The Stars That Guide Us ~ A Jotakak x OC fanfiction

♥ Chapter 40 ♥

The man's Stand stretched Polnareff's soul like putty. It released his soul and it snapped together like a rubber band. The Stand clapped its hands together and squashed the soul between its palms. It pulled its hands apart and a poker chip clattered onto the table.

I leaned forward and looked at the poker chip on the table. It had Polnareff's face on it!

"Have a look. Polnareff's soul resides in this," the man said as he picked up the poker chip and held it up to show us. "Now Lord DIO has one less meddlesome fool to interfere with his plans."

"You bastard!" I growled and lunged at him. A pair of strong arms wrapped themselves around my waist and held me back, causing me to look up at see that Joseph was the one that had grabbed me.

"Don't do it, Hiroko. We need him alive in order to rescue Polnareff. Like he said, if he gets killed, those whose souls were taken by him will also perish," he warned. I swear I could hear a slight tremor in his voice as he spoke.

"Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is D'Arby. D-A-R-B-Y. There's an apostrophe after the D."

I glanced over at D'Arby and scowled at him as the cat from earlier jumped onto his lap and climb onto his shoulder.

"I believe you've had the pleasure of meeting my cat." He smirked.

"You son of a bitch!" I growled.

Suddenly, Avdol lunged forward and grabbed D'Arby by the scruff of his collar as soon as he was within reach. The cat jumped off D'Arby's shoulder as Avdol pulled him up from the chair. "How dare you! You call that a bet? You cheating son of a—"

"Cheating you say? Have you considered Polnareff lost because he lacked the insight to consider all of the possibilities? Hear me out. Gambling is nothing more than a simple analogy for man's relation with his brethren. A dance of deception where the lost cries first," D'Arby explained which only made Avdol even more agitated. "Are you going to kill me with your own two hands, Avdol? Go right ahead. If you don't mind you friend's soul being lost forever." He held up the poker chip to emphasize his point and added, "The choice is completely up to you."

"Know this—" Avdol growled "—we're not just going to let you waltz out of here in one piece."

I was slightly taken aback by the amount of anger that Avdol was showing. He always came across as such a gentle person. That gentle, you wouldn't even consider the possibility of him having an angry side.

"Try to think back to September 22nd, 1984, at 11:15pm. Remember what you were doing that time and date?" D'Arby asked.

"What does that even mean?" Avdol growled and tightened his grip on D'Arby's collar.

D'Arby pushed Avdol away from him and straightened his shirt as he sat back down in his seat. "I remember it quite clearly. I was in California, gambling against an American by the name of Stephen Moor. He said the same thing you just said a moment ago." D'Arby pulled out a scrapbook and opened it to reveal more poker chips that were the same as the one Polnareff's soul inside the scrapbook. "But now he's singing a more silent tune," he said as he pointed to a chip on one of the pages.

I ground my teeth together as I scanned the pages filled with poker chips. I attempted to lunge at him again and Joseph's grip around me tightened as D'Arby continued to speak.

"The chip below him is his father, and the one next to him is his wife." He pointed at two more poker chips. "If you want Polnareff's soul back, you'll have no choice but to continue our game. So, tell me, how much is his life worth to you?" He asked with a smirk as he played with Polnareff's poker chip between his fingers. "What's it gonna be? You can leave if you're too scared to play. I'll hold Polnareff here for safe keeping."