The sunlight poured through the window. It's warmth absent from the rays that inhabited the room. It was the same throughout the rest of his decrepit abode.

Dio, now just a boy, stood beside her. He held her hand with the lightest grip he could.

"Mother?"

She peered down at him. Her face covered by darkness. only her smile visible.

"My sweet Dio." she looked up to meet his new found height. "Why did you go through with this? Why did you let your naivety get the better of you? I thought you knew better than this."

He backed away from her, almost glad to let go of her hand. To get out of her grasp. In his hands instead he found a bloody sign post. Blood began to spread and cover his clothes. It stung like acid. Like the morning sun. Like Hamon.

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue? Aren't you going to make his life miserable now? Might as well. You have nothing better to do right now. After all it did bring you so much joy before."

Dio remained silent in his steady stance. He looked at her dead in the eye before turning and walking away.

"Only I decide what will happen to him. What I will do to him. I don't need help from some figment of my imagination. I'd rather see the decrepit corpse of Jojo in my dreams than you. He gave me more clarity and peace than you ever could."

He walked into the void. Their figures blurred as Dio woke.

He lay amongst bed sheets and covers on his back. And beside him lay a sleeping Jojo. He faced Dio. Dio faced him. Jojo's peaceful face hidden from the bright moonlight seeping through the curtains.

Dio gracefully slid his fingers through Jojo's hair. It shimmered a vibrant blue as it caught the moonlights glance. It shone just like before.

Jojo shivered in his sleep. Dio wanted to admire the stitches he'd sewn. The breathing creature that lay next to him. But he couldn't. That face didn't belong in the land of the living anymore. Especially not attached to some decaying carcass he'd ripped apart and decimated.

Dio gently held Jojo's clenched fist. His shaking lightened as his breathing relaxed.

Pucci also lay asleep but in the cold confines of the stony work room. The machine had been fixed through their efforts as Ice slept beside him. Oil and grease covered their garments and hands. Tools had been littered around them during their haste to get it done in time. Before Dio woke again.

"Jojo?" Dio leaned over and shook him lightly. He was almost suprised he could have such a light hand.

Jojo opened his hazy eyes to meet Dio's unamused face.

"Dio?"

Their stomachs growled.

"Jojo, let me see your mouth."

Dio opened Jojo's mouth despite him wriggling.

"What are you doing?" He spluttered.

Dio backed away. "I shall get us some food. You stay here."

"But I'm not hungry."

"Jojo you haven't eaten yet. At first, I thought you didn't need food but it is quite evident you do need to eat. Don't think I couldn't hear your stomach."

Jojo slumped a little. Having been put in his place by the one he called his 'protector' hurt a little. Though this hurt feeling, sinking feeling in his chest was nothing new to him. Like he'd felt it before. Again, and again.

He looked to the door and to the bed but Dio had gone. He'd left as Jojo's thoughts had consumed him.

Jojo sat alone on the bed. He looked down at his hands. A strange mix of greys and greens, stitches connecting his fingers; palms sweating.

He remembered. The feel of something in his grasp. He held onto it for dear life, hoping it wouldn't slip. If it fell out of his hands...

"That sword!" he exclaimed. "Luck? Pluck?" He remembered now. The sword he used. Used to...

"Dio." Jojo could remember that night. Not all of it but that moment. Dio fell to his supposed death. Jojo remembered the pain and the tears running down his face as his enemy had fallen.

The same creature that had brought him back. Tears rolled down his eyes as the memory wouldn't fade. Hands relentlessly shook.

"What caused this? What drove me to do that to you?" Jojo wiped the tears from his face.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

He looked to the door. It was not Dio that peeked around it, but a bird. It stared at him for a while. An Icey haze forming around him; never breaking eye contact. Jojo froze in his place. He saw a deliberate evil in this bird's eyes. Relentless to kill.

"Are you alright? Birdie?" A whisper of fear slithered through his words.

'Birdie?! Doesn't this freak know who I am?!' The bird cawed before launching at Jojo.

"Pet Shop!"

The bird stopped himself; he was within inches of Jojo's petrified face. He swooped around and sat proudly on his master's shoulder.

"He is not our enemy. Is he?" Dio placed the covered tray on the table and fussed his companion. "I'm sorry about him. Quite a good guard bird though. This is Pet Shop. Pet Shop?" The bird was entranced by Dio strokes and fuss. "This is Jojo. I expect you to protect him as you would me."

The bird nodded callously at Jojo. He flew round the door and down the hall.

"Make sure he keeps his word." Dio nodded to his stand who was serving the wine to Jojo, still sitting perturbed on the bed.

"Birds don't normally make ice, do they?"

Jojo gently took the wine from The World and took a sip. He forced it down.

"So, you can see his power?"

"Is that what that is? I understand he must've been scared that's all." Jojo gave a friendly smile in thought. Thought of another animal.

'It barked. He. Danny?' Jojo mused grasping the wine glass ever tighter almost breaking it.

"He's fickle but loyal." Dio glugged the remnants of the wine bottle down. Ever since he'd become a vampire, it'd taken far more alcohol to get drunk. But getting drunk in Jojo's presence wouldn't be wise. He joined him on the bed.

"Is the wine adequate?"

"You mean good? Yeah, it's ok." He looked into the blood red wine still sitting in the cup.

"Don't spill a single drop."

"What are you muttering about?"

"I remember someone told me not to spill a glass of wine. I think it was some sort of test?"

"What a stupid test." Dio commanded his stand to bring him the main course. The main meal.

"Why don't we dive in?" Dio shoved the covered plate on Jojo's lap. "Dig in."

The World took Jojo's wine cup and uncovered the plate. A foul stench of blood and decaying flesh filled his numbed nose.

"What is this?" Jojo couldn't help but grimace.

"An arm. Full of fresh blood and meat. Eat up before it spoils." Dio drained his in seconds. "Or would you rather eat something else. I can get something far fresher if you like."

Jojo bite reluctantly into the arm. He could feel the sweet blood flowing into him as his fangs pierced the flesh. It disgusted him.

He quickly put down.

"I can't eat this." His voice trembled. "I can't. This is someone's arm. They used to be alive. Like me."

"So?" Dio stopped himself. What a fool he'd been to think Jojo would just go along with this. He'd underestimated how quickly Jojo's memory had returned. How quickly he was coming to.

"Here. Dio snatched the arm from Jojo's plate and sucked it dry. He showed Jojo his arm. "Take my blood then. You won't kill me."

"I don't want to hurt you."

"It won't hurt. You need more than just a gulp. If you're going to get by."

Jojo hesitantly and gently bit Dio's arm and drank. The taste lingered in his mouth and gullet. It was bitter and hard to swallow.

"Don't be afraid to bite harder."

But Jojo couldn't. Tears streamed from his eyes as he stopped. He sat up.

Dio looked down at the barley bleeding bite wound Jojo had made. It healed rather quickly.

"I'm just like them."

"Like who?"

"A monster. The very same I sought to kill. I killed them because they were evil. So, am I evil? I don't want this." Jojo couldn't stop his endless trickle of tears.

"Jojo. You're not evil."

"The sword, the glass, zombies. I remember. I remember all of it. My friends. Erina. So why? Why did I try to kill you?"

Dio held Jojo's shaking hand. "Are you ready to hear the answer to that?"

Jojo nodded. The World freed his face from the tears.

"I was one of the monsters you sought to kill. Whether it was to stop me from ruling the world or something else. I had no choice. In order to get you here I had to do the same as what happened to me."

Jojo looked at his shaking hands. Dio looked away. They sat in silence as The World came back with an object.

"This. This was the catalyst." Dio took it from his stand. He held his nerves as steady as best he could whilst handing it to Jojo but the shaking still showed.

Jojo held Dio's hand and with his other hand, took the stone mask from him.

"So, you remember everything?"

"Most things."

"I'm still the same to you?"

The awkward silence grew defining,

"I like you. The Dio I knew wouldn't hold my hand. He wouldn't have brought me back. I'm sure he wanted me dead."

"He did. But your death was not what he expected."

"How did I die?"

"I thought you remembered everything?"

"My last memory is your desperate eyes looking up at me."

"Maybe it's better if you didn't know."

"Will I have to drink blood until I die again?"

"Afraid so. But being a vampire isn't all bad."

Another long pause.

"You couldn't deal with my death. Is that why I'm here?"

"I could deal with it." Dio refusing to let his emotions show again through his grinding teeth.

"I see. Your ghost friend is nice. How'd you meet him?"

"The World is my stand. A being born from my soul. Reflecting some of my aspects. Only stand users can see other stands. He reminds me more of you though."

"How come?"

The World hugged Dio like cat. A prominent blush coming across his face.

"This is what I mean. Too clingy sometimes. To sensitive."

The World stopped and faded away. Shame filling his mind.

"Maybe we should get some fresh air."

"How are you so calm with this all of a sudden?"

But Jojo rose of the bed and held out his hand. Dio ignored it and angrily headed out the door. Jojo heard a distant call echoing from the chambers beyond. Not for him.

Jojo looked at his hands again.

"Dio. You made me a vampire like you. And destroyed my body it seems. All because you couldn't let me go? What was it like? For you to do this? To go this far?" Jojo tried to smile but his tears didn't want to end. Accepting what he was now was what he needed to do. Even if he did have to smile. Even if he couldn't understand.

"I will only truly leave this world when you do. Won't I? That day is fast approaching."