Chapter Text
“JOLYNE! JOLYNE! JOLYNE! JOLYNE!!”
_—_—_
She’s breathing.
Fuzziness in her eyes as she blinks awake, she sees a familiar face from her childhood.
“Grand…ma…?” Jolyne mutters as the blonde haired woman comes into view.
“Grandma?” Says the now fully visible woman as she laughs a bit at the comment. “My, do I really look that old?”
Wait.
Wait. No. Hold it.
Jolyne, is… alive??
Jolyne immediately sits up, breathing heavily.
She’s alive.
She’s on land.
Grandma’s here.
Wait.
What?
Jolyne’s head snaps to her grandmother, Holly Kujo, a woman she has all but only fond memories of as a child. But something was wrong about her. She was about twenty years too young.
Her too-young grandma quickly started worrying over her. “Are you alright? You shouldn’t sit up so quickly.”
Jolyne was barely able to say a word. Why was she here? Why was she alive? Why did Grandma look so damn young?
But, her grandma’s worried and expecting look gave Jolyne the strength to muster up, “…Yeah. Yeah I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?” Grandma asked as Jolyne put her hand to her head. “I found you passed out on the street drenched, and it wasn’t even raining out! I promise, anything you need, it’s no mind.”
Jolyne looked over at her grandma’s kind face. She needed her dad. Her friends. Emporio. Mom.
But she wasn’t going to get any of that. She probably wasn’t even gonna get an answer if her sacrifice was worth anything. Emporio could’ve died immediately after her for all Jolyne knew.
She wasn’t fine. And she needed things she’d never get. So she said,
“I’m alright right now, ma’am. Thanks for finding me.”
That didn’t seem to convince Grandma, but she soon put on a smile and said, “If you say so. My name is Holly, so call me if you need anything. I’ll zip right over!”
And so, Grandma stood up and left the room with a bright smile. Wow, she missed her. But that’s not the most important thing right now. The main two questions are: How is she alive? (If she’s alive) And why is Grandma so young?
Maybe she should have asked Grandma some questions. Maybe then she’d be able to figure out what’s going on with her.
This has got to be some hallucination. What else could it be? Maybe this was one of Made In Heaven’s stupid abilities. If you die to its user than you get trapped in some sort of… weird world with people you want to see. Probably.
Though why would the first person she saw be Grandma and not Dad or Emporio or any of the other people she cared about? And why the fuck would that translate to Grandma being so fucking young?
Also, if this was a weird “heaven” dimension, then why is she able to remember her death? Sure, stands work in weird ass ways, but if it were her, then it’d make more sense for the victim to not realize that they had even died? That this new “heaven” was always the real reality? Or even that their old life was simply a dream and now that they’re “awake” they’re free from pain. It sounds like something a stand that’s meant to bring “heaven” would do, right?
This just wasn’t adding up.
Alright. New mission: figure out what the fuck happened to her. As much as she’d like to do other things right now, but that seems like the first and only possible step for her currently.
First of all, she needs to get up.
Which is immediately a massive roadblock.
Oh yeah. She just died. It may not hurt like hell, but she sure as fuck is sore from everything.
Jolyne lays back down and tries to summon some of Stone Free’s string from her finger.
Jolyne let out a sigh of relief. That was easy enough still. She didn’t know what she’d do if she couldn’t at least do that.
Next step, Jolyne felt part of her cheek turn to string as she unraveled herself more. Good, she can still do that. Sure, it may be a natural ability of the stand, but it’s still massively important to be able to do.
Finally, Jolyne called out the humanoid form of her stand. Stone Free appeared hovering over to her side. She released Stone Free and let her arm flop to the ground. At least she still had her stand abilities. Plus, now that she knew how to do everything if she got into a fight she’d be fine. Stone Free was all about Jolynes own imagination after all.
As Jolyne let herself relax, she unraveled her fingers and spread her string all under the floorboards of the house. Seemed large, and definitely traditionally Japanese in style. If she couldn’t tell that just from looking at the room she was in currently.
She flopped her other arm over her eyes as she felt tears threaten to leave her eyes. When was the last time she truly took time to relax? Maybe during the few down times, in the back of cars and buses? Or even farther back, at Green Dolphin Street Prison, during lunch or in Emporio’s ghost room. God, if he exists, she misses her friends so much.
Ermes, her first friend at the prison, no, before that even. Foo Fighters, how they learned to live as a real person and not just an intelligent creature. Weather Report, who spoke quietly and didn’t know who he really was until the end, and even then fought for what he believed in. Anasui, who if nothing less truly seemed to love her. Emporio, the kid who helped her so much, her younger brother. Dad, who she never really knew, but loved and hated and traded her life for the world.
As the tears started to flow she whispered, “I’m sorry Dad, I failed you. You… you died for me. Traded killing Pucci for my life. And I… I had to leave it to Emporio instead.
…I’m sorry. So, sorry…”
It was pathetic. She knew. But, it hurt. It hurt so, so, so much. Pucci, that bastard, had won. At least, as far as she knew.
“Jo… lyne” Her old man said, his final word.
“JOLYNE!” Emporio yelled out, the last thing she heard as she lost consciousness.
She… failed. No wonder Dad never told her about Stands, she died at the end. No matter what she did, it all fell through when it mattered most.
Jolyne sobbed and hicced as quietly as she could, trying her best not to get Grandma’s attention. Her eyes felt boiling hot.
She failed.
She failed.
She failed.
She Failed.
Jolyne could do nothing except cry. Cry and cry and cry and cry.
Mom. Ermes. Foo Fighters. Anasui. Weather Report. Emporio. Dad.
She wasn’t able to do ANYTHING!
Anything.
Anything at all…
God.
She was so pathetic.
Her breath slowed, shaking. Not good. Not anywhere near good. But at least she wasn’t sobbing anymore.
She wanted to go home.
_—_—_
“Goodbye, Seiko!” One of Holly’s friends said to her as they went their separate ways home.
“Bye-bye!” Holly returned with a wave.
Holly Kujo, though known better by her friends as ‘Seiko,’ was walking home from hanging out with her friends. Her son, Jotaro would still be at school right now. Now, Holly wouldn’t say it out loud, was very worried about her boy.
It’s not like it was a new issue, sadly. Ever since Jotaro was a young boy he’d have trouble, whether it be other students or the teachers who never understood him. Holly herself had trouble understanding her own son’s needs sometimes, and it’s only gotten worse as he’d gotten older.
Jotaro really is a sweet boy, she knows this for sure! But with everything, she worries.
Holly sighs before thinking out loud, “I wonder what Jotaro would like for dinner tonight!”
Turning the street to her home, Holly spotted someone sitting at the wall that acted as a fence outside her house.
Strange, it seemed to be a woman that Holly had never seen around here before. She wore odd clothes and seemed only vaguely asian, mostly white like herself. The woman had two-toned hair, her bangs and braids were blonde color, and her two tight buns were black, looking like a dark green.
As Holly got closer, she hurried her pace. The girl was passed out drenched. It hadn’t rained in days, especially not hard enough for this woman to look like this! Had she been swimming? There was the scent of saltwater on her, though, why would she be passed out outside her home like this? And her clothes, while odd, didn’t seem to be any sort of swimsuit, and, wouldn’t she have dried off by now if she came from the ocean?
There were too many questions, and from the state of the girl, Holly wouldn’t be getting any answers until she woke up.
She felt a bit bad, but she would’ve felt worse leaving this woman out here like this. Holly wasn’t as strong as her papa or her son, and this girl definitely had muscles that fit with her slim stature, but she wasn’t going to let that get her down! Holly slid her arms underneath the girl’s knees and behind her back, trying to lift the girl.
“Whoa!” Holly exclaimed getting the woman maybe half an inch off the ground, before faltering under the girl’s weight.
Holly took a (figurate) step back, readjusting her grip on the girl.
“Okay, let’s try this again!” Holly said to herself, before noticing something. On the back of the woman’s left shoulder there was some sort of birthmark.
One that looked oddly familiar.
One in the shape of a star.
Holly let go of the woman, a hand flying to the back of her own shoulder.
“What…?” Holly breathed. Where had she seen that mark before? It’s something that she’s seen a million times before, but where? Ugh! She hates it when this happens! It’s right at the tip of her tongue in her memory!
Looking at the woman again, who somehow still hasn’t stirred yet, Holly noticed that she had something in her hand. It looked golden.
Holly felt bad, but still, she reached to pry the woman’s hand open to see what it was, hoping that she wouldn’t wake up and think that Holly was stealing from her.
Holly was right, it looked to be some sort of golden locket, having a beetle on it. From the look of the girl’s hand, she had been griping it rather tightly. Curiosity getting the better of her, she opened the locket up.
Inside, there was a shard of something sharp. Holly held the shard to stop it from falling out with her thumb, distracted by the picture inside.
“Sadayo…?” Holly breathed. “No, it can’t be.” The man in the picture resembled her husband, but it wasn’t. He didn’t have those blue eyes, and the way the man’s hat blended into his hair. Not to mention, the man in the pictures only looked to be in his twenties at the time of the photo, and Holly knew that wasn’t what he looked like then.
No, the man in the picture…
He looked like an older version of Jotaro.
Who was the woman in the picture with him?
Suddenly, Holly remembered where she had seen that star birthmark before. Why she had seen it dozens of times.
It was the same one her papa had. The same one she had. The same one Jotaro had. The star birthmark that everyone in the Joestar family has had for generations.
This girl, with this picture and this birthmark.
…Just who could she be?
_—_—_
Jolyne was just tired. She cried and cried until her eyes had run out of tears, and now she just feels tired.
Maybe she could call Grandma, she did say that she’d zip right over if she needed anything.
Was this woman even her grandma though? Jolyne had been assuming so. They look so alike, and they have the same name…
Suddenly, Jolyne sat up, realizing something.
She put a shaky hand to her shoulder, right where her birthmark was.
Did she know? Did she see it? She must have! There’s no way she couldn’t! Right?
Jolyne swore.
Her body ached. Her eyes were sore from crying. She has no idea where she is or how she got here.
She just wanted to go home.
What else can she do?
Weakly, probably weaker than her voice had ever been and with her hand to her shoulder like shield, Jolyne called out, “Holly?”
Again, louder, so that the woman who resembled her grandmother so could actually hear, “Holly!”
Jolyne’s strings were located all throughout the house by now, underneath the floorboards and tatami matts. She knew that Grandma was only a few doors down, but a normal speaking voice wouldn’t reach her.
With Stone Free, Jolyne called out one more time, “Holly?”
She could hear her grandma say, “What was that?” followed soon by the sound of footsteps.
It took some strength, but Jolyne raveled herself back up, making human hands again just in time for Holly to knock on the rooms door.
“Hello?” Her grandma said, opening the door. “I’m coming in!”
Jolyne imagined what she might look like to this woman, too young in Jolyne’s eyes.
Jolyne imagined how red and puffy her eyes must be. How she still had a slight shake to her body, from the cold water or the emotions of it all, not even Jolyne knew which. How her hand was holding onto her shoulder, like any less would cost her life. Jolyne thought about just how miserable she looked.
“Hi.” Jolyne weakly got out.
Grandma’s eyes softened. “Hello there. How are you doing?” She asked, coming to sit beside her.
Jolyne laughed, bitterly and weak. Weak. Weak. Weak. “How’s it look like?”
Grandma looked at her oh so softly. She was sure that this woman knew anymore would make her break.
“Honestly? Not good.” Grandma said with a smile and a small laugh. Jolyne remembered how warm the woman always was. How she always tried to find the good things in life, the glass half full.
“Figured.” Jolyne responded, trying her best to match even the slightest bit of joy this woman radiates, but even a small smile felt like too much.
“Do you need anything?” Grandma asked her. Jolyne stayed quiet for a moment.
“...Nothing you have.” She said.
“Do you at least want something?” Grandma tried again.
Jolyne looked at her. It was all wrong.
“Just.” Jolyne breathed, getting even that out felt like a monumental task. “Someone to talk to. I guess.”
Grandma smiled, and Jolyne could feel the air in the room shift. “Well, then it’s good I’m here then!”