Tales Of The Underlands (jjba part 5 Wonderland AU)

Red Weed, Blood Samples And Fights

It would've been an understatement to say that you were shocked. He was so young!

Bucciarati had said that he was just a boy and not a full blown sorcerer like they had expected, but you had thought he would at least be a little bit older.

This kid was like what, fourteen, fifteen maybe?

You had seen many young people in the rebellion, but he was by far the youngest. His face showed kindness but his eyes reminded you of someone who had seen a lot of pain throughout their life. And then it dawned on you.

This boy was also part of the prophecy, but not by accident like you. No, he had been born into this role, his whole life he had to fill the role of the golden sorcerer. You truly felt sorry for him.

The boy, Giorno, let out a chuckle at your puzzled face. "I'm sure you expected someone a bit older, but I promise you, you don't have anything to worry about when it comes to my skills in sorcery."

"Giorno is really good at what he's doing, he healed me a lot of times." Mista said, putting a hand on your shoulder.

"I'm sure he is, I was just a bit surprised, that's all." you finally found your voice again. " It's nice to meet you, Giorno Giovanna."

" Me and Giorno will search for a cure together, you will have to spent some time with us for this." Fugo spoke.

"According to the prophecy we will need your blood, thi-"

"Bucciarati told me that this wasn't some blood sacrifice, he told me no harm will come to me." you got defensive, did they all lie to you to lure you in and bleed you dry?

"I assure you, it isn't. We will just take small amounts to experiment with it, see how it reacts. If we find a cure against the red weed and the sickness and madness it spread Diavolo will loose a great amount of power. Helping the people will get us even more allies, so a cure is a must. If the sickness from the red weed spreads even further north the rebellion will be done for."

" We can show you the place where we will be working, if that would help you." Fugo suggested.

You slowly nodded, you had forgotten the prophecy for the last few days, since you were so focused on getting Risottos men out of arrest.

Now, after making sure that they would be okay, you should concentrate on the thing that even got you here in the first place.

At first glance the tent you entered looked like the medical tent where you woke up, then you noticed the strange apparatuses that were lined up on a table. They reminded you of your old chemistry classes in school.

Under some glass cases there was a strange looking red flower, it reminded you of a rose of sorts, except that three buds had woven themselves together to a almost triangular shape, red liquid dropping from it like blood. It was mesmerizing, you would even say beautiful in a strange way. You wanted to touch it, it was luring you in, almost like calling out to you. You were sure if you concentrated enough you could hear a melodic voice telling you to just give in and do it. You took some steps forward, your fingers almost touching the glass when Fugo pulled you back by the shoulders which seemed to get you out of the trance you had been in.

This caused you to realize something, during your entire time in the Underlands you hadn't come across a single plant that looked even close to this red glowing beauty. Not in the forest, not in the swamp and not in the mountains.

"Why have I never come across one of these on my journeys?"

"They don't grow in the cold climate up here. And I can imagine that Risotto chose a route where you wouldn't come across a field of these." Giorno answered your question.

"The north is harder to control for the King because of this fact. It's also the reason Bucciarati fled north all those years ago." Fugo added, "Rogue castle was once the seat of his ancestors, before they became the monarchs of the Underlands."

In the week you had spent at camp, you had already noticed that Fugo was well versed in history. He tried to explain it to you one time, but you had forgotten everything the next day. Maybe you should ask him again another time?

" Would it be okay for you to let us extract some of your blood tomorrow before breakfast?" Giorno seemed to be very polite, which made you start to question, would they use force if you refused or would that be accepted as something you didn't want and they would give you time to think about it?

" That's fine with me, I don't mind losing a bit of blood. What happens afterwards?"

Would they experiment on you, till they found a cure? Would you just be a human blood donor? Would they need more stuff from you, like hair or saliva?

"We will start by observing how red weed reacts to your blood and in what amounts. You can join us if you want, but we will only need a small blood sample every few days." Fugo stood next to the red weed plant his arms crossed over his chest.

" I guess you thought it would be worse than that, didn't you?" Giorno regarded you with a small smile.

" Uh-" you felt caught," I kind of did, but I'm glad that it's just a few blood samples." you nervously chuckled.

" If you want, you can go to training now, I'm sure Narancia is already itching for a fight. If only he would treat my lessons with that much enthusiasm. " Fugo grumbled.

" We'll pick you up at your tent tomorrow. It won't take long." Giorno assured.

After bidding your goodbye, you hurried over to the training grounds, which were covered in snow today.

Bucciarati wasn't present, but Risotto was. Leaning against a post, his tall figure was unmissable, his red aura a stark contrast to the light blue snow.

His eyes inspected you as you set foot upon the snow covered ground, as if to find a flaw or a small thing that was off.

He then let out a sigh and began walking over to you. "I heard the sorcerer boy arrived today, have you already seen him?"

"You mean Giorno? I met him a few minutes ago." you shrugged.

"Do you think he will be able to find a cure?" there was a hint of worry hidden in his eyes, maybe someone who was very close to him would have seen it, but there was no such person in the underlands anymore.

"He seems to be very capable, I trust him." you gave Risotto a reassuring smile and pat his arm.

"Will you train with me today?" you could see that your question caught him off guard.

Sure, Narancia would have to fight with someone else for the day, but you were sure he would easily find a partner.

"I'm sure you can teach me some stuff." you added to try to convince him.

Risotto huffed, before giving in:"Alright, but tell the kid that that was your decision, don't need anyone thinking that I force you to do stuff."

"Thats fine with me, as long as you teach me useful stuff." you smirked,before skipping over to Narancia and telling him about your training partner for the day, the boy visibly deflated, but agreed to train with someone else for the day. You felt a bit sorry for that, but you were curious. You hadn't seen Risotto fighting since you joined him and the others nor did you know anything about his companion. The only thing you knew is that Doppio had been spitting blood all of a sudden.

Today your curiosity got the best of you, you wanted to know how he did that, was it even a companion or was it some sort of magic he used?

As you reached him you got into a fighting stance, expecting him to do the same. "Are you ready?"

Risotto smirked, you would almost say that he was excited for the little fight against you.

"Always."