𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑘 𝑂𝑓 𝐴 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑟 ★ 𝐽𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑜 𝑋 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑋 𝐾𝑎𝑘𝑦𝑜𝑖𝑛

★𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚗★

You sat on the dresser, your arms propped on your legs while you watched the others interrogate the old woman. The cigarette was hanging on your lips as you watched with tired eyes. Kakyoin was leaning against the wall beside you and the others were around the old woman.

"You doing okay?" Kakyoin asked, making you turn your head to look after him. You moved the cigarette away and blew smoke away before answering.

"Just tired," You replied, rubbing your temple to try and sooth the aching in your head. "So much has happened today."

"It has," Kakyoin hummed.

"Why did Dio place a stand on Y/n?" Mr. Joestar asked for what seemed like the hundredth time. When the woman didn't respond, you decided to take into your hands. You slid off the dresser and walked to her, furrowing your eyebrows together while taking a long drag from the cigarette in your hand. Your stand formed beside you and you saw her eyes widened with fear. Your image flicked and you were now standing behind her. You held the cigarette in your mouth as you grabbed her shoulder, then everyone's images flickered and you were now on the roof of the hotel.

"What the-" Polnareff began before cutting himself off. You were leaning the chair over the edge of the roof.

"Now," You started, blowing smoke out. "Since you don't wanna play nice and just spit it out, you can play my rules. You don't tell me what I want to know, I'll just let this chair balance on the edge and the wind can decide your fate. Sound fair?" You moved away from the chair, letting it teter on the edge of the building.

"I'll talk! I'll talk!" She shouted in a panicked voice. "Just move me away from this ledge!" A smirk passed over your face as you took one final drag, then flicked the butt away.

"Good. Why did Dio send you after me?" You asked.

"To thin the waters out! He wants you to be one of the first dead!" She said.

"Why?" Avdol asked. "Is there a specific reason Y/n is being targeted first?"

"Because...." The woman Trailed off as she looked over her shoulder. It was like she was paranoid of someone watching her. "Its because out of all the stand users standing here, Y/n's is the most dangerous and effective towards Dio."

Silence passed over all of you as you frowned, eyebrows furrowing together. Your stand...was the most effective against Dio's?

"What is Dio's-" You were cut off by a sharp pain in your side. You coughed and doubled over, holding your stomach.

"I thought you removed your stand?" Jotaro growled. The old woman looked at them in surprise and confusion, just like the rest of them.

"That's not my stand," She said.

"I'm..I'm fine," You said, regaining your breath. "Just a cough." You straightened yourself out, standing back up and brushing yourself off. You walked to the old woman and untied the ropes, and allowed her to leave. Once she was gone, you walked away from the edge, your stand coming from the side of the building and disappearing behind you.

"You weren't going to let her fall, were you?" Kakyoin asked with a grin.

"Of course not." You said. "She might work for Dio, but she's still an old lady. I'm not gonna take her life."

"You're really good at bullshitting, aren't you?" Polnareff laughed, making you smile.

"I'm your professional bullshitter!" You said, pointing a thumb to your chest. You earned laughter from the others, making you temporarily forget about the things that had happened to you. You could feel Jotaro's gaze on you as the others made comments about your fight.

He didn't matter anymore. You couldn't let the things that had occurred makes you lose focus. After all, this trip was to get to Egypt, kill Dio, and save Holly. Not to catch feelings for your childhood best friend. Romantic feelings would have to be put on hold for now. Sure, the feelings that you held towards him were strong, but you couldn't say the same for him. The signs that he was giving you were so mixed and jumbled, you could not pick out how he actually felt. It was like trying to find a black cat in a coal cellar. Until he opened his eyes, to stand out in the darkness, you would never be able to know. You were trapped in a swarm of the unknown, and it was so thick it made you think that you'd never get out.

But none of that mattered right now. You had to remember the reason you packed up and left Tokyo with other stand users. It was all for Holly. You were risking your life to save hers. And you did it happily. This was all for her. You will succeed. You will kill Dio and remove the curse on your best friend's bloodline. You were going to save as many people as you possibly could. You were going to make sure that everyone got home safely.

A smile lingered on your face as you returned back to your hotel room with Anne, quickly settling into bed. You listened to the silence that etched it's way into the room as Anne fell asleep on the bed beside you. Your hand rested on your side as you stared up at the ceiling. You gripped the fabric in your hand tightly, clenching your jaw.

Your stand was the one who stood the most danger against Dio. Did this mean that your life was in the most danger? Because your stand was a target, did this mean that you were endangering the others? For a brief moment, you thought of possibly splitting away from them and going on your own. But the idea was quickly dismissed. You knew that you wouldn't stand a chance on your own. Besides, what if something happened to Jotaro and he wouldn't be able to return to his mother? You couldn't let that happen. You would just have to pull yourself together and fight back. You weren't going to rely on other people to save you anymore. After today, you should have known that not everyone will come to your rescue. You had to be able to defend yourself.

Thats what you told Jotaro, so you had to make sure you kept your word. You had a fairly powerful stand that was ideal for protection. You could do this. You could protect yourself and everyone else.

You had to.

★★★★

ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑜 𝑚𝑦 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑛. 𝑇𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑖 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑦 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑖 𝑤𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 :) 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑒

𝑛𝑒𝑥𝑡 𝑖𝑚 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑝𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝐴𝑡𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑠 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑒 :p