#berserk saïx

[avalon-knightly]

I apparently cannot draw in a normal sketchbook. This was drawn in a book with lined paper, then taped into a book with weirder lines, which has a bunch of post-it note sketches taped into it 😐

Anyways, berserk Saïx.

[flummoxx]

Saïx’s final fight in the kh2 manga - a quick character analysis

(spoilers for kh2, 358/2 days, and kh3)

[ I wrote this 4-ish months ago but my writing has improved a lot within that time so please ignore any spelling errors or grammar mistakes ]

Setting The Stage: As Sora and his friends make their way through the Castle That Never Was, he comes across Saïx and Luxord, both prepared to fight them. Before Sora can prepare for battle, Luxord traps his friends (Donald, Goofy, Riku, and Kairi) each in their own cards.

At first, the battle precedes how you would expect. Luxord challenges Sora to a card game in order to bring his friends back: Sora is reasonably upset at him and determined to win the fight, while Luxord may or may not be cheating. Saïx stands to the side watching this unfold.

Saïx Takes Over: In the middle of Luxord and Sora’s battle, Saïx breaks all of the cards in half, right in front of Sora’s eyes. When Luxord protests, Saïx threatens him with the same fate and he backs down.

As Sora stands there frozen in shock, Saïx takes this chance to get in the first couple of hits; knocking Sora to the ground. As Sora gets up, tears roll down his face, believing that all of his friends have died. When Sora finally gets the chance to hit him, he knocks Saïx back pretty far. This causes Luxord to call out his name and Saïx replies with, “I don't need your help.” As he enters his berserk state, the manga shows us a flashback to 358/2 days during the Roxas and Saïx battle.

With the usage of this particular flashback, it's clear that Saïx views Sora as Roxas, explaining his cruel actions here. By fighting Sora he's able to get payback for their battle in days; he's able to finally destroy Roxas, and to make him pay for everything Saïx believes him responsible for. Saïx prevented Luxord from helping him because this battle is something Saïx wants all to himself. He won't tolerate any interference. He’s waited long enough.

As Sora finds himself on the ground again, Saïx asks him some Important questions. He begins with, “You're still standing..? Why do you fight?” he then adds, “Your friends are gone. You have nothing left to protect.” Lastly, Saïx questions, “What point is there in fighting alone?”

I find all of these questions crucial to understanding Saïx’s actions in this fight.

Saïx thought that by making Sora believe all of his friends were dead, he would lose all motivation to keep going. He would lose his purpose. Sound familiar?

Fast forwarding to kh3, Saïx admits to losing all sense of purpose when Axel made friends with Xion and Roxas; leaving him and Subject X in the dust. Feeling that if Axel didn't need him anymore he no longer held any meaning. However, I don't think that was the only reason as to why he lost his purpose. Going back to kh2, Axel died as a sacrifice to protect Sora, leaving Saïx alone in the organization. During this time, most Nobodies were not aware they would come back recompleted after they faded away, so Saïx had no idea that Axel would return. I believe Axel’s death was the final push for Saïx to completely lose his purpose and revolve all his actions going forward around revenge and jealousy. When Sora continued to fight despite the loss of his friends, Saïx became confused as to why he would want to go on when he had nothing left to protect. 

Sora’s Victory: Sora tells Saïx that he still fights; that he continues to press on, because he knows that his heart is connected to his friends, even if they're not physically alongside him. Saïx doesn't understand this himself until much later in the series. (Mentioned in his character files, “If I could just connect to others’ hearts, that would be enough.”) With a final blow filled with determination, Sora finally defeats Saïx.

As Saïx begins to disappear, he looks to kingdom hearts above him and wonders where his heart is. He fades away alone with no one to support his fall. (If you're worried about Sora's friends, they're doing just fine. Luxord had kept the real cards that held Sora's friends in his pocket. The ones Saïx destroyed weren't the real thing. I'm assuming Saïx knew this but It made no difference as long as Sora believed they were dead. Jiminy Cricket was able to release them from the cards safely while Sora fought Saïx.)

[captainbobbin]

tagged by @goth-automaton yeehaww

Rules: list the first line of your last 10 (posted) fics and see if there's a pattern!

I am gonna skim over a couple of fics though that I think were a bit rushed haha - my last batch of fics that came out were all done as part of my one-fic-per-day challenge so some of them are a bit scrappy haha; sue me for only using the fics from that challenge that I felt came out a little more solid lmao

Bearbaiting (nsfw)

“Prove it,” Astarion had spat, and none too kindly.

Earth, Comet, Eclipse

“Your dad's sleeping tonight,” Terra explained once Xion found him outside. He’d asked her earlier in the day to find him, and now he leaned against the wall and gave her an easy smile, which she returned. She liked Terra. She liked how comfy he was, how easy he was to be around. He gave a nod towards the wooded area nearby, the expanse of forest that hugged the edge of one of the rivers that ran around the Land of Departure. “Berserk, however, is up and hunting. Thought we'd go make it a game. You in?”

Midas

“Sanji,” Zeff whispers, hunched by the kitchen door and peering out, tone hushed and severe. Usually it's eggplant or brat or boy. Must be important. When Sanji totters over he's barely hip-height, far too young to be in a galley and far too young to be anywhere else. A hand plants on his head carefully to corral him, aim his gaze outward, and above and below they share the two-inch gap of the door and look out at the dining room. “Look.”

Afterimage (nsfw)

Saïx was pretty familiar with Xemnas’ abilities. Not all of them, which would infuriate him if only he was lucky enough to be allowed such a feeling for Saïx always wanted to know more, but for the most part Xemnas’ strange quirks and magical talents had stopped being unexpected. He’d grown numb to Xemnas floating off of the floor, to lights responding and things moving with barely even a glance, to thorns of nothing winding around things Xemnas’ wanted brought closer - himself included.

Trained Talent (nsfw)

There was a bit of a stereotype about jesters; that they were all secretly miserable, hard done by, only putting on a brave face and faking their cheer because at all times they were at risk of being admonished by whichever member of royalty they tried to entertain. That performers wore masks and actually suffered behind their smiles. There was a nugget of truth to it - a smile is a good way to cover up a frown, after all - but the truth that was more potent was that being a clown was a position of power.

Budbloom

Elliott, truthfully, didn’t spend that much time at the cabin these days.

The Front

Sanji wasn't an idiot. He knew from the first moment he applied for the job that Raindinners was sketchy as fuck. He'd been around, knew kitchens, could tell when corners were being cut - and believe him, they're cut often in a lotta places - but this was something else altogether.

Headspace

“What do you want, Booga?” Jasper snarled as the other Spectral Sentinel all but waltzed into his private quarters after the sound of grating rumbling shook the entire floor. The dull creature had no concept of boundaries and Jasper knew that that was not about to change, but by the goddess he ought to at least learn to knock adequately.

Shear

Xemnas thought often about the concept of trust.

Deathroll (nsfw)

Surviving past lovers, had they the gall, might go so far as to call Crocodile lazy.

I'm surprised that I don't start with dialogue more often - I feel like I often open the fic with something spoken or something that comes back later, but it seems that I actually often start with an establishing paragraph that sets up the point of view characters current emotional state/line of thought. Which isnt a bad thing tbh! Though I think I'm going to have to try and change things up now and then haha

anyone who would like to do this meme, feel free to join in! I'd love to see @hroggins, @winxixia, @finlands-beret share their version and their thoughts but no pressure of course!

[autumn-may]

Ngl I'm thinking so hard abt the comic u made with isa and how he got the scar do you have thoughts on it? I'm rotating it in my brain....

Hm.. Well I guess I could share a bit on how I interpret the pre 358/2 days Akusai relationship, (and how beserk/the scar throws a wrench into it). this ended up being considerably longer than I thought It would be so the rest is under the read more (543 words under cut) 

A big reason I find this era interesting is because it kinda plays into how nobodies function as a whole? If that makes sense. Like the idea of how nobodies replicate the experiences/emotions of their past lives, without having the proper feelings to truly emulate them, and I think that’s really interesting with a relationship such as what was presented in bbs era Lea+isa. They really were close, and I’d suspect that after getting pretty-much-killed they’d still be close, either from a legitimate want or a urge to keep some norm from when they were somebodies. This would probably result in the slow deterioration of their relationship as they attempt to replicate an experience from a memory that’s around eleven years old by 358/2, and eventually their relationship becomes distorted (like trying to paint a portrait through a funhouse mirror). This is my main hc for how they got to the point seen in 358/2. 

A major thing that I think would ‘break’ this is Xemnas/the scar. It’s seen as abnormal by the other members that Saïx was able to reach his position as second-in-command, and that makes me wonder what sacrifices he had to make. The scar itself is what I’m using in the comic, but lunatic (and how he’s somewhat possessed by it when berserking if his nobodies are anything to go off of) is also a thing I think about a lot here. The scar itself is kinda unnecessary when you consider the fact that saïx. Already has a recusant's sigil in his name idk. It kinda feels like possessive if I’m being honest which is neat in reference to how kh2 saïx acts. (NOT suggesting saïx was 100% possessed, or unwilling to do what happened in kh2 that kinda weakens him as a character to me. But bro literally was a highly prioritized member of a cult at the age of 16 there is no way he wasn’t manipulated.) so yeah the scar and what it represents (greater importance in the running of the org) probably fricked them up a lot. 

And one final thing, subject X and loyalty. Just, saix runs on loyalty, he devotes himself wholeheartedly to a cause and loses himself to it. He *literally* gave up his humanity for a girl he doesn't even know the name of, and continued the search for her until he lost even the shadow of what he once was. I don’t know if I can attribute that level of devotion to Axel, and I think that conflict could create some interesting ideas. Specifically, the point in which Axel’s already started to doubt that subX is even real, and Saïxs is at the beginning of a downward spiral. There’s conflict in that! It’s interesting! 

In conclusion Akusai/leaisa is awesome because you get like twoish hours of them interacting in the whole series but every minute of that is so packed with implication and you know the characters individually and you know how the series functions enough to piece together what has to happen in order to get to how they’re shown in [insert cutscene here]. It’s cool and lets me think a lot about the ramifications™ thank you for coming to my Ted talk

[firestorm09890]

girl help I’m once again thinking about the toxic rivalry Saïx and Zexion have in my mind

They both have one guy on their side that they can conspire with: Axel and Lexaeus, respectively.

Saïx and Axel have had a rift forming for ages, meanwhile, Zexion and Lexaeus will be homies forever and for all time, so theoretically that should give them an advantage if we look at it like a 2v2

But here’s the thing. Lexaeus is honorable. So honorable that his values stand out- the fact that he has a moral compass at all stands out, tbh. And, more importantly, he’s very patient and provides stability, advocating for non-action. Zexion himself already doesn’t like taking action, preferring to set things up from behind the scenes and then reap the benefits later, but if he ever considered something overly cruel, Lexaeus would probably talk him out of it.

Axel, on the other hand, is the opposite of honorable. One of the least honorable people in the Organization, which is a tough fucking feat in this crowd. He doesn’t play the game properly, he rips through plans with a knife just for the hell of it. And the thing both wolves and flames have in common is that they’re swift and hungry.

Stagnant earth and miasma vs ruthless fire and moonlit berserker energy. The elements themselves were in Saïx’s favor.

[alphascorpiixx]

KH Characters with FF jobs

I'm mostly basing these from FF3, FF4, and FF14 jobs since those are the ones I know the best but I did research other games' jobs for some. This is mostly going off of characters' personality and fighting styles rather than weapons or stats.

Sora: Onion Knight Riku: Dark Knight/Paladin Kairi: White Mage

Sora could be any jack-of-all-trades job but I picked Onion Knight out of a FF3 bias and also he would look cute in that hat. Riku is basically Cecil Harvey from FF4 so he gets two jobs. Kairi being a princess of heart makes her a White Mage and what is her shotlock if not a flashier version of holy?

Roxas: Samurai Xion: Blue Mage Axel: Assassin

Roxas and Axel get their jobs from their lesser Nobodies, and Axel will stay as an Assassin until Square releases a game with "arsonist" as a job. His FF14 disciple of the hand job would be "ice cream maker." Xion's copy abilities make her an Blue Mage and I wish KH would take more advantage of that ability because then she'd be op.

Aqua: Dancer Terra: Knight Ventus: Red Mage

In an effort to not make Terra the same as Riku he gets to be a Knight but I could also see him as a Dark Knight or Warrior. Aqua's spellweaver ability is basically magic dancing so Dancer. I was struggling for Ven and ended up with Red Mage because 1) its my favorite and I'm not above being biased, 2) all Keyblade wielders could arguably be Red Mages because of the use of both white and black magic along with fighting with a sword, and 3) he also deserves a cool hat.

Vanitas: Ninja Naminé: Summoner Repliku: Dark Knight

Naminé technically never participates in combat but summoning other entities to fight for her is pretty much what she already does just without the memory manipulation. Repliku sacrifices originality for "well his weapon is called Soul Eater anyway". Vanitas was the hardest of these three because he's yet another possible Dark Knight. I gave him Ninja for his warp downslash ability. Alternatively, he could be a Black Mage and Ven a White Mage, but I wanted to go beyond making every darkness character a Black Mage or similar.

Ansem: Black Mage

My joke job for Ansem is the pugilist/monk because he's the only character to fight barehanded (not counting his KH1 final boss where he had a double-bladed version of Soul Eater). He could also arguably be a Summoner and call other Heartless to fight.

Xemnas: Sorcerer Xigbar: Gunbreaker (Sniper) Xaldin: Dragoon Lexaeus: Warrior Vexen: Puppetmaster Zexion: Illusionist Saïx: Berserker Demyx: Bard (Dancer) Luxord: Gambler Marluxia: Reaper Larxene: Ninja

Most Organization members' jobs are just their lesser Nobody types, though for Demyx it would make more sense for him to be a Bard. (But that water does dance after all.) I chose Gunbreaker as an alt job for Xigbar because what's better than two guns? Two sword guns! (Imagine a KH4 bossfight with No Name formchanged as two gunblades.)

Lexaeus, Vexen, and Zexion are the only Org members who don't have lesser Nobodies so I chose them myself. Lexaeus is a Warrior (fights with a giant axe), Zexion an Illusionist (self-explanatory), and Vexen a Puppetmaster (replicas).

Let me know if you have other ideas for alternate jobs. Also I might do a part two with the KHUXDR characters is anyone is interested.

[asleepinawell]

i'm in some sort of Mood about finishing the kh series (for a given value of finished) since I've been playing it since kh1 on ps2 a million years ago but instead of dealing with that i'm going to write my mini retrospective of the titles based on my replay

rest below the line

kh1

story - 7/10. it wasn't the most interesting but it was the first and laid the groundwork for the series. maleficent had a lot of screentime which is always a big plus. love her evil ass. it's also the start of the 'kairi never gets to do anything ever and gets kidnapped every time she tries' persisting problem in the whole series

gameplay - 6/10. feels a bit clunky now in comparison to some of the newer ones. it was harder than some later ones, but mostly because of wonky control issues and not great boss fights. but it's very playable and fun still. mushrooms do a little dance and shake their butt at you. i will never not feel nostalgic about traverse town music. THANK GOD YOU CAN SKIP THE PRE FIGHT CUTSCENES ON RETRIES NOW OH MY GOD YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND THE ONE BEFORE THE DARK RIKU FIGHT WAS LIKE TEN MINUTES AND BACK IN THE DAY YOU HAD TO REWATCH IT EVERY TIME AAHHHHJHHH *i am tranquilized and removed from the room*

re: chain of memories

story - 8/10. i love the focus on the organization 13 internal drama. bitches are running around bad mouthing and killing each other. larxene is a constant joy. marluxia is pretty and goes swish swish and makes flowers. axel was an instant fave. zexion is a shitty twink and i do so love shitty twinks. there was some disney stuff too i guess

gameplay - 2/10. the first time i played it my brother was crashing at my apartment and watching me play and got very into making cool deck combos. so i had him do that for me and i did the combat and the fun sibling shenanigans got me through it. this time i quit after thirty minutes and watched the cutscenes on youtube. it's just so repetitive and meh

358/2 days

story - 7/10. that's too many soras! put some back! story was a bit slow at times but i did enjoy seeing the daily life of the organization and axel/saïx handling their divorce so so well. needed more demyx

gameplay - it's packaged as a movie now so i did not replay the game and can't fairly rate it. i remember it being not the best combat but not terrible for a ds game

kh2

story - 8/10. it would get higher but the fact the beginning is incomprehensible if you haven't played com and 358 loses it some points....i had not played com when i got kh2 and boy howdy. it made more sense on the replay of course and yeah it's a good story. obsessed with how maleficent remains one of the main recurring characters in this series and just Does Shit from time to time because why not. god forbid women do anything etc. also the gay divorce continues to go terribly. saïx is handling this so well i say as he goes into berserk mode again. needed more riku screentime tho

gameplay - 9/10. huge upgrade from previous titles. it was very fun and fluid. the form shifts were a great addition. there were a lot of options but it didn't feel overwhelming or like it disrupted combat. my only real complaint was it felt a bit too on rails at some parts... like cutscene, battle, walk three steps repeat. oh and i hated the gummi missions but i am a gummi hater in general. oh also antiform was amazing. sora can turn into a feral creature... as a treat

birth by sleep

story - 10/10. fuck i love birth by sleep. aqua my beloved daughter who is the most terrifying keyblade master ever. terra my troubled son who got fucked over by shitty adults on an hourly basis. ven the thousand year old little kid who has never caught a break once. also hey it's xehanort and he also has ex husband drama. only note is that aqua should get to say fuck

gameplay - 10/10. the command deck was right up my alley and command forms were the best form gameplay they've done. i loved how all three kids had a unique style and abilities. i loved melding cards and gems to make new cards. i enjoyed playing monopoly. i thought it was the best game in the series when i first played it and that remains true

re:coded

story - 6/10. it was okay? it was largely a rehash but did add a few things. my friend and i kept saying welcome back alvis whenever data riku used a computer so that was fun

gameplay - this was also presented as a movie in the bundle so i won't score it. i don't even remember how it was from way back when i played it

dream drop distance

story- 9/10. the games that switch between multiple perspectives seem to be my favorites and i think it's partly that it makes the story more interesting. the time traveling norts were a bit wtf but that's just an inescapable part of the series. inspired me to get twewy which i will be playing next. MEOW WOW!!!!!

gameplay - 9/10. flowmotion was really neat and fit the style well. i loved the pokemon aspect so much you have no idea. i was a little sad you couldn't meld command cards but it would have been Too Much with all the other stuff going on. a few fights near the end had some really dumb mechanics (the type where when you look up a guide it just says good luck) but there were also some excellent ones. i do think it lost a little something in the port because the stylus on 3ds was important. however there is nothing is quite as satisfying as seeing meow wow hit xehanort with giant bouncy orbs so I'm willing to forgive it a lot

union x/back cover/dark road

story - 9/10. i was shocked how much i enjoyed the story of these. i got very invested and i was only watching the cutscenes, not playing. really interesting world building and the master of masters was an instant fave. one of the only kh titles that passes (barely) the bechdel somehow. also could be retitled as kh: dead kids, because boy did a lot of kids die! extra points for maleficent managing to set major events in motion twice and being very eh whatever about it. love her for that. and the backstory of the xehanort/eraqus divorce, of course. i love a good divorce

gameplay - didn't play this one, just watched ELEVEN HOURS of cutscenes. no longer available which is hilarious considering how much important lore is in it that is referenced in kh3. hopefully they make it into a single player offline game someday with better gameplay

fragmentary passage

story - 8/10. very short but filled in some gaps. i love aqua so i was predisposed to love this one

gameplay - 8/10. it felt like a rough draft for kh3 and that meant it didn't have all the annoying extra crap kh3 added in and played pretty smoothly. i liked the little puzzles. it was a unique game and i enjoyed it more than i expected

kh3

story - 6/10. the fact i had to sit through entire disney movies worth of cutscenes brings the score way down. we did not need to see 3 musical numbers in frozen. if i wanted that I'd watch the movie. i just wanted to play the damn game. the majority of the game is sora got benched and has to get his groove back which was very disappointing for the climatic finale to the series. once i got into the end game though it was much better (i would rate the later game stuff way above a 6 which just makes my frustration with earlier stuff worse). re:mind added in the bits i felt were missing and i came away satisfied overall with the wrap up. axel/saïx had divorce arc three and then got back together finally 🏳️‍🌈🥂🎉. xehanort/eraqus also got back together as they fucked off to be gay in the afterlife. finally we are free of the norts (OR ARE WE???) and the master and the foretellers are slated to come back next from the looks of things. maleficent continues to hang out in the wings waiting for opportunities to #girlboss and I'm excited too see what cataclysmic events she sets off next

so that's it. i did watch the brief melody of a memory scenes but there wasn't too much new there. i may watch the cs from the missing link beta at some point. otherwise it's back to my life long journey of waiting for the next title to drop

gameplay - 5/10. ugh. i bought the game when it came out but between the full length disney movies and the over saturated gameplay gimmicks i didn't get far. this time i powered through and by the end i was enjoying it for the most part because I'd figured out what things to ignore and how to avoid them. attractions were the worst addition to gameplay ever. everything was too flashy. way too many instances of being locked in a "cool" transition animation instead of actually doing combat which broke up the flow of things. i missed the command deck and how much it let you customize your play style. i didn't like the keys being locked to command forms as much as the bbs forms since it meant if you had a keyblade with better stats but hated the special on it you were kinda fucked. this became less of a problem as the game went but was still annoying. overall felt like a step back from the others. they tried to do too much. oh also why were there ten thousand instances of having to learn new controls for some new mini game in every area??? just let me hit things i am begging you. it really felt like they went for cool spectacles over satisfying gameplay

general notes on all of them: i enjoyed the story much more this time due to being able to play them in order. the fact they all released on different platforms originally made the complicated story even more confusing since i couldn't afford to buy a new system every time a new one came out. i really hope they veer away from that practice in the future but i kinda doubt it especially since they've got another mobile game lined up already. while the disney stories were fun early on it felt like the story outgrew them (except for the characters who were in the main story as well like mickey and maleficent) and they were kinda a drag by 3. i doubt they can move away from those since they're the whole gimmick of the series but it would be better imo. deeply worried they'll start bringing in newer disney acquisitions.

one of my biggest complaints about the series has always been how few female characters there are and how little many of them are used. it got slightly better later in the series but overall was still not great, especially for kairi. i kept wondering if they added stuff for her in re:mind due to complaints about this.... the dlc felt like an apology for several things tbh. aqua was great but she shouldn't be the only one and even she got upstaged in kh3 when she's supposed to be the third most powerful keyblade master. weirdly enough maleficent was probably the best written female character. really wild how much she wove into the plot and affected events so much without even trying to (especially in union x). she should fire pete though (i think she should hire demyx)

I'd like to see them let you play as characters other than sora more often since that was always really neat (he's had a billion games to himself now). I'd love a kairi and aqua game but i can imagine square and disney both clutching their pearls over female protagonists

something i noticed was that playing them when i was older i liked sora much better. when i started the series as a teenager i found him annoying. as an adult i have more sympathy and tolerance for teenaged boys who are Going Through It. growth or something

[nadziejastar]

"Along with Lea, sneaks into the sage's castle and makes friends with a girl being used as a test subject (Isa)"

When our parenthetical expression was supposed to clarify that Saïx was Isa but we did an oopsie

LOL, I like that error. Isa is girly enough. It still drives me nuts how heavily it was implied that Isa was a test subject and then KH3 just said "haha NOPE!" It was actually some girl from Union X that was never mentioned until now. Like, wow. Way to throw away literally everything interesting about Saix.

Xehanort was conducting experiments to create human puppets. In DDD Xemnas said, "Our experiments creating Heartless were attempts to control the mind". All the subjects besides Subject X suffered mental collapse. Saix has a big ass scar of death directly over his "mind's eye" which is the psychic eye that lets you see into other realities. He was the ONLY Organization member who could not see Xion as Kairi. And this had NOTHING to do with him being experimented on?

The fact that Saix was so nasty to Xion was one of the most interesting things about him. Yes, he was jealous of how close Axel was getting to his new friends. But Roxas was arguably even closer to Axel than Xion was. Yet, he only singled Xion out for his worst abuse. Xion is described as a mirror that reflects the memories of the person looking at her. She didn't look like anything but a puppet to him. But to Saix, that was no different than looking in the mirror.

Saix was a human puppet. In a figurative sense, he had no choice but to act subservient to Xemnas, who was the one pulling his strings. But he was also a puppet in a literal sense. He had the gold eyes and pointy ears, the same physical characteristics of his puppet master. Not to mention the gigantic scar across his face. Apparently, he could not even stand to look in the mirror long enough to style his hair.

The only person that saw any value in him was Lea. But as far as Saix knew, Axel didn't have a heart and didn't have the capacity to feel anything for him anymore.

Isa was branded with the sigil of a "recusant", a person who refuses to submit to an authority. Of course, to Xemnas, failing is the same as disobedience. So, Saix's scar was probably meant to be the mark of a failure. He was a twisted lunatic. His eyes glow yellow like a Heartless when he's berserk. Literally everything about him was designed with the backstory of being a test subject. One who was considered a "broken, defective failure" that would not wake up and that was disposed of in the Chamber of Repose. What does he even have left if you take that away from him?

[moon-swag-tourney]

Propaganda below!

Moonlight Cookie

she can create worlds in her dreams and like. idk bring them to reality or something i skipped the cutscenes. also she's basically canonically in lesbians with sea fairy cookie :D

She's a lesbian (just like the real moon) and is married to the sea (just like the real moon). She's also a wizard, THEEE Wizard

guardian of the city of wizards, but now the wizards are gone, and she has only her dreams to comfort her.

She's canonically lesbian for the goddess of the sea, Sea Fairy Cookie!! moon lesbian real

Saïx / Isa

He's got a fancy berserk state ability where the moon's power makes his eyes glow and he gets Super Strong and Fast. He's a really complex character in his redemption arc: lost his heart, got it back, and now learning how to be a person again!

The man says it best himself: https://youtu.be/7KBBNU3JjgM  

Broke up with his friend once he saw that he’d found other friends and was super jealous of him, his title is the Luna Diviner, he’s got a giant claymore and a sick ass X shaped scar on his face, he goes berserk (aforementioned moon-activated powers)

The most divorced man of all time. Can not stop backstabbing the other villains. I love him even though he used to be transphobic. 

He’s kinda divorced to a guy with fire/sun imagery which is pretty funny.

[that-wildwolf]

Bothering Wild Wolf time, 'cause why not.

Do you have any fun headcanons regarding members of Org13? Especially Vexen, Marluxia and Saïx? 💜

Yes, I've just listen my favs, don't @ me.

Hihihihi I'm being bothered 🥰☺️

Does tboy Marluxia count as a fun headcanon or is that too basic. Also I really hc that every full moon Saïx goes berserk/has to fight going berserk and there's so much angsty or hurt/comfort fic potential in this but more importantly it also implies that in order to track it, Saïx has a period calendar. He would probably use one of those period tracker apps. Are you picking up what I'm putting down. I think this is hilarious.

[vanibear]

wait i didnt know saïxs claymore was called lunatic. thats so funny to me like... i know its for moon and berserker reasons . But like imagine someone just naming their weapon Insane. full stop nothing else

[princess-of-the-corner]

Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix Recap: Twilight Town (Friendship)

One thing I forgot to mention about Sora’s first visit to Twilight Town (because I was consulting a cutscene compilation instead of a walk through at the time), when you go by to the Sandlot during Sora’s first visit, you’ll get into a confrontation with the real Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee, and then the announcer of the Struggle Tournament will break up the fight, revealing that Seifer won this year’s Struggle Tournament, since Roxas and a Dusk disguised as Vivi never entered.

He also notes that he’s a big fan of Seifer, and offers to host any Struggle matches. While you cannot compete in Struggle during story visits, this is an option for Jiminy’s Journal.

Back to the current visit, SDG arrive to the Tram Common, just in time to see a panicking Vivi running by and calling for help, as someone’s attacking Seifer and co at the Sandlot.

Our Junior Heroes rush off to confront whoever’s responsible.

You can now explore most of Twilight Town, except for Sunset Terrace, the underground tunnel network (closed during all story events), and the Mysterious Tower.

When you arrive at the Sandlot, Seifer, Fuu, and Rai are already defeated and disarmed, the Dusks who trounced them dancing about and closing in.

SDG arrive and put themselves between the Nobodies and the Disciplinary Committee, with Sora promising to handle them.

You are now, for the first time since your first visit to Hollow Bastion, fighting Nobodies again.

The second wave of this battle introduces Berserkers, Special Nobodies wielding giant claymore/hammer/club things that drag their limp bodies around.

When they “Berserk”, their bodies shrink down as their weapons slam down several times, becoming invincible for the duration of their attack.

If you land a combo on them, you can force them to drop their weapons.

Getting close to the dropped weapon will allow Sora to use the “Berserk” Reaction Command.

“Berserk” causes Sora to grab the weapon’s handle, sticking to the top of it as his head is engulfed in a red aura. You can slide the weapon across the ground and catch other enemies on it. After a short time, you’ll get the “Eclipse” Reaction Command, which lets Sora swing the weapon. You can use “Magna Storm” to swing it a few more times before it disappears.

When the last Nobody falls, SDG are left alone in the sandlot.

“Impressive,” VII of Organization XIII passively remarks while sarcastically clapping his hands until he has SDG’s attention. “By the way, have you seen a man named Axel? I expect he’s here somewhere.”

“I don’t see why I should care,” Sora bluntly replies.

“You see, Axel’s no longer acting in our best interests,” VII elaborates.

“Is he with the Organization, too?” Goofy asks.

“Yes.”

“You having a fight?” Donald questions.

“Not a very organized Organization…” Sora snarks.

“Don’t let your guard down,” VII warns, “Axel will stop at nothing to turn you into a Heartless.”

“Gee, thanks for looking out for us, mister,” Sora replies, “But I’m sure we can take care of ourselves just fine.”

“Glad to hear it,” VII replies, “Axel aside, it would break our hearts to hear something happened to you.”

“Hearts?” Donald comments, “You don’t have any hearts!”

“True, we don’t have hearts,” VII remarks as he grabs the edges of his hood, and pulls it back, “But we remember what it was like. That’s what makes us special.”

VII has golden eyes, an x-shaped scar between them, pointed ears with earrings I never noticed before, and long, blue hair. Say hello to Saïx of Organization

“Whaddaya mean?” Goofy questions as a Corridor of Darkness opens.

“We know very well how to injure a heart,” Saïx warns, “Sora, you just keep on fighting those Heartless.”

Sora quietly suggests that they jump in after him, since he thinks it could lead them to the Organization’s world.

“Don’t be reckless,” Saïx cautions, “Do you want to end up like Riku?”

“What?” Saïx, rather than elaborate, backs into the Corridor of Darkness.

“Hey, wait!” Sora calls as the Saïx closes the Corridor to keep them from following.

“What did he mean, end up like Riku?” Sora questions.

“Hey, how ‘bout you get out of my town now?” Seifer suggests, seething with rage, “You’ve caused enough trouble.”

Sora’s still too worried about Riku to reply, but Donald’s all for leaving in a huff.

“Hold it,” Seifer orders as they get ready to leave.

“Make up your mind!” Donald snaps.

Seifer presents the Struggle Trophy, explaining that it goes to the strongest person in Twilight Town.

“Thanks, but we don’t really need it,” Sora replies.

Seifer doesn’t give them a choice, and shoves the trophy into Goofy’s arms, before storming off with the rest of the Committee.

As soon as the Disciplinary Committee walks off, Pence walks up behind SDG.

“Oh! Sora!” Pence greets.

“Um… Pence, right?” Sora replies.

“Do you know a girl named Kairi?” Pence asks.

“K-Kairi!? I sure do!” Sora answers.

“Then you better come to the station,” Pence explains.

You need to go to Station Plaza to progress the story.

However, there’s actually an Absent Silhouette right here in the Sandlot, this one depicting a Hammer Sword.

Interacting with this transports Sora, Donald, and Goofy to the Station of Remembrance.

Bits of earth swirl around the Absent Silhouette. In a flash of light, it transforms into the late Lexaeus of Organization XIII.

Lexaeus’ gimmick in this battle is that he and Sora both have power levels. Sora’s caps at 100, while Lexaeus’ power caps at 99999.

He primarily attacks by swinging his weapon and slamming it into the ground, while periodically charging his power level. When his power level is at least 3000, his attacks while raise up chunks of stone to deal damage to Sora.

Lexaeus ALSO has an attack where he grabs Sora’s face, spins him around, and throws him into one of the four pillars that surrounds the arena. This attack can’t KILL Sora, as it will always leave him with at least 1 HP, but then Lexaeus will usually follow up with an attack that will raise up a stone spike beneath Sora’s feet, so it’s usually best to dodge.

If Sora blocks Lexaeus’ most basic attack (where he swings his weapon sideways), Lexaeus will be staggered, and you’ll get access to the “Mega Impact” Reaction Command. Sora just walks up to Lexaeus and hits him with his Keyblade to stun him, with the stun lasting longer the higher Sora’s power level is.

The lower Lexaeus’ HP drops, the higher his power level climbs.

When he is low on HP, he’ll jump out of bounds, fly towards the arena, and slam his weapon into the ground to raise jagged stones out of the entire surface area of the arena. This attack is unavoidable without the right abilities, so it might be best to just use Reflect to try and turn that damage right back on him.

When Lexaeus is defeated, he reverts back to an Absent Silhouette, which fades away, leaving behind a Lost Illusion and a new recipe.

Strength Beyond Strength allows the player to craft Centurion, a Staff for Donald that grants 13 Strength and 3 Magic.

And in case I forgot:

Zexion’s Absent Silhouette rewards a Recipe called “Book of Shadows” which allows the player to synthesize the Shadow Archive (Accessory that gives 3 magic and 5 AP when equipped).

Larxene’s Absent Silhouette rewards a Recipe called “Cloaked Thunder” which allows the player to synthesize the Shock Charm (Armor that gives +40% Thunder Resistance).

Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Pence meet up with Hayner and Olette at Station Plaza.

“Hey, so how do you guys know Kairi?” Sora asks.

Hayner and Olette share a glance, and then look down.

Cue flashback.

Sora’s surprised to learn that Kairi was really present in Twilight Town, as the camera pans over her and Pluto hanging out with Hayner, Pence, and Olette in The Usual Spot.

Hayner clarifies that Kairi was looking for Sora.

Sora asks where she is, and Hayner’s voice trails off as the flashback’s audio takes over.

“What a romantic story!” Flashback!Olette comments.

“If you stick around, Sora’s bound to show up!” Flashback!Pence suggests.

“Yeah, he said he’s coming back!” Flashback!Hayner adds.

“Okay!” Kairi agrees.

“What took you so long, Kairi?” Axel questions.

The camera pans over to reveal Axel, Number VIII of Organization XIII, emerging from a Corridor of Darkness.

“Somehow I just knew you’d be here,” he remarks, “I tell ya, Kairi, you’ve got a lot of guts, jumping right into the darkness like that.”

Axel approaches Kairi, casually dodging Hayner and Pence’s attempts to attack him.

In the manga, Olette tries (yet fails) to attack him with a bat full of nails.

In the game, she just sits there and lets Axel grab Kairi’s wrist to yank her back into the Corridor of Darkness.

Pluto gives chase, and manages to jump into the Corridor before Axel closes it behind him.

End flashback.

“Kairi…” Sora remarks as he looks down on the Oathkeeper charm.

“Ya think it mighta been Axel?” Goofy questions Donald.

Donald nods.

“Sorry…” Hayner apologizes.

“Hey, it’s not your fault,” Sorra assures the trio, “C’mon, cheer up!” Sora visibly (but not audibly) sighs. “Like I can even say that…”

Goofy leans in to check on a sulking Sora.

“I gotta help Kairi!” Sora shouts, startling Goofy and causing him to drop the Struggle Trophy, each of the crystals breaking off and rolling towards the others.

The green one rolls towards Pence, the yellow one towards Olette, and the red one towards Hayner, once again mismatching the colors of Pence’s and Hayner’s crystals.

“That was close!” Pence declares.

Sora picks up the blue crystal and holds it up to the sun.

Goofy takes the data-based Blue Crystal out of the data-based copy of Olette’s Munny Pouch and holds it up to the sun as well.

Hayner, Pence, and Olette do the same with their own crystals, leaving Donald the only one without a crystal to hold up to the sun.

For a brief second, the cutscene has Sora fade into Roxas.

“Sora?” Donald questions.

The non-diagetic bit of symbolism cuts out as the camera makes a hard cut to Goofy and Donald fretting over a spaced-out Sora.

“Sora! Are you okay?” Goofy questions.

“Huh?” Sora glances around, “What?”

Goofy holds up the copy of Olette’s Munny Pouch to inspect it again, scratching his head as Olette watches.

Meanwhile, the blue crystal from the REAL Struggle Trophy reveals Twilight Town’s Gate, allowing Sora to open it.

“Wh-what just happened?” Pence questions.

“A new road is open,” Sora answers, “And Kairi and Riku are waiting somewhere along it.”

“You’d better hurry, then,” Olette urges.

“You comin’ back?” Hayner asks.

“Promise,” Sora assures as Donald nods.

The camera pans over to the setting sun.

Completing this second visit to Twilight Town unlocks Oathkeeper, returning from the first game.

It grants Sora +3 Strength, +3 Magic, and the Form Boost Ability (Increases duration of Drive Forms and slows Drive Gauge consumption rate).

In Final Mix, it also grants Sora Drive Form. It consumes NEITHER of his party members (the only Drive Form with this distinction), and causes Sora’s outfit to take on the coloration of his KH1 outfit.

It also replaces his combo abilities with combo abilities from his KH1 moveset, and replaces his Magic Command with four “Limits” from KH1. (As a reminder, what this game calls Limits were called “Links” in Japanese, which lead to a LOT less confusing terminology.)

As Sora can’t use Cure to heal, every use of a Limit restores some HP.

The Growth Ability for this form is Dodge Roll, which was COMPLETELY absent from the vanilla release of KH2.

Limit Form gains 1 EXP for every successful use of a Limit, and obtaining Limit Form raises the Level Caps of all Drive Forms.

Limit Form’s Limits are as follows:

Sonic Rave: This is just a mistranslation of Sonic Blade from the first game. After activating it, Sora can use the “Rave” Reaction Command with the right “tempo” to increase the duration of the combo, for up to five additional hits. The last hit is always “Finish”. Costs 60 MP to use.

Last Arcanum: Mistranslation of Ars Arcanum. After activating it, Sora performs a seven-hit combo, with up to five more hits through properly timed uses of the “Bash” Reaction Command. The final hit gives the “The End” Reaction Command. Costs 75 MP to use.

Strike Raid: Lifted directly from the first game with no mistranslations. Sora throws his Keyblade, with up to three more offered via the “Raid” Reaction Command. One more throw can be performed with the “Judgement” Reaction Command. Has strong homing abilities. Costs 65 MP to use.

Infinity: Mistranslation of Ragnarok. Sora automatically performs an aerial combo, and then starts charging an energy attack via one of three Reaction Commands. “Shoot” is the first and weakest, followed shortly after by “Impact”, and the third and final Reaction Command to pop up is “Giga Impact”, after which it reverts back to Shoot and will activate it automatically if the Reaction Command isn’t used. Costs 80 MP. Every projectile’s power is based off of 2/3 of Sora’s Magic stat, plus defense-piercing Neutral damage.

Meanwhile, Where Nothing Gathers, the Corridor of Darkness deposits Saïx in his throne in a new scene created for Final Mix.

“I passed on the message as you so desired,” he reports to the Unknown, who’s still seated in the highest throne, “I told the young Sora to keep defeating the Heartless.”

“Good,” the Unknown replies, “Not only have you the power to inflict pain, you also have the power to plant seeds of doubt in one’s receptive heart.

“Sora will soon begin to doubt himself. It will cause him to hesitate, and that hesitation will turn to anger.

“That anger will fuel him to get rid of his apprehension and move forward.

“He will pave the way for the future we desire.”

“There’s something I’ve meant to ask,” Saïx adds.

“About Axel,” the Unknown remarks, “The poor fool. How long will he keep chasing the illusion of friendship, when he himself lacks emotion?

“Trying so hard to retrieve what he has lost, when it may never have existed in the first place.

“He deserves nothing more than our pity.”

We then cut away from the Final Mix-exclusive scenes for one that was in the base game.

Let’s check in on our Junior Heroes on the Gummi Ship.

“The King, Riku – and now I’ve lost Kairi again, too,” Sora laments.

“Don’t be sad!” Donald urges.

“Donald’s right, you know!” Goofy chimes in, “Why you’re the key that connects everything!”

“So it’s all MY fault.”

“Gawrsh, I didn’t mean that!” Goofy elaborates, “Just do what comes natural to ya and we’re sure to find them!”

“You said it!” Donald agrees.

“Thanks, guys,” Sora replies.

The camera pans over to Hollow Bastion, revealing that a powerful darkness is starting to emanate from and cover it.

“Oh no! Hollow Bastion!” Chip shouts, “It’s all covered in darkness!”

“You’re right Chipper!” Dale remarks, “I wonder what’s goin’ on!”

“Sora! We better hurry and check it out right away!” Chip urges.

To anyone playing the game, if you haven’t already, I suggest you finish Agrabah’s, Halloween Town’s, and/or the Pride Lands’ stories BEFORE going to Hollow Bastion. Speaking of, Hollow Bastion is where we’re headed next.

I hope you’re ready, because things are about to start happening very, VERY rapidly.

(Credit to Mudarrow and KH Wiki.)

-

Manga!Olette is now my favorite character. You go girl!

[redsixwing]

if you're familiar enough with khdr, baldr for the blorbo bingo? if not, how about saix? :3

Alas, I'm not familiar enough with khdr to have a strong opinion about Baldr, so I'll gnaw on Saïx.

Emphasis on the BITING HIM BITING HIM BITING HIM BITING-

ahem.

Saïx is a high quality treacherous chew toy. Unfortunately for him, he's also Xehanort's chew toy, and his berserking doesn't endear him to me.

A very good terrible man. A+ color scheme. Would totally have the gender envy if he weren't quite so soggy; he misses out on a bingo by THAT much.

[captainbobbin]

@goth-automaton tagged me in a writing game, where for each letter in a given word, I must give a sentence from one of my writing wips (or a previously posted written work). I am going to actually do more than one sentence for some, just for a bit of bonus context haha my word was moonlight -

M - Murakumo had a bad habit of his sheer size bulldozing and breaking things around him without trying or meaning to - one sudden movement here, or perhaps more steady, creeping movements, and The Blue Moon might just collapse around them due to Kumo’s…. Anger? Sickness? Ares wasn’t sure, but it was a lot, whatever it was.

O - One only needed a single glance of the ship's innards to know who it belonged to. The soft furnishings even smelled of his perfume, not that Hendrik would try to notice such a thing.

O - Oddly - whether it was manipulative or not, Saïx could not tell, but all the same it had an effect - Ansem’s voice tapered, became almost weak, pleading, sad and small. “What he lacks has become so intense that it found home in me, pet. I ache - you have broken me, by simply being what you are.”

N -  Norberto had always loathed birds. Hendrik wondered why Sylvando gave such an adoring look towards the symbol of The Eagle upon the breastplate of his armour. 

L -  Lea had always seen him for him, not his face and pout and eventual scars, but, still. Isa wasn't a looker. Too grizzly, too awkwardly put together. He mussed up his damp hair a little. Too messy. Too complicated. Too beastly. 

I - “I would expect you to carve ‘here lies Hendrik, he vomited on my boat,’ upon my gravestone.”

“Right above the ‘and I also made him dress as a clown.’,” Sylvando beamed, and slowly he stood up straight, hands on the wheel rather than simply lazing over it.

G - "Goodnight, my dear VII." Xemnas allows himself to say as Saïx opens the door to leave, his voice as soft as he can manage and sounding like nothing that could possibly come from the Lord of All Nobodies. Gold flashed back at him, his underling meeting his gaze for barely a moment.

H - He could not recall - whatever dreams he may have had were dashed the second he opened his eyes and saw the fool right there, like he always used to be, like he always was meant to be, like he had never left at all.

T -  Terra was sure that Berserk, inside of Isa, was growling. “It’s first memory is of that padded little cage. A shoebox for Xemnas to house a specimen he wanted to study."

These are all from wips haha - I really need to write faster; I will tag @finlands-beret, @bookworm-liv, @we-are-trickster and @winxixia as I know they write quite a bit - if anyone else would like to do this, please go ahead! There is no pressure though of course. If you would like to do this, then why don't we have your word be kingdom

[atomic-taco-muffin]

Jessica being noctis's twin and the chosen guardian of the crystal true pacifist au:

Meanwhile:

Jessica: the f- ! Glady let me go!

Gladiolus: no can do your majesty I understand you wanting to go berserk mama mode on the idiot

Jessica:

Hana: what exactly is berserk mama mode?

Ignis: *explains*

Hana: woah that's actually kind of impressive

Hana: so like uncle Saïx in a way?

[goth-automaton]

You know, I really like the headcanon, that berserking burns a shitload of calories and, as a result, Saïx needs to eat much more, than average... Add a pregnancy and you get so many cute scenes, where others are taking care of him and cooking for him and making sure his food intake is appropriate! He has to eat for two now, after all! 😊