Warnings for referenced child abuse and Dio being Dio.

This is set in an Eyes of Heaven Alternate Universe where Speedwagon doesn't immediately go on time-travelling shenanigans with the rest of the JoJos (and allies) so DIO gets to fuck around for a while.

I will not pretend to understand Eyes Over Heaven's plot or stand, so expect creative liberties.

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DIO

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If there is one downside to becoming a God, DIO thinks, it is the ensuing creeping boredom. Invulnerability means nothing can hurt him. Nothing can scare him.

Nothing can surprise him.

So DIO watches and experiments. He tries limiting his omniscience to gain some semblance of not knowing what will happen next in some insignificant turn of events, but he simply loses interest or grows too impatient.

Well, that plus the creeping feeling that any limitation of his omniscience would give a chance for that cursed JoJo bloodline to ruin his Heaven…

So DIO uses his newfound powers to look not only into the present, but also the past, for any detail out of place that would give those worms a chance to ruin his plans yet again.

The revelation that he has fathered children with Jonathan's body was, as with all things nowadays, unsurprising. Even before ascending, he was aware that of the many women he has been with, some had survived, and some had inevitably gotten pregnant. Yet any thrill from the revelation of his progeny's identities is followed by growing disappointment.

Donatello has some potential, but he is more likely to waste his life wallowing in self-misery than become anyone of importance. Rikiel is too weak, his existence a tragic combination of wild ambition and a frail body. Ungalo is nothing but a disappointment, the embodiment of his ancestors' worst traits, of DIO's worst traits before he shed his humanity and ascended, a weak man who has given into his vices and will only worsen to the lowest of scum, the sorry result of that man's tainted blood which still dared infect DIO-

It has occurred to DIO that he can change their lives for the better. DIO can give Donatello an inkling of power, DIO can cure Rikiel weak body, and he watch them both bloom (Ungalo is a lost cause).

But DIO does not. He is not in the business of giving out handouts and his spawn were no exception, especially when they wallow in such miserable states.

Yet one particular child catch DIO's attention and, keeps it.

Giorno Giovanna, birth name Haruno Shiobana, but birthnames were always unwelcome burdens, and Giorno had done away with it the same way DIO had discarded the Brando mark.

Giorno is strong willed enough to manifest stand powers from a young age, then a fully-formed Stand as Passione's influence and its Stand users spread over Naples. Gold Experience is its name, a fitting moniker for its golden form (so much like The World) and miraculous power (which at first glance disturbingly resembled the Ripple, but upon closer inspection DIO found it fitting that a son of his possesses messianic powers).

And Giorno's plan, his so-called dream… It does not surprise DIO but the outcome does intrigue him, so he watches. As Giorno pursues his dream and the inevitable battles begin, a plan forms in DIO's mind and he makes sure to sequester the souls of Giorno's minions that are fated to die.

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Even after being wretched from reality and forced into a temporary plane facing DIO, Giorno merely blinks, his expression slightly drawn but otherwise calm.

What an excellent performance.

"Who are you and where am I?" Giorno's Stand is buzzing under his skin, the arrow cracking its carapace and clawing its way through Giorno's heart again (it must be painful, but so had been the Stone Mask).

Still, such impertinence will not stand.

"Your Requiem is useless against my Stand." DIO manifests the World Over Heaven and the edges of this plane tense in anticipation. Giorno's eyes widen but he schools them back into neutrality moments after. Imperfect, but he will only improve with age. "Put it away."

Giorno obliges, and his gaze is fixed on DIO. Is he attempting to read DIO? Surely, he must have noted their resemblance, even with DIO's newer and more appropriate godly form.

DIO extends his hands in a grand gesture. "My son."

Giorno's eyes widen, though what follows next is a disbelieving grimace.

To speed things along, DIO switches to what once was his mortal form, his hair shortening over his shoulders as his purple-tinted skin turns into a pale human hue.

Giorno's lips move in transfixed recollection. "Dio Bra-"

"Just DIO." He extends a hand to Giorno. "As you are Giorno Giovanna…"

"What are you?" Giorno asks, expression still neutral.

DIO smiles. "DIO," he repeats, knowing full well its Italian meaning.

Giorno does not protest of course, not after seeing a mere demonstration of the power of World Over Heaven. Instead he merely glances around before staring back at DIO.

"Why am I here?"

It occurs to DIO that Giorno has not approached him or made any move at all. So far his son has stayed in place as if frozen, focusing on DIO and occasionally glancing at his surroundings, like a caged animal.

The thought leaves a bad taste in DIO's mouth.

So, DIO circles around Giorno, the latter following him with his eyes but still stuck to the same spot.

"I, Dio, have been watching your progress…"

Yes, DIO has been watching for some time. He had ignored the majority Giorno's youth, viewing him as another wailing wench in this hell of a world. His son's good act of saving that random man's life had been particularly distasteful at start, a remnant of Jonathan, but its consequences, a powerful ally hidden in the shadows and an introduction to the mafia, had made DIO reconsider.

"You did a splendid job ascending as Passione's Don."

It has been so satisfying to watch Giorno's plan slowly coming into form; gathering enough cash via low-level scams and pickpocketing to go to a decent boarding school, a career into politics being a backup option if he never managed to join or rise in the mafia ranks due to his foreign nationality (but that must have been one of the reasons for the name change as well); a fight with Luka ending up with his test and induction; DIO didn't understand the reasons behind Polpo's subsequent murder, but it all came together when Bruno was promoted and their series of annoying yet rewarding goose chases began; the revelations of the Boss' true intentions and Giorno's subsequent 'betrayal' leading to a series of battles DIO enjoyed watching. Giorno's eventual punishment for Diavolo was particularly thrilling, a shame Dio had not thought of doing the same to the dead Joestar bloodline… Ah but perhaps for the remaining thorn on DIO's side, that withered but annoying thing…

"But, I believe there is still something that clouds your mind."

With a snap of his fingers, three translucent forms materialize, suspended and with their eyes closed, but otherwise unharmed.

The fallen. Leone Abbacchio, Narancia Ghirga, and Bruno Bucciarati.

Giorno's mouth opens to make a sound and his hand rises to their direction, but a moment later both are clenched shut as his arm returns dutifully to his side.

Still, his wide eyes betray him. "Are they…?"

"Dead," DIO pronounces and does not miss the slight tightening of Giorno's fist. "But that can be amended."

Giorno is about to speak again but frown and closes his mouth.

DIO hums expectantly.

"And in return?" Giorno finally asks and DIO suppresses a smile. Even when dangled with such a desirable outcome, his son has good enough sense to consider any potential strings. How smart.

"A small favor." As Giorno does not speak up, DIO continues: "There are certain people who still dare oppose me. One of them is around Venezia." Or at least she had been there last time Dio checked. Her true exact location is hidden. DIO is unsure how she is able to hide from a being of his caliber; it is probably through some combination of Ripple and probably a Stand's power, but mostly that blasted Joestar perseverance which in this case suppressed blood barriers…

Lisa Lisa. That old crone, the baby the foolish JoJo saved. A skilled Ripple user certainly, but useless against DIO now, the plan of her demise more borne out of a sense of completion than threat-

"No."

Speaking of unpleasant surprises.

Any false sense of reality around them collapses as they are left in the void, accompanied by a loud drone echoing DIO's rising anger. Sweat forms across Giorno's forehead but he remains upright, gaze boring a hole in the nonexistent floor.

DIO comes closer and Giorno finally looks up with pinpricked but focused eyes.

"No," Giorno insists and Dio can't help but think of that birthmark on his shoulder, of those blue eyes that were not DIO's but belonged to a dead man, of a stubborn gaze coming from a skull thrown off a coffin and into the ocean to rot-

It is with exceeding willpower that DIO does not completely tear this temporary plane in two. "Why. Not."

When Giorno does not respond, DIO leans in closer and grips Giorno's shoulders, ignoring the subsequent flinch. He will not allow the ghost of Brando to haunt him anymore. "I have ways of finding out. This is the painless one."

Giorno's eyes slightly narrow with displeasure, a subtle expression so much unlike JoJo that DIO's anger is somewhat assuaged.

"I will not be subservient to you."

DIO laughs. Of course! And here he was thinking his son had somehow come in contact with the Joestars and allied against him. DIO understands now that birthmark and inherited stubbornness are nothing more than tools.

DIO raises his hand, palm facing up a non-existent sky. "Then consider it a gift for your progress."

Before Giorno can react, DIO snaps his fingers and the boy vanishes along with the dead souls.

A second passes. DIO hovers his hand and his surroundings change to that of earth, where he can see but cannot be seen.

The scenery around him is one of destruction and chaos. People are collapsed on the streets, and pieces of the road and pavement are broken with crater-like marks.

Giorno, now sent back to where he had previously been on Earth, whips around frantically, Gold Experience buzzing behind him. The stand's eyes fall on DIO but look away, seeing nothing. Giorno's eyes linger a bit longer but they too look away eventually.

"Everything alright?" comes a voice as one of Giorno's minions, the gunman, approaches him, the girl following close behind. "Shit did the Boss-?"

"He's been taken care of." Giorno says distractedly, and DIO's smile widens. DIO can hear Diavolo's screams, and he knows Giorno does too. "It's nothing-"

"Guys!"

The three of them freeze as a youthful voice calls out of them, two figures appearing over cracked Colosseum pillar.

"Bucciarati," Giorno breathes out, "Narancia…"

The girl is covering her mouth, tears spilling from her eyes. "No way…"

As the minions ran to each other sobbing and grossly crying, Giorno stays in place, surveying his surroundings.

Bucciarati's phone goes off and a mildly angry voice comes from it; Abbacchio, asking if Giorno used his bullshit Stand powers to heal him, and if so, why the hell he was left in the middle of the beach. More surprised gasps and tears of happiness from the aforementioned minions follow.

How pathetic.

Through the chaos of it all, Giorno's gaze falls on DIO's form. Despite DIO having no reflection in Giorno's iris, despite making sure he cannot be seen, Giorno's eyes linger a little longer than they should.

DIO can't help but smile.

What an exciting turn of events.

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I have no idea how this would progress. Maybe Giorno joins forces with DIO preventing EOH's plot. Maybe helps JoJo gang as spy/double-spy/triple-spy during Eyes Of Heaven. Maybe Lisa Lisa finds out about the Dio-related fuckery and tried to work with Giorno. Maybe he plots to overthrow DIO and claim Over Heaver like he did with Diavolo and Requiem, and ends up having Gold Experience Requiem Over Heaven, aka Double-Infinity-God-Mode-Stand-Araki-Have-Mercy. Maybe he and the other Dios & Diego stage a coup. Or something.

Also since this is EOH DIO, he is a massive unrepentant dick, and the only choice is subservience or death.

Thank you for reading. Feedback is appreciated.