madimpossibledreamer

Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: Fitz goes with the flow.
Word Count: 1151
Rating: Teen (Buffy|Jojo's level violence)
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS

        Almost immediately, he finds himself agreeing with Lotus Juice’s worries. Then again, it’s not surprising, considering the Stand is part of his soul, or whatever weird metaphysical explanation was generally agreed upon by Speedwagon researchers. (He should know the logistics, the understanding and even the controversies, but as much as he’d like to play the academic for the audience of Jojo, he’d really been far more interested in figuring out how his Stand worked and how he could take part in epic adventures at the time. As a child, he’d been a little less concerned about the logistics.)
        But then, it’s not as if they had a choice—how could they just sit around or attempt the slow way when Jojo could be out there dying? Possibly of drowning once again, which was really a bad habit he needed to grow out of, and Fitz could lecture him about healthier habits once he’d found him, safe and whole, and healed him of any injury. Stands might make one more resilient, but they didn’t make one invincible, obviously.
        His failed dive makes that pretty clear. Oh, he’d known the theoretical, but there was, after all, a difference between knowing and doing. As much as he’d put on the haughty superiority of the intellectual, he’d forgotten that little detail all too easily. It’s not like he’d practiced much with swimming, much less diving, and it showed. He’d managed to get to Johan before in the shark tank, but that was with Darling’s and his Stand’s help, and he’d forgotten most of the technical aspects. He knew to dive in far enough that he’d clear the current bashing him into the stairwell he’d recently vacated, and had figured that an angle would help him avoid hitting the opposite wall, but he’d neglected to account for the precise acceleration of the water flow and overshot just a little. It was lucky he’d curled up slightly to protect his Stand, and also that he’d had his hands over his head in an approximation of the dives he’d seen on a few series, or he’d have bashed his head, and then what help would he have been?
        As it carries him along, he becomes reasonably certain that he’s not imagining things. The flow has definitely decreased, which will be of help. Perhaps escape, and finding his friends, won’t be as hard as he’d feared. Perhaps, if he’s lucky.
        He considers trying to find Darling instead. It’s the obvious choice that Jojo would have wanted him to pick. But she’d been able to hold her own, and if Pixie’s Stand activating had been a signal, then she either was fighting back or was possibly already dead. In any case, he hadn’t known where she’d been taken. He can keep an eye out, but his first priority is Jojo.
        He feels a slight tug at his belt. It takes him a moment to realize that probably means the direction he’s supposed to go. Unfortunately, he hits another wall first, or what he assumes is a wall. It turns out, painfully, that he’s wrong—it’s already broken glass, and his shoulder takes the brunt of the hit, further facturing what is probably a door and digging some shards into the poor flesh. He’ll be better after healing, but he and Johan are a matching set, now. How very appropriate.
        This time, though, it’s not as hard to fight the current, and he manages to surface long enough to cough out the little he swallowed at the pain and gulp in more of that precious air before he’s swept back under. The angle and the push, again, is wrong, but he manages to catch one foot against the side of whatever-it-is and launch himself in the direction LJ indicated.
        It becomes easier and easier to follow Lotus Juice’s tugging instructions. Swimming through the alcoholic flood is easier, which is fortunate because he hadn’t really swum much since he was a child.
        So the disaster isn’t perfectly under Pixie’s control. She winds it up and lets it loose, but she doesn’t control it after the fact. If she’d been able to do that, it’d have kept going, a neverending flood based on the tragedy of the past. Instead, it’s just recreating the original, which means there’s a maximum amount of beer—the same amount in the disaster in 1814. They’re getting close to the end, but as helpful as that is for navigation, it also means more time has passed, and that’s dangerous for Jojo.
        On the other hand, it comes as a blessing as there’s a sudden violent tugging, strong enough Lotus Juice’s biting tentacles accidentally poke through his shirt, drawing a little blood and making him clench his teeth, nearly tearing through the belt completely. He can barely swim out of the way as something comes at him, swimming against the current. Or…well, if it’s what he thinks it was, it’s not swimming. Not really. It’s a question how ghosts, or whatever they are, can affect the air or a liquid, but that’s a philosophical question for after he survives.
        For now, he can feel how close it came to touching him, and Fitz spares a thought for how grateful he is that it didn’t. He doesn’t particularly want to find out what happens when Twisted Sister gets touches one of its actual targets, because the little he’d seen of the victim playgoers says the answer is not good, and he doesn’t need to discover anything further.
        But then there’s something else, another realization that makes his stomach twist with dread, because his next kick hits a solid surface beneath him. He’s finding the extent of the damage, and at the precise wrong time, because he won’t be able to swim, and it’ll be more difficult to wade through the liquid than fighting in simple air. Denying reality won’t get him anywhere, though, so he comes up for air and stands, feeling the wave lap at his legs.
        Cooper’s there, perched like a spectral queen on another set of stairs. It appears she’s been bored, because she’s stabbed the dagger through her own hand, watching with fascination as ghostly blood drips into the liquid below. “You took your time,” she remarks without looking up.
        He’d tip his hat, but it appears he’s lost it again. “Yes, well, if someone had included directions along with their little invitation…”
        She throws her head back in a laugh, letting him see the wounds from her death clearer. Fitz doesn’t look away, though the sight is appalling. When she looks back down at him, the sadistic glee in her eyes says that she wants him dead and isn’t too fussed about the manner that’s achieved. “They say disco is dead, but it’s not. Not yet. Because we haven’t killed it yet, but we will. Just like you.” And then the shadows begin to move.