Fanfic / The Ice Queen Cometh

The Ice Queen Cometh is a Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL Alternate Universe Fic written by Nox Barian.

The fanfiction starts off at the point before the beginning of canon when IV (Quattro in the English Dub) attacked Shark and Rio Kamishiro and burned one of them alive. However, while it was Rio who was burned in canon, Shark is the one who gets burned in this fanfiction, which basically causes the twins to switch roles. Rio takes her brother's place as one of the main character in comparison to the very minor and under used role she had in canon. She becomes the main protagonist alongside Yuma Tsukumo and gains the same desire for vengeance against IV, all the while she is roped into the Number Monster Conflict and starts collecting Numbers of her own.

However, the changes that created this Alternate Timeline don't stop there! OH NO! The author further expands the story by having the Seven Barian Emperors make their move early. Instead of waiting until the start of Season Two to make their presence known, they travel to Earth and end up participating in the World Duel Carnival, which basically results in Season One and Season Two of ZEXAL being combined into one large overlapping story where the excitement is at its peak and Anything Goes!

While the other Barians are off hunting for Numbers, The Barian Emperor, Durbe has a second mission, to find and reunite with the two missing Barian Emperors, Nasch and Merag, and once he bumps into Rio, he immediately notices a resemblance and believes that Rio is actually Merag. He sets out to see if this is true by forming an alliance with her in the Number Hunting Crusade, which begins to develop into the main romantic pairing of the story.

Since Jul 19, 2018, updates on the story had stopped. Then, nearly five years later after seeming to be a Dead Fic, on July 1st, 2023, the author posted a message announcing his intention to rewrite the story.

On July 8th, 2023, the first chapter of the rewrite was posted and can be found here.

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This fic provides examples of:

• Action Girl: Rio, nuff said as she finally gets to show her stuff in this fic in contrast to the anime.
  • Kotori, Cat and Anna also qualify.
• Adaptation Distillation: The majority of the fic's events are set during the events of the anime's World Duel Carnival arc, but with elements from the Barian arc added in to reflect the Barian Emperors' earlier involvement in the story.
• Adaptational Badass: Besides Rio (obviously), there are various examples in this fic.
  • One major example is Kotori who goes from being a simple cheerleader in canon to a fairly competent duelist in her own right.
  • Yuma also becomes a much more capable duelist than he was in the anime, as a result of him using his other Numbers as well as him realizing that the more he uses Utopia, the more people are going to know how to fight back against him.
• Adaptational Backstory Change: Several details throughout have changed, though some characters moreso, particularly in the backstory of ZEXAL's overall lore.
  • Eliphas in canon was said to have been a creation of the Astral World itself to act as its will. In this story, he was an already-existing member of the Astral beings who was also a disciple of the Numeron Dragon alongside Don Thousand, chosen to master the power of Order. Thus, he grew into his canon role rather than being created for it. His hatred of Chaos is also recontextualized; not because of his status as a being of Order, but because of the trauma of the war against Don Thousand.
  • Astral gets one of the more significant changes. In canon, he was also a creation of the Astral World, attributed to Eliphas as a being to take on the power of the Numbers. In this story, like Eliphas, Astral was merely another resident of the Astral World, with confirmed family, losing his parents, who died to Don Thousand's powers. The role of taking on the Numbers is thus treated as a supersoldier program he volunteered for rather than being made for, and instead of Kazuma directing him to Yuma, Number 100: Numeron Dragon, does so instead.
• Adaptational Heroism: The Over-Hundred Numbers. While they're nothing more than the an extension of Don Thousand's corruption towards the Seven Barian Emperors in canon, in this fic however they are depicted as having a mutual connection to their respective Barian Emperor in addition to being sentiment beings themselves. The only exception shown seems to be Tachyon as he frequently gives death threats to Misael should things not go the way he wants.
  • Dr. Faker also shows to be more remorseful from the get-go in contrast to only showing it later towards his defeat in canon.
  • In canon, Don Thousand was a Card-Carrying Villain, a prime example of Chaos Is Evil. In this story's backstory, he used to be much kinder, and according to Eliphas, playful, before the Numeron Dragon assigned him to master the power of Chaos, a thankless role that he hated and saw him shunned by his people. This ultimately drove him insane, his power corrupted him, and he declared war on the people of the Astral World. Though still obviously a villain, he's more of a posthumous Tragic Villain with this context.
• Adaptational Intelligence: Tetsuo is more cautious about IV from the get-go compared to the blind worship he had of him during canon (until IV reveals his true colors), considering his backstory with Rio this is a given.
  • Yuma is also shown to be less stubborn and more willing to think through his duels compared to the anime.
• Adaptational Villainy: Downplayed. While Rio wasn't exactly the nicest person as Merag in canon, she was still a rather heroic person. Her drive for revenge here has made her much colder and harsher, making her seem like a Pragmatic Hero or an Unscrupulous Hero with her loyalty to Barian World the only thing that keeps her from Nominal Hero status.
  • Tron/Byron Arclight lacks the redeeming qualities he had in canon with his worst traits turned up to eleven. To top it all of he doesn't even receive a Heel–Face Turn as he did in canon and dies alone as as a mere shell of his former self.
  • Anna gets a very minor version, considering that she bullied Yuma when they were children, and Yuma is still afraid of her.
  • Astral in this story's backstory. In canon, he was a deliberate creation of Eliphas meant to take on the power of the Numbers until Kazuma interfered with his programming and sent him to Yuma. In this story, Astral was merely another resident of the Astral World, who grew hateful and vengeful against the Barian World for killing his parents, to the point of volunteering for the super-soldier program to bring him into his canon role.
• Adaptational Wimp: Zig-zagged with Tetsuo. On one hand, his moment of glory against Dark Mist in canon is instead taken up by Kotori, but on the other hand his duel against IV was a lot more impressive than it was in canon by virtue of him being cautious of IV from the get-go (thanks to his friendship with Rio).
  • The ZEXAL power itself suffers this, due to the author trying to tone down its Deus ex Machina tendencies. Its first use against a Dark Mist-possessed Kotori gets shut down by a card effect, and then Yuma and Astral are unable to activate it in the Duel against Merag. In Astral's Duel against Eliphas, however, Astral is in a position to win without ZEXAL, but chooses to use it anyway to illustrate a point.
  • In canon, Black Mist, when empowered by Chaos energy, nearly succeeded in destroying all three worlds, with his duel against Yuma and Astral appropriately reflecting his increased strength. Here, he never gets to that level of power; the first time said form is utilized, it is adapted as a further-corrupted form of Kotori while under his control, and the outcome of the duel weakens Black Mist greatly. The second time, the form properly appears, but only as an upgrade Number 43 gave him, and though Black Mist puts up a good fight, he is ultimately defeated by both ZEXAL and Kotori working together, rather than a full-powered ZEXAL II form. He also fails to pull a Taking You with Me moment as in canon; the duel drains what's left of his strength and Number 43 kills Black Mist for his failure.
• Adapted Out: Takashi, Tokunosuke, Fuya, Droite, and Gauche have not appeared at all in the fic.
  • The Duel Coaster section is also absent, as the author considered it a waste of time.
  • The Gate of Numeron Cards. In canon, Number 4 Stealth Kraken, Number 3, Cicada King, Number 2, Shadow Mosquito Ninja, and Number 1 Infection Buzz King were fake Numbers created by Don Thousand, while the Gate of Numeron monsters were the real Numbers One, Two, Three, and Four. However in this story, the Gate of Numeron cards don't exist and the above mentioned Numbers are indeed real.
• Age Lift: The characters are stated to be older than they are in canon, one example being Rio depicted as 16-years old instead of 14.
• And I Must Scream: The fate of anyone turned into a mannequin and having their soul absorbed by Number 43 Manipulator of Souls.
• And Then What?: Merag asks this to Tron after defeating him, using this question to punctuate how different their quests for vengeance are as Merag says that while she has something worth fighting for and to go back to, Tron on the other hand has nothing.
• Ascended Extra: Many examples, due to the shuffling and expansion of characters/events. Rio being the most prominent example due to her promotion as a main protagonist.
  • Kotori turns from being Yuma's cheerleader to being a highly skilled duelist in her own right. Her character and her relationship with Yuma is also fleshed out more and she even becomes one of the antagonists upon being possessed by Dark Mist.
  • The Barian Emperors play a much larger role than they had in the anime, by virtue of them taking up action with their Number Hunting a lot earlier. Durbe in particular gets this treatment the most as he effectively serves as Rio's Lancer and later Love Interest.
  • Number 43: Manipulator of Souls went from just being a generic Number monster in the anime to being one of the fic's main antagonists alongside Dark Mist and Vector.
• Asshole Victim: Carrion. As cruel as it was for Kotori to murder him in cold blood, from what little was shown about the guy, he clearly had it coming.
• The Atoner: Kaito shows shades this, much earlier than in canon. After his loss to Misael and Durbe, combined with a "The Reason You Suck" Speech, he creates a new Photon Hand that will allow him to continue hunting Numbers without taking the soul.
• Ax-Crazy: Vector, IN SPADES!
• Berserk Button: Shark has this when he is under the impression that Rio is in danger, ESPECIALLY if he thinks Rio is doing any "funny business" with a boy. Played for Laughs during Chapter 22.
  • Durbe is normally the most calm and level headed of the Seven Barian Emperors, but if anyone harms Rio, his berserk button goes off like a nuclear bomb.
  • The best way to trigger the Berserk Button of Number 96 is to call him a coward. If there is one thing he hates more than Astral, it's being called a coward.
  • Anna's Berserk Button can be triggered for just about any reason but it's mainly Played for Laughs.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Number 96. He is under the false impression that he is The Strongest Number and worth being called a God. When in reality he is merely being used by Number 43 as a scapegoat and as a pawn in his plans. After being defeated by a ZEXAL-empowered Yuma and Astral, Number 43 gives Number 96 a very brutal reality check.
  • Tron can also be classified as this especially after being given a Curb-Stomp Battle by Merag in Chapter 38
• Big Brother Instinct: Shark/Nasch as per canon, even with the roles reversed he's still very overprotective when it comes to matters involving his sister. Said over-protectiveness is even how Number 43 was able to manipulate him into trying to murder Durbe after experiencing the shock of what his sister had become.
  • Then there's also Kaito and the Arclight brothers towards Haruto and their younger brothers respectively as per canon.
  • Gilag is also one for Alito, considering how angry he was when Alito was attacked by Dark Kotori.
• Big Damn Kiss: Rio and Durbe have one in Chapter 10.
  • Yuma and Kotori have one in Chapter 36.
• Break the Cutie: After Kotori is freed from Number 96, she mentally shuts down from PTSD. Thankfully Yuma helps her with this.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Durbe in flashbacks. Despite there being several moments for him and Merag to get intimate with one another, he bolts out before things can progress any further much to Merag's dismay.
• The Chessmaster: Number 43: Manipulator of Souls, considering his strategy with his plans and how he frequently makes chess analogies when explaining his plans. He is a villain who lives up to his name.
• Continuity Nod: While the duels of ZEXAL in canon are mostly dominated by Xyz Monsters, the author makes an effort to have some characters use more classic cards and different summoning techniques in the fic to give the duels more variety. Examples include Tetsuo and V using Synchro Monsters and Anna and Kaito using Fusion Monsters.
• Cool Big Sis: Rio is one for Kotori, having taught her how to duel as well as trying her hardest to push her and Yuma together. Even after regaining her memories as Merag, she still has a soft spot for her, and honestly wants Yuma to purge Number 96 from Kotori.
• Curbstomp Battle: Rio delivers one to III and IV following her return from the Barian World and regaining her memories as Merag. She would later go on to give another one to Tron.
• Darker and Edgier: Compared to the original canon. While the original canon glosses over the war between the Astral and Barian Worlds with its Black-and-White Morality, this fic on the other hand emphasizes that War Is Hell via its Gray-and-Gray Morality.
  • In addition more dark imagery is displayed throughout the fic, mainly in the form of Number 96 and Number 43's actions.
• A Day in the Limelight: Chapter 41 is primarily focused on Astral and his backstory, as well as his Duel with Eliphas in the present.
• Death by Adaptation: Don Thousand is explicitly stated to have perished long before the events of the fic, with Word of God confirming he won't be appearing in the fic at all. He is mentioned however, and remains as a Greater-Scope Villain in the story due to his part in the series' backstory.
• Demoted to Extra:
  • Shark, naturally considering the fic's premise.
  • With most of Yuma's canon duels left off-screen, Astral also qualifies to some extent.
• Embodiment of Virtue: Yuma's Number 39 Hope/Utopia and Rio's Number 21 Frozen Lady Justice.
• Electric Torture: Rio engages in this as soon as she unlocks her Barian powers and her desire for vengeance increases.
  • Number 43 gets the opportunity to do this in Chapter 35 to Number 96.
• Evil Costume Switch: Kotori changes to a more seductive and alluring attire after her possession by Dark Mist.
• Evil Laugh: Many examples. They usually happen at the end of a cliffhanger chapter when one of the villains have the upper hand during a duel. People who most notably get the opportunity to do so include Vector, Number 96, Number 43, Tron, and even Kotori.
• Evil Counterpart: Kotori's Demon Bird deck that she uses while under Dark Mist's control to her Storm Warrior deck.
• Facial Horror: The author found the canon reveal of Tron's facial disfigurement to be "not only anticlimactic, but just plain silly". Instead, the fic opts to have the left side of his face be replaced by red Barian crystals in the rough shape of a skull, a la Two-Face.
• Fish out of Water: Durbe in Chapter 4. When Rio invites him to watch a movie with her, he admits that he has never heard of what a movie is, having to make a lie about his background to save grace. When he does watch one however, the premise of the movie causes him to run out in embarrassment.
• For Want Of A Nail: The premise of the fic itself, at first, is that Shark got burned instead of Rio, and the Barians got involved much sooner. However, later chapters show several major changes to the backstory as well, slowly taking it out of this territory.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Rio ends up doing this many times throughout the story, especially when she is dueling or angry.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Don Thousand is this, due to suffering from Death by Adaptation; having legitimately perished in his duel with Astral, aside from a sliver of his power, which, as in canon, took on the form of Number 96. Likewise, his actions that necessitated the creation of the Barian World in the first place ensure that he still maintains influence in the story's backstory and present-day.
• The High Queen: Rio/Merag was this in her past life, leading her fellow Barians into battle and refusing to cooperate with Vector's Axe-Crazy schemes.
• Hopeless Suitor: Just like in canon, Tetsuo towards Rio even though the latter only sees him as a good friend.
• How Do I Shot Web?: The power of ZEXAL comes from Order, and so Yuma and Astral are unable to activate while in the Chaos-filled Barian Sphere Field duel against Merag.
• An Ice Person: Rio, as per canon. Much of her deck, and her first Number, is also based around ice.
• Iron Lady: Rio becomes this upon regaining her memories of Merag and was also this in the past.
• I Have Your Wife: Semimaru does this with Anna in order to get Alito and Yuma to duel him.
• I Miss Mom: Yu-Gi-Oh, along with many other shonen anime, is infamous for at least one or more of the main characters having Parental Abandonment due to their death or non-existence, but the author expands on Kaito's backstory by giving his mother a true character identity, Hikari Tenjo, who tragically died of cancer before the events of the story.
• Knight Templar: Eliphas, as per canon.
• Lady and Knight: Rio and Durbe have this dynamic after their Relationship Upgrade.
• Lady of War: Rio, befitting her title as the Ice Queen. Exaggerated once she regains her memories of Merag.
• Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: Alito in regards to Yuma, as even though it's clear that fighting Yuma when he's at his lowest point (after his near-loss to Kaito) would be a cakewalk, he refuses to do so and instead lifts Yuma's spirits back up even though he knows he's the enemy because Alito wants to fight Yuma honorably when Yuma is at his best.
  • Once Yuma finds out that Alito is a Barian, the two agree to duel the next day to settle things once and for all.
• Love at First Sight: Alito gets this when he first runs into Kotori as in canon. Later on he experiences the same thing upon meeting Anna, but this one seems to stick.
• Manipulative Bastard: Number 43 Manipulator of Souls. Nuff Said. The trope is literally in his name.
• My Sister Is Off-Limits: Shark, see Big Brother Instinct above.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Yuma points out that Eliphas isn't acting much different than Don Thousand, obsessing over a type of power and considering everyone who opposes it to be worse than scum.
• Official Couple: Rio and Durbe, Yuma and Kotori, Alito and Anna.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Dr. Faker. The author is 100% sure that Faker is not his real name, so he decided to correct that by inventing a name for him. In this fic, Dr. Faker's real name is Hayate Tenjo, but the other characters still only refer to him by his nickname.
• Pie in the Face: Vector demonstrates his twisted sense of humor by invoking this trope in Chapter 44, only he uses cakes instead of pies.
• Possession Burnout: Unlike most of the characters from the previous series who act like everything is okay after being brainwashed/mind controlled, Kotori is not someone who can immediately recover from her ordeal of being possessed by Number 96.
• Take That!: When Yuma uses Rainbow Kuriboh to halt Ragna Infinity's attack, Merag scoffs at the sight of it before sarcastically asking if it's going to teach her that Friendship is Magic or hover around her and shout "Hey! Listen!"
• Sealed Good in a Can: Number 100, owing to the actions of Number 43 weakening him greatly.
• Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: In chapter 40, Merag calls Yuma out on his belief that he can bring peace to both Barian World and Astral World, citing that it's basically a fool's dream...
  • Silly Rabbit, Cynicism Is for Losers!: ...causing Yuma to shout back that although the odds are in fact stacked against him, he will take the risk and chance to get the best outcome now rather than wait or give up since he has faith in himself. As it turns, Yuma was right in this regard as his chance taking was rewarded.
  • Astral does much the same thing to Eliphas in their Duel.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Misael holds this in regard to Kaito, given their arch rival relationship.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Rio/Merag gives a lot of these as the fic goes along. Notable examples include:
  • In Chapter 26
  Rio/Merag (after hearing III/Michael saying he'd do anything for Tron): Anything? Interesting. Is Tron your father?
  III: I am not allowed to tell you that.
  Rio/Merag: I will take that as a yes. Tell me, if your father told you to jump off a cliff, would you do it?
  III: WHAT?!
  Rio/Merag:Or perhaps if he told you that burning down an orphanage full of children would save your family, would you do it?
  III: I...I...NO...
  Rio/Merag: And why not? Tron must have told IV to set my brother on fire, so why not more victims? Why didn't you join in? If you think what happened to my brother was wrong, then why didn't you try to stop your brother from doing it? If you can actually sleep at night knowing that you could have stopped them from doing such a thing, then you are just as much of a monster as they are.
  (sometime later)
  Rio/Merag: You say you have no choice III? Don't make me laugh. Everyone has a choice! I made the choice to destroy my humnaity to save my home from people like you, and you made your choice to do nothing while your brother and your father hurt my brother and then kidnapped him and turned him into your little slave! You made your bed, III, and now you're going to sleep in it!
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Rio's desire for vengeance against IV for hurting Shark. However, soon after she becomes Merag again, she abandons it in favor of going after Tron, seeing IV as merely a puppet. She even motivates IV to have a Calling the Old Man Out speech against Tron.
  • Durbe also loses it when Kaito defeats Rio and takes her soul, albeit temporarily since Durbe manages to recover her soul.
  • Gilag loses it and swears revenge when Alito is found severely injured after being attacked by a possessed Kotori
  • Anna goes on a revenge rampage of her own for the same reason as Gilag and gains her own Number Monster in the process.
• She Who Fights Monsters: Rio becomes increasingly brutal overtime in the midst of her vengeance against IV, to the point she was even close to attempting to murder him and III upon her return from the Barian World. Thankfully Durbe snaps her out of it and her rage is slightly toned down by the time she and IV duel in the World Duel Carnival finals. Slightly being the key word.
• She Will Come for Me: Kotori in Chapter 11. As opposed to Tetsuo in canon, Kotori is the one who has to rescue Yuma during Number 96's first appearance. Unfortunately, even though she wins the duel and defeats Number 96, the duel becomes a Pyrrhic Victory since Number 96 hitches a ride inside her body immediately afterwards which results in her possession a few chapters later
• Taken for Granite: The fate of any duel monster that goes up against Gorgonic Guardian.
• Transformation of the Possessed: Kotori activating Rank Up Magic Barian's Force and using it on Number 96 results in a Power-Upgrading Deformation. She fuses with Dark Mist and effectively becomes a One-Winged Angel as she takes on an appearance identical to the body upgrade Number 96 received in his canon duel against Astral.
• Tsundere: Anna, given her past relationship with Yuma and her current relationship with Alito.
• Undying Loyalty: The Barian Emperors (save for Vector) towards Nasch and Merag, but Durbe takes this up a notch with his complete and utter to devotion to Merag.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: Rio/Merag is this for Durbe
  • Kotori is also this for Yuma.
• Villainous Breakdown: Tron starts off calm in the beginning, but becomes increasingly angry and borderline maniacal as the World Duel Carnival progresses and his plans fail one after the other. By the time he has to duel Merag in the semifinals, he is on the last edge of his sanity, and when Merag gives him a Curb-Stomp Battle and continues to scold him non stop for his actions, which further reinforces that all of his actions have been for nothing, he completely breaks down and snaps.
• War Is Hell: Merag points this out in Chapter 39 when she shares bits of her past to Yuma and Astral.
• We Used to Be Friends: Rio and Yuma. While initially friendly and respectful towards one another, the fact that they chose different sides in the war between The Astral World and The Barian World results in Rio becoming increasingly hostile towards him as the fic goes along. By the time she regains her memories as Merag, she pretty much sees Yuma as nothing more than an enemy. Chapter 39 reveals that despite this, Merag still treasured the time she and Yuma were friends and even expresses a shame that they have to fight.
• Wham Line: Courtesy of Rio in Chapter 25.
  Rio: Don't call me Rio anymore. My name is Merag, Queen of the Barian World.
• Yandere: Kotori starts behaving this way towards Yuma after Number 96 possesses her.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Eliphas and Merag have identical reactions to Rainbow Kuriboh.
• Your Soul Is Mine!: Number 43 Manipulator of Souls. Once again, the trope is literally in his name.
  • Kaito practices this until after Chapter 10 when he becomes The Atoner.