#i know it was probably better to just have ven fight terra and vanitas

[corishadowfang]

Writing prompt: the alternate timeline where Ventus fights Larxene and Marluxia in the keyblade war?

(For this)

I see we've decided to go for pain with this one, haha.

---

            Metal clanged.  Lightning crackled near Ven’s ear, making his skin prickle.  He ducked into a roll, coming back to his feet and lifting Wayward Wind just in time to catch a scythe on the edge.  Sparks burst from the impact, and above them, he could see the narrowed golden eyes of one of Xehanort’s number.  Marluxia, some part of his mind supplied, even if there was a deeper part of him that said the name should be different—a part of him that twisted with a grief that he couldn’t name and didn’t understand.

            It was easier not to think about it—easier to twist his Keyblade just slightly, diverting the scythe enough that he could slip aside, sending a spell to crash against one of Marluxia’s own.

            Another streak of lighting—too quick to dodge this time, and Ven’s body spasmed, pain shooting through his chest.  In panic, he cast a Cure on himself, and it helped him collect himself enough that he could jump away from the knife that struck the space where he’d once been.

            “What’s the matter?”  That was—Larxene, he thought; when he turned, she was giving him a too-sharp smile.  “Not fast enough?”

            “Enough to keep up with you!”  A burst of magic, and then he was moving, shooting across the battlefield and slipping, at the last moment, behind Larxene’s guard.

            (In his peripherals, he thought he could see Marluxia watching him with a furrowed expression—like there was something itching at the back of his mind, but he couldn’t quite drag it out.)

            “Oh, tough.”  Larxene whipped around, catching his Keyblade on the edge of one of her knives.  “But not qui—”

            An Aero spell flickered from the tip of his Keyblade.  It sent Larxene flying, and Ven ignored her cry of surprise as he shot into the air after her.

            He didn’t quite make it; Marluxia appeared hardly a second later, hands bunching in Ven’s coat as he dragged him back down.

            (A part of him wondered, distantly, why Marluxia hadn’t just attacked him.  The rest thought that this felt familiar, and for a moment, he was in a dark room, voices he only somewhat recognized echoing in his ears.)

            They landed with a painful, jarring sort of thud.  Ven’s hands went to grab Lauriam’s Marluxia’s almost instinctively, and he stared back as the man’s eyes furrowed.

            “You brat.”  The snarl seemed distant.  “What’s the hold up, Flower Boy?”

            Marluxia didn’t answer; he kept staring at Ven, like he was a puzzle he could pick apart, if he tried hard enough.  “…I know you.”

            What…?

            There was a crash of magic.  Something cut through the space between them, and Marluxia stumbled backward, releasing his grip on Ven.  Instinct helped Ven right himself, even if a part of his mind was still reeling.

            “Ven!”

            Sora.

            He turned, giving his friend a smile that he hoped looked sincere.  “I’m okay.”

            Sora nodded, lifting Kingdom Key.  “Let’s take care of these guys together.”

            Ven nodded, but couldn’t quite keep the smile on his face.

[hallowed-nebulae]

simply a conversation

Honestly, these past few days have been exhausting. You're not sure why. But they feel like they've been long, days stretching into months into years.

Oh well. It is what it is. And you at least have a cane! It's a very pretty cane. Your knee hurts less when you walk with the cane, too, which is always a bonus. (To be fair your one leg hurting isn't too much compared to your back and chest always hurting, but the cane at least helps. So. Score!)

Vanitas is talking with Xehanort (your Xehanort, with their Nightmare Chirithy, not the other worldline's Xehanort who's taller and has longer hair). Terra is standing nearby, even if you're not sure what he's doing. There's Ruse, and her world's Xion and Xehanort, who are also nearby. Which is fun. But most importantly Vanitas is talking with Xehanort, who is currently being held in the arms of a tired-looking Sephiroth.

Hey wait a second.

Ignoring the existence of consequences, you run and leap and launch yourself at Sephiroth. Fortunately, he's Mako-enhanced more than you are, so even though he stumbles he doesn't fall over. Unfortunately you're still pretty Mako-enhanced (at least as much as a SOLDIER Second) so he does get the breath knocked out of him by your tackle-run-hug. Oops.

Teal, cat-slit eyes blink at you, slowly. "Hello, Ven." He sounds amused. "You seem to be doing well."

You squeak at him in response. The best way to reply, of course. Squeaking and chirping and making little noises might as well be your own little love language or something. (You can't talk to Sephiroth, but that's okay. You can talk to Terra sometimes, and you could talk to Genesis or Cloud sometimes, and you can talk to Vanitas all the time. And that's what sign is for anyways.)

You can't really sign at Sephiroth now while you're in his arms, but that's why Vanitas is the best, 'cause he can just talk for you when you need it. The best part about being telepathic with your twin. "Ven wants to know if you're being healthy, and if Genesis is being healthy, and if Cloud and Zack are being healthy too." He says, clicking his teeth together after every other word in a little rhythm.

"No questions on Angeal's health?"

You hiss at Angeal Hewley's name. That's answer enough.

"Not to interrupt," Ruse says, tapping her one foot on the ground, "but didn't we have something to do?" She's annoyed. The prickly and sour taste of it sits behind your tongue. It's not a very fun emotion to feel. It doesn't even have the familiarity that wrath has to make you used to it.

"We were wanting to ask if you'd be willing to come with us to our worldline for a short while." Terra says, before anyone can snap at anyone else and a fight can break out. Conflict resolution! See, this is why Terra is a good dad. (You're not sure if Terra or Genesis is the better dad. Both of them are good dads, even if they have their own ways of being a dad. Terra gets more points for being your dad longer, but Genesis also gets a lot of points for being very committed to his new status of dad and making sure that you and Cloud are doing okay. Even if Cloud seems to be more of Genesis' little brother than a kid. But still.)

"For what reason?" Sephiroth asks. Always unbothered, like nothing is a surprise. You're probably to blame for that. You and Cloud caused a lot of chaos. Oh well.

"Ven has Mako enhancements, and we're not sure what exactly that entails." Terra answers. "It would be helpful to know how it affects metabolism, health -- things like that."

Sephiroth dips his head in a shallow little nod. "A wise course of action. I will go with you to your worldline, then, for as long as is necessary. I assume time passes as slowly as it does in all dreams?"

It's Xehanort -- the one with the Nightmare Chirithy -- who pipes up this time. "That's how it works!"

"Come on, let's go then!" Vanitas grabs at Sephiroth's sleeve and starts tugging. He doesn't get very far, 'cause Sephiroth is Mako-enhanced, but the effort is put in. "I'm tired, today has been so long."

"If you Insist." And so, still carrying you and your worldline's Xehanort like potato sacks (or, more like small children who don't weigh very much to him), Sephiroth walks to. . . somewhere or other. Oh! A portal that Xehanort whipped out and made. Cool.

Back to your worldline, then! To finish that medical checkup and then eat (because you are hungry) and then nap!

Today has been so long. (Hmm. You should also probably make some smaller Unversed. That way your back will be less itchy when you wake up. Oh well, you'll get to it eventually. A nap sounds really good right now.)

[drazavonia]

Luxu's History Repeats Itself

Speculation/Theory:

Luxu's role was to past down the No Name keyblade to be succeeded over and over again until it ended up in the hands of the one who would summon Kingdom Hearts. But, part of that role was for Luxu to observe and watch over the course of the Keyblade's journey.

We see this from BBS to KH3 chronologically, where he became the right hand man of Xehanort and Xemnas to help push forward his plans to reenact the Keyblade War.

If Luxu bestows the keyblade upon "one of the five", then his first host has to either accompany them to their next worldline or be at their side consistently similar to how he does with Xehanort.

Because of this criteria, the first successor of No Name can't be Skuld, Ventus or Lauriam because they were sent forward in time, so the Master's eye couldn't record anything.

That leaves Ephemer and Brain.

Somehow Ephemer's heart is displaced and resided in the Keyblade Graveyard for who knows how long, so even if he inherited No Name, the keyblade couldn't record anything of significance and there'd be no need for Luxu to body hop.

I think Luxu will most likely bestow the No Name Keyblade to Brain. This makes the most sense given everything we know so far.

Brain is the only Union leader yet to have a "confirmed" fate as of KH3/KHUX. However, that means he's the only leader left to guide the Dandelions and keep the keyblade legacy alive.

In Dark Road and KH3, we can see No Name mounted on a crest in Master Odin's classroom. This means Brain continued the succession of the No Name Keyblade and throughout all of it's wielders till now, the Book of Prophecies was able to be born.

Brain being the new "king" of Scala ad Caelum would explain why he, Eraqus and any of his lineage are blue-bloods.

After the latest update, this would mean he has both Master Defender and No Name in his arsenal. Ironically Eraqus who's completely unlike Brain inherited his keyblade and his best friend who behaves just like Brain inherited the keyblade given to him second. In kh3 Xehanort tells Eraqus "When the world needs a defender, they'll pick you Eraqus." Eraqus received Brain's first keyblade (the first choice), while Xehanort got Brain's second keyblade.

"Speculation": If Yen-sid was referring to the Union Leaders and the Dandelions when he mentioned the "Ancient Keyblade Masters", then "crossing over to another world" might refer to them migrating into the Data-Daybreak Town.

However,

following up on the notion that Luxu has to observe Brain and No Name in one of the secret reports (Luxu states "Amidst the chaos I bequeathed my Keyblade to one of the Union leaders, just as the Master instructed. I watched as the Five were sent to another worldline-at no small cost-ensuring the line of Keyblade wielders will live on."), then Luxu would have to crossover to the Unreality/Other worldline alongside him.

It seems as though the Union leaders will somehow get sucked into another datascape/worldline/Unreality. If this is the case, it's possible that Luxu actually does bequeath the keyblade to any one of the five, and then something happens, and they're forced to leave the keyblade behind for Brain to take in their stead. Luxu has to keep an eye on Brain, but if he is moving to an unknown world with possibly unknown assailants, it can't be that easy to just sit back and watch like he did originally as they were repeating the original worldline in the Datascape.

Well, we have already seen how Luxu went about observing the most recent inheritor of No Name, Master Xehanort. Luxu possessed a man by the name of Braig, becoming Xehanort's right-hand man under the guise of "a fool desirous of the keyblade". Afterwards he harbored a piece of Xehanort's heart and stuck by his side from BBS to KH3.

"Luxu's History Repeats Itself", as in Luxu casted off his original form and resided in the heart of another to watch Brain, or even better, remain at his side the same as Xehanort in the future.

Luxu will inhabit the body of Ephemer and stand with Brain within the Unreality.

The two scenarios that I can think of (can be different or sequential) :

Luxu chose to reside within Ephemer's heart silently, the same way Eraqus had done to Terra. Eraqus's light as well as his "signature chains" were able to support Terra's fight against Xehanort within himself. It is possible if Ephemer gets into a jam that Luxu could help him from within as well.

Luxu may have chosen to completely dominate Ephemer's heart and push him out, the same way Xehanort did to Terra, in order to become Terra-Xehanort. Ephemer's heart would be lost, possibly traversing to the Keyblade Graveyard. He has been watching them for a long time, so it's possible he may be able to imitate Ephemer well enough for no one to suspect anything.

The second option seems way too unlikely. The Master told Luxu he could help, but probably not to interfere and make his presence known. Also, Luxu seemed especially worried about the Dandelions, to the point where the Master compared him to "a mother hen(?)". It would seem pretty messed up (at that point) for him to straight up take Ephemer's existence like that.

I think Darkness will separate Ephemer's heart from his body, infecting it and birthing his Dark Inferno much like Ventus.

*This has been addressed already, but Ephemer and Braig share the red scarf motif and kinda similar outfits.

A better example is probably Terra again. Ephemer's heart would be the Guardian(Terra) to Luxu's Terra-Xehanort.

"The History" being referred to are the groups Luxu has been apart of:

Ephemer/Luxu = Xigbar

The Overseer

Brain = Xehanort

The Inheritance

Ventus/Darkness = Ven/Vanitas

The Harbinger of Darkness

Lauriam = Terra

RAGE AWAKENED

Skuld = Aqua

The True Successors

Strelitzia = Eraqus (?)

Felled by Darkness

(Skuld is compared to Ava & Aqua was the only student made into a master.)

*This is from like two months ago.

[razorblade180]

Venqua Week Day 3: Darkness

Aqua:*searching* Ven!? Ven, where are you? Ventu- ahhhh!

Vanitas?:*wearing helmet* Huh, oh hey.

Aqua:Vanitas!? *summons keyblade* How are you back!? Where’s Ventus!? If you hurt him the I swear I’m gonna-

Ventus:*removes helmet* Umm, it’s just me Aqua. But do tell, what were you gonna do?

Aqua:Ven!? How- you’re....*runs over* what’s going on? You’re covered in darkness! Even your eyes are yellow!

Ventus:Yeah. Lately when I get caught up in a fight or get upset, this happens. I’ve been trying to use it though.

Aqua:What!? Why!?

Ventus:It could come and handy. That, and it feels like a waste to lock all of this up inside. I promise I’m fine though, see? *smiles* Vanitas can’t smile this happily in a hundred years.

Aqua:Are you sure you’re okay? *holds his face* Why didn’t you tell me about this?

Ventus:You’d be worried and say it’s a bad idea.

Aqua:So Terra knows then?

Ventus:I will neither confirm nor deny that question. *rubs her hand* It’s all still me.

Aqua:Hmmm okay, I believe you. Gotta admit, not a fan of the skirt.

Ventus:Yeah, it would probably look better on y- oh my goodness! Do you think you can still use darkness like this!?

Aqua:Hehe Ven that’s....actually, that’s good question.

Ventus:We should test it out!

Aqua:I don’t know about all that. I wasn’t exactly myself. I was angry, hurt. Using that power showed the ugly side of me....

Ventus:....Did anyone say that?

Aqua:What?

Ventus:Did anyone say it was ugly?

Aqua:N...No, but I was-

Ventus:You were emotional and endured more than anyone should have to. Being angry and upset aren’t ugly, they’re the same as when you’re happy; just a piece side of you that makes up all of you. Do you think I look ugly?

Aqua:Of course not!

Ventus:Then why would you? I don’t know if anybody has told you, but your friends love you flaws and all. I love all of what you are. Not just the hopeful light, but darkness made from that light as well. I mean it’s all Aqua.

Aqua:*puts on the helmet*

Ventus:Aqua?

Aqua:You’ve seen me blush way to often recently. I rather you not see my face right now.

Ventus:Hehe, but I like that piece of you too. *removes helmet* There she is.

Aqua:*blushing* Geez, really know how to twist my arm here. I...guess darkness training wouldn’t be all that bad.

Ventus:Sweet! I’ll ask Terra to join. *runs off*

Aqua:(When did I become such a pushover?)

Ventus:*comes back* Oh before I forget. I might’ve not been there when you using it, but because my heart was, I do remember seeing it. *red* You uhhh, darkness looks pretty good on you. Especially the hair. *runs off*

Aqua:*flustered* (Why’d he have to say that?)

@venquaweek

[jcmorrigan]

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)

[revengerevisited]

I wanna do something a little fun and just share some of the KH fanfic ideas I’ve had for a while, which are mostly about Vanitas because of course they are. XD But yeah, here are my ideas:

1. A Shadow of Two - a sequel to A Heart and a Half, kinda a fix-it for KH3 but not really since it’s an AU to begin with. Vanitas Aqua and Ventus would be the main trio, but Sora Riku and Kairi are also POV characters, with each of them having their own trio and goals: Sora (with Donald and Goofy) looking for a way to revive Roxas while struggling with his own inner darkness, Kairi training with Axel and getting help from Ienzo in discovering her past, Riku Mickey and an unrevealed character on a secret Realm of Darkness mission and also finding a way to revive Naminé, and Vanitas Aqua and Ventus searching for the new Princesses of Heart while dealing with their own problems: Vanitas still dealing with his trauma while adjusting to normal society, Aqua dealing with something I can’t reveal yet, and Ventus... honestly I don’t know what to do with Ventus. The most obvious answer would be recovering his lost memories, but... well, introducing an egregiously convoluted backstory wherein Ventus and/or Vanitas might be a murderer isn’t exactly appealing to me, to say the least. I really wish Ven’s backstory could’ve been something I was allowed to make up myself. Other than that, the story would generally follow KH3 but with way more Disney worlds and hopefully fewer plot holes. ;P

2. Broken Hearts (Take Time to Mend) - a post-KH3 fic that ignores Re:Mind and the time-traveling Vanitas retcon. This fic is about the REAL Vanitas who was in KH3 and resurrected via scream energy who has returned once again, this time in the Land of Departure but is too weak to leave and is quickly discovered by the Wayfinder Trio. Tensions are high but he’s ultimately allowed to stay, with the focus of the story being on the four of them helping each other recover from their respective traumas: Vanitas’s years of abuse by Xehanort, Terra’s decade of possession by Xehanort (which according to the post-Re:Mind character files was a lot more traumatic than I’d realized), Aqua’s decade spent in the Realm of Darkness and subsequent corruption by darkness, and Ven’s... almost being killed by Eraqus, I guess. While pretty bad, that’s probably not as traumatizing as years of torture and torment, and the more obvious trauma to use would be Ventus committing/witnessing Strelitzia’s murder, but as I’ve established I just really don’t want to deal with KHUX at all. Anyway, this could work as a gen fic but since I love Vanqua so much I might as well make it one, maybe throw a little Terrella in there too 'cause why not.

3. This fic idea focuses on the aftermath of KH3, NOT Re:Mind, where Riku Kairi and Naminé are trying to adjust back to a normal life at Destiny Islands while also dealing with their grief over Sora’s disappearance. Kairi deals with blaming herself for Sora’s ‘death’, Naminé deals with being adopted as Kairi’s sister and learning how to be a normal person, and Riku deals with his growing feelings for Naminé, but the real star of the show is... Sora’s mom! Oh and Vanitas too, of course. Sora’s mom (who really needs a name) has finally been told about everything that’s happened these past two-ish years, and a month after Sora’s disappearance she finds a comatose Vanitas washed up on the beach. She assumes it’s Sora, although Riku and Kairi are quick to correct her. Despite their warnings, Sora’s mom nurses Vanitas back to health and basically adopts him, although he isn’t exactly happy with the situation. Still weak and recovering, Vanitas is unable to leave, and Sora’s mom won’t stop in her efforts to help him adjust to a normal life. This one could be merged into Broken Hearts, since I could imagine Riku informing the Wayfinder Trio about Vanitas’s return and an angry and distrustful post-KH3 Aqua wouldn’t want to let him out of her sight, but it might be better to keep them as separate fics seeing as they’re set in two different locations.

4. My next idea hinges on my theory of what the next KH game could’ve been like... or at least before Re:Mind pretty much shot it down. My theory was that Vanitas, the real Vanitas not the time-traveler, was still inside Sora’s heart and therefore went along with him to TWEWY. I haven’t played TWEWY but I know that Sora would need a partner to defeat the Noise, and what better partner than a former enemy? This would be similar to A Heart and a Half but instead of romance it’s a sibling team-up with them trying to escape Shibuya. This fic could also be combined with the previous idea as well... Maybe Sora allows Vanitas to win the Reaper’s Game and he ends up on Destiny Islands unable to remember what happened in TWEWY. Vanitas would be the key to getting Sora back but only if Naminé can unlock his lost memories. My only problem is that I would have to erase all that character development Vanitas gained with Sora to reset him back to have character development with the Destiny Islands characters instead, at least until he regains all his memories.

5. A different Vanitas and Sora team-up fic. Once again this is the real Vanitas who used scream energy to revive himself, but that made his heart rather unstable. He tries to fight Sora Donald and Goofy in Monstropolis but is too weak and sick and loses. Upon discovering that Vanitas looks just like him, Sora decides to take him back to Yen Sid for healing and answers. But Vanitas’s negativity is too much for the Gummiship to handle and it ends up stalling. Sora Donald and Goofy slowly nurse a very reluctant Vanitas back to health with the power of friendship, which would reduce the amount of negativity so the Gummiship can fly again. Vanitas and the trio travel to a few different Disney worlds and eventually rescue Aqua and Ven. I don’t know what would happen after that though, since I don’t want to just rehash exactly what happened in the Keyblade Graveyard.

6. A pre-BBS Vanqua AU. Only a few months after being created, Vanitas runs away from Xehanort to the Land of Departure, hoping to merge with Ven early. Unfortunately for him Ven is still in a coma, so Vanitas tries to merge with Aqua instead. This doesn’t quite work, but does end up linking their hearts in such a way that neither can go too far away from each other without feeling sick or even dying. Now stuck at the Land of departure, Vanitas is found by Xehanort who is enraged that Vanitas has basically ruined all his plans. Fearing for his life, Vanitas convinces Xehanort that the plan can still be salvaged: Vanitas will become Eraqus’s apprentice under the guise of Ven’s ‘brother’ and is tasked with encouraging Terra’s darkness while making sure Ventus and/or Aqua are trained to their fullest, depending on which one would be better to merge with. Xehanort, not wanting to start this entire endeavor over, agrees to the plan and introduces Vanitas to Eraqus and the others. Since Vanitas is now wearing normal clothing, Aqua has no idea that he is the masked boy who attacked her earlier, but feels strangely drawn to him due to their connected hearts. The rest of the fic would basically be about the four apprentices’ life at the Land of Departure, with Vanitas struggling with his loyalty to Xehanort vs his slowly burgeoning friendship with Terra Ven and Aqua, all while trying not to blow his cover with the Unversed.

I also have a few smaller ideas that I haven’t really thought through yet or might work better as oneshots or fanart: 1. A Lion King Vanqua AU with lion Aqua and black leopard Vanitas, Terra Eraqus and Xehanort also as lions, Ven as a regular leopard, and Braig as a hyena. 2. A KH1 retelling/reimagining with Vanitas reincarnated as Sora’s younger brother. 3. A Nier Automata AU with resistance android Terra, scanner Ventus, attacker Aqua, and Vanitas as a scanner with executioner chips installed by Xehanort sent to infiltrate Yorha. 4. A post-KH3 fic dealing with Sora’s restlessness after attempting to return to a normal life on Destiny Islands, feeling like he doesn’t belong after everything he’s been through. 5. Something about Aqua taking care of Ven when he first arrives at the Land of Departure, possibly Venqua. 6. A Vanqua-ish KH3 fic with Vanitas kidnapping Aqua to be used as a Guardian or Seeker back-up for Org13, but he eventually befriends her and lets her go. 7. And finally, a Namiku fic set between CoM and KH2. I kinda feel like this should be part of the A Heart and a Half ‘canon’, but I’m not actually sure whether it should be its own fic or just flashback scenes in A Shadow of Two.

You’ll notice that I really love stories about villain redemption, abuse/mental illness recovery, and former enemies becoming friends/lovers, which is why I’ve grown so disappointed with mainstream works nowadays rarely exploring those topics (at least not that I’ve seen). I guess that’s where that old saying comes in, “if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself”. But yeah, that’s just a quick list of my KH fic ideas so far!

[storm-driver]

Hi! Do you have any writing tips for Roxas and Ventus? :D

I am about to bash heads in with this, you might wanna sit down.

I’m known to be particularly brutal when it comes to analysis and judgement of others’ works, so asking for my advice might lead to me being very harsh about it. I also just typed up a bit of shit and one misclick on my keyboard deleted literally all of and I’m PISSED the fuck off at Tumblr for not having an AUTO SAVE FEATURE ON POSTS. But whatever here we go

I’d qualify this as a character’s study, because that’s honestly what I’m doing. I’m gonna cite to you my character studies for Roxas and Ventus. I’ve spent literal days analyzing their archetypes and who they are as people. And all I’m gonna do is cite it. Below the cut because oof I got a LOT TO SAY

Ventus is one character I see people get half right and half wrong in their fan works. Many characterize him as a bubbly and upbeat, naive child with hardly a copious sense of what it means to be the kind of child warrior that he is. A Mary Sue, to use a term. And to an extent, Ventus can seem very Mary-Sue-like, being such a young person and such a caring and, at times, gullible child.

In the story of BBS, we see Ventus progress through the worlds in search of his friend, deliberately defying his Master’s wishes in the process. When he finds out one of his friends, Aqua, was only out looking for them to drag them home, he called her an awful person. From the moment he met Vanitas, he was flat out rude (though with reason).

Point being, even if Ventus’ heart is literally made from pure light, he is not a pure person. He makes mistakes. He has choices he regrets. He’s not happy with everything that’s ever happened. He has his dislikes, things that make him uncomfortable, things that he hates. He’s not a saint. He’s not without flaws. So in my honest opinion, he cannot be written without them.

One of Ven’s most defining character traits is his personality being a near polar opposite of Roxas’, the character whom he most resembles. Ventus is upbeat, he’s outgoing, he wants to see new places and meet new people. He wants to protect those people and he wants to call them his friends. And sometimes, that’s his downfall.

His overtly strong care for Terra, as his brother-in-training, led him to defy his Master and go out on his own. This led to Ven going about and protecting people from the “monsters” (Unversed) that plagued all the worlds. A good outcome, yes, but it led to Ven’s doubts about who Terra was and what he was capable of. And that led to a falling out in their friendship. To a point where Ven was so hurt by Terra not letting him come on the journey, Ven kept going just to find new friends. A hint of jealousy.

As the series has progressed, though, we find Ventus is acting a bit more mature after he woke up in KH3. When Aqua started to feel down that Terra was still missing, Ventus held his Wayfinder to the stars and assured her that they would be able to bring him home. A role reversal that showed how much Ven has grown as a person, given that it was usually Aqua, one of the most mature characters in the series, who would support Ven in his times of need.

All in all, Ventus remains a very kind-hearted person who I’d hope is still eager to make new friends. Though he’s matured just enough to realize that the world may be a bit more complicated than the black and white views that Eraqus taught him. I.E. When he told Vanitas that he didn’t ask to be split away, that their split didn’t define them. And you can visibly see Ventus get upset when Vanitas insists that all he is capable of being is darkness.

It’s such a strong sign of maturity that Ven also calmly accepts Vanitas’ answer. He doesn’t try to fight it like Sora does. He’s aware that he can’t change what some people think, and he just needs to live with it. Giving up on an argument, especially with someone as stubborn as Vanitas has shown to be, is an insanely strong sign of maturity that not a lot of characters show with such a collected grasp on the situation. Ventus knew exactly what he was saying. And that’s amazing growth from when he tried to argue with Terra and Aqua in BBS.

I would say he’s a kind person. Still a bit childish around the edges, as he’s shown he’s capable of being. But he isn’t quite a child anymore. He knows what he’s supposed to be, what Vanitas is supposed to be, and how this development affects him as a person. He’s very mature for his age, but still very caring. And maybe just a little naive.

Roxas, on the other hand, might feel like a polar opposite.

Consider first that Roxas is just over a year old. He’s almost as close as you can get to an infant in this series, besides the literal children Sora, Riku and Kairi from BBS. He probably doesn’t have a fantastic grasp on even the most simple concepts like gender or friendship. That second one should most especially be true to Roxas.

Something I tend to see people do very wrong when writing Roxas is making him emotionally driven by nothing but sheer anger. Yes, Roxas’ most defining trait is his remarkable ability to dual-wield, something he learned through the unbridled rage of watching his best friend die in his arms. But think about why he’s angry first and you start to unveil who Roxas really is.

First and foremost, he’s a tragedy of a character. Everything about his existence is tragic and leaves the viewer with strong pity and condolences for Roxas. He even pities himself and the fate he’s forced to face by end of KH2. Why, though, is it all so tragic? How come Roxas’ story hurts more than, say, Riku’s or Aqua’s?

Part of it comes back to Roxas being born a literal blank slate. He had no grasp on reality for an entire week after he was born. No sense of purpose, what was right and wrong, self-preservation or care for other things. He needed to be taught what all of that meant, and it was only after he made the mistake of following Xemnas and joining the Organization. It’s akin to a child being adopted and immediately put to work for the efforts of the homeowners. The child knows no better than to do so. Especially for Roxas, who has literally no memories or cohesion of who he is.

Furthermore, the person who taught him what it was to be alive, to be friends with others and to experience joy, ended up betraying his trust and flat-out lying to him for most of the time that they were friends. Axel may not have enjoyed lying to Roxas, but the point being that he did. And it gave Roxas trust issues from that point onward.

Now that’s not to say that Roxas isn’t capable of liking other people. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. We know that Roxas wants to be friends with others. In a way, it mimics Ventus’ wishes to make new friends, and maybe even has some deeper meaning to it. (We do know that Ventus’ heart was with Roxas for some time, so who knows, maybe it was overflow?) We know for a fact that Roxas would’ve liked very much to be friends with some kids he saw in Twilight Town. There’s even a point in the manga where Roxas says that he was jealous of their friendship.

Now I also wouldn’t put it past Roxas to be a little cold towards people. For someone who’s gone through as much tragedy as he has, he has a right to be cold. But it’s not like it was every random stranger’s fault that he had such a shitty start to his life. Roxas has shown he’s capable of being compassionate and kind to others, even to people he doesn’t know too well. I know the Roxas we met in the data Twilight Town wasn’t exactly genuine, but the little mini-games you did during his segment? Just proof that, if Roxas didn’t have his Hell of a life at the constant front, maybe he could’ve lived a bit more calmly. Been a helpful person around town and just an overall calm and chill person.

Of course, he probably has his gripes. I think he’d be playful and teasing with his friends. Maybe give Riku a cold look for that time he stole the munny pouch. Stare at Ventus oddly for a few seconds before realizing that it wasn’t a mirror he was looking at. But he wouldn’t be 99% anger and 1% “ice cream!” Everything Roxas has gone through doesn’t lead directly to rage mode 24/7, despite how much we as a community joke about it.

Roxas is a compassionate and loving person, but because of his numerous trust issues in the past, he might hold some friends closer than others. He can be nice to anyone he wants to, but only so few people know what Roxas is really like. He has a playful side, but he’s also capable of being very aggressive, stubborn-willed, and flat rude when he wants to be. He might even have a bit of a temper problem. But that doesn’t define him. He is Roxas, nobody else.

[bluerosesburnblue]

A lot of people say "if Kairi tried to defen herself against Terranort no one would have died in that scene" and "if Kairi tried to do something at least try to defen herself against Xemnas it's better than standing there." And say "she will always play the damsel in distress." "The most uselese character." Opinions on them? I mean the hate/put hate/lies on Kairi in my opinion become a normal thing also because her fans doesn't try to defen her maybe that's why they see it's okay to hate her.

Her fans totally try to defend her. @oveliagirlhaditright has made plenty of posts defending her and I’m pretty sure she’s also reblogged every single one of them. I know I’ve seen one going around about how Kairi could not have physically moved without ripping her arm out of her socket due to the angle Xemnas was holding her arm at

The Terranort one’s absolutely nonsense, though. Let’s not forget that Ven was already taken out by the time Terranort even turned towards Kairi. Yeah, no matter what happened, Ven would still be as good as dead because despite knowing that Terra was probably possessed by Xehanort, no one bothered to tell him. Lea has more combat experience that Kairi but given how hard he goes down to Xemnas later I highly doubt that even if he’d survived Terranort then he wouldn’t have been able to manage the Demon Tide AND Terranort. Who, by the way, still would have only been taken out by Donald’s sacrifice. Like let’s not forget that if Donald hadn’t used Teraflare then they’d have to fight Terranort alongside the giant Demon Tide and I seriously doubt that any amount of “Kairi defending herself” could have stopped them from dying at the combined force of those two

And even if she had, they’d have to do it while trying to protect at least Ven. They were fated to lose. Her holding on to Sora is what overturned that fate. So in the end, I’d say she did more than anyone else (other than Sora)

She wasn’t treated well in KH3. That’s completely true. But she’s far from useless just because she’s not the most combat oriented person. Lea did pretty poorly, too, despite being a trained assassin. I mean, the dumbass got his blade broken and I don’t think he even tried to summon his Chakrams after that. And then he just kinda...

Everyone got destroyed by Xemnas, not just Kairi. At this point Lea should still have had any amount of fire magic to cast. Just... super didn’t

And that’s not even getting to how Aqua and Ven were just incapacitated by magic chains so easily. Should they have also tried to defend themselves?

It’s just double-standards. People are already so prepared to call Kairi out the second she does something “wrong” but their favs get a free pass even though it makes WAY LESS sense for an assassin or a Keyblade Master to get wrecked just as easily as she did. Like Ven actually did way less that Kairi to the point where I barely even remember him being there beyond giving Vanitas a stern talking to. Either judge everyone as harshly as Kairi or stop judging everyone for somehow miraculously turning out a victory after being literally prophesied to fail

[nadziejastar]

I have a theory regarding Saix's hatred of Xion. Xion is the personification of Sora's memories of Kairi. It is heavily implied that Kairi was wrapped up in the experiments at Radiant Garden, as were Lea and Isa. I wonder, was the connection to Kairi somehow dredging up bad memories? Just a thought.

“Aeleus, where is the girl?” Xehanort asked.

“She’s asleep…” Aeleus pointed to the capsule room in the back.

The girl was very particular—unique among people. They had not been able to create any Heartless using her heart. Perhaps because she was too young, or perhaps…

Xehanort disappeared into the capsule room.

Yeah, I wish we learned exactly what was done to Kairi. In the novels, it said they tried to create darkness using her heart, but were unable to. So, she was definitely experimented on.

One of the Ansem Reports mentioned trying to “cultivate darkness in a pure heart”. But beyond that? I have no clue. I honestly have no idea if Kairi herself being related to Xion had an impact on Saïx’s memories. Especially since Saïx couldn’t even “see” her. I think the story may have just been written that way because all those characters had something in common.

Lea and Isa were test subjects. Kairi was, too. And so was Ventus. He was Master Xehanort’s original guinea pig. Ven’s story is actually a lot like Xion’s. He wanted to sacrifice himself to protect his friends and not be used as a human weapon. Isa probably had a similar backstory, so there were a lot of parallels to him and Xion.

Saïx’s connection to Kairi was probably more indirect than direct. I think the Replica Project was innately tied to the original experiments, and that might have influenced why Saïx hated Xion so much in particular, in addition to his jealousy. It was just his hatred for Replicas in general because of what he knew about them and how they were created. That’s what brought back memories. 

One thing I am sure of is that they are entirely devoid of emotion. Perhaps further study will unlock the mysteries of the heart. Fortunately, there is no shortage of test samples. They are multiplying underground even as I write this report.

I don’t think Saïx’s feelings about Replicas make sense without his past as a human test subject. I think what Axel said in Re:CoM was meant to be a hint of his and Isa’s involvement in the experiments. Unlike Kairi, Lea and Isa were most likely made to directly interact with the Heartless in order to study their behavioral principles.

There is no doubt that the Heartless are deeply connected to the people's hearts. Further study may unravel both their motivations and the mysteries shrouding the heart. As a start, I have built a device that artificially creates Heartless. By recreating the conditions that spawn the Heartless naturally, I should be able to produce them artificially. This may be a step toward creating a heart from nothing.

Also, Lea and Isa were probably involved in an experiment to create a heart from nothing. Or in other words, a heart made out of data. This experiment involved in recreating the original conditions that spawned the Heartless naturally. The original experiments caused the subjects’ hearts to collapse. So, that experiment involved something very dark happening to them.

“Oh ho. So it’s a fight you want. Very well! Fight me, if you can!”

That was exactly the method by which Vexen would obtain Riku’s power. He was a scientist by nature, not well suited to combat…but there was no better option. All he had to do was draw out the greatest strength the boy could muster. And then, if he succeeded in mass-producing the replicas, the Organization would have greater power than ever before. Far beyond even Emblem Heartless.

Vexen deflected a strike from Soul Eater with his shield of ice. “Release your rage… Show me the strength of the darkness you harbor!”

Again and again, Riku swung his sword, and each time Vexen accumulated more of his memories and power as data.

I think the entire point of both the Replica Program and making the Emblem Heartless was to create a heart out of data. That was Even’s goal in the experiments. He was motivated by scientific advancement. Vexen fought Riku to acquire memories of him while he’s in a rage. Then he used that data and installed it into the Replica, which later grew a heart. So, his Project was successful.

It is my duty to expose what this darkness really is. I shall conduct the following experiments:

-Extract the darkness from a person's heart.

-Cultivate darkness in a pure heart.

-Both suppress and amplify the darkness within.

I think Kairi was an example of “cultivating darkness in a pure heart.” Ventus was an example of “extracting the darkness from a person’s heart.” Lea and Isa were probably involved in an experiment meant to “amplify the darkness within” one of them.

“No. It is because you are trying to hold it in. Let the dark impulses waken in the pit of your heart. Release them, here and now! Sharpen your fear into rage!” Xehanort shouted to Ventus.

I don’t know how to. There’s nothing like that in me. I can’t change my fear into rage. I’m just scared.

“You must! If you do not let the storm within you run its course, it will wipe you from the face of the world, make no mistake! Do it. Embrace the darkness. Produce for your Master the χ-Blade!”

How does the darkness within get amplified? By creating rage. How to create rage? When Ventus was experimented on, Master Xehanort was trying sharpen his fear into rage.

“Fear’s an emotion. It doesn’t exist for us.”

“But…I am feeling it. I’m scared right now.” Axel and Xion ceasing to exist—the thought was even more frightening to him than his own termination. Roxas didn’t want to dwell on it at all.

Axel looked away into the distance. “Something in you probably does remember what it’s like to be scared. So you think you’re feeling it now.”

Day 150 is called “Fear”. This was an important idea to Axel’s backstory. On this day, Axel and Roxas talk about what they couldn’t bear to lose. Axel says fear isn’t something Nobodies can feel.

“Man, don’t scare us like that,” Axel complained.

“I’ll try not to.”

“You stay in bed, okay? Take it easy.”

“I will,” she said meekly and smiled at them. “Thanks, guys.”

But on Day 193, Axel was scared when Xion collapsed. He was very pissed off at Saïx, too, for knowingly putting him in a situation that would make him feel fear. To me, it seemed like he remembered being scared of losing Isa. Something very traumatic happened.

Saïx: Did it break again? That didn’t take long.

Axel: Keep your mouth shut.

Saïx: You have changed... Something at Castle Oblivion changed you. Does the past mean nothing to you now?

Saïx was mad, too. He was remembering something traumatic from the past as well. And the “broken” comment set Axel off.

“You see how powerless you are to save them? Savor that rage and despair. Let it empower you!”

What good was the power of light if it couldn’t save his two friends? It was meaningless. He would be able to save them if he was strong enough.

If so…If that’s how it is…

“Yes, boy, that’s it! More! Let your whole heart blacken with anger!”

Terra didn’t care that the power thrumming through him belonged to the darkness. As long as it made him strong.

Basically, once the apprentices learned how the Heartless behaved and what motivated them, I think they decided to perform an experiment to recreate the conditions that spawned the original Heartless. This was so that they could get the necessary data to create a heart. So, they decided to amplify the darkness in Lea’s heart to turn him into a Heartless. They knew his biggest fear, which was losing Isa. They were probably going to torture and kill Isa right in front of Lea. Lea’s fear would sharpen into rage and they could use the data from those memories to create a heart. 

“You don’t know what you’re talking about! I’m protecting those islands!” Riku rushed into range, but this time the Claymore, Saïx’s sword, was there to block Soul Eater.

“How do you expect to protect anything when you’ve cloaked yourself in darkness? You sold your soul for power. Was it worth it?”

Isa just so happens to have a berserk mode, which is pure RAGE. I think Isa was the one who went berserk during this experiment. He was not the intended target.

“Wait—you had your fun on the first floor.” Larxene flashed her most bewitching smile. “This time, it’s my turn.”

“…Don’t break him,” were the words that slipped unconsciously out of Axel’s mouth.

“Ohhh, do I detect a soft spot?”

“You don’t trust me?” Larxene slumped in mock disappointment. “I know when to let up. I’m not stupid enough to break my toys.”

Isa was just a toy. Someone (probably Braig) had fun torturing him and used his screams of pain and anguish to try and get Lea to succumb to darkness. He went berserk and became possessed by darkness, but he was motivated by love, so his heart did not collapse and he didn’t become a Heartless, making him the special and unique Subject X and a vessel.

“No, I won’t do it. He told me the only way the χ-Blade can be forged is if you and me fight. Well, guess what? I’m not fighting,” Ven said, his back still turned.

“You used to be too broken to talk back,” Vanitas retorted.

But Isa was probably “broken” after that ordeal, like Ventus was originally.

Day 150: Dealing with Xion

Author: Saïx

As expected, the Duplicate is starting to show its limits. The Program showed promise, but a puppet is just a puppet: something to be toyed with until it breaks. I am utterly at a loss as to what Roxas and Axel see in that thing. How best to dispose of it merits my consideration going forward.

It’s no wonder why Saïx would hate a Replica, if he knew they were created from memories of conflict and rage. It’d bring back memories for sure, no matter who the Replica was based on. And I think he probably did know how Replicas were made. Even Axel was a lot more understanding of Saïx’s treatment of Xion once he realized she was a Replica. He even felt uncomfortable around her at first, too.

[phoenix-downer]

Hi ;; Any thoughts on Ven as a character? //w\\

Ven is wonderful and I’m always happy to talk about him!

I love how he went from being pretty playful/carefree at the start of BBS to being willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good. It shows real growth and maturity on his part.

I liked him… pretty much as soon as I started BBS, especially because Jesse McCartney does such a good job voicing him. He makes him sound different from Roxas, too, which is really impressive. 

The moment I really came to love him as a character, though, was when he unfroze himself to protect Aqua. He went from being “awwww cute Ven” to “awwww yeah badass Ven” and I loved it. 

And since I still have a gajillion screenshots from KH3 I haven’t posted yet, enjoy the following Ven screenshots/discussion of his role in KH3!

The moment when his heart appeared through Sora I think I gasped, this whole scene was great with the way it built up the tension:

Ven influencing Sora to try to save Aqua through him was awesome, too. We’ve seen how hard Aqua tried to save Ven in BBS and return to him in 0.2, so it was really, REALLY nice for a change to see him do everything he could to save her for once… EVEN WHILE HE WAS STILL ASLEEP:

Then when Aqua wakes up and briefly sees Ven and Terra instead of Sora and Riku:

Sleeping in this position for over a decade can’t be comfortable, right?

Aqua and Ven reunited at long last:

This hug was something I really needed and I’m glad we got it:

Ven once again influencing Sora to act:

Ven helping Sora out with the power of waking was nice especially because no one else really helped oops:

Ven’s heart station looks beautiful in this game:

HIM THANKING SORA WAS WONDERFUL AND I REALLY WANTED TO SEE THIS HAPPEN SO I’M GLAD WE GOT IT:

Sleeping Beauty: 

Ven getting to be a badass again in a scene paralleling how he protected Aqua in BBS:

We all probably cheered at this moment, what a way to wake up:

That rivalry with Vanitas is still going strong:

Ven and Aqua reuniting: 

Ven realizing that Sora looks like Vanitas was too cute:

Ven realizing who Sora was all along is also something I really needed so I’m glad we got it:

THEM OFFICIALLY MEETING AND SHAKING HANDS WAS ALSO SOMETHING I REALLY NEEDED:

SO WAS VEN TELLING SORA TO CALL HIM VEN INSTEAD OF VENTUS I was really hoping this would happen and actually included it in one of my fics so to see it unfold on screen was a real treat: 

GOOD MORNING VEN TOO PRECIOUS FOR WORDS LOOK AT AQUA’S ADROABLE LITTLE SMILE HERE:

We are indeed fortunate to have them back:

Love how they both still are determined to find Terra:

VEN REMEMBERING LEA’S REAL NAME WHEN EVERYONE ELSE JUST CALLS HIM AXEL WAS A WONDERFUL SURPRISE:

Him calling them friends? Even better:

Ven’s still determined to find Terra after all this time, what a good friend:

This whole little scene between Aqua and Ven was lovely and added so much:

And he still has his Wayfinder!

I love how hopeful he is about this, how he just KNOWS somehow that they’ll get Terra back. After everything Aqua’s been through I think she really needed Ven’s positivity to help cheer her up and give her hope again, too:

Love this shot of the two of them looking up at the stars. Now all they need is to find Terra again:

Everyone’s here, and Ven has Aqua’s back:

Aqua has Ven’s back this time and they both mean business:

Yeah, we all knew something was off here, but Ven was just so excited to see Terra again:

Aqua is positioning herself in front of him to keep him safe and he’s just complete sad puppy dog mode:

And then we get a time loop and this happens again:

Pouty Ven is best Ven. “But Mooooom, why can’t I–”

D:

Aqua just looks perpetually done in so many of these and I kind of love it, she’s seen it all at this point while Ven is still just like D: TERRA

Back-to-back badasses:

That’s a lot of enemies, but they’re sticking by each other’s sides. The Aqua-Ventus friendship was so well done this game, really:

“It’s insane for you to fight these guys alone! I’ll go with you so it’ll be slightly less insane and at least we can die together!”

Reaction shot to Xehanort’s shenanigans: 

Aqua and Ven were taking on Terranort and Vanitas, pretty impressive:

Loved this scene between Sora, Ven, and Vanitas discussing how they’re all connected to each other:

I loved this moment, too. Ven didn’t ever want to be split apart, and he comes down hard on the side of free will, which Sora does too later on in his speech to Xehanort:

YOU TELL HIM:

I love how angry Ven is here. Just because you have a heart of pure light doesn’t mean you can’t be angry or upset:

Ven shows concern for Terra even after Terranort tried to hurt him multiple times:

Look at the concern in his eyes for his friend:

And then he and Aqua are like uh-oh:

Okay, this whole sequence was really, REALLY disturbing and really well-done. Sora’s horror as Terranort yanked Aqua and Ven around till they were unconscious… one more time and he probably would’ve killed them… I got shivers from this scene, especially when Sora begged and pleaded for them:

And then this part, Ven just drives the knife further and breaks our hearts in the best possible way. In the Japanese version IIRC he even tells Terra he’ll save him:

And Terra’s finally back and he makes sure Ven’s okay:

This moment was so touching and beautiful, Terra acknowledging how long and far Ven searched for him because he wanted his friend to come home and showing appreciation for it when before in BBS he kind of pushed Ven and Aqua away. No, this time he pulls them both close:

This hug was something I really needed and I’m glad we got it: 

Ven volunteering to go with Sora when he had yet another near death experience (how many does that make in one day? Two? Three?) just to show how wonderful he is, how determined he is to help:

Puppy dog eyes for now but they’ll catch up later:

Unfortunately I did not capture the actual moment itself, but when Ven and Roxas glimpsed each other that was pretty hilarious (was it here? Can’t remember exactly):

Aqua continues to be Done and actually Ven and Terra are too at this point. Family that slays together stays together:

Ven standing between Terra and Aqua here is a lovely touch, we have three of the total trios on screen right here:

Ven’s the first one to run to their master:

And he and Aqua both give him a hug which I was so glad to see:

AND THEN TERRA JOINS TOO:

Eraqus apologizing to Ven was something I really, REALLY hoped would happen (to the point where again I included it in a fic I wrote) and I was so glad that it did:

Ven just sobbing here hit me so hard, he’s so young and to have his father figure try to kill him… that would hurt so bad and be really traumatizing… but to hear him apologize must have brought such healing to Ven’s heart, too:

You can tell he’s grieving over the loss of Eraqus:

But he still lends Sora his power to help close the door:

One last shot of the Wayfinder Trio together like they should be:

Missing because I couldn’t record or didn’t get them:

The Spider-Man meme come to life 

Ven and Chirithy getting reunited!

VEN THROWING A FRISBEE

Ven accidentally knocking over Donald’s sandduck

Thank you for the ask, anon! Ven is pretty great, isn’t he?

[star-shapedfruit]

A sort of KH3 review.. thing

Well dang that was a wild ride wasn’t it? It’s been about 2/3 weeks since I finished the game (took me 5 days which is record time for me considering it was a pretty big game) so I’ll try my best to condense my thoughts on it below

Please note this is my opinion so you may agree or disagree with me on some parts and that’s totally fine!

And it’s gonna be long

Alright let’s get the bad out of the way:

-The pacing

I’m not the first and I definitely won’t be the last to complain about the goddamn pacing. Kingdom Hearts in general is pretty bad when it comes to a well balanced pace and this was the same. Everything felt rushed and crammed towards the end with it feeling like ‘quick let’s wrap this up ASAP!’.

It was literally Disney world after world with bits of important story in between and then the actual plot of saving everyone kicked in and probably made up of about 3 hours of the whole game. It could have been better if we’d have rescued Aqua and Ven earlier then towards the end save Roxas, Xion and Terra (and Namine) but nah.

Even the ending itself felt rushed and half assed at times. We didn’t get to see Sora save Kairi it was just Keyblade Graveyard ending- everyone being happy at the beach- credits. That was... kinda dumb? Also when you’re wrapping up a 17 year old saga you don’t tend to end it like that. You know what I’m talking about.

-Characters

They gone did Kairi dirty again. AGAIN. How many times are we gonna do this? My poor girl got shafted right at the end just to fuel Sora’s anger and then didn’t explain how she got back to the islands anyway but who fucking cares y’know.

She was hyped up after being confirmed to be a guardian of light and in training with Lea and they did fuck all with it. It’s like you’re so excited to see Santa and you get up on his knee to ask what present you want this Christmas only for Santa to laugh and smack you in the face.

I could go on and on about Kairi but I’d probably be saying what everyone else has already said. I was expecting more character interactions ie the famous Roxas and Ven one we’ve been looking forward to for years but we got a funny glance and that’s it. Again, probably due to pacing but there was so much potential for some great new friendships to blossom and they just... didn’t.

-Worlds

Ok this is mainly Twilight Town being so teenie weenie. Come on, in KH2 we had TT, Hollow Bastion, TWTNW, Yen Sid’s Tower but for 3? Two sections of TT that’ll do. ??? Why??? It looked gorgeous and I couldn’t wait to explore the whole town but for some reason we were reduced to it being two rooms. Also missed out a good opportunity to have RG playable again but nah.

I get the feeling Disney we’re very pushy with this title? Like they had more input than usual and Square couldn’t really argue with them which would explain why the OG worlds were kinda dull? Idk I hope they learn to butt out a little and let Square do their thing. I’m not saying get rid of Disney god no. I just think there needs to be less Disney and more OG in the next title.

Alright the good stuff now!

- The graphics

Holy shit this game was BEAUTIFUL

Everything was gorgeous to look at and Unreal Engine made all the worlds look unique and specific to their Disney world. Like o can’t fault how this game looks it’s just that pretty

-Voice acting

Hayley, Hayley my man you did fantastic. I was getting worried that he’d sound off like in DDD but the man delivered. Everything was spot on and his emotions came across so much better? That scream? The crying?? The joy?? Beautiful. And Vanitas sounded so goddamn evil and Hayley sounded like he was having a blast voicing him 👌

Jesse did amazing as always with Roxas and Ven making them sound different. Just wish they coulda talked to each other xD I really liked Alyson’s Kairi too! I miss Hayden but for the most part Alyson pulled it off great along with Xion.

Like everyone sounded so much better I could go on and on. Can’t really fault much of the voice acting tbh. Xehanort grew on me but Nimoy will always be the better Nort

-Minigames/side quests

I absolutely SUCK at the cooking mini game but I still found it loads of fun. The only one I could do properly was the salt and pepper shaker one 😅 The 100 Acre Wood stuff was very samey samey but still cute and fun regardless.

I only did one flan mini game (the one in Toy Box) and that was awesome too! Hunting for ingredients and lucky emblems was tricky in parts but I loved the satisfaction when you finally find the damn thing! They were just a nice little touch and even though I only got 17 out of 90 I enjoyed looking for them.

Also that Tangled dancing game. My FAV IDK HOW MANY TIMES I’VE PLAYED THAT ITS JUST SO WHOLESOME AND GOOD

-Attraction Flow

LOVED this gimmick. What can I say I absolutely love Disneyland and being able to use the rides to fight in battle was a blast. I especially loved the mad tea cups (“Bring it in!”) and the pirate ship they were loads of fun :D shame I only got to use Thunder Mountain twice because it’s one of my favourite rides xD

-The gummi phone

Who doesn’t love this. Finally I can take selfies with Disney characters! It was so cute I’m glad they added it. I’m definitely gonna use it more on my next gameplay at inappropriate times during the final battles 🌚

-Final battles

Being able to fight alongside Riku, Mickey, Aqua, Ven, Kairi, Lea, Roxas and Xion was at the top of my wish list for 3 and it finally happened ;-; Ok we’re with Kairi and Lea for two minutes but I ENJOYED THOSE TWO MINUTES. Kairi actually does some decent damage too so she can fight. You did amazing sweetie. And how OP is Roxas? You can just sit back and let him do all the work while you and Xion chill out. Granted they weren’t difficult bosses but I don’t care I got to fight with my sons and daughters by my side <3

I’m nearly done now promise. Just wanna say my favourite worlds ❤️

Corona: Gorgeous and (mostly) tranquil. Rapunzel and Eugene make great partners and the hair swing thing was awesome to jump to different areas. Also the little quests with Rapunzel were adorable and made the world feel more alive.

Monstropolis: I think what made this world for me were the character interactions and the music. The world itself was just inside the factory but the way everyone played off each other and dealt with Vanitas at the end was amazing. And Sora doing his funny face again. You little treasure <3

Toy Box: YOU. ARE. A. TOYYYYYY. Everything was so gigantic and interactive and gsjsksksla it was just loads of fun! Loved Woody and Buzz as partners and the whole world was such a treat- nothing like we’ve ever had in a KH game before. Can we also talk about Woody absolutely wrecking Xehanort though? Iconic.

Well I think that’ll do me for now. Overall I’d give it an 8.5/10 with the major issues being plot pacing and lack of character development. Also the camera sometimes did this weird thing in attraction flow mode where it’d just zoom into a rock or a tree :/ I really enjoyed KH3 despite its flaws and what was done well was done really well

Maybe get some more new writers and let Square properly take the reins for the next one yeah? And let Kairi finally have her time to shine. You’ve set up a rescue mission after all, Square 👀

[thenonbinarydetective]

Kingdom Hearts 3-Holy shit I’m Crying

*spoilers*

I honestly am not as disappointed as some people that I’ve seen on here talk about it. It might have something to do with me starting in 2011 with BBS. KH1 came out when I was only two so there’s my excuse. I’ve played them all now. It really did lead me, however, to not feel as though we’ve been waiting as long as 12/13 years for Kingdom Hearts 3. Not to cause drama between anyone but KH3 pretty much would not be possible with all these side games. But whatever Don’t @ me about this lol

Also I know it’s not the end. They/Nomura have already confirmed that Kingdom Hearts 3 isn’t the end. There’s still a future.

Look this series is about hope so maybe a version of what we hoped would happen will still happen. For example, more than a nod of Ven and Roxas interacting. Or Terra and Riku having a special reunion. It may be too late for that but a heart-to-heart between the two of them could make up for it. I got excited hearing Riku mention him in the Realm of Darkness to Mickey(also still keeping there promise a secret between them. He probably could’ve told Mickey though).

Anyway I have hope that it will just get better. This game is phenomenal and possibly hit all the points I expected it to. There could be things that haven’t come right back to me yet. They’ll come back.

This game was a lot and it was emotional. Extremely. And there’s still more which brings a simultaneous better and worse feeling.

I’m probably forgetting things on both sides but here we go

What I Liked/Loved

Xemnas’ and Ansem’s endings: In the end they weren’t evil. Xemnas was alone. Ansem and Riku admitting they’d (almost) miss being apart from each other. They weren’t redeemed but changed.

Jason Dohring apparently saw the reviews that said his voice was flat and boring in BBS. My man went IN on those emotions. seriously amazing

The way Sora went OFF WHEN WILLIAM TURNER GOT STABBED

The fact the Eraqus literally came out of Terra to talk Xehanort down

Also the fact that that worked

Just anything involving Eraqus because I love him so much

Say what you want about Frozen I loved the Let it Go sequence in the game. Honestly it was like watched the movie and then fucking Goofy just appears. Iconic. Love it.

THE UNION CHI SCENE. Those were real names I recognized some of them

the second of Ephemer

and the Starlight Keyblade

Chirithy waiting for Ven

and then finding Ven

Vanitas being the cocky sack of shit that I love dearly

Vanitas getting repeatedly yeeted by Sully

 Terra cradling Ven

Xigbar/Braig being Luxu this whole time and finessing Xehanort to give him what he wanted

Terra chasing around Roxas and Riku in the end

Isa joining Lea, Roxas, and Xion

(almost) Everyone playing on Destiny Islands

Mother Gothel’s and Hans’ Heartless designs, although I don’t see why because they both already were heartless from the start

The fact that Olympus was more than just fighting in the Coliseum. It’s the first time I’ve actually liked going there.

Also seeing Zeus as much as I find him repulsive. It was nice seeing him 

 Hephaestus’ forge being a ‘secret’ location

The Final World 

Terra’s return was everything I wanted it to be. From the arrival of the Lingering Will and it’s clash with Terranort. The Guardian revealed to be Terra all along. Then the Guardian tearing off the bandages and kicking his own body’s ass. With a Sora assist

Terqua is actually canon now

The typically repeated worlds aren’t there

The combat is beautiful

I did not stop running about every wall I could

and then jumping off immediately after

The entire scene of Xemnas, Xion, Lea, and Roxas. Just it’s good.

Especially with Saix/Isa just standing in the background full berserk mode while everyone is having a somewhat casual conversation

Yen sid actually getting off his ass

Two Baymaxes

I know I said I liked the worlds for being different from usual but I liked how well Big Hero 6, Tangled, and Frozen fit in to the story with CGI

How beautiful the Land of Departure looked

and Scala Ad Caelum

The fact that Drake Bell was Eraqus blows me away for some reason

The Kingdom Dance in Corona was adorable

The selfies

The Instagram post

Everyone looked GORGEOUS

The end for the Organization members were meaningful. They were becoming human again. It had emotion and heart and all felt true to character. I can’t wait to play more games with Luxord’s somebody.

Specifically, I liked how they weren’t exactly villains we just need to fight in the end.

The number of worlds matching with our number of friends to save at the end

Defeating Xehanort with the Crystal Snow Keyblade was the greatest decision I made. Beating up this old fucker as Olaf mercilessly watches was an experience that cannot be repeated

What I disliked

The pacing and/or structure of the story was off. We spend forever exploring the worlds. Then five minutes before the final battle we rush off and get Aqua and Ven.

Also Sora apparently had the Power of Waking the whole damn time

and Ven waiting that long to tell him

And Yen Sid can’t see that

But he needed like 9 more life lessons before he realizes he has it

then he abuses the hell out of it(with good reason) after knowing he has it

The Heartless/Unversed/Nobody battle(s) before the battles with the Organization just take too damn long to get through

Like I would prefer just the first H/U/N battle and then the Union Chi one.

They both stood out more. All the monster we face are now brought together

We are also brought into the game with Ephemer

Also Kairi thing was just bull

really don’t have to say more everyone gets it

I don’t have much problem with Xehanort’s end but I do kinda understand that it’s weird how after fighting 2 dramatic battles he kinda just dies...and hands Sora the X-blade

Another thing is that his motivations have always been...experimental extremist I guess. But somehow it came off that he was trying to be....okay. A lot of ellipses yes but that’s emphasizing my confusion. He’s not...okay

Namine was thrown right in the end there wasn’t she?

I wish my beloved gremlin got a better ending. Vanitas could’ve been really interesting character to build up on if a being or abomination of pure darkness tried to gain his own light. Maybe he’s not over. Who knows?

As Kingdom Hearts 3 is the end of a part of the story. I wanted it feel more like the ending of a book rather than the ending of a chapter, right?

It’s conclusion perhaps shouldn’t have left people just waiting for the next one but waiting for the next one with more positive reasons

WHERE WAS MAXIE?? WHY WASN’T HE WAITING FOR GOOFY TO COME HOME????

Some of you shippers need to behave

As much as I loved the Tangled and Frozen worlds Sora was very much disconnected from the story. Mostly, Tangled. More than half the movie progresses without Sora being anywhere near Rapunzel or Flynn. Or that whole bit in the Ice Labyrinth in Frozen. Then far away from the castle as Elsa was arrested and Anna freezing

In other worlds(this game and in others) Sora was apart of the story but these two he showed up and interacted for a bit then left

A lot of the rescuing for the other characters happened off-screen with Riku and Mickey

Which brings me to the point that I kinda wanted everyone to be saved earlier on and maybe join Sora on some adventures

Everyone else just felt oddly unimportant

I get that Sora is the main character but saving the other technically main characters was believed to be a big part of the story just didn’t happen

The part with Terranort was just off. Although it is a bit of a common thing that to stop a death you can be set back in time before it happened to stop it. The second time Sora was aware and changed it. It doesn’t really make sense to why the Lingering Will appeared that other time. Did he appear the first time around but was too late? and did Sora give him the extra second he needed?

Did it even need to happen? who knows?

I still love the game regardless of it’s flaws. Nothing’s perfect and no matter what Square gave us people would’ve complained. I also really don’t think some of you should go as far to say that Square Enix can’t make good things anymore because it wasn’t 100% what you wanted. That’s just rude and kinda lame.

The game gives me hope above all things

[breezy-cheezy]

Ok so just a heads up, I just finished Kingdom Hearts 3. It was about 4 ish hours of yelling, screaming, tears (happy and sad, and really really mixed) annnnnd confusion. Like woah, what a ride. I will be posting/reblogging spoilers too...it’ll be under “KH3 spoilers”, for those who want to block it. Because heck there are some THINGS I wanna draw. Those of you who are still playing through, good luck! It’s a treat!! As for me, some general thoughts, questions and semi theories under the cut 

(almost all contain spoilers below this point so, beware):

- Ok FIRST of all....wow. Gotta say the music is PHENOMINAL. Yoko Shimomura just reaaaally outdid herself here!! As one who’s listened to the soundtrack of kingdom hearts over and over, I recognized so many theme songs and key songs interwoven into the story to complete it to such a wonderful level. Not to mention, I got chills over just some reorchestrations, like wowwwwww...

- Donald is over powered as FREAK, gosh O.o;;;; Also, might I mention he’s ALOT better at healing in this game X’’’’D

- GRAPHICS. REALLY GOOD GRAPHICS. I wish I had a screenshot feature on the tv...I’ll have to look up scenes later, because wow this game is so pretty.

- Every part with Sora using the power of waking is so cool. I’m still super duper confused on the....mechanics of it (especially regarding Sora’s fate) but regardless, getting to save your friends through all the worlds was REALLY fun. I wish they could like. Join you as you rescue them. Stampede the enemy. With friendship. 

- Sora’s scream of emotional anguish on it’s own made me wanna cry. Same for Xion. Goodness the voice acting, y’all are killing me...

_ Riiiiiikuuuuu...I love him so much. He’s a good friend, and having to fight his younger self/replica, it’s so clear how far he’s come!! I pointed out that’s what he was like in the first game to my sister, and she’s like “?????? really????” I love this disaster child. I’m sure it’s embarrassing seeing your past self, but also harsh having your past mistakes thrown in your face...anyway, love Riku. Always. He’s a good egg.

- Kairi..........deserved better DX I was REALLY hoping I could play her at least for a little...! But nooooo...at least Aqua was briefly playable?? That was really cool. I just wish...more was done with Kairi. That she had more of a presence through the whole game, like RIku did. Not just the damsel in distress at the end...she did help Sora alot in her own ways I’m just...MAN I feel this could’ve been done better...

- I LOVED getting some closure on a majority of the “villains” of the game. I liked them all. I do wish I knew what actually happened to Vanitas...? Where’d he go?? WHat the...also Repliku’s sacrifice ;;A;; that was really cool. But can’t they just make another replica for him?? Also was Larxene referencing Marly???????? Xemnas’s ending was probably one of my favorites. 

- TERRA COMING BACK WAS FREAKING COOL AAAAAAA--- the wayfinder trio was so terribly tragic, I’m so glad they can be happy again...

- ALSO SCREAMING ALOT FOR SEASALT TRIO, GOODNESS FINALLY FINALLYYYYYYYYYYY *sobs* 

- Axel actually having a reason for his weird face tattoos was really cool. Because this poor man is DEFINATELY CRYING NOW aaaaaaaa, I’m so glad for Isa, I cryyyyy...also who the heck was the girl they were talking about?????? I thought it was Xion but I was obviously wrong......I’m so confused, Square. Nomura. Answer me. Who is she. Anyway happy platonic AkuSaiRokuShi does me so much joy, my skin is clear, 10 years added to my life, blesssss

- ALSO “The final World” was really freaking cool and trippy but pretty. Also I know barely anything about KHX...who is the cat with a purse again and why is he in KH purgatory??? X’’’D him reuniting with Ven was really cute...ANYWAY. I collected way more Sora’s than I should, it kicked me out when I gathered 333. X’’’D but hey I got more maximum health! Which saved my butt constantly in the final battles O.o  finding Namine there was really sweet...but who were the other stars?? Who was the other voice? Was that Marly’s sister or...???? Probably has something to do with KHX again and I got lost, but I was so interested...who WERE these hearts???? 

- I wish I got to explore that last kingdomy place I forgot the name of more...it was SO pretty before Xehanort blew the whole dang thing up. Also I’m STILL very confused on his motives?? Why do you want to like...darkness everything up to make a new light world??? What???? Master Eraqus popping up again made me cry...especially his apologies to his kids apprentices. Also helping his friend pass on. Gosh dang. R I P, both of you. 

- The epilogue was wonderful! Just domestic stuff showing everyone is back and well!! I ADORE Xion’s new outfit, I need to gather references...Isa too. ANd Axel.....

-Well...almost everyone made it back. Sora just...didn’t make it then?? What??? Poor Kairi...I had a FEELING he’d “die” in some way. It’s open ended so he COULD come back but I’m just confused where did he gooo????;;A;; bring my Sonshine back....

- NAMINE IS BACK YESSSSS she’s so pretty!! ALSO RIKU/NAMI GETTING SOME SORT OF CONTENT AAAA YES *THROWS SELF INTO THE SUN* platonic or romantic i don’t care that was a cute scene!!!!!! 

- Overall it all tied together really well, but also it’s...very obvious there will be more. Like...Xigbar as Luxu? ...Who is Luxu???? More KHX stuff??? ALSO WHAT’S IN THE BLACK BOX Y’ALL ARE KILLING ME SQUARE I’M SO LOST

- Also, does Yazora actually have a role to play then?? Why was he in the secret movie? Where is Sora? I thought he was in the world that never was but it also MIGHT be TWEWY’s Shibuya???? Whaaaat? And Riku’s...somewhere...too?? That tidbit gave me way more questions than answers what the heck Nomura?? X’D I mean I wouldn’t mind, he is very pretty?? But I thought it was just a toy story joke?? What in the hap is heckening...

- OH ALSO EPHEMERA POPPING UP AND HELPING WITH ALL THE PAST KEYBLADE WIELDERS WAS RAD I KNOW THOSE TINY BITS ABOUT KHX SO THAT WAS REALLY DANG COOL

- In the end I really really loved this game. My favorite worlds are probably Corona, Toy Box, and SanFranSokyo, man, those were so good. I’ll probably research KHX a bit, because alot of the ending made little sense to me...but for the characters really important to me, they have concluded so that’s good. Well I mean except for Sora. But I’m pretty sure he’ll come back...somehow...

A++++ game Square, exceeded my expectations in many ways, some minor complaints (pacing, Frozen world in general...) and major confusion, but overall I am happy. I loved this adventure, and I’m satisfied with the conclusion ;v;

[violethowler]

My thoughts on Kingdom Hearts III

My initial reaction to the ending of Kingdom Hearts III was equal parts confusion, devastation, and just being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of how much time was spent on the final battle. I had a lot of conflicting opinions about how some things were handled, but unlike when that happened with the final season of Voltron, I feel a lot better about everything after a good night's sleep, because I was up late at night finishing the game. I'll get into the spoilers under the cut.

So, for starters, let me put my reactions on a scale of negative to positive:

Major disappointments that should absolutely be done better in the next saga:

After Kairi was hyped up for so long that she'd have a more important part to play in the story, her role in the final battle was a letdown. I can swallow her not being as amazing a fighter as the others because she's never been in combat before and she's been effectively thrown into the deep end on her first day, but I at least expected her to resist when Xemas grabbed her, instead of passively standing there like a helpless damsel in distress. The only in-universe explanation would be if after stress and panic of the previous fights, she froze up when Xemnas made a more for her. But after seven years of being built up as a Keyblade Wielder, and her relationship with Sora, she could have done so much more. I sincerely hope that Testuya Nomura learns from this and lets her shine in the next saga.

With trailers and interviews hyping up how big the worlds were this time around, having Twilight Town and 100 Acre wood be just one small area each was seriously disappointing. I was really looking forward to seeing more of the 100 Acre Wood. They could have fleshed out the whole "Sora disappearing from the cover mystery" for at least a little bit, maybe let us run around the other characters' houses instead of just Rabbit's. And for Twilight Town, I would have liked to have been able to see how the other districts looked.

Going straight to the endgame after San Fransokyo. I know that the creators decided to focus on quality over quantity when it came to the worlds in this game, but I was hoping for just one surprise Disney world that could give fans one last breather after rescuing Aqua and Ven. If not a Disney world, then I would have at least liked to have been able to explore more of Land of Departure or visit Radiant Garden outside of cut-scenes. I love RG's look from BBS and I would have loved to walk around and see the world restored to its former glory.

Vanitas was frustratingly underused in this game. For all the hype surrounding his return, I expected more from him. Especially because the Kingdom Hearts concerts kept including his theme music with the "heroes and heroines" meddley, tantalizing us with the possibility of him getting a redemption arc. And instead, he just dies all over again, only this time, he's calmly accepting his own demise instead of freaking out like after his final fight in BBS. As someone who loves the idea of him getting redeemed, that was a big disappointment. The only thing I'm hoping for is if he somehow comes back in the next saga, because it was kind of unclear whether he's really dead, if there's a way for him to come back, or if he's just faking it like Xigbar was.

Things I wish had been handled differently but I can ultimately live with and hope are handled better in the next saga:

The lack of focus on or explanation of the X era mysteries we've been pondering for years disappointed me on first playthrough, but now that I've had time to think about it, I realized that X/Unchained X/Back Cover/Union X/Whatever-They-Change-The-Name-To-Next isn't truly a part of the Xehanort Saga, but rather, the connective tissue that sets the stage for what comes after Xehanort. It was supposed to set just enough things up that we'd know who the Foretellers were and what Xigbar being Luxu meant. But because it was released before KH3, the fandom built up our expectations that the mysteries of what happened would ultimately be answered in III, so when they alluded to Marluxia and Larxene's past as Dandelions without following up on it, I was kind of disappointed. But now I realize that it was meant to open the door to them playing larger roles in the Lost Masters Saga.

Maleficent and Pete just lurking in the background despite trailers and previous games hyping up her interest in Luxu's box and the Book of Prophecy. This is something else that was clearly being set up for the sequel, but I wish Maleficent had at least had more to do. A boss fight with Pete followed by a conversation to establish that she's waiting for the dust to settle between the Guardians of Light and Seekers of Darkness before she makes her move would have been nice.

The sudden introduction of this mystery girl. At first, I thought when they kept mentioning this girl, they were talking about Kairi, and that we'd be starting to learn more about her past in Radiant Garden. I soon realized that the implications of Kairi's life pre-Destiny Islands were a red herring, but the more they kept bringing this girl up, the more I was expecting there to be some kind of explanation for who she was in the game itself. I can understand in retrospect why Isa and Ansem SoD would suddenly bring her back now, because both knew they were going to die (Isa at least had the promise of recompletion) and wanted closure on burning questions they hadn't thought about in years. Considering that the epilogue and secret reports imply she's amnesiac Ava, I think this is another case of planting seeds for future installments in a way that I wish had been done better.

After years of Aqua being celebrated as a badass Keyblade Master, her not really getting to do anything in this game is upsetting. Sure, things make sense from an in-universe perspective: she sent her Keyblade to Destiny Islands as a beacon for Sora, Riku, and/or Mickey to find her, which weakened her already worn down defenses when Xehanort’s heartless came for DiZ. With how much warping Terranort does, I figured he’d attacked Ven at speeds so close to superhuman that Aqua didn’t have time to react. And in Land of Departure, Nomura wanted to have Ven’s awakening be a dramatic moment where he swoops in to protect someone he cares about. But having Aqua kick Vanitas’ ass only for her to get taken down by a single Firaga spell feels like a poor way to achieve the desired result.

While having some Disney worlds follow the plots to their respective movies was expected, Sora, Donald, and Goofy's presence their felt a little insubstantial. I mean, I'm not saying they should have just copied the movie shot for shot with SDG there in the background, but it felt like they missed out on large chunks of the movies. It was forgivable in Kingdom of Corona because they were there for the important parts and Marluxia basically told them what they missed re: Rapunzel. With Arendelle it felt weird that they were really only involved with Elsa running away, the Marshmallow fight, and the ending. The rest was pretty much spent with Larxene coming up with elaborate ways to keep them away from the plot of the movie. With Pirates it was just ridiculous. They were really only there for the escape from Davy Jones locker and then just ran around with fake!Jack doing their own thing until it was time for the final fight of the movie. It's hard to not know the plots of Tangled and Frozen due to pop culture at this point, but if you're playing this game with no knowledge of the pirates of the Caribbean movies, you're going to be very confused on what's happening in the maelstrom fight.

Minor quibbles:

An explanation for what happened to Demyx would have been nice, but then, that could just be another mystery to be addressed later.

The whole "rewind time and replay everything before Sora's near-death until things change at the last moment" thing didn't really make a whole lot of sense, but it wasn't too big of a deal, and Xigbar's "we don't need you to make a second blunder" implies that he had something to do with it, which can hopefully be explained properly at a later date.

Little moments that weren’t necessarily big for the story, but I enjoyed anyway for personal reasons:

At first, I was crushed by Even’s return to the Organization because I loved the fanfic Why The Sun Sets Red where he becomes a surrogate parent figure to Xion, and wanted that relationship to be a reality in canon. Then when he saved Ansem, Hayner, Pence, and Olette from Fake Ansem, my head was saying “this is probably a trap”, but my heart screamed #ShittyScienceDadConfirmed. And I was so relieved when my heart turned out to be right. I will probably end up writing a post-III fanfic of Even bonding with his Science Daughter at some point.

I generally stay away from shipping in the KH fandom, but after years of having SoKai as my first OTP, I came to start shipping SoRiKai, and as upset as I am about Sora’s fate (I can’t really complain about that too badly since Nomura already promised that Sora would still be the main character in post-KH3 installments so having this kind of ending should have been expected, if not for 3 than for a future title), I at least take comfort in the fact that there’s enough wiggle room for SoRiKai headcanons set after Sora’s inevitable return.   

Everything else that I absolutely loved:

The visuals were absolutely freaking gorgeous. On every single world, they went out of their way to make the graphics as beautiful as possible.  The 2D fire effects on Olympus, the different shaders used each world to make Sora, Donald, and Goofy fit with the aesthetic...

The Skein of Severance. While I wish we'd gotten to explore more of the Keyblade Graveyard during the final battle, or that the maze was a little more elaborate, I loved having to fight multiple members of the new Organization simultaneously, and oh dear god the aftermath of every fight: Xion's return, Terra regaining control of his body, Saix's death.... I was sobbing after every boss fight.

Despite how complicated the lore has become, the story itself was actually pretty straightforward. It was pretty refreshing and reminded me of KH1 and BBS, where the heroes have a clear overarching goal and a reason for why they're traveling to other worlds.

As much as I wish that Unchained X had been held until after KH3, there's a stroke of genius to the epilogue: Because of Xehanort's whole "balance between dark and light" obsession and Riku's whole "dark is not necessarily evil" character arc, I've seen a consistent idea within the fandom that the main villain of the next saga after Xehanort should be one of those who fit into the "Light is not good" trope. And by implicitly setting up the "Lost Masters" for that role in the epilogue, they've both ensured a masterful conflict between the Keyblade Wielders of the past and the ones of the present, and ensured that the next saga will be as heartbreaking as possible by ensure that the fandom is already attached to these characters.

Honestly, despite the issues I've had with the game above, I absolutely enjoyed Kingdom Hearts 3. It was worth the wait in my opinion, and I can't wait to see what the future holds. My only hope, given the epilogue and secret ending, that we get an announcement of Kingdom Hearts IV within a year or so. Doesn't need to release next year, but it definitely needs to be announced for development.

[ismiseben]

Thoughts as I leave Birth By Sleep..

Wow. I forgot just how amazing this chapter of Kingdom Hearts is. Some reflective thoughts re: story & current world state as I progress through the games chronologically:

Aqua

Master Aqua is probably the most skilled keyblade wielder we’ve seen thus far, I’d imagine she would out-perform both Sora & Riku. To survive for over a decade in the realm of darkness speaks volumes about her character and strength (not to mention she brushed off Terranort in Radiant Garden).

So, Aqua at the end of her chapter stated she would protect Ventus until he wakes and also claimed to know how to ‘find’ Terra - Wayfinder, and technically she did find him I guess. 

The knowledge Eraqus passed down to her allowed her to turn the sacred Land of Departure into Castle Oblivion, a maze of sorts unsolvable by any except Aqua - the perfect hiding place for Ventus. She leaves him, and we get that daunting image of Castle Oblivion before she sets off to find Terra.

Terra at this point is lost, Xehanort controls his body - however, post-fight, Terra regains control long enough to perform a heart release on himself, which plunges him into the darkness in an unconscious state. What exactly occurred here? Something definitely happened. More on this below. Anyway, Aqua sacrifices her own blade & armor to ensure Terra escapes the realm of darkness - throwing herself in instead.

In the secret episode, which I have never played until now somehow, Aqua traverses the realm of darkness and fights the heartless - indicating how long she has been in here. She continues to fight in the face of adversity, with some help from Terra & Ven’s keyblades - and we eventually see her arrive at what looks like the Castle of Dreams. - a fragmentary passage - 

Ventus

Not much to say here. When Xehanort tore his heart apart, he found solace in Sora’s newborn heart. This led to a connection which still lasts to this day, explaining perhaps why Vanitas looks like Sora. This bond is confirmed at the endgame when Ventus, now dormant, finds Sora again - this time, as a young child, and now his heart rests with Sora again, while his body remains unconscious in Castle Oblivion, awaiting Aqua’s return. 

Terra

A strong boy with good intentions. He gets manipulated by Xehanort and only realises when it is too late. Terra becomes Xehanort’s vessel, and has ultimately lost his own body. As I suspected, Eraqus resides within Terra’s heart also, allowing him to fight off Xehanort in some way - however, Xehanort still maintains control for now. Not sure what the heart removal interaction actually means in the final episode, as all it did was throw Terranort to the darkness - was Terra’s heart released in this moment? It does not seem so, as Terra continues to speak with Xehanort internally. Interesting to see what happens here, perhaps this has something to do with Terra’s armor, which seemed to possess some of Terra’s life-force/essence. Time will tell. 

Xehanort

In his reports, he tells us of how from a young age he sought answers. What is the keyblade, it’s meaning, the light, the dark. He travelled and found the answers he sought. He seeks balance, while Eraqus seeks only light. He wants to obtain Kingdom Hearts to reforge the world and bring about equilibrium. He plots with Ventus & Terra, the x-blade & the vessel. He is a manipulator, and takes advantage of Eraqus. This was his plan all along. To achieve his goals, he cannot have an old-man’s body. When Eraqus became successor, what else was there for Xehanort to do but chase his dream?

Xehanort now resides in Radiant Garden, with Ansem the Wise and Braig, Dilan, Ienzo etc. He does not seem to have any memories, but does refer to himself as Xehanort. Also, confirmed that Xehanort & Eraqus are from the Destiny Islands. I wonder will we ever learn who their master was?

Finally, Xehanort, when speaking internally with Terra, stated that he has many paths should this one not work out, he reiterates that he ‘made sure of this’ - what exactly are these other paths? He also recognizes Eraqus’ presence, which seems to be a hindrance. 

The world is in a strange state at the moment, Sora & Riku reside on Destiny Islands - Kairi was in Radiant Garden, but her spell seemed to activate (perhaps as it transitions to Hollow Bastion?) she now ends up in Destiny Islands. 

Ven awaits Aqua’s return and his heart is in Sora. Terra’s exact whereabouts is unknown, but I speculate he is still fighting internally for control. Aqua roams the realm of darkness.

A look at the Future

Aqua finds Ansem the Wise in the Realm of Darkness, many, many years after the events of Birth by Sleep. This is actually post-KH2. She cries a tear upon hearing that Sora, the young boy she met on the Destiny Islands, grew up to become a protector of the light - and a good one, at that.

Ansem makes a note that this is his second time on these shores. I better watch out for when the first is. 

Finally, we see Sora, Riku & Kairi - all slightly older - with Sora stating he must go, as they need him. He holds a bottle & a letter in his hands. Who are they? Has Sora been told about Ven, Aqua & Terra? I guess we’ll find out.

[omness-yamarik]

Yakuza 13 Epilogue: Ephemer

Summary: Approximately 7 years after Xehanort’s death, Ephemer is acting up.

Word Count: 2250

    When Ephemer showed up on Sora’s doorstep with a duffel bag, Sora knew there was trouble. And that was even before the words “Hey Sora, I’m gonna be living with you now,” came out of the boy’s mouth.

    Sora knew Ephemer was a good kid. But he also knew that his younger brother had a mind of his own and did things his way, which often put him at odds with people. He was also driven by whims, and so could easily change his mind about things, which frustrated them. He had his issues, just like everybody, and currently, those traits were causing him to fight with his family more often.

    “Did your parents say you could?” Sora asked as Ephemer walked in.

    “Nah, but I don’t need them.”

    “Ephemer, unless you’ve gotten emancipated since the last time I saw you, you need their permission to stay here. Go home.”

    “Why? I don’t want to go! I want to stay with you, Sor. And I’ll be good! I’ll help clean the house and I’ll look after the kids and I got my license finally so I can go run errands if you need! Please, Sora, please? Please let me stay?”

    Internally, Sora crumbled. How could he say no to his little brother when he was begging like that? But he knew Roxas and Xion would be worried, and that Ephemer was probably just mad over something small. With Ephemer, he might not even be mad at his parents at all, and just wanted to be around Sora. He’d always been rather attached to his older brother.

    “If your parents say so, then fine.”

    “I told you, I don’t need their permission.”

    “And I told you, yes you do. Now either call them or get out.”

    “Can’t I at least stay for dinner?”

    “Does Xion know you won’t be home for it?”

    “But Kairi’s cooking is so much better!”

    “Does Xion know, Ephemer?”

    “No.”

    “Call them.”

    “Don’t wanna.”

    Sora sighed. This was a total stalemate. There was one trump card he could use though.

    “Alright fine, but just so you know, I’m also inviting Van and Ven over for dinner tonight.”

    “What?!” Ephemer and Vanitas had long since accepted the fact that they would never get along, and happily avoided each other as much as possible. On those rare occasions they were stuck in the same place, they both pretended the other didn’t exist. But it tended to get a lot harder when they were having dinner together, especially since if it was at Sora’s house, he tended to seat them next to each other.

    “It’s my house.”

    “Ugh. Fine. I can put up with Vanitas. But this means I get to live here, right?”

    “It means you can stay for dinner.”

    “Soooo-raaaaaaa!”

    “Why don’t you go upstairs and see if the kids want to play?”

    Ephemer huffed a sigh, then got a suspiciously innocent look in his eyes that Sora suspected meant that Ephemer was going to try and get Sora’s kids to help him with his plea. As soon as he was out of the room, Sora heaved a heavy sigh of his own, and went back outside to sit on the porch. He didn’t have to wait long.

    The last time Ephemer had run away like this, he’d heard Xion coming to pick him up and had made a break for it, giving them the runaround until Roxas reminded them all why he had been the captain of the thirteenth squad of the Yakuza 13 by hunting his son down and catching him. Therefore, Sora wasn’t surprised when Roxas came on foot.

    “How far away did you park?” he asked.

    “Only a block,” Roxas replied.

    “What happened this time?”

    “He told Xion he wanted to stop taking karate and she told him that was okay.”

    “Oh, Ephemer, Ephemer, Ephemer,” Sora said, shaking his head.

    “I really don’t know what to do. If we try to support him he gets upset, but if we push back he still gets upset.”

    “Well don’t ask me. You’re the one with the psychology degree.”

    “That doesn’t mean I can magically solve any and all behavioral problems, Sora,” Roxas sighed. “If it were that simple, I would have achieved world peace by now.”

    “I suppose,” Sora acknowledged.

    “So where is he?”

    “Upstairs with the kids. He’s staying for dinner. He also decided he’s going to live here, but I have an idea about how to deal with that.”

    “Which is?” Roxas raised an eyebrow, skeptical.

    Sora grinned. And while Sora had a wide variety of smiles of his own, this grin was 100% Vanitas.

    Ephemer was in a good mood. Sure, he was stuck next to Vanitas at the table, but he was gonna get to stay at Sora’s. It wasn’t that he didn’t like his parents: he did. They were pretty awesome overall, but they weren’t as cool as Sora. And it wasn’t that he hated his little brother: he didn’t. Mickey could be a pain in the butt with the way he was always following Ephemer around, hoping for some attention, but Ephemer was touched that Mickey looked up to him so much. But Sora had always been his favorite brother. And it wasn’t as if he loved Sora any more than the rest of his family: he just didn’t think it fair that he got to spend so much time with them but so little time with Sora.

    It was also nice to spend time with his nieces and nephews. Ephemer had really enjoyed drawing with Gula and Invi earlier, and he’d had fun watching little Aced’s reactions when Kairi had played peekaboo with him. He loved Sora’s family.

    It wasn’t like Ephemer was planning to stay forever. He’d go home when the school year started again, because having a license so that he could drive to school was useless when he didn’t have a car, and so he still needed to catch a ride from his mom.

    But throughout dinner, Ephemer kept noticing a few things that made him worry. Like how Sora kept rubbing his eyes. Maybe he was really tired from overwork? And cousin Ventus looked older somehow. Probably all that time he’d spent in veterinary school. And Vanitas was chiding Gula and Invi about their eating habits almost as much as Sora and Kairi. When had he gotten so responsible? Not to mention Vanitas’s latest choice for hair dye was back to his natural brown, which Ephemer couldn’t remember ever seeing before. It made him look unnervingly similar to Sora. But then, after dinner, now that was when things got REALLY weird.

Normally Vanitas had to be reminded not to get too smoochy with Ven, but tonight, there was just some mild cuddling. So mild it almost made Ephemer wonder if they’d broken up again, even though that was supposed to have been over years ago. Ephemer was about to ask about it when the doorbell rang, and Kairi let his dad in.

    Ephemer lowered his head, uncomfortable. Roxas was probably angry at him. He knew he was being troublesome. But he also knew that Uncle Terra had been pretty bad once, and Vanitas had been troublesome his whole life and Roxas had put up with that, so Ephemer didn’t think he was that bad or anything. He clenched his fist slightly, ready for an argument.

    “Alright Van, time to go,” Roxas said, and Ephemer blinked, confused. Why was his dad here for Vanitas? Unless…

    “Just a minute, babe,” Sora said. Why was Sora responding to a comment addressed to Vanitas?

    “Oh thank god,” Vanitas said with a sigh. “My eyes were starting to get really sore.”

    “Heh, nice pun. Sore Sor, eh?” Sora said. Only that was something Vanitas would say. Had they all switched on him? But that was impossible. “Though frankly, I outdid you, like always, since my eyes were watering all through dinner.”

    “Yeah? Well my eyes-”

    “Knock it off, you two,” the person Ephemer had been assuming was Ventus said.

    “Besides, you can’t complain when it was all your idea,” the person who might not be Sora added, getting in the last word.

    “Says the one who complained about high heels after coming up with the plan to crossdress that one time,” the other twin replied. “Speaking of which, after your failure to pass as a girl, I’m surprised you managed to make such a convincing me.”

    “You failed just as badly. Also, I am a very good actor. I even made a living as one for a while there, remember? Got scouted for movies but turned them down because I don’t need any nosy paparazzi hanging around. Not to mention the burden it would have put on all you guys.”

    “Bull. No way you got scouted.”

    “Did too.”

    “I thought I told you two to knock it off!” the person on the couch who might not be Ventus said.

    “Plus I really would like to hurry up and get home, Van. Nyan still hasn’t been fed,” the person at the door- Roxas? Ventus? Ephemer really didn’t know- said.

    “Alright, give me a minute, babe. I wanna go say goodnight to the kids,” Sora said, and stood up.

    Ephemer was very confused. His mind could not process what seemed to be going on.

    “By the way,” the person who might not be Ventus said, unwrapping his arm from around whichever of Ephemer’s brothers he’d been sitting with to lean forward and fold his hands. “I’m impressed. There were even a few moments when I forgot you two had switched, and I raised you.”

    That was it. Ephemer had had enough.

    “What is going on here?!” Ephemer exploded. “Are you-” he pointed to his dad and Ventus. “Which of you is my dad?”

    “I don’t know, Ephemer, which one do you think is Roxas?” Vanitas asked. Or was it Sora? He looked like Vanitas, and his expression was Vanitas’s, but he’d been talking like Sora earlier, and Ephemer’s head hurt.

    “Sora, give him a break,” the one in the doorway who he’d thought was his dad but now he thought was maybe Ventus said.

    “Alright, alright. As I said, I did want to remove these things anyway,” Vanitas said, then reached up to his eyes. After a long moment, he lowered his hands and lifted his face to show eyes that were slightly reddened but distinctly blue. “By the way, dad, I know we used to cuddle a lot when I was little but man it is weird cuddling with you as an adult.”

    “Wha- what- why?” Ephemer asked.

    “Because it’s fun to mess with you,” the person Ephemer had assumed was Sora said as he removed contacts of his own to reveal yellow eyes.

    “So this was all your idea then,” Ephemer snarled at Vanitas.

    “Nope,” Vanitas sang, smirking. “As much as I’d love to claim this bit of devious geniusness, this one was all my dear little bro’s.”

    “I’m pretty sure I’m the older twin,” Sora interrupted.

    “Well, whatever you were trying to do, it didn’t work, so-” Ephemer began.

    “Are you sure it didn’t work?” Roxas- Ephemer was now certain it must be his dad on the couch and Ventus at the door- asked. “You don’t even know what we were trying to do.”

    “It doesn’t matter what you were trying to do, because it didn’t work! I’m staying with Sora!” Ephemer yelled.

    “Yes, but if you stay, when you wake up tomorrow, how will you be sure the person sitting at the table is Sora and not Vanitas?” Roxas asked calmly.

    “And the next time your dad comes to collect you, how will you be certain it’s not me coming to pick up Van?” Ventus added.

    “I- I-” Ephemer stammered. How would he know? Before today, he would have been certain he’d be able to tell, but they’d had him completely fooled. Sure, he could always watch for romantic interactions, but he wouldn’t put it past them to up the ante on him. At the very least, he could definitely see Vanitas kissing Kairi to act the part. And Kairi deserved better than that. Plus it might make Sora feel insecure, and-

    “Alright, fine. You win,” Ephemer grumbled. He sighed and got up.

    “I’ll go get my stuff,” he said, unconsciously addressing the person at the door.

    “Are you really sure you want to come home with me and Van?” Ventus asked, raising his eyebrows.

    “Do it,” Roxas said with a grin.

    “Ugh, please no,” Vanitas complained.

    Ephemer didn’t stick around for any more of that. Blushing scarlet, he rushed up to grab his duffel and say goodbye to his nephews and niece. He almost collided with Vanitas who was going to do the same as he careered down the stairs, but luckily he was able to dodge before he caught any cooties.

    Roxas and Ventus were both at the door, keys in hand, when he returned.

    “Okay, not funny,” Ephemer said.

    “It is to us,” one of them said.

    “I actually wasn’t trying to be mean. Sorry, Ephemer,” the other said. “Let’s go home.”

    Ephemer sighed. They had him completely. He didn’t want to inconvenience everyone like this. He just wanted time with his brother.

    “Fine. But you’re gonna be the one to tell mom I’ll keep on practicing karate.”

    “You can tell her yourself, or else Sora’s not gonna have you start babysitting for him.”

    Babysitting for Sora? Things were looking up. He did have to go home, but maybe there was a small victory to be had for Ephemer after all.