#kingdom hearts canon compliant

[inconsistentracoon]

Chapters: 28/34 Fandom: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi & Riku & Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Aqua & Sora (Kingdom Hearts) Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Canon Compliant, Angst with a Happy Ending, Post-Kingdom Hearts III - Re Mind, Mental Health Issues, Protective Riku, Depression, Slow Burn, Idiots in Love, Fluff

After waking up in a strange city, Sora has wandered its streets alone for months searching for a way out, whilst tormented by Heartless and stalked by a stranger in a black coat. When he is attacked and gravely wounded, Kairi and Riku arrive just in time to get him to safety.

However, he has returned with more than just physical wounds. With his body, heart, and spirit all severely damaged, and torturous memories of Rage still haunting him, the road to recovery will be a long and painful one.

His many friends want to be there to help him through it though, even in the times he doesn't want them to be, and when he doesn't think he deserves it. Above all else, Riku and Kairi will always be at his side, even while one must desperately try to hold back his feelings.

Most main characters feature, too many to tag. All the trios, Twilight town gang, everyone in Radiant Garden etc. Also Hiro and Baymax.

[phantomstatistician]

Fandom: Kingdom Hearts

Sample Size: 17,035 stories

Source: AO3

[oveliagirlhaditright]

Living

Summary: Sora and Kairi visit Lilo and Stitch's world shortly after he's rescued from Quadratum... And while there, Sora expresses an out of character moment of sadness about something. This causes Kairi to want to protect him, thinking that he must still be traumatized by everything that's happened to him, but Sora is quick to assure her that what he needs from her is not her protection.

"This world is beautiful," Kairi commented, taking in the beaches that Sora's friend, Stitch, called home.

In many ways, it reminded her of Destiny Islands, yes—that she would always see as her home—but that wasn't why she thought it was moving. Rather, it was so sweet to think that Stitch had found such a loving family here, and it reminded Kairi of her own family.

"You think so?" Sora asked, a smile in his voice, Kairi could hear, as he walked down the shore hand-in-hand with her.

What a wonderful feeling this was: one she promised herself she'd never let be ripped from her again. She was too strong to let such a thing happen now—or for Sora to get hurt on her watch—and Kairi was forever thankful for it.

"I do, too," Sora said, bringing Kairi back to reality. "Though it's sad it's connected to a place that would want to kill Stitch, or tear him away from his family," Sora said sadly.

'And that it's somehow connected to that era of Keyblade wielders that was forgotten until now,' Kairi thought, but didn't say.

"It is, Sora, it really is," the Princess said, squeezing her boyfriend's hand tighter… "But I also know what you're getting at here. And I swear that our friends and I will never let anything take you from the Realm of Light again. I promise."

After Kairi had said those heartfelt words, she thought that she and Sora might have a moment then. That perhaps they’d lace their fingers together ever tighter, or share one of their favored hugs… Perhaps they’d even finally share the kiss she knew the both of them were dreaming of…

More than anything, Kairi had hoped that Sora would be reassured by what she had said. So, she was more than a little shocked when she eventually noticed they seemed to put a damper on his spirits.

"I appreciate it, Kairi. Really, I do," Sora said, smiling at Kairi widely for just a moment… but was she imagining it, or did Sora look a little strained in doing so? "But you… you really don't have to promise me things like that. Or to try so hard, I mean!"

"I don't- I don't understand," the Princess of Heart admitted, as the couple chose that minute to take a seat on a park bench. And just as they did, a cute cat with a blue-ish black coat jumped into Kairi's lap—and he reminded Kairi so much of the afore-mentioned Stitch as she petted him—but she knew now was not the time to mention it.

"It's just that… you guys—my friends—have been… walking on eggshells with me ever since I came back from Quadratum. And I truly understand why, Kairi," Sora said the last in a pleading voice, as he took her free hand once more and looked deeply into her eyes. "And I thank you for it. But... you don't have to do that. I swear I'm- that I'll be fine."

Oh.

While Kairi hadn't gone through nearly as much what Sora had—of course not—she thought she understood where he was coming from. Were they all coddling him too much now?

Riku and the King had been right to let her train with Axel, even after how they had first met (even if she had been a little afraid at first), because now she had a new best friend in her life.

But everyone was so… fearful of what had happened with Sora to lead him to Quadratum—and what had happened to him there—that they wanted to protect him so much. But in doing so, were they overdoing it and not allowing him to grow?

"I'm sorry, Sora… I'm sorry if all of us have been too much for you since you've gotten home," Kairi said, looking deeply into her boyfriend's blue eyes and being so relieved to find that, despite everything, they still looked the same and hardly troubled at all. "Thinking over my actions since seeing you again… well, I can see how I might seem overwhelming. And that's the opposite of what's good."

Sora laughed: either at Kairi's words or the kitty who had just crawled onto his lap, Kairi wasn't sure, but she wished that she could forever remember the sound, for nothing had ever sounded more pure to her. "It's just that I want to live like I did before, y'know? Fighting for the Realm of Light with my friends by my side… and maybe goofing off a lot along the way. But if you guys put me in bubble wrap, I'm never even gonna fit in the gummi ship!"

Now it was Kairi's turn to laugh at Sora's analogy. Yes, she had most definitely missed this. And she was glad to have it back. And Sora was right that he needed to be allowed to bring this normality back.

"You're right, Sora. Whatever was I thinking? I mean, I'm the one who's always called you a lazy bum. I can't have you slacking now!"

Sora rolled his eyes at that, but Kairi could tell it was in good humor and that her reaction had been exactly what he’d been looking for.

“No, we can’t have that, can we?” Sora sighed. “Even when I first appeared in Traverse Town, scared out of my mind in fighting the Heartless for the first time, you had to wake me up by calling me a ‘lazy bum.’”

“It was only right!” Kairi defended herself now, though she was mainly joking, of course. “I had just found myself in your heart—though I really had no idea what was going on at the time—so I needed you to find me… and explain that to me, I guess. There was no time for your long naps.”

Somewhere during their banter, Kairi had found herself falling into Sora’s arms… and their faces were closer than ever as they looked deeply into each other’s eyes.

Yes, this was exactly what they needed, for they were the same, weren’t they? Both beings of light, who didn’t hold grudges… And even when trauma happened to them, they didn’t stay in feelings of darkness long, but rather strived for the light again, both for themselves and those who looked to them. She’d been silly to forget that.

Sora’s lips were on Kairi’s for less than a minute, Kairi thought. Not too long at all. He didn’t want to overdo it with their first kiss: something that was meant to be spontaneous and innocent. Really, it was such a short time, she wondered if she had enough time to properly remember what the joining of their lips together had felt like at all.

But she did.

As Sora pulled away from her while blushing down to his toes, she thought, she knew it was nothing but the purest magic she’d ever encountered. She smiled.

Standing up now, Sora offered Kairi his hand (which she readily took) as he pulled her to her feet with a scheming expression on his face. Curious.

“C’mon, Kairi. Now that we’ve got the heavy taken care of, what do you say we find Stitch on this world? He’s the best companion you could ever ask for, but so mischievous, too! The way light should be.” ‘Not what the Master of Masters is doing,’ Kairi knew Sora was thinking, but didn’t say. “I know you’ll love him!”

Well, he knew her, so she most definitely would, at that. But she had a condition first. “Only if we can take this little dear of a kitty we accidentally displaced while we were kissing with us. He needs a home, don’t you think? And Lilo seems like the kind who would be more than willing to oblige.”

The kitty looked at Kairi’s words questioningly, maybe even incredulously, but Sora didn’t seem to notice: for he swooped the kitty up in one hand before swooping Kairi up in other, while she instantly protested.

“I always wanted to do that,” he said, while she playfully beat on his back, demanding to be put down.

“Well, let’s go, Kairi… and in take in some life while we can. Wee!”

And Sora started running with both her and the cat in his arms before she could protest, though Kairi did think better of the situation and switch the cat—who she was now calling “Veil”—into her hands—and while she wanted to argue this… seeing Sora so free like this, she found she couldn’t.

This was what they were all fighting for, wasn’t it? What they’d fought for before, even, and always would. And it was a lovely sight behold.

Not being able to resist the urge to do this, Kairi very carefully maneuvered herself so she could rise up sightly and kiss Sora’s cheek as he ran.

Yes, they were living indeed.

Author’s Note: For my bestie Liz’s birthday=)

If I’m being honest… I wasn’t entirely sure I was going to write a SoKai fic for you this year. KH has left us in this weird place, where we honestly don’t know enough about Quadratum or KHIV stuff to really write about the next saga and make it believable. But at the same time, it’s kind of hard to write about anything else, since that’s where we’ve left off at, and pretty much every other mystery has been solved. So it’s sort of a pickle.

I’ll admit that I don’t always have fun writing KHIV fics for the former reason, and it isn’t always fun.

But I’m pretty pleased with how this fic turned out. In some ways, it might be one of my better KHIV fics, imo, in just having Sora and Kairi dealing with emotional stuff and the fallout of KHIV (and being back in the Realm of Light): like Sora not wanting to be coddled and everyone needing to understand that. Even if this did get more shipp-y than I intended at the end. Oh well.

Also, this takes place in the Lilo and Stitch world, since people were speculating that that one world in Missing Link might be Moana or that, so I thought it might be fun to put Sora and Kairi there… even if ended up having little to do with Lilo and Stitch in the end. Pfft. =)

@bluerosesburnblue

[sweet-beezus]

The sapphics have won again, it seems

[aitsuheart]

His Memory & His Life

Soriku Week 2023 Day 4 Sacrifice

Excerpt:

“I love you.” His words quietly reached Sora. His eyes widened after hearing that. Why did he tell me that?

“I'll die a million times for you if I have to.” Riku this time shouted as he held his keyblade, protecting Sora.

[dreamtigress]

Broeder Liefde

The 9th story in my series, Kanej Wensen, will be coming soon to A03. I am doing a final edit read through, and will start publishing chapters in the new year.

I also have the prequel, Jezelf Leren Kennen, completely written, and will start doing edit runs on it soon. It's a whole 12 chapters, 74,000 words long at them moment.

I have SO many more stories planned out for Kanej Wensen, as well. Whee!

[moonknightproductions]

Thought of a KH AU last night and I'm making a design for it might post it later if y'all are interested

[luxusdollhouse]

HEY

you wanna read drabbles of mine ???? Oh you wanna do that???? WELL do I have GOOD NEWS FOR YOU,

I am posting them on ao3 :] varying quality and warnings and ratings in the chapter summaries !!!!! Here you (tosses it to you in pieces like you’re a duck I am feeding good nutritional food to) https://archiveofourown.org/works/42166926/chapters/105866823

[cannedpeachesxp]

Back:drop (Part III)

AO3 Link

Previous / Next

Quick Summary:  In which Penniton learns some new lessons, the hard way.

-----------------------

“Those aren’t monkeys,” Penni said in a low voice, backing away from the monsters as more crowded near her.

“Emblem heartless, just the kind we’re looking for,” Demyx said “You can tell by the heart emblem on their chests.”

Penni stayed silent.

Visualize, visualize, visualize…

“Now would be a good time to use that keyblade of yours Penni,”

Visualize, visualize, visualize,

“Penni?”

Something like this should’ve been easy for her. She had the ability to take out these bugs, so why couldn’t she just whip out her key and get it over with?

Why was she shaking?

She didn’t even have the chance to process it, one of the heartless suddenly took a lunge at her, much too fast for her to react.

Much too fast for her to scream.

No claws ever reached her though, as she was harshly pulled away from the line of impact, then just a second later she heard the loud ‘twang!’ of a guitar ring out, and a powerful blast of water shot right at the heartless, knocking it to the ground.

“Don’t blank out on me like that, Penni!”

Penniton blinked a few times, taking in heavy breaths after subconsciously holding them. She was surprised to see the large, if not oversized, instrument Demyx was gripping, the intricate design of it catching her interest for a split second.

“Demyx…did you do that?” Penni breathed out, clutching her heart, feeling a slight ache in her chest. It was probably the anxiety of the situation.

“Well, yeah, but-” The blonde strummed a few more strings of his guitar, a veil of water surrounding the two of them, it kept the heartless away from them momentarily, giving the girl time to think. “-what happened just now? You froze up completely.”

Penni frowned, as much as she’s been nagging Demyx, when it came to actually acting she wasn’t being much of a team player. The least she could do was give him an explanation for her nonsensical behavior. “I…can’t do this, I can’t summon my keyblade- I’m scared just looking at those things!”

Honestly, Penni expected Demyx to freak out, or get upset, some sort of negative reaction. But instead of any of those, he calmly said, “I get that all the time, stop thinking about how scared you are and push that feeling back, focus on another feeling.”

“Push it back?” Penni thought about it for a moment, she thought about what else she was feeling about the heartless besides being afraid of them. She thought about what they had done to her world and home, and how angry she felt because of it. A familiar burning sensation filled Penni, the more she dwelled on, the more she felt the desire to hit those heartless as hard as she could. And soon, she felt the heaviness of the keyblade in her hand. The girl couldn’t help but exclaim gleefully, “Hey, it worked!”

“Alright, now give those heartless a run for their money!” Demyx shouted, the water veil dropping. Penni immediately rushed out at the heartless, slamming her keyblade as hard as she could into their bodies. Almost tripping from the amount of force she put into her attacks.

She quickly regained her balance, continuing to smack around the creatures until none were left.

She whacked the final heartless with her blade causing its existence to end, its body manifesting a pink, glistening heart that floated up into the sky before disappearing as well.

“A heart…” She gently muttered, her chest greatly heaving. The grip on her keyblade loosened as she looked around to see there were no more dark creatures surrounding her, she could calm down now.

As the girl caught her breath, she looked at the sky for a moment. There were a lot of heartless just now, and from what Penni knew. All of those creatures were living people once; who somehow lost their hearts. But how does one lose a heart versus simply dying of natural causes and passing on? If there’s a difference, and you lose your heart and turn into a heartless, can your life never be redeemed after that? Penniton’s face twisted in confusion for a moment, shaking her head at the thought. There was no need to rack her brain over those questions.

Besides, the implications of them frightened her.

“I knew you could do it, Penni!” Demyx said, “Y’know, you're pretty good with that keyblade, you kinda reminded me of some sort of baseball player.”

Penni let out a giggle, holding her keyblade like a big metal bat. “Batter up!” She stated, giving the blonde a grin. That’s when she noticed something left behind on the ground, yellow orbs all scattered about. Upon closer inspection, she was able to recognize what the distinguishable object was.

“Munny?” Penni questioned, picking up a few of the orbs in the palm of her hand.

“Yeah! All the heartless drop some.”

“Hm, that’s gonna come in handy.” She picked up the rest of the coins, slipping the small pile into her coat pockets. “By the way, you didn’t do too bad yourself, water-boy! I mean, I had no idea you could do all that…stuff!”

Penni struggled to find the right words.

“Aw shucks Penni, it’s just a little water magic. I mean, I could explain it some more if you-” Demyx didn’t get the chance to finish his sentence as a black object swooped from under him, causing him to lose his balance completely like he’d been knocked off his feet. Penni attempted to grab hold of him by the arms so he wouldn’t topple over, but unfortunately, she lacked the upper body strength- weak nerd arms. They both came crashing down next to each other.

And hard.

“Owhh…”

“At least you’re not the one who landed face-first in the dirt,” Penni said straight-faced, lifting herself off the ground. Her eyes scanned the area, looking for whatever caused the falling out. “Was it another heartless?”

It wasn’t until she spotted the silhouette of someone with a pointy hat.

Wait…was that Peter’s shadow?

It looked amused, its body moving as if it was laughing, then it blew a raspberry at the duo.

Ah, so that’s how it was gonna be.

Penni sprang to her feet without a moment’s waste and sprinted towards the shadow as it started running off. “C’mon Demyx, we gotta catch that shadow!” She yelped as the blonde scrambled to get up on his feet and follow behind her.

“Penni- wait up, this isn’t even part of the mission!” Demyx was right, this wasn’t at all part of the mission…but she didn’t want to leave Peter hanging.

“I know, this won’t take long, I promise!”

Penni wasn’t even paying attention to where she was going, her eyes were on the quick twisting and swerving nature of the shadow, her feet running wherever it went.

At one point in the chase, Penni and Demyx became split up in their path, more heartless cutting off the path from behind Penni.

“It’s okay, you go up ahead, I got this!” The blonde said, whipping out his guitar. Penni nodded as she ran on, mildly guilty for leaving Demyx alone, but at the same time glad he trusted her.

Twisting through greenery and trees, jumping over logs, and ducking under low-hanging branches

The only thing keeping her going was the adrenaline, this was the most she’s run since she was on her junior high track and field team.

In the high of the chase, Penni saw out of the corner of her eye a bright light, it soon flew beside her, and Penni’s movements slowed a bit.

“Tink! I-” Penni was abruptly silenced as Tink’s mouth moved quickly as if she was explaining something, though the only thing the girl heard was the jingling of tiny bells. “Ah…Tink, in the nicest way possible, I have no idea what you're saying.”

Tinkerbell stopped and gave her an exasperated look, putting her head and her hands, shaking them like she was disappointed.

“Well, it’s not exactly like I grew up learning how to speak fairy…” Penni mumbled, rubbing the back of her neck.

The fairy then made a few hand movements, one of them being that she raised her hands over her head, moving them up like she was making the shape of a hat. She then pointed ahead, moving her hands forward and furrowing her eyebrows.

“Oh! Peter’s shadow,” It suddenly clicked for Penni. “I was just chasing after him, he couldn’t have gotten far though. I saw him going right this way.”

Tinkerbell seemed satisfied with this answer, nodding happily and gesturing to Penni to ‘come on!’ zipping off without a warning.

Penni was quick to follow the fairy, but she was quite fast on her wings and was way ahead of her.

“Wait up Tink!” Penni called out, careful not to trip over any rocks and foliage. Tinkerbell sped to a clear opening, looking around for where the shadow could’ve gone. But as she was searching, she failed to notice the several dark spots on the ground beginning to pool under her. Before Penni could even speak another word a heartless jumped up in the air toward Tink, swiping at her, causing her to fall to the ground in an attempt to avoid getting sliced up.

“Hey, not nice!” The girl’s keyblade had made contact with the heartless in a flash, knocking them away like bowling pins as she quickly scooped up the small fairy in her hand. “Why don’t you pick on people your own size?”

Penniton sized herself up for a second.

“Or, like- my size will do.” Tinkerbell jingled rapidly as she floated over to Penni’s shoulder, “Alright, I get it!”

Penni made quick work of the small fry heartless, thankfully, they weren’t the monkey kind, so it was easy to handle them. It was the next batch of heartless that appeared around the girl.

“More of them?” These heartless were different, they were small and cone-shaped. They floated around like birds and had red-yellowish spiked hats on top of them. In fact, they had a whole fiery motif going on with them. “Does that mean…”

Without warning, balls of flame were thrown at Penni, in which she barely managed to dodge, quickly dropping to the dirt floor. “Ouch…not fun…hey!”

She quickly patted off the bit of fire that caught on her coat. There was no way she was gonna go out by being fried like an egg, so she quickly got herself up, and swung her blade at monsters. But they were swiftly able to dodge, backing away when the weapon came close to them. All the while, the heartless were throwing all kinds of attacks at Penni.

She was swatting at oversized flies, and getting immensely frustrated in the process. The girl especially wanted to scream when fire landed directly on her hand, and it burned badly. Penni hissed in pain as Tink jangled some more, attempting to tell her something.

“Tink, you know I can’t understand you.” Penni groaned, taking cover over an old, fallen tree to catch her breath. She flew in front of the girl and made some jagged movements that looked like she was holding a weapon.

“My keyblade? What about it?”

The fairy then severed around a bit, a glowing trail of dust following behind her. Penni squinted, her eyes adjusting to the pattern of words that were spelled out.

“Bliz…” Penni trailed off, “Tink it’s like 70 degrees right now what are you talking about.”

She gave her an irritated look and pointed at the heartless with her hands pointed like she was holding a weapon, and mouthed the word again.

“You want me to say that?” Penni wasn’t exactly sure what that would do or how it would help, but she got herself up. Stepping out from her hiding spot, she pointed her keyblade right at the red-coated creatures, and yelled, “Blizzard!”

Pieces of ice shot out of the keyblade, shooting right through the heartless and destroying them, cold wind filled the surrounding area, the light breeze blowing onto Penni’s face.

This left the remaining heartless staggered, taking this chance Penni hurled her and her keyblade towards the creatures, knocking whatever life that was left out of them, hearts floated into the sky, enveloped in a murky darkness. All that remained was faintly glowing orbs of munny left on the ground.

The girl took several deep breaths, dropping her to knees, she felt her keyblade dissipate beside it as it hit the ground. A concerned fairy drifted over to her shoulder, a slight ringing sounded by her ear.

“Tink…did you see that?” Penni turned towards the fairy with the biggest smile on her face. “I just did magic! I had no idea my keyblade couldn’t even do that. I would’ve never known if it wasn’t thanks to you, Tinkerbell!”

Tink gave Penni a bashful look, waving her hand as if she was to say ‘Oh, it was nothing’.

Penni opened her mouth to say something else but then noticed a recognizable shadow cast nearby the girl and the fairy.

“Peter’s shadow…” Penni murmured, her voice filled with displease. “Because of you, Tinkerbell could’ve been badly hurt, or worse. Your antics caused a whole lot of trouble, was that what you wanted out of this?”

Peter’s shadow face twisted into a frown, and it looked like he was sulking. The fairy floated over to the shadow and said a few words in her jingling language. The shadow nodded, rubbing his hand on his chest as if he was saying ‘sorry’. Tinkerbell gave him a sympathetic smile, and then the shadow turned to Penni, grinning in his own unique way, giving her a small wave.

It seemed like the shadow had learned his lesson, and all was forgiven, quite easily it seemed. Tinkerbell and the shadow had to be close, Penni thought, for Tink to be so forgiving.

That must be such a strong friendship, an unbreakable bond.

Penni gave a small wave back, her mouth curved upwards.

While Penni’s hand was still in the air, Tinker flew back over and placed her hands on a lone finger, shaking it.

“Ah, I should be the one saying thank you, I would’ve been toast if it wasn’t for your help, literally.”

Sassy as ever, the fairy rolled her eyes, waving bye to Penni one last time before she and the shadow hurried off, probably to find Peter.

At that moment, Penni found the burning sensation of her hand coming back to her, well actually, it had never left, the girl had just ignored it after a while. But now she was left with only herself and her thoughts, she realized her hand hurt like she had dipped it in a pot of boiling stew. Maybe she could use that spell on her hand and-

“Penniton! You’re okay!” The blondie yelled out in joy, his arms wrapping around Penni a bit too tightly for her liking. “Aw jeez Penni, why’d you have to leave me like that, it was so scary and you were so serious!”

He continued his anxious (and mildly funny, though Penni would never say it) rambling until the girl choked out the words “I’m fine Demyx, but if you keep hugging me like this I might pass out from lack of air…”

Demyx let out a ‘my bad!’ and let go of Penni, who took in a deep breath of air.

“Everything went fine, I found Peter’s shadow and took care of a couple of heartless while I was at it, so I’d like to believe our mission is pretty much completed.”

“Music to my ears,” Demyx sighed with relief, putting up his fist “You definitely carried the whole operation, ouhhhh what would’ve I done without you?”

“It’s kinda like what you said Demyx, just push through it.” This time, Penni returned the fist bump with no worries of disingenuous feelings, but when she made contact with the gloved fist, she winced at the pain of her toasted hand. “Ouch…I forgot about that…”

“Your hand! One second I have just the thing for that,” Demyx said, quickly shuffling around his coat pocket for something. He soon handed Penni a small bottle with a curiously green liquid in it. “It’s an elixir, it’ll heal your hand right up!”

“Ohh, I get it,” Penni took the bottle, looking Demyx dead in the eye, “you're trying to poison me.”

…

“What?”

“Listen man, I don’t know what I did to get on your bad side but-”

“Penni I’m not trying to poison you, I’m being serious!”

“I ain’t drinking that Demyx, I was taught not to take handouts, especially weird drinks, from strangers.”

“Strangers?” Demyx clutched the spot where his heart would’ve been, “Penniton, you're killing me here, we’ve been through so much together already!”

“Not enough for me to drink whatever that is, and you just pulled it out of your coat pocket, I doubt that’s sanitary,” Penni said bluntly, waving away the blonde.

“Look, I swear on my non-existent heart, this is perfectly safe. In fact.” He pulled out another bottle, “I’ll drink one with you, then if it’s really poison, which it’s not, we’ll go down together.”

Penni gave Demyx a hard stare before glancing at the elixir bottle, it was relatively normal looking, packed in a plastic bottle with labels and all. She huffed, pulling off the cap. “Alright…on three.”

“One…two…three!”

The partners both started chugging the small bottle, and to Penni’s surprise, the substance wasn’t terrible. In fact, as she finished the last few drops, she felt energized, and the pain in her hand was leaving her.

“See? I told you it would be fine, Penni! And I bet you feel way better now, right?” Demyx joked, playfully bumping her with his elbow. “And with our mission finished, we can take some leisure time!”

“Leisure time?” Penni questioned, “But, Saix said we had to return back to the castle as soon as we finished our mission.”

“Taking a few hours extra to RTC isn’t gonna hurt anybody, besides, Saix can wait. Besides, going on missions and then immediately going back to the castle doesn’t sound that enticing.”

RTC? That probably meant…return to castle, right?

“I mean…I guess we could take a break before heading back, but where would we go?”

Demyx gave Penni a sly grin, “I just so happen to know a spot.”

.

.

.

“So, what do you think of the place?” The blonde asked.

Twilight Town was quite nice, the yellowish-orange sky complimented the overall rustic aesthetic of the town. Penni inhaled the scent of something sweet from a nearby bakery, maybe later she could buy something for herself. The sound of laughter filled her ears as children rode past on shiny bicycles.

It reminded her of the town the boarding school resided in, the quaintness of it all. It almost made her homesick, and to think a place like that was gone.

“Cozy.” Penni simply stated, giving Demyx a soft smile.

“And get this, the sun here never sets- it’s evening all day!”

“A never-ending sunset? How does anyone keep track of time?”

“Clocks, duh.” Demyx said, straight-faced. Penni stared at him to see if he was actually being serious, this was confirmed when she saw the tiniest crack of a grin on his face.

“Alright, whatever, funny guy.” She said, clicking her tongue.

“Aw, I was just kidding, Pen-pen!”

Penni winced at the nickname, shaking off the memories that flashed through her mind, ignoring them with a question, “So what do you do around here?”

“All kinds of things! There’s a corner store where you can get cup noodles for real cheap, a bookstore that sells manga- oh, and CDs!”

“You're a music kinda guy, aren’t you?” Penni smugly asked the blonde.

“How’d you guess?” The blonde laughed, “But yeah! I love music, there are so many different forms of it, and a whole bunch of instruments come together to make awesome pieces of work. It’s a whole art form, Penni!”

Penni nodded along, it was always nice to hear someone talk about what they love.

“And I’m guessing the guitar is your favorite instrument, right? You’ll have to show me what you can play outside of our missions sometimes, y’know, when we’re not fighting for our lives.”

Demyx looked surprised for a moment, then, a smile grew on his face. A big, beaming smile.

“Anytime Penni! In fact, I can even teach you how to play!” The girl didn’t have a chance to say anything else, she was already being dragged into the bookstore, “There’s this one song you should listen to, the band makes these really heartfelt rock songs, I’ll think you’ll like it!”

As Penni was dragged to the back of the store, she thought for a moment. Did she have a favorite music genre? Artist? When was the last time she sat down and turned on a song she really liked?

She didn’t even own an mp3 player.

“This one is pretty popular, but not too much that it’s overrated.” Demyx plopped a pair of headphones on Penni’s head, and she closed her eyes, letting her mind focus on the music.

Almost Immediately, the rift of an electric guitar was heard, and then a melody. The vocals along with the heavy bangs of drums meshed together just right, and altogether, it felt meaningful.

It felt passionate.

Penni’s head nodded along to the song, it resonated through her, and much to her surprise, she hardly registered that the song had reached its climax and, had ended.

Penni blinked a few times, pulling off the headphones, a small grin coming to her face. “That was really good!” She said in a bubbly voice, the melody still echoing in her mind. “Do you have any more I can listen to?”

“Well there's this one artist, her music is super great, it’s a mix of R&B and pop, and sometimes some guitar is thrown in there. Actually, did you want to borrow my mp3 player?”

“You don’t have to do that, Demyx-”

“Nah, it’s cool, I insist! I already own most of the songs on cd already, so I wouldn’t miss it…just don’t break it okay? It was kinda a heavy investment…”

Penniton let out a giggle, “Alright, you have my word.”

Demyx laughed along, his eyes softening just a tiny bit, “Y’know, you look better when you smile, you should do it more often.”

She froze for a moment, at a loss for words, muttering out “Can you blame me for not doing that? I mean, I don’t have a lot going that would give me a reason too.”

“Maybe, but finding little things to be happy about is better than being gloomy all the time.”

Penni hummed, maybe so. It would do her better to at least try to stay motivated. After all, who knew how many more missions she would have to go through until she could see her hometown again, her mom?

How long until she could see…a certain sunset haired girl.

“We have some more time to waste, why don’t you show me that corner store you were talking about? I’m literally starving.”

.

.

.

Upon exiting the dark portal, when Penni stepped into the progressive familiarity of the castle, slightly surprised to see more black coat members hanging about.

“See Luxord? I told you she would be fine.” Snickered the voice of Xigbar, lightly nudging his arm into the man sitting next to him.

“Indeed she is, I have to say it was unexpected.” Admitted a man with blonde hair in a caesar cut matched with an interesting-looking beard, light blue eyes, and what Penni spotted to be several piercings on his ears.

The piercings were quite cool to her.

The man named ‘Luxord’ handed the gunner what seemed to be a few bits of munny, the gesture itself made her question what exactly they were doing before she showed up. The man made his way to Penni.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Penniton, perhaps I may have misjudged you. By the looks of it, you were able to handle your own just fine.”

Yeah, as long as you don’t count her hand, everything went ‘just fine’.

“Ah- thank you? But I don’t think we’ve ever met, how did you know-”

“Word of mouth travels fast around here, kiddo.” Xigbar said, leaning back into the white cushions of the couch.

Penni muttered a small ‘oh’. “So, I wanted to ask, there are thirteen people in the organization, right? I’ve only met a few people but where’s everyone else?

“Probably still out doing their missions, we got done on good time!” Demyx explained boastfully, seemingly proud.

“Truthfully speaking,” Luxord gave him a look of denial, “You were the last to get back. Your co-workers most likely are off on their own activities. You didn’t drag the poor girl on one of your ‘detours’, did you?”

“It was just a quick lunch break before heading back…”

“Uh huh…but I digress. Penniton, you’re bound to run into the others soon, after all, this whole castle is crawling with opportunities to make conversation with your peers.”

“Now let’s not forget, not everyone is worth the time to make conversation with,” Xigbar remarked.

The guitarist spoke up, “If by that you mean Larxene, I second that point.”

“What’s wrong with Larxene?” Penni raised an eyebrow, curious.

“She’s such a witch!”

“How about we let her decide other people’s character by her own experience, you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, or simply trust word of mouth.”

“Funny coming from you, Luxord.” The eyepatch man snickered, flicking a small munnny coin into the hair before catching it.

The man gave a content sigh, “Alas, who am I to deny a light-hearted bet? After all, we're only human.”

“Well technically,” Demyx interjected “none of us are actually-”

“Enough of that, did you gain any new lessons on your first mission, Penniton?”

“Well, I did learn this really cool trick,” Penni raised her keyblade in the air, “You just hold it up like this and say-”

“That isn’t a toy, Penniton.”

Penni’s joyful expression dropped from her face, replaced with pale misery as she turned around to see a displeased Saix.

“Saix, this isn’t- I was just-” Penni stumbled over her words as she lowered the blade, attempting to formulate an excuse.

“There’s a time and place for its use, but running amok and throwing it around the castle isn’t one of them. The organization does not tolerate crude use of weaponry, Xemnas will be hearing about this incident.”

The girl de-summoned her blade, she gazed gratefully at the floor as she mumbled the word “Sorry…” to Saix in a meek, hushed voice.

“Lighten up Saix. All the kid wanted to do was flash the thing around some, there’s no need to tattle on boss man for this.” Xigbar stated plainly, resting his head against his fist. “And it’s not like you rag on Demyx whenever he insists on playing his sitar, or whatever. So what? You jealous or something?”

Saix narrowed his eyes at the gunman, simply letting out a scoff. He handed both Penni and Demyx a paper form of some kind. “After every mission, it’s required that you fill out a report. Turn this in back to me by tomorrow.”

Quickly surveying the paper, it was honestly elementary work. All she had to do was put down the place, the objective, and the results. Her eyes drifted to Demyx, and judging by his face, he was a little less than happy to receive the paper.

“I’ll be sure to get this done,” Penni said in a polite tone, hurrying off back to her room so she could escape from the uncomfortableness of being around the blue-haired member.

What Penni wasn’t expecting though was a certain eyepatch-wearing man to be trailing behind her.

“So, you finished up your first mission, not bad.”

“Is that really much of an accomplishment?” Penniton said, not looking back to the gunner, “You guys do that type of stuff every day.”

“Learn to take a compliment, Firecracker, all I’m saying is that you didn’t do bad for someone who just got their keyblade just yesterday.” He let out a laugh, “Luxord was betting that you would’ve kicked the bucket on your first day.”

That explains the shifting of munny Penni caught earlier.

“Wait, do the other organization members not think I’m, for lack of a better term, that strong?”

“That depends, do you consider yourself strong, kid? Because you sure don’t hold yourself up that way.”

Penni whipped her head around to say something to the man, but was bewildered to see no one standing there.

“If you walk around looking like a sad kicked dog all the time that’s what people will see you as.” Xigbar’s voice had shifted upwards, and Penni followed that direction, she said a demented ‘huh?’ to see the gunner crouching upside down, on the ceiling.

“That’s…not how physics works.” Penni stated, “And I don’t carry myself around like a ‘kicked dog’.”

“As if!” He laughed, “You got barked at by Saix once and looked like you were about to curl up in a ball and-”

“I get it! Goodness, where is your filter?”

Xigbar let out another chuckle, “Don’t have one!”

Penni huffed, resuming her beeline to wherever her room was, making a mental note at one point she would have to start taking walks around the castle to start getting to know the layout of it.

Yet, she continued to hear the tapping of boots above her as she walked.

“By the way, earlier,” The patch-wearing man said as his boots hit the floor, landing right in front of the girl, causing her to flinch. “You were holding your keyblade entirely wrong.”

“How would you know if I’m holding it wrong? You’ve probably never held one of these in your life.” She retorted. He scoffed rather loudly and said the words ‘as if’ in a low mumble Penni couldn’t hear.

“I’m just saying kid, if you don’t get used to your keyblade soon, you might just find yourself in some pretty deep trouble.” Xigbar finally stepped out of Penni’s way, letting her pass.

“Sure, thanks for the advice.”

No, not really.

.

.

.

When Penni at last found her room, she was relieved at the thought of being able to flop down on her bed and process the day.

She opened her door, adjusted herself to the sight of her room, and screamed.

White, skinny, and most certainly slithery creatures turned her heads to her when she opened the door. In a flash, they glided past Penni through the door, like liquid (or like a slinky), both equally as weird, their bodies stretching and retracting, as if they had no bones. It gave the girl shivers.

She watched them slither down the hallway and turned around the corner, passing the redhead as he was walking past them. He looked nonchalant and unreasonably calm, hardly sparing the creatures a glance.

“Where’s the fire? It’s kinda rude to scream out of nowhere, Pen-pen.” Axel stated, taking a bite of some blue colored ice cream on a popsicle stick.

“What in the world were those? What were they doing in my room!” Penni was shaking, like she had just seen a ghost…what if those things were ghosts? Do ghosts usually look that gross? Why was she being haunted by ghosts?

Focussss, Penni! There’s probably a reasonable, understandable explanation for those things.

“Those guys?” Axel pointed behind them the directions the creatures just left in, “those are just the dusks.”

“The wha?”

“Ah, that’s right, you're still a newbie.” Axel took another bite of his ice cream, beginning his explanation. “The dusks are just another type of nobody, and I know what you're thinking, ‘But Axel, I thought nobodies were the people in the organization!’. You would still be right about that, but the organization members are special nobodies, even though we lost our hearts, we’re so ‘strong-willed’ our bodies and minds remain. You still with me here, Pen-pen?”

“Uhh, yeah?”

“Good, usually when someone loses their heart, their body splits up into two entities, a nobody and a heartless. The things you just saw now were normal, low-level dusks.”

“But why are they here, in the castle?” Why were they in my room?

“They take care of it,” Axel said matter-of-factly, “Who else do you think cleans up around the castle, me?”

A door suddenly swung open.

“Will you two shut up already?” Came an irritated voice from a young lady with blonde, practically golden, hair and teal eyes. She had a unique hairstyle, short cut with two stripes poking on top of her head, like little antennas. By definition, a wildly pretty, blue-eyed, blonde…soooo pretty.

“Our bad, didn’t mean to disturb you!” Apologized Penni, giving her a sorry look.

“Whatever, I’m already up now.” Her gaze focused on Penni, looking her up, then down. “New girl, right?”

“Penniton! But you can call me–”

She flicked Penni’s forehead. “I know, save it. You can call me Larxene, got that?” Larxene didn’t give the girl a chance to answer. “Don’t annoy me more than you already have and we’ll get along fine, kay’ newbie?”

She said that with an ill-ridden smile.

Penni didn't bother to say anything else, she simply nodded.

“Yikes Larxene,” ‘Crunch’ “no neef o be oo mean.” Axel commented with a mouthful of ice cream.

“It would be appreciated if you didn’t talk with food in your mouth, Axel.” Larxene peered at the redhead with disgust, “Anyways, a word of advice, you can’t rely on that keyblade of yours for everything. You know any magic?”

“Only blizzard, is there more I can learn?”

“Tons!” Axel exclaimed, holding a popsicle stick between his teeth. “You really gotta stop thinking so small.”

“That’s not terrible though, at least you know one spell, which means you’re not completely helpless.” Not completely helpless? That must count for something. “But- a couple of measly snowflakes won’t get you very far. Eventually, you’ll be in a situation where the magic you have now will be useless, and when that happens, you’ll crash and burn.”

She ended her sentence with a high, perky voice.

“Are you trying to scare her?” The redhead asked, raising an eyebrow at Larxene.

“I’m being realistic,” Larxene put her hands on both sides of Penni’s shoulder, smiling at her. “We don't want our little newbie dying on us too early.”

Penni swallowed a lump in her throat she didn’t even realize had formed. “So…where can I learn more magic? Can you teach me?”

“Yeah, no. I’m not your kindergarten teacher, that’s more Vexen’s speed.”

“Who-”

“You can find him in his lab or whatever, I’m sure he’ll be real pleased to meet you.” Larxene turned around, getting ready to disappear back into her room. She said to Penni without turning her head, “It was a nice talk, newbie.”

Axel and Penni watched as she walked back into her room, closing the door which one would say was a tad bit too hard. The two were silent for a moment, the girl then said, “Well, that was helpful of her.”

“She usually isn’t…” Axel said under his breath.

Penni let out a small yawn, signifying her growing tiredness, and even more tiredness to try and keep up a conversation. “I’ll see you later Axel,” She waved goodbye to the redhead before opening her door, her hand flinching away from the handle after feeling a small, electric shock.

She looked over her room once again, clicking her tongue once she saw her notebook left on the floor. Those nobodies- dusk- must’ve been messing with it. Penni picked up the book along with the white pencil and flopped down on the bed. Penni frowned when she saw a bunch a scribbles on the first few pages, there goes some priceless drawing space. Turning to a blank page, she began doodling some sketches of models wearing outfits, ideas of outfits.

“So…Neverland…” Penni wondered aloud, sketching a leafy, long dress. Decorated by earthy accessories, the dress itself, if she could color it, might’ve been green. A small stray pencil line caused her to turn the pencil over to its eraser, fixing her mistake.

Her mind drifted off, processing the events of the day. Then, she thought about her mom.

“How am I going to explain everything to her?”

Penni stared at the notebook page for a moment, her eyes lightening up for a second when an idea came to her. She turned to the next blank page, this time writing some letters in a neat font.

Dear Julia Bridges,

“...There’s no need to be so formal about it, it’s my mom.”

Dear Julia Bridges, Mom,

I’m not entirely sure how to explain this, but as of two days ago, your world our world disappeared along with you and everyone in it. Except for me and Veneta, but it’s okay, I’m gonna bring it back. You see, I ended up in a different world, (did you know there are hundreds upon thousands of other worlds out there? I can’t believe it either!) the only thing I had was this weird weapon called a keyblade, it looks exactly how it sounds. I don’t know exactly why I was given one or what I did to deserve being able to summon it, but it’s pretty useful for self defense against the growing darkness: Heartless. They’re nasty creatures that, as far as I’m aware, come in all different shapes and sizes, though I’ve only seen about three different kinds. The heartless are the reason our home disappeared in the first place.

Anyways, I met this guy named Xigbar (you would love him) who brought me to this castle to join this organization. It’s called Organization 13, but replaces the english numeral with the roman numeral (I can only count up to four in roman numerals). I’ll try to keep it short and simple, but Organization 13 is made up of people who don’t have hearts, they’re like zombies but without the undead part. They can’t feel emotions apparently, but I beg to differ. While I do have a heart, The leader (now my boss), Xemnas, said I can bring our world back by helping the organization complete ‘Kingdom Hearts’ (I’ll explain this later as I’m not exactly sure what it is myself, for now it’s just a big heart-shaped moon in the sky).

So yeah, I guess you could say I’m employed now. My comrades coworkers are nice enough, well, a majority of them all. I haven’t even met everyone there is in the organization yet. Besides Xigbar, there’s Axel, he has this wild red hair and a funny sense of humor (funnier than Xigbar), then there’s Demyx who despite my initial impression of him, is nice to have around. He’s kinda goofy too. Next is Saix, who I don’t think likes me very much. Which is fine! Not all coworkers have to like each other, just respect each other. As long as I don’t step on his toes too much I’m sure we’ll have a tolerable relationship.

The last two people I met today were Luxord and Larxene (notice how everyone has a ‘x’ in their name). I think Luxord likes to play cards, and Larxene is…nice. I’m not exactly sure what time it is right now, but all I know is that I’m super tired, that ‘C’ in gym class is finally catching up to me I guess, haha.

Guess I’ll finish this letter now, I’m ready to doze off. See you soon.

Love,

Penniton

Hopefully she really could see her soon.

.

.

.

The next day Penni managed to get up on a good time, albeit a bit sore.

Scratch that, very sore.

She was making her way down the white halls, massaging her arms when she was stopped by a friendly face.

“Penni, Saix wanted to see you personally in the other room, that way.” Axel told her, pointing down the hallway.

The girl blinked a few times, confused “Huh, why? Did I do something bad?”

“Nothing I can remember, maybe he just wants to talk to you.”

“I’m skeptical, but okay.” Penni walked further down the hallway, stopping in front of the two, big double doors. Her heart began to speed up and she swallowed a lump in her throat. She felt anxious.

“Deep breathes in…deep breathes out.” Just like her mom had taught her. Penni pushed the two doors open, stepping into a rather spacious room, with the familiar blue haired member waiting for her. “You wanted to see me?”

“Penniton,” Saix began to say, “Xemnas tasked me with the job of conducting an assessment on you today.”

The girl sighed out of relief. “What type of assessment, pen and paper?” She joked, though as she expected, the man was not amused in the slightest.

“This will be a test of the combat abilities you have thus far,” Saix explained plainly, summoning his claymore-like weapon by his side. What? Combat, against him? It looked so heavy that Penniton couldn’t even dream of being able to lift something like that off the ground, and in comparison to her keyblade…a fight with these conditions seemed a tad bit unfair.

“Hold on, I’ve barely even used my keyblade, nevertheless know how to properly wield it, I think it would be unfair to assess me right now when I’ve just started,” Penniton protested, there was no way she could win a fight like this.

“Unfair?” Saix’s cold voice almost came to a scoff.

“I-”

“There will be many times where you’ll have to take part in ‘unfair’ fights, do you really think your enemy would take into account whether a battle is impartial or not?” He moved into a readied position, “Take this as a lesson, Penniton, a lack of impartiality between you and your opponent is an advantage, depending on who the more prepared one is.”

Saix suddenly lunged at Penni, his claymore just missing her by the hairs of her head as she threw herself out of the way, her keyblade quickly materializing in her hand.

Right, so they were doing this.

To give him credit, the man was much faster with such a large weapon than the girl expected. In a second he was after her again, swing after swing leaving no time for Penni to even decide which direction to dodge next.

A choice was made for her, which ended up being the claymore knocking into her side, sending her flying, pummeling onto the hard floor. Fortunately, it was only the blunt edge of the weapon, but for someone like Penni, the double impact made her vision blur and her ears ring with noise.

The girl groaned and staggered on the ground for a short time. She struggled to pick herself up again, then she heard Saix speak once more.

“If this was a real fight, you would’ve died already. Get up.”

Despite her muscles aching and her mind muddled, she huffed, grabbing her fallen keyblade and getting back up on her feet to finish the fight.

Think faster, act faster, be faster.

Every duck, dodge, and side-step left Penni just a small ounce of time to try and find some sort of way to land an attack.

Yet every time she would find herself readying to strike, almost immediately she would be swept away to the floor, met by Saix’s chiding.

“You need to get up Penni,”

It felt harder to do so every time.

That’s when she had an idea.

As soon as he was in range enough, yelled out the words, “Blizzard!”

Cold, icy wind swept Saix’s view, creating a moment’s opening for her, and Penni took her chance.

She dashed towards the man, but before the metal of her blade could touch black material, Saix swooped under and side-swept her legs, knocking Penni clean off her balance.

She had been really getting to know the ground in the past couple of days, huh?

“Not only was that attack cheap, but you had sloppy execution as well. Being aware of your enemies’ actions at all times is a necessity, carelessness like that will-”

“Get me killed, I know.” Penni breathed out, rising up and wiping away the blood that formed on her nose.

“...So you're catching on.”

She continued to be knocked down again, and again, and again, each time feeling heavier than the last.

At one point when Saix charged at her again, Penni held her ground, using her keyblade to block the claymore, the mere strength caused the girl to be forced back by the mere strength of the sword.

Her keyblade was knocked far away from her, and she suddenly felt a kick to her stomach. Penni hissed in pain, tumbling down onto the floor for a final time. She made no effort to try and regain her stance.

“Are you giving up?”

She said nothing, her hands clutching her stomach and her body curled up. The girl flinched hard when she heard the loud ‘Twang!’ of the claymore that landed mere inches away from her head.

“That’s enough, I’ve seen all that I need to.” The weapon was de-summoned, and Saix's face looked more unimpressed than ever. “Your ability to wield the keyblade is subpar, you’ve disappointed me today, Penniton.”

Penni sat up on the floor, breathing heavily and struggling to form sentences in between recuperating, “I wasn’t-”

“If you couldn’t land a single hit on me, how do you expect to survive in a real situation, dodge attacks until someone comes and saves you? You’re showing signs of cowardice.”

“I didn’t have time to think-”

“You’ll rarely have time to think, and excuses won’t change anything. You need to utilize your keyblade more, not throw around the same measly spell-”

“How can I be any good at my job if I barely know how to use my keyblade?” Penni argued, her face beginning to fume in frustration and her voice rising. Her fists clenched as she kept going, “I’ve hardly been a part of the organization for a full three days, and I’m the only one in it with a keyblade. So figuring it out, mind you, by myself- isn’t gonna click automatically!”

Saix didn’t say anything yet his face was cold as always, his eyes piercing through Penni. “I doubt you got to swinging around that oversized sword of yours right off the bat, I need time to learn- not just a couple of days!” She took a deep breath, her eyebrows lowering. “What do you want me to do Saix, because I just don’t know.”

“What happens to you is inconsequential to me, and every member couldn't be more unconcerned about your welfare than they already are,” Saix finally spat out, irritation sprawled out on his face. “You should be fortunate you get to wear that coat of yours in the first place, nevertheless have the title of being a member.” Penniton's eyes widened as Saix’s words seeped into her like venom. “If you really want to be treated with the same respect as everyone else, I suggest you learn to fend for yourself and manage your problems on your own.” The blue-haired man didn’t even spare Penniton a second glance, leaving her alone in the room.

By herself, alone, again.

By herself, with no one around to comfort her.

Water prickled at the edges of her eyes, tears threatening to fall. Penni tried her best to wipe them away, now wasn’t the time to cry.

“Fend for myself…” Penni muttered, summoning her keyblade, watching how the light reflected and bounced off of it. She chuckled slightly, pitying herself and her own predicament. “I guess…you're on your own Penni.”

Her eyes felt heavy and the burning sensation of her body didn’t help with her immense fatigue. It felt like she just had the butt-kicking of a lifetime so…one quick nap…wouldn’t hurt.

Penniton promptly passed out on the floor.

[just-antithings]

To all the people yelling about people "not writing enough f/f or even just women in general": Trying to write female canon characters is exhausting af. There's often so much baked in misogyny that one has to try to either write around or avoid or worse: actively choose to keep. And that means doing emotional labor of plunging yourself into that, for free, for people who will scream at you that you did it wrong anyways. Most slash fans are women, or people otherwise affected by misogyny. Women who don't want to try to wrangle a character out of a mess of misogynistic tropes. Especially when they're almost certainly going to be yelled at about how they're doing it wrong. (If they get feedback at all). People demanding more people write female characters and femslash (for free) are demanding some pretty damn intense emotional labor from, most often, other women. Of wading into the characters and trying to navigate the misogyny baked into a lot of them. Try to extract Kairi Kingdom Hearts from the misogyny baked into her character: actually really think about it. And then think about what parts you need to keep in order for the story you're writing to still work. Or think about what parts you need to remove and how that will affect what you're writing. Say you're writing a canon-compliant Kindgom Hearts fic. If you remove the misogyny to the best of your ability: will that change things in a way that means your fic is no longer canon compliant? Do you expect someone to think about that and do it for you? For free? When they are writing for fun in their spare time and could instead grab Saix or Sora and NOT have to dive into misogyny?

And even when people DO take the time to perform the emotional labor and time and energy to wade through the misogyny baked into some of these characters? Chances are they'll see a much lower viewer turnout. Readers don't want to risk tripping over bad writing or misogynistic tropes, either. And if they do get a turnout... chances are it's going to be someone telling them they Did it Wrong. When people give one-note female characters actual nuance, readers throw fits. If they don't write pure soft and tender uwu f/f people (especially antis) throw fits. Write a villain AU? People lose their shit. Write a toxic relationship between women? People lose their shit. Explore a dynamic that is anything beside perfect sweet innocent sexless uwu and you're likely to get eaten alive for being "fetishistic". And frankly, even the perfect sweet innocent sexless uwu is likely to get you accused of some shit.

If you want more femslash or just female characters to be explored more in general, you guys have GOT to start being real fucking normal about people who DO write it, and also writing more of it all yourselves. You have to start letting people do badly at it. You have to start letting people be fucked up about it. You have to start actually helping others write sex between two women. You have to start being normal about female characters, yourselves.

And you gotta accept that if you're not willing to do the work yourself, you can't get upset that no one else is willing to, either.

👆👆👆👆

[comfortless]

All That You Don’t Want

PAIRING: witch!fem!reader x apprentice!König

CONTENT: 18+! MINORS DO NOT INTERACT. oneshot. obvious au— so not canon-compliant!, questionable morality, mutual pining, animal death (it’s still alive! but not!), minor character death, power imbalance? technically teacher/student, forced proximity, smut; unprotected piv, creampie, cunnilingus, cockwarming.

NOTES: title from this song! (i will never stop titling my König fics after The Twilight Sad lyrics sorry) i have never written smut in my life i apologize if this is rough!! cover: Robert Bresson, 1951 wc: 7.7k

You never wanted an apprentice, never had the need for some bright-eyed whelp shadowing you for their own benefit. The kingdom had enough competition as far as your craft went— green magic, potion brewing and enchantments, why in the world would you risk teaching someone your secrets only for them to outdo you at every turn? Those with the propensity for magic weren’t treated human, anyway. You saw the looks, uneasy and disgusted, unless of course they had need of you.

The Guild keeps your protected, scrawl your praises in every fresh sheet of parchment passed about, brings in new clients for you to keep yourself afloat without you ever having to leave your little cottage in the forest just beyond the towering walls of the kingdom. So, when you receive the damned letter, how can you refuse?

Green magic couldn’t protect you from the King’s headsman, nor could it keep you hidden away from the constant threat of bandits and other malevolent forces, but the lines in the small letter detailing your new apprentice’s abilities are enough to make you swallow back some of that displeasure.

“… proficient in offensive magics…” and “… formerly in service to the King as a worthy candidate for knighting…” even “… a skilled huntsman…” all tell you that whoever this enigmatic pup is, he would have no qualms hissing at and chasing off a few rogues if they dared step too close to your territory. You picture some ruggedly handsome and charming gentleman arriving at your door with a sword of the finest steel hanging from his side and you loathe the way that your heart seems to flutter with excitement at the prospect.

A fortnight after the letter arrived at your doorstep, you realize that fantasy is often far sweeter than the reality.

You’re busying yourself sorting out a towering shelf with haphazardly placed vials, some labeled and others… well, if you had to guess based on the color of the fluid inside, you should probably toss lest you accidentally poison the next poor woman that comes by simply wanting something to charm the cute farmhand while her piece of shit husband, far too old for her, is off on another brothel visit. You may not be equipped to defend yourself in battle, but you know very well how to make nightshade and wolf’s bane taste like milk and honey.

It’s when you turn with your arms burdened by a heap of unlabeled, possibly poisonous concoctions that you see a figure just outside your window— tall, face shrouded with a blackened veil with only two holes cut out for his moonstone eyes. You curse the way the sight makes you nearly jump out of your skin, dropping everything you were holding onto the wooden floor, brightly colored fluid and glass shards staining a nearby rug you had spent an entire month painstakingly hooking yourself. The specter just tilts his head at you before inviting himself inside. Why bother pretending to be civilized when you look like that, anyhow?

You crouch to collect the shards of glass and wipe away the mixture of maybe-poisons as he enters, not sparing him a glance even as his footfalls lead him to stand uncomfortably close. Perhaps if the entire ordeal hadn’t pissed you off you would have the sense to be afraid, consider the fact that this titan of a man could have been a thief, but something tells you that this is the bright-eyed whelp you had anticipated. The man doesn’t even bother to greet you, let alone kick his muddy boots off at the door, he just hovers over you with his face tilted downward as you scrub up the mess you tell yourself he had caused.

“Leave it to The Guild to send me a dolt,” you mutter below your breath, barely audible as you move to deposit bits of broken glass into a wastebasket at the corner of the room.

“Ja?” The man huffs amusedly.

“Ja?” You question.

“Yes.”

You give him a look, one that suggests you’re in no mood for whatever this is and he seems to stiffen. Any mirth in those haunted eyes of his is quickly snuffed out, replaced with his gaze darting from perusing your backside to the corner of the room, then back up to your face.

He introduces himself as ‘König’. No surname, no title. Though, you supposed in his language, his name was a title in itself. Perhaps your disappointment is more notable than you realize, because the man seems almost nervous around you as you introduce yourself in turn. His fingers curl into his palms in repetition at his sides, and it’s impossible to tell by the small glimpse of his face whether or not he wants to strangle you or bury himself instead.

You rise to your feet, feeling acutely defeated as you lead him around the home, showing him to each room before stopping at the door to his own and crossing your arms over your chest.

“You’ll stay here,” you say quietly, avoiding his eyes as he lowers himself to look at you, thanking you graciously as his hand lingers a bit too long on your shoulder. You gently reach to pry it off, only to feel him grip at your fingers running his thumb over each knuckle before finally drawing away.

You watch from the doorway as he inspects the room. A bed a size two small for a man such as himself sits in the middle, a desk cluttered with spare vials of ink and a few quills made of swan feather, and a towering bookshelf filled with books on simple magic that you haven’t bothered to touch since you were a girl. He seems pleased, despite how very little effort was made for him. As much as you wish otherwise, you almost feel the sting of guilt when you watch him seat himself on the small bed and his eyes light up as he looks to you.

It didn’t take much perception to see the world hadn’t treated this brute too kindly.

He hunts your dinner, bringing home several rabbits that he took his time to skin and prepare for cooking in the yard. Even more, he roasts them over a fire he stoked up for you in a display of gratitude. You watch him from the fogged window as he seats himself by the fluttering flames, watching the meat with a focus that speaks volumes about his own discipline.

“Have you lived on the land for long, König?,” you ask him when the two of you are seated at the table, wiping away the remnants of your meal from your lips with a small handkerchief.

He’s only rucked up his hood enough to eat, the scars lining his jaw run deep, the skin pasty there. He looked far too pale to even be a living thing at all, but his thin lips pull into a grin at your question. “You can tell?” He asks with a slight tilt of his head, the tone of his voice suggesting sarcasm. “Perceptive little witch.”

You furrow your brow at him, surprised by his sudden arrogance. You would have sooner expected the man to tear a hole through you than meet your little question with a cocky response if his twitchy behavior was anything to go by. But… his voice sends a shiver down your spine, the amused lilt mixed with his accent, some natural charm that makes areas of you ache that haven’t been touched in years.

“A man must know to feed himself, ja?”

“Well, I don’t hunt.”

He huffs out a laugh at that, raising a hand to readjust his hood, pulling it back down over his face. König is not pretty, far from it from what you could see, but you almost find yourself downtrodden that he’s hiding himself again when you were only just starting to find yourself curious.

“I will teach you,” he suggests as he clears your table, depositing both your dishes and his own into the washbasin at the far corner of the kitchen. He’s helping, and your eyes merely track him dumbfounded.

“You don’t have to, König— I, um. I’m supposed to be teaching you, remember?” You’re trying to sound authoritative, like a proper mentor but it’s fruitless, really. How long had it been since a man was this close to you, living out in the forest? You had clients, sure, but in your craft you came to know about their proclivities, their ailments, and any interest you may have had died with their innumerable requests.

The Guild had set you up, surely, you decide as your eyes wander over to the man washing your dishes, the man who had prepared your dinner, who had stared openly at your ass. The man who smelled of dew and timber and fire smoke. The man with the most beautiful, tired eyes you had ever met.

You can see the muscles of his back through his tunic, tightly bundled up from where he’s drawn his sleeves to his bicep to wash up the remnants of dinner, mind almost numbing from the sight alone. It felt like some divine torture, to be sent something you adamantly did not want only for that very same thing to make your pulse quicken and throat dry.

“I want to teach you,” he tries again.

You feel sinful for the place your mind goes then. Do the ladies in the kingdom often allow monsters to bed them? Is his size comparable to the stature?

“Okay.” Your voice was tight, barely a whisper.

He finishes up his cleaning and turns to look at you as he wrings his hands over the washbasin, his eyes narrowed and crinkled at the corners. Grinning again like a wolf knowing he’s got his claws in you.

— — —

You go over the standard protocol when dealing with customers seeking remedies with König as you hear the approaching horse whinnying out in the yard. Simple, standard. Most people had a wariness for those who were touched by magic, understandably so. It’s human nature to fear what isn’t fully understood. With König’s imposing height and the veil over his face, you needed him to be extra careful in these situations. He doesn’t seem to take offense at your fretting, merely smiles beneath the veil as you speak and all is settled and well by the time your client wraps lightly at the door.

You swing the door open with a polite smile, hands clasped at the lap of your dress. The smile is maintained even as you catch sight of his face, scars from a horrific burn covering over half of it, his right eye filmed over and sightless in its socket. He wasn’t here to charm a lady or conceal his face with glamours, only for a balm to alleviate the lingering, phantom pains that stretched from his scalp down to his neck. A decent man, and a damned good blacksmith from what you had heard. He was one of your favorites.

König observes from the corner of the room, leaned against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest without a word as you fetch the jar of balm for the client, accept his coin and send him back on his way.

“Oh.. I don’t know how he got that nasty burn but it’s hard to look at isn’t it?”

König gives you a look, something unsaid hinted at just beyond the surface of his icy eyes, and you realize it’s a little too late to pull your words back.

— — —

Days seem to pass by with an awkward tension in the air. It’s not because of his tutelage under you, either, because he’s doing surprisingly well with his studies. Potion crafting is a tricky, fickle sort of thing. One mistake and an entire batch is ruined and the gods only knew when you would stumble upon what was required whilst foraging again. König is careful, attentive as he follows your instruction. He studies diligently, spending his free time reading through his books, often out in the foyer and if not for how skilled he was, you would assume it was all for show. Wishful thinking, a vicious yearning settling in between your breasts that wants for him to try and impress you, to court you.

It’s tense because you’ve found you can’t keep the man out of your head. In the late hour when the house has fallen silent, you could often hear his desperate grunts through the thin slats of wood separating your own room from his. You’ve imagined the sight of him fisting his cock, biting down onto his scarred lip as he whines through his release more times than you would ever confess. The gods themselves couldn’t pry the admittance from your lips that you wait up sometimes to hear him with your own hand between your thighs.

And König had this look about him now, more confident as he walks about. His hands don’t twitch as much when the two of you speak.

It’s the seventh morning as you’re preparing tea for the both of you that he enters the cottage entirely nude (apart from the hood; he seems insistent about keeping it almost entirely on in your presence). His body drips with river water, looking more like the skillfully carved statues that took residence in the castle courtyard than any man at all. You can’t help your staring, and he seems unperturbed by it as he slips behind you to set some freshly plucked milkweed on the wooden countertop. So focused on the cords of tight muscle layering his body, the obscene thing swaying between his legs, you hadn’t even noticed he had bothered to collect an ingredient you so desperately needed.

A man such as he should be seated on a throne, worshipped by a harem of pretty ladies, all pawing at his lap. Yet— he merely had you, ogling him as openly as he seemed to do to you.

“For the elixir,” he hums, sounding amused as he tilts his head to look you over as he had a striking amount of times already.

“Yeah.” You try to subtly clear your throat, cursing yourself for the way your reaction prompts his eyes to dart to the swell of your breasts beneath your dress. “Thanks.”

“You look pretty today.” He’s making everything worse. Turning your quiet life around and filling you with some horrid feeling you’ve avoided for years out here in near-isolation. “You look pretty everyday,” he corrects himself before you can speak. The obscene pillar between his legs seems to grow at the sight of you, and if you were not certain before, you know assuredly now that something has cursed you.

A good, knowing witch would tell him that his compliments were inappropriate, unwarranted. She would tell him to not walk around with his cock on full display and send him off to practice mundane spells as punishment. You are not a good, knowing witch at all if the warmth on your face is anything to go by.

“How was the river?” You ask instead, graciously retrieving a towel from the cupboard to hand to him. Despite how orderly you tried to keep things here, it’s not the water he’s dripping all over the hardwood that has your mind spinning.

“Gut.” He says words in his native tongue, often, and you’ve already grown accustomed to deciphering them. They sound prettier on his tongue than your own. He accepts the towel and merely draping it over his broad shoulders. “Come with me next time,” he offers, all but innocently.

God damnit.

“I made tea.” You’re trying to avoid his undressing stare, busying yourself with the tea kettle. The scent of mint seems to calm you as you pour the tea into your own mug, careful not to spill it out onto the counter with your trembling hands.

“I like you.” Blunt as always, you wonder if he even has any sort of control on the things he says.

God damnit all.

“I like you too, König. You’re a good apprentice,” you respond, your nerves alight with something that you can’t quite place; a twig on the verge of snapping under its weight.

He laughs soft, and graciously gives you a reprieve from well… that as he steps out of the room to finally dress himself.

Later that evening as the elixir is fully prepared and the client arrives to pick it up, you realize that König is no where in sight. It’s not uncommon; the man certainly lacked his social graces, but he hadn’t seemed to mind the shopfront side of what you do before until you had spoken so carelessly. The client is a nervous little thing, a girl not yet a woman, anxious and shaky as she takes the vial from you with an abundance of thanks. It’s no wonder why she had requested such a thing meant to put a patch over her anxieties and communicate better now. You steal only a spoonful from the cauldron as you empty it, praying that it silences the buzzing of nerves and the fluttering in your heart as you bed down for the night.

— — —

You wake to a door slamming shut in the dead of night, followed by the quieted hiss of what you believe to be a curse in a language that is not your own. It immediately sends you on high alert, thinking back to the threat of bandits and enchanted wildlife or whatever else. Jolted from your bed by the kick of adrenaline, you tiptoe down the stairs to see that… nothing is out of place. The den is as homey as always, every vial and potion bottle in its place on the shelves. The only thing that appeared to be missing at all was a book on your shelf. You knew that book, too. It was a favorite of many of your customers, the ones with weathered skin or features that were not the golden standard of delicate, royal beauty. A book on glamours was not something that would be stolen away by any thief in the night, seeing as it wouldn’t be of much help at all without a dedicated practitioner.

It only really settles in for you that your apprentice snatched it away when you take a peek out of the window and your eyes settle on a darkened corner of the garden. Tall sprigs of lavender sprung up from the earth there, and an even taller man sat, legs crossed with your book in his lap beneath the milky glow of the moon.

König looks… agitated. Even from this distance, the glass and wall and several meters of organized plant life separating you, you can see his hands shaking as he ghosts his calloused fingertips over the pages. His shoulders tense and a fiery look in his eye. He reads the incantations aloud with proper annunciation, forced through his thick accent. Repeats them, several times over. Not a thing changes.

But you leave him be, return to bed, because despite him being your responsibility, his private matters are still his own. As much as you would like to snatch the book from his hands and confess through tears that he haunts your dreaming just as he is now, you can’t bring yourself to do so.

When the book is in its place the following morning with König still in his bed, you read over the pages heavily scented by lavender. The ones that tell you how he sees himself in truth without a single word from his own being. Too tall, too ugly, too ruined.

It’s not enough to say your heart breaks. You feel it shatter somewhere in your chest, little pieces crumbling down into the darkest pit of your middle. Perhaps he’s only doing this due to your careless words about your client the other day, perhaps he wants to be seen as something beautiful for once.

The day is spent with a heavy weariness in your eyes. König picks up some slack for you as you fester in a sadness that should not even be your own; prepares something meaty for you both to eat, incorrectly sweeps some dust from the wooden floors that you know you’ll have to properly clean later on, and even tends to the garden. He’s good with the plants, gentle as he plucks berries from their stems and cuts away only what was required with a sharp dagger.

While you’ve thrown yourself over a cushioned chair, König kneels before you to speak. He’s just finished telling you some gory tale about when he squired for Ser… something, a name you don’t even care to remember. It was a rare occurrence for him to open up, you’ve come to realize that. Maybe it was simply too soon for him, but then again, he seemed to have no qualms allowing you to hear his desperate howling at night or walk about after a bath with his cock fully erect in your line of sight. If words were too much then what the hell was all of that?

“How come you didn’t become a knight, König?” you ask him, your tone sounding a bit more dead than intended. It wasn’t that you weren’t interested in his stories, you were simply still coming to terms with one of his likely innumerable secrets. “The Guild said you were a good candidate, so why?”

You ask your questions, his eyes light up. He’s not used to this, it seems, and the fact that you want to know him at all makes him giddy. His fingers drum against his thighs, eyes creasing at the corners as he smiles beneath that veil and you wonder… wonder how the world could be cruel to someone like this at all when all that you want to do is bundle up with him beneath your thick quilts and kiss him in places only lovers would.

He doesn’t respond to your question, though. Another secret for some other time, you supposed. Instead, he asks his own, “Why are you so alone?”

König speaks freely, you knew that well enough but the words that escape his lips cause you to freeze all the same. His tone is neutral, not accusatory or mocking, but there’s something— something there you can’t properly uproot.

“I’m not lonely.” A little white lie couldn’t be too terrible, yet the thought of betraying your companion in even such a small way, hurting him like you assumed so many others had before is just unthinkable. “I am sometimes, but I like living here,” you correct.

“But you are alone,” he insists.

“I am not. You’re here.”

Your words are like a charm, really, and any rationale König may have had immediately dissipates when you speak them. He climbs over you, the chair creaking under your combined weight as he looks down at you with this hope-filled expression that tugs every one of your heartstrings at once. “Let me kiss you.”

His shallow breathing flutters his veil, the hunger in his eyes more than apparent, and you’ve the sense that a mere kiss would not suffice, turning into a long night with an impossible soreness between your thighs come morning.

You shake your head and he backs off immediately, returning to sit on the floor before you instead with a simple, “Okay.”

The room falls silent for a moment. You wanted to. You’ve been longing to. And yet the opportunity had gone and went; for any normal, sane person your rejection would have been enough. Weeks spent in his company should have taught you that König was a far cry from normal. The man treats you like you’re a doll, not a seasoned witch. Takes to hiding away from any company you may have and spends his nights outside in the dark wishing and failing to change what he was.

“If I tell you why I am not a knight will you kiss me?,” he tries again as you shift to sit upright in your seat.

“What? König, no… that’s not how—”

“I will court you,” he interjects quickly, rising to his feet to stare down at you. The man was practically buzzing with excitement, and you wonder if he intends to bolt out of the house right then to bring back ample gifts of flowers and fine silks just for a chance to mash his mouth against your own.

“You’re not here to court me,” you huff with a pinched brow. Stop making this harder! Why must you always make this harder?!

“I think about you at night.”

The giant professes his affections by telling you that he’s fucking his fist to the thought of you with all the simplicity of idle talk. Somehow, that seemed less alarming than the fact that you don’t even seem horrified. Words fail you when you desperately need them most, merely gaping up at him so dumbly you must have actually belayed interest, because he continues.

“In the river too.”

“König… that’s inappropriate,” you manage to find your voice then. You know that you’re a plaster saint, too, because the thought of bathing where he spreads his seed sends a swell of warmth from your tummy to the aching blossom between your legs.

“Ja, it is… why do you tease me? The way you look…” He trails off with a shake of his head, his blue eyes narrowing in confusion. He was trembling as though afraid, so violently you almost fear he’ll come crashing over you like an ocean wave. You would catch him, drown in salt water and foam, a curtain of sharp teeth and darkness.

He fidgets as he waits for an answer that never comes. What could you say? Admit that the way he feels is a mirror of yourself, that the two of you are only seconds from diving into a pool that you could never resurface from.

But just like before, König retreats up the shadowy staircase, up to his room. Another reprieve, another stone weighing heavy in the recesses of your mind.

— — —

Secrets are stupid, evil things you decide.

You’re staring into the glazed eyes of a dead buck as it stands before you on it’s hind legs. It’s head hangs limply from its broken neck, mouth gaping with each fragile intake of breath. It’s bloated belly leaks it’s own entrails as it takes a shaky step towards you, trying desperately to kick at you with the stiff limbs tucked against its chest.

“I don’t know how to make it go away,” König pants at your side, and despite his shallow, rapid breathing there’s this calm look in his eyes. This has happened before. This has happened before and to a far worse extent than a deer.

It makes sense, now, why something as trivial as casting a glamour simply didn’t work for König. The man was touched by something darker, something the King’s men would happily cut his head from his shoulders for. Necromancy was immoral and frankly, horrifying. Seeing it now, it was really no wonder why this sort of magic would send one directly to the headsman.

The deer huffs a breath, too long and ragged. It’s not used to breathing any more, after all. König steps between you two, his dagger raised. “Just… close your eyes.”

It’s over as quickly as it’s manifested and König does well at shielding you from the aftermath, your face pressed to his chest as he pulls you into his arms and walks you back home. What was meant to be a simple practicing session, resulted in chaos, and you’ve no words to give to fill the silence hanging over the two of you as he finally deposits you by the door.

You stand on shaking legs, a million questions swimming through your mind, but even as you part your lips to speak not a single sound comes out.

He looks exasperated when he finally remedies the quiet. “You’re afraid of me.” It’s not a question, only a resounding fact.

“No,” you lie immediately with a firm shake of your head.

“I will go.” König’s eyes are tired, always tired. He’s already slinking back towards the door when you reach for him, almost clawing at the length of his sleeve in your own desperation. If you were cursed this man was, tenfold, and you couldn’t bear the thought of sending him back out into a world that had hurt him so. One that would assuredly end his torment should this ever happen again. You don’t know whether you’re being merciful or selfish anymore; the definitions all a blur. You only know that the thought of König leaving your side feels like the ache of a thorn embedded in your heart.

“König, please— We can figure something out, we’ll make sure this doesn’t happen again,” you huff as you bury your face against his shoulder. He’s both tense and trembling beneath your warmth. “I just need time to think.”

He cocks his head, a resounding twinkle of mirth breaking through the listlessness in his eyes. “Why?”

König isn’t dull-witted. He knows the words you never have a chance to speak. No one’s ever held fast to his side like this; no one has ever truly wanted him.

You know that the second he pushes his veil up and presses his mouth to yours. It’s clumsy, the force he uses, as if he’s trying to headbutt you instead of give you his affection, but you reciprocate in turn. You breathe shakily against him when you finally bring yourself to part your lips and he immediately begins to languidly lap into your mouth, drawing his arms around you; one finding the base of your neck as the other settles on your lower back, his fingers digging into your velvet dress, bunching up the fabric enough to reveal the meat of your ass.

You both moan as though you’re already having sex, caught up in a tangle of limbs he tastes your mouth as though it were sweet wine; his tongue flicks against your own before pulling back, lapping at your lip, pushing back in in some steady repetition that makes your knees weaker. Your hands find the hem of his tunic, slipping beneath it to feel a wall of muscle layered over his abdomen and he groans into the kiss with such fervor you would think he’s already come. He tears the cloth off the second you thumb over his nipple and drops to his knees clutching at your thighs.

“I need to taste you.” He sounds so desperate, looks so pitiful as though he’ll cry if you don’t allow him to fuck you with his tongue. You’re too far gone to give him anything more than a nod, and he all-too-readily lifts the skirt of your dress, hooks his finger around the seat of your panties and buries his face between your thighs. The first sweeps of his tongue are almost punishing; he wastes no time plowing the muscle into your cunt, writhing and grinding it against your velvety walls. The sound is already obscene, but then he begins to moan.

He sounds even more desperate than those nights in his lonely room, somehow, as he paws at his own erection straining against his trousers and drives into your pussy at a feverish pace. When he finally moves to take your clit between his lips, you grasp at the top of his head to keep yourself upright, moaning so loudly you’re certain that the entire kingdom could hear. He hums, amused at this, places his hands on your ass and pushes your hips for you to grind against his tongue.

When he jerks your panties aside again to rub circles against your asshole, the tautly pulled coil inside of you finally snaps. You curl over him as you mewl, cradling his head as his tongue pushes against your labia and your slit to lap up every bit of your essence. He releases his grip on your ass as you tremble, strokes himself freely below you as he pants against your pulsing cunt. Graciously, he gives you a moment to recover before he’s rising to his feet, tearing off your ruined panties and lifting you in his arms just enough to rub his leaking tip against you, you give him a strangled cry of his name when his length brushes against your swollen clit.

“Let me fuck you,” he rasps, his eyes wide and pupils blown as you squirm in his arms. “Bitte. Please. Let me fuck you.”

“Yes— Please, please fuck me König,” you whine as your arms curl over his shoulders. He doesn’t hesitate when he lies you back against your rug and pushes your knees up to your chest. His fingers flex against your flesh at the sight of your pussy still twitching from aftershocks, soaked down to your ass and pleading to be filled by him. He drops a hand to spread your lips, groaning deeply from his chest as he watches in awe as the tip of his thick cock sinks into you.

You hadn’t realized just how dirty König was until you see that look in his eye, pulling his head out only to repeatedly push into you with a choked whine of sheer bliss. You hadn’t realized how filthy you were until you find yourself tucking your arms beneath your knees to keep yourself in position so he can grope at the flesh of your ass as he does it.

“So— fuck— so schön,” he mutters as he continues to tease you like this. It’s almost hell the way he still hadn’t filled you entirely when you ache to have that long, ugly pillar buried so far it’s bruising your very womb, and it’s almost heaven the way you squeeze against him with each shallow thrust, your pussy desperate to devour his weapon of flesh.

“König…” You’re breathing his name as though it were a prayer, and as though a gift from the heavens his calloused thumb begins to rub over your clit the moment he finally sinks himself into you. There’s resistance, your cunt wasn’t meant to take a cock so large, you’re certain, but he bottoms out after what feels like an eternity, parts your knees with one hand to see your face as he gasps. You take him all, enveloping him in a vise grip and he hissed something in his native tongue, a string of words you can only imagine are praise because the way he’s looking at you now is as if he’s found a goddess all for himself.

“I’m going to fill you,” he declares as he lowers himself atop you, his weight almost crushing. “I’m going to… feels so…” His words fall short as he begins to move, groping at one of your tits as his other hand remains over your mound, flicking your clit. König’s fingers trace against your nipple before pinching it just hard enough to draw a choked mewl from you as your back arches. “Ja, liebling… you need it..”

His pace picks up, thumb deftly rolling over your clit until you spasm around his cock. It’s savage, the fervor he puts into fucking into you, grinding the tip of his cock against your cervix until you cry out, only to draw back enough to bully against your g-spot until you shiver. Your orgasm hits you so unexpectedly and so hard your bite down on your lip enough to draw blood. König licks at your mouth as your sex pulses around him, groaning in tandem with your pretty cries.

He trails small kisses along your throat before biting down as his own climax hits. He alternates between spitting out words that sound like pure venom and moans that make him sound weak as he gives you one more thrust. His cock twitches so violently inside of you as he presses against your cervix your mind entirely blanks. You can’t tell if it’s his semen or your own slick spilling past his cock, painting your thighs when it all ends. You hang limply against him as he carries you over to the chair, keeping you plugged as he pulls you into his lap.

He fully unclothes you as he peppers your face and neck in sweet, open-mouthed kisses, pets you from the crown of your skull down to your back, brings a hand around your waist to pull you close as his other squeezes and squishes at your breasts. König’s gaze is adoring as your eyes meet his, he’s looking at you with a love you’ve never even known, the warmth of summer somehow still present in those eyes like glaciers.

“Will you stay?,” you force yourself to ask as if the answer isn’t already clear, his cock’s still buried in you and the man seemed utterly in love after merely having a sweaty, adrenaline addled session.

König presses his face into your hair, nuzzling at you as he kisses your temple. “You want me to stay?” He sounds bewildered, so fucking broken that he’s confused by the prospect anyone would even want him around, even if he just gave her the best fuck she’s ever had, even if she’s been staring at him adoringly since he found his way to her door.

“Of course I want you to stay!”

“Then… Ja, I will.”

It’s a declaration of love, in a sense.

König drops his hands to your hips as he kisses you again. The desperation has been strangled, buried someplace in your core. It’s sweet now when his kisses become sloppy and overwhelming. He shifts below you as he maneuvers your hips to grind against him, his length already hardening within you again. He noses at your jaw and pressed kisses to your cheeks when you take a moment to breathe. You curl your arms around him and bury your face into the crook of his neck as your ride him, the both of you moaning soft and panting against sweaty flesh. He finishes inside of you once more just as you lift his veil and kiss along his scars.

He bathed you in the river, carrying you down to the rocky shore as though you were a treasure, his hand stroking through your hair as the water laps over your bodies. It’s not enough to simply hold you, either, because one bath becomes two after he’s bent you over a stump and licked you to completion again before rutting into you like an animal.

Nights are no longer spent with a wall between, he takes to your bed without question, ensures you’re comfortable and warm as he holds you through the night. There’s a sort of desperation in you both, two outsiders that have finally found sanctuary in one another.

“I love you.” Followed by: “I love you.”

You’re not entirely sure who says it first.

— — —

“A deer?”

There’s a man in your home that you don’t recognize, looking you over as though you were well-bred cattle rather than a human being at all. Says he’s concerned about a potential necromancer after something foul slipped its way past the castle walls and paraded itself through an annual ball, sullying a few too-expensive and uncomfortably layered dresses and goring a man with its antlers.

König was seated in front of him, rigid with a forced calm you had never seen on him before, hands clasped and unmoving. You know he’s nervous anyway, his shallow breathing speaks volumes for what the veil keeps from you. You round the table to bring them both tea, trying your best to play the part of indifference as the two men speak.

König had said he didn’t know how to make it go away, and of course he didn’t, because how do you kill something that’s already died? Neither of you would have anticipated it finding its way there of all places, and in retrospect, you’re not even certain that the thought came to mind at all, you had lost yourselves in one another the moment you arrived home. Seeing as you both were the only magic-touched folks roving these woods, it was obvious why The Guild had sent this creep to question you.

“Yes. A large buck, it was,” the man continues, winking at you as he takes a sip of the warm liquid in the mug. You wished you had poisoned it, ridding the world of a man that made your skin crawl like this surely wouldn’t be too sinful. Looking to König, you realize that there’s no need for poisons, because the look in his eyes suggests that before this interrogation is over your rug will have a more stubborn stain than spilled potions and come.

“We use green magic,” you chime in flatly, giving König a moment to quiet his fury as the man turns his attention back to you. “Maybe a traveler slipped into the kingdom, it has nothing to do with König and myself. Why are you here?”

If he hadn’t already told you a thousand times earlier that morning when he took you in the garden, laid you down in a bed of blue and purple wildflowers, König would have told you he loved you right then. You were true, protecting him and risking your own head as well.

“That’s the thing,” the man begins with a laugh entirely devoid of amusement. “Your apprentice here was under similar scrutiny while he was in service to the king. A dead man brought back to life…” he waves his hand as he speaks, staring up at the ceiling as though he’s recounting poetry instead of listing the reasoning why he wanted to have your lover decapitated. “… killed ten good knights. We never suspected him at the time, but all of this…” He shrugs his shoulders and raises his brow, looking somehow even more insufferable than before.

You cross the room to gather the letter signed off by The Guild, detailing your apprentice’s arrival and thrust it into the man’s face. “He would have never passed any sort of eligibility exam if that were the case, and you sent him here.”

The man takes the letter with a click of his tongue before he laughs again. “We didn’t,” he says as he taps the signature at the bottom, hardly a signature at all, only a messy scrawl, the guild master’s name even spelled incorrectly.

König didn’t meet your gaze when you looked to him then.

You made a promise to him you would figure this all out, and you would. You just needed to buy some time, slip some wolfsbane into his tea—

“On behalf of The Guild, I do apologize for the trouble this monster has caused…”

There is no time.

“I’ll be sure that he and his rotting pets are disposed of prop—“

You’re clutching at the dagger König had left on the side table without even thinking it over, fingers curled so tightly around the grip, your knuckles felt alight. The man’s voice is silenced the moment he notices as he takes a wary step away from you. It’s not, really, that you could ever even see yourself taking a life, you never have, but the thought of losing König over a horrible chance in the stars that some uncaring god cursed him with makes bile crawl up the back of your throat and white hot fury course through your veins with all the subtlety of a stampede.

It wasn’t his fault.

König places himself between the two of you and curls his arm around you protectively. If lying for him hadn’t already resigned you to the same fate, drawing the dagger assuredly had. He gently pries the dagger from your hand and tucks your face against his chest, just as he had before when he tried to correct the accidental gift of life he had bestowed to the deer, only this time… you feel the pull of his muscles, you hear sounds of the dagger meeting it’s mark as he cuts through the interrogator’s tender flesh. It takes mere seconds for you to know his blade has struck true, the dying man eliciting a weak gurgling cry from his torn throat as König drops the dagger to the floor with a clatter and strokes your hair.

He makes you stand outside while he cleans up his mess.

A sane woman would run, she would count her losses and look back on her time spent with this unhinged man with criticism. You find that you are not a sane woman when you realize the tears falling freely down your cheeks are not of fear or anger at your own situation, but at the knowledge that he’s suffered being shunned on his own for so long; that he’s killed without remorse because this is what it takes for someone like him to survive at all.

When he finally returns from burying the body and scrubbing the blood from your floor, you readily embrace him and he nuzzles into your hair.

“Es tut mir leid,” he huffs out against you, pulling you so close to him you think, pray, he’ll never let go. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay.” It’s not and you both know it, but you reassure him with your words and soft kisses to his cheeks as he wipes away your tears. “We can not stay here.”

We. Us. Together.

Something breaks in him at your words, and he shuts his eyes tightly to fight back the tears like claws at his eyes.

“So, tell me where we’ll go.”

He tells you of a place he read about in a book, somewhere across the sea and past a stretch of hills where the accidents he may cause won’t have him looked upon like a monster, where you can love one another in comfort, a place he’s dreamed about since he was a boy and found out just what he was when he reanimated his mother’s beloved cat. He tells you of his father’s cruelty, that a cat’s claws aren’t the only thing that’s left him riddled with scar tissue.

He tells you everything as you pack your things and begin a long walk to a shoddy harbor by the sea, his hand in your own as your board the ship to a new home, a new beginning.

[inconsistentracoon]

Chapter 33: Fire and Fissures

----

Something wasn't adding up, and Riku's suspicions were growing.

"I just don't understand why I can't call out to his heart right now. I know he's still alive but I can't feel where he is." 

"If someone is blocking that connection between the two of you they must have incredibly powerful magic," Mickey mused.

Riku's frown deepened. "Someone with powerful magic... like Master Yen Sid."

----

[sproutingliliums]

What are some Zutara fanfics you like?

thank you for asking anon! rubbing my hands together and laughing diabolically rn. most of these fics are completed, but i have a few incomplete or ongoing ones listed at the bottom.

The Color of the Stars by bluenebulae this is my zutara bible... i have read this 3 times, and i think it's still my favorite zutara fic. it diverges from canon during the day of black sun. katara and zuko are both captured and thrown into prison and after breaking out together, they become reluctant allies and travel the world in search of the gaang while also trying to warn the other nations about ozai's plans.

they call you refugee by akaiiko

an arranged marriage alternate universe where when zuko is banished, he leaves the fire nation with—actually, the summary does a pretty good job of explaining it: "Zuko goes into exile with a scar, a mission, and a wife." i think i cried the first time i read this.

refraction by caroes3725

this one's my post-war zutara bible. it is maybe the post-war swt ambassador/politician katara slow burn of all time. it is 200k+ words and it's all worth it, i promise! i prommy!!! read it now!!!! <- this along with The Color of the Stars are maybe my favorite zutara longfics. period.

Mending Wounds by FictionIsSocialInquiry

canon divergent fic where katara sees visions of zuko in the foggy swamp. except in these visions he is older, the fire lord, her husband, and he is gentle and loving, and katara feels sick to her stomach! one of my favs!!!!

lost and found by Smediterranea

hakoda discovers a young zuko, injured, and takes him in. beautiful alternate universe fic where zuko grows up in the southern water tribe with sokka and katara.

The Things We Hide by Lykegenia

katara is held in the fire nation as a political prisoner following the southern water tribe's defeat after an assault launched by fire lord ozai during sozin's comet. the swt, however, will not go down with a fight. love, love, love this one! it has painted lady katara, blue spirit zuko, a sweet romance, political intrigue, and betrayal!!! it's a fun time. also i love hama's inclusion in this :)

The Blackfish and the Dragon by ama

during the day of black sun, iroh takes matters into his own hands and becomes fire lord. shortly after, a marriage is arranged between zuko and katara in order to secure the peace. it's a beautiful arranged marriage au where everyone is so perfectly in character. i really think this fic is one of the best zutara fics out there with a natural and rewarding slow burn romance. and azula is there and she's perfect.

Smoke & Mirrors by sansonnets

blutara bible!!!!!!! that's all i got... blutara go CRAZYYY

so i can die where i met you by irridescence

canon compliant. zuko and katara, eighty years later. the fic is centered around major character death(s), so don't read if you can't handle it but i was sobbing like a fucking baby by the end of it. such a beautiful gorgeous fic that will haunt me forever.

if you don't mind incomplete or ongoing fics:

But Who's Counting? by halfhoursonearth

katara thinks zuko's going to need at least 100 healing sessions after the agni kai. lovely prose and characterization and it's so tender and sweet. just read it!!!

so let us melt, and make no noise by LittleLostStar

zuko is sent on a mission to bring back the heart of the last waterbender so he can restore his honor and return home. but when he nearly dies while in the south pole, a healer named katara saves him and nurses him back to health. (the author describes this as a kinda-sorta frozen AU, and i think it's a pretty good description haha). it's an incredible AU with so much mystery and intrigue and tension!

forgetting is a kind of mercy by nerdylizj

"Five years after Katara and Zuko go missing in Ba Sing Se, Kya and Lee are found living peacefully in the Earth Kingdom countryside." finally, i gotta plug liz's silly n goofy dai li brainwashing fic. it's so good. so painfully angsty. it's about the pain of remembering and about making hard choices and identity and parenthood!!!

[oveliagirlhaditright]

The Precursor to the Journey - A Kairi Day 2024 Fic

Summary: As Kairi meets two people from another world a few times while she's growing up--and also just grows up in general, and learns more about herself: maybe partly through some of these meetings, but also of course because of her friends Sora and Riku--it puts in place the puzzle pieces that are needed for the trio's eventual journey to start. Written for Kairi Day 2024. Oneshot. Written to both explore what Sora, Riku, and Kairi might have been like together as they grew, but also to somewhat give Kairi her own adventure pre-KH1, that wouldn't mess with canon.

The Precursor to the Journey

Kairi’s PoV

"Why are you here?" Kairi asked a mysterious blonde woman before her, pretty certain that she'd never seen her before, but also not entirely sure of that, either. Kairi was new to the Island, after all.

The woman smiled sweetly for Kairi’s question, it seemed to the five-year-old, but it took her a moment to answer the question. "I'm trying to decide if my decision to abdicate this role I’ve been given is a good one. Tell me, little one: If you had great power, would you give it to someone else?"

Kairi stared at the woman of medium height, definitely confused by the turn of events, as the wind blew and her shoulder-length hair brushed against her shoulders. She really had no idea what the lady was talking about. She was only five. But Kairi didn’t want to admit that she was lost, for she didn’t want to seem dumb. She was about to try and guess at the answer, when the girl seemed to understand that Kairi hadn’t gotten what she was trying to say and attempted it again with, “Would you give something special to someone else?”

“Hmm… Maybe a girl,” Kairi supposed. “I trust them more than mean boys, who have cooties.”

The curly-haired blonde laughed at that, as she stepped closer to Kairi in the sand and out of the shore of the Play Island. And Kairi knew she should have afraid for this—as one shouldn’t talk to strangers—but there was something about this woman that set her at ease.

“That sounds too much like me for comfort,” the woman said, almost seeming lost in her own memories. “And how rude of me to not introduce myself until now! I’m Delamer! But young one… while giving power to girls is fine—and I’d be okay with you ever wanting to do that, if it would somehow help you—is there not even one boy you’d think about sharing with?”

Kairi thought about it for a moment… and at first, she imagined that the answer was “no.” But then she remembered that a boy in her class, Sora—who she hadn’t liked at first, for he had knocked her into the water when their teacher had been teaching them how to fish (1)—had recently jumped into the ocean for her, to retrieve one of the fake nails she had dropped in there, when she had explained that it meant a lot to her since it was from her grandma.

Kairi explained the story to Delamer, and Delamer almost seemed to look… scared to Kairi for a moment. Or was it some other adult emotion Kairi couldn’t understand?

Finally, Delamer said, “Sora seems to remind me of someone that I know. Thank you, Kairi. You really helped me today. I think I will trust and give up this power. In the future… please stay safe and take care of yourself.”

“I’ll try t-” Kairi started, but Delamer was already gone. But what was there in her place, was a giant nailfile.

…

"I wanna make cookie dough," Kairi, at seven, told her adoptive mom, as she put up her hair that now reached just below her shoulders, so she could hopefully help with the task.

As Kairi loved cookie dough more than anything, she thought it would be a good treat for Sora.

But Kairi's mom frowned at her, as the two of them stood in their kitchen, and told Kairi, "You can't really do that, honey. I shouldn't give you the small bits of it that I do. And if you were to give it to Sora, it might give him salmonella."

Now it was Kairi's turn to frown. This had been her best idea, and now she had no clue what else to give her friend. It was hard not to cry at this turn of events, but Kairi fought against it—wanting to press on.

"What if we make cookies, with a little cookie dough on top?" Kairi begged.

And maybe there was something in her eyes or her tone of voice when Kairi had asked, because her mother suddenly relented with a sigh. "I guess there's less a chance for it to be harmful, if we just give Sora a tiny bit that way, than the tin you had been planning. Very well, Kairi."

Kairi beamed wider than she ever had in her life, and jumped up on a chair so she could help her mom with the baking.

And when she presented the cookies to Sora, she thought his own smile looked particularly radiant.

Dangus' PoV

Dangus—Delamer's love, who she had given her power to: though there was much more to the story than that—watched the girl, Kairi (nine now, he believed), as she talked to her friend Riku?

It sounded like Kairi was asking Riku for gift ideas, as she very much wanted to buy him something. But Riku was teasing her by asking if she really wanted to include him in an anniversary that was about her and Sora. Kairi countered by saying if he didn't want the keyboard she was very seriously thinking about getting him, just say so.

The whole thing was cute... And Dangus could understand why Delamer had chosen to speak to Kairi—and wanted to protect her—but part of him wished she hadn’t. He didn't want this power again. …It was too much for him.

Dangus was pulled out of his melancholy thoughts, when he noticed that Kairi was saying goodbye to Sora and Riku outside of their school now, and getting ready to head home. And that’s when it happened:

Water and lightning appeared out of nowhere, mixing together, until it formed the shape of someone Dangus knew all too well, heading straight for the girl!

Dangus began running towards Kairi, but he knew he wouldn't get there in time! So he used his magic to summon to Kairi the gift Delamer had given her years ago and threw it to her!

Just as the... the monster was closing in on Kairi, she first tied her hair that was at her waist into a bun—so the monster couldn’t use it against her—but then she woke up even further, and stabbed at the monster with the nailfile. And while said nailfile was the slightest bit wobbly—Delamer hadn't wanted to give a real weapon to a child, Dangus knew—it was enough to knock him off his feet. And then Dangus was there, and he defeated him with just a look (such was this cursed power he had)... and he hated to do it.

The moment she seemed to gather herself, Kairi looked at him like she'd seen a ghost. "You! You're like that girl... so it wasn't a dream."

"You thought it was a dream, even after Delamer magicked you this ridiculous nailfile?" Dangus laughed, taking Kairi's hand and helping her to her feet from where she’d fallen after having landing her blow on the monster.

"I ended up losing it, after my mom and I moved houses... thank you for bringing it back to me," Kairi said very sincerely. It somewhat baffled Dangus, because why would she care so much about an object that, just a second ago, she thought had been a dream. But there was definitely something about this girl. She seemed so… pure.

"You're more than welcome," Dangus said, suddenly more than charmed by Kairi, even though he should have been staying away from her for quite a few reasons.

"Are you from one of the other islands, or-"

And there was one of the reasons Dangus very much needed to leave. He didn't want to admit he was from another world, after all. But it was also part of the reason he needed to protect her. The Eye he had—that allowed him to see too much, if he allowed it (like someone else in her future with a certain eye)—spoke of an interesting future for this girl.

"...You could argue that I'm from an island. But Kairi, beware of certain people from your island and try to be safe." To try and prove his point, he walked the young girl home.

And once she was inside, Dangus put a strand of green hair behind his ear—getting it out of his brown eyes—and he quietly mourned that this girl would have such a hard fate. Why did so many girls that he knew have to suffer so much?

...

Kairi's PoV

Though Kairi appreciated what Dangus had tried to do for her (Delamer too, even though she barely remembered her now, since that encounter had happened so many years ago) she mostly put it out of her mind by twelve. After all, even if Dangus was right, she wasn't going to ruin her life by worrying about something that might not never come.

She was happy in life: she'd recently become a cheerleader at school; and she loved how it made her more active than she had been before, even if she'd still probably lose a contest with the ever-energetic Sora, Riku, Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka.

Kairi was actually on the way to some extra cheerleading practice at the school's gym now, and was getting ready to jump in her canoe in the Play Island to row there, when she saw Delamer and Dangus again!

At first, Kairi thought the sun was playing tricks on her (or maybe her hair [that was so long now, it reached her bottom] had gotten into her eyes and was obscuring her vision), and she rubbed her eyes to make the illusion go away. But no, it was really them: much like Delamer had been standing on the shore here the first time they met.

There was a part of Kairi that was a bit more cautious upon seeing them now, in knowing how badly her having met the strangers could have gone before… But she also couldn't deny they'd been good to her every time she'd seen them; and that really, she was happy to see them.

"Hey, you two! You look well! What brings you here?" Kairi asked, heading over to them with a wide smile on her face, feeling ever curious.

As she got closer to them, she noted that they were holding hands, but not overly affectionate like some older couples she'd seen here on the islands. She stored that information away for later.

"I'm surprised you're not with your friends. You were with that Sora and Riku when I met you. And when I talked to Delamer about it, she said you were just about to befriend Sora when you two met." was Dangus' rejoinder.

Kairi laughed. "The two of them are very dear to me, but we’re not literally joined at the hip. They might surprise me and support me at cheerleading practice today. But if not, we have plans to play after school tomorrow. So, what brings you two-"

"Kairi, there's a chance this will be the last time we'll see you," Delamer interrupted, seemingly giving up all pretenses. And when Sora would one day tell her how Leon had told him they "may never meet again, but they’d never forget each other," she would think of this moment that she had with these two. "Dangus and I have decided, for the good of the people, that it's best that no one reign like this. …But you must know a storm is coming."

"I guess it's a good thing I'm so good at swimming," Kairi said, getting worried now.

"No matter what happens, believe in yourself and be there for your friends," Dangus told her, with something in his eyes. And with him suddenly dropping his humor and getting pretty dire, too, he must have also decided that she needed to know whatever this was, and that they needed to wrap this up.

Kairi wasn't sure she could easily believe in herself, really (it seemed her friends were so much more talented than her), but she didn't want to let these two down down their last time here, so she said words she'd soon know well, "I will. Thanks for everything." And she took both of her friend’s hands and squeezed them, as they smiled warmly at her. Then, they were gone—soon leaving Kairi to wonder if she'd had any kind of journey at all.

But, oddly, it also left her with a thought that maybe she should cut her hair… if anything was really coming, she didn’t want her long hair used against her. Right?

And short hair was more mature, and she definitely thought she was becoming more that.

It was a thought, at least.

Mulling over a number of thoughts in her head—but deciding to file them later—Kairi reminded herself to take things one step at a time, and headed for her practice.

…

Sora’s PoV

“Kairi’s cut her hair,” Sora randomly brought up after he and Riku were done sparring for the day and were sitting on the paopu tree, looking out at the sunset. The thirteen-year-old Sora kicked his feet to and fro as he chewed on a grape popsicle and he waited almost with bated breath for Riku’s reaction to this.

Though, then again, if Sora really thought about it… he imagined that Kairi changing her hair wasn’t really that noteworthy. His and Riku’s best friend seemed to alter her tresses every year. Sometimes she even changed her look more than once a year, as she loved different hairstyles. But what really stood out to Sora, was that Kairi looked very tomboyish this time, and seemed to be acting it, too. She had even said-

“And she said that she’s down for any adventure we want to do. Which is cool, but what brought it up?” Riku asked from almost beneath Sora’s feet—from where he stood standing leaning against the tree trunk—with a raised eyebrow.

“Hey, you already knew what I was going to tell you?! Why didn’t you tell me that, before I started acting like this was some breaking news?!” Sora pouted. Crossing his arms over his chest, upon somewhat scooching away from his best friend.

Idly, and somewhat jealously, he wondered if Riku had seen Kairi before he had. It was definitely a possibility, since the two’s houses were closer to each other’s. Sora tried to tell himself it didn’t matter. But ever since he’d gotten sick and the three of them hadn’t been able to go to his and Kairi’s eighth grade dance together like they’d planned to, and Riku and Kairi had just gone instead, Sora had found himself resenting some of the looks Riku and Kairi had been giving each other and the conversations they had had.

But he knew that now was not the time for that.

“But back to your question, Riku, if Kairi’s suddenly decided she wants to be more active, who are we to stop her?” Sora queried. He actually thought it was really cool. And he loved the idea that it might allow them to spend even more time with Kairi now.

“I suppose…” Riku allowed, fishing out a popsicle for himself from the cooler nearby and taking a bite of the lime treat before he continued his conversation with Sora. “But I just think there’s a little more to it, that’s all.”

As much as Sora somewhat hated to admit it—because he didn’t want Riku insinuating that Kairi would change her whole personality on a dime or anything like that—he couldn’t help feeling that his friend was right. Kairi had been somewhat… girlier in years past. But all of a sudden, it had seemed like she had wanted to prove she could rough and tumble with the best of them. And maybe this was just another evolution of that. But even if it was, Sora really didn’t see what the big deal was. He was enjoying seeing this new side of Kairi. And didn’t everyone somewhat change as they grew up?

“Her new haircut reminds me of how she looked when she showed up here when she was five…” Sora found himself muttering, barely even realizing he was speaking as he was pulled back into the memory.

It had been a somewhat dark night, but not entirely so. The falling stars and bright, full moon had turned what otherwise might have been blackness into a vast navy blue. Sora had watched it all from his bedroom window, transfixed. And just as what had looked like a rocket falling from the sky to his young eyes had headed for the islands. Then, he hadn’t been able to remain still any longer and had snuck outside to try and find where it had landed… only to find Kairi. Kairi and Riku both, for it had seemed Riku had had the same idea.

“What?” Riku asked, seemingly confused, pulling Sora out of his reverie.

“The night of the meteor shower when we met Kairi, remember?” Sora asked, finishing up his popsicle that had begun to melt onto his hands at this point. He licked what he could off his fingertips, and then rubbed what remained on his bare legs.

“Oh, right!” Riku exclaimed. A far-away look in his own eyes now as he reminisced. “It was so dark that night, it’s hard for me to recall what Kairi’s hair looked like in it. But I guess it was kind of similar to how it is now. Huh.”

Riku got a far-away look in his eyes again after he said that. And Sora was about to ask what was so great to daydream about that he couldn’t even pay attention to him, when the subject of their conversation made an appearance.

“Oh, popsicles. Yum! Did you save any for me?” Kairi asked, giving each of them a thousand-watt smile, before taking her own trademarked seat on the paopu tree. And if Sora swooned a little bit, and tried to hide it, he couldn’t exactly be blamed. He’d never seen a girl with such cute short hair, okay?

“Kairi, hi!” Sore exclaimed.

“Oh, hi, Kairi,” Riku started. Then, realizing what she’d said, he continued with, “Of course we did. There should be a few coconut popsicles in there just for you.”

Kairi began fishing in the cooler with smiling eyes. And it seemed to Sora, something as simple as coconut popsicles was like she’d won the lottery for Kairi.

The three of them then had a moment of comfortable silence together after Kairi got her popsicle (and maybe Sora and Riku got even more), and it felt like heaven to Sora. This was what it was all about.

“So did you guys hear the scandal that’s going on at school?” Kairi eventually said, as Sora and Riku looked at her with curious eyes. “Mr. Namana and the parents are arguing about what one divided by zero is. The parents think it’s one, while he maintains it’s zero… But, guys? I swore we learned that anything divided by zero is undefined, right? What’s even happening? We’re all going to have Mr. Namana next year and I’m scared for our education.”

Sora burst out laughing, wondering how Kairi always had the best stories.

But Riku put it the best, Sora thought, when he said, “Wow. Sounds like it’s going to be quite the adventure next year.”

“Sounds about right…” Sora voiced. But deep down, it was the kind of adventure he wanted with his friends. Always.

And he knew that as long as they were together, things would work out okay.

Author's Note: (1) It’s probably obvious, but Sora pushed her into the water by accident, though Kairi doesn’t realize that at first.

Delamer and Dangus are characters from a novel of mine. I don’t know if that novel will ever see the light of day (even if I love it), but at least they’re living here somewhat, I guess. Hopefully you guys can enjoy my babies somewhat (even with your limited knowledge of them, because I don’t want to spoil too much in case I do ever do anything with said book).

I’ve had this idea for a long time… Though I’ll admit that originally for Kairi Day, I actually wanted to make an amv for her, but I couldn’t download the song for it. So then I kind of rushed back to this fic—that I’ve had bits and pieces done of for years—and finished it as best as I could for my girl. But there was just no way I could let Kairi Day pass me by without doing something for her, so here is my contribution for her. Happy Kairi Day!

Edit: And if Kairi seems slightly closer to Sora at first in this fic, it’s because he’s in her grade (and Riku’s not, as he’s a year older) so she spends a bit more time with him that way, of course. But then when she starts hanging out with Sora after they become friends, Riku’s also there, and she gets to know him, and then they also become best friends.

[sweet-beezus]

Irene

A lovely woman with a huge heart that is mostly put in the right place. Whenever she's not sneaking in visitors or adopting the local children, she's usually baking goodies to share with anyone who needs a little pick-me-up.

[aitsuheart]

New Chapter 4

So cool, but so jealous — his best friend

Rating: General Audiences

Summary: While Riku and Sora make plans to leave Destiny Islands and see other worlds with Kairi, Riku doesn't want to get left behind and hopes a fruit whose legend supposedly connects the destiny of those who share it will be enough to hope they stay together.

Tags: m/m, Riku/Sora, Kairi & Riku, Kairi & Sora, Kairi & Riku & Sora friendship, Jealous Riku, canon compliant, papou fruit,

Blurb:

Riku suddenly reached out and held Sora's wrist. "Hey Sora." Riku stopped him so that Kairi was ways ahead. He suddenly got close to his face, "You wanted one didn't you?" He placed the papou fruit to him, smirking. "You know what the legend says right?"

Sora blinked, trying to prevent the red flusteredness from creeping up his cheeks "H-huh?!"

"I know you want to try it. Here I'll test it first," He bit into the papou fruit that was placed in Sora's hands. "Are you going to give it to that person, huh? The person your heart is connected to..."

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