#nomura might even pass kairi's story into other hands in such a case

[hollowwhisperings]

Kairi getting to know Ven through Aqua would ALSO allow the story to elaborate on how Princesses of Heart/Light "work": we never got to see how the original 7 Princesses (Alice, Jasmine, Cinderella, Snow White, Aurora, Belle, Kairi) 'channeled' their lights as individuals working together rather than objects in Ansem SoD's Machine.

Each of these Princesses is individually powerful: each of their Lights/Hearts seems to function equivalently in KH like the sun to Earth. Kairi is one of these 'suns' while Riku is Sora's personal one (Sora being Riku's 'Moon').

The Seven Lights in the KH universe seem to have become integral to the post-Masters fabric of reality: we still have no idea what that means for Kairi, only able to extrapolate based on the abilities of Ven-as-split-from-Vanitas. Ven & Kairi have a LOT in common (amnesia, getting kidnapped by mad scientists, getting yeeted across space-time, being stuck in a role of 'distressed damsel' and 'eternal child').

I think one of the reasons why (some of) the original Lights have 'retired' is because, post KH1 & 2, their worlds stopped 'looping': none of the princesses who were in BBS seemed affected by the 10 years that passed for the Destiny Island trio. Maleficent, in KHUX and elsewhere, seems to be aware of her world (& others) 'looping': it's plausible that this was done TO those worlds in order to keep the Worlds at large on [life support]. After all, when Maleficent & Ansem SoD 'interrupted' this function of the Seven Lights... their universe at large started falling apart.

Kairi has never brought up what, exactly, the Princesses did nor how they did it: Kairi has, instead, attempted to mimic Sora (& thus Riku) verbatim. Kairi REMAINING a Princess of Heart despite (all of?) the others presumably 'returning to real time' alongside their Worlds... is because KAIRI has remained 'static' despite her home Worlds experiencing 'time'. Admittedly, even in 'moving' worlds, time is... weird. Donald's nephews are still kids; Mickey's relationships with his fellow Disney Towners is unphased by long periods of absense; Donald & Goofy have no issues with spending years with Sora despite having their own lives back home. It's possible that Disney Towners have much longer lifespans & thus different concepts of time; it could be different worlds experiencing time at different speeds, as in our own universe; it could be true of the ENTIRE KH universe, especially given the Enigma that is Kairi's Grandmother.

Sora and Riku seem unlikely to be much involved with the series' worldbuilding mysteries: Kairi is innately connected to these mysteries and will only become even more involved. She is uniquely qualified to explore these mysteries, which would require an entirely different approach than Sora's "Connections Make Me Strong Enough To Bash Heads With A Blunt Sword" or Riku's power of Gay Pining/Tea/Light&Darkness.

if we wanted to argue for Kairi to be 'strong' in the same way as her friends... THEORETICALLY, Kairi 'should' be as powerful in Light magic as Sora (through Riku) or Riku because they share that innate potential that comes from "hearts of strong light"... it's not that Kairi is 'lacking' but that Kairi's use of Riku & Sora's methodology must not work for her. Their methods work for THEM because their hearts & minds are in synch about what makes them 'strong': Sora makes Riku strong because [Gay Pining]; Sora has not, however, ever made KAIRI notably stronger. Which implies that... Kairi is not actually in love with Sora & her heart knows it, even if her mind believes otherwise.

Until Kairi understands herself as an individual, not just one part or a trio or 'someone who loves Sora'... Kairi will keep falling behind. Melody of Memory is the first time Kairi has taken agency over her own life: her story is her own, not one she'll face on the sidelines of the Main Games & their Soriku Focus.

False Start: Analyzing Kairi’s Arc After Melody of Memory

In October 2019, I did an analysis of Kairi’s character arc as of the end of Kingdom Hearts 3 and what I felt was being set up for her going forward.

My major point was that Kairi’s fear of change was holding her back from reaching her full potential and catching up to Sora and Riku, but that by the end of Kingdom Hearts III she had overcome that fear and was ready to move forward. 

In hindsight, I jumped the gun in assuming that the end of KH3 marked the definitive point where she got over her change and could truly move forward. While she had some good moments in Re:Mind, Limit Cut promptly put her to sleep for an entire year, trying to search the memories in her heart for a clue to Sora’s whereabouts. 

But then Melody of Memory happened. 

When Kairi faces the memory of Xehanort, she says in the original Japanese version that Sora and the others being hurt was the result of her strength not being enough. I’ll save the rant about how the English localization consistently removes Kairi’s moments of self-reflection throughout the series for another day, but my main point is that this sets the groundwork for her decision to remain behind while Riku goes to Quadratum. When she chose to increase her training under Aqua, I was thrilled because finally this was the sign I was looking for that Kairi was really, truly, ready to move forward. 

A lot of people were disappointed by this decision because they felt like Kairi needing more training was the whole point of her being brought to the Mysterious Tower at the end of Dream Drop Distance. But there are a few things that set this moment apart and explain why her training in Kingdom Hearts 3 did not amount to as much as fans were hoping. 

First, it’s that this time Kairi is exerting her own agency and making the choice herself. Her training in Kingdom Hearts 3 was never something we saw her actively choose. So Kairi making that choice on-screen has more weight than Riku bringing her to the Mysterious Tower for training on Yen Sid’s orders. 

Second, while the memory of Xehanort notes that she did improve in the brief time she was training, the way she was being trained wasn’t suited to her style. The description we get of her training in Kingdom Hearts 3 mostly seems to amount to her and Lea sparring each other repeatedly - which is exactly how Sora and Riku developed their sword fighting skills growing up. And when you look at her battle stance and the way she holds her Keyblade in Kingdom Hearts 3 compared to how she held it in previous games, her stance is an exact copy of Sora’s. It’s no wonder then why she changed into Sora during the final boss fight in Melody of Memory then when she was clearly trying to imitate him. 

In the 2006 Characters Report Vol. 1 book, Tetsuya Nomura’s comments about Kairi in the early games identify the fear of growing apart from Sora and Riku as a major source of anxiety for her. The fact that her training and combat stance in Kingdom Hearts 3 imitate Sora so heavily indicates that Kairi is trying to catch up to Sora and Riku by trying to be exactly like them in that area as much as possible. With how much the series has focused on personal identity with regards to Roxas and Xion being their own people, it makes sense why Kairi doing that failed her in Kingdom Hearts 3. Because Sora and Riku’s style isn’t suited for her. 

Because she isn’t them. 

For Kairi to achieve her goal of catching up to Sora and Riku’s level, she needs to step out of their shadow and figure out how to be herself instead of trying to be Sora. And the best way for her to understand herself will be to understand her past. 

The Xehanort that Kairi faces in Melody of Memory is explicitly identified as a construct of her heart. He tells her that the answers she seeks “lie in memories that are long gone,” and tells her that there is nothing for her to find in her heart. However, that isn’t really true with what previous games have established about how memories work in this universe. Chain of Memories establishes that memories are stored in the heart, and that while the connections between them can be rearranged, they are never gone for good. 

So while Kairi may not consciously remember her childhood before arriving on Destiny Islands, the memories are still there deep in her heart. All she needs is something or someone to help her restore the connections between them. To rebuild the links in her Chain of Memories, so to speak. Kingdom Hearts 3 and Melody of Memory both specifically call attention to Kairi’s first meeting with Aqua in Birth by Sleep, as well as the fact that Kairi doesn’t remember it. From a narrative standpoint, the series has set up that remembering that first meeting will help Kairi regain the rest of her memories from Radiant Garden. 

But remembering her past is not the only arc the story has set up to help Kairi understand herself better. Training with Aqua also puts her in a position to interact with another teen who has a heart of pure light.

Who was also in a coma for a time while his heart rested in Sora’s body. 

It’s not a coincidence that Union X first revealed the existence of the entity known as Darkness just a few months after KH3 revealed that being a Princess of Heart was a mantle that could be passed on rather than a permanent state of being. Then Re:Mind revealed that Darkness is still hiding within Ventus’ heart in the present day. And following the release of Melody of Memory, the next Union X update revealed that Darkness had killed Streliztia because it saw her death as the best way to grant Ven’s desire for strength. The ability for Princesses of Heart to pass on their powers serves as set up for Kairi to do the same, opening herself up to struggling with darkness in her heart for the very first time. 

Kairi wants to become stronger in order to stand alongside Sora and Riku. But she has not struggled with her negative emotions the way that Riku has or that the narrative framework sets up Sora will be in the near future. But her decision to train alongside Aqua puts her in a position that has the potential to force her to go through that struggle herself should Darkness try to grant her desire for strength in ways that she doesn’t want. 

I know that I was wrong before about Kairi getting over her fear of change. But this time, I’m confident that Kairi’s character arc is finally picking up momentum. What Melody of Memory has that previous games didn’t is a clear sense of narrative direction. All Dream Drop Distance did was vaguely establish that she was going to start training. Kingdom Hearts 3 didn’t give enough information to form concrete theories about the trajectory of her arc. 

But all the Kingdom Hearts content released in 2020 has set up foreshadowing for a very specific plotline in regards to Kairi’s character growth. And not only that, Xehanort’s monologue in the flashback to her childhood where he says “if you arrive in a world that is neither light nor darkness, but somewhere on the other side, your task will be far from easy” adds a significant connection between Kairi rediscovering her past and the mysteries of “unreality.” Especially because Xehanort acting like it was actually possible for her to end up there instead of Destiny Islands raises the question of whether she truly went straight to Destiny Islands after Xehanort sent her off. 

Kairi's connection to “unreality” makes her the lynchpin of all the major story arcs being set up for the other characters while Sora and Riku are in Quadratum. The parallels between them foreshadow Ventus regaining his memories of the Age of Fairy Tales just as Kairi is set up to regain her memories of Radiant Garden. Ventus regaining his memories of the past logically connects the Birth by Sleep trio to Lauriam and Elrena through his role in Strelitzia’s death, as well as to the Twilight Town crew considering that Subject X is heavily implied to be Skuld. Then of course there’s Luxu, who is directly responsible for Subject X’s disappearance, and the Foretellers, who are still with Luxu last we saw them.  

With Sora and Riku off in Quadratum with Yozora and the Master of Masters, Kairi is narratively set to step up and take charge in dealing with the major unresolved plotlines from Union X and KH3 that need dealing with. By the time Sora and Riku finally make it back, she’ll be a whole lot closer to their level.

TL;DR: I was too hasty in 2019 when I declared that Kairi had gotten over hear fear of change. I only had nebulous ideas of what would come next. But now I can pick out all the subtle foreshadowing that illuminates a concrete path forward, and I’m confident that now she’s finally on the right track.

[smartzelda]

Okay, so now that that's out of the way, here are all my thoughts on the khmom

So starting out, I know some were hoping this was the big Kairi game, and I'm sad it didn't live up to my hopes in that regard, but we also have to remember that Nomura said in interview before it came out not to expect too much, and then we learned that the story mode is an average of 10 hours.

As a fandom we need to remember that KHMoM was never advertised as "the big Kairi game", so while you can be sad that the game didn't live up to your hopes and dreams, Nomura did not "basically" tell us we were gonna get a big Kairi game and then let us down. With all due respect, this game is only a "Kairi game" in the sense that she's on the front cover and the story cutscenes at the end show her side of searching for Sora. Even the advertisements and interviews about this game were mostly focused on the rhythm game aspect, so besides cutscenes, the only talk about Kairi was the change from Chirithy to her doing narration

Now let's continue on keeping in mind that this is all my opinion and analysis, and there are various opinions out there.

Let's start with Kairi, since most of this game is about her. I haven't played the game myself yet (I watched cutscenes for now), but although it's sad Kairi herself wasn't part of any teams (which honestly makes sense since she wasn't a main character focused on in any of the games as much as those chosen for teams. KH1, CoM, and KH2 really were Sora, Donald, and Goofy, Days really was our sea salt trio, wayfinder trio was obviously the main protagonists for BBS, and even though Sora was in DDD, Sora is already on a team and Riku got a bigger charactsr focus in that game, so why not include the dream eater pals. And then honestly kh3 was Donald and Goofy and Sora again), at least we get her in the end. And her getting a small playable section at the end honestly makes sense considering the cutscene portion is the part of the game about her/following her/focuses on her, and she's been getting better as a keyblade wielder.

Now, this section shows us the pink flower thing from remind, and I'm even more convinced that it isn't her heart. For one, in remind, it was used in kh2 fashion, like an object to create a pathway to the next world or in this case Kairi herself. Then, in this game, while she's sleeping and in the final world, she finds it and it breaks apart. If it was Kairi's heart, would it make sense for it to break apart inside of her and not have an affect on her or her body? And what convinces me more is that after you collect all these pieces of the flower with Kairi, she clutches her head and has a memory moment.

What is the pink flower thing, then, you wonder? Well tbh I wonder too, but I had a thought. It's not essential enough to her state of being to be her heart, but it's definitely a part of her or a representation of part of her. My thought is that it could be a semi-physical representation of her memories or a physical metaphor of her state of being at the time it shows up. For example, in remind, it could have been scattered pices of her memory, because we remember that in kh3 they learned that a person (like Roxas, Xion, etc) couldn't completely come back or wake up from wherever their hearts were until their memories were returned to them too. So if the flower is representative of her memory, it then would make sense why it needed to be gathered, why it made Sora feel Kairi, and why it can also act as an object related to Kairi that can pave a path to her. It could also be a metaphor for her state of being at the same time since just like the flower, Kairi's body is shattered. This also makes sense for KHMoM, because if it's partly a metaphor representation of Kairi's state of being, then her "state of being" in this case refers to her repressed childhood memories and the links in those chains of memories that have broken apart. And so if the flower is representative of her memories, it would make sense that when she gathered all the pieces she remembered these memories because it brought these repressed memories to light and essentially pieced them back together when she gathered the heart pieces. If not because the flower has to do with her memories, at least in this case, why else would she remember repressed memories after gathering the flower pieces?

Continuing on from here, when Kairi holds her head and begins to remember, we get this interesting turn of the camera that flips Kairi and her reflection in the water before transitioning to the memories. I don't know much about camera techniques, but it definitely symbolizes or means something.

So we get the memory of Apprentice Terranort taking young Kairi (I honestly laughed when it showed him reaching for her just because of that "gimme your phone" meme) and it transitions to showing the scene with Kairi in one of the pods. This scene tells us a few things. For one, somehow, Apprentice Terranort knows about "unreality" or what's essentially a parallel universe to the KH universe, you can somehow get there with a strong enough connection to it (like using someone who's from there like Riku did or your heart resonating in some way with someone there. For example, if Kairi's poh heart resonated with a keyblade wielder from the alternate universe instead of Riku on Destiny Islands). It also may tell us that it's possible that Apprentice Xehanort knew the stuff we learned in the kh3 ending with the Luxu reveal would come to pass. Obviously Xehanort knew by doing what he did with Kairi that he would cause Sora's disappearance, but since we know (from Dark Road I think?) that the ancient wielders went to another world and all that, we know the stuff with Kairi was his final plan, and we know Xehanort got his peaceful death, I don't think Xehanorts final plan with Kairi was a ploy for him to do more summon kingdom hearts or a petty go at removing Sora since he might win. More than likely this "final plan" has to do with preventing a possible future and setting things up accordingly. Apprentice Terranort told 4 yr old Kairi her mission as if it's success would affect the future of the universe. And on one hand it makes sense because they needed a keyblade wielder to defeat the heartless and restore the worlds and lock their keyholes, but what if it's double meaning is that making sure the worlds last past that is dependent on making sure "the keyblade wielder" would also be in the position to prevent a future crisis? Because I doubt Quadratum is gonna only be important for getting Sora and coming back. This place is gonna have some significance, and if preventing or battling the crisis also hinges on the Keyblade wielder going to the alternate universe as Xehanort's backup plan to balance the worlds or keep them safe, then the foretellers, Luxu, the box, and that whole thing are more connected to what's happening in the alternate universe as we would've thought. Anyways, to sorta summarize that, I think that Sora had to have ended up in the Alternate universe to give our main crew a chance of dealing with something big, and if Xehanort couldn't make a new world with the keyblade, he at least had to make sure Sora could be in the right place to make sure things happen as they should to save all the worlds.

Then we get Kairi faced with the man in a cloak who's revealed to be Xehanort. This part also honestly made me laugh because we knew it would be Xehanort, but also on behalf of those who insisted it was MoM (no offense to them btw because I get their thought process. It just kinda made me laugh). I liked this sequence in the khmom trailer (especially in og Japanese because what Kairi says there is better put), and I like it because it essentially serves as Kairi facing her fear and the one who changed her fate head on, channeling all those thoughts and feelings and letting them out. So, whether or not this Xehanort is real or fake, Kairi takes him head on.

Now the fight sequence has a variation of thoughts on it, and here are mine. For one, I spent this whole sequence being so excited because she was fighting so good and hard to the best of her ability. Second, this is memory Xehanort created from her heart, so I like the explanation that he too is influenced by her personal fears and doubts, mainly an insecurity and doubt in her own abilities. So the reason Xehanort is so easily able to catch her keyblade and dodge hits from her (the first time he grabbed it I honestly thought he would insult her and snap it like Xemnas did with Lea) is because no matter how much she wants to defeat him, deep down she doesn't believe she's strong enough, and so here leads into when she turns into Sora.

Now, to preface, if the literal explanation of this from Nomura is "Kairi isn't strong enough so Sora's sleeping heart sensed her danger and possessed her to do the boss fight for her", then I think this sequence is 1000% bad, unnecessary, and people have every right to be mad. However, my thoughts on this scene is that it also has to do with her memories and anxieties. Remember that memory Xehanort says that everything in this specific version of the final world was created by Kairi's heart. And so if her doubts are on her own strength, my thoughts are that it was these doubts and feelings of inferiority that had her become Sora (or a memory Sora more specifically) because she doesn't believe she can win or beat Xehanort with out him yet. In other words, she still felt dependent on him, so in that moment her heart responded by temporarily turning her into Sora to reaffirm her fears (like when she was losing against xehanort) and beat Xehanort for her. If this is true, then that gives some depth to Kairi's character in how she currently percieves herself as of khmom, and maybe how she believes others view her. And with Xehanort's comment, I think it may reaffirm that this Sora is a projection. Because if Sora came there through his bond to Kairi, then there's no reason Kairi would've disappeared or there's no reason why he wouldn't have talked or just something. So then, Xehanort's line about Sora being where his voice cannot reach them has a double meaning. The first is that this Sora that fights memory Xehanort does not speak (and also he's fighting like a controlled puppet without a will of it's own like, did you see his soulless face?), which affirms to him that Sora is in the alternate universe, and the second may be that he realized it's a version of him from Kairi's heart (just like he himself is), and he being there instead of the real Sora affirms that Sora's bonds in this world have broken and he couldn't have been there himself, meaning he must've been in the alternate universe (if not dead, which Xehanort knows he isn't because he knows his final plan with Kairi).

Side note, also during the earlier battle with Xehanort, Xehanort told Kairi she wouldn't find Sora in her heart and that the key to him is in memories long gone. And part of my reaction to that is that I felt validated and angry, because we've been saying that Kairi wouldn't find Sora through the search of her heart and dudebros and s/ks and the like said that we were thinking about our ship and being misogynistic in thinking Kairi wouldn't have that role, and then Xehanort himself, created from Kairi's heart said "You won't find anything here". My other reaction was to "memories long gone", and it honestly made me wonder if it meant that Kairi had some of Sora's memories in her heart that he lost and they're not there anymore, or that the key to Sora is memories of his he not only lost, but are literally missing and in someone no one can reach currently (like within Yozora or something)

So anyways, Xehanort gives Kairi a clue about how to find Sora through that line referring to the alternate universe (again it being brought up in the future for a different thing is why I think Apprentice Terranort gave his speech as a double meaning in the past), and she finally wakes up where the whole lab crew work it out

As for AtW and crew assuming the alternate universe is fictional, that may or may not be true. They worked it out by saying "The opposite of our reality is unreality or fiction", but we also know that could be referring to a parallel universe, meaning both universes could very much be real. As for Yozora telling Sora "this isn't the real world", I'm not gonna go far into it as others have, but if Sora is theoretically inside Yozora's heart, hence how he can visit him in his dream, then Sora is technically not in the real world, but the alternate universe is in the real world. And if the alternate universe is a fake world, it's not impossible, but it's still odd to me how Yozora would be self aware that the world he was born in wasn't real.

Forward from here, Riku enters, Kairi and Riku have their leads to Sora (tbh one of my hopes was that Kairi and Riku would have a real talk about the odd status of their friendship and how it's honestly not great, but maybe it'll happen in the future), and Fairy God Mother magics Kairi and Riku and herself into the final world (sorry this is a bit passive aggressive, but no, we knew that Riku wouldn't need to dream dive into Kairi's dreams to make it into the final world so they could get to Sora). FGM then starts talking about the final key, alerts the two teens about the hearts in the final world, and takes them to Nameless star. It was about this point I literally had a moment over how beautiful Kairi and Nameless star's respective voices sounded because they both sounded so pretty. This is also where they learn that shibuya in the other universe is named Quadratum (haha another square reference I see, square😂), and FGM says that you can get to the other universe with the power of waking and Nameless Star's strong dream and will. I honestly can't wait until we get to see Nameless star for real and hear her name. It's honestly so sweet that Riku wanted to make her dream come true (in like a "Riku is so nice and sweet" way, not in a shippy way) and was also willing to help her not just because she could lead him to Sora.

Then, FGM informs the crew that this is as far as she goes, and leaves the rest to Riku. This is another widely opinionated section of MoM's story, because here Kairi expresses her wishes to go and is ultimately rejected. I have seen people rant about how Riku is a misogynist and explain this scene as if Riku literally told Kairi "You're too weak", shoved her aside, and called her useless, but here's an analysis of the scene with some of my pov. That part wasn't nearly as bad as people exaggerated it to be. When Kairi expressed her wish to go, Riku literally stuttered, failing to actually say she can't. He didn't even really say anything before Kairi sighed and was like "I know". So to say Riku is misogynistic for that?��� Also, this is a completely new universe, one where Yen Sid didn't even let Mickey Mouse follow, and as FGM said you have to have the power of waking to get there. Kairi is strong, as memory Xehanort said, but she's not to master level (or at Sora or Riku's level for that matter), not strong enough to deal with a whole new world, especially since her only real experience was being plunged into war just after some training (like Sora and Riku got this whole experience starting with dealing with low level heartless and getting used to it all, and they had been practicing and self teaching themselves how to fight since they were kids, to which Kairi did not), and she doesn't have the power of waking, so no matter how much Kairi wants to go with Riku, as he was trying to tell her and failing, it's not possible for her right now. It's like how Sora wanted so badly to join Riku and Mickey in the RoD on saving Aqua, but he hadn't regained his strength yet and didn't have the Power of Waking. Example one of the Kingdom Hearts fandom's double standards: Sora being denied access to also go to the RoD to save Aqua because he doesn't have the strength or PoW is fine, but Kairi being denied access to also go to the alternate universe with Riku for the same reasons is Misogyny🙄.

And also on Kairi's rejection to go with Riku to the alternate universe, I felt like this moment was a parallel to kh1 that showed that Kairi is beginning her character development. In kh1, Kairi insisted to go with Sora to save Riku, and Sora outright said she would be in his way so she couldn't go (idk what it says in the jp version), and after being told this, Kairi accepts her situation and resigns to wait on the islands for Sora to return with Riku. During this whole time she also makes no effort to train. However, in this moment in khmom, when Riku fails to stutter out "No", Kairi very visibly and audibly is frustrated when she says "I know". She's been here before, but it says something that her being left like this, waiting to the side, isn't something she wants anymore. She wants to go, and she's frustrated that she still can't. And I know this came off to people as "Nomura is just shafting Kairi again", but in my opinion if he wanted to toss her aside, he wouldn't have done this. He would've had her okay with Riku going by himself from the get-go and had Kairi just kind of go "well, back to training with Merlin again". Heck, if he really wasn't doing anything with her, he would have just left her while FGM and Riku met Nameless star in the Final World. But what he did was present us a Kairi that is strong, but knows she needs to be stronger. He gave us a Kairi that is visibly frustrated in knowing she can't help her best friend. And her response after accepting she can't go currently? She takes the initiative to train under Aqua (a real keyblade master), meaning that she really wants to take the steps to get stronger now, and she tells Riku that one day she'll stand by him and Sora (not just Sora). The girl has resolved to take her own path and take real responsibility for her training so she never has to stay behind again. It's showing Kairi's shift from "Sora and Riku are leaving me behind and I'm struggling to catch up so I try to make sure they come back to me or I do the bare minimum to still be around them" to "I take control of my own destiny, and I'm gonna close this gap myself, by my own efforts, not by waiting for them to do something". I'm fully aware Nomura could still shaft Kairi, but I truly feel like this little we got in khmom is the beginning of her development as a character. And I feel this way because while remind at times arguably came off as pandering to people who wanted K to do something, khmom, taking into account all the things Nomura could have done instead of what he did, felt more genuine, and actually made me hopeful and excited for her character and what she does in the future. Also, example two of the Kingdom Hearts fandom's double standards: Riku struggling to tell Kairi she can't go with him (and him not actually saying it) is considered misogynistic by this fandom, but Sora in kh1 bluntly telling Kairi she would be in his way and therefore couldn't go is "UwU he's protecting his love! So cute!"🙄

Anyways, going forward, I'm so excited to witness some actual development for Kairi amd seeing her interact with the wayfinder trio! Like training with Aqua? Yes!

Also, not to be passive-aggressive, but I know a number of S/Rs who would like an apology for being told that believing that Riku would be the one to save Sora was us reaching and being delusional and thinking Kairi wouldn't go is misogynistic🙂

Anyways, besides that, Soriku endgame actually?! Like Sorikus and Riku stans how you feeling about all this? Like, can you believe we were right when we said Riku would go save Sora? Can you believe in the same week we got confirmation Riku would be the one to go save Sora, we learned that there would be three sets of Soriku Nendoroids? Like we just keep on winning and honestly that makes me so happy. I honestly can't wait to see not only Kairi's training and possible future development, but also Riku's journey! This may have just been a bridge game, but I'm so excited!😊

[zdbztumble]

“Kingdom Hearts II” revisited, Part V

Having only ever played XIII out of the Final Fantasy series, I only know characters like Cloud, Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith through their roles in Kingdom Hearts. In that capacity, I like them quite a bit, and I was upset along with all the FF fans that they were left out of KH III, for spurious reasons. “We didn’t need them because we have original characters to fill those roles” basically amounted to handing off the job of exposition dumps to Ienzo, as if it were simply a matter of trading out corporate spokesmen. From KH I to II, Leon, Yuffie, Sid, Merlin, and Aerith establish themselves as a group, each with a distinct personality, notable interplay among themselves, and each with a unique relationship to Sora and friends. Cloud, on his own, did the same. To toss them aside in favor of a character with no personality, and no connection to Sora, makes the exposition dumps in KH III far more tedious to get through, not helped by the fact that the exposition itself is so much more ridiculous by then. The character dynamics lost are hardly worth the promotion of one unremarkable figure just on account of his being “original.”

But KH II has the opposite problem with its FF guest stars: at a pivotal moment in the story, an excessive number of cameos make unavoidable appearances, creating a painful drag on the pace of the game and distracting from the main story just when major events get underway.

This is unfortunately evident as soon as Sora arrives back in Hollow Bastion after his first pass at the Disney worlds and runs into Cloud. I have absolutely no objection to Cloud being included in this game, and I love that he’s in Hollow Bastion with the others. But Cloud’s history with Sephiroth - and with Aerith, and with Tifa - have nothing to do with the main KH II story, and when the game is building toward King Mickey’s reintroduction, the twist with Ansem, and a shift in power among the villains, being forced to take time out for cutscenes teasing conflicts and relationships from a different series is most unwelcome. The scenes of Tifa rifling through the castle are, if anything, even more of a distraction - one could at least argue that Cloud’s conversation with Aerith has some thematic connection to Sora and Kairi, and that his relationship to Sephiroth has some thematic relevance to Riku and “Ansem.”

A far better reintroduction for Cloud, and a first introduction for Tifa, would have been to have them with the others when Sora first comes to Hollow Bastion. Cloud could be aloof, if that was desired, and Sora could have been surprised to see him there. Tifa could have been introduced as another member of the Restoration Committee, with a line from Aerith or Yuffie or somebody about how “it’s not just us, y’know.” Their first appearances would thus have come at an appropriate moment in the game, and they would have already been established as part of the Hollow Bastion world before Sora returns after completing the first pass at the Disney worlds. If Sephiroth, Tifa’s desire for Cloud, and Aerith’s relationship with him were all things the staff dearly wanted in the game, that all could have come in the form of completely optional material unlocked after the big Heartless battle, just the way that Sephiroth was an optional fight in KH I. There was no reason to make this material mandatory.

Worst of all are the appearances by the Gullwings. My understanding is that Final Fantasy X-2 is a controversial title in the series, and all I know of it comes from this game and a comedic “review,” but I can still wholly understand if any fan of that game had a problem with their cameo here. Besides the pixie makeover, they are, more than any other FF characters, completely irrelevant to what’s going on. A gift of a Keyblade after the fact does not a justification make, and I really can’t believe that they were included, just for the sake of Nomura’s notion of doing “not human yet human” versions of the characters.

(I hate to say this, but Stitch’s introduction is pretty appalling too. He’s just there, no rhyme or reason, and there’s no relationship established between him and any other character before he jumps down. At the very least, Merlin could’ve introduced him a “a stray I picked up along my travels” or something.)

But, I’ve gotten ahead of myself - and while this issue is a substantial one, it’s my only major gripe with this middle portion of the game. There’s a medium-sized one as well...but we’ll get to that.

Since I tend to play “in character” as Sora, I can sometimes find myself reacting to certain things in unusual ways. In the case of the first return to Twilight Town, I started to get excited at the thought of seeing Kairi again even as I knew how the story plays out, which makes me very grateful that I was alone at home while playing the game. Kairi’s brief interaction with the Twilight Town trio is nice, though having been introduced to the KH II manga, it’s hard to watch her being taken by Axel and not wish she showed the sort of fight she puts up in that adaptation. 

Twilight Town is also the first time in quite a while that signs of Roxas appear, as he asserts himself from within Sora with the blue stone. At first, I found this moment a little jarring - Sora has just been learned that Kairi was kidnapped, after all - but given that it’s a moment for Roxas to briefly take control, I made peace with it.

Out of all the Disney titles used for Kingdom Hearts worlds, Tron is the one I have the least amount of experience with; I’ve only seen it once, I didn’t care for it very much, and I never bothered with the sequel. Here in KH II, the level is fun and colorful, it isn’t too stiff a recap of the movie from what I remember, and it represents a clever way to tie Disney material in with the original elements of the KH universe. Though I do wonder if Tron was only selected as a world because it offered Nomura and company a platform to indulge in nonsensical techno-speak dialogue.

Tron is also the catalyst for that medium-sized complaint I mentioned before: I see no good reason why Sora’s talk with King Mickey about Ansem had to wait until after Sora goes back into Space Paranoids. There’s no clear ticking clock demanding that he go back right away, and all this does is undercut the reunion with King Mickey and the sense of revelation in the air over the true identity of “Ansem.” When we do finally arrive at that moment, however...it’s not bad. It has to be admitted that there is no real set-up for this twist. You can’t even go back to KH I and find lines equivalent to “there’s too much of his father in him” in Star Wars to retroactively make into foreshadowing. Nothing from KH I, or CoM, is negated by the revelation that “Ansem,” Seeker of Darkness was really Xehanort the apprentice, however. For a twist that exists just for the sake of having one, it’s innocuous, and well-placed within the narrative to give an appropriate jolt to the proceedings. Certainly it’s better-handled, and more benign conceptually, than later “twists” in the series. 

This leads us into the long battle with the Heartless, and there’s a lot to recommend this whole sequence. As clumsy as Cloud’s reintroduction was in this game, the moment of him and Leon fighting back-to-back was fantastic; I imagine that scene is an even bigger thrill fro FF fans. What’s more, it’s appropriately placed to be both cool and relevant. The run down the hill that sees Sora fighting alongside one FF character after another is just as delightful. I’d completely forgotten about this part of the game, so it was a pleasant surprise...and a painful reminder at the lack of effort put into giving the other Keyblade wielders some time with Sora in KH III. I will note, however, that Aerith’s absence from the line-up in this run is a problem, and that by rights Merlin should be there too.

The villain material in this section isn’t bad, though it would have been more powerful if their respective plots hadn’t been in such a long lull in the back half of the Disney worlds. Maleficent battling the Nobodies, and ultimately confronting Saix to buy Sora time, is a wonderful idea, and helps to illustrate her story as one of a long and ultimately fruitless climb back towards the top of the villain totem pole, but a larger presence for her in some of those Disney worlds would’ve helped build to that more. Some appearances by the Organization would’ve done the same for the battle with Demyx. It’s not a bad fight, for the first serious boss battle with a member. The shorter time trials got pretty aggravating, though. 

There are also some character beats in this section that are on the whole nice additions, if imperfect in execution. Sora being conflicted over whether to help Leon like he promised or to go search for Kairi and Riku is fine - it’s a conflict Sora’s faced, in various guises and degrees, since the beginning of the series, and he’s well-established at this point in the story as someone who goes where the greatest need is over his own desires. But the scene is just a little overdone. I’d say the same about Goofy’s fake-out death, which is cleared up just a little too soon. On the other hand, it’s in the midst of all that that the 1000 Heartless fight takes place, and that’s just as much fun as I remember. 

(While I’m on this section of the game, I want to air a nitpick with the gameplay that pops up before, during, and after this section. What is the point of these “runs” where you take about two seconds’ worth of steps after one cutscene just to trigger another? Just go straight to the next scene!)

This section also reveals that Kairi managed to get away from Axel. As an idea, that’s fine. But why isn’t it a scene? Give me one reason why that wasn’t a serious enough story beat to warrant a cutscene. Of course I’m advocating for more material for Kairi, but - and I can’t believe I’m saying this - such a cutscene might have even given Axel some development. I’ll be talking more about the additions to Final Mix in a later post, but the fact that a long-ass walk down hallways was a priority over expanding on this plot point tells you something about the warped priorities the creative team developed in the years after KH II’s release.

We leave this section of the story with Sora, Donald, and Goofy on the retreat, guided out of darkness by Riku and guided by the Keyblade to some unknown destination. But when that lane opens, Sora declares “not yet! I have to look for Kairi!” thus setting up the second pass at the Disney worlds. How often in this series does Sora voice an urge to follow his own desires over the call of duty? I thought it was an impressive moment for his character.

EDIT: corrections made (thank you @khtrinityftw.)

[kitsoa]

The Fated Showdown Pt. 1-The Lights

I find the debate over who’s assembling on which side to be the most interesting topic on the KH3 speculation train. Mainly because of how much of a toss up it is. And you’d think the possibilities are vast because of the ‘empty seats’ in need of filling but no Nomura makes it a toss up because each side has too many candidates. The roster is oversized, meaning that we have to essentially count on a shake up happening over the course of the game to let this master plan play out to some completion. So let’s try predicting that shake up shall we?

Disclaimer: This is just my opinion and I’m basing my percentages off of a personal hunch and no real science.

Very long post under the cut. Break down of points:

The Lights

The Shake-up

Line the Pieces

The Lights.

The per-requite for being a Guardian of Light seems to simply be that one must be a Keyblade wielder on the good side. When reviewing the viable candidates who are active and capable of function at the start of the game we have: Mickey, Sora, Riku, then Kairi and Lea in training. Since there’s no reason why their training status should disqualify them from intended candidacy that leaves 2 spots empty. So then we go to our list of wielders to save:

Aqua, Ventus, and Roxas.

It shouldn’t be assumed that the sole reason in saving these folks is to fill the Guardian roster-- so the intent and ambition to do so does not make them a guaranteed part of the the prophecy. That being said, one doesn’t need to be intended to save to be a viable candidate for the Lights. It isn’t like no one wants to save Terra, he just has virtually no leads for rescue from their perspective, so they are at a standstill. Doesn’t mean he couldn’t be a Light-- more on that later. Similarly so, Xion has no present rescue intent from our understanding so far (though hints at Lea remembering her could spawn an attempt), but her potential is about as equal as anyone else, should she be saved. So the count of potentials to take the last two spot is 5-- with Aqua, Ventus, Terra, Roxas, and Xion standing some kind of chance in the toss up. This is knowing that our heroes will not cut corners and work equally hard to save them all should the opportunity come up-- guardian or not.

Now it’s about the probability in our heroes succeeding in the respective rescues and the resulting chances of them being a Guardian.

Aqua.

Her status at being taken by the darkness puts a wrench in this rescue plan, but from trailer context we can tell that they aren’t going to take Aqua’s stint in the dark side lying down. We are getting a boss fight and a passionate rescue attempt for sure as Mickey knows where she is and makes clear plans to go for her. The TGS trailer has multiple flashes of situations both with Aqua taken by darkness and not. The question is which status lingers to the end when the prophecy is realized.

She is seen normal during a supposed conflict with Vanitas at the Land of Departure during some kind of Ventus awakening (considering the glow of light from the throne). She is also untouched by darkness in a conflict on the Dark Margin in the Realm of Darkness with Ansem SoD-- suspiciously the place where she also does battle with our protagonist under that influence (so which comes first is the question). Finally, and the biggest hint at what I think is a successful rescue, is Sora’s hand reaching in the water. Call it literal or in some kind of symbolism, the message is clear. Aqua is getting saved from the darkness that over takes her before the prophecy comes to fruition. Her chances of being a Guardian are at 85%.

Ventus

Serving as the story’s current damsel in distress, Ventus has no active agency toward his fate and is at the mercy of Sora and Aqua’s success and the forces against them. We know that Vanitas shows interest and is present before his sleeping body in the TGS trailer. While you can’t say he’s won outright he does beat everyone to him in some form, but this is easily a boss fight set up. The thing about boss fights is that game determined success does not translate to story success. This becomes less of an issue as we see a picture of Sora before Ventus Station of Awakening which all but confirms that Ventus is waking up. Barring some last minute hijack or tragedy, he’s a potential shoe in for the Guardians. His chances are at 73%.

Roxas

He seems to be the primary rescue attempt presented during the trailers, with a clear sub-plot dealing with his data in the virtual Twilight Town. We can see from the last teasing shot that there is some kind of success in resurrecting him, but the question comes from if he’ll be on the side of the Lights. I’ve talked about this in an ask about Roxas’ norting chances  and I stick by it for the most part. He’s got a ton of potential toward the bad side considering the trailer framing and a decent foundation for darkness, but the progression of his resurrection and the chances of different character getting that honor brings down his chances. As such, I put Roxas at a tentative 60% Guardian of Light.

Xion

As stated before there’s no one actively seeking her rescue but the idea of her being inadvertently rescued or the motivation rising later still stands in the realm of possibility. We get an idea from the orchestra snippets, the canon quotes from the leaflet promotion, and the potential context from that clip of him crying that Lea is poised to start remembering her in some form. Thus him wanting and aiming to save her could come to a realization. At this point it’s not terribly strong nor are there any clear leads at what could bring her resurrection. So her chances are at 25% for being a Guardian of Light.

Terra

Terra’s tricky because no one knows where he is. The result of Xehanort’s reformation has us wondering if Terra’s back to his normal self as well, which I might assume if Xehanort wasn’t so vague about harboring him in DDD and a brief image of Terranort wasn’t seen in the TGS trailer... But even so I think we can’t immediately come to the conclusion that he’s been compromised by the darkness. Bluffing is a thing... and while I seem to take trailers as law in this analysis what we got was extremely lacking context. Furthermore, I would say that we can’t be sure that all pieces of Terra’s being were available for re-assemblage at the destruction of Xemnas and Ansem-- namely, the “Terra’s Heartless is the Guardian” theory could very well be true, potentially putting his heart in Riku’s path (a la Ansem’s possession of Riku and the resulting lingering darkness dealt with in COM could belong in part to Terra)... but we also must consider the Lingering Will possessing Terra’s Soul. And in that case, there has been no catalyst to release that aspect of Terra’s being toward the reforming needed to revive him.

So taking this uncertainty as true and calling Xehanort on the potential bluff he has about Terra (which may be a nonissue if he’s referring to Aqua at the time)-- the heroes would still have to put him together somehow or find him. This still has a chance of happening and could in fact be a major trump card against Xehanort’s big gambit. I think this could be vital in outsmarting this plan but that’s for another analysis. The chances of this happening are low, but just unexpected enough to be worth consideration. I put Terra’s Guardianship chances at 30%.

So What’s the Shake Up?

While it’s anyone’s guess who outside the active players is getting in, it’s worth understanding that even those in the “confirmed” category are not safe. This is where the real shake up happens, both opening up more spots and making use of the cast of rescuees. We can almost guarantee something is going to mess up the intended count on the Light side (and even more so with the New Organization’s numbers)-- how that takes form and who it shall take is the question.

How--

Any of the confirmed subjects can be incapacitated in some way, kidnapped, cast away, god-forbid killed for real (which I don’t see happening at all but the point is made)-- as long as it prevents them from being present on the side of the light when the prophecy comes to pass. Of course we have another method of removal and that comes in ‘nortification’ (I still can’t believe it’s a verb). Unconfirmed characters being norted are always a possibility and there’s a good chance of these active players getting stolen from the roster by Xehanort to add to his. While I believe there may be unforeseen variables in regards to the actual prophecy, I’ll focus on the main means of removal.

Who--

Knowing what can potentially take the existing members out of the running, it really narrows down the possibilities. Kairi, Riku, and Mickey are safe from ‘norting because of lore logic and cold hard Disney image preservation respectively. This doesn’t exclude the other means of take out so they all roughly find themselves on equal footing, their potential to be taken off the roster lying under 25% each.

So naturally the only existing Lights in danger of the most potent fate are Lea and Sora.

Lea has his subplot with Isa to consider. The sake of drama could lend itself to a sacrifice or being bested before the prophecy comes to pass. My imagination goes towards Lea swapping ‘norting places with Isa to save him, but that’s ultimately countered by his strong sense of justice and the other factors (i.e. Roxas) motivating him against the Darkness (it’d also be clumsy because he’s already a reformed bad guy). Still the plot with Isa seems to be chugging forward as seen with the trailer clips with him encountering his old friend on the clock tower among other possibilities. This does mean that things are moving and could result in an unfortunate outcome, more so than the lore-safe characters. Potential for Lea to get taken out of the running-- 40%.

Sora got a million red flags. The chances of him being taken out from Nortification alone are exponentially higher than the other characters and I talk about it in that same ask about Roxas, this taking into account the content in the trailers, the circumstantial evidence, and the narrative hints toward this fate.  I would only adjust my 81% norting chance to a 71% only because I think one has to account the probability of something other than norting to take him out. I would say there’s a 15% chance something unforeseen takes him out of the running which I will elaborate on with the final 14% being Sora on the side of Lights. Final Verdict? 86% chance Sora’s not going to be a Light.

Line the pieces up

So reviewing all these possibilities while understanding that there are still many unforeseen variables, makes finding the final outcome to be interesting to say the least. Logic has it that our current 2 seat vacancy will increase to a 3 seat vacancy and this filled by the 3 clearly intended rescuees.This puts a logical roster at:

Mickey, Riku, Kairi, Lea, Roxas, Ventus, and Aqua.

Roxas could end up taking the helm in Sora’s place, aligning with the ‘big secret’ buzz surrounding his involvement. The efforts of the game will be to fill the 2 spots and unknowingly find Sora’s replacement, making no plot line a ‘waste’.

Even so, I could definitely see a shake up of even this scenario take Lea out of the running as well-- or perhaps we Shoo Out The Clowns by tying Mickey up in a different and equally important sub-plot to make room for a surprise Terra. For the record, a big last minute show of heroics on the side of the Light would be a very desirable twist with all the villainous wins we are foreseeing. This isn’t an outright endorsement of Soranort, because I ultimately believe we will have multiple layers of subversion happening but I really think Sora’s got a good chance of not getting on the roster. 

Now that we’ve got the Heroes chances accounted for, it’s time to delve into the New Organization in Part 2 of this analysis.

[kingdom-hearts-astrology-blog]

Kingdom Hearts, the #7 and what it all really means. 358/2 days

KH is a story about the cycles of time and nature based off the sun and the zodiac (zodiac chest in 0.2) of which there are 12 houses in the wheel. a circle, or wheel is 360 degrees. 358/2 days is in reference to the course of a year which is one full rotation of the zodiac wheel and thats 360 degrees. so 358 + 2= 360 as in the degrees of a zodiac wheel. just one more thing that I think everyone is wondering, just what does the title “358/2 Days” mean? Nomura: That’s the question that everyone has to ask in interviews. (laughs) There is an answer, but I think it’s best not to answer it. Well okay, I’ll give a little hint. “/2” is read in English as “over two”, but this isn’t the kind of over that means to “pass over” something. The 358 days are shared between two people, so “/2”, but I’d rather you imagine which two we are talking about. After you’ve finished playing it you might change your mind about who the two people are. 358 Days is one week short of a complete year, of course... Nomura Yes, of course for people who played KH2 they know that the game is like a countdown to the final day. And of course they know and realize why it’s missing that one week. So they already know the reason for the title is that it is “a week short of a year, split between two people.” But is that really the true answer? I named this game hoping that people would think on it even after they’ve finished playing it. so a week is 7 days. the 7 days represent the division of the annual year. The Division of time. thats why its 358/2 because the year is divided into 2 opposing forces of hot a cold. spring and autumn. fertility and death. which gives us our opposing forces of summer and winter and light and darkness. so half of a circle is 180 degrees and 328/2 or 358 divided by 2 is 179 179 is the end of the 6th house of the zodiac virgo (xion) and the beginning of the 7th house of libra on the 180th degree which is roxas himself. this is why Kingdom hearts released on september 17th. because the SEPT in september means 7 what they are talking about is the division of the annual year in Autumn, in september. Libra is the 7TH house of the Zodiac and begins in September! its symbol is the scales which represent balance or division. as in the EVENing time of TWIlight when the day and night are divided evenly. thus the EVENing time or TWI(2)lights of red of the day and blue of the night which gives us that purple pink and twilight. this is why the game released in japan on march 28th in 2002 which is the time of the spring equinox 8 days after it to be exact and it released in NA on september 17th which was 6 days before the spring equinox at that time. because thats what they are talking about. the light and darkness that is night and day from the sun. the light and darkness that is summer and winter from the sun. thats why nomura says 358/2 days is a hint and he wants us to THINK about it. so the game released on septermber 17th a few days before the Autumn equinox when days and nights would be = in length. but the fall marks the time of the death of the sun and its descent into the underworld. because after the Autumn equinox, days begin to get shorter and nights get longer. thats why riku falls into darkness. because he represents the setting of the sun that goes to the underworld. thats why Riku is the destiny islands champion and in KH2 SETzer who bares a striking resemblance to riku is the champion. if you can beat riku in KH1 you get whats called a pretty stone and if you look at its description in the menu it says, "A pretty stone that shines in the light. if you beat SETzer you get a pretty stone with the struggle trophy.

so when the sun sets, the moon reflects its light. this is actually the light sora touches on the island. and why the KH1 case shows you sora in the light of the moon. the moon is the feminine principle. but its also a symbol of sex because its the light in the darkness, to opposing forces coexisting in one. this is what KH is all about. you see a female can produce and male or a female but a male can produce nothing. so its actually all about kairi. this is why kairi goes into sora because its about the alice in wonderland going down the rabbit hole. so we have sora and riku which is heaven and earth and then we have kairi which nomura says is what bridges the gap between the two. kairi represent the seperation from the old and the beginning of the new thats why she is the 7th princess. because the women gives birth to the brand new son from the father. and then the son grows up to be a father and starts the cycle all over. but it is the mother who is the regenerator or restorer. she is mother earth who "washes away the old and brings in the new" this is why life i said to have began from the waters and in the bible the earth began as a shapeless mass of water. this is why moses stuck his pole into the red sea and divided it because we are talking about the menstural red sea of the women which is the red headed kairi. this is why in 358/2 days xion is seen as both male and female. because she represents the division of the annual year, the separation from the old to the new. 360 degress circle that is the zodiac wheel of time or the year. or the circle that is the way finder which stich calls a circle. this is why ansem is actually an anagram for the word Mensa which is latin for table. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Mensa because we are talking about the KNIGHTS or the "NIGHTS" of the round table of TIME. of which there are 12 like the hands of a clock and the houses of a zodiac. this is why in chain of memories the organization is divided evenly amongst themselves and who just so happens to be the ring leader but the purple/pink head marluxia who wields the scythe of the harvest time which is september which is the seven for anyone who watches DBsuper you may have noticed the similarities between marluxia and goku black. its because they represent the same thing, the DIVISION OF TIME. this is why there are 13 universes in DBSUPER and our heros come from universe SEVEN this is why goku has started up a tournament that could destroy other universes because we are talking about the destruction of the OLD YEAR. so thats why marluxias hair is purple and his power is the cherry blossom because in japanese mythology the cherry blossom was a symbol of the harvest of autumn time in SEPT(7)tember which is what marluxias scythe represents. however there is a double angent AXEL 

  Axel is the AXEL of the zodiac wheel which is the full power of the sun in the house of LEO! the AXEL is the point around which a wheel revolves like the zodiac wheel revolves around the sun. biblically this is the character of judas who betrays jesus! this is why marluxia represents the twilight or the division or the EVENing time. which is the Autumn harvest. because he leads the 6 traitors which is actually just the winter vs the summer! this is why purple represent twilight. a Japanese writer who did study on the cherry blossoms for a book she wrote, had this to say. "Held above all other flowers by the rulers of Japan, Ohnuki-Tierney writes the cherry blossom or sakura has been a symbol of “the cycle of life, death and rebirth, on the one hand, and of productive and reproductive powers, on the other” throughout the history of Japan. The trees have been used as symbols for everything from predicting successful harvests of rice to giving the World War II kamikaze pilots courage for their one-way missions." jesus was completely perfect and sinless but when he died on the cross it is said he took on the sins of the whole world. in other words jesus was the EVENing. he was the 2 in one like xion who is the 14th member of the organization because she represents division 7+7 is 14. because if you take a clock and start at 12 as one and count to 6 there are 7 spaces and if you count from 6 back to 12 again 7 so we are talking about the 2 opposing forces coming together as one which is what the cross represents or the x blade. 2 opposing forces of light and dark must clash or cross. just like they did when jesus died on the cross when the perfect sinless man that is jesus took on all the sins of the whole world. this is why if you include name then there are 7 members of the organization who are traitors or 7 nobodies. and there are 7 back at castle oblivion including roxas,. thats why XION is both a male and female because shes is 77 she represents the EVE (as in adam and eve) of the EVENing time. so she represents the CROSS or the X the union of 2 opposing forces in one. thats why Xion looks like kairi. and in KH 1 kairi went into SORA. because its telling the same story of time over and over again. this is why xheanort and everyone associated with him has white hair because it represents the dying sun in WHITE winter. and thats why his eyes are like the EMBERS of a dying flame. like burning coals. (like the bible says jesus had) because he represents the dying sun in Autumn! 

so when the sun sets, the moon reflects its light. this is actually the light sora touches on the island. and why the KH1 case shows you sora in the light of the moon. so thats why in unchained X the name of the generic keyblade we get is called "STARLIGHT" because its a clue. the keyblade is star light. which is why they appear in light. and the keyblade graveyard is the STARLIGHT graveyard. it is the death of the sun in Autumn and winter. this is the meaning of vanitas and his "void gear" which relates to time like the gears of a clock. time is based on the movement of the sun and on the SOLSTICE (when ven is frozen by xehanort) it represents the stopage of time. hence void gear.

Nomura: The 358 days are shared between two people, so “/2”, but I’d rather you imagine which two we are talking about. After you’ve finished playing it you might change your mind about who the two people are. the two people that the 358 days is divided between is sora and kairi! this is why xion looks like kairi and sora! this is why kairi goes into sora in KH 1 you have to THINK outside the box

like the box of the cubes in KH coded 

[advocatewrites-blog]

Simple/Clean Chapter 12

Simple/Clean: An Original Character’s Story

Fandom: Kingdom Hearts (1, with mentions of other installments)

Synopsis: There are many worlds, but they share the same sky. One Sky, one Destiny. And when that destiny is threatened, the universe calls on one hero to save the day. Or, more like, five. When the Earth is consumed into Darkness, Danielle Scott and her friends are given the Keys between light and darkness. If they are going to save the worlds and find her brother, they are going to have to go on a multiverse-wide road trip to find the Door to Light. If only they had a better weapon than keys.

Rated: +K for violence and occasional language

Disclaimer: The Kingdom Hearts series was created by Tetsuya Nomura and owned by Square Enix. The Final Fantasy series was created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and owned by Square Enix. The films depicted were created by the Walt Disney Animation Studios and owned by the Walt Disney Company. Any other work mentioned or homaged are property of their respective owners. This is a non-profit fan-based work that only seeks to entertain. Please support the official releases.

Chapter 12 of 12

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Chapter 12: And I Feel Fine

The Gummi Ship, already as small as it was, had never been this crowded before. Most everyone had to take up standing room in the space between the driver’s seat and the passenger’s seat that served for storage and kitchen space. Those that managed to secure seats usually had another person on their lap or at their feet. Space had been made by the fact that the Heartless that was Dim was more than comfortable clawing his way onto the ceiling. Space had been lost because of the Beast.

Of course, nobody really cared about the size of the ship at the moment. There was too much going on that they had to care about. The joy that Sora was back to life. The adrenaline of escaping the ending planet. The end of the planet.

Hanna had found some TS Eliot to read in her English textbook, but that didn’t seem to do much good. Katie had tried to play Taps by literally tapping on the English text book, but that seemed to do less.

“Where do we go now?” Sora asked.

For just a moment, Donald looked as lost as he sounded and she felt. “I suppose…we should head back to Traverse Town. At the very least, we need to drop these ladies off somewhere safe.”

“And after everything we’ve been through, why should I leave Sora?” Kairi asked.

“We still need to fight Ansem, and restore all the worlds.” Sora said. “It’s not safe for you out there.”

“Besides,” Dani spoke up. “Maybe it’ll help if we talk to Squall. He might know something about that guy who called himself Ansem.”

“I literally have no idea what’s going on anymore.” Leon said.

“We had always thought that Ansem passed away with our world.” Aerith said. “I had hoped that was the case. Ansem’s heart and body was eaten by the Heartless a long time ago.”

“Not that it matters. That place hasn’t been Radiant Gardens for a long time.” Leon sighed. His eyes looked upwards, not wanting to meet anyone else’s. “Why is it that you four have singlehandedly disproved everything we have ever known for sure?”

“It’s not our fault.” Katie shrugged. “None of us are pretending to be Ansem. By the way, apparently only Sora has the Keyblade and we’re just borrowing it.”

Leon looked like he was about to have a conniption.

Yuffie jumped in. “So what do we do now? Hollow Bastion was supposed to be the last Keyhole you had to seal to save the universe.”

“Well, there are other worlds, right?” Nadine asked. “The Princesses all came from somewhere. Maybe one of those worlds has the answer.”

Leon shook his head. “They aren’t connected to the other worlds the way Hollow Bastion was. Besides, you’re assuming they haven’t fallen into Darkness as well.”

“What made Hollow Bastion so special?” Hanna asked.

“How do you think it was destroyed in the first place?” Leon looked like he didn’t want to answer. “That Keyhole…Ansem tinkered with it. He wanted to link every world together, create a bridge that could connect the whole universe. It was practically gift-wrapped for the Heartless.”

“Is that a particularly bad thing?” Alice asked from the sidelines.

Aerith started to explain, but all of a sudden, Katie didn’t care anymore. There it was. That was so obvious. Why hadn’t she thought of that before?

“We are all idiots.” She breathed.

Everyone turned to her.

“Sorry, but think about it! This entire trip, the entire time, we’ve been complaining about one thing. Alice, where are you from?”

“W—Westminster, but—”

“And we don’t know where the Darling family lived, but it wasn’t Neverland and they have the same accent!” Katie continued. “Olympus Coliseum was Greece. The Deep Jungle was an unspecified African rainforest. Agrabah was fantasy-land Persia; Genis said as much! All of these things were familiar to us, as citizens of Earth, but not to Sora, a citizen of Destiny Islands, or to Donald and Goofy, citizens of Disney Castle. And if Hollow Bastion really was the Keyhole that connected every world to itself, how were we able to get back here once it went kabloowey?”

“It did what?” Leon snapped.

“Nevermind that, I’m being a genius right now! It’s not Hollow Bastion we’re looking for. It’s Earth.” Katie said. “A bridge between the worlds.”

“Assuming we believe that, how do we get there anyway?” Nadine asked. “It was destroyed with the Heartless just like Hollow Bastion.”

“We’re gonna need a telescope.”

“Do you ever think it’ll be the same between us?” Kairi asked. “I mean, Riku’s lost his—”

Without turning to her, Sora put his hand on hers. He didn’t look at her, trying too hard to think of what to say. “You helped me find my Heart. I was so lost in the Darkness. But I knew that you would come to help me.”

“I didn’t want to just forget about you, Sora.” Kairi said, almost defensively.

He interlocked his fingers into hers. “Our Hearts are connected. Yours, mine…Riku. We’ll bring him back. I promise.”

Kairi’s grip loosened. Sora, afraid he did something wrong, let go completely and turned to her. He barely had time to spit out an apology before he felt something forced into his hand. Thalassa charms, bound together to look like a star. A smiley face and a crude approximation of his hair had been carved on the top shell.

“That’s my lucky charm.” Kairi said. “Be sure to bring it back to me, okay?”

“Promise.”

Sora turned back ahead. Ahead was something that wasn’t there before. A figure cloaked entirely in black. Exactly like Dani had said the other Ansem had been.

Sora jumped to his feet and summoned his Keyblade. The figure lazily looked over towards him. It stared, as much as a being without a face can. Finally, it moved to lower its hood.

You make a good other.

Then the figure was gone, leaving nothing but raw sewage in its wake.

There were two telescopes in Traverse Town. One was Gepetto’s, a basic thing that was really only able to see that other worlds existed. The other was more in line to the needs of Traverse Town. Designed by the great Ludwig von Drake, its image could reach planets as far back as Hollow Bastion. It could give perfect vision to the surfaces of other worlds.  If it were able to move about and weren’t mounted to the rooftop of Huey, Dewey and Louie’s shop, then it might as effective as the Hubble.

It could find Earth, no problem.

“That’s your world?” Leon asked. “That’s a world for whales.”

“Actually, whales freely roam through the depths of space.” Katie said. “But we did have whales once.”

Earth was surprisingly intact considering the last time they had seen it, it was exploding. However, it was clear to see the glue that held the world together. The streaks of white clouds were now Dark. Oceans churned. Orbs of Darkness sat on the landmasses, occasionally letting out a ripple of energy.

Leon pulled away from the telescope. He didn’t notice the red circle that lined his eye now, or Huey, Dewey, and Louie’s laughter. “Where do you even start to search on a planet that big?”

“That one’s easy.” Katie said. “Home.”

“Why home?”

“Because when our world was destroyed, we were attacked by a big scary Heartless. Why would that Heartless be in some nowhere’s-ville resort town if it didn’t have something it wanted?”

“I hate to say it, but you have a point.” Nadine said. She leaned into the telescope herself and focused on where her hometown would be. The town was…fine. The buildings were intact and no mass pandemonium hadn’t taken over the streets. Actually, the streets were empty. That’s what made Nadine nervous.

Out of curiosity, she focused the view to Italy. The telescope panned through Darkness for a while, before finally settling on a coliseum where a blonde superhero was talking to a short minotaur. She panned over again.

“They’re all there. Why are they there?” Nadine asked aloud. “It looks like Agrabah and England are dealing with some big scary Heartless, but they’re there.”

“The worlds have been connected.” Cloud said. “And tied to the Darkness. Your Earth is now holding every world it can in place.”

“Maybe once we defeat Ansem, the Heartless will go away.” Sora said.

“We will lend you our strength.” One of the Princesses, Aurora, she thinks, spoke up.

“Save it for yourselves. You might need it considering how things might go.” Hanna said. “Maybe you could do something about my brother.”

“You better.” Cid scoffed. “He’s been playing with my Gummis like they’re tinker-toys. I’d complain more, but he’s the best assistant I’ve ever had.”

“Then let’s head off!” Sora said. “The sooner we get all of this fixed, the sooner we can all celebrate together.”

And all of a sudden, the rooftop fell silent. The members of Traverse Town looked at each other, trying to search for the person with the best people skills.

“The worlds were never meant to be connected.” Aerith spoke up. “Once you seal the Final Keyhole, and restore all the worlds, they will become separate again.”

“Even the Gummi Ship won’t do the trick.” Leon said.

The group fell silent for a minute. Leon seemed to think to himself for a minute, before walking over and putting a hand on Sora’s shoulder. It was a grossly kind action, and it looked like it pained him a lot to even do that, but he continued.

“We may never meet again, but we’ll never forget each other. Our Hearts will always be connected, even when we’re apart.”

That one, surprisingly, was sincerely kind.

It was ruined slightly as Cid started to cry. “You damn kids are startin’ to grow up!”

“—ck?”

Light enveloped the room, and where the Heartless was Dmitri now stood.

He was very confused.

“What?”

One of the women tried to approach him, but Dim couldn’t care right now. His mind reeled with his last memories. Dani and Hanna, and Riku…what happened? Where were his sisters?

He hadn’t realized he said that aloud until one of the younger girls spoke up. “I’m sorry, but they already left.”

“Where to? Take me to them!”

The woman in front of him, a brunette woman with a yellow ballgown, made a face. “I’m sorry, but it’s far too dangerous—”

“Then give me a ship and I’ll find them myself!”

“Like hell you will!” A new voice, obviously male and gritted, spoke up. “MOG! HIDE THE SHIPS THE KID MADE!”

“Kupo!”

Dim sighed and tried to clear his head. Panicking was going to get him nowhere. “You don’t understand. I have to help them.”

He would do it for his sisters.

Earth was, surprisingly, exactly the way they had left it. Yet there was stillness in the air. No cars roamed the streets, no people played outside, and no signs of activity could be seen through the windows to buildings. Aside from the seven of them, the town was empty. Earth was empty.

That worried Dani a lot more than what happened next.

Before anyone could think to ask what was going on, the ground shook violently under them. In seconds, the peaceful town was under fire. Dani felt herself fall, and fall even further into the Earth.

Sora caught her by the hand. He hovered above her, pixie dust flaking off of him. “Got any happy thoughts left in you?”

Christmas, Dani decided. Think Christmas.

Sora pulled, and she flew.

Once she got her bearings, she looked towards the source. The town crumbled. The mountains parted. And in her way, there was this…thing. Two enormous wings unfolded, and revealed the beast underneath. Two golden eyes lit up and focused on her, and it smiled.

“Okay, so I think that’s the devil—” Dani started.

The beast known as Chernabog attacked.

No one in Traverse Town really knew what to do next. The next few moments would decide the future: either return it to Light, or damn it to Darkness. The more common citizens returned to their homes. The Princesses continued to pray within Cid’s shop. The others stayed on top of the ducks’ shop, and watched.

Cloud resumed his brooding. He had never gotten a chance to see Traverse Town for very long. It had always passed in a blur of emotions. Grief. Defeat. Fear. Guilt. Rage. Foolhardiness. A sense of determination that he could change things that was clouded by the hindsight that he just made it worse.

Mostly rage.

But that did not make it a bad town. And now perhaps because the possibility that his old one could be returned, he decided to see it for the first time. It was a pleasant world. They had probably had to work to keep it that way, but the work shone through. Aerith would like it here.

Tifa would like it here too.

Somebody joined him. He was prepared to glare them away, but stopped as he saw who it was.

“It’s peaceful out here, isn’t it?” Aerith asked lazily.

His wing twitched. He gave a noncommittal grunt. Aerith sat down next to him, and he panicked.

“We’ve all missed you.” She said. “We thought you had passed away along with Radiant Gardens.”

Oh whatever god or lifeforce decided to take him, this was not the conversation he wanted to have oh no no no

He shrugged. “Got a bit lost along the way.”

“Oh?”

She fortunately decided not to press any further. That was the one saving grace in this entire conversation.

“I wonder if anyone else was able to make it.” She thought aloud.

Cloud didn’t answer.  Did she know? Aerith always had a way of knowing things nobody told her. If she knew, he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself.

“Miss Katie said that when they found you, you were looking for something. Have you found it yet?”

Cloud hesitated. “I don’t want you involved.”

“You don’t want our help?”

Memories of what could have been flashed before his eyes. “I don’t want you hurt.”

“I’m stronger than you think.”

“I know. And that’s why I don’t want you hurt.”

Silence fell over them. Just faintly, he could hear the sounds of crashing from within the building. Considering it was run by ducklings, he didn’t pay it too much mind.

“Alright. I’ll trust you. But make sure to come back to us, alright?”

And Cloud, take care of yourself. So you don’t have a breakdown, okay?

He had seen her die too many times, in worlds that were real and worlds that weren’t.

“Yeah.”

Something caught his attention on the town below. The boy, the one the others had been so worried about. He scrambled out of the shop and into a Corridor of Darkness. Cloud jumped to his feet, prepared to do something, but it happened too fast. He was gone before Cloud could even turn around.

“Where did he go?” Aerith asked. That was good, at least; she had never seen a Corridor of Darkness.

“At this rate, he could be anywhere.” Cloud turned his gaze to the stars above. “Let’s hope those kids fix this before he gets too far.”

“I thought only the light of God could destroy the Devil.” Hanna said.

“Hanna, have we ever stepped foot in a church?” Dani asked.

Neither of them really noticed Sora approach the portal that stood in Chernabog’s place.

“Sora?” Goofy asked.

“I know this place…” Sora said. He put one foot inside.

“What are you doing?” Dani asked. “You don’t know where that place leads!”

“Yes I do!” Sora said. “Just trust me, alright?”

Hanna didn’t exactly have a choice. She jumped in quickly after him.

This was not Earth. It looked a lot like Earth, or at least what Earth had become. Yet the skies were purple, not blue, and clouds hovered around like they were trying to block something. The ocean beside them stayed still. No sun hovered above, even though it looked to be in the middle of the day. There was no breeze to feel, nor salt water or sand to smell, and she really didn’t want to try tasting anything here. Only what she could see, and hear.

“This is my home!” Sora said. “This is Destiny Islands!”

“…kinda a dump.” Nadine said.

“Hey, I don’t make fun of you for your homeworld, so—”

“Look at this tiny place.”

They turned to the source. Ansem stood by the water, looking positively bored.

“To a Heart seeking freedom, this is nothing but a prison. No wonder the boy decided to embrace the Darkness within.”

“You give Riku back!” Sora said.

Ansem glanced over his shoulder just to give them a condescending look. What a jerk. “Even if I desired to, it’s no use. His Heart has returned to Darkness, as will all Hearts in the end. That is the nature of the universe you decide to explore. That is the Heart’z true essence.”

“That’s not true!” Sora said. “Yes, the Heart may be weak. And sometimes, it may even give in. But I know that there’s a Light that never goes out!”

“You still understand so little.”

The ground shattered under them. It was actually an improvement, considering they were walking on sand.

“EVERY LIGHT MUST FADE! EVERY HEART RETURN TO DARKNESS!”

The rest of Destiny Islands shattered. In its place…

Darkness.

Darkness.

Darkness as far as the eye couldn’t see. No thing to interact with. No path he could travel. No person he could talk to.

At first, Riku thought he was in some kind of afterlife. He then decided that if he were, he wasn’t there for a good reason.

He wanted to apologize. Take everything back. Start all over. Even if he could, there was no way to escape this abyss. For the first time in a long time, Riku was actually alone.

And just as he realized it, he wasn’t alone anymore.

“Riku!”

Dmitri? Save for light signs of exhaustion, he looked the same as the last time Riku had seen him…whole again. Still, he wanted to make sure…

“Hey! Cut that out!” Dmitri swatted his hand away from his face.

“Why are you here?” Riku asked. “You were never a real Heartless, you should’ve been fine!”

“I wanted to find you.” Dmitri said.

“Why?”

“Because you’re my friend, and you’re hurting right now, and I don’t think you should be left alone.”

“I don’t have a Heart anymore! Or a body, for that matter! There’s no way I’m going to just escape with you!”

The revelation hit Riku. He struggled to maintain composure.

“You’re better off just forgetting about me.” He finished.

Dmitri was silent for a minute. Riku thought he had given up until he felt the weight of Dmitri’s hand on his shoulder.

“I’m not going to leave my friend behind.” He said. His eyes sparked with light and hope and determination.

Riku? Can you hear me?

“That is the silliest disembodied voice I’ve ever heard.” Dmitri muttered to himself.

“Who are you?” Riku asked instead. “Where are you?”

You were right when you said you lost your body. But you recovered your Heart. Because of that, it became trapped on this side of the Darkness.

But this isn’t quite as bad as it sounds! Two Hearts were always needed to close the Door, on both sides.

Two Hearts, and Two Keyblades.

Maybe you were destined to come here, just like me.

The world was ending.

Every world was ending.

The Darkness grew. Yet Light still shined in Dani’s Heart. They could still fight.

Oh, this is going to get so metaphysical! Dani thought as she summoned her Keyblade.

The real fight began.

From the Darkness, Ansem conjured Heartless. Legions of Shadows, Soldiers, Large Bodies, and a bunch of other funny names she didn’t quite remember to protect him with, and a larger one that hovered around him. The smaller ones were sliced through by Goofy’s shield and Donald’s magic. Bits of earth of worlds that were formed around them, making a path Dani could run on. She dashed along the platforms, and whatever Heartless she didn’t slice through was taken care of by Hanna.

Katie and Nadine made quick work of the familiar Heartless. Dani’s Keyblade slashed through him.

Ansem shifted again. He grew, to the size of worlds themselves (though most worlds were still rather tiny). Darkness engulfed him, in crude caricatures of muscles and body structure. The still human figure stood on the body, nearly consumed by his structure.

“Gross.” Nadine said.

“Can we shapeshift with the powers of Darkness too?” Katie asked.

“Let’s figure that out later!” Dani said as comets were fired towards them.

She flew through the comets, through the Darkness, through everything Ansem had to throw at her. When she landed, she landed on the writhing mass of visceral. She wasn’t going to stay there for very long. She launched towards Ansem, Keyblade at the ready.

He was a better swordsman than her, probably due to having actual training. Yet he could not stop three Keyblades. Or four. Or more.

“You’re wrong.” Sora said. “I know now, without a doubt, Kingdom Hearts is light!”

And the world turned to Light.

Ansem could not stand the Light. He burned. His body, both real and constructed, his Heartless, his Heart. In an instant, there was nothing left.

Except a door.

There was ground underneath them now so Dani allowed herself to stop flying and drop. In that time, she saw what lied on the other side of the door.

Darkness. More Darkness then there was now. And if it stayed open any longer—

Nobody wasted any time. They rushed towards it, and pushed. Even with all of the power of their teamwork, the Doors were massive. Not even Hercules could have closed these easily.

“This thing’s gonna have to be locked from the inside!” Nadine shouted. “Any ideas?”

“If we can get it closed, I’ll let you in on something!” Dani shouted back.

“Don’t give up!”

That was Riku’s voice. Something moved on the other side of the door.

Something tugged on the door Dani was pushing, and she could catch just a fragment of brown hair.

“We’ll close it together!” Dim’s voice.

“Don’t worry! There will always be another door to the light! Now let’s close this one for good!”

Not a voice Dani recognized. But judging by Donald and Goofy’s expression, they did.

“Your Majesty!”

“That’s your King?” Dani tried to poke her head in what remained of the open doors, but thought better of it. She could see a small figure, silhouetted in the Darkness, and gold Keyblade.

The three tugged at the opposite end of the door, and the seven resumed their pushing.

“Take care of her.”

The doors latched.

Sora jumped away from the group to pull out his Keyblade. The tip ignited in light and magic. A clicking sound echoed through the void as the Keyhole was sealed, then another as the one on the other-side followed. The Door faded.

And then there was nothing.

The adrenaline faded rather quickly when Dani realized there was nothing but they were still there. She glanced around in search of a path or something they could follow.

“Oh hey Sora your girlfriend’s here.” Nadine said nonchalantly.

“What!”

That seemed to startle Sora more than anything that had happened. He ran to her, jumping across the bits of world that remained and were reforming themselves.

“Kairi!”

“Sora!”

The ocean of Destiny Islands formed around Kairi’s feet and the ground shook. Sora grabbed her arm before she could fall all the way down.

“Remember what you said to me! I’ll always be with you too!” Sora said.

The worlds were repairing themselves. Destiny Islands was whole again, yet that was not where Sora was going. Sora’s grip on her arm loosened down to her hand as the worlds drifted apart.

“I’ll come back to you! I promise!”

Fingers clasped onto fingers. Kairi’s feet dug into the ground, desperate to hold on.

“I know you will!”

They let go.

For a while, Dani watched the stars form in the sky. She watched life be replaced on the other worlds as they flew past her, palm trees spring into life and people resume their ordinary lives unimpeded by the end of all things. She watched as they drifted away from her, into the unknown.

She didn’t know what happened after that.

“So…where are we?”

“Who knows?” Donald grumbled. “Probably some backwater planet that won’t have a town for miles!”

That looked to be the case, although Sora probably would have phrased it differently. They had walked the path for some time, and Sora no longer realized if they had walked that path as soon as the worlds had been restored or if he just woke up there. He no longer knew what happened to the other members of his group.

“Where do you think Riku and the King are?” Sora asked.

“Well, they’re probably still on the other side of that door.” Goofy said.

“But what about Dani and the others?”

Nobody quite had an answer for him. He sighed.

“We’ll just have to keep looking, then.” He said.

“Where do you suppose we’ll find them?” Donald asked.

The road had changed from Darkness to the absence of anything to rock and earth to dirt and grass. Yet up until now, there wasn’t anything on it except for the three of them. Now, a yellow dog crossed the road.

“Pluto?” Donald asked.

“Hey, Pluto, where’ve you been?” Goofy asked.

The dog froze, and turned to them. Something had been put into his mouth, but Sora could’t quite make it out. It looked like an envelope, sealed with a figure of three circles. The same figure on the back of his Keyblade, and Dani and Hanna’s for that matter. And it kinda looked like the King’s head…

“That’s the King’s seal!” Donald exclaimed.

“Hey, have you seen King Mickey?” Sora asked.

Pluto turned and ran.

Sora started after him. “Guys, let’s go!”

They ran towards their next adventure.

Dani woke up, and had no idea where she was.

That was becoming very common, recently, and she wasn’t sure if she liked it.

Forest surrounded her. Damp earth, thick trees, cool grass, yet nothing that she could identify for sure. Actually, it really looked like—

She stopped as she realized the cutest thing she had ever seen in her life sat in front of her.  It looked like a fox, yet it was small enough to be a housecat. Its ear were nearly as big as it was, and from its head, a small horn protruded.

It dropped whatever was in its mouth, and Dani was surprised to hear it land to the ground with a thud. Hesitantly, she reached out for it. It vibrated in her hand. An icon told her she had one unread message.

CARBUNCLE: Hello? Can you read this?

CARBUNCLE: In front of you!

Dani’s gaze lowered to the fox.

CARBUNCLE: This is the land of your Dreams.

The story will continue in… Flights of Fantasy: An Original Character’s Story

Author’s Note: And we are done! This is it! If you have read all the way to the end, thank you so much. I am very proud of this project and I am so glad that it is out there now. Flights of Fantasy will start next summer around this time, but there will be more from the Original Character's Series in the meantime on here and on my blog.

Yes this is the end. Totally.