#i never played / watched it but i had a roxas/axel phase even so

[beanie-on-a-string]

to those people and places I can never go to

So I wanted to get back into the swing of writing and all, and ended up writing this thing about Kairi and Lea immediately after the events of Kingdom Hearts 3. I absolutely loved their friendship and wished they had shown more of it in the game. So, here’s this thing no one asked for...

The past few days on Destiny Islands had been perfect. Sounds of laughter and chatter resounded from the beach. After everyone gathered for the celebration, they figured it wouldn’t hurt to stay on the islands for a little bit. It was just the right amount of hot so that it wouldn’t be stifling, and the ocean was just the right temperature to wade in at any time of the day.

Kairi let the waves lap at her feet as she watched Lea – sorry, Axel - all but drag Isa into the water, the latter halfheartedly protesting as the former flicked water droplets at Isa and teased him, telling him not to ‘die in my arms a second time’. Roxas and Xion were not too far off, giggling as they floated on their backs, each one trying to outlast the other. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around, already knowing who it was.

“Riku,” she said, smiling softly at one of her oldest friends.

He smiled a similar smile in return, hiking up his pants a little as he stepped beside her, letting the ocean run over his feet like she was. The sunset framed his head like a halo, coloring his silver hair shades of pink and orange.

“Beautiful day, huh?” she said, moving a little closer to Riku and nudging his arm. Barely swaying at the contact, he hummed in agreement. There was a sentence left hanging in the air between them that was left unsaid.

it would be better if Sora were here

Kairi leaned a little against the taller boy, who wrapped his arm around her shoulder.  They stayed that way for a while, watching Mickey and Minnie exchanging soft smiles as they talked on the dock, watching Namine drawing them from inconspicuous glances over her sketchbook, watching Axel complaining about his now drenched hair as Isa held back laughter, watching Xion wade over to Roxas to show him a pretty seashell she had found.

A loud quack of irritation startled them both. They turned around to see Donald being held back by Goofy as he squawked about how Ventus ruined his sand statue yet again. The accused stood by the crime scene, flying disc in hand, cheeks pink as Aqua and Terra stifled giggles behind him.

“Oh,” Riku said after a moment, posture a little straighter as if he remembered something. “Ventus and I were playing around with Axel’s discs earlier. Want to join? It’s fun.”

“That’s sweet, Riku, but perhaps tomorrow.” She gave a small apologetic smile.

“Alright, then,” he said, then added, “Everything okay?”

She nodded. “Yeah.”

A little more silence, filled with more questions and answers left unsaid. “Well, I’m going to go back to them, alright?” He raised his eyebrows in an ‘is this okay?’ motion. Kairi nodded, lips quirking up in another smile. He squeezed her shoulder lightly, and then he was gone.

Most everyone had headed back by now, having either gone back to their respective houses or whoever’s house they were staying at for the time being. Kairi stayed behind, the wet sand between her toes feeling more like hardening cement. She didn’t move from her spot by the waves for a while, letting the ocean pull the sand from under her feet over and over. She stepped away when the sun was barely peeking out over the ocean, the sky slowly deepening from its dark orange to something of a dark lavender. She didn’t know where her feet took her from there, exactly, but she wound up at the large, crooked paopu tree she spent so much of her time looking out at their small world on. She stared at it for a moment, then reached out and pushed herself onto the tree, swinging her legs over the thick trunk and sitting down. She watched the sunset for a while, right hand sitting expectantly on the rough surface, like it wanted a hand to hold. His hand to hold.

His name hadn’t left her mind since the Keyblade Graveyard. It was always on her tongue; to the point where she would catch herself almost saying his name instead of what she really intended to say. Often times after that, she’d forget what it was, anyway, and would dismiss herself with a little ‘nothing’ or ‘I forgot’.

She gave a sad, halfhearted smile to the empty space next to her. She thought she had seen him here, with her, a few days ago. She felt the weight of his hand on hers. Maybe he was there. She’d like to believe he was. She’d like to believe he’d appear again. Maybe it was all some sick dream, and he’d show up behind her like nothing ever happened. She squeezed her eyes shut in a desperate attempt to wake up, if she could.

She opened them. Same lavender sky, same waves, same salty air, same lack of a certain someone. Her chest hurt where Xehanort had run her through only a few days earlier. She bowed her head and shut her eyes again, a futile effort to hold back the tears falling down her face and making dark spots on her dress.

“Sora,” she choked out between her sobs. She hid her face in her hands, although there was no one to see her cry.

It could have been a minute, or it could have been an hour, but however long it was, she jumped and a quiet shocked noise escaped her mouth when she heard a twig snap from behind her. She hastily wiped her tears (trying to make it seem like she was rubbing her nose) and turned around.

“Axel.” She looked up at the fiery-haired figure standing behind her. “You’re still here.”

“Oh no, I’d left a while ago,” he said, his ever-present nonchalant air apparent in his speech. “I just came back out since I never saw you head in. I think Riku may have noticed too, but I don’t know if he said anything.” He took a few steps towards the tree, but stopped as a weak ray of sunset shone on her face.

“Oh… kid, were you crying?” He rested both hands on the trunk and leaned forward, concern written plainly on his face.

“It’s nothing. Just… something in my eyes.” Kairi knew he wouldn’t believe that for a second.

“I wonder where I’ve heard that before,” Axel replied simply, but no menace in his voice. Kairi mentally cringed. I knew he wouldn’t buy it. She furrowed her brows and looked down.

“Can I…” Axel gestured to the empty space beside her.

no not there

“Sure,” she replied, scooting over a bit so he could sit down. Her heart gave a barely felt twinge as he shifted on the bark.

Neither of them said anything as the sun sunk below the horizon. Eventually, she felt a light tap on her shoulder, and was met with a blue ice cream bar and the strong smell of sea salt and vanilla filling her nose.

“That’d better not have been in your pocket this time,” she said, a small smile tugging at her lips as she took the ice cream. Her eyes were still damp, yes, but she was already feeling better with Axel around.

“Picky,” he teased as he produced an ice cream for himself. “Everyone forgets that I wrap them after I make ‘em. And besides, I was holding them in my hand. Not my pocket.”

Kairi bit off the corner of her bar. Axel followed suit, and opened his mouth to speak.

“Ah.” Kairi lifted a finger, eyebrows raised. Axel squinted in a mock glare, then swallowed the ice cream, rolling his eyes at her a little. She giggled, thinking back to how she’d always have to remind Sora not to speak with his mouth full.

Sor-

“You know, for a while, I used to not like these,” Axel said, gesturing to the ice cream with his free hand. “When I was a Nobody, anyway. I would eat them all the time – you know, with Isa – when I was younger. But when I was a Nobody, I don’t think I ate any more of this until Roxas came along. I don’t know why, but he wanted ice cream. So I went out to get some, and, remembering how much I used to eat it, I chose the sea-salt. When I tasted it for the first time – well, not really the first time, but you get my idea – it tasted awful. I didn’t know why I used to be so fond of it.” He cringed, as if he were reliving the memory. “I got used to it, though, eventually. I think I ended up getting the recipe myself, somehow.”

Kairi hummed in response, looking at Axel, red hair looking aflame under the fading rays of the sun.

“I didn’t tell you before, but… I like your outfit,” Kairi said, lightly touching the sleeve of Axel’s shirt.

He looked down at it as if he hadn’t realized he was even wearing it, then chuckled in a decidedly Axel-esque way, nudging her lightly. “Thanks, kid. You don’t look so bad yourself, you know.”

“Yeah, I know,” Kairi replied, nudging him back. The sky was in that odd transition phase between purple and blue, and right now, it was the color of Sora’s eyes. Kairi smiled at the sky, but it was pained and just brought yet another round of tears to her eyes. She ducked her head quickly, hoping Axel didn’t see. Obviously, he did.

“I know you miss him,” Axel said quietly, tentatively placing a hand on her back. Kairi nodded, too choked up to say anything back. “I’m not happy about it either,” he continued. “Didn’t expect it to happen, you know? Kid had a knack for surviving.”

Kairi nodded again, although she didn’t quite know what she was nodding at. She spoke, voice so quiet she could have been talking to herself. “Sora and I shared a paopu fruit here.” Axel raised his eyebrows in question. “Legends say that when two people share one, their destinies become intertwined. They’ll remain a part of each others’ lives, no matter what.” She swiped at her eyes. “When you miss someone, they’re everywhere. They’re in everything you see. It’s unbearable.”

“Yeah,” Axel said. Kairi looked up at him a little, wiping a tear from her chin. He looked vulnerable, just like he did that day when they were training in their little corner of time. “It was the same with Roxas and Xion. It felt like a part of me was missing. A large part. We had spent so much time together, and then… they weren’t. They just weren’t there anymore. While we were training, there were times when I looked at you… and Xion was all I could see.” Kairi could see Axel’s cheeks glistening, although it didn’t seem like he had realized it himself. “It hurt. It hurt so bad.”

“Axel,” Kairi said softly, placing a hand on his arm. He jolted, like he had forgotten she was there. His grip on his half-eaten ice cream stick - which had gotten so tight the wood seemed like it was going to choke – loosened, and he touched his cheek, staring at the tears that came away with his hand.

“Guess we both need those markings under our eyes, huh?” He joked, the delivery halfhearted. Kairi laughed, the sound coming out wet and a little pained. He inched a bit closer to her, his hand moving from the middle of her back to wrapping around her in a one-armed hug.

“You must be cold,” he said simply after a quiet sniff.

“I’m not anymore,” she said, curling up on the branch and leaning into his arm. They stayed that way as the sky turned from its odd blue to indigo, from indigo to navy, from navy to a star-littered sea of black.

By now, Kairi felt herself drifting off. She didn’t know if Axel had already done that – he was lying back on where the tree bent, his shape curving with the trunk. Kairi was still curled up by him, head resting on his legs. The moonlight was illuminating his face and hair in strange ways, making him look almost alien, but not unpleasant.

Her eyes fluttered. She was going to fall asleep soon enough. “Axel?” She murmured, voice impossibly quiet. No reply. “Axel?” She tried again. “Lea?”

After a moment, a barely audible reply of “Kairi?” came drifting back.

Kairi smiled sadly at the sound, then curled into herself further, finally closing her eyes. “Thank you.”

xxx

[cutegirlmayra]

Kingdom Hearts 3: Sokai Prompt

It’s birthday week! :D I’m celebrating it by giving presents to all of you! Here’s some more prompts, coming to you as fast as I can write them out this week!

Prompts and commissions are open! But if you have submitted 3 prompt requests, please leave room for others to join in the fun too! <3

Prompt:

“So... this is where the keyblade wielders of the past called home.” Riku stepped into Scala Ad Caelum as the rest of the gang tagged along, all admiring it.

“Em, I’ve heard a lot about this place.” Aqua nodded, looking around, “It’s amazing. More than I could have imagined.”

Terra stepped into what looked like a decoratively designed city square, but noticed the circle format seemed more like a dueling field...

He summoned his keyblade, “I think I know what these symbols mean. Aqua, do you mind?” he smiled kindly to her as she was momentarily surprised by his request.

She looked at the symbols, walking towards him before stopping in realization at his request. “This is...” She nervously held her hand up to her chest.

“Heh, don’t worry. We don’t have to finish it. I just wanted to see how it’s really done.” Terra explained, comforting her second of hesitation.

“Wait, what is it?” Ventus came bounding up to them, but Aqua kindly gestured to the rings around the much larger tiles. “O-oh...” he stepped back, letting them occupy a circle. “But hey! Don’t leave us hanging.” He teased, putting his hands behind his head a moment as the others walked to watch around them.

Kairi was too distracted by the sights, but Sora stopped following the others to look back to her, “Huh?” He walked over to her, “Everything alright, Kairi?”

“Oh, yes.” she turned and nodded sweetly to him, then went back to marveling at the area. “It’s just... something seems... like I’ve been lost here before.”

He tilted his head, “Before?” The memory of finding all the pieces of her heart here in such a hurried time, panicking over if he was too late or not came back to his mind then.

He looked down, wondering if that feeling of ‘being lost’ was maybe related to that...

“Your heart... did wander here before.” He softly, almost unsure if he should say it, spoke out as Kairi turned her ear to him.

“Is that... what it is?” She smiled cheerfully to calm him and bent down so his lowered head could still see her eyes. “Don’t look so down, Sora. You did retrieve my lost heart again... for that, I’m really grateful.”

He leaned up and she joined him by walking towards the others who were forming a circle around Aqua and Terra. Placing her hands leisurely behind her and together, she lingered in her stride, waiting on Sora. “You’ve done that a lot lately for me... someday, I hope... to return the favor.” she nodded ahead of her, but then moved faster towards the others, as though not wanting to dive too deep on the topic just yet.

Sora watched her and smiled, thinking about all the times he has saved her before and flicked his nose, “Heh.” He felt confident then, but didn’t really know why...

Maybe it was because she acknowledged that he’s always been there for her... but he didn’t really give it too much thought. Right now wouldn’t be a good time to reflect on things anyway.

“What’s going on?” Donald quacked out, “I don’t see anything special about them.” He tapped his impatient duck foot that slapped against the ground a little too loudly to be polite.

Terra and Aqua nodded, deciding to not keep their ‘audience’ waiting too long.

“It’s an old tradition... or, um, well...” He gestured his hand out to explain, but seemed to trip up on his words as he looked to Aqua for assistance.

“The culture of the keyblade wielder has been lost for so long, it’s hard to explain but..” She gave him the nudge he needed, and turned to the others. “It’s a dance... and a battle... so to speak. But it’s all meaningful and creates a strong tie between two hearts... if completed properly, anyway.”

Terra continued, “In other words, Keyblade wielders would use this to form strong bonds between one another... but it was mostly done for rituals like-”

“It’s a wedding!” Ventus was on his hands and knees, looking at some symbols and seeing two keys shooting a white beam towards one heart. “If I’m reading this right, it connects two hearts into feeling like one, ultra powerful one!” he looked up at Aqua and Terra. “Terra! You rascal! What are you planning to do with Aqua!?”

Aqua shook her head, “It’s a powerful bond, but it’s different than--necessarily--a marriage.” she explained. “Although... many did perform the connecting of hearts through this ritual during their ceremonies... it can also be done with friends.”

“But... not likely.” Terra looked away and down to the ground, as though not really wanting to correct her. “Either way, I’ve only ever read about it in books. Wouldn’t it be exciting to see it actually done?”

“But not completed.” Aqua summoned her keyblade, “Right?” She cutely tilted her head to tease him, and he just gave her a slight scold with his eyes. “What? I thought it was funny.” She tried to joke, and Ventus laughed.

“Wait, wait, wait. Hold on a second, I haven’t memorized this yet.” Axel placed his finger to his forehead, pausing the explanation. “You’re both saying you’re--willingly, without restraint--going to try an ancient keyblade ritual you’ve never actually seen before... and are... hoping it doesn’t link your hearts infinitely together in some... ultra heart thing?” he shrugged, but Xion and Roxas just looked up to him, then to each other.

“Sounds fun.” Xion nodded.

“Yeah, let’s give it a go.” Roxas agreed, and the two walked into one of the other circles. “Axel, do you mind?” He gestured to him still being in the tiled circle.

“Wha... you... both of you!?” He crossed his arms, amazed they were going to try and follow along too. “Am I the only one seeing this possibly ending badly here!?”

He wildly gestured around to the others, and Sora looked to Kairi.

She didn’t say anything, but lightly looked to him as well...

“Count us in too, Terra.” Sora nodded to him, and offered Kairi his hand.

“Gworsh.” Goofy covered his mouth as he stepped back for the two, letting them pass him.

She giggled and took it without a second thought, as Riku folded his arms and shook his head. “Great, now you’ve got everyone pairing up.”

Terra and Aqua looked a little worried, hesitating as the two pairs summoned their keyblades. “A-Axel’s right. It is risky... And for novices it’s-” she held out her hand, hoping to dissuade them.

“We just won’t do the last step,” Roxas gave a confident look towards Aqua. “But that doesn’t mean we don’t want to see how it works, too.”

Goofy laughed, “This should be interesting, yehak!”

Donald’s impatience left him as he heard everything taking place, and pulled Goofy back to give them all more space. “Whha!! I gotta see this!”

“But we’re not even sure what the ‘one heart’ process really does. I think me and Aqua are more suited to discovering--through safer means--what they used to mean to keyblade wielders.” Terra didn’t really want to argue or convince anyone, but he did want to explain both him and Aqua’s reasonings.

“We’ll be fine!” Sora chimed up, then looked to Kairi, letting her take her place and situating himself where he saw Terra. “If we can’t keep up, we won’t activate the power, right?” He tilted his head, and Terra and Aqua both looked to each other in agreement, seeing some safety in that.

“That is true...” Aqua repeated in hopes that if they didn’t do it accurately, the process wouldn’t commence.

“You guys...” Terra shook his head, “Alright. Phase one.” He held his keyblade towards Aqua, and immediately, an air of seriousness took over the atmosphere.

Goofy and Donald looked to each other, Donald more pumped than Goofy’s worried expression before he seemed to concede that this was happening with the dangers and or not. “Be careful, Sora... Kairi, Xion... Roxas... and you guys too.” He slightly laughed again, but there was a bit of concern in his voice.

“Ahhh, they’ll be fine!” Donald waved a hand out, as though dismissing Goofy’s troubles.

Roxas and Sora, as though not really realizing it had already begun, scrambled to mimic Terra’s posture and placement as quickly as they could. They adopted the serious look and Xion had to hold in her laughter at it.

Aqua, surprisingly, took on a much more playful demeanor and swished her body to where her keyblade rested by her side, her wrist gently against her hip to let the keyblade linger out slightly towards Terra’s.

Kairi and Xion took an extra second to adjust themselves, but it was clear they weren’t as well coordinated as Aqua was masterfully demonstrating.

“We won’t make it easy for you... so if you don’t watch carefully, we’ll let you fall behind.” Although Aqua said that... it motivated the two girls, and they immediately rose their heads up, just as determined to match Terra’s expression as the boys were.

As though the world sensed the magic resonated in the three pairs hearts, sensing what they were going to do--the world began to hone it’s magic into one, central part of the square...

Lifting her leg, Aqua made the first move and followed the symbols, as though a rhythm of music was playing in her heart.

The second she moved, so did Xion and Kairi, and Terra remained still as stone.

“The first phase is to judge ones loyalty to your heart, it’s supposed to be aggressive, so don’t hold back.” Aqua, after a few gentle movements of turning her keyblade and up, seeming graceful in her light but long steps, suddenly swished it down with great power.

Again, the world resonated with power at the action.

“Prepare yourselves.” Terra smiled, and began to defend himself against her twirling hits and powerful slashes at him.

“A-ah!” Roxas wasn’t prepared for the harshness of the battle right off the bat, but braced himself as Xion came charging at him, then twirled to match Aqua.

Aqua slid her keyblade down Terra’s own and then jumped.

Following the pattern, he fell to a knee and helped her flip over him by giving her keyblade some support.

“Phase two,” He lowered both knees, “Technique and passion.”

Sora had seen Kairi in battle before, even joined her in it, but he was also awestruck at her following Aqua so naturally as he quickly tried to copy Terra and dropped to a knee, letting her cartwheel over him and then looking to see Terra on both knees. “What!?” He seemed shocked by that but even more so that Terra had one hand behind his back...

“Ahh..!” Sora quickly looked back to Kairi and watched the sparks as her Keyblade slammed into his own, she gave out a strong cry as she hit it.

Dodging more powerful hits, Roxas and Sora sweated slightly as they had to use one arm to block and their knees to continually adjust their upper-bodies to perfectly deflect the on-slaughter of hits.

Roxas squinted an eye closed when Xion jumped like Aqua into the air, and slammed down fiercely onto his own. “And this is to show loyalty?” Roxas gritted his teeth, impressed by how hardcore the keyblade wielders of the past were.

Axel whistled and folded his arms, “Or maybe... the girls were just that intense.” he nodded as if approving, but Riku just looked at him a moment, almost in a funny way.

“Or maybe, they all were. This is only the beginning, right?”

Ventus walked over to stand next to Riku, and hearing that, looked shocked and innocently startled at the possibility that this dueling dance could get more impressively complicated and difficult.

“Woah! I hadn’t thought of that!” He cupped his hands over his mouth to call out to his friends, “Don’t let up! Give it your all you guys!”

Feeling the burn, the boys were happy to see Terra--after bending his body back to dodge a sweeping strike, jump to his feet and begin to clang his keyblade over and over with hers in a swishing manner, but much lighter than an actual fighting force.

Roxas and Sora jumped to match, but Sora wobbled a bit.

Roxas flailed his arms but took a step back, making a mistake and falling on his rear. “Offph! Geez, Xion... you’ve really gotten stronger. Did you even hold back?” he rubbed his head as she came over to him, seeing he was alright and just stumbled, she placed a hand over her mouth.

“Hehe, I couldn’t resist the idea of making an effort.” She held out her hand and helped him up.

The power around their circle ceased... but the two continued to perform the ritual anyway, getting back into place and trying to catch up.

Sora... tilting as though he would fall... scooted his feet back to his center of gravity without moving off the symbol, and got up properly to his feet.

Kairi’s eyes blinked rapidly, impressed that he hadn’t fallen down, and nodded with an encouraging smile to not give up.

Sora looked to see Terra with both hands now on the keyblade, and quickly did the swishing motion to maneuver himself to the next phase, and Kairi followed suit.

“Technique, huh?” Sora raised a tempting eyebrow, as though getting into this, and Kairi giggled.

“Don’t hold back, I can take a hit.” She narrowed her eyes, not backing down.

Sora nodded, “Then I won’t look away!”

Terra’s moves sent sparks of magic over the tiles on the ground, the symbols each represented a type of magic that he summoned and shot towards Aqua. She was able to dodge but noticed that some of the symbols meant for her to simply block and not dodge. “Kairi!” she called, looking over to her after worrying that some of the magic might be too advanced for her to block.

But Kairi took them, and Sora didn’t miss a beat.

“Oh...” Aqua froze a moment, stunned by her determination and Sora’s trust in her abilities. ‘But she’s only just begun training...’ she thought to herself, before looking up at Terra swinging his keyblade down on her.

“Ahhh!!!”

“Hmph!” she sprayed up some magic that he blocked, knocking him back.

“Phase 3...” Aqua took a deep breath, “Passion and stability...” she took her keyblade and, following Terra’s pace, linked the tips of their key’s protruding edges and fell back.

The power it took to maintain a steady swing of their bodies without either one misjudging the balance and having their partner fall to the ground was for more masterful arts than what Aqua or Terra thought the other two pairs could mimic.

But surprisingly... Xion and Roxas performed it perfectly, while Sora and Kairi took the pace a little slower and communicated more.

“And...” Sora began, making sure their keyblades were perfectly locked.

“Go..!” Kairi dipped back as did Sora, swinging themselves in the bend before immediately transitioning to the next step.

Standing as close as their keyblades to their bodies could allow, they came in and out, and then Sora took a strong stance and only swung Kairi on the linked keyblades.

“Wait... are they even watching Aqua and Terra anymore?” Ventus looked to see Xion and Roxas still a few seconds behind, but Sora and Kairi were perfectly synced with them now. “But they were falling behind before.”

Riku also watched,... before flinching back, “Hold on, I think they’ve figured out the symbols.”

Axel also looked amazed by that, “Wahhh? Come again!?” he leaned his full height out and forward, gesturing to Riku to explain before looking to see Sora scan the ground while firing out a magic attack, running to roll as Kairi countered with another magical attack.

They both healed--although no one was hurt--and then turned to attack the other.

Terra also turned his eyes to them, but being careful to match pace with Aqua as they started--what appeared to be--a more realer version of a keyblade duel. ‘They’ve been watching the symbols as well as us..? No...’

He spun to dodge a hit from behind before positioning himself to walk within the circle at the same timing as Aqua, their keyblades now pointing towards the other again. ‘They’re learning the patterns... the repeating signs... they’re...’

Sora and Kairi paused and stood directly across from the other, their keyblades still in one, fluid motion dancing as they twirled, tossed, and continued the actions more like a dance performance now.

Once stopped again, Aqua and Terra panted, but looked over to see Xion and Roxas lowering their keyblades, all eyes... were watching Sora and Kairi.

“They’re like... moving as one.” Ventus arched his eyes, watching as Aqua and Terra also lowered their keyblades.

‘They were learning with their hearts...’ Aqua studied them a moment before sighing, “That’s it, before the last step.” Aqua stopped, nodding to Terra that they should end here. “They certainly had an odd way of showing affection.”

Terra was still watching Sora and Kairi as they were also locked onto one another’s eyes, breathing to a steady pace and closed their mouths after catching their breaths.

“...Terra?” Aqua spoke out again.

“Huh?” Terra turned back to her, “Oh... right.” He looked shaken up, and seemed to adjust himself on his feet to remember himself. “The last phase would be to barely move the keyblades, but just enough to unlock the other’s heart. However, the process was described as having to be done at the exact same timing... much like how the ritual is done all at similar, but exact pacing...” He gestured to the circle and the symbols. “The phases bring you closer and closer to the center, however...”

Aqua continued, walking up to him, “The last phase is to separate you both again... before making your heart one.” She looked to the others, turning to them to make sure she had their attention...

The circle beneath them dimmed in power, before all but fading away. The last circle remaining still carried glowing light, barely traceable to the eye, but forming direct magic beneath Sora and Kairi’s ring.

She was still surprised Sora and Kairi were keeping their eyes fixated on one another, their keyblades never lowering.

“Umm...” she looked to them a moment, but continued, “When the hearts are shot at the same time, then they unlock together. When the two keyblade wielders placed a piece of them inside the other’s heart, something meaningful for the both of them that they share, then the two hearts become connected as though one.”

“Rumor has it that this meant they could feel the other, whether troubled or being threatened, and if one heart disappeared... the other would feel their partner departing.” He looked to Aqua, “But such a ritual has been forbidden now. Due to it’s emotionally scarring nature... to feel someone you care so deeply about dying... or even lose their heart...”

“It’s like feeling the darkness engulf you forever.” Aqua clutched her own heart, before looking to the others. “And that’s it. That’s all me and Terra wanted to experience. Just... how they did it.”

Sora watched Kairi’s eyes carefully...

A silent communication.

Kairi never wavered in her intense stare... until she broke it with a smile.

Sora’s eyes lit up at it, and he closed his eyes to give her a returning, large grin.

Then... they watched.

“Umm... Sora?” Riku stepped forward, then looked to Kairi, unfolding his arms. “Kairi..?”

Axel watched their faces, then looked to their keyblades, “Oh no...” His hands on his hips fell... as the two keyblades slightly moved to the sides, and a beam of light pierced their hearts.

“Whha!!!” Donald scrambled his arms around as they fired out.

“Wait, hold on! Sora! Kairi!” Goofy held out his hand, almost moving into the circle but their hearts flew out before more could be done.

The two hearts, due to the power of the world suddenly blasting out from the circled tile, pulled the hearts together and for a split second... they were one in a flimsy line of lights from the circle.

Entering each other’s hearts, Kairi looked around Sora’s heart. “This does feel familiar.” she joked to herself, before forming out of light a paopu fruit, half bitten into. “My most treasured memory... and a promise I wouldn’t dare forget... that I made to you.” She closed her eyes, remembering the memory in a flash before letting the figurative image that was a piece of her heart fly into his stain-glass portrait...

The world burst to light again.

Sora walked into Kairi’s heart, admiring the stain-glass as he lightly bent down to touch it. “...Feels like its made of the same petals to your heart, Kairi.” He smiled at the thought, before leaning up and forming with light her Good Luck Charm: her Wayfinder.

“I have so many memories with you, Kairi... but this one holds the start of them all.” He gripped it tightly, placing a piece of his heart in it. “I know... that I won’t ever be apart from you anymore... I can feel what you feel too. You’ll never be lost from me again...” He found it hard to let go of... but soon... let it drift into her stain-glass portrait as well.

“-ra! ...Sora..! Sora, wake up!”, “Don’t do this to me!”, “Whah-hahah! You can’t leave us like this!”

Sora blinked his blurry eyes slowly open, “Ughh... Goofy? Riku..? Donald!” he pushed Donald up from him, seeing him about to go for CPR. He made sure his face was okay before kicking and flailing his arms out. “I’m fine, I’m fine! My heart’s still here, see?” He gestured to himself, showing he was fine.

He then looked around, and gently moved Goofy out of the way to see Kairi still passed out.

“Kairi!” He took off from the ground... but stumbled in his sudden weariness... “Ughh...”

Goofy, Donald, and Riku both held him up.

“It’s alright, whatever that light was, it brought your hearts together and then parted them again.” Riku explained, then looked over to Kairi, “Both of your hearts were brought back to their bodies... neither of you disappeared.”

“Your hearts were like- WAHHHA, then the light was like SWAHOOOHOOO, even before you hit the ground it was putting them back like WHAH-WHAH!” Donald animatedly demonstrated the process of what they saw. Although it had been seconds to them, Sora felt like it had been a bit longer than just that...

“Before we hit the ground..?” Sora tried to get back up, and finally found the strength to do so.

Then it happened.

He felt his heart, but then something separate from his heart.

Something that was woozily waking up.

“Ah! Kairi.” he looked down.

“It’s alright, Sora. I’m sure she’ll wake up soon.” Riku took one of his arms and placed it over his shoulder.

“No... I mean... she’s waking up.” without even looking at her, Sora knew she was stirring, and Riku looked up to see Kairi lean up, clutching her head and then her heart.

She looked to Sora before everyone began asking her questions.

Donald hugged Sora’s legs, crying, “You’re no longer a solo half-pint like the rest of us!”

“Golly... Ya-hak! You two are kinda like old-time married then, right?” Goofy seemed to be taking it well...

“Ma... Married?” Sora’s face suddenly turned red. “Ah! I forgot about that!”

“Wha?!” The three looked amazed at him.

“That’s the part you forgot?” Riku looked more shocked than the other two.

As Kairi got up, Aqua immediately began to drill her. “What do you feel? Are you hurt? How’s your heart? Is your body feeling connected to it still?”

“I-I’m fine.” Kairi lightly nodded and smiled to her questions. “I just... I feel Sora’s embarrassed by something.” she tried to look over their shoulders, but couldn’t see Sora over the mass of people.

For the rest of the day, Terra and Aqua informed Sora and Kairi of their reckless behavior and what it had done. Now, they would feel the presence and emotional standing of the other, and what kinda toll that could bring to them...

However, Sora and Kairi kept wanting to not be parted. The urge to hold hands--just to feel close again--was a lot to handle while everyone kept asking them questions.

The ritual hadn’t been done in centuries but...

Sora and Kairi looked to each other, and smiled sweetly.

That didn’t stop them from bringing it back.

They didn’t think twice.

“Crazy kids.” Axel rubbed his hand into his hair, before noticing something was off, and looked under his arms to realize that Roxas and Xion weren’t there again. “Wait a second... Ah! Don’t you dare! Get back here!” he stomped his foot down as he looked to see Xion and Roxas practicing the ritual again, trying to get it perfect this time around.

“Oh, come on! Give me a break here...” He slumped his shoulders down in front of him before pulling himself up into a pitiful laugh, “Having a heart is a strange thing indeed...” he went over and scooped the two up as they tried to protest, and brought them back with the rest of the group, not willing to hear their complaints.

[imagine-organization-xiii]

How would the guys react if the reader whispered ”I want to ride you” into their ear in public?

Sam and the others on Discord are pretty much the ones who do all the nsfw stuff for me now LOL

Xemnas

Would not pay the words any attention while out in public. And you BEST hope that no one else heard you say it. Because as soon as you get back to your quarters, or abandoned hallway, or really once anywhere you two are alone, expect your words to come back to haunt you. Lord Xemnas does not excuse misbehavior in his castle, from anyone. Yourself included. So… prepare for some serious torture.

“You wanted to… what was it again, my pet? I can’t seem to hear you. Beg for me and maybe you’ll get your wish.”

Xigbar

Probably will laugh as soon as the words leave your lips. And I’m not talking a light chuckle. I mean a good hearty laugh. One that anyone nearby will hear, along with some kind of comment about how you were  insatiable. But Xigbar wasn’t one to hold out on a good time. Within a second, the two of you are warped out of the public eye and to the nearest place that the two of you could be alone.  Of course this could be anywhere.

“Ahahaha! Aw babe! You’re an animal, huh? You little wild thing! Welp, Let’s get outta here, shall we?”

Xaldin

You whisper into the towering mans ear as you sat in his lap in the Grey Area. Normally, Xaldin wasn’t one for public affection, but today felt fairly special. But as soon as you finish your request, the dreadlocked man’s eyes go momentarily wide before choking on the air he was breathing and erupting in a giant coughing fit. He did not expect that. At all. BUT– he is not mad. Knowing that the one he loves wants him is like a little swell of pride. And after the coughing fades, the burly man chuckles softly to himself before taking your hand and carrying you bridal style to your chambers.

*cough* *cough* *cough* Oh dear… You really don’t like to pull punches, do you?“

Vexen

No one else was at the lab that day other than you, Vexen, and Zexion; the usual crew. You thought it was okay to be a little flirtatious with your dear partner. Well, you thought very wrong. You whispered naughty words in his ear and the blonde scientist gasped out in audible horror. You could swear his cheeks were also a shade of light pink.

To make matters worse, you then received a lengthy riot act on what was and was not appropriate for the workplace and how you were lucky that he, Vexen, would not be filing a report with upper management. You knew it was only because everyone knew you were an item and no one cared anymore. The real bummer here is that Zexion saw the whole berating and gave you a really grossed out look that teenagers give their parents when they flirt with each other.

”*Gaaaaaasp* Y/N!!!! That is hardly appropriate given our being in the laboratory! This is not something I should expect from someone of your rank and maturity, but i shouldn’t be surprised!“ And you kind of tune out because he rants for a long time.

Lexaeus

Doesn’t matter where you are. You could be alone at home with no one around. Doesn’t matter. You whisper that shit into Lexaeus’ ear and "The Silent Hero” turns into “The Silent Tomato”. But this of course, isn’t at home. It’s in the middle of the grey area with a ton of people around. So it’s worse.

The man is SO red. Redder than you had ever seen him! And you suddenly felt a pang of guilt for even thinking of saying it aloud and embarrassing him so much. Luckily, the only one who noticed was Xigbar, but that also meant that everyone else was going to find out soon too. Later that night, you apologize to the soft man, and you make up and make some soft lovin’s to make up.

“…It’s alright…  Knowing you want me… in that way Is reward enough…”

Zexion

This boy is so damn sweet. He is in the lab with Vexen and Lexaeus nearby when you decide to try and give him a little thrill. And not only does this kid turn a BEET red, oh no, his expression turns into one of pure momentary terror and quickly turns to face you, making small but frantic waves and urging you to be quiet. He then checks to see if anyone heard what you had said, and when things look all clear he turns back to you, far more relaxed. It was kind of like a child in fear of getting caught by his parents, or maybe he was just afraid for his coworkers to find out about his personal life? Either way, it was very, very cute!

"Ah! ShhHS ShhhS HHhh ShHhhshhh! ….. Ah.. alright… that was.. a close one.. Maybe.. we should talk about this later.. when no one is around…”

Saix

As you could expect, Saix is one to give a very hot and cold response to just about anything you do. You are in his favorite place by the window when you decide to whisper something spontaneous in his ear. At first, the man says nothing, simply staring at his clipboard as if nothing happened. You assume he didn’t hear you. And no one else for that matter. Oh well. But boy did he hear you.

As soon as whoever was in the room exits, the air changes. In one swift motion, the Luna Diviner has his hands on your shoulders and  has slammed your body up against the window. Hard. Honestly you’re surprised it didn’t shatter from the force.  The man looks deep into your eyes with his golden orbs, and snarls into your ear. And later that night, you are in a heap of trouble.

“Don’t you ever jeopardize our work like that again. Don’t you worry, I know when you want me. I can sense it. I know when your body aches and yearns and desires. But I am the one that will make the calls on where and when we take care of these things. And this place is Not it. You will know soon enough.”

Axel

You and the Sea Salt Trio sat on the clocktower, enjoying some Sea Salt Ice Cream, as you always did after a hard day of work was done. It was nice to be invited on outings like this sometimes, but as you sat on the towers edge, eating your ice cream and Roxas and Xion engrossed in a conversation about something, your mind went to places dark and steamy. Feeling a little adventurous, you lean over and whisper some sultry words into Axel’s ear.

It takes him a second to process what your saying, mindlessly nodding and ‘uh huh’-ing until he puts the sentence together in his mind. And as soon as it does, his expression changes and his cheeks turn a flushed pink as he covers his nose and mouth with his hand and looks away sheepishly. “Ah– Ah.. Oh.. come on.. you don’t mean that.. Don’t be messing with me like that..”

The kids suddenly have stopped with whatever conversation they were having and look over to see what has Axel in such a state. “Axel? What’s wrong? What did Y/N say?”

“Nothing! Nothing! She didn’t say anything! Come on, you two, its time to head back.” The two younger members groaned as they slowly stood to portal back home. And when they weren’t looking, you caught the redhead staring at you with an expression you couldn’t quite put your finger on. Later that night, you remind Axel of just how cute he looked, dumbstruck and embarrassed.“Alright.. Alright… You got me.. But next time, I’m not gonna be as startled. Got it Memorized?”

Demyx

Today, Demyx is doing what he usually likes to do when he isn’t trying to avoid work or hiding from superiors - was loudly practicing his sitar in the most inconvenient places in the castle. Today that inconvenient place was in the Cafeteria that Never Was. While most times, no one wanted to hear the Melodious Nocturne play, the Cafeteria was one of the places where people didn’t mind as much to hear music. People liked the atmosphere to listen to music as they ate their food and enjoyed small conversation.

You often liked to watch the boy play his music. It was one of the few times that he was truly at peace. But sometimes you got bored and wanted to throw Demyx off his rhythm. So, as he played on and on, you sneak behind the musician and get super close his ear, and whisper something sneaky into his ear. And under the guise of music, no one else could hear. Well, until the boys playing stops completely as the last word leaves your lips.He was still the only one who heard you, you were pretty sure. But with the sudden lack of music, all conversation and excess noise, stopped, turning all the attention to the little musician that is currently turning the deepest pink.

The silence permeated through the cafeteria. And as all eyes fell on him, the small boy let our a panicked squeak and the color on his cheeks started to phase from a pink color to a deep red. It was clear your words had an effect, but now it was a little much. You quickly took the musicians hand and led him out of the dining area and into one of the castles many abandoned hallways. You turn to face Demyx when you finally stop walking. It looks like he may cry. He’s embarrassed. Guilt-ridden, you give the boy a soft hug.

“You alright?” You ask.“Yeah.. I’m okay.. Did.. you really mean that? What you said in there?” You nod and suddenly, the weepy boy in front of turns back into the mischievous boy you adored. “Okay.. good. Because we’re going back to my room. It’s Demyx Time.”

Luxord

The Organization is, for the most part, a very serious organization with serious goals and aspirations. But when the work is over for the day, many of the members of the Organization like to relax and do things they enjoyed in their life. For some of the older members, that was meeting up on Friday nights in secret, and playing a few rounds of poker. This was Luxord’s idea, obviously, but win or lose, many of these members liked to play and forget work for even just the night.

The usual crew was there; Luxord, Xigbar, Xaldin, Lexaeus, and then there was you. Since it was Luxord’s event, you were graciously allowed to come to watch the games when you found out about them. This was unlike Demyx who found out and was immediately ignored when he asked to come along. But you enjoyed these games, and sometimes you even played a round or two.

Tonight, you watched as Luxord’s calloused hands dealt out the cards. Watching his fingers shuffle the cards with such precision and grace was something of beauty, but tonight it brought you to think of your own desires. As the Gambler of Fate watched upon his peers with a confident sneer, you crept over to stand behind him. You leaned down as he waited for his players to fold, and whispered the honey-laced words into his pierced ears.

There was a moment of silent as the sentence the gambler had started hung in the air to hear what his beloved had to say. There was another moment of silence in the room, the others only hearing nothing but your hushed and muffled whisper. And then the room erupted with Luxord’s hearty laugh. The others never did find out what the gambler was going to say before you interrupted him, as Luxord immediately called the poker night to an early end and left with to you to, they assumed, fuck the ever living shit out of you.

“Oh come on now, men! This is Poker!! You shouldn’t afraid to— …�� ha HA Ha Ha! Is that so, Love? Alright, Gentlemen.  This has been a sheer delight, as always. But I suddenly have much better plans for the evening. So with that, I bid you goodnight. Come now, Love. We have business to attend to.”

Marluxia

While most of his free time is spent in the privacy of his personal garden, what many people outside of the org didn’t know was that Marluxia also frequently liked to read in the silence of the castles expansive library. And sometimes you liked to tag along!

Today, the two of you were not alone in the library however. Zexion, Xaldin, and Saix were all looking through the library, lost in their own books. Everyone, that is, except for you. You were bored. Reading was great but your mind was on… other things, so as Marluxia stood and walked to an aisle to take a new book, you decided to follow. As the slender man faced the shelf, you leaned up from behind him and whispered into the assassins ear.

At first, he doesn’t react, as if he didn’t hear you, but in a swift motion, Marluxia turned a full 180, grabbed you by the shoulders and pushed you back that you’re pinned against the adjacent bookcase. All of this with the most grace and silence. Blue eyes met yours with a look of passion that sent a pang of desire straight to your loins. A long fingers made their way up, gently caressed your face and made their way, tangling into locks of your hair.  Then, the assassin leaned down, his sapphire eyes looking into your souls and making you feel as if  your body was on fire.

Lips locked. Hands wandered. It was exhilarating. There wasn’t much reading after that. Though getting caught kissing in the bookcases was not your plan of that day. Plus Zexion was kinda pissed to see you kissing on top of his books.“Aw guys… not again… can you.. can you not do that..? Ugh…”

“Don’t be jealous, kid. It’s alright.. there’s plenty of other places we could go…” And with a flurry of rose petals, you were gone, whisked away to somewhere you two could definitely be alone.

[corpsesucc]

If you're still taking random requests and know anything abt kingdom hearts, could you draw Axel for me? :)

all i know about axel is super saturated hair, worrisome anatomy && in love with roxas.

[khtrashplatinumstars]

Ch. 7 ☆*~~~*☆

Location:  Luminary City, Stella Umbra

“I’m sorry I placed so much on you.”

Olix stared at the figure before her, only a silhouette but it stood taller than herself and appeared so sad. Seeing a gold strand going from the where the silhouette's heart would be, violet eyes following it to her own.

“Who are you?”

“I wish I could tell you, but that would hurt you even more.” The person replied. “Are you safe, please know that I want you safe before anything else?”

“Are you my somebody?” Olix asked stepping forward, noticing that the silhouette matched her movements.

“No,” The other replied, only to give a soft laugh, “Because you aren’t a Nobody, or a Heartless. You are Olix.”

“Than why am I with the Organization?”

“That I don’t know, I only requested that you look after Ventus until he was awakened. I never would have thought that Ven would be split even further. That Roxas looks pretty close don’t you think?”

Olix seemed taken back, “You know Roxas?”

“And Xion, Sora, Riku, Kairi, everyone you have met I have met.” The figure replied motioning towards the string connecting the two of their hearts. “We have a much bigger group than originally thought up. Which only means we have more to protect.”

Olix watched as nine more silhouettes surrounded them, all but three seemed familiar, but there were no ill intentions form any of them. Turning she felt the original person she had been speaking to take her hand, watching in confusion as the darkness began flicking off the other giving them an almost wispy like appearance but she still couldn’t place direct features.

“Are you sure that you still wish to help? I have no strength further to give as I will have to start to heal myself.”

Olix looked down to the warm hand holding her own, the other stated that they were not the others Nobody or Heartless, but she felt so connected, and she wanted to help. “...yes. I want to help.”

“Thank you, I can only ask that you please be stronger for just a little longer, and I’ll come to you as soon as I am able.” 

Olix smiled, “I’ll be waiting Big Sister.” Olix did manage to see the bright smile from the other being despite her foggy appearance.

“I trust in you, I will never be too far away.” The other smiled, embracing her tightly before her vision filled with light.

Location: Castle that never was

When Olix awoke in the bright white room, she already knew that a lot of time had passed. Stumbling from her bed, she felt herself standing more firm, more determined. Her body no longer working on autopilot, she had a mission and she was determined to see it through. While details were still extremely vague she now knew she had a purpose.

Moving into the hallways, she phased before even the body could touch her.

“Olix you’re back.” Demyx gasped, a shiver running through him at the woman moving through.

Olix looked to the other before nodding, Demyx was the best person to run into. The other couldn’t hold water even if he wanted to, “Demyx, what happened while I was gone?”

Demyx scratched the back of his head, “Well Xemnas brought you back, but you were out cold. We were told not to disturb you. You were out for a long time.”

Olix already knew this she just needed a little bit more information, “Was there anything I missed?”

“Not that I know of, still getting Kingdom Hearts for the big guy. We moved a lot of people over to Castle Oblivion.”

“Castle Oblivion, why is that?”

“Don’t really know, but there’s a little girl there.”

Olix nodded softly, “Thank you, I’ll follow up with Saix.”

“Uh, yeah sure,” Demyx called as she turned and left.

Instead, Olix opened a portal, disappearing between the white flash before closing it behind herself.

She found that sneaking around was a little easier as most of the others assumed that she was on a solo mission from Xemnas as the other gave her a wide amount of freedom. Yet in all honesty, she was gathering information, she had found only parts of the others, in order to make certain that the other being could properly find her way back see need more of a signal, a bigger one. Like one of the being’s Keyblade Wielders, but they were so scattered.  Roxas could have worked, but again Axel seemed to be rather protective of the other.

When inquiring about Xion she found herself met with blank stares and confusion. It was as if the young Nobody suddenly ceased to exist at all. She knew the other was a figment but it seemed that everyone was determined to make her believe that the other never exist, and maybe Xion didn’t exist to them but to herself, she knew for sure that the little one was just another tragedy in this twisted game that was being played, and it wasn’t fair, she was going to find a way to bring her back as well.

So when she stumbled upon Axel and Roxas in an argument about Roxas leaving to find himself, she could help but step in. Watching as Axel moved to attack Roxas only to be halted in mid-strike.

“Roxas.”

Both men turned to the woman, holding her orb in hand was it glow brightly, both knowing that she was the one that stopped Axel.

“Are you leaving as well?” She inquired.

Roxas turned towards the woman his keyblade summoned, “Are you going to try and stop me too?”

Olix stepped forward watching the blonde move back, almost frightened, removing a hand from her Orb as she rested it on his head, “My lost one, you have so much anger in you. I hope that one day you’ll find a way to let it go.”

Roxas stared at the woman as she gave him such a sad smile, “What are you doing?”

Olix removed the hand from his head as she waved it away from him, “This will take you to Twilight Town, do be safe. Once you leave I will not be able to protect or follow you any further. Please be safe until we are reunited.”

Roxas gave the woman a stern look, before his gaze when to Axel than towards the portal, “No one will miss me.”

Both turned to Axel, as the red head man called loudly still held in Olix’s spell, “It’s not true!”

Roxas spared one last glance to the two before disappearing into the portal.

Olix sealed the portal with a wave of her hand, followed by releasing Axel, her orb still in hand as she approached the much taller man, her stride never faulting as she bypassed the other to return back to the castle.

“Why would you let him do that!? They’re going to kill him!”

Olix stopped for just a moment, “Than why didn’t you tell him what you really wanted to say?”

“What?”

“You’ll miss him, won’t you?”

Axel summoned a Chakram, as he growled deeply at her back, “What are you talking about? I’m not going to play your silly games.”

“Next time why don’t you tell him how you really feel? It would be a lighter burden on his heart.” She smiled over her shoulder. “As well as your own.”

“You’re really starting to piss me off!” Axel barked his weapon going up in flames.

“You will see him again, Axel.” She replied turning back around, creating another portal. “Both of them.”

With that she stepped through, leaving the other man to his thoughts.

Location: Keyblade Graveyard

“But where’s she going?” Demyx whined. Both he and Xigbar were tasked with following Olix as the other was disappearing for bouts of time and not providing Saix with any of the information she was supposedly gathering. 

Even when Saix point-blank inquired about her disappearances, Olix stared him directly in the eye stating that it was none of his concern. From their first interaction, everyone knew that Olix could handle her own against the other, but something happened that made the soft spoken woman suddenly change.

“If you keep your mouth shut we can figure it out.”

Both men watched as she walked through this barren wasteland of dirt and keyblades, her footfalls and body movement ever cautious of where she was at any given moment, careful to never touch any of the blades. Sometimes taking a moment to lift one up again that had fallen over due to wind or time.. Her violet eyes looking for something, constantly turning around and quickly rushing around hills and piles of dirt, only to seem dejected when she didn’t find what she was looking for.

She went around another corner only for the two to suddenly hear a clash and the woman gasp before being thrown back. Almost slamming into one of the cliff’s rock face, before flipping rather elegantly bouncing from the wall before landing on the ground, raising a hand to summon her orb.

No sooner did the orb appear in hand did a suit of gold and red armor appear, a large keyblade in hand, moving to swing on her.

“Be still, please,” Olix called, as the armor froze in place, keyblade still raised to strike, body levitating from the jump it preformed. “I’m sorry I’m not her.” She smiled watching as the armor struggled to lower its arm. “Oh sorry, I’m sorry.” She called waving her hand as her spell became undone as the armor landed.

The armor lowered it’s keyblade, staring to the woman before them in silence, as she reached out taking the hand holding the weapon with a soft smile.

“So many pieces of you are scattered. If I had known sooner…” Olix muttered softly, only to look up as she felt the gloved heavy hand on her head, reassuring her, her own hold on it’s hand tightened.

“My sister will return to you soon, I hope that you can still hear her voice. She won’t rest until she gets you back to you, all of you.”

The armor gave nod, removing its hand from her head before turning and walking away. Olix watched as the armor left her alone, a soft smile on her face as she held her orb close to her chest. Only for the violet eyes to turn where Xigbar and Demyx were standing, a soft smile on her face as she turned opening a white portal.

“Do you think she knew we were here?” Demyx inquired, looking around.

“No doubt about it. It seems that she knows more than she lets on.” Xigbar replied as he moved over to the portal she left open. Reaching out a hand to touch the white light only for it to repeal him immediately. 

“That doesn’t look like the normal portal,” Demyx stated, going to touch it next only to be kicked back as well.

“Looks like Saix was right.” Xigbar chuckled, opening his own portal before stepping through. “Olix just made things interesting.”

“Right about what?” Demyx called only to be ignored as he too rushed through the portal after the other man.

[nadziejastar]

I enjoyed that essay and agree with much of it. Thanks for sharing. Though personally, I liked Days as a video game and as a story. I LOVED the fact that you got to play through everyday life for the characters. I loved all the sea-salt ice cream dialogue. I loved how sad it was that Axel longed for something as “boring” as sitting around eating ice cream with his best friend, and was trying to relive his lost childhood through Roxas and Xion. And I think that playing through Days was a lot more compelling than just watching the movie.

I’ve heard that criticism of Saix a lot. That he felt like a hollow villain and his bond with Axel felt empty. I mean, yeah. That was kinda the whole point. I think a lot of fans somehow missed that, lol. Saix was specifically written that way in Days to reinforce the dichotomy between him and Isa. After playing BBS, I thought Axel’s nostalgia for his childhood was so much more heartbreaking. Isa was never supposed to be Saix. He was just a vessel. Axel’s story was supposed to be very touching because he had such a toxic relationship with Saix. Poor Axel thought his beloved childhood friend turned into a sociopath. But then at the very end, he would be able to get his real childhood best friend back and they’d go back to being innocent and eating ice cream together. Such a nice idea that unfortunately was thrown in the trash.

But this essay brings up another very good point that I think went over a lot of fans’ heads. Roxas was RETCONNED. The author is absolutely right. Roxas was far more innocent in Days than his portrayal in KH2 would have suggested. He acts like an innocent puppy with Axel. It’s very similar to how Ventus acted with Terra. I don’t deny that there is a difference in characterization between vanilla KH2 Roxas and Days Roxas.

But this is exactly why the rabid insistence that “Roxas is NOT Ventus” always confused me so much. Because to me, it seemed like Nomura took Roxas’s personality in a more pure, childlike, and innocent direction…specifically to make him more like Ventus! Why would he do that if they were supposed to be distinct characters? They even had the phase where they were both zombie-like with total amnesia in the beginning. Vanilla KH2 Roxas was never hinted to have such a naive understanding of basic things. The similarities between BBS Ventus and Days Roxas were 1000% deliberate, to strengthen the connection between them in preparation for KH3.

Fans of the vanilla KH2 Roxas might not have LIKED the new direction Nomura took Roxas. But…that’s still what he chose to do. After Days, Roxas was not supposed to be seen as a “dark brooding badass”. Personally, I like the more Ventus-like Roxas from Days more. I liked Roxas in vanilla KH2, but he didn’t get enough character development for me to care too much if he was taken in a different direction. In Days, I liked how Roxas was written to be so sweet and innocent. It made Axel’s interactions with him more compelling (since Axel was not so innocent). And Roxas’s childlike innocence made Axel’s attachment to him feel less…inappropriate. I don’t blame anyone if they like the old Roxas more. It’s just a matter of personal taste, after all. What annoys me is that anyone who says that Roxas and Ventus were originally intended to be the same character get harassed by rabid Roxas fans. tHeY aRe tOtAlLy dIfFeReNt, u iDiOt!1!

And it’s not like it was the first time Nomura took a character in a different direction from before. I always thought KH2 Sora was a LOT more peppy and childlike than KH1 Sora. Honestly felt like a whole new character. KH1 Riku was portrayed like a petty bully—not too different from a character like Seifer. But in CoM/KH2, he was more of a standard good guy. They obviously wanted to distance him from the antagonist role to make him more likable. My point is, Sora and Riku didn’t become new characters, even though they had different characterization from KH1. Roxas is still the same character even if Nomura chose to make his personality more like Ventus. Sure, you can criticize the writing inconsistency. But it doesn’t mean that when Days and BBS were first created, the end goal was for Roxas to get a new Replica body and coexist with Ventus.

[akingdomtheorist]

KH Catch Up: KH2FM The FINAL PART

THE FINAL PART WITH LESS THAN TWO MONTHS TO CATCH UP. HOLLOW BASTION

"I forgot how to play this game."

-fleeing enemies- "Because why deal with your problems when you can just nyoom."

SPACE PARANOIDS

"So how does it feel to be pewpewpew'd back?" "Is this what I do to people?"

"I give these Heartless a 3/10. Not a fan."

He went Wisdom Form had no pewpewers remorse after that.

"Is this way to the I/O Tower?" "Well if you walk up to the entryway it'll tell you. You may have to go through a few maps." "Well okay that's great but which way is the I/O Tower?" -literally walks up to the entrance- "I'm sorry."

"Why don't they just reformat the computer?" "That's what the disc is for." "You don't need a program to do that!" "You do when they're sentient!" "Why don't they just CTRL+Alt+DELETE the MCP then?" "He's Win10." "Even Win10 lets you do that! He's Win11."

"Wait, did Leon not put the fuckin' disc in the computer? Aerith put it in the drive?! Leons from a futuristic setting!"

-walks into boss fight- "I didn't save."

"Man, he did deresolution him, he's at 144P now. He's like a JPEG."

Poor guy has hit the Limit Break instead of Delete so many times.

"We just deleted System32."

HOLLOW BASTION IS NOW RADIANT GARDEN

I force him to try Assault of the Dreadnought with the ships I have.

And then we realized where the Full-Auto setting was after all this time and he laughed at my agony.

"This is the most StarFox this game has been." "You don't even KNOW."

"This isn't bad. I've played StarFox Assault and that's not bad."

"Sorry I'm gonna disappoint you with the panic." "Oh we're not there yet."

I got to Mission Level 3 for him to try. Just waiting for the moment... He died BUT MY ENGINEERING WORKED SO WELL! We created Code Rave and our new Teeny Ship 'MAXIMUM PEW' to take on this break in the story. After finding out we need the power of Neon Orb all day all the time, we go back to Atlantica.

ATLANTICA

"We kind of destroyed her (Ursula) last game. Right, that's a thing we did?"

"Did we just have a fight off screen?" "Nah."

"She's plagarizing her!"

"Way to go Eric, you really... really leaped into action there."

"Just kill her, you have a trident, stab her."

"Really? We're having a dance-off to save the universe?"

"Why didn't Triton just impale her? Like Eric just did? When his daughter was in danger?"

Now we need to come back later with Thundaga. Except we don't the game just kicked us out anyway.

There was some trouble that totally didn't happen  with the last song.

"Wait we didn't use Thundaga once."

TWILIGHT TOWN

"Oh it literally won't let me go anywhere else. Well at least they could give me a skateboard."

"Hey Mickey-wait guys stop everything I gotta restart Share Play."

"Well since that's the obvious direction of the plot, let's go the other way."

"Touch. The beam..."

"That's my data. That's me!"

Then he spent 5 minutes theorizing the name because clearly Xehanort is a Nobody name.

"Hi Axel. Why should we leave?"

"Ohh... it's just me..."

"Axel's just like 'don't mind me I'm just casually dying here'."

"Oh stop making puns while you're dying motherfucker."

"Aw he just wanted to bring his boyfriend back."

"Alright fuckin' wannabe Sephiroth." He's upset at Saix.

THE WORLD THAT NEVER WAS

"I'm betting it's Riku."

"Oh it's Roxas!"

"What's my dodge button? That's not the button-THAT'S NOT THE BUTTON!"

"You gotta dodge my dude." "Yes-thank you."

-tries Strike Raid- "OH NO THAT WORKED ON RIKU THAT DOESN'T WORK ON YOU!"

He died. Take 2.

He died. Take 3.

He died. Take 4.

Through the power of technical use of Limiting for more magic and drives, the lock on+dodgeroll tactic, FIVE TIMES THE CHARM.

The Two Become One has been obtained. I await the moment

THREE ANTI-FORMS IN A ROW. I made him try Master form and IT FINALLY HAPPENED. FINAL FORM ACHIEVED.

"Alright these mother fucker's got a giant flyin' saucer..."

"Namine's like, 'I'm bustin you out!'"

"Is this to the final boss?" "Nah."

"He's disguised! He's disguised, that's Riku. He's disguised right?" "Not exactly."

"Kairi's just like no, we're not- no, it's not happenin'."

"KAIRI GETS HER OWN KEYBLADE!"

"Is that DiZ? I mean I knew he was Ansem the Wise but I called that like ages ago."

"Is he gonna Luigi's Mansion all the Heartless into that thing?" "No." "But it looks like it does!"

"Organization XIII is real sassy for people without emotions."

"What are his weapons? How is he supposed to use them? Oh they're guns! I didn't think they'd give him actual guns."

"He doesn't have just a gun it's a fuckin' Halo Needler!" "Does this upset you?" "No, I just think it's a little cheap." "Oh it will though."

He died.

The second time around he abused the speed of Anti-Form to avoid ALL THE BULLETS and ended with a "FUCK YOU" to Xigbar.

"Did he (Berserker Nobody) just Minimize- did he just fuckin' minimize? No more of that."

"Oh Kairi just- cats outta the bag!"

"Riku took hair tips from Axel."

"Oh he's gonna Luigi's Mansion Kingdom Hearts!" "No he's gonna reverse ReBoot it."

"Ohh these are all the Organization Members I've killed? What's Marluxia the- oh of COURSE he's the Graceful Assassin."

Now it's time to play a game with Luxord. It was fairly easy though late on learning all the games was fun to watch in failure.

"Of course your weapon is called Soul Eater you edgy bastard..."

Time to go beat up angry moon barbarian.

"Oh what happened did you lose your weapon buddy?"

He did it first try.

"Yeah no Roxas didn't spend eight hours fighting this fucker."

"Too bad it's impossible [For Roxas to meet Sora] but I'm not gonna say it's 100% impossible, because this is Kingdom Hearts."

"Calling it now this is gonna change Riku back into Riku. I CALLED IT HIS HAIR IS BACK TO NORMAL. Back to his Axel hair."

"Riku get your bangs out of your face."

"Riku is a tol."

"We're finally working together! WE ARE GONNA FIGHT SOMEONE TOGETHER!" "Yeah, you are." "YES, YES-I can't shout because people are sleeping-BUT YES."

"He's- oh my god I'm basically playing as two people. I love this."

"Oh his sword- look it has an angel wing! I just noticed that! Riku dah best."

AND THEN THE GRINDING OF 8 HOURS COMMENCED

We are joined by one more friendo who has completed the game. They will be F2 in conversation quotes.

"Oh that's a lot of Heartless."

"You murdered people. You had a choice to not murder people."

"Okay, is this round one? Yeaaaahh..."

"Okay first round done. I've played the first game I know how this is gonna fuckin' end."

"Well he's dead, we can go home!"

It’s victory, or oblivion. "Well I have Oblivion so, it's just victory then."

"Is the castle fucking alive?"

"Oh we Dr. Strange now."

-uses slicer reaction command- "ALRIGHT Sora just, slice a building in half."

He thinks this is the best part, and he's only just begun.

"We're destroying the engines now? Oh no they're giant Death Star lasers."

"Of course this wouldn't be a Kingdom Hearts game if it didn't have you fighting an old man on a spaceship."

"Mickey uses his powers of darkness! No."

"Is Namine about to Cortana us--OH GOD OH GOD ROXAS JUST WALKED OUT OF ME."

"Roxas and Namine shipping Sora and Kairi together just because they wanna hang out."

"Riku, why do we always lose Kairi? Can we put a tracker on her so when we inevitably lose her again we can just find her?"

"Hey Riku do you wanna pick me up? This seems incredibly unsafe, I'm just standing on a platform."

PHASE FOUR INITIATE

"Did we do it? At least this phase? Are we onto the next phase?" F2 "-laughs- Oh ho ho we're only just getting started buddy."

"That looks bad. Hey Riku I don't like what's happenin' right now. This is a solid 3/10 experience for me."

"Okay Lich King wannabe round 2."

PHASE FIVE INITIATE

"Is it safe to use my drives? Is it? What if- OHHH FUCK." "Remember when I said what if you got knocked off the edge?"

"Oh whaaaaaat oh no."

"Let's just throw buildings at him, that seems to work."

"Hey remember how you have that reaction command that's a shield?" "Shhhhhhhhhhh."

"LET ME AT THE BUILDINGS!"

FINAL PHASE BEGIN

"Buddy... buddy... you are not the Aztec concept of nothing!"

"I can Limit Form!"

"Nope, nope nope, NOPE. STOP IT!" He isn't a fan of the lasers.

"Was he actually damaging me during that?? Let's just heal up!"

"You're gonna wanna spam Reversal." F2 "The DBZ fight continues!"

"Press the button as fast as you can." "Oh, OH IT'S A LIMIT OHHH."

"Oh hey we Roxas now."

"I think I did it?"

"I know you're in Kingdom Hearts 3 Riku, you won't die. Or at least you'll come back."

The final cutscene.

"Awww, Riku's a sap now."

"Sora how does your hair stay like that, you were underwater."

"Mickey just, Pikachu'd Riku." F2 "That's just how things work in this world, don't judge." "I didn't know Riku was Mickey's Pokemon Trainer."

"Riku get your hair out of your face. Don't you have a mom that can cut your hair?"

"Who are you? Some Anubis motherfucker-WHO ARE YOU? Why are we in Destiny now?!"

"Those are our keyblades..."

"Oh my god... that's a lot of Keyblades."

KH2FM has been beaten! At least, the main game anyway. I have a few more things I'm going to make him do first.

LINGERING WILL ATTEMPT TIME!

"Why is there a black hole in our castle?" F2 "I think we should go into that black hole."

F2 "Remember that place you saw thirty seconds ago? That is not this place."

"UHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...."

"I don't like this."

"I'm not Xehanot, I'm not-I'm not-I'M NOT!"

"OH GOD HIS HEALTH WHAT THE FUCK?!"

He died in about thirty seconds. His second attempt was in two seconds!

"Well that's it for that boss!"

CAVERN OF REMEMBRANCE

-sees the car heartless- "Nope we're not dealing with these fuckers nope."

-takes look around the second room- "Help."

"Help. Help. Hlep."

Yes I helped him, I'm not a demon. No that third one is not a typo.

"That might have been the one time you wouldn't have wanted to revert." "Oh really? Whatever."

"Wait, is this the longest hallway?" "WELCOME TO THE LONGEST HALWAAAAAAY."

-beats first quarter- "Am I done now?" "Oh you sweet summer child." "You know you could just say no." "Yeah but that's boring."

Nothing says the longest hallway like eleventeen uses of Final Form!

"Fuck that place, fuck that hallway."

"Garden of Assemblage? Oh it's a place to redo all the boss fights!" "You're missing some because you need to do the absent silhouettes." "Aaaand we're done with this game!"

I made him to attempt Sephiroth.

"So a tip. When you fight Sephiroth, spam triangle." "Okay?" "While the cutscene is loading, spam triangle."

"Why do you have knee wings Sephiroth?"

He tried twice and gave up.

Well that's it, it's now 358/2 Days watch next! That’ll be all one part

[starsinursa]

11 questions tag game!

THE RULES ARE SIMPLE

1. Post the Rules. 2. Answer the questions given to you. 3. Make 11 questions of your own. 4. Tag 11 people

Begin!

I was tagged by both @saawek and @jemariel, so I’m going to answer all of the questions together in one post.  😊 Thank you, lovelies! 

1) How and when did you get into fandom/fanfiction/shipping?

Oh god. 😂 It all started when I was 14, playing Kingdom Hearts on Playstation 2, and one day I stumbled across some Roxas x Axel fanart on DeviantArt. At first, I was confused. Then I was intrigued. Then I was hooked and the rest was history.

2) What was your dream job when you were five years old, and why?

I always wanted to be an artist, probably until I was halfway through high school, and then I veered more towards writing. I haven’t drawn in years, I really wish I had kept practicing, because now I suck and can’t draw for shit.

3) If you had to only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would you eat? (Assume that nutritional needs will be met by this food.)

That’s tough… maybe ice cream? Am I allowed to eat different flavors? That might give me enough variety to keep me entertained.

4) Roughly how far from where you grew up do you now live?

I live about 140 miles/ 2 hours away from my hometown, so not too far, I go home to visit my mom every couple of months. 

5) What’s your usual breakfast?

…coffee. I never eat breakfast, I don’t eat until lunch. I know, I know…

6) Cats or dogs? (Or other?)

Both! I have one of each!  😊 Although tbh, I’m more of a cat person, they’re a lot more low-maintenance and a little better suited to my two-job lifestyle, even though right now I’m lucky enough to have a great aunt who babysits my dog for me on the nights I work at my second job.

7) Favorite holiday?

Hmm, probably Christmas. I just like the feel of the season, even though I don’t really decorate or do anything too festive. I just like the Christmas atmosphere. You wanna hear a funny story about laziness though? The two tricks to never having to take down a Christmas tree are: 1) never putting it up in the first place (that’s my method), and 2) never taking it down (that’s my mom’s method, if I visit her house in, like, May, her Christmas tree will still be up, she literally just leaves it up year-round).

9) What is your ‘happy place’?

Probably just my house. I love coming home after work and decompressing in a quiet, empty house. As soon as I’m through the door, pajamas are going on, I don’t care if it’s only 5 p.m., and I hope I don’t get any visitors because I’m not answering the door for anybody.

10) Favorite song to sing when no one else can hear you?

I’ll sing anything… pop songs, Disney songs, showtunes… I go through phases where I’ll sing one soundtrack constantly for about a week at a time. People will pop their head into my office and be like, “Are you singing Beauty and the Beast?”

11) Would you rather be too hot or too cold?

That’s a tough one, I always change my mind depending on whether it’s winter or summer at the time!

1.Weirdest idiom of your language

It’s hard to choose, we’ve got a lot of weird idioms. “In a pickle”, “under the weather”, “when the fat lady sings”… who is the fat lady and why does she have to sing?

2.Fuck (or cuddle) Marry and Kill with : Godstiel, Demon!Dean, Lucifer!Sam 

Hmmm…I’m gonna kill Lucifer!Sam (sorry Sam, it’s not you, it’s Lucifer), fuck demon!Dean (hooo boy, you know he’d be insane in the sack), and marry Godstiel.

3.Same question but with : Castiel, Sam or Dean (i’m not THAT sadistic)

AAAGH. This one is HARD. I guess…if I HAVE to choose… I would kill Sam (I’m so sorry, Sammy, I love you, I just don’t particularly want to fuck or marry you!), fuck Castiel, and marry Dean. Honestly those last two could go either way, but I picked marrying Dean because I feel like I have more in common with him, we could totally spend our lives together watching Star Trek, reading Vonnegut, and hitting up stripclubs.

4.What’s your zodiacal sign?

Leo, but I don’t feel like a Leo at all, it doesn’t really fit me.

5.Tell us an embarassing but funny moment you lived recently or years ago.

One of my friends loves to tell the story about my 24th birthday, two years ago, when I pounded back grapefruit vodka, margaritas, and limoncello, proceeded to whip my boobs out in the taxi, puked on the subway, and then when we went to a bar called “Sneaky Pete’s”, I spent the entire night calling it “Stinky Pete’s” and cackling about it. That night was full of regret and shame. 

6.Which fictional characters do you most fancy (or find very attractive)?

Definitely Dean, of course. Deep at heart, I’m ultimately a Dean!girl. Cas is an extremely close second. I’m also pretty sweet on Spock. I’m sure there are more, but those are the big ones.

7.Destiel is now canon, do you mind?

Umm, definitely not. I’m probably rejoicing in the streets, drunk out of my gourd, crying tears of happiness on the shoulders of strangers.

8.You got an unlimited access to money and power, what do you do? (see question 7 to have some ideas on what to buy)

Are you suggesting I buy the CW?  😂 Because that’s…not a bad idea. I would also pay off all of my bills and student loans, and then do the same for everyone in my family. I would donate a bunch of money to my favorite animal shelter. Then I’d travel the world.

9.An urban legend or a myth around your area?

We actually don’t have any close for where I live. Not that I’ve heard, at least. I mean, there’s the whole Stull Cemetery thing, but that’s a couple hours away. My city is pretty boring on the urban myth front.

10.Why do I have to ask you 11 questions? It’s fucking hard.

“It’s fucking hard.” That’s what she said. Eheheh.

11.Can you give me a cookie?

I don’t have any cookies, I’m sorry!

Now, my 11 questions for YOU to answer:

1. What is the best compliment you’ve ever received, the one piece of praise that really sticks out in your mind?

2. Weirdest food/ food combination that you love?

3. What would your spirit animal/ totem/ patronus be, and why?

4. Favorite dirty joke (or clean is fine, if you prefer)?

5. If you cosplay/ ever got the chance to cosplay, which character would you be?

6. One of your bad habits?

7. A song that always makes you feel nostalgic?

8. How did you choose your tumblr URL?

9. Is love at first sight a real thing? What about true love/ soulmates?

10. The book/ poem/ fic that changed your life?

11. What is the one piece of advice that you think everyone should hear?

Now I’m tagging 11 cool people I’d like to know better: @aldehydean, @rosewhipped22, @threshie, @castielismyfavouriteangel, @robotsnchicks, @santamadredidios, @holamishamigos0, @beefcakemish, @60r3d0m, @casthewise, @goodtidingsdean

[gotitmemorised-archived]

🦉🐲🤡🥀

horrific headcanons // accepting

🦉Could they stay calm lost in the woods all night by themselves?

This sort of depends on where in the timeline we’re at, and assuming he can’t just dark portal his way out of there… I’d say young Lea would claim he could if asked, but if it came down to it he’d probably freak out / get scared the moment he realizes that 1) no one is looking and 2) he’s got no fucking clue where he is – For as much bravado as he has and for as big his mouth is, he’s still just fifteen and forests at night are their own special kind of creepy, especially if you’re all alone. So no, he’d not be calm the entire time, that’s for sure. 

As Axel it’s another story entirely mainly because he’s basically incapable of feeling fear and he’s more than capable defending himself – not to mention he can easily start a fire thanks to his magic. Same with Lea post-nobody, even though he’ll probably be slightly freaked out: he can make a fire and he can defend himself easily, so he’d still stay calm and keep a cool head. 

🐲Were they afraid of monsters under the bed as a child?

I can’t really imagine a kid that wasn’t afraid of the monster under the bed or in the closet at some point? so yes, he most probably had a phase. BUT ALSO have some random isa and lea headcanons in that I WOULD TOTALLY BET that whenever they were together or had sleepovers lea would be the one challenging isa to things like let’s watch this scary movie our parents forbade us to watch or DUDE i heard about this really freaky rumour in that one abandoned house on edge of town let’s go chECK IT OUT IN THE NIGHT I BET YOU WOULDN’T DARE and isa would act self-suffering, but he’d go along with it anyway because lea probably turned it into a bet; and then it would always end up being lea later in the night that went i Have So Many Regrets™ because he couldn’t fall asleep imagining every little sound or movement or shadow was some creepy-crawly while isa was snoring away in the bed next to him. he also probably always woke isa up during the night as well just to go check whether the coast really was clear.

i would also bet that isa was totally aware of this and would frequently troll lea as a form of payback i.e. put a rubber snake in his bed in the morning after lea had finally fallen asleep, just to hear him shriek like a mad banshee upon waking. 

🤡 Do they have any phobias or irrational fears?

he gets freaked out by furry caterpillars. and also, especially post-nobody, he shows signs of paranoia and ptsd – it’s at its worst stage most likely right after he wakes as lea while he’s still adjusting to all the emotions he hasn’t felt in like a decade ( i mean, he was growing a heart as axel, but it was an incomplete one and he had no real means of … placing any of the things he felt then in their right context ), like he just expects ansem to jump out at him from every corner to steal his heart again, every shadow is a heartless or a nobody, he’s really distrustful of the other apprentices that also woke same time as him, he spooks super easily, has flashbacks, and flinches at unexpected movement, sound, etc etc and he basically looks for an ulterior motive behind every random act of kindness or gesture of affection simply because he’s not used to it and he doesn’t believe it’s genuine because why would anyone? seeing the things he’s done as a nobody. it definitely evens out the more time he spends with the gang, and with the training he does to help him get focused but he’ll definitely not approach strangers as easily as he did before everything went down. 

🥀 How would they handle the death of a loved one?

ok so as axel, due to the fact that he’s never really … learned how to adequately deal with grief and the fact that he’s basically been told that he can’t feel it in the first place he’d probably be quite torn between knowing he should feel sad yet not actually feeling sad and with him not knowing what to do with that he’d probably revert to his ‘i’m a jackass nothing touches me’ routine and act real flippant about it, while acting emo about it in secret. of course this also depends on the timeline. like you can say that his actions in kingdom hearts 2 were him ‘handling’ the death of someone he cared for and yes, possibly even loved but there were also other circumstances at play for his actions - like he hadn’t just lost roxas ( and xion but… he doesn’t remember wtf ), but also every sense of stability and security he’s ever had in the last decade he spent as a nobody, no matter how emotionally and mentally toxic that environment was. it’s little wonder he seems really unstable at that point, because he is really unstable. ( also here is a wonderful meta by minty about the effects of grief and how it influenced axel circa kh2 WHICH I DEFINITELY RECOMMEND ). anyway, let’s just say that he doesn’t handle it … well, either way.

same as lea, post-nobody. i mean, if you think about it him and isa got captured by / joined the organisation when they were 15 and arguably also lost their hearts around that time. then he spends about ten years not being able to feel anything, or basically getting told he cannot feel anything. so when he gets his heart back not only 1) does he have the emotional maturity of a teenage boy still, but 2) he’s never been been taught the means to handle intense emotion or place them in the correct context to handle them or even discern multiple emotions from each other which would basically result in him being overwhelmed quite often, having rapid mood swings ( Irritability / anger issues are also a part of ptsd ) and/or having intense and sometimes even inappropriate emotional reactions to generally ‘small things’ at least to anyone who is emotionally better adjusted than he is. i mean he tries his best to mask it beneath his usual bravado and sarcasm, and tries to use his training and his intense focus on his goal to protect and save all his friends as an escape but … i mean we all know that doesn’t always work. now imagine, in this context, losing a loved one? probably because of a war you joined with the sole purpose of trying to protect and safeguard your loved ones? even though he probably knows this is technically a very difficult goal but still … in my opinion the emotions he felt upon such an occasion would be so overwhelming he’d basically shut down for a while. like become numb & blank, withdraw, push away anyone who tries to help him until it all comes slamming home. 

[nightmaresend-archive]

2, 8, 24, 47 and 99 for the KH ask prompt meme c:

Kingdom Hearts Ask Prompts. 

Text heavy so I pushed it all under the read more!!

2. Which game of the series is your favorite?

Kingdom Hearts 2, and I’m sure I’m not in alone in saying that it did wonders for the controls to improve on KH1. Even when I hated the series I could never say that I fully hated KH2 because of it’s controls, they’re so smooth and quick? I never really felt like I was wrestling with the controls like I did in my first playthrough of KH1. Bless that, for the most part, awkward platforming from KH1 was ditched.

It also was the game that made me like the characters when I finally played it all the way through last year. I spent years only liking Roxas and Kairi only to completely fall for Sora and Riku during the latter scenes??? I only wanted to play all the way through so I could see more of Cloud Strife and Squall Leonhart and I ended up falling for the series help.

I’m also really fond of Dream Drop Distance, probably because it feels like a great big chunck of fanservice. And KHuX because it was my go to game when the Pokémon GO servers went down last year and now I’m just addicted.

8. Who is your least favorite character?

Xion, and ik a lot of people really like her but… She’s just not interesting in the slightest to me. She’s pointless and adds nothing to the overall plot and actually throws a little bit of a spanner in the works when it comes to how Roxas is built up in KH2.

The only thing that’s remotely interesting about her seems to be the one thing that no one realises about her; that’s she’s basically just a Sora Replica and she never looked like Kairi, that was just how Roxas saw her because he was projecting Sora’s memories of Kairi onto her.

ACTUALLY, miragessplit wanted me to make a post about this at one point so might as well talk about here. I’ve never played the actual game, keep that in mind, i’ve watched the cutscene movie. But since that’s what is packaged in all the releases, I assume that’s how Squeenix want the story to be told now so anything left out the cutscene movie is kinda irrelevant. But there’s an early scene where Roxas, Xion and Axel all sit on the clock tower together and bond for the first time, and the perspective does a lot of shifting during that scene. When Roxas is speaking, Xion has no hood on, when Axel is speaking, she has her hood up. This scene kind of is where it reveals that Roxas is projecting her appearance onto her.

From then on we see all the other characters reacting when they see Xion’s face. Riku, Xigbar and Axel. Riku is stunned to see her face, which you could put down on the fact that maybe it’s because she has Kairi’s face but that wouldn’t make much sense. Riku knows Kairi is safe on the islands and Org. XIII hasn’t kidnapped her and cloned her. Xigbar comments that she sees his look, him being Ventus, which would also make no sense because Kairi does not share connection with Ventus, and Axel who, if you didn’t pick up on that earlier scene, has been seeing her all game with Kairi’s face so why would he be shocked to see her face now?

When she takes her hood off to Roxas and reveals she has Sora’s face, then it all makes sense. Riku’s reaction and calling her a sham after he as dealt with a replica of himself before that point. Xigbar seeing Ventus, as Sora is the only other person in the series he sees Ventus in, and Axel because he hasn’t actually seen her face all game and once he does he realises that oh shit she’s a part of Roxas/Sora.

That’s the only interesting thing about her though. Other than that she does a good job of breaking down a lot of the tension that was built in KH2, since in a lot of the fights/interactions with Sora and the Org. XIII members revolve around them pointing out that Roxas is a traitor or asking for him to come back, and Axel and Roxas being best friends and all that. It gives off the impression that Org. XIII is this merry little band of misfits with their edgy elemental powers. They’re like the cartoon version of that group of emo kids in high school, with their emotional issues but they all had their own personality and skills and little branches off into their own smaller friendship groups.

But throwing Xion in there and giving us this inside look on the Org. makes them lose all the fun edge they had. The story tells us that Roxas isn’t that well integrated into the group and spends most of his time either asleep or with Xion, why would they all ask for him back? Sora does just as good of a job in KH2 and none of the Org. has emotional investment in Roxas so… What’s the point? Heck, Xion ruins the Axel and Roxas relationship, with Roxas saying shit like “who will I have ice cream with” UM IDK YOUR BEST FRIEND AXEL????

If you took out Xion, you’d lose nothing from the story over all. She’s pointless and boring…

But damn her theme is good.

24. How did you react to KH2 Atlantica?

47. Hardest boss battle?

When I was younger I had lots of trouble with the Ursula fight and the Maleficent fight in KH1. And Demxy in KH2.

Since I’ve just finished my replay of KH1 and KH2 then… The hardest fights would have to be Sephiroth, Xigbar, Roxas and Xaldin in KH2 and the third phase of Ansem in KH1, before he turns into a giant spaceship Jenova-looking thingy.

99. Favorite track on the OST?

Simple and Clean/Hikari and Sanctuary because I’ve liked both songs before I even played the games so they’re mega nostalgic to me.

Buuut if we’re talking none vocal then… Hallow Bastion/Radiant Garden’s theme and Scherzo Di Notte and all their remixes from KH1, 2 and BBS.

I’m also really fond of Roxas and Riku’s themes, annnd the orchestral version of Hikari from the ending of KH2 and the opening sequence of DDD.

I CAN’T JUST PICK ONE LMAO……

[nadziejastar]

Honestly, it feels like they came up with the idea of Subject X to extend the story of the Radiant Garden crew because otherwise KH3 would be the perfect place to end their story. She wasn't just a test subject, she was apparently a central figure in the experiments. When she inevitably returns in KH4 she'll drag Ansem, the apprentices, and the boys back into relevance even if they have no other reason to get involved

I suspect you’re right regarding the future. I am sure that she’ll be vital to KH4, and she’ll be heavily involved in Lea and Isa’s story in the future. She’s involved in a large human experimentation plot, and Lea and Isa also having that backstory would be seen as redundant.

None of this will be directed at you anon, just my general opinion on the current state of the story and characters.I’m going to rant a bit about the direction things seem to be going to get it off my chest. Basically, I resent how she took Saix’s backstory and derailed his entire character arc. And I don’t think any of them even needed her to have a role in the future of the story. Ansem the Wise still has a ton of potential. Lea is a full-fledged Keyblade wielder, and Isa could easily be one too. Whatever experiments she was involved in are going to be poorly retconned into the Xehanort Saga and will probably overwrite the mind control experiments that were originally mentioned. “Plot twist: There were no mind control experiments! It was really about learning the secrets of time-travel!” I’m not really excited to learn more, to be honest. 

I didn’t play Union X. I tried to, but I didn’t like the gameplay. I have read the story summary online and watched Back Cover. But I have no attachment to Skuld or any of the other original characters from that game. I didn’t play KH3 to learn about them. I don’t care about them. I wanted closure on the characters from this arc. The arc that’s been building up over the last decade. I was attached to Lea and Isa and all the others. And to have it suddenly be all about this new girl and Keyblade wielders of yore out of nowhere…well, it felt like a slap in the face as a long-time fan.

As for Isa’s character: If KH3 is the precedent for how he is to be portrayed going forward, I’m not very excited for the future. It doesn’t sound like Nomura is either.

–There are several Organisation members whose original names are still unknown. Will we have a chance to learn them someday, or to find out about the scar on Isa’s face?

Nomura: If there is a sequel, then that chance may come. But in my heart right now my desire is a blank page.

To be honest, I don’t even know how much blame I can attribute to Nomura personally. I know he wanted to make BBS Volume 2 and was very disappointed it was cancelled. I highly doubt he’s happy with the many, many revisions to the story after it got canned. I suspect his lack of interest in explaining Isa’s scar is due to the fact that he already had a great story all planned out and it was not able to be realized due to factors outside of his control. The Foreteller arc is an opportunity to step away from the butchered Xehanort Saga plot and start over with a blank slate. Just like Verum Rex seems like his attempt at restarting the butchered Versus XIII project with a blank slate.That’s my personal opinion. If it’s true, I can hardly blame him. 

As for Lea and Isa’s relationship, here is my honest take: KH3 took a very close and emotionally intimate former relationship between two boys (to me it even seemed romantic in nature) and made it into a caricature of a “dudebro” relationship. And like clockwork, it was all about a girl now. If I’m being perfectly honest, it felt like whoever was writing the Lea/Isa scenes was thinking “no homo, no homo” the entire time. Like they were terrified to depict even the slightest bit of genuine intimacy between these two male characters. I mean really, howcliché to attribute all of Saix’s villainy and the breakdown of his closest friendship… to a single girl that he barely knew. Completely deflecting away from the relationship they had with each other. A relationship history that spanned multiple games now revolves around a character who was never even mentioned before, let alone seen on-screen.

By his own description, he was not close to this girl. He spoke a handful of times to an imprisoned, traumatized amnesiac girl, in hushed whispers. He couldn’t have known her that well. She had amnesia. Did he even know her name? Did SHE even know her name? Didn’t sound like it based on the reports. He said they spoke in the shadows and it was too dim to make out her features. Did he know what she looked like? Again, this was not a childhood friend or anything. After a while, he wasn’t sure if she even existed. I seriously could not wrap my head around how ridiculous this whole concept was. It felt like a joke.

In 358/2 Days, Axel spent the entire game angsting over the loss of his close relationship with Isa. In KH3D, the first thing he does is look for him, and he’s very visibly upset when he finds out he’s still with Organization XIII. Then in KH3, he doesn’t mention him at all. It’s only Roxas this, Roxas that. Lea only remembers Isa exists when he randomly shows up in Twilight Town. I’m like, where did THIS come from? I was laughing hysterically when Saix asked for ice cream. It was the most out-of-character thing I’d ever seen. Axel didn’t even seem phased by him being so friendly all of a sudden, which was also very strange. I would have expected a stronger reaction, but he seemed more annoyed by his presence than anything. Even his promise to bring him home felt more like an afterthought than a priority. “I going to get my precious ROXAS back! Oh, well, I guess I’ll bring you back too, Isa. I mean, as long as you’re here…why not?”

Lea: Would you get lost? I’ll clobber you tomorrow.

Saix: Hmph. I expect no less.

I really disliked how Saix’s personality was portrayed in KH3. In my opinion, Isa’s entire redemption hinged on the fact that he was Xehanort’d. Saix was THE main villain in 358/2 Days. He was basically Xemnas-lite, only far more of an active presence than Xemnas himself was in that game. He was constantly antagonizing Roxas, Xion and Axel. By writing the story so that he was in control of himself the whole time, it sent the message that Saix’s personality is Isa’s true personality as well. And I just don’t think that works. At all. It’s inconsistent with the story, and it’s honestly insulting to Isa’s character. There was SO much evidence that Isa was not in control of himself prior to KH3.

It also left a very poor taste in my mouth because Isa was implied to be an innocent victim of cruel human experimentation, who was being controlled like a puppet by an evil madman. That is horrific abuse to a 15 year-old child. And the heartwarming resolution to his story is watching his best friend “clobber” him? Really? All he needs is someone to beat some sense into him? And keep in mind, this is supposed to be a battle to bring about the apocalypse. Why does the dialogue sound more like a pissing contest between two high school boys that are planning to have a fistfight in the parking lot after school?

Saix: I was jealous.

Lea: You admit it.

Saix: Well, if I make it back…you won’t get it out of me a second time.

Isa doesn’t even get a good redemption scene. He isn’t allowed to show any emotion whatsoever. He actually berates Lea for showing emotion…FOR HIM. And what’s Lea’s opinion after Isa is defeated? He’s disgusted that he LET Xehanort “reduce him to this.” It’d be like if Ven or Aqua were disgusted at Terra for having the audacity to get possessed. But no, apparently Saix was just putting on an “act” the whole time. All of his sociopathy was just an act of macho bravado to hide his jealousy and wounded ego. Sheesh, that’s supposed to make him more sympathetic? And he’s STILL a jerk even when he apologizes. There really was no way to make Saix into a “redeemed good guy”. I mean, he was a Xehanort clone, for Christ’s sake. As far as I’m concerned, the X-shaped scar never getting explained is just symbolic of the fact that the real Isa is still dead.

If it had just been shown that he was a victim of mind control, he wouldn’t have even NEEDED a redemption. He’d just… go back to being Isa, who was always good in the first place. I mean, you don’t need to redeem Xemnas to redeem Terra. Sure, it’s his body, but how stupid would it have been to have Xemnas give a half-hearted apology, then go back home with Aqua and Ven? The story could call him “Terra” all they want. But that’s still not Terra; that’s Xehanort. No, they actually needed to bring Terra back to have a truly happy ending for the trio.

That’s how I feel about Isa. KH3 can call him “Isa” all they want, but all I saw was a watered-down, slightly less douchey version of Saix masquerading as Isa. I wont go into too much detail right now because I have a huge meta almost finished (I hope to have it posted soon) analyzing Isa’s weapons and how they paint a very detailed picture of his (original) personality. And by every indication…Isa’s personality was very feminine, empathetic, and emotional. He’s basically the archetypal Yin; the Moon goddess. And that’s definitely closer to how I interpreted his personality based on BbS. I can’t see him saying ANY of the dialogue he had in KH3.

[nadziejastar]

KH3′s Poor Retconning of Isa and Lea’s Relationship

So, first things first. Lea and Isa are my absolute favorite Kingdom Hearts characters. And that is saying something, since I love so many characters. I loved their scene in Birth By Sleep. I have seen some people say Isa was a douche, and that’s why Saix was evil and did not deserve redemption. I couldn’t disagree more. Only the closest of friends can bond thorough sarcasm that way. Underneath the sarcasm, it was obvious how much Isa was fond of Lea and vice versa. And yes, I do ship them for many story-related reasons, which I will get into. The novels describe Lea and Isa as “complementary opposites”, which is how I see them.

I truly thought that Isa was going to play a much more pivotal role in Lea’s character arc, like Roxas did. I was so excited to see him get saved. The set up was ALL there. I will be perfectly honest that I was disappointed in the way Isa was “redeemed”, as well as the sudden revelation that he became a villain all for the sake of a mystery girl that was never even once hinted at before. Most likely Skuld. Well, disappointed would be an understatement, really. And I want to write a detailed meta explaining why I was disappointed, why I thought that Isa’s character and backstory was heavily retconned and had SO much more potential, and why I LOVE the relationship between Isa and Lea so much. I really want to go into detail to do these characters justice that I feel canon didn't.

Roxas: What's it like having a best friend, Axel?

Axel: Couldn't tell ya. I don't have one.

When I first played 358/2 Days, the former friendship between Axel and Saix piqued my interest. It was surprising to me because they were nothing alike whatsoever. I had a hard time imagining how they could have ever been friends. Axel was so friendly and cool and Saix was so cold and mean. What did Axel see in Saix, I wondered. Whatever the reason, it was clear that the broken down friendship was a source of great pain to Axel. Although the game centered on Axel's friendship with Roxas and Xion mostly, the amount of attention Saix and Axel got led me to believe their relationship was important, too.

Talking to Roxas and Xion always brings back memories of my human life, back when I was a kid. It's a weird sensation. I ought to be able to share all this with Saïx, but I just don't feel like it anymore. It's strange, but I'm content with just missing what's gone. I'm not the one who changed. You did. -Axel

I could tell that Axel struggled to come to terms with what happened to his friend and his feelings about him. He clearly dislikes his change in personality, but doesn’t seem to know why it happened. He still tries to help him get to the top of the Organization, but questions why he even bothers. It left me interested to learn more and what impact this relationship would have on the story. But I still doubted whether Saix was going to switch sides or anything. I figured Saix was the foil to Roxas and the other "good" guys.

Axel: Nothing lasts forever, man. Least of all for a bunch of Nobodies. But you know, we'll still have each other...even if things change and we can't do this anymore. As long as we remember each other, we'll never be apart. Got it memorized?

Roxas: Ha ha, wow, Axel. That sounded ridiculous.

Axel: What? I thought it was pretty deep.

After playing Birth By Sleep, I was shocked at how different Isa was from Saix. Axel’s lamenting suddenly made perfect sense. No wonder he felt so confused and lonely. Saix is a completely different person from Isa. Compared to all the other Nobodies, he was by far the most different as a human. It completely changed my opinion of his character. After BBS, it was obvious to me that Saix had been Norted and was under heavy-duty mind control, like Terranort. When Axel said he did not have a best friend in Days, it was obvious that at one point he did. 

Isa was not just Lea’s friend; he was his best friend. All of Axel’s quotes about friendship and love suddenly seemed a lot sadder with this context. I felt like Isa deserved to get saved and have his old personality and friendship with Lea back. And I figured this was going to be a crucial part of Lea's character arc. In hindsight, a lot of the things that Axel said to Roxas and Xion felt like they were about Isa as much as they were about Roxas and Xion. Summer vacation, laughing with friends, memories being baggage that never did him any good. And about being together when things change, even if it’s only in memory. 

Sea Salt ice cream. The biggest sign of enduring friendship in Kingdom Hearts.

Both Lea and Isa had been trying to sneak into Ansem the Wise’s castle, and I always imagined that their involvement with Organization XIII was related to the Heartless experiments the apprentices were doing. It was a dark and intriguing implication that simply made too much sense. Not to mention quite tragic. It would explain why Axel talked like such a normal person in Days. Summer vacation, homework, and going to the beach. He didn’t seem like he joined the Organization by choice. I think this WAS the original idea, but was clearly changed by the time KH3 finished. Maybe it had to do with the cancellation of Birth By Sleep Volume 2. I don’t know. But here is why I think Isa's character got really butchered.

Xemnas: Our experiments creating Heartless were attempts to control the mind, and convince it to renounce its sense of self.

If there was any Organization member who seemed mind-controlled or lacking a heart, it was Saix. Bar none. Even Xigbar points this out. And of all the Nobodies, it was Saix who seemed the most desperately longing for a heart. Braig has been part-Xehanort for quite some time, and he was more than happy to become so. It almost sounds like Saix is also part-Xehanort in Days, but he doesn’t realize it. But Braig does and he’s mocking him over this fact.

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.

The experiments caused the test subject’s heart to collapse, including those of the most stalwart. How fragile our hearts are! My treatment produced no signs of recovery. I confined those who had completely lost their hearts beneath the castle. -Ansem Report 2

After Ansem’s initial experiment, Xehanort started to regain his memory. He then attempted to gain 13 dark vessels to make the χ-blade. Not only do we know that the experiments were for mind control, but we also know that most subjects could not endure these experiments. If there were a subject who could actually endure them without collapsing, they would be very valuable to Xehanort. Perhaps that person would be labeled “Subject X”? The description of the failed subjects sounds kind of familiar, too.

My pilot studies used a handful of subjects, but none possessed the fortitude to endure them. Ultimately, all suffered mental collapse. I knew it would be a heavy blow to lose a subject as unique as she.

-Experiments of the Heart – Notes on Subject X, Excerpt 2

Strangely, there is a Subject X in KH3 who could endure what others couldn’t, although this subject apparently has naught to do with being a vessel for the χ-blade. This female subject was being experimented on before Xehanort regained his full memory. It’s most likely Skuld. But I would argue that "Subject X’“ was originally not Skuld, but Isa.

In addition to story reasons, there’s also symbolic reasons why I think Isa was originally supposed to get Norted during the experiments. Some may accuse me of reading too much into it, but I disagree. KH does like its symbolism. Sora, Riku, Kairi. Sky, land, sea. Terra, Aqua, Ventus. Earth, water, wind. The Greek letter χ is hugely symbolic. Saix and Isa are unquestionably symbolized by the moon. The moon symbol on Isa’s clothing is a waning crescent. I don’t think this is random, for reasons I’ll get to later. The reason I think it’s significant is this: It is the final phase of the moon, which wanes until the light is completely gone -- a new moon. In other words, it is the phase right before the moon is swallowed by darkness and the light disappears.

Axel: Bet you don't know why the sun sets red. You see, light is made up of lots of colors. And out of all those colors, red is the one that travels the farthest.

I personally think that Lea and Isa had a Sun/Moon symbolism motif going on. I always wondered if this specific quote had a significant meaning. It always seemed just a little too random to me. But now I think I get why Axel says it. Axel loved watching the sunset in Twilight Town. It was his idea to hang out there all the time. The sunset symbolism is similar to the waning crescent moon in a way. As the sun sets, light fades, which is symbolic of the forces of darkness. 

As we know, there are 7 colors of the rainbow, as well as 7 Guardians of Light. If each of the characters correspond to a specific primary color, then Lea would definitely be red. So, he is actually foreshadowing himself with that quote. Red is the color which travels the farthest. He is basically saying that he is the one who will go the furthest for his loved ones. The Sun sets red which is Axel’s color. He is claiming the sunset as himself. The sun is the source of life, light and energy. Or I guess that’s how he sees himself, anyway.

Furthermore, many of Axel’s weapons in 358/2 Days are Solar based or relate to the Sun in some way. Corona and Prominence are Solar phenomena that only are visible to the naked eye during an eclipse. Prominence is one of his strongest as well. Ashes (relating to the Pheonix) and Prometheus are also associated with the Sun. 

And almost all of Isa’s weapons are Lunar based and named after feminine things like the Goddess Artemis and a specific flower. One is also named Horoscope and incorporates the Cancer symbol in it. Only Axel and Saix have weapons named after two deities associated with the Zodiac. Prometheus represents Aquarius (which is Yang, or masculine) and Artemis represents Cancer (which is Yin, or feminine). I think this was definitely the inspiration for their personalities.

Xemnas: As your flesh bears the sigil, so your name shall be known as that of a Recusant.

According to Master Xehanort, χ is "a most ancient letter" that represents death and endings. The letter χ lends its name and form to the χ-blade, which features two Kingdom Keys crossed in an "X"-shape on the blade and Keychain token. Does this quote prove Xehanort/Xemnas marks people with the sigil, on their flesh, then gives them new names? Why is Saix the only character we see who has this mark on his flesh? 

This sounds like the most obvious reason for Isa’s scar, in hindsight. He is marked as a vessel for Xehanort; a mark to signify the death of his old self as Isa. According to Nomura, people who have had Master Xehanort’s heart implanted in them will gradually be swallowed by it. The planted parts of the heart are captured rather than disappear. But Master Xehanort plans to control them completely. This was obviously very significant for Isa.

I have to give the series credit for its symbolism. The symbol x IS used as a symbol of death, among many other things. You see it in Egyptian pyramids and temples, where we find pharaohs buried with their arms and legs crossed in devotion to the sun god Osiris. It's also seen in the skull and crossbones imagery, and is a symbol of Nimrod. 

In Christian art, the Keys of Heaven, are a pair of keys that overlap and interlock, creating an "X." The crossed keys represent the metaphorical keys that Jesus promised to St. Peter, empowering him to take binding actions in leading the institution of the Catholic Church. In short, they are a symbol of the Pope's authority. In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus says to Peter: "I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on Earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on Earth shall be loosed in heaven". The crossed keys form an "X" which is the first letter of Christ's Name in Greek. Kinda looks like the X-blade, huh? So, Master Xehanort is only partly correct. X represents death, but also new life, depending on the circumstances. I bring this up to show why I don't think I'm THAT crazy for reading too much into certain symbolism. I think more thought is put into the imagery than people think.

Braig: "Which poor soul will it be?”

The Secret ending of Re:Coded made it clear that Isa was retrieved and taken to become part of the new Organization XIII without his consent. He had not even regained consciousness yet. Young Xehanort uses a name that starts with an "S", but it's kept it a mystery at first who is chosen. It is revealed later to be Saix. YX uses his nobody name, even though at this point in time he is recompleted as a human. It is also curious that Lea and Isa are wearing Organization robes, while the rest of the apprentices are wearing their normal clothes. If people are recompleted wearing the clothes they had on when they lost their heart, this is interesting. When did the writers decide that Lea and Isa were “apprentices”?

Lea: What a drag... Why do I always get stuck with the icky jobs?

After dreaming about Roxas, Lea wakes up, and the first thing he does is wonder what happened to Braig and Isa. The mention of Isa’s name is rather dramatic, as Lea hesitates and the music stops for it. He is clearly concerned about his absence with Braig. It seems like Lea is wondering if he will go back to the old Isa now that he has a heart. But they are nowhere to be found in the castle. In order to search for his friend he needed the power to move between worlds, and there is no way to do that other than to become a Keyblade Wielder. He saw a message recorded by Ansem the Wise in the past and, knowing it was dangerous, used the Corridors of Darkness once more to go talk with King Mickey and the others. Lea became a Keyblade wielder to search for his missing friends. Even after everything, Lea still seems to value his old friend and has some hope that he could go back to being the person he remembers.

He is quite shocked to see that his friend is now part of the New Organization XIII. Saix and Axel were not loyal to Xemnas. They had secret plans to take over the Organization, and Saix wanted to find out about the secrets Xemnas was keeping and why he was so interested in the Chamber of Waking. Moreover, Saix wanted a heart more than any other Organization member. Why would he then choose to become a Nobody again? It makes sense that Lea would be confused by this. Saix’s behavior is quite interesting, too. Master Xehanort smiles, glances at Saix, and he immediately leaps to attack Lea. It was like Xehanort knew that seeing his old friend would cause Lea to be startled and let his guard down. Saix stared blankly at Lea and no words were exchanged. Master Xehanort seemed to be in control of him, honestly.

Lea: You know, I was gonna come swooping in, Keyblade in hand! But I just couldn't get mine to materialize. Must be in the snap of the wrist or something.

When he gets back to Yen Sid’s Tower, he is brooding by himself. He seemed rather depressed at learning his friend was still on the enemy side. Later, he awakens to his Keyblade. I thought it was interesting that his Keyblade was named Flame Liberator. A liberator is someone who releases someone else from a state or situation that limits freedom of thought or behavior. It seemed to fit perfectly with the situation with Isa. Of course, Lea would be looking for Roxas /Ventus as well, but it sounded more applicable to Isa’s situation.

I was disappointed that there was almost no emphasis on Lea trying to save Isa in KH3. It felt like an afterthought when Saix randomly decided to switch sides. Not only that, but it was revealed that Isa simply chose to join the dark side and sacrifice his heart because of a girl. Which felt rather out of character. It was Isa who was reluctant to pick up “stray puppies”. And Saix hardly seemed like the type to carry a torch around for someone he only spoke to in the shadows, especially as a Nobody. 

It seemed like the writers were desperate to shoehorn in a female character or something. It just felt so strange and totally inconsistent with all the previous storytelling cues. While we may be told that Isa and Lea did everything for this girl and that's that. But I still think the story was building up to something totally different originally: Lea liberating his friend from Xehanort’s control, and the emphasis on their friendship with each other. Not a girl who was never even slightly alluded to.

One of the final scenes we see of Isa shows him as a recompleted person with a brand new outfit. And he sports a new symbol on his clothing. And while it might seem all too obvious that the star is for Skuld, I see it much differently. I don’t think it was always supposed to be for Skuld, nor do I think it is just a random symbol to look pretty. 

Most people today associate the crescent moon and the star as a symbol of Islam, but that is only a relatively recent development within the past 200 - 300 years and mainly used in countries that were part of the Ottoman empire. The symbol itself is much older than that and has been used in countries that are not Islamic at all. The conjoined representation of the crescent and a star has a long prior history in the iconography of the Ancient Near East. It represents either Sun and Moon or Moon and Morning Star, Venus.

Sun and moon joined together in a design symbolizes the union of opposites. Nearly in all the cultures throughout the world, the sun is a masculine figure and signifies strength and power. On the other hand, the moon is considered as a feminine figure and represents calmness and unflappability. The sun is the active principle whereas the moon is the passive principle. Therefore, the coming together of the sun and the moon is similar to that of the yin and yang or the good and the bad. They are complementary opposites, like Lea and Isa.

They also represent the fact that everything has a dark and a light side. Nothing in the world we have created is perfect. The essence of being human is the lack of perfection. There cannot be only good or bad in any person’s life. As the sun rises and sets everyday, every person has his days of glories and nights of darkness in life. Some people also believe that the union of the sun and the moon represents unity in diversity or the feeling of oneness. 

It is also a romantic symbol of love, symbolizing an emotional and physical union. There is a beautiful quote that goes, "Tell me the story about how the sun loved the moon so much he died every night just to let her breathe". It is a quote not just about romance, but also about the sacrifices we are willing to make for those we love. Furthermore it represents a deeper expression of unconditional love. It is easy to love the qualities that reside in the light; our greatest challenge is also being able to love and accept those that reside in the darkness.

Lastly, I want to point out that the symbol Isa wears in the ending is not the waning crescent from before, but is now a waxing crescent. This is the first phase of the new moon cycle after a period of darkness. The waxing crescent phase is the moon's first step toward fullness. And it's a very visible shift — the moon is completely invisible (while it's new) until a tiny sliver is illuminated. Thus, a fresh start begins anew. So, I think the symbol on Isa's jacket is meant to symbolize the special bond he has with Lea. I don't think KH3's writing handled this well, at all. But that is how I see it.