I wake up to Jolyne sound asleep and spread out with her hand in my face. Snoring away like nobody's business. Almost like nothing happened to her st night.

  She always tackles things head on. Almost like she knows what's going to happen. The way she even runs pell-mell into the fray of anything is... admirable. When she sleeps near me I feel like I did back when Mother was around. That the world hasn't ended and all I care about is within my reach. Did I care about her? Did she care about me?

  Of course the fact she wrapped herself around me to sleep st night had gotten my brain in knots. Although I didn't always notice the small things. The way she'd gnce to me whenever there was something new. Of course my burning curiosity could get the best of me. But it can't hurt to ask her, right? I take a deep breath and steady my nerves.

  "Jolyne? I have a question..." I start, "No, no. Too direct. Hey, Jolyne! No, no, too casual. Just..." I look at myself in the mirror and groan between my hands, "Uggh, why is this so difficult? I could ugh at bullets and manipute time at will, just ask her!"

  "Ask me what?" her voice breaks me into hysterical sputtering as I whirl around and sm the door shut with my stand, "Whoa, harsh!"

  "S-sorry, you scared me!" I open it back up and lean against the frame, "Hi."

  "Hey." she looks a little put off, "Uhm... why'd you get up?"

  "Things. Like... like how you... uh..." I mumble, "Let me rephrase." I gently grab her by the shoulders to look right into those eyes. Just to make sure there's no backing out.

  "Jolyne. I... I admire you. Very much so. I was wondering if you felt the same." I'm practically shaking with how scared I am. I've never done this before. As the Miracle Child I pretty much had my pick if I wanted to have a retionship with anyone.

  I want to make the retionship myself. So with my feelings out in the air like this. I hoped she'd reciprocate at least. At least when it comes to admiration. Her eyes widen in shock, her mouth drops open and I rub the back of my neck.

  "Daniel..." she starts.

  "I mean... if you don't then it's completely fine; I'll just drop it." I smile and quickly tamp down my feelings, 'I've only known her for a short time. This summer changed my entire life. Something about this may be reckless but this is my choice to make.' I bite the inside of my cheek. A tic I haven't done in a long time coming back to lend a brief comfort.

  Jolyne finally reads through my flowery words and I can see her cheeks flush a little from the bastardized confession, "Wait, so... you like me? Like... love me, like me?"

  I nod enthusiastically, "You're the first person to not fawn or fall over themselves trying to get with me. You're cool, think on your feet, and make me feel like I can be better too." my own cheeks heat up as she thinks on it some more, "I'm really trying not to push this on you."

  She closes her eyes and turns away, the small metal stars on her belt jingling along with the movement. Jolyne's never thought about this before. I can tell. She's mulling through her options and pying with her hair between her fingers. She begins to hum something to herself. Some kind of song I've never heard of.

  Something about Jolyne just makes me feel safe. Maybe its the idea of us being from different sides of a legacy? Dio and Jonathan Joestar, and now her and I. Inexorably tied through fate and circumstance. It's only fate that we're here right now in the early morning in an old ally's home running from my problems.

  Just as she ran from hers. Some part of me wants the rejection, some part of me wants her to beat down my feelings to a bloody smear, and also put them to rest. Tell me that she doesn't want it. That she doesn't need it. My throat goes dry and my hands get cmmy.

  But then she walks up and smiles, "I'll give it a shot. Besides, even when you were weird and bloody back then, I thought you were cute."

  "I'm cute?" I sputter, "Cute? That's not the descriptor I would use..."

  "Well you are!" she snaps, "So you're cute, and you're stupid, and you drink my blood sometimes to get all weird and... Dio-y, but you're comfortable and... well, you see things differently." she's fidgeting, "I liked it when you listened back at the Pnetarium." she balls her hands into her pants.

  "I liked you ever since Gracend, and then the Pink Pace. You really showed that we could be a good team. Now I know part of what you went through and..." she starts forward and wraps her arms around me, "I wanna show you what you missed." I wrap my arms around her and hug her. It feels nice. We separate and head into the kitchen to search for breakfast. Sister Golden Hair is intensely staring at Mr. Avdol's chickens. We didn't know that she was almost like a big cat stalking its prey until we hear a soft growl-like rumble in her throat.

  She blinks and smiles, "Oh, forgive me. I was just thinking about breakfast." There's some parts of her that honestly freak me out. Like the cloak sometimes being part of her, her eyes sometimes becoming pure bck, and the sor mode.

  It was almost like she was a hawk or an eagle of some sort. Mack gets up and pats her on the arm, "Let's get breakfast ready. You lovebirds're on dish duty." he states and fires up the stove. Even though its smaller here and we're hiding out, it doesn't feel very stressful. We pte the food as everyone begins to trickle in from the living room and Mr. Avdol actually waking up and going to feed the chickens. Mack works silently and Sister Golden Hair practically attacks her food.

  But the one person who hangs back is the mysterious Man in Bck. He tried to kill me, but then he healed me, and now he's breaking bread with us? It's only a matter of time before he tries again. But I notice something about him. He really does look like Father Pucci. Just with grayer hair, dark eyes, and a messy segmented beard. He sits back away from the table using a tray. He doesn't talk or try to offer conversation. Just stares off into the distance while chewing away almost like a robot.

  "First things first..." Loredana starts, "Our next move. We abandoned the restaurant because we knew it'd be the first pce they'd look. But as of right now we have no idea what's ahead of us or how many Saints are left."

  "We must find Weather Report. That's the only way we can stop the cult." The Man in Bck limps to the table and leans against it, "That, and the stand known as Whitesnake. They both hold extremely important pieces to what Father Pucci is pnning to do. If we destroy those pieces, Pucci can't end the world."

  "Hold up. So we have to find the Stand that almost blew away Daniel and Loredana?" Mack asks, "The same one that causes freak weather changes near the M-Bridge?"

  "Yes." he continues, "I know you don't want to retrieve it." He nods and Mack grumbles to himself. But there was no further objections.

  "So maybe we can split into teams." Loredana pipes up, "We can cover more ground and head off any attackers." She leans against her arm and thinks some more, "But how do we split up?"

  Mack sighs, "Y'all can figure it out. I'm goin' to look at some art. I need to think." he grabs his cane and his hat, putting them on and marching out the door. Loredana watches him leave with a little bit of a concerned look on her face. I can't help but feel like he's running away.

  "Well that handles him." The Man in Bck scoffs, "So, what I propose is that Daniel, Loredana, and Jolyne all be part of an attack team while Sister Golden Hair tracks down both Stands from the air. If anyone sees anything, you can contact anyone else using these." he takes out some small long-range walkie talkies and puts them on the table.

  "That doesn't account for Loredana and I." Avdol sighs, "I can see what I can find out about the true nature of this 'end of the world' business."

  Loredana stands and puts her hand on her sword hilt, "Scusi... I think I should be on my own too. If anything, I can wager that those 'saints' are expecting us to split up into teams. At the very least travel as a big group."

  "We also took out one of the Saints, Cashe. He was the one who gave me this." I unholster my revolver and y it on the table. I've kept it on my hip ever since. I look down at it with a little bit of sadness, "The sooner we stop them, the sooner we can end the pain of those involved. Then we can all move on with our lives."

  The Man in Bck nods almost looking solemn as he listens. Everyone has their own reactions and I feel Jolyne's hand squeeze mine that's loose under the table. I don't *like* hurting people. I don't want to.

  But when it comes to survival. When it comes down to you or your loved ones, or you and seeing the next day? I have to. The fine firearm, the gold and bck revolver slick and glistening, and I never use it.

  But I still have it.

  Just in case.

  Still distracted by the thought that these Saints followed me and gave their all for me. I try to think back to when I used to be there. Why would they do that? Just because Father Pucci was a con man?

  Jolyne squeezes my hand and brings me back to reality, "How 'bout we go to the Zoo? I've always wanted to go back!" she's probably trying to get me caught up in a new experience to get my mind off the fact that we'd have to kill people.

  I can't help but feel that its working. After breakfast, everyone seems to break for our pn. Aside from Jolyne and I who're probably going to the Zoo and then going from there. Luckily, Mack didn't take the minibus. We'd all take mostly public transportation but Jolyne and I would take the minibus. Just to be as normal as possible, there're more casual clothes id out by Sister Golden Hair for us to wear. The jeans, t-shirt, and shoes all scream Inconspicuous.

  I can't help but blush a little at how different the clothes feel. For starters, most of the time I wear a full-on suit. Tie, dress shirt, nice dress pants, and the shiny shoes. But now? I'm practically naked. I tend to tie back my hair into three ponytails but I just do one. Checking in the mirror, I see that my skin's gotten a little more of a color to it. I close my eyes and begin to focus on what I really wanted to look like. Considering the complete mastery of the human body that Vampires are known to possess, I guess I could give it a try.

  My body is covered in a litany of old scar tissue from things in the past I don't really remember all that well. But they stay. I shorten my nails and my fangs retract to an average canine's length. Subtle changes are good enough. My fearsome features soften and my build slims down a bit. Almost like those silly robots on TV that could transform into vehicles. Father Pucci never allowed me to watch it. But Mother would sneak me some episodes and toys of them.

  My favorite was the red, blue, and white jet pne. I always liked how he tried to usurp the tank. Although he'd always fail, the determination was admirable. I come out of my impromptu room and wait for Jolyne.

  She comes out in her own attempt at being inconspicuous. Instead of having her hair braided and in buns. She has it sweeping down her back with the silver color at the front blending with the dark and she has my sungsses on her forehead. The Star-lined belt jingles around a pair of shorts. Her shirt is an old-looking band shirt from the early nineties with an odd Hollywood sign styled name of System of a Down. The faded lettering lists the songs on said album (Or was it Toxicity?). On her shoulder is a messenger bag she filled with stuff.

  Jolyne's chewing gum and pops it between her teeth, "Let's go." she slips her hand into mine and tugs me along behind her. I follow almost obediently if not for the shyness. She doesn't try to cling onto me like Elise did before. Jolyne and I head out to the curb and I get in on the front passenger side. She gets in and fires up the van.

  I lean against the passenger door of the Minibus. Jolyne is in the driver's seat and I fiddle a little with a loose shirt thread, "What's your favorite animal, Jolyne?" I ask over the radio pying. She gnces at me with a small smile.

  "I like Komodo Dragons. They're cool. How about you?" She smiles and acts like she's genuinely interested. Why would she be? God, barely seconds into us 'dating' as it's called and I'm already degrading it as an awful thing.

  "I don't know. I haven't thought about it." I shake my head, "Although I do like Stingrays..."

  "Well, you're in luck. This Zoo's got a stringray and shark petting pool." that sounds like heaven! I bounce in the seat and grin.

  "P-Petting pool? With stingrays?! You can pet them?!" I gasp as I pump my fists, "Step on it, Jolyne!"

  "Whoa, hey! I know you're excited but we still gotta follow rules. We can't just go speeding all the sudden." she teases, "All we gotta do now is act natural."

  "Act natural?" I echo, "I'm a clone of a vampire."

  "You know what I meant, hon." she sighs with a soft smile, "God, you're so cute." That makes me happy. Making Jolyne smile makes my heart beat faster. We drive by an arch made of dozens of multi-colored bikes and the road we're on has a big sign reading Overton Park. Of course the sign itself has a picture of three pces. The park itself, a picture of some fancy artwork with Dixon Art Gallery's logo below it, and then the Memphis Zoo's sign with the big M and a Panda on it. Jolyne turns and we both cruise down the way towards it.

  The gate and main pza after the entrance are styled as if we're in ancient Egypt, with the entryway fnked by massive concrete statues of several animals like tigers, gorils, crocodiles, and others. Jolyne ughs as I stare up at them in wonder. I've never been here before. Ever. She pulls out her phone and takes a picture of me standing near one. A crocodile. I almost want to just skip the line by using Sacred Heart's timestop and it appears but Jolyne keeps a good grip on my hand.

  "Look, if you wanna be normal you pay for things." she hisses, "We're supposed to keep a low profile, right?"

  I pout, "Me? Support a system that grinds people down to nothing? That's not the way I want to do this." I cross my arms and stick my tongue out at her. She snickers and grabs my hand to pull me through the gate and to the admissions desk.

  I nod at the employee as Jolyne gets out some money. Counting it to herself. I watch with interest as she counts it almost like a worker who actually worked a simir job. When we finally get further in she sighs.

  "Yeah, I used to work retail back when I was in High School." she huffs, "Worst days of my life really."

  "What's... 'High School'?" I ask as we head towards Cat Country first. A statue of a lion-headed goddess stands watch by the entryway. Sekhmet. Jolyne shakes her head.

  "Let's just say its not something you'd be interested in." she sighs and then grins, "How about we get started?" I can't help but suddenly dart ahead to look at everything I missed. This day can't get any worse, can it?

  Well, I would soon learn that it would be far worse than I ever imagined. But for now I just wanted to find the stringrays and pet them.