#Maybe I should do some Braig stuff at some point

[firestorm09890]

dilan and aeleus as researchers: an investigation

hi wassup I’ve heard some conflicting information about whether or not Dilan and Aeleus being researchers was retconned and so I did some lookin around. sources presented from least canon to most canon, and only things from kh3 onward, because you know how it is with info falling out of relevance in this series (any bold is from me)

also this is only English translated material, if I can find a way to look into the Japanese versions of all these I will

1) the kh3 novel aka the number one purveyor of misinformation on this subject

Ienzo wasn’t sure what either of them intended to do; all he knew was that he wanted to carry on the mission of his teacher, Ansem the Wise. Aeleus and Dilan were still here, but they weren’t apprentices. Even was, and as a researcher, he was a man worthy of great respect.

there’s a point for no, they weren’t part of the research team. HOWEVER! THE NOVELS ARENT CANON

I like to reference them a lot because they can add some very fun things but when there’s stuff like this that flat out contradicts concrete canon it should be ignored.

2) the kingdom hearts character files book

I have no idea how canon this thing is but I think, since it’s supplementary material and not an alternate canon like the novels, it counts for a little more? anyway this one includes Braig too

Braig

He was one of Ansem the Wise’s apprentices and worked as a guard in Radiant Garden, but [information not relevant to this topic lol]

Dilan

Dilan is an apprentice of Ansem the Wise and serves as a castle guard, along with Aeleus, in Radiant Garden (BBS). Like the other apprentices, he becomes a Nobody because of Xehanort and ends up as a member of Organization XIII.

Aeleus - interestingly enough his explicitly mentions the word “research” while the other two don’t

As an apprentice of Ansem the Wise, Aeleus serves as both guard and researcher.

and then at the very end of the short story written from his perspective in this book:

Maybe I’m unqualified to be an apprentice because I’m still swayed by thoughts like these.

(the “thoughts like these” by the by are about a fascination with darkness; not just as a source of power, but like... the merit of it, and the study of it. researchy stuff)

So. Apprentices, yes! but we can do better than this

3) Secret Reports from KH3 - specifically Secret Report 5: Memoirs, Excerpt 1

Secret Reports are undeniably canon as they’re written by characters in-universe; the biggest problem with them, however, is that kh has a wealth of incredibly unreliable narrators. Until proven otherwise though this is the way things are so thank you Isa for writing this so nice and clearly

The two who stood guard at the gates were researchers themselves, though you wouldn't think it to see them, massive and barrel-chested as they were.

So! Dilan and Aeleus are still included as apprentices and the idea that they were retconned out of that group doesn’t have a very good basis. thanks for reading

[square-enix-headcanons]

Hi may I request some headcanons about the Organization members hobbys (or what they do in their freetime)? I have read the one about their trinkets and it was so good!

Yes of course!

Xemnas: It’s rare for him to spend time doing things unrelated to the Organization’s goals. But if he does want to clear his head, he likes to go for walks, especially in areas/worlds with green meadows. Bonus points if it’s kinda mountain-y at the sametime.

Xigbar: Xigbar would like everyone to believe that in his free time, he plays shooter games. Xigbar actually spends it reading, fairy tale books, to be precise. Or history books about the age of fairy tales. Fairy tales are just something he enjoyed back when he was still going by Luxu; history books because he terribly misses his old friends, and in the books, he can at least see their names.

Xaldin: Most of the time, Xaldin uses the free time simply for training. When he doesn’t, though, he really enjoys poetry; classical Eastern poetry, for example Sijo or Haiku, especially, but western poetry is fine, too. Aside from just reading them, he has written a few, but he’s never shown them to anyone.

Vexen: Honestly, 99% he spends his free time in the lab, too. He loves his experiments, it’s hard for him to imagine something he’d like to do even more. That said, even he sometimes needs to take small breaks from anything science related; in those cases, he likes to watch shadow puppetry plays.

Lexaeus: Lexaeus likes museums, if he has enough time, or if it’s just an evening he’ll look through art books. He has tried painting once or twice, but he couldn’t quite get the hang of it, and practice time was very limited thanks to training and first guard duty plus research as an apprentice, then Organization missions.

Zexion: Zexion is pretty simple in that regard; he loves reading. He’ll probably read anything and everything he can get his hands on, but has some sort of fondness for books technically aimed at younger kids, especially if the stories involve good father figures. Should anyone ask (No-one does, though), he’d probably name a different genre as his favorite.

Saix: Extinguishing the things Axel set on fire to see what would happen. Saix likes to take walks if his work schedule permits, especially late-night walks on clear nights so he can see the stars. Every now and then, he thinks about his past during those walks, and misses the times he’s spent with Lea.

Axel: Setting things on fire to see what would happen. Truth be told, he’s a little… lost about what to do on days off? It used to be a) hanging out with Isa, b) trying to sneak into the castle with Isa, or c) making plans on how to get to that girl with Isa. And now Isa Saix changed so much… If Roxas and Xion aren’t available, he just uses whatever to distract himself. Playing games, either with Luxord or video games, trying to read a book (but he usually gets distracted)… He’s even offered to be the test audience for Demyx’s new songs before.

Demyx: Well, the obvious is of course his sitar, playing and writing new songs for it; that takes up almost all his time. If that’s not an option, maybe because Saix confiscated his sitar, he tends to just sit down in a world with birds and listen to them sing.

Luxord: Well, most of the time, he tries to find someone to play games with. Poker, Liar’s Dice, etc. pp. If he can’t, Luxord likes to take a stroll through Wonderland, since that’s a place you never know what’s expecting you. Aside from that, he enjoys making small figures or maybe jewelry; his Nobody symbol earring, for example, is something he made himself. Occasionally, Luxord also enjoys cooking, but only rarely, and it’s usually nothing too fancy.

Marluxia: He has a garden he visit during his off time. Planting new flowers, making sure all plants are healthy, occasionally just spending some time there, etc. He kind of also likes scrapbooking, it feels strangely nostalgic for him, but he doesn’t do it often. (Three guesses who he used to do it with when he was little!)

Larxene: Larxene enjoys learning new languages. There are several she’s already pretty good at, if not fluent; her favorite so far has been French. She learns mainly real-life languages, but she did read about a bit of Valyrian. Also she can probably insult you in about 50 languages if she wants to

Roxas: He’s started trying to learn how to Struggle! He’s not supposed to talk to the Twilight Town kids though, so he mainly tries to understand it by watching them, and then he tries to play it with Xion. If Xion is busy and no-one’s playing Struggle, he practices skateboarding.

Xion: In her early days, she did just... Nothing when there was nothing to do; it was kind of confusing for her when doing nothing started annoying her. Luckily, by that time she was already friends with Roxas and Axel, so if possible she spends her free time with one of them, that’s the only thing she knows. If she can’t, she likes to go to the beach and collect sea shells.

[thecupcakewritesmorethings]

Amgry Kingdom Hearts Theory: Fox in a Box

Hi I’m mad.

I’m mad because of Kingdom Hearts. I’m aLSO MAD BECAUSE I THOUGHT OF THIS THEORY AND IT MAKES SOME(?) SORT OF SENSE.

Caplock rant over, crackpot theory Under The Cut.

Before I actually talk about the theory itself I have to establish a few things that lead me to believe any of this is a plausibility aside from how it’s Kingdom Hearts; and it’s just like though.

.Basis.

First of all, I am running with several theories here which haven’t been outright confirmed, though it’s pretty blatant a few of these things are meant to be implicitly deduced, not downright explained. Whether it’s because Nemura may decide to re-neg on some of these or not is anyone’s guess.

I’m running with the ideas that Ava is The Traitor, Is Darkness, and is also the Disembodied Keyblade Wielder in the final world at the end of Melody of Memory. Also, I feel like I should note that Ava is technically alive/has the chance of becoming a force in later games.

Ava, however, NOT Subject 0. Such an honor belongs to Skuld... For reasons you may already be guessing.

In fact, I’m going to do you a solid. The only game events you need to know in order for this to make sense is the general plot of Union X, The Kingdom Hearts 3, and Melody of Memory. Or even just the general plot of Union X, the end of Kingdom Hearts 3, and the end of Melody of Memory.

In Union X we uncover the general back bone of the theory. When we get through the entirety of the Keyblade story foam we come with the pieces of evidence we really need to back up this theory.

Time Travel works, but with limitations (Tm). Everyone from the Original Keyblade War is saved to the Book of Prophecies all USB style,but this doesn’t stop people from potentially dying. WHEN SOMEONE “DIES”, or more precisely their heart gets destroyed, their body vanishes (in the case of Strelitzia). 

WE ALSO know, in the case of Luxu/Braig that bodies outside of this Data world still age. This is why Luxu has apparently hopped multiple hosts, and also why Braig’s body ages when he’s a Nobody.

I also would like to propose another tag-along theory that doesn’t ultimately change what I am about to say; but Braig and Luxu are very much so aware of each other and while Luxu is riding passenger on Xigbar’s consciousness; they are in fact separate people. Xibar/Braig will just do things for Luxu when Luxu asks. It’s not super important, but I think it does add another layer of depth to the role Luxu had since his only job was to observe, and he chose to observe through Braig’s eyes. Braig/Xigbar is entirely at fault for his actions which led him to becoming a Nobody/Nort.

Get it? Got it. Okay. Moving on.

.Schrodinger’s Fox.

The overwhelming problem that is in Union X that isn't in the other games is actual consequences one would normally think of when considering wars: death and permanent injury.

In the span of the series we have seen ONE person die for real, and despite how sad it is; Strelitzia is likely never going to come back. The good news is for everyone playing Union X after KH1-KH3 (ish) is that this sets up the stakes of the game perfectly. The fact she hasn’t miraculously re-appeared due to some Keyblade Miracle really sets the stakes for that time period. When people die; they stay dead in Union X.

This provides the foundation of the problem. The Master of Masters KNOWS a war is going to happen due to the use of No-Name, and the efforts of Luxu passing from body to body in the future. This is also why I believe Braig/Xigbar has agency and isn’t just possessed. Either way, he knows a lot of people, potentially great and revolutionary Keyblade wielders, are going to die.

Whether or not his motivations are noble, just, or even at all reasonable: MoM sets out to try and stop it. By sending Luxu forward to do his observations MoM has a direct lay-line to the future which allow him to make the book of Prophecies... Which, as we all know from playing Union X, act as databases that the participants of the Keyblade war are stored to... Or maybe just their memories? It’s rather unclear.

Basically the people died but their memories were backed up, giving them a potential chance to live on in memory. Just... You know. Literally.

However, this is not just some grand gesture. MoM uses the Foretellers to set up his data world and keep the proverbial fires stoke while Luxu and the Traitor (Ava) confront each other.

This is where a lot of speculating begins. If Ava is that soul in the Final World; then she must have lost her body at some point, right? Well. She did.

MoM, knowing Ava is the traitor and she will inadvertently set of the war herself, travels into time to go and retrieve her body before she totally fades away and stuffs her into a device devoid of time, space, light, dark, and meant to keep her body functioning without perishing. Luxu doesn’t seem to have realized that Ava perished, or hasn’t realized he’s carting around her life support.

Anyway, MoM returns to the past, and he gives the box to Luxu, and tasks him to keep it safe and never to open it. The reason WHY it’s crucial the box is never opened is because Ava’s heart is in the Final World chilling with the people who died in the Keyblade war. If he were to open the box without going to the final world, Ava would actually perish.

Luxu probably suspects that Darkness is Ava, which is true, but that’s not the entire picture. In order to keep Luxu from figuring out too much, MoM makes a backup copy of Ava and names her darkness. This is something he could have easily done in the Data World, since he basically did this to create it. We also see data copies of Kingdom Hearts characters later in the series.

.Scientific Revelation.

Anyway, we jump forward several games. We could stop at Birth By Sleep, but aside from Braig appearing canonically for the first time not much happens here to serve the theory. All we do know is that Luxu and Braig are DEFINITELY rocking the same body by KH2 (not a phrase I ever thought I’d say). At the end of Kingdom Hearts 3 Luxu pulls the other Foretellers out of the Data World from the book of Prophecies.

There has to be a reason for this; and I propose Luxu’s goal was to wait and observe until the ability to bring people back from the dead/ bringing people out of the data world became a possibility they could achieve.

The Xigbar and Repliku fight was the second big fight in the maze, and I gather that Xigbar/Luxu chose to back off then because of Replica Riku’s sacrifice left him speculating something big may have been happening.

And lo and behold, something did. Xion is back and Xion has a heart? Old Xemnas becomes Tera again? ROXAS EXISTS AGAIN AND HAS A HEART? Yeah this has to be the sign he was looking for. He packs up his box, goes to the Keyblade Graveyard and summons/waits.

It is unknown whether or not he knows that Namine is walking around, but at this point he knows what he knows. Sora and Co can now bring people back from basically thin air, even giving life to people who shouldn’t exist, provided they have a vessel.

.”Ava had her own Mission, and she carried it out”.

I would say FAMOUS last words, but these weren’t Luxu’s last words. At least, I don’t think they will be. It seems rather uncharacteristic of Xig/Luxu to let things be, and even if Luxu’s task is done Xigbar lives for chaos. I doubt either of them will be gone.

Anyway, Ava did complete her task. By being duped into becoming the “Traitor” and having her body and heart separated, she was able to take care of the memories in the Final World, where the Fairy God Mother takes Kairi to meet at the end of Melody of memories. It’s unclear if she knows her body is in the waking world stuffed in a box, but I’m going to say she doesn’t, just like Luxu/Xigbar.

.”Like a Seeds of a Dandelion, Let them Fly to the Another World”.

I would like to cycle back to the beginning on this... Why Ava? What makes her so special out of the other Foretellers, barring Luxu? Something must have made her specific for this role, and it may have been Ava’s own good nature that made her the candidate. After all, if any of the other Foretellers took her role, it’s entirely possible that Ava could have quelled any infighting among the Foretellers, especially if one of the more hot-headed Foretellers was put in the box instead.

Another possible theory is that it was a fail-safe. When MoM speaks to Ava he’s not as dramatic as he is with the other Foretellers, so it would not surprise me if there was a large grain of truth to what he said to her. He told her that she was the last chance of hope for Light, but unfortunately that may have lead her into the box. Ava was tricked into being the traitor, but by becoming the traitor, she actually managed to land herself a very safe place. I think that the Master of Masters wanted her to be revived if his plan didn’t pan out. Just to be sure that Light survived.

[prpledusk]

So In the wake of the recent update and ux's story comeing to. Close I wanted to try and put my current thoughts and feelings down publicly both for the sake of seeking Validation from the people who follow me for kh stuff and maybe my own friends on this platform who followed me for my kh thoughts, ideas, theories, and musings. Because lets face it I havent exactly been consistant on this hellsite have I? Then again Im not paid to be here so fuck it I post when I want to, this aint my job.

So the ending of Ux came at a bad time personally for me and this is no ones fault. Ive recently been trying to get ahold of my Mental health and Having to deal with my families issues on the side with doctors appointments, job obligations, so on so forth.

Ive simpley not had all the time in the world for posting or keeping up with ux's bullshit and on muiltible occaisions Ive bitched to my friends on kh's stupid dripfeed style of story telling and over time I began to realize a couple of things.

1.) I love KH as a whole but dear frickfucking god its method of storytelling is upsetting and downright frustrating to deal with.

And 2.) Fucking hell Im an over emotional bitch who is way too fucking invested in this story.

For the past few weeks up till now my heads been on the frits, both thanks to new medication my emotions have been all over the goddamn place and I feel like Ive been giving my friends too hard of a time worrying over me because of it, and the fact that Im do heavilly invested In the goat bros part in all of this weeeeell hasnt helpped.

Keep in mind these feelings are no ones fault. Like I said, new meds combined with a Brain thats already chemically imbalanced, mixed with a dash of emotional investment, and a rock bottom self esteem will do that to ya. Just ask any of my friends and they'll tell ya plenty on that.

My point is. I wasnt happy with the union fanale, both with the fact that it was honestly too bittersweet for my taste and the fact that it kinda broke my neck with the amount of Emotional fuckery it gave me in regards to luxu. I legitamately felt like I had been twisted and jerked so much by it that I actually began to fall into a depressive stint that genuinly keeps me from even thinking of Xigbar, braig, or Luxu proper because I became so frustrated, confused, and even hurt.

What ya should be getting from this is that I am an overly emotional and stubborn hoe.

And then a thought occured to me. Im currently trying to get my mental health on track, Im figuring out medication, and Im whining to my friends over a dumb criminal goat and overall being extreamly negative and angry at my friends to the point that sometimes I dont blame them if they decide to avoid me or think me as being. Bit t o o m u c h.

Overall my mental state is as stunted as a ball pythons growth after living in a fishbowl all its life.

Hell Im to the point that Even trying to put my pen on a screen to write and draw up a Ghost!Braig Comic is just makes me fall into irrational self loathing. Even though Ghost!Braig is legitamately something I love and want to do.

But again. Its not like Im getting paid for it, I dont have to do it. So why the hell am I still here doing this to myself?

If something is causing someone mental harm or stress, than the smart and healthy thing to do is distance yourself from that thing so as to gather your thoughts and ensure that you'll be in the right state of mind to come back to it.

So Im going to be distancing myself from doing kh stuff. I'll still be doing the occaisional fanart, but overall I think its best if I take a step back and breathe. Ive been at kh for almost three years now, and while KH gave me a lot of friends who I absolutely adore I need to step away from the current cannon story, wait for updates to pile, then take it all in at once instead of participating in Nomuras Dripfeed method. Because obviously Im not in the emotional or mental state to handle it or even Ghost!braig. Which will be going on hiatus until further notice.

Sorry if you guys only follow me for KH content but iffin ya wanna unfollow thats fine, say hi to ya lovedones and go outside, eat some grass or whatever non introverts do.

With that I wanna say that you folks ought to prioritize your mental health. Seriously, theres nothing wrong with taking a break and sometimes it can be for the better.

[cadday]

Collateral  Damage - Chapter 5

Braig almost thinks last night was a dream, or a weirdly mellow nightmare. He realizes that it’s not the case when he sees the lantern sitting by his door and well of he concentrates he can feel it. The other heart sleeping in him, which is terrifyingly familiar but not all the same. None of the hearts he hosted before were so...quiet. Still he had made this choice and would have to live for it for now at least. He briefly realizes he should have thought this through better but hindsight was a bitch. 

Oddly though he honestly felt better then he had since, well since being possessed by some ancient asshole bent on fulfilling the prophecies of his absentee most likely equally an asshole master and was probably seeking the end of worlds or some bull but really just wrecked Braig’s life like he didn’t do a good enough job being a disaster.

The other presence did some strange humming, warm feeling, in agreement and he laughed a bit startled at the feeling. So the heart was familiar with the jerk who possessed him, charming, at least it agreed that the guy was a dick. 

The morning besides his new guest was uneventful. That was Master Ansem called them together to ‘introduce’ them to Isa and Lea. Which one was hilarious because they had met the twerps before, two activated the headache he got almost every day as his brain tried to not picture taller red and blue brats, and three the two brats looked like they had been caught red handed which made him wonder if they had been sneaking around again when they were offered jobs. 

Isa got stuck with Even, who began to rant about babysitting and Ienzo merely looked long suffering in his direction before heading off with them. Lea was stuck with guard duty, he doubted the kid had patience for the lab stuff anyway. To be fair Braig rarely did either, Dilan and Aeleus took more shifts with the lab work then he ever did. Which was fine by him because he had a habit of letting experiments, well, explode.

“Alright Lea, I guess we’ll do a quick round of what guard duty routine looks like. Your probably familiar with the rounds near the front gate’s though.” Hey, would you look at that full sentences. He wondered if it had anything to do with his new resident. Braig decided that was on the worry about later list too. The kid at least looked guilty for a second before he shrugged. 

“I’m an overachiever, already got em memorized.” And geeze Braig had to stop for a second and steady himself because, yeah this was going to be difficult.  Dilan frowned at him as Braig pressed a hand to his bad eye. 

‘Axel!’

‘Axel? Please. The name’s Lea. Got it memorized?’

‘Your not supposed to be here.’

‘Promises to keep, I’ll always be there to get my friends back…’

“BRAIG!” He jumps back from Dilan who is shaking his shoulder. Aeleus and Lea are gone he realizes and he frowns. Dilan is looking at him funny and he realizes his new heart friend feels kind of panicked. He blinks stupidly at Dilan and carefully drops his hand.

“Sorry, migraine. Wh…,” He looks around the room with a frown. “Where’s Aeleus and,” Axel, “Lea…” Dilan was still holding his shoulder, he wasn't talking and Braig’s head hurt so freakin much. 

“It’s fine. I’m fine. Let’s get going.” Dilan didn’t look like he believed him, which you know was fair, but slowly he released Braigs arm like he was afraid the other guard was about to collapse, which yeah that was also fair. 

“ You should let Even check you out, maybe he can give you something to help,” Braig made a disgusted face, “Or don’t and suffer needlessly and unnecessarily worry everyone around.”

“Oh come on that’s low. Fine whatever I’ll ask him. I don’t know if it will do any good but whatever.” Braig waved a hand in a dismissive manner. Dilan smirked in what he recognized as his I totally won this fight face and Braig rolled his eyes at his smug expression.

“As annoying as your voice is, I am glad you’ve regained the functionality to form coherent thoughts at the very least. I was concerned you would be forever limited to speaking like a two year old, now I see you’ve managed the language  of a three year old and offer you my sincerest congratulations on the development.” Braig snorted and swung an arm around Dilan pulling on his shoulders intentionally to bring the man down to his level.

“Hey as if. My vocabulary is way too colorful to be some ankle biters. If a kid talks like I do I’d be concerned about their upbringing.” 

“Fair as we are all so concerned at upbringing must have occurred to create you.” Dilan stood back up to his full height and Braigs hand dropped to the closer shoulder.

“Clearly I popped into existence a fully grown bastard.”

“This explains so much…” 

Aeleus and Lea came into view when they entered the garden and Aeleus was explaining post rotations to a very bored looking red head.

“Geeze Flamsilocks, you look like someone stole you ice cream.” His head gave a warning throb at the usage of the nickname and the other heart felt like it was more awake. Great he needed to try to focus like a person not having a mental breakdown. Lea scowled at the nickname. 

“Oh come on kid, maybe later you can get a tour of parts of the castle that you haven’t snuck into yet.” The kid crossed his arms and made a point of not looking at any of them.

“Geeze we were just trying to visit the girl. I don’t see what the big deal is, why doesn’t she ever come out anyway? You creeps locking up girls or something?” Lea’s hands are on his hips and he looks determined…

Axel looks so determined when he goes to try to save Roxas but he’ll fail. This is all destined to fail. It’s all destined...prophesied...stupid book, stupid box…. 

The other heart pushed at something and Braig blinked away the memories, future, thoughts, whatever, and was glad that no one noticed this time as both Aeleus and Dilan were now explaining there is no girl. Braig supposes their not completely wrong and the heart in his chest agrees. The situation is complicated and he doubts Lea would listen if he tried to explain it.

“It’s a weird game to be playing at your age isn’t it, imaginary princess you have to save from a castle.” Would you look at that the kid can turn red in the face too. 

“Whatever, you're all full of it.” Braig shrugs and Dilan and Aeleus look long suffering, but that’s normal in the long run of things.

“We’re friends so me and Isa will get her back, from wherever you hid her.” Braig stared at Lea. Lea stared back determine till he realized Braig wasn’t going to respond and he shifted nervously. Blinking slowly Braig shook his head to try to focus and grimaced at the other two guards who were watching him concerned. 

“Yeah kid. Whatever you say.”

The rest of the tour was pretty routine and Lea even being a dumb kid seemed to get the gist of it. They met up with the other apprentices for lunch and Isa was immediately glued to Lea’s side and trying to act subtle about how he looked at Lea. Ienzo made a disgusted gagging face at Braig when he noticed and he cackled because yeah the kid had a point. Even seemed to have gotten over the babysitting issue because apparently besides breaking and entering Isa was pretty much a perfect student.  

It’s weird because this has happened but not happened once already. There’s no Xehanort, and Ansem is still here. The heart experiments are still just theoretical for the most part and Radiant Garden is still a beacon of light. He keeps expecting to find Terra with the Old coots heart unconscious on patrols. He keeps waiting to feel Luxu taking control periodically till he can’t get control back and Braig is just a silent observer in his own body. He keeps waiting for the other apprentices to call him a traitor, to accuse him of crimes he didn’t, did, hasn’t, will, won’t commit. When he looks at the other’s he sometimes see’s an Ansem cloaked in red and full of hate, a closed of Even with no regards to lives, a Dilan who feels nothing but rage, a Aeleus silent and intent on destruction, a Ienzo with dark bags under his eyes and no trust for any of them anymore. He expects to see a scarred Isa, and a tear tattooed Lea. He expects to wake up and see nothing but darkness. Braig feels panic rising in his chest and he tenses in anticipation of the suffocating feeling and anxiety but then...it stops.

His heart,mind, whatever it is settles and untangles and he’s just in Radiant Garden. It takes him a minute to realize what happened and his hand absently wander’s to his chest as if he can physically touch the other presence.

‘it will be okay. we will not let it happen.’ He lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding in and tries to convey the feeling of gratitude silently. It must get across because he feels warmth in response and then he assumes the heart has gone back to sleeping.  The other apprentices haven’t noticed thankfully that he was having a moment, and honestly these days he was always having a moment. 

After lunch and the rest of patrol and giving Lea a hard time just for the hell of it Braig excuses himself to turn in early. Dilan reminds him he promised to check in with Even about his head and Braig points out he didn’t ‘promise’ jack. He did agree he would see about pain med’s in the morning. So he makes to retreat to his room and is a little startled to be joined by Master Ansem. 

At first they're just walking the same way and he thinks that maybe it’s just coincidence but then he realizes that Master Ansem is keeping the same pace intentionally and he fights back a sigh. This means they're going to have a talk. He isn’t sure about what though as he definitely hasn’t blown up anything recently and they already established he’s as recovered as he’s going to get. It certainly hasn’t been long enough for Dilan to tattle on him about his headache issue. Would take like a week of not doing anything usually for the other guard to get fed up and go to Ansem to deal with his bull. 

They make it to his room in silence and Braig looks at Master Ansem expectantly but he’s only being watched with a raised eyebrow. He feels like a child whose parent is waiting for them to admit to their wrong doing, and though it hasn’t even happened yet, and will not ever, he wants to admit everything he’s done or at least his body did. But at the risk of sounding crazy he bites back the urge to spill his guts, or heart for that matter. They just stand there watching each other for what for Braig feels like a small eternity. When nothing happens he slowly turns and goes to enter his room.

“Braig, if you were in danger of some kind, from something or someone, you would tell me?” Braig turns back around and blinks stupidly in a not reply.

“I mean yeah, if it didn’t put you in danger too. Of course I would.” He feels like that’s obvious. He’s been a guard so long part of his job was dealing with danger and reporting it. Sure his reports weren’t always timely but he always finished them eventually.

“If it doesn’t put…” Ansem frowns but nods slowly like he understands something and Braig is so confused by this conversation. He feels like he is missing something important here.

“I would hope that even if it was dangerous to me that you would still consider coming to me for help. Do you understand Braig?” Frowning he shrugs but nods regardless.

“I mean I guess...Kinda defeats the purpose of having guards if I’m putting you in danger don’t you think. But sure. I gotcha.” Ansem stares at him a while longer like he’s looking for something else but then he nods seriously and turns to leave.

“I bid you goodnight then. I apologize for keeping you up.” Braig watches him go and then shakes his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts.

“Yeah you too old man.”

[nadziejastar]

"She’s a Mirror That Reflects You”

And Xion was a girl Roxas cared about, which made her like the girl Sora cared about. She was a reflection of Sora’s memories. “That’s why his recovery is stalling,” Riku went on. “They have the part that’s most precious to him—his memories of Kairi.”

Xion prevented Sora from waking up because she was siphoning off his most precious memories, which were the key to his awakening. She was also acting as a mirror—a puppet who was merely reflecting his most precious memories of Kairi. 

He’d been dreaming. It left him in terrible anguish—a nightmare about his two best friends torn away from him because he was too weak to protect them. Because he had lost the use of the Keyblade.

He wondered if Xion had that same helplessness when she couldn’t use her Keyblade. Roxas got up and stared into space. He felt so…heavy. So tired and listless. Like he hadn’t slept at all. He just wanted to go back to sleep.

Was it because of the dreams? But he dreamed all the time. Even if he couldn’t always remember them so vividly, the dreaming was nothing new.

His reflection in the mirror was no different from usual. Maybe his eyes were a little red—probably because he was so tired.

Roxas couldn’t recover because there was a puppet draining him of his strength. 

“Ugh, I’ve got enough on my plate.” He groaned, imagining Saïx’s face if he reported all this.

Those days as a trio had been so wonderful. Why did this have to happen? The memory of his heart twinged. Had the breakdown of a friendship always been this painful? It was hard to tell when he didn’t have a heart anymore.

“Don’t wanna get up…”

But he dragged himself out of bed, taking a huge stretch and cricking his neck. He had to get to the Grey Area early if he wanted to talk to Saïx. Most likely, today would be another bad day.

It’s basically what Organization XIII did to Axel, too. They replaced Isa with Saïx, a puppet created from Isa’s memories. Axel was the Organization’s puppet like Sora would have been if his memories of Kairi had been replaced with Naminé. And I would argue that Saïx was doing the exact same thing to Axel that Xion was doing to Roxas. Unbeknownst to him, his strength and energy were also being drained from him by the puppet.

Outside the window, the moon—the heart-shaped moon—floated. Axel watched it, still sprawled on his bed. There was still a little time before he had to leave on his mission.

To gather hearts, to have hearts of our own, to not let the heart mislead us…

For these past few days, I’ve been thinking about the meaning of Xemnas’ words. To not let the heart mislead us? What does that mean? Whenever I’m alone, these thoughts just float around in my head the whole time. I don’t know why I have to think so much about it. I bet the other Nobodies don’t.

The heart… emotions. I think about their origins. Contemplate it. Reason about it. When did I start doing this?

The truth was, Axel knew when. Maybe I’ve been pretending I hadn’t noticed.

This is a passage from the novel. It’s on Day 117 ~Secrets~. It’s the night before Day 118 ~Lazy Day~. The day Axel spent all day of their vacation in bed sleeping, before joking about his dark secrets to Roxas and Xion. 

Yeah… I started thinking about this stuff when Roxas—no, Roxas and Xion joined the Organisation. 

Those two had lobbed so many questions at him as they grew as Nobodies. Was it just their curiosity that had him thinking so much? But it hadn’t started when they joined the Organization. It was after he’d gotten to know Xion, after Castle Oblivion. 

Anyhow, I have to admit that something is changing inside of me. Before this, I wouldn’t have thought about those kinds of things. Changing… why am I changing?

I called it ‘contemplating’, but it’s just rambling.

Axel felt the waver of an unexpected presence, and sat up in bed.  “Don’t just barge in here—you could at least knock,” he said, in a displeased manner.

It’s also the day Axel complained in his report that Saïx was the one who changed, not him.

Saïx was standing next to the bed. Axel looked away from him and stared at a speck on the wall. However, seeming to not notice Axel’s attitude, Saïx began to speak in his usual tone.

“How has Xion been acting?”

“S’not like I’ve been keeping watch in particular, so I wouldn’t have a clue,” Axel answered in a sulky tone.

“You seem quite close,” Saïx continued.

For a moment, Axel thought about the reasons Saïx could have for being so interested in Xion. 

I already know why Roxas is special. The Nobody of the Keyblade Hero is going to be special.

But, I still don’t have the information to decide how Xion is special compared to other Nobodies. I wanted to know, but now I already understand that it would be useless to ask Saïx to tell me.

“What, am I meant to report even that to you? If you don’t need anything, get out,” said Axel, getting up out of his bed with a violent movement.

Speaking of changes, my relationship with Saïx has, too. I think it’s changed slightly since I’ve had time with Roxas and Xion. I couldn’t really say how, though.

Even in this scene, what’s going through Axel’s mind is that his relationship with Saïx has changed. It’s written to be mostly similar to the game, but there’s an interesting addition to this scene...

“You and Xion are on the same mission today.”

“Thank you ever so much for going to all the trouble to tell me that,” Axel answered, facing the mirror and starting to get ready.

“I need you to go to Castle Oblivion again soon.” Saïx glared at Axel’s reflection, their eyes meeting in the mirror.

“Orders from ‘Lord’ Xemnas?” Axel asked, lips curling.

...A mirror. And I’m sure that was done with very much symbolic meaning in mind.

Saïx didn’t reply to that. “That castle still has secrets. Even there, there are unknown places—”

“Unknown places?” Axel interrupted. He turned his gaze back on his own reflection in the mirror. “You’re talking about that chamber. I’ve scoured the place and I haven’t found it. It won’t be discovered that easily.”

The tension in Saïx’s pursed lips slackened a little. “Very well, I’ll tell you something you’d like to hear. Xion was born in that castle. Just like Naminé was, in that castle.” Saïx was silent for a moment. “The place Naminé and Xion were born—sounds like a place you’d like to go, am I right?”

That’s bait. But there’s no skill in simply taking the bait.

Axel snorted and turned to Saïx. “Well, well, well… it sounds like the one who wants to go to that castle isn’t me, it’s you, am I right?” Axel said, as he stepped past Saïx, out of his field of vision. “Cause if you go to the chamber that Xemnas is searching for—you’ll figure out his true goal, right?”

Because he’s finding it increasingly hard to recognize Saïx as Isa anymore. 

“The Chamber of Repose, and its twin, the Chamber of Waking,” Saïx began, back still turned.

“Xemnas has a goal that he hasn’t told anyone. A clue towards it should be in the Chamber of Waking. If we can get our hands on it, we’ll have the advantage in every conceivable way—for our goal, too.” At that last word, Saïx turned and looked at Axel.

I know… our goal. That part won’t change.

Axel sighed, and said, “Vexen and Zexion were in your way. That’s why they were taken care of—so you’d reach the top of the Organisation, right?” 

It’s almost like I’m telling myself this.

Because he’s not Isa. He’s Xehanort masquerading as Isa.

Us not having hearts doesn’t mean our behavior means nothing.

It doesn’t mean we can’t think. Doesn’t mean we don’t have goals. Acting for the sake of those is something both humans and Nobodies share.

“I do the dirty work, so you better get to the top.” I’m not lying when I tell him this.

Axel looked as Saïx. Saïx stared back.

Yeah… we have a goal. That part won't change.

Saïx turned his back on Axel.

“In a few days, you’ll be sent to Castle Oblivion on a solo mission. Be expecting it,” said Saïx, leaving the room.

Alone, Axel clenched his fists, and followed Saïx out of the room.

Axel is just as much trapped by an illusion as Roxas and Sora. An illusion that keeps him trapped by his most precious memories. But the mirror has to break at some point.

Xion got up and looked in the mirror. 

It’s me. Nothing new.

After getting ready for the day, she went to the Grey Area and found Saïx and Xigbar there.

Xion also had a habit of looking in the mirror. The first time she does, Xigbar and Saïx are there.

Xion washed her face and looked in the mirror. Nothing out of the ordinary about her reflection. 

I’m the same as ever.

Then she left her room and headed for the lobby. Depending on when she showed up, she would run into some of her coworkers and miss others. Today she found no one there except Saïx and Xigbar.

Xigbar and Saïx are there again the second time, too.

Xion got up and took care of her morning routine in front of the mirror in the corner of the room. 

I’m the same as ever.

And yet, I’m not.

She stared hard at the mirror’s reflection. It showed…someone else. But she knew who it was.

The boy who looked like Roxas.

For a moment, she lowered her gaze, then looked again.

Just her.

Her and her identity crisis. Xion laughed at herself.

I have time here. Riku gave it to me.

But not forever. I’ll ruin everything if I stay. I have to decide…before the Organization decides for us.

The third time, she’s alone. Something’s different. She doesn’t recognize her reflection for a moment. This is the day she runs away in Wonderland, and Xigbar and Axel are there. This is also the day Axel told Roxas that Xion was a mirror. I’m excited to see how the KH3D novel writes this scene when it’s localized. It think Axel looking at his reflection while wondering where Braig and Isa were was...intentional, to say the least.

[kenzichi]

Here’s my KH3 review:

I would like to start off by saying I enjoyed this game very much. I have a lot of good to say about this game, but also a lot of bad. I tried to keep it spoiler free, but once I reached the cons it was inevitable. Heads up on that. And I also tried not to dive too deep into critiquing the story itself too much. I did sorta do that at the end though, but I felt it was okay to include the points I mentioned because they’re about Org. 13 and X and this game concludes their story arc.

Pros: The game is visually stunning. The worlds are GIGANTIC. It was a little intimidating actually. I always had the thought that I was going to miss something in the back of my mind. But it was still a joy to explore. The scenery really felt alive. The grass moved with you, the water rippled, you can see Sora’s hair move when it was windy! My favorite world in 3 is Kingdom of Corona. It’s just so beautiful and so fun! In this world especially, you interact with Rapunzel as she explores her environment because she’s never experienced it before. It’s really cute and really gets you involved in the world besides just being the guy that takes out heartless.

 Another pro is: Yoko Shimomura did it again! Her music compositions for 3 are AMAZING! I got into the music right away and eventually found myself humming to every background song in no time flat. I also enjoyed how every world had more than 2 themes this time. Usually we had a ‘calm’ world theme and a ‘battle’ world theme. Yoko went beyond that and gave us a different theme per situation… for EACH world! One example is in Frozen: we had a theme for the mountain, a battle theme, and a theme for after they met Larxene (and she did the thing if you’ve played the game lol). My favorite theme is the one for Hiro’s Garage in Sanfransokyo. It’s so soothing; I could listen to it for hours. The theme for Aqua’s battle is totally creepy and it fits so well. I enjoyed all of the music.

 Game play is fun and really nostalgic. They brought back equipping abilities (with AP), the old command box from 2, and accessories. Magic is better than ever in this game. One problem I had with 2 is that I could only use a few spells and my MP level would quickly run out so I felt it was a waste of time. In 3, even just starting, I didn’t have to worry about running out as fast. It was a relief not having to worry about watching my MP levels and I used magic a lot more in this game.

 A new combat feature for 3 is the keyblade transformations. When you finish a world and gain a keyblade, you can unlock special abilities with that keyblade. For example: if you equip the Toybox keyblade, and you bash enough heartless with it, you can transform your keyblade into a giant hammer. I wasn’t too excited about it when they first revealed these new abilities during development, but they’re actually super fun and totally optional if you really don’t dig it. You can also switch between 3 different keyblades during combat easily if you feel one keyblade isn’t working out against an enemy. I love this new feature. My favorite keyblade transformations are the Toybox hammer and the Monstropolis Yo-yos. Sora is channeling his inner Killua with the Yo-yos and I am all for that lol.  

 Another pro is Sora, Donald, and Goofy’s interactions. Like, omg, they are so cute. They are so genuine. It really felt like I was watching Sora and his two Disney dads. It gave me life and I felt so many emotions watching them. This trio was the best developed trio in 3.

 Cons: Pacing y’all. My biggest problem with this game as a whole. It started off good, but once you finish the Disney worlds and get into the real plot with Xehanort it’s like a rollercoaster and not in a good way. All the things we were hoping to happen, that we’ve been waiting for for years, happen so quickly and then it’s over like… did it even happen? I felt I didn’t get to be as emotional about those scenes as I could have been because they immediately thrust us into another scene. I didn’t have time to appreciate those moments like I wanted to.  

 Kairi…. Poor Kairi. Nomura screwed her over again. He let us get hyped about her finally training to become a keyblade wielder, gave her a new outfit, and showed her willing and ready to fight in the Keyblade Graveyard and yet? Screwed all of us. I wasn’t expecting her to be a badass, but I was expecting her to be SOMETHING. I was really hoping she’d develop a personality and presence in this game, but she fell flat yet again because Nomura doesn’t know what to do with her. She literally only exists as a plot device and love interest for Sora (I’m not going to get into that here lol).

 Also disappointed they hyped playable Riku, but it was only 2 times, for 2 battles and frankly switching between Sora’s magic command menu to Riku’s with no time to look through it and get accustomed to it other than during actual combat was a pain. Also sad Sora, Riku, or Kairi didn’t travel to ONE world together. Not one. I was hoping to have them in my party as least once, but nope. I’m generally disappointed in the lack of Destiny Island trio interactions. There were no moments between the 3 of them and there was no interaction between Riku and Kairi and barely any between Sora and Riku despite growing so close in DDD. It goes to show Nomura didn’t develop this ‘trio’ as well as the others.  

Another problem I had were almost all the Organization members ended up… being ‘good after all’ or something. For over 10 years they gave no indication Luxord, Larxene, and Marluxia were nothing, but just evil just because and they had no feelings towards Sora other than a boy that was in their way, but once they start fading away for good it’s suddenly, ‘you’re a great person, Sora. Let’s meet again’ or in the case of Larxene, just giving Sora the time of day and actually talking to him civilly just felt so random to me. Including Xemnas. He suddenly revealed how he felt sorta bad for betraying the old organization members, but there was literally no hint of that before?? Idk, it just felt out of place. I was kinda cringing the whole time, haha. I’m actually surprised YX was the one that disappeared the most unremorseful for his (future) actions.

 And then there was Xehanort, omg. He literally destroyed the lives of dozens of people, almost sent the world into the apocalypse, and had this grand scheme for the last 15+ years that he literally invested multiple lives to see fulfilled, but once his old bff Eraqus tells him ‘you’re done’, he went, ‘okay’. Lol wat? That’s it? I’m sure he knew he lost, but I expected more of a grumbling, complaining old man on the brink of death than just a nonchalant, ‘you done good kids’ while giving the x-blade to Sora with a damn smile on his face. I cringed. It all felt unfulfilling to me at that moment because X gave up too easily and was so OOC. I think Nomura just wanted to wrap up this story real quick and move on with his life.

 And another thing! 3 didn’t go into Xehanort’s past. They gave us some cutscenes of X and Eraqus playing chess and flirting, but that’s it. When did their relationship change? What made Xehanort so obsessed with dark and light balancing? When did he meet Braig? What happened to Scala ad Caelum? Does it still exist? Like…. They didn’t go into X’s background AT ALL. I was really hoping to see more about his character.

 Neutral feelings: I remember reading somewhere that 3 was supposed to be the longest game in the series, but I finished the game in about the same time as the others. So maybe they meant longest game gameplay wise and not story wise. On the plus side, there is a TON of stuff to do in this game like a bunch of mini games, cooking with Remy, finding lucky emblems, and exploring worlds after they’re completed. On the downside though, even just 10 more minutes of cutscenes could have helped the pacing in the later part of the game. The gameplay and story are imbalanced and they should have focused on solidifying the story rather than adding so many different gameplay elements. I honestly find them all overwhelming. I stopped trying to remember them all.

 The Disney attraction rides. I don’t really have a like or dislike for these reaction commands. Good thing is that some are fun to see visually like the train and the tea cups (Sora is so dang cute in those teacups). Downside is some attractions don’t seem to fit with the heartless that activate them. For example: that shooting attraction ride is terrible with flying type heartless and yet I get that command a lot with them so it’s pointless. I never hit them.

 This is a con for me, but maybe not for others. They closed a big chapter in the game, but kept a lot of plot points open too. I think my main problem with 3 was that I was hoping it would be more conclusive. Nomura made it seem like it was more conclusive. I already knew 3 wasn’t the end of the series as a whole, but you can still end a storyline with a definite conclusion while still being open to new adventures. 3 didn’t do that. They closed a bunch of chapters, but also left us with a lot of new questions.

 Most of the voice acting is great in this game! Haley really delivered as Sora and I honestly think this was his best performance as him to date! It was genuine, totally cute, and fit Sora perfectly. You can tell he had a great time voicing this game. I also really enjoyed Larxene which is something for me because I felt her VA was trying too hard in CoM. She really improved in 3 and it was fun to watch her. On the other hand, the voices for Xehanort and Marluxia fell flat. Xehanort’s is just unfortunate and I don’t think anyone could have captured him as well as Nimoy did no matter how much they tried. Marluxia sounded like he belonged in an infomercial. Totally hated his voice.  

[saevalunaelumen]

   [ Saix/Isa ] [ Impressions on other Org. members list. ]

      Kind of in order, but also kind of not.

   -Just, like, right from the start, I am bad at communication. Always have been.    -I don’t remember much about my actual home growing up in Radiant Garden, and this is probably largely due to simply not being at home most of the time since Lea and I tended to roam around all day.    -I was an only child, I’m pretty sure, with both parents around, but they seemed to be pretty hands-off in terms of parenting? Suited me fine, I guess.    -My mother might have been artsy? Somehow?     -I was trans (dfab) and liable to break your hands if you so much as commented on it. Probably part of why I wore a jacket all the time.    -I was kind of a fighty kid in general? Not Lea’s kind of fighty, definitely not that obvious, but not going to take anyone’s shit. Might have been part of why I didn’t have anyone but Lea for a friend, but that also suited me fine.    -Surprisingly tolerant of insults, though, depending on what they were? I don’t know. I was a weird kid. Probably would be more liable to fight someone on insulting Lea than myself.    -I was kind of protective of Lea in general. He was far too nice for anyone to be mean to him. I mean, sure we could both kinda be gremlins at times, but still.    -I’m the one kid you know who definitely knows and/or uses more swears than they probably should.    -I remember Merlin and I liked him. I tried sneaking into his place once because he had books that seemed interesting and I wanted to read them ( so basically books in general ). I think he caught me, but laughed it off and just said that I could read some of them if I wanted to, which surprised me because I guess I had it in my mind that he wouldn’t let me if I’d just asked. He was just... a weird, wizard guy with a bunch of books. I kind of wonder if I ever saw him again later on after everything. I definitely didn’t know that he was significant, considering his status as a wizard, at the time.    -Lea and I liked to prowl around the castle and see if we could sneak in for one reason or another. More Lea’s idea than mine, probably. I think the goal was generally just to see what was going on in that castle because no one seemed to know. Combine that with the allure of the forbidden and you’ve got yourself a couple of curious and adventurous kids. I think we pretty much always got found at one point or another by one of the guards and tossed out, rinse, repeat. It got to the point where it was just kind a regular thing that was expected of us. I think Dilan was probably annoyed by it, Aeleus was kind of neutral about it, and I think Braig just thought it was amusing more than anything. Pretty sure Even also was aware of it and definitely did not like it. Ansem “the Wise,” I can’t really say if he ever knew. Or cared. We never really seemed to actually see the guy? At least I don’t really remember him.    -Most of the “trouble making” we would get up to was around the castle in general. We weren’t actually that bad. For the most part. Could be biased on that, though.    -I liked to stargaze and usually Lea would stargaze with me. Sometimes I think we would try and perch or climb up on things to try and get a better view ( ...as if that really mattered that much, but oh well ). I’d point out things like stars or the constellations and rattle off some random fact I’d read about somewhere and he’d usually reply with something like “that’s cool,” but probably not remember what I actually told him later on. That didn’t matter, though, because I didn’t expect him to.    -I don’t know when exactly, but at some point I realized that I actually liked Lea romantically and then proceeded to shove those feelings ten feet under the ground and never speak of them. They always seemed to pop up again whenever I felt like I’d forgotten about then, though. Still. Lea never knew.    -I was around... 14-ish? When we died? Lea was younger, but not by more than a year.    -It started off as pretty much... the same thing we were always doing, sneaking into the castle to see what was up or something like that, just. Something went wrong. I think we saw something we weren’t supposed to. Some kind of a confrontation happened, I think Lea might’ve pretty much frozen on me, so I shoved him and told him to go/run. Don’t think he actually did. I really don’t remember anything else between then and becoming a Nobody.

   -I’m 90% sure nobody of the original RG crew actually knew what the fuck we were doing in the beginning. The scientists were MacGyvering a bunch of shit at the start. Seriously. No one was really sure what would happen beforehand, so after the fact it was just like one big ‘learn as we go’ kind of deal. Kind of funny, in hindsight? Axel and I weren’t really expected to know shit from fuck about most of that stuff, though. We kinda just... got swept along for the ride.    -Basically, you know that period of time as a nobody where you had to figure out how the fuck to function as a nobody? Yeah, we had no prior knowledge of what to do, unlike with Roxas and newer members, so it really was just everyone bullshitting everything. It is due to that bullshitting early on that we actually knew what to do with the people like Roxas who came later on. Think Roxas kinda got the speedrun version, though, because we needed him active as soon as possible.    -I did not and really never did get the hang of magic. It was just... not my thing for some reason? Any magic that wasn’t my own attribute was basically useless for me. It sucked, but I learned to manage without it.     -In fact, I’d venture to say that my attribute’s “magic” wasn’t even technically my own. I didn’t say things like “Moon shine down.” for no reason. I think it was basically like borrowing a little sliver of KH’s power to try and use. It was also kind of an... all or nothing sort of deal. Where most other people could use their as, say, 20% or so of their full power, if I was using mine, it was pretty much as 90% or more at all times. That’s why it was so tiring to use - it was exhausting afterwards if I was using it for any lengthy period of time. Also probably part of why ‘berserk mode’ was... what it was.    -As Nobodies, we definitely had some inhuman features/auras to us, which varied from person to person. I got the pointy ears, for sure. My canine teeth were sharper and longer than they used to be. I had a slight yellow glare to my eyes ( like the kind you get from an animal with light reflecting off their eyes ) - along with slightly better lowlight vision as well. Generally stronger than a human, but part of that was because of training/working out, too, just... more. If I was around humans for any reason, I’m pretty sure they’d inherently be intimidated to some extent. Couldn’t say much more about my own aura, though, you’d have to ask someone else for that, probably? Berserk mode also had more noticeable differences too - like the full yellow eyes, for instance, which had a dull glow to them, I think. That change in the eyes came with a change in vision, too, better to see in the dark with, but everything was tinted a little bit yellow. My scar would get more jagged, teeth would get sharper as a whole, my hair tended to fan out and get choppier?     -Early on, sparring with other Org members was pretty commonplace, but I think it may have just been with the guard trio, in my case? Usually with Lexaeus, who was more evenly matched for me than either of the other two. The difficulty level for me in a spar with them basically goes, from easiest to hardest to fight, Lexaeus, Xaldin, Xigbar. Trying to hit Xigbar is like trying to hit a particularly active fly - who would also port around and shoot you. No hard feelings ever came from any of that, though, as if we would’ve been capable of it anyway.    -I was... so taken by the idea that we didn't have hearts or feelings that I feel so hard for the lie that we really couldn't feel anything. In the beginning, yeah, that was pretty much true, but later on there was definitely something there, I just ignored it. Always reminded everyone else that there wasn’t any real feeling there, too.    -I really did want to get my heart back, though. I really did. That’s part of why, when Roxas and Xion started acting not quite according to plan, I was so harsh on them. They were “our only chance,” or so we were led to believe. Any contrary actions they took were taking away from possible progress towards everyone’s end goal, that’s pretty much what I thought. I didn’t understand why they seemed to want anything other than that.    -I knew there were many things that Xemnas wasn't telling us and Xigbar definitely knew more than I did, which was frustrating considering that I Like To Know Everything ( no doubt a carryover from my prior life ), but there sure wasn't any way I was going to ask them either.    -Earlier on, maybe a year or two into being nobodies ( and I don’t think Demyx was around yet at the time ), Axel and I got it in our heads somehow that we were going to just. Leave for a while. Like a little vacation - we planned to come back, but I think he was just bored and I was inclined to agree with him to take a break. I’m pretty sure it was his idea, like how it was his idea to sneak into the castle usually, and I’d have probably followed him pretty much anywhere just like I used to do before anyway. Don’t think we really... had much of a plan? Just roam around like we used to do? I daresay Xemnas knew what was up before we even left, but we went. It probably looked like actual desertion to him and the others. Pretty sure it was Xigbar that got sent after us to bring us back. The interaction with Xemnas that followed isn’t something that I really remember, but I know it wasn’t good. I think Axel kind of froze up on answering like he’d done before a year or two ago and that gave me enough time to speak up and say it was my idea. Probably habit from back then. I think Xemnas knew I was lying, too, but I think that might have been what earned me my scar as a sort of punishment. Can’t go anywhere without them knowing with a big X on my face, no matter what I did. I daresay he did it with his hand, not any kind of weapon. Xemnas’ attribute was “Nothing” and we were “Nothing,” after all. That’s part of why he was so fucking scary to other nobodies in particular.    -Pretty sure we were the reason for the ‘no deserters’ rule.    -The X was part of why, if Axel and I were planning anything, it had to be Axel wandering around getting any of it done. Plus, I was busy.    -Not sure if that incident was also when both Axel and I were norted. If it wasn’t, then it wouldn’t have been much time after that. Yes, Axel was norted, but he shook his off somewhere in KH2.    -The nort that I had earlier on wasn’t that strong, but it definitely made a different. My thoughts and actions were influenced more by what Xehanort wanted, like a re-alignment of goals. It worked well enough.    -The nort that I had in DDD, though, that was something else. A whole different level. Much less control on my part, or at least it seems that way? Pretty sure Young Xehanort had something to do with that. I really don’t remember, though, and I may have still been knocked out when it happened.    -Pretty sure I did indeed claymore Axel when he came to try and free Kairi, didn't even regret it at the time.    -I did go on missions of my own, though almost never with a partner and I only left after everyone else was already gone on their own - usually also tried to return decently quickly, so probably before most other people returned. I genuinely don’t know if some of the lower numbered members even knew I did go on missions at all for that reason.    -I definitely did, especially closer to Days/KH2 time period, have that 'everyone goes quieter when I walk in' kind of effect on a room, but less so with people like Xigbar or Axel who knew me well enough and/or didn't care.

   -Later on, I have no idea what exactly happened in terms of getting rid of the nort, but I am pretty sure it was not a pleasant experience. Might not have been a voluntary one on my part either. Not sure when in the timeframe it happened, either.    -I don’t remember much about anything that happened shortly after that point? Pretty sure I dissociated for a fair bit of that time. Functioned on auto-pilot for a while. Figuring out how to be a person again.     -100% the type of person who probably had to make reminders for myself to eat, too. This is probably in part because, as a nobody, I didn’t need to eat unless I wanted to, so I hadn’t usually. Came back to bite me, I guess. Probably also made lists for things.    -I honestly have no idea what happened to most of the others? Not sure I really cared.    -Lea was a definite presence, though, and so were the rest of the trio like Sora, Riku, and Kairi by proximity.     -Talking to Lea for a while was Hella Awkward and I honestly didn't understand how he could still be so damn happy to see me after everything, but that's just how he is, I guess. How he was before, too.    -A flannel gay. Lea and I got together at some point, I think. God knows how exactly it happened.    -The islands trio were wary of me at first, but they trusted Lea, so they didn’t question my being around. Or, at least, they didn’t do it to my face. Pretty sure Sora was the first to rebound back and trust me more. Didn’t understand how, but then there’s a lot of things about Sora that I just didn’t understand and didn’t question either at that point.    -I don’t think the islands trio was really around that often, though. They were younger than Lea and I and had their own world/lives to live in, so?     -Riku and I didn’t get along still, though - we weren’t much different from one another in some ways, however, and I couldn’t tell you when, but that ‘not getting along with each other’ ended up being… a joke? Of sorts? Maybe we did get along eventually, but we pretended like we still didn’t, probably because we were both stubborn, but it wasn’t hostile, it was more like… the kind of teasing you’d expect of friends or siblings. Like calling each other stupid names. Like Rice. Or Rikki. Riolu. Ricola. Reekoo. I could go on, but I think you get the picture.    -Really don’t remember much about Kairi, though. I know I’d seen her around to some extent? Don’t think she was scared of or hated me after a while, though I honestly wouldn’t have blamed her if she had.    -Honestly, I was surprised all three of them didn’t.    -May or may not have been a part of the group restoring Radiant Garden? I know I didn’t like seeing what it became and, honestly, I’m not so sure what I’d really be up to otherwise. I feel like I probably got along well enough with Sid.    -Acquired? Dog(s)? I hope I had dogs. I feel like I had dogs.    -I continued working out and such to keep up my strength. If anything ever came up again, I wanted to be able to deal with it. Even if my way of dealing with it would have just been hitting it really hard.    -Honestly probably just kept to myself for the most part unless other people interacted with me first. That’s mostly how I’ve always been, though.    -I think people were definitely wary of whether or not my Berserk Mode would happen again at any point, but I kept a pretty tight lock on that for multiple reasons. I could have done it again, I think, despite KH not being around, because I could have pulled from the actual moon, but it wouldn’t have had as potent an effect ( which would have been for the better at that point, probably, using it wasn’t exactly safe? ).

[xigseri]

4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19, 26, 27, 28, 33, 36, 38, 39, 41, 40, 44, 46, 49, 50, 43 ? welcome to the self ship community!

Oh wow...tysm!! No character is listed so I’ll go for Luxigbraig, I’ll have to put it under a readmore for length. Btw we ignore canon bc it’s rather... boring.

4. Does your F/O have any battle scars? 

Aside from the ones on his face...not really? I know the fandom HCs that he has a ton all over but nah. They base it solely on his face...

7. What is your F/O fashion taste?

Black, with boots and jackets because they just feel right for him. Tight pants or ripped jeans. I imagine that he wears a scarf as Braig to offer the security of a hood since the guard uniform doesn’t have one. Fashion sense of a goth or punk, personality of a jock.

8. How tall is your F/O?

He has no official height, but he’s 5′9′’ I know it. Someone used Sora’s KH3 models to create a chart for the characters and apparently he should be like 6′2′‘ but the models aren’t consistent between games so I don’t trust it one bit.

10. When is your F/O birthday? 

For fandom it’s 2/2 (otherwise known as Xigbar Day) but Luxu was born in late October, making him a Scorpio (because...the Ancrene Wisse theming). (source: dude trust me)

11. Does your F/O know how to cook? If so are they good at it? 

Barely, he knows how to cook enough to get by. I mean if you’ve lived for hundreds/thousands of years you gotta know how to cook for yourself.

12. What is your F/O favorite flavor?  (sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami (savory)) 

Savory, salty and bitter are preferred, neutral to sweet, dislikes sour. In Braig/Xigbar’s body anyway, in his original body he liked Sweet and Salty and disliked Bitter.

13. If your F/O could be a fan of any video game what do you think it would be? 

Splatoon and Perfect Dark on n64, the latter being a bonding thing for us in particular. He also likes Fallout, Zelda and Borderlands, he tried Pokemon but decided it wasn’t for him after a few games, making me sad.

15. What color are your F/O eyes? 

Xigbar’s is a nice yellow, Braig’s were brown before the Nortening, and I HC that Luxu’s eyes were also yellow.

16. Does your F/O have any tattoos? If not do they like or hate the concept of tattoos? 

No, he’s had several bodies and thought tattoos would make him get too attached, why bother getting them when you might need to take a new vessel tomorrow? He would like to have some though, maybe as Xigbar he can since he won’t be changing any more.

18. Does your F/O have any piercings?

He got his ears and tongue pierced <3

19. Is your F/O a cake or pie person?

Pie pie pie, cake is fine every once in a while. But he loves a hot pie fresh out of the oven.

26. What harry potter house would your F/O be in? (Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin)

He’s both Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Outwardly he’s very Slytherin but deep down he’ll always be a Hufflepuff.

27. If your F/O was in “avatar: the last air bender” what type of bender would they be? (air, water, earth, and fire)

Airbender, since it fits his Space powers most, but he wouldn’t follow the Air Nomads’ traditions. Peace and non-violence and all that? No thanks, he does what he wants.

28. Is your F/O LGBT+?

He’s Non Binary and Bi. He’s taken on both amab and afab bodies and experimented, he’s too old for silly Gender nonsense. He doesn’t really specifically ID as NB or Bi, Genderfluid and Pan work too but he legit does not care for labels. He doesn’t care for other people’s genders and doesn’t know nor care what his own is. Though, he switches pronouns per vessel since he has to pretend to be other people. He has a preference for he/his and they/them pronouns and amab vessels for his own.

33. Do you have any silly nicknames or pet names for your F/O? 

I’m not really one for pet/nicknames bc I embarrass easily, but he calls me Babe among others and I’m autistic and pick up on habits of others so...I’ll call him Babe every now and then and get flustered when he points it out. I used to call him Xiggy early on but it was such an obvious and easy nickname that I dropped it. I suppose calling him Luxu counts? Since he likes me calling him by his old assigned name.

36. Have you ever had a dream with your F/O in it? 

TONS!!!! And we’re dating in the dream world too so I know it’s legit! Several dreams I’ve had where we’re definitely together as a couple and it makes me so happy to have them! I can’t really talk about the last one we had for Reasons, but the one before that, he was bragging about how he was around when the BotW shrines were built and proved it to me by showing me some while we were traveling the world. “Shouldn’t you be leaving them hidden for the Hero to find?” “The Hero? As if, I don’t care about that guy. I’m showing it to you because I want to. :)”

My first dream actually happened right after I started crushing but I can’t talk about it for.....Reasons, hehe.

38. What’s a song that reminds you of your F/O when you hear?

Sympathy For The Devil by The Rolling Stones, The Song I Heard Somewhere/Clockwork Lullaby 8 by Mothy/Akuno-P, and You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid by The Offspring.

39. What is your relationship like with your F/O?

Lots of teasing, mostly from him, sometimes from me. Lots of fun times, we enjoy cuddling and watching things and sharing memes. We’re both mentally ill so we try to support each other, like him constantly encouraging me bc of my low self-esteem and, with him, he struggles with being open about things because he’s had to hide himself for far too long, so I try to help him ease up, but I never tried to force myself into his business and he appreciates that. We both struggle with identity issues so that’s a common point for us too.

40. How long have you been with your F/O? (or at least been interested in them?)

I developed a crush in I believe October of 2015, started dating in Febuary of 2016 and we’ve been married since April of this otherwise hell year.

41. Where is your F/O from? (as in born)

Daybreak Town, which doesn’t exist anymore :( it was remade into Scala Ad Caelum but that’s gone too. The last place he’s “from” was Radiant Garden/Hollow Bastion.

44. What is your F/O’s most valuable possession?

The black box the MoM entrusted to him that he may or may not have lost, but it’s all good cause he found it and it’s safe.

46. does your F/O prefer to work alone or with a team?

He tells himself and others that he prefers to work alone. He’s used to it. But if he really likes someone’s company then he’ll yearn for the companionship even if it’s brief.

49. What animal reminds you of your F/O?

Goats and Scorpions (obvs) but I also associate him with foxes and bats. The fandom heavily associates him with rats and I really don’t vibe with that.

50. What color reminds you of your F/O? 

Black (outfit + hair + keyblade), Silver (hair), Yellow (eye), and Purple (arrowguns, bow).

43. What does your F/O’s Saturdays usually look like? 

Doing missions. The Organization gives us a day off like once a year. (No, really.) When he’s finally out of there, he likes to do stuff with me, be it relax at home or travel. Just as long as it isn’t Work.

[nuiert]

☀

                                 Acts of Affection ; Family/Platonic                                       ☀  Singing them to sleep. 

         THE NIGHT BEFORE ——  had been a long one at that. The boy couldn’t put his finger on it, why, these ‘night terrors’ had kept him up for most of the night. He confided in Braig, least, once he was up [he had consoled him as best as he could - least as good as you could handling a kid that’s still getting adjust to the prospect of nightmares.]

What to do?  The answer was simple - for the day, Braig kept the kiddo close to his side. Allowing him to tag along as he heads off for his early shift at the castle. Least then, maybe the kid would feel better, being close by, if in case these previous night terrors cause any unwanted emotions to rise up. [No, it’s properly because he doesn’t feel comfortable being anywhere else right now.]

But what to do about the exhausted kid? It were OBVIOUS - Braig leaves him in the break room. He’s got one of his drawing pads with him, something to entertain him, once he feels up to drawing anyway. [Really though, it just meant that if the kid happened to start drifting off, least he’d be on a couch and not following him around while he’s on shift.] He swears though, that he’d drop in every now and then - that he’d see him once he’s on break.

Lux nods in agreement, a weak smile grows on his features, before Braig leaves his sight. He offers a wave of his hand, it remains still up in the air for a moment, before it comes to rest on his lap. Slowly, Lux kicks his feet out, as he sits nudged into the corner of the couch.

And he sits there, time passing ever so slowly. He appears to be drifting off, only to snap awake [he were, scared to sleep. He didn’t want to fall to sleep and have those night terror things plague him.] He wanted Braig, Braig always made him feel better, but he didn’t want to disrupt him from his work. Eventually, he’s pulled his legs close to his chest, arms crossed as he leans his head down. What to do… It was a thought that was currently troubling him.

“Lux?” With a twitch, Lux’s eyes snap open towards the person that had just called his name - Aeleus. Concern had seeped into his features, as he towered over the kid. 

Only to take a seat beside him, to minimise the difference in height. Lux chews at his lip, before offering an awkward ‘hello’ towards him. He raises an eyebrow at the boys weak response. The way in which he responded made sense though.

                  [Ferret this accidentally got longer then I meant for it to be asfkgh]

Braig had been so kind to relay to him that Lux was here, that the poor kid had suffered nightmares through the night - apparently he didn’t get a wink of sleep [Braigs own words anyway. But, it were still troubling. To think Lux couldn’t sleep just because of some nightmares. Not like the child should be plagued by nightmares in the first place.]

So, at first, Aeleus talks with the kid - as willing as Lux was towards talking. It were simple stuff, whatever could make the child more ‘happy’. To settle his nerves,  see if this could help him in anyway. Lessen the impact of those nightmares. It wasn’t really successfully, but steadily it were doing the job. 

Maybe he were feeling better already having company. Aeleus could imagine, at this time of day, the break room were quite barren. Many of the others weren’t coming in till later or were still out on duty.

A decently sized room, empty at this point of day, with Lux smack bang in the middle, Aeleus could see why the child might not be able to relax like he should. Maybe this emptiness, it were unnerving to the boy.  What could be done then, to sooth his nerves? To reassure him? 

Braig seemed to be able to NATURALLY make the kid happy, but by the looks of it, seemed like he hadn’t been able to work his magic yet [or if he had, it hadn’t entirely done the trick.  What sort of nightmares could plague such a child like Lux to this extent?]

“Hey.” His deep, booming yet gentle tone reaches Lux. Beckoning the child to look up towards the seated guardsmen. “Would you let me try something?” Lux is, of course, confused. What was Aeleus getting at? Tiredly, he nods, to express how he could try whatever it were he had on mind.Sleepiness was evident on the boys features, a loose fist rubbing at the corner of his eye in an attempt to try and make the sleepiness go away [he must of been trying so hard to stay awake.]

Aeleus offers a smile, as he carefully ruffles Lux’s hair. He requests for him to get more comfortable on the couch - it’s okay, he affirms when the kid manages to ask. There’s always a way to counter against nightmares. Aeleus has an idea as to how he could get the child to sleep, with the hope, he could manage some shut eye at the very least.

Lux, wasn’t sure what to expect. He didn’t feel like he had the thinking prowess to really consider anything. He knew he didn’t have anything to worry about, it was Aeleus. So whatever it were that Aeleus STARTED to do, boggled the child.

He hadn’t heard anything like this…least it didn’t seem familiar. It were confusing, what was Aeleus goal? What was he trying to achieve? All while these thoughts crossed his mind, he couldn’t help but relax. It was….nice. The boy didn’t have the exact words [he was looking for soothing.], but it were oddly nice.

Humming, had turned into a melody, the giant of a man - was singing a sweet melody. Lux himself, wasn’t sure what any of it meant or the why behind his actions. As odd as he found it, slowly, his eyes started to drift, as body snuggling more into the couch as he attempted to become even more comfortable. 

Aeleus features soften, as he still carry’s on singing a melody. He’s gently patting the kid on the head, reassuring him through this melody to the best of his ability [Singing like this, it had been some time since he had done anything like this…]

The singing only stops, when he knows, for certain that Lux is peacefully sleeping.

[thekingdomheartsprincess]

Thoughts on the future of the series, Laurium, and Strelitzia

I’ve thought for a while now that marluxia could be a plausible next main antagonist for the series after this saga ends and xehanort dies. When nomura explained that he plans on continuing the series long after kh3, I thought about where the story could go afterwards. There are a lot of options for where the story could go, and I never came up with or heard any ideas for it that I felt strongly about. However, I do think that due to the amount of characters and plot points that have been introduced so far, whoever the next immediate antagonist/s are after kh3 should be character/s that were already there.

 It would be a big stretch to start with a brand new antagonist that’s never been mentioned before. With the plethora of backstory and lore built up already, it just seems like it would be a weird decision to me. Not that nomura couldn’t or wouldn’t make it happen, but I think it would be a little frustrating to watch. A big part of me does want to see fresh new characters and stories with no prior relation after kh3. More than that though I don’t want to see characters and stories that needed to be explored more get thrown to the side. There is no good way to resolve everything built up so far in one game. Nomura likes leaving things open ended sometimes, and actually I normally like that. However, at this point there is way too much stuff to resolve in kh3 or leave open ended. Having an antagonist that already existed to cause conflict after kh3, makes more sense to me and I think would just be more interesting overall.

If they are going to use an antagonist that already existed, Marluxia/Laurium seems like the best choice to me. Plenty of characters could do it, but I think if not marluxia it would be braig or even MoM, Of course I’m not really sure MoM is bad, I would prefer to believe he is good, but he is/would definitely be an interesting villain. Braig could and would definitely take over after xehanort dies, and there is plenty to work off of there. I’m 99.9999% positive his goal from the beginning has been to get what he can out of xehanort and then stab him in the back. The main problem I have with braig being the next main antagonist is he got norted. If kh3 is truly being marked by xehanort’s death, then norted braig must also die, unless he somehow gets un-norted. If norted-braig takes over after kh3, that would be the same to me as xehanort living and staying as the main antagonist. I am tired of his shit.

Marluxia on the other hand actually already betrayed xemnas, had his own evil plans, and is most definitely coming back in  some way in kh3. If the original members of org 13 are back, its reasonable to believe the other members will come back as well. That’s not necessarily true, but the nobodies based off of him shown in the trailer pretty much confirm that at least marluxia will be back in some way. I would find it hard to believe that he is working with xehanort again.  We never got to learn the true extent of marluxia’s intentions, and I think that they could be very interesting. I also just like marluxia’s design. As much as I wish there were more women in kingdom hearts, I actually think redesigning marluxia as a man ended up being a good decision. The reasoning, that they didn’t want to have a female antagonist lose and unsuccessfully attempt to overthrow a male dominated organization, is pure bs. If they really wanted a solution to that, it would be not making 12/14 characters men. But who the hell am i? I do think that marluxia is the only male character in the series that really had to be a man. The whole flower petal scythe+pink hair thing just leads me to believe that she would would have been made entirely of sexist tropes, not necessarily true, but probably.

This leads me to my internal conflict with him showing up in khux. We had a new female character for what 2 or 3 weeks? She made it a really jaw dropping 2/5 leaders being girls, bringing our grand total of original kh girls/women to 10 I think. (8 if you arent really counting namine or xion as original, though personally I do count them in their own rights.) Also the only thing we really know about strelitzia is that she has some sort of feelings for the player, and that she basically stalked them. Aside from the stalking thing and having no other traits than looking cute, I thought she could actually be a cool character. I’m grasping at straws here, but she could have even been canon bi or pan, considering my player and many others’ are girls. She never got to talk to the player though, and I can’t help but have a feeling she was really just written for the boy players. 

Anyways, she could have had a much more interesting and direct role in the plot. She could have broken the rules in an attempt to save the player, she could have been the traitor,  and possibly became an antagonist. Maybe she would have actually made a better decision, formed some kind of relationship with the player (friendship or whatever), and found a way to protect the player without breaking the rules. Either of those wouldn’t have exactly been feminist material, but honestly, I don’t expect it or even ask for it in kingdom hearts. I don’t even really care how many girls are in the series. All I’m looking for is straight up decent writing of girls. Having laurium kill strelitzia and basically take her role as a union leader right after her introduction, even if her character was more fleshed out, is below decent to put it kindly. Some people think that she is not really dead and she is going to come back. That is plausible, but to me this is all just another sign that kingdom hearts is going to continue to have sub-par female characters. I will continue to be hopeful for the best in this series of course though.

 I would like to see Marluxia expanded on more, whether or not he is an antagonist after kh3. I don’t know how I feel about him being in khux. If his role isn’t too overcomplicated, it could be a good thing. I am worried that he is going to have a very overcomplicated role in khux. If he does, and he is the antagonist after kh3, it could be what defines his role in the future of the series. In which case, I am expecting a khux remake or expansion between kh3 and kh4. They could easily do that and make money off of it, but I am quite done with the whole chi universe already. It could definitely all be fleshed out more, but after chi, back cover, and  unchained chi, there is a not-surprising lack of fleshed out story. I am not particularly excited for a laurium driven 4th chi game. I have enjoyed kh chi overall, I just don’t really want a 4th installment of it.  

More positively though, laurium’s role in chi may actually really tie things together for the future of the series. Even if I end up liking laurium’s role in chi though, I’m probably going to always be bitter about this whole strelitzia ordeal. Maybe laurium will have a great role in it and strelitzia will come back. I wish I could say I have more faith in that though. Its strange to think about the fact that they changed marluxia’s gender due to the idea there could be misogynistic implications, but now they have used him for this. Its very ironic. For that reason I don’t think its a lack of care,  I think they have a huge misunderstanding of what fans actually perceive as sexist. 

Still I think they are really underestimating the effects of the way they treat female characters. Its been a long time since kh2 released, and don’t get me wrong kh3 is going to be successful on the sheer basis of the amount of people anticipating it. What about after kh3 though? The fandom and the market they’re selling to in general has completely changed since kh2 was released. When kh2 came out the fact that girls (mainly kairi) were written poorly didn’t really bother people in my experience. People knew it, and made lots of jokes about it, but that’s pretty much it, people thought it was funny. Back then though kh fans also walked around with yaoi paddles and glomped each other at conventions. I was in middle school, so maybe my perspective on it is a little biased. I really think its a different world now though in terms of who kh fans are and what people expect. If I’m wrong I am afraid, because while it definitely made some good stories and jokes,  kh fandom pre-2010 was also extremely embarrassing. 

[square-enix-headcanons]

So this might sound a little confusing, but. A time warp where Nobodies and their recompleted Somebodies (Isa/Saïx, Lea/Axel, Even/Vexen, Braig/Xigbar) end up in the same universe, and they are both falling for the same person. Like a love triangle but they're competing against themselves

Ohhh interesting idea! Since I would’ve cut anyway for length, I’ll cut right here for KH3 spoilers. (Most people probably have played it already and I tag is as kh3 spoilers, but just in case, y’know)

Braig & Xigbar

Yeah uh… Braig is Not Amused

Honestly, if Xigbar weren’t such a good fighter, he’d be dead where he stands

Xigbar already ruined Braig’s live. He is not going to let him ruin yours, too!

Honestly, there’s... A high chance you’ll end up wanting neither.

Braig doesn’t seem exactly stable, considering how set he is on getting rid of Xigbar one way or another, even if he’s very sweet towards you

And, you know. Talk about Xigbar stealing Braig’s body, soul, and life does cast some doubts on whether anything Xigbar says can be believed

It’s a very shitty situation for everyone involved

For Braig because the bastard who made his whole life break apart (Okay sure he did associate with Xehanort before, but at least he was himself!) is not trying to woo the person he loves, too

For Xigbar because he’s seriously starved of any form of intimacy, especially emotional and social intimacy, and now he finally found someone he thinks he can trust, and someone (Braig) is trying all he can to stop him

And for you because these two guys are literally fighting over you. Not the way it’s often used, where they try to write cuter poems than the other or whatever. No, literally, physically fighting, so bad one of them might very well die.

You can try to stop them, but honestly? Better to get far far away. It’s doubtful whether you could manage stopping them (and if you want to try, be very careful not to end up in the crossfire)

Assuming you do manage to stop them from trying to kill each other (Well, mainly Braig from trying to kill Xigbar), you have to make a choice. These two will not be open to you dating both of them. Polyamory in general? Maybe. Polyamory if it means that guys, especially for Braig? Hell no.

If you pick Braig, Xigbar will be heartbroken, but probably leave. Being near Braig might turn out, um... Unhealthy for him; Braig is still pissed at Xigbar, but he won’t go look for Xigbar.

Now if you pick Xigbar... Phew.

Look. Braig wants you to be happy. And under normal circumstances, he might’ve flirted a bit afterwards, but he’d accept you picking someone else.

But this is not normal circumstances.

After what Xigbar did, there is no way Braig will trust him not to hurt you

Whether or not he actually would doesn’t matter. Xigbar is Not To Be Trusted in the eyes of Braig.

If you play your cards just right, you might be able to persuade Braig not to, well, assassinate Xigbar at the next opportunity. But he would still hang around and watch to make sure Xigbar’s not pulling off anything bad again.

(Also... You might never find out the whole story, until you manage to ask the right questions at the right time. If not, you might always be confused what exactly happened.)

Even & Vexen

There is a long, long, long discussion between the two of them

It’s mostly “What makes more sense?” etc; Even’s main argument being that, since he doesn’t remember being with you so far, obviously Vexen and you didn’t get together etc. pp.

Meanwhile Vexen argues that the future may change depending on his actions, so if you and him got together, Even’s memories might change, too

Even is more than a little suspicious about what Vexen might end up doing

He knows Vexen won’t hurt you on purpose, of course.

But, well. Who knows if there isn’t an experiment that you’d be just the right fit for? An experiment that shouldn’t have any negative effects, but well, experiments sometimes fail, so who knows whether this one will?

Vexen may not normally do this, but when he feels like he might be too close to a breakthrough, it can cloud his judgement

(Even knows because he’s similar - But most of Vexen’s Heart was grown from and for science. He’s far more likely to not consider possible consequences for you.)

Even does mention that to Vexen, though Vexen kind of fails to see the point

It takes them a long time to reach an agreement. You’ve probably seen those “twins(?)” around a few times and lowkey wondered what they were always arguing about

In the end, they decide that the last choice should be yours, but if you pick Vexen, he had to promise to consult Even before even asking you to participate in any experiments

Tbh Even isn’t happy about that idea, either, cause... There’s a good chance Vexen will genuinely forget his promise when he’s this close

If you haven’t approached them yet, things might... Get awkward. Neither of these men is too socially competent.

And this situation would be messy even if they were, which obviously doesn’t make stuff easier

(Tbh they might put talking to you off another couple of days simply to figure out the science behind them both existing here, at the same time)

At some point, they’ll explain what happened. Their explanation might be hard to follow, but they’re trying.

They’re, uh. Not too sure how to go from there though

You don’t just say “Also we’ve both fallen for you” right off the bat after all, right?

(But then, what do you do? Especially in this kind of situation??)

Since you’ve probably managed to spend some time with them before the explanation, they probably will end up just. Saying it.

They’ve both got feelings for you, but you should decide who you want to take as a partner.

Surprisingly open for polyamory, though Even would immediately say that you and Vexen should never be in the lab without him (or Aeleus, Dilan, Ansem the Wise, etc) present as well

Isa & Saix

Isa will do everything he can to keep Saix away from you

He didn’t realize it back then, but now, he knows how much hold Xemnas - Or rather, Xehanort - had over him. And that means a lot of potential danger.

Isa would try just talking to Saix; he knows Saix doesn’t want to hurt you. But he also knows he’s not going to listen

Saix, meanwhile, really doesn’t like sharing your attention. Not even with himself

And they know each other pretty well. So once they spot each other looking at you, they know

Since Isa knows Saix won’t listen, he tries to be the first to talk to you - Get to know you, maybe, well, actually ask you out on a date

Saix doesn’t like that someone else managed to get your attention first (even if it was only for a little while), but he doesn’t interfere. For now.

Isa is... Honestly, not too great at asking people out. Seeing him try is kinda cute though, so he’s got that going for him!

He won’t tell you what exactly happened, though he does try to warn you about Saix.

It’s obviously hard to explain, though. Another guy who looks incredibly similar to Isa...But with paler hair, pointy ears and yellow eyes? Even with the same facial scar?

But, well, Isa does sound very sincere about it.

Of course, Saix still tries to woo you. And despite what Isa said, he does seem rather charming...

These two probably end up with the most “classic” love triangle. They don’t get along well enough to really talk to each other like Lea/Axel and Even/Vexen, but they don’t hate each other nearly as much as Braig and Xigbar do

So it really is kind of just two guys asking you out on dates and trying their best to make you like them

Polyamory is not an option here. Saix doesn’t want to “share” you, and not only is Isa not too fond of the idea either, it’s worth with Saix. He’d always be reminded of who he used to be back then - He can’t stand seeing himself like that.

Now, if you pick Saix, Isa will not only be heartbroken, but also very, very worried.

However, he knows that in the end, it had to be your choice. He absolutely hates that choice, and he’d love to change your mind, but... He knows he shouldn’t.

So instead, he asks you to please be very, very careful around Saix, and to please call or text him if anything happens; he asks Saix to be good to you, and (without you present) at least tries to explain to him what Xemnas/Xehanort did to him.

And then he leaves. As much as he wants to stay and watch and make sure Saix doesn’t do anything... He can’t. Seeing Saix already hurts like hell, and seeing you with someone else hurts, too. So, he leaves.

Now, if you pick Isa

Of course, Isa will be ecstatic. Might sweep you off your feet to give you a kiss.

But, well, there’s the matter of the other guy. Saix is not too happy for the two of you

He gets very cold towards both of you. Even if you got along great before either of them tried asking you out on a date.

Now, Saix doesn’t see it as jealousy. If you didn’t spend too much time together, well, he’s not jealous you picked Isa - He just has no reason to be around you anymore (Yes he’s totally jealous). Probably leaves, never to be seen again by either of you.

If you used to spend a lot of time together, though? Especially if you talked to him first, even if Isa first asked you out on a date?

To Saix, it’s not jealousy. It makes sense in his mind - You were close first, right? And then you just decide to replace you with someone else!

Rationally he should know that that’s not the case, but not only are emotions not rational in the first place, but Saix also didn’t have to evaluate his emotions in a while

You notice that Isa seems very protective about you for a few days. It’s not guaranteed that Saix would do something stupid, but it is a possibility. And the idea of becoming Saix again and hurting someone he cares about is pretty much Isa’s biggest fear. It’s normally something that he knows won’t happen, but now that Saix is literally right there...

Now, Saix won’t go full Yandere or anything like that. He feels hurt, and angry, and jealous, and the emotions are stronger than most stuff he’s felt in a while, yes, but he’s not that bad.

He does try to win you over a few times, though. It’s kind of weird - When he first heard you and Isa were dating, you suddenly didn’t hear from him for quite a while, and then he suddenly tries asking you out on dates.

He can be a rather smooth talker, and if you were friends, you probably do want to hang out. And usually, that’d be a great thing.

And Saix will agree - Sure, you’re just hanging out as friends. Except he still tries to make it a date and stuff like that.

When he notices it isn’t working, he just... Leaves. Not necessarily physically, but you’ll get the cold shoulder again. He won’t talk to you unless it’s necessary. He won’t answer your calls or texts. He won’t hang out with you.

Isa tries to comfort you, but is kinda at a loss, too. He feels kind of bad about not telling you the whole story, but he’s scared, scared what you might end up thinking about him if you heard what he’d done.

Lea & Axel

He tries to take it with humor; it does make sense that he’d fall for the same person als, well, himself

For a while, he tries to kinda argue with himself about who should date you.

“Look, I’m you from the future! If I date them, that still means you’ll date them, just later!”

“Okay, but if I date them, you’ll just have dated them for a while already, so it’d be a win for you, too!”

In truth, Lea doesn’t really want Axel to get too close to you; he wasn’t as bad as some other Nobodies, but he was still fairly callous

Meanwhile, Axel doesn’t want to “wait”, even if Lea dating you actually did mean he’d date you later on

They come to an agreement eventually, though: They’ll both try to woo you, and just accept your choice in the matter

It’s… Kinda confusing for you, considering Lea and Axel look almost the same

If you ask, they’ll try to explain it. Try.

“Okay so, we have no idea what happened. But uh, he’s me from the past and I’m him from the future, I guess.”

You’re probably just as confused as they are

These two would be the most likely to agree to polyamory, actually. Sure, they’d prefer if you decided on one, but that’s fine, too

(Well, they’d prefer if you decided on them compared to deciding on both, but they prefer Polyamory to you deciding on the other one)

It takes them a bit of time to warm up to the idea, but once they do, it’s actually kinda cool? They know that even if one of them happens to be unavailable, you never have to be alone, for example

[kyberled]

☁ Have you ever forgiven a partner when you shouldn't have?

Salt Meme

As a matter of fact, I have, though thankfully it wasn’t in this fandom, but one I only recently trundled back to, and one from way back that I don’t think I’m ever going to be going back to for a number of reasons.

Oddly enough, this person from the very old fandom wasn’t even a part of the fandom I was in. It was a crossover type thing, and the first crossover I’d ever written. But there was a lot of vagueblogging on her part whenever I did anything they didn’t like. And by that, I mean the dash was flooded with posts saying that ‘this person’ didn’t ship things like they thought they did, TAGGED WITH OUR CHARACTERS, and going on to complain ON THE DASH to her mutuals that ‘some person’ (still tagged with our ship) was making their anxiety and depression worse. My crime? I didn’t have my muse kiss theirs within thirty in-reply minutes (tops; probably less) of them first meeting. I ended up fanmailing them saying it wasn’t that I didn’t ship them, it’s just that I wanted to take it slow, and after that they went back to acting like we were best friends while spamming my inbox with messages about their wedding.

I wish I was joking.

It’s also worth noting that I was a teenager, and the other person was, according to their rules page, in their twenties. This only happened one or two more times before I blocked them, but the more I thought about about it, the more I kind of wished I got out sooner, but at the same time, I’m just glad I got out at all.

The other person was in a bigger fandom, and they were writing with some other people I know and consider friends. They introduced themselves by messaging me right after they followed, saying, ‘Hi, I’m [person I’m still good friends with]’s friend! [They] recommended your blog to me, so I thought I’d say hi! My name’s [name]!” … Or something along that vein. Introduced themselves, added that they’d heard about me from a mutual friend, and that was the last normal conversation I had with them, outside of a few attempts at plotting. 

This person would come into my IMs at odd hours and just complain to me. I didn’t even really know this person’s name, and they would just dump their life problems in the IMs. Like how their best friend was stressed in college, so they were not gonna contact her by their own choice, but now they were sad and missed her and anxious and yeah, I get that that sucks, but I was a complete stranger? And they’d go on and on and I could hardly get a word in edgewise. Whenever I did manage to say anything and try to comfort them or offer advice, they’d shut me down, give lists of reasons why my suggestions wouldn’t work, and go back to complaining at me. This happened literally all of the time, it was all they’d talk to me about. They also really liked hounding me about being agender, too? I’ll give an example of this in a bit.

I feel like I should clarify, here, that I enjoy helping my friends with their problems. I like being a shoulder to cry on. But the emphasis is on ‘my friends’. People I am comfortable with. I would also appreciate some warning? Even just a ‘hey, can I vent to you for a sec?’ at least lets me get in the right mindset to be able to deal with this sort of thing. I got no warning from this person. It’s also nice to talk about something else from time to time? But, no, it was just a constant stream of negativity from them. I’m being completely serious when I say I couldn’t make a single post on either of my blogs without them messaging me. It was actually kind of terrifying, to say the least. Had to start developing a routine based on when they were usually offline to avoid being harassed. 

It didn’t take me too long to consider blocking them, because of the outpouring of negativity, but also because they kept dropping threads without telling me, then talking about how I was ignoring them, to me, and THEN requesting starters and completely ignoring ALL THREE OF THE STARTERS i’D JUST WRITTEN THEM, and THEN saying they were too lazy or kept forgetting to look the starters up? But I was the one who was ignoring them. The day I was first about to block them, they message me about how their friends are all blocking them. I briefly wonder if they’re a telepath. They say, after a very long rant, something along the lines of ‘but at least I have you, Jay. You’d never do that, you’re my best friend. I’m lucky to have you’. And on the one hand, I’m thinking, you know, what the hell, since when were we best friends? And I know that sounds mean, but I’d barely spoken to them, both because they never listened and because I was super uncomfortable talking to them; we barely interacted IC because they kept dropping threads and outright ignoring things I’d write for them; I never made an effort to contact them since the conversation was always focused solely on how bad their life was; We’d only been in contact for a month or two, tops, and it took about a year for Rodi and I (or my irl highschool best friend, Hannah, and I) to get to True BFF Level; Never once did they show any concern for me, or really anyone aside from themselves; Honestly, I’m kind of surprised they even knew my name. But I’m their best friend, apparently, and now of course I feel super guilty, because I was about to block them, and now I was the bad guy.

Oh, and to add on to all this, they forced headcanons on my muse. Once again, I feel like I need to clarify: I love people bouncing headcanons off me. If you think Braig would like XY thing, tell me; If you have an idea of a scenario for our muses together, send me it, I’d love to hear it. I’ll even reblog that ‘tell me your headcanons for my muse’ meme. I love it.

What this person did was different. This person, without asking, conferring with me, or even giving me any warning, they decided my muse was a child abuser. I don’t think I need to elaborate on why that was a bad thing. This went against my headcanons, contradicted canon at some points, and made no sense to me, but apparently my muse was now a child abuser. Eugh.

Oh, and before I give a brief run-down on what finally prompted me to block this person, I feel it’s worth mentioning that when we’d first started talking, I’d just turned eighteen, and they were twenty-one. 

Anyway, so the straw that finally sucker-punched the camel in the jaw was when they messaged me after A Day. I was tired, hungry, had been in class all morning and in line at the campus book store for half an hour, and my arms were loaded down with textbooks. I was sort of struggling through tumblr for something to do, but typing was pretty hard. This person swings into my IMs and starts a suspiciously normal conversation - Actually asks me about school, what my major is, etc etc. I’m giving one-word replies for the most part, both because I’m not in the most social mood (and I’m not comfortable with this person to begin with), and because I don’t have the hands free to type long sentences anyway. But I’m starting to think that maybe, just maybe, this person has turned over a new leaf. Maybe I was right for giving them so many chances. And then, in the middle of the conversation, zero warning, they say:

“Are you out to your family, yet?”

And I’m just stunned. I had no idea how to respond. After a minute or more of me just staring, not answering, they add, ‘can I ask that?’, and I had no idea what to say in return aside from something like ‘no, I’m not, and I don’t know if I ever will be’, hoping to end the conversation. This person then starts complaining at me for not being out, because they wanted help with getting their family to remember their pronouns. I offered some suggestions anyways, those were all ignored, and out came more rants about how terrible their life was. 

I blocked them not long after, after speaking to two close friends who agreed that I probably should’ve done so earlier.

So, yeah, those are the two instances that come to mind. I’m a bit more careful with who I chill with, now, and I’ve learned to be pretty blunt when shutting this stuff down, so it hasn’t happened since. \o/

[narwhalwrath]

Keyblade Lineage

---- Spoilers for the Kingdom Hearts Series Ahead ----

With the way that Kingdom Hearts has thus far played out, we can trace Keyblade Wielders throughout time, but there’s some stuff that’s still a little foggy - and though these points will likely be cleared up in Kingdom Hearts III, I thought I may as well add my two cents on the matters at hand, all while detailing Keyblade Lineage as we know it thus far. Please note that all of the Keyblades listed here are the wielder’s main Keyblade, so forms which that Keyblade takes on based on Keychains that are forged from memory are not included here. As well, the Keyblade that Young Xehanort wielded in his battle against Riku is not included here - as this was merely Master Xehanort possessing his younger self, thereby the Keyblade was a mix of Master Xehanort’s No Name and Young Xehanort’s Ethereal Blades rather, making it an alternate form of No Name rather than a standard Keyblade itself.

The Master of Masters is the oldest known Keyblade Wielder thus far in Kingdom Hearts - having been said to be capable of forging Keyblades from delving deep within a person’s Heart. Thus, this is how the Master of Masters gave Aced, Ava, Gula, Invi, Ira and Luxu thier Keyblades. The questions at hand about this remain however, as we don’t know the means by which the Master of Masters discovered his six apprentices as prospective Keyblade wielders. What qualities made them appear worthy? Why them and not someone else - is this another case of destiny based around the Master of Masters’ Gazing Eye - as is the case with the newest pack of Union Leaders? What Keyblade did the Master of Masters wield? Was it No Name all along, or was No Name crafted specifically for Luxu’s role? And what was Luxu’s originally Keyblade?

After showing the Mark of Mastery - each of the apprentices became Foretellers and were directed by the Master of Masters to form Unions of Keyblade wielders in order to maintain the balance. Thus there are numerous apprentices under each of the Foretellers. Luxu was also tasked to pass down No Name in order to allow the Master of Masters to view the future, meaning that he would eventually receive an apprentice of his own as well.

Now, let’s talk about the new Union Leaders. Assumingly, just as Player, Skuld and Ephemer have all already displayed, each of the new Union Leaders likely wield some form of the Starlight Keyblade - though will they eventually develop their own more personalized Keyblades?

We know that Ventus wields Wayward Wind, so that seems to be the most likely case.

 Thus far we have Ephemer, Skuld, Ventus and Blaine. Ephemer is shown to have a lot of similarities with Aced in the way that both of them spend their time questioning the Laws set forth by the Master of Masters and Ava respectively, while still following the path of the Light. Skuld has been compared to Ava in terms of her personality and appearance on two occasions. Ventus’ name is Latin for “wind”, a theme that is also portrayed on Ira’s Keyblade. Blaine mirrors Gula’s less serious tone while also making the same connection between Ava and Skuld that Gula had. Now, while there isn’t technically a canon Union for Player - it should be noted that if Player were to join the Leopardus Union, that puts Ephemer in Ursus. Given their connections to the other Foretellers, I’d further this by saying that Skuld was in Vulpes, Blaine was in Leopardus alongside Player and Ventus was in Unicornis, leaving the last of the Union Leaders - likely another female character - to have been a part of Anguis - likely bearing great similarity to Invi in the process. To me it just makes sense that the new Union Leaders were chosen from each Union to act as its representatives who would succeed their own masters.

Now, as for Luxu, I have another theory that is widely believed. What if when the world following the Keyblade War was isn’t as far into the future as we originally believed? The entire point of this new realm is to make everyone forget the events of the Keyblade War, so it’s not too far fetched to say that the Union Leaders would fabricate a story in which the Keyblade War took place thousands of years before. Thus, given that Luxu was told not to take part in the Keyblade War himself - it would make sense that he is also present in the new realm. Given this, it seems very likely that Luxu would be the master of Eraqus and Xehanort. In the trailer for Kingdom Hearts III No Name is mounted on the wall in the Land of Departure, and it’s said that The Master’s favourite story is that of the Keyblade War. Who better to tell the story of the Keyblade War than Luxu - who observed the entire event with No Name in hand, as seen in Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep - A fragmentary passage -? Xehanort revealed in his reports that Eraqus had been chosen to usurp The Master as keeper of the Land of Departure, thus The Master would pass down the secrets of the Land of Departure’s defense mechanism triggered through the Keyhole, as well as Master’s Defender - which I would hasten to guess was Luxu’s original Keyblade prior to receiving No Name. If the series is going in the direction I think it’s going, it wouldn’t surprise me if Luxu, fueled by Xehanort’s jealousy towards Eraqus, convinced Xehanort to take No Name for his own and was the one to reveal the existence of the Lost Masters to Xehanort as well in order to send him off on his own journey by the will of the Master of Masters. Furthermore I’d even suggest that perhaps Xehanort became possessed by the will of the Master of Masters upon receiving No Name, just as I believe Luxu had before him.

Xehanort also revealed in his reports that he knew of a handful of other Keyblade wielders outside of his own circle - thus excluding Eraqus and potentially Luxu. One of the wielders of this generation is known to have been Yen Sid - but who was Yen Sid’s master? And what about the other wielders at this time? Well, for that I think we should look toward the new Union Leaders. Given that something transpires that puts Ventus out of commission - erasing his memory and somehow sending him into Xehanort’s clutches, that leaves four of the Union Leaders. It seems to me that Ephemer is most likely Yen Sid’s Master, and that Blaine, Skuld and the fifth Union Leader act as the lineages of Keyblade wielders that Xehanort had otherwise referred to. This still begs the question however of where these wielders are during the events of Kingdom Hearts - because even though they’ve been confirmed to exist they’ve still yet to be seen. However, that may change in the near future, as through Xehanort’s intent to recreate the Keyblade War, he has stated that Keyblade wielders will once again flock to the Keyblade Graveyard to do battle - potentially meaning that the event may draw in these unknown wilders.

From here we know that Eraqus finds Aqua and Terra - who receive their own Keyblades: Rainfell and Earthshaker - which later develop into Stormfall and Ends of the Earth. Terra performs the Bequeathing Ceremony on Riku, while Aqua unintentionally does the same with Kairi. 

Ventus is found by unknown means by Xehanort, who originally intended to use Ventus as his new vessel - only to find that he wasn’t strong enough - resulting in him attempting to force Ventus to tap into the Darkness within him to generate the χ-blade by clashing it with the pure Light of his Heart. When this fails, Xehanort splits Ventus’ Heart and creates Vanitas - who wields the Keyblade Void Gear. Interestingly enough, Void Gear appears to have a copy of the Gazing eye embedded within it - making me believe that perhaps this is an effect of the use of No Name in delving into the Heart - resulting in further avenues for the Master of Master to spy on the events of the future.

As the events of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep play out, Yen Sid has since retired as a Keyblade wielder and passed his Keyblade, Star Seeker, down to Mickey Mouse. 

Now this is where things become questionable, as Braig willingly became a vessel for Xehanort’s Heart prior to the end of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep - though it is unclear whether or not this would allow Braig to wield a Keyblade. He likely will in Kingdom Hearts III, as he’d said he’d made the right choice after being beaten by Aqua in the Keyblade Graveyard and reminding himself not to mess with Keyblade Wielders. Plus, Braig openly said he wanted one to Terra. I expect his Keyblade will likely develop from Braig’s Sharp Shooter arrowguns

Meanwhile Terra is possessed by Xehanort and begins to wield No Name - though Ends of the Earth remains in the possession of the Lingering Will. Aqua takes Master’s Defender as is her right as the successor to Eraqus as keeper of the Land of Departure, relinquishing Stormfell in order to save Terra from his descent to Darkness following their clash in Radiant Garden.

When Xehanort willingly splits his Heart - creating Ansem Seeker of Darkness and Xemnas - Xemnas retains the ability to summon No Name - though he chooses to instead wield Xehanort’s original weapon prior to the Keyblade, the Ethereal Blades, while Ansem, as a Heartless, is unfit to wield the Keyblade.

Now Isa is the same case as Braig - we just don’t know when he became a vessel for Xehanort’s Heart and what coaxed him into that decision. Like Isa seems to have made a complete 180 in terms of his personality, and as a result I’d really like to see his relationship with Lea, as well as his descent into Darkness explored further in Kingdom Hearts III. With Isa I have the same questions as well - is he able to wield a Keyblade that will develop from his Lunatic claymore. I could maybe understand why he’d wielded the Lunatic instead of a Keyblade, as it would make sense that he and Braig were hiding Xehanort’s true intent from the other members of Organization XIII.

As the story goes, Riku was originally intended to receive the Kingdom Key, but after being tainted by Ansem’s Darkness, the Kingdom Key sought out Sora instead - whose Heart harbors part of Ventus’ Heart. Riku instead develops his own Keyblade, the Souleater, as well as temporarily wielding the Keyblade of Heart whilst possessed by Ansem. Mickey ventures into the Realm of Darkness to seek out the Kingdom Key D (intended to be referred to as Lightseeker in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep), doing so alongside Aqua in order to lock the Door to Darkness from both sides.

Sora unlocks his Heart with the Keyblade of Heart - thereby creating Roxas and Namine (as Kairi’s Heart was sheltered within him) in Twilight Town and Castle Oblivion respectively. Roxas gains use of the Kingdom Key just like Sora, and in theory Namine should be able to wield a Keyblade as well - although she has yet to do so. Xion is created as a clone of Roxas in Castle Oblivion, and thereby she also gains use of the Kingdom Key. Roxas eventually gains the ability to dual wield the Oathkeeper and Oblivion Keyblades, which he first uses against Riku in the World That Never Was.

Kairi later receives the Keyblade Destiny’s Embrace from Riku, whose own Keyblade has developed to become the Way to to Dawn. Eventually, a restored Lea also develops a Keyblade from his Eternal Flames, though it is unclear how he became capable of wielding a Keyblade.

I believe that that’s that in terms of Keyblade lineage as it is know right now - hopefully some of these questions can be answered in Kingdom Hearts III, but only time will tell. What do you think? 

[cadday]

Collateral Damage Chapter 9

Braig is always fidgety on stormy days. Day after the storm is sometimes just as bad. On patrol it feels like nothing is out of the ordinary. Lea and Isa are with him as he patrols  the outer gardens and it’s more a precaution to send them on group patrols, darker days bring darker problems. But it’s quiet here and later in town. 

Lea and Isa are both distracted the whole time acting like the children they barely are anymore. Overgrown brats in guards uniforms that really they never do look comfortable in. 

In the courtyard heading back towards the castle they run into Ienzo and Kairi. Ienzo isn’t wearing his lab coat and purple abomination that Even claims is lab uniform. Isa wears it sometimes but Braig, Aeleus, and Dilan have refused the ‘lab’ uniform from day one and would not stop now. He is wearing a blue sweater Braig thinks someone bought him for christmas a few years back but it’s clearly still too big and has a bag slung over his shoulder, probably holding a ridiculous amount of reading material.

Kairi was wearing a pink dress, she wore a lot of pink these days and Braig suspected it had finally beat out purple which had been the previous favorite color. The dress would have been too short, because really Kairi did a lot of flips in her fighting and short skirts were a problem, but she was wearing leggings underneath anyway so he supposed she had thought about that. The end of the skirt had plaid ruffles around it, and over the dress was a sleeveless trench coat that went to her knee and was open but belted around her waist. It was mostly black and had a hood, the edges of the shoulders and bottom of the coat had the same plaid as her skirt. 

Lea and Isa both waved as the walked past, Lea may have stopped just to mess up Ienzo’s already messy hair. Kid needed a haircut and Braig watched them continue on their way as he stopped in front of the castles other two brats. 

“We heading out somewhere?” He leaned  on top of Kairi’s head who swatted him away which had him dramatically flailing back at her. 

“Were going out for ice cream, and probably book browsing because Ienzo clearly needs more.” Kairi rolls her eyes and links arms with the older boys. He wonders if the other, original, former, Kairi was this way.He didn’t really know her then, but she was a princess of heart in that world. Here she’s practically a princess again, more to do with actually residing in the castle and being Ansems second not adopted grandchild. He’ll have to point out to Even that he has two kids now. 

“Yeesh, good luck with that. I’m going to see about food, don’t get into trouble, it’s been quiet but the storm was pretty bad last night. Lord knows with your luck something will crawl out of the wood work.” Kairi blows a raspberry at him. Ienzo rolls his eyes at both of them and proceeds to urge Kairi to go before this turns into an over dramatic play fight that takes more of their day. Which to be honest that was fair.

The day dragged on, till late in the evening when Dilan, Aeleus and Braig got notified of heartless being spotted out by the park. It wasn’t necessary to evacuate when everyone was already fleeing the area, and Braig was relieved and a little unimpressed by the standard heartless they found there. Clearing them out was easy and it left him sighing as he rested one of his arrowguns on his shoulder. 

“Kinda shocked that was it. Wasn’t much of anything was it?” Aeleus shrugged before going to survey the damage if there was any. Dilan wandered over to Braig who was perched up on a wall. Braig dropped to the ground next to him with a grin. Before he could snark at the other guard something large comes crashing to the ground and has Aeleus jumping away from the mass of metal shapes. The thing starts moving and he realises it’s some sort of moving armor.

The thing stands, or floats over it’s legs and Braig wants to puke. On its chest is an emblem. It marks manufactured heartless which shouldn’t exist. The machine was never created.They never built the manufactory, furthermore Terra Xehanort never arrived. Emblem heartless shouldn’t exist. 

He doesn’t get much time to consider this as the thing is spinning it’s arms at them and Braig jumps out of the way. Braig fires into its head but it’s arms come up to block it and the thing slams down on the wall he was on. Jumping up onto a nearby roof he frowns. 

“Break the limbs first I guess!” Dilan and Aeleus share a look and Dilan swings his lane to block the now spinning arms of the armor. Aeleus brings his axe down to destroy one of the arms and it vanishes in a cloud of darkness. That was promising at least. Braig shot at the thing again, distracting it and pulling it away from the others, he changed his aim to focus on a leg and was satisfied when one vanished like it’s arm and it toppled awkwardly. A lance slammed through the middle of it, and the  emblem that shouldn’t be there, and the whole thing was gone. Not that it should have been there to begin with. Climbing down he wandered over to Dilan and Aeleus who were both looking unsure. Dilan leaned on his lance and looked around, probably waiting to see if anything else appeared. 

“That one was unique…”Aeleus nodded seriously.

“We should report that now, if more show up like that it could be a problem.” Braig hummed an agreement but was distracted by his own concerns. Emblem heartless meant Xehanort had experimented on people, which meant he was somewhere in the worlds, most likely trying to work toward Kingdom Hearts, it’s what happened first. He had collected the…

Braig startles suddenly and frantically takes off toward the shopping district. Dilan calls after him but he’s not listening. Kairi and Ienzo went into town. If emblem heartless were here then did that mean they were looking for princesses of heart? He’s out of breath when he reaches the book store, more from the panic attack he’s having, but when he goes in he doesn’t see any sign of heartless, people are just casually looking around. Kairi and Ienzo aren’t there either so he can’t quite calm down. Dilan has caught up to him at this point and has a grip on his shoulder like he’s worried he might take off again. To be fair he might if he can’t find the kids soon. 

“Braig what’s going on?” Braig must look crazy standing in the door of a book store with his arrow guns drawn and gasping for air like he is. Dilans dragging him back outside and pushing him to lean against a wall. He tries to form a coherent thought and eventually chokes out something.

“Kairi, we need to check on Kairi and Ienzo, they were out in town. Somethings not right I have too..” And he can’t breathe again, his head is also starting to feel funny, and he seems to have woken up the other heart sleeping in him who is also sending concerned agreements about his assessment that something is wrong. Dilan is frowning, he thinks, he’s having trouble concentrating on that and the world's kinda fuzzy around the edges. 

“Is everything alright?” They both startle to look at a lady with a basket of flowers, and a concerned face. She has a ribbon in her hair and a pink dress and he thinks he’s seen her around before but can’t remember where. Dilan seems unsure how to take the interruption but screw it if this person was in town they might have seen something.

“Looking for a red head girl and a blue haired boy, girls about this tall all smiles, boys not much taller and hair all in his face like he needs a haircut…”

“Kairi! You mean Kairi, she comes to the gardens a lot.” Braig deflates a little relieved that they might be getting somewhere.

“Yeah, I talked to her today she was with that boy, they both live in the castle right? He doesn’t talk much. Anyway they asked me about traveling somewhere, I’m not sure. I told them Highwind knew a lot about that stuff though and sent them to see him. He has a mechanic shop over on the west side of the shopping district.” Dilan nods seriously and Braig relaxes because that’s fine right? They probably saw something in a book about other worlds and this was fine. The lady made to leave but stopped as if she was unsure.

“I am not sure that it matters, but they weren’t alone. I assume it was just a friend but you only mentioned two. There was another person, with white hair. He went with them. Come to think of it I don’t think I have seen him around here before…” 

Braig was definitely going to puke, or pass out, maybe both. 

[sharingthesamesky]

Here’s the Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Fragmentary Passage and Kingdom Hearts Back Cover reactions thread I promised you

Back Cover:

THIS MOVIE IS SO PRETTY HOLY SHIT

Also, the cinematography is incredible. Like. From someone who studied film, this shit is really good. There was like. That one moment when it was a little on the nose with the flower petals, but this is a Kingdom Hearts game so comparatively it was downright subtle.

If the Master of Masters isn’t somehow connected with Braig I’d be surprised at this point. (Master of Masters, here after known as Mr. MoM). Plot says it should be Xehanort, but mannerism SCREAM Braig. (They also share the whole one-eyed thing.)

Is Kingdom Hearts using Norse mythology symbolism now too? Because Mr. MoM’s whole “takes one eye out and casts it into [the future] to know ultimate truth” thing is just Odin.

How on earth did Mr. MoM convince these 6 super serious people to listen to him. He doesn’t seem like someone any of them would agree to train under AT ALL. Maybe Gula? But Aced and Ira? I guess there just weren’t any other Mr. MoMs to pick from?

The fucker wrote the book of prophecy in vague rhyme because he’s terrible

I swear this time travel thing is so dumb. “Don’t want you to cause any temporal paradoxes” MY ASS. you can’t just make shit up because its sounds cool. How does this work? If you “can’t change the future” then like. What is even the point of anything? Are there some events that are fixed but the specifics are still in flux?

The real reason Luxu doesn’t get a book of prophesy is that Mr. MoM hand copied the thing five times already and didn’t feel like doing it again.

Alternatively he hand copied it six times but that foreteller moogle that gives you your medals got Luxu’s copy.

I mean clearly Mr. MoM saw the keyblade war and was like “what’s the best, most fun way I can cause this? Oh! I know! I’ll tell Gula to find a “traitor” and make them all fight each other. I mean if there was really a traitor, I could just tell Gula who it was, because I can SEE THE FUTURE, but that wouldn’t be fun at all!”

Seriously if Gula hadn’t preempted that speech what would he have said.

“Oh, I know. I’ll make Aced feel jealous and make him attack the leader because I’m totally a champion of light. TOTALLY.”

Why is Ira so sure that this event would have been in the book? What kind of events make it into the book? Clearly not everything or Ira wouldn’t need Invi’s reports at all, right? Seriously did I mention this time travel stuff is terrible?

“I might vanish or I might not - anyone’s guess” says the man whose entire shtick is knowing the future. Everyone: Sounds legit.

If Mr. MoM’s keyblade makes it all the way to the present, why the fuck do their books end with the keyblade war? I mean probably because they all die in it and telling them that is a sure way to cause those supposed temporal paradoxes, (or because Mr. MoM is just a conniving ass) but I swear none of them thought to ask why his vision of the future stops there? Well, I suppose “and then the world ends” is a good enough place as any to claim you can’t see past. Even if you’re lying liar about it.

We all know Luxu’s the traitor right? Let’s just get this out of the way. Not that he necessarily betrayed anyone or anything, but Gula’s magic paper says “bears the sigil” so it’s gotta be LuXu. Unless of course its one of our key kids who went all edgy and put an X in their names.

Okay, even not knowing that, why in the hell did no one mention Luxu as a possibility for the traitor in the first place?

I mean they know about Luxu even though he’s sort of implied to be a latecomer to the group. Did they all start out wearing those black cloaks before they got their fancy foreteller gear?

Okay who designed the fancy foreteller gear who made those masks and how did Mr. MoM convince them to go with that? I mean - scratch that last part these idiot’s will do anything he says apparently.

(You’ll pry my guilt bonuses from my cold dead, darkness ridden hands, KHuX)

Mr. MoM engineered this entire thing and use everyones unquestioning loyalty and sense of his own perfection to do it. No one bothered to question any of the details and that’s why it worked.

“Hey, Master, why to all the chirithy look the same? Wouldn’t it be easier to tell which one turned into a nightmare if they were like. Numbered or something?”

“Hey Master, you want us to… collect Lux? What are we collecting it for? Shouldn’t we… not do that?”

“Wait you want us to… take Lux from… the future?”

Seriously this movie answers zero of the questions about how time works in KHuX. None of them at all. Well, maybe Season Two will address it.

“Hey Master, why is it called a Nightmare if this isn’t the world of dreams because obviously it isn’t right? RIGHT?”

Ava tells her dandelions they are gonna practice leaving the world by going into the realm of dreams though so.

I’m sorry I couldn’t take that scene seriously with all the key kids in their default starter outfits. No keyblader that’s the “best of the best” is gonna be wearing a starter outfit with no perks.

Okay, I get that Gula couldn’t tell anyone his role, and that Aced’s “true role” aka the failsafe powder keg fuse makes sense to keep secret, but why didn’t Ava tell anyone her role?

The foretellers have different VA’s than the characters they obviously correspond to, but they’re similar (well, accept Aced) and they speak in a very similar way. Care to comment? (Mr. MoM giggling in the distance)

Ava, how does Ephemer even know about the book? Did you tell all the keykids about it or what? I kind of doubt that. Ephemer you clever little sneak.

The Foretellers have a secret castle no one is allowed to enter and yet they have their meeting in the warehouse that literally everyone goes into all the time.

"coolheaded Gula?" More like flips the fuck out when he can't figure something out and tries to SUMMON KINGDOM HEARTS Gula.

Too bad Spongebob can never know what’s inside my secret box.

Seriously, why does ANYONE trust this guy.

Luxu’s reaction to “it’s my eye” is amazing.

No Name. Really. You don’t say.

The NA rankings are pretty spot on though. Good on us.

Fragmentary Passage:

Holy shit I’m so sold on the “technical demo” aspects of this game. Next Gen I love you.

You have to understand the last gen I had was a PS2. Why is everything so reflective and responsive its amazing.

Aqua’s VA is better than she was in BBS, but it still definitely limited my enjoyment of the game.

I did not realize the top of Aqua’s outfit was supposed to be see-through mesh other than the boob pads. Not sure how I feel about that.

I hope that the FFXIII style “hallways simulator” thing was because of time constraints and not because it’s how KH3 is gonna go.

The whole “There’s no time in the realm of Darkness” thing is really interesting, especially given all this time travel nonsense in the Realm of Light. But. Things still clearly progress in a linear fashion in there. Aqua doesn’t see Riku running through the darkness and then walk for a long while and then see Mickey. People enter and leave the place in an order that seems to be shared. Which means there is time. I think the word you are looking for is vague, arbitrary, or inconsistent.

Goddammit Nomura, take a second to read about time between your Latin lessons and your comparative mythology classes.

The new Heartless look really cool. I like them. And the elemental effects are fantastic. I could watch those heartless throw water at me all day.

The world design, apart from the linearness of some of the levels, was amazing. The suspended structures and twisted landscapes were really compelling.

I can’t be the only one who got strong “American McGee’s Alice” series vibes though, right? In a good way.

The mirror puzzle was neat. Not sure how long it would have taken me to figure out had I been playing and not watching a walkthrough so I’m calling it neat entirely by concept and visuals.

Phantom Aqua attacks in a pattern pretty similar to Xehanort’s fight with Terra in BBS, but with a mix of Aqua’s moves thrown in.

Aqua’s attack style is… kind of Extra. That twirl where she sticks her leggy straight up vertically in the air is like… Was that necessary? It certainly isn’t physically possible. Ask figure skaters.

The Terra/Xehanort scene was surprisingly good despite Terra’s VA. It was nice to get some insight into how that relationship is going. Because the rest of time seems pretty linear, we know that scene takes place, for Terra, at some point AFTER the worlds start vanishing. But if we take the claim that time is - if not absent - weird in the Realm of Darkness, then we don’t have any sense other than that. Maleficent gathered the princesses from the worlds we saw before she met Riku so that isn’t any indication, really.

Did I start crying when I saw Destiny Islands? Almost. Did I take a million screenshots of HD Destiny Islands? You bet your ass I did.

I did kinda cry when I saw Riku in his dumb KH1 puffy pants, though.

So behind the door in the Realm of Light is the heart of the world, but when it’s in the realm of darkness, it’s a magic keyblade shrine? I’m not really gonna argue. It seems to be a symbolic thing. Whatever. Good to know it’s a “push” door I suppose.

I’m not looking forward to that Demon Tide boss showing up again.

Mickey says he’s been “working with” Sora and Riku and he’s a fucking liar you didn’t do shit for them during KH1, Your Majesty, I WAS THERE.

“Kingdom hearts.. well okay not really kingdom hearts but. It’s sorta like a mini kingdom hearts? look we didn’t have the lore finalized at this point so just. pretend for me, Aqua.”

I can’t believe the Darkness ate King Mickey’s shirt.

(I know it was for the sake of consistency, and if it hadn’t happened you’d have people saying Mickey took his shirt off to be all macho mouse for that scene but still. Did anyone remember going in what Mickey was or wasn’t wearing during that scene?)

Kairi gets 3 seconds of screen time, and they are THE BEST. She’s super on point and I love her and hope she beats Lea up repeatedly and that we get to watch. Or do it.

I’m so thankful that Yensid didn’t pull a “no, Kairi you’re a princess of heart you can’t do both.” I didn’t think he would but it wasn’t NOT a fear of mine.

RIKU AND KAIRI INTERACTION. I PRAYED SO HARD. FOR SO MANY YEARS.

Riku’s whole “I tried to hard too be a role model” thing had me in tears. My son. My beautiful darling son. I am so proud of you. So proud

Sora-esque.

Yen Sid’s “No, see you would have done some stupid brave shit and fucked it all up” was. Amazing. Surpassed only by his “Sora, you fool, you complete and utter fuckup.”

“HAPPENS ALL THE TIME”

So… was Yensid actually talking about Hercules or did Sora just… guess wrong. Because Yensid never explicitly says to go to Olympus Coliseum. Sora’s just…. really literal minded.

Goddammit I take back what I said about Next Gen the canon Disney characters look TERRIBLE. I really hope they work on that before KH3 because I really don’t want to deal with plastic model Donald and Goofy the whole time. Please.

I did NOT miss Donald Ducks voice.

That Gummi ship scene was incredible? HD Sora is so expressive and adorable and precious.

I like watching the dynamic between those three. It’s weird as fuck to watch with these graphics, and Donald and Goofy’s voices make it near impossible to take seriously, but it was fun to see.

“May your heart be your guiding key” DID YOU ALL FORGET WHY SORA FUCKED UP SO BAD IN THE MARK OF MASTERY? GOD DIDN’T YOU HEAR WHAT XIGBAR SAID? “Aren’t hearts great? Lead us wrong every time.” GODDAMMIT.

(I suspect that Mr. MoM knew that too, and was counting on it, hard. Even if he isn’t Braig.)

Special Credits:

I don’t have much to say other than HOLY SHIT NOSTALGIA and that i’m such a sucker for parallels in fiction that I was kind of rolling around with glee.

I actually didn’t realize just how much hugging and touching there is in this series?

Everyone’s all “KH doesn’t have explicit Romantic Parings” But they DID just do a giant romance montage (which included Namine and Roxas?) just to lead up to Sora and Kairi so. Not all that subtle.

As much as I’m :/ about that last bit, it was nice to see this game remember that other parts of the Destiny Islands trio exist besides Sora and Riku’s dynamic. We got some Riku and Kairi in 0.2 and we got this little bit in the credits so at least they haven’t forgotten Kairi exists.