digiorno | ic inbox ( ruby city ) Ⅰ

No one's ready. Not really.

[He's shared so much, and he doesn't look ready to talk. So it's her turn.]

We had people die, too. When we were running, trying to protect Hazel? I didn't know even know Barr's name, but he was Hazel's grandpa and he gave up the time he had left so we could keep going. He would have said he was ready, but -- he didn't get the chance to say goodbye. Not to Marko, or Klara.

And there was Oswald Heist. He was the reason Alana and Marko got together, you know? He wrote books that nobody really understood after awhile because it was about getting past the stupid fucking war and coming together. I think, anyway. He lived alone in this lighthouse and would drink a lot, but then we came along and he took us in. Klara... He loved her. He was a pacifist but he still shot someone for her because he loved her and she was hurt. It looked like they were going to be okay. But then he died, too.

Klara... Klara's alive. [She breathes out slow, and she sounds a little wistful. She misses Klara a lot, and she'd tried to forget how much until Abbacchio came along and dragged the memories of her to the surface.] She wanted to die, though, and told someone to kill her because... After Barr? After Heist? She didn't think there was a lot left to live for. But she was grateful when I stopped it, and... And if that stubborn old battle axe could accept what I did, then she wasn't really ready to die, either.

[She bites her lip for a second and reaches back with one hand so she can trace along the braid.]

I stepped on a land mine. It doesn't really count here, because I wasn't fighting for anything at the time, not like any of them or any of you. But I stepped on a land mine and bled out and...there was so much that I wanted to fix as I lay there. I wanted to make things right, and tell her... Let her know she was beautiful. What she meant to me. [...] I didn't, even though I was a ghost. It wouldn't have been fair. So I stayed away from them -- Windy, and Mom and Dad, and my brothers and sisters... I started over. I'm glad I'm here with you, and I'm glad Alana let me into her family, too. But it all kind of still sucks, doesn't it?

...Narancia. I'll remember him, too.

[No one's ready. Not really. And that's the truest thing he's ever heard, because - Bruno and Abbacchio gave their lives willingly, but no one is ever really ready to die. They have things still to do. Everyone does.]

[So . . . he listens, his brows drawn tight, and as he listens he calms down, and he's able to focus on her. It occurs to him as he does so that they've spent so much time talked about his problems that most of these names are new to him. Still, somehow it doesn't make him feel guilty. He feels to some extent as though Izabel's done this on purpose, steered things so that the focus has been on him, on Jotaro, on Bruno, and so on; he doesn't feel guilty, then, because he feels manipulated, and a little bit proud.]

[He made a braid for her, just like his. Sometime he'll trick her into holding still long enough to give her donuts.]

Remember him, please. He deserves to be remembered. He deserved to live to adulthood and find someone to love and get old. Like everyone deserves.

[He pauses.]

Like most people deserve.

And I'll remember Barr and Heist. And I couldn't forget you if I tried, of course.

[The adage of like most people deserve might have worried another person, someone who wasn't familiar with Giorno and Bruno and how they thought of kids and those who hurt them, those who took away people like Narancia. Diavolo. He was one of those people.

Izabel nods with a sense of finality. She'd remember, and he would, too. After going through the mirror world, it felt good to have someone else who would, and just... They owed them that and so much more.]

Thank you.

[She doesn't need to say it, but she does anyway, knowing he knows it isn't just for his promise.]

[They owed them that much and more, but they owed each other a lot, too. Not out of any sense of debt flung one way or another, or a sense that their continued loyalty to each other was contingent on an even score; just that when you love someone, you owe them happiness because you love them, not for any other reason at all.]

[So he could say you're welcome. But he chooses not to. Instead, Gold Experience leans in and grabs Izabel carefully but securely under the arms, pulls her close and hugs her tight, while Giorno smiles faintly and sends her all the love he can by proxy.]

[If it was anyone else, the hug still might have caught her off guard. But it isn't, it's Giorno, her family, and so she's returning the hug with an equal intensity. Once she's satisfied, she looks up to Giorno with a soft smile and --

wrangles Gold Experience by the neck and gives him a noogie.]

I'm older, you brat!

[What the hell WHAT THE HELL WHAT THE HELL]

[Giorno shrieks, and Gold Experience squirms to get away, and all he can think of is Mista and Narancia and Fugo back in the early days when things were just easy jobs and stupid boys playing together, and he's shrieking again and laughing and Gold Experience is pulling half-heartedly at her wrist to get her to stop, for God's sake.]

[NEVER

no okay, with a triumphant laugh she breaks free once she thinks he's had enough, then throws both arms around Gold Experience's neck again and plants an exaggerated kiss on his temple. If there was any doubt Izabel only had younger siblings back home, that was probably gone, now.]

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