The sound of a baby crying out loud in the dark void Noriko was sleeping in made the red-haired teen stir.
"Be quiet..." She mumbled, knitting her brows together as she stirred.
But the crying didn't stop, it kept going. Slowly opening her eyes, she saw the bright green sky and found herself in a cart of a ferris wheel. Rubbing her eyes while sitting up, she looked to the side. She saw tea-cup rides, carousels and all sorts of other rides you would find in amusement parks.
"A-Am I in an amusement park?" She asked herself. "I've never been here before..." She looked down at the clothes she was wearing, she was in her pajamas.
"What the hell am I doing lounging in a ferris wheel with my pajamas on?!" She then turned her attention at the park. "Something's not right..."
"I'm positive we were just traveling through the Saudi Arabian desert by camels..." She recalled the memory. "But... Where is everyone? Am I alone?"
The sound of a dog letting out a tiny bark grabbed her attention. She turned to the side, finding a brown dog with green eyes sitting next to her. The girl smiled and patted the cute animal. The dog wagged its tail, loving the affection.
Noriko glanced up, "This is strange...I don't see any children in the amusement park, yet I still hear a baby crying." She pointed out and began to look around. "I wonder where the baby is..."
Suddenly a hoard of balloons floated high in the air but one balloon in particular floated to Noriko. At the end of the balloon's string was a card attached to it. Once it was close enough, Noriko reached over and grabbed the card.
Turning the card over, she widened her eyes in shock when she realized she was holding a tarot card.
"T-This is... Death Thirteen!"
The picture of the tarot had a puppet comedy mask holding a reaper scythe wearing black robe all over him. Then in the picture, a weird gooey substance was coming out of the card.
"I-It's moving!"
The arms and the scythe came out of the picture in an instant and Noriko screamed in horror as she let go of the tarot card on time but it stabbed straight into the dog's head, killing it instantly. Blood gushed everywhere as she stood there, petrified from what she just witnessed.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"
"Noriko! Noriko!" Polnareff shouted over and over, calling her name.
Noriko's screaming instantly stopped and found herself sitting up from her bed while Polnareff had his hand on her back, trying to calm her down from a moment earlier. She was sweating, shaking and had a terrifying look on her face.
"Hey, do me a favor will ya'? Quit freaking out and shaking the bed like you're in The Exorcist ." Polnareff said with his hands now on his hands. "Honestly you were scaring the crap out of me with that."
"W-Where am I?" Noriko asked. She looks around the room in apprehension. Although she was awake and safe, she still felt disturbed.
"Where do you think?" Polnareff then clapped his hands once and approached the window. "Come on, Noriko. Time to get up already." He opens the window, letting the sunshine in.
Noriko raised her arm to block the sunlight from hurting her eyes.
"We're gonna leave after we eat." Polnareff stated. "Looks like it'll be another hot one today."
Noriko put her arm down and sighed, "I had an awful dream..." She wipes the sweat off her face. "It was really bad."
"Ooh! What'd you dream about?" Polnareff eagerly asked as he walked over to the edge of Noriko's bed. "Tell me!"
"I... I honestly don't remember." Noriko answered and gripped her blanket tightly. She was trying hard to remember her dream but it was only blank. "I've forgotten all about it."
"What?"
"Still, it was truly terrifying, it's a good thing you woke me up, you saved me."
"Come on, Noriko, don't joke around like that, it creeps me out." Polnareff bent down to grab his luggage and placed it over his shoulder
He walked over to the door and stopped to look back at Noriko. "Just hurry up so we can eat and leave." He closes the door as he leaves.
Noriko lets out another sigh and moves the blanket away from her but stops when she notices a red stain on the white blanket. She glanced at her hand and moved it closer to her face seeing blood dripping from the palm of her hand.
"W-Why is my hand bleeding?" She inspected her hand while trying to recall any recent activities that could've given her a cut on her hand.
Nothing came into mind. The red-haired teen let out another sigh and decided to only patch it up with a bandage and get ready before Polnareff returns by telling her to hurry.
*&*&*&*
Once the two Crusaders ate their breakfast, they took their luggage and took their leave.
"Mr. Joestar and Jotaro already headed to the plane." Polnareff said as he and Noriko were stepping out of the Yarpline Hotel. "We're gonna travel five-hundred kilometers today."
Suddenly a child was screaming in horror beside the two that grabbed their attention.
"MY DOG!" The child cried out while pointing at the dog in front of him. "M-My dog....is dead!" There was a large gash wound on the dog's head.
"Who would do such a thing?!"
Noriko stared at the dog's corpse wide-eyed. "A dog?" She mumbled to herself. "A dog?" She placed a hand on the side of her head.
"I...I could've sworn I saw a dead dog not too long ago..." She said, trying to recall where she had seen it.
"It's awful but it has nothing to do with us." Polnareff said and turned his back on Noriko. "Let's go."
While the child mourned over his dog's death, Noriko stood there for a moment before following behind the Frenchman.
*&*&*&*
"Hey, wait a minute, mister!" Joseph pointed at the pilot in front of him before pointing back at the Cessna with his grandson standing behind him. "What do you mean you can't sell us the plane now?! Last night you said you would sell it and even took our money!"
"I'll return your money." The pilot replied. "But the truth is sir, we have a sick baby running a fever over thirty-nine degrees Celsius. There's no doctor in this town so we have to take the baby somewhere else."
A woman carrying a basket with a baby in it approached the men. The baby was sweating while it slept with a face of discomfort.
Joseph frowned and turned to look around. "What about this plane?" He pointed at the other plane while Noriko and Polnareff finally joined them.
"Sorry but that one is broken and needs to be repaired." The pilot answered. "The other planes have been taken and won't be back anytime soon."
"What's going on? Some kind of argument?" Polnareff asked Jotaro.
"Yeah." Jotaro simply answered and looked over at Noriko, noticing a green jacket over her shoulders but he could sense something was bothering her.
Noriko stared at the baby that was sleeping in the basket. "A baby..." She remembered hearing a baby crying but not sure from when and where.
"The plane should be back by tomorrow night." The pilot told Joseph. "Once I return I can sell it to you."
"Tomorrow night?!" Joseph approached the pilot and grabbed his collar, lifting him up from the ground. "That baby isn't the only one in a life-and-death situation! We can't afford to spend two days just sitting on our asses!"
"Are you suggesting we just let the baby die?!" The pilot retorted.
The question caught Joseph off-guard. "Uh...Well..." He loosened his grip.
"Um... How about this?" The woman holding the baby spoke, making everyone look at her. "We'll leave the baby with them and they can visit a doctor on their way." She suggested.
"H-Hey wait-!"
"The Cessna only carries four people but there's enough room for a baby."
The baby suddenly smiled and Noriko was surprised to see that he had fangs.
"T-The baby just smiled, but he doesn't seem old enough to have teeth..." She stood there frozen staring at the baby.
"Ma'am are you sure?" The pilot asked the woman. "Do you feel safe leaving the people with these people?"
"H-Hold it! It's not convenient for us either! It's too dangerous for the baby to travel with us!" Joseph insisted.
Joseph ended up losing the argument so the baby had to come along with the Crusaders. Joseph and Jotaro sat in the front while Noriko and Polnareff sat in the back with the baby placed between them.
"I told them it'll be dangerous..." Joseph muttered while putting on the headset and a pair of dark sunglasses.
"What's there to worry about Mr. Joestar? No one would send their Stand after us while we're in the air. We even checked to make sure this plane isn't a Stand." Polnareff assured the elder Joestar while tapping the plane with his knuckles.
"I'm more concerned about Gramps' flying than an enemy Stand." Jotaro remarked.
As the plane was taking off, Polnareff waved at the people outside while Noriko continued to stare at the baby.
*&*&*&*
"Oh, thank goodness. What a relief..." The woman said as she and the others watched the plane take off in the sky. "But I wonder whose baby was that?" She asked herself.
"W-Wait a minute! The baby isn't yours?!" The pilot blinked.
"I found him by the well this morning." The woman explained. "But...." She placed a hand on the side of her head. "For some odd reason the baby's voice made me dizzy and I suddenly felt as if I needed to get him on that plane."
The pilot only stood there in shock from what he just heard. He then glanced at the sky seeing the Cessna disappear from their view.
*&*&*&*
It was quiet for a long moment before Polnareff began to yawn out loud and stretch.
"For some reason everytime we're on a plane I get all sleepy." Polnareff said. "Mr. Joestar, I'll be taking a thirty-minute nap, alright?"
"Sure, go ahead." Joseph replied.
Soon after, Noriko and Polnareff fell into their slumber but the baby that sat between the two had his golden-eyes opened and deviously smirked at them, exposing its tiny fangs.
*&*&*&*
Both Noriko and Polnareff woke up with a gasp but their surroundings are completely different now. They're on a ferris wheel at an empty amusement park.
"The hell is this?!" Polnareff shouted as he stood up from his seat and looked around. "N-Noriko, what is this place?! Where's Mr. Joestar and Jotaro!"
When Noriko didn't respond to him, he turned around and saw that Noriko was staring at a dog's corpse. The dog had its head sliced open with its organs out, similar to the other dog they saw outside the hotel. Polnareff stepped back in fear and disgust.
While Noriko stood there, she remembered everything now; waking up in the ferris wheel from hearing a baby crying, accompanied by a dog except it was still alive. Then Noriko and the dog were attacked by Death Thirteen, the dog got impaled by a scythe and she remembered that her hand barely moved out of the way, that's how she got a cut on her hand.
"This is a continuation of the dream I had this morning..." Noriko realized and turned to Polnareff. "We're inside a dream Polnareff!"
"What? A dream?"
"Yes."
"Oh! So it's just a dream, eh?" Polnareff said in relief and casually walked over to the seat where the dog's corpse was and sat next to it, no longer afraid and disgusted by it. "That's a relief to hear. A dead dog isn't nearly as scary in a dream.
Noriko stared at him in surprise, she couldn't believe Polnareff was this dense.
"Polnareff, what are you saying?"
"Dreams are only as scary as you make them out to be." Polnareff explained.
"No you're wrong!" Noriko retorted, leaning towards Polnareff, pointing a finger at him. "How in the world would two different people share the same dream?!"
"...You got a point there. It is weird but that can also happen in a dream too."
In a blink of an eye, a bucket of popcorn and an ice cream appeared in the Frenchman's hands.
"Woah! How did this happen?! This is both convenient and lucky!" He then began licking his ice cream before stopping mid-way. "See, Noriko? If you want to have fun dreams, they'll be fun."
He raised his hand that held the popcorn to offer it to Noriko, only for the red-haired girl to slap it off his hand.
"Listen!" Noriko demanded. "We both saw this dog in the morning dead outside the hotel, right? The dog must've had the same dream earlier as I did. It was killed in the dream!" She raised her hand to show the cut she received from earlier.
"That's also when my hand was cut."
"By who?" Polnareff asked.
"The enemy's Stand, Death Thirteen." Noriko replied.
"Oh so you had a dream about Stands!" Polnareff smiled and casually laughed. "Come on, Noriko, just relax."
"No!" Noriko shot back. "It wasn't a dream about Stands! There was a Stand in my dream!" She was getting more irritated for trying to knock some sense into Polnareff.
Polnareff stood up and leaned against the cart, staring at the empty amusement park. "Well yeah this is a dream."
"You stupid fucking idiot!!!" Noriko yelled in frustration and slammed her arm against the bar of the ferris wheel's cart, ignoring the pain.
"Lali-ho! You are dumb as hell!" A voice said. It sounded like a child.
Both Noriko and Polnareff froze in place before looking over where the voice came from. Suddenly the dog's corpse twitched, making Polnareff step away and stand next to Noriko.
"Oh come on! I'm saying you're one dumb son of a bitch, Polnareff!" The voice was coming from the dog's corpse.
It continued to twitch with more blood coming out and a megaphone suddenly came out from the wound.
"I-It's coming from the dog's wound!" Polnareff pointed out.
"Lali-ho! Welcome to my dreamworld of death, Polnareff!" The voice said, coming from the megaphone.
The megaphone dropped on the ground and a huge eyeball appeared on the dog's corpse.
"What the hell is all this?!" Polnareff shouted in panic.
"Polnareff, get ready to battle! That's Death Thirteen!" Noriko warned.
Polnareff felt something slimy and wet on his fingers, looking at his hand, the ice cream turned into worms. While distracted by the worms, Death Thirteen bursted out from the dog's corpse, spilling blood everywhere. The Stand looked identical to the one in the tarot card Noriko held earlier in the morning.
"Come forth, Hierophant Green!" Noriko shouted but in shock the Stand didn't appear.
Death Thirteen grabbed Polnareff by the neck, gripping it tightly so he wouldn't move. Worried and panicked, Noriko sees the enemy Stand raise its scythe, right above Polnareff.
"Come out, Hierophant Green!" Noriko called out her Stand again but it still didn't manifest.
"Silver Chario-!" The Frenchman's words were cut off when the tip of the scythe was placed inside his jaw.
"Why isn't Hierophant Green coming out?! Why isn't it working?!" Noriko yelled and looked at Death Thirteen.
"Is it because we're in a dream?"
"Lali-ho! Isn't this romantic, dying while having a dream?" Death Thirteen said in a sadistic tone. "Lali-ho!"
Polnareff started kicking and punching the Stand but it only phased through it.
"Are you stupid? You know only Stands can defeat Stands, don't you?" Death Thirteen leaned closer to Polnareff's face. "It's time for your eternal slumber, Polnareff. Lali-ho!"
"POLNAREFF!" Noriko screamed.
"DIE!" Death Thirteen swung his scythe across Polnareff's neck but it didn't do anything to him.
The Frenchman vanished into thin air before he could be killed, leaving Noriko alone with the enemy.
*&*&*&*
"Polnareff." Joseph called out, throwing a piece of crumpled paper to Polnareff's face. "Come on Polnareff, wake up. The baby wet himself. Change his diaper."
"Yeah, yeah..." Polnareff groaned while rubbing his eyes.
The baby smacked his lips, making Jotaro look back wondering where the sound came from but brushed it off.
*&*&*&*
"Dammit... Someone woke him up." Death Thirteen cursed under his breath, slamming the end of the scythe on the floor. "How lucky he is..." He clutched his hand into a fist. " Lali-ho, but oh well, the moment he wakes up his memories of this dream will vanish. I'll just kill him next time he falls asleep."
He slowly turned over to face a frightened Noriko. "Now, Noriko..." He pointed his scythe at the teen. "Looks like you're next. Lali-ho!"
*&*&*&*
"Hey, Polnareff, are you awake?" Joseph called out again. "Hurry up and change the baby's diaper!"
"Right..." Polnareff muttered before shaking his head. "It feels like I had a bad dream but... I can't remember what it was about. I completely forgot about it."
"Well once you change the baby's diaper, you can finish your dream." Joseph told the Frenchman. "I won't wake you up again."
Polnareff looked over at Noriko, her body was trembling a little with a frown on her face, her brows were twitching with sweat running down her forehead. He then looked down at the baby and began undoing his diaper.
"GYAAAH!" Polnareff gagged in disgust, moving his head away while holding the ends of the baby's diaper. "Hold on a second! He took a dump! Look! Just look at this!" He grimaced.
"He's a baby, Polnareff." Joseph simply said. "Why do you think he wears diapers?"
"Seriously?! For real?!" Polnareff glanced down at the dirty diaper. "I never knew. You gross creature! It's all over the place..."
"Quit complaining and change his diaper already. It reeks." Joseph said, not taking his eyes off the front.
"Aren't you embarrassed? Grow up and become an adult already." Polnareff muttered while putting the baby on a new cloth diaper.
He then raised the baby up but upside down. "Does this work?" He asked Jotaro, who was looking back the entire time.
The cloth diaper was all over the place. A part of the cloth was even over the baby's shoulder.
"Well, good enough for me. Jotaro, hold onto the edge there, please? I'm gonna pin it." Polnareff said.
"Sure. Like this?" Jotaro grabbed the baby and a piece of the cloth diaper.
"Yeah."
Unbeknownst to two, the baby's golden eyes were glued on a sleeping Noriko.
*&*&*&*
Death Thirteen began approaching the frightened girl while she stepped back until her back touched the corner of the cart, nowhere for her to escape.
*&*&*&*
Noriko was mumbling in her sleep, making Polnareff and Jotaro stop what they were doing and look at her.
*&*&*&*
"Lali-ho!" Death Thirteen raised his scythe, ready to strike.
*&*&*&*
"AAAAAAGHHHH!!!" Noriko screamed from the top of her lungs and started thrashing around in her seat.
"Stop! Stop it!!"
Her arms and legs were pushing Polnareff out of her way, making the Frenchman hold onto the baby in his arms, protecting the baby from any incoming hits from Noriko.
"Noriko, what's wrong?!" Jotaro asked, concerned.
"Hey!" Polnareff shouted.
"What's going on back there?" Joseph asked, his eyes still paying attention to the front.
"Stop! Stop! Stoooop iiit!" Noriko raised her leg and unintentionally kicked Joseph hard in the face, knocking his headset and sunglasses off.
The kick pushed Joseph forward and accidentally bumped into the controls, making the plane go out of control and spiral downwards.
"Oh shit!" Joseph cursed. "I can't control the plane!"
"H-Hey, are you telling us we're gonna crash?!" Jotaro asked his grandfather and managed to grab Noriko's leg to stop her kicking.
"Stop it!"
"Noriko, what the hell is wrong with you?!" Polnareff asked while trying to protect the baby. "This is how she was acting this morning!"
"It doesn't matter! Jotaro! Polnareff! Try to calm her down!" Joseph demanded as he was trying to stabilize the plane.
"Gramps! Hurry up and stabilize the plane!" Jotaro yelled. "We're gonna crash!"
*&*&*&*
Back in the dream world, Death Thirteen grabbed Noriko by the head and pushed her up against a metal pillar of the cart.
"Hey, Noriko! You need to calm down!" Death Thirteen said. "Because of you we're about to crash! Talk about a rough sleeper..."
Noriko's head began to merge with the pillar.
"You're gonna end up killing my user if you keep this up."
Noriko gasped in shock, "Y-Your user is that baby...?" She managed to ask before ropes appeared and wrapped around her tightly onto the pillar.
"I-I can't believe it..." She choked out. "He can't be more than six months old..."
"Not even close! I'm eleven months old! Eleven months!" Death Thirteen corrected her. "I'm a genius! A genius!" He leaned closer to Noriko, leaving a small gap between their faces. "Although I still shit on my diapers, I'm still way smarter than you jokers combined! Lali-hoooo!"
He grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up with her mouth open while multiple eyeballs came out of the eyeholes of his mask. Noriko let out another scream before the eyeballs fell into her mouth, choking her and muffling her screams. She wriggled around trying to escape but it was no use.
Satisfied, Death Thirteen stepped away. "Now you won't be able to scream anymore..." He then raised his scythe with a dark chuckle.
"A Stand within a dream...I have to let Mr. Joestar and Jotaro know about this somehow!" Noriko thought to herself while digging into her skirt pocket with her free hand.
She pulls out a switchblade that she's brought with her since the start of her journey. She starts cutting her left arm and lets out a faint hiss sound escape from her lips.
*&*&*&*
"What the hell is taking so long, Mr. Joestar!" Polnareff shouted at the elder Joestar.
"Level the fucking plane, Old Man!" Jotaro yelled.
"Shut up all of you!" Joseph snapped at his grandson and the Frenchman. "The word 'panic' isn't in my vocabulary! I can fix this!"
In the back seat, Noriko was no longer thrashing in her seat and screaming but she was bleeding from her left arm, the same arm she was cutting in her dream.
*&*&*&*
While still cutting her arm in the dream world, Noriko was getting frustrated. "I'm not waking up!" She hissed and winced from the pain.
"Lali-ho! Nobody is going to notice a cut from a knife that's smaller than my pee-pee!" Death Thirteen said. "Besides, it doesn't matter how hard you hurt yourself in my dream world, you won't wake up! As long as you're asleep, I control your mental energy! Death Thirteen is a Stand that enters the unguarded mental state of sleep! You can't get away!"
The eyeballs around Noriko suddenly grew legs and crawled up her body towards her mouth.
"Damn it! Get away!" She choked out as she continued to cut her arm.
*&*&*&*
"Old Man, what's taking so long?!" Jotaro asked his grandfather, seeing that they were getting closer and closer to the ground. "We're about to crash!"
"I'll control it with Hermit Purple!" Joseph shouted as the purple vines manifested and went inside the controls.
The plane instantly swerved back up to normal, barely avoiding crashing to the ground.
"I did it!" Joseph cheered while Polnareff fist-pumped in the back. "I got control just in time!"
"That was a close one." Polnareff said in relief.
The baby boy sighed in relief without anyone noticing.
*&*&*&*
"Looks like we got lucky and managed to avoid crashing." Death Thirteen informed. "You guys sure are reckless." He then glanced at Noriko, who was still cutting her arm with blood dripping all over the seat next to her.
"Now then... How about I kill you by crushing that heart of yours? Your friends will just think you had a heart attack." He extended his arm out and slowly began approaching the girl.
"It's time to die, Noriko!"
*&*&*&*
"Did you all see that?! What'd you think of my flying now, huh?!" Joseph exclaimed with excitement.
"Hey." Jotaro called his attention to look ahead.
Joseph raised a brow at his grandson and averted his eyes to front before letting out a scream.
"AAAHH!"
The Cessna ended up crashing into a palm tree.
"Wh-Why the hell is there a palm tree in the middle of nowhere?!" Joseph asked himself.
Jotato sighed, "Gimme a break, it was too good to be true..." He commented.
The moment the plane crashed, Noriko finally awakened from her slumber with her eyes wide open and looking much paler than before.
*&*&*&*
Night has fallen and Polnareff has been collecting wood for the campfire that Joseph started to keep the Crusaders warm and to cook up some food. Jotaro was grabbing their sleeping bags from the Cessna while Noriko sat beside Joseph, looking depressed.
Polnareff returned to the group with wooden sticks and dropped them next to the campfire. "Will this be enough?" He asked.
"Yeah, thanks." Joseph thanked him.
Polnareff then averted his eyes to Noriko, the girl was looking at the ground hiding her face with her hand.
"We survived the crash but... Noriko, what the hell is wrong with you?! This is all your fault!" Polnareff scolded her.
They expected her to snap back at Polnareff but she didn't.
"I honestly don't know..." Noriko replied and moved her hand away, showing her troubled expression. "I feel like I had a horrible dream again. When I woke up I felt exhausted. Is something wrong with me?"
Joseph patted the girl's back, "Hey cheer up, Noriko." He said, giving her a comforting smile. "You're just tired, that's all. We left Japan about a month ago and it's been nothing but nonstop encounters with enemies since then."
Jotaro also returned to the group with their sleeping bags and settled them on the ground. He had heard from a distance about Noriko's nightmare again and Joseph comforting her. But seeing her in such a troubled and depressed state made his heart ache. He didn't like seeing her like this.
"Hey, the baby's fever has gone down." He spoke up.
The baby was wide awake with his arms up and all happy.
"Oh thank goodness he's safe." Joseph said, jogging his way over to the basket and dropped down on one knee. "I don't know what we'd have done if we lost him."
He then began playing peek-a-boo with the baby, which brought memories to him when he used to do that to Holly and Jotaro when they were babies. The baby boy would laugh every time Joseph showed his face.
"Look how happy he is!" Joseph said cheerfully.
"Is that supposed to be funny?" Polnareff asked, confused by this little mini game of peek-a-boo. "It's not even a joke or anything. You look like an idiot doing that." He then turned around to walk away.
"Oh shut up. I'm not exactly thrilled to be humoring this guy." The baby thought, annoyed.
"Hey gramps, the radio is still working." Jotaro pointed out. "What do we do? Send out an SOS? Although if we do, Dio will most likely find us..."
"We have no other choice. For the sake of the baby, let's call for help." Joseph stood up and walked over to the Cessna.
Noriko felt a bit of pain on her left arm. She still had her jacket over her shoulders and was even surprised at herself that it didn't come off when the plane was spiraling out of control. Looking over her arm, she noticed a bit of blood on it.
"I probably was cut when the plane crashed." She told herself and pulled out a handkerchief from her skirt pocket. She moved the jacket to the side, so she could clean up the blood but froze in shock.
There were words carved into her arm.
"W-What is this...?" She asked herself quietly. "These cuts look like letters. Baby...Stand? That's what the letters say but what does this all mean? It's my handwriting too..." A sudden wave of pain coursed through her head. "I...I can't remember... Did I do this to myself?!" She dug into her other pocket and pulled out her switchblade, inspecting the blade for any trace of blood.
"There isn't any blood on my knife but these cuts were done by this blade... Am I forgetting something important?"
Across from Noriko was the baby in the basket. He was watching her and was beginning to sweat. He had a dark look on his face.
"Dammit!" The baby cursed under his breath. "I heard they were clever... but she wasn't trying to wake herself up, she was writing a message on her arm!"
He quickly turned his head away when Noriko caught him staring.
"What was with the look on that baby's eyes?! As soon as our eyes made contact he consciously looked away..." Noriko looked back on her arm, reading the carved letters and glanced back at the baby.
"Baby... Stand?" She gasped in realization, piecing everything together.
She stood up and slowly walked over to the baby with a frown. She's wondering if she really has gotten insane but she couldn't brush off her suspicions.
"Did something really happen to my mind?" She asked herself.
She now stood in front of the baby and glared at him. "I'm starting to think that this baby... is really a Stand user!"
Noriko roughly grabbed the baby and picked him up. The baby started to cry and squirm, pretending to be scared. The baby's cry grabbed the rest of the Crusaders attention, making Joseph take off his headset after sending out an SOS.
"Hey, Noriko! What are you doing with the baby?!" Joseph asked and rushed over to her.
He took the baby off her hands, "You're being too rough with him." He scolded the red-haired teen. "You almost strangled him. What's wrong with you?"
Noriko was hurt by the tone of his voice and words. Not wanting them to see her wounds, she hugged herself with her jacket, covering her arms.
"I-I'm sorry, Mr. Joestar." Noriko quietly apologized as she looked down at the ground.
"There, there, it's alright." Joseph hushed the baby while rocking him. He then glanced at Jotaro and Polnareff. "Let's get something to eat." He looked back at Noriko. "I'm sure once you eat something you'll calm down."
"Hmm..." Noriko's eyes furrowed, not making any eye contact to Joseph nor anyone.
Polnareff moved closer to Jotaro and whispered to him. "Hey, Jotaro, it looks like Noriko is losing it." He said and gave the girl a worried look. "I'm not even sure if she's gonna make it through this trip..."
Jotaro didn't answer but he also was worried about Noriko's mental-state. The thought of her no longer being on this trip ached his heart.
With her back turned on everyone, Noriko lifted her left arm, reading the carved letters once again. She frowned and covered her arm with her jacket, hugging herself again. Shaking her head left to right a couple of times, desperately trying to remember anything that could help her prove her suspicions to her friends. She felt more depressed and troubled than before.
While struggling with her suspicions, the baby gave Noriko a dark look. He silently chuckled to himself seeing that his plans were going better than he expected.
To be continued...