Chapter Text
Dio tries to concentrate. After he sets his mind straight, he takes a huge intake of air and focuses on his breathing. Breathe in. Breathe out. He’s precise in his movements and he tries to replicate what he had seen Mr. Joestar had been doing every time he used his own hamon. Breathe in. Breathe out. He starts to get distracted as the birds start tweeting more loudly than usual. Breathe in. Breathe out. Dio scrunched his eyebrows in frustration. Breathe in. Breathe out. He doesn’t feel like anything is happening. Breathe in. Breathe out. Why wasn’t anything happening? Breathe in. Breathe out —
“ARGHH!” He seethes out in anger. He kicks the dirt beneath his feet before he sags in disappointment. Every year it was the same. How can Mr. Joestar make it look so easy? Perhaps he truly didn’t have the temperament for it…Why was he trying so hard anyway? What was the point of him learning hamon?
‘They’re idiots. All of them are! I could run this class better than he does!’ Dio thought to himself as he struggled to keep his anger hidden beneath his façade. He could’ve won as class president if it weren’t for Michael and everyone else that voted for the other.
“Dio, I have to admit, you were so cool out there! Your speech was awesome! If I hadn’t been running for class president, you could’ve gotten my vote.” Michael held his hand out for him to shake, but all Dio could see was red despite the other’s praise. He didn’t need their pity. The boy held a tight smile as he held onto Michael's hand in a firm grip. “Yes, likewise for you too.” Dio seethed out passive-aggressively. However, Michael started to laugh nervously when the boy hadn’t let go of his hand yet. “Dio…Uhm, you can let go now.” The grip became tighter. “D-Dio, this hurts. You need to let go.”
Then all of a sudden, the floor gave way as Michael was pushed down. The yelp of pain that came from the brunette snapped Dio out from his rage. The boy could see the pinpricks of tears that were threatening to fall from the other. “It’s just a punch. Get over it.” It seemed like it was the wrong response since Michael got up with a hurt look all over his face. “I was only trying to be nice. Y’know, this is why nobody voted for you. You're nothing but a bully!” Before Dio could respond again — the teacher finally came back.
He shakes his head, ignoring the pang of… something that came from thinking of the recent memory. He scowls. He was going to be a hero — they’ll see. He wasn’t a bully! He’ll prove it to them (and himself) by learning hamon! Giving up now would mean admitting defeat. He refused to think that he wasted his time on this. There must be some element that Dio was missing. Something that he’s been doing wrong, somehow, as much as it hurts to admit it.
With that thought, he gets hit with inspiration. He takes a step back to all the times he’d been practicing hamon. All this time, he'd been trying to emulate what Mr. Joestar was doing. But he became tired of following the same song and dance. ‘Perhaps I should stop trying to copy him and try a different way instead.’ He decides to test the idea out.
Dio concentrates once again, and instead of simply focusing on his breathing, he focuses instead on the familiar anger that boils through his veins.
...For some odd reason, he vaguely remembers someone else doing the same. Wind blows through his hair, and if Dio listened intently, it was almost as if he could hear a ghost of a whisper. (A flash of blue hair. A fear like no other gripping his entire being. “̵̭̥́͆ D̴̟̂i̶̖̲̓͋ö̵͕…̷̯͆̆”̴̯̬̈́ The hazy nightmare fills him with dread. He’d stolen something.) A sense of deja vu fills him. Who was it again? He breathes as he tries to picture the feeling of light burning through his body and —
He opens his eyes as a gasp startles him. Dio’s breath gets caught up in his throat and he whips his head towards the sound.
It was Ms. Suzie. She must’ve come by to call him for breakfast. Her eyes were widened in shock as she had set aside the tray she had been holding on a nearby table.
“Joseph! You never told me that Dio was a hamon user too!” Suzie uttered out in dejection. The man in question had only been drinking his cup of coffee peacefully in the kitchen when Suzie called out to him. Joseph didn’t register it at first as he continued to sip from his drink. “Why yes — WAIT WHAT?!” He frantically puts his mug down and he runs out to see it for his own eyes.
Joseph then enters Dio’s line of vision and he could only stare at the two in annoyance. Why were they gaping at him like that? They both look like fools! “What? What do you mean by Hamon…user…” It seems like it was his turn to be surprised. He trails off in shock at the small patch of grass and flora beneath his feet. What had previously been a mere patch of dirt, was now brimming with life on its own. That certainly hadn’t been there before, has it?
Joseph widened his eyes at the patch of grass. “I-Incredible…” Never in his life had he seen someone grow this much flora from their hamon alone in their first try.
"I-I did this?” Dio uttered out in surprise before he shook his head. He stood confidently and grinned. “Of course! Now you have no choice but to train me, Mr. Joestar!” However the confident grin wears off as he noticed that the old man hadn’t moved from his spot yet. “Mr. Joestar?”
The old man promptly passes out and Suzie catches him before he falls to the ground with a bit of difficulty. “Joseph!”
⊰☆⊱┈──╌ •| ⊱★⊰ |• ╌──┈⊰☆⊱
Dio stared questioningly towards Joseph before he scoffed. ‘Stubborn old man,’ He thought as he watched the man get up again with no concern for his well being. “Are you sure that you’re well enough to start my training?” The old man simply grins and steps outside along with him. “Of course. Before we begin however…I just want you to focus on your hamon. I want to see what kind of hamon that I’m currently dealing with and I’ll form your training around it. Whaddya say?” Dio tilts his head at that. “What do you mean?”
“Well, hamon can manifest in many different ways. It has a very versatile nature — I’ve seen a few hamon users who could only use hamon offensively. Some the opposite where they’re only able to heal. But psshhh!” Joseph waves nonchalantly before he returns back to his original demeanor. “Why should I bore you with all the details if I could let you try it out yourself?”
“Try focusing on your hamon again.” Dio nodded confidently and proceeded to do as instructed. He takes a deep breath and —
— he finally sees the light for the first time. He widened his eyes in awe as he witnessed his own hamon. The light ripples like electricity throughout his entire body and an aura similar to fire surrounds Dio’s frame. “Look, Mr. Joestar! I’m doing it!” He boasted proudly before he stopped. Joseph hums thoughtfully towards the display and a new idea enters through his head. “Very nice! Looks good so far. Allow me to test something, will you?”
Dio tried to hold back his excitement at the prospect of learning something new. “Go on with it. I am quite intrigued with what it is you have in store with me.” Joseph was unfazed at the boy’s quirks by now and the old man proceeded to reveal something shiny coming from his pockets. Dio watched curiously as Joseph brought a blade out, bringing it closer and closer to his wrist until the old man suddenly slashed it deeply. Blood frantically drips down from the gash onto the grass below. Dio scowled; was Mr. Joestar trying to get himself killed? “You fool! Has the fall turned you senile?”
Joseph was indifferent to the boy’s growing anxiety. “Trust in the process, Dio.” Joseph brought the injured wrist in front of Dio as an unreadable look washes over the old man’s face. “You want to learn Hamon healing, don’t you? Try healing this and prove to me that you are worthy of being trained. From the amount of blood that I am losing right now, you have about one minute before I lose consciousness.”
Dio immediately started to get to work at that. ‘What to do, what to do.’ His mind continued to chant at him. ‘Breathe. Focus on your hamon and try to channel it onto his wounds.’ He thought as he moved closer to Joseph to let his hands hover over his injured wrist. Dio tried to control his breathing but the blood that was running down Joseph’s wrist didn’t exactly remind the boy of anything good. (Images of blood splatters and dead bodies started to pile up in his head.) Dio couldn’t seem to focus. His plan was failing as he started to breathe erratically, failing to muster up any hamon to save Mr. Joestar.
Despite his calm exterior, inside he was anything but calm. He didn’t realise that his hands were beginning to shake as it hovered over Joseph’s bleeding wrist. A clock was ticking in his head as he counted the seconds that passed by. ‘...30…31…32….’ Ice cold dread began to fill the boy. He was going to run out of time at this rate. If he didn’t get himself together now, he’ll fail and Mr. Joestar will be disappointed and, and —
A strong hand was then placed onto his shoulder, grounding him and snapping him out of his thoughts. “Dio. Focus.” Joseph started to breathe rhythmically and Dio followed his example until he completely calmed down. The thoughts that plagued the boy faded away the more he thought of the task at hand. He was going to heal Mr. Joestar. He will heal Mr. Joestar. A new determined resolve shot through him and Dio began to control his breathing. A bright light filled the area as Hamon travelled onto Dio’s hands.
Before his very eyes, Dio watched as the old man’s wound closed up ever so slightly until all that was left was a small gash. While it wasn’t fully healed, it was certainly an improvement. Dio deflates when he sees that the gash didn’t close up despite his best efforts. “Hm, guess I was right. You do have an affinity for healing.” Joseph muttered out. Dio placed his hands back to his sides. “I failed you, didn't I? I couldn't fully heal you.”
“Dio, what are you talking about? This is more than I expected!” A grin was threatening to take over the old man as he cradled his wrist. “I didn’t say that you should fully heal me, did I?” The boy nodded slowly, comprehending the information into his head. “Well, either way, you proved to me that you are worthy of being trained.”
“I —” Before Joseph could finish his statement, Suzie came in with a furious scowl. While she wasn’t watching the whole interaction she had seen enough to draw her own conclusions. She stomped over to them and took notice of the puddle of blood on the grass. “Joseph! What were you thinking? You could’ve gotten yourself seriously hurt if it weren’t for Dio’s healing.” While the boy preened at the slight praise, Joseph on the other hand shifted sheepishly. “Well, it worked out in the end, didn’t it?”
Suzie sighed exasperatedly. “Come on, let’s patch the rest of your wound up before it gets any worse. Dio, you can go back to your room while I patch Joseph up.” The boy gave Ms. Suzie an affirmation as he watched the two head back inside the house.
Once they left, the boy felt cold indifference wash through him as he sank into his thoughts. Mr. Joestar had been acting peculiar the whole day, even more so than he usually was. The old man had always placed his heart against his sleeve, always laughing with his exaggerated movements. He wasn’t the type of person to hide his expressions often. ‘So why did he look at me with those eyes?’ He shifted frustratedly when he remembered the indecipherable expression he wore. He couldn’t come up with an answer.
⊰☆⊱┈──╌ •| ⊱★⊰ |• ╌──┈⊰☆⊱
“Why did you do that?” Suzie asked as she held a wash cloth in her hands. Joseph held his wrist out to her as he sat onto the chair next to her. “Why did I do what?” He questioned in order to make her elaborate. “That.” She pointed towards the small gash that she’s currently cleaning off.
“It’s nothing. I got it handled, Dio managed to heal me anyway which is what I’m trying to prove!”
“Did you really have to go through those lengths to prove it? You could’ve just made a smaller cut and made him heal that instead of handing him your life.”
“Well it’s not a big deal anymore. It happened already. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“...Is something the matter, Joseph?” The old man tensed at those words as his mouth clamped shut. “Eh? What gave you that idea? Nothing’s bothering me, Suzi. I swear with my fingers crossed!”
Suzie observed him for a while longer before she gave up entirely, her shoulders sagging. “Alright, if you say so…” She finishes patching Joseph’s wrist with bandages. “You’re good to go, my dear.”
“Don’t worry about me or Dio, okay? I got it handled. You can trust me, Suzi.” The woman nodded hesitantly.
Joseph heads back to Dio, however, the boy was already there. He was leaning against the door frame while watching the scenery outside. Before the old man could ask what he was doing here, Dio had beaten him to it. “I’m not sure what it is you’re doing but whatever it is — stop. Stop trying to scare me away from Hamon training. I’m not going to stop practicing anytime soon.” The old man freezes at being caught, his eyes widened before he reverted back to his previous façade. “What makes you say that?” The boy raised his eyebrows at his question. “Your reaction proved it to me already. Look, I do not care for whatever mental baggage you have. Whatever it is, just leave me out of it next time. Got it?” The old man couldn’t even respond since the boy had walked away as soon as he had finished.
‘Was I truly that obvious?’ He thought to himself dejectedly. ‘Suzie and Dio had me figured out completely.’ He had been trying to scare Dio away from Hamon training. Don’t misunderstand him, it’s not that Dio was incapable of learning Hamon, it's just…
(His grandfather died on a burning ship. Loggins, dead on the ground. A cross fell down upon his best friend. Lisa Lisa being gravely wounded due to Kars. Himself, losing an arm and almost losing his life against the Pillar men.)
It seemed like misery clung tightly onto all the Hamon users Joseph had known and met. Did he really want to make a life-long commitment into training a student under the ways of Hamon? It was nerve-wracking even thinking about it, but —
(He remembers the spars and the golden light that surrounded himself and Caesar. He could almost hear the melody of laughter and irritation that followed after. He could remember Lisa Lisa’s fond smiles as well as meeting Suzie for the first time.)
Then the old man remembered Dio’s earlier words.
The possibilities that things can change were immense. He had a lot of time to kill and he was still alive, wasn’t he? He didn’t need to ask himself any further questions, for he already knew the answer.
⊰☆⊱┈──╌ •| ⊱★⊰ |• ╌──┈⊰☆⊱
The next few weeks were dedicated to simply teaching the boy the basics of Hamon healing. Eventually, it had become a routine of sorts. Once a week, Dio would train outside along with Joseph. Since the old man can’t actively hurt himself over and over again for the sake of getting Dio to practice healing, he decided on an alternative.
“No.” Dio huffed out while crossing his legs on the chair. Joseph grinned uneasily at his answer while the injured SPW Foundation personnel (His name was John, but Dio didn’t care to get to know him.) held onto his bruised arm dishearteningly. “I know that things between you and the Foundation aren’t exactly ‘good’ right now, but —”
“You really want me to heal a member of an organization that tortured me for two weeks straight?” John shifted nervously at the boy’s cold statement. “It’s okay, Mr. Joestar, you don’t have to —” The personnel stopped when Joseph raised a hand towards him.
“Are you really going to judge this man as evil based on an incident that wasn’t even caused by the Foundation itself? Not everyone on the Speedwagon Foundation was out to get you, Dio. Besides, you get to progress on your Hamon training faster this way.” However, Joseph starts to take a step back along with John while raising his hands up in surrender. “But I get it, this was a bad idea. I didn’t mean to push you, Dio —” The old man was interrupted. “Wait.”
The boy clicks his tongue in annoyance, the more he thought about the advantages of not having to wait anymore on his training made the boy think. “You’re lucky that I am in need of an injured weakling like you, else I would have found some other way to heal someone without having Mr. Joestar hurt himself like an idiot.” (“You call me the nicest of things, Dio.” Joseph uttered out sarcastically while the boy rolled his eyes. “You owe me for this.”)
Once Dio started getting used to seeing injured SPW personnel coming by, the less paranoid he became that they were going to try anything against him. While he still doesn’t care all too much about their personal lives, it’ll still be good for him to form alliances among the SPW Foundation employees for future uses.
However, after a few weeks have passed by, the routine that they had started to become stale to Dio’s taste. His healing skills were superb, while certainly not at its best yet, it was becoming less and less of a challenge to heal wounds and other ailments to Dio’s disappointment. He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. ‘There must be more to this, right?’ He smiles excitedly when he finally comes up with a new way to challenge himself.
⊰☆⊱┈──╌ •| ⊱★⊰ |• ╌──┈⊰☆⊱
“Teach me how to use hamon offensively.” Joseph jumped and swore in surprise when Dio came out of nowhere. The boy hid his smirk but the old man could clearly see the crinkle of amusement in the boy’s eyes. “What? You want to learn offensive hamon?” He parroted back as if he, himself, was processing the information given to him. “Yes. Have you gone deaf too?”
“Okay, cut it out with the attitude, Dee.” (Dio blinked in surprise at the sudden nickname, but he didn’t question it.) “I heard you loud and clear. If you keep this up, I might not teach you instead.” The old man said jokingly. However, Dio’s eyes widened in distress when he didn’t get the joke. “W-Wait, I —” The boy fumbled for excuses.
It almost looked like Dio was about to cry. “Oh sh — I mean, I’m kidding, Dio! Kidding!” The frown that the boy wore changed to a smirk at how quickly the man folded. Joseph could only huff in an exasperated tone. “You were pulling my leg there. Well, either way, I was thinking of taking your Hamon training to the next level.”
Joseph goes back inside the house and Dio watches him curiously as he goes out of view. He was intrigued to say the least, he was finally getting somewhere with his goals. The boy snaps his attention back to Joseph as the old man finally comes back with a training dummy in his arms. He places it onto the ground and the old man props the dummy up.
“Alright! Go ahead and try to punch this dummy here. Let’s see what you got!” Dio nods once again but this time, he tries to reach for that familiar anger. He takes a deep breath and —
(Suddenly, he pictures the feeling of falling, of wind in his hair and…) The boy furrowed his eyebrows and shuddered in slight nervousness at the vivid image that flashed through his mind. He didn’t want to entertain that thought anymore but no matter what he did, it seemed like it persisted in his thoughts.
( S̴̳̈́U̷͑͜Ņ̷̎L̵̰̄I̵̩͛Ǵ̷͜H̵̡̎T̴̢̏ ̸̰̕Ẏ̸̧E̴͎͐L̵̖͌L̵̼̕Ó̸̹W̶̹͆ ̷͍͗Ö̶͖V̴̳̊E̷͙̚R̷̞͝D̶̥̊R̴̥̅I̷̲̓V̴̗̒Ȩ̵̐!̵̥͌”̸̭͑ ̸̲̅A̶̪͊n̷̺̈́d̴̦̏ ̶̺͒D̷͚̎i̶͎̇ô̶͈ ̸̢̔f̸̡̅a̵̮͛l̸͎͊l̴͈̕s̷͙̅ ̸̘͘a̵̪͠s̴̟̾ ̶̙̉h̶̦́e̷̹͋ ̸͖́w̴̘̆a̸̫̔t̶̘́c̴̘̑h̵̀ͅe̵̘͆s̷̔ͅ ̴̦̕t̶͍̓h̵͓͐ê̶̹ ̵͇̅m̴͍͗à̶̩n̷̬̒ ̷̞͆h̶͙̉e̸͉͛ ̶̧͑r̴̛͜e̶̥̚s̴̯̅p̵̝̂ẽ̸͉c̵̻̅t̸͔̋e̷̺̔d̶͖̕ ̸̹́t̴̅ͅḧ̴͖́ẻ̸͈ ̶̨̈m̸̧̓ȏ̸͍s̸̗͘ṱ̶̛ ̵̼̀s̵̫̽t̷͕̀a̷̢̅n̴̙̊d̷̦͗i̵̱̚n̷̻̐g̸̤͐ ̶̖̅t̴͕̔ã̶͍l̵̮̓l̸̡̀.̴̼̋ The image blurs in the boy’s head and the thought muddles into that of Joseph Joestar. “HAMON OVERDRIVE!”)
He opens his eyes and he breathes. In a huge burst of light, Dio screams from the bottom of his heart. “STARLIGHT OVERDRIVE!” A ball of concentrated hamon forms around his hands and he punches the dummy with all his might. Joseph watched in surprise at the technique and —
The dummy is only slightly pushed before it stands upright once again.
“...Snrk.” Joseph couldn’t hold back his amusement. “...Don’t laugh!” The boy seethes in rage, lightly punching the old man over and over. Once Joseph had gotten his composure, Dio relented in his efforts. “S-Sorry — that was a bit anticlimactic but don’t worry, Dio! For your first try, that was all that I expected. However, I do believe that there’s quite a lot of potential with your style of hamon.”
Dio saw a hint of curiosity over taking the old man. “Starlight Overdrive, was it? Now where did you get that from?”
“I do have to admit that it was mostly inspired by your Hamon Overdrive move, I simply converted it into my own style.”
The old man thinks back to the display he had seen earlier. “Hmm…Hey, I have an idea…”
⊰☆⊱┈──╌ •| ⊱★⊰ |• ╌──┈⊰☆⊱
Dio focuses on his hamon again and aims towards the dummy from a far. “Star Launcher!” At his shout, he sent out an array of concentrated hamon towards the dummy. Since the boy was still practicing his aim, most of the bullets missed their target. However, since Dio had thrown multiple shots in one go, there were still plenty of chances for him to hit his target.
Eventually, one manages to land a hit and the force topples the dummy over. Dio gasped in awe before he breathed out a laugh of excitement. “Yes! I suppose you were right, Mr. Joestar. This is way more effective than throwing one single punch. How did you come up with such a thing?”
A nostalgic glint washes over Joseph. “Your Hamon reminded me of…something. I had to at least try if you were capable of projectile-style hamon.”
“Looks like your hunch paid off. I can’t wait to try my own ideas on this!” As the boy left to tinker with his own Hamon, Joseph watched him from a far as the boy experimented. Dio focused on his Hamon again and threw multiple balls of concentrated hamon again at the dummy. It almost looked like…
“Y’know, as it’s thrown, it almost looks like a shooting star from afar…” He comments absentmindedly as he sees the blazing trail of light coming from each and every shot.
Joseph could feel himself smile as he reminisced on Caesar’s bubble hamon. It was projectile based too, wasn’t it? Then at that thought, the old man guilty shifted his gaze towards the ground in shame.
Joseph shakes his head. No, it wasn’t fair that he was projecting the image of someone else onto Dio. It wasn’t fair. He was his own person now; Dio isn’t Caesar and Caesar isn’t Dio. They are so far from each other. Hell — Dio wasn’t even the same person he was before. He’d gotten over this already.
The old man turned his attention back to Dio who was near a small pond. It seemed like the boy was trying out something new. Joseph observed as Dio tried his best to keep the water inside the cup, holding it upside down. However, in doing so, the action caused its contents to splash back down onto the pond. The most vexed expression spreads across Dio’s face at his blunder and he immediately tries a different approach to his problem by trying again. In his next try, the water stayed in the cup for longer before it fell back down onto the pond.
Joseph watched it all with wonder. Dio truly did have the affinity for Hamon. ‘To think that if Dio had turned to hamon instead of vampirism…’ He would’ve been one hell of a hamon user to beat. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of man Dio would become in the future, he just hopes that teaching Dio wouldn’t be a mistake.