Capitolo Secondo: Ambizione (8)

The US Capital wasn’t a place I had expected for the group to stay for a little more than a few hours.

I hadn’t exactly planned a long visit, not when we were running on some limited schedule that I didn’t want to stress too much. We had to get moving as quickly as we could and get back on track. The problem was that it wasn’t a situation I had much control about and so we were forced to take a longer ‘route’ to get our trip resumed.

It would seem like the congress had, for some ‘mysterious reasons’, voted unanimously to see a new law pass about trains planning to reach the border with Mexico. Permits were needed to make the long journey without incurring in heavy issues with the police. And the only way to access it was through the federal building assigned to handle out this kind of business and… the waiting line was going to be a killer.

We decided to split the group in two smaller ones. Robert didn’t like it, but he seemed fine leading the small group that had to sacrifice and staying in the line to get these documents for us. He was together with Derek and Bhediya, much to the annoyance of the werewolf. They might have grown to be friends, but they both despised being stuck with this kind of task and having to rely on conversations with each other. Hopefully the cowboy was going to add some flavor to their usual bantering.

I was stuck just with Bloody since Kate had decided to not leave the train. The place was too populated for her to be able to hide and avoid any sudden confrontations with unsuspecting crowds all over the city. I promised her to take precautions for the next city so she could wander around with us. It was going to be some tough planning, but I wasn’t going to leave her to waste this interesting opportunity to check the major cities of this country by keeping on her own by the train.

Still, even though I was stuck with the boy, I took this chance to actually educate him some more about US politics. While he had a good basis on the topic, he was eager to listen and learn about the truth about the landscape here in the capital. I had expected his grandfather to have at least mentioned how corrupt the place actually was, but I knew that he wasn’t prepared to know how true that actually was.

I spent a while explaining to him how the conventions generally worked, and how those usually were dominated by those senators or members that had somehow amassed incredible amounts of power through manipulation, bribery, and lies.

He was appalled at first and couldn’t believe it. But it took very little for me to end up finding people that were lamenting the situation of how the recent elections had gone by. I could still remember reading how it was the time when Theodore Roosevelt himself ended up ‘shooting his own foot’ by giving support to his political enemy during the election and losing all the support he had gained until that point by reformers within the party.

Things just weren’t that nice for the States, and it would take a long time before the national government was going to take a degree of ‘decency’ over the elections. I spent some time guiding Bloody all around D.C., showing him as many landmarks and commenting on important bits of the American history. He sponged every piece of information I gave him and he kept asking for more. By the time it was lunchtime, I decided that it was the proper moment to get back to Speedwagon, see how he was doing, and get something to eat for them and for us. Maybe even go back to the train to check on Kate and see if she would appreciate some company as we were waiting to get back on track.

But as we were making our way to the federal building, our path was blocked by quite the scene. I was blissfully unaware of the disaster around the corner… but I was given a clear warning when I saw a young man wearing formal clothes and a pair of pince-nez glasses were close to fall off from his face as he tripped forward and out of an alley and into the main street.

“Y-You need to leave. EVERYONE!!”

His loud voice could be heard from afar but… as I glanced around, I saw that we were the only ones in the area. Which was odd since until that very moment I had seen other people around and… now they weren’t there anymore.

I gritted my teeth, barely jumping back with Bloody on tow as I managed to dodge a sudden strafe of tiny bullets aimed at us. Three flying devices, small-sized helicopters kept on following us with their tiny machine-guns. I shifted faster, allowing for the bullets to hit nothing more than the buildings around us.

Soon, the storm of lead stopped and I was given the chance to address the current problem at hand. Footsteps started to approach from the alley, a foot slamming on the downed man and putting him out of commission as the figure behind that attack finally showed itself.

“To think that my current target would lead me to you. I’m… happy. Fate doesn’t seem to be shining for you anymore,” The tall man muttered, a cold gaze aimed right at me. “Finally, I shall have my revenge against Dio Brando.”

I narrowed my eyes, realizing who we were now dealing with.

Standing fairly tall and looking way too blond to be a genuine Japanese man in a normal world, I really wasn’t keen to fight someone that shouldn't even exist in this period of time. Heck, I doubted even his grandparents had met and gotten together at the time.

Yet he was there, and I had only a single person to blame since this was going to be a tough one for sure. Still, there was never going to be enough cursing that was going to fix the issue at hand. Only sheer determination and attention.

Keicho Nijimura, the son of one of DIO’s followers that was cursed to become an abomination the moment the flesh buds could feel DIO no longer being alive. He was angry, he was pissed, he lost his family- and I knew he was going to be troublesome with his Stand, ｢Bad Company｣.

Following the copters and their User, a large battalion, a company of toy soldiers and tanks, began rushing towards me.

“W-What?” Bloody exclaimed, and I huffed.

“Behind me, now!” The boy thankfully did so, and I quickly dispatched three missiles coming from the toy choppers with a flurry of punches with my own Stand. I felt my knuckles a little sore at handling the ensuing explosions, but I was at least capable of deflecting those hits.

The next hits were the shells coming from the small tanks. I felt my arms burning a little bit, but not enough to worry me as I had my Hamon quickly fix the problem and avoid any issues in that regard. The next assault was more problematic for me to handle as I had no great defense about it.

I can handle small sized projectiles just fine, but mostly invisible bullets weren’t in the list. Even as the damage caused by several tiny circle-like wounds over my chest wasn’t enough to worry me enough, the trouble was that they were all forming before I had the chance of fixing things up with the Ripple.

“Is this the power of the mighty Dio brando? The allure that my father once spoke about? I see none of that in you.”

“I’m not the blond bastard you are searching for,” I remarked, trying to pull a Josuke and return a couple of missiles back at him. Sadly, my attempts were thwarted by the helicopters’ miniguns exploding the explosives before they could get through their line of firing.

“Indeed you are not. A new dimension, the woman told me that you are actually worse and deserve immediate death.”

Goddamn Vins is getting a punch now.

“I suppose there is no talking you out of this, isn’t it?” I sarcastically asked, getting a scoff from the man.

He didn’t speak up again, merely allowing for ｢Bad Company｣ to keep me busy. I wasn’t in range to land a stunning blow with my Stand, and the sheer intensity of the attacks was enough that trying to use my time-related power wasn’t possible. I was too distracted to let my Stand move away and use his power.

If I tried to stop him or modify his speed, I was only going to influence the user, not the Stand itself. And with a Stand like ｢Bad Company｣ I couldn’t exactly stop it in its entirety. Too many individual elements to stop and pause at once with my power. I was put in an unflattering situation where, if I dared too much, I was going to leave myself exposed for some real damage. Damage that I couldn’t heal in the middle of the fight. I tried my best by trying to use rocks on the ground, hauling them at impressive speed at Keicho, but the Japanese Stand User merely used his tanks to explode the pebbles before it could actually make contact with either himself or any of his helicopters.

I was being pushed in a corner… until the pressure unexpectedly faltered and I was given room to move and act against my opponent. Keicho suddenly lost balance, a pair of hands having quickly wrapped around his left leg and having pulled mightily enough to have the young man trip and fall forward.

“I-If you think you are getting this easy, you scoundrel- then you have another one thing coming from me!” The bespectacled man that had been previously knocked out cold now spoke sharply, still grasping and pulling the Stand User closer.

“H-How dare you!”

The formal-wearing fellow couldn’t do anything to block the sudden kick that subsequently hit him on his face. The hit was enough to free the blond from his hold, and stand up again. He was furious, ready to kill what he had said was his ‘current target’, but his vicious wrath was interrupted suddenly as a small rock entered his right shoulder and crushed its way through the bone and the flesh.

A small gruesome scene for sure, but one that I tried to try to get once more by rushing towards him, rushing to get closer to his range. I was quite close when… I was suddenly slammed away in a bigger explosion unfolding underneath my feet. A landmine, I forgot those were part of ｢Bad Company｣’s arsenal.

The damage was… acceptable. My shoes had been burned up, scorched to dust by the point-blank explosion, but ｢ACT 2｣ had projected his feet over mine to absorb most of the blast. Now, while it was true that the damage inflicted to Stands manifested on their user, there was a reason why Users preferred to have the Stands themselves to still protect them. The damage inflicted to a Stand, no matter the circumstances, is going to be less than the one the user was going to suffer if not protected by their Stand.

So, while an explosion of this caliber should have torn my feet off my legs, the blast left me with just burns, cuts, and pieces of shrapnel embedded on my skin. The knockback saw me slamming on the nearest wall, further aggravating my suffering as I quickly landed on my hurting feet and subsequently fell down on the ground. Hamon could do so much to fix wounds, but I had to remove the shrapnel before trying anything on that regard.

“You had your chance! If you aimed at my head, you would have killed me. Yet your aims failed to gain true advantage and victory, now you shall experience the full power of this ｢Bad Company｣!”

Keicho’s glee was cut short as an explosion tore through his torso and formed a massive hole in his stomach. Eyes going wide open because of the pain, the Stand User couldn’t do anything to deal with such a deadly injury. He tried to get a glimpse of his murderer and he was surprised that it was no dangerous fiend or a horrible vampire.

Bloody’s hands were trembling, his eyes wide open and his breathing heavy as he grasped what had just happened. It was all in a moment, with his hands pulling off his pocket the Steel Ball I had given him and the boy shooting the Spin-powered attack upon the threat himself. The blunder that killed Keicho was the man’s own from the looks of it.

He collapsed on the ground shortly after, no words uttered as the injury was just too much and his body couldn’t hold itself for too long. I felt relief at the sight, but I knew that I wasn’t in a good spot. Not at all. My legs were still burning in pain, and I couldn’t exactly move in these conditions.

The situation, albeit mostly calm, was still quite bad. Bloody was shivering, his first kill currently haunting his mind, the man that had been chased around by Keicho was on the ground and barely conscious, while I was stuck with two damaged feet.

I felt like this situation couldn’t have gotten any worse, but then… new footsteps were noticed by my heightened hearing. And this time around, a familiar individual decided to pay a visit over this ungraceful scene I was part of.

He paused, closing his bible and… sighing.

“Apologies for being late, Lord Dio,” The figure muttered as he stared down at me. “It would seem that you require assistance. I shall grant you some at once.”

Oh, of course Pucci would be around when an unexpected interdimensional entry happened. At least, he wasn’t planning anything bad. At first glance, that is...

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

I coughed, eyes open wide as I felt a sharp pain erupt from my legs.

Pucci had indeed given us help as he managed to get us all back to the train. After entering it, it was easy for me to have one of the train workers to leave the vehicle and move to retrieve the rest of the group.

Kate stood guard over me as Pucci began working on my wounds, the sword-wielder unwilling to leave my side over someone ‘she could feel was dangerous’. The priest didn’t mind, mentioning that it was ‘refreshing’ to know that I was being ‘beloved’ in such a manner by ‘trustworthy friends’. His wording was just as jarring and unpleasant as I remember it being, but I was surprised that, instead of appearing fairly empty like he had back in our last conversation, the man was actually… ‘happy’ to see me.

Not the bad kind of happy, the weird kind of happy. The ‘I will probably get a restraining order by being this friendly to you’ kind of happy.

After removing the splinters and the shrapnel, I was allowed to fully regenerate through the Hamon, effectively fixing the troublesome injuries and remaining with just the soreness of the now-gone pain. It took a little while to have the rest of the group to return, Speedwagon bearing the documentation needed to finally get us going with our journey. Mostly everyone was surprised to learn that even the ‘mighty’ Dio Joestar was capable of coming close to dying, with the sole exceptions being Robert and Bhediya.

The werewolf rushed to my bedside as he learned what happened and he demanded from me to give him details on the matter. I explained him as much as I could while also keeping it in a way that things just didn’t feel that grim. He was perplexed when I mentioned how the situation was quite close to what happened in Windknight’s Lot. Interdimensional problems were back to make for quite the troublesome additions to our adventure.

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It didn’t help me hope for this to be a one-time thing Vins decided to go for when Pucci muttered a couple of words.

“There are two others that have been summoned. An unwilling soul, and a damned one.”

I frowned. “That sounds… awfully specific.”

It was just the two of us in the sleeping quarters. I had asked the others to leave as soon as he mentioned that he had some big news to deliver. It was difficult to get everyone to listen up, but it was easy to make it clear that their priorities were to handle our current new guest and poor Bloody, the kid was still facing the horror of having killed for the first time ever.

“That’s because I’ve kept track of these souls for a while. I know of them, but I had no hand in their arrival in this dimension,” Pucci admitted. “I fear to admit that, for as much as I had predicted great trouble ahead of you, I don’t think this will be an enemy you can win against, Lord Dio. For I, someone blessed by the Heavens themselves, don’t know who this is and how they managed to get these four souls in this world.”

And shit has just hit the fan. On a monumental scale to be rather honest. A sudden new player enters the table and flips all cards that had been neatly stacked for my plans against my current issue. Like, the list of people capable of weaving through Dimensions was limited, but what were the chances of an unknown element being part of this entire ordeal?

“I thought it would have been Vins’ work.”

“Maybe if it had been from within this timeline. ｢Hanoi Rocks｣ does allow Vins to travel quickly and retrieve new minions within her current universe, but nothing in her powers should allow her to take individuals from other dimensions. It’s just… absurdly wrong.”

“Wrong?”

“｢Made in Heaven｣ should have made me able to know what exactly is going on, yet, for the first time ever, I find myself floored by what is currently happening,” Pucci added. “The only thing I can say is that Vins has control over this individual and their Stands. I would advise caution about this, Lord Dio.”

“I’m no lord. I believe we addressed that already,” I lamented with the Italian priest. “Still, I can’t believe this is now a thing. I suppose I shall have your assistance from time to time if they plan to send these two threats to fight us. Keicho was a surprise I could fight.”

“I will be around. But my intervention shall be solely aimed at those that are already violating the rules of this dimension.”

Oh well, that isn’t that bad-

“But I will also tell you that currently your crew holds some important individuals. I strongly suggest that you protect your loyal friends to the fullest, for their destiny is divine and close to yours in purity and absoluteness.”

…

“Thank you...”

“Your words humble me, and I shall leave you to your thoughts and your next plans. Until next time.”

I waved at him as he disappeared in the blink of an eye. The moment I was sure that he was really gone, I allowed myself to grow at ease and focus on the matters at hand. Despite being sore, I still was capable of moving around thanks to the cane I had brought with me as a gift from George. The thing wasn’t exactly gifted for the reason I was now going to use it, but it was still a good enough tool to aid my wandering around the train.

I paced slowly, studying the pattern I had to follow to not put too much pressure on both feet, and I successfully managed to leave the wagon without tripping on myself. I was so happy with my progress that I was completely stomped when I entered the next wagon to find that Kate had just won with ease an arm-wrestling competition with our unknown guest.

The man huffed but smiled eagerly as he seemed more amused than angry at his own loss.

“Truly a brilliant strength there, Ms. Aryoko. I felt my wrist twisting at the good of a grip you got there.”

“Your strength wasn’t anything to scoff at, Mr. Roosevelt.”

…Wait, what?

Now that I looked more at this individual, I could see an impressive resemblance to the future President of the United States himself. Theodore ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt looked quite vibrant as a person. Akin to his future self, the young man seemed jovial and good-sported from the way he was reacting to his defeat.

Robert was the first one to notice my entrance. He stood up, tense and confused over the fact that I was walking with ease and without showing any hints of pain. Next was Derek, and the Cowboy lifted a glass of what I could assume being Whiskey at me as a greeting. Finally, the greater reaction came in the form of Bhediya bolting off his seat and taking hold of me, as if expecting me to fall any moment now.

I stared at him with a frown as this action got the full attention of the whole wagon. He didn’t seem to like as I allowed my free hand to reach his closest cheek and started to pull. He tried to release himself from that hold, but I was quite persistent and eventually we left from grasping each other in such a manner at the same time.

“W-What was that for?” He asked, sounding annoyed.

“I wasn’t going to fall. I’m not going to fall,” I reminded flatly, fighting off a scowl he was now throwing at me as I addressed the main situation before my own eyes. “Alas, I believe we should speak, Mr. Roosevelt.”

“Yes! Mr. Joestar, I’ve heard plenty of good things from the good fellow that helped me out of that nasty business,” The man commented happily. “I understand you are a busy guy, so I will be quick and hasty so we can avoid any troublesome entanglement. I’m in debt with you for saving my life.”

“It’s alright. I mean, the bastard came at us too and… actually, there is something I can ask here and now. A small promise, I assure you.”

He blinked, interested by what I was going to say. “Sure, do tell. What do you plan to ask?”

“I have… someone that in a few years will be able to join politics. He is still young, but I can tell he will have quite the experience and charisma to make up for his youthful self,” I began explaining. “I will tell you more about it by the time you are back in politics.”

He smiled a little, but then frowned. “Back in… good sir, I never made plans to come here ever again.”

“I doubt that will stop you from trying. And I know that you will achieve some grand future, Mr. Roosevelt.”

“… Do you believe so?”

“Just watch and learn. Patience is the virtue of the strong, after all.”

He gave a confident nod, and soon he was departing for his own businesses. I felt a slight hint of relief as Roosevelt left the premises. As much as I had a lot of admiration for the president, I really couldn’t bear to handle being around his younger self for long. Plus, I had a bigger problem to face right now as I noticed someone was missing.

“Where is Bloody?”

Everyone gave me a slightly uneasy look at the simple question, but I soon found out what was the reason behind this kind of reaction. While there had been an attempt to get the young blond to speak up, those efforts just resulted in him snapping and reacting badly to the efforts to reach him out and get this situation handled properly. I could only sigh at this development, but I personally decided to approach the issue on my own.

Shortly after I was done muttering that I was going to face him alone, I walked to the wagon where the drivers of the train were soon going to start getting the entire vehicle moving. I found the boy in here, trying his best to appear the smallest thing in this world. Bloody was crouching down, face hidden behind his knees as he was hugging his legs close to him. It was the best way to show how much distraught he could be about this matter.

I approached with caution but… I saw him tense up after just one step. He looked up, his blank expression contrasted by his puffy red eyes. Tears were still falling as he graced me with his attention, but I remained quiet as I proceeded to walk closer to him and sat down beside me. There was a hint of surprise in his eyes that I was walking, albeit that disappeared the moment he realized that I had a cane with me.

He didn’t say anything, and I really wasn’t sure how he was going to react the moment I started to speak. I allowed for some time to pass like this, with the two of us merely sitting beside each other, but… I knew I had to at least try. Else I wasn’t going to get his issues sorted out and this was going to be quite a problem for us all, with Bloody being the one to hurt the most because of it.

“Do you know what makes a man a good one, Bloody?”

…

He didn’t speak, but I was fine with it. I merely glanced at him and sighed in relief as I saw him at least paying attention to me.

“A good man, in my opinion, is someone that takes a moment to think about his actions and deem if those were good and bad all the time he feels he is going too far,” I muttered calmly. “Someone that invests a moment of their time to indulge over the possibilities of a grand action, may it be of good or evil, will offer ramifications. Politicians have it the most, together with soldiers, nobles and businessmen. They are in a position where they can easily tear through everyone and everything, and sometimes they do. Sometimes good men turn bad because they are tired of fitting with the difficult task of keeping everything together and… it’s tough.”

“Why?”

I blinked. “Why what?”

“Why is it so tough? Why, when one tries to be a good person in this world, they still end up doing something as terrible as killing? Why? For what reason?”

“Because there are people that don’t care about repercussions. They don’t care if carelessness will cause problems- that it hurts people- that with selfishness comes retribution from good itself,” I replied calmly. “It’s not about ‘being good is difficult’, it’s all about ‘being good is difficult when you have to deal with a bad person’. As much anyone can say that humans are created to be hostile to one another, or friends, lovers, one and the same- there is still the fact that nobody is truly equal, for we all have unique and beautiful minds. Now, the use you make of those is up to each individual. Sometimes it’s nice results, but there are a fair number of cases where that isn’t the case.”

“So it’s… not the fault of being good. It’s because we… have to clean up others’ mistakes?”

“Sometimes. Not always,” I answered with a hum. “People love to judge as part of a society. The need of trials is to prove that society itself can decide upon its own fate. Good morality might be embraced by a few in this country, but most of them are unwilling to show it until the situation calls them to do something. Trials match this, just as war does. The same is for political discourse. It’s a spar between an idea of good and another, eventually stopping by facts and logic.”

He sighed, looking tired and defeated. “It’s just so… unfair. I don’t- I don’t want to say that I don’t like fighting, but I just didn’t feel really compelled to kill that man.”

“And why did you do it? Because I can tell now, in your own self-doubt, that you haven’t done what you did with a flimsy excuse.”

…

“I didn’t want you to die.”

“Defending others. Such a brilliant reason… but not the first thing that came to your mind,” I rebuked quietly. “What drove you to take action?”

…

“I was… afraid.”

“Death is horrible. Many think it’s just that easy to ignore that a wrong step in anything and luck can devour you whole and leave you into the deepest part of Earth,” I agreed with him. “It’s… not as easy to trip and fall down there, but you will if you are not careful about your actions.”

…

“I’m sorry… if I sounded too...”

I sighed. “Weak?”

He nodded and I hummed. “Bloody, I will tell you this just this once. Weakness is an illusion. Everyone is weak at points in their lives. They can be physically strong, but fragile inside, same on the opposite spectrum. You will always have a weakness. Which is why you should never allow this thought to bring you down.”

He offered a small smile. “Were you… weak too?”

“I still am,” I admitted with ease. “I’m weak to boredom, to paperwork, and with some strong opponents I could end up fighting. The thing is that I don’t let those emotions rule me into becoming something I’m not. I’m Dio Joestar, and I believe you are Bloody Valentine, right?”

The blonde nodded again.

“What is your name?” I teasingly inquired, getting a quick frown out of him.

“I’m Bloody… Valentine.”

“I don’t believe I heard you,” I teased once again, gaining a little huff out of the boy.

“Bloody Valentine.”

I nodded. “One last time. But now, put all your rage, your paranoia, your stress, and your nervousness in it.”

…

“I-I’M BLOODY VALENTINE!” The young blond shouted, the noise echoing all around the wagon. He quickly tensed up and stared at various spots in the room to try and determine the origins of the response.

“Like that, here is your proof. You will always be strong when you want to be, just like there is no true strength without having to lose something in return.”

“I-I see.”

I smiled. “I’m glad to hear that. Now, do you want to go back to the others?”

Bloody took a moment to ponder about it, but ultimately nodded. “Y-Yes.”

Nodding in return, I saw the young man stand up and… I offered a sheepish look as he realized that I wasn’t making any efforts to wake up.

“Uh… can you help me here? My legs are still quite wobbly.”

He smiled as he crouched a little bit back to allow himself to pick me up in the best position possible to lift me up and help me out of the room itself.

Bloody seemed to have fought off the sense of despair, but I doubted this was going to be the last time he was subjected to something of this caliber.