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Chapter Text

FROM WHAT you could remember, you had started to fear a lot of things when your mom died. Before then, you had never gotten a clear perception of death was and even then, your eight-year-old, pea-sized brain had taken a good month to fully understand what it meant. At the end of that month was when you saw the incredibly nice casket being lowered into the ground and suddenly, your older brothers had been in front of you and your two younger brothers to tell you three that you wouldn't see your mom anymore.

While both little ones had started sobbing, you had nodded, walked over to your father who had been carrying your infant twin brothers and stood there in silence, knowing the last person he'd want to see was you. After all, you had always been told you took after Momma.

Around five years later, your father had announced that his business was going under and that your family was now in debt. While your little brothers had been confused, you had sat there in silence like you had the day of the funeral. The whole service had always seemed out of your family's price range to begin with. Now, with this sudden revelation, you finally understood the reason for the grueling hours your father had subjected himself to.

Immediately though, your oldest brother had declared that he would win some horse race that had been in the works. The prize money wasn't much compared to what it would be five years later but it was just enough to bring your family back up and running. Everyone was ecstatic. You could still remember the way you all had decided to celebrate, even though there was nothing to really celebrate for just yet. It was just around this time that the fears had started to pile up.

Tom was the first to attempt to win— and the first to get seriously injured. You hadn't witnessed it firsthand but you were certainly there as he was pulled away on a stretcher, face indistinguishable. Later on, you had come to find out he was mauled by a bear. As most were, you had already somewhat feared them, but seeing your brother's destroyed figure had been enough to spike that fear.

As a result, the family debt had almost doubled. The prize money that Tom had promised for you all wouldn't be enough to save your family from its debts and had it not been doubled for the next race, maybe Micheal wouldn't have gone and attempted to do the same as Tom.

In comparison to Tom, Micheal had always been a very outdoorsy person and therefore knew far more about the wilderness and how to survive in it. This, however, didn't help at all when he got trampled by horses in the first part of the race; it also didn't help that you had watched it all take place. You had seen it all— how he was flung off his horse and into the unforgiving hooves of the other horses behind him.

You could remember his body twisted and bent in ways that the human body should never be able to do, all the while hearing his faint screams. Your father had been the one to place a hand over your eyes and had he not, you knew you would have ended up far more traumatized than you had been so far. After that, being trampled had gone on the list of fears.

Paul, the third oldest brother, was a religious fanatic. Although he was nice sometimes, he had a cocky side to him that usually led to him having a bunch of enemies. Despite warnings from your father, Paul insisted that he follow the path God had set out for him and join the race. Paul had also made the incredibly kind statement that he'd be keeping all the money for himself.

When you watched someone throw a wasp's nest at his face while he was riding, you were both happy and terrified. Happy that your stuck-up brother had finally gotten what he deserved but terrified at the mere thought of going through what he was going through. In the end, Paul had decided that he had been punished by God and spent every night praying in hopes he'd be forgiven.

Al decided to go through with the race next, knowing well he could die but figured if he just stuck to a set of rules he had given himself, he'd be fine. He had, of course, not been fine when they dug him out of the snow, half-dead and with an extreme case of hypothermia. His guttural screams still stuck with you to this day while the doctors were amputating parts of his body.

When they were done with him, he was missing an entire leg, half an arm, a few fingers, some toes, and his right ear. The way parts of his skin had remained blue and sickly for days after people found him was frightening in itself. And amputation after amputation, the already increasing debt your family had racked up grew worse. You found herself fearing such a thing happening to you as well.

But your fears had become crippling when Robert had left for the races.

Unlike your other brothers, Robert was the one you were closest to. Robert had been a shoulder for you to cry on when your mother died and there to soothe you when you'd see your brothers get injured to the point where you were paralyzed with fear at the mere thought. When Robert had decided that he'd be the one to win the race and save your family from debt, a part of you wanted to throw a tantrum and beg him to stay, despite being seventeen at the time.

Yet, another part knew that compared to your other brothers, Robert was the most well-rounded and had the highest chance of winning. So despite being against it, you found yourself supporting him from the sidelines. But what a fool you were.

Robert's death was one you would replay in your mind so often you thought you might go insane. With his death came the foolish declarations of your younger brothers that they'd get their revenge for him. That they'd honor his name once they were old enough.

But you wouldn't allow it.

You wouldn't see your younger brothers die at the hand of the terrifying race that had taken almost all of your family away from you, brother by brother. The one whose prize money rose as your family fell into an almost unplayable debt. The one that had taken Robert away from you, leaving only a tattered old hat with his name embroidered on the inside rim. You, like all your other brothers, decided you'd do the same and join the race.

In sum, it was a terrible idea.

The second you woke up in your tent, you were screaming. No, it wasn't because you remembered that you were going to actually take part in the race (although you were definitely anxious about it), but because you realized you had pulled the most idiotic move and fallen asleep in your tent. Yes, you had fallen asleep.

The night before you had sworn to yourself that you'd stay awake and make sure you wouldn't get secretly ambushed but clearly you had done anything but that. And screaming didn't help either. When you had gotten out of the tent with rustled and frantically put on loose clothing, the first thing the men outside had done was chuckle to each other.

"Hey, Speedwagon! When'd you manage to go sparrow catching, eh?" Your face burned as they walked up to you, one of them putting an arm over your shoulder and suffocating your senses with must and liquor. "Sounds like you gave her a hog-killin' time this morning~" You had gone silent; they thought you were doing something with another girl? Your face burned again and you sneakily slipped out from under the man's arm with a fake grin.

"Y-Yeah, I caught me a fine-looking lady and I guess she couldn't be too quiet, haha..." you trailed off awkwardly while pulling the rim of your hat down to cover even more of your face than already had been. It went quiet for a moment but before you could freak out, you were slapped on the back roughly, the men cackling around her. You, although grossed out and terrified, joined in on the laughter.

"Hey, where'd she go though?" You froze, beginning to tremble under the ill-fitting dress-shirt Robert had once owned. The men who had once been laughing and congratulating you for bagging an imaginary chick were now serious, looking at you in a way that made you want to die right then and there. "Maybe she's still in the tent!" Your heart dropped; you had found that your brothers had packed some of your skirts and you had left them next to your bag before falling asleep.

"H-Hold on! Um, she left a few minutes ago!" The men had brushed the thought off, saying that they would have known if a woman had run out of the tent. Tears threatened to spill from your eyes as they walked in anyways. "Wait a minute...ain't these girl clothes?" Your thoughts raced as you stood at the entrance of the tent, racking your mind for some kind of excuse. Then it hit you.

"Er..." you coughed into your hand for some dramatic flair, "...she took some of my clothes. I didn't know what to do with 'em so I left 'em there. Figured I might see her at the finish line so I left 'em by my bag to give 'em to her. Can't have a lady run around in men's clothing after all." The men looked between each other as you coughed into your hand again.

"It'd be a shame to hide those curves." They slowly began to nod and grin, mumbling to one another about the way they'd get to sleep with hundreds of women once they got the prize money. All you could do was stare in disgust as they talked, hoping that something would come to save you from your misery.

"Attention all participants,  it is currently nine-thirty. Each of your numbers is your starting grid number. For fairness, please be at your corresponding grid by two minutes to ten."

"Oh would you look at the time! I should probably get my stuff together now! See you folks on the starting line!" you said with fake cheerfulness as you ushered them out of your tent, collapsing onto the dirt when they were finally out. A familiar whinny came from outside the tent, leaving you to sigh.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'll be more careful, Thunder," you mumbled as you crawled over to your belongings, sorting out the things you would need for the trip across the country. While picking some items to leave behind, you readjusted your ill-fitting clothes, making sure that nothing too obvious would make you look anything but a man. By the time you were done sorting and packing, it was ten minutes to ten o'clock.

"Guess it's time to go, huh?" you muttered as you approached Thunderstruck, your somewhat temperamental yet experienced palomino horse. You looked over your companion, making sure all the harnesses were in the right place and that the harness was sitting correctly. After helping Robert set Thunderstruck up for about a year, you had gotten to know the way things had to be set up on a horse as well as how to take care of them. It was a nice step in the right direction considering you still had a fear of being trampled but it wouldn't really help you now; especially since you still didn't know how to ride a horse.

Thunderstruck whinnied again, giving you some form of judgment through her deep black eyes. Your face flushed and after looking back and forth, you brought over an empty crate so you could pull yourself onto the saddle. It had taken a few moments of struggling but you had finally made it onto Thunderstruck who immediately made her way to the starting line. It wasn't until you both reached the grids that you had actually steered Thunder.

"B-359...B-359...B-359!" An anxiety-riddled smile pushed its way onto your face as you came to a stop inside the grid, listening to the chatter around you. Thunderstruck scuffed at the dirt with her hooves, clearly annoyed that you both had to stay still for two minutes. With every movement Thunder made, you gripped the reins tight enough to make your knuckles white, all the while your brain wracked itself for the worst possible scenarios.

Maybe you'd end up dead, trampled beneath the hooves of the other racers' horses. Or even worse, someone would find you were a girl and push you off Thunderstruck. The men from earlier were probably already suspicious of you and the shitty excuses you had given.

"Fuck, why'd I think I could ever do this, Thunder?" Her horse huffed below her, ignoring your grumbles as you eyed the other competitors. Thunder hooved at the dirt some more as you sat under the burning heat. You could hear the murmurs of the people around you, staring directly at your smaller form.

Even in the baggy clothes you wore, people seemed to be catching on. Cursing your luck, you tilted the loose hat you wore to block your eyes and the relentless rays of the sun. "Think that's a lady?" You bit your lip harshly, gripping the reins in your gloved hands even tighter than before. "Well, if that's actually a gal, I wouldn't mind—"

"YOU BETTER WIPE YOUR CHIN BOY OR ELSE... WE'LL HAVE A PROBLEM...Y-YOU AND ME!"

Chapter Text

THERE YOU went making more trouble for yourself than you already felt like you were in. There was no way you weren't getting murdered now. Your leg bounced against the bottom of the stirrup as you tried to ignore the looks the men beside you were giving you. Your mind ran laps around your brain in panic, your teeth biting your lip with such force, you felt it might burst. Suddenly, there was a touch on your shoulder.

Your head spun so fast you thought you might have broken something but there was nothing there. With a grimace, you slowly turned back around while rubbing the back of your neck, using the amount of chatter around you to drown out the laughter from those same men. Ghostly touches littered your body in consolation but you paid no mind to them, telling yourself it was the horses that breathed heavily next to you.

There was another touch at your wrist and this time, you almost screamed. You held your arm to your chest, looking wildly for the source of the random touches. When you found nothing again— and the men had started to laugh even harder— you sighed, pulling down your sleeve to find that your wristwatch was intact. And also to find that the second hand had hit the ten mark.

Fireworks sparked from up above and suddenly you were holding on for dear life as Thunderstruck rushed forward, darting up ahead of the other horses. Aside from the dirt and tears in your eyes, you weren't doing too bad. By this you meant, you weren't pissing yourself...yet. After scrambling to pull your goggles down, you wrapped the reins around your arms and leaned forward, something Robert had mentioned offhandedly during his training. Whether it was good advice or just horse shit was something you were bound to find out about soon.

You could hear the thundering hooves of the horses behind you alongside the shouting of men and the occasional woman which added to the ever-increasing fear that you, like your brother, would get trampled. Distant voices in the air made you peer up from beneath your hat, seeing hot-air balloons float on by. Suddenly, from far beside you, shot out a horse, accompanied by a long-haired rider. You could hear the scuffle to see who the man was as you laid flatter against your horse. There was so much stuff going on that you could barely focus on staying alive.

"K-Keep it up, Thunder," you whispered, receiving a huff in return, "I'm getting you so many treats once this is over." Now with an incentive, Thunderstruck seemed to push through the mess, galloping alongside a blue-wearing, blond-haired guy. Your eyes scanned over his tattered clothing and lack of number, feeling yourself go sick. It hadn't even been five minutes in and there was a chance you could end up like him.

As your body trembled, rumbling filled the air, getting ever-so-slightly louder until it was deafening. A looming shadow fell over you as the ground shook with the force of an earthquake and you felt your stomach sink. Beside you rode a man on a camel so big you could barely make out the sun. Thunder gave a sharp whinny and you instantly pulled her to the side, bumping into the blond-haired rider.

"Sorry!" you called out with a stammer, cringing at your maneuvering skills before watching the camel rider speed off behind the lead racer. Behind the two appeared another blond guy (you questioned the sheer amount of blonde-haired racers as Thunderstruck galloped on) with a hat that read 'DIO', which you assumed was his name. The camel lunged toward the lead guy, allowing Dio to catch up to both of them and making the crowd above them go wild.

As you watched, you found that Thunderstruck was experienced enough where you could just watch the racers instead of trying to outmaneuver the racers around you. You gave the palomino horse another pat and leaned back down again, watching as the racers in front of you bumped against each other even more. And suddenly, the camel rider fell into a pit of cacti, sending everyone into a frenzy up above. Even the blond guy next to you was freaking out as the announcers repeated the name 'Gyro' above them (you figured this was probably the guy in the lead with the blond hair).

Thunder had managed to get you both out of a small bind with some other racers behind you, leaving them to stay in the front of the giant crowd of racers. As you passed by the cactus grove, you winced, forcing your eyes to tear themselves away from the sight as to not create any more irrational fears. The remnants of a dust cloud were still settling down as you passed by and you watched as the two men in front of you fought for the title of the lead through it.

"Diego... passed...by...neck!"

So the other guy's name was Diego, not Dio— you found that distracting yourself with his name was enough to take your mind off any fear you still had after the cactus grove situation. Thunder continued, pushing forward and earning yet another pat. The blond guy next to you muttered to himself, clearly frustrated and concerned over something; not that it was any of your business.

You stared ahead, trembling as you watched the two grow closer to a wooden bridge. With so much competition, there was a risk of you being pushed off the side. Peeking behind you, you found few extremely close racers other than the blond that rode next to you. It was simple— all you had to do was slow down just enough so that he could pass you by and you wouldn't get knocked off. The plan was gone as fast as it came when the bridge burst open with a quick kick of Gyro's horse.

You fumbled for the reins and held them tighter, leaning into your horse's neck as you awaited the crossing of the small stream. At least you weren't on the bridge. After a few moments of jostling, Thunderstruck was up and out onto the other side. Looking to the side, you found yourself next to the blond guy once more. Before you knew it, a sign with a six passed by. You smiled to yourself as you squeezed your legs around Thunder's midriff. Thunderstruck huffed in acknowledgment and pushed a bit harder against the cooling wind.

With another pat on Thunder's neck, you continued— at this rate, you were sure it was for your comfort rather than for Thunder's. Your skin was slick with sweat beneath the white collared shirt you wore and you could not wait to get under some shade later. Your eyes focused on the path in front of you, the barren terrain framed by canyons behind you. In front of you also rode Gyro, who you could barely see from a distance. 

The announcers above you rambled on from afar, your eyes dead set on the 'leader'. You knew there was no way you were winning but you figured it would be nice to at least win for a bit in the beginning. Just as a grin appeared on your features, Gyro swerved to the right.

"Gyro Zeppeli has gone off course to the right! He's going for a shortcut!"

Your breath hitched as you rode, watching as Gyro continued to rush toward the trees with no hint of hesitation. You looked between the trees and the open path— the smarter option was to go with the open land, especially with your lack of experience on horses. You never had the incentive to learn how to ride them, preferring to just do what you always did and stay alive, seeing as your father was losing his family with every race. But as you sat there, you considered following him.

Maybe it was the confidence he had by just running into the brush that made you think it over. Time was running out as you gazed upon the tempting open land and the dense brush. Your mind raced for any pros or cons and all you could think of was bears, though, with the density of the forest, there was no way a bear would maul you. Plus, you were riding on a horse. Before you could psych herself out of it, you pulled Thunder's reins towards the forest.

"You got this, Thunder," you whimpered as she leaped in front of the blond guy and another racer. The second you made contact with the shrubbery, you screeched and quickly laid flat against your horse. Thunderstruck maneuvered between the trees, somewhat imitating the horse in front of her. Not that it exempted the branches around them. You held onto your hat for dear life as well as the reins, trembling in fear. Why had you decided to be an idiot and do the things that had left your brothers in an early grave or under mountains of bandages?

Ghostly touches rattled your body but you dismissed them once more, now crying into your horse's mane. You prayed to whatever god there was above but you knew it wouldn't help one bit. If only the branches around you would just move— the ghostly touches left suddenly and you could feel a slight breeze. Your eyes opened slowly and you sat up, finding that the trees almost shifted to accommodate you and Thunder. You turned to see them go back to normal behind you, leaving the others to stumble through the shrubs.

Gyro was still far ahead of you, even with this odd movement of the trees around you and Thunder. Every quick step his horse took was no longer mimicked and Thunder instead resorted to a simple gallop. Just as a grin pulled onto your face, the forest reverted to its original shape, and with a panicked breath, you laid flat against Thunder once more. The waterworks returned as well, your body shaking against the rumble of your horse.

The trees became an obstacle once more and Thunderstruck slowed down to accommodate their return. You could hear the gallop of horses grow closer as tears streamed down your face. Your face was stuck in Thunder's white mane as you avoided looking at the trees around you. You could hear branches crack in front of you and Thunder huffed and sped up, finally leaving the shrubbery.

The cool wind hit your body and you pulled her face from Thunder's mane, locking eyes with the lead. The fear returned and you dug your nails into your palms. You would've been better off sticking to the winding road and staying out of trouble. Instead of the usual blond next to her, a bleeding man took his place, rambling about his luck. A sign with a four passed by and you sucked in a breath from between her teeth. The man that had been beside her sped up, around three lengths away from Gyro now. From beyond that, the land looked flat, allowing you to relax ever so slightly.

"The downhill area is in the range of fifty meters in height and there are steep angles of almost thirty degrees in some areas!" Within seconds, you were back to gripping the reins for dear life, feeling the slight decline of the ground as the announcers chattered above you. Your heart pounded as you pulled slightly on Thunder's reins to slow her down as you continued down the slope.

"Slowly now, Thunder," you prompted as you rode on, even though Thunder seemed to know more of what to do than you did at the moment. There were racers close behind you now and the imminent threat of tumbling down the hill was there. You soon merged back with the group from before, finding the blond next to you. "Oh, it's you," you thought aloud with wide eyes, only to be stared down by the man himself. 

]You quickly turned back to face the hills in front of you, watching as men accelerated as if following someone else. Gyro seemed closer now but you chalked it up to the hills you rode on. The announcers commented on the two men that had rushed in front of you just for them to stumble and crash.

Johnny watched as you froze at the sight of the men succumbing to their fates, their bodies flying into the air. He winced as a horse came flying towards you, mumbling a soft 'damn' under his breath. You were as good as gone with the speed of the horse's body flying at you. Just as you ducked your head into your horse's mane and wrapped your arms around its neck, you slipped through, splitting apart the horse to let yourself pass.

His jaw went slack as he peered behind him to see if he had actually seen what had just happened. The horse laid intact with its rider still attached to the saddle, shaking its head as the rider laid motionless. You still had your arms wrapped around your horse's neck when he turned back, noticing your horse's head shake in annoyance. It would be quite unamusing for you to lose when you slipped through a horse that flew at your head as if it were nothing.

"Hey, you're scaring your horse!" he called out as the wind blew at his face. You looked up with a half-hidden face, making Johnny even more curious about you. Your arms slowly loosened around your horse's neck and returned to the reins. "Thank..you..." You stared at him as though a name was expected but Johnny had been too focused on the fields ahead. After a few moments, Johnny finally realized your intentions. It was a bit unusual considering you both were in the middle of a race but he didn't care.

"THE NAME'S JOHNNY...JOHNNY JOESTAR."

Chapter Text

JOHNNY JOESTAR: the name repeated in your head a few times as Thunder carefully made her way down the slope. Little by little, you got closer to the leading racers, making a smile make its way onto your face. Still, with the people that kept crashing behind you, your smile fell and you frantically wrapped the reins around your arms. Terror ran rampant in the back of your mind as you made sure to stick to the saddle and hope you didn't become one of any casualties. 

But your hopes were instantly crushed. 

Before you had a chance to react, the rider at the very front tumbled forward, causing an uproar from up above: "Pocoloco tripped! Pocoloco fell! It's all coming to a head!"  You tugged Thunder's reins just slightly, getting ready to outmaneuver whatever would come flying at you. Johnny seemed to think the same and pulled his horse to the side. 

"He fell! Pocoloco is down! Pocoloco was imprudent! Gyro is in first place!" Your brows furrowed as you tried to look for the said rider, ducking down closer to Thunder in case something flew out at you. But as you grew closer, you watched Pocoloco and his horse slide down the slope instead, slowly getting up to reveal they had fallen on a cow's corpse. 

There were cries of both outrage and excitement as Pocoloco rode his horse on the corpse, yelling something about his luck. Gyro was now closer to you and Johnny, enough that you could see him pull out a spinning steel ball before chucking it at some nearby rock. You grimaced and pulled Thunder away from the rock face, hoping you wouldn't get hit as they rode past. 

Just as the ball hit the rocks, a man appeared, landing coincidentally on the rock Gyro had thrown the ball at. You watched as it crumbled and the man jumped off of it, sprinting all the way until he caught up to Pocoloco. Your jaw fell slack as you watched the man run barefoot in some tribal garments. 

"Who is he?! That person running! He's running down the hill with his own legs..." 

You brushed off the announcers and focused on getting down the final part of the slope until a sign with a two appeared. You pulled your body close to Thunder as the group began to turn on to the straightaway, watching as 'Sandman' jumped onto the rocks and took a shortcut the rest of them couldn't. Had you not been more worried about staying alive for the rest of the straightaway, you might have been ticked off. 

The wind blew harshly on your face as the finish line just barely came into view—which was barely blocking out the sound of your heart racing— and you leaned against Thunderstruck's neck, smiling into the white mane. 

"Thank you, Thunder," you whispered before squeezing your legs against the horse's midriff. Thunderstruck whinnied in response and pushed forward, leaving a few racers behind. Johnny remained in front of you and you figured you'd just let him. It was good enough for you that you'd be one of the few at the front. 

Beside Johnny was Diego, somehow unscathed from the broken bridge he had been caught in. You could see the panic on his face but you had no intention to keep distracting yourself with other people when the most deciding part of the race was taking place. Horses were huffing all around you, including Thunderstruck, which only brought the fear in the back of your head to reappear. 

"Don't push yourself too hard now, girl," you urged as you ducked into your horse's mane once more. There were rocks that were kicked up around you alongside clouds of dust and dirt but Thunder seemed unphased, almost as though the dirt was getting pushed away. There was a shimmer of silver in your peripheral but it was gone as soon as it came, making you grimace; weird things were happening and you really weren't appreciating it. 

Horses fell from behind you and some stopped short, their riders either crushed or aggravated. There were just a few more meters till the finish line— you just had to push through and it would all be over...until the next race that is. 

In front of you, you could make out Sandman in front of four lined-up horses consisting of Gyro, Johnny, and Diego. Beside you rode a rider in pink, who slipped past you slightly. Your brows furrowed and somehow, you felt Thunder go a tad faster than she already had been. At this rate, you'd cross the line in no time. Far ahead, the crowd cheered and all you heard was 'Gyro Zeppeli'. 

You urged Thunder forward, growing a bit greedy despite telling Thunder to take it easy moments earlier. And suddenly, you were in the middle of a dead-silent crowd, making your heart sink. Had something bad happened? You examined yourself quickly, checking your hat but finding it was perfectly in place. 

Everything continued to feel off when Thunder trotted off toward the center of the Santa Maria Church, the silence just low chatter amongst the people in the crowd. When Thunder came to a stop, you were quick to hop off and tie your horse to a nearby post, eyebrows furrowed in confusion and concentration. Just what was happening? 

"I'll be back with food and information, Thunder," you explained with a pat to Thunder's neck who gave you another beady-eyed look. You stroked Thunder's mane with a knowing smile, shaking your head with a laugh. "And your treats, just as promised." Thunder gave a soft snort as you turned to go find the food station. 

"By deliberation, Gyro Zeppeli was in first place..." Your head shot up and you stopped in your tracks as a booming voice came from the hot air balloon: "...but because he disrupted Sandman during the race, he will incur a penalty." There were shouts rippling through the air as you continued looking, finding a short man standing in front of a few plates of food. "I will repeat! He is unable to get first place in this round." 

You sucked air through clenched teeth and grimaced at the thought of something like that happening to you. While your mind ran over the scenario, Sandman appeared beside you, chewing on a large piece of meat and clearly pissing off the man who was intended to serve you both. Your eyes widened at his sudden appearance— this was the man that had been running without a horse!

"I-I'll take a bunch of apples and some water, please," you stammered, still in awe at the man beside you as the server turned to face you. He gave a polite smile and gathered the food while the announcer continued on: "...Gyro Zeppeli has been lowered twenty places as a penalty. Second place will be raised to first. Rising in the ranks is Sandman!" 

Once you were handed your food and water, the waiter congratulated Sandman, receiving only a simple nod. "Congrats," you said meekly, getting back another quiet nod. With that, you quickly scurried back to your horse, downing some of the water in the process. How someone had been able to run that fast was still beyond you. 

"...second will be Diego Brando, third will be Pocoloco, and Mountain Tim, whose horse managed to sneak a nose in, is in fourth, fifth is Johnny Joestar, sixth is Speedwagon, seventh will be Hot Pants..." You choked at the sound of your last name, earning some stares from the people around you. 

Thunder watched as you struggled to breathe from a few feet away, looking away after a few moments of you being an embarrassment. Once you had finally cleared her throat, you grinned, giving Thunder the best hug you could manage with a plate full of food. Thunder huffed and took the chance to bite into one of the many apples you had gotten for her. 

"Oh, man! I can't wait to see father and the others! I'm sure they're beyond excited!" You rambled as Thunder's ears twitched from some faint commotion. You were far too busy mumbling random things to yourself to notice it whatsoever, even when Thunder had put down her apple to tug at your shirt. 

"Not now, Thunder. I'm pretty sure father wouldn't want me dressed like this if we go out to celebrate. Good thing Scott and Seth put those clothes in my bag." It wasn't until Thunder nipped at your hand that she finally managed to get your attention. 

"Ow! What's the matter—" You were interrupted by a cork heading straight at your face. All you could hear was Johnny's voice and the yells of strangers before a pain blossomed in your nose. Your head flew back as well as your body, Thunder rearing up next to you. There were ghostly touches on your body once more but they were quickly replaced by human ones as you reached up to touch your nose. 

Your vision blurred from the tears that had gathered in your eyes, crimson liquid staining the hand that had reached up to feel the appendage. "—wagon! Speedwagon, are you okay?! Gyro, you hit him in the nose!" Your eyes opened to reveal Johnny's baby blue eyes and some annoyed green ones that belonged to Gyro. 

"O-OH, HEY, CONGRATS ON FIFTH PLACE, JOHNNY..."

Chapter Text

"STOP CODDLING him Johnny, he'll be fine," grumbled Gyro, flicking the hat you wore, "maybe if he took this off, we could see if he's overreacting." Your vision was littered with stars but you managed to scramble out of Johnny's grip while holding onto your hat tightly. With a strained voice, you managed to get your voice back after being scared shitless, "n-no, I'm fine."

Gyro gave Johnny a look, "see he's fine! Now, Johnny, the second stage of the race is a desert crossing with a distance of 1,200 kilometers; it looks tough so let's wrap this up!" Johnny looked back to him in surprise, turning to face you once more before biting his lip.

"I'm fine, really," you insisted before giving him a forced grin, your nose burning as your blood dripped down your lips. You pushed yourself back onto your feet with a flush across your cheeks, towering above Johnny as you held out an outstretched hand.

An awkward silence fell between the three of them as you raised a brow, a tight-lipped smile appearing on Johnny's face when he realized that you weren't aware of his condition. He looked away as his horse trotted up to him, unphased as its new owner spun his way onto the saddle. Your eyes glistened in awe as you held your hand on the bridge of your nose before noticing Gyro's glare

"A-Ah, I'll leave you two to whatever you were going to do, haha." The two men watched for a moment as you struggled to hop onto your horse— had Gyro not been too fond of you, he might have actually found it funny. Johnny on the other hand could relate and had no intentions of laughing. Eventually, you had pulled herself onto Thunder by using a fence to push off of and awkwardly cleared your throat when you found they had not moved a muscle.

"Well...It was nice meeting you, Mister Zeppeli—" you took a moment to tilt her head back and pinch her nose again— "and thanks for helping me out, Johnny." With a quick tilt of your hat, you motioned Thunder to head to the stables all the while keeping your head tilted back.

You watched as Gyro hopped onto his horse from your peripherals and led Johnny towards a grassy hill, probably pissed about the whole placing last thing. A sigh escaped you and you focused on staying balanced on your saddle instead (it oddly felt much easier when Thunder was galloping rather than walking).

As you made your way to the stables, you could feel piercing stares from all around. Whether it was because you won or because you were currently having a nosebleed you couldn't tell. All you could do was try your hardest to convince yourself that it was because of that and not because they had found out you were actually a girl.

The bleeding had finally subsided once you hopped off your horse, but it hadn't left your clothes unscathed, which made it clear that you would have to change into your other clothes before seeing your father. He probably wouldn't have appreciated you seeing him in men's clothes anyway. The smell of manure and blood had muddled your senses as you walked down the hall of the empty building, save for all the horses. Any racers that had previously been in there had left as you entered, making it much easier for you to find a place for Thunderstruck to stay and for you to change. 

Although there had been an empty block in the front of the stables, you found yourself pulling Thunderstruck to the back, that way you could change and Thunder wouldn't get rowdy. While praising your own cleverness, your mind wandered back to when your family had first gotten Thunderstruck. You and Robert had been passing by to look for a cheap horse Robert could get for the race later that year when you both witnessed Thunder running wild. When Robert had rushed to help, insisting they had been scaring her, Thunder had instantly calmed down. 

You both would later come to find out that Robert looked like Thunderstruck's previous owner, scar and everything. The owners immediately handed Thunder over to Robert, claiming Thunder would be of no use anyway."Thunderstruck," you could remember the smile that reached your brother's eyes when he spoke of Thunder, something you would never see again. 

"Such a fitting name for such a beautiful gal." You remembered raising a brow at your brother's cheesiness that day and poking fun at him for it afterward."When I come back, I'll make sure she has a huge stable just for her! Maybe I'll get her a friend if she gets less scared...You two are kind of alike in that way!" 

You sighed softly under your breath and brushed through Thunder's mane, giving you a huff as though she could read your thoughts. "I know, girl," you whispered as you let the white mane slip through your fingers, "it wasn't your fault at all." You blocked out any memory of the incident while your hand fell to your side, groaning when you remembered you still had to change. Hopefully, there was somewhere around here where you could wash your other clothes.

With a quick peek over the block's wall, you determined there was no one else around and quickly took off your blood-stained shirt and your hat, letting it hang from a hook above the hay Thunder was eyeing. "Take care of Robert for me while I'm out with Father, okay?" A part of you was nervous to leave your hat by itself but you were sure Thunder could kick anyone who tried taking the hat if it came down to it.

There was more blood by your jeans which made you grimace as you changed; thank god it was only a nosebleed that had caused the stains. Before pulling your pants off, you threw on a clean button-up shirt that was more fitting and took out the skirt you had from her bag. Once your clothes got cleaned, you definitely had to leave these other ones with your brothers for them to take back home.

Your pants had been baggy enough to just slip off without taking off your boots and you quickly did so, pulled on your skirt, and balled up all the dirty clothes before putting them back in the bag of Thunder's saddle. Once done, you grabbed the bucket of manure in the corner, intending to empty it somewhere so Thunder wouldn't be bothered with the smell.

"Hey, you." You stopped in your tracks, freezing up when you encountered Diego Brando. Your breath caught in your throat but you remained straight-faced. "Oh, hello, sir," you began shakily, "how can I help you?" His eyes narrowed at your oddly high-pitched voice before you gave him a quick smile. "Are you the stable girl?" he asked with a raised brow. The bucket in your hands seemed heavier. "Yes," you replied quickly, hoping he wouldn't notice you were...well... yourself.

"In that case, empty that block's manure for me," he ordered, looking away in a bored fashion. You nodded and placed your bucket in front of Thunder's gate before rushing to check the one he had told you to clean. Your heart raced as you tried your best to act inconspicuously— the block he had pointed to was empty.

"It's already cleaned sir, but there's no hay so I'd have to get my associate to bring it to you later," you smiled hesitantly and left the block only to find a grimace on Diego's face. "B-But I think there's another block with everything you need over here." Diego followed as you led him to the block you were going to use before had Thunder not been aggressive with other horses.

"That would be much more helpful," he said, pulling his horse around to follow you as you led him closer to the front of the stables. You were overjoyed to find no one had taken it and smiled at him before opening the gate. His horse strode in once Diego had examined the block.

"Thank you," he added as she shut the gate, "miss..." Your tongue felt heavy but you suddenly remembered you had only applied under your last name. "My name is (y/n), sir. I wish you luck in these next few races." With a bow, you almost sprinted back to your horse and grabbed the bucket, leaving the stables as fast as you could, not noticing the lingering eyes of Diego Brando. 

Your lungs felt like they would fail at any moment as you finally reached the outside, placing the bucket at your feet. "Now...where did Father tell me to meet him again?" You walked out to the middle of the U-shaped building, scouring your mind for where your father had told you to go. If you remembered correctly, it was somewhere near the front of the church. You could only hope that they had been waiting there instead of looking all over for you. 

After tugging at the tight collar of your shirt until it was loose enough to be comfortable, you jogged out of the establishment with a soft smile. Your eyes scanned over the thousands of people that had gathered in celebration who had already forgotten the fact that Gyro had been pushed back to last place and headed straight for the bars or the stables. While you made your way through the crowd, you spotted a few familiar faces standing idly by the front of the church. A grin tugged at your lips and you quickly outmaneuvered passersby until— your stomach sunk.

Just beside the church was a medical tent filled to the brim with injured riders. There must have been at least a hundred people in there, screaming and groaning as they were wheeled around into the back of the tent. Families were standing near the tent, some sobbing or visibly frightened of what the people inside were going through. You could vividly remember that same feeling.

"-(y/n)! Hey! Hey!" You were brought back into the past when two sets of arms wrapped around your waist, almost sending you barreling backward. When you looked down, you found your two twin brothers smiling up at you with gapped smiles. "S-Scott! Seth!" you sputtered, pulling them away from you incredulously. "Sis, you were so cool out there!" exclaimed Seth with sparkling eyes while Scott leaned on his twin's shoulders, "yeah! You were like whoosh and Thunder was like zoom and-" You gave them an awkward grin before placing your hands over their mouths and sighing.

"People aren't supposed to know I'm a girl, remember?" Scott and Seth looked at one another for a moment and let out a small simultaneous 'oh' once you had pulled your hands back to rest on your hips. As scared as you were that people would find out Speedwagon was a woman, you couldn't stay mad at your brothers.

"Come on you troublemakers," you said with a playful glare while pushing them in the direction that they had come from. The twins giggled amongst themselves before rushing off through the crowd, eventually leading you to your father— and your older brothers. A wider smile immediately plastered itself onto your face as you ran forward, watching as the men in your family turned to face you with warm gazes.

"Father!" Your arms were wrapped around your dad's shoulders immediately and the favor was returned just as quickly as you were then swung off your feet just the slightest bit. Laughter tumbled from your lips as you were set down to face your dad's usually stern eyes filled with pride.

"You did amazing out there, sweet pea." The corners of your eyes crinkled as you pulled your father into another hug. His words, although not many, were enough to boost your confidence tenfold than it ever had been. Once you had pulled away from your father's embrace, your hair was messed with, sending your smile into a pout.

"Thanks, Tom," you grumbled as your half-mauled brother gave you a crooked smile. "No prob, sport," he drawled out, leaning on your shoulder haphazardly as Micheal stepped forward awkwardly. "Glad to see you didn't get trampled," Micheal muttered with an anxiety-motivated look around, trembling at the sight of the horses nearby. Al was the next to appear beside you with a stumble while on his metal leg replacement.

"Congrats, Lil' sis," Al had said with a smile as he leaned on a cane, supporting his weight as best he could without half of his appendages. You had patted his shoulder and given it a nice squeeze until Al had almost burst into tears for your success. Your younger brothers had rushed back up to you soon after, continuing their previous spiel with the addition of your other younger brothers, Bruce and George, who said Paul had refused to come to see you.

"You know how he is," began Bruce with a roll of his eyes as he placed his chin on George's shoulder, moving it in a way that made the poor kid scramble in place. "He was talking about God or something," managed to explain George once he had finally pushed Bruce away. Somehow, moments later, the two were rolling around in the dirt while Scott and Seth cheered them on.

"Cut that out," ordered your father after a few moments of tussling, his stern facade appearing once more and bringing Scott and Seth into silence quickly. Suddenly, there was a grand smile you hadn't seen in years spreading across his face.

"...NOW WHO'S UP FOR LUNCH?"

Chapter Text

"THEN, BAM! The trees looked like they moved away and Thunder had to do nothing!" you recounted, waving your hands around wildly as your younger brothers watched with starry eyes. Your other brothers, although much older, gave you the same child-like gazes as you all sat in the crowded restaurant. Since the restaurant was filled to the brim with drunken patrons that were still touchy about the Gyro-Sandman situation, you knew you wouldn't have even dared to utter a word about what you had been doing in the race. 

But here you were, practically painting a picture with the way you had started describing what had happened to you earlier. 

"How's that even possible?!" cried out Scott through a mouthful of 'chicken tenders'— these 'tenders' had become popular in the restaurant and Scott was the only one brave enough to try them— and fried potatoes, practically leaping from his seat as Seth tried pulling him back down. You chuckled and leaned your chin on the palm of your hand, pushing around some mashed potatoes on your plate. 

"I'm not really sure myself..." George was next to pipe up about some part of the race, asking a bunch of questions that you were more than happy to answer (even though you didn't have much of an explanation). Every now and then, Bruce and Seth would ask questions of their own and after a good while of talking, they had all finished their food. 

"Man, I'm stuffed," Micheal said with a gleeful sigh, "that was some great food." He patted his stomach for a moment before looking at Tom who had been staring at some waitress the whole time. As you moved your now empty plate away, Micheal gave you a soft nudge in the side, making you turn over to him with a raised brow. He shot you a look and glanced over at Tom while leaning his head toward his older brother. 

While you were a bit slower to make the connection, Scott and Seth had gotten it immediately, practically announcing it to the world with the large gasp they took. George, Bruce, and Al were next to notice, and after that came you and your father. The stern look on his face was wiped clean as he looked at his son with a knowing smile. When Tom turned back around, the whole family was looking at him with smug grins. 

"Excuse me, miss," called his father, making Tom flush in embarrassment before he tried pulling his father's arm down from across the table. The waitress smiled sweetly and made her way over, glancing at Tom every few moments while your father asked for the check. While the lady handed their father the piece of paper, you and your brothers whispered amongst each other, making Tom grimace. 

"Have a nice day, folks!" Your father replied with a quick "you too" and you all gathered their things, Scott and Seth now onto the topic of BB guns instead of their brother's potential love life. As they got up to leave, you caught Tom's lingering gaze on the waitress as well as a frown on his face. With a sigh, you patted him on the shoulder, watching him struggle to tear his eyes away from her.

It was sad to see him like that; before the attack, Tom had his fair share of girlfriends here and there, always being the best partner he could be to them. But every time, he would get broken up with for claims of not being good enough. After the mauling, most of the women in their town wouldn't even look at him and when they did, their lips would drip with venom. 

Now, here comes this waitress who talked to him like half his face wasn't torn up and dropping subtle hints that she liked him. You were no less than happy for Tom. All he needed now was to take back his confidence and talk to her. And now— was he leaving? You blinked owlishly for a moment and found that your brother was, in fact, running out the door. 

Your jaw went slack as you looked back and forth between the two, the space between them growing larger and larger until— suddenly, your brother and the waitress were soaring toward each other as though they were two magnets. You blinked again and then they were talking, their faces flushed all the way to their ears.

Before you could continue watching the interaction, Al had pulled you away as best he could with one functioning arm. As you stumbled out the door, you stammered out incoherent sentences, babbling about what had just happened. 

"It-It was like the same thing that happened in the woods!" you exclaimed with wide eyes, anxiety numbing your senses until Al came to a sudden stop. When he turned around he gave you a few pats on the head, dissolving your growing fear immediately. Robert had always done that. 

"Don't worry too much about it, short-stack," grinned Al as you grimaced at the nickname, "at least our brother is finally talking to a girl again." You stopped your glaring to look back at your brother through the open door, watching as your gaze was slowly obstructed by its closing. A smile tugged at your lips until Al gave you another yank towards your family. 

"Hey, don't call me short! If anything I'm taller than you!" While Al laughed and half-limped his way over to your other brothers, you sighed playfully, running after him. You found your father staring at the door as well, a soft knot in his brow. After another sigh, you cleared your throat loudly, attracting the attention of your family and a few passersby. "S-Since you all are so chivalrous, I'm sure you won't mind walking me to the inn!" 

Scott and Seth puffed up their chests proudly and held out their arms for their sister to take, distracting your father successfully. You laughed briefly before linking your arms to theirs as you all made your way to the building. As you walked, you looked over your shoulder one more time— the inn wasn't too far away but it was certainly enough to allow Tom some alone time with the nice waitress. You could only hope now that things would go well on his part. 

During the walk, Scott and Seth had eventually gotten bored and run off to go bother Bruce and George who were more than happy to mess around. Your father, who usually wasn't too happy about your brothers being rowdy in public, had seemed to ease up for the day and had now decided to walk alongside you. 

It was quiet, but it wasn't awkward in the slightest. The clamor of the people around you both had created a buzz in your ears which was enough to keep you two from talking, but it was nice. People were now slowly flooding towards the other restaurants and you could only presume it was around lunchtime already. Your shoulders sank just slightly, catching the attention of your father. 

"You still afraid, huh?" he mumbled solemnly, making you perk up. You blinked for a moment and then laughed dryly, looking at the dirt by your feet. "I...I guess so." Your father hummed, looking up at the blue sky, not a cloud in sight. "I should'a never brought you to see them races," your father grumbled, hand tightening into fists. Your brows furrowed as you watched an indescribable emotion spread across your father's features. You couldn't let him believe it was his fault— it had always been the race. 

"I don't blame you," you said with a chuckle, patting your father on the shoulder with a hesitant smile, "you've done nothing but try and support the family all these years. We've been trying to help but this damn race just keeps hurting us more and more." Your father's eyes glistened with tears that weren't willing to fall, leaving him to wipe them away with the cuff of his sleeve while looking away. Your brows furrowed once more and despite knowing that you could never promise anything, you said it anyway. 

"I promise you this'll be the last time anyone joins the race," you said fiercely, a combination of fear and determination filling your senses. Your father looked at you with wide eyes and you could only assume he wasn't expecting to hear anything like that from you. His face softened into a smile and he placed a tentative hand on your head, stopping you both in your tracks. 

"You know, ever since you were a little girl, people always said you looked like your mum—" your father faltered in his words, tears threatening to spill again as he started his next ones with a crack in his voice, "—but today... when you were out there you looked...you looked just like Robbie." Tears pricked at your eyes as your bottom lip quivered, holding all your emotions back. You were suddenly seized into a bear hug, leaving you shocked before your arms slowly wrapped around your father's back. 

"I know you'll do great out there." 

Just as your tears fell, a few more arms joined the fray, soft sniffles coming from your brothers. A soft snort left your nose as they pulled away, seeing the red-rimmed eyes of your younger brothers who were trying their best to act their age and not like toddlers. 

"You better stay safe out there, sis," mumbled Seth as Scott sniffed loudly. "I will so don't worry your little heads about it." With a few more words of consolation for your family, you had finally managed to shoo them away. Tom had also joined them, proudly saying that he had gotten a date with the waitress. Soon after, you all said your tearful goodbyes. 

"We'll come to see you off tomorrow," stated your father, patting your head again but with no hesitance. "I'll hold you to it then." One final wave and they walked off, Scott, Seth, George, and Bruce screaming their goodbyes from afar until you could no longer see them. Any tears you had were wiped away as you turned to head for the stables, only to find two men grinning at you. 

"Hi there, dollface," cooed one man, the alcohol on his breath making you go stiff. The other stepped closer and stroked your hair with a grin, "what's a lass like you doing around here by yourself?" You bit your tongue— what did he even mean by that? You were out in broad daylight, standing near the inn you were told to go to. Nothing you were doing was in any way seductive or inherently attractive for that manner. You were just saying goodbye to your family. 

"U-Um, I'm sorry, I need to be somewhere right now," you stammered, hands shaking as you looked at the space between the two men. Just as you took a step forward, the man who had been stroking your hair had moved, blocking your exit. Your heart sunk in your chest as you held your trembling arms at your sides, the fear slowly becoming evident on your face. 

"Oh, c'mon now! There's no need to be scared! We just want to talk to you," the clearly drunk man sneered, rolling his eyes as you bit down on your lip harshly. If only your brothers were still here. "I-I really need to go," you insisted, trying to push your way through only to get pulled back and held between them. 

"Let me go!" Your breathing grew erratic as you were held between them, twisting as you tried to get out of their grip and continued shouting the same phrase. Tears streamed down your face as you continued screaming until one rose his hand up and— your eyes shut tightly as you waited for the impact only for there to be none. 

Suddenly, their arms were off of you and you were back on the ground, dust dirtying your skirt. When you opened your eyes, you found the drunk guy was now across the road, clutching his abdomen which had a green ball spinning on it. 

The other guy, though, had been shot through the wall of the inn next to you. You stared with wide eyes as the guy tried standing up and fell back down, leaving the other people in the inn to stare back at you. When you turned to look at the other guy, she found his body slowly twisting in an inhuman way. 

"W-What the hell-" 

"Nyoho! Did you see that Johnny Joestar! That there is the power of the spin!" 

Standing at the end of the road were Gyro Zeppeli and Johnny Joestar, one grinning ear to ear and the other both surprised and irritated. You remained glued to the floor as Johnny rolled over to the man on his wheelchair as Gyro strutted over to you, holding out a hand which you took reluctantly. When you were pulled to your feet, his arm rested on the small of your back, supporting you and your putty-like legs. 

"NO WORRIES, SIGNORINA~ GYRO ZEPPELI IS HERE TO SAVE YOU!"

Chapter Text

YOUR EYES were stuck to the twisting man in front of you while Gyro held you up nonchalantly. Johnny rolled his wheelchair to the side as the ball spun back into Gyro's grasp, leaving the man to scream in agony. You grimaced at the sound while Johnny rolled up beside you, nodding to Gyro who nudged you over to hold yourself up against the handles of the wheelchair. As Gyro moved forward to do whatever it was he was planning on doing, Johnny tilted his head back, soft-looking blond tufts of hair falling away from his face. 

"You okay there?" You managed to nod— it felt like you were still stuck in an adrenaline rush. Johnny gave a silent scoff when he saw you continue to tremble, but he couldn't blame you. Just thinking about the way they had grabbed you by the arms earlier grossed him out. He might have been a douche back in his glory days, but he had never stooped that low. Regardless, it was barely his business. 

The only reason Johnny was even here was that Gyro had started rambling on about wanting to eat some classic American food and flirt with some waitresses. But, of course, he just happened to see everything go down and instantly decided that helping you would help out later on. Johnny rolled his eyes at the thought and continued watching his mentor, no interest in whatever you were up to now. Gyro came to a stop a few meters away from the man he had just hit with his steel ball, letting his weapon spin threateningly in the palm of his hand.

"Now, now...what exactly were you planning to do to that lovely lady?" Gyro challenged, slowly walking circles around the man as you made the wheelchair shake just slightly. Johnny, although irritated, said nothing and rested his chin in the palm of his hand. The man had stumbled over his words, trying hard to come up with an explanation but it was like his brain had been scrambled. Gyro hummed, stopping for a brief moment to chuck the ball at the man again, knocking him out. You sucked a sharp breath through your teeth, jolting the chair and making Johnny grimace. 

"Watch it," he spat, as your brows furrowed, eyes still trained on the man who had grabbed you by the arm earlier. A shudder crawled down your spine as Gyro's ball spun into his hand once more before walking over to you and Johnny, tipping his hat to you once he was right in front of you. You could barely muster out a word of thanks, paralyzed from the thought of what could have happened earlier. 

"You don't look too well, signorina. How about we get you some water?" Gyro offered, only to receive a hard no in the form of you shaking your head. Gyro gave you a tight-lipped smile as you continued to shake; Johnny could tell that Gyro had immediately given up on the thought of getting laid. 

"I'm sure you don't...trust us right now, but let's get you inside. I'm sure the workers can help you from there." Johnny's brows raised as he watched Gyro help you and your trembling self over to the building with a new hole in the wall, workers immediately rushing to your aid; had he known any better, Johnny would have believed Gyro to secretly be a doctor or something. 

As Gyro trudged back over, Johnny grinned, knowing Gyro's plans were completely ruined. At the sight of Johnny's smile, Gyro frowned and headed toward the nearest restaurant, Johnny following after him with a smug look still on his face. The swagger that had once been in Gyro's walk was now gone as they pushed their way into the building, being hit with the strong scent of alcohol and American cuisine, and all Johnny could do was keep in his laughter. 

On the other hand, you were being tended to by some of the workers, watching as the two men were taken away by the sheriff. Any questions of who had done the damage were avoided at the sight of your trembling form with a blanket over your shoulders and a half-empty cup of water in your hand. Although you had been terrified of what Gyro had done, the fear had doubled when you heard the whispers of the workers as they passed by. 

"The man that flew in through the wall flew in before that Zeppeli guy hit the other guy with that weapon of his!" 

"Then who made this guy break through the wall?!" 

All you could think of was the weird touches you kept feeling every now and then, the way the branches had moved in the race, and even the way your brother and the waitress had collided. Now, you had never feared the supernatural but at the rate things were heading, you might just add it to the ever-so-quickly growing list of fears. 

"-miss. Miss? Hello?" You perked up, finding a few workers standing behind you, staring worriedly. You quickly got to your feet, shrugging off the blanket which you handed to them with a forced smile. The woman you handed the blanket to smiled awkwardly and rushed off with another worker, whispering as they made their way deeper into the building. You tried not to grimace and looked back to the few workers that were looking amongst each other. 

"So sorry about that," you began, looking across the group of confused faces with burning ears, "er...this is the inn where the racers are supposed to stay though...correct?" One man nodded and you let out a sigh, attempting to mask your fear. "G-Great! My brother sent me to check in for him... I believe he's signed up as 'Speedwagon'." 

The workers began to whisper as you kept your smile stuck to your face until the man shooed them off. You followed after him as he headed toward the counter, parting through the dissipating group of staff members. While he scanned a book on the counter, you swished around the water in your cup, downing the rest just as he let out a hum. 

"Ah, yes, Speedwagon. Placed number six, huh. You must be proud," said the man as you fiddled with the glass, brows furrowing at his words. Were you proud of yourself? Of course, you were. Your reply came after a moment of faltering, forcing a smile again as you proceeded to have small talk with the man. 

"Oh, do you have a place to do laundry? My brother had an incident earlier with some men and...let's just say there was some blood here and there," you asked through an innocent bat of your eyes. The man smiled and nodded, explaining that the workers here would be able to take care of it. 

"How great! I'll bring over the clothes in just a moment if that's okay." He nodded once more and after a brief goodbye, you were out the door, letting out a breath you didn't know you had been holding in. "Well, that's one less thing to do," you mumbled to yourself, peeking over your shoulder to see a few men already boarding up the hole with some wood. 

Your brows furrowed and as you walked to the stables, you couldn't tear your eyes off your hands. Was it a spirit that was coming after you or...was it just you? You bit down on your lip to distract yourself from the thought and hastily rushed to get your dirtied clothes from the stable. 

As you approached Thunder, your shoulders sagged, letting yourself lean against your horse's head; "Am I glad to see you." Thunderstruck whinnied and moved her head to rest on the top of yours, making you let out a soft chuckle. "Looks like you missed me too, huh," you beamed, pulling away to pat the side of Thunderstruck's neck, "but I just have to grab-" 

"Miss (y/n)?" 

Your stomach sunk as you slowly turned to find Diego standing there with a mix of confusion and anger across his features. You could feel your heart pound in your ears as your palms went sweaty and eyes went wide, backing up against the block's door as he walked over to you. All you could think of was the way the men had grabbed you earlier and your throat felt choked up again as you raised your arms over your head. 

"What are you doing here?" Your mind went blank as you stood there, hands slowly falling to your sides. He hadn't caught you. "Um...this is Speedwagon's horse," you absentmindedly replied, sticking with the lie you had told to the worker earlier, "h-he asked me to grab his dirty clothes from the stable for him." Diego scanned your form, seemingly not entirely believing your lie. 

"Do all stable girls do that? " "Ah, well, he's my brother. I told him about the race 'cause my family needed the money and-" Diego cut you off by rolling his eyes and rubbing the middle of his forehead with a sigh. "No need to explain. Just go do whatever you were doing." You nodded awkwardly, smiling as best you could before squeezing into Thunderstruck's block and grabbing the dirty clothes. When you got out, he was over by his horse, tending to its needs. 

"I'm guessing you're off duty right now," he started off as you held the clothes to your frame, looking over once you walked closer. You nodded again and kicked at the dirt by your feet, "if you need something I can let someone know." He shook his head and turned to face you, narrowing his eyes in a way that made you flinch. 

"If your family needed the money, why didn't you just join? Too afraid of getting killed?" he asked with venom lacing his words, making you grimace. If only he knew. "Yes, actually. I'd rather keep my head," you spat back, fingers digging into the fabric of your dirty shirt. Diego looked you over, smirking as you inched away cautiously. 

"Well, aren't you a feisty one," he breathed as you stepped to the side, shuddering at his previous closeness. "Only when talking to creeps like you," you replied, knowing full well that you had done nothing of the sort back when you were fighting those two men. Maybe it was because Diego was much...smaller than them. 

Before you could react, Diego had taken your hand and placed a kiss on the back of it, leaving your face flushed. You could barely form any words as Diego let your hand go and stepped back to lean against the door of his horse's block. Your arm felt tingly as you tried to avoid eye contact with him, stepping away to leave the stable until he smirked, leaving you stuck in your spot. 

"I'll come for your hand in marriage after this race." 

Your heart almost exploded at the sound of his words; you couldn't tell if it was from fear or if it was just you swooning over his words. Your mouth felt dry as you stood there, looking at the entrance of the stable. Somehow, the sun was already setting—you figured you must have been so terrified after the whole incident with those men that you hadn't realized that a few hours had passed— which only added to the incessant pounding of your heart. 

"I..." your words faltered as you stood there. You had never once thought about getting married. Perhaps back when you were a little girl and your mother was still around to tell you about the wonders of marrying the person you loved. Nowadays, you were too focused on staying alive and supporting your family as the people in it got hurt. Maybe if you paid off the debt, you could finally think about that kind of thing. 

"...I can't promise you I'll be waiting for you o-or something," you stammered, face still burning as you left the stable, not daring to look back at Diego. Surely there must have been something wrong with him anyway. From what Scott had told you at dinner earlier, Diego was a cold-hearted man who did everything for his self-interest. God, he had even married an old woman for her money. 

THERE WAS NO WAY YOU'D WAIT FOR HIM...

Chapter Text

"

THE SECOND stage is scheduled to start in five minutes! Participants, please line up at the starting line!" You pulled at the bandana you had wrapped around your neck and then made sure your hat was blocking the rays of the sun, all while the announcer explained what would be happening in the second stage of the race. 

Though you were paying attention to what was being said about the waterholes and the other things you needed to be aware of, you were more focused on trying to find your family in the crowd. As you scanned the thousands of people, you heard a huff from beside you, turning to find none other than Diego Brando. Your ears burned as he turned to you, looking you over briefly. 

"You're Speedwagon, correct?" You were at a loss for words. How was it that Diego Brando knew who Speedwagon— that's right. You had forgotten that you had told Diego that you were your own brother the night before. Just thinking about the marriage proposal that came from out of nowhere made your heart pound. 

"Er- Yeah- Uh- that's me," you replied with a deeper voice, hoping he wouldn't realize you were actually the girl he proposed to. Diego hummed and looked you over again, making you freeze up. Did you look too small to be a man? I mean, Diego was quite small for a man as well so it wasn't too unnatural to be short. Were you even considered short? I mean you weren't extremely masculine-looking but you weren't inherently- 

"I'm marrying your sister." Your face flushed as you sputtered wildly, breaking out into a coughing fit. Diego watched with mild interest as you tried to gather your composure, slapping your chest harshly until you had managed to sit up straight on your horse. Thunder huffed, probably disappointed in her owner. "T-That's nice..." you managed to finally say, somewhat leaving Diego in disbelief as you tried to play it cool. 

"I plan on having kids with her too." You almost fell off her horse at the sound of his words, trying hard not to look flustered as you looked anywhere but in his direction. "Did not need to know that," you grumbled, keeping your gaze on the expanse of land in front of you. Diego was still staring at you, gauging any other reactions but you kept calm and stared ahead. Until you heard your brothers. 

"Speeeeedwagoooonnn!" 

You and Diego looked to the crowd where Scott, Seth, and all your other brothers held up a tattered sign with bright smiles. In an instant, you had forgotten what Diego had said and waved excitedly. You looked over the small group and found that even Paul was there. Sure, he didn't look as enthused but he was there nonetheless. Beside him were Tom and the waitress from the day before— your thoughts raced back to the thought of Diego proposing and you could feel your face burn. 

Despite still being embarrassed, you waved at the boys, acting as if your 'sister' just wasn't there at all. Just as you stopped waving, you spotted the younger of your brothers go wide-eyed, shaking each other back and forth and pointing. When you turned around, Diego was waving and giving your younger brothers a charming grin. Though you had told yourself Diego was no good, seeing him do that sent you swooning...just a little. After waving for a bit, Diego turned back to you and raised his brows. 

You gave him an awkward grin, although he couldn't see it from beneath the bandana, and preemptively slid on your goggles, listening in on the clamoring around you. "And right over there is Diego Brando! I'm sure we're all excited to see how he'll place in this next stage!" The announcers' words sent some of the crowd into excited cheers and they took it as a sign to continue their commentary on Diego, including the rider beside him: you.

"Beside Diego is Speedwagon who placed sixth in the first stage!" Your face flushed as they spoke of you, fidgeting on your saddle and hoping that Diego wasn't staring at you. He in fact was. Before you could catch a break though, the announcers decided to continue their report on you...and your family. "You know folks, this isn't the first time we've had a Speedwagon in the race! In fact, we've had five in the history of this race!"

Your heart sunk. 

"Let's see, Tom Speedwagon! Back in '83 he got mauled by a bear...yikes." The crowd erupted into laughter and you shot Tom a look, watching as he sunk in his seat, the waitress beside him attempting to console him. "Micheal Speedwagon was trampled by horses in the first stage and Paul Speedwagon was knocked off his horse by a wasp's nest in the face. Well, that must have hurt!" Paul looked furious as Micheal gripped his brother's arms, telling him to calm down amidst the laughter.

"Al Speedwagon got caught in the icy tundras of the fifth stage. Our records show that he was amputated numerous times due to a severe case of hypothermia. Hope that didn't leave a scar!" Al was visibly shaking, even from where you stood, and you couldn't help but shake as well. God, if you could just— you saw a glint of silver at the corner of your eyes but you ignored it, far too focused and pissed off at the announcers above you. You only saw read as you stared daggers at the air balloon they were sitting in. How convenient it would be if it popped-

"And finally, the most recent Speedwagon in the race, Robert Speedwagon!" 

The anger was gone in a flash as your nose began to sting, tears welling up in the corners of your eyes. You could still hear the announcers but you couldn't listen to a word they said, turning to your family as they all went completely still. Your older brothers sat in silence as the announcers pointed them out, making snide remarks about the tattered sign your younger brothers had worked so hard on. And your father? Your father seemed like he was in shambles sitting there, recounting all the damage the race had done to his sons. 

The ticking of your wristwatch, albeit barely being heard, sounded a thousand times louder than it usually did as you sat there. Your wristwatch. The one your mother had given to you when you were little. The one that coincidentally froze the instant your mother died. The one that could only ever be fixed by Robert and that stopped at his death as well. The one you noticed had started working a few days before the start of the race. 

The one that's hand finally hit the ten mark. 

Without a second glance at your family or Diego, you shot off into the desert, feeling nothing but the air hit you. You pulled up your bandana even further up your face to block out non-existent dust and hide your tears. The announcers were screaming your name but it slowly became Gyro's. They were shouting about some shortcut but you didn't bother to follow after him like the announcers had said some were doing— Thunderstruck huffed as you pushed straight ahead. 

And so, for the next few hours, you continued until you reached the first waterhole. When you finally reached it, you could hear the faint rumbling of horses behind you come to a stop. Instead of stopping, you found herself riding towards the next waterhole. Almost all the riders had stopped at the other waterhole, especially since it was already dark, but you pushed Thunder a few more kilometers. 

The waterhole was barren of any other riders, allowing your frenzied mind to finally take a break. You hopped off of Thunderstruck with a stumble, leaving you to fall onto the rough desert sand. But instead of getting up, you lay there, letting yourself sink into the ground. Your hands fisted at the sand, grimacing as the grains slipped between your fingers.

You tried pushing yourself up to get to the water hole, to do something other than lay there uselessly, but your mind felt clouded. Your joints ached as you lay there, leaving you to slowly draw in on yourself until all you could do was hold yourself. The stars that littered the night sky seemed to burn just a bit dimmer and you felt a sheet of cold wash over you. Was this where you died? 

Your throat felt dry— how long was it since you had some water? Your head moved just slightly to see Thunderstruck gulping down some water. Ah, that's right. Even under the cool air, your whole body was aflame. Maybe you could see Robert again. And your mother, oh how you missed her. A squeak left your lips as you flopped over to fully bask in the light of the moon. 

It was so nice. You could feel your eyelids get heavier along with your limbs. There was a huff near your head and a puff of hot air hit your face. Your arm twitched, attempting to shoo Thunderstruck away but it laid limply at your side. The stars above seemed to leave behind trails of light as they moved in the night sky and you could almost make out the outline of your dead mother and brother's features. Thunder was whinnying now, nudging your side frantically as you lay motionless in the sand. 

"C-Can you see it, Thunder?" you croaked out through cracked lips and a wavering gaze. There was a tug at your shirt and slowly but surely, you could feel yourself getting dragged to the waterhole. You didn't care though. All you wanted now was to see Robert again. To see your mother again. Your vision was darkening now. You were so damn pathetic.

You wondered how your father would feel. 

Suddenly, you shot into the water, catapulted by some unseen force. A surge of adrenaline rushed through your body as you could finally feel your limbs, lurching, pushing through the water until air finally filled your lungs. You gasped for air as you swam to the side of the waterhole, pulling yourself onto dry land. Not even a second later, you were frantically slurping down the water, taking in as much as you could until you felt like you were drowning. 

And then came the tears. 

It started slowly at first and then it hit you with the force of a train, nausea filling your senses until you were vomiting out screams. Your fingers dug into your scalp as you found yourself heaving out hiccups. You grabbed at the sand and let the sharp grains scratch at your palms until you knew there was blood staining each minuscule rock, a form of self-punishment for even thinking of allowing yourself to die. 

Since the first incident with Tom, you had told yourself you wouldn't die at the hands of the race and here you were. You felt pathetic. Your hat had fallen off as you shoved your head to the ground, suffocating your screams against the sand. In the unforgiving Arizona Desert, you had screamed your soul to the moon until your voice could no longer support it. 

You woke up with your hat obstructing your view. 

It was quite early in the morning when you sat up, hair sitting awkwardly as you smoothed it back as best you could. Your throat felt sore and while you slowly stood up, you rubbed at your neck. Thunderstruck had immediately nudged your side and with a groggy smile, you patted the Palomino horse on the head. Once you had filled up your canteen and had crawled onto Thunder's saddle, you sighed. 

"LET'S GET GOING, SHALL WE?"

Chapter Text

AFTER A few uneventful days, you found yourself close to the checkpoint. They were relatively relaxing days where you and Thunder kept each other company except for the occasional rider you'd have to shake off her trail. They probably weren't out to get you, but you'd always make a point to get away from them with your constant overthinking.

Sometimes, you'd stay close to the waterholes, gathering water and, if you were lucky, a fish or two. Thunder had always gotten her share of water and heavy brush she could eat. Being near waterholes was especially nice when it came to needing a bath. After a quick strip down, a dive in the water, and a bit of soap, you'd be left fresh and ready to go. Even Thunder indulged in a bath by the shore now and then.

Other times, you'd stay between the walls of the canyons, not a waterhole in sight. At some point, you found a passed-out racer with three canteens and took the liberty of taking one of the extras— you had pulled him into the shade and gave his horse some food and water before taking it of course— just to make sure you didn't die out of dehydration. Thunder appreciated the action just as much seeing as there was more water for her to drink, but of course, being near the waterholes was always much nicer.

Sometimes, you would find yourself staring at the night sky for hours on end, talking to yourself or Thunder. Despite making a point not to trust other racers after the entire Robert situation, you found it to be quite lonely. Being alone with your horse while in the fluctuating climate of the desert, you figured, would be much more invigorating with a few friends by your side.

But every time your conscience tried to make that point known, you waved it away, replaying the instances of your brother's death in your mind until the thought was replaced with fear. It wasn't the kindest coping mechanism but it got the job done. Occasionally, you'd think back on your other brother's injuries, fueling your fear and motivation.

Eventually, around three days had passed by and you had been free of any incident. You weren't sure what place you were in now but a part of you told yourself that you were decently high up in the ranks. The only person you saw who was clearly ahead of you was the guy she had taken the canteen from. However, some people did take that shortcut and followed after Gyro and Johnny.

Your mind wandered to the thought of them as you basked in the rays of the setting sun, heading northwest toward the checkpoint. Although you thought of Gyro as a prissy asshole after their encounter with the cork, you couldn't deny that he was...somewhat decent. He had saved you from those men and helped you to the inn so you could get help after all.

Johnny, though, was much more personable after helping you during the race. Had he not told you to calm down, Thunderstruck might have just lost it and thrown you off. Plus, he had tried to help you after getting hit in the nose with the spinning corks Gyro had shot. But back when Gyro had saved you, Johnny seemed sort of ticked off with you, like he didn't want to save you in the first place.

So, to you, Johnny and Gyro were on the same level. You didn't particularly like either of them and they were pretty much strangers to you yet they were prominent figures in your thoughts. After waving those thoughts away, you continued through the desert, spotting a waterhole that you and Thunderstruck could recharge at. The sun had finally disappeared when you both reached the small body of water, leaving you to hop off and Thunder to rush over to the water.

"Thirsty, huh?" you asked, getting a mere look from Thunderstruck before the Palomino horse went back to drinking water. You chuckled and crouched down by the water with a canteen in hand, filling it up and then filling up the other. Instead of closing the other, you took a large sip, not caring when some spilled onto your shirt. Once you were done, you wiped the rest off with your sleeve letting out a refreshed breath of air. Thunder looked at you with what you could only guess was a horse's form of disgust, leaving laughter to tumble from your lips.

"Sorry, sorry," you apologized through laughs as you turned to grab your sleeping bag from Thunder's saddle. As you pulled it out, you pulled at your wet shirt, grimacing at the cold dampness sticking to your body. "Guess this'll have to dry for a bit," you mumbled to yourself, unbuttoning the top until a sharp pain came from your wrist. You stopped what you were doing immediately, pulling the sleeve down to see your wristwatch ticking erratically.

"What the..." You trailed off as the clock's hands spun around the face of it, spinning faster and faster until it shot to the 'three' mark. Your head shot sharply to the side, seeing nothing in the darkness of the desert. A shudder ran down your spine as you felt your body curl in on itself, backing away against Thunderstruck. If something was coming toward you, you had no idea what it could be. You hadn't even started a fire so no one knew you were out here...right?

"Thunder, we got to go. Now." You threw the sleeping bag over Thunder's neck as you put your foot on the stirrup, readying yourself to jump onto the saddle— you couldn't. The sound of galloping grew closer, making your thoughts race as you tried to frantically pull yourself onto Thunder's saddle. You could feel tears start to well up as the frustration and fear swelled in your chest. Just as you pulled your upper half onto the horse, a familiar voice rang out.

"Speedwagon...?"

Thunder trotted around, allowing you to face Johnny, Gyro, and the oh-so-famous Mountain Tim. Your face burned as you slowly slid off Thunder's saddle, tripping when your foot got stuck in the stirrup. Your hands flew to your hat as you slammed onto the ground, still hanging upside down, watching as Mountain Tim came to your aid. Even upside down, you could see Gyro's growing dissatisfaction with seeing you.

"You okay there, son?" asked Mountain Tim as he set you back on your feet, your hands still firmly pulling down your hat. You could only manage to reply with a nod, avoiding Gyro's growing glare. There was something melancholic behind that gaze but you weren't going to try and find out why. As you finally shook yourself from the daze you were in, you noticed blood spilling from above Johnny's eye.

"What happened to you guys?" you cried out as you rushed to Johnny's side, wetting a handkerchief that you then handed to him. He looked at it with a grimace, making you reel back just slightly, letting your hand fall back to your side. "Sorry...my brothers have always told me I'm too...er- caring I guess," you explained with a cough, trying to mask your sudden coddling. These were grown men— you didn't have to look after them.

Mountain Tim smiled and waved offhandedly, "don't worry about it, son. It's a good quality to have." Your eyes lit up and for a moment you imagined the looks on your little brother's faces when you'd tell them about your encounter with the Mountain Tim. Johnny looked at you and sighed, leaning over and tapping your hat with an open hand. When you turned to face him, he could make out your sweet smile in the moonlight, making the air briefly leave his lungs before you handed him the handkerchief.

"Thank...you," Johnny managed to say, wiping at the blood until he could finally see clearly. You took back the handkerchief he handed over to you with another smile, tucking it in your back pocket which Johnny assumed would be washed later. A soft grumble came from Gyro as he hopped off his horse, still glaring at you. You flinched but gave Gyro a soft smile before walking back over to your horse which nudged you once you got close.

"Well..." began Mountain Tim, attempting to cut through the heavy silence, "...Speedwagon, d'ya mind if we camp out with you for the night? Safety in numbers, y'know." You stiffened at his words and gave an awkward laugh that made Tim raise a brow until you finally nodded. "Great! I promise we won't be too much of a bother to you," he said with a charming grin, getting a scoff from Gyro. You didn't even bother looking at him, silently getting ticked off at him yourself.

"To start, how about you two get some wood," ordered Tim, pointing at you and Gyro. Your shoulders jumped as you both slowly turned to one another, Gyro cringing at the sight of you. You could only give him a forced grin and hope he couldn't sense your fear. Gyro straightened up after a bit with a roll of his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest while sticking a thumb at you.

"With him? No way," Gyro said firmly, moving his hands to his hips before pointing his thumb at Johnny instead, "Johnny can do it." Johnny blinked owlishly and raised his brows until Gyro huffed. "Yeah, okay, I get it. You can't move your fucking legs."

"Nice to know you have eyes, dipshit," Johnny replied while leaning back to unbuckle the leather that kept his legs fastened to the saddle. Johnny paused to give Gyro a playful middle finger which was met with a similar one from Gyro. You didn't bother to keep watching them both and turned to look for some sticks in the brush near the waterhole instead.

Soon after grabbing a few sticks, you were harshly turned around to face Gyro; "Look here, Speedwagon. I don't trust you, capisce?" You, although on the verge of pissing your pants, managed to bite back the look of fear on your face and slapped his hands away.

"I don't speak Italian, asshat," you spat, crouching down to continue your search as Gyro scoffed and followed your actions. Had you not been afraid for your life, you might've taken the initiative and 'accidentally' push him into the waterhole, but you figured you'd try to live another day. "And, to be clear, I don't trust you either. You're the ones who are staying with me right now."

You left without a glance over your shoulder, leaving Gyro to watch you stomp away. Stifling a laugh, he snorted softly, shaking his head as he continued to look through the brush. As if you were even close to being intimidating. He rolled his eyes and continued to scavenge for sticks, mentally devising the confrontation as a win for him.

Unbeknownst to Gyro, you were on the verge of crying, hoping to god that Gyro wouldn't be out to kill you. As you made your way back to where Johnny and Mountain Tim were, you quickly wiped at your eyes. Tim caught you in the midst of it and as you handed him the sticks, he nudged your side. You looked at him with disgust smeared across your visible face.

"You okay there, Speedwagon?"

"...I CAN'T WAIT TO LEAVE THIS SHITTY DESERT."

Chapter Text

THE FIRST thing you did when you first woke up was bring a hand to your face. When you found that your hat was still there, you let out a small sigh of relief and sat up to adjust it properly. Your fingers brushed over the familiar embroidery on the edge of the hat, feeling your tense shoulders slowly fall to their natural places. A yawn soon escaped you and you turned to look at the rising sun while rubbing at your eyes, squinting every now and then until your eyes adjusted to the light of the dawn. As you peeled your sleeping bag off yourself, Thunderstruck trotted over to you with a huff.

"Good morning, girl," you rasped out, patting Thunder's snout with a smile. Thunder nudged your hand and then looked at your bag which held a few apples you had scavenged a day earlier. There were only two and Thunder seemed eager to have them now, pawing at the dirt. "Yeah, yeah, okay," you chuckled, turning to take the apples out and turning back to find all four of the horses standing in front of you. Your eyes widened before a string of laughter left your lips.

"Let's see if I can break these up," you muttered, placing your thumbs in the pit at the top of an apple, trying to split it in half. You grimaced as you struggled to pull it apart, pushing your thumbs into the top until suddenly, it split clean in half. You looked at it owlishly, blinking harshly until you almost let out a yell of delight. Thunder had nudged your head over to face the still sleeping men nearby, making you grumble under your breath. Being alone was really starting to sound better than being around these men— well, so far, Mountain Tim had been the sweetest so you really didn't mind having him around.

"...anyways, here you go Thunder, and here's another half for you." Mountain Tim's horse ate up the apple quickly, shaking its head graciously once it had its share while Thunder ate it one bite. You reached over to grab the other apple and repeated the motion you had done earlier until it split. Johnny and Gyro's horses were quick to come up to your outstretched hand, eating the apple halves much slower than the other two. Once the halves were gone, Gyro's horse proceeded to lick your hand, making you laugh quietly, reaching out a hand to pat the horse's snout until your wrist was pulled away.

"What the hell are you doing to Valkyrie?" spat Gyro, pulling your arm until you were halfway into the air. Johnny and Mountain Tim were waking up from around the campfire, eyes widening as they saw Gyro hold you up. You scrambled to get out of his grip, pulling at your own arm with fear filling every crevice of your body. "I asked you a question, Speedwagon!" He threw you to the floor, leaving you to push away from him while you held your hat to your head.

"Woah, Gyro, calm down," Johnny urged while Slow Dancer trotted over to him, placing something into its owner's hand. Johnny grimaced but inspected it regardless, finding it to be a chunk of apple. With a sigh, he gave it back to Slow Dancer who took it back graciously as Johnny dragged himself over to Gyro. "He was just giving the horses some apples," he assured as you nodded fervently while getting to your feet awkwardly. Mountain Tim nodded from his spot on the ground.

"I was watching the whole time," Tim avowed which made you flush, "and, if they were poisonous, I would've known. I tend to have the nose for those kinda things." Gyro, albeit still barely convinced, gave a dismissive wave of his hand, stomping over to his sleeping bag which he then proceeded to roll up. As you rubbed at your sore wrist, Mountain Tim gave you an assuring nod that washed away the wave of fear.

You slowly made your way back over to your sleeping bag, conscious of the still angry man near you, and proceeded to roll it up as well. Thunderstruck was quick to walk over to her owner, bending her neck so that you could place it back in your bag. Then came the saddling up— you knew you wouldn't be successful on the first try but went through the process anyway, grimacing when you ended up hanging halfway off the saddle.

A snort came from behind you, but you didn't dare look and see who it was, face burning as you tried hopping onto the saddle again and failed. There was a bit more muffled laughter and you almost cried when you still weren't able to get on your horse. It didn't help that Mountain Tim was walking over to help. Once more, you threw yourself onto the saddle and pulled yourself up, panting from under your bandana.

"Guess you didn't need my help after all," smiled Mountain Tim as he, Johnny, and Gyro effortlessly saddled up. You hummed and pulled down the brim of your hat, cheeks aflame. "Let's get going then." Before any of them could even react, you were off, leaving the three to stare after you for a moment. "Er, we should go too..." said Mountain Tim as he pulled Ghost Rider into a gallop, Gyro and Johnny doing the same afterward.

The desert was quiet aside for the gallops of horses across it and the occasional cry of a falcon. As the sun began to rise, small lizards and birds left their desert homes in search of food, instinct fueling their every move. You watched as this happened, letting Thunderstruck do as she pleased. Every now and then, Johnny would shout directions and Mountain Tim would lead the other horses that way. Gyro, on the other hand, was quiet, not even challenging the route you would all take to the checkpoint.

Just like the day before, melancholy filled his electric green eyes, for what you couldn't tell. Again, it was none of your business and you weren't planning on making it your business anyway. After you all reached the checkpoint, you would all go your separate ways and you wouldn't have to see them until the finish lines. A pit of isolation sunk in your stomach as you leaned your head on the back of Thunder's neck, eyelids feeling heavy.

"Hey, wake up, you're gonna fall off your horse." You looked up to find Gyro riding closer to you, the only trace of emotion on his face being in his eyes. A grimace pulled onto your face as you looked away and shut your eyes. There was a grumble from Gyro and then the sound of Valkyrie pulling away from Thunder's side. Eventually, the town came into view and the three men sped up, leaving you following after them at your normal pace. This was only a checkpoint after all.

When you got there, there were two identical-looking men standing in front of them all, Gyro, Johnny, and Mountain Tim's arguing almost overpowering the voices of the other two men. Of course, all three were talking about who had gotten there first which was a bit disappointing to see in Tim's case. You said nothing and waited until they calmed down which had taken a moment after Gyro had gotten fussy and thrown his steel ball at a nearby wagon.

"Congratulations on your very early arrival, sirs," one of them began, standing there with an awkward smile, "this is a town specifically built as a checkpoint in the Steel Ball Run race." The three men seemed to finally pay attention as you leaned on Thunder's neck. "We were expecting to hear of the second stage riders arriving tomorrow but according to our information, you have distanced yourself about half a day from Sandman and Diego Brando AKA Dio, who took a separate route," said the other as the first one stepped forward with some ink, "we need to check your race numbers and your horses' prints."

"That damn Dio," grumbled Johnny, spitting into the dirt while Gyro grimaced. Mountain Tim gave the two men a charming smile while you all got off your horses. As one of the men began taking the prints, the other approached Gyro, handing him a letter with a smile. Gyro gave him a nod, no words exchanged between them— then your eyes met. You hastily looked away, pulling your bandana further up your face just as the man asked to take Thunder.

"Go on now, girl," you said, letting out a soft yawn afterward. The man perked up, looking around Thunder's body to face you, "we have a hotel with showers a bit down the road if you'd like to lodge there. We also have tents, restaurants, bars, a blacksmith, a barber..." You held up a hand to stop him and yawned once more, giving him a smile from behind your bandana.

"That'd be great," you began, turning to find Mountain Tim fixing up Ghost Rider's saddle, "d'you mind if I leave her with you?" Tim gave you a thumbs-up and you smiled, then turned around to the side of Thunder's neck. "Be good Thunder. I'll get you more treats later," you cajoled which was answered with a huff and a whinny. You gave one last wave to Mountain Tim before grabbing your bag and heading for the building with a hotel sign.

"Hey, Speedwagon! Where are ya goin'?" asked Johnny, making his way over to you when you stopped in front of the building. "Hotel," you replied gruffly, rubbing your eyes until you found Gyro standing beside him, eyeing your tired form. "Oh, in that case, why don't we all room together-" "Gyro looks like he wants to kill me so I'll have to pass." Johnny watched with wide eyes as you made your way into the building and then looked back at his friend with a frown.

"What?! I would!"

"Dammit, Gyro. You can be a handful sometimes."

"Handful of what?"

You had walked off before you could hear the rest of their conversation, eager to check into the room and have a nice, peaceful rest without having to worry about whether or not your hat was covering your face. How it had never fallen off until you wanted it to was beyond you. While getting the key to your room, the idea of a warm shower made its way into your mind, making you smile to yourself. You told yourself after your nap you'd take one.

"Room for three, please," said a voice from beside you, making you frown. Gyro was looking at you with a mix of smugness and anger, all wrapped up in one smirk. You didn't bother starting something with him and figured you'd be too tired to make sure you didn't die. An invisible shiver ran down your spine as you took the key in front of you, walking off before Gyro could try anything else.

Once you reached your room, you spotted Gyro and Johnny rolling over, talking about how they would go to the stables after Mountain Tim joined them in the room. You focused on unlocking your door, cringing when Gyro called your name. Without even looking over, you pushed into your room, slamming the door shut and locking it immediately after. As soon as you hit the mattress of your bed, you had fallen asleep.

And then, of course, you were flung out onto the street.

Your ears rung terribly as your body ached, rocks and splintered wood stabbing into parts of your body. Pools of crimson began to stream down your face, spilling from unseen wounds while you heaved for air. Considering you had just been blown out a window, your body felt like shit, but you had managed to gain enough strength to palm your head for your hat which sat there, untouched.

"Speedwagon!" You felt your arm fall limp— and there was Mountain Tim's body putting itself together right in front of you— and a blue blur came into your field of vision. Your body burned as the blur pulled you towards it and you had managed to make out Gyro glaring at some oddly-posed man in front of them. "Speedwagon, Speedwagon, can you hear me?!" the blur cried as its chest moved erratically.

Your throat felt too dry to say anything and you nodded as best you could, blocking the sound of talking and shouting with the ringing in your ears. It felt almost impossible to even breathe, let alone talk. When you were finally able to make out who the blur was, Johnny had dragged you onto his wheelchair and Gyro had held his hands out in front of them. You tilted your head back, feeling your hat loosen. Your hand shot up to hold it in place, Johnny giving you a look before his eyes widened.

"Gyro! The ground! He kicked something this way!" His grip on you tightened significantly and his chest heaved as it had before. You pulled his hand into hers, squeezing it to both keep yourself awake and to calm him down. As you sat there though, you could swear you felt blood slowly rushing back to your head. "No, Gyro! Get away from the mouse!" screamed Mountain Tim from behind them. Johnny stiffened from beneath you and you watched his face contort into fear, his already pale face going paler instantly.

"ITS BECOME A BOMB!"

Chapter Text

WITHOUT ANOTHER second to think, the mouse exploded, sending all four of you crashing against the building behind you. "F-fuck," you sputtered, taking a moment to spit up blood as you attempted to push yourself up. There was a pounding in your head that wasn't helped by the hat that had remained stuck to you.

"Gyro! Don't let go of your hand! Hold down your fingers no matter what!" screamed Mountain Tim, just as a soft clink echoed out. Your eyes focused on a glimmer of gold that fell from Gyro's hand: "A pin came off! Gyro! It came off your hand!" Suddenly, smoke was coming from his palm— her stomach sunk.

"Pick it up, Gyro. Pick up the pin and put it back in! Hurry up and put it back in!"

"But...wasn't the pin in the... palm of his hand?"

As the other men screamed at each other, the ringing in your ears came back, making you sink back to the floor with a grimace. Tim seemed to take notice and turned to you, shaking you a couple of times as Gyro started screaming at Johnny— "Y-Your sweat! Gyro your hand is sweating!" Tim started shouting too, making you shut your eyes tightly as your body started to ache again.

"Back up! Get further away!" Your eyes opened to find a hazy, silver figure in front of you, blocking the explosion that sprouted from Gyro's leg. The ghostly touches you had felt all throughout the race replaced the figure once your vision cleared, allowing you to see through the smoke and find Gyro collapsed on the ground, muttering to himself with a destroyed leg.

"You won't get away, Oyecomova! The letter from the king's servant mentioned it...He'll try and get to it before us..." started Gyro as he dragged himself over to his horse, "...to the present from the king...to the Zombie Horse. It can heal fatigue and wounds." You were far too disoriented to question whatever Gyro was saying and gripped your hat's brim tightly as you pushed yourself up.

"Woah there, son," called Tim, still bleeding all over as he tugged on your sleeve, "ya ain't going nowhere with those wounds." You gave him a once-over and dread bubbled in the back of your mind. How had he even survived? What if you succumbed to a similar fate? Whatever had saved him wasn't guaranteed to save you, even with the tangible amount of wounds you had after the initial attack.

You stumbled to your feet yet stayed still, eyes fluttering open and shut as the ringing plagued your hearing once more. There was shouting and more explosions but all you could see was a flash of golden-white in front of you. Your eyes shot open and Thunder stood in front of you, bags somehow unscathed and attached to the saddle. Had Mountain Tim done this while you were sleeping? But the bags you had brought into the hotel were there too...

"Th-Thunder," you managed to call out as goosebumps littered your body. You turned to look at Tim whose body seemed to be putting itself back together. Your mind felt too hazy for you to question that and you made your way to Thunderstruck instead, who seemed agitated as she watched her rider try and get onto the saddle. When you finally got on, you had stopped to look at Mountain Tim who gave you a playfully stern look.

"Well, I can't stop ya'," muttered Mountain Tim as he sat against the building, grinning as he wiped some blood from his brow, "Be safe out there Speedwagon. I'll see ya' 'round." Before you could open your mouth to say anything, there was a yell from behind you. Johnny and Gyro's horses were slowly disappearing into the horizon while you sat there idly. Ghostly touches urged you to go to them and you turned Thunder in that direction, looking back to say one final goodbye to Mountain Tim.

Mountain Tim watched with wide eyes as you gave him a small wave— behind you sat a silver armored woman with sheer fabric flowing from certain places on her body. You hadn't seemed to realize your stand sitting there, almost hovering over the saddle and waving cooly at Mountain Tim. He held back his laughter until you were out of range, the sound bubbling over his lips until they fell into a smile.

"Of course. He's had a stand and didn't even know it."

As you rode on, there seemed to be no wind resistance against you or Thunder. Thunderstruck had gone faster than she ever had and your hat stayed glued to your head while you pushed Thunder forward. The ringing in your ears had finally gone away but there were still lingering aches in your body that had yet to stop. Up ahead, rode Johnny and Gyro, chasing desperately after Oyecomova.

"J-Johnny, Gyro!" you called out, essentially forcing the two of them to turn around and look at you. "Speedwagon!" blurted out Gyro in bewilderment, "what the hell are you—" Gyro stopped at the sight of a silver woman behind you, Johnny watching in awe as Thunder maneuvered into the spot between their horses. You raised a brow at the look on their faces and peered behind you, finding nothing but feeling faint touches on your body.

"Uh, Gyro? You okay?" you asked meekly, a few moments passing until Gyro snapped out of whatever trance he had been in. "Yes," Gyro replied quickly, realizing you hadn't seen the woman that had been behind you, "as I was saying, what the hell are you doing here?" His face turned serious as he turned back to face Oyecomova.

You couldn't find the words to say as Thunderstruck pushed onwards— "I'm not sure... I just felt like I had to?" With every beat of silence, you felt as though you had said something wrong, the dread in the back of your head festering until you were distracted by more ghostly touches on your body. Seeing as Gyro remained silent, Johnny sighed and leaned toward you, "it's nice to have you here." A smile grew from under the brim of your hat and you gave them both a nod.

The dirt below your horses became water and you all pulled forward, Oyecomova muttering to himself as you all grew closer. A glimmer of gold caught your eyes again, shimmering out from within the water Oyecomova was spilling from his canteen. Johnny seemed to see the same thing and his eyes went wide pulling Slow Dancer's reins to avoid the shimmering gold objects in the water you could still not make out.

"Gyro, Speedwagon, get out of the water! He's turned the water into bombs! Climb into the rocks!" The gold objects were small clocks that looked exactly like the ones that had covered Gyro's hand, making you freeze while Thunder mirrored Slow Dancer. The dread shoved its way into your thoughts as adrenaline began its course through your body. Johnny sounded like a broken record as you felt shock creep in.

"No... climb up to the rocks on your own! I'll do just the opposite and catch up to him," shouted Gyro before he and Valkyrie rushed forward. Mountain Tim's injury flashed in her mind and you pulled hard on the reins, sending Thunder reigning back on her hind legs. Yet, somehow, you and Thunder were flying forward, far past the affected water. Johnny watched in disbelief and then, albeit reluctantly, followed close behind Gyro, hoping to god the small bombs wouldn't go off— they did.

"What?! We touched his mine-like pins?!" exclaimed Johnny, sending Slow Dancer toward you and Gyro while small explosions went off behind you all. Thunderstruck somehow managed to remain calm as she galloped through the water, pulling back behind Valkyrie despite the reins you had a tight grip on. Your head spun as you blinked any tears away, more and more touches on your body almost sending you spiraling into paralyzing fear.

"It's the next moment that they can explode. We can accelerate and have them explode behind us," Gyro stated as he kept his eyes trained forward, "we'll run right through. The horses move forward about four meters in one kick. We would have been worse off trying to get our horses through the rocks." Your mind complained against Gyro's statements but you couldn't help but follow every move he made, hoping you'd be safe.

You all continued to push through while ignoring the metallic clinks of the clocks hitting the other in the sloshing water, "don't let your horses hesitate! I'll move within fifteen... no, twenty meters of him, and slam in my steel ball!" As the small blasts kept going off behind you three, the once flat land began to slope up sharply. You took notice immediately and your heartbeat had gone into overdrive: how the hell were you not all dead yet?

"A waterfall?!" you screeched, on the verge of tears while looking at Johnny and pulling your lip between your teeth. "The river climbs up this slope, Gyro!" said Johnny, sweat, and water dripping down his face as the explosions grew closer. He looked to his unbothered companion that gave him anything but a comforting look.

"We have to charge right up! Don't slow down! We have to climb it at the same speed!" The explosions were getting closer now and you reluctantly followed Gyro up the incline. Thunder gave a ragged huff as she began the climb, only to twitch her ears at the sound of a twig snapping. Your head snapped up, watching with a hammering heart as hundreds of wasps began their descent toward you all.

"A wasp's nest—" "has just been thrown at racer C-156! He has been identified as Paul Speedwagon who placed first in the second stage!"

The same overwhelming fear fell over you as time seemed to slow. Your stuck-up brother's screams echoed through your memories while your jaw went slack. The pit in your stomach seemed to have fallen the deepest it could moments ago but now your entire being felt numb. This paralyzing fear— you hated it. If only the wasps were gone.

And suddenly they were.

The wasps shot straight into a web that was being whipped around by Gyro's steel ball, seemingly of their own volition. You blinked harshly, finding Johnny and Gyro staring behind you again. You shot a glance over your shoulder, finding nothing but air again. When you turned back around, Gyro held the web into the air, the wasps fluttering in the wind along with it like a flag.

"The wasps got caught in the web!" Gyro announced with a fiery look in his eyes, "both of you, duck!" Your chest seemed to finally free up and you took a deep breath before ducking into Thunder's white mane. Explosions came from above and behind you as you all rode up the waterfall, Gyro letting out a cheer once you all reached the top. It was quickly interrupted by an explosion in his face, making your ears ring.

"Gyrooo!"

Your heart stopped at the sight of Gyro's falling body and you quickly steered Thunder to the other side of Valkyrie. As much as you held a moderate hatred for him, you weren't going to just let him die. You avoided looking at his blown-apart leg and grabbed his shoulders tightly, pushing him back up onto his saddle as best you could. He didn't say a word and instead held his hand over his bleeding cheek. 

"Are you.." you paused, hoping Gyro wouldn't lash out at you for trying to help him out, "...you okay?" He slapped a hand over your bandana-covered nose and mouth as though to make a point. "Both of you don't open your mouths," he mumbled through muffled lips, turning to you with furrowed brows, "stop breathing! Stop your horse's breathing too!" He moved his hand away and you replaced it with your own, nodding and hoping that Thunder would follow Gyro's instructions.

Oyecomova cackled as he mumbled something about turning things into bombs. How he did it you still couldn't understand but the other two would have to explain it afterward. All you could do now was hope the smoke would go away like how the branches and dirt had earlier in the race. Ghostly touches littered your body as buzzing filled your ears. Maybe it had just been the wind or maybe you were just hearing things. Oyecomova seemed to notice as well making you duck into Thunder's mane with trembling shoulders when he turned around.

"All the wasps either exploded or flew away," began Gyro, making you perk up, "the source of the buzzing sound..." You squinted through the smoke to find small, spinning blue objects, "...is the spin of Johnny's nails. Seems like you thought it was the sound of the wasps you turned into bombs..." As Gyro continued his monologue, you looked over at Johnny's hands. Nails?

You peered over at Johnny to find two of five nails gone on one of his hands, leaving you to simply stare in shock. Just as you turned to face Oyecomova, a shiny ball of green had made contact with his pale face, making it twist at the contact. "One mooore shot!" Another ball flew forward and you looked away at the sound of another crunch and a thump afterward.

"Keep on running, you two! In this race, first and second are still ours for the taking!" he exulted before looking at you who gulped nervously from beside him. Gyro narrowed his eyes at you before sighing, "...and maybe, even third place for you Speedwagon." Your hatred for him was still there nonetheless but for now, you'd do as he did and make an exception. A smile creeped out from beneath your bandana.

"GUESS I'LL TAKE THAT MAYBE."

Chapter Text

"ZOMBIE HORSE?!" shouted Johnny as you tried your hardest not to look down the steep slope with your breath caught in your throat. "Gyro, is that thing really here?" Johnny searched for an answer in Gyro's swaying figure, "if we miss one step we'll fall down the valley!" You whimpered at the mere thought and shoved your head down against Thunderstruck's mane. Sharp winds whipped at your frame, threatening to rip the hat off your head, yet it remained stuck there, unmoving.

Gyro's heavy panting almost echoed through the canyon alongside the occasional piece of rock that reminded you of how high up you all were. Your nails were digging into your palms from just how tight you were gripping Thunder's reins and although it stung, you didn't dare let go. While you all continued your search amidst a terrifyingly thin strip of crumbling rock, Johnny looked between both you and Gyro— you paralyzed with fear and Gyro on the verge of collapse after getting his leg blown off.

"T-There it is!" Gyro managed to cry out, huffing every few seconds while all three of you stopped in front of an oddly carved mosaic. You peeked at the design from beneath the brim of your hat, grimacing at the sight of blood pooling under Valkyrie and Gyro. "The Zombie Horse is just a crappy mural of a wild horse with a wild face..." Gyro muttered, running his fingers over the lines that made up the face of the horse. After a few seconds of prodding, you and Johnny watched as Gyro pulled a tattered string.

"Either of you have any wire? Actually, this pin would work too. I'll connect it to this string..." While Gyro began sewing up his exploded leg, you gagged, turning away from the sight before any of your breakfast decided to resurface. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" screamed Johnny with wide eyes as you tried to block out the faint squelching coming from Gyro's wound. Thunderstruck huffed beneath you as some form of consolement but couldn't do much with Gyro's occasional terribly.

"The Zombie Horse can heal wounds," Gyro explained through pained gasps, "they left this string here so I can sew with it....the string can heal up to a certain degree...at least to the point of the fixing flesh that has been blown off..." Johnny's brows furrowed while he held himself back from strangling Gyro— though Johnny was sure it would only make you start panicking again— "What kind of logic is that?! You only sewed yourself up with that dirty string! That's not going to fix you!"

You shivered at the thought of an infected wound and you gagged again, moving your hands down to your mouth instead of around your ears. Johnny peered over at you from over his shoulder and sighed, looking back at Gyro while fidgeting with the hair near his eye. "You said that your father usually works in the field of medicine, right? Is it his technique?" Johnny asked exasperatedly as Gyro finally finished up sewing his skin shut. Slow Dancer backed up just enough for Valkyrie to adjust on the cliff's edge while Johnny kept muttering to himself.

On the other hand, you were still recovering from the thought of falling and just witnessing Gyro's botched leg after sewing it back together with something that seemed would infect rather than heal the wound. Thunderstruck huffed once more below you, trotting forward slightly to get your attention which worked just as intended. "Neither does your steel ball, but this is bigger! Something like a stand ability?" you heard Johnny say while all three of you continued through the valley.

"A...stand ability? What's that?"

Gyro and Johnny looked over their shoulders with wide eyes, almost as if they had forgotten you were there in the first place. You grimaced beneath the bandana that covered your face and were almost inclined to shove both of them down the side of the cliff had you not been too fearful for your own life. Their silence was almost deafening as Johnny and Gyro looked at each other. Johnny looked back at you, seemingly ready to explain but Gyro looked less than pleased at the idea of having to let you in on any of it.

"Don't worry about it," scoffed Gyro, pulling Valkyrie forward without another look at you or Johnny, "and no, Johnny. This is a gift from the king, just as the letter said. Besides my old man..he never writes letters!" A part of you felt for Gyro while you all rode on but a hatred had started getting rid of any empathy you felt for him. After rolling your eyes, you kept your gaze stuck to Thunder's mane until you had finally gotten to solid ground.

As you all rode through the desert, Gyro's leg slowly began to look much better, the string eventually mending into his skin. You didn't question how it worked— considering even if you asked, Gyro wouldn't let Johnny answer you let alone answer himself— and instead followed the two cowboys wordlessly. A map sat in Johnny's hand as you all rode on and now and then, he'd tell you and Gyro to turn towards a certain direction. Eventually, all three of you stopped at a waterhole just as the sun began its descent in the sky.

"Man! My legs feel real numb after that!" whined Gyro as he hopped off of Valkyrie, rubbing both his calves while Johnny spun off of Slow Dancer and you stumbled down from Thunderstruck. "Yeah, no shit. Your leg got blown up," retorted Johnny with a grimace as he reached for the bag that was still slumped on Slow Dancer. "Imagine how it's felt for me." You shook her head with a smile and grabbed the bag for Johnny, earning a scowl. "I could've done that myself." You winced at the look he gave you, fidgeting with your fingers as he sighed.

"Sorry...I s'ppose you don't know me well enough to know I don't like that crap," Johnny muttered as Gyro started a fire with some brush nearby, eyeing the two through his peripherals. A wave of relief washed over you but before you could say her own apologies, Gyro butted in. "If anything we don't know him well." Your face scrunched up at the sound of his irritating voice and you let out a huff, turning to grab your bag from Thunderstruck.

"We were pretty much strangers a few days ago so so-rry you don't know anything about me," you spat, freezing once you felt a glare from behind. Gyro. You bit down on your tongue, a bitter taste filling your mouth as you stood frozen in place. You didn't mean to come off as snarky. Now you were doomed— you'd be found by the hospital wagons in a desecrated state, most likely left with an imprint of Gyro's weapons all over your body. Just seeing those things in action made you uneasy about what would happen if you were hit by one.

There were hushed whispers between Gyro and Johnny (mostly on Gyro's ticked-off part) as your mind ran rampant, tears already starting to pool under your irises. Thunder was nudging your face, moving the hat just a bit higher on your forehead but not enough to cause any more panic. You wracked her terror-filled thoughts for an intelligible apology that would get you off the hook, not noticing Johnny tugging at the hem of your shirt until he pulled hard enough to send you stumbling over your feet.

"Jesus, Speedwagon," hissed Johnny as you looked away from him with burning cheeks and a slightly runny nose, "look...Gyro is being a dick. He'll come around eventually. How about you just sit down and tell us a bit about you? If it makes ya feel better, imagine you're only telling me." Your breath was caught in your throat for the millionth time as you shakily mustered out a nod, following after Johnny as he rolled over to Gyro's side around the crackling fire.

As you took your seat opposing Gyro, you felt his eyes shoot daggers into you, making you shift uncomfortably on top of the rock you sat on. Johnny looked between them, sighing as he rolled closer to Speedwagon, leaving Gyro to watch in disbelief. "I guess I'll start then," Johnny began with a honey-like Kentucky drawl that sent your face burning, "a few years back, when I could still use my legs, I was pretty well-known for racing. They used to call me Joekid. Pretty lame, huh?"

You took a sharp breath before shaking your head, "n-no! Not at all!" Johnny's chuckle made you freeze as he started up with his story once more, "anyways, I got pretty cocky and shit. Ended up getting shot at some point for it." He paused to tug at the back of his shirt, revealing a scar at the small of his bag. A grimace pulled at her lips as you unconsciously reached out to trace over it softly, making Johnny jolt in his spot. "Sorry!" you stammered, raising your hands to the side of her head with a burning complexion.

Johnny laughed, crinkles forming around his eyes as he leaned back in his wheelchair. "Didn't think ya'd be so interested in it," he smiled with pink ears, "still, I got shot. Woke up and couldn't feel jack shit in my legs. My career ended after that and history is history. I joined the race, met that douche over there, and now here we are." Gyro rolled his eyes at Johnny's choice of words but still looked pleased as he took a sip from his canteen.

"Now your turn."

You choked on your spit as both men stared you down, one with more 'murderous intent' than the other. With an awkward clearing of your throat, yoh sat up only to shrink back into yourseld at the sight of Gyros' irritated face. Johnny huffed and turned to you with a soft smile that reached his baby blue eyes. "We can try again tomorrow if ya'd-" "N-No! It's fine..." You sat stunned at your own outburst and cleared your throat once more, fidgeting with the knuckles on your hands.

"Um... well... I have a ton of brothers who entered the race over the years back when it was still in its development-like phases..." you began, looking between Johnny and Gyro every so often before returning a glance at your palms, "...things didn't always turn out too good and we ended up in some debt because of it. I guess you could say I was next in line for it but it was still a choice I willingly made..." You trailed off while wringing your hands in each other, avoiding eye contact.

"So that's it?" spat Gyro, making you let go of your hands in a bout of shock. You blinked owlishly at him from across the red and orange flickers of heat, missing the glare Johnny gave him. "I'm sorry? What do you mean 'that's it'?" Gyro looked away from you to roll his eyes and slinked off towards his sleeping bag as your hands curled into fists. Johnny sighed beside you and gave your shoulder a firm pat with a gaze that shouted apologies.

You could feel anger course through your veins as you stomped over to your sleeping bag, shoving yourself into it with a grimace. As much as you feared Gyro Zeppeli— and most other things— this fear was starting to sour into more anger. While the creatures of the night made their presence known, you shut your eyes tight and tried to brush away any rage. Fear was one thing but anger was something completely different. Something that could get you killed.

YOU  JUST HOPED IT WOULD GO AWAY BY MORNING.

Chapter Text

THE ANGER you had hoped would have gone away by morning still had control over your conscience as Thunderstruck followed close behind Gyro. You wore a grimace and a glare beneath the shadow cast by your hat, hiding your distaste for Gyro from Johnny who had been riding beside you. The bitter taste of the shitty coffee your buddy Gyro had ever-so-graciously made for you was still sitting in your mouth while you tried to stay on your saddle.

"Yo, Johnny, where's the next water hole?" called Gyro as you straightened up, your hips shifting against Thunderstruck's gait. Johnny shuffled around, searching for the map in his bag as you tried not to bite your tongue. You were definitely not doing good with this horse-riding thing at the moment. Now that you thought about it, the only time you were 'good' at riding was when your mind was occupied by the thought of not dying.

While Johnny read off some directions, you continued to try and keep yourself balanced on the saddle. It must have been rather obvious that you were really struggling because Johnny had started to stare. But there was no time to address it - if you didn't want to be made fun of like you had been earlier that day, you had to keep herself on the saddle and prove yourself. Yet, the mere thought of such events pissed you off.

What had been a relatively peaceful sleep had been rudely interrupted when Gyro had pulled your bedroll out from underneath you, glaring down at you with those striking green eyes of his. Your first concern was the hat you hoped had remained stuck over your face and the anxiety that had stemmed off of it was nothing more than incredibly anger-inducing.

"Get up or we're leaving without you." You couldn't even get a word out before Gyro had thrown the bedroll at your feet and sashayed over to Valkyrie, leaving you there with a sour expression. While he tended to his horse, you hadn't been able to tear your eyes off of him— and not in a good way. Johnny had soon rolled over to you with a yawn, handing you a mug with an apologetic look on his face.

"You might have to give him a while to warm up to ya," Johnny had mumbled, clearly not very awake himself. You had groaned as you took the mug with a sigh while Johnny had taken a sip from his own. "How much is a while?" Gyro's glare at the back of your head had only agitated you more than you already thought was remotely possible. Johnny had peered over his shoulder with a grimace, clearly disappointed, "...no clue."

"Stop the chit-chat and let's go!" Gyro had spat as he brought a leg over his saddle and then pulled at Valkyrie's reins. You had held back the urge to shout at him while quickly rolling up your sleeping bag and placing it in Thunder's saddlebag. Johnny had folded up his wheelchair and handed it to Gyro after spinning his way onto Slow Dancer— you still didn't understand how he did it— while you finished up your coffee.

Albeit annoyed, you had kept your mouth shut as you walked over to your horse, tossing the empty cup at Gyro who had caught it effortlessly. When you had stopped in front of Thunderstruck, any sense of irritation had left you and you stood awkwardly, not knowing what to do next. Your throat went dry and you coughed into your hand a bit, looking around Thunder's saddle to pretend you were busy.

"Stop the staring and get on your horse!"

You had swallowed deeply, hoping Gyro couldn't see the expression on your face (you really had nothing to worry about with your bandana covering it), before placing a foot in one of the stirrups and grabbing the reins. When you then attempted to pull your other foot over the saddle and onto the other side, Thunder had swayed just enough that you lost your balance, got your foot stuck, and fell to the floor.

"...you don't know how to get on your horse~"

You felt irked just thinking about how you had helplessly struggled to get your foot out of the stirrup and shuffle your way onto the saddle like you had been doing throughout the race. Gyro had been laughing at you the entire time and Johnny had thankfully said nothing about the whole ordeal...so far. As he stared at you, you could feel anxiety slowly creep over you which eventually dispelled when you all had reached a waterhole.

"Need help getting off your horse, Speedwagon?" You held back a groan as Gyro watched your every move, rolling his eyes when you got off yourself and flipped him off behind his back. Johnny was quick to make his way off of Slow Dancer and to the waterhole, leaving you essentially stranded with the one man you couldn't stand. Before Gyro could open his mouth and make another idiotic comment, you had pulled Slow Dancer and Thunderstruck to the waterhole.

"Oh, thanks," said Johnny with a quick half-smile, "I kinda forgot about Slow Dancer for a sec there. Guess I was real thirsty." You smiled under your bandana and watched as Johnny patted Slow Dancer's head softly as it leaned down to drink the water. "It's nothing," You replied and crouched down to fill up your canteen. Thunderstruck had done the same as Slow Dancer, huffing slightly while watching you.

It was silent for a few minutes and you had found that Gyro was nowhere to be found, probably off somewhere pissing on some rock. Your nose scrunched up at the thought and once done filling the canteens, you pulled them out of the water and made your way past the row of (now three) horses. With a huff, you sat yourself down. on the ground, stretching your legs out in front of you as you sipped from your canteen.

The relative quiet of the canyon you three were currently travelling through was calming— the opposite of what you had been dealing with since you woke up earlier that day. With Gyro off somewhere and Johnny being the absolute gem that he usually was, any anxiety that had previously started creeping in was gone. Just as your shoulders came to a slump, Johnny was right beside you,

"It's nice, huh?" You replied with a small hum, letting yourself bask in the warm rays of the sun. You both fell into silence and you felt Johnny's eyes on you once more. "Hey..." he began awkwardly as you turned your head to face him, "I know this might be outta nowhere, but do ya want me to teach ya how to ride and stuff?" You took a moment to process it before nodding, getting to your feet while dusting yourself off.

"Where do we start?"

Johnny pushed his wheelchair towards Thunderstruck who had finished drinking before the other horses. She stared down at Johnny with a huff, peering at you from beneath her dark eyelashes. "First, I'll show ya how to get on the horse," he began as you gave a sharp nod, walking up to stand in front of the saddle. Johnny rolled just ways beside you, leaning back into his wheelchair.

"So, I noticed that when you put your foot in the stirrup, your knee is facing the horse," Johnny pointed out offhandedly as you nodded again. "You want to put your knee—" Johnny motioned for you to put your foot in the stirrup as you usually would and you did so quickly, noticing that you had indeed done what he pointed out from habit—"parallel to the horse." His nimble fingers wrapped around your calf and moved it accordingly, making your face burn.

"Got that?" You nodded fervently while he stared up at you through his eyelashes, nodding to himself after. "Then, you're gonna grab your reins and the horn of your saddle and pull yourself up." You grimaced silently but nodded nonetheless, readying yourself to attempt and pull your body onto the saddle while Johnny rolled back a few feet. With a deep breath, you hopped up and began to push yourself up, struggling until you sat comfortably on the leather.

Your lips tugged into a large smile while Thunderstruck moved around a bit under you and Johnny half-smiled. "That was pretty good. With some more practice, you won't struggle at all. But for now..." Johnny stopped and gave Thunderstruck a look before spinning his way behind you and taking the reins gently from your hands, "...let's move on, yeah?"

The tips of your ears burned as you peered at Johnny from over your shoulder; "Next up, how to hold the reins." He leaned against you just slightly, showing you the way his one hand had wrapped around the patterned leather. "When you hold 'em like this—" he paused to make it so he was holding them in his fist tightly like you usually did, "—it makes you tense up."

If anything, you're making me tense up, you thought to yourself, letting your shoulders sink just slightly as your ears flared up. "'Cause you're all tense and shit, it makes you unbalanced when you're riding, so, you gotta hold them like this." Johnny laid the rein flat out in his palm and wrapped it around three of his fingers, resting his thumb lightly against it after closing his hand into a loose fist.

"Here, try wrapping it like I did a few times." Johnny handed you the reins and sat back as you did what he had shown you until you were able to do it with relative ease. "Okay, now, I think we can move on to staying balanced on the saddle." He moved around behind you for a brief moment as you stared straight ahead, fiddling with the reins using your thumbs.

"Bring Thunderstruck into a walk." You obliged with a nod and tugged at the reins so Thunder would move forward only to be stopped by Johnny. "Thunderstruck is a pretty smart horse so she probably knows what you mean when you do that, but on any other horse, that wouldn't work," he started before leaning down to pat your lower thigh. "Squeeze this against her body and then stop to get her to go forward."

You nodded almost robotically— you were one hundred percent sure your face was on fire and even that would be an understatement. After squeezing your legs against Thunder's body, Thunder moved forward, doing just as Johnny had said. "Nice," he complimented with a pat on your shoulder, "now, you're going to want to let your hips relax and shift your hips to match her movement." You raised a brow but did so anyway, shifting your hips up and down to match Thunderstruck's gait until Johnny grabbed your hip with a cough.

"Oh...uh...not like that."

You pulled yourself all the way to the front of the saddle with an awkward laugh that Johnny matched after taking his hands off your hips. "S-Sorry!" you stammered, going silent as you let your mind run rampant. If Johnny was paralyzed from the waist down didn't that mean he couldn't... "Speedwagon? What's wrong?" Your brows furrowed as you turned to look at him from over your shoulder slowly. "Hey wait, does it...y'know...work?"

"What? My dick?" While Johnny stopped to think, you cursed yourself for speaking without thinking. Not only were you just embarrassing yourself but what if Johnny took offense and beat you up? These were things you really needed to start keeping in check. "I mean...I don't know. I can still pee fine but when it comes to sleeping with women...'m not sure seeing as they don't like me much anymore." You didn't think you'd be having a sex talk with Johnny of all things but despite your previous momentary fear, you couldn't help but feel bad for the guy.

Johnny was a great guy and quite good-looking so you couldn't understand how any woman wouldn't like him. You paused for a moment— back when he and Gyro had saved you, he had been acting like a prick. But that couldn't have been because you were a woman...right? You were sure Johnny wasn't like that with other women, it just didn't make sense considering he was being so nice. Plus, he and Gyro hadn't recognized you at all. Maybe he was just like that to all strangers. In that case, you couldn't even blame him.

"Well, I'm sure there's some woman out there that wouldn't mind any of that stuff," you said with a soft smile of encouragement that he couldn't see from under your bandana. Johnny scoffed dismissively, leaning back against the saddle with his palms on the cantle. "You're talking like you know someone personally." Your mind went blank— back in your hometown, all the girls would talk about fooling around with some of the boys and how fun it was. Who knew if there was someone who would genuinely like him with the way he was now.

"Um...uh...I have a sister that would like you a lot!"

You bit down on your tongue as a southern-drawl-laced chuckle left him. "You setting me up with your sister?" Your face was too flushed and your mind too frazzled to do anything other than nod as Johnny let out a soft snort, patting your shoulder with that half-smile that was making your stomach twist into knots. "You sure are something, Speedy." An awkward laugh was all you could muster until you realized what he had called you.

"Wait...Speedy?" It was Johnny's turn to reel back, looking away with crinkled features. "A nickname- uh, I figured it'd be better than calling you Speedwagon all the time...like it?" A smile tugged at your lips as you looked straight ahead, fingers squeezing the reins slightly. "Actually....yeah, I do." In the comfortable silence you both shared, a sudden yell came from your right. Standing there, covered in dried blood, mud, and scrapes stood Gyro, glaring at you and Johnny.

"G-Gyro!" Johnny looked taken aback as the Italian man stomped forward with a grimace, "where have you been?!" Gyro, already furious beyond words, stood there stiffly as he slowly looked up at you both. "I have been fighting an enemy for the past half hour! What the hell have you two been doing while I was getting shit on?! Did it not occur to you two to look for me?!" You and Johnny looked at each other with matching grins as you turned to face Gyro again.

"NOPE. NOT AT ALL."

Chapter Text

"HE'S ON OUR ASSES!" You squeezed your thighs around Thunder for a moment as the monstrosity followed close behind you all, pushing you to go faster than you already were. "Dammit! Speedwagon, this is all your fault!" screeched Gyro as you tried to get away from the monster that was the man's cart. "Wha-" "Oh, shut it, Gyro! You broke all the figures!" Johnny had come to your defense, leaving Gyro to scoff and chuck his ball over at the grotesquely shaped wood behind you all.

You grimaced and leaned forward, shifting your hips how Johnny had told you to - minutes earlier, you three had come across a man and a wooden cart, filled to the brim with religious wooden carvings. You had been observing one that reminded you of home when Gyro had appeared from nowhere and tried grabbing your hat like he had been trying to all of that morning. Sadly, as you had tried to get away from him, the figure had fallen from your hands and broken apart.

Brother Love, as he introduced himself, had gone from giving you a kind smile to cursing you for "being born" despite your offers to pay for it. Gyro had made matters worse by making fun of the carvings in his cart and then smashing them to bits. Of course, this made things go from bad to worse. In an instant, the cart had grown into a large wooden person with seven faces. You all were back onto their horses and off through the canyon within seconds.

"Get back here! You must pay for your sins, scum!"

"Nyoho~ No way in hell, baldie!" yelled Gyro as he chucked another steel ball at the monster's leg once more. For a moment, the monster had fallen to one knee, the wood it was made up of splintering where it had been hit. The two balls had returned to Gyro shortly after, who had been grinning at his masterpiece. His smile had fallen when the monster had gotten back on its feet and changed its face from a bright red one to one that was light blue.

"That can't be good!" you cried, shoulders growing tense as you leaned into Thunder's mane, forgetting any and everything Johnny had taught you earlier. A sudden beam of light blue hit Gyro, but instead of doing any damage, his expression changed. "This is too much work." Both you and Johnny's eyes widened as Gyro let Valkyrie start to slow down, inciting a curse to leave Johnny's lips.

"Speedwagon! Grab Gyro!" Despite your bubbling hatred for Gyro, you followed Johnny's orders and brought Thunderstruck right up next to Valkyrie before forcefully pulling Gyro to sit behind you. "Ugh, Speedwagon. You had to interrupt my break?" grumbled Gyro, not even attempting to help you out and keep himself steady on the saddle. "Complain later, Zeppeli," you spat back as he groaned and slumped against your back.

You held back the urge to push Gyro off and instead pulled away from Valkyrie's side who had started galloping at a fast pace once more. A sharp whistle brought the horse over by Johnny, where it remained near Slow Dancer's side. "Johnny, what now?" You called out as Gyro placed a limp hand on your shoulder. "The monster's face is different." You shot a glance over your shoulder to see the monster's face was now green.

Once more, a beam had shot out of its face before you and Johnny could react, hitting Johnny and covering his body in a green mist. "Johnny!" Your heart pounded in your ears as the green mist disappeared, allowing you to see Johnny again, this time with a twisted expression on his face. "Hey, why the hell does Gyro get to do jack shit while I take care of his horse?!" Slow Dancer was soon slowing down and by your side followed by Valkyrie on your other side.

"It ain't fair! I wanna ride with Speedy! You don't even like him, Gyro!" Johnny caterwauled as he grabbed Gyro by the shoulders and started pushing him over to Valkyrie. "What the hell are you two doing?!" You cried, tears coming to your eyes as the two bickered behind you. "Yeah, but I don't wanna move. I'm really comfortable right now." You bit back sobs and looked frantically up ahead, searching for something to stop the madness behind you.

The thundering stomps of the monster, the yells of Brother Love, and Gyro and Johnny's bickering did nothing but make you panic as your eyes glossed over with more and more tears. Your fingernails were digging into your palms the tighter your grip got on the reins to the point where you weren't even holding them properly. The sounds of Johnny and Gyro's contrasting voices made your heart pound louder and louder in your ears until you couldn't take it any longer.

"Dammit! You motherfuckers better shut up right now!" you screamed, looking over your shoulder with tears of anger. Your chest heaved up and down and you turned back around with adrenaline coursing through you, making your hands and jaw shake. In their moment of silence, you finally found that you all were growing closer to an arch of rock that had visibly large cracks in it. You could feel your heart swell at the sight of it.

"Gyro! Shoot a ball at that rock once we pass it!" Silence. Your brow furrowed and you peered over at Gyro, watching as he yawned. "I'm good." A twinge of annoyance shot through you while he stared at the monster lazily. "O...kay. Johnny, could you—" you stopped to think about your words briefly, still confused as to how his powers even worked, "— shoot your nails at the rock? It might take a few of them but it might work."

"No way," cringed Johnny, attempting to push Gyro onto Valkyrie again as your face fell, "Gyro shouldn't get to sit with you and do nothing! It should be me! 'Till then, I'm not doing shit!" You were sure a part of your soul had left your body with Johnny's words. You were all still a good distance away from the rock but soon enough, it'd be too late. Tears of frustration fell from your eyes— if only you could do something.

"Hey, its face changed again."

A puff of purple and red suddenly hit Gyro and Johnny, making your stomach sink. "It is I, the great Gyro Zeppeli!" As Gyro let out a boisterous laugh, Johnny let out a growl beside you. "I'm gonna kill you! Shut uuuuppp!" Johnny was shooting nail bullets at Gyro left and right while Gyro laughed and dodged every single one, showing off his spinning ball's abilities. Thunderstruck was starting to huff beneath you— whether it was because there was too much weight or because of Gyro moving around erratically, you didn't want to know.

Your head spun as Gyro and Johnny kept getting hit by the beams, almost subconsciously protecting you from getting hit. The only explanation you could come up with was that they were fighting whatever they were getting hit with. So far, Gyro and Johnny had gone from being angry, vain, jealous, greedy, lazy, and surprisingly hungry in the span of a few seconds. Currently, Gyro was biting your shoulder off and Johnny was talking about how much money he was going to make off the race.

"God, Gyro, quit it!" The arch was too close for comfort now and you weren't sure how much longer it would be until you were hit by whatever it was that Brother Love was shooting at you three. Hell, you didn't even know how it worked. At this rate, you'd be dead, especially if both Johnny and Gyro got struck by the red ray. Tears started falling from your eyes again but suddenly a rush of touches washed over your body.

There, floating in front of you, was a silver woman. Well, it wasn't obvious that it was a woman but a part of you was telling you that it was. Your jaw fell slack as you took in every silver feature: a silver breastplate, a silver placard, a silver fauld, and a silver helmet. Instead of a comb at the top of the helmet, a wisp of white fabric fluttered freely and at the gauntlets and under the placard, more of that fabric fluttered.

"Wh-Who are you?"

Gyro and Johnny had stopped their respective actions and stared at the woman as well, just as you all passed under the archway. Brother Love was rushing after you all, coming close to passing through when the woman did a strange pose, sending the rocks clamoring on top of the monster. But just as the rocks covered the monster, a beam of blue managed to slip through and hit you. The air from your lungs suddenly disappeared and a wave of heat rushed through your body. 

Your throat felt dry as dark blue mist surrounded your body and you took sharp breaths, fiddling with the bottom of your bandana. Johnny and Gyro were calling your name but their voices sounded almost guttural as you palmed your way through the mist. You felt sweat encapsulate your body and you almost started drooling. When Gyro and Johnny came into view, you felt your body grow warmer and warmer until— "Speedwagon! You good?!"

You snapped out of it almost immediately, coughing as the rest of the blue mist fell away. "Yeah, yeah, sorry about that," you said with a half-smile, purposefully ignoring what you had felt seconds earlier. "Damn, that was close," mumbled Johnny, grimacing as he ran his fingers through the ends of his hair. "I hated every minute of that," Gyro groaned as he wiped furiously at his mouth, smudging his green lipstick. While Gyro moved over onto Valkyrie and Johnny started to let Slow Dancer slow down, you stared straight ahead. 

What exactly had you been hit with? It wasn't until Gyro grabbed your reins that Thunder started to slow, making you snap out of your thoughts. "Cavolo! What's wrong with you?" spat Gyro as you all came to a stop. You still hadn't uttered a word but Gyro was too annoyed to ask why and got off Valkyrie. Johnny too had gotten off his horse and onto his wheelchair, leaving you as the only one still on your horse. As you stayed still, Johnny and Gyro started whispering to each other, one much louder than the other.

"What...was that beam?"

"Well, well, the man finally speaks-" Gyro had pulled his steel ball out as you grabbed his collar, staring him down beneath the rim of your hat. "Explain—" you looked over at Johnny with the same glare, "—both of you. Now." Gyro rolled his eyes and slowly put his steel ball back in its holster, resting his hands in his pockets after. 

"Look even if we did know, we wouldn't tell you." Johnny hit him hard in the side with a frown. "Ow! Fine...I wouldn't tell you." Another hit in the side. "Mio Dio, Johnny!" Your hands shook and went limp as you let go of his collar, slowly turning away from them. Johnny gave Gyro a sharp look before shooing him off, quietly telling him to start readying the fire seeing as the sun had already started setting.

When Johnny had rolled over to her, you had been examining the rubble that remained of Brother Love, picking up a sign you had seen on it earlier. "'Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show', huh?" Johnny had read as you took a seat on the rocks. You grimaced and handed it to him, finding yourself absorbed in what your feet were doing instead. Every now and then, you heard Gyro pulling out some wood which he lit on fire a few feet away.

"About the guy and the supernatural stuff," began Johnny, catching your attention, "the most I- we know is that they're called stands and that they have to do with the Devil's Palm. And even then we barely know about that." Your lips remained in a frown and he sighed, fiddling with the edge of the sign. "You haven't ever been there, have you...?" You shook your head solemnly, "not that I can recall."

Johnny's brow furrowed and he rolled directly in front of you, willing you to look up at him from your spot on the rocks. You did so silently, holding back fear-ridden tears he wouldn't be able to see regardless. "If there's one thing I know, it's that they ain't there to hurt ya." Your lip trembled but just as the urge to hug him overcame you, you felt your face burn, making you sit straight up.

"T-Thank you, Johnny."

"Anytime, Speedy."

When you got up and started to walk away, you caught Johnny placing the sign carefully on the rubble, making sure it wouldn't topple over. While your heart swelled, you crashed directly into Gyro who stepped back with a grimace on his face. "Watch it, Speedwagon!" he barked as you rolled your eyes, replaying the events of what had gone down earlier in your mind.

"Don't you think you should be thanking me for saving you earlier?" you quipped, surprising yourself with your sudden confidence. Usually, you'd be terrified of angering Gyro. It felt...nice for a change. Gyro looked at you like you were crazy; "Me? Thank you? No way. If anything we're even after I defended your honor from that psycho." Whatever retort you had planned fell short as you stood there blankly.

Defended your honor? Sure, Gyro had stepped up after you had broken the figure and gotten scared shitless at the once-sweet man's outburst, but defended your honor? Your brain replayed the memories over and over until you were practically denying it. Maybe what he defended wasn't your 'honor' but if you had to admit it, he had...defended her. At the sight of your stiff figure, Gyro scoffed.

"Exactly."

Johnny had rolled over just in time to snap you out of your state of denial and made his way to the fire, prompting you to do so as well. "So about Brother Love's stand," started Johnny as Gyro joined you both around the fire, adding some more wood to the flame, "it must have something to do with religion." Gyro's brow rose and he gave them a grin, "it was the Seven Deadly Sins." Johnny raised a brow and Gyro grinned even wider.

He stretched his limbs out before holding up a fist and one finger, "Wrath was the red beam." Another finger. "Greed was the yellow one." Another finger. "Envy was green." You were already getting nervous about the dark blue one. "Light blue was Sloth and purple was Pride." Gyro had only one finger left and you held back from cringing.

"But that's only six," stated Johnny while resting his chin in his palm, "what color is the other one." Gyro shot you a knowing look and you swore up and down that you'd kill him sooner or later. The one you really weren't thrilled with getting and the one Gyro had clearly seen was the blue beam. Thankfully, the Italian man spared your 'honor' and rose the last finger up without hinting at anything.

"Well, I didn't see the color of it but the last one would be Lust."

OH, HOW YOU REALLY WANTED TO CRY.

Chapter Text

"JUST WHERE in hell are we?" asked Johnny as he stared at the large expanse of land in front of you all, ignoring the bickering that was taking place behind him. "What do you mean it's my fault?! I gave you my map!" you cried with a grimace as Gyro grit his teeth. "Your map is what got us here in the first place! It's outdated!" he screeched, crumpling the map up into a ball and chucking it at your face with the slightest bit of spin. Your nose stung far more than it should have and you had almost tried summoning your stand to do...something in retaliation (you still didn't know what your stand did anyway).

With a huff, you uncrumpled the parchment and took a look at it, freezing up when you saw it was somehow outdated. What if you hadn't been with Johnny or Gyro? "But the man that gave me this said it was being handed it out by the officials," you whimpered, scared at the mere thought of being lost and alone somewhere. Gyro cringed and flicked the edge of his hat up, "and you believed the guy?" You nodded wearily only for Gyro to burst out into cackles, making you bristle as he pointed at you and tried to get Johnny to laugh along with him. 

"What are you?! An idiot?!" The fear you had once felt was replaced by unmitigated anger, somehow causing your stand's arm to manifest and pack in the crumpled-up map until it was incredibly compact. Without a moment's notice, your stand shot the map back at Gyro with enough force to send Gyro flying off his horse. You snickered quietly as a cloud of dust flew up around him, only stopping when he stood up with a steel ball in his hand. You were at Johnny's side in an instant, cowering behind his form.

"Cut that out, Gyro," Johnny called while he scanned his own map, making the Italian groan. "That isn't fair! He made me fall off my horse!" Gyro screeched as you peeked out from behind Johnny's shoulder with a furrowed brow. "You shot me first!" "Wha- No, I didn't! You hit me with that weirdo stand of yours!" You bristled under Gyro's words and moved past Johnny to give Gyro a piece of your mind, nose crinkled. You were instantly shot by the balled-up map, making you fall off her horse as well. The last thing you and anyone else had expected you to do was lunge at Gyro.

Before Gyro could react, you had tackled him and pulled at his long hair, making him scream. "Que cazzo?!" You kicked his steel balls far away enough that he couldn't reach them and continued your work by pulling him into a headlock. "Don't call my stand weird, you fucking ratbag!" Gyro wriggled in your grasp, clawing at your arms as you wrapped your legs around his midsection, attempting to make him stay in place. "What the hell is a ratbag?! I'm not a rat or a bag!" he yelled, still thrashing, "and I'll call your stand weird if I want to, stronzo!" 

"It means you're a weirdo and you're annoying!" you screeched just as Gyro rolled over hard enough to flip you over. You didn't even give him a chance to try anything as you slipped out from under him and tackled him again, grabbing his arm and twisting it enough to make him scream. "Johnny! Curb your friend!" A smirk tugged at your lips as you placed your knee on his back, not noticing how close his steel balls were now. "What happened to you crying all the time?!" shouted Gyro, making you falter just enough for him to successfully pin you down. 

Your heart caught in your throat as Gyro held a spinning ball near your face, creating a gust of wind that made your hat shift back on your head. Thankfully, your bandana was still tied around your face but your eyes which had usually been blocked out by the rim of your hat were now visible. And now you were stuck looking into the Gyro's very alluring eyes. You could feel your face burn as he stared, letting his steel ball fall just slightly to the side. He was so close you could feel his soft breaths through your bandana.

"Gyro, get off him. I found the way to a nearby town," called out Johnny, consequently saving you from admiring Gyro for too long. Gyro had gotten off of you in mere seconds, leaving you to stare awkwardly at the sky. Your heart was rushing far too fast— surely it was because you were scared. What if he found out you weren't a guy? You let your thoughts wander until you asked yourself the same question: What if he found out you weren't a guy? Thunderstruck had come into your field of view before you could dwell on the subject any longer.

With little to no grace at all, you got onto Thunderstruck, squeezing your thighs to send Thunder into a trot. As you approached the two, your eyes lingered on Gyro who looked angry and just slightly flushed. You could only gulp when his eyes fell onto you, fixated on every move you made. "So, where's that town you were talking about, Johnny?" you asked, ignoring Gyro's hardened gaze. When you turned to Johnny though, he seemed a bit irritated himself. He looked hard at the map and let out a soft sigh, "it's just a bit further this way. Think you two could keep 'ya hands off each other 'till we get there?"

Gyro rolled his eyes but you let out a chuckle, "sorry, Jojo. I can't promise that I won't beat him up in a second." Johnny's features had softened and he let out a laugh of his own while Gyro stared at you two incredulously. "Huh?! You're just going to let him get away with saying that Johnny? I thought we were best friends?!" cried Gyro with a furrowed brow. Johnny could only laugh and brought Slow Dancer into a gallop. You followed closely behind him, leaving Gyro to angrily catch up to you both.

Within minutes, the town could be seen from afar, bustling with townspeople. "Finally! At least now we can get a map that is actually accurate," Gyro quipped, making you shoot daggers at the side of his head. "Aren't you Italians supposed to be smart though? I heard you guys could just look at the stars and figure out where you had to go," you gibed with a smirk, only for Johnny to raise a brow. "Speedy...it's barely sunset. Y'know ya can't see the stars durin' the daytime." Your face burned and you didn't dare look at Gyro, "right...yeah."

The hustle and bustle of the town was a welcoming sight and the smell of food other than charred lizards and turtles was incredibly inviting. "God, am I starvin'" drawled Johnny as you all made your way through the town. The stables were at the very end of the street but the saloons and restaurants were all lining the sides, enticing them with the smell of freshly made meals. "Me too!" said Gyro as he rubbed at his stomach, "we can get the map after, and since it'll be late by then, we can just spend the night at an inn." You hummed as you let yourself drown in all the welcoming smells.

"Sounds like a plan." 

The second Thunderstruck, Valkyrie, and Slow Dancer were all paid for and set up in the stables, you all had sped off to the nearest saloon, letting your noses lead the way. You were all at a table almost immediately and were now left to peruse the poorly printed menu. "Thank heavens, they have steak," breathed Johnny, leaning back in his wheelchair in satisfaction while Gyro proudly held up the menu and pointed at some words at the bottom. "Looks like I'm having some pork chops, nyoho~" 

You scanned the menu intently, looking for something that you might want until a hand landed on your shoulder. Your eyes shot up to find a very pretty woman staring down at you, pen and notepad in hand. "Well, hi there honey, what can I get for you today?" You felt your face flush as you looked over the menu again and frantically pointed at one of the dishes. "Ooh, nice choice. That's one of my favorites~" You hummed and looked away, hoping the lady wouldn't notice your burning ears.

"And you two?" Her voice seemed much colder and there was even a sense of disgust behind it as she stood there. The air between all of you felt tense and you could only hope you'd be rid of it soon. "I'll have a steak. Medium Well," spat Johnny with a fire in his eyes while Gyro rested his elbow on the table, leaning his chin into his palm, "and I'll have pork chops. Well done." The lady chuckled and tucked her hands behind her once she had taken all of your orders, smiling sweetly. 

"Your food will be right out, sirs." 

There was a silence that had fallen over your little group and you had set out to end it immediately with awkward laughter. "So...she was nice," you smiled, making Johnny and Gyro shoot you a look. "I didn't like that lady one bit," grumbled Johnny, fiddling with his utensils grumpily. "Me either! She was a bit too rude, don't you think?" You could only awkwardly laugh as the two insulted the waitress, making you shrink into your chair. Considering you were a woman too, it was a bit worrisome that they were that annoyed by the waitress just doing her job.

"-what do you think of her, Speedwagon?" Your eyes went wide as you continued your strained chuckles, making random gestures with your hands. "I-I mean, she wasn't all that mean. I thought she was quite nice actually." Johnny and Gyro grimaced and went back to their complaining, making you sigh. At least they had decided not to bring you into their opinionated mess. Thankfully, the waitress had come back quickly with plates of food in her hands. Correction, your food. 

"Here you go so, sir." The plate that had been placed in front of you had taken up almost half the table, littered with a variety of meats and vegetables you were pretty sure you didn't order. You could practically feel the anger that was coming off of Johnny and Gyro right then and there. "Oh, thank you, miss. But I think you gave me the wrong plate." The lady shook her head quickly, resting her hands on the back of your chair, "nonsense! This is all on me, honey!"

"Hey! Where the hell is our food?!" snapped Gyro, shooting up from his chair as the waitress absentmindedly twirled a strand around her finger. "We ran out of pork chops and steak." You peered down at the food in front of you— there was a ton of steak and pork chops on your plate. "Huh?! There's some right there!" yelled Johnny pointing at the very obvious stack of meat. The waitress rolled her eyes and looked at you instead, swooning. "Anyways, don't worry. As I said, this food is on me. Let me know if you need anythin' else~" 

Before Johnny and Gyro could complain, the waitress walked off leaving them in disbelief. Johnny huffed and leaned back into his wheelchair, fiddling with his nails. You sighed with a smile and scooted over to Johnny's side, pushing your plate over. "I can't eat all of this by myself," you grinned as Johnny looked up at you from beneath his eyelashes. "Hey, what about me?!" "Get your own food, asshat." Gyro didn't listen and instead scooted over to sit beside you, taking a huge bite of one of her many pork chops.

"Aw, what the hell, you stink!" You grimaced as Gyro got close, slapping a hand over her bandana-covered nose. Gyro reeled back with a piece of pork still on his fork, raising a brow. "What are you talking about? You didn't say anything when we were fighting earlier!" You pushed his chair away with your foot as he tentatively sniffed under his arm. "...maybe you're right," he admitted before shooting a look at Johnny, "but what about him?!" Johnny did the same as Gyro and winced, slowly lowering his arm afterward.

"Yeah, I'm in need of a bath myself," Johnny said while glancing away, "but I bet you need one too, Speedwagon." Johnny leaned in close and took a whiff, making you lean away while cringing. "Actually, you're probably the cleanest one out of the three of us. You barely smell at all!" You could only grimace, "it's cause I know proper hygiene." Gyro's arm over your shoulder made you gag and you tried to shrug him off as best you could until Johnny had joined in as well. Your stomach lurched as you fought for your life between your two incredibly foul-smelling companions.

NOT EVEN THE SMELL OF FOOD COULD HELP YOUR NOSE NOW.

Chapter Text

YOUR FEET kicked at the dirt as you waited for Johnny and Gyro to leave the shop. You didn't need to buy anything other than a map so you were out considerably faster than the other two, who needed some other things. The wind blew through the ends of your damp hair, still wet from your shower the night before. Gyro had teased you about not wanting to take a group bath and to conceal the fact that you were a girl, you had retorted back with insults about his foul smell. He seemed to still be pissed off about it.

Gyro's complaints could be heard from where you stood outside and you could only roll your eyes— maybe if he wasn't complaining, then you could all get out of town faster. You could already sense that he was ready to pin the blame on you for taking up all his time. You could also hear him very loudly whining about it. With a sigh, you continued kicking at the dirt, not really paying attention to anything else that was happening around you, so much so that you didn't see the man that was stomping over toward you. Before you could realize what was happening, you were on the ground, cheek stinging.

"Who do you think ya are going around flirting with my woman?!" You shakily looked up to see a beefy guy glaring down at you, the scarily nice waitress from the day before at his side. The waitress pulled at his arm, trying to get him away. You could only stare with your mouth agape as the townspeople started to gather around you three. "S-Sorry sir but I had no intention to-" Your midsection felt like it had been punched through when the man sent a sharp kick to your stomach.

Spit dribbled down your chin as you curled in on yourself, slowly attempting to get back on your feet. Just as you raised your head, another fist met your face, making your ears ring when you hit the ground. Your fingers clawed at the ground as you wearily tried to compose yourself all the while your mind rapidly filled with fear. "Please, darling! Just stop! He did nothing wrong!" You grimaced as more kicks landed on your body, your breath quickening as your vision swirled with spots of black— every part of your body was frozen.

Suddenly, two arms had pulled you away from the seemingly endless barrage of kicks and punches. Johnny's worried voice pierced through the ringing in your ears along with Gyro's stupid laugh. You could barely tell what was happening as your vision cleared, allowing you to watch as Gyro tried to get the man to calm down. He even seemed to be siding with him at some point. You grit your teeth as you watched it all go down, not even bothering to listen to whatever Johnny was saying anymore.

It was like whenever you finally let your guard down, even just slightly, something bad would happen and any fear you had would drag you back into your anxious shell. "...so, really, let's just go our separate ways shall we?" The townspeople all murmured amongst each other as the man glared daggers at your bandana-covered face. "You better watch your back next time you step foot in this town, son," the man spat, literally shooting a glob of spit at her feet, "and you woman-" You watched in bubbling anger as the man slapped the waitress across the face, sending her to her knees.

"Shit...let's just go- Speedwagon?"

Iron Maiden had manifested without a second thought as you sent the man face-first into the ground. The waitress watched in shock as her (presumed) husband struggled to push his face out of the dirt, thrashing around wildly. The murmurs of the crowd got louder as you kept your eyes on the man in front of you, not letting him come up for air until Gyro pulled your shoulder back. As the man heaved on the ground, you met Gyro's hardened gaze. You didn't even bother to hear him out and slapped his hand away.

"That piece of shit deserved it," you grumbled before limping off towards the stables, followed by a hesitant Johnny. Gyro scoffed and followed as well, grimacing the whole time. When you all reached the stables, Gyro had already started complaining again. "Maybe if you weren't flirting with that lady the other day we wouldn't have had to go through this shit!" You said nothing while you bit back your insults and instead wiped at the blood that had started dribbling down from your nose.

"Mio Dio, ever since you've joined us, we've been getting into more fights than we have to!" Gyro yelled, angrily adjusting Valkyries saddle. Johnny opened his mouth to say something only to be interrupted by more of Gyro's complaints. "On top of that, we keep losing time! First, Johnny had to teach you how to ride your damn horse, then we had to come here because your map was wrong, and now this! At this rate, you're going to get us straight into last place-"

"Shut the fuck up!"

You bit down on your lip after your outburst but didn't bother to turn around and gauge Johnny and Gyro's reactions. Your shoulders trembled as you tried not to think negatively— the stares of the townspeople made it even worse. You took shallow breaths so as to not allow yourself to cry ignoring Johnny's shouts. Sure you felt bad since you hadn't tried listening to a word he had said so far but you really weren't feeling all that hot, especially with a bunch of parts of your body aching.

"Speedwagon! Hey! Wait up!" Johnny yelled as he brought Slow Dancer up beside you and Thunderstruck. "Speedwagon!" "What?! What do you want?! Are you going to say the same things as that asshole?!" Johnny grimaced as your fists tightened around Thunderstruck's reins. "No, no," he began, pulling Slow Dancer to stop in front of you and Thunder, "I don't care about the damn race. I care about..." He went silent for a moment as you waited for him to continue with red ears. You tilted your head forward with a raised brow and an irritated look while he looked anywhere but at you.

"Youuuu need to get checked by Gyro to make sure you didn't break something."

You sighed, pulling the reins to make Thunder maneuver around Slow Dancer, to no avail. "Speedwagon, I'm bein' serious," Johnny insisted while you shook your head passively, pulling out your map. "By that asshole? No way. We need to keep moving before he decides to keep attacking me for things I can't control." You could feel tears well up in your eyes as you frustratedly tried to move around Johnny and Slow Dancer. Before you could go anywhere else though, Gyro was beside you both.

"Let's go. I don't want to lose any more time," Gyro spat, directing a glare at the side of your head. "Gyro, that's enough don't you think?" grimaced Johnny but you didn't bother to acknowledge Gyro's presence. The Italian scoffed while your nails dug into your stinging palms. You hadn't noticed before, but they were incredibly scraped up and you were sure your knees and elbows weren't far off from looking the same with the way you were thrown around the rocky dirt.

"It's fine, let's just...let's just go," you exasperated, squeezing your thighs to send Thunder galloping forward. Johnny and Gyro were quick to catch up and the latter had quickly made his way to the front of your little trio, map in hand. It was quiet as you rode aside from the occasional mumbles from Gyro who was making sure you were all going in the right direction— every time he did, you had the urge to point out the irony of him stopping and "taking up time".  Eventually, though, you all had stopped and set up camp for the night.

"You really don't have to do this," you huffed as you sat on a log beside Johnny who had dug up some bandages from Gyro's bag while he wasn't looking. "C'mon now, Speedwagon. If ya won't let Gyro look ya over then I'll have to," he insisted while taking your hand and making the palm face upwards. You winced as he poured some water over the scrapes, watching as the dirt was washed away. "He and I don't exactly get along, remember?" you said with a low laugh as Johnny gave you a tight-lipped smile.

"I know he tends to be quite uppish at times but could ya do me a favor and let 'im check ya over?" Johnny looked away with a soft chuckle, "the guy from earlier didn't exactly take it easy on you." You looked at Johnny in disbelief, "No way! I can't stand him!" Johnny faltered in his movements and let both your hands fall into his lap. "Why not?" "'cause he'd kill me, okay?!" You pulled your lip between your teeth, chewing on the muscle as you averted eye contact. Just as Johnny tried to brush off your comment, he felt your hands shaking in his.

Your trembling fingers against his own made shame run through him— to think he was going to defend Gyro when you were genuinely terrified sickened him. Even though he didn't really think Gyro would do such a thing, dismissing your fears would make him just as bad as his Italian friend. "Speedwagon...was there more to what you told me and Gyro when you first joined us?" Johnny muttered as you peeked over at him through a side-glance. With trembling certainty, you nodded.

"I...As I said before, my brothers were involved in the early stages of the race itself," you began, swallowing back tears at the mere thought, "after my father's shop went out of business, we found out we were in debt. To try and help, Tom, my oldest brother, joined the race." You hesitated, taking a quick breath. "He...He was mauled by a bear at some point." Johnny grimaced as you sighed lowly. "His hospital bills were far too high and we fell into even more debt. My other brothers joined the races after but it wasn't much better."

While you described your brothers' respective injuries, you felt yourself start to shake uncontrollably. Just reminiscing on the things you had seen happen to your brothers was enough to incite an almost paralyzing fear. "...after Al, we almost gave up on the idea of trying again—" You paused and trembled as tears threatened to spill from your wavering eyes, "—then came Robert." You swallowed hard, trying as best you could to mutter out the words that might have even let you come to terms with your favorite brother's death.

"Robert he..." As much as you willed yourself to say even just a simple phrase, your throat seemed to choke on them. "R-Robert...I...He..." You pulled your hands from Johnny's to allow your face to fall into, tremors wracking your body. God, you still couldn't try and think about it again. "Speedwagon. That's enough. I understand." You pulled your face away from your scratched-up palms to find Johnny giving you a half-smile. "It's okay to be scared. Just know I wouldn't let Gyro hurt ya. Can't let my friends kill each other now can I?"

A sputter of a laugh left your mouth as you blinked away your tears, watching as Johnny grabbed your hands again and pulled out a weird mix of herbs in a small container. "But really, as much of an asshole he can be, I doubt Gyro'd ever try to seriously hurt ya. So, let him check you over." His last words felt more like a statement and it felt almost compulsory that you give in and let Gyro check you over. "Fine," you grumbled as Johnny dressed your scrapes with gauze, "but I'm not asking him to. You have to." Johnny chuckled but agreed nonetheless. 

"Okay, okay. Now lemme see your knees. I know you fucked 'em up," Johnny insisted, pulling your leg out for him to look over. You laughed as he pushed up your jeans, only to hiss lowly when the fabric brushed up against your wounds. "Jesus, Speedwagon. Your knee looks terrible," he said with a grimace, shuffling closer to let your calf rest on his thigh. Your ears burned at his closeness, keeping your eyes focused on his hands. They were dainty yet there were defined muscles and veins that stood out from them which you assumed had come from a result of holding up his body weight frequently. 

"God, I should have shot the hell out of that man," Johnny spat as he repeated the process he had done on your palms on your knees as well, not noticing the way you were intently watching him. Curses escaped his plump, blue-painted lips as he went about his work, switching to the other leg when he was done. Every time his calloused fingers ran over your skin, you could feel herself heat up even more. These were the times when she thanked Robert for leaving behind his huge hat. 

"There, done. Now, when Gyro comes back, I'll ask him to go look you over. In the meantime, why don't 'cha go wait in your tent?" You nodded and quickly escaped to your tent, thanking the gods that Johnny hadn't noticed the change in her demeanor. Unbeknownst to you though, Johnny was going through his own spiral of emotions. To him, it was weird to have these feelings, especially since, you (or at least the you that he had been around so far) were a man. 

Johnny let out a groan as he sat around the fire, head shooting up at the sound of a twig breaking. "Oh, shit, Gyro! Did you hear any of that?" Johnny sputtered as Gyro raised a brow, feigning ignorance. "What are you talking about, Johnny? Well, anyway, I got us some more firewood!" Johnny watched as Gyro threw some sticks into the blazing fire, assessing his every move with scrutiny. "Nothing...hey, could ya do me a favor and check up on Speedwagon? That piece of shit kicked him pretty hard."

Gyro grimaced and complained under his breath as Johnny watched him with a deadpan. "Fine- fine! I'll go make sure he's okay!" exasperated Gyro once Johnny's expression had finally gotten to him. "Good. He's in his tent," Johnny stated before taking a sip of water from his canteen. With a drag of his feet and a long sigh, Gyro made his way into the tent, finding you who had been messing with the lantern inside in a fit of boredom. At the sight of Gyro, you had sat up quickly, wincing after.

"Cavolo! Just lay down!" whined Gyro, pushing you back onto your bedroll with a huff, "if you keep moving you'll make it worse." You rolled your eyes and crossed your arms over your chest, not caring for Gyro's fleeting glances at your bandaged hands. Sure, Gyro had to admit he was being an asshole earlier but he'd justify his words no matter what. But he could certainly admit that seeing you that close to tears when telling Johnny about your family and fears made his stomach sink.

"You just have to check my stomach, yeah?" you asked softly, shoulders shaking so slightly that Gyro almost missed it. You didn't need him to find out you were a girl like this. "He kicked you in the ribs, yeah? I'll have to check or else Johnny will kill me," Gyro huffed as your brow furrowed, making him scoff. "Just... lift your shirt." You, albeit reluctantly, lifted your shirt to just under your chest only to find Gyro's face contorting into one of anger. You could have sworn that your heart had completely stopped.

"G-Gyro? L-Look, it's not what you-" Before you could sit up, Gyro had pushed you back down with one arm, a frown tugging at his lips. "Quel pezzo de merda- I should have killed him." You froze, peeking down at your side to see an amalgamation of purple and yellow splotches sprinkled along the side of your body. Your eyes shot up to meet his darkened ones, wincing when his soft fingers came into contact with your bruised skin.

Your cheeks felt like they were on fire as his fingers brushed over your side, pressing down occasionally to gauge your reaction. You didn't dare utter a word as he looked you over, all while ignoring the butterflies in your stomach— no, no, no, you and Gyro were practically enemies. You didn't like each other. He was an asshole with no compassion whatsoever and you were just trying to go about surviving the race. There was no way you were actually finding him attractive right then and there.

"Sorry."

Your head almost fell off at the speed that you had looked over at him, watching as his expression twisted into one of regret. "W-What was that?" Gyro looked over at you with a grimace and moved away with red cheeks. "N-Nothing. Stay there. I'll get Johnny to bring you dinner later. Just...don't get up, idiota." As he exited the tent, you stared after him, letting your shirt fall back down as your heart raced in your ribcage.

YEAH...YOU TOTALLY STILL HATED HIM.

Chapter Text

"SPEED-WA-GON!" You held back a sigh as you slapped a hand over your head, keeping your hat firmly in place just as Gyro tried to rip it off your head. "You're annoying you know that?" you grumbled as Gyro cackled and slowed Valkyrie down to meet Thunderstruck's pace. You thought that Gyro wouldn't be such an insufferable piece of shit after your little moment the night before but, of course, you were proven wrong when Gyro decided that his goal for the day would be to try and see what was under your hat.

"Oh, but you know you love me," cooed Gyro with a wink, ignoring the way you shot daggers at his dopey gold-veneered smile. "No, I don't. Go fall off your horse or something," you huffed making Gyro's face fall flat while Johnny held back some laughter from beside him. "You better not be laughing over there, Johnny." Johnny went silent and looked away— he wasn't as bad as Gyro in bothering you about your hat but he sure as hell wouldn't stop asking about what was under it regardless.

"You are so insufferable sometimes, Speedwagon," spat Gyro with narrowed eyes as you let out a forced laugh, "what are you so afraid of us seeing, huh? Are you balding?!" You cringed and gasped as you struggled to form words, "wha- no! I'm not going bald!" Johnny raised a brow and looked over at Gyro who shook his head with a straight face. "You're definitely balding." Your face burned while you stammered incoherent words that made them just shake their heads in unison.

Well, at least balding was better than being a woman in this case.

"I'm not balding- god, just...shut up." Gyro feigned shock, albeit being a bit surprised at your ability to sass him without turning into a puddle of tears, and rolled his eyes with a golden grin. "Shut up, hmm?" Surprising him and Johnny once more, you extended out a gloved hand to slap against Gyro's mouth, effectively shutting him up for a few seconds as you slowly turned to him with darkened eyes. "Yeah. Shut up." Your eyes caught the bob of his Adam's apple as you turned back around, shaking off your hand and wiping it on your saddle.

"Well, now that that's over, how about we set up camp somewhere?" began Johnny without a care in the world for Gyro, who was pouting beside him, "it's been one helluva day." You looked back and forth between the two, glaring at each for a few long moments. "Great idea, Johnny!" Gyro said brightly, ignoring your glare again while you all began to slow down. The horses huffed and went from a gallop to a trot until they came to a stop near a small rock formation surrounded by brush.

You and Gyro were the first to hop off your horses and tie them off leaving Johnny while he looked at the map a little longer. "At this rate, we'll reach the finish line in five to six days," he mumbled as he spun off of Slow Dancer. You hummed and stretched your hands up above your head, watching as Johnny pulled his wheelchair off his saddle afterward. "Let's make that four days," Gyro added, making you and Johnny groan.

"Next thing you know you'll expect us to be there tomorrow," you quipped as Johnny agreed with a nod of his head. Gyro huffed but before he could utter a single word, a crack interrupted him. Your heads all shot to the source of the noise to find a broken twig a few meters away. "What...did that?" you muttered aloud while going stiff which Johnny noticed almost immediately. "Well, it couldn't have been a stand or some enemy," Johnny clarified, rolling up beside you in his wheelchair, "we would have seen it."

"Probably just a mouse," Gyro said offhandedly, waving you both off as he went to grab his bedroll from his horse. "Calm down, idiot. Gyro's probably right. Just a mouse," you muttered to yourself while bringing your hands to your face, peeking over at Gyro who grinned at you as if he had heard your every word. "Nevermind. Fuck that guy." Your eyes looked over to find Johnny looking extremely terrified. With a raised brow, you poked his shoulder, jumping back when he screamed.

"J...ohnny?" With red cheeks, Johnny let out a few awkward coughs and stared at the ground like it was the only thing in the world. "I'm good...I'm gonna go start the fire," he mumbled before rolling off towards the brush as fast as he could. You stared at him as he did so and sighed only to stiffen when Gyro wrapped an arm around your shoulders. Your hand was immediately pressing down on your hat while you turned to find him smiling there. "What the hell do you want?"

"You heard that scream too, yeah?"

You scoffed, pushing his arm off you with a grimace. "Yeah, what about it? Everyone's afraid of something," you grumbled, walking over to Thunderstruck and grabbing your bedroll. Gyro rolled his eyes and followed after you with a no-good grin, "okay...but of all things why mice?" You tugged off the bedroll and turned back to face him with a look that made him go quiet. "A lot of people have what others call irrational fears— it doesn't mean they're not valid."

You peered over at Johnny who continued looking for some usable wood in the shrubbery and sighed before side-stepping Gyro who groaned. "Yes, yes, all fears are valid- that's not the point!" Gyro whined following after you like some lost kitten, "don't you wanna try and scare him with me~?" You froze, looking up at him from under the brim of your hat and raising a finger just to reply with a flat no. "Whaaaat? Why not?" "I just told you why not, idiot. Pay attention next time."

Gyro watched as you placed your bedroll near his with a clear space for Johnny's in between, standing there with a pout. He continued to watch as you walked over next to Johnny with your hands behind your back and what Gyro could only assume was a smile under your bandana. A scoff left his lips and he turned around, pulling out his steel ball to fidget with. If you wouldn't help him then he'd have to take the matter into-

A sudden breath near the back of Gyro's neck made him screech and in an instant, he was hiding behind you and Johnny. "Wha- Gyro? What's wrong?" asked Johnny as you rolled your eyes, snapping off a branch from a dead tree. "Quit it, Gyro. Don't be an asshole," you spat, glaring at him from under the brim of your hat. Gyro shot you a look all while grimacing and holding onto the back of Johnny's wheelchair before standing up straight.

Just as Gyro opened his mouth he felt another breath on the back of his neck as well as a faint feeling of something brushing up against his leg. Once more, he screeched, but this time he ran behind you and you were not liking the fact that his fingers were digging into your shoulders. "Get off-" you pushed Gyro away harshly and stood firmly beside Johnny, an unseen frown on your face, "and just stop. I already told you I wasn't going to help you." Johnny raised a brow, looking up at you and then Gyro.

"Help him with what?"

Gyro narrowed his eyes at you— "I'm not doing this on purpose! Something breathed on me! Twice!" You rolled your eyes and picked up some sticks at your feet, making your way to your makeshift campground until you tripped over air. Without thinking, you turned around and glared at Gyro who shockingly still had his steel balls in their holsters. "What the hell-" A sudden pain ripped at your calf and before you could think you were holding back a scream.

"What the fuck?!"

Johnny and Gyro were at your side in seconds, the latter of which was more focused on defending you all than actually checking on what had happened to your leg. "Did ya see anythin'?" asked Johnny frantically, his drawl making his words slur just slightly. You shook your head and scanned the horizon, wincing as Johnny pulled up your pant leg to reveal three deep gashes. "Jesus," he muttered while you threw your head back through labored breaths.

Every move felt like you were setting your leg ablaze and the fire of pain had already started creeping up toward your knee. Johnny met your eyes through the shadow cast by your hat and grimaced, looking to Gyro before looking back at you. "Speedwagon, can ya move-" Johnny stopped short and you felt the air leave your lungs when you noticed that the pain was gone— along with the wound. "What in God's name- Where'd it go?"

Gyro peered back over his shoulder to see you and Johnny panic over the non-existent wound with a knot in his brow. He wasn't able to get a single word out as he was dragged across the ground and thrown into the brush. "Gyro!" Johnny frantically rolled his way over to Gyro before getting knocked from his wheelchair and against an uncomfortably shaped rock. You were quick to get to your feet and get to Johnny's aid, searching the horizon for an explanation.

"This has to be a stand," called Gyro as he shuffled his way out of the shrubbery, brushing off the twigs and leaves that had stuck to his clothes. Johnny hummed and you reluctantly agreed with him all the while continuing your search. "Do you think someone followed us?" he muttered as you got to your feet and he hopped back onto his wheelchair. "I didn't see anyone at all today," you replied while slowly backing up until you hit Gyro's back.

"I didn't see anyone either," Gyro mumbled, readying his steel balls as Johnny backed up against you both, pointing his finger out into the relative darkness. The silence between you all was almost deafening while you three awaited any sudden movements from the darkness. Any noises that came from the desert nature were drowned out as you tried your best to listen for the telltale sound of footsteps or heavy breathing.

But there was nothing.

A sudden rustle from the shrubbery made you all perk up and turn to face it, finding nothing in front of you. "What the hell is doing this?" you grumbled as Iron Maiden hovered in and out of existence. You only hoped that it was nothing big because as you stood there, Iron Maiden didn't seem like she wanted to cooperate. A few seconds of silence and then there was a bright light, making all three of you wince. "There's something there!" Gyro rushed up to the bushes without a hint of hesitation and poked around-

"Che palle!" Gyro backed away frantically, grabbing his wrist with his other hand to reveal a lizard of some sort attached to his finger. "Was this thing doing all of this?!" he cried as he tried shaking it off frantically, all the while cursing in his mother tongue. Johnny sighed and shook his head in disbelief as you held back some chuckles. "I doubt it." Just as the words left your mouth, the thing went invisible and flashed into a few different colors before growing bigger.

"I don't think it likes us very much," you said with a grimace, backing away as Johnny and Gyro did the same. "Let's get outta here," Johnny cried, rolling over to Slow Dancer and the other horses who had been moving around anxiously. You scooped up your bedroll as you ran and leaped onto Thunderstruck, pulling at the reins to calm your poor horse down. "Damn lizard!" You all, once ready, rushed off, not looking back until the footsteps of the beast had died down into silence.

"That thing had a stand, didn't it?" you muttered as you all came to a stop, your heart pounding in your ears as you looked nervously behind you. "It was..." Gyro stopped to shut his eyes in thought, "what are they called in English again? Carnelian?" Johnny let his shoulders sag and spoke through a yawn, "Chameleon." Gyro nodded fervently, clearly satisfied with how he had classified the thing.

A sudden and unwelcome wave of exhaustion washed over you all and it wasn't until then that you realized your current predicament. You were in the middle of the desert with nothing to burn for a fire and it was already too dark to travel any further. The silence you all sat in was mutual as you tried your best to avoid thinking about your situation. It wasn't until your eyelids got unbearably heavy that you spoke up.

"SO...WHAT NOW?"

Chapter Text

IN THE SHORT time of knowing you, Gyro decided that he hated you. Yes, he— Julius Caesar 'Gyro' Zeppeli— hated you with every impalpable fiber of his being. He hated how you would act all tough and mighty around him and Johnny and then grow wimpy in the presence of danger like it wasn't an annoyance. How you would say such idiotic things and Johnny would agree with you instead of him when he was clearly in the right. How you hid your face under a hat twice as large as your head and a ratty old bandana. Simply put, Gyro had come to despise you in the week you had spent together in the desert.

Especially when the next stand user appeared.

"I'm gonna die here!" you screeched while throwing your head into Thunder's mane as Gyro's steel ball spun back into his palm. There you went again, crying and whining when you barely even did anything. Of course, you'd die at this rate— you barely ever used your stand! You cried out once more as (what the enemy stand user referred to as) a "jet" flew straight at you, about to explode right by your face. With a furrowed brow, Gyro shot his steel ball at the jet, making it explode midair. He huffed when you coughed away a ton of smoke, pulling up next to Thunder.

"Good job, idiota! Do you want to get killed?!" Gyro yelled as you wiped the soot off the brim of your hat. "You know that's the last thing I want right now!" you yelled back, looking back over your shoulder at Bennie, a woman you had run into in your trek through the desert. Gyro knew that had he not been so persistent with his flirting that you all probably wouldn't be in this mess but he had no problem blaming it on you. You had been the one that was too stupid to flirt with the cute "tomboy" in front of you. Gyro just had to take the opportunity to get you riled up and flirt with the girl to make you all jealous.

(It wasn't like he was jealous when you started talking to her, no way! If anything he was jealous of you! Who did you think you were talking all cool with that girl? Seriously! He'd think that by now you'd stop wasting his time with your obvious flirting! It was the same back when you stopped in town and flirted with that waitress. You could deny it all you wanted but he knew that you had done it on purpose. And look where that got you! You got beat up and he, Gyro, had to deal with your incompetence. Yeah, sure maybe he was a tad concerned when he say all that bruising on your ribs. Maybe he was angry that he didn't do anything. But that didn't matter anyway because he hated you.)

"Stop fighting! Now's not the time!" shouted Johnny from in front of you and Gyro. Gyro grit his teeth, pointing at you offhandedly as his steel ball spun its way back into its holster. "We're going to die if I need to keep defending him!" Gyro began, as Bennie spat curses at you three from a distance away, "it's always like this! You get all scared and then me and Johnny have to save your ass until you decide you want to use your stand! Why don't you just use it instead of causing all this trouble?!"

Gyro knew he was overreacting, he acknowledged that wholeheartedly along with the fact that he was being aggressive. But in his defense, you did act like that too often and for the sake of this three-person team you all had going, he needed to call it out. What he didn't know (or rather expect) was the way you glared long and hard at him until your stand appeared, its armor shining under the harsh desert sun. "Well, look who decided to join us," Gyro said sarcastically as Johnny shot him a look of warning. That warning, however, was a tad too late when Bennie sent a barrage of jets toward them.

Gyro grimaced but when he went to move, his arms were glued to the reins. "What the-" When he looked up, he could tell you were smirking through that bandana, not caring for the way Johnny was yelling at you to let Gyro use his hands. Not even Johnny was immune to your sudden endangering plans. The jets kept getting closer now, closing in on Gyro only. "Speedwagon! Stop!" Gyro barked as you smiled haphazardly. This was exactly why Gyro couldn't stand you! He couldn't even use spin on any other part of his body to use his steel ball. Gyro, for once in a long time was powerless. Against you.

"Lo giuro su Dio- Speedwagon!"

"Tsk, tsk, Gyro...didn't your mommy ever teach you manners?" you smirked while the little jets grew closer and closer. "Let me go, you prick!" You gave him a look that made Gyro scream internally. God, he was going to make you regret this later! "Please! Let me go, please!" You leaned back in your saddle and tipped your hat coolly. Gyro let out a sigh of relief he didn't know he was holding in, only to take it back when he found you picking at your nails. "Eh, don't feel like it." "What?!" Gyro went wide-eyed as the jets stopped all around him, their little motors buzzing loud in his ears.

"Just kidding," you sighed, waving your hand as Iron Maiden made the jets turn a full 180 degrees back at Bennie. Not even a mere second later, the jets had sped off directly toward Bennie, leaving her out of commission for whenever the medical carts would pass by. You grimaced and then looked back at Gyro who glared at you before trying to move his arms again. "Okay, you proved your point, shithead, now let me go!" He just knew you were smiling under that bandana when your eyes crinkled and you waved your hand to let his hands come free. He might have continued hating you had you not cried when he tackled you off your horse.

The next time he found more reasons to hate you was when you and Johnny had another one of your stupid horse riding lessons.

"Remember, sit up straight and keep your shoulders back," called Johnny from his spot in the middle of the impromptu paddock ring that had been marked by a ragged circle in the dirt. Gyro watched through narrowed eyes as you followed Johnny's instructions without missing a beat, making Johnny give you a half-smile. "This good?" you called, Johnny replying with a nod, "you're doin' great." Gyro scoffed and sipped some coffee he had made moments earlier which was bitter.

"Use your body to tell Thunderstruck what to do," added Johnny while you once again followed every instruction. Gyro was well aware of just how close you and Johnny had become throughout your stay. In fact, it was constantly in his face. Did you get all scared and wimpy? Johnny was over at your side in seconds. Did Johnny feel like shit about himself? You were there to hear every word that poured out of his mouth. Quite frankly, Gyro felt underappreciated. By a lot. Considering Johnny was the one who (quite literally) came crawling for Gyro's help, he felt his new best friend might have been more friend-like and come to him instead of you.

Gyro took another sip of his coffee and swallowed hard, almost throwing up in his mouth. The coffee was so bad that he was too preoccupied with trying to get the foul flavor out of his mouth that he didn't see you hop off Thunderstruck and head for some coffee yourself. "Johnny, don't drink that shit, it's disgusting," Gyro called out while shutting his eyes tight and stomping his foot, the nauseatingly sharp-lemony taste of stale coffee almost impossible to get rid of. "Uh, I'm not Johnny and I don't drink that, but I'll keep it in mind," you began, shuffling towards some nearby shrubbery and picking out a few yellow flowers.

"...are you picking...flowers?" asked Gyro incredulously as you continued picking the flowers by the handfuls, roots and all, not caring when he stood over you and watched. "Yeah, dandelions," you replied simply, walking back over to the small little camp you had set up the night before— you still had some time before you were all set to leave and you seemed to have decided to put it to good work. He followed close behind as you separated the roots from the rest of the flowers, rinsing them in a bit of the water in the waterhole a few feet away. Next, you began to chop them up into small pieces with the pocketknife you had bought back in one of the towns you had all passed through.

"Oh man, he's making it again," Johnny said with a smile, rolling up next to Gyro and shocking him just slightly. "Making what?" Johnny looked up at Gyro with a certain look, nudging his thigh, "you'll see." While Johnny went off to set up for the day ahead, you continued your work, roasting the roots over the remains of the fire. You fanned the fire intermittently until it had started up into a flame once more, letting you turn the roots into charred little versions of themselves. "Hey, Gyro, mind if I use the rest of that water?" you asked, snapping Gyro out of watching you. "Er- no, go ahead," he replied, not caring for the confused glance you spared him.

As you set the water to reheat, you poured the charred roots onto a flat stone, taking out your knife. Gyro was almost entranced as you ground the roots into powder with the flat part of your knife and the handle. Once done, you reached for your back pocket, pulling out a piece of thin fabric. You moved the ground-up roots into the fabric and then shuffled over to the water, letting the powder fall into the water. You then grabbed some salt, oddly enough, and put a pinch of it into the water as well.

It was five minutes that Gyro stood there over your shoulder, waiting and waiting. He didn't notice, or at least didn't point out, the constant looks you were giving him. Sure, it may have been weird of him to be so intrigued with what you were making, but he wouldn't admit that out loud. He already had a list of retorts in the back of his mind had it come down to it. Five minutes couldn't have gone by fast enough and you pulled the pot of water off the fire and onto the sand beside it.

"Johnny, it's done!" you called, making Gyro grimace. He had almost forgotten as to why he had hated you so much. You and your irritating attachment to poor Johnny. "Oh, great," Johnny sighed, holding out his metal mug, "I wasn't sure how much longer I could go without your coffee." C...Coffee? "Huh?! Coffee?! That stuff?! No way!" cried Gyro, making you huff as you poured some of the coffee into Johnny's mug and some into your own. "If you don't want to drink it you don't have to," you murmured after you placed the coffee to the side and took a tentative sip from your mug.

"Wha- No- I want some!" Gyro didn't even hesitate before pulling the cup from your hands and taking a long slurp of his own. You watched with wide eyes and a flushed disposition as Gyro's eyes lit up. Now, he knew he had been dissing you for the longest time but this coffee was so strong and bold that he almost forgot how much he hated you. Maybe he, Julius Caesar 'Gyro' Zeppeli, could put off his hate for you for just the smallest moment. "Gyro...I just drank...from that cup..." you muttered as Gyro stared at the sunrise with a peaceful sigh.

"...that was an indirect kiss."

GYRO TOOK BACK WHAT HE THOUGHT BEFORE.

Chapter Text

"IS IT RAINING?" You stretched your hand out in front of you while you all sped through the desert, the clouds of sand that had been trailing behind you all slowly stopping. "No wonder it was so humid," Johnny said aloud from beside you while Gyro surveyed your surroundings. "If the rain gets too strong, we'll have to make a detour." Although you couldn't see his face from where you were, you knew he was frowning. He wasn't going to be happy later. "There's a town nearby isn't there?" called Johnny, motioning for you to pull out your map. You did so quickly, examining it in cross-reference to your compass— you sighed.

"The nearest town is fifty miles away," you grimaced while handing it over to Johnny who hummed lowly as Gyro shook his head. "Fifty miles will be too far if the rain doesn't stop," he began, holding his hand out behind him for Johnny to place the map in, "we need to look for high ground." You raised a brow, "huh? Why?" Gyro didn't answer, still focused on the map, and you rolled your eyes, looking at Johnny for an explanation. "I told Gyro about this before you joined us, but if the rain gets even the slightest bit stronger, we run the risk of being caught in the middle of a flash flood," explained Johnny, now raising his arm to shelter against the rain.

You opened your mouth to ask another question and then shut it— it made some sense if you thought about it hard enough. Regardless, Gyro seemed intent on finding high ground for you all to stay in and if you played your cards right, (as in not asking any more questions) you wouldn't die out in the wilderness that night. His constant annoyed grumbles only proved your point.  "Jesus, this rain isn't letting up," commented Johnny as he dragged a hand down his face. Your brow crinkled when you extended your palm out again.

You didn't feel any raindrops whatsoever.

A shimmer of silver in the corner of your eye was all the explanation you needed as you pulled your hand back down to your side, smiling under your bandana. Well, now you wouldn't have to worry about getting wet, or sick, or both. Despite your stand's ability to repel the water off of you, it was getting harder and harder to see as the droplets blurred the landscape around you all. Thunderstruck, although not getting soaked either, didn't seem too happy about being out in such weather and was starting to grow restless in the downpour.

"There's a cave up ahead!" yelled Gyro over the thundering rain, pointing up at a cliff face that was a good height over the rest of the flatland. If there was a flash flood, you hoped it would be high enough. "It's gonna be risky to get up there," added Johnny, Slow Dancer getting antsy as well while you all came to a slow stop. There were thick ridges in the cliff face that looked just wide enough for your horses to walk on one by one. "It's the only option we have," Gyro said grumpily, using his spurs to send Valkyrie forward.

You kept your eyes ahead of you as you led Thunderstruck up the cliffside and into the cave, trying not to accidentally look over the side. "Finally," grumbled Gyro as he got off Valkyrie and, for once in the past few hours, looked at you. "How are you dry?!" he exclaimed as Johnny steered Slow Dancer inside, followed by Valkyrie. "Uh...my stand?" you replied, making him grit his teeth. "No fair! Couldn't you have kept us dry too?!" Gyro whined all the while Johnny got onto his wheelchair and rolled over to you and Gyro.

"You know he's still learning how to use his stand, Gyro," Johnny chastised with a sniffle between his words, "hell, even I don't know how to use my stand very well." You smiled at Johnny from under your bandana and shot a look at Gyro. "Exactly. Plus, even if I could, who said I'd keep you dry," you sassed, making Gyro's eye twitch as he raised his hands slowly as if to choke you. "Too late now, though." Johnny chuckled before sneezing into his hand, groaning after.

"You catching a cold there, Johnny?" Gyro teased, flipping his wet hair over his shoulder, only to let out a bigger sneeze than Johnny's. "Sounds like you both are getting sick," you laughed as Gyro rolled his eyes, "me? Get sick? No way!" Johnny interrupted him with a long sniffle, nose growing redder by the second. "Maybe, we should start a fire, so you two can dry off and not get sick." Johnny and Gyro looked at each other and laughed in unison, making you sigh and head towards the semi-dry shrubs near the opening.

As you got closer, you managed to snag a look at the terrain, despite the poor visibility. "Jeez..." you muttered as you spotted a wave of dirt and water swirling far below the cave, wiping out shrubs and whatever got in its path. Wincing, you turned back toward the two idiots who were shivering in the dim cave-lightning. "Look you two," you began with a sigh, dropping the sticks off at your feet once you were a good distance away from the entrance, "we are not going anywhere in this weather so unless you want to lose to Brando or someone else, do yourselves a favor and start a fire and get warm."

Within seconds, Johnny and Gyro were making a fire, making you hold back your laughter. "I'll...let you two have fun with that," you began while backing away toward Thunderstruck, pulling out your lantern, "I'm gonna take a look around this place." You got no response but chalked it up to nothing, shrugged, and headed toward the dark areas of the cave, fiddling with the lantern until it lit up the walls around you. The cave itself wasn't very big in terms of height— enough for you all to ride on your horses inside of it comfortably without having to duck— but it went back more than just twenty or so feet.

The further you went in, the further a sense of anxiety built within you. It wasn't like you could get lost though— it was a relatively straight path aside from the stalagmites that grew at your feet that made you sidestep them awkwardly. "How much longer does this go back?" you muttered aloud, tilting your head to slide past a large set of low-hanging stalactites. As you took one step forward, you suddenly slipped, sliding down the slick cave floor. You couldn't help but scream, thrashing as you tried to stop from sliding any further. Not even a few seconds later you had stopped, breath incredibly heavy and frantic. Tears you hadn't noticed were there slipped down your cheeks as you shakily sat up and looked over your shoulder.

"Holy..."

There, only a foot away, was a glimmering pool of water, illuminated by the rocks that it sat in and the light from your lantern. Your jaw dropped as you took in the sight in front of you. Without a second thought, you dipped your fingers into the crystal clear water, not even fazed when you felt how cool it was. It was stunning. "Jo-" You stopped short and realized just what you had happened upon. A natural body of water where you could bathe and wouldn't have to worry about Gyro or Johnny seeing. Your shoulders sunk with relief and giddiness seeped through your body. After going a few days without a bath, you certainly weren't going to give up this perfect opportunity now. All you had to do now was grab your towel and soap discreetly and you'd be fine.

With a grin on your face, you got to your feet and maneuvered your way back up onto the flat ground of the cave. You couldn't help but hum to yourself as you reveled in the thought of taking a calm bath. The other two would probably be too focused on getting warm and getting back to good health before thinking of looking for you once you took your bath. Worst comes to worst, you could hide most of your body in the water and tell them they couldn't get in because they would contaminate you. As you got closer and closer, there was an unsettling amount of silence. Before you could take another step, Iron Maiden was at your side, ready for an ambush.

"Speed...wagon?"

Your eyes widened when you saw Johnny shivering terribly by the fire, laying on his back, looking weaker than you had ever seen him. "Johnny!" You rushed to his side, pulling his head onto your lap as you pushed back his hat, placing a palm against his hot forehead. His breathing was labored as he curled into your touch, whimpering lowly. "Your hand is so...cold. It's nice." Your breath caught in your throat while he sniffled and coughed below you. "Jo- Johnny how long have you been like this?" you mustered as you pushed back the hair that stuck to his face, "what...where is Gyro?!"

"Here, you prick," Gyro coughed from the other side of the fire, wheezing before coughing terribly. You paled as you realized just how bad of a situation you had gotten yourself in. "Johnny, I need you to answer me," you said frantically as he wrapped his arms around your torso, pulling his head against your stomach, "how long have you been like this?" Had you taken more than five minutes? Maybe you were so excited before that you didn't realize just how much time had passed. What if when you fell, you hit your head and passed out and you didn't realize?!

"You've been gone for an hour," grunted Gyro as he pulled himself up against the wall, motioning at Johnny, "he got all worried and wanted to go find you and that's when we realized just how bad things got." You looked down at Johnny in surprise, watching as he turned his head enough for you to catch a glimpse of the dried tears on his cheeks. "Don't go runnin' off like that again," Johnny mumbled as you gave him a reassuring smile from under your bandana. "I won't. I promise." Gyro gagged from across the fire and you rolled your eyes, placing your hand on Johnny's back to move him. It was only then that you realized his clothes were still damp.

"Wait...have you guys changed at all?" you asked as Gyro shook his head, sneezing harshly. "As I said before, we didn't think it would get this bad." You looked down at Johnny and tugged at his shirt softly. "Hey, Johnny, I need you to get these off for me. You'll get sicker," you began as Johnny looked up at you slowly, nodding sluggishly. "That goes for you too, Zeppeli," you called as he waved you off. After you managed to pry Johnny's hands off of you, you walked over to the bedrolls that were attached to the horses and took them off. When you turned around, neither Johnny nor Gyro had taken anything off.

You sighed (albeit mildly relieved), and walked over to Johnny first who was just a mess of sniffles. "Do you...need help?" Johnny looked up at you with teary eyes and nodded, grabbing at his shirt and wearily pulling it up. Kneeling at his side, you helped him pull it off completely, avoiding the sight of his well-built torso. Next were his pants. His coughs and sniffles were enough to stop you from being so embarrassed and focus on helping him rather than being all weird about it. Once he was down to his boxers, you placed his bedroll on the floor and motioned for him to get in it which he did quickly.

"I'll be back with a wet towel, yeah?" You said, taking off his hat to set to the side. His hair, despite damp and somewhat matted, looked so soft. Before you could stop yourself, you brushed away any stray baby hairs from his sweaty forehead and tucked them behind his ear. "I better be getting the same treatment, Speedwagon," called Gyro who looked far worse for wear. "Yeah, yeah, hold your horses, asshole," you called, getting up and heading to his side with his bedroll.

"Do you need help taking your clothes off, too?" Gyro smirked and flipped his hair over his shoulder to respond, only to end up hacking up spit and phlegm. "I'll take that as a yes," you muttered as you shuffled closer to Gyro, only for him to shuffle back. "I...don't need your help," Gyro sputtered as you gave him a dead stare. Without a second to spare, you grabbed at his obliques, making him instinctively raise his arms. From there, you pulled his shirt over his head, turning back to fold it up and put it to the side. "What- How- Why'd you do that?!" You turned back and gave him a look, "do I need to do it again for you to take off your pants?"

At Gyro's silence, you turned around, looking at the shadow he cast on the wall of the cave. "How did you even know that would work?" asked Gyro as you stifled a laugh, looking out at the mouth of the cave. The rain had certainly let up. "I have a few little brothers back at home. Those little brats have always been a hassle to take care of. Momma's been gone for some time now so I was always in charge of them," you replied, wondering how your brothers were faring back at home. "Oh..." For a moment, you had almost forgotten you were talking to Gyro of all people about this.

"Well, anyway, that's beside the point now," you said, getting up and stretching your arms above your head, "you decent?" Gyro hummed just low enough for you to hear and you turned back around to see him looking at the fire, hat discarded at his side. With a mental sigh, you kneeled at his side and placed a hand up to his forehead. He looked up at you with wide eyes, even after you had pulled your hand back. "I'll get you a wet towel, too," you said aloud, pushing your knees off the ground only for Gyro to wrap a hand around your wrist. He seemed at a  loss for words for a moment until you brought a hand to clasp over his.

"No need to thank me, Zeppeli," you began as he loosened his grip on your arm, letting you get up, "I'll get you two your towels and I'll make some tea. I think I have some Ephedra somewhere..." As you moved toward Thunderstruck, you failed to notice the two warm expressions of the men you traveled with. They watched as you worked wildly to help cure them, smiling until they finally fell into a tranquil slumber. You, on the other hand, grimaced when you finally got to sit by the fire, tired from all the running around you had been doing. And when you sneezed, you couldn't help but groan.

"GUESS I WON'T BE TAKING THAT BATH."

Chapter Text

YOU WERE ALMOST one hundred percent sure that you and Gyro would never be able to become friends. Almost, as in, Gyro had these sporadic little moments where he wouldn't piss you off—shocker. Take the night before, for example, where Gyro was tolerable when you helped him. But, of course, like always, Gyro immediately switched up. For someone who was possibly on the verge of death (you knew that wasn't the case but it made you feel a bit more satisfied when curing him), he wasn't good at showing his gratitude towards you. And, seriously, what was the harm in being nice to you every once and a while?!

You sneezed as you gathered some wood from the shrubs nearby, grimacing as you wiped at your nose with your sleeve. "Catching a cold there, Speedwagon?" teased Gyro as you glared at him from under the brim of your hat. "Yeah, after I had to nurse your ass back to health," you spat, sniffling as you continued your search for any dry sticks and brush to burn. Johnny, the damn guy, had sent you and Gyro out to gather firewood even though little shrubbery had not been affected by the rain and the flood. "I could have taken that bath," you mumbled to yourself sadly, ignoring the way Gyro bristled beside you.

"Ha! You? Nurse me? You didn't do much," Gyro spluttered as you sighed, pinching the skin between your brows. "Look, Gyro, I really don't want to fight with you right now," you began while standing up with a ton of sticks in your arms, "can we save this for later? Or even better, how about you stop." Gyro grimaced and stood up with his own set of firewood in his arms, walking up to you with a glare. "Stop what? Letting you think that you are better than all of us? Just because you helped me once doesn't mean anything." You grit your teeth and flexed your knuckles but turned around, not giving him a chance to rile you up any further.

"Look at that! You don't want to admit that you think that, don't you!" Your head throbbed at the volume of his voice, making you take a deep breath and continue looking for more shrubs. Gyro's brow furrowed when you continued ignoring him, rolling his eyes with a scoff— you were always like this. "Oh, but I know the truth," Gyro sneered, making you freeze up where you stood. Did he know? Know that you were a woman? Your mind raced as chills ran up your spine, the palms of your hands growing clammier by the second. "Wh...What- What do you know?!" you shrieked as your mind ran back to all the possible times he could have found out.

Gyro smirked and he stepped closer to you again as your vision blurred. There was no way he could have found out. You hadn't let your guard down once. Gyro couldn't have seen what was under your bandana or your hat— Iron Maiden had made those things practically glued to you, it was impossible for anyone but you to take off and you had made sure of it. Numerous times. What had he done to find out? What if he had found out from someone else...? Johnny...What if Johnny had found out and told Gyro? Your breath hitched in your throat when you noticed just how close Gyro was now. 

"I know that you are nothing but a coward."

Tears were gathering at the corners of your eyes and you felt yourself tense as Gyro put his face close to yours, almost forcing you to make eye contact with him. "All you do is whine about, talking about how you're afraid of everything because your brothers got hurt! That's what a coward would say," he began through gritted teeth, "at this rate, you will die in this race with all the other cowards and your younger brothers will take your place. Maybe they will be successful as long as they aren't afraid of everything like you." Your eyes were glossed over as his words flooded your brain but made no sense. Gyro was making no damn sense.

"If you weren't such a coward, you would have gotten stronger! Maybe then you could have raced earlier and won for your family. Kept them out of debt. You could have even saved your precious Robert-" The second your mind made the connection that Gyro had no idea that you were a woman, you had sent a punch to his face, breathing hard as he held his cheek. Your breath was labored as you sniffled hard, tears streaming down your face uncontrollably. "Don't ever talk to me about my brothers again. Capisce?" You didn't give Gyro a chance to say another word and threw your firewood down at his side.

When you got back to camp, you didn't hear a word Johnny said and instead went straight into your tent. Thankfully, Gyro and Johnny hadn't yet brought their bedrolls into your tent so you wouldn't have to deal with explaining anything to Johnny if you had to throw them outside. When you got inside your bedroll, you ignored the muffled argument between Gyro and Johnny and tried to sleep off your growing headache and the congestion that made your sinuses feel sore. You fell asleep to the memory of Robert's soothing voice and big hugs that seemed to only ever be the thing to make you feel better back then. What you would give to have it now...

You woke up the next morning to the smell of coffee and beans. As you sat up, your head felt hotter than usual, pounding as you shuffled over to the entrance of the tent. You pushed open the flap to find a small cup of coffee beside a small bowl of beans with some bread beside it, making you smile just slightly. Johnny must have done this after seeing you so upset. "Oh, you're awake," called Johnny from beside the fire, Gyro nowhere in sight, "how are you feeling?" You ignored how congested you felt and took the coffee and the food, taking a seat on a nearby log. "Could be better," you admitted while you lifted your bandana to take a long sip of the coffee— it tasted almost exactly like the one you made.

"This is really good. Thanks, Johnny," you said, getting a raised brow from him. "I...didn't make any of that," Johnny began awkwardly as you realized just what he meant, "Gyro made it...left it at your tent for when you woke up." He motioned over towards a rock far from the camp where you could see Gyro and the horses. There seemed to be a waterhole just beside them and from what you could see, you assumed he was refilling the canteens and getting the horses refreshed. "Hey...I don't know what he said to you last night but...this may be his way of apologizing," Johnny stated as you grimaced from beneath your bandana. With a furrowed brow, you looked at Johnny and set your food down, getting up to stand by your tent.

"He can apologize to me directly or not at all."

Hours later he still hadn't done so.

"Johnny...That guy's horse must be on steroids! It's twenty-five kilometers to the goal! He either has some crazy technique, or he's just doping. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to challenge us at this point," Gyro called as he looked over his shoulder, glaring at the other blond man behind you all, "he must be doping! I just decided that he is. What was it? That guy's name behind us?" Johnny looked over at you for help and you sighed, not looking at Gyro and talking to Johnny instead. "F.V. Stroheim...he's that German guy that placed eighth in the first stage."

Johnny's eyes widened and he turned to Gyro frantically, panic in his eyes. "Let's let him pass us Gyro! Our horses' pulses have gone up to two hundred twenty beats per minute! If we force our horses to run at their top speed here, they won't last until the goal!" Not to mention... your mind wandered to your current personal issues at the moment. Of course, you had realized just how severe your cold had gotten between that morning and right then and there and it certainly wasn't helping that Gyro was acting like the victim and ignoring you. It was one thing not to apologize but this? You sighed again.

"No! Don't let him get close! We can't let any strangers get near us! The course to the left is Valkyrie's favorite type of land! We'll let him crush himself there!" You almost scoffed until Johnny audibly gasped, staring at Stroheim with wide eyes. "He pulled out a gun! He's a terrorist!" With no time to react, Stroheim shot out a barrage of bullets, hitting everyone but Johnny. A scream tore through your throat as you fell to the ground beside Gyro while Johnny fell a distance away. "Speedwagon! Gyro!" You gaped as you writhed in the sand, clutching your abdomen as your vision blurred terribly.

"Oww! That hurts! Y...You son of a bitch!" screeched Gyro as Stroheim shot more bullets at him. A part of you was almost enthused. You watched as Gyro's skin swirled and deformed, making the bullets ricochet off of him. That lucky bastard. "The spin of the steel balls...it has the power to curve certain things and control certain body muscles," Stroheim started as he pointed one gun at you and Johnny and the other at Gyro, "it looks like you can make your skin hard enough to make my bullets bounce off." Another two gunshots made Gyro scream and made you wince. If only your damn wound could close up, maybe you could fight back.

"Drop them, Zeppeli! Drop them, now! If you don't, I'll shoot your little friends and your horse." Gyro grit his teeth and shot you a glance, making you stiffen up. Were you really going to die because of Gyro's insolence? Your heart raced as you tried not to show the fear that Gyro had made fun of the night before. "You can even throw them towards me...It'll allow me to prove that my guns are faster..." You grimaced and fisted at the sand, not noticing the bullet that had floated out of the woman and beside your hand. It was only once the cool metal landed in your palm that you saw Iron Maiden hovering beside you. 

Your eyes widened and you palmed your wound, finding only a trickle of blood seeping from it. Gyro looked at you and met your eyes before looking at Stroheim from between the slots on his hat. "You want me to drop these steel balls? Are you sure?" Stroheim remained quiet as you readied the bullet between your fingers, aiming it at the center of Stroheim's back. "Well, if you insist that I drop them, I guess I'll go ahead and do that." In an instant, Iron Maiden propelled the bullet forward, hitting Stroheim before a barrage of spherical rocks shot out from behind Gyro. Not soon after, Stroheim was a bloody mess on the desert floor, Gyro walking past him to get on Valkyrie.

You didn't dare look at him and instead shakily got up, keeping your hand clutched to your abdomen in case Iron Maiden's solution wasn't good enough. Johnny followed behind you, propping himself up on his arms as his legs dragged behind him. While you headed toward Thunderstruck, you noticed just how quiet everything had gotten. Your vision blurred and the sharp headache from that morning returned in an instant. You turned to watch as Johnny yelled at Gyro about something you couldn't hear only to turn back around and stumble up against Thunder.

Thunder whinnies were the first thing you heard while you rested your head against the saddle. "Sorry, Thunder," you began, bringing a hand up to your forehead wearily. It was hot to the touch. You grimaced but said nothing to your two companions and managed to pull yourself onto the saddle despite a bit of struggling. "What is this?! Gy...Gyro, Speedwagon, wait! Wait for me!" You turned to Johnny wearily— was that another arm splitting off from his own? No...you must have been hallucinating. Being sick was not helping you at all. 

"Hey, what's going on? You yell at me, then ignore me and talk to the ground?" called Gyro as he pulled Valkyrie to face Johnny who remained on the ground. "There's something! Something just...went into my hand! It came out of my left hand and went back in again!" Wait...were you hallucinating? You brought Thunder close to Johnny and looked at his hand from above. It looked fine. "Did you hurt yourself somewhere?" Gyro asked as Johnny mustered out a 'no'.

"Let's get going then."

After you all had gotten a good distance away, Gyro decided that his best course of action was talking about opera shows. "Hey, Johnny..." began Gyro as he peered through his binoculars, "have you ever seen an opera show?" Johnny stopped to think and thought quietly to himself, "the music plays? Where they start singing out their situation when they could just say their lines?" You gave Johnny a look before sneezing off to the side which soon turned into a gross, hacking cough, "Nope, never seen one. Why do you ask?" 

Gyro pulled his binoculars down to rest on the saddle with a grin as he looked across the span of the desert. "Just a simple question... they call these 'opera glasses' because you use them for watching an opera, but the people singing on stage all have huge bodies that weigh like 120 or 150 kilograms or more," rambled Gyro as you all pushed through the heat of the land you rode on. Johnny raised a brow and leaned slightly to look at Gyro, "yeah... that's why they can sing like that, I guess." You groaned lowly when you saw a glob of snot on your shirt, attempting to wipe it off with a look of disgust.

"Hey...do you guys-" 

"But why look at them with opera glasses? You don't need to 'cause they're already so big," started Gyro, not noticing how you had failed to finish your sentence. "Maybe you're supposed to zoom in on the buttons on their fancy clothes and watch them as they're about to fly off...?" Johnny grinned, not noticing your absence as he stifled a laugh, "now that you mention it...but, dude! Since they all have the same type of body, maybe you can't tell the difference unless you zoom in?" Gyro guffawed at Johnny's remark, making Johnny grin proudly. "Not bad, Johnny!"

Johnny gasped and pointed at the mesas far in front of them, grinning excitedly. "Look, guys! That's Monument Valley! We'll be able to see the goal in a couple of hours!" Gyro hummed and pulled up his binoculars, squinting through the lenses. "Should we speed up?" asked Johnny as Gyro hummed once more. "No...This pace is fine...We'll be in first, no problem!" Johnny smiled and looked above him to see a flock of birds pass him by. For some reason, it was then that he looked back, only to find that you and Thunderstruck were gone.

"Hey! Wait! Gyro! Speedwagon is missing!" 

When he looked beside him, Gyro was missing as well, leaving only Valkyrie running beside him and Slow Dancer. Johnny's breath hitched in his throat as he pulled Slow Dancer to a stop, looking around the desert wildly. "Speedwagon! Gyro! Where are you?!" Tears rushed to his eyes when he saw a cloud of dust with a steel ball spinning in the middle of it all. "Shit, shit, shit," Johnny panicked, bringing his hands to his head as he looked for any other indication that you were nearby. A fluttering piece of fabric caught his eye and he spun off his horse, bringing it into his hands. He swallowed hard and looked around again, teeth biting down onto his lip. It was your bandana.

"SPEEDWAGON! GYRO! WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GO?!"

Chapter Text

WHEN YOU AWOKE, your arms were aching. You grimaced as your eyes fluttered open, sinuses burning while you took note of your surroundings. From what you could tell, you were up on a cliff overlooking a vast desert with mesas that looked familiar but just slightly off. Like you were looking at some odd mirror image. Off in the distance, you could just vaguely make out a dot of blue but your vision was too blurred for you to make out what it was. As the unbearable sun beat down on you, you barely realized you had been hanging from a wall beside Gyro.

"G-Gyro?!" you rasped, coughing violently as phlegm crawled up your throat. Your body convulsed with malaise, making the joints in your shoulders throb. As your coughing died down, you grit your teeth, swallowing whatever spit there was left in your dry throat to relieve the dehydration that was starting to kick in. You took a sharp breath and turned to look over at Gyro again, grimacing. He hung there limply, his hair wrapped around a rock that jutted out of the rock-face behind you both— grimacing was all you could do considering your hands were tied and you were being hung from them.

"Hey, this is fun! You guys are too funny!" Your head swiveled to find a short man standing in front of you, dressed in green with sugar cane replacing what could have been his hair. "You...asshole!" You could feel yourself bristle under that smug look the man gave you, making you lurch forward instinctively. The next thing you knew, you were on the ground, cheek flaring with pain. A groan slipped from your lips as you rocked against the ground in regret. When you looked up, Gyro hung above you, blood dripping from a wound on his chin.

"Oh, man! You slipped from the rock, Speedwagon!" You ignored the twinge you felt at the state of Gyro and instead turned to sneer at the short man through the strands of hair that had fallen in your face. "I'll- I'll kill you-" You couldn't even get back on your feet to try and attack the man before multiple hooks wrapped around you and dug into your skin. It was so unexpected that you couldn't hold back your screams which echoed through the vast and relatively empty expanse of desert you were in. You were back hanging next to Gyro as fat tears slipped down your cheeks.

"Y'know, Speedwagon, you have some girly clothes in that bag of yours," spoke the short man as you tried to stay awake and ignore how much blood was gushing from your wounds, "it doesn't make sense since you don't look like a woman... Or maybe... Are you a woman, Speedwagon?!" Those words were enough to snap you back to the cruel reality you had been living, taking a deep breath as you used the lie you had been using to get yourself out of trouble through the race so far.

"My sister." The man stopped in his tracks to look at you oddly as you grit your teeth. "My sister asked me to buy her some clothes next time I stopped through town." You lied through your teeth, hoping that he wouldn't care enough to ask for any more details. As hoped, the man simply raised a brow before humming and looking back over the narrow cliff edge nearby. You felt your body sag as you let out a sigh, the thrumming of your heart suddenly ever-more-present than it had been earlier.

"Hmm...but you look just like one..."

You froze— you hadn't noticed the absence of your bandana until right then and there. You fought hard not to look panicked as you wracked your brain for any solid reasoning that would distract the short man from questioning you any further. "R-Really?" you stammered, gulping down the little spit that had pooled in your mouth, "I guess it's just the twin gene...y'know, with me having a sister and all that..." You winced at how awkward you sounded but the man just gave you a glance and a nod before going about the rest of his business.

"The spin of the steel ball," the short man began, suddenly turning his attention to the vast desert instead of the spare clothes you had in your bag, "it can mean one of two things." You raised a brow and looked over at Gyro who (you noted) was now bleeding from his lip. It was then you saw both his steel balls were missing. Had he used them while you were out cold? "...that your friend told Jyoshter to run in the opposite direction! Or that he told him to head towards this direction!"

You drew your lip between your teeth as the short man chuckled eerily, hoping that soon Johnny would come to save you and Gyro. Ghostly touches slipped through the extra restraints that you had, the hooks suddenly falling to the ground. The short man spun around and you finally realized the hooks were coming from his mouth. You froze as he fumed, "since when do you have powers too?!" A gasp escaped you just as a hook hit you hard on the head, knocking you out while you wondered what Johnny could be doing.

While you and Gyro remained hanging, Johnny struggled underneath the cover of the Arizona desert, watching as a nearby snake got ripped in half by the short man's hooks. Johnny's nails spun as he crawled through the sand, managing to escape the wrath of the hooks. He continued crawling until he caught sight of the mesa one of Gyro's steel balls had shot out from. Johnny grinned to himself and continued until he was almost in the shade of the rocky cliffs, the hooks retreating (though he didn't know it yet) temporarily.

It wasn't until the telltale sound of Slow Dancer's gait grew closer that Johnny stopped in his tracks. His eyes went wide at the sight of Slow Dancer squeezing out from two feathers above her. Johnny couldn't help but clench his teeth as Slow Dancer searched for him, sweat dripping down his forehead the closer and closer Slow Dancer got. I didn't think he would use my horse. He'll find me! Johnny thought beneath the coarse sand, from here, it's still five hundred meters until the rock mesa! I need to decide! It will be a one-on-one battle right here! My nail shots against his hooks!

And then, Slow Dancer stopped.

The next thing Johnny knew, the smell of gasoline encompassed him and the sand was now thickened by it. "Ah! This...this smell!" From the corner of his eye, he spotted a single match fall onto the sand and suddenly, everything was hot. Very hot. "Whaat?!" Johnny frantically pulled his hand out of the sand to aim at the hooks, screaming as his body went ablaze. Little did the short man know that the hooks that he had sent down weren't piercing Johnny's body.

Johnny watched through the sand with a finger pointed at the feathers as the burning wood was pierced by the hooks, only for them to crumble apart. He glared up at the feathers while Slow Dancer whinnied wildly, his nails spinning quickly. "This ability has far surpassed a simple nail. It's a Tusk. From now on I will call this Tusk," Johnny began as blood dripped from his mouth, "I carved a dead tree into the shape of a person and now the wires are right in front of me."

His nails shot into the feathers, piercing the short man who had stood upon the rock mesa. Johnny heard the cries of the man and sighed— it was much more rewarding than that guttural scream you had let out earlier (Johnny grimaced at the thought). "Yes...I...I did it." All that was left now was to climb up the rock face which was much easier said than done. With another sigh, Johnny dragged himself over to the rock face and readied himself for the practically impossible climb. Yet somehow, he had managed to get to the top where you and Gyro hung limply.

"Gy-Gyro... Speedwagon!" Johnny crawled over to you both, pulling both your bodies close to him in panic. He lowered you down first, tears flooding forward as he took note of the blood that flowed from multiple holes in your side. It wasn't anything fatal but he still couldn't bare seeing you in such a state. Your bandana— which he had wrapped around his ankle at some point so he could return it to you— left your face bare, teasing Johnny with the chance to see your full face. But he didn't dare look, for reasons he couldn't understand, and instead wrapped it back around your head, adjusting it to how he remembered it sat on your face.

Gyro was next (as much as he was reluctant to leave your side, he couldn't just leave Gyro hanging there either), sliding down into Johnny's arms as blood seeped from his chin. Johnny couldn't think at all as he found holes in random parts of Gyro's body, almost as if Gyro had been stabbed multiple times. Thankfully, there were no similar wounds on your body but there was always a chance that you did and Johnny hadn't seen them. As he inspected Gyrofor wounds, his breathing grew heavier and the panic he didn't notice had started to pick up.

"Are you breathing, Gyro?! Come on, where's the string to fix both of your wounds?!" It wasn't until Johnny noticed that Gyro's body hovered just above the ground that Johnny noticed the hook in his arm and you and Gyro's chests. Johnny was dragged mercilessly as he screamed, his wrist gushing blood as he caught sight of a short, bald, bleeding man hanging off the cliff edge. "C-Caught you! That's my bait! Jyoshter, you lost! You fell for it! I made both Gyro and Speedwagon themselves the bait!" Your eyes snapped open as you slammed into Gyro's back, wounds reopening as the wire rubbed against the insides of your chest.

"That's why I let them live, you twerp!"

Johnny's hand was pulled into Gyro's chest, making him open his eyes as well. Blood spurted from Gyro's mouth and your body as Johnny screeched frantically. "J-Johnny?" Gyro croaked as Johnny began to panic, looking between you, Gyro, and the short mab. "Victory is mine, eh, Jyoshter? I'll drag you into Gyro and Speedwagon! If I pull the wires you'll rip through them both and come to me!" Johnny's hand dug further into Gyro's chest, making his blood run down Johnny's arm.

"Johnny...do something," you mustered as your head grew heavy and you became increasingly aware of something spilling down from your forehead. You could only assume it was blood. Your breath hitched as Johnny continued screaming, futilely trying to pull his arm away from you and Gyro. You could do nothing but try to keep your head up and get Iron Maiden to help you— she just faintly appeared, flickering in and out of sight until you were far too tired to try anymore. Your vision was littered with black spots and with a groan, you leaned your forehead against Gyro's shoulder.

"Get...away from me...Speedwagon, you...ass," grumbled Gyro, barely conscious himself as Johnny fought to get his arm away. "Go die...damn Italian," you mumbled against the fabric on his shoulder, managing a smirk when he groaned, muttering curses in his mother tongue. "You're the one...bleeding on me," Gyro finally said, making you roll your eyes and wish your hands weren't tied so you could try and punch him. "I hate you," you grimaced as a wave of nausea overtook your already battered body, making your head spin worse than it had before. "Me too. So...live a little longer," he whispered as you nodded against his shoulder.

"Give the corpse in your left hand to me! Now! Or do you want to see what this place would look like if Gyro and Speedwagon's insides were splattered all over the rocks?!" Johnny grit his teeth and pointed his other hand to shoot at the short man, too freaked out to shoot straight. "I'll let you all live, but only if you hand over the corpse! That's my only goal! Take it out from your arm and hand it over!" Johnny's nails hit the rocks the short man was leaning on, narrowly missing him as he pulled the wire that was attached to you and Gyro's body. Two nails shot through you both making Johnny scream in horror.

"Gyro! Speedwagon!"

"Come on! Shoot me more! You're a fun trio! You want to kill them both and fight me, shithead?!" The hook pulled you and Gyro once more, sending Johnny's hand even deeper into Gyro while sending pain up your spine. All you could do was scream through her teeth as the wire tore through your smaller frame. "You can't do anything anymore! Just hand over the corpse for fuck's sake!" You raised your head as the words the short man said began to sink in— "Corpse? Johnny...what is he talking about?" You were only met with another tug, making you yelp and lean your head down again, shaking terribly.

Johnny's hand was almost completely through Gyro's midsection and you knew that if the short man was killed soon, you'd be next. You trembled at the thought but bit back your tears— Johnny was already panicked as it is and you didn't need to add to his strife. As Johnny struggled to answer your question, you tried summoning Iron Maiden, grimacing when she didn't appear. If you were too weak to help Johnny, you'd just have to deal with your impending fate. I didn't even get past the second stage...what a waste. You swallowed back a sob and grit your teeth in silence as Johnny looked up at you with tears in his eyes.

"I-I don't want to," cried Johnny as he almost pleaded with you to understand through those baby blues of his, "I don't want to hand it over. What's in my hand...my legs moved...Gyro. Speedwagon." You grimaced as tears ran down his cheeks as if to beg you to forgive him for not giving up the Corpse Arm right away. Guilt was written across his face and you couldn't even get mad at him for it. You were sure he already blamed himself for his selfishness and if you made it out alive, you wouldn't have even gotten mad at him. You couldn't. But it was okay for you to feel just the slightest bit hurt, wasn't it?

"Didn't you see? My legs moved. I'm thankful. I'm thankful that I joined this race. I thought I could risk my life for this left hand." Your heart clenched and you bit back your cries of pain as the wire slid through your body. "I don't want to hand it over...I was thankful that a useless person like me could have a purpose for living." Just as you opened your mouth to debate his words, Gyro had seized one of his steel balls with a grin, reeling his arm back to throw it. But before you knew it, the wire ripped through you and poked out from Gyro's hand, knocking the steel ball out of it.

You didn't remember how hard you hit the ground, the lower half of your body completely numb as you laid there limply. Johnny and Gyro yelled out your name repeatedly as if trying to keep you awake, all the while your vision faded in and out. Was this what it was like to die? You couldn't help but silently panic as you thought of how all your brothers would react. How would your father react? Your eyelids felt heavy as the ticking of your wristwatch grew louder in your ears. Maybe now you'd get to see Robert and your mother...

"You've practically caused Speedwagon's death so rip through Gyro and come over here! Jyawnee!"

You could feel yourself fade fast as you watched Johnny's arm get pulled into Gyro's chest once more. Incoherent words left your mouth as you began reaching out a hand to them both. Your wristwatch was so...loud. You watched as a second arm dropped from Johnny's and more tears streamed down his face, even more than earlier. "St-Stop it... take this but take both hooks from Gyro and leave Speedwagon alone or else... I'll destroy this corpse's left hand myself." Everything slowly became drowned out by your wristwatch as the short man grinned in glee. It wasn't until then that something became incredibly clear to you.

Johnny had given up his last hope to save you both. Johnny, someone who had believed his life was worthless had given up something that could make him happy to save you both. To save you. Your shoulders shook as Gyro and Johnny spoke frantically to one another and tried to get over to your torn body, foreign sounds leaving your lips. You couldn't let Johnny blame himself like you knew he would. Hell, wouldn't they find out you were a girl if you died? In mere moments, with adrenaline coursing through your veins, the ticking in your ears stopped.

"Iron Maiden."

Little by little, you could feel your legs again and when you had gathered enough energy to look up, your stand stood in front of you. She tilted her head at you as if questioning why you were still on the ground. "S-Speedwagon! Your stand!" With shaking legs and newfound strength, you got to your feet, taking deep breaths as you watched the short man try and run off with the Corpse Arm. "Get back here you piece of shit," you spat as you wiped any remains of dried blood off your face. As though the short man was a piece of metal to a magnet, he was brought back to the mountainside, now standing right in front of you.

"Johnny...they're still spinning. They're spinning right now," spoke Gyro as the man struggled in your grip, "I just made them spin, those nails of the corpse." You smiled as the Corpse Arm pointed at the man, his screams like heaven to your ears as his face was shot ruthlessly. Iron Maiden looked at you and then sent the man flying off the side of the mesa, making him hit the ground with a sickening crack. You winced but then looked back at your stand, smiling as it faded away. The second she was gone though, you fell to your knees, taking deep breaths.

"Speedwagon!" Johnny rushed to your side as you pushed back any nausea that had picked back up again. You smiled as Gyro limped after Johnny, huffing as he picked up the Corpse Arm a few feet away. "Thanks," Gyro mumbled as he got closer, making you raise a brow, "your stand healed us too." Regardless, there was still blood that was dripping from Gyro's chin. He grimaced and pulled out a needle and his dirty healing thread, poking it through his skin. "Not completely though..." You and Johnny merely stared, tearing your gaze away as Gyro continued to sew himself up.

"Anyway..." you began, looking at Johnny, "thanks...for giving up the Corpse Arm." Johnny flushed slightly and looked down at his arm, the engraving that had been on there now fading away without the Corpse Arm there. "It was nothing, really." Before either of you knew it, Gyro had thrown the Corpse Arm at Johnny, making it land in Johnny's hands. Gyro looked upon it with a darkened gaze as Johnny frowned, pain flooding his eyes. Gyro huffed and walked over to Valkyrie who had been grazing alongside Thunderstruck and Slow Dancer as if their owners hadn't been fighting for their lives.

"I'm going to be first in this race! Johnny, you can be second and Speedwagon...I'll be nice and give you third. Don't forget that promise!" Gyro called as he hopped up onto Valkyrie's saddle effortlessly, smiling down at you and Johnny, "If so...I'll let you two come with me!" His golden grin almost sparkled in the sunlight as Johnny let the corpse fall back into his skin, the words on his skin re-engraving themselves there. You smiled softly and got to your feet, chuckling when Thunderstruck trotted to your side. Slow Dancer followed suit over towards Johnny. You somehow managed to climb up on the first try, despite the nauseous feeling in the pit of your stomach.

"Speedwagon...are you...okay?"

You sat up straight in your saddle as Gyro looked at you, brows furrowed. You could feel your cheeks heat up until you remembered his words from the other day. You grimaced and turned away not realizing how Gyro had pulled Valkyrie closer to you and Thunderstruck. "I'm sorry. I am. I hope you could forgive me for always being a...an ass." You couldn't help but laugh just slightly at how forced it seemed and how much trouble he seemed to have. "It's fine," you began, turning to face him with a hidden smile, "but yeah, if you could be less of an ass that would be amazing." Gyro huffed but smiled nonetheless and looked away, letting out a startled noise.

"Hey, look! Who is that?!" You stopped to look at what Gyro had pointed out, quickly realizing that it was the other riders. "Johnny, Speedwagon, gather your stuff! It's Dio and Sandman!" You rolled your eyes but just turned to look at Johnny who was staring at his arm with a slight crease in his brow. As Gyro started taking off, you led Thunder to Slow Dancer's side, reached out, and poked the wrinkle in his skin. "W-What?" You did nothing but smile at him, watching as his cheeks turned pink before you pulled down the brim of your hat, fingers brushing the fabric of the bandana that only he must have put back on your face.

"THANKS AGAIN... JOJO."

Chapter Text

"IN THE LEAD, we have British jockey, Diego Brando!" Johnny groaned loudly as he leaned forward, making you chuckle as you kept your eyes trained on the horses in front of you. "But Sandman is following behind him! So is Gyro Zeppeli! There's Johnny Joestar, who finished fifth in the first stage! Behind him is Speedwagon!" You leaned forward as well, just barely registering the newspapers that were flying all over the place. "It's Gyro Zeppeli! Right before the second stage finish line! It's Gyro again! He jumps into the lead!" You could hear a faint 'Nyo-ho' and you rolled your eyes, biting back the smile that curled upon your lips.

"Only a straight line of 600 meters left to go! The rough terrain! The unmerciful heat! The racers have traveled 1,200 kilometers since the race started eighteen days ago!" You raised a brow as you tried to push Thunderstruck further than Sandman. Had it really been that long? Only eighteen days since you had left California? Eighteen days since you had met Johnny and Gyro? Eighteen days— you let your thoughts halt abruptly and your face burn as you snuck a lengthy glance at Diego— Eighteen days since he had asked for your hand in marriage.

"But as we near Monument Valley, yet again the most skilled racers are gathering at the front! It's a re-enactment of the first stage!" You smirked as you managed to inch past Sandman— it wasn't a re-enactment anymore. The cheers of the people around you were almost deafening as you passed by countless wagons and air balloons. Little children waved with glee, pointing at you and the other racers with excitement written all over them. There were people of all ages going wild with enthusiasm, letting their newspapers fly all through the racetrack.

"Now Diego Brando is picking up the pace!" You felt your face burn again but the current predicament (consisting of tons of paper flying at you) was much more important. While you had been lucky to dodge a few, Johnny was hit with one, getting stuck to his arm. "And Sandman continues to fly across the land with his monstrous legs! Not that it has been enough to pass Speedwagon's Thunderstruck!" You flushed under the praise from the announcers until Johnny spoke up frantically.

"Gyro, Speedwagon! This newspaper! Both of you look! Holy Shit!" Johnny yelled as you inched up closer beside Slow Dancer to see what he was talking about. "We can win, you two! We can win this stage! Keep it up, at full speed!" Gyro yelled back, a golden grin on his face. As per usual, he was only focused on winning. "I can't believe this! This picture! I'm telling you guys! Look at this!" You peered over as Thunderstruck galloped alongside Slow Dancer while Johnny adjusted the newspaper around his arm to line up with his scar.

"The shape of the mountain top! It's the same! It's the same as the scar on my left arm!" Johnny shouted with glee as the finish line grew even closer. You squinted and just barely made out the word 'crus' on them which, lo and behold, looked identical to his scar. "These scars aren't letters, they're a place! They're telling us to go here! The next corpse part must be on the mountain!" Your eyes widened as you looked up to just barely meet Gyro's eyes, turning back around quickly to push Thunderstruck a tad further across the finish line.

"Goooal!"

"Diego Brando finished in first! First place goes to Diego Brando! Johnny Joestar in second! Third is Speedwagon, Sandman is fourth and Gyro Zeppeli, fifth!" You gasped audibly and couldn't help but let out a laugh as you peered back to look at Gyro's dismay. When you turned to look at Johnny, he was already far ahead, speeding after Diego with a glare. Before you could dwell too much on the fact that you might run into Diego with the proximity between you all, you pushed forward, chasing after Johnny.

"Johnny! Speedwagon! You fuckers! Wait!!"

Your laughter grew louder with every passing beat until Gyro caught up with you scoffing when you looked at him with tears in your eyes. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it all out," Gyro grumbled as Valkyrie fell into step with Thunderstruck. "Y'know, I think I will," you said with a smirk, making Gyro roll his eyes with a huff. Your smirk fell into a simple smile and you punched Gyro lightly in the shoulder, eyes glinting with playfulness. "Don't worry too much. You're too good not to get first place next stage," you grinned, making Gyro reel back slightly, pink dusting the apples of his cheeks.

"Yeah... Yeah! Obviously, nyo-ho!" Gyro stammered through a gulp, smiling like nothing happened immediately after. "Uh-huh," you began with a chuckle before nodding in Johnny's direction, "let's go catch up with him before we lose him to Diego." Gyro nodded and let out his signature laugh once more, kicking his heels into Valkyrie's sides and consequently racing after Johnny. You weren't too far behind afterward, eventually falling beside him and Valkyrie. It wasn't long until you both caught up to Johnny, Diego nowhere to be seen (to your relief).

"Fucking...Dammit...Damn Brit... God... Hope he...Dead fucker..." You grimaced as you pulled Thunderstruck up next to Slow Dancer and Johnny who seemed...a bit upset. You glanced over at Gyro who gave you a confused look as you sighed softly. "Heeey, Johnny," you began leaning away slightly, "how's...everything going?" Gyro deadpanned as you struggled to talk to Johnny without sounding extremely awkward. Not that you could really help it when Johnny was all pissed off like this. The last thing you needed was a few nail bullets in the head— you shuddered.

"Okay, uh, Johnny, seriously, did something happen?" you asked as Johnny stopped his sulking and sighed. "Nothing really, it's just...I already lost him! Diego!" Johnny spat angrily, leaning back in his saddle to run his fingers through his hair with desperation, "God, I just had to lose everything! I'm just a crippled piece of shit who can't ride for...well, shit!" Your brow furrowed as you laid a hand on his shoulder, making him turn to you in response. "Look, I'm not going to deny you're crippled because...you are. But, you are one of the best riders I've seen in this race—" Gyro huffed as if waiting for something, "—and Gyro too."

Johnny gave you a tentative glance and you smiled, eyes crinkling to convey it despite the bandana covering your lower face. "Now, c'mon, don't beat yourself up! If we leave now, there's still a chance we can pass Diego!" Gyro nodded and hummed as Johnny took a deep breath, looking away from you with a mumble. "Fine." You grinned and patted his back before leading Thunderstruck down the path, not noticing the way Johnny's ears had burned a bright red. "C'mon, now! We have to get to that mountain," Gyro added, pointing at the mound of land that peeked out in the distance.

Soon enough, you were all back in the groove you all had, traveling quickly as desert turned to rocks and grass, trees popping up sparsely. "Speaking of mountains, I guess it'll get a bit colder," you mumbled, Thunderstruck huffing in response. Gyro guffawed before smirking, "that just means we'll be huddling up in that tent of yours, Speedwagon!" Your face flushed and you couldn't help when your mind wandered to thoughts of the three of you in that tiny little tent. Your mouth went dry as you coughed into your fist, ignoring how Johnny and Gyro erupted into laughter. The cough soon became a small growl when they didn't stop, "keep laughing, won't you?"

When Johnny and Gyro's laughter only got worse, you frowned. "I bet you two wouldn't be laughing if I invited Diego to come join us in my tent...you know, to huddle," you grumbled with a brief smirk, ears still pink from what Johnny and Gyro had been joking about. Their laughter was gone as soon as the words left your mouth, Johnny's brows furrowing, "that wasn't funny." You tilted your chin down knowingly and peered at Johnny from under the brim of your hat, "I don't know... I thought it was hilarious." Gyro shook his head, golden teeth in a grimace, "absolutely not."

"Uh-huh..."

As you all rode on, the trees thickened and the sand of the desert was gone, replaced by rocks and loose dirt. You weren't sure how long it had been when the hot air balloons appeared above them, leaving behind a trail of flyers that detailed their current standing. Gyro was the only one who managed to catch one as they maneuvered through the rocky terrain. "Uhh... Kuhhhhh... Uuuuh... Kuah!" Gyro's subhuman noises were the only things keeping you distracted from impending doom as you traversed atop some cliffside paths. "Great... Just wonderful! Although there's no mistake that I'll finish first in the third stage... I'll get one hundred points from this stage... so I'll only have 136 in total..."

"136 points after this stage still won't give me a lead over Diego or Sandman!" You giggled at Gyro's despaired state, looking over your shoulder with a hidden grin. "Say, Gyro, what place am I in?" you questioned with an even wider grin, turning back just after watching him roll his eyes. A smirk pulled itself onto his lips as scanned the sheet. "Well, if I remember correctly, I got one place higher than—" the smirk fell back to a frown as Gyro went wide-eyed looking at the sheet, "you placed higher than me? With... sixty-five points?!" Gyro's screech immediately after made you cackle, moving closer to Johnny as Gyro mumbled just loud enough for you to hear.

"Johnny and Speedwagon... damn bastards! If Johnny gets first, he'll have a total of 180 points and if Speedwagon gets first, he'll have 165 points!" You held back your laughter as Gyro continued sulking, cursing you and Johnny out. "They said they's finish after me... those promise-breaking betrayers! This can't be happening! And it's hard to believe that Diego and Sandman will finish without any points since they are ahead of us... not gonna happen... but it would be so good..." You had been so enthralled by Gyro's little speech that you had barely registered Johnny stopping a small ways ahead of you both.

"Look, Gyro! Speedwagon! Diego's sitting down over there!" Johnny exclaimed and you pulled Thunder to stand beside him, "that's Diego's horse. But it's strange... they're off course." True to his word, there Diego sat, head in his hands. Did something happen? You couldn't help but grow anxious and worried as Gyro pulled up beside you and Johnny, binoculars up to his eyes. "Looks like he fell," Gyro began, his lips quirking up just slightly and making you scoff silently, "he's bleeding from his cheek." You sat up quickly— Diego was hurt and bleeding down there without anyone to help. You could feel your breath get caught in your throat,

"He fell?" repeated Johnny in disbelief, "Diego actually fell?" Gyro didn't stop looking through his binoculars, making you fidget in your saddle, hoping he'd let you take a look for yourself. "Well, it is a mountain course. Could be that he and his horse aren't made for this type of land," Gyro said matter-of-factly, making you grimace. From what little you knew of Diego, even you knew it was extremely out of character (though wasn't that proposal in a similar fashion?). You brought your lip between your teeth as Gyro straightened up with a confused hum.

"He cuddled up! He fell over holding his head," Gyro began, making you finally reach over and pull the binoculars over so you could see as well, not caring for how Gyro's cheek was pressed against your own awkwardly. True to his word, Diego was curled up in the dirt, blood cascading from an unseen wound. "Diego falling off his horse... that's just hard to believe. But... by the looks of things, it seems like he'll be a little behind. He may have to drop out even." You couldn't help but let out a small whine and handed Gyro back his binoculars with a tight crease in your brow.

"Let's go."

"What?! No! We can't leave him there!" you said abruptly, biting your tongue when Gyro and Johnny looked at you with raised brows. "I... It's just- That's just inhumane!" Gyro grinned and pulled Valkyries closer to Thunderstruck with a thumb pointing at Diego, "Speedwagon is right. Ah... I didn't know you were that kind of person, Johnny," Gyro began as you suddenly remembered how cold Johnny had been back when he and Gyro saved you before the second stage began. "I'm the type that laughs at others' misfortunes, myself and it'd be great if he didn't get any points in this stage... but it might be a life-threatening wound... let's check it out."

You paused to look at Gyro, heart beating a tad faster than usual. It was gone as soon as Johnny glared at you and Gyro from over his shoulder. "It's best that you two stay away from Diego." Gyro grinned and leaned back in his saddle, "come on, where's your compassion?" Johnny sighed and turned Slow Dancer around so he could look at you and Gyro directly. "He can't be trusted. Diego is Britain's honorable genius jockey, but he will do anything for money and to win. That's what people say." You scoffed under your breath and crossed your arms as Johnny continued.

"There are many shady rumors," Johnny said with darkness to his eyes that made you gulp, "for example, when he was twenty, he married an 83-year-old widow to inherit her fortune." You froze— Diego was married? And to an old woman no less. Your heart felt like it had shattered as you glanced over your shoulder to gaze down at Diego with a lip clenched between your teeth. "The widow died half a year later... it's rumored that Diego killed her." It was then that your entire body went cold. It was almost impossible for you to look at Diego without feeling a shudder run down your spine now.

"So what you want to say is..." Gyro's voice was enough to snap you out of your thoughts and you couldn't help but feel thankful. "He may be trying to trick us like that... and in this situation, it's possible that he's connected to the terrorists." You looked between Johnny and Gyro and then finally settled on Diego, furrowing your brow before leading Thunderstruck towards the cliffside. It wasn't impossibly steep but had someone not gone down the slope purposefully, it was definitely dangerous. "So, Speedwagon? What's your verdict?" Gyro asked— it didn't take much for you to have an answer.

"WE HAVE TO GO CHECK."

Chapter Text

"SPEEDWAGON, think about this," Johnny warned, grimacing as you looked over at Gyro who leaned back in his saddle to look at Johnny from behind you. "Look, Johnny, maybe he would try and trick you if he was about to lose to you, but he's ranked first! Why would he do that?" Johnny scoffed lowly and looked to the side as Gyro slowly led Valkyrie down the steep slope. With one last tentative glance at Johnny over your shoulder, you followed Gyro, making sure Thunderstruck was taking the same steps as Valkyrie was. Surprisingly though, Johnny had trailed right behind you, a frown still on his face.

"Ouch!" Your eyes snapped over to where Gyro was, your breath unknowingly catching in your throat. "Gyro, are you okay?" you called as Thunderstruck grew antsy where she stood. "I'm fine," answered Gyro who had gotten off Valkyrie to calm her down as well, "the ground over here... it's awfully sharp land. Valkyrie is reacting too." You hummed and decided to get off of Thunderstruck, patting her neck with soft coos. "Do you think Diego's horse was just as surprised?" you asked aloud as you slowly backed away from Thunderstruck to stand beside Gyro. "Probably."

You grit your teeth as Gyro picked up Diego's helmet from where it laid beside Valkyrie, tossing it over at him haphazardly. "Hey, Diego! Are you alright?! If you want the rescue team to come, just say so! I'll call them!" You side-eyed Gyro, hitting his bicep with the back of your hand before carefully sidestepping your way over to Diego. "What are you doing?!" whisper-shouted Gyro as Johnny steadied Slow Dancer, keeping his widened eyes trained on you. "We can't help him from afar, idiot!" Gyro held up a finger only to drop it back by his side while closing his mouth.

"Diego? It's me Speedwagon," you began awkwardly as you noticed Diego was shaking terribly, "you need help, now. I... I can help you." You gulped when you noticed how much blood had pooled by his head and continued inching closer. "Diego...?" You could feel Johnny's frantic gaze on the back of your head as Diego slowly began to move, head raising to meet your eyes. You had reached an arm out to help Diego instinctively yet before you knew it, you were only inches away from him with his eyes glaring holes into yours.

"Speedwagon!"

Diego was so close. So close you could feel his labored breaths on your face. Each breath he let out tickled the fabric of your bandana and at that moment you couldn't help but note how blue his eyes were. You hadn't even registered the glower on his face— you were too busy taking every other feature in. The crinkles of his nose, the three little birthmarks that sat on his ear, the arch of his lips; by the time you had noticed the recognition in his eyes, it was too late.

"Miss (y/n)?"

A scorching chill overtook your entire being and you could have fainted then and there. Your heart pounded terribly in your ears, threatening to beat out of your chest. Diego— how could he tell? You must have gotten this close to Johnny and Gyro at some point and they hadn't recognized you as the girl they saved or as a girl at all. While your mind ran rampant, Diego leaned his head on your shoulder, staining it a nauseating crimson. You didn't dare turn around and gauge Gyro and Johnny's reaction.

"H-How?" you stammered as tears rushed forward— you hadn't felt this terrified since the beginning of the race. When you thought you had finally overcome at least a portion of your fears, you felt like you had gone straight back to square one. "How did you know?" Diego didn't move an inch while your mouth ran completely dry. "Know what?! Speedwagon, what's he doing?!" yelled Johnny, breaking you out of your terrorizing panic. Gyro and Johnny hadn't heard Diego.

"Oh? You haven't told them?" Diego asked, mumbling his words into your fabric-covered skin and making you shudder. "Shall I tell them?" Diego was glaring holes into your neck, his cheek an infinitesimal distance away from yours. "Tell us what?" Gyro glowered making your heart sink into your stomach, pleading silently with Diego. In response, he spun you around and against his chest, one hand wrapping around you to grab your chin almost as if he was going to reveal your identity to Gyro and Johnny. Tears gathered in your eyes but you didn't dare bring out Iron Maiden— if Diego somehow found out you had a stand, it would be no good for any of you in the race.

"Let him go, Diego!" Johnny shouted about to lead Slow Dancer forward until Gyro held out an arm to stop them. "Don't," Gyro warned, keeping his eyes trained on you and Diego. You could feel your breath slowly pick up until your vision grew darker and blurred. As if he could somehow sense this, Diego suddenly pushed you away, looking down at you when you hit the rough terrain. "I'll pass all of you up in the race," Diego scowled before glaring at Gyro and Johnny, "now get lost." Gyro had helped you to your feet quickly as you held your wrist, hoping that the face of your wristwatch was unscathed.

"Speedwagon! Did he hurt you? Let me see—" You pulled your wrist away before Gyro could take it into his careful hands, eyes looking anywhere but at his hurt expression. "Uh, I- I'm... I'm sorry," you muttered, shakily making your way back to Thunderstruck where you struggled to get up on your horse. Gyro looked over at Johnny who did the same, both of them grimacing until you finally got onto your saddle. "Looks like he's fine! Whether it's a trap or not, he's too healthy! That's great! Let's go, guys," Gyro blabbered as he hopped onto Valkyrie and led her up the slope.

Johnny followed behind but you faltered, locking eyes with Diego as he fell back on the palms of his hands, reaching up to rest one hand against his wound. Your heart clenched but you simply couldn't feel bad after what he had done. Sure, he had threatened you more than anything but— you tore your eyes away from him and followed after Johnny, not noticing the looks shared between Gyro and Johnny. Once you were all on solid ground, you sighed, leading Thunderstruck forward before Johnny or Gyro had a chance to say anything.

Not even a minute later, Gyro had pulled Valkyrie up beside you, a look of concern spread across his face. It looked unusual there— you had always known Gyro to look at you with disdain or anger. After the fight with the short man and the apology shared between you two, he was much nicer. Although you weren't used to this new Gyro, you certainly couldn't complain. After eighteen days of constant fights (and moments where you feared for your life), you could definitely get used to his new sentiment towards you.

"Speedwagon, were you actually okay back there?" Gyro asked, brows furrowed tightly as you tried not to let the shock from earlier show in your demeanor. "Um...yeah. Fine, really." He leaned back in his saddle and hummed, a smirk tugging at his lips. "So you won't mind if I test out my newest joke on you?" Gyro asked with a raised brow and a golden grin. You huffed just enough for your bandana rise up slightly— your breath caught in your throat and you slapped a hand over the fabric, cursing your luck as Gyro's smile dropped.

"Speedwagon-"

"Gyro. I... I just need some time alone. Please."

You hated pushing Gyro away as soon as you had finally become close to him but you couldn't risk lashing out at him and losing all the progress you both had made. Gyro's serious expression was the last you saw before you turned back to face the long road ahead of you, attempting to distract yourself with the idea of winning the next stage. Or at least just surviving. Your body sagged against Thunderstruck's saddle and you pushed forward, the stress of being found out as a woman already affecting you.

For the next few hours of riding on the small mountain trail, you ignored the low whispers between Gyro and Johnny in an attempt to assure yourself that they didn't know. They couldn't have known. You and Diego were too far away from them for them to hear Diego's mumbles. Your heart felt like it was running a thousand miles per hour all the while you got closer and closer to the end of your trip for the night.

"Hey, Speedwagon!" You bit down hard on your tongue, making you throw your head down in pain, cradling your face as Thunder slowed to a stop. "Woah, you good?" Tears pooled at the corner of your eyes as you slowly raised your head to meet Gyro's concerned face. That face again. That damn face. Your heart picked up as you swallowed back a cry and nodded instead. "Jutht bwit my ton-gh," you mustered, wincing every time your teeth brushed up against the sensitive muscle.

"Oh... Well, we're stopping here for the night," Gyro added, pointing back at Johnny with his thumb. You nodded slowly, ignoring Gyro's gaze piercing into the side of your head. As you hopped off of Thunder, you were sure to make sure you looked normal. Normal as in the least feminine way possible. You puffed up your chest and shoved your hands in your pockets, swaggering over to Johnny who, when he turned to greet you, looked stunned. You instantly stopped in your tracks and scrambled back to the way you usually stood. Or at least the way you thought you did— trying to stand normally seemed more awkward than not trying.

"Uh, you okay there, Speedwagon?" asked Johnny, spinning off of Slow Dancer and onto the ground before grabbing his wheelchair and setting it down in his lap, "you've been acting real strange." You grimaced under the bandana but instead of coming up with some stupid joke or excuse, you let your shoulders sink and you just laughed. It was a dry laugh, one that would usually slip out from your lips when your father avoided you in the halls of your small home and ran to your brothers instead— a laugh of frustration and anger.

"That damn... That damn, Dio." 

You weren't sure when the tears fell down your cheeks, staining your bandana. You were sure of when you felt a tentative tug on the sleeve of your shirt, leading you to a nearby rock. You followed without a second thought and let your whole body sag against the hard surface, not caring for how Johnny looked up at you from his seat on his wheelchair, or how Gyro stood beside you, avoiding your sagging form. You knew that you shouldn't have cried around them— you knew it was taboo— even if Johnny had burst out into tears so many times himself, but you simply told yourself those were justified because he was a real man.

You weren't a real man. You were just a fool in men's clothing that would eventually be found out for the fake you were. The longer you put up that front, the more trouble you'd get in once you were found out later. The longer you lied, the more you knew that the way Gyro and Johnny acted around you would be completely different. You knew they'd act just how they did when you were just that stranger in the street who needed saving. A weak woman who'd never amount to anything. A woman who would always need saving.

"Speedwagon. What did Dio say... tell us. Please," asked Johnny, tugging at your sleeve once more as you let another soft chuckle slip from your lips. You moved your hand away from Johnny's slowly, taking your wristwatch-wearing arm into it instead, brushing over it through the thin fabric of your shirt. Your mouth felt dry and it tasted like the dirt that flew up around you when Thunderstruck rushed past the second stage finish line. 

Maybe...you'd lie a little longer. 

"He insulted Robert and my family... Dio, that damn prick."

After all, what's a little more lying when you've been lying to yourself for almost a year?

ESPECIALLY ABOUT ROBERT.

Chapter Text

"SO, YOU WANT to learn from the best, huh?" Your eyes narrowed in the bright sun as you peeked your head out from between the flaps of your tent. "What...Gyro, what are you on about," you grumbled, raising a hand to stop the sun's rays from annoying you even more than Gyro was. "What am I on about...?! Speedwagon, as your new best friend, I figured I'd show you the tricks of the trade!" You found Johnny sitting by the fire, a pan in his hands as he gave you a look of pity. "Gyro, I genuinely don't know what you're talking about." Gyro gasped dramatically, raising a hand to his chest in mock offense.

"I'm talking about riding your horse, of course!" Gyro said with a giggle while Johnny turned to him, "wow...you rhymed, Gyro." Gyro giggled again, placing his hands on his hips with a toothy grin, "nyo-ho!" You groaned and adjusted the hat on your head glaring from below the brim. "I think I'm good," you muttered, pulling your head back between the flaps, not expecting Gyro to shove his head through right after you. "You're not good!" Gyro practically screamed as you winced at his loudness, "if you're gonna be seen with me, I'll have to train you to be the best."

Before you could say another word, Gyro was dragging you out by the arm, making you stumble out into the area you all had camped in. You raised a brow when you saw Thunder all saddled up and ready to go, standing awkwardly in the middle of an empty plot of land a few meters away. "Uh...what exactly more do I need to learn?" you asked, turning your head over your shoulder to look at Gyro confused. Gyro leaned back slightly as if leaning against something that wasn't there, and smiled, "the spin."

You went wide-eyed and looked back at Johnny who stared at Gyro blankly. "It's not what you think it is," Johnny said with a huff, "Gyro said you didn't need it because your stand was already strong." You looked back at Gyro who cleared his throat, the tips of his ears a soft pink. "Anyways! I'll be showing you how to make Thunder spin which will help with your turns." You furrowed your brow and crossed your arms, "what's wrong with my turns?" Gyro opened his mouth to say something but you sighed and just walked toward Thunderstruck who looked less than pleased.

"Okay! So! First, sit normal," Gyro called as you got up onto Thunder's saddle. "Uhh," you faltered and grew tenser as you sat there, "you telling me to sit 'normal' isn't helping at all." You got no warning before Gyro reached up and pushed your hips back, making you sit up stiffly. "W-Wha-" "Like that." Your face felt like it was on fire but when you snuck a peek at Gyro, his ears burned bright red. With a gulp, you turned back to stare at your mock campground. Johnny was still cooking, though there was a slight crick in his brow that you noticed even from afar.

"Okay now get your horse moving," Gyro added, patting Thunder's neck before stepping away. You nodded awkwardly but squeezed your thighs to move her forward, lurching back a bit when Thunder started walking quickly. You could only imagine she wanted this to be over as soon as possible— so did you. "Let her turn where she wants to go but try to keep her in a circle," Gyro said with matching hand movements that made you chuckle under your breath. "If you say so," you snickered, making Thunder walk in a circle.

"Now, try pulling the reins to the side when you get the chance. Not too fast, though," Gyro coached as you slowly lessened the slack on the reins and followed what he had instructed you to do. After a few seconds, Thunder seemed to somewhat understand and spun a bit, making Gyro grin. You couldn't help but smile back, despite your bandana covering it up, as your entire body filled with excitement. "She might pull out of the spin a few times so just keep repeating it for a bit and you're set to go, my friend."

You didn't notice when Gyro stepped away to sit beside Johnny, sighing heavily. "What's wrong, Gyro?" asked Johnny, eyes never tearing away from the food he was still working on making. "I...Is it odd if I miss the old Speedwagon?" Gyro mumbled, staring off after you as Johnny grimaced and looked up. "The one you made fun of for being scared?" asked Johnny with a huff, making Gyro shake his head. "No! I mean...it's just different. He's different. Ever since Diego..." Gyro trailed off, eyes going hard as Johnny took the pan off the flickering flames. "Gyro, you know you're going to have to come to terms with the fact that he won't tell us what Diego said, right?"

"Don't remind me, stronzo," Gyro grumbled, looking over as you and Thunderstruck continued making progress. It wouldn't be instantaneous, but Gyro had to admit you were a pretty quick learner. "I'll keep reminding you until you understand," Johnny proclaimed while fishing some metal plates from his bag, "you guys have only been on good terms for...what... a few days now? It's weird that you care so much about him, honestly. Creepy, even." Gyro scoffed and beamed a golden grin while awaiting his breakfast, "is somebody jealous, nyo-ho?"

Johnny deadpanned, glad that the sunburn from out in the desert could hide his rosy cheeks, "no. I'm just pointing out the obvious, dipshit." Gyro rolled his eyes playfully and stretched his arms out over his head, slumping slightly afterward. "Sure... now where is my meal, Johnny?" Gyro chortled, making Johnny almost chuck the plate over. As Gyro cackled, Johnny looked over at you, who seemed much happier. He had to say, when it came to distractions, Gyro was pretty good at them considering you didn't seem as agitated as you had been since you all ran into Diego.

"Hey, Speedwagon! Breakfast is ready," Johnny called out, holding up a plate for you to see from where you and Thunder stood. "Oh. Thanks, Jojo," you replied with a smile he couldn't see, sliding off of Thunderstruck with relative ease as Johnny froze. Jojo? That nickname again. He could feel himself flush but to his relief, Gyro was too busy scarfing down his food to notice. With grit teeth, he replied, "no problem." Johnny swallowed hard when you walked over to him, the crinkles in your eyes making his lips twitch into a soft smile of his own.

"Wow, I didn't think we'd have any bacon left over," you mumbled, the crinkles around your eyes growing deeper. Johnny's heart could almost skip a beat— but it wasn't like he liked you. You were a guy after all. As you took a seat across from him and Gyro, the only thing Johnny could hear was you and Gyro eating and the pounding of his heart. Johnny stared down at his plate, fiddling with the biscuit on it awkwardly. Aside from just eating, it was silent, not a word shared amongst them. It wasn't like it was all that unusual but something about this time felt off.

"Speedwagon...what did Diego say to you?"

"Gyro, I told you I didn't want to talk about it," you spat, your fingers digging into the metal of the flimsy plate in your hands. Gyro's brow furrowed and he set his plate down on his lap, a grimace set into his features. "I know. But you have been acting strange ever since!" Johnny swallowed hard, looking between you and Gyro, noticing how the plate had started to shake. "Gyro, cut it-" "No! Speedwagon! What did he say?!" Your eyes narrowed and the shadow over your eyes from the brim of your hat darkened.

"I don't want to keep repeating myself, Gyro," you grumbled as Gyro sat up straighter, his features pulled tight. "Gyro, let it go," Johnny exasperated, pulling on Gyro's cape, only for Gyro to shrug him off. "Neither do I, Speedwagon. I just want to know what's bothering you!" Johnny heard a distinct crack and watched as the tin plate began folding in on itself whilst still in your hands. Neither you nor Gyro seemed to notice, far too busy glaring at each other. Johnny could almost sigh— you two were practically back to how you both used to be with each other.

"God! Why does it matter so much to you?! Huh?!" you yelled, as the tin plate began to resemble a crumpled-up piece of paper. "I don't know! It bothers me!" Johnny went wide-eyed and your face softened for just a moment, eyes glassy as you watched to see if Gyro would continue. "I...you..." You were at a loss for words until Gyro opened his mouth again, making Johnny sigh aloud. "You being all weird is going to throw all of us off! Then we won't place high in the next round!" It was only then that Gyro saw the balled-up, tin plate, now so compacted in on itself, it was smooth.

"That's what matters to you...?" Gyro went pale as you glared down at him, letting the far-gone plate fall beside your feet when you stood up. "What if it is?! Huh?!" Guro retaliated, standing up as well, now looking down at you. But you didn't relent like Johnny thought you would. Instead, you stepped forward, grabbing Gyro by the collar as you tackled him to the ground. "You piece of shit!" Johnny cursed under his breath and rolled over on his wheelchair as you and Gyro tugged and pulled at each other's clothing— Gyro's hair was knotted between your fingers and the fabric of your shirt was taut between Gyro's fists.

"Stop it!" Johnny yelled, attempting to grab at the back of Gyro's cape once more but to no avail. "Shit- Gyro! Speedwagon! Cut this shit out!" Neither of you listened and you continued your fighting, opposing hands grabbing at the other. All Johnny could hear was you and Gyro's yelling and cursing, your gasps of air before you both went in to tug and pull and thrash. "You're such an asshole!" Johnny heard you cry through the mess of grunting and screaming as Gyro didn't relent. "You're the one that won't tell us what's wrong!" After a short, frustrated scream, you slapped at Gyro's arms, trying to push him hard onto the ground. "I told you I don't want to!" 

"Why not?!"

"Because I'm scared!" 

Gyro froze as you stopped hitting him, your hands limply swatting at his hands as you sat back on your heels, ashamed. Johnny rolled up beside Gyro, watching as you kept your gaze fixated on the ground. "I'm... I'm scared, alright?" you began, not letting Gyro or Johnny catch a glimpse of your eyes that were seconds away from letting tears fall. "I know that's the last thing I'm allowed to be." Gyro looked over at Johnny but he couldn't tear his eyes off of you. It didn't make sense. "Speedwagon... why would you be afraid if all Diego did was insult Robert?" Johnny noticed the way your shoulders jumped ever so slightly under his gaze.

"Diego...he didn't insult Robert," you mumbled as Gyro's brow furrowed, "Diego threatened me with...stuff." Johnny could feel himself sink when your vagueness returned and he peered at Gyro who seemed utterly fed up. "Stuff? What stuff? Speedwagon, tell us now!" You bit your lip, although they couldn't see, frustrated. "I told you already! I don't want to talk about it-" Your hand flew to your mouth, tense as your head fell forward. Johnny's arms were on your shoulders instantly, holding you upright as your head swayed slightly. "Speedwagon? What's wrong?" He could feel his voice waver as Gyro looked at him with a tight grimace.

"Don't tell me..." Gyro trailed off, sliding his hand under the brim of your hat to rest against your forehead, "...Speedwagon. How long have you been sick?" You weakly swatted his hand away, letting your head hang as Johnny tried desperately to keep you upright whilst still in his wheelchair. "I'm not sick, asshole," you muttered, noticing just how light Robert's hat felt on your head. Even your bandana felt a bit looser than normal. "I got better after that fight with the bamboo guy," you claimed, not acknowledging how your neck felt like it was covered by more of your hair than usual, "this is normal if anything. It will probably only be here for a few hours and then go away."

Gyro kept his mouth shut, knowing that all you were spouting were excuses that bordered on lies. Considering his background, he knew that the last thing your sickness would do was go away if you caught it once more. He could only blame it on the stress that Diego had caused by his still unknown threat. Gyro grit his teeth as you stumbled back onto your feet, Johnny sitting close by to make sure you wouldn't fall back down. "Fine. If you say so," Gyro grumbled, stomping over to Valkyrie who whinnied and huffed when Gyro angrily made his way onto the saddle. 

"SINCE YOU'RE 'FEELING BETTER', WE HAVE A RACE TO WIN."

Chapter Text

AFTER A day and a half of not talking to Gyro, you had to admit it hurt your feeling a little. Would you ever say that out loud? No. Plus, not talking to Gyro kept him from asking you every five seconds if you were okay or not, and with the way your headaches kept coming and going in waves, you were extremely glad. Well, extremely may have been an overstatement— the point was, now that you and Gyro weren't talking, you could focus on nursing yourself back to health in silence without being interrogated every breathing moment. It was...nice. Yeah, it was definitely nice.

You tried your best not to space out as Thunderstruck followed close behind Johnny and Gyro but found that you couldn't help how your vision drifted over to Gyro, no matter how hard you tried. Though you hoped he didn't realize, you had a feeling he had noticed a long time ago. When you found yourself looking at the back of Gyro's head, you forcefully tore your gaze to the heavy forestation all around you. The lush green was entrancing in your sick state and as Thunder maneuvered through the small obstacles in the path, you couldn't help but smile. Your relaxation, however, was interrupted by a cough full of phlegm.

You brought your elbow to your mouth, coughing directly into your bandana regardless. When you pulled your arm away, you grimaced and picked up the edge of the fabric around your mouth so you could spit out the foul-tasting spit in your mouth. "Guh," you moaned in disgust, sniffling away tears as you caught Johnny looking at you in concern. "Speedwagon, do you want to take a break?" he asked as you shook your head fervently. "No, no, I'll be fine. I don't want to slow us down," you replied, looking over at Gyro as you uttered the last words.

Johnny looked awkwardly between you two and sighed, "Speedwagon. I'm serious. If we need to stop-" You grimaced, a knot forming in your brow as you glared hard at him. "So am I. I'm fine," you said through grit teeth, biting back a groan when your head started to pound again. You really didn't mean to be mean to Johnny, but the headaches and the soon-to-be sore throat were not helping your case. You winced at the sharp pain in your temple and gripped Thunder's reins tighter, letting your head hang low for a moment. Johnny's gaze lingered on you a bit longer and he too turned back around, his shoulders sagging.

When you looked back up, your vision blurred, making you blink harshly until it was back to normal. Maybe you should just take a break. Your mouth opened to tell Johnny you had changed your mind but then kept it shut. Could you really ask that after being so rude to him? A pool of guilt settled at your stomach and you kept your gaze low, biting back your throat-killing coughs. Instead, you sniffled back your snot, hoping it would somehow soothe the ache. Sure, it was disgusting, but you had more important things to worry about than whether it was gross or not. While you fought off a sneeze, Johnny had perked up, head swinging back and forth.

"Did you guys see that?"

"See what?" Gyro asked as you rubbed at your nose which had done nothing but leave you with that terrible itch you'd get before sneezing. "There...There was someone in the bushes!" Gyro raised a brow at Johnny but you had not even registered that they had spoken in the first place. You were far too focused on trying not to cough up a lung or fall off your horse— you were seriously starting to think about just swallowing your pride and asking Johnny regardless of your guilt. Surely, Johnny would understand. Your temple throbbed and you groaned, holding a hand against your temple.

"Hey, Johnny..." When you wearily glanced up at Johnny and Gyro, you were met with their frantic expressions. "Speedwagon!" You had no time to react when you were pulled backward, something tight wrapping around your neck and arm. A scream barely left you as the rope pulled your wrist tight against your throat and you fell to the ground, hard. There were stars in your vision as you writhed in the dirt, gasping frantically for air. Thunderstruck bucked wildly, blocking your view of Johnny or Gyro as you reached a hand out in front of you.

You had little time to think as (what you deduced was) a rope pulled tighter against your neck. A choked cough slipped from your lips and you flailed hopelessly, bringing your free hand to try and pry away the rope. The corners of your vision went dark and it was only then that panic started to set in. "He...lp...me," you mustered out, tears gathering in the corners of your eyes. You could feel the hat on your head start to slip, no longer held up by Iron Maiden's latent power. Breathing was starting to hurt now and you could feel drool slip from the corner of your mouth. 

The more and more you struggled, the weaker you felt— it was downright terrifying. You could feel the last bits of oxygen escape you in ragged breaths as time seemed to slow down. Were you really going to die like this? Thunderstruck had finally gotten out of the way, enough for you to see the faces of Gyro and Johnny. You had figured after the fights and your lashing out from being sick that they would have left you to die there. A part of you had hoped otherwise and that same part rejoiced when you saw their expressions.

Johnny had been pointing his index finger at whoever was behind you, angry tears in his eyes. His blue-painted nails were ready to be shot and his index finger was devoid of one already. It was then that you had decided that you never would want to see him make such an expression again. Gyro, on the other hand, had such a powerful look in his eye, that your heart soared. Both his steel balls were soaring for whoever had attacked you, his golden teeth bared. If you got out of this alive, you might even kiss them both. You could feel your eyes water with joy and before you knew it, you could breathe again.

You took in a deep breath of air, chest heaving as you coughed the oxygen back into your lungs. Johnny and Gyro were at your side immediately, Gyro pulling you to lean onto his lap as you gripped Johnny's forearm tightly. None of you could say a word as you steadied your breathing, brow furrowed in discomfort. Johnny rested a hand over the one that held his arm, leaning forward to stare worriedly at you until you finally managed a phlegm-filled cough. You turned away Gyro and Johnny to spit out the glob, heaving when you flopped back. 

"Are...you okay?" Gyro asked, albeit slightly awkward, as you hummed in confirmation. "Y-Yeah," you rasped out, tilting your head back to meet Gyro's narrowed ones. All you could see in his green eyes was worry and it almost made you laugh. How could you think that Gyro was going to leave you to die? You turned to Johnny too, finding that same look in his eyes. A chuckle managed to escape you and it slowly devolved into full-blown laughter. Johnny and Gyro shared a look as you twisted around on Gyro's lap.

"I-I'm sorry, I just..." you steadied yourself as you turned to look at each of them, "I...thought you guys were going to let him kill me. I wouldn't put it past either of you, though. I'm sure I've been a pain." Johnny's brow furrowed and he punched your shoulder, a grimace across his pretty features. "Don't think like that, idiot." There was still a rim of red around his eyes and the tip of his nose was a matching color with his eyelashes bunched together. "And you, Gyro?" you asked after wincing at Johnny's held-back punch, "I've been pretty annoying, huh?" 

"Huuuh? Do you really think that low of me?!" Gyro cried, offended as you laughed once more. "Well...if Johnny here wasn't on the verge of tears, I wouldn't have done anything!" Johnny gaped at Gyro as you gathered as much strength as you could to sit up. The throbbing of your head was nothing compared to the stinging around your neck and arm. "Regardless, thanks. Both of you," you smiled, the bandana covering the lower portion of your face crinkling to match. Johnny and Gyro both smiled back and it was then that you remembered that you hadn't even gotten a look at the culprit. 

You turned behind you to see a man dressed in all black, a lasso in the same color still sitting a few feet away. You brushed off the shudder when you picked up the rope, letting it set heavily in your hands. "I thought he was a stand user," you muttered, thumb brushing over the fraying rope, "guess I was wrong." Johnny leaned on the palms of his hands, glaring at the dead man a good distance away from you. "He's dead anyway, so it doesn't matter anymore," Johnny said simply, letting out a low whistle that made Slow Dancer trot over to his side. 

He spun onto the saddle with ease and you shakily got on your knees, not expecting for a set of large hands to pull you up onto your feet, leaving you to stumble against the owner. Your gaze shot up, meeting Gyro's widened eyes. You couldn't help the gasp that slipped from your lips and you pushed him away slightly, not expecting to feel so lightheaded. Your knees buckled below you and Gyro was there just in time to hold you up once more, letting out his signature laugh when you looked anywhere but him.

"Wow, Johnny, could you believe it? Speedwagon is falling for me!" Gyro cackled as you deadpanned, gathering fistfuls of the fabric of Gyro's arm warmers. "Augh! Just let me go, asshole!" you screeched as Johnny placed a palm on his cheek in mock surprise. "I never could have seen that coming!" Johnny drawled out sarcastically as you groaned and thrashed in Gyro's grip, "whatever will I do though? My love for Speedwagon has me weak in the knees." "Grahhhh!" You felt your face flush with embarrassment as Gyro smirked in satisfaction.

Thunderstruck trotted over to your relief while Gyro and Johnny kept adding to their running gag. You squirmed out of Gyro's grasp quickly and pulled yourself onto Thunder's saddle, grimacing as Gyro pinched his chin between his index finger and his thumb. "Speedwagon, oh handsome Speedwagon, let me declare my love for you publicly at the next stage!" Gyro chortled suddenly as he got onto Valkyrie, leading you and Johnny back onto the main path. You hadn't realized that you had ever strayed off of it earlier.

"I cannot let you do such things, Gyro," added Johnny flatly, dragging out his words to add sarcastic drama to it. "Why not, Johnny?! You dare get between our love?!" You flushed and kept your gaze straight ahead, not daring to look at either of the annoying men surrounding you. Even if they were joking around, you could feel your heart race uncomfortably fast. There was no way they were joking like this after you had almost died. Well, at least it lightened the mood. Thunder huffed exasperatedly beneath you as if feeling the same way you did about the joking. 

"Yes...I do," Johnny quipped as Gyro grabbed frantically at his chest, right over his heart. "I thought we were family! You said you would support me and my future. That future is with Speedwagon!" Gyro had started talking in a high-pitched voice as if mimicking a woman. You rolled your eyes and patted Thunder again when she huffed once more. "I cannot accept that because...um," Johnny stopped to think momentarily and then raised a finger, "I will be marrying Speedwagon."

You shuddered at those words, suddenly remembering someone who was actually looking for your hand in marriage. A grimace tugged at your lips and you held up a hand, sighing. "Stop. You're both going to make me sicker than I already am," you said exasperatedly, leaning back in your saddle. "Never!" Gyro yelled with a golden grin as you groaned loudly, looking at Johnny pleadingly. "Sorry Speedwagon. Who else would you marry other than me?"

"I am."

Your entire body went cold at the voice, making you whip your head around dizzyingly fast. There, in front of your very eyes, was Diego, a smirk across his lips. "Hey, wait. Valkyrie is freaking out!" Gyro, who had been patting Valkyrie confusedly turned as well, eyes going wide. You had supposed that they hadn't heard Diego the first time with the heavy footfall of all three of your horses. Now that Gyro had seen him though, there was no avoiding Diego. You gulped harshly as Gyro pointed at Diego in shock.

"IT'S HIM! IT'S DIOOO!"

Chapter Text

"DON'T LET your guards down! And don't let him pass us!" Gyro's yelling was drowned out by the fierce beating of your heart, your eyes unable to tear themselves away from the man behind you. "Hey, come on, guys. Don't take it that way! I'm done for today," Diego smirked and motioned at the sky, "the sun's starting to set! There's a small village ahead...let's stay there. Camping out is a bad idea." You didn't miss how Diego turned to you, looking at you with half-lidded eyes. Your mouth went dry and your cheeks felt like they had been set ablaze— that look was insinuating something you didn't need to think about.

"There are beasts out in this area. The other day, after sundown, I got surrounded by beasts. A few cougars and a few rattlesnakes," Diego rambled as you looked at Johnny and Gyro, who had given you a similar look of their own. Something was wrong with Diego. "The cougars and rattlesnakes were on two sides of the road, blocking my way out. I was thinking of how to escape...but then for some reason, I was able to pass on one side of the road. I was able to get by one of the two groups easily. Which side do you think it was? The cougars or the rattlesnakes?"

You could only watch Diego with a raised brow, stumped as to why he had been acting so casual around Gyro and Johnny. You could somewhat understand if he had acted that way around you— considering his marriage proposal and the fact that he knew who you were— but Gyro and Johnny? It was off, very off. "Oh, Speedwagon, you must know the answer," called Diego, making you sit up straighter on Thunder's saddle, "you are my brother-in-law-to-be after all!" Gyro and Johnny whipped their heads over to look at you who had been completely dumbfounded.

"R...Rattlesnakes?" you muttered, shocked that Diego had referred to you as such. At least he hadn't revealed who you were. Diego's face lit up with glee and he pointed at you excitedly. "Yes! The answer is rattlesnakes! Because they were assssssleep and ssssssnoring on the side of the road!" You gaped as Diego smiled widely, proud of himself. There was no way Diego Brando was making puns in the middle of a race. A shudder ran down your spine— there was no way this was Diego, it just couldn't be him.

"Hey, come on, it's a joke! Only a joke! What did you think?" Diego whined as you could barely utter a single word, completely and entirely baffled. "Then maybe they woke up and started sssssslapping each other... in their facessssss! Get it?" Diego was met with utter silence as you rode closer to Gyro and Johnny, weary of Diego, who had ridden closer to you than before. "Damn, I feel good! Everything is so refreshing! Splendid! Maybe because I fell back there!" Diego announced with a big grin that made your lips twitch up just slightly.

"Maybe because I have a gorgeous bride waiting for me at the end of the race!" You choked on the phlegm that had been gathering at the back of your throat, making you burst out into a coughing fit. It didn't help that Johnny and Gyro were looking at you like they wanted an explanation. But really, how were you going to explain to them that your fake sister was marrying Diego Brando? Well— you flushed at your train of thought— whoever said you were marrying Diego in the first place! Like hell you were.

"My body feels light! It's too bad the sun is setting!" Johnny grimaced, a knot deep in his brow while Gyro glared from beneath the brim of his hat. "Get away from us, Diego! We won't travel with you!" Diego's face fell flat before his lips curled into a smirk, riding closer to Johnny than you. You had almost let out a sigh of relief. "Johnny Joestar... I applaud your performance in both the first and second stages. I heard you got injured, but what a grand comeback this is!" At Diego's words, Johnny paled, brow furrowing more than before.

"Diego, quit it," you called out, swallowing hard when he turned to you, giving you a clear look at the side of his neck. There was something on it that you couldn't make out, like a rash of some sort. "Sorry, brother-in-law. I'll be nicer," Diego laughed as something started poking out of his back. It looked like spikes or bones— the sickness must have been messing with you. Just as fast as you spotted them, Diego had flipped backward, head on the saddle and feet in the air. "Hey! Hey! You guys are experts on horseback, but can you do this?"

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!" You were at a loss for words as Diego pulled to the side and started doing tricks on his horse, crawling all over it and on the saddle. Gyro fell back beside you and Johnny, leaning close to you both. "What's up with him? Are genius jockeys always like this?" Gyro asked with a raised brow all the while you were unable to tear your gaze off of Diego. "How should I know?! But something's strange...something's wrong! We thought he was badly injured back there but now... Gyro, are we gonna be with him tonight?" You grimaced and turned to Gyro who looked pained at the thought of staying with Diego. At least you weren't the only one.

"Well, even if we try to avoid that, there are wolves out there. It would be far too risky for the horses. We need to stay at the village," Gyro replied with grit teeth, not expecting Diego to hear you all. "Yep! The wolves are still roaming around. The village is the safest!" Diego called out as the three of you stared dumbfoundedly. "He can hear us," Gyro stated simply, a forced smile splayed across his lips. You turned away from Diego who was still doing weird tricks on his horse, spotting the village in question.

It was almost made from the mountain itself, the structures the same material as the rock underneath your horse's hooves. You could just make out the townspeople who had all started to gather atop a ridge to wave at you four. Their cheers distracted you from Diego's odd mannerisms and you couldn't help but smile. Gyro and Johnny noticed soon after and before you all knew it, you had made it to town. Kids watched with glee splayed across their faces, pointing excitedly at you all. You waved, glad that your bandana covered up your sickly skin.

"Look, momma! It's Speedwagon!" cried a little girl, tugging on her mother's dress excitedly, pointing at you with a big smile. Your heart melted and you gave the little girl a wave, making her eyes go wide and rush to the edge of the ledge she had been standing on. "S-Speedwagon! You're the coolest! Can I please have your signature?!" You were taken aback but nodded regardless, watching as the little girl fished a newspaper clipping from her skirt pocket and a blunt-tipped pencil. You took the paper and the pencil with a smile hidden beneath your bandana, leaning onto your thigh to write on it.

Just as you went to sign it, however, you noticed the clipping was a photo. There you were crossing the finish line in the second stage, right behind Johnny and Diego. Diego... You straightened up and looked around you— Diego was nowhere to be found and Johnny and Gyro had been surrounded by the other townspeople, chattering about where they could all stay for the night. Your eyes found their way back to the little girl who was watching you excitedly, looking back and forth between you and the paper. "Ah, I'll sign it now," you mumbled, pressing your pencil to the paper.

You froze when you found that you had almost signed your actual name instead of just your last name. Your eyes trailed back to the little girl and you sighed— she had looked up to you but you were disguised as a man. Wouldn't it be better to set an example as a woman? Johnny and Gyro's voices resounded out from beneath those of the townspeople and your brow furrowed. "Say," you began before you could stop yourself, "can you keep a secret?" The little girl tilted her head to the side and then nodded fervently, making you smile. Her mother had long disappeared to join the others in talking to Johnny and Gyro, leaving the little girl all by herself.

"See, the truth is, I'm a cowgirl," you smiled, pulling down your bandana so that the little girl could see it, making her go wide-eyed. Her eyes sparkled and she reached out a hand to touch your face in awe. "You're a super pretty cowgirl..." she complimented with a toothy smile, "I wanna be just like you!" You giggled and pulled your bandana back over your face when the girl retracted her hand. "I'm sure you'll be an even better one," you said, looking down to sign your full name. When you handed it back to her, she read it out with glimmering eyes. "(y/n) Speedwagon," she breathed out, looking at you as you held up a finger to your lips.

The little girl nodded and ran back towards her mom, looking back at you to wave and hold her finger up to her lips. You smiled under the bandana and leaned back in your saddle, not expecting a hand to land on your shoulder. "You're quite good with kids, (y/n)." Your breath caught in your throat when you turned your head to see Diego leaning toward you. In an instant you had pulled Thunder away, glaring at him from beneath the brim of your hat. "What do you want, Diego?" you spat, hands wrapped tightly around Thunder's reins. Your intimidation was fruitless as Diego maneuvered his horse so he could get close to you, leaning toward your face.

"Why, to get a good look at my bride," Diego smirked, making your face flush heavily. You couldn't muster out a single word as he got incredibly close to your face, eyes narrowed. At his proximity, you had half-expected for him to try and kiss you, but he just continued squinting. Had the fall from earlier done something to his vision? "...(y/n)?" "Yes, Diego, it's me." Diego leaned back coolly, brushing some hair out of his face. "Hah, I knew that." You rolled your eyes and pulled Thunder's reins to make her sidestep away from Diego's horse. Diego, on the other side, frowned momentarily, making you sigh and pull Thunder back.

"Hey, why didn't you tell Gyro or Johnny back there?" you asked with a strained look across your face. It had still bothered you throughout the few days you had spent away from Diego. He could have easily told Gyro and Johnny you were a woman, but he didn't. "About what?" Diego answered, feigning ignorance. You raised your brows, giving him a dead-eyed stare. "You know what I'm talking about," you grumbled making him let out a breath and sit back on his saddle. "Yes, yes...well, if Johnny and Gyro found out, those two maggots would take you away from me."

For some inexplicable reason, you felt your cheeks heat up once more. Whether it was from the insinuation that Gyro and Johnny would try to pursue you romantically or Diego's persistence in marrying you, you didn't know. Regardless, you looked away from him, heart racing even faster than it had before when Diego took your hand in his, raising it to his lips. It was only when you heard Guro and Johnny call your name from the crowd that you ripped your hand away, gulping hard. Diego seemed hurt but he didn't show it for long, taking his horse's reins into his hands. "I...I'll see you around," you muttered, rushing over to Johnny and Gyro who stared behind you.

"What was that all about?" asked Johnny once you joined them, stepping off of Thunderstruck swiftly. "No
clue," you replied simply, knowing better than to tell him or Gyro the truth, "he's still insisting on marrying my sister." Gyro grimaced, raising a brow as you all made your way into the stone house. "You aren't letting him do that, right? Right?!" You sighed— if only it were that simple. "I don't control my sister," you lied through your teeth, leaning against a stone counter, the beginnings of a migraine sprouting at your temple once more, "she doesn't listen to- god!" Nausea hit you like a tsunami, making you stumble over your feet despite not moving.

Gyro and Johnny rushed to your side, Gyro placing a hand against your forehead as you muttered curses under your breath. "How much longer is this gonna keep up?" you asked while gritting your teeth, making Gyro's brow furrow. "We haven't gotten a chance to rest so you haven't gotten a chance to get rid of this cold," Gyro explained as Johnny nodded fervently, looking up at you from his wheelchair. Gyro pulled your arm over his shoulder, Johnny following close behind as you and Gyro made your way to the living room, closed off by some rug-like fabric.

"Here, lay here for a while," Gyro said, helping you down onto a wooden couch with cushions that you sunk into. Johnny rolled up beside you, handing you a blanket that was twice the size of you. "Stay warm. We'll make sure Diego doesn't come and bother you about your sister," Johnny added, making you smile despite the pounding of your head. "Thanks," you rasped out, hoping you could finally beat off the sickness that had been plaguing you for so long. "Yell if you need us," Johnny said as he and Gyro left for the kitchen. You snuggled into the cushions and draped the blanket over yourself, ready to relax...

...YEAH, THAT DIDN'T LAST LONG.

Chapter Text

YOU HAD awoken to the sound of clattering cans, disoriented, groggy, and feverish. Drool had slipped past your lips, dribbling into a pool beside your head. Your hat had barely stuck to your head, long strands of your hair poking out and stuck to your face. "I told you there's only one cup, right here!" Oh, that was Johnny. You slowly sat up, placing a clammy hand on your forehead which felt uncomfortably warm. It was better than burning hot though, so you couldn't complain. You shuffled your legs over the edge of the couch, pulling the blankets wrapped around them to the side. The smell of your blend of coffee wafted over from the kitchen. Johnny must have prepared some.

Your thoughts were interrupted by an odd barking cry or like someone choking and trying to clear their throat. It was, for lack of better words, bizarre. You blinked hard— you must have been hearing things. "What a queer!" you heard Johnny say, making you raise a brow. Diego must have been acting odd again. You sighed and got to your feet slowly, only to be interrupted by another set of weird sounds. This time it sounded more like cooing with a sharp edge to it or some sort of clacking. You couldn't ignore it this time and decided to see for yourself. But the first step you took left you lightheaded, making you stumble back onto the couch.

"Fuck," you mumbled as you sunk into the cushions, the beginning of a headache creeping onto your temple. This was seriously getting old. "What the hell is under that bandage, Diego?!" You stiffened up when Johnny yelled those words, but this time, you were distracted by something hitting your face. You flinched, swatting the thing away until it floated back towards the kitchen. "A...fly?" Just as quickly as it had flown into the room, it had returned, this time with a ton more. You grimaced, holding back a screech as you swatted them away fervently, getting to your feet once more to get out into the kitchen.

What you didn't expect was to be met face to face with a teal...monster. The second a scream left your mouth you had been thrown across the kitchen, hitting the beige wall hard enough to knock the wind out of you. "Speedwagon!" Your vision was spotty and all you could hear was the clattering of metal and Johnny's frantic cries for you and Gyro. But something was off. You could feel blood trickle down from your head and when you went to feel the spot, there was no hat to prevent you from doing so. "No," you muttered, raising your gaze to see your hat sitting a few feet away— your entire body went cold.

That couldn't have happened. Iron Maiden usually kept it stuck to your head, regardless of whether or not you had been in a fight. You could be tossed around and beaten up and still that hat would stick to you. The blood from your wound dripped down onto the floor as you stared at your hat, unable to understand. This wasn't happening. Your vision wavered as you moved to try and get it, your head feeling heavier by the second. The blood running down your face was starting to drip from off your eyelashes, staining your bandana.

"Shit! He can dodge my nail bullets at this distance!" You whipped around to find Johnny pinned under the monster, his nails useless against it. He had been laying in a way that he couldn't see you, and you almost sighed in relief. Now you could grab your hat and— the monster swung its arm, claw ready to slash through Johnny's throat. You didn't have a second to think as you lunged between the claw and Johnny, grabbing his shoulders and rolling into the wall as Gyro's steel ball made the monster step backward.

"J-Johnny! Are you okay?!" you asked frantically, pulling your body away from his as he opened his tightly shut eyes. When you met his eyes, they widened, skimming over your bloodied face. Your hair fell around your face and Johnny was tempted to tuck it back behind your ears. "Speedwagon...your...your hat," Johnny said in awe, as you grimaced, looking up to see Gyro standing in the doorframe, shocked at both the monster's speed and your lack of hat. You looked back down at Johnny just as the bandana around your face loosened, about to fall until you slapped a hand behind your head and backed away from Johnny, not meeting his gaze.

There was no time to explain yourself when the steel ball that had crashed into the wall flew backward, hitting the monster and landing in Gyro's open palm. But before either of you knew it, the monster was gone and heading straight for him. "Gyroooooo! Above you!" Johnny screamed as it pinned Gyro to the table. You grit your teeth, pushing yourself off the floor to help Gyro only to fall to the ground instead. "Dammit!" you cursed, palming the back of your head with a grimace. You must have hit your head too hard. The monster cawed again, making you look up, finding Gyro peering at you from between the monster's jaws.

"Gyro!" You tensed as the monster readied itself to bite Gyro, only to make out Gyro's smirk. Somehow, just that little smirk settled your nerves and you calmly watched from afar. "So is it your goal to find the next corpse part? Or are you simply going to kill us and take it?" Gyro asked as the monster paused, teeth hovering around Gyro's head, "seems you're pretty damn sensitive to sudden movements. But if something is moving slowly...it wouldn't be taken as a threat and you wouldn't dodge it, eh?" The monster looked distracted by something on the counter and you took that as a sign to slowly head for your hat. 

"If it doesn't seem like an attack, you'd be relieved... no need to dodge." As the monster slowly backed away from Gyro's face, a can rolled toward its leg innocuously. Seconds later, a steel ball tore from within it, hitting the monster in the throat. This impact sent it flying backward, right beside your hat. "No," you mustered out in shock as the monster's claws laid right beside it. "It didn't seem to do much damage!" observed Gyro before reckoning you and Johnny to the door, "he's getting up! My steel ball won't hit him! Both of you hurry up and get outside!" There was no time to grab your hat and you instead stumbled out the door, Gyro closing it quickly behind you. 

"My hat," you mumbled weakly, sinking against the wood when it suddenly rattled. You took a sharp breath and pushed your weight against it, trying to blink back tears. How could you have been so careless? Why was Iron Maiden not working? "We'll get it back. Don't worry," Gyro said suddenly as the door started to buckle against the monster that had tried breaking through it. Once more, you felt instant relief and nodded, gaining the slightest bit of hope that you would get it back. A sudden crack brought you back to the current situation, the wood breaking as the pounding against the door got stronger.

"What is this?! What kind of stand ability is it?!" cried Johnny as you all struggled to keep the door from breaking or slamming open. "A stand ability? That's from a stand?!" you screeched as your jaw tensed, the wood splintering between your fingertips. "Diego's body has gained the ability of a dinosaur's body!" Gyro clarified while your whole body ran cold. That was Diego? "But...how?!" you screeched as the monster— Diego, you corrected yourself— didn't relent against the door. "We have no idea!" Johnny yelled, sweat dripping down the side of his face, "but what the hell even is a dino-sore?!" 

"You don't know?" Gyro asked as you looked over at Johnny who looked away awkwardly. Well, it wasn't like you knew either. "To be fair, neither do I," you muttered as Gyro looked between you both with disbelief. "I can't believe you guys," Gyro sighed as the threat of Diego slowly slipped away from the forefront of your thought, "they're these huge creatures! Bigger than African elephants! In 1838, a scholar named Owen coined the word dinosaur and started calling them that!" You hummed but then remembered just how big the dinosaur version of Diego was.

"Well, this one's smaller than an elephant," Johnny said aloud making you nod fervently, "yeah, that's what I was thinking." Gyro frowned, a crick in his brow as he scoffed, "shut up! Anyways, they existed long before mankind was born on Earth!" Another loud crack made you realize that Diego had started pounding against the door again. You grimaced and put more of your weight against it while Johnny readjusted his arm up higher and Gyro spun around to push the door with his palms. "So why does Diego have the ability of something so old?!" asked Johnny as the wood splintered even further.

"It could have something to do with fossils. Ever since the fossil discovery in the Rocky Mountains, tons more have been discovered!" Gyro suggested as one harsh blow to the door from Diego made some wood break off and hit the back of your head. "Fuck!" you cried, falling to the ground and cradling your head with your palms, tears rushing to your eyes as you tried not to let your swimming vision cause you any more trouble. "Shit! Speedwagon, are you-" Gyro stopped short, looking at Johnny's arm and then looking back at the sky behind your curled-up figure. 

One final crack was all the warning you had until the door had started breaking apart, Diego's claws swinging from between the holes. "Damn! The door's being ripped up! We have to go down the cliff! Speedwagon! Johnny!" Gyro bellowed as you tried to sit up, head still cradled in your hand. "No, I'm not going! If Diego's after the corpse, we need to defeat Diego! And just the opposite, don't move no matter what! Diego can't see motionless things!" Gyro went wide-eyed at Johnny's resistance but only then noticed the vivid blue eye of the dinosaur seconds away from attacking you all.

You hadn't expected Gyro to lunge forward, wrapping his arms around you and pulling you close to him as you slid in the dirt. Your arms had been tucked close to your body, head against Gyro's chest. His body felt warm compared to the cool air around you both and had Diego not slid out of the house to writhe in the dirt a few feet away, you may have even relaxed in his grasp. Before you could stop yourself, you had already looked up, meeting his gaze with burning cheeks.

"Don't move! For some reason, Diego can only see moving things! Isn't that how dinosaurs are?!" Johnny whisper-shouted as Gyro shuffled the both of you backward, hitting something furry. A shudder ran down your spine as the smell of rotting flesh overwhelmed your senses. Your face wrinkled up but you hadn't expected to be pulled into Gyro's chest, which almost made you throw up. You gagged silently, wishing you could go back to smelling the dead animal corpse instead.

Diego's huffs and low-clicking noises made you stiffen up, trembling as he slowly approached you and Gyro. Then he stopped, huffing once more and then turning around, heading toward the cliffside. "Yes...he thinks we went down the cliff," Johnny muttered through grit teeth, making you almost let out a breath of relief. Suddenly, though, Diego had tilted his nose up into the air, sniffing a few times. You could feel the muscles in Gyro's arms shift around you as Diego stepped back toward you all. 

"Hey, did he find out? I think he did! He's sniffing like a dog! He's coming back!" Gyro mumbled as he unintentionally pulled you close again. What were you? A teddybear? Yet, you couldn't move out of his grip and relented your mental strife, letting your head lean against Gyro's chest once more. Despite the...musk... Gyro had an earthy, pine scent to him. Like some kind of herb that you couldn't put a name to. But it wasn't at all as prominent as the terrible body odor emanating from his sweaty body.

"Don't panic. There's no way he knows. He's smelling this bear! He could smell the coffee but he couldn't tell where it was!" Johnny murmured while Diego got closer and closer. You could feel your entire body go tense when Diego hovered over you all with heavy breaths and sharp teeth. Unexpectedly, his tail swung directly between you and Johnny, Gyro still holding you close. You stayed still, barely flinching, and still petrified. Diego, seemingly disappointed, turned around and scuttled back into the house, finally allowing you to breathe out a sigh.

"Are you okay?" Gyro asked in a hushed tone, moving his hand to palm the back of your head gently. The second your head touched his hand, your head throbbed and you held back a whimper. You couldn't meet Gyro's eyes when he withdrew his hand, bringing back a blood-stained palm. His brow furrowed in concern and looked over at Johnny with a frown. "Speedwagon, you need something to stop the bleeding," Gyro stated as his gaze settled on the bandana wrapped around your mouth and nose. 

You looked up and went wide-eyed when you saw him staring at the bandana, head starting to shake. "No, no," you whispered as you gripped the fabric of Gyro's shirt, "I'll be fine. I just need to bring out Iron Maiden and I'll be okay." You shut your eyes tight before Gyro could utter another word, willing Iron Maiden to come out and heal your wounds. But there was nothing. No tingles and faint touches all over. Nothing. As reality set in, you felt Gyro pull you closer than ever before, making you open your eyes to find Diego walking back out of the house with a steel ball.

 "Gyro! He knows that the spinning ball returns to you..." 

"...HE'S TRYING TO FIND YOU WITH YOUR STEEL BALL!"

Chapter Text

"HE'S COMING after the ball!" screamed Johnny as Diego let out a sharp cry, watching the steel ball that approached you and Gyro. Iron Maiden was nowhere to be found around you as the steel ball didn't stop on its course. Your stand wasn't appearing and there was nothing you could do about it. As you stared unmovingly at the ball, Gyro tugged you tightly against him. "Slowly move your legs up," he whispered as the ball spun faster than it had before. Although it spun faster, it didn't move forward as much. You didn't question what Gyro had said and slowly brought up your legs, making sure you weren't moving faster than the steel ball. 

But the ball still headed straight for Gyro.

"Hey...hey, hey, hey, Gyro-" you muttered, inwardly panicking as the ball was right beside Gyro's legs. He stopped you by pulling you against his chest, blocking your view of Diego. Your heart raced uncontrollably as Diego made that eery clicking sound again, letting out an ear-piercing screech. You couldn't move a muscle until you realized Diego had run right past you and into the wall behind you all, shown by the loud thud you had heard instead of Gyro getting hurt. You pushed away from Gyro's chest to see what exactly had happened and found yourself watching Diego shake his head back and forth, almost like a dog. Except he was a giant scaly monster dinosaur thing rather than a cute, furry companion.

"Calm down, you two," Gyro began with grit teeth as you all watched Diego scramble off down the side of the mountain, "the steel ball that returned to me flattened my legs with the spin. It looks like he thinks I went over the wall now." You couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief, finally pushing yourself away from Gyro to bring a hand up to the back of your head. There was still an uncanny amount of blood yet Iron Maiden was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps she wouldn't come out because of the blood loss and the sickness. You wouldn't know until the next time she appeared.

"Johnny... about those letters on your arm—" you felt something move beneath you just slightly, almost unnoticeably— "just now... there's something I realized about their placement." It was some sort of rise and fall, like something breathing. But you were on a corpse. It must have been an earthquake. A low rumble under you once more made you pale, hands brushing over the fur. Under the coat, however, was something white and flaky, like some lizard shedding. "Johnny, Gyro," you began as Johnny shot a glance behind him, looking back at you with a furrowed brow. 

"Look at this," you faltered, bringing a piece of the white scales between your fingers, watching as it fell apart. There was another low grumble, but it sounded more like some sort of animal grunt. "Did you guys hear that?" Johnny asked as you both nodded reluctantly, Gyro looking around as he readied his steel ball. "Yeah, but what is it...?" Before you knew it, the thing below you stood up, leaving you three to tumble off of its back. "What the fuck?!" yelled Johnny as you fell on your back, hitting the ground harshly. You let out a yell, barely registering when Gyro dragged you backward beside him and Johnny. 

"The...the bear!" Gyro began as you gazed upon the giant dinosaur. "And look! He was alive! Just what is Diego's stand ability?!" But there was no time to question that when the dino-bear turned around, running straight for Johnny. "Iron Maiden!" you screamed as the thing rammed against his body, leaving you at a loss. "J-Johnny!" You screeched as the thing backed away, feeling lightheaded when you yelled your lungs out. But when it had retreated, Johnny looked at you in awe from between the bars of a drain pipe. You stared back in surprise, turning back to look at Gyro who held his spinning steel ball. 

"Go through you two! I can make your bodies flat with spin as well!" Gyro ordered as he stood in front of you, glaring at the dinosaur, "go under the wall and through the drainage!" The thing let out a massive roar and suddenly you were right beside Johnny, squished against him in the cold cement tube. "And one more thing, though we are in a bit of a situation," Gyro began, leaning over the drainage to look at you both, "as I was saying, about that arm of your's Johnny...those aren't letters! They're the shape of the Big Dipper! The shape and the placement are the same and the "crus" is at the North Star!" Johnny looked taken aback from your spot beside him, looking at Gyro with a glimmering fire in his eyes.

"The letters themselves are a map that shows the constellation. The location where the Big Dipper dips into the ground! That's where it's pointing at! Combine the constellation with the mountain and the ground!" Behind Gyro, just as he said, you could make out the stars in the sky which looked identical to the marks on Johnny's arm. You turned to Johnny with a grin he couldn't see, watching as a small smile of his own appeared on his face. "We'll go get it now if you're up to it," Gyro said simply, leaning back onto the balls of his feet while the dinosaur roared for the millionth time, "the corpse is on that hill!" The signature clicking from Diego made your smiles instantly disappear and suddenly Gyro had been cornered by both him and the dino-bear. 

"Go! Go! Diego is back! Go deeper, you two!" You obliged quickly, pushing past Johnny so that Gyro could get into the drainage pipe. Diego screamed shrilly, nipping and scratching at Gyro through the bars once he slipped through. "What is this? Diego's ability! That bear he killed turned into a dinosaur!" Johnny fretted as Gyro shuffled up beside him. "Who knows? Hurry and go deeper!" Gyro yelled, ushering you and Johnny further towards the open end of the pipe. "That rocky hill at the Big Dipper is on the cliff across the canyon!" pointed out Gyro as you all crawled onwards, "I'm guessing the corpse is somewhere in the dent of the peak! It's probably only a two-hundred or three-hundred-meter climb! After we get down from here, we'll climb down the cliff and up the canyon in the dark!"

 You peered out the end of the pipe, grimacing at just how enormous the hill was— and Gyro and Johnny were talking about it like it was just a casual climb. Your head still pounded as you crawled and while you tried to keep steady, you tried summoning Iron Maiden. "Right, we'll get the corpse from the mountain and then get out of here! But Gyro, what about our horses? The horses! They'll be eaten by Diego!" Iron Maiden flickered beside you but faded instantly, not doing anything but pushing over a pebble while she was out briefly. "No! He wouldn't do that! Diego's goal is to get your left hand and our lives. Besides a guy like him who's made his living as a jockey wouldn't kill a horse! Valkyrie will come find us in the morning!"

"I sure hope so..." Johnny muttered, looking over at you while you crawled ahead of him and Gyro. You, on the other hand, tuned Gyro and Johnny out and tried to summon Iron Maiden once more, not hearing the faint rustling on the opposite end of the pipe. "Dammit, why aren't you working...?" you muttered to yourself, frowning when wisps of silver faded into thin air. "Hey, what the hell?! Some small ones came in!" screeched Gyro, shuffling backward until he bumped into you."Wha- Gyro? What's happening?!" There were high-pitched shrieks that slowly got louder until you could faintly make out small little dinosaurs scuttling towards you all from out of the darkness. Before you knew it, they were jumping straight for you.

"Speedwagon, duck!" You didn't think as you ducked, looking back over your shoulder to watch as the dinosaur that had soared over your head, scrambled to get its feet back under it, only to fail and stumble off the side of the pipe. "Dinosaurs! Even though they're small, they're still dinosaurs! Diego must have sent them in!" Johnny screamed, leaning on one of his elbows before shooting out all of his nails toward the dinosaurs, to no avail. "They have the same dynamic vision!" the dinosaurs jumped again, heading for Johnny instead of you, "my Tusk won't hit them all!" As they jumped, however, a foul-smelling liquid followed it. 

"Whoa! It...It pissed on me!" You grimaced and moved back towards the end of the pipe in disgust. "Aww, sick!" you cried out, avoiding the things as Gyro and Johnny were jumped on by the peeing dinosaurs. Gyro didn't hesitate to chuck his steel ball once they started biting him, hitting the ones on top of him and the ones that had followed close behind. Once hit, they fell to the ground, but looked more like mice rather than dinosaurs. "Diego must have turned some mice into dinosaurs," you pointed out as Gyro shook the dead ones off of him. You had no time to rest as more sino-mice headed down the sewer pipe. 

"Guys, hurry! Get out of the gutter! The next bunch is coming! Diego will send more mice!" Gyro barked as you peered over the edge, followed by Johnny. You froze— there was nothing but a steep drop, the bottom of the valley between the mountain they were on in the hill unseen. "We...can't," you mumbled looking over at Johnny who looked back at you with a furrowed brow. "Cling onto a rock in the shadow of the cliff and stay still! We need to finish this before climbing down the canyon!" Gyro said, clearly not having heard you. You and Johnny could not utter a word as the dino-mice grew closer. 

"What are you doing?! Go down the rocks!" Gyro exasperated and backed up so he was at you and Johnny's feet. Johnny frowned but didn't budge, looking down while swallowing hard. There was no way either of you would be able to get out of the pipe safely. "No, Gyro. W-We can't go down the cliff. There's no way we're going to cross the canyon and get to the hill," Johnny reasoned with a held-back sigh, prompting Gyro to look over his shoulder and grimace. To make matters worse, more dinosaurs climbed up the side of the canyon, heading straight for you all. They were much larger than the ones in the pipe and you could only watch with paralyzing fear as they cawed and screeched at you three.

"We...We're surrounded," Gyro relented as you looked back into the pipe, barely making out the small dino-mice in the darkness. You looked back and watched one smaller dinosaur climbing up the side of the canyon, clad in a torn-up purple dress. Your heart sank— the little girl you had spoken to had been wearing that exact one. "...my god," you muttered, slapping a hand to your bandana-covered mouth, "Diego turned the villagers...into dinosaurs." You didn't move a muscle, even as Gyro and Johnny scaled down onto a small ledge a few feet below the opening of the pipe. "Speedwagon, c'mon!" Gyro called while you stared at the dinosaur who had just hours ago been smiling at you, asking for your signature.

"I wanna be just like you!"

You couldn't help the tears that fell from your eyes, completely distraught as the little dinosaur hissed at you from afar. How could Diego do such a thing? Just how cold and heartless was he?! Gyro looked up at you with a knot in his brow, extending a hand for you to take. "Speedwagon... we need to go!" Johnny sat on the cliff a few feet lower, looking up at you with a similar expression. You looked over at Gyro with despair, hand twitching as if your body wanted to take Gyro's own. Gyro grit his teeth, clearly straining himself to reach up at you while simultaneously holding onto the rocky cliffside. Just as you willed yourself to take Gyro's hand, the skin cracked, running down his arm. 

"G-Gyro! Your arm!" you yelled, making him go wide-eyed. "What?! The infection! It's happening to me too!" The three of you watched as Gyro's skin cracked, leaving scale-like wounds across his arm, and slowly grew up towards his face. You gasped and leaned forward, only to hear the familiar roar of Diego. You couldn't react in time when he jumped down onto the top of the pipe and bit down on the fabric around your face. Gyro fell back onto the ledge below him, watching as your face finally became visible to him. After weeks of spending time with you, he could finally see your face. Johnny had rushed to his side but Gyro couldn't hear a word he said and soon enough there was nothing for Gyro to hear as Johnny too had looked up. 

There, before their very eyes, you were, the woman they had saved at the beginning of the race. Your eyes were blown-wide and your mouth hung open slightly, lips parting beautifully in shock. Gyro and Johnny could do nothing but get lost in the little imperfections of your face, all the while Diego pulled you out of the pipe from the back of your shirt, leaving you to hang from his jaws. There were no words they could use to describe the flurry of emotions they were flooded with as Diego set you down at his claws, growling while you sat there. A single tear fell from your eyes before your head lolled backward and you went limp. Johnny and Gyro couldn't even utter your name as Diego called forth more dinosaurs to attack.

THEY COULD ONLY THINK OF YOUR TEAR-STAINED FACE.

Chapter Text

THERE WAS no time to think for Gyro and Johnny after they had seen your face. No time to think back on all the fleeting touches or the drawn-out gazes. No time to remember the way your eyes would sparkle when your hat failed to block out the sun from your eyes and when the bandana that hid your face crinkled with your smile. How soft your skin always was or how now and then your voice didn't sound very deep. The way you would worry and worry until tears dripped down your face and your hands curled into fists and your brow furrowed and...

"You have to be kidding!" screeched Gyro as he watched your limp body get pulled away by Diego and the dinosaurs below him and Johnny grew closer. Well, there was no time for thinking back on all the signs that you weren't a man because now you were surrounded by dinosaurs and Diego had grabbed hold of the scruff of your shirt once more.

"How much do you think we'll last until we turn into dinosaurs?" Gyro asked Johnny who had forcefully ripped his eyes off of you. Johnny's lip was tucked tightly between his teeth, looking far more distraught about the fact that you were a woman than Gyro had expected. Johnny had been fawned over by women in his 'Joekid' days so it made no sense, at least to Gyro.

"We won't last! We probably won't even last three minutes! From what happened with the bear, there's no more time!" Johnny cried as he pressed himself up against the rock face, hoping that Diego wouldn't be able to spot him. Gyro grimaced while the skin between his eyes and his mouth cracked open— there had to be some way to save you and get the corpse part at the same time, but how?

Gyro's brow furrowed at his thoughts. How could he even think of you right now? You had lied to him and Johnny for almost an entire month— about who you were, about your "sister", hell, even about the supposed engagement between you and Diego (which still bothered him). All the things he said when you both fought, in hindsight, were now very justified. The last thing Gyro would do was try and save some woman who had lied to him all these weeks. The woman who had gotten on his nerves from the beginning. The woman who always needed saving. The woman that made his heart pound with anger. The woman—

"I...thought you guys were going to let him kill me. I wouldn't put it past either of you, though. I'm sure I've been a pain."

Gyro felt his mouth run dry, the cracking only growing worse. You had been a pain. A terrible pain. One that had made his heart thrum with joy whenever you joked around with him. One that made him grin whenever you'd yell at him for being annoying. One whose glare had softened when he tended to your wounds. One who pushed aside the mutual grudge you both had for each other to make sure his sickness wouldn't worsen. One who had looked at him and Johnny with those tear-filled eyes, asking them to save you with just one simple look. You were a thorn in Gyro's side, yet he couldn't imagine a moment without you there.

It wasn't even like he was any better: hiding away his past from you and Johnny and going by his alias instead of his actual name. He couldn't leave you in Diego's clutches by that sort of rationalization. Gyro gripped the steel ball in his holster, eyes narrowing as the dinosaur villagers cawed and screamed shrilly. He froze in place, looking for a way to get to the corpse part. If they got there at least, then they'd fight off the dinosaur infection and be able to save you. Without it, there would be no possibility of saving you unless Diego turned him and Johnny back into humans after (and Gyro knew that wouldn't happen).

"What do we do? This situation..." Gyro trailed off as Johnny froze up against the rock face, "should we cut off your left arm and hand it over...maybe beg for our lives? Or can we defeat Diego quickly and defeat the root cause within three minutes?" Gyro scanned the horizon for a way to get over futilely; before he knew it, the cries of the smaller dinosaurs echoed out from above him and Johnny.

"Diego unleashed more of those mice!" yelled Johnny as Gyro looked over at him and grimaced. Saving you and the corpse part seemed like it was going to be difficult, if not impossible. Gyro watched the dinosaurs closely as they jumped back and forth across the rock cliff, cawing and screeching at each other. They were communicating. Gyro sucked a breath through his teeth, looking at Johnny through his peripherals.

"Don't move! Johnny, don't move no matter what! Just ignore them for now! We have to get to Speedwagon!" Gyro could see you laying at Diego's feet, arm hanging off the cliff side. And as much as Gyro hated it, the enhanced vision from the dinosaur disease had allowed him to watch the skin of your arm begin to crackle. He and Johnny had far less time than Gyro previously thought. When Johnny moved beside Gyro, he had almost cursed at his companion, until he caught sight of Johnny's pained expression.

"Don't you get it?! We have their piss on us! That's what they're after! Their aim is fixed! Diego is trying to find our position using the small ones!" Gyro grit his teeth as Johnny pushed off the cliff just enough so that he could see little gray dino mice heading straight for them. There was sweat dripping down Johnny's face and Gyro could do nothing but mull over what their next course of action was.

"We need to fight or we'll be killed! We need to finish them now!"

"No, Johnny. There are a few more things we have to do," Gyro began, looking over at the mountain right beneath the Big Dipper, "what we need to accomplish in the next three minutes is to get to the Holy Corpse that's across that cliff and save Speedwagon while we're at it!" Johnny frowned deeply, seeming conflicted over the thought of saving you. Gyro had half a mind to ask why but didn't bother and got closer to Johnny, grabbing his forearm.

"The progression of your wounds is getting slower and the scales on your left arm are fading away! Speedwagon and I are the only ones turning into dinosaurs—" Johnny's face dropped unbeknownst to Gyro, "— it must be because you have the corpse part in your arm! The holy power of the corpse is fighting the infection! If we get the next corpse part on that rocky hill, then we can negate me and Speedwagon's infection, too!" Before Johnny could utter a response, the dino mice jumped onto them, screaming deafeningly.

"They found us, Gyro!" Johnny yelled as Diego caught sight of them, cawing before leaping towards them as well. Your body remained on the cliffside, nails sharpening into claws. Johnny, in all honesty, wasn't sure if he wanted to take the chance to come to save you. You were just laying there and maybe if he tried hard enough, he could distract Diego so that Gyro could grab you. But he was frozen, stuck in the conflicting thoughts that plagued his mind.

If Johnny were asked to explain these thoughts, it would be hard to do so in words. He could, however, assume that the hesitation he felt had something to do with the accident that caused him to become paraplegic. Yes, it must have been because of then that the desire to save you caused him this much trouble. He knew if he tried hard enough, he would be able to explain that his era as "Joekid" and his fall from stardom was the root cause.

You were a woman, and like every woman he had grown close to (whether it be in terms of dating them or the frequent flings he had) had ultimately ditched him after he lost the use of his legs. Maybe it was because you were so dear to him that the idea of you leaving him like all the others hurt him far worse. And if he pushed past the fact that you were a woman, maybe he would know that it was because of all the people he was close to ditching him in an instant. After all, God had taken the wrong son.

"I said to ignore them... Johnny, face this way," Gyro stated, snapping Johnny back to the present. Despite the dinosaurs now being mere moments away from landing on them, Johnny looked, finding a spot between two dinosaurs that was just big enough for them to slip through. Yet, it made no sense to Johnny. That is, until Gyro grabbed the back of his shirt, getting up into a crouch.

"See?! Now! There's an opening to the canyon! Here we go! Jump off, Johnny!"

"What?!"

"Run! Go, Johnny! Go, go, go!"

"Holy shit!" It was all Johnny could say as he and Gyro leaped off the cliff, barely making it halfway across the canyon between where they had been and the mountainside across from them. Diego screeched at them from where Johnny and Gyro had been seconds earlier, sending the other dinosaurs leaping toward them. Johnny peered over his shoulder behind him, spotting Diego clambering up towards where you were before a dinosaur blocked his view, far too close for comfort.

"What are we doing? There's no way we can jump across! It's too far!" Johnny screamed as the dinosaur opened its jaws, inching closer to Johnny's head in midair. Gyro didn't respond as he pulled his steel ball from the holster, throwing it at a tree rooted in the side of the mountain. The spin of the ball made the tree tilt towards them, the bark twisting off the tree into a mock rope that Gyro grabbed onto.

"Exactly... there's no way to jump across... for them! Unless Diego is a dinosaur with wings, that is. And I don't see any of those here! Grab onto the tree bark that I shaved off with my steel ball!" Johnny didn't dwell on what Gyro said and grabbed the tree bark, as well as Gyro's legs to hold himself up as the dinosaur fell straight past him into the abyss.

Diego squealed from across the canyon, testing the cliffside himself as rocks cascaded off the side. Even as a dinosaur, he knew better than to try and jump off himself. He'd find a way somehow, his now-primitive mind knew that. For now, he'd go back to your side and make sure that you were still alive. Well, he knew you were fine but hadn't expected you to feint. Diego could only assume it was the shock of being found out as a woman.

Not that he really cared.

In all honesty, Diego had himself a bit of pride in knowing you were a woman before Johnny and Gyro. When Diego made his way back to your side, he nudged your shoulder with his head, earning a small whimper in response. He didn't bother you any further and stepped away, noticing a small dinosaur with a hat between its teeth. It froze when Diego hissed at it which he stopped upon realizing it was your hat.

The little dinosaur smelled familiar— it was a smell that he had noted on your person earlier that was starkly different than yours. Diego presumed then and there that it was the little girl you had been talking to when you all first arrived in the town. There was a twinge of guilt at seeing the girl as a dinosaur now but he knew it wasn't his fault. The man that had turned him into a dinosaur was the one at fault.

Diego stepped to the side, allowing the dinosaur to slowly make its way beside you, dropping the hat onto your hand. You must have subconsciously felt it because, in an instant, your hand had gripped tightly onto the edge of the hat. The little dinosaur, or rather, the little girl, stepped away with a squeak, rushing beside another dinosaur that had started scaling down the cliffside.

A gray figure suddenly appeared from across the canyon and suddenly, Diego knew he needed to get over there. But he couldn't leave you. Your skin was already cracking and you'd become a dinosaur eventually. If he could meet the man that had done this to him on the other cliff, maybe he could convince him to turn you back as well. Dinosaurs couldn't exactly marry each other, after all.

Diego took your shirt collar between his teeth and tentatively raised you up in the air. He had a good grip on you like this and he doubted that you would fall from his grasp. He didn't take another moment before swatting two random dinosaurs off the cliff and jumping. With quick, precise movements (and you still hanging from his mouth with his small arms steadying your frame), he pushed off the dinosaurs in midair until he landed on the other cliff.

Gyro and Johnny looked paralyzed in shock as Diego let you down at his clawed feet and took the two Corpse Eyes. Diego didn't bother listening to what Johnny had yelled and instead focused on the way his body morphed. He could feel his jaws retracting back into place as he repeated the words that were inscribed into the Corpse Eyes. Before he knew it, the gray figure he had seen was towering over him, whispering Turbo, Turbo, Turbo.

Diego could feel his humanity return to him, slowly but surely, as the eyes glowed and shone letters onto his hands. He brought them up to his face, noticing the small numbers within the letters, repeating what the figure said to him. Just as the eyes were almost touching his, pain seared through his arm, blood splattering everywhere. Johnny.

"Eat this, Diego! I won't let you have that corpse or Speedwagon!" Johnny hollered as he let eight nail bullets shoot from his fingers, not seeing the steel balls until it was too late. Johnny ducked as his bullets soared back toward him, all the while Gyro stood still in front of Diego. Gyro's face was deformed with hands and feet that had turned into claws. The look on his face was animalistic and it was then that Johnny wasn't sure if they would ever be able to save you.

You, on the other hand, weren't sure of all the things going on around you. You could just barely make out your surroundings, but at the same time, every one of your senses was heightened. You could feel the sand that you had been laying on, every little grain. There was a familiar fabric under your fingertips and the mountain air you breathed felt far more enriching than any normal breath of air.

There were blobs of color in front of you— teal and purple and baby blue and... red. There were familiar scents to each of them except for the red one. If anything, the smell of the red one was overpowering. Nauseatingly pervading the air until all you could think of was ways to make it stop. At some point, you let yourself drift off once more in hopes of letting your future-self deal with it.

The next time you awoke it was to a kick in the side that sent you rolling off the sand and onto jagged rock. There was a strong breeze that made you feel terrified— you had no idea why you felt this way until you opened your eyes to peer down at the steep drop into darkness. You shut your eyes tightly and seconds later there was a loud growl. It wasn't one like the dinosaurs you had been hearing, though, more like a cat's yowling.

Suddenly, there was a tug at your body and your senses dulled into normalcy. The spot beneath your eye burned horribly, tugging at whatever muscle was directly under your skin. Your hand flew out to grab onto something, anything, and when your fingers found themselves wrapped around something of a cable-knit fabric, you felt the burning stop. When you opened your eyes, Diego was there, smiling down at you.

"Gyro... there were two eyes that rolled towards you, right? Your eyes united with two of them! You've got them both, right?!"

"Diego," you whispered as his hand found its way onto your cheek, his thumb caressing the skin of your cheek. Diego's mouth opened as if to say something when Johnny screamed his name, stopping him. Diego's hand retracted and stepped away from you, smirking before jumping off the cliff, his face crackling apart. You went to sit up only for your head to ache terribly, making you lay back down.

"Speedwagon."

Your eyes landed on Johnny and Gyro who were in front of you, eyes filled with worry. You tilted her head at the sight of Gyro's right eye and you reached out, eyebrows raising as he stepped forward and allowed your hand to rest on the skin beneath his eye. His skin warmed beneath your fingertips and his hand carefully wrapped around yours. A smile spread across your face and you slowly pushed back the anxiety you had felt earlier. If Gyro hated you, he wouldn't have even approached you.

"Your eye is really weird, Gyro," you muttered as Gyro huffed with a smile, crouching down beside you. You could feel his hand wedge between your head and the rock before he helped you sit up. Johnny looked up at you and you gave him a smile which he didn't return. A somber look spread across his features and he turned away from you, fisting the sand beneath him.

"Why didn't you tell us earlier?" asked Johnny with furrowed brows as you let out a sigh. You weren't sure how you should respond. The truth wasn't all that simple but you had explained your fears to them at one point during the trip. Well, you had told Johnny about it and Gyro had apparently overheard. But how could you explain your past self without hurting them now?

"I... thought you might kill me, I guess," you mumbled weakly before brushing your hair out of your face. It wasn't until then that you noticed the hat in Johnny's grasp. His fingers were brushing over the inside embroidery with your brother's name on it. You stiffened and looked down at your lap while Gyro sighed.

"You're a weird one, Speedwagon," teased Gyro as he pulled you up with a stumble. You laughed slightly before looking over at Thunderstruck who had made her way toward them all. Your eyes widened as Valkyrie and Slow Dancer appeared as well. Gyro turned and walked over to Johnny. Despite the lowered tension, it felt like there was something amiss. Had you forgotten to say something? You weren't sure.

But you knew one thing was missing.

"Johnny, Gyro," you called, making them look at you with quizzical looks on their faces. You stepped closer to them all, stopping beside Johnny. His fingers brushed over the embroidery once more before handing it to you, blue eyes wavering as you took a deep breath. Speedwagon was a rather long name for someone to call you all the time. You smiled widely and looked at Gyro before looking back to Johnny.

"MY NAME IS (Y/N). (Y/N) SPEEDWAGON."

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

"HOT PANTS is to receive one hundred points and a one-hour time bonus." Your chest rose and fell as you pulled on Thunder's reins, looking around you at the crowds that hadn't stopped cheering. Sandman, Pocoloco, and the others crossed the finish line as Thunder settled down. You could do nothing but mutter words of consolation to Thunderstruck. But in all honesty, you weren't sure if they were for Thunder or if they were for you.

"Don't worry, you're good... it's all good," you mumbled as you patted Thunderstruck on the neck, looking around at the crowds standing along the sides of the track. A few standing nearby whispered amongst each other from behind fans and cupped hands. You immediately tore your gaze away, fidgeting with the reins in your hands.

With a sigh, you led Thunderstruck away from the crowds and towards the stables nearby, ignoring the footfalls of a nearby horse. It was probably one of the other racers, maybe even Hot Pants himself. He had already passed the finish line. You sighed once more, louder than you had before. 

"Wow... you're not crying? That's new," Johnny pointed out with a scowl, rolling his eyes as he led Slow Dancer past you and Thunderstruck. You looked up at him, stomach dropping— his words stung like venom to your already downtrodden heart. You struggled to come up with something to say but found yourself falling short.

"Um, yeah" you had muttered in response, your gaze trailing after him. Johnny's scowl only deepened at your response. Was he mad that you had beaten him? The whole interaction made you frown beneath your bandana, turning your eyes away from Johnny and to the ground instead. 

"Passed the line... already?" You turned around, looking over at Gyro who had been talking to himself, seemingly in disbelief. Was it really that hard for him to believe that Hot Pants had finished that far ahead of you all? You watched him for a while, particularly the way he casually wrung out his wet clothes. 

"Hey, Gyro," you began, smiling wearily at him in hopes he wouldn't react in the same way Johnny had. Maybe you shouldn't have hoped for a different reaction because, instead, you were simply ignored. Thunder huffed as Valkyrie trotted by, Gyro still focused on wringing his clothes out. It felt as though it was almost on purpose.

You could only frown from beneath your bandana and sit while Gyro caught up to Johnny, the two of them talking casually as if you weren't there. From where you were, you couldn't hear what they were saying, but maybe it just wasn't important for you to hear. Regardless, it still stung.

But maybe it was you— maybe you were just overthinking it. Surely you had to be. You had traveled with Johnny and Gyro far too long for them to suddenly hate you. If they were upset about the fact that you placed the highest... well, that was annoying, yes, but this was the Steel Ball Run race. They'd get over it soon. Yeah... they would.

"(y/n)."

Your head whipped around, heart beating erratically until you realized it was Diego that had called your name (though your heartbeat didn't falter one bit). Your voice suddenly got caught in your throat, itching to be released yet unable to become comprehensible noise. Diego didn't seem fazed by your lack of response and led Silver Bullet over to you and Thunder regardless.

"D...Diego! What are you...?" you finally mustered once Diego was right beside you, looking into your eyes through the shadow cast from your hat. All you could do was look at the dirt by Thunder's hooves, unable to say much more as Diego chuckled lowly. There was this rumble in his voice that made your heart flip just by him talking.

"I simply wished to congratulate you," Diego stated simply with a grin, breaking the space between you both by taking your hand in his, thumb brushing over your knuckles. You watched with halted breath as he brought his lips to them, placing a ghost of a kiss on your hand. If your face wasn't flushed before, it was certainly on fire now.

"Thank... you," you mumbled as Diego slowly let go of your hand, your fingers lingering on his for just a moment too long. You cleared your throat quickly, bringing your hand to wrap it back around the reins. As you tore your eyes away from Diego, you spotted Gyro and Johnny's harsh glares. You couldn't deny the way your heart sunk in your chest, lips dragging down into a frown.

"So Joestar and Zeppeli have chosen that route then," Diego acknowledged with a sigh, meeting your downtrodden gaze with a frown of his own. You looked over every detail written in his features, hoping to find a hint of comfort in his eyes. Instead, you noticed a crack in his cheek, right at the crook of his lips. It must have been instinct when you reached over and placed a hand on his chin, tilting it to the side so that you could watch the skin crack beneath the square bandage on his cheek.

"Did the dinosaur effect not wear off completely?" you asked with just a hint of desperation, looking over his face mere inches away while running your fingertips over his cheek. When you pulled away from him, still holding his face with a furrowed brow, you were surprised to see the look of disbelief written across every feature.

"Diego?"

"Diego!"

Your hands shot back to your sides and you sat up in your saddle, grimacing when Gyro and Johnny approached you. You took a quick peek at Diego and found that his face had fallen flat as Johnny rode closer to the two of you. Tension had fallen over the four of you like a blanket, almost suffocatingly so.

"What the hell are you doing," Johnny sneered, holding his reins tightly in his hands. Gyro looked just as displeased as Johnny, glaring at Diego... and then you. So was Johnny. Your whole body went cold and you went rigid, swallowing hard as you tried to keep from showing the pang of hurt on your face.

You didn't get a chance to say a thing before Johnny ripped Thunder's reins from out of your hands, tugging you both away from Diego and Silver Bullet. Thunder, most likely only complying because you were still on the saddle, followed the reins, huffing as she did so. Tears rushed to your eyes as Diego raised his hands to the sides of his head, a smirk on his face.

"Calm down there, Johnny," Diego goaded with a superficial grin on his face, eyeing you as Gyro gave you a stern look, "(y/n) and I were just talking about who she would be accompanying for this next part of the race." Johnny looked over at you, gritting his teeth, then looked back over at Diego, particularly at one of his eyes. From where you were, you could spot the word Turbo written on the iris.

"She... Speedwagon is staying with us!" Johnny turned back around, grabbing the reins again and pulling you away from Diego who frowned when you looked back at him. All you could do was muster a small wave. The last thing you wanted was for Johnny to be upset with you for the rest of the race. Plus, Johnny was never like this. Surely he'd go back to normal soon if you just went along with what he said.

"The fuck was that about?" Johnny spat once you three were both far away enough from Diego. You grimaced, averting your eyes instead to a nearby building. Johnny looked far from happy, scoffing when you didn't answer him right away. You instantly looked over at him, faltering. What were you supposed to say? That Diego was flirting with you? That you didn't mind it?

"Look, I'm sorry, we were just talking and-"

"He's the enemy, Speedwagon!"

Your brow furrowed at his words— Diego was nowhere near being the "enemy". The enemy was whoever was sending those constant attacks on you all for the past month. Diego wasn't the enemy, he couldn't be. Even when he was the "enemy", he hadn't been of his own accord. That was on Franz Ferdinand who had turned everyone into dinosaurs. Diego just happened to be in the wrong place at a terrible time. 

"Are you hearing yourself right now, Johnny?!" you cried before taking back Thunder's reins, glaring from under the brim of your hat. You peered over at Gyro, hoping that he would speak up to help you out a least a bit. But he looked just as mad, if not furious.

"Diego attacked us. Yesterday," Gyro seethed, fists clenching as he stared hard at the side of your head. 

"That was under Franz Ferdinand's orders!"

"He took the Corpse's eye!"

"You... You still have the other one, is that not enough?!"

"It's not! You're flirting around with the enemy and you expect us not to care?! He's dangerous! Diego is nothing but bad news, don't you know that?!" Johnny yelled, his baby blue eyes darkening with every word. All you could do was hold your breath and inch away from Johnny who looked utterly furious.

"He's not-"

"Just shut up, woman!"

You instantly bit your tongue, unable to process a single word. The last time someone had said something like that to you, you had cursed like a madman, yelling at the top of your lungs. But you had been less afraid back then and it was with your younger brothers. Now, sitting here, you somehow could do nothing but stare at Johnny as he walked off with Gyro.

And all you could do was keep your mouth shut and follow behind.

For the next two days, you felt out of place. Johnny stopped talking to you, ignoring any time you had something to comment on. One time, you had tried to tell a joke and got nothing but a cold stare, making the rest of your time on the road with the two of them beyond awkward. At some point, however, Gyro suddenly decided to start flirting with you. Why, you weren't sure, but you couldn't say you enjoyed it.

"Buongiorno, cara, how are you doing this lovely morning?" Gyro asked with a golden grin, holding out a hand for you to take. You hadn't even made it out of your tent, still on the ground, half-awake, and crawling when he greeted you. It was off-putting. Before the Ferdinand fight, Gyro was nice, yes, but this was different. Gyro was giving you a look that you could only compare to the boys that sometimes flirted with you back in your hometown.

But, Gyro wasn't like them.

Gyro had always messed around with you, teasing and poking fun at you whenever he could. Although at first, it was what spurred your hatred for one another, after a while, you couldn't say you hated it. It was fun to fight over insignificant things and make fun of each other. Now, there was nothing but a grin on his face and some idiotic need to flirt with you. 

"Hi... Gyro," you greeted, ignoring his outstretched hand and opting to push yourself up off the ground instead. You weren't going to deny that the flirting was flattering, especially coming from Gyro, who was still an attractive guy at the end of the day. What you didn't appreciate was this sudden shift in his personality. No more making quips at your expense that made you laugh now and then. It was all flirting.

"I made you some breakfast, cara mia," Gyro purred, holding a plate of food that looked terribly delicious. But something about the way Gyro was looking at you and the way the food looked too good was enough to throw you off, instantly making you lose your appetite. You pushed the food away with an awkward laugh, avoiding Gyro's look of bewilderment.

"Thanks but I'm really not feeling breakfast today," you replied while forcing a smile, walking backward as you shot him some finger guns, "gotta- er... start fasting. You know... for winter!" Of course, since you weren't looking, you hadn't seen Johnny coming out of his own tent (he had bought one at a rest stop, insisting that your tent was too small). The back of your knees met the armrests of his wheelchair and before you knew it, you were staring up at the sky.

You looked to the side immediately, meeting Johnny's eyes. You were sitting on Johnny. Well, sitting might not have been the right word. No, sprawled across would be a better phrase to describe it. Regardless, the fact that you were on top of Johnny didn't change. But what really didn't help was the fact that you were terribly close to his face. He was staring at you with this unreadable expression, a mix of emotions in his eyes.

In the few seconds that you were sitting on Johnny, you had come to realize a few things.

One, Johnny had really pretty eyes. They were this almost indescribable color of blue. Some mix of baby blue and eggshell blue with this little ring of gold around the pupil. In addition to that, he had these lengthy eyelashes that rivaled those of any girl you ever met. They were light blonde at the ends with a darker brown near the lids of his eyes, and by god were they pretty.

Two, Johnny had freckles. Freckles. They were so faint that you could barely see them, but they were there. If you thought back, they were prominent back when you were traveling through the desert but you had never dwelled too much on it. Now, sitting where you were, you could see them perfectly. You had never wanted it to be summer more eagerly than you had at that very moment.

Three, Johnny's lips looked so kissable. You never thought such a thought would have run through your mind but it did. It was running through your head at a thousand miles per second. What would his lips feel like on yours? Would his blue lipstick transfer to your lips? Would he smile at you like he always did afterward-

"Get off!" Johnny screeched, pushing you off of him with pink cheeks and a disgruntled expression. You landed on the rocky ground, startled out of your thoughts as you stared up at him, slack-jawed. Gyro rushed to your side, holding out a hand for you to take once more, but all you could do was watch as Johnny turned right around and into his tent, not sparing you another glance.

It was at this moment that you knew that something was wrong. You kept your gaze fixed on the ground, unable to move. Tears rushed to your eyes— you had hoped that Johnny and you would be fine after a few days. That maybe his silence was just his way of settling down. That he didn't mean to raise his voice at you or to tell you to shut up the day before. Johnny wasn't that type of guy, right?

JOHNNY COULDN'T HAVE BEEN THAT KIND OF GUY.

Chapter Text

YOU SHOULD have left— you should have taken Diego's offer of riding with him instead of Gyro and Johnny, even if you weren't sure Diego was being all that genuine. It was better than being treated like shit by Johnny and being on the receiving end of Gyro's flirting. After being so close to normalcy with the men you had grown so fond of, this complete switch back to what you had been dealing with at the start of your friendship was soul-crushing.

The thought of leaving them came the second Johnny had disappeared behind the flaps of his tent. You stared at the ground, unable to think of anything besides leave, leave, leave before Gyro's outstretched hand came into view again, interrupting the mantra that had wedged itself into your head. You looked up (albeit so quickly you were pretty sure you had cracked your neck), meeting Gyro's eyes as he grinned down at you.

If you weren't already frowning, you would have done so again, avoiding the calloused hand that remained in your peripherals. How was Gyro smiling at you like Johnny hadn't just thrown you off of him? It wasn't like you had fallen onto him on purpose and you knew should have gotten off of him faster instead of gawking at him but you had never meant any harm. Before you could even tell Gyro off, your hand was in his and you were back on your feet.

"Relax, bellissima," Gyro chuckled as you stumbled into his arms, knees weak from being pulled up so quickly, "I'm not going anywhere, nyo-ho~" You held back a grimace and wriggled out of his grasp, locking your hands behind your back so as to not strangle him. Gyro simply grinned at you as you forced a smile, unable to form a sentence that didn't express your weakening patience with him.

"Er- Real funny, Gyro," you forced a laugh, grabbing the edges of your hat and pulling it down lower on your head. You didn't dare turn your back on him, smiling as wide as possible while Iron Maiden packed up your things behind you. Hopefully, once you were all on the road, Gyro would stop the annoying flirting and lead you all to the next checkpoint without a hitch.

"Why don't you grab Johnny? It'll be dawn soon," you started when Gyro didn't make a move to pack his things, instead staring at you while you kicked at the dirt. It was odd— he had this grin on his face but it didn't meet his eyes, almost as if it was all some big charade. Was the flirting not genuine? Somehow, just the thought of that alone made you go cold. Gyro's face fell just the slightest bit and he finally turned to look at the tent, then back to you.

"If you insist, tesoro."

The second Gyro made his way into the tent, you rushed to Thunderstruck, head spinning. You tried your best to keep your hands from shaking while you adjusted the headstall and the noseband, making sure they weren't too tight or too loose on Thunder's head. But every adjustment you tried to make just didn't seem to work with your trembling fingers. Every buckle seemed to slip under your fingers more than usual but soon enough, Thunder was ready to go.

The low murmurs of the voices you knew belonged to Gyro and Johnny made you turn back around, letting Iron Maiden load up your belongings onto Thunder. You met Johnny's eyes as he followed close behind Gyro who faltered for a moment before smiling at you. You needed to leave as soon as you could. You didn't wait any longer and then hopped up onto Thunder's saddle as Iron Maiden adjusted the last of your things.

"We should probably start heading out soon," you said as sweetly as you could, hands tightening around Thunderstruck's reins. Johnny scoffed as Gyro took down Johnny's tent and then his own with relative ease. You bit your tongue, watching from afar as the two started packing everything away and onto their horses. Johnny was next to get onto his horse while Gyro finished putting all his belongings back into Valkyrie's saddle bag.

"Let's head out then," Gyro replied once he had hopped onto his horse, winking at you from over his shoulder before leading the way out of the clearing you had settled in the night before. Johnny followed behind Gyro without a glance in your direction and before you could think about changing your mind, you followed behind them, wondering if you'd see Diego anytime soon.

Just like that, the three of you were off. Johnny and Gyro exchanged jokes and laughs the whole way through, ignoring any time you'd try to join in. They'd go quiet and then Gyro would point out some random set of directions, drawing the map between him and Johnny. You had kept track of everything with the help of Iron Maiden who would murmur what direction you were all traveling in when you couldn't hear them.

Throughout it all, Iron Maiden was like your saving grace. You weren't sure how long it was that she could talk but she didn't say much, only saying the words "North", "South", "East", or "West". By the time the fourth night of the fourth stage came around, you had managed to come up with a mode of communication with your stand. You would stay awake in your tent, drawing up a crude compass and what each direction meant.

"North" was "yes", "South" was "no", "East" was "probably", and "West" was "probably not". It wasn't much and it wasn't like your stand could tell the future, but it gave you someone to talk to besides Thunder, even if in both cases you were technically talking to yourself. But what could you do? Gyro was too busy spouting pick-up lines and pet names when he wasn't off by himself with Johnny who had reduced your interactions to glares and scoffs.

But it was also during this time that you had managed to finally understand what it was your stand could do. Around sunset, when Johnny and Gyro were setting up camp because "women shouldn't have to set up camp"— which had more of an edge to it when said by Gyro than you would have hoped— you'd go off by yourself, practicing what you could do with Iron Maiden.

From what you could tell, Iron Maiden's power could let you attract and repel whatever you wanted, like a magnet of sorts. But this magnetism wasn't specific only to metal, it applied to anything you wanted. While Gyro and Johnny did whatever it was that they did, you pulled pebbles from as far as you could to right beside you before repelling them out into the distance.

Hell, you could even make two different pebbles attract the other, pulling them so close that they merged into one. Just that alone explained how you had managed to heal yourself up so fast. It wasn't that you could heal abnormally fast, but that you were magnetizing parts of yourself together until it could heal by itself. Iron Maiden had confirmed it with a soft "North" when you had asked her while walking back to the makeshift camp.

As much as this information was exciting to you, however, you had no one to tell. You couldn't tell Gyro and Johnny all about it and how cool you thought it was. If you had tried to tell them now, there was no doubt that they'd ignore you or brush it off as unimportant. If you had told them about it before the fourth stage, back when you were still a guy to them, maybe Gyro would have teased you about it and Johnny would have defended you and told you how cool it was. Now, you just kept your mouth shut and kept to yourself.

By the seventh day of the fourth stage, you were on the brink of breaking away right then and there. At this point, going off by yourself might have been better than waiting to see if you could find Diego. You had managed the second stage, albeit only half, all by yourself and it hadn't been all that bad. Plus, back then, you'd been terrified of everything and Iron Maiden was nothing more to you but a ghost.

It was around the third time that Gyro decided to actually interact with you— only flirting, of course— that you had spotted a little town off on the horizon. It was in your general direction, just slightly off course, but not terribly so. Your eyes had lingered on it just a tad too long, just long enough for Gyro to follow your gaze to the town, to your dismay. You didn't need to anger Johnny, who had been in charge of the map so far, by going off course.

"Johnny, why don't we stop by that town? We're already ahead of the other racers, so we'll be fine," Gyro suggested as he took quick peeks at you to gauge your reaction. You had to admit, you were a little surprised that he hadn't mentioned that you were interested in it. But it also made your stomach churn just enough that it was uncomfortable. You kept your eyes stuck to your hands that tightened around Thunder's reins for what must have been the millionth time during the past few days.

"Are you sure, Gyro? Syracuse isn't too far away. If we keep this pace, we'll get there in little over a day!"

"No, no, let's go! I need a refill on my canteen. Plus Valkyrie's hungry, aren't you girl!"

"... Alright, then."

You felt Johnny's eyes linger on you for longer than you hoped but when you looked back up, he was adjusting your course for the little town. It wasn't too long before you all got there considering it was already somewhat on the way to Syracuse. It was about half an hour off Gyro's planned route but you all had made pretty good time in the days prior, as much as you hated to admit it.

But instead of cheers and grand welcomes like all the others prior, you had all been greeted with fleeting glances and hushed whispers. It was eerily silent in the town, save for the occasional thump of closing doors and shutters. You had kept your head low, looking for at least one place that hadn't shut its doors from beneath the brim of your hat. A few buildings down from the edge of the tiny one-street town, you spotted what looked like a general store.

You and Thunder broke past Valkyrie and Slow Dancer, coming to a stop at the store. You hopped off quickly, palming the money you had brought with you for the race. Johnny and Gyro didn't say a word as you walked into the store unless you had somehow failed to hear them. As you walked past the propped open doors, Gyro followed behind you, whistling to himself.

The inside of the store was relatively small, with shelves packed with tons of items that you would have loved to buy if it weren't for the extra weight they would add to Thunder's saddle bag. You looked over to the counter where a man slept, newspaper over his face. You felt a twinge of guilt at knowing that you would have to wake him up once you'd go to pay, but at least he'd be getting business.

"Like something you see?" Gyro cooed, half-scaring you to death as you stood in front of a stack of leather-bound journals. You brought a hand up to your chest, letting out a breath before forcing a smile.

"You... scared me there," you began, half-ignoring his pick-up line, "but, yes, um..." Your brow furrowed as you scanned the nearby shelf and settled on the same journals you had been standing in front of.

"These! I've been wanting one of these for a while now," you exclaimed, hoping that you didn't wake the clerk just yet.

"A... book?"

"A journal, Gyro."

"What use do you have with that?"

"What do you mean?"

You looked up at Gyro, eyes narrowed, testing him to say the words you knew were gonna come. Gyro gave you a half-laugh, half-scoff that reminded you all too well of the same scoffs Johnny had been giving you for the past week. You really didn't need Gyro to add to it— Johnny was already hitting his quota without Gyro's help.

"Well, I mean, come on, bella," Gyro faltered, looking you up and down before picking up one of the journals and shaking it, "what use is this if you can't even use it for what it's used for?" You ripped the journal out of Gyro's hand, glaring at him from beneath the brim of your hat. He seemed somewhat taken aback, if not a little miffed at your insistence that you could read and write.

"I'll have you know I graduated from my town's school," you spat, before turning around and snatching a fountain pen with a matching tub of ink that looked incredibly leak-proof. You didn't bother to acknowledge Gyro following after you before slapping the journal down on the counter, making the clerk shoot up from his seat. The man looked far more frightened than you had expected him to be, unable to utter a word.

"You... you two shouldn't be here," the man whispered after a moment, leaning over the counter to look out the door where he saw Johnny and visibly winced, "Texas Red... he..." You couldn't help the coldness that enveloped your body when the man turned back to you, terror clear in his eyes. You fished out a few coins that matched the price that had been displayed beside the journal, keeping your eyes trained on the man as you made your way out the door.

"Huh, what poor service," Gyro spoke up from beside you, walking past you and hopping onto Valkyrie as you rolled your eyes, looking over your shoulder to see the man closing the door with an apologetic glance your way. You gave him tight-lipped smile he couldn't see from behind your bandana and got onto Thunder, sliding the journal and the pen into your bag. You hadn't really meant to buy it but Gyro had really gotten to you. But more importantly, who was Texas Red?

"This place don't feel right," Johnny piped up, looking all around at the two rows of buildings. Thankfully, nothing had happened to him while you and Gyro were in the store, but Johnny's words were especially chilling when in addition to the store clerk's off-putting behavior. Gyro huffed, looking over at you with a frown. Why was he acting like you had done something wrong? You never asked him if you all could come to this town.

"Well, bella, I have to say, you have bad taste in towns," Gyro laughed, earning you a harsh glare from Johnny. Really? This was how you were going to be treated? You had stayed quiet the entire ride here, never bothering to speak your thoughts like you had the previous days. You had stopped "intruding" on their jokes and never corrected Gyro or Johnny when they said they had to go in the wrong direction. Of course, you were going to be blamed for this.

"I never asked to come here!"

Suddenly, there was a bang echoing in your ears and this sharp, hot poking pain in the right side of your abdomen that you could only describe as a bee sting. Maybe in the past, you would have freaked, but this was nothing. You went silent, mouth hanging just the slightest bit as you brought your hand to your abdomen, feeling for whatever had stung you. But there was nothing, except for the fabric of your shirt. For a moment, you had almost brushed it off, and then your entire right side went numb.

"What the-"

The numbness was gone now, but before you could say a word to Gyro and Johnny, who had stared at you, concerned, the numbness was replaced with hot searing pain. It felt like you had gotten the breath knocked out of you and you doubled over, screaming so loud that your throat ached. You grabbed at your abdomen, trying to scrape out whatever was inside your abdomen, drilling into your flesh.

"Speedwagon! What the hell is wrong with you?!"Johnny shouted, pulling Slow Dancer up beside you to pull your hands away from yourself. Gyro did the same, grabbing your shoulders as tears spilled from your eyes, mixing with snot and saliva. You couldn't breathe. You tried to inhale and exhale, lungs stammering as the pain in your abdomen failed to let up.

"Speedwagon! Speedwagon!"

You heaved as you tried to focus on Johnny and Gyro, their faces contorting into the cruel looks you had seen over the course of the fourth stage. Gyro tried to push you upright as you palmed at your side, sweat dripping from every pore on your body as you tried to convey anything to them. But there was nothing you could say.

Johnny and Gyro's voices muddled into one as you zoned out, looking past their faces and out towards the entrance to the town. Standing there, you saw a man all dressed in red, an unreadable expression across his face. Iron Maiden was in front of you in a second, but with a blink, he was gone and so was the pain.

Your abdomen felt fine and suddenly, Gyro and Johnny's faces were clear as day. You couldn't say a word, bringing your hands away from your abdomen, clear of blood. Your brow furrowed as Gyro and Johnny leaned away from you, brows furrowed and eyes narrowed.

"I... What... what was that?"

"Seriously, Speedwagon?" asked Johnny, grimacing at you while you tried to make a semblance of sense out of what had happened to you. Had they not heard the gunshot? Was it even a gunshot? You weren't bleeding but there was also no pain anymore. Had you hallucinated it all?

"You didn't hear that? The- the gunshot?"

"What gunshot? You screamed like a maniac," Gyro grumbled as he looked you over, scoffing before turning toward the exit of the town, "if you're that desperate to prove that you weren't wrong about this shitty town, you don't have to act all crazy. It's not attractive." You couldn't say a thing as Gyro and Johnny turned around, muttering to themselves as you they headed away from the silent town.

With your eyes glued to Thunder's reins and the lack of pain in your abdomen, you walked on, keeping your gaze low. As you brought a hand to where you could have sworn you had been shot, the words of the store clerk echoed in your head. Whoever this Texas Red was, he had to have been the man that you had seen and the man that had shot you. You couldn't have made it up.

TEXAS RED HAD DONE THIS.

Chapter Text

TEXAS RED was everywhere and anywhere you were, always watching you from a distance. Despite always staying in your peripherals, haunting you from afar, you knew he was there, pushing whatever had lodged in your abdomen further into you. With Thunder's every gallop, it inched its way into your flesh, burning with every flex of your muscle. Texas Red must have known your predicament because all he'd do was smile as you futilely tried to get your companions to help you.

But it was no use— Texas Red knew this, you were sure.

Johnny and Gyro had decided the moment you all had left the town, Agua Fria, that you were no one worth conversing with. They spent the latter half of the day muttering lowly like a couple of schoolgirls. It was pathetic to see the men you had considered such good friends (yes, even Gyro despite his hatred for you at the beginning of the race) decide that you were nothing to them. It wasn't hard to know why it was all happening after a week of their childish treatment.

They hated you because you were a woman. You had denied it as much as you could, lying to yourself to make yourself feel better because there was no way such a reason was to blame for their behavior. Yet, it was, and there was nothing you could do about it besides grin and bear it. Well, that is until you found an opportune moment to leave which you decided would be in a few days once you were sure Texas Red was nothing but a hallucination.

"Speedwagon, go be useful and find something to start the fire," ordered Gyro as he and Johnny began setting up camp, looking over at you with a forced grin. You smiled right back, ignoring the stinging in your abdomen and in your palms where your nails had started to dig into your skin. 

"Yeah... sure," you replied, walking off before you could hear the muttering between Gyro and Johnny again. Your brow furrowed and you focused on the low whistles of the wind and the rustling of the tall grass. Crickets cried out into the otherwise relatively silent plains, overshadowing whatever bullshit Johnny and Gyro were talking about now.

"Fucking beef-headed pieces of shit," you grumbled, not bothering to look over your shoulder and just basking in the remnants of the setting sun. Soon it would be dark and after that, you just had to make it through the night— if nothing happened, then that would be enough proof that Texas Red was just something you made up.

As you walked, the only thing you could hear was nature all around you, growing louder the further you got from the two asshats you had called friends. It would be hard to find fuel for the fire in the plains. There weren't trees for miles and you had seen very few throughout the week's trip to the next stage. If you couldn't find any shrubbery, you'd have to resort to buffalo chips, and you really didn't want to carry that back to camp.

"Iron Maiden," you called out, summoning the silver-skinned lady beside you. She hovered in silence for a moment, the silk-reminiscent fabric that hung from wrists fluttering softly in the wind. You didn't need to say much else before every bit of fire-building material was hovering beside you in mid-air. It was mainly buffalo chips but thankfully, there was practically no odor.

"Alright, let's get these back to camp," you said to Iron Maiden with a wave of your hand, "I really don't want to keep those jerks waiting." Iron Maiden nodded and hovered beside you as you made your short trek back to camp. But just as you could start to hear Gyro's ear-piercing cackles, you spotted him in the corner of your eye.

You spun around, looking around the empty plains. Aside from you, Johnny, and Gyro, there was no one here. Yet, you could feel Texas Red's eyes on you, sneering from wherever he was amidst the tall grass. Iron Maiden had repelled the chips away from you and off to the side as you readied yourself. 

In all your time traveling, you had yet to truly fight off an enemy all on your own. Iron Maiden hovered right behind you as you stared off into the darkness. The sun had just finished setting moments ago and you cursed your luck. The last thing you needed right now was to fight in the darkness. You raised your hands, curled into weak fists, as you awaited your fate.

"Your fists won't hurt me, girl."

You turned your head just in time to meet Texas Red's pitch-black eyes, the irises almost completely blocking out the whites of his eyes. He had a wicked grin on his face you could make out between the tassels in front of his mouth, the shadows of his face deepened by the night, his mask, and his red hat. You had not much more than a second before you were writhing on the ground, digging at your abdomen futilely.

It burned terribly, far worse than all the times you had burned your hands on the stove as a child combined. There was a scream lodged deep in the depths of your throat, unable to come out. All you could do was heave, choking on the air you breathed. It hurt beyond comprehension. You weren't sure what being ripped limb from limb was like, but you were sure it was similar, only confined to the right side of your abdomen.

"If only you could see how pathetic you look," Texas Red whispered, mocking you with that grin again. You wished it could be covered by the tassels attached to his mask, but his abnormally white teeth shone through each individual strand. You could feel tears streaming down your face, soaking the bandana tied to your face. You grunted, trying to form words that wouldn't come out right.

"I...Iron..."

"Oh, that's no use, darlin'," Texas Red gibed, glaring into your eyes as you tried to move— do anything to get away from the terrifying man in front of you. Iron Maiden was beside you in an instant, but no amount of repelling would move him away. He just stared at Iron Maiden, a crick in his brow. His grin fell to a frown and once more, you could feel something dig deeper into your flesh, making you squeal in pain.

"I told you so," Texas Red sighed, bringing his index finger and his thumb to a rest right where Iron Maiden's forehead would be and flicked them, "whoosh." The second Iron Maiden disappeared, a frigid wave of coldness washed over you. Your only form of protection was gone and there was no one else to save you. You were frozen, watching as Texas Red smiled again. His teeth were perfectly aligned with one another, practically glowing in the moonlight.

You couldn't help the scream you let out— you didn't care who heard, as long as they came. You didn't want to die, alone any less. Texas Red stepped away from you, scoffing as the familiar voices of Johnny and Gyro got closer. You glared as best you could at the man, saliva bubbling down your chin as your abdomen burst with pain. You screamed again, writhing on the dirt uncontrollably.

"You can't do anything now. It's far too late for you."

In an instant, Texas Red was gone, almost as if he had never been there. So did the pain. You sat up quickly, feeling your right side as Johnny and Gyro came into view. Their faces were scrunched up, almost as if your screaming was an annoyance to them more than a concern. You couldn't say a word as Gyro came up to you, pulling you to your feet in an instant.

"Why in God's name are you screamin' so damn loud?!" spat Johnny, rolling up beside you with a grimace. His blue eyes looked positively furious and you just stood there, arm still in Gyro's grasp as you were unable to say a word. What were you supposed to say if you knew they wouldn't believe you?

"Seriously, bambina, if you want us to pay attention to you that bad, there are other ways of doing it," Gyro growled, letting go of your arm roughly, swinging it away from him and back towards you. You couldn't help the tears that burned in your eyes but what you felt was far from sadness. You could feel your jaw go stiff, so much that it ached.

"I... You... Get the fucking fire fuel your damn selves!"

You didn't bother to look either Johnny or Gyro in the eye as you stormed off towards Thunderstruck, pulling her over and away from their campsite. It wasn't too far, just enough that you could still keep an eye on them while making sure you were still plenty isolated. You'd keep them around a little while longer, at least until you could get to Syracuse. From there you'd be fine.

You set up your tent as quickly as you could, terribly aware of Iron Maiden's absence. You could still faintly feel her— you were still alive after all— but she was stuck there, unable to manifest herself in front of you. To say the least, it was troubling. That night, listening to Johnny and Gyro's hushed voices, you couldn't help but let a few tears fall while you wrapped yourself up tight in your sleeping roll.

The next day felt only like what you imagined hell was like. Considering you had also described the past week as such, one would think that things couldn't have possibly gotten worse. Well, they had. Johnny and Gyro had tried to leave without you, then denied ever doing so and decided to blame you for having a late start to the day. It was all they brought up, consistently finding ways to blame you for any issue that arose on the trip.

They were going the wrong way? Well, you didn't tell them so it was your fault for not noticing. The horses were running low on food? You shouldn't have only bought enough food for Thunderstruck. There was only one canteen left of water? See, if you had brought extra canteens of water, there could have been more to share. Any slight inconvenience was never their fault, even if it very much could have been their fault.

On top of that, Texas Red had decided that he was going to tag along for as much of the ride as possible. You could hear his voice in your head, mocking you, telling you that you'd be dead soon. As much as you wanted to think he was just lying to distract you, you could tell that Iron Maiden was fading away. It was scary knowing that your life force was draining and that you had no idea what to do about it.

You didn't want to die. You had come this far and this was not how you were going to do it. You didn't want to die alongside pieces of shit who thought you were making stuff up to distract them. As you rode behind Johnny and Gyro, you fought to come up with some semblance of a plan to stop your death. But you really, truly couldn't do it anymore. It was simply impossible. 

By the time night had come along, you were at your wit's end. Johnny and Gyro were still ignoring you and Texas Red was still blabbering away in your mind. You sat in your tent, the dim light of your lantern illuminating the small space. You had half a mind to write your will in the still-empty journal you kept with you. You had yet to come up with anything to write but if what Texas Red was saying was true, then you might need to.

That was the thing though. What Texas Red was saying was most definitely true. Every passing breath was growing harder to take. Your vision had grown blurred and your fingertips had grown numb, limbs useless against gravity. You had fought so hard only to be undone by a bullet. Now, sitting here, feeling the right side of your abdomen, all you could feel was...

"What the-"

You perked up— you could feel something. It was faint but if you pushed hard enough down into your side, you could feel it. It was shaped like a bullet, but it was moving and last you had checked, bullets didn't tunnel further into a body after the initial shot. Whatever it was, it had finally appeared after a few days of simply not existing. That didn't matter though. What did was that you had to get it out.

You didn't bother to stop and think as you searched through your saddle bag for a small knife. Cutting out the bullet was your best chance at survival. From there, if your theory was correct, Iron Maiden would be able to fix up any major damage on the inside. Not too long after, you found the knife, pushing away any and all doubts before they could stop you from going any further. This is what you had to do to survive.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Texas Red snickered, grinning at you through the tassels covering half his face. You looked away from the man, hands shaking as you took off your dress shirt, rolling it up to bite down on later. Right now, you needed some sort of alcohol. Texas Red appeared beside you as you looked through your stuff, trying to find the little bottle of whiskey you saved in case of emergencies (of the medical kind).

"Why don't you think about this first, sweetheart?"

"I got no time for thinking you damn sidewinder."

"Well, I think it'd do you plenty good."

"And why's that?"

You were doubled over in an instant, gasping as the knife fell out of your hands. The bullet was digging further into you. You glared at Texas Red as best you could, body curling in on itself as the pain grew greater. You could feel yourself start to go faint now, fingers grasping at nothing as you tried to keep yourself awake enough to perform your impromptu surgery. Maybe if you screamed now, Johnny and Gyro could help you. You knew they wouldn't though.

"I told you so. Maybe next time, you'll listen for once."

The knife glinted dangerously a ways away from your left hand. You looked over at Texas Red, biting down hard on your lip. You really had no other choice. In a moment of what some may have called foolishness, you grabbed the knife and plunged it into your abdomen, right where you had first felt the bullet. It must have gone deep enough because before you knew it, Texas Red was fading away, screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Ha. I did it."

Your vision blurred as you looked down at your abdomen and the gaping wound you had created. You wrapped an unsteady hand around the handle and yanked it back out, biting back a scream. You had done enough screaming. You brought the tip of the knife into view where a bug-like bullet was impaled through. You grimaced and threw it to the side, slapping a hand over your abdomen. 

You didn't want to look but you knew your hand was soaked in blood. You could feel its warmth all over your palm. You were sure it was soaking into the grass below you, maybe even staining your bedroll nearby. You really didn't want to have to wash it— it was enough having to do it a few times during that time of the month. Really, you had to stop this bleeding before it worsened. But if your theory really was correct then...

"Iron... Maiden."

Iron Maiden appeared beside you, not saying a word as she brought a hand over your abdomen. You met where you thought her eyes would be, finding nothing but empty darkness behind her visor. It was comforting darkness but you presumed it was only because she was your stand. She was you in some convoluted way you couldn't put into words quite yet. Maybe if you survived, you'd figure it out. 

Iron Maiden muttered some cardinal direction under her breath, though you weren't sure what it was. Though no "yes", "no", "probably", or "probably not" answers made any sense to you at the moment. It wasn't like you had asked her a question. Or maybe she could read your thoughts? It was rather comforting to think at least someone would talk to her while she bled out. Iron Maiden muttered once more and then started her magic.

You could feel your insides pull together, slowly and excruciatingly painful. You felt around for your rolled-up shirt, brought it to your mouth, and bit down, head swimming as you tried to stay conscious. But it was so hard. All you wanted was to close your eyes and deal with it the next morning. Going to sleep sounded so nice. After so many restless nights, it was too inviting. Iron Maiden said one last thing that you couldn't understand. You wanted to sleep really bad.

SO YOU DID.

Chapter Text

YOU WOKE UP to the sound of what the Great Plains considered silence. The crickets were deafeningly and agonizingly loud just outside your tent amidst the rustling of the grass that made up the flat land around you. You had heard it for the past few nights but you were inexplicably drawn to the sound at that moment. It almost  sounded like the nights back at home, but you knew you were nowhere near your hometown. Instead, you were stuck in your little tent, surrounded by wadded-up fabric covered in blood, illuminated only by your dim, flickering lamplight.

"I didn't turn it off?" you rasped out, watching the flame flickering a few feet away from you, inches from your knee. You were surprised that you hadn't knocked it over in your sleep, though, you had learned that after a few nights of sharing your tent back in the beginning of the race had cured your restless kicking when you slept. You went to reach for your lamp, leaning up just slightly until your abdomen ached far too much for you to move any further.

"Fuck," you whined, wincing so hard that once you reopened your eyes after shutting your eye tight, there were white sparks dancing in your vision. You blinked them away quickly, grimacing as you looked down at your abdomen, wrapped in muddied red bandages and heaps of gauze. Had Johnny and Gyro- No, they wouldn't have helped you, especially not when they didn't believe you about Texas Red in the first place.

"Iron Maiden," you muttered, watching as your silver stand appeared beside you, flickering faintly like the flame of the lamplight you could see through her. You hadn't even gotten a chance to ask Iron Maiden a question before she flickered into thin air. You could only sigh— it wasn't like you really needed to hear it when you knew that only your spirit would ever try to help you.

As you lay there, you heard a sudden crash that consisted of clanging pans and rattling tin plates. You stared up at the top of your tent listening to Gyro and Johnny talking to one another with Gyro's obnoxious laughter echoing into the relative darkness. You couldn't see much besides their silhouettes and the remnants of the fire from the previous night just outside the comfort of your tent. You managed to make out their whispers, mainly consisting of the plans for the route.

Like hell were they going to leave you while you were injured even if they didn't know you were injured, or rather, didn't believe you were injured. No matter how much you despised them, you knew better than to ride on your own to the next town. Riding alone in your condition meant risking death and you had already done enough of that after stabbing yourself to get rid of Texas Red's stand.

You brought your arms back, resting them on your bedroll as you pushed yourself up, only to immediately fall back down. Your torso ached, the muscles strained and taut so tight that you feared for a moment that you wouldn't be able to move at all. You looked down at the mess of bandages once more, bringing a tentative hand to the bulging gauze and bandaged.

It was fine at first and all you could feel below your fingers was the bumpy texture that made the fabric of the bandages. But as you added just the slightest bit of pressure, your whole body flinched away, a stinging pain spidering out from the wound. You held back a whimper and threw your head back, tears flooding your vision as you bit down hard on the flesh of your lip.

There was no way you were going to be able to make it to the next town by yourself. Surely, if you were clearly on the brink of death, Johnny and Gyro would do something. You had just the slightest bit of faith in them to do so. Considering they were still human, there was probably some part of them that would make sure you didn't die on them. Hell, maybe if you did almost die on them, it would snap them out of their attitudes. As if that would make you trust them again, though.

"Alright, alright, I... I can do this," you told yourself, pulling your collared shirt over the gauze and bandages which thankfully didn't irritate your wound anymore than you had done to yourself moments earlier. You wearily pushed yourself up, this time being even more mindful of your wound. Somehow, you managed to sit all the way up, despite the shuddering of your body when you did so. After a sharp breath, you managed to get onto your knees and crawl to the entrance of your tent, pushing the flap open.

"Are we leaving already?" you asked into the dark, trying to keep your voice lighthearted despite the anger that bubbled in the pit of your stomach. You tried not to show the pain of your wound in your expression when Gyro looked down at you, the skin under his eye twitching just noticeably enough to piss you off even more. You shuffled out of your tent a bit further, sitting back on your heels before slowly pushing yourself up to stand in front of him.

"...Yes," Gyro replied as he turned to look over at Johnny who rolled a ways behind him, not bothering to acknowledge the fact that you were still joining them. It was obvious to anyone that they didn't want you there, especially to you, but you assured yourself that it wouldn't be much longer until you all reached a rest stop. You had seen it on the map back when you had actually been allowed to use it and Gyro wasn't claiming that you would get the three of you lost.

"Alright. Great," you stated with a tad more irritation, "I'll get all my stuff together then!" As you turned around on your heel, you felt your abdomen sear in pain once more, making you press your hand over it. You bit back your groan and started to get all your things together, not noticing the confused glances that Gyro and Johnny shared. Had you known, you would have pulled out Iron Maiden to help you pack up, just to get rid of their (in your opinion) feigned concern.

Soon enough, you were on the road, not straying far from Johnny and Gyro as they talked about where you all needed to go next. You didn't really listen in on what they were saying and made sure to keep pressure on your wound as inconspicuously as you could. It didn't seem to work as you found that Gyro and Johnny kept glancing back at you no matter how hard you tried to not make it obvious.

It wasn't long before you made it to Syracuse, the town Gyro had insisted you all had to pass through to get ahead of everyone. The plains were now sparsely littered with birch trees, framing the road that you all had found somewhere along the way. There were more trees a ways behind you, sitting in front of the large hill that you all had managed to clear in record time. But as you made your way down the path, you spotted a great mass of tan hanging from a branch, bent into awkward angles.

"What is that?" you muttered to yourself as you all grew closer to it. You narrowed your eyes, trying to make out what it was before you all got any closer. There was a puddle of red below it— blood, most likely— growing larger with every drop that spilled from it.

"A cow," Johny piped up unexpectedly. You hadn't expected him to talk to you, let alone answer your question. "That much is obvious." You frowned under your bandana. You expected as much from him. Clearly, there was no way that Johnny and Gyro were ever going to treat you like they had before. Gyro grinned and got closer to the cow, pulling a knife from his belt as he grabbed one of the legs.

"Hey, Gyro... I wouldn't touch that. There's an owner," Johnny called out, pointing out a brand that had been carved into the leg Gyro had grabbed onto. You brought Thunder a bit closer, making out the letters 'HP'. You really didn't want to mess with any more people during the race, especially when you had a gaping hole in your side.

"Look at this closely," Gyro smirked as he gestured toward the lack of the cow's upper body, "the coyotes already ate most of it. I'm just going to take about six hundred grams before it's all gone!" You sighed and led Thunder away from Gyro, looking out at the land around you all while Gyro cut out chunks of cow meat from the carcass.

Past the carcass, the once sparse trees became denser, filled with birch trees that all looked the same. You already knew that Gyro and Johnny would be asking for what direction you all would be heading in but with Iron Maiden still weak, you weren't sure how much help you would be. Plus, once Iron Maiden came back, your main priority was healing yourself and making sure you didn't keel over in the fourth stage.

"Yo, Speedwagon." You turned to see Gyro holding out a piece of meat for you to take, a larger piece of meat in his hands. His eyes flickered down to the bump in your side for a moment before looking back up at you, brows furrowed. You stared at him, blinking a few times at the piece of meat in front of you.

"Oh, um, thanks," you mumbled, taking the meat while peeking over at Johnny who looked at you from over his shoulder and then turned away. It was odd and for a moment, you debated getting rid of the meat, wary of the sudden kindness Gyro showed you.

"Don't worry, I didn't give you as much as I gave myself. You don't want to gain more weight, right?" You bit your tongue, glaring at Gyro from beneath the brim of your hat. That was it, you were leaving them. You didn't need to deal with any more of their bullshit. Once Iron Maiden came back, you'd heal yourself up.

"Right." You pulled Thunderstruck away from them, leading Thunder right past Johnny. You dropped the meat into his lap, ignoring his shouting that came immediately after. Gyro didn't seem too pleased either, grimacing at you as you led Thunder into the dense birch forest.

"What the hell was that for?!" Johnny screeched, following after you as Gyro followed behind. You rolled your eyes and continued forward, not bothering to answer him. Johnny kept persisting though, failing to whisper to Gyro about "how much of a bitch" you were.

"Figured you needed it more than me," you grumbled, looking over your shoulders to point at him, "you need the strength don't you?" Johnny glowered, scoffing as he sat back on his saddle with his arms crossed over his chest. You turned away to lead Thunder slowly down the path, only to spot a glimpse of hot pink. In the midst of greens and off-whites of the trees, it wasn't hard to see it, heading straight for you all.

"Gyro... look, it's him. He's coming this way," Johnny called from behind you, unzipping his bag to pull out a set of binoculars to look through the trees. You all continued forward until you reached a clearing in the trees, finally able to see a man in pink heading your way.

"What the hell does he want? Is anybody with him?"

"He's a lone wolf. He's currently got 155 points and is ranked third. An American... His age and real name are unknown, as well as any other information about him."

"Hah, so like Speedwagon."

You scoffed.

"He's on a good horse. He's also no hillbilly, judging by the way he carries himself."

"What should we do? Talk to him?"

"No... just ignore him."

You didn't make any effort to move for the sake of your wound and for your safety, still unsure of what this man was going to do. Johnny and Gyro were on either side of you, Johnny staring at him through binoculars for a moment before dropping them to his lap. It was odd not being behind them both rather than beside them but you didn't bother to move. Right now, the man coming towards you all was more important.

It was silent save for the rustling of leaves in the trees all the while the man grew closer, finally allowing you to make out his features. He had hot pink hair that ended at his chin in a straight edge. His clothes were adorned with gold pins and tufts of black fur that contrasted beautifully against the pink of his clothes. Although Johnny had said the man was American, you couldn't help but think he was foreign. He looked far too elegant.

Suddenly, he pulled out a rope, or rather three ropes, and threw them all over a branch that sat between him and the three of you. The second the three ropes hung in front of you, you realized that they were nooses not just loops of rope. You froze, paralyzed with a mix of fear and shock while the man sat back on his saddle, resting his arm behind him while he stared at you with no hint of an expression.

"Good day to you all. Let's skip the chit-chat and get to the point. I will now hang you all from this tree," the man stated matter-of-factly, scanning over the three of you. You didn't move at all but neither did Johnny and Gyro, albeit definitely for other reasons rather than pure fear.

"You ate my cow, didn't you? It was a cow that I paid for in advance to be grazing on this course. The penalty for cow theft is to be hanged. Put those ropes around your necks. That is the law in this place. There's no need for a trial," the man declared as he lifted the blue saddle cloth under his saddle to reveal the same brand that had been on the cow.

"Oh! That brand!" Gyro blurted, getting a stern look from Johnny. You grimaced— had Gyro not said anything, there may have been a chance of him getting away with it. Not that it mattered anymore.

"Ho- Hold on! I don't know the laws of this country too well, and..." Gyro's backtracking didn't help one bit and before you knew it, the man was heading straight toward Gyro. You leaned back, pulling Thunder away as Gyro grabbed his steel ball, getting ready to throw it until a beige-colored substance shot out of the man's lighter, hitting his hand and face. You took a sharp breath as it spread across his eyes, blinding him as he yelled.

"HOT PANTS! HE'S A STAND USER!"

Chapter Text

THROUGHOUT the entirety of the Steel Ball Run race, Thunderstruck had never reared up. Not once. No matter how terrible of a rider you had been (mediocre now, at best), she had surprisingly not thrown you off that way. Sure, you had taken care of her since Robert had first bought her but you knew better than to assume your bond with her would ensure your success. Yet, so far, you had managed to get through the first three stages without incident. Until now.

You landed hard on your back and shoulder, shutting your eyes tight as you groaned. Your hands flew to your side, putting pressure on your wound while biting your lip hard. Thunder squealed, long and loud, pawing in the air with her forelegs. When you opened your eyes, Thunder was coming back down, her hooves hitting the ground with a dull thump. You didn't think to move, even when you locked eyes with Hot Pants who held his lighter threateningly in your direction for a moment before turning it towards Johnny.

"Whaat?! What's happening?!" screeched Gyro as liquid shot out of the lighter, covering both of Johnny's eyes, "my... my left arm! It's shrinking!" You looked over and watched with horror as Gyro's arm was shrunken down to the bone. You backed away, kicking dirt up as you did so, narrowly missing the liquid that Hot Pants had shot at you. He didn't seem to see you as much of a threat though and shot more liquid in Gyro's face as he screamed.

"I-Iron Maiden!" you sputtered as your stand flickered weakly beside you. You grimaced when you saw her barely corporeal form from the corner of your eye. It didn't seem like you would be much help, especially with your now aching wound. You hoped that it hadn't somehow gotten worse or reopened under the bandages. Considering Iron Maiden's inability to fully appear, you were sure that your wound hadn't closed right when she tried to heal you.

Still, you'd have to try and fight Hot Pants regardless.

You stumbled to your feet, throwing yourself at Hot Pants just as Gyro hit Hot Pants' spine with one of his spinning steel balls. Hot Pants' arms crossed over the other just as you landed on him, his lighter bouncing out of his hands. He didn't seem enthused to have you holding him down, eyes darkening as Iron Maiden appeared beside you, magnetizing Hot Pants' to the ground below.

"Johnny! Now! Shoot! I've locked both of his arms! He can't move his arms! But it'll only last two seconds!" Gyro yelled, seemingly unaware that you had tackled Hot Pants away from him. Or rather, maybe he had just been disregarding it. You looked back over at Johnny, his eyes still covered in the substance. Your breath caught in your throat when you saw his hand pointed at you.

"Hurry up and shoot! I've distanced myself from him! I... my breathing's going to stop soon!" Your eyes were trained on Johnny, momentarily forgetting that you were holding Hot Pants down. In your hesitation, you had failed to notice Hot Pants reaching for his lighter, Iron Maiden fading away beside you. But you were too focused on the threat of Johnny's nail bullets. Just as you opened your mouth to tell Johnny you were holding Hot Pants down, he spoke instead.

"Listen! There was a bullet wound on the cow! It was already dead! It wasn't us! We don't carry guns because we don't need them!" Johnny shouted, just as Hot Pants' grabbed his lighter, making enough of a sound for Johnny to aim at his hand. You watched the bullet hit the dirt next to Hot Pants' hand, sending a puff of it into the air. You looked down, meeting Hot Pants' hardened glare. You went to summon Iron Maiden again but only felt her ghost touches instead of seeing her actual form.

"And the wound on its flesh was from a large caliber. It doesn't match that hole! Check it if you'd like!" You ignored the fear in the back of your mind at the thought of getting shot by Johnny and instead placed your hands on Hot Pants' shoulders, pushing them down with your entire body weight as he weakly fought back. Whatever Gyro had definitely helped with that. Still, Hot Pants shifted his body, making you shift your hips. That itself didn't seem to help you because suddenly, your side was aching again.

"For fuck's sake, just shoot him, Johnny! I can't even scratch this shit off!" Just as the words left Gyro's almost entirely covered mouth, the liquid evaporated into thin air. Gyro's arm went back to normal as he heaved, readying a steel ball as he sat up to stare at you and Hot Pants. You looked over at him and then back at Johnny whose eyes had cleared up from the liquid as well. After a beat of silence, you scrambled off of Hot Pants, hand glued to your side as he stood up. You met his eyes once more, backing away when he gave a pointed look at where your wound was.

"True," Hot Pants began, placing his lighter in the holster on his belt, "what an odd trio... but you did eat the meat. You ate my cow. So I'm not going to apologize." You didn't say anything and watched as he turned around and hopped onto his horse, looking back over his shoulder at you for a moment. For some reason, your cheeks flushed a tad. Well, you had been on top of him after all.

"Geez, cocky bastard. The coyotes are the ones that ate most of it!" Gyro grumbled, rubbing at the side of his face with a knot in his brow. You didn't say anything in response to that even when Thunderstruck made her way back beside you, whinnying softly. You smiled at her under your bandana, patting her neck before stepping back and hopping onto her saddle. She whinnied again as if to apologize for throwing you off which made you smile even wider.

"Wait! Where did you acquire that stand ability?!" Johnny called suddenly, making Hot Pants stop in his tracks. He looked over his shoulder at the three of you which Johnny took as a sign to continue.

"Was it in the desert in Arizona? During the second stage? The Devil's Palm?"

"... Not that I'm really interested but... are there others like that?"

"Well... we don't know... not a clue really." Hot Pants gave a contemplative hum and then turned back around, riding off down the path. Johnny stared after Hot Pants for a while as Gyro got back onto Valkyrie who gave a soft huff from beside you and Thunderstruck. Hot Pants was still trotting not too far from you all when Gyro piped up.

"I would have shot him. He could have been trying to trick us," Gyro began, looking over at you and pausing before looking over at Johnny, "what if he was a liar?" Your blood ran cold at the insinuation. Johnny seemed to catch on but made no attempt to correct him and kept looking at Hot Pants after looking at you from the corner of his eye.

"We could have been toast, but it doesn't seem like Hot Pants knows anything about the corpse. He doesn't seem to be an enemy. Not a terrorist or from the government."

"Maybe! But one thing's for sure... that I hate his guts... Hot Pants."

You didn't need to know that Gyro was looking over at you. You could feel his eyes on you and then he looked at Johnny again, starting to talk to him about some idiotic Corpse part information you didn't want to hear. Hell, you knew that didn't want you to hear it. Ever since they found out that you were a woman, it seemed as though you didn't need to know anymore. To them, you were not important enough to hear about it.

Well, that was great for them— you didn't want to hear any more about the corpse or their poorly hidden emotions about you. It was enough. If they hated Hot Pants and you that much, maybe you'd just go off with Hot Pants. The hand that you had unconsciously brought to your side dug into the bandages as you grit your teeth. There was just no more grinning and bearing it. Terrorist or not, you were leaving with Hot Pants and if he didn't want you with him, then you'd just use him as an excuse.

"Kansas it is then... the next corpse part-"

"I'm leaving."

You kept your eyes on the path in front of you, hands shaking as you tried to keep your voice steady. For a moment, all you heard was the leaves and the soft chirping of birds. But despite it all, it was still too quiet for you. Despite your initial protests, you turned Thunder around and looked at Johnny and Gyro who had stopped in the midst of the conversation to look at you. Their silence was unsettling and for some inexplicable reason, you took off your hat and then pulled down your bandana.

"You guys are... fed up with me, I can tell," you began, pushing back all the words that you really wanted to say to the back of your mind. For some reason, they didn't feel right to say. You weren't sure why, yet, you continued anyway. "I'm sorry but I think it's just for the best if I go. I think I'm just going to... I'm going to go with Hot Pants. He seems nice enough." You turned your gaze down to your hands, shaking as they were wrapped around the reins.

"So that's it?"

You didn't look up but you knew it was Johnny. You could already picture the scowl on his lips.

"Yeah, that's... it."

You heard Gyro scoff and you knew he was probably rolling his eyes.

"Go ahead then! Go have fun with that asshole!"

You grit your teeth but turned back around, pulling your bandana back over your mouth and placing the hat back over your head while adjusting your hair under it like you always did. You squeezed Thunder's midsection with your calves, sending her forward while the usual mumbling that Johnny and Gyro shared started up again behind you. You ignored it until all you heard again was chirping and rustling.

There was a part of your brain that had relished in your sudden freedom from Johnny and Gyro's nonsense. Your heart raced with adrenaline, knowing you had probably gotten the drop on them. Although you hadn't had the last word, it still felt good to know that you were finally getting away from them. It had been long enough. Yet, another part screamed with the knowledge that you had so much more to say.

You wanted to scream and thrash around until they finally listened to you. Until they acknowledged all their wrongdoings. The eleven days you had spent with them after your revelation had been torture and all you wanted was for them to feel even just a sliver of that same pain. It wasn't fair. But there was another part of you—one that you didn't want to acknowledge— that felt ashamed.

You knew you should have told them you were a woman long ago, back during the second stage. Even the third stage would have been better. You knew you should have told them but you also knew that your fear had been paralyzing, leaving you incapable of doing much more than crying every time you were in the slightest hint of danger. You would have never been able to if it wasn't for your time in the mountain town during the third stage.

Now, in the fourth stage, there wasn't much else you could do but leave and try not to think about all the time you had spent with them. You had spent a greater half of a month with them, 30240 minutes worth of your time racing, laughing, eating, and sleeping right beside them. Soon, it would just be you and Thunder fighting through the ranks with no one beside you. Because, really, there was no way you'd catch up with Hot Pants and there was no way he'd let you tag along with him.

"Oh, it's you."

You perked up, eyes widening as Hot Pants sat in front of you, tilting his head to the side just slightly. You flushed, hoping that it didn't look like you were on the verge of tears after ditching your asshole companions. You scrambled to say something but you found that there was little you could find to say and reserved yourself to looking down at your lap to try and compose yourself before saying anything.

"Um... yes, I hope that's not a problem," you replied, keeping your gaze low, but not low enough for you to miss the rope that hung off of Hot Pants' saddle bag. There was a beat of silence where you took the opportunity to look up at Hot Pants who seemed to be scanning your abdomen again from afar, lingering on the bump on your side.

"No. None at all," Hot Pants added, looking away from your wound, sighing softly but in such a way that you didn't feel like shit as a result, "you didn't eat any meat off my cow. Your scumbag friends had it coming though." You laughed a little, replaying Gyro's expression after the fight in your head a few times.

"Well, you can blame those same scumbags for me not eating any," you huffed, slumping in your saddle as Hot Pants' tilted his head again; He seemed a little miffed a first but nodded after a while, mirroring your posture on his own saddle.

"You ditch them?"

"Yeah. Been thinking about it for a bit."

"Good."

Neither of you made a move, sitting in some more silence until you finally decided that now was the best time to ask. Hopefully, Hot Pants would agree to let you join him until you got to town. Sure, he seemed a little dangerous at times but if this interaction had anything to show for it, then Hot Pants was only a danger to anyone who instigated fights with him. Thankfully, you had been a rather pacifistic person.

"Say-"

"Hey-"

"Oh, you first," you sputtered, nodding at Hot Pants for him to continue his sentence. Hot Pants got closer, eyeing your wound for the millionth time. Yet, he still had nothing to say about it. Instead, he turned to look at all your surroundings, eyes narrowing when his eyes fell upon a certain tree.

"Have you noticed anything about your surroundings at all?" Hot Pants asked, looking at you from the corner of her eyes before continuing to look around at the birch wood forest. You raised a brow— had something happened and had you missed it? You had zoned out half the time you were riding and at that moment, you weren't even sure how long it had been since you had left Johnny and Gyro. Minutes? Hours? It was impossible to tell.

"N-No," you answered wearily, now looking around as well. There was birch everywhere, every inch of the forest looked practically identical. It was hard to figure out where you were going when you had such a pervading inner turmoil. You locked eyes with Hot Pants, ignoring the little voice in the back of your mind that was running rampant with the fact that Hot Pants' face was a little feminine for a man. You found that you didn't mind it one bit.

"Alright," Hot Pants began, sitting up straight in his saddle as he scanned the horizon, "follow me and keep an eye out for any carvings in the trees. It seems like your... those riders are smarter than they look." You nodded, patting Thunder as he trotted forward, following behind Hot Pants as he started heading down the path. As you both made your way through the forest, you noticed a few rather important details that you were sure Hot Pants had noticed too.

First, there were the incredibly impressive amount of plums that messed with the compass Hot Pants had pulled out. Iron Maiden still seemed to be recovering and ended up being no help either. Second, there was the cow that Hot Pants had started the fight over. It was only on this second time seeing it that you actually noticed the gun wound, rather than the first time. Third, there was the abandoned-looking cabin that made you feel terribly uneasy every time you passed it.

It was these three things that you would see over and over for a good thirty minutes. At first, you had made a bit of conversation about them, trying to avoid the fact that Hot Pants seemed focused on the wound on your side half the time he looked at you. You were starting to consider just showing it to him so that he would stop. But then again, you were afraid to see what the real damage was. Plus, you weren't sure how to explain it considering the wound was self-inflicted, although in an attempt to save yourself.

After a few loops around the forest, you both stopped near the cabin, the chimney now smoking. It seemed the cabin wasn't as abandoned as you thought. Your eyes were glued to the cabin, that is until you heard far-too-familiar voices. You grimaced before you looked over through the trees, spotting Johnny and Gyro who looked back at you with some initial state of shock that devolved into glares.

"Are you lost too? How many times has it happened?" Hot Pants asked from beside you, leaning back a bit to look at them from behind your back. Gyro looked like he was about to lose all his senses, his nose crinkled below his knotted brow. His blond hair was glued to his face from buckets of sweat. You could see his hands curl into fists around Valkyrie's reins until he finally blew it, leaning past Johnny to point at you and Hot Pants.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!"

Chapter Text

"RIGHT THERE! Don't come any closer! This is a warning!" Gyro screamed from the clearing he and Johnny stood in. Your brow was still furrowed as you looked away from them, watching Hot Pants pull out his compass and fiddle with it instead. You watched the needle wobble slightly but it eventually pointed Northwest. You held back a sigh— if you could just summon Iron Maiden, the whole situation would have been solved and you wouldn't have seen Gyro or Johnny.

"We've lost nearly an hour here. No matter which path we take, we come back to this spot," he explained, leading his horse past the trees to face Gyro and Johnny, "the plums grown here in this orchard contain a lot of iron... that could be the reason my compass doesn't seem to be pointing in the right direction." You followed Hot Pants, ignoring Johnny's glance at you.

"Hot Pants, don't come any closer. We're thinking that you could be tracking us," Johnny stated, cupping his hand around his mouth to amplify his voice as he looked over at you, "... you too, Speedwagon. You're probably helping him." Hot Pants frowned as he glanced over at you, unable to discern the mixed emotions you hid beneath your bandana. Why the hell would you try and track them down after literally telling them you were leaving them? They were being... delusional!

"Didn't I tell you both earlier that I want nothing more to do with you? Why the hell would I go find you again?!" you yelled back, gritting your teeth as you watched Gyro roll his eyes. Before he could go and say anything to piss you off, Hot Pants extended his arm in front of you and shook his head slightly. You bit your tongue and ignored Johnny's glare.

"This is the fourth time we've come back here. Look at our tracks. They pass through four times, don't they? I'd like to know why," Hot Pants pointed out, signaling toward the dirt which just as he said had four different sets of tracks running through them. You watched as Gyro and Johnny looked at the tracks and couldn't contain the smirk that tugged at your lips, which even hidden beneath your bandana, Gyro seemed to sense.

"So? What's that to us? Get lost already!" Gyro said with a scoff, leaning back on his saddle, "We're never even going to trust you anyways, got that?!"Even though you were sure that his words were targeted at Hot Pants, you couldn't help but feel a twinge of an ache in your heart. You looked back down at the dirt, studying the tracks in the ground solemnly.

"Then I'll be the one to trust you." You whipped around to look at Hot Pants whose gaze had fallen on you momentarily. Again, you knew this was a discussion between the three of them from which you were merely supposed to stand by and listen. But there was something about it that made your stomach turn over with something that couldn't have been anxiety.

"You two... aren't bad people"— you could hear the hesitance in Hot Pants' voice and you almost laughed— "If you were, I'd already have killed you, how's that?" Gyro stared at Hot Pants from where he and Johnny were, eyes narrowed as if trying to seem intimidating (considering how relatively far away he was, it looked more like he was squinting at you and Hot Pants).

"What was that supposed to mean, Johnny? What was he talking about?" Gyro asked, cringing as you rolled your eyes from where you were. You weren't sure if Gyro was pretending to be dense or just terribly stupid. You sat back in your saddle, arms crossed as Johnny kept his eyes on you and Hot Pants.

"I guess he's saying that since we're both lost we should work together to find the right path. I've said it before but it's my opinion that he's not an enemy," Johnny uttered as Hot Pants turned toward you, making you sit up straight. He looked at you with confusion for a moment but then continued what he had started to do. You watched with silent interest as Hot Pants pulled out three wrapped sandwiches. He held one out to you discreetly, not a hint of emotion across his face— your cheeks burned when your stomach answered for you.

"Tell him to go eat shit, Johnny."

"Tell him yourself..."

"Eat shit, asshole! Fall off your horse!"

"Aren't we looking for the same path?" Hot Pants maintained as his brow furrowed, "Let's just cooperate until we find the main road." You ignored Gyro and Johnny's suspicion and instead slowly unwrapped your sandwich to see roast beef, eggs, and onion pressed deliciously between two slices of bread. You were sure from an outside perspective, you looked like you had been starving for ages with how you looked at the sandwich.

"So, let's say that we do trust you... what's in it for us if we cooperate?"

"I'll let you have some quality food if you're with me." Hot Pants threw the other two sandwiches at them, making you flinch. Your mind ran rampant as you took a quick bite of your sandwich (You should have snatched those sandwiches mid-air! But you knew better than to do that... Plus, you'd just worsen your wound... But if you could...). Gyro and Johnny's minds seemed to do the same, except they had actually worded them out loud.

"There's no poison," Hot Pants added haphazardly, turning his horse around to face the cabin that you had freaked you out every time you passed it. You hadn't said anything when you noticed the smoke on your last pass through but it looked like Hot Pants had now. You gave the cabin a wary glance, hoping that if there was someone in there that they weren't an enemy of any sort.

"Look. That house. Looks like there's somebody inside. It looks worn out but it must be inhabited," Hot Pants stated, not sparing a glance behind him at Johnny and Gyro who looked lost for a moment, "let's ask whoever is in there for directions. We'll just be stuck here if we don't ask." You didn't object to Hot Pants' ideas, no matter how much your stomach churned at the thought of even getting close to the cabin.

"A-Are you sure?" The question came out before you could stop yourself and you froze when Hot Pants shot you a confused look. You swallowed hard, eyes hovering on the window beside the front door. You stared at it until, for just a moment, you could have sworn the curtain moved. No, you must have just been hallucinating. Well, even if you hadn't been losing your mind, there still must have been someone in there. It was just the thought that they were watching you that was freaking you out.

"Never mind, it's probably nothing-"

"Shit! Here again?! That son of a bitch! This same place again!"

You pulled Thunder back, eyes widening as an unfamiliar rider shout out from the brush in front of you. He looked shot— eyes stuck in perpetual shock as he heaved, sweat pouring from under his hat. He glared at the cabin before realizing you were all there, steadying his horse as he fought to catch his breath.

"You guys! Are you guys lost too?!"

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey..." Gyro began, looking far more pissed off than he had been moments earlier. Still, he seemed to be at a loss for words. Had he forgotten something? You wouldn't be surprised if he had just never learned the names of the other riders but to be fair, neither did you beside the top riders.

"That's Gaucho. He finished tenth in the third stage," Johnny reminded with a slight sigh, not bothering to look over at Gyro whose eyes narrows even further once he knew the name of the man in front of him. You just hoped Gyro wouldn't cause any trouble. Gaucho grumbled for a moment in what you deciphered to be Spanish, cursing away as his hands tightened around the reins of his horse.

"Hijo de la chingada madre! Always at the curtain by the door... always by the damn curtain," Gaucho fumed, glaring at the cabin window, "I've asked him over and over again how to get out of this damn orchard and each time he says "you'll find your way out after you kill me". That's it! I can't stand this! I'll give him what he wants!"

"What the hell is he talking about?" you uttered as you watched Gaucho hop off his horse, incomprehensibly angry. As he got off, you spotted a gun hanging from a holster on his hip, making you freeze. Your hand shot to the wound over your stomach, fighting a grimace when your own touch made your stomach tense.

"Get your ass out here, liar! I'll shoot you dead, just as you wish! Show yourself, coward!" Gaucho screamed, voice cracking with rage that you had yet to rationalize. It wouldn't be long before that though because not even seconds later, a man with short, white hair and a matching goatee walked out the door. His face scrunched into an unrecognizable emotion. Sadness? Disbelief? Weariness? You couldn't tell and it was that alone that made you swallow hard.

"Who the hell..." you muttered, readying Thunder's reins in case you needed to make a quick escape. The man hung his head low, newspaper in hand but not flipped to any specific page. Though you were sure that any newspaper was currently only covering the race and who the top riders were. Gaucho, who had made his way halfway between you all and the cabin took a half-step back as he stared dead ahead at the unknown man.

"Then, I humbly suggest we begin," the man stated, folding the newspaper in half before placing it gently on a chair that had been sitting right beside the cabin door. Gaucho took another half-step back, hand shooting to his hip right where his pistol sat. His back was drenched in sweat, making a darker stain on the back of his shirt. He stumbled back a bit more and stammered incoherently as the other man took a few steps forward.

"D-Don't fuck with me! If you want to be killed so badly... I'll do it! This is your last chance! Tell me the real path that will get me out of here!" You could only watch as the man made his way off his cabin's porch non-threateningly yet all-too-threateningly at the same time. You looked over at Hot Pants, gauging any reaction on his face. His brows were scrunched, jaw tight as his eyes slowly came to fall on you. You matched his expression and then looked back at the scene before you.

"I'm no liar, but if you want to call me that, I don't mind. But there is only one correct path," the man replied matter-of-factly, "if you want to get out of here, you must kill me. That is the path that is to be taken. A decision that must be made eventually..." Gaucho huffed from where he stood still facing the man despite the fear that clearly coursed through him. But if you were seeing things right, it seemed like the man was scared himself. His arms trembled, hand shaking over his gun holster.

"Gyro! Is that what I think it is?!"

"Wait, Johnny, I really don't understand the situation!"

"Your hands! Ha... Your hands are shaking!" Gaucho faltered, breathing hard as he kept his hand glued to his holster. The man took another step forward, facing away from Gaucho with a sigh. His hands still shook as he stood there and you silently hoped that both men would be too afraid to shoot the other. Thunder huffed impatiently beneath you but thankfully, she didn't buck like she had earlier.

"Yes. You are right... Perhaps it is because of fear," the man said, looking up at the clear skies, "that is also correct. It is possible that excessive strain on the body could cause it to freeze against one's will. The decision must be made. Allow me to speak of something equally important. The gun on your hip is an 1873 Colt. With this distance between us, our bullets will most likely not be able to reach their targets."

"We should go," you whispered, chest tightening as your palms tingled, sweat slowly forming across the skin. You looked over at Hot Pants but he was far too focused on what either man would do next. Not you. You wanted to leave. You couldn't be here. You had already been shot once and the only reason you hadn't lost your mind was because you knew Iron Maiden was with you and that she could just heal you right up. Now, she wasn't showing up and you still had a half-opened wound.

"I need you to take five more steps in this direction. Although I'm in your range, the distance will cause your bullet to land approximately ten centimeters to the right. It will take you five more steps to accurately hit me. Your chances of hitting me are limited if you're five steps behind." Gaucho didn't reply and continued staring all the while you began to look around for any sort of escape. You had a feeling that this wasn't going to end well.

"What will it be? Were you only lying when you said you would shoot me?"

"This looks serious," Hot Pants cautioned, taking hold of his horse's reins. Gyro and Johnny, who had been whispering about something you hadn't heard, looked over at you and Hot Pants and then at the men in front of you all. They too readied their reins, preparing to leave as you had just in case. But you, on the other hand, were focused right on them, breath growing quicker as the tension in the air grew unbearably thick.

"It's your decision, should you choose to quit. But in that case, you would be the liar, not me-"

"I can't stand this anymore!"

All you heard was the gunshot, loud and clear amidst the silence of the forest. The bullet was so close to you, not at you but still so close. Your head buzzed as your ears rang, eyes dead-set on the white-haired man who stumbled back. You heard glass shatter and Gaucho screaming as well as Johnny shouting for Gyro. You stayed still as the scene in front of you morphed into another.

The white-haired man was gone, now replaced by Robert. You could see his face vividly, the scar across his face still so ever-present. You could see the blood leaking from his shoulder and then right into his chest. You could see his mouth open but heard no scream. It was so silent but still so loud. Your mouth opened and closed trying to say anything but no words would come out either. You could feel your gut twist, your entire side burning as it had the night before.

"-wagon. Speedwagon." There was a hand on your back, steadying you as you sat there, hunched over and holding onto your aching side. You didn't know who was holding you but at the moment it didn't matter to you. Every shot you heard made you flinch as you stared at the golden coat of Thunderstruck who paced uneasily under you. Between every gunshot, all that you heard was your pounding heartbeat in your ears.

"Hey! Stop, youuuuuu!"

You managed to look up from where you were hunched over, breathing hard as you watched the man utter a few sentences and then shoot one final bullet into Gaucho's chest. When Gaucho finally fell limp, you couldn't say a thing. When the other man dismissed himself, your eyes couldn't tear themselves away from Gaucho's body which was starting to resemble the crumbled body of Robert all those years ago. You were stuck staring until someone grabbed your shoulders and turned you to face them.

"Speedwagon, hey, look at me—" Hot Pants eyes were so pretty, you noted "— are you okay? You keep grabbing your side. Are you hurt?" You could suddenly feel Johnny and Gyro's eyes on you as you immediately let go of your side, shaking your head.

"No... No, I'm fine, I just," you faltered as you tried to come up with an excuse, "just surprised I guess. I didn't think they would actually shoot each other." You sat up, tearing your gaze away from Hot Pants and over to Johnny and Gyro who thankfully had seemed to buy your excuse. Well, regardless of if they did or not, it wasn't like they cared about you enough to do something about it.

"Who the hell was that guy anyway? What's he doing in that cabin? He just murdered Gaucho," Johnny croaked, staring down at Gaucho's body, "what's going on?" You grimaced at the sight of Gaucho and turned away, resting a hand on your side as inconspicuously as you could.

"None of that was against the law," Hot Pants stated, steel-faced despite what had just happened. You hated to think about it but he was right— duels, albeit not legal everywhere, were still common and it wasn't like the government in Kansas would do anything about it. Gaucho would most likely just get marked as another casualty in the race.

"You know, we really don't give a shit," spat Gyro, pausing briefly to look at you as you held back a grimace, "if you want to get involved, go right on ahead. He's probably the one who killed your cow. That goes for you too, Speedwagon." You tried to glare at him, intimidate him or something, but with the tenseness of the fight minutes prior, you couldn't muster much. So you turned away from him, hoping he didn't notice the weariness across your visible features.

"Come on, Johnny. We can't stay here forever. Let's get out of here!"

You watched from your peripherals as Gyro and Johnny rode away, neither of them casting a glance behind them. It was even more disheartening than you had expected. You had hoped that after this entire ordeal, you would be able to just go off and not feel so terrible about leaving them. About how they treated you. But of course, life didn't seem to ever work in your favor like that. As you kept one hand pressed tight to your side and sat beside Hot Pants who had said nothing else, you cried.

You tried to cry as quietly as you could, keeping your terrible, jumbled-up mess of emotions to just sniffled and water spilling from your eyes. Hot Pants watched after them and thankfully he said nothing. You didn't care if it made Hot Pants realize that you weren't a man or something stupid like that. All you wanted now was to get out of this stupid orchard and finish the damn race so that you could go home. Hot Pants looked over at you and flinched before his brow furrowed.

"LET'S JUST... FOLLOW THEM."

Chapter Text

FOLLOWING BEHIND two assholes who wouldn't even think to give you the time of day anymore was nothing close to your idea of fun. Watching some stranger die an eerily similar death to your older brother was also on the list of things you found that made you horribly miserable. You had managed to wipe your tears away before Johnny or Gyro could see them— well, as far as you knew they hadn't seen— and followed right behind Hot Pants. You just briefly missed the glances he gave you over his shoulder and tried to ignore the half-glares of Johnny and Gyro.

"Yo, Hot Pants, at this point it's useless to trace our footsteps," huffed Gyro with a hint of annoyance while Johnny carved an arrow into a tree, "we've been passing the same place over and over. Our prints are jumbled together now. The compass isn't doing shit either." It was odd to hear them try and cooperate with Hot Pants, considering moments ago they were less than enthused about either of you joining them. Regardless, you kept quiet and followed along; the last thing on your mind was getting out of the orchard.

"Every time we make a turn, we're gonna leave a mark on a tree," Gyro began as he pulled a map out of his bag and turned to look over his shoulder to continue, "Where are we getting lost in this orchard? We're gonna move carefully and precisely. After we go straight through this path that's in front of the house, we go left at the next corner." He and Valkyrie led the way down the path, waiting for Johnny to make a mark on a different tree with an arrow pointing left.

"Then we take the next left again..."

While you followed, the image of Gaucho's death wouldn't leave the forefront of your mind. You knew there was no use dwelling on it but you really couldn't help it. But, in retrospect, Gaucho's death and Robert's death only shared one common factor: guns. You could feel yourself grow nauseous, the sickening taste of bile littered the back of your throat and had you not hastily swallowed, you would have emptied your empty stomach. Your wound burned in admonishment, cursing your inability to do anything but rest.

"And then finally, a right again."

Johnny and Gyro rode faster, ready to (for all you knew) speed off and leave you in the dust. Hot Pants sped up as well and you, albeit with some mental resignation, did the same. Instead of more plains, you were met again with Gaucho's crumpled corpse and that same wooden cabin. You tugged back hard on Thunder's reins, making her shake her head wildly, rearing back slightly before settling back down. Your heart hammered in your ears, as you kept your gaze glued to your hands. What the hell was going on?

"We're gonna... try this again! This time... This time, we're definitely getting out of here! We need to follow the marks on the tree! We've already lost about two hours," Gyro faltered, trying to keep a straight face as he looked away from the cabin. His gaze fell on you, your hands shaking as you kept looking down. He could only see the top of your hat, but he knew, far in the recesses of his mind, that you were terrified. His heart ached for just a moment but he wouldn't allow himself more than that. You weren't worth more than that.

"Johnny, where the hell is that mark? Let's go!" 

"I... I've already found it," Johnny hesitated, while his fingers ran over the mark etched deep past the bark of one of many once identical trees, "it's this tree. The mark on this tree..." You turned Thunder away from the cabin and peeked up from beneath the brim of your hat. Johnny was still running his fingers over the mark, a deep crick in his brow that gave you unavoidable proof that you were all lost. No amount of trying was going to help you all. If what the creepy man said was true, someone would have to die before you escaped. 

"But I don't understand. What's going on? I have no idea what's happening," Johnny mumbled, digging his nails into the bark before pushing away from it, turning to look at the other trees, "When we made that turn, this was the only tree that I marked." When he froze, you almost cried again. On almost every tree surrounding the four of you, there was a marking. Each one had an arrow pointing in a random direction and you hadn't even noticed. You looked over at Johnny, heart plummeting to the depths of your stomach. There was no way of getting out of here unscathed.

"This is the only tree I made a marking on!" 

Gyro and Hot Pants seemed to notice now too, heading over to several different trees which all had markings on them. Each one had that 'J' with the arrow stemming off of it, inexplicably all in Johnny's handwriting. There was no denying that it was his. Hot Pants, who had been relatively quiet throughout the entire ordeal, turned to you with a tight-lipped look on his face. Surely he knew too. You both must have been thinking the same thing because his already crinkled brow furrowed even more.

"Hey, Johnny, what the hell are you doing?! I told you to only make a mark when we turn!" Gyro bellowed, sweat starting to drip from where his hat met his head.

" And that's what I'm telling you I did! Besides, you saw me making the marks!" Johnny replied, gritting his teeth as he pushed away from the tree, bringing both hands to rest back on Slow Dancer's reins. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the tree, eyeing it with an almost maddening confusion. You wanted to look away and pretend that you couldn't tell that Johnny was as panicked as you were but it was fruitless. Especially because there was just no denying that the man in the cabin was at fault.

"What the hell...? Who made these other marks then?!"

"I have no idea what's going on! What is this place?! Also this symbol, this mark... it's... it's all my handwriting!" Johnny sputtered, pulling Slow Dancer away from the tree to run his fingers over his hat and hair, "I made all of these marks?! How could I have made the same mark in four or five different places?! And they all point in different directions!" Johnny's voice cracked near the end which he tried to silence by biting down on his lip. He was too distraught to notice Hot Pants leading Gets Up back toward the cabin.

"So, our enemy is the man in that house correct?" — Hot Pants looked over at you, Johnny, and Gyro before continuing whilst looking over his shoulder — "a stand attack. That must be what it is, am I right...? We've been attacked by it for several hours now." Gyro looked past Hot Pants and at the cabin, grimacing as he sat back in his saddle. You did the same but simply stared at the cabin, trying to discern what the hell all of you would do now in your head.

"I don't know what his motive is. Why did that guy have a shootout with Gaucho? If he is an enemy then why the hell would he want us to get lost?" Gyro asked, looking at Johnny and Hot Pants as you tried to put together the pieces of a puzzle you weren't sure you wanted to even solve. Still, it was the only way you could get out of here so you cleared your throat awkwardly, getting the attention of your three companions.

"Ah, sorry, it's just," you hesitated a moment but then continued, sitting up straighter, "when Gaucho first appeared, he said he was lost too so we can assume he went through something similar. He said that the man in the cabin said that the only way of getting out was by... killing him. Considering that man was shaking when the duel started, he must have been pretty serious. I'm guessing the only reason Gaucho... died... was because of that man's stand. His stand must make him immortal... or something."

You swallowed hard as you looked out over Johnny, Gyro, and Hot Pants' faces. You skimmed past Johnny and Gyro's quickly, too shaken to really let yourself face whatever cruel glares they'd give you. Hot Pants' lip quirked up just slightly and he turned to face Gyro whose expression was unreadable to your shaky glances. You knew the last thing you wanted was for your ideas to get shot down by them. 

"If Speedwagon is right, then what do you propose we do, Gyro Zeppeli? Do you want to roam around here for a bit longer? How many more rounds do you want to make? If you want to go, fine... but I'm not going to wander around anymore. Just as Speedwagon said, that man told Gaucho... "You cannot leave unless you kill me". What does that mean for us? Well, let's go back and have him explain! And then, if we're convinced that he's our enemy, we'll take him out. Four against one... that should be a good plan, yes?"

You smiled over at Hot Pants under your bandana, a soft one that even without the bandana would be hard to even see. There was finally someone who actually listened to your input again. For someone who had been a stranger mere hours ago, Hot Pants was inexplicably nice to you. It didn't matter why though— you appreciated it more than he could ever know. As you looked back at Gyro and Johnny, your heart sank a little further when you found them shooting you and Hot Pants a set of half-glares.

"I thought I told you that I don't trust you." 

Although a part of you knew that it was probably directed toward Hot Pants, you couldn't help but think it was also directed toward you. You looked back down at your reins, grabbing the leather so tight that your knuckles ached and your fingernails dug into your palm. Tears stung at your eyes for what felt like the millionth time and you cursed yourself for even thinking of speaking your thoughts. You were probably wrong, weren't you?

"Gaucho was killed," Hot Pants' voice rang out clear and true as he glared back at Johnny and Gyro, "this is no time to be talking about whether or not you trust someone. We should do what we can with the minimum risk. Speedwagon made a good point earlier and if we're going to kill him, all four of us are going to have to do it." Johnny looked over at you who had looked up at Hot Pants, a glimmer in your eyes that made him feel sick. How long had it been since you had looked at him like that?

"Gyro... if this keeps up we're going to be here when the sun sets and we have to avoid that at all costs," Johnny began, hoping that he could convince Gyro. If he could do at least that, maybe you would look at him— Johnny shook away the thought. He knew that the real issue was Diego. "I don't know where Diego is at this time, but he'll be a full day ahead of us if we waste the time we have right now!" The last thing he wanted was for Diego to win the next race, especially after he had held you so closely after fighting Doctor Ferdinand.

"Diego will get to Kansas before us! Anything... Anything but that! Especially not by him!" Johnny sputtered as he stared hard at Gyro who stared off at the cabin. Plus, if Diego went ahead, it meant he'd be able to get the next copse part. Or maybe the terrorists would. Johnny knew the last thing either of them wanted was to get stuck here. Hell, he knew that deep down, you were contributing factor for both of them, no matter how much he wanted to avoid the thought. 

Johnny looked over at you from the corner of his eye, watching you sneak glances at both himself and Gyro. His heart thumped harshly in his chest as he grit his teeth, hoping that Gyro would say something, anything. If you looked at him that way any longer, he knew his heart would crumple into a pile of shame and guilt. That was something he would have to save for later. He knew he had to apologize and he knew he was being selfish in pushing you away. You may have kept the fact that you were a woman a secret but you had stayed by his side for so long, hadn't you? Now, he was messing everything up as usual. 

He didn't want to fuck up again.

"Listen, once we know for sure he's an enemy, we ambush him. I'll take care of that," Hot Pants began, bringing Johnny's attention back away from you, "You three will walk up to him. While you do that, I'll take his back and we can finish him off four against one. Are you all fine with this?" Gyro finally perked up, looking at Hot Pants with a look of incredulity. He scoffed and tilted his head at Hot Pants with a scowl.

"You can really do that, huh? He's not a sleeping cat, you know."

Before either of you three knew it, Hot Pants had pulled out his lighter and shot out the same liquid skin out into the air past Gyro and Johnny. It shot up into the sky, right up past the trees. As he did so, you watched his hand melt into a stump while he let the lighter fly out of his hand with the rest of the skin. You could only watch in awe as it landed on the roof and reformed into a hand. As you looked over at Hot Pants with a glimmer of excitement in your eye, Johnny scowled and grit his teeth. 

"Cream Starter, my hand, will get behind him. Now, go talk with him," — Hot Pants led his horse over toward some trees that would cover his location up sufficiently. Gyro glared but turned toward the cabin regardless. Johnny looked over at you but you still had your gaze trained on Hot Pants. Before he could say a thing, you turned back to face him. He saw you duck down from his gaze and he knew he would have to act fast after the fight was over. It was the least he could do, wasn't it?

"—LET'S GET THIS OVER WITH AND LEAVE."

Chapter Text

THE MAN from the cabin was digging a grave. His hands were wrapped tight around the handle of the shovel he had brought out from his cabin, so tight it would be impossible not to get calluses. But his skin remained soft, untouched, unable to get worn down to calluses with the fingerless gloves he wore. His muscles twisted and turned as he dug deep, just enough to cover Gaucho's body. Under the Kansas sun, the man found beads of sweat trailing the side of his face— he looked down at the watch on his wrist and began to place the dirt over the man he had killed earlier.

The man paid no mind to you, Johnny, Gyro, or Hot Pants who had stayed behind, watching the man while slowly starting an approach from the treeline. The man continued placing dirt over Gaucho's dulled and pale face, eyes still wide with disbelief even after death. He sighed and paused in silent prayer in front of the now-raised mound of dirt at his feet. Later, after the four of you behind him insisted on fighting, he'd place a makeshift cross on top of the mound. Later, if he was lucky, he wouldn't have to do so. 

If he was lucky, he'd be in the ground too. 

The man took note of the gun in the holster on his hip. He could already feel his hands start to tremble at the thought of his death. He yearned for death terribly, aching for it for so many years. He distracted himself with the heaviness of the gun resting atop his thigh and fingered the trigger in the realm of his fantasies. For a moment, he distracted himself with the footfalls of the horses behind him.

"Who are you? You're going to have to tell us your objectives... why did you kill Gaucho?"

The shovel still lay heavy in his hand despite being held up by the ground. The guilt had made it heavier but the man knew that soon enough, it would disappear just like the moments he rewinded away. Mandom meant never feeling guilty for long. The man slowly turned to face Gyro, his aging eyes translating the sight of him and the rest of you all into his mind. He let his hand slip off the handle as he spotted Hot Pants stray just a tad too close to his cabin.

"If we are to converse, I would like to do it one at a time," — the man looked out over the faces of the four of you, eyes stuck a little longer on you and the little features he could see from between the brim of your hat and the bandana over your nose — "Would two of you move back to where that other gentleman is standing?" The man watched you turn over your shoulder to look at Hot Pants, eyes a little wide as though you hadn't expected him to be there in the first place.

And you were.

You thought Hot Pants was going to ambush the man and attack from the shadows provided by the tree line. Still, you could feel your anxious heart settle at the sight of him. It was an odd but welcome feeling so you turned back around to stare at the man from the cabin, swallowing hard when you locked eyes with him. There was something about him that made you pity him but at the same time, your palms grew slick with sweat and your lip trembled with the grimace under your bandana.

"Listen up, whatever you're trying to pull, we don't care, alright? Just answer my goddamn question," Gyro spat, leaning his head to the side with a scowl across his features. You figured Gyro was trying to get some sort of intimidation on the man who had looked terrified when fighting Gaucho at some point. But now, it didn't seem to work one bit. The man gave Gyro a dead-eyed look, so calm and collected that you curled into yourself enough that your wound ached in defiance.

"If we were to engage in a shootout now... if,  of course... you would not be able to defeat me," the man's eyes trailed down at the hand you had clasped over your side, "you especially would not be able to defeat me. The gentleman in the blue stands a chance. So both of you, kindly step back. The one I'll be conversing with is the man in the blue." Gyro and Johnny followed the man's gaze to the hand over your side, silent as you flinched under their unwavering stares. Your hand scraped and gathered the fabric of your shirt into a ball within your fist, looking down at the dirt beside Thunder.

"This is for your own good... step back." You almost did, gritting your teeth while Johnny and Gyro looked back over to the man, their thoughts on your injury indiscernible to your inept eyes. The man sighed at the silence and brought a hand to rest on his belt buckle, a comfortable distance away from his gun and his bullets.

 "Would you like me to talk a bit more? The gentleman in the blue has a dark determination... he wouldn't hesitate to kill me if the situation called for it," the man explained, head tilting in the same manner Gyro had done moments before, almost as if to taunt him, "but you are not the same way... that is, your "nature". So move aside. That is my reason." You could see Gyro's muscles flex from gripping his reins tightly. The man sighed when he looked at you for what felt like the millionth time.

But this time, he stared hard, almost as though analyzing every breath you took. Every detail of your being felt scrutinized under his gaze. Your jaw fell slack as you were unable to look away from him, your eyes meeting despite any and all efforts to look away. Your chest tightened until it hurt, your side practically pleading for you to look away. You knew Johnny and Gyro were looking at you now too, but their looks felt irrelevant.

"It isn't hard to reason why you couldn't kill me. For starters, you are heavily injured. With such a wound, you wouldn't be able to do it right. You cannot provide me with the death I desire," the man stated matter-of-factly, "And your nature... it is nothing like the gentleman in blue. Perhaps at some point, you had a nature that was strong enough to kill me. Now, your nature is the type to fear being killed. It will not do so you may step back."

Your throat felt beyond dry, raw with the thirst and desire to get far away from the man that had read you to your core. Your thoughts raced to try and defend yourself but you knew the man was right. You had reverted to your paranoid way of thinking. You thought you had overcome being terrified at every waking moment. It seemed like a week and a half of mental anguish had brought you back down. You were weak again. 

"You are trying to figure out a countermeasure, lest I attack. This is what's been ingrained into you. On a level of skill, no doubt you are very talented but mere self-defense will not be enough to defeat me," the man spoke without a hint of uncertainty, eyes piercing as he spoke to Gyro. As the man spoke, his hands slowly gravitated toward the heavy pistol resting on his thigh, index finger brushing the cool metal.

"Passive observers are not needed here."

Time stopped— it must have. The five of you stood still: Hot Pants watched from a ways away, you kept your hand clutching your side, Johnny had started glaring hard, Gyro's hand trembled centimeters away from his steel ball, and the man's hands had finally started shaking as it hovered over the handle of his pistol. All that you could hear was the thrum of your heartbeat in your ears and the birds that flew overhead, their chirping the only thing keeping you grounded before disaster struck.

Hot Pants stepped forward, his foot landing on a twig that had been just loud enough to coerce Gyro into ripping his steel ball from the holster and spinning it at the man, hitting his shoulder gruesomely. But the man had been equally as quick, landing three deafening gunshots to Gyro's body. Your heart sunk far beyond the depths of your feet. It felt like it had gone six feet under the ground, right below where Gaucho rested now. Your heart had sunk so low that you were sure that Robert would be able to catch it in his grave.

"Gyro!"

Suddenly, his name reversed in your mouth, tongue slopping over your lips and back into your mouth as if you had been prohibited from uttering it. As if your heart would not allow it now that it had risen back into your chest. You blinked and the three bullets had returned to the pistol, absent from the flesh you were so sure they had pierced. Though so had the steel ball, its spin reversed until it came to a still in the holster. You took a sharp breath, head snapping over at Gyro to confirm that he was still alive.

He was, in fact, very alive and just as in shock as you had, perhaps even more so. His eyes were blown wide, his breathing heavy and unsteady as his golden grills scraped against one another. You could see the sweat on his olive face glistening beneath the sun, his breaths still ragged as he tried to make sense of it all. You couldn't blame him. You were too. 

"What do you want from us?! Are you a terrorist?! Are you linked to the government?!" Johnny led Slow Dancer forward as he spoke, glaring harder at the man with brows furrowed so harshly it was sure to leave a permanent wrinkle.

"I apologize for the delay, but allow me to introduce myself," the man bowed his head, placing his pistol back in its holster before straightening out, "my name is Ringo Roadagain. I am a stand user. I developed my abilities three years ago in the desert. I call it Mandom. Please recognize it as such." From directly behind him appeared a pink figure with wires that plunged into his skin, its face reminiscent of the plush couches you had always seen for sale in the adverts back at home. 

"Six seconds... for precisely six seconds, I can rewind time. That is my ability." — Ringo didn't smile or laugh at his revelation like the other enemies you had faced previously and it had somehow made you even more worried for your shared fates — "While you were on your horses, all I had to do was rewind time, if only for six seconds. Yet you didn't realize this subtle oddity." You, Gyro, Johnny, and Hot Pants shared a glance, the realization hitting you all at the same time.

"That's why, instead of turning at the intended route, you turned somewhere in front of it. And since you couldn't tell the scenery apart, marking the trees would have no effect. Instead of the tree that you intended to mark, you marked the tree in the spot six seconds before and took that turn. But still, you retain the memory of having traveled the whole way, and this is repeated. As long as I left more than six seconds worth of time between my rewindings of time, I could continuously keep on turning the clock backward. That is why you will never be able to escape from this orchard."

Your breath caught in your throat, suffocating you in silence. Ringo seemed unfazed as the reality of your situation set in. There was truly no escaping him if all he had said was true. And with the way things were looking, he was most definitely telling the truth. You tore your eyes away from Ringo to look at Hot Pants, hoping that somehow he had a plan. His hand was still crawling on Ringo's cabin after all. There had to be a way you could all get out.

"What's your objective?! Why would you want us to get lost?!" Johnny yelled, a bead of sweat falling from the hollow of his cheek. Ringo leaned forward slightly, an almost unnoticeable sigh slipping from his lips. His eyes softened, a glimmer of hope shining in his blue eyes. 

"I want you to attempt to kill me. A fair duel will allow me to grow as a human being. Devoid of pettiness, murder with the darkest of intentions will raise me towards sacred heights," Ringo began, looking up at the blue sky that was littered with cirrus clouds far up in the atmosphere, "I am yet incomplete as a human. These are things I must overcome. Divinity is a pursuit and that is why I have not hidden anything from you. My ability, my objectives... I have no reason to lie."

As Ringo spoke, you could the beginning of tears start to form in his eyes. It was bizarre yet it somehow made sense. He seemed to fear death but yearned for it nonetheless. You watched his chin tilt up to allow his eyes some ease from simply looking up. He wallowed in a brief silence that was accompanied by the serene winds that blew past him and his dilapidated cabin.

"I humbly request your cooperation," Ringo said as he looked back down and settled on Johnny, "What will you do? The choice is yours." You had kept your eyes trained on Ringo and in turn, Johnny who had been sitting on his horse between you both. But Gyro had also been within your line of sight, sitting on Valkyrie diagonally away from you. From where you sat, you could see his hands came down to hover over his holster again. You didn't have to try hard to notice the blue stars that glowed on Johnny's hand like freckles.

"This world that we live in... it seems as if our values are leaning heavily towards one of spoiled indifference. Do you want to condemn it as backward?" Ringo asked, turning to look out at the orchard before turning his head to look at you, Johnny, and Gyro. His eyes were steely in all seriousness. Your chest hitched as you leaned back in your saddle, peering at Hot Pants from the corner of your eye just briefly.

"This is the True Man's World."

"Hey, I quit! Johnny! Gyro! Speedwagon! Let's go!"

You turned your head fully to look at Hot Pants, brow raised as he yelled over to you all uncharacteristically. Well, as far as you could tell it was uncharacteristic of him. From what you had learned of him in the time that you had talked earlier, he wasn't much for talking, let alone yelling like that. Hot Pants sighed loudly, pointing over at his horse. 

"He's obviously crazy," Hot Pants began nonchalantly, "if we keep on going slowly, we'll definitely be able to make it out of here without making mistakes. I'm not putting up with this shit anymore so don't indulge him any further." You turned back to garner Ringo's reaction which was nothing more than a pointed look. But just as he looked over, a spray of skin shot out from the roof of his cabin, chopping off the hand that had once been holding his pistol. Ringo stumbled as his severed hand hit the ground with a dull thump.

"Alright! Johnny! Gyro! Speedwagon! I'll leave the rest to you three! Don't let him pick up the gun with his left hand! Do it!" Hot Pants shouted from where he stood all the while Ringo sat in shock. You perked up in your saddle, as did Johnny and Gyro until Ringo staggered forward toward his severed hand. 

"Don't let him get the gun!"

Johnny shot his nail bullets before you could even attempt to bring Iron Maiden out, but it was too late. The sound of the gunshots that had echoed in the air took back their sound and sunk back into Johnny's nail beds. You felt yourself sink back into your saddle and your head turn to Hot Pants whose mouth opened in an odd way, his lips folding in on themselves until you were both able to regain control over yourselves.

"I'm not putting up with this shit anymore. Don't indulge him any further." — Hot Pants' eyes widened and he turned over to face Ringo — "What?!" With one sidestep, the skin that was supposed to have cut off his hand missed completely, shooting out into the open air instead. It came crashing down onto the dirt, reforming the hand that had once been attached to Hot Pants. Ringo looked over at the spot the skin had come from with disinterest. You could barely register what had happened in your mind, the shock too strong.

"What...?! That was...?! He just...!" Johnny led Slow Dancer back a few paces, teeth gritted as he tried to make sense of what had happened. You tried to say something, anything to utter your shock into the world, but it was useless. Gyro remained silent, his green eyes enlarged with disbelief, lips tightly pulled into a tight line. Hot Pants gasped lowly, sickly sweat bubbling atop the top of the skin on his face.

"Six seconds..." Ringo began, showing off the watch on his wrist, the one that had been cut off six seconds prior, "I can rewind six seconds of time. I was fair and have already explained this to you, in all fairness. I merely twist the knob on this wristwatch to the correct amount. That is the trigger for my ability, Mandom." None of you could utter a word as Ringo scowled at you all.

"I will ask as many times as it takes... what do you choose?"

As the birds sang with the wind and the cirrus clouds floated far above your head, time felt as though it had gone still again. The only reason you knew Ringo had not done something to the time was because of how deafening your heartbeat was, a loud, quickened beat that kept time for you while you tried to scour your mind for any way to help. Your wound begged for a moment of peace but you knew as long as you were in the orchard, you wouldn't be getting any rest.

"YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO ESCAPE UNLESS YOU KILL ME!"

Chapter Text

GYRO WASN'T SURE about how things had gotten to this point... Well, he did know a few things: he knew that he had been irked when you stepped out of your tent that morning, mid-conversation with Johnny. He knew that he found it odd that you were holding onto your side like your life depended on it compared to the days prior. He also knew that his heart dropped a little when he saw you struggling to get your stuff together but he tried to forget about that part.

He knew a lot of things really, like how erratic your behavior was as the three of you made your way to Hutchinson. When you weren't clutching your side, you were keeping your eyes glued to the reins in your hands. If he didn't already know any better... in all honesty, he did know you were ignoring him and Johnny. And he was somewhat ashamed to say he knew why (not that he would ever admit that).

"Johnny, you think something's up with Speedwagon?"

Johnny gave him a raised brow.

"Don't look at me like that, Johnny."

"Sorry, just surprised I'm supposed to care."

Gyro grimaced.

"Yeah, okay, but just look at... her," Gyro sighed while Johnny rolled his eyes. Gyro looked over his shoulder, followed by Johnny, both of them watching as your chest heaved up and down, then fluttered somewhere in between for a moment. Johnny winced, his brow furrowing as he watched you tighten your grip on your side. He turned back to face Gyro, a slight frown on his lips.

"Alright, there's something up for sure... but what are we even supposed to do?" Johnny asked, looking back over his shoulder as you looked up at him and Gyro. Gyro wasn't a stranger to pain— he was a doctor after all— and he knew an abdominal injury when he saw one. He could tell from a mile away. And though you weren't a mile away, your eyes said it all. He knew that in the end, all he could do (and had done) was look away.

Gyro knew a lot more, like how your face contorted into one of confusion when Johnny answered you about the cow that hung in front of you all; or how you hadn't expected Gyro to call your name and hand you a piece of beef. He knew his heart had thumped a bit louder when you looked at him with wide eyes, eyes that had been absent of pain for but a brief moment. Still, his mouth moved faster than his heart did.

"Don't worry, I didn't give you as much as I gave myself. You don't want to gain more weight, right?"

Gyro knew that what he said was probably the worst thing he could've said. Back in Italy, he was a womanizer: he could have every woman he wanted. He knew how to make any woman fall for him with a simple breath, a smile, and one look. There had to be something wrong with him because when it came to winning you over, you pushed away. And that was more than infuriating. There had to be something wrong with him— but he opted to think that it was you that was off.

Gyro convinced himself that something was wrong with you when you gave the beef to Johnny, insulting him as you did so. Gyro ignored Johnny's glowering and watched as you walked away, glued to your figure. It was then that he noticed Hot Pants, and before he knew it, three ropes were swinging in front of him. He hadn't noticed that he and Johnny had made their way beside you until he could see the side of your face, that same look of fear that he had hoped he would never see again glistening in your eyes.

Things only went downhill from there. Gyro knew he had messed up when he saw how distraught you looked after he insisted that Johnny shoot, unaware that you were in Johnny's nail bullets' range. He knew he shouldn't have let his emotions get the best of him after Hot Pants had let you all go, using words that were too similar to what he had thought about you at some point. "Liar"— there were so many other words he could have used to describe Hot Pants instead of calling him a liar after looking at you. 

Gyro had hoped that you hadn't misunderstood but when he had seen your face, he knew you definitely had. His brain screamed to forget it, that it was your fault for misunderstanding, but his heart said otherwise. All his mouth would do was talk and talk about the corpse part, his eyes half-glued to you the whole time. But you seemed anything but interested and he wished he could unfurl the fists that you had made around Thunder's reins.

"I'm leaving."

Gyro's heart sank.

"You guys are... fed up with me, I can tell. I'm sorry but I think it's just for the best if I go. I think I'm just going to... I'm going to go with Hot Pants. He seems nice enough."

Johnny spoke up first, but Gyro drowned it out.

"Yeah, that's... it."

Gyro scoffed, too shocked to make sense of what he decided to say next.

"Go ahead then! Go have fun with that asshole!" Gyro didn't want to dwell too much on why he had said what he had said. As you turned away, heading in the same direction Hot Pants had prior, all he could do was badmouth you to Johnny. Gyro didn't register much of what Johnny would say in response. All that he could think of was what the two of them would do now without you.

It wouldn't be long until you appeared in front of them again, staring in shock from between the trees. Gyro's heart was overshadowed by his brain for what must have been the millionth time and in the end, all he could do was shoot glares at you and Hot Pants. He ignored Hot Pants' questions, too focused on your wide eyes, one of your hands still pressed to your side. 

From there, Gyro knew that things weren't going to get better. He knew he was blindsided by the sudden closeness between you and Hot Pants. He knew he should be more rational and try to get you back with him and Johnny. He knew so much but he couldn't help it. The constant look of fear and shock on your face combined with your hand that just wouldn't leave your side drove him insane. So when Gaucho appeared, things were sure to worsen.

That look of fear in your eyes was horrible. That look was bludgeoned into the forefront of his thoughts, growing worse when those gunshots left Gaucho dead on the ground. He knew that look from the start of the race with the horse tramplings and the wasps and the men and just everything around you. But those gunshots shook you to your core. He could tell by the way your fingers dug far past the fabric of your shirt, almost as if you were trying to rip something out of there. 

Then came the confrontation— Hot Pants' had come up with the plan after they had gotten stuck in that damn orchard, making paranoia-inducing loops through the trees that would never lead anywhere. Gyro had almost spoken up to tell you to stay with Hot Pants, but the selfish part of him wanted to keep you two away from each other. So he said nothing and let the bullshit Ringo Roadagain was spouting continue until the bullet hit his chest.

"Gyro!"

Then the bullet was gone and six seconds rewinded into a time when you hadn't screamed out Gyro's name. He was thankful really— the visceral reaction that had coursed through every millimeter of his being was gone. He hoped he would never have to hear you scream like that again. It was tormenting even. Of course, fate had other plans.

"You will never be able to escape unless you kill me!"

Ringo didn't give any of you a second to process his words before he drew his pistol from the holster on his hip and shot at the hand that had been his six seconds prior. Hot Pants' detached hand was shot clean through, the wound leaving a gaping hole that was gushing blood. Gyro barely registered Hot Pants' scream, too busy watching as you stared at the bullet that was smoking on the ground under Hot Pants' wounded hand. When both of you turned around, you could only watch blood shoot out of Hot Pants' disfigured arm, almost geyser-like.

"H-Hot Pants!" you yelped, just happening to face the gun pointed at you when you turned. The first shot was loud, terribly, uncomfortably loud as it traversed through the air and hit your left shoulder. While the pistol visibly recoiled in Ringo's hand, your shoulder recoiled with the impact, going numb. Gyro stared in absolute shock as you lurched back on your saddle, unable to catch yourself. Before Gyro could understand what had happened to you, another shot rang out in the once-calm air. 

You were screaming now too, loud enough to drown out the scene around you. When you hit the ground, Gyro could practically feel the air in your lungs escape you, your eyes blown wide with brutal agony smeared across the parts of your face he could still see. He felt his lips open but they let no sound escape, torturing him with his own silence as your blood seeped into the dirt. What was wrong with him? Why was he not allowing himself to come to your rescue like you had done for him many times before?

Gyro's eyes drifted over to Johnny, whose eyes contained a hidden fire within them, a fire Gyro knew he should have been able to show as well. He watched as Johnny's hands reflected the night sky, stars making constellations atop his knuckles, fingers, and palms. Those fingers were pointed at Ringo, with nails that spun into blurs of painted blue. Johnny shot at Ringo with three nails, but Ringo only needed one bullet to get the job done. Gyro heard the crack of the small horseshoe Johnny hung from his hat and the breath he took as he fell back from his saddle.

"Wha...t?"

Two more gunshots and Johnny was on the ground, limp and lifeless beside your writhing body. You were crying out for more than just your wounds now, screaming Johnny's name with a voice that didn't even sound like yours. He heard every crack and strain of your raw throat, screeching for Johnny to wake up and he couldn't do a damn thing. This wasn't happening. He wasn't looking at the corpse of his friend and he wasn't hearing the bone-chilling screams of the girl he had been horrible to. Johnny wasn't dead. You weren't dying. And Hot Pants-

Gyro whipped around just in time to catch a glimpse of Hot Pants flying back into the railing of Ringo's deck. The wood splintered, shattering as Hot Pants landed on top of it. He looked back over to Ringo who lowered his gun slowly, letting the blood from his wounds drip down his arm and off his fingers. You were crying now and the faintest mirage of Iron Maiden had appeared beside you. But even Iron Maiden was too late, fading away instantly when Ringo shot one last bullet into your chest.

"No... No way!" Gyro mustered out, sliding off Valkyrie's saddle, stumbling when his feet hit the ground. This wasn't happening. He could feel Ringo's cold, calculating eyes on him, waiting for his next move. Gyro knew there was only one option, and that was to kill this man with his own two hands. 

"(y/nnnnnnnnn)!"

Gyro's hands were on his steel ball in the blink of an eye, its cool metal beckoning him to throw it already. So he did, adding more spin than he normally did. Four bullets flew towards him but only one stuck, straight under his ribs. He felt the air leave his lungs as he sunk to the ground, eyes barely capturing the sight of Ringo falling to his knees, his cabin's support beam crumbling down along with the overhang of his roof. Yet, the echoes of the crash weren't satisfying enough as Gyro watched Ringo steady himself back on his feet.

The pain of the bullet was nothing as Gyro lay there, watching you and Johnny's bodies continue to bleed out. His hand put more pressure on his wound, gritting his teeth as he turned his head to assess the damage. It was bleeding, sure, but it wasn't horrible. In fact, it was more a flesh wound than a deep wound. Still, it was deep enough for blood to dribble down his chin as he tried to catch a glimpse of you and Johnny through the strips in his hat.

 "As I thought... you... Gyro Zeppeli..." Ringo drew his gun once more, stepping closer to Gyro as he spoke, "You are a mere conformist! You threw those weapons, even when you were out of range! You threw them out of rage for losing your friends. Disgusting! You will never be able to kill me with something like that!" Gyro grimaced, straining himself to look past Ringo and at you and Johnny instead. If he could just look at you both, he'd be able to fight once more. He just needed the strength.

"(y-y/n)... Jo...Johnny..."

"I still have one shot left in this revolver but I am inclined to kill those that desire to kill me, with that all-encompassing dark intention," Ringo glowered, standing between you and Johnny, "there is no need for me to waste my time in finishing you off. Get out. I will release you from these orchards." Ringo reached down to grab your arm and then followed by grabbing Johnny's leg— Gyro felt himself seethe, reaching for his other steel ball. But it wasn't there. Gyro fisted at the dirt, staring Ringo down as he stopped to address Gyro from over his shoulder.

 "My only objective is in my training; to become a human worthy of being useful to this world and to the man who valued my stand ability... to the man who sent me here, I am indebted," Ringo stated before starting to drag you and Johnny away. Gyro's fingers dug deeper into the dirt, even deeper than that when your hat tumbled off, tumbling away into the dirt until it lay still. "The corpse part that this Johnny Joestar has in his left arm... I will take it and return it to him. Since he said (y/n) Speedwagon knows of the corpse heart, she must come with me as well. For that, I thank you."

Ringo bowed as Gyro stared, a million thoughts racing through his mind. Who was he? Who the hell was coming after the three of you? But what really made no sense was how you were involved. The corpse heart? As far as he knew, you didn't have the corpse heart, let alone take an interest in the corpse besides helping Johnny with finding it. So why the hell was Ringo making you out to be someone who was just as interested in finding the corpse parts as Johnny was? Gyro knew better than that. He knew that all you wanted was to win and the corpse part search just happened to be a part of the journey.

Gyro sat up, his head spinning from a combination of blood loss and confusion. None of it made any sense. None of it was making sense. Gyro slowly looked up, scanning his surroundings as his thoughts strangled his mind. He saw you and Johnny's blood staining the ground amidst the dirt and rocks. He saw Hot Pants still lying in the pile of fractured wood that had once been the deck railing. He saw the crumbling overhang that was still letting debris fall in front of the cabin door little by little. Why wasn't anything making sense?! 

"AAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

Gyro's throat pleaded for mercy as he screamed into the blue sky, allowing his voice to crack and splinter like the cabin he had partly destroyed. More blood dribbled onto his chin as the wound on his abdomen did the same, leaving behind dark marks on his purple shirt. His scream died into a hoarse breath, ragged as tears welled in his eyes. The last thing he wanted was for them to fall as he sat there, sitting limply with no idea of what to do next. He knew he had to do something, but what?

The telltale sound of his steel ball caught his attention as it rolled from the pile of debris and across the bloodied dirt into Gyro's hand. He could hear its dull sound as it rolled, counted the duration in his head— still, it wasn't right. For the gun to have killed you, Johnny, or Hot Pants, the duration of the steel ball rolling over to him should have been shorter. There was no way you or Johnny or Hot Pants were dead. It was impossible.

"That guy...that bastard...was this...did he do it on purpose?! Or was it a coincidence?" Gyro seethed as he tightened and loosened his fingers back and forth around his steel ball, "That gun was an 1874 Colt. Its firing range was the distance that this ball rolled which is a step farther than (y/n) and Johnny." Gyro brought up one knee and shakily pushed himself up using it, glaring hard at the partially destroyed cabin that he would destroy completely soon if it meant seeing you and Johnny alive.

"They're still alive. They must be. (y/n) was too far away for the bullet to have lodged itself far enough into her chest to kill her. The force from the bullet probably knocked her out after losing so much blood," Gyro muttered to himself, steadying himself, "Johnny's brain should still be intact too. The bullet should have stopped when the bullet hit that horseshoe. It's probably lodged in his skull."

Gyro could feel his entire body grow hot, so hot that he could feel the sweat beading atop his skin, cooling him down at the same rate. Perhaps that was what Johnny had felt when he had that fire in his eyes. Gyro wasn't sure. All he knew was that he was going to get you two back and apologize to you until he could make everything right. If he could do anything it would be that— all pride aside.

 A gentle breeze made the dirt around him rise slightly whilst the horses ate away at the sparse grass as though their owners weren't dying. Gyro looked at Thunderstruck from his peripherals, noticing the way she paced around, and let out short huffs. It was as though she knew too that her rider was on the brink of death. Just as Gyro finally got on his feet, he fell back to the ground, his wound spilling blood freely onto the ground. He hit the dirt, unaware that he had even fallen back down for a moment as the whispers of a horribly familiar voice pierced his ears.

"You can't be heading back towards that cabin, are you son? To save (y/n) Speedwagon and Johnny Joestar...?"

Gyro sat up straight, whipping his head around to search for that voice. The voice that hat haunted his dreams and nightmares. He gritted his teeth when he couldn't find the source, bringing a hand up to his head when it started to spin from his frantic searching. Gyro sighed— he must have just been imagining it. It was common for that to happen when people lost too much blood. He really had to finish the fight so he could finally heal himself up.

"Gyro, do not go back to the cabin. If you go, you will lose. T his should be something you've realized by now. "

That voice again. Gyro didn't need to look around to know it was his father's voice. But his father was back in Italy, a million miles away. Still, it was his father's monotone voice, still cold as ever, even to his own son. That he knew for certain. How sad that even when his father wasn't around, Gyro could still find ways for his father to be disappointed with him. As Gyro stared at the cabin, he could sense his father standing behind him like he had when he was really there back in Italy. He didn't want to turn and face him now, saying the words he didn't want to hear.

"YOU CANNOT WIN."

Chapter Text

YOUR CHEST was aching— or rather, everything was aching, aside from a few parts of you that were dreadfully numb. A groan slipped past your lips as you opened your eyes and adjusted to the light that flooded in through the cabin windows. Your hands tried and failed, to push you up, and when your eyes finally grew accustomed to the light, you almost screamed at the sight of Ringo standing over you. Still, there was not enough air in your lungs for you to do that, and your body seemed to refuse to do anything but lay there.

"Ah, so you're awake. Good," Ringo muttered, leaning back so that you had to turn your head to see him, "he wouldn't appreciate it if you were dead. Though, I made sure not to shoot within range so you should be fine by the time he gets here." Who the hell was he talking about? Gyro? You couldn't say a word without blood seeping from your lips, making your stomach sink. What was Ringo planning for you? He sighed and looked down at his wrist before looking back at you.

"I suppose I should question you now just in case. What do you know about the Corpse Heart?" Ringo asked, face devoid of any emotion. The Corpse Heart? You went to speak once more but started coughing, blood splattering onto the timeworn, wooden floor of the cabin. Ringo watched until you willed yourself to speak, glaring up at him with your cheek still glued to the bloodied floor.

"I... I don't know anything."

"Hmm. He tells me you were related to Robert Speedwagon. Is that not correct?"

Robert?

"Wh-What the fuck do you... know about Robert?"

"So you are related. Alright, well, you must know about the heart then. After all, he was the one who had it."

Robert had the Corpse Heart?

No, he couldn't have. Robert didn't have a stand like you did and if he had indeed had the Corpse Heart, surely you would have known. He would have told you. You were the closest to one another and none of your other brothers had ever compared, as harsh as the statement was. Robert would have told you if that was true. He couldn't have had it. He just couldn't have.

But... he had made it so far into the race. Farther along than any of your other brothers. Far closer to that prize money. You could still remember how much happier your father and your brothers had been every time you read his name in the paper. People all around the neighborhood would come up to you and say how great it was that Robert was one of the finalists. How great that one brother had somehow managed to outdo all the others.

How lucky you were.

How lucky to have a brother who had decided to keep something from you.

How lucky to be told by a stranger that your brother had kept the biggest secret from you and died without uttering a single word.

You couldn't say anything as Ringo studied your expression. His eyes dragged over your face, your bandana now hanging loosely around your neck. You couldn't even find it in you to care as you fought back tears, blinking them away. You wouldn't let them fall now. Ringo hummed, seemingly discontent with your reaction. Your brow furrowed as he turned away from you, to lean over Johnny instead with a map in his hands that you hadn't noticed. Your hand shot out before you could stop it, fingers digging into the fabric of Ringo's shirt with as much power as you could muster.

"D-Don't..."

"I'm not going to hurt him. I need to see how this map aligns with his arm," Ringo said, prying your weak fingers from his shirt, gazing down at you with no hint of pity. There was nothing more for you to do but let your hand fall to the floorboards, staring at the blood that slowly dripped down the side of Johnny's face. With your ear to the floor, as you watched, you wondered if you'd hear Johnny's heartbeat but feared how faint it might be.

You pressed your ear harder against the wood, breathing hard. But you heard no steady thrum echoing against the boards. Instead, you heard a whisper of soft clicks and taps, dull enough to catch your ear. It didn't thump but made a steady, endless symphony, never growing louder or softer as it went. You turned away from the floor and toward the wall of the cabin, eyes narrowing as bits of dust sprinkled through the gaps in the wood.

"Huh?"

The wall burst open, splintered shards of wood hitting the floor as Gyro's steel ball hit Ringo straight in the temple with a sickening crack. There in the sunlight stood Gyro, brows furrowed when he saw your smiling face. Your spirit sang at the sight of him but as the wood started flying back at him and the hope you felt dissipated, you realized that Ringo had used his stand again. Gyro was hidden by the wall once more and you could feel a wave of nauseating dread fall over you.

"Still here... Your actions are meaningless to me. I've already expressed this," Ringo stated as his stand manifested, wrapping itself around his shoulders, "I can rewind six seconds in time. I can do this as many times as I wish. My employer will most likely tell me to dispose of you as well, but doing so is worth nothing to me. I will let you leave this orchard. Go, alone. Return to your race. Do as you wish there..." Your nails dug into the floorboards, splintering into your nailbeds as you bit your lip. Would Gyro try again? Would he save you and Johnny...?

Surely, he'd only save Johnny.

"Ya know, might just be me, but I'm getting the feeling you're looking down on me." Your heart jumped when you heard Gyro's voice, clear as day through the cracked wood of the wall. There was still dust seeping through the cracks. You quickly pressed your ear to the floorboards again and heard that same whirring, growing faster now. Your lips twitched into a smile, ignoring all the inner turmoil you felt as you lay there.

"You said you fiddle with that wristwatch to turn back time but, you know, I threw that ball to check your body. I'll tell you just to be fair. My steel ball's scan found an old wound in your left collarbone—" Ringo twitched, just barely noticeable in your peripherals, "—In my next attack, I'm going to aim my attack at that collarbone. And that impact on that old wound will most definitely paralyze your whole left side. And I don't think you're gonna be able to turn that wristwatch with a paralyzed left hand."

"Not just your left arm, but your left leg, even your left eyelid will drop. You won't even be able to speak. Even if you wanted to there won't be a redo. No more six seconds back in time. The paralysis will also stop your heart." Gyro's voice was getting louder now, the crunch of dry grass announcing each approaching footstep. His voice was like death incarnate, unwavering in its words as the ticking of Ringo's watch echoed in the cabin. But death didn't wait for anyone. Ringo didn't falter and just stared at the door, blood spilling over and down his ear.

The door broke apart with a single kick, revealing Gyro once more. The splintered wood fell around him like a warped halo, hitting the floor with each step he took closer to Ringo. Ringo slowly rose to his feet, letting the map he held in his hands flutter onto Johnny's unmoving body. The tension was palpable, so thick and stagnant that you almost choked on it. You couldn't see Gyro's eyes from where you lay but you knew it was for the better. You lay there, a witness to the trembling men who were fated to stand in each other's way in this very moment.

"From this distance, neither of us is going to miss this shot."

Ringo stared straight back at Gyro, not saying a word, back turned to you and Johnny. Your hand twitched when you realized this— if you could just summon Iron Maiden, you could try and help Johnny. Ringo and Gyro didn't dare look away from the other and you knew that if you were going to save Johnny you'd have to do it then and there. You willed yourself to move, even with your aching body, and slowly pushed yourself toward Johnny, hoping that the threat of Gyro was more important than you.

"So, now what? We can't back down now. It doesn't matter what we want anymore," Gyro stated, hand inching toward the steel ball in his holster. Ringo's hand was sitting on the handle of his gun, fingering the leather. You didn't let the gunshot stop you, nor the crack of Ringo's collarbone, and instead managed to throw yourself onto Johnny, protecting him from the shards of wood that fell from the roof. You felt Iron Maiden's warmth fill your body, hovering over you and Johnny as she repelled any shard away from you.

Gyro flew across the room, landing on a bookshelf that crumbled under his weight. Ringo did the same, landing a ways from you and Johnny, twitching in the pool of blood he found himself in. You sucked a breath from between your teeth, looking at Gyro's unmoving body with a stomach that sank far past your feet.

"I-Iron Maiden!"

Another gunshot rang out and you found yourself back on the ground, lying beside Johnny. Your breath caught in your throat as you stared up at the roof, the shards of wood that would fall on you in the future still partially intact. You looked over at Gyro, meeting his gaze for just a moment, barely even a second. Had he planned to use the wooden shards to beat Ringo? You looked up at the ceiling once more, trying not to be obvious. The wood had been falling all over you, Johnny, and Ringo so if Gyro planned to use those shards, you and Johnny would have to move.

You grabbed Johnny's arm and started pulling him toward you, willing Iron Maiden to reappear and help you. You felt her warmth fill you once more and you almost laughed. Of course, Gyro would use the shards. It was surprising that Ringo hadn't noticed them at all. Your body ached as you strained to pull Johnny closer, his hair falling in front of his eyes. You'd have to heal him with Iron Maiden later, even if he wasn't going to thank you.

"Thought so... So, you turned back time? Six seconds. So what now? One more time?" Gyro asked with blood dribbling down his chin, "One more time?!" Ringo gritted his teeth and took a half step backward as Gyro took one closer. You flinched but continued pulling Johnny toward you, wincing as you went. Your body protested but you wouldn't stop. You'd do something even if Johnny and Gyro hated you right now. You had to.

"Interesting, Gyro Zeppelli," Ringo said with a strained smile, "your eyes have taken a better glow, but you are still merely a conformist!" You could feel the tiny splinters of wood start to fall on you now and you tugged on Johnny's arm a little harder, biting back a cry as you felt your wounds sear hot and excruciating. Gyro's hand was on his holster once more, readying himself for his attack.

"That's not for you to decide! Neither of us can back down now!"

Gyro lurched forward, winding one arm back before chucking it hard at Ringo's collarbone as Ringo pointed his gun at Gyro. You heard a crack and a gunshot and yanked on Johnny, pulling him onto your aching body. You wrapped your arms around him and with a shrill cry, you managed to pull him to the other side of you, holding him tight to yourself. His blond hair splayed across your cheek matted with blood as you watched Gyro land on the bookshelf for the second time.

"This is the second shot! This decides it!" Ringo screamed with his left hand glued to his left collarbone, with blood pouring from the middle of it. He reloaded his gun with a single click and kept it pointed at Gyro, gritting his teeth as he pressed his hand harder into his collarbone. You held Johnny a little tighter, looking at Gyro frantically. Had it worked? You hadn't been too busy shielding Johnny to see if Gyro's plan had worked— your stomach churned.

Gyro met your gaze, his eyes shining with self-assurance. It was unexpected to see a man— he had always been so wishy-washy about you in retrospect, constantly flipping back and forth between thinking you were amazing and wishing you were dead somewhere— staring into your eyes the way Gyro was doing. It tugged hard at your heart, almost like he was trying to rip your heart to bury it six feet under. So when Ringo began to choke on his own blood and unspoken words, you couldn't help but let your heart go.

"With your left arm, Ringo Roadagain, you guarded your collarbone," Gyro began, sitting up with his gaze fixed on Ringo who writhed on the ground like he had six seconds before turning the knob on his watch the first time, "you wanted to finish me off with that second shot. And because of that defensive stance, your attack didn't hit any vitals and instead hit my shoulder. The end would be when you fired your next shot..." Gyro started getting to his feet as Ringo's body went slack.

"A shard of wood... the pieces of wood that were falling ...you remembered where they were from the first six seconds and used your steel ball to launch them at me," Ringo muttered in shock, eyes trained on Gyro's every move. You, on the other hand, let yourself relax, staring up at the shattered ceiling with Johnny still cradled in your arms. You could feel his faint breath against your neck, feather-light but still there. It was something, better than nothing, for sure.

"Admirable, Gyro Zeppeli... I was one move behind."

"If you hadn't been guarding yourself with one arm, you would have definitely hit my vitals... someone as capable as you..." Gyro trailed off, putting his steel ball back in his holster as he watched Ringo inch his right hand forward, fingers nearing the handle of his gun.

"But that would have brought the match to a duel again... another six-second rewind... it would have gone on. The duel would have never ended. Though it seems as if those six seconds are already up," Ringo said with a faint smile, starting the shakily wrap his fingers around the handle. His wristwatch was still ticking and Ringo knew if he played his cards right, he could kill Gyro right then and there.

"Stop it. Don't try anything funny. There's no second shot for you. Put that gun down. I'm satisfied... there's no reason for me to finish you off," Gyro ordered as Ringo's face fell, his hand sitting comfortably on the gun's handle. He managed to sit himself up, slowly, but up regardless. The shard still poked out of his collarbone, centimeters away from piercing into the flesh of his cheek. But that wouldn't matter soon.

"That's why you are a conformist! Find the path of light! The shining path that one must tread! These are societal values and also a true man's values. They used to be synonymous in the past but currently, the two are not necessarily one and the same," Ringo babbled, blood dripping down from his chin as his heartbeat started to slow, "Man and society are completely different ideals now. But the true road to victory requires embracing the true man's values and you should be able to see it now. Continue the race and find out for yourself... the path of light."

Ringo could see it now, the forest he had grown up in as a child. His mother and his sister waiting for him, big smiles on their faces. How long had it been since he had seen their faces? He could still remember the time before that man had come and taken it all away from him. Back when he couldn't rewind six seconds to stop their brutal deaths. Now, he'd leave it all behind, and finally see what he had only ever dreamed of.

"That is what I will pray for. And I thank you."

Ringo used the last of his strength to point the gun to the right, the glimmer of the metal catching your eye. You didn't even think when Iron Maiden appeared in front of you, deflecting the bullet away from you and Johnny. Gyro didn't either as he chucked the ball he had just put back into Ringo's chest, creating a cacophony of cracks that Ringo could only smile at the sound of. As your head fell onto Johnny's barely rising chest, Gyro stood back and let the light of the sun beat down over him.

"WELCOME TO THE TRUE MAN'S WORLD."

Chapter Text

YOU'RE STARING dead ahead at the tree line, making shapes out of nothing, so you remind yourself that Johnny is still alive. He's still alive— you know this because half your face is still lukewarm, the half that had rested on his chest when you tried to get yourself back to the present. Johnny's shallow breaths were still ringing in your ear, and it only elicited a bitter writhing in your stomach. It reminded you that you were still alive, even with the blood seeping from your wounds. With your back to the outer face of the crumbling cabin, you allowed Gyro's sigh to drown the whole world out for a moment.

When Gyro walked out of the entrance, you ripped your gaze away from the trees, although hesitantly, and looked at Johnny's limp body resting against Gyro's. His arm was sitting loose around Gyro's shoulders with his head hung low, drops of blood hitting the wood of the deck with a low pitter-patter. There was more blood spattered on his clothes; you wanted to look away, but you wouldn't let yourself. He looked too lifeless for you to look away or for you to earn any reprieve. You bit your tongue, savored your disgust about yourself, then relented.

"How is he?" you muttered, drawing your legs closer to yourself. You wrapped your arms tight around them and wouldn't let yourself let go. The pressure of your thighs against your chest was welcomed, even if your jeans strained against you for doing so. Your shoulder screamed for respite but you weren't going to listen when Gyro's eyes were busy swirling with... You weren't sure what exactly but you didn't want to think about it. You didn't want to remind yourself of how he and Johnny had been feeling about you.

"Can you use your stand?" Gyro asked, evidently avoiding your question as he crouched down and laid Johnny at your feet. You stared past the valley of your knees— Johnny was looking out at the trees too, behind his eyelids, not wanting to look at you. You tore your eyes away from him and called for Iron Maiden under your breath, watching her silvery arm appear beside yours. If she couldn't even heal you, you doubted you would be of much help. Her phantom touch ran up the back of your forearm, a soft, whispery breeze of comfort.

Gyro turned Johnny to face you, eyes still closed, the wound still fresh. You shifted your legs to the side, then under you, so that you were leaning over him. You swallowed hard, a poignant itch in the back of your throat. There was this sudden urge to look at Gyro, to make sure that you would be doing right by him. But you wouldn't allow yourself that either and hovered your dampened palm over Johnny's forehead instead. Shame was your shadow as you willed the bullet to dislodge itself from its makeshift home. You swallowed back tears as blood bubbled from his wound and as much as you tried to steel yourself, Iron Maiden faded away.

"I-I'm sorry, Gyro, I can't- "

"Don't worry about it."

You bit your tongue again, harder, abashed— you should be better than this, have more control over the stand you've been gifted. It's been months and yet, it seems like any progress you make is never permanent. You couldn't even heal yourself. Your vision blurred with frustration and you pulled your knees up close to yourself once more, so close that you could barely breathe. The ache in your chest was a discernable way to remind yourself that you too were still injured and a cheap way to lament your weakness. Gyro got up from where he was crouched without so much as looking at you, so you took it as a sign to duck your head into your arms and let your tears fall.

What the hell is wrong with me? You dug your nails into your arms as sparks of light bloomed behind your eyelids from the mounting pressure you had placed against them. How much longer were you going to have to stay weak? At this rate, you wouldn't ever be able to leave Johnny and Gyro behind. Your chest grew tight as you held back any noise you could make. Stop crying, stop crying, stop crying— you repeated the thought in your head over and over, around and around your brain. But no matter how much you told yourself that, the tears wouldn't stop falling.

It seemed you had it out for yourself, reminding yourself of all the times you had failed throughout the race. You went back to the first stage, bawling like a baby on Thunderstruck because you barely knew how to ride a horse. The second stage was even worse: nearly dying in the middle of a desert because you were too busy wallowing in your own familial sob-story bullshit, nearly dying because you had let your guard down at an inn, nearly dying over and over and over again until it became almost commonplace. And every single time, you'd cry and cry. You, just a grown child.

The third stage was just pathetic. Had you not been so sick, so weak, Gyro and Johnny wouldn't have figured out that you were a woman. They wouldn't have changed so drastically around you. Gyro and Johnny wouldn't have hated you. You wouldn't have gone and gotten shot and gotten this horrid wound in your side. You would be able to heal it like all the other times you've gotten hurt. Instead, here you are with two more bullets in your body, with Iron Maiden nowhere in sight. You wouldn't be sitting in front of Johnny who had wrapped his hand around your shin and was staring at you with half-opened blue eyes.

"Jo-Johnny!" you spluttered, realizing that Johnny was, in fact, awake. You scrambled out of the position you'd been sitting in, hitting your knees against the dilapidated wood as you leaned over him, unsure of what to do next. He needs to sit up more, you thought to yourself, looking for something to put under his head. You scanned the immediate area and caught sight of Gyro, hoisting up Hot Pants a ways away. With some reluctance, you maneuvered your thighs under Johnny's head, putting most of your weight on your feet. It hurt to sit like that but at the end of the day, there was a bullet in his head and not in yours.

"(y/n)..." Johnny breathed, trancelike— you ignored the way your heart thumped a little louder, your chest ached a little more. Had he ever called you by your first name before? Your brain struggled to remember and found it hopeless when Gyro headed over, Hot Pants' limp body in tow. Gyro's eyes widened but if he felt any which way about Johnny laying in your lap, you couldn't particularly tell. Johnny's eyes had closed again by the time Gyro put Hot Pants' onto the deck, roughly, letting him slump over with Cream Starter still hanging from his hand. 

Oh.

"Make him sit up," Gyro grumbled as he grabbed Hot Pants' hands, cursing under his breath as he fiddled with Cream Starter. After everything, the last thing you wanted was to start up another argument— your mind was too riddled with "what-ifs" and "maybes"— so you wriggled your arms under Johnny's armpits and hoisted him up, letting him lean against your injured shoulder and chest with a bated breath. Johnny hummed, unaware of your discomfort, and let himself sink against you while you adjusted your arms to awkwardly wrap around his chest.

It took Gyro a moment to get Cream Starter to work, a slow dribble of flesh dripping down the side of the lighter-like stand. It was surprising that it even worked considering Hot Pants had been out cold, but in the end, you found yourself fighting back a smile knowing he was still alive. Johnny shifted then, and you winced, his weight pressing harder against your wounds. It didn't help that there was still a dull ache from Texas Red's stand in your side. Even with the bullet gone and with Iron Maiden's healing, you wondered if you would ever be able to get past that ache. It had been there for so long, that you'd almost feel a bit sad once it was gone.

"All right—" a steady stream finally shot out from Cream Starter and Gyro leaned close, narrowed eyes trained on the wound dead-set in the middle of Johnny's forehead— "Let's see if this works." You nudged your head over near the crook of Johnny's neck to watch the stream nestle itself into the hole, slowly but surely pushing up the bullet. Johnny stirred again, slinking against your wavering body while you tried not to let your pain show. Gyro met your eyes, raising a brow at your gradually scrunching features. Johnny's eyes opened slowly and his hand came up to rub at his forehead, not noticing your arms around him.

"Hey! Is your head feeling alright? Listen! I think I just came up with something," Gyro began, focused on Johnny now instead of you, "an original gag. But listen up, I'm only going to do it once, so pay attention. Only once alright...?" You raised a brow, too busy trying to understand what the hell Gyro was trying to do while your arms were still holding Johnny up. You probably should let go of him. Gyro scooted off the deck, taking a couple of steps back from the deck with a grin before holding up four fingers.

"How many fingers am I holding up?"

"...Four."

"Excuse me... let me pass," Gyro swept his hand through the air, going from holding up four fingers to two to a "zero" made out of his two fingers. Your brow furrowed— what the hell did that mean? Four, two, zero? It made no sense. You racked your mind for some hidden funny meaning that you just couldn't understand but the more you thought about it, the less it made sense. How was it supposed to be funny? Could it even be considered a gag? You almost wanted to ask him to do it again.

"And that was the gag! What do you think?" Gyro added, crossing his arms over his chest with a wider smile. Johnny tilted his head and you expected him to question Gyro's gag. Instead, he put his fist to his chin and nodded fervently, as if it was the funniest thing he had ever heard. You deadpanned until you realized that Johnny must have been faking it. There was no possible way Johnny had found it funny. Had he? There was no way.

"Hmm, it was pretty good. It's pretty hilarious actually."

What?!

"Right? It gets funnier with time. But don't take my idea just because you like it."

"What the hell did that even mean?" You didn't get an answer to your question when Johnny, instinctively it seemed, recoiled suddenly, hitting your nose with the back of his thick ass skull. The sting was brutal, sending a wretched mix of pins and needles, or some other painful combination, all through your face. It traveled down to your shoulders which had risen, flush to your jaw as your body started curling in on itself.

"Fuck!" you cursed, yanking your arms away from Johnny to cradle your stinging nose. Johnny fell back, body unsupported, and again his skull dealt some damage, this time against your stomach. It took your breath away and not in a romantic sense whatsoever. Maybe this was your punishment for not finding Gyro's gag funny. But right now wasn't the time to think about that. Your whole body was aching now, old and new injuries alike.

"What was that for?" You slapped one hand down to push Johnny off you, then wrapped your arm around your stomach, tears already streaming down your face. You choked on groans and sobs as Gyro and Johnny looked on in, what was probably, horrid amusement. Your eyes scrunched up tight so you couldn't, and didn't want to be able, to tell. Ugh, all this because of a stupid joke that wasn't even funny. Seriously, had Johnny not realized that you had been holding him up?

"Shit- Uh- I- Speedwagon- I," Johnny stumbled over his words, holding himself up with wavering arms as he shot glances at Gyro. He didn't meet Johnny's eyes and instead watched you curl in on yourself, watched as your hands subconsciously grabbed at your wounds. Gyro's eyes widened then hopped onto the deck, shuffling toward you. Your eyes were still shut and you were a blubbering mess and Gyro really didn't want to acknowledge the fact that he hadn't noticed earlier. He couldn't even fathom how you had held back your cries— your wounds were severe, and he knew that without even seeing them.

"Speedwagon..." you didn't respond and continued to curl in on yourself, breathing hard, "(y/n). Let me... Let me help you." You shook your head with a whimper— Gyro calling you by your real name made your head spin with more discomfort than you were already in. He sighed, shuffled closer, then placed a hand on your shoulder; thankfully, it was the uninjured one. You reached a shaky hand up to slap his off but it was too weak and barely registered as a slap in the first place. He sighed again and tugged at you, gently, but it was enough to make you turn over. You kept your gaze back on the horizon again.

"I'm fine, I... don't need your help," you mustered as you dug your nails into your injured shoulder subconsciously, "I'm fine. I just didn't expect Johnny to... do that." You hoped they hadn't noticed. That was the last thing you needed. Gyro gritted his teeth, let the words sink in, then clicked his tongue. You expected him to just back off and believe your white lies so that you could go take care of it yourself later. He instead pulled your shirt up just enough to reveal your abdomen and the slipshod way the bandages were wound over your side.

"What the hell are you..." Your stomach twisted into inextricable knots when you saw Gyro's eyes narrow; your breath stilled. What was he doing? Why was he looking at your wounds like that? He wasn't supposed to notice. You choked on excuses and questions and curses and lies as Gyro kept your shirt up, his fingers trembling. You hadn't meant for him to see your wounds— you just wanted to heal in peace without him or Johnny anywhere near you. Now, here you were, being judged again. Your eyes shot to Johnny's but he was staring too, his blue eyes filled with storming fury.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Johnny hissed, his eyes trained on your battered body. You swallowed hard and you found your nails digging into the soggy wooden deck when Gyro's hand tightened around your shoulder.  When you turned to face him, you found him nodding at Johnny. Your mouth opened to protest as you watched Johnny reach over and grab Hot Pants' Cream Starter, his pale hand wrapped around Hot Pants' olive-skinned one. The skin was dribbling down the edge of the lighter-stand again.

"I- No- I'm fine- Just leave it alone," you stammered as Gyro pulled you against his chest, one arm around your chest to prevent your arms from reaching down and blocking your injuries. You gritted your teeth as you wriggled in his grasp, ignoring how much your body protested against your attempt to fight back. Still, you could do nothing as Gyro peeled off your sagging bandages, revealing an awful-looking wound that even you had tried not to look at over the past few days. You didn't even want to acknowledge the fact that it was starting to smell off.

"Stay still," Gyro chastised before whistling Valkyrie over and reaching for something in her saddle bag. He pulled out a small flask, spun it open with his thumb, and flicked it open with his nail. You could only watch as he drew it closer to your side and notice just how warm his breath was against your cheek when he said 'sorry' and poured the alcohol onto your wound. The second the cool liquid hit your wound, you bucked back, hitting your head against the thick of his neck with heavy breaths and teary eyes.

"Johnny, go," Gyro said before you could regain your senses. You watched through tears as Johnny shot Cream Starter into your wound, the liquid wriggling into your wound and fixing what Iron Maiden could not. You held back screams and thrashed in Gyro's grasp, breathing hard as you tried not to show just how horrible it hurt. How had Johnny not thrashed when you had been holding him up? Your shoulder was killing you from the placement of Gyro’s arm under yours as you tried not to dwell too long on your current reaction to the treatment of your wound.

"Your wound was infected," Gyro whispered against your cheek, his muscular arm wrapping tighter against your chest, "you're lucky we caught it now. It was bound to get infected in the next couple of days." You whimpered, tears starting to well in your eyes— embarrassment was an emotion you were getting to know a little too well. You kept your eyes down low as Johnny shot Cream Starter into the other wound on your side, the one you had gotten earlier that day. You winced again but the wound didn't hurt as much so you let yourself watch a crushed bullet pop out of it and fall onto the deck.

"I... Th- I- Thank you," you mustered out as Gyro let you go, allowing your shirt to finally fall back into place, "I can do the last one myself." You shuffled away from him, face unnecessarily hot as you felt his and Johnny's eyes still on you. When you met Gyro's eyes after a few moments, you found they softened, just slightly before he nodded to Johnny. You turned over your shoulder and saw Johnny shuffle back, holding Hot Pants' hand out to you with Cream Starter still in it. Gyro sighed and got to his feet, hopping off the deck to go bother Valkyrie with his gag.

"Ms. Horsie, let me pass."

"Why didn't you tell us about..." Johnny trailed off as you took Hot Pants' hand and turned away from him, unbuttoning the collar of your shirt to shrug it down your shoulder. It was hard to see but you would be able to manage, surely. You peeked over at Johnny who watched you expectantly, looking almost desperate for an answer. How interesting that he wanted to know now. How interesting that he wanted to be nice now. You held back a roll of your eyes and instead shot Cream Starter at your wound until the second bullet popped out.

"Was I supposed to?" you asked exasperatedly, dropping Hot Pants' hand onto your lap as you buttoned your collar back up, leaving the last one undone as you always had. It was then that you noticed the absence of your bandana— you sighed, it was probably inside the cabin somewhere. You hoped it was at least. You didn't have much to cover your face with until you could get a new one if you had lost it. You sighed again and ran a hand down your face, ignoring the conflicted look on Johnny's face.

"Alright you two, let's get going. I sprayed Hot Pants' wounds too before he could wake up," Gyro called from where he and Valkyrie stood and you blanched. You had completely forgotten your plan to leave them, a plan you had whispered to yourself, a plan that you had planned to get Hot Pants in on. You looked down at his hand in your lap, then at him. You couldn't ask that of him now. But... you looked at Gyro and then at Johnny who had turned to the destroyed door in thought. You bit your lip hard— you would just have to wait until you got to the next checkpoint so you could leave. There were several reasons you could come up with by then.

You got to your feet and headed for the doorway as Gyro started calling for Johnny, their voices fading once you stepped inside. You took a look around, trying to find the red bandana you had gotten attached to. You headed for the spot that you and Johnny had been lying in, hoping that you'd find it somewhere in the mess of wooden shards. Your brow furrowed as you caught a corner in a pile of shards, poking out like it was calling for help. You grimaced and crouched down, slowly sweeping some of the shards away with the back of your hand. 

There, under all the wood, you found a ragtag-looking piece of cloth you could barely call your bandana anymore. It must have gotten torn up by the falling shards of wood, but there was nothing you could do about it now. You sighed and looked around the room, spotting a rumpled gray-blue bedsheet on a bed in the corner of the cabin. There were some more shards of wood lying on the bed, leaving a couple of tears in the middle. One corner had been spared, devoid of any rips or tears. It would have to do.

You reached over and grabbed a shard of wood and stabbed it into the sheet and the mattress before tugging on the bedsheet. It came off with a ragged rip, leaving you with a great heap of fabric that you would have to use until you could get a new one. You thought back to your lull in funds then sighed— you would probably just have to make it pretty at the next stop instead. You fiddled with the fabric, then reached back with one corner of it in hand before joining the other corner behind your head. You tied it tight with a thick knot then peered at a broken mirror. Three mirrored versions of you glimmered back.

You walked out of the cabin with some odd version of hope, like you were someone new. You turned to look at Johnny as you walked out and found him paler than usual, the side of his face covered in a thin sheen of sweat. You took a step forward with a loud creak, making Johnny turn around with a state of shock etched permanently on his face. You tilted your head, half-expecting an explanation. Instead, Johnny looked at Hot Pants, then called over Slow Dancer to hoist himself up onto her back.

"O...kay," you muttered before calling Thunderstruck over. As you got onto the saddle, you peered over at Hot Pants whose top looked mussed with. For a second it looked like... no. You were just seeing things because of the way his top was sitting. You looked at him one more time, hoped that it wasn't the last, then followed behind Gyro and Johnny who had surprisingly come to a stop at the edge of the birchwood orchard. Your heart squirmed under their gaze— just because they were being nice now, it didn't mean you were going to just let everything slide. You steeled yourself then maneuvered Thunder between Valkyrie and Slow Dancer.

YOU WERE GOING TO LEAVE DURING THE NEXT STAGE.

Chapter Text

THE SECOND the sugary, saccharine scent of half-ripened plums stopped hanging in the leaden air around you, you let out a burdened breath to let bitterness pool in your stomach. Your hips shifted with each step Thunderstruck made, her hooves leaving impressions in the malleable ground. With your hands clamped tight around the reins, you looked over your shoulder at the endless lines of white-painted trees, overlapping with layers of dusky violet. Somewhere in there, behind all the leaves, was that decrepit cabin, already collecting dust.

You turned back around to look ahead at the neverending miles and miles of lush grassland stark against the cerulean sky. There was hardly a cloud in sight, save perhaps for a few dusty sweeps of white far up in the air. A gentle breeze swept across the green, rustling the high pasture until it reached you, messing with the fabric you had across your nose and mouth. You tugged at it, pulling it down and pressing it against the plush of your lips, ignoring the words of the two men before you.

"Shit, how far along do ya think Diego got along?" grumbled Johnny, running a veined hand across the width of his forehead, resting his tense fingers along his hairline. His hat resisted futilely, slowly revealing more of his blond hair until he tugged the blue knit forward. In his other hand sat the worn map all three of you had been using since you joined them back in the second stage— the markings from the previous owner had long been written over by three different forms of penmanship.

"There's no point thinking about that, Johnny," Gyro huffed, raising his hands out in front of him, stacking his fingers atop each other, "only two hours of daylight left. We should get moving." Your wristwatch sat heavy with obsolescence. Gyro's brows furrowed tight before he slumped back into his saddle, crestfallen. You were mere seconds from looking away, wholly uninterested in any more of their chatter, when his green eyes shot up to meet yours.

Your heart gave a hollow thump, so you gave Gyro a tight-lipped smile— you could barely call it a smile, though. He looked away immediately, settling into his saddle properly, hands clutched around Valkyrie's reins. You could almost laugh. Almost. Johnny groaned suddenly, dropping his hands to his lap with a deep frown that accentuated his typically non-existent smile lines. His baby blue bottom lip puckered out the tiniest bit.

"But he has a hundred-ninety points! I only got a hundred-thirty, and you- you only got seventy-one!" Johnny protested, his brows furrowed tight until the skin between formed ridges of ivory. And I have 115 points, you thought, letting your eyes travel back to the beautiful green grasses and clear blue skies. If you were ever to settle down, maybe you'd do so over here— far, far away from Johnny, Gyro, and that creepy cabin. 

Maybe with...

Your stomach flopped weakly as a scaly smile appeared in the forefront of your mind before quickly being replaced by steely maroon eyes framed by hot pink hair. You brushed the thoughts off just as fast as they had come, distracting yourself with Thunderstruck's impatient huffs. She pawed at the dirt with her hooves, her horseshoes dull and dirtied. You'd have to take the time to polish them once you had the chance. Perhaps there was a town nearby. You weren't sure you wanted to camp out for the umpteenth time in a row.

"Look, there's nothing more we can do. All we can do right now is move forward," Gyro sighed, rubbing the patches of beard on his chin with the back of his hand, "if we head East from here, we should be able to reach the next Corpse Part before he gets to it or gets first in the race." You felt Iron Maiden break away from you to look East, her shining silver armor glinting in Johnny and Gyro's peripheral. 

"Since Iron Maiden is back, we're less likely to stray off route," Gyro added, ignoring the stray glance you threw his way, "now, seriously, Johnny, let's get moving. I can't afford to get anything but first place!" Gyro squeezed his legs around Valkyrie, just enough to get her flying forward. Johnny did the same with a soft tug at the reins instead. You followed suit, letting yourself fall to the back of formation with Iron Maiden hovering close beside you. 

Just like that, you and your two companions were off, thundering down the Great Plains, held back only by brief gusts of wild wind. The following two hours were devoid of much talking, save for Iron Maiden's occasional interruptions of "East, East" that kept you all on track. You were grateful for that much. It seemed Johnny and Gyro had at least taken the hint that you wanted anything but to talk to them. It made the prospect of leaving them in ten days much easier on your conscience. 

You all eventually stopped a good 30 or so miles from the outskirts of Dodge City which had Gyro ranting and raving about all the pretty women they would see. You had tucked in early before he could see the disgust on the visible part of your face. Sleep came begrudgingly slow despite all that had happened two hours earlier. Your mind was littered with hot pink until you had managed to steady your pounding heart— you didn't want to think too much about how you assumed Hot Pants would just let you tag along with him during the fifth stage.

Before you knew it, the early morning came, emphasized by the frigid chill of the wind. From behind the flaps of your tent, you could hear Johnny and Gyro's gravelly voices, roughened by that same cold. You forced yourself to ignore the heat that crawled up the back of your neck, emphasized by the pins and needles that made your head go numb. You adjusted the fabric on your face and shuffled out of your tent, rubbing at your eyes as you did so. 

"G'morning," you mumbled, slowly getting to your feet and blinking hard until your eyes adjusted to the change in light. Once your vision normalized, you found yourself staring at Gyro and Johnny who had gone rigid when you appeared before them. Silence sat heavy in the morning air as two pairs of eyes stared you down.

"... What? Is there something wrong?" you muttered, crossing your arms over your chest. You knew things were awkward with them  Before you could scoff and brush it off, Gyro pointed up at his head where his hat sat. You mirrored him slowly, reaching up where your hat was— only it wasn't there. Your heart stopped. You scrambled backward, nearly falling on your ass, and practically threw yourself into your tent.

There, sitting unceremoniously next to your pillow, was your beloved hat, the embroidered name under the rim like always. 

"Huh..." You picked it up, gave it a brief once over, and plopped it back onto your head, tucking any excess hair into it. You sat there a moment and then crawled back out to where Johnny and Gyro still stood, seemingly still affected by whatever it was that had made them stare so blankly at you. Then it hit you.

"Do I look that weird to you guys without my hat?"

Johnny winced.

 "...No?"

"Oh my... you guys do think I look weird."

Gyro gave a pathetic laugh. 

"It-It's not that, Speedwagon, it's just-"

"I... don't want to hear it." And with that, you spent the rest of the day in complete silence, relying on Iron Maiden's directions as you all made your way to Dodge City. For the most part, you had managed to ignore the thought that Gyro and Johnny were most likely ignoring the fact that you were actually a girl, but when you did, the sensitive skin under your eye twitched like no tomorrow. 

Did you really look weird without your hat? Or maybe... had you managed to pass as a man so well that you had lost that little touch of femininity you had held on to as the sole daughter of a man with almost too many sons? No... surely you hadn't. Diego had immediately asked for your hand in marriage after meeting you. But was that because he thought you were pretty, or was he just trying to get into your head? Your mind, swirling with doubts, kept you busy until you arrived at Dodge City under the light of the moon and the stars.   

"Congratulations on your arrival, sirs—" Walter and Wallace Scott, the two identical men who had managed to hop from checkpoint to checkpoint since the first stage, greeted you with clipboards in hand—"The citizens of this fair city have graciously offered their services for use in the race! As usual, we must check your race numbers and your horses' prints." The words managed to break you out of your stupor, and you gave a blank nod before getting off your saddle.

"Could you tell us who's in the lead?" Gyro asked as he jumped off his saddle, patting Valkyrie on the neck. She replied with a soft snort, and Slow Dancer did the same while Johnny unbuckled himself from his saddle. You watched from your peripheral while Thunderstruck leaned down to press her nose against the ink pad Wallace held up. You brushed a hand through Thunder's white mane, watched Johnny spin his way off of Slow Dancer, and muttered "good girl" under your breath.

"I'm afraid not, Mister Gyro," Walter replied, handing his clipboard over to Gyro, who read it over with a scrutinizing eye, "we lost sight of some of the racers in the front lines, you see. We presume that Mister Diego Brando is in the lead, but our people haven't seen him or any other high-placing riders on the suggested course." Gyro hummed as he returned the clipboard, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Great," Gyro grumbled, sighing as he turned to Johnny, who heaved himself onto his wheelchair, "well, we can't do much at this time of night. We'll leave at first light tomorrow." You watched Johnny's bottom lip pucker out once more— did he know he did that? To be fair to him, it wasn't that noticeable, just something you noticed. But someone really had to tell him. It was just laughable. Not in that it looked bad, but-

"My sincerest apologies, Mister Speedwagon! I must have been distracted," Wallace fretted, his hands and red vest coated in black ink. You raised a brow and looked down at the darkening black stain on your shirt and jeans. You froze, scrunching up your features in mild defeat. You then looked down at Wallace, who looked guiltier than you had expected. You let out a soft breath— nothing a good wash couldn't fix.

"Hey, hey, no worries, man," you chuckled, patting Wallace on the shoulder with a smile he couldn't see, "I can just buy something temporary 'till I get these washed up!" You ignored the little voice in the back of your head reminding you of your horridly low funds and the unused clothes in the bottom of your saddle bag that you still hadn't gotten rid of. 

"Say, if you're finished with the prints, I'll just take Thunderstruck here to the stables if you could point me in their direction," you prompted with a pat on Thunder's neck. You could already feel the ink seep onto your skin, which meant you'd have to take a shower later, which normally wasn't an issue. But you barely had any money left, which meant you would have to share a room with Johnny and Gyro, if they even would allow you to, and the last thing you wanted was to shower in the bathroom of an inn chamber that you had to share with either of them.

Curse your innate talent to think of every possible horrible situation you could find yourself in.

"Yes, of course! Just take this road and make a left at the end. The stables should be right there!" 

"Thanks," you beamed, trying desperately not to show how anxious you already were from just the mere thought of being anywhere near those two when you went to sleep later that night. What if there was only one room left? What if that one room only had one bed? You shuddered and hurried away toward the stables, missing the shared looks from Johnny and Gyro. 

The second you stepped foot into the stables, you let out a heavy breath, slinking against your beloved Palomino. Thunder huffed and made her way to an empty block in the corner as she always did, her ears flicking every which way, every time she saw a horse she didn't like. You still don't know how she managed to get along with Valkyrie and Slow Dancer. You opened the block door, allowing her to walk in and for you to follow once she turned around. 

"Hope you don't mind me, Thunder," you mumbled, taking off all her heavy equipment and reaching out past the door to hang it on the hooks. All your personal belongings would be coming with you to the inn, but until you could increase your pitiful funds, then... You looked at your saddle bag and almost cried. With a groan, you pulled off the fabric around your mouth and the hat off your head so you could change into the clothes you hadn't worn in months.

It took a good five minutes for you to change, save for the few moments you took to wipe at your ink-stained torso with your dirtied clothes. You had wet your shirt with some water from the trough inside Thunder's particularly roomy block, making taking off the ink easier than you had expected. Still, there was a faint gray spot on your body that you made a note to scrub off later.

But then you were back, dressed in that long brown skirt and a well-worn beige blouse. At least back at the beginning of the race, you had a looser-fitting shirt. Your collarbone felt far too bare, too exposed to the brisk air outside. Not to mention that the blouse was tighter than you had grown accustomed to from your time in the race. You sighed for the millionth time— at least the sleeves stopped at your elbow. 

"Speedwagon? You in here?" You froze at the sound of Johnny's signature Kentucky drawl. The last thing you had expected was for him to come after you. He continued calling for you with, of course, your last name. You looked down at your attire and nearly screamed. What if someone overheard or saw you reply to Johnny calling you by your race name? How were you supposed to explain that to a stranger?!

"Speedwagon? Look, I know- mmph-" Johnny had no chance to say another word as you dragged him into the block, clamping a hand over his blue-lipstick-covered lips. God, maybe it was the blue lipstick that made you distracted whenever he pouted. You met his gaze with a finger on your lips, eyes narrowing until he nodded. When you finally took your hand off his lips, you wiped away the blue stain on your palm on your skirt.

"Johnny, you can't call me Speedwagon right now, okay?" you whispered, leaning down towards Johnny, face scrunched as he stared at you absently, "under absolutely no circumstances can you call me that. Not until I can get my other clothes clean. Until then, it's (y/n), and only (y/n)." Johnny kept staring, a small crick in his brow forming while you stepped back and ran your hands down your face with a groan.

"Can you at least respond?!"

"You're that girl Gyro saved after the first stage."

"...Johnny, you are beyond insufferable right now." 

Johnny's face scrunched up, lip puckered out again. You wanted to punch him in the mouth.

"The hell?! Why?!"

"It really took you almost a whole stage to realize that?!"

"Yeah?! What's wrong with that?!"

"Seriously?!" You turned and put your face against Thunder's shoulder and screamed into the joint, to which she gave a mere flick of her ear in response. When you turned back around, Johnny gave you that same mindless stare that he had been giving you the entire day. Nine more days, you thought to yourself, nine more days and change until you could get away from these assholes.

"You know what, doesn't matter, let's go get Gyro," you grumbled, ignoring Johnny's protests as you grabbed the handles of his wheelchair and pushed him out of the block. You turned back around to put your clothes into your saddle bag, as well as your hat, which you then hung from a hook in the corner of the large block. With a soft pat to Thunder's flank, you were back beside a very irritated Johnny Joestar.

"I don't know what you're thinking, but Gyro's at the tavern across from the inn," Johnny stated, his brow furrowed as he rolled after you, who walked out the doors of the stables with a huff, "he was talking about gettin' with some woman he saw." You were hardly surprised at what Johnny had told you, but what really shocked you was just how talkative Johnny had become. What? Did he suddenly tolerate you again? 

You could feel yourself bristle with every step you made in the direction of the tavern, ignoring the occasional whistle that you got from the men around you. They didn't seem to notice Johnny rolling behind you— it was pitiful, really, but you had lost all ability to feel pity for him or Gyro since the beginning of this stage. You and Johnny maneuvered your way to the tavern with you rejecting the advances of every man who called for you and Johnny grumbling all the way. 

When you slammed open the swinging tavern doors, it didn't take long for you to set your sights on Gyro, twirling a strand of some brunette's hair around his finger. Johnny came to a stop beside you, holding up a hand to keep the door from hitting his face had you decided to let go. You watched Gyro give the girl a sleazy, golden-grilled smile, behind his green-painted lips. He hadn't noticed you or Johnny just yet, which was more of a blessing than anything else. You were a moment away from screaming at him when you really took in your surroundings.

The tavern was filled with drunken, disheveled men and a few women who giggled at all of their slurred words. It reeked of alcohol, of course, as well as vomit and another lingering smell you weren't quite sure you wanted to think too hard about. But in the heavy haze of musk, you watched as men slid small pouches across tables, their telltale jingling giving away just what was inside: Money. You suddenly became hyper-aware of the nearly empty pouch in your saddle bag back at the stables— as well as a man sitting at an empty table nearby.

"Great. Y'know, I told him he had to get his own room if he..." Johnny trailed off as you sauntered away from him, heading toward an almost empty table. He watched with narrowed eyes as you pulled out a seat across from a man who had laid cards out across his side of the table. He could feel his heart hammer in his chest as you smiled at the man, tucking stray locks behind your ear. And your lips, you were... biting them. Since when had you gotten so bold? The man mirrored your smile and in an instant, Johnny was headed for Gyro.

"Shit- Gyro!" Johnny blustered, rolling up to the counter, catching the eye of his blond friend and the brunette who scoffed at Johnny at first sight. She was irrelevant anyway, at least to Johnny.

"Woah there, Johnny," Gyro laughed, gritting his teeth into a smile that spoke for itself: Not now. Johnny ignored the silent message and pressed on. The brunette glared and scoffed a little louder, swirling around the drink Johnny assumed Gyro had bought her. 

"Dammit, Gyro! Speed- (y/n) is uh- Look, he's- she's- I mean- fuck-" Johnny dug his hands into his hat and then pointed behind him where you sat, swinging your feet in your chair, "Just look!" Gyro flicked his hat up and leaned to the side where you sat, laughing with the man who sat in front of you. He had nearly toppled over at the sight of you, no hat to be seen again, dressed in clothes he had never seen you wear before. He could actually see that you had... well... a chest.

"What the hell is she doing?" Gyro growled, now ignoring the brunette beside him. She made a noise of offense and stormed off, unbeknownst to Gyro or Johnny. They kept their eyes on you and that man who was now gathering up his cards from the table. You put your chin in your hands as you watched him make cards dance across his fingertips, shuffling the cards in flamboyant ways that made Gyro and Johnny scowl. You gave the man a cute round of applause, giggling in a way they had rarely, if not ever, heard. 

Little did they know, as you feigned a giggle, you kept a close eye on the cards, the man smiling a little too wide for your tastes. His dark hair cast a shadow over his eyes, nearly distracting you. He distributed ten cards to each of you, far quicker than you could ever manage to do so. You had only ever played this game in passing when Scott or Seth had roped you into playing a quick round with them. While you had gotten a good grasp of it over the years, you could feel your mind shout in protest. The man finally met your eyes again, and for a moment, you swore you saw a flash of flowers appear on the wall behind him.

"READY TO PLAY NOW, SWEETHEART?"