The next few months were a blur. For all that Giorno could tell, DIO was truly acting like a father. Caring for them and, as much as he refused to believe it, he seemed to love them. They never saw him often, maybe an hour or so a day, sometimes more or less. But during that time he really acted as a parent should.

He helped Ume read, he gave Gio advice on his stand. He was even big on physical contact. Often holding one of them or giving hugs. He would frequently kiss Ume on the head or ruffle Gio's hair.

It took all his Giorno's willpower to keep from letting his emotions get the better of him, in the face of all the parental care he had been longing for his whole life. It was hard.

Thankfully there were a few things that helped him keep his wits about him. Sometimes it was the thick smell of blood that clung to their father, or a scream from a victim that regained their senses before their death or the vacant eyes of one of their father's new victims.

Though times like that were rare. It seemed that DIO, (and a lesser extent Diago) did all they could to keep the twins from seeing the truth of what happened in the mansion. If Giorno had not been an adult in a child's body he would very likely never have known at all.

Between his twin and the babysitters DIO assigned them, Giorno was always busy. The days slipped by without his notice. If it were not for the subtle disappearance of DIO's henchmen Gio would have never noticed the passing of time at all. Once he did he felt his body cold.

The Joestars were on their way to Egypt.

Honestly Giorno didn't know what to make of that fact. But he soon had another thing to worry about, pushing all worries of the impending Joestars out of his mind.

Ume had fallen deathly ill. They all knew what it ment. (At least they hoped they did)

Giorno was on edge, he spent hours with his sister, helping her and praying that she would pull though. While he was busy caring for her he could easily push away the complex feelings that popped up when he thought about his twin having a stand.

DIO was practically excited to find his other child might gain a stand. It was rather unsettling for the residents of the manor to see DIO in such a good mood.

During Ume's illness even Diego was nice to the kids, showing up now and again to either help out with Ume or keep Giorno company.

This was the point in which Giorno had finally let himself understand that for whatever reason, DIO and Diego (to a lesser extent) truly did care for them.

DIO spent his nights split between planning the downfall of the rest of Gio's family and spending time with him.

During her illness Ume never spoke, but Giorno could see that something was happening in her head during her more lucid moments. He was so scared he would lose the only real family he had in this life, so when her fever finally broke a full week after she fell ill.

Around 40 days to go* His brain whispered before he pushed the thought way.

When Ume woke she launched herself at Giorno, hugging her as tight as her little arms could. Giorno returned the hug just as tightly.

The following days the manor waited to see when or how Ume's stand would appear.

It was 27 days until the arrival of Jotaro and his crew when her stand first showed itself.

It was just Girono, DIO and Ume in the room when the stand showed itself. It had a rather graceful build, long and thin legs, feet pointed like a dancer. Long arms that should have been awkward but seemed to flow along with the body. Its head was long and thin, lacking features other than a slight dip where eyes should be. But all this was nothing on its main feature. The creature was, for lack of a better term, fleshy. There was skin on the stand, but even more of its appearance was made of muscle and bone. Blood dripped down from various places and you could see the muscles move and contract as the being shifted. Altogether it made for a disturbing and oddly pretty sight (If one could get over the… everything? Of the stand.)

DIO was awed at the sight, he stood and walked over to inspect the being as Ume looked up at the Stand with curiosity. Giorno took a few moments to adjust to the sight of the thing before he two made is way over to look at it.

The two were interrupted by a soft whisper.

"Ribs… her name is Ribs…"

The two men (well man and child man?) looked at Ume in complete shock.

"UME!" Gio couldn't help but yell, rushing over to his twin who gave him a small smile. "How? When? Why?" His words rushed and excited.

Ume looked at her stand and back to Giorno.

"She fixed me." The small girl shrugged. "Words hurt, now they don't."

DIO looked at her curious as Giorno fussed about asking her if was was ok and such.

DIO interrupted his son to speak.

"What does she do?"

Une looked away from the two, seeming nervous.

"She scares me. She…" The girl paused, trying to find the right words, she finished her sentence in japanese, her first language coming a little easier. "*Moves body*?"

Both DIO and Giorno raised eyebrows at that. Ume just shrugged at them, having no clue how else to explain.

"Can you show us?" Gio finally asked, looking thoughtful. Ume nodded her head and reached out for her stand. Who's long fingers wrapped around her own tiny hand.

There was a loud snap, and the muscle of Ume's arm *pulled away from her bone*

The two were frozen in shock.

The bone and muscle began morphing and shifting, and soon her arm was replaced with a much larger clawed one, the bone and muscle having moved to support the inhuman limb.

Before her brother and father could panic too much she let her arm return to its natural state. Small tears of pain pricked her eyes as she felt each part of her arm changing. She bit her lip though the pain, not wanting to worry her brother.

"Amazing…" Her father whispered, mostly unphased at the sight. He was surprised, sure, but he was not horrified. Giorno, on the other hand, was watching frozen.

The closest thing he had seen like this was the stand that attacked their airplane back in his last life.

After her arm had finished moving and the stand had pulled away and disappeared Gio quickly rushed over to his twin to look over her arm for damage and saw none.

"See?" She smiled at him. Giorno could only wipe the tears from her eyes.

DIO had decided that unlike Giorno, it would be best for Ume to not work on her stand powers for the time being. Citing worry for her young and still growing body. Giorno could not agree faster. Ume agreed, not so sure why, but knowing her stand worried her loved ones.

Now that she could speak and had her own stand, Giorno explained the whole concept of stands to his twin.

During their talks it was clear to Giorno, that while Ume was much smarter than average, she was still a child. Unaware of the complexities of her life.

Somehow, Giorno loved her even more.

Diego didnt know how to feel when he first saw his elder brother with the two brats. Never mind his own distaste for the smelly rug rats, he was beyond shocked to see his borderline insane brother with any child, much less claiming them as his own.

The two of them grew up in a nightmare of a life. An abusive father and dead mother. Even when the Joestars took them in, things were still on the rocks so to say. Not that Diego went anywhere near Jonathans and DIO's feud with a ten foot pole. No he spent the whole time focused on his horseback riding and schooling.

When DIO set the whole thing ablaze (almost literally, even if it was JoJo who set the fire) Diego was quick to run off, leaving his brother to clean up his own mess.

When he found out about his brother's (both of them) death he decided to push away all thoughts of the two and move on with his life.

If he hadn't gotten his stand during a race in the U.S. he probably would have never thought of them again. He knew it was cold and heartless, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

Over the years he lived he grew to regret how he had lived while younger, but there was nothing he could do about the past.

He had kept an eye on the Joestar bloodline as the years moved on, never approaching them, just watching from afar.

It had been DIO who had found Diego when DIO emerged from the sea. His older brother didn't even need to guilt him into joining up with his brother. He had stuck to DIO like glue after they were reunited.

In no way would Diego say he loved his brother. Not that he didn't. It was a complex relationship, and in no way a healthy one. But he would not trade it for anything.

Even, as he sat watching the two rugrats as they chatted quietly on the library floor.

An: Hia! So I whent back and edited this whole than and I am working on more chapters!! hope you all enjoy! let me know what you all think!