Fill the Moon

Fill the Moon is a popular Alternate Universe Fanfic by Damned Lolita.

So the story goes; a new Nobody joins the Organization, makes friends, finds a way to Kingdom Hearts, and falls in love. That's a nice story.

It's not this story.

Fill the Moon is a story about a little Nobody girl trying to protect the adults around her and deal with the consequences of being a child trapped in the webs of budding sexuality. It is a story about pure and absolute evil delighting in the corruption of innocence; it is a story about hollow gods and the beasts that lurk within them. There are no white morals; there are black morals and there are grey morals. There are heroes and villains and people who can't make up their minds about which they would rather be.

There are fathers and brothers, teachers and lovers, friends and families; there are hundreds upon thousands of stories, all snatched from the fringes of time and space. Every story comes together in a gossamer web made of the people that make up the Kingdom Hearts universe, connecting them all by the fine threads of life, love, happiness, and hope.

That is the kind of story that Fill the Moon and One Great Circle provide. They're stories about friends, enemies, lovers, and sometimes, they're just about giant robots and sentient sitars. They are worlds unto themselves, with the depth of characters and settings to match.

Fill the Moon started February 12th, 2010 and One Great Circle started April 9th, 2010. Both are written by the same author, who prefers to go by the name Ari.

Has nothing to do with the song by Nina Deli.

""THE CAKE IS NOT SPECIAL!" She screamed, slamming her hands down on the table as she stood up. Xigbar and Xaldin froze. "YOU! YOU AND YOUR SHINY, HAPPY, SILLY GOSHDARNED PLACE! ALWAYS! IT IS ALWAYS BEES! TO HECK WITH THIS SILLY PLACE! I DISLIKE IT VERY MUCH! I DISLIKE ALL OF YOU SO MUCH! GOSH DARNED SHINYHEADS! ALL OF YOU! I STRONGLY DISLIKE YOUR SHINY HAPPY!""
 * A Man Is Not a Virgin: Sort of played with in universe. Xaldin, who is twenty-nine and hasn't had sex until around the fiftieth chapter of OGC, is as canonically badass as he is in Kingdom Hearts. However, he is teased for this by the others occasionally.
 * Action Girl: Larxene, Kairi, Senayax
 * Alien Geometries: According to the inhabitants, the Castle that Never Was can often get...quirky. It's very fond of "staircases that lead to nowhere" as well.
 * Alternate Universe Fic: While the fic itself qualifies as one, (Word of God states that the only thing that remains mostly unscathed, canon-wise, is the first Kingdom Hearts), the author has also mentioned that One Great Circle will probably have AU-verse chapters, mostly to serve as parodies or deconstructions.
 * Anachronic Order: Fill the Moon covers around one part of the entire Mooniverse. Three-fourths of all the canon and backstory come straight from One Great Circle, which started much later than Fill the Moon, and is still on going.
 * Anthropomorphic Personification: Both Hollowmoon and  count as this.
 * Apocalyptic Log: Yasena's diary. Mother of god, Yasena's diary.
 * Arc Words:  Open Your Eyes.
 * Armor-Piercing Slap: Demyx has taken this to a science. When you can slap Lexaeus out of his sorrow, you've got skill.
 * The Atoner: In some ways, Ansem becomes this, especially after
 * Xemnas goes through this too, especially after
 * Author Appeal: Often spontaneous and accidental--Word of God is pretty open about mentioning actually "accidentally writing her own newfound fetish fuel."
 * Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other: Marluxia and Vexen run this trope for the first half of their relationship arc.
 * Back From the Dead: it's ambiguous as to whether or not   or if it , but they are both alive and well by the end of the story.
 * Badass Adorable: Both Demyx and Senayax fall under this. While Senayax can do anything from talking back to Eldritch Abominations to strangling enemies to death in her own blood, Demyx delivers an awesome Shut UP, Hannibal to Hollowmoon by slamming Arpeggio down on top of his skull mid-sentence.
 * Badass Family: The Organization.
 * The Radiant Garden family also counts as this as well; six scientists, three of whom are trained in combat, and one of which builds giant robots for science, along with their teacher/father, who is basically a wise old king who can and will kick your ass if you push all the wrong buttons? It HAS to qualify.
 * Berserk Button: If you make Xigbar bleed, Demyx will END YOU.
 * As for Xigbar himself, just...don't mess with Xaldin. Just don't.
 * Actually, almost all of the Organization has one of these, usually relating to their lovers. Larxene does not like men touching her, Saix will not tolerate insults against his master, Xemnas, and hurting Vexen in front of Marluxia is not. A good. Idea.
 * Once Senayax arrives, the whole Organization's biggest berserk button comes from anyone laying a hand on her in any way, shape, or form. The feeling is responded in kind, which is why
 * Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick -- Bread, beef, eggs, milk, coffee creamer, flour, sugar, oranges, fruit juice, the toasty souls of the damned...
 * Break the Cutie: Senayax. Senayax. Senayax. Senayax. SENAYAX. Demyx goes through a whole lot of hell, too. Larxene doesn't fare much better.
 * Poor little Ienzo...
 * Big Brother Instinct: Nigh-on everyone feels this for Senayax. If you want to mess with this little girl, you have to go through the entirety of Organization XIII--not to mention Squall and Sora. Good luck.
 * Not only that, but there's Braig. Braig is a battle-hardened, vicious, deadly warrior, who has five brothers, all of whom he would do anything for. You don't lay a hand on any of the Apprentices without Braig riddling you with arrowheads.
 * The Hollow Bastion crew are trying to take the mantle of older sibling up for Senayax. Due to the conflicting sides of this trope, (the Organization's instinct versus theirs), it can get messy.
 * Bizarre Alien Biology: There are times when Hollowmoon is described in this way; things such as his "angles being wrong" or his arms and legs appearing spider-like and double jointed.
 * Body Horror: Every time Senayax transforms into Hollowmoon. Every. Time.
 * Boy of My Dreams: What  is to Axel.
 * Cheerful Child: Senayax is too cute and sweet and altogether too much of a nice person to be in the Organization, which Leon even lampshades.
 * Children Are Innocent: The fic is across the board with this one. While Senayax is nigh-on Purity Sue, there are some pretty wretched kids in Boggy Swamp,
 * Little-kid Demyx plays this one pretty straight too. He's sweet, kind, polite, and trusting...even when he really shouldn't be.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Alice is definitely this, to no one's surprise. Belle has shades of this too; maybe it's a Princess of Heart thing?
 * Demyx and Senayax are both pretty dippy. While Senayax has an excuse, being much younger, Demyx is just...spacey. He's so sweet though!
 * Creator Breakdown: The author, due to personal trauma over writing rape scenes, plus two broken computers in a row, plus her admitted real life issues, have led to slower updates and much more melancholy plot points. Hopefully she'll get better soon...
 * She did.
 * Creepy Child: Would you believe Senayax, of all people, falls into this category? Of course, it helps that she is
 * Plus, creepy children can also be "children who know too much about things children shouldn't really know about," like sex, violence, and the atrocities of humans. She's seen and all three.
 * And aside from that, she's The Heart of a Badass Family that only grows This family consists of trained supersoldiers, skilled warriors, assassins, mercenaries, sorcerers, and scientists. All of whom she trains under. Now think about what that implies.
 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Demyx, just like in the original games, is the KING of this trope; once Xigbar gets hurt, actually manages to hijack a pirate ship, summon a hurricane, tear the Black Pearl to shreds, and drown about one hundred Heartless...all at the same time.
 * Cute Monster Girl: Senayax.
 * Dances and Balls: Ansem is implied to have had many of these. There's also the one time where Senayax forces the rest of the Organization into Wonderland to have a tea party, which ends up becoming one of the lightest, funniest moments in the series.
 * Dark and Troubled Past: About half of the Organization. Seriously. Demyx , Larxene , but Senayax, what with her ends up REALLY taking the cake. And this is before they all became Nobodies!
 * There appear to be hints of everyone else having one of these too, and none of them seem to be particularly pretty...
 * Deadpan Snarker: Vexen absolutely adores this trope. Zexion's not too bad at it either, and Xigbar and Xaldin get their shots, too. Hell, all of the Apprentices enjoy throwing this trope back and forth, especially at each other.
 * Does Not Like Men: Well, considering that Larxene  can you blame her?
 * She does, however, get along with Marluxia. It's just that he's very, very gay.
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: Hollowmoon is quite blatantly simulating rape when  As if calling them "innocent, pure little virgins" wasn't bad enough...
 * The whole Taffymeat sequence is just so WRONG.
 * Really, anything Hollowmoon does or is involved with is filled to the brim with this trope. Particularly when he's talking to Senayax.
 * An almost funny example; Senayax is just on the edge of puberty, is "trapped between a child and a woman," uses blood as her weapon, and Does that sound like anything familiar...?
 * Even worse due to the fact that it was completely unintentional; Word of God outright states that she was only trying to use "an original weapon/attribute" alongside a way to slightly de-squick a relationship. Hollowmoon was just...his normally disgusting self as an afterthought.
 * Doorstopper: Fill the Moon itself is around two hundred and fifty thousand words, which is already a sizable amount for a fanfic. However, the author has stated that she wants to go over one thousand chapters with One Great Circle. It's gonna be a long ride, folks.
 * Draco in Leather Pants: Subverted pretty hard for most of the cast. While the Organization, (for the most part), become the main characters, they aren't flawless, and there are times where their in-story actions are far worse than the ones in-universe, such as
 * Although a few characters do play this trope straight, in the sense that they Plus, they're simply not as big of a villainous organization in this story.
 * Dysfunction Junction: Jesus Christ, the entire goddamn Organization.
 * Eats Babies: Hollowmoon subverts this, claiming "kids are too sweet for his tastes."
 * Empathic Weapon: Peggy communicates pretty openly with Demyx, making her feelings, thoughts, and opinions known by humming and playing her strings.
 * Though it's already sort-of implied in canon, the Keyblade is directly stated to be this.
 * Evil Is One Big Happy Family: While the Organization aren't exactly true, ultimate evil in this story, they're still seen as the bad guys by the The Keyblade Knights.
 * Evil Tastes Good: Hollowmoon doesn't eat kids for exactly this reason.
 * Eye Scream:
 * For Science!: Not only the canonical For Science incidents, but on the darker side, experiments such as
 * On the lighter side of the trope, Even's numerous experiments. Some are incredibly messed up noodle incidents, others are fondly referred to by the others as "the giant robot incident" or the "zombie hamster incident" or the "vivisected bunnies incident..." the list goes on and on.
 * Fluffy the Terrible: Sunny Jim--the Shadow Heartless. Lampshaded on occasion by the others, and subverted slightly; Sunny Jim is actually cute and sweet and devoted to his "Mistress," Senayax.
 * Well, he's cute and sweet unless you're Zexion. Then he likes chewing on your leg.
 * Freak-Out: Senayax turns into Hollowmoon whenever she has one of these.
 * Demyx hijacks a pirate ship, drowns around a hundred Heartless, attempts to murder the pirates of the Black Pearl, and summons a hurricane after Xigbar is slightly wounded in a fight with Barbossa.
 * And after Zexion's she flips out and struggles against Hollowmoon before
 * Freud Was Right: The entire Taffymeat sequence.
 * Fridge Brilliance: Why is Senayax such a sweet, messianic, borderline Purity Sue?
 * Throughout FtM there are constant mentions of the Velveteen Rabbit. The Organization goes through a large amount of horror to get to where they are; their quest to get their hearts back is a long, hard one, physically and emotionally. The story of the Velveteen Rabbit is just as much a story about the Organization XIII, trying to be Real, and suffering greatly for it, but ultimately
 * Consider this quote for a basis of the parallel: "Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand. The Boy's Uncle made me Real," he said. "That was a great many years ago; but once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always."
 * Another minor one; Squall becomes rather attached to her as well. He's simply trying not to fail like Ellone did.
 * In the recently-released Valentine's Day special, all of the couples get a segment minus Axel and Roxas. Guess which romance arc hasn't been released yet...
 * Fridge Horror: Considering   isn't it highly likely she'll be sterile?
 * How exactly does a huge monster like Hollowmoon fit inside a little girl's body?
 * What this troper wants to know is
 * It's established in the Mooniverse that Aeleus, before becoming a Nobody, had a nice life overall with his brothers and teacher. However, it is also established that his eventual lover, Larxene, was So as Aeleus is living his happy life, Relane is  and he doesn't even know about it.
 * This one is sort of Fridge Squick, but Hollowmoon was probably watching when He certainly seemed rather happy about it...
 * When Nobodies die, their bodies fade into darkness.
 * Fridge Logic: In response to one of the Fridge Brilliances above. If Senayax is so sweet and cheerful   then what was Yasena like?
 * Actually, from what we see of Yasena, she seems like a rather intelligent, curious child; not bad, but not good.
 * Friend to All Living Things: Totally Senayax. Hell, the Heartless congregating towards her is why the Organization found her in the first place!
 * To wit; while the Organization overall seems to be entirely neutral towards the Heartless, she is often seen playing with them and petting them. A running gag initially is that she wants a pet, and she actually gets her wish; her Heartless, Sunny Jim.
 * Giggling Villain: Hollowmoon does this to mess with people's heads quite often. Considering what he is and what he's done, it usually works.
 * Gone Horribly Wrong: What happens to
 * Gosh Darn It to Heck --Add foul mouthed Nobodies to the Hundred Acre Wood. The results...
 * Friend to All Living Things: Totally Senayax. Hell, the Heartless congregating towards her is why the Organization found her in the first place!
 * To wit; while the Organization overall seems to be entirely neutral towards the Heartless, she is often seen playing with them and petting them. A running gag initially is that she wants a pet, and she actually gets her wish; her Heartless, Sunny Jim.
 * Giggling Villain: Hollowmoon does this to mess with people's heads quite often. Considering what he is and what he's done, it usually works.
 * Gone Horribly Wrong: What happens to
 * Gosh Darn It to Heck --Add foul mouthed Nobodies to the Hundred Acre Wood. The results...

"He didn't notice Xigbar staring at his gun in horror until he gave a strangled gasp. Xaldin turned to his old friend. "Are you all right?" He asked. Xigbar showed him his scope in horror. Three little Mickey Mouse icons had replaced his sniper sight. Xaldin's eyes widened in amazed terror."
 * Heroic Sacrifice:  It doesn't last for long.
 * Ho Yay: Besides the canon pairings, there is quite a bit of Ho Yay between Xigbar and Xaldin. Considering Xigbar's nickname for him is "Didi," and Xaldin actually cries on his shoulder occasionally, the touchy-feelyness that even the rest of the Apprentices have for each other is just icing on the cake.
 * What's even funnier is that the author completely acknowledges that she "accidentally made them completely gay with each other," and intends to make fun of this when she goes into their time as Apprentices.
 * Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Lexaeus and Larxene are both the only heterosexual couple   and possibly the only couple in the castle where it is entirely reasonable that one of them could hold the other in the palms of their hands.
 * I Did What I Had to Do: Xemnas uses this in his attempt to justify
 * Improbable Weapon User: Until the end of Fill the Moon, Senayax uses her own BLOOD.
 * I'm a Humanitarian:
 * In-Series Nickname: Plenty; some are taken from the source material of the games, but a few are made up by the author herself.
 * Additionally, the practice of the original six referring to themselves by their Somebody names on occasion can also fall under this.
 * Isa and Lea, too; they never call each other anything else.
 * The Ingenue: Senayax, for all the horrible things that happen to her and all the crazy people she surrounds herself with, is a polite, quiet, innocent, and pure young girl.
 * Keet: Demyx, definitely. He's Xigbar's personal Morality Pet and is indefatigably cheerful. It helps that
 * Kick the Dog: You know, really, after  it just kind of seems unfair to
 * Knight Templar Big Brother: There hasn't been much exploration of it (yet) in canon, but Xigbar has been implied to have gotten very violent on his younger brothers' behalf. He basically states that he went deepest down into the darkness solely to protect his brothers from getting more scars on their soul.
 * Like Brother and Sister: Well, more like brother and brother, but the Apprentices were very, very close.
 * Braig and Dilan especially, which persists even after they become Nobodies.
 * Little Miss Badass: Senayax is cute, small, and wears bright and happy clothing. She can and will also kick your ass. ESPECIALLY if you mess with her family,
 * Kairi seems to be counting so far, and considering the author's open scorn for the Chickification of Kairi, this trope is most certainly going to run its course.
 * As of  the answer to that is "yes, Virginia, Kairi is a badass."
 * Love Before First Sight: The first time Axel actually meets Roxas is in a dream. They know they're in love with each other from that instant. Before that, Axel keeps having visions of Roxas
 * Mama Bear: Despite Vexen being male, he fits this trope much better than Papa Wolf, (that role usually goes to Xigbar or Ansem.) It's implied that he was responsible for raising the Apprentices, mostly by himself, and was/is fiercely overprotective of them.
 * May-December Romance: While there don't appear to be any clear-cut ages for many in the Organization, Xigbar is at least five years older than Demyx. Plus, Axel and Roxas have approximately a three year age difference--which doesn't seem too bad until you remember Axel is nineteen and Roxas is sixteen, at best.
 * Technically, Zexion and Senayax count; both are underage, but there's about a four year age difference between them,
 * The Messiah: Sora is a straightforward example of this; Senayax is his counterpart for this trope in the sense that while she is still kind, gentle, and the glue that holds the Organization together, considering the horrible things that happen to her, she just doesn't have the support and encouragement to stay pure and holy that Sora has.
 * Pre-Senayax's arrival, Demyx seems to be the Organization's de facto Messiah. He's sweet, he's kind, he's gentle, he's suffered horribly for his entire life but is willing to do anything to help his family, and just overall might as well get himself a halo.
 * Mind Screw: Considering chapter ninety-five is a homage to, of all things, Perfect Blue, this trope obviously comes up. It is also, for the record, absolutely horrifying.
 * The Taffymeat Sequence counts too.
 * Motherly Scientist: Lexaeus gets a very, very depressing version of this trope.
 * Morality Pet: Senayax is this for the entire Organization, and even at some times, Sora himself.
 * Namine seems to play this trope towards Ansem, who would be much more of a cold, embittered, hardened Jerkass without her.
 * Sunny Jim, the Organization's (mainly Senayax's) pet Heartless, also counts.
 * Xigbar, due to his more Knight Templar Big Brother-esque tendencies, has his very own in the form of his lover, Demyx.
 * Likewise, due to Axel's occasional forays into the Heroic Sociopath side of his personality are abated by  Roxas.
 * More Teeth Than the Osmond Family: Senayax herself whenever Hollowmoon speaks using her body without transforming her completely.
 * Not to mention the beast himself; Hollowmoon is constantly described as having "needle-fangs" or "needle-like teeth," all crammed into a narrow, reptilian mouth.
 * My God, What Have I Done?: Xemnas has one of these on the heels of his   but it gets turned up to eleven when
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: While Demyx is still very moe and sweet, he has a hidden side that is far more perceptive and far more deadly than his normal, day-to-day mindset.
 * Oblivious to Love: Xemnas is not ever very good at realizing things. As Xehanort, it is stated often that he would have plenty of fangirls and fanboys, but he never even seemed to notice or care. Once he meets Saix, it takes him about one hundred chapters and counting to realize that Saix has romantic feelings for him as well.
 * Saix isn't much better on this front, anyway--he is adamant that their is simply a "master and pet" relationship, which opens up a whole other can of worms...
 * Older Than They Look: Senayax...possibly. The author has settled on "mentally seven, physically thirteen or fourteen," but she is described as having a very innocent, open face, and is barely past puberty. Plus, this also goes into older than they act due to Senayax being very childlike and innocent.
 * Papa Wolf: Despite all the times Xemnas royally screws up in taking care of Senayax, he does geniunely care about her and dotes on her as much as he can,
 * The author doesn't seem to be able to decide if she wants Ansem to be this or a lover for Namine.
 * Powered by a Forsaken Child: If by that you mean  then yes.
 * The Power of Love: Half the reason
 * Senayax can work this power on damn near anyone.
 * Rape as Drama: Subverted and played with.
 * Played painfully, depressingly straight with
 * Really Gets Around: Braig was always implied to be flirtatious and a tease, but the author never states if he actually slept around very much, if at all.
 * Shout-Out: Quite a few. From Beatles references to Fallout, Pan's Labyrinth, F.E.A.R., Elfen Lied, Calvin and Hobbes, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, there are times when reading the story that you find half the fun is picking out the little references hidden in the dialogue and descriptions.
 * Slap Slap Kiss: There's a time when Marluxia and Vexen behave almost exactly like the queens of this trope.
 * So Proud of You: Finally, after ten years of trauma and heartbreak, Ansem gets to say this to his sons  Many tears were shed.
 * Super-Powered Evil Side: -Hollowmoon most certainly counts; he's evil beyond understanding, and he is strong enough to
 * Take That:  Parts of the fic become a Take That aimed at 358/2 Days, which the authoress has declared dead to her.
 * There's also a subtle dig at the censorship in the NA games.


 * Team Mom: Vexen is implied (and almost outright stated on occasion) to have been one of these while the original six were Apprentices. Even though it stresses him out, he still has shades of this within the present-day of the fic.
 * Team Pet: While Sunny Jim, Senayax's Shadow Heartless, does more than most Team Pets ever get to do, he still counts.
 * Took a Level In Badass: -Kairi gets these quite often. Considering she's the technical princess of Radiant Garden and a Keyblade Knight, she gets turned pretty fast into an Action Girl.
 * Tragic Monster: Of all people,  fits the bill for this in the end; after
 * Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: There are times when Senayax's mostly messianic and cloud-cuckoo behavior can be adorable. And then the side of her that is  shows up.
 * True Companions
 * The "Golden Trio" of Sora, Kairi, and Riku.
 * The Hollow Bastion reformation crew.
 * On the "darker" side of this, there's the Organization. Despite lacking hearts, they are a family, and if you mess with one of them, you mess with all of them. Especially Senayax. If you lay a hand on her, you are effectively pissing off thirteen other Badass battle-hardened warriors. And unlike Senayax, who is the Morality Pet and messiah, they will not hesitate to utterly and completely destroy you.

Senayax takes it just as seriously as they do. To date, she has fought Sephiroth, and (sort of) won, all for the sake of protecting her family. "I'll burn all the stars to the ground if I have to. All I know is that I'm coming, Roxas. Just...wait for me, all right?"
 * The Apprentices are an even stronger subset. From Team Dad Lexaeus, Team Mom Vexen, Knight Templar Big Brother Xigbar, the "kids" of the family, (Xaldin, Xemnas, and Zexion), who aren't exactly slouches in the badass department either...you mess with any one of them, and the rest of them will break you.
 * the entirety of the cast basically becomes this.
 * Tsundere: Vexen is this for the first three-fourths of his romance arc; after that, he becomes a mix of Defrosting Ice Queen and Sugar and Ice Personality.
 * The Unintelligible: Senayax is the only one who understands her pet Shadow Heartless, Sunny Jim, perfectly; Zexion has a translation guide in one of his books, but even then, Sunny Jim always communicates in nothing more than squeaks and growls.
 * Wholesome Crossdresser: Xaldin is forced to crossdress by Belle to win Luxord's love. He is not amused.
 * Yandere: Marluxia can be like this at times, but in an odd way of playing with this trope, he is never violent TOWARDS Vexen; oh no, it's everyone else he wants to kill...
 * Axel seems to be shaping up to be this toward Roxas, type 1 wise.


 * Yaoi Fangirl: Demyx's sitar, Peggy.
 * Yuffie can also qualify as one of these.
 * The Author, openly admitted.
 * You Need to Get Laid: For people who are supposed to be his family, his brothers certainly like reminding Vexen of this fact...