DISCLAIMER: I do not own JoJo's bizarre adventure or Rising of the shield hero

"Name's Jouta Kujo. You can call me JoJo, though," Jouta greeted Rishia, standing despite his injuries out of respect.

"I am DIONA Alexandria, you may call me Professor," DIONA said with a mischievous grin.

"DIONA!" Raphtalia scolded the fellow demi-human.

"Fine, fine, just call me DIONA," The grandchild of DIO mumbled with crossed tentacles.

"I'm Senshi Foo! I promise I'm not normally grey if that's a concern! And I'm a rock!" Senshi spoke boldly.

"I-I'm, um, Rishia Ivyred."

"How did you meet DIO?" Jouta questioned, in his mind, DIO plus any female was a delicate situation.

"He, uh, I, uh..." Rishia felt threatened by the question.

"She is a noble adventurer specializing in long-ranged projectile combat and well educated. She previously aligned with the bow hero, but after being cast out, she found me and wished to seek out my guidance."

"You look a little small. DIO's a great teacher, but if you want to get stronger, I can help!" Senshi said with a big smile and clenched fists.

"That true?" Jouta questioned Rishia, sceptical of DIO.

Rishia nodded timidly, slightly embarrassed.

"JoJo! Rishia is not a criminal, stop interrogating her!" Raphtalia comedically jumped from DIO's arms, despite her injuries, and held Rishia's shoulders, "She is the most polite and well-mannered girl I know...Senshi...DIONA," Raphtalia glared with narrowed eyes at Senshi then DIONA.

...

"I concede."

"She wins there."

The two responded respectfully.

"Good, now if you will stop harassing her, I would like toー"

Raphtalia nearly fainted, caught as she fell backwards by [The World].

"Sorry about that, Rishia. I can tell you're a good person, I was only worried about DIO's intentions."

Jouta walked up to Rishia, his shadow covering her in darkness, and extended his hand for a handshake. He was war-torn, having come from an intense battle. With help from Senshi's honey, he was still recovering from burns, bloody scratches, a nasty stab wound, and bruises all over his tall muscular body. The contrast between burnt flesh and ivory skin on his bare chest was almost artistic. Despite how threatening he should have appeared, his big emerald eyes, and stylized hat covering sleek jet-black hair made him seem more relaxed than anyone she had ever met. She found him assuring and easy to talk to.

"Thank you, JoJo."

She smiled and shook his hand gently, hoping not to hurt him. Jouta smiled back happily in such a way Rishia could not help but be filled with hope and a sense of safety that only a mother could promise an infant.

"I hope to get to know you better. If you need anything, I'll gladly help."

"Likewise. I'll do my best to not inconvenience you."

"I feel better just speaking with you."

"I'm honoured to hear that from the person who defeated the Wave Boss."

"That was a team effort, and I can't allow innocent lives to be endangered."

"That is very noble of you."

"Funny, by your world's standards, I am a noble."

"I am as well! Are you not from here?"

"Nope, I'm from a different universe, just like DIO. I am technically a legendary hero, but I wouldn't call it that."

"A hero! No wonder!"

"Are you not fatally wounded?" DIO spoke calmly while emanating a threatening aura to Jouta, annoyed by the nice people conversation he was having. Senshi did the same, going as far as to nudge Jouta's side, making him keel over in pain.

"My internal organs."

Senshi caught him with a smile, ignoring the fact she was responsible for putting him in a world of pain.

"We mustn't waste time. Let us depart before this Wave concludes," DIO spoke with authority, making everyone remember the situation around them. DIO, Raphtalia, Rishia, Senshi, DIONA, and Jouta made their way through Melromarc's capital down a cobblestone road. Surrounding them were charred buildings, fire blazing everywhere.

"Jesus Christ!"

Jouta was appalled by the sight, he had never seen so much death in one place. He could almost smell it.

"She did this!"

Jouta clenched his fists, sparks of Hamon crackling around them.

"Who, JoJo?"

Raphtalia asked with a serious expression, a red wind emanating from her body.

"The Queen. With a single flick of her damn wrist!"

"I swear on my life, if I find her, she will suffer!"

"I'll be right there with you!"

"Remain calm. You may literally stress yourselves to death, and those caring for you."

DIO spoke calmly, although he was clearly annoyed by Raphtalia getting riled up in his stand's arms.

"DIO's right! You're going to make me fall!"

Senshi complained to Jouta, who she held.

"Sorry," Jouta and Raphtalia apologized in unison.

"If anybody's fighting her, it's me!" Senshi proclaimed, anticipating her rematch with the Boss.

"This Queen you speak of, you say she was the Boss of this Wave."

"The one and only. Her power proved that," Senshi explained.

"Raphtalia, you said you encountered the previous Wave Boss?" DIO inquired, casually bringing up the worst moment of her life.

"Cerberus. The three-headed dog. It was ruthless and bloodthirsty. It revelled in tearing through human flesh, and left nothing behind," She recalled the creature that ruined her life.

"Could it possibly execute anything of this magnitude?" DIO further questioned.

"Never. It was powerful, but nothing like this. Why?" Raphtalia stated.

"I was thinking. Perhaps, the one to blame for all this death and destruction is not the Queen, but rather, I, DIO."

"What are you saying?" Jouta asked, worried by the implications of that.

"I fear it was my arrival that caused the power of the Waves to increase."

"Then I'm at fault too! Don't do that to yourself, DIO! If we did this, we'll fix this together!"

"I appreciate the sentiment, but the circumstances behind us are different. You cannot compare intentional and accidental causes."

"Does it matter!? We're here now, and that's all that matters!"

"Hmm," DIO hummed in thought.

"Listen to JoJo, he has a point. Focus on the future," Raphtalia encouraged.

"Do not misunderstand. Securing my future is my top priority, but to exist in this world, we must understand what is happening."

"Well, for one, we know Enya and the rest of your old goons were here before us."

"Yes, I have reason to believe, at least in her case, she arrived twenty years ago."

"DIO! You've got to be kidding! Twenty years!"

"Her child, Spiral Zelddei is proof of that."

"Child?"

"I and Raphtalia fought her mere minutes ago, she spoke of her mother predicting my arrival and the hate she carries for me for what I have done to her."

"Sounds like Enya, but the hag's a...hag. That shouldn't be possible!"

"I had the same thought, but perhaps that may have been a result of my design. I held the knowledge of multiversal travel, logically I must have shared it with Enya. She must be the only one meant to appear at that time as the orangutan, Forever, was an adult in our universe. That is approximately 35 years old and orangutans live to 50. Even being generous, Forever would have been on death's door when I encountered him."

"You're right! But doesn't that mean she is in control of when these guys appear? That implies she has full control over the path of their life energy."

"Path of their life energy?"

"In essence, their fate. I've heard the best Hamon users can see into others' futures by seeing the path of their life energy or Hamon. It's visualized like a ripple effect across time."

"GRANDFATHER!"

DIONA sprung up behind DIO.

"If I may, father has done extensive research into the physical mechanics of space and this 'path of life energy' is similar to a world line within a light cone. A diagram visualizing all possible points in space and time that a person has or will ever be. All within a cone restricted by the speed of light."

"Hey, I heard about those in physics! Damn, brings back memories," Jouta recalled his school life in his native world.

"Yes, that knowledge I previously held. My memories are all there! My book is the key. And our enemy holds it all," DIO held the page from his book, "I understand it now, she was meant to prepare my armies, spread my legend, and build my empire, but instead, she chose to seek vengeance! Fool."

"Your book?" Everyone asked in unison, all expressing equal amounts of confusion.

"The book I had written, detailing everything! My past, my plans, my life, my power, the very intrinsic nature of the reason I had done all of this, to begin with!" DIO explained.

"How do you know about it?" Jouta inquired.

"A traveller from a neighbouring universe crossed over using a piece of it to kill the heroes of this world, in an attempt to weaken it, so it may crumble to the Waves and his world may survive, he failed."

"Is that what happened to Naofumi?" Raphtalia asked to which DIO nodded solemnly.

"Liz mentioned something like that! Two worlds are colliding, and monsters leak in from limbo," Senshi told what she remembered the Queen saying.

"Apparently it just happens, the inter-dimensional bees come from a world that lost to the Waves. Also, Liz?"

Senshi shrugged while Jouta looked up at her with an amused smile.

"Father has mentioned limbo before, he said it is incomprehensible to ordinary logic and science. It exists and doesn't at the same time. He theorizes it is where imagination becomes reality. An ocean of ideas waiting to exist or never come to be. Superposition he calls it."

"So that's the nature of space outside of the universes?"

"PRECISELY! UNPREDICTABLE AND IMMEASURABLE!"

"I believe I have been there," DIO recalled the odd dimension Spiral's sound waves sent him to.

"Of course, you have," Jouta sighed, but just then a realization hit him, "Maybe, I have too."

"Hm?" DIO raised a brow at Jouta's words.

"Before I got here, when my stand's ability clashed with another, I was stuck in this weird space, always shifting like a fluid, but then I heard someone call out, and I woke up here."

"Call out? Was it similar to my call to DIO?" DIONA asked.

"Sort of, yours was vague and distant, but that one was loud and distorted."

"The bond between Joestars is truly something else. It seems you were pulled into this world by a relative."

"But you showed up after me, and it couldn't have been DIONA," Jouta's voice was frustrated and concerned.

Senshi noticed his frustration, thinking of a way to help him.

"If there's another Joestar here, then we can send out a message to them, right?"

"But, we don't know who it was or where they are. It's hopeless," Jouta gloomed.

"There has to be a way," Senshi remained motivated.

"Whatever is going on, it is clear war is on the horizon," Raphtalia declared.

"A mysterious Joestar, my son, the nature of the waves, Enya, the legendary heroes, loose threads that somehow tie together. My future lies within discovering the truth."

DIO's words hung in the deathly air, an ominous fear was slowly creeping its way into the group's psyche. They travelled with that in the back of their minds. Walking passed corpses and ruins, puddles of blood and pillars of fire. Even the usually upbeat and positive Jouta remained stoic. Buildings from DIO's battle with Spiral were scattered near craters.

"Woah," Senshi said silently at the sight, "I wonder if I'll ever get to fight Spiral?"

Leaving the capital city through a demolished gateway, the group could finally breathe in fresh air. They had nearly forgotten the chaos of reality tearing apart around them, but were reminded by the sight of monsters lurking outside of the city's perimeters. Monsters that seemed eager to feed on their flesh.

"Really!?" Jouta said exasperated.

The creatures charged toward them, dozens at once. Even though they were all different classes of monster, they understood strength in numbers.

"An allegiance born out of desperation, hm, only disgusting beasts could be so useless."

DIO stood at the forefront of the group, his posture lacking any indication of preparing a defense, but as soon as the monsters came close, with a single flick of a balloon monster that attempted to ambush him, sent the monster ricocheting between the horde like a flash of lightning. The dozens of demonic animals seemed frozen before exploding in a flash of light, shards of red raining down in the aftermath. Immediately disregarding the whole ordeal, DIO turned to Jouta.

"I don't suppose your stand could provide us with an efficient travel method?"

"Sure can do. [Charmy Green]!"

Jouta's emerald-based humanoid stand appeared majestically, sprouting from within his soul with sparkles and flashes. Spinning, it unraveled into long strands of emerald that all were woven precisely back together into a large carpet that hovered above the ground. The carpet had the name JOJO repeated on its design. The carpet was big enough to support the crew and without much trouble considering the stand's incredible strength and precise craftsmanship. The group climbed onto the stand carpet with Raphtalia and Jouta laid down while the others sat up. The emerald carpet ascended into the air above the clouds of chaos and thunder to a clear red sky. Any monsters that attempted to attack them were instantly repelled by [The World].

"You guys ever watched Aladdin? Flying carpets make for a good ride."

"Is it about a magic lamp?" Rishia inquired.

"Yep, how'd you know?"

"There's an ancient myth about a wish granting spirit trapped in a golden lamp."

"Myth? Like it might be true?" Jouta asked excitedly.

"Mm...maybe?" She spoke hesitantly.

"YES!"

"JoJo, did you not mention a stand with wish granting abilities to me?" DIO asked.

"Oh yeah, but I'm talking about REAL wish granting here. Not any convoluted deceiving death traps."

"Well, JoJo, wish granting is not uncommon. Magic is very capable of bringing forth anything imaginable, though at a hefty price. Even thousands of souls can only create things that already exist. It is for this reason why most magic centers around enhancing, manipulating or copying existing matter."

"Really? Explains why elemental magic is so common."

"The mythical aspect of the myth was the lamp."

"What do you mean?"

"The gold it was composed of was said to be a perfect element. A perfect element is a perfect medium for energy, including magic, and can either completely nullify it or amplify it."

"You seem to be very knowledgeable, Ivyred. What academy do you attend?" DIONA commented.

"Thank you. And I never finished my studies, though I would have liked to."

The regret in Rishia's voice was apparent and her gaze became distant, losing herself in the sad memories of the past.

"Would that be your wish?"

Jouta's question brought Rishia back to the present.

"Huh?"

"If you could make a single wish with no restrictions, what would it be?"

"To escape my own weakness, maybe then I'll be able to live."

Jouta sat up and placed his hand on Rishia's shoulder.

"Weakness is part of living. Overcoming that is the reason we live."

Rishia suddenly lunged forward and hugged Jouta's waist tightly, pulling back before he could react.

"Thank you, JoJo."

"Um...yeah...no problem."

"I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable!"

"No, no, it was just surprising."

The two created an awkward atmosphere, both were bashfully embarrassed.

"What would be your wish, JoJo?" Rishia meekly asked while twiddling her thumbs.

"I'd wish for a new jacket!"

"Are you still mad about that?" Senshi nervously rubbed the back of her neck.

"Just kidding! I think I would wish for the waves to end."

"And OF COURSE you go for the noble option," DIONA said while rolling her eyes.

"What? I mean aren't the Waves a top priority. What would you wish for!?"

"To observe the beginning of the universe. So, I may study it, learn its secrets and master the cosmos, haha," DIONA laughed like a supervillain.

"Couldn't you just wish for that information?"

"That would suck all the fun out of it. Creating theories and doing calculations are fundamental to what makes science. PLUS, I would have the right to name the entire universe!"

"Hey, Raphtalia, what would you wish for?"

"For a world without evil where everyone and everything lives in peace and harmony."

"No fighting?" Senshi asked worriedly.

"No fighting."

"NOOOOO!"

"And you DIO?"

"What I wish for? I believe it would suffice to say...happiness."

DIO spoke softly in a genuine almost sad tone that was unlike his usual self.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner? I have some happiness right here," Jouta proclaimed, a big goofy smile on his face. Splitting a piece of [Charmy Green] from the carpet, Jouta created a guitar of emerald, strings and all.

"Do you even know how to play a guitar?" DIO asked, deadpan.

"Hey, if I can take down a Wave Boss, what're a few strings?!"

Jouta attempted to play the makeshift instrument, but halfway through his first riff, Jouta had cut his fingers and tangled the strings, generating a sound straight from the depths of hell.

"KYAAAA!"

"WRYYYY!"

The two most sensitive to sound reacted painfully, covering their ears to no avail as the sound tore through their heads.

"[The World]! STOP TIME!"

*TEMPUS EST MEUM*

In an instant, Jouta's hands were empty, and DIO held the emerald guitar.

"How crude, this design is plain ugly."

"Aww, man," Jouta's eyes watered comedically, Senshi patting his head in consolation.

"It will have to do for now," DIO said before he gracefully held the guitar, closed his eyes, and gently pulled the strings. In mere moments, he began to play a beautiful tune, its melody was sweet to the ears, so much so that it stimulated a similarly sweet taste.

*gasp* "It's beautiful, DIO, I didn't think someone like you could play so wonderfully," Rishia commented to which DIO opened his eyes threateningly.

"I-I didn't mean...it's just...eep," Rishia tripped over her words, eventually giving up and settling for a frightened 'eep'. DIO smiled at his protege, his gaze softening.

Jouta was similarly surprised but soon found himself smiling with pride.

"No strategies, no plans, no schemes, just that pure feeling in your soul. Love doesn't need preparation, structure, or restrictions, it just is. That's the beauty of it. Pour it out, DIO."

DIONA heard the song and thought of her father. He was imprisoned, his life threatened with each passing day a countdown, yet she knew, he was still thinking about her, worried sick.

"So, this is grandfather. I see the resemblance."

Rishia had felt alienated from the group of strange and bizarre beings, but listening to DIO's music brought her closer and closer, she now understood that they were not mythical or fantastical, they were people, a family even.

"DIO...thank you. I see what I must do. I will follow my heart and it is telling me to never leave your side!"