Apollo Malverick

BEFORE LOVER'S GRIEF

Life growing up wasn’t too simple for the young Malverick, with very straining parents every moment meant that he had to live up to their standards to make them proud. Luckily for Apollo, he was significantly gifted with exceptional grades and even pursued his dreams of becoming a Doctor - but this just wasn’t enough to please his care-givers. As a result, his social circles were no more than acquaintances, triggering many to pick on him for being a “teacher’s pet,” or a nerd. Despite all that was considered normal at the time, things would only take a turn for the worst when his younger brother, Vincent was born. With another life being brought to the world, it only meant that Apollo was even more deprived from attention and basic affection from his own parents. 

Vincent was nowhere good in terms of behaviour, and their parents’ favouritism complex grew to become detrimental and worse by the moment - meaning that Vincent would go out of his way to make his brother’s life a living hell, whether that’d be to trash his study space, hit him, etc. their parents would always find an excuse to place blame on the eldest whilst defending Vincent. This continued throughout his everyday life, and Apollo developed severe depression and panic disorders that ultimately impacted his physical health. Surprisingly enough, as Apollo attended the local community college in Washington State (1980) as he was turning 20 - it was there when he met Aleana, who was 18 at the time. The two clicked, and Apollo couldn’t help but be smitten by her with the initial idea that she was way out of his league; and with constant interactions and meet ups - they would eventually officialise their relationship just as Apollo’s mental health progressed for the best. The two entrusted each other and spoke fondly over their dreams; Aleana reminisced about her pursuits to becoming a renowned fashion designer, while Apollo reminisced about becoming a successful Psychologist.

Apollo would eventually introduce Aleana to his family, where Vincent would grow increasingly fascinated and began to plot ways to win her over his brother. As luck would find him, Vincent’s friend group as well as himself would become more involved and intertwined with Aleana’s friend group; the pressure and consistent dismissal of Apollo would convince Aleana to break. She agreed to stop seeing Apollo and go for Vincent instead. Shortly after this discovery, Apollo was in shambles - and it wasn’t long after he discovered that his parents would forward all of the college fundings that he saved over to Vincent without his knowledge. Enough was enough; Apollo quickly disappeared for 2 months. Despite Aleana coming to find out through her friends what was truly going on - it was already too late. Once Apollo had returned, he came to realise that he would have to see his brother and his then ex make regular visits. Although Apollo and Aleana shared brief glances, reconciliation was just not possible - Apollo had returned a completely different man.

Little did anyone know from those 2 months, Apollo had been plotting gruesome ways to kill his family line due to a paranoid surge of ideas that made Apollo believe that his family bloodline was cursed - hence the pure unluck he’s had to face his entire life. He held a secret stash of papers ripped from books that spoke of a “Stand Arrow” followed by its incredible ability to grant power - but no way of locating its whereabouts.

Apollo knew he had to be smart about this to avoid obvious detection from the law and community, but it was clear enough about what he wanted;

He needed to wipe his family from the face of the earth with the help of the Stand Arrow.

Time Skipping into the future. During the time Payton and Benjamin were about 3 and 5 (1986) - he received an unknown call who happened to be Vincent, clearly drunk and depressed, convincing Apollo to visit. This was during the time Aleana had left Vincent for good, leaving both him and her children behind. Begrudgingly, Apollo accepted the offer. It was to his horror that he found the utter disgrace of the conditions the house Vincent left it in, as well as the malnourishment of Payton’s and Benjamin’s neglected physiques. An argument stirred; almost turning physical - touching the subject of Vincent wasting all the college fundings into a dumping mess, and wishing him to drink himself to death.

Despite not wanting to take responsibility over the kids, he was reminded of his own childhood and decided to visit at times to tend to their needs; though minimally. Taking them to some animal sanctuaries among other activities like traveling to keep them emotionally stimulated; as well as having a belly full of food. Unfortunately this was short lived as he would one day disappear without reason once again, leaving the dilemma of his absence to the children to fend for themselves with just about enough resources to know how to travel from the limited time that they had spent together. Quite frankly, Apollo was half terrified of being responsible for them and growing attached - he figured that with the absence of Aleana he would have a liability to begin with his murder spree by overdosing Vincent to make it look like suicide - but the idea was quickly scrapped because of Payton and Benjamin, and the consequences of becoming their carer was to be avoided.

During his disappearance, Apollo managed to breach SWF’s security and steal the Stand Arrow, fleeing the scene like a shadow. His years worth of research had rewarded him, and as he granted himself with Great Vacation in 1988. The murder spree and bloodshed would commence.

From there on, Apollo targeted distant relatives at first in between months which stemmed into yearly kills for consistency. When he had arrived to kill Vincent he had already fled from the news of the recent killings. Searching the home for information, there he had found an aged paper with Aleana’s address written by a child’s hand. Dunedin, Florida.

As the year 2001 made an appearance, Apollo - following the address - would appear at her door expressing his concerns about the recent incidents and had nowhere else to go but to her; not realizing that Payton was eavesdropping in on their conversation and dismissed that he should be allowed in - Aleana insisted he stayed for old times sake.

Aleana’s reunion with Apollo would convince her enough to break ties with her girlfriend at the time, falling head over heels for her first love just as much as Apollo did. For the following few years, the three lived together peacefully and apart from all the bickering and disagreements that were exchanged between Payton and Apollo. Apollo viewed him/her as his own child - applying the same for Payton. With things going for the best, Apollo had long forgotten about his plans, and even his journal that contained his diary entries for all of his crimes… that was until April of 2004.

Before the events of Arc 1, Payton is 21 years old. Having lost his mother in the previous year to Apollo Maverick, his uncle. The murder went unsolved, the local Pinellas county police department not finding any evidence of Apollo ever being there, and dubbing the case cold only after a few months. The date of Aleana’s murder is April 23rd, 2004. 

After the case went cold, Payton spiraled for several months. Dropping out of medical school, and only sparingly taking over his mother’s(Aleana) shop in Downtown Dunedin. He suffers several near escapes from Apollo, meeting two pillar folk who save him from a group of men. And then shortly after that, Payton is met by the Speedwagon foundation. They tell him about his case, the missing arrow, and their belief that Apollo is behind several Disappearances. Payton agrees to join the Speedwagon foundation, and joins a team of people both assembled by the Speedwagon and himself.

ARC  ONE

Lover's Grief story finally begins at the Naples airport. Payton has gone with Calypso, Berlin and Barney to speak with Giorno Giovanna, the leader of the Passione mafia that spans all of Italy and into spain. It’s a powerful organization that has also begun working with the Speedwagon Foundation in order to combat Apollo. The Arrow that the SWF possessed belonged to Giorno, and was there to be researched for a short time. By now the news of a stand arrow on the loose has trekked the globe, spreading far and wide and grabbed the attention of many. Payton’s job is to retrieve the arrow, and in return he will be granted protection from Passione.

Payton goes to Passione on his own, by Giorno’s orders and they speak to one another. Discussing the final details of their contract and signing off on it. After Payton leaves, he goes to a local cafe in downtown Naples to get coffee and bring back food for the group he was with. Unfortunately he walks in on a murder scene. A Vampire has killed someone in the bathroom. As he attempts to pretend not to see what happened, Payton and the Vampire get into a fight. A chase ensues after Payton escapes, but after they corner one another in an alley, they both realize they’re after the same thing. With a stab wound from the Vampire, Payton invites him to join them to avoid a fight, and the Vampire agrees, joining them on their mission.

The Vampire’s name is Abel Bell, and he and Payton quickly become good friends. Abel is affiliated with an organization called the Blue Oyster, which resides in London. Giorno knows who he is upon Abel being brought to meet him, but he doesn't say anything, agreeing for Abel to join Payton's group.