[ten]

strength - part two

Mr. Joestar paired us off. I was placed with Polnareff. We wandered the rooms of the ship, once more searching for signs of the Stand user. Only Polnareff had become bored within the first two rooms we passed. Now he dragged his feet, fiddling with dials and pressing buttons.

Yet for all the buttons he pressed and dials he switched, the ship showed no changes.

"Hey, Juno," Polnareff said, tapping at a pipe. "How come Jotaro uses your full name?"

"I don't know." I opened a cabinet. It was empty. "Why?"

"Just wondering."

I glanced at him. He was smirking.

I asked, "What?"

Polnareff shrugged. "Nothing, nothing. It's very cute."

"Shut up, asshole."

"Such language from a lady."

"Jotaro would be the first to tell you I'm not a lady."

Polnareff's eyes glittered with amusement. "Is that so?"

"At least he's honest."

"Avdol wasn't kidding."

The room was empty. We moved back into the hall, and headed toward a staircase. I walked behind Polnareff. His large frame blocked the doorway ahead, allowing only the hard red bulb behind us to light our path. The shadows in the hall seemed to shift around us. It made me shiver.

I asked, "Honest about what?"

Polnareff reached the top of the stairs, turning around. I could hardly see his face in the dimly-lit space. But I could tell he was grinning, because it showed in the gentle tease of his voice.

"You have so much to learn, mon chou."

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

Polnareff turned away, heading into the hall.

"Oh, Juno. I've said too much already."

"You're such a -..."

Beneath me, the step disappeared. I lost my footing, and my hands snapped out toward the hand-rail; the rail itself turned into a soft mushy rope that melted in my grip until it fell away entirely.

The steps were like wet paint, dripping inward into a dark yawning pit. Before that moment, I had never been too afraid of heights. But there was no bottom that I could see, and my stomach churned.

The staircase disappeared.

I was falling. A scream slipped out.

A cold hand grabbed onto my wrist.

It was Silver Chariot.

Yet as soon as I looked into its eyes, it was gone. It faded into nothingness, into the blackness which swallowed me up as I fell and fell.

But there was an end to the pit.

It came hard and sudden, knocking the breath from my body.

Before the ceiling overhead sealed shut, I heard a shout.

"Juno!"

Whatever had happened, Polnareff was still alive. But he was in danger, too. His Stand had disappeared. At least he was close to the deck where he could find the others, if he had not been swallowed up and thrown somewhere else.

Loud buzzes and crackles distracted me. I lifted my head to look around. I had landed in the radio room. The noises came from the machines, now alive and chattering. It was a series of beeps and long drawn-out tones.

But all focus on the machines faded as a much warmer, much hairier hand than Silver Chariot's clamped on my shoulder.

I let out another scream as I was forced to turn and face the hot huffing face of the orangutan. Its breath was sour.

And it was wearing the Captain's shirt and hat.

As if it realised that I had noticed, it reared, batting at its chest and huffing proudly. It tapped at the medals pinned to the left-hand pocket, as if those were its own medals.

It then dropped forward, and crawled over me, trapping me under its frame.

Drool landed on my cheek and slid off. It joined the tear that slipped out, because I was so afraid.

Its lips spread wide. Its teeth were yellow.

A cut lined its forehead, like it had already been hit. I found myself hoping it had.

Its rough, sandpaper-like tongue licked from my jawline to my eye, wiping off the tear. It clamped my arms in place to ensure I remained still.

Our eyes met; I wished that cut would worsen, split apart at its edges and rip into its skull. That was how much I hated this ape. It darkened my heart, made me bite into my tongue so painfully hard that it felt like it had on the plane when that insectile Stand speared it.

And the ape howled, its body heaving as it was knocked backward, hands clamping onto the cut on its forehead.

The hard ground beneath us dripped away like the staircase. It was like a marshmallow melting beneath us, spongy, swallowing us up.

Once again, I was falling.

This time, it was not only a fear of hitting the ground too hard that occurred to me. It was the ape, who had still been partially crouched over me as the ground disappeared.

Its weight might crush me and even kill me.

I braced myself.

What would happen if I healed myself as we landed?

I had hurt myself in the first fall. I was bruised, aching, though no bones had broken. Still, I engulfed myself in the golden light so familiar to me now, softening the swell of bruising on my back. It closed around me like a blanket.

So the second fall finished in a much softer landing, and I hardly felt it.

What occurred to me, then, was not broken bones or anything like that. It was the rancid breath of the ape as it remained over me, even on this new floor, in cold sour green-yellow lights. We had dropped into a hallway.

The ape had not crushed me in the fall. But it pressed its weight against me now, on purpose, pressing hard to hold me in place as it bared its teeth much more aggressively.

"Oi! Over here, ya filthy animal!"

Something gold and round bumped against its head.

The ape turned. Its shoulder lifted, allowing a small gap for me to see who it was behind its massive form, though I had already recognised his voice: Jotaro.

The radio room must have been above this hallway, and we had dropped right through.

I had not expected Anne to be here, standing in a flimsy towel, staring wide-eyed at the ape. What had happened to the sailors? My gaze trailed up the hall, toward a room, from which a thick pool of blood oozed. My own ran cold at the sight of it.

Jotaro was held against the wall with pipes, so many he could not move much; his Stand was trapped beside him.

Yet Jotaro had managed to throw that button, and distract the ape, saving my life.

The ape reached weakly for the button that Jotaro had thrown.

"That button's not your Stand," Jotaro said.

The ape was fast becoming unhinged, more than it was already. Its huffing caused its nostrils to ooze with mucus; its eyes twitched. It held up the golden button, groaning to itself.

Now it seemed lost.

Jotaro asked, "Does that upset you?"

The ape staggered heavily from side to side.

"I guess it wounded your pride," Jotaro added, his tone cold and spiteful, "since you thought you'd already won."

The button glinted. The ape trembled.

"Nah," Jotaro continued. "It's not hurt at all. 'Cause apes like you've got no pride! That's exactly what makes you an ape and not a man!"

The ape leaped for Jotaro, aiming for his throat.

Star Platinum broke the pipe around its wrist and shot a button straight through the ape's skull. It dropped, a bleat of pain sounding through the hall. It flailed, screamed and showed its belly to Jotaro, who was freed from the pipes.

"I've heard frightened animals expose their bellies as a display of submission," he drawled. "Are you asking me to forgive you?"

The ape whimpered.

"I'm afraid your actions have overstepped the law of the jungle," Jotaro said calmly. "So I don't think so."

Blood splattered the wall behind the ape. Anne let out a surprised squeak as the ape was thrown through a door, after which it let out a final groan of pain.

Explosions wracked through the ship. Its walls dripped and bent, twisting.

"Anne," Jotaro barked, "grab your stuff. This ship's going down. It's time to get back to the lifeboats."

The little girl rushed into another room. Jotaro crossed the hall, holding out his hand to me. I stared at the ape, on its own, in a dim hall without much light. It was very still. I found myself hoping Jotaro had killed it, which was a dark and miserable desire, unlike anything I had ever felt before.

As he pulled me up, I asked, "Did that ape hurt Anne?"

"No," he said. "Cornered her when she was alone in the shower and scared her bad, though."

"No wonder she's so afraid around us. Look what happens."

Jotaro's hands found his pockets. "Are you hurt?"

"I healed myself."

"That's not what I asked."

Sharply, my head turned. He appeared aloof. But he was standing close; he was waiting, too, for an answer, even if all around us the ship trembled and shifted and morphed.

Water gushed, someplace nearby.

But Jotaro was steady, unflinching.

"I'm okay," I told him gently. "How about you?"

"Never been better."

"Oh, yeah? That gash on your shoulder says otherwise."

"We don't have time for healing. We're sinking fast."

As if on cue, the ship listed, causing us to crash against the wall. Fresh blood oozed thickly from his shoulder. He let out a small grunt of pain.

Water was beginning to swell in the hall, sloshing over our ankles. It was brutally cold. Anne emerged, struggling through the onslaught of waves, tugging on the straps of her dungarees.

The hall swelled with the thunderous slew of water, almost shoving us toward the staircase that led to the deck. It rose to our hips, but Anne was so short that it reached her chest. She was much slower.

Jotaro did not offer his hand this time around. He grabbed her, hoisting her under his arm, and carrying her to the deck.

On the staircase, I glanced back. There was still a sole bulb flickering weakly beneath all that darkness. Its light was blotted out by a large body, floating past.

x

The lifeboat drifted along. The freighter had sunk. With the sailors dead, our own boat seemed so small and lonely out on the ocean. I reflected on that moment with the ape when I had wished its cut would pain it more, and as if on command, the ape had fallen backward, clutching its face.

Polnareff nudged me. "Penny for your thoughts, Juno?"

The men on the lifeboat looked at me.

Anne resolutely turned her back on us.

"I was struggling with that ape earlier," I told them. "And something weird happened."

So I recounted it to them, aware that Anne occasionally glanced over her shoulder, another pinch at the bridge of her nose. It must have sounded so strange to the little girl, but she had already seen so much that I figured she was learning to believe us.

"So you can heal pain," Kakyoin said. "And cause it?"

"I don't know. But the ape responded as if it was in pain."

Polnareff summoned Silver Chariot. "Well, let's test it."

Before we could even stop Polnareff, Chariot had slit its own palm; a slash appeared on Polnareff's palm, pouring a steady stream of blood. He shuffled around the lifeboat to hold it out to me.

"Go ahead," he said. "Give me all you got."

"Polnareff," Avdol said wearily. "I doubt this will work."

Polnareff pushed his palm closer to me.

"Don't be a little chicken. Try."

"We need some entertainment," Jotaro muttered, lifting his hat high enough that he could watch. "Go for it."

The blood was slowing; Silver Chariot faded.

Holding Polnareff's hand, I focused on the wound. I wished that it would ache ten times more than it already did, that it would blister, and fester, repeating the same words I had used against that ape.

Polnareff was very still. He was, for once, quiet.

I looked into his eyes. "Nothing?"

"Nothing."

"As I forewarned," Avdol said quietly, his arms crossed, his eyes closed.

Polnareff huffed, facing the other man.

He scoffed, "Are you gonna let us in on the secret or not?"

"There is no secret. Juno is not afraid of you."

"So I gotta scare her?"

Polnareff jolted at me, attempting to startle me. I offered him only a deadpan stare.

"Huh." He scratched his cheek. "Might need to work on that."

"Juno is not afraid of you," Avdol repeated, "nor is she in any perceived danger. She also does not wish to harm you in any way."

"Unlike others on this lifeboat," Jotaro said lightly.

Kakyoin snickered. Polnareff returned to his own seat, muttering to himself.

"Now I am beginning to believe that we have misjudged Juno's Stand. It is not solely one of healing. It is also based on pain manipulation. It can take away pain," Avdol said, "or it can make what pain already exists far worse. Indeed, I suspect Juno can also remove pain."

Mr. Joestar's face scrunched up. He asked, "Isn't that the same thing as healing?"

"No," Avdol said quietly. "It is not."

In the midst of the lifeboat undulating, Avdol's eyes met mine. We rose; we fell. All the ocean seemed to melt away, and I was left exposed, though what he saw, I couldn't say then.

Only that it was the most anyone else had ever seen me, stripped me raw and looked into those little drawers, those little cupboards, those little alcoves, that composed me.

There was more to me that I didn't even know about yet.

x

Anne continued to sit alone, her arms curled around herself. She stared out at the horizon.

With a sigh, I shifted in my seat and moved closer to her, sitting on her right. She glanced at me, sniffling a little, using the cuff of her shirt to rub harshly at her cheeks.

She mumbled, "What do you want?"

"Just checking on you."

"Don't bother. I'm fine."

"Okay."

She narrowed her eyes at me. "I'm not a baby."

"I know."

"Good," she huffed. "So leave me alone."

"I will," I said. "I only wanted to ask you something first."

"What?"

"How long has it been?"

She blinked. "Since what?"

"Since you ran away from home."

Her face grew ashen. "I'm not running away from home," she said. "I'm meeting my father in Singapore. I told you."

"Oh. Sorry." I waited a moment. "It's just I ran away from home before. So I thought that was what you're really doing."

"...You did?"

Her eyes flashed nervously to the men in our lifeboat.

"I won't tell them," I whispered to her. "How long has it been?"

Anne hesitated. "I don't know. A couple of weeks."

"You've made it a lot longer than I did," I told her. "And way further, too."

Slowly her arms loosened. She had been hunched. Now she unfurled, sitting straight, her face still cast in wariness as she turned toward me.

"You really ran away?"

"Well, I don't know if it counts," I said. "But I tried, once."

"How long? Where did you go?"

"Two nights. It went wrong right from the start. I barely had any money. Just some pocket money I saved up. I became lost and scared and I ended up sleeping in a garden shed."

A small, uncertain smile showed on her face. "Really?"

"Really. I told you, I was scared. Eventually I asked an old lady if she could tell me which bus to take to return to my street, and she helped me. I was never so relieved."

"What did your parents do?"

I crossed my arms like she had done before, sinking my chin into the crook of my elbow. I watched the waves turn and turn.

"Nothing," I said finally. "I don't think they noticed."

"Didn't they miss you?"

There was a beautiful innocence in her question; it shone in her eyes, too, so earnest as she leaned forward. It was oddly endearing to see Anne as the little girl that she was, too, instead of the pretence she had pulled with the pocketknife and swearwords.

"No," I told her. "I don't think so."

She looked at her shoes. "Oh."

"Do you think your parents are missing you?"

"Yeah," she admitted quietly. "I think so."

"Then you're pretty lucky," I said, lightly nudging at her arm. "Because that's how you know when someone really loves you. They miss you when you're gone. They notice."

She fiddled with her hands. "You won't tell," she said.

"I won't tell."

"Mr. Joestar says you're all my friends."

"We are. If you want us to be."

She shrugged. "Whatever."

But her eyes slid toward me.

She shifted on her seat so she could remain close to me.

x

a/n: *mon chou = literally 'my cabbage' but used as a term of endearment. also yes i made jotaro say 'ya filthy animal' i had to do it. heheh i hope you enjoyed!