#kindom hearts meta

[iloveluxu]

Thinking about how Baldr called Xehanort “Lucky 13″ got me thinking about how the 13th member of a group in kh always got what they were after, or always got their goals, or was considered “the luckiest” or the most special in their groups. And obviously, this applies to Xehanort and him being the “Lucky 13″ from Baldr’s 13 targets because he lives the longest, but also he ends up fulfilling his goals in one timeline, even if it was short-lived. But also, Roxas, as the 13th member of the first Organization 13 was regarded as special by being the only true keyblader, as well as the first one to declare his own person hood. Xion, if you consider her the 13th member of the real Organization 13, was guided by Saix and eventually was able to re-become her own person following her battle, being the only real survivor of the 13, excluding Xigbar ofc. Then there’s the darkness that hid itself in Ventus who would later become Vanitas, the only darkness out of the ancient 13 that managed to escape Daybreak Town.

but thats not all. going along with theme, there’s such thing as an “Unlucky 7″, the 7th member of a group of seven that spells out the downfall of the group or themselves. Out of the lost masters, luxu, the 7th, happens to be the traitor. if you include the player and/or Elrena as part of the ‘seven’ from the Data Daybreak Town, then Ventus could be considered the unlucky 7th, after all he held the darkness inside of him that killed Strelitzia. Then there’s Baldr, the 7th classmate, who went along to kill the upperclassmen and his fellow classmates. There’s Terranort, who ended up killing his fellow apprentices and banishing Ansem. If you squinted, you could even make a case for Saix being an unlucky 7, as the mastermind behind the “betraying the organization” plot he and Axel were planning in order to save their friend, and cementing his place as the catalyst for Xion to come back in kh3 + part of the true organization’s downfall. And finally, Kairi, both as a princess of heart and as a 7th light, her death is what would have led to the keyblade of people’s hearts being completed, and kingdom hearts actually being opened.

just a fun little thing i realized.

[loekas]

struts onto the stage and grabs a microphone

Let’s imagine a Kingdom Hearts universe where Sora is never born. Kairi takes his place as the Keyblade wielder instead. How would that change things?

Disclaimer; I haven't played KH3 yet and don't know the meta in that one. But I've played most of the other games and know the story/meta of the ones I haven’t played. 

So, we start at the beginning, with Ven, Aqua and Terra. Kairi, as a newborn heart, is the one who helps Ven heal after Ventus’ heart gets split into two. This makes much more sense tbh, because Kairi is a Princess of Heart, and thus has special heart powers. Like help stabilise the light side of a heart torn into two.

Flash forward to when Ven and Vanitas have their epic heart battle, ending with the heart recombining and the Ven side being dominant, but also being on the verge of death. Again, Kairi is the one who offers Ventus refuge in her own heart. Then Malificent attacks Radiant Garden, and Kairi ends up on Destiny Islands with no memories left of her past. Kairi and Riku meet and become best friends. Terra still met with Riku on his journey as well, and still made him heir to his keyblade. 

Flash forward to the start of KH1. The relationship between Kairi and Riku is a little different than in canon, because they're both friends and rivals (instead of just friends like in canon, where the rival part is occupied by Sora) Kairi is the one Riku races on the beach, she’s the one who battles him with wooden swords.

Unlike Sora, Kairi is a-okay with Riku being better than her. Sure, she likes to win, but it isn’t necessary for her to have fun. Which is good, because it means there’s no friction between her and Riku. Riku’s competitive streak is satisfied by being more skilled than Kairi, and Kairi has fun with the games they play. 

Like in canon, the two of them are making a raft to go see different worlds. But lets add in one very important difference with canon.

Before leaving on their adventure, Riku and Kairi share a paopu fruit. Why? Because if you've shared one, then no matter where you go, you'll hearts will always be connect. You’ll always be able to find each other. (And this is true. Paopu fruits are genuinely magical. Share one and your destinies/hearts become intertwined) 

(Except this paopu fruit isn't shared by two hearts. It's shared by three. Ven is still within Kairi...) 

Ansem still tricks Riku into opening The Door of their world. The heartless still appear. 

Kairi is the one who finds Riku on the beach. Kairi is the one who begs him to leave (because this is wrong, she knows that with every fiber of her being. The knowledge isn’t conscious but she knows their world is being consumed by darkness. She knows because she’s a Princess of Heart) (She knows because she saw the same thing happen to Radiant Garden)

Kairi and Riku are consumed by darkness, and they lose hold of each other. Riku is brought to Hollow Bastion and Kairi is lost to darkness.

The darkness is broken by the Kingdom Key. By the Keyblade linked to the Realm of Light.

Who better to wield it than a Princess of Heart?

Kairi now has a weapon against the darkness. She has a weapon against the heartless swarming her.

She fights the heartless with skill she shouldn't have. She fights them with magic and acrobatic feats, she fights them as though she’s been doing so her entire life.

She fights them with the skill of Ven and Vanitas. Ventus’s heart is always there, but when Kairi holds a Keyblade, his heart surges to the foreground (but neither Kairi nor Ventus are aware of this. Kairi just knows her body moves on its own, and Ventus isn't consciously making her move like that. Ventus is still slumbering. He responds to Kairi’s surroundings and feelings, but all of it is done unconsciously) 

(Like Sora, Kairi doesn’t know that she holds Ventus’ heart. She was a newborn when they first met, there are no memories there. And when she offered Ventus’ heart refuge the second time, she did it on instinct. Princess of Heart powers are handy like that)

But while she’s ignorant of the heart within her, during that fight against the heartless on Destiny Islands, Kairi remembers her past. She remembers Radiant Garden being destroyed.

Like in canon, she ends up in Traverse Town after the destruction of her world. And the meeting with Leon and co is much more emotional because THEY KNOW EACH OTHER!!!! They come from the same home. 

Kairi realises she isn’t alone after all. She hasn’t lost everyone. Yuffie and the others are still alive.

So is Riku. Kairi knows that through knowledge born from the paopu fruit. She knows that Riku is alive in the same way she knows how to breathe.

She has to find him.

Kairi meets Donald and Goofy, and goes on a quest to find Riku. 

Meanwhile, Riku still ends up with Maleficent, and still ends up manipulated by her. Things proceed mostly like in canon. Maleficent feeds the darkness in Riku’s heart and makes him jealous of Donald and Goofy. 

Unlike canon, Riku only sees Kairi from a distance. He only sees her through scrying spells, through images shown by Maleficent (Maleficent claims she can only scry for Kairi, she can't determine her exact location. This is a lie)  (Unlike canon, having Riku meet with his best friend would be counterproductive to Maleficent’s plans. She can’t turn Riku against Kairi in the ways she could turn him against Sora in canon. She has no leverage in the form of a third best friend. So she takes a different route to getting Riku in the shape she needs him to be)

Kairi and Riku only meet after Riku has already become skilled at wielding darkness magic (and thus, has left his heart vulnerable to that darkness. That’s the only way to wield it after all). They only meet after Maleficent is confident it won’t ruin her plans.

By now, Maleficent has fed onto Riku’s OVERWHELMING guilt at opening the door his world, at letting the heartless in. One of the reasons she can shape Riku to her liking so completely is because Riku is struggling SO HARD with guilt and denial and horror because he DESTROYED his world! He killed everyone he ever knew and loved. 

Everyone but Kairi. Like Kairi, Riku knows that she’s alive in an instinctive manner. He clings to that knowledge even more than he would have if they’d just been seperated. He clings to the idea that if they just get back together, everything will be alright again.

But he's still drowning in guilt. Worse, he’s in complete isolation. Maleficent is the only one he has significant contact with. The deck is stacked against him here. Even if he avoided being manipulated in one way, he couldn’t avoid all the other ways.

The most insidious manipulation is this. Maleficent, who lied about Hollow Bastion, who claimed this to be a remant of her world, tells him; if we open Kingdom Hearts, all the worlds destroyed by the heartless will be restored. Your world will be restored... 

So when Kairi and Riku finally reunite, there are, first, a lot of hugs and tears (they've missed each other so much). But then the cracks in Riku start showing. He struggles with his jealousy towards Donald and Goofy (and Kairi doesn't understand that jealousy because she loves Donald and Goofy in a different way than Riku. And Riku is way more important to her than they are, he’s her best friend. So why be jealous?) but the real breaking point comes when he shares his plan to find Kingdom Hearts with Kairi. Riku tells her, and her immediate reaction is this.

The Kingdom of Hearts must never be opened.  

She says it without thought, she says it on pure instinct. But every part of her knows it's true. The Kingdom of Hearts must never be opened. (she knows this because she's a Princess of Heart. She's a remnant of the key that once opened the Kingdom of Hearts)  (She knows what will happen to the universe if the Kingdom of Hearts is ever opened again)

And Riku breaks because how can she say that? Doesn't she want their world back? Doesn’t she want their parents back, their friends? 

And Kairi doesn't know how to explain because yes she wants her home back, she wants her adopted parents and friends back, she wants it so much but the Kingdom of Hearts CANNOT be opened! Even if it means the loss of her home and family, even if it would mean losing Riku, the Kindom of Hearts cannot be opened. 

Eventually, they fight. Unlike canon, Riku doesn’t manage to call the Keyblade away from Kairi (because no matter how much better he was at things than her, Kairi has never felt inferior to him. Because she’s a Princess of Heart, and the Kingdom Key belongs to the Light as it belongs to no one else)

Kairi beats Riku. Riku might be incredibly talented, but he’s fifteen years old. He hasn’t been training with magic for years. 

He doesn’t have the experience Ventus does. And Kairi is fighting with the skill of Ven and Vanitas both.

Riku can't handle the loss. He was ALWAYS better than Kairi at stuff like this. Except he no longer is. She's leaving him behind, she's pulling away from him and she no longer needs him.

He can't handle that. Not after destroying his world, not after fixating so hard on the idea that everything would be alright again if he just found Kairi again, if he just found his best friend. But everything isn’t alright, she’s fighting him and she’s trying to stop him from restoring their world! He can’t deal with that.

And finally, Riku is in the state that Maleficent wanted him to be. He’s on the verge of being consumed by darkness, on the verge of becoming a heartless. But he isn’t one just yet.

That is exactly the state that Ansem needs Riku to be in.

When Ansem approaches him after the fight, Riku agrees to open himself to darkness. And Ansem possesses him.

This is where the real fun begins. See, I have elaborate headcanon on the Ansem we see in KH1. In later games, we learn that this Ansem is actually the heartless of Xehanort. But this Ansem came into existence after Xehanort had already taken over Terra's body. 

So, I headcanon that this heartless is actually a combination of Xehanort and Terra. His goals are still that of Xehanort (find Kingdom Hearts) but Terra's wants are there as well. Except they've been twisted because he's a heartless. The part of Ansem that used to be Terra still wants to find his friends, Aqua and Ven. But what he feels for them is no longer true love. It's possession, it's obsession. They're his and no one else's. 

And this desire is why Ansem is very interested in Kairi. While observing her on her journey, he recognised her fighting style. He recognised Ven’s and Vanitas’s moves. 

And now that Ansem FINALLY has a body back, now that he can finally use a Keyblade again (headcanon that the reason he needed a body is because he couldn't use a keyblade otherwise), he can act on his need to get Ven back.

(But because he used to be Xehanort as well, he first makes that special Keyblade that contains the hearts of the six Princesses he and Maleficent have already captured. Only after does he go after Kairi)

Ansem has deduced that Kairi holds Ven's heart, and he wants Ven back. So he fights with her, he taunts her. He uses Terra’s Keyblade against her (I know he didn’t use it in the game, but this is an exercise in having canon make sense. And seeing as Riku was the heir to Terra’s Keyblade, it makes sense for Ansem to be able to use that Keyblade after taking over his body) (Riku being Terra’s heir is the whole reason Ansem went after Riku in the first place...)

Ansem keeps taunting Kairi. Or rather, he taunts Ven. He calls him out, uses the names Ven and Vanitas (and Kairi hesitates because she knows those names. Somehow she knows them, somehow she knows what they mean) (She hesitates because Ventus does)

The hesitation is quickly shaken off and replaced by rage. Because this isn’t Riku, this is someone who took over his body. He’s controlling Riku and he will give Riku back! (He’ll give Terra back. Because Ventus recognises that fighting style in the same way Ansem recognised his. Ventus isn’t conscious, not truly, but he rages because he knows that keyblade, knows that magic, he knows the monster that stole his friend!) (The monster will give his friend back)

Kairi and Ventus are in synch as never before. 

It isn’t enough. Terra and Xehanort have always been stronger than Ven and Vanitus. 

Kairi and Ventus can’t beat him. 

After awhile, Ansem goes; well, this was fun, but it's time for you to come home, Ven. And he uses Terra's Keyblade to unlock Ven's heart. 

Except he fails. Because Kairi stops him. She does it on instinct, she does it in a way that shouldn’t be possible. Keyblades can't be stopped like this. 

Not without the power of a Princess of Heart. 

And Ansem realies. Kairi is the final Princess. The one they lost all those years ago, the one they've been searching for ever since. He gets it now, the reason Kairi was hidden from all scrying spells is because of Vanitas. Ventus' heart slumbers within her own, and Vanitas' darkness hid that Kairi possesses no darkness of her own. 

Ansem laughs. What a fortunate twist of fate. The final piece to his plan was right in front of his nose all this time. 

He attacks Kairi again. He uses his keyblade against her heart again. Except this time he uses the Keyblade created by the Princesses of Heart. 

This time, he aims at Kairi's heart instead of Ven's. 

Kairi’s heart is consumed.

And Riku is back control of his body. Because Kairi's power is no longer being contained by her body, because he has a direct link to that power by holding the Keyblade that holds her heart. Because they shared a paopu fruit and that created a magical bond. (And Ansem screams because Ven is lost! There was only a brief window in time to capture his heart as Kairi's was unleashed, and because of the switch in control, that window is gone! Ven is gone. Ansem rages) (Ansem is powerless as long as Riku keeps hold of that Keyblade) 

 And Riku, who was screaming inside Ansem the entire time he was fighting Kairi, goes no, no, no, this can't be happening. I can’t have killed Kair, can’t have killed my best friend.

I need to save her. 

In this world, Riku is the one who breaks the Keyblade and returns the Princesses their hearts. 

And Ansem is back in control. 

Things go mostly according to canon again, with Kairi going after Ansem (because he will give Riku back!)  (because the Kingdom of Hearts must never be opened) 

It ends with Riku and King Mickey closing The Door on one side, Kairi, Donald and Goofy closing The Door on the other side. But before closing it, Kairi makes Riku promise that he'll come back to her. He promises that he will (which is a good thing, because Riku is pretty suicidal right now and things would not end well without this promise) 

Kairi and Mickey close Kingdom Hearts. And Kairi returns to Radiant Garden (because that's her original world. That's where she was born). Donald and Goofy go to that world instead of their own as well, because Kairi instinctively uses Princess powers to keep their hearts with her. The final image is Kairi, flanked by Donald and Goofy, looking up at all the stars that are back. 

End act 1. Now, we get to the good stuff. Now, the butterfly effects really come into play. 

Kairi is a Princess of Heart. They are incapable of creating Nobody's. So when her heart was released from her body? Nothing happened.  

In this world, Naminé doesn't exist. 

Roxas does. 

Except he's not Kairi's Nobody. He's Ventus. He's a heart that exists without a body, something possible only because of the connection he has with a Princess of Heart. 

But without being inside Kairi’s heart, that connection isn't enough to protect him. Slowly, Ventus is turning into a heartless. 

The part of him that is Vanitas is TERRIFIED. That part of him remembers how hollow he always felt, how it always felt like something was missing. How that feeling only went away after merging with Ven. He doesn't want to go back to that. This desire is unconscious though, because Ventus/Roxas has lost his memory. 

Roxas is still found by Xehanort, Ansem's Nobody. Roxas still becomes the thirteenth member of Organisation XIII. 

But Kairi never goes to Castle of Oblivion. She never has her memories manipulated by Naminé. There’s no failed coup within the Organisation. So when Kairi finally does meet the Organisation? 

Things look very different indeed...

And that’s all I have on this. Thank you for coming to my TED talk! If anyone wants to speculate on what happens next, be my guest!

[whimsicallyenchantedrose]

Initial Thoughts--6x20: The Song in Your Heart, pt. 2: Emma and the CS Wedding

In the first part of this meta, I discussed my thoughts on the songs and the flashbacks within the musical episode. (here)  In today’s installment, I’ll be talking about Emma’s journey and the Captain Swan wedding.

Emma

--The show started off with a poignant reminder of Emma’s lonely childhood.  As a child, she sat on her bed, humming a song (her theme, as we’d come to learn), a flier for a talent show on the bed beside her.  She was interrupted by a bully who told her no one wanted to hear her sing; she was alone, just like all the other kids in the group home.

--This turned out to be such an important scene as the episode went on, but even at the moment it was both heartbreaking and relevant.  As Killian said back in season 4, wounds made in childhood tend to linger. Emma learned at a very young age that she was alone; that no one had her back.  That she had to fight her battles herself.  Now, decades later, she has a family, a true love, a son, a whole town full of friends who will fight for her.  Intellectually, she understands that; she’s accepted and embraced that. Still, childhood trauma like that doesn’t just go away.  It’s a battle that must be fought over and over again.

--When the Black Fairy shows up again, Emma finds herself confronting both her tendency to go it alone and the protective instincts of a woman who’s desperate to keep her family safe. Her instincts to deal with the Black Fairy in such a way that her loved ones don’t get caught in the cross fire is noble and heroic, but one of the main themes of this season is that our heroes need each other.  They’re stronger when they lean on the love and strength and support of each other. We know, from that theme, that if Emma goes up against her enemy alone, she won’t succeed.

--Such an angsty scene on the Jolly Roger!  It started out almost humorous, with Killian exasperated about seeing Emma before the wedding, but he knows her so well and understands every bit of her.  He knows almost instantly that something is wrong.  I love that as soon as she tells him about the Black Fairy being back, he immediately starts toward the stairs, ready to go confront the BF that second. He’ll always have her back, and no matter what villain they face—no matter how strong, powerful or magical—he’ll fight to the death to protect those he loves.  

--But Emma insists she has to go it alone.  The desperation on Killian’s face when he begs her to let him help her tore at me…as did the realization on his face when it dawned on him that Emma’s real reason for the visit was to say goodbye should things go sideways.  He knows her decision is unwise, but he also knows that he has no way of talking her out of her noble sacrifice.

--So what does Killian do next?  He goes and confronts the Dark One, planning to stun him long enough for Emma to deal with the Black Fairy.  (Love the confidence he has in his lady love!)  Despite the vengeance-y sound of it, I can’t for a moment fault Killian for planning to come back and “skin his crocodile” once the BF was taken care of. Rumple has double crossed the heroes at every turn.  He’s sold out the town countless times before, and this is at least the third time he’s callously let Emma go to what could be her death.  Every time the heroes give Rumple another chance, he turns on them, and it’s 100% understandable (and even laudable) that Killian would want to stop giving the man any more chances to harm his loved ones. There’s giving someone a chance to change their life, and then there’s being naïve to the point of endangering innocent people.

--For the record, I think Rumple was genuinely working with the Black Fairy in 6x20 out of a desire to unite his family and have the happy ending he’s always wanted.  The motive isn’t necessarily bad, but when the means of accomplishing that motive put countless innocent souls in jeopardy and more or less damn an innocent woman to be killed, the action is villainous.

--I do think that Rumple is going to eventually realize the error of his ways and turn on his messed up mother.  I think he will do some act of heroic self-sacrifice to save his family and the town, and thus be planted on the road to redemption, but for right now, Rumple is the same old Rumple.

--When Emma first goes to confront the Black Fairy (who’s taken up residence in the mayor’s office, apparently), she plans to get the fight over with, but the Black Fairy has an ace up her sleeve.  She transports Emma’s family (frozen, thanks to Rumple’s interference) to the mayor’s office.  This weakens Emma already from the start.  She knows if she loses, everyone she loves is at the mercy of the evilest villain the town has ever seen, and it terrifies her.  The Black Fairy, as manipulative as they come, exploits this fear and then augments it by stoking the flames of Emma’s childhood traumas. She insists that Emma’s alone; she’s always been alone, and she was foolish to think she’d ever have her loved ones to lean on.  Emma tries to blast her with magic, but the Black Fairies poisonous insinuations have done their job.  Not only is Emma incapable of producing magic, but her shaking hand has returned. Demoralized and afraid, Emma storms from the office.

--There were a couple of stellar Swan Believer moments in this episode.  Henry was at his best as the truest believer.  I loved how much faith he had in his mom.  Whereas Killian (and likely the Charmings) tried to dissuade Emma from going up against the Black Fairy on her own, Henry encouraged her, telling her that he knew she could beat her enemy, assuring her that fighting and winning the final battle was the reason he brought her to Storybrooke in the first place.  I don’t at all fault the Charmings or Killian for their reactions; Emma does need her loved ones with her to help her confront her nemesis, but I dearly loved the sweet, absolute confidence her son has in her.

--After Emma’s first confrontation we got a second Swan Believer scene.  This was basically the Swan Believer version of the earlier Captain Swan scene on the Jolly Roger.  Emma tells Henry she’s going to surrender to the Black Fairy, give her her heart, in order to keep her family safe.  I love that Henry didn’t just fall apart at learning that his mom was planning to walk into her death.  He chose to use the only weapon at his disposal to save his mother—his storybook. After knocking the book to the floor in frustration when it didn’t yield up any answers, he noticed a new page in the book—a page that showed him the Blue Fairy putting the kindom’s songs into Emma’s heart.  And suddenly he knew exactly how to help his mom.

--The second confrontation Emma has with the Black Fairy is quite possibly Emma’s best scenes since her “I’m not nothing; I was never nothing” moment with Nimue.  This was Emma’s moment to shine; her moment where she realized that she’s not alone; she’s never been alone, and that the love she has with her family is her strength.

--Such a tender yet angsty moment when Emma says goodbye to Killian and then offers herself up as a sacrifice to the Black Fairy.  I love that despite her best efforts, the Black Fairy was unable to crush Emma’s heart. The strength of her love and the song in her heart is far too resilient for even the strongest of evil.

--It’s then that we have our third, and probably most powerful, Swan Believer moment of the episode. Henry shows Emma the new storybook page and helps her to see that her loved ones are indeed with her; they’ve always been with her.  She never needs to fear being alone because she never, ever will be.  Her ensuing song and acknowledgment allows her to break the freezing spell on her family and (at least temporarily) defeat the Black Fairy, who poufs away after one more moment of evil villain monologing about how Emma will regret her decision to do things the hard way.

The Captain Swan Wedding

--I cannot thank Adam and Eddy enough for the beautiful, emotional, absolutely perfect wedding they gave my favorite fictional couple of all time.  I couldn’t even have imagined a more beautiful venue, more perfect vows, a more swoon-worthy first dance.  It was everything I could have hoped for.  What an amazing payoff for all the angst we’ve gotten for this couple over the last couple of years!

--But it wasn’t just the wedding itself that had me swooning; it was everything that led up to it.  The show gave us so many “traditional” wedding planning and wedding day moments and I loved every single one of them.

--The mother/daughter moment with Snow asking Emma to wear her dress made me all warm and fuzzy inside. This was such a beautiful moment for both of them.  Neither of them thought they would ever have a moment like this, and the absolute joy on both of their faces as Emma gratefully accepted Snow’s offer with a hug was wonderful to see.

--Likewise, I loved that David was helping Killian prepare for the wedding.  That white suit was so very, very not Killian, but I loved that he sought David’s opinion about whether it would offend Emma if he chose to go a different wardrobe route.  It shows how much he respects his TL’s dad, how much he values his mate’s opinion, and how determined he is to make the wedding day everything Emma could hope for.

--And that brings us to the wedding itself.  (Prepare yourself for incoherent sobbing about the beauty of it all.)

--Not only was it emotionally beautiful, it was also physically stunning, from the flowers everywhere, to the artfully decorated arches around the aisle, to the lovely sunset in the background, to Emma’s gorgeous dress (I didn’t have a problem with it to begin with, but seeing it as she walked down the aisle and said her vows, it was perfect), to Killian…because let’s be real, he’s always beautiful, but never more so when than when he’s in love and incandescently happy.

--I loved all the little family moments during the ceremony—both of the Charmings walking their daughter down the aisle, Killian clapping Henry on the shoulder after he gave him the rings, Both David and Snow kissing Emma’s cheek when they got to the end of the aisle, David shaking Killian’s hand as he gave his daughter away.  

--The vows themselves were simple and yet beautiful—Killian talking about how Emma helped him move past hatred and vengeance (and that line about his heart belonging to her. *swoon*)—Emma telling him she never thought she’d find True Love until she met him.  But what really gave me chills were the vows Archie led them in.  They didn’t just vow to love each other until death parts them; they vowed to love each other for all eternity.  There is nothing, nothing that can ever separate these two hearts again.  It was all I ever wanted for my favorite couple!

--The first kiss as husband and wife was as beautiful as the rest of the ceremony.  The way they look at each other, the tender kiss, the fact that Killian dips her at the end of it….*swoon again*

--Such a beautiful sentiment that they didn’t get their happy ending; they got their happy beginning. Their life together is just beginning. They have years, decades together to look forward to and I’m so happy for them!

--The final part of the wedding was the first dance—complete with a couple of lifts and enough happiness it’s ridiculous.  But what I loved was that the whole town got involved in the celebration—Snowing, the Mills sisters, Henry, the dwarfs (dancing the conga line, lol).  We even got to see baby Robyn and baby Neal.  I loved this one small moment of complete joy for all of my favorites.

--But short of the series finale, all happiness comes with a price.  It was inevitable that the Black Fairy’s curse would hit just as the party was really getting started.  (No complaints, though; at least it waited until after Emma and Killian said their I Do’s!)  I love Emma’s reaction, though.  She doesn’t care where the curse takes them or how it manifests.  She knows they will win.  True Love will conquer all!