Esposito's Office
Venezia

The office had changed drastically in the few days since the occupation of the school. Where there were once numerous posters of dated, unwatched movie sequels, there was now blank wallspace, and where Esposito's intricately designed chair was now sat a perfectly normal office chair.

Mercurio had not patched up the hole in the wall where the safe was. He wouldn't be here long anyway.

Mario and Mercurio were waiting to hear back from ｢Super Trooper｣ about how the mission went.

"Has Esposito talked?" Mercurio asked.

Mario stopped throwing the hi bounce ball he had found on the school roof. "Not yet, but we'll get him."

"He knows how to use it. I know it — he's just not telling us," he sighed, "The mask isn't the problem, though."

"Oh?"

Mercurio stood up. He paced a bit around the room before stopping to look out the newly replaced window.

"It's going to be Giovanna. Giorno, not his son." Mario made a gesture for him to continue. "Giovanna has had nearly thirty years of Stand-fighting experience. He's a tricky son of a bitch, and he's not going down without a fight."

"And we're certain he's coming here to get his wife?"

Mercurio nodded. "As long as our subordinates made sure to cut off the communication from here to Napoli, then he knows nothing about what happened to his son. That means he thinks only his wife is in danger, hence he'll be coming here."

Mario raised an eyebrow. "Remind me, sir, why do we need Giovanna?"

"I have two reasons. First, his father was a notorious vampire. He must know exactly how the stone mask works, should Espie not give up the information. Second," he gestured to Mario to come closer, and whispered, "I hate that man with every fibre of my being. And he and his family will certainly not be escaping my grasp."

?

Grace Giovanna was not a happy camper.

It hadn't even been a day — she thinks — since she was kidnapped (?). She didn't really know how it happened. First she was lounging at home, reading a nice book on the making of Pagliacci, next thing she knows, she's apparently under her son's new school. In Venice. Halfway across the country.

She knew what her husband did for work. It killed her to hide it from Viale. But what she never seemed to be able to understand was the Stand attacks that seemed to be an ingrained part of their lives.

Grace's Stand wasn't anything special, but it was a closely guarded secret. Only Giorno and his advisors knew about ｢Cherry Moon｣.

She wasn't alone, wherever she was. There was another man, with oily hair and a short stature. People sometimes came down to question him, but he never spoke, not even to her. She spoke to him. Stories about her husband and the bizarre things he got up to.

She was in the middle of one such story when, to her surprise, he spoke up.

"…so he figured that a goddamn lion was enough to tear apart the poor guy—"

"I've heard this one."

Grace paused. "What do you mean?"

"I had to clean up after him. That was one of my first assignments for the Speedwagon Foundation."

She sat up from what technically classified as a bed. It was a dark room, probably underground. No windows, a lone light barely shone in the middle of the room, hanging from an extension cable running out of the room.

"You knew Giorno?"

"I knew of him. He and I have only met once, when he came here a few weeks ago."

Esposito was pacing around. It was kind of annoying to Grace, but she could understand the stress that being held against your will brought.

"Are you okay?"

"No," he replied simply, but she could tell he wasn't giving her the full story.

She fell silent for a while, before asking, "Do you know where we are?"

"Under the dorms. Accademia Magistrale. Your son's school."

"How do you know?"

"I am the principal."

"That… makes sense," Grace said, "Soooo what are Viale's grades like?"

"Practically perfect, bar English."

Grace paused for a second. "Why do you know that off the top of your head? Or do you only know Viale's?"

"I know all of the Stand User's grades in the school. Also, why do you and your husband call Viale different names?"

Grace blinked in confusion. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Sorry if I'm wrong, but the one time I've met Giorno and the few times we've had correspondence he's always called Viale by his full name, Gioviale."

"I… never noticed."

In Grace's experience, she hadn't seen Giorno interact with her son that much. Now that she thought about it, she supposed he only ever talked to him whenever the three of them were together, or when she asked him to do something for Viale. He was always so busy in another part of the house or in the city that he mustn't see Viale that much.

"I'll… have to ask him."

Baratti

Shizuka was running out of light.

Catching and throwing the bullets back at the enemy was draining enough, but she also had to keep a copy or two of Beneficci's Stand up to confuse the gun-wielding Stand.

She was starting to understand the pattern, though, and was clearing trees and shrubbery to limit the cover the enemy had. Making so many things invisible at once was trivial at this point, having had her stand for thirty-odd years at this point.

Giovanna didn't seem to want to help either, who was freaking out over by Vuoto. Rossi kept having to move around, dodging bullets that slipped past Shizuka.

"Hey! The medic is off-limits!"

She finally managed to catch the enemy off-guard, turning a stump of a tree invisible just as he ducked behind it. ｢Hotel California｣ quickly followed up from behind with a screech and a scratch across the Stand's back.

He was pushed out into the open, and stood defensively.

"You two are quite impressive. Maybe the stories of you, Mrs. Joestar, are true after all."

"I'm flattered that there are stories of me, and I will likely be bragging about that fact to my wife later, but right now you have to go away."

"And you, what was your name again… Benefishy? Hmm, whatever. You haven't been honest, have you?"

Beneficci, still invisible, sputtered, "W-what are you talking about!"

"It doesn't matter," Shizuka shouted, "You need to get out of here."

Hotel California dove down from the sky for another cheap shot, but Super Trooper saw it coming and tossed a pulled grenade straight up. She barely managed to pull back, but couldn't avoid the shrapnel. The explosion ripped holes through the bird Stand. Beneficci looked down to see blood soaking through her clothes, before falling over, heaving for air as her lungs were pierced.

"No!" Shizuka cried. "You'll pay for that!"

She went low and started sprinting towards the Stand.

"I am Super Trooper. None of you stand a chance."

｢Houdini｣ appeared and took a scrappy punch to the army man's side. He saw it coming, however, and twisted to dodge it, simultaneously bringing his knife up from his leg and through Houdini's arm.

Shizuka let out a pained shout and jumped back.

"What did I just say? You're outmatched."

Shizuka caught the cockiness in his voice (his face was covered in wraps) and put some pressure on her cut, letting some blood run.

She faded from sight and threw some invisible dirt at the Stand. From behind the distraction, she swept low, aiming for his legs. He tumbled over, but mid-fall, he saw a piece of dirt disappear midair. 'There you are.'

He swiftly aimed, as if in slow-motion, and pulled the trigger in one fell swoop.

Shizuka screamed as blood spewed from her calf.

"They're fighting for me, aren't they?" Vuoto asked Sana. He was still in unbearable pain.

"Don't worry about Mrs. Joestar and Beneficci – they know what they're doing."

"Ha…" Vuoto replied. He'd seen Shizuka pouring drinks down her throat earlier that night and it had reminded him greatly of his mother. Drinking and talking with no care in the world. To each their own, and all that, but when the goal was to protect others you shouldn't be getting yourself and possibly others in your team drunk.

But Vuoto was resilient.

"I can't let them… die for me." He roused Coldplay, white aura spewing off him like an inferno. "I'm not worth… dying for. So I'll fight. I'll help in any small way I can."

From inside Vuoto's heart, something changed, and the aura around him shattered.

Shizuka was not doing well. She'd managed to freeze him in place, but that wouldn't hold him. She staggered back to Beneficci, still panting on the ground.

"You okay? A grenade ain't nothing to scoff at."

"I'll… be fine–" she coughed up blood. "I need you to… do me something."

"What is it?"

"Tell a truth. A big one. One… one I don't know."

Shizuka looked over to Super Trooper, who was starting to move again. "What?! Why?! Now?!"

"Yes. Trust me…"

Shizuka thought for a moment. There were too many things to confess to.

"I… drank underage…?"

"No! Not that–" she spat some blood. "Something juicy! Something you wouldn't tell a priest!"

"Fine! I… I killed a man."

Beneficci smiled. "That's good enough. Hotel California… if you would…"

The Stand faded out of her body and faced Shizuka. It stopped for a moment, eyeing her down, which was unusual, as it didn't have eyes. Finally, it nodded and flapped its wings.

"What was that…?"

"My Stand's real ability: Heaven or Hell? Because– because you told me a big truth, you'll now be luckier, at least for a while."

"SUPER TROOPER!" Shizuka heard Vuoto yell.

Beneficci smirked. "Seems like it's already working."

The Stand regained its movement, only to hear his initial target call his name. He turned, intrigued, at the boy. "Come to give yourself up, have you?"

"No. I've come to stand up for myself. And yes, that is a double entendre."

"Foolish child." Super Trooper reached down and picked up his gun. Oh how he and his user loved this gun. So sleek, so deadly, so… so…

So…?

What was he looking at?

What was this shiny black thing he was holding?

"Coldplay: Act 2," Vuoto declared, "can make you forget what one 'thing' is. In this case, it's firearms."

"You…" the enemy Stand staggered back. "Haha… I may have forgotten what this thing does, but I can still kill you in many ways…"

In response to the newfound curse placed on him, he pulled a second grenade and threw it at Vuoto. His eyes widened and he brought his hands up to cover his face, but…

The explosion never came. He looked up to see the grenade midair, mid-explosion, and a blue light covering it. Shizuka stood, limping towards Super Trooper with Houdini hovering behind her.

"Thank you, Vuoto… you've given me an opportunity."

Her Stand shot forward, closing the distance and throwing a left hook at the Stand. He drew his knife and put it in front of Shizuka's fist. She saw it coming, however, as the left was a feint, distracting him from her right fist to get a lick in.

He dropped his knife from one hand to the other and stabbed Houdini's arm. She jumped back in response.

"You still don't stand a chance, Mrs. Joestar."

"Is that right? Let me say this much: you have terrible situational awareness."

The Stand's faceless face seemed to realise what had happened.

He looked around for what he must've dropped, but stopped at something that sounded like keys clanging together. Around Houdini's fingers: a grenade pin.

He looked to his bandolier.

Suddenly, he understood. Shizuka had made an illusion on her Stand's arm to conceal that she was actually pulling the pins of his last grenade.

"Uh-oh."

An explosion ripped through the forest, shrapnel flying everywhere, fire spewing from the dead-as-a-doornail army Stand.

Shizuka threw up her arms to avoid the shrapnel from damaging her sunglasses, putting her Stand in front of her as a human shield. Her body was riddled with puncture wounds — not too deep as she was a ways away from the blast. She fell back onto the fallen leaves, in extreme pain. The explosion was close enough for her to feel burns on her exposed skin – her arms, face, and legs.

Vuoto fared a little better, as he had understood Shizuka's plan right as she pulled it off. He managed to half-get behind a tree before the grenades went off.

The two of them lay in the crisp dirt and leaves, not moving but breathing raggedly, eyes screwed shut. Eventually Vuoto felt the shrapnel being pushed out of his body as if it were magnetically opposed to his internal organs. He also felt his shoulder closing up, and a huge wave of relief washed over him.

Shizuka soon felt the same way, and she opened her eyes to find Sana and ｢Out of the Blue｣ standing over her with a relieved look on her face.

She looked over to see Beneficci was sitting up on the ground from where she'd been knocked earlier.

Then she saw Viale, shaking like a leaf and holding his chain necklace like his life depended on it.

Academia Magistrale

Mario felt the exact moment his Stand returned to him. Being a remote Stand, Super Trooper and Mario were less connected than one would normally be with their other self. Super Trooper would follow orders, and Mario wouldn't be hurt. A perfect relationship.

Unfortunately right now his Stand was imperfect. It had failed, and he didn't know what to tell his boss.

"Mario? What's wrong?"

"I— my Stand… it failed." He looked down, in anger at his own incompetence, and in shame at his own incompetence. He was also mad that his Stand had lost his favourite gun.

"Well?"

"Well what, sir?"

"What's the report? You should still have something to report."

"Oh, let's see." He recalled his Stands memories, as he usually did when it was returned to him. He noticed something odd, something that happened just after the whole group had arrived.

"Sir, you said Segnaposto couldn't be seen by non-Stand users, right?"

"That's right. What of it?"

"What does it mean," he asked slowly, "if Gioviale Giovanna was looking for his friend, when his friend was right in front of him?"

Mercurio leaned forward in his chair and chuckled. "It means we have an opportunity."

Baratti

By the time they all got back to the hotel, exhausted and dirty, it was nearly midnight.

Viale was still shaking, constantly looking at the empty space that everyone else seemed to avoid.

Logically, he knew Vuoto was still there. Logically, he knew all he needed to do was get his Stand back. But that pesky little voice in his brain kept asking "what if?" What if an enemy attacked their room and only Vuoto were able to see it, but wouldn't be able to get his attention.

"I can see you overthinking from here." Sana's voice was quiet and soft, despite the teasing contents of the comment.

"What do you expect? I lose my only form of survival and I should just be okay with it?"

"That's not what I—"

"Leave me alone."

Sana stops walking. "Viale—"

"Leave me alone!" He whipped around to face her. The others (and presumably Vuoto) stopped a bit further ahead. "This is not some— some field trip! Vuoto almost died! Not in the fun 'oh he'll be right in the morning' way, in the real-life shot-through-the-shoulder way!"

Shizuka stepped towards him. "Gioviale—"

"It's. Viale. Not Gioviale, Viale!" He turned to face her. "What, did you read my name from a case file and forget to care? Don't even get me started on you. Weren't you supposed to be protecting us?"

"I just did!"

"Oh congrats, you pulled a grenade pin," he sneered, "Vuoto wouldn't have been there if you weren't getting drunk and playing stupid games. I thought you were experienced, as you so helpfully keep telling us."

He huffed. Beneficci tapped Shizuka on the shoulder, who was looking away in shame, and signalled her to drop it.

"And now, I can't even see my best friend. Come on, Vuoto." He stormed off to his room, unsure if Vuoto was even following him.

Later that night, he dreamed of rats and war.

Shizuka flopped on her bed, utterly spent. She checked her phone. 1:43am. Shit. Makoto would never let her stay up this late.

'It should be around 9am in Japan right now. I better call her.'

Before she knew it, she was calling her wife. She answered after not three rings.

"What are you doing up." It was a classic Makoto-non-question. She didn't want an excuse, she wanted an explanation.

"Hi babe, so nice to talk to you too," she joked, "Stand fight. I got banged up pretty bad."

"How bad?"

"Think a grenade going off in your face."

"Oh my god are you okay?!"

She sat up. "Yeah I'm fine. We have a healer. I was only hurt for like ten seconds."

That wasn't true. She had the cut on her arm for more than a minute, but they both knew that she was giving a white lie.

"What was the Stand?"

"It was really cool, actually! He was a long-range, automatic Stand, right, and he was an army man. I don't think that he's dead, but he was pretty slow-moving, so it'll take him a while to get back to us."

She ranted on for a while longer, giving Makoto the rundown on how they'd gotten to Barrati.

"What are you going to do?"

That was a valid question. Shizuka knew it was going to come down to Viale beating the boss. That was how it went for their family. If you had a villain attack you from ages fifteen to twenty, it would be up to you to save the world. It happened to Shizuka, it happened to her dad, it happened to Josuke, Giorno, Jolyne, Jotaro, and even Jonathan. They all had their adventures, and while Shizuka knew that she would help as best she could, fate foretold that it was Viale's fight.

"We need to get to Naples. The plan hasn't changed."

"Naples? Didn't you see?"

"See what?"

"It got bombed. The government is saying it was a terrorist attack."

"Bombed?!"

"Mhm. Around thirty people died, seven injured."

That threw a wrench in her plans. The attack was likely not actually terrorists, but rather Apatia. Shizuka signalled Beneficci from across the room and put the phone on speaker.

"I have a Speedwagon Foundation agent with me, Mako. Tell us what happened."

"I don't speak Japanese," Beneficci pointed out.

Shizuka paused. She hadn't even realised she was speaking Japanese. "What about English?"

"Yep."

"Yep."

"Great."

"So Naples had around seven bombs go off a couple days ago. I think it was the same day you found Gioviale."

"It's Viale," Beneficci said, "he made that very clear today."

"Yeah," Shizuka agreed, cringing, "so what are we going to do? The city will be crawling with cops, so Giorno won't be able to help much with protection."

"We don't even know what he's doing. He could be fighting terrorists for all we know."

"I don't think you should go to Naples."

Beneficci turned her head to the phone on the table. "What? Why not?"

"From what Shizuka tells me, Mercurio, the man that broke G–Viale's leg has a stone mask," she corrected herself, "That itself is bad enough. But he also has a hostage, possibly more. I would suggest that you go back to Venice."

"Back to Venice?!" Beneficci exclaimed, "Are you crazy? That's a death sentence!"

"So is running." Shizuka pointed out.

"The mission is to protect Viale and get him to his father in Naples. That's what I signed up for."

Sana entered the room, toothbrush still in mouth, bathrobe donned and hair wet. "What's going on?"

In Italian, "Shizuka's wife is saying we should go back to Venice."

"Haha, no thanks," Sana said nervously, "I saw what happened to Viale. And that Trooper guy is from there, and I don't want to see him again."

"See?!"

Shizuka quickly rattled off in Japanese what they were talking about.

"You guys don't understand what a stone mask can do."

"Yes I do," Beneficci put a hand on her hip, "We had a class on vampires in training."

"I'm sorry– vampires?!"

"I'll tell you later," Shizuka said, "That's not what I mean. You haven't been directly affected by vampires. We have to do anything we can to stop that man becoming one."

"I disagree."

The conversation died off after that. Shizuka said goodnight to Makoto and they all went to bed.

"Hey Vuoto, if you're there, text me."

Viale's phone went off after a few seconds.

Vuoto Segnaposto
I hadn't even thought of this.
What's up?

"What do you think?! I can't see you. Doesn't that bother you?"

Vuoto Segnaposto
Of course
I'm kinda used to it tho

But its more a *you* problem

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Vuoto Segnaposto
Stands are a representation of a fighting spirit right
So if you dont have a stand
You dont have a fighting spirit

"But I do. I do have a fighting spirit. Hell, my leg is still inside this mannequin."

Vuoto Segnaposto
I think that means your ability doesn't go away no matter where mr blue sky is
Even gone

Did anything pop out of that dice you carry around?

"No, and I'm still mad about that. I had all my stuff in there."

The next day Viale got up at seven in the morning. He didn't sleep that well. Thankfully the image of Vuoto with a bullet in his shoulder didn't live in his mind – silver linings. He met Sana in the lobby, who was nodding off on the couch.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"Did you… sleep well?" Viale asked.

"No."

"Neither."

Viale plopped down on the couch adjacent to her, and they sat in silence. They hadn't really talked since their argument on the beach – only when Viale found out he lost his Stand. Viale had thought a lot about the events on the beach the previous night.

"I didn't mean it," Viale prompted, "What I said on the beach."

"I know."

"It was rude of me. I shouldn't have said it."

"I get it."

"I just–"

"I get it, Viale!" His mouth snapped shut. "But it doesn't matter right now."

Viale sat up on the couch. "Right. You're right. Let's just– let's just focus on living."

And of course, Shizuka chose that moment to manifest from thin air right behind Viale. "Whatcha talking about?"

Viale tensed up. "What do you care?"

"I care about seeing everyone here through this," she hesitated, "and… I'm sorry about last night."

"It's fine." Viale saw the irony of the roles being shifted from the earlier conversation. "You didn't see it coming. Happens to everyone."

There was a lull in the conversation. Shizuka rounded the seating area and sat next to Sana, lazily leaning on her elbow propped up by the armrest.

They sat for a while, before Shizuka broke the silence. "So what do you think of that rat guy?"

"Rat guy?" Sana asked.

"The guy that broke Viale's leg and took over the school. You know, what's-his-name. His Stand is a buff rat."

"Mercurio."

"Mercurio?!" Sana exclaimed. The other two looked at her funny.

"Yeah. Mercurio. Do you know him?" Viale asked.

"Uhh I've met him?" She didn't sound sure. "At a political rally, I mean," she floundered.

"Oh. I didn't know he was a politician."

"Yeah he is," Shizuka said, "Apparently he's gonna announce something today. I saw a news broadcast at that gas station. I wonder what he's planning."

"We should probably be worried about that." Sana said.

"What? Why?" Viale asked.

"What do you mean why?"

"I mean," Viale began, "that it's not our problem. He took over the school, and he's gonna announce something big – I assume. But why is that our problem? He's beaten us, and we only barely got out of a fight with his henchman."

"We have to–"

"No. We don't. We need to get safe."

"Oh yeah! That reminds me. Naples isn't safe anymore. It got bombed."

Viale's eyes widened. "Any casualties?"

"Around thirty, apparently."

"Still not our problem." Viale was not about to go fight the rat guy again. It was a death sentence. Viale would prefer going to Naples on fire than fighting the rat guy. Sana and Shizuka gave each other a look.

"Aren't you concerned about your parents? They were in Naples when it was bombed."

"Knowing father, they're probably fine."

"You can't assume that."

"That's good, Mrs. Joestar. You shouldn't assume."

Houdini shot out of Shizuka and aimed a right hook at the voice. It was caught easily. Shizuka turned around to see ｢Electric Light Orchestra｣ standing right behind her.

"Viale. Run."

Sana turned around and gasped, then jumped out of her seat and summoned Out of the Blue. Viale, who couldn't see anything that was going on, looked between the two girls.

"Is there a Stand?"

"He really can't see me? Hmph. No matter." ELO was threatening, but not threaten-ing. Imposing, but not here to fight. It was just holding Shizuka's wrist, keeping it in place, making sure she wouldn't fight back. "As you can see, I am here, and I am leagues stronger than you. Do not pursue us. This is a threat."

"And why should we listen to you?"

"I just told you. It's a threat."

"Right. Sorry."

The rat-Stand's teeth chattered. "Let's put it this way: if you make yourself scarce, go your separate ways, and not interfere, I will not kill you, and I will call off the target on your head. If you stay together or return to Venice, I will have you hunted down before you can even blink."

Sana was relaying the information to Viale, and Shizuka was staring down what might as well be the strongest thing on the planet.

"I will give you until midday to decide." He paused. "And Ms. Rossi, your father is worried about you."

With that, he let Houdini go and walked out the front door, leaving everyone involved confused and on edge.

Populonia train station was just a ten minute walk from their accommodation. They were walking because Apatia thought it would be funny to slash Beneficci's van's tires. It was her baby – her Citroën H Van (nicknamed Van Halen), and they'd killed her.

Shizuka spoke up, "The train is nearly here."

Viale looked up at the timetable to see that the train they were supposed to be boarding was headed for Florence, not Naples. "Wait, are you actually gonna go fight him?" he asked.

Shizuka stared at him. "Yeah, I am." She walked a few paces forward, no one following her. She stopped just before the yellow line signifying a safe distance from the train when it arrived. "Anyone who wants to come, step over this line. Once you pass this line, Apatia will see you as the enemy. I understand if you don't want to come – I am asking a lot of you here. Should you stay, there will be a train heading to Naples on the other platform in half an hour."

The group didn't move. It was practically a death sentence. The rest had been informed about what happened to Naples on the walk over, so the tension was at an all time high.

"I'll go," Sana said, "ELO said something about my dad. Whatever it is, it can't be good."

"I thought you hated your dad?" Vuoto pointed out.

"I do, but not so much where I want to see him die. Last night, I didn't want to go back, but… this changes things." With that, she stepped over the line.

Beneficci, Vuoto and Viale remained, with the two enemies of Apatia watching them silently. Not judging, only asking.

Vuoto finally stepped forward, silently and resolutely deciding his fate.

"I-it's not the mission…" Beneficci stammered out. "A-and I lied to you all – kept my Stand's ability a secret."

The train platform was deserted. There was no one there except them. Shizuka spoke up. "What was the mission?"

"After the interrogation was done… to protect Viale. And, should it come to it, get him back to Naples."

Viale looked at her. "You don't have to go. We can go to Naples and see father."

She turned, exasperated. "My brain is telling me Naples, but my gut…"

"You should listen to your gut."

She sighed and rubbed her temples. "You know it's a suicide mission, right?" she asked the enemies. Vuoto and Sana averted their eyes, while Shizuka held firm.

"Yes."

"Very well." Viale's eyes widened as Beneficci stepped forward, crossing the yellow line.

"Viale? Will you help us?"

"I–" He didn't know. He really didn't know. It was the fear of the unknown – if he went to Naples, who knew if his father could even protect him? He couldn't protect his own city after all. On the other hand, if he fought, he would have to face Mercurio and Super Trooper. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

He was shaken from his internal struggle when he heard someone's footsteps. He watched as his friends' eyes widened as they saw who it was. The person stepped past him and he caught a glimpse of the person's blond hair.

Viale's eyes widened too as he realised who had just stepped over the line.

Standing tall and strong, tired ocean blue eyes, heart-shaped cutout on his chest, golden locks tied into a messy ponytail, and donned in a black suit with green undertones.

Giorno Giovanna era arrivata.

To Be Continued ===