Zura Grattachecca/History

Zura Grattachecca was born Reyhangül "Rey" Bastani and identifies herself as Persian and Uyghur.

## Life as a Child Athlete

Zura grew up as an only child to a Persian-American father and Uyghur-American mother. Because she was training to be an Olypmic hopeful for figure-skating and at the insistence of her mentors, she grew up without her parents being very involved in her life and traveled frequently to train and compete. Outside of ice-skating, she is homeschooled and had plans to pursue a career in law after she finishes her ice-skating career. Her journey to become an Olympic figure-skater led her to become friends with Ghiaccio Francescon (formerly female), another fellow Olympic hopeful in figure-skating who was also her competition rival, and the two ended up being each other's only friends in long term. Zura found her friend's step-father rather suspicious, as he is often viewed by the public as an involved yet strict parent, and Ghiaccio is often shown having a strong, private relationship with him. Despite the rivalry and expectations to one up each other at every competition as well as Ghiaccio's insistence of not talking about her life outside of skating, the two became close friends.

However, their friendship seemed to come to an end when a group of men were sent to attack Zura before a major competition that would determine who should compete in Italy's Olympic figure-skating team. The attack, which should have killed Zura, instead injured Zura's legs, leading her to withdraw from the competition and later on its revealed that she would no longer be able to skate again because of it. Ghiaccio was pointed as the mastermind behind the attack, with the motive being to take Zura's spot in the Olympic team and led to the former being banned from figure-skating in the Olympics and later on in future competitions. Zura, feeling betrayed and hurt by her only friend's apparent actions, would publicly denounce her friendship and said choice words to Ghiaccio in anger, and the attack caused media frenzy that vilified her friend. Zura sought to confront her friend at another competition she snuck alone after the meet but ended up witnessing a tense scene between her friend and her step-father instead. Overhearing and witnessing the interaction while hidden in a locker, Zura figured out that it was Ghiaccio's step-father who planned the attack and scapegoated his child to avoid accountability and did so to make sure Ghiaccio would make it onto the Olympic team while also despising Zura's friendship with his child. It didn't take long for her to piece together the real relationship Ghiaccio had with her step-father, which involved abuse against Ghiaccio and his half-brother Amadeo Müller; she realized that the latter "running away" from home had more to it's reason than being a "delinquent act".

Zura didn't leave the locker room or make her presence known to the two even after they left, but not before seeing the true physical and emotional abuse that Ghiaccio had to endure for years under their step-father's hand.

## Murder of Ghiaccio's Father and Alleged Murder of Ghiaccio

Zura decided to take matters into her own hands to make up for what she said to Ghiaccio. A few months after the attack and having witness the abuse that her friend went through, she snuck into Ghiaccio's house as a means of convincing him to sneak out. Unbeknownst to her, Ghiaccio had just screamed at his step-father for discovering his part in the attack and had just run into his bedroom while the other was preparing to "punish" him for insubordination. However, upon being caught by his step-father, Zura panicked and attempted to escape while still in her cast. After being tackled in the living room, she grabbed a nearby sports trophy and smashed his skull at full force. She repeatedly beat him as she screamed about what he had done to her friend and how he didn't deserve to live for being a terrible father and person.

Ghiaccio heard the commotion from upstairs and recognized Zura's voice before coming down stairs. When he entered the living room to see Zura standing over his now dead step-father, Zura noticed his presence. Ghiaccio asked what she had done and was initially terrified of her intentions of being in his home, but Zura explained what she initially wanted to help Ghiaccio leave without notice and what ended up happening. Zura noticed that Ghiaccio already had plans on running away, seeing that he appeared with a backpack and dressed to survive the cold weather while remaining concealed. She also explained how she saw what happened in the locker room on that day and apologized for not being able to see what her friend had endured and not being able to do anything to stop it from happening. Ghiaccio tried to apologize for having Zura kill his step-father but Zura justified her actions by saying wanted Ghiaccio to live a life free from expectations and fear. She gave him the money she planned on giving to help him sneak out, packing any remaining items that can be taken with him, and told her friend to leave before the police were going to arrive due to the commotion. Despite hesitating, Ghiaccio began making his way through the back as police sirens were heard in the distance. The two friends shared one last embrace and Zura told him to never contact her again. When asked why, she repeated the same words of wanting Ghiaccio to live a new life once more.

Zura rearranged the crime scene to make it resemble a planned attack. By taking some raw meat from the refrigerator, using clothes left behind by Ghiaccio, and smearing more blood onto herself while hacking at the step-father's body, she made the crime look as if she snuck into Ghiaccio's home with the intention of killing her friend and also attacked his step-father when he caught her breaking into the house soon after she supposedly murdered Ghiaccio. She further bribed law enforcement to accept her confession in order to meet their quota by claiming she murdered her friend and his step-father as revenge against their attempted attack months prior. The media reported Zura was found by the police officers and appeared deranged and armed with a hammer; both the weapon and her were covered in blood.

## Imprisonment and Joining Olio's Team

Zura was sentenced to life in prison after successfully bribing the police and prosecutor to charge her with first-degree murder of two people instead of manslaughter of one. She further strengthen her case by making herself appear more deranged, creating a narrative that she was crazy enough to plan the attack and was driven by revenge and jealousy. However, the judge decided to give her a life sentence with possibility of parole after her tenth year. Zura kept to herself in the local maximum prison for women, only acting insane to keep up the narrative and be left alone. While she used her parents' money to ensure that her life in prison will be a comfortable one, the charges led her to become estranged from them. She ended up befriending one of the officers, who took pity on her case despite not knowing what actually happened and would sneak her items such as books and sweets on occasion.

Although Zura maintained her persona when needed, she was otherwise described to be a behaved prisoner and role model, with many veteran prisoners admiring her after she admitted what she actually did. For weeks, Zura was contacted by corrupt lawyers who claim to want to help her appeal her case so that she would be granted parole quicker in exchange for them receiving some credit and commission, but she refused to cooperate with them. When a visitor requested to meet her, Zura assumed it was another lawyer but was surprised to instead meet Olio Nero, who was recently promoted to become the leader of The Hitman Team. He had been reading her case file and reports regarding her story out of curiosity and initially came to ask her about the inconsistencies of the evidence he read on.

Zura initially continued to hold her story about intentionally killing two people but Olio saw through her lies and pointed them out. He even used his Stand on her and explained that it marked her as "innocent" when he flipped to see if she killed Ghiaccio and his step-father for reasons beyond justice. It wasn't until he revealed his theories on what he thought actually happened that Zura finally confirmed them, and Olio expressed his admiration for her actions to help Ghiaccio and serve justice for her friend. He then revealed his true intention of meeting Zura: to recruit her onto his team as his second-in-command and therefore clear her records of her charges. Although initially declining his offer, Zura eventually accepted his proposal to release her from prison and have all her charges dropped in exchange for her membership into his team.

Zura was sent to Polpo and ultimately gained her Stand Demidevil as a result. She would then go to recruit Anita Cicchetti and, with Cassio Montagna, Taehyung Pescatore. Like Cassio, she became Olio's close confidant. She briefly served as leader of The Hitman Team during Giorno Giovanna's preparation to be Don and ultimately was promoted for her efforts.

It was known that Zura retained her close friendship with the officer she befriended.

## Post-Fate of Zephyr

Zura became Consigliere for Giorno, retiring her position as second-in-command for The Hitman Team and giving its leadership to newer members.

As Consigliere, she serves as an advisor alongside Jean-Pierre Polnareff and helps oversee the management of Passione's capos. According to Polnareff, she insisted on being third-in-command so that she could still be closely involved with Passione's underlings while still holding an advisory role, something that she easily transitioned to as it was similar to her role as The Hitman Team's second-in-command. Zura also helped serve as communication for Andreas Arancini to ensure that Trish is taken care of after the events of Fate of Zephyr. She eventually helps liaison Passione's partnership with The Speedwagon Foundation and tracked Clara E. down to re-recruit her in order to eliminate the Narcotics Team #4.

Giorno eventually helped Zura track down her friend, who now goes by as Ghiaccio Francescon, and the two reunited soon after. They rekindled a close friendship together since.