Plotted starter: @chantelle-hosanger
He wanted it to be a bad dream and there were nights where it seemed to be just that. But every night he had the dream, it was the same--he could feel the chill of the cold air wash over him. The cold left the kind of chill that went to the bone. Or perhaps it was because in this scenario, he knew what was waiting for him just inside the broken entrance of the old hotel. And it was that knowledge that chilled him to his core. This was a sequence he always wished he could run from, but every time he had tried to escape it in his dreams, Joseph found himself unable to. Whether he was aware that he was reliving that faithful day in his dreams or not, it hardly seemed to matter. He had to play through it again. And every time he had no choice but to follow through with it, reliving the worst moment of his life--it never stopped hurting any less. It was like discovering the scene all over again. As though he had gone over the Swiss Mountains to the little village in Switzerland to find where Caesar had met his final resting place once again. It weighed on his heart heavily and had made his recovery process all the more difficult. How was he supposed to just move forward if he couldn’t get past his regrets? How did people deal with this sort of thing? Joseph was so young... and he had to shoulder so much. It was a wonder as to what else he would end up having to shoulder. Was this the legacy of his grandfather? The one he had heard so much about from his Granny Erina? It hardly seemed fair.
Sure enough, the moment the sun came in through the hole in the ceiling and touched on the stone that sealed Caesar away--his knees went weak. Just as he had done when it had first happened, Joseph dropped to his knees in front of it. Feeling the warmth of his blood seeping into his pants from where he sat. Fingers brushed over the rough rock, as his heart started to ache. Before he could get ahold of himself, tears were once more streaming down his cheeks. How long did he have to deal with this? It was a wonder if the pain would ever end. Even if this was just a fragment of that faithful day, it was the worst part. This part of the dream was always the same and what would come after that things would change. Sometimes he would be stuck reimagining the life that he had had with Caesar and Lisa Lisa. The little moments he had had time to share with Caesar before training had started back up. Or sometimes he would be forced to remember the argument that had led to this very scenario, the one he regretted most because it had been the last argument he had ever had with Caesar. It had been the argument that caused Caesar to go off on his own and wind up getting himself killed in the end. A reminder to Joseph that in some form Caesar’s death had been his fault. Or at least that was how he felt about it.
This time, as he wept Joseph suddenly felt as though he couldn’t breathe. He had heard of getting choked up before, hiccupping over his own sobs and having to force them out. But this was much worse than that. It felt as though something were retraining him. He found his hands moving up to his throat and gripping at something that didn’t seem to be there. His vision blurred as he gasped for air, reaching forward for the stone tomb in front of him with one hand, as if asking the fallen Caesar to help him somehow. It blurred from his sight though, leaving everything to go dark. (Is this how I die...?) He wondered if something had happened to him that he couldn’t recall. Perhaps he really had died and he was just seeing his life flash before his eyes a second ago. He knew he had to fight it somehow, but there didn’t appear to be anything to fight. Joseph was left with no choice but to allow everything to fade into darkness, just waiting for what would likely come to be his fate. Who would have thought this was how Joseph Joestar went down? (I’m sorry Caesar... I wasted the power you gave your life for.)
His eyes snapped open suddenly. Drenched in sweat, Joseph found himself tangled and caught in something. He kicked and pulled at it the best he could, tumbling from his bed and hitting the floor, hard with a bang. It was then that he was able to finally capture a glimpse at what he was wrapped up in. A collection of purple, thorny vines had found themselves around his neck and arms. Something that confused him, greatly. Where had they come from? And why were they purple? He couldn’t remember having ever heard of a vine plant that grew in that color before. What was more concerning was just as Joseph was thinking of trying to figure out how to get out of the vines, they seemed to loosen. Actually, better than that within just moments of discovering them and wanting to figure a way out--they seemed to have just disappeared. The entire encounter, left him scratching his head. (Was it just part of the nightmare...?) Though, touching his neck, he felt a strange sensation there. Perhaps it wasn’t just another part of his nightmare. Then that went to question, just what was that?
After getting himself cleaned up and dressed, he left the room he occupied at the estate on Air Supplena Island. It was one of the things that hadn’t changed since everything had come to pass. That and Suzie Q. Something that was helping Joseph learn to deal with his grief and of course recover from his battle with Kars. He had to learn how to use his left hand after it had been replaced with a mechanical prosthetic. Something that had been gifted to him by the German scientists when it had all been said and done. He was thankful for it, but adapting to having a metal hand had been a whole other ordeal. Not only did he have to relearn how to use the muscles in his arms to power the hand, but the fact that it had no feeling was strange to him. It was likely another thing that would come easier with time, he was sure. Just like the reoccurring nightmares he had about losing Caesar. And now waking up covered in mysterious purple vines? (Maybe this is something I should ask Lisa Lisa about.)
“Right... now I just have to find her.” He said aloud to himself before he started down the hall.












