Fanfic / Filtered Light

Filtered Light is an ongoing Kingdom Hearts Elsewhere Fic, written by aeskah and published on Archive of Our Own.

The story, set during the events of Kingdom Hearts, follows Sora's mother Nova as she escapes from the Destiny Islands during the Heartless invasion with the help of Selphie and a home-built Gummi Ship.

This story provides examples of:

• Adaptational Early Appearance: Several Organization XIII members have appeared: Demyx plays a major role in the Empire of the Sun chapters, while the rest subsequently appear in the meeting room, with Xigbar revealing that he remembers Nova from Radiant Garden. Pete is also introduced early, visiting the Empire with Maleficent.
• Alternate Universe: While the story is canon compliant to the original game and tagged as such, the fact that Selphie appears in Kingdom Hearts II with no indication of remembering what happened to the Islands suggests a canon divergence.
• Elsewhere Fic: The first chapter opens on Nova's sole line from the video games - "Sora, dinner's ready. Come on down. Sora?" - before following her reactions to Sora's disappearance and the beginning of the Heartless invasion.
• Emotion Suppression: Nova, which is revealed to be the result of her heart being locked to protect it from darkness, which also prevents her from accessing her keyblade or using magic. Nova reveals that a few years after Sora was born she tried to have it unlocked with help from two keyblade Masters, but the darkness in her nearly killed them. As such, she has no desire to let Sora try it.
  Merlin: A locked heart refuses all connections. Traps the heart's ability to fully express any feelings or beliefs it contains. And without a steady source of light or darkness to give it strength, a heart can only wither. Worlds have survived far longer amounts of time in that state- some even lock themselves into dreams for protection, when the darkness becomes too much to bear. It's not as terribly unusual as one would think. But the heart of a person-
  Archimedes: The heart of a person has fewer connections to start with. Locked, they can't survive. Can't thrive.
• Failed a Spot Check: Upon returning to Maleficent between arcs, Pete takes a while to notice the six captured Princesses of Heart in the entryway.
• Forced Transformation: Nova gets turned into a squirrel after Selphie accidentally throws one of Yzma's potions at her and Pete. She remarks that, "It's like training Wart all over again." Later, Pete is transformed into a bird in the same way, only being turned back after returning to Maleficent.
• Frying Pan of Doom: Nova's initial attempt to fight off the Heartless in her home. It doesn't do a lot, but it does keep her alive long enough to find Selphie.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Between them, Selphie and Zell managed to build a working Gummi Ship out of a few blocks that had fallen in a meteor shower years earlier. Even Selphie had no expectation of getting it to fly.
• Internal Reveal: Chapter 39 has Nova learn from Merlin and Archimedes what happened to Eraqus and Xehanort, though only as much as Merlin himself knows at this point.
• It's Personal: Played with: Merlin reveals that Maleficent and Nova have a history together, but feels confident that Maleficent isn't likely to endanger Nova over it, at least for that reason: "That sort of business is too petty, even for Maleficent. Why, with all her lofty ambitions for conquering worlds, it's likely she's more interested in causing our young Sora grief by targeting his mother, rather than seek revenge for anything Nova herself has done personally." Leon and Yuffie aren't especially reassured about this.
• Journey to the Center of the Mind: Referenced when Nova explains the "Dive to the Heart" concept to Selphie. "Some people can visit inside of themselves and see their own hearts. They appear as pictures made of stained glass."
• Knows the Ropes: Similar to the prologue of the original game, Selphie uses her jump rope as a whip against the Heartless.
• Left the Background Music On: As Selphie walks into the Traverse Town plaza, the narration describes the town's theme music playing nearby, which soon switches to the battle theme when the Heartless show up.
  aeskah: On another note, of course the music in Traverse Town is diegetic. Why wouldn't it be?
• Mama Bear: Nova intends to be this if she ever catches up with Sora.
• Missed Him by That Much: Nova and Selphie's visit to Wonderland apparently coincides with Sora's, to the point of Nova witnessing Sora's battle with the Trickmaster from the other side of the room, but she misses her chance to reunite with him. They later arrive in Traverse Town and meet Merlin not long after Sora, Donald and Goofy went off to Hollow Bastion.
• Mysterious Parent: The story makes it clear as early as the first chapter that Nova has some familiarity with The Heartless and the world outside the Islands, as well as some kind of training in her past, but the details are only gradually revealed to Selphie or the reader.
• Named by the Adaptation: Nova, as Sora's mother was never named or indeed seen in canon.
• Rapid-Fire "No!": Nova's (mental) reaction when the Heartless appear.
• Related in the Adaptation: Selphie's brother is based on Zell Dincht from Final Fantasy VIII, who had no such relationship to Selphie Tilmitt.
• Road Trip Plot: After Nova and Selphie escape the islands, they travel to several other worlds, including Wonderland, the Empire of the Sun, and Traverse Town.
• Scenery Gorn: The story describes the destruction of the Destiny Islands in harrowing detail, including an early appearance of a Demon Tower.
• Travelling at the Speed of Plot: Justified regarding the gag involving Yzma and Kronk getting back to the secret lab before the heroes, which is here the result of a conveniently placed Dark Corridor. The author admits that they may have set up the entire situation with Demyx for this reason.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Nova is not especially shocked by Kuzco, a talking llama, though Selphie and others are baffled by her remark. It's only after this that we learn Nova has some experience with Talking Animals before this, including Pete, who also seems to recognise her.
• Villain Team-Up: Yzma isn't part of Maleficent's cabal from the game, but she's eventually convinced to work with her and Pete, which results in her turning herself into a Heartless towards the end of the arc.