Omake 6: Till you breathe again (1?)

I coughed a little, droplets of blood falling off the edge of my lips as I scrambled around my desk to try and find some of the journals I had found about the Mask.

The situation was bad. No, it was horrible.

With my breathing growing erratic the more I tried to scavenge any worthwhile paper to aid me in this shocking development, I could feel the individual I had tied up in my bed finally struggling against the restraint I had applied to him.

Some chains, some mere ribbons forcing the young man to keep still in the bed while I swiftly tried to see how I was supposed to fix something like this.

You can’t.

I gulped nervously while trying to find any notes, any memories, that would’ve been able to help me in this dreadful predicament.

I should’ve acted before this had happened. I should’ve made that blasted mask disappear when I had the first chance.

And yet I hadn’t, my foolish past self having ignored the troublesome danger until it was too late.

I should’ve expected for something unusual to happen, but I had been shocked by the magnitude of the calamity I was facing alone.

I glared at the stone mask, now active and still dripping some of the leftover blood that had remained by its claws.

Jonathan’s blood.

With my heartbeat growing frantic, I spared a quick glance behind to check on my current time limit.

Jojo was struggling like a madman. The restrains were barely enough to keep him stuck and I was glad that ‘newborn’ vampires just hadn’t the same strength as Dio and Straizo.

My orange eyes peered at the disheartening sight that was the corruption of the canonic hero of this series, the fall of one of the greatest gentlemen in this universe.

But while I blamed myself for this problem, I couldn’t help but groan at the fact that every single plan I had developed out from my current circumstances were now happily thrown in the nearest trashbin.

Jojo becoming a vampire. It was an atrocious element that threatened everything I had been creating up until now, and there was no one to blame but myself and George.

WHY WOULD HE KEEP THAT BLASTED THING ON SIGHT!

I was getting angrier, my hands were shaking as I tried to elaborate a new plan of action.

Hyperventilating, my heart was drumming so loudly by my ears as I continued through that seemingly futile research.

It shouldn’t have happened. I should’ve been this much clumsy.

I, Dio- no, a fool, had failed to avoid the worst case scenario. I didn’t deserve the heavens, especially when I couldn’t even make sure that someone as crucial as Jonathan was out of my way for world domination.

I had messed up to a degree that just shattered any hopes of success.

And nothing in my arsenal could help with what I was dealing with.

Hamon? Killing Jonathan was my final plan if nothing else could be used to deal with this situation.

The Spin? I didn’t have a clear understanding of vampiric biology, nor I knew how to exactly create blood out of water without making some experiments early on.

The struggle was unfair, but cathartic. I had missed a single contingency, and now I was going to have a hard-time trying to avoid a complete fallout.

My thoughts died down when I felt some quiet whining, and my attention snapped back by the bedside of the riotting vampire.

Danny. I had forgotten that the dog had followed us up to my room before I had the chance of closing the door.

The puppy had been with Jojo when the disaster had struck, he had been there to see his young master stumbling by the wall with mask on it, making the sharp-edged artifact cut the youth’s arm just a little.

Pain was Jonathan’s own flaw in that situation, the one that sealed his fate as the mask snapped right in action and took hold of his head.

The process had happened before I had the chance of intervening, as my attention was gained by the frightened dog with some of its loud barking.

I had been the closest, I had noticed what was going on, but instead of waiting some servants to rush and see what had happened to the young Joestar, I had moved quickly to bring the barely-conscious Jonathan to my room.

Tied down and rendered unable to pose a threat even more than he was right now, the vampire’s continuous struggle was pushing me to actually skip many of the more time-consuming tests I could’ve tried out and-

I could already hear footsteps.

The door was closed shut. I had also placed both of the chairs and some of the furniture to block entrance to anyone that had wanted to check inside my room.

Words being muttered by the hall just outside, my ears twitched as I glared again at the Mask before I finally gave my utmost attention to Jojo.

He was staring at me with a feral expression. His humanity forfeited, and none of the common anger was there to give me hopes of a different transformation than what I knew about.

I flinched, I tensed up and I took a couple of steps towards him.

The sight of an approaching prey was enough to intensify his furious actions, and I prepared to counter any assault if he ended up breaking from his bonds.

I stared at him with a mix of morbid curiosity, dread, and infinite regret over how everything had gone wrong so suddenly and unexpectedly.

I was above him, his intense glance sending chills down my spine as I pondered over the only solution remaining in this instance.

Glancing just for a moment at my right hand I had it hover over his forehead, the young man staring rabidly at it as it tried to bite it through the restraint around his lower head.

My heartbeat intensified even more, almost making me wonder if I was actually experiencing a heart attack with how intense the pain in my chest was.

I blinked as I noticed my sight panning up while I felt pushed towards the conclusive steps of what was going to be a horrible part of my new life.

I had to do it, and yet the tears weren’t stopping to flow down.

Stop, I- I couldn’t stop.

If I let him survive now-

Thud!

My sight snapped to the door, I saw the chairs groaning together with the rest of the furniture I had disposed at the door.

A familiar voice was on the other side and I felt my panic rising more and more.

George? He was already there?

I didn’t expect him to arrive so soon. I had even less time than I expected!

I needed to be quick- I had to do it.

I pressed my palm by his forehead, my hand covering his brutal yellow eyes as I prepared to fry his head.

Hamon was the only way out of this madness. I had to cut the string, I had to kill Fate’s former champion.

I had to break away from Dio’s own limits.

…

But can I truly do this?

“D-Dio?”

I tensed up, the chains stopping with the rattling as the struggling vampire seemed to suddenly cease with its rabid activity.

I blinked. “J-Jojo?”

“I’m… I feeling odd. Bad odd,” The young man muttered with an uneasy tone. “I’m hungry, Dio. I’m hungry.”

I braced for any attack… but nothing came and I continued to stare at him.

“J-Jojo. Are you… are you fighting the impulse?”

He gulped nervously. “I’m… trying. It’s strong. I’m tired.”

“How much can you hold?”

THUD!

“B-Barely.”

…

“A-Are you… are you helping me?”

The question put a squeeze at my chest, and I felt my eyes widening at the trust.

“I’m… I’m trying my best, Jojo.”

I could only see his lips. There was a serene smile on there.

“I’m glad then… brother.”

…

I… I cannot do this. I, Dio, couldn’t kill Jonathan Joestar.

I’m a pathetic failure. This- This should come easy to me, and while I had no remorse in killing monsters-

Brother.

I just couldn’t bring myself to end my young sibling.

I removed my palm from his forehead silently moving to the desk to take hold of the mask.

Another glare, this one even briefer than the last one. Then I stared at Jonathan and...

I made my decision.

When George Joestar finally managed to breach into Dio’s room, to try and understand what had happened by the entrance of his mansion and why his servants had found fresh blood staining the floor, the poor man would only find an empty place with a strong gust of cold wind coming from… the now broken window.

I, Dio, continued to move as quickly as possible through the muddy road with a sleeping vampire wearing a big coat over his body on my back and a troublesome mask busying my hands. My destination? I needed to reach the warehouse. I needed to make newer plans.