#Irene kujo | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

moon-lv3r · 2 years ago

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jolyne and irene °.*ೃ✧˚.

🦋 category: one-shot, angst !!

🦋 characters: emporio, jolyne/irene, anasui/annakiss, weather report/wes bluemarine, ermes costello, jotaro kujo, mentions of f.f

🦋 summary: how different would things be? how could things be so similar yet so different? how would an eleven year old cope?

🦋 warnings: angst !!

🦋 notes: let’s go stone ocean angst 😍

Emporio now lived with Irene Kujo. It was hard making an identity for him. Irene was confused when a woman with last name at Green Dolphin Street prison gave birth to a nameless dead child. It did not fit Emporio’s story. However, Annakiss deduced that Emporio must have went through something traumatic and had his memories jumbled up. It made sense to Irene and she let it go, officially adopting Emporio as her own child.

It was the second time he felt like he had a family.

Ermes now ran her family restaurant with her sister while juggling school. Emporio went there once with Irene, the two girls became friends again.

Wes Bluemarine was still separated at birth but found his family when he met Perla and the both of them became great friends. Now he decided to travel around America and that was how he met Irene.

All of them were friends again.

But something felt different.

Was it the lack of F.F? Or was it the fact that they all now lived different lives and would inevitably have a few different personality traits?

Jotaro remained the same however. He was present in Irene’s life now but everything else about him remained the same as it always was. Him and his wife, Marina, were happily married even though Jotaro rarely ever smiled.

He only smiled around his own mother, wife and daughter.

He always glared at other women.

Something Emporio realised while living in this new world was Jolyne’s name change to Irene. It took him awhile to realise that every member of the Joestar family, as long as they had the nickname of Jojo, were involved in something bizarre. Jolyne was involved with Pucci and Jotaro was involved with DIO.

But Irene wasn’t involved in anything. Not when Pucci’s existence was erased. She was a normal girl, living the life that Jolyne could only achieve in her dreams.

The Jojo name curse disappeared alongside Pucci.

Emporio could never forget the events of that very day. When they were all in the ocean. The ocean slowly filling up with their blood, becoming their watery tombstone.

Their very own stone ocean.

He wakes up every night, filled with guilt of being the only one who lived. He went through so much that it seemed that the fact that he was only a child slipped out of his trauma-filled mind. Just how much could a young child endure?

He was so caught up in every event that he had forgotten that he was supposed to live a carefree childhood. Be ignorant and act like a brat. Live life like he was a king. Make people around him coo at how adorable he was. But no, he was watching everyone he ever cared about die, watching the only people who cared about him slowly slip by. Held by a strong thread but forcefully cut. His cries of desperation, wanting to keep the last person alive went unheard by the other person’s desire for him to live, to protect him from harm.

What harm was there to protect him from when he already lived in it ever since birth?

Emporio Alnino was a ghost living in an alive world.

He was the only one with the memories of their former fate.

Now he had to live as though nothing had ever happened. How was he supposed to do that when he did everything that was deemed abnormal. The most normal thing he ever did was driving a car.

“Oi Emporio! Breakfast!” Annakiss announced from down the stairs, hours after Emporio had woken up from his most recent night terror.

He walked down, shadows of the previous night still lingered on his face. It hadn’t escaped Irene’s attention. Perhaps she still had a bit of Jolyne in her, Emporio felt the loving motherly figure he always felt with Jolyne whenever he was with Irene. “What happened Emporio?” Irene crouched down, eyes filled with worry.

Annakiss only noticed the signs after seeing Irene trying to comfort Emporio with words.

Emporio could only respond in tears.

“I think he must have been though something extremely traumatic,” Annakiss began explaining. “We need a child psychiatrist for him.”

Irene turned back to Emporio, “Would you like that?” She asked. “We just want to help you.”

He missed Jolyne.

“Ok,” Emporio answered. He didn’t know how would a child psychiatrist help him when he knew nobody would believe him. He’d be labeled as a child with a wild imagination.

If only that was the truth.

Irene asked Jotaro to help her. They did everything they could but Emporio could never be free. He was trapped with no way out.

The weather was as unpredictable as Emporio’s emotions. He couldn’t control Weather Report well, it was the only thing left from the broken universe. The only comfort that Emporio had, the only thing to proof that everything was real. Weather Report stared at the new shell of its former owner, Wes Bluemarine. He was such a different man.

Emporio never spoke the truth during his therapy sessions. Irene knew of it, the psychiatrist told her. She grew increasingly concerned with each visit. How could he tell the truth? It was outlandish, he knew it. There was no way that anyone would ever believe him, they’d urge him to tell the ‘actual truth’.

It had got to a point where Irene stopped sharing a room with Annakiss just so that she could sleep in the same room as Emporio, so that she would be there for him when he had his nightmares. Annakiss wasn’t very happy with the plan but let it slide, since Emporio was just a child and he’d still spend time with Irene.

It was one particular night that caused everything to slowly tumble down.

“Jolyne! No! Stay with me!” Emporio shouted in his dream, his last moments with Jolyne flashing before his mind like a broken movie. Her thread broke. The scene changed to the death of Weather Report. His lifeless body laid on the ground soaked in his blood, his legs nowhere to be found. The tears of Jolyne and Ermes. Anasui looking away from the scene of their latest lost. “Weather…” He continued muttering in his sleep.

The scene once again changed. The deaths never playing in sequence. It was Jotaro, Anasui and Ermes this time. It happened in a flash. Ermes didn’t even get the chance to do anything, just got eliminated in an instant. Anasui’s sacrifice was for nothing. It only caused their deaths.

The last scene playing in his mind was F.F. Emporio wasn’t present when F.F died, so his mind could only present him the memories of F.F, which was the only thing left of them. A mere memory in the mind of a child. Emporio might just grow up and leave F.F behind. Buried away in his memories, locked away with those he never want to relive ever again.

“Who’s Jolyne?” Irene asked. Emporio forced his eyes open in the dark, he didn’t know how to answer. “Tell me about her. Was she your mother? Or a sister?”

How was he supposed to answer this question?

Words never found way to escape his mouth, for they never existed in his mind in the first place.

Thoughtless mind, but so many things to say.

Irene seemed to understand the silence. “You don’t have to tell me now. Just know that I would stay with you, alright?”

Emporio was thankful for the dark surroundings, Irene wasn’t able to see the tears gathering in his eyes, ready to spill out any moment. He really needed to say the truth, but how was he going to make it believable?

Would Jotaro believe him?

Time continued to slip by, Emporio did nothing to help himself. He could only use his Stand to look up how different the world had changed. It barely did. Only the people affected by Pucci changed. DIO’s three other sons lived the life they had before meeting Pucci. Giorno had somehow found the Joestars, or rather, Jotaro found him, and learned more about himself. Josuke often came by to celebrate the holidays while Giorno sent letters to the Joestars, often too busy to visit but still does so at least once a year. Shizuka and Irene were extremely close, they were practically sisters and could never live without each other. Emporio wondered if Jolyne had the same bond with Shizuka.

Emporio’s night terrors never got better. Irene grew increasingly baffled each day, she genuinely wanted to help but could never pinpoint the problem. Annakiss wasn’t of much help either.

“Maybe he just missed his actual family? This boy had to have one before you found him,” said Ermes on one occasion. If only she knew how true it was.

“Maybe he just doesn’t want to burden you with it,” Weather suggested. “He seemed like one of those kids who grew up too fast because of trauma and stuff.”

Irene, Annakiss, Ermes and Weather were out together with Irene bringing Emporio along. She hoped that by exposing him to more and more people and getting him to realise that opening up would be beneficial, he’d finally say something.

It was a pity that this group of people were the problem, they didn’t even know it.

They only had pure intentions.

Irene was willing to do anything for Emporio, just like Jolyne.

Watching them having fun reminded Emporio of them in the universe already gone. It was painful to think about what they all would have been if they had a different ending. Was the answer right in front of him?

The only thing left was F.F. Someone who only existed in the depth of Emporio’s memories.

Irene often went to her parents’ home, her parents always welcomed Emporio with the warmth of home. Maybe not Jotaro, he never said much. Emporio often wondered how would Jolyne’s mother react to the death of her daughter and former husband. Emporio hadn’t even realised that he never met Jolyne’s mother, the one who would have to deal with all of the pain.

The one who wasn’t Irene’s mother.

Irene lived the life Jolyne could only achieve in the freedom of her dreams. The fictional world molded by a 19 year old’s inner child, the girl who longed for a normal life. Yearned to be normal and be like everyone. Yet lived the most bizarre life and suffered the worst fate a girl could ever receive.

The group laughed. Weather was the quietest of them all but still one of the smartest. Annakiss was mostly by Irene, he was protective of her. Ermes and Irene bonded quickly like they were born to be best friends. It was all too familiar yet strangely foreign. Emporio felt left out in this whole new world.

What a wonderful world.

Void of the disaster that had happened, where if not for Emporio’s mere existence, would have remained entirely forgotten.

It was on a Saturday morning that Emporio finally saw something his eyes were used to. Annakiss was making something special, a gift for Irene. Anasui’s Stand, Diver down could resemble things, and it seemed that Annakiss was the same, Anasui was born a Stand user and it seemed that the same applies to Annakiss as well. “Diver… down?” Emporio muttered to himself as he stood by the doorway of the kitchen, where Annakiss was crafting his gift. Emporio couldn’t see it. Unfortunately, Annakiss heard Emporio and his head swiftly turned towards the young child.

“You can see Diver down?” His eyes widen in disbelief. A million thoughts struck him at once. Jotaro had warned Annakiss of Stand users attracting other users, he almost couldn’t marry Irene because of it since Jotaro worried for her safety but Annakiss reassured him that he would protect her even if it mean losing his life. Emporio froze, eyes glued the ground below him. “Is that why you’re so weird?” Words continued leaving Annakiss’ mouth. “You’re born as a Stand user aren’t you?”

Emporio could only nod, no lie could defend him in this moment. But would the truth be enough?

Annakiss looked convinced and motioned for Emporio to follow him. He could only do one thing.

Find Jotaro.

They were going to talk about Emporio, his situation. They might even force the truth out of his mouth. How long could he hide it for? Would the truth save him or grant him even more trouble? Could he just say that being able to see Stands was why he was so ‘weird’?

Jotaro and Annakiss sat him down at the Speedwagon Foundation, ready to ask him anything. It seemed that Irene was the only one who didn’t know about the ulterior motives of the Foundation. Jotaro asked Annakiss some basic questions about Emporio’s home life with him and Irene first while letting Emporio eat some cookies so that the two adults could figure out an appropriate way to go about it. To them, Emporio was a child with a simple mind, blissfully unaware of the cruelties that the world had to offer.

If only they knew that Emporio understood it all too well.

“Let’s start from your family,” said Jotaro in the calmest, friendliest voice he could master. Unfortunately he still sounded as cold as he had always been which would have scared Emporio to no end if it wasn’t for the fact that Emporio was simply just not a normal child.

“It’s alright,” Annakiss continued. “We’ll help you.”

Memories of the former shell of the world before filled his mind. F.F, Weather Report, Anasui, Ermes… Jolyne. Their deaths replayed in his mind once more, he could never be free. Tears gathered in his eyes as he heard footsteps, probably Annakiss, heading towards him, placing a hand on his back. “It’s alright kiddo,” Annakiss’ voice sounded calming.

Jotaro was left deep in thought as he wondered how he should deal with the situation. All he saw was a fragile child and an immensely tricky situation. “You don’t have to talk, you can draw it out,” he suggested.

“I’ll… tell you what happened,” Emporio replied. “Just… please believe me.”

Jotaro and Annakiss both shared a confused look, why would they not believe the poor little child?

And so, Emporio began his story. How the old universe was like, how DIO had come to know of Pucci, how Emporio was born, how Irene was Jolyne, how Jolyne was sent into jail thanks to Pucci, how Jotaro saved Jolyne the first time round, how quickly Jolyne matured and vowed to bring Jotaro back, how everyone became a team, how F.F died, how everyone escaped, and how everything fell apart.

Annakiss stared at Emporio, confused, bewildered, shocked. He wasn’t sure if he should believe what the child had just spoke.

“I believe you,” said Jotaro, “I did want to name Irene as Jolyne, but I didn’t feel any malice, I felt peace so I stuck to Irene. She’s an exceptional girl.” A small smile of pride found its way onto Jotaro’s expression as he spoke. “I can tell that Jolyne, she inherited the Joestar spirit. She was definitely my daughter. Your story doesn’t sound unbelievable when you look into what I, and other members of my family had went through. I am sorry you had to endure all of it alone.”

Emporio could only cry as Jotaro handed him a tissue. “Tell us anything that you would need, we would try our best to accommodate.”

Finally, a weight was lifted off his shoulders. Annakiss wondered if he should let Irene know of the tale but Jotaro advised against it, she deserved a normal life after all she had dealt with Pucci. At last, Emporio know where to turn to. His wound still hurt but now, he knows how to patch it up.

Life was still tough, but he would have to push through. Memories of the past would haunt him, but he would survive it. He was with people who cared about him. He had a support system. Everything might be different but he would have to try and live normally.

Emporio decided that he would simply have push through. Go to school, grow up, finally life a proper life. One that a child deserved, a normal life that was granted to him.

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