Zenosyne

Chapter 52

Unable to utter a response the blond heard you blurt out a thanks before taking the ribbon and running off, white sparks ran over the surface of it jumping from the fabric onto nearby vampires. The man watched you weave in and out between each one lending a hand in the effort to decrease the horde.

"Was she really the (Y/N) you knew?" Unable to stop himself from asking, Smokey turned a curious gaze towards Speedwagon, seeing that the man was torn between keeping his eye on you and watching Joseph.

A nostalgic hum left the man in response, "She is, but she's changed. In a good way."

"Look! Kars fell into the crystal spikes!" Hearing Stroheims voice boom out from somewhere on the field your attention instantly darted towards the spikes in question, where indeed the Pillar Men laid. A cackle left the german, "He's finished! See? The hamon will travel right up his arm! You're weak! Your time is up! Even we could finish you now!"

Knowing that more than enough times when the Pillar Men are down that they really aren't out of the battle you once again weave between the group of soldiers sliding yourself in front of Speedwagon and Smokey. "If things go south, you both ru-" A loud thud cut you off, that noise coming from Kars who jumped from the spikes onto another patch of land.

Letting out the breath he'd been holding, Smoking rested a hand on his chest. "It's finally over."

"It is. I'm glad." Agreeing with the boy Speedwagon let out a breath as well.

"Hey, Mr.Speedwagon? Can I ask you something?" Curious as to what the boy was going to ask you kept your ears focused on the conversation behind while your eyes remained focused on where Kars laid.

"What is it?"

"Why did Granny Erina tell Jojo his mother died when he was little?" The question was honestly something you were wondering about yourself but chose not to voice, wanting to keep your mind on the present as opposed to the past. "Why does Lisa Lisa hide her past from him? Granny Erina told me not to ask you, but I have to know! She's his mother. Keeping that truth from him is awful."

"Smokey..." "JoJo and Granny Erina are my friends. They saved me from crooked cops, even though I was just a thief. That's why I'm here! I'll do all I can to help." In some odd way, what Smokey was saying reminded you of when you volunteered to help Jonathan; a bit useless but had spirit.

You gave the kid props for that.

Contemplating it for a moment or two Speedwagon let out a sigh, hand reaching up to adjust his hat. "Alright Smokey, I'll tell you. You did take care of Erina while I was away from New York, after all. But promise not to tell Jojo!"

"This is a Joestar family issue. It's not our place to talk about it. The name 'Lisa Lisa' is an alias, Her real name is Elizabeth. She was raised by a Hamon-user named Straits. She and Erina's son, George, fell in love and got married..." Listening to the rest of Speedwagon's re-telling of what happened you couldn't help but curl your hands up, you wished you'd been there to help find the remaining vampire minions or even help Jonathan.

Though if you did manage to survive, would Joseph even be here? What would remaining alive back then really achieve?

"Colonel! We're ready to fire." Announcing that the remaining german soldiers gave Stroheim their salutes, each of them standing beside a large light cannon of sorts ready to take fire.

"Right! Aim it right at him! We will have the honour of executing Kars!" Cackles left the colonel in waves, the man full of himself. "Behold, Kars! I can't tell you how good it feels to give this order myself!" The light cannon wirred to life making a humming noise as it began powering up, something that large would take at least a minute to do so.

Before the machine was able to fire Kars's head turned and you could feel your heart sink, you knew it was too good to be true. The stone mask and gem duo on his face only furthered your feeling of impending doom.

"The cannon! Turn the canon off! The stone reacts to UV light!" Yelling that out from where you stood you could hear Strohiem yelling protests at his men to stop the light, the yells inevitably being futile in the end as a beam of light fired from the cannon blinding those within the vicinity.

Hitting the stone a bright red glow countered the overpowering white, the mask's familiar spikes snapped around the man's head like a vice piercing through his skull effortlessly.

Kars's whole body now emanated a light that rivaled both the stone and cannon combined, his own being a multicoloured gleem.

"Shit!" Seeing Joseph near holding Lisa Lisa, you right away stood beside the brunette. The lot of you began backing away from where Kars was, creating space so that when he was finished nobody would be within his direct range. "I didn't know it was there."

"None of us knew it was there." Answering back plainly, Joseph's eyes followed the Pillar Man rise up from the ground, shards of the mask fell from his face as did the stone. The brunette was clearly still tired from his previous fight but tried his best to push the looming exhaustion away.

Looking from side to side Kars turned his head peering over his shoulder towards a dead tree, two owls occupied the top branches while a small squirrel nibbled on some acorns below. Staring intently at the rodent he raised a hand, green bubbles grew across it before the appendage turned into a squirrel of it's own.

"Wh-What the hell is that?!"

"He just turned his hand into a squirrel! What the fuck!" Yelling out your own observation, your brows furrowed together in shock, the fake squirrel leaped from Kars wrist nuzzling up against the man's cheek. Something you might've labeled as cute if not for what was happening.

Jumping from his shoulder the 'squirrel' bounced across the ground towards where the other one was, the two rubbing against each other innocently before the artificially made one began tearing into the other. A scene that was truly unexpected and certainly caused your mouth to fall open in shock.

"Everyone! Stay away from that squirrel!" Although he called that out in warning nobody had time to react as the rodent charged forward burrowing itself into Strohiems torso, the man letting out a scream as it did so before fully tunneling through and repeating the process with another soldier.

Turning around you waved your arms in a shooing motion yelling out to the non-injured soldiers hoping to at least save a few of them. "Go! Get out of here!"

Chewing the skin off one of the germans faces the squirrel returned to Kars melding back into his hand, turning into a butterfly before doing so.

"Unbelievable! He can manipulate life at will!" Exclaiming that Speedwagon shared a look of shock, he couldn't believe what he was seeing- and that's saying a lot.

Keeping your jaw clenched tightly you ignored the cheers of people around you as the sun began rising from behind the mountains, their assumption that the sun affected Kars still stayed, but you knew better.

That gem and mask duo was not just for show.

◥✥◤