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Only once?

[Abdul raises a disbelieving eyebrow at him.]

I am not sure I can believe that considering I am talking to Kakyoin 'I must win' Noriaki.

[He pauses a moment as a memory flickers through his mind.]

Speaking of having to win, one of my visions of home showed me something and I really must ask if it happened to you too.

Did you actually bet your soul on winning a video game?

Maybe twice. I don't know, it never really came to throwing punches and we ended up dropping the arguments after what happened in India.

[Upon processing what would have been a ridiculous question to anyone else, he raised an eyebrow and adjusted his glasses.]

...That sounds like something I'd probably do, but I don't have any recollection of it. [i mean you've died four times around here so that might have something to do with it]

[As much as he wants to brush Kakyoin not remembering off to differences in their two worlds, Abdul finds himself frowning at that answer.]

You do not remember fighting Terence D'Arby and Atum? What about his brother, Daniel, and Osiris?

[That battle Abdul had actually been present for, though his world's Kakyoin had not been. Still, the redhead mentioned that his eye injuries were healed faster thanks to Lisa Lisa's presence. Since he was filling Jotaro's role in most places, shouldn't he remember fighting Daniel at least?]

D'arby...ah, yeah, the poker player. Lisa Lisa handled that one, as far as I remember. Her poker face is even better than Jojo's, so he really didn't stand a chance.

I witnessed the power of Jotaro's bluffs. I am not sure I can imagine anyone doing it better, but if anyone could, it would be her.

[But that only accounts for one D'Arby. Why doesn't Kakyoin remember at least meeting Terence considering the man met them at the door to the manor?]

You remember Daniel then, but not his brother? He introduced himself as Dio's butler. We had not even made it passed the door when he appeared. And you do not remember his rather unsettling collection either? The dolls?

[Man, is he glad he never had to encounter those himself. They were creepy enough just in the vision.]

[Kakyoin shook his head, clearly not remembering anything of the sort but not seeming too bothered by it.]

I don't imagine everything translated perfectly from one world to another. Especially with how different you say things were in Calcutta.

How strange, but you are right. There are many things in our worlds that are similar, but others that are so different it is hard to recognize them.

[Really, what else could explain it?]

It is your good fortune not to have run into him, then. He was no Alessi, but he was just as creepy only in a different direction.

I'm really not sure I even want to know the details, given what his brother did.

[yeah this is probably fine]

[Totally fine.]

His brother put people's souls into coins in your world as well, correct? Well, imagine that only Terence's version of the coins were odd hand stitched dolls. Said dolls could also talk to him and he enjoyed...

[Abdul suddenly clears his throat and lowers his voice. Even talking about it makes him feel dirty.]

Well, he enjoyed doing what people do with dolls. Dressing them, making things for them, and the souls were aware the whole time of what was going on with their new 'bodies.'

...I kind of feel like we just attract lunatics. Or Dio did and we just had to live with that.

Stand Users attract Stand Users, and unfortunately, Dio attracted the worst of them. It did not help he was looking for them to be honest.

Stand users attract Stand users....I guess that does make as much sense as anything else.

[He trailed off, looking out the window again.]

[Abdul's gaze follows Kakyoin's to the window.]

Noriaki, what are you thinking about?

I was just...wondering how much of this was meant to happen somehow and how much of it could have been prevented. I don't really want to believe that any of it was unavoidable from the start, but at the same time...this is my fate and I have to accept that.

[He sighed, not taking that further and questioning out loud whether that meant people like Polnareff and Jojo were always going to die for him no matter what was done to prevent it.]

...When did you start using my first name?

Do you? Considering how much both of our wishes changed the fates of those around us, I would think you knew better than that at this point. There may be things that are fixed and there may not. The only way to know is to challenge them.

[The question causes Abdul's expression to grow worried once more.]

Regularly? It was when we were talking after the battle with the Witches. It just seemed right at the time.

...I guess I don't really know what to challenge and what's already a losing battle anymore.

[Sighing, he raked a hand through his hair.]

Why, though? I mean...no one calls me that anymore.

I know. This place makes it an exhausting process. I think you need to pick the things most important to you and fight for them. Others may have to be bypassed for now even though you would normally fight for them as well.

[Ah! The worry on Abdul's face is suddenly replaced by understanding.]

Because you need it for specifically that reason. You need someone to remind you that you are more than a leader, more than a man saddled with a heavy legacy, and more than the duties that are piled unending upon your shoulders. Jean insisted upon doing it for me once I rejoined the group in the Red Sea, now I must insist upon doing it for you.

...I...never really used first names with people who weren't Jotaro. And nobody used mine except my family. It's just...unexpected, I guess.

I do not either as you many have noticed, aside from Jotaro because he asked to be addressed that way and then Jean.

[Abdul's eyes focus on his nearly empty tea cup as the rest of his expression turns thoughtful.]

By the time I caught up to him on the island, Judgement had made a mess of him. That was not surprising considering it was using his greatest wishes against him. Seeing that made me so angry. I do not think I have been so angry since I saw those people corner my mother all those years ago. Of course, I am better at hiding it now, turning the emotion so that it finds another outlet. Jean still noticed even though we laughed it off at the time. Later, while I was patching him up was a different story. We had a long talk--at least, as long as our tight schedule would allow--and he told me that I should not waste time hiding so much behind a mask of formality. It is what using last names and titles does. It gives us space and allows us distance from those around us. Life is too short for all of that. I argued with him even though I felt my heart was not really in it. It was just automatic, you know?

[His gaze finally moves from the tea cup back to Kakyoin.]

In hindsight, I find myself realizing he was absolutely right and it was foolish of me to argue what little I did. Of course, now it is far too late. I can only hope you will learn the lesson a little more quickly than I did.

...

[Listening carefully, Kakyoin stared at the table as though he wasn't clearly seeing it. Using his greatest wishes against him, huh...? That certainly sounded familiar. After a long silence, he nodded in understanding and came forward with something himself.]

Jojo and I...kept bickering back and forth about stupid things. I thought he was always trying to show off when we got into fights, or that he didn't think I could handle myself--that was the time we almost got into a fistfight in broad daylight. I was so sick of feeling like he was looking down on me because I wasn't a born Stand user, or because I look as though I can't hold my own in a fight.

[Kakyoin sighed, pushing his hair out of his face almost for emphasis. Tall as he was, a scrawny kid in earrings didn't exactly scream 'combat ready'.]

That changed after Calcutta. During the fight with Emperor and Hanged Man he...teleported behind me and took a bullet going straight for my head like it was nothing. It wasn't until we were back in the hotel and I was stitching the damn hole in his shoulder that it really clicked.

He was never looking down on me. The whole time he was protecting someone who saved his life. 'Because it wasn't right', I told him. It wasn't right that he ended up bleeding on my floor, and I think...it wasn't right to him that I had to handle all the shit that I did. But even then it was still 'Kakyoin' with him, and I never really thought to correct him.

My name is something special--it's the only thing I have that's mine. Neither my bloodline nor my parents made me 'Noriaki'; I chose that myself. I guess...I do regret that I never told him that. Any of them, really. If we'd just had a little time, maybe I'd have realized...that I wanted to be 'Noriaki' with our group, if no one else.

[Abdul makes a soft humming sound in his throat.]

No wonder you always were so surprised when I mentioned my version of the events there. That is completely different from what happened to us, though, part of me is curious if Jotaro's bullet wound matches up with where the Hanged Man stabbed me.

[He is also morbidly curious about if the bullet had struck Kakyoin, would the wound be the same place as his own bullet wound was? However, that is one question he will keep to himself.]

Time waits for none of us even when we wish it did. I, too, wish you had the chance to tell them that because you need that place and that group of people you can be 'Noriaki' with. It is just like Jean realized I needed someone and someplace I could just be 'Mohammed' with.

[A small smile crosses his face and he lifts his tea cup.]

Birthdays are times for new beginnings, right? Shall we promise to each other that we will not make the same mistake again?

I can't say a coincidence like that would surprise me very much, but then again there's little that would at this point.

...I...can try to do something like that. I don't know if I'll be all that great with it right away, though.

[Abdul chuckles before taking a sip of his tea.]

That is all right. I am still working on it myself. If you do not tell anyone, I will not tell anyone.

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