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No One Lives Forever- CH6

(AO3 link)

Stardust Crusader Wolf Pack AU

[From the beginning- CH1]

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Jotaro is woken up by the gentle rays of the sun shining through the only window of the room, feeling not necessarily more well rested than usual but calmer. Contented. You are still asleep when he turns to face you. Neither of you had moved much during the night but he’s surprised your hands are still linked together on top of the blankets. He takes a second to decide if he really wants to be awake right now, he’s not used to feeling happy to wake up next to someone else. But ultimately, he’s not tired enough to fall back to sleep and it feels creepy to just stare at someone while they sleep. So, he carefully separates his hand from yours and gets ready for the day.

Exiting the attached bathroom after finishing his morning routine he sees that you’ve also woken up. Well maybe ‘awake’ isn’t the right word. You’re sitting up in the bed but he can’t see if your eyes are even open with how low your head is hanging, your hair obscuring your face. You seem to sense him getting closer and lift your head, only one eye open and squinting at him. Jotaro can’t help the chuckle that slips past his lips, it seems you are not much of a morning person.

“It’s still early. Go back to sleep.”

You have no arguments to this. With a sigh and a flop, you move yourself to the center of the bed and curl all the blankets and sheets around you. Jotaro catches a mumbled “OK. Thanks,” as he picks up his half-torn hat from the night stand and leaves the room.

He’s not surprised to see that Avdol and Kakyoin are already awake and enjoying the start of their day in peace and quiet, counting down the moments till Polnareff and Joseph wake up. Hmm, he should have warned them to be quiet before he went to bed last night. Then again, he didn’t really stick around after dinner to talk things out with his pack. The blood rushes to his cheeks and he tilts his head down so the brim of his hat can shield him. Good grief, they must think he’s some love-struck pup. One girl shows up and he drops all responsibilities to follow after her…

“Ah! Jotaro!” Joseph doesn’t exactly shout at him, but it’s close as the older man walks down the hall, Polnareff following behind him. “Good to see you’re up! You disappeared on us last night.”

“Well can you blame him? Who wants to hang out with us when there is a pretty girl in your bed?”

Jotaro growls a bit at Polnareff, “Don’t be perverted. Both of you knock it off.”

“Easy son, we’re just kidding. Right Pol?” Joseph elbows the platinum blond hard in the stomach. It was one thing for him to tease his grandson, but Pol had a habit of taking things too far. Better to nip this in the bud before they get into a real fight over it. Pol wheezes out a half-hearted apology and Joseph turns back to Jotaro with a more serious look in his eye.

“All joking aside, we do need to discuss this. As a pack.”

Jotaro nods and gestures for the other two men to make their way to the lounge. Once everyone is seated Joseph begins, “So. As exciting as yesterday was, we need to do some damage control and planning. We need to figure out if this was just a rogue group or if they had purpose for being this far out away from towns.”

“Avdol said (y/n)’s wounds were from small shot, and not a killing blow.” Kakyoin added, “But the pellets were silver. Someone was hunting wolves specifically. And planning on taking them captive.”

“We need more information. I’ll lead Polnareff and Gramps back to where I left the hunters. We can see if there are any more clues to who they were.” Jotaro stands as he announces the plan, “Kakyoin, Avdol. Hold down the fort here. I’m trusting you two with…”

“Ah, I see how it is. You don’t want me around for my amazing tracking skills- non! You just don’t want two, what did you call us? Perverts? Around the little lady.”

With a sigh, Joseph starts forcibly pushing Polnareff out the front door. “We’ll be outside Jotaro. Someone needs a lesson on what is appropriate to joke about so early in the morning.” The front door closes with a slam and a muffled smack is heard soon after.

Jotaro shakes his head and exhales loudly out his nose. “Well, he’s half right. Except I do need his tracking skills for this.” He catches the smirks from the remaining two men. “We won’t be too far out I don’t think. Howl if anything goes wrong, we’ll keep an ear out.”

“Same to you. Good luck finding what you need.” Avdol bids him farewell and Kakyoin gives a small wave farewell as Jotaro joins the other two outside.

Polnareff is holding the back of his head and looking more downcast than when he was inside, the older alpha must have dished out some discipline to the younger man. “Hey, Jotaro. No hard feelings, right? I was only joking.”

“It’s fine. This whole situation just has me on edge. Just… don’t.”

“Ah, no worries mon amie! I promise I won’t make anymore jokes about our new packmate.”

“New packmate? Hmm. We’ll need to discuss that later. First things first.” Jotaro motioned with a nod to the forest in front of them. “I’ll take lead getting us there. I left them by the lake but think we need to bring some shovels just in case. That ecosystem can’t handle all of the bodies at once.”

Gathering up some shovels and rope the three men made their way into the forest, backtracking the smell of blood past an outcropping of rocks then turning sharply to the south. The trip took about a half hour on foot, covering up the blood trail as they went to prevent any nosy hikers or forestry department personnel from following it. Finally, they reached their destination, not far from the clearing where you first saw Jotaro in his beastly form.

The remains from the four werewolf hunters were scattered over the forest floor, and although Jotaro had been fast at dispatching them, he was also brutal. Savage bites and claw marks indicated that all four were assuredly dead before Jotaro left them, none of them had bled out. Small scavengers had already made a meal out of the easy pickings, by the scent of the trail it must have been a few coyotes.

Polnareff goes up to the nearest body and starts rummaging in the pockets, Jotaro and Joseph follow his lead. Gathering wallets, extra ammo, and gear they bring what they find to a clear spot not to far away, making sure to keep the belongings separated according to which body they were found on as per Polnareff’s instructions.

As Jotaro searches through the pockets of the last hunter, something seems off to him about this body. None of the others had smelled like anything supernatural, the opposite; they had smelled just of silver and wolfbane. “Gramps, Pol. Come take a look at this one. Or a smell I should say.” The other two meet him at the side of the corpse. “You guys ever smell something like that? It’s not coming from him, more like he touched something and it stuck to him.”

“Hmm, that is weird. He doesn’t have any gear that is giving off that smell, does he?” Joseph crouches down to get a better look at the man. “Pol? Hey Pol, snap out of it!”

Polnareff seems to be in shock from the scent that is clinging to the dead hunter, “I… I know that smell. I had hoped to never catch a whiff of him again!”

“You know it? Well spit it out man!” Joseph shouts, impatient with the younger man’s stalling.

“I met him years before I joined this pack. He called himself DIO!” Polnareff exclaims before grabbing Joseph by the shoulders, “That man; he’s pure evil. I’ve never met another creature like him before or since!”

“You said DIO? That can’t be! How would he have…” Joseph’s eyes go wide as he shouts back in Polnareff’s face, “OH MY GOD! That slimy son of a bitch! After all these years! All these centuries!”

“Old man, what are you talking about?” Jotaro basically pries Polnareff’s hands from his grandpa, both men so distracted that they don’t notice. “Who the hell is DIO?”

“I… I don’t know where to begin! Polnareff is right, he’s the living incarnation of evil! My grandfather, Jonathan, was killed by that bastard! And my father as well by his devoted followers!” Joseph clenches his fists and grits his teeth, “He is the enemy of all Joestars!”

“Hold on old man, you are saying that this guy, DIO, killed your grandpa? How do you even know he’s talking about the same guy? It’d be impossible for it to be him,” Jotaro looks between Polnareff and Joseph, “look, we will talk about this more at the cabin. For right now we need to focus. Besides the weird smell that may- or may not- be this mythical DIO guy, what else do we have to go on?”

Joseph takes a deep breath and collects himself, Polnareff however remains on edge as the cloying stink of magic remains in the air.  “You’re right son, you’re right. Ok, the guy over there had his wallet on him. Just his ID, some credit cards and some cash.” Joseph pulls out the items one by one from the wallet, replacing the cards and cash and keeping the ID out to look at.

Polnareff regains his focus and takes a closer look at the ID. Pulling out the wallets and IDs from the other hunters he studies each one. “The addresses, they are all from the boroughs around the city. Except smelly guy here, he’s from Jersey.”

“Gramps, hold onto those. We can do some research when we get back. Anything else?” Joseph nods to Jotaro and holds out some of the ammo collected from the hunter’s gear.

“Found extra shot on them, its all silver by the smell.”

“And I found this on the other guy over there.” Polnareff holds out a thin strap, made of some kind of flexible plastic with a large protruding box fitted to it. “It looks like it has a clasp. I’m going to see if I can get it working.” As Polnareff clicks together the clasp the box device beeps loudly in the stillness of the forest. A puff of air is released right before a static shock emits from the prongs hidden on the inside of the box. Quickly, Polnareff drops it to avoid being shocked and steps back. “Uggh. I think I’m gonna be sick. Smells like… concentrated wolfsbane.”

Once the initial shock is discharged Jotaro quickly unclasps the collar and deactivates the device. “We’ll take this stuff back with us, let Avdol and Kakyoin have a look. See if (y/n) recognizes any of them from their ID’s.” Surveying the area quickly Jotaro makes a decision, “We’re further from the lake than I thought. We’ll have to bury them all.”

The men make quick work of digging the shallow graves, barely an hour goes by before they are dumping the last body into a ditch. Polnareff makes sure to rip a piece of the fabric from the odd smelling man for further investigation. As they finish their grim work Jotaro picks up on his grandfathers’ pensive mood and unusual silence. “What are you thinking about, gramps?”

“Hmm. It’s that man, DIO. I know you don’t believe that the DIO Polnareff mentioned could be the same as the one who killed our ancestor, but the coincidence… That he’s another evil man named DIO that is now entangled in the Joestar bloodline? And the whole reason we’re here, at the cabin at all…”

“I agree with Mr. Joestar, the coincidence is too unlikely to not be fate. Non, there is something at work here.”

“You think the appearance of this DIO guy and the city getting more dangerous for wolves is connected somehow?” Jotaro pinches the bridge of his nose as he closes his eyes, “Polnareff, you said you met him years before you joined us. That would put the timing right around when wolves started going missing in the city.”

Joseph nods sagely at this connection made, “I’ll give Caesar a ring when we get back, let him and Suzie know we’re cutting this trip short.” He crosses his arms and snorts, “Even if this has nothing to do with DIO, these hunters were here to capture a wolf alive. They didn’t know we were here, which is more concerning cause it means their operation has escaped my notice! I’m Joseph Joestar! And they’ve been abducting wolves outside of MY CITY? Under MY NOSE?” The bristly hair on Josephs arms and face stand on end as he nearly triggers a shift in his anger.

Polnareff is not doing much better to contain himself, the memories of meeting the evil man replaying in his head. Combined with the knowledge of what the hunters were set out to do. “(y/n) said they drove her off the road yesterday. I’m going to take a walk and see if I can find the cars and more clues.” There is a deep growl permeating Polnareff’s words and Jotaro can tell he’s going to take the walk in his wolf form. “I’ll meet you back when I’m done.”

“Take the time you need to cool off Pol.” Jotaro nods at the blond in understanding, the gravity of the situation sitting heavily on everyone’s shoulders. “We’ll see if (y/n) knows anything else about these guys or what they were doing. She’s our only living link to this right now.” Polnareff sighs and nods back, already starting his shift into a massive white werewolf. He quickly picks up the trail the hunters left and sets out on his own.

Jotaro and Joseph follow the trail back to the cabin in silence.

The smell of bacon and eggs hits them as they walk through the front door. A quick look in the kitchen reveals its Kakyoin taking his turn to prepare the meal, you and Avdol are in the dining room setting the table for brunch. Avdol is the first to greet them, “Welcome back. Find anything of interest?” His eyebrows furrow, “Where is Polnareff? Did he not come back with you?”

“No, he went on ahead to check out the cars for clues.” Jotaro says, shaking his head. “We found some things… Lets talk about this after we eat.” Avdol just nods and makes his way to the kitchen to help Kakyoin. Jotaro turns to you and you feel his eyes sweep over you quickly. You’re still dressed in his borrowed night clothes as you have nothing to change into. “Your leg doing better today?”

“Yeah, much better. Just a little stiff, and Mr. Avdol helped me change the bandage already. I should be good as new in a few days.”

“Good. That’s good.” Jotaro sticks his hands in his pockets and leans back. “Like I said, you can stay as long as you need. We… well we’ll discuss it after breakfast, but there was some concerning stuff we found out there. And, I’d… We’d feel better if you stuck with us for a while.”

You frown a bit as the seriousness of the situation weighs on your shoulders, “That makes sense. Honestly, I’m not in a hurry to go wandering off on my own again. Its… nice. Being with other wolves again.” You smile at him and you swear there’s a hint of a smile on his face too before both of your attention snaps to the doorway where Kakyoin is carrying in a serving plate of food. Avdol and Joseph follow him in with the rest of the meal and drinks and you all sit down at the table. “Should we wait for Mr. Polnareff?” You ask looking around at the other men.

Jotaro shakes his head, “No. We don’t know how long he’s going to be gone. We’ll set him aside a plate and some leftovers.” Joseph nods in agreement before starting to pass around the food. The meal is eaten in near silence, Joseph and Jotaro’s tense mood spreading to the others. Once the meal is finished and leftovers put away the pack reconvenes at the dining room table.

Joseph lays the items they took off the hunter’s bodies in the center of the table, “This is the stuff we found on them. As you can see,” he gestures to the rounds of ammunition and the collar device they found, “they came prepared.”

“(y/n), can you tell us if you recognize any of these men?” Jotaro passes the IDs to you as Kakyoin and Avdol examine the other items more closely.

You study the faces and names closely but nothing seems familiar to you. Their photos are almost disturbingly normal looking, they look like average guys but they were capable of such violence? “No, I’ve never met them at all. At least not before yesterday.”

“That’s part of what has us so on edge actually.” Joseph lifts his chin to nod at the collection of gear on the table. “They were professional hunters then. You weren’t targeted for personal reasons. Just the nature of what you are.”

“What is the other concerning part then?” Kakyoin questions the alpha.

“We believe you were right when you deduced that they intended to take (y/n) with them alive. We found this,” Jotaro taps the band of the collar device with his index finger, “on one of the hunters. When the clasp is latched it releases concentrated wolfsbane and an electric shock.” You go pale as you wrap your arms around yourself for comfort. The rest of the pack looks pale and shaken as well, hard stares looking at the cursed device and glancing to you occasionally. “(y/n). We need you to tell us exactly what happened. Starting with where you came in contact with these guys.”

You nod and take a sip of your water before starting your summary of events. “I realized there was something wrong when I left the last town I stayed in; I think it was still in Pennsylvania at the time. I picked up some under the table waitressing job to make some cash and was on my way to see Niagara Falls for my next stop.” You look at the IDs laid out on the table again, pointing to one of them, “I noticed a white van pull out behind me, I think this guy was driving it. I remember his dumb Clark Kent looking glasses. Anyway, I thought it was just another driver at first, until I had to make a pitstop for gas. They must have been far enough back that I didn’t see them get off on the same exit, but when I got back to my car after paying, I saw the van pull around the side of the building.”

You blush and look down at the table, “I kind of panicked then, instead of getting back on the freeway I took some random turns in hopes I would lose them. I thought I did and just ended up driving for a few hours north. But then they caught up to me.” You put your arm on the table and rest your forehead in your palm, “I was looking for a good place to turn off and just fight them, but they ran me off the road before I could find a place. When I got out, I tried to run but they shot at me.” You pick your head up to look at Jotaro, his face set in grim determination as he listened to your account of events. “I guess you know the rest. Jotaro showed up after they shot me a second time and here we are.” You motion around you with your hands.

“Hmm. So they followed you on your way out of town yesterday morning. Had you ever seen them before? Maybe they were customers in the restaurant?” Kakyoin says as he studies the faces on the IDs.

“Its possible. Everyone seems to blend together when you work a job like that.”

“My question is: why did they target you? How did they figure it out that you weren’t human?” Joseph scratches his beard as he looks up at the ceiling. “They have this special gear for hunting wolves, maybe Polnareff will find something in the van?”

“I can’t imagine they caught me slipping up. I am usually very careful with how and when I shift. And I can’t think of anything that happened in public that would have drawn attention.” You shake your head as you examine one of the extra shotgun shells in front of you.

Jotaro taps you on the forearm to get your attention for his next question, “You said things were getting bad for lone wolves. We’ve heard similar rumors in the city, that’s why we are all the way out here. What else do you know about those rumors?”

“Hmm, well there are the normal things you hear about- runaways and lone wolfs having bad run ins with religious nuts. But for a few years now, it’s been more than just that. Whole families go missing sometimes, or someone just barely gets away and after a few weeks they’re gone too.” You shudder and hold yourself again at the memory of the horror stories you’ve heard. “They say it’s a new gang- they’re recruiting or trafficking or something. But the worst stories are about the boss. They say he’s a supernatural creature too- immortal and invincible. Calls himself a lord.”

“(y/n)… calls himself what. What is his name?” Joseph looks like he’s seen a ghost, face white as paper and eyes wide.

“They call him Lord DIO.”

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Author’s Note:

You were expecting a romance werewolf fic- BUT IT WAS I! DIO!

So this is going to turn into a full Stardust Crusade AU- but when I say AU I mean there are only hints of canon left.

Also, Polnareff, are you trying to upset your pack alpha before he leads you into the forest to the bodies of people he’s killed with only his grandpa as a witness?

Also- no hate intended for people from New Jersey lol. I’ve never even been there and I’m sure you are all lovely, but Pol has issues with you (at least in this fic)

No One Lives Forever- CH7

(AO3 link)

Stardust Crusader Wolf Pack AU

[From the beginning- CH1]

<Previous Chapter   Next Chapter>

It took Polnareff some time to cool off from the implications that the mysterious and frankly frightening man he met all those years ago was now behind some other shady business involving wolves, but by the time he reached the vehicles abandoned on the side of the road he was able to focus on the task at hand. Both were unlocked so it was easy to take a look inside the white van first. Opening the back door revealed the cargo area had been partitioned with metal cage sections like those in the backs of police cruisers.

Other gear was scattered around the back near the rear doors for easy access. Some more guns and ammo boxes and an overturned bin of the collar devices that they found on the bodies. Nothing really caught his eye but he took pictures on his phone for future reference. The keys were still in the ignition so he started up the vehicle and moved it off the main road to not draw unwanted attention.

It felt rude to go sniffing through your car, so after a brief look through the windows to confirm the hunters left no surprises, he opened the door and put it in neutral. With a few strong shoves he was able to rescue it from the shallow ditch it had been driven into. Your keys were also still in the ignition and luckily it started, but a few lights on the dash lit up- probably more internal damage than he first assumed from the crash. Driving slow and steady he was able to get it back to the cabin.

The slamming of the car door must have alerted the rest of the pack to his return, he saw Avdol peek through the window as he made his way to the door. Inside he was glad to see you moving about mostly unaided on your own, your wounds must be healing well thanks to Avdol’s expert care. Producing your car keys, he hands them over, “I was able to drive it back, but I don’t think it’s up for any longer distances without repairs. I thought you would want your things back though.”

You sigh as you realize you really are stuck with this pack, not that you mind them but the sudden loss of freedom is disheartening. You thank him as you take back your keys.

“Pol, did you find anything else? Any link to who sent them?” Jotaro asks as everyone stares intently at him, the rest of the pack must have already been brought up to speed on the situation.

“Just more of the same gear. I moved their van off the road so no nosey troopers get involved, at least not right now. Took some pictures of the inside in case you guys see anything I missed.” Polnareff hands over his phone to Jotaro who scrolls through the images before handing it to Avdol. Walking over to the table where the hunters’ things are still laid out Polnareff absently fiddles with the extra ammo before picking one up to examine more closely. “Hmm, that’s odd. There are no makers marks on this?”

“What do you mean?” Joseph scratches his beard as he holds one up as well.

“It’s weird that there’s no markings whatsoever. Silver bullets are always homemade but the quality of these, they look mass produced but have no manufacture marks.” Polnareff’s face is grim as he makes the connection.

“What does that mean? Is that unusual?” You ask as you try to understand the significance.

Jotaro sighs as Polnareff hands him the piece he was holding. “It means this group of hunters is experienced enough not to leave evidence linking to them. And their operation is probably much more complex and much bigger than the group we encountered here. The tech, the mass manufacture of silver ammo…”

“And the van was modified for prisoners.” Polnareff shakes his head and sighs.

“Polnareff, you said before you recognized the smell of one of the hunters.” Jotaro rolls his eyes as Joseph lets out a fake cough that sounds a lot like ‘DIO’. “Ignoring who it may or may not be for now, how do you know that scent?”

“I don’t know how else to describe it other than it smells like magic. It’s like nothing else I’ve ever smelled. There was only one person I’ve ever encountered that smelled like that.” Polnareff sits heavily in the nearest chair as the pack reconvenes at the table. “It was about five years ago now, before I met you Mr. Joestar. I was in New York City for the first time, trying to follow a lead on a case but having no luck. I heard rumors of a man who knew what had really happened to… in the case.” Polnareff gets a little choked up but controls himself and continues. “I was able to set up a meeting, but when I went to the spot, everything kind of… shifted? It felt like I was in a dream: it was hard to move, like weights on my feet. Everything looked just slightly wrong too, hazy like in a fog. I remember there was some sort of party going on, a lot of people everywhere like a medieval banquet or something. That’s where I met him. He introduced himself as Dio and I could tell he wasn’t human but couldn’t place what he actually was. He claimed he had the information I needed, but it would come at a price.”

“What do you mean by ‘investigation?” you tilt your head in confusion as you try to analyze his story so far.

“Ah, you wouldn’t know yet chérie but I’m one of the best private investigators in New York, probably the whole east coast!” Polnareff brags, jabbing his chest with his thumb.

“Focus Pol! What was his ‘price’?” Joseph groans out, exasperated with the younger man’s need to show off. “And why did you even need supernatural help? Not to inflate your ego any more than it is, but you are a good investigator.”

Polnareff looks down to the table, all sense of cheerfulness gone from his face. “The case had gone cold. It’s actually the reason I became a PI in the first place. My family, the whole town… they were murdered!” He slams his fists on the table as he shouts. “And not by just some maniac in the night! It was something inhuman! That’s the reason why I needed his help or whatever info he had on who did such a terrible act.”

You are frozen to your chair in shock with this new information. It seems to have taken the younger members of the pack by surprise too, Joseph and Avdol only nodding along in understanding. “The whole town murdered? You don’t mean…The one north of Quebec City, that was your home?” you say quietly.

Polnareff’s eyes shoot to yours, “Oui! Do you know of it?”

You swallow nervously as all the attention turns on you, “I heard of it, that was about seven or eight years ago right?” Polnareff nods and you continue, “That was about time I left my parent’s territory to try and find or start my own pack. They made me promise to not go that far north to Quebec, they were afraid whatever did that would get me too. They say the whole town was… torn apart.”

Polnareff hangs his head and you can see tears gather in his blue eyes. “Yes. It’s been years now but the pain… I wasn’t there when it happened, I was off in Quebec City partying while my family… When I got back, I was the one who found them. It wasn’t just a burglary gone bad or even ‘normal’ murder. Whatever killed them had used silver to do it. All of them, the whole town,” he chokes on his words trying to get the next ones out, “some of the bodies were eaten. Not by animals, by something almost human. I didn’t rest for days afterward. I swore I would hunt down the thing, the demon that did this to them. Unfortunately, I was not as good a tracker then as I am now, and the trail grew cold fast. So, I became a PI to try and keep looking and hone my skills.”

“That Dio guy, did he help at all? You said his help came at a price.” Jotaro directs the conversation back to the mysterious encounter.

“His price was too steep. He wanted information about other supernatural beings, to keep tabs and report to him directly.”

“Do you think he really did have the information though?” Kakyoin questions as he steeples his fingers together in front of him while he considers the information of Polnareff’s story.

Polnareff shakes his head, “It’s impossible to know now. He was so confident, about everything. I think I surprised him when I refused though. For a moment, it was like I saw his true face through the fog, he was suddenly terrifying and not at all charming. But I figured if he knew something, with all the people he had surrounded himself with someone else was bound to know as well. Whatever secret knowledge he had, it wouldn’t be secret for long. And why pay such a price for something that I could get for free later?”

“Did you ever find out his secret?” Avdol leans in as he asks, enraptured by Polnareff’s tale.

“Non, I don’t even remember leaving the place he brought me to. The next thing I remember after turning down his offer is, I suddenly found myself sitting in my car ready to head back to my motel.” He clasps his hands together and you can see his knuckles turn white from the tension. “I tried to find him again to, I don’t know… stop him? His intentions for the info on other creatures… It couldn’t have been good. And the slip of his façade I saw. The man, that creature is bad news. But he might have well been a ghost. I haven’t seen hide nor hair of him since.”

Polnareff turns to you, “A few years later I got hired by Mr. Joestar to keep an eye on a shady landlord working for him, and I guess the rest is history.” He shakes his head, “Who would have thought joining your pack would lead back to Dio again. Non- this is fate.”

Avdol gives Polnareff a pat on the shoulder before turning to Joseph. “Mr. Joestar, I think you should tell us what you know about Dio, or at least the person you know as Dio. I think it’s time the younger ones hear this.” Avdol says as he leans back in his chair and crosses his arms.

Joseph nods and runs his hand through his hair before he begins, “Right. Ahh, well,” he pauses to gather his thoughts for a second, “I know this is going to sound crazy but I guess there is no way around it. When I was young, I lived with my granny Erina, my parents were either dead or missing and her husband Jonathan had been dead since before my father was even born. Now’s not the time to get into the details of that but Granny used to tell me all kinds of stories from when Jonathan was alive. And most importantly- the majority of them involved an evil man named DIO! My grandfather’s adopted brother!” Joseph doesn’t control his volume in his excitement and ends up shouting his last sentence.

“Being an adopted son in a werewolf pack was strange enough, but Granny could tell there was something ‘other’ about Dio as well. Then one night, his schemes and plans finally came to fruition! There was a massive fight at the house, Granny said Jonathan would not speak of it except that his father George had died saving him from Dio’s magic and in the fight the manor was set on fire and burned down. Jonathan made it his life’s mission to find and destroy Dio, not for revenge but for the safety of England and the world!” Joseph turns his attention to look directly at Jotaro, “Dio was a changeling child. His actions confirmed it that night. He was one of the last remaining Fae on earth. And apparently not of the good and benevolent kind. So, you see why it could be possible that this man may be the same one my grandpa tried to destroy more than a hundred years ago.”

“That… that’s impossible! The Fae, they all disappeared long before that to Avalon.” Kakyoin is wide eyed as he tries to process the information. “I know some humans still believe in them, but…”

“I know! I know! I thought they were just stories from my granny too!” Joseph exclaims and puts his hand to his eyes, “But one time… I don’t think I was supposed to see it, but I found an old photo album. There was a family photo of my grandfather, his father, and Dio.” He turns to Polnareff, “Pol, the man you met. Did he have blond hair, angry eyes and three moles on his left ear?”

It’s Polnareff’s turn to go pale as he slowly nods.

Jotaro growls as he tilts his hat to hide his eyes before snapping his head up to face the pack. “As impossible as this all sounds, it doesn’t change the fact that someone is hunting down wolves. I don’t give a shit if it is Dio or not, or an extinct Fae or not. We are going to put an end to this.” He looks around the table for a second and you can tell his eyes linger on yours longer than the others. “If anyone has an objection to this say it now. There will be no opportunity later.”

Joseph slams his hand to the table palm down, “I’m in! lets show this bastard who he’s messing with!”

Joseph’s enthusiasm is contagious and you and Polnareff slam your hands to the table as well, surprising the group with the fire they can see burning in your eyes. “Hell yeah! They think they can just take me? No way! I’m going to help tear this guy to pieces! I’m with you all the way!” You say as you look directly at Jotaro. You’re not sure but you think that’s a look of pride on his face as you make your declaration.

Avdol and Kakyoin keep their cool but you can see the determination in their eyes as they nod and place their hands on the table as well. Joseph is grinning like a feral maniac and you suddenly believe his stories about saving the world with how excited he looks to do it all over again. “Then it’s settled! I’ll call Caesar and let him know to gather the Zeppeli pack too.” Joseph pauses as he stands and looks at you, “Oh, and (Y/N)?” you tilt your head at him to continue. “Welcome to the Joestar pack.”

 <Previous Chapter  Next Chapter>

Author’s Note:

Sorry for the slow update! Guess who’s not good at regulating her personal time? This gal! I had to change up the process of how I’m writing this cause just trying to type on my computer had too many distractions and next thing I know I’ve been playing Stardew Valley for  3 hours.

Anyway, I have a favor to ask- I need a name for one of the dead bad guys. So leave a comment with a first name for the guy from Jersey, can be a bad ex, terrible boss, friend you want to embarrass by getting their name in a fanfic (first names only please- no doxing!)

No One Lives Forever- CH10

(AO3 link)

Stardust Crusader Wolf Pack AU

[From the beginning- CH1]

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Between the road noise and the insulation of the cooler it was easy to ignore the shouting from the gremlin. Kakyoin had taken shotgun this time, the rest of you piled in the back rows and passing around bandages and ointments as Polnareff drove. After cleaning away the blood you could see none of you had sustains injuries worse than some deep scratches. With the accelerated healing you all had they would be fine by morning, but you patched each other up with gauze and bandages just in case. It felt nice, satisfying even, to take care of the others and let them take care of you in return.

You lose track of time for a bit, content to sit quietly in the middle row and rest. You hear someone start snoring from behind you and turn around to see Joseph has nodded off, Avdol also has his eyes closed but looks more like he’s meditating than sleeping. Jotaro must have turned at the same time, you caught his eyes as he turns forward again as well, a small smile on his face. You smile at him and hold out your hand to him over the middle seat. His gaze flicks back again before he faces forward completely and covertly takes your hand.

You didn’t realize how tense you still were until he took your hand and you felt the muscles of your back and shoulders melt. A tingling feeling of relief, you were safe, your pack was safe, your mate…

You tense slightly again and grip Jotaro’s hand, where had that feeling come from? You are bewildered for a moment, you barely register Jotaro squeezing your hand back, his emotions hidden by his resting serious face. You relax into your seat again, coming to at least basic terms with what your instincts have been screaming at you for a while now. Yes, it was a terrifying situation happening when you first met him, and Jotaro could physically fit the definition of big bad wolf, but his actions so far have proven he’s anything but cruel or violent. When you had gotten a look at the cut on his leg earlier you had to suppress a sudden shift and urge to rip the monster that did that to pieces. Maybe he was experiencing the same feelings towards you?

It’s been a few hours after the events of the gas station and capturing Dio’s minion when Polnareff makes a turn off the road to a campsite. Although it looked well cared for there weren’t many campers ready to brave New York forests this late in the season, there were no other cars in the lot or in any of the designated spaces close to the entrance. Jotaro is surveying the space outside his window so he doesn’t see Kakyoin turn around and catch sight of your intertwined hands. You blush and look away when you catch his eye and he’s polite enough to clear his throat before announcing this was the nearest campsite he found to dispose of the gremlin in its prison.

Polnareff parks and you’re surprised Jotaro gives your hand a squeeze before letting go and climbing out. You suppress a giggle at Joseph’s sudden snort as he jostles himself awake. Exiting the truck, you enjoy a deep lung full of clean air, not even a trace of human scent present. The falling leaves and large lake to your right create a picturesque scene and you almost wish the pack had stopped for pleasure and not business. Speaking of… Jotaro and Polnareff are unloading your captive from the back, the creature either playing possum or it had finally run out of air. A couple of hard shakes to the container don’t produce the screeches you expected.  

Joseph has fully woken up from his nap and joins them in staring at the cooler. “Well, looks like we won’t be getting any more info out of that thing.” He puts one hand on his hip and scratches at his beard with the other. “Jotaro, what do you think? Risk it getting away to see if it’s really dead?”

“No. It didn’t seem all that clever, it probably had nothing more to tell us. It’s not worth the risk of it getting loose out here.” Jotaro motions with a jerk of his chin to the dense woods. “We’ll burry the whole thing and be done with it.” The rest of the pack nods in agreement and Jotaro and Polnareff haul the cooler towards the line of trees.

You all take advantage of the rest stop and walk around the campsite while Jotaro and Polnareff make quick work of disposing of their cargo. You douse a few paper towels with some of the bottled water as they make their way back and offer them to the guys to clean up with. “Ah, merci mon amie.” Polnareff looks around for a moment before leaning in slightly “Ah, say (Y/N), you didn’t see any restrooms around here, did you?”

Jotaro rolls his eyes as he finishes cleaning the dirt from under his nails. “Good grief Pol. It’s the woods. Go anywhere.”

“Fine! Fine!” Polnareff puts his hands up in surrender, “Just thought I’d check.” He backs away from you and Jotaro and towards the lake. You turn away to give him privacy and survey the rest of the pack. Avdol and joseph are going through some of the snacks; more like Avdol is trying to restrain Joseph from sampling each new type of jerky he finds. Kakyoin is making his way to you and Jotaro when you hear a sudden shout from behind you.

Polnareff had just finished his business and was headed back to the group when his leg gets caught on something. Yelling as he’s pulled to the ground, he re-evaluates, he hasn’t tripped on his own and whatever has caught him is dragging him back towards the lake. He catches a glimpse of what looks like seaweed wrapped from ankle to kneecap as he tires to scramble away. His claws dig into the dirt as he struggles to gain traction and from behind him he hears an ungodly noise of whatever has caught him.

You and Jotaro turn as soon as you hear Polnareff’s distressed yelp. The unbelievable scene of a creature rising from the lake makes you both hesitate for a moment to comprehend what you’re seeing. Its body ungulates, a writhing mass of pond weed and lake plants twining together to take the form of what looked like a horse. Jotaro recovers from the shock first, surging forward and transforming as he ran. You are right behind him, transforming as well. The creature rears back and screeches as you both approach it, desperately trying to drag Polnareff to the water as the plants rooted to its body climb further up his leg to gain better grip on the struggling werewolf.

From your left more beasts are emerging from the water and you and Jotaro dodge the kelp and vines shooting out at you. You hear the rest of the pack behind you also start making their way to the lake but are cut off by more creatures. The one holding onto Polnareff has managed to drag the massive white werewolf to the water by the time you and Jotaro rush the last few steps to his aid. Both of his legs have been tangled by vines now but they fall away limp as Jotaro is able to cut through the main vine. You quickly help Polnareff to his feet in the knee-high water.

“What the hell are these things?” Polnareff’s voice is deeper and slightly distorted with his change and constant growl rumbling from his chest. The three of you take a defensive formation covering each other’s backs and claws out. Your ears flatten and you snarl at one of the seaweed horses as it gallops by.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” you huff and swipe at a tendril of lake-weed snaking too close for comfort, “Some kind of horses? Or we pissed off a plant witch or something?”

“Kelpies. They’ve never been sighted this far north though.” Jotaro growls out as he snaps at the beast in front of him. By now the things were running amok along the shoreline and around the pack, six of them in total working as a team to try and capture and drag you all to a watery grave. One of them turns and stamps its hooves before charging directly at you, Jotaro and Polnareff. You are forced to dive away as it barrels by but a vine of weeds wraps around your waist as it passes. You are lifted briefly into the air before landing on all fours, the vines tangling your legs as well. You hear two loud thumps behind you and see Jotaro and Polnareff were also bound by that last charge, their arms stuck to their bodies and unable to claw their way out.

You cut your own bindings as fast as you can and quickly cut them free as well before you are all dragged along with the galloping kelpie. It bellows as it realizes its prey has broken free and tosses its head making its mane of kelp fly about.  The three of you quickly move to the offensive rushing the creatures standing between you and the rest of your packmates. Jotaro takes the lead and you defend his sides, swiping away any tendrils reaching too close. Polnareff assists and keeps another beast off your backs. Ahead of you, Avdol, Joseph and Kakyoin are also struggling to keep themselves guarded and untethered, but the horses are galloping too fast to try and get any substantial hits in, circling in a pattern to keep the pack separated and vulnerable.

Jotaro narrows his eyes and growls louder as he realizes there is something more going on here. Although they are fast there are only six of the kelpies, the pack should be able to take them on one-on-one but their movements are too coordinated to be wild kelpies. He stops and takes on a defensive stance again as a sudden gleam of light catches his attention, what looks like spider’s thread catching the sunlight. He follows the line with his eyes and sees it connects to one of the kelpie’s heads. In fact, now that he’s noticed one of them, they all seem to have this silver thread connecting them to a single point in the lake. About 20 feet from the shore a figure has risen from the water, humanoid but draped in gold and blue lakeweed. It makes no move to come ashore, instead moving its arms like an orchestra conductor would to control the team of water horses under its command.

Before he can make a move towards this figure another kelpie blocks his path. Polnareff barrels forward from his right and slashes at the beast’s face with his claws. He yelps in pain at the same time the kelpie rears back and retreats, a pile of silver rope falling to the ground. Polnareff cradles his silver burned hand for a moment before his eyes light up in understanding. “It’s silver! They have silver leashes!” the kelpie he accidently freed runs past the fighting happening between its herd and the pack, running on top of the water to the far side of the lake. “It’s gonna burn like hell but we can free them!”

With one of the kelpies no longer under its control, the man in the lake’s movements become more exaggerated as the remaining five horses push themselves to move faster, biting, stomping and charging the pack. Jotaro seizes the opportunity to break another of the silver ropes as he dodges the kelpie charging at him but instead of letting go, he grips the silver line tight where he severed it. It burns something fierce but he’s able to control the horse long enough to force it to charge at the lake man and bring Jotaro along for the ride. When he’s close enough Jotaro slips the silver harness from the kelpie and throws it, hoping to tangle the puppet master. Up close he can see the man’s flashing amber eyes and although as a wolf his sense of color is limited, he can tell the kelp and weeds cloaking the creature would actually be red instead of gold if he had full color vision right now. A rusalka then. A male rusalka and a herd of kelpies under its control?

The rusalka hisses at him but it’s a mocking laugh and not a fearful defense mechanism like Jotaro expected. Instead, it seems confident in its ability to take on the hulking werewolf in the water. “Hssss… You are a foolish one, aren’t you? Making it so easy to carry out my orders. You think you’ll beat me in my element? Show me what you’ve got then, pup.” Vines of lake kelp lash out as the rusalka flails his arms, no longer focused on controlling the kelpies now that his prey was in range of his own claws. Jotaro growls and snaps the first volley of vines with his claws as he swims closer. Grabbing at the next vines that hurl at him he holds tightly and begins reeling himself closer toward the rusalka.

He’s underestimated the rusalka’s speed and he has to suddenly deflect razor sharp claws away from his exposed torso. Although it has the advantage of speed in the water it is still weaker than Jotaro and on its next swipe Jotaro is able to grab on and immobilize it while swiping with his own claws. The rusalka hisses in pain and thrashes enough to break Jotaro’s grip before getting a hit in on the wolf’s side. More lake weed vines shoot out from its body to try and wrap him up and finally succeed in binding his leg. With a great tug the battle is moved completely underwater. Jotaro is just barely able to resist the instinct to gasp as the cold water rushes into his ears and nose uncomfortably. Snapping his eyes open as he feels a shift in the water, he’s able to evade the claws that had been aiming for his face.

Now that he can see his enemy in his entirety, Jotaro realizes the reason the rusalka had been controlling the kelpies from such a distance. From the waist down, instead of legs or even fins is a thick tangle of lake weed and kelp that anchors it to the lake bottom, more vines branching off and shooting towards him from this central pillar. The vines were easily cut away as they reached him, but they were only a distraction for the rusalka to pull himself closer and unleash a flurry of slashing strikes. Jotaro blocks them with his arms and again grabs on to immobilize and pull in closer to deliver his own blows. He moves to the offensive, digging his claws into slimy flesh as the rusalka struggles in his grasp. He almost looses his grip when it lands a hard blow to his shoulder but keeps hold long enough to accomplish his final attack. With a powerful strike, Jotaro severs the thick tether keeping the rusalka anchored to the lake.  

The screech it lets out is almost deafening under water and Jotaro nearly looses his grip a second time. But with his claws embedded deep into the rusalka’s torso and his other hand gripping it by the throat he is able to swim and haul it to shore. With every foot closer it struggles harder, finally showing fear in its panicking eyes. Its movements are becoming less and less coordinated and it makes motions Jotaro recognizes as trying to call upon the kelpies for help through the silver ropes it had been using. The water is shallow enough now that Jotaro can stand and looks around for the kelpie reinforcements coming to its master’s aid. Instead, his pack spots him and rushes to help him drag the rusalka all the way to shore. Kakyoin reaches him first and the red wolf helps pull the creature the last few feet to the shore.

The change begins as soon as the last tendril loses contact with the water, some leaves shriveling and turning brown while others seem to rapidly decay and turn to sludge. The rusalka screams and thrashes as its body dries out and starts to flake away, but its strength is failing and it can’t pull itself back to the water in time. It collapses as it shrivels up, arms outstretched to the lake and it succumbs to the dry air.

You are the first one to let your transformation drop as you run up to Jotaro and Kakyoin, careful not to step in any leafy remains on the ground in front of them. Your sable fur falling away to reveal smooth skin and clothes is the unofficial signal for the others to drop their transformations as well. You reach the alpha and beta just as Jotaro lets go of his wolf form and you can see the damage the rusalka inflicted in their unseen underwater battle. You and Kakyoin nod at each other before reaching for Jotaro’s right arm and lifting it over your shoulder to support him, Kakyoin doing the same on his left side. You blush as you hear him chuckle but you’d be dammed if you weren’t going to help him after he risked his life to defeat the enemy. It seems he does appreciate your effort though as his chuckle turns into a huff and you feel his weight shift to lean on you as the three of you make your way back to the truck.

The rest of the guys move ahead getting the first aid supplied you all ransacked from the gas station opened and organized. Avdol takes charge of distributing bandages as Joseph and Polnareff drop dramatically to sit on the logs surrounding the unused fire pit. Jotaro is obviously sporting the worst injuries, but the rest of the pack is also covered in various bruises, bitemarks and silver burns. You and Kakyoin focus on getting Jotaro patched up together, you carefully clean the slashes from the rusalka’s claws and Kakyoin follows your wake drying and bandaging what he can. You don’t realize you are purring until Jotaro starts purring back and relaxes as your hands make contact with the bared flesh of his arms. You blush as you glance at his bare chest, looking in a non-clinical way now that things were calming down. Your hands only hesitate a moment though before you return to your task.

Your blush returns tenfold when Jotaro practically drags you down to sit next to him once you and Kakyoin finish bandaging each other as well. By the time everyone is bandaged up it’s getting late enough that you knew the pack wasn’t going to finish the journey to the city tonight. Everyone is sitting around the still unlit firepit and relaxing for a moment, watching the herd of kelpies you freed running and jumping across the surface of the lake when Avdol makes his suggestion. “Well, it seems like we’re not going to make much more progress tonight. We don’t have any camping gear with us, but we are already at a campsite.”

Polnareff flops over onto the log he’d been sitting on. “You mean we’re roughing it out here tonight? Can’t we keep going until we find a motel with actual beds? And proper bathrooms?”

Joseph throws an empty bottle at him, “Hush you spoilt pup! I don’t want to hear your bellyaching when you’ve got no idea what camping out here will do to my old bones!” You’re starting to recognize Joseph’s tell when he’s teasing Polnareff is to cross his arms and try and look stern, but a small grin gives him away.

“No, its too risky right now to be near humans. That rusalka, before we really got to fighting it mentioned ‘carrying out its orders’.” Jotaro shakes his head as he addresses the pack, joseph and Polnareff immediately back into serious mode. “We’ll be safer if we are able to fully transform to fight if we need to. I think that’s worth being uncomfortable for the night.”

You all agree with the decision to rank safety over comfort but you slump a little as you continue to watch the kelpies dance around the lake. You’ve slept in your car and camped out enough in your own travels that it’s not a huge hardship to do it again, but you also appreciated having a real bed to relax in. Especially after a day like today.

“I agree. However, on second thought…” Avdol motions to the kelpies, one had caught a large fish in its mouth as you had been daydreaming and now two were fighting over it and ripping the catch to pieces in the process. “Kelpies are carnivores after all. Perhaps a different campsite would be more suitable.”

Jotaro sighs and you feel him slump slightly into your side before he rallies himself and stands up. “Good point. Kakyoin, you’re navigator. Find a campsite we can get to quickly. Everyone else pack up and let’s go.”

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Author’s Note:

So. A week late, but I swear its not my fault. Guess who lives in Texas and couldn’t use a computer for the week? This gal. Everything is fine now and I’m one of the lucky few who doesn’t have a 10k electric bill or burst pipes.

Anyway, this chapter was a lot of fun to write- I always thought it was weird the crusaders just jumped right in with the rest of the crew after the Dark Blue Moon episode when CLEARLY you can’t trust anyone. So this chapter is the “Captain” and his crew as cryptids and myths. If you haven’t been reading the notes so far, I’ve planned out all of the enemies in this fashion, each battle a new myth to discover (and for me to research). Also every Wikipedia article I’ve looked at for the monsters has a reference line that is something like “Appears on episode 25 of Supernatural”. I have not seen more than 2 or 3 episodes of that show, I got to the one with the Wendigo and NOPED RIGHT OUT. Was wwaaaayyy too scary. Couldn’t handle it! So any similarities to the show are going to be pure coincidence.

Also I had to do a gag at Pol’s expense

No One Lives Forever- CH11

(AO3 link)

Stardust Crusader Wolf Pack AU

[From the beginning- CH1]

<Previous Chapter     Next Chapter>

The sky is painted bright orange and red by the time the pack arrives at the next camp site. The fall colors on the trees make the world look like it’s made of gold and rubies cemented to black cast iron trees in silhouette. The path to the camp ground is narrow but still large enough for the truck to navigate as Avdol drives carefully down the one lane trail. Kakyoin had kept in mind the need to be able to transform at will tonight and found a private campsite that promised a ‘true survival experience’ according to the reviews online.

Your attention is dragged away from the fall scenery outside as Jotaro shifts in his sleep, his head resting in your lap as he lays sideways on the bench seat of the back row. You adjust the hoodie you’d thrown over his sleeping figure and gently brush back his hair before returning your hand to rest on his arm. He’d been exhausted after the last fight and started nodding off almost as soon as you had set out. After the third time he leaned too far forward and jerked himself awake you gave in and decided to risk the embarrassment of the others teasing -or worse, Jotaro’s rejection- and offered to let him lay down. He looked confused for a moment but you patted your lap in invitation. He snuck a quick glance to the rest of the pack before shifting and laying down. You were both tense at first at first but you hesitantly ran your hand over his hair and he loosened up considerably. Soon he was fully asleep on you.

Joseph and Polnareff also seem to be sleeping, or close to it in the middle row seats, but a particularly rough bump in the road shakes the truck enough to wake everyone. Jotaro grumbles as he sits up, sweatshirt falling off and revealing the tank top and bandages on his shoulder. He looks it for a moment before handing it back to you with a gruff ‘thanks’, his voice raspy with sleep.

“It’s no problem. Feeling better?” you ask as you bundle the sweater on your lap.

“A bit. Still sore as hell.” He tries his best to stretch in the confined space. Another bump in the road almost causes him to bump his head on the roof and he slumps in his seat to avoid it happening again as the bumps and rocking get more extreme.

“Ah, that must be the camp site ahead.” Kakyoin says as he looks up from the map on his phone and points to the clearing now visible after cresting a small hill. The truck is barely still for a second before Polnareff jumps out and starts stretching. The rest of you follow his example, the cramped car ride after transforming and fighting not doing your muscles any favors. Like the site you just left this one was also empty but located much deeper in the forest. Perfect for keeping off the grid until morning.

The last campers had left some firewood under the cover of a nearby pine tree so you work to quickly clear the ashes from the fire pit. With the help of Jotaro’s lighter, a good size fire crackled happily to life just as the sun set. The rest of the pack had split up to investigate the clearing and into the woods beyond while you built the fire, but the rustling of bags draws everyone back in. Joseph makes his way over carrying as many bags of snacks as he can, “Dinner time! Looks like the choices tonight are beef jerky, chips or candy.” You all gather and take a seat on the logs laying near the fire and start passing around the bags.

While a meal of snacks wouldn’t be filling for long, for now it was enough to leave you all satisfied. Joseph is sitting with Polnareff and Avdol across from where you are seated between Jotaro and Kakyoin and sets off the first contagious yawn. You can hear his back crack as he stretches, your own eyes watering from the strength of your yawn. Polnareff laughs and slaps Joseph on the back, “Ha, looks like it’s past the old wolf’s bed time!” Joseph can’t refute this as he goes to reply and gets caught by another epic yawn.

“We should go over sleeping arrangements though. The truck is too small for all of us to sleep in and we only have a fire because the last campers left some wood.” Kakyoin says as he leans forward toward the fire and rests his head in his hand. He moves his sharp gaze around the clearing looking for any other supplies or natural resources that could be used. He heaves a sigh and drops his gaze back to the fire.

Jotaro hums in though as he looks around as well. “With all the encounters we’ve had just today I think we should take shifts on patrol. The truck can probably hold two people if we fold down some seats. The rest of us will have to spend the night transformed, for safety and for warmth.” The rest of the pack nods in agreement. “Avdol, are you ok driving the rest of the way tomorrow?”

Avdol tilts his head at the change of subject. “Yes, that shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Good,” Jotaro leans back and stretches a bit as he explains, “you and the old man can sleep in the truck tonight, the rest of us will pair up and patrol in shifts.”

“Well wait a moment Jotaro, I can patrol too!” Joseph slaps his hands on his legs as he leans forward toward Jotaro. “I know I joke about it a lot but I’m not that old!”

Jotaro sighs as he closes his eyes and crosses his arms. “One of these days your age will catch up to you. Besides, you’ll need to be well rested to navigate for Avdol tomorrow. And you need to manage whatever is going on at the new headquarters once we get there.” He opens his eyes again and fixes Joseph with a steely gaze. Joseph scratches at his beard and looks away, not ready or willing to challenge Jotaro on this. You can’t really make out what he grumbles under his breath other than ‘not that old’.

Polnareff laughs and slaps Joseph on the back, “Ha! I’ll remember you said that next time you try and get out of trouble using that ‘frail old man’ card!” Joseph just grumbles more as everyone chuckles; you see a small smirk on his face as he turns away though.

“Fine, fine. Us old guys will sleep in the car while you young whippersnappers brave the cold out here. But don’t come knocking on my door in the middle of the night!”

Jotaro grins at his grandfather’s antics before turning his attention to the rest of the ‘youngsters’ in the pack. “I think we’ll be fine if we spend the night as wolves. The temperature shouldn’t be so cold that we can’t handle it. As for patrol and watch,” he pulls out his phone to check the time, “we’ll pair up for the night and morning shifts, that way all of us get at least a few hours of sleep.” Just the word sleep has Jotaro suppressing a yawn. “I’ll take one spot on the morning patrol, anyone else have a preference?”

You nod and speak up, “I’ll stay up for night shift, I’m not an early riser.” You blush and turn away from Jotaro as you realizes he’s seen you in action- or inaction- two mornings in a row now.

“I don’t really have a preference.” Kakyoin says from your other side, he must have interpreted your movement as looking for his answer, not just avoiding Jotaro.

“I guess that makes me the deciding vote, I’d rather stay up for the night watch than wake up early as well.”

With the patrols figured out for the night everyone starts to prepare for bed. It turns out though that you’re the only one with rough camping experience as the guys watch perplexed as you start gathering a pile of leaves to make a more comfortable spot than just the hard ground. “What, you guys never camped without gear before?” Three sets of eyes look away, embarrassed as Joseph starts cackling in the background.

“You’re going to have to show these city boys the ropes (Y/N)! I’m sure you can handle it.” Joseph says as he climbs into the cleared space in the back of the truck and shuts the door behind him.

“Wait, seriously? None of you have camped out without tents before?”

“Unfortunately, Mr. Joestar is right,” Kakyoin explains as he takes a step forward to better observe what you are doing, “is it really more complicated than just transforming to stay warm?”

“Well, that will keep you warm but it won’t make it more comfortable to sleep on the ground. Help me gather up some more leaves, we’ll make a two-person pile to use as a mattress. Then I’ll help you guys bundle up some pillows out of clothes so they don’t unravel overnight.” Jotaro raises an eyebrow but just shrugs and does as you instruct, the other two falling in line as well. Soon a pretty decent leaf pile is collected and you spread it out large enough for two adult males to fit comfortably. After showing the guys how to roll up pillows tight enough to withstand the tossing and turning that comes from sleeping on the ground you all scavenge the area for branches and sticks to keep the fire fed overnight. “Excellent! I’ll make campers out of you guys yet!”

“How is it you know all this anyway? You said you traveled a lot, but is this how you normally got from place to place?” Kakyoin asks as he drops off the last pile of sticks from his arms.

You wave off the comment, “Oh no, I usually had enough money to get a motel room or something. In a pinch I could sleep in my car for a night if I absolutely needed to. I actually learned all this camping stuff from family reunions. I have a lot of family when you start counting cousins and second cousins, and every year there is a reunion at the beginning of summer. We spend the whole weekend as wolves, hunting, racing, sleeping, occasionally fighting…” you smile and slap your hands free of dirt. “It’s really a great time, living wild for a weekend. Gets a lot of pent-up energy out, you know?”

“That sounds like a rather nice tradition.” Kakyoin gives you a kind smile, “Perhaps we should consider adopting it?” he turns his head towards Jotaro who just hums contemplatively before nodding. Another wave of contagious yawns overtakes the pack and you all decide its time to get some rest.

You all quickly shed your human forms for wolf fur, your senses sparking alive as your form shifts. Colors dim as your new sight allows for better night vision at the cost of reduced variation. You inhale deeply, expecting only the smells of woods and campfire but something slightly sour hangs in the air. Closing your eyes and lifting your nose to the wind you try and follow the trail but it’s gone as suddenly as it appeared, the wind chasing it away from you through the trees. You shake your head and snort to clear your nose. It was probably just some trash or something a previous camper forgot in the area.

Jotaro and Kakyoin get situated on the bed of leaves and Polnareff motions for you to join him at the edge of trees for your first patrol. The journey through the woods is slow going at first, both of you slightly on edge, not knowing what to expect. While you had more experience ‘living wild’ as you called it, Polnareff obviously had more experience hunting and tracking. He makes it a point to stop often to mark your trail with scratches on the trees and brushing up on other shorter bushes to leave his scent. He laughs at you a bit when he catches your curious gaze on the tree he just mauled, “What’s the matter? I thought you were used to camping out in this form?”

“Well yeah, but… I was always stuck hanging out with the pups. My dad and uncles split up patrol duty.”

“Ah, well in that case let me show you. I usually do this when I’m on a job to find someone in the city; its much easier to follow your nose back rather than loose track of a target because you were looking at a map.” He gestures to a tree ahead, “Go ahead and help out. It will probably help keep other animals away too if they smell too many predators in the area.”

“I was wondering why I didn’t hear anything moving around tonight. You think we scarred everything off?” you sniff the air again; you could tell some deer and rabbits had been through recently but only their scent remained now.

“Probably. They’d have to be pretty ill equipped to stay in an area with a bunch of wolves roaming about- or humans for that matter.” He lifts his nose and jogs ahead a few paces to a large boulder, “Here- this is where we started at. Now we just turn left and we’ll be back at camp.” You blink perplexed, you hadn’t really thought about how many turns you’d taken during your walk. Perhaps you were more tired than you thought.

The fire is burning low when you get back to the camp so you feed it some of the branches collected earlier, keeping the coals burning hot enough to reach the sleeping men and keep them a bit more comfortable. You take a seat next to Polnareff and grab one of the drink bottles from the snack pile. It’s a little tricky with your hands being larger and less dexterous than you are used to but you manage to open it and hand it to Polnareff before grabbing one for yourself. The lack of animal sounds around the campsite is still a little unnerving but you’re soon distracted when Polnareff turns to you and starts telling you about the time he had to covertly chase a target through an office building while dressed as a mailman, trying to catch the target in the act of cheating with his co-worker.

You take turns trying to one up each other with ridiculous stories, keeping an eye on the fire and the woods at the same time. You can’t help but let your attention drift every so often as Jotaro or Kakyoin move around in their sleep. Polnareff’s pointy elbow is suddenly nudging your side as he laughs at you, apparently, you’d been staring at the alpha long enough for Pol to notice. You quickly turn away even though your fur would cover any blush on your face. Standing up and moving to the woods again you initiate another patrol round, Polnareff snickering as you follow the trail left last time and refresh the scent marks.

The rest of your night on watch goes smoothly, and by the time your last patrol comes around you’re feeling a bit sleep drunk, playfully pushing Polnareff around on your walk as he teases you for being so concerned with keeping the fire warm and setting aside snacks for Jotaro and Kakyoin when they woke up. Really you were just trying to keep Polnareff from eating all the good snacks. You laugh and give a shove and he makes a show of exaggeratedly falling into a tree.

“Such violence! Just wait! I’ll tell on you to Joseph; we’ll see who’s laughing then!” the large wolfman throws a hand to his forehead like a swooning southern lady and points an accusing finger at you.

“Tell on me? What, you’re going to admit you can’t hold your own against me? He’ll just laugh and call you a spoiled pup again.” You continue slowly on the patrol path and wait for him to catch up.

“No, I’ll just tell him how you were making googly eyes at his grandson all night. You will never have another moments rest!” his triumphant smirk is infuriating even in his wolf form so you shove him off the path again and race back to camp, laughing as he playfully shoves you off course as he passes you.

Back at camp your eyes immediately go to the sleeping wolves and you have to admit maybe Polnareff has a point about you making ‘googly eyes’ at Jotaro; he and Kakyoin are tangled up in what would be a puppy pile if they were younger. You’re very tempted for a moment to not worry about waking them up for their patrol shift and just join the pile yourself, but your rational mind overcomes your instincts and you carefully wake them. Kakyoin wakes up quickly and makes his way to the remaining snacks near the fire. Jotaro however looks half asleep still so you keep him seated for a few moments longer on the leaf pile as you check the wounds on his shoulder hadn’t opened up or gotten too dirty in his sleep. You help him brush some crumbled leaves from his fur and you both make your way to the fire and sitting logs.

You grab a few packs of jerky and some drinks to help Jotaro wake up and you can’t help the startled yelp as he grabs your hand and pulls you down to sit next to him. You’re almost uncomfortably close, your side brushing against his any time either of you inhales. Jotaro doesn’t seem to notice how tense you are, he still looks half asleep as he mechanically eats the snacks you offered him while staring into the fire. You ignore Polnareff’s snickering and Kakyoin’s knowing looks from across the fire pit and hand over a drink to the alpha at your side. His arm brushes against yours as he takes it and you shiver as the contact marks you with his scent, even if it was accidental it is a highly intimate thing, usually reserved for very close pack mates.

“Did anything interesting happen while we were asleep? Anything we should know about?” Kakyoin tries to draw in Polnareff’s attention before he can start teasing you or Jotaro.

Polnareff is hyper focused on the opportunity to tease you though, “Non, non. In fact, you are witnessing the most interesting thing to happen all night,” he gestures to you both. Jotaro must be more awake as he looks back over his shoulder in confusion before he realizes what Pol is implying. You hear him mutter something as he shifts away from you, but only by a few inches so you were no longer joined at the hip.

“Seriously Polnareff?” he yelps and fumbles with a water bottle you throw at him. “But really, it has been pretty uneventful. We must have scared off everything around here.”

Jotaro tenses next to you and you look at him with a questioning tilt of your head. “You haven’t seen any animals around? Not even on perimeter patrol?”

“Uh, no. we just assumed we scared them all away.” Polnareff scratches his head, also confused by Jotaro’s concern. “Isn’t it natural to flee a place is a group of hunters moves in?”

“Maybe at first, but at least the animals in the trees should have come back by now…” Jotaro rubs his eyes and lowers his head with a huff, “Whatever, I’m probably over thinking it.” You glance around the camp site again, the peaceful quiet now more ominous as shadows cast from the fire dance behind trees and bushes.

“Oh, thanks a lot Jotaro. Giving me the creeps right before I go to bed.” Polnareff’s fur is standing on end making him appear comically fluffy. “I’m blaming you if I get no rest tonight. And after (Y/N) and I did such a good job on our watch.” He huffs as he attempts to smooth down his fur again.

The red wolf next to him just chuckles and shakes his head, “Well no one said you have to go to sleep. You’re free to stay up and keep an eye on camp if you want.” Kakyoin stands up and stretches as Polnareff mumbles to himself about needing his beauty sleep and shuffles over to the leaf bed.

You and Jotaro rise from your seats and you give another skeptical glance around at the trees before grabbing hold of Jotaro’s arm as he starts to walk away. This may be becoming a habit for you, grabbing onto his hand for reassurance. He faces you and tilts his head an you search for words as you make eye contact with him. “I…um… just…” you glance away and refocus on his face when he gives your hand a squeeze “Be careful?”

He nods and his stoic features soften slightly as he smiles, “We will, don’t worry. Go get some rest.” His hand lest go of yours and trails up your arm and around to your back to nudge you in the right direction. Too tired to put up any resistance, you follow his order. You’re asleep almost as soon as you lay down next to Polnareff in the leaf pile.

Kakyoin waits patiently at the entrance to the patrol path you and Polnareff created as Jotaro checks around camp. Avdol and the old man still asleep in the truck, the coals of the fire still hot enough that the heat reaches your sleeping spot, and there should be enough wood to keep it that way till morning. He’s satisfied with the state of things and casts one last critical glance to the shadows beyond the tree line before joining Kakyoin on the path. The silence of the forest is unnerving but easy to ignore, Polnareff was probably right about the animals keeping a wide berth around a group of predators.

His concentration is pulled from the surrounding woods by Kakyoin. “(Y/N) seems to be really fitting in well with the pack.” The red wolf faces ahead with a straight face, but there is a glint in his eyes as he glances back to Jotaro to gauge his reaction. “I don’t think I’ve seen you warm up to anybody as fast as you have to her. It’s a bit shocking you decided to trust her so soon if I’m honest.” He tries to keep his face neutral, but Jotaro can see the beginnings of a smug smirk.

“You saying I shouldn’t trust her?” Jotaro throws the statement back at him, years of experience turning Kakyoin’s teasing comments on their head coming into practice.

“Ha, no, not at all. She more than proved herself today.” He pauses, a more serious look on his face as he continues, “But even you have to admit, you’ve been acting very strange since you met her.”

“It’s… complicated. I don’t really want to talk about it.” Jotaro shakes his head and continues moving on.

Kakyoin stops in his tracks, “You know I wouldn’t push you unless I was worried about you. This may be your last chance for a while to get it out in the open. No audience, just us and the trees.” Kakyoin gestures to the woods and waits as Jotaro stops and contemplates his options.

He heaves a sigh before continuing to walk and Kakyoin grins knowing he’s won. “It’s complicated because I don’t really understand what’s going on myself. I know I don’t really know her yet, but at the same time I don’t care about that at all.” Jotaro ruffles his hair in frustration and embarrassment. “The old man thinks its my instincts trying to tell me she’s my mate, or potential mate at least. Logically, I know I should take it slow and get to know her first like a normal person, but…”

“But we’re not normal people Jotaro.” Kakyoin nods sagely, the internal issues clearer to him now. “But she’s not a normal person either. From what I can see, she’s just as eager to get closer to you too.” He can see Jotaro’s shoulders slump in relief as they keep walking the path. “You do have options here, but you need to figure out what you want first. And you don’t have to take Joseph’s words to heart. We’re not going to have the same thoughts on pack bonds and mates as the full wolf members of the pack do.”

“True.” Jotaro sighs again, “Maybe it’s just my human half making me over think this. Gramps and the others don’t seem to have a problem just following their instincts wherever they lead to.”

“Well, that doesn’t always work out perfectly either. That’s what my father did all his life and you know I only call home for mother’s sake these days.”

“I don’t think that’s a trait limited to wolves in that regard.” There is more of a growl in his voice than Jotaro intended. He clears his throat and continues, “Some fathers are just like that.” The rest of the walk back to camp is silent and Jotaro makes himself busy tending the fire when they arrive.

Kakyoin is equally subdued and takes a seat on the log next to Jotaro after raiding the drink selection. He hands over a bottle of beer and Jotaro quirks his head in question. Kakyoin just shrugs and pops the cap off his own, they each take a long swig and stare into the fire.

After a while its time to walk the perimeter path again, the red and black wolves moving quietly to the edge of the camp. Jotaro can’t help but sneak one more glance to where you and Polnareff are sleeping before giving the whole area one last critical look. He joins Kakyoin at the entrance but is stopped by Kakyoin’s outstretched arm before he can continue on the path. The red wolf has his nose tilted to the air so Jotaro follows suit. A slightly sour smell, like a mixture of garbage and deer musk assaults his nose before a breeze makes him loose the scent. Kakyoin must have lost it too based on the way he opens his eyes and searches the woods around. Nothing seems out of place, all the trees around silent and still. The animals have still not reappeared and the silence makes each footstep loud and clear as a bell. Another strong breeze makes the trees creak and groan, leaves shifting and rattling on the ground.

The soured smell is back again as they reach a landmark tree indicating they need to turn left soon, but as they pass it by, they are met with unfamiliar woods in front of them. The trees groan in the wind again, but Jotaro notices no leaves shift from their spots on the ground. They both freeze and turn in place, Kakyoin barely catches movement from his right where the landmark tree is, the roots undulating and creeping like snakes before quickly resettling.

“Jojo, the trees…”

“Yeah, I saw it. Not just the trees though, look at the branches on that bush.” The shrub in question was undoubtedly larger than it was a few seconds ago, its branches and twigs looked like they were caught in the wind but were using the movement to disguise how they grew and stretched themselves towards the wolves.

Jotaro’s fur stands straight up, there was no telling how far off the path they’ve been led. Were they even in range of the camp to hear if anything was also going wrong there? They’d have to rely on the scent trail to get back before… The sour smell from earlier is suddenly overpowering as a few trees about fifty feet away move on their own to make way for a giant creature lumbering towards them. Its beady eyes are focused on them and it grins, revealing jagged teeth as it lifts its arm. The plants around them writhe and tangle themselves at the leshin’s command.

Kakyoin growls loudly as he cuts away reaching branches with his claws. Jotaro focuses on the creature before them, looking for any obvious weaknesses. Its body is gigantic, probably twelve feet tall even though it was hunched over and dragged its knuckles like a great ape while it walked. Rough textured skin peeked out between ragged pelts and tufts of mossy hair on its body, probably the most vulnerable targets at a glance. On its head it wore a deer skull like a helmet, the antlers scraping branches above it with each bob of its head.

It’s distracted with pushing a tree out of its way to make room for its body and Jotaro uses the moment to rush forward, Kakyoin following right behind him. They quickly close the distance and lunge at the beast leaving deep gouges in the creature’s skin. No blood rises to the surface of the cuts though, in fact, the leshin makes almost no note of the injuries. They repeat their attack, but the rough patches only splinter like tree bark as they make contact. It retaliates and swings a fist at them but it’s too slow to connect.

They quickly fall back out of range to regroup. Jotaro growls lowly with his hackles raised, “Its skin is too thick to break through.” The leshin raises its arms again and they cut away the creeping branches.

“We can out run it though. Get back to camp and get everyone out of here.” Kakyoin pants as he slashes at vines threatening to anchor them to the ground. Jotaro nods and turns towards the woods, Kakyoin leading the way back to camp. The creature catches onto their plan though and with a chilling wail the trees in front of them weave into a solid wall before their eyes.

Roots spring up from underground and snare their legs too quickly to cut away. The creeping vines quickly climb up past their hips and tangle their claws when they come close enough. Their struggle is fruitless and the leshin lumbers closer to them making up for its speed handicap by totally immobilizing its prey. It reaches for Kakyoin and its massive hand is large enough to completely wrap around his torso as it plucks him from the ground.

Jotaro’s eyes widen and redoubles his efforts to get free as Kakyoin is lifted towards the creature’s mouth. He glances around desperately looking for something that can aid him before it’s too late. The trees and roots are still undulating wildly, rocks and dead branches pushed out of the way for the living plants. Living plants. Of course, it was only able to control living things! He’s finally able to free one of his arms and grabs a rock laying near his feet. It flies free of his grasp and shatters the nose of the dear skull on the leshin’s head sending shards of bone into the creature’s forehead and eyes.

The leshin howls in pain using its free hand to brush away the shards and lowers Kakyoin towards the ground. Kakyoin had been scratching and clawing at the gigantic hand still squeezing him but uses the opportunity to grab onto a large rock as he’s swung low to the ground. The creature recovers and swings Kakyoin back up towards its mouth. The rock Kakyoin is holding slams into its face as he swings his arms with all his strength and the creature wails in pain again.

Keeping hold of the large rock, Kakyoin quickly shoves it into the mouth of the screaming leshin, sinking his arms up to the elbow to lodge the rock in its throat. He’s barely able to withdraw before the leshin snaps its jaws shut. Its wails and cries now reduced to gurgling choking as its eyes begin to bulge and look franticly around the woods. Panic is starting to set in as it’s unable to draw in air, its grip on Kakyoin finally releasing and control over the plants waning. The drop to the floor is jarring and Kakyoin scrambles to regain his footing, one arm braced across his stomach where the leshin’s grip had tightened painfully.

Jotaro is finally free of the vines and roots that kept him bound in place and sprints over to where Kakyoin is hunched over, grabbing him under the arms and dragging him away from the creature as it fumbles and thrashes. Its gnarled hands grasp at its throat, clawing and scraping away at its own bark-like skin. It rises to its full height and stumbles backwards, beady eyes rolling in their sockets and tongue hanging from its gaping mouth. One of its arms flails wildly before making contact with its mouth, pushing fingers into its own throat to try and dislodge the rock but only pushing it deeper. The lack of air finally makes it loses consciousness and it falls back into the trees with a crash.

Kakyoin stands, panting as they watch the leshin twitch in its death throws, both he and Jotaro winded but thankfully just bruised from the encounter. The woods around them are again still and silent, trees and roots creaking and groaning in protest to their new locations but no longer moving on their own. They keep their eyes locked onto the creature as they catch their breath but as soon as they recover, they turn back to the path. The markings on the trees can’t be trusted to lead them so they rely on smell as they run through the woods back to camp.

They burst past the line of trees into camp and take stock of the scene. The fire is burning low, but everything else seems to be just as they left it. Jotaro motions to the truck and Kakyoin nods and makes his way over to wake Joseph and Avdol. From where he’s standing, he can see you and Polnareff are still sleeping, your face pushed into the white wolf’s back for warmth and Polnareff has wrapped himself around one of the makeshift pillows. Jotaro shakes you awake first; you grumble and reluctantly roll over to look at him. “We’re leaving early.”

A kick of adrenalin feels like ice shooting through your veins, fully alert and stiffly sitting up to look around the camp for danger. Nothing seems out of place so you turn your attention to Jotaro. He’s panting slightly but seems fine other than some random leaves and twigs stuck in his fur. “What’s wrong? What’s going on?” you ask as you stand up from the leaf bed and keep a careful eye on the woods.

Polnareff is grumbling as he’s woken up too but Jotaro turns to you and answers, “We encountered a creature, I’m not even sure what it was.” Another spike of adrenalin rushes you, “We took it down but I don’t want to take any chances that it had friends out here. I’ll explain more in the car when we’re out of here.” You and Polnareff nod and help him to quickly pack up camp.

Joseph and Avdol make their way out of the truck just as you finish smothering the fire, Kakyoin behind them and once again in his human form. Jotaro drops his transformation as Joseph approaches him and claps his hand to Jotaro’s shoulder as he looks him over for new injuries. A few new scrapes have appeared on his skin but you were correct earlier when you didn’t see any serious ones. He huffs as he completes his visual check and pulls Jotaro into a tight hug. “We’re really having some shitty luck lately, aren’t we son?” he pulls away with a grin as Jotaro mumbles out his trademark ‘good grief’, but you see the small smirk on his face too. “Kakyoin told us the… thing… out there is dead?”

“Yeah, but I’d rather we get out of here as soon as possible. We don’t know if it was the only one here.” Avdol nods at the order and gets to work arranging the seats and loading gear into the truck. You and Polnareff are the last to drop your transformations and the chilly morning air causes you to shiver. It’s still a few hours till dawn, but soon you are all ready and seated in the warm truck, Joseph is acting as navigator as Avdol drives carefully out of the woods, the last leg of your journey to New York City now underway.

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Author’s Note:

I just keep falling further and further behind, don’t I? I try to write for at least an hour a day on my lunch break, but between this chapter being SOOO long and my lunches being shorter lately... well better late than never! 

No One Lives Forever- CH12

(AO3 link)

Stardust Crusader Wolf Pack AU

[From the beginning- CH1]

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The drive into city limits was thankfully uneventful. There was enough gas left from the last stop to make it all the way to the new apartment so Joseph declared that there would be no more stops. You and the younger guys had no issue with this plan, all of you so beyond tired that you would have agreed to any plan that involved you getting back to sleep.

It’s mid-morning when you wake up next, neck stiff from the awkward angle you slept in. You ended up in the very back row next to Kakyoin this time, and you both have to wait for Jotaro and Polnareff to fold down the seat to let you out. It’s disorienting to wake up in a completely new place. You’re greeted with a pretty nondescript parking garage, warm city air breezing through the open structure and kicking up dust and other questionable smells. You quickly cover your nose with your sleeve, reminded why you prefer smaller towns.

“Cheer up everyone! Not much further now.” Joseph seems to have really benefited from the full nights sleep, practically skipping past you all carrying his own bags as you trudge to the back of the truck to help unload. Between the six of you there is no need for a second trip, so the pack follows Joseph to the elevator, but instead of heading to the ground floor to begin your journey to the new apartment he selects the ‘lobby’ floor. If he was bouncing before, Joseph is vibrating with excitement now. “Everyone stay right here for a moment while I get the key. I want this to be a surprise.” Jotaro sighs but ends up putting his bag down in the open elevator door to wait for Joseph to get back. The view out the door is obstructed by a wall with some kind of post-modern art on it, the parking garage you just came from must be private parking for residents of the building. Your shoulders slump in relief; tension you didn’t know you were carrying melting at the realization you wouldn’t be hauling your bags across town on foot.

Joseph is back quickly, a brass key held out in front of him like some sort of holy relic as he walks. “Caesar’s been sending me pictures of the place; get ready to be blown away!” he turns the key in the elevator panel and selects a residential floor.

“Uncle Caesar’s already been here then?” Jotaro inquires.

“Well, he was. His email just said that it got set up and he’ll be done with company business soon. Then his pack is going to join us.” Joseph scratches at his beard as you all watch the numbers light up on the indicator panel. “I’ll call him today and we’ll get the final plan set in stone. It sounded like they only had a few things to set up before they can leave the company on ‘autopilot’ for a while.” His grin is as bright as ever as the elevator finally stops on the 26th floor and he rushes into the hallway as soon as the doors open wide enough.

The rest of you follow at a more sedated pace but you can’t help the excited feeling in your gut as you progress. The front door is flung wide open as Joseph hurls himself through the opening. You are almost blinded by the amount of natural light that greets you as you enter.

The two-level floor to ceiling windows grant a spectacular view of the city skyline, few other buildings tall enough to obstruct your view. The white walls and furniture bounce the light around the open living room and reflect off the glass and silver modern tables, everything placed and organized perfectly.

To your left is a dining area with a modern table and chairs, dark woods and pale cream-colored decorations tying in the colors of the living room. A large chandelier blocks some of your view to the kitchen, but from what you can see it is the most high-end residential kitchen you’ve ever seen outside of magazines and movies. Hell, it would put some of those to shame too. A pastel, almost minty aqua tile behind the stove is the only color added to the otherwise monochrome browns and creams so far, silver appliances shine in the reflected light.

Polnareff whistles loudly as he gives the place a good look as well, pretty much summarizing your thoughts. Jotaro, Kakyoin and Avdol are more modest in their reactions but you can tell by the way they straighten up and look around that they are eager to explore the new place too. Joseph is standing in front of the huge main window with his hands on his hips looking out on the mid-morning skyline. He turns with a flourish and throws his hands in the air, “We finally did it! I thought the previous owners were going to holdout forever, but we out lasted them! And now it’s ours!”

“Wait, you own this? Its not just a cool monthly rental?” you haven’t moved very far from the doorway, afraid to get anything dirty.

Jotaro ducks his head so his hat obscures most of this face, “Well, that’s not exactly what he means.”

“That’s right, JoeStar Realty has become a pretty big conglomerate since Caesar and I started it. We didn’t just buy out this apartment, we now own the whole building!” Joseph throws his head back and laughs triumphantly. You’re gob smacked as the reality of his statement sinks in. just what kind of pack did you stumble into? “Come on- showers and bedrooms are upstairs. We’ll all get situated and just relax today.” Joseph leads the charge up the stairs to your right and you all follow him up, bags in tow.

“There are five bedrooms, but with the Zeppeli pack staying here we’re going to have to share. I’ll give him a call and see what’s going on.” The rest of the guys nod and split up to explore the upper level. You follow suit and are amazed by the opulent bedroom you find yourself in. Looking in each doorway you see there are two smaller rooms decorated in creams and whites, still big enough to comfortably fit queen size beds. The larger three rooms done in blue, green, and grey are all furnished with king sized beds.

“(Y/N)! We’ve got two showers in this place- one of them is yours if you want to go first.” Joseph shouts from down the hall and you can see him poking his head out of one of the doorways.

“Yeah, sounds good to me- if everyone is cool with it?” You make your way over to the free bathroom, no one disagreeing with letting you be one of the first to shower. “I promise I’ll be quick!” You shout to the hallway before closing the door. the bathroom is just as fancy as the rest of the apartment, a large walk-in shower taking up most of the space. There are so many buttons and knobs, you’re tempted to try all of the settings but you just promised to be quick. Maybe you’d have the time to fully test it out later.

Luckily the apartment was also stocked with other essentials like towels and soap, and after a disappointingly fast shower – you only had time to try out a few of the fancy settings- you quickly change into a new outfit and grab a comb from your bag before dropping it off in one of the bedrooms. You make your way back downstairs to the living room and Polnareff jumps from his seat at the dining table when he sees you. He’s already bounded up the stairs before you can announce the shower is open now.

“Ah, (Y/N). I’ve got good news! I gave Caesar a quick call- he and his pack won’t be here till tomorrow afternoon. Polnareff volunteered to sleep out here in the living room, so we all get our own rooms for the night.” Joseph says as he and Avdol make use of the kitchen. Soap and towels must not be the only things supplied by the mysterious Zeppeli pack. A pretty impressive array of sandwich meats and condiments are spread out on the counter, and Joseph is putting the finishing touches on his own monstrous sandwich creation.

Jotaro is already showered and changed and sitting at the dining table working his way through his own mountain of sandwiches; you put you phone and comb down on the table next to him to save your spot while you make your own food. Cringing to yourself, you hope no one else notices you basically marked out territory right next to the alpha of the pack. Quickly throwing together some sandwiches you join the guys at the table.

The relaxed atmosphere is broken by the chorus of ‘Mama Mia’ suddenly staring to play. Joseph nearly chokes on the bite he just took and coughs it down as he reaches for his cell phone. He finally gets himself under control and answers the call, “Suzi! Sweetheart!”

“Jojo dear! I just got off the phone with Caesar, when were you going to tell me you were back in the city? And what’s all this nonsense about monsters?”

“He, uh, told you about that, did he? Well, its nothing to worry yourself over. I was going to give you a call once we all got settled here.” Joseph’s free hand can’t seem to stary still, alternating between scratching his beard and ruffling his hair. “But it’s all good now! Everyone is fine, perfectly fine! No reason to worry!”

“You are a terrible liar Jojo. Is everyone really ok?”

Joseph relaxes a bit and a small smile creeps onto his face. He makes his way out to the balcony to take the call in private. Shutting the glass door, he takes a look at everyone gathered at the table before turning to face the city skyline.

“Jojo?”

“I’m here, just stepped out for some privacy.” He takes a deep breath to prepare before continuing. “We’re all ok for the most part. Some cuts and bruises but we’re all in one piece.”

The silence that follows is almost more frightening than Suzi screaming at him. Finally, she breaks it, “Where are you, I’ll be right there.”

“No! No, you stay put. Besides, Caesar and his pack are going to be here tomorrow, there’s no need to worry.”

“I’m not going to argue with you about this Joseph. If there are dangerous people around, we should be together- the whole pack. There is safety in numbers after all.”

“Suzi, darling. Love of my life and sun in my sky,” Joseph does his best to butter up his mate, “I’m begging you to stay where you are; where you’re safe. We are attracting all kinds of enemies right now, if you got caught up in my fight again…” Joseph trails off, hoping the desperation in his voice talks some sense into her.

It seems to have done the trick as Suzi sighs loudly into the receiver, “Ok, have it your way Jojo. But are you going to keep everyone away? Remember Holly and Sado are supposed to be back in time for his big audition.”

“Damn. I forgot they were coming back so soon.” Joseph slaps a palm to his forehead and rubs it over his face.

“Oh! Wait! This gives me an idea!” Suzi practically sings into the phone, “It’s been so long since I’ve seen Fiona and her kids, I’m sure Caesar wasn’t planning on bringing his whole pack along with him. She and Holly and anyone else not needed to fight, we can all stay together! We’ll have the best of both, all of us out of harms way and safety of numbers!”

“Suzi, you are absolutely brilliant. I’ll get Jotaro and Caesar up to speed on this plan. I’m sure they’ll agree. We can look for a cabin outside of town, that way you’ll be able to transform if you do run into trouble.”

“Oh, silly me! I keep forgetting we need to let Jotaro make the decisions. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to my baby grandson being in charge.”

“I know. I’m still getting used to it myself, but he’s doing so well. Even with everything going on. Listen to this, it all started when we were at the new cabin to check out the area…”

***

From inside you watch as Joseph starts pacing and throwing his hands in the air as he talks on the phone. Jotaro had explained that was his grandma Suzi’s ringtone, Joseph was probably telling his mate everything that happened over the past several days. You pause as you are about to take another bite. Had it really only been a few days? Just a week ago you were a lone wolf, going from town to town as you pleased, and now…

You smile and greet Kakyoin and Polnareff as they take a seat at the table as well. Between bites of his food, Polnareff regals you all with a story about a job he had some years back that took place in a building down the street from this one. You do your best to look like you are listening, but you can’t help your thoughts drifting off to this strange situation you’ve become tangled in. You felt so at ease with everyone here, so unlike the packs you’ve tried to join in the past. They were such a close-knit bunch, especially considering it was rare for packs to be made up of so many non-family members. Hopefully the threads now tying you to this pack held strong after the hunter issue was solved. Just the thought of being outed from the group is enough to make you anxious, but you quickly quell the feeling with the resolve that you will do everything you can to prove you deserve to stay. To prove you belong.

The rest of lunch passes uneventfully, one by one you migrate to the living room and you end up sitting between Jotaro and Kakyoin again on one of the couches. Joseph and Avdol are across from you, Polnareff remaining at the table as he pulls out a laptop from his luggage. Now that you’re settled, clean, and full it’s hard not to drift between sleep and wakefulness. You don’t want to completely upset your sleep schedule so you settle on paying attention to the classic movie Joseph found on TV.

Jotaro and Kakyoin have no reservations about this it seems as they both quickly settle in for a nap as their attention on the TV wanes. Polnareff gives a loud yawn as he snaps his laptop shut and stands up to stretch. “Polnareff, would you mind if I borrowed your laptop if you’re finished with it?” Avdol stops him from putting it back in the carry case.

“Sure, what do you need it for?” Polnareff hands over the silver laptop, standing behind the couch and leaning over to see the screen.

“Something has been bothering me, about the encounters we’ve had recently. We seem to have run into more than our fair share, one of them even mentioning Dio by name.” You can see Polnareff’s hair stand on end and a full body shiver run through him at the mention of Dio. “I need to know; was it just bad luck that we ran into them? Or is there a magical component to this that we are not seeing? I need to do some research, but I wouldn’t put it past whoever is behind all this to use supernatural means to track and keep sight on us.”

You sit up straight in your seat as a chill rushes down your spine. You had been attributing the encounters to just bad luck, but the thought that they were intentional… Joseph seems to feel the same way, he stands from his seat with a growl and starts pacing.

“How can we tell for sure if we’re being watched?” Jotaro’s voice startles you. Apparently, he hadn’t been fully asleep. Kakyoin leans forward in his seat as well, the whole pack focused intently on Avdol.

“There are a few ways I can deduce if there is some kind of tracking spell being cast. But I need some time to refresh my knowledge on the subject. More importantly, if we find that there is a spell involved, we may be able to counter it.” Avdol hadn’t looked away from the screen while he addressed the pack, already deep into his research process.

“You’ll be able to block it once you know what it is?” You question him, curious to how the other werewolf could have such an in-depth knowledge of spells that he would only need to ‘refresh’ his knowledge.

“Not just block it. Most people don’t realize this, and in fact most spell casters depend on it, but when you use magic to view something it is like opening a window to look through. But when this window opens, if you have the right tools, you can view the caster back through the same portal.” You nod slowly at his explanation, still mystified at how he could possibly know this.

“Well, that’s some good news at least. Is there anything we can do to help?” Kakyoin asks as he sits up straight in his seat again.

“No, for now it’s just research to be done.” Avdol looks away from the screen to the pack. “Once I figure out what counter spells to use, I’ll need to collect some specialized tools from my shop.”

“Your shop? What’s that?” Today is raising more and more questions about the pack you’ve found yourself affiliating with.

“Forgive me, I forget you haven’t been with us that long to know. My family owns a curiosities shop, mostly catering to other sorcerers and people interested in the occult. You see, I’m half wolf on my father’s side. My mother is a sorceress, though she claims her only real talent is fortune telling.” Well, that would be one minor mystery solved about why Avdol knows so much about these things, but opens up even more intrigue to his past.

Jotaro nods and relaxes back into his seat, “Avdol, you make a list of what you’ll need from the shop. If its possible you should head over tomorrow with gramps, let your parents know it may be best to get out of town for a while.” Avdol nods at the order from his alpha and goes back to his research. The rest of you slowly relax back to your previous positions, Polnareff joining you all in the living room.

Its hard to tell how much time passes after that but it must be hours later when Joseph stands up and stretches, his joints cracking in protest. He winces a bit as he straightens out his spine, “I’m going to get started on dinner. Steak and potatoes sound good to everyone?” You could feel your mouth water at the thought and nod enthusiastically. Everyone else agrees as well and Joseph grins as he makes his way to the kitchen.

You join him, no time like the present to prove yourself useful. “What can I do to help?”

Joseph blinks twice before grinning at you, “Well if you really want to help, you can peel and chop these potatoes while I get the water and pans heated up. Sound good?” he hefts the bag of potatoes to the counter and you nod again, taking the bag from him and start looking for a knife.

You don’t catch the thoughtful look Joseph gives you and the glance to the living room as you get to work on your task. The open plan of the apartment was great for aesthetics but not for privacy. If he tried to grill you about your feelings and intentions toward his grandson, Jotaro was bound to overhear. Oh well, there were bound to be more opportunities in the future. Better to ignore it for now, Jotaro was under enough pressure as it was without discussing him like he wasn’t there.

Joseph gets to work on his own tasks and is impressed by how much you’ve gotten done when he checks your progress. “Wow, you really got to work on those. Where’d you get those knife skills, you a professional chef and just didn’t tell us?” Joseph laughs at his own joke.

“Ha, no. No, I’ve just worked a lot of odd jobs over the years. A lot of them happened to be in kitchens so I picked up a few things.” You chuckle with him as you continue working, adding a slight flourish to your movements to impress.

“Yeah, I guess that would do it, huh?” Joseph scratches his beard as he looks at you again, “If you don’t mind me asking, you said you’ve been on your own for a while… Why exactly? Have a falling out with your pack or something?”

“Nothing like that. I just…” You pause your movements as you try and think of the right words to explain, “It felt like it was time, you know? Adventure, fining myself, fining a pack of my own… That wasn’t going to happen if I just stayed home. So I packed up, hit the road and just kept going.” You smile as you turn to look at him. “I’ve actually had pretty poor luck with that last goal- finding a pack. Every time I ran into a new one that was looking for a member, it just never felt right, you know?”

“Well, that’s sad to hear, but at the same time I’m glad you’re with us now. How do you feel about that by the way? I know you’re kind of stuck right now…” Joseph trails off and you give him a bright smile.

“I know I barged into your lives, but you guys have done so much for me already. And, for the first time, I really feel like…” Joseph catches your glance at the living room and faint flush of your cheeks, “like I really have a place in the pack. Like I can belong.” Your eyes light with a sudden fire and intensity that catches Joseph off guard. “And I’m going to do everything I can to prove it. That I belong here.”

The last thing you were expecting was Joseph to gently pat you on the head and ruffle your hair a bit, “I wouldn’t worry about that (Y/N). You’ve already done it.” He gives you a sincere smile before turning back to the stove to get to work on dinner. You smile and do the same, quickly finishing and cleaning up your station.

Dinner is soon served and you are all entertained with stories from Joseph’s youth growing up in New York. You catch Jotaro next to you rolling his eyes at different parts of the tale. He sees your raised eyebrow and leans in, “Last time he told this story it was five vampires, now he’s up to eight.” You take a sip of water to hide your smile behind your glass.

After dinner is done and everything put away you find yourself back in the living room. You are about to get comfortable in an armchair when a yawn catches you off guard. Glancing at the clock you decide its not an unreasonable time to go to bed. “I think I’m going to call it a night guys. Do we need to work out bedroom assignments for the night or should I just pick one?” You stretch a bit as you move to stand next to the staircase.

“Nope, they’re all fair game tonight. Tomorrow we’ll have to figure out who is rooming with who when the Zeppeli pack gets here.” Joseph replies and you nod, giving one last goodnight to everyone before heading upstairs. You decide to just go with the one you dropped your stuff in, one of the rooms with a queen bed all to yourself tonight. Making sure you weren’t trapping anyone else’s things in the room you quickly change before falling into the bed face first. The covers are barely settled over you before you drift off to sleep.

***

You hadn’t set any kind of alarm, so you are a bit disoriented with the feeling of having overslept the next morning. Or was it early afternoon already? You crack an eye open to read the time on your phone; 10:15. Not early by any means but not unreasonable after the last few days you’ve had. And nowhere near your record for sleeping in, but the rest of the pack didn’t need to know that just yet.

You go through your morning routine at an unhurried pace before descending the stairs. Polnareff is seated at the table on his laptop again, Jotaro and Kakyoin eating breakfast across from him. You greet them and make yourself some toast before sitting next to Polnareff. Taking a glance at the screen you recognize the blue logo of Facebook but the profile Polnareff is looking at makes you pause.  

“Isn’t that one of the hunters?” you motion with your free hand to the screen as you take a bite of your breakfast.

“Oui. I’m doing a bit of research on them before I go check out the addresses.” Polnareff responds but his eyes never leave the screen.

You hum and nod before returning to your toast. Glancing around you realize Joseph and Avdol must still be upstairs, but you hadn’t thought them to be late risers. Kakyoin sees your survey of the room, “Mr. Joestar and Avdol have already left for his family’s shop. He said he was going to gather the necessary equipment to cast some protection spells.”

“They should be back in an hour or two, they didn’t leave that long ago.” Jotaro adds, his attention mostly on his breakfast but he makes eye contact with you as he speaks.

You nod again and watch Polnareff click through profiles and make some notes for a bit while you chew on your toast. “Is that really what you do as a PI? Facebook stalk people?”

Polnareff laughs, “Well this is just the first step. But you’d be astounded by what people volunteer sometimes. This guy,” he taps the ID card on the table, “has been surprisingly careful in what he posts. Which is a shame since he’s our best lead on whatever is going on. But since I have his address, I can put together a few things from what he does post.”

This catches Jotaro and Kakyoin’s attention and they both sit up straight in their chairs. “Since the place he claims to work for doesn’t have a website, and we know what his real job was, I was able to figure out where their equipment came from by cross checking their check-in tags from different restaurants around. It has to be one of the warehouses around the bay here.” Polnareff explains as he points to the map pulled up on his screen.

“Well, no time to lose then, lets go investigate.” Kakyoin says as he stands and collects his plate from the table to wash.

“Actually, I’d prefer to go by myself. It’s less suspicious if one person is hanging around and my methods, well… Let’s just say they aren’t 100% legal all the time.” Polnareff rubs the back of his neck and looks away for a moment before they both look to Jotaro for his decision on the matter.

Thinking for a moment, Jotaro seems to come to a decision as he closes his eyes and sighs. He opens his eyes again and focuses on Polnareff, “I’ll trust you to take care of yourself. I think you’re right though, a group of people snooping around is going to be more noticeable than just one.” You can tell by the look on Kakyoin’s face that he doesn’t agree, but he stays quiet. “The first sign of trouble you call us though, understood?”

“Of course! Although I don’t know how much trouble there could be, its not like he’s going to show up while I’m there.” Polnareff laughs and you smack your palm to your forehead, you would think he’d know better than to jinx himself like that.

<Previous Chapter    Next Chapter>

Author’s Note:

No fighting this chapter- everyone needs a break now and then. Also, I’ve decided I’m going to have to give up on once a week uploads- I feel like I’m really finding my voice writing this but it also means the chapters are getting longer and longer and I don't have the time I thought I would to get one chapter a week done. From now on posts will be sporadic but know that I am working on it a little each day!

No One Lives Forever- CH15

(AO3 link)

Stardust Crusader Wolf Pack AU

[From the beginning- CH1]

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Polnareff’s departure left you alone with Jotaro and Kakyoin. The quietness of the room without the silver wolf was edging on uncomfortable as you join the guys at the table, bringing glasses of water for all three of you. The stillness must have been getting to Kakyoin as well as he fidgets for a moment before leaving the table. You awkwardly sit and sip your water as you contemplate making an excuse to got to your room as well, but the redhead soon returned with a deck of playing cards in his hand. Jotaro seems invested in the new activity as well as he puts down his phone and leans forward in his chair a bit.

“You two up for a game to pass the time?” You and Jotaro both nod and fully focus on the redhead as he sits down again and begins to shuffle the cards. “Ladies choice then? What game would you like to play?”

You tap your fingers on the table while you think of a game to suggest, poker seemed too serious right now, but something like gin would eat up too much of your concentration and you really wanted to use the time to get to know your new packmates better. “How about ‘old maid’? I want to talk to you guys while we play, get to know you better. Sound good?”

Kakyoin smiles and nods as he stars dealing out the cards, not giving pause for Jotaro to protest the decision. Not that he seemed to want to as he just reclines in his chair as Kakyoin deals. You all remain quiet as you sort through your hands. Although you suggested this low-effort game so you could talk with them, you are still unsure how to break the silence that once again settled over the three of you.

Kakyoin clears his throat before facing you fully, “Well if we’re getting to know each other I guess I’ll start with a question for you. You said you’ve been traveling for a while- how long have you been on your own?”

You tilt your head to the side as you pluck a card from Jotaro’s hands and turn to Kakyoin for his turn. You try to remember when you officially set out on your own. “Well, I visited a lot of family and friends at first, so it’s probably been seven years or so since I was truly off on my own. Once the wanderlust kind of settled after seeing so many places on my own I started looking for a new pack to join instead of just wandering around. My family pack is just kind of too crowded to go back to, you know?”

Jotaro hums as he plucks his card from Kakyoin, “That’s pretty risky, isn’t it? To just go out looking for a new pack. Did you find others before ours?”

You’re kind of upset by the tone of judgement you can hear in his voice and you unconsciously scowl at him as you take your turn. “I can take care of myself, honestly the packs I did end up meeting were pretty cool once we cleared up the fact I wasn’t trying to move in on their territories. I just didn’t… fit in with them I guess? Just never felt right.” It feels like the universe is mocking your lone wolf status as you pluck the maid card from Jotaro’s hand.

There is a mischievous glint in Kakyoin’s violet eyes as he takes his turn and takes the maid card from you. “Don’t be too upset with him. Jotaro’s just concerned for you. He’s warmed up to you remarkably fast by the way.” His grin widens as Jotaro rolls his eyes.

“Well, this turned out to be a great plan to get to know us- now you know Kakyoin is a little shit.” Jotaro huffs as Kakyoin laughs at him.

You try to cover up your blush at Jotaro’s sidestep to the comment and laugh along with Kakyoin. Though you suppose you both hadn’t been exactly subtle in your interest in each other. You try to get a glimpse of Jotaro’s eyes to judge his reaction but he’s using his hat as a shield again. You turn back to the redhead as his chuckles subside. “So Kakyoin, how did you join the pack? They find you out in the woods too?”

“Ah, not exactly. I met Jotaro in college, we bonded over the fact we were able to get away from our families for the school year. After that I met the rest of the pack and kind of got adopted in.”

“Oh, I think Jotaro mentioned that. I only got through some gen-ed classes, didn’t even stick around to declare a major. What did you study?”

“Kakyoin has a degree in architecture, and I went for ecology and forest management. Though gramps was hoping I’d go for business and take over when he retires. I’d rather leave that to the Zeppelis though.” Jotaro says as he shuffles his hand again, probably trying to hide the maid he just picked up.

Kakyoin snaps his fingers, “That’s right, we haven’t told you much about them yet. You’ll get to meet most of them tonight I think.”

“I’m guessing they’re not a rival pack, who are they exactly?”

“You could call them our cousin pack. Uncle Caesar and gramps are practically brothers. They fought those Proto-Fae gramps was talking about back in their day.”

“It’s so hard to tell what Mr. Joestar is exaggerating about when he’s telling his stores. So, the Proto-Fae were real?” You tilt your head again as you ask.

“We’ll have to get Mr. Joestar to tell us again with Caesar around. He’ll put him in his place if he goes too far off the rails.”

You nod at Kakyoin, it seemed like a sound plan to get a better version of the truth out of Joseph. “Wait, you said you joined the Joestar pack in college, were you looking for a new pack too?”

“I was looking for a new pack, yes; but it sounds like for the opposite reasons you were. My father is a lone wolf, and my mother is human so I didn’t really have a pack until I joined Jotaro’s. A lone wolf lifestyle isn’t for me. If things had been different, I probably would have done the same as you, left home in search of a pack.”

“You’re half wolf? That’s pretty uncommon, usually humans are a little freaked out by it, or at least the ones I’ve met who knew what I was.”

“Half wolves are more common than you’d think.” Jotaro answers as he draws his next card from Kakyoin. “My dad is human and my mom is wolf. In fact, you’ll probably get to meet them soon as well. My dad is a musician and has a big audition coming up here in the city.” You take one of his two remaining cards and make the last match of the game- leaving Jotaro with the old maid.

“Wow Jotaro, you are moving fast. Introducing her to your parents already!” Kakyoin chuckles as Jotaro flicks the maid card at him.

“Dumbass. She’s part of the pack now. Of course, she’s going to meet all the members eventually.”

Kakyoin puts his hands up in front of him in a gesture of peace, “I was just making a comment. Though it really does seem like you have a reason you’re speed-running this. You finally ready to settle down Jotaro?”

Jotaro glares at the red wolf, blue eyes locked onto violet challenging him to make another comment. “It’s just coincidence.” He growls out.

You’re not sure where your sudden boldness comes from but you nudge Jotaro with your elbow to get his attention, “I don’t know, Jotaro. It’s only been a few days and I’m part of your pack already. At this rate, we’re going to have to plan a trip to visit my parents soon. You’re lucky though. My dad’s not the type to give ‘shovel talks’ to my suitors.”

You can’t help but laugh as you catch sight of the blush on Jotaro’s face before he’s hiding behind his hat again. “You are both terrible,” is the only thing you hear Jotaro grumble as Kakyoin lets out a full belly laugh.

Kakyoin gives you a high five, “Oh this is going to be great! I haven’t gotten him to turn that red in years!”

Although you are still laughing along with Kakyoin, you feel you own face heating up with a blush as Jotaro makes no further protests to your ‘suitors’ comment. You’re not sure when it happened but you can tell Kakyoin is now snickering at both of you as he re-shuffles the cards.

The three of you continue playing and talking through the morning. By late afternoon Joseph and Avdol had made their way back to the Pack’s apartment, arms laden with groceries. You and Jotaro helped them restock the pantry and kitchen wile Kakyoin headed upstairs to stock the bathrooms with new toiletries. As you are finishing up your task to stack up cans of soup, you hear someone’s phone go off in the living room where Avdol and Joseph had dropped their coats over the back of the sofa. Avdol rummages in his coat pocket before pulling out his phone and reading over the message. You think nothing more of it until he suddenly gasps at the contents.

“What in the world? How did they…” Avdol huffs as he starts typing furiously.

“What’s wrong?” Jotaro asks as he approaches the older man, the res of the pack going still and silent as he does. Even Kakyoin who had been descending the stairs pauses halfway down to observe the situation.

“Polnareff sent me a photo from the hunter’s house.” He turns the phone to face Jotaro, “It’s concerning to say the least. I’ll have to do some research on the specific rune language used but I’m pretty sure this is the format for a teleportation spell. Or a t least a strong mirror link spell.”

You find your curiosity to be too much to ignore and approach Jotaro and Avdol for a closer look. You only get a peek before Avdol is turning the phone away again to continue texting Polnareff. “Mirror link? What’s that?”

Avdol hums as he finishes his text and puts his phone away. “The best explanation would be its similar to an un-interrupted and untraceable video call between mirrors using magic. However, if it is indeed a transport spell, then anything smaller than the mirror would be able to pass through like items through a doorway.” He sighs and shakes his head before continuing, “I have some research to do on this. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll let everyone know what I find out later.”

Jotaro simply nods at him and Avdol makes his way upstairs to use one of the bedrooms as an impromptu study. Joseph claps a hand to Jotaro’s shoulder as the young alpha pinches at his brow above his nose. You contemplate offering silent support at his side but Joseph guides him to the dining area before you can make up your mind, “Cheer up Jotaro! At least Polnareff was able to gather more information- even if it is bad news.”

Jotaro lets out a slow exhale as he nods at his grandpa’s wisdom. Joseph grins but doesn’t remark further on the subject as he begins shuffling the deck of cards the three of you had left out. “So, what are we playing kids? Poker? Black Jack?” You can’t hold back your laugh at Joseph’s crestfallen face when Jotaro deadpan responds with ‘Old Maid’. He quickly recovers and deals out all four of you your cards to start the next round.

You make it through a few more rounds, where it is proven the Joestar family has spectacularly bad luck- when everyone’s phones ping with an incoming text message. Your blood feels frozen in our veins as you look at the photo of the freakish creature Polnareff has sent the group. You quickly make eye contact with Kakyoin, your bad feelings about his trip now realized. You both snap your heads to Jotaro as you feel rather than hear his angry growl from your side. He quickly sets his phone down and runs his hand though his hair while he fights a sudden shift due to his anger and guilt for letting Polnareff go out alone against the advice of his packmates.

Avdol rushes down the stairs into the main living room just as Joseph manages to get a call through to Polnareff. The whole pack is silent as you all focus on the conversation between the old alpha and your missing packmate.

“Jesus Polnareff! Are you alright? What the hell is that thing?” Joseph is boisterous as ever, free hand flying through the air before running though his hair, then back to waving around.

Even from across the room you can all hear Polnareff’s response, “Well…” he pants for a moment before continuing, “I’m pretty sure I just killed the Jersey Devil.”

“The… the Devil?” Joseph collapses into the living room couch holding his palm to his forehead. You catch his serious eyes glance to Avdol before he focuses on Polnareff’s voice explaining what happened. Avdol himself looks shocked and you see his hand tremble slightly as he reaches up to fiddle with one of his earrings.

Joseph nods sagely as he listens to Polnareff explain the situation. “Good job taking care of it on your own, now get back here as fast as you can. From now on no one goes anywhere alone.” He looks up to the rest of you, anxiously waiting to hear the details of the encounter. “That goes for all of you, ya hear?” He gets nods from everyone in the room and quickly says his goodbyes to Polnareff after getting his ETA back to the apartment.

“Well, I think that answers your question Avdol,” Kakyoin says as he rounds the end table to sit in the living room area with the older wolves. You and Jotaro follow after him. “The picture of the mirror and runes he sent you earlier, it must have been the transportation spell you mentioned.” Kakyoin’s red hair hangs in his face as he shakes his head in disbelief.

Avdol hums in response, folding his arms and looking down at the ground as he contemplates this new development. “Why leave the creature in the house though? There didn’t seem to be any other items of magical value. Even the mirror itself was a standard store-bought mirror.” His brows furrow as he tries to come up with an answer.

“Maybe there was something Polnareff missed?” you ask and all eyes turn to you as you explain. “If they have the ability to transport the devil there, they probably had other valuable stuff there too. You don’t post guards on an empty vault, you know?” you get a few nods from the others and Joseph scratches at his beard as he considered your explanation.

“Well in any case, we’re going to have to wait for him to get back before we can get any answers. For now, we…” Joseph is interrupted by his phone playing the opening riffs to Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir. His eyes immediately brighten in excitement as he recognizes the tone and picks up, “Caesar-ino! You guys on your way here yet? I haven’t heard from you all day!”

“We’re in the lobby actually. Come let us in. We don’t have a set of keys to the place.” You can hear a man’s voice from the other end along with people talking in the background.

“Right, I’ll be down in just a second. Sound like you got the boys with you?” Joseph marches to the door leaving the rest of the pack in the living room. He’s out the door before you can hear Caesar’s response. You can feel yourself growing more anxious with the prospect of interacting with another pack, another dynamic of relationships you’re going to need to navigate. Hopefully since they were already allies of the Joestar pack they’ll be similar in personality and easy to get to know as well.

Its only a short minute before you can hear the group in the hallway and Joseph throwing open the front door for the three newcomers to enter. Avdol, Kakyoin and Jotaro stand and make their way to the entryway to greet them and you follow behind, hoping the introductions are quick and painless. However, as you step forward you feel all their attention snap to you.

“Ah, Zeppelis, let me introduce our newest pack member, (Y/N).” Joseph steps between you and the other wolves, “(Y/N), this is Caesar, and his kids Luciano and Madonna. You give your best polite smile and step forward a bit more.

“Signorina! Its good to meet you. Joseph told me all about the incident at the cabin, its good to see you are well.” Caesar Zeppeli’s stark white hair and moustache must have been pale blond in his youth and is partially covered by a hat decorated with a zigzag patterned sash. His green eyes are sharp and calculating even as they crinkle with his smile as he shakes your hand. Two purple spots adorn either side of his face and you realize this must be a family birthmark as you catch a glimpse at his children’s faces.

His son is the next to greet you, enthusiastically shaking your hand with both of his, “(Y/N)! Welcome to the family! I’m Luciano, but everyone calls me Lucky.” You hear Kakyoin chuckle at the nick name and based on Lucky’s disgruntled look at the redhead you can tell the moniker is an ironic one. His hair is dark blond and styled long on top and buzzed on the sides in a hip way. He has the same green eyes as his father and twice as serious despite his charming grin. He has only one purple birthmark under his left eye unlike Caesar’s two, but it is so vibrant you would have mistaken it for makeup if you didn’t know better.

His hands are ripped away from yours as the woman next to him growls playfully and shoves him out of the way to meet you. “Hi! I’m Donna, its so good to have another girl around. Let me tell you, all these boys had better be on their best behavior or I volunteer to kick their asses with you.” Donna shakes your hand and pulls you into a side hug suddenly as she monopolizes your time and leads you over to the dining table away from the others, excited to finally have another female her own age to bond with. Her hair is unbound and a wild mane of strawberry blond waves. She had blue eyes and a shorter stature which she must have inherited from her mother, but the bright purple Zeppeli birth marks decorated both her cheeks below her eyes.

From your spot at the table, you can see Luck and Kakyoin fist bump each other in greeting and Jotaro hanging out near them looking relaxed. Caesar greets Avdol with a hearty handshake and clap on the shoulder before his attention is drawn to Joseph again. You chuckle and watch as Caesar goes in to put Joseph in a head lock before mussing up his hair, the two old men behaving like pups. You turn back to Donna as she continues talking about how great it is you are here and if you’ve met Mrs. Suzie or Mrs. Holly yet.

You do your best to answer her rapid-fire questions as rest of the pack makes their way to the dining table as well. The Zeppeli men fill in the seats to Donna’s left and you find Jotaro has claimed the seat to your right. Joseph looks up to his phone where he was checking the time to Polnareff’s return and turns to Caesar.

“Where’s Frankie and Fiona? I thought your whole pack was going to be here?” Joseph question has the surprising effect of making the Zeppeli pack practically vibrate in their seats as Caesar’s grin grows wide.

“They’ve decided to stay behind with Frankie’s mate, she’s due very soon. I’m going to be a grandpa before the new year!” Donna and Lucky seem equally excited and Donna grabs your arm as she bounces in her seat a little.

“I’m going to be an aunt! Its so exciting,” she emphasizes by shaking your arm a bit, “a new baby in the family!”

Lucky leans over the table to address you from behind Donna, “Don’t mind her too much, she’s just excited cause she’s the baby of the family. She doesn’t know how much work they are yet.”

Your arm is once again free when Donna turns to her brother to shove him playfully, “Shut up, you’re one to talk! You’re not much older than I am.”

“I’m old enough to remember how much trouble you were as a kid. I could have sworn you weren’t a wolf; you were a hell cat.”

The sibling’s argument is interrupted by the front door opening and Polnareff stepping into the entry. Even from this distance you can see the shallow cuts on his arms as he sheds his jacket. “You guys have to hear this, you’re not going to believe what…” his sentence trails off as he finally looks up and recognizes the extra members seated at the table, his face lights up as he makes eye contact with Donna. You can feel her stiffen next to you as Polnareff makes his way over.

“It seems fortune is finally smiling on me. Donna, ma chérie!” Polnareff stands directly behind you, using your chair to brace himself as he leans into Donna’s personal space, “Fate has brought you here, I know with your delicate touch my wounds will be healed in no time!” He grabs her hand as Donna’s face turns red. For the first time in the short while you’ve known her, Donna is rendered speechless, only able to sputter some non-committal noises before she is able to free her hand from his grip and return to her senses.

She turns away from him as everyone at the table aside from Caesar chuckles at the interaction. Caesar seems to be the only one on Donna’s side as he stares down Polnareff and you can hear a faint warning growl coming from the older pack leader. “What do I look like, your nurse maid? Go patch yourself up.” Donna huffs as she crosses her arms and turns away, but you can see her face is still bright red.

Lucky leans over again to nudge Donna in the ribs with his elbow. “Come on Donna, you don’t want to help out your suitor? Poor man is bleeding over here.” Donna smacks him on the shoulder hard as she continues to ignore Polnareff. Lucky brushes off the hit and chuckles as Polnareff hangs his head in defeat.

Donna turns back to you as Polnareff slinks off to the other side of the table, “(Y/N), if you haven’t figured this out already, let me be the one to tell you. You’ll be better off if you just ignore everything these two say.” You laugh along with her statement before Avdol draws the group’s attention.

“Are you sure you don’t need some bandages? It would be no trouble…”

“Non, they’re mostly healed now. But here,” Polnareff fumbles for his phone in his pocket before showing it to Avdol, “Here’s everything I found at the hunter’s house. There is obviously some advanced magic going on here. Did you get supplies on your trip this morning?”

Joseph and Avdol share a glance before Avdol speaks up. “We did in fact. Which reminds me,” he produces the small satchel from where had tied it to his belt. “Everyone, take one. Be sure to wear it at ALL times. These will block any ill intended spells from being cast directly onto you.” He passes the bag to Polnareff first, who pulls out a heart shaped pin to match his earrings.

“We also have some additional insight from Mrs. Avdol. She’s revealed who we think our enemies are.” Joseph’s face is stern as he crosses his arms and surveys everyone.

“You said enemies, as in more than one?” Kakyoin asks as he quickly selects a green crystal pendant form the bag before passing it to Jotaro. In a quick second you see he’s fished out a gold star pin and set the bag in front of you. Out of the corner of you eye you see Avdol nod in response to the question while you rifle through the remaining trinkets before pulling out a compass rose necklace. You absently pass the bag to Donna as you listen intently to Joseph’s explanation.

“According to the cards of fate, our enemies are…” He pauses and you sit on the edge of your seat waiting for him to continue, “The Devil! Justice! And The World!” in true Joseph fashion he shouts and names your enemies.

“We were sure these must have been metaphoric symbols for our enemies, but with Polnareff’s encounter today we cannot rule out literal aspects of these cards.” Avdol further explains.

Lucky sputters for a moment and you glance at him, “Wait, wait. You said the world just now though. It can’t literally be the world.” He throws his hands up as he looks around the table, “And Justice? How can justice be an enemy?”

Donna scoffs and you turn fully to your left to face the Zeppeli pack, catching sight of Donna’s new ring, Lucky’s clover pendant and Mr. Caesar’s wrist cuff adorned with beads and feather charms. “What does it matter if it’s literal or a metaphor? Between our two packs we can take on just about anything.”

“I’m saying we need more information before we can make a plan of attack.” Lucky is practically growling at his sister as the two glare at each other.

A sigh from their father breaks up the sibling feud. “Until we know for certain, we’re going to have to assume the worst and that the whole world really is out to get us.”

Lucky and Polnareff remain at the table with Avdol to discuss the findings at the hunter’s house in more detail as the rest of you divide up to the living room and kitchen areas. Kakyoin and Donna take charge of fixing dinner and before you know it you are all seated at the table again to enjoy the meal.

Conversation lasts well into the night before one by one you all decide to retire for the night. It’s decided that the younger members will bunk together in the larger rooms leaving the queen beds and the couch for Avdol, Joseph, and Caesar. You catch Donna giving you a sneaky side eye and a wink when she hears you’ll be rooming with Jotaro again.

A short while later you decide its time for you to head to bed when you catch yourself yawning and rubbing at your eyes. You hadn’t really done much today but meeting new people combined with the stress of the last few days must still be weighing on you. You say your good nights to the remaining pack and an extra glance to Jotaro as you make your way upstairs.

Sleep finds you almost immediately as you lay down on one side of the king bed, completely relaxed at the thought of being surrounded by pack again. Finally home. It feels like you’ve only blinked before you feel the mattress shift and you are vaguely aware of reaching out towards the form. You keep your eyes closed as you recognize Jotaro’s scent and he moves closer to you as your hands latch onto his arm. You hear him sigh as you nuzzle your face into his bicep and he makes no move to dislodge you.

<Previous Chapter    Next Chapter>

Author's Note:

So some backstory on the Zeppeli pack: Caesar’s mate is Fiona (named after Fiona Apple) and their children: “Frankie” Franco (named after Frank Sinatra), “Lucky” Luciano (named after Luciano Pavarotti), and “Donna” Madonna (named after….Madonna lol). Frankie’s mate is not mentioned by name but her name is Nancy (Frank Sinatra’s IRL first wife). Since Jotaro has refused to take his grandpa’s place as part of the company its decided that Frankie is going to take over the business with Lucky and Donna supporting but not partnered. That’s another reason Frankie is not going to be a big part in this story, he’s busy being an expecting dad and running things.

Also I keep a list of psudo-names for these chapters for easy reference. Next chapter is in my notes as "Dio still up to no good'

In search of a fanfic‼️‼️‼️

I’ve been gone for a hot minute and this is the first thing I post lmao. Anyways, I’m looking for this narancia x fugo fic that I read awhile back. I loosely remember it being about Narancia getting injured and fugo looking after him/nursing him back to health?? It ends up with fugo confessing his feelings to Narancia and I remember his dialogue saying something along the lines of “I want to open your rib cage and lay next to your heart.” To which narancia responded with “I think my ribs would be too small for you to crawl into.” I’m pretty sure it was on Ao3 but I cannot find it for the life of me 😭if anyone else knows this fic please let a bitch know

May I request HCs on Bruno x f!reader? Them going on an amusement park date? ✨

Bruno X Reader on an Amusement Park Date

Bruno is a romantic babe, I <3 him.

He’d definitely start off with some of the heavily greasy food sold in the area.

After that, he’d walk around with you.

He’d buy roses off the wandering vendors and definitely take you to the games.

He’d win you the best prize possible.

That happens to be a very big teddy bear with a tiny head.

Y’know that one.

Anyway, he’d be the voice of reason if you want to win yourself a goldfish.

“Dolcezza, you know it’s probably gonna die the next day. We haven’t even properly prepared a tank!”

And of course, the ferris wheel was saved for last.

The two of you would go on it while the sky was dark and all of the park was illuminated.

He’d obviously go in for a kiss while your cart is stopped at the top.

I mean, is there a better moment to do so?

Dusk

Chapter 1: a sudden appearance

Pairing: giorno giovanna / lucy steel

Summary: Lucy, being the hopeless romantic she was, dreamed of having a connection with her own prince charming.

What she didn't realize was that she was already her own prince charming to Cinderella.

Cinderella taking the form of giorno, a boy that one day, appeared out of nowhere in her stable.

If only she could spend more time with him, their meetings are always so short.

Author's note: thought I should finally write a fanfiction for this crackship :)!

Lucy was quite the bookworm, however she wasn't always this way, in fact, if you asked her years ago what she thought of the activity, then the blonde girl would politely tell you she wasn't the biggest fan of it. 

Reading was always used as a learning tool in her experience, the encyclopedias she came across were always too heavy for her small hands and complicated for her mind.

It wasn't until her 7th birthday that she really took an interest in reading, when her parents gifted her a romance novel.

Lucy still remembered the first time she held it in her hands, how lighter it felt compared to the other books she had held, and how smoothly the pages turned, how engrossed she was in the story while reading.

Lucy still couldn't comprehend some of the words written, sometimes even having to ask her parents or older sibling what a certain phrase meant, however she didn't really care much, she just wanted to keep reading.

The first romance novel she read was still under her bed, she cherished it. 

Lucy continued reading more books, she would even take trips to the library, so much so that the librarian recognized her, and would even give her a small smile. 

Lucy would always smile back.

The small girl would read all kinds of different novels, however her favorite would always be romance. Her parents took notice of how her eyes sparkled whenever she read one and how a sad frown would appear on her face when finishing it. 

The thought of romance fascinated the girl, the connection between two people, how close they can get to each other. 

All of it was like a dream to her, she would always imagine how charming her future lover would be, how many activities they could do together. 

Maybe if he was into books like her, then they might even read together! 

Lucy had slowly but surely become not only quite the bookworm, but also quite the hopeless romantic. 

Now she wondered just when cupid would hit her with his arrow.

***

İt was a cold night, yet the warmth of the fireplace soothed the blonde as she flipped through a page of her book . Lucy was re-reading a new novel she had gotten for her 9th birthday. 

İt was a tale of two lovers that had gotten separated, yet through many adventures, they had once more found each other.

One thing that drew Lucy in was how both of the lovers could feel each other's pain and emotions while they were away from each other. Just the thought of feeling so strongly toward someone, to know them so well that you could feel every ounce of thought they had,was magical to her. 

"Lucy, dear, it's almost time" her reading session was interrupted by her mother's words. 

"yes ma, coming! " The girl quickly put down her book, as much as she hated stopping in the middle of the story, just when it was getting really interesting. She had things to take care of.

Lucy headed outside. The cold air hit her face as she walked toward the stable where the horses she had to feed were. 

She opened the stable door and started to get work. 

Lucy was the best with horses out of all of her siblings, so her parents would always send her out to take care of them, while her mom would cook food. 

Lucy stretched her arms, she wanted to get back to her house as soon as possible, it was chilly and dark out, so it scared the little girl. 

At least the horses were here, hopefully they could protect her from any robber that might appear. They seemed to like her a lot. 

Just as she finished that thought, a loud thud hit her ears. Startled, she immediately turned around to the source of the noise. 

She heard a groan, Lucy gulped. 

She saw a shadowy figure slowly get up, the blonde took a step back, it was either a robber or a monster, or maybe her paranoia got the best of her. 

"w-who's there?" she cried out. 

The shadowy figure started to walk toward her, Lucy stepped back again, preparing to run away, she did not want to get hurt and possibly die at the hands of a robber. 

Until the moon lit up the stable from its open doors, and she saw what the shadowy figure really looked like. 

İt was a boy, no older than her age. 

"y-you're not a robber? Are you?" she said in a quiet tone. 

This couldn't be a robber or monster, he looked too young to be one. 

Then again, she did hear stories from her mom from troublemaker kids trying to steal crops from their farm.

"robber?" the boy finally spoke. 

"Yes, a robber, are you one? D-do you want to steal something?" she knew the question was stupid, no robber would out themselves by answering her. 

"no" he replied curtly "uh…" his eyes turned toward the horses, then at her. 

"I don't even know where I am" he said. 

"oh… are you lost?" 

The boy looked down at his shoes "I guess.." he replied. 

"I See" she wasn't sure what to make of that response, but her once tense body relaxed. The boy didn't look like a threat, in fact he looked pretty scrawny, like one hit of the wind could blow him away. 

"uh, what were you doing out so late?" she resorted to asking him a simple question "were you with your parents? They must be worried"

The boy took a few seconds to answer, Lucy was patient, she sympathized with him, she knew what it was like to be lost, and the fear that came with it. 

"i don't know, i don't remember much" 

Lucy frowned, he didn't look very fazed by his situation, yet she could still see him fidgeting with his shirt. 

"well, what's your name? Mine is Lucy" 

"giorno" 

Giorno was not a name she had heard before, she wondered If he was foreign, looking closer at him, he looked like he was.

"okay ! It's uh, nice to meet you giorno"  she said as she walked closer to him, putting out a hand, in hopes of a handshake. 

Giorno hesitantly shook her hand, his hands were almost smaller then her hers. 

"how old are you by the way?" 

"10"

Lucy gasped and let go of his hand "you're older than me!" 

Giorno blinked, taking a few seconds to talk again "how old are you?" he finally asked. 

"i'm 9 years old" 

Giorno only nodded. 

"so.." Lucy spoke up, thinking of what to say "where do you come from? I never heard a name like yours before" Curiousity had gotten the better of her. 

"i come from Italy" 

She only hummed in response. Lucy had never heard of Italy before, she wasn't sure if she should tell the boy however. Lucy didn't want to come across as rude. 

Lucy caught a brief look in his eyes, one that quickly went away as he gazed down again. 

His eyes shifting toward every single thing. 

Lucy felt a pit in her stomach. 

Even though he looked so calm, he really was panicking inside. 

"h-hey" she stuttered, catching the attention of giorno "I know it must be scary, being lost is really awful. My mom is cooking food so, maybe you can eat with us until we find a way to-" 

"Lucy! Dinner is ready! Where are you? " the blonde was interrupted by her mother calling out for her. 

Lucy shouted back "I'll be there!"

The girl turned back toward giorno, smiling, trying to reassure him "wait for me okay? I'll tell my mom what happened, I'm sure she can help more then me!" 

"okay" giorno quietly said, nodding his head again. 

Lucy quickly ran outside and grabbed her mother's hand. 

"Lucy what are you-" 

Lucy didn't say anything, she only dragged her mom along to the stable. 

"mom there's a boy that-" Lucy stopped in her tracks "huh?" 

Giorno wasn't there, she let go of her mother, searching every corner where giorno could be. 

"did he..run away? Where is he?" she couldn't help but feel nervous, she had told him to wait, and now he was nowhere to be found. 

Where could he be? That was the only question on her mind. 

"Lucy, the food is going to get cold" her mother scolded her. 

"but.." Lucy face fell "he was here just seconds ago.." 

"who was?" her mother asked. 

"it's..it's nothing" Lucy returned to where her mother was "i'm really sorry for making you wait ma" 

***

Dinner that night didn't feel good. 

She had lost her appetite and had gone to bed earlier then the rest of her family. 

Maybe Giorno really was a robber, maybe he was just a figment of her imagination. She just didn't know.

Lucy came to the conclusion that it would be best to forget about him. 

She still hoped however, that wherever he was, he was doing well, that's all that mattered in the end. 

Great uncle Josuke looking out for his fave lil Jolyne <333

I wholeheartedly believe Josuke’s gonna be mad at Jotaro if he ever learns how Jotaro’s never around for Jolyne, considering Josuke’s been there already, and unlike Joseph who wasn’t around cause he never knew of Josuke’s existence, Jotaro’s making a conscious decision not to be around

You can guess how Josuke’s gonna feel about that, and you better believe he’ll be nagging Jotaro to call his family

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

ೄྀ࿐ ˊˎ-ˏˋ°•*⁀➷*+:｡.｡*ੈ✩‧₊˚ೄྀ࿐ ˊˎ-

-Capitolo Due

-𝐒𝐢𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢, 𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐚 𝐥𝐨 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨!

ೄྀ࿐ ˊˎ-ˏˋ°•*⁀➷*+:｡.｡*ੈ✩‧₊˚ೄྀ࿐ ˊˎ-

°°°°°°°°°°°°

Here we are...

Yet again, the heavy elevator doors rush open to grant me a dramatic opening.

The first thing I see when the doors wait patiently for me to leave are long, vibrant green vines hanging down from the extravagantly carved indicator on the top of them.

with durable thickness and threatening thorns, the creeping plants welcome the sight of a colorful array of roses in many sizes and shades. while some flourish under whatever specs of sunlight they could grasp, others lay meek, small, and dormant, their young nature portrayed in the form of buds.

further in, shrubbery lays scattered all across the storey, wrapped around simple red-pebble frames, other, slightly larger greenery sitting displayed in-beautifully carved-cement vases. (most of which engraved with the letters "GG")

"No need to be nervous now, miss L/N. Please, walk further, I'm just across the hall."

My shoulders tense heavily as I hold back a seagull yelp when that echoing voice suddenly breaks the silence. "Y-yes, sir..!" I squeal in response.

Never mind, I start pacing on the checkered flooring of the spacious room. I eye to the right and left of me, observing the floor windows that permit the bright spring sunlight to highlight each step I take with a harsh white glow on my Mary-Janes

As if this place wasn't incredible enough, the view from outside is breathtaking! Through the large, rainbow reflecting windows, the once giant fountains and messy mazes of gardens, now look as tiny as a kitten!

..

Speaking of...one just passed by me. I eye it as it pitpats past me with a high-pitched

"Meeeoooow~!<3 <3"

"Awwh...!!" I coo to myself.

Finally, at the end of the hall, I lay my eyes upon the tall golden-framed velvet chair Don Giovanna is patiently sitting on, his legs crossed and head supported on his hand.

"Nice to finally see your face, miss L/N," smiles Giovanna, kindness evident in the creases forming under his eyes. "Truly, shining addition to the organization. Relieve me, miss L/N," he leans in his chair, looking behind him for dramatic effect, "you are aware of what's actually happening here...right?"

I nod in affirmation. "Yes, sir, I'm grateful to have come here enlightened by your wonderful employer."

"Hmph, one less person to stress, haha."

Giovanna straightens his posture once more and steps out of his chair, smiling at me confidently while rummaging through a sorted array of papers on his bureau. When his slender hands finally find a tiny piece of paper between all of the mess, he hands it to me, not dismissing me before one last note.

"Alright, listen closely, L/N. Your job here is not by any means limited to being an assistant. You could be called out to at any moment to substitute a fallen worker, whatever his position may be, so keep your head up for me, won't you,miele? We really can't afford to lose another cherished heart." I blink a couple of times. I know I expected this somehow, but for it to be confirmed so straightforwardly is...intimidating, sort of.

"You are to go to the 2nd floor immediately to officially claim your place. Your employer and more of my men will play as your escorts to your new office." I take the piece of paper, reading it. I  immediately recognized my signature on it. I let out a longs sigh before looking back up at Giovanna, a wide smile of excitement painting my face at the fast pace of it all.

"Congratulazioni, segretaria L/N, I'm confident you'll prove to be something big."

ೄྀ࿐ ˊˎ-ˏˋ°•*⁀➷*+:｡.｡*ੈ✩‧₊˚ೄྀ࿐ ˊˎ-

°°°°°°°°°°°°

"Si, dì al quinto piano di aprire l'ospedale ora."

I wait patiently as my employer/escort finishes speaking, giving the office I'm in a once-over and admiring its cozy modern design. Compared to Giovanna's office and the outer appearance of the place, calling the contrast surreal is an understatement; to go from something so lavish to so mundane in the span of one elevator ride.

"Caramello e Zeppole possono aspettare ancora un po'."

His accent is quite thick. Makes sense, he is Japanese after all.

ೄྀ࿐ ˊˎ-ˏˋ°•*⁀➷*+:｡.｡*ੈ✩‧₊˚ೄྀ࿐ ˊˎ-

This is still a wip, i haven't published it yet but have it anyways lol

also dont make fun of my italian I'm a newbie

▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎

~☆My General La Squadra Headcanons☆~

Part 1

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

Ft: Risotto, Prosciutto, Pesci, Formaggio ~♡

▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎

Risotto nero

◇ Other than Metallica, his favorite bands include Pierce The Veil, Iron Maiden, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Guns N Roses and Linkin Park.

◇ Despite what most people like to think about his personality outside of Passione, especially when it comes to strangers, he is surprisingly very tame. Although he is a very strict and often violent man, it's only with his enemies. As shown in the Doppio fight, he likes to take his time to analyze things; he's patient.

◇ With strangers, he has a more wholesome side. He sometimes gets nervous, dare i say shy when talking to either elderly people or women, mostly his age or of single digit age.

◇He fears he might end up scaring everyone away, sometimes. It's not everyday you see a 6'7 beast with black scleras and fiery red eyes. He tries his best to make his testosterone drowned voice less intimidating, often making his voice small.

"T-that'll be it, ma'am, thank you," He murmurs to the cashier, his back arched so he meets her level. Safe to say his face is red.

(90% of Jojo fans migrated from the Arcana Fandom so i hope you understand what im saying when i tell you to compare him a bit to Muriel)

◇ I don't care what anyone says, he is a huge sweet tooth. I'm sorry I'm stupid and I have a huge soft spot for gentle giants who love sweets and are a literal marshmallow deep down.

◇ Amazing father figure.

Prosciutto

♧ 28 years old.

♧ He is just as disappointment-filling as the Fandom portrays him to be.

♧ favorite bands include Red Hot Chili Peppers, Judas Priest, Kiss, and shamefully, Destiny's Child. He doesn't tell anyone about the last one, but he knows he memorizes 'Bills,Bills,Bills' like his own name and will accidentally hum it when it plays.

♧ However let's give him a little bit of credit. He's not cold with everybody, and most definitely not Pesci. Actually, if he ever was cold, it'd be 10x worse than we think.

♧ Deep down, he has a soft spot for everyone in the team. Especially since, unlike Pesci, as much as he's trying to be, are more stable and mature, they meet up to his 'qualifications' of good company. They don't cause him any trouble most of the time, grâce à two certain members of the hitman team.

♧ Is secretly lactose intolerant, but instead of actually admitting it, he comically dumps that personal hatred onto Pesci.

♧ Despite popular belief, he does not smoke. Cmon. When was the last time you saw a panel of him actually smoking? Is it for the old man aesthetic?🤨 In fact, he hates it. Will start a fight if someone puffs the smoke in his face.

♧ Outside of uniform, he dresses up semi-formal and often has a sweater around in case it got chilly. He owns a ton of Doc Martens and the velvet boots with that ugly mustard color.

♧ His favorite foods are savory ones. Enjoys salmon and steak greatly. Make them for him and you might just win his heart (that's a joke, no you won't)

Pesci

♤ 26 years old.

♤ No, he and Pros are not related.

♤ He has caffeine intolerance, but doesn't know it yet. Despite him knowing it makes his stomach upset, it never bothered him enough to actually ask about it, so he just ends up blaming himself for being too weak.

♤ His favorite bands are The Scorpions, Backstreet Boys, Elvis Presley and a few songs of Paul Ankha.

♤ Is best friends with bugs. He's tried to convince the team to help him make a terrarium for the ones he caught, but Formaggio saw a cicada on the floor and immediately booked it. Or...came back and killed the cicada, in a better sense.

♤ Over the course of later years, he's become more hostile and confident. Though, he still has trouble getting out of situations like having to be in charge of a certain job while the actual worker leaves to do something.

♤ Prefers soft foods. Is really fond of native dishes from a round the world, and enjoys going to diverse restaurants everytime he eats out.

♤ If DP didn't decide to do Pesci so wrong with that shit voice, I'd headcanon his voice to be that of Silco from Arcane.

♤ Style is very casual, he likes to match pinks and greens on smaller articles of clothing a lot.

♤ Owns about 100 Converses and a singular pair of winter boots he's had ever since entering the team.

Formaggio

☆ 24 years old.

☆ He's the Mista of the team. Very clearly. Very good looking, a definite ladies man but absolutely fucking dumb.

☆ His hair is a buzzcut. He's ginger and has freckles and moles everywhere on his body, all over his back, arms, legs , even his-

☆ His favorite musicians are Shakira, Black eyes Peas, Michael Jackson and Kiss. Very chill about his music, and cares more about vibes and being able to sing along easily than just the lyrics.

☆ Has a lowkey decent voice when he hums to his favorite song. Accidentally hit that one high note in Celine Dion's song at 7 am when getting ready, and it was the only clean note throughout his entire screaming session. He still got his ass beaten by Prosciutto.

☆ His style is FRESH fresh. Wears a lot of bracelets, has so many piercings including above his eyebrows. He's a big fan of subtle body modification. He wears anything and everything. Hawaiian shirts and baggy pants, short tees that he styles as crop tops with puffer jackets over them. He's really a vibe, has the best style out of everyone in the team.

☆ Loves anything sour. Will eat a lemon whole when he gets the chance.

☆ Very boyfriend material, he's very hyperactive but chill, shows a sense of responsibility with how he's taking care of his beloved cat, and is overall just a score to pull. Look at him he's so handsome ♡

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~☆My General La Squadra Headcanons☆~

Part 2

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ft. Melone, Ghiaccio, Illuso~♡

part 1 already posted!☆

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Melone

♡ 22 years old.

♡ Natural blonde. He dyed his hair because he got bored of its unnecessarily pale color. At first he wanted red, but when he saw the unique purple of the conditioner next to the shade of his face, he immediately changed his mind.

♡ No, he is NOT hupersexual, and I've had enough of people thinking he is. Do your research before diagnosing a character with something so severe.

♡ What his 'hypersexuality' actually is, is literally just the effects of having a fetish. I would know. Plus it's very obvious from the anime/manga anyways. I can explain the difference in another post if you want me to. I'd be happy to inform you guys :)

♡ he is, however, a big fan of seuxual humor (same lmao)

♡ His favorite bands are Mindless Self Indulgence, Pink Pantheress, Lady GaGa (his absolute idol), Jason Derulo and 100% unironically, too.

♡ His style is very androgynous. As clear from his uniform, he likes to show his torso quite a bit. NO IT'S NOT CAUSE HE'S GAY. It's just a style he feels comfortable in. It has nothing to do with impressing strangers or team members lest he'd not have any time for mafia work. Again i can make an analysis on him some other time.

♡ Avid city boy!! Lives for the crowds and large friend groups. Needless to say, he's the happiest when in a bar with the team playing poker and cracking up jokes.

♡ Actually the most genuinely, wholesomely affectionate one.

♡ His favorite foods are contradictory in texture. He loves chewy with crunchy, like rice with almonds, liquid with solid like tomato soup and baked bread...etc

♡ He's actually very self conscious when it comes to his love life because it's very rare you find someone with very odd fetishes like him. Plus, he's very awkward overall. His posture says enough (i love his posture though its so endearing 🥺)

♡ It's not that he needs to live up to his queer identity of a twink androgynous male, even though he's nailing it, it's just that his metabolism is unbelievably high. He's tried everything, believe me.

♡ Like Risotto, he's a very good father figure.

Ghiaccio

☆ 22 years old. Him being the same age as Melone is one of the main reasons they're so close. The second is that they're both the youngest members of the team.

☆ His favorite bands are Arctic Monkeys, The neighborhood, a few songs from Gorillaz, and his second favorite song from The White Album is Oobla-di! (I actually was so happy to find out he loves the Beatles ajebnsnss)

☆ Was a figure skater in the works for quite a big portion of his life, but then he was put on the Olympics and found he greatly enjoys the competitive feel. He has 12 trophies and 20 medals from many competitions he's joined since he was 9.

☆ His style is mostly casual, but definitely not bland. His favorite articles of clothing are his abundance of black high-necks. He likes to wear fake piercings and a few rings if he's trying to spazz himself up a bit.

☆ His favorite foods are soft foods. He likes anything that can be eaten with his hands, or won't be a hassle to take along with him if he's in a rush. He also loves cold drinks and flavored teas a lot (he even buys them in winter)

☆ Cannot survive summer. Sunburns EVERYWHERE. He has a huge stash of sunscreens of different spf for different settings too. His skin is so sensitive, it gets ashy by the end of of day.

☆ Is never cold, and because of his stand, he doesn't get sick...often. When he does however, it's usually seasonal fever. It's the biggest downside of having his stand.

☆ Risotto helps him get better

☆ He's actually very soft-hearted despite his anger-driven bursts. When he's with the people he trusts the most (especially Melone) he's extremely tame, in behaviour and speech. He doesn't swear as much, and the team appreciates those days a lot. But hell if they'll ever let a day pass without Ghiaccio screaming at them. It's not him!

☆ Has ended up asleep on his teammates laps on so many occasions. Especially after a long mission. He uses up a pity-provoking amount of bodily and spiritual energy that by the end of the day he'd just want to flunk on the neatest surface and catch a few Zs. Of course, seeing as this is a wonderful opportunity for his team to finally see him calm, they tease him to the max!

Illuso

♧ 27 years old.

♧ Don't ask him for his hair routine. He doesn't know. He boasts about its natural perfection so much too-

♧ Curses his height sometimes. It prevents him from gaining a proper amount of muscle, but of course as his body works, he can't really do anything about it. This is mostly he wears his padded outfit, to appear more large. Be does appreciate the broadness of his shoulders though.

☆ His favorite musicians are Prince, Bruno Mars, Elvis and The Weather Girls. He relates to all of them in terms of self-worth.

☆ Too bad he sucks ass at self-care though.

☆ He eats the unhealthiest junk ever. His favorite fast food chain is Subways (you are what you eat ig but that's a topic for later) He also drinks a lot of soda. It's a miracle he hasn't developed osteoporosis by now.

☆ His style is as funky as Formaggio,almost the same thing too. He lives for black cargo pants and chains, but he's very big on all-black clothes that include long coats. It compliments his lanky figure. Loves to match everything with Demonias or Doc Martens. Has a large selection of rings, fake piercings and hand chains. Very show-offy.

☆ Surprisingly the most blasphemous person in the gang. Yes, even more than Melone. Despite Melone being shameless of his peculiar likings, he'd never be immature enough to speak about it out loud, unlike Illuso. He says things like "that's his steaming hot cum sock" to Prosciutto when he asks about someone's discarded clothes.

☆ The shittiest person ever don't talk to him. 💀

JJBA golden wind high-school AU!!

details about this are on my Instagram if you wanna see it!!

very proud of this hehe

--Base sheet used for this drawing belongs to its original creator!!!!

GREEN BOY APPRECIATION!!!!! ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

i JUST wanna go on an Aquarium date with Pesci and i don't thiNK THAT'S TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR DAMMIT

I am sincerely sorry for the shit quality I hope you can still zoom in well

Part 2 of my high-school AU character sheets!

Here's Trish in the Passione School's girl's uniform!!

again if you want more details about her, check it out here!!♡

I'm henna be drawing Cioccolata's character sheet next, and also Illuso and Prosciutto lol. I'll try drawing Pesci but I fear I might give up ajbsjsjs

Hey!!! I haven't posted in a while since i was waiting for the exam results (in case I had to redo one of them luckily I don't hehe)

but anyways my ask box is open so hand me your requests now

《𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖓𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙 𝖍𝖔𝖑𝖉𝖘 𝖈𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖛𝖊 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖜𝖊𝖆𝖐𝖊𝖓𝖊𝖉 𝖍𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖙 𝖔𝖋 𝖆 𝖘𝖔𝖑𝖉𝖎𝖊𝖗, 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖙𝖍𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖙𝖊𝖓𝖘 𝖙𝖔 𝖙𝖊𝖆𝖗 𝖎𝖙 𝖘𝖍𝖔𝖗𝖙 𝖔𝖋 𝖑𝖎𝖋𝖊》

picture edit by me! <3

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Somber and Solmen the night revealed itself to be. It was strange how he felt the darkness to come as soon as he stood up from the chair where the night's later events were planned. Although late time should have held a sort of ease and comfort, seeing as it isn't usual for the mafiosi to have a full free day set only for their pleasures, this single capo couldn't shake the heavy feeling of unexplainable dread off his chest. It made no sense, and yet, he expected it. He expected a moment where his paranoia would hold him captive. For the past ten years Risotto was so used to alway being on edge, never rewarded with the sweet release of reassurance. He could never be sure when a plan would go downhill, or when his men would deal fatal threat. Thus, so is the life of a capo. Unrewarding, and yet when the time miraculously comes, it's unfamiliar to the point of neverending fear and megalomania. It felt like tonight was just just enigma of what he'd wish to be a good moment. He knew that wouldn't be fully promised.

Step after step ahead to his office which he resides in, Risotto's head loops in on itself with infinity of questions. Would it make sense for fate to align so dramatically to form a path almost impossible? Or was he just too eaten up by this darkened life to the point of mental erosion?

Tonight was a night where he and his men would have to dress nicely for the first time in a long while. It was odd for him to search so deep within his closet. Some items would clearly need dusting or a good steam. Item after item, Risotto picked the only suit he has, with the shoes along with it. In a second, he has an idea as to why the night felt so wrong. He knew it. The night had promised itself to not leave this broken man without testing his fragile heart further. The sight of his older clothing sent his heartstrings collapsing in a second. It was this horrible memory that would haunt the rest of his week. He didn't even dare pick up the hoodie that once belonged to his late cousin. A shame it was that they were both too young to save themselves. An eveb bigger shame it wasn't Risotto inside that grave that would keep the mourners coming to cry hours on end for his lost, young soul. It would have been better. It would have been better than to live like this, with the shame of weakness and toxic strength that would remind him how accountable he's held for the incompetence of his proclaimed protection. This night wasn't ever going to try bettering itself for him. Not now, not in the next life. There was always a reason to make it worse.

JJBA high-school AU part 2

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Here is the introduction sheet for Prosciutto!! He's gonna have a very important role in the storyline <3<3

PS: you can read the story on Wattpad, it's called (Soft like Cotton, As Sharp as Blades)

@/ PNNCL_PPS is my username :)

I'll also be publishing the second chapter tomorrow!!