Heart of the Sunrise:

The final chapter. What a journey.

Many, many years earlier, a young man wanders down the street of a small mountain village in Italy. He holds a bottle of hard liquor in his right hand, and an expired ticket back to Germany in his other.

The propaganda has lied to him, tricking him into fighting a war for some great Germany that was never going to be. The sight and experience of war leaves him shattered and weak, nothing more than a husk lost in the world with only the horrific trauma and the alcohol by his side. He was the German soldier Geralt Hellstrom.

As he passes around the corner to go to the pawn shop, hoping to get something for his cheap medals, he passes a man in a massive feodora and a flowing coat. He could barely see the man's face in the shadow of the feodora, but he saw an intense glow coming from thin, focused eyes. The way the man moves and looks give off an incredible presence that reminds Geralt of his father, the man who had inspired him to join the military.

The man continues to walk down the street and Geralt witnesses as a stray dog wanders out on the road, directly in front of an oncoming car, obviously being driven by a drunk. As Geralt braces himself for impact, the mysterious man moves his arm with power and grace through the air, and using a blade that looks to be made of pure light cuts the car into pieces, sending it straight off the road and the path of the dog.

Geralt is stunned. In lack of other things to say, he shouts "What are you?" The man in the coat doesn't even acknowledge Geralt, he simply continues to walk forward. "Teach me!"

The man gives out a harrowing, coarse laugh. "Teach? To reach my level, you would need to give up your very humanity!"

"Humanity has done me no good! Please give me the strength to escape my fate!" This catches the man's attention. Without a further word he stretches out his hand towards Geralt's face, and transforms him into a monster.

Many months later, Geralt had impressed Kars by bringing him the corpses of a hundred vampires as food, and had been given the privilege to train under the honorable warrior Wamuu. With a swift kick he attempts to take Wamuu by surprise, but the much more experienced fighter dodges it with ease.

Before Wamuu can get through another attack, Geralt uses his newly awakened vampire power, expelling burning hot air out of his body, to fry half of Wammu's face into nothing. This doesn't bother the pillar man, who responds by sending Geralt away with an explosive burst of wind.

"You have grown stronger, pupil Hellstrom. Perhaps one day you will stand strong enough to face me for ten seconds." Geralt is overwhelmed by joy from the incredible compliment. He starts to break down sobbing. "Hah! Oh, you can change the body, but you can't change the mind. Wamuu, he is forever human at heart. If he was to challenge you, he would have to give up on that!" Esidisi comments with a smile.

"I've already lost my humanity. I lost it in a trench, where I watched men I loved die. If I have to live on the corpses of others, so be it. At least it's a full life!" Hellstrom declares. For the first time since he was sent by train out into war, he feels true satisfaction.

The battle had been raging for many hours. From the sidelines Hellstrom has watched as the disgusting human Joseph Joestar battles and defeats the master Wamuu. No matter how much he screams at himself to remember "You are not human anymore! You do not cry!" Hellstrom cannot help but tear up as his mentor disintegrates into nothing.

Now, soldiers from the Speedwagon Foundation have arrived with weapons of sunlight. Hellstrom witnesses first hand as one of his training partners disintegrates into nothing.

Images start to flash before his eyes. Friends bleeding out in his hands, superiors turning tail, enemies torturing him for information. His body and mind were forcefully and painfully reverted from Hellstrom, vampire warrior, to Geralt Hellstrom, traumatized husk of war.

Blinded by his fear, he runs to hide in a cave in the nearby mountains.

Many, many, many years later, every day of which Hellstrom has burned himself for letting his master Kars die, he wanders down the street at midnight and happens upon a newspaper. It tells the story of the Speedwagon Foundation and it's newest investor, Joseph Joestar, and a plan for revenge takes shape.

" He's still alive?! Joseph Joestar, it seems fate will unite us once more…" Hellstrom smiled widely, revealing his sharpened fangs.

An hour past midnight the helicopter approached the Empire State Building. Shizuka figured that her father was being kept on the top floor, as it was covered by Hellstrom's zombies. "Okay, we're going in!" she shouted to the pilot.

Her phone buzzed. Hermit Purple had sent a message. "Look out!". The pilot lunged out of his seat and threw himself towards Shizuka to push her out of the helicopter. Achtung kicked him in the back of the head and knocked him unconscious.

"Long time no see!" Hellstrom's voice came from outside the helicopter. Shizuka barely dodged the splash of melted iron as the wall of the helicopter melted. Heartbeat Cities had already surrounded the helicopter and was pummeling it with air bullets.

Shizuka was busy dealing with Hellstrom, who was flying in the air outside the helicopter. She was obviously losing, so out of desperation Mirino resolved to slam the controls of the helicopter and send it spiraling towards the Empire State Building.

Shizuka charged Achtung's fist up with sunlight and punched straight through Hellstrom's stomach, which didn't phase him in the slightest. He responded by jabbing his hand into her chest. Shizuka screamed at the nauseating feeling of her blood being sucked out. She tried to fight back but was too weakend to think clearly.

Just as he was about to reach Shizuka's heart, Hellstrom's upper arm exploded as blood came bursting out.. Mirino had nestled Weezers into Shizuka's blood and tricked Hellstrom into absorbing them. Hellstrom was forced to back away, giving Mirino time to seal up Shizuka's wound. Just as it seemed that they were doing fine, the helicopter crashed into the Empire State Building.

The helicopter smashed through the building destroying everything in its way. The walls and floor crumbled and people were sent flying through the air. Just before it could reach the other side of the building and fall out, the helicopter slid to a halt.

Hellstrom and his zombies approached the helicopter and spread out to start searching for Shizuka and her allies, to no avail. "Come on! The crash must have incapacitated them! They can't have gotten far away!" Hellstrom screamed.

Hellstrom got his answer when a light beam pierced his chest. "Aaargh!". One of the bodies revealed themselves as Shizuka in disguise. With a flick of the wrist a giant ball of hot air melted Shizuka into nothing.

While Hellstrom was distracted another light beam came from behind and decapitated him. The real Shizuka, who had hidden herself by having Mirino freeze her to the ceiling, revealed herself. Mirino and Mello appeared from their hiding spot in the rubble and helped Shizuka down. "Holy shit, I fucking got him! The bastard never had a chance!" Shizuka shouted.

While she was celebrating Mirino watched in horror as Hellstrom's body slowly started to shamble over to his head and put it back together. Mirino attempted to scream for his friends to move, but an explosion of insanely hot air sent them all flying out from the building.

"You do not have the strength to escape your fate." Hellstrom chuckled…

Shizuka felt a sinking feeling in her stomach as she began to fall. Unable to process the horror of falling to her death, she closed her eyes. But just as she did, she felt herself stop in midair. "How did you guys make it without me?" Mirino teased.

When Hellstrom blasted them with hot air, the blood from the bodies the helicopter had run over vaporized. Mirino had thought quickly and placed his Weezers inside the steam. He had then flash freezed it, creating a cliff for them all to land on. Shizuka turned them all invisible as quickly as possible and created an illusion of them falling to the ground to trick Hellstrom's zombies while Mello checked through the windows and Mirino was grumpy for not getting any credit.

"I can see the elevator, but if we break through this window, all of the zombies will come rushing towards us." Shizuka smiled. "Oh, Mello, you and your brute force." She summoned Achtung and with an incredibly precise laser beam cut out a large circle in the glass and catched it before it could crash into the ground.

The group snuck in and moved towards the elevator. But just as Shizuka was about to push the button, the elevator's door opened and two large thugs stepped out, pushing her to the ground.

"What the hell… It's Joestar!" They grabbed her invisible self off the ground and hoisted her into the air. Before they could shout for help, another zombie stepped forward. An old lady in fancy clothes. "Mom?" Shizuka whispered. "Ahum. Let this girl go. The master wants a word with her personally, and I'll escort her to the top!"

"We only take orders from the master." Suzie crossed her arms and stayed silent for a moment, obviously trying to make something up. "Well… The master leaves special marks on those he considers extra trustworthy." Suzie started to slowly pull up her sleeve, giving Shizuka time to create the illusion of a fly tattoo.

The two men dropped Shizuka and walked away. Shizuka immediately turned to mom. "Mom! What are you doing here? You could get hu-" Suzie hushed her. "Now, now, let's talk it out in the elevator."

The doors shut and they took off towards the 102nd floor. "Well, I was just walking down the street when suddenly, I woke up here after hearing one of these people say your name, Shizu, I pretty quickly figured out that it was that terrible Hellstrom's work, but I decided to play along to find my husband." Mirino grinned. "Heh, your mom's pretty cool, Shizu."

In defiance, Shizuka hugged Suzie. "Yeah, the coolest!" Then she snapped back into being a teenager and let go, allowing the elevator ride to go on in awkward silence until they reached the top floor.

Before they stepped out of the elevator, Shizuka turned small parts of the walls invisible and looked out over the floor around them. Three corridors led out to the observatorium, which was currently swarmed with zombies, eagerly waiting for Shizuka to step out.

Without the slightest fear Shizuka stepped out and the zombies immediately came rushing. With Achtung's strength she managed to hold them back temporarily, but these ones were even stronger than the rest. Even with Mello's help Shizuka didn't stand a chance and they were all captured.

Hellstrom appeared, illuminated by the moon, and with confident steps started to walk towards the restrained Shizuka. "I was hoping you would be able to find some kind of clever solution to this, but I suppose not. What an anticlimax to this entire story." Mello tried to get Shizuka's attention. "Please, don't do it. We wouldn't stand a cha-"

Hellstrom lifted his hand towards Suzie. Shizuka couldn't stop herself, and created the illusion of huge piles of dollar bills and jewelry out on the observatorium. The zombies were overcome with desire and rushed towards them, freeing Shizuka. She let Achtung dropkick Hellstrom in the face, throwing him to the floor.

Unfazed Hellstrom jumped back onto his feet and sent out Heartbeat City. The giant fly flew like a missile towards Shizuka, who tried to shoot it with a thick beam of sunlight. It split down the middle to dodge and reassimilate without losing any momentum, hitting Shizuka with full force.

She was sent to the floor, coughing up blood. Her sight turned blurry and it rang in her ears. She could barely hear Mirino "Oh shit, the money!" The attack had cost Shizuka her concentration, and with the money illusion gone, the zombies turned their sights towards Shizuka.

As their imposing shadows started to loom over her, Shizuka reached for her pocket. In it, she had hidden the teddy bear she had gotten from her parents, all those years ago. With a shaking hand she let her hand rest on it before closing her eyes. "Dad… I love you. I'm sorry." She whispered.

Purple vines shot out from nowhere and twined around Achtung Baby's arm. As it was pumped full with Hamon, Shizuka's stand started to grow larger. It's sunglasses took the shape of a giant star, the binds on it's body started to fall off, revealing a night sky under.

"Heart of the Sunrise!"

Achtung Baby raised its hands into the air, and images started to flow out like Purple connected itself to Suzie's phone, allowing Achtung Baby to project an image from the internet through it's hand to the zombies around them. Inevitably, they all saw something that they truly desired, sending them out of their trance and collapsing to the floor.

In order to get control of the situation, Hellstrom sent Heartbeat City flying towards Shizuka while she was distracted. Mirino quickly grabbed a water bottle out of Suzie's handbag and threw it towards Heartbeat City. When it collided with the massive fly it was smashed into pieces, but Heartbeat City was seemingly not affected.

Right before it could crash into Shizuka, the Weezers that Mirino had snuck into the water bottle reached the blood stored up inside Heartbeat City and flash froze it. The sudden weight made the Stand crash into the ground and miss Shizuka.

Achtung Baby pointed towards Hellstrom and started to charge up a devastating beam of sunlight in it's finger. "Wait!" In a disturbing process, Hellstrom's body morphed open a massive hole in his torso, and an unconscious Joseph Joestar fell out. Hellstrom planted his fingers into Joseph's neck and held him up.

"If you don't lower your finger, I'll execute Joseph here and now!" He screamed. "Oh, don't try to trick me. You've just taken one of your zombies and morphed them to look like my father!" Shizuka attempted to call Hellstrom's bluff. "Oh, but in that case, where did you get those purple vines from?!" Hellstrom started to panic.

Shizuka lowered her finger for a few seconds to think, but the moment Hellstrom tried to move she pointed again. "Well, in any case, your next line is: AAAAAARGH!" The invisible Bloody Sunday, that Shizuka had been buying time for, jumped up on Hellstrom's foot. Overwhelmed by the pain of being burned, Hellstrom screamed "AAAAAARGH!" and dropped Joseph.

Shizuka launched a massive beam of sunlight, obliterating Hellstrom, before running to help her father stand up. As she crouched down to help him up, Joseph gave Shizuka a broad, warm smile, making her tear up. But the moment was ruined by the nauseating sound of flesh morphing and fusing together.

"Do you really think… that I, Hellstrom… would be so weak willed, that after waiting for so long, I would let you slip away unharmed!?" Hellstrom's head had survived the light beam, and attached itself to one of the unconscious bodies, mutating it into his.

Before Shizuka could react he rushed forward, grabbed her by the collar, and pulled her with him as he jumped over the fence surrounding the observatorium. For the second time in less than an hour Shizuka fell down from the Empire State Building.

Just in time Hermit Purple grabbed her around the leg. While Joseph fought to hold Shizuka up, Hellstrom held her leg in a death grip and to Shizuka's despair, his hand started to radiate heat. Achtung Baby appeared to stop Hellstrom, but it was too late.

Shizuka's flesh was scorched and burned by the explosion of heat, and if Mello hadn't blocked the pain with his Sunday's, Shizuka may have died from sheer pain on the spot. Hellstrom chopped off her leg and finished the job, and Shizuka started to plummet towards her death.

Despite the horror of the situation, Shizuka smiled. "H-heh. That was the one mistake you shouldn't have made!" Mirino threw his Weezers towards Shizuka's massive open wound and froze the blood flowing out, attaching her to the building. Hellstrom tried to pull Shizuka down with him, but his fate was already sealed.

"ShizuShizuShizuShizuShizuShizuShizuShizuShizuka!" Achtung Baby put every ounce of Shizuka's soul into it's brutal final sunlight-infused beatdown and melted Hellstrom into dust.

Joseph quickly used Hamon to bend the fence open and help his daughter up. Shizuka leaned on Joseph's shoulder, but she nearly fell over again as he gave her a massive hug. "You… You did it! Shizuka Joestar! You did it! Oh my god!"

Shizuka burst out laughing at Joseph's trademark cursing, but the laugh quickly transitioned into a cry. "Dad… Never leave again!" Joseph smiled and wiped her tears. "I won't. Us Joestars always have a psychic link to each other. That's how Hermit Purple could save you!"

Shizuka was surprised by Joseph's words. "B-but, I'm not a Joestar! We're not family by blood." And that's when Suzie came up and joined the hug. "Sweetie, you are our daughter, no matter how you became it." For a few seconds, they were silent, letting their tears speak for themselves.

And thus ends the story of Shizuka Joestars' fight against her father's past, and for her own future.

Epilogue:

Mello Clayton Jr. went on to become the head of a massive New York hospital. Working closely with the Speedwagon Foundation, he would make massive breakthroughs in the fields of neuropsychology, and save thousands of lives.

Mirino Eflman would become head coach of a small, run-down basketball team, and would lead them to a gold in the Basketball World Cup. His life work would also include founding a massive organization, backed by Joestar Realty, that encouraged children from poor families to pursue sports.

As for Shizuka…

The priest went on about how great of a man Joseph had been while Shizuka handed a continuous stream of tissues to her mom. It was a surprisingly small funeral considering the world-spanning adventures that Joseph had gone on, but on the other hand, many of his companions had tragically died. At least the entire family was there.

Jotaro pulled down his cap over his eyes, presumably to hide his tears, while Holly was absolutely bawling. The fact that his daughter had arrived in handcuffs had greatly upset Holly, while Shizuka smiled, as she felt that was in her late father's spirit. At one point a strange man with blonde flowing hair came forward and quietly placed a turtle next to Jotaro.

Josuke had been joined by his friends Okoyasu and Koichi, who presumably had shown up to show support even though Okoyasu was crying the most out of all of them. To Shizuka's massive surprise the previous mayor of New York, Smokey Robinson, appeared as well.

After the ceremony all the visitors walked out to have lunch, but Shizuka stayed. She walked up to the open casket, and quietly placed her teddy bear on Joseph's chest.
"Hah! At least this time it's for real. Sleep well, old man. Love you."

AN:

Wow. What a journey it has been. It's been a real fun fic to make, since so much of it had been planned out in advance while simultaneously I changed stuff around and improvised a majority of the fights. The actual writing is veeeery sloppy ( a lot of chapters were just straight up not edited) and I probably didn't get all of my vision across, but I'm still happy for it as a whole and I think that a lot of arcs are genuinely quite good, even in hindsight. I would once again like to credit youtubers Lukama and Purmello for creating the Stands Heathens/Another Dimension (OG concept Hoel Yvert) and Can't Stop/ Powerslave respectively.

Doing this journey has been so fun, and it was quite emotional to write that final line. JoJo is such a great property that has been a real positive force in my life, and I'm glad to have contributed to it's Fanon, if just a little. If I make a new fic, It's probably going to be a One Piece one.