A The Familiar of Zero fanfic written by Shadenight123
. A Self-Insert with the author being born as Cattleya's twin brother. The fic was completed at over 170 chapters found here.
Not to be confused with the trope of the same name and the web novel of the same name.
This fanfic contains examples of the following:
- Accidental Truth : Rinn's omake guessed the true personality of Joseph's familiar, entirely by accident.
- Adaptational Heroism:
- Due to having a brother who believed in her, many of Louise's Jerkass tendencies are absent. She also has an easier time making friends by blowing up anyone who attempts to bully her.
- Wardes, having married Cattleya, doesn't betray Tristain to the Reconquista.
- While still a Troll and uncaring about his daughter, King Joseph isn't insane and doesn't kill his brother.
- Isabella is this to an extent. In canon she's portrayed as a Jerkass Royal Brat who is antagonistic towards her cousin Charlotte after causing the death of her father Joseph, before she goes into a Heel Realization. In this story, she's a lot nicer and more heroic than her original, but is highly overprotective towards Henry... That often borders to Yandere tendencies.
- Adaptational Jerkass:
- Duke D'Orleans is the well-loving father of Tabitha and Josette in the canon, who would sacrifice himself at the hands of his brother to save his family. In this fic, he has shown to be a jerk especially in Chapter 90 when Henry finds out that he's responsible for hiding Josette in the Saint-Margarita monastery in Romalia. And how does he react to such news? Jerkily deflecting his involvement when Henry points it all out and deridingly challenges him to a duel in Ragdorian Lake.
- Henrietta de Tristain, who is portrayed as a Reasonable Authority Figure and a benevolent monarch in the canon, is portrayed as a Jerkass in this fanfic, making no short work of vilifying Henry's efforts out of jealousy in some cases.
- Alternate Universe: The prequel fanfic bucks many of the known future events of Familiar of Zero and canon events in this fic are presented in a dramatically different angle:
- The first and foremost change is the entirety of the Gallian Royal Family. King Joseph, despite being the Troll he is in the canon, did not murder his own brother Charles D'Orleans. Tabitha did not become the Broken Bird in the present that is seen in the canon, who is instead a cheerful girl like how she was portrayed during her childhood canonically. She also retains her birth name as Charlotte. Tabitha's mother, Marie D'Orleans, was not driven insane since Joseph never became the villain. Like in the canon, Josette was also taken by the church in Romalia, but Charles in this fic played an instrumental role for her long-lost disappearance rather than the Popes of Romalia's church; and unlike in the light novel where Tabitha reunited with her during their teenage years, Josette was only a child in this fic when she was reunited by her family with Henry's help. Isabella is also more heroic (still has some shades of Yandere tendences to Henry) and is less of a Jerkass who goes along with her cousin Charlotte, a dramatic contrast to her portrayal in the light novel.
- Sheffield, who is Joseph's familiar in the canon, was never summoned by him. That instead goes to Anne Mallard, who fills the Void familiar role for Joseph instead, being nothing like Sheffield at all. It also has an unintended chain reaction as a result of Sheffield's absence, where Cromwell was never killed off in this fic.
- Louise in this fic has a massive Adaptational Personality Change that is contrary to her canon appearance and her entire character is different to her canon counterpart. Fans of the series would often know Louise's abusive nature towards Saito, her inferiority complex and her being unable to reach her family's high expectations due to her inability to use magic (Louise being a Void mage after all). With her brother Henry who believes in her a lot, Louise's inferiority complex is nowhere present in this fic, making her unambiguously much nicer (as evinced of her befriending Kirchenote ) than the abuser she was often portrayed in the canon. She also summons Agnes in her Familiar Summoning than her summoning Saito.
- Henrietta's marriage also comes to pass. However, it was not Wales she marries but Emperor Albrecht of Germania. She is also pregnant with her child at the end of the story. She's a widower when Albrecht passed away.
- Ascended Extra: Isabella is a minor character in the canon, while she becomes the Deuteragonist in this fanfiction.
- Blow You Away: As befitting the son of the Heavy Wind, Henry's affinity is wind.
- Clever Crows: Henry's familiar is a giant raven.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Joseph's familiar Anne is one due to being another self insert.
- The Chessmaster: Joseph as per canon. The entire Gailian conquering of Albion was his plan and no one realized it until the Reconquista surrendered. Even then only Henry knows.
- Contrasting Replacement Character: Anne Mallard fills the familiar role for Joseph in the fanfic and she's basically the complete opposite to Sheffield. Both are the Familiars to him and are summoned by the same Void mage, but their characterisations are wildly different. Sheffield is a villain who serves as an assassin, the leader of Reconquista and Joseph's right-hand man and has knowledge of Halkeginia. Anne is simply an average, eccentric Earthling from France who is sent to Halkeginia, having had no clue of the world's cultures and was immediately thrown into a state of culture shock over Halkeginia, making her a Fish out of Water. Sheffield is quiet, formal and calm who speaks in a formal tone, while Anne is loud, informal and brash who speaks in an informal, crude tone.
- Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Or rather a fan-prequel of Familiar of Zero. Henry, his familiar Raven and Isabella, the main characters of the fanfic, contrasts heavily to Saito, Derflinger and Louise (respectively) from the canon series.
- Saito is a normal Japanese teenage boy from Earth who was whisked to Halkeginia due to Louise's summoning magic and is a human familiar specialised with only his rune Gandalfr and his talking sword Derflinger. Henry is a Tristanian born from an influential family who inherits his mother Karin's wind-affinity magic. Saito started off as a low-ranking peasant familiar in the beginning and is the subject of Louise's abuse for most of the time before he was knighted as a royal knight and a noble for Louise. Henry is already a noble-born since birth and is the subject of Louise's affections as his sibling, since he's the one actively responsible for believing in her, thus making her much less of a Jerkass than she is in the canon.
- Derflinger is the talking sword Saito has on his side, which is empowered by his Gandalfr rune. Raven is Henry's talking giant raven who later becomes his companion over the course of the story. Derflinger is a rusting sword who is Really 700 Years Old. Raven was firstly created by Henry during his Familiar Summoning Ritual, thus making him at least several days old.
- Louise was born from the famed La Vallière family, who suffers from inferiority complex because of her lack of practical magic, due to her nature as a Void mage. Isabella, on the other hand, is a member of Gallian's royal family and instead of having inferiority complex, she is much more disillusioned of her father's immature, yet childish nature and has some knowledge of practical magic. Louise is physically abusive towards Saito, where she is incredibly prone to violence. Isabella is emotionally abusive, at some points, towards Henry, who is revealed to be a Yandere who once threatened some servants and a noble once for attempting to flirt with him.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Joseph acts like an unpolite drunk but he still extremely clever. See The Chessmaster above for details.
- Death of a Child: Subverted. Josette, who haven't reached teenage years, was tragically found dead inside a cave that was set up by a group of kidnappers. It went From Bad to Worse when Henry and the Gallian army found her who is nothing more than skeletal remains. At least until it was found out that the remains were not from Josette and she was actually alive when Henry used the ring to put the pretence that she's forever dead, which was done to prevent her from being killed off for real.
- Demoted to Extra
- Since the story follows Henry, most of the people Louise went to school with are mentioned once or twice.
- Saito isn't summoned until the last chapter. He also isn't summoned by Louise but Tiffania.
- Giving Radio to the Romans: Henry brings a multitude of ideas including six shot rifles, country wide health care and a wide variety of adapted Disney stories to Halkagenia.
- Lampshaded by Anne as she recognizes many of Henry's stories.
- Go Mad from the Revelation:
- The fate of Wardes's parents when they discover the windstone crisis.
- Charles goes into this when Henry vehemently reveals anything about his motivations of sending Josette into the Saint Margarita monastery in the past in his quest to inherit the Gallian throne, culminating into a duel between the two in Ragdorian Lake.
- Happily Married:
- Henry and Isabella have some rough spots, but ultimately love each other.
- Cattleya and Wardes. Which is the reason that Wardes stays loyal.
- King Incognito: Joseph cleverly disguised as a beggar in order to meet up with Cromwell, as part of his plan to initiate the annexation of Albion.
- Ludicrous Gibs: Henry's signature spell results in the body being ripped to shreds by fierce gusts of wind.
- Minor Major Character: Saito, the main protagonist of the original Familiar of Zero, only appears at the very last chapter of the story with zero importance in the plot.
- Oh, Crap!: Henry's reaction upon learning his element is Wind and his mother, The Heavy Wind and creator of the Rule of Steel, would want to train him personally.
- Red Baron: Henry's runic name is the Vicious Wind. Given how ruthless he is to his enemies, it's not entirely undeserved.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Henry's familiar is often notoriously foul-mouthed who mostly peppers his speech with inappropriate terms and vulgarities.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Karin has this. It is the reason for the Karin-Chan's Magical Adventures in Parenting! omakes.
- Yandere: Isabella means well, but she is overly protective of her husband. Most of the servants Henry has report to her and more than one other noble has been threatened with beheading for flirting with him.
