[If he were fighting an enemy, he wouldn't be paying attention to the things he's paying attention to now. He's willing to go almost all the way in this, but this is not a fight to the death. It's not a fight to prove anything to each other. It's to prove things to themselves.]
[And so he is paying attention to things. The movements of Jotaro's limbs, because he knows what's normal in the middle of this chaos and what's not. The way his eyes move, whether or not they roll back in his head. His own breathing, so that he will know before his body does when he's about to panic.]
[To Jotaro's breathing. Because he remembers when someone else important to him stopped breathing, when his chest went still, when he ceased. And began. And ceased again.]
[Jotaro stops breathing, and he - doesn't scream, because he never does. But the cry in his throat dies instantly, and what comes out instead is a thin whine, I didn't mean to not again not again I didn't--]
[But he didn't. He didn't. And he realizes, as Jotaro's heart starts again, that this wasn't his fault at all. Whatever just happened, whatever stupid accidental common thread was just plucked, whatever note of horror played in Jotaro's mind, he didn't do it, and that means.]
[That means.]
[That means that Gold Experience disappears as he stalks forward across the sand, murder in his eyes and his trembling hands, that he is not Giorno Giovanna right now, not a frightened little boy with a dream and a fear of losing everything, but someone capable of taking not only what he needs but what is owed to him, and the world owes him a great deal. Right now, the world owes him Jotaro Kujo's life, and so it's Don Giovanna who pushes past Jotaro Kujo's fighting spirit like it's nothing, looks at Star Platinum like he's a disobedient subordinate who ought to know better, and kneels at the side of this stupid, broken idiot who's broken his promise.]
[Gold Experience's hand hovers translucently over his, like a thick golden glove; then the two of them, boy and Stand, rest their palms over Jotaro's heart, and pull back Life Shot, and heal him.]
[And it fucking hurts.]
[And when it's done, Giorno jerks Jotaro by the chin to face him, holds him steady for a moment, and slaps him with all the force of himself and his Stand combined.]
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[And so he is paying attention to things. The movements of Jotaro's limbs, because he knows what's normal in the middle of this chaos and what's not. The way his eyes move, whether or not they roll back in his head. His own breathing, so that he will know before his body does when he's about to panic.]
[To Jotaro's breathing. Because he remembers when someone else important to him stopped breathing, when his chest went still, when he ceased. And began. And ceased again.]
[Jotaro stops breathing, and he - doesn't scream, because he never does. But the cry in his throat dies instantly, and what comes out instead is a thin whine, I didn't mean to not again not again I didn't--]
[But he didn't. He didn't. And he realizes, as Jotaro's heart starts again, that this wasn't his fault at all. Whatever just happened, whatever stupid accidental common thread was just plucked, whatever note of horror played in Jotaro's mind, he didn't do it, and that means.]
[That means.]
[That means that Gold Experience disappears as he stalks forward across the sand, murder in his eyes and his trembling hands, that he is not Giorno Giovanna right now, not a frightened little boy with a dream and a fear of losing everything, but someone capable of taking not only what he needs but what is owed to him, and the world owes him a great deal. Right now, the world owes him Jotaro Kujo's life, and so it's Don Giovanna who pushes past Jotaro Kujo's fighting spirit like it's nothing, looks at Star Platinum like he's a disobedient subordinate who ought to know better, and kneels at the side of this stupid, broken idiot who's broken his promise.]
[Gold Experience's hand hovers translucently over his, like a thick golden glove; then the two of them, boy and Stand, rest their palms over Jotaro's heart, and pull back Life Shot, and heal him.]
[And it fucking hurts.]
[And when it's done, Giorno jerks Jotaro by the chin to face him, holds him steady for a moment, and slaps him with all the force of himself and his Stand combined.]
How dare you.