Fanfic / Kaleidoscope

Imagine a world where monsters lurk around every corner. Not the sort you would hear about on the news, no. Horrors beyond what Hollywood can give you. Things that fester in the darkness of this planet and feed on all that is good. Things that can devour you before you can so much as blink. And things that could do much, much worse than merely killing you.

What if I tell you that you don’t really need to imagine? You are living in that world, this very moment. I thought you should know. It’s only fair play, isn't it? But there’s no need to be frightened. Because every day, there are people heading out to the streets, fighting those monsters, to keep you all safe.

I’m one of those.

My name is Victor Nikiforov. I’m twenty-seven. I’m a student at a private university for international insufferable spoiled brats with more money than sense. In my free time, I’m also Nike. Champion of strength, speed, and victory. Multiple-time savior of St. Petersburg, Moscow, and right now? Tokyo.

And this is the story of how I died.

Kaleidoscope is a crossover fanfic between Yuri!!! on Ice and Sera Myu (and also Sailor Moon in general). Written by honeyedgold and hosted on Archive of Our Own, available here. There is also a collection of side stories.

The premise is that the skaters, in this universe, are actually Agents fighting evil à la Magical Girl Warriors. They are organized by an Agency that provides guidance to Guardians around the world. Their opponents is usually the garden-variety Earth-grown Monster of the Week... until a dangerous new force arrives, seeking the Red Rose. The most powerful guardian gem on this godforsaken planet. Will Victor - Nike - and his partner, Katsuki Yuuri - Eros - be up to the challenge?

Spoiler note: This page is continually updated by the author as she thinks of tropes that are applicable to the fic, which includes chapters that have not been updated yet. Those tropes will be hidden under spoiler tags. No promises that there won't be any stray trope, though. As this is a work in progress, plot points are still subject to change as well.

---

Tropes in the modern-day storyline:

Tropes A-F

• Abusive Parents: Katerina is a My Beloved Smother and Knight Templar Parent, who took Victor away from the magical world and tried to nip every connection he has with it in the bud, ranging from sealing his powers to preventing him from consuming any kind of media that has magic in case it gave him ideas. She does not hit him, but her emotional abuse left deep scars in Victor's psyche. As of the start of the fic, Katerina and Victor mutually consider the other as good as dead.
• Achilles' Heel: Each monster have these. Once they're struck and damaged enough, the monster will immediately turn into blue goop.
• Action Girl: Any female Agent. We don't see any in action but Minako is scary with Dual Wielding per Victor.
• Adapted Out: Vicchan doesn't exist in this universe.
• Adults Are Useless:
  • Victor had zero development of his powers because Katerina tried to prevent him from becoming an Agent, and even went so far as to place a seal on him, which fortunately didn't take because she didn't know Galina could spot a seal from miles away.
• Affectionate Nickname: Vitya for Victor, which in canon only Yakov uses. Justified in that per this AU, Victor is fluent in Japanese and Yuuri in Russian thanks to the gift of tongues common to Agents. Galina also calls him Viten'ka.
• All for Nothing: Doubling with Senseless Sacrifice. An unnamed senior Agent at D-Point sealed himself and two junior Agents in a room in order to protect them from the Hate Plague. Eros implies that it turned into Alone with the Psycho in short order.
• Alliterative Name: Celestino Cialdini.
• all lowercase letters: Every single title - main fic, side stories, even chapter names - are in lowercase.
• Always Identical Twins: Played straight with the Nishigori triplets, who look very similar to one another aside from a couple of distinguishing points.
• Amicable Exes: Yakov and Lilia. They're no longer a couple, but they still respect each other as professionals.
• And Then John Was a Zombie: Poor Yuuri. Overlaps with Reforged into a Minion as well, since Eros is stronger than Yuuri ever was, and with Psychic Powers to boot.
• Answer Cut:
  • A minor example, since the characters were already discussing it beforehand, but Phichit asks whether he'd get to try the world-famous Yu-topia katsudon. The very next word is Hiroko's name - the person who definitely would make sure Phichit had katsudon.
  • Yurio tempts fate by asking Eros how he intended to win a one-versus-four battle. Cut to Victor crossing the room and joining Eros, admittedly not by his own will, and it became a two-versus-three Curb-Stomp Battle, with a Near-Villain Victory.
• Apocalypse How: The villains attempt a Class 0 - only those that resist colonization will be killed.
• Apologetic Attacker: Victor apologizes to Yuuri in his mind before killing Eros.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: The villains are led by an Empress (her Sailor Moon equivalent being Queen Metallia).
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: When there's a vacancy, the best Agent in a certain region will get Kicked Upstairs to be the Handler. This happened to Minako when Yuuri was transferred to Tokyo after graduation. Agents' aim is to be the one that gets Kicked Upstairs rather than dying on the job or retiring - this is a major source of conflict between Victor and Yuri, who are both strong contenders for Yakov's replacement. Yuri is upset his Worthy Opponent Victor seemingly gave up and ran away to Tokyo after his fiancé, and gets even more upset when Victor lets slip that the thought of retirement crossed his mind.
• Attack Its Weak Point: Agents' tactic for taking down monsters basically boils down to beat the thing up until you find the Achilles' Heel, then beat that up until the Giant Space Flea from Nowhere turns into goo.
• Author Appeal: The author grew up with Sailor Moon - it being her first fandom - and was attracted to the concept of crossing Yuri!!! on Ice with it because of the Cast Full of Pretty Boys, the embrace of femininity and gender fluidity, outrageous sparkly costumes, among other things. Concept art for the fic was commissioned specifically with the style of Naoko Takeuchi in mind for the willowy, long-legged look with soft colors.
• Ax-Crazy: Where do we even start with Eros... Because of his slim build and distaste for getting his hands dirty, he doesn’t get physically violent a lot. When he does, it’s to devastating effect. He has an unpredictable Hair-Trigger Temper, an affinity for tantrums and Disproportionate Retribution, and is a Card-Carrying Villain of a Soft-Spoken Sadist.
• The Baby of the Bunch: Technically, Yuri is this, but Victor is the only one who jokingly calls him little kitten. Otherwise, he's given equal treatment since he's a graduated Agent with ample experience under his belt.
• Back from the Dead: Hi there, Victuuri! Also, since the Agents' spirits are self-contained in their gems, this is the default every time an Agent dies. They keep winding up with their past lives' gems each cycle.
• Back Story: Ah, the tragedy of Princes Aenar and Lyan. The heroes' current backgrounds are also discussed.
• Badass Family: The Nishigoris are likely to shape up to be this, once the triplets fully develop their powers and get proper training. Whether Axel, Lutz, and Loop opt to be Agents is still up to them, though.
• Bag of Holding: Agents are equipped with these.
• Ballroom Blitz: The masquerade that the heroes infiltrated quickly turned into this.
• Battle Couple: Eros and Nike. Yes, even after doses of Kill and Replace + Brainwashed and Crazy.
• Beat the Curse Out of Him: One character gets out of being Brainwashed and Crazy via a Tap on the Head, and another via Murder-Suicide with Impaled with Extreme Prejudice In the Back.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished:
  • Agents are equipped with regenerators to heal minor wounds (cuts and scrapes only), and some teams with a Combat Medic can have this. Anything major/infected/involving poison means teleport that one back to base to be seen to.
• Berserk Button:
  • Don't imply or tell Yuuri he's worthless. While you're at it, don't insult Yuuri within earshot of Victor, either.
  • Don't mention retirement around Victor, if you know what's good for you.
• Bigger on the Inside: Any given Agency headquarters, especially the original.
• Big Bad: The Empress.
• Big Damn Heroes: Five Agents. The personification of the balance between good and evil, down in the holding cells. A shapeless energy entity intent on dominating the world, plus a whole Monster from Beyond the Veil army. Guess who wins.
• Big "NO!": Victor screamed this at Yuuri’s death.
• Big "WHAT?!": Yuri's reaction at the announcement of his new nickname.
• Black Eyes of Evil: Replicas have these, and once they're activated it's Red Eyes, Take Warning.
• Blatant Lies: "That was such a blatant attempt at lying even Victor saw through it."
• Bloodless Carnage: When Eros was impaled, there's no blood, possibly because of Bizarre Alien Biology.
• Blood from the Mouth: Yuuri upon Taking the Bullet for Victor.
• Book Ends: The fic opens and ends with Victor/Yuuri Breaking the Fourth Wall to deliver almost identical speeches to the audience, and being interrupted by the other.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Yuuri seemed like this, but is actually a case of Came Back Wrong. Victor is a straight example.
• Breaking the Fellowship: Gold-One is broken up by Yuuri's death and Victor's resignation. Well, technically, the remaining three still operated under that callsign, but the team is not the same afterwards.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Victor opens the fic by addressing the readers directly, and then Yuuri does the same in the last chapter.
• Broken Tears: Victor cried like this twice - at the death of a character, and when he had just had a dream involving that character.
• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl:
  • Downplayed; Yuuri (as the former) and Victor (as the latter) share this dynamic.
  • A similarly downplayed example: Erin is the former (despite being the Red Oni, she has to deal with her past trauma and present plot struggles) and Maaya is the latter.
• By the Power of Grayskull!: Averted, oddly enough. The Agents simply focus on their power gems and transform in a flash of light. May be justified by the fact that this allows them to shapeshift with stealth.
• Calling Your Attacks: Almost a given, per the Magical Girl genre.
• Calling the Old Woman Out: Victor gives Katerina a verbal smackdown nearly a decade in the making.
• Catapult Nightmare: Yuuri, after traumatic incidents of Dreaming of Times Gone By.
• Cannot Spit It Out:
  • Yuuri tends to do this a lot. He either sits and stews over his issues, or skirts around stating things outright.
  • Victor skates circles around the issue of why he puts up with Eros.
• The Casanova: Victor. Chris is just one among his list of past romantic involvements, though they are Amicable Exes. Once he met Yuuri, he turned into Ladykiller in Love after a liberal dose of Love at First Sight.
• Cast Full of Pretty Boys: Where Sailor Moon is full of pretty girls, the fic is the opposite. Emphasis is still placed, however, on the gender fluidity of Victor, Yuuri, and Yuri.
• Casual Kink: Since in this AU Victor and Yuuri are in an established relationship, canonical hints towards BDSM is amplified into this. Victor is more open to hinting about it in public (he did, after all, kiss Yuuri's skate at the Rostelecom Cup. After Yuuri pulled a Necktie Leash on his coach-boyfriend on international television.) Went into Bondage Is Bad at great speed regarding Eros, though it can be argued that Eros doesn't give a crap about Safe, Sane, and Consensual.
• Cape Swish: Apparently Eros owes this trope money. Word Of God is that the author is enamored with Tuxedo Mask's copious swishes.
• Central Theme: Fate, destiny, and expectations.
  • The three main characters all defy expectations in some way. Victor, who is “overdue for retirement” but is still going strong as one of the most skilled Agents of his time, on his way to becoming a Living Legend. Yuuri, who is the first pyromancer in the field for the past two centuries, who no one thought anything much of and bet on him washing out of training. Yuri is the youngest Agent ever to graduate, and set to handily break Victor’s records as the champion of Moscow.
  • Victor and Yuuri have the spectre of their Reincarnation Romance looming over them. Their previous life had ended in betrayal and tragedy, but Yuuri subverted it by giving his life for Victor and Victor subverted it by finally breaking free of his grief for Yuuri and killing the Replica. Their friends cinched it by putting up a fight against their enemies and, eventually, pulling a Heroic Sacrifice to bring them back.
• Child Soldiers: Any Agent under the age of 18, with Yuri Plisetsky being the youngest ever (he graduated at 14).
• Children Forced to Kill: Averted. While Agents may graduate before they reach maturity, it's entirely their choice. Yuuko, for example, is a non-Active because she Refused the Call, judging that she would not be able to handle killing on a regular basis. She is far from an invocation of Stay in the Kitchen as she's still employed at the Agency as a trainer in martial arts.
• Choke Holds: Used by Victor to restrain Eros.
• The Chosen Many: At least on Earth, there are Agents scattered all around the world.
• Chromatic Arrangement: Yuuri (red/black), Victor (blue/white), Yuri (white/yellow), Phichit (yellow/red) and Chris (green/dark brown).
• Clothes Make the Legend: The Agents' transformed costumes are inspired by their skating costumes in the anime, with alterations tailored to the plot.
• Code Name: The whole team of "Inners" operate under the callsign Gold-One, but on comm channels they're referred to with their individual codenames rather than following any pattern.
• Collapsing Lair: D-Point seemingly collapses for unknown reasons, forcing the heroes to flee shortly after defeating the villains. It's a newly empowered and scared-out-of-her-mind Erin going haywire in the cells.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The Guardian gems' names follow the format of "color + flower".
• Color Motif:
  • Yuuri - red, black, and white/silver. Besides the color scheme being borrowed from Tuxedo Mask and the Eros costume, all three colors carry duality in them: Red Is Heroic, Red Is Violent, Red and Black and Evil All Over, Dark Is Not Evil, Light Is Not Good. His element is fire, which can be as destructive as it is life-giving.
  • Victor - light blue, silver, and white, befitting his ice powers and light-hearted personality. (The Cloud Cuckoo Lander element being implied by his looking like a cloud - i.e. “head in the clouds”) His eyes match all of the tropes regarding their color: Icy Blue Eyes (when angry or focused), Innocent Blue Eyes (normal mode or when he’s being particularly clueless) and Occult Blue Eyes (under More than Mind Control). He retains his color scheme after the Evil Costume Switch, but his eyes are “gunmetal gray” instead of blue, and his costume (a beige-like gray that resemble dirty, melting snow/slush) makes him look washed out and ill. His Power Gem retains the true color of his eyes, hinting at Eros’ ultimate inability to completely corrupt/control him.
  • Yuri - gold, silver, and green. If Yuuri and Victor are the red and blue roses, then Yuri is the yellow rose, which depending on interpretation can signify jealousy or friendship. His blue-green eyes stand for the Green-Eyed Monster as well. He’s jealous of Victor because of the latter’s effortless control over his powers and the fact that he made it to Living Legend status while barely trying, and of Yuuri (though he doesn’t show this often) because of how readily (in his perception) Victor abandoned Russia for Japan and Eros. Also, it may be because he has some feelings for Yuuri as well, though it’s not stated. Gold and White Are Divine comes into play as well because of his symbolism of agape. Plus, in canon, gold and silver are the only medals Yuri had won.
  • Erin - navy blue, gold, and ivory, contrasting Victor's. She's his Distaff Counterpart.
    • Maaya - maroon, gold, and ivory, contrasting Yuuri's, and matching Erin's.
• Combat Medic: Thalia serves as this for the group. He has a protecting/shielding move (Bright Reflector), a healing move (Solar Healing Sparkle), and only one attack (Gold Aurora Ribbon), compared to the rest of his team, whose moves are all on the offense side.
• Combined Energy Attack: Gold-One as a whole get their first as an 11th-Hour Superpower: Cosmic Spiral Symphony.
• Contrived Coincidence: A spaceship managed to crash into an open field and hit the Agent who was out there investigating a report of monster activity.
• Cool Big Sis: Katsuki Mari, to the considerably more uptight Yuuri.
• Cradling Your Kill: Victor to Eros.
• Create Your Own Hero: See Nice Job Fixing It, Villain for elaboration on the Empress' screw-up.
• Creature-Hunter Organization: The Agency, which is the second type (Phlebotinum-Based Hunter Organization).
• Crystal Landscape: Possibly in a Mythology Gag to Sailor Moon, this is one of the visions Yuuri briefly has.
• Cue the Sun: The sun shines over the trashed D-Point after the villains have been defeated, because the dark energy that had been covering it up had been banished.
• Curse Cut Short: The resident Sir Swears-a-Lot Yuri got tongue-tied in the middle of a F-bomb when he realized Eros had just possessed Victor.
• Culture Clash: In chapter 1, Yuuri refers to Victor using his patronymic while trying to get his attention. This is not done in Russian culture, since people typically use "first name + patronymic" for older (40+) people, teachers of one's children, someone vastly above the speaker in social status, etc. He can be forgiven for thinking it's appropriate and analogous to some Japanese suffixes. It is "Vitya!" that Victor actually responds to - the correct form of address for him, as Yuuri's fiancé and peer.
• Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Mikhail didn't walk out on his pregnant wife. He was killed in action and made an Un-person.
• Dance Battler: The three leads are trained in ballet (Yuuri by Minako, Victor and Yuri by Lilia) so this is incorporated in their fighting styles.
• Dances and Balls: The heroes infiltrate one.
• Dark Is Evil: A staple of Sailor Moon villains. Not helped by the arcs of Dark Kingdom and Black Moon being direct influences for this story. Lampshaded in the changing of Strike Inferno and Arctic Blizzard to Dark Inferno and Dark Blizzard.
  • Eros (as in, normal Yuuri) probably fits as well, since he's an aversion of Red and Black and Evil All Over.
• Darker and Edgier:
  • The premise in general. Figure skaters are now, essentially, soldiers, with a whole host of emotional and physical baggage in addition to what they have in Yuri!!! on Ice canon. Some details from the Sailor Moon universe underwent Grimmification for this fic, though it must be said that the manga has pitch-black elements compared to the 90s anime or even the musicals. Take Yuuri’s Angst over his powers for example: Spontaneous Human Combustion happened to Drones in the Black Moon arc, and the description of the event was written with Usagi’s nightmare about Mamoru’s ordeal in the Dark Kingdom in mind.
  • During the semi-canonical Yuri on Festival event, Yuuri was possessed by an Omnicidal Maniac squid demon and exorcised by Victor with an "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight and The Power of Love. No such luck here - it’s implied that Eros is either a Monster from Beyond the Veil, or a case of Came Back Wrong, with the bare minimum of Yuuri’s physical look and memories. Victor is forced to result to a Murder-Suicide to stop the Empire from getting their hands on both of their crystals.
  • From Yuri on Stage, Yurio kept pushing the theory that Yuuri kidnapped Victor because he didn't want to share Victor's adorable side with the world, much to Yuuri's confusion and incredulity. Cut to this universe and although it isn't Yuuri per se, and nor did Yuri come up with the idea, but said theory is actually true considering Eros' lines and behavior towards Victor.
• Deadly Hug: "I'm sorry... Yuuri..."
• Death Glare: Chris delivers several to Eros. In an earlier scene, Chris and Victor stared each other down with this as well.
• Death Is Dramatic: Let's just say everyone got their fill of drama, despite the fact that the majority of them got a Disney Death.
• Death Is the Only Option: Victor decided to kill himself so he can be reborn again with Yuuri, and so that the Roses would turn inactive, trusting his friends to protect them from falling into the hands of the villains.
• Debut Queue: Averted. Whereas the Senshi and Tuxedo Mask are introduced eventually, and the skaters as each competition occurs, the five protagonists appear in the first chapter.
• Demonic Invaders: One invader, actually, who crash-landed. And then she attempted to bring friends.
• Demonic Possession: Phichit seems to briefly think it’s what happened to Yuuri, based on his inner remark that Eros is a monster wearing his friend’s face. The brief hesitation demonstrated by said character at killing Phichit may well prove him right, though it’s very much YMMV since Yuuri later confirmed that he wasn’t conscious at all.
• Deployable Cover: Thalia casts this kind of shield, which can disintegrate any object that attempts to breach it.
• Did Not Die That Way: Katerina hid her Agent status and Mikhail's death from Victor, telling him that he wasn't to talk about this father at all. Mikhail was killed in action, though Katya did not live to reveal the truth to Victor, who found out from the Archives.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: Victor and Yuuri do this. In Victor's case, it's less obvious, because he smashed their gems together to cause an explosion.
• Dies Wide Open: Yuuri was this before Literally Shattered Lives. Twice, if you count Eros.
• Disney Death: If you're a hero.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Eros.
• Dissonant Serenity:
  • Victor's lack of expression whenever he's being forced to do something against his will.
  • Victor, again, when he stabbed the monster that invaded his home. His outstretched hand and body was trembling, because he was still a frightened child barely in control of cryokinesis, but his stare was controlled and detached, like an adult soldier. It was Lyan's soul reacting with his/Victor's magic in self-defense.
  • Because third time's a charm, Yuri notes that Victor was smiling before killing himself. At least there's a good reason for this one - he was hoping to be Together in Death with Yuuri.
• Distaff Counterpart: Victor/Yuuri and Maaya/Erin.
  • Victor and Erin are the Red Onis, Yuuri and Maaya are the Blue Onis.
  • Both ships are interracial Queer Romances, with one partner being white, blond(e), and from a cold country (Russia and Canada) and the other partner from Japan (or at least Japanese-passing, in Maaya's case).
  • Their ship names make up words: Victuuri/Victory, and Maayerin/Mayerling.
• The Dividual: Eros and a Brainwashed and Crazy Nike. It's remarked that their movements are eeriely identical when they're not fighting the heroes, meaning that at minimum there's Mind over Matter going on.
• The Dog Bites Back: A Mook tackled the miniboss with intentions to subdue only, but when the miniboss pulled a Wounded Gazelle Gambit in order to persuade the Mook to let go, this sent the Mook right past the Rage Breaking Point with Tranquil Fury and the miniboss gets Impaled with Extreme Prejudice.
• Do Not Go Gentle: The three remaining Agents before the final battle with the Big Bad decided this, using the last of their powers to fight, and then to resurrect their deceased friends.
• Dying for Symbolism:
  • Victor and Yuuri's death mark the Darkest Hour.
  • Yuri, Chris, and Phichit giving up the last of their powers brought Victor and Yuuri Back from the Dead.
• The Dragon: Eros to the Empress, and Victor to Eros during Erin's imprisonment and the confrontation at D-Point.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: Despite being able to go toe to toe with Victor if necessary, Yuuri is hampered by his tendency to comfort eat. That would be a cute quirk... except that his food preferences count against him, even though it's fairly mundane rather than obviously unhealthy, because weight and body mass is unfortunately critical to his line of work. In addition to that, as with Victor, time is not on Yuuri's side (nor his Power Incontinence), with retiring at 24 a serious possibility.
• Driven to Suicide: One of the theories about the Ice King in the backstory. And, arguably, Victor.
• Dynamic Entry: Eros, Thalia, Hyes, and Latius burst through portals to provide backup for Nike in the first chapter.
• The End of the World as We Know It: Looms as a threat at the end of the fic - only in that it will become a dystopia ruled by the Empire.
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Yuuri, though it's not really emphasized until he is revived as Eros.
• Elemental Eye Colors:
  • Yuuri has brown eyes that look reddish under certain lighting (Playing with Fire).
  • Victor has Icy Blue Eyes or Innocent Blue Eyes (An Ice Person).
  • Chris has green/hazel eyes (Dishing Out Dirt).
• Elemental Powers: Not all YOI characters coincide with their Sailor Moon counterparts.
  • Victor: An Ice Person (Mercury)
  • Yuuri: Playing with Fire (Mars)
  • Phichit: Light 'em Up (Venus)
  • Yuri(o): Shock and Awe (Jupiter)
  • Chris: Dishing Out Dirt (Uranus)
• Elfeminate: Being a combination of Our Vampires Are Different and The Fair Folk, the Kanor - energy beings that need to take a humanoid form on Earth are this. Eros/Suisen's facecasts are the anime's portrayal of Yuuri (whose Eros routine is markedly feminine) and Pretty Boy Andy Mientus. Ayame/Maaya's facecast is Misuzu Aki in her otokoyaku days.
• Emerging from the Shadows: Eros’ dramatic reveal.
• Empty Shell: The Replicas are this. There is no possibility of a "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight since the original person is technically dead. This is debatable, however. See YMMV for Alternate Character Interpretation.
• Empty Eyes: Used quite frequently, especially regarding Victor. They are present in the Sailor Moon canon, though.
• Energy Bow: Strike Inferno, as a Shout-Out to Mars Flame Sniper.
• Everything's Better with Sparkles:
  • The dust that the Agents turn into when they die are remarked to be iridescent.
  • Thalia’s healing move (the only named move that heals rather than destroys) is called Solar Healing Sparkle. Bright Reflector takes the form of golden sparks cascading down to form a shield around the caster as well.
  • On the offense, there’s Latius' Battler Sparks.
  • Christophe Lampshades this trope by informing Yuri that they are in a B-movie because they “dress up in bedazzled costumes to battle monsters. And aliens.”.
• Evil Costume Switch: Eros' getup has more sheer material and resembles lingerie more than Yuuri's heroic costume. His palette remains black and red, though the silver is replaced with dark gray. Victor also gets one that's way more on the feminine side. It can be interpreted as Eros being a Politically Incorrect Villain and associating submission with femininity. An irritated Yuri comments, “They’ve got matching bad-guy outfits.”
• Evil Gloating: Empire agents love this, though Eros delivered.
• Evil Is Burning Hot: Eros hurling fire indiscriminately with Dark Inferno.
• Evil Is Deathly Cold: Brainwashed and Crazy Nike with Dark Blizzard.
• Evil Is Not Well-Lit: D-Point is this - a dark hall with black stone columns and floor.
• Evil Is Petty: An exasperated Chris noted that Eros "sounded like a teenage boy trying to stop [him] from stealing his boyfriend" as the latter sneered and told him You're Just Jealous.
• Evil Laugh: Empire agents tend to indulge in these.
• Evil Plan: The Empress wants to take over the Earth with an army of superpowered Replicas.
• Evil Wears Black: Eros gets in on it with an outfit that's mostly black and dark gray, with the Red Rose being the only spot of color. Averted with Victor’s Evil Costume Switch, which retains a light palette.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin:
  • The Agency isn't a creative bunch. Their full name, AEGIS (Agency for the Enforcement and Guidance of International Strategy) is nearly never used in practice. In their defense, it is quicker to say Agents work for the Agency. Their central source of power is called... you've probably guessed it... the Source. D-Point is the fourth base in their list, in alphabetical order. Their Mission Control is called Central, and Command is in charge of all of them, headed by a Council that the Handlers report to.
• Expy: Given that this is "Sailor Moon but with the trademarks filed off and no particular adherence to canon", examples abound. Not including characters:
  • Agents - Sailor Senshi
  • Guardian gems - Star Seeds
  • Paired energy sources: The Red/Blue Roses, and the Silver/Golden Crystals
  • Replicas - Droids/youma/Daimon/Shadow Galactica Mooks
• Extranormal Institute: The Agency runs a Superhero School in Serenitatis, their main base.
• Extra-Strength Masquerade: Powered up from the Sailor Moon canon, as this masquerade has Reality Warping effects on Neutrals.
• Eye Lights Out: Upon the death of an Agent, their gem would become dull and lifeless.
• Face Death with Dignity: The three remaining Agents' attempted Last Stand.
• Failed a Spot Check: Gold-One didn't spot Eros until his dramatic reveal. In their defense, his schtick is Mind Manipulation.
• Family Business:
  • The Nishigoris are set to be this, with all of them working for the Agency in some capacity.
  • The Nikiforovs also count, despite Katya's efforts.
• Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Katerina tried to be this until Galina tipped Yakov off about Victor.
• Fatal Flaw:
  • Yuuri and his confidence issues. He's an excellent pyromancer, but in the heat of battle, he sometimes can't handle the pressure and he chokes at the last second. His anxiety and low opinion of himself only make way for even more flaws.
  • Though Victor is loved/admired by many and has a lot of natural charisma, he tends to be Innocently Insensitive and lacking in emotional intelligence, not knowing how to deal with people who are in distress.
• Fate Worse than Death/And I Must Scream: Guardians unlucky enough to be murdered and revived as a Replica have their spirits trapped inside their gems. If the panic attack seen in canon is genuine, being trapped isn’t a nice experience. The Replica has access to all of the dead Agent’s memories and souped-up powers. The Agents are absolutely powerless even if the Replica is ordered to harm and/or kill their loved ones. The only way they can get out to be reborn is for the Replica’s body to be destroyed, and their gems taken back to the Source to be purified.
• Fire, Ice, Lightning: Respectively, Yuuri, Victor, and Yurio.
• Five Stages of Grief: Victor goes through them.
  • Denial/Depression: He cut off all Agency contact and holed himself up in his flat.
  • Anger: He broke down crying, though this anger is more directed towards himself for being a Deer in the Headlights. His prior outburst at Yakov, who deserved it, also qualify.
  • Bargaining: Started off striking up contact with Eros because he thought having fake Yuuri around is better than not having Yuuri at all.
  • Acceptance: Finally, he came to terms with Yuuri's death and pulled a Taking You with Me to prevent the villains from getting world-destroying power.
• Flower Motifs: All of the Guardian gems fall under this.
  • Red Rose (Yuuri): Romantic, sexual love.
  • Blue Rose (Victor): Love, prosperity, immortality.
  • Green Mint (Chris): Virtue. Swiss mint is a rare type of peppermint, used in the flavoring of Ricola candies.
  • Azure Hyacinth (Yuri): Fidelity, loyalty.
  • White Frangipani (Phichit): Shelter and protection. The plant is native to Thailand.
• Footnote Fever: Or, "more author's notes than you'd care to read". The author is prone to these, which sometimes can get as long as half the chapter.
• The Four Gods: Despite having codenames from Classical Mythology, Gold-One is also representative of these Eastern figures.
  • Azure Dragon: Chris/Hyes. He has green eyes (Wood/Spring) and is codenamed after the "fertilizing god". The Dragon is centered by the Heart house - Chris alternates the role of Team Mom with Phichit.
  • Vermillion Bird: Yuuri/Eros. He has fire powers, and has an attack called Star Blaster, while the Bird is centered by the Star house.
  • White Tiger: Yuri/Latius. He has electric powers, and the Tiger is associated with metal, which conducts electricity.
  • Black Tortoise: Victor/Nike. The Tortoise is associated with winter and water (Victor is An Ice Person born on Christmas Day) and centered by the Emptiness house (Victor struggles with emptiness throughout the fic: loss of purpose, depression, fear that his emotions aren't genuine.
  • Yellow Dragon: Phichit/Thalia. Phichit's healing powers are represented with golden light. Dragons are linked to Asian royalty, and Phichit's outfit is reminiscent of Thai royalty regalia.
• The Four Loves:
  • Eros: Victor and Yuuri's passionate, romantic love, which drives the story.
  • Agape: Agents' credo are to "Protect the innocent." They are ready to die in service of people who would never even know about their existence.
  • Storge: Victor and Yuuri are shaped by Katerina's My Beloved Smother behavior and later estrangement, as well as Hiroko's unconditional love and care for both her son and son-in-law.
  • Philia: Gold-One get along well as friends and comrades. Phichit realizing that he loves Yuuri but only as a friend saved him from Eros' machinations. Yuri actually looks up to Victor and Yuuri, despite his No Social Skills way of showing it.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Victor's first spoken line in the fic is "This is the story of how I died." And then he tells Yuuri to "leave him [in bed] and then sweep him up later" in a bit of Black Comedy, given they both know what happens when Guardians die. Both of them turn to dust at the tail end of the story. They do get better, though...
  • Doubles with History Repeats. As a teen, Victor impaled a monster with ice to save his mom, who kept a crucial secret from him. Nearly two decades later, he has to impale his soulmate to save the Earth, partially because of a different secret that was kept from them.
  • Eros' main attack is Strike Inferno. Inferno (n.) - a great blaze. Coming from the idea of hellfire. Apt for someone who was appropriated by the dark side...
• Fragile Speedster: As part of his power-up, Yuri earned the ability to move as fast as the lightning he controls. He's the most feminine and delicate-looking of the group.
• Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: Given that the Kanor are Life Drinkers, Maaya fits this trope. They are amused/bemused by humans but interested in learning about them and living among them, unwilling to feed on nonconsenting humans, horrified at reports of Eros' conduct on Earth, and doesn't kiss Erin, who had been traumatized by Eros' behavior in general and his idea of feeding specifically, until they had gotten explicit, enthusiastic, repeated consent.
• From Bad to Worse: Two out of five of the heroes are dead. Then, cue the invading alien horde.
• Fun with Acronyms: The Agency for Enforcement and Guidance of International Strategies. In other words, someone really wanted their initials to spell AEGIS, which is Athena's shield in Classical Mythology. In practice, people just call it the Agency, and very rarely Aegis. Not even working Agents use the latter.

Tropes G-L

• Gallows Humor:
  • Victor's joke in kaleidoscope about leaving him in bed and sweeping him up later, given that Agents turn to dust at death.
  • Yuuri wanting to set himself on fire during the incident with the furniture in don't got much baggage to lay at your feet. Pyromancers have to stay in tight control of their powers unless they wanted to become human torches.
• Gender-Blender Name: Agents' codenames don't correlate with their gender. Among the main characters, there's Phichit (Thalia, the Grace of good cheer), and Victor (Nike, goddess of victory).
• Gender Flip: Makkachin is a female poodle in the fic. The original anime never directly stated the dog’s gender, and the English dub went with he/him.
• Generation Xerox: Katerina and Victor Nikiforov both have Mystical White Hair, Innocent Blue Eyes, and retired because they lost their partner to the job.
• Get Out!: Yuuri said this jokingly to Victor when the latter whined about going to school in the cold.
• Go Back to the Source: Victor and Yuuri's wedding takes place inside the chapel that's part of the main Agency headquarters. It's also the place of their past selves' Murder-Suicide, and actually contains the Source that their powers come from.
• Government Conspiracy: Aliens and monsters exist, and people are employed to protect the world from them.
• Gilligan Cut: Victor tells Yuri to join the Group Hug. Yuri indignantly refuses. Cut to everyone squashed together in said group hug.
• Giving Someone the Pointer Finger: Yurio's "Pointer Finger of Doom".
• Glowing Gem: In the center of the chest for Agents.
• Gold and White Are Divine: Latius has blond hair and wears a white costume. His namesake is Zeus, the top god of Classical Mythology, and his costume is patterned after Yuri!!! on Ice’s Agape costume.
  Victor: Agape… unconditional love. Like God’s love.
• Good Is Not Nice: Yuri is just as heroic, loyal and self-sacrificing as he is condescending, short-tempered, rude, and cocky.
• Good Parents: Toshiya and Hiroko Katsuki, to the point of becoming Victor's Parental Substitute. Takeshi and Yuuko are also shaping up as this.
• Gratuitous Greek: The universe is futuristic and was inspired by Greco-Roman mythology. This trope was inevitable. Discounting Shout-Out|s to mythology, the book titles are all Greek words:
  • kaleidoscope
  • xiphos
  • chalice
  • aspis
• Hand Blast: Agents’ attacks, if they don’t have any weapons (or if the move doesn’t call for weapons), emanate from their fingertips.
• The Handler: Retired Agents - as in, YOI coaches - serve as this. The level of authority they have over their charges is not exactly enforced. Victor typically does whatever the hell he wants while Yakov rages, but he's been lucky enough to get out of scrapes on his intuition alone. Yuuri sticks to Minako's (ninety-nine percent sound) advice outside of extreme situations. When Agents are assigned temporarily to other regions, they get directives from the local Handler.
• Hate Plague: Eros and/or the Empress caused this to take over D-Point.
• Healing Factor: Cuts and scrapes aren't gonna put any dampers on Replicas. They can be Impaled with Extreme Prejudice, though.
• Heart Drive: The Gems are this to the Agents. It's their power source and contains part of their soul. Due to the Dead for a deceased Agent (since there is No Body Left Behind) is to take their Gem back to the Source, where it came from. Part of the reason Suisen adopted the name Eros is that he was materialized from the Red Rose, Yuuri's gem. In a way, his body on Earth, to some degree, belongs to Eros.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: Yuuri and Victor's love for each other, and their friends' love for them, is what enabled everyone to get an 11th-Hour Superpower and save the day.
• Henshin Hero: The Agents are this, but they're all trained in various martial arts in case something goes wrong.
• Heroic BSoD: This is what sufficiently weakens Victor enough for him to be controlled by Eros. He also had this earlier - the shock of Yuuri Taking the Bullet distracted him sufficiently for the Red Rose to be stolen.
• Hero Secret Service: The Agents and their Agency.
• History Repeats:
  • The Handlers attempted to cover up the Reincarnation Romance in order to avoid this trope, but it was all for naught. "Yuuri"/Aenar ended up betraying Victor/Lyan in service of a ruler that he's loyal to, and the latter is forced to impale the former. Lampshaded by Victor, in a line quoted from Sailor Moon canon, that they were "reborn to repeat the same fate". Luckily, the trio of Phichit/Chris/Yuri thought otherwise.
  • Katerina feared Victor, just like Mikhail, would join the Agency out of pure idealism, then get killed on the job. Galina's intervention derailed her plans. He did just what she feared, but got brought Back from the Dead anyway.
• Holy City: Serenitatis, shielded from the rest of the world. It's the location of the Source.
• Hope Spot: It seemed briefly that Yuuri was Fighting from the Inside. Unfortunately, it was a hundred percent faked by Eros.
• Identical Stranger: Played straight in the backstory (see corresponding entry for details) and averted in the main storyline. Myrina looked like Lyan, but Erin does not look like Victor.
• I Have You Now, My Pretty: Eros repeatedly kisses a mind-controlled Victor and strokes his hair, to the disgust and shock of the heroes.
• I Kiss Your Foot: Followed quickly by I Kiss Your Hand, between a Brainwashed and Crazy Victor and Eros.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Phichit tries this, and inwardly Lampshades the futility of the trope. Eros mocks it by name.
• I'll Kill You!: The miniboss threatens this to our heroes.
• In a Single Bound: Agents can do this. First demonstrated by Chris in the chapter one battle, where he leaped into the air and hacked at the monster with his Cool Sword.
• Incredibly Lame Pun: Chris' attack. Terra Quake. Earthquake.
• In the Blood: Agents’ powers are this. Yuuri is an aversion, being a rare case of Randomly Gifted. This is because he’s the reincarnation of the Fire Prince, so no matter his parents’ genetic heritage, he will end up having powers anyway. The Ice one just happens to be born to an Agent family this time around.
• In Touch with His Feminine Side:
  • Yuuri, most definitely. Besides his Dance Battler style, he's a generally sensitive soul and even has a phone cover in bright cheery colors with poodles all over it. It's further emphasized in his alternative identity as Eros, wherein his costume is definitely gender-ambiguous and his movements based on Takarazuka actresses.
  • The same could be said of Victor, even after he chopped his hair off.
• Invisible to Normals: Part of The Masquerade - it’s why Agents can do battle in the middle of streets with impunity.
• I Shall Taunt You: Yuri engaged in this during his duel with the miniboss.
  Yuri: (shouting) Is that all you’ve got? Maybe you should go ask my grandfather for fighting lessons!
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Yuri is a mean little bastard... but not entirely. He definitely has a temper issue, and he acts a little stuck up for someone who's trying to work his way up, but when he's not focusing on work he seems to be a decent fellow. It's later shown that he also cares a great deal about his grandfather.
• Karmic Death: Eros got killed for simultaneously overestimating and underestimating Victor - impersonating Yuuri was what finally pushed Victor over the edge. Plus, he tried to use telekinesis to impale Victor after the latter fought back, and Victor ended up impaling him. At close quarters.
• Kneel Before Zod:
  • The Reveal that Victor led the rest of Gold-One right to Eros has this as a Wham Line.
• Kick the Dog: Eros is a dog-kicking machine. His long game is to break Victor and Erin, so he indulges in his sadistic impulses quite often. Choice acts include: forcing Victor to throw the engagement rings into the Neva, torturing Victor with mental pain and illusionary waterboarding when the latter refused to promise to protect him, breaking Erin’s hands as punishment for her attempt to kill him, and many, many more.
• Kick Them While They Are Down: Eros gave Victor a vicious kick in the stomach because the latter had the nerve to beg him to stop the torture.
• Kill and Replace: The Empress' plan is to pull this on every holder of a Guardian gem, amassing an army of Replicas.
• Kill It with Ice: What Victor had to resort to for Eros. It's Impaled with Extreme Prejudice In the Back.
• Last Kiss: Victor kisses Yuuri - well, the Replica corpse, since that's the best he has - on the lips and the forehead as farewell.
• Last-Name Basis: The miniboss either refers to the heroes by their last name or their codenames.
• Leotard of Power: Agents’ costumes are skin-tight, ostensibly for better combat movement, but is a source of Fanservice judging by the concept art.
• Life Drinker: The Empress feeds on large creatures, and then Life Energy from Human Resources, until she gets tipped off that there are Agents.
• Life Energy: It's the reason monster activity around the world suddenly became clustered around Tokyo. The villains are luring them in so that their energy can be used to feed the Big Bad. This forces the Agency to send its best to investigate... catapulting them, and their yummy powers, straight into evil jaws.
• Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Yuuri (dark feminine) and Yuri (light feminine), reflected in their costumes as well as the fact that Yuuri got appropriated by the dark side despite being personally loyal to the heroes while Yuri stays very firmly on the side of the angels.
• Like Brother and Sister: Victor and Yuri squabble and compete like brothers, as they share a Handler in Yakov - Victor's Parental Substitute.
• Living Emotional Crutch: Victor and Yuuri. It got to the point that Victor is prepared to jump head-first into engaging with Eros because having someone around who at least looks like Yuuri is better than not having Yuuri at all.
• Long-Distance Relationship: Victor and Yuuri met during training and started dating, but their assignments took them apart. They corresponded via Skype until Victor gets reassigned to Japan to investigate the unusual spike of monster activity. This very quickly became a Be Careful What You Wish For.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: When he was a teenager, Victor used to wear his hair long, putting it into a bun when training. He chopped it off after graduation to facilitate the fighting. It suddenly grows out again - identical to what happened to Usagi in the Dark Kingdom arc - as he lapses into depression and starts to get more visions of his past self as Lyan, who also had long hair. It's still long by the time of the final confrontation. The sequel sees him getting the chop again as a bonding activity with Erin, and a Meaningful Haircut for both.
• Love Hurts: Yuuri and Victor become the lights of each other's lives... but that also means that they have the power to emotionally destroy the other with an insensitive or misguided remark. The already-anxiety prone Yuuri dreads the seemingly inevitable (to him) loss of Victor once their past lives are repeated, or once Victor gets bored of him. Meanwhile, Victor, who seems to have dodged the extremes of love and heartbreak up until now, falls to pieces when he loses Yuuri. They work through it.
• Love Redeems:
  • Victor loves Yuuri enough to kill the thing that had replaced him.
  • A platonic version between Victor and Erin - their sibling-like attachment to each other saved Victor from becoming an Empty Shell attached to Eros, and Erin from becoming a monster, or being Driven to Suicide.

Tropes M-R

• MacGuffin: The Red and Blue Roses.
• MacGuffin Guardian: Yuuri and Victor are the holder of those stones, in their capability as Eros and Nike.
• Magic Is Mental: Characters learn to (or fail at) using their powers either via Don't Think, Feel or Awesomeness by Analysis. Just as figure skating in the original can take a toll on the body, exhaustion is a common side effect. Yuuri’s original stamina translates here to being able to cast his powers for a longer time than others.
• The Woman Behind The Man: The Empress and Eros.
• Meaningful Name: The Agents' alter egos are all named after Greek mythological figures:
  • Yuuri - Eros (athleticism, protector of same-sex love between men, and sexual attraction in general)
  • Victor - Nike (strength, speed, victory)
  • Chris - Hyes ("fertilizing moisture", epithet of Dionysus)
  • Yuri - Latius (name of Zeus as worshipped in Latium)
  • Phichit - Thalia ("good cheer", one of the Graces, often found in Aphrodite and Eros' company.)
  • Minako - Leda. Zeus came to Leda in the form of a swan, alluding to Minako's canonical background as a ballet dancer. Swan Lake also has the duality of Odette/Odile, and lovers being Driven to Suicide before being resurrected in some adaptations.
  • Katerina - Daphne, a naiad pursued by Apollo because Eros shot him with an arrow of love and her with one of hatred. She turned into a laurel tree, which is a symbol of victory. Her namesake Agent later named her son Victor.)
  • Erin - Adrestia, a goddess of revolt, just retribution and sublime balance between good and evil.
  • Maaya - Ayame ("iris" in Japanese). In English, it's spelled and pronounced the same as the name for Greek goddess of the rainbow. Their names - both civilian and professional - are also extensive ShoutOuts to the Takarazuka Revue.
  • Suisen, the being later known as Eros ("narcissus" in Japanese). He's certainly very self-absorbed. The Chinese name for the flower (the source for its Japanese name) means "water fairy". Water is associated with the dark, feminine yin, and Eros' species is a form of The Fair Folk.
• Men Don't Cry: Averted. Almost all the characters are not ashamed to cry, and thankfully, never once are they mocked for daring to shed tears.
• Mercy Kill: I can't stand seeing him like this anymore.
• Mind-Control Eyes: Victor has two flavors. At D-Point, his eyes are listless gunmetal gray. When Eros needed to trick Gold-One, Victor's eyes turned blue again, but with a semi-permanent blank, detached expression.
• Mind over Matter: Hello, Eros. He used telekinesis to hurl debris at the heroes, from broken concrete to a piece of metal intended to impale Victor. It's implied he was using this in conjunction with Mind Control, as Victor's walking motions matched his precisely before fighting broke out.
• Mind Rape: Eros on Victor, and to a lesser degree on Erin.
• Monster Is a Mommy: The "extremely pissed off twenty-meter-tall crocodile-something" in chapter one.
• Multinational Team: As of this moment, the "Inners"/Gold-One are this. We have Russians Victor and Yuri, Japanese Yuuri, Swiss Chris, and Thai Phichit. The sequel will probably get even worse.
• Murder-Suicide: The Princes in the background story, from the results of a Duel to the Death.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • "Yuuri, forgive me."
• Mythology Gag:
  • Chapter names come exclusively from the names of the new Sera Myu musicals and songs/lyrics in them, as well as episode titles and song titles/lyrics of Sailor Moon Crystal. The episode titles itself are the titles of the corresponding Sailor Moon chapters in the manga.
  • Victor murmured, "I'm afraid of losing you," to Yuuri at one point. In Italian, that would be "Ho paura di perderti," which is a line from Aria: Stammi vicino, non te ne andare. The aria itself is sung in-universe by Yuuri in a side story ^note "passion and sheer perfection", and hummed by Eros in a successful attempt to manipulate Victor.
  • Moonlight appears repeatedly in romantic moments for Victor and Yuuri, ever since "the Moon and her court" watched over the courtship of the Princes. Heavy-handed reference to Sailor Moon aside, the lines immediately after the word kaleidoscope in the theme song of said anime is Moonlight guides how many times we will be reborn. Counting the twinkling of stars, predicting the course of our love.
  • The Sea of Serenity (Mare Serenitatis) on the moon is stated to be the location of the Silver Millennium in Sailor Moon. Another lunar mare makes an appearance in the name of the Hall of Tranquility (Mare Tranquilitatis, the site of the first crewed moon landing).
  • Quotes nicked from canon:
    • Eros' introduction was only two words off from a certain line in La Reconquista: "I am Endymion, the Dark Kingdom's strongest warrior."
    • Victor and Eros: "I want to know everything about you." ^note Funnily enough, Victor and Endo in the English dubs say the same line. "I want to know everything about you, Yuuri/Usagi."
  • The first enemy Sailor V ever faced was Narcissus, an underling of the Dark Kingdom who used Hypnotic Eyes and sweet-talking to seduce women and create an army that would take over Tokyo. He masqueraded as a popular student who became Minako/V's first crush. Sailor V is forced to kill him after he refused to surrender. Eros' true name is Suisen, meaning "narcissus" (like the flower) in Japanese. He's an underling of the Dark Empire who uses Hypnotic Eyes, Compelling Voice, and More than Mind Control to seduce his victims and create an army of Replicas that would take over the world. He masquerades as college student Ookubo Yuu early on in his dealings with Victor, on top of taking Yuuri's Power Gem, physical body, and Playing with Fire skillset. Victor is forced to kill Eros after he proved that he is an irredeemable monster merely wearing Yuuri's face.
  • Eros’ alias “Ookubo Yuu” is taken from Ookubo Satomi, the first actress to play Sailor Moon in the new Sera Myu, and Shirota Yu(u), one of the Tuxedo Masks in the old Sailor Moon musicals. It's also a Mythology Gag as a Brainwashed and Crazy Tuxedo Mask takes up the alias of Endo, which sounds quite close to the name of his past self, Endymion.
  • Chapter 5, “Masquerade”, is a Whole-Plot Reference to the manga chapter of the same name. The standout moment is when the MacGuffin is unveiled - a teardrop-shaped crystal that unfolds into a lotus, allegedly has great healing powers, and is named the Phantom Crystal. To Gold-One’s consternation, it’s just a pretty rock, and not the Illusionary Silver Crystal of Sailor Moon lore. It’s also Foreshadowing - after Tuxedo Mask’s death by Taking the Bullet for Sailor Moon, he absorbed part of the Silver Crystal’s powers into his body, and Usagi wore the Crystal around her neck as a pretty-but-useless rock. Yuuri would die similarly, Victor wore their engagement rings around his neck, and Eros conscripted Victor as his henchman because the Roses would not work apart.
• Near-Villain Victory: Eros bailed out from his "dead" body and possessed Victor, intent on wrecking the latter's life up and making him watch from the inside. Victor put an end to that plot by killing himself. The rest of Gold-One finished the job by sacrificing their lives, bringing the entire team Back from the Dead in the process.
• Neck Lift: Yuri got this when he mouthed off to Eros.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: Agents develop new attacks as they are called for in the field.
• Nice Guy: Chris and Phichit are the Nice Guys of Gold-One. Victor is Innocently Insensitive and can be quite heavy-handed with his Brutal Honesty, Yuuri suffers from a selective Lack of Empathy (though he's not mean-spirited or cruel, he can say things that are damaging, and his chronic Cannot Spit It Out is more trouble than it's worth). And then there's Yuri with his Hair-Trigger Temper.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • The Agency accidentally revealed to the villains that Agents exist by sending their strongest ones to Tokyo, who emit waves of powerful energy that the Empress sensed.
  • Whoever had the absolutely brilliant idea of transporting a highly dangerous alien across the galaxy to stand trial in an unmanned ship should be fired on the spot. In their defense, as far as they were concerned she would have been useless without a host, so it would have been better not to provide her with a pilot and/or crew to hijack. Plus, the authorities had no idea she was much stronger in her energy form than she let on. It was out of sheer luck that Earth's resident peacekeepers did their job for them.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: The death and resurrection of the protagonists gave the entire team a level-up, enabling them to turn the tables and deliver a Curb-Stomp Battle. The sequel reveals that it turned Gold-One into the most powerful Agents alive, and awakened Adrestia.
• Nice, Mean, and In-Between:
  • Yuuri, Yuri, and Victor, respectively; though Yuuri and Victor switch places from time to time.
  • The remainder of Gold-One after Yuuri's death and Victor's abduction - Phichit, Yuri, and Chris.
  • Victor, Eros, and Erin. Eros is evil but affably so, Erin is belligerent but firmly on the side of good.
• No Bisexuals: Averted with the main character. Yuuri is very strongly hinted to have had a crush on his childhood friend Yuuko, but has been engaged to Victor since the start of the story.
• No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction: Eros consoled himself with this after Victor resisted his Mind Probe for the first time.
• Non-Human Non-Binary: The Kanor are this, being energy-based lifeforms. Eros assumes he/him pronouns because both of his hosts were cisgender men, but doesn't have a definite idea of his gender. Maaya typically uses they/them but is also fine with the occasional she/her.
• Noodle Incident: The time Victor tried to climb on a table at a bar. It's a Once Done, Never Forgotten moment for him.
• No-Sell: Yuri tried kicking a Mook repeatedly in the shin in order for him to let go of the Neck Lift. It didn't take.
• Not Afraid to Die: Phichit voiced this in his narration during the climactic battle.
• O.C. Stand-in: Erin is the (canonically unnamed) girl mentioned in the beach scene as having intruded on Yuuri's feelings, and being reflexively pushed away by him.
• Official Couple: Victor and Yuuri, right from the first chapter.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Chris says this word for word as Victor gets knocked out of the battle.
  • The three Agents left standing reacted like this when the Empress started speaking.
• Older Than They Look:
  • Despite being in their mid-to-late 20s, some of the Agents look like they're still in high school, with Yuuri as the most prominent example. Justified, as the amount of healing they get post-combat slows down their aging rate to a certain degree.
  • Minako is probably the most extreme example out of all the characters; she looks like she's in her twenties, but she's been confirmed to be older than Hiroko, who's 49.
• Ominous Opera Cape: Eros’ dramatic sartorial choice, patterned after Tuxedo Mask and Endymion, the Dark Kingdom’s strongest warrior. Long? Check (nearly sweeping the floor). Flowing? Check. (rippling like water) Dark? Check. (Black)
• Omniglot: All Agents are this because of their gift of tongues. It only applies to languages created after the Source came into existence, though.
• One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Prior to the battle at D-Point, Victor seemingly insinuated that he's ultimately loyal to Eros and insulted Phichit because the latter backed down from pursuing Yuuri romantically in a case of I Want My Beloved to Be Happy. He was actually trying to get a hint out to Phichit that Victor's real loyalty is to the heroes, and that Phichit should know the truth because 1. he knew what it's like to make a sacrifice, and 2. his Psychic Powers would let him see that Victor was Fighting On The Inside, leading Phichit to blast him with a healing attack rather than a lethal one, finally freeing Victor from the Mind Control.
• One-Steve Limit: There are two characters named Yuri: Japanese Yu(u)ri Katsuki and Russian Yuri Plisetsky. Mari nicknames the Russian Yuri "Yurio" to avoid confusion, which he isn't very happy about.
• One-Word Title
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Victor is unsettled because of the subtle differences between Yuuri and Eros - he's giving an alias, he says he's going to Todai (Yuuri's alma mater) but with a different major, and he initially calls Victor Nikiforov-san instead of Vitya. That last point carries on all the way until their last conversation, with an upgrade to Victor, right up until Eros finally called him Vitya in an attempt to catch him off guard in order to impale him.
• Our Vampires Are Different:
  • The Empress feeds on energy, and happens to have an Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette for a vessel.
  • Eros. He's ashy pale with blood-red lips and Red Eyes, Take Warning, dresses in black, and complements his Mind Control with Vampiric Draining via kissing. He is stronger and more durable than even top-notch Agents. He meets his maker via Impaled with Extreme Prejudice - with ice rather than a Wooden Stake, but it was through the heart. He doesn't seem to be affected by fire, but this might have more to do with Yuuri having been a pyromancer than a species characteristic. He's also a ruthless, soulless monster, thinking only in terms of how anything would benefit him. He's fond of dramatic Cape Swish, and appears to be a Dream Weaver. ^note In fact, he was partially inspired by Mark Seibert's portrayal of the vampire Count von Krolock in Tanz Der Vampire.
• Parental Abandonment: Katya's refusal to discuss Mikhail at all made Victor think his father did this. He was dead wrong.
• Parental Substitute: Yakov is this to Victor, and Yuri was raised by his grandfather.
• Performance Anxiety: Yuuri suffers from it, and it causes him to choke during battles. Getting past it is part of his Character Development.
• Perpetual Frowner: Yuri, what with his sullen teenage angst. Katerina as well - young Victor in the ice heart flashback mentions that his Mama usually wasn't very happy.
• Pet the Dog: Eros has his moments, despite being the aforementioned dog-kicking machine. He magically calms Victor’s panic attacks (while implying that he, not just Yuuri, also deals with similar incidents), gets comically bemused at Erin’s pop culture references and curious at human cuisine, and rewards Victor with a pleasant vision after he throws Erin under the bus for the staircase incident. Unfortunately, the narration points out that - like many real-life emotional abusers - he specifically and intentionally does these humanizing things to keep his victims on their toes (not knowing whether they would be punished, rewarded, or merely let off the hook at any given interaction), and to cement Victor’s hopes that Yuuri was Fighting from the Inside and could be saved somehow. The “kinder” moments also serve to make his cruelty stand out even more in stark contrast.
• Phenotype Stereotype: Zig-zagged. Some characters hit their national stereotypes (eg. Russians Victor and Yurio have pale hair and light eyes but lithe builds), but others don't (eg. American Leo isn't a blond and blue-eyed Caucasian but a tan, dark-haired Mexican-American).
• Please Wake Up: “No, no, Yuuri - wake up - Phichit, do something - Yuuri -”
• Plot-Triggering Death: Yuuri's Taking the Bullet for Victor set off quite the chain of events, bringing the Agency into an intergalactic battle.
• Polite Villains, Rude Heroes: Eros is quite the Wicked Cultured Soft-Spoken Sadist, with a vocabulary and well-bred tone to match. Compared to him, Gold-One and especially Erin, who comes from a blue-collar background looks like Lower Class Louts. It also helps that Eros' actions and personality are so monstrous that none of the heroes have any patience left to be polite to him. This also proves a hint when Victor openly pretends to be rude, if outright callous, in order to get a message out to Phichit. Eros doesn't catch onto the One Dialogue, Two Conversations because, beneath the politeness, he's too busy enjoying Victor supposedly hurt his former friends to notice. It's O.O.C. Is Serious Business for both his real self and the apathetic-at-most personality that Eros creates.
• Power Crystal: Guardian Gems, which serve as Agents' Power Source.
• Power Gives You Wings:
  • The "prince" forms of Gold-One.
  • In a case of Light Is Not Good, Victor’s Evil Costume Switch gives him massive white wings for a split-second.
• Power Glows: Attacks and gems alike emit bright lights. Even Terra Quake takes the form of a sphere of light slamming into the ground or intended target.
• Power Incontinence:
  • Yuuri (and the great majority of Fire users, for some reason) struggle with this. Victor teaches him to deal with it using Don't Think, Feel.
  • Stuff just keeps breaking around Erin until she learns how to control it... marginally. When she's out of uniform, it's a crapshoot between making a one button pop off a bad guy's shirt and sending his vehicle into a tailspin.
• Power Stereotype Flip: All over the place. An Ice Person Victor is cheerful and unflappable. Playing with Fire Yuuri tries to be stoic and impersonal. Power of the Void wielder Erin is excitable and friendly.
• The Power of Friendship: This was the impetus for Hyes, Latius, and Thalia to attempt a Heroic Sacrifice for Eros and Nike.
• Premature Empowerment: If their powers are not activated/amplified by the Source, people born with special abilities will not become Agents and earn their costume/attacks.
• Precision F-Strike: Yuuri delivers one to Eros.
• Psychic Dreams for Everyone: At first, only Yuuri dreams of their past, but the non-psychic Victor started getting them after he cuddled with Yuuri while the latter was having one such dream.
• Psychic Powers: Eros, Eros, Eros. Mind Manipulation is his schtick, both the supernatural and the psychological kind. He also uses Mind over Matter to nearly kill Victor.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!:
  • "Get. Out." - Yuuri to a whining Victor.
  • "Go. To. Hell." - Chris to Eros' Evil Gloating.
  • "Where. Is. Your. Tie." - Victor to Yuuri on their wedding day
• Put Down Your Gun and Step Away: Eros demanded that the Agents surrender their gems to spare themselves from a grisly death.
• Psychoactive Powers: Agents' powers are this, but it's the most obvious with Erin, later Adrestia. Her power goes haywire when she's upset.
• Queer Romance:
  • Victor and Yuuri is the Official Couple of the fic.
  • Erin and Maaya are their Distaff Counterparts.
• Rage Breaking Point:
  • Victor broke when Eros tried to pull a Wounded Gazelle Gambit on him.
  • Katerina insisting that I Did What I Had to Do regarding her My Beloved Smother treatment of him made Victor snap and give her the verbal smackdown he tracked her down for.
• Reality Has No Subtitles: Averted for Agents, but only for languages that were codified after the Source came into existence.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: All of the Handlers are thoroughly decent people. They all have different styles, ranging from Stern Teacher to Cool Big Sis, and sometimes they may not be compatible with an individual Agent (for example, Celestino, who's great for Phichit, can't provide the substantial support that Yuuri needs), but they all want the best for their charges. Even Yakov, the sternest and most authoritarian, shows strong support and genuine warmth for his Agents, even when they drive him up the wall. One just has to learn how to speak Yakov to see he cares.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Employed extensively by the Agency when pairing up their assignments, the reasoning behind which is that the two partners should complement each other and work together perfectly.
  • Cheerful and upbeat Victor is the red, while introspective and anxious Yuuri is the blue. Interestingly, they respectively hold the Blue and Red Roses.
• Reincarnation Romance: The holders of the Red and Blue Roses.
• Reforged into a Minion: This happened to Yuuri, and would have happened to the entirety of the Agency had Eros had his way.

Tropes S-Z

• Sadistic Choice:
  “I am [your friend], Katya! That’s exactly why I can’t stand by at what you’re doing to Viten’ka!” Galina shouted. Some of the bottles on her shelves rattled ominously. “You’re slowly killing him!”
  “Don’t you think I know that?” Katerina’s voice was full of anguish. “But what can I do, Galya? Hand him over to the Agency? Let him be murdered, like my Misha did? I can’t bear losing him again! I can’t just pretend that I have had neither husband nor son - once was enough!”
• Save This Person, Save the World: Played with. A character had to resort to Murder-Suicide in order to stop the villains getting world-destroying power. However, a Heroic Sacrifice as a Last Stand brought the characters killed back to life, saving the day.
• Say My Name:
  • Victor screams Yuuri’s name along with a Big "NO!" when Yuuri dies in his arms.
  • Chris shouts at Victor, using both his name and his codename, but fails to get a reaction.
• Screw Destiny: A low-key example in Victor's choice to kill himself so he could be reborn again with Yuuri, with the intent to truly give destiny the middle finger the next time they're born. Chris, Phichit, and Yuri's Heroic Sacrifice helped some.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: The Empress was this, being transported to another planet to face trial, before the ship met with an accident and crashed on Earth.
• Seeing Through Another's Eyes: Yuuri has visions which he experiences through the eyes of his past self, the Fire Prince.
• Seeking the Missing, Finding the Dead: Victor starts out vaguely suspicious of the young man from the cafe, but his narration and thoughts go back and forth between thinking he's Yuuri or not. The crisis concerning Eros is resolved when Victor finally accepts that Yuuri is really dead.
• Shout-Out:
  • “This is the story of how I died.” is one to Doctor Who and Tangled.
    • Victor’s parents’ name being Mikhail and Katerina was lifted off Separation Anxiety.
  • Prince Aenar of the Fire Kingdom was named after Aenar Targaryen, the only Dragonlord whose family survived the Doom of Valyria because his daughter Daenys the Dreamer had a powerful prophetic vision that came to her in a dream. The ceremonial hall in the Fire capital is called the Hall of Summer - one Targaryen seat that was often granted to younger sons was Summerhall, at which the Tragedy of Summerhall occurred.
    • His husband, Prince Lyan of the Ice Kingdom, was named after Lyanna Stark, whose love for a Targaryen warrior/poet prince caused a terrible war and the downfall of the royal family. She died in a bed of blue winter roses because of Prince Rhaegar - well, because she delivered his child.
    • An oblique shoutout to the title of the book series: Did Fire truly love Ice? Perhaps. Singers have told their tale of woe often enough. In other words, A Song of Ice and Fire was sung about the Princes.
  • Another twofer: a black-clad Manipulative Bastard of a villain makes his debut in the chapter titled The Stranger. In A Song of Ice and Fire, the Stranger is the ambiguously-gendered aspect of Death. As mentioned above, the villain got his alias from Shirota Yu, who also played Death in Elisabeth. Said theatrical character was initially written as an ambiguously-gendered, black-clad, Manipulative Bastard.
  • Aenar was quoting Daenerys when he said the Queen of Rabbits must have her floppy ears.
  • Erin replicates the paint can trick from Home Alone specifically because she recalls seeing the Vsauce 3 video that replicates the scene with the conclusion that it would be fatal in real life. Additionally, Eros surviving his tumble down the stairs (with a big aversion of Bloodless Carnage compared to the original) recalls Death Becomes Her. Eros and Madeline are both attractive immortal human(oid)s, prideful and vain, emotionally and verbally abusive to their partners/henchmen who eventually snap and (try to) kill them. Their bodies are technically dead and held together with magic - they run cold and have no pulse. Eros has a Healing Factor that mitigates injuries, but his puppetry of the dead body wears it out quickly if he doesn't feed often.
  • The side stories are titled after lyrics of songs from (unrelated) musicals.
    • The collection's title, daylights, sunsets, midnights, cups of coffee: RENT.
    • we've all got our junk: Spring Awakening.
    • passion and sheer perfection: Grand Hotel (the stage adaptation). This fic has chapter names that are also musical lines:
    • start of something new: High School Musical.
    • little fish, little fish, do you think i'll get my wish?: Gypsy.
    • where music fills the air: Phantom.
    • step into your power: Frozen II.
    • consume my wine, consume my mind: Spring Awakening
    • don't got much baggage to lay at your feet: RENT.
  • Towaki Maaya is a walking dictionary of references to the Takarazuka Revue.
    • All five troupes of the Revue are represented by actresses contained in the name, going by romaji (with slight variations): Towaki Sea (Snow), Maaya Kiho (Flower/Star/Snow), Maya Miki (Flower), Asaka Manato (nicknamed Maa, Flower/Cosmos), and Ryuu Masaki (nicknamed Masao, Moon). ^note Senka, the "special" troupe, was represented in Todoroki Yuu, via Eros' alias.
    • Ayame, their codename, means "iris" in Japanese. Irises are purple flowers. Violet is a shade of purple. "Sumire no Hanasakukoro", "When The Violets Bloom", is the official theme song of the Revue. You can hear the song play as the Hankyu ^note the company that owns the Revue train pulls into Takarazuka City. "Ayame" was also the name of a (non-Hankyu) express train line.
    • Hankyu trains' signature color is maroon, which is the primary color in Ayame's costume.
  • Katsuki Mari's favorite Takarazuka Revue actresses - Daigo Takako (Takao) and Oikawa Reika (Rei) are named after the real and stage names ^note for privacy reasons and the preference of the Takarazuka fandom, the names will not be written out here of Hanafusa Mari, Wao Yoka, Tamaki Ryou, and Manaki Reika. "Rei" also refers to Hino Rei/Sailor Mars, her brother Yuuri's Sailor Moon canon counterpart, and actress Yuzuka Rei.
  • Victor's backstory is a mashup of Elsa, Anna, and Rapunzel. Born with ice powers, isolated from the world by a My Beloved Smother who uses Gaslighting to keep him dependent on her, copes with his past and present trauma using humor and a cheerful façade, shows tendencies of anxiety and fear of inadequacy, reacts to stressful situations by dissociating/becoming emotionally numb ("Conceal, don't feel"), escapes emotional abuse thanks to the care and love of his fiancé and future in-laws. Elsa's fear of losing control and general aloof/regal/professional manners are echoed in Yuuri instead. Similar to Hans, Eros is a sociopathic villain who masquerades as someone who loves and cares for Victor, when in reality he feels little but disgust for every human, uses Victor as a means to an end, and attempts to murder Victor when his control failed.
• Signature Move
  • Eros: Strike Inferno, Star Blaster
  • Nike: Arctic Blizzard, Luminous Ice Beam
  • Latius: Battler Sparks
  • Hyes: Terra Quake
  • Thalia: Gold Aurora Ribbon, Bright Reflector, Solar Healing Sparkle
  • Adrestia: Devouring Void
• Signature Scent:
  • Though not stated, apparently sleeping charms emit scents that are pleasant to the individual using them rather than a specifically coded smell. The charm Victor got from Galina smells of three things: green tea, the earth after rain, and katsudon (per Word Of God, because he passed out in-story before he registered what it was.)
  • Eros smells like roses, intense and intoxicating, combined with dark, earthy musk.
• Silent Antagonist: In contrast to all of the Evil Gloating Eros did, the normally talkative, happy Victor turned into this when he's under Mind Control.
• Silver Fox: Minako, Yuuri's ballet teacher and later handler, is his mom's senpai, but she looks younger and more attractive than his sister.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Yuri Plisetsky. Given how good he is at his job despite his age, the kid is entitled to an inflated ego, but still.
• Snow Means Death: Getting the full blast of either Arctic Blizzard or Dark Blizzard in the face isn’t a nice experience. Plus, Victor ended up dead, however briefly, in the fic. Eros' corpse, after impalement with a spike of ice, exhibits the signs of hypothermia.
• Something about a Rose: Eros is associated with red roses - mysterious and alluring. When Victor breaks out of his control, he tries to impale the Russian with a piece of metal, like a rose's thorn.
• Something Only They Would Say: It's an Ambiguous Situation, but one interpretation is that Eros deliberately exploited it.
• Slasher Smile: Eros pulls this out as he's about to deliver the killing blow to Phichit.
• Spell My Name With An S: All over the place. There’s the culturally appropriate Yuuri, Yuuko, and Yuri, but it’s Victor instead of Viktor.
• Spheroid Dropship: The villain crashed to Earth in one of these.
• Spontaneous Human Combustion: The mechanics aren't discussed, but this is what happens to a pyromancer that's lost control of their powers. Because of their higher tolerance to and ability to control heat, they stay aware for much longer as they're being burned alive.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: Princes Aenar and Lyan, as well as their reincarnation Yuuri and Victor. An annoyed Yuri even cited Romeo and Juliet by name.
• Stranger in a Strange School: Yuuri was stated to be this in training, as he’s a rare case of a non-Active (and future Agent) born to a completely Neutral family.
• Superpowered Evil Side: Dark Inferno is one rung higher on the power ladder compared to Strike Inferno.
• Take Away Their Name: Eros' schtick for his victims - well, at least Victor is the only one shown subjected to it. He gets his first name reduced to "V". Eros still uses Victor's first name occasionally, but he doesn't pronounce it the way Yuuri does. ^note Yuuri says Vi-ku-to-ru, or Vitya. Eros says Victor with the English pronunciation, and calls him Nikiforov-san when they first meet. Throughout xiphos, the narration flip flops between referring to him as "Victor" and "V", depending on how much control Victor has over his situation and his mind in a given scene.
• Take Over the World: And all other worlds in the known/unknown universe, if the villains have their way.
• Taking the Veil: Non-Actives not suited for or not electing to fight, for example clairvoyants, can choose to reside in Serenitatis to provide services for the local Agents, or join the Protectors to maintain the magical shield over the city.
• Tarot Motifs: The four fics’ titles are loosely inspired by the Minor Arcana: Wands (Kaleidoscope), Swords (Xiphos) ^note a type of Greek sword, Cups (Chalice), and Pentacles (Aspis)^note a heavy wooden shield.
• Tap on the Head: Victor was knocked out of being Brainwashed and Crazy by getting thrown across the room, landing head-first.
• Tastes Like Friendship: Victor smuggled some chicken fried rice to D-Point for Erin at great risk to himself. Well, supposedly. He actually had Eros' full permission, and the latter was all too happy to let Erin labor under the delusion that Victor went out of his way to do so for her. What Eros didn't know was that Victor managed to break through the Mind Control and gave Erin his initial, turning her into his Secret-Keeper.
• Teacher/Student Romance: While both Victor and Yuuri are fully-grown adults (with only a four year age gap), they also have a mentor-protege relationship; their romance could be considered as this.
• Team Mom: Minako/Leda supervises Gold-One. Within the team itself, Chris and Phichit alternate the role.
• Technicolor Fire:
  • Strike Inferno takes the form of red/orange fire, the kind of fire with the lowest temperature. This signifies that Yuuri's control over the fire isn't that refined, since it's the strongest attack he can create at the time.
  • Dark Inferno is blue fire, which is caused by the lack of soot and the ionization of gases. Fire also burns blue in zero gravity. This symbolizes that Eros' powers are from an inorganic/artificial source, unlike Yuuri's, and fueled by alien magic.
  • Star Blaster emits white fire, the hottest on the red/orange/yellow/white fire scale.
• Tempting Fate: Eros' entire spiel about how Victor isn't going to betray him.
• Terms of Endangerment: Eros is fond of "darling" and "my dear".
• Theme Naming:
  • The Agents' codenames refer to figures from Greek mythology.
  • The Kanor have Only One Name that sounds like Japanese versions of flowers.
• Thermal Dissonance: Pyromancers can induce Convection, Schmonvection because of their control over heat. Yuuri demonstrated this by burning Victor's tie.
• Three-Act Structure:
  • The Setup: The heroes are gathered in Tokyo and investigation into the alien threat begins.
  • The Confrontation: The villain's motives are revealed. A Heroic Sacrifice ensued. Someone Came Back Wrong, creating a Darkest Hour, which made one of the protagonists give up in despair.
  • The Resolution: The final, climactic battle - first with the miniboss, then with the Big Bad.
• Threshold Guardian: Eros is the literal Guardian that tests The Hero's resolve. It's a Secret Test of Character - whether Victor is strong enough to overcome his despair and grief, and whether the trio of Chris, Phichit, and Yuri are prepared to lay down their life for Earth to stand a chance at survival. After defeating him, the heroes gain their 11th-Hour Superpower, which enables them to fend off an entire alien horde, which they never would have been able to do had it not been for that test.
• Together in Death: Victor and Yuuri, though not for long.
• Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe: Initially subverted in that Tokyo has such low monster activity compared to the rest of the world that it didn't even merit two Agents until shortly before the story since the aliens were drawn to the Red Rose. Doubles as a Mythology Gag since the NHK Trophy, a qualifying event for the ISU Grand Prix (featured heavily in the first season of Yuri!!! on Ice) has been held in Tokyo several times. Victor was based in Moscow and St. Petersburg before his transfer - locations for the Rostelecom Cup. Played straight when the worldwide monsters started disappearing and unusual activity appeared in Tokyo, forcing the Agency to send its best there to investigate and resolve the issue.
• Trademark Favorite Food:
  • Yuuri and his katsudon, as per the anime canon.
  • Victor and dairy, according to a side story, despite his lactose intolerance. He also retains his canon preference for sweet potato shōchū.
  • Erin likes chicken fried rice and soda.
• Tragic Ice Character: Victor. He projects an image of being a perpetually cheerful and unflappable extrovert, but he's actually a Stepford Smiler stemming from a traumatic upbringing with a My Beloved Smother. The earliest hints of this show when he accidentally creates an ice heart while snowball fighting with Yuuri, coldly shatters it, and pretends nothing has happened. It's because a younger Victor intentionally made an ice heart in a misguided effort to cheer his mother up, only to be verbally abused for demonstrating his powers. He ends up in D-Point (in the Arctic Circle), under the heel of the Evil Is Deathly Cold villain Eros, and is forced to act callous towards his friends and colleagues - both Erin and Gold-One - as he goes through a Trauma Conga Line.
• Tragic Keepsake:
  • Three characters wear their deceased partner's ring on a necklace - Katerina Nikiforov (Mikhail's), Minako Okukawa, and Victor Nikiforov (Yuuri's). Victor didn't wear it for long, though. Eros forced him to throw both rings into the Neva.
  • The fluffy keychain Erin finds at D-Point. It belonged to an unnamed deceased Agent and had held the key to his daughter's first car, which they had fixed up together.
• The Tragic Rose: The holder of the Red and Blue Roses, going back at least as far as Aenar and Lyan, are in a doomed Reincarnation Romance. Victor and Yuuri are the only canonical cases to break the cycle, but there may have been more.
• Transformation Is a Free Action: Averted, as it’s a split-second flash of light here.
• Transformation Trinket: Played with. Agents’ gems are contained within their heart - only when they transform are the gems exposed, usually on their chest. If a gem is forcibly removed by anyone but their owner, the Agent dies.
• Translation Convention: Yuuri and Victor (or any given Agent - Agent, or Agent - Neutral conversation) speak to each other in their native languages, but thanks to their magic they are understood perfectly.
• Tranquil Fury: When Victor gets angry, it's usually this.
• Treacherous Spirit Chase: Victor gets a confusing Or Was It a Dream? visitation from Yuuri, who gives him a cryptic hint. This is on the heels of him physically bumping into someone that looked like Yuuri on the streets, and regretting not chasing after them later just to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
• Troubled Fetal Position: Played for Laughs in "we've all got our junk" as the after-effects of eating nine matcha ice cream mochi balls in a row while lactose intolerant hit Victor.
• Turn Out Like His Father: Katerina desperately tried to hide her former job from Victor because she did not want him to die as well, as she had already lost Mikhail and is unable to fully grieve him. Turned out to be All for Nothing after a well-meaning Galina informed Yakov that little Vitya was a non-Active.
• Undying Loyalty: Agents are completely dedicated to their goals: maintaining The Masquerade and protecting innocent people. They are not above questionable decisions, so long as they were done with the greater good in mind.
• Un-person: The Masquerade means that killed-in-the-line-of-duty Agents are immediately this to any Neutral. Yuuri points out that not even his parents and sister will remember him once he's dead, unless he retires, which would enable him to die of natural causes.
• Urban Fantasy: The fic takes place in the 2010s world, though mostly in Tokyo.
• Vampire Bites Suck: Eros has zero compunctions about his food's feelings. In fact, the more distressed they are, the more he likes it. He specifically provokes Victor and Erin into fear/anger/an assortment of negative emotions before feeding on them. This was assumed to be the norm until Maaya proved to Erin that they can provide the Kiss of the Vampire and Eros was just a sadistic jerkass.
• Villainous Breakdown: '“I'll Kill You! All of you!” He hissed. With his hair and clothing in disarray and his glare deranged, he was a far cry from the put-together figure they had first encountered."
• Villainous Face Hold: Eros is extraordinarily fond of lifting people's chins up.
• Visions of Another Self: Yuuri, and eventually Victor, get these from their past lives.
• Weapon-Based Characterization:
  • Yuuri's zodiac sign is Sagittarius, the archer. He gets a bow-and-arrow themed attack. (Mars Flame Sniper/Strike Inferno) And then, of course, Eros is armed with a bow and arrow...
  • Phichit uses his sash as a chain (Venus Love-Me Chain/Gold Aurora Ribbon). The Thai fon ngiew (scarf dance) is performed during happy events in Chiang Mai, and dancers typically wear yellow flower tiaras.
  • Victor has a Freeze Ray of a Magic Wand early on in his career, but dropped it later. (Mercury Aqua Rhapsody/Luminous Ice Beam) Doubles as a reference to Venus' Crescent Beam as well.
  • Chris gets a Cool Sword - Uranus' Space Sword. (World Shaking/Terra Quake).
  • Yurio has a Knife-Throwing Act, with the "knives" being bolts of lightning. Doubles as a shoutout to Classical Mythology with Zeus/Jupiter throwing lightning, as well as the fandom inside joke that Yurio can hurt people with his "knife shoes". (Jupiter Thunderbolt/Battler Sparks).
• Weight Woe: Yuuri has always struggled with his weight.
• Wizard Duel: Thalia, Latius, and Hyes versus Nike, which quickly turned into Eros versus everyone else. He was caught off guard by a good ol' fashioned tackle and Choke Holds, though. Still, magic was what did him in.
• Whole-Plot Reference:
  • The fic is mostly based on the Dark Kingdom arc, with references to the Black Moon arc.
  • Reincarnation Romance in a magical world with a focus on Screw Destiny between a pair of dark-haired and light-haired men/soldiers? Sounds an awful lot like Loaded March.
• Worthy Opponent: Yuri considers Victor this, regarding Yakov's replacement.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Eros pulled this trick, pretending to be Fighting from the Inside so that Victor would lower his guard and be impaled.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Victor implicitly tells Yuuri this after the latter lets out his feelings of self-inadequacy.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: At first, it seemed like Eros cares for Victor. Until he broke out of the Mind Control. That's when he gets upgraded from Mook to immediate threat, must kill.
• Younger Than They Look: There are some Agents who are younger than 20, but appear older than that.

Tropes in the past storyline:

• Atop a Mountain of Corpses: In the siege of the Khionian capital, Aenar went looking for Lyan and found Alys standing on a pile of dead palace attendants and officials. They had been murdered and displayed for him to find just so Alys can gloat.
• Becoming the Mask: Aenar and Lyan, engaged and married due to political intrigue, grew to love each other. Unfortunately, kingdoms just don't conquer themselves.
• Benevolent Mage Ruler: The Ice King was this, ruling over a kingdom that knew nothing but peace. This rendered them woefully unprepared when the Fires came knocking. The truth is far more complicated; he too was a conqueror until he became disillusioned by seeing the scope of devastation left in his army's wake, and chose peace when he ascended the throne.
• Cryptic Conversation: Lyan and Aenar's discussion about the legend of the firebird in chapter 6. Aenar professes his admiration of Khione and regret that their courtship had to be the result of peace talks. Lyan expresses his frustration with Pyresia being unwilling to simply leave Khione alone instead of constantly waging war on it. Aenar concurs, but points out that he must do his duty as a son, a prince, and a soldier. Lyan wants to know if Aenar could choose for himself, and Aenar ends the matter inconclusively.
• Daddy's Girl: Alys. She favors her father quite strongly in both temperament and looks, and is a Big Sister Bully with all the prejudices she inherited from Valar.
• Due to the Dead: Given to Lyan, who was buried with full honors. Averted strongly with Aenar, whose corpse was stripped of all his fineries and thrown into the sea.
• Emergency Impersonation: Myrina puts on Lyan's armor and stays behind to defend her city. She is discovered and set on fire for this, but blew up the armory in a case of Defiant to the End and Taking You with Me.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: With Aenar's Face–Heel Turn, Lyan becomes this. In the distant past, there is also Ceryse, Alys and Aenar's mother, who was loved by Valar.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Pyresia, Khione, and Klio's (as-yet-unnamed) kingdom are selectively based on China, Vietnam, and Champa.
  • The semihistorical myth of Mỵ Châu and Trọng Thủy, which inspired Lyan and Aenar's love story, was a rationale for the Chinese invasion of Vietnam that would lead to "a thousand year of Northern domination".
  • Princess Huyền Trân was reluctantly married off to King Jaya Simhavarman III of Champa in exchange for land, like Klio. Around that time (Lý-Trần dynasties), Vietnam has a history of Altar Diplomacy, marrying off princesses to chieftains and kings to prevent trouble. After the death of her husband and son, Klio returned to her kingdom on a boat and finally became queen, severing ties with Khione and letting it be absorbed into Pyresia. Huyền Trân was rescued from incineration with her dead husband and spirited back to Đại Việt (Vietnam's name at the time) on a boat.
  • Klio is introduced wearing a red tunic with golden birds; red and gold/yellow is a common Vietnamese color motif, and the braids wrapped around her head evoke a Vietnamese turban (khăn đóng). The Lạc bird, a Vietnamese motif, is also often depicted in gold.
• Generation Xerox:
  • Lyan, like Klio, ended up in an arranged marriage to an enemy he actually loved, and the feeling was mutual.
  • Aenar, like Valar, manipulated a family member (Valar threatened to harm Lyan if Aenar didn't cooperate, and Aenar tricked Lyan into revealing the secret of the Claw).
• Heir Club for Men: King Valar often complains that if Alys had been the right gender, she would have been a great heir. He's eagerly waiting for the day either of his children provide him a grandson for the throne so that he can dispatch Aenar, whom he loathes, via Hunting "Accident".
• Horrible Judge of Character:
  • How utterly naïve is Aenar to think that Lyan would agree to either running away with him and damn the consequences, or resign his life to living as a Pyresian? It's implied to mostly be an acute case of denial and blind adoration of Lyan as someone who takes Aenar away from his abusive family.
  • On the flip side, Lyan isn't exactly savvy either. Spilling state secrets to someone from an enemy country, love notwithstanding, is a big no-no.
• Identical Stranger: Myrina Aretia and Lyan of Khione can pass for each other at a distance until either of them open their mouth. It's plausible that they're related somewhere far up the family tree, as the House of Aretus has produced military heroes who might have gotten the Standard Hero Reward.
• If We Survive This: Coupled with Tempting Fate. They did live to rue Lyan's decision to trust and train Aenar, Myrina died first in an attempt to protect Lyan, and their reincarnations Erin (Myrina) and Victor (Lyan) did meet again.
  Myrina: I just hope we won’t live to rue this day.
  Lyan: If we meet in the next life, you have my permission to yell at me about how you definitely warned me this was a bad idea.
  Myrina: Don’t fret. When I’m dead, I’ll return just to wring your neck. We’ll meet in the underworld first.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: She didn't live long enough to angst for any meaningful time over this, but Myrina went to her death asking Lyan to forgive her failure in protecting him, specifically from Aenar and Pyresian ambitions. Her reincarnation, Erin, would fix this Unfinished Business by protecting Victor from Eros and the Empress' ambitions.
• Inadequate Inheritor:
  • Aenar is this to King Valar. He's a pyromancer in a kingdom that favors swordfight for men, and had a minor case of Becoming the Mask after his first meeting with Prince Lyan, which the king isn't too happy about. He proved to be adequate in a tragic case of My Master, Right or Wrong by turning on his husband and Khione. His failure to realize that Lyan would never agree to live as a kept man in the Pyresian court doomed him.
  • The Reveal showed Alys to be this - no matter what she did, she would be "humored" and disqualified for the throne on the basis of her gender, despite being the perfect person to carry on Valar's dubious legacy (thanks to her Daddy's Girl nature and upbringing making her a Generation Xerox copy of him). She's made peace with this fact and is perfectly happy to rule over what's left of Khione, after killing Aenar to make sure he doesn't get it handed to him.
• It Meant Something to Me: Lyan was pretty furious when Aenar told him that his first and only duty is to his royal father. It proved to be a lie pretty quickly, as Aenar deliberately protected Lyan from the broken flame barrier, proving that he doesn't actually want to kill Lyan in their Duel to the Death. Unfortunately, Lyan had already given Aenar an Impaled with Extreme Prejudice.
• I Want Grandkids: Valar wants Aenar to produce an heir, Incompatible Orientation notwithstanding. Alys doesn't get this demand because she's Daddy's Girl and refuses to be married off (and in that situation, any child of hers would be a foreigner anyway).
• Lady and Knight: A same-sex example. While Lyan is trained in magic and combat, given that he's living in a peaceful Crystal Spires and Togas kingdom, he doesn't use it all that much. Aenar, on the other hand, is active in battle as the commander of the Royal Army. Unfortunately for them, it's a case of the Bright Lady and the Black Knight falling in love. This is even Lampshaded in their palettes, right up to the color of their mounts in the Duel to the Death.
• Love-Interest Traitor: Aenar betrayed his love for his country.
• Love Ruins the Realm: Khione and Pyresia, as well as the unfortunate countries Valar ended up conquering, has Lyan to thank for his misplaced trust in his husband.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Klio is named after Clio, the Muse of history. She is the only senior Khione royal family member left alive after the invasion, and she fled with the truth back to her country. The public version of the story was distorted over time, without her input. She was born Princess Black Pearl, a reference (though not an accurate translation) to her real-world counterpart Princess Huyền Trân of the Trần Dynasty.
  • Pyresia is a misspelling of pyrexia - a condition also known as a fever.
  • Khione is named after the Greek goddess of snow.
  • All the Pyresians are named after Targaryens or their allies. True Targaryens are dragonriders who cannot be harmed by fire.
    • Valar(r) Targaryen - While there was a Targaryen by that name, the Pyresian was named after the High Valyrian sayings of valar morghulis (all men must die) and valar dohaeris (all men must serve). He is comprised of the worst parts of men in power: abusive, chauvinistic, manipulative, generally despicable. He is the cause of much death, and yet the duty of all his subjects is to serve him - including his son and daughter, to tragic effect.
    • Aenar Targaryen - Aenar the Exile, who took his family and fled the Doom of Valyria. The Targaryens only survived the Doom because of Aenar's flight, and the Pyresian/Khionian royal family main lines both effectively ended with a chain of events starting from Aenar's death.
    • Alys Rivers - She saw visions in fires, an ability shared by Hino Rei/Sailor Mars. Rivers was an illegitimate child yet beloved of a prince (Aemond Targaryen), and Alys of Pyresia was ineligible for the throne yet the preferred heir had it not been for Heir Club for Men. Rei and both Alyses have long black hair as well. Alys of Pyresia lampshaded this by paraphrasing the Targaryen motto: "I will take my rightful place with blood and flames."
    • Ceryse Hightower (the first wife of Maegor I the Cruel) - A noble lady married into the Targaryen line and the one true legal queen of Maegor. Ceryse of Pyresia was Valar's true love, or as close to love as he can get. Additionally, "cerise" is a shade of red, fitting for her red-and-black family theme.
  • Myrina Aretia was named after Myrina, queen of the Amazons. Aretias is an ancient name for Giresun Island. It is said to have been used by the Amazons for their fertility rituals. Furthermore, a legend holds that King Mithridates VI of Pontus, furious at his daughter falling in love with a poor shepherd, had the shepherd hung from a cherry tree in front of the tower where the princess was imprisoned on the island. She hung herself from the tower the next day. Myrina killed herself by blowing up the armory, and her last thought was of her beloved prince and surrogate brother, who would be dead in a Murder-Suicide with his husband mere minutes afterwards.
• Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Politics aside, Lyan and Aenar could have been really happy together. Played straight with Lyan's parents, who are both decent people who grew to love each other, even though his kingdom conquered hers and she married him to establish a double monarchy.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Lyan immediately leapt to the conclusion that Aenar actually killed Myrina by setting her on fire, which Aenar doesn't deny. While Myrina decided to go out in a suicidal Heroic Sacrifice, she wouldn't have to do it if Aenar hadn't bungled his attempt to save her from Alys.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Aenar tried to argue his way into leading the invasion, but was turned down in fear of his Becoming the Mask tendencies. Lyan wanted to stay and defend the city to the end, but was forced to flee. He and his father led the Pyresian soldiers away from the royal carriages to save Klio and her ladies-in-waiting, though. Played straight with Alys, who became a Frontline General for the first time.
• Twin Switch: Lyan and Myrina attempted this as children, but they got found out fairly quickly - Myrina-as-Lyan because he would never be so attentive and quiet in a lesson, and Lyan-as-Myrina's attempt to mimic her voice was allegedly an epic failure. It worked well in the climax, right until Aenar outs Myrina in a misguided attempt to save her life, and Myrina starts screaming furious threats to kill Aenar.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid:
  • Alys of Pyresia used to be an adorable bright-eyed and happy if bossy little girl. When told she would have a brother, her reaction was "How exciting! He will spar with me!" Unfortunately, the death of her mother in childbirth and her resultant upbringing turned her into a Generation Xerox of the worst traits in her father, a vicious, cruel, sadistic, All Take and No Give conqueror, at least partially fueled by her clinging to the only parental figure she had left and desperately wanting to please him.
  • To a much lesser degree, Aenar also took a nosedive as he grew up and his family's bullying/indoctrination got to him. He was a shy, sensitive young boy who wouldn't hurt a fly, yet grew into the Frontline General commander of the Pyresian army due to his swordsmanship, but mostly for his tactical mind. Next to Alys he comes off as a saint, as he's still capable of genuine devoted love to Lyan that would eventually lead him to denounce his family and country, however belated. However, his upbringing had also given him a Lack of Empathy that prevented him from seeing the natural results of his betrayal of Lyan and the Khionians out of blind obedience to his country. Ironically, Alys correctly saw that Lyan would want nothing to do with Aenar, but Aenar took much longer to realize that.
• Vocal Dissonance: Myrina Aretia is a ferocious warrior who happens to have a high, demure, borderline squeaky little girl voice. It gives her away in the climactic siege of the Khionian capital and leads to her death.
• Villainous Face Hold: Alys' first actions upon meeting a captive Lyan: lifting his chin up with her sword and mockingly asking if he was indeed the man who bewitched her brother and whether he was a little short for a crown prince. No on both counts, because it was a disguised Myrina - except the wording of the questions makes it seem like Alys already knew about or suspected the Twin Switch.
• Was It All a Lie?: To which Aenar replied that he was only being a False Friend and The Mole - which in and of itself is a lie, as he proved willing to run away with Lyan, and unwilling to kill him in the end.
• Whole-Plot Reference: It's a same-sex version of the Vietnamese myth of Mỵ Châu and Trọng Thủy.
• Winter Royal Lady: Prince Lyan of Khione has white hair and blue eyes due to his ice powers, and dresses accordingly. He was named as a shoutout to Lyanna Stark, a noble lady who died surrounded by winter roses, and lived in the wintry north. Khione, his country, is named after the Greek goddess of snow. However, he's dark-skinned for a northerner, owing to his Southern mother.

---