Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Shadowed Suspicion Chapter 62

[madimpossibledreamer]

Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: Johan makes his way back to the others and finds that something's wrong...
Word Count: 1156
Rating: Teen
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS.

            He bumps into someone on the way, and they look at him somewhat vacantly before walking on without even an apology.  It’s rude, but it’s been a long day, even though he’s the one who’d been causing most of the aggravation in the first place.  Well, a good portion, anyway.  He’ll be the good guy here and give the bloke a break.

            When he finds them again, Darling’s getting an ice cream under the watchful eye of Fitz, sitting at the bench and massaging his forehead as he stares fixedly down at the water pistol, as if wondering where it had come from.

            That’s kind of odd, but Fitz is probably just wondering how his life got to this point.

            He sits down next to his friend, sighing.  “I don’t suppose you’d be very happy if I asked if I could have an ice cream, too.”

            There’s…no response.  None.  At first, he just thinks that Fitz didn’t hear him.  Or maybe he’s just pretending not to hear, because that outfit had been expensive (hey, he could have gone for the Hawaiian, that would’ve been cheap) and this day probably sucked for the stoic Brit.  He tries again.

            “There was a Slaypire.  She wasn’t expecting me to fight back, I think.”  He leans back, lacing his hands behind his head.  “I just…this sucks, you know.  It’s probably just whining to you, but I…Every single one of my Slayers, they’re like family.  I didn’t really have family.  Do now, but that doesn’t mean any of them mean any less.”  Still nothing.  Not an encouraging word, not some sort of sound of acknowledgement, nothing. 

            He glances over, somewhat concerned now.  Is Fitz really that ticked off?  He sits back up, reaches over and waves a hand in front of Fitz’s face.  “Moshi-moshi?”  He’s channeling again.  That’ll need a name.  Stranger Things Have Happened, maybe.  But that’s not the point now.  The point is that those green eyes haven’t even blinked.

            And then, in that horrible moment, he’s back in the haunted house.  For all intents and purposes, he’s Marcie.  At least he’s not homicidal on top of getting actually socially invisible.

            Get ahold of yourself, Jojo.  This is magic, or a Stand User.  Either way, there’s some way to fight this.  Some way to get out of it.  So stop sitting here like an idiot and get your butt in gear to go out there and kick some butt.

            This isn’t like Violent Whispers, where he had the excuse of being affected mentally by the Stand’s power. 

            He has to try to get through to Fitz somehow, to warn him.  This is probably meant to isolate them, pick them off one by one.  It’s a risk, but he reaches over and starts shaking him.  “Hey, Fitz, listen to me!  There’s a Stand—”

            And then he’s flying off the bench, cheek stinging.  His friend punched him.  “Get off me, you bastard!  You said you were a Stand User?”

            He’s swearing again, is his foggy thought, before another voice joins them.

            “Mr. Speedwagon?  Who are you talking to?”  It’s Darling, licking the ice cream, and Fitz’s eyes turn vague again.

            “I…I’m not sure.”  He looks frustrated, like he’s on the verge of remembering something, which is good.  It’s something.  If he can count on someone whose loyalty and stubbornness would be helpful in this situation, it’s Fitz.  “I.”  he pauses again, then sighs.  “I get the feeling that there’s a Stand User around.  Be careful.”

            She nods fervently, looking more than a little shy, and they begin walking off.

            No, that’s wrong.  I should be there.  “Yeah, that’s right, I’m a Stand User!  I’m right here!” he screams, standing again, and gets a kick to the gut for his efforts before Fitz stands up looking at his feet in distaste and confusion.  This time, they’re hurrying away faster.

            He pulls out Pretender as he coughs crouched on the floor.  Hamon might have been enough earlier, but right now, he needs the use of his Stand if he’s going to make it through this.

            On direction, Pretender runs in front of the two, but they walk around like they’ve seen him and he just doesn’t matter.  Pretender tries to go after them, but he runs into something like an invisible wall.

This isn’t my range.  Something’s wrong. There’s that voice again, the voice he knows as well as his own.  Deep, powerful.  It’s Pretender, and it’s not quite obvious whether he’s actually speaking or whether he can just hear the voice because he’s the User.

            He supposes it doesn’t really matter, now.  Two choices—defeat the Stand, defeat the User.  He’s vulnerable now, but intel is probably the most important thing here, so he asks Pretender to do a quick sweep of the area.

            There’s sudden, harsh stabs of pain as he breathes, as people walk into him, and he has a feeling that his ribs are bruised if not worse.  He tries to get his breathing under control, but Joseph had a point.  It’s a lot harder than it looks to keep your breath normal when you’re in such pain.  If he can just get a good rhythm going, he can heal a little, enough to at least stand up. 

There’s a distance.  It appears to be square in character, and slowly getting smaller.  I cannot travel beyond this point, and I would guess you are likewise incapable of traveling further.  Wow, Pretender’s downright chatty when he wants to be.  Then again, as Xander’s Stand, he’s not sure why he expected anything else.

There is no sign of anyone suspicious in the vicinity.  I suspect this is an Automatic-type Stand, so the effect is powerful but limited, and the User is outside the area I can reach.  The Stand is probably close by, but I haven’t seen a sign of one, either.  It must be vulnerable, but if we delay, it may get out of reach.

            True enough.  Somehow Jonathan had been able to breathe, despite a hole in his arm.  He concentrates on that, tries to recreate the feeling, and it’s enough for him to be able to push to his feet, wincing as he does so.  I’ve been through worse.  Push through it, Xander.

            “Well, it had to have been somewhere out of sight, or Fitz would’ve noticed, and given how he reacted to me, he probably would’ve used whatever LJ uses on it first and asked questions later.  And he probably wouldn’t have been as careful about destroying it, like he was with me.”  It hurts to talk, but he ignores that.  “So, maybe in the employee section?  It’s going to set off the alarm, but….well, it’s not the first time.”  He gets to his feet and hobbles to the door, takes a deep breath, and pushes it open.  “At least we don’t have worry about being arrested.  They couldn’t get me out of the mall anyway.”