Venice Royal Hospital
Midday

? ﾝﾅﾥ? - No Music

"Are you sure it's alright that you're here?"

"No one can see me, so it's fine."

Vuoto was helping Fragi return to school. This involved Vuoto infiltrating the hospital again. It was much easier the second time around, not having to take three other people with him.

Fragi was still adjusting to the Stand user lifestyle. Vuoto had told him over text about what he'd learned about Stands and their intricacies. Apparently, he had what was called a 'Bound Stand', as in, it was bound to his person, and couldn't be actively summoned.

From his previous experiences, he'd discovered that his Stand was the ultimate suicide-prevention Stand. He could practically heal Deadpool-style from any wound he intentionally inflicted on himself. And even then, apparently Sana Rossi, the aloof subject of many people's ambitions, had a Stand that could heal people, with some limitations. Basically, if Fragi said "I meant to let that happen", he could survive anything. Not that it wouldn't still hurt.

He'd named his Stand ｢Stayin' Alive｣.

The move out of the hospital was a difficult change. Fragi had a bit of atrophy from his stay. Vuoto was honestly just surprised that it took a week-and-a-half for Fragi to get out of the hospital. It was only a stab wound. Usually that was just a checkup and a night at the hospital.

Vuoto was almost done packing Fragi's bits-and-bobs that he'd accumulated from his tenure, when he remembered that Zeppeli was in the next room over, still recovering from the brutal beating Viale had given him. Apparently Viale had broken multiple of Zeppeli's bones during his beatdown. Vuoto decided to say "hello" to the former enemy.

He peeked his head through the curtain to see Zeppeli already staring at him. "Vuoto."

"M-Mr. Zeppeli." Vuoto was caught off-guard by the man knowing he was going to talk to him.

"What can I do for you?"

"R-right, uhh, I just wanted to say 'hi'." Zeppeli continued staring at Vuoto. "So, uh, hi."

As Vuoto went to retreat, Zeppeli called out, "I don't bite." Vuoto re-entered the space. "My reservations lie only with the Joestars."

"Why?" Vuoto questioned.

Zeppeli quirked an eyebrow. "Come again?"

"Why do you hate them so much?" Zeppeli was about to speak again, but Vuoto beat him to it. "From what Viale has told me, he didn't know his entire dad's side of his family, and you knew that. You had to explain to him why you were having a fit. Doesn't that seem a bit, you know, rash?"

He continued, "And even then, we talked to Joseph Joestar's son, Josuke, and he said that Joseph had always regretted not saving your relative. Why don't you leave what happened in the past in the past? It was literally ninety years ago. Get over it."

Before Zeppeli could instinctually retort, Vuoto heard that Fragi had opened the door, and turned away, leaving Zeppeli shocked. He had much to think about.

? ﾝﾅﾥ? - No Music

Vuoto decided to take a more direct route from the hospital this time. For some reason, no one Vuoto knew had a car, so they had to either wait an hour for a bus, or walk back to the dorms. They chose the latter, despite Vuoto still being wounded.

This meant that they passed by Vuoto's least favourite place in the city: the cemetery. He hated the cemetery. It wasn't just this one, too. He hated all cemeteries. He had plenty of respect for the dead, but he didn't like being reminded of it. Plus it didn't help that he had necrophobia.

For Fragi, though, he faced his irrational fear, and marched on through.

"What's with that look on your face? You know ghosts aren't real, right?"

Vuoto's face was scrunched up, nose upturned, eyes slammed shut, all, "to keep out the death", whatever that meant. "Can we just keep moving? I don't like this place."

Fragi snorted. "Sure, buddy, sure–"

He was cut off by the sounds of sniffling. Fragi turned the corner around the cemetery wall to see a boy, a young boy. He had tears running down his porcelain face, obscured by his rainbow propeller hat.

"Hey, kid, what's wrong?" Fragi knelt down to his level, ignoring the aching from his back.

"D-D-Dad… he's gone!" the boy responded.

Fragi grew more concerned. 'This boy's father is gone?' "Where did you see him last?"

The boy sniffled, and pointed at the wall surrounding the cemetery.

"Ohhh no no," Vuoto declined, "I am not going in there. Not a chance."

"C'mon, Vuoto. The poor boy lost his dad."

"M-my name's Dolce."

Vuoto looked like he was fighting himself. Finally, after making a multitude of odd noises, he relented. "F-fine, but make it quick! But just so you know, I don't like this."

Fragi nodded, and turned back to the sniffling boy. "What's your dad's name, young man?"

The boy held onto his red-accented white shirt. "His name's Gelato."

Many, many years ago
Venice

? ﾝﾅﾥ? - Wonder

"Oh, mi Dio, Dolce. Stop. Crying." Dolce was sitting in the back seat, bawling. "Please!"

"Why do we have to go to away?!"

"I told you, the boss is trying to kill us!"

"Yeah but why do I have to come?"

"Because you literally can't last five minutes without me! And I can't let you get hurt."

This only made Dolce cry harder.

Gelato sighed. "Look." The car slowed at a red light. Across the street, Gelato saw his salvation. A gelato stand. "Will you stop crying if I get you ice-cream?"

Dolce instantly quietened. Gelato saw his smile in the rear-view mirror, and groaned.

Inside the Graveyard

"Alright Dolce, can you see him?" The boy'd taken to holding Fragi's hand, which Fragi found very cute. They were at the entrance of the yard, Vuoto deciding to "keep lookout". For what, Fragi had no idea.

"Mmh-mmh," Dolce shook his head. "But he's here."

"Maybe he's looking at a grave. Let's look around more." They trotted along, Fragi trying to keep a slow speed so Dolce's little feet could keep up. "So, who is your dad visiting, do you know?"

"No, he just took me here without saying anything." Dolce's head turned down slightly. Fragi noticed this, and decided to change the subject. Obviously, Dolce and his father didn't seem to get on well.

"Do you like ice-cream, Dolce?" His mouth instantly turned into a smile, and he nodded vigorously. "It's pretty hot today. Have you had some?"

"No… I haven't had ice-cream in a while…"

"What's your favourite flavour?"

Dolce hummed as they turned into another aisle. "I like strawberry flavour!" he declared.

"Really? No way, that's my favourite, too!"

Dolce's eyes widened as he beamed. Without his hat blocking the sun, Fragi now saw that his skin was rather shiny. Very shiny. Almost plastic-like. "Hey Mr. Fragi, do you go to school?"

Fragi puffed out his chest. "Of course! I go to school all of the time! I live at school!"

Dolce gawked. "No way. I really want to go to school!"

Fragi deflated and curled an eyebrow. "You don't go to school? Why not?"

"Dad doesn't let me. He says stuff like "you're too good for school". I don't think so, though." His cap cast shade over his eyes.

"Aww, c'mon, little guy. I'm sure you'd fit in fine at school–" He was cut off by his phone ringing. It, oddly, was Vuoto. Fragi stopped and turned around to see Vuoto still standing at the entrance, glaring at him and pointing at his phone. "What's that?"

"Uh, a phone." He answered the call. "What do you want?"

"Ask the kid if he can see me."

Puzzled, he lowered his phone. "Hey, Dolce, can you see my friend over there?"

Dolce looked over to where Fragi was pointing, but there was no recognition.

"No, he can't, Vuoto. Yeah, I'll be alright. Bye." He hung up. "C'mon, let's find your dad."

Suddenly, Dolce gasped. "There he is!" Fragi looked around, scanning the direction the boy was pointing in, but he only found more graves. Dolce let go of Fragi's hand and began running towards one plot that had two spaces filled. "Dad!"

Fragi took a second to consider, but ran after Dolce, despite the danger that being around a Stand user presented.

Turns out, the child was quite the runner. He stopped at the end of the row – next to the double-plot. Fragi came to a slow stop next to the boy. "What're you…" he trailed off. In front of him were two headstones. They read:

Sorbet Neve

1981 – 2001

Gelato Neve

1978 – 2001

? ﾝﾅﾥ? - Nervous

'Gelato… wait, that's…!'

"Hi dad!"

He turned to the child. 'How? This guy died twenty-seven years ago? How is this his kid?'

"Hey, uh, Dolce. Are you sure this is your pops?"

"Mmh-hmm!" He nodded in confirmation.

"This… this guy's been dead for twenty-seven years, kid. There's no way."

"He is, I swear! That's my dad and his brother!"

"Which one, uh, is your dad?"

"He's Gelato!" Dolce's eyes widened for a brief moment, but turned downtrodden. "It's… it's been really hard without dad. He always– he always knew how to cheer me up."

Fragi realised something. 'This poor kid… he hasn't had a family in twenty-seven years… but there's definitely something off about him.'

"Hey, kid," Fragi started, "Do… Do you want to come back to school with us?"

Master's Academy
Afternoon

"This is the kid?" Viale was speaking in hushed tones to Vuoto. Vuoto had called ahead, trailing behind Fragi and Dolce (they'd gotten ice cream). "Are you sure he's a Stand user?"

Vuoto nodded. "He's smart. Much too smart for a ten-year-old." He then did a once-over of Viale. "Hey, are your clothes alright? You look a bit… burnt."

He was. His school uniform, a plain white dress shirt, blue-cyan striped tie, and a similarly coloured blazer that he was hoisting over his shoulder, was practically in tatters. Singed marks were splayed around, and even the Gucci plain-white shirt he'd recently bought was missing a sleeve.

"Feeling crisp, thanks. I'll tell you later."

"Okay then."

"Do you know any good burn relief stuff I can use?"

"Huh? What? No."

"Don't worry then."

Fragi got down on one knee in front of the doll-like child. Viale flanked his left. "Alright, Dolce, this is my friend. His name's Viale. He's gonna ask you some questions."

He flashed his signature smirk. "I'm Viale Giovanna. Nice to meet you–"

"Giovanna?" Dolce interrupted, "Like, Giorno Giovanna?"

Viale frowned and tilted his head. "He's my father." He responded cautiously.

? ﾝﾅﾥ? - Squad

Dolce's eyes flared as his innocent grin faded from his cheeks. He dropped his ice-cream, which he somehow hadn't finished on the walk back to school, and clenched his open hand. A sepia aura began spewing out of Dolce's body, the same colour filled his pupils. Viale noticed this change in body language and began to slowly back away.

"Bring out your Stand."

Suddenly, what looked to be a miniature hippopotamus jumped up next to Viale. Viale threw his hand out in front of his body, causing the aggressive hippo to chomp down on his arm.

After a cry of pain, Viale summoned ｢Mr. Blue Sky｣.

"MORA!"

The Stand karate-chopped the mammal, the force tearing the supposed Stand apart. Realising his mistake, he looked over to see the child's rather imposing form standing there as if nothing happened.

'What? Doesn't damaging the Stand damage the user?' Viale thought.

Fragi had taken cover. He reasoned that he was no use in a real Stand fight. "We'll just leave this to Viale," he reasoned.

Meanwhile, Viale was reeling. Many more plastic hippos had appeared, and Mr. Blue Sky could only keep up for so long, especially after the prior events of the day.

Viale flinched and stumbled forward as a frisbee hit him from behind his head. He was so preoccupied with the Stand that he had no idea what its ability was. The frisbee, defying all physics and acting like a boomerang, returned to Dolce's open hand. He seemed quite adept at wielding the plastic weapon.

Vuoto was thinking hard in the backline. He knew, thanks to Fragi, that ｢Coldplay｣ had its intended effect on Dolce, which was confusing, as he obviously had a Stand…

'Why would a Stand user not be able to see me?' Vuoto had a limited amount of time to figure this mystery out, as Viale seemed to be on his back leg, and was now being assaulted by LEGO Millennium Falcons and TIE Fighters. 'It can't be one of those Colony Stands, as it's a bunch of different things! Different… toys…'

Vuoto's eyes lit up. He shouted from behind the corner he was hiding behind. "Viale! The Stand is just a bunch of toys!"

Viale's eyes widened as he recognised what Vuoto was saying. "Thanks, but let's hope it doesn't turn into those other toys!"

"This is not the time for those kinds of jokes, Viale!" Vuoto admonished. His thoughts turned to his own Stand. 'Now, why can't he see me? That's the million-Euro question.'

"Time's up, Giovanna!" Dolce announced, "You're done!"

To Viale's immediate confusion, all of the toys attacking him disappeared. In their place, a Jenga Tower the height of the dorm building rose from the ground, with wooden blocks the size of cars. Vuoto estimated that one of those dropping on a person would kill them without discrimination.

'He's gonna topple the whole thing onto Viale!' Vuoto sprang out of his hiding place, sprinting towards the child. 'It's just a kid! I can overpower a kid! Especially when he can't see me.'

"Goodbye." Dolce flicked his hand, bringing with it the base block facing Viale. He quickly realised what was up, and braced for the worst. At the same time, Vuoto spear-tackled Dolce–

–and fell right through him!

"He's a Stand! Dolce is the Stand!" Vuoto called out. Understanding flashed across Viale's face before…

BOOM! CRASH!

The tower crumbled, taking Viale with it. Dolce carelessly wandered over to where Viale made his last stand, next to the game of Jenga. Vuoto was in shock, still sprawled out on the ground after eating dirt. "No… no way…"

Fragi popped his head out of the bush, clearly confused as to what had happened.

Dolce spoke up. "Hmph. He wasn't worthy of Passione. Just like I thought."

…

…

…

"Guess it's a good thing I'm not in Passione."

"MORA!"

A technicolour fist shot out from the nearest block, clocking Dolce in the cheek. Being an actual child, the force flung him back a few paces. His demeanour instantly changed as he started sniffling.

"How?"

"Simple." Viale fully emerged from a '1 Euro' coin that had been in Viale's pocket. "I used my Stand, Mr. Blue Sky, to hide in this coin, and save myself from the impact." He rolled his shoulders and craned his neck. "But I did feel a bit of the fall, if that makes you feel any better. Now…"

Mr. Blue Sky floated out of Viale's person. He jumped down from the block he had hidden in and slowly made his way to the runt.

"Why don't you tell me…" the Stand cracked its knuckles, "...who you really are?"

"My name is ｢Sweet Child O' Mine｣, at least, that's what Dad called me at first…" Dolce sputtered, "a-and he told me to 'test Giovanna' before he died, so I-I was just doing what I was told!" he cried.

Diavolo's Mansion
Late Night
Venice
2001

"Alright, Dolce, get in there," Gelato whispered. The boy-like Stand obliged, and slipped through the wall. Even though he was sentient and acted like an eight-year-old, he was still a Stand, and could act like one. He could float, he could phase through walls, he was invisible to non-Stand users, and he had a massive range. This made him amazing for infiltration and reconnaissance.

Personally, Gelato didn't like using his surrogate son this way, but Dolce was all for it, so he yielded, and let La Squadra bring him on missions with them.

Right now, he and his brother, Sorbet, were spying on the elusive Boss of Passione. They had figured out his identity, but couldn't contact the rest of their team to relay the information as Passione was watching all forms of communication.

Little did Diavolo know, there were two intruders on his property. They had heard of the unstoppable nature of Diavolo's Stand, but decided that they were too far in to back off.

Luckily Sorbet's Stand was more than capable of handling King Crimson's wrath. Unlike his brother, it was a close-ranged Stand, named ｢Nightrain｣. It was about as strong as a train, that whenever summoned, would always appear where the target least expected it, and ram them. Unfortunately it wasn't as big as a train, only the front carriage ever appeared. This lent it very well to assassination.

After looking through Dolce's eyes to see where he was up to, Gelato signalled to his brother who was across the hall to–

｢Sweet Child O' Mine｣

Automatic Stand

Stats:

Power: ※

Speed: C

Range: A

Stamina: C

Precision: B

Potential: D

(※ = depends on summon)

? ﾝﾅﾥ? - Fierce Fight

"Dad? Dad, where are you?" Dolce frantically ran through the hallways, making wrong turns and hitting dead ends. "Are you hurt? I felt something, but I didn't–"

He rounded one last corner, before–

"｢King Crimson｣!"

A man was standing behind him. He knew he had experienced a Stand ability; he just knew. But at this moment, he had to attack. He threw out his hand behind him. Not having enough time to prepare said attack, he could only muster a Jack-in-a-Box into existence. Not that it mattered, as a red-and-white chequered leg crushed it as soon as it landed on the ground.

"A child?" The man muttered. Dolce felt strong hands roughly grip his head. "No… a Stand…! How interesting."

The man's Stand abruptly let go. "It seems like Carne wasn't spouting nonsense about post-mortem Stands… very well."

The man's laughter echoed through the halls as Dolce ran.

"...and he never came back."

Viale hesitated walking over to the boy. The new insight into the Stand was concerning – learning that there was a powerful Stand-user out there that easily bested two hitmen.

"What happened next? Did the man… you know, do anything to you?"

Dolce chuckled and gave a sad smile. "He tried, but I escaped pretty easily. I'm not some pushover, you know."

Vuoto tapped Viale on the shoulder. He and Fragi had been a safe distance away during Dolce's story, but Vuoto had a pressing matter.

"Do you live somewhere?" he asked. It was a fair question. For someone who looked like a child, he mustn't have had a permanent residence.

"I usually just hang around here. But… maybe I should be staying closer to the school. The only problem with that is that I'll still be on the streets."

"You know what, Dolce." Viale dropped down to his height. "I think we have a place for you to stay."

? ﾝﾅﾥ? - No Music

"So then I said 'Your panties are showing' in sign language, and Kakyoin knew exactly what that meant, even though we sign in different languages!"

Viale nodded sagely. Polnareff needed some companionship, and they were both ghosts, so they had a lot to talk about. It helped that Dolce was easily entertained, too.

To Be Continued ===