Chapter Text
It was the same routine every night.
No matter how many times he tried to shove the images from his head the second he closed his eyes.
No matter the actions taken to prevent them, Jotaro could never rid himself of the memories of that damned night in Egypt. Could anyone truly forget the horrific events he witnessed at the young age of seventeen? Other kids his age were relaxing in their safe haven homes or amongst friends out and about, but such was not the life destined for the Joestars. To be born with a singular star birthmark at the back baseline of the neck was a mark of despair: one that condemned those who bore such to fight that was never truly theirs.
It wasn’t fair, but when was life ever fair? Never did there exist a universal guarantee on the justness of one’s life.
He was only Seventeen.
Jotaro stirred from his sleep and bolted upright, sweat running down the side of his forehead. Teal hues flickered around his surroundings as he silently accounted for what encompassed him; He was fine, just as he was every night. No enemy stand user lingered in the shadows of his room. A brief sigh parted the teen’s lip as he pulled the cover aside. Rising from the floor, he began to tread his way towards the bathroom.
Their stay in Cairo was supposed to be short-lived. A recovery period. Just a few more days while their injuries healed before that could leave this place of forsaken sand and shed blood.
But, it didn’t feel short.
The days dragged on and seemingly stretched on for eternity.
Each and every day was a reminder that a tragedy occurred on these hallowed grounds. And yet, such mentions of loss and sacrifice would be lost to the sands of time, swept away in the afternoon heat and buried under the world that never stopped spinning.
Jotaro eventually shuffled into the bathroom and cast his sullen gaze up at the mirror in the dim light. There he was, just him. Scarred hands reached down to turn on the faucet. Soon, a steady, cool stream gushed forth into the sink. Hoping this might alleviate some of the tension that built up in his body, Jotaro splashed the water over his face and rubbed it over the bags under his eyes. Reminding himself of his place in the world, where he was, what normal sensation would feel like, helped to reorient himself during these nights of little sleep. Jotaro exhaled, placing his hands on the rim of the sink and uttering a shaky sigh.
He was only Seventeen .
It shouldn’t have been like this. He should not be fighting back surges of panic that felt like they might spill from his mouth if he dared open it just a sliver to talk. He shouldn’t be spending each night in agony and fear that the battle wasn’t truly over and their victory was a falsehood. It wasn’t fair….but when had life ever been fair to the Joestars?
Shaking off these thoughts, Jotaro once again splattered the running water over his sunken eyes. After wiping off his face, he lifted his head to once again stare at himself in the mirror.
However, the image displayed before him was not the same as before.
His surroundings appeared as if they had greyed in comparison to him. The air felt deathly still and not a single noise resounded through the hotel room. Cerulean eyes flickered over his shoulder to check if Star was looming over his shoulder, but there was nothing. Where his stand once hovered protectively, Jotaro felt nothing but a chilling barren feeling in this cage of empty seconds. His breathing began to quick as he turned his head back towards the mirror, hoping the scrying device would offer him any sort of explanation as to what was going on.
Two pale digits carrying razor-sharp black talons reached forth from behind the teen’s head as a monstrous figure pulled himself from the shadows. Jotaro was frozen, his breath pulled from his lungs the second he saw those damned blonde curls and piercing crimson eyes stare back at him from the mirror.
And so enters Lord DIO.
Just as he had before, the stand user whipped his body around to inspect his surroundings and locate the murderer who should have been long dead, but there was no one. All he was greeted to was a bathroom cast in shades of waning greys.
“Ah, Ah, Ah, eyes on me, Jotaro.” The vampire cooed in a taunting tone. The second his eyes settled back on the mirror, he was greeted to the other bearing a slasher-style grin. It sent a shiver down his spine.
“Where are you? Hiding won’t save you this time. Show yourself.” Jotaro barked at the mirror, attempting to summon Star to his side yet finding he could not reach that same tug he felt whenever his stand rose to his side.
Where could he have gone?
“Oh Jotaro, I thought you were smarter than this. I’m not hiding anywhere. I’m not even alive thanks to you.” Dio spat out his final words with such ferocity and venom one may have assumed him to be a cobra poised to strike at any moment. The vampire ensured his eyes remained fixed entirely upon the other during his speech. “ But…”
“ But?” Jotaro arched a brow at the apparition standing within mere inches from him in view of the mirror. The tension suspending the air in which they spoke was akin to a fishing line being drawn in ever so slowly: more and more weight clamping down upon a single active thread amidst the chaos.
A bone-chilling laugh escaped from DIO’s lips, filling the secluded bathroom with the echoing taunts of a merciless god. That very same laughter was the one he heard a fraction of a second before having a road roller thrust down upon him. His muscles tightened involuntarily at the mere thought of the past. As desperately as he wished to push this aside and swallow the fear that lumped within his throat, he could not break the gaze between himself and the phantom of his bloodline.
“ Did you think killing me would be that easy?” DIO uttered slowly, drawing out the question as long as he possible good while traversing over towards Jotaro’s side, placing a hand upon the teen’s shoulder. Though no physical presence existed, the feeling of sharpened nails digging into his shirt was all too real. “ There was a time when my life may have ended at your hand, Jotaro. But now, you have forged a connection that not even death can sever..”
Jotaro was taken aback by this statement. He willed this? That was impossible. There was nothing he wanted more than to leave the horrors of the past behind. Or.. did he? He shook off the thoughts and narrowed his eyes, shoving the mirror’s illusionary hand off his shoulder. “You’re not real. This is just a dream.”
With those words, DIO’s eyes lit up with excitement and gleamed with raw madness, his smile seeming to reach even wider now. “ This is just a dream you say? Look around Jotaro. Time moves for us and us alone. You have heard the myth that dreams cannot affect the passage of time. If that is so, tell me how is this the trick of a sleeping mind?”
Jotaro paused, slinking back into silence at the questions posed to him. He held no responsibility to humor the image of a forsaken man if one could even call him that. Once again he attempted to call forth Star to send this devil back to hell where he belonged. No luck again. The silence in the air was stifling, to say the least, threatening to choke him if he did not rise to the occasion and return a bargain of words to DIO.
“You have his resolve, that much even I can see.” As he dared to utter such words, he reached forth to give but a passing glance at the scars that lined his neck; the very same scars that showcased to the world the sacrifice of an innocent man to further a wicked one. “Even if you refuse to accept this is no dream, you must accept that it is through you I live again. There is no one to blame but yourself. After all, you said it yourself, we have the same stand.”
Jotaro stood in confusion as he listened to the ramblings of a madman, yet despite every unhinged word that spilled forth from the vampire’s lips, a pressure in his chest told him not every statement ushered to him was a falsity.
“ I would have died that night, Joestar. But as I stated before, you were the one who forged this connection — we have the same stand, after all.”
Another fit of cruel laughter resounded off the walls and pounded on Jotaro’s skull, demanding to carry its weight amidst the still air.
“We shall see each other again very soon, Jotaro.”
And with that, the clock began to tick once again.
However, for but a brief moment as the passage of time resumed, that flash of inversion carried forth a reflection in the mirror. One that turned Jotaro’s blood to ice and plucked the breath from his very lungs. The impression that stared back at him in the mirror was himself bearing the scars of a stitched neck, amber hues that transfixed any soul who may cast their sight upon them, and the blood of lives of long past coating his arms and splattered across his body.
And just as quickly as it had arrived, that very reflection dissipated, leaving such only to haunt the memory of the one seen fit to witness such.
Once the color returned the room, Jotaro gasped for air and lunged forward to catch himself on the rim of the sink. Heaving breaths were taken as he blinked repeatedly, trying to make sense of it all. The hell did DIO mean when he was rambling about them having a connection? The only link they had was that Jotaro was the one to wear his blood upon his hands. But that was a sacrifice he was more than willing to make after what that monster did.
Star finally appeared beside Jotaro looking concerned for the state of his user. It was his sole duty to protect Jotaro, but who could have foreseen this? The teen waved off his stand, now pulling himself upright and shaking his head. “I’m fine, Star.” Maybe he could convince himself if he told his own stand that lie. Even still, that chill he felt when first sensing DIO emanated from his side the moment Star phased out of sight.
Jotaro cast one final glance at the mirror before exiting the bathroom and settling back into his bed. Although, he was well aware that sleep would be an incomprehensible luxury tonight. All he could do was lie there and ponder over those harrowing words uttered by the vampiric apparition.
He was only Seventeen.
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The remainder a few days trudged along just as slowly as all the others had, with Jotaro being just as, if not even more reclusive until their scheduled trip back to Japan.
It was finally time for him and Joseph to take leave from these blood-stained grounds and sun-baked sands.
As Jotaro settled into his seat and glanced down at the picture of the Crusaders before it all, a haunting chill settled in his chest and coiled around his heart. In the blink of an eye, the photograph warped to DIO looming above Jotaro and the others amidst the desert setting before reverting back to its original state. Jotaro shook his head and rubbed his eyes. Shaking off a mildly concerned expression shot his away from Joseph, the teen turned to face out the window as the plane began to ascend into the air.
Jotaro may have taken flight to return home...
But Did You Ever Truly Leave Egypt?