#give Naminé more screen time! | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

yzafre · 10 months ago

Text

we're flying above the valley below | Ch 4

AO3

First | Previous

“The room is completely sealed off,” Axel sighed, “I can’t even open a corridor into it.”

“Aw, great – we found him, but now we can’t get to him?” Donald sighed.

“Axel,” Mickey said, “You said the Organization spent a lot of time there. Do you know anyone who could figure it out?”

“Ah, well,” on the other side of the call, Axel scrunched his nose, scratching at the back of his head as he thought, “Maybe Vexen? That is, Even. He was the main lead behind the card technology we used to interface with the Castle.”

“Then we’ll ask,” King Mickey said, turning to Aeleus, who was lingering near-by, “Even wasn’t doing well, right? Do you think he’s recovered enough to answer some questions?”

“Dilan was looking after him. The last thing he reported was that Even was still asleep. Though, that was yesterday evening… I will go check.”

“In any case, there’s not much more I can do here. And it looks like they took the Replicas, too,” Axel cut off, giving a low whistle. Kairi turned back to the phone. It looked like he’d moved while they were talking, having shifted from the bright-white of the rest of the castle to the dim light she remembered from Naminé’s workshop. “They really did a number on this place.”

“Are you coming back here?” she asked.

Axel hummed a wavering note – not a no, she thought, but not a yes, either.

“I’m going to see if I can track them down. The trail might be too faded, at this point, but I – I have to try.”

The corners of his eyes did something funny, at that, the line of his mouth thinning, but then he shook his head, and he was back to normal. Her heart ached for him.

“If I can’t find anything, I’ll check back in, see what you’ve got,” he finished.

“Alright,” King Mickey said, “We’ve been setting up a system here based on Chip and Dale’s old radar to try and track surges of Darkness, to keep an eye on the Organization’s movements. We’ll let you know if we find anything we think will help.”

“Alright; see ya.”

“Bye, Axel.”

The screen went dark, and Sora turned to Kairi with wide eyes, “That’s so cool! Can you talk to anyone with that? Oh, could I talk to all my friends? Like Herc, and Mulan – ooo, and maybe Beast?”

“Slow down, Sora,” Riku sighed, and Kairi giggled.

“You can only talk to other people who have one of these. Actually, Ienzo did make some for you, so we could all keep in contact. They’re with the clothes Yen Sid sent over.”

“Clothes?”

Sure enough, there were new outfits waiting for them, with fresh protective enchantments woven in. Kairi already had hers – Riku teased him for not noticing – but after Sora and Riku had changed, she led them over to the science lab, where everyone else would be waiting.

The lab was buzzing with activity, machines humming and whirring. Tucked into a corner was a hap-hazard, thrown-together looking machine, magic buzzing around it as Merlin and Queen Minnie scurried around it. Donald and Goofy were standing with Mickey nearby, watching carefully. Sora’s eye was caught by Leon, however, standing by a blue-haired guy and leaning over the console Tron was in.

“Leon!” Sora called, bouncing forward.

“Sora,” Leon smiled, “Good to see you. Here to get some directions?”

“Uh – are we?” Sora asked, glancing over his shoulder at Kairi.

“You didn’t think to ask?” Riku teased, Kairi coming up beside him.

“Yes,” Kairi answered, peering around the room, “I thought you guys might be ready now, and it would be good to say goodbye.”

Leon tipped his head, “Aerith and Yuffie are down at the house, if that’s what you’re looking for. But you’re right, we’re starting to get some readings.”

“Indeed,” Ienzo said, “Our computer set-up is already starting to detect surges of Darkness, and we think we’ve managed to locate two of the Princesses of Heart – not including our resident princess, of course.”

“Great!” Sora cheered, “But, uh – who are you?”

“Ah. Right – we never actually met, did we? I’m Ienzo.”

“Ienzo,” Sora repeated, “So, all this is looking for the Organization and the Princesses?”

“Indeed!” Merlin called, appearing suddenly by his side, “A most clever contraption. Dear Minerva is helping me connect the magic here with Yen Sid and Disney Castle, to increase our range!”

“Oh, cool! So, where are we – “

Behind them, the door burst open suddenly.

“Even is missing.”

Aeleus immediately had everyone’s attention, but Ienzo’s especially, who gave full body twitch, as if he wanted to run but didn’t know where.

“What do you mean, missing?” he asked.

“His room is ransacked – I found Dilan passed out on the floor, as well.”

“Oh, no – do you think it’s the Organization?” Mickey asked.

“Well, they do need more vessels,” Riku said, “It would make sense to get the guy who made them for you originally.”

Leon frowned, “But to invade our Castle, without setting off any of our alarms? How could they manage that?”

“Who else would take him, though?” The King asked. No one had an answer for that.

“But if he’s gone, how are we going to get to Ventus?” Sora asked.

The all went quiet, thinking deeply. It was Ienzo who broke up.

“There is one option,” he said, and they all turned to him, “Vexen might be the foremost expert on the Card system, but that very system was created by studying Naminé.”

“But Naminé’s in me now,” Kairi said, “And there’s a limit to what she can do through me.”

“Perhaps; but it doesn’t have to stay that way. We do, after all, have a vessel.”

After a brief hesitation, it was agreed that the replica Kairi had retrieved would go to Naminé. As for Roxas, with Even gone they would have to figure something else out. Sora felt bad for the relief he felt at not having to confront that particular tangle, yet.

Now, they had to decide where to go next.

“We’ve got coordinates for two of the Princesses,” Ienzo said, pointing at the screen.

Leon spoke next, “But we’ve also got the Darkness starting to move – and who knows where they’ll go first.”

“Then we’ll have to split up,” the King decided.

“Split up?” Sora asked in dismay, tangling his fingers with Kairi’s. He already had to go somewhere different than Riku, after spending all that time trying to find him – he’d been looking forward to having at least one Flightmate by his side.

“Don’t worry, I won’t separate you from your Flight,” King Mickey assured, “She’s supposed to be learning from you, after all! That just means Donald and Goofy will make up the other team.”

“A diplomatic team and a strike force,” Leon mused.

“But that’s – “ Sora cut off, stomach churning. Go adventuring without Donald and Goofy? They’d been with him since the beginning. Sure, they hadn’t been there for the exam, but that was different, wasn’t it? The only other time he’d been without them was that short stint at Hollow Bastion, and that was…

“Will Sora really be okay without us?” Donald asked.

“H-hey!”

“He’s a big boy now, it should be fine,” Goofy assured, hand on his Flightmate’s shoulder, “Still, I am a bit worried.”

“I said hey! I’ll be fine.”

“Of course you will,” Goofy said.

“But remember to call if you need us,” Donald added, “We’ve got phones now, too.”

“Oh,” Sora said, warmth growing in his heart, “Of course!”

“But, how are we going to travel?” Kairi asked, “There’s only one gummi ship, right?”

“Oh, right!” the King said, “C’mere, I’ve got a trick I want to show you.”

When Sora first saw the Keyblade transform into a vehicle, he stood staring, mouth open, for a full minute.

Traditionally, the King explained, Keyblade wielders would have armor to protect them for this type of travel, since they don’t have the cockpit of a gummi ship to shield them.

“But, it’s less Darkness than the Dark Corridors,” he finished, “So the enchantments Yen Sid and the fairies put in our clothes should be enough.”

It took a few tries, but soon all three managed to transform their Keyblade into a method of transportation. After that, Riku and the King left, Donald and Goofy heading to the first Princess in the gummi ship soon after.

“I know we’re in a hurry, but before we head to our destination, do you think we could make a quick detour?” Kairi asked.

“Huh?” Sora asked, “I mean, sure, I guess. Why?”

“Well, Naminé and I were thinking – the Organization may have gotten to Castle Oblivion before us, but she kept notes in other places, too. And… there’s something she left behind that she wants to make sure to retrieve.”

“Alright. Where to?”

“Twilight Town.”

The Twilight Town in Kairi’s memories was a respite, albeit an anxious one – a quiet place she could hide away, praying that Naminé’s gambit would work, untouched by the chaos of the other worlds.

Which is to say, she had not expected to be assaulted by a swirling cloud of shadows not five minutes after landing.

Fighting the heartless was different. It shouldn’t be harder – she really couldn’t say it was stronger than the people she was used to fighting – but up to this point she had been fighting primarily human opponents. This strange mass was far wilder and more animalistic. It made it more unpredictable.

It was strange – she could tell, passingly, that in this moment Sora’s magic was weaker than hers. But she doubted anyone outside would notice, because where she faltered and hesitated, he moved with confidence, entirely sure what to do.

So, this is what they meant by gaining experience, she thought, and followed his lead.

When they finished off the heartless, rapid footsteps approached them, and Kairi turned, delight filling her as she spotted three familiar faces.

“Sora! And – Kairi!” Pence called, stumbling to a stop in front of them.

“We were so worried – I’m so glad you’re okay,” Olette said.

Haynes nodded, “Yeah – after that creep ran off with you, Naminé disappeared. We waited, but we never got any news!”

Kairi wheezed out an incredulous laugh as Hayner turned on Sora, “I mean, come on, the least you could’ve done is come back and let us know you found her! Jeez.”

“Ahah, sorry,” Sora laughed, “Things got a little crazy after that. There was Xemnas, and then the test, and…”

“And as for Axel – the guy that was after me? He ended up helping us a lot.”

“What? No way!”

Olette leaned in, all soft concern, “But Kairi, last time – you were really scared of him.”

Kairi smiled with a helpless shrug, “He apologized. And, I guess…. Well, you could say we had a lot in common.”

“Really? That guy?” Hayner said, nose wrinkled, “Well, if you say so. But if he steps out of line, just let us know. We’ll take care of him.”

“That’s sweet, but I don’t think you need to worry about it.”

“Yeah, Axel’s….”

Sora trailed off, and Kairi cast him a curious look, worry gnawing at her stomach when she saw the pensive frown creeping up on him. She sent a wave of concern his way through their bond, and he startled, shaking it off quickly.

“Axel’s cool. And besides, I can take care of her if anything happens.”

“Sure,” Olette agreed, casting a knowing look between the trio.

“Anyways, as much as I’d like this to just be a social visit, I somehow doubt it is. Not with those monsters popping up again all of a sudden. So, what’s up?”

“Well,” Sora said, “There is something, but that’s not really why we’re here. It’s more, uh –“

Sora turned to her with a lost look in his eyes, and she smiled, stepping forward, “We’re here to pick something up for a friend. She said she left it in an… abandoned mansion?”

The Twilight Town were eager to help them out, walking them out of town and to the old haunted house as they regaled them with everything they’d been up to since the last time they’d visited. In no time at all, they reached their destination.

“Well, here we are. Are you sure this is the place?”

“Yes,” Kairi said, feeling a foreign heaviness settling in her chest as she stared up at the worn building, “This is it.”

“Strange place to hide something,” Pence commented.

“She… didn’t have much choice.”

“Yeah?” Hayner said, “Well, I guess that weird computer was in there, too, so it’s not like she was the only one.”

They all stared up at the mansion, until the quiet was split by bells ringing in the distance.

“Ah, no, the time!” Pence said, “Guys, we gotta go!”

“What?”

“Sorry, but, we’ve got work.”

“Aw, but I wanted to hang out more,” Sora pouted.

“I mean, we’ll still have the chance!” Olette said, “It’s not like this’ll take long. The Boss is just kinda a stickler about the punctuality.”

“Still…”

“Sora, why don’t you go with them?”

“Huh?” Sora turned to Kairi, surprised, “What do you mean? Don’t we need to get whatever it is for Naminé?”

“Yes, but,” she trailed off, eyes turning towards the mansion thoughtfully, “I think this is something we need to do on our own.”

“… Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Don’t worry, I’ll catch up soon. So, you go catch up with them, okay?”

“Uh, yeah… if you say so.”

Kairi could feel the weight of Sora’s stare as they all left, but she couldn’t look away, Naminé’s presence stirring steadily the longer they were there.

When she stepped forward, it was like she was in a dream, her movements not entirely her own. Across the lawn, through the broken foyer, up the stairs, into her room.

Into Naminé’s room.

It was so white, so empty. The drawings scattered across the floor were the only color at all. Naminé lived here for a year? She couldn’t imagine.

There, Naminé whispered, and Kairi’s gaze turned of its own accord to find a birdcage in the corner, two dolls cradled inside. She reached out with careful hands, pulling the little doll of Riku – no, Hitoshi – out, cupping it in her palms. Naminé gave a sigh of relief in her chest, her presence pulling back enough for Kairi’s head to clear.

“This is what we came here for?”

Yes. It has all of Hitoshi’s memories – his true memories. I’ve been working to piece them together, like I did with Sora. Once I had found all the pieces of his heart, I was going to place them inside his body, but…

“You ran out of time,” Kairi finished. She ran a thumb over the doll’s head once before moving it to a pocket, turning to look at the other doll in the cage curiously.

“Who is this?”

Short dark hair and blue button eyes – if she tilted her head and squinted, it almost looked like her. In her mind, Naminé stilled, a pang of unease echoing out from her. Kairi could feel her pressing in close, like a chin over her shoulder and a hand in hers.

I don’t know, Naminé answered as Kairi reached in, freeing the puppet, I don’t… remember. But… there’s a memory.

“A memory?”

Yes. She went quite for a moment, contemplative, and Kairi hummed curiously.

Would you like to see?

“See? The memory?”

Yes, Naminé answered, and Kairi felt her energy slide along her own, fingertips tapping at the well of magic inside, Let me show you – just follow my lead.

Kairi let Naminé’s power slide through her, fingertips running over the stitching, and –

She turned, trying to muster up a smile, “You said, if I could make a single memory that belonged just to me, that you could help me, right?”

Naminé nodded, “Did you find it? What you need?”

“Yes,” She said, smiling softly, “I didn’t see it, not for a long time, but… it was obvious, wasn’t it? Roxas, Axel – it’s them. Even if I’m not real, those moments I shared with them – that’s real. How could it not be?”

Naminé smiled, and she grinned back, wanting to tell someone – just once, just one person that she could say the words to out loud, someone on the outside who would know they were more than they were ever supposed to be.

“I love them,” she said, the warmth, that pressure, that connection inside her blooming, blooming, blooming, and how could she keep it in? She laughed, light and airy, feeling it pop like a bubble, spreading out of her, pushing until a ripple burst from her back. She staggered under a sudden weight, new limbs stretching out wide and fluttering, stirring up the papers all around them.

“What?” she breathed, twisting to look over her shoulder. Two wings spread from her back, pale brown feathers ruffling slightly before settling down across the span. Baffled, she turned back to Naminé and –

The other girl was staring at her. Something like panic, or maybe fear, was painted across her rapidly paling face.

“Naminé?”

Expressions flickered through her eyes, rapid pace, before finally setting on something like determination, something like regret.

“A memory – one that belongs just to you,” Naminé whispered, “That’s the only way this will work.”

She tilted her head, watching her slow advance in confusion, “Yes. That’s what you said, right?”

“Yes,” Naminé said, reaching out a hand, “and… I’m sorry.”

“What?”

There was a spike of pain, and –

Kairi slammed back into her body with a gasp, staggering over to lean on the table.

She stayed there for several long moments, breathing heavily as she let the foreign love-elation-fear bleed out of her, leaving her shaking.

“Naminé?” she asked the empty room, “What was that?”

A memory. But… why is it here?

“Is that the girl the memory of you Riku found said she was trying to help? The one none of us remember?”

It must be. But why did I put it here?

“Well, if you knew we were going to forget, then... maybe you put it here because you knew you’d come looking.”

Maybe, but why take this one? It’s distinct, but it’s not strong enough to…

“Naminé?”

I can’t remember, but this feeling… Kairi, I think I did something awful.

Before Hayner, Pence, and Olette ran off into town to complete their job, they showed him the posters they were hanging up, including how to work the data-codes on them. Left to his own devices at the café, Sora played the games for a few rounds. It was a decent distraction, but the longer he stayed here, the more he could feel a weight – or perhaps the absence of a weight – pressing down on him.

After a careless death broke his winning streak in the game, he slumped down on the table, burying his face in his arms.

This was Roxas’ home. These were his friends, or a version of him, people he felt so strangely about, and…

Sighing, he sat up, pulling the photo of Roxas that Riku had once left from his pocket. He… really needed to talk to Axel, didn’t he? He should tell everyone, really, but Axel most of all deserved to know that Roxas was…

“Who’s that?”

Sora startled, twisting in his seat to find Hayner peering over his shoulder at the photo.

“Oh,” Sora said, adrenaline fading back into that muzzy, guilty sadness, “This is… Roxas.”

“Huh. He seems… familiar somehow.”

“Well, we do have the same photo,” Olette said, sneaking up on his other side.

“Oh, you’re right! Hey, Pence, you’ve got the picture on you right?”

The third of the group came over, pulling his wallet as he went, “Yeah, here.”

He placed the photo on the table beside Sora’s, and sure enough, they were the same, one just having an excess of blank space.

“Weird,” Pence said, leaning in to squint at the pair.

“It’s more than the photo, though,” Hayner insisted, “I could swear I’ve seen him before…”

Sora shifted uncomfortably, “Well, I think… he was friends with you, in that Other Twilight Town. Maybe the memories are coming over?”

Hayner hummed skeptically as Pence squinted down at it.

“No – no, I think Hayner’s right,” he trailed off, then suddenly snapped, pointing energetically down at Roxas’s image, “Wait, isn’t that the guy that completely demolished Hayner at Grandstander?”

“Hey!” Hayner protested, “He didn’t beat me that bad.”

“No, Pence is right,” Olette said, “It’s definitely the same guy. Also, he did absolutely obliterate you.”

“Come to think of it, I think I saw him a couple more times,” Pence continued over Hayner’s complaining, “With that tall red-head, right, he was – oh! That was the same guy that kidnapped Kairi!”

“And you didn’t think to bring this up?” Hayner sputtered.

“I mean, I only saw the guy twice!”

The three descended into bickering, and Sora picked the photo back up, heart squeezing as he stared down at Roxas’ face.

He hadn’t… expected this, somehow. He knew Roxas had ties to Axel, and that other girl in his heart, and the Organization. He knew he’d had some kind of life with these three in that fake Twilight Town, too, but this was the real world.

“So, what happened to him, then?” Hayner said, and Sora blinked back to awareness, realizing they were all staring at him.

“I…” Sora swallowed heavily around the lump of grief and guilt in his chest, “I don’t know. The last time I saw him… he was protecting me. But we got separated, and now… I don’t know what happened to him.”

“Well, why don’t we go ask around?”

“What?” Sora asked.

“If I got lost, the first place I’d try to go is home, right? And we know he used to hang around here, in both the real and the fake version. So, if he made it out of wherever you guys were, I bet this would be the first place he’d go. Maybe someone’s seen him.”

“That’s… yeah, alright. Let’s go look.”

They didn’t get anywhere, mostly, until they stopped at a small ice-cream stall, and the lady perked up, hand pressed to her mouth as she reached out, almost touching the photo before she pulled back.

“Oh, that’s - ! Of course, I know him, he was one of my best customers. It’s such a shame….”

The four of them exchanged glances before turning back to her.

“What do you mean?”

“You… you haven’t heard?”

“Heard?”

“Oh. Oh, dear. That friend of his stopped by a while back – the tall red-head, you know – and told me he’d… well, that he’d passed.”

Axel, Sora realized. It was like someone shoved a rock in his chest, stuck between his lungs and his heart, pressing painfully with every breath. The Twilight Town gang exchanged unsure glances, and the shop lady sighed sadly.

“I’m so sorry, dears. It’s such a shame – he was such a sweet boy. I… here. Have some ice cream on me, yes? Why don’t you all go take a moment.”

Heads ducked, the four of them took the offered ice cream and shuffled to an out of the way corner, each unwrapping their own treat, nibbling on them silently. The moment Sora took a bite, something tightened around his heart. His eyes burned.

“A red-head, again,” Pence mused, finally breaking the silence, “That guy that was after Kairi?”

“Axel,” Sora said, “Yeah. He... he’s Roxas’ Flightmate.”

“Wait, what?” Hayner said, “No way – and I thought Roxas was a cool guy. Why’s he hanging out with a creep like that?”

“And why was he saying Roxas was dead?” Olette asked, “Sora, you said you saw Roxas recently, right? Then, shouldn’t he know…”

“Ah – it’s… complicated. I’m not really sure how to explain it, but we kinda thought Roxas was gone, for a while there. And then…”

And then, before we could find a way to get him back, he sacrificed himself to save me.

Unsure what to say, he shoved the ice cream in his mouth, ignoring the hesitant looks Hayner, Pence, and Olette cast each other.

“Why don’t we head back to the café?” Olette said, “We’ve been running around for a while, Kairi’s probably done by now.”

“Yeah. Yeah, let’s go.”

They found Kairi sitting alone at one of the café tables, staring down at her folded hands with a wrinkle in her brow. Sora reached for her as they approached, finding the weight in his heart echoed in her own, but as their eyes met, hearts entwining, he could breathe again.

“Hey,” he greeted, “Did you find what you were looking for?”

“Yeah. What about you? Did you have fun catching up?”

“I…” he trailed off, sorrow-guilt panging through him, and she reached out, folding his hand in her own.

“Sora?”

“No. It’s nothing.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I – “

Music cut through the air, bright and cheery. After a moment of shuffling, they tracked it to the phone in Kairi’s pocket. With a click of a button, Axel’s face filled the screen, looking even more tired than they’d last seen him.

“Hey, Kairi – oh, and Sora.”

“Axel,” Kairi said, “Are you okay? You look a little…”

“Yeah, yeah – I’m fine. Just thought I’d update you on the whole Replica situation.”

“Did you find them?”

“Ah, yeah. Well, for a little bit. Got eyes on them before… well, before Saïx got involved,” he said, gesturing to his face, “Thing was – I managed to get a glimpse of its face and… it wasn’t the Riku replica. Hitoshi. It wasn’t him.”

“Axel?” Kairi asked, a wave of concern-dread-oh no coming off her, and Sora cast a glance between her and the phone screen, wondering what she was seeing.

“Anyways. They vanished, but, uh. I’m going to keep on their trail, yeah? See if I can’t find a way to steal her away.”

“Her,” Kairi repeated, voice heavy, but Axel just shrugged, somehow managing to avoid her gaze even through the phone, and she sighed, “Okay. Be safe.”

“Hah. Who do you think you’re talking to? I’ll be fine. See ya!”

The screen went dark, but Kairi stared at it pensively for a long moment before tucking it away, turning up to him with a smile he could feel the fakeness of.

“Well. Where to, next?”

#kh #kingdom hearts #fanfiction #wingfic #wrap your wings au #Yza writes a thing

1 note · View note

princess-of-the-corner · 2 years ago

Text

Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories Recap: 13th Floor: Castle Oblivion

Destiny Islands was Sora's final world card. The doors on the thirteenth floor are already open. There's no World Card to be used on this world.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy will be exploring Castle Oblivion in its purest form.

Upon crossing through the final entrance hall into the thirteenth floor proper, Sora wonders about the one most important to him, lamenting that he can’t remember her. No matter how hard he tries, he can only remember Naminé.

Donald can’t remember anything about her either. He knows that it’s important, he can’t remember either, and it worries him.

So, Goofy suggests that they make a promise. After all, whenever they make an important promise, it seems to give them the courage they need to press onward.

And so, they make a promise to themselves and each other: No matter what happens, if they’re scared, in trouble, or separated, even if they all forget each other, they'll always be friends.

“All for one, and one for all!”

Their courage renewed, they press on.

Sora can now perform Trinity Limit, usable with any combination of an Attack Card, Donald Duck, and Goofy except the combination for "Wild Crush".

It's basically a screen nuke, with it's one downside being it's long wind-up time.

If you can pull it off, however, it's a devastating screen nuke.

Key to Beginnings retrieved!

Castle Oblivion is by far the largest world in the game, even IF we don't count the previous floors.

During your first trip through the thirteenth floor, it'll be a long, horseshoe-shaped trawl through hordes and hordes of Heartless, including Neoshadows.

Unlike with previous floors, you'll get story progress OUTSIDE of the story rooms.

The first treasure in the Room of Rewards, and the only one you can get before beating the game, is Superglide, an upgrade to Glide. This'll make traversing the castle much faster.

Back on the twelfth floor, Naminé is approached by an unknown assailant.

The first Bounty for Castle Oblivion is Raging Storm. Sora flies around the field as three blazing tornados orbit him, damaging whatever enemies come close. The formula is Aero+Fire+Fire.

Marluxia is walking down a white hallway when Axel arrives behind him.

"You have a lot of nerve showing your face around here, traitor."

"I'd say you're the real traitor, Marluxia."

The two chat for a bit, with Axel revealing that he had been on to them from the start, and everything he's done since arriving in Castle Oblivion was for the purpose of getting rid of Marluxia and Larxene.

Vexen's death?

Actually not part of the plan, and Axel even claims that he didn't want to kill him, but he was ordered to kill him, and he always follows orders.

In fact, he was ordered to eliminate the traitor, and there’s only one left in the whole castle.

Axel summons his chakrams.

After a few more rooms, Sora comes across the Room of Beginnings.

Axel and Marluxia clash, with Axel vowing to destroy Marluxia in the name of the Organization he betrayed.

After exchanging blows with Axel, Marluxia reveals his secret weapon, holding Naminé in front of himself.

“Is that your shield?” Axel taunts, “Won’t do you any good, I’m afraid.”

Marluxia grins.

“Are you listening, Sora?”

Sora, Donald, and Goofy overheard that last bit about attacking through Naminé to kill Marluxia, and prepare to join the battle.

“So you’re his puppet now?” Axel questions as he turns to face Sora.

Sora informs Axel that he intends to kill Marluxia next.

Axel’s response?

“Now Sora, we have more in common than you think. I’d really rather not fight you… But I can’t dishonor the Organization, now, can I?”

Cue boss battle.

Okay so, here’s what Axel is carrying over from his first battle: His two Attack Card types and one sleight.

His first Attack Card is Continuous Attack: Swings his chakrams sideways, if he makes contact, he’ll follow up with an upward strike.

His second Attack Card is Throw & Catch: Throws his chakrams and warps forward to catch them.

His sleight from the first battle is Firewall (Continuous Attack+Continuous Attack+Continuous Attack): Axel generates a massive wall of fire that spreads through the arena. Can’t be dodged. You have to break the sleight.

In this new battle, he has an Item Card, two Enemy Cards, and a new sleight.

The Item Card is an Elixer, but since he doesn’t use Magic Cards he might as well just be using a Hi Potion.

His new sleight is Firetooth (Throw & Catch + Throw & Catch + Throw & Catch): Axel ignites his chakrams and throws them at Sora. If he has more than half his health left, he’ll throw them both at the same time and they’ll cross each other multiple times as they fly at Sora. If he has less than half his health left, he’ll instead throw four burning chakrams at Sora that’ll fly around him and strike up to 10 times total.

His Enemy Cards are as follows: A Red Nocturne Card that grants Fire Boost (powering up both of Axel’s sleights), and his own Enemy Card, which grants Quick Recovery.

Quick Recovery allows Axel to use cards and sleights while staggering form a Card Break, meaning that you can’t rely on 0 cards unless you dispell this first. He’s immune to Fire but stunned by Ice this way. It last until you hit him 10 times.

And that remains true when Sora gains this Enemy Card on Axel’s defeat.

After the battle, Axel notes that maybe it was worth it to save Sora after all.

When Sora asks what he’s talking about, Axel responds with the following:

“Sorry… I would hate to kill the suspense.”

And then, he disappears.

The Key of Beginnings was Sora’s final Key Card. The final room is already open, and the doors linking the rooms leading up to it have finally materialized.

Upon crossing the remainder of the thirteenth floor and entering the open door at the end, Sora, Donald, and Goofy come face to face with Marluxia, who has Naminé at his mercy.

He thanks Sora for killing Axel, but credits the win to the Keyblade’s power, wishing to claim its power for his own.

Sora, however, has no interest in becoming Marluxia’s weapon, and so the Lord of Castle Oblivion decides to play his trump card:

“You have no chance of winning. Naminé… Erase his memory.”

He’d rather not do something so drastic to Sora, as it would require more “prep time” to get Sora back in fighting shape than if he had simply rewritten Sora’s memories.

Naminé objects, because that would destroy Sora’s heart, but Marluxia has no compunctions about killing her if she refuses to cooperate.

Sora cuts in, demanding that Naminé erase his memory if it means she’ll live.

“You ignorant fool,” Marluxia mocks, “If Naminé uses her power to erase your memory, you’ll be nothing but an empty shell. Your heart will no longer be able to feel or to care. Just like- Vexen’s pale imitation of Riku!”

“Guess again!”

A dark portal opens, and the Riku Replica tears through the air to slash at Marluxia, getting Naminé away from him in the confusion.

Marluxia doesn’t get why an empty shell, stripped of everything “it” had, would intervene against him.

“What did I ever have?” the Replica asks, “My body and heart are fake. But there’s one thing you can’t take away from me… even if it is a lie. I will protect Naminé. Phantom promise or not, it’s MY promise!”

And that’s the breaking point for Marluxia.

“Imbeciles…” he snarls, “You would knowingly shackle your heart with a chain of memories born of lies?”

Sora, Donald, and Goofy ready their weapons.

“You would be one who has a heart, yet cast aside your heart’s freedom?” he continues.

The Riku Replica puts his arm in front of Naminé to shield her.

“You turn from the truth because your heart is weak-” Marluxia declares as he brandishes his scythe, “You will never defeat me!”

Cue boss battle!

Marluxia teleports around the battlefield to move (glides in the GBA game), and his deck consists of the following cards:

Crescent Shock Wave (Attack): Marluxia swings his scythe and sends an arc of pink energy slicing through the air at Sora.

Phantom Saber (Attack): Marluxia dashes and attacks three times. After falling to 40% HP, he’ll perform three extra attacks upon hitting Sora.

Circle Reject (Magic): Marluxia sends three tornadoes after Sora. If one hits him, Sora will be sucked in as the tornados converge, and Marluxia will strike him with his scythe.

Elixer (Item): Reloads Marluxia’s Attack and Magic Cards, including the ones that can’t normally be reloaded.

He also has access to the following sleights:

Death Scythe (Crescent Shock Wave + Circle Reject + Phantom Saber): Marluxia rises into the air and swings three times, sending three blades at Sora that create shockwaves upon striking the floor.

Blossom Shower (Circle Reject + Crescent Shock Wave + Circle Reject): Marluxia warps and slashes three times, warps to the center of the arena, generates two massive shockwaves, and then shoots several lasers at Sora. Individually they don’t do a lot of damage, but getting hit by one leads to getting comboed.

Drop Shot (Phantom Saber + Crescent Shock Wave + Phantom Saber): When Marluxia’s been reduced to 40% HP or lower, he jumps into the air and strikes the ground, generating a massive explosion.

Adding to the danger is Marluxia’s Enemy Card, which grants Double Sleight.

With it, for 3 sleights, every Sleight Marluxia uses is performed TWICE. Mimic this with Darkside and hit him with a powerful sleight if you can.

When Sora has access to this card, he gains resistances to fire, ice, lightning, and special attacks, but becomes vulnerable to physical attacks.

In fact, he gains this card upon defeating Marluxia, and the man from the crossroads disappears.

At which point Marluxia reappears and reveals that the Marluxia they just killed was just an illusion.

The Riku Replica then realizes that the real Marluxia isn’t even in the room, but is behind the big double doors in the back of this room.

One final Save Point appears in the corner, and Sora is given one last chance to save his game before challenging his final opponent.

However, defeating Marluxia’s illusion both unlocks a shortcut that allows Sora to just walk straight to the Entrance Hall from the final room, and a couple of Attack Cards.

In Twilight Town, Sora can now find the One Winged Angel Attack Card. It performs fire-based attacks and is a powerful combo finisher.

But in Castle Oblivion proper, Sora can also now obtain the Diamond Dust Attack Card. It’s an easy-to-handle Attack Card that deals Ice Damage.

As soon as Sora has readied his deck for the final battle, he, Donald and Goofy go ahead to fight Marluxia while the Riku Replica stays behind to protect Naminé.

On the other side of the doors is a pillar, the Station of Oblivion, and Marluxia floats in the void above.

“Soon, the emptiness will shatter your heart- here in this world of nothingness!” Marluxia declares as he surrounds himself with a whirlwind of petals.

From beyond the grave, the Specter emerges, a ghost-like mecha with the hooded face of a crying woman, scythes for hands, a tattered cape, and metallic petals in place of a ghostly tail.

Marluxia sinks into her back, just behind her head, flower petals sprouting around him as she carries him into battle against Sora.

“As lightless oblivion devours you- drown in the ever blooming darkness!” Marluxia yells.

The Specter is a formidable adversary, and Sora’s final foe in the GBA version of the game.

Unlike Marluxia, she attacks using numbered versions of her and Marluxia’s shared Enemy Card, meaning she has both a bottomless deck AND is incapable of using Sleights.

However, before Sora can properly fight the Specter, he’ll have to destroy the two scythes that are attached to her empty sleeves.

Throughout the battle, Marluxia will periodically send three gunner drones known as Bits to orbit Sora (this does not require a card to use), each Bit will be instantly destroyed with Sora breaks one of the Specter’s cards.

Speaking of, the Specter can perform the following attacks:

Deathscythe: As long as the Specter has at least one intact scythe, she can swing first her right scythe, then her left, sending arcs of bladed energy towards Sora, creating shockwaves where each scythe strikes the ground. This requires a card numbered 1 through 8.

Crescent Shock Wave: If Marluxia has three to five flowers rotating in front of him, he’ll turn one of them into an x-shaped blade and yeet it at Sora. This requires a card numbered 1 through 8.

Blossom Shower: Marluxia gathers flower petals and scatters them. The petals damage Sora, and the Card has to be broken as Sora cannot dodge the attack. It requires a card numbered 6 through 8.

Bit Attack: If there are any bits orbiting Sora, a card numbered 0-6 can cause one of them to fire a bullet. Very easy to avoid.

Radiant Darkness: Marluxia gathers darkness overhead and releases it, covering all of Sora’s cards except for the reload with darkness. The darkness will not lift until Marluxia complete his next attack cycle. Requires a card with a value of 7 through 9.

Body Blow: After both scythes have been destroyed, the Specter will charge Sora. Requires a card with a value of 5 through 8.

Circle Reject: After both scythes have been destroyed, the Specter will fly high into the air and slams into the ground to create a massive explosion. It can be avoided by dodging to behind where the Specter jumped from. Requires a card with a value of 6 through 8.

After Sora has destroyed both scythes, whatever he needs to do next depends on the version.

In the GBA version, Sora merely has to find a way to get onto the Specter’s back and battle Marluxia directly, as killing Marluxia destroys the Specter as well.

In the remake (and the only version of the game to get a rerelease at that), Sora must instead jump up to attack the Specter’s head.

Defeating the Specter in the remake immediately triggers the added second phase of the final boss.

In this battle, Sora stands atop the wreckage of Marluxia’s mech within three rotating rings, the Specter having ditched her previous chassis to now float both behind and above Marluxia, brandishing a giant version of Marluxia’s scythe in a left-hand grip. She now take sthe form of a tall and thin woman in white, her face obscured by a helmet-like hood, her pigtails dangling out from under her helmed head and reaching down to her waist, four wings, both pink and black, spread out from her back.

Marluxia stands at her “feet”, commanding his spectral guardian in battle against Sora.

Marluxia is the more prominent of the two in this phase’s numbered Enemy Cards, but they’re now able to use sleights. And as they still have an unlimited deck, this makes this symbiotic duo perhaps the most difficult adversary Sora has ever faced on this journey.

The one saving grace is that this is considered a different battle than the first phase by the game, meaning that Sora gets back any Item or Enemy Cards he used, in addition to his Reload Counter resetting.

The Bits are back from the previous battle, but Marluxia won’t ever use a 0 Card in this form, and their firepower is weaker. He can still use a card valued from 1 through 7 to make one fire, though, but remember that they can still be erased via breaking his cards.

Aside from that:

Mega Deathscythe: With a card valued from 5 through 9, the Specter will swing her scythe through the air and launch a massive arc of floral death towards Sora. Unlike the first phase, there are no shockwaves.

Blossom Shower: With a card valued from 6 through 8, Marluxia will fill the entire battlefield with damaging petals. Basically the same as the first phase.

And now for the sleights Marluxia has access to in this form:

Doom: With three 6 Cards stocked, Marluxia will shot a beam of thorns at Sora. If Sora is ensnared, he’ll have six seconds to break six of Marluxia’s cards before the Specter kills him with a single swing of her scythes, nullifying any Enemy Card Effect that could protect or revive him. If Sora successfully breaks all six cards, he’ll use the last card he played (I once finished Marluxia off with a card I played to break out of Doom). The thorns can be evaded with a Dodge Roll, but if not, then it’s break the cards or die.

Whirlwind to the Void: With three 7 Cards stocked, Marluxia can send three whirlwinds at Sora. If one hits him, his deck will be scattered across the arena, including his Reload Card. Sora then has 20 seconds to collect up his deck before all but the Reload Card are blown away. Any card that is blown away can be recovered with a Reload (thus why the Reload Card CAN’T be blown away). The only cards immune to this are stocked cards and Enemy Cards.

Circle Reject: With three 5 Cards stocked, the Specter will teleport to Sora and strike the ground with the hilt of her scythe to create a shock wave. This shock wave will blow away cards left on the field after Whirldwind to the Void (again, with the presumable exception of the Reload Card).

Gale of Severance: When Marluxia feels that Sora is too close for comfort, he can stock three 8 Cards and blast him to the other side of the arena with a shock wave, causing a gale of wind that keeps Sora from getting closer. He can still Glide through it, however.

When Marluxia’s HP is low enough, he gains one more sleight to try and gain the upper hand.

With three 4 Cards stocked, he’ll cast Omnilaser, where 16 bits fly in and fire a ray that hits Sora six times over six seconds if it isn’t broken in time.

Eventually, Marluxia falls, and can only scream as his body dissolves into petals, which in turn fade from existence. The Specter dissipates as well, having failed in her attempt to protect Marluxia, vanishing into the same nothingness she emerged from.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy rush back into previous room, Donald and Goofy pushing the doors shut so Sora can seal off that room forever.

The Riku Replica, meanwhile, isn’t taking the reveal that he’s a clone of Riku particularly well, especially since he can’t remember when, where, or why he was created.

All that he has are the fake memories of himself, Sora, and Naminé on Destiny Islands.

The worst part is that, as he was alive for a very brief time before he received his fake memories, reverting what Naminé did to him would essentially be a lobotomy. Unlike with Sora, he can’t get his real memories back without permanently destroying his mind and personality.

Sora, meanwhile, gives the Riku Replica some words of encouragement.

“Who cares if somebody created you?” he asks, “You are you, and nobody else. You have your own heart inside of you. Those feelings and memories are yours and yours alone. They’re special!”

The Riku Replica, meanwhile, has his own words to say before heading off on his own:

“Sora, you’re a good guy. I don’t need to be real to see that your feelings are real. That’s good enough.”

Naminé then explains the truth about her powers: remembering one thing leads to remembering another. Their memories are connected, like links in a chain. A Chain of Memories, if you would. Naminé doesn’t actually erase memories, she just takes them apart and rearranges them to fit the narrative she wants them to remember.

They still have all their memories, they just need to put them all in the right place.

The problem is that Naminé will first have to dismantle the chains of memories she put together while they were in Castle Oblivion, gather up the memories scattered throughout their hearts, and reconnect them in the proper configuration.

It’ll take some time, but it’ll put them all back together.

There’s one other catch. By undoing the links of the memories she made, Naminé will cause Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy to forget everything that happened while they were in Castle Oblivion. Even Naminé will be forgotten.

So, she gives Sora a choice: Give up his memories of Castle Oblivion to regain his old ones, or keep his memories of the castle at the cost of the ones he lost.

After he’s told he HAS to choose, he makes his choice:

“Make me like I was.”

“Oh, okay,” Naminé replies,“Nobody needs to keep a bunch of memories that aren’t real, right? You want to remember all the people who are really important to you. Anybody would choose that.”

She is just barely able to keep herself from crying.

Naminé leads Sora, Donald, and Goofy to a room holding a flower-shaped pod.

They’ll need to sleep in pods like this while she puts their memories back.

Donald and Goofy want to know how they’re supposed to thank Naminé if they don’t remember who she is, but Jiminy Cricket chimes in with his solution: He’ll leave a note in his journal to tell them to “Thank Naminé”.

Donald and Goofy head off to their own pods, with Goofy bidding Naminé a good night on his way out.

Sora climbs into the pod, and Naminé admits that, even if it all started with a lie, she is glad that she got to meet Sora.

Sora is as well. He was happy when he found Naminé, and when he “remembered” her name. Even if the memories were fake, the joy he felt was real.

“Goodbye,” Naminé bids.

“No, not goodbye!” Sora replies, “When I wake up, I’ll find you! And then there will be no lies. We’re gonna be friends for real. Promise me, Naminé.”

Naminé points out that Sora will forget making that promise after she’s done putting his memories back, but Sora throws her own words back in her face:

“If the chain of memories comes apart, the links will still be there, right? So the memory of our promise will always be inside of me somewhere, I’m sure of it!”

Naminé, much more optimistic, promises to meet with Sora again once they have their memories back, making it an adorable pinky promise as well.

Sora hops into the pod, and Naminé lets Sora know that some of his memory links are deep inside his heart, meaning she won’t be able to find them.

But the person most important to him, the light in his darkness, will help him remember.

If Sora can just remember her, they’ll all come flooding back to him, allowing Naminé to put his memories back together again.

“Look at the good luck charm,” Naminé advises, “I changed its shape when I changed your memory- but when you thought of her just once, it went back to the way it was.”

The pod closes as Sora examines the Oathkeeper charm.

In the darkness of his sleep, the memories of all the Final Fantasy characters emerge first, followed by Riku.

And finally, Kairi.

As soon as he calls out to Kairi, her light pushes away the darkness, and his memory of Naminé begins to fade.

“Don’t worry. You might forget about me… but with our promise, I can come back.”

“A promise is a promise,” Sora declares.

“Yes. One day the light- it will be ours, and it will bring us together,” Naminé confirms, “Until then- I’ll be in your heart.”

Forgotten, but not lost.

Roll credits, and the more melancholy version of Simple and Clean plays.

The first half of the credits focuses still shots of scenes from the game, just as KH1’s credits did, but it’s the second half that’s important. After showing Sora and his friends (at least, the ones who appeared in this game), and this is the only time in the whole game you can see Jasmine when she’s conscious.

After a moment juxtaposing Kairi with Naminé, three scenes play alongside the last bit of credits.

The first shows Kairi looking out over the ocean, as Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie run along the beach. Selphie notices that Kairi is troubled, but Kairi doesn’t acknowledge her.

The second shows the Riku Replica trudging through the halls of Castle Oblivion, only for a dark portal to open in front of him. A still-living Axel emerges from it, and offers his hand to him.

The final scene shows a blond-haired kid walking down the streets of Twilight Town, passing a trio of kids eating ice cream sticks, but the scene fades to black as he turns to look at them, before the player can see his face.

The epilogue opens with a round room surrounded by thirteen thrones. Men in black coats sit in six of those thrones. The organization is still out there, lead by the Unknown.

There is always sleep between part and meet

with our usual words on the usual street.

Naminé watches over Sora as he slumbers.

So let us part as we always do…

And in a world without you

I’ll dream of you.

The screen fades to black.

When I come to, let us meet

with our usual words on the usual street.

With that, we're taken to "The End" again, this time displaying artwork of Sora reclining with a hand full of cards, and his completeion records (plus the difficulty level). Unlike the first game, you're prompted to save your game here. Saving on "The End" creates a special Save File known as "Clear Data", that allows the player to reload from the last Save Point before the Final Boss, but with some new benefits unlocked.

Upon creating Clear Data for the first time, Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories becomes Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories Reverse/Rebirth, and you can now play as Riku.

We’ll start with that next time.

THis is facinating and heartbreaking. I know enough about later games to see the dots but not enough to connect the dots!

#submission

3 notes · View notes

revengerevisited · 4 years ago

Text

Final Vanitas Theory

Probably the last time I make a theory about Vanitas. One last attempt to preserve his character.

So as far as I know from the last KHUX update, Ven always had a natural heart of pure light. This of course completely contradicts the lore about the Princesses of Heart, but okay let’s go with it. So if Ven never had darkness in his heart, how did Xehanort pull darkness out of his heart to create Vanitas?

One theory is that the being known as Darkness from KHUX will possess or inhabit Ven’s body, and later be pulled out of Ven without its memories as the character known as Vanitas. This of course invalidates everything we know about Vanitas, his origins, motivations, and everything he's ever done and said in BBS and KH3. His entire character would be a lie. This is unacceptable.

So, what could really be going on? Here’s my final theory. What if, instead of hiding inside Ven or whatever, Darkness is able to corrupt part of Ven’s heart, turning it dark? It would be less Darkness possessing Ven, and more similar to Maleficent giving Riku the power of darkness, turning part of his heart dark.

In this way Vanitas would still be a part of Ven, and his character would remain intact. It would line up with that stupid “I was just hidden inside you” line from Re:Mind, while still allowing Vanitas’s speech about being brothers and a part of Ven and Sora to still be true. He also wouldn’t be Strelitzia’s murderer.

It would also mean Vanitas’s redemption could still happen. Sora and especially Ven only seem interested in saving Vanitas if he’s a part of them. In Re:Mind, Ven wanted to save Vanitas, until he thought Vanitas wasn’t a part of him. Ven immediately didn’t want anything to do with Vanitas and told him to go away.

Vanitas has never been loved, and his final scene in KH3 is the closest he’s ever gotten to that. Please don’t let that be taken away. Every other character who was mistreated, Naminé, Roxas, Xion, even Riku Replica, all had people who cared about them. Vanitas has no one but Ven and Sora, and the former has already turned his back on him over that stupid scene in Re:Mind and it makes me so upset. Vanitas needs to be Ven’s darkness and a part of him and Sora for his entire character arc to work.

But if Vanitas is Darkness? All I can imagine for him is everyone hating him even more than they already do, and Marluxia trying to kill him in revenge for his sister’s death. Either that, or some last-minute off-screen redemption like with Vexen that completely ignores Strelitzia’s murder. You can’t have a redemption for Darkness without the murder being addressed. Furthermore Xehanort’s abuse of Vanitas should not in any way be turned into some sort of karmic punishment for killing Strelitzia.

That’s why I don’t even want Vanitas to be associated with Darkness at all in the first place. The worst case scenario that would at least clear him of the murder is Darkness creating Vanitas and hiding him inside Ven, but I would still much prefer if Vanitas is actually a part of Ven’s heart, which is why I go with the heart corruption theory. Even if it makes darkness in general still seem bad and unnatural, at least that way Vanitas would still be a legitimate part of Ven’s heart.

I just can’t accept Vanitas being a child-murderer, nor can I accept him not being a part of Ven. But I guess time will tell, either with tomorrow’s update or the next one. We’ll find out if Vanitas is actually Vanitas, or if it was just Darkness hiding behind a ‘Vanitas’ mask the entire time. I hope and pray that it’s the former.

#vanitas #kingdom hearts #khux spoilers #rant #rambles

32 notes · View notes

phoenix-downer · 4 years ago

Text

Melody of Memory Thoughts

I finished the game yesterday and have a lot of thoughts on it, so I thought I’d stick them all in one megapost. Contains spoilers, for obvious reasons.

So, going into the game, I knew the plot choices would be questionable/disappointing because a few friends warned me, but I didn’t know the exact details. I was actually relieved things weren’t as bad as I feared they might be—I was worried Kairi would be going back to sleep or going back to Destiny Islands to patiently wait, so at least we did not get that. I think knowing what I was getting into beforehand helped prepare me for the plot points we did get.

Gameplay

I’ll talk about the gameplay first because that’s easier to summarize. I had a lot of fun with it, and the trip down memory lane with all the familiar music was wonderful. I played with Sora, Donald, Goofy, and then Terra, Aqua, and Ventus, and it was really satisfying in particular to play as the latter three because I always wanted to see them fighting as a team more often. I need to try out the other teams; perhaps I will soon.

I loved the attention to detail with the character animations and the little loading screens. The main menu scenes were adorable too, and it was nice seeing the characters chatting to each other. Riku’s scene with the Dream Eaters was precious.

I played the songs on various difficulties, depending on the extra challenges. One thing I did notice is that the difficulty was variable even for the same level. Some Proud mode songs I was able to complete, others I really struggled with and gave up on for the time being. I can imagine it was difficult to create a consistent standard of difficulty when the music itself varies so much. I noticed that battle songs, songs with strong downbeats, and songs with syncopation translated better into rhythm games. The slower songs did not, and for a couple of songs I noticed that the buttons were not matching up with the rhythm, which threw me through a loop. Overall though, most of the music matches the timing of the buttons much better than in previous KH games, so I appreciated the improvement there.

The Memory Dive and Boss Battle system is different from the Field Battle system, so there was a learning curve for me there. KH3 features more Memory Dive segments though, probably to show off the nicer graphics and to prepare you for the final battle. By the time I got the hang of the Memory Dive system, I was enjoying myself a lot. I still wish KH3 songs had featured more, but perhaps they’re planning on a Melody of Memory Volume 2 or some DLC or something.

Pretty much all of the character themes have to be unlocked. I’ve done Kairi’s, Naminé’s, and Sora’s so far, and the videos accompanying them are really nice. I honestly wish I could watch someone play so I can pay attention to the videos because the glimpses I catch are lovely.

Maybe it’s because I marathoned the game, but it does start to feel grind-y after several hours of playing. It’s the kind of grinding I enjoy doing, but by the time I unlocked BBS and DDD, I stopped trying to complete the extra challenges because I wanted to get to the plot. Speaking of the plot, by the way, all of the new stuff is at the end of the game. Everything up till then is just a summary of what’s come before. I do understand why Nomura went with that, but it does make it a little tiring to get to the new plot because of the sheer number of songs you have to get through first.

Now that we’re discussing story, though...

Story

I. The Good

1. Kairi is playable (well, this is more gameplay, but it also ties into story).

I know a lot of people watched videos that cut out the gameplay, but she does get a couple of segments of her own where she is playable and you get to do a Memory Dive-esque segment. The first instance is set to “Stranded Beyond,” the music that plays in the Final World. The second instance is set to the music box version of her theme I believe it was as she gathers pieces of her heart. She did get a render for the game, so I was expecting her to be playable at some point, and I was happy she was.

2. Kairi puts up a darn good fight against Xehanort. I wish we could have played through this part, but she kept attacking and didn't let him grabbing her Keyblade deter her. She's clearly improved even since the Keyblade Graveyard.

3. Sora showing up to help her is really sweet, as was her thanking him.

It would've been nice if we got to do that fight as the two of them or as Kairi herself (and more on that later), but the romance of it all was nice. The boy's not even in the real world anymore, and he still shows up to help when Kairi’s is in danger. At first I thought she'd managed to summon his Keyblade, which is awesome and shows how connected they are, and then he appeared and I was like woah okay guess their hearts really are connected thanks to the paopu fruit.

4. Kairi’s going to train with Aqua! Yes!

The fans have been clamoring for this for years and it's finally happening! And she chose it for herself. Leave it to her to try to make the best of the short end of the stick.

5. Letting Riku go alone takes a lot of trust on her end. Yeah, it would've been nice if she got to go, but she's also realistic about her own abilities, and that is in line with how she's been in previous games. I think especially after her failures led to Sora disappearing, she'd be hesitant to rush into danger if she's worried she'd be a liability.

6. It was a pleasant surprise that the Nameless Star was the third key (with Kairi and Riku being the other two) and not Yozora. I thought for sure he would be, so I’m glad Nameless Star gets to be instead. She seems like a kind soul and I like her a lot already.

7. It was nice hearing Kairi's thoughts on Sora's sacrifice for her in KH1. I also love the implication that everyone’s told Kairi their stories, hence why she’s able to tell them to us. The BBS segments especially sound as if she spoke to Aqua in particular about what happened, which ties in nicely to how Aqua’s going to train her at the end.

8. Alyson upped her voice acting game in this, props to her. Her lines when Kairi was facing off against Xehanort were great, and her voice was very soothing to listen to for the narration.

III. The Bad

1. Kairi should've been playable in that last battle. I can see why Nomura had Sora show up though; he's the hero and people want to see him, etc. The same issue happened with Riku getting sidelined in KH3, so it's hardly unique to Kairi; it just seems worse because of Kairi’s past treatment. Sora showing up was a cool moment and looked neat visually, but it would’ve been better if he and Kairi had fought together or if he’d encouraged her and then she’d done the fighting herself. Sadly, Sora winds up shining more in this game than Kairi does as a result, and the advertising feels like a huge bait-and-switch. Again.

I'm honestly beginning to wonder if part of the story for ReMind was written after Melody of Memory, because Melody of Memory seems to follow more directly from KH3 whereas ReMind almost feels like it was written... in reaction to the fanbase being upset about how Kairi was treated? I think Nomura must’ve had his heart set on certain plot points for the story post-KH3, and instead of letting his characters guide him, he’s forcing his decisions on the characters. Which leads me to the next point:

2. Kairi staying behind does feel like a character regression. It made sense in KH1 and during Blank Points I suppose, but it's disappointing she didn't go with Riku this time. I guess it's realistic though, and so the whole plot point is a mixed bag. It's hard for me to make a final judgment call on this until we see more of the story. Is she training with Aqua so she can be shunted aside, or is she going to be in a game with Terra, Aqua, and Ven that delves into Ven's past or something? Until we know more, I’m not sure how to feel.

3. If I had to guess, the next game(s) will have Riku, Yozora, and Mickey be playable. Possibly Sora too because Nomura can't help himself lol. This is... about what I expected. I figured Riku would be the one in Yozora's world just based on the secret ending of KH3. I wonder how all of this is going to go down (I know Square has several KH teams now, so multiple games are probably in development right now).

4. I don’t know how I feel about us possibly getting DDD the Redux + Yozora for the 20th anniversary in 2022. Having another DDD-esque game would not be treading any new ground, and it feels like Nomura wants to do Versus XIII at all costs, the main plot of KH be hanged (hi Foretellers and Luxu, we miss you, you were disappointingly absent in this game). But I do think the Yozora game is next in the cards, and then maybe there will be another game focused on Mickey going to Scala ad Caelum. I really hope it's not just Mickey by himself in that game... And I’d really like a game about the Wayfinder Trio + Kairi...

5. Riku's character is getting worse and worse. His entire character has become about saving Sora, and saving Sora isn't any different than his role in DDD. Feels like a rehash of past plot points, much like Kairi having to train feels like a rehash of past plot points. And at this point it just feels like he’s taking away screentime and agency from other characters, Kairi in particular. David also kind of phoned in the voice acting again on this game. To be fair, he only had a handful of lines, but some of his lines in KH3 also sounded tired and bored.

6. There’s only a passing mention to Roxas, Naminé, Xion, Axel, etc., and not even by name (they’re just lumped together as the others in Twilight Town or something along those lines). It would've been nice to know what they've been up to; they feel strangely uninvolved in the plot. At least we know Kairi will be training with Aqua, so there's that.

7. I really wish Kairi had argued with Riku more about going. She did briefly, but it's sad that she gives up so easily and that Riku doesn't really trust her. It's such a huge contrast to how Sora treats her; whereas he believes in her and raises her up, Riku is like, "Nah, you should stay behind, you're not good enough yet, let me handle this." Riku still coddles her too much and treats her like she’s a doll on a shelf whereas Sora invites her to fight alongside him in ReMind and comes to her aid when she needs it. Riku comes out of this looking like a jerk, which I doubt was intended by Nomura, but it is what it is. Especially because Mickey is really worried about him going alone later on.

8. Kairi's backstory being used only to forward the plot instead of delving into her feelings more is a missed opportunity. Also features retcons galore with Xehanort apparently sending her away to save Radiant Garden all along? That part confused me. And the meta implication that Riku is getting to go on the journey she was originally meant to go on... It makes me wonder if Nomura thinks the implications of his writing through. Riku is literally stealing her role and her plotline now, and neither of them react like two people in such a situation would. I hope Nomura’s going somewhere with this and that it's not just completely unintended bad implications, or worse, fully intended bad implications...

III. Miscellaneous Thoughts

1. It's hard to know how to feel about this game without knowing the next chapters of the story. It does feel like it leads directly from KH3, but it feels like a regression character-wise from ReMind.

2. I hope Kairi going to train with Aqua isn't just an excuse to sideline her from the plot... again. I have some serious caveats about her role going forward, but I'm relieved she didn't go to sleep again or go back home to Destiny Islands. That was my worst fear, and thank goodness she is taking her fate into her own hands in the small ways she can. I wonder if this is Nomura trying to continue a plot point from BBS Volume 2 that had to be scrapped or something. Let's hope Aqua can actually teach her competently, unlike Merlin...

3. Mickey getting a Melody of Memory render confuses me. He wasn't playable, was he? I didn't 100% the game so I have no idea. Maybe he is playable somewhere in the game and I haven’t gotten to it yet. Or maybe he really will be playable in a future game as a main character.

4. No one will ever be able to claim Kairi is a Mary Sue lol. She's had an (almost disappointingly realistic) learning curve when it comes to fighting, especially in comparison to the other characters. I hope that by the time KH4 rolls around, Nomura will let her be fully competent/fully trained. It's frustrating that pretty much all of the other characters get to learn as they go, but she is relegated to more training.

5. This game almost makes me more impatient for the next chapter of the story when I was feeling pretty content after ReMind. I guess the game has done its job in that case, but while I feel better than I did after KH3, I feel slightly worse than I did after ReMind. I wish Nomura wasn't so fixated on maintaining the status quo and would stop rehashing past plot points. But again, it'll be hard to judge all this until we get more material, which probably won't be till 2022 at the earliest if I had to guess.

6. The Yozora stuff wasn't as hackneyed as I feared it would be, but I still can't shake the feeling that that whole plot point is sucking up precious screentime from other characters. I think Nomura's going to spread himself too thin again and have trouble wrapping all of this up in KH4. Because now we have the Riku-going-to-Yozora's-world plotline, the Mickey-going-to-Scala-ad-Caelum plotline, the Kairi-training-with-Aqua plotline, the overall-rescuing-Sora plotline, the Luxu-Foretellers-MoM plotline, the Subject X plotline... how on earth are all these plotlines supposed to be connected to each other and resolved in a satisfying fashion?

7. My guess is that the switch to Kairi being narrator instead of Chirithy happened late into development of the game, perhaps because Nomura saw how much the fanbase does appreciate Kairi and wanted to throw us a bone. Unfortunately, what resulted is a bait-and-switch that made us hope we'd get a Kairi-focused game, only for it to... end the way it does. Ironically, I think it might've been less disappointing if Chirithy had remained the narrator. I'm glad Kairi got to be the narrator, don't get me wrong, but I think the way Nomura handled things set us up for disappointment again. I just hope whatever comes next makes this game feel better in hindsight.

8. I’m not entirely sure what to make of the whole “unreality”/fictional worlds thing. I guess I’m having an easier time accepting it than I thought I might, but it still feels like the whole plotline was introduced just to shove Versus XIII into the KH universe. I sympathize with Nomura for having his baby taken away from him in the first place, but I worry both it and KH will suffer as a result of combining the two.

IV. Future Speculation

1. If I had to guess, Kairi is probably not going to be very involved in the Yozora game(s). It'll be focused on Riku, Yozora, and possibly Mickey and Sora too. Yozora and Nameless Star will probably be instrumental in bringing Sora back "to the real world,” and then Sora will come home just in time to have to face off against the Foretellers and the Master of Masters in KH4 (which, I'm gonna make a wild guess and assume we'll get in 2025 or 2026 at the earliest).

2. I do hope Kairi plays some role in bringing Sora back, and honestly, I think it's possible she will. Nomura, I would imagine, is setting up her reunion with Sora to be Big and Important™️, so it wouldn't surprise me if he wants to save it for KH4. I think a part of Sora’s heart might be inside Kairi or linked to Kairi, and that will be the final key to bringing him back. The whole scene where Sora appeared reminded me of when Ven briefly manifested when Sora was facing off against Vanitas, and Ven was inside Sora’s heart at the time.

3. We know from past covers that the current cover actually foreshadows future events in the story. KH3's cover depicts parts of Tokyo and then Sora wakes up there (oh excuse me "Quadratum" lol nice one SQUARE), the KH2 Final Mix cover depicted The Final World, so maybe MoM's cover is meant to depict future events as well.

4. Sora being unable to speak in Kairi’s dream when he faces off against Xehanort has me intrigued. Why can’t he speak? Is it because his heart is in the unreality? All I can think about is The Little Mermaid when Ariel lost her voice because of Ursula’s curse “deal” with her.

5. I don’t think the person Kairi and Sora actually fought was Xehanort. Why would a dead Xehanort care about where Sora is? It would make more sense to me if it was the Master of Masters (hinted at by the acronym for the title, MoM), and that he was using Xehanort’s image (and then Xemnas’s, and then Ansem SOD’s, and then Apprentice Xehanort...) to manipulate Kairi. It would fit his whole “puppetmaster behind the scenes” vibe I get from him and his previous manipulation of Xehanort. I think he was trying to locate Sora’s heart in this game, and Sora stepping in to help Kairi allowed him to pinpoint Sora’s location. Now he seems to know where Sora’s heart is, so mission accomplished, I guess? Ooooph, Sora walked right into that trap if that’s the case.

V. Final Thoughts

Fun if uneven gameplay and some questionable story choices dragging down the good stuff. I’ll hold my full judgment till we see what happens next though.

Congrats if you made it all the way to the end of this, haha. I’d be happy to hear your thoughts!

#kingdom hearts #melody of memory #kingdom hearts melody of memory #kh mom #melody of memory spoilers #kh mom spoilers #kingdom hearts melody of memory spoilers #kh analysis #kh meta #long post

84 notes · View notes

vannahfanfics · 3 years ago

Text

Distance

Category: Romantic Fluff

Fandom: Kingdom Hearts

Characters: Sora, Kairi

Additional Tags: Modern AU, College AU

Hey, hey, everyone! Here’s another story for @sokaiweek, this time for the prompt “Distance”! I hope you enjoy what I’ve thought up for today! <3

Kairi tapped her pencil incessantly against her desk, and her blue eyes constantly flicked to the clock on the wall, where the minute hand inched towards five p.m.: the end of her final class for the day. Normally, Kairi tried to pay attention in class— especially because Naminé grew bored within the first ten minutes and began doodling, so Kairi always had to provide her notes— but she was in no mood for college algebra today. As soon as the clock struck five, she would hightail it out of this building like Cinderella fleeing the ball, except Kairi wasn’t running from her suitor.

She was running towards him.

Her boyfriend, Sora, attended a university many hours away from hers. Under normal circumstances, they were good students and were diligent with their studies. Though this afforded them good grades, this also meant that their time to spend together was minimal. They’d scheduled a Skype call today, and it would be the first time they’d spoken in nearly two weeks— which was why Kairi had practically snapped her pencil banging it against the desk with impatience.

Finally, the clock struck five, and before the professor could even finish his announcements about some quiz next week, Kairi was tearing out the door. Her bag slapped against her thigh as she full-on sprinted towards her dorm, earning a few confused looks from the people walking at a more leisurely pace. In record time, she was throwing open her door (surprising her roommate, Selphie), wrenching her laptop out of her bag, and belly-flopping onto her bed.

As Kairi frantically typed in her password, Selphie turned in her computer chair to laugh at her.

“Calling Sora tonight?”

“Yes,” Kairi said, now waiting with bated breath for the call notification. She was hunched over the screen like a hungry fox, her hands laced over her lips and muffling her words. She looked over when Selphie rose from her chair and began gathering her things. “Oh, you don’t have to leave! I can go somewhere!”

“No, it’s okay. I have a study group in an hour, so I’ll just head off to the library early and start preparing. You kids have fun,” she teased with a wink, and then she was strutting out of the door. Kairi smiled at her friend’s consideration, but she then jumped violently when her laptop suddenly began to ring with the notification. She screamed as her laptop slipped off her comforter, and in her scramble to grab it before it hit the floor, she accidentally answered it. Therefore, Sora got a very flattering view up her nose while she hauled it up. He was laughing while she was setting it on her lap and trying not to look panicked, but her flushed face and disarrayed hair wasn’t helping.

“Drop your laptop?” he guessed, and she could only smile sheepishly. “You’re so cute,” he said while laughing again, and Kairi felt her heart flutter. She settled herself back against her pillows, and when she looked to the screen again, she realized that Sora was moving.

“Ah, are you calling from your phone?”

“Yep, I’m on a walk. It’s a nice evening,” he said, turning the phone around to show her the beautiful sunset, dying the sky a russet red-gold. It shone above the tall skyline, where skyscrapers were dotted with white squares of light. When he turned it back to his face, he smiled brightly and ran his fingers through his spikes of brown hair. “How was class today?”

“I don’t know. To be honest, I was too busy being excited,” she admitted with a cute, bashful smile. Sora’s face broke into a huge grin, and his cheeks turned pink with delight.

“You wanna know a secret? Me too,” he said, and Kairi giggled girlishly. “Riku was doggin’ on me all day, callin’ me a sap,” he pouted, and Kairi crooned sympathetically. “I can’t help it! It ain’t like I get to see ya as much as I want to.”

“I know.” Long-distance relationships sure had their challenges. She loved that Sora was attending a good university and pursuing a good career, but that didn’t make her feel any less lonely sometimes. She’d lie awake at night craving his touch and warmth. She’d daydream in class about their old dates, the way his hand fit so perfectly in hers and the sweetness of his kisses. They’d been at this for nearly a year already; Kairi didn’t know if she could survive the rest of university like this.

Her sadness must have shown on her face, because when she looked back to her laptop screen, Sora was smiling understandingly.

“I know it’s hard, Kairi. I appreciate you sticking it out for me,” he said, and she wanted to cry at the sheer amount of gratitude he was expressing. “I couldn’t ask for a better girlfriend.”

“And I couldn’t ask for a better boyfriend,” she countered shyly, grabbing her ankles and leaning back into the pillows while she balanced the laptop on her crossed legs. Sora chuckled at this, quickly texting someone on his phone before turning his attention back to her.

“Eh, I am pretty great,” he joked, and Kairi batted the laptop screen, though she would’ve much rather slapped him on the shoulder. Sora tipped back his head in laughter, his rosy face illuminated briefly by the passing light from a streetlamp. Yeah, you are pretty great, Kairi thought affectionately, roped in by the pure infectiousness of Sora’s laugh. Her endearment rapidly turned into a cold pang of sadness, and she pushed back into her pillows, trying to draw comfort from their soft embrace. It only worked a little.

“I really miss you,” she moped, and Sora gave her a sympathetic look.

“I know. I miss you too, Kairi, every minute of every day.” Ugh, how could she be sad when he dropped romantic one-liners like that? One second she was sulking, the next her heart was pounding because her boyfriend was so goddamn smooth. It was an exhausting back-and-forth, but she wouldn’t give it up for the world. He smiled into the camera at her, and she couldn’t help but give him a teensy smile in return. “Don’t worry. We’ll be able to see each other in person soon. Just hang on a little longer, okay?”

“Okay…” she relented, but jutted her lips out in a pout in the hopes it would speed up the process. Sora just gave her a little smirk. Ugh, he looked so handsome when he did that. She squirmed as her heart fluttered against her chest like a bird trying its best to escape her ribcage.

Sora was suddenly enveloped in light, as he was walking into a building. He lowered the phone to talk in a low voice to someone, and for a few seconds, all Kairi could see was the fabric of his cargo shorts. After finishing his brief conversation and walking a few paces down the hall, he lifted the phone back up to smile apologetically.

“Sorry.”

“Checking into the dorm?”

“Yeah, but… Not my dorm,” he said, his expression morphing into an absolutely diabolical grin. Kairi just gaped at him, absolutely unable to compute. Not his dorm? Then who’s dorm was it? Riku, Ventus, and Vanitas all lived in the same dorm as him, so who else could he possibly be visiting? He was snickering at her while she struggled to process his cryptic statement; in her camera, she could see the absolutely stupefied expression she was making, mouth hanging open and eyes wide. She couldn’t help it! She was absolutely, completely bewildered!

“You still haven’t figured it out?” he laughed as he stopped in front of a door, and Kairi just shook her head wildly in exasperation. Sora laughed again; then, with a meaningful raise of his eyebrows, he knocked on the door behind him.

Kairi literally screamed when she heard that tap-tap-tap echo through her dorm room. She didn’t even bother to shut her laptop, instead shoving it to the side and springing from her bed. Sora’s laughter bounced around the room as she raced across, but her bare feet caught on the area rug, causing her to slip. She just barely caught herself on the doorknob, and like a cartoon character, her feet scrabbled uselessly over the fabric until she bunched it up to hit the tile underneath. Once the rest of her body had caught up with her, she wrenched the door open to find Sora waiting, his arms spread wide and grin absolutely blinding.

“Sora!” she squealed, and Sora leat out an oomph! when she jumped at him. She clamped her legs around his middle and her arms around his neck, smothering his face with kisses, while Sora grabbed her hips and spun on his heel to keep his balance. He could barely get a word out between her onslaught of smooches, especially because he was too busy laughing. He carried Kairi back into her room and kicked the door shut behind them so they stopped bothering her dorm neighbors, and finally, Kairi stopped kissing him to grab his face and give it a squish.

“Is this real? Are you really here?”

“Well, I sure hope so,” Sora chuckled with a look down at himself, then back up at her. “It’d be pretty hard to explain if I wasn’t.”

“How did you even get in here?”

“Selphie let me in.”

“That—!” she gasped, but Sora shushed her by sweeping her up in a kiss of his own. Kairi hummed into the meeting of their lips, the closing of the distance that had pained her for so long. He kissed her again and again and again until they were running out of air, but he kept kissing her until the absolute last moment, and they broke apart panting and red-faced. Kairi caressed his cheeks lovingly, eyes sweeping up and down his face like she wanted to commit it to memory. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she said, the realization suddenly hitting her and making her choke up.

“Aw, Kairi,” Sora cooed as she latched onto him, burying her face into his neck while she cried. He rubbed her back soothingly, leaning his head against hers. “A good surprise?”

“Mhmm,” she mumbled pathetically into his skin, smearing tears all over it while she nuzzled in as deep as she could go. She breathed in deep to get that lovely scent of his, salt and ocean water and coconut. As it flooded her nose, calm flooded her too, and the tears dried as soon as they had come. She relaxed in his embrace, tired from all the sudden emotion. Sora pressed a few kisses into her hair while he carried her to her bed, and then he just unceremoniously threw her on it. Kairi squealed as she bounced on the mattress, but it was swallowed up by Sora crawling on top of her to kiss her again oh-so-sweetly.

“I love you,” he smiled once he’d had his fill of her kiss-swollen lips, leaning his forehead against hers. “So much it hurts sometimes.” There he went again with those damn one-liners. How was a girl supposed to deal with her heart nearly bursting out of her chest?

“I love you too,” she said. Though it felt like a lame reply in comparison, it was how she felt. Sora liked it well enough; he snuggled down into her, covering her in every inch of his warmth, and Sora responded in kind by wrapping him up like a koala hugging its tree. His hands massaged the flesh of her waist and hips in mindless, tender touches.

“Riku’s right,” he smirked suddenly. “I am kind of a sap.”

“Hehe, but you’re my sap,” she hummed, and Sora buried his face into her hair so deeply that she could feel his smile against his scalp.

“I can live with that.”

Kairi knew that he’d have to leave again soon, but she didn’t want to think about that. All she wanted to think about right now was him, his touch, his warmth, his love— the closure of the distance between them, if only for a moment.

Enjoy this oneshot? Feel free to peruse my Table of Contents!

#sokai #sokaiweek #sokaiweek2021 #sora x kairi #kairi x sora #kingdom hearts

15 notes · View notes

jcmorrigan · 4 years ago

Note

001 - Kingdom Hearts

Favorite character: On the villain side: VEXEN IS BEST ORGANIZATION XIII MEMBER. Shoulda stayed evil, though. I like it when he complains and screams about everything and hates everyone. He's one of my favorite villains, just, like...in general. So fun to write. Also attached to Demyx, but I actually liked him more in III than II because it reminded me of my rawr lolspeek weeb days when I f/o'd him without knowing what f/o'ing was and then transitioned this to shipping VexDem like heck. On the hero side: MY GIRL KAIRI! But honorable mentions go to Sora, Riku, Aqua, Ven, Terra, Xion, Roxas, Lea, Ienzo, any Disney character I loved beforehand (this is way too fuckin many to list), Merlin (OKAY I WILL SINGLE HIM OUT), Yen Sid (I'LL SINGLE HIM OUT TOO), you know what let's also single out the Mickey+Donald+Goofy power trio...just...any KH hero who isn't part of the Yozora stuff or the KHUX stuff. ...Except I also LOVE Strelitzia, and she is the only KHUX-exclusive kiddo I care about but I care about her MANY. (Oh, and there's a least fave I have who's a "hero" but that's a debatable label). I would go on about why I love all of them but...that's too many characters to elaborate on

Least Favorite character: See, I think the real answer is Yozora, but the thing is I just tend to forget about him or not care (unless I'm doing a weird AU where he's Noctis' bratty Nobody, don't ask). He kinda represents the Shark Jump and I don't like watching that scene where he literally petrifies Sora for not being strong enough. But again, I can just kinda forget about him if he's not fed to me through a social-media unit. The one I LOVE TO HATE is Master Eraqus. The man actually triggered me back in the day. He is purity culture. He is the overbearing parent who will not accept you unless you are perfect. He is by and large the reason VAT didn't communicate with each other properly. He was the one who taught Aqua to think in absolutes. He lied to Ventus for years and then insisted to kill him was the only option, and then, when Terra tried to defend his brother figure/friend without knowing WHY Eraqus was doing such a thing, Eraqus didn't offer an explanation and instead switched targets to Terra citing that the problem was Terra's lack of OBEDIENCE. Eraqus is just very "my way or the highway" and uses his moral high horse to justify doing things that utterly lack compassion in any regard, which is something that GETS to me on a deep level, and let me tell you, I hated him for so long until I realized he was actually a super fuckin fun guy to imagine as a Bigger Bad in AUs that either have the KH protags teaming up or have villain protags needing a "greater good lawful evil" figure. And I just have found too many good memes about him cheating at chess and killing children. I have to laugh. Making fun of him is fun. He's a ridiculous character. That said, this recent trend of "erase everything bad he ever did and paint him as the ultimate hero of the saga" makes me raise eyebrows for SEVERAL reasons

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): VexDem, SoRiku, Kairi x Jaune Arc (RWBY), Aqua x Rosalina (Super Mario Galaxy) x Bayonetta, IsaLea, Ventus x Papyrus (Undertale), that was six but they all needed to be mentioned

Character I find most attractive: Ienzo. HOO BABY he is adorable. I saw someone make a Valentine's Day gifset of KH and FF characters shortly after III dropped and seeing his smiling face paired with a romance quote made my heart FLUTTER

Character I would marry: Probably Ienzo, see above. He's also a very kind guy. Favorite redemption in the modern era.

Character I would be best friends with: I hope the Destiny Trio would adopt me into their friend circle the way they've tended to do with every other inter-world denizen they've come across. I would love to have them as my positivity squad. Or, y'know, two positivities and one "it's okay to screw up" guy. Just. I would love to hang out with them. I often worry that I'm unlikable to my faves, but even though I would usually prefer to hang with the villains, I can pretty much guarantee these three would be open-minded about me. (Do I kiiiiinda wanna be friends with Vexen though? Of course I do. He'd hate me but maaaayyyyybe he would see me as one of his pet idiots who makes him look smarter, and we could bond over our fragile egos?)

a random thought: You ever think about that one NPC lady in Traverse Town who refused to tell you where she was from because it was none of her business? You ever wonder where she WAS from? What her world was like? How she ended up being the survivor of the Ansem Apocalypse when it hit her? All I know is that when I read her lines out loud (I used to read KH speech balloons out loud all the time), I gave her a Southern accent for no discernible reason and I stand by it. That woman has a twang.

An unpopular opinion: I don't want KHUX to be canon because I feel it's smaller-scale and takes a lot of mystery out of the worldbuilding. I always assume that the KHverse just includes ALL worlds in fiction, and that includes their thousand-year histories, meaning the Age of Fairy Tales should've happened long long long LONG LONG LONG ago and not five generations. And whatever screwed up the world should've been more than just five people having a fight, and whatever saved it should've been more than just five people getting along, and Daybreak Town really suffers from having to stick to mobile-friendly graphics and therefore is the least aesthetically attractive KH town ever, and I don't like that Lauriam and Elrena used to be such selfless people. I do still love Strelitzia because she's shy and relatable and quirky (sitting on the roof) and she questions authority and if you go with shipping subtext she's probably bi (or pan?), but I don't like the "Lauriam's dead sister for his arc's drama" bit. I liked when Marluxia was angry because he wanted to run Organization XIII but it was in the hands of an idiot who wasn't him. And more than anything I just like imagining that the Age of Fairy Tales was something bigger, further in the past, and more mysterious than something designed for a mobile game. Scala ad Caelum, however, I like a lot better because there IS a lot of mystery there and also it's a very pretty town with an amazing design.

my canon OTP: I really only count the Disney couples as the "canon" ones, so this is a question of picking my favorite Disney couple that shows up onscreen. I hope I'm not forgetting an important one, but I think the title has to go to Aladdin/Jasmine, which is always perfect in everything. (This would be an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT STORY if KH had ever adapted Treasure Planet, and if it ever gets the mind to adapt Treasure Planet then even if I don't care about that game I will immediately declare that Amelia/Doppler takes the KH canon OTP crown. *taps watch* Get on it Squenix)

Non-canon OTP: SoRiku, which I counted as "basically canon" after DDD until III decided it wasn't sure. But I'm just a sucker for how DDD is the two of them all "HE'S GOT MY BACK AND I'VE GOT HIS AND I'D DO ANYTHING FOR HIM SO LONG AS HE'S HAPPY." It's just the best kind of Friends-to-Lovers, except when you take all canon into account it's Friends-to-Rivals-to-Enemies-to-Friends-to-Lovers and that's a very juicy dynamic. BUT ALSO: VexDem, which is a nostalgia ship SO STRONG I had to accept that it eclipsed my former Vexen ships by a mile and I wanted to go back to my roots. That one, I have a much longer essay about that I'll just have you refer to so I don't repeat myself for pages. To make a long story short, their scene in III was JUST DELICIOUS.

most badass character: OOF THEY'RE ALL BADASS but in the end it's between Sora and Aqua, because Sora gets the widest RANGE of abilities across the series that he masters while Aqua gets the most POWERFUL abilities due to her Mastery (Command Styles seem like they'd be the most OP things ever in-universe and I'm here for it because flashy battle moves make brain go brr).

pairing I am not a fan of: SOKAI, Xehaqus, RikuNami, Vanitas/anyone not evil

character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): OH BOY. KAIRI THE MOST. YOU ALL KNOW WHY: lack of screen time, Fridging for drama, forced romance to invite death flags (they really wanted to milk that death to get people talking didn't they?), giving Alyson Stoner ZERO direction to actually follow up on Hayden Panettiere's performance. But then I remember that they made Vexen redeem and lose his entire personality and I just...uuugghhhh. I can't believe he died twice in this series. And then Demyx is FUN but also I know he's flipped sides as well, which means he won't be fun much longer! Xehanort seems to switch motivations to whatever makes him the biggest threat (and several of Eraqus' old flaws seem to be mysteriously glued onto him), Sora isn't a motormouth anymore, Riku just doesn't get anyone who cares about him anymore because everyone's distracted by Sora and Kairi, IS ANYBODY GOING TO ADDRESS THE ACTUAL ISSUES THAT DROVE THE WAYFINDER TRIO APART, oh God Marluxia and Larxene you're good guys now what have they done to you

favourite friendship: I really like each of the trios. But you know what's even BETTER than the trios? If you put...all of the trios together...meaning Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Aqua, Terra, Ven, Roxas, Xion, Lea, Hayner, Pence, Olette...and then you added Isa back in there...and you gave them Ienzo...and you brought back Naminé...and you say that Subject X is Strelitzia and you have her turn back up so she can have justice done...AND YOU HAVE AN ULTRA KEYBLADE GROUP OF FRIENDS. As for Vexen, any purely platonic relationship I have for him is a crossover but trust me I have many crossover pals for he

character I want to adopt or be adopted by: See everyone I listed above in the friendship question. They can either mentor me or let me be their big sis/mom. But also, I will GLADLY be Merlin or Yen Sid's daughter. (But also would I kiiiiinda wanna be a VexDem daughter? This is the worst idea. Still wanna try)

#kingdom hearts

8 notes · View notes

mimiplaysgames · 4 years ago

Text

Terra Week Day 6 (Free Day)

Summary: Sometimes, a ghost is a wish. | Word Count: 3,218

Read on AO3

A/N: For Terra Week 2021! You can find that account on Twitter!

~*~*~*~*~

The Tenets of a Master, Ch. 6

The Master’s bedroom is exactly as he left it many years ago. Bed made, dresser (now) dusty, curtains parted to let the sunlight in, walk-in closet neatly organized with not a single article of clothing in his hamper, as the Master was a fan of washing clothes every single day. Terra never found out why.

Terra has rummaged through this drawer three times already and still he can’t find them. He’s looking for a stack of sepia-toned pictures, cradled in a small envelope, the ones on the top dated many years ago when the Master was a student, while the ones at the bottom chronicle some of his adult life when Terra and Aqua were children. He’s tried searching every drawer, every box, every cupboard, and has even looked under the mattress and in the pillow cases. He couldn’t have misremembered them, could he?

One of the things he’s surprised to find instead is a small, delicately furnished wooden box with a latch. Full of cigars. The Master never smoked, but maybe he liked to smell like them. Though Terra would never personally choose to keep a set in his dresser, smudging all his clothes.

Sighing, Terra stands by the bed, taking another gander around the room to see if there’s a spot he could have missed. Maybe behind the mirror? No, not there. He slips his hands into his pockets, and finds something else. Folded over in four, the paper is crumpled, living in his pocket for the better part of a week. Naminé’s drawing of Xemnas is messier, the strokes of crayon meshed into each other that he’s less of a childish, crude figure and more of a smear. That ring of fire surrounding him stays closed.

Terra grunts.

Here comes another headache, a tense pulse above his brow. Massaging it never helps. Suddenly, Terra is not in his Master’s old bedroom anymore. Suddenly, he’s standing high on a cliff overlooking a wasteland, talking to someone in a black cloak with the hood up.

Now he’s back in the bedroom, the sun cutting shapes through the lace curtains with the breeze passing by. In a few minutes, the headache will go away. This is how it goes every single time.

Yes, it’s been a week since they left Radiant Garden. Only Ienzo uses the Gummiphone for contact, leaving long messages that take Terra too much time to reply back to. The rest of the team would prefer correspondence through letters, which is something Terra would rather do as well. He just hasn’t done so yet, focusing his attention on cleaning the castle as they start a new life without their old Master. Once that’s done, he promises himself to do so.

It’s a shame, he knows he should make more of an effort (and promises that he would once he takes care of the Master). Xion sometimes texts him with pictures, some of them with Roxas, who still hasn’t made an effort to talk to him even though they played a good race at the beach (Terra didn’t even need to let him win—that kid is fast). That’s okay. Xion has offered to set Terra up with what she calls a Kingstagram account, and Terra supposes that’s okay, too. He just doesn’t know what that is or if it’s worth his time.

In the end, he is still really bad at connecting with others, and he’s still out of pictures, and he still doesn’t know what to do with the Xemnas drawing. Any moment now, Aqua will come looking for him. They’re finally preparing for his memorial, to say goodbye to his Keyblade—

—And Terra has to say goodbye forever without ever seeing him again. What’s the point of staying linked to these memories if they do nothing for him?

Why does looking at this drawing of Xemnas the only thing that gives him reminders?

Grunting, Terra rubs his face. Maybe it’s as good a time as any to text somebody now, distract himself so he calms down and do some good so he’s not completely isolated. He waits for his Gummiphone to turn on to the initial screen, the whirring of the machine the only noise accompanying him. How did Ven do this again? He clicks on his address book. Now he has to remember how to open a text and take a picture, particularly of the Xemnas drawing.

terra

did he ever call you an also-ran

Send.

Terra doesn’t expect Lea to answer right away. He probably will read the text, probably take the time he needs to register how he feels before painting his usual bright smile that he uses to play everyone. Maybe Terra has him all wrong. Maybe this is really offensive, and Lea would actually be upset. It’s not his intention.

The Gummiphone buzzes several times.

lea

see

i told isa the other day

the first time i saw you i thought you looked like an asshole

Terra snorts to himself quietly.

terra

is that your favorite word

lea

So it’s all good. Terra breathes a sigh of relief, a smirk that’s warm on his cheeks. He doesn’t know if texting people randomly is the right way to go about doing this whole make-new-friends thing. It’s not as easy as walking up to somebody and saying hello anymore, but starting a new life doesn’t have a manual.

As though the chains he linked through Xemnas harbor resentment, he’s hit with another spasm of pain, drilling onto the side of his skull. Stars, they get intense sometimes, some of them downright gorey. He will not think about it. He will push it away. The pain subsides but only a bit, throbbing instead.

It can’t end like this. He’s avoided going back to Naminé ever since just to keep trying and see Eraqus, one more time. One more. It’s not much to ask for, so why can’t the stars be more forgiving? He swears to them he’ll never ask for something again.

Terra groans, pain hammering over his brow. What’s coming this time is going to knock him around, so he lowers himself to his knees. Several people dressed in extravagant embroidery, from some other world, being swallowed up by darkness, their hearts floating up to the sky and a small cry of Mister, is my mommy coming back?

When it’s over, Terra sobs, keeping a heave from rupturing his chest and wiping dry tears. If Aqua comes in and sees him like this, she’ll freak—she’s already brewed so many potions and teas for him whenever he has an episode.

He tries for the closet again. The Master kept his most expensive robes wrapped in plastic, preserving a faded scent of cedar. Terra takes the fabric, smooth as silk, and breathes into it. It’s weaker than last time. He could always spray it with the Master’s leftover cologne (his favorite), but it still wouldn’t smell exactly like him, and as Terra waits seconds for another memory to come, he realizes as soon as it hurts that it wouldn’t bother with giving him what he’s looking for. All he asks for is the sound of the Master’s voice, to see that smile move one more time so he makes sure he sears it into his mind for the rest of his life.

Instead, a strong voice (Xehanort’s) talks about the Darkness making way for the Light, just like the expansive sky that is home to the stars. It was necessary to pursue it, he had said to someone.

A single tear treads all the way to Terra’s jawline. He’s tried his best. No photos, no special memory. It’s like the Master doesn’t linger here anymore.

Defeated, Terra pulls his Gummiphone out, searching for Naminé’s entry. He won’t commit to an appointment. He’s only asking questions, wondering if there are better ways to maneuver through the memories so he gets what he wants. She doesn’t answer right away.

He pulls himself up at the foot of the bed, aching like an older man even though he looks twenty in the mirrors. What lies.

Where else to find mementos? Terra has already looked through the Master’s study and his favorite spots in the library. The only place left is the attic.

The attic sits atop the northeast tower. Terra is in the residential wing, in the southeast tower, so he has to travel several paces downstairs to make it over, just to climb all the way back up. Entirely built of wood, the attic has one stained-glass window that slices pastels through the floorboards. A lot of junk gets dumped up here—old knight statues from a Master that lived eight-hundred years ago or so, faded paintings that have names but aren’t recognizable anymore, couches that are stained and out of style, chests of outdated books and maps, and trinkets and gifts that litter everywhere else. Even Aqua can’t bear to let any of this go despite that none of it truly belongs to anybody. To her, it’s like rejecting their history. The Master probably had felt the same.

Before what happened, Master Eraqus was moving items up here, mostly stacks of papers. They were shoved in a leather binder, tied together with string. It’s a long shot the photos will be with them, but regardless, Terra begins the hunt.

It’s not in the chest of crystals. Not by the old (creepy) dollhouse. Not with any of the broken phonograms, nor with the folded rugs that stack from floor to ceiling.

But it’s right there, sitting neatly by a basket full of gold artifacts from worlds Terra has never been to and engraved in languages he doesn’t know, tied with a red string and stitched in handmade leather. When Terra pulls it open, he’s greeted by a handful of letters written to Eraqus about trouble in other worlds, asking for his help, and a stack of essays about the philosophy of the Keyblade, both in the common-tongue and the ancient.

It’s nothing like reliving memories or watching them like footage, but Terra imagines the Master working late into the night on his desk with a quill, writing these essays slowly so he keeps his impeccable script. He’d read books with a glass of wine every night, and keep at it in the morning with a mug of coffee, hair unbrushed as usual but that’s fine when he keeps it in a short ponytail every day. He’d disappear every week to some other world, leaving Terra and Aqua with a nanny until they were old enough to take care of themselves. Considering what these people are writing about—missing circus animals, their neighborhood mountain being possessed, and even an early report of Unversed showing up in the woods—the Master used to be a busy man.

Why did he have to die that day? Why can’t Terra keep the things that are supposed to come with home?

Terra sniffs. The smell of cedar comes up, as though the cologne was sprayed up here recently. Kicked up with a cloud of dust, as though the Master is here.

I am… well, for a short time at least.

Terra whips over his shoulder to find the Master behind him, a glow beaming through him as he checks the rust spreading on one of the oldest sets of armor. Picking up dust, Master Eraqus rubs it between his fingers.

This sorely needs urgent attention. I recommend some solvent and a spot of oil, he says, smiling at Terra as if it’s any other morning and breakfast will be announced soon. So many histories live here.

“Master?” Terra drops the papers.

Eraqus tsks his disapproval and like muscle memory, Terra immediately gathers the papers together, working on automatic mode, tucking them under his arm as if this is class and he has to be on his best behavior. When the Master approaches, he makes no noise: no thuds to his steps, no wind whooshed by his robe, gliding gracefully across the floor. Terra bows... though he cannot fight the urge to stare up. Terra has forgotten about the scar; it was on the Master’s face, every single day, but he’s never heard the story behind it. An elephant accident. A run-in with pirates. Those were the contradicting explanations he’s heard every time he asks.

The Master looks down, motioning with his hand to stand up. Look at you. Almost as tall as I am.

“You’re here.”

The Master smiles. This is the happiest Terra remembers him being; he must not feel his chronic back pains anymore. You have spent your whole week following me. He gives Terra a mischievous knowing in his eyes. I suppose it would be rude of me not to return the gesture.

“I’m sorry,” Terra gasps, mouth gaped open for all the words he prepared, but now that the moment is passing by, he doesn’t know what to say anymore. He reaches out with a hand but stops himself, scared of what it would feel like to to pass right through the image. “I missed you.”

And I have missed you all so much, Eraqus says with contentment.

“I wish it never happened,” Terra chokes. “Sometimes, I wish I could find some way—”

Shhh. The Master shakes his head lovingly. Don’t. No longer shall you venture down the path of grief. You have already experienced first-hand what such curiosities could lead to. And you already know you don’t need to.

“I know,” Terra whispers. “I know.”

When the Master smiles this time, he sighs and closes his eyes like he’s feeling the sun. I have reunited with so many of my old friends since. Such a peaceful existence. He opens them. Your friendships are something to cherish for as long as they can physically walk by your side, Terra. But who am I to lecture? You have always. Friends to love, who want to care for you. I am so proud.

So proud…

Tears, quiet and happy, fall like drops of spring, Terra hearing what he always yearned to hear since he was six years old, a comforting embrace that wants to tell him he can breathe again without feeling guilty.

But he still does. Every living breath is guilty by association.

“She’s so happy now,” Terra whispers as if to justify his actions, remembering Aqua sparring for the first time with Rainfell in years, hesitant at first, unsure of how it’s going to react with spells, but it comes fast. It comes like drinking water, natural and needed. “I don’t regret anything.”

Which was why you were the perfect candidate when I had asked you to look after them. He smirks. I couldn’t have trusted anyone better for the responsibility.

Terra swallows, searching for the courage not to ask, believing he shouldn’t. He’s weak. “I am?”

The smile falls. You are not weak.

You are willing to bare it all for your friends. Your bonds with Aqua and Ven are unbreakable, a magical, special, living Light to behold. A forge stronger than chains, weightless and free. I am sorry for seeding so much doubt within you, when you have so much to offer. If only I wasn’t—it was my duty to do better. That is my shame. He shakes his head at himself. But you’ve been so dedicated to the past, Terra, he says, concerned but not disappointed. Too much so. I worry.

Terra grimaces. “Ha, I never have any explanations for the dumb mistakes I make when I need to.”

You’ll find little answers in what lies behind you. The Master leans forward, pulling a small smile as he studies Terra’s eyes. But you are more than capable. Please do me the favor. Trace the past no longer. You have your bonds to nourish, and more to flower. Then he smiles more, an epiphany in his eyes like he wants to share a secret. Only in death did I realize what true Mastery really is. The living can be so foolish.

“You weren’t a fool, Master.”

Master… A Master is a forever student. To deny this is to be blind to your faults. Eraqus laughs, his eyes rolling. What would I have said to my younger self. You don’t see that one in the books.

“I don’t know, I… I think what I did for Aqua trumps any dream I had in becoming Master.”

Eraqus’s eyes glisten. Do you not see one when you look at yourself in the mirror?

Terra bows his head, squeezing his eyes shut.

He feels a hand on his shoulder, warm and real. Terra could hug him. But he doesn’t, not when Eraqus slips something flat in his hand.

Do take care of them. He holds Terra’s jaw. Chin up, son.

Footsteps climb up the stairs leading into the attic, and Terra is alone with a smooth piece of paper in one hand, the other wiping tears from his cheeks.

“Terra? You okay? I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” Aqua is carrying a finished wreath with purple flowers. She stops when she gasps, looking around the attic. “That smells like the Master’s cologne,” she whispers.

When Terra smiles, he cries more. “Look at this.”

A sepia-toned picture of Eraqus as a young boy, sitting on a window seat with a chess board laid out in front of him, all teeth from ear to ear, sincere and hopeful. He looks at the camera like it’s his best friend.

Aqua’s eyes light up as she takes it, a tear for each eye. “Look at him. It’s so strange, but he was adorable.”

“Have you ever seen that one?”

“Never. It wasn’t with the others.”

“The others?”

She strokes the photo with her thumb. “Hm. I moved them into my room. I wanted to frame them.” She holds it to her chest. “Can I take this one?”

“For your room?”

“I’ve got one ready for yours. It’s that nice portrait that used to embarrass him.”

The one where he looked serious enough to judge someone to death. The Master had called it unsightly when it was presented to him.

“That one’s perfect.”

Aqua exhales deeply, shivering as tries to keep herself tall. “I’m so sad he’s gone, and... I don’t know. Sometimes I wish I had given him a Wayfinder. He feels so far away.”

He holds her chin softly, keeping it up as her heavy tears fall. “We could give him ours.”

She stops sobbing and stares through Terra when the realization hits her. She nods. “That’s a wonderful idea,” she says, nuzzling the wreath closer to her, her own little hug for the Master.

Terra’s Gummiphone buzzes in his pocket. That has to be Naminé.

“The wreath is beautiful,” he tells Aqua, and that grounds her back to reality. “You’ve done a marvelous job.”

“Thank you.” She strokes some of the leaves to keep them in place. “I’ll see you back at the front door?”

“Definitely.”

He’ll let her go downstairs first, pulling out the Gummiphone to read his new text. He’s going to tell Naminé that he’s changed his mind. He’s ready for an appointment.

#kh terra #terra #kingdom hearts fanfiction #kh fanfic #AHHHHHHHHHHHH #this one is def not as good #so is the last one #i just ran out of time i'm sorry #my fic

9 notes · View notes

nadziejastar · 4 years ago

Note

We know Xion is made of memories, therefore can absorb power. Maybe at some point (off screen in 3) she spent a lot of time with Saix. Since canonically he's afraid of going berserk, it makes sense that she copied him. She's basically a sponge. TBH that could be partially the reason why he was mean to her in days. I mean yeah he felt replaced, but she probably also reflects part of himself that he hates.

TBH that could be partially the reason why he was mean to her in days. I mean yeah he felt replaced, but she probably also reflects part of himself that he hates.

I think that’s exactly right. In KH3 Saix said “And then, in time, I awakened to a new purpose. I realized I could be stronger.” That implies that he wasn’t always strong. Xion is a mirror that reflects back memories. And for Saix, his past was a source of constant shame that he wanted to distance himself from.

“That Genie we met seemed really worried about his friend Al,” Xion remarked eventually. “But then he said he’d respect his friend’s decisions. I guess you can’t just jump in and do everything for them, even if you want to.” Idly swinging her legs, she took another bite.

“Yeah. People need their space.” Axel cocked his head in thought. He must have heard that somewhere, a long time ago, back when he was human.

When he suggested that Xion sticks with Roxas so he can do all the work for her, it seemed like it was an idea he had based on his past.

“Maybe that’s what I did…” Roxas let out a long, dramatic sigh. “I hit the wrong button.”

“Well…just make sure you give her some space.”

“What? Why?” He sounded frustrated. “Because if you rush in trying to fix things, you’ll just hit more buttons. Trust me on this one.”

Xion thought she was finally independent, then she failed her mission. They doubled up again and Roxas did most of the work for her that day, too. It put her in a bad mood. Axel told Roxas she needed her space and he seemed like he was speaking from experience.

“He worries too much. Thinks he has to help Sora do everything…” Axel grimaced in irritation.

“But, Axel, aren’t you the one worrying about Riku and Sora?” Naminé giggled softly.

“Me, worry? You think I need to be worried about those two?” He stretched backward and rocked the chair back and forth, like a restless child.

Axel was always reassuring his friends that they can lean on him when they needed help. But Saix was all about standing on your own two feet. Basically, all this paints a picture of Lea being very overprotective of Isa and worrying about him a lot.

It’s interesting how Axel insists on doing all the dirty work for him, even though Saix is stronger than him in combat. IMO, it’s a remnant of their human dynamic.

Lea always got stuck with the icky jobs.

Saix saw his past self in Xion. The self who always failed to carry his own weight in combat. The past self who was always relying on Lea and being protected by him and making him worry, causing him more work. I’m sure Saix found those memories emasculating. Yet at the same time, the more Axel coddled Xion and worried about her, the more jealous Saix became.

7 notes · View notes

luxsea · 4 years ago

Text

nomura give naminé more screen time you coward

#olive.txt #kingdom hearts #namine #let her and kairi talk #if you can write sora and roxas's development well you can do the same for them #once a week i get mad they put her on the kh3 cover and then did THAT

35 notes · View notes

ends-of-the-wayward-storm · 4 years ago

Text

KH OC Week 2020–Day 6: Life’s Perks

Nothing Beats Homemade

[This time I had a plan! Partially. I got the gist of it before filling in the finer details. Anyway this was actually kinda cute to write, but it’s a bit long, I think. Got to practice more with writing some characters which is always nice. :) Hope you enjoy!] @khoc-week

————

“Here you go.”

Seifer frowned as he took the letter from Erica. “At least this was on time.”

“Mail comin’ in late’s the worst, y’know?” Rai commented.

“That it?”

“Looks like it,” Erica replied, giving her messenger bag one last search. “Hope you have a good day!”

“We’ll see about that.”

Erica briefly frowned before setting her skateboard down and heading off. That was the last piece of mail for today, which meant the weekend was officially hers. She wondered what they’d be able to do this time. Last week, Ax—Lea decided to try his hand at skateboarding. He thought he’d be a pro at it since he considered himself pretty good with balance.

That is until he crashed into someone with a large bag of groceries. Needless to say getting the eggs and ice cream out of his hair took way too long for his liking.

Approaching the post office, Erica slowed down to pick up her skateboard. When she pushed open the door, a little bell rang from above it, alerting a woman with brown hair picked up in a bun.

“Any issues today?” she asked.

“Nope! Everyone got their mail,” Erica replied.

“That’s good to hear.”

Erica hung her bag up just as her Gummiphone buzzed. Fishing it out of her pocket, she felt it buzz a few more times as messages from her friends kept popping up.

“Plans for the weekend?”

“Looks like it.”

“Then I hope you have a good weekend.”

“You too!” Erica gave the woman a wave before exiting the post office and leaning against a pole.

—Pence: Hey Erica! We’re headed to the Bistro for lunch tomorrow. Wanna come with us?

Ooh that sounded fun!

~~Sure!

—Olette: This would be your first time at the Bistro, right?

—Roxas: I think so.

—Olette: It’s amazing! You won’t want to eat anywhere else.

—Lea: Sounds like it’s the best in town.

—Hayner: Sure is.

Erica laughed to herself before tucking her Gummiphone away. Setting her skateboard down again, she set a course for the train station to head home.

————

The next day, Erica was quickly making her way over to the Bistro. She hoped she wasn’t too late. The train was having some minor technical difficulties, but luckily they were able to fix them.

Up ahead, a boy with a sort of wizard’s hat was walking down the street.

“Hi Vivi!” Erica said.

“Hello,” he replied just before she passed him.

After a few more moments the Bistro was in sight, and the rest of her friends were by the steps leading down to it. But what was strange is that they all looked disappointed.

“I’m here!” Erica announced.

“Oh. Hey,” Hayner said dejectedly.

She frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“We just found out the Bistro’s closed for renovations,” Pence replied.

“Oh. . . .”

“Seems we’ll have to find another place for lunch,” Isa said.

“I guess. . . .” Hayner pouted.

“I’m sure we’ll be able to think of something,” Naminé said.

Roxas glanced to the ground in thought for a few seconds. “Maybe we could make something.”

“What would we make?” Xion asked.

“Good question,” Lea commented. “Any ideas?”

Pence hummed. “My dad makes a really mean quiche. Maybe we could try that?”

“Quiche?” Xion repeated.

“It’s kinda like a pie but without the sugar and sweet stuff.”

“Can’t be that hard, can it?” Lea said.

“You said that about the skateboard,” Roxas teased, leaving the redhead spluttering for a comeback.

“A-anyway, whaddowe need to get?”

“I think I have what we need over at my place,” Pence said.

“That makes things easier.”

So the group followed Pence over to his house in hopes of saving their lunch plans.

“I was so looking forward to that crab biscuit thing,” Hayner complained.

“Crab bisque,” Isa corrected.

“Yeah whatever. Point is I’m not getting it.”

“Hayner,” Olette warned.

“I think it might be fun trying to make something,” Erica said, getting a nod from Naminé.

“Besides, you’ve had Pence’s dad’s quiche before.”

“I know,” Hayner moaned.

The group finally approached Pence’s humble abode, and he dug around in his pockets before pulling out a key. “My parents aren’t home but they know I have friends over sometimes.”

Inside was your average but quite cozy home, and there was a very nice vase of flowers on the kitchen counter.

“Nice place,” Lea said.

“Thanks!” Pence said. “Make yourselves at home. Oh, make sure to leave your shoes by the door.” After doing that himself, he began to search his kitchen for the needed ingredients. “Let’s see. . . . Eggs, check, pie crusts, check. . . .” He muttered a few more ingredients before stopping. “Aw man!”

“What’s wrong?” Naminé asked.

“There’s no ham!”

“Can we use something else instead?” Erica asked.

“I’m pretty sure we could, but my dad’s recipe’s the only quiche recipe I know.”

“Maybe we could make something else?” Xion suggested.

“What about pizza?” Olette said.

“Give me oooone second.” Pence scouted the fridge and cabinets. “Yep! We’re good to go!”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Hayner said.

As Pence grabbed the ingredients, the others went to wash up. “Anyone like pepperoni?”

“I do!”

“Sure,” Lea replied.

Once everyone gathered in the kitchen, preparations began. Two pizza crusts were placed onto baking sheets and pans, and the oven was set to preheat.

“I figured we’d cheat a little bit with the crusts since someone’s hungry,” Pence said, earning a look from Hayner.

“There’s always next time,” Isa said. “Assuming Hayner won’t object to it.”

“Hey!” Hayner snapped.

“Okay. Roxas you’re in charge of putting the oil on the cheese pizza, and Xion can do the other pizza,” Pence said. “Make sure not to put too much.”

“Got it,” Roxas said, and the group fell into a comfortable silence for a bit. “I wonder what they’re doing renovations for.”

“Could be technical stuff,” Lea said.

“Or they could be fixing other things,” Erica added.

“Maybe. . . .” Roxas inspected his pizza after a couple moments. “Is this enough?”

“Yup,” Pence said.

“What about mine?” Xion asked.

“Perfect. Now we’re going to do the same thing with the pizza sauce.”

Naminé watched Roxas and Xion thoughtfully. “It kind of looks like you’re painting something.”

“It does, doesn’t it?” Erica said.

It didn’t take too long for the sauce and the toppings to be put on. And once the pizzas were seasoned, they were placed into the oven.

“And now we wait,” Pence said as he set the dial timer.

“So, what do we do until then?” Erica asked.

“We could play a game,” Olette said.

“What about cards?” At that, the former Organization members exchanged brief looks.

“I think I have some in my room,” Pence said before heading down a hall. A few moments later, he came back with a deck of cards. “Go Fish seems like a good one to start with.”

“Someone we knew was an expert at card games,” Isa said.

“Yeah. So much of an expert it wasn’t even fair,” Lea remarked.

“I won a few games,” Roxas said.

“Me too,” Xion added.

“I guess you just had terrible luck,” Isa said.

Lea sighed. “I just don’t get a break around here, do I?”

The group laughed at his expense, which ultimately tugged a smile out of Lea.

Erica studied the hand she was dealt. “So uh, who goes first?”

“I think Isa’s supposed to go first,” Hayner said.

“All right.” Isa eyed his cards. “Any 2’s?”

“Aw man!” Hayner forked over two of them, and the blue-haired man couldn’t help smirking.

The group managed to make a full circle at least once, and already Naminé seemed to be taking first place with Isa not too far behind. Once they got to Erica a second time, the timer buzzed, startling Xion.

“I’ll get the plates!” Olette said, leading the others to set their cards down as the pizzas were carefully taken out.

“That smells really good,” Erica said.

“Right?” Pence agreed.

“Hey do you still have that lemonade from yesterday?” Hayner asked.

“Think so.” Pence served everyone their slices as the lemonade was poured out. “And lunch is served!”

“Thank you,” Naminé said.

“No problem.”

Isa took a bite before a small smirk made its way through. “Huh. Not bad.”

“Nothing beats homemade!”

“Oh, wait wait! Let’s get a picture!” Olette said. Everyone went behind the counter as they tried to squeeze into frame.

Roxas briefly bumped into Naminé. “S-sorry.”

“It’s all right, Roxas,” the blonde said.

“Little to the left, Hayner,” Olette said as Erica blew a stray curl out of her face. “Um Lea could you bend down a bit? You too, Isa.”

“How ‘bout I take the picture?” Lea suggested.

“That might be a better idea.” Olette handed her device to him.

“I think you still need to bend down,” Pence said.

“Maybe put it higher?” Naminé said.

Lea raised the device, and everyone managed to fit into the soon-to-be picture. “Uh which button are you supposed to press again?”

“I think the red one?” Erica guessed.

Xion squinted at tiny numbers counting up on the screen. “What are those numbers there?”

“I didn’t do it,” Lea said instantly.

“It’s been recording this whole time?!” Pence exclaimed.

“Oops,” Olette said. “Um push the red button.”

Lea did as told, and the numbers stopped counting. “All right now what?”

“Press the button next to the red one. Now everyone say cheese!”

“Cheese!” mostly everyone said before the picture was taken.

“Nice photo!”

As everyone continued with their meal, Roxas kept occasionally glancing to the pepperoni pizza.

“Can I try that?” he finally asked.

“Oh sure!” Pence gave Roxas a slice, and Roxas took a bite. But after a few seconds, he let out a cough.

“That’s . . . really strong pepperoni.”

“Really? Never really noticed,” Lea said.

“Of course you wouldn’t,” Isa said as Roxas debated on taking another bite or not.

“You don’t have to eat it if you don’t want to, y’know.”

“Yeah. Not everyone likes pepperoni,” Hayner said. Roxas frowned, and Lea snatched the slice right off of Roxas’s plate.

“We should do this again some time,” Naminé said.

“This was pretty fun,” Erica agreed.

“How ‘bout tomorrow?” Olette said.

“I don’t see why not,” Isa said.

“Then it’s settled! Tomorrow it is.”

As Erica watched her friends discuss tomorrow’s lunch (which Pence promised would be his dad’s quiche), she smiled to herself. She was sure they still would’ve had this much fun if they had gone to the Bistro, but somehow having it just be them felt more special. I guess nothing really does beat homemade.

————

11 notes · View notes

angel-with-a-pipette · 5 years ago

Note

A lot of ppl say "Kairi is sassy in KH3" but hey, I can't really see that like those ppl. She's not sassy like kh2 or 2 or it's just Alyson couldn't make the sassy line sassy and more boring/emotional? Can u show me the lines that they're "sassy" or something? At least when someone tell me "nah she's not," I'll show him/her

I’m genuinely surprised you see a lot of people saying that because even Kairi fans have started going against her. Not to say that you are going against her by saying you don’t think she’s as sassy anymore! Sometimes it’s just heartbreaking to read people’s opinions on KH3 Kairi…

Now this matter is a little bit complex. I don’t believe Kairi is as sassy as she is in KH1 or KH2 which might have been what Nomura went for since he has this whole “growing up” theme going on. I also believe that it’s partly Alyson’s or the voice direction’s “fault” that Kairi sounds softer than before - which again, since Japanese representatives are deeply involved in the English dub despite certain parts of the fandom claiming they are ignorant of it, could be a conscious choice of Nomura.However, there are also scenes that show some of Kairi’s past sass which is why I want to propose this explanation:

There’s a time and place for everything - and sadly, there was little time for Kairi’s sass.

Now what do I mean by that? Fact is Kairi has very few scenes - if Gamer’s Little Playground really caught all of them, she’s only in one hour of the ten hours of KH3 cutscenes and that counts the full scenes she makes an appearance in, not her absolute on-screen time. And of these scenes, even fewer are suitable for some sass, naturally.

What kind of scenes does Kairi appear in?

She has two scenes in the beginning with Lea

She is seen with the whole cast at Yen Sid’s study as well as on the Keyblade graveyard in several scenes

She is alone with Sora on Destiny Islands and while they’re rewriting reality

She is seen shortly when being abducted by Xemnas and when killed by Xehanort

Let’s start with her last scenes first. I think it’s obvious why she can’t be sassy when Xehanort kills her although I wish she was - they should have let her die heroically, defending Sora, metaphorically spitting into Xehanort’s face because that’s the tough cookie we saw in KH2 when she faced off Saix with Naminé. That doesn’t mean however that she should have been a war machine and that her behavior during the Xemnas encounter was OOC for her because as much Kairi jumps into the fight, she also gets intimidated rather easily. Remember in KH2 when she was suddenly surrounded by Heartless after she just jumped down a balcony to save Sora? Imagine how scared she must be with her shoulder in excruciating pain during a fight she herself described as “our toughest yet”. I think it makes perfect sense she didn’t pull out her sass (or any risky moves that would result in breaking her arm and rendering her useless for combat and more of a tool) in this scene.

She is seen with the whole cast at Yen Sid’s study as well as on the Keyblade graveyard in several scenes

There’s also sadly not much of a chance to bring it up when the whole cast is together. Now I wish she had more of an interaction with Sora and Riku especially since her character and her sass and teasing nature shines when she is alone with her boys, but the script didn’t give that to her. It’s a wonder she got to talk to Aqua as it is. The entire scene in Yen Sid’s tower was too crowded, too filled with character meetings that should have been spaced out over the game for the sake of the characters.What I think is kind of interesting though is that we have a scene where Kairi could have pulled out her sass on Sora, as she did several times in 1 and 2, but didn’t:

Here, the cast just talked about how Sora did NOT make Master in DDD - something we know is a very sore topic for him over the entirety of the game. Now what do these little assholes do when the biggest asshole of them all points it out?

They all laugh. It’s meant to be in good nature and Sora takes it like a champ, but truth of the story is that it makes the player very uncomfortable, knowing how much Sora has been picked on over the entirety of the game, by friends and enemies. In light of that, I think it’s very interesting that the camera doesn’t pan over to Kairi and Lea who stand behind Sora. Normally, the camera would pan over everyone, showing their laughter, and it does later on when Donald makes the Half-Pint joke:

I might be biased, but I don’t seem to hear Lea’s and Kairi’s chuckles and giggles during the first scene while I definitely hear both during the half-pint scene. So it’s interesting that this time, the camera pans over all of them and we hear them.

Of course, this is not definite proof, but it hints at Kairi (and Lea) not laughing at Sora’s expense - at a mean joke at Sora’s expense, too. And that, too, fits with Kairi’s past character as shown by @phoenix-downer waaay down in this post when she analyses Kairi asking Sora if he’s okay. It’s an ongoing theme with her to be concerned with Sora’s well-being and letting him off the hook when she suspects he needs a break of being teased could very well explain why she didn’t add to the others making fun of him. And boy, does he need a break from it.

She has two scenes in the beginning with Lea

Kairi absolutely sasses Axel in KH2 when he tries to abduct her (again - when he does succeed, she is actually in a position to struggle because he only grabs her wrist - he doesn’t twist her arm behind her like Xemnas does which could have easily popped out her shoulder - and who knows, maybe she was close to it). So why doesn’t she sass him here?

Just like with Sora, it’s not the time and place. Lea is troubled, Kairi tries being open with him but still struggles to get used to him and so both carry around some emotional baggage before they truly warm up to each other. And when they do? She does tease him!

Yes, Alyson’s delivery could be better here and I partly blame the voice direction because in 0.2, she proved she could sass Riku around just fine, but alas, this is the old Kairi. She absolutely teases Lea with his own catchphrase and Lea chuckles at her impersonation of him.

And yet, this is all she does, because Lea continues to say he is worried and Kairi knows he doesn’t need teasing, he needs encouragement, just like Sora does in the aforementioned scene. Kairi might be sassy, but she values the well-being of her comrades over being teasing and a little mean to them. In her eyes, this is the time to be supportive, not to nag.

She is alone with Sora on Destiny Islands and while they’re rewriting reality

Kairi’s shining moment of sass and teasing comes when she offers the paopu to Sora.

It’s a short moment and she softens pretty quickly because she knows that this is serious. This isn’t a joke, neither to her nor Sora, that’s why she grows more serious about it when she explains her motives, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that she kind of dares him to share one with her expression. She wants him to do it, she urges him on with her smile, “Do it!” it says, but ultimately the choice is his.

And if you want to read between the lines, she has a very similar expression on here:

Now, I know nothing about how Risa delivered the scene, but I can absolutely imagine if Hayden did this, she would have delivered it with sass. After all, Kairi told him he’d be safe with her. Why is he surprised? ;) Especially since as @phoenix-downer points out in the same above mentioned post, she turned the Declaration of Protection on its head back during the paopu scene and now underlines that yes, she did it. She kept her promise. Literally “told” him so!

TL;DR:

There’s a time and place for everything and Kairi’s time was cut too short to give her a lot of opportunities to be sassy

She loves to sass people, but she also makes sure they’re safe physically and emotionally and won’t beat down on someone who needs emotional support, thus keeping her sass in check

The English voice direction (possibly the Japanese one as well) doesn’t do her favors despite some scenes clearly being written with her sass in mind

She has sassy moments, but they get lost because so much is happening around them and the voice direction…

I know I went a little overboard with this, but I hope this answered your question!

#Kairi #Lea #Sora #Sokai #KH3 #anonymous #answered

93 notes · View notes

oveliagirlhaditright · 4 years ago

Note

If all of your favorite shippings from different fandoms had a movie night together (yes, shippings, I think that's way more fun!), who would show up (there is no limit) and how would it play out?

Oh my gosh. This is a hard, but fun question. LOL. Though I’m worried the answer will end up more boring than you’re hoping for, but let’s hope not.

I’ll also probably only limit this to my top top ships, because I have way too many. Though there will still be a lot here! Also, let’s just assume that everyone will get along for some reason, even though some of them would have reason not to.

So, SoKai’s there (from Kingdom Hearts). Because of course they are. And while Sora and Kairi really are there to watch the movie--and cuddle, because they’ve earned it--Sora can’t help talking to everyone throughout and trying to get to know them, because he’s just a sociable person like that. And Kairi mostly joins in with that. But because of this, they probably have people telling them to shut up during it. Though RokuShi, Namiku, and probably NeShiki come to their defense.

Roxas and Xion (KH) are super into the movie, because they’re still kind of amazed at the existence of films in general. Since they were essentially babies in the Organization, who knew nothing about life. And while they know more now--like when Roxas had those false memories in the Virtual Twilight Town--they’re still amazed by the simple things.

Riku and Naminé (KH)... Naminé is drawing, of course. Probably things from the film. And Riku is by her side, just happy that she’s happy. But he (aside from Buffy) is probably the one person on edge, judging everyone because he doesn’t think some things are right about some of these people Lawlight.

Yes, Light and L (Death Note) are there... And they’re probably bored of the movie. It’s not clever enough for them. They’d much rather watch some murder investigation and try and figure it out--also, can I say what a miracle it is that L ventured out in the first place?--and this is when Riku begins to get uncomfortable and Buffy probably says something like, “Okay, if I hear one more thing about murder, some serious slayage is about to occur.”

So... Bangel (Buffy the Vampire Slayer). So, this is some happy-isa ending after Angel takes on Wolfram & Hart and doesn’t die. The curse is still a thing. But Buffy and Angel have decided to try and be together without it, since Buffy almost lost Angel. They’re happy to be together enjoying the movie, of course. And a lot of cuddling is happening. But not too much, because they can’t get too worked up. Because again: curse. Also, if they’re watching some crappy movie--which they probably are--Buffy pipes in every now and then to give the characters wittier lines than they actually had, and everyone actually appreciates her for that. Angel may also notice Naminé’s artwork, praise her for it, and begin drawing during the movie himself... He draws Buffy watching it, of course.

Jace and Clary from The Mortal Instruments. They’re doing more PDA than anyone... but still nothing too bad, that would anger most people. And Clary might have joined in on giving the characters better lines with Buffy. Buffy and Clary probably strike up a friendship. Jace is really the person annoying everyone during the film, because he can’t keep pointing out everyone’s stupid choices and the lack of logic... which is true, but come on my man.

Max and Logan from Dark Angel. So, bored with the movie--as I said above--L and Light begin trying to solve a case while everyone else is engrossed. Logan notices this and joins in as Eyes Only. He and L also become friends, when they realize how much they have in common... I want this to be a happy AU where Light isn’t Kira, or has been redeemed, but it’s probably not. And he’s now worrying that Logan could be a threat to him too, and probably plotting to kill him. Max somehow senses this and throws food at him, though she plays it subtle. Like, “Hey, stop making me waste good food to get you to stop glaring at my hubby.” Oh, and Max is making herself at home with all the food. Because our girl loves to eat, and to relax. She and L might get into a fight over the sweets, though. And our transgenic super-soldier girl would of course win.

Madoka and Homura from Madoka Magica. It’s probably at this point, that Homura also notices something is wrong with Light. And she wants to get Madoka away from this scene to protect her. Because of course she does. But Madoka turns her down. And for the most part, Homura will never do anything that Madoka doesn’t want her to do. Madoka probably is somewhere between bonding over drawing with Naminé and Angel, and asking if she can be friends with Buffy and Clary and try and say funny things, too. They agree, of course. So Homura is sandwiched between Madoka and all her new friends, and she really can’t complain about that at all.

Noctis and Luna from Final Fantasy XV are also snuggled together, and they write secret notes to each other during the whole thing. Because even though they’re now finally together in person, they’ve just sort of gotten used to communicating that way.

Zack and Aerith from Crisis Core are probably being disasters, who are trying to build a flower wagon while everyone else is watching a film. But, hey. That’s just them. Aerith also probably joins in on the ad-libbing the movie thing.

Meanwhile, Cloud and Tifa from Final Fantasy VII are really close to the screen--Cloud is in love with this movie--and Tifa is trying to help explain things to him. Why? Because On the Way to a Smile talks about how Cloud doesn’t even know some vegetables and fruits’ names, because he decided to try out for SOLDIER at a young age and then had his mind shattered because of Mako poisoning, trauma, etc. So... if they’re watching a movie about cooking or something, Cloud could seriously make a mistake like, “Oh, so they’re using sour cream for this baked good. I didn’t know you could do that. But I guess it makes sense.” Tifa - “No, Cloud. They’re using cream cheese.”

Neku and Shiki (The World Ends With You) are enjoying watching the movie close together. And Neku is quietly humming during a lot of the singing parts, which makes Shiki blush and her crush on Neku grow even stronger (he may even be singing to her). And no one cares, because Neku actually has a nice singing voice. During the film, Shiki might attempt to make clothes based on the main characters’ outfits, that everyone is then amazed by.

And maybe I’ll add Tidus and Yuna in from Final Fantasy X. Tidus is trying to convince Yuna to just have a good time with him and have fun watching the movie--and she wants to--but she also senses something is wrong. And is prepared to pull her pistols out to stop someone from doing someone heinous, or to perform a Sending if someone dies here... whichever comes first.

And what the heck, did I just write? LOL.

Some other pairings I love that weren’t featured here, because I didn’t know how to fit them in and this probably already has too many people: Zidane and Garnet from Final Fantasy IX, Percy and Annabeth from Percy Jackson, Will and Elizabeth from Pirates of the Caribbean, Raoul and Christine from Phantom of the Opera, Eren and Mikasa from Attack on Titan, Snow and Serah from Final Fantasy XIII, perhaps Clark and Lana from Smallville. And maybe even Yozora and Nameless Star from Verum Rex, even though them and Noctluna are cut from the same cloth, etc.:)

Thanks for such a fun ask!

#and I didn't proofread any of this crack because otherwise I might not have had the courage to post it #so sorry if there are any weird typos here or anything. or that I probably used the same words a million times #I maybe should have included terqua from kh...but tbh. I prefer sokai rokushi and namiku over them a lot. and I didn't want TOO much kh #also my feisty kairi probably warms up and snarks with the girls too #part of me wishes I had included joshyme. because I'm still stupidly attached to themfor some reason #but in a platonic way. but meh #in some au where death note and dark angel take place in the same universe l and eyes only would probably respect each other #though l might have a problem with eyes only being okay with criminals dying. though they try to avoid that at all costs #it's just that. like. if max is trying to be a subject in and they're being violent and would kill max if she didn't kill them first #both Logan and max would be okay with her killing the thug of course #and l probably would in self-defense too. but still #and max probably becomes close with her 'sisters' here too #buffy and max also bond over food #and sometimes I forget how much I love livi and nike from the world is still beautiful #if they were here nike would be eating all the food too #in another world Jon and Daenerys would have been on this list. if the show hadn't made me hate them #do better books #and with so many super-powered people here now I wonder who would win if they all decided to try and kill each other #Tenchi and ryoko and syaoran and sakura. and maybe even Edward and Bella should've been here too but oh well #oh. usagi and mamoru too

3 notes · View notes

excusemewhileiplaykh · 5 years ago

Note

Why data sora if i may ask?

Many many reasons but I’ll give you a few that I can explain briefly.

1. When you start the tutorial, we get that ominous screen that says “There are 7 hearts to save”

What does this have to do with Data Sora?

At the end of Re:Coded, Data Naminé shows Sora all the people who’s hurt he must mend. These people are Aqua, Terra, Ventus, Roxas, Xion, Axel, and the real Naminé.

Seven people.

Seven hearts. That Sora must save.

2. In Twilight Town, Sora mentions that he does understand what hurt is and references how he felt when he lost Riku and Kairi. Yet, it is a big point in Re:Coded that the real Sora still cannot process hurt. We never see the real Sora actually learn how to. Yet Data Sora by voyaging through Castle Oblivion has learned how to handle hurt.

In the same screen in Twilight Town in KH 3, Donald and Goofy mentioned how Sora’s willingless to accept hurt as something that nonetheless connects hearts sounds just like Data Sora. They find this strange but brush it off as “any Sora is still Sora”. There are many moments in 3 where Donald and Goofy make interesting observations like these that they themselves or even the player sweep under the rug.

3. Data Sora’s heatless says this:

Rage? As in the unexplained Rage Form?

This and other things that would need to be explained more concisely make me think that Data Sora and the real Sora merged or switched places.

How did they merge/switch?

By the use of this unexplained mirror.

Sorry if this may not be 100% clear. This honestly deserves its own post and I may consider adding it to my larger meta reality post. Either way I plan on expanding on this idea when I have more time.

#asks #nebulawithdreams

201 notes · View notes

blasphemous-tiefling · 5 years ago

Text

I wanna take a few steps back for a minute and talk about KHI Riku and the Destiny Islands Trio as whole.

We are given:

1. Main protag with spiky hair and happy-go-lucky attitude

2. Cute and plucky obvious love interest girl

3. Edgy older boy who’s cooler and tougher than main protag

The very first scene between these three sets up a very important image where Sora is much less serious than Riku, Riku has an affectionate yet playful friendship with Kairi, Kairi and Sora like to tease each other and are probably into one another, and Sora and Riku are very competitive with one another. When given the opportunity to one-up the other in a race, Riku sits down, they both act uninterested, and as soon as Kairi says go, they both hop up and bolt for it, probably silently hoping the other one wouldn’t get the jump on it and would have a late start.

In the next scene with the three of them, we once again see that Riku is mildly flirtatious with Kairi, and Sora is less than happy about this, presumably because he likes Kairi himself. We get more characterization of Riku as an adventurer, someone who wants more from life than what he has in front of him now. Sora and Kairi seem to share this desire, but not on the level that Riku does. They both even show minor hesitation when Sora asks, “But how far could a raft take us?” and Kairi asks, “You’ve been thinking a lot lately, haven’t you?” as if this is a newer, more forceful side to Riku that she’s not used to.

Immediately after, Riku introduces the player to the concept of a paopu fruit, teasing Sora saying, “C’mon, I know you wanna try it,” hinting that Riku is well aware that Sora likes Kairi. In fact, this is probably why Riku is a little flirtatious with her- to get under Sora’s skin and mess with him. It’s clear to us that Riku has a rivalry with Sora and that he likes to joke with him. This scene’s impact is extended when the race occurs and Riku says, “Winner gets to share a paopu with Kairi,” and Sora then hesitates, unsure if he can actually beat Riku and considering how high the stakes are.

The next major scene is between Sora and Kairi alone as they sit on the docks. It is made clear here that Kairi shares Sora’s romantic feelings, suggesting that Riku has changed and joking, “Let’s take the raft and go, just the two of us!”

So. We’ve established that Sora and Kairi like one another. Riku is like the jerk of an older brother who is better than Sora at everything and likes to tease Sora by flirting with Sora’s girl. BUT it is important to note that Kairi and Riku DO have a friendship all their own. Riku credits Kairi with giving him the ideas of exploration. Without her, he probably wouldn’t have been so inspired. He also has a different form of teasing her, remarking that she is just as lazy as Sora. For Kairi to suggest that Riku has changed implies that she knows Riku well enough to notice any change in his normal day-to-day behavior. This is a group of three friends, two of whom just happen to like one another romantically.

Fast-forward a little bit to Traverse Town when Sora finds Riku (or the other way around) and Riku becomes jealous of Goofy, Donald, and the keyblade. Riku’s always been better than Sora, but this is the first time he sees that Sora is able to hold his own and probably starts to feel a little unnecessary. He falls into Maleficent’s lies that Sora does not want or need Riku anymore. He starts believing Sora has not only abandoned him, but that he’s abandoned Kairi as well. Riku takes on the responsibility of getting Kairi back and making sure she’s safe. Because she’s his FRIEND and that’s what friends do for one another. Guys, this is so important. There was a time when Riku and Kairi were FRIENDS. Riku goes through hella lot to make sure that Kairi gets her heart back. He screws over some people, feeling hurt and betrayed by Sora, desperately doing what he can to regain at least one friend. “Soon, Kairi. Soon,” was a line that Riku spoke after being granted some new dark powers. He wasn’t going along with Maleficent because he wanted cool new abilities and got all cocky acting like he was better than everyone else. He did it because he genuinely thought it was the right path to save Kairi. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Riku did some bad things in order to save her and ended up losing himself in the process.

Fast-forward even farther to The End of the World. Kairi has her heart back, and Sora has to go off on one last venture to try to get Riku back. When Riku is inside the Realm of Darkness, about to be cut off from the Realm of Light, he turns to Sora and says, “Take care of her.” THIS is Riku’s last comment to Sora, a sentiment that declares that Riku knows Sora can handle himself now. Sora doesn’t need Riku anymore. Kairi has Sora to take care of her. Sora and Kairi can be together. And Riku doesn’t hold a grudge about it. He just knows it’s the flow of how things worked out. He’s fading into darkness. There isn’t much he can do for his friends anymore. But he trusts Sora with the responsibility of taking care of Kairi and blesses him with the ability to do so unimpeded by any anger or frustration Riku may have had.

All I’m trying to say is that Riku and Kairi were friends. Riku loved both Kairi and Sora at one point. I don’t understand why the newer installments (namely KHIII) decided to act like they were never a trio, as if it was always just Sora and Kairi and then just Sora and Riku rather than Sora, Kairi, and Riku.

KHII, while it didn’t have very many scenes featuring the three together, still did its part to remember the trio. Kairi begging Riku not to leave, desperately calling out for both of them before the dark pathway closed off and Sora and Riku were left to fight Xemnas.

I’m gonna keep posting these things, man. This series has changed a lot. How I felt about the characters and their dynamics in KHI is not at all how I felt about them in KHIII. In KHI, I actually liked Kairi and wanted to see her in the spotlight. In KHIII, I want nothing more than for Xehanort to slash that gal in half and be rid of her forever. In KHI, I love Sora and Kairi’s relationship, the evidence that they like one another but neither one of them have the nerve to say it. In KHIII, I’m screaming, “GAAAAAAYYYYY!!!” any time Riku is on screen and I’m rewatching that scene with Dark Aqua and Sora and Riku’s reality shifts thinking about the Sleeping Realm Theory and how desperately I want Soriku to be confirmed. In KHI, I want the three of them to be together again, free to explore the worlds. In KHIII, I don’t see any reason for the three of them to even be in the same room at the same time. There is a distinct shift in their relationships. Maybe it’s because the series decided the push Kairi to the side for many installments and just focused on Sora and Riku. Maybe it’s because Kairi’s voice actor changed, and that has a huge affect on me. Maybe it’s because Kairi didn’t have the same drive she seemed to have in KHI and KHII. I always go back to the scene where she and Sora are in the tunnel in Traverse Town, and she just assumes she’s going with Sora to save Riku. And then in KHII when she jumps in Naminé’s dark pathway, without knowing what it is, because she’s decided that “waiting isn’t good enough.” And then again in KHII when Riku gives her a keyblade and she immediately hops in and starts killing some heartless. Where was this ready-to-fight, all-in Kairi in KHIII? Maybe it’s because Riku as a character has grown so stoic and cool-tempered. Like KHI Riku got smad and aggressive and sassy. KHIII Riku acts all Mr. Placid McBoring.

I’m all in for character development. But this doesn’t feel like development. In fact, it feels like the opposite. It’s like character regression where the characters slowly get more and more one-dimensional.

I think that’s about it. That’s all that I have to say today.

Edit: Okay, my bad. I can see where this would suggest that I don’t like Riku anymore. That is very much not the case. I still adore that boy. It’s just... different than how it used to be...

#kingdom hearts rant #kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts 3 #soriku #sokai #straight up not how to write a story #straight up not how to write characters #destiny islands trio #sora #riku #kairi #sora don't ever change #this time ill protect you #take care of her

13 notes · View notes