#islands. and it remained with him until 3 with his new keyblade

[themadauthorshatter]

So... I've been watching KH rewrites.

And while I'm not rewriting ALL of Kingdom Hearts, but I have a few ideas to change 358/2 days:

The organization has an agenda: find and kill Sora, Riku, and Kairi so they can stay out of the way, but with Sora sleeping, Kairi safe on Destiny Islands, and Riku running all over the place, their jobs just got harder.

The change the title to 358/3 days, because Axel's in on this too. This is the sea salt TRIO we're dealing with, not sea salt duo.

We see a majority of Roxas's beginner days, like before, but in between them, we see Xion with Axel, mainly because Xemnas trusts him enough to be able to incapacitate Xion, if she gets too fired up.

Oh yeah, Xion doesn't really look up and smile at Roxas when she first sees him. In game, her mouth just opens in a gasp and she clenches a fist. In her first days, she's strictly in 'attack anything that comes near me' mode because she's scared and confused. We see it happen when Demyx waves a hand in front of her face and she literally jiu jitsu throws him to the ground.

Xion stares at Roxas and Axel and follows them individually. Axel finds it creepy and warns her not to get any ideas while Roxas pretends not to notice.

Xemnas is more proactive, checking on and somewhat favoring Roxas and Xion, Roxas more than Xion at first before fully switching over to team Xion. Everyone notices, especially Larxene, and it's not a good thing. Except for Axel, who's okay to stay out of Xemnas's attention.

Larxene is a bitch. As in she not only tells Roxas to not use his keyblade, but also to hold still so she can kick him.

Lexeaus is a little kinder. He does still hit Roxas within an inch of his life, but he lets Roxas hit back, as hard as he can. Roxas does so, hitting him in the side, like by the abs, but not completely, and it only hurts Roxas more than Lexeaus, the big guy fights a pitied smile and tells him to try again. Roxas does so, hitting harder, and Lexeaus grunts and fakes it to look like Roxas really did hit him hard. Roxie boy apologizes, but Lexeaus brushes it off, complimenting that Roxas is a more than qorthy choice for the keyblade.

Zexion is not a fan of Roxas, because he looks too much like Ventus. He eventually has a silent kinshio with him and acts A LITTLE friendly towards him, but nothing serious.

Vexen has to be kept on a leesh so he doesn't lock Roxas in his lab and scientifically check him out. AT LEAST BEFORE HE GOES ON A MISSION WITH HIM. After that, he wants nothing to do with the kid.

Axel is a little weirded out by Roxas, at first, but warms up to him.

Marluxia is a little creepy in that while he trains with Roxas, like practice missions, he gets face caress-y and Roxas later asks Axel if he can not go on missions with Marluxia.

Xemans does not get like that with either of Roxas or Xion; all he does is ruffle/play with their hair and pat their back and shoulder.

AND XEMNAS ISN'T PORTRAYED AS A VILLAIN UP-FRONT. IN A PERFECT WORLD, THIS IS RELEASED BEFORE KH2!!!!!!

Saïx sees Axel's growing connections with Roxas and Xion, and he gets meaner because of it.

Roxas has his own version of anti-form or rage form, in the form of non-form, where he takes on a look very much like a mix of the samurai and dusk nobodies; he's bendy, fast, and hard as shot to lock onto, target-wise, but get hit and there's next to nothing that's going to save you. Roxas can only use non-form when he has no other optiin, and that's because he hates using it with a burning passion. Whenever he uses it, he has a hard time seeing things, so he relies on his hearing and any bright lights that catch his attention. Game wise, this is his limit break. When his health is low, non-form is activated with a cool looking transformation.

Non-form is the reason why Roxas is Xemnas's favorite, at first.

Xion doesn't talk to Roxas at all when they go on missions together, at least not until Roxas goes into non-form to save her, even though she doesn't really need saving.

Demyx was initially chosen to watch Roxas, but he saw the kid, newborn, scared, and confused, go into non-form and damn near attack him until Xemnas kicked him away. Saïx was the runner uo, but he gave the role to Axel, who successfully calmed Roxas down enough for the newbie to return to normal.

Xion warms up to Roxas, but is cold towards Axel, who returns the feeling, but also makes a deal with her; in front of Roxas, they have to play nice together or else Saïx is going to snitch to Xemans, who will have Xion ripped apart piece by piece until there's no putting her back together. Behind Roxas's back, however, they can fight all they want, as much as they want. Hell, they can even try to kill each other. BUT ONLY BEHIND ROXAS'S BACK SO HE DOESN'T SEE IT HAPPEN.

Roxas is given pretty lenient missions and it's not just because of his connection to Sora and Ven. It's also because of how unstable Non-form is.

Oh, yeah. Roxas hallucinates and hears both Sora AND Ventus, but it's only when things get too quiet. Xemnas has Axel keep an eye on him because he made friends with Ventus as Lea and had contact with Sora. If anything, the redhead can keep Roxas stable enough for them to bring him to Castle Oblivion and find Ven, when he's ready.

And he'll be ready when he dual wields keyblades, which Xemnas KNOWS wil happen because he's Xehanort and Xehanort apparently knows all.

He doesn't know enough because there's another person who can dual wield: Xion.

Xion is still a replica, but this time is made with fractures of Kairi's and Sora's hearts, Kairi being able to wield a keyblade because it got passed down from Aqua to her by accident and Sora because he's Sora.

When Axel is sent to Castle Oblivion and is reported as gone, Roxas's reaction is much more severe. First mission with Xigbar goes fine until the end, where Roxas not only gets hallucinations of Sora and all that, but also because he's experiencing a new emotion: GRIEF. He goes into Non-form and goes insane. Xigbar directs him to a dark corridor, where he's released right into the castle in The World That Never Was and starts destroying anything amd everything that moves before going all aroung the castle.

It soon becomes a really darkly comedic game of Catch The Kid Without Killing Him Or Letting Him Leave To Another World.

No one's fully successful, except for Saïx, who also goes berserk to stop and hold him so Xemnas can collect him. Roxas struggles in Saïx's arms and lets out scream after scream until Xemnas comes to get him and snap him out of it.

Roxas leaves Non-form and is led to his room by Xemnas, who compliments his ability to imitate emotions, despite not remembering how to.

Roxas, already trying to keep it together, breaks down again, and Xemnas holds him close, letting him get it all out, and explains that this is why they fight and need to fight warriors of the light, including Sora, Riku, and Kairi.

After that, Roxas is only allowed on recon missions until he's stable again.

It's fine though, because Axel makes it back a week later, saying he got knocked unconscious by Sora. He escaped and made it out a-okay, leavung out the part where he may have merced Vexen and Zexion.

Roxas is still glad.

Axel reports to Xemnas and Saïx and euns into Xion.

The threat still remains, but he's still playing nice for Roxas's sake.

Over time, Axel and Xion learn to get along and even become friendly enough to be sarcastic and jokey with each other.

It also helps that Xion also deals with hallucinations and her way of dealing with them is by running. Axel and Roxas followed her and came face to face with a GIANT heartless, maybe a more threatening version of the Dark Side.

All three fight it, but it knocks Xion and Axel away, the redhead gets up and is almost smashed into the ground before Xion lunges, going into her armored form. Roxas follows as well, in his Non-form.

The two make quick work of the heartless amd Roxas struggles to turn himself back, where Xion does it perfectly.

Axel compliments the work, but hugs onto Roxas before he can lash out at a frightened Xion, telling him to play nice or they're not having any more playdates and he'll be locked in his room 24/7.

Roxas turns back and he and a surprised Xion pass out, leaving Axel to groan at having all the icky jobs; he got the crap beaten out of him amd wants to pass out with the two children, but instead has to carry them back to the castle so neither die on his watch.

They all recuperate and pat themselves on the back for their victory.

Xemnas congratulates them as well, having let himself in the infirmary because he heard what happened.

Axel reports that they're all fine and the heartless is gone, and Xemnas is more than glad to hear it, at least before her turns to Roxas and asks if he was hurt, putting a hand on his shoulder.

He's fine, just a little dizzy, but fine.

Xemnas is more than glad to hear it, pushing back Roxas's bangs and playing with his hair a little before leaving them all to heal, ignoring Xion entirely.

She doesn't take it personally and instead remarks about how nice it was of Xemans to join them, for once.

Axel agrees with the sentiment and makes Roxas and Xion promise that they're won't be anymore surprise runaways like that again.

They agree, though Xion asks if surprise ice cream can be exempt.

Axel smiles and exempts surprise icecream.

They all become real friends after this point, and it includes them poking fun at each other("Er, I don't know my past so I'm gonna go Saïx berserk on anyone who asks, der, der, der"), sarcasm(Xion: "There really is no hiding from Saïx, is there?" Axel: "Well, there's always under Xigbar's bed, but no one's ever returned, so tell me how it goes."), and light name calling, like hot head, burning britches, and smoke and more smoke for Axel, hoodie and emo band for Roxas, and little miss pissed off for Xion, because she's funny to make annoyed and angry.

And they try more than sea salt icecream, like doughnuts, cakes, and eventually healthier foods that are still sweet.

Roxajs and Xion gonon missions together and eventually start more than a friendship.

Axel keeps an eye on them whenever he can and begins lying to Xemnas, saying neither are really progressing with their powers, but are maintaining, so there's that at least. Xemans is not convinced and asks an old question, considering how Axel has possibly the best memory out of everyone here: What happened to Sora? Axel feigns ignorance, because he TOTALLY helped Sora take out Marluxia.

Okay, but what about Naminé? More ignorance because she up and vanished. Maybe Sora stole her away or something, who knows? Teenagers do weird things.

Xemnas, more than a little fed up, notes that Axel's getting close to Rozas and Xion and admits that as much of a shame as it would be to waste resources, it'd be even more tragic to lose their own numbers, maybe even Saïx as well, despite how cold he's turned toward Axel. If it makes him feel better, he doesn't need to do the 'icky job,' Saïx can do it for him and he can simply watch.

Axel steps down and Xemnas twlls hom to tell the truth next time, if he doesn't want to lose anymore friends.

There will be a part 2 of this

[khhcfi]

KH: Melody of Memory [In-Depth Review]

Here’s the Tumblr version of my website post at Weebly, where I give an in-n-depth review of my thoughts and ideas for Melody of Memory.

You can also view this at my website:

https://dreamywrites.weebly.com/

Warning; very long post

News Update Review The past couple of days have been busy with updates on the new installments in the Kingdom Hearts series. We first have Kingdom Hearts: Dark Road confirmed to be released on June 22, 2020 as a mobile game. We will finally know what happened in the past to have Xehanort become a Keyblade Master of Darkness, not light. With five new characters confirmed to be present in the game in addition to Eqarues and Xehanort, we're super excited for the story.

The second news has everyone on the edge with Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory, especially as it's confirmed to be a rhythm game. Before the confirmation on June 16, a lot of people and myself included were curious yet dreading if it was going to a rhythm game using the same or similar mechanics like in Atlantica (KH2) and/or the Melody Catcher Reality Shift in Symphony of Sorcery (KH: DDD). I looked on the brighter side of things and thought of how the game would work involving interacting with music. The use of Unreal Engines for the graphics, Yoko Shimomura compositions as either classics or varied renditions of the classics, including the Kingdom Hearts: Orchestra Concert music, and the story revolving (mostly) around Kairi on her journey to find Sora. The 2020 Trailer showcased what Melody of Memory will look like and how it will function, better - maybe beyond better- than I and other fans initially theorized.

[Source: Google Images]

When I first read the word "melody" in the title, I thought it had relations to music; thus a rhythm game. It reminds me the Fantasia (1940) world called "Symphony of Sorcery" in Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance. The concept of "Sound Idea" to "dispel the darkness" (Mickey, KH:DDD) from the tainted musical score inspired another idea that I will explain later in the post. ​[Idea 4]

The mechanics are vastly different than the previous games, which makes it more exciting! The story of the game remained unknown until the trailer released today. Fans theorized Kairi would finally get her own game where she traverses inside her Heart to find any clue on how and where to find Sora. That seems to be the case as she has more screen time in the trailer.

Flashbacks This brings up the next and most important news. After confirming Melody of Memory as a rhythm game, it transitions into a static disruption that leads to cinematic cutscenes of what to expect and flashbacks. Fans already guessed the flashbacks belong to Kairi because her memories of Radiant Garden in Birth by Sleep were hazy.

[Screenshot Source: YouTube SQUARE ENIX]

The following 4 screenshots are most talked about because it visualizes what both the Kingdom Hearts Light Novel and Ansem Report 11 talked about.

In the Light Novel, there's a few pages where Apprentice Xehanort (really Terranort) asked where "the girl" was. Aeleus, one of the Apprentices of Ansem the Wise and a Palace Guard, told him she's sleeping in the "pod".

Personal Note: I thought the "pod" was referred to the Memory Pods in The Old Mansion in Twilight Town. The same pods that Sora. Donald, and Goofy slept for a year for Namine to completely restore the damage she caused in their memories in Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories. Sora's pod was bigger, resembling a white flower that when open, it's a blossomed flower. Since Terranort was examining her, I thought they used a pod like Sora's. Donald and Goofy pods are simpler and smaller. That would make sense for them to use since she was a child at the time of these experiments.

[Source: Google Images]

In the Report: “I have chosen one special girl. I do not know if she possesses a power like that of the Princesses. But, there is a chance, and this is an experiment. She may lead me to the place where the one holding the key is… I shall send her off to the ocean of other worlds.” ​ [source: Kingdom Hearts Wiki - Ansem Reports] Kairi was a child, 4 years old in Birth by Sleep. One year later after Terranort was given refuge in Radiant Garden under the Answem the Wise's apprenticeship, Darkness took over the world. Kairi, 5 years old, was sent to Destiny Islands. There was a meteor shower happening and Kairi fell from the sky onto the shores, where she was discovered by Sora [depicted in Kingdom Hearts Manga]. When she awoke, she had amnesia. With only her name remember, she didn't know where she came from, how she arrived on the Islands, what happened to her home and family. Five years worth of memory were "gone". In the KH universe, the memories are hidden than forgotten. Kairi claims to not know about her past in the original Kingdom Hearts game, but later states those memories are hazy for her when Aqua brought up their meeting in the Radiant Garden. My personal thought is that Kairi did have amnesia for awhile with the exception of her name. It's likely that over time she has flashbacks or visions or dreams so muddled and hazy that she can't find the truth. Another personal thought revolves around the ability of her Nobody, Namine, aka "The Witch". She's a unique Nobody born from both Sora and Kairi's Hearts after the events of the original Kingdom Hearts game. She has the ability to alter, destroy, and restore memories of Sora and those around him. Considering her abilities, I suspect she could uncover hidden memories buried deep within one's Heart. In Re:Mind, Riku states she's currently with the Twilight Gang - Lea, Isa, Roxas, Xion, Hayner, Pence, and Olette - looking for clues in Roxas's and Xion's memories. If given a chance, perhaps she can work with Kairi to fully unlock her hidden memories even though the latter is experiencing some flashbacks.

The Ark ​ Speaking of flashbacks, the picture below is also the talk in the fandom

[Sceenshot taken from YouTube SQUARE ENIX] It's machine that has made its appearance before.

[Image found on Google Images] This is the machine Sora and gang finds in a room in Hollow Bastion. At the time, we couldn't interact with it. We just entered this room and see this machine, fight enemies that appeared, and get a chest.

[Image found on Google Images] Later in Kingdom Hearts Union X (KHUx), we see Malificent in a room where the machine is. The name of machine is called The Ark. Next, we see Lauriam, who is the original person of Marluxio (Nobody), enter and tells her to leave. When she refused, he summons his keyblade and proceeds to attack her. In a different cutscene, Lauriam wakes up in a now damaged room, including the machine. Injured, he proceeds to exit the room with a limp. Given The Ark was damaged and later made its appearance in Kingdom Hearts and in the Trailer, I wonder if they're exactly the same machine? If so, that means that Radiant Garden is a section of the once Daybreak Town. Scala ad Caelum was built on top of Daybreak Town, as seen when Sora and the gang fought Armored Xehanort underwater. Or were two machines made - 1 in Daybreak Town (KHUx) and 1 in Radiant Garden (KH, Trailer)? Could it have been the Master of Masters who built them? Who knows?

Stars and Ideas

[Screenshots taken from YouTube SQUARE ENIX]

The following photos bring up other ideas I have.

Here we see Kairi and Riku in The Final World.

Idea 1: What if this portion is at the start of Melody of Memory like in KH3 as the opening cinematic cutscenes?

Tetsuya Nomura told the public the Final World and Dive to the Heart takes place at the end of the game's plot. So what if these screenshot are actually scenes that happen at the end or towards the end of the game, but are brought to the start of the game as an opening?

Idea 2: What if Kairi and Riku go to The Final World in the middle of the game because it's the hardest place to reach? Chirithy explained in KH3 that in order for someone to reach this place, they would have to either enter a very deep sleep that's near Death or actually die. Since Kairi has been sleeping for a year an Riku has been having strange dreams, they both enter the world by going under a very deep slumber that it takes there. Sora has done it countless times before, but he didn't realize it until Chirithy explained it to him.

Idea 3: After the duo arrives, they're encountered by a group of Stars

I have two options for this idea:

Option 1: The Stars gathered because they were drawn towards Kairi, a Princess of Heart.

Option 2: The Stars were waiting for them because Sora told about them. In the Secret Ending, Sora defeated Yozora (Good Ending) and was brought back to The Final World with him looking up at the sky then walking away. A year has passed, which leads to the events in Re:Mind, so Sora has been there all that time. I'm sure the Stars were there to unintentionally give him company and a sense of comfort inspite of the situation. He'd tell them about himself, friends, and journey to pass the time as well as training. Maybe some of the Stars made a promise to keep an eye for his friends should they arrive. Sora went off somewhere in the World.

Idea 4: This supports my “Personal Note” from earlier. Remembering this is a confirmed rhythm game and I mentioned the concept of "Sound Idea" being used, what if the Stars are gathered as a guide to help the duo through Kairi's Heart Memories that resided in Sora's Heart during the events of the original Kingdom Hearts game?

Remembering the gameplay screenshots and action in the Trailer, we play as Sora. If this is a Kairi game, or a Kairi-focused game, why are we playing as Sora with his original appearance from KH? I suspect it's because when Kairi's Heart resided in Sora's during the first game, her Heart contains Memories that Sora endured in his original clothing.

If that's the case, then it makes why we're playing as Sora accompanied with other characters to assist him. I'm sure we'll play as Kairi and the other characters soon after, but it's an interesting observation.

Similar to how Riku basically contolled Data Sora to fight against Data Organization  XIII in Re:Mind, I theorized it's similar for Kairi. The rhythm "game" could serve as a memory guidance for Kairi and the others. Bringing in the KHDDD Sound Idea from Symphony of Sorcery, what if they need to collect multiple Sound Ideas like from each world the rhythm has to offer to find Sora? If that's the case, then I wonder what song will be played if they harmonized all of the Sound Ideas together?

What if the clues she looking for is somewhere in the worlds Sora visited while she was inside his heart? I know Mickey, Donald, and Goofy are searching every world Sora's visited in reality but what if the clues are only something that can be seen or uncovered through the Heart...like through Princess of Heart?

@phoenixmiko: "The sound idea combined could form the Dearly Beloved for KHMoM or KH3's version."

A very good plausible! I can imagine Yoko Shimomura and her team playing a new rendition of the song!

Mentioned in: 

https://khhcfi.tumblr.com/post/621112208886284288

https://khhcfi.tumblr.com/post/621112566752690176

Kairi's Heart Fragments

Mentioned in my earlier tumblr posts: 

https://khhcfi.tumblr.com/post/621128405097775104/kairis-heart-fragments-in-kh3-remind-sora-had

[Screenshot Source: YouTube SQUARE ENIX]

One thing I’d like to add is that you can see Sora’s smile as he’s holding one of Kairi’s Pink Lights. I suppose he’s nostalgic of his brief quest to find all 7 Fragments and/or he’s comforted by the familiar presence.

 Other Observations

Something struck me when I looked back at The Secret Reports in Kingdom Hearts 3.

KH3 secret report 3:

Experiments of the Heart Notes on Subject X, Excerpt 1--

Subject was found in the central square shortly after dawn. Female, approximately fifteen years old. After seven days' observation, she spoke her first words, but could not provide a name. Subject exhibits signs of profound amnesia, and displays concern about which world this is. Her words suggest that she departed her home world with others, though she cannot recall the names of her erstwhile companions. All efforts to explore those memories have met with a rejection response.

After his initial experiments on me, Ansem the Wise ceased his research into the heart, his hand stayed by some fear I cannot fathom. Yet this new subject is like me: devoid of memories. She is the perfect sample upon which to continue my master's work. She, too, could benefit from it: by traversing the heart, we have a direct path into memory. I myself have begun to reclaim my lost past thanks to these very experiments.

Who is she? Whence has she come? These are questions no scientist could ignore. And the words she muttered, "May your heart be your guiding key"...

—Xehanort

[Source: Kingdom Hearts Wiki - The Secret Reports (KH3)]

Yes, I'm very aware that Xehanort is referring to Subject X - Skuld.

However, the bold section of the report really struck me odd in an interesting way.

"devoid of memories" = Subject X had amnesia upon arriving this world. The same thing that happened to Terra- Xehanort hybrid (Terranort) after Aqua saved him from falling into the Realm of Darkness. The same thing happened to Kairi upon arriving to Destiny Islands.

I don't know what Xehanort meant by "my master's work" specifically, though it may have to do with studying the Hearts, Light and Darkness, and unlocking The Door (Radiant Garden's Door)

"traversing the heart, we have a direct path into memory" = this is the most interesting aspect because we've seen this before. Recall the events of Re:CoM, Namine's first display of memory alteration to Sora and Riku by interfering with the chains in their Hearts. In KH2, Namine is restoring Sora's memories by correcting the chain links that greatly affect the others connected to him.

Xehanort reclaimed his "lost past thanks to these very experiments". As to which lost past he's referring to is most likely Master Xehanort's. Terra's memories may be (relatively) from his body-roommate after they merged.

Kairi is asleep for a year with Ansem the Wise and his Apprentices overseeing the process while using their knowledge about the Heart.

She believes her Heart holds clues to finding Sora. In doing so, it appears the memories hidden from her are resurfacing as flashbacks, bit-by-bit.

She's traversing her Heart to not only have a direct path to Sora, but also a path to her hidden memories.

She's traversing the memories stored in her Heart during her time spent in Sora's Heart.

Perhaps a reason why Terranort didn't recall much after waking up except for Xehanort's name is because the amount of memories the old master had was overwhelming Terra's mind. Paired with the strong powerful Darkness that amplified his own, it overpowered him to have amnesia for a while.

[cloudofash]

The Future of the Destiny Islands Trio - Part 3

Please read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

Sora and Riku : Now

Sora and Riku start off strong in Kingdom Hearts 3. The meet up shortly after the first world, Olympus, and from then on they stay in contact with each other to trace the whereabouts of Aqua, Ventus and Terra. Though they’re separated Sora has many moments throughout the game where Riku takes over his mind: he got excited when his phone rang thinking Riku was calling him (only to be disappointed that Ienzo answers), he parallels Elsa pushing her sister away, whom she loves, with Riku pushing him away, he wanted to call Riku and tell him what a blast San Fransokyo was, he made it clear to Riku that he was concerned for him venturing back into the Realm of Darkness, and he rushes to Riku and Mickey’s aid as soon as he hears they’re in trouble, he and Riku use their Combined Keyblade to stop the Demon Tower from attacking Mickey, he even teleports to Riku to save him from anti-Aqua’s wrath. The two seem about as close as ever.

Riku and Sora also have a crucial, defining moment together. This scene is powerful, intense. When all of their friends are lost to the Demon Tide Riku stands before it to protect Sora to the bitter end. All sound is drowned out and the only thing we can hear is Riku’s breath and the movement of thousands of heartless descending upon him. A bright light shines from him as his keyblade clashes against the darkness. He then gets burned alive by the flames of darkness and doesn’t budge until it withers him completely away. This scene is so important that the opening to The Final World mirrors his footsteps and his clash against the darkness. It’s so important that when Sora regains his body they show it to us a second time. This scene of Riku’s sacrifice is the main reason why many now believe that Riku is the light of Sora’s life, though there are many other examples in the series this scene makes it all too clear. 

For those who read the Sleeping Realm Theory, you already know that there is a ton of symbolism in the game that portrays Riku as light or divine. In fact, after we see Riku’s sacrifice the second time Sora calls to him and the light in the tunnel responds, and takes him to Olympus where Riku’s soul is hovering above the Delphic Tripod of Apollo, god of the Sun and Light. Also note that in order to get into Olympus, the Gods must first recognize you as either a true hero or you must be a god yourself. It doesn’t get any clearer than this folks.

We are given so much overt imagery that highlights Riku as a character. Nomura is blatantly telling us Riku’s sacrifice is important by showing it twice. He is telling us Riku is a figure of light, a true hero acknowledged by the gods. Riku’s sacrifice for Sora created the tear in the timeline. This is proven because when Sora pieces himself together the first time in the Final World and is sent back to the Graveyard, he sees Riku’s sacrifice a second time except this time he doesn’t spirit away to the Final World and instead starts traversing the worlds to awaken his friends’ hearts. Riku’s sacrifice is the catalyst that creates a chance for Sora to go back, save everyone’s hearts and alter the timeline. Sora and Riku’s relationship has reached a pinnacle, a climax where Riku doesn’t say but shows just how much Sora means to him: everything. He has shown that he is willing to give his life if it means protecting Sora even in hopeless situations where all are doomed to die. He fought to protect Sora with all of his heart. After this point, unfortunately, things go a bit south for Sora and Riku. When Sora reaches the Final World he encounters Namine as a star, and she tells him she was able to trace Terra. When Sora saves all of the guardians and time is rewound they all find themselves at the start of the Keyblade graveyard remembering that they had died once but forgetting everything that happened before they died. They run into Terranort a second time, but this time Lingering Will makes an appearance to stop him from harming the others. Thanks to this, all of Sora’s friends are alive by the time the Demon Tide arrives again and Sora’s resolve holds strong instead of wavers, Ephemer is summoned as a result and they are all spared from the Demon Tide. The events of the Graveyard are rewritten, which unfortunately means Riku’s sacrifice never happens. Sora and Riku’s defining moment together is completely rewritten and never happens in the new timeline…and the worst of it is that Sora doesn’t remember any of it.

The rest of the Keyblade Graveyard is spent with a larger focus on Kairi after Xemnas kidnaps here and Xehanort crystallizes her, meanwhile Riku fades away into the background and he has no further largely impactful moments with Sora or even Kairi. This remains true all the way through to the end where Sora decides to set off alone to search for her, leaving Riku behind. This also carries over into Re:Mind where a very large emphasis is placed on Sora saving Kairi while Riku is reduced to just another Guardian of Light with far fewer scenes and big moments. The worst part of Re:Mind is that Sora has not only forgotten about Riku’s sacrifice but he has also forgotten that he saved Riku. Shortly into the Final World, Sora tells Chirithy that “he’s already saved 6 hearts.“ 

The problem is that Sora actually saved 7 hearts: Riku, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Aqua, Ventus, and Axel. This isn’t a mistranslation because as Chirithy explains why he broke a taboo of nature he repeats that Sora used the power “to save 6 hearts”. This means that Sora has forgotten that he saved someone’s heart. Unfortunately at no point are we directly told who Sora has forgotten, but there are some hearts we can eliminate from the process. As Sora runs back through the events of the Keyblade Graveyard we see he re-connects with Ventus, Aqua’s hearts, saves Terra, then re-connects with Axel, Roxas and Xion before heading to Scala ad Caelum. Donald and Goofy don’t really count since they’re not guardians, but Sora watched once again as the Tornado sucked them up so he must have remembered or was reminded that he saved their hearts. This means that the person he forgot about was either Riku or Mickey, and we know this is true because he doesn’t think once to connect to either of their hearts until after he gathered Kairi’s heart pieces in Scala. There is no way to currently prove this, but given context clues we can deduce that it’s Riku that Sora has forgotten. When Sora connects to Riku’s heart he specifically says he is “tracing the connection”, in other words, he is simply using Riku’s heart to reach Mickey’s. (I give full credit to steamwhistler2 on Twitter who is also blowingoffsteam2 here on Tumblr, for noting that Sora forgot Riku’s heart!)

At no point during Sora’s connection to Riku are we shown Riku’s inner heart, his inner feelings which is unlike the other Guardians whose thoughts and inner feelings we get a glimpse of. When Sora jumps out of Riku’s heart all he says is “That makes 6″. He makes no comment on Riku’s heart, however, when he reaches Mickey they share a tender moment where Sora takes the weakened Mickey’s hands and ensures him that he’ll handle everything from there. It’s almost as if he used Riku as a bridge to get to Mickey but didn’t even stop to take a look at the feelings Riku felt in his heart. This tells me that the heart that Sora has forgotten he saved is the same one that he glossed right over on the quest to save Kairi’s heart. This was a missed opportunity for Sora, he could have finally peered into the heart of his dear childhood best friend and get a better understanding of Riku as a person. Sora has spent many parts of the series wondering why Riku behaves a certain way, why Riku pushes him away and although Sora has gotten a better understanding of Riku from their conversation at the end of KH2 it’s clear that there are still things about Riku that Sora doesn’t understand. We know this because Riku implies as much in DDD, that there are things in his heart that he is hiding. This was Sora’s chance to see what Riku is locking away and he skipped right over him for Mickey. 

Now before I get anyone depressed, I want to say that I believe this is all completely intentional. I believe that Sora wasn’t meant to see the deepest part of Riku yet, that’s most likely going to be saved for later on in the series possibly in the next saga. Sora was meant to drift away from Riku. Recall the symbolism I brought up in Part 2 of the rift between Kairi and Riku. They were named after the sea and land intentionally, Nomura said himself he wanted to convey their relationship with Sora. The artwork on KH3 Re:Mind title screen shows Sora and Kairi walking further into the ocean, eating paopu fruits without Riku. They’re going out into the water, further away from land. Further from Riku. It’s not just a matter of Sora leaving Riku behind to save Kairi, Sora has also forgotten Riku’s sacrifice for him and now he has forgotten that he saved Riku’s heart. This parallels greatly with Kingdom Hearts 1, where Sora only ever thought about Kairi while Riku was forgotten, left behind in the trio and became filled with jealousy, filled with darkness. (You can read my theory on that in my Jealous Riku series if you’re new to my posts.) I believe that Nomura planned this, this was meant to parallel Kingdom Hearts 1. However, because of the character development Riku has gone through he no longer let’s his jealousy consume him and instead decides to be supportive of Sora and Kairi’s closeness.

Though this may seem like Riku is stepping back and letting Sora and Kairi run away into the sunset together without him, we see that Riku is hiding his true feelings as he always does. He lets his true feelings slip a few times. Take a look at the conversation Terra and Riku have at the Land of Departure palace:

Remember that “the strength to protect what matters/friends” is “strength to protect your precious person” in Japanese.

Riku is beginning to undermine his place in the trio, he’s doubting his strength to protect his precious person.. Instead of jealousy, Riku is expressing self-deprecation instead. Mickey told Riku at the beginning of the game that he finally has the strength to protect his precious person and Riku seemed happy and accepting of that growth within him, but now Riku suddenly believes that it’s not enough. Despite his sacrifice being overwritten, Riku has it in him to give his life for Sora if the time ever arises and he feels it’s STILL not enough. This isn’t an example of a friend taking a step back and feeling happy for his two lovebird friends, Riku is showing signs that he is still jealous of Kairi’s closeness to Sora but instead of taking it out on others he is taking it out on himself. 

This is most likely the reason why Riku doesn’t even bother to mention his recurring dream of Sora to anyone, sans Master Yen Sid and Merlin. We see that it’s the first time the FF crew has heard of Riku’s dream, which tells us that he’s disregarding it and not considering it as a clue while Kairi believes Sora is in her heart. He clearly believes Kairi is what’s best for Sora now, he would have never thought that his dreams would have been the key to finding Sora. When Fairy God Mother states that Riku’s dreams are they key to finding Sora, Riku is in disbelief.

This Limit Cut scene gives me hope for the future. The fact that Riku is the key (maybe not the only key, but the main key) to finding Sora shows that despite Sora being spirited away to another universe, despite him forgetting Riku’s sacrifice, forgetting that he saved Riku’s heart and using Riku’s heart as a mere bridge to connect to Mickey, the bond between the two is unbreakable. Not even being universes apart can break their bond. Riku will always have a connection to Sora, he will always have a way to find him no matter how far away he gets from home. No matter how lost he gets, no matter how deep he is in a dark abyss. Riku’s connection to Sora, how far he is willing to go for Sora has all been made clear in Kingdom Hearts 3. I believe that in the next saga it will be Sora’s turn to show Riku what he means to him. 

[ravenaveira]

Ok, time for my review of Kh3 Re:Mind Dlc

This is gonna be long, so be prepared, and yes there will be many spoilers so if you dont want spoilers of the game then you probably shouldnt read this, but if you dont care then stick around.

I will start off with my unbiased and critical opinion.

From the title menu alone you already know what this game is gonna be about. Kairi is gonna be center focus, or should say specifically Sokai, and Riku will be virtually non existent.

Now I know what your thinking, well duh its all about saving Kairi of course Riku wont have that big a role and she’ll be the main focus, and to that I say no shit sherlock I already knew that. My issue isnt that it was Kairi focused because I already knew that and still pre-ordered the DLC, but my issue is what this title screen represents and my fears were proven correct.

Let me elaborate

Riku is just as much of a friend to Sora as Kairi is, from the beginning of the series its always been Sora, Riku, and Kairi, thats the way its ALWASY been. But from this title screen I could tell Riku’s bond with them wasnt gonna be present at all and I was right.

I’ll elaborate further

I know Im jumping way ahead here but bare with me, at the end of the game after Sora rescues Kairi they travel the worlds together, Sora notices he is fading away which is why he goes to the many different worlds he has visited but now with Kairi, spending his final moments with her before he finally disapears.

See the problem? Sora doesnt involve Riku at all in his final moments being alive, he is just completely absent during his entire remaining life. Sora only spends time with Kairi during his final moments, Riku wasnt shown with them once.

I know some people say well we dont know how long Sora was alive before vanishing and he was probably the one who organized the party, but did we see that though? did we see any signs that Sora was alive for more than a day or two? did we see Sora talking to anyone like he was setting anything up? NO, it was all about Kairi and Riku was completely forgotten.

I can understand if Sora wasnt dying then it wouldnt matter how much time he spends with Kairi alone, but Sora was fading away ANY SECOND and he didnt spend any of his remaining time with Riku at all, even at the beach party who is Sora sitting next to alone with before he finally vanishes? Kairi. That is inexcusable and a huge insult to Riku and his bond with Sora, hes just completely excluded, that is unforgivable.

These new added scenes to the ending actually made it worse than the original version of it, before we didnt even know Sora was around for more than a day and just assumed they all had a beach party afterwards to celebrate getting everyone back and saving the world, but now we know Sora was actually around for an extended period of time and made no effort to spend time with anyone other than Kairi, not even his best friend Riku did he spend time with for his final hours, that is despicable.

Another major issue is how Sora keeps saying his journey started with losing Kairi in this game, as if Riku wasnt ALSO lost that day, as if Riku wasnt the reason Sora kept on his journey even after saving Kairi and sending her back to Destiny Islands, as if he didnt fall to his knees and bawl his eyes out finally reuniting with him, as if he wasnt content with spending the rest of his life trapped in the Realm of Darkness with Riku, as if for the entirety of the base game of kh3 Sora wasnt constantly and only thinking about Riku and how many things he wished he could show him.

Apparently in Remind none of that happened, none of that mattered, it was Kairi that was his main motivation, it was Kairi that started his journey, Riku wasnt involved in it at all.

That is a huge issue with this DLC, it treats Riku like a side character and of little importance to Sora, in the base game they handled them fine minus that on instance in the Keyblade Graveyard where Sora says ‘Alone, Im worthless’ even though Riku’s right there but other than that their relationship and bond was handled very well but in Remind? practically non existent.

Now onto the story aspect, if your not into time travel and have trouble understanding the many variations of it then your gonna have a bad time because it gets VERY confusing to follow, which is why you should never introduce time travel because it becomes way too complicated to keep track of and not only that you also have to worry about things like paradoxes, ripples in time, alternate timelines etc. Its a complete clusterfuck to keep up with and manage so time travel really shouldnt have been introduced in this series.

Chirithy tells Sora that no matter what he cant change the past again, yet there are times where Sora does just that so exactly what cant he change? for example, when Roxas appears he asks Sora to do him a favor which is essentially getting the X back from Xemnas in their names. Sora does several things to make this happen and even Kairi gets a couple swings at Xemnas this time but then the two of them are basically caught and restrained inside shadow balls [pause]

See the prob? this is a huge change to that fight, Kairi never took a single swing at Xemnas, she just stood there and got snatched up, Roxas never asked Sora for help getting the X’s back from Xemnas, and Sora and Kairi never got restrained by Xemnas and knocked out.

Chirithy explicitly said Sora cant change what happened and no matter what he has to accept it for what it is, yet here he is, changing what happened. Maybe you could argue well this is an alternate timeline, even if it is that makes all of this irrelevant and means it never happened because the true ending is the one where it didnt happen, making this semi useful Kairi moment really pointless because at the end of the day its not canon, her being useless is the true outcome, none of this matters.

That is extremely disappointing, so even if you alter the past for the better it doesnt matter because its an alternate timeline and that timeline isnt the real one making this whole redo pointless and time consuming for a short DLC that was an extra 30$ to play.

So the time travel is very confusing and even if you follow it, it ends up being very disappointing when you realize none of it matters.

Moving on to some of the tied loose ends, Im glad they explained why Aqua froze up after saying ‘We stand together’ and I like how we get to see how Young Xehanort came to have the beliefs that lead to what he did and also MOMs subtle influence on him succumbing to darkness.

He told Xehanort that he would outgrow the robe and no longer need it because if he was truly powerful then he’d be the one controling the darkness, this leads to Xehanort later begining to travel without the robe and being corrupted. So we know now that MOM also influenced that as well and is very sketchy, even more now than he was before since this action greatly influenced what Xehanort eventually does and all the pain he caused, all of which would have probably never happened if it wasnt for him.

But thats just my theory and what I got from it.

I liked that we got to see Namine for a brief moment where Sora basically brushes her off and completely forgets about thanking her, this is a plotline Im pretty sure at this point is just never going to get resolved. He just tells her to go to the Final World and walks off, which makes no sense because Sora was surprised to see her in the original playthrough.

Another change was Lingering Will dying to protect Sora, again this never happened because Sora was busy fighting alongside everyone in the maze while Lingering Will and Terranort were fighting away from them. After Lingering Will died for him then Sora is pretty much squeezed to death by Terranorts Stand, or atleast knocked unconscious.

So much about these are just so confusing as to how they are happening when Chirithy said the events couldnt be changed I just stopped questioning it.

But atleast this time its made clear that Namine is the one who sent Lingering Will to help everyone and how she did it, so now people can stop saying Kairi is the reason everyone survived because it wasnt, without Lingering Will they would have all died a second time.

Basically the first half of the DLC is just recap with some minor changes and additions to the cutscenes, you get to play as other characters like Riku [optional] Aqua [not optional] and Roxas [optional] but other than that its basically the same thing all over again for the first 3-4 hours of the DLC, that is ridiculous.

The new content finally starts when Kairi is shattered, funny how the game gets good after Kairi dies xD I’ll stop.

Anyway once Kairi dies is when we finally get explorable Scala, but not without having to endure an insane fight with tons of heartless and nobodies and yes its more complicated than you think. It doesnt matter how many heartless or nobodies you kill, they will keep coming until you kill this one red heartless with way more health than your average heartless has.

After that you can pretty much wander around Scala as you wish and this is the only time where you can buy items or food so make sure to do that if your low on items. If your low on money there are minor enemies there that you can kill to get some so take advantage of this opportunity because your not getting another one.

Your goal in Scala is to basically run around, solve a couple puzzles, and get 5 of Kairi’s heart shards, revealed to having to be 7 later on. Sound fun? besides being able to see more of Scala’s layout, not really. But its a good place to take a breather before getting back into the big battles ahead.

Unfortunately your actually forced to fight the armored organization again but thankfully you dont have to do the ENTIRE final battle over, just that one section which I appreciate but wish we didnt have to do any of it at all.

So after we’re done Scala we get in MY opinion the two best parts of the entire DLC. We get to see what was going on with the rest of the keyblade wielders back home and it was INSANE and extremely well done, everybody had a chance to shine.

When everyone was swept away and Mickey was down and out, it was amazing seeing Mickey push himself back up and slowly with what little strength he had take on all the armor organization BY HIMSELF severely weakened, yet still powerful enough to hold them off and stand his ground. He really showed us WHY he is the King, so THAT I really enjoyed. It was extremely well done and one of the most memorable parts of the DLC.

The next part was even more insane and well done, which is us getting to fight as all the keyblade wielders against the armored organization and even get some cool dialog and team attacks in between, it was just amazingly well done seeing everyone work together and switching between characters was just so epic and enjoyable.

Honestly I could play those two parts over and over again and enjoy it everytime, their just that good and the most memorable in the entire DLC.

Coming back with Kairi and killing Xehanort together with all the keyblade wielders including Kairi this time was satisfying to see but it excludes Xehanorts and Eraquses final words, I mean yea seeing Xehanort have a semi happy ending put off alot of people but at the same time, seeing Xehanort come to the realization that he was wrong about everything and giving the Wayfinder trio closure by seeing their master one last time and hearing his apology to them just held more weight to me.

Im not saying I think Xehanort should be redeemed as easily as he was, but I feel like excluding Eraqus and their final words made the ending feel hollow, just ok we beat the bad guy, happily ever after now. Thats pretty lackluster and unsatisfying In my opinion.

Finally the ending....

Heres where Im gonna be biased and give my personal thoughts. Warning if your a fan of Kairi skip to the very end of the review where I give my overall rating

I hate the ending, for the reasons I listed in the beginning but also many others. I get the main focus was gonna be Kairi since the DLC was about saving her, Im not mad about the obvious, Im mad about the execution.

The Sokai agenda was so forced and apparent its not even funny, they shove it in your face so hard yet when Sora is talking with Chirithy he still refers to Kairi as a friend, really? your shoving this pairing down our throats just to have Sora still friendzone her? Im not mad because I dont want them together anyway but I hate the games being played here, you either want them together or you dont, pick a friggin side Nomura.

And while we’re on the subject, I hate, HATE, how this game is so heavily romance focused when Kingdom Hearts was NEVER about romance to begin with, it was always about friendship and bonds. Not in this DLC though, no now its all about Kairi and being with her forever, traveling the world together, holding hands, all this lovey dovey nonsense nobody invested in the plot could give a rats behind about.

Sure people who are into Kingdom Hearts for the romance of course they dont mind, but Im pretty sure MOST people invested in this series are in it for the story, not some stupid pairing, and I HATE how much they shove it down your throat because it is just so forced and obvious what they were doing.

This was all damage control for Kairi, who has been a useless damsel in distress and dues ex machina in every single game shes been a part of. I repeat, EVERY SINGLE GAME SHES A PART OF.

Kh1 - Kidnapped, unconscious, Sora needs to die to save her.

Kh2 - Kidnapped, held hostage, Sora needs to find and save her.

Kh3 - Kidnapped, unconscious, is killed twice, Sora needs to die to save her.

Do you see what I fricken mean? Every fuckin game its the same danm thing over and over and quite frankly Im sick of it. You might as well say this is a Mario game because Kairi is princess Peach always gettin snatched up and Sora is Mario always going through insanely deadly trials to get her back, and then it happens all over again.

This DLC was damage control for that, instead of immediately getting snatched up by Xemnas she actually gets a few good swipes at him to no avail of course, and then she fights together with Sora against armored Xehanort, all of which is just damage control for her not doing anything in the entire franchise and pandering to her fanbase that are constantly screeching for playable Kairi and for her to do something.

It was also damage control for how non existent their relationship was and what a joke its been since Kh1. They arent fooling anybody because thats exactly what this was, otherwise why you have to try so hard to CONVINCE us how important she was to Sora? why did Riku have to get sidelined so much just to boost Kairi up? why’d Sora completely disregard Riku as a part of his journey? why did Sora not spend ANY time with ANYONE for his final moments alive? its so obvious why. The only way to convince anyone shes actually important and relevant is to play down everyone else or exclude them entirely.

Congratulations, you got your wish, good for you fandom, but at what cost?

The time they spent forcing so much Sokai could have been used to tie up way more loose ends than there were but nope, gotta squeeze in that Sokai, thats what yall really here for right? fuck off.

The two best moments of the game was so short lived its not even funny, this DLC was full of so much padding in the first half, forced romance and pandering for damage control they forgot to actually make this a decent DLC.

Since I recorded my gameplay from start to finish I can actually tell you the amount of old content vs the new

3-4 hours of mostly what we already seen with a few changes, I only died twice

1-2 hours of new content, probably less because I got lost and died alot

That is unacceptable, 30$ for only 10% new content? that is a robbery.

Not only that but the worst part is the Limitcut episode, databattles have always been optional for competative players who like the challenge. Now you are FORCED to fight these INSANELY hard bosses, all 13 in order to get the final bits of the aftermath of the story.

WE PAID FOR THIS, this wasnt free we PAID for it and yet we’re basically told ‘Hey if your a casual player and want the rest of the story? well you gotta fight 13 of these insanely hard databattles that used to be optional but now their madatory for you to get the rest of your moneys worth. Too difficult? cant do it? well too danm bad, get good or go home we got your money already so screw you guess you’ll never know’

That is a fucking robbery and a huge slap in the face to people who are invested in the story, not proving their the best by fighting insanely difficult battles no matter what difficulty your on. It wouldnt be an issue if this was always the case, but these battles were always OPTIONAL for competetive players to do if they WANTED to, but now its mandatory and if you cant do it then oh well middle finger to you.

I couldnt even beat Vanitas, I fought him first and then Luxord and I couldnt beat either of them so I just said fuck it and went on youtube to see what I paid to see for free. 30$ wasted on a game I cant even finish, your out of your fucking mind if you think thats fair and excusable.

Thats why at the end of the day I give it a 5/10, its not good but its not bad either, its just decent. But if you asked me if it is worth the time and money? fuck no, my advice? watch other youtubers play it and keep your 30$

If you want it just to play as some of the characters, experience the new content for yourself, and play the databattles then by all means get it.

But if you think thats not enough for you to spend 30$ for then dont get it.

Overall Re:mind gets a 5/10, useless padding for majority of the first half of things we’ve already seen and cant skip because theres new scenes mixed in, forced romance that nobody but shippers care to see, severely lacking new content, and unfair extremely hard mandatory databattles just to see the final aftermath of the story which is kind of important setup for the next game.

Fuck this DLC, this was my fist time EVER buying a DLC for ANYTHING and thanks to this its probably my last. So thank you Re:Mind, for ReMinding me why I never bought DLCs in the first place.

Ps - Im so glad playable Kairi was optional, thats one of the only things this DLC did right.

[oveliagirlhaditright]

Wish there were some Sokai pregnancy fics or new parents fics out there. I can't seem to find any on fanfictionnet or ao3. Do you have any recs?

Here’s one from AO3, that’s really good and probably right up your alley: https://www.archiveofourown.org/works/20639528.

And an old, but classic one from fanfiction (and from the former queen of SoKai, sunflowerb): https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5753933/1/Letters-from-Home (edit: although, note that Kairi miscarries in this one:().Edit: Oh! Two more from sunflowerb. https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4153395/1/Glass-Half-Full (and then this one https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4131077/1/ON-SWiTCH is its companion piece) and this one: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4939579/1/Plus.

Another one from fanfiction (from a semi-famous author, back in the day) https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5660464/1/Fear, but be warned that it has a tragic ending: it’s highly implied that Kairi dies after giving birth to the baby:( But I still enjoyed reading it, years ago. The parts before that happened, mainly. Haha. 

...What else? Uhh, there’s this one. 

Oh. Here’s a really good old one, by Gray-Rain-Skies, who many of us oldies in the fandom loved back in the day. https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3401903/1/Fluttering-Capes-and-Secret-Identities

And this author is continuing their one SoKai lemon into this fic https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13408514/1/Island-Life, where Kairi’s pregnant and she and Sora have to deal with being parents. But it happens when they’re still teenagers/still in high school, so it has all of that kind of drama that you’d imagine.

And there used to be another good one--where Sora gets Kairi pregnant before he leaves on another adventure, and comes back years later to a daughter and Kairi is not happy with him at first (which is how she should be acting in that situation, tbh)--but I think it got deleted...

My fanfiction friend, Shadowjc32, once wrote a story about Sora and Kairi’s daughter, but I think he’s deleted a lot of his work:(

But I’m sure if you search things on Google, or perhaps even on fanfiction, “Sora and Kairi’s daughter (or “son” or “kid” instead, you might find stuff.

And while Sora and Kairi don’t have kids in this one yet https://www.archiveofourown.org/works/20297497/chapters/48117517 yet... I feel there’s a lot of foreshadowing that Kairi’s going to get pregnant. But if nothing else, Sora and Kairi talk about wanting to eventually start a family with each other and stuff. And this is just a really interesting story overall (Sora absorbs the darkness in the Black Box to save the world and Kairi--so it’s sort of a dark!Sora fic, but also not really. He’s still very Sora--and after that became the king of Kingdom Hearts, and Kairi has married him and become his queen to try and return him to the light)... but just note that there’s a lot of sexual content in it, if you’re not into that kind of thing: but the author has warnings about it on each chapter that has it, so you may be able to avoid it that way... or at least know what you’re getting into.

And while I fell behind on Shire Folk’s pretty famous “The Annals of Darkness” series https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3425579/1/The-Annals-of-Darkness-The-Beginning long ago (I read more of the original first fic than its rewrite here. And I don’t know if I’ve read much of any of the sequels), it’s prophesied in it that Sora and Kairi or Roxas and Naminé’s kid will eventually save the world for good. Whether they’ve had that kid yet... or are close to it, or ever will (maybe the prophecy was wrong or a lie), I don’t know. But they may have a kid in this... at least eventually. -shrugs-

Oh! And ParadiseAvenger writes some of that stuff. Like, here’s a SoKai lemon she wrote where Kairi’s pregnant. https://archiveofourown.org/works/693738/chapters/1275721?view_adult=true And then she also has written other stories where Kairi is unfortunately raped (ugh. I am so done with that trope in this fandom. But whatever.), and then Sora steps up and treats the kid like his own. Here are links to two of those that I can think of https://archiveofourown.org/works/709324/chapters/1310746, https://archiveofourown.org/works/1032787/chapters/2058058... though I think they actually end weirdly or tragically (usually she has happy endings). But just note that she writes some really dark and messed up things (I say with love, as I’m acquaintances with this writer), to try and draw light to some of these tragic things that happen to people:( I should also mention that a lot of her stuff is AU. Edit: And since my OCd won’t leave me alone if I don’t post this https://www.archiveofourown.org/works/18773989/chapters/44539129, ParadiseAvenger also wrote that one... where Kairi is forced into a brothel(:() and her captors make her unable to have kids (using dark magic); and once Sora and Riku save her, Sora’s sad for Kairi that they took that choice away from her. But at the end, her pure Light gets rid of the spell and she’s able to have kids again. The fic ends before she does or anything, but this story at least has them talking about kids (if you’re that desperate for SoKai + kids stuff), amidst all the bad things these poor babies go through.

This is all I can think of off the top of my head right now. But I know a lot of the SoKai fandom has talked about wanting to write domestic SoKai with kids lately, so maybe even more will pop up soon:)

I know I’ve had a headcanon about a SoKai daughter for, like, eighteen years now. Maybe I should finally write it...

Edit 2: And this one by PhoenixDowner https://www.archiveofourown.org/works/17243366/chapters/40550033 at least has them thinking that they want kids eventually, but not quite yet. It’s a sequel to her “Dear Sora/Those Who Dreamed” series, that she wrote before KHIII--trying to predict it--that’s now ended up an AU. You can read this whole oneshot without reading all of that. All you really need to know is that Sora died instead of Kairi (and Kairi and some of the others were in the X-Blade that Master Xehanort used to kill him)... before Sora received Kingdom Hearts’ power, became a god and used his powers to make the world better, before deciding to become human again to be with Kairi in particular.

Edit 3: And it looks like Xion92 is having SoKai kids stuff in their fic “The Red-Headed Prince”? Here’s a pic they drew about it at least. https://xion92.tumblr.com/post/616398709375303680/another-drawing-from-my-fan-fiction-the. And I know chachacharlieco from here draws a lot of SoKai family stuff for their Yakuza AU in particular. Here’s another art with them as a baby: https://www.deviantart.com/tenchufreak/art/commission-SoKai-Family-205787927

Edit 4: And I just found this fic last night. https://www.tumblr.com/search/sokai/recent/blog/leather-and-lace-lookbook

Edit 5: And this one has no kids or no kid talk, tbh, but it’s some domestic royal SoKai that you might like. https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3423111/1/Just-Like-That

Edit 6: And this text post https://oveliagirlhaditright.tumblr.com/post/616251158947823616#notes.

And someone on here wrote Stella as SoKai’s daughter and Yozora as Riku and Nami’s, etc. But I don’t know where it is.

Edit 7: And there’s another one that I wish I had the link to still... so if anyone reading this knows it, let me know. It’s SoRiKai, though (but actually balanced well on all three sides, instead of being the SoRiku show with Kairi on the side). Where our heroes have finally defeated all the Big Bads and now they just have to politic because Kairi’s the princess of Radiant Garden and has to rule their now. And the people hate their polyamorous relationship... and that Kairi was with Riku at all, when they heard what he did in KHI. The people threatened to literally tear them apart... and SRK went to Mickey for help, but he said he couldn’t help them since his hands were tied and he had to play the game. This made Sora go crazy, and he killed Mickey (as ridiculous as it sounds--and it was--the fic was written so well, I could suspend my disbelief) and was attacking the town people... and Riku and Kairi had to use their combined powers to lock him away. But during this time, Kairi had become pregnant with Sora’s child... and Sora remained in stasis for years, and Riku and Kairi had to rule as King and Queen (who now the people loved for protecting them from the “evil Sora”) and raise Sora and Kairi’s son together... But I think Kairi eventually dies in her grief. And years later, when SoKai’s kid is a teen with his own Keyblade, he wanders his castle and finds the legendary Keyblade wielder in the basement and accidentally releases him. Sora doesn’t know he’s his son at first, and that that much time has passed, but (even though he wishes they had just killed him), I think he finds peace in knowing he can teach his son now, be with Riku (perhaps), and probably live on and do what Kairi would have wanted him to. The story actually starts out with the prince finding the Keyblade wielder (that you don’t know is Sora at first), and goes back and forth between present and past until you get it all figured out... and it ends in present, of course. It’s actually written really well.

Edit: And I just wrote one where Kairi gets pregnant. https://www.archiveofourown.org/works/24226009

[nadziejastar]

KH3 Plot Holes and Analyzing the Weapon Names of Organization XIII (Part 1)

After beating KH3, I was immensely disappointed. All I could think of was how poor the story was, how many plot holes there were, how many questions I had that should have been answered, how unsatisfying so many character arcs felt, and how little closure we got on so many topics Nomura previously promised answers to. Almost all the issues that felt unsatisfying or poorly explained are now being tied to the next game, when by all rights they should have been resolved in this one. And most of these subplots are now being tied to Union X, when they had no foreshadowing that they involved that game’s lore or original characters ever before.

One of the main topics I felt NO closure on was Ansem’s six apprentices, as well as Lea and Isa’s connection to them. We know Nomura originally intended 0.2 A Fragmentary Passage to be a full-volume game, and that it would have made the characters “more complicated”. Given the scenes chosen in Blank Points, it seems we would have learned much more about the apprentices and their fall to darkness. Here are the things Nomura said in interviews that indicate how much more we were supposed to learn about the original Organization XIII:

What sort of people were Organization members 3-8 as humans?

We know now that they had ordinary lives in Radiant Garden. In BbS we’ve seen one part of Xigbar’s past, as well as members 3-8. 3-6 were apprentices under Ansem the Wise and did things like act as guardsmen, but Axel and Saïx were just young boys who were friends.

What happened to Ansem the Wise?

He is left wandering in the Realm of Darkness. Ansem the Wise, who had been banished to the Realm of Nothingness by his six apprentices, in KHII, wanted to release the Kingdom Hearts made from people’s hearts that the Nobodies of his apprentices had made. The machine that he used for that ended up exploding, taking him with it. It looked as though he died, but we know from the secret event in BbS that he was sent into the Realm of Darkness. Ansem tried to encode the heart’s form into data with his machine, but it didn’t go as planned and the machine went berserk. Ansem the Wise was thrust into the Realm of Darkness, forgetting all of his memories except those concerning Sora.

Did Apprentice Xehanort really lose his memories? Master Xehanort commandeered Terra’s body, and became Ansem the Wise’s apprentice. According to Secret Ansem Report 1 From KHII, the young man asked to become a test subject for Ansem’s research so he could get his memories back. After that they began the study of darkness, but did he really lose his memories? And are those memories Terra’s or Master Xehanort’s?

Why is Xemnas searching for The Chamber of Waking?

To find Ventus. The Chamber of Waking is the room where Aqua leaves Ventus sleeping in Last Episode, and is a part of Castle Oblivion. As you can see from Xemnas calling Aqua’s armor his “friend”, it seems Xemnas has Terra’s memories and he is searching for Ventus, making the other Organization members look for the Chamber of Waking. The only one who can solve the mysteries of Castle Oblivion is Aqua, though, so the Organization was never able to find it.

What are the details of Ansem’s apprentices fall into darkness? Most of what had happened with Ansem’s apprentices before their fall into darkness is unknown, aside from what was touched upon in Secret Ansem Reports. And the mystery of “the plan that was decided on after Axel and Saix entered the Organization” that was talked about in the Secret Reports in Days still remains. According to Nomura there is still much about the Organization’s humans that has yet to be said.

Where is Master Xehanort’s keyblade? As was stated in Secret Ansem Report 13 in KHII, while studying darkness the young Xehanort opened the door to the heart of Radiant Garden. This would have been possible if he had a keyblade, but according to the Ansem Reports 4-8 in KH, he did not yet know about the keyblade at the time. In Last Episode Master Xehanort used his keyblade up until going to the world of darkness, but what happened to it after that...? 

Roxas, the "Sora + Ventus" Nobody, was able to use a Keyblade. In contrast Xemnas, the "Terra + Master Xehanort" Nobody, wasn't able to use a Keyblade. Why is this?

I'd rather that point remain a mystery. It's possible that he intentionally wasn't using one.

The King seems to come in contact with Kairi, the heroine from Kingdom Hearts I.

Because the story takes place before Kingdom Hearts I, the part about Kairi couldn’t be ignored. However, the cause for her going to Destiny Island and her detailed history are not revealed. It draws on the mysterious special existence.

Why did Kairi end up with Sora and Riku?

It has to do with Aqua’s “magic”. Nine years before KH, Kairi was thrust into the outside world, and found herself on Sora and Riku’s world. Ansem Seeker of Darkness thought that she had been able to search for a keyblade wielder, but what actually saved her was the magic spell Aqua had put on her.

Lea and Isa also lived in Radiant Garden apart from the Organization members up to No.6.

That’s right, however they are merely residents at this time. They’re just innocent Frisbee playing boys.

Where did the Organization’s coat and mark come from?

Xemnas remembering his human years. One year after BbS, Xehanort as well as five other apprentices toss aside their hearts. Then the Nobody Xemnas was born, and the Organization which he creates takes a lot of things from his memories as a human. But as Xemnas had two people who he was, Terra and Master Xehanort, he takes from both of their memories.

In KH BbS, Master Xehanort's goal behind opening Kingdom Hearts was to "create a new world." But in this game, he says it is to "reset the world." Why the difference? What was revealed in this game was another piece of the truth: his goal was "this world is no longer any good, and we have to recreate it from scratch."

We are interested in why Xehanort would come to such a conclusion. At first, I did want to use a next game to dig down into how Xehanort went from that simple boy playing the chess-like game to an admirer of the darkness. But, if I do that, then the Dark Seeker Chronicle wouldn't have ended with KH3 after all (laughs.) Some ideas had solidified to a degree, but it's shelved for now.

The Dark Seeker arc has concluded, but since when have you been thinking about the conclusion?

The Dark Seeker arc has been a concept ever since KH2. In those days, I just kind of threw together and decided an outline. I was often told by the manga artist that they felt "the characters come alive however they want", and some parts did change from their original conceptualization, but in the grand scheme of things not much changed.

Emphasis mine on the mention of things changing from their original conceptualization. There are many details I suspect were changed, while keeping the overall grand scheme the same. I believe there was supposed to be way more backstory to the Organization than what we actually got. So I decided to look for possible clues in the story. 358/2 Days revolves around Organization XIII and I noticed that the names of their weapons are very unique and interesting. They may very well shed light on what the members’ backstories could have been.

In Days, the weapons are sorted into specific Gear types. The are three types that are the most interesting and most defining for the character. The first is Pandora Gear, “a formidable weapon with exceptional capabilities.” For Organization members, this Gear grants them two of their most powerful weapons; the color scheme is the same for all of the Organization's weapons provided by the Pandora's Gear, consisting of black, gold, and blue or red. 

The second is Zero Gear, “a powerful weapon that draws forth its wielder's true worth.” The Zero Gear is emblazoned with the Nobody insignia, signifying that for the Organization members, as well as others who wear the Black Coat, this gear produces that character's signature weapon. 

And finally, perhaps the MOST interesting is Mystery Gear “a weapon that draws forth its wielder's personality.” When equipped, it transforms the user's weapon into one that "draws forth its wielder's true personality.” Were these weapons a hint at the mysteries of Organization XIII’s true personalities? I will analyze all of Organization XIII’s weapons, but not necessarily in order.

No. IX -  Demyx (Melodious Nocturne)

Prefers to kick back with his sitar, and leave the dirty work to the water under his command.

Not all the Organization members have weapon names that are super interesting, possibly indicating a fleshed out backstory was not thought of for all of them during the creation of 358/2 Days.

Most of Demyx’s Sitars are named after musical or rock and roll terms. Basic Model, Tune-Up, Quartet, Overture, Old Hand, Da Capo, Power Chord, Fermata, Interlude, Serenade, Songbird, Rise to Fame, Rock Star, Eight-Finger, Concerto, Harmonics, Million Bucks, Fortissimo, Up to Eleven, Arpeggio, and Prince of Awesome (joke weapon). The joke weapon is a tennis racket and its name is a reference to the "Prince" brand of rackets, which have the general shape of Demyx's sitar. It may also refer to the anime and manga series, The Prince of Tennis.

Demyx’s Pandora Gear is Sanctuary, a reference to the English version of Utada Hikaru’s opening song. His Zero Gear is Arpeggio; musically, an arpeggio is the playing of notes from a single chord in rapid succession. Dance water, dance! His Mystery Gear is After School, a broom. It is probably a reference to after-school clean-up of a classroom, which is common in Japanese schools. For some, this assignment may have been given as punishment for getting caught sleeping in class. Because it brings out Demyx's true personality, it may be a reference to his tendency to "sweep things under the rug" or evidence that he was a rather ordinary person compared to the rest of the Organization.

No. XII - Larxene  (The Savage Nymph)

Wields sharp knives and a sharper tongue. Her lightning strikes as quick as her temper.

All of Larxene’s knives have French names relating to storms and heavenly bodies. Her weapon names translate to Sharp Edge, Thunderstorm, Whirlwind, Tempest, Carmine, Meteor, Star, Irregular, Dissonance, Eruption, Setting Sun, Indigo, Wave, Flood, Squall, Typhoon, Eradicate, Southern Cross, Luminous, Moonlight, and Damselfly (joke weapon).

Some of her weapon names seem like a reference to Final Fantasy games. Squall, Lightning, Typhoon (summon) and Luminous (the engine). Other than that, they seem to describe a stormy femme fatale personality. The Tempest is a play that was written by William Shakespeare in the early 1600s. When the play begins, Prospero, the deposed Duke of Milan, and his teenage daughter, Miranda, live on a remote island where they have been stranded for the past twelve years. Unbeknownst to them, the storm is the work of Prospero, who aims to shipwreck them on his island. It is a tale of magic, deception, revenge, and marriage. The main political theme of the play is gaining power and control over others. A reference to her role in Castle Oblivion? 

Her Pandora Gear is Vol de Nuit or Night Flight in English. Vol de Nuit is the name of a book from the French author Antoine de Saint Exupéry, in which a pilot is trapped in a storm. A major theme of the novel is whether doing what is necessary to meet a long-term goal is more important than an individual's life. Her Zero Gear is Lightning. Her Mystery Gear is Light Bulb. The light bulb is the symbol of invention, intelligence, and a great idea. Perhaps Larxene was a lot more complex and intelligent than we have gotten a chance to see.

No. XI - Marluxia (Graceful Assassin)

In the arc of his scythe, flowers grow and all else perishes. His pretty face hides ugly motives.

All of Marluxia’s weapons are named after flowers along with a typically negative adjective. The only exception is the Stirring Ladle, one of his joke weapons. His weapons allude to some tragic backstory, as well as his inner resolve.

The rest of his weapons are Fickle Erica, Jilted Anemone, Proud Amaryllis, Mad Safflower, Poor Melissa, Tragic Allium, Mournful Cineraria, Pseudo Silene, Faithless Digitalis, Grim Muscari, Docile Vallota, Quiet Belladonna, Parting Ipheion, Lofty Gerbera, Gallant Achillea, Noble Peony, Fearsome Anise, Vindictive Thistle, Fair Helianthus, and Solemn Magnolia. 

His Pandora Gear is Hallowed Lotus.The lotus flower is regarded in many different cultures, especially in eastern religions, as a symbol of purity, enlightenment, self-regeneration and rebirth. His Zero Gear is Graceful Dahlia. The dahlia is known to represent one who stands strong in his/her sacred values. His Mystery Gear is Dainty Bellflowers or Dainty Liliies-of-the Valley in Japanese. Bellflowers symbolize unwavering love. The Lily of the valley means "return to happiness" and most often symbolizes chastity, purity, happiness, luck and humility. It does apparently indicate that Marluxia was not conceived as an evil character, even as early as 358/2 Days’ writing.

No. X - Luxord (Gambler of Fate)

Life, to him, is just a game to be won...and he has all the time in the world to do it.

Nearly all of Luxord’s weapons are named after tarot cards, with the exception of his joke weapon. His joke weapon is Finest Fantasy 13, which takes the appearance of many compact discs; an obvious reference to how the PS1 Final Fantasy games came on multiple discs. 

The rest of his cards are named after the Major Arcana of the Tarot. The Fool, The Magician, The Star, The Moon, Justice, The Hierophant, The World, Temperance, The High Priestess, The Tower, The Hanged Man, Death, The Hermit, Strength, The Lovers, The Chariot, The Sun, The Devil, The Empress, and The Emperor.

His Zero Gear is Fair Game, his main weapon from Kingdom Hearts II and not related to the Tarot. His Mystery Gear is High Roller’s Secret. Instead of being related to the Tarot, its name and design is drawn from the superstition that four-leaf clovers are blessed with good luck. His Pandora’s Gear is The Joker. The Joker is often compared to The Fool in the Tarot deck. They share many similarities both in appearance and play function. 

Nomura said that the “Wild Card” that Luxord gave Sora while he was fading away will come into play later and that perhaps it holds the key to Sora's revival. The Fool Arcana is often also called the Wild Card in Tarot decks. The Fool represents new beginnings, having faith in the future, being inexperienced, not knowing what to expect, having beginner's luck, improvisation and believing in the universe.

Luxord wrote a report in 358/2 Days indicating he admires children for some reason:

“I find myself envying the children. Perhaps some fundamental difference exists between those who become Nobodies as adults and otherwise. The longer you have lived, the more you are positioned to lose with such a gamble. But a child can look forward, unafraid even in the face of immeasurable odds. I doubt they even see life as a gamble the way we do.”

[squiishiichaos]

The Right Way to Share a Paopu

Got a bit carried away by @novallion‘s Scala Headcanons and may or may not have written a little something...

Hope you enjoy! <3

Scala looked different this time.   More serene, perhaps?  

Roxas wasn’t sure, but there was something about the school this time that hadn’t been there the hundred other times he’d returned from a mission.  

The distant bells that always sounded so eerie in the past rang gentle in his ears on each warm breeze that swept through the loose strands of his hair, and the normally nauseating scent of the inlet down the bank from him soothed his tense nerves like the refreshing taste of sea salt ice cream sweet on his tongue.  With the sun still high enough in the sky to not yet pepper ominous reds and purples across the bruised horizon, it was quite possibly the first time he’d returned to the Islands without the blink of mocking red eyes to guide him.   It was certainly the first time he’d made it more than ten seconds without a single contender finding him tip-toeing through these normally thriving fields, ready for yet another losing battle.

Maybe that’s it… He thought with a calm exhale.   Completely alone in this tiny stretch of the world, Oblivion and Oathkeeper were—for once—safe and sound in the sheath of his heart. Content to just stay there so long as no threats divided his attention between the many wards thrumming painfully in his ears and the command of battle boiled into his blood.   Without the pull of their contesting powers draining at his energy, he felt…alive.  

Real.

A laugh managed its way through his lips for the first time since he left.   Soft as the keychains chiming in the distant towers and bright as the afternoon sun.   Another followed shortly after, then another—until he found himself unable to stop the chortles from stealing his breath with every teary-eyed inhale.  Felt the tug of a cheek-burning smile split his lips with a cheer he didn’t know he had left.

Finally, he thought with a fist bunched tight over his pounding heart, I’m home…

Home.   He tasted that word in his head again.   Swirled it around and felt the warmth it crackled together in his chest.   Let that sensation of belonging somewhere settle right next to the fluttering trickle of anxious energy that yearned to see everyone and everything.  To put away the jingling set of keys hooked to his waist in the tower beside all the other Masters’ and no longer feel the burden of Oblivion and Oathkeeper weighing heavy on his mind.   To no longer need the damned coat siting heavy on his shoulders or the resistances it offered.

In fact—he quickly slid the black gloves off his hands and shoved them into his pockets before undoing the zipper down his front and letting the heavy material slide off his shoulders with a solid thud.  One heavy exhale departed his lips as he felt the humid breeze off the sea brush through the thin cotton of his black tank top. Over all the scars and bruises left from a life spent constantly at war, inside and out.

With a shiver, he accepted the cold of a coming evening with a fond gaze out over the polished white steeples of the school hovering off in the distance.  Already, he could hear the excited holler of students finishing classes for the day amidst the crow of teachers barking homework and assignments over the growing chatter.   Could see the flicker of keyblades flashing into existence only to sizzle away within the void of corridors back and forth between the various islands.  The splash of potions and ethers cracking open over the sparring grounds where all the Apprentices kept hope alive in blasts of magic bright enough to shine like little worlds themselves.

Is Scala always this beautiful? Roxas wondered, taking a step closer to the teeming courtyards of the school.   Had there always been so many flowers blossomed beneath his feet—painted in this many colors?  

He couldn’t remember.  

How couldn’t he remember?  

The words—I’m sorry—sat heavy on the tip of his tongue with a bitterness that left all the warmth in his chest depleting against the chilling bite of the cooled winds.   But he refused to say them—not this time.  Not when they could actually mean something now.  Something besides another heartless goodbye or worthless excuse.

Instead, he steeled himself with a deep breath and took a couple hesitant steps closer to the front gates of the Academy.  They were some of the hardest battles he’d ever fought in his life.  So much harder than the scores of Heartless he had mowed down just two nights ago in the desert sands of Agrabah.  So much denser than the throng of Nobodies he’d spent two whole weeks clearing out of the darkest depths of Atlantis.   A challenge he had spent so many days and nights running from that the very idea of looking at it now—facing it now—made him rethink his entire strategy of returning in the first place.

No more running away, he told himself with all the confidence he could muster. Folded it into his fists at his sides and kept trudging forward with all the strength he could gather.  

He made it a sum total of three steps before his eyes betrayed him and focused, instead, on movement amongst the many tall flowers.   Felt Oblivion threaten its way into his grips, and willed it away when he saw that familiar crest peak out at him from within blades of emerald green

A chuckle tugged a grin across his lips as the Flood—Shaded a bright magenta pink—practically vibrated with a nervous energy that had Roxas unable to stop a fond coo from departing his lips.   It shook under his breath of acknowledgement, skittering a couple inches closer with the apprehensive blink of eyes filled with far more sadness than something so sweet and innocent should ever harbor.  

From within the shadows of its tiny body, it drew forth a small brick of chocolate, holding it out in an offer that set Roxas’s heart galloping.

Another coo fell from his lips as the Blonde shrunk down into a crouch and accepted the offered treat in one hand before lifting the creature gently in his other.   He carelessly threw the offering into his mouth and nearly melted where he stood. As it was, it took all his strength not to puddle into his weak knees at the rich flavor that coasted over his tongue, accented at the very end by the dust of just the right amount of salt and hint of sugar to have warmth flooding through him with twice the strength it had just moments before.  

Of course it’d be my favorite flavor, he thought with a heavenly sigh, unable to keep his fingers from petting over the flood in affection.  It purred up at him, sinking into his palm as he scratched beneath its chin with a light chuckle.   Filled with a breath of confidence, he brought the little creature up to his lips and pressed a light kiss to its forehead with a slight nuzzle of admiration.

The Flood softened to a rose pink—a color and emotion that even Roxas couldn’t quite identify, but it made him somehow even more flattered than the chocolate.   “Did you miss me, Uno?  I certainly missed you.”

Uno blinked up at him silently, still vibrating like an unsteady heart.  It gave the subtlest nod of its head, but it was more than enough for Roxas’s heart to bleed out to the small creature.   “Well, you won’t have to miss me anymore, okay?  I think…” A laugh exhaled from his nose as he dropped his voice into a loving whisper, “I think I’m here to stay this time.”

Roxas laughed aloud as the little creature darted out of his palm and landed with a scratch of claws on his chest.  Another giggle and a chuckled hey fell off his tongue while it scurried up his torso and whipped around his shoulder.   A coo wrestled itself out of him when the little Flood nuzzled its whole weight against his cheek before slipping under his chin and settling against his other ear with another light and quiet purr.  

Roxas gently stroked his fingers over its curled shadows as he continued, “and I have a little something to commemorate my return, but I need your help again.  Think you can do me this one little favor?”   The Flood didn’t even hesitate to nod.  God, it made his heart ache. “Alright well, I still have this,” he reminded it, reaching into his pants pocket and retrieving a familiar pastry box.   Opening the lid for the first time in weeks, he relished in the scent of bitter sweet fruit that filtered up from the delicate treat folded together in his hands.

Taking a corner of the tart, he broke off a piece of the golden dessert and offered it to Uno with a grin.  “Here, bring this piece to Sora and then bring a few of your pals back to me, okay?”   The Flood sniffed at the piece for one quick second before blinking at him and disappearing in a void from his shoulder.

Once more alone in his little corner of the world, Roxas began to rip off pieces of the Paopu tart for each of his remaining friends.   He set aside three for Xion, Lea and Isa; another three for Aqua, Terra, and Ventus, and then two more for Kairi and Namine. He begrudgingly tore off a small chunk for Riku and placed it into a far corner by itself.  

After separating each of the remaining bites to another section of the small case, he was left with only one larger—untouched—chunk to divide.

Just as he began to work out how to break it up, Uno returned to his shoulder in another cold void of swirling energy.  Behind it, several red eyes blinked to life in the several magenta shaded Unversed that made his arms their new perch.  He offered each and every one a smile before gesturing to the box in his hand with a flick of his finger against its side.

“Alright, guys!  I need each of you to take one of these pieces to my remaining friends! They better get to them, too, okay? No eating them along the way! Promise?”  He placed a finger to Uno’s nose and chuckled when it gently pressed its forehead back in acceptance of his terms.    

But before it could void off to find any more of his friends, Roxas stopped it with a light scratch at its chin.   It gently nuzzled into his cheek as he whispered, “I need you to do me one more favor, Uno.    There’s someone else who needs a taste of this.   I bet you can guess who, right?”  With another tap to its nose, the Flood shaded that unfamiliar rose pink and gave a hearty nod of its head before scurrying off his arm and dashing down to the ground.  Roxas screamed after it, “bring him back to me, Uno!  I believe in you!”

When he looked back at the final chunk of paopu tart that remained, he decided with a sigh, guess I’ll just have to split it once he gets here…if he does.  Despite the somber note of loneliness that always came when the Unversed left him—by choice or not—he couldn’t help another light chuckle.

Finally, he thought, I’m actually…home…

  ~0~0~0~0~0~

              “What?!” Vanitas barked at the little rose shaded Flood practically dragging him to his hill.   “What is the hurry?  Where are you taking me?  Why are you that fucking color?!”  

           Needless to say, Vanitas was…

           Confused.  Confused was a good word.  

Imagine his surprise when the little abomination leading him along to his favorite hill ported into his bakery right in the middle of whipping together a mean batch of Red Island specials and all but ushered him out of his sanctum with all the strength its tiny body could muster.   It was bad enough he couldn’t fucking identify why the little shit was currently the sad color of Aqua’s favorite high-end Rosé, but nothing topped being out in these student infested grounds without actually knowing why he was even here.    

And the little shit was not helping to clear up any of these annoying mysteries.  “Are you ever going to tell me why you dragged me away from a perfectly good batch of cookies?”

“Hey, be nice to your Unversed!” Vanitas stopped mid-step and groaned into the evening air.  

Of course.  Of fucking course that’s why he was dragged here.   Why else would one of his own minions escort him across the grounds if it wasn’t for the one—the only—Roxas?   How hadn’t he sniffed this plot out from half a mile away?

He was getting soft—that was the only explanation, unless Blondie here had a better one to light up his fucking day.   “Whatever.  What the hell are you doing here?”

“Watching the sunset—what else?”  Like it was the most obvious thing in the world.   Granted, there really was no better area to watch the sunset than this spot right here.   Standing at the edge of the sea—right where Roxas had his toes inching dangerously close to the incoming waves—was the only place in Scala one could appreciate the true depths the sun plunged into the world below theirs.  Where a person could simultaneously feel high-tide inching up the bank, as if displaced by the golden light shimmering off blocks of white stone miles below, and also enjoy the first rays of silver moonlight from behind clouds of indigo and violet.     It was also the only place dark enough out in this lamp of perpetual light that offered a venue to stare into glowing crimson eyes and beyond to the many glittering worlds hiding behind the shining wards of the Castle.

It was…a sight, surely, but that was never what Roxas came for.  Not his—

He caught himself with a sharp glare at the traitor now buried in Roxas’s lap.  He still wasn’t sure what that color was—what it meant—but it was starting to irk him.  He could feel the itch to destroy something bubbling up in his veins; could feel his annoyance blossoming as yet another—less friendly—Unversed somewhere on the school grounds.  Felt the electricity of his strength flaring into a big enough force he could get the fuck out of whatever this was before he was tamed by whatever fucking spell had his minions curled up to the goddamn Traveler like a motherfucking cat.

But the more of it that trickled out, the more obvious his tension became, and the harder it was to hide.   To just jump into the many shadowed corners of the School and disappear.  Especially now, when those cerulean blue eyes looked like a tsunami just waiting to come crashing onto his golden shores.   Contrasted by the coming dark of night, they were somehow still so remarkably blue that he wondered—not for the first time—how anyone could fear the darkness with such a sharp sword on their side.  

Yet, even with all that light reflecting back at him, the echoes of a storm ricocheted in the glare the Blonde shot him.  It was so familiar in so many fucking ways, but it was also unique in a way Ventus’s and Sora’s never were.   It carried a weight in it that was more feral, than anything.   An instinct that went for the throat and didn’t let go until his target was silenced once and for all.   Even now, when there was no one around to protect. No heartless to fight.  No nobodies to kill.

It was just the two of them—and honestly?  

Vanitas was scared.  

He couldn’t stay here any longer.

He needed to go.

To leave.

To find a nice, lonely little hole where he could sit and just—“Vanitas, wait!”

He jerked back before Roxas could even touch him, stumbling back a few steps in blind fury.  Harsh words settled at the tip of his tongue, but he made the mistake of looking up.   Of peering into wide sapphire pools and seeing the fear and longing that reflected there.  The regret. It reminded him of so many times before. All the times before.  

Of nights lying on this very spot—together—in the quiet of a somber night.  Sharing scars and emotional battles while watching distant worlds blink in and out of sight with every dragging hour that passed.  Of being so close he could smell the sweetness of sugary syrup lingering on Roxas’s lips atop the metallic aftertaste of blood long since shed.   Of being so distant even warmth could hardly travel between them, even when they were pressed side by side.  

Recalled so many sleepless nights watching the exhausted Blonde fight sleep for his sake, only to lose the fight with his head balanced precariously on his shoulder, arms bunched between them and huddled in that goddamn coat.  So many early mornings that came before the sun could dare rise and peppered by the furious rush to regain lost space before anyone could admit how far they had come.    Could see that maybe—just maybe—between the two of them, someone might actually have a heart.

That was ridiculous, of course.   In this bright sea of Somebodies, they were both Nobodies.   Shadows of original, carbon copies who would always be more—do more—than either of them ever could.  

The difference was that Vanitas had accepted that.  Why couldn’t Roxas?

“This is pointless,” he growled out, meeting that steady gaze with a narrowed leer.  “I’m going back—”

“No, Vanitas, please—”

“What?!” He barked, edging up on the Blonde until hardly an inch remained between them.   Close enough that he had to look down his nose to accommodate the couple inches he’d grown on the Blonde these past few years.   Even with that advantage, Roxas still met his muddied glare without a flake of hesitation. “What possible reason could you have to want me around?!”

“Plenty!  Do you want me to list them?”

“Do you have a list?”

Roxas nodded with that same flaming confidence. “I do, actually.  Do you wanna know what it starts with?”

“No.”

“Because you’re the only one who never tried to stop me.  Do you wanna know the second reason?”

“I already told you—”

“Because you were the only one who waited for me.” Vanitas’s glare darkened.

“That’s bullshit and you know it!”

“Is it?”  The heat had left his voice, leaving a weak shudder in its wake.   “Is it?” His voice cracked with a desperation that had Vanitas reeling back from him in a mix of apprehension and speechless anger.  “Then, where are the rest of them?  Huh?!  Where are they?!”

“Roxas, what are you—”

“Do you remember this?”  The Blonde reached into his pocket and pulled out an all too familiar brown box from its depths.  It looked innocent enough, but he didn’t need the top opened to already know what special secret lay hidden within.   But Roxas still opened it up and showed him the broken-up contents with a heavy frown.  

Vanitas felt his chest seize.  A mix of jealousy and regret pooled in the barren depths of his torso, beating at his ribcage with enough force to almost make him think he might actually have a heart in there.   Seeing such a small piece remaining from the much larger tart he’d originally given the Blonde carved a scar far too deep for his already shattered emotions to take.

But there was no retribution hiding in those big blue eyes.  Just wave after wave of pooling sadness.  “I gave a piece of my heart away to all of my closest friends,” he told him while daring a step closer, “but not a single one of them is here, except you.”

“And what?” His voice was surprisingly soft—almost neutral—despite the turmoil building in his chest.  “Why does it even matter?”

“Because I want to share the final—largest—piece with you.”  His breath hitched and eyes widened.    With…me?

He swallowed the knot in his throat and steeled his eyes into another piercing glare.  “You don’t mean that.”

“Don’t I?”

           “Fuck no—Roxas…” He cut himself off with a moan, turning away from those fucking blue pools so he could think straight for a minute.   Darkness be damned, how did one deal with this?    

You know what you want to do.  

Of course, he did, but it couldn’t be that easy.  It was never that easy.  

Instead, he fell back on the basics.  “Is this because you’re leaving for good this time?  Because I will not—”

“No, Vanitas, I’m here to stay.”

“—be blamed for letting you…what?” That made him turn.  Had gold falling on darkened blue with a disbelief that had him reaching out to touch what he was now sure was a fantasy.  But no—it was real.   He felt the radiance that came off the man before him—knew it better than any other energy on this damn island.   “You’re what?”

“I’m back,” Roxas told him, daring to inch back into his space.  Close enough Vanitas could feel his breath warm against his skin.  “I’m home.”

“And this—” Vanitas asked with a flick to the box still seated in his hand, “—is how you tell me?”  

“What?  Upset I’d give your gift back to you?”  No, I’m upset I wasn’t first on your list.

“I’m not gonna eat something that’s probably already spoiled sour.” Roxas’s lips split with a smile despite his jeer.  

“What, afraid of trying your own baked goods, tough guy?”

Vanitas rolled his eyes.  “Of course not!”

“Then, why not?  Is it because it’s me?”  Something about the look in those eyes—the lingering trace of doubt—softened the tight grip he had on his words.

He admitted, “yes,” and watched that bright smile immediately droop, but he saw Roxas work hard to keep it from turning into a frown.  

Even still, he saw how painful it looked to swallow the knot in his throat to get his next question out.  “Do you…wish it was someone else…?”

“No.”  The word was bit out from between clenched teeth and said with a tightness that did nothing for the seeds of doubt sewn deep into that fragile gaze.   His fists curled painfully at his side, cutting crescents into his palm for blood to trickle slowly out of.  

For once, he doesn’t know what to say.  He always knows what to say. Why is this somehow different?  

He doesn’t know, but it only makes him angrier.  “Look—”

“No, it’s okay.”  It hurts. It hurts.  It fucking hurts—that sound. That voice.   You did that to him, he heard his inner demons croak with glee.  You’re the reason he’s a dam seconds away from overflowing.  “I understand, Vanitas.   Thanks, for meeting me here...”  

He made the mistake of looking up again.  Of plunging into sapphire pools without any spells left to keep breath in his lungs or carry his prone body back to the surface.   Without any harness to keep him afloat, he could do nothing but drown in the hope that remained bright within the navy stroke of night shadowing normally cerulean depths.  Felt it pulling him deeper and deeper into the pain and suffering he saw etched there in every scar they’d given each other over the years.    Toward the wealth of regrets both of them have teetered on since the first time they opened that door and decided two shadows could be the ones who held the fort in the eclipse of darkness.

Vanitas licked his lips and let a sigh out through his nose.   Felt the electricity at his fingers diminish just enough that he could touch the Blonde’s skin without scorching flesh.   Roxas let him—trusted him—with a frown.    But no matter how hard he tried, the words wouldn’t come.

So, he let go and sucked back in a breath with a glance at the lit body of the inlet.  “Guess that’s it, then, right?”  When he heard no reply, he gave an uncaring shrug and turned around on a heel. “Well, good—”

“You know what?  Fuck this.” Vanitas had barely processed the words before a strong hand was on his shoulder and turning him back to glaring oceans of determination.  He opened his mouth to question him—maybe tell him to watch his language—but then choked—literally—on the piece of paopu tart Roxas pressed into his mouth.  

Vanitas’s eyes bulged open as the Blonde threw his arms up in victory and barked a laugh of triumph.    A startled moan was swallowed up as the saccharine taste of paopu mixed with the salty sweet bitterness of pastry dough, filling that empty spot in his chest with a warmth he’d never felt before.  It had a smile threatening at his lips for the first time in years, refusing to leave even as he fought to brush it off with a roll of his eyes.   It was made further impossible when he watched Roxas share the most pitiful high-five with the rose-pink Unversed before coming back to him like a puppy back to its master.

The Blonde made the mistake of showing him the last little sliver of Paopu that remained stark against the dark cardboard, just waiting for the trouble Vanitas had in mind for it.    His lips split into an impish grin as he sneered up at Roxas and calmly folded his arms across his chest.

“You know, can’t say I like it.   I think that’s the last one I’ll ever make.”  The Blonde Keyblader pouted—actually pouted—with a light jab to his arm.  

“You asshole, you know you’re gonna have to make more, right?  I already shared a piece of it with Sora and you know he’s gonna—”

“Hey, Roxas.”

“—Be begging you to…” Cerulean blinked up to mischievous gold with a confused furrow.  “Wha—”   Flashing forward, an afterimage remained where he once stood, a benign-enough shadow smirking in triumph.  It was enough of a distraction for Roxas to gape and frantically look up to try and find his real body.  

From behind him, Vanitas grabbed at his shoulder and turned the Blonde with a jerk, earning himself a startled hey—before he shoved the final piece of tart between his lips and toward the back of his throat.    

He barked his own laugh of triumph whilst Roxas coughed and hacked on the pastry.    His Unversed shot him a harsh glare as it scrambled over and lightly patted the Blonde on his foot.  The Blonde held up a hand to reassure it and gulped down the rest of his gift with a forced swallow.  

Letting out a heavy breath, he glared up at Vanitas from his stance doubled over and panting.  “Seriously?!  That is not how you share a paopu fruit, you asshat!”

“What?  You’re the expert now?”

“Well, yeah!” Roxas challenged, though there was no fire behind his words.  “I’ve had to listen to Sora moan and groan about the legend for literal years now!”

“And he’s definitely the leading authority on all things mythological.”

“Really?  Really?!  Is sarcasm the only response you can muster after almost killing me?!”

Vanitas grinned with a shrug. “That’s what you get.”

“For wanting to be friends with you?!”  Roxas stifled a chuckle and worked hard to keep a grin off his lips.  “Is it too late to take that tart back?”

“Only if you want it as an Unversed.”  The Blonde actually thought about that for one long moment before narrowing a glare on him and releasing a breath through his nose.

“As…tempting as that sounds…friends is better.”

“Friends is—”

“ROXAS!!!” Vanitas took a knowing step back as blue eyes widened in horror.  A dark snicker fell off his lips just a second before Sora crashed into Roxas with a wide smile, tackling him to the ground.  

Vanitas watched with a truly impish grin as Roxas struggled to pry the brunet off while fending off cuddles from his other. 

Making a scene of ignoring that cerulean plea for help, he couldn’t help a light chuckle.  Friends…I think I can live with that.

[echoequinox]

Xion Appreciation Week - Day 2

I’m writing a fic a day for #XionAppreciationWeek, in honor of my favorite and the best Kingdom Hearts character! :’)

I’ll be posting them both here and on AO3. You can find the AO3 fic here, titled “Affection”.

The rest, I’ll put links up as I post new chapters!

Day 1: Remembrance >Day 2: Return Day 3: Separation/Reunion  Day 4: Light/Darkness  Day 5: Ice Cream/Seashell  Day 6: New Beginnings Day 7: No. XIV (Free Day)

She was alive. Amazingly, astoundingly, against all odds, Xion was well and truly alive. She took another sharp breath, the air stale and musty, but it was a breath. Alive. The battle with Xehanort, the Keyblade Graveyard, the “second Keyblade War” as they’d started calling it, had brought her back. Even she didn’t understand how it was possible, but she was here, returned, to the land of the living. This time as her own person.

She’d been to Twilight Town, with the others, back on the clock tower with Axel and Roxas, SaÏx and Roxas’s old friends, from the Other Twilight Town. She’d gone to the beach, gotten to see everyone else - Naminé, the eerily familiar Ventus and his friends, Riku and, eventually, Kairi. They’d said she could stay wherever she wanted: Destiny Islands, Twilight Town, somewhere on another world. She wanted to, really, but she wasn’t… done.

When she’d asked Riku for the favor he looked at her like she was crazy. Then, he explicitly ASKED if she’d gone crazy, and she’d laughed. It took some coaxing, but eventually he had agreed, on the condition that he would come along with her, as an escort, in case something went wrong.

So they walked the dark streets, feet tapping against black pavement, passing darkened windows and glowing signage, more a strange, bioluminescent geographical feature than something man made. It was called Dark City, but it wasn’t a city, really. Nobody lived there, nor had they ever. It was a world created by and for Heartless, a twisted version of the place they’d used to live before their hearts were stolen away by the dark. It always gave her the chills.

“You alright?” Riku asked, noticing her shiver.

“Yeah. I’m fine.” She continued walking, though he moved a bit closer, an instinctive, protective gesture. She hadn’t wanted him to come along, and had told him as much, but now, being here… she was grateful for the company.

He stopped, and it took her a few paces to realize he wasn’t beside her, turning to see what had stopped him. He looked up at a large building, still imposing despite the top missing - a deep, diagonal cut having severed it.

“I fought Roxas here,” he said quietly and she shuddered, nodding.

“I remember.” He gave her a look and she smiled. “They keyblade he threw you. The little flashes of memory. That was me. Or, I guess, what was left of me.”

“Right,” he nodded slowly, turning back to stare at the building.

“Did you two do that?” she smiled, looking to the cut, and he laughed.

“Sora and I, yeah. The fight against Xemnas was… something else.”

“I wish I’d been there to see it,” she sighed. “I’d love to have watched him get what he deserved.” Riku was silent and she shifted uncomfortably for a few moments. “Um, let’s… keep going.” He moved to her side as they started again, heading through streets and alleys, jumping at every movement, Riku ready to summon his blade to fight the Heartless. But none came.

Instead, their walk was silent and tense until they finally reached the edge, a cliff leading down into the nothing below the city, where an enormous pile of ivory rubble rested.

“There it is,” Riku said, as Xion inhaled sharply.

“Yeah,” she nodded. She slowly moved to the edge of the cliff.

“W-wait,” he started, running towards her as she sat down, scooting so her feet were over the ledge. He stumbled to a stop before joining her, sitting and staring out at the remains of the Castle That Never Was.

“So this is it, huh?” she asked softly. “All of Xemnas’s hard work, all of the data, all the hearts we collected. It’s just this big heap of trash, now.”

“I guess so.”

“And Xemnas is the only one who won’t be coming back,” she smiled. “Everyone else gets another chance. Even people like me who never deserved it.”

“Xion…”

“I mean… Like, literally, not… you know, in a ‘beating myself up’ way. I wasn’t a PERSON, Riku, you know that. I was just Sora’s memories of Kairi. Now…” She held out a hand in front of the castle rubble, flexing it. “Now I’m me. I didn’t think I could do that.”

“I’m glad you are,” he laughed and she smiled.

“Me too.” Eventually, her smile fell and she faltered. “What… do people do?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, I’m… new at this. What are we supposed to do now?”

“Well, I don’t know,” he replied, scratching his neck. “I guess we… just sort of wait for the next adventure.”

“You’re not gonna wait,” she smiled, poking him in the side and he laughed.

“No, probably not. Sora could be out there somewhere, hurting, and I want to help him. Once I take you back to wherever you want to go, I was probably going to head out and find him.” She nodded, scooting closer and resting her head on his shoulder. He went stiff for a second, before wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

“I could come too,” she offered. “I don’t… have anything holding me here, and I want to be useful.”

“I think it’s something I have to do myself, Xion,” he said softly and she sighed.

“I know.”

“You’ve got Axel, and Roxas, and Naminé to look after you and help you, though,” he smiled. “Things won��t be that bad.”

“I don’t want to be ‘looked after’,” she replied, frowning. “I want to DO the looking after, or help people somehow, o-or… I don’t know, I want to DO something, Riku. I hate this sitting around.”

“It’s called relaxing,” he teased and she huffed. “You can’t work yourself too hard, Xion.”

“I went on missions all day every day for a year,” she pointed out.

“Didn’t you go into a coma at one point?” She opened her mouth, then scowled.

“Yeah, but… that wasn’t the work’s fault.”

“Sure,” he laughed and she groaned. “Seriously, Xion, you’re alive now, and your own person. Don’t you want to explore that?” She frowned, hugging her arms tight, curling her legs under her.

“I don’t know how, Riku. I don’t… I don’t know who I am. Everybody else seems to just… KNOW. Axel has his life with Saïx, Roxas has his friends and Twilight Town, Ven has Aqua and Terra and his little cat thing. Everyone else has a PLACE. Somewhere they belong, like, their… their own niche. I don’t have a place of my own. I don’t belong in Twilight Town, or Destiny Islands. I belong down there.” She pointed down to the rubble and Riku sighed.

“What about Naminé? She feels out of place too, I bet. The two of you are similar, you could go to her.” She shrugged weakly. “I can’t tell you your purpose, Xion. It’s something you have to find for yourself. Isn’t there anything that you like?” She frowned, brows knitted together as her thumbs rubbed against her arms. She’d been to so many worlds on missions, what did she like?

She liked sea salt ice cream, obviously, but that was more about the people than the dessert. She liked… the desert. Agrabah was nice. It was HOT, but it was nice. She felt like she could get lost there, like no one would notice her in the hustle and bustle of their lives, and she could just live, unnoticed. She liked the eerie feel of Halloween Town, the strange monsters that lived there making her feel more normal and human by comparison. She scrunched her face up, thinking. Wonderland. Beast’s Castle. She liked-

“Flowers?” she said finally and Riku chuckled. “Don’t laugh!”

“Sorry, I just… wasn’t expecting that. Though I guess, with a name like Xion...” She frowned, shoving him lightly and he laughed again. “So, flowers. I dunno, roll with that.”

“What do you mean?”

“You can… garden?” he tried. “Like, grow flowers, learn about them, I don’t know.” She frowned.

“I... never thought about that.”

“That can be like… your thing. You can garden, and grow flowers for people, and from there you can figure out who you are. Meeting new people at the… flower store, or whatever.” She laughed, shaking her head. “Even something as simple as flowers can help you figure out who you are, Xion. You just have to be open to it, and looking, and you’ll find it.” She paused, meeting his eyes before moving forward and hugging him tight around the midsection, head on his shoulder as he rested his hand on her head.

“Thank you, Riku. Really. It means a lot that you’re helping me with all of this.”

“I mean I’m not gonna grow the flowers for you,” he laughed, then softer, “but yeah, Xion. Of course.” She held him for a long moment before pulling away, awkwardly scooting down a few inches, eyes returning to the destroyed castle. “You almost ready to go back?”

“Yeah,” she said softly, standing. “Just about.” He stood, then paused.

“Want a little alone time?” She nodded and he patted her shoulder, walking back down the street as she stared into the gaping pit. This had been her home for an entire year. Walking its halls, talking with its residents, doing missions for Xemnas. It was all she’d known. But the second she met someone new, the second Riku stepped into her life, that was all shattered. And for the better. She'd learned about Sora, about where she came from, her purpose in life. And then, she'd rejected it. Fighting back against Xemnas in every way she knew how, and eventually even dying for it. It had felt so good to rebel.

She fished a thalassa shell from her pocket, the last one remaining from her time at the Castle. Roxas had hidden it on some world, some act of preservation that she’d thank him for forever. But now she held it out, outlined against the Castle, taking in the soft pinks and yellows before letting it fall from her fingers, clinking against the street before teetering into the abyss below. The last piece of herself tied here.

She drew in a labored breath, turning to Riku who was trying to pretend he wasn’t watching her, and smiled, giving a soft wave before heading to join him, to leave Dark City. This time, she wouldn’t return. No more RTC. Not ever again.

[dnmeinster]

Sorting Through Kingdom Hearts III Part 2 - What I Wouldn't Give to Go Back in Time

Spoiler Warning

Link to Part 1

Dream Drop Distance is a polarizing entry in the Kingdom Hearts series.  While it answers why Organization XIII needed to be stopped in KH2, and provides clarity to what happens in KH3, it's the time travel that is most controversial.  Did it break the series?

The first instance of time travel was not in Dream Drop Distance.  It was in KH2.  Pete, after being verbally assaulted by Maleficent for his incompetence, whines:

"Pete: Oh...I miss the good ol' days...What I wouldn't give to go back in time...What I wouldn't give..."

Pete's wish is seemingly granted by the appearance of a white door.  This door leads to the Timeless River, which is really a past version of Disney Castle, before the castle was built.  But how did this door appear?

The wizard Merlin is summoned to Disney Castle to investigate the results of Maleficent and Pete's meddling with the past.  He knows exactly what is happening and conjures up another door to Timeless River.

Merlin: "Somewhere in that world, there should be another door that's identical to this one.  I believe our enemies are utilizing that door.  As long as it remains open, the castle will be in grave danger...While you're there, the nature of that world may tempt you to do something dark.  You must resist that temptation at all costs!"

These events establish not only that time travel is possible in the Kingdom Hearts universe, but that the past itself can be altered and shape the present.  The nature of time travel is inherently magical here, as Merlin the wizard is the only one shown that can create a pathway to the past. Pete unintentionally does so by wish, which I suppose is a form of magic.  So magic is the only known means of temporal manipulation until Dream Drop Distance.

Here we go.  Somehow time travel through magic makes a lot more sense than the alternative method contrived of in Dream Drop Distance. There's a detailed Reddit post that sums it all up here, but I'm going to go over it myself, starting with Young Master Xehanort's (YMX) explanation of his displacement in time.

"YMX: There are restrictions to movement in time.  First, you must leave your body behind to do it.  Then, there must be a version of you waiting at the destination.  Upon arrival, you can only move forward as per the laws of time.  And you cannot rewrite the events that are destined to happen."

So the first step of the new time travel rules is that you must leave your body behind.  Terranort did this when he and his apprentices experimented on the hearts.  They split themselves into Heartless and Nobodies.  And apparently, Heartless, or specifically special Heartless that retain their form, have the capability of traveling through time.

The second step is that a version of you must exist wherever you are traveling to.  Terranort's Heartless aka Ansem travels back to speak with his younger self on Destiny Islands.  This act allowed YMX the ability to travel forward in time.  This is hinted within the game:

YMX:  "Ansem first sent me on my way, and then placed himself here when the time was right.  That was what set all these events in motion."

By saying he sent him on his way, YMX literally means he sent him on his way to the future.  But what about all the other time-traveling Xehanorts?  Well, Nomura clarified this in an interview.

Nomura: "As a result of the actions of the Brown Robed figure [Ansem], they all were in a state where they had gained the power to transcend time.  The Brown Robed figure explained the fact.  The thirteen were summoned at the same time, this time thanks to Young Xehanort who borrowed that power.  However, apart from Young Xehanort, this does not mean all the members transcended time."

So not only did Ansem's trip to the past set the events of Dream Drop Distance in motion, it also provided every Xehanort with the ability to travel through time, supposing they follow the previously established rules. My head already hurts.

YMX takes advantage of his gifted abilities by gathering the now free-to-move-through-time Xehanorts and messing with Sora and Riku's Mark of Mastery exam.  However, according to the third rule, he cannot change destiny. Which perhaps is why Xehanort ultimately fails to acquire all 13 darknesses and suggests they meet at "the fated place."  The final clash was never going to happen in the World that Never Was.

The three steps/rules are simple enough, but their execution is messy.  And there's one more caveat to time travel.

YMX: "While I know this future now that I have lived it, returning to my own time will erase the memories and experiences I have gained here.  Still, my appointed path is now etched in my heart, which will first lead me to seek the outside world."

So the events that happened in Dream Drop Distance were to be forgotten by all the time-traveling Xehanorts once they returned to their own times. But not every Xehanort present in the World that Never Was was time traveling.  We'll get into this shortly.

There are a few more instances that need to be touched upon first.  One, Sora and Riku time travel in this entry, but only once, with the assistance of Master Yen Sid's magic.  He sends them both back to Destiny Islands just before it falls to darkness.  Two, according to Nomura, since Ansem is also present at the point they time travel to, he becomes a "portal himself as a result of contact with Sora and co., making it possible for the other Xehanorts to intervene within the dreams."  Xehanort being a portal is an important aspect to the end of KH3. And lastly, Yen Sid mentions that Merlin and the fairies are aiding Axel in "a place that's more...temporally flexible."  Once again, reiterating the connection between time travel and magic.

Let's move on to KH3.

The most blatant example of time travel in KH3 once again involves Xehanort.  Multiple Xehanorts are existing at the same time.  Let's look at that list of 13 darknesses again:

Master Xehanort

Young Master Xehanort (YMX)

Terranort

Ansem, Seeker of Darkness

Xemnas

Vanitas

Xigbar

Saix

Luxord

Marluxia

Larxene

Riku Replica

Xion

It's safe to assume that Numbers 7-13 are not time traveling and exist in the present (though Number 12 could be iffy).  So what of Numbers 1-6?  We must turn to the Secret Reports for an answer:

"Xemnas cannot exist in the present because there is already a Xehanort here: the old man in charge. The old man's humanity prevents his Heartless and Nobody, others vanquished in the past, and his younger self from being denizens of this time.

"To circumvent this, Xehanort is using prototype replicas I created in the past as containers, plucking his other selves' hearts from the time they existed."

This report, written by Vexen, states straight out that the only non-time traveler is Master Xehanort in his original body.  This must mean that when Sora defeated Ansem and Xemnas, it was not Terranort that was reformed but the original Xehanort.  But how?

Terranort is a special case. Like Numbers 7-13, it is a separate entity, Terra, bearing Xehanort's heart.  But, unlike 7-13, it was a direct one-to-one transfer, where Master Xehanort transferred his entire heart to Terra and seemingly took over the driver's seat.  Terra's mind and heart became controlled by Xehanort, at least until both Aqua and the Lingering Will drove Xehanort from his mind.  That left an amnesiac Xehanort at Ansem the Wise's door in Radiant Garden.

Xehanort regained his memories through his experiments on the heart and went on to pursue his original goal: 7 lights, 13 darknesses, and the Chi-blade.  When Ansem and Xemnas were defeated, it had to be Terranort that reformed.  But it didn't have to stay that way.

In need of 13 darknesses, Xehanort could return his heart to his original body, leaving a fragment in Terra to continue on as Terranort.  At this point, it became easier for Terra to fight back against Xehanort.  And he eventually prevails, driving out what remained of Xehanort and becoming himself once more.

Why do I find this scenario to be most likely?  Well, we already know that Master Xehanort in his original body is his "most future self."  YMX says as much in Dream Drop Distance.  So that means he was formed last, after Xemnas and Ansem were defeated and Terranort was reborn.  Terranort could then go on to recreate his original self, leaving only a fragment behind to retain a darkness for his list.  This is speculative, yes, but barring further clarification, it's what I'm sticking with.

Looking back to the list, 1 (Master Xehanort) and 3 (Terranort) aren't time travelers, while 2 (YMX), 4 (Ansem), and 5 (Xemnas) are.  All are capable of time travel because of Ansem's actions prior to Dream Drop Distance, and all have the hearts necessary to traverse time.  But who is plucking them from the past and bringing them forward in time?  It could be YMX, given his role in KH3D.  But it could also be...no one.  I'll get to that.

So what of Number 6, Vanitas, and Number 12, Riku Replica?  I posit that neither are time travelers, as only Xehanort has been permitted time travel among the 13 darknesses.  As such, I will go into further detail on these two in Part 3.

As for the 7 lights, only 2 have ever become Heartless (Sora and Axel), while Kairi's heart has left her body and Riku has time traveled via Master Yensid's magic.  What exactly does this mean?  And do any of them utilize time travel?

Axel does not time travel in this game, but he is training in a place Merlin has made "temporally flexible."  Riku doesn't time travel.  As for Sora and Kairi, they most certainly do.

Upon their initial arrival to the Keyblade Graveyard, the Seven Lights are confronted and killed; torn heart from body, so to speak.  Five are left in a state between life and death, waiting for a Heartless to take their hearts.  Kairi is in a similar place, though she retains her consciousness and will. I would guess that this is because she is a Princess of Heart, and it's not the first time her heart and body have been separated.

Sora, however, has ended up in the Final World aka the afterlife.  He, along with his friends, remain tethered to the Realm of Light because of Kairi.  So Sora only needs to gather the pieces of himself scattered about the world before being able to return to his friends.  Besides doing this, he also encounters Namine's heart, who clarifies his condition before revealing that she is going to reach out to Terra's Lingering Will.

After leaving the Final World, Sora saves his friends hearts from the Heartless, reunites with Kairi, and returns to the Keyblade Graveyard.  However, he and Kairi seemingly return at the moment when they first arrived, before they were all killed.  At the scene plays, it appears that the exact course of events that unfolded the last time are happening again.  Neither Sora nor Kairi try to intervene or do anything differently?  Why?  The only possible reason is that neither of them remember their deaths, which means that none of the Seven Lights know that what happened before is happening again.

How could Sora and Kairi forget?  There are actually several possibilities.  The first is that, since Sora and Kairi are time traveling, they are merely bound by the rules.  Sora and Kairi have both left their bodies behind before, in KH1.  But Heartless Sora never time traveled, almost certainly unaware that he could.  And Kairi's heart only found refuge with Sora.  Given the Secret Reports, we know Terranort became aware of the possibility of time travel due to a visitor in Radiant Garden.  Sora never had that knowledge, at least until Dream Drop Distance.

So if Sora and Kairi were indeed ripped heart from body in the Keyblade Graveyard, they are definitely capable of time traveling. And there is a past version of themselves waiting in that world, from their initial arrival.  And, having returned from the future, they've forgotten the events they've already experienced.  So far, all the boxes are checked.

There's just one caveat. The final rule.  You cannot rewrite the rules that are destined to happened.  Wait. What was the exact quote?

"And you cannot rewrite the events that are destined to happen."

Well, what do you know? Neither he or Kairi do rewrite the events that happened.  Instead, it is Terra's Lingering Will that intervenes and saves everyone, thanks to Namine reaching out from the Final World.

Namine, the special Nobody who can alter the memories of everyone connected to Sora, also altered destiny.  But she wasn't bound by the rules of time travel like Sora and Kairi, so, I guess this makes sense in a Kingdom Hearts way.  Her body was formed from Kairi's heart leaving Sora, so though her heart rests within Kairi, she doesn't exactly have a body to leave behind. There's no version of her waiting in Keyblade Graveyard, except for that place in Kairi's heart.  So she bends rules one and two, and breaks rule three. She might be the only one that can remember the initial defeat there, since if the others rules don't really apply to her, why should that one?

What are the other possibilities if this is not the case?  Well, it could be the game trying to have it both ways.  In Dream Drop Distance, Xigbar says Sora can only travel back to the Destiny Islands because there was a version of him there.  But it's clearly Yensid's magic that enables him to time travel.  We've already seen Sora time travel without needing a past version of himself to be there in Timeless River.  But it could be that Sora time travels via magic and merely forgets because they're melding together rules that shouldn't apply with ones that should.  But if it's by magic, who's casting it?  Chirithy?  I'd like to rule this one out, though it's not beyond reason. There's even a hint that Sora and Co know something worked when they return to the Keyblade Graveyard, which they could only know if magic was involved. But the fact that they don't do anything differently in the next scene may mean that their actions were etched in their hearts but the specifics were forgotten.

Lastly, there's a possibility that Sora and Kairi time travel to an alternate timeline, or worldline, as the Secret Reports hint that this is possible.  But then why don't they intervene to try and change the course of events?  If destiny isn't set in stone and they can change it, then there's no reason they'd forget and be unable to.  OR perhaps it is time travel and then the altering of destiny creates a second timeline/worldline.  It remains plausible that Kingdom Hearts will incorporate multiple timelines/worldlines in the future.  As if it wasn't complex enough.  For now, though, I'm sticking with my first hypothesis:  Sora and Kairi time travel and it's Namine that changes the future.

Circling back to Xehanort, after the Seven Guardians survive long enough to face Master Xehanort and he forges the Chi-blade, Riku reveals that they've learned Xehanort is actually a time and space portal.  How? Why?  What?

Okay, here goes. Because Ansem traveled through time and provided all his selves with the ability to do so, he became the portal that Riku mentions.  Each version of Xehanort is a portal capable of traveling to wherever their heart's desire, as long as they follow the set upon rules.

Nomura stated that Ansem on Destiny Islands became a portal into the Dream World, as he was there when Sora and Riku crossed over.  So all the Xehanorts use this "portal" to stalk the two guardians on their Mark of Mastery Exam in the Sleeping Worlds.

Similarly, as Master Xehanort is a portal, the other versions of himself use their connection to him to arrive in the future, where they are loaded up into replicas.  They don't need a Xehanort to come pluck them from the past since they are capable of moving through time via this portal.  They need only cast off their bodies and enter the replicas waiting for them.

Riku, realizing what Master Xehanort is thanks to YMX's monologue at the end of Dream Drop Distance, exposes the portal and utilizes it.  And where does it lead?  The world that would always hold a special place in Xehanort's heart:  the one where he was trained to be a Keyblade wielder, Scala ad Caleum.  And it turns out that all the fragments of his heart from the defeated darknesses were utilizing this portal to go there as well, waiting to rejoin with the original.

We can assume that this time, they're not traveling in time via Xehanort's portal but merely space. So why was Scala ad Caleum abandoned? And why was it built atop Daybreak Town? Questions for another entry, I suppose.

So, did time travel break the series?  If they'd kept it simple and just left time travel as a magical device, it would've worked better.  By adding a secondary method with layers of rules, time travel became over-complicated. It's more than the three simple rules it appears as, and analyzing it is headache-inducing.  BUT there is a logic to it, and though it's an extra complication the series didn't need, it is not series breaking.  Feel free to disagree.

Next time, we take a deep dive into replicas and how exactly the non-Xehanorts utilized them.

[khantipode]

Frequently Asked Questions

 Now that I’m getting Antipode back in gear, I figured it’s high time for an FAQ. This post will be where I handle frequently asked questions from this point on. I’ll make sure to link it in the sidebar as well. So, without further delay... Q: What is Antipode? Antipode is an ongoing Kingdom Hearts AU series that asks the ever common question: What would happen if Riku became the Keybearer as fate intended? How would such a cocky, arrogant, teen with his own inner demons fare as the hero of the worlds, and where would that put Sora? While it’s a tried and true what-if scenario, my goal with Antipode was to explore the gradual snowball effect of Sora and Riku’s choices while keeping them true to their canon personalities. Notably, Sora still ends up with Kairi’s heart, while Riku still opens the door to Destiny Islands and dooms his home. While Riku ends up with Donald and Goofy, at first he sees them as little more than a convenient means to see other worlds, while Sora ends up tricked by Maleficent and her cohorts into believing they are outcasts shunned by their worlds who merely wish to save the princesses and the worlds at large. And, as time goes on, the series moves further and further away from the original KH game plots into its own direction.   If you want to know more, you can find the entire series here on AO3 or here on Fanfiction.net!

Q: When does this AU diverge from canon? That... is a good question. Technically speaking, there are two main divergence points. The first is during the downfall of Radiant Garden in order to explain why Xemnas is who he is in this AU. The second is at the start of Kingdom Hearts, where Sora reaches Riku on the island much earlier, thus Riku obtains the Keyblade before he can give into the darkness. Naturally, everything from that point on starts to diverge as well. :P Birth by Sleep is more or less the same as canon, though.

Q: What Disney worlds are included in the AU? Oh, lots! The first story features all the worlds from KH1 except for Deep Jungle and Monstro- in exchange, it includes Prankster’s Paradise- called Pleasure Island in the fic, in a much darker take that is faithful to Pinocchio, donkeys and all. As the series goes on, I move toward more and more unique Disney Worlds in addition to familiar locations. Fragmented Truths includes worlds based on The Jungle Book, Sword in the Stone, and The Great Mouse Detective in addition to returning worlds like Agrabah and Halloween Town. Monstro also makes its appearance here. The Year Between features Pocahontas, Monsters Inc., Gargoyles, and Mary Poppins, as well as many, many references to the Disney Afternoon shows and other Disney material. All That’s Left is the current story and includes worlds based on Robin Hood, The Emperor’s New Groove, Wreck-it Ralph, The Incredibles, Treasure Planet, and Frozen with a few other Disney worlds planned in smaller appearances. Olympus Coliseum also has an appearance here, as will Space Paranoids. In general, Antipode is a HUGE love letter to Disney. Even in familiar worlds, like Agrabah, I try to incorporate elements from the films that were cut from the KH games like the Sultan and Rajah. But other worlds like Arendelle will also see similar treatment. Hans, for example, will actually exist in the AU outside of a five second cameo. ;) Q: What about Final Fantasy characters? Other Square Enix properties? While the Restoration Committee and Twilight Town residents return from the original games alongside Cloud, I’ve also added some more Final Fantasy cameos from time to time. Quina, Freya, Steiner, and Beatrix from FFIX make appearances, alongside Cait Sith and Barret from FF7. But perhaps the most significant new Square character is Ringabel from Bravely Default. Though he first debuts in Side Stories (Love’s Vagrant and The Burden of Failure), he has since become a recurring character, along with Grandship serving as a sort of mobile Traverse Town. In the future, I’d like to maybe include characters from The World Ends With You and Chrono Trigger, but that’ll probably have to wait ‘til the next fic.

Q: If Riku’s the Keybearer, does that mean he has a Nobody? Is there a Sora Replica? Does Xion even exist? Since Sora still had Kairi’s heart, ultimately, he still ends up with a Nobody. However, this universe’s Roxas does not wield a Keyblade, initially still keeps the name Sora, and has a set of fake memories shared with Riku’s Replica. He, Riku Replica, and Namine form what I like to call the mirror trio. Riku Replica does later go by the name Xiruk, but that’s mostly so he can match Roxas and stick it to the Organization. As for Xion, she exists with drastically different origins, as she was created by DiZ rather than the Organization. You can learn more about her in The Year Between!

Q: What’s the deal with Kairi? Kairi, while starting off in a similar postion as canon, has a much larger role in this AU! Instead of staying behind, she joins Riku, Donald, and Goofy on their journey and becomes a competent fighter in her own right. A damsel she is not, so if you’re looking for a story that gives Kairi time to shine, you’ve come to the right place. :)

Q: How come Heartless Sora looks like Anti-Form? And why is Ven with him? The key difference with Sora’s Heartless form in this story is that Ansem had told him ahead of time what would happen if he released Kairi’s heart and urged him to embrace the darkness... purely out of curiosity for what would happen if someone so kind dove right in. Sora taking that plunge while clinging to his sense of self, coupled with Ven’s heart sticking with him allowed him to maintain a stronger Heartless form. In this form, he looks similar to Anti-Form but with a more expressive face and sharp teeth. Only those with connections to darkness can hear him speak.

Q: If Ven’s heart is with Sora, why does Roxas still look like him? Due to the shared connection between Sora and Ven, he still looks similar as a side effect.

Q: How come Zexion has so much authority? According to the Days Ultimania, Zexion was slated to be second in command until Axel killed him in Chain of Memories to cut a path to the top for Saix. This did not happen here, so Zexion has a lot more power and authority in the Organization. Saix is still near the top, though, as is Xigbar.

Q: How do you handle Chain of Memories? What about 358/2 Days? Kingdom Hearts II? Simply put, I don’t. While the first story is very close to the original Kingdom Hearts in structure, all the subsequent fics are more of their own stories, borrowing elements from the other games where appropriate. For example, Fragmented Truths takes the Riku Replica and Namine from Chain of Memories as well as elements of the memory plot, but it still features adventures across different worlds as well as the start of the Organization’s meddling in the worlds. The Year Between features elements of 358/2 Days and Coded as well as KH2′s prologue, but spun in a brand new way to suit the story. All That’s Left is thematically the KH2 of the story, but like the other sequels, it’s not a direct adaptation. After all, I’m pretty sure Kingdom Hearts 2 doesn’t have Aqua running around with the heroes. :P

Q: Does your AU include anything from Dream Drop Distance? Sort of. Ultimately, Antipode does acknowledge that Xehanort did want to gather thirteen Seekers of Darkness to battle seven Guardians of Light to do battle and form the χ-blade. However! Antipode’s Xemnas has zero interest in fulfilling this plan, and as a result, the only characters to have been implanted with seeds of Xehanort’s heart are Xigbar and Saix. Young Xehanort is lurking around, and I have plans for him eventually, but suffice it to say, the Xehanort plan introduced in KH3D has been significantly derailed. Thanks, Xemnas.

Q: Hey! How come Xemnas is [SPOILER]? Because Antipode started developing well before Kingdom Hearts 3D came out, and I had Xemnas’ whole schtick carefully planned out. I didn’t want to retcon the entire arc I had planned for him, so I stuck to my guns and decided to simply include an in-universe explanation for why he isn’t out trying to make more Xehanorts. You’ll just have to stay tuned for the full story on that detail. ;)

Q: Will you incorporate the new canon from Kingdom Hearts 3? What about the mobile game? There are many things in Kingdom Hearts 3 that I legit can’t incorporate. For example, the Guardian’s identity goes against some plans I’ve had in place for years, and my backstory with Isa and Lea differs. Keep in mind, this series has been going on since 2012, so I can’t be canon compliant with every new bit of information. I do have some... ideas involving certain reveals from KH-UX, though. We’ll see if I get to ‘em. Q: Will this AU have any ships? Antipode is a story much more focused on friendships and adventure than romance. That being said, there is some extremely slow burn Kairi/Riku and Riku Replica/Namine that’s been developing over the course of several stories. I realize these ain’t the most popular pairings, but I really want to stress that Antipode ain’t about the ships, so even if they aren’t to your liking, I hope that you’ll give these stories a chance! Sora remains extremely important to his friends as well, so no worries about the spiky-haired dork being left out. :) He may not be having a romance with Kairi in this fic, but their friendship remains ever strong. Addendum: ...I guess this is also the part where I admit that years of denial have finally made me crack. Ringabel and Aqua’s chemistry is just too good in this AU. Like the other ships, though, it ain’t a focal point. VenSo is kinda implied, too, if you squint. Both of these were purely by accident.

Q: What’s with the rewrites? To make a long story short, a lot of the earlier works in Antipode were... fairly rushed. While I had a beta or two, I didn’t have a super thorough editor to point out all the plot inconsistencies and issues like I do now. Because my editor pointed out all these faults with the fics, I saw fit to go back and fix them for the sake of my own satisfaction and out of a desire to make the series overall stronger. I have provided changelogs for those who read as the stories originally released, which you can find here.

Q: When do you update? Whenever I have the time and inspiration. I do want to try to get updates out at a more regular basis- at least once a month, but we’ll see what the future holds. I do work a job, and I have my Undertale comic @invertedfate, but Antipode is my baby and I want to see it through to the end. Got another question? Please feel free to send an ask!

[last-flight-of-fancy]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-there is a boy named roxas

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

-things get weird

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

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

-DIDNEY WORLDS

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

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

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

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

-anyways

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-anyways

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

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

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

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

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

-.... well for a while anyways.

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

-eh

-okay so

-lets swing back into Birth By Sleep for a bit

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-the heart is sora

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-#terrawasright

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

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

-they all meet for the final battle.

-ven asks his friends to murder him

-no one does that

-what the fuck ven

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

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

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

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

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

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

-bbs is such a goddam tragedy

-OKAY

-time to fast forward

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

-the case of xion

-and 358/2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-this is why putting sora back together takes so long

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

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

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

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

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

-Xion leaves again

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

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

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

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

-cue more ff style boss fights

-xion dies

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

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

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

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

-okay what have i missed

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

-”but whats the black box??” you ask

-good question

-we still dont know

-its  origin point is in KHUx though, 

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

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

-#anguisforlife

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-so yeah figure that one out for me

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

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

-anyways

-right the black box

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

-which leaves just Dream Drop Distance

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

-things go wrong almost immidietly

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

-there has to be 13 for some reason

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

-because reasons

-it’s fate or something

-riku rescues him

-there is time travel involved now

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

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

     -you cannot take your body with you

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

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

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

[matthew-niverse]

Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep: Destiny is Never Left to Chance

The Keyblade War.

"In ancient times, people believed that light was a gift from an unseen land by the name of Kingdom Hearts. But Kingdom Hearts was safeguarded by its counterpart, the χ-blade.

Warriors vied for that precious light, thus beginning the "Keyblade War." The violent clash shattered the χ-blade into twenty pieces—seven of light, and thirteen of darkness. And the only real Kingdom Hearts was swallowed by the darkness, never to surface again."

—Master Xehanort

Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep was a huge turning point for the Kingdom Hearts franchise. It’s where they began to experiment with the battle system and it’s where the story REALLY began to get complex.

The battle system now uses a mechanic called the Command Deck (right). This is where you can equip separate special attacks with their own separate cooldown times. This battle system is also used in Dream Drop Distance. Many disliked this system, as it made it possible for you to spam multiple of the same broken ability.

(Thunder Surge is Godly)

The separate cooldown time let you cycle back and forth through the same type of command, had you equipped it multiple times. Personally, I didn’t mind it. The Command Style (left - Thunder Bolt) system -a form of Drive Forms- was a fun addition that made the gameplay satisfying enough.

The Shotlocks were especially fantastic, though a little broken. Enough about gameplay, back to the quote from Master Xehanort!

In ancient times, there was only one world.

After the events of the Keyblade War, the whole world was overshadowed by darkness.

However, small fragments of light survived within the hearts of children. This restored the world. However, not completely. The one world was split into many disconnected worlds. If pure light and pure darkness clash, the x-blade will be reforged. Now back to Birth By Sleep!

Xehanort, back when he was a young lad, travels to the Land of Departure to train in order to become a Keyblade Master.

He spars with his fellow pupil, Eraqus. Their respect for each other seems to fade as they grow older however, as Eraqus believes that all the darkness in the world should be eliminated whereas Xehanort believes it should be controlled.

Xehanort wants darkness to exist in equilibrium with light.

He wants to use his apprentice, Ventus, as a vessel for him to pass his own heart into, as Xehanort’s body is now old and frail.

Ventus proves to be too weak for this, so Xehanort extracts the darkness from Ventus’s heart to create a new being, Vanitas.

Vanitas is a being of pure darkness, and from him comes a new breed of enemy known as the Unversed.

These creatures feed on negative emotions. Xehanort plans to pit Vanitus’s heart of pure darkness against a heart of pure light to summon the x-blade. Acquiring this blade would grant him the power of Kingdom Hearts.

The splicing of Ventus’s heart leaves his heart fractured, so Xehanort takes Ventus to Destiny Islands to die, but at that moment Ventus’s cracked heart is touched by the heart of a newborn baby named Sora.

Part of Sora’s light goes into Ventus to fill the void left by Vanitas’s creation.

Ventus survives, so Xehanort takes him to Eraqus to be trained with Eraqus’s other students, Terra and Aqua.

Xehanort finds that Terra is another suitable vessel for his heart to go to, so he begins to manipulate Terra into turning against his friends.Terra visits Destiny Islands where he runs into a young boy named Riku.

Terra sees strength, similar to his own, within the boy and performs the Bequeathing, a ritual in which a Keyblade Master has someone touch their Keyblade to inherit the power to wield one. In this moment, a Keyblade called “Kingdom Key” chooses Riku.

Also around this time, Aqua runs into a young Kairi in Radiant Garden.

Kairi accidentally grabs hold of Aqua’s Keyblade, and ends up inheriting the power to wield a Keyblade.

Meanwhile, Master Eraqus finds out about Xehanort’s plan to use Ventus to summon the x-blade and, in order to prevent Xehanort from gaining the power of Kingdom Hearts, he attempts to kill Ventus.

Terra shows up to save Ventus and, while Eraqus is weakened, Xehanort lands the final blow.

Eraqus fades into light.

Xehanort tells Terra to find him in the Keyblade Graveyard (where the Keyblade War took place many years ago) so Aqua and Ven follow.

There, Xehanort transfers his heart into Terra, creating Terra-nort.

Meanwhile, Vanitas possesses Ventus and the two fuse to create the x-blade. This summons Kingdom Hearts out of the darkness it was lost to during the Keyblade War.

However, Aqua shows up with Mickey to defeat Vanitas and shatter the x-blade. Kingdom Hearts disappears into the darkness again.

Ventus, with his heart fractured again, is in a comatose state. Aqua remembers what Master Eraqus told her.

“Should anything happen to me, and you find the legion of darkness at our doorstep… I ask that you take my Keyblade and use it to lock this land away. Generations of Keyblade Masters have been charged with keeping this land safe. Light and Darkness exist in balance here and there are those who would abuse such neutral ground. This is why our predecessors devised a certain… trick.

Just use the key, and this land will be transformed. From that day forward, all who visit this land will be lost to OBLIVION, none ever able to solve the mystery. None, Aqua, except you.”

The Land of Departure transforms into Castle Oblivion -the setting of Chain of Memories- and Aqua hides Ventus’s body in the Chamber of Waking until he can be reawakened.

She then goes to Radiant Garden, where Terra-nort is waiting for her.

They do battle and, unfortunately, Aqua falls into the Realm of Darkness. Terra-nort loses his memory but he retains a subconscious longing to experiment with the human heart.

Ansem the Wise finds him and raises him as his apprentice.

Ventus’s fractured heart leaves his body, and finds its way back to Sora’s heart and merges with him in order to be whole. A year later, Terra-nort starts to regain his memories of being Master Xehanort.

He, along with Braig -Xigbar as a human- convince Ansem the Wise to experiment with hearts in order to extract their darkness.

These experiments creates the first Emblem Heartless.

In one “experiment”, Braig and Ansem’s other apprentices, Dilan, Even, Aeleus, and Ienzo, lose their hearts and become Nobodies. Lea also happened to be there at the time. Ansem the Wise finds out what they’ve done and refuses to let them continue.

Terranort, now fully back with Xehanort’s memories, banishes Ansem the Wise to the Realm of Darkness. Xehanort proceeds to extract the darkness out of himself; his heartless taking on the name of Ansem.

Ansem (Seeker of Darkness) leads the Heartless to swallow as many worlds as possible while the Nobody, Xemnas, leads a group of Nobodies called Organization XIII.

Ansem the Wise discards his own name to become DiZ (Darkness in Zero) and escapes the Realm of Darkness to Twilight Town. He spends his time researching on the Heartless and Nobodies hoping to eventually stop Xehanort’s plans.

Aqua remains lost to this day... Birth By Sleep had a lot to wrap your head around compared to the past Kingdom Hearts games.

You have to play through the three stories of Terra, Ventus, and Aqua in order to get the full picture. The gameplay, despite being extremely unbalanced, was generally satisfying. Even if the game wasn’t hard-

or in some cases WAY TOO HARD-

the flashiness of the battles were entertaining enough.

Even more entertaining was the story. What a ride this one was!

The secret ending Blank Points cutscene really snaps your heart in half. It’s great! All in all, Birth By Sleep would’ve been highly recommended… had it not been on the PSP. Good thing Square Enix rereleased every Kingdom Hearts games on the PS4 though! Birth By Sleep gives the backstory to what will eventually have to happen again in Kingdom Hearts 3, The clash between the 7 Lights and the 13 Darknesses.

[tompen94]

Ranting about Kingdom Hearts III (cuz I just finished it, SPOILERS AHOY)

Follow-up post to: https://tompen94.tumblr.com/post/181689323487/ranting-about-kingdom-hearts-cuz-i-just-got-into

Okay... Uhhh... So that was... a lot to process...

I have finished KH3 with all of the chests and Lucky Emblems found. I tried my hardest not to just rush through the story, but I am not gonna pretend like I know shit as I am a pretty casual gamer. This is just an aggregate of my thoughts on the game.

If you want a review here it is: GET THE FUCKING GAME RN

I won’t be holding back any information. This is your official spoiler warning.

Spoilers below the cut (if it even works).

Gameplay

As I said in my KH Rant post (click the link goddammit), this was my first experience with the gameplay of the series.

It took some getting used to, my muscle memory kept telling me that X was to jump so I got stuff wrong in the beginning but I got the gist of it towards the end. Didn’t use as much magic as I wanted though, using the d-pad means not using the analog stick, which means remaining still in the middle of a fight while I decide which magic to use and, in the case of Cure, who to use it on. (Yes I’m aware of shortcuts and I used them but I still have to use the d-pad to change which set I’m using)

However, I liked the combat system in general. I’m sure it is something that comes with time and my issues with it can be honed out with more practice.

Wasn’t too hot on flowmotion though, at least in the beginning when you don’t have abilities like Air Slide. Using flowmotion in battle was pretty hard for me to do at first because of this. I had heard of how OP it was in DDD and I tried to use it a bunch in Thebes but because of my low success in even activating the thing properly, I stopped using it until I got to the Ice Labyrinth in Arendele. I started using it moderately after that.

The Lock-on laser thingy was something I thought I was going to use a lot since I had seen it being used pretty often in gameplay of the other KH games. However I barely used it. But it was pretty satisfying locking every beam onto a single target and then one-shot them with it.

Finally the situation commands. Loved them. My most used button other than X is the Triangle. Always use situation commands. It’s always a benefit. (Also Rage Form heals you and gives you super fast combos. Fucking neat!)

Favorite things and stuff

Favorite playable keyblade: Kingdom Key

Call me basic or whatever. The Kingdom Key was my main Keyblade and I barely swapped it out throughout the game. It is by far the weakest keyblade, I know. But I just like it so damn much, I kept it as my main. So yes, you can finish the game just with the Kingdom Key. If you don’t mind farming Adamantite and Electrum to upgrade it to the max, that is. I was planning to swap it out for ‘Dawn till Dusk’ but that was before I found out it was an Amazon pre-order exclusive (LAAAAAME!!!!).

Favorite keyblade in the series: Way to the Dawn

I like Riku’s new keyblade but Way to the Dawn looks so goddamn cool. Its look also tells a story, it’s an imprint of Riku’s character arc throughout the series. It’s a bit of a shame that they had him change it.

Favorite Worlds: Corona & The Caribbean

Corona is stupid pretty. And a fun world to explore and jump around in. I love how they recreated certain environments just for the scene of Rapunzel being at war with herself. You can actually go to those places! Also the Kingdom itself is just beautiful. Corona is the place I took most selfies on. Also:

(I will protect this smile with my life)

The Caribbean is basically its own game. Most worlds have one fun addition to the combat or the level design, like the Gigas in Toy Box, or even Rapunzel’s hair during the story portion of Corona. However the Caribbean gives you a ship and a whole new set of mechanics with it. It’s also a massive world, 56 goddamn chests to find. It feels so satisfying to sail to an island, get to the very end of it and find a butload of chests to open. Also Sora looks cool as fuck in his pirate costume.

Most disappointing worlds: Arendele & San Fransokyo

I wish it wasn’t so but Arendele wasn’t as much as I expected it to be. Don’t get me wrong, that ‘Let it go’ sequence is fucking phenomenal and I fanboyed out on it a lot, but the world itself isn’t all that interesting to me. You don’t even get to visit the Kingdom, just the mountain. And after you finish the story, the game teases you with Elsa’s Ice Castle, but guess what, you ain’t entering it either. Instead of the Ice Labirynth, I would much rather have had a level inside Elsa’s castle.

As for San Fransokyo, Why can’t I freely go to the bridge? Why is it locked to that one combat scene and then never seen again? And the city itself is confusing to traverse in. Even with the map I frequently lost track of where I was. The streets are also too wide, the only way to go through them quickly is if you’re a boss at using the Lock-on+Square thing, but I suck at it, so I’m just spamming dodge-roll to get through it a little faster than running. If the streets were narrower, it would be different, because then I could use flowmotion off of the walls and zip around like Deku was doing in the fight against Stain. Now THAT would’ve been cool. BGM is lit though.

Favorite characters: Sora & Riku

This is a topic I’m constantly changing my mind on, I like every single one of the main characters. Some more than others, yes, but I’m constantly jumping around between Sora, Riku, Roxas, Ventus, Aqua and Mickey. For now though, I’m going with Sora and Riku.

Sora’s a whole lot more chilled out in this game. And I really like that. In KH2 whenever he wasn’t trash-talking or involved in slap-stick with Donald and Goofy, he was moping around thinking about Riku and Kairi. It’s really nice to see him more carefree and I believe his character is greatly improved with this.

As for Riku, he’s kind of the opposite to Sora? I think his character shines the most when put under duress. We don’t see much of that in KH3, but we get plenty of it in the rest of the series. His constant struggle with the darkness makes for a pretty compelling character arc. Though I do think his peak was in KH2, when he was the ‘Get stuff done’ character alongside Mickey.

The Ending

And here we are... I still don’t know what to make of that ending... This story is filled to the brim with feel-good moments and then it ends on such a conflicting note for me. What comes to my mind is: Why Nomura... Why?

When Aqua returned to the Realm of Light and cried of happiness, I had the dumbest smile in my face.

When Ventus woke up and said “Good Morning, Aqua”, I had the dumbest smile on my face.

When the keyblades from the past came to participate in the ‘Rape-the-Triangle-button’ sequence of this game, I had the dumbest smile on my face.

When Terra (he did nothing wrong) reunited with Aqua and Ven, I had the dumbest smile on my face.

When Roxas returned, I had the dumbest smile on my face.

When Xion cried tears of joy on reuniting with Axel and Roxas, I had the dumbest smile on my face.

And then... at the end Sora fades away? What the fu-WHY? I actually still have a knot in my stomach over this.

Let’s put that aside for now, let’s not forget the fact that while the stuff in Back Cover and Union X did play an important part, it got fuck-all closure. Everyone’s chasing that Black Box but it amounted to nothing in this game. There are 7 new Princesses of Heart and we only see 3 of them. Also why couldn’t Luxu just be Luxu?

All of this could’ve been forgiven though. If everyone had a happy ending that is. But coupling all of this with Sora vanishing at the end... I can’t let it pass. This doesn’t feel satisfying. Goddammit Nomura!

Maybe this is just my knee-jerk reaction. Maybe I’ll see more positives in this ending over time, after I’ve digested it. But for now, this is how I feel...

I also have conflicted feelings about Xehanort’s redemption but I can stomach this one much more easily. While I don’t think adding this in was necessary, I also think it’s harmless. Giving Xehanort a ride off into the sunset instead of just a death is fine by me.

Some other things

Wasn’t it confirmed that Kairi would be playable? :(

Speaking of which, it certainly would’ve been nice to have some sort of Mission Mode a la 358/2 Days to be able to play as other characters. You only play as Riku twice and as Aqua once. Most of the MCs were fully playable at one point or another in the franchise so it would’ve been nice to be able to do so in some capacity in this game. Couldn’t you at least let me fight Terranort as the Lingering Will?

WHY DOES THIS GAME LOOK SO GOOD

I’m sorry if this felt like a bit of a downer. I guess I’m... grieving over Sora? Never thought I’d say something like that. I know that he “comes back” in the secret movie, along with Riku and... Yozora (I thought he was just a parody of Noctis?) and the Master of Masters. But I wonder how that ties into the Foreteller stuff we saw with XigbarLuxu. Also why is Riku there?

May your heart be your guiding key

[spirit-of-creativity16]

My Endgame of Kingdom Hearts 3

Terra, Aqua, and Ventus will be saved. As for Roxas, Naminé, and Xion would remain within their somebody and finally find peace also free from pain.

Sora and Kairi will finally confess to eachother.

Lea will come to term that his friends won't be coming back, but he is able to move on. Also become very close friends with Sora and Kairi

Riku would continue to serve as keyblade master along with Aqua and King Mickey.

Sora was able to bring back the Dandelions from the Realm of Sleep, and able to help them to find new purpose.

Ventus would get his old memories, and able remember the leaders he once work with.

The only casualties were Master Xehanort, Isa, and Braig.

Terra would obtain most of the ability from Xemnas and the Lingering Will.

Aqua and Terra suffer the most traumatic expirences that left both broken, but Ven is there to fix them like they did with him.

Ansem the Wise is rescued, and getting a lot of treatment for his amnesia.

King Mickey and Minnie would finally have a heir, and they named their first born Walt.

Sora, Kairi, and Riku now have big responsibility to protect realms and the Dandelions, so they can only visit Destiny Island on breaks, or holiday.

Aqua and Terra also would reveal their feeling eachother, and finally get their kiss that they always wanted

Ienzo would be at Ansem's side through his treatment.

Kairi do whatever she can do to take her home, Radiant Garden, as semi-leader until Ansem the Wise is able to rule again.

Ephmer, Skuld, Ventus, and Brain(and maybe Strelitzia) take the Mark of Mastery under Master Riku and Yensid

[dreamsonata]

Theory and Speculation Time

  So in relation to the recent kingdom hearts news that we just received it is clear that Ventus will indeed play a major part in unchained x/ Union x. However as of this moment everyone is all a buzz as to what/why/ and how Ventus could be in unchained x while also being very much present and very much still young in birth by sleep. Well my theory is, is that Ventus from his time in unchained x had become trapped in the realm of darkness, endlessly searching for a way out until an old master xehanort found him wandering. Of course ventus given how long he must have stayed would gradually lose sight of who he is and where he’s from. Much like Aqua mentions in 0.2 that the realm of darkness likes to play tricks on those who dwell in it until they can no longer see the truth. Perhaps when Ventus was lingering in that realm he lost all sense of self and when he sees xehanort he mistakes him for a blurry memory of what he knew to be the master of masters and therefore decides to follow him not knowing that it was just actually xehanort in an organization 13 coat. Also I say ventus could be confused because its more than likely that hardly anyone saw the master of masters face just the coat he always wore. SO, when ventus sees him he decides to train under him.

Okay. So going back to what I personally believe will be the course ventus will take in Unchained x/Union X is that, as given by the english subtitles that have come out already, is that yes, ventus, ephemer, skuld, and two other mysterious keyblade wielders who survived the war will be in charge of who is left. I believe maybe perhaps ventus could be betrayed by the two we know nothing about. Maybe by chance history will repeat itself and their will be friction among the leaders who were left. They all did come from separate unions after all. So maybe one’s like “this sucks, I know lets use kingdom hearts to seal up all the darkness in the world” or “let’s use kingdom hearts to get all our missing friends back.” Either way something bad must go down leading ventus and possibly skuld and ephemer to realm of darkness. However I’m more inclined to believe that only ventus and perhaps one of the two mysterious keyblade wielder leaders ended up in the realm of darkness while skuld and ephemer stayed in the realm of light. Where they after many years of endlessly searching for their lost friend Ventus decided to remain on Destiny island, which they may or may not become the parents or grandparents to that of master xehanort himself. This also leads me to say that perhaps Luxu seeing the inner turmoil decides “hmm, perhaps I should take some of their pupils off their hands”. As seeing how according to this speculation that Ventus would wind up in the realm of darkness and leave all those he’s suppose to lead behind. One of those pupils then could become master eraqus’s and xehanorts teacher. And of course as time went on there would be fewer and fewer keyblade wielders as the fall of ventus would make them distrust the notion of a leader in the first place. Ultimately leaving skuld, ephemer, luxu, his student/students, and master yensid as the last keyblade wielders of this time.

   Overall these are just my thoughts, only time will tell if in fact Ventus did wind up in the realm of darkness or if Luxu even took on training a bunch of keyblade wielders himself. All in all I believe the new Kingdom Hearts Union X will bring in a lot of new and interesting plot developments for Kingdom Hearts 3.

[nadziejastar]

— Was Kairi’s arrival to Destiny Islands a coincidence or fate? It’s both. I was not able to illustrate it in the story itself. It is a delicate subject whether or not it is okay to talk about her life situation, but Ansem himself sent out Kairi from Hollow Bastion. The reason why he sent out Kairi was to find the Keyblade. In the End of the The World’s prison, there is evidence that is left behind. Ansem believed that the young princess would end up where the Keyblade was no matter what. Thus the event of Kairi joining Sora and Riku is a coincidence and fate.

— The King seems to come in contact with Kairi, the heroine from Kingdom Hearts I.

Because the story takes place before Kingdom Hearts I, the part about Kairi couldn’t be ignored. However, the cause for her going to Destiny Island and her detailed history are not revealed. It draws on the mysterious special existence.

— Why did Kairi end up with Sora and Riku? It has to do with Aqua’s “magic”. Nine years before KH, Kairi was thrust into the outside world, and found herself on Sora and Riku’s world. Ansem Seeker of Darkness thought that she had been able to search for a Keyblade wielder, but what actually saved her was the magic spell Aqua had put on her.

Well, if there is supposed to be a connection between Skuld and Xion, I imagine it would involve Kairi being experimented on at the same time Skuld was. This was something Nomura mentioned a long time ago. 

Young Xehanort: To move through time, you must leave your body behind. Ansem first sent me on my way, and then placed himself here when the time was right. That was what set all these events in motion.

Sora: What are you saying? That he knew everything that would happen?

Young Xehanort: No, not everything. But remember, Ansem possessed Riku and saw his experiences in real time.

Sora: So? That could only tell him so much. How did he know I would be here today?

Young Xehanort: Simple.

(There is a loud boom and a gust of wind. Kairi's form flies out of the Secret Place)

Sora: Kairi!

And it got hinted at in KH3D, but it never amounted to anything. I’m not sure if it ever will either, because the plot seems to have taken a totally different path from the one that was planned before. Kairi was being experimented on because Xehanort wanted her to lead him to the Keyblade wielder, which she apparently did. But...the Xehanort Saga is totally over and the story now seems to be entirely focused on new stuff, like Subject X’s memories and the return of the foretellers. I don’t even think Kairi has a role in this particular new subplot.

Ansem's Report 11

If the princesses and the Keyblade are connected, they should resonate. I've chosen a girl. I don't know if she holds the princesses' powers, but I will find out. She may lead me to the key bearer. I shall set her free and observe.

Ansem's Report 12

The body is gone; the heart should have returned to the Heartless. And yet, nothing. This one is unlike any other. Its memories remain and it has yet to take the form of a Heartless. A close eye must be kept on the situation. Much is still unknown.

But Kairi did leave her body behind according to these reports. So, I guess she gained some ability to time travel that was supposed to be important. Maybe that area with the six pods is where it happened. To tell the truth, I doubt that there is any real connection between Skuld and Xion, because I honestly don’t think the new plot was planned in advance for very long, nor do I think it is very well thought out. For instance, I don’t think Skuld was planned to be Subject X for very long at all.

Who are the thirteen researchers of darkness?

Thirteen seekers of darkness that share a consciousness and heart with Master Xehanort, serving as raw material for the X-Blade.

What happens to the hearts of those who have had Master Xehanort’s heart planted within them? They’ll gradually be swallowed by it. As for Master Xehanort, he plans to control them completely. The planted parts of the heart are captured rather than disappear.

“X” was the letter added to the organization members’ names because Xemnas planned to turn them all into vessels without telling them, once they completed Kingdom Hearts. The experiments involved mind control to create vessels. That was very important to the original plot, which had been building up for many years. Skuld doesn’t appear to have anything to do with the subplot of creating vessels.

The Real Organization XIII

A new Organization under Master Xehanort’s direct command. It comprises the thirteen pure darknesses he needs to reenact the Keyblade War. Many members are recognizable from the old Organization. Despite regaining their humanity after their defeat, they chose to become Nobodies again. They now scour the worlds for candidates to complete their numbers.

Creating vessels seemed to be entirely dropped as a concept in KH3. All the organization members were apparently volunteers (yeah, whatever). I think Skuld took Isa’s role in the story, and they simply changed a few details around. Once they decided to scrap the original story that had been planned, they just reused the discarded concepts in a rather lazy way. The direction the series is going is like a Frankenstein of old recycled concepts from the unfinished Xehanort Saga and KHUX stuff. So, my expectations for it are not very high.

— Does Xion have anything to do with Birth by Sleep?

I think although many people want Xion to come back once more, I’m afraid to say that it’s difficult.

— Though he’s a member of Organization XIII, Axel is shown in the end of KH Re:coded in the memories of “pain”…

Since healing the necessary “pain” of Axel’s is different than with other people, if he is revived he will take a form like Xehanort’s. In the end of the story, Namine says, “Those whose memories are sleeping inside Sora need relief.” In the KH BbS secret cutscene “Blank Points”, certain characters call out to Sora, however in that scene Axel is the only one who appears and doesn’t say Sora’s name out loud.

In that case, do the characters we see in that scene have a chance of returning? Yes. The data that Ansem has hidden within Sora is the secret to that revival. When Ansem had become DiZ, and studied the heart and emotions, the results he found he hid within Sora. There are a lot of people who thought that Coded was about finding those results, but that’s not true. The ending of Coded was about finding out that DiZ had done something to Sora, as Namine said, finding out about the data that Ansem hid. What that data is will be revealed in the next game. Two more games aside from KHIII are in the works

Secret Report 3: Experiments of the Heart – Notes on Subject X, Excerpt 1

After his initial experiments on me, Ansem the Wise ceased his research into the heart, his hand stayed by some fear I cannot fathom. Yet this new subject is like me: devoid of memories. She is the perfect sample upon which to continue my master's work. She, too, could benefit from it; by traversing the heart, we have a direct path into memory. I myself have begun to reclaim my lost past thanks to these very experiments.

And Xion was obviously meant to serve a completely different purpose in the original plot. It’s why her final boss form was wearing armor that looked like No Heart. She wasn’t supposed to be her own character. That’s why she was said to be Kairi as Sora remembered her. I also don’t think Xion was planned to come back until very late, either. In the secret ending of BBSFM, Kairi was looking at the haunted mansion and the next scene has a similar shot of Sora’s face while Ansem was putting his data into him, implying a connection between these two scenes. Like Hayner, Pence, and Olette, Kairi was supposed to get back her memories back in order to revive Xion. That’s why Nomura said only Axel was supposed to be revived in a physical form, like Xehanort’s. The implication is that Xion, Roxas, and Naminé weren’t. 

I presume Kairi would also gain her memories from her time in Radiant Garden back, giving her even more of a connection to Lea and Isa, and the plot in general. Xion had no relevance anymore. She took Isa’s role in the final battle by rescuing Lea from Xemnas. And then she took Kairi’s role in the fight. There was no room for her in KH3′s plot so she had to take other characters’ spots. That shows how little planning there was to include her. The Keyblade Graveyard fights were conceptualized MANY years in advance, and Xion was never imagined to be there. There was only planned to be 7 Guardians of Light at the end. Bringing her back was just fanservice, nothing more. It’s why DLC needed to be created to explain her return. It wasn’t able to be incorporated into the main story, because she wasn’t supposed to be there. 

Will we see any new Final Fantasy characters?

For a while the previous titles in Kingdom Hearts didn’t have any Final Fantasy characters and I think it’s time to include some.

It didn’t sound like Nomura had any problems considering FF characters when the game was first announced back in 2013.

"But the reason you haven't been shown any Final Fantasy characters is that there are so many original characters that need to resolve their own problems and issues. And because their issues and problems are very difficult, there just hasn't been that much space to fit Final Fantasy characters so far." 

“It was simply that there was no room. There were so many characters appearing in the main story that in the end I wasn't able to create opportunities to use the FF characters. Although, I did have the team make polygon models of Leon and some others just in case. They also made the Fairy Godmother from Cinderella and a few others, but by the end I just couldn't find a place to use them. The production staff were mad at me.”

But then he said he couldn’t include them because there were too many characters. It honestly sounds like he wasn’t expecting to have so many characters to deal with in KH3 when it was first announced. He became confused when he was writing the story because of it. He couldn’t even keep track of who has met who, which is a pretty shocking claim to make about a story that he’s supposed to be passionate about. 

I think the main reason Xion, Roxas, and Naminé came back was so they could make DLC packs with them and make more money. That’s all. I wouldn’t be surprised if Nomura was forced by the higher ups to bring them back, even though he didn’t want to. So, from a plot perspective, I wouldn’t expect very much regarding Xion beyond contrived nonsense.