Better Days

Chapter 2

"Kakyoin..."

The young man on the bed turned and smiled, "Hello. Do I know you? Are you a new doctor?"

"No, Noriaki. This is Mr. Joestar. He's a...friend of yours. From before the accident." The doctor explained.

"Oh! My apologies. I don't remember anything before a few months ago. How long did we know each other?"

Joseph just stared at the boy in shock for a long moment, "Uhh, not long...but...I...I..."

"Noriaki, excuse us for a bit. I need to go over your condition with Mr. Jostar in detail."

"Of course. It was a pleasure to meet you again, Mr. Joestar. Please come visit again soon!"

"Yeah, I...I'll do that..."

The doctor pulled Joseph from the room and lead him down the hall to an office.

The moment the door clicked closed, Joseph spun around, "How is that boy alive?! I saw his body myself! There's no way he survived!"

"You're right, Mr. Joestar, Noriaki Kakyoin did not survive his wounds. That young man isn't Noriaki, he's a clone."

****

"So, you see, Mr. Joestar, while some of his base knowledge was transferred, we were unable to completely copy the full set of memories over to the clone."

Joseph's mind was spinning over all the information he'd been given in the last couple of hours.

Kakyoin's body had been placed in stasis just after Egypt in hopes of one day bringing him back with technology being developed at the time. Then, when SPWF doctors saw the downward spiral Jotaro was on, they began looking for more immediate means of bringing Kakyoin back. After looking through current open areas of research, they settled on 2 projects that looked promising. First, cloning him and then copying his memories over to the new body. The cloning part went perfectly. The memory transfer only partially worked. Kakyoin's clone could recall general knowledge but all personal memories were lost in the transfer. The scientists responsible for the transfer were confident they could correct that problem given time and a bit more research.

"So, it's Kakyoin, but it's not Kakyoin?" Joseph asked after thinking about what he'd been told.

"In a way, yes, sir."

"And you did this why?"

"Jotaro is too powerful to be left in this state. If he were to somehow adjust to the stand suppressant, we might not be able to stop him if the incident in Tokyo were to repeat itself. Also, we all owe those young men a debt. If we can give Noriaki his life back and help Jotaro in the process, why not?"

Another few moments of silence filled the room as Joseph absorbed the words. He wanted Kakyoin back and not just for Jotaro's sake. He missed the young man he'd grown to love as another grandson.

"Ok, what do we do now?"

The medical team exchanged glances before the lead spoke again, "Well, we thought maybe...you should talk to Noriaki. Tell him about Jotaro and the trip to Egypt. Explain the situation and see if he would be willing to meet Jotaro."

Joseph nodded, "Ok. That seems reasonable. I have one question though. Does this Kakyoin have a stand?"

The lead doctor hesitated before answering, "Ahhh, he can see stands but has yet to be able to summon his own. We don't even know if it would be Heirophant Green that he summoned."

"Boys, that might be a problem."

******

Joseph took a deep breath and knocked on the hospital room door.

"Come in."

He entered the room wearing a big smile, "Kakyoin, my boy! How are you?"

Kakyoin smiled brightly, "Mr. Joestar! I didn't expect to see you again so soon. I'm well. Thank you for asking. How are you?"

"Oh, I'm fine! Just fine! Glad to see you alive and well! I thought we'd lost you. We all thought we'd lost you."

Kakyoin made a face, "We?"

"Yeah, we. Jotaro, Polnareff and I."

"I'm sorry, I don't remember them..."

"And that's fine. We remember you and that's what's important."

"Well, can you tell me about them? Jotaro and Polnareff?"

"I'll do you one better. Why don't I tell you the story of how we all met, hm?"

Kakyoin's eyes widened, "I'd love that, Mr. Joestar."

*******

"Jojo...where are you, Jojo? Help me...save me, Jojo..."

"No no no no no... I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!!" Jotaro screamed. "Please...Nori..."

"Jojo, why did you leave me...?"

He pushed himself as far into the corner as he could and curled up, shaking violently. He squeezed his eyes shut against the vision standing in the center of his cell and fought the straight jacket in effort to cover his ears so as not to hear the pleading voice or the drip of blood and water soaking the padded floor.

He could close his eyes but he could not hide from the sounds echoing in his mind.

"Help me, Jojo..."

Jotaro pressed his face into the corner as he sobbed, "I'm sorry, Nori...please...I'm so sorry..."

"Jojo..."

*******

Several hours passed as Joseph told Kakyoin the story of their trip to Egypt. There were times where Kakyoin laughed wildly at their adventures and there were times where he wiped tears away. By the end of the tale, however, he seemed contemplative.

"That's an amazing story, Mr. Joestar. It sounds like something you would read in a book. Is it really all true?"

"Absolutely 100%"

"Then, where is Jotaro and Polnareff? Do they know I'm alive? Will they come see me?"

"At the moment, I'm the only one who knows."

Kakyoin frowned, "Oh. Well, will you tell them?"

"Well, I need your help with that actually..." Joseph began, pausing to gauge the redhead's reaction.

"How could I help? I don't even remember them..."

"Ahhh, well...this is difficult for me to ask. You see, Jotaro didn't take your...assumed death very well. On top of everything else that happened during that trip, losing his best friend just...pushed him over the edge."

"Mr. Joestar, I don't understand."

With a sigh, Joseph continued, "He blamed himself. He...well he kind of went off the deep end. They say he has severe PTSD. He's had violent outbursts, suicide attempts, hallucinations, and..."

"And what, Mr. Joestar?" Kakyoin asked softly.

"About a year ago, he had a major break. He thought he saw Dio kill you in Tokyo and went after him. It was bad. He and Star did a lot of damage before we could get him under control. He's been locked up here ever since. They can't figure out how to make him better..."

"It hurt him that much when I, umm...died?"

"Yes. Jotaro's not very easy to get along with. He's not one to make friends easily or at all, really. The fact that you two got along so well amazed me. You had an understanding of each other that went beyond friendship and when we lost you, I think we lost Jotaro as well."

Kakyoin slid forward on his bed and put a hand on Josephs shoulder, "How can I help?"

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Clone Kak! Clone Kak!

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