5. Back in Black

"Simoun..." whispered Elias. "Something feels off in this forest."

"You said that you'd rather choose this path over the other," said Simoun. "What's your problem now?!"

"Well..." said Elias. "There are so many mosquitoes here, and I keep getting bitten. There are also a lot of leeches, so I have to spend time pulling the leeches out of my horse's legs every time we have to cross the river. There are a lot of leeches, Simoun. Also, this place gives me the heebie-jeebies."

"Did you say, 'Tabi-Tabi Po?' out of respect for the earth spirits?" asked Simoun.

"I did," said Elias. "And yet, I could still feel one spirit eyeing me, Simoun JoJo."

"Who should it be this time, Elias?" asked Simoun. "We're getting closer to San Diego's Capital Town, and here you are, crying over nothing and complaining over childish things."

"Your heart truly has hardened, Simoun JoJo," said Elias.

"It truly has," he replied. 

Elias smiled softly.

"You know, old friend," said Elias. "I'm glad that you became my friend... in fact... you are my only friend, Simoun."

"That sure is great, Elias," ignored Simoun.

"I know you may act like you don't care, but I know that you do care about others," smiled Elias.

"I don't care about anyone, Elias... no one except myself and my country," said  Simoun. "Huh? Elias?"

Elias and his horse are gone.

"The sack! The pages!" he shouted, as he turned his horse around to search for the enemy. He climbs down his horse to search for the pages. "Hey! Show yourself, you fool! Where are the pages?! Where did you run off to!?Huh?I can feel Stand energy from somewhere..."

Tusk emerges from his body.

"Oh, please! You try to attack me with your pathetic Stand, Simoun JoJo?" asked the man, dropping from his horse.

"Look, senior," he replied. "I don't want you to burn those books of mine. Therefore, please, return them to me. If not, I will simply murder you."

The man shook his head and took out a lighter.

"ORA!!!" shouted Tusk, as flames burned his arm off.

Bones were shown burnt like coal, with blood bleeding grossly like mud. He blasted another bullet of flames, as his face is blasted off with his skull showing.

"Your rage gets the best of you, Simoun JoJo," he whispered.

Simoun kept shooting balls of flames, approaching him and slowly reaching for the sack. He grabs the sack and puts it in a large pocket in his trench coat. What was in the sack is revealed to be rectangular in shape.

"They need to know this story," said Simoun. "They need to be inspired. And here you are, trying to burn what could mean the beginning of hope. That's why... I WILL KILL YOU!!!"

"You really thought you could do it that easily?"

His body is revealed to be mostly burnt. Bones broke open and are torn out violently because of the flames' living force. Their flesh melted like mud and slime and the smell of burnt cooked flesh reeked the air.

But...

His body slowly reformed. The smell of cracking bones and molding flesh could be heard. His body slowly reformed back into a normal human, completely healed from the flame blasts.

Simoun sighs, annoyed with the man's unkillable form.

"What is your name, strange man?" asked Simoun.

"Carlo," he replied.

"Do you know why I'm doing this?" asked Simoun.

"Because you're an Indio and you're doing this to save your so-called nation?" asked Carlo.

"Because I want to kill every Spaniard I've ever met, along with the heathens you work for, which is information I wish not to disclose," said Simoun, as he approached the man. "I'm doing all of this not out of love for my country... no... that's only part of it... I'm doing this because I hate you."

A memory of someone screaming for his old name could be heard in his head. He touches his head out of pain and shakes it, angered by his past. "My old name," said Simoun. "Do you know about that man, Carlo? That man who was said to have raped Maria Clara? The woman that idiot Damaso defended the fuck out of?"

"You..." said the man. "You are Crisostomo Ibarra?"

Simoun softly nods.

"I was in a cage..." he said...

"In the cage, my lock was broken to pieces, and a man named Elias Zeppeli saved me. He then stabbed me with an arrow... which gave me a Stand... Tusk," he whispered. "That Stand represented my rage and black-hearted hatred. I grew up in this country with optimism, and I went out and back in with black."

"You raped Maria Clara?" asked the man.

"You really think I would have raped the woman I was meant to marry? I was brought down because I was an Indio... This system is broken... I believe it still will be broken... no matter what happens... it will always be a shit system," said Simoun.

"What are you trying to say?" asked Carlo.

"I'm saying that I'm not doing this out of love... I'm doing this out of hatred and disgust for monsters like white men or the creatures of the night... I'm doing this because I have pleasure in killing you white people and your monstrous leaders..." he said. "This Church... This Church that you enforced upon our race... controls us... rapes our women and children... and rids the streets of the goodness in our hearts..."

"Do you believe in God?" asked Carlo.

"No," Simoun replied.

"Then why do you speak so hopefully if you have no hope yourself?" asked Carlo.

"I do have hope," said Simoun. "I have hope that I'll win... for my country and myself."

Simoun then raised his finger to the sky.

"I will win! I will avenge Crisostomo Ibarra!" shouted Simoun, shouting with his fingers raised. The sun then slowly broke dawn and brought light from the horizon. "And through my return, I will no longer be remembered as a villain! I will be a hero!"

"You fight for selfish reasons... disgustingly enough," Carlo replied. "I could respect that you speak like that with pride. I will now attack but remember this... Even if you do kill me, you will die with no one ever remembering you."

Simoun smiles, as Carlo charged at him.

However, Carlo felt rather... weak.

"Do you feel that pain, Carlo?" asked Simoun. "It's the cry of all of the Indios in one place. It's the cry of our people... Do you feel something else, Carlo?"

Carlo trembles in pain as Simoun grabbed Carlo's shoulder.

"That's called, fear..." he whispered. "Goodbye, Carlos."

Carlos slowly melts as Simoun sadistically watched him. Carlos screams in pain, crying and terrified.

"I know, that you're doing this for patriotism and all that," said Simoun. "But, you chose the wrong side... The fact that you lost proves that the Spanish truly are the enemies of the world. You stupid white man."

"Y-You're a tragedy..." he said. "Not because of what happened to you... but because you allow what happened to you... to turn your decisions today... You're the villain, Crisostomo Ibarra! YOU ARE THE VILLAIN!!!"

His head melts along with the flesh as Simoun sadistically licked his lips.

"Thank you for your service, Carlos," he said. "But I will not acknowledge your courage. I will never acknowledge your kindness, just as your people did mine..."

"Okay, when you're done monologuing, could you please bring me down, Simoun?" asked Elias while hanging from the tree in a net with his horse above them. "It's getting hot from below... and I think I'm getting cooked."

"Fine, Elias," said Simoun.