Jolyne barely had time to let out an exhausted sigh before hurriedly taking off her shoes. She was going to need her feet free for this.
The floor of the motorboat felt cool against the soles of her feet, but when she leaped out over the edge and into the water, she found that the canal water was cooler. Quickly finding her footing on the Hamon-charged water, she began running. Her training was paying off once again, for she moved much faster than their motorboat. A single glance confirmed that the rifle was pointed directly at Giorno's office, whose unmistakable blond hair could be glimpsed through the window.
Her companions finally took notice of what she was doing. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Shizuka trying to get out and join her, but Josuke pulled her back in. The motorboat, maneuvered by Rohan, changed direction and started following her.
Golden sparks mingled with water droplets as she took long strides. She threw her left arm forward, unraveling it into strings before fixing it on one of the window shutters of the house she wanted to reach to further accelerate her run before jumping straight inside.
As soon as she entered through the window, someone spoke up.
"You're cursed and you break everything you touch."
Jolyne froze for a moment, finding familiarity in the voice and those words. For a second, she wondered if Rohan's curse had failed and Romeo actually stayed back in Venice. But no, it couldn't be; she knew how powerful the mangaka was. Scanning the room, it seemed completely empty. That could only mean one thing.
Realizing she would have to deal with a hidden assailant that was not only armed with a sniper but also possessed a Stand ability, she immediately became extra alert.
"You're constantly giving me hope..."
It was a new voice, this time belonging to Anasui. Chills crawled up Jolyne's spine when hearing the voice of a dead man whose funeral she'd held only weeks ago. She immediately shot one of her strings to probe in the direction it came from, near one of the walls.
"I can see hope for myself through you, and I've never felt this way... not in a prison, not in the outside world."
There it was. Attached to the surface of the wall was a small mouth that was the same color as the wall. She had almost missed it because of how well it camouflaged with its backdrop. Despite being found out, the lips continued moving, forming cruel words.
"That's why I'm here."
Jolyne felt a hot flash of pain in her chest as if stabbed by an arrow, remembering how Anasui had died only because he followed her. She punched the mouth, not wanting to hear anymore. However, another voice spoke up, and then another and another. All were familiar to her; some were her loved ones and others were her enemies. Regardless of who it was, the words they spoke grated at her heart. She couldn't get to all the mouths fast enough to make them shut up before another one would start, the volume getting louder and louder.
'STOP IT!'
Unable to stand them anymore, Jolyne immediately covered her ears. That left her defenseless to the first blow. A fist attached to a slender arm punched her hard in the stomach. She immediately doubled over in pain.
Resisting the pain, Jolyne lifted her head and connected gazes with her attacker. She saw a young woman with a short bob of dark hair and two long green braids on either side of her head. Jolyne didn't know where the attacker had come from, but what was important was that she was now in plain sight.
The attacker must not have counted on Jolyne being able to react so quickly despite being caught off guard. Surely, she also must have also not expected Jolyne to unravel her own ears into strings in order to mute all sound and focus on spreading the other strings throughout the room.
One of those things where the noise was coming from bit into Jolyne's string, but she didn't so much as flinch, aiming a direct kick at the opponent's face.
The fight didn't last too long. Still deaf and also scared, Jolyne might have hit the attacker a couple of times too many even though her Stand had stopped shouting.
Just as she raveled her strings back into her ears again, she was greeted by a mini explosive sound in the room. There was a newly formed hole in the wall next to her, with a fist sticking through. As the rest of the wall crumbled away, Josuke came in at full speed, only to find a fuming Jolyne on top of the strange girl.
"Little Jojo, Giorno has texted me to tell you that this woman is one of his own. Can you please stop hitting her now?"
Jolyne's hostility fizzled slightly, and she looked at the rather pissed-off woman below her with surprise. She'd never seen her even once while staying at the palazzo, but it shouldn't be a surprise that Giorno had plenty more subordinates he wouldn't have told her about.
"Oh, crap." Embarrassed, Jolyne released her grip and stood up before offering her hand. "Sorry."
The woman ignored her to stand up on her own.
"Well, ok then," Jolyne muttered.
"Walking on water was pretty cool. I wasn't expecting that," Rohan said, stepping in through the collapsed wall. Then sweeping his gaze over the woman, he said, "How about we question her before her boss arrives?"
"Hell no!" Josuke shouted before turning to Jolyne to heal her scratches. Seeing that she seemed to be thinking about it as well, he said, "Enough, both of you."
He finally turned to the other woman, who had yet to even tell them her name, and approached her with his stand to heal her, but she shook her head firmly.
"The bottom edge of your pants is wet," Shizuka said, having appeared next to Jolyne at some point. "This could only mean you haven't channeled the Hamon through your feet properly. Master's not going to like that."
As Jolyne protested, the mysterious woman watched their exchange coldly. Not only did the buns girl jump into business that had nothing to do with her, obstructing the woman's duty, but the things her Stand, Voodoo Child, spoke about were also very unsettling. Everyone had dark secrets, some more so than others, but few people were able to attract her boss' eye, especially a girl like this with such a messy history. Although she knew the girl wasn't a target, part of her couldn't help but want to slap her before the Don arrived.
However, that thought was interrupted by Giorno's voice.
"Sheila, are you okay?" He stood in the doorway, scanning the wounds that covered her. "You should let Josuke take care of you."
Sheila straightened in his presence. "Um, with all due respect, Don, I'd rather you heal me."
Giorno thought nothing of it and manifested his Stand. He knew it was painful, but he had never received a complaint from her.
"What happened? Did you not have time to notice that it was Jolyne before attacking?" scolded Giorno. "Besides, I already told you that I don't need you to set up this kind of weapon, much less without warning me first. Jolyne could have killed you."
There was an exchange of glances between the two women. Jolyne, who was still upset about having to relive certain bad memories, gave her a smug look, while Sheila returned her an icy stare.
"Bene, since you are here, it would be best to introduce yourselves." Giorno sighed heavily as he was caught between the gazes of the two. "This is Sheila E. She's one of my bodyguards, but she was in Russia on a mission these past months, just like Mista. And this is Jolyne Kujo. You've heard of her, my girlfriend."
Realizing it was the first time one of them had said it aloud, Jolyne felt some shyness.
"Maybe...the bodyguard thing isn't a bad idea for when Jotaro finds out," Josuke said.
Behind their backs, there was an exchange in Japanese between Shizuka and Rohan, of which Giorno understood almost nothing. However, he was accustomed to hearing swear words in so many languages. Hence, he understood the words 'the bitch' and 'in love' perfectly, and figured out a few other things too from the tone they used.
"It was a bad start, but you can get to know each other better over dinner," offered Giorno conciliatorily.
Shizuka stood up. "That's not happening. Let me remind you, we're going back to Air Suplena tonight. It was one of the conditions that Master gave me to be able to come, that I take Jolyne back because she still needs training. Haven't you seen how awful she's been?"
Giorno and Jolyne exchanged glances. With one look, he knew what she was thinking. She had no intention to defy the old woman's orders, as Jolyne seemed to agree with Shizuka's evaluation. He sighed, accepting that it was time for another goodbye.
---
In Jolyne's villa bedroom, Marena gave her daughter a hug, pretending not to notice the suspicious vegetation growing outside the window. She decided to let the two lovers have their moment.
As soon as her mother left, Jolyne opened the window. Giorno entered with an elegance unbecoming of someone who had been hanging over the canals so precariously.
"I thought we still had a few hours together," Giorno said, resting his forehead against hers as he hugged her. "How can I say goodbye to you when you're finally mine?"
"I'm only going to be a few miles away," she said, breaking away only to give him a kiss on the cheek. "The truth is, for a moment, I thought I was going to sink into the canal. I need more training."
Giorno was going to say something else, but whatever it was was forgotten the moment Jolyne put her lips on his again. It was still shocking for him to be able to kiss her like that. His inner beast tensed, but the kiss was still as special as the previous times. She was so soft while at the same time strong, also determined. Her kiss told him she knew what she wanted, and it made him feel like he was hers.
Normally, someone being possessive of him was something he didn't like, but with Jolyne, it was different. Jolyne owned him from the moment she smiled at him. She was his mistress and his home. He finally understood that lust could be mixed with love.
The days without her were going to be long, but he had a lot of work to catch up on too. Sheila's return meant he probably had even more work than he bargained for. He must work hard and pacify everything if he wanted to have a life with Jolyne. So, after a few brief kisses, he let her go.
---
Later, in his office, Giorno sighed with relief when he received a message from Jolyne communicating that she had arrived at Air Suplena safely.
Even though he knew she was capable of defending herself, he could not help but worry about her whenever she wasn't with him. He supposed that to love was to worry constantly while also leaving the other person freedom.
"Do you really think she deserves you?" Sheila asked, entering the office and closing the door behind her. She didn't have to clarify who she was referring to.
Giorno closed his phone and put it aside.
"The person who took you down in a matter of a minute?" he asked with irony. "I don't want to talk about this. My relationship with Jolyne is not a topic on which you can have an opinion. I won't allow gossip and idiocy where she's concerned, whether it's from you, Fugo, or anyone else."
Looking up, he saw Sheila bite her tongue to keep from saying anything before she looked down. He knew she would obey him in the end. She always did.
"Have you learned anything during your time in Russia?" he said to change the subject and get to the important matter.
"Oh, yes, of course." She squared herself in the chair and then took out a tablet filled with top-secret information. "Following the clues that Zaitsev gave to Mista, I found an interesting text. I may not know much about your strange condition, but I think it might be useful. I was afraid to send it to you online because of the hacker issue."
"Is there a trustworthy Russian translator?" Giorno asked. "I think this might be beyond Abbacchio's skills."
"Is the Russian Abbacchio speaks good for anything other than talking to his grandmother or making Bucciarati horny?" Sheila asked before turning serious. "Sorry, boss. Maybe Fugo will be able to understand him. His accent is garbage, but he really likes reading old shit in Russian. When he found out I was going to Russia, he gave me a hard time about his favorite authors."
Giorno drummed his fingers on his desk, his brows furrowing. Entrusting something of utmost importance to Fugo never put him at ease. Deep down, he was clear that Fugo was trustworthy, but the seed of distrust still lay dormant between them. Besides, this was not just any old thing. What lay before him might possibly be the answer to the problem that had been plaguing him for years. Having to rely on someone he didn't quite trust didn't please him at all.
His face may seem impassive in those moments, but to anyone who had studied it in great detail, there was something buried beneath. Sheila could not deny that she had spent a lot of time looking at her boss's Apollonian face.
"Are you all right, boss?" she asked.
He laughed. "I'm fine, but I'm afraid you're soon going to understand that I'm the one unworthy of Jolyne."
---
Mista: So, Jolyne beat you up?
Sheila: Shut up, it's not like I could beat up the boss's girlfriend.
Mista: Yeah, of course. They told me that you needed Giorno to cure you.
Sheila: Don't talk about the Don with such little respect!
Mista: Calm down. For someone that most people will think is an OC, you get upset too quickly.
Sheila: I'm not an OC, I'm in Fugo's spin-off light novel!
Mista: That's practically being an OC.