Ghiaccio Francescon/History

Ghiaccio Francescon was born female and went by the name Ariana Bianco until he transitioned. Until he was reunited with Zura Grattachecca, she only knew him by his birth name and referred to him as such.

## Life Prior to Leaving Home

It is unknown who Ghiaccio's mother was, beyond her being a wealthy divorcee and often commented to resemble Ghiaccio. Prior to Ghiaccio's biological father's death, she was married to a different man and had Ghiaccio's older half-brother Amadeo Müller before divorcing him.

Ghiaccio was raised by his step-father, a former track and field child athlete forced into retirement due to injury who eventually became a fitness coach before marrying Ghiaccio's late mother. Unbeknownst to his step-father's abusive behavior, his mother gave him full custody after she passed from terminal illness, believing that Ghiaccio and Amadeo will be well cared for. However his step-father decided to push both children into becoming child athletes themselves as a means of living vicariously though them; Amadeo was put into swimming while Ghiaccio was put into figure skating. Ghiaccio was placed into that sport due to his step-father's belief that it was a feminine enough sport that suited his gender at the time and refused to have either children change their passions or explore other interests. Ghiaccio grew to loathe his training, as he not only hated the environment established in figure skating but also how it conflicted with his gender identity. On top of that, the constant comparison and competition between him and his half-brother was constant despite the two being in different sports. The strict regime of training was harsh and his step-father was proven to be abusive to the two of them, albeit more physically abusive to Amadeo in public due Ghiaccio's gender at the time. However, Ghiaccio was still subjugated to some physical abuse in private, especially away from Amadeo's sight, but more emotional harm was done to him than his brother.

It was revealed that Ghiaccio was often threatened to do better to avoid his own brother from being further abused with seemingly no reason, and Ghiaccio grew up to be quiet and complicit to avoid further abuse against his half-brother and himself. This led to the two siblings to further drift apart, with Ghiaccio being seen as the favorite child due to his quietness and natural athletic ability; Amadeo eventually ran away from home as a result, which the step-father actually knew will happen but allowed it to be done. Ghiaccio attempted to follow Amadeo but it led to an argument that severed the two brothers' ties completely, with Amadeo falsely accusing his younger sibling for being the favorite and wishing the other was never born. Ghiaccio's treatment from his step-father slightly improved, as the latter saw Amadeo as a "bad influence" and tried to persuade Ghiaccio that Amadeo's departure was a positive for the family, but Ghiaccio gradually became more abused as time passed on. To this day, Ghiaccio has tried to reach out to his older brother, but has received no word from him and is not aware of his brother's involvement with Dr. Dolcio or Passione.

Ghiaccio met Zura when both were 6 and 5 years old respectively while training in Moscow for the summer. As it was Zura's first time alone in the city, Ghiaccio decided to try and introduce himself as a means of getting to know her. The two became quick friends, often giggling with each other during practice and developed a close bond despite eventually becoming each other's rivals. Despite his father discouraging him from making friends, Ghiaccio and Zura became very close to where Ghiaccio expressed his interest in cars and learning languages. However, due to fear of retaliation and believing that she would end up not being close anymore if he told the truth, he didn't disclose the abuse and problems he was facing at home to her. Ghiaccio was discouraged from spending time with anyone outside of the family but secretly spent time with Zura under pretenses of training. He told Zura of his step-father forbidding him from making friends, but Zura assumed it was merely strict parenting. At the same time, Ghiaccio fears telling her the truth due to how much influence his step-father also had in the sports world and not being sure where to go if he is able to get away from him and his abuse. Oftentimes, the stepfather attempted to put a wedge between the two by convincing Ghiaccio that not beating his friends will lead to the end of his career.

In desperation of getting Ghiaccio on the Olympic team for figure skating, he planned an attack against Zura by hiring some men to break her legs when she left the ice skating rink after a session of training without being caught. While Zura's leg was broken, the men were caught and told by the step-father to say Ghiaccio was the mastermind. Hearing of Zura's injuries and later that he was responsible for it, Ghiaccio was heartbroken for losing his only friend and being unable to explain why he wasn't the one who hurt her while not knowing who was behind the event. Ghiaccio felt lost and upset with losing Zura, wondering what else he could due as the abuse became more obvious and apparent and being unable to defend himself from the accusations as his step-father was leading the blame. Zura's injuries were publicized and sensationalized, with the media painting Ghiaccio as the villain and the failure of the attack led to Ghiaccio being banned from figuring skating on the Olypmic team and later on from competing in other figure skating competitions. Zura, initially unaware that Ghiaccio had no role in the matter, publicly shamed him and severed their friendship as a result.

The ban and media scrutiny led his step-father to abuse him further, more physically than emotionally, and one of the abuses was caught in a locker room by Zura when she was attempting to confront Ghiaccio one last time; she ended up hiding in a locker and witnessing the reality of what Ghiaccio had to face all those years. As a result, Zura attempted to break into the family home a few months later in order to help Ghiaccio sneak out. Unbeknownst to Zura before she finally snuck in, Ghiaccio was in the middle of his step-father's violent outburst, which the latter finally confessed that he was the one that set up the attack and put the blame on Ghiaccio as a result. In anger, Ghiaccio finally stood up against his step-father for the first time and screamed at him about his wrongdoings and wanting to leave. After realizing that he spoke out, Ghiaccio feared for himself and ran upstairs to prepare running away and locking his room to avoid his step-father from stopping him. His step-father was ready to confront his child and "punish" him for insubordination when Zura was caught sneaking in. Ghiaccio was desperately trying to pack before his step-father would come up when he hears a fight breaking out downstairs and Zura's voice. After much hesitation after hearing silence downstairs, he slowly walked down and noticed Zura was inside his house. He confronted her, wearing his backpack full of items and a white hoodie and jeans to conceal his identity, and stood in shock to see his step-father beaten to death.

Zura went on to explain that she saw what happened in the locker room when she witnessed what Ghiaccio's step-father did and wanted to help Ghiaccio run away from home. However, she was caught and killed his step-father in a panic, and Ghiaccio said he heard everything Zura said while she did it. He tried to apologize for having Zura kill his step-father for his sake, but Zura justified her actions by saying she wanted Ghiaccio to live a life free from expectations and fear. By giving him some of her money she planned on giving him prior and packing whatever remaining items they could in his backpack, she ordered Ghiaccio to start a new life away from Naples and avoid contacting her again; she stated that she was willing to give up her own freedom to give him the freedom he deserved all those years. Ghiaccio initially refused to no longer see her again, but Zura insisted as police sirens were heard in the distance. The two tearfully bid each other goodbye before Ghiaccio exited through a back door and managed to escape the chaos of the police surrounding his home and arresting Zura. As he walked away from the scene, he briefly turned to look back and Zura getting dragged into a police car with handcuffs. The two briefly looked at each other as they parted ways.

Ghiaccio kept Zura's word to not contact her and live his life the way he wanted, only reuniting with her years later at Giorno Giovanna's request. Zura built a fake memorial of her friend under the belief that she regretted supposedly killing Ghiaccio and visits it often to maintain her order of stopping contact with him while still seeing his face. He hears of Zura's arrest, her confession of killing both him and his step-father, and the crime scene she created to resemble that. He wonders how she was able to convince the legal system despite conflicting facts of the crime the media reports.

## Life as Ghiaccio

After running away, Ghiaccio decided to experiment with himself as well as carve a new identity to remain in hiding. He decided to transition into becoming a male and cut his hair as a result, although retaining some length due to its curliness.

Ghiaccio worked as a migrant worker under various names to aid with summer harvests and tourisms. He pretended to be a non-Italian foreigner who was fluent in various languages as a means to get by while staying under the radar; most commonly, he referred himself as Иван Иванович (Ivan Ivanovich), Tauno Tavallinen, and Jean Dupont. During one of his hours, he was helping out a nearby mechanic shop owner with carrying some items to his store and that led Ghiaccio to receive a job offer as a janitor for the struggling business. However, his passion for cars was eventually known and the owner decided to teach Ghiaccio how to perform basic routine work for a cheaper wage and helped the business grow from struggling to success. The old mechanic shop owner, who only knew Ghiaccio as male, decided to officially adopt him as a son, supposedly signing his papers to make him an Italian citizen, and gave him the shop as part of Ghiaccio's inheritance. The two of them shared a loving father-son bond, one that Ghiaccio yearned to have prior to leaving his home, and Ghiaccio became known as the mechanic shop owner's son and business partner before becoming an owner himself.

Initially, he went by Juan Rosso while working in the mechanic shop, though he kept his racial identity ambiguous and spoke with a slight "accent" to avoid further suspicion; the accent was seemingly fixed after years of working in the shop, although he occasionally "lets it slip". He eventually chose the name Ghiaccio, mainly to appear as if he was under mafia protection, but also after the previous workers would nickname him as that due to his standoff-ish nature and ironically having a hot, short temper (as a result, he was constantly told to "cool it", "chill out", etc.) towards things that anger him. The staff eventually would only call him Ghiaccio, as it was a memorable nickname, and newer staff would only know him as such. Ghiaccio looked at names to go by before deciding to stick with his current name while adopting his late mother's maiden name as his new last name, and eventually "confessed" that his real last name was Francescon. He eventually became known in the business as a mid-range mechanic that is often sought out from non-Italian speaking customers and tourists. As a business owner, Ghiaccio oversees his workers and ensures that his business is done fairly and earned a reputation for doing so; he also became known as one of the youngest business owners in the local mechanic industry.

His success ultimately led him to rub elbows with mafia groups, mainly Passione, yet he is often in their good graces due to frequently fixing their vehicles and providing intel when he has any to share. It is through his shop that he ended up being familiar with Giorno and ultimately reunited with his best friend.

## Encounter in Venezia

Unbeknownst to Giorno, Zura, and Salata Mista, Ghiaccio was in business in Venezia when he noticed Zura as their car was driven off the bridge. Upon seeing Salata's abilities to use water to create his weapons, Ghiaccio hid behind a nearby building to freeze various puddles that were on the ground from the rain a few hours ago that was going to be used by Salata to create a weapon to shoot Zura.

Giorno noticed the situation and used the distraction to take down Salata and ultimately kill him with Zura's help. Zura herself commented on why the puddles that Salata slipped on were frozen despite the weather being warm this time of year. Both her and Giorno were initially wary of a potential enemy Stand user that would have caused the bizarre action out of malice and attempted to leave quickly when snow was shown falling from the sky. Zura mentioned again that it was the middle of spring and the weather report in Venezia that she saw on the train stated that it wouldn't be cold enough to even have snow in their presence. Ghiaccio is seen walking away from the scene briskly and the snow disappears.

He is later seen in the background yelling at a driver that crashed into him while team make their way to St. Mark's Campanile. However, no one on the team noticed him or the scene.

## Reunion with Zura

Despite wanting to keep his word, Giorno eventually convinced him to visit Passione's headquarters and face Zura for the first time in years. This led to Giorno to bribe the government enough to alter Ghiaccio's legal documentations so that it appeared that he had been born male his entire life and never died, erasing his previous life as Ariana Bianco as a result and having him appear to be born as Ghiaccio Francescon when asked what his legal name should be now. Zura, who was unaware of Giorno's plan, to angrily confront him after witnessing funeral employees remove Ariana's memorial under his orders.

When Zura stormed into her office, she was caught by surprise to find Ghiaccio standing in the same room. Ghiaccio initially apologized for reaching out to her, even though she stated that they were to cut off contact for his safety and apologized for making her go through what she went through for his freedom, but instead was met with a long embrace from his friend. The two had an emotional reunion overseen by Giorno, who explained that he used his position as Don of Passione to clear Zura's name completely from any murder as well as ensure that Ghiaccio was now his own person and recognized by his current identity instead of his old one. Although Giorno offered to pay for Ghiaccio's full transition, the latter declined, saying that he is able to afford it himself but took the offer to be referred to reputable, trustworthy doctors for the procedure and be subsidized for treatments. Zura and Ghiaccio continued to remain friends, and Ghiaccio often used his position to provide her with information for Passione while he continued to work as a mechanic.

## Comparison to the Original Ghiaccio

The relationship between Zura and Ghiaccio as well as Ghiaccio's childhood and relationship with Amadeo is similar to the original Ghiaccio's backstory. Ghiaccio as a trans man is also shared with the original Ghiaccio's backstory as well.

The difference lies with the event that led to Ghiaccio being blacklisted and elements of his childhood. Unlike Fate of Zephyr, the original Ghiaccio's friend was another competition rival with no further background and she was able to continue with her skating career despite the attack; neither are also on speaking turns or had remained in contact since. The attack aligned more with the actual 1994 attack on Nancy Kerrigan and the story ended with the original Ghiaccio attempting suicide shortly after the events before he encountered by Risotto Nero. While Ghiaccio was able to escape his step-father with the help of Zura, the original Ghiaccio actually ran away after screaming at his step-father and escaped so. At the same time, there was no references to sexual abuse with the original Ghiaccio while the other was implied.

Both Ghiaccio and the original share the same half-brother Amadeo, later known as Secco. It is implied that Ghiaccio eventually knew what happened to his half-brother while the original is said to not know and still attempt to reach out to him.