Metanoia

Chapter 27

You stood in nothing but darkness.

What... happened?

With the team -

Giorno had gotten to you first. Everyone else ran after him. Following the traces of your blood that the cat had made. They ran without a thought and sprinted to reach you.

With you -

Ocean Man.

Nothing happened. Ocean Man wasn't there, it didn't come out.

"Ocean Man."

You tried again, this time calling for it out loud and you waited. You didn't want to be alone. Not in the darkness that was suffocating you and surrounding you but your stand didn't come forward.

Don't leave me, why aren't you here?

With the team -

Narancia's purple eyes had dulled and his blood was pooling around you. Abbacchio and Bruno made it to you next after Giorno. Stepping in your blood, Narancia's blood, as they got closer to you.

Giorno was shaking and crying silently. He kept his head down while he kneeled by you. He had healed you fully but you had no movement. Salty tears ran down his cheeks and he felt his heart being flooded with guilt and self-blame.

You were on your back, surrounded by a large puddle of the crimson substance and the metallic smell filled the air. It made everyone sick to their stomachs.

Bruno had his back turned to you and stopped Narancia from seeing you.

"Let me see her!"

Bruno only felt his heart crack when he saw Narancia, it was your body, but you were gone.

"No. Keep looking for any signs of Diavolo. We need to stay on guard."

Tears slipped from his eyes as he blinked. Abbacchio had turned to stop Trish and Mista but he only managed to stop Mista while Trish shoved him out of the way forcefully.

"Hey! Move it!"

Mista yelled at Abbacchio and pushed against him. The Sex Pistols flew past Abbacchio and Bruno while Mista was left behind.

Your chest wasn't moving and Fugo scampered towards you.

He pawed at your stomach while looking at your face. His fur was on edge and his ears were sharp, his claws dug into your side and he head-butted you repeatedly. Begging for you to get up. He could feel the pain and emotional hurt, but no tears came. Cats can't cry. He couldn't cry.

Mista and Narancia found their way past Bruno and Abbacchio and stood over your body. Narancia's body. Trish for the first time couldn't look at you. She refused to.

"No. No Giorno healed her. She's just taking her time."

Trish was in denial and kept shaking her head. She tried hard to convince herself you weren't dead. She swallowed thickly and her throat started to burn as she held her arms. Rubbing them and comforting herself.

Abbacchio didn't stop his tears. He knew it would be disrespectful not to be truthful with his emotions when it came to you, so he let himself cry silently as he stood over your body.

Bruno was holding a kicking and screaming Narancia.

"Stop it! She's alive! Just give CPR like she did to Abbacchio!"

His voice was cracked up and no one could look at him, not when it was your face. He could barely see himself on the ground through the tears. He could only see blurs of red, yellow, and orange.