The Blade's Edge (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders x Male O/C)

Chapter 20: The Crash in the Desert

Gladius POV

Where had the Joestar group gone? 

In the time that I'd exterminated Steely Dan, I'd lost track of them. After leaving Karachi behind, I'd once again stayed in a remote isolated hotel to treat the wounds I'd sustained in my conflict with Jotaro.

I hadn't even given Steely Dan a burial. Why would I? The assassin had tried my patience one too many times. In fact, dare I say it, my patience in general was beginning to vanish slowly. It was beginning to overwhelm me.

So much had happened in the last few weeks, far more than in my entire life as a bodyguard before now. From my run-in with that false ship captain in Hong Kong, to eventually snapping and murdering Steely Dan. A part of me wondered how I was keeping my mind stable.

I hadn't forgotten that the Joestar group was still out there, I also hadn't forgotten what I'd been told about the other Stand users. Sun, Death, Judgement and the High Priestess were the four mentioned to me. Though even Steely Dan himself didn't know what those Stands did or who their users were. But no doubt, they'd be after the Joestar group as well.

One thing I couldn't afford was to fall too far behind. My wounds had healed for the most part with the exception of a few light cuts and bruises. As soon as I deemed myself healthy enough, I paid for the hotel room and departed to resume my search.

I had little to go on, just a vague route that they may have taken. I stopped off every now and then to ask around at villages, towns or even roadside rest stops. I would show the picture to anyone nearby and they'd either say they didn't see anything or give me a breadcrumb of information.

One merchant did tell me he'd sold camels to the group and gave me the route they'd travelled. Which lead me to more breadcrumbs and at last, I was lead to a small village which was accompanied by an airfield. It was here that I gained my biggest and most useful lead.

I presented the photograph to a man who looked to be a pilot and asked "Have you seen the people in this picture?" Straight away, the pilot gave the photo a wide-eyes look as he responded "Yeah, I know those guys."

Pointing to Avdol, he commented "Not that guy, but there was a white haired guy with them instead." I once again asked "Yes, but do you know where they went?!" My tone was filled with annoyance, again my patience was constantly decreasing.

The man seemed taken aback by my tone as he stammered for words, saying "-U-uh yeah... Um, they bought the plane from me, ripping me off they were to try and get a discount." Pointing out he finally said "They flew out that way, I think. They didn't say where they were going."

Of course I knew, and I also knew that if they were taking a plane, it would likely be a straight shoot to Egypt from here. I knew that Egypt was west of Pakistan, so I knew that if I knew which direction to go.

"One last thing, do you have a compass on hand?" The pilot stammered "Y-yeah, sure, just one second. I'll go and get it." The pilot ran off to a nearby building, returning a minute later with the compass. Handing it to me, I took a look at it. 

At this moment, I was stood facing North. I handed the compass back, saying "That'll be all, thank you for your cooperation." The pilot stopped me "Wait! Before you leave, there's something you should know, the plane was quite an old one, not very fast, but even so, you'll need to hurry if you want to catch it." I just nodded in response.

With the direction in mind, I returned to my car, restocked with fuel and set-off. I don't know how long I was driving for, however I kept an eye on the sky, looking for any sign of a plane. It didn't take long for the village to by in the distance and my surroundings once again being nothing but desert.

Timeskip...

I drove well into the night, the daytime heat was replaced with the night-time cold causing me to shiver. Hope was beginning to leave me after not a single sign at all in the hours I'd been driving. However it was this darkness that FINALLY, I received the sign I'd been looking for.

It was on the horizon that I saw a light glow as well as smoke. Drawing closer, it quickly became apparent that the glow was coming from a fire and getting even closer made my eyes widen as I realized it was a PLANE!

Halting the car, I quickly got out and began investigating the wreckage of the plane. From what little I could tell, it certainly housed four people. However the inside was completely charred by the still-burning flames that had spread to the nearby trees.

One thing was also worth noting, there were no human remains so if Joestar's group WAS here... I smirked, saying "So, perhaps they got away. But I doubt you've gotten far. Heh, heh." Looking around, I noticed something else in the distance, another glow. Indicating ANOTHER fire. Like a beacon on the horizon.

Seeing no need to drive such a short distance, I trudged along the sand until I was close enough to clearly make out a camp site in front of me. I remained a safe distance away, observing what was going on.

Within seconds, my hopes were CONFIRMED! I mean, how can you miss hair like Polnareff's or an outfit like Jotaro's. I watched from atop a nearby ledge, now all I needed was to figure out the best method of approaching them.

I couldn't face them all at once. Hell, I couldn't even defeat Jotaro one-on-one. I couldn't risk making things any more difficult than usual. A part of me even contemplated taking them out from my hiding spot, a knife to the head for each would do the trick...

NO! Even with everything that had happened, I'd never stoop to the level of a lowly, cowardly assassin. One thing the Joestars had been good for in my encounters is that they seemed like honourable warriors and I had my own code.

The hour was growing ever later. And in the end, there was only one thing I could do. Perhaps against my better judgement, the next thing I knew, I was sliding down the steep rock face, landing right in front of the camp and the Joestar group. Before they even noticed me, I spoke up. Startling all of them.

"Hello, so it seems we meet again Joestars..."

Author's Note: And that's it for this chapter, the beginning of the Death 13 arc. Once this arc is done, I will be taking a bit of a break in order to plan the Egypt portion of the story. I do hope you enjoyed and as always, thank you for reading.