Chapter 2: The Chain

Emporio was not too shocked to hear the revelation that his friends' identities had not changed one bit. He knew that there was no reason for their actual identities to change, as the only thing that had changed was that of Pucci's existence. What he was confused about was why they used these pseudonyms in the first place. Pucci never existed and DIO was dead. Who could possibly want to hurt them? Nobody, but he figured that they had to be cautious nonetheless; then he understood.

Jolyne couldn't help but feel relieved after revealing her and Anasui's identities. She was getting feelings she hadn't felt since she met Anasui, feelings of love, compassion, and trust. For the first time in, say, a year, she had met people that she, for some bizarre reason, could trust with her life.

Jolyne's father, Jotaro, told her about this thing called "Stand Energy", which attracted Stand users together. Personally, she called this effect "Gravity". She had had a Stand since she was a baby, and she had learned to control it when she was thirteen. She decided to name her Stand "Stone Free". This was because it was a Stand that could unravel her entire body into string, like a stone coming free from its hard, dense, form. Anyway, she figured that, because she met these people, they, like her boyfriend, also had Stands. Even if her father told her that she needed to be careful around other Stand users, these bizarre fake memories were telling her otherwise.

"Sorry about the confusion, but I felt a certain energy coming from everyone, and I was trying to be cautious.", she explained. "Back when my father, Jotaro, went to Egypt, he stopped at a B&B in Pakistan. This old woman was running it, and he felt suspicious of her, so he wrote his name in the guestbook as 'Qtaro'. Then it turned out that she WAS an enemy Stand user. It's strange, I know, but then again, so is everything in my life."

"Cool", said Weather. "By the way, my name is Domenico Pucci, nice to meet you."

"Pucci…", thought Jolyne. "Where have I heard that name before?"

And then, she remembered. Pucci was the last name of Marco Pucci, a DNA scientist and expert on Stands who served as a high-ranking man in DIO's hierarchy of trust. After DIO was killed, Pucci revealed himself to her father as a victim of DIO's charismatic swindling and offered his help taking out the other DIO-allied Stand users that were around.

"Your brother is…Dr. Marco Pucci, right?", she asked.

"Why, yes!", Weather replied. "We get along great, and one time, he even saved me from a major embarrassment. You wouldn't believe it, even if I told you."

"What kind of embarrassment?", she said with curiosity, and in a voice that signaled a feeling of "I've seen everything".

"Well," continued Weather, "let's just say if I were to continue it, people would think that I was from Alabama, not Florida, even though this state is almost just as messed up as Alabama, if not more."

"Let me guess, 'Skywalker Empire Syndrome'?", Jolyne asked, referring to that one scene in Empire Strikes Back where Leia kissed Luke.

Weather was shocked at her intuition. "Umm…sure, if you want to put it that way." he replied. "Some crazy lady switched me out at birth with her dead kid who was named Wes Bluemarine. Later, I met my sister Perla, and we…started dating."

Everyone in the car, even Anasui, was shocked.

"Come on, it's not like we knocked each other up or anything.", he continued. "My good brother, Mario, hired a private investigator to reveal the truth about our relationship in a way that managed to do the least amount of harm to either of us."

Around this time, everyone just laughed. Everyone except Emporio, who was thinking, "I guess he did his research this time." Eventually, even he let out a little chuckle.

"What about you, Little-Miss-Bus-Hater? How did you get here?", Jolyne asked, turning her head to Hermes.

"Well, It's Costello, Hermes Costello, thank you very much.", she said in a snarky tone. "I guess I'm a bit of a wanderer, even though my sister thinks that I've been selling myself out, but I love her anyways."

Jolyne was now ready to tell Hermes one of the fake memories that she was having. "Okay, so apparently, I have been having these memories just now of you, who I have never met before, telling me that your sister was dead. Maybe after that, we became sisters to each-other.", Jolyne conveyed to Hermes, who replied, "No, my sister is very much alive and well, thank you very much."

"By the way," said Jolyne, changing the subject, "by Cape Canaveral, you mean Kennedy Space Center, right?"

"I believe so," Hermes replied. "If we're going to have a good experience together, why not make it special?"

Meanwhile, In Weather's head, "Today's Weather Report, from me, Domenico 'Weather' Pucci, the lesbian tension has built dramatically, even though one of them is definitely straight and even engaged, I might start having impure thoughts about sweet…okay, I think that's enough."

CURRENT LOCATION: FORT PIERCE, FL

DESTINATION: KENNEDY SPACE CENTER,

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL

ETA: ONE HOUR AND THIRTY-TWO MINUTES