#WHY DOES HE HAVE OATHKEEPER AND OBLIVION....

[howdomaddie]

thinking about roxas's chosen keyblades being the ones that represent sora's relationships with both kairi and riku. considering the implication of roxas being his own person but simultaneously the living proof of sora's connection to the two people most important to him. chewing on it, even.

[thetrashthatsmilesback]

i cannot wait for the next form of anti-form and rage form in the kh4 art style.

i keep having this idea of a scene where Riku finally finds Sora and is trying to get him to listen but just.

"I'm dead Riku."

"What do you mean? You can come back, come with me Sora."

"No Riku, I died. I'm here as punishment. I'm dead, Strelitzia's dead, you can't be here after everything I went through to save you, you can't!"

"Sora, what are you talking about? I'm not dead, Sora. I'm alive."

"If you're here, then you're dead. After everything I did..."

"I'm alive. Sora listen to me, I'm alive!"

Sora looked up at him, a different look in his eyes than Riku had ever seen before.

"Strelitzia and I had a theory. We were going to test it on her - neither of us thought it would work on me because I'm here on punishment, but if it works..."

"Sora, what are you talking about?"

"It makes sense, truly, I wanted to experiment more before trying it but if you're here... you need to go back..."

"Sora, stop, we're both going back, just calm down and listen to me."

"If you die to get here, it only stands to reason that dying in this reality will send someone back to ours."

"What?"

"You'll be sent to the final world, and then you can pass through to ours."

"Sora... what are you doing?" Sora had started walking closer to Riku, splaying his arms out slightly while darkness began to swirl around his feet with each step.

"I'm sorry Riku, but you can't be here. Your heart will be sent to the final world, but then you'll be able to navigate to back through to our reality. From what Strelitzia's contact has learned, the final world acts as the bridge."

"Sora, stop, you're not making any sense, and there's darkness all around you just-"

Sora's eyes flashed gold for just a moment and the darkness began to envelope him the way it did when Xehanort killed Kairi.

"Riku, forgive me." The transformation completed, the dark Sora raising his arms above his head and summoning what looked like the X-Blade but cloaked in the same darkness as the rest of him. His eyes were a brilliant blue. The X-Blade he held split in two as he brought his hands down, the shape of the two shadowy keyblades changing to be reminiscent to Riku and Kairi's new ones.

also yes dual wielding Sora should come back again. I do find Re:Mind's implication that he and Roxas can both still summon Oathkeeper and Oblivion very funny because I'm just imagining them fighting to summon them. Like there's only one copy.

Roxas, in the middle of sparring: take this! *hands suddenly empty* Roxas: ... DAMN IT SORA

Sora, fighting a wave of heartless and nobodies: I need two hands for this *keyblades won't come to him* Sora: what? shit! *finally summons them just for them to be pulled back again* Sora: SHIT SHIT SHIT Roxas, fighting some nobodies: why does Sora keep pulling these!

[greetings-inferiors]

I want Roxas is smash just because I know that everyone else would think he's just as cool as I do. Like I love how Sora plays, I think he's so damn cool, but the general consensus is that he's campy and boring. Roxas? He'd by a rush down god. A top tier for sure. His combos would be nutty. He'd definitely feel a lot more like kh2 combat, which is a lot more flashy and cool.

Anyway I'm going to make a Roxas moveset because why not (this is Roxas duelwielding, based off of his kh2 fights and when he's playable in kh3)

Normals: Roxas is a lot more of a combo character than his somebody, so a lot of his normals cancel into each other.

His jab has 3 moves: jabs 1 and 2 are cancelable into up and forwards tilt, and are overhead swings like at the end of the kh2 Roxas fight cutscene against Sora. Jab 3 he dashes forward and swings both keyblades out in a scissor motion (a motion that pops up a lot in his kit). The slash itself has a hit box but the sweet spot is the afterimage flash of light he leaves where he was originally standing.

His down tilt is a fast scissor sweep with both keyblades that pops up. It isn't cancelable but it combos into his other tilts at various percents.

His forward tilt has 3 moves: ftilt 1&2 are cancelable into the smashes and up tilt, and are those cool spinny slashy things he does, while ftilt3 has him spin oathkeeper in front of him for a bit before slashing forwards with oblivion.

His up tilt has two hits: up tilt 1 is jump cancelable and has him swipe oathkeeper above him marth style, and up tilt 2 in cancelable into up smash and side and neutral special and has him spin oblivion above him Sora style.

His dash attack has him do that cool move where he dashes forwards, spins his keyblades around as he moves to the side, picks them back up on the other side and spins back around to recover. He goes a bit into the z axis in the middle of it which lets him dodge some things but not much. It isn't cancelable but at low percents it launches directly above him allowing him to follow up.

So with his smashes I will have to warn you - he can do them in the air. Not always, he only can in a specific condition, but it means he can quite easily pick up kills at the end of his combos. Here goes:

His forward smash has him do that one move where he floats in the air and shoots his keyblades back and forth in front of him.

His up smash has him spin up and forward before coming down. If done in the air he'll stop after a while if he hasn't hit the floor.

His down smash has him brace for an attack, in which point he is invincible (a la Lucas up smash), then slashes out with a ring of light around him horizontally, hitting on both sides.

Aerials (aside from the smashes lol):

For his neutral air he spins once, hitting opponents with his keyblades. It is very quick and quite weak leading to easy combo ability.

His forward air has 3 hits: fair 1 and fair 2 are just slashes forward which pop him up if they hit Sora style, and fair 3 has him fully spin around and hit his opponent with both keyblades like they're a baseball bat.

His down air has him do a scissor slash downwards, which is a spike.

His up air has him slash overhead, it's closest in function to mario up air. Whichever keyblade he swings depends on which one he didn't swing last.

His back air has him swing oathkeeper around for a small slash, and then oblivion for a big slash.

Specials: here's the cool stuff.

His neutral special has him turn into a beam of light and dash forwards, automatically locking onto an enemy if one is close enough. He's vulnerable while doing it, but if he hits an opponent with it he gets some benefits. He gets his double jump back (can you tell I'm a clairen main) the first time he uses it in the air, his next aerial/normal becomes jump cancelable, and he can perform a smash attack, even in the air, which will shoot light pillars out at some point (in forward smash 5 light pillars close in on his opponent, in up smash 2 light pillars follow up and hit the opponent either once he hits the floor or the moves cancels, and in his down smash 5 light pillars shoot out in a spiral pattern). It's a very strong kill confirm tool, as a lot of his normals combo into neutral special, some even cancel into it, but if he damages his opponent past the threshold it connects he struggles to kill confirm. Also this means Kirby can do that. Actually while we're here: Kirby's copy ability has him have oathkeeper and oblivion behind him, just like when Sora steals them in the kh2 fight. If you want more than that, he gets Roxas' spiky hair, or a org hood for the alt where Roxas has his hood up.

Side special: he pauses, then dashes forward a large distance cutting everything down in his way and causing a large light blast at his destination. If you launch someone into the radius of where side special sweet spots it can be a devastating kill confirm.

Down special: Roxas uses reversal. He slides around, and ends up facing away. When near someone this puts him directly behind them, and has invincibility on start up (like frame 3 or so, basically an air dodge), so facing Roxas in the air is a guessing game: do you fair or bair him? Bear in mind that this puts him BEHIND the opponent, so the counterplay to reversal is to approach him with bairs, but that isn't always optimal. If you have a big enough Nair that might work lol.

Up special: funnily enough this is the one I had the most trouble with. I don't want it to be that good for recovery, since neutral, side, and down special are all good (from best to worst). My choice would be that helicopter slash Valor form gets, you know the one that's like one slash, a pause, and then lots of slashes, but in smash the one slash is the first input, but is basically just a shorthop, if you input up special twice in a row you get the full thing, which goes a fair bit further, but puts you in free fall.

Throws:

He has his keyblades float behind him as he grabs you.

His pummel has him punch you in the gut.

For his forward throw he throws you forward, then sends three pillars of light to follow up.

For his down through he basically does Sora's down throw.

For his back throw he throws you back with one hand, then in the blink of an eye dashes and scissor slashes.

For his up throw once again I'm blanking. Maybe he throws you up, spins, collecting energy, before shooting out light pillars in a spiral to hit you above him.

Final smash:

I don't think there's anything else it could be tbh. Pillars of light start spinning around him, as he rises into the air, then the stage background gets enveloped in twilight, as he spins then starts screaming as he shoots orbs of light at all of his opponents. Maybe once he finishes he teleports straight to his opponent (or the closest one) with one last scissor slash for the road.

Stage: Roxas' stage would be twilight town. But not just any twilight town. It would be the end of days, specifically the platform in the sky, which would fly around twilight town like hollow bastion, and if stage hazards are on every so often gundam Xion will come and be a boss fight a la metal face or yellow devil.

Cosmetics:

His first colour is how he looks in kh3, org cloak, hood down, oblivion and oathkeeper.

His second colour has him in his twilight town getup. Once again oblivion and oathkeeper.

The colours then alternate, idk you can have one where he has black hair for xion, one with red hair for axel, one with dark brown hair for Sora, one with blue hair for saix (the blue and dark brown also means terra ventus and aqua are represented lol). Maybe a white one for xemnas? Idk.

But the last cloaked alt (it would probably be seven) has him with his hood up. Because that's sick as hell and the alt that I'd play.

Oh also one of the alts uses two sticks. Because I said so.

For his victory animations:

First one: him, Axel and Xion are laughing on the clock tower eating ice cream. Axel hits his back while laughing, causing him to drop his winner ice cream stick. They all laugh it off, and the animation loops with them goofing off.

Second: the animation where he first uses oblivion and oathkeeper in kh2, just before axel says TWO?!. He brings them out, one by one, then poses.

Third: he blasts in, creating a cloud of dust, the either removes his hood (if an org cloak alt), or adjusts his neck, spins his keyblades around, and looks vaguely triumphant.

Now the juicy stuff:

IF SORA AND ROXAS ARE IN A MATCH:

Sora wins: he wakes up in his cocoon, walks out and yawns, before smiling. Maybe even Donald goofy and jiminy show up to congratulate him.

Roxas wins: looks like my summer vacation is... Over *looks at Sora in the cocoon*

Sora and Roxas are on the same team, and win:

Sora surfaces in destiny islands, sees Kairi, they smile at each other, then Sora becomes Roxas and Kairi becomes namine, just like in kh2's ending.

If the stage is hollow bastion, and dive to the heart occured:

Sora wins, Roxas loses: the "you're a good other" sequence plays, before Sora returns to the world that never was, and looks up at kingdom hearts.

Roxas wins, Sora loses: the scene where Roxas pounds his keyblades on Sora's keyblade, Sora loses his footing, Roxas hits the kingdom key aside, and Stabs it into the ground, looking at Sora angrily.

If the stage is twilight town:

Roxas wins, Xion was beaten (if stage hazards were turned on): Xion dies in Roxas' arms. Fuck you days gets spoilt MWAHAHAHAHA

Sora wins, Roxas loses: the scene where Sora gets on the Train and doesn't know why he's crying.

Also the song list would include songs outside of just kingdom hearts 1: the other promise, tension rising, vector to the heavens, the 13th struggle, lord of the castle, literally every xemnas theme, rage awakened, nachtflugle; just to name a few. Also one winged angel can play on kingdom hearts stages.

Anyway that's basically it Roxas is my favourite character and I want him in smash so badly.

[daylighteclipsed]

you know I've read your tags for "gayblade has paopu fruit" and now all I think about is nomura being like "yea we can go with riku being gay and having an unrequited crush on sora" and sora, hijacking the writing process: "unrequited crush? not on my watch :)" this boy istg

It took me a good minute to realize what tags you were talking about lmao

Sooo. If we go off of accurately-translated CoM, Riku’s crush on Sora has been requited since at least 2004.

Even excluding the famous “aitsu,” there’s too much in CoM to not be deliberate. From Namine overwriting memories of Kairi and then one memory of Riku that officially flips a switch in Sora’s brain from I really want to find Namine to I need to find Namine, she is the most important person in the world to me. To how it’s never stated that Riku is the one in that memory; it’s something you have to piece together using context clues (Namine replaces Riku as the precious person Sora’s looking for in Castle Oblivion; Repliku has the same memory of the meteor shower Sora does), prev knowledge (Kairi arrived during the meteor shower this promise was made; ergo it can’t be her), hindsight (Namine can only access memories that Sora is connected to and she doesn’t erase or create them from scratch), and an understanding of WHY who is in this memory is left ambiguous…

Because there are romantic implications. What Sora feels for Namine (and what Repliku feels for Namine) in CoM seems to be romantic, so there’s absolutely no way Nomura could’ve come out and said Sora and Riku made that promise to protect each other. It’s left ambiguous because this way there’s plausible deniability; the general audience can assume that it was Kairi and both boys are into her… when actually, for whatever reason, Nomura used Namine to cleverly imply that Sora has confusing feelings for Kairi and Riku, and that Riku is in love with Sora.

And I’m almost positive this is why there are plot threads from CoM that still need tied up almost 20 years later.

Particularly Sora’s side of CoM; Riku’s side more or less wraps up in KH3 with his making peace with Repliku, helping Namine, and accepting his feelings for Sora. In order to wrap up Sora’s side, Sora not only has to thank Namine, but we also have to… address all those confusing feelings. Which KH3 hints may happen soon with Sora wondering what love is, the whole paopu fruit scene with Kairi, Riku’s heart shining with True Love’s light, whatever Sora first sees in the tunnel of light and what he realizes that he forgets — just all of it, honestly.

Now, I doubt Nomura wrote CoM thinking that Sora/Riku could or would ever go somewhere. It was 2004. But CoM creates, I guess, this subtle subversive path… so if he ever could or wanted to go in this direction later, he had a way of doing that. I dunno if that was planned... But, either way, 20 years is an awfully long time to go without addressing a memory so important to your main characters. With all the games released since then, he’s had more than enough chances to do it.

So he’s been holding off. For some reason.

Personally, I don’t think Nomura made a decision about Sora/Riku until he started working on DDD. Everything before that, including CoM, feels pretty ‘ehh who knows.’ But DDD really feels like a turning point in the series, for Sora and Riku’s dynamic. And a lot of players, even casual fans, pick up on this when they play the game — even if they don’t quite understand or like what they’re feeling.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that many players, including me, walked away from this game seeing a romance between Sora and Riku where previously we didn’t. And now, knowing the likelihood that Nomura initially imagined Oathkeeper, the Sora/Kairi Keyblade, having a paopu fruit keychain, only to put it on the Sora/Riku gayblade a decade later… in addition to Nomura nearly not having Sora and Kairi share paopu in KH3… it really makes me feel like some decision was made irt shipping.

All this is to say, if Sora or Riku hijacked the writing, it would’ve been early on before CoM (whether to imply they have feelings for each other or not) and/or sometime after CoM (whether to portray these feelings more explicitly and do something w them or not).

And in the last decade, Nomura’s been able to do that a little more in each game. We most obviously see this through Riku getting closer and closer to articulating what he feels for Sora. But, like I said, KH3 shows Sora starting to figure some things out, too. Even if Sora/Riku wasn’t planned at all, I really do think it’s leading somewhere now.

[shenzuul]

I remember when I was a kid playing through Kingdom Hearts for the first time, it bothered me that Oathkeeper wasn’t the most powerful keyblade you could find. I thought, we have spent ages searching desperately for Kairi, and as soon as we find her, we have to run off again. But hey, she’s giving us this very meaningful momento, with a callback to the destiny-sharing fruit we talked about at the beginning of the game - that means I get to carry a piece of her with me through the rest of the game, right?

And then you go back to Hollow Bastion and you immediately find two more keyblade options that are more powerful than the Oathkeeper. (Sure, depending on your tactics, Oathkeeper may still be a better choice for you, but Oblivion and Divine Rose literally have a higher “level” stat.) And as a kid I was like, but - hang on - aren’t we supposed to be in LOVE with this girl? Why isn’t the game compelling us to hold on to her token?

But now it totally makes sense to me. This game is exploring the idea that romantic love does not automatically take priority over friendship. In the opening, the relationship between Riku, Sora, and Kairi is complicated by Sora’s crush on Kairi. It stirs up Riku’s jealousy, whether because Riku has a crush on Kairi too, (because he has a crush on Sora?), because he feels like it threatens his friendship with Sora, some combination, mostly the threatening his friendship with Sora, he probably doesn’t know himself. But the game frames Riku’s jealousy - not as unfounded, but maybe unnecessary, because Sora clearly treasures Riku just as much as he does Kairi.

And during Sora’s search after darkness takes Destiny Islands, he never prioritizes Kairi because he has a crush on her. Until he sees Riku again, he always calls out for Riku and Kairi together. He doesn’t shift gears into focusing on Kairi until he sees that Riku’s alive and apparently safe, if behaving a bit strangely. And even when Riku starts acting antagonistically, Sora doesn’t seem all that worried about Riku - their friendship always had the flavor of rivalry anyway. It all feels familiar to Sora. He doesn’t start thinking of Riku as lost again until the first battle at Hollow Bastion, when he realizes that Riku is literally not himself. And now that Kairi’s safety is finally secured, he immediately switches from worrying about her to worrying about Riku, easily, as if it’s obvious.

That’s just what Sora’s like - friendship itself is the most important thing to him. So Oathkeeper is just another keyblade, because all of the keyblades are gifts from his friends. And the fact that Oathkeeper is the best gameplay choice only briefly reinforces the fact that now that Kairi’s safe, Sora’s mind is fully occupied with the friend who needs him most now.

[captorations]

i am once again grumpy that. roxas and ventus ended up being separate people. like, i get why it is the way it is. “i am me, nobody else” blah blah. people liked roxas way too much as an independent character for him to be “overwritten” with ventus. i also get that roxas’s story was written before ventus’s. this is just me being an editor and pointing to pieces of a story that has been presented to me and suggesting ways they could be swapped around to improve cohesion and the overall message. this is what i fucking do.

okay so. what would an explanation for roxas-as-ventus look like? pretty simple, really. for kingdom hearts, anyway. sora stabs himself, yeeting out kairi’s heart, his own, a “copy” of himself in the usual form of a nobody, AND ventus’s heart. ventus and the copy wake up in the same body, ventus with amnesia (again) and only able to draw upon the vague memories that would have allowed sora’s nobody to form a consciousness, if it weren’t for ventus’s already formed presence to take command.

and then we have xion. designed to draw out the memories of sora within “roxas” and make them her own. which she does. and as a result, in this situation, xion would be the closest approximation of sora’s “proper” nobody. why is she a girl? uhhhh she’s trans, duh. we fucking been knew. why does she look like kairi to the few people who actually believe in her as a person enough to see her preferred form? that’s the female face most present in sora’s memory.

i want to stress that this alone would change effectively fuck all about kh2 or days. i mean, i personally would let xion unwillingly win that final battle and take roxas’s place as sora’s nobody- and i did literally write that specific AU concept out as a full fic- but really, no changes are necessary until kh3, and even then, not many. hell, the “i am me, nobody else” exchange could still happen, given as ventus-as-roxas would 1. still be entirely correct and 2. already have sora’s memories back at that point.

so what does this accomplish? well, let’s see. in kh appearance is tied strongly to identity, and it’s pretty fucking weird for these two characters to be identical and it to pass with only minor comment. you’d have ventus-as-roxas’s arc mean one thing, and xion’s mean another, whereas now xion’s arc is basically roxas’s again but bass boosted and with a trans flag palette. honestly, just give that set of themes to xion, she does it way better. it’d dramatically increase the ties between the various trios, giving them more reasons to interact and care about each other. ventus would have someone to interact with on his level, who knew him as himself rather than as aqua and terra’s wayward little brother.

the only thing we’d lose in this exchange would be… rule of cool dual-wielding roxas ex machina in kh3. which. is not a great loss. just give ventus oathkeeper the moment he remembers being roxas and have xion get oblivion the moment she remembers herself, and call it a fucking day.

again, i get why this is not what happened, but i maintain that it would notably improve the story had it happened. point is if kh ever gets remade somehow put me on the writing team please i got this shit on lock

[birdkujapropaganda]

my completely biased and official rating of every keyblade ever:

Kingdom Key: absolute classic. excellent design for the like, mascot keyblade. very simple, vaguely key shaped. i hate the mouse head though it's so stupid and makes no sense. and i hate mickey. 9/10 minus a point for the weird mickey keychain

Oathkeeper: wonderful. amazing. never boring. excellent design love the heart and wings and all the significance. and that the keychain is kairi's charm? terrific. 10/10

Oblivion: brilliant. awesome. phenomenal. again excellent design the wings and chains and purple crystal are absolutely perfect. love the crown keychain. 10/10

Ultima Weapon 1: literally just a sword with some filigree on it. nice. too much yellow and i don't like the weird cyan gradient on the guard. 7/10

Kingdom Key D: d for disgusting. i don't have any other comments i just hate it. 2/10

Keyblade of Hearts: yeah that sure is an anti-keyblade. love the simplicity and the heart in the negative space of the teeth. and that it doesn't have a keychain, that fueled a lot of theories for 12yo me 8/10

Lady Luck: i think i don't like this one bc to get it u need to use a white trinity but you can't do that until near the end and i have way cooler blades to use. the design is pretty ok, don't really get the card keychain tho. 5/10

Olympia: oh the sight of this one makes me irritated because the kh1 strategy guide uses this in one of the pictures for the fight against possessed riku. it did not help me win. and i hate short keyblades. love the clouds and columns though 7/10

Jungle King: kinda ugly but i appreciate that it looks kinda handmade. also like the butterfly keychain bc it doesn't look like it fits but it Does. also the first good alternate blade u get in the game so. 8/10

Three Wishes: not bad but it doesn't stick out to me either. also doesn't scream agrabah to me but also it does? 6/10

Pumpkinhead: NICE. very long and very cool. the teeth looks like bat wings and a pumpkin so very epic. 9/10

Wishing Star: so pointless i already have pumpkinhead. also short. cute design though i like the gears. 5/10

Crab Claw: i never used this one because it stuck out so ugly in Halloween Town </3 i love blue and crabs though so 8/10

Fairy Harp: I HATE YOU DIE. short and stupid. does NOT remind me of neverland at all. 1/10

Divine Rose: pretty nice but short and lategame. always thought its existence was kinda weird?? like thanks belle but why. i have oblivion. 7/10

Spellbinder: for some reason i really don't like it. i like blue and the circles are neat. the handle looks really painful though. 4/10

Metal Chocobo: kinda ugly lol. love the holes and chocobo keychain. 8/10

Lionheart: oh i am so biased by recoded. absolutely excellent keyblade. design's kind of weird tho where are those lions going. 9/10

Diamond Dust: so i was really confused because i thought this was khux-only or maybe bbs keyblade but apparently it's kh1 final mix only. you know what i got as a reward for fighting the ice titan? sephiroth. you know what i got for fighting sephiroth? NOTHING. it was my favorite khux blade though so grrrr 7/10

One-Winged Angel: grr bark bark final mix again fuck you. kinda weird design though like what is the teeth? a meteor? should've been a wing. nice guard though there's not enough hand room. excellent keychain obviously. 8/10

Ultima Weapon 2: very similar to the first but blue and symmetrical. very good learn from your mistakes. 9/10

Way to Dawn: YEAAAHHHHHHH BOY HERE IT IS PERFECT EXCELLENT GREAT DESIGN WONDERFUL LORE. HAS WINGS. THE EVOLUTION FROM SOUL EATER. THE LACK OF THORNS ON THE HEART. 10/10

Destiny's Embrace: very cute!! my favorite part is the name. i wish it wasn't so like. stereotypically girly though. like you look at the destiny trio's keyblades and can immediately pick out which one is The Girl's. 9/10

Star Seeker: i wanna hate it because it's mickey's/yen sid's but honestly it's so nice. the stars and moons and comets and gradients and colors... wonderful 9/10

Rumbling Rose: oof. weird and ugly and gross. keychain looks like a ladybug from far away. 3/10

Hero's Crest: bring the clouds back. i don't really get the design but i like columns. 5/10

Monochrome: super cute!! i don't like Timeless River but this fits it so well and has cute hit effect. 8/10

Mysterious Abyss: i always get this one way late in the game so it's always pretty pointless oops lol. also the design doesn't really say atlantica?? 3/10

Follow the Wind: another weird miss but i like this one more. nice wheel shaped guard, and that the keychain is a cursed coin. 6/10

Wishing Lamp: now THIS is the agrabah keyblade. very nice and elegant. looks like the palace! 7/10

Decisive Pumpkin: THIS ONE 😭😭 it's so ugly but it's so strong so i have to use it but it's so ugly. it does look like jack's idea of christmas so points i guess 😭 4/10

Circle of Life: also pretty ugly. and short. sorry simba. 3/10

Sweet Memories: shrek voice it doesn't even have attack. i don't like winnie the pooh so that's definitely influencing me. makes cute noises iirc and looks pretty cute. 4/10

Photon Debugger: this one should look pretty cool but my brain is saying it's bad. i think the giant red ball by the teeth are throwing me off. love the neon blue tho 5/10

Gull Wing: why the weird space in the name. anyway. i really want to love this keyblade bc i love X2 but it's really bad. i'm so sorry YRP kh did you so wrong. excellent keychain choice though. 2/10

Guardian's Soul: MUCH better thank you. auron my beloved <3 the lines are very appealing and i like how simple it appears. also looks like auron's swords. 8/10

Sleeping Lion: wayyy better than lionheart. looks kinda like a gunblade! again though what are those lions doing. 8/10

Fenrir: my car key got in a fight. 1/10

Bond of Flame: looks like a bad first draft of axel's keyblade. either the teeth or the guard should look like a chakram, pick one. love it though. 7/10

Two Become One: MY BELOVED <3 excellent design, so so so roxas i think he should use it. very excellent i love the little twist at the top. checkered handle is a little weird. 10/10

Fatal Crest: lol i was so mad when i first saw this because it looked like one of my oc's keyblades. i like it now though, it's a dragon!! pretty neat bro 8/10

Winner's Proof: oh this one is so cute. if it wasn't a reward it would be really weird and bad. surprisingly elegant! and there's even 13 mushrooms on it! 9/10

(shoutout to portadorx on deviantart for the 358 keyblade refs)

Missing Ache: YOU. interesting design, though it says roxas more than ventus to me. great first alt keyblade. 7/10

Ominous Blight: very edgy names in this game <3 looks like guardian's soul, which is interesting. i don't like yellow but it works bc blight 6/10

Abaddon Plasma: what a cool fucking name. so many yellow keyblades. but very cool looking i love roxas' aesthetic 8/10

Pain of Solitude: this is just pink missing ache. 8/10

Sign of Innocence: SO COOL. idk what's going on in most of these blades but i love it. 9/10

Crown of Guilt: come on. it doesn't look like a crown. big disappointment. very cool though 6/10

Abyssal Tide: so cool!! i love blue and fighting in midair <3 the teeth kinda looks like waves 8/10

Leviathan: weirdly furry looking. very cool guard 6/10

True Light's Flight: looks like two become one if it was only one. the top kinda looks like the nobody sigil 9/10

Rejection of Fate: SPEAR. epic name too, but i think it should swap names with true light's flight. very cool but i don't remember seeing it in name. kinda awkward bc it looks like it should be a spear 7/10

Midnight Roar: sooo cool. the orange handle pops without looking wrong... nice. also the teeth kinda look like a bat. 9/10

Glimpse of Darkness: ugly. weirdly bulky and hollow. short. 3/10

Total Eclipse: weirdly bumpy sword. i like how the orange looks like it glows. 5/10

Silent Dirge: GoD but purple. 2/10

Lunar Eclipse: TE but purple. 4/10

Darker than Dark: Hello 😳TLF but purple 10/10

Astral Blast: Abyssal Tide but yellow. interesting choice, but kinda clashes with the blue accents 7/10

Maverick Flare: Ominous Blight but red... excellent. very nice. 8/10

Twilight Blaze: Abaddon Plasma but red... also excellent. very epic. 9/10

Omega Weapon: props for not looking like any of the ultima weapons. very interesting and spiky but i kinda don't like it. 6/10

Aubade: kinda weird. "draws forth its wielder's personality"... ok. looks light elemented. 7/10

Wooden Stick: lol 10/10

Umbrella: not what i would've chosen but lol 10/10

Zero/One: WONDERFUL, EXCELLENT, AMAZING. i can't really explain why i love this one so much it's just very good. 10/10

Earthshaker: very solid design. not much to say it's just nice. love the colored guard. 7/10

Ends of the Earth: love that it is so clearly an earthshake upgrade. makes u realize how incomplete the first one is. 9/10

Dreadgnaw: kinda silly looking lol those are teeth. love the red bit in the center. looks very similar to earthshaker in a good way. 8/10

Chaos Ripper: looks like EotE but in a bad way. i don't like the weird teeth. it's also almost impractically long but i'm here for that. ALSO THE EYE. NICE. 7/10

Rainfell: oooo i love this it's so simple but so nice. very elegant 9/10

Stormfall: less nice. looks like a rainfell upgrade though. also kinda looks like master's defender which makes sense but i don't like it. 6/10

Brightcrest: GORGEOUS. PERFECT AND WONDERFUL. SO PRETTY. i wish it was kairi's. kinda looks to ornamental for aqua? but good for her. 10/10

Wayward Wind: none of ventus' blades look very ventusy to me. this one looks like an extra training one they had sitting around. cool shape though 5/10

Frolic Flame: NICE. looks like lea's frisbees! i like fire and fire designs so but it's a little awkward looking 8/10

Lost Memory: ok so first off WINGS. EXCELLENT. love that the only color is the heart. very cool and epic but i don't understand why it doesn't have a reverse grip handle. or the pointy bit at the tip. but still 10/10

Void Gear: hiii vanitas :) so anyway in my totally unbiased opinion this is the best keyblade ever obviously. love the gears and red accents and it's just super cool. the eyes and chains... vanitas character development keyblade when <3 10/10

Void Gear (White?): still very cool, love the simple contrast going on. 10/10

No Name: i didn't know this one was also called no name which is kinda lame. but i love the keyblade it's very cool. super glowy and i love the time design. 9/10

Crown Unlimit: I almost really like this one. very neat design, love the crowns and twists and glow. 7/10

Master's Defender: literally so plain and boring. i don't care if that's the point give it some frills. nice design though :/ 7/10

Broken Xblade: love the broken bits and the weird rust color. wish one of the kingdom keys was more broken and i think the top bit should be broken too. 7/10

Wooden Keyblade: sobbing and crying and tears. this is literally so cute and good and i love that it looks like Ends of the earth. or the kingdom key i guess. 10/10

Treasure Trove: i never expect to like this one but it's actually pretty nice :) wish the gems looked like they were spilling from the top and not leaking from the bottom. 8/10

Stroke of Midnight: also surprisingly nice! the guard kinda looks like a pumpkin which is cute. just a very cute design. 8/10

Fairy Stars: rad as hell. absolutely love this design very appealing. like how point the stars are. 9/10

Victory Line: i hate this one. maybe bc i don't like the world. kinda ugly and the teeth look awkward. 3/10

Mark of a Hero: ok we brought the clouds back but the weirdly buff trophy arm fucks this up. the blade is also just kind of a column, nothing going on there. 4/10

Hyperdrive: super cute!! love how the blade looks like laser fire and engine streams. the teeth are weird again though, and the handle looks like a bee 8/10

Pixie Petal: SO much better than fairy harp. this one is very cute and these teeth actually fit with the rest of the design. kinda short though >:/ 7/10

Sweetstack: oh this is so cute. a bunch of ice cream scoops!! why are the teeth oranges and what are some of those flavors. why are cones on the guard soft serve. 8/10

Ultima Weapon bbs: NICE. A SWORD WITH SOME FILIGREE BUT ALL IN BLUE. LOVE the wayfinders on it, very good for them. wish it wasn't just blue since it seems so aqua-centric but it looks nice soo 10/10

Skull Noise: LITERALLY SO PERFECT. THAT'S SO TWEWY. INCREDIBLE. the headphones and mr mew keychain... wonderful. only thing is that the name is kinda weird. like it makes sense but sounds weird. 10/10

Guardian Bell: i like it more than i think i would. elegant looking, and i love the gargoyles on it. hate the sentient gargoyles tho. 8/10

Dual Disk: VERY cool! looks like it has a reverse grip. the teeth are really cool and i love the bright blue. 9/10

Ferris Gear: eh. pretty cute but i think my pinocchio bias is acting up. the gears are nice, reminds me of wishing star. 5/10

Knockout Punch: SO COOL. really love the spikiness and colors and that the guard looks like the monkey. unfortunately for it, i don't like monkey. 8/10

All for One: the design's nice and it matches the world... but eh. 5/10

Counterpoint: so fun!! the violin guard is great, and the blade looks so cool. the teeth are a little awkward looking, it goes up too much. 9/10

Divewing: RAD!. just a sword with a heart on it and i love it. just so fucking cool. and the guard looks like a wing so 10/10

Sweet Dreams: so cute :) in love with the meow wow on top, but the teeth go up too much again. and i think there should be some komory wings on it. 7/10

Ultima Weapon DDD: NICE. almost identical to the kh1 blade, but blue and BETTER. the wings above the guard and the crown coming out of dream eater sigil... brilliant. 10/10

Unbound: not a hit 💔 just kinda weird and unfinished looking? and the lime green bit is off-putting. the hear at the top is nice. 2/10

End of Pain: ok mood shift hello. looks like it should be one of terra's evil blades. at first i was thrown off but looking closer it's so cool. the wings and eye at the top... the horns above the guard... the butterfly and gazing eye (buttereye) keychain... magnificent. the blade reminds me of x2 dark knight paine's sword. 10/10

Ocean Rage: looks pretty cool at first but the monstro mouth guard is literally horrifying i don't want to look at it anymore 1/10

YMX's keyblade: apparently has no name and is different than the one in bbs. nothing new really to say since it looks pretty similar but the goat head on top is super interesting. how much did No Name (luxu) influence young xehanort... 9/10

Mirage Split: absolutely perfect. i can't think of anything that isn't positive to say. the stained glass, the heart by the teeth, the thin lines, the gradient, wings, pointy, the keychain, literally all perfect. 10/10

Nightmare's End: also utterly perfect. i don't like yellow but it works here and looks great. the cyan gradient is startling but matches MS so i love it. all the colors in the stained glass are wonderful. 10/10

Starlight+: a little guady. but i love how the stars look like comets. the twisted blade looks neat too, but what's the point of the pointy bit on top. 7/10

Treasure Trove+: love that it looks golden and gem encrusted. very rich looking, but the cart is still leaking gems. 8/10

Lady Luck+: NOW the card thing makes more sense, i love how its incorporated throughout the design. more more interesting than the original. 9/10

Three Wishes+: looks like fire?? which is way cooler but why??? i like it more but where's the agrabah. 8/10

Olympia+: CLOUDS. like that zeus is in the clouds, but they took my columns. and the cyan handles are really weird. 7/10

Divine Rose+: excellent. what it should've been all along. the iridescenty guard is suuuper pretty and all the leaves and vines are great. 10/10

Moogle o' Glory: a lot happening here but i love smacking shit with a moogle head. there's so much happening and i don't really get it. 7/10

Fairy Stars+: i didn't know it could get better, the teeth is super cool looking but i wish the twisty blade was more visible. 9/10

Sleeping Lion+: love that it turns that metallic light blue color, very pretty. and the handle looks more like the gunblade! very nice looking and i used it a lot but the top is very weird. 9/10

Counterpoint+: let's take all the fun and exciting bits from the original and crANK IT UP TO ELEVEN. wait. stop. go back it's too much. very pretty still i love colors. 8/10

Fenrir+: my car key recovered from that fight. looks wayyy cooler and looks like ff7. hate the cyan glow though it feels weird. 6/10

Darkgnaw+: took me forever to find an image bc i keep calling it dreadgnaw. much cooler than the original, it looks like it's gonna bite you. the purple is also very nice. 9/10

Missing Ache+: POINTY. super cool but how does ventus twirl it around without poking himself. the colors are fun and it looks rad. 10/10

Diamond Dust+: i used this one the most <3 very pretty i love shades of blue and purple :) looks kinda icy but the top is weirdly flat. 9/10

Bad Guy Breaker: there's so much happening calm down 😭kinda nice but there's a lot to look at. also this world irritated me. 4/10

Gula's Keyblade: #leopardus4ever. as you can see, this keyblade is perfection. fun and spiky and lightningy. i think the whole blade should be lightning tho. 10/10

Aced's Keyblade: do any of these have names. anyway what a dreadgnaw ripoff 🙄 it suits him but guess what. i don't like him. 5/10

Ira's Keyblade: i don't like ira either but his blade is fucking great. love the teeth so much, and the colors. very pretty and cool 8/10

Invi's Keyblade: absolutely gorgeous. i love the flowing lines and little vines. love the colors and also it's super long. 9/10

Ava's Keyblade: girl this hurts to look at on a white background. very pretty though, i love how wispy and cloud-like it is. looks delicate which is great considering she'll kick anyone's ass. 8/10

No Name: unfortunately, this is absolutely wicked. look at it. it's wonderful. the goat head looks so much cooler than the other animal heads somehow, and i love the hollow center of the blade. and the teeth look like a claw, a little. just so fucking cool but i hate everyone who uses this. 10/10

Shooting Star: super pretty, i love how this one flows. i wish the blade went down to wrap around the guard though, instead of cutting off. 8/10

Hero's Origin: they took away my clouds again. i like that half of it is just. zeus. the lightning bolts are cool, but the handle and guard don't really match. 6/10

Favorite Deputy: you are not my favorite deputy fuck you. i don't like toy story but i do like cactuses. 3/10

Ever After: this one's nice :) the guard is super pretty, but i wish there was more going on with the blade. 7/10

Happy Gear: this one's kinda ugly but i like it soo. the energy canister guard is cute. 7/10

Crystal Snow: i hate it so much. it's boring and the keychain is olaf and i don't like frozen. 1/10

Hunny Spout: pretty cute :) the honey jars remind me of sweetstack. i like the wooden handle. 7/10

Wheel of Fate: cool as hell that's my boat. love that the blade looks like a mast that's so cool. wish it wasn't so gray though. 8/10

Nano Gear: ah, here's the color. i like everything except how the nanobots look at the top. it's just kinda gross. 7/10

Grand Chef: oh this is so cute. but why is remy the teeth. poor rat :( but it looks very nice i like how the Tower goes into the guard 8/10

Classic Tone: fuckyoufuckyoufuc. i hate this one. pretty ugly and i don't like it. 2/10

Starlight: SO GOOD. very simple but i like that. looks mysteriously similar to the kingdom key? i love it but it needs a little more going on. 9/10

Ultima Weapon 3: LOOK AT IT. ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE THEY CAN'T MAKE A BETTER ULTIMA WEAPON. the silver and red look so good and it's spiky and cool. and the red is glittery!!! why? i don't care it's phenomenal. the spiky heart teeth. that it looks like it's moving. i wish i could break my rating scale. 10/10

Braveheart: riku kingdomhearts stole my fucking car key. we've all heard the complaints i'm not repeating them 1/10

Star Cluster: it's really nice >:( mickey switch with riku pleaase. the star theme is really cute and the colors are nice but why does it look so similar to the kingdom key. 8/10

Flame Liberator: i don't like the name but ok i guess. the keyblade is so fucking cool though. it's what bond of flame wanted to be. i love fire and it looks like it moves so hell yeah. 9/10

Xblade: still can't decide if i like this or not. How do you hold it comfortably. Love the glistening spiky bits. 8/10

[philliamwrites]

Cor Cordium

Fandom: Kingdom Hearts (3)

Pairings: Riku/Sora, Roxas/Sora (one-sided), Axel/Roxas (hinted), Vanitas/Ventus (Hinted), Aqua/Terra (mentioned)

Tags: #character study, #relationship study, #post canon, #post kh3, #spoilers, #mourning, #multiple pov, #little dialogue

Words: 6.9k (nice)

Summary: O heart of hearts, the chalice of love’s fire, Hid round with flowers and all the bounty of bloom; […] It is not the end of his story, only the beginning, but everyone is too occupied with mourning to understand.

Cor Cordium

Tell me, Atlus. What is heavier? The world or its people’s hearts?

        Sora remembers the phantom feeling of sand under his palms, warm little crystals pressing into his skin. He can’t tell if this is really a memory or just a wish. Lately, it’s been difficult to tell them apart, their lines blurring together. Or maybe since he arrived Here, it’s never been clear from the start, and he’s just clinging to shadows dancing in the back of his mind. He is floating. Or at least he thinks he is. A strange sensation tingles through his body, it feels like thousand ants are crawling on his skin, and yet he knows that his body isn’t really here. Wherever Here is. Sora is passably conscious, not asleep but not quite awake either.

         Darkness surrounds him. He can’t see it— it’s more of a feeling, a gentle brush of air against his mind, but it doesn’t scare him. This darkness isn’t the end, it isn’t the beginning either. It is nothing, this blank space between existing and disappearing, and somehow Sora managed to get caught in there. How is he supposed to explain that to Kairi and Riku? And just like that, the warm feeling dissipates, and Sora thinks of his life and his friends, and how both are so closely linked together. One cannot exist without the other. But with each passing moment, Sora feels bits and pieces of him crumbling into dust, scattering like sand swirled by a breeze on a warm summer day.

         Sora is alone. He is cold. He is afraid. He is dimly aware of pain, but mostly of a tremendous fatigue, as if he has been covered in layer upon layer of impossibly heavy blankets. It takes a moment for him to realise the wet drops on his face are his own tears, and he curls into a small ball, clinging to himself. He would give anything to see his friends again.

         Minutes, hours pass. Maybe only seconds. Time is a foreign concept, a construct not applicable to Sora. Oblivion is grey, it eats at Sora’s mind, at his heart, and he wants to fight it because they can take anything from him but his heart; his heart, a place for so many lives; a prison? A fortress filled with light of hopes and promises he’ll never be able to keep. Maybe now he is paying for the sins he doesn’t remember, for the dreams he’s failed to fulfil, hunting him like hungry beasts with sharp claws.

         He’s always known that his most powerful trait was his heart, and so in the end it was only natural that it would be his demise as well. O heart of hearts, beloved of all beloveds is a line from somewhere Sora can’t remember, but he feels it quite fits. He is the core of a small universe in which everyone stretches their hands out to touch him, to take something from him— and Sora wants to give, to give so much that in the end nothing will be left of him. Somehow he thinks that is quite alright, for he is the heart of hearts.

☆

         When Sora disappears, Roxas bolts awake from a restless sleep, tears blurring his vision and burning like acid on his cheeks. He isn’t just crying; Roxas is wheezing, sobbing as his heart breaks, and he realises Sora is gone. He can’t breathe. It feels like something vital is missing—a limb or a sense, and he wonders if this is how Ventus is feeling all the time since Vanitas’ disappearance. He doesn’t hear Axel’s worried voice calling his name over and over again; he doesn’t feel his long, heavy arms around his waist. Roxas only feels this boiling, parching anger at Riku, because out of all people, he must have known what was coming. And he let Sora go.

         Roxas jumps out of bed, long legs tangled in the sheets, and lands face first on the carpet. His cheek burns from the friction, but the pain is nothing compared to what is raging inside his chest. Ever since he’s become his own person, everything has become a little too much. He remembers his first week back in Twilight Town. When he saw Hayner, Pence and Olette, Roxas was so overwhelmed, he thought for a moment he would die because beside all the happiness swelling inside his chest, there was also some sense of immense grief. He mourned for the hours spent without them; he mourned for the person he could have been if he’d been a normal boy, his own person from the very beginning, and he mourned for all the stories and adventures he’s missed because of that.

         And yet, he’s never felt anything like this—not when Xion crumbled into little shards of light in his arms, not when he learnt he’d have to disappear because he didn’t exist in the first place. Roxas has had a front row view to many dire times in his life when happiness was a foreign word he couldn’t explain. But this is something else entirely, something so overwhelming that Roxas is afraid; he’s one raw nerve, burning and sensible to any kind of contact. He’s unsure what exactly he tells Axel, but it’s effective because he helps dressing Roxas, and they’re immediately off to Destiny Islands where they are greeted by the sun blasting down on them. Roxas shields his eyes, scanning the beach for a flash of silver hair. He knows this place like the back of his hand even though he’s only been here once after their victory over the Seekers of Darkness. But every place Sora has visited is engraved in the back of Roxas’ closed eyes, familiar and a second home to his heart.

         “Maybe no one’s home,” Axel says somewhere behind him. He’s looking out at the sea, watches as the waves curl against the white sand. The sun reflecting on the clear water draws bright shapes on his face, catching in his radiant, green eyes.

         “No. He’s here,” Roxas says with a solid certainty, for Destiny Island was always and will always be the place connecting everything. It’s the knot where all strings come together, where each destiny is carved in some way.

         They follow faint footsteps left on the beach, when Roxas notices movement in the corner of his eye. Near the seaside shack, he can see two figures close to each other, but the voices drown in the sound of ocean waves. Roxas speeds up, and when Riku turns, eyes wide and red-rimmed, Roxas doesn’t think twice. His fist connects with Riku’s jaw and hot pain explodes in Roxas’ hand. It’s enough to send Riku to the ground. Roxas follows him.

         “You knew!” he screams, swinging at Riku for a second time. “You fucking knew, and you let him go anyway?!”

         Distantly, he hears Axel calling his name, but Roxas ignores him. He’s very adamant on punching his fist through Riku’s face who puts insult to injury and doesn’t fight back. It only confirms Roxas’ suspicion: Riku knew he’d come for him. It does nothing to diminish Roxas’ anger.

         “Give me one damn reason why I shouldn’t drop you in the darkest pit I can find,” he hisses, grabbing Riku’s collar. Blood runs from his nose over his mouth and chin, but Riku only blinks. The tip of his tongue darts out to clean it from his lips. When he doesn’t answer, Roxas begins to shake him. “Why didn’t you tell us? Why didn’t you tell me?” Someone grabs Roxas’ shoulder, pulling him back, but with more vigour than before, Roxas pulls himself free, and lands another good hit in Riku’s face. “Why didn’t you stop him?” Too many thoughts race in his mind, and he can’t grasp any of them; they slip like sand through his fingers. Finally Axel, that traitor, pulls Roxas off, and Roxas fights with flailing arms and legs. His elbow finds its way in Axel’s side, winning Roxas an opening. He bolts for Riku, stumbling and shaking uncontrollably.

         “How could you?!” Roxas’ voice breaks. He’s grabbing again for Riku’s collar, but his hands betray him as well and search for purchase on his jacket, begging to have a grip on something solid, something that won’t disappear like Sora. “Riku, how could you? Don’t just stare at me, say something. Say something, Riku!”

         He’s still met with silence that is so loud it drives him insane, and Roxas doesn’t know what else to do; what else will make Riku talk and explain.

         Someone tugs on the hem of his west, and Roxas feels Oathkeeper and Oblivion seconds away from finding their way into his hands, ready to cut through anyone trying to stop him from unleashing another wave of fury. But when he sees it’s Kairi holding onto him, that rage dissipates, and makes way for a different feeling he is far more scared of: grief. Seeing Kairi standing in front of him only confirms this reality Roxas refuses to accept. He wants to beg her to let him go, to stop looking at him with those big, teary eyes so similar to Sora’s. Instead he collapses in front of her, and wails a small, painful sound so inhuman it tears through his own ears. Roxas cries.

         She can’t take away that anger from him because without it he doesn’t know what he’s supposed to feel, and feeling itself becomes too much. He knows there is an emptiness waiting for him after all of this, and he’s too afraid to face it.

         Riku’s hand curls around his arm, and then he is kneeling beside Roxas, leaning his forehead against Roxas’ shoulder. Roxas feels more than he hears the sob rolling through his body, and he wants to push Riku away, but he can’t bring himself to do it. He’s cried himself tired already. Hours pass as they stay like this, holding hands and weeping with rasping sobs, as if trying to force air into lungs crushed by grief, until Roxas passes out at some point.

         The next time he wakes up it’s with less tears, but grief is still a cold hook sitting deep under his skin. His face hurts, but no matter how much he splashes cool water on it, the swelling around his eyes doesn’t go away. He finds Axel outside sitting on the big trunk facing the setting sun. Kairi is beside him with eyes fixed on the red horizon, unblinking. Roxas has noticed it before. Since their arrival, Kairi hasn’t said anything.

         “Roxas.” Riku is standing behind him, and Roxas catches the fruit thrown at him with little elegance. Riku’s face looks awful. A dark, ugly bruise colours his right eye purple, rivalled by another one forming on his left, swollen cheek. He’s too smart to ask if Roxas is okay, so instead he settles on a wordless observation. Roxas ignores him. He feels too vulnerable and exposed in front of those keen, cyan eyes. The fruit explodes with a sweet taste in his mouth, reminding Roxas of how much he loves this place. He’s adopted it from Sora; that and many other little traits he still has to sort out who they belong to. Knowing this place will never be the same without Sora opens up a new, fresh wound Roxas knows no Cura or potion is able to heal.

         “What’s the plan?” he asks, wiping his fingers on his pants. When Riku doesn’t answer immediately, Roxas’ fist burns with the need to punch him again. “You do have a plan, don’t you?” he presses further, feeling his irritation grow.

         Eventually, Riku drags a hand over his face, and sighs. “We’ll talk to Mickey. And Master Yen Sid,” he says, avoiding Roxas’ eyes. “Hopefully one of them knows something.”

         “That’s it?” Roxas barely manages to contain his anger from sipping into his voice. “You just hope they know something?”

         “They’ve always helped us, so yes.” Blatant challenge flashes in Riku’s eyes when he finally meets Roxas’. “We will go and see them.”

         A muscle twitches in Roxas’ jaw. “I don’t remember them doing anything to help me, so maybe revaluate who you’re going to ask for help.”

         Riku gives him a sharp glare. “Careful.”

         But Roxas has had his fair share of depending on old guys who used him for whatever ulterior motive they had, and frankly he can do without it. “Sora needs us now. You can sit around if you want, but I’m going to look for him.”

         He’s almost down the gangplank when Riku calls after him. “And where do you think you’re going? You think visiting world after world will bring you closer to find him?”

         Roxas exhales audibly, and wills himself not to turn around, but he’s always been bad at containing all the rage that’s accumulated over the past years. It is this anger that has always set him apart from Sora; that hate towards people who hurt him always drew the clear line between them. This simple black and white was easy to grasp and understand, and even easier to identify with until Sora plunged Roxas’ world into vibrant colours and complex structures, and brought with him so many people Roxas didn’t know and yet meant so much to him. He hates how this even applies to Riku, despite this envy, a churning black storm hidden in his chest. Riku and Sora are inseparable, and Roxas loathes it.

         The only comfort lies in how he loves Sora, for Roxas has loved Sora in a way only Ventus and Xion might understand; in a way that is so unfair to Axel who’s trying his best to become everything for Roxas. But Roxas doesn’t want this. He wants Sora. He wants the world, the heart knowing every part of him. His home. Roxas remembers when he returned to Sora. Trying to do the right even though he knew it would mean his end, but once he found peace within Sora, Roxas understood the meaning of home, and the meaning of people’s destinies intertwining.

         “If aimlessly searching for Sora will eventually lead to find him, then yes.” Roxas says, voice lacking any heat he’d hoped would burn Riku. Instead a strange resignation shackles every breath in his lungs, and he knows he will only be free when he finds Sora. “I will visit world after world, until the end if I have to.”

         Riku drags his eyes from Kairi and Axel back to Roxas, and considers him for a moment in which Roxas tries to see himself through Riku’s perspective— the boy with Sora’s eyes; the Nobody who long ago took something important from Sora, the little piece necessary to complete something far bigger than all of them. A small sighs escapes his lips, and somewhere in there Roxas hears the unspoken You’re just as reckless as Sora. When he closes the distance between them, all muscles in Roxas tense with intuitive caution he can’t get rid of, no matter how often he’s seen Riku by now.

         “I want to get him back more than anything else,” Riku says, and in that small moment Roxas sees his vulnerability for the first time. Something tightens in Roxas’ chest, and he takes a step away from Riku. “It’s been only a couple of hours since Kairi returned. And still, I already see him in everything, and I try to be kind to everything because maybe …” His voice tears on the last word, a ragged note of grief like ripped paper. Riku turns his head away from Roxas, but he doesn’t miss how Riku’s lips close into a tight line. “Stumbling through world after world might end up losing him even more,” he finishes. His calm mask is back, and Roxas just can’t understand how Riku is capable of that.

         “That didn’t stop Sora from looking for you and Kairi,” Roxas throws back, chin raised stubbornly.

         “No, it didn’t.” Riku looks back at Kairi, and that’s when Roxas understands that he’s searching for the right words to tell her that he will leave the Island.

         “Then forget your pride for a second,” Roxas says. “And let us help.”

         Riku looks like he wants to say something, but then he just gives Roxas a little, tight-lipped smile, and turns to join Kairi up on the trunk. Roxas stares holes into his back. He’ll never understand what Sora sees in him.

         He retreats to the shore until cool water sloshes against his feet. A biting cold settles over Roxas, but he knows that doesn’t come from the ocean. Sora has always said how it is a part of the human experience to feel pain, that it is part of a heart, and how it strengthens you, how it connects you, but Roxas dully registers he’d rather have it ripped out of him if it means he’s spared the missing and longing. When he lowers his gaze unto the water, his reflection stares back at him, showing a pale face and golden hair sticking to all sides. His radiant eyes are a beacon, the colour of the sky. A sharp throb drives like a spear through Roxas’ ribs. Everything hurts, he thinks and waits a moment, but his only companion is silence. Sora was a mirror to Roxas, like Ventus to Vanitas. When Roxas said, everything hurts, Sora whispered, but everything can heal. He’s learnt from Sora that hate is a lazy thing, heavy, a burden; but not as heavy or difficult as love so many carry around but are unwilling to practice. Roxas will try better. It’s the least he can do to pay for everything Sora did for him.

         Under the water’s surface he spies a Thalassa Shell. Roxas picks it up, and hopes Xion is doing okay. They will all go and look for Sora, and they will find him. They’ve all deserved their happy end. Standing in the dawn, Roxas vows it on the shell, closing his hand tight around it until the edges cut into his skin.

☆ ☆

         When Sora disappears, Ventus fears Vanitas is also gone forever. There’s a strange tug in his chest, like his heart knows there is a place he’s supposed to be, and wonders why Ventus doesn’t follow this call. It’s different from when he longed for Aqua and Terra. During his search for them he was constantly followed by this certainty that they’ll be reunited. This is different. This is Ventus closing his eyes to a darkness he knows his keyblade won’t be able to slice through. He’s afraid to fall asleep, the only place where he’s had at least a small connection to Vanitas. If that is gone as well, Ventus would rather not wake up at all. It hurts even more since their return to the Land of Departure because Ventus expected only good things to happen from that point on, admittedly now a naive hope quickly quenched by Sora’s fate.

         Ventus is sitting on his bed, a heavy blanket around his shoulders. Thousand stars twinkle above him like tears, and he wonders if the other worlds feel that Sora is gone as well. He wonders if somewhere Kingdom Hearts is crying, having lost such a pure, eminent light. Out of his window he can see the training grounds. In a couple of months, they could be occupied my apprentice keyblade wielders again. Aqua has shown her determination to become the steward and rekindle the original purpose of the castle, and both Terra and Ventus are as eager to help her; Terra even more so. He’s adamant to repent, ignoring Aqua’s and Ventus’ claim that his return is enough. But Terra had shaken his head at that. “It is a debt I will never be able to repay,” he’d said, standing in front of Master Eraqus’ grave. “But I will try. Until my last breath, I will try to set this right.”

         It was difficult to explain how none of this had been Terra’s fault. It wasn’t anyone’s fault. They were victims of a game no one held control over— pieces on a lethal board with cruel rules no one really knew. It’s a wonder they made it out alive, together and unscathed, and still, they paid a price for that happy end, some more than others. Ventus hasn’t heard from Riku and Kairi in a while, but his comfort lies in how Aqua and Terra keep looking at each other. Strangely, now more than ever before Ventus notices how close they are. It is probably true what they say about being separated. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and if Terra and Aqua think he’s too chaste to figure out the meaning behind the dark spots on Aqua’s neck or below Terra’s ears, they underestimate him severely.

         Once he’s asked Aqua about them, but she only gave him a little, sheepish smile before pushing a loose strand behind his ear. “You’ll learn soon enough,” she’d said. Terra had avoided his eyes, his hands busy with pulling on his keychain, a habit whenever he’s embarrassed. Ventus had just looked at Aqua with a careful, blank expression, and let her believe that he doesn’t touch himself under his blanket to quiet whispers of boy’s names. Ever since he woke up, and spent time with everyone else, he’s noticed how certain things jump right to his attention like a beacon. Terra’s muscles moving during practice. Hayner’s incredibly beautiful eyes, filled with wonder and excitement. Riku’s smooth, flawless skin. Then again, he’s spend so much time inside Sora’s heart who grew up beside Riku, and for Ventus to develop his attraction to boys was only natural. Ventus doesn’t want to remember when he saw Riku for the first time. Dozens of images from Sora’s fantasies flashed before his eyes, and he kept his distance to Riku, unsure how to handle the emotions. It isn’t something bad, that he knows. His friends would never judge him for liking boys. They all love each other too much for such a trivial think to matter, and why should it? It is love nonetheless, and every single one of them is just as much starving for it as they are ready to give.

         And still, Ventus is so insecure, because he always ends up thinking about Vanitas. Vanitas is his mirror, reflecting unspoken pieces of Ventus he himself is afraid to face. If Ventus starts thinking too hard about it, he’ll probably stumble upon answers he wouldn’t even know what to do with. And so he tries to turn away whenever he spies glances of blue turning into intimidating gold, and buries the questions deep into his heart where he hopes they’ll suffocate from the silence.

         A soft knock stops Ventus’ thoughts. His body tenses, and he waits for more to come. Instead, Terra’s voice carries through the door. “Ven? Ven, you awake?”

         He could lie and pretend he isn’t but after days of locking himself in his room, Ventus started missing his friends. His only fear is that if Terra sees his sketches of Vanitas’ key chain and the logo of the Unversed scribbled on paper, he will take them away and burn them between his fingers like Aqua did. Behind the door, Ventus hears shuffling, and the fear that Terra leaves bolts like a hot spell through him. He sits up, and tells Terra to come in. The door opens with a soft click. Light from the outside hall streams into the room, casting away shadows, and once Ventus sees Terra’s broad shoulders filling the door frame, breathing becomes easier.

         “Hey, champ.” Terra gives him a little smile. “Thought you might be hungry.”

         Ventus isn’t, but nods anyway, just to see the little hope in Terra’s eyes— the very first sight of progress he and Aqua managed since Ventus’ withdrawal. He makes room on his bed, and turns on the star shaped lamp sitting beside his bed on a narrow table as Terra crosses the room. A plate with fruits, cheese and meat lands between them while Terra takes a seat on the edge, watching Ventus eagerly. Just to make Terra happy, Ventus picks one grape and puts it in his mouth.

         “How are you?” Terra asks, much more straightforward than Aqua with her careful, quiet words. Ventus thinks about how he doesn’t want to get up forever. How this feeling weighs on him like an anchor pulling him deeper and deeper into darkness. He thinks about lying, but Ventus never wants to be separated from his family ever again— physically and emotionally, so he settles with a neutral, “I don’t know.”

         Terra nods. He leans back on his arms, the skin pulling tight where his muscle tense. Ventus looks away, and stares at the faintly glowing star stickers on his shelf Aqua gave him on his birthday. He wonders if Vanitas ever got a present from Xehanort, and has to bite his lip to conceal a laugh because that is just too ridiculous.

         “—us? Hey, Ven?” Fingers pop in front of Ventus’ eyes, making him flinch. “Just where are you with your head?”

         A strange smile pulls Terra’s face into an expression Ventus is unfamiliar with. Another pang of guilt settles in his chest, and he misses those times when he understood Terra and Aqua without a word.

         “I’m thinking about where Sora is,” Ventus lies. Terra frowns. He must know Ventus isn’t telling the truth but decides to go with it anyway.

         “Don’t worry,” he says, stealing a piece of cheese from Ventus’ plate. “We’ll find him. Since Aqua can’t reach Riku or Kairi, they might have left already.”

         Ventus hums, but somehow he doesn’t think that’s the case. What Sora, Riku and Kairi have; how they are is much more complicated. Ventus even doubts the word love can grasp what they feel for each other. At times, he’s jealous of that connection, and the next moment he is afraid of it. He’s felt it in Sora’s sacrifice back then for Kairi, and in Aqua’s never ending believe in Terra, and what is love if not an immense power capable of pushing people to their limits and beyond, a weapon justifying any sort of destruction. Tightening his blanket around his shoulders, Ventus dugs his head and shuffles closer to Terra.

         “You know, I always keep thinking that maybe … we could have done something,” he confesses. “That if Sora trusted us a little more, he’d asked for our help.”

         “Do you really think Sora didn’t trust us?” Terra asks, leaning back until he’s lying next to Ventus, arms crossed behind his head.

         “Well, what other explanation is there?” Ventus hates that he sounds like a sulking boy, offended because a friend didn’t ask him to join the playing. But he’d always thought the connection between him and Sora was something special, something untouchable and set into stone. He’s protected Sora just as much as Sora has protected him all those years, and Ventus hasn’t thought of stopping once.

         “You don’t really believe that.” The sound of Terra’s little laugh snaps Ventus’ head up. “I know you don’t.”

         “Huh?”

         “We’re not that different from him, Aqua, you and I. We all love too much, but isn’t that better than to have none of it?”

         “So better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all?” Ventus remembers this line from a book in the library he’s read long ago, and back then he didn’t quite understand its meaning. Now, he wonders if love truly is Sora’s greatest fault, but that is hard to understand as well.

         Terra sits up, and ruffles Ventus’ hair, just like the old times when everything was simple and clean. It tightens Ventus’ chest, but this time it’s not a bad feeling at all. “You’ve been in there all this time,” he says, pointing at Ventus’ heart. “So you know the answer to that. Now eat up. And think about joining us sometime. Aqua really misses you.”

         Ventus nods, and takes another fruit. Terra’s smile widens. When he heads for the door, Ventus summons all his courage. It’s time to stop running.

         “Terra,” he calls. Terra stops, and turns around. “You really think we’ll see Sora again one day, right?”

         Terra doesn’t hesitate. “Of course. Our destinies are intertwined. And besides, you never stopped believing in bringing me back home. Now it’s my time to light someone’s way.”

         “And do you think … I’ll see Vanitas again as well some day?”

         That brings Terra’s smile to a full stop. He isn’t happy. Ventus sees it in the way Terra presses his lips into a thin line, and squares his shoulders. He avoids Ventus’ eyes for a split second, a tiny fracture of time in which Ventus stops breathing and waits for the final judgement. Eventually, Terra quickly turns around, checking if someone’s behind him, and Ventus wonders if he’s looking for Aqua.

         Quietly, Terra finally says, “If that is what you wish for, then I will do anything I can to help you fulfil it.”

         The hot sting behind Ventus’ eyes is a clear indicator for tears waiting to escape, so Ventus quickly hides his face in his blanket, shuddering with a silent sob. Only when he hears the door closing, Ventus dares to look up again. His room is dark, and the glowing stars stick out more after bathing in light, capturing Ventus’ attention. He wonders if Vanitas might like them as well.

         Ventus curls into himself and closes his eyes. Into the darkness, he whispers “Vanitas” three times.

         But nobody comes.

         The missing is the worst. All Ventus wants is to crawl inside Vanitas’ skin and stay there. He wants every piece of him to crush into every piece of Vanitas, and become whole again; to become one. He doesn’t want to keep wondering how everyone just can go on as if Vanitas never existed, not when he to Ventus is the world. His heart is still split, an open door ready for darkness to invest, and yet he knows there will only be one certain shadow his heart will allow entrance.

         Ventus blinks through the wall of tears, looking at the stars. He has to focus on Sora first. If he can’t bring him back, then certainly he’ll fail to guide Vanitas home as well. A shooting star splits the heaven in two, burning on its way down. Ventus closes his eyes. In this endless night, he has only one wish: Ventus wishes a shining light will guide Sora through a starless sky, and hopes his journey home will be soft and peaceful.

☆ ☆ ☆

         When Sora disappears, Riku doesn’t cry because he knows once he starts, he won’t be able to stop.

         His only comfort is Kairi, though she doesn’t talk, and only spends hours upon hours writing letters to Sora, all starting with my dearly beloved. Those lines remind Riku of a bittersweet melody he’s heard in a dream once, each wistful tune pulling at his heartstrings. Back then, it had also felt a lot like a farewell to a story he wasn’t yet part of, and now his chest throbs with a low, persistent rhythm of that song.

         But it’s difficult to believe this is the end. Riku is in a strange, blank space between hope and desperation, where it’s hard to look for the light, but also impossible to drown in darkness. Finding home in both, Riku is an unusual dweller cheating through life. He knows it’s more than most people get, and he’s aware of how lucky he is. Maybe that is why the universe decided he’s run out of it now, and Riku thinks how unfair that is. That they live in a universe that doesn’t want them to be together any more. It’s either him gone or Kairi, and now Sora. And so when Roxas and Lea prepared to return to Twilight Town, and Roxas had asked him, “Do you even believe that we’ll find him?” it wasn’t difficult for Riku to be honest. “I believe in a universe that doesn’t care,” he’d said. “And people who do.”

         After that, Riku started avoiding Roxas, Ventus and Xion even though it is not what they deserve after everything they’ve been through. But he can’t see them, and not think of Sora with how many of his habits they’ve inherited. Roxas carries all the anger Sora has swallowed throughout the years. Just thinking back to how Roxas had punched him, his thumb tugged into his fist like Sora always did no matter how often Riku tried to correct him, hurts like a sudden light striking his eyes in the dead of the night. Ventus is the source of Sora’s broad grins and gentle smiles, laughing at everything— a blazing sun casting away any shadows. They both know the power hiding in being soft and kind, to love and forgive. Xion is part Sora, part Kairi with her love for everything that is bright. She uses everything she can find as bookmarks: cups, little stones, little replicas of everyone’s key chains. Just like Sora she wants to be close to anyone, her happiness lies in those of others and nourishes her. They all love fruits, they all hate carrots, they all can fall asleep in the most uncomfortable places like a cat that finds home everywhere. Riku would rather gouge his eyes out than see another pair of those exact radiant, blue eyes, and so he sticks around Destiny Island, and takes care of Kairi, while she takes care of him.

         They live in a strange dynamic, part symbiotic and part parasitic. Riku tells Kairi stories about Sora both remember fondly, and she pays him with a rare smile that dissipates dark clouds in his heart. But Kairi can never truly tell him what exactly happened when Sora brought her back, and Riku is sure she can read the irritation on his face like an open book. Just seeing her is a reminder that someone is missing, the third party in their strange constellation of two, and yet more than ever before, they stick to each other like two pieces of the same soul dwelling in different bodies.

         Riku misses Sora. He misses Sora so much, it physically hurts him. He misses his easy smiles, the jokes. The reassurance that no matter what mistakes Riku has done, it’s fine. He is a good person, deserved of being a Keyblade Master. He misses how Sora was capable of turning every pain and sadness into something bright. Sora was given the rare gift to make gold out of every pain. A purer blessing doesn’t exist. But it’s not only the words Riku misses. He misses Sora’s soft skin, his parched lips mapping Riku’s body. He misses how in Sora’s arms he felt safe and at home, that there was no past, and no future. Just the present with them both as the sole habitants, a population of two and no one else was allowed between them.

         Riku remembers their first kiss. It was in the Secret Place and they were 15. It was nothing but a chaste, quick peck, lips briefly brushing against each other, and yet Sora had giggled so helplessly, cheeks red and happy like it was the most powerful experience he’s ever felt. He didn’t hide his smile, he’d always been so willing to share it with everyone. Riku remembers the jealousy he’d felt, how he thought Sora’s willingness to open up to everyone was so unfair. He made it look so easy, so effortless, like he didn’t need to think at all who might deserve his smiles. His heart was an open door, never closed, never locked. They’d kept their relationship a secret, or rather they tried. Kairi knew. She must have felt something going on between them. Riku never dared to underestimate a Princess of Light again, but it was like a noose being lifted from his neck whenever she gave him this soft, knowing smile.

         Now he tries to think back to the last time they were alone together without any responsibilities weighing on their shoulders. After defeating Ansem and returning to the Island, Mickey’s letter didn’t leave much time to catch up after the year of their separation, and after that, during their Mark of Mastery exam, Riku was everywhere but beside Sora. Now, Riku tries to ignore the little voice telling him that he’ll never see Sora again because he doesn’t believe it. He can’t believe it. Hope has been his constant companion for the last two years, and he’s grown too fond of it. Leaving it behind means to let go of the only rope of salvation Riku is clinging onto, and no matter how much darkness he’s learnt to embrace, he just knows that he will drown in those dark waves crushing upon him with what he can only describe as loneliness.

         But if life is lonely for him, it is far lonelier for Sora. When he tries to imagine in what place he must be now, Riku is quite simply angry. Martyr lies on everyone’s lips, and yet no one dares to speaks it out loud because that would be to acknowledge everyone’s fault. He knows this anger won’t bring him anywhere, but it is just hard to accept a fate that robbed the universe of someone vital to so many people.

         Sora loved like few ever could love, with all and everything; unrepentant and with a passion that burned holes in anyone’s doubt. The sea and the sky will never stop holding his ghost: in each wave Riku can hear the wisp of Sora’s laughter, in each cloud he can see the remnants of Sora’s eyes. So whenever he waits until Kairi falls asleep, trying not to dwell too long on the tears hanging on her wet lashes like dew in the morning hours, Riku then returns to his room where he mourns with the moon and the stars, and it is a bittersweet feeling to share this grief with the world.

         Five days pass, then six. On the seventh day, when he enters Kairi’s room and doesn’t find her sitting on her bed with a stack of papers resting on her thighs like usual, dread sinks in his stomach and he closes his eyes. If he loses her as well, Riku himself will burn down the Islands and start another war. On her table, Riku finds more scribbles of Sora, Donald and Goofy, all three huddled inside the gummi ship. His fingers shake when he takes the pen and draws Sora’s crown necklace in a corner, just focusing on breathing with each stroke on the paper. When his thoughts start to run in painful circles, Riku pushes the tip hard enough to rip the paper. Trying so hard to stay calm, not to cry, he doesn’t notice door opening behind him, until—

         “Riku.”

         He freezes. Behind him, Kairi looks at him with worry and something else in her eyes, but Riku doesn’t read further into it, too occupied with reaching her, holding her, holding her.

         Kairi takes one breath, then a second. Her small hands on his back feel so warm, so secure, and Riku allows himself to be weak for a moment in her arms.

         “It’s time for us, isn’t it?” Riku starts, and just the approving hum from her draws a shudder from him. “We can’t let him wait any longer.”

         “Don’t worry, Riku,” Kairi says, and just like that, the world is tiled back to its original position. “He knows we’re already on our way.”

         Riku leans back, his arms still around Kairi, and he is astonished that someone looking so fragile is so much stronger than him. Kairi considers him for a long moment. She takes Riku’s hand and squeezes tightly, leaning her head into his shoulder. Riku understands, and presses his lips to her forehead. “We’ll find him.”

         It’s not a promise. It’s an oath.

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

         Sora opens his eyes. His face is wet, everything is wet and cold, and he faintly remembers the phantom feeling of something warm against his palm. He doesn’t remember what it was. When he tries to get up, his body is there, not broken, not hurt but somehow he hurts inside, and he can’t explain what it is. All around him, the artificial lights of a city illuminate the streets, but wherever he looks, shadows wait in the deepest corners to plunge on him. Something on his left palm burns, and when he looks down, numbers blink up to him in an angry red, running down.

         Instinctively, Sora closes his hand into a fist, so tight that his nails bite into his skin. His mind is foggy, but there’s a feeling that he needs to be somewhere; that he has to return somewhere he can’t name. The closest thing it reminds him of is home, and he will do anything to return. Sora has to go back, to follow this tugging inside his chest aiming for a place he doesn’t remember, for he is the heart of hearts.

               Most importantly love              Like it’s the only thing you know how              At the end of the day all this              Means nothing              […]              Nothing even matters              Except love and human connection              Who you loved              And how deeply you loved them              How you touched the people around you              And how much you gave them

             — rupi kaur

[excusemewhileiplaykh]

It’s Possible Kairi Opened the Door at Destiny Islands in KH1

Ok, so... hear me out.

We are told out right or it is implied several times throughout the series that Riku was the one who opened the door, making it possible for him, Sora, and Kairi to leave the islands.

Yet, we never outright see Riku open the door. We can guess that it happens before Sora finds him on the play island, but the CoM novel puts this into doubt.

In Riku’s side of the novel (pages 286-288 if you have the english version), he describes what happened on the island on the night of the storm.

As you can see from this recollection, Riku never actually opens the door. He may have inadvertently opened it, but whenever a door is opened in the series, a keyblade is always present. Moreover, Riku had not summoned Kingdom Key, or any keyblade for that matter, at that point. (Remember: Sora was the one who “delivered” the keyblade to him in Hollow Bastion. He hadn’t summoned a keyblade before then it appears.)

I also find it interesting that Ansem tells Riku “the door will open soon” (second page inserted, underlined), as if when they are talking in the cave, it has yet to open.

This would further suggest that the door opens between Riku leaving the cave and meeting Sora.

So... who opened the door?

Let’s keep in mind that both Kairi and Riku had the keyblade inherited to them by Aqua and Terra, respectively. 

So, theoretically speaking, both Kairi and Riku could have both opened the door, as they both had the ability to summon keyblades.

Moreover, since the door was inside the cave, the person who must have opened it must obviously be someone inside the cave. The only two left inside the cave after Riku left were Kairi and Ansem. Ansem did not have the ability to summon a keyblade because of the circumstances of his existence (being a heartless, not having a body, etc.).

All of this evidence put together makes Kairi the most likely person to have opened the door. But, there are complications with this interpretation.

For one, at no point during KH 1 does Kairi ever summon her keyblade (that we see anyway). You would think she would have summoned it after Sora got turned into a heartless in order to protect him, but she does not. (Then again in KH3, Sora could have easily used his keyblade to protect Kairi from Terranort, but he instead shields her with his body much like Kairi does in KH1). It seems she first gets her keyblade in KH2 when Riku gives it to her. But how does Riku summon her keyblade anyway?

I would suggest that Riku actually changes his Way to Dawn into Destiny’s Embrace and then hands Destiny’s Embrace over to Kairi. I think Riku is able to do this because of the way that keychains and different keyblades work in Kingdom Hearts.

In terms of Kairi and her keyblade, it occured to me that most keyblades aren't based on physical objects but are more connected to memories or connections. We usually don't have physical objects as keychains (i.e. like in the case of Oathkeeper), but we get new theoretical keychains after we finish a world and establish a deep connection with the patrons of that world.

Thus, it seems keychains are based on these fonds memories rather than actual physical keychains. I went more into detail about how keychains work in this post if you want more context.

So if keychains are based on memory, theoretically it is possible then that someone may have seen someone else’s keyblade and could then summon that very keyblade based on that memory. You could even say something similar occurs with Roxas who probably has memories of Sora wielding Oathkeeper and Oblivion and this may have helped him manifest those keyblades, along with the fact that he had Sora’s memories of his bond to both Kairi and Riku.

So what does the fact that keyblades being connected to memory relate to Kairi and her keyblade?

Well as I explained earlier, its been told to us that Riku opened the door and this makes sense because Riku had the potential to wield the keyblade from Terra, saw the keyhole before when he was young (scene from before Monstro in KH1 and after Neverland in KH1), etc. But again, it seems as if the first time Riku wields the keyblade is at Hollow Bastion. So how could he open the door without a key? Furthermore, we only see the door actually open when Sora goes to the cave to find Kairi. That's when it flies open.

Also, Kairi could have seen the keyhole just as much as Riku because she got the potential to wield the keyblade from Aqua, much like how Riku gets it from Terra. It is possible then that on that night in the presence of the keyhole and under duress, her keyblade came to her. If she did open it with her keyblade, Ansem would have saw this. Thus, because Ansem was inside Riku, he would have remembered seeing her keyblade. Riku would have been able to conjure it up for her because his heart was connected to Ansem and thus connected to Ansem’s memories. This is similar to how Sora had access to Kairi’s memories in KH1 (for instance, when he recognizes Radiant Garden in the slideshow in the Deep Jungle) and how Sora has access to Roxas’ memories in KH2 and KH3. Moreover, remember that YMX confirms in DDD that Ansem had access to Riku’s memories, so it would not be surprising for this relationship to work both ways.

Also keep in mind that in Chain of Memories, you gain the ability to wield different keyblades by gaining cards of those keyblades. The cards in Chain of Memories, of course, represent memories. Thus, I believe it is entirely probable that a keyblade, even if it is not originally your own, could be summoned if you have the potentiality to wield and access to the memory of that keyblade (again, think about Roxas with Oathkeeper and Oblivion).

So let’s say Kairi was the one who opened the door, let’s say Riku can summon her keyblade because he has access to a memory in which she used it. Why, then, would Kairi open the door?

Remember, that much like Riku, Kairi also wanted to leave the islands with Sora. She even tells Sora in KH1 that she wants to leave with him. Of course, Kairi plays this off as a joke, but it wouldn’t be farfetched for Kairi to have been partially serious. Sora is obviously important to her and she had sensed that Riku had “changed” and perhaps thought this change could threaten her relationship with Sora. She probably wanted to her friendship and much like how Riku was afraid of being left behind by Sora and Kairi, perhaps Kairi had the same fear. 

I propose then that she may have been egged on by Ansem, and in desperation after she was left alone by her best friend (reference the COM novel pages), she opens the door, figuring much like Riku in this moment, that she would be able to leave the islands with her best friends, but most importantly Sora. After she opened the door and did what Ansem wanted of her, it is possible he then he extracted her heart and even moved her body. When Sora enters the cave and “sees” Kairi, this may just be an illusion, much like in Traverse Town when he sees Yuffie as Kairi.

This is, of course, is all very speculative, but I think nonetheless, this theory could be true. Kairi being the one who opens the Destiny Island door could help resolve how Riku summons her keyblade and help explain how the door opens without Sora or Riku opening it at the moment. It is possible this could all be disproven in the future, but I don’t think we should ignore where all this evidence leads. 

[kcystotheheart]

{🍎} I don’t feel like i got all of them but MASSIVE TAG DROP/DUMP

♡ Home is where the Heart is... {IC}

✧ I foresee the end of all I know... {Ava}

#☪︎I'm howling with the wolves {Fida}

#✦ Breaking Traditions {Sub Alt V.} ⚔︎

#☮︎You are the future; the hope of this world... {Hope}

#♟Hidden from the rest of the World… Until now {Wandering V.} ✧

#🍎of someone's eye {Mun}

#✎ We may feel out of place; but we fit together so perfectly... {X Ventus} #♔♡ Eventually we all return to it... Kingdom Hearts {S A V E D} #⚖︎ I will keep a just and fair eye... {Invi} #♘ They look to me for Guidance... {Ira} #Heartless; Dusks; Unversed? All the same {Anon} #❥ ANSWERED

#✎ He's a work in progress and that's what matters! {Vanitas/tenebrxsus}

#✎ The Light to my Darkness; he makes up what I lack... {X Vanitas}

#✧ He may be all brawn; but he has the biggest heart {Aced/ursaced}

#✧ You wouldn't hurt me; I know... {X Aced} #✦ The Beginning of it all… {Past V.} ♙ #➳ All right; No more playing around! {Hayner} #♡ It's time to strike {Open Starter} #♔ Beyond the realms... {OOC} #♥︎ I'll find my way... {Riku} #✎ Let's make a promise; To hold each other through it all {X Riku} #♤ I won't fade away so easily! {Lingering Remnant!Vanitas} #♠︎ Different from the rest... {Springy/Hareraiser} #♥︎ Once a Somebody... now a Nobody {Nobody V.} ♤ #✦ A little Generosity never hurt nobody~ {Cari} #✦ He thinks he's sooo good; but I know he's bad~ {Indus/ursaced} #✦ Momma I'm in love with a criminal; I'm the bad guy duh~ {X Indus} #♡ We'll never let the darkness consume us... {Queue}

🎲 May Lady Luck be on your side~ {Fortune} 💘 No matter what happens i’ll always be by your side {Faith} ⚔️ That was undeniable proof that we totally owned you lamers! {Seifer} ⌨️ Cracking the {Code} 🌱Rough around the edges by soft on the inside [Jagged} 🌿 My Strength will help support them… {Aced} 🌟 I will always help the weak {Starlight} 🍃I’ll sweep you up and leave your head spinnin’! {Wind} 🛡 I will always defend them {Keeper} 🃏 Care to take a Gamble? {Luxord/Ordul} 🎵I can drop a beat {Demyx/Dyme}  🎼 Let me play a song for you~ {Arpeggio}

⚠︎ You make me feel things I thought were lost {X Lauriam} ♟ More alike than you know {Rei/solaimaginem} ✎ Even after all this time… we’re connected. {Terra/willfulwayfarer} ✎ We’ll find new secrets to discover… together! {Pence/dxgstreet} ✎ I want to capture this moment {X Pence} ➸✮ Blessed or Cursed with magic that runs within him {Magia} #🎐My Lazy Companion {Sir Snugglesopholis the Flood} #♝ I will prove my worth... {Xionort} #𝒳 No one will know... {Subject X V.} ⭑ #No longer Lost {Naminé; Vanitas & Repliku } #✎ We've had tough pasts but we can move forward {Aiden/lethargic-hunter} #♟We've cut our own strings and now we're free {Xion & Repliku} #Made a sacrifice {Repliku} #Always busy saving everyone else... {Aqua} #☯︎ Disciplinary Committee {Fuu; Seifer & Rai} #yOU leFT mE... {Nightmare Chirithy}

#Why does everything involve running? {Pence}

#Not your Typical Princess... {Kairi}

#Fun and Playful; Strong and Powerful {Ventus}

#♠︎ A little noisy... {Skitters/Flood}

#☓ Always watching; always seeing~ {Master of Masters}

#⭑ How bright is the future? {Skuld}

#♚ Stuck in Between Worlds... {Lingering V.} ♤

#��I'll learn to use my magic for good {Apprentice V.} ✎

#✎ He understands me like no one else does {Max/pageofgoof}

#🍀I've got a present too; for all of us! {Olette}

#He once wandered the darkness seeking light; only to find he was the light {Riku}

#His smile brings about other people's happiness {Sora}

#👁‍🗨If only I could stand in her light... {Ava/verumheart}

#👁‍🗨If I could begin to be; half of what you think of me I'd do about anything {X Ava}

#🍀She sits by the Seashore {Kairi/thalassicradiance}

#✎ I'll never forget you; promise? {X Sora}

#♜ We all have our Roles to Play... {Foreteller V.} ♠︎

#♗ I have made mistakes & have more regrets than you could imagine {Master Eraqus}

#One of the strongest wielders there is {Terra}

#🎐My lovely little Pearl... {Kairi/thalassicradiance}

#♡ Something that simply resonates with me... {Aesthetic}

#➦ Portal Time {Shooter}

#➥ Eagle Eyes {Sharp}

#🌪Whispers on the Wind {Gale}

#♤ The Nobody that never was... {Kuxir}

#🎐When things are tough; I'll always welcome you home... {Ansem/afoolelopedindarkness}

#✦ I have to complete my role... {Sacrificed V.} ✧

#♡♔ Kingdom FARTS {Crack}

#♟No longer just a vessel... {Xion}

#♣︎ No one would miss me... And yet... {Roxas}

#☀︎ I always keep my promises... {Axel}

#⌁ I have to uncover the truth... {Gula}

#⚠︎ I will find a way to rewrite my Fate {Brain}

#☆⭒ A lost little Star {Strelitzia}

#♚ The Darkness has consumed us… {Alt V.} ♥︎

#{Headcanons}

#☁︎ Where there's rain; there's a storm {Rain}

#🌸As Pretty as a Flower but twice as Dangerous {Song}

#✴︎ May the Tears of Heaven hear my call... {Sterling}

#❅ Her Colours are a reflection of who she is {Aurora}

#✵ Hear my prayer O'Morning Star {Ivory}

#♾You'll never hear their name on the wind... {No Name}

#⚡️The Eye of the Storm {Tempest}

#✑ You write down your feelings on paper {Memoire}

#☆⭒ A Light in the Dark... {Roxas/aftrliight}

#👁‍🗨 It's a heavy burden to carry... {Luxu}

#♥︎ He has every right to be mad at me; but i had to do it {Roxas/caelumobscura}

#♥︎ Twilight and Dawn... What an interesting combination {X Roxas}

#☘︎Oh Look- Nope it's just them... {Dani}

#♣︎ There's just something about him that i hate... and i love {X Riku}

#✎ You remember me; the way I remember you {X Roxas}

#☆⭒ He gives me the courage I need; she is always so kind... {X Roxas}

#☆⭒ Let's go to the garden... {Lauriam/lordofoblivion}

#✘ There is always something worth fighting for... {Kohaku}

#♡ No longer just a Copy... {Repliku/Kouki}

#⚙︎Just because I'm not a 'True' Keyblade doesn't mean I can't kill you {Void}

#♥︎ You and I; were intertwined from the start... {X Kairi}

#♡ These will make anyone laugh! {Memes}

#✬ Here to help! {Chirithy}

#🌼You'll never learn from your mistakes if you don't make them {Ayaka/Roxas' mom}

#♔♡ The Mark of a Master~ {P R O M O}

#✿ Thinking of you wherever you are... {Hana/Sora's Mom}

#♤☆ When the Light embraced the Dark... {Mending Hearts V.} ★♠

#✎ He wants to break the mold {Roxas/serendimpetus}

#🗝🖤The Kingdom's Protector and the Original Blade {Chi}

#♔ Mirrored Reflections; Two in the Same {Twin V.} ♡

#★ I'll be there to hide your light when you need it {Dusk}

#♻︎ I'm not even the real thing...And yet in my soul it says otherwise {Soul}

#✩*~ I'll unlock the mysteries of the world {Ephemer}

#♠︎ Made completely out of Darkness {Vanitas}

#✩*~ We'll meet where the darkness meets the light {X Vanitas}

#➳ Skateboard tricks and Sea Salt Icecream... {X Roxas}

#♡ Let's line up the pieces... Together {Main V.} ♔

#❁ He'll always be my little Sprout... {Kasumi/Riku's mother}

#❁ To trust or not to trust is the question... {Xemnas/potestasaeterna}

#♘ He trusts me to look after everyone; but who's going to look after him? {X Master}

#♘ Always one step ahead... or two- or three {Master/masterxmasters}

#☾ The path between Night and Day... {Dawn}

#♡ A Watchful eye... {Dash Commentary}

#☯︎ Total Annihilation {Fuu}

#✎ Don't forget me... {Naminé}

#☄️ I will always rise up from the Ashes {Libra}

#🔥Better watch out because I always bounce back {Ember}

#💥I will burn Eternally {Flame}

#♕ Together we'll protect the world! {Kiki}

#♛ We'll free their hearts and consume the world in darkness... {Heart!Kiki}

#🍨Not just a sweet treat~ {Sweetie}

#♜ I'll protect you from the Shadows {Oblivion}

#♖ Just follow my Light {Oathkeeper}

#♥︎ No matter the Nightmare; I'll be there {X Ventus}

#♠︎ A little noisy... {Skitters/Flood}

#🎐When you feel it in your heart; you know that your home {Mitsuki/Kairi's Grandma}

#❁ He's my stubborn Rock. {Roxas/aftrliight}

#💥She rises with the moon {Luna/verumheart}

#♧ Even in your dreams... {Dream Eater V.} ♥︎

#🍡 Cheeky Cheel {Leche}

#❦ There's more to Light than meets the eye {Young Eraqus}

#❦ And that's checkmate I win; Hold on it's still my turn {X Young Xehanort}

#The Copycat Trio {Repliku; Vanitas and Xion}

#Created with a purpose {Vanitas}

#🐶Watch out for the Mad Dog~ {Mady}

#➸✮ Reliable and Sturdy as the Shield he carries {Aegis/verumrook}

#➸✮ I shouldn't feel this way but I do... And I don't want to stop {X Aegis}

#✘ ...I will protect his light with my life... {Artemis/keyfamilia}

#✘ I don't know what he sees in me... but i'm grateful {X Artemis}

#🗝🖤A shroud of Mystery and Darkness {Master of Masters/eyesofparoxysm}

#🗝🖤The one who compliments me; who truly understands {X Master of Masters}

#✧ He's a good listener and a good friend {Luxu/gravitasfatum}

#✎ What did I do to deserve you...? {Riku/darkheartedprince}

#♔♡ It rests now within us all... {Drabble}

#💚As playful as a breeze; but as strong as a gale wind {Ventus}

#💫Not even the Night Sky could contain her Light... {Astraea}

#🍏A Bad Apple spoils the bunch {Negative Thoughts}

#☀︎ Set me ablaze; start a fire in me {X Terra}

#☀︎ He's my pillar when I'm not strong {Terra/willfulfwayfarer}

#🎐Just like the Stars; He will burn long after... {Yen Sid/omnipotentmxster}

#☀︎ Never expected to fall for a flower {X Marluxia}

#☀︎ Every Flower has it's thorns and he's full of them {Marluxia/lordofoblivion}

#✿ My Little Sparrow {Sora/lightheartedwarrior}

#❁ My Little Sprout {Riku/darkheartedprince}

#🎐If we keep each other in our hearts; we'll always be strong {Young Mitsuki}

#🎐The Stars align when he smiles... {Young Yen Sid/omnipotentmxster}

#⚚ I'm sending a message to you and I hope that it makes it through {Hermod}

#⭑ He could light the sky with his colours {Sora/valorxdrive}

#⭑ He's my knight and I'm his princess {X Sora}

#⭑ We both just wanted a friend... {Blaine/virusplanted}

#⭑ The future may be uncertain; but I'm certain of us {X Blaine}

#🧶Tying the knot {Married V.}

#♔ In another World; another Time or another Place {AU V.} ♡

#⚖︎She moves with the beauty and grace of her namesake {Aqua/theheartstreasure}

#⚖︎I certainly don't know what I did to deserve you; but i'm grateful {X Aqua}

#⌁ The only one I'll always trust {Ava/starshold}

#❀ Careful the Flowers have ears {Foxglove}

#☆⭒ He's my bookworm... {Blaine/virusplanted}

#☆⭒ One day I saw him there and couldn't help but gravitate towards him {X Blaine}

#♔ A World without Magic... {Modern V.} ♡

#🎐An old friend and fellow Master {Eraqus/eraqus-the-defender}

#❦ I wish I was enough to keep you from the Darkness... {Young Xehanort/iuvienis}

#🌕A place where all hearts are one... {Kingdom Hearts}

#🔮The Mistress of Darkness {Maleficent}

#🐚Overcame the Impossible {Maryllis/Kairi's Mother}

#🌊I will do my duty to protect the people {Nalani/Destiny Islands Mayor}

#🥀Poison runs through their veins {Vera}

#✩*~ He's the smartest guy I know {Brain/virusplanted}

#✩*~ We'll always be connected; no matter where we fly too {X Brain}

#🐚His Majesty and My King {Ansem/afoolelopedindarkness}

#🐚Two halves of a whole {X Ansem The Wise}

#✩*~ Flowers can be strong so long as you let them {Lauriam/lordofoblivion}

#🐚My Precious Treasure {Kairi/thalassicradiance}

#🐚Like Mother like daughter {Maryllis and Kairi}

#🎶Listen to my Melody {Maestro}

#Before Summer Vacation is over; we should go to the beach! {Twilight Town Gang}

#♘ More important than he realizes {Kage/thechessboard}

#✩*~ I use to think Dandelions were just weeds; I think they're beautiful {X Lauriam}

#📓Don't always believe what you see... {Lexicon}

#🌹Strong and Elegant {Rose}

#⚠︎ Infuriating and yet... He's Mi Rosa {Lauriam/rxsoideae}

#✧ She's as strong as she is beautiful {Aqua/theheartstreasure}

#✧ She makes me feel like a princess; she gives me hope {X Aqua}

#✎ We will always have each other's backs {Naminé and Aiden}

#☆⭒ Wallflower friends {Luxu and Strelitzia}

#The Darkness gave us purpose... {Dark Repliku; Vanitas & Xionort}

#Let's go to the beach {Axel; Xion & Roxas}

#⚔︎Childhood rivals to lovers {X Hayner}

#⭑★ Fallen Hearts turn to Dark Stars… {Darkling V.} ❤︎♥︎

#⭑ ...Unknowingly My Protector... {Braig/freeshooterxig}

#🍀We're stronger than we look {X Kairi}

#♟He isn't all darkness... {Vanitas/unversedshadow}

#✧ My precious Snowflake Dandelion... {Theo/keytosolidarity}

#✎ She was my light; He was my knight {X Repliku}

[iamoncewas]

Oathkeeper, Oblivion, and the other promise

Oathkeeper (約束のお守り Yakusoku no Omamori - Oath's Charm) represents a promise (an oath) Sora made to Kairi. Specifically, this one:

This is why it's token is Kairi's Wayfinder, which are modeled after the paopu fruit and represent basically the same thing: an unbreakable connection.

It's teeth are fashioned after the kanji for light (光). Oblivion's teeth are fashioned after the kanji for darkness (闇), showing it's meant to be seen as a pair with Oathkeeper. They are meant to have equal symbolic significance, but only Oathkeeper's origin has ever been explained.

Oblivion's Japanese name is Passing Memories (過ぎ去りし思い出 Sugisarishi Omoide). In DDD we see a significant memory related to Riku that Sora doesn't quite remember. As Sora chases the dreams, Riku and Kairi shifting into Terra and Aqua, he hears Riku's voice, the dream dissipates and he sees a light. He then remembers when he and Riku met Aqua when they were children, but there is no audio in the memory, showing that Sora doesn't recall what Aqua told him. Aqua then fades and Sora sees Ansem SoD, who can be seen as the personification of Riku's darkness. We found out in KH3 that possessing Riku's body is the reason Ansem looks the way he does.

The dreams that come right before waking are the dreams you are most likely to remember.

What Aqua told Sora was very important. And he doesn't remember it. A "passing memory."

I believe Riku however, does remember this, since he is consistently referencing his promise to Terra. He met them both on the same day, Aqua arriving not long after Riku was bequeathed.

Oblivion's token is a crown very similar in appearance to the one Sora wears around his neck, except it is black in colour. If Oblivion represents Riku, why is it not the same as, say, Way to the Dawn's token, for example? It is the only keyblade with a token like this. Royal Radiance and Unbound are similar, but not as exact as Oblivion (that's a whole other pile of symbolism I won't get into). And we know exactly where the wayfinder came from, Kairi made it herself from thalassa shells.

So, that black crown, I believe is also a symbol of "an unbreakable connection" like the wayfinder, that Riku actually physically carries with him. He doesn't wear it around his neck however like Sora. In KH1 you get Oblivion from a chest in the Grand Hall in Hollow Bastion, where Sora fought possessed Riku, implying Riku left it there for him. In KH2, Sora gets its after the reunion, implying Riku gave it to him. It wasn't outrightly shown like Sora and Kairi exchanging the Wayfinder has been, however. And Sora clearly doesn't remember it's symbolic significance.

If the black crown is a keyblade token, Sora's necklace is a keyblade token (silver - "grey area" - balance between light and dark, making Oblivion, Oathkeeper and this keyblade a trio. This keyblade would then represent Sora). I assume anything can be a keyblade token, which is why Sora receives one from every world he visits (especially since none of the inhabitants of these worlds even know what keyblades are). They are regular objects, given meaning by the connections they symbolize, given form by Sora's heart and keyblade. Since their combined keyblade contains both a crown and a Hidden Mickey when it's complete, I believe the crown chains are of the same nature as the Kingdom Keys and Braveheart, directly tied to Kingdom Hearts.

Since Oathkeeper is meant to be Oblivion's parallel, I believe Oblivion also represents a promise. Since Sora doesn't remember his "job" that Aqua gave him, I assume the promise was something like "I'll always stay with you." This would conflict with the promise he made to Kairi, "I'll always come back to you" in the event that he would ever have to choose between them.

Which is exactly what happened in KH1. Kairi wanted to leave with Sora, without Riku. This is why Riku got so angry, and fell to darkness. This would have been Sora breaking his promise, a huge betrayal. Sora forgot he ever made it. But Riku didn't, and he was hurt that Sora would forget about him that way.

Oblivion - the state of being unaware or unconscious of what is happening; the state of being forgotten.

Sora had forgotten how important Riku is to him.

That means that, all this time, Sora has been wearing a REMINDer of this promise, his necklace. This is why the origin of Sora's necklace and Oblivion have never been explained, because its vital to the endgame and will be explained in the DLC. It's everything. The "secret episode" is going to be the secret ending, the game's CLEAR ending, Sora choosing Riku, straight up, no room for debate afterwards. He's already remembered by the end of KH3, we saw him vanish from Kairi's side (even though I think Kairi's in his heart, Sora leaving her side is just a symbolic image) and (attempt to) return home to Riku, which is what everybody was looking at and smiling about. That's why Donald got so excited and tried to run out there before Mickey stopped him. Nomura said he wanted to keep the ending vague, but realized after people's reactions that he left it "too vague". I think what he wanted to be more clear about, was Sora leaving Kairi's side. The result of his choice. But he wants us to be surprised as well.

Aqua also told Sora to keep Riku safe. He also broke this part of his promise and committed and even greater betrayal. In the original timeline, he let Riku die. The MoM is Sora(/Vanitas) attempting to save his life at whatever cost (all for one and one for all), which should be impossible, because you can't change what's already happened, but this is the ending we played through. I imagine Sora saw him die, and the memory of this would also remain within Sora's heart even if he doesn't consciously remember it, a painful memory he's pushed deep into the darkness. The mind may forget, but the heart always remembers. Oblivion also represents this I believe, because of one last definition of it's name: extinction. The passing memory of Riku's death, and the darkness it caused.

[birds-multimuse-moved]

why dont u tell me abt kingdom hearts

OKAY SO

Can we talk about Roxas again please? I would like to talk about Roxas again. I know I've already done like plenty of screaming about him before but like seriously dude this shit is heavy as FUCK. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Roxas is nothing but pissed off and he has a right to be. I've played 358/2 Days so many fucking times bro you have no idea. The times in which he just.... doesn't get it, like cutscenes where he jumps to conclusions and gets ahead of himself or doesn't let Axel properly explain is like, it's annoying but you can understand it. It's like, you've been lied to the entire time you've been in the Organization, you've been disrespected and treated like a fucking baby even after you've proven yourself multiple times. For once you just want things to be clear, straight to the point, without bullshit. That's why you can understand at the end, why his talk with Axel is what pushed him to leave the Organization and go rogue. He just wanted to be told the truth for once and thought he could trust Axel to be the one to do it. But no, he just keeps shit from you, asking you to trust him, when at this point it's hard to trust anyone anymore when nobody will trust you. Hurts man, oh and can we also talk about how Roxas' second Keyblade came from Xion? Cuz it's like, it's only after Xion's gone that Roxas dual wield and both his keyblades look wildly different. Oathkeeper is definitely Roxas' but, Oblivion, c'mon just look at the name it is most obviously from Xion. Idk why he can still dual wield after she's back tho but, Kingdom Hearts man it does what it wants. Okay but anyway can we also talk about the Org Members? Or the second half atleast? Cuz when Roxas left he was certain that no one would miss him. And if you play 358/2 Days you'd agree with him. Everyone treated him like a joke almost, he was disrespected and lied to. He feels unwanted, hell they blatantly tried to replace him. Axel even told him they wanted him out of the picture. He's been done dirty so hard in the time he was in the Organization like fuck dude. Bit you have to just imagine the time he spent sitting in the back seat with Sora after Sora wakes up and having to realize they did miss him. MOST OF ALL DEMYX. I know I've ranted about Demyx already before but SHIT DUDE DEMYX. HE LIKE, HE'S THE ONLY ONE WHO TRIES TO REACH ROXAS RIGHT FROM THE START. HE WAS BEING LAID BACK, BEING HIS LAZY USUAL SELF, EVEN CALLING SORA ROXAS. LIKE THIS MAN WENT THROUGH THE STAGES OF GRIEF BRO LIKE. IN HOLLOW BASTION YOU HEAR IT, LIKE SERIOUSLY. WHEN HE SNAPS IS WHEN YOU CAN TELL HE GETS THE MEMO THAT ROXAS REALLY IS GONE. AND YOU CAN HEAR THE RESENTMENT HE HAS FOR SORA IN HIS VOICE. "Silence Traitor" THOSE TWO WORDS WERE HEAVY AS FUCK. You know how he said in KH3 that he could be serious if he wanted to? He absolutely could man he really fucking could he showed that in Hollow Bastion. Seriously that guy SNAPPED. And also Luxord, whomst Roxas also had an okay acquaintance ship with. You could tell he got the memo first, he knew Roxas was gone. But that grief didn't really show itself till the end. When he was destroyed by Sora. "How could you, Roxas". Like shit dude, honestly Kingdom Hearts 2 was a great fucking game. All this shit man ALL THIS SHIT. ALSO, CAN WE ALSO TALK ABOUT XEMNAS AND HOW DEEP THIS GUY GETS SOMETIMES? I LOVE HIS CUTSCENES, ESPECIALLY IN KH3 LIKE. THAT SHIT MAN. "What do you feel? Was it worth it?" "I feel...the emptiness where my companions once stood. I took them for granted And now I have...nothing." "My first surge of emotion in years, for as long as I can remember. And it's, loneliness." "Do you see? A heart is just pain." "Pain is being human, Xemnas." "Really? It must take... incredible strength." FUCK dude Xemnas is the best out of all the other KH Villians. The Organization is lit as fuck dude the Nobodies man this fucking GAME SERIES man.

[hearts-lover]

Don’t Take my Light (KH3 RE:Mind Trailer 2 discussion)

Disclaimer: If you haven’t watched the recent Trailer of Kh3 remind, please watch it as you read it, the reason because I will mention the FPS between the Game gameplay and its cutscenes (because as we all know, that the gameplay is more smoother than the actual cutscene in any KH games...at least I think so) so its a must that if you do so. Also, I know that this fandom has a lot of shipping issues and I get that people are allowed to love their ship, so, therefore, I need to say this Strongly that I have no against with anyone that has a different ship than I do (cause I know there is people out there who think that I do, I’m looking at you somebody) Also, a little early P.S; I woke up with cold-sweat thinking about this, and I feel like I need to express myself because I feel like I’m scared for whatever its gonna happened. Lemme explain; Now as I stated before that in most cases in the KH series, its gameplay run smoother than its Cutscenes, even though that I’m no Game Developer, anyone who play KH repeatedly (hopefully) get what I’m saying (if not, then please go the 2nd trailer, and skip to where Aqua talks to Terranort, but before she do she tag-team attack with Ven, there you can see the different FPS and able to tell a cutscene and gameplay differently) Now, the one scene that I wanna discussed is this;

If you haven’t get what I’m trying to say (and even if this scene is like1-2 seconds) I’m saying that when Sora walk towards Xigbar, he was in his drive from, but this scene is part of a cutscenes, not a Gameplay-cutscene like for example the Seasalt Trio attacks, but an actual cutscenes. What the point of discussing this? Well, here a thing, we know that the Drive Sora uses was first revealed in the first trailer of Re:Mind

and since we know that in the 2nd when Sora uses the Oblivion he transforms into a form called;

Which mean that when Sora transform using the OathKeeper, it's most likely to be his “Light Form” Now here a Kicker, we all know that whenever Sora Obtain the Oathkeeper, he usually gets it whenever Kairi involve, Any KH fans should know that. That where we talk about the cutscenes, in most Gameplay/Gameplay-cutscene we have seen, Sora was able to keep his Form Colors;

but in the actual cutscenes, Sora still has his kh3 original Colors But if you able to complete a battle using the drive and the actual cutscene ended, Sora transform again, but still have his remained Drive times, unfortunately, I’m unable to provide cutscenes, but the next time you play KH3 complete a battle without wasting your drive, if not, then please take my word for it (or not, its up to you.) The point is, we won’t be allowed to see Sora in his Drive Form in the actual cutscene. So the question is, why that scene? Why did Nomura let Sora still have his Light form in the actual cutscene, but doesn’t let Sora does this with any other Drive in any other cutscene of KH3 like in KH2? That why I intentional think that this was on purpose. I think that in my Theory,  the scene where Sora met Chirithy to find Kairi hearts and the scene Sora walking towards Xigbar is connected. I think in my theory, Sora uses the OathKeeper and his “light form” to find Kairi where he met Xigbar. I think in my theory when Chirithy talks about something bad happened to Kairi hearts, I don’t think its have to do with the Heartless, but Xigbar himself. What I’m basically saying that Xigbar was the one who took Kairi. Why though? Well, let see. We all know that Xigbar is actually Luxu, no doubt about that, and because of that we know that Luxu knows the Masters of Master and in the Secret Ending of KH3, The Master of Master hands form into a heartshaped and place it in the middle of the moon;

meaning that he is planning to create a new Kingdom hearts in the world where the secret ending takes places. (meaning, hopefully, we know how Kingdom hearts is created) That why, in my theory, the only reason why Luxu takes Kairi hearts, so he and MoM can use her to create a new Kingdom hearts, because even though Kingdom hearts is a moon that contain many and MANY hearts, there have to be a time where Kingdom hearts have one heart, I mean its have to go somewhere. and if that the case, why take Sora? Well, remember what Luxu said in KH 2.9 (After Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Hercules saved the survivor and they met Xigbar)

and we take a look at what he says in Dream Drop Distance

So basically what I’m trying to say, Luxu took Kairi because she still a princess, more specifically a Princess of heart, and planning to take her to MoM and use her to create a new kingdom hearts, but Sora went to find Kairi and face Xigbar and since we know how far Sora is willingly to do to save Kairi;

Its most likely that after sora made a bargain to Xigbar to take him rather take Kairi, basically taking Xigbar advice for granted for Kairi sake. and since we know that Sora has been connecting to a lot of people hearts and a literally key to open the door to the light, It would make sense to take Sora as a Heart generator for Kingdom hearts. That why I’m scared what actually gonna happened to Sora in Re:Mind. Anyway, I think that all my brain can take, if my theory has plothole then please, don’t be afraid to call them out. But of course, these are my theory/thought/headcanon/opinions! Thank you for reading and I hope you have a good day!

[rednether]

That's it, I've come up with a new AU.

So you know how Sora finally fuses with Roxas for real at the conclusion of KH2, reverse that. Roxas wins his fight with Sora and basically becomes the guy in the driver's seat, Sora makes him promise that he'll watch over Riku and Kairi. But Roxas does promise in return that he will restore Sora as his own person in his own body someday,

Roxas comes to in the real world, no longer stuck in the Station of Serenity by force while a concerned Donald and Goofy call out his real name because he seemingly spaced out for no reason.

Roxas aims a reassuring Sora-smile at the two of them before starting to walk towards the Castle That Never Was while telling them "Let's go" with a serious expression on his face.

"Sora", Donald and Goofy finally make it to the castle alongside Mickey. Mickey rushes off to find Ansem the Wise as "Sora"/Roxas Donald and Goofy are confronted by Saix, who tells him that he no longer has any use to the Organization because Kingdom Hearts has been completed as in canon.

Xigbar shows up, eliminates the Heartless and takes on "Sora" himself. Roxas (still trying to keep his return a secret) opts to fight the Gunslinger with his Kingdom Key, before defeating him with the "help" of Donald and Goofy. Xigbar bails, as the reunion with Riku and Kairi happens. But Sora seems unusually hostile towards Riku and awkward with Kairi.

The crew make it to the Proof of Existence, where (unlike) in canon Roxas takes on both Luxord and Saix by himself.

Luxord is defeated, and "Sora" goes into Saix' portal by himself. Where truths begin to come to light, as the Hero of Light finally openly calls forth Oblivion and Oathkeeper instead of the Kingdom Key. Revealing to the Luna Diviner that Roxas has returned and additionally somehow has full control of Sora's body in an unknown reason to him.

The fight begins, as Roxas physically bashes on Saix relentlessly. Not giving him any chance to attack himself, he swiftly defeats Saix and comes out. Telling the rest that they can move out, Riku is restored to his real appearance when Ansem's device explodes causing the scientist to seemingly be killed.

Xemnas confronts the crew, but Roxas finally reveals that he's back to everyone and especially Riku when he charges at his former leader as he summons Oblivion & Oathkeeper, who realizes why "Sora" was so unusually hostile towards him.

Riku joins Roxas in fighting against Xemnas as an act of atoning for what he did to Roxas, much to the former's objections. The two take on both Xemnas forms, before the Superior is defeated for good (for now, this is the Xehanort/Dark Saga we're talking about here).

Roxas prepares to depart as he calls forth a dark corridor, but Riku and Kairi plead him to stay with them. Riku because he partially doesn't want Roxas going around doing whatever in his best friend's body and Kairi because she did just find Sora by all means.

A spectral transparent Sora comes out of what is now Roxas’ body while the latter turns his head away while squeezing his eyes shut as he can’t stand what he inflicted on Sora, so he can start vouching for his Nobody who won fair and square. He then begins talking to Namine who seemingly isn’t present, though she comes out of her original self’s body.

Sora says that they get to have this conversation after all, Namine softly agrees with a content smile. He reveals that he still remembers the promise itself, that they’ll become friends for real once he wakes from his slumber. though Sora is remorseful that he can’t truly fulfill it, as he lost to Roxas in the inner battle fair and square. He turns to the latter, and makes him promise that he’ll watch after his friends.

Roxas assures his soon-to-be dormant Somebody that he will, so Sora says one last thing with an expression that is mix of proud satisfaction and sadness before in a reversal is now absorbed into Roxas: “And Roxas, you make a good other.”

[squiishiichaos]

Okay, but--and hear me out here--what if Roxas and Vanitas were tasked to take out a horde of Heartless and Nobodies. At first, before the show even begins, Roxas (my resident angry boy) is all, "I can do this by myself, why don't you just sit back and watch."

Vanitas, who was in the middle of cracking his neck, takes a moment to glower at the Blonde. "Really? What would you like me to do when you get overwhelmed and scream Uncle?"

"That's not gonna happen. I've dealt with worse." Vanitas is all, 'uh-huh, sure you have,' as he's rolling eyes.

But he lets Roxas have his go, and it is inspiring--to say the least. Just a ball of golden light taking down enemies with a single swipe. For Vanitas--who has fought Ventus before, a true being of light--this is...different. He's never seen someone actually channel light before, and it's blinding, but also warm and encouraging.

"Quite the show," he calls it while unabashedly sending out trickles of dark lightning into the fray so Roxas doesn't burn out his retinas.

But as it goes on, and the Heartless/Nobodies diminish, Vanitas begins to wonder aloud, "didn't some of those Nobodies come from you?"

Some of the others had told him about their control over the strange creatures wiggling around the field. About the Samurai fighters who were under the leadership of the Blonde leaving stark light against the back of his eyeids every time he blinks.

But Roxas just looks at him from beneath sweat laden Blonde in the midst of a short break. "Uh...sure, let's go with that."

Vanitas swallows thickly. "Don't you...feel anything when they..."

"We're Nobodies. Not feeling comes with the territory."

Vanitas is at once both insanely jealous and slightly mortified. 'Not feeling? Does that mean he never felt loss or sadness? The sting of biting hunger? The claws of frigid despair or molten anger?!' It's a weird thought for someone who grew up feeling *too* much. He wonders, 'what does not feeling at all even feel *like*?'

"It's like being empty," Roxas tells him. He's already had to explain it ten other times, what's eleven more? "Incomplete, if you will. Most Nobodies, they at least keep memories from their past life. I...didn't. I'm still not really sure what I'm actually feeling when my chest seizes up and my stomach churns. Or what that emotion is when you can't help the smile tugging at your lips. And sometimes," he admitted, adjusting Oblivion and Oathkeeper to rejoin the fray, "I feel too much at once, and a part of me misses being empty."

Vanitas feels Void Gear come to life in his hand as Roxas crouches in readiness to pounce. "There were days i would've given anything to feel nothing, but--"

"--emptiness comes with its own hurt, right?" Snorting at the taut expression strung across Vanitas' lips, the Blonde smiled and stood from his crouch to gesture at the horde. "I think you might need this a bit more than me. Let me know when I can tag in."

And then, it's Vanitas's turn to shine.

[destinkeys]

hmmm talk 2 me about ? roxas & his keyblades ? memories associated with them , how he feels when he uses them , etc !

send me!! meta asks!! / @wayweaver

PREFERENCE

first off i want to mention that since he does have two keyblades it’s important to know which one he favors! handedness wise, he’s actually ambidextrous when it comes to using his keyblades since he’s so used to having two. however, for things such as writing he’s right handed. the ‘right handed’ hc comes from when he is only using one keyblade he holds it in his right hand showing that preference. 

this could demonstrate a slight preference for oblivion over oathkeeper, since oblivion is typically held in his right hand. in fact, when looking at certain fights (him vs riku and him vs sora) it does appear that he replies on oblivion slightly more (until riku takes oblivion from him, of course, but that aside). also, in general when aiming his keyblade (at sora during their fight or at xemnas in kh3) he uses oblivion for that as well.

ASSOCIATIONS

after noticing that riku is able to wield oblivion during their fight, knowing that not just anyone can wield a keyblade (let alone someone else’s which i’m assuming he would learn sometime post kh3??) roxas would start to question the existence of his keyblades more and more. knowing that he’s tied to sora, knowing what sora’s ‘heart’ looks like, and eventually realizing that the charm on oathkeeper was made by kairi would eventually lead roxas to realize that his keyblades are connected to kairi and riku. 

roxas already knows that the reason he can use keyblades is because of sora. but still, the fact that his keyblades aren’t really his isn’t a comforting thought. 

however, as i mentioned above roxas does have a certain preference for oblivion. this may be me making a stretch but if you think about it oblivion does resemble roxas in a way. first of all, it is a predominantly black keyblade, resembling the black jackets that roxas wore during his time in the organization. this means that he associates oblivion with both riku and himself, in a way.

the same thing is true with oathkeeper, but instead it’s with kairi and xion. kairi’s charm, because of it being made from a seashell, reminds him of xion since she would bring him seashells while he slept. the charm is an obvious reminder of it’s connection to kairi, and therefore his connection to sora, but it also reminds him of xion in a way. so while there are some more negative associations to his keyblades, there are a few things more positive about them

EXTRA

roxas takes great pride in having two keyblades? he uses them effectively and more than anything he’s just glad to not be using kingdom key any more, since it is sora’s ‘main’ keyblade. of course, like i mentioned, there are still some doubts he has as to whether or not he can consider these keyblades to be truly his.

that being said, if roxas had the choice to give up his keyblades and live a normal life he might just take it. post kh3 he probably wouldn’t because of the war and everything going on he knows he’s needed now but back in days and kh2? roxas would’ve given up so much to get rid of his abilities over the keyblade or at least have a better understanding as to why he had those powers and why he was different than everyone else in the first place. there’s still a bit of a conflict with the whole ‘the world needs sora, not you’ thing going on inside of him but… that’s a different hc for a different day i suppose.

overall, he’s more skilled in using his keyblades than he is when it comes to using magic (outside of light magic, that is), so he relies heavily on them in fights. his fighting style is much more attack focused than defense focused which works well for him having two weapons to attack with.