Butterfly Effect

Hey, readers! Good thing the gap in time between the last chapter and this chapter was much smaller than the gap between the 2nd last chapter and last chapter. That one was an outlier for sure.

Anyway, this is a chapter I've been waiting to write since I thought of this story. The scenario of this chapter is one of the main reasons I decided to publish this fanfic. Therefor I really hope you'll enjoy reading this very important landmark of a chapter.

I do not own JoJo's Bizarre Adventure


Chapter 20: Making Amends

Like Joseph told the remaining crusaders when D'Arby abducted him and the other half of the crusaders, the group of 4 waited for a quarter hour. No sign of the other crusaders returning. Worry and concern was only growing.

"Not good, they've there for 15 minutes now." Hol Horse said, scared that the taken crusaders were in big trouble. It was the D'Arbys after all, by far some of the most dangerous members of DIO's organization.

"Uh huh…" Polnareff was the one who feared about the wellbeing of his friends the most. He was the most nervous, but at the same time the most willing to go and help. The frenchman reapproached the door.

At this point, neither Avdol nor the cowboy were going to stop him, as they couldn't blame him. But the egyptian had to become serious and set one thing clear. "Joestar-san asked us to wait. It's been more than 15 minutes now. Polnareff, I have to say something to you before you go in. I… I won't save you if you disappear or get injured there…" Saying out these words hurt.

"…" Polnareff slowly turned his head around, looking at Avdol with expressionless eyes.

"Make no mistake… This may be a bit cold, but we are here to defeat DIO. We have to think of our own safety first. We can't all die because one of us is in trouble." the egyptian reminded the harsh truth with a serious face and voice. What came next really hurt to say inside. "You have to promise me. If I am beaten or lost… Don't try to save me."

It not only hurt to say, but also to listen. The four glared at one another, inwardly disagreeing with the outwardly best and most reasonable approach. Emotions were heavy, heavily suppressed.

"Yeah… I got you, Avdol." Avdol and Polnareff went on to have a manly handshake. The gunslinger joined from the side a few seconds later, reluctantly accepted by the two.

"If you come out alive, buy me dinner." By setting up this condition, the frenchman wanted to make everyone look forward to it, after survival. Morale was key to survival, and he wished survival for his friends more than anyone.

"…No, let me buy dinner." Polnareff's request was meant for Avdol, but Hol Horse intercepted, taking it upon himself. He was the most cowardly of them all, but the frenchman's readiness and call for hope really had an impact on him.

"What?" Both the frenchman and the egyptian were surprised by the cowboy's offer.

"I'll buy dinner for everyone." the gunslinger announced, his eyes firm and steadfast, his breathing steady. He was afraid of death, he wanted to survive. But the guarantee of life was not free, so he was willing to pay for it, the payment being a restaurant bill after giving his all to stay alive.

"…"

Avdol and Polnareff hadn't expected Hol Horse to have become as selfless and courageous as this. It took them by surprise. But they'd respond with a faint smile, as right now they were united in cause and mind. Every bit of motivation was priceless.

"We accept." the egyptian let him know.

"Sure. Let's have that dinner…" the frenchman said, adding something necessary after a brief silence. "…including the others."

Right. There was no proof that their friends were dead yet. Survival was meant for everyone.

Nodding at each other with warm smiles of hope but cold eyes of reality, the three let go. Their own adventure had to start at some point too.

"Alright! Let's go!"

With that, the four crusaders entered the devil's den.

XXXXXXXXXX

Checking even the first door turned out to be difficult. Taking a glance inside from the wall outside, they discovered that the mansion had countless stairs and passages in all directions.

"Hol Horse, I can see this is obviously an illusion. Do you have any intel on the Stand user, or how to counter it?" Avdol inquired, wanting to find measures against the illusion.

"Right. The Stand user is some dwarf named Kenny G. About the lowest level of fodder." the cowboy informed. "His defenses are weak. The only real threat about him is that his illusions affect your senses, making it harder for you to notice him."

"Is that so?" The egyptian received all the information he needed. "Then I should only… [Magician's Red]!"

The red Stand manifested, showing itself. It created a chandelier of flames, with ends pointing into the 6 directions.

"These flames are life detectors. It can detect movement, breathing and Stand energies." Avdol explained his ability, before the gunslinger could ask him about it. "Let's follow it in this maze."

"Why are there flames at each of the 6 tips?" Polnareff asked, wanting to know more.

"To indicate front, back, left, right, up and down. It can find anything within a 15 meter radius." the egyptian elaborated. As the owner and creator of this device, he led the way, going down the stairs. "Joestar-san was pulled underground. Let's go downwards."

A few steps later, the chandelier already reacted to something. The flames intensified, becoming more sparky. The direction of the cause was also detected by Avdol. "We got a reaction rather quickly. There is something forward and to the left."

Summoning his Stand and focusing on the supposed direction of the enemy, the frenchman was preparing for a clash.

Polnareff alone could've taken care of this one, but Iggy took action this time. He sniffed the enemy with his nose, launched [The Fool] towards the enemy with its claws outstretched, slashing wide across the enemy's entire upper body.

"GYAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Eh?"

And then he became visible, Kenny G, the illusion Stand user. He was a midget like Hol Horse said, resembling a dwarf with his pointy hat and pointy ears. The threat he posed was smaller than his height, as he near-instantly died, collapsing on the floor. Within just a moment, his illusions vanished.

"Hey! What was just that?" The original crusaders were underwhelmed, For being so close to the penultimate boss, this foe was pathetically weak. It surprised the crusaders more that the illusion vanished, rather that he died.

"Look around you, the maze is gone."

Before the other crusaders could relax, now that this enemy was killed, the gunslinger immediately spoke up to keep them wary. He realized that he forgot telling them about someone else, not only Kenny G. And they all had a good reason to be wary and alert, since that someone was infinitely more lethal.

"Don't let your guards down, because I think this is where the actual dangerous enemy will appear."

"Huh?" the egyptian and the frenchman looked at him, confused. "You mean DIO?"

"No, not him." Hol Horse told, shaking his head, all tensed up. "But this guy is deadly in his own right!"

"Who is he and what power does he have?" Avdol vigilantly questioned, looking him right in the face.

"His name is Vanilla Ice, the right-hand man of DIO." the cowboy hastily divulged, becoming more fearful again with every word spoken. "His Stand is a whole other class of deadly!"

"What does it do?" Polnareff pressed, urging the gunslinger to get to the point.

Understanding the importance, Hol Horse wouldn't waste any more time. "For one, he can turn completely invisible. No, he can even vanish completely! But that's just a side ability of his real most dangerous ability, which is to-"

Suddenly, mid-sentence, the cowboy almost had a heart attack. He was facing the other crusaders and saw something they couldn't see.

The Stand user he was warning his partners of, appeared and was ready to strike. In less than a split second, the gunslinger's eyes widened and heart froze.

That killing intent radiating from this enemy was second only to DIO's, and the enemy's killing prowess would annihilate them in the next moments.

And when the enemy Stand, a lone head in the center of a weird sphere, finally moved, closing in on the crusaders from behind, Hol Horse experienced a massive spike in panic. Adrenaline rushing through his body in amounts that could fill pipelines, his following reaction was truly unique.

"POLNAREFF, AVDOL! GET AWAY!"

Punching and kicking the egyptian into the frenchman, sending them both flying far away, he removed them from danger's path. With them out of the way, only he was there to take on the enemy assault.

A mix of fear and regret, but also a relief of guilt in his mind, this crusader took on an attack that'd only leave his cowboy boots standing on the ground.

"Argh!" Avdol crashed into Polnareff, which in turn caused the latter to crash into the wall. That hurt quite a bit, making them close their eyes as a reflex.

"Ow! What the hell was that for, Hol…"

When they opened their eyes, they wanted to question him for that. But no matter what they'd say, their final words to him had already been spoken.

"Hol… Horse?"

Seeing only the cowboy boots on the ground, the two realized that it was already too late. Dread and fear were getting invoked.

"Hey… Why's there nothing but his… boots…?"

To their side, Iggy was reacting with extreme stress, sweating more than a human and huffing severely in terror.

All the signs pointed at the case that this was the mentioned dangerous Stand user, Vanilla Ice's doing. Seeing what he did, the frenchman and the egyptian were getting nothing but anxious.

Speaking of Vanilla Ice, he was there, inside his Stand. His ghostly gray and partially phantomic dark blue Stand reverse-ate itself, literally spawning out of its own mouth, beginning with the arms. All in the center of a mysterious orb. It was a disturbing scene to behold.

"What is that?! Where did it come from?!" This enemy invoked many questions, questions the distraught crusaders needed answers for. "And why didn't the flame detect it?! Why didn't Iggy smell it?!"

Talking of the Boston Terrier, he was by far the worst affected by the shock, close to having a mental breakdown. He barely recovered from the initial shock, only for that monstrous being over there to terrify the dog to the very core.

"Just where did Hol Horse go?!"

"Hol Horse, that traitor is…" The Stand inside the sphere spoke. The crusaders would closely listen and pay attention.

Its arms popped out of the orb outside the barrier, grabbing the cowboy's leftovers. "Dead and disintegrated… Even I don't know where he is. All I know is that it's a dark dimension and I sent him there, deservedly so for betraying Lord DIO." it answered with a voice that sounded absolutely dark and soulless. "You two are next… I have to change your minds about defeating Lord DIO."

Subsequently, it devoured the gunslinger's boots like they were food to eat. Seeing this added new disgust, as disrespecting the dead was unforgivably insulting to the crusaders.

Then came the key moment. Following the 'snack', a head emerged from inside the Stand's mouth. It belonged to a both feminine and masculine man with long hair. Vanilla Ice, fanatic follower of DIO and Stand master of [Cream]. "Hm hm, one by one… Eventually I'll send you all into my dark dimension…"

That was all he said, as he withdrew his head within the safe realm of his Stand's mouth.

"…"

Avdol had mixed feelings about everything. This was just like when he saved Polnareff's life by taking Hol Horse's bullet. What the cowboy did to him back then, he wouldn't ever forget, since one couldn't make up for such a thing under most circumstances. And now it happened again, but with the gunslinger being the one who saved the egyptian's life.

In theory, for almost killing Avdol then, and saving his life now, him and Hol Horse were even. Though the egyptian wasn't satisfied at all, he thought differently.

"I didn't want him to go out like that…"

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Avdol strongly felt that this principle was unsatisfactory and unfitting in this situation.

He'd genuinely been looking forward to that dinner after defeating DIO once and for all. To finally have peace. Now that this was no longer possible, the egyptian felt great discontent.

"You know what… I'm going to avenge Hol Horse!" Speaking resolutely, he gritted his fists and summoned [Magician's Red], going to fight against [Cream].

"Count me in…" Polnareff was also conflicted about the whole situation, not feeling comfortable with the cowboy passing like that. "After all, he was one of us, and in the end… I too owe him my life."

Given the nature of [Cream], it was correct to say that the gunslinger was gone forever. And only after losing something forever, did the two realize that they wished he wasn't gone.

[Magician's Red] created a flaming spear in its hands, chucking it towards [Cream] with careful aim.

"Too slow!"

[Cream] effortlessly dodged the spear, letting it fly past. But in the midst of evading, the newly summoned [Silver Chariot] ambushed the erasing Stand.

"What?!"

'Polnareff's Stand can move that fast at this distance?! I hadn't heard that…'

The silver Stand unleashed a barrage of fast stabs, piercing [Cream] enough times to make it look like cream with bubbles.

"You're gonna pay, you…!" The frenchman was legitimately angry, letting out his fury on the killer of Hol Horse.

Not going easy, the resulting stray slashes destroyed a significant part of the room.

"…Piece of shit!" Before entering this mansion, he wouldn't have even dreamt of going to such lengths to avenge the cowboy. But there he was, forcing back one of the most destructive and frightening Stands.

Soon after, [Cream] vanished after shrinking down to nothing. It and its master retreated, fully leaving the area. Having put that much energy into his attack, Polnareff was huffing and puffing in fatigue.

"Hahh… Hahh… Hahh… That son of a bitch! I know I hit him! But I don't think I killed him. He shrunk down in an instant and vanished to nothing." the frenchman complained in utter anger and disappointment.

"…I wanted to have a real go at them too, but they dodged my spear before I could do any damage." Avdol shared the frustration, furious about how little he did against the enemy.

Polnareff then crouched down, pressing his eyes together as the initial shock of first meeting Vanilla Ice and [Cream] lessened, allowing for sadness. "Dammit, Hol Horse…"

While the frenchman was emotionally lamenting the gunslinger, the egyptian stood by him. "He was an asshole, and I hated him… But after all the time we spent together and all the adventures we went through, he actually grew on me… I just didn't want to admit! And to think that he sacrificed himself to save ME, who was openly hostile to him, mocked and ridiculed him constantly… Only now I realize that I was too harsh to him…!"

Nodding as Polnareff told his regrets, Avdol could fully understand him. No matter what Hol Horse used to be, he grew into a true, loyal crusader, someone who could be trusted. Him and the frenchman really could have made peace with newfound respect and understanding after surviving the end battle against DIO and the rest of his followers, they really could have… Though Vanilla Ice made this impossible, leaving the remaining crusaders with regret.

"Couldn't you have at least waited for that dinner to happen before you died?!"

What happened, was that the DIO fanatic erased a crusader. And albeit he erased that crusader, said crusader wouldn't be erased from the hearts and minds of the other crusaders. And they'd take revenge for this.

A sad passion nagging at their hearts, the present crusaders vowed to stand up and fight the enemy.

Swoosh

But painfully ironically, not standing up at that instant was the best thing.

Without a warning, an invisible orb flew past their heads, narrowly missing them. A pillar was not so lucky, having a half-spherical chunk of concrete eaten away. As the sphere of death nearly killed the two, their blood froze and eyes went immediately wide. Neither made as much as a sound, processing the ridiculous threat this Stand user posed to them.

"…"

'No sound or smell. It just appeared in our dimension.' Polnareff observed in choking fear, his face paling like chalk.

'Shit… If we don't figure out a way to detect them, we'll end up like Hol Horse!' Avdol was alarmed like never before, turning white for a moment.

A desperate, instinctual thought made the egyptian have [Magician's Red] create a periphery of low heat, low density flames that allowed highest visibility.

They felt a lukewarm heat surrounding them. They literally saw and felt themselves burning, they had orange vision. But they weren't hurt in the slightest.

"What is…" the confused frenchman let out, startled by that drastic change of environment right after almost getting his head erased.

"Low density and low heat flames that can be used to detect the enemy Stand." Avdol explained as quickly as possible, staying alert. "Look where it's blank, and- WATCH OUT!"

Diving out of the lane of erasure, the egyptian managed to avoid perishing. By drastically warning his fellow crusader at the last moment, he also saved another life.

Polnareff narrowly escaped death, throwing his body onto the floor. Adrenaline was flowing throughout his body like blood.

"Fuck…"

Even with this more than handy advantage, they still were far from safe. [Cream] was just that dangerous. And that considering Vanilla Ice couldn't see anything and was just wildly steering his Stand around, destroying much of the room.

After the first narrow dodge, the crusaders kept dodging and dodging, but the threat was never ending.

"Shit! This can't continue like this, we have to flee to a wider space!" Avdol pointed out, gritting his teeth. If it continued like that, this would turn out into a battle of exertion.

"Let's take this corridor out of here!" the frenchman hastily suggested, pointing at the corridor on the other side.

"Right!" the egyptian followed up with a quick nod. "I'll take my flames with us, stay safe!"

As allies of the Joestars, they were fully authorized to use their technique.

"Up the stairs! Head up the stairs!" Polnareff commanded to Iggy. He knew the dog already understood the situation they were in, but he just didn't want to lose another crusader. Everyone had to survive no matter what.

Meanwhile, Vanilla Ice poked his head out of [Cream] for his occasional check of location. It didn't take him long to find out that the crusaders were escaping. It annoyed him. "Tch! They're heading towards where Lord DIO is… Whether they know it or not, I can't let reach him alive."

He didn't bother taking the hallway and stairs to reach the upper floor. He just retracted his head back inside, then letting his Stand float vertically upwards, erasing the part of the ceiling. The chase was on.

XXXXXXXXXX

Finished running up the stairs, the crusaders noticed that they reached the exit. Or entrance from another perspective, where they came from. But running away was out of the question.

"We're running towards DIO!" Avdol powerfully proclaimed, taking a sharp turn away from the exit and climbing the stairs leading upwards.

"Of course we are!" the frenchman resolutely affirmed, following him upwards. The stairs were long, but they felt the strong need to climb them.

And when they collectively reached the end, feeling it in their legs, they were confronted by a surprise. The crazy fanatic made a hole in the floor, reaching this hall before them. This broad, spacy hall where without any indicator, [Cream] could be hiding anywhere. But luckily they had the best dodging guide in the world. [Magician's Red]'s broad flames immediately detected a hollow spot.

"He's there!" the egyptian shouted, pointing at the location. It was tiny, so tiny only he could've noticed. The Stand of erasure was hiding inbetween the minute cracks on the floor. Very ingenuous, had anyone stepped foot on said crack, that foot would've been eaten.

"He hid there?!" Polnareff gulped, his sweat running fast. His eyes bulged out, as the fact was that his foot was the closest to the enemy Stand, just one tile away. One more step, and stepping would've become harder for him forever. "Damn… I owe you my foot, Avdol."

"Thank me when we're through with this…" Avdol said, no time for thanking when the danger was far from over. "Dammit… we need to deal with him when he comes out of his protection. But like this… there's no chance."

Speaking of this, [Cream] left the crack, rising to head level with the crusaders. Vanilla Ice came out of his hiding spot as a head to voice out some complaints. And boy, was he mad. "For fuck sake… Muhammad Avdol! With you and your flame radar, there's absolutely no point in trying to hide in plain sight… I have to kill you first!"

DIO's follower retracted his head, though as he said himself, there was no point in vanishing completely, as either Avdol or any other crusader could just see his nothingness and dodge like that. From a visibility standpoint, it didn't make a difference. He attacked the egyptian directly, attempting to devour him.

But, he made one crucial mistake. True, the visibility didn't matter. But without his guard of erasure, he could be hit without worry. Polnareff made sure to injure him.

"[Silver Chariot]!" the frenchman called, stabbing the guardless Stand with his own. The silver Stand attacked ridiculously fast, landing multiple clean hits.

[Cream] was forced to disappear quickly, otherwise the damage on Vanilla Ice would pile up. The same space erasing Stand spawned 10 meters away from the crusaders, the master poking out.

"You bastard, Polnareff…" The fanatic sustained various small stab wounds, including 3 major ones that really bled. One on his shoulder, one on his chest, one on his forehead. And he was not happy about it.

"Avdol, Iggy, change of plans!" Polnareff announced, assuming a fierce fighting stance. "Iggy, blow so much sand in the air that it can act as a detector for the enemy Stand, but only so much so that not a large amount of sand gets in our eyes and noses where it becomes impossible to fight.

Surprised by the sudden change of tactics, Avdol turned his head. "What's this for, Polnareff?"

"He made it his goal to target you, right? You've got to defend yourself and go on the counteroffensive, Avdol." the frenchman concisely explained. "Iggy taking over your job allows you to attack."

"I get it…" the egyptian muttered, having been encouraged. He turned to the dog, smiling at him. "Iggy, I'm counting on you!"

"Woof!"

[The Fool] got to work, turning [Magician's Red] into a combatant. The flaming red bird prepared itself, changing its pose.

Vanilla Ice thought nothing of the role switching. "This changes nothing! I'll kill all of you either way!"

Avdol never expected to see a difference in the fanatic's attitude anyway. But his attitude would change.

Enough was enough.

"Well then… Prepare yourself, Vanilla Ice! I won't display any more weakness against you!" From here on, the egyptian would step up his seriousness and go all out. No holding back. "Let's start with THIS!"

[Magician's Red] unleashed a large, blazing burst of whirling flames at the enemy Stand and its master.

"…!"

Contrary to the first failed attack with the flaming spear, this attack was much larger and far faster, leaving Vanilla Ice no choice other than entirely retreating inside the mouth of his erasing Stand. Otherwise he'd have ended up being called Vanilla Vapor.

Abruptly, [Cream] accelerated forward, aiming for Avdol. As both the Stand's and the master's eyes were outside of this dimension, the erasing orb had no clear direction, missing the constantly evading egyptian several times. However, despite the rather bad aim, it was clear to see how fixated the DIO fanatic was on hitting and eliminating Avdol.

A few unsuccessful tries later, [Cream] and Vanilla Ice decided to slow down and show themselves again.

"Stubborn bastards… You keep resisting, but I'll exterminate you rats eventually!" the fanatic vowed in raging madness. "I am the hunter, you're the prey! For Lord DIO wills it!"

Hearing that remark, the egyptian's eyes narrowed dangerously. Vanilla Ice certainly had a dangerous and lethal weapon, and the crusaders were right to keep dodging and evading. But Avdol's patience hit its limit, making him realize that out of self-respect, he could no longer allow himself to run away from Vanilla Ice's personality. That attitude, that character, he wouldn't permit himself to run from that any longer. "Is that so?"

"Of course! Too bad I might not be able to return parts of you to Lord DIO as a trophy, since I must annihilate you to the core!"

Muhammad Avdol wouldn't be prey to that, he wouldn't be hunted by that.

"You know what… I'll show you the ropes."

Suddenly, like a fountain, a circular wall of fire rose up from the ground. A hellish hot, scorching wall that surrounded the fanatic and his Stand. It appeared like [Magician's Red] caged [Cream], and by extension, Vanilla Ice.

"What's the meaning of this…?" the fanatic venomously questioned, not delighted as he was getting the implication.

"You aren't hunting me… or anyone else, really." Avdol strictly made clear. "I will OWN you, Vanilla Ice… Until I dispose of you as vengeance for Hol Horse."

"GRRRR…" Vanilla Ice roared in response, clenching his teeth at the insult of getting absolutely disrespected by someone he belittled so much. "BRING IT ON!"

Again, him and his Stand assumed the erasing sphere form, beginning a new set of fast, vicious attacks full of killing intent. They were really chaotic, wreaking havoc across the entire room and attacking all over the place. All over the place, meaning everywhere and in all directions.

But within the entirety of this process, [Cream] had never exited the caging wall around it. Whenever the orb moved around the hall, the fire wall moved with it. Whenever the sphere used wide attack maneuvers, the wall expanded. The flames could perfectly move on the floor, and the circle could perfectly expand or retract without losing its perfect shape.

"Whoa! Careful!"

Though there were a few instances, where Polnareff and Iggy were forced into corners and pressing their backs against the wall, as [Cream] and therefor the ever following and containing flame wall got dangerously close to them in those few instances.

Eventually, Vanilla Ice poked his head outside his Stand's mouth to assess the current situation. To great dismay he found out that he'd never left the boundary of the great fire wall.

"AVDOL YOU…!"

So he tried to go faster, but the wall got faster as well. He tried to do unpredictable maneuvers, swerving abruptly to the side in irregular patterns, but not even that did the trick. As a last resort, he even dove below the floor to position himself at another spot and resurface from there. Too bad for him, him and [Cream] found themselves in the dead center of the perfectly set up, inescapable burning barrier.

"Hurgh…"

His eyes were twitching, veins were clearly visible on his forehead. His anger had reached the boiling point.

The egyptian had really made a fool of the fanatic. And the latter was going to confront the former directly.

"DIE, AVDOL! Let's see how you'll deal with THIS!"

Knowing where Avdol was, Vanilla Ice steered [Cream] directly towards him. And by doing so, the flame wall in front of him was driven against its own creator.

"Ah, Avdol! He aims to-" the frenchman tried to warn the egyptian, but stopped speaking in surprise when he saw that his friend was unshaken.

Only a few meters in front of him, Avdol removed the flaming wall that Vanilla Ice was using against him. But as a consequence, there was no more security barrier between them. [Cream] was seconds away from consuming him.

"Such a fool, Avdol!" the fanatic called in a belittling tone, considering the battle won already. "Now perish!"

However, the next instant, a flaming pillar shot out from the ground 20 meters away from the egyptian at mind breaking speeds. It was neither vertical nor horizontal, rather diagonal. Diagonal with such a degree, that from behind, it teared right through [Cream] and the unprotected Vanilla Ice.

Meanwhile, Avdol was unharmed, watching the fanatic getting grilled to charcoal literally right in front of him.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"What the…" Polnareff was gaping with wide eyes at the ingeniousness of his fellow crusader. That was not a tactic he'd expected at all, extremely risky but pure genius.

At first, the egyptian had used the fire wall as a means to ward off Vanilla Ice and attack him psychically. Then, after finding out about the wall's strength in frustration, the fanatic would use that ability against the very user, thinking he'd either be burned by his own creation or make way for the erasing Stand to avoid being scorched. But Avdol had aimed for exactly that, for the fanatic to only focus what was in front of him, and not behind. And it paid off nicely.

"GUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The egyptian felt not one bit of pity for the murderer. He had neutral eyes, watching the suffering with pure indifference. He wondered more about whether Hol Horse had safely made it to the afterlife and was watching his avenging, or if his soul was also erased.

'That's the last thing I can do for you, Hol Horse… I hope this can make it easier for you.'

"AAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh… h-"

After a long course of suffering 4th, even 5th degree burns, the vocal cords of Vanilla Ice could no longer take it. All that remained was black, floating mass, probably to disappear soon too in the minds of the crusaders.

"…"

Absolutely speechless, the frenchman was still standing there with his mouth open. He'd withdrawn his Stand since the threat seemed to be over.

Soon the sand from Iggy's Stand settled too, as there was seemingly no more use for it.

"A… Avdol… Is this-"

"…Yes, this should be it." Avdol answered for him. Stressed, but slowly calming down. "To think that DIO had such a follower…"

"Right… He was so dangerous." Polnareff stated, his body still finding it hard to relax even after his opponent was dead. "So much destruction… And Hol Horse…"

Remembering the cowboy, the frenchman started to be saddened again.

"I hope he can rest easily. I really do." the egyptian said, looking at his friend and trying to comfort both of them in this sad moment. "I think… I think I'm going to pay my respects for him. For the last time."

"Yeah, that sounds good…" Polnareff too wanted to spiritually send off the gunslinger after his unfortunate death. "He… certainly deserves at least this much."

Both closed their eyes, slightly bowing their heads and pressing their palms together in front of their chests. Each were having their own monologues, saying things in remembrance of Hol Horse.

Suddenly, in the midst of their prayer, Iggy started barking loudly.

Annoyed at getting interrupted, the frenchman opened his eyes, turning to the dog to chastise him.

"Quiet, Iggy! Don't you see that we're-"

He didn't get to finish his sentence, as [The Fool] rammed both him and Avdol away with great force, knocking them off their feet and launching them a few meters away.

"Uagh!"

The landing wasn't soft at all, but that was not the main reason the human crusaders were angry with the Boston Terrier.

"Iggy! Have you lost your mind?! What is-"

This time, the frenchman interrupted himself. His eyes widened in disbelief, as something unbelievable unfolded itself in front of him.

Vanilla Ice, who was supposed to be dead, didn't disappear, but regenerated instead.

"No way! Absolutely no way!" the egyptian yelled incredulously, gritting his teeth in shock. It was totally ridiculous to him.

Due to the earlier attack from [Magician's Red], the skin of Vanilla Ice still was burned and dark. But by the millisecond, it was healing and getting lighter. By the millisecond, his hair was regrowing. By the millisecond, his facial structure returned.

"HOW AREN'T YOU DEAD?!"

It made no sense to them at all that he was still living. That great burning earlier should've been a 100% fool-proof death.

'He came back after everything I've put him through…? BULLSHIT!' Avdol thought, tightening his fists in new stress.

"…Must be Lord DIO's blessing." the fanatic remarked in a low tone. He spoke quietly, but felt greater bloodlust than ever before. His healed eyes were glowing blood red in hatred.

Not liking where this was going, the sweating crusaders assumed their fighting stances for the second time.

"You may have tricked me once, though this time around, I'll end you both for good!"

With few movements, Vanilla Ice disappeared once more inside the mouth of [Cream], going to invisibly hunt the two again.

Forced to return to his previous tactics, the egyptian reapplied the orange low heat, low density visibility screen.

"Ah shit, here we go again."

The fight then turned back into the usual scheme of run and avoid. And this would go on much longer, since Vanilla Ice was bound to be more careful.

"Hey, Polnareff!" Avdol called out to his friend.

"What?"

"Since he doesn't hear us when he's invisible, we have the liberty to talk freely." the egyptian spoke, running from the erasing sphere behind him. "And when he comes out, we can switch the communication channels to our Stands."

"Well, what do you want to talk about?" Polnareff asked from the sidelines, not knowing how to help his friend against the untouchable enemy.

"About Vanilla Ice… How he regenerated!" Avdol called, jumping away from [Cream]'s path. It would then be occupied trying to erase the egyptian where he wasn't around.

"Yes! He should be dead!" the frenchman argued, using logic. "It really makes no sense that a human can survive your flames that long, Avdol. Plus, he was unrecognizable when you were done with him!"

"I have a theory about why, Polnareff." Avdol told, bearing a stern expression. "I think he's a vampire now."

"He's what?!" Polnareff was shocked at the theory, even though he found it believable. "So you mean there are practically two DIOs now?"

"Yes… DIO must've done something to him before he came and…" he left out mentioning the happening, only implying said happening because it still felt distasteful to him. "…You know what. Anyway, the vampirism must've activated after I burned him to death."

"So he did actually die, but was resurrected because of DIO's vampirism…" the frenchman figured. "Right, there can't be any other explanation."

"Anyway, now that we know what he is, all we have to do is lure him out into the sunlight." the egyptian said, pointing at the windows. "Iggy, you listen too, since you're going to be part of this new plan!"

"Woof?"

"Make a pillar of condensed sand, stable enough for two grown man to stand on, right outside this window." Avdol ordered, pointing at a certain window. "And make it so that it's low enough not to be seen from inside, unless one peeks his head outside the window."

That task was doable for the dog. The Boston Terrier nodded, starting to work on the order immediately.

"Woof!"

"Alright, the only thing we have to do now is to continue dodging Vanilla Ice until Iggy is finished. Once Iggy's done and Vanilla Ice is hiding, we ditch this place." the egyptian clarified. "Until then, we can power through. Right, Polnareff?"

"Right you are!" Polnareff reassured, momentarily squatting down to avoid [Cream] flying above his head.

"Okay, so let's start the timer. Iggy, do your thing!" Avdol declared, trying to sound motivating and hopeful about their plan. Because the rest of their mission depended on this plan.

XXXXXXXXXX

Eventually, Iggy signalized them that the pillar had been raised.

Vanilla Ice had just retreated back inside the mouth of his Stand after determining the positions of his enemies and assessing the damage he'd done to the room. The two crusaders had acted as if they weren't plotting anything, not letting the fanatic suspect anything.

There was no better timeframe to hop onto that pillar, so the egyptian and the frenchman leapt outside the window, landing on solid sand.

Inside the room, the orange flames of detection hadn't been put out, so that Vanilla Ice would know the crusaders were still alive and he'd have to search and find them.

Some time later, Vanilla Ice again came out of [Cream] for a new status update. He was greatly surprised when he found out that Avdol and Polnareff were missing, although the light, lukewarm and thin orange fire clearly suggested they were alive.

"Where… are you rats hiding?"

He looked around, checking the insides of closets and wardrobes, checking behind curtains. He even checked neighboring rooms, but found no traces of the crusaders. After returning to the main room, ravaged by the erasing powers of his Stand, he figured out the last place where he didn't look.

"Now you're done for…"

Preparing to kill them, the fanatic ventured outside, passing the window frame.

Though the moment he did that, he experienced on his face a kind of pain he never felt before.

"RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

It didn't actually feel that different from when he was burned by the scorching hot flames of [Magician's Red]. This kind of burning pain was almost exactly the same.

And to make things worse, just as he tried to hide within [Cream], where nothing could hurt him, from about 45° below and in front of him, a rapier stabbed his face.

It diverted his attention from the protective reflex of retread, prompting him to look that direction.

He saw Polnareff and Avdol stand next to each other, looking at him with remorseless contempt.

"Polnareff… Avdol…!" he lowly growled for the last time in hatred, utterly mad that he'd fail his mission given by his Lord DIO.

"Go to hell." he was told by both of them, watching them get more and more centered in the view of his eyes, as black was filling his view from the outside towards the inside. The fanatic, his outlook on life already blinded by his god and idol Lord DIO, was literally about to become physically blind.

Also, those words became the last thing he'd heard, since his ears too were rapidly erased by the sunlight.

What irony for a man with powers of erasure becoming erased himself. Maybe not completely erased on an atomic level, but still erased into dead dust.

Inside his brain, gradually becoming smaller due to the sunlight, the only thoughts were about regret and shame that he failed to fulfill his orders from Lord DIO. And of course, cursing the two crusaders who defeated him.

"CURSE YOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu…"

Finally, his voice was cut off as the sun eroded his lips, teeth and tongue.

His head, most importantly his brain soon turned into dry dust by the sun, the vampire was irreversibly lethally wounded by his greatest enemy. As a consequence, [Cream] dissipated into nothing, technically like usual, but only forever and never to return.

"…"

The egyptian and the frenchman continued standing there for a while, processing the defeat of their nightmarish enemy.

"…I can't believe this is over now."

It felt like forever, the fight against Vanilla Ice. And now it was over, but they found it hard to relax. Almost nonstop, shock after shock, they had to constantly be on edge, evade and dodge, because him and his Stand were simply that lethal. Each moment was a matter of life and death, even despite the overwhelming strategic advantage of Avdol's flames acting as a detector.

"Now imagine DIO himself…"

Although they triumphed over Vanilla Ice, they were in no position to celebrate. Not until the big bad himself was gone.

Some moments later, the two climbed back inside the room through the window. It looked worse than a warzone in there, with even the walls barely supporting the room.

"Avdol, I think we should go this way." Polnareff suggested, pointing at a damaged door leading to another hallway.

"Yeah, we can try out that way." the egyptian said, his voice becoming more closed and reserved for the second part. "But before that… Won't we continue where we left off…?"

"Where we left off…" the frenchman repeated, understanding what his friend meant. "You're right, let's wrap this up."

Like earlier, they closed their eyes, slightly bowing their heads and pressing their palms together in front of their chests.

Ultimately, they paid their respects for their controversial companion, the crusader Hol Horse who nobly sacrificed his life for them.

'Hol Horse, you annoying asshole… and glorious bastard… Have you been watching us, perhabs? If you did… please understand that I'd been treating you badly for too long. Really… if you're up there, forgive me please. Killing that Vanilla Ice and avenging you… Is only the least I could've done to repay you for saving my life. Thank you, Hol Horse, from the bottom of my heart for saving me… Rest easy, friend…'

'Hol Horse… My greatest regret is you not being able to fight and defeat DIO together with us… You certainly would've deserved that. You also had a right to confront that manipulating monster, side by side with us. But instead, you got killed by that scum Vanilla Ice… for saving our lives. May that lowlife rot in hell for stealing your opportunity of fighting DIO. Oh, the things I'd do to have you back with us, even if only for one day… And the promised dinner… Oh, such a shame. Truly… Rest in Peace, Hol Horse. We will miss you.'

Standing there while paying their respects, the two held back from shedding tears. Inside their mouths, they felt a bitter taste of sadness.

Once they'd get to DIO, which was soon, they'd fight him not for Holly, like the Joestar family and their Zeppeli friends, but for their own late friend that become one only very late into the entire journey, Hol Horse. They'd turn their sadness into anger, energizing it to battle the big bad.

But for now, while properly sending off their comrade to the afterlife, there was only sadness.


This here marks the end of this chapter. I have many things to say.

First of all, about Hol Horse. I like his character a lot, and wish he interacted more with the crusaders in canon. He's a funny character who deserved better. I assume he's popular among most of the rest of the fanbase too, so I didn't feel all that happy to kill him off, especially by Vanilla Ice. The two major reasons why I did so, despite my personal bias for Hol Horse, is for character development and story balance reasons.

I tried hard to integrate Hol Horse into the crusaders, and develop his character from a cowardly joke to a fighter with somewhat respectable courage, devotion and affinity for team work. I made him become less selfish and more brave, while also giving him the ability to think through things more than initially. For Hol Horse to push Avdol and Polnareff away from their deaths, taking their place to die, is something the initial Hol Horse would never do. My intention was to highlight his character development throughout his fanfiction by this sad surprise.

Plus, I believe that despite the character development I'm stressing, Hol Horse doing such a thing is much more unexpected than Avdol doing it in canon. Am I the only one who found it predictable for Avdol to sacrifice himself despite saying earlier that everyone should save their own self first?

Anyway, that point alludes to my second point, the balance. These types of 'good ending' stories, where the main cast all survive and get less severe injuries than canon, despite the 'satisfying feeling', are predictable, exactly because things go too good for the cast of protagonists. I'm not going to deny that. So although it's unfortunate that Hol Horse had to go, it's for the sake of not making this entire adventure a cake walk.

Hope you understand my reasonings and look forward to the next chapter. Which by the way is similar to this one, as in long planned in my mind, and a major reason for this fanfic's existence.

Feel free to rate and review if you like to