When Doppio awoke he was surrounded by traitors, Giorno, the newest member of the gang, was hovering over him, Trish, the boss' daughter was looking at him from a distance, and Mista, the gunman was pointing the pistol right at his face.

"If you think of moving a muscle, well, don't think about it," Mista commanded aggressively.

Doppio jumped up, startled; pain spreading through his body as he managed to sit up into a relative sitting position.

"What did I say about moving?" Mista demanded.

Doppio was so confused, least of all because he was wearing an outfit he wasn't before. He wasn't quite sure, but he felt he was slightly shorter than he was previously, too. There were more important things to worry about though, like 'what happened to the boss?'. If the traitors were here, it meant the boss had gotten away, didn't it? He couldn't bear to think of the other explanation.

"What's your name?" Giorno's voice pierced through his thoughts like an arrow.

"D-Doppio! Vinegar Doppio." Doppio replied quickly. "But you must be mistaken, I haven't done anything wrong! Please, stop pointing that gun at me!"

"You're wrong! You helped the Boss! People are dead because of you! Narancia, Abbacchio, and even Buccellati! He would still be alive if you hadn't killed him!" Accused Mista.

"I don't think that's right," cried Doppio alarmed. "I didn't hurt any of those people, the boss did! I would never lay a finger on anyone unless the boss says it's absolutely necessary."

"Yeah right, you bastard, you-" Mista began.

"Mista, we can interrogate him to our hearts' content later, but right now he's inhabiting a rotting body and if he's going to be any use to us, we need to get him out of there." Giorno gestured behind him and Doppio's eyes followed.

There, lying behind Giorno, was a man with pink hair and tattoos covering his arms and a mesh shirt on his torso. His face looked slightly familiar, if a bit odd. It took Doppio some staring to realize that it was his own face, and that it looked odd because it was more mature than his, lines of age creasing a face that was creepily similar to his own.

"When Requiem activated, you felt a pulling sensation, correct? Well that was your soul trying to go return to its original body. Its effect switched people's souls but we defeated it. You should just be able to let go and return to your body," Giorno explained.

Doppio was very confused.

"Why are you doing this? T-the boss is going to kill you… I shouldn't even be listening to you!" Doppio clapped his hands over his ears. "The boss is going to call any minute now, I know it!"

"This guy really is over the cuckoo's nest!" Mista laughed, loosening his grip on his pistol. "He doesn't even know-"

"Enough," Giorno interrupted. "Doppio, the body you're in is- well was, Buccellati's, but it's a miracle it lasted as long as it did. It's falling apart and not even I can fix it, so if you don't return to your own body soon, his corpse will become your crypt."

Despite his best efforts, Doppio could hear them through his hands and he was scared. He wondered, "what would the boss do?". He was willing to die for the boss of course, but this seemed pointless. If he could just hold on until the boss called him, maybe then he'd receive the guidance he so desperately needed. Anyway, it was his body, he had nothing to lose returning to it and nothing to gain by staying in this dying one. He closed his eyes and released his grip, and everything went black.

Mista had managed to deter the police from investigating the whole incident, with three dead bodies Giorno had no idea how, but he was sure it involve the words "Passione" and "business". Doppio was meekly waiting with Mista and Trish as Giorno went to get a car, Giorno had taken Buccellati's wallet, he was pretty sure he wouldn't have minded.

When Giorno came back driving a rental Doppio had retrieved his sweater, maybe it was his posture, but he seemed to have shrunk, his hair was up and he was crouched on the ground, hands wrapped around his knees. He looked pathetic Giorno had to admit, and it didn't help that Trish couldn't seem to keep her eyes off Doppio. Giorno couldn't blame her, that was her father- well the body of her father anyway. He pulled up and put the car in park beside them. Trish got in the front while Mista opened the back door and gestured for Doppio to get in, when Doppio hesitated Mista grabbed his shoulder and roughly shoved him in.

"Ahhhhh! Don't touch me! Please!" Doppio scuttled into the back seat and pressed himself up against the other door as if trying to get as much distance as possible between him and Mista. "I'm doing what you say, just p-please don't touch me!"

He looked like he had tears in his eyes as he curled into a ball.

"God, what a pansy I barely shoved you." Mista grumbled as he followed Doppio into the back seat and settled in.

Giorno guided the car onto the main road. Mista had arranged for the three bodies to be collected and sent to their home town, until then Giorno needed to act quickly to fill the power vacuum that had just been created. He heard a small muttering behind him and turned his head slightly to try to hear what Doppio was saying.

"-all of you. And he'll save me. Yeah. Yeah! He'll kill all of you and save me, he's coming, he wouldn't abandon me, he wouldn't! I'm his most trusted subordinate. That's what he says all the time. He can trust me. I'm going to be okay. I just have to wait for the call. The boss will call me and tell me what to do. Yeah, yeah! It's gonna be ok. Just gotta trust the boss. Noone can defeat his King Crimson! I just gotta hold on. I can do it!"

Giorno returned his focus to the road, it was a long drive and he was sure that Doppio would calm down and quit muttering eventually.

He didn't.

After an hour Doppio was hoarse of his constant talking and was making awful scratching sounds, and coughing frequently. Giorno felt a bit bad for him, he was believing in someone who would never come. For the last half an hour the only thing Doppio was saying was 'he should have called by now' over and over and Giorno assumed that that was how he and Diavolo had communicated, through phone calls. Mista had started blasting some music over the radio to drown out the muttering but as Mista increased the volume, so did the volume of Doppio's muttering until he was yelling about the boss. Trish was covering her ears.

"That's it." Mista reached into the front seat and turned off the radio, immediately Doppio's talking went back to a whisper. "You know why the fucking boss isn't gonna call? It's because he's dead. Gold Experience Requiem got rid of him! And anyway, he wasn't even calling you! He was a different person in the same fucking body! You're not even a real person! You're a personality of some psycho! So just shut the fuck up!"

Doppio went quiet and Giorno groaned internally, he was going to break all that to Doppio gently, the guy didn't seem to have the best mental stability. Doppio was quiet for awhile until he finally croaked out.

"You're lying."

"It's true, Polneraff told us before he-" Mista began.

"Before he died." Giorno finished cutting off Mista. "Polneraff was the person we were meeting in the coliseum. You and Diavolo, the boss, shared a body."

Giorno pulled into a fast food place as Doppio contemplated what he had said, seemingly stunned.

"I can't drive much longer without food and coffee. Give me your orders and I'll get us something."

Mista and Trish obliged but Doppio remained silent, his head buried in his arms.

"Hey," Giorno reached out to touch him but thought better of it. "Doppio you're no use to us dead."

Doppio's head rose a smidgen, Giorno heard a shaky breath before a loud cry exited the man. Doppio began full on sobbing, huffing fast to try to breath despite the convulsions his chest was making.

"Oh Doppio." Trish reached out but didn't quite touch him. "I'm sorry Doppio"

Giorno quietly got out of the car to get breakfast. When he returned Doppio was making harsh dry sobs. Giorno passed out the food until he was left with his and Doppio's portion.

"Doppio I understand you're upset but please eat, or at least drink, you'll feel better."

Doppio went hushed and took some deep shaky breaths. He looked up at Giorno with big, pink eyes, watery and red from crying. He unsteadily took the water bottle, untwisted the cap and took three big gulps of water.

"It's just, i-it makes so much sense, but at the same time I don't want it to be true." Doppio blubbered "The boss was my only friend for as long as I can remember and now he's gone, I-I-I don't know what to do!"

Mista chewed on his food grumbly staring at the pink haired man, his hand never straying far from the pistol he had taken from the police officer.

"You really don't remember? You shared a body for God's sake!" He snorted.

"He only ever communicated through phone calls, but I guess those weren't real." Mumbled Doppio. "I can remember a bunch of signs, waking up in places I've never been, people recognizing me that I never met, and writing I didn't know where it came from. Thinking back, it all makes sense, I just didn't put the pieces together."

"How would you like a fresh start?" Giorno asked. "The boss lied to you from day one, he used you to hide his identity, he put you in unnecessary danger, I know you trusted him, but is he really that great with this new information?"

Doppio shook his head, trying to deny the truth. "He did lie to me, didn't he?"

"I, Giorno Giovanna, have a dream," stated Giorno. "A dream to free this country of narcotics, I want to rule Passione to stop the drug trade, drugs are insidious things, they poison people's minds and actions. If I were to become the boss I could make sure no one would sell drugs under my rule. I could use your help Doppio; the old boss may have betrayed you but I believe you have amazing potential and I could really use that."

"But how could I help? I don't have a stand." Doppio took the sandwich Giorno had offered him and began eating.

"I'm not sure about that," Giorno mused. "But you have connections that I could use, you're the go between the boss and the higher ups, that keep continuity in the ranks, make my transition to power easier and you seem like a good guy, very loyal, I could use that."

"What?" Mista exclaimed. "You're not thinking of working with this guy, are you Giorno? He helped kill Narancia, Abbacchio, Buccellati, and God knows who else. The kids crazy and can't be trusted we should give him to the system so they can lock him up and throw away the key."

"I'm not sure he did help kill those people, remember Diavolo was the one who killed those three, it sounds like Doppio was the grunt work and Diavolo was the muscle." Giorno turns his eyes to weigh on the cowering man, clutching the water bottle to himself. "Did you kill them Doppio?"

"N-no." He stuttered. "Th-the boss did that."

"Same difference." Mista said, glaring daggers at Doppio. "Same body, same culprit, you're not seriously thinking of trusting this guy, right Giorno? Just use him to get info on the boss and then kill him."

Doppio flinched and repeatedly screwed the cap of the water bottle on then off as if to distract himself from his perceived imminent death.

"Trust is something earned" Giorno replied, his eyes never leaving Doppio. "But I think Doppio will help us, after all who is he going to betray us to, Diavolo is dead."

Doppio started to screw the cap on and off faster, his brow knotted with concentration.

"Revenge." Commented Trish.

"He doesn't seem like the type." Giorno said simply. "Doppio."

Doppio jumped and spilled water on himself.

"Y-y-yes?" He began to pat the water dry with his hands anxiously.

"What do you say, will you work for me?" Giorno held out his hand for shaking.

Doppio stared at it balefully, before hesitantly taking it and gently shaking it.

"Yes sir." He mumbled.

Giorno thought of Buccellati. "Don't call me sir, call me Giogio."