It was dark that night. Darker in person, outside rather than through slitted windows in a damp brick box. The stars glowed brightly above his head. His movements careful as not to alert any passers-by. For he hid in the night among towering buildings and cracked walls.
Jonathan had ventured further into the city having walked the whole day there. What else could he do? But walk and hide even from the welcoming moonlight. Hoping prying eyes wouldn't notice and bring attention to him. to his scars and uneven body. The patches of greys and greens for skin. The only semblance of normal human left of him was his head but even that was starting to fade grey dry. With not eating. With not wanting to wade through the maze he supposedly called 'home'.
He slumped into a darkened ally, as far as he could get from bright city lights, in a corner. Alone even in a world full of strange creatures.
His mind wandered back. Ever memory he encountered forced him to push back further. Further. Further. Until he was standing on the steps of the Joestar mansion with Danny.
He closed his eyes. Felt the warm summer breeze as he tried to climb a tree. His memories engulfing his sleep.
A rare moment when Dio appeared without hate or malice. How Dio would let him hold his hand as they grew older, always brushing it off as if it was nothing. A rare moment of peace. Before the fire. The monster.
He woke suddenly. He face wet from centaury's old tears. The moon still above him.
He shouldn't be here. Erina. Speedwagon. They'd be missing him up in heaven. After he just suddenly fell back to earth and woke suddenly to stench of corpse. To see the face of a man, a monster, he was blissfully unaware of.
"Excuse me?"
Jojo looked down from the moon to a rather lean boy no more than 17 for sure. His red hair popping from the shadows of the night.
"Can I help you?" A meek response. Jojo tried not to shudder.
"You haven't seen a tall man around here? Has a hat for hair? Maybe with a tall French guy? Long grey tower for hair?" The boy's words faded as Jojo callously stepped into the moonlight.
"I'm good thanks." The boy turned to walk away. But Jojo gently held his hand. The boy in green stopped.
"I could help you find them. If you'd like?" His voice weak.
"Sure ok."
"My name is Jonathan. But Jojo's fine."
"Kakyoin Noriaki. Nice to meet you?" The boy turned and bowed. "Wait. Did you say?"
"Jojo?"
"You don't know a Jotaro do you?"
"I'm afraid not."
"Not even a Joseph Joestar?"
"Joestar? that rings a bell."
"Let's find them together then. Mr Joestar has a lot to explain."
Kakyoin tightly gripped Jojo's rather large hand and tugged him along. Not seeming to care about feeling the various lumps and stitches littering his hand.
The boy chuntered to himself, pulling the gentle giant along. Hierophant watching from Kakyoin's shoulder, staring in wounder at such a creature.
Jojo sighed. A strange moment of peace came upon him. 'Why did you leave me? Why choose this path? When kind strangers like him get involved?'
"You know, Pucci, this heaven we've been after."
"Yes?"
"I believe that it already exists."
Dio sighed as the moon gave light to their little tea party. His hands holding his head up, leaning on the fragile table as Pucci stared.
"How so?" Pucci stuttered. He tripped over his words as the enemy of doubt crept in his mind.
"I've had no desire." Dio kept propping his head up with his hands, his gaze fixed on the sky. "To seek any sort of pleasure from outside this abode. When he came I had it all. You, him, myself and our stands. Who could want more?"
"Your heaven is us?" Pucci's words grew thin and stammering.
"I suppose even I can't run from mortal emotions forever, though 100 years or so isn't a bad record."
"I'm honoured truly, I mean so much to you."
"Flattering as always. we should do this more often." Dio's words were harsh yet steady. With still a lingering problem weighting them together.
"Even without-"
"Even without Jojo here anymore." Dio's impatience grew at the mention of him. Frustration built in the scraps of soul that remained. Frustration that Jojo was no longer there. Betrayal. Dio couldn't see Jojo's acts as betrayal. For he had desperately tried to ignore that Jojo's reason for such betrayal of his own doing.
Dio stared into his tea cup for a while. a distorted monster looking back.
Pucci remained stunned and quiet as he continued to drink.
"Was bringing him back, unethical?" Dio spoke after a while. A sombre voice indeed.
"Yes, but I understand why you did it. After all it wasn't for evil means? I think you were right to do what you did-"
"But?"
"But you could have maybe tried another way?"
"Any other way would ensure failure."
"At least you wouldn't've made him-"
"A monster? He's far from that."
"But he doesn't think so. You saw how they reacted to him. That's why-"
"He left with Kakyoin." A sharp seething venomous growl came crawling from the depths of Dio's distain. "I saw what he's done." His eyes widened but his voice grew smaller. "Whether he knows it or not."
Another echoed silence.
"Why don't you try to go after them? And get him back?" Pucci wanted to sink in his chair, though he loved Dio dearly his unpredictability could sometimes be a little too concerning.
"Why? Why bother? They're coming to kill me anyway. Lure them in, snatch up Jojo and dispose of the pests. That would be more fun than doing all the hard work myself."
Dio stirred his stale cold tea around the cup with his nimble finger. A smile creeping on his face. "I'll let the Joestars come to me. Then once they're gone, Jonathan will have no successors to stand in my way. We'll live here while our little heaven plan gets finalised and then-"
"Then?"
"Then my dear friend, then heaven can be free to exist without any other Joestars to inhabit it. Jonathan is the only Joestar worthy of the mockery we call life."
Pucci entertained Dio's thoughts for the rest of that night. Never being able to let go of his growing concerns as the morning sun gently but surely rose through the curtains.