"Hear me, Lord of All Creation."
As Felix held Ben at gunpoint and Dante was too far to save him in a timely manner, Aoko Aozaki stood several feet before the mercenary next to the towering Jotaro Kujo, whom she'd dragged out of his cell during the chaos, telling him that she had a plan, and little more than that. After all, they
were a bit pressed for time. Counting on their sudden appearance giving Felix pause, Aoko took a breath, maintaining her usual knowing smirk at Felix. But now, in contrast to before, she allowed the fire in her eyes to burn through. Bane was close. There was little in their way now. So why hold back any longer? And besides, what better way to let loose than on a guy about to shoot a little kid in the head?
People like that... could certainly stand to be taught a lesson.
"I announce."
The air began to quake. Not quite like an earthquake, but more... like an "airquake," if such a phenomena was possible. However, "possible" was irrelevant. Aoko Aozaki was a magician. That was her specialty. She was a woman of miracles. Not all of such miracles were immaculate, but that was her power, and she could live with that.
Closing her eyes, a powerful wind assaulted everyone inside. Not quite strong to necessarily knock anyone over, but it was quite noticeable, despite the fact that they were all indoors. Her hair blew in the air from such wind, and that was when she started... to change, as the vibrant red color of her hair began to fade, slowly shifting into a darker, more reserved shade of brown.
"In my name representing order, I announce."
Aoko's body became a few inches shorter, as though she had literally shrunk. Conversely, Jotaro's face had become a bit more... haggard. As though he was growing older. Two blinding flashes came, one after the other. After the first flash, Jotaro's clothing had changed, taking upon a brighter color compared to his old black get-up, and after the second flash, Aoko's had changed as well, morphing from a white t-shirt and jeans as well.
This was the power of the Fifth Magic. This was the power only allowed to Aoko Aozaki. One could call it "exchanging time." That would be the simplest name for it indeed. She does not rewrite the world itself, but she rewrites enough on a whim to bring the universe just a bit closer to the natural end of its cycle if she does not pay it back. In essence, like equivalent exchange. All the years in the world for all the years in oneself, and all the years bestowed upon another.
"Everything will be corrected."
Aoko spoke as though in a trance, her eyes glowing a greater, more vibrant blue than ever before. The air continued to shake, as sparks of blue energy -- like electricity -- surged all around. Aoko Aozaki was affecting the outside world as they all knew it, and it came first in the form of another gust of powerful wind, this time strong enough to push Felix back and knock him safely away from Ben (though... it also knocked everyone else aside from Jotaro a small while back as well).
Rapidly, the scene shifted. Through the small openings in the walls that could barely be called windows, something peculiar began to happen. It was dark, but then it became light again, and then it became dark again.
It became night. It became day. It became night. It became day. It became night. It became day. It became night. It became day. It became night. It became night. It became day. It became night. It became day. It became night. It became day. It became night. It became day. It became night. It became day. It became night. It became day. It became night.
"Order has now fallen."
It became Spring. It became Summer. It became Autumn. It became Winter. It became Spring. It became Summer. It became Autumn. It became Winter. It became Spring. It became Summer. It became Autumn. It became Winter. It became Spring. It became Summer. It became Autumn. It became Winter.
As Aoko closed her eyes and focused on her process -- "exchanging time" between herself and Jotaro Kujo -- images flashed in both of their minds, as Aoko Aozaki became younger and Jotaro Kujo became older. Aoko could feel herself flying forward in Jotaro Kujo's time, seeing his future, just as Jotaro Kujo could see Aoko Aozaki's past.
For every memory Jotaro saw in Aoko's past, every memory of her stumbling upon a small boy in a sunny grassy field, Aoko saw a vision in Jotaro's future.
Her form was no longer recognizable as the "Aoko Aozaki" that everyone had known before, just as the form of the tall man next to her was no longer recognizable as the "Jotaro Kujo" that everyone was accustomed to before. They were different, yet the same. It wasn't as though
that much had changed. Aoko only just casually became ten years younger, as casually as Jotaro had become ten years older.
More visions flooded the two as she continued the process. Jotaro lay witness to a young man -- a man whom Jotaro found familiar even though he knew he'd never seen him before, likely a result of "melding" with Aoko's memories -- be sliced in half horizontally in a violent display, while Aoko went further into the future, laying witness to a man of pure, unadulterated evil, screaming and laughing maniacally as he held a golden spear in one hand and a golden arrowhead in the other.
She needed to go just a bit further. And then, it'd be done!
Why was she doing this, one might ask? If they even knew what Aoko was doing. What was the use in turning herself younger, and making Jotaro older? Well, to her, the answer was obvious. If a person became stronger over time, more experienced and wise, then Jotaro would surely become stronger over that time as well, right? It certainly applied to Aoko when she did this for the first time ten years in the past. And besides, while Aoko would indeed become weaker to a degree in exchange, she imagined that her younger self's fiery temper and raw emotion would be able to make up for it in battle. After all, as Aoko grew older, she found herself becoming far more laid-back and cool-headed about everything. But as a younger woman, she was troubled, ill-tempered, and prone to explosive bouts of anger. Just like any teenager.
However, Aoko underestimated just how powerful Jotaro could become.
In the visions of Jotaro's future, Aoko foresaw something unexpected.
「Star Platinum Over Heaven」
That was the form Jotaro Kujo would take in the future, and it was a form Aoko would bestow upon Jotaro here and now, if only until they would defeat Bane. All this information created a sort of unspoken agreement between Aoko and Jotaro, as if they were communicating telepathically. This power granted to Jotaro -- along with the time given to him -- must be returned to Aoko Aozaki, lest the universe come closer to crumbling. In addition, because he did not gain this power organically, but rather in an artificial sense, he cannot replicate
all of its powers. 「Star Platinum Over Heaven」was a phenomena not from this world, so Aoko could not read it and use her magic to replicate this phenomena completely, but she could only hope it would be enough.
In essence, she was only able to make Jotaro Kujo halfway into that of a god.
The ground around everyone slowly eased, the shaking slowly letting up as the process began to end.
And then... it stopped. A cold, final gust of wind blowing through, like ten ghosts had just passed. It was complete now.
Aoko Aozaki was now ten years younger, and Jotaro Kujo was now ten years older. She was weaker now, but made up for it with her fiery, passionate rage of young, and Jotaro was halfway a god, not
completely as he will be in the future when he attains Star Platinum Over Heaven, but just enough to win.
Fortunately, the both of them would be able to keep the memories that they had already made before, but their future was now in question, somewhere between shifted -- like slanting the alignment of the planets -- and outright gone.
Jotaro Kujo would never know the deeper meaning of the memory that was given to him by Aoko, and why this image of the little boy in the grassy field was so important to her, and Aoko would never know the circumstances to Jotaro meeting this high schooler with really shitty hair in the future. Mysteries would afflict their minds, but for now, there were more important matters at hand.
It was time to act.
"So then, Jotaro," the seventeen year old Aoko Aozaki said,
"Wanna show off what this Star Platinum Over Heaven can do?" She asked. It was a different tone that she had never taken before when she was older. It was more... energetic. Less laid-back and more active. More openly cocky, and less matter-of-fact.
She was different, but she was still the same person deep down.
@thatguyinthestore @CrunchyCHEEZIT @Crow @Widowmaker @Kaykay @Everybody
