Midnight Walks

15 Minutes

| THIS CHAPTER IS FROM JOTARO'S POV |

They told me you had 15 minutes.
And in a way that felt like both a blessing and a curse. I couldn't stop and think when I saw Hierophant's tentacles falling from the sky. I didn't have the time to grieve. But when the SPW paramedics arrived, they threw you into a helicopter and tried to take you away. I had two on the ground before they'd let me in with you. And they got to work, but they told me with sad, sincere eyes that you had 15 minutes at most.
And so I sat there and I held your hand as your breathing slowed. It didn't matter anymore who was watching: I wasn't gonna regret my 15 minutes. And I kissed your cold face all over, chronically wiping my eyes to see a clear image of your face. I memorized the lines, the length of your eyelashes, the curve of your lips.
I didn't really think you could hear me, but I talked to you anyway. I told you about how beautiful you looked, and that we were all safe. I'll never know why, but I started telling you about what we'd do when we got back home. You could teach me how to play that weird baseball game you like, and we could go find starfish together at the beach. I think you knew even then they were empty promises deep in my heart, but all I could do was just keep on talking.
You must've heard me, Noriaki. Because you gave me something special: you gave me a smile. It was faint, but I'll swear for the rest of my life I saw the corners of your lips turn up as I murmured something unimportant. And that made me feel at peace.
I thought that'd be the last time I'd ever see you smile.
But 15 minutes turned into 30. And 30 into an hour. And in the morning, they announced that it was an absolute miracle. You'd lost nearly all the muscle in your stomach. They had to perform a painstaking, 12 hour long surgery. But then they told me you were fast asleep, and I swear I had never felt more lucky.
You were strong. I held your hand for a week, sleeping about 7 hours in total. Everytime I closed my eyes, I feared I'd wake up and you'd be gone. So it wasn't until you were announced to be stable that I went home. You were moved to a hospital near home, and I spent nearly as much time with your parents as I did with mine. The Old Man gave them some sort of explanation, and I never asked.
I know I wasn't supposed to say anything about us, but I slipped the word to your parents by accident. I was ready to take a punch from your father or something, but instead they gushed over me and thanked me over and over for taking care of you. It was a little strange, but relieving.
And the moment you opened your eyes again for the first time.
I'll never forget it.
You sat up slowly, and instantly your mom took you, held you. And you cried, so I cried. And when you saw me, the world felt more still than when time was stopped. It was just us, and I held you. Your parents didn't mind, just gushed and cried because you were okay. But I crawled onto that bed, and I held you.
And you were still there.