"Apparently, my existence is still needed in the world," he said to himself, "Fate can be too merciful sometimes... or too merciless."

He walks along the shores of the beach, trying to find the next step. Clearly, his first step has been a disaster. The reason he went to New York was to find Joseph Joestar, but he found nothing. All he found was his daughter, a mutt and a crazy... devil who has somewhat of a weird sense of humour.

But all in all, the result has been disastrous. The daughter got away, the devil almost killed him and he didn't find Joseph Joestar. He did find an army, but that army was almost useless. They definitely didn't help much.

But... he can't help wonder...

Where they are right now.

Ginger hung her head low inside the car. She lowered her head so that the people who they pass by can't see her. Or rather, she can't see them.

"Ginger, you gotta stop doing that. It's not that good of a thing. You're gonna draw attention to us," a voice was heard beside her. The voice was coarse but not so loud. Sounded kind of deep. Ginger looked to the side and she sees her partner, driving the car.

"I'm sorry, Marcus. It's just, I hate to see people staring at me."

"If you lower your head that low, you bet people'll stare at ya," Marcus replied. Marcus understands that Ginger is a very shy girl. She's way too timid. But sometimes, she can be pretty annoying out of the timidness.

"Look, I'm just saying it's best we keep a low profile now. We need to find Master Dio," Marcus tells her, "And until we do, we cannot attract any sort of attention to ourselves. I don't want to actually be mad or angry at you, but I just thought that what you are doing would be bad for what we want to do."

"I understand. I'll try my best."

"All right."

And silence inhabits the moving vehicle. Marcus was just looking at the long highway they're in. The road seems to stretch out forever. Ginger tries to calm herself down and looks up. She looks outside the passenger seat window and sees absolutely nothing. There was desert all around the place and not a single living soul. She breathed a sigh of relief. No one to be scared of here.

Marcus took a glimpse of Ginger looking out. He really doesn't know how someone like this can follow Dio. But then, Dio has a very... influential way of persuading people to follow him.

Hell, he remembered how Dio came up to him.

Marcus came back to the apartment late at night. His girlfriend would be waiting in the room... usually.

He enters the apartment and found this... man. Of some sort, looking out his window. He was just standing there, looking out, arms crossed at his chest. He was very well-built. Too well-built in fact.

"Wha... WHO ARE YOU? WHERE'S MARY?" Marcus shouted.

"You have potential, Marcus," said this weird man. His hair was just standing up. It was blonde and he has these tacky clothings on. Also yellow in colour. Bad colour match, Marcus thought.

The man turned around to look at Marcus. Marcus saw the man's eye, it was very spooky. It was almost hollow, empty as if there's no soul, but at the same time, he saw some kind of fire within it. The man takes up his left hand and put it under his chin.

"Yes... I can have a use for you," the man continued.

"What do you want? No, I don't care, tell me where Mary is!" Marcus ignored what the man says and still asks for his girlfriend.

"She's in the room. Though, you may not like what you see in there."

Marcus' eyes widen hearing what the man just said. What happened to Mary. Did [he] do something to her. He runs to the room. The door was not closed tight. It was a bit ajarred. He slowly reaches for the door knob.

But the door opened for him. To his surprise, the man that was in the living room was inside the room. He opened the door for Marcus. Marcus doubled back, shocked by this account. He knocked down the lamp that stood beside the door.

The man smiled and said, "Now, are you sure you want to go through this? Your life might not be the same after this."

Marcus didn't answer, he just barged into the room. He tried to push the man aside but he couldn't, but from the attempted push, the man understood and stepped aside for Marcus, "Your choice," the man said.

What Marcus saw... was a bit too much for him to take. The room was splattered in blood. His girlfriend was lying in bed, her innards are inside out. The hand... is missing. Her mouth were opened, she looked as if she were trying to scream. But this... this wasn't the worst of things. The worst was that he found, right beside her, the dead body of his best friend.

"They, clearly, were having an affair. I came in as they finished their sexual intercourse. I thought it was for your best interest, that I kill them for you," the man said, assuring Marcus.

Marcus was still wide eyed. He cannot believe he's seeing this. Or even hearing what the man said.

"Marcus, leave your dead-end job. Leave all your life. Come follow me. I can use your Stand in my mission."

"Stand?" Marcus asked. Eyes still unmoved from the gory picture of his bedroom.

"Yes, you know that thing that is behind your back now?"

Marcus turns around and saw it again. The devil that followed him. He saw this devil two years ago. And the devil has been following him since. The devil didn't do anything bad to him physically. But mentally, Marcus almost went insane. He remembered when he talked to Mary about the devil. Mary didn't believe him. Now Mary is dead.

Marcus turned around and almost jumped out of surprise. There was another devil now. This devil was standing behind this man. This devil had armor on too. On top of that, this devil looked HUGE. As if it can crush Marcus with just one swing.

"Marcus... follow me and I'll teach you how to control that devil of yours."

Marcus' ears perked up. He can control this devil?

The man's devil suddenly turned around and pushed back it's hand and fisted it. In a matter of seconds, the man's devil sent out a barrage of punches through the wall that connected the bedroom and the hallway.

"You can even do that, Marcus."

Marcus cannot remember now if it was out of fear, or out of respect or even out of curiousity, but he just nodded to the man and followed him out of the apartment. His eyes grow dimmer and the wide scared shock in it disappeared. And it turned into the eyes that Marcus saw on the man when he came into the apartment.

Marcus turned around to ask, "What's your name?"

The man smiled and answered, "Dio... Dio Brando."

Marcus walked back to the booth where Ginger is sitting. She's fidgeting in the booth. Her hands tucked under the table. She was tense. But then, Marcus can't blame her. Being the shy and timid person she is and being in a diner full of people, she was getting very uncomfortable.

"Hey, here, have some coffee, maybe it'll relax you a little bit," Marcus said and handed her the hot coffee. He made sure it was decaf.

"Thank you," Ginger said under her breath.

"You're welcome," Marcus didn't even hear her, but he did read her lips. He looked at her. She wasn't bad looking. She is sort of cute, but she's not the most beautiful woman kind of thing. But who really cares, love is for dumbasses.

"Okay, we checked out the New York. I couldn't feel the Master's presence at all and I even sent out Vertical Horizon to check out most of the Tri-State area, but found nothing. So I'm thinking, the Master is nowhere near the North at all," Marcus said, making sure they haven't lost track or anything.

"How about Canada? The Master might've gone there."

"Maybe. But I have a feeling that he might be somewhere down south."

"Like Mexico?"

"That's a possibility. But I was thinking a bit higher than that. Like Los Angeles."

"How do you think that?"

"I... don't know... but it's safer if we check everything from top to bottom instead of going to the bottom straight away."

"That's true. You're really smart, Marcus," Ginger said smiling at Marcus.

Marcus suddenly felt a flush of embarassment washing over him. He looked down the table and just said a simple, "Naw... not really..."

Ginger's face suddenly turned into worriness. She opened her mouth and asked, "I still have to wonder tho... how did it happen? I mean, Master was fighting with that Purple Devil Thingie and suddenly disappeared when that Black Flame suddenly came up from the ground."

"I'm thinking it has something to do with the Master's Stand and also the Devil's black liquid thing. But that's just a theory I've been running through my head."

"Yeah... in any case, we have to find the Master fast, before he gets himself into any trouble."

"Right, we can't have him run into the Joestars or his daughter alone. We have to help him out."

"Right," Ginger agreed and finished up what's left of her coffee. And then she complained of the heat burning her tongue. Marcus laughed opposite her and commented that she shouldn't be too excited when it comes to drinking hot coffee. Ginger smiled at the joke.

"Okay then, if you're finished, let's get on with the search," Marcus said, getting up and also reaching for his wallet on the back pocket of his jeans. Ginger nodded and also stood up.

Ginger was cold. She's only 19 but already she's been living outside. Actually, she's been living in the streets for about two years. She was living in the alleyways. It has been two years, but she was still shy with the rest of the homeless in the alleyways. She had a couple of friends there. Well, she thinks she can call them friends. But she rarely hangs out with them. Most of the time, all she did was stayed in her corner of the alley looking up at the sky. Watching the cloud go by.

She got thrown out of the apartment shortly after her parents died. They were ran over by a runaway truck. It wasn't just them that got killed of course, but it was them who have no other relatives to send Ginger to or enough money to support Ginger. And being the shy person Ginger is, she couldn't really find a job either. All she could do is just sit in the apartment in fear. Of course, until she was thrown out by the landlord.

Now she's basically all alone in the alleyway. She has a friend who was always with her. A lady by the name of Alba. She's somewhere in her twenties. Maybe 23, maybe 26, who really knows. When asked, all she said was, "I've been living over two decades," and she would give her smile after that. The kind of smile that just cheers you up. Her eyes would close up like a cat, making her look very cheery.

Alba taught Ginger a lot of things about living in the streets. Alba also taught her on how to act tough so people won't kick you down so much. Ginger remembered a time when she was harassed by a couple of teenagers who thought it was cool to kick down homeless people. Alba jumped in and kicked those boys right in their heinie. The boys never returned after that.

But Alba couldn't last long. She had some kind of disease. She's always coughing, but it never seemed to bog her down. She would still crack up with her jokes and try her best to cheer Ginger up.

It happened one night when Ginger was sleeping. Her blanket had been stolen by another homeless man. Alba wanted to go search for it and maybe, "Kick and ass or two," as Alba would say, but she was in a much serious condition that day.

"Don't worry, happens all the time," She said and coughed really hard after that. Ginger was really worried for Alba, so she always just stayed beside her the whole day. Alba was sleeping that night and Ginger smiled. She was sleeping better. Her cough died out. She even looked so warm and cozy in that dirty alley they sleeped in. Ginger got too tired, so she slept beside Alba that night, but she didn't have a blanket and this is almost winter in New York. She just took an empty folded out box and layed that on top of her.

It just isn't the same as a blanket. She was so cold. She tried to warm herself up by rubbing her hands up down the side of her arm. But it made her tired and soon, she slept. But her dream was very warm. It was a sunny day on a green field. She was with her parents. She's 10 again. Only this time, a younger Alba is with her. They were playing on the green field. In was a beautiful dream. All throughout the dream, Ginger was smiling.

She woke up and found out she was still alive. And she even felt warm. She got up and pushed her blanket aside.

She stopped.

How did she have a blanket? Hers was stolen. That's when she looked at the side and saw Alba, frozen dead in her sleep. She looked at her and touched her cheek. It was cold. Too cold. Ginger didn't know what to do. All she could do is just look up in the sky and let her tears flow out of her. Her voice couldn't come out. She couldn't even cry out. She just put her head on Alba's chest and let her tears flow by her.

At that moment, the monster came.

The monster took Alba into it's hand and wrapped things around her. Boxes, papers, all sorts of trash. In a blink of an eye, Alba's body was wrapped up and conserved. It had made a coffin for Alba. And judging from whatever cloth it found and put into the made-up coffin, it was a warm coffin.

Ginger looked at the monster. It had big round eyes and a mask on it's face. It's body was full of spikes and spotlights. It was massive in size. About 15 foot tall. But no one else seems to see it. Only Ginger.

The Monster put the coffin right in front of Ginger.

"C... Can you... bury her?" Ginger asked the monster, "At least it'll be so much more proper that way."

The monster dug up a grave, right there in the alleyway. The dirt was soft and it looked like it was so easy to just dig up. There were a couple of electrical wires, gas pipes and other stuff along the way, but the Monster just ripped those apart. A short while later, the Monster puts Alba inside the ground and it pushed the dirt it had taken out back inside.

Ginger cried without sound over Alba's grave, "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust... Alba, I hope you go to a warm place up there in heaven and remem... re... rememb..."

Ginger couldn't finish. She put up her hand to cover her face and cried quietly. She just knelt in front of Alba's grave and cried the night away.

The monster had went away after that. And Ginger was living alone again. Sometimes, when Ginger wishes she wasn't alone, the Monster would reappear and stay beside her. She'd just put her head on the Monster's lap and just close her eyes and sit there quietly. They never talked together. Ginger never said anything to the monster nor the monster said anything to her. They would just sit together and nothing else.

But being without Alba makes Ginger an easy target. People would push her around a lot more now.

And then, came that night. Most of the male homeless men is getting very bad. Four of them, to be more exact. They came over to the place Ginger was sleeping and woke her up. In a short while, they ripped her clothes apart. Ginge was trying to get away, she screamed for help, but nobody even looked. She was held down by two other men. One on each of her hand. Another one held her legs and the main one came over between her legs.

Ginger was so scared, she swung her hand and it hit the main guy. Right smack on the jaw. The man went to the wall hard and turned to look at his friend.

"Dammit Gruff, you were supposed to hold her..." he didn't finish as his eyes bulged.

Ginger turned around and saw the man's friend, Gruff, on the floor, without a head. Ginger screamed out of fear and in that instant, the man who was holding her other hand suddenly flew back. That man hit the wall and fell to the ground. But it was when the man hit the ground that made Ginger scream again. The man's body was twisted in a way where a body shouldn't be twisting.

The man who held Ginger's leg got up and tried to run away but his legs were suddenly cut off. That man skid to the ground and as he stopped, his head suddenly disappeared.

The main man, who was at the wall where Ginger sent him to got up and swung his hand around.

"WHO ARE YOU?!? WHO ARE YOU?!?" the man screamed.

And then, a man, clad in yellow appeared right before him. A knife was on the man's left hand.

"My name is useless to you," said the yellow man.

In an instant, the main man's body was split in half and the knife on the yellow man's left hand was suddenly smothered in blood. The worse part was that the upper half of the main man's cut up body couldn't fall to the ground. There was a knife through his throat that made him stuck to the wall. The main man just gagged and spurted out blood from his mouth.

Ginger shivered and looked at the yellow man. At that moment, the monster appeared again and looked like it was about ready to fight. The monster then opened it's palm and little clones of the monster appeared from it and surrounded Ginger. They looked like they were protecting her.

"Don't worry Ginger, I am here to help you," the man said as he took an overcoat from one of the dead bodies and came closer to Ginger. As he was about to come closer, the little clones start to close up and enforce their defence on Ginger.

"Heh, understandable, from what you just witnessed. Here," He threw the overcoat towards Ginger. "Cover yourself up. It's never good to see a beautiful woman, crying and naked on dirt floor."

Ginger was surprised. She took the overcoat and covered herself up and stood. The clones then went back to the Monster's hand and disappeared.

"See, Ginger, I just wanted your help. I am a man on a mission. A mission to be god. A mission, to make this world a better place. I mean, you saw what those scum almost did to you. I cannot let that happen again. It's pitiful and pathetic for humans. It's inexcusable. Come with me, I need your help to fulfill my mission," the man said and held out his hand towards Ginger.

Ginger looked at the hand. Slowly, she raised her own hand to take it. The man pulled her closer and said, "That's a good girl. I swear, I will protect you."

Ginger was flushed, she suddenly felt very attracted to this man. This man who saved her life.

"Yes. Yes, I will follow you anywhere you go, you have my loyalty, Master..."

"Dio... Dio Brando," and a smile crept on his face.

She woke up from her sleep. The sun is almost up, they've been driving the whole night.

"You awake?" Marcus asked her.

"Yeah, looks like the sun is coming up."

"I know, this is bad for the Master."

"I hope he's safe. We have to find him, fast."

And they drove off on the highway. On a mission of their own. Marcus and Ginger.