Chapter Text
Everything felt cold.
His body felt numb.
Was he floating or falling? He couldn’t tell…
Joseph managed to open his eyes, but all he saw was darkness. “Where..am I..?” His voice echoed slightly in the stillness around him. Getting to his feet, though still not being able to see what he was standing on, Joseph ran a hand through his gray hairs. “Shit..what was I-?” Everything rushed back to him at once: Egypt. His grandson. Kakyoin dying. Dio draining his blood. The look on his grandson’s face. And then…nothingness… “Damn it..” He cursed, his hand clenching into a fist. “Son of a bitch!” He yelled in anger.
He hadn’t been able to do anything! Avdol, Iggy, and Kakyoin- they had all given their lives fighting against Dio and his minions. Now that he was dead, too, everything was left to Jotaro and Polnareff! The lives of his grandson and daughter hung in the balance and he wasn’t able to do a single thing about it.
He just felt so angry! So useless! So-!
“Jojo…” A voice called out to him. Well, maybe “call” was too strong of a word- it was more of a breathy whisper. The voice was so faint, he could scarcely tell who it belonged to.
“Huh?” Joseph looked around. He still didn’t see anyone else in the darkness. “Hello?” He called out into the surrounding void, cupping his hands around his mouth. “Is someone there?!” When he didn’t receive an answer right away, he gave a frustrated sigh. “Damn it, am I hearing stuff now, too?” While he contemplated what to do and where to go next, Joseph felt something tugging at his hand. “Hm?” Looking down at his arm, he saw familiar purple vines growing around his palm. “Hermit Purple?” He questioned while looking at his stand.
“Jojo…” There was that whisper again, a little louder this time but still too breathy to tell whose voice it was. Oddly enough, he had a location for the sound this time: The vines from his very own stand.
“Wha-?!” Joseph was startled, to say the least. Sure, he knew that his grandson’s stand and many others could make sounds, but his never had before! Okay, maybe that wasn’t ENTIRELY fair, as it had been able to indirectly speak to him and give him messages through TVs and cameras and other things like that, but it had never had a VOICE before! “You can talk?!” He questioned the mass of purple vines while shaking his hand back and forth, trying to see if he could elicit another reaction from his stand.
“Jojo…” The voice was stronger that time. It sounded almost like..no..it couldn’t be..!
Joseph watched with wide eyes as the vines from his arm began to grow and twist together, moving outward to a spot in front of him. As they twisted and formed together, the vines began to shift into a vaguely humanoid shape with the vines still connected to him forming a hand with fingers lacing through his own. The more they moved, the smoother the shape became until, like a veil being pulled over them, a crackling golden energy spread along the vines and formed an all too familiar face and body- a faint purple glow surrounding the figure before him.
The blond hair held back with a purple and orange head band and feathered clips that had been the last things he’d seen walking away from him…
The strong body that had haunted his dreams every night for the past fifty years…
The handsome face with purple birth marks and a smile that he vowed to never, EVER forget for as long as he lived…
And those eyes..those sharp, gorgeous green eyes that stared into his own with a warmth and adoration he’d never seen in them while alive…
There was no mistaking who this man was:
“C..Caesar…” Joseph gasped, his voice shaking. He brought his other hand up, the appendage trembling as he made contact with the warm skin of his long deceased friend’s cheek. “Is..Is that..Is it really you, Caesar…?”
“It’s me, Jojo.” Caesar responded with a warm smile as he brought his own hand up to rest over Joseph’s on his cheek. “I-”
“CAESAR!!” Joseph cut off anything that Caesar was about to say. His arms had moved to envelop his dearest friend in a bone-crushing hug as he cried. “I can’t believe it! I thought I’d never see you again!” He held the blond as close as possible, pressing his forehead into his shoulder.
“It..It’s good..to see you too..Jojo..” Caesar managed to gasp out, patting at Joseph’s back in an attempt to both soothe him and convince him to let go. The grip eventually loosened, but the old man refused to let go. When Caesar felt him trembling and heard him sniffle, he gave the other a slight frown and tried to pull away to see his face. “Joseph?”
Joseph just held onto him tighter- not as bone-crushingly tight as before but firm enough that Caesar wouldn’t get away. “I..” His body shook with a silent sob. “I’m sorry..” The words were strained, but they needed to be said- hell, they should have been said decades ago when he’d had the chance, but he had been young and foolish back then and squandered his chances. “I’m so sorry for what I said. I never should have insulted your family or your pride, I just- I was such an idiot. Because of me you..you ran off and fought Wham on your own..” Another sob, this one barely audible. “Even with what I said, though..you..you still..you still..”
His shoulders shook as he fully broke down in the Italian’s arms. All the guilt he’d carried for these past decades, all the sorrow at knowing he’d lost the man he’d loved so dearly, the regrets of never telling him how he felt because he was too stupid to see it until he was already gone- it all crashed down on him at once. He wished he had done everything in his youth differently. He wished he could change the past, could bring Caesar back and die in his place, could simply have had one or two more nights sitting under the stars together, anything would have been better than the fate Caesar had gotten but didn’t deserve…
“Joseph…” Caesar’s voice was gentle, patient, and far more understanding than the anger and venom it had held the last time he’d heard the blond man in the world of the living. “Joseph, look at me…” He placed one hand on Joseph’s head in an attempt to make him look up, his other hand still holding onto Joseph’s own despite the awkward angle. When Joseph complied, looking up into bright green eyes with his own watery ones, Caesar wiped the old man’s tear-covered face with his thumb tenderly. “I forgave you ages ago.” He pressed a light kiss to Joseph’s forehead, his hand cupping Joseph’s scruffy cheek in a similar fashion to what Joseph had done earlier. “We were both to blame for what happened that day. You never knew about my past, and I never bothered to tell you- of course you wouldn’t have realized what those words meant to me. But you were right to tell me not to go off on my own..I thought I was strong enough to handle everything by myself, but I clearly wasn’t..” He pressed his forehead against Joseph’s and closed his eyes. “I am sorry for leaving you like that…but I will never regret giving my life for you. You have accomplished so much: You defeated the pillar men. You saved the world. You married a wonderful woman and have a beautiful family. You became a respectable man with a well-paying job and did it all on your own. I am so proud of you, Jojo.”
“Caesar…” Joseph closed his eyes, one hand gripping the back of Caesar’s shirt- the same blue shirt and jacket he’d worn the day he’d died- and the other holding onto Caesar’s hand. “Caesar..I love you.” The words jumped off his tongue, demanding to be said as strongly as his apology earlier was. He opened his eyes and looked into the slightly surprised green ones so close to his own. “I love you.” He repeated again, figuring that he may as well get everything off his chest now that they’ve already come this far. “Not figuring it out and telling you when you were still alive was the biggest regret I had right after letting you die like that. I do still love Suzie- she’s a great wife and a loving mother- but not a day’s gone by that I haven’t thought about you and what we could have had if I’d just said it sooner.” He held Caesar close to him and pressed a light kiss to his cheek. “I..hope you can forgive me for that, too..”
Everything he said was completely true, of course. Shortly after Caesar had run off, Joseph began to worry for his safety and, in doing so, had finally come to terms with how he felt for his dear friend and training partner. The crushing realization of Caesar’s death had shattered Joseph’s heart, leaving him with a hollow feeling that only the burning flame of revenge could fill in that moment. He did not wish to die in his fight with the pillar men, but had been fully prepared to do so if it was the only way to atone for what he put the man he loved through. To even his own surprise, he’d miraculously survived. Marrying Suzi was natural, and she accepted and understood how he felt about Caesar, often comforting him when he woke up from his nightmares crying over his dead love. Eventually, he quit his hamon training so that he could grow old alongside his wife- had Caesar been alive, he would gladly have continued the practice just to have more time with him. Without him, though, it just felt pointless to lengthen his life more than necessary…
“Jojo..” Caesar’s slightly surprised expression morphed into a smile that was half-amused and half-loving. “I already knew about that.”
Joseph blinked in surprise, a blush spreading across his cheeks under his beard. “You..You did..?”
Caesar laughed a little at how flustered the old man looked and nodded. “I’ve been watching over you all this time: I heard it every time you said those words when visiting my grave, as well as when you woke up from your nightmares and said it while apologizing over and over again.” His smile softened into something much more tender and loving, his arm moving to wrap around Joseph’s neck and shoulders. “My biggest regret, other than leaving you like that, was not telling you the same thing.” He pulled Joseph into a short but sweet kiss, holding him there for a moment before breaking away to look into his eyes again. “I love you, Joseph.”
“Caesar…” Joseph’s heart swelled with joy at Caesar’s confession. A big grin broke across his face. “God, we really were a couple of fools, weren’t we?”
“You speak as if you are not one anymore.” Caesar remarked with a grin of his own. Both of them soon broke into laughter as they held onto one another.
It felt like all of the weight he’d carried since his youth was suddenly lifted from his shoulders- no, from his very soul itself. He’d finally given Caesar the apology he deserved and, even better, he finally knew that his feelings for the handsome blond were not one-sided.
Pulling Caesar into another kiss, this one deeper than the first, Joseph allowed himself to feel completely and totally at peace. He of course still felt bad for leaving Jotaro behind to fight Dio, as well as a bit of guilt for leaving Holly and Suzi without either of them knowing the truth about what was going on, but he knew they would be okay in the long-run. He had wanted to be with Caesar for so long, it only seemed fair to both of them that they finally be together in the after-life.
“Caesar.” Joseph sighed when the kiss finally ended. “I missed you so much, I-” He tried releasing Caesar’s hand so he could place it elsewhere, but, to his surprise, Caesar’s form flickered back and forth between the mass of purple vines from earlier and his human state. “?!”
Caesar quickly grasped Joseph’s hand again, his form stabilizing back to normal. “Sorry..I can’t hold myself together unless we’re touching..”
Joseph looked from his hand, to Caesar’s face, then back down again. “Caesar..you..” His eyes widen as the realization fully dawned on him. “OH MY GOD!” He looked back up to Caesar’s face. “You’re Hermit Purple?!!!”
Caesar gave him a dead-pan expression. “Did it really take you that long to figure it out? It didn’t occur to you when you literally saw my body coming together?”
“Well- I mean, yeah!” Joseph floundered, still shocked by this new revelation. “I was just so surprised! How is that even possible?! I thought stands were manifested will or something- how the hell are YOU my stand?”
“It’s a long story that even I don’t have all the answers to..” Caesar relented after a tense sigh. “We might as well get comfortable while we talk- we still have some time left.” He tugged on Joseph’s hand while lowering himself onto the unseen ground. Joseph followed his lead and sat beside him. Caesar seemed to reconsider their position, though, as he crawled around behind Joseph and pulled him back by his shoulder, allowing Joseph to lay back half-way with his head resting on Caesar’s chest. He certainly wouldn’t complain about such a comfortable outcome.. “Do you remember when you fought Wham? You asked me to fight by your side one more time.”
Joseph nodded, his eyes flicking up to catch a glimpse of Caesar’s headband- the same headband that he had dawned while asking the other for support. “I didn’t know if you’d actually hear me, but it felt right to have you with me in some way…”
Caesar gently ran his fingertips along Joseph’s head, tracing the area his headband had been tied around years ago. “I did hear you when you called to me. My spirit was caught somewhere between this world and the next when I heard your voice calling my name. I decided to stay and watch after you, even if I couldn’t do much back then. Even after your fight, it felt right to stay and look after you.”
Joseph’s hand gently squeezed Caesar’s, stroking the back of it with his thumb. “Thank you..you didn’t have to, you probably should have moved on, but it made me feel better to think you were fighting alongside me..”
“I didn’t mind waiting for you.” Caesar’s fingers slipped into Joseph’s gray hair and ran through the short locks in a soothing motion. “Besides, you asked me to stay with you, but you never asked me to leave, so I thought I would simply stay with you like that until you passed away.” He frowned slightly. “Then..Dio returned..” He looked off into the distance, his eyes focusing on something that seemed far beyond the black nothingness around them. “He was inhabiting your grandfather’s body, and, when he gained his stand, it granted every Joestar the ability to do so, as well. Normally, a stand is a manifestation of its user’s will and fighting spirit- either existing alongside them since birth, or forming by being directly exposed to an outside force. Your family, however, was an exception as you were not born with stands and were not directly exposed to the source of the stand’s power like Dio was.” Green eyes closed briefly, as if he was remembering something. “Around the time Dio gained his stand, I felt something pulling me towards you- like some sort of invisible force. I also heard a voice, one I couldn’t describe, even if I tried, telling me that you would need help in order to survive what was to come…it told me that, if I was willing, then I could become that power you would need to fight and survive your battles, but I would lose what little freedom I’d had before if I agreed to it. I didn’t hesitate at all to become your stand.”
Joseph frowned, tilting his head back further to see Caesar’s face. “You gave up your freedom to become my stand? What does that mean?”
Caesar opened his eyes so he could return Joseph’s gaze. “Before, I could move around freely and as far as I wanted to. I also still had my same appearance from when I died. And before, I felt as if I could still, well, LEAVE if I wanted to. Afterwards, though, I was no longer allowed to go more than a few feet away from you at any time, I gave up my previous form, and now..while I still cannot fully explain how I know this, it feels as if my soul is tied to yours and I cannot move on until you do.”
“You gave up all of that for me..?” Joseph asked, reaching up to touch Caesar’s face gently with his hand. He was grateful, certainly, but he still felt guilty knowing that Caesar continued to sacrifice so much for him even after giving his life for Joseph.
Caesar placed a gentle kiss to Joseph’s hand on his face, his gaze caring but somehow protective, as well. “Of course. I had no plans to leave your side, anyway, and my looks were a small price to pay for your safety.”
“……” Joseph looked down. Caesar had given so much for him, never expecting anything in return and always making sacrifices when Joseph wasn’t around to see them. He was always such a show off… “So..now that it’s all over..are we going to cross over together..?” He was still a little frightened at the idea of being dead, but, if he had Caesar by his side, it wouldn’t be nearly as terrifying.
“No.” Caesar’s voice was steady, but it seemed to hold an underlying sadness to it. “It’s not your time yet.”
Startled by that news, Joseph quickly sat up and turned so that he was facing Caesar, adjusting his grip to make sure their hands remained linked. “What do you mean ‘not my time’? I’m DEAD! Dio killed me!”
Caesar frowned, looking away from Joseph’s questioning gaze. “It’s another one of those things that I cannot fully explain..but..I can feel it..” He gave Joseph’s hand a light squeeze, whether to offer comfort or from his own emotional state, Joseph couldn’t tell. “This is only temporary..you’ll be sent back soon..”
“No..” Joseph’s voice had a quiver to it as he shook his head. “No, no, no..! I don’t want to leave you again! I just got you back!” He wrapped his arm around Caesar, clinging to him. “Please..Caesar..I can’t lose you..not again..not after all this time..”
God, he felt so pathetic, clinging to Caesar like a spoiled child about to have his favorite toy taken away. He just..he couldn’t help it..this was all too much to deal with in one day. It wasn’t fair, damn it! He was finally reunited with his dearest friend, they’d apologized and made up for what happened, and he’d confessed his feelings for the other man and found out they were returned- why couldn’t he just be happy here with him now?!
“Jojo..” Caesar’s voice was gentle, patient, and so understanding, maybe even sympathetic to how Joseph felt in that moment. “There are still people back there that need you- your family and friends need you there a while longer. As much as I would love to have you here with me, neither of us can stop the fact that you’ll be sent back.” He wound his own arm around Joseph’s shoulders, his hand rubbing soothing circles into his back. “But..it’s not like this is goodbye. After all, I’m right here with you.” He raised their joined hands in indication. “Any time you need me, simply call on me. Any time you have something to say to me, I will hear you. And..while I cannot always get my messages through clearly..if you use me, then I will do my best to give you any advice and comfort you need.” He brought their hands closer to his lips and kissed Joseph’s hand. “I will be fighting beside you until your time finally comes, and then we will cross over together. I will wait as long as it takes.”
“……” Joseph still didn’t like that he wouldn’t be able to see or speak with Caesar directly anymore, but he knew that Caesar was right. “Okay..” He gently pressed their foreheads together again. “Mind if I make a selfish request before I have to go?”
Caesar gave him a soft smile, a chuckle catching in his throat. “As if you’ve ever asked for any other kind?”
Joseph couldn’t help smiling too, he missed Caesar’s witty comebacks. “True, true..” He held Caesar gently and laid back down with Caesar on top of him. “Could you…Could we, you know…kiss..?” His cheeks flushed a little under his beard again, feeling embarrassed for having to ask for it. “Until I’m forced to go back, I want to kiss you. That way I’ll have something good to remember and look forward to in the future.”
Caesar smiled more and moved his other arm into a more comfortable position. “Of course..and, when you die, I’ll greet you the same way when you come back here.”
“I wouldn’t want it any other way.” Joseph sighed as his lips met Caesar’s in a loving kiss. It was warm and passionate, as if they were both pouring decades worth of emotions into that intimate action. Perhaps that’s exactly what they were doing- catching up for lost time, as well as the time they would continue to miss until they saw each other again.
He didn’t know how long they stayed like that, lost in the warmth and love shared between them in that embrace, but Joseph didn’t care how long they stayed in that blissful state. After a while, though, he began to feel lighter, as if he was drifting away. He held onto the feeling of Caesar in his arms and against his lips as long as possible, until he felt the warmth returning to his body and his heart thrumming to life in his chest once again…
After making sure Dio’s body crumbled away to dust in the desert, Joseph went with his grandson to visit Polnareff in the hospital. They all had wounds that needed to be patched up, both physical…and emotional…
Joseph, being the least injured overall, volunteered to go get drinks for the three of them while Jotaro and Polnareff stayed behind in the room reserved for them by the Speedwagon Foundation. When he returned, he heard low voices, heavy with emotion and grief through the crack in the door.
“I..I still can’t believe..he’s actually GONE, you know?” Polnareff’s voice was thick with choked-back tears, Joseph could tell. “I keep expecting him to just-just pop up out of nowhere like last time and be like ‘It’s okay, Jean, I had to fake my death again because-’ and then he’d give me some stupid reason that I wouldn’t fully get, but it’d be okay because he’d..you know..be HERE…”
“…Yeah…” That was his grandson’s voice, nowhere near as choked up as Polnareff’s was, but still heavy with the words he always held back. “I…I get it…”
Joseph knew exactly how both of them felt. After all, this was the same way that he’d felt when he lost Caesar- hell, he’d even been around their ages when it happened, too. He wished there was something he could do to help them-
“I wonder…” Moving the drinks to one hand, Joseph looked down at his other hand. “Hey..Caesar..can you hear me..?” He summoned Hermit Purple’s vines and they twitched about for a moment before winding around his arm, as if to answer his question. “Good. I want to try something, and I think I’ll need your help for it.”
It was another ten minutes before he finally returned to the room, one hand holding their canned drinks and the other clutching something far more important.
When he walked in, Jotaro was the first to look at him. “What the hell took you so long, old man? You get lost?”
Joseph set the drinks down on one of the tables in the room, ignoring the jab that his grandson made at him. “Nope, I just had to find something.” He held up the other object in his hand for them to see.
“A camera?” Polnareff questioned with a confused expression.
“Yep.” Joseph answered while setting it down a few inches away from their drinks. “I figured there was something you boys might need to see.” He held his hand out above the camera. “Hermit Purple!” The vines appeared around his fist right before he slammed it down onto the camera. As usual, the camera broke from the impact, but it still managed to print out a picture. Retrieving the photo from the wreckage, he waved it around to help it dry quicker. “I’ll see if the SPW can make a copy of this later, but I can always just break another camera if I need to..”
Jotaro eyed his grandfather warily. “What are you going on about, old man?”
Joseph took a seat by the other two remaining members of his group, his expression serious but sympathetic. “I know what you’re both going through right now. You lost someone really special to you and it’s tearing you up inside to know that you might not ever get a chance to see or talk to them again.” At the surprised looks from both his stoic grandson and the usually happy-go-lucky Frenchman, Joseph looked down at the picture in his hands and the purple vines still wrapped around his arm. “When I was your age, I went through the exact same thing. I lost a really special guy that meant more to me than my stupid young brain realized until it was already too late. I was depressed, I was angry, and, above all, I was consumed with regret for my actions and the words that were left unsaid between us. I thought I’d never get a chance to see him again and apologize, or even tell him how I feel. But..well..I learned something pretty important recently..” He held out the picture for the other two to see, their eyes widening as they took in the image. “I learned that, if your connection with someone is strong enough, then they’ll probably stick around to look after you. Also, they can still hear you..and..knowing those two..I’m sure if you asked them to stay with you like I did for the guy I loved..well..I think they’d be happy to do that for you, too.”
He gave them time to absorb that information, as well as get a good, long look at the picture in his hand. The image showed the room they were in back when Joseph took the picture. There was Joseph by the table with his fist on the camera. There was Polnareff sitting up in his hospital bed. There was Jotaro sitting in the chair next to the bed.
But, there were also things shown in the picture that hadn’t been there before. Standing beside Jotaro with a hand on his shoulder was a green figure a bit shorter than Jotaro at his full height. Seated beside Polnareff on the bed was a red figure with its arms wrapped around him protectively. Then, right behind Joseph, there was a purple figure that was standing over him with one arm around his shoulders and the other slowly morphing into Hermit Purple’s vines as it rested atop Joseph’s outstretched hand over the camera.
Polnareff looked beside himself at the blank space where the picture showed the fire-red silhouette, his voice shaking. “A..Avdol..?”
Jotaro looked up to where the melon-green outline had been in the image, looking skeptical but still hopeful. “..Kakyoin…?”
Joseph smiled softly as he watched them. “Death sucks. No way around it. But..it’s not the end-all-be-all we’re afraid of. It hurts now, not being able to hear their voices or see them, but the ones we love are still with us, watching over us and waiting for us. If you’re ever in trouble, just ask them to fight alongside you. Trust me..it helps..”
The vines on his arm wriggled slightly, as if they were offering him comfort. They all had their own pain they would go through in the years to come. Some things may never stop hurting. Still..it helped to know that the ones they loved never really left their sides and that they would see them again, even if they had to wait decades to do so.
Joseph knew they would be reunited again. Someday…