─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"Narancia, are you feeling alright?" Unfolding your legs and resting them over the side of the couch you clutched the cold water bottle in hand tighter, eyes focused on the black haired teen as he merely glanced up towards you.

The tips of his hair seemed to have been losing its colour fading to dusty gray, "I can't eat this banana for some reason...It's all hard and dry." The boy's voice sounded hoarse as he spoke, the once bright yellow fruit clasped in his hand was now a muddy brown shade crumbling at the slightest touch.

"Hey...are you messing with us? Man, you startled me...that sorta looked like a tooth. I'm still pretty grossed out, so I can't really laugh..." "Mista, that is a tooth! Narancia's aging!" Shooting up from your seat and pointing that out, all of Narancia's hair was now a stark white and his face sagged much like that of an elderly man.

Casting your gaze towards the other three around you, you could make out their own face's becoming wrinkles and their hair graying. "Bruno! All of them are aging!"

"I know! It's a stand attack! Th-There must be an enemy on this train!" Stating that and staring at Narancia in shock, the wavy voice of Giorno spoke up.

"Did something...happen?" Moving a bit and standing up from his spot you stared at him, why were they the only ones aging and not you, Trish, Bruno or Mista?

"A-A stand that makes people age? Did they figure out we're in the turtle?!" Quickly whipping out his pistol and aiming it upwards you could faintly catch Mista's brows shift into a gray hue, much like the others hair.

"Mista, calm down. If we're still in here and alive then nobody's found us yet. They wouldn't use such a wide range attack like this." Reassuring the gunslinger and stepping closer towards where the three stood, you clutched the water bottle closer, the plastic crunching lightly in hand.

"Exactly what (Y/N) said, the enemy probably only knows that we're somewhere on the train and, in order to find Trish they're attacking everyone on the train indiscriminately!" Explaining that you, Mista and Trish shared a look of surprise.

"D-Does that mean the train is running with everyone on board being affected?"

Casting his gaze up through the glass ceiling Bruno's expression hardened, "Probably. They're desperate, I'm sure they'll do anything and without a second though. This leaves us with two choices. One, take Trish and somehow get off this train. Two, we find this enemy, even though we don't know their range, and dispose of them."

"Choice two seems like the best option." Catching the Capo's attention he looked over towards you waiting for whatever else you were going to add, "Even if we did escape with Trish who's to say they won't follow? Not only would we lose valuable members of the team, but the whole plan doesn't have a solid end and we'd have to stop the train to get off."

Agreeing with each point you made, Mista flicked out the cylinder of his gun, "I agree, plan two is best. Assassinating them is more definitive, with my Sex Pistols!"

"You both are right. But we don't have any time. We're aging at an alarming rate-" Narancia's raspy voice cut through the conversation catching the group's attention.

"B-Bucciarati, M-my hands. Th-They're crumbling! They're falling apart!" Raising his hands to show what was happening you could only grimace, it was beginning to become worse as time passed.

"You're right, Bucciarati. We really don't have any time!" Mista hopped on top of a chair reaching out towards the room's exit before Giorno spoke up, his tone of voice low and gravely like Narancia's.

"Wait a minute, Mista...It's too early...to go." Moving to crouch before Giorno you lightly rested your hands among his shoulders helping him face the group, his skin had grown baggy and wrinkled, yet there was something he wanted to say.

"What the hell are you talking about, Giorno?" Pausing from his spot on the chair Mista's dark hues focused on the aging teen, brows furrowed.

"I'm telling you...it's too early to go..."

Deciding to cut Mista off before he said anything you spoke up, "Giorno, we can't waste any time, what do you mean by it's too early?" Watching him lean back into the couches cushions, turquoise hues trailed around the room.

"Why are we all aging at a different rate than you all?" Realizing that he had a point your gaze trailed towards Bruno and Mista who'd both begun aging, while yourself and Trish remained almost untouched.

"Mista's and my symptoms are light, Trish and (Y/N) are even less! But why?" Staring down at the palm of his hand Bruno racked through his brain for an answer, what was everyone doing before the enemy activated their stand?

"Well apparently, that just means we're aging at different rates! I'm going!" Once again moving to leave the room Mista was halted by Giorno's voice once more.

"No...if they're attacking everyone indiscriminately with age, they might end up killing her as well, despite her being the target. There's some kind of prerequisite to how fast we're aging. I'll tell you what I think, I think the enemy is differentiating between men and women by the differences in their body temperature. I read somewhere that women have more fat in their bodies, which makes them less susceptible to temperature fluctuations. Apparently women also age better and live longer than men. Don't you think it's been a little hot?"

Everything he was saying quickly pieced together in your head, "So then the enemy's stand works depending on how hot someone is? And that affects how fast they're aging." Speaking more to yourself than the blond he merely nodded at your words.

Mista still seemed to have a hard time understanding what that had to do with anything and just pointed towards himself then Giorno, "That makes sense but then why are you and I aging at different rates? Are you insinuating that I'm a girl?!"

Surprisingly enough Trish was the one to speak up, her eyes down casted towards the floor. "Change in body temperature...come to think of it, our bodies were slightly cooler because we had something cold to drink. Narancia didn't have anything to drink." Taking her glass and nearing the slumped over ravenette, she pulled out one of the ice cubes resting it against the side of his face. The wrinkles and any sign of aging right away vanished where the cube had made contact.

"Th-That's, that's exactly what you both were getting at! We're aging slower because our bodies were slightly cooler!" Quickly darting over towards the fridge and pulling out the small ice box he added on, "Cool everyone down! Cool everyone down with ice!"

"Hold it, Mista!" Stopping the gunslinger from speaking Bruno clenched his jaw, "You're going to have to take that ice with you!" Looking back into the ice tray Mista stared at the two pieces left, Bruno raised a hand pointing towards the man. "It doesn't change the fact that we have to dispose of this enemy. Mista, you're going to take that ice and defeat the enemy before the ice melts and you lose your stand power!"

Nodding at that Mista took both the cubes heading back towards the chair, "Oh! Wait take this with you!" Calling out to the man and moving to cup your hands together a slight puff of gold rose from between them and an all too familiar butterfly emerged drifting towards the gunslinger. "I don't know how good it'll be with this going on but it'll help if you get hurt."

Though your stand often produced heat when being used as a default, there were special occasions where a cooling effect could be used instead. Such as when treating burns or someone with heatstroke.

And besides, it was the best you could offer for the time being.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Mista saying he can handle it:

Hello everyone! Hope you all are having a good Saturday! Sorry for not posting earlier but I was doing an exam this morning (Ew nasty)

Regardless though here is Chapter 41! Hope you all enjoyed!