Crashing Waves

Chapter Three

[2778 words]

Kakyoin, Avdol, the old man and I all boarded the plane after hurrying through the airport. In hours, we would be in Egypt - in Cairo, the place where Dio, the man who was killing my mother, was staying. I took my seat by the window as Kakyoin sat beside me, the other two in the two seats in front of us. I set my elbow on the armrest and stared out the window at the runway as we roughly lifted off of the ground. I eventually let my eyelids close, despite sleep being a distant thought.

As uncharacteristic as it might seem, I couldn't shake the worries that ate away at the back of my mind. My mother could die from her stand. We only had fifty days to reach and defeat Dio, and it was completely possible we wouldn't reach him in time. We didn't know what his stand could do. There could be other stand users along the way. There could be a stand user on this plane, for all we knew. Kakyoin could still be loyal to Dio - I paused for a moment after that thought, opening my eyes and glancing over at the red-haired boy's lavender ones. He looked over at me for a moment, then suddenly turned to face forward again, letting his eyes close as he tried to fall back asleep. My expression softened a little. Kakyoin wasn't going to betray us. He'd been rid of Dio's influence. Something just told me not to worry about him.

Letting my worries slip away, I realized that there was no point in keeping myself awake over things I couldn't change. Sleep eventually overtook me as my head slipped from my hand a bit and lightly hit the side of the plane.

When I woke up, an eerie silence hung over the plane, All of the passengers were asleep apart from myself, it seemed, and the only sounds were those of people lightly snoring and that of an insect. It flew extremely quickly through the aisles. Avdol had woken up as it flew by him, shaking Grandpa awake from the movement beside him.

Kakyoin stirred slightly beside me; I must've bumped him when I woke. Mentally apologizing, I looked around the plane for the insect, whatever it was. Something was wrong. I stood up, looking for the source of the incessant buzzing. The sound stopped for a moment; whatever it was, it has hidden itself in the shadows of the seats.

"Avdol, something doesn't seem right here - could we be encountering another stand user already?" Avdol nodded in agreeance; no normal insect flew at speeds like that. Besides, stand users attract other stand users. If Dio really could track Grandpa and I because of our bloodline, then of course he would have sent stand users after us.

"Oi, Kakyoin. Be on your guard. The old man and Avdol seem to think that bug that's been flying around is a stand." He groggily nodded as he woke up fully, stood up and took in his surroundings. The bug began to move again, but after initially taking off, its movements seemed much quieter. I paid close attention to any movement as best as I could, but I-

"JoJo! It's right beside your head!" Kakyoin exclaimed nervously, and Star Platinum's fist came flying by instinct at the insect - a stag beetle.

"Ora!" The punch missed, to my complete surprise: this thing was even faster than Star Platinum? "Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! O-ra!" Star Platinum's punches flew at incredible speeds, but the damn beetle was somehow faster.

"That thing just avoided a two-handed barrage from Star Platinum! There's no doubt about it. That beetle is a stand. But just how fast is it?" Avdol questioned, seeming intrigued yet intimidated, about what I was feeling myself. The stand began to laugh a disgusting, crazy laugh before making its move - it charged straight for my mouth.

"Jotaro!" Kakyoin shouted as Star Platinum made another move to punch the stand but missed again. The beetle flew around his fist and towards my mouth. Star clenched his teeth just in time to stop it, but the edge of my mouth was beginning to bleed from his attempted attack.