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The last thing he can remember was being excruciatingly split in half, and everything going black after that. It was after a few minutes of this total darkness that he finally shot up, breathing heavily from the lingering pain.
‘What? What happened?! That wretched Joestar, that child somehow defeated me??!’
He gasped at that last thought, eyes widening sharply, rapidly looking around at his surroundings. He was in some kind of hospital room, by the looks of it. Another look led to show that the only occupant in the room was a child lying in the bed, who appeared to be sleeping peacefully.
He reaches one hand out, intending to get some sort of answer for why he was here, when he was stopped short by something pulling harshly at his neck, yanking his head forward. Looking down, his hands were shackled in golden cuffs and chains, with a chain attached to a collar around his neck, over the scar on his neck, almost completely covering it up. The damnable things prevented him from moving his hands even a few inches away from his chest.
Looking closer at himself, he looked…. Completely different, somehow. He was wearing mostly pinks and blues, with a few gold spikes here and there. There was another pair of shackles on his ankles, once more connected with a thick golden chain. He scoffs.
The only thing to do while he waits is to look around, so he does just that. Peering closer at the sleeping child, it seems his hair has been gelled up in an attempt at the beginning of some sort of hairstyle, though the hair was far too short at the moment to make out what it was supposed to be.
A few hours later, he learns more information. He appears to be bound to the child in a similar way that a stand would be, finding himself feeling weaker and much more intangible the farther he gets from him. This also fits with his new armored form. Somehow, through some cruel twist of fate, he became the stand of this seemingly random 5-year-old boy. After eavesdropping on the boy’s mother speaking to the doctors, he learns that the boy's name, Josuke-something, understanding their conversation completely despite not knowing what language they were speaking, and he previously had a sustained, life-threateningly high fever just a few hours ago, which has bizarrely completely disappeared during those few hours.
In no small amount of alarm, he realizes he can no longer remember his full, original name. He can remember that his first name was some kind of word for god, but the only thing that comes to mind when he thinks of his last name is the word Diamond, which, out of all things he knows for certain, was most definitely NOT his previous last name.
The boy’s mother collects all of their belongings from around the hospital room, and after they are discharged, they finish packing up and get into their automobile, presumably heading home. The boy's father is nowhere to be seen, strangely enough.
Something’s been bothering him since he saw the child’s face. After it’s been a rather long time since the mother last looked back to check on the boy, he, being mindful of his shackled hands, carefully reaches out and pulls back the collar of his pajamas. Stamped there innocuously, because, of course, he should have known that he would never be fully free from that god-forsaken bloodline, is a purple-ish birthmark in the shape of a perfect star.
He moves to sit as far away from the boy- no, the Joestar, as he can in the cramped space of the automobile's backseat. He is only marginally successful, since he is much larger than a normal person and is floating, taking up most of the space despite his best efforts. He could attempt to ‘de-summon’ himself like he used to with… Something he used to have, that he cannot remember
~~~~
A week after their return from the hospital, Josuke appears to have developed an imaginary friend.
Honestly, Tomoko’s just glad he’s returning to acting like a child after seeing him so still for almost 2 months straight. Much to her private dismay, the father of her son didn’t magically show up while Josuke was sick to make everything better. Now, she was beginning to doubt the man, whose name she regrettably never actually got, now that she thinks about it, was ever going to make good on his promise to come back and visit her someday. Though maybe that someday was just very, very far off.
A glance towards her son proves uneventful, Josuke playing with his toys, incoherently babbling to no one in particular, all the while. Though a slight pink glow catches her eye, it’s gone in a blink. Tomoko leans in slightly. After taking a closer look, it almost looks like some of Josuke’s toys are floating.
Weird.