#even swapping terra for ven in the second one

[ice-cream-beat]

parallels: KH2 BBS secret ending vs 0.2BBS opening     ↳ Aqua casting barrier to protect her precious fam

[karla-the-elemental-dreamer]

KH-OC Week - Catch Up: Day 3 - (3 AUG 2021)

@khoc-week

For this day, I will be covering 2 prompts: 'Loss' and 'Heartless/Nobody appearance'.

Firstly, for 'loss', I ended up having a dream, which seemed to play on the BBS scene where Eraqus was struck down (so relating to this theme; losing Eraqus; losing someone dear to you). Only in the dream, Xehanort didn't have his way, and the Land of Departure remained in existence. And then it seems like the situation was swapped, and Terra seemed to bring a 'you get what you give' experience to my end:

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Dream No. M79A - Master Eraqus' Second Chance (24 JUL 2021):

The dream started with me at the Land of Departure, outside, witnessing the cutscene after Terra (KH-BBS appearance) fighting Master Eraqus, for myself. In the same way, Terra went “What have I have done?”, as he then started crying. However, I quickly came and wrapped myself around Terra (now suddenly in KH3 appearance) from behind and closed my eyes, but it wasn’t just an ordinary hug. I seemed to be able to exercise the power to bring Eraqus back to life, that is, if I was able to say the right words (while in the void via Terra) to Eraqus to convince him to come back.

It wasn’t long before Riku (KH3 appearance) came up to me and gently said, “Terra’s grieving”, suggesting I leave Terra and go with him. For some reason, I seemed to trick Riku into thinking I was feeling slightly remorseful that I couldn’t help Terra; I kept to myself that I had already acted, and in a profound way. So for the time being, neither Terra or Riku knew what was about to unfold, and Terra continued to weep outside as Riku took me into the halls.

The dream then seemed to play from a third-person perspective for some time, as Terra walked in, but seemed surprised when he noticed Eraqus standing on the top level. Terra shouted “Master!” as he ran up to the second level to meet Eraqus. With Terra being literally gobsmacked that Eraqus was there, they went into a side area to talk. Terra asked Eraqus, “Was it Aqua?”, in which Eraqus responded with no. “Was it Ven?”, Eraqus said no again. But, realising that Terra couldn’t possibly guess anyone else…

Eraqus continued something like, “It’s someone who has a very special place in your heart. She told me to come back. In-fact I can show you what she said to me”. With Terra closing his eyes, the scene went to when I was in the black void, floating in-front of Master Eraqus as I said something like, “It wasn’t Terra’s fault, Eraqus, please forgive him. (forgotten in the middle), I hope I’ve done enough, and that you decide to come back”. As Terra opened his eyes, there was a quick sub-scene at the front of the halls, of Kairi and I standing side by side as Terra’s voice said, “There’s two princesses of light”.

The dream went back to the main scene, from my perspective again now. I was standing with Riku at the front of the halls as Terra walked out of the side area. I approached Terra, who had a look of awe on his face, as when I was right in-front of him, he wrapped me in a tight hug. The dream camera showed Riku first of all looking confused, but then the awareness of my situation seemed to hit him, and he sighed and gave a close-mouthed smile with the energy of ‘you cheeky dreamer’.

As Terra released me, my phone went off; Terra going to join where Aqua and Ventus were standing, while I went closer to Riku to answer my phone. It was my mum, and she seemed to be crying over the phone. She told me that I had to come home; that my grandma had died. I grew upset and started crying as I approached Riku and said, “we have to go home”, telling him what happened. With a look of sorrow, Riku gave a remorseful groan as he welcomed me into his arms.

After a lengthy hold, Riku released me and I thought we would now be going. But then for some reason, I didn’t know how Riku and I could get home. I looked over at Terra and said that Riku and I could use his help, in which he softly nodded and left Aqua and Ventus’ area. Terra realised what I wanted as he equipped his armour and opened some sort of portal in the room. Like in an earlier dream, Terra got me to sit in-front of him as he leaned over me, while Riku seemed to be hanging from the vehicle like he was holding onto some monkey-bars.

Landing in my house, I went to my mum who was in the front room, visibly very upset at what had happened, while Riku and Terra watched on from the side of the room. And I too ended up crying again at the inescapable feeling that my grandma was gone. After a few moments of me just standing there and sobbing, Terra slowly walked over to me and draped me in another long, tight hug, me now crying on his shoulder.

When he released me, that’s when the dream went to the next scene, but it felt like it was playing as a sub-scene. My grandma was standing in-front of the central heating unit, and was talking, seemingly how she was explaining how she was back. But it sounded weird as she was saying all these complex English sentences, and English isn’t her first language IRL. At first, I was wondering how she came back, but then an energy hit me, and I realised it was Terra. When he held me in the front room, he was returning the favour; he basically did the reciprocal of how I had brought back Master Eraqus for him. After a while of my grandma saying some weird stuff, the dream ended.

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Secondly, the 'Nobody/Heartless' prompt:

Firstly, my name as a nobody would be Xalkra; and I have my own Organisation XIII. As for appearances, I haven't really considered it much yet. Xalkra would obviously be wearing the black coat. Like Larxene, she has a bratty demeanour and can be quite devious. Xalkra is the leader of the Org, and has the title of 'The Mastermind'. I use my academic gifts and abilities for good things; she uses hers for ulterior motives.

And then in my AU, I have two side main characters, two teddies (a male and a female) called Selvian and Sierra. In adapting them to the KH AU, they are like my Donald (Selv.) and Goofy (Sier.), and we would form a KH trio in itself if the criteria required. I have an archived drawing (from my GIMP days) of the two bears as their nobody forms, Lexavnis and Serrixa. For height perspective, the bears would come up to my pelvic bones:

Today I know more about KH than I used to; and now I understand that the nobodies aren't necessarily fully evil. So if I had to revise their appearance today; I would. Lexavnis and Serrixa seem to have a heartless palette going on here.

With my previous fan-fic AU, Lexavnis and Serrixa would do Xalkra's bidding. In the story, Xalkra said that Selvian and Sierra had to race Lexavnis and Serrixa (our Org can could co-exist at the same time; so like Sora and Roxas), and the prize was the spare vessel that Selv. and Sier. had to try and win to revive/re-create Repliku, after we thought he was killed off in KH3.

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Bonus (still Heartless/Nobody) - Horace:

I do have other teddy bear OCs, but they don't feature as much as they are not the main two. They would also make up Xalkra's Org 13. There's one bear called Horace, who I have concepted to be an obese bear that doesn't know his limits, so much so that he even goes around and eats furniture (eg. why does your bed only have 3 legs?). He is quite 'dumb', he doesn't speak, just wanders around, 'rumbles' and eats things. Others have to keep him away from objects/structures, and vice-versa.

His nobody is called Raxeoch. Once again, he can't talk, he may appear 'dumb', BUT he is actually smart, otherwise how can he eat things to help Xalkra's motives? Unlike Horace, Raxeoch knows what to destroy. In the fan-fic I wrote, the start of the assault on Riku's Destiny Islands property was when Riku caught 'a teddy bear', trying to stuff a sun lounge chair into his gob. I never finished the fan-fic; I was eventually going to get Raxeoch to eat Riku's (or maybe somebody else's) keyblade.

Let me know if you ever want a drawing to be done of Horace (I currently don't have one).

Edit: Forgot to mention that teddies cannot wield keyblades.

[floriswrite]

Tonight’s sad thought is Lauriam being shown Eraqus’s grave because that would be part of the Terra/Aqua/Ven tour because History 

And just Lauriam going to pick up Master’s Defender because that is /Brain’s/ Keyblade and Terra and Aqua going to block it while Ven is just Staring because this kids memory is a hot mess and even with his Chirithy back there’s still a lot of amnesia happening in there. 

Lauriam just staring them down and crossing his arms over his chest “I’ll put it back. I want to see if it’ll let me touch it after this long.” 

Aqua and Terra sharing a look and stepping to the side, but also waiting for Ven to say something. Because Ven’s basically their Lauriam translator because Lauriam is mild mannered and quiet but also just constantly Doing Things. 

“Hello,” Lauriam’s voice was soft as he stood before Master’s Defender. It was odd to see it here, but it had also been odd to see with Brain. Brain was not a fighter. 

/”I’m just curious,” Brain had laughed when he asked to try and hold Divine Rose. 

“Fine, but you have to swap with me then.” Lauriam had agreed only on his terms. He let Brain hold his heart a little too much as matters were, this was even more personal./ 

Ven stepped up to his side then. “Tell me?” 

“Only a bittersweet memory.” Lauriam responded and curled his fingers around the handle. “I understand the point of this, but he would be happier with it being used.” He did not try to move it but looked to Aqua. “This was not a Keyblade meant to /die/.” 

“It’s staying here.” Terra stated. The end with Eraqus had not been pleasant but he had still been a good master for them. He deserved this. 

“Lauriam, /we/ need this.” Aqua responded and patted Terra’s arm. “But if that Keyblade chooses you that is its choice.” 

“No. It, like its original master, was never meant for my heart.” Lauriam let it go and turned away. “When the time is right it will be used again.” 

Ven frowned up at him before taking one of his hands. Lauriam had always been mature, and he was still getting used to his age, but he had figured out a few things about the adult Lauriam. Namely that he had fully accepted that Brain was not coming back. 

“I’m okay.” Lauriam smiled down at him. “What’s next on your tour?” 

/Brain had pouted at him for a moment before summing forth Master’s Defender. “Your Keyblade is way cooler.” 

“I think basic is nice.” Lauriam responded with a small smile. 

“Mmm, give me.” 

Lauriam laughed and offered over Divine Rose. 

They a touch clumsily traded Keyblades. 

And for a few seconds Master’s Defender was in his hold before it vanished. 

Brain said nothing as his hold stayed firm on Divine Rose./ 

Ven did not believe him but he was not about to push in front of Aqua and Terra. “I think, home.” 

“Home sounds good.”  

[phoenix-downer]

Affection

For SoKai Week Day 1 - Quote Day

Waking up next to Sora was like waking up next to a ball of sunshine and warmth.

Seriously, he was really, really warm in the morning, her very own personal heater. She almost didn’t need the blanket currently tangled around her legs and his.

He was still fast asleep, his chest steadily rising and falling and his face half-buried in his pillow. His spikes poked up every which way, and she played with his hair for a few moments as he snoozed on. A quick glance at the clock on their bedside table told her it wasn’t so early she couldn’t get up and get breakfast started. Pancakes would be good if they still had enough eggs.

As she sat up to do just that, his hand shot out and latched onto hers. She turned and raised her eyebrow as he looked up at her with puppy dog eyes, bright and blue and not at all sleepy.

“You weren’t actually asleep, were you?” she teased as she gripped his hand more tightly, the gentle weight from the ring on her finger a reminder that this, this was real. This was their life now.  

He shook his head, a grin spreading across his face. “Nope. Just enjoying some time with my wife.”

“I take it the mission went well?” she said as she tucked a stray strand of hair behind his ear. “You were so quiet last night I didn’t even hear you come in.”

“You were already asleep. I didn’t wanna wake you.”

She smiled softly. “I told you, didn’t I? Spending time with you is worth losing sleep over.” She bent down and kissed his forehead. “Rest a little longer. I’ll go make breakfast.”

“Stay, please.”

She looked into his eyes, and the look in them sent a pang through her. Ever since he’d come back to life all those years ago, he’d been… different. Haunted by both his ghosts and hers.

“Just a little longer,” he pleaded, his voice softer, lower than usual, and her mind went back to that day all those years ago. That day he’d made it clear he needed more affection, no, needed her affection.

How could she ever forget?

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Sora had changed. His smile was bigger than ever. His laughter was louder than ever. He was alive in a way that he hadn’t been before, his eyes sparkling with energy and affection, perhaps because his brush with death had taught him how precious life was.

Kairi figured she was the same. Her second chance at life had also opened her eyes to how important her friends were. How important her family was. How important he was.

So she hovered. Hovered at the edges as he spent time with their friends. Said hello to everyone who’d thought he’d been lost for good. His welcome home party on the Play Island had people from over two dozen worlds, which had Donald squawking in vain about the world order.

It was easy to feel a little lost. A little excluded. He had so many friends, so many people who had missed him, who were glad to have him back. He was like the glue that held them all together, and it would be selfish to try to keep him all to herself. So she chatted away with Xion and Naminé as the three of them piled their plates high with watermelon and sea-salt ice cream and barbecue. Made small talk with Roxas and Axel as the three of them tossed a frisbee back and forth. Swapped stories with Aqua and Ven over s’mores. Listened to Goofy and Terra recount their latest adventures. Caught up with Hayner, Pence, and Olette with Riku.

It wasn’t till everyone was sprawled out on their sleeping bags beneath the stars that she noticed Sora was missing. His own welcome home party, and he’d managed to give them all the slip. To be fair, most of his guests were now conked out from all the food they’d eaten and running around they’d done, so it wasn’t like he’d really ditched them.

Putting her jacket back on and grabbing a spare blanket, she wove her way among their sleeping friends towards the little waterfall and pool by the entrance to the Secret Place. She had a feeling she knew where he’d snuck off to.

A few moments later, her suspicions were confirmed as she emerged in the little cavern. Sora was kneeling by the paopu drawing, his hand resting over the chalky picture of her.

“Thought I might find you in here,” she said as she draped the blanket over his shoulders.

He rested his hand over hers, and the warmth from his contact spread up her arm and made the damp, chilly cavern more comfortable.

“I wanted to make sure it was still here,” he said, tenderly stroking the drawing with his thumb. “That I hadn’t just… imagined it.” He looked at her, his blue eyes unfathomable. “My memories, Kairi…”

“I know.”

He withdrew his hand from the drawing and glanced at his palm for a moment before balling his fist. “They were taken from me. Payment so I could pay the game.”

“But they’re back now, right?”

He nodded. “Yeah. That was a big relief. When we were separated, I woke up in this strange city. Didn’t know where I was. Hardly even knew who I was. And my heart… my heart was aching. It felt like someone had ripped something important out of it.” His eyes met hers. “Now I know why. You were gone. Taken from me, just like everything else.”

A lump built in her throat as she found his hand and held it. “But not anymore. From now on, we can be together, just like we promised.”

“Like we promised,” he echoed. “Kairi, about the paopu fruit—”

“I haven’t forgotten,” she said. “What I said back then hasn’t changed, either.” She took a deep breath. “Neither have my feelings.”

“Mine have,” he said, and she tilted her head. What did he mean?

“Fighting my way back to you, even when I didn’t know why I was fighting, my heart still knew,” he clarified. “I took you for granted before. It wasn’t until… until I lost you that I realized—”

He trailed off, unable to continue. A sick feeling settled over her stomach at the expression on his face. Her death was still bringing him pain, just like his death still brought her pain.

“It’s okay,” she said as she laced their fingers together, not sure who she was trying to convince.

He shook his head, his spikes going this way and that. “No. It’s not okay, and I’m gonna spend the rest of my life making up for it.”

She hesitated for a moment, carefully weighing her words. “Sora, you’re back. You’re alive. That’s all I care about. Everything else is in the past, okay?”

His eyes found hers. “Yeah.”

Giving his hand one last squeeze, she brushed her skirt off and stood. “Well, I’m gonna try to get some sleep, but—”

He latched onto her hand, and one look at his face was enough to make her stop. Especially when he was the one who twined their fingers together this time.

“Don’t leave,” he said, more plea than command.

“Sora?”

He squeezed his eyes shut, his face contorting in pain. “I can’t— I don’t wanna be alone anymore.”

She knelt next to him again and wrapped her arms around him. “Oh, Sora.”

He hugged her back, the first time since their reunion. His arms were strong and secure, and it felt right to hold him like this, to be held like this. He was solid and real when so many of her nightmares had been about him slipping right through her fingers. And yet she wondered, who was comforting whom here? All of those moments she’d spent missing him, and yet he was the one begging her to stay.

His words from before came back to her. “I feel strong with you,” he’d said, and it hit her. As warm and affectionate as he was, as much as he supported his friends, he needed just as much affection. Needed just as much support. Needed a shoulder to lean on when he had his moments of weakness too.

Hero or not, he was still himself. He was still human.

“You’re safe with me, remember?” she murmured, giving him permission to be weak. Giving him permission to tell her when he needed this. Needed her.

His grip tightened, and she knew she’d said the right thing.

“Kairi, thank you.”

No more words were needed after that.

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Looking into Sora’s eyes again now, she knew what he was really asking, what he really needed right now. Breakfast could wait. This was more important.

“Turn over,” she said softly. His face brightened, then he rolled over so she could scootch up close to him. As much as he liked holding her, he liked being held just as much, evidenced by his deep sigh of contentment as she wrapped her arms around him.

“Jetpack now in position,” she murmured as she planted a kiss on his shoulder. “On standby for snuggling duty.”

The soft laughter that shook his whole chest was the best sound, the best feeling. “You always know just what to do. Thanks, Kairi.”

“Hey, you’re not the only one craving a good cuddle. I missed waking up next to my snuggle buddy. This is just as much for me as it is for you.”

“Good. I like it when you’re selfish.”

“Don’t tempt me,” she teased. “I can be even more selfish…”

“I hope that’s a promise.”

“Oh, it is. Trust me.”

He turned over and kissed her, a big grin on his face, and that was all it took to make everything else fade away. Because this, right here, right now, was all they really needed.

Whatever the future might hold, they could face it, so long as it was together.

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The quote I chose is from the KH2 opening and is sung backwards: “I need more affection than you know.” I thought it suited Sora well, so I decided to see where it took me, and this story was the result. Hope you enjoyed!

[kingdommad300]

The Two Keepers

Summary:  With both of them deemed to be called Master, Sora and Kairi have been tasked to start up a school to train potential keyblade wielders, only to clash at every decision. Will they become the two keepers they want to be or will they lose the relationship they worked so hard to build?

Genre: Romance/Hurt/Comfort

Rating:K+

Chapter One: Celebrations

Sora grinned proudly as he finished tying up the surprise banner to the other palm tree for when the others return from Yen Sid’s. He stepped off the ladder to take in the set up. Placed on the beach were a few tables with some white cloths over them, balloons tied to some of the tables, party hats and paper places on the tables with some party poppers. The banner itself was huge white banner that said, ‘Congrats Master Kairi and Master Lea!!’.

“Wait until the guys see this!” He said excitably, he chuckled to himself slightly though as the wind picked up and blew some of the paper plates and party hats away. “Maybe I should have considered the wind.” He smiled softly as he walked over to pick up the paper hats. As Sora picked up the fallen hats, he started to think of everything that had happened to them leading up to this.

It had been two years since the final battle with Xehanort and his seekers, a journey that ended up being the hardest out of all the journeys that he had been on. It would be an understatement to say that he has been enjoying the sense of peace that came knowing that Xehanort was forever out of the picture. The first thing he did was have a long, satisfying nap on the beach of Destiny Islands, something that his friends laughed at him for. The second thing was going on a tour to the other worlds with Riku and Kairi, something the three of them wanted to do from the very beginning.

Things between Sora and Kairi have changed dramatically since they defeated Xehanort, something that still makes the Keyblade Master smile warmly as he reminisces the events. Before their battle with Xehanort, they had taken the chance to share their feelings and fears to each other, sharing a Paopu fruit with each other in case the worst was to happen in the battle. There was even a moment where Sora had to watch Kairi get taken away by the villian himself. He had even swapped placed with her in order to bring her back. It was only six months later that Kairi and Riku had managed to find him again within the Realm of Dead. He just remembered the speeding hug he received from her and thinking how he never wanted to let go of us again.

They had made things official the night after they returned to the Islands. Spending the night under the stars in each other’s arms.

After that, they have spent most days with each other’s. Travelling the worlds with Riku, training and sparring with each other and working together in sync if they are needed for any Heartless control. They will be days where the two of them might not be together, like if Sora spends the day hanging out with Riku or if Kairi was doing some special training with Aqua and Lea to prepare for her Mark of Mastery but normally these days, you wouldn’t find one without the other.

After making sure that the hats were not going to fly off again, Sora walked around the table set up one more time as a beam of light appeared on the beach. Sora shielded his eyes slightly before looking to see who was first to arrive. “Riku! You’re here!” He grinned as he walked over to his best friend.

Riku’s appearance hasn’t changed much over the two years, he was still taller than Sora by a good couple of inches, still ready for a fight. “Hey goofball! I’ve been looking over for you.” He said before looking at the mini party. “Oh, not this again…” He groaned, shaking his head at the sight.

“What? It’s tradition.” Sora proclaimed, walking back over to the table.” We did it for you and you passed the Mark, we did it for me, Roxas, Terra, Ven….” He listed. He turned around, having grabbed a pair of round glasses with a fake moustache and placed it on his face. “I even found this.” The sight of the glasses just made Riku burst into laughter. “See? It’s fun. I thought Kairi and Lea should get the same thing.”

“Sora. What are you going to do if they don’t pass?” Riku asked him, looking at the giant banner.

“They will. I know they will.” He smiled in belief, taking the glasses off and putting them on the table. “Either way, everyone is coming here after they get their results from the Mark of Mastery.”

“Who is everyone?” Riku raised his eyebrow, not wanting to be surprised again when Sora tried to invite literally everyone he knew before Donald had told him off.

“You know, the usual.” Sora shrugged as he started to collect some wood to start a little campfire on the beach to keep people warm. Riku automatically started to get some of the logs they save in one of the shacks to use as seats.

“That includes Aqua?” Riku asked. Sora nodded in response, placing the wood in the fire pit before looking at him questionably. “It’s just that she wanted me to ask you to talk to her when you can but since you invited her to the gathering, she can talk to you herself.” He explained.

“Is that why you were looking for me?” Sora questioned, having his friend nod in response as he placed the log down. “I wonder if everything is okay?” He wondered. Before the two could think more about the subject, more people started to show up.

Donald and Goofy were first to appear. They greeted the two Islanders before spotting the afternoon tea and sandwiches on the table and head straight the tables to take a seat. Roxas, Naminé, Hayner, Pence and Olette showed up, Sora greeted the Twilight Town crew as guided them to the tables. It was then that Sora saw that Tidus, Wakka and Selphie had rowed over from the other island with the last of the supplies that Sora needed to set up. While Sora and Selphie hanged up the last of the decorations, he noticed that Aqua, Terra and Ventus arrived, the last of their guests. Before he got a chance to greet them, he saw that Riku had covered for him while he finished up. He would have to catch up with Aqua and the others later.

After thanking Selphie, Sora took a moment to sit down and look at his communicator. All that needed to be done now was wait for a message from King Mickey. Since Mickey would be brining Kairi and Lea to the Islands, it made sense that he would send the message to hide when they are ready and to be ready to abort if they did fail but he didn’t think they would fail. Both Lea and Kairi have been working hard for the Mark of Mastery.

“Sora. It’s good to see you.”

He looked over to see Ventus, the boy who slept in his heart for most of his life. Ven walked over to him as the two gave each other a huge brotherly hug. Since freeing Ven’s heart and getting to know him as a person, the two of them grew close very quickly. Ven was like the older brother Sora never had, who had always been there to guide without him knowing. Sure, Sora treated Roxas like his own brother as well but having someone’s heart within you for so long, their relationship is different.

“Did you find it?” Sora asked him, knowing that since Ven’s heart was returned to him. He had been having dreams about a life before Master Xehanort in a place called ‘Daybreak Town’. He would dream about discussing things with his friends. When we had asked Chirithy about ‘Daybreak Town’, they explained that it was the land of fairy tales, where keyblade wielders used to live. So, Ven has been spending the last year, travelling the worlds to look for clues about ‘Daybreak Town’ and how to get there.

Ven shook his head. “Not yet. But I have heard that there was once a book called ‘The Book of Prophecies’. Pete accidently mentioned it when I had to deal with some of his Heartless. So, I might check out some of the library’s the worlds have to offer to see if I can find the book.” Ven yawned at the thought. “Then again, Aqua likes that sort of stuff. Maybe she will help me.”

“Isn’t Aqua busy with her students?” Sora asked before adding, “And if you are all here, who’s looking after them?”

“They went to visit their families for a couple of days while we came out here.” Ven shrugged. “So, she can help me with the books.”

“What about Terra? You can get him to help too.” Sora suggested.

Ven smiled at the idea, leaning back slightly as he looked up at the sky. “We can use this to just be the three of us…just like old times.”

“But don’t you guys hang out?” Sora asked him. “I mean, you are all based in Land of Departure.” He would have thought that the three of them would be exploring the worlds together like himself, Kairi and Riku did after they returned home.

“Well Aqua has her students and they can be a handful. We try and help with training every now and again, but Terra has his responsibilities and I’m still working on finding Daybreak Town. To be honest with you Sora, coming to this party has been the first time in a while that I have got to hang out with both Terra and Aqua without thinking of our responsibilities.” Ven explained before jumping up from where he sat. “Just remember Sora. I may be busy with finding the book and the town but if you ever need me. I’m a call away.” He smiled before walking over to the others.

As if on cue, Sora’s communicator started to go off. He pulled the device out of his pocket and clicked on the screen to see a message from Mickey. When reading the message, he couldn’t help but cheer with excitement, giving the others a clue what was going on. “I knew they could do it!” He grinned. Kairi is now a master! Both Lea and Kairi have become masters but he couldn’t help but be prouder for the Princess of Heart. After all their practise duels and training and even the whole orderal with Xehanort when she had begun her training, she has earned the title, ‘Master.’ He placed the communicator back in his pocket before turning to the party guests. “Guys! They are on their way!” He shouted to them, making sure everyone could hear him. “We have five minutes to hide.”

The next five minutes couldn’t have been more manic for the group. They first all tried to hide everyone and the tables with a spell, but the result led to Hayner tripping over one of the chairs and taking Donald and Wakka down with him. Then everyone tired to hide in the seaside shack, only for Tidus to break the old, wooden door when leaning against it, meaning that only a few people could hide there. Then Roxas decided it would be funny to push Riku into the waterfall, only to be pushed in by Naminé as a result. Eventually, everyone spread themselves around the small play island in different locations, making sure they were staying quiet.

They stayed in their hiding spots for a couple of minutes before another beam of light appeared a small mouse king with two familiar red heads, who look like they had just been put through hell and back with their exam. They would only jump when all their appeared from their hiding spots to shot ‘Surprise!’.

Lea was the first to reaction with a huge laugh as he took in the sight of Roxas and Riku’s soaking hair and clothes. “Why did you guys hide under the waterfall?” He snickered, holding his sides.

“Because!” Roxas walked towards his best friend, looking as if he planned the whole thing. “You would never expect it.” He said.

“Yeah! Only Roxas would voluntarily jump in a huge amount of water to hide.” Hayner joked.

Sora didn’t waste anytime to run over to Kairi with excitement as he picked her up and spun her around, gaining a surprise gasp and giggle from her. He slowed down and kissed her on the forehead, smiling lovely at her. “I’m so proud of you.” He told her before pulling her into a hug.

“I couldn’t have done it without you.” She muffled in Sora’s jacket before she pulled away, looking at everyone while taking Sora’s hand into hers. “And everyone here, thank you.”

“Yeah! We both promise to be the best masters out there!” Lea added before looking over to Riku. “I bet we could beat you!” he challenged.

Riku chuckled at this, “You forget who helped you prepare for the mark.”

Terra stepped toward, looking at the two with a huge amount of respect. “Just remember, gaining the rank of ‘Master’ is just the first step. There will be many challenges you will have to face in the future.”

Aqua nodded in agreement. “But for now, let us celebrate the here and now.”

Naminé raised her tea cup in the air, “To Master Kairi and Master Lea!” She cheered.

“To Master Kairi and Master Lea!!”

“Congratulations!”

“We believed in you both!”

“GO KAIRI AND LEA!!”

It wasn’t long before the sun started to go lower in the sky, creating a warm orange tint in the sky that reflected onto the sea. After consuming all the sandwiches and biscuits, Kairi and Lea explained test to the others and what they had to do. From the sound of it, Yen Sid had created illusions of their worst fears that the two had to face and he had placed them in the Keyblade Graveyard of all places. The two had worked together, just like they did on that day two years ago and came out victorious.

After the story, Sora and Kairi decided to walk over to the Paupo tree for a bit of time to themselves. They could see that no one had notice them leave as most of lot of the guests were watching Lea and Roxas duel against Terra and Ventus, providing the evening entertainment. The only ones that looked a little more serious was Riku, Mickey and Aqua, who seem to be talking in detail.

Sora sat down on the Paupo fruit while Kairi leaned on the trunk itself, standing in front of Sora as he wrapped his arms around her with Kairi stroking his arm in response. “So, this is what it’s like to be master of the keyblade.” Kairi spoke out loud as the two of them took the sunset in. “I expected to feel…a little different.”

“How so?”

“Well, it’s hard to explain.” Kairi thought about it. “When I first got given the Keyblade, I had a huge sense of responsible rush through me. It gave me that sense of growing up. I thought becoming a master would do the same.”

“Don’t worry, Kai.” Sora assured her. “Once you get as busy as Aqua and Mickey does with their students, you will properly feel like a master then.”

“Well, what about you?” Kairi turned around to look at Sora. “You’ve been a master for two years now. Don’t you feel like one?”

Sora hummed in thought, thinking about it properly. “Well, not after Xehanort.” He admitted before shrugging. “It doesn’t matter whether we feel like one or not. What matters is that we ARE masters.” He jumps down from the Paupo tree and swings his arm around the Princess of Heart as they took their eyes on the sunset once more. “Just imagine! Now that we are masters, we can go where we want to go. Do what we want to do. Be who we want to be.”

“Couldn’t we do that anyway?” Kairi questioned.

“I mean…yeah.” Sora said bashfully, before he looked at his girlfriend. “What I meant to say was that now that the both of us are masters, we can decide our own fate. We could find students, beat bad guys, do what Master Yen Sid does, whatever it is…. we will do it together.”

Kairi shook her head and smiled at him, “You are such a goof ball.” She leaned in to place a kiss on his lips, something that still makes Sora melt over after the two years together. “So long as we are together then I couldn’t be happier, Master Sora.” She said softly. “I love you.”

He never gets tired of hearing those words. “I love you too, Master Kairi.” He kissed her hand and held on to it tightly as they both leaned in for another kiss.

“Sorry for interrupting. Can I talk to you both?”

The two of them paused and turned around to see Aqua walking towards the two of them. “Aqua, is everything okay?” Kairi asked, letting go of Sora as she turned to face her.

“Don’t worry. Everything is fine.” She smiled at the two of them. “Ven, Terra and I will be heading off soon and I wanted to make sure that I got to talk to the both of you before I headed off.”

“Riku did mention that you wanted to talk.” Sora suddenly remembered the conversation that he was having with his friend before everyone started to show up.

“Well it was just to ask if the two of you could get to Land of Departure next week.” Aqua told them. “I wanted to wait until Kairi and Lea passed their mark before going over the details. It will acquire all of the new masters.”

Both Sora and Kairi looked at Aqua with concern. “Is it something to worry about?” Sora asked her.

“Oh no, nothing too serious like that.” Aqua assured them, making the two sighed in relieve. “It’s just easier for myself and Mickey to go over the details if everyone is there.”

“Mickey as well?” Kairi questioned. “What is the gathering about?”

“It’s better if I explain everything then. Otherwise, I will be here all night explaining.” Aqua smiled, “So I can expect the two of you to come?”

“We’ll be there.” The two of them nodded.

Aqua clapped her hands with excitement, “Excellent! That’s everyone then.” The three of them looked over to Terra and Ven to see that the two of them were calling Aqua over, showing that they were about to go. “Well done again, Kairi. I will see you both soon.” She hugged the two of them goodbye before she followed Terra and Ven further up the beach where they were engulfed by a bright light.

Sora and Kairi could only wonder what the meeting at the Land of Departure was about. How important is this meeting if it requires everyone that is a Keyblade Master but there isn’t any danger?  

(1),(2)

Edited:07/04/19.

As this is a new--ish story and I had written the first chapter before KH3 came out, I just thought I would tweak it slightly so it would follow the story post-KH3 after they bring Sora back.

[last-flight-of-fancy]

fatedeniedhope replied to your post “* sees people confused over various kh plot points * * is not people i...”

I would like yo know a bit. Only play kh 1 and chain of memories and half way to kh 2

oh boy there is a *lot* to cover here then!

I don’t mean that to sound intimidating, kh just has a tendency for long, sprawling interconnected plots (many of which are still unresolved even now)

i am also doing this entirely by memory, so if i’ve skimmed something i shouldn’t have its because my brain has stopped registering it as important; feel free to ask for clarification, i wrote this in one sitting because i was avoiding doing laundry XD

putting a cut because i am overviewing a Lot of game here and tbh there’s still a lot of stuff i am skimming or skipping entirely. I’m just trying to hit the highlights.

i don’t know where you stopped in 2, so i’m just gonna give a brief overview

-there is a boy named roxas

-he’s being hunted by these strangers called nobody’s

-things get weird

-turns out he’s sora’s nobody, as nobody’s are created when a person is turned into a heartless (which sora did during kh1)

-roxas returns to sora (”looks like my summer vacation is.. over...” whoops there goes my heart) and normal sora gameplay resumes.

-DIDNEY WORLDS

-turns out everyone forgot sora for a year bc of what happened in chain of memories (and also 358/2. dont worry about that yet we’ll get there). kairi sends out a bottle to “the boy she can’t remember” trying to call him home. (yes this is important)

-organization 13 (all what? eight of them left?) pops up, xemnas is cryptic, and they say their goal is to recreate kingdom hearts via sora killing heartless, since apparently only killing heartless with a keyblade sends the trapped hearts to Kingdom Hearts

      -this version of the tale persists through 358 as well. it’s.. half right.

-bla bla bla, shenanigans. there’s ansem (the boss from kh1) and a guy named diz. That isn’t who either of them actually are. It’s actually Riku (who tapped too far into the darkness trying to capture roxas for the whole twilight town scenario at the beginning of the game, thus altering his appearance to look like the guy who posessed him for a bit) and THE ACTUAL ANSEM (ie, the ruler(?) of radient garden before it fell, and the guy heartless ansem stole his name from.

-anyways

-sora goes off searching for riku, bc as far as he knows, he’s still lost out in the darkness.

-he’s not, he’s fine, but he’s super embarrassed about the whole ‘looking like the enemy’ thing and won’t let sora find him.

-sora casually murders most of the remaining organization members (only most of whom shot first)

-this continues on until axel attempts to kidnap kairi, who ends up in twilight town for a bit hanging out with the hayner/pence/ollete trio, before being slightly more successfully kidnapped a second time.

-and then she gets kidnapped again by saix. Axel apologises to sora over this. in his defence, he’s pretty desperate at this point (he just wants his friend(s) back)

-sora storms The World That Never Was, kairi is rescued by Namine.

-the trio finally meets up (namine disapeared at some point? yknow, i actually dont recall what happened to her in between these scenes), sora and kairi share a slightly awkward but sweet hug, and after a moments trepidation over ‘Ansem’, kairi tells/shows him its riku, at which point sora bursts into tears.

-i ship a lot of ot3′s, but sorikai is the OG ot3

-anyways

-namine and roxas have a very symbolic moment refusing with their Other’s, Namine opens a portal back to destiny islands so they can go home.

-everyone except sora and riku make it through, and thus commences several final fantasy style boss fights

-they win, of course, riku’s injured in the line of battle, and they limp out, having traversed several realms during the course of this battle, they’re now trapped on a beach in the realm of darkness. it’s the same beach everyone else seems to end up on in this place. There is only one beach in the RoD apparently

-they stay there a while, and then they pick up a message in a bottle; it’s from kairi, “to the boy she can’t remember”

-Feelings make a door to the light open, and sora and riku fall like actual comets from the sky and everybody’s reunited and happy. huzzah!

-.... well for a while anyways.

-should i get into the whole xemnas/xehanort/ansem thing here?

-eh

-okay so

-lets swing back into Birth By Sleep for a bit

-(im sorry if kh can’t hit any of its plot points in order i think its fair neither do i)

-BBS takes place roughly nine years prior to kh1, with the exception of bbs’s prologue, which i would estimate as being an additional four years prior to that

-during said prologue, we meet Master Xehanort, an incredibly old dude with brown skin, gold eyes, and a white beard. even newcomers to the series will probably recognise that only one type of person gets those colours in these games.

-we also meet baby Ventus, Xehanorts apprentice. He looks exactly like Roxas.

-shenanigans happen, Xehanort splits Ven’s heart in two, creating Vanitas, who is Ventus’s darkness.

-Vanitas’ whole shtick is he wants to be reunited with Ventus, ostensibly to create the X-blade (yes it’s pronounced exactly the same as ‘keyblade’ and yes, every single kh fan ive ever talked to has found this annoying af)

-unfortunately being split in two like that puts ven in a coma, and xehanort takes the unresponiseve body to destiny islands to dump it like unwanted ravioli

-luckily for ven, “a brand new hear” hears his hurt and reaches out to help, filling out the gaps left in his and allowing him to start recovering

-the heart is sora

-actual, literal baby sora reaching out to help people before he can even walk yet. 

-the game never spells this out explicitly, which makes it an easy plot point to miss if you aren’t paying attention

-ven doesn’t recover immidietly though, and xehanort sends him to live with his old friend Master Eraqus and his two teenage apprentices, Aqua and Terra

-here’s where we time skip, ventus is fully recovered, terra and aqua are young adults and about to take their Mark Of Mastery exams for becoming keyblade masters.

-Terra fails because he has darkness in his heart and also xehanort rigged it against him

-aqua passes and becomes a master. I love her very much.

-terra journey’s out to try and figure out where the darkness comes from

-vanitas taunts ven saying terra’s leaving him bc ven’s stupid or something and ven panics and chases after him (he’s like 14 and has a bit of a hero worship thing, stupid decisions are par for the course)

-eraqus sends aqua out to both spy on terra (he words it nicer but thats the gist of it), which aqua doesn’t particularly like but trusts her masters judgement and does it, and bring ventus home, which she is more on board with

-the biggest tragedy in bbs is that no one talks to each other

-stuff happens, they learn some stuff, aqua’s route has So Many Lesbian Feels with every single princess she runs into it brings me great delight

-Ventus learns the whole ‘fight your darkness to become the X-blade’ plot, eraqus learns this too and tries to kill ven. Terra busts in at the last moment and saves ven, at this point using his dark powers fully.

-#terrawasright

-eraqus dies, which i don’t think terra fully intended to do (he just wanted to save ven) and if you recall the scene in kh1 where kairi catches a falling sora only for him to burst into a bunch of floating glitter? imagine that but with two grown men

-aqua’s just trying to figure out whats going on. she gets to meet kairi (saves her from some heartless and then puts a charm on her necklace to keep her safe) and then meets Mickey, who will be our future duex ex machina

-they all meet for the final battle.

-ven asks his friends to murder him

-no one does that

-what the fuck ven

-they fight, and a lot of stuff sorta happens at the same time

-1: terra fights xehanort, who has essentially been spending the whole game prepping terra to be his next host. xehanort is a body snatcher confirmed. xehanort wins, terra becomes the fanon-named terranort.

-2: ventus fights vanitas. vanitas reveals his face, and he looks exactly like a colour swapped version of sora. (also voiced by the same voice actor! it’s actually surprsingly difficult to notice this if you don’t have some kind of clue already because haley joel osment does and *amazing* job). ventus wins, the X-blade is not forged, but as a lot of this battle takes place in his heart, the effects are bad and ven falls into a coma (he reaches out once more, and another hearts answers. “you can stay here a while, I don’t mind” says the other heart. yes its fucking sora again. too good, too pure)

-3: aqua gets knocked out to start with, but then she fights vanitas controlling ventus’ body, which eventually gets sorted out. terra’s dissapeared at this point, and she takes a comatose ven and hides him in the land of departure, which she uses a secret mechanism to turn into Castle Oblivion (and thus, impossible to navigate  without her key)

-aqua goes to hunt down terra(nort), and finds him in radiant garden. they fight, aqua wins, but when he begins to sink into the darkness she sacrifices herself to save him (which is how he ends up as one of ansem’s apprentices and mostly without any memories)

-aqua will spend the next ten years in the realm of darkness

-bbs is such a goddam tragedy

-OKAY

-time to fast forward

-so sora and ven are connected, which is why vanitas and roxas look the way they do, which brings us to

-the case of xion

-and 358/2

-the worst game to play but my absolute favourite in terms of slow-burn pacing and emotionally investing you in the characters

-this game pretty much just deals with the year sora spent asleep, and the kids time in the organization.

-roxas wakes up with no memories, is inducted into the org, and told “kill heartless with your keyblade”. He’s more or less a zombie at first, and accepts this without question.

-a week later, a new member is introduced, named Xion, who also has a keyblade, and is also a zombie with no memories at first

-Axel, the org’s assassin, is basically told to babysit them both

-he’s not really into it at first, but those natural Big Brother instincts kick in Hard about five minutes later and from that point on he’s mostly just trying to keep them both alive.

-oh, also Lea, Axel’s somebody, met Ventus in bbs, so that was probably a little weird for him.

-as the game goes on and these kids essentially learn how to human and try to figure out what makes them different, the Big Plots stew in the background. Axel and Saix have some kind of plan that Axel apparently isn’t sticking to, and Axel questions his loyalties more as the game goes on and circumstances force him to choose between two kids Who Did Nothing Wrong, and his oldest friend.

-Xion learns they are a replica, a la Repliku, created as a backup to roxas if he could not fulfil his duty in creating kingdom hearts. their connection with roxas, and through him sora, has the unintended side effect of flitering memories and feelings into and through Xion.

-this is why putting sora back together takes so long

-Xion, between the pressure of being an org member in general, and the mental load from being caught between three+ people in a very literal sense, has a breakdown. Riku finds them, and despite a pretty rocky start between them, helps them through it.

-Xion leaves at two different points, the first time, Axel brings them back. “please don’t hold back, Axel. Promise.” “Everyone always thinks they’re right”

-excuse me i have to lay down again after thinking about how emotionally wrought this scene is.

-(the alternative is he has to kill them. he does everything he can to avoid that, but it’s clearly approaching an unsustainable situation; the org is running out of patience for dealing with the ‘clearly defective replica’, xion doesnt feel this situation is right, and axel just wants to keep everyone alive.

-yes typing ‘clearly defective replica’ physically hurt me. xion is a perfect bab and xemnas can fite me

-Xion leaves again

-Roxas, learning pieces of this but not all, runs away from the org. cue titular “no one would me” “that’s not true!” scene from 2

-(this leads to what is a hilariously depressing scene of roxas on the clocktower looking at his life and going “where could i even run to? I havent got anywhere to go” because he’s never known anything other than the organization and whoops i made myself sad again)

-namine explains to xion that sora can never wake up so long as they have his memories. The only way for them to release the memories is to die. It’s a hard decision.

-Xion meets roxas on the clocktower, feigns insanity, and goads him into fighting them (”do you see my face, roxas? is it a boys face? don’t you see. I have to make you a part of me too.”)

-cue more ff style boss fights

-xion dies

-look i can’t go into detail on this one i’ll start crying again, xion dies, everyone forgets they ever existed, and roxas gets to watch them shatter into dust in his arms.

-in the brief period where the memories are quickly vanishing but Not Quite Gone Yet roxas goes into a Roaring Rampage of Revenge and storms the World That Never Was

-this is where Riku catches up to him, and from there its a pretty straight shot into the beginning of kh2

-which im sure if you played these in chronological order would be *some kind of mood whiplash* i bet

-okay what have i missed

-recoded happened. the only important part here is that malificent and pete find out about the black box and malificent being malificent of course she Has To Have It

-”but whats the black box??” you ask

-good question

-we still dont know

-its  origin point is in KHUx though, 

-which is the multiplayer mobile game set during the Keyblade War of ages past. each weilder also has a companion dream eater named chirithy

-there are five unions, each headed by a leader and represented by an animal (unicorn, bear, snake, fox, and leopard)

-#anguisforlife

-these five (plus one more, named luxu) are each given roles by their master (the Master of Masters, or also known as MoM). He also tells them there is a traitor amongst the warriors of light. it’s unclear at this point how much of this he is directly steering. He also doesnt specifiy Which warriors of light, probably on purpose so everything happens as it should.

-so figure, trying to figure out who the traitor is is a pretty direct cause to no one trusting each other and eventually going for each others throats

-there is a page from the book of prophecies he gives only to luxu, who he tells that his role is to see the future with this Special Keyblade (and specifically the Eye in it). You might recognise it as xehanorts keyblade (and then you’ll start to see the Eye in a whole bunch of other ones too, notably in soul edge, way to dawn, and void gear)

-luxu fucks off, and everyone else goes about their business

-the first half of khux details how these unions came to  be rivals, and then how they fell into war with each other and destroyed the light. the second half detailed how Ava, leader of the fox union, created a fifth group known as the dandelions, specifically picked to survive the fall of the light and rebuild.

-ventus and lauriam are two of these leaders. No, we still don’t know how they got from one point to the other.

-one of the replacement leaders, strelitzia, got murdered and replaced by someone else. i think this plot point has been resolved in japan but i havent checked yet

-strelitzia is lauriam’s sister. she also knows elrena.

-and if you’re bad at anagraming like i am, lauriam=marluxua, and elrena=larxene

-so yeah figure that one out for me

-also i love strelitzia she has like two scenes total and i was already ludicrously attached help

-(Yes i screamed very hard during that One Scene in 3. we dont even see her face but it’s heerrrrrrrr)

-anyways

-right the black box

-luxu is seen carrying it off in the Back Cover movie as he wanders into exile. we still dont know whats in it. and that’s basically that.

-which leaves just Dream Drop Distance

-sora and riku take a Highly Modified mark of master exam under yen sid.

-things go wrong almost immidietly

-sora gets trapped by the xehanorts in a deep sleep, where they plan to use him as one of their 13 vessels of darkness

-there has to be 13 for some reason

-13 darknesses, and 7 lights, and when they clash it’ll make the X-blade

-because reasons

-it’s fate or something

-riku rescues him

-there is time travel involved now

-because at this point the 13 darkness now include; heartless ansem, master xehanort, xemnas, young xehanort, xigbar, and saix.

-more time travel will be involved later, but to keep this in mind the rules of time travel here are

     -you cannot take your body with you

     -you lose any future knowledge you gain if and when you return

-things are obviously wibbly here because it’s half in the dreamscape, but just. keep those rules in mind when you play 3.

....... im sure im missing a bunch but i just spent two hours writing the most casual pre-kh3 synopsis ever i hope you can forgive me XD

[orangedodge]

Instead of flooding my blog with a deluge KH posts, I figured I'd do just one in-depth one about the end reveal.  

At least until the next trailer comes out, and my inner nine year old breaks out once again.

So despite Nomura's limitations as a writer, and his occasional technical naivete, I've always been a bit surprised that he's never really given his due as a director. He has good storytelling instincts, and can be skilled at framing information on screen to highlight what he wants, while making his audience ignore what he doesn't want them to pay attention to. His team can also cut a trailer very well. The 2.8 trailers were masterful at presenting actual spoilers, but framed within an artificial context that hid their meaning, and led to the audience anticipating story beats that did not actually exist. The respective natures of Aced and Gula as people, in particular, was something he was highly successful at concealing.

E3 trailer spoilers below the cut

The first E3 trailer drop, which I think we're calling the "Frozen" trailer, reminds me a lot of what he did last time, with those 2.8 trailers. The reveal at the end, and it's implication that Aqua is now evil, is driven by two lines,

SORA - "I wont let her fall to darkness"

and

AQUA - "You're too late"

The combination is framed to suggest that it's specifically too late for Aqua, but as these lines occur in two entirely different scenes, and this structure is unlikely to be preserved in the actual game, the thematic bridge they create is an artificial one. It's unknown what the full context of each scene actually is, particularly the latter scene with Mickey, Aqua, and Riku. Instead, Aqua's lines are being set up with by potentially false context by Sora.

What actually happens in that scene? I think the position of landmarks, and the continuity in way the scene is lit, is sufficient to establish that it most likely takes place within the same span of time as the previous trailer's Riku and Mickey scene, in which Riku's Way to Dawn Keyblade was broken.

By combining the two Riku scenes, I would posit that the chain of events is as follows: Riku and Mickey arrive at the Dark Margin > Aqua attacks them in her new shadow form > Mickey is disarmed, and Riku's Keyblade broken > Aqua stops fighting and reveals herself > Aqua picks up Mickey's Keyblade.

If the line "This Keyblade..." is native to that scene, and not something that was simply placed out of context in the trailer to create false context (a trick Nomura used with Phantom Aqua's dialogue in the 2.8 trailers), then it could be possible that she didn't recognize her opponents until she saw that Keyblade. Either way, I believe it's likely that she fought them until they were both disarmed, whereupon she stopped, and revealed herself to them.

Two things grabbed my attention,

Is breaking Way to Dawn, the Keyblade with one of Xehanort's creepy time-travel spy eyes (that we've been warned about), actually an inherently aggressive act? She appears to have been completely shrouded/cloaked in darkness, if not actually invisible (if that was a Red Eyes effect Mickey was under), when she arrived. Assuming that the two Riku clips are in fact one continuous scene, than it seems as though she didn't let them see her until that Keyblade was out of the way.

Why pick up Mickey's Keyblade? It was established ages ago that a Keyblade can't be stolen from its wielder, so unless that's being retconned, I don't see why she'd benefit from picking it up unless to demonstrate to them that she's still capable of doing so. And that's being done in a state where she's not just possessed by darkness, but seems to have been totally transformed into it. The only precedents I can think of for that are Anti-Sora and Ansem. Anti-Sora didn't have access to Keyblades, and Ansem could only wield one through Riku's body (and presumably Riku’s heart, since he lost his access to the Keyblade once he cast that away).

So is Aqua currently fallen to darkness? Almost definitely, unless this is just Phantom Aqua messing with Mickey, or a physical manifestation of an impression she left behind when she lived there, or the result of some unique circumstance like Aqua-removed-her-Heart-from-her-body or Aqua's-looking-for-Ven-in-the-realm-of-sleep that that would render her condition a temporary side effect.

Is she 'norted? It seems probable, but I'm not one-hundred per cent sure that it actually follows from what's been shown. Xehanort's never shown the ability to discorporate into dark fog or become invisible, I mean, and it seems like that would be a fairly useful ability to make use of if he had it. It seems not unreasonable to assume that it's therefore an ability newly unique to Aqua, and not something connected to a 'norting. I'm going to leave the changers to her hair aside because it's appeared that shade before (for example, in the daylight Wayfinder sequence at the start of the 0.2 trailer), and I'm not sure how much of the color change is being influenced by the lighting conditions, or even if the lighting is finished. The eyes seem like a big give away that she's 13th 'nort, as we've only ever seen glowing amber eyes in humans with Xehanort's vessels... but we don't actually know why he has those traits in the first place.

It could be nothing of consequence, just a unique aspect of his character design that made an easy shorthand for showing who he was possessing. Or it could be that amber eyes are actually meant to represent something in this setting (connection to Heartless?), and what specifically that is just hasn't come up yet, except as through the brothers and sisters 'nort. So it's possible that her eyes don't really mean what we assume they do, and it's just a fun way to use the trailer to mess with us.

(And because this series is so weird, it may also be worth remembering that incomplete beings have been shown to take physical forms influenced by the expectations of the people viewing them. Think Xion's magic flippy-floppy hood, or Aqua perceiving Ansem as Terra. So depending on what the meaning of Aqua's shadow form actually is, the way she appears to Mickey might not be what she actually looks like, as opposed to just the material consequence of how he expects her to look, reflected back upon his own reality. I... ugh. This series is something else.)

(There's also a possible exception to the only-'norts-have-glowing-eyes rule with Terra, who did have glowing amber eyes before he was 'norted, but portions of those cut scenes may now be apocryphal)

But even if Aqua is 'norted, does it automatically follow that she's now an evil puppet of the arch villain’s? I'm going to just throw this out there, and give a hard no. Could be! She could be evil now, she could even be a boss fight and a resulting fetch quest to fix her Wayfinder to bring her back to normal, or be a recurring super boss introduced to give the heroes someone more threatening to fight than Vexen and Marluxia, or anything else. But it's not absolutely necessary and it's a truly strange assumption to make, given past experiences with 'norts and people consumed by darkness.

Riku was 'norted for... really the entirety of the first three games in one way or another, and after a few initial close calls, he got his second wind, and was fine. Vanitas and Braig both seem to do whatever they want; it just so happens that they want to be evil, but I don't think Xehanort has ever shown any supernatural capacity—resorting instead to threats and possible torture—to modify their behavior if they wander off to undermine him. Terra is... well his body has been possessed for decades now, but also obviously is not being controlled in any meaningful way, unless Xehanort actually planned to choke himself and get whipped in the face by chains. Axel also didn't seem to have any problems with just throwing Xehanort out, when he was a heartless shell that theoretically had compromised means of resisting a takeover.  

So Xehanort is clearly not always in complete control of his vessels, other than Young Xeno (himself), Ansem (his own literal heart), and maybe Xemnas (some proportion of his own heart in Terra’s empty body), who could all be unique exceptions. And even the vessels that have been with him the longest have habit of doing as they please. I should find it strange should Aqua be the absolute only exception in the series. And thinking on it, all that's really said of the final confrontation is that you have 13 seekers and 7 guardians... but there's not really a rule that they have to form two opposed teams and stick to them no matter what.

To just fly off into blind speculation though, what I'm personally leaning towards is the possibility that Aqua has just become a part of the realm of darkness. That Mickey is “too late” to reach her before a point of no return, and now she just cannot leave. She doesn't sound particularly angry, or upset to see him. It sounds like she's just stating a fact, or just speaking with resignation. Mickey and Riku, in the clip where Way to Dawn is shown broken, also do not seem as defeated as one might expect them to if they had experienced complete and total failure. They seem pretty sure of themselves, whatever has happened.

I'm hesitant to add this in, given my own bias, but it actually seems not unlike they're saying goodbye. Perhaps just letting go of something, if they've failed and are moving on, or if Riku is just saying goodbye to the chapter of his life represented within Way to Dawn. Or they could be getting ready to split up.  

I've seen a lot of speculation, that I think rings true, that Disney would prefer for Mickey to not be involved in the final fight, whacking recognizable humans in the face with a sword-like weapon. The rumor's line of reasoning follows that he needs to be swapped out for someone else, and Aqua seems like the most fitting possibility. Maybe literally? One stays, so another can go? Thematically, she took on Terra's punishment for him, trapping her there in the first place. Mickey taking it on for her, so she can leave, would be a fitting continuation. And it seems to be what he wants. Edgy, traumatized, Mickey Mouse is a weird concept to introduce to a story, but it almost pulls it off where his trauma re: Aqua is concerned. This is clearly meant to be the great unhealed wound in his life, and to not just free his friend, but take her place in the underworld for a while is one way to help him patch it.