Best Laid Plans

1881: Blood on the Mask

Dio paced in the entryway of Joestar Mansion, admiring the many valuable objects decorating the space. Vases from China, glass sculptures from Italy, and maps of cities he’d never heard of decorated the foyer. He paced—not paying attention to the objects surrounding him—desperately trying to think of a way to undo Erina’s latest scheme.

It was clever—so very clever—and Dio had begun to wonder if he may have underestimated the lengths Erina was willing to go to. The girl was definitely determined. This newest rumour circulating the town was going to be a pain to suppress. It’s not as if people would believe him if he were to discredit the rumours—surely JoJo would still have some measure of doubt no matter what he said. No, this was going to have to be dealt with before JoJo found out. But how?

He stopped in place when he heard the front door slam open. He turned, seeing JoJo standing in the doorway, pure fury on his face. Dio quickly suppressed a brief flicker of fear. Jonathan’s anger was a truly terrifying sight.

Well, he thought glumly, looks like he heard the rumours.

“Dio,” JoJo growled and stormed over to him, grabbing him by the collar, practically lifting him off the ground. “You bastard! How could you!”

Dio swallowed, mind racing. Perhaps, if he pretended to be ignorant?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Stop spouting nonsense.”

Dio could feel Jonathan’s anger grow and began to regret that statement. He should have known better. Once enraged, Jonathan was blind to everything else.

“You know what I’m talking about!” Jonathan practically screamed in Dio’s face. “Erina! What did you do to her?”

“Nothing! I swear, JoJo, I never did anything to that girl!” Dio could feel Jonathan’s grip tightening on his collar and realised that there was no way he was going to get out of this without a fight. So much for trying to prevent Jonathan from hearing about this. Now, it didn’t matter. JoJo was blind when it came to Erina—to him, she was an angel on earth.

“Liar!” Jonathan screamed and he punched Dio square in the face.

Dio was no stranger to violence. Growing up in the London slums had given him plenty of experience in that. He hadn’t lost a fight since he was eight. Now—hearing the crunch of his nose under Jonathan’s fist—all of those instincts that he tried so hard to repress came to the front.

He pushed Jonathan off him, sticking out a leg to trip him, ignoring the blood dripping from his nose. Jonathan stumbled but jumped quickly to his feet, his boxer’s instincts saving him. Quickly, Dio elbowed him in the side, dodging a sloppy punch, before giving Jonathan an uppercut to the jaw.

Jonathan stumbled backwards a few feet into the wall, blood spurting from his mouth. There was a clattering sound, but Dio ignored it, stepping forwards to help his brother up from the wall. But JoJo wasn’t paying attention to Dio anymore. His gaze was directed at the object that had fallen to the floor.

He was staring at the stone mask.

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Jonathan stared, all thoughts of Erina’s honour forgotten. The mask on the wall, an object so commonplace he had almost forgotten its presence, had changed. 

Spikes now protruded from its edges, drawn-out when his blood had splattered its surface. It had fallen to the ground, the curved spikes pushing it off the wall.

He felt Dio move to stand beside him and stare at the mask on the ground. Neither of them spoke, all thoughts of their previous fight gone from their mind as they tried to comprehend the sight before them.

Then, as quickly as they had appeared, the spikes withdrew into the mask.

“What,” Dio spoke slowly, turning to make eye contact with him. “Was that?”

Jonathan was just as confused.

“I-I’m not sure,” He knelt down next to the mask, picking it up in his hands, frowning. “It put out some kind of spikes when my blood spilt on it.”

He ran his finger over the edges of the mask, before showing it to Dio, who was squatting next to him, his face as impassive as ever.

“There’s no holes on the rim, see?” Dio nodded, running his finger over the rim in the same way Jonathan had. “I wonder…Is your nose still bleeding?”

“A bit. Wh- Oh.” Jonathan reached over and wiped a single drop of blood off of Dio’s face and wiped it on the mask.

Sure enough, the spikes popped right out again. They seemed to stay out for the same amount of time as before, despite that there was significantly less blood spilt this time.

“Looks like the amount of blood isn’t a factor,” Dio remarked, picking the mask up again. ‘But I wonder what its for…”

Jonathan hummed in agreement, wiping the mask clean with his handkerchief before placing it back on its hook.

“I don’t think we should tell Father about this Dio,” Jonathan said turning back to face his brother.

Dio raised an eyebrow, pinching his nose with his handkerchief.

“Of course. After all, that would require explaining the uh, circumstances of our discovery. And I personally, don’t want to miss out on dinner.”

Jonathan winced. That would not have been a pleasant conversation.

“You’re right. That…would not be fun.” He sighed and scratched the back of his head, before fixing Dio with a piercing stare. “But, Dio, did you mean what you said? That you didn’t do anything to Erina?”

It was strange, Dio looked so, so hurt at the accusation—even if it was only for a moment before his usual blank mask was back again—that Jonathan immediately regretted believing the rumours the boys in the town had told him.

“Of course not JoJo,” Dio met his eyes, and Jonathan could see the sadness in his eyes. “I know that she means a lot to you.”

Jonathan smiled at his brother and went to swing an arm around Dio’s shoulders but stopped when Dio ducked out of the way.

That’s right,Jonathan remembered,that puts him on edge. What did his father do to him that even a friendly gesture makes him feel attacked?

“Sorry,” Jonathan splayed his hands in front of himself in an apologetic gesture. “For everything. I shouldn’t have believed the rumours. I should have talked to you first.”

Dio smiled back tentatively,but Jonathan was pleased to get a genuine smile out of the boy.

“I forgive you,JoJo,” Dio cautiously put his arm around Jonathan’s shoulders and Jonathan smiled even brighter.“After all,its not like you spread the rumours. Now,I need some help with my geometry.”

Jonathan let out a playful groan and—laughing—the two walked to their usual study spot.