New Delhi, 38 Days Remaining
Birds chirp from the branches, their songs far different than the ones at the Kujo estate. Anne sits calmly beside Jotaro, oddly silent.
This place…it's hard to think there's peace when that bastard DIO is-
"Jotaro."
Good grief.
Jotaro continues to sit in silence, eyes completely closed. The breeze rolls through the foliage around him and past his neck, tousling the bit of hair poking from under his hat. He's still, listening to the birds, the rustling leaves of the park, and the distant murmur of conversations from this way and that.
"Jotarooo. You're not breathing enough."
"You're supposed to be quiet while meditating."
"And Jota-"
"Yare yare daze…"
Opening his eyes and pushing himself up from the ground, Jotaro walks a few paces to his left and sits down, making a point of sitting away from Anne.
Can't even think in peace.
"Ugh, fine. I'll go, then." Anne stands up in a huff and walks off towards the bushes.
"Don't run off like a lost child." Jotaro responds with a bit of dismissiveness.
"Shut up, Jotaro, I gotta piss. Just keep breathing without me, sourpuss." Anne picks up to a run and disappears. Afterwards, Jotaro closes his eyes once more and listens to the park.
Sourpuss. Hmph.
A memory bubbles up in his mind as he zones out, mind surrounded by the chirping of birds and rustling of leaves.
Kujo Residence, 18 Months Ago
Jotaro steps into his home and throws off his uniform's shoes, more flustered than angry. He grabs one of his father's hats from the rack and pulls the brim low over his eyes. A kind voice calls out from deeper in the expansive home.
"Jotaro! Hope you had a good day of school! Come in here and hug dear Mom!"
The sounds of familiar birds echoes throughout the yard behind him, and in front of him the distant melody of music hums through the walls. His mother's favorite music, probably playing it on a boombox his grandfather gave her on his recent visit.
"Jotaro?" Gentle footsteps approach from down the hall, causing Jotaro to turn around and take a half step back outside. His right eye aches, still swollen from earlier that day. He wrings his hands, rubbing his still roughed up knuckles.
"Are you alright, Jotaro?" His mother now stands behind him, worry tainting her calm voice. He could still see the small first year crumpled on the ground in the school hall, two third years taking turns cracking the poor guy's ribs. The feeling of his fist on their chins, the impact of an elbow into his right eye socket. The rage, the indignation, the fire…
Her hand touches his tense shoulder.
"Oh, Jotaro. Your hand, it's bleeding."
Where's the justice in it? The hero, like his grandfather, fighting off vampires and soldiers, fighting for what's right? Or was he like the teacher said? A delinquent. Someone wasting their brain roughing up some kids smaller than himself.
"Jotaro, can you hear me?" The rage, the confusion, all of it bubbles in his chest. His grandfather had said it himself. It's easy being a hero, as long as you're doing the right thing. And yet-
"Jotaro…"
"Shut up, you bitch!" He whips his shoulders to loose his mother's gentle touch from his arm. He made a commitment today. His mother would've said to talk it out, to be kind.
How can I be kind when there are people like that in the world? Lying, cheating, predatory bastards?
With an angry turn, Jotaro spins around to look at his mother. Her face has a faint smile of worry, but she still looks at him with the same love in her eyes as she did when she made breakfast this morning.
How? How can you still smile looking at me?
"You had a fight, huh? I'm sure you had your reasons, Jotaro. As long as you fought for what you believe in. But even if you didn't, I'll always love you." Her eyes twinkle with affection as she grins at her son.
The words choke up in Jotaro's throat. He struggles to look his mother in the eye, just looking out above her head.
"Never lose your cool, Jotaro! That's the best advice I can give you if you wanna be a hero like I used to be!"
"Used to?" There's still vile people at every turn, grandpa. There still needs to be justice…
With a breath, Jotaro's expression fades into calmness. He trudges past his mother, off to his room.
"I love you, Jotaro! Don't forget that, never!" His mother's chipper voice and American accent fade as he passes a room with a blaring jukebox.
If I have to bust a few shit-eating grins, then so be it. I'll stand in judgment. I can't let bastards like those take advantage of the little kind people left.
As he closes the door to his room, he can still hear some birds from outside and a snatch of his mother's music in the distance.
"Sunao no kokoro to hohoemi eranda no. We share loneliness! We share happiness! Baby, let's try again!"
In that same damn park, watching Jotaro sit in some grass
Okay, he's alone. No damn kid to accidentally shoot. No locals askin' me what I'm doin'.
Hol Horse squints with deep focus to look at his target. Jotaro appears to be either napping or relaxing, as his eyes are closed and his chest rises with deep, calm breaths.
He's at my max range. By the time he hears the gunshots, I'll curve the bullets behind the tree he's near and shoot a few through the trunk so he can't see them coming. Or the splinters will hobble him, maybe. Dammit, at least if Cameo takes out Joseph that's one problem out of the way…
He splays his hand out, causing Emperor to form in his grip. He takes a shallow, worried breath and tries to reassure himself.
"It's okay, Hol Horse. It's okay. If I can't shoot even a sleeping teenager, I can at least run faster than him."
With a nervous step, he sort of rocks back on his heels to ready himself for the shot. He feels a sharp point dig into his lower right back and he turns with a mild yelp.
"Damn thorn piece of-" Instead of a thorn from the bush he had been wading through, he finds a small brown skinned girl instead. With a knife. Aimed right as his kidneys.
"What did you say about shooting teenagers, you blond haired, yellow bellied, wannabe cowboy hick?"
A wash of sweat coats Hol Horse's face.
How in the hell did that girl sneak up on me?! Or notice where I was?
"That technique Joseph taught me worked wonders. I feel you shuffling around in these bushes from a mile away." The little girl snickers to herself proudly, while digging her switchblade in a little further into his back. He could almost feel it fully stab into his skin through his shirt.
"Shut the hell up, lady, and stop stabbing me! I'm just a tourist, now git the hell offa me!"
"Oh yeah, a tourist holding his hand like a gun saying he's gonna shoot teenagers. Real non-suspicious looking."
"Yeah, well, uh, it's for a movie. Now scram."
"Or how about I take a wild guess and say you work for that DIO guy, and you're trying to shoot Jotaro?"
"What the-?"
Now that's just irresponsible! Intel from that hag said this girl ain't a Stand User. And they're gonna throw this ten year old into this?
The knife in his back is on the point of breaking skin. A bead of sweat drips onto his arm, his heart racing.
"I'm not gonna let you slide. If I can help him, I will. I don't care if I don't have a Stand, I snuck up on you just fine."
"Now, now, don't be hasty, I'm sure we can work this out and get you back to grade scho-"
"Cut that shit out, cowboy! I'm 16. Old enough to gut your kidneys like a kabob."
Oh man…I'm going to have to shoot two teenagers… and one of them is a lady.
"Time to use my special technique that Joseph taught me…" The girl breathes deeply in and even Hol Horse can see the faint crackle of energy in her body.
OKAY I'M REALLY GONNA DO IT I HAVE TO SHOOT THE CHILD OR I'M GOING TO DIE.
Hol Horse wrenches himself away from the knife in his back, tumbling onto the ground out of the bush. His walkie talkie clatters onto the dirt and a few leaves still linger in the air.
"Sorry little girl, I'm not getting stabbed in a gun fight!" With a bit of hesitation, Hol Horse fires Emperor directly at Anne a few feet away.
Energy crackles from Anne's switchblade as she registers what just happened. Her eyes turn to face Hol Horse, apparently unable to register the sounds of the bullet coming in. Moments feel like hours to Hol Horse.
Oh god, why did it have to be a little girl, dammit!
The bullet careens straight toward Anne's chest as she swings wildly at Hol Horse with her crackling knife, desperately trying to stop whatever the strange man did.
Instead of hitting whatever invisible bullet she was imagining, her blade caught a few of the leaves still scattered in the air. Her Hamon crackles as it jumps between the bits and pieces of greenery and, before Hol Horse's eyes, the bullet grinds itself flat into the leaves as if it hit solid concrete.
Ah hell, she can make leaves bulletproof? I'm out, I'm in damn leaf central!
"What the fuck was that, you dumb cowboy! Is your Stand some sort of invisible gun?" The girl, flushed with adrenaline and rage, readies her switchblade again.
"Ah, hell no, git the hell away from me!" Hol Horse scrambles to his feet and starts to run. He withdraws Emperor and enters a full force sprint as the sweat starts to soak his collar.
"Hey, get back here asshole! I didn't even use my super secret technique I made!" He can hear footsteps behind him, but they stop short.
"Stop following me!"
"Alright! Then take this!" He can barely hear her whisper behind him, "Hope this works…"
Turning, he sees her standing completely still, holding her knife like a greatsword.
Oh god, whatever that is, please don't-
"BLACK KNIFE OVERDRIVE!" She readies the knife like a hatchet and throws it directly at Hol Horse. With a flash, he summons Emperor to swat it away.
No way, not at this distance!
As soon as the metal collides with his Stand, a lightshow of yellow energy pulses like a forcefield between the knife and the gun. It feels like a stun gun and a quarterback teamed up to break his forearm, but Hol Horse manages to deflect the knife, which embeds itself in a nearby tree trunk about 6 feet up.
Okay, so, future note, shoot the girl first, then Jotaro.
The girl stands there obviously fuming, her hands by her legs and a frown on her face. Hol Horse appraises her, trying to figure out just how many other tricks she has. Suddenly, her expression grows sharp and she turns a bit to the side. Raising her left arm and aiming with her middle and pointer finger, a shadow seems to go over her eyes, clouded with menace.
"Run before I break your face." Hol Horse feels his heart drop into his shoes.
"Yep! Okay! Can do!" Without any further hesitation, Hol Horse books it back to the entrance of the park.
New Delhi, 38 Days Remaining
Now that was definitely a gunshot…and something else.
Jotaro finds himself running towards some sort of commotion, more than likely a Stand user attacking Joseph while they were separated. Instead, he finds Anne chuckling to herself and tossing a walkie talkie in her hands.
"Anne!"
"Oh, Jotaro. Were you worried about me?"
"Where's Joseph?"
"Do I look like his babysitter?"
"Yare yare daze…"
"Don't you wanna know why I have this?" She indicates the walkie talkie in her hands and sticks out her tongue.
"No."
"Well, one of your assassin's dropped this. He was sneaking up on you and I spooked him." Without a word, Jotaro snatches the walkie talkie and inspects it. He sees that it's a single channel model with close range. Looking around the trees and underbrush around him, he presses the chime button. It rings through the device in his hand, and another chime responds somewhere in the trees.
"Oh good idea, Jotaro, now we can-"
"Hush." Jotaro puts his finger to his mouth to silence Anne, as he closes his eyes and breathes. The surroundings seems to ripple out around him, the trees and ground illuminated in his mind's eye with the rolling breeze. He presses the chime button again. It echoes out and, as it does, its sister chime lights up a tree in the distance. Jotaro speaks up once more.
"Anne. We've got a spy in that tree." Jotaro walks straight at it, with Anne contentedly bobbing behind him.
"Hey! That's where my knife went!"
Jotaro could almost feel the fear coming from inside the tree before him. The fear that judgment will come.
END of CHAPTER 18