"So, what's this about a potential enemy Stand?" Mr. Joestar asked, as the pair of them climbed into the back of his car and set off for the Kujo household once more.

"I've little way of knowing, given what Jotaro was able to tell me, if this new Stand user will prove to be an ally or enemy," he said, knowing that Mr. Joestar was not one to take the safety of his family lightly, but also wishing his old friend to be in full possession of even the small amount of facts that he and Jotaro – though mostly Jotaro, since he was closer to the action in this particular instance – had managed to assemble. "However, it seems as though their Stand has been having an adverse effect on Noriaki Kakyoin and his friend Loreena McKennitt."

"You mean, his girlfriend," Mr. Joestar said, a sly grin beginning to stretch his mouth. "I really have to do something nice for those kids."

"I don't think they would thank you for it, Mr. Joestar," he said, knowing that – while Loreena was the kind to take such things in stride – Noriaki would not be pleased to find himself the target of both Dio Brando and Joseph Joestar, particularly when their attention seemed to have been drawn to the interactions between himself and the young woman who he seemed to be courting in his own way.

And, more pertinently, at his own pace.

"Ah, Uncle Dio said both of them are clearly perfect for each other, but they don't seem to want to do anything about that," Mr. Joestar said, rolling his eyes and adding an overdramatic shake of his head for what seemed to be good measure. "Still, it looks like that kind of thing's going to have to wait till this whole thing with whoever this new Stand user gets resolved."

"Yes," he allowed, not wishing to become distracted by matters that were ultimately of little import; things would become clearer when the pair of them arrived at the Kujo household once more.

=SC=

When he'd finished talking to Pucci for the day – seriously, the guy was starting to sound as fussy as Uncle Dio; probably came from living with him for such a long time – Jotaro hung up on the man, shaking his head in exasperation as he made his way out of his room and down the hall. Sure, he knew that Star could and would fetch him any kind of food – or anything else, really – that he wanted, but there were times that all he really wanted was to stretch his legs and get some air.

Still, Jotaro eventually found himself making his way down the hall to the room that Mom had given to Loreena while she was staying with the pair of them in Japan. Pausing outside the door, Jotaro wondered what he'd find if he opened the thing and checked in on her without knocking. Sure, he knew that kind of thing would be rude as all hell – fuck, he'd punch anyone but Loreena or Mom in the face if they did something like that; Mom because she was Mom, and Loreena because she'd only do that if the house was on fire or something – but given the way she'd been falling asleep at weird times all through the day…

Before he'd had time to do more than consider that last part for more than a handful of seconds, Star emerged and slammed the door to Loreena's room wide open. Swearing softly under his breath, and already mentally composing apologies for the way his Stand kept jumping the gun whenever he had a thought that he felt more than a little strongly about, Jotaro narrowed his eyes as he caught sight of the way that Loreena had slumped in the desk chair that Mom had brought in nearly as soon as she'd made up her mind that the girl would be staying with their little family.

Sure enough, when he looked down at Loreena's head, pillowed on her folded arms, that same earring that had been thrashing around all those other times when he'd seen her like this was doing just that same thing; he didn't know just what in the hell was going on, but there was no doubt left in his mind that this was the work of an enemy Stand.

=SC=

"Whoa!" he exclaimed, as that strange Stand swept down out of the mint-green sky, wielding the huge scythe that seemed to be just as much a part of it as the robes that it was wearing.

However, when the attacking Stand got caught in that same, ethereal-seeming netting that had sprung up in front of them the last time that he, Loreena-chan, and Telence had all ended up in this strange place together, Noriaki stopped in his tracks. If there was anything that he could actually be glad about, after ending up in a place like this, it was the way that physical sensations didn't seem to translate over to this place. So, he wasn't out of breath from his run, and he didn't need to take any time to recover from pelting full-out across what seemed to be an entire fairground.

"Looks like we got lucky again," Telence said, turning to look at him and Loreena-chan with a smile that Noriaki couldn't help but think looked more than a little forced.

"Yeah, looks like it," Loreena-chan said, though most of her focus seemed to be on the netting that seemed to be protecting them.

He wondered about it himself, particularly since he could have sworn that there was something more than a little familiar about it, but he didn't feel right speculating in front of Telence; true, he might have been reading too much into things, but there was always the chance…

Sitting up suddenly, Noriaki looked over to see his mother looking at him with a worried expression; he wondered what might have been on her mind, for the handful of seconds he had before she started speaking.

"Your friend Jotaro-san is on the phone," she said, her expression becoming less concerned and more controlled as she spoke.

He knew that she didn't really approve of him spending so much time around someone who had gained the kind of reputation that Jotaro Kujo had, deserved or not, but on the other hand he also knew that she didn't want him to go back to being the kind of withdrawn, closed-off person that Noriaki knew he had been before he'd met Jotaro Kujo and the rest of his eccentric family. Before he'd known just how many people shared his circumstances, in the end.

Thanking his mother as he made his way out of his room, Noriaki tried not to spend too much time wondering just what Jotaro had called him up for; he'd find out soon enough, so there was no real point in wondering about that kind of thing.

When he'd made his way out to the living room, picking up the phone that his mother had been kind enough to leave out for him, Noriaki leaned back against the wall of the kitchen.

"Sorry I didn't get to you right away," he said, after he and Jotaro had finished their mutual greeting.

"It was because you were sleeping, wasn't it," Jotaro said, and it did sound much more like a statement than a question, and while Noriaki knew that Jotaro Kujo was a far more confident sort of person than he was, there was something more to all this.

Noriaki didn't know just why he thought that, but… "You know something, don't you?"

"I know that what's been attacking you and Loreena is probably an enemy Stand user, and I know my old man is going to be bringing that guy we all met up with in Egypt – Muhammad Avdol; the guy with the Tarot cards – back out here so he can help us figure out just who this guy is and just where he might be operating from," Jotaro said, giving Noriaki a much clearer idea of what they were going to be getting into.

"All right," he said, nodding even though he knew that Jotaro wouldn't be able to see him. "I'll meet you two at your house, then."

"Good; we'll be able to sort this out better once we're all back together," Jotaro said, his tone firm and decisive again.

=SC=

Once he'd gotten off the phone with Loreena's annoying bishonen boyfriend, after having gotten the girl herself back on her feet, Jotaro made his way back to the huge main room of their equally huge house so that the three of them could start getting ready for the new arrivals. And the meeting that they were all going to be having once the three remaining members of their group all made it to the house.

Once he, Mom, and Loreena had finished getting the main room ready, setting out the food that Mom had fixed for all of them to eat while they discussed what to do – what they'd be able to do, Jotaro reminded himself, much as he hated the thought of being so helpless against whatever bastard was trying to attack them now – about the enemy Stand user that he was almost certain had been attacking Loreena and her annoying bishonen boyfriend since Mom had invited the pair of them along to the Cherry Blossom Festival, Jotaro made his way to the front room to wait for the Old Man, Avdol, and Loreena's annoying bishonen boyfriend.

Sure, he might not know just when Avdol or the Old Man were going to be arriving, and he was nearly certain that Loreena's annoying, bishonen boyfriend would make it before either of them considering how close their respective houses were – at least in a general sense, anyway – but Mom would be disappointed with him if he didn't make at least some effort to be hospitable. Even to annoying people like that bishonen hat thief.

The one who still hadn't apologized for letting Uncle Dio goad him into that shit; just like Uncle Dio hadn't apologized for doing that shit in the first place, which only made it more annoying.

Nodding at Loreena as she settled herself down at the table, Jotaro rolled his eyes as Mom came over to cuddle him, kissing his right cheek once she'd gotten done fussing.

"Yare, yare daze," he muttered, as he watched Loreena help Mom to set out the last of the refreshments they were going to be offering to the Old Man, Avdol, and Loreena's annoying boyfriend.

Heading for the door once he'd heard the three, sharp knocks he'd been keeping an ear out for, Jotaro grumbled softly as he opened the door on the annoying hat thief.

"Are Avdol-san and your grandfather going to be here soon?" he asked, an honestly concerned expression spreading across his face.

"You're still worried about that enemy Stand?" Jotaro asked, watching as their guest took off his shoes and then leading him over to the table where Loreena was sitting.

"I can't really explain it, but I have a bad feeling about this," he said, glancing over at Loreena for a moment as she put her left hand on his arm to either comfort him or just let him know that she was there. "I don't really remember anything about what happens to us when we sleep, but I…"

=SC=

Noriaki trailed off, not really knowing just how to articulate exactly what it was that he'd felt, in those few moments between waking and sleeping; what fewer of them he could even consciously recall, now that he'd been awake for at least an hour. He knew that Jotaro wasn't really fond of him, in any case, and while the other boy was fun to wind up when all of them were going about their normal lives, Noriaki had always known that there would be a price to pay for that kind of thing.

Happily enough for his peace of mind, Jotaro's grandfather and Avdol-san arrived not long after he himself had made his way to the house that Jotaro and his mother both shared. Once Jotaro's grandfather had finished greeting him – something Noriaki still found amusing, even under these sorts of circumstances – he and Avdol-san settled themselves down at the table and Noriaki allowed himself to relax, even if only slightly. At least they'd be able to get some answers about what was going on.

"So, about that enemy Stand that seems to be making its move," Jotaro said, opening their conversation with his usual bluntness.

"Yes," Avdol-san said, taking them all in with a sweep of his gaze. "It seems that we are indeed under attack by a malicious Stand user. It only remains to be determined just what type of Stand they possess."

"If it helps anything, one of Loreena's earrings always seems to go crazy when she falls asleep, and if what I saw from the both of them earlier still holds up, both she and that boyfriend of hers both fall asleep at the same time," Jotaro said, and Noriaki found himself wondering just what it was that Jotaro expected to find out from an earring.

Of all things, he couldn't figure out what something so small might help them to find out. Even when Loreena-chan obligingly handed over her right earring to Avdol-san so he could take a look at it, Noriaki didn't quite know what any of the others was expecting to find out. Therefore, when Avdol-san looked like he had managed to find something out, just from a tiny little thing like Loreena-chan's earring, Noriaki didn't know what to think.

"I've seen something like this before," Avdol-san said, narrowing his eyes contemplatively as he looked down at the earring in his hand. "Mrs. Kujo, might I have a look at your library? I think there might be something about this in there."

"All right," Miss Holly said, and Noriaki turned to watch Avdol-san as he made his way out of the main room and back into the large library that Noriaki hadn't really been given any reason to think too deeply about until just today.

Miss Holly had sounded more than a little confused, herself, and Noriaki found himself hoping that the both of them would be able to get at least some kind of satisfactory answers once Avdol-san came back with the book that he'd gone to look for. While Jotaro's grandfather asked him and Loreena-chan about anything they could remember from those times when they found themselves under the influence of the mysterious enemy Stand who'd attacked them for whatever inscrutable reason that someone like that might have had.

He was still wondering about that, when Avdol-san came back into the main room, carrying a thick book with him.

"I knew I'd seen nearly that exact design somewhere before," Avdol-san said, a certain satisfaction in his tone, as he opened the book and flipped through it.

The page he finally stopped on looked like a much larger, more elaborate version of Loreena-chan's earrings. For one thing, there were three feathers, each of them at the end of a long cord of some kind, fastened at the bottom of the large hoop. For another, there were what looked like stone beads, strung into the netting itself, and at the center of the net was a hole. It was fairly small, and Noriaki found himself wondering if Loreena-chan's earrings had just been too small to display that hole, or if the chip of stone in the center of the weave had been just large enough to conceal them.

He also wondered what the hole was ultimately for, but Noriaki suspected that all of them were going to find that out sooner than later, so he didn't bother asking.

"This gives us a great deal of insight as to the nature of the enemy's Stand," Avdol-san said, sounding pleased.

"What do you mean?" Miss Holly asked, looking about as confused as Noriaki himself felt, under the circumstances.

"What you are all looking at is called a Dream Catcher," Avdol-san said, indicating the large, intricate drawing in the book he'd gotten to show them. "As the name would suggest, it serves as a defense against the mind, even in the depths of sleep. According to what I've read about the lore surrounding them, good dreams are able to pass easily through the hole in the center of the netting, but nightmares find themselves swiftly caught, melting away in the first light of dawn."

"Damn," Jotaro said, turning a slight smile on Loreena-chan where she was sitting. "I guess we should've paid more attention to those earrings of yours."

"And here I thought I just picked them up because they were pretty," Loreena-chan said, laughing softly as she briefly fiddled with her left earring.

"That might have been the reason you told yourself afterward, but it was clearly the hand of fate, guiding you to protect yourself," Avdol-san said, smiling in what looked like kind of a proud way.

It was almost like he was proud of Loreena-chan, which was kind of a strange thing to think about, but maybe he was.

"Yeah, it also gives us nearly the perfect way to deal with whoever this bastard that keeps attacking you two is," Joestar-san said, folding his arms and glaring down at the table for a lingering moment, before turning back to the rest of them with a grin.

"You think the rest of us should try going to sleep too?" Jotaro asked, a certain hardness to his eyes. "See if we get caught up in this bastard's Stand?"

"I think that plan would have a more than reasonable chance of success, yes," Avdol-san said, smiling in that same, calm way he always seemed to do.

"Someone capable of Hamon should stay awake, since it's pretty clear from that book that sunlight is the best defense against nightmares, at least once they get caught," Joestar-san said.

"I'll stay up, then," Miss Holly said, speaking up for the first time since all of them had gathered around the table to talk about the enemy Stand that was threatening them. "You guys all have more experience at dealing with Stands than I do."

"Yeah, and you're better at using targeted Hamon," Joestar-san said, nodding decisively. "All right, so it looks like we're all set as far as these first steps go. "

=SC=

"Now we just go to sleep, right?" he asked, not quite sure how to feel about deliberately exposing himself to an enemy Stand; still, that thing seemed like it'd been targeting Loreena and her annoying boyfriend in particular, and since the both of them were his friends – even with how much that annoying bishonen hat thief reminded him of Uncle Dio – Jotaro wasn't about to let them get mixed up with that shit now that he knew what was really going on.

"I think it would be best if we all got set up in one of the other rooms," Mom said, looking like she was thinking hard about what they were all going to have to do next; he didn't know if he liked seeing her so serious about something, but he figured that that was just the way moms got when someone threatened their kids.

Or people who lived with them, considering the way they'd started this whole thing to help Loreena.

Once the six of them had all made their way to one of the larger rooms, one that didn't have a defined use but usually ended up being a place for holidays and parties and stuff, Mom and the Old Man started setting up futons and cushions and things like that. Loreena's annoying boyfriend volunteered to help them with the setup part of things, but neither of them seemed to be interested. Once the last of the five futons had been set out for all of them, Mom sat down on the cushion she'd gotten for herself.

Jotaro also noticed that she had an empty glass, a small tape dispenser, and what looked like a roll of dental floss in front of her, but Jotaro she had at least some idea about what to do with those things. Taking off his slippers as he laid himself down on the nearest futon, Jotaro rolled his eyes as he heard the Old Man grumbling about using them again. Really, the old fart should've already realized what he was getting into when they'd been setting this whole thing up in the first place.

If he didn't like it, that was his own damned fault.

=SC=

Breathing deeply and steadily, as she watched her grandfather, her sweet little Jotaro, Loreena-chan who she'd all but adopted as a daughter, and her darling boyfriend Noriaki-chan, Holly maintained the flowing Hamon that she would need to deal with that horrible Stand once her family managed to draw it out from wherever it was hiding. She was also taping a strip of dental floss – the best she'd been able to find on such short notice, since she didn't really do that much sewing and so didn't tend to keep yarn balls around the house. Maybe I should start, she mused, fastening the strip of dental floss to the open end of the cup so that she'd be able to hang Loreena-chan's earring on it once they'd managed to catch the enemy Stand.

It was something she'd heard Auntie Alice saying, more than a few times when the subject of supplies came up: better to have something and not need it, than to need it and not have it.

Making her way over to Loreena-chan, checking to see what might have been happening – well, at least what she'd be able to see from the outside world where she was waiting, anyway – Holly saw that the earring was starting to thrash around like something had gotten caught in the netting. Taking a deep breath, not quite knowing how far she could get from Loreena-chan's head before she got out of range of the enemy Stand, and not wanting to hurt Loreena-chan with her Hamon besides, Holly made her way back over to fetch the cup she'd prepared for just this sort of thing.

Making her way back over to where Loreena-chan was all stretched out on the futon her grandfather had brought out for the girl, Holly put down the glass and looked at her earring again. It had started thrashing around a lot more since she'd left and come back, and Holly didn't quite know what that meant. If it was a good thing or a bad thing, but either way she was going to make sure that whatever enemy Stand they were facing wouldn't be able to threaten anyone ever again.

Carefully taking Loreena-chan's left earring out, making sure that she didn't wake the younger girl up, since she didn't know just what that would do to the rest of her family and friends if she left them without Loreena-chan's protection, Holly hung it on the strip of dental floss that she'd prepared beforehand. Focusing her Hamon, even as she curled Queen of Cups around Loreena-chan's earring. She'd only done it a few times before, channeling Hamon through her Stand, but it seemed to work even better than directing it though her fingers.

And, if nothing else, she could reach much farther with Queen of Cups than she could on her own.

"Sunlight Yellow Overdrive!"

=SC=

They'd just managed to establish just where they all were, and how they'd each ended up in this Stand – Death 13, it seemed to be called – when the world around them started to come apart. It almost seemed like it was burning, and when he saw the Old Man grinning, Jotaro knew just what was going on.

"Telence, we're going to be leaving soon!" Loreena's annoying boyfriend called, even as the dream-world around them burned away to ashes. "I hope you're going to be all right, too! We'll meet again later!"

He could have sworn that he'd just closed his eyes briefly, but…