked out she was around him.

"Louise, give me your hand for a sec."

Louise raised an eyebrow as the older boy that sat across from her reached out his right hand towards her, palm up.

"Why? What would that accomplish?"

"Just do it!"

With a wordless huff, she relented and gently placed her hand on top of his so that their palms met in the middle. Once she had done so, he moved to place his left hand on top, gently sandwiching her hand between his own.

"Alright, now I want you to close your eyes. I'll tell you when you can open them again."

"Is there a point to this?" the blonde irritably bit out, but acquiesced to the demand nonetheless. Slowly so as not to alert her, John removed his hands from hers, leaving behind a pair of metallic black limbs that stretched back towards him until they disappeared into his shoulders.

"Okay, you can open your eyes now."

Slowly, Louise peeked open her eyes, which quickly came to rest upon the ghostly gauntlets that now gently cradled her outstretched hand the same way her familiar had been doing a minute ago.

At first, she wasn't sure of what she was seeing. Her eyes were uncomprehendingly locked on her hand, so sure that something was wrong with what she was looking at, but also completely unable to pin down just what it was that felt so out of place.

Finally, what she was looking at clicked in her head and she froze. Then she started to shake. Then she started to hyperventilate.

"Louise! Louise, it's okay! Nothing bad is going to happen!" John quickly began speaking encouragement to the frozen mage that sat opposite himself. He had no idea what she could be going through right now, but more than anything else he understood his Stand. He instinctively knew that Louise would come to no harm under the watchful eye of his 「Daft Punk」. He just wanted her to understand that as well.

"Everything is alright, see? Nothing bad happened. You're safe."

Slowly, ever so slowly, Louise's breathing began to normalize and the color began to return to her face as she became accustomed to physical contact with his Stand. Gradually he began to remove his Stand's hands from around Louise's, pausing only with her initial twitch at the movement. A few moments later and the disembodied limbs were gone.

John offered the girl a soft smile as she withdrew her hand, holding it in front of her face and staring at it, "See? I told you it would be alright. There's no need to be afraid of my Stand. My 「Daft Punk」 would never hurt you."

Louise shifted her gaze from her hand to his face and just stared at him for a moment before growing a small smile of her own.

"I see… thank you, John."

The moment passed when Louise's face scrunched up before she released a massive yawn. Rising from her seated position at the table, she slowly made her way over to her dresser where she began to undress out of her school uniform.

"It's been a rather long day. I think I'll retire early for tonight."

John, having already turned away from where she was stripping off her clothes with a small blush on his face, cleared his throat before answering, "S-sounds good. I think I'll do the same. Where will I be sleeping?"

"Umm… there should be a pile of hay in the corner of the room…"

"…Seriously? A pile of hay?"

"S-shut up! I wasn't expecting a human familiar, okay!?"

John had to strain to hear her next words, as she had whispered them to herself.

"I wasn't really expecting a familiar at all…"

John sighed and stood up, making his way over to the hay pile before unceremoniously collapsing on top of it.

"Oh well. I suppose it'll do for now. Don't worry about it, okay?"

Louise didn't respond, but out of the corner of his eye John saw her walk over and extinguish the room light before walking back and climbing into her bed. They lay there in silence for minutes that John eventually lost track of, until finally he heard a quiet murmur originating from the four-poster bed of his summoner.

"G'night."

John nodded to himself, pleased that Louise had turned out to be far more agreeable than she'd first appeared out in the Academy courtyard.

"Mhm. 'Night."

Perhaps his stay here wouldn't be too unbearable after all.

AN: If you're wondering what Daft Punk looks like, it's basically Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo's performance costume with black solar panel-esque armor plating and gold Tron lines. He's also slimmer than other combat-oriented humanoid stands; more like a boxer, as opposed to the bodybuilders that Star Platinum, Crazy Diamond, The World, etc. look like.

Disclaimer: I own neither Zero no Tsukaima/Familiar of Zero, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, nor any associated character's and settings.