He woke up, bruised and covered in cuts, and probably with a few broken bones as well. He tried wiggling his toes, and was gratified to feel a small response inside his shoes. So Madoka's wish had restored him, back to whatever condition he had been in upon entering Mitakihara.
He was back in Cairo. Now, he remembered their mission, their search for DIO, the constant attacks. He remembered the camaraderie, the friendships they'd built over the last forty-some days (god, the time had gone so fast). He remembered the one who'd made it all bearable for him. A miraculous return.
He remembered a curiosity shop on the side of the street that had somehow managed to draw them all in one by one, until only he was left, confused and lonely.
He remembered the owner and her very fluffy white cat.
"Fuck."
"Jotaro! You're awake!" The voice was familiar and comforting, and Jotaro almost didn't want to open his eyes, in case he was imagining it.
Kakyoin Noriaki crouched over him, his red spiral of curly hair dangling over one side of his face. "You okay there?"
"You're… alive." He smiled a little, for the first time in who knows how long, admiring the faint embroidery on the collar of Kakyoin's familiar green gakuran.
"I'm alive, I think." A smile, small and peaceful, like he'd just come from a wonderful dream.
"Don't die again."
He nodded, and tucked a stray hair behind Jotaro's ear. (He didn't mind so much, when it was Kakyoin.) "I won't. I promise."
For a moment, he allowed himself to lie in peace, staring at the ceiling with no obligations or –
"Kakyoin. Stand."
"I know. We need to get going."
He sat up, wincing slightly, and looked around. They were in what looked like a large store room, with an old bookshelf and a few carboard boxes and dammit, not what he was looking for. "Where're the others?"
"In the curiosity shop." Kakyoin gestured towards the room's only door. "I think we all got put back where our bodies were in the real world."
"Right. How's it work?"
Kakyoin shrugged. "The woman has to touch you, and then you're transported to her… other world. I think the cat just projects its Stand into hers for… you know."
"Yeah. Let's go make sure it doesn't happen again."
"That's what I like to hear!" Kakyoin helped him to his feet. With a flourish, he handed him –
"My hat. Thanks."
"I hate to see you without it." A smile, and Kakyoin laid a hand on the doorknob. "I don't remember anything after Mami-san died, but I remember you still had that hat."
"Yeah."
"Although – were Mami's eyes and ears deceiving me? Or were you a lot more talkative that usual? Around girls, no less?"
He pulled the hat down over his eyes. "Shut up. You were a girl."
"Well, I can't argue with that." A shrug. "I'm glad you got everyone out, though."
"Not yet."
Kakyoin nodded, and turned the door knob quietly. "Then let's get them out."
It was clear from the chaos in the curiosity shop that there had been a major fight, or possibly a 3-for-the-price-of-2 sale: pieces of junk littered every flat surface, as if the giant witch had been through wrecking the place.
(It wasn't real. Witches didn't exist.)
(They had something – somebody worse.)
In one corner, a bundle of red robes made an odd movement and groaned; on the other side of the room, a stiff brush of white hair was beginning, slowly, to rise up from behind an antique writing-desk. And there, by the door, slumped on one side, was –
"Old man." Jotaro looked at the three slow-moving but definitely alive bodies, and allowed himself to feel relieved. "Did any of you see the Stand user?"
"Quoi? Alors…"
"Holy shit…"
"…im 'akun…'atawaqae…"
Jotaro rubbed his forehead under his cap. "Good grief."
"Come on, Mr Joestar, Avdol, Polnareff. We need to find her before –" Kakyoin hesitated – "before DIO makes her capture anyone else."
"The cat, too." He may not have been entirely clear on the details yet, but Jotaro was pretty certain of that. "They work together. Almost too well."
But none of them listened, because as Joseph put it, "Oh my god! You were all girls!"
