Italy, 2000

Moonlight cast over Rome. Most people were in their beds, the unsavory ones who were still awake prowled the streets. Such a man was walking through the streets, pockets full of money and drugs. A firearm was in his back pocket. He was chuckling to himself at what a great amount of money he had made that day. However his smile faded when he heard footsteps following him. He turned and saw nobody. He continued on his way and heard footsteps again. He stopped and heard them still approaching. He pulled his firearm and looked behind him. Nothing again. He walked once more and heard the footsteps follow. Some sort of force made his skin bead with nervous sweat. A voice cut through the dark. "Hey mister.," the voice spoke, "If you were to be spared, would you change your ways?"
The man was scared but forced himself to look behind him. He did not see anything. He began to breathe hard. "What the hell?," He whispered to himself. "Do you believe people can change?," the voice asked, behind him again. A weight on his back made him shake. His body had an amazing feeling running through it. "Your soul is corrupted by greed. You polluted my home.," the voice said as the man felt weaker and weaker. His body was shriveling up. His mind went black as the life was sucked out of him. The body of the man fell to the floor. A smaller body landed on pavement and walled away. "That was filling.," the small voice spoke, "I won't have to hunt again for a while."

The small being walked in the shadows, away from the light and avoided humans. It was time to return to the hiding spot. There was no need to stay outside with humans for longer than necessary. The small feet of this being walked to the mouth of truth and the statue opened, allowing the child to go inside. "Thank you.," Her little voice spoke to the one who opened the way for her. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she walked down the staircase, deeper and deeper into the darkness. She heard something behind her and looked back, scarlet eyes looked down at her. "Don't try to scare me.," the girl spoke. "You were out longer than usual.," Came the reply, "Do the humans know about us?" "I don't believe so.," the small one replied, "But, I'm going to rest today." Her small feet tapped on the stone stairs as she descended. Others came from the darkness to greet her. The child hopped up on a stone pillar to rest on.
Her head laid on one of her companions' laps. A hand brushed over her hair as a voice hummed a lullaby. The voices of the other were soft as the girl fell asleep. Her small body was covered by a cloth they had aquired and her head lay on the lap. It had been a year since what happened in morioh. Yet, she knew that she could not return to the way she was once, not after she had witnesses to her power.

---

A knock came to the door of an Italian man, the man went to the door and opened it to see his friend. "Abbacchio, what is it?," the man asked. Abbacchio walked in, "I heard something interesting from listening to some talk amongst the other gang members." The Pale haired man sat on his friend's couch, "Gang members in Rome are going missing, only to be found later as nothing but skin and bone. All of their organs and body fluids drained. No injuries save for a single wound of missing skin." "This sounds like a terrifying stand ability.," the Italian man spoke. "But, the weirdest thing is the wound itself.," Abbacchio said and pulled out a picture of one of the corpses, "All of the wounds are in the same shape, a tiny hand. I thought you would want to be aware of this, Bucciarati." Abbacchio sighed and closed his dual colored eyes.
"This is what we're supposed to investigate.," Bucciarati spoke, his blue eyes looked over the picture, "Were going to Rome, as ordered by our capo." "Are we bringing the others?," Abbacchio asked. "Of course.," the blue eyed man spoke and put the files down, "Tell them to rest, we're going to be looking around the city at night." "Got it.," Abbacchio spoke and got up, "If this is another stand user that you take in, I will not be pleased." "You always say that.," Bucciarati chuckled as his friend left. He looked down at the picture again.

"Just what are you?"

---

The sun was down again as the tiny child stirred, her previous meal still filled her. She did not need to eat again for a while. She lept from the platform she slept on onto the floor. The marble tiles were cold against Her tiny feet softly padded on the marble and stone floor as she went to leave, she put on her sandals before leaving. "Are you leaving so soon, little dove?," the voice of her ghostly companion asked, "Where are you going?" "To walk around.," the girl replied and pulled her cloak hood over her head, "Perhaps I'll find something to entertain me tonight." "Lady (y/n). Be safe. Call for us if you need anything.," the voice of another spoke. "I will, Wamuu.," the girl replied, "I'm off." She walked up the stairs and used her strength to open the hiding place.
Her red eyes looked to the moonlit sky, the moon was sadly drowned out by the lights of the city. She walked into the streets and followed them. Some humans were out. Either tourists or unsavory folk. She passed the place where she had preyed upon the man the previous night. She sensed something down that alley with her horns. Stand energy. Quietly, she walked into the alley. She found a group of humans around the husk she left. All male. All in late teens and early twenties. All had stands.

(Y/n) saw them investigate the husk. She quietly got closer and stayed in the shadows, watching these men. "Abbacchio. Do you think you can find out what did this?," one in a white suit asked. He bad black bobbed hair and a kind face. The harsher faced Abbacchio nodded, he wore dark clothing and had light colored hair. From behind Abbacchio came a stand that looked kind of pretty to the little girl. The others turned back to talk to their boss, the white suit guy as the pretty stand, Moody Blues, did what it was doing. Abbacchio looked to his boss as his stand stood by. (Y/n) got closer to investigate the stand before it transformed into a copy of her. "Uh. Abbacchio. Is that supposed to happen?," One of the younger members of their group asked and pointed to the two tiny hooded figures.
All of the men looked at the two. Both of them had their heads down, not showing their faces. "That means that one is Moody blues. And we are looking at the real killer.," Another one of the young men spoke. (Y/n) heard Abbacchio's voice, "The one on the left is Moody Blues. The one on the right is the real mystery stand." The tiny girl looked at her double and gave it a leg sweep, knocking it and its user over. The tiny girl ran afterwards, she knew these people were strong stand users. 'Stand users attract stand users, huh?,' she thought to herself, 'Guess one of us is a magnet.'

She jumped onto the side of a building and climbed up the rough wall surface. She looked down at the team of men below her. 'They must have been sent to investigate me. This stupid gang is ruining my mother's and my own birthplace.,' she hissed to herself. Her red eyes watched them carefully. One of the younger men let out his stand, an airplane, the user called it 'Aerosmith'. "What in the world?," the little girl asked herself. The plane flew by and she hid before peeking out again. She let out the breath she was holding and saw it  turn back towards her, it somehow knew where she was! "Up there!," She heard the airplane's user yell. She got up and ran, running right back to her home. She heard the sound of gunshots, a bullet passed by her arm.
Avalon's metallic wing blocked the other shots that flew towards her. She slipped through the Crack of the mouth of truth and closed the stone door. She jumped down the stairs, using Avalon's wings to glide. She landed on the floor and hid. Her heart was pounding. She knew that she was not alone in here. Her ghostly companions would be by her.

---

Abbacchio's Moody Blues had taken the form of the 'stand' they were tracking. The small creature was fast. It copied the actions that the one they were tracking too. Moody blues played back everything. Abbacchio made his stand stop once a shining metallic wing came out after the sound of the gunshots was played back. "If that is a stand protecting this thing from the Sex Pistols, then we're chasing a damn kid!," the voice of once of the younger teens below Abbacchio and Bucciarati said. "A kid? Then who killed the gang members here?," the airplane stand user asked. "Mista, Narancia, calm down. This child was at the murder scene last night. They may know what happened. They are most likely scared.," Bucciarati said calmly and walked up to the face at the mouth of truth, "This is where this child was heading. There is no other way to go." "It's a dead end, Bucciarati.," the third teen said, "There is nothing else here."
Bucciarati looked at the stone face before him before he punched it with his stand and made a zipper appear on it. He unzipped the stone face and found a passage behind it, "Look at that. A secret passage. This is ancient." "Narancia, use Aerosmith to scout.," Abbacchio ordered rhe younger member of the group. The teen did as asked and sent his stand into the darkness. "There is one person in there.," Narancia reported, "Alone." "I'm going in.," Bucciarati announced and stepped through the zipper. The man felt around a little bit and stepped slowly down the stairs, his eyes were getting used to the darkness. The gunman of the group gave Abbacchio a flashlight to give to Bucciarati.

The bowl haired man took the flashlight and walked down the stairs. The rest of the group followed behind him, their shoes tapping on the stone stairs. Bucciarati flashed the light over the murals on the walls. Murals that depicted warriors. Some horned figures were prominently featured in some parts. "Creepy.," Mista shivered, "These murals have not been discovered by anyone. Until now." "You can look at them later, we need answers from this kid first.," Abbacchio said and kept walking. "Everyone, be quiet.," Bucciarati said and turned off the flashlight. The group went quiet. Soft light shone in the darkness. Some candles were lit in the opening of the cave. They could hear soft whispering and humming. Bucciarati hid behind a pillar and peeked around it.
He saw a beautiful woman with brunette hair and green eyes comforting a small child. Both seemed to have ancient clothing on. "Mia Stellina, you're safe my dearest.," the woman cooed to the child in her arms, patting the child's hair and letting the child snuggle her. The small child was a girl with long wavy plum violet hair. Bruno saw her small sandal clad feet had some wounds on them like she had bee running on rough terrain recently. He realized what he and his group had been chasing. A scared little girl.

Bucciarati swallowed and stepped out of hiding, "Ciao, my name is Bruno Bucciarati. I'm sorry for intruding." The child gripped the woman tighter as the woman's eyes looked at the man. The green eyes were unusual. There was no life in them. "I am investigating some things that have been happening around here.," he continued. He was able to get a good look at the little girl now that he was close to them. The child looked a little dirty and somewhat inured. "Why are you two hiding down here?," He asked and knelt by the two, "I can help." "It is quite simple, Bruno Bucciarati. Humans don't like the ones they have dubbed 'Monsters.'," the woman said with a smile in a sweet tone, "Also, there are five of us here." Bucciarati saw movement behind him and was able to move quickly before the massive man behind him landed the suckerpunch.
"Almost had him.," the raspy voice of this dark skinned man spoke. Bruno saw a horn peeking out of the man's white hair. Smaller horn nubs surrounded the main horn. The raspy voiced man laughed viciously after seeing the shock on Bucciarati's face, "What's wrong? Has humanity forgotten about us so quickly? Have your governments covered up our existence?" "Bucciarati!," the voice of one of the others called out. "Damn. Looks like we'll have to kill all of them.," the raspy voiced man spoke.

The white suit wearing man used his stand to attack the man in front of him, only finding the punches did minimal damage. The dark skinned man only seemed to be amused as two more huge men appeared from the shadows. The raspy voiced man laughed. "Narancia! I thought you said there was only one!," Bucciarati yelled back to his scout. "There is! I don't know why the rest are not showing up on my radar!," the young man yelled back. The gunslinger, Mista, pulled his pistol out and shot at one of the men, only for the bullet to fly through him like he was not there. The raspy voiced one laughed, "It's useless to try and kill what is already dead."
This sent a sense of panic through the group. These were ghosts. Only one of the five before them was alive. Each ghost had a different number of horns on their head. The one with two horns directed the woman and child to hide deeper in the darkness. The woman nodded and went back into the darkness. The child looked at the intruders before running away. Bucciarati saw she had three horns peeking from her long hair. Narancia yelled, "The kid is the only one alive here!"

The situation was dangerous for the gang. Bucciarati had to think quickly to protect his men. These ghosts were trying to protect the child. "All of you, get out of here! I'll take care of this myself! This is an order!," he yelled back to his group. The teens begrudgingly obeyed the order. They left, running back up the stairs. Only Abbacchio disobeyed. The raspy voiced man with many horns stepped up to attack Bucciarati. His nails lifted up and rope like things stretched out from under the nails. "You're only trying to protect the little girl, right?," Bucciarati asked as the 'ropes' bound him, "I promise that I am not here to hurt her, I just want to ask questions." "Why should I believe a human?," the horned man asked. "Mas- I mean, Esidisi, Perhaps we should listen to him first. Then determine whether or not to kill him.," The man with the single horn spoke. Esidisi looked back at his companion, "Lord Kars was right, You are a pure warrior. Our final task is to protect the last of our kind, Wamuu." Bucciarati used this time to escape the ropes by putting zippers on them and unzipping them.
The two horned man prevented Abbacchio from intervening by getting between him and the fight. "I came here to investigate strange deaths, nothing more. The little girl was at the scene of one of the deaths.," Bucciarati explained, "I want to ask her some questions as she may have seen something. She will not be in any danger. I swear." The fee moments that passed were incredibly tense. Neither party spoke as the ghosts deliberated on what they were to do. The one who seemed to be most in charge, Esidisi, made a small laugh. "You're a brave human. Had I been alive, I would have turned you into a red stew to feast on.," the rough voiced man spoke and pulled back the 'ropes' that had been under his nails, "Your fate will be decided after you ask the questions. Should the master allow you to leave, you and your group will be spared, yet you are not to tell anyone of us."

Wamuu looked to the vermillion haired, two horned man, "Santana. Keep an eye on that one." Santana nodded and the two men led Bucciarati back to the area deeper into the caverns that had been hidden under rome. Ornate designs and murals covered the walls. It was solemn and beautiful in the caverns. Bones of humans from the past littered the floor. The helmet of a German officer sat atop the skull of what Bruno could only assume was the officer that had been killed. The skeleton was neatly arranged. The two men stopped in front of a wall that had the impressions of large bodies left in it. Bruno recognized two of the body imprints as the two he was with. The two knelt on the floor as the little girl and the woman peeked out of hiding. "Lady Ivory, lady (y/n), this man wants to ask a few questions about his investigation.," Wamuu spoke to the two. The woman nudged the little girl forward as Esidisi made the human man kneel as well. "Show some respect, human.," the dark skinned man hissed quietly.
The little girl's red eyes had a look of sadness in them. Like she had seen great tragedy. Bucciarati looked up at her as she sat on a fallen pillar, "Do you know what happened to that man?" "I do.," the little girl replied in a small voice. "Then can you tell me what happened?," Bruno asked. The child looked down, "I killed and ate him. His death was peaceful from the psychoactive toxin I pumped into him while feeding." "Was that the power of your stand?," Bruno inquired further. "No. It is an ability that was shared throughout our species.," the child answered, "My stand's ability is much different. You and your friends are stand users too, human."

"Why do you kill and eat those people?," Bruno asked. "I'm hungry. And to clean up this place where I was born over four thousand years ago.," the child answered. The black haired Italian man was quiet for a bit before speaking again, "Where are your parents?" "I am (y/n)'s mother.," The ghost woman beside the child spoke up, "I've been with her since she was born. Her father, while his body is not here, his soul is." Bruno looked to the ghosts beside him, neither looked like the girl. The third ghost man did not either. He wondered where the father was. But he had another thing he was concerned with at the moment. "Even though you killed those people, you did it out of desperation for food right?," Bruno asked, "You're hiding from people, right? You don't have to."
"Human, what are you saying?," Wamuu asked. "I'll take her in and take care of her.," the Italian man spoke and stood, he got closer to the child and took her hand. "You don't have to hide from humans anymore. You won't have to hunt as much.," Bucciarati spoke, "You can live with me, in my home." The little girl was standing as he held her hand. A large and metallic stand stood over her, its eyes glared at Bucciarati.

Bucciarati's gang stood at the mouth of the cavern. Abbacchio had joined the others as they waited for Bucciarati to return. Santana was keeping watch on them. From the darkness came footsteps. Bucciarati walked out of the cavern while holding a small mass covered with a cloth. The Italian man held the mass carefully and looked to his gang, "Let's go home. See you, Santana." The ghost man disappeared as the Italian walked away. Abbacchio saw a small hand gripping Bruno's arm.