Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Shadowed Suspicion Chapter 396

[madimpossibledreamer]

Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: The Joestars and the Council are on their way.
Word Count: 1363
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS

        They don’t fly directly in. In another note to make him feel weirdly homesick, the town is too small for an airport. Well, that’s the official story, anyway. Detailed information about actual population counts and size of the town isn’t really a thing, which is also weirdly familiar and comforting in how much it just doesn’t make sense. Papa Harris had been pretty fond of knocking Xander’s ability to just...go on and exist somewhere that wasn’t Sunnydale, and while that was definitely partly just an attack to try to wound Xander’s ego, he’d been right for reasons he himself hadn’t really understood, having been brought up in Sunnydale himself. Going on to exist in a world where you could just have stores open 24/7 or didn’t have obits in the school newspaper or there are actual explanations for things most of the time took a little adjustment, and honestly, maybe he still hasn’t even quite figured out how it all works. The closest he’s gotten, maybe, is Jotaro’s memories of being a kid? Josuke had a Stand when he was young, so even those don’t quite count, and Jonathan’s get tainted by Dio all too early on, and even those aren’t too helpful when it comes to it.
        So they have to take Robin’s plane to San Diego. The airport is actually right next to the water, which is wild, but at least they’re not having to make an emergency water landing, so maybe they’re doing okay after all. Buffy seems a little disappointed it’s not L.A., which reminds Xander that oh, yeah, she wasn’t a native, was she? She adapted quickly enough it was easy to forget she hadn’t been there the entire time. And then, from there, they have to go through the desert. Giles had recommended they not drive, as no road could be guaranteed to lead there, but the Captain had instead requisitioned multiple off-road vehicles from the Speedwagon Foundation. She had probably been considering transforming them using Panzermensch and had wisely decided to save her strength for the fight ahead.
        It’s a little uncomfortable. Not just shoving everyone in three vehicles. Johan’s had to deal with that before, in Africa, sometimes even in Egypt, when he’d been serving as a Watcher. Most of it has to do with flashbacks to the trip to Egypt, for three of them, at least, and even for the people who don’t have the memories, the general air of unease and determination hangs heavy, the weight of not being able to know what to expect coupled with the knowledge they have to finish this fight here and now. They are driving out into the middle of a desert hoping they’ll run into a mystical city, like the Flying Dutchman, and it’s not exactly the same, but Johan also gets the similarities. Supposedly, a Speedwagon Foundation Agent already got sent out at some point, but nobody’s heard from her or most of the others who’d dared to try to find this place, so they have very little to go on.
        From the pictures Willow had showed him, it’s not exactly the desert they’re used to. She’s a little awkward about it, probably remembering the last time they’d been standing in a desert together, but it’s okay, because they’re okay. It’s still dry, but it’s got rocks instead of sand, for the most part and it’s hilly. There’s even palm trees, which probably means it’s allowed to count. Willow laughed when he told her that, which was kind of the point. She’d also glared his Mom off getting in the one side, which made Josie laugh and get in the other side and promptly fall asleep on his grandfather. Maybe they’re packing in a little too much, but Kakyoin is at least kind enough to provide a pseudo-seatbelt using Hierophant.
        Darling had taken one look, raised an eyebrow, and promptly gone to the other vehicle to bug Buffy about Dawn’s time as a thief and her new work. They are also for some reason letting Buffy drive, which is probably a mistake, but Robin needs the time to sleep and the Captain is poring over all the data they have on the place, which isn’t a lot. Giorno had only really wanted the passenger seat to himself and otherwise didn’t have too much to say, but then, he’s in his observation mode, like Jotaro. 
        The last one isn’t too crowded: Andrew volunteers to drive, because none of the rest of them want to. He’s not too fond of driving either, but he’s a lot better at remembering the rules and doesn’t have an eyepatch or reflexes a whole lot better than the car he’s driving, so he’s better than most of them other than Willow. Giles is inconsistent: if he’s remembering he’s trying to set an example and seem like a stuffy Watcher, he’s great, but if not, he can be a little reckless.
        “So, your Stand works through dreams,” Kakyoin begins. He’s trying to seem casual, like this is just a way to spend the multiple hours before they arrive at their destination, but it doesn’t work on someone who actually knows him. Johan didn’t even need Jotaro’s sharp glance to tip him off to that part.
        “Sort of. I mean, that’s the basis, yeah, but it’s not like Man in the Mirror’s Mirror Dimension.” Willow fidgets beside him, squeezing his hand.
        “But you have that dream location, do you not?” Kakyoin continues. “How does that relate to your Stand’s name—Pretender, is it?”
        “Kakyoin, knock it off,” Jotaro scolds.
        Johan shakes his head. “It’s okay. I don’t mind.” He’s using his cover as Stand Researcher to get away with asking, but if there’s a bee in his bonnet the only way out is through. Johan’s never exorcised a bee before. The closest he’d gotten was that time he’d had to get rid of the wasp nest outside the Summers home.
        Jotaro narrows his eyes, staring at Johan trying to read him. He tenses his jaw, but looks away. He’s still not happy about it, but it’s as good a permission as he’s going to get.
        Johan—Xander, because he doesn’t have to throw away the past to move into the future—organizes his thoughts. “To answer your question, that’s the core. No one knew how to react to me because to be frank nobody in this family knows how to react to each other because we have the most convoluted family tree, but I was the only one doubting myself long after everyone else had accepted me. My Stand is Pretender because I felt like an imposter. But I’m taking that weakness and making it a strength, because it’s what I do. Maybe it’s the world giving me something to make up for all of this having been taken away from me when I was a kid, but all this philosophy stuff doesn’t matter as much as just what I’m going to do with what I was given. Which is smashing a Pillar Man right in the face.”
        Jotaro’s smirk barely visible in the rearview mirror says that was the right thing to say.
        And then, because nobody else is going to say it, he adds, “And I am not doing penance for whatever dream-based Stand User wronged you in the past. I already have my hands full making up for being an ass when I was a kid.”
        “I told you he was bright.” That’s Jotaro’s normal monotone, but he’s definitely smug as hell.
        “All right, all right, point taken.” Kakyoin holds his hands up in a welcome gesture of surrender, because it means he means it. His next questions, about their experiences as kids and how any of it might relate to what they’re facing now, are actually the honest curiosity he’d been trying and failing to project before, and it’s a little embarrassing going over it now, but Xander had also learned ages ago (you know, after being a stubborn teenage boy only got him so far) that a little embarrassment is nothing compared to dying, so you just gotta learn to deal with humiliation now and then among friends.