Capitolo Secondo: Ambizione (20)

Dallas was bustling with twice the activity as it usually would.

The sheer amount of people in there was so busy getting ready for the main event that was supposed to happen later that day that none seemed to mind someone like Kate and Zephy wandering around with us on tow. It wasn’t much of a surprise actually, especially since this new party convention was drawing many big names to it and many here were either journalists or political commentators. It was quite unusual to draw a political agenda here in Texas, but the political potential of doing so was nonetheless important. The State had been added subsequently to the latest wars against Mexico to maintain its independence. It was the embodiment of patriotism and, due to recent happenings, it was also a point that could be remarked even better as the point where the conflicts with Mexico were put to a solid end with what happened with Siurana. In a sense, the General’s ambitions had crumbled to make way to a more jovial relationship between the two nations. Sure, both might be angry at each other for their own reasons, but any military involvement against one another was discouraged by what had just happened. It was during this stroll that a conversation came up about the purpose of this visit since… Well, it wasn’t tied to our current adventure. And explaining it was a bit more difficult than expected for some cases.

“I still don’t see the point. The kid could as well go at it another time rather than us wasting this much time on it.”

“It’s not that simple, Derek,” I replied to the cowboy. “First, this is a chance for him to make a solid appearance in the political landscape. While this isn’t something that will grant him any immediate position, it’s a good way to make a good impression to some.”

“And I recall you promised to be there. Would be quite rude if you were to miss it, even with a valid reason,” Speedwagon pointed out with a sigh. “It’s a bit draining, but nonetheless a good

“Are you actually sure about that? I don’t know much about politics due to my current lifestyle but… I can tell there are going to be some opportunists in there,” The fellow Stand User remarked with a hint of worry. “It’s not like I don’t know you can handle it, but what if someone is really out to scam you?”

I nodded at his concerns, but it was Bloody that spoke up in my stead.

“I will not stray from Dio. And he told me he had experience with some of the British politics, so he should know how to handle that.”

I patted his head, noticing the subtle teasing beneath those ‘trusting words’ of his. Ever since we got less trouble coming our way, his overall attitude changed to something less guarded and cheekier. He huffed in annoyance at the sudden gesture, but nonetheless leaned in to get that kind of treatment from me. He still was a kid deep down despite being quite close to hitting puberty now. Still, another question was raised during the stroll, this time by Speedwagon as he inquired about something fairly legitimate to worry about.

“But how long will you two be dealing with this? I remember we both spent three hours to see the party we endorse to be properly recognized as a political force.”

I could still remember those dull chats with some Lords and fellow lawyers in that instance, but I also knew that it spared me any headaches about it

“Enough to get a leader elected plus style down who could be the candidates of the first National Convention for the upcoming elections,” I answered truthfully, quite unsure myself about the proper timing of that specific progress. “Still, we would still have to wait for a few hours, convention or not. The next stop is going to be fairly distant as now we will have to go through a more desert-filled area of the nation.”

There was no further questioning, not when we were finally there. The walk to reach the building where we had our reservations was already over and it was decided that just me and Bloody would go inside. Not because the reservations couldn’t extend to other guests, but the others were… a bit reluctant to join inside. I understood a good part of their reasoning, with the least convincing being mostly Robert and Derek as I had strong suspicions they had other plans than just ‘waste a lovely evening playing calm poker’.

“I really hope I’m not going to find you both at the nearby bar by the time we’re done,” I pointed out sternly, almost annoyed at the possibility they could be planning to do that.

Not that I really minded, but I would prefer to be told rather than to be lied to. Considering recent developments, it was best to still keep a vigilant eye and, even though a good part of our worries was washed away the same moment the threat Siurana constituted was dealt with, to make sure no other surprises could come at us and cause any major issue.

“We will not rob the pub, that’s what I’m willing to promise,” The former soldier rebuked jokingly, making it clear that they were actually going to not stay there for too long.

With that dismissive answer, I decided to let go of this matter and actually start to take Bloody inside the building and get to see where the speeches were going to unfold. The room was made of two floors full of chairs that people could listen from, a fitting setting for an important political debate. One that could easily change the US History for the best if things went smoothly and no clashing factions formed within this new party. In a curious twist of fate, we ended up finding Theodore Roosevelt chatting with former Republicans and Democrats alike, somewhat ‘happier’ than the last time we saw him. If I remember correctly, his stance on reforms was something that always had him look and wink in the general directions of those Progressive Democrats that supported a change of page- the same concept which eventually drove him to a political suicide when he tried to keep the Republicans when he supported a Conservative Candidate. But now? I could tell Roosevelt was in his natural environment and that was something that was further cemented later on during the speech session as he had a few ‘candid’ words to deliver about his former allies in the GOP.

Before that, I took this chance to have Bloody mingle around those that I could tell would be open to supporting young blood by the time the boy was old enough to obtain public service in an election. It was an interesting sight since I allowed the boy to have complete charge of what to say and… I realized how much those lessons I gave him shaped his view of dialogue and how to weave through multiple arguments without skipping a beat or stopping to think about it. Quick, straightforward and particularly approachable. Those qualities, albeit shown minimally due to how this was a first impression he was laying out for others to see, but for now this was all but an impression and nothing substantial to prove his worth. And with that out of the way, we were more than happy to listen to the next four hours of people talking and delivering their speeches, some were passionate, others were chillingly logical as they brought up the state of decay society was facing- but eventually Roosevelt’s own ‘proclamation’ stunned everyone when he started to verbally lynch ‘the political swamp’ that currently ‘dismantled the results yielded in the Lincoln Presidency’. While not unexpected from his personality, it sure came as a surprising blow at both older parties, a controversial speech that easily gained the applause of those that shared his mindset, but also those more moderate ones that had grown disillusioned with the old Two-Party System.

So there wasn’t much of a shock when he pointed out during the last lines of his speech that he was planning to run as President, a move that solidly set him to a strong candidacy at the National Convention. Still, he didn’t take part in the quick election of the Party’s leadership. It was decided, due to the unique nature of the party and how this had to stand out compared to other parties, that there wouldn’t be a single leader, but four. Each would have a determined area of expertise within the geopolitical landscape, decentralizing the central power but also making a more efficient system out of it. I could already tell this was going to make the news due to how ‘radical’ it truly was, but I was more inspired by the platform tied to the Civil Rights movement. Most of the ex-Democrats were on board with the moderate plans forwarded by the African-American group that had decided to make a couple of speeches about the argument. Some former Confederates actually vouched in favor of going through an extensive Act which would guard the constitutional rights of the former slaves, and also make sure Jim Crow laws were removed at once.

The session was intense, but didn’t see any direct involvement from our part except us both taking pictures with some candidates there. We also met with Roosevelt for a brief amount of time and he greeted us happily while mentioning that he had taken my advice and contacted Made in Heaven to aid his effort to fix things in the general area of his current home. The experienced personnel and the equipment dispatched were enough to get things improved at record time, providing incredible gains for the state itself in the matter of a couple of days after the process was gone through. I used this instance to reintroduce him to Bloody, and the two shared a lengthy and particularly deep conversation. If Theodore had made plans to resume previous conversations with some journalists, he soon found himself yanked into this discussion out of pure and almost childish intrigue. Bloody, despite his age, was fairly advanced and proved to be a conversationalist that drew out a surprisingly good mood out of the more experienced politician.

After that pleasant encounter, which I was confident was going to draw some subtitles over the fact I was there too (and thus ruined any chances of keeping low profiles at any point now more than before), we left to get back with the others and found that the rest had already gone back in the train while the workers had yet to finish loading the list of resources needed. Bhediya and Kate were already training outside, while Derek and Robert took the chance to nap after their trip at the local pub. Not much happened there, so they were pretty fine and just in need of rest after drinking a fair amount of alcohol. Which is why I decided to switch to comfier clothes together with Bloody and join the blonde and the werewolf for a little extra training session.

It was there that a couple of interesting things happened, some of which I was unaware about the Hamon I could currently use.

---------d-d-d-d-----------

Training took a different path the moment it became clear we were going to face Santana as the end goal of this adventure. Between Vins and the Pillar Man, he was the strongest threat and the one I was quite sure the woman was betting her victory on as, the moment she somehow got hold of the Aya Stone, it was the moment where I would have to rely on some serious plan to counter him. But how can anyone beat an Ultimate Being? I could tell my Divine Hamon wasn’t going to be enough, and that perhaps it would have been a risky idea to fight him with my Stand. If I managed to somehow propel him to space, perhaps I could actually win but… how?

I browsed through all possibilities, but I doubted I could find a Volcano and repeat what Joseph did to beat Kars. Or a plane. I knew I had to come up with any possible idea, and I thought about finally unlocking the Golden Spin- or even using the Arrow to unleash the Requiem form of my Stand if there was even one to create. Still, the plan was fairly simple: despite the Hamon weakness being potentially removed by Santana the next time we faced him, Kate’s sword could still cut through him. Potentially speaking. Which was why she started to train more intensely with it compared to her usual hand-to-hand learning path. Bhediya finally tapped into Divine Hamon and… his experience was way different than how mine had been. Instead of the purely white hue that would replace the usual color of the Ripple, his own became green and provided him with a heightened capacity to create plants at a faster rate than normal Hamon could. It was there where I made a curious discovery that Zephy helped me come up with due to him finding this circumstance ‘familiar yet not’ as it was somewhat tied to Kate’s own power but also straying from it due to our different natures.

The power Bhediya displayed was tied to his Soul, hence it was unique compared to what I had at my disposal. It’s tied to the specifics, to the details and elements that made him stand out from others just like I did with the rest. In a sense, if Hannah was to learn this form of Hamon, there was a high chance she would develop a completely different power. A very interesting circumstance, but also one that left me pondering on one thing: could this actually be an ace in the sleeves for that eventual fight? Yes. It meant that while normal Hamon wouldn’t work against an Ultimate Santana, the Divine version of it would still deal damage to him. It was good news, but still far from positive. Training about it resumed with twice the intensity and twice the draining factor to it. It was indeed tiring, and I had to actually take longer breaks as, for some odd reasons, normal Hamon was much slower to heal my body from the strain compared to usual. Perhaps there was a lingering drawback which limited my capacity to train too intensely with it. Very frustrating, but I’m a stubborn perfectionist and I fought back against that limitation.

As the training session concluded at the same time as the process of loading resources in the train finished, we entered inside and planned to rest for a while as we prepared for what could be waiting for us at the next stop, which was going to be Oklahoma. We were approaching Los Angeles, and I could count just a few more stops before this adventure was really over. Despite the returned peace during the journey, I could tell these last stops were going to be the toughest we had faced yet. Vins was going to be more active now that any distractions were out of the way, and it was about time we were greeted by some big surprise in the middle of the road. It was while I was finishing writing down the usual letter to send to Hannah that I noticed that Bloody had been sitting in front of me for a while now. I hadn’t noticed him with how engrossed I had been with the writing, but I finally gave him attention once I was done with this little task.

“Do you need something?”

“I wanted to ask you a question. It’s something that came up before, but I really want to get through with this and I know you can help me with it, Dio,” The younger blond explained, gaining a slow nod from me as I tried to think what he was referring to. “How do I get my own Stand?”

I blinked at Bloody sudden question. “Beg your pardon?”

“How do I unlock my Stand like you did? You said that there were ways to do it and you mentioned that the Arrow was one of those.”

“I recall that, but I don’t believe I can’t help you about it,” I remarked and he huffed.

“I mean it. Surely you can do something about it.”

I blinked at his strong and sudden interest. “Maybe you misunderstood. You can’t get a Stand like I did because you already have one.”

…

“W-What? I don’t.”

“You do. In fact, you used it at least thrice until now as of recently,” I calmly pressed on. “The only thing you would need is to understand how to properly manifest it.”

“And… How do I do that? I mean, if I have it, then why doesn't it manifest with ease?”

“That’s because there is something preventing you from doing that. Something stuck within your mind that makes you uneasy at going down this path.”

…

“That’s not-”

“There are two reasons why a Stand wouldn’t manifest to their users. Either the user is unable to unleash a strong enough Fighting Will to manifest it, which I doubt that’s the case, or there is a degree of hesitation within you to validate that very Fighting Will you have. Something that gnaws at you and that makes you question your life.”

There was another moment of silence at that response. The young Valentine was baffled by the circumstance

“I-Is it that evident?” He inquired with a fair amount of surprise.

It wasn’t exactly something I spotted at the moment, but I realized something was off while we were training. A thought held him distracted way more than usual, severely impacting his attention’s span. I didn’t say anything about it, but I had a rightful clue of what could have left him this much unease today.

“Partly so. I noticed that you were a bit upset when you were done with the Convention. Something about it still has you perplexed,” I elaborated with a serious voice. “Do you wish to discuss this matter?”

…

“Yes.”

He took a seat beside me and I gave him a bit of space to think how to start explaining. The boy hummed for a while, fiddling around with a button of his shirt, but ultimately he spoke up.

“I… I was worried about something back at the Convention. Something about the look a couple of people gave around that just reminded me of the times some ‘friends’ of grandfather visited.”

It took me a moment to draw a connection to what he was exactly referring to and I nodded at his comment.

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“The opportunists that Derek mentioned. I suppose you had the chance to meet them before.”

“Not directly. Not for long.” His response was incredibly sharp and I held my breath at that. Did I just find the issue itself? I carefully thought of what to say without prodding too much on this matter if there was really any worrying issue tied to this and so I pressed, but with extreme caution.

“That is never good news. Your grandfather relied on them?”

“The opposite. They needed him, and he just… stopped caring about kicking them out of the house after many years of fighting them,” Bloody answered with a frustrated tone. “I saw those at the congress, trying to gain power through the opportunity and… and it hurts.”

“You feel like they will taint that hope?” I questioned, knowing the answer already, but trying to have him vent his anger some more so he could calm down.

“Yes! It’s just- so unfair. They don’t have any right to be there. They- They should not even be near any good-minded and willed people!”

“I don’t think so,” I replied quietly, my answer shocking the boy as he gave me a puzzled look. “At least, you should understand that my point of view is less ‘easy’ for many. I don’t see the point of butchering morals for the sake of quickly destroying a foe.”

“But they-”

“Will try to do their best to gain the most out of others’ plights or even try to stop you. But you would fight them, not by going down to their level, but remaining at yours,” I rebuked kindly. “You fight to protect and defend. You’re training to be strong enough for those you wish to bear the burden of.”

“Which is why I want a Stand and… just feel complete. Perfect-”

“Stands don’t make people perfect. They expand their growth, they add more road to the one that is already there,” I corrected with a flat tone. “I believe you should elaborate on why you want to achieve perfection.”

“Because… At that point, I will be strong enough.”

I blinked, raising a curious brow at that. “Truly? Is perfection the same as the strongest possible?”

“I… I don’t understand,” He admitted. “Perfection is-”

“Not feasible.”

…

“Perfection,” I continued as he remained quiet, listening to my words. “Is but an ambitious and never-ending goal that is filled with milestones. You will never reach perfection as no one can. It’s the ideal concept of breaking through natural limits and branching into the unknown with renewed determination and ambition.”

“So there is no… perfection?”

“I think we already had that conversation already. In fact, young Valentine, I’ll be honest and lay out one of the greatest lessons of life that… many don’t receive through words and are forced to experience on their skin,” I muttered calmly, feeling much older than I really felt as… I felt back in my old ‘skin’, the days before I was inserted and how I learned that lesson on myself. “There will always be a voice in your head that will tell you to worry about a decision. That voice can be deceitfully confused as mere nervousness at times, but it’s not. It is your conscience speaking to you, reminding you that you took this path of life for a reason, a good reason, and that caution is your best friend in not losing your valor.”

“I… I think I understand. I should give them the chance to speak but… beat them at it? Through normal ways.”

I nodded, smiling. “You have been given a chance, Bloody. Not many with your dreams get that hope, and this is why you need to fight to preserve it, may it be from others or… from yourself. Hold true to your honesty and duty to those you care, and you will be rewarded for the hard work made at the end of the day:”

…

He smiled happily at that pep talk. “Thanks.”

“Remember that if you need to ask me about something you don’t understand, may it be politics or philosophy, I’m here to help you.”

…

“I will remember. Thank you, Dio.”

And with that, the conversation came to an end as I found myself lighter at the idea that I helped the young man deal through that kind of situation. Sure, it was definitely going to resurface as a personal issue as this was the moral enemy of all good idealists, but I could tell that, with proper understanding and grasp of himself, Bloody was going to beat that everytime. I enjoyed that peace and finally went to sleep, thinking for last about what kind of Stand Bloody was going to get out of this.

Definitely something worthy of matching his own ambitions, of that, I, Dio, knew that I was confident about.

----------d-d-d-d----------d-d-d-d------

“Do you think you can change this scenario?”

Little Dio remained quiet, not because he was angry or in a mood, but because he thought about this interesting question. Once again I was there, providing him with company as my visits started to get more and more frequent from the looks of it. I wasn’t sure if this was tied to the sudden reduction of attrition between the two of us or something like that but… it definitely felt less heavy to face someone like the younger blond. The boy was still a mess of a character due to his childish take at life which had yet to really mature. I didn’t blame him for thinking, he had plenty of reasons to snap that way, but I blamed the way he expected anyone to just sympathize with his plight and gave him everything. A greedy youth with even greedier ambitions driven through by some psychological issues born from losing his mother. I could tell that event had impacted him badly, but I couldn’t help but feel the situation was far worse than I expected. For now it was just a hunch, but I could tell it was definitely worse than it was mentioned in the show.

“I don’t know… I woke up in here.”

“Have you tried?”

“No but… do you really want me to?” He inquired with a confused look, and I could tell he was referring to the fact we had clashed many times now about who was in charge of what.

“Just try,” I replied curtly, curious to know if that was actually an option.

After a while, the same setting as usual just got stale to my eyes and I really didn’t like being stuck in a desert of all possible places. The boy closed his eyes and tried to focus in an effort to alter the scenery but… nothing happened as we remained stuck in that desert once again. Still, I got the opportunity to look around some more, trying to think if this was a sight I had seen before or not. I was definitely going to see more sand than that once we hit the road to get through the former Mexican possessions. Finally, little Dio stopped his attempt, eyes opening to show pure irritation within himself.

“This… this is so frustrating.”

“I don’t think this mindscape can be controlled by us. It was created by you but… not willingly, and definitely not with the purpose of being changed.”

His eyes narrowed at me. “And how can you say that?”

“Well, the fact is that the setting exists with the purpose of hiding that chest. So, changing it is not viable until the chest is opened,” I explained with a serious tone. “The reason why I think this is the case

“How… How was Jonathan?”

…

Oh right, he wasn’t around so see him himself.

“Well, he was a bit spoiled as a child. Not the cocky, ‘the world is mine’ kind of kid, but definitely turning into that due to the fact his father poured all his love into his care.”

“Oh. And he changed?”

“I would say he did a massive change for good. He will continue the family’s business and expand, he has his own wife, a prosperous life and a close relationship with me. I’m his older brother after all,” I recounted with a jovial look, but that didn’t seem to satisfy the young man. “Also, I bear the Joestar name as George’s adopted son.”

“From pet to poor child? What’s the improvement?”

“He wanted me to be his child. I think you can think of why this is an important detail.”

…

“It adds to the need for that request, but once more, I don’t see the advantage.”

“I have a legitimate bourgeois status to start building a capitalistic empire, influence politics with my name and never be annoyed by any nosy noble lamenting about my birth class.”

“So there is a good advantage that you have exploited out of his generosity-”

“Actually Made in Heaven happened in secret back when I was still a Brando,” I recalled with a small smug grin. “Regardless of whether I became a Joestar or not, the brand would have survived and expanded. The noble name just added extra prestige and made the ‘conquest’ of Britain easier. We always managed to succeed before absurd and upsetting scenarios.”

“We do,” He admitted dully, almost ominously. “But that doesn’t… mean anything to me.”

“And I would be surprised if it did. Those were my conquests, not yours-”

“My body-”

“Doesn’t make any difference if you think about it. Had I replaced your spot in my original body at your current age? George would have taken me without thinking too much about it,” I confessed without hesitation, drawing a shocked look from him. “Do you think it was something you had that got George to take you in as a Ward? The man was starving with affection, he was depressed and he tried to fill that void the passing of his wife caused.”

“You mean that-”

“While Dario didn’t feel anything at his wife passing away, George couldn’t stop weeping after the death of Jojo’s mother, no matter how many years went by. I was an attempted replacement which… worked, for a time. I grew older, and he seemed to finally snap out of it when he told me the truth,” I continued, almost ignoring the young blond’s attempt to interject. “I always saw him as this proud nobleman with no hesitation in his decisions, and there he looked a different person. Mortified, embarrassed- that he had been trying to use me as someone to fill up the missing aspect of a full family. You would have been there too had you had your way, he wanted you as part of his family from the very beginning.”

…

There was no major answer from that, not when the dream suddenly collapsed and I found myself driven back to reality as we were getting close to our destination. But there was one thing I saw before leaving, something that reminded me that this Dio was far from the homicidal and depraved vampire. This Dio, in a moment of genuine remorse, let out tears at the idea that someone had genuinely asked for him to be part of a good family.

And that sight opened not so few questions about what would have happened had things gone really different. What if… there had never been a chance like Pucci said? What if things could have been done better?