Fanfic / Star-Crossed Crusaders

This fanfic is a retelling of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders, and this page assumes you're familiar with the series up to that part before reading this one. As such, all spoilers up to it will be unmarked. You have been warned.

^{Click here to see image for the original 7th Stand User version of the fanfic}

Star-Crossed Crusaders is a JoJo's Bizarre Adventure fanfiction by CandyAshes, who also provides illustrations for it. It is a retelling of Stardust Crusaders with original elements added to the story.

The story follows a girl named Hitomi, who is a descendant of the Zeppeli bloodline, having descended from one of the sons of one of Caesar Zeppeli's two brothers. At the start of the story, she has a very weak constitution that has her on the brink of death until her Stand is awakened, which allows her to heal at an increased rate, and also heal other people. Soon after, she has a fateful encounter with Jotaro Kujo that unexpectedly puts her in the same journey as him, and along the way, she discovers the destiny behind her family name.

This fanfiction is the beginning of a series of fanfics that center around a Zeppeli descendant being among the main cast, and also retelling its respective story with new elements, further developing the established characters, and various original characters, friend and foe. Despite this being the very beginning, it has an interesting history.

This fanfiction started out as an adaptation of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: The 7th Stand User. It was initially titled The Seventh Crusader. Later, it was changed to its current name, but had the suffix The 7th Stand User, and as mentioned above, gave even further characterization to the characters original to that game. However, given the game that it adapts, this also meant that there are spoilers for Stone Ocean present in it as well. Hitomi's surname was also "Isaji" in this, and her Stand was "Cardigans", one of the Stands in the game.

Also has a gallery, containing images used throughout the story with some extra images mixed in.

The original iteration of the story was published on July 30th, 2017 and was completed on September 27th, 2018. It is followed by Unbreakable Diamond, Protean Rain.

The sequels would have all 7th Stand User inspired elements retconned out, also changing Hitomi's surname to "Zeppeli", and her Stand (although it still has the ability to heal). This was all in favor of an original Alternate Universe. Despite the original story being an adaptation, there were numerous elements original to the fanfic itself, which have been kept as shown by certain chapters in them.

Later, a shorter version of the story, called the Ace of Cups Remix was published. This rewrites Hitomi's origin and other important parts of the story to line up better with the world that's been established in the sequels. On top of the retained elements, the author does mention the original fanfic still has a lot of interactions between the cast, which are the groundwork for interactions in the sequel onward.

The rewrite was published on November 1st, 2019, and is currently dormant, likely due to the author being busy with the current entries in the series among other things. (Last updated August 9th, 2021)

It also has a gallery full of biographies for the characters who appear, and illustrations made for certain points in the story.

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Star-Crossed Crusaders provides examples of the following tropes:

Tropes Applying to Both Versions

• Adaptational Early Appearance:
  • As mentioned below, Steely Dan appears far earlier than he does originally.
  • Ms. Shiobana, Giorno's mother, appears as a teacher at the school Jotaro and Hitomi attend. She's also Hitomi's teacher and plays a crucial role in Hitomi's past. Here, she is given the first name of Shiori.
• Adaptation Deviation: The initial fight with Kakyoin does not take place in the nurse's office, instead, it takes place in the trees near the school, drawing more from the OVA.
• Call-Forward / Call-Back: Both versions of the fanfic allude to different things. Specific examples are shown in their respective folders.
• Combat Medic: Hitomi is able to use her Stand's weapon to both accelerate the healing of wounds, and attack. (Cardigans' scalpel in the 7SU version, and Ace of Cups' ribbons in the Remix version onward)
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: Avdol, Iggy, and Kakyoin still die, but after the events of Stardust Crusaders. They do face similar fatalities that they originally did, with Avdol going missing during the 1992 Cairo earthquake with his body never recovered, Iggy still pulling a Heroic Sacrifice to protect Polnareff later on, and Kakyoin being impaled by a fallen pole during a rainstorm.
• First Love: While she's alone in Singapore, Hitomi runs into Steely Dan, who she becomes infatuated with, not knowing he's working for Dio.
• Karma Houdini: In Hitomi's backstory, anyone already familiar with Golden Wind will know that Shiori Shiobana is Saved by Canon from any comeuppance, and she gets away scot-free for her mistreatment of Hitomi and a young Giorno.
• Shoot the Medic First: Due to being the healer of the Joestar group, some enemies target Hitomi because of her ability. As such, the heroes also value Hitomi's safety to make sure she's able to tend to anyone wounded.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Subverted. While Avdol, Iggy, and Kakyoin survive the final battle with Dio, they all die later at different points in time after the events of Stardust Crusaders. The sequel confirms this still happens by showing events that add up with this in a flashback chapter.

Tropes Applying to the Original version (The 7th Stand User)

Beware of spoilers for Stone Ocean considering the game the fanfic adapts.

• Adaptation Distillation: The fight with Telence D'arby happens off-screen and happening the same as it did in canon while the fanfic focuses on the fight with Vanilla Ice.
• Adaptation Expansion:
  • From Jotaro's expanded backstory in chapter 42, Mr. Okamoto is the teacher (that is seen in a still in the anime) from when Jotaro mentions a teacher who never came back to class as a result of him during his speech when he fights Kakyoin.
  • In this story's version of Oingo and Boingo's attempt on the group, not only is there an additional scene with "Jotaro" and Hitomi after she spots someone at the car before Joseph and Polnareff arrive, Oingo slips up about knowing Boingo and has to explain to Hitomi about him in tandem with a quick excuse about how Avdol told "Jotaro" about the brothers. Said slip-up is that after Hitomi wonders about where Boingo's mother is after noticing him nearby, "Jotaro" says she died when Boingo was a baby.
• Adapted Out: Joseph encounters Stroheim and Speedwagon, like in the game, but not Dire.
  • As another result of this, Caesar does not appear as he does in the game, but he does appear in an original flashback with Joseph.
• Bait-and-Switch: When Oingo and Boingo are introduced, they're referred to as Zenyatta and Mondatta by Whitney, their Dub Name Change. After Whitney leaves, it's revealed they're still called Oingo and Boingo, and that the other names were just cover names they used around Whitney since she's a servant of Dio that was kicked out for murdering her own sister.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: Faith commits suicide with a pistol he had handy once he's defeated in chapter 32. Specifically, he did it so that Joseph wouldn't be able to reveal what he knows about Dio with Hermit Purple.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall:
  • The first instance of this is naturally when ZZ seemingly kills Jotaro, as he says a bit more than his declaration of having ended Part 3.
  ZZ: Yes, I won! Part 3 is over! And that means this fanfic's main protagonist is now single!
  Hitomi: Whaaaat?!
  • Happens again after Alessi is defeated, as the narrator inexplicably begins to mention how he had the same fate as Kars before Hitomi interrupts him.
  Narrator: In fact, Alessi never made it back to Earth... He turned into something halfway between mineral and life-form and floated through space for all eternity—
  Hitomi: Hey, don't make nonsense up like this! Are you trying to get us to break the fourth wall again?
• Bittersweet Ending: While Hitomi and the rest of the Joestar group survive their battle with Dio and Vins is defeated, Avdol, Iggy, and Kakyoin would all die after the events of Stardust Crusaders, and Hitomi would also grow apart from Jotaro.
• Call-Back: Following the fight against Anubis and Amber, Hitomi tends to Jotaro's wounds. By the time Jotaro wakes up, Hitomi had spent so much energy into tending to him that when she leaves to inform the group Jotaro's awake, she falls over from dizziness as Jotaro catches her with a single arm. This references an identical moment with Jonathan and Erina in Phantom Blood.
• Call-Forward:
  • After the story's take on Oingo's attempt to eliminate the group, Polnareff jokes about if Jotaro managed to stop time upon him, Joseph and Hitomi spotting him at the hospital, not knowing the "Jotaro" they just let out of the car moments before was Oingo in disguise.
  • Jotaro's ability to stop time is foreshadowed much earlier than before when he unknowingly activates it to save Kakyoin from a Collapsing Lair at the end of the fight with Joey, in which he attempts a Taking You with Me on both of them. It incapacitated Kakyoin since he was destroying him with Hierophant Green beforehand.
• Chekhov's Skill: Hitomi has Jotaro learn a bit of ripple. He prefers to stick to using his Stand until he uses it to resuscitate Hitomi near the end.
• Death by Adaptation:
  • A double subverted example. In canon, it's left unclear whether Rubber Soul died after his defeat, but here, he's first shown to be in the hospital after said defeat. However, he gets a visit from Steely Dan, who finishes him off, likely for spilling info about Dio's servants on top of failing his mission.
  • The drifter that J. Geil wounded to fool Polnareff and Kakyoin gets killed by Wisps.
  • A minor one, but Steely Dan is stated to have been killed after his beatdown from Jotaro. Likely from shock after Hitomi made him far more sensitive to pain before his beatdown.
  • Speedwagon and Stroheim are killed in Aswan instead of surviving until the end, like in the game.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation:
  • Utah commits suicide with his Stand rather than being killed in a fight with the protagonists.
  • A zig-zagged example, but Pet Shop seemingly does this at first, but then pulls a Victory Fakeout by beginning to freeze Hitomi about a minute later so he can finish her off. This prompts Iggy to do the same move he did to kill Pet Shop in canon, just with the location being different.
  • With the rest of the fight deviating from how it normally plays out thanks to Hitomi saving Avdol, Vanilla Ice is finished off differently than in canon as Avdol ensnares him with Red Bind, followed by Polnareff causing his body to explode from an assault with Silver Chariot's rapier imbued with Magician's Red's flames. The sunlight still plays a role in destroying his remains to make sure he's dead.
  • Avdol, Kakyoin, and Iggy all survive the events in Cairo, but still die later.
• Disney Death: Hitomi has one at the end of chapter 58, even after Jotaro gets her out of Dio's mansion and tries to resuscitate her. She's better in the next chapter after Jotaro successfully stabilized her.
• Dramatic Irony: A humorous example in chapter 38's flashback of Joseph and Caesar has Joseph making a sleazy joke about Lisa Lisa after she leaves the two to their task, which Caesar reprimands him on. Keep in mind that Joseph doesn't know Lisa Lisa is his mother since the flashback is set during Battle Tendency.
  Joseph: Is she gonna do her own shopping? I bet she's gonna buy some lacy underwear. This makes me wonder how stacked she is...
  Caesar: JoJo, that is our TEACHER. I'm getting tired of your crude remarks, you idiot!
  Joseph: Come on, you can't adore her that much? You got some kind of mother complex?
• Do with Him as You Will: Hitomi leaves Steely Dan to Jotaro's mercy after she makes her final confrontation with him after his failed attempt at a Sadistic Choice, which he tried to use his Stand again on Hitomi.
  Hitomi: Jotaro... do you remember asking me for my permission to kill him? He's all yours.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Johngali A. makes an appearance in chapter 20 as one of Don Cherry's pupils.
• Failed a Spot Check: As described by Steel, Vins' fatal mistake was failing to see if Pucci still existed due to being too absorbed with going after Hitomi and obtaining The Path to Heaven. This renders her ultimate goal All for Nothing.
• Hero of Another Story: Played with, as in chapter 15, Joseph is recounting some of the events of Battle Tendency to Hitomi, and he's seen telling her of his final battle with Kars and the aftermath. Of course, here we know what Joseph's story was.
• "Just Joking" Justification: Overlapping with This Is Gonna Suck, Rainbow meekly does this once Hitomi tells her she heard of what her Stand did to Jotaro and Kakyoin earlier in chapter 32, which is right after Hitomi decides to heal her despite the conflict from before. She gets punched unconscious for it and some of her money taken by Hitomi as she does a Bond One-Liner.
  Hitomi: Don't forget to pay your medical bill.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Steely Dan's eventual comeuppance is not only for everything he originally does, but also manipulating and even taking advantage of Hitomi.
• Let Us Never Speak of This Again: In chapter 32, Jotaro and Kakyoin touch base regarding their actions while under attack by a new ability of Rainbow's Stand (which caused them to say a lot of inappropriate things to one another while arguing, to say the least), in which Jotaro says they're cool as long as it's not brought up again.
• Lime: Chapter 33 contains a short and mildly sexual scene between Jotaro and Hitomi in the middle of the night in the desert, which is after their arrival in Egypt. It's not explicit, but certain actions are implied.
• Mythology Gag:
  • In chapter 8, Joseph being curious to see if the murderdolls have genitals after the Polnareff one is destroyed echoes a similar scene with Norisuke in JoJolion, except Joseph actually gets to check, only to see that they are entirely Barbie Doll Anatomy.
  • Chapter 17's Spot the Imposter moment is one to the OVA, where Enya was able to disguise herself with Justice's fog. Here, she disguises herself as Hitomi.
  • Chapter 19 has another reference to JoJolion. Jotaro's "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Steely Dan after everything he pulled on Hitomi, and later Dan trying to pathetically tell Hitomi he still loves her after his failed I Surrender, Suckers plays very closely to Josuke's words to Damo, and then Damo trying the same pathetic retort after attacking Hato and her family.
  Jotaro: She thought you were brainwashed and she was making excuses for you... She never stopped believing in you. But you attacked her anyway.
  Steely Dan: Hitomi! I was only here for Enya! I was going to let Mr. Joestar go the whole time! I really do love you from the bottom of my heart!
  • Jotaro gets a past-life flashback of the manga/anime version (instead of the OVA version used in the fanfic) of his fight against Kakyoin during the Steely Dan beatdown, when Cardigans carves out Steely Dan's eye with its scalpel.
  • Once High Priestess is defeated, Midler is described to have a belly dancer outfit, just like her now-canon appearance from Heritage For The Future.
  • When Vanilla Ice is finished off, Avdol lights Silver Chariot's rapier on fire before Polnareff finishes the job, which is just like their Dual Heat Attack from Eyes of Heaven, right down to Polnareff's words in response. While Ice Dies Differently in Adaptation, Polnareff's Pre-Mortem One-Liner to Ice still tells him to go to hell.
• Not His Sled:
  • Played With. During the fight with Midler, the ruse that the group does in canon to attempt to deceive Midler fails because Midler spotted how Jotaro held Hitomi earlier on. When that happens, the group tries a new one that's instead about refuting Hitomi's attractiveness, albeit at her expense as she reminds herself they don't actually mean it. However, Jotaro just tells Midler to shut up instead, which then commences Midler's attack from the original manga/anime.
  • Thanks to Hitomi's healing ability, Kakyoin does not have to stay in the hospital after the fight with Geb, allowing him to stay with the group for various different arcs. This is also something implemented from the game.
  • While the Hol Horse and Boingo arc is skimmed a bit, not only does Hitomi decide to heal Hol Horse's injury upon arriving at the scene, Iggy's attack on Boingo is stopped by Hitomi, and after learning about the situation, especially about how a kid like Boingo (and his older brother) would be killed if they revealed Dio's whereabouts, she lets Boingo go. This allows him to keep the new resolve he initially had in the original, though this time he gets it differently than he did in canon.
  • Unlike the original game, there are several deviations from even the game. such as Avdol actually dying in Calcutta, Berlin and Alicia "resurrecting" him and he goes through the game's submarine route, and none of the endings in the game are directly adapated. This fanfic instead goes for an original ending.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: A minor one by Steely Dan - his gift helps Jotaro quickly recognize the real Hitomi from an imposter.
• Out of the Frying Pan: How Oingo's defeat plays out, doubling as a slight Not His Sled: When the car everyone is in nears the hospital and when Oingo (who is disguised as Jotaro) is trying to dissuade Polnareff from digging into the orange bomb (saying it could have come from the gutter), Hitomi makes a snide joke recalling the events of the Justice arc, which annoys Polnareff to where he throws away the orange. Oingo thinks he's saved until he sees the real Jotaro in the distance before anyone else could, causing him to demand the car to be stopped, now claiming he has to rush to the dry cleaners. He ends up being caught up in being alive and seeing Boingo in the distance that he doesn't undo his disguise...and he ends up stepping on the orange bomb anyway. This version of the arc makes two Hope Spots for Oingo before he got blown up (and three if you count the first time he got rid of the orange).
• Recursive Fanfiction: Is one to the the fangame it adapts. While it draws from the existing setting from that game, this story takes a handful of creative liberties with it.
• Role Swap AU:
  • During the Bastet and Set arc, a few roles get swapped around that lead to some big changes: Here, Polnareff and Kakyoin face Mariah, leading to things like Polnareff having yet another bathroom disaster, an interesting inversion of the two women's reactions in the hotel hallway, and most differently, Kakyoin manages to end the fight at the railroad tracks by outsmarting Mariah with a ruse.
  Kakyoin: I knew this would happen! Bathroom disasters are your thing, Polnareff!
  Polnareff: Why does this keep happening to meee?!
  • Just like an optional path in the original game, Hitomi takes Polnareff's place during the fight with Alessi. It even ends with Joseph looking for them, and getting turned into his younger self from Battle Tendency. However, because Joseph fights him in an in-game battle in the game, here it's translated into a brief action sequence.
  • Steel seems to take the role of Pucci, of all people, in this iteration of the world.
• Sequel Hook: Doubling as a Time Skip, the fanfic's epilogue is one of these, with Joseph, Hitomi and her then-unnamed son preparing to head for Morioh.
• Shout-Out:
  • The title of chapter 19, "Love Me, Fool Me" is a clever reference to the song "Lovefool" by The Cardigans.
  • During the battle with Vins and Hanoi Rocks in chapter 38, four of the zombies that attack the group are very much the Special Infected from the Left 4 Dead series in all but name.^note The Smoker, Tank, Jockey, and Boomer. The Tank Expy is referred to as a "Tank-like zombie", though.
• Sinister Nudity: During the final battle against Vins, she resurfaces from getting buried by a bookshelf while she was on fire, blocking the path of the heroes trying to escape. She's naked as a result of the flames burning her robes, and it's played for intimidation given the Victory Fakeout, all the burns on her body, and that she's dead set on killing Hitomi, Alicia, and Berlin. How she's able to withstand all that is because she's a vampire.
• Spot the Imposter: Enya tries to pose as Hitomi at one point.
• Tempting Fate: In the ending, Polnareff has a quip for all of the group since they all survived the final battle with Dio. His quip to Kakyoin in particular, ends up predicting how he dies after the story's events, as Kakyoin would die in a car accident.
  Polnareff: Kakyoin... watch out for accidents, you dumbass!
• The First Cut Is the Deepest: Even after Steely Dan is defeated, Hitomi still has some emotional baggage to work out, mainly guilt about not telling the others about him, and how she let herself get used by him by opening up to a stranger.
• The Reveal: In the climax, the world the fanfic is set in is revealed to be the one born after Pucci was killed, and Made in Heaven's collapse. As a result, Pucci has been Un-Personed, and the instructions to reach Heaven are missing from the book as a result.
• Wham Line:
  • During the climax, Vins is looking through Jotaro's future in The Observer's Realm after seemingly killing Hitomi. She gets to where Stone Ocean should have taken place, where much to her suspicion, scenes that never happened originally are shown. Jotaro then says his daughter's name:
  Jotaro: Be safe, Irene...
• Whole Episode Flashback: Chapters 27-30 are all about Avdol going through the game's submarine route, alongside Tabasaki, Stroheim and Speedwagon.

Tropes Applying to the Rewrite (Ace of Cups Remix)

• Ambiguously Human: Aretha and Whitney are implied to be this, with the former stating while talking to Dio that her blood is not suitable for Dio when asked about lending her blood.
• Big Bad Ensemble: Whitney and her sister Aretha are the main villains of the story, on top of how they're working for Dio.
• Call-Forward:
  • In chapter 1, Whitney reads Ms. Shiobana's fortune, saying she's going to get married in the future. She also clues her in on learning to speak Italian.
  • In chapter 4, Hitomi mentions having gone to a town called Morioh as a child, and how she has an aunt who lives there. This is a reference to her connection to Fubuki's family in Unbreakable Diamond, Protean Rain.
  • Also in that same chapter, Whitney asks Enya about her second son when she mentions J. Geil having died. Enya responds by saying she doesn't count him and he's The Unfavorite. This is alluding to Thin Lizzy.
• I Never Told You My Name: During this version's take on the Justice arc, when Enya feigns falling over, Hitomi offers to check her hip and hand. Enya declines saying she's a little afraid of doctors. Then, when Hitomi begins to get suspicious following Enya's failed sneak attack, she uses her earlier comment against her. Enya tries to deny it saying she saw Hitomi examining a dead traveler from earlier, but it ends up backfiring as it contradicts Enya's arrival and meeting the group, only further confirming Hitomi's suspicion.
• Mythology Gag: The new name of Hitomi's Stand, "Ace of Cups", is actually taken from the Tarot card of the Minor Arcanum it represented when Hitomi requested to draw a Tarot card from Avdol in chapter 8 of the original version.
• Really 700 Years Old: Chapter 4 reveals that Whitney and her sister Aretha are an unspecified amount of centuries old. Only Dio knows this.
• Sibling Rivalry: Even though Whitney and Aretha are sisters and servants of Dio, they don't seem to get along that well, with Whitney even being jealous of the attention Aretha gets from Dio.
• Tarot Motifs: All of the original enemies (except for Whitney) so far still follow this, now taking their Stand names from the Minor Arcanum.

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