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Joseph Joestar awoke on the cold sandy ground of the desert, and hauled himself up to a sitting position. He couldn't immediately sense anything wrong but he began to survey the campsite anyway, eyes adjusting to the dying light of yesterday's campfire. Seeing nothing strange he turned instead to count the crusaders. Kakyoin; check. Polnareff; check. Avdol; check. Jotaro-
Joseph jumped to his feet. Jotaro was gone, although his sleeping bag was oddly intact and there seemed to be no sign of a struggle. That made him feel somewhat calmer. Perhaps his grandson had just decided to go for a stroll.
In the middle of the night.
In an unknown place.
With possible stand users nearby.
Now Joseph was really starting to panic. Before he could get too caught up in his wild imagination however, a noise sounded to the west of the campsite, on the other side of a large sand dune that they had decided to camp at the foot of to try and get shelter from the setting sun. Joseph snuck closer to try and hear what was coming from the other side of the dune. Soon he had climbed enough that he could see over the crest of it.
Just on the other side of the dune, Jotaro sat cross legged, clutching his crumpled hat in his hands. His head was bowed and he was weeping softly. In front of him Star Platinum had manifested and with a gentle hand was diligently wiping away every tear that fell upon Jotaro's face. Joseph suddenly felt like an intruder witnessing a very private moment and made a movement to turn and go back down the hill. However Star Platinum had caught the movement out of the corner of their eyes and quickly dissipated into the night air, leaving the stand's user to turn and face the intruder himself.
"Go away, old man," Jotaro sniffed, hurriedly jamming his hat back onto his head. Joseph supposed he was in it now and might as well go the full way, so instead he strode over to Jotaro's spot in the sand and plopped down next to him.
"It's ok to cry," Joseph stated awkwardly and then internally cursed himself out for not being better at this sort of thing. Holly had been much easier. Just act silly and she'd cheer right up. Jotaro remained silent. "You know, it helped me a lot to talk out stuff to your grandma Suzy," Joseph offered.
"Talk about what," Jotaro grumbled.
"Oh that's right, you don't know," Joseph slapped the side of his own head.
"Know what?" the younger Joestar was getting fed up by this point.
"Remind me to tell you about the winter of 1938," joseph nodded. Then he paused before fishing his wallet out of his back pocket.
"Giving me a fucking break," Jojo sighed, "If you're gonna try n talk to me at least make sense, old man."
"Look, you remind me of you at your age," the older Joestar explained as he pulled out a worn photograph from his wallet. Jotaro reluctantly took a glance at it. The young man on the left in a strange face mask was obviously his grandfather, Jotaro recognized the ridiculously long striped scarf. However Jotaro couldn't place the other fair haired young man with his head thrown back in deep laughter; arm intertwined with Joseph's own.
"Ok," Jotaro said in a flat tone, "thanks for the weird talk, jiji, now go away." Joseph threw his hands up into the air.
"Augh! This sort of thing was always so much easier with Holly!" he exclaimed in an exasperated tone. Jotaro's frown deepened in annoyance.
"Be a lot easier if mom was here instead of me," Jotaro huffed. Joseph gave him a sidelong glance.
"Is that what you're worried about?"
"Is that- jiji, she's my mother," Jotaro replied.
"And my daughter, don't forget that!"
"Whatever," Jotaro pulled a cigarette out of his jacket and stuck it between his lips, still digging around for his lighter. Joseph frowned and used a little hamon to flick the cigarette out of the teens mouth.
"Jiji," Jotaro yelled in an exasperated tone.
"No, i want you to talk to me," Joseph pouted.
"Why should i do that," Jotaro snapped as he dug through the sand for the dropped cigarette.
"I really do know what your going through," Joseph replied in a softer more serious tone.
"Yeah yeah, winter of 1398, whatever that means,"
"1938, but yes."
"Fine. But only so you'll leave."
Joseph nodded for Jotaro to go on, finally satisfied with the teen's reply. They sat in silence for a moment while Jotaro lit his cigarette.
"What if- what if we don't make it," Jotaro said quietly, idly playing with the lighter in his fingers. He sounded so quiet and small then, Joseph tried to recall how small he had felt when facing his own fate.
"We'll make it," joseph blurted out in reflex, causing the younger jojo to huff and grit his teeth.
"Don't patronize me. what happens if mom dies?"
"Well... well then you'll move to New York to live with your grandma Suzie and I." he suggested. He was silent for a beat before gently adding, in a quieter voice, "It'll hurt. It'll hurt so bad you wont think you can feel anything else. but after awhile it'll hurt less every time you think about it, and then someday the pain will be almost all gone. then you'll be able to think about him- err holly, and remember the good times instead of the bad." Satisfied with his own answer Joseph nodded and got to his feet.
"But you wont have to worry about that because Holly will be fine. You'll see." He offered a hand to Jotaro but the younger Joestar waved it away.
"Don't stay up too late," Joseph warned before disappearing over the other side of the dune.
As soon as he was out of sight, Star Platinum reappeared next to Jotaro, a silent comfort in the long night.
******************************************************
Dio was dead.
Dio was dead but so were Iggy, and Avdol, and Kakyoin.
Deep breath.
Jotaro decided he had had quite enough of sitting, and got out to wander the hospital alone. He thought of talking to someone but he felt that any sort of serious talk with Polly would end with him feeling a lot worse than before. The guy could be real inconsiderate. So that left him with Jiji, and if he was being honest, that idea didn't seem so bad. So soon he stopped his aimless wandering and found himself standing outside the old man's room. Before he could decide otherwise he strode in and sat down on a chair. The noise made Joseph stir in his sleep and he blearily opened an eye.
"Couldn't sleep?" the old man asked. Jotaro grunted in response. Joseph sat up looking more awake by the second. Jotaro thought he looked resigned, and Joseph thought Jotaro looked like shit.
"Survivor's guilt," Joseph explained gently, leaning over to pat the younger Joestar's knee as grandparents are ought to do. The older Joestar looked lost in thought and Jotaro was suddenly reminded of the worn black and white photograph in his grandfather's wallet. He wondered what had become of the other boy with the weird purple triangles on his laughing face.
"What happened in 1938," Jotaro found himself asking without thinking. Joseph seemed shocked by the sudden question and promptly broke out into laughter. After he had calmed down he cleared his throat.
"Ok then, it started with your great great grandfather's best friend, Robert E.O. Speedwagon..."