Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Shadowed Suspicion Chapter 28

[madimpossibledreamer]

Updating now, apparently, but I can't tell you when I'll next be on.  I'll continue to check email, though.
~Dreamer~

Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: The fight with the unexpected intruder continues.
Word Count: 1,044
Rating: K
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS.  READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

            He throws himself backwards and only manages to fall on the floor.  The Stand flies over his head and into the wall.  He has a second to cushion his head with his hands, which he does, but the sharp pain tells him that they've begun bleeding again even through the bandage.

            Xander realizes that it's not several tentacles, just one, and it's trying feverishly to escape.  He doesn’t bother to think for a second that maybe if it’s not attacking him, he shouldn’t provoke the fight in his condition.  Maybe he’s getting a little overconfident with the rush of new power and everything.  He's still dazed, but he thinks he can manage...

            "Toooraaaaaaa!"  Pretender answers the call, arm springing out to grab at the tentacle.

            Unlike Lotus Juice, it doesn't cut like razors.  It still hurts, but it's more of a phantom pain.  Oddly enough, Pretender seems to have fully healed, so it's like it's an echo of his own wounds.  Like a bruise, really.  Or...something.  He can feel the dull ache and the sharp pain at the same time, and it's weird.

            He needs to focus, or this fight may very well kill him.

            It wriggles desperately, thrashing around and hissing like a teapot having a tantrum.  It's taking all of Pretender's strength to hold on, even when he adds the second arm.  Of course, the Stand’s weaker, too, because he’s weaker, and that’s really not…

            Focus.  Breathe.  The owner of the Stand—he'd sensed the person, right?  Or hadn't he?  With the ripple-fu sense blinking, a strobe light gone haywire, it'd been hard to get much more than a quick 'we're not alone' warning before his breathing had messed it up.

            Which to go after, the Stand or the User?  The User would probably be more vulnerable, but…could he even get to the person before the Stand was able to launch an attack that they had yet to understand?  Could he even find the person?  His breath was definitely ragged.

            The flailing Stand manages to smack right into him, and instantly his vision greys out.  It doesn’t hurt, not exactly, so why is his soul crying out?  He’s in an empty, meaningless void, floating, and no matter how much he flails there’s no sound, no one coming to save him.  It’s eating him, becoming him, and there’s nothing he can do.  Suddenly there’s an overlay of the real world on top of this, but no matter how much he screams at himself to move, to talk, he’s completely incapable of reaching out and touching that real world just beyond him.  He loses all pretense of concentration, losing track of even Pretender.  Why is it suddenly so cold?  He curls up on himself, but it’s no use.  The warmth’s gone.  He’s useless, worthless.  He can’t move.  Just the Donut Guy.  Fitz is probably laughing at him right now, the fool who thought he was a hero, if he wasn’t dying right now, which would definitely be worse.  He couldn’t save anyone.  Not Anya, not Buffy.  This is worse than being invisible.  He’s inconsequential.  No one bothers to pay attention to him because he’s not worth the effort.

            It takes a while, but he becomes aware of the sensation of floating, of a slight warmth bringing a touch of life back, of a number of limbs wrapped around him in some weird hug.  For long eternities, he doesn’t care whether it’s friend or foe, whether he’s about to die any second.  As long as he doesn’t have to open his eyes, he doesn’t care.  He may be a nobody, but at least he doesn’t have to think about that fact.  He’s always thinking, too much, probably.  He welcomes the comforting oblivion.

            The thought occurs to him that Fitz might be dead because of him.  Because he was weak and a show-off.  He doesn’t want to confront that reality, but he owes it to his new ally to open his eyes and at least arrange for a funeral.

            “—star.  Mr. Joestar!”  He blinks hazily, and belatedly makes the connection that this is Fitz’s voice.

            “Fitz?”  His voice is weak and barely recognizable, but somehow Speedwagon hears him anyway.  He starts slightly on hearing his own voice out loud and not inside his head, and then he realizes something else, that he can move, even a little bit.

            “Thank goodness.”  That’s genuine relief in his voice.  The slightest relief moves through Xander’s heart before he realizes that as long as he hangs around, the Englishman will never know peace and will keep being put into danger like this.  Maybe it’s better if he just…lets go.  Like the issue with the love spell, and…nah, it’s better if the Xanman just stops thinking altogether.  It’s safer here, without thought, without him doing something else dumb.  Unfortunately, Speedwagon doesn’t seem to be on board with that plan.  “No, Jojo, I’m not going to let you sleep.  We’re going to go after that Stand user, and we are going to win.”  Suddenly the warmth and hug are gone, and he’s deposited, shivering, on the ground again.  Hands that are somewhat warm help him up, but he misses how easy the other was.

            He can’t keep his balance, and his eyes keep trying to close.  He stumbles a little, and instantly Fitz is there, supporting him.  And that’s when he feels something wet and sticky on his ally’s shirt.  Lazily he reaches up and touches it, pulling the hand away to survey, somewhat uncomprehendingly, the reddish stuff that’s gotten on his fingertips.  It takes effort to process what that means; even more effort to speak his concerns.  “Is that blood?”

            The Englishman smiles grimly.  If he was Giles, Xander would’ve said that he was in Ripper Battle Mode.  “It is, but don’t worry.  Somehow, when that Stand brushed past me, I ended up with cuts on my chest.  It’s not serious at the moment.  They’re not deep, but if they keep bleeding, they will be.  Lotus Juice was unable to find any wounds on you, but the Stand clearly affected you as well.  If we don’t make the User undo whatever the Stand did, we may be in serious trouble.”