A strange girl with even stranger habits, usually having to do with trouble she can cause. Despite having no heart of her own, there's a pocket within that still carries a vague mirroring of what could be a love for her closest connections.
I was excited to start working on this prompt for @khoc-week as soon as the prompts dropped, specifically due to an AU RP group called Army of the Roses (started by @/pig-warship, sorry boo didn't want to ping you to death-) I've been involved in since 2019!!
To all my homies that are/were involved I love y'all this fun ditty is dedicated to you!! :)
If you've seen a bunch of my art in the Kingdom Hearts OC tags as of late, about 99% of it tends to be tagged with the name of the group, as to me it is like a brain eating amoeba that's Iliana (And Penna and Mando-) shaped (affectionate).
But before I delve too deep, let's get into the prompt!
Day 4 - Alternative Universes
I'm not gonna go too far into the lore of the AU because we'd be here all day, but I'll give a sprinkling for context!
The AU takes place hundreds of years after the events of Kingdom Hearts in a time where names like Sora and Xehanort have mostly been forgotten, but the events are still at least remembered to some degree. Places best known as hubs have also long since been abandoned and forgotten, turned to rubble under the weight of centuries of dwindling population. Traverse Town, even, is no longer the temporary sanctuary it once was.
Sora's Power of Waking kinda screwed up some fabric of reality stuff to the point where it opened a rift between universes, so there's a new (not very new by this point, anyway, unless you're a native to universe Alpha with no interaction beyond your world) universe with all sorts of places to explore!!
It's in this new universe where most of Iliana's character development is taking place, so buckle in for that.
Iliana's journey into the unknown follows the exact same story beats as her canon-compliant timeline, however she doesn't make ties with any canon characters this go around (because they're all long dead), so she mostly has to face the current state of affairs alone... ish.
Traverse Town is pretty much a ghost town at this point, with her uncle Russell being one of the very few remaining there, so her stay this time around feels a bit isolated. She starts off being a bit more closed off than she already was, which definitely will not have wonderful development later, no siree!
Her spontaneous journey to find her home is the same, but her chase through space ends a bit differently. Igni's Heartless (we didn't know it was her Heartless yet, well "we" being everyone but me) murks her in Traverse Town this time, her uncle manages to fight the beast off by himself, unfortunately paying witness to his niece's demise at the same time (sorry king), and instead of becoming Reixen she actually has her own Nobody named Anilxia, which I will explain why in due time.
[Reusing older doodles because I ran out of steam-]
Anilxia was a grimy, very hostile shadow of her former self, fevered by rage, spite, and insomnia. She was almost a danger to Russell, yet he still treated her with tolerant kindness and respect. Like a rehomed, antisocial feral cat.
Frankly, to him this was much better than having her dead and gone like the rest of his family seemed to be, she was their last hope essentially. He had no idea what to do without her, really. So he started working behind the scenes to figure out how to get her back, while making sure to keep her close and in check. Did he go so far as to ground her from going anywhere without him? Absolutely. You can't trust a moody Nobody-
She stayed for (less than?) a year with Russell in this form, in the meantime piecing things together she had noticed were super suspicious about the few memories she was regaining. It all festered into tons of internal darkness that was feeding her own Heartless, which she eventually found skulking around town wherever she went.
Knowing she might be met with some end soon, and in a desperate attempt to preserve what she found out before it could be taken from her again, she wrote her notes down in a... weirdly magical journal, then persued her Heartless through a rift that led them both to the other universe where she recompleted herself... and immediately got hit by a city bus- Jk jk... unless?
She was taken in briefly by a kind stranger who~ I think I wrote to be this universe's reborn Alto! In an AU-canon-compliant diary, anyway- Then she, not knowing how to get back home from here, and with nothing but the clothes on her back and a few weird misc. items, decided to stay in this new city until she could find her own answers to things that were plaguing her. Memories she couldn't, well, remember and all that.
Her only company for a month was Iris and Irene, who in this timeline were... suspiciously much more hostile, and absent at times. She assumed the memory wipe was affecting them as well, so she thought her best bet was to pick up the pace on her personal research both into her world and her memories. She had to juggle some awful jobs at the same time, so suffice to say she was having an awful time.
An answer came to her in the form of a flyer for a mercenary group named, you guessed it, the Army of the Roses, so she packed up her awful little apartment, sold her lease for pretty cheap, and moved to their home base! With some surprising encouragement from Iris and Irene as well, hmm...
In the jump between universes, and probably even before that with her death, she lost her ability to use her Keyblade. That didn't stop it from reforming as a clunky scythe, however, so no need to worry about that... Wait, it's not her Keyblade why is this thing orange and feathery- She picked up using it pretty well, so what harm does a little cosmetic aesthetic change do?
She seemed to fit in perfectly with all the wackos (affectionate) that live there, however...
She started off as a total shut-in, stayed in her room most of the time, barely spoke to the team unless she almost got caught speaking to Iris and Irene or had to actively contribute to missions, lurked in the kitchen at night to avoid interacting... But eventually after a few months of being there she came out of her shell enough to disclose her ongoing problem with her missing home world to one of the leaders.
Of course, that was a backburner issue. They were dealing with bigger things at the time, so one measly personal problem could wait, right?
At one point, that same leader took her and (her new lil bro) another teammate to search for clues, turning up with at least something. She was just having trouble putting it together, like someone didn't want her to figure it all out... Days of almost getting there but coming up short with her memory out of wack did a number on her confidence, so to her dismay she still needed extra help.
With the, some reluctant some voluntary, assitance of the leaders, they managed to, after some harsh poking, confront the now revealed main concern, Igni, and found the leads they needed to bring it back from the brink of disappearance. (The leads were boobytrapped, obvi, if they weren't then it'd be too easy-) From here on, though, Iris and Irene fall suspiciously silent.
Now, I had the absolute pleasure to be at the forefront of Iliana's Character Chapter, a special event where she could (almost) wrap up her character arc and I could make everyone cry! :)
I mentioned it a bit in my KHOC Week posts about Igni in 2021, as it was in progress at the time when I was making them! I thought it would add some nice flavor to her posts and add context for my reasons to talk about her, but it was all very vague so I wouldn't spoil much about the CC itself, so it may have been a... rough read-
We've long since moved on from it as a whole, but it was really fun to host and is forever one of my favorite things I've ever gotten to contribute!!
So, contrary to the canon-compliant timeline where I'm quite a ways away from ever reaching the grand end of her personal story, here we finally got to experience it in motion, but... good golly gee my pals really bent it beyond repair, thank goodness I am pretty decent at improv-
To summarize: They sure did find the Hills of Progress! Y'know the journal I mentioned earlier? Yeah, it was sealed in that.
Along the way they met some interesting faces, relived some horrendous relationships, immediately adopted a very good frog obsessed boy, and backhanded a twink who deserved it (my favorite part tbh). Things happened early and in the strangest ways possible, someone almost died (3 different people at 3 different times, it was a mess) and one nose was broken (Iliana got punched super hard at supersonic speeds so Igni would get out of the driver's seat, my 2nd fav part tbh).
But the important turning point (aside from a hug and a later interaction before Igni got Galeem'd 2: Electric Boogaloo) I wanted to talk about was when they crossed the threshold into Iliana's heart. They were there specifically to confront Igni and hopefully remove her permanently, but she was making it virtually impossible to find her. She's annoying like that.
They turned to their next best bet: Iliana's "heart parasites," Iris and Irene. They hoped the two would be more than helpful in finding Igni, but to their dismay... they were not. In fact, they refused and stalled for time, arguing with the leaders and outing themselves for what they really were in what was probably the most heart wrenching betrayal the whole CC...
♡♡♡
"They never existed."
"We're just figments of an active imagination here only to mentor where one couldn't succeed on her own."
-
"Igni made us simply to keep an eye on her, making us as real as possible only kept up the illusion she wasn't alone."
"If our purpose was to protect her, perhaps we would have done more to be kind, perhaps even try to defend her."
"But that was never our purpose, so it never happened."
♡♡♡
In turn both of them raised their weapons to [leader], defective copies of a Keyblade long forgotten.
[Quotes taken directly from the event! I went hard on that ngl-]
♡♡♡
They were never real to begin with, just illusions made up by Igni to keep tabs on and steer Iliana in the right direction. Visages she stole from the lifetimes she lived, people that did exist but don't anymore. Mere façades of what she thought a lonely child needed like the countless others she observed before, instead turned to a reminder that she can and will be disposed of eventually, to keep her in line.
Her whole life was revealed to be a lie right then and there, and that crack in her heart is gonna be very hard to repair. Time may not be able to heal all wounds on this one. Her trust? Shattered.
It also charted her course way differently, and with them being fake she was 100% herself when her Nobody stepped into the limited limelight. She was, in fact, truly alone the whole time. Well... Aside from Igni, but she doesn't count.
You can imagine Igni's defeat was bittersweet that day, she ticked off one too many people so it was time to get rid of her for good. She became Igni goo and was Baja/Biden/Flavor blasted to kingdom come, it was GREAT!!! Finally, a deserved win, since they had gone through so much in a span of two days, it was a relief!
Iliana's memories of Iris and Irene in this timeline are forever soiled, and because of it her already existing trust issues are much worse, but (to her dismay) her new found family is there to help work her through it!
The other downside is that she's got some guilt to work through, as well as her personal family problems and her now worsened Igni Disease™ (it has a name, I just think calling it that is funnier-).
And of course her being her you can try to pry these issues out of her and into the open, it may just take a crowbar and a lot of elbow grease. Or a bribe... or perhaps just a moment of vulnerability, of which she has few... Or her brother disclosing her personal life for the nth time. Either way, I wish you luck-
On the bright side of this whole mess, she has her Keyblade back in a more ethical way thanks to her new dad/big bro figure so HA, suck on that Igni-
Ahem.
Anyway-
The Keyblade part is not really a win in her eyes, but perhaps she'll warm up more to the idea when her self esteem repairs itself.
Not gonna lie, that self doubt of hers is strong enough to be a source of weird funky happenings...
But that's a thought for later!
What is a win is that she has her lil' bro back!!! And while she doesn't make it obvious, she has never been happier about an outcome in her entire life, that entire nightmare was WORTH IT-
Now she gets to teach him the magic of self defense, and the two can journey together just like she had promised him forever ago.
And with that~!
This was a long one! If you made it this far, you have earned my gratitude and a dash more of my respect!
I have a lot of passion and love stored in this AU and the people I collaborate with, especially the admins, so it only felt right to go on about it to great length! It's very fun to participate in, so you can see why my brainworms are specifically tailored to this.
Again, thank you to my buds in the server for the amazing opportunity to make this nightmare happen, and allowing me to have something to backread when I want to relive probably one of my favorite things I've gotten to host!! We all hate Igni in this house, yet her ghost still haunts us to this day... In one way or another-
Anyway, I hope y'all had fun!! I'll see y'all again for Day 5!!
Ohhh yeah we delving into the sweet treats this fine day of @khoc-week!
These are the kind of fun little ditties that rot my brain day in and day out, so I'm thrilled to get to indulge in some fun, albeit short, writing about it!!
One day I will fully indulge and the world will implode-
Erm. Anyway-
*scribbles out that 'or' and shoddily writes in an 'and' in its place*
Day 3 - Friends (and) Lovers
While they are all super close to each other in one way or another, they each have their own unique relationships they make outside the Heart Hotel dynamic!
I'll still touch on their relationships with one another, but it's also what's outside the clique that counts~
Iris:
Her only big relationship is with Alto, their dynamic being "innocent baby man and grumpy keeper of the brain cell."
Despite that, Iris sees him in a best friend sort of way, the two were super close when they got separated, after all. When they reunite, it's almost if no time had passed, and perhaps Iris learns to... loosen up?
She made teammates and brief friendships, but nothing seemed to come close to their dynamic. Maybe if she had more time, that wouldn't be the case, but the world may never know!
Iris sees Iliana and Reixen as her older sisters, in a way, even though the two of them get on her (and each other's) nerves most of the time. She looks up to them despite their somewhat brainless way of handling things, and it gives her role models she hadn't gotten back in her actual time.
Irene gets the special privelege of being her mother figure! Because in all honesty she doesn't recall having a mom, so Irene is her next best bet. She's too much of a steel wall to admit it, but Irene is her favorite of the others.
♡♡♡
Irene:
Irene up until now really only interacted with castle staff, so her closest relations were really only a coworker dynamic in full. She enjoys tea time with Aeleus and Dilan, at least!
Aside from that, she started collecting adoptions in town, starting with Ienzo and Kairi, and moving on to Lea and Isa, Ventus, even, until finally any random stranger with children who frequently visited was not safe! Specifically Iliana-
She ended up collecting two others in the form of Iris and Reixen! Both reluctant at first but gave up and settled into it like a pair of stray cats. Reixen is far more open about it, but Iris is still touchy. Eventually, she will cave and accept her fate...
More came in after the events of KH3. No one was safe from her love and support, especially after the war-
She doesn't have very many parental rivalries, most of the group's parental figures tend to be in united agreement about the children, but she does have some tension towards Ansem the Wise and Even just based on prior experience. Mickey? It's a work in progress. Donald and Goofy? Her besties.
Eventually, she finds a fine companion in Iliana's uncle, Russell, and mayhaps... the two have a silly romance?
After a post-KH3 meetcute when everyone is hunkered down in recovery, they stay at his shop for a few nights, so the two have time to get to know each other. They mostly talk about their experiences with their little arsonist, but it eventually evolves into more personal territory, something they resolve after a few very simple and cute dates.
Finally, a time where Irene can truly get out of uniform...
Also he's one of the stoic types that she just KNOWS she has to break eventually. She will get this man to smile no matter the cost!
Oh yeah it's all coming together~
They've earned it considering all the stress they go through with their collective adopted charges-
♡♡♡
Iliana:
Iliana out of all of them makes the most connections, but only a few of them stuck because she struggles to allow herself to make friends. Allies, sure, but friends? Naaaah~
She started out in her home world with a friend group in the form of Enya, Harlow, Rinée, and Tobias. They were all super close up until their teen years, sticking by each other through thick and thin! And they involved her little brother at times when her parents were out of town.
Her little brother, Mandorian is, like, THE most important person to her. He's just a little guy who loves frogs and hanging out with his big sis when she's not busy training. The two are so often left unattended that it's not hard to believe they spend most of their time together. Wherever she goes, he's close behind!
But whenever they're not together, she's hanging out with Tobias!
She and Tobias were two peas in a pod, completely inseperable most of the time. Tobias was her (secondary) light, and her brother's personal favorite person aside from her, so you can understand how soul destroying it was when they got murked (by her mortal enemy, she doesn't know this until way later though) in order to kickstart and send her on her hero's journey-
She fell out of touch with the others by the time she left due to the loss bringing out the worst in all of them, but Enya seemed to be the only one who continued to cling to what was left of their friendship...
Anyway-
After suffering a horrible death and was subsequently resurrected, she got pulled into Sora's goofy family along with Alto, which filled in a gap left behind by her other (temporary) loss of her younger brother.
It's like she gained two new dads and two lil' bros all in one day, what a world-
Being parentified at a young age meant she knew how to handle keeping Sora and Alto in line, but that doesn't really stop her from doing her own very stupid stuff when they aren't looking. The hypocrite-
She kind of develops a dad dynamic with King Mickey as well, but it's not terribly definitive considering how absent he is...
Over time, the Guardians of Light end up being her found family DLC add-on, it's very wholesome! She's touchy about it, but like Iris eventually she will cave in to the love and affection.
Irene, Reixen, and Iris are like her chill aunt and weird siblings that irritate her, and that's very cool of them. They were there first, so no one can top that. They're like the only family she had most of the time aside from her uncle, so there's a distinct boundary of trust between them that others can't really match.
Along the way, she also has many unrequited crushes on princesses or side characters of sorts, but the only romance in the timeline she persues (even if she's unaware of it half the time, she's very dense) is with Ienzo! Because a certain porcupine is now part of a polycule with a grape and an electric beetle- It would have never worked out, tbh.
She didn't settle, she just had a sudden and very real realization that she fell for probably THE dorkiest person possible. So many characters to pick, so many pretty princesses, handsome princes, teammates with more screentime, and it had to be a basement dwelling rat (affectionate)...
Considering her prior heartbreak at the loss of her childhood bestie, it does take a while for her to come to terms with the fact that it's okay to move on. She holds on to so much that you may need to pry it from her very warm, still alive hands-
Luckily, the two did know each other well enough since they interacted a bunch when they were kids, she did visit Radiant Garden quite a bit after all, it only made sense they may have some chemistry later down the line. Her grandma would joke about it with Ansem the Wise, but little did she know that it would become very real and very cute actually-
I dunno what it is with her and nerds, but if you can talk her ear off while all the info leaks out of her hearing holes, you have most certainly won her heart. Ienzo also partially fits the bill for her morosexual side, depending on the situation that isn't science related. Like cooking or something. Equal parts smart and dumb, just the way she enjoys them-
They're both t4t brainless nerds and in love, love wins etc etc.
♡♡♡
And there you have it! It's not much but it's honest work-
They all deserve the love and respect they get along their journies, and I'm happy to say that they do find it all eventually!
Enough on that though, we're indulging in angst this next day. See y'all on Day 4!! >:3c
