"Don Giovanna, there's a message for you."
"Who's delivering it?"
"Andrea, sir."
Giorno furrowed his eyebrows. Mista was on a mission with Andrea, and the two of them were told only to come back once they completed that mission. Mista wouldn't have let anyone come back until the job was done.
"Let him in," he said. "I need to have a word with him."
After some time, Giorno's bodyguards finally delivered Andrea to the main room.
"Why is it that you came back without Mista?" Giorno demanded. "If he hasn't returned, it means the mission isn't complete."
"Forgive me, Don," Andrea bowed. "Our target saw us coming, and... well, this is what I've come to tell you, but... Mista... Mista was killed."
"What?" Giorno shouted. He shot up from his chair. "No, there's no way anyone can kill him! He's our best gunman!"
"I don't know how it happened, Don," Andrea shuddered. "It was like an invisible force killed him. I'm sorry, but I ran in fear. I'm not equipped to deal with the supernatural."
As Giorno tried to hide the tears in his eyes, he calmly sat back down. "You're forgiven," he murmured. "You can go now."
As Andrea bowed and left, Giorno slammed his fist on the arm of his chair. "Send this message to the strongest Stand users in our organization:" he ordered the bodyguards, "find the man who killed my last living friend."
***
It was a very busy day at Naples's biggest airport. Not much busier than normal, of course, except for a girl pushing her way through the crowd. The girl would normally stop and apologize, but there was no time for that right now. She couldn't slow down, not even for a second. Not with the threat at stake. The girl's bright red hair flew as far as it could from its owner, given it only reached down to her chin. Her blue eyes darted around, looking for somewhere to hide. That's when she saw an open door following into an empty room. She ran towards the door, and slammed it behind her. Breathing heavily, she hovered her head over the toilet and gagged.
A knock on the door startled the girl. "Emily?" a man asked. "Did you make it?"
Just as Emily was about to answer, her stomach turned inside out as she threw up in the toilet.
Outside the bathroom, two boys stood waiting. The taller one shared a resemblance to Emily, with his fair skin and red hair, but with purple eyes instead; the shorter one was strikingly different, with short, jet black hair that was pulled away from his similarly-colored, almond-shaped eyes, but he still shared a similar shade of skin.
As Emily walked out of the bathroom, she muttered, "I hate plane rides."
"At least you didn't barf on someone this time," the shorter boy snickered.
"Daichi!" the older one scolded.
"Sorry," Daichi said as he dipped his head and cracked a smile.
When the three finally pushed their way through the crowd, Emily breathed in fresh air, basking in the clear, Italian sun.
Then, her stomach growled.
"Dad, can we stop somewhere to eat?" Emily asked.
"Not yet," the older man said. "We need to get our stuff to the apartment first."
Emily grumbled. "Fine."
"Lucky for us, we have a person ready to drive us there," the man said. "We just need to find him... ah! There he is."
The man pointed to someone holding a sign reading Noriaki Kakyoin.
As the family approached the sign holder, Kakyoin gave a friendly wave.
"I take it you're Kakyoin?" the man asked.
Kakyoin nodded. "These are my kids, Emily and Daichi." He put an arm around each of their shoulders.
"Well, I can see the resemblance in the girl, but what happened with the boy?" The driver started walking to his car, and the family followed.
"Adopted."
"Ah, that makes sense." The driver started up his car as he got in. "What are you here for?"
"Celebrating this girl's eighteenth birthday," Kakyoin pointed his thumb back at Emily. Who gave an embarrassed smile.
"Oh, well, happy birthday!" the driver said.
The rest of the drive was silent, with quiet music through the radio and the occasional clearing of the throat.
"Well, this is your stop," the driver said. "Have fun in Italy!"
"Ari- er, thank you," Kakyoin replied as the car drove off, then sighed. "Ah, home sweet home. At least, for a couple of weeks."
"Okay, now that I know where we're staying, can I please go find some lunch?" Emily begged.
"Only if you take Daichi with you," Kakyoin chuckled. "I don't want you running around a big city all by yourself, you know."
"Yes, sir." Emily grabbed Daichi's hand and pulled him along.
"Hey, don't pull me so suddenly!" Daichi exclaimed. "I almost fell."
"That's what you get for bringing up the time I threw up on someone, Daini," Emily retorted.
"You know I don't like that nickname," Daichi mumbled.
"Oh, don't be such a baby," Emily teased. "It's only fitting for you to be called second instead of first, since you're the second born."
Daichi grumbled a bit, but stayed quiet after that. While they were walking, a boy slid up right beside Emily.
"Hey, what's up?" the boy asked. He had dark skin, black hair, green eyes, and a grin that annoyed Emily to no end. "You're really hot, wanna go on a date?"
Emily said nothing as she continued walking past.
"Don't know me, huh?" the boy tried again. "Thought you might not. You look like a foreigner. My name is Lucio Bianchi."
Still no response.
"And you are...?"
"Look, are you just gonna try to pick me up all day long?" Emily scoffed, finally turning her head to look at Lucio. "I'm not gonna be in Italy forever, so I'm not looking for a relationship. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna get some food. Come on, Daichi."
"Playing hard to get, huh?" Lucio ran up and blocked Emily's path. "I like girls like you."
Suddenly, Lucio felt a strange energy emerging from the girl. Before he knew it, he was floating up in the air, being held by some strange force. Then, without warning, he flew back into a wall.
"If you really must know my name, it's Emily," she told him, not even turning back to look. "Emily Kakyoin. Now, get lost."
While Emily continued walking, she suddenly had a chill down her spine. A cold and menacing aura was creeping up behind her, and a low laugh came from Lucio.
"It was a mistake to use your Stand abilities on me," Lucio said. "You should have kept them to yourself, so I didn't know to interrogate you."
When Emily turned around, Lucio had a companion next to him, a light blue colored, human-like creature with no mouth, eyes that looked like speakers, and hands with something resembling small suction cups on the fingertips.
"Daichi, run," Emily ordered. "Get back home, and tell Dad what's going on when you're safe."
"But-" Daichi started.
"Just go! Run!" Emily interrupted. "This fight is between me and this jerk here."
After some hesitation, Daichi slowly backed away before turning around and sprinting.
"Good," Lucio said. "Now that the kid's out of the way, I won't feel bad about involving any bystanders. Seven Nation Army, take this girl down!" The second he finished his sentence, his Stand put its hands on the ground, and sent something akin to a shockwave through it. The sidewalk around Lucio was cracking and forming into spikes, and the effect of the shockwave was getting dangerously close to Emily. If she lost balance, which was surely inevitable, she would fall over and be impaled by the distorted concrete.
"Walking on Sunshine!" Emily shouted. Her Stand manifested itself, with its golden, human-shaped body, bug-like eyes, and long hair that formed into its head. Emily jumped when the shockwave reached her, and instead of falling back to the ground, she stayed in the air.
"Don't think you're safe up there," Lucio grinned. Seven Nation Army moved its hands up to face Emily and shot another shockwave straight at her. She flew out of the way, but she wasn't completely out of Seven Nation's attack radius. She was pushed straight into a wall, and it knocked the air out of her. She lost control of Sunshine, and fell on a smooth part of the ground, to her relief. However, before she was able to get up, a foot slammed down on her chest.
"Now, then," Lucio said with a glare in his eyes, "this won't hurt at all. I'll just make you pass out. And maybe, if you're not the Stand user we're looking for, we can get some lunch sometime."
"Don't get cocky, now," Emily taunted. Lucio felt the energy around him again, but this time, he was thrown straight up. Emily followed him, with a huge chunk of the damaged concrete trailing behind her. When Lucio started falling back to earth, she hurled the chunk at him. It hit Lucio on with full force, making him cough up a little bit of blood. Seven Nation Army was ready, though, and sent another shockwave through the concrete chunk, shattering it into a million tiny pieces. Then, when death by being crushed wasn't a problem, Seven Nation used its shockwaves to slow Lucio's descent. Once both him and Emily landed on the ground again, the girl picked up two more chunks of concrete with Sunshine and threw them at Lucio.
Why isn't Emily just controlling the concrete the whole way before it reaches me? Lucio thought to himself as Seven Nation crumbled the cement in the middle of its path. Better yet, why isn't she just picking me up?
That's when it hit him. Walking on Sunshine's range doesn't go that far! So long as I stay out of that range, I can win the fight. But the new question is how far Sunshine can reach.
On the other side of the damaged sidewalk, Emily saw the ah-ha moment in Lucio's eyes. I need to stay on my guard, she said to herself. He's figured something out.
Lucio sent another shockwave through the ground, this time intentionally making it easier for Emily to pick it up. She flew above the wreckage just like before.
"What do you think will happen if you keep trying the same thing over and over?" she shouted. She picked up another piece of pavement, about five yards away from her, and threw it at Lucio, who shattered it before it hit him, just like before.
"Same thing you think will happen, since you're also trying the same thing over and over," Lucio shouted back. He watched Emily pick up more concrete, this one about three yards away. While Emily was still in the air, Lucio used Seven Nation Army's shockwaves to force the girl further into the air.
In the air, Emily just barely avoided Lucio's attack as the waves came closer to her feet. If she lost control at this height, she would be as good as dead. When the waves finally stopped, she looked down at Lucio. He was bent down to the ground, breathing heavily. So, too much usage of his Stand will wear him out quicker, she thought to herself. Well, since he can't defend himself, I should try to take him out now.
Back on the ground, Lucio was watching Emily closely as he regained some of his strength. She dived back down to earth, but stopped to pick up another loose chunk of cement as soon as she could. Once again, she was about five yards away.
Now, Lucio was sure. Walking on Sunshine's range had to be five yards. So, I can get close enough to knock her out, and she still can't hurt me. With his new information and his regained strength, he rushed in to fight Emily head on. However, when he got close enough, she let go of the pavement and grinned.
"I knew you would let your guard down," she said. Lucio found himself suddenly floating yet again.
"What?" Lucio exclaimed. "But, I was keeping careful track of how close I was to you when you used your-"
"I know full well what you were doing," Emily interrupted. "I could tell you were watching to see how far my ability could reach. That's why I intentionally shortchanged it, so you would get close enough for me to bash your head into the wall!"
Lucio chuckled. "Alright, you win in that area," he said, "but you forgot to notice that I wasn't just testing your range, I was also testing other limits of your Stand. And now, I know exactly what to do to get away from you." Seven Nation Army used its shockwaves again, and Lucio moved a little bit while still being held by Sunshine. Emily clenched her teeth together, and Sunshine pulled Lucio in more, to balance it out. Lucio noticed, pushing harder on the shockwaves to get himself out of Sunshine's range, and Emily did the same to keep him in. Each Stand was using more and more force by the second, pushing themselves to the limit in hopes of the other breaking first, while the two users had sweat pouring down their faces, fixed with an expression of agony, feeling the effects of using so much power at once.
Then, Emily's pained frown turned to a smirk. "You also didn't know about my other ability, did you?" In an instant, she switched from Sunshine's iron grip on Lucio to an anti-gravity bubble surrounding her. Like a stretched rubber band that was just let go of, Lucio flung backward, hitting a building so hard that the bricks he hit had cracks in them. He sputtered out some blood from his mouth as he fell to the ground.
From the vague, blurry shapes that Lucio could make out, he saw something human-shaped with red around the head. Although he wanted to say something as his last words, he couldn't make anything out other than shallow breaths and small grunts. At least dying in the hands of a cute girl isn't the worst way to go, he thought to himself.
However, instead of being held in midair like he was expecting, Lucio was picked up by Emily herself, the first time she used her actual hands on him. Lucio's vision was starting to go dark, but he heard Emily's words before he was completely out:
"I don't want to kill you, you know. I was simply defending myself. Once you heal up, don't bother me again."
As Lucio closed his eyes, Emily frantically checked his heartbeat. She sighed in relief when she heard a steady thumping in his heart. Right after, her phone buzzed in her pocket. She floated it up to her face to find that the battle shattered her screen, and that Daichi was calling. Still holding Lucio, she poked the call button with her nose and brought her phone up to her ear.
"Emily, I can't find Dad anywhere." Daichi was breathing heavily through the phone.
"What do you mean, you can't find him anywhere?" Emily asked.
"He's not picking up any calls," Daichi said with a wavering voice. "He's not home, either. Emily, I'm scared. What if Dad's dead?"
"Hey, Daichi, don't worry," Emily reassured him. "Dad's probably fine. He wouldn't just disappear and die like that. I'll try contacting him after I deal with that guy who attacked me."
"You're still fighting?"
"No, I just need to get him somewhere where he can be taken care of. Daichi, listen, everything will be okay, I promise. I'll meet you back at home, hopefully with Dad, alright?"
Emily could hear Daichi's breathing get more steady. "Alright."
"Love you, Daini," Emily said. The minute she was done calling Daichi, she got another call, this time from the police. Confused and concerned, she picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Hi, Emily," Kakyoin's voice called.
"Dad?"
"Everything's fine, I promise," Kakyoin quickly told her. "It's just... I'm in jail."