Spoilers Off applies to all "Moments" pages. Proceed at your own risk.
While Diamond is Unbreakable had its scary moments, they were usually about the nature of certain people, their actions and their abilities. This story doubles down on the horror elements with its own effective set of scares, especially when you remember Fubuki's background and what's the supernatural threat of this story. And if you don't know what said threat is by the time you've opened this page, then you really ought to not read further down if you're looking to avoid spoilers, because it plays a major role in this story.In other words, there's a reason why "Horror" is one of the fanfic's other tags on Archive of Our Own.
Unbreakable Diamond, Protean Rain
- The Werewolf. Any scene involving him makes him a Knight of Cerebus in an instant with his monstrous nature and descriptions of his scenes painting a dark atmosphere, especially before the reveal of his identity being Miyazaki. In the earliest chapters, he's only known as a new killer that kidnaps and kills children by leaving their cremated remains in a wooden box somewhere. Then comes when Josuke and Fubuki find the ashes of another one of his victims in chapter 10, which also contains a postcard about who they were. The same chapter also gives him his first proper appearance, sneaking into Fubuki's bedroom, and emitting his signature howl once he gets away after Fubuki tries to chase him. From then on, the werewolf is portrayed as monstrously as his killings are, and his howling (or growling) is treated as a very bad sign since it indicates his presence. It even unnerves people who hear it. Even the introduction of his Stand Bad Moon Rising when Fubuki briefly fights him alone is intimidating with how Fubuki can't damage it thanks to the moonlight.
- Not even animals are safe, as Norisuke mentions that stray animals have been getting mutilated alongside the child kidnappings. We even see this when a raccoon dog that caused Fubuki to crash his bike gets suddenly killed and presumably eaten by the werewolf, complete with a short, but rather graphic description of the fatal claw attack. Even the death of the dog Miyazaki would kill with his own bare hands wasn't as brutal, given both are pretty much near-literal cases of Kick the Dog.
- As karmic as Mizoguchi's death was, the chase scene before it still manages to paint his terror as it happens. Even so, Miyazaki still chose to brutally eviscerate him, as Mizoguchi's body is headless and disemboweled along with his hand being dismembered when the police finds his body.
- Fubuki has several nightmares throughout the course of the story, which he started having from the trauma of losing Shinichi. A good chunk of them manage to be scary in their own right, with some even turning out to be a Dream Within a Dream, which can catch the reader off-guard.
- One particular example is one nightmare he has soon after Sion's "death". Here, Fubuki is looking down from a bridge, seeing what seems to be white origami doves only for it to be Shinichi's faceless dead body. He then falls into the river, now blocked by ice. He hears the voices of children screaming before the werewolf appears and pulls him further down. It also turns out to be a Dream Within a Dream as after seemingly waking up, he answers his phone when it rings, only to be greeted with what seem to be Shinichi's last words before he died (or at least, Fubuki's interpretation of it). With how grisly Angelo's murders were, and with which boy Shinichi was an Ascended Extra of, an interpretation of an action that was never seen in the manga or anime manages to be as horrifying as it sounds, even if it's dialogue only. It basically shows that these types of actions are so horrifying, they're normally recounted without dialogue for a reason in the original manga and anime (such as Sherry's flashback of her death being without dialogue during her flashback sequence in Stardust Crusaders' anime).
Shinichi: N-no! NOOO!! YOU PROMISED YOU WOULDN'T KILL ME! PLEASE, DON'T! I WON'T SAY A WORD! NO! NOT THAT! NO--NOO-AAAAARGGHH!! - As tragic as Onodera's death at the hands of Kira is, it also gains a new layer of creepiness because Kira's attacking a girl; his usual prime target. It's briefly in full display when he checks the name tag on the back of her gym shirt and caresses her hand after she takes an explosion from Killer Queen at close range. While he ultimately doesn't take her hand due to already having another severed hand with him, it's chilling to see Kira do this to one of the main characters.Kira: Yasuho… what a pretty name. Despite being younger than me, you look like to be my type… You take good care of your fingernails and all your fingers are perfectly straightened. You asked why I was carrying a woman's hand inside a sandwich bag. The reason is simple… I'm in a committed relationship with her.
- Josuke's Extreme Mêlée Revenge in chapter 45 makes for a surprising case of this. Thanks to Onodera's murder still being relatively fresh, Josuke's deduction that Kira's the murderer after he slips up turns into a dark and blind rage that's even angrier than if someone were to insult his hair, and it's Played for Horror. He only vaguely says Kira's "the one who did it" with sudden anger before he begins attacking. To drive that home, he proceeds to brutally beat up Kira, but with a lot of his human strength rather than his Stand. He even uses a door that was blown away and a street sign with Crazy Diamond as attempted attacks, almost akin to Dio's use of one. It's pretty much the angriest Josuke ever gets in the whole fanfic, and it even scares Okuyasu, who thinks Josuke is just beating up a normal human.note Josuke: I'm going to break your body so bad...That when you're on the brink of death, I'll heal you... before beating you up again! And repeat the whole process!
- Chapter 51 has a harsh Mood Whiplash in the form of Sion's brutal and (seemingly) fatal attack from the werewolf after the fight with Toma Yamada. It starts with Sion waiting for Fubuki to meet as they agreed earlier on in a now-closing park. The tension quickly escalates as the werewolf's presence is indicated, followed by Sion being pounced by the werewolf at a fast speed, almost like a Hunter from Left 4 Dead as the werewolf proceeds to maul him. Fubuki then hears Sion screaming as he's looking for him, and by the time he finds him (which is after he stops screaming), he finds a torn up Sion in a puddle of his own blood, which even covers up his "Dying Clue", a crude drawing of the werewolf with some equally haunting "final words":"DON'T TRUST YOUR UNCLE"
- Five chapters later, Fubuki has a hallucination of Sion, who seems to be acting normal despite the fact that he's bloody and has gashes all over him, which as described, only makes his behavior more creepy. It's a Shout-Out to An American Werewolf in London, but it manages to be unnerving in its own right with what the hallucination of Sion says to him, being perfectly in line with Fubuki's inner demons.
"Sion": You're a coward, that's why you haven't found the monster yet. You didn't punish Angelo when he murdered Shinichi, and now you don't want to punish the werewolf who has been terrorized this town… You're pathetic, so wrapped in your own misery. Your inability to act makes you just as wicked as the monster… Take your own life then. I will be waiting for you at the banks of the Sanzu River.
Fubuki: STOP!
"Sion": It's cold, Fubuki, and I'm so alone. Have you ever talked to a corpse? It's so boring… Either kill your uncle or yourself. - The When Doves Cry arc has a couple of particular examples. First is the water clone of Onodera that appears when Josuke finds Fubuki getting ready to jump off the bridge. Unlike all other water clones seen in the story, she is not portrayed like the others, who were aware of what they were and acted just like the people they were clones of, with Keicho and Sonny's clones even warning against coming into contact with them. Here, her first words are treated more like Hell Is That Noise as Josuke feels dread seeing her as he tries to fight back his emotions. Then she actively approaches Josuke and verbally lures him into looking at her despite Josuke's attempts to resist, acting more like a siren and almost nothing like the original Onodera. The creepiest part is what she says as Josuke tries to pull her off of him, and even her last words still retain an ominously autonomous feeling. While the clone's behavior is lampshaded to likely have been a last ditch effort from When Doves Cry, it's still one of the creepiest parts of the arc."Onodera": It's okay. We're together again. I'm so happy...
- The other creepy moment is how in Fubuki's trance, he sees his younger self, but in funeral clothes and hanging from a noose, appearing to be sleeping. It gets creepier when he suddenly comes alive with white skin, red eyes full of hate and sorrow, and Tears of Blood. It reveals itself to have been a detatched part of Fubuki's trauma from the death of Shinichi, and seems to be the one in charge of When Doves Cry (and is implied to be the one who summoned the Onodera water clone when he senses Josuke). The creepiness escalates as "Fubuki's younger self" gradually speaks more monstrously and demonically, beckoning Fubuki to kill himself. He goes as far as to forcibly have the noose next to him hook onto Fubuki when he tries to resist. The demonic behavior peaks when "Fubuki's younger self" has a brief Villainous Breakdown once Fubuki feels Josuke's touch, screaming and even foaming blood at the mouth until Fubuki frees him as well. While even he comes around as the scene ends, everything beforehand manages to be pretty damn creepy in tandem with the tension of the arc up to then.
"Young Fubuki": You're getting closer…! It'll be all over…! You'll never wake up! - Also during the When Doves Cry arc is the entrance of the water clone of Dio. His appearance is quickly foreshadowed by Okuyasu falling down from the stairs with knives in his chest, then Okuyasu's recollection of what he saw beforehand. Finally, clapping is heard from above the stairs; reintroducing the series' most iconic Big Bad in an intimidating manner, complete with the setting mirroring Polnareff's encounter with him from Stardust Crusaders. It's a moment that can easily be accompanied by Dio's Leitmotif from it. Jotaro identifying him is also a terrifying Wham Line for Josuke and his friends, as they're now seeing the man responsible for some of the things they've seen up to that point after only hearing mention of him and his heinous actions."Dio": I don't know how I got here all the way from Egypt…But I'm glad to see a couple of familiar faces… Isn't that right, Jotaro?
(...)
Jotaro: He can't be here, he's supposed to be dead. I've already killed Dio a long time ago.
Josuke: Wait?! That's Dio?!
Koichi: The same guy who put a flesh bud in Mr. Nijimura which turned him into a monster?!
Okuyasu: What?!- Despite the pre-established information that water clones aren't as strong as their original counterparts, the Dio clone is still just as dangerous as when Dio was alive, as the Dio clone vows to set his sights on Josuke, Okuyasu and Koichi once Jotaro's out of the way. Jotaro immediately ordered the three to run for a damn good reason given his experience with Dio, as Koichi's recollection of water clones being weaker is nearly proven deadly wrong by a knife to the neck that would have been fatal had Jotaro not stopped time so that it only grazed him.
"Dio": I don't know how these children knew so much about me… but I'll take care of them after I deal with you, Jotaro.
Jotaro: Get out of here, you three! Dio's far stronger than all of you!
Koichi: But, Jotaro, this isn't the real Dio! He's just a water clone--- Finally, as Jotaro and the Kakyoin clone deal with him, the Dio clone also proves to be just as crafty as the original Dio despite not being able to stop time. He manages to set off threads from the Kakyoin clone's Hierophant barrier to trick the two first, and then trick the barrier into attacking Jotaro as the Kakyoin clone gets ambushed by Dio soon after. Jotaro spends the rest of the arc fighting the Dio clone, and while he was able to destroy him, even he wishes he didn't have to fight Dio again.
- Fubuki's supernatural predisposition combined with his presence in the burned Kurosawa manor accidentally awakens some furious spirits of past werewolves in chapter 64, which results in a terrifying Near-Death Experience for Fubuki. First Fubuki collapses from the uneasy feeling he has, and his glasses fall off. As though it were the will of the werewolf spirits, the glasses end up landing inside the old werewolf cage where the Kurosawas locked their werewolves in, which Fubuki climbs into to retrieve while Norisuke and Rohan aren't looking. Once he's fully inside, the cage slams shut, with Norisuke unable to get it open. The cage then becomes shrouded in darkness like a void, and closely resembling the Ghost Alley hands, long, shadowy hands of the spirits appear to try to pull Fubuki into it (also pulling Purple Rain out of him as well) as their angry voices ring out. When Fubuki manages to keep a tight grip, a ghostly wolf head appears so it can swallow him whole. Just like with Koichi in the Ghost Alley, it's only thanks to Rohan that Fubuki is able to survive. Unlike how Koichi is ejected from the Alley though, the werewolf spirits are not happy, as they express outrage at losing their victim before fading away. It's little wonder when even Rohan chooses to never come back to the place following the encounter."This smell… this is a stench of a Kurosawa...!"
"I can smell a Zeppeli in him too…!"
"Tear him apart! His scent is not welcome here!"
"Kill him! KILL HIM! He must pay for his ancestors' wickedness!"
Bizarre Christmas of 1999
- While a mild example compared to the ones from the main story, Alternate Rohan and Mikitaka's part of the mission to keep Kira distracted at the front door manages to be incredibly tense, since the reader and these versions of the characters have the prior foresight that Kira's a serial killer with an extremely dangerous Stand, and they're going up to him for the very first time knowing that. It gets especially tense when Kira begins to suspect something is wrong when he drops the coin into the donation can Mikitaka transformed part of himself into. Even Rohan starts to get worried when he has to start stalling for more time.Kira: (If he was collecting money, there should have been the sound of several more coins. That donation can's actually empty...)
(...)
Rohan: This won't take long… hopefully. (Hurry, Fubuki, I'm having bad vibes here.)
