Capitolo Secondo: Ambizione (3)

A couple of things I had failed to take into account when I decided taking the train would’ve been the quickest option to reach New York were that the train themselves here in the US weren’t as fast as they were back in the United Kingdom, with the fastest going at 50 Mph (and was also the rarest to find at the station) and the rest going at best at 25 Mph; and that the journey was going to take a few stops before we arrived at our destination.

So when I woke up as one of the workers came to notify the passengers that there was a malfunction in the engine of the vehicle that would’ve taken at least an hour to fix, I opted to get us out of the station instead of lingering around for too long and not expect for assassins to already searching for us. While this guy wasn’t Part 3!Dio, I knew that with either money or charisma people can do so much in this world. And I was my own example about that very predicament.

Despite my lack of knowledge over the city of Worcester, it was easy enough for me to buy a newspaper and find a couple of interesting places to check while we were wandering around this part of the States. Some of which, much to my annoyance, were closed to us because of the late hour.

“But why are we visiting a church?” Bloody slightly lamented as I led the small group towards the St. Peters Catholic Church, the location having been built just early this year and having yet to be completed by its architect, Patrick W. Ford. While the main body of the structure was finished, some of the ground where it stood on had cracked during the construction, leading to some long-term operations to be started to rectify the damage before it can become fatal for those that occupied it.

“Because we’ve time to waste and I find it interesting as a place to check.”

“But why aren’t we just… pressing the fixers to repair the train at once?” The boy pressed on much to my surprise and minor irritation. Until that point he had been particularly calm and quiet over the situation, but I swiftly realized that his moodiness wasn’t one of inherent arrogance. It was worry, the kind aimed at pressing matters that were slowly guilt-tripping him in making hasty decisions.

“Such a task would require time, nonetheless the fixers ‘try to repair it at once’.”

“Your Stand-”

“It isn’t perfect. It can do much, but miracles? That’s well beyond his current capacities,” I calmly interjected. “I understand why you’re being this upset with my relative ease, young Valentine, but mine isn’t a disregard of our objective. Rather, I think that if we stayed for too long around and we started drawing attention to ourselves by forcing the workers to go beyond their current ways to fix such a troublesome issue, we are going to endear the attention of any assassins nearby.”

The fellow blond tensed up at the last half. “Assassins? Why would they want to send assassins when they want to capture us?”

Before I could answer that question, I was beaten to it by Zephy as the animal agreed with my point of view.

“Dio isn’t wrong to believe we will soon be matched with people with malicious intents, well beyond the mere idea of capturing us,” The guardian muttered calmly, but resolutely. “Now that we have a guide that is able to hold off any possible captors, our enemy will try to hire more dangerous people on our trail.”

“So we could end up with someone already tailing us as we speak?”

I pushed myself to not look around to emphasize his point as I knew the darkness around us shrouded us just enough from any distant pursuers, but I still nodded at the query as I knew it held some truth.

“That could be correct. But right now I can’t say if this is indeed the case,” I quietly admitted. “Which is why it would be best if we try to spend at least thirty minutes wandering around instead of keeping by the station where an ambush could’ve been set up.”

The boy had to concede to that point, and we soon ended up entering inside the mostly-completed church. The place was ample, and just a handful of people had decided to visit it as of that night.

Most were old people, individuals that were alone in their houses and confided in God to either preserve their legacy through family or to remember those they cared for and were now lost. The only priest was busy with the sermon dedicated to the deceased ones, sparing little attention to our entry in this house of God, and ignoring how we decided to take a seat far away from the altar.

Once we were all sitting, I took a moment to look around and check if anyone had entered inside the place before us. Anyone suspicious by… Jojo’s standards. Everyone there except us looked pretty normal, and after a couple of silent seconds spent trying to find any elusive assassin, I finally let out a relieved sigh as I found nothing of that kind.

“Are we clear?” Bloody asked and I merely nodded.

“I guess nobody would try to start any attacks inside a church,” The critter pointed out. “Places of cults are hardly chosen as battlegrounds.”

“It all depends if any problematic stalker just doesn’t care if this place is a church or not,” I remarked. “There is always a non-negligible minority of people that would do everything to complete their mission, even if it means desecrating such a peaceful church.”

“So we could still be attacked?”

“Yes,” I replied with a nod, only for Zephy to sigh unsure about my response.

“It’s still rare. Faith is a powerful tool-”

“That can be turned into a tool to control people.” I interrupted politely. “There are nations where the leadership is born through religion, through the concept of these governors being the representatives of a deity, and so have divine rights and are to be praised as gods themselves.”

“Do you believe praying is wrong, Dio?”

“No-”

“And do you think faith in this context is somewhat correlated to any form of corruption?”

…

“No.”

“Then I believe your point of view, albeit correct, is wrongly-applied in this circumstance.”

I sighed. “Fair enough, I guess I can embrace the fact I’m still human and can be wrong.”

“Mine wasn’t an attempt to sound condescending, or to dismiss your interesting perspective of the world,” Zephy added calmly, drawing my attention to him. “In fact, I believe your mind is so impressive and… so familiar. I can’t help but wonder how you will handle someone like Kate.”

“Is that something I should be worried about?”

“Do you fear what you don’t know, Dio?”

I blinked at the counter-question. “No.”

“Then no, it’s nothing you have reason to fear.”

I decided against inquiring some more about it, feeling like the answer was something I really didn’t wish to know for myself. Instead I turned to look at the younger blond and… interest myself over the kind of thoughts the young man had for the church itself.

“What about you, Bloody?”

“Huh?” The boy inquired with a frown. “I wasn’t listening to-”

“What is your opinion about faith?”

“Faith? You mean if I believe in God or-”

“Or anything you think it’s worth believing in,” I allowed with a nod. “God isn’t the only belief you could try to have faith in. Work, love, a greater purpose, or even a humble one.”

…

He turned back to the altar and to the statue of Jesus Christ in the cross, his expression morphing in a thoughtful one as he contemplated my words and valued the proper way to answer my question. I took this opportunity to look around once again and check for any suspicious figure. My eyes lingered over an individual I hadn’t seen the first time around.

The man was sitting down two benches away from us. He was wearing a gray worn out cowboy hat, a dark-blue coat and what appeared to be black boots over some black pants. His face was covered as he was tilting forward and down in a mourning position, the hat creating a shadow that further made it difficult for me to discern what kind of individual I was looking at.

From the way he was posing, I was quite certain he was genuinely remembering someone he had lost, but I knew from his attire that this wasn’t the only thing he was trying to achieve through this visit at the church.

“I believe...” Bloody muttered, snapping my attention off the curious individual and back to him. “I believe I have faith in those that mean well in this world. That there is a chance for things even in this country to become greater than they are. For everyone.”

“Greatness isn’t a horrible aspiration, especially when you aim to bring it even to those that are unable to reach it,” I commented positively. “It’s an admirable faith. One that I find myself close to.”

“I don’t think you’ve mentioned yours yet, Dio.”

I blinked at the swift comment, but still conceded the point with a nod.

“My faith is tied to the Heavens. The capacity of someone to be able to lead the world away from the squalid corruption it is festered in and throw it in a pure golden era for everyone to enjoy and prosper,” I explained with a nod. “By this, I don’t try to stand out from human beings, in fact I believe everyone can achieve their goals through their efforts to reach the heavens, to break the limit and show their purest and truest form in an effort to unlock their full potential.”

“But what kind of leader would you be, Dio?”

“What?

Zephy sighed. “I assume my question is quite broad. There are many kinds of leaders one can become, but I have to ask… which one do you believe being by aiming to… conquer the world?”

…

“One that leads by example. I don’t wish to control the world as a tyrant, or someone that just goes through with this ambition out of greed and maliciousness,” I answered earnestly and truthfully. “I’ve seen how dreadful of a path that one is. Many good men changed in the effort to come close to shape history and try to make it better… only for their hand to sway in favor of the opposite.”

“And you think you can do it?”

“I’ve dreamed for long about the end of my ambition. Will I be happy about what I did to reach that point? Will it all be worthy of the sacrifices made? Will I remain the same in soul, mind, and ideas?” I continued speaking, now feeling the truth rise up from the deepest corner of my head. “As much as I’m frightened by what will become of me, I’ve long accepted this burden and duty. For I, Dio, know that the heavens are mine to take and turn into everyone’s hopes and dreams.”

Bloody nodded, the boy giving an awed look as he listened to my speech, and there wasn’t anything else said beyond these words. Zephy seemed satisfied with my response, and I felt particularly tired despite the little rest I got from the train ride.

Instead of staying around the church with the chances of the assassins having infiltrated the building while I was busy talking, I decided to start leading the two out of the place and trace our steps back to where the station was. My sight would once in a while turn to look behind us, stopping for a while to see how the man I had seen before, the one I was fairly certain was one of the assassins sent to hunt us down.

I tried to take some detours to scroll him off from us, but as I took charge and paced swiftly towards the closest alley, I found out that this step had been expected by two other men that were waiting for us at the other end of the empty section.

“Damiano Divino, you’ve played with fire by challenging Senator Philips’ pride,” One of the two mentioned as they drew their revolvers out of the holsters. “You shall be blessed with a quick death at our hands, the Swift Hands brothers.”

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Never heard of them, but I felt particularly frustrated when I saw the man from the church pause behind us, completely sealing away any way out and… putting me in an awkward situation. ｢ACT 2｣ could handle one of the side, but to turn in time to catch the bullets from behind might be troublesome.

If I had been alone, I could’ve easily jumped away and allowed the shot to go missing… Yet with a group that was limited in terms of mobility, I had to play my cards safe and see for anything that could delay a coordinated attack.

“I suppose your nickname is related to the speed behind your drawing.”

“Mostly correct, scum. Sadly for you, we will not allow any sweet talking to get us from stopping to get some big easy money out of-”

BANG!

My Stand manifested at once, and I turned around to address the bastard that had decided to shoot us from behind. But as I turned around to stop the unexpected bullet, I saw something absurd unravel before my eyes.

The bullet soared and I was about to intercept it… when it soon started to move around us and… strike the two bandits in front of us through their temples, effectively killing them both at once with a single bullet.

The mysterious man continued to hold his strange gun out, the smoke leaving the barrel eventually ceasing as the man retreated it and put it back in its holster.

“Apologies for the late intervention, partners, but I was mostly distracted by the rich fella’s speech about a brighter future and all,” The man said with a southern accent. As he finished to say this, he moved to adjust his hat, revealing his blond hair, thick mustache… and steel-blue eyes.

…

I’ve seen this guy before…

“I’m Derek Horse, and I wish to apologize for hesitating in dealing with them trouble-makers,” The man introduced himself loudly but still calmly. “I was really taken by them words of yours, Mr. Dio, even though these fellas were my target all along.”

“You are not an… assassin?”

“Good Lord, I would never come close to harm a child. I’m an upstanding law-bringer, never the guy that harms kids and women,” Derek replied proudly. “But I understand these scums were trying to kill yah. I guess you have some explanation ‘bout that.”

This has to be… either the grandfather or the great-grandfather of Hol Horse. The man behaved like a more pleasant and humble version of his descendant, and while I was unsure how to answer the man’s joviality, I had to concede there was something about his presence here that still left me upset and confused.

Looking down at his ‘odd’ gun, I couldn’t help but recognize that it wasn’t a mere weapon. No, it was ｢Emperor｣. ｢ACT 2｣ was fairly certain of it as the humanoid stared intensely at the support Stand and… eventually drew the attention of the cowboy.

“Good God, what’s that?” He half-exclaimed, aiming a finger at ｢ACT 2｣.

“That, Mr. Horse, is something that makes you quite the fascinating individual,” I mentioned calmly as I replied to his question. “What you’re seeing is the manifestation of my soul, just like your peculiar weapon is. A Stand, to be more precise.”

...

“What? My gun is part of my soul and- what?!”

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

The workers were close to completing their efforts to fix the train. Just twenty minutes, and we were going to resume our journey to reach New York. It was enough time to buy a ticket for our newest companion, and even more to get some misunderstandings and confusions solved at once.

“So you’re telling me that, in this world, there are people that just can ‘manifest’ these ‘Stands’ and… fight with them?” The cowboy asked and I offered a slow nod as I sat down in front of me.

“There are different kinds of Stands, and while most of those can be used to maim people, there are some that have abilities that fit more as support or healers,” I explained calmly, finding it relieving that for once the umpteenth individual with an unexpected connection to DIO wasn’t an enemy I had to either defeat or kill.

From what Derek was more than happy to provide, he was the furthest thing from a bad guy. He had a family made by a wife, a daughter, and another child that was meant to come in a couple of months from now. His ranch in Montana was his steady source of income, but he had taken the chance of wandering around the United States the moment he ‘discovered’ his unique gun. The pistol had homing bullets, cementing even more my beliefs that it was indeed ｢Emperor｣.

After spending years ‘doing an honest and just work’, he just decided to wander off to see the East Coast for some time and… ended up in Worcester when he heard a couple of criminals had been spotted moving in the city. One thing led to another, and now the man had decided to tag along in this adventure.

When asked why, he replied like this:

“Why would I say no to helping a gal that was kidnapped by one of them corrupt politicians? I bet my good teeth that the man’s soul is darker than tar itself, and I ain’t planning to ignore this problem!”

He was genuine about his responses. Not only I could tell from the way he replied that he meant everything he was saying, but I could sense he was being particularly calm about it all. Too calm for being a liar, and… that was more than enough for me to actually trust the man’s intentions of joining our cause.

“Still, I don’t understand why these dumbasses decided to stalk and hunt the kid,” Derek asked, sounding genuinely confused. “Is it because of the strange talking critter?”

“My name is Zephy.”

“Yeah- Uh...”

The man had yet to recover from the fact there was literally an animal that could talk and was particularly eloquent when he wanted.

“That is one of the reasons, yes. But it’s mostly because the boy’s family is quite important in New York.”

“Oh, so the little fella is rich too?” The gunslinger inquired teasingly and I sighed at the way he was making it sound.

“I would say his family is rich, but not the boy.”

“Heh, fair enough-”

“Why were you praying back in the church?” Bloody interrupted flatly, his eyes displaying a degree of irritation at the man belittling him like that.

“Oh? You saw, didn’t ya?” The cowboy muttered surprised, soon sighing calmly and nodded. “I mean, I guess I could tell ya this… but ya have to tell me what’s your name.”

…

“My name is Bloody.”

“Yeah, sure thing, kiddo.”

“It’s my name.”

“What kind of parent would name a kid with that?”

…

…

“Don’t tell me he actually is called-”

“Didn’t you promise him something if he told you his name?” I interrupted this awkward scene before it would’ve taken a more unpleasant turn than this one.

The cowboy groaned. “Sure, but I wanna hear more about your story, little fella. I can tell there is something shifty about it.”

The young blond didn’t reply to that, but it didn’t matter much to Derek as he soon started to explain some more about his background.

“I was a soldier before settling down in my hometown. Part of the cavalry dispatched to handle the few wars in our country. The last ones I believe since most of our… enemies were already weak and close to extinction after years of fighting them at each corner.”

“Wars? Here in America?” The boy asked with a confused tone. “That’s absurd, no nation has managed to attack the mainland in years now.”

“That’s because the enemy wasn’t part of a known nation,” Derek remarked. “They came from within, and, for as much as it’s worth, they had some fair points to motivate their interests to fight us. We just had to fight them back as a result.”

The young Valentine was confused by this description, failing to grasp the implicit mention to native Americans and how the cowboy was mentioning the last wars meant to free the North American regions from any hostile tribe that wasn’t willing to give away their lands to the government in Washington DC. A black page in American history, but one that I couldn’t do much about except remember and… never forget.

“Many died, some were from our ranks, others were from theirs. I lost friends in these crazy times, most of them leaving behind people that they had wanted to return home to live with. Parents, children, wives, siblings, and even other friends that waited with determination their safe returns,” The man continued. “I cherish the memory of our time spent together in those nasty conflicts, and live by the hope that their souls have found rest after these scary situations.”

“So you… only remember them?”

“It ain’t just remembering. Their memories are part of what they have left before leaving. I would sometimes check on those they have failed to return to, people that are strong enough to brave the pain and live by their emotions,” Derek answered with a nod. “Even I changed through their legacies. I never liked going to Church even for Sunday’s service. I thought it was a boring instance that tended to just tire me up and leave me prone to fall asleep. Then I learned that some rightful praying is right when it comes to remembering them again, this time to bless them with a stay in Heaven after what they had to go through.”

“I… I think I understand.” The young Valentine answered quietly. “I suppose this is… to fight for a country.”

“That and much more. We fought for the people, for our rights, for our destiny, and by order. The war was still brutal, but it wasn’t one that spared any of the sides from suffering casualties. We all bleed red by the end of the day,” The cowboy added with a serious tone, his stare soon turning right at me. “Which is why I have to ask this, Mr. Dio. I hope you don’t mind if I ask you a couple of simple questions.”

I doubted any was really simple, but I decided to check what the man was interested to ask me now that he was mostly done with Bloody.

“Hmm?”

“Do ya think war can be permanently removed from life itself? That perhaps I can live to see that day happen and finally breathe a relieved sigh?”

“If I have to be really honest… no, I don’t think you will be alive when true peace is achieved,” I replied truthfully. “War will take more than a lifetime wasted against it to be genuinely beaten as a terrible practice. It can be done in my opinion, but I fail to see this actually happen anytime soon.”

“Heh, not a loss in my book,” He admitted mirthfully, trying to hide away the simple hint of sadness at his wish being realized just in half. “I know someone from my family will see it. That they will be happy and… finally drop the whole quirky nature of the Horse family. Ranchers for life sounds boring but… it ain’t a job that is killed as easily as being a protector of sorts.”

“I’m sure that will happen. I can vouch for that.”

“Ha, you better not be promising something you ain’t planning to go through with, Mr. Dio. Or I might find it quite… irritating to digest,” Derek remarked and I calmly nodded.

“Ending war is already part of my dreams, and I don’t plan to allow this to endanger people’s lives for the sake of some rich greedy fool aiming to make business out of conflicts,” I pledged without restraint. “I can promise on my very life.”

The conversation turned calmer after that serious promise, and with that I soon found myself falling asleep once again as I saw even the cowboy catch some rest by how late in the night it was. The sky was slowly lightening up, but it was still too early for the sun to truly emerge. Closing my eyes, I allowed myself some sleep as I knew tomorrow was going to be a tough one.

While the train had been fixed, the workers had brought up how they had made plans to make a quick stop in Hartford to fully check if the train’s engine was ready to go through the other half of the trip. So that meant jumping off the vehicle, checking around and hopefully making it back to the repaired train before it moved away without us and without anyone stalking us.

But as I fell in my deepest slumber, I felt my mind once more embroiled in another of these strange dreams. A dream that was so absurd, yet so certain- so pure and so corrupt.

And in this dream, I saw the twelve orbs now standing within twelve figures. Their voices and appearances unknown to me as I merely watched, understanding that something big was going to happen once this reunion was over. Something I felt so uneasy to even face from afar…