Two figures overlook the cliff that had just tumbled a stately looking horse-coach. Slowly, they slid down the ridge together to survey the wreckage, one immediately going for the carriage to loot it, while the smaller one bent near one of the bodies thrown from it.
She brushed the hair from his face, reaching out to try and see if he still had any life to him. Her hand drifted to his chest to feel for a heartbeat, but she nearly fell back with a scream when he grabbed her wrist in a vice-like grip.
“Y-you….”
She trembled, from the shock and the rain, but she leaned in closer to listen to what he had to say.
“You’ve saved me…. Or perhaps an angel to lead me away?” he rasped out, and she shook her head.
“No, you’ve fallen from the road. Your driver, I’m afraid he’s dead.”
His grip tightens on her wrist, eyes wide and he turns his head to face her.
“And my wife? My wife and my son? They were in the carriage as well….”
She leans up to glance to the man currently trying to climb into the carriage, and he manages to rip the broken door open to peer into the carriage. Scrambling in, he manages to emerge with the limp body of a woman, pulling her to the ground. The faint crying of a baby could be heard over the roar of the storm, and she turns back to him, placing her hand over his in sympathy.
“I’m sorry, but I think your wife died in the crash as well. Your son, though, your son has survived.”
His sigh is painful, and she isn’t sure but she thinks she sees some tears join the rain streaming down his face.
“It should have been me…. But my son is safe. I suppose such is fate…… help me up, and bring me to her.”
She nods, and grips him under his arm, guiding him to the carriage where his wife has been laid gently against it. He kneels shakily, embracing her and the baby between them. A muffled sob can be heard, and she stands there awkwardly as the man goes back to looting through the luggage while he can.
“M’lady, come here…” the lord finally manages to choke out, and he takes her hand in his as he places a small token into it. Looking at her hand, she realizes it is a wedding band.
“Please, take this. If you ever are in need, any favor within my power is yours. A Joestar always repays his debts.”
She curls her fingers around the ring, and nods, tucking it away in a pocket before the other greedy man could see.
The rain dies down as the lord mourns his wife, before they all depart the gruesome scene eventually.
---
The halls of the Joestar mansion echo in the night, a loud knock disturbing the peace.
A lone woman shivers on the doorstep, pleading with the butler who answered it when the lord of the manor appears behind him. Stepping aside, the butler leans to mention something in his ear and holds out his hand to offer him something.
George looks at the small trinket in his hand, and glances up to the woman in the doorway. She looks more tired than he remembers, a dark bruise blotting one eye, but the ring is familiar. It matches the one on his own finger.
He ushers her in over the doorstep, and leads her to the nearby sitting parlor with the fire still warm.
Surprised, he realizes the bundle in her arms is a child, small and frail but undoubtedly hers – it has the blonde hair and fair skin of its mother. She confesses her reason for coming, to save her son from her husband. George listens carefully, and convinces her to stay, not just leave her son to his care.
She does, tending to the boys together as they grow up, teaching them to read and singing them to sleep on stormy nights.
But years of abuse had taken its toll, and when the boys were still young she grew sick one winter, too weak to fight it any longer. Jonathan sat outside the door, knees drawn up to his chest as he listens to Dio cry his goodbyes at her bedside. He had never known his mother, and while she had never called him her son, the pain still stung at him.
Dio had grown up gentle under her care – still brash and confident and quick witted, but the edges weren’t sharp and his intentions weren’t malicious. He was competitive with Jonathan, and the two challenged each other every day to whatever boyhood whim caught their attention.
Jonathan still is clumsy and loud and tenacious, but not so withdrawn and alone. They grow up, attending university together – Jonathan studying history while Dio tends to business and law. Together they run the estate, growing the family name. Jonathan marries Erina still, while Dio can never truly settle down, too eager to keep moving and exploring.
---
And that’s kinda the rough idea of it. A lot of potential to flesh it out, but I didn’t have a whole lot of time to work this out, and it literally came to me on my morning commute to work today.
