This is a collaboration between me and Eskarina.
The looks of hatred exchanged between the brothers was quite an uncomfortable sight for Jolyne, who was right in their field of vision. She ruminated about the possibility of moving discreetly to one side without Donatello noticing, too focused on the other blond. Now that his Stand power had been withdrawn, it would be easy to run away if the two blondes started fighting amongst themselves. She signaled Anasui to be quiet and also gestured for F.F. to lower the gun she had started aiming at Donatello, who seemed more and more like an actual creepy vampire.
Maybe she could pretend to be unconscious and crawl out when they weren't looking in her direction. It seemed like an infallible plan. She mentally congratulated herself on her geniusness.
"Jolyne, dear, what do you think you are doing?" Donatello asked, turning his attention to her. She froze under his narrow-eyed gaze.
Well, maybe it hadn't been such a good idea, but at least she had managed to get a bit further away. She didn't chance another look in her friends' direction. Just as Donatello took a step toward her, the other blonde, the one he had called brother, mirrored his action toward him.
A blue stand appeared behind Donatello, and at the command of 'Underworld', the prisoners who had disappeared before then reappeared to go against his brother. They had not advanced even two steps before the other said 'Gold Experience.' To her surprise, he let the prisoners continue to approach him. Just when Jolyne braced herself to see him get beaten, she heard a call for 'Requiem' and Donatello's brother was perfectly fine while Underworld's ability had shut off.
"I had to try," Donatello said almost apologetically with a sigh, but there was no real remorse on his face. "You couldn't save the old man, and now you won't be able to save her either."
"You are not going to kill any more Joestars," said the other with such solemnity that it tasted like an oath.
"Oh, but I'm not going to kill her. I just need to extract some of her blood, which I can do on several occasions." Jolyne felt a chill when she heard that. "Think of it like this, taking her is like ending the damn feud between our families."
"Fuck you, blondie!" sputtered Jolyne even as she felt increasingly light-headed. "I mean, the one who wants to do weird shit to me. The other seems to be a sort of ally. If not, screw him too! But he seems to be mainly after Donatello, I think." Without really meaning to, she had started to voice her thoughts aloud.
It seemed to Jolyne that the blonde who wasn't Donatello was laughing, but it was only for a few seconds. She didn't know what happened afterward, because the next thing she knew, she heard a ' ziiiipp' from beneath her and seconds later, before she could even scream, she fell into a void.
"Right on target, caro mio," said a deep voice.
"Jolyne, don't be scared." When she was able to see again, she saw a man with a bob haircut and a kind expression. "We're escaping from Donatello with my Stand. Giorno has gone to stop him, but that man is elusive and always ends up escaping. It seems his ability has changed or evolved since the previous run-in too. Oh poor girl, you're bleeding everywhere. I'll close your wounds while we wait for Giorno. My name is Bucciarati, by the way, and this other very handsome man is Abbacchio."
"Try not to faint from the loss of blood until Giovanna returns," said the aforementioned Abbacchio.
It was one thing to tell her to not pass out and quite another for her to actually hold on consciously. If she had more energy, she would have done it, but she could barely walk. In fact, after a while, she could not even do that and the taller one had to carry her in his arms while the brunette made use of his stand to move in a way that she could not understand.
She was barely conscious when they emerged into a room in a house near the prison. The blonde called Giorno was already waiting for them there.
Through her slipping consciousness, she noticed that Giorno made a strange face when he approached her. His golden Stand appeared behind him. He grabbed a hold of her and she suddenly felt excruciating pain. Just as panic began to build up within her and she weakly slapped his hands away, she looked down and noticed that her wounds had disappeared.
"Your Stand..." Jolyne said, almost in a whisper. "It shares the same name as my goldfish..."
Everything went black.
She didn't know how long she was unconscious, but when she woke up, she felt fine, at least physically. Mentally, not so much, because she was tremendously confused. Some kind of vampire had attacked her and said things that seemed strangely sexual, and then another, who looked like his brother, had come to help her.
Donatello seemed powerful, but somehow, Giorno seemed even more so. And most of all, one wanted to do fucking awful things to her while the other wanted to save the Joestars. A lump of worry began to burn in her throat. Giorno had said that he would not allow him to kill more Joestars. What had Donatello already done?
She thought of her great-grandfather's mischievous smile and his bright green eyes then his sudden death. Did Donatello have something to do with that? The thought terrified her, but not knowing who he was referring to was even worse. She didn't know if her grandmother or Gruncle Josuke were okay.
Her dad had told her that he had walked away from her for her own safety, but he hadn't had time to explain anything to her before Pucci's attack. Donatello and Pucci were in league with one another. What had they been doing to her family while she was moping over the loss of their love?
Despite being on the verge of tears, she still paid attention to her surroundings. Hence, when she heard the door open a little, she manifested her Stand. Incidentally, she also realized that the door was strange; it did not look like the door to a common room.
"Mi scusi." The man, who she recognized as the one who had introduced himself as Bucciarati, cleared his throat before speaking in English with a very marked accent. "I didn't know if you were awake, miss. I wanted to check on you. I'll let the boss know to make sure."
She was then left alone again for a while, long enough for her to recollect herself. She and her supposed saviors were supposed to be allies, although the fact that this Giorno was Donatello's brother did not assure her. The next time the door opened, the person entered only after calling first and getting her permission.
With a reassuring expression, the blonde entered. She hadn't noticed before in the swamp, but he was big, maybe even bigger than Donatello. He was surely close to her own dad's size. His long hair was blond, very blond, that she could almost say that it was unnaturally golden. He was dressed in a bottle green Prada suit that further accentuated his eyes. Despite Donatello being a horrible person, she had found him to be attractive. Well, apparently, Donatello was not the handsome brother.
As he seated himself on one of the two chairs in the room, she suddenly became aware of how small the room really was. It was starting to look less and less like a room.
"Well Miss Kujo... Do you mind if I call you Jolyne?" She nodded and he continued. "What a lovely name. Please call me Giorno. Or, I suppose full introductions are in order first. My name is Giorno Giovanna, and as Donatello mentioned, I have the misfortune to share blood with him. I was conceived by a man called Dio Brando, but unlike Donatello, I don't consider him my father... Even so, I still inherited his powers..." He paused at this point.
"Don't worry, I've seen some of the weirdest shit imaginable these past few weeks. You can just be blunt and tell me all of it as it is," Jolyne told him, tired of not understanding anything. "I can't promise I'll understand, but I don't think it could possibly be anything too surprising."
"My father was a vampire who stole the body of Jonathan Joestar, your great-grandfather's... grandfather? Your father killed him when he was at the age of 17 in Egypt."
"That sounds a lot like my dad, actually." Jolyne shrugged. She vaguely recalled Donatello mentioning that last point back at the swamp too, though at the time, she hadn't been really paying too much attention to his words. "Maybe I would have been a lot more surprised if one of my friends weren't a colony of sentient plankton."
"What?" Giorno was startled, but there was also underlying intrigue. "Is it because of a Stand attack? We could reverse your friend's condition if they're still alive," he offered.
"Nah. It's more like, basically, a plankton with a Stand possessed a corpse and initially followed orders from Father Pucci," Jolyne began to explain. "I told you I wouldn't be surprised. But don't worry, she's fine. She's the girl who came with you and was ready to shoot your brother."
"Please, don't refer to that monster as my brother," Giorno said abruptly before resuming his previously calm behavior. "As I was saying, Dio sired us using the body of your great-great-great-grandfather, so apparently, we need pure Joestar blood to unlock the full potential of our power. I am not interested in becoming a vampire myself, but what I do care about is whether or not Donatello will succeed at it. Hence, I've made it my personal mission to protect you."
"Thanks, I guess. But first, there's something really important I have to take care of. I need to go back." She hadn't chosen to go right back into the stone ocean for nothing that time so long ago, even when she was already past the coiled fence and the sea breeze was in her face, the huge submarine awaiting her.
"The Speedwagon Foundation already has Dr. Kujo's disc, so you can rest assured. But I'm afraid that going back will not be so easy." Giorno sighed. Preparing himself to be attacked by a Stand, he proceeded to tell her everything at once.
"If Donatello finds you again, he'll waste no time. He really wants you, and only my Stand can override his. He has Pucci's allies crawling all over the area right now. As for us, for the last few hours, we've been on a private plane headed for Italy, my turf, where I have plenty of allies. Did I mention before that I am the leader of Passione, one of the largest and most powerful mafia organizations in Italy?
"I rose to power at the age of 15 after I gained the power of Requiem over my Stand and sent the previous leader into an unmentionable fate. He deserved it, though, for killing several of my companions, all of whom I brought back from the dead five years ago. You've already met two of them actually; they are the ones who rescued you. But I assure you, they are good people, despite not quite being people."
Jolyne frowned, trying to take in everything he had said. She may be used to weird things, but even this was a bit much.
She finally settled for the most concerning point. "So, what you're saying is, I've been abducted."
"I would prefer 'courteously invited to receive my protection', but right now, it is more important for me to stop Donatello than to consider your wishes. Really, it depends on you," he said in a monotonous voice.
"So yes, abducted, whatever rhetoric you want to give it." She sighed heavily. "Fucking hell, you do know I'm going to try to escape when we get off the plane, right?"
Giorno rose from his chair and straightened to his full height, appearing by Jolyne's side in an instant. He crouched gracefully until their eyes were on the same level, emerald green meeting aquamarine. His expression might have been cold, but his eyes didn't carry that same frigidness.
"I'd rather not have to, but..." He smiled, showing his white teeth. "A good hunt is always interesting."
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