P H A N T O M B L O O D
"We're still striving for the sky."
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"Now, shall we have ourselves a zombie clean up party?" Tonpetty says to the Straizo as the two face the remaining zombies. Imagine being a Hamon user, couldn't be you haha.
"Is Mr Joestar going to be alright?" Poco asks you as the noise of zombies being melted starts up in the background. His sister holds him close like she's worried about him talking to you and that's not hurtful at all.
"I think he'll be okay," You look at the bluenette passed out on you and adjust your arms on him, "It's probably best to let him lay down now, poor baby."
You scoop Jojo up and stand, pausing for a moment to make sure you won't drop him before walking inside with him. Speedwagon gasps, following behind you, "Just how strong are you now? Jupiter, you're carrying a man like a sack a' feathers!"
"Not sure, haven't been able to carry him since we were fifteen! This is great!" You walk out and past the room of dying zombies until you're back into the hallway, "Say, can you do me a favour?"
"Depends. Y-you don't want to drink my blood do you?" The blonde asks nervously, gulping when you stop walking.
"What? No! Get the door, you muppet!"
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"So you went to go lay down Mr Joestar when you found the baby and the mask?" Straizo asks in disbelief, looking between you and everything you'd found.
You nod, still holding Jojo like a princess but now you also have the babbling baby strapped to your back with a scrap bit of tartan fabric and Speedwagon's holding the mask like it's made of nastiness.
"And the baby wasn't eaten by any of the zombies? None of them stole the mask?" Straizo flicks some of his hair over his shoulder and crosses his arms, "Yet you say only Dio could control them?"
"Well yeah- it'd be weird if I could control another vampire's zombies! Besides, I don't think I've got any of the shady powers he had. Not sure I could even turn someone into a zombie," You say honestly, looking away from the Hamon user to Speedwagon, "Back me up here, Robbie."
"Oh right! There were no zombies anywhere! Dio must have gathered them all here for the fight!" Speedwagon raises his hammer enthusiastically.
"I see," Straizo straightens back up, assessing you, "Considering you had Hamon when you turned into a vampire it would be feasible that its power would cancel out that of the mask."
"But I was dying- are you saying I was still making Hamon?" You gasp, blinking uselessly at the walking conditioner advertisement.
"Hamon is not so easily extinguished. It is a fire that will burn in you until you dispel it from yourself like Zeppeli or it will slowly fade after years without use. You had Hamon and now it works against you," Straitzo says cynically, reaching over Jojo to poke you on the nose.
Speaking of Jojo he jerks awake, grabbing Straitzo's wrist and pulling it away from you, "Don't you dare."
The Hamon in Straitzo's hand lights up and he scowls, "The vampire needs to die- it is evil!"
Jojo gets to his feet, storming toward Straitzo, "IT is my fucking lifelong friend and lover so you can shove your-"
"Whoa! Easy, dearest, easy! There are children here!" You fuss, grabbing the Joestar by the biceps (wow are they something to hold) and try and pull him away from the asshole.
"Well, your 'partner' would sooner eat you and your friends than live out whatever domestic fantasy you previously had going on! By letting that monster stand amongst us you are dishonouring Zeppeli's memory!" Straitzo yells and now you're angry too.
You set Jojo on him with a, "Oops."
The hulking Joestar instantly steps forward and swings his fist into the side of Straitzo's face like he'd made a bald joke at the Oscars.
Is that joke dead? Not as dead as Straitzo after this-
"That's quite enough!" Tonpetty steps in, saving Straitzo from the beating as he stumbles onto the floor, "(Y/N) has yet to eat someone, and as it stands, is innocent and does not death! Straitzo I know this may go against your beliefs but under these circumstances, we must trust Jojo to take responsibility for any lives the vampire will take and act accordingly."
"And you, I expect better from you young man! You are Zeppeli's protege and legacy, you cannot resort to violence whenever your temper dictates! To master Hamon is to master such emotions." Tonpetty lectures Jojo and the bluenette looks away in shame before finally, the Hamon master turns to you.
"Young vampire, despite the mask's destructive and corrupting power I believe that your heart is in the right place. Use the love you have to guide you on the path of goodness and never, ever kill a human for their blood. Understand?" Tonpetty says solemnly and you salute him with your agreement, "Good, then let us destroy the damn thing and return the children to their families. Then we can all rest and this incident will remain our secret."
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"Are you sure we can't tell Erina about what happened last night, Mr Tonpetty?" Jojo asks the Hamon master sitting across from you in the carriage. The drive is relatively quiet with Speedwagon driving and Straitzo glaring at you and Jojo.
"No one can know the truth of the stone masks evil, Jonathan," Tonpetty asks, not even opening his eyes as he speaks from his laidback position. He must be so tired after showing up hours late to the fight.
"But Erina is as trustworthy as anyone here! Besides how can you expect us to lie to her face every day? I'm literally a whole new person!" You argue, gesturing to your teeth and Straitzo rolls his eyes, "She has the right to know what happened!"
"She'll be safer off never knowing your true nature, beast." Straitzo tuts and you have the urge to well, eat him and spit on his hollow grave.
But you mustn't so instead you respond with a venomous, "Bitch-"
"Alright, I believe this is where our journey together ends," Tonpetty claps his hands together as the carriage stops, "Let us hope we've all cooled down the next time we see each other."
"Right yes, that would be for the best. Feel free to visit for Christmas if you're still in the country!" Jojo says cheerily, ushering you out of the carriage and into the evening air with a hurried, but gentle, shove, "Farewell you two! (N/N) say goodbye to the nice Hamon users letting you live."
"Goodbye," You grumble, accepting the affectionate way Jojo grabs your hand and leads you past his old home to the tiny shed you now occupy with Erina.
"See you tomorrow!" Speedwagon yells before driving the carriage off to the hotel the three are all conveniently staying at.
You and Jojo start walking through rows of flowers and shrubs, the Joestar looks around before turning to you with a sigh, "What on earth are we going to tell Erina now? This all feels like a terrible idea."
"Isn't it? No wonder Zeppeli ditched those guys to come here. Everyone knows communication is the key to a good relationship," You run the hand that Jojo isn't holding over a leaf, it will be odd only gardening in the night, "I suppose we'll just have to say something about Windknight's Lot that doesn't involve Dio?"
"Oh, like what?"
"Jonathan! (Y/N)! You've returned to me!" A certain blonde bombshell yells, running out of the shed so quickly even your vampiric senses miss it as she wraps you both in her arms.
"Erina! There's no need to come out into the cold like this, we would've met you at the door, dearest!" Jojo fusses, adjusting the blanket slung over Erina's shoulders. The gesture draws your attention to her attire and you realise the blanket's yours and underneath it, she's wearing one of Jojo's brown jumpers. Because of course she would be that adorable.
"Look at you, gorgeous! You are so cute and fuzzy looking! Lemme hug you!" You exclaim merrily, spinning the blonde with a grin.
"Ah stop! Your hands are cold!" Erina giggles before going silent and you can sense Jojo's nervousness from next to you, "I didn't think your hands ever got cold, whenever I see you you're like a sauna personified. And- oh goodness! Have you been crying? Your eyes are so red!"
"It's not what you think!" Jojo yells, before stammering when you both turn to him, "Well it's just er- you see, um, what's happened is that..."
"I've had a horrible reaction to this new plant we went to go and buy with Mr Zeppeli! A medical disaster in every sense of the word!" You blurt out, glancing around the garden, "It was this flower he liked called the Queen of the Night and so we all went to see it bloom- it only blooms one knight-n-night a year you see but um, it made my eyes turn red!"
"Yes! And the sight of the flower was so beautiful that Mr Zeppeli died on the spot! And now because of this allergy, (N/N) had become horrible sensitive to the sun and can only go out at night like the flower!" Jojo continues more confidently and mentally you cheer for his convincing lie. Even though really, it's not a great feeling to lie to Erina.
"Oh good heavens, that's awful! How unfortunate for Mr Zeppeli! You poor things to have experienced such a thing! If only there was something I could do to help you!" Erina cries and a sickening feeling shoots through you at her distress.
"No, no dearest of course there's something you can do! Don't cry, it's alright," You say comfortingly and with a nudge, Jojo is patting her back comfortingly with his warm human hand.
"But what could I possibly do to help you both? Oh, it's just so awful! Terrible!" Erina's voice trembles and her big blue eyes start shining with tears and of course, she's a pretty crier- as if you didn't think she was divine before.
"Well, you could always kiss it better," Jojo says with amusement in his eyes. You don't get what's funny when Erina is so close to tears though-
"Right, of course, it would be my pleasure!" Erina says determinedly and takes your cold face in her hands and before you can protest that she doesn't have to do anything, you've already received several scattered smooches across your features.
You can hear Jojo trying to muffle his laughter as Erina keeps dutifully peppering your face with strawberry-scented kisses and if you had any blood running through you, you'd be bright red.
With one last, more long-lasting kiss to the lips, Erina leaves you standing on unsteady legs to give Jojo the same treatment, effectively stopping his teasing laughter.
Warm feelings bubble up inside you at the two of them, at the moment you're getting to experience after such a harrowing night but they go cold when you remember that you're lying to the most wonderful girl in the world.
And that your hunger keeps growing the longer you look at them both with love shining in your new ruby eyes.
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The Queen of the Night symbolises how good things don't last so I thought it was appropriate :p
Sorry for the long wait! It was the first week of exams so I really didn't have any time to write.
Hope you enjoyed!!