Cape Canaveral
Florida
17 Years Ago

Giorno enters the hospital to find everyone reeling from the news of the supernatural event that had taken place just hours earlier. The hospital was not close enough to the space centre to feel the effects of Enrico Pucci's ｢C-Moon｣, fortunately. He hurries to the receptionist trying to maintain his confidence.

In reality, Giorno Giovanna is the most nervous he has ever been. A major Stand event has just taken place not ten kilometres from the hospital. The hospital where his wife is in labour.

On the way, he saw that the building itself had minor damage. He had tried to mitigate collateral during the battle, but he worried that he hadn't done enough. What if the electrical grid malfunctioned and turned off all of the electricity in the hospital? What if the gravity changes had caused an earthquake? These were all situations that dug into his mind. It's an unfamiliar feeling.

The receptionist offhandedly told him the room he was looking for, and he rushed up the stairs towards the room. He could hear his wife's pained cries from the hallway, leading him straight to the room.

He flung the door open, making the obstetrician and the midwives jump.

"Sir you can't be in here!"

Giorno shoots the man a piercing glare. "That's my child," he says in his noticeable italian accent.

Grace's screams are filling the room as he makes his way to her side. He grabs her hand and holds it tight. "You can do this."

"Aghh! Fuck!"

Giorno grimaces. "Do you want me to–"

"No! We agreed to only DO that as a LAST RESORT! AGH!" she shouted with intermittent pain.

"You're almost there, Mrs. Giovanna," says one of the midwives. She was holding towels in preparation for the child. "Give us one last push."

Grace nods with vigour. Giorno focuses with her as her cries fall silent on his ears. After a long and arduous moment, Giorno feels his wife's hands loosen. He opens his eyes to see a child being held at the end of the bed.

"Congratulations, it's a boy."

Giorno breathes the biggest sigh of relief. For someone who can create life at will, this was a new experience for him–

"Sir– the child? His pulse is gone."

Pisa Centrale
Afternoon

It was a dreary day in Pisa. The sun shone through the clouds, reflecting on the shiny cobble, the buses had their wipers running relentlessly, but most of all, Shizuka had stepped in a puddle the second she exited the platform.

"God–fucking–damnit!" she said in English, "Can't catch a break, can we?"

"You could afford to look down more," Vuoto pointed out.

"This… this puddle must be a trap."

Everyone stopped walking and turned to face Shizuka. She huffed. "I'm serious! What if the activation requirement is that someone has to step in this puddle?"

Giorno sighed and took a step towards her. "You might be right. I have seen some weird Stands over the years. Did you know one time, I fought a Stand that would only activate if the target was eating carrots?"

Shizuka's eyes bugged, then quickly turned suspicious. "You're pulling my leg."

"Yes."

She shook her leg to try fling off some excess droplets to no avail. "Thanks for your help."

"It was my pleasure–" Giorno's voice caught in his throat as he saw something in the distance. His eyes narrowed and his brow furrowed. "I saw that rock, on the way out of Naples."

"Could just be a rock, man," Shizuka pointed out. "Not the first time there's been two identical rocks."

｢Hotel California｣ appeared briefly on Beneficci's shoulder, before disappearing. "Nope. I don't sense any activity. Besides," she pointed to a pillar next to the stone. "It probably just fell off that pillar."

"Look– I can see the thing; it's not a Stand. Let's go already," Viale complained. He was in Pisa, so he might as well see the tower.

Giorno took one last glance at the stone, before following the others.

"Maaaan, that train was so stuffy!" Shizuka voiced. She had forced everyone into a nearby McDonalds so she could dry off her shoe under a hand dryer. She was rather mad, as these shoes were one-of-a-kind Nike Air, and they would never be the same white colour again.

"Yeah, I guess," Beneficci said from one of the stalls, "I've never been in a first class train carriage though."

"It gets old." The mechanical whirr of the hand dryer filled the room once more as Shizuka held her leg up near the fan. "Once you've been in one, you've been in them all, you get me?"

Sana was standing 'guard' near the door, trying very hard to act like she didn't know Shizuka. She was also keeping watch of Viale and his father, as she knew it was only a matter of time before they were arguing again.

"So Viale's dad is pretty cool, huh?" Shizuka stated.

"Isn't he your cousin or something?" Sana replied.

"Granduncle. Which is a dope name, by the way," she rebalanced herself on one leg. "I've heard a few stories about him from Jotaro, but I still barely know anything about him. Other than he's DIO's son."

Sana shrugged. "I dunno, all I know is that he fails at being a father. And that he, y'know…"

"Runs the mafia," finished Beneficci in the stall.

"Yeah…"

"Hm."

"What's up, Fishy?"

"Don't call me that… that rock looks like the one outside the train station."

"What rock?" Sana steps another foot inside the bathroom.

"Hotel California saw another rock outside… pitch black and perfectly spherical. Just like the other one."

"But… your Stand doesn't have eyes?"

"What's taking them so long?" Viale asked as he munched on a soggy chip. He didn't notice Vuoto pilfering the remaining ones, as he couldn't see Vuoto.

"You can't speed up women in the bathroom," Giorno answered.

Viale heard his phone buzz. He quickly read the message from Vuoto. "Really, Vuoto? Now? You're asking me about this now?"

"I'm asking him if he likes anyone." Vuoto's foot touched Giorno's leg, extending ｢Coldplay ACT 1｣'s effect to him. "I'm just teasing."

"I don't– like anyone, Vuoto. Besides, now is definitely not the time to be discussing this." He looked up from his phone. "Where'd Dad go?"

Accademia Magistrale

After a solid five seconds of air time, Mercurio finally managed to pry himself off whatever had hit him at supersonic speed. He slowly lowered himself down, hair whipping in the wind, and dropped, using his Stand to cushion the rather large fall. He stood up and noticed he was a few hundred metres away from the school.

He watched his adversary come to a stop in front and above Mercurio, still goofily positioned on what appeared to be an invisible flying motorcycle. As he came to a stop, the blaring music ceased as well.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" Mercurio demanded. He was still a bit disoriented from the battery.

"Ei am 'arold Faltermeyer. Ei zaw your announcement on ze news, and it has quite upset me."

"I'm sorry you feel that way, but I can't do anything about that anymore," Mercurio called out.

"Yes, ei em aware of zat. Vortunately, zere iz still somesing you can do for me."

"What's th–"' before he could even finish the sentence, Harold had already accelerated and slammed him into the ground. It was so fast that the song didn't even bother with starting again.

"I come all ze way from Germany to zis shit-ole, just to zee you dead. Me and ｢Axel F｣."

｢ELO｣ burst out of Mercurio, flinging Axel F and Harold back up into the air. ELO integrated itself into Mercurio and jumped, bringing both high, chasing the enemy high into the air.

"No-no-no~" Harold sing-songed, instantly changing trajectories and velocity towards Mercurio. This caught him off-guard, as Mercurio thought that he would hit the peak of the arc before falling. Axel F slammed into him again, knocking the wind out of him, and instantly stopped midair.

"You zeem to not understand, ei can move anyvere in space, at any time." He zoomed downwards to meet Mercurio just as hit the ground, creating a crater in the man's wake. "Ei can alzo do zis."

Mercurio's enhanced hearing heard a click and an ignition of fuel. He brought his Stand in front of him as the air exploded into flames. 'He has rockets?! Why?!' ELO was able to absorb most of the shockwave, but the heat got to Mercurio's already-frayed suit, singing it.

'This man… he's not playing around. Despite the goofy premise of his Stand, it's quite powerful.'

"What did I do to you?" Of course, he knew exactly why this Dutchman was here, stalling seemed like the best option for gathering information.

"'Vat did I do to you' he says. HA! Like you don't know." He nudged his Stand up a metre. "Italians."

ELO jumped up with astonishing speed and threw a chop at the invisible bike. It came short as Axel F narrowly dodged and tail-slammed the rat-like Stand away. While ELO was distracted, Harold leaned forward into another battering ram manoeuvre.

Mercurio saw it coming this time and rolled out of the way. Axel F pulled up just as he missed, and was met with ELO's firmly planted clothesline. Harold was knocked right off his Stand and did a flip in the air before landing on his stomach.

ELO stepped on his back, enough to hurt but not enough to kill.

"What I did," Mercurio said as he stood up, "was set humanity on a better path."

Harold wheezed, "You're a zychopath! My wife left me! When zhe found out I was ze Stand User!"

"I'm sorry that happened. You can think of it as a sacrifice for your freedom." Mercurio took a knee down to the downed man's level. "Think about it. You managed to fly here from Germany, I presume, and you didn't have to hide. The greatest gift in this world is the choice to do whatever you want."

"You–you're–!" A missile launched from behind Mercurio. "A ztoopid!"

"Please." In the blink of an eye, ELO moved around Mercurio, caught the invisible missile, and held it in front of the German. "I was just playing with my food."

ELO squeezed the missile while Mercurio took cover.

"That's definitely the same rock."

Viale could see it too. It was odd, but maybe the city just used the same sculpture of that exact marble everywhere.

"I think you're being paranoid," Shizuka said.

Beneficci shook her head. "I agree with Don Giovanna." Viale made a face at the officiality of the name.

"Look," Shizuka interjected, obviously fed up with the discussion. "What's a rock gonna do? It's just a rock."

"You should've been in enough Stand fights to know that anything can be a threat," Giorno reprimanded.

"I knowww, but it– it–" she sighed, "It's been a long day, okay?"

"Everyone, shut up. I found some Stand aura."

The whole group's heads snapped to Beneficci simultaneously. Giorno's head whipped around to survey the surroundings. It seemed like a normal street, just like any other street. There were few pedestrians, and the ones that were around looked like locals.

"He's north. Wait, northeast. No, north."

Sana and Viale exchanged looks before shifting closer to one another. Giorno's eyes scanned all the way down the street.

"There. That's Richiamare," he spoke softly, "He's a high-ranking officer in Apatia."

The man was standing discreetly behind the wall, watching them. He had a runner's build. Lanky, lean, slick-back electric blue hair. He was dressed for exercise. Giorno's eyes narrowed as the man disappeared.

"Watch out, he's moving again–" Giorno felt the life in the people around him disappear. He took his eyes off the spot Richiamare once stood and saw only Viale behind him, no one else in sight. Viale too quickly noticed that his friends were gone. One look into each other's eyes told them this was a full-on Stand attack, in broad daylight, with all six of them being targets.

"Stay close, Gioviale."

Viale knew better than to argue, especially in a situation like this. He shifted closer to his father as the unseen enemy watched from afar.

"Do we know what he can do?"

Giorno shook his head. "All I know is that he's powerful. He would not have been able to reach such power at such a young age without it."

"So he must be valuable."

"Give me your necklace," Giorno demanded, holding his hand out behind him. Viale sighed and handed it to him. The soft sound of reversed piano notes quickly faded as Giorno returned the necklace. Viale shrugged and put it on. "I had everyone else give me one of their possessions in case we got split up."

To demonstrate, he took out one of Shizuka's backup pairs of sunglasses and transformed it into a mouse. The mouse sprung out of Giorno's hand and ran down the street, veering off into a side alley. "After it!"

The two Giovannas took after the mouse.

Harold coughed, and spat out some blood onto the ground next to him.

"I warned you," Mercurio said, standing above him.

"Haha, you did." Harold's chest rose and fell irregularly with every wheeze. "It iz a nice day, iz it not?"

"I suppose it is." Mercurio took out his phone and texted a subordinate to get a body bag ready.

"Blue skies."

Mercurio raised an eyebrow. Did this man know Giovanna? "What about it?"

"No matter 'ow dark ze night iz," Harold coughed some more blood. "Ze day is always next. Ze blue sky will come."

"Who's to say I'm not the blue sky?"

"Haha! Don't make me laugh. It hurts. Ztands are ze manifestation of ze fighting spirit. Yours… is ze rat… I cannot begin to guess vat you have been through… but you are most zertainly not… on ze path of justice…"

Mercurio watched as the life slowly drained from his enemy's face.

"I am justice. This impure world," he spat, "is my orchestra to conduct."

He brought his own shoe down on Harold's head, caving it in, and sealing his fate.

Pisa

"Gioviale, stop!"

Viale skidded to a stop. "What?! The mouse is getting away!"

As if to spite him, the mouse turned right around, ran up Giorno's leg and onto his shoulder. "The mouse will be fine." He pointed to the end of the alley they had found themselves in. "That's Segnaposto's shoe. He must be nearby."

Viale's eyes widened and he started approaching the shoe. Giorno's hand shot out and held Viale back.

"Don't grab it. It's most certainly a trap." His eyes trailed to the top of the building next to the discarded shoe. The black stone, looming menacingly above them. "That's not Richiamare's Stand. I'm sure of it. We are not fighting just one enemy, but two."

"It's a rock, dad! Just a rock!"

To prove his point, he ventured further onward. Before he could grab the shoe, he heard another voice call out to him.

"You should listen to your father!" It only took Viale a second to realise that someone had appeared behind him. Viale felt the man's shadow tower over him, filling him with the ever-familiar dread of the unknown.

Viale's shoulder exploded into searing, cutting pain as the man shoved a hunting knife in between his collarbone and his neck. "Be happy that I didn't come here on an aeroplane."

Viale fell over onto his back and gasped a pained breath. Giorno screamed something Viale couldn't hear over the pain.

"｢Gold Experience｣!"

Gold Experience's fist shot out behind Giorno, nailing the man who had appeared behind him in the chest. He was flung back, but disappeared before he hit the ground. The Stand proceeded to punch various pieces of garbage around him, transforming them into small dogs, ordered to guard and look out for the enemy.

Giorno ran forward to his son, noticing that the stone on the rooftop had now disappeared.

"That fucking rock!" Richiamare looked frantically around the area he appeared in. He took his phone out and dialled a number, gingerly touching the damaged area where he'd just been punched.

"Hey man, remember that rolling rock thing I told you about? Yeah, it's a Stand, can you get me an ID?"

The person on the other side of the phone call replied something. Richiamare kept his vigilance as the rock had proved to be able to find him anywhere he went in this city.

"How big is it? How many are there?"

"Just the one, and it's about a foot tall– up to my knees, I think."

"Let me send through a few photos."

He put the phone on speaker and looked at the drawings he was sent. He flicked through and found one that looked awfully similar to the one chasing him.

"I think it's number four. What does that symbol mean?" He was referring to the etching carved into the black marble.

"Well, it's called ｢Rolling Stones｣, and the symbol means 'misfortune' or 'bad luck'."

To Be Continued ===