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embraceyourdestiny · 3 years

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Theory about Riku’s Darkness and His Ties to Terra

We all know Terra passed his keyblade onto Riku. But what if he didn’t pass on just his keyblade?

Riku is known for embracing the darkness, both falling to it and using it to fight for the light. The way his possession of darkness is talked about within the series is as if it’s inherent, like he has no choice in the matter and is darkness regardless of what he wants or wishes to be. They speak as if he was born with darkness, but what if he wasn’t?

Kingdom Hearts’ attitude towards darkness is confusing, vague, and complicated and is especially so in the case of Riku. Riku is hailed as a being with such powerful darkness, an undesirable “evil” within the world, that even at such a young age he was able to use it at will and control the heartless. Riku is seen as bad and wrong during this time because he uses darkness and ends up hurting people with it. But at the same time and later in the series, Riku is view as good because of how he can also control the darkness in a different way; by keeping it under wraps and using it to protect the light.

Riku, as is his identity as “the one who walks the road to dawn” is smack in the middle of light and darkness, but he is still a being of darkness. He is the only person we see who uses darkness for good and doesn’t let it control him. But, where does his darkness even come from?

Even more confusing than the the conflicting messages around the nature of darkness in Kingdom Hearts (is it good? is it bad? is it neutral? or maybe is it even something else entirely?) is the nature of light and darkness itself. We don’t know where light and darkness come from, how they work, why some people are light and some people are darkness, we know hardly anything about them at all. The nature of light and darkness is vague and shapeless in the Kingdom Hearts universe despite having so much importance. So, as a fun theory, what if similarly to how you can pass on a keyblade through a bequeathing ceremony, you can also pass on your nature, your light or darkness, to someone else, maybe even at the same time?

Children in Kingdom Hearts are told to be, for lack of a better word, True Lights. Their hearts are pure and bright and they are what helped rebuild the worlds after they fell to darkness and destruction. All children are pure and light, but if that’s the case, how does darkness even exist? How do adults possess darkness if they were light as children?

There are two possibilities: either the True Lights that rebuilt the worlds were not only made of light, or children can somehow be influenced by the darkness in possibly a variety of ways. It might honestly even be both.

Instead of children being “pure light,” I think it makes much more sense for them to be “neutral.” Children are innocent and free of evil, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are inherently light. The “middle ground” between darkness and light, night and morning, otherwise called “twilight” in the Kingdom Hearts universe, is a reoccurring and important theme in Kingdom Hearts and I think that the children who originally rebuilt the worlds were not in fact light, but neutral. Twilight. Or, there was a mix of children that were light, darkness, and somewhere in between.

It’s echoed both in Kingdom Hearts and in the real world that nothing can exist without balance. You cannot have too much light and you cannot have too much darkness. If this is the case, a law by nature, why are we led to believe the ones who “saved the worlds” didn’t have a single speckle of darkness in them? That directly conflicts with the logic of creation and would be otherwise impossible, there has to be darkness and light or whatever you try to create would belong to “unreality.” (Which is something going to be talked about in the future of KH but not here because it’s not necessary to this theory but it is still important background and something to be thought about when navigating the world of Kingdom Hearts and the real world.)

(Tangent: I also believe the reason we’re told it was “children who’s hearts were pure light” that saved the world is because it’s Kingdom Hearts own case of an ahistorical and incorrect telling of events. Kingdom Hearts resides in the Realm of Light and those of light have been in control for a long time, and they therefore have a biased perspective of things. You can see this clearly with Eraqus, a man who was supposedly wise and yet shunned the darkness, called it evil and wrong, and even inflicted this harmful message towards his own students, one of whom actively belonged to the darkness. I think the demonization of the darkness has caused so many problems within the worlds of Kingdom Hearts and this legend of the Worlds is just one example of a ripple effect that having this perspective of darkness has lead to. But this is way too deep and again unnecessary to this theory, just something to think about. Tangent/rant over lmao.)

Now, we go back to Riku. Riku as a child is shown as kind, considerate, brave, a good friend, and even morally upright. These are all told to us to be traits of someone who belongs to the light and are directly conflicting of the traits of what we see those who belong to darkness have; they’re evil, manipulative, dangerous, and they harm people and have little regard for others. Though I don’t agree that either of these lists of traits can only belong to light and darkness, that is how they are portrayed in Kingdom Hearts. So, if Riku’s darkness is inherent, why is he kind to Sora as a kid? Why does he say he’ll protect him, and why, if Riku is evil because he is inherently darknesses, does Riku want strength to protect others? If he is darkness he has no need for friends and shouldn’t want to protect anyone because why would he care about anyone else, right?

This is the attitude he is shown to have when he falls to darkness in KH1 and this is how most people who possess darkness are portrayed. Again, I don’t agree, but that’s how it is. Riku is, once again, the only character who is of darkness that is shown to be darkness and yet not be evil. (I say only because we haven’t see Terra post-Terranort using his darkness freely yet, but even if that does happen and he does embrace it, that is still an exception to the unfortunate rule Kingdom Hearts has created for the darkness.)

So, if Riku wasn’t born with darkness because he wasn’t evil as a kid, where did he get his darkness? Most people would probably say Ansem SOD, and some might even say he had “grown” his own darkness, similar to how Nobodies grew their own hearts, because of his increasingly undesirable life on Destiny Islands, and I have to say both are wrong. The latter option is definitely more correct, since Riku was only preyed on by ASOD because he already had darkness in him and was an easy target, but it’s missing some pieces to make it make sense because again, if children are pure light, how did Riku already have darkness in him/develop darkness as a child?

The most reasonable explanation is this; children are blank slates and they develop into whatever they are shown by those around them. Just like how real kids are a product of their environment, the children of Kingdom Hearts will possess the ability of whatever is shown or given to them by the world. For simplicity and since Kingdom Hearts is all about passing stuff on and less about observing and learning, we will only focus on the “given” aspect of this and disregard the “shown” part.

Riku, like all children, was neutral. He didn’t have overwhelming darkness or light in him, he was simply a kid and that’s it. He had to, at some point, stumble upon darkness or light in order to inherent one or the other, and in his case it was darkness that found him first.

Introduce Terra. Terra, a being of darkness, bequeathes his keyblade to Riku. He passes down his ability to wield the keyblade to Riku, and along with it, his darkness. Riku was still only a child and this event is shown to have significant impact on the rest of his life, so this has to be the first time he even comes into contact with anything so powerful and strong, whether it be darkness or light. Destiny Islands is an extremely relaxed and peaceful place, so though darkness and light both have to exist there, there are no threats or immense stresses that would require such large outputs of either light or darkness, unlike how meeting someone from a different world who has had those stressed would effect a child. (This is also why Sora, who was also neutral because he was a kid, ends up becoming a being of light. Like it’s said many times, Destiny Islands was boring, nothing exciting happened there, so similar to how Terra would’ve been the first time Riku ever encountered such strong darkness, Ventus was the first time Sora encountered such strong light, but back to Riku.)

Now, this doesn’t immediately make Riku “I’m gonna destroy Destiny Islands” Riku. No, that comes much latter, and with influence of someone else. Riku, after his run-in with Terra, and until he is 15 years old, is still just a regular kid, he just now has darkness in him when before he was neutral, which again, isn’t inherently bad. From Sora and Kairi’s accounts, Riku was just a regular kid until he just “changed” one day. He was still kind, he played with the other kids like he always did, after being given darkness Riku didn’t change at all because there was nothing to be changed, darkness isn’t bad so there’s no reason why suddenly Riku would be too.

Enter the other influence; Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness.

Ansem saw that Riku had darkness already in him and used it to his advantage. With proper love and care, even with having darkness in him, Riku would’ve blossomed into a wonderful person who just happened to be of darkness, but Ansem messed that up for him. Ansem, also having a strewed perception of darkness since the one he came from, Xehanort, was the same way, decided to weaken Riku. We don’t know exactly how Ansem influenced Riku but based on the insecurities Riku talks about throughout the series, being jealous of Sora, thinking “the world was too small,” (a quote directly from Xehanort himself, which Ansem he had to have said to Riku since they both say it and Riku ended up believing him and internalizing it), etc, we can tell it wasn’t any good. Ansem planted seeds of doubt in Riku’s mind and then played off the results he knew he would get; Riku pulling away from his friends and becoming bitter to a place he once called home.

So, you see, both Ansem and Terra played a hand in Riku’s darkness. Everyone acknowledges Ansem’s role and you can’t deny that Terra’s appearance affected Riku’s life down the line, but it did much more than make Riku desire strength to protect those that mattered, Terra was the one directly responsible for giving Riku darkness, and it’s very sad because neither of them had to be “evil” just because they had darkness in them. Terra and Riku were both kind, wonderful people before Xehanort interfered with their lives and that negative experience continued to perpetuate the wrong message about darkness, that it’s evil and something to expel or hide away, and that made Terra fear and hate the darkness and Riku half-way ignore a part of him that he cannot change, because even if he uses the darkness still now, he doesn’t embrace it. It is still something to be controlled and feared in both of their eyes because, “what if I hurt someone because of my darkness again?”

This was originally a theory/analysis on Riku but I can’t end this without bringing up the fact that the way darkness is portrayed in Kingdom Hearts, and almost all media honestly, is wrong. The darkness is not bad, it is a requirement to life. Yes, you can do bad things with the darkness, but the same can be said about light. Eraqus harmed three of his students and who knows who else in “the name of light,” and Sora is constantly put at odds because of his “duty” to the light, to the point of being thrown into a war as a child and not only losing all of his friends but even his own life because it’s what he was “supposed to do” as a Guardian of Light.

Neither darkness or light are good or bad, they simply are. What one does with them is what is good or bad, but darkness and light themselves are not evil or right. I hope Kingdom Hearts pushes this message more because there are inklings of it there, Riku if his character developed more, Roxas and Xion’s identity crisis in Days, and honestly the concept of Nobodies as a whole. It’s a message that deserves to see fruition and I hope it does because it would add so much to Kingdom Hearts as a whole if it did.

But to wrap this up, my theory is Riku was originally neutral, Terra bequeathed him both his keyblade and darkness, and, though not a theory, darkness and light are not good or evil, they are meant to coexist together, and hopefully one day we will see that happen in Kingdom Hearts, with Riku possibly and even preferably leading the movement himself.

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perfectharmonyloveschaos · 4 years

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Sora Is the Master of Masters All Evidence

Part 1:

Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Backcover is the first instance that we meet the Master of Masters ourselves without anyone else’s perspective of events and see him as an individual character. From the get-go, the Master of Masters (or MoM as I will be addressing him throughout this theory for simplicity sake) is immediately addressed with heavy respect from his title alone. But, Chirithy also makes sure to mention his “mischievous” nature that we see a lot of throughout all of his appearances from here on. Due to the Master of Masters only being included and planned from Backcover onwards, it definitely seems more than coincidental that all of his similarities to Sora take place in the games technically made after Backcover which I will discuss; Backcover itself, KHX and KHUX, 0.2, KH3 and ReMind.

Both Sora and MoM are introduced as joker, light-hearted characters who use humour to lighten dark situations and comfort people. They hold themselves lightly and make fun of themselves to make others laugh or to lighten the dark of a situation. Sora did this when he comforted Riku by pulling a funny face (“how am I going to face everyone?!”/“like this?”) in KH2 while MoM pretended to question if Invi cared about him when she was overthinking things and getting worried about the events to come (“do you… want me to go?!”)

Both characters share several of the same gestures and body movements, with Sora copying a lot of MoM’s gestures especially in KH3 and ReMind. Both hold their arms behind their heads, tilt their heads or even bodies sideways playfully and poke things to name a few shows off their playful, animated gestures. Both use their right hands when using the Keyblade with Sora holding his in his right hand and MoM summons No Name with his right hand to give it to Luxu.

Along with these personality and movement similarities, we also have the infamous Gazing Eye' glitch found in KH ReMind that 'definitely calls this theory into question. Why does a glitch like this only happen with Young Xehanort, whom we know MoM interacted and met with? Why does it only happen when Young Xehanort uses his time alteration powers if this was simply a glitch in the texture of Sora and the Gazing Eye's eye? Would that not mean that this could be triggered at any other time? And why is it so cleanly done if not to be intentional? This 'glitch' appears perfectly on Sora's eye and doesn't affect any other texture on Sora. If Sora was in fact MoM, would it not make sense for his possibly clairvoyant/prediction abilities to be affected by Young Xehanort affecting time? This would be too difficult go be a simple visual glitch or error of the engine given how the texture of the Gazing Eye appears in both of Sora's eyes perfectly, as well as appearing bloodshot since there would be no reason for Sora's eyes to use the bloodshot texture AND the Gazing eye texture together.

Speaking of Sora’s eyes, this also brings me back to the pre-KH3 release conspiracy theory about Sora’s eye colour changing to green throughout the trailers which people passed off as being the reflections of the environment. This happened several times throughout the game and seemingly meant nothing, but when you consider who Sora was interacting his eye colour changed, him possibly being the MoM explains this. The first time we see this is in Mount Olympus, when Sora meets with Xigbar for the first time since DDD and we see Sora’s eyes have strong green tint compared to Hercules, who also has bright blue eyes that don’t seem to be affected by the lighting. Maybe only the KH original models are affected for some reason? Xigbar’s eyes are also not affected, while yellow, which would definitely show given how intense Sora’s are. Xigbar, is Luxu, so one could assume that anyone connected to MoM would make Sora’s eyes react, yes? Again, we see Sora’s eye go green with others as well. In Kingdom Of Corona, Sora’s eyes are once again green and while it it way greener here than Olympus, Marluxia’s—or Lauriam, who MoM choose as a Dandelion leader and survivor of the war—eyes once again are not affected, nor are any other characters’ like Rapunzel, Flynn, or Mother Gothel. Only Sora. We see this again with Ven when Vanitas is going to kill Aqua in the land of Departure and Sora wakes Ventus up from inside him, Sora’s eyes go green while no one else’s, including Ven and Aqua both of whom have blue eyes, have their eyes affected. And the final past character that is directly tied to the MoM through the dandelions and Sora whose presence affects Sora’s eyes is Ephemer in the Keyblade Graveyard. Ephemer has no reason to come to Sora here, compared to Ventus who he knew in canon and had every reason to help but let die in the previous ending, given that they do not know one another beyond Ventus. And as the camera zooms into Sora, Sora’s eyes gain a slight green tint to his eyes before the centre of his eyes change to a light, greenish blue that is very similar to another Name’s Gazing eye and focuses on his eye not only here, but once Sora snaps back to reality and focuses on the reflection of all the dead keyblades helping them. Here, Sora’s eyes are green again the exact same way that his eyes were green interacting with Xigbar/Luxu and Marluxia/Lauriam, both of whom were tied to the MoM. The green tint and highlight of the colour around his iris is identical to that of the Gazing Eye in No Name, with the environments and how others reacting to them in each of these worlds showing that these events and only these affect solely Sora’s eyes, proving that this is not just a simple light reflection but something done intentionally to Sora’s eyes.

Beyond physical and personality similarities, both Sora and MoM share another quality with only one other individual in the entirety of the KH cast; they are the only ones aside from Xehanort to have held and been the apparent wielder of the X-Blade. While we never see him with it, Nomura confirmed that MoM had had the X-Blade at one point and studied it to create the Keyblade that everyone in KHX used. He used the X-Blade as an example and managed to figure out, through studying it, how to extract the light/power from people’s hearts and shaped their Keyblades which he then trained the Foretellers with. As well as the X-Blade, MoM also had a sort of authority over Kingdom Hearts as well as Ira mentioned that he had given them Keyblades to protect Kingdom Hearts and Ava tried to warn Gula away from summoning Kingdom Hearts since MoM had said it was “forbidden”. Gula decided to try and summon Kingdom Hearts in order to force the MoM to return to set them straight, showing that he held a sense of cautious as well towards it and decided to not use it and lock it away instead. Given that the MoM’s word was seen as gospel, this was more than likely a serious warning and order. And what do we see by the end of Kingdom Hearts 3? Sora, earning the X-Blade and telling Xehanort that using it is wrong and that no one should use its power to change destiny, before closing it to keep the worlds safe. Both characters—with only Xehanort as the other wielder of the X-Blade and exception of this mindset—had this power and chose to not use it but instead locked it away from using it for their own gains.

Both of these characters also shared the same philosophy of destiny despite the power they hold; Sora, who has challenged and even changed his friends’ doomed fates claims that a true leader knows that destiny “beyond his control” and “accepts that”, something that makes no sense with how much he has changed his own destiny and the events written in the Book Of Prophecy. However, the Master of Masters shares these ideals and believes not in changing what is meant to happen, but rather in preparing for what happens after that in order to secure the best aftermath. Why would Sora believe in this given his past, if not to draw similarities between himself and MoM?

The Book Of Prophecies, as depicted in Backcover, also shares connections to what we assume to be the timeline of events surrounding not the the events of Backcover and the Keyblade war, but rather the events of the entire game series timeline. We see MoM looking at the Book of Prophecies through the Cases of the different Foretellers and Luxu, as well as Ira later on in the movie which we can use to create a basic ‘timeline’ of events based on imagery depicted.

We see the MoM look through throughout Backcover, with the ‘Case of Gula’ showing what seems to be the earliest part of the book we see with an illustration of a darkside heartless and a keyblade which would either be the Kingdom Key or Kingdom Key D, placing the beginning of the book at the first Kingdom Hearts game. The reason I think this takes place during KH1 rather than 0.2 is the Sora’s crown emblem being on the page previous to a Darkside heartless, seeming to signify Sora and then his first battle against the darkness either on his Station of Awakening or Destiny Islands, as well as these pages appearing to be nearing the middle of the book which would make sense given that Sora only entered the canon timeline after the whole Fairytale Saga, BBS and 0.2 took place. Then, we see the next page with an image of a shadow heartless, both which Sora fights on Destiny Islands after getting the keyblade and then in Traverse Town where he learns about the darkness or could simply represent all heartless as the most recognisable heartless. The page after this shows another Keyblade which looks like the Kingdom Key again, while the next page is the infamous ‘traitor’ that the MoM rips out and gives to Gula and the page after holding another illustration of Sora’s crown emblem. Given the pacing of events based on the concept of this book depicting the events of Sora’s experiences in KH1, the page detailing the ‘traitor’ may in fact be talking about Riku and his betrayal of Sora by accepting Maleficent's help. The MoM’s wording seems to support this, by telling Gula to “find the traitor hidden among you and stop them before it’s too late”, through Sora eventually learning of Riku’s fall to darkness and possession by Ansem before stopping Riku-Ansem and saving the worlds.

This causes us to question exactly how would the MoM know of Sora's first adventure given that his eye, at this point, hasn't even seen Sora yet? The only logical answer? Because he lived it.

During the ‘Case of Aced’; when Aced, who acts a lot like Sora in KH1, is angry at Ira being chosen to be the new leader and was constantly in Ira's shadow, much like how Sora was undermined by Riku who was seen as the better of the two and originally chosen first by the keyblade. These corresponding at the same time suggests a connection to KH1, Sora, and Aced. Even their whole discussion over why Aced shouldn't be leader seems to, much like his discussion with Invi over keeping up "otherwise you'll be left behind, all alone" seems to cause an unconscious reaction from the MoM. "I know you want it, but that just isn't enough. Any chump can say, 'You! Here's a huge promotion. Good job!' and make you head honcho, but enthusiasm alone doesn't make a great leader." The way this is worded, especially with "great" and not just "good" suggests he has a basis for it, similar to how Sora saw Riku as being better than him. His following line "Ira needs someone like you to give him a push in the right direction" is spoken with anger or bitterness, as if the MoM understood Aced's annoyance at being considered second and feeling similarly in the past, as if he had to act supportive and push someone who was considered better than him in the 'right direction' before. But, his "you need to support Ira'' line is spoken sternly, acting as though he knows from experience that someone like Ira would need the more emotional support of someone like Aced, who uses his heart to decide things rather than "always just thinking and thinking and thinking behind that Unicorn mask of his" as Ira does. Everything said in this scene definitely parallels Sora and his emotions in the first KH game up until Sora decided that his friends were his power and that he didn’t need the keyblade to be strong, something that the MoM understands and acts sympathetic towards Aced about while trying to push him towards the same idea; "you might not be entirely happy with your role, but just know that it's the most important one." There is also a sense of symbolism in this scene with the MoM using his hand to cover the Kingdom Key when telling Aced that he will be Ira’s right hand man, possibly paralleling back to Sora’s own sense of being overshadowed by Riku.

Other connections these two share include the emphasis of their bond with Dream eaters and the Wreck-It Ralph summon from KH3. Both of these two characters show a stronger connection to Dream Eaters than any other characters, with MoM being the ‘creator’ of the Chirithy dream eaters which hold a deep connection to their owners’ hearts and are affected by their owners’ state given that these dreams eaters, like when Sora fell into darkness, fall into darkness with their masters and become nightmares. And what is Sora’s nightmare in DDD? A figure in a dark coat with purple and pink colours and a dark dream eater symbol on their back, much like the MoM and his black coat and the Chirithy nightmare we see in Backcover and KHUX.

#kingdom hearts #KH #kingdom hearts theory #kingdom hearts 3 spoilers #kingdom hearts 3 #master of masters #KH sora #kingdom hearts sora #kh master of masters #MoM!Sora #mom!sora #sora is the master of masters theory

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mimiplaysgames · 3 years

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Terra Week Day 7 (Bonds/Fave Scene)

Summary: Terra lets his friends love him. | Word Count: 3,462

Read on AO3

A/N: For Terra Week 2021! You can find that account on Twitter!

~*~*~*~*~

At the end of the day, your chains weigh a burden. Share them. At the end of the night, your Bonds make you free. Mend them.

The stars wink sometimes, if you stare at them long enough.

Terra’s been lying on his back at the roof of the residential tower, where the slats are at a gentle slope so he’s not doomed to fall off. A small, square window behind him gives him easy access; he and Aqua used to waste many nights at this spot for years. Here, they can watch the sun rise behind the mountains, so they get the best of night and day.

The sound of the window slipping open means she’s here—he just wasn’t expecting the plop of an open book landing in his face.

“Look what I found,” she says, and he pulls darkness out of his eyes to see detailed drawings of a fox with a bow and arrow, talking to a large bear who is spying from behind a bush. Robin Hood and his sidekick, Little John. They used to role play as these characters when they were children for hours. Aqua lies down on the space next to him, careful not to slide too close to the edge.

“Thanks, I was looking for this earlier.”

“It was in the potions section. Do you remember putting it there?” He doesn’t, and she shrugs and rolls over to her side. “I forgot there was a part where he dressed up as a blind beggar to sneak into the prison.”

Terra flips pages. Many of them have multiple bends, bookmarks to areas of the story that the two of them enjoyed to play with. That is one of his favorite scenes, Robin Hood dressing in a long cloak and dark sunglasses to hide the fact that he is a fox (despite that it’s still obvious), shaking a beer jug for coins. Those goons he fooled are so dumb.

“It’s still kind of funny after all these years.”

“You would do something like that.” She hides her smile behind her fingers. “Dress up to trick the enemy so you could sneak in and save the hungry.”

“You’re making fun of me.”

She slaps his bicep. “I am not.”

It’s the greatest compliment he could receive but it’s also the greatest cringe. He’s always wanted to be compared to his hero... yet it’s still something he can’t quite believe, like there’s a twist to the joke, even though Aqua would never. She’d speak from the heart.

“Dress like this with me”—he shows a drawing of Robin Hood and Little John in their signature thief green tunics and hats—“and I’ll believe you.”

She rolls her eyes. “They don’t have any pants on.”

“That’s the point. We’d be wild.” Terra hides a smirk behind his finger.

“Only if you pay me a thousand munny.”

“... You know, that’s not going to be hard to collect.”

“A bold claim.”

“Okay, but if I end up collecting it all—”

“You’re seeing nothing.”

He laughs and she joins him, warm and painful in the stomach, something that hasn’t happened so sincerely since they have come back. Nights so far have been tight and insecure, as though laughing would expose them to an enemy hiding around the corner.

Out here, graced with the breath of fresh air, they’re safe under the guidance of the stars. It feels like a young night when their dreams for the future come uninhibited.

“I talked to Yen Sid,” she says once she’s able to slow down.

“And?” Terra swallows air down the wrong pipe and coughs.

She wipes a tear from her cheek. “I convinced him to change the standards of your Mark of Mastery.” Picking herself up by the elbows, she sighs. “Though I still think it’s unnecessary, if you want my opinion.”

Terra doesn’t agree, flipping towards the end of the book where Robin Hood and his love are sent off by a carriage, free from persecution. “What are the new terms?”

“Everyone is splitting up to look for Sora and… I proposed searching for him in the Realm of Darkness.”

Terra rolls to his side, dropping the book, all joy that stayed with them minutes before now drained away. He speaks softly. “You want to go through that again?”

She purses her lips. “I don’t want to, but if it helps with finding Sora, then what other choice do I have?”

Terra hums. “I understand. It’s just… you’ve been through so much already, Aqua.”

“It’s crazy it’s been twelve years,” she mutters before perking up and pretending it’s not a heavy subject. “If you survive the Realm of Darkness, then Yen Sid will name you Master.”

Terra sputters. “Are you serious?”

She giggles. “Partially, but that did come out of my mouth in the meeting. Ven would want to come with us of course, but Yen Sid is most concerned about your affinity to Darkness… which isn’t fair.” She brings her knees to her chin. “We all carry Darkness, and you have already shown, twice now, that you are able to face yours and defeat it. So, I suggested you come with me and face the Master of Darkness yourself.”

“What do they look like?”

“Whatever you think it looks like.” She shrugs. “Yourself.”

Terra doesn’t know what to say. He traces the ridges of the slats in front of him. The Realm of Darkness is a different plane of existence entirely, one where the rules of Light don’t apply, where logic makes no sense and there’s only the constant pressure of regret and succumbing, based on what he’s read from the books. From what he’s heard from her, Darkness is the never-ending fight of giving yourself reasons to keep waking up the next day—when there’s no reason to.

“Twelve years,” he muses. “I couldn’t have survived if that were me.”

Aqua sombers, watching the horizon for the outlines of mountains that you can only see in the night if you squint. “It’s not so different from what you have told me.” She looks at him. “About Nowhere and not knowing when it would end. If it would ever.”

Terra rolls back to look up at the stars. Darkness gives them room to shine. “So all I have to do is survive while we search for Sora?”

“When you say it like that,” she says with a mock-wave. “You know, twelve years isn’t that long. How about we make it twelve days? Survive twelve days and you’re Master. That sounds fair.”

He does a double-take. “That’s not funny. What’s wrong with you?”

“I’m taking a page out of your book and making inappropriate jokes.”

He groans. “This is why you’re not funny.”

“I am, you just won’t admit it.”

He shakes his head, but he can admit it brings a smirk to his face.

The window slips open again with a thud, Ven’s golden head of hair sticking out but not joining them. “You two are the most predictable ever. It was easy to find you.”

“You’re predictable for looking for us,” Terra reminds him.

“Did you find the thing?” Aqua asks, her head leaning back to address him.

“We did.”

That’s right. We. They accepted another member to the family the day of the Master’s memorial, when a talking cat-thing appeared out of nowhere and crashed the end of the eulogy. Terra and Aqua haven’t found a trace of its breed in any of the books in the library (five floors of it). They call it Cheers (because “Chirithy” is a ridiculous name; how in any star can anyone pronounce such a thing?), and every time they ask it questions about its past and how it knows Ven, it responds with more vague questions. Otherwise, it doesn’t offer much opinion. Much like that stupid book, Affairs of the Heart.

But Ven inexplicably has a bond to it, and they are simply going to have to trust his heart.

“What thing are we talking about?” Terra asks.

“Can’t tell you,” Ven quips. “Sworn to secrecy.”

“To who?”

“Come with us, Terra.” Aqua stands up, brushing dust off of her drapes and bending to squeeze through the window.

Just when he was getting comfortable.

Lanterns light the way. Aqua likes to be in charge of how bright they get, and tonight they shine for a feast, bright with a cheery kick, glistening the golden halls of the castle as though it’s sitting in daylight. She marches to the entrance hall where they held their Mark of Mastery years ago. Cheers is already here with two books and a bouquet of flowers on one throne and more knick-knacks on another that Terra doesn’t have a reference for.

“What’s this about?”

“An honorary title ritual.” Ven cranes back into his own arms, proud of himself. “We found a couple of books on how they did it in the Age of Fairytales. A lot of it we can’t translate, but it’s pretty cool.”

“A title ritual?” Terra asks Aqua, who is stroking the middle throne where the Master used to sit, eyes closed in prayer.

“An honorary one.” She brings her hands to her heart. “I believe the Master really wanted to name you Master. And I agree. Riku does, too. I know you want to prove yourself and do it traditionally, but we wanted to do a little something special for you. A title that only we know of so you can keep it to yourself and no one else has to find out.” She steps down. “Until you want them to.”

“Aqua…”

“This is my thanks for what you’ve given me.” She summons Rainfell, and it springs in her hand among glowing petals and a swirl of waves, a second quicker to respond than the aged and wise Defender. She’s whole.

“It looks like so much fun, too,” Ven says with puppy-dog eyes.

“You deserve it,” Aqua says.

“Pfft,” goes Cheers.

“We’re supposed to be equals,” Aqua continues, twirling her Keyblade like it’s as natural as wiggling her fingers. “The Master said so that day.”

“Just say yes.” Ven nudges his elbow. “Roxas already calls you Master.”

Terra coughs on a snort. “Does he?”

“He calls all of us Master for some reason.”

“Maybe it’s because he thinks you’re all old,” Cheers mutters but Ven continues—

“When I tell him there has to be official recognition and an exam, he just shrugs.” He raises his shoulders too high to his ears for a good imitation. “He says, What difference does a dumb test make?” Ven is trying to act voguish, but it makes him look dorky instead. “Master Ventus sounds pret-ty cool if I say so myself.”

“Ahem,” Cheers announces, broadening its arms to command attention. All it needs is a conductor’s baton. “Shall we begin?”

“Do it with us?” Aqua pouts and raises her eyebrows, joining Ven in the ridiculous charade of coaxing Terra into playing along.

Terra huffs. “Okay.”

Both of their faces beam, Aqua throwing a sheepish high-five to Ven’s enthusiastic holler, giggling like they’ve won a game. It’s touching.

“I’ll need your Keyblade,” Aqua says, handing over Rainfell. “Trade?”

“Huh?”

“Standing Masters must accept the Blade of the candidate. To bless it,” Cheers says like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“If you say so,” Terra says, straining a chuckle from pouring out in case Cheers gives him a death glare. He summons Earthshaker and lends it to Aqua by the hilt. Rainfell is as light as a feather, as it has always been—he held it when she first called it at the age of thirteen, surprised by the paper-lightness of its weight, wondering How in the stars do you expect to hit anything with this? when he’ll learn the truth later that she hits just as hard as he does.

It doesn’t feel arrogant and big like a Master’s Keyblade. It just feels like Aqua’s, the longest friend he’s ever had.

“Terra. How on earth—?” Aqua grunts and pulls. Earthshaker screeches across the floor, and she takes breaks before inhaling and dragging it more. “So impractical.” She cries a sigh of relief when she reaches the throne.

“Now the masks, in accordance with tradition,” says Cheers, peeking into one of the books.

“Oh.” Ven hurries over to the other throne, grabbing thin, plastic masks Terra’s seen in amusement parks, with the rubber strings that cut into your circulation. “Masks apparently were really fancy in the old days.”

“Yes,” Cheers says. “Made of porcelain and leather. Very tasteful.”

“This is what we got.” Ven showcases three tacky half-face masks of a pig, a bee, and a frog like a deck of cards. “Which one do you want to be?”

Cheers wrinkles its snout in disgust.

“The pig is kind of cute,” Terra says. It’s bright pink, with holes cut out in the eye sockets and a tout nose. The string squeezes him around the temples, so he hopes the ceremony will be quick.

“You be the frog, Aqua.” Ven hands over her mask and dons the bee, complete with springy pom-poms for the antennae.

“Don’t forget the robes,” Aqua says as she slips the frog on, lumpy and shiny, bracing herself so that Earthshaker leans on her hip.

Ven comes back with three of the Master’s hand-me-downs. They smell like dust from a damp dresser. The one given to Terra is too short, and the one Ven is wearing drags on the floor. Aqua’s hangs off the shoulder (We’re going to need to hire a seamstress, she mutters).

“Now we shall truly start,” Cheers says.

“Why does Cheers get to lead this?” Terra asks.

“Because Aqua is the one to honor you and Ven is the witness,” Cheers says. Duh. “Master Aqua, you understand what you must do.”

Aqua holds Earthshaker by the hilt like one of those knights in the attic, its point at the floor. It’s bigger than Rainfell, reaching up to her chest. She gestures for one of the books and Cheers is too eager to turn to the right page and hand it over.

“That book?” Terra rolls his eyes, remembering that no one else can see.

“Yep.” She brings Affairs of the Heart closer to her face, frowning before checking her attitude and reciting:

Thus a wield'r and a cousin, so longeth as thy heart stayeth true, and thy duty vows to who, a mast'r to the endeth, so longeth as thee behold not backeth.

She sniffs and double checks the passage, her chin wrinkling.

“That’s it?” Ven asks. “What the stars does that even mean?”

“You shall also honor your bonds,” Aqua says, whipping her nose out of the book.

“You’re improvising,” Terra says.

“And never scare me again.”

“Mmm—”

She slams the book on his head with enough pressure to make him nod. “Say yes.”

“Yes, Master.”

She chuckles.

“Now we shower the room with flowers,” Cheers says.

Ven gathers up the flowers he plucked—a mix of withering vanity plants, such as tulips, and weeds, such as dandelions late into their development, where they spit white fuzz.

“That’s all you have?” Aqua says.

“It’s late into the season,” Ven says, defensive. “And you didn’t want to wait too long for me to get more.”

He throws them and they droop down to the ground, crinkling on the floor in an unceremonious finish and lack of climax. Terra brushes two petals off of his shoulder.

Cheers stares in contempt. “Well… it is done.”

“Now I call you,” Aqua says, licking her lips as they tremble, and she stops to cup her cheek and compose herself. “Master Terra.”

Master Terra.

He doesn’t know how to feel when she leans his Keyblade toward him. Earthshaker feels the same–not more powerful, not more wise, but a friend patting his back. But what for?

“Has a nice ring to it,” Ven says. “Master Terra.”

“How do you feel?” Aqua says, slipping fingers under her mask to wipe her eyes.

“I don’t know, I guess I expected to feel… something that justifies it all. But I’m still me.”

“Isn’t ‘me’ the person who spent all these years studying for Mastery?”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t make sense in my head.”

“I felt the same way,” Aqua says quietly. Cheers is closing books and picking up dry flower petals, urging Ven to help. “Without you by my side, it just felt… a little empty and confusing.”

“I never congratulated you.”

“I’ll do it first. Congratulations.” She smirks, her cheek wet under the frog mask.

Terra pulls off his mask—ignoring Cheers when it squeaks, Excuse me, but that must stay on for the rest of the night out of respect for your appearance—and studies her. “What’s that look for?”

Aqua pulls hers off as well, her eyes red but soft and happy. “I want to see Yen Sid’s face when he names you Master and I get to tell him that I already did.”

He snorts. “What if he objects?”

“What if he’s too stuck up in past grievances and can’t appreciate you for who you are or what you’ve accomplished?” Cradling Rainfell in the grip of her hand, she nods to herself. “Who gives him a say? I spent twelve years in the Realm of Darkness. Not him. There were some things the Master was wrong about. Do you know why that is?”

Terra wants to say it’s because the Master was afraid, but he won’t speak over her. “Why?”

She looks away at a wall, blinking too much. “I’ll never use it again. It makes me feel like I’m not thinking straight, that I’m too close in making a fatal mistake I can’t take back. But I can’t help but feel there’s a purpose for it. Darkness exists not to put us astray on our path but to help us understand ourselves and our needs better.” When she speaks with this much conviction, Aqua seems the tallest in the group. “Within us, it needs comfort as much as the Light needs faith.”

“That’s what makes the heart strong enough to protect what matters.”

Aqua smiles. “That’s why.” When he’s about to object, she places a hand on his shoulder. “The Master is no longer with us. If you continue like this, who’s to say you’ll be okay with Yen Sid accepting you as well?”

She’s right. “I just think I need to do more to atone.”

“Atone?”

“I faced the Darkness, and maybe I’ve won. Sure.” Terra shrugs, and the change in tone catches Ven attention, who ignores his immediate chores to come close and remove his mask. “But I’m still missing the same Light you have, Aqua. The one that made you, Master, as you deserve. Mine is not that strong.”

Ven sighs.

Aqua opens her mouth to say something but stops herself, searching his eyes with a gentle mix of love and skepticism. “There’s something I never told you.” She rubs her palms together. “In the Dark Realm, I… there were many moments where I wanted to give up.

“I saw you once, a bright light standing in front of me. You talked to me. You protected me from Xehanort, and you told me to never give up.” She breaks, swiping her eyes and sniffling loudly, willing her body to breathe normally.

Terra stares at her. “I thought I made that up.”

“No,” she says, smiling and shaking. “You never stopped lighting me back, either.”

Ven holds her hand, silently crying with her. He looks up at Terra, as he’s done for years, worshipping the ground Terra walks in, thinking he is a prime example of what a Keybearer should be. They did this because they believe in him.

“Thanks for doing this for us,” Ven says quietly, and Aqua nods in agreement. And Terra takes them in his arms, Aqua under his right and Ven under his left, letting them sink their faces into his chest and wraps their arms around his waist.

“Thank you for always being there.” Terra doesn’t know what else to say that would measure what they mean to him. Forgiveness is not a real friend, and they don’t have reasons to give it to him, but he hugs them close without going too tight, his tears falling on their crowns.

“We still have things to clean up,” Cheers mutters.

“Come here.” Ven opens an arm to which Cheers happily accepts, nuzzling its nose into Ven’s neck. It’s only cheerful with him. Terra is most cheerful with all of them. A broken home renovated, a hearth revived, a clear sunrise over the mountains.

Those who know him as Master Terra hold onto him dearly, under a night sky that waits behind stained glass in a moment they keep to themselves, where the future is irrelevant and the past goes to sleep.

#terra #kh terra #kingdom hearts fanfiction #kh fanfic #aqua #ventus #AHHHH it's finally done OMG #i'm so burnt out and tired hahaha #my fic

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kessielrg · 3 years

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[DA+KH] Let Down Your Guard for Me (Just This Once)

Summary: An unofficial part of @chibi-mushroom‘s Dragon Age AU for the Kingdom Hearts series, in which Ventus invites Sabrina somewhere special for one-on-one sparring practice. Inspired by something that happened in chapter 36 of Dragon Age: Wayfinder.

Rating: K+ (because DesireDemon!Vanitas is a very angry critic)

Word count: 3,862 words

If you liked this story, please reblog!

---

The conspicuous sounds of Ventus grunting is what initially caught Sabrina’s attention. How she was able to hear it when he ended up being on the other end of Redcliffe Castle was beyond her. She was quite disappointed to find that he was in the training room. Training sword in hand, he was giving some potshots at a straw filled dummy. The bard, curious to see how long it would take for him to notice her, simply laid against the entryway in amusement.

He didn't take as long to notice her as she first assumed, however. His reaction at her being there was just as great in the meantime. Ven had caught her out of the corner of his eye. At first, he just as easily dismissed the intruder, since they were just staying at the door. It was when he noticed the light purple cotton blouse that he ceased his movements. He had turned completely around before finding himself shocked at Sabrina's presence.

“Sabri-” Ven exclaimed, his voice reaching a pitch so high that his voice cracked. He quickly covered it with a cough before trying again. “Sabrina. What are you doing here?”

“In the castle or in the room?” she replied with a wicked grin. “Because that first one shouldn't be a surprise. I sleep with you.”

The young man let out a nervous chuckle as he rubbed the back of his neck. Beads of sweat reminded him of just how hard he had made himself work. Did he look like he had given himself an intense workout? Oh Maker, how much did he stink? Would Sabrina even notice? She didn't seem to act like it was noticeable at the moment. Instead, the bard casually strode into the room and almost to his side. His face started to heat up the closer she was. Whether it was from embarrassment or being flustered was a little beyond him at the moment.

“Let me see your sword.” she requested, holding her hand out to him. Admittedly, Ven had to do a double take. His confusion immediately made her groan in disgust. She amended her previous statement with an annoyed, “The sword in your hand, you moron. The training sword.”

“Oh!” Ven realized -just as easily feeling dumb for his initial thought- before giving the sword to her.

Sabrina gave one last judgmental raise of her eyebrow being looking over the training sword more carefully. She held the wooden sword with both hands, occasionally taking a few test swings out of amusement. Ven simply watched as she let out a small hum of interest. In a thoughtful tone, she mused, “You've always held your swords in reverse.”

Confused, Ven asked, “What makes you say that?”

Sabrina moved closer to him again, holding the sword up so they could better examine its craftsmanship.

“Your practice sword has a special guard.” she informed him. She even bothered to run a finger along said guard to help him see it. “It's better designed to block incoming blows.”

After saying this, she picked up Ven's hand so he could take the sword back. Although the sword was back into Ven's possession, the two did not step away from each other. The air had become a bit heavier as they lingered there. Ven, for one, wanted to say something but didn't know what. Why was carrying on a conversation so hard? He never had this problem when he and Terra would seek trouble together. All they had to do was mention sparring each other, and they'd grab the training swords to head out to...

“I want to take you somewhere.” the young man blurted.

Sabrina looked at him. Her fingers instinctively going for her rabbit shaped mask- even present when she wasn't wearing it on her face, it clipped to a string that she tied around her waist. Ven immediately stopped her by placing his hand on hers. The bard flinched slightly at the unexpected touch, but didn't move him. Instead, she looked up at him with a certain darkness in her eyes.

Ven unintentionally gulped before quickly telling her, “You won't need your mask where we're going. Promise.”

She raised an eyebrow at him, but in seeing his honesty, she relented.

“Fine.” she agreed. “But at least let me put it in my room.”

Ven quickly gave her an eager nod. “Meet me at the back gates.”

“The back gates?” she repeated. “I… Whatever. Fine. I’ll meet you at the back gates in 10 minutes.”

“You won't regret it, I promise!” Ven eagerly told her, almost taking her hand. He was impressed by his own refrain, actually.

Sabrina still looked him over- as if she still needed some reason to bail out of the situation. They both knew she couldn't find a good excuse for this, though. When she finally turned to go put her mask away, Ven's heart was already pounding in his chest. Even if they were just going to get sweaty all over again, ten minutes was enough time to take a quick bath. Right?

. . .

It was always suspicious when Vanitas was silent for long periods of time. Even more so when Ventus's heart fluttered at the thought of Sabrina's presence. Today the desire demon was quiet- not that Ven was going to ruin that quiet. He needed all of his thoughts to belong to himself. Taking Sabrina to this spot was as important as remembering which spoon to use during a formal dinner. Maybe the demon knew this was important, so he was minding his own business for once? Didn't seem right, but Ven wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

“Where are we even going?” Sabrina asked. She had arrived at exactly the ten minute mark. Of course she would.

“Do you trust me?” Ven just as easily questioned, offering his hand out to her. He was answered with a skeptic raise of her eyebrow.

“For now.” she replied as she took his hand. The young man held her hand tight as he started to lead them away from the castle.

Ven held a brisk pace as he lead them around the town and to a wooded area. The sounds of the town disappeared the further they went, and eventually the sounds of gentle waves hitting the shore became more prominent. Ven let go of Sabrina's hand when the woods finally dispersed to a small beach facing Lake Calenhad. A small chill coming off the lake sent goosebumps up Ven's skin. He turned back to Sabrina to take careful notice of her expression. She didn't look very impressed- her eyes drifting to the sand, taking note that it was clear of driftwood.

“Terra and I used to come here when we were younger.” Ventus then explained. He moved closer to where the sand met the lake water just to subtly guide Sabrina out of the woods some more. “He found it one day after getting mad at Dad. After awhile, it became a place where we would spar each other for fun. I was… I was wondering if we could spar too...”

“Did you bring another practice sword, then?”

It was the bluntness of her question that caught Ven off guard. “H-huh?” he fumbled, looking back at her with an almost fearful expression.

“Figures.” she grumbled with a roll of her eyes. Placing a hand on her hip, Sabrina looked over the area before tilting her head at something. Ven wasn't quite paying attention. He was absently rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

“Really didn't think that through, huh?” he mused to himself. “We should head back.”

“No,” Sabrina then all but snapped at him. “Just give me a minute.”

At this, Ven looked up. Sabrina had already ventured by the trees bordering the area, apparently looking for something. The mage gave her a curious look as she went over some fallen limbs and branches.

“Here,” she noted before bending down to pick up a branch almost as long as her body and half the width of her arm. “This will do for now.”

“You mean you do want to spar with me?”

“We're already out here, aren't we?” came the callous reply. “Might as well make it productive.”

Ven watched as she knocked some excess dirt off, and even stripped the bark in certain places. For a moment, he wondered if he had ever seen her wield different weapons before. Let alone something like a sword, or fighting staff as she was going to treat this branch.

“I thought you used knives?” he wondered.

Sabrina just let out a little hum as she tested the staff in her hands. “A bard is trained in many things.” she claimed. “Like various weapons, seduction, potions, and-”

Sabrina got cut off when Ven attempted to attack her with his wooden sword. Her reaction time was just skilled enough that she blocked it with the staff. Just barely.

“And how not to gloat when the enemy is also armed?” Ven teased, pressing up against her a bit more just to playfully grin at her.

Sabrina's momentary look of bewilderment became a boastful smirk. “Something like that.” she agreed as she pushed him off. Ven let out a small laugh as he moved away from her a bit. They needed a better area for their practice- the main beach would have the space.

They were both incredibly confident as they got ready. Ven casually spun his sword with a single hand, his heart almost pounding in his ears as the grin on his face got wider. His cheeks were going to hurt later, and he didn't care one ounce. Sabrina stood tall as she adjusted herself for the fight. (And yes, he did notice that her foot was pointed when she brought one leg around to adjust her stance- assuming that little movement wasn't just to distract him.) She held her makeshift staff with enough certainty, you almost would have assumed that it was her weapon of choice. Sabrina was not a mage, though, and she certainly didn't plan on using it to channel magic.

“Whose count do we start on?” Ven asked. He couldn't even hide the excitement in his voice at the question. Something Sabrina countered with a firm smirk of her own.

“Mine.” she decided before lunging at him. Ven suspected as much, and was easily able to get out of the way. A laugh erupted from his lips as they continued to fight. Nothing else mattered at the moment- just him, her, and the sound of their wooden weapons knocking against each other.

. . .

Aqua needed an excuse to leave the castle for a moment. She had no sense of envy for the arl and arlessa- politics had never been the Hero of Ferelden's strong point. At least she was able to leave if the hustle and bustle served to be too much. Or, even use the distraction of finding Ven, who was no longer in the training room and apparently not even in the castle anymore either. He had a meeting to go to soon, and his random disappearance would probably be a cause for concern.

She wasn't going to lie about it, but Aqua had been worried at first. It wasn't until she realized that someone else hadn't been seen in the castle for awhile that she gained a certain hunch. A small trip to the training room helped support the theory. Now it was only a matter of where they went. It came to Aqua with a sudden realization- one that she was just as easily embarrassed about. Thinking on it more, it seemed only natural that he would take her there. After all, Terra had done the same with Aqua not too long ago.

“Have you seen Ven?” Aqua heard Terra ask her just as she was about to leave the castle. The Hero of Ferelden stopped just to look at her boyfriend.

“I was just about to go get him.” she affirmed. “Would you like to join me? I'm not quite familiar with the path yet.”

Terra raised an eyebrow, but didn't ask where she thought Ven was. Considering she made it seem like he would know where they were going anyway, he instead gave her a solemn nod of his head. Aqua beamed in satisfaction and gestured for them to walk together.

The woods had become more dense since the Fifth Blight. The canopy of the trees almost blocking out the sunlight as they moved away from the village. Sticks and small branches that had fallen out of the trees had also covered the ground- not quite big enough to be kindling, but too small to be used for much else than potential bird's nest supplies. It didn't take long for the duo to hear the sounds of some fight up ahead. From the sound of it, it seemed like wooden weapon against wooden weapon as the two duelists made snappy remarks at the other. Terra and Aqua recognized both voices at the same time.

“Not a bad parry.”

“I can do better. Watch this!”

“Oh, so close. So very, very close- yet so very far, far away.”

“Hmph. Maybe we should call a draw. You're not even trying.”

“Giving up already? It's not my fault you're easy to read, sweetie.”

Hearing them made Terra walk faster. He stopped when he and Aqua were close enough to see the other duo, but far enough away that they could still hide behind several trees. Aqua put a hand on him to guide him over a bit. She already knew he wasn't going to like this, so at the very least she could try to keep him out of sight for a bit longer.

“What is he doing here with her?” Terra questioned. His expression was darkening as his gaze locked onto Ventus and Sabrina. Most of it was targeted at the latter.

“For the same reason you brought me here, I'd guess.” Aqua calmly replied, even putting her hands behind her back. “He's getting her to open up. We can't interrupt them now, or they may never have this opportunity again.”

Terra looked at Aqua like she had gained another head.

“This is ridiculous.” he asserted. “Ven has other things he needs to-”

Terra was cut off when Aqua grabbed him by the collar, forcing the two of them to stand fairly close to each other. A mocking grin was etched on her lips as she told him, “Nobody interrupted us.”

Terra's face immediately lit up in a deep scarlet. He took several steps away from Aqua while refusing to look at her.

“I'll find Tidus and tell him that Ven is busy.” he grumbled under his breath. Aqua only smiled.

“Yes you will.” she agreed. Terra gave her a stiff nod before leaving. She laughed at him before turning her attention back to Ventus and Sabrina.

It was apparent that Ven was not used to fighting with a sword after so long. Sure, you could tell that he had fought with one in the past, but it was not at a level able to defend him in an actual battle. However, as Aqua observed with a tilt of her head, Sabrina was not showing the best of confidences with her two handed staff either. Of course, she had always been a more offense fighter than defense. There were small moments where Sabrina tried to be direct, only for her to leave an opening for Ven to exploit. It was equal to the times when Ven tried to prepare a spell, but remembered that he wouldn't use them- a small moment of hesitation that lead to a great advantage.

But it was their smiles that had Aqua's full attention. She couldn't see them well from here, however she could almost hear it in their voices as they bantered back and forth. Hearing Ven enjoy himself wasn't much different than usual. Hearing Sabrina with genuine amusement in her voice had been the more shocking discovery. It was in thinking that Ven was lucky enough to see this side of Sabrina, Aqua decided to quietly make her leave. She did make note of the sun's position, wondering how long it would take for the two to come back to the castle. The smile on her face wouldn't leave, no matter how hard she tried. It was great seeing the odd couple be so happy.

. . .

They never knew that they had gained onlookers for a few minutes. Even after Terra and Aqua left, Sabrina and Ven kept going at each other. Their faces were flushed from exertion, and their breaths came out heavy and shallow. But they kept going. Neither one wanting to give up the high they had in this form of intimacy. They weren't even keeping track of what they were saying to each other either. Words spilled out of their mouths that could have been flirting, or insults, or appreciation, and they would have forgotten their meanings almost instantly.

Their draw came without warning. It only took one last block that made the two pause. Ven's focus had immediately gone to Sabrina's eyes. Almost half lidded from her own exhaustion, they were trained to where his sword met her staff. If she was looking at anything else (anything lower), then the future arl had no way of knowing. He took a very careful step forward, bringing them almost chest to chest, and leading Sabrina to look up at him.

He almost kissed her, right then and there. As if he truly needed a reminder of how much he loved her.

“We work well together.” he managed to husk out. Sabrina simply looked at him. A certain sense of vulnerability and mutual attraction coming through that he'd only seen on her in the dark. It was even more beautiful in the day. Amazing, even.

“We do.” she agreed, not quite aware of her saying it.

But after this declaration, the tone started to become more somber. The weight of what they really meant coming down on them like a heavy fog. The gaze they soon gave each other measured an equal heartbreak. Ven moved forward just a bit more, closing the distance between their lips. Sabrina reacted by tilted her head up a bit, but didn't move much further than what they were.

“Please stay with us.” Ven then whispered.

“I… I don't know if I can.” she said. Her voice even more timid than his. “I only stayed as long as I did the first time because...” She trailed off, looking away from him as she took a few steps back. The corners of her mouth turned into a distressed frown. Ven only watched her- too afraid that any wrong movement would make her turn away. Her conflict on the situation was obvious. She couldn't easily find a way out of the situation- she felt trapped.

“This was a mistake.” Sabrina decided with a shake of her head. She immediately dropped the staff, turning away to leave. Ven was caught shaking his own head as well.

“N-no, wait!” he called out, not expecting it to work.

To his surprise, it did. Not knowing how much longer he had before she left for good, Ventus quickly tried to give her a speech from the heart.

“Sabrina, I love you. I love you so much that I don't even know how to express it. I don't know… I don't know how to say it so you know it too. So that you're sure that I'm telling the truth. And you know I can't just go reverse psychology on you because you'd still take it at face value. What do I need to do, Sabrina? What do I need to do to make sure you know that I love you?”

That was when Sabrina turned her body back toward him. She still refused to look him in the eye. She wanted to say something, but all words seemed to fail her. Instead, she just looked up at him with an expression so vulnerable that no other person would be able to see later. That was when he understood. Maybe not everything, but enough.

Ven used his hand to cup the side of her face, his thumb gently outlining her cheek. Sabrina cautiously leaned in to the embrace, placing one of her hands at his wrist. She didn't attempt to remove his hand- she didn't want to.

“I love you,” Ven once more said, almost afraid to say it, as he pulled them in for a small kiss.

The kiss had been bittersweet. At the same time, it bore a lot more affection than when they were actually heated. Pulling away had been the hardest thing to do.

“I'd rather you become an arl than Grey Warden.” Sabrina softly admitted. “But if you take on a political spouse, they have to fit my criteria before you ever dream of putting a ring on their finger. Got it?”

“I wouldn't have it any other way.” Ven smiled. Sabrina only offered a stiff nod. Her usual attitude was slowly returning- he could tell by the way she held herself. Her chest was lifting, her back a bit straighter, and any vulnerability was taken away to a hard callousness.

“I plan on staying in Ferelden until I receive word from Orlais. But I don't want to stay sitting at the castle. I need something to do.”

“You were still looking for things of your mother's, right?” Ven offered. A hand reaching behind his neck to absently rub it. “Maybe I can scout around for you. If there's a lead, we could go together to find it?”

In one last show of true emotion, Sabrina's eyes widened before her signature scowl came into play.

“I wouldn't mind that.” she agreed. The corner of her mouth twitched before adding, “Thank you.”

Ven offered her a small smile. She took it as a sign to leave. Her head was once more cast down as she went back through the trees.

'3 stars.'

Hearing the demon's voice in his head after so long nearly gave Ven a jolt.

'What?' the young man mentally replied, starting the trek back to the castle as well.

'I give this episode 3 stars. Good tension, but not a lot of build up between points. What even was that resolution? Did the writers not know how to end the story?'

'You do know that I have no idea what you're talking about, don’t you?'

'You're not the one that needs to.' Vanitas huffed. 'Could you guys do that thing were you take a bath and end up in bed after? I like that. I need it after this mess. You two really need to learn to start fucking it out when the tension's high, not bait switching it with pity. Sure, it gives Wabi-Sabi some development, but it train wrecks the whole mood. How hard is it just to get your shit together?'

Ventus couldn't help but roll his eyes. Nice to know that someone had faith in their relationship.

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blackhakumen · 3 years

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Mini Fanfic #734: Letter to Vantias (Kingdom Hearts)

Dear Van-Van,

You're probably wondering why I've written a letter for you this early in the morning. I'm not sure if you've known by now, but it's the National Siblings' Day today and I figured that I'd start and write you and Ventus your respective letters.

I might have told you for a while now, but I really want to express how thankful I am for having you a part of my life and how truly proud I am of you for everything you've accomplished so far and opening up to us and the outside world, even if it's every little step at a time.

I know it can be challenging and rough at times, but it means so much to me and all of our friends that you're willing to give it an honest try.

Words simply cannot express how much you mean to me, Vantias. We may not be blood related, I still consider you as my dear brother and that I will always love you from the bottom of my heart and soul.

Also, If there is anything that is troubling you, please don't hesitate to come to me, Ventus, Aqua, Terra, or the others for help. I know we can be a handful at times, but it's our way of showing that we care and appreciate you.

So in conclusion, I hope you enjoy this letter that I've given you today and that you have a great day afterwards. I love you so much. (I know I already told you that already, but it seems that I couldn't helped myself that time~ ^‿^)

Sincerely,

Namine

...............................................................

Couple of Minutes Later.......

Vantias: (Sitting Next to Namine in the Living Room Sofa While Shyly Looking Away) So.......I uh......(Starts Rubbing the Back of his Head Back and Forth) Read the letter you gave me this earlier.....

Namine: (Gasps Happily While Turning to Vantias While Scooting Over to Him a Little) Really?~ What do you think? I know it might not be the best gift in the world but I really put my heart and soul into writing it.

Vantias: I can tell you did and honestly......I like it. Quite a lot actually

Namine: You do?~

Vantias: Yeah. I mean..... it's really cool that you actually think highly of me....you know, since it's..... probably the nicest thing anyone has ever said about me on an actual piece of paper. That and......Uhhh........ Uhhhhhhhhh......

Namine: (Starts Getting a Tad Bit Worried) Vantias? Is everything ok- (Immediately Gets Interrupted by a Sudden Hug by Vantias Himself)

Vantias: I'm glad to have you idiots as my friends and family.......And I'm glad that I have you as my sister.

Namine: (Taken Back by the Sudden Hug For a Brief Second Before Giggling Softly) Oho, Van-Van~ There's no need to thank all of us for that. (Hugs Vantias Back) I'm just my gift managed to put a smile on that precious face of yours~

Vantias: Ain't precious, but.....(Smiles a Little) I love you, sis. A lot.

Namine: (Smiles Brightly) And I love you with all my heart too, Vantias. Oh and please don't worry about getting me anything in return.

Vantias: You sure?

Namine: (Happily Nodded) Mmhmm.(Happily Snuggles onto Vantias' Embrace) Your hugs right now are all the happiness I need today.

Vantias: (Gives Namine a Bit of a Deadpinned Look on his Face) You wanna cuddle for the rest of the day, don't you?

Namine: (Giggles Softly) Yes please~

@keyenuta

@khtext

@26shann

@caleb13frede

@albion-93

@ma-lemons

#kingdom hearts #namine #vantias #ventus (mentioned)#aqua (mentioned)#terra (mentioned)#lots and lots of fluff here #sweet family moment #letter #national siblings day #it's a late one because i just thought about it earlier today lol

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soranort-headcanons · 4 years

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About the new Dark Road characters

Before we get into each individual character, here is some random thoughts

Disappointed that Yen Sid didn’t make it, but part of me admits that that had a low chance of happening due to him being a Disney character and all.

Part of me is also sad that they added more characters into the mix, because we lose the whole Eraqus and Xehanort growing as the only apprentices (with maybe Yen Sid added in) dynamic. At the same time, the idea that these two spent so much time with each other that no one wanted to be in their general vicinity while they were in a chess match and generally only cared about each other to the point that Xehanort only talks about Eraqus in his reports, is a hilarious idea that really adds fuel to the shipping fire for fans. Fun.

There is six apprentices in total, just like in UX (Unions plus Luxu). If we add whatever master they have in, its seven. Just like the guardians. Since Eraqus (And maybe the new characters) are part of the “blueblood” line of Keyblade Wielders, this makes a lot of sense, since Keyblade Wielders are defenders of the light and all.

This also adds credibility of why Xehanort was allowed to go on a world tour but Eraqus wasn’t- It’s hard to keep track of so many children, plus while Eraqus wasn’t allowed to go at the moment, their master could simply tell Eraqus to go with someone else in a later date

I swear, if MoM is their master (extremely doubtful, please don’t do this)

Or maybe even Luxu, since we saw No Name hanging in the wall in kh3

I severely expect everyone to give up their keyblade and go into hiding or die.

If everyone else minus Xehanort is part of a Keyblade lineage minus him, it would add a lot of depth to how he acted the way he did. Just like I brought up in some previous posts, it makes sense that an outsider would break so many rules or use questionable methods/use said methods to try to stand out. If he is the only one out, this makes it worse than if it was just Eraqus, Yen Sid and him.

To add to my previous bullet point, he is standing on a throne, just like Sora in promotional material. He is the only one sitting and the center of the shot. Just like Sora, Xehanort obtained his Keyblade (If my memory is correct, its been a year since I touched kh after all) due to outside influence, just like Sora did. This would be an excellent time for Sora parallels, Nomura

Ok, now I’ll get to the actual new characters

My first reaction (Posted in my discord) was “Urd reminds me of Aqua. Please do not make her a love interest”

She looks like she is making an OwO face

She does remind of Aqua, but a little bit more mischievous.

I’ve seen people say Bragi could be Luxu but honestly I also have suspicions Urd is up to something. Merely because she has silver hair and yellow eyes.

I always think silver haired people are more important that they turn out to be due to Riku having silver hair. We also don’t know Riku’s parents, unlike Sora and Kairi. We know Sora has a mom and a dad with a boat, and we know who adopted Kairi. But Riku? nothing. I’m curious exactly who introduced the silver hair gene in destiny islands. Is it a common trait? Xehanort has it. Riku has it. I need to see the family trees, please Nomura. How tf do they get their hair color im dying please-

She stands between Eraqus and Xehanort but behind them. Im sure this will be important later on. Until then though, i cannot say much.

She does have the Recusant’s sigil though, which once again reminds me of the fact that Keyblade Wielders have inbuilt trackers in their clothes. Im sure thats very useful for when they get lost in a random world.

My first reaction to Vor: She looks innocent but she would totally stab me in the back in an alleyway if given the opportunity.

Look at her. She looks like a tiny evil gremlin.

As a short people I can attest that short people will not hesitate to set your house on fire in Minecraft if given the chance. The world is too tall for us so we shall burn it until it is at eye level

Look im approximately 5ft tall, im short

I like her color scheme, very eye pleasing

People have pointed out her name is one letter away from Vore. Thanks guys, I so did not need that

People theorize this is Kairi’s grandma. I can see why, but I shall remain neutral on the subject

Probably the youngest

kinda reminds me of Ava

She is in the front, along with our main duo, maybe this will mean something

Will probably be a mix between Aqua and Ventus in term of gameplay. Speedy or magic main.

My first reaction to Bragi was: he looks so smug. He gives me a bastard vibe but that has to be seen. Or he is a troll.

People theorize he is Luxu because his name can be rearranged to Braig. Considering Nomura’s love for anagrams, it makes sense.

I wanna punch him in the face, he looks like he knows more than me

Reminds me of Axel. Hahahaha the idea of Axel and him having a connexion of some kind would be. Hilarious. Honestly the idea of anyone in this group having a relation to anyone in the present era would be hilarious because Xehanort grew up with these people so it would be like “Oh shit my coworkers had kids?!?!”

Could they be old enough to have kids? I mean, bbs Xehanort was like, 80 years old so it could be a possibility.

Fire user. I take no criticism.

Or he is a status user. He would spam like, 50 status spells and just kick your ass without having to move. Look, someone in these series has to see the potential of status spells, I can’t be the only one

Imagine that instead of him being luxu, its the master. I would laugh so much at y’all’s reactions.

My first reaction to Hermod: he looks like the oldest and older brother vibes but that might be because he’s tall.

He gives me vibes of trying to be responsible like Aqua but rolls his eyes fondly at everyone else’s shenanigans.

Has a sense of humor

In terms of placement, he stands more or less on the center, which might reflect on his personality. Peacekeeper? Probably tries to be neutral.

Tries to keep Bragi in line.

Tries not to pick favorites.

The idea of him trying to talk to Vor is hilarious. What is he gonna do, stand in his knees? He is just too tall.

Maybe Xehanort is taller than him, and thats the only thing I shall accept

Senior apprentice

In terms of gameplay, he might be like Terra, a heavy hitter.

Gives good hugs

TLDR; at some point I went from analysis to simply listing off random thought, just as all my posts turn out at some point. We do not know enough about them. The fact that the last kh themed new character we had was Strelizia is insane. New blood! I’m excited for yet another mobile game I can lord over my siblings because I know the timeline and they don’t. Posible candidate for the Disney Plus series? doubtful but still a strong possibility. It is 9:08 PM and I have not beta read this.

#dark road #subject: dark road #urd #subject: young xehanort #Eraqus #Hermod #Vor #Bragi #young xehanort #kh #kingdom hearts

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storm-driver · 4 years

Text

Chapter 10 for Atone and Repay is at about the 56% mark and I should be able to get more of it done in the next week, maybe get it up soon. Chapter 11 shouldn’t take nearly as long, since I’ve been working on that one alongside Chapter 10. As a thanks for putting up with my excessively long hiatus, here’s a preview for Chapter 10 below the cut! I’ve been working on this chapter since I published Chapter 9 last year, but a majority of this chapter was written in the past few months. Thank you again for sticking with me, and I hope to have “Once More” up on Ao3 sometime in the next few weeks! <3

(Be warned, has direct spoilers for AAR, please consider reading the full story before reading this ^^)

“So much for leaving home...And here I thought I’d get to go on a real journey for once…” Ventus huffed, dragging his tired, armored legs across the stone floor outside his castle home. Night had fallen on the Land of Departure, and it was getting increasingly cold with each passing second.

Ventus’ pulled the helmet off his head, making his blond spikes spring back up as he did so. He stole a glance at the clouded skies, spotting the first specks of snow that fluttered down. The cold wind pressed against his face, soothing the small pain from the scratch that he still had on his cheek.

It’d only been a few hours since the Nobodies attacked them in the mansion, but it felt like it could’ve been months ago. Roxas’ unsuspecting body being hurled across the room, through a doorway and crashing down into the broken table and chandelier. The desolate look on his face, his eyes unblinking and heart beating all too slow. He must’ve had a concussion, even after Aqua administered some healing spells. He had still been slurring his words and glancing around the room as if he had not escaped the memory from the past.

It only gave rise to worry when he insisted on searching the mansion still. Standing up from his spot on the table and tumbling forward as Terra and Riku tried to get him to sit down. And then Roxas fell over seconds after standing up.

Would that they hadn’t encountered those Nobodies, or that Roxas hadn’t fallen at such a precarious moment. He wouldn’t recover within an hour, and Aqua made the decision to go back home. To take a break and simply breathe rather than throwing themselves into the next piece of this puzzle they couldn’t solve. It had been several nights since anyone in the castle got good rest, being awoken by Ventus’ screams at painful nightmares, or the everyday trauma that seemed to haunt them all.

Being back home was reassuring, at least. Ventus knew this place, better than anywhere else he may have lived in the past. He knew the halls, and where he could sleep without someone bothering him. He knew the mountains where they trained, and he knew the forest far and below them. It was a small world, but it was a haven. Even if Nobodies had proven they could reach here.

The dark corridor he’d walked through was ever shifting and threatening to close if someone had lost his grip on the darkness. It was sketchy to let Roxas bring them home, after being knocked out in such a manner and with a blur of new memories at the front of his mind.

But Roxas stepped through it just fine. His hood was draped over his head, giving way to only tired, blue eyes and a small frown. The chains rattled on his chest and he leaned forward to keep himself from falling. He still wasn’t fully healed, and he may not have been for some time.

The tip of his boot snagged a crack in the cement, throwing off his already shaken balance. Roxas’ eyes popped open and he started falling forward, the hood over his head slipping onto his back and exposing his frightened face. Fortunate that Ventus had walked through the portal first, his armored frame caught Roxas’ against his chest and kept his friend from face planting against the stone.

Roxas’ body fell limp against Ventus. The latter, who nearly shrieked at the sight, kept his arms around Roxas and held him up. Roxas’ head was resting over Ven’s shoulder, eyes staring at the ground beneath him and Ventus. A bandage still resting over his skin to help a new scar heal.

“Yeah, no, I was wrong,” Ventus hauled his friend up as he started to slip back down to the concrete. “You’re hurt more than you told Aqua. I’ll tell her when she gets here.”

Ventus sighed and shifted his arms around. He pulled Roxas’ left arm over his shoulder and kept one hand around his friend’s back, already starting to drag him towards the castle. Roxas didn’t seem entirely conscious, but as Ventus started walking, he tried to pick up his feet and walk with him.

Ventus kept his eyes on the doors of the castle, stepping up the stairs one at a time. Roxas’ head lolled around aimlessly next to him, as if he were still passed out. But if Ventus glanced over, he could see Roxas blinking and taking deep breaths, brows furrowed with a frown planted on his face.

He looked back towards the doors, already nearing the last step. “You feeling okay, besides that?”

“No…”

That much probably should’ve been obvious. A concussion alone doesn’t feel good. Whatever else was bothering him didn’t help.

“What’s wrong?”

“I hurt Vanitas…”

Ventus almost stopped in his tracks, hesitating to take the next step up. But he kept going. He let go of Roxas’ arm over his shoulder, letting the Nobody lean his whole weight into Ventus instead. He reached forward and pushed the doors open with one simple nudge. Such was the benefit of living in a magically-imbued castle.

“He’s fine, I’m sure. Don’t worry about him right now,” Ventus tried to reassure. But looking once again at Roxas, he could tell his words had little effect.

“I can’t stop worryinaboudim...”

Roxas’ words were slurring again, but he wasn’t impossible to understand. Ventus kept dragging his body along the hallway and towards the staircases at the very back of the corridor. The clanks of Ventus’ armor echoed around them. The hall was dark with no practical light source. It was almost hard to see where the tiles ended and the staircase began.

“That’s kind of you to worry about him, really,” Ventus pulled Roxas a little more over his shoulder. “But he’s fine. You saw Aqua treating him, she said that whatever happened had passed.”

“That’s not what I mean…” Roxas mumbled out. His shoes bumped each step as Ventus climbed the stairs. “I can’t stop thinking about it.”

The older of the two kept his silence. Perhaps he didn’t quite understand yet.

“I shouldn’t care as much as I do,” his eyes flicked across each step as they climbed. “He’s the one that tried to-”

Roxas’ breath hitched. That still haunted him. What happened on that beach, and what he’d almost done in Radiant Garden. Just trying to say anything about it pressed down on his heart and started rejuvenating a deep-rooted fear in him. Something he thought he’d gotten over when his heart sprung free from Sora’s and he was finally given a body of his own again. When he would no longer be confined to another person’s soul.

Alas, that was an unfortunate lie. Vanitas had no regrets for his volatile actions against Roxas. He’d hardly issued an apology.

“You don’t have to tell me, I know what he did,” Ventus kept talking, noting how much Roxas was struggling to speak. “And I’m sorry, I really am. I wish I’d known better then.”

In a way, it was Ventus’ fault what happened. If he’d stopped Roxas from running off to Radiant Garden in the first place, he never would’ve ended up in the Realm of Darkness. If Ven and Sora had never fought Vanitas in the graveyard, he wouldn’t have been there to grab hold of Roxas’ body. And if he hadn’t been so weak all those years ago, Vanitas would never have…

The doors to the west wing were propped open and closed as Ven tugged his friend up the stairs. Ventus did most of the lifting, Roxas’ boots hardly attempting to step on each stair and scraping over the edges. It wasn’t helped by his armor, which was heavy enough on its own.

A part of him wanted to tell Roxas to at least try to help make this easier. But another knew too well that he’d be asking too much. His friend had already taken a beating today, both physical and emotionally. Slamming his head into a broken chandelier and having been forced to relive dangerously painful memories was more than enough for one day. He deserved a reprieve, even if brief.

Roxas’ room was lit from the gentle moon outside his window. Frost edged the glass and gave the room chills that he didn’t think possible, even if covered in his armor.

Dragging his twin to the bed was easier said than done, with Roxas’ shoes scraping across the floor and his body slowly dozing off. Ventus shook him as he pulled, saying, “Don’t fall asleep yet.”

Roxas gave no verbal reply, but his head nodded, which was indication enough that he heard and understood Ven.

He gently dumped Roxas onto the bed, letting him find his place before letting go entirely. Roxas leaned against the soft mattress, then practically fell into it. His eyes shut and he groaned.

“I’ll go get Aqua as soon as she gets home. For now, just rest,” Ven folded his arms over each other. Roxas lazily blinked twice, throwing a glance at Ven, before turning his eyes back to whatever else was on his mind.

Just a few days ago, he’d been so resolute in helping Ventus remember everything, even if it meant he’d suffered the consequences. But now he appeared utterly drained. It could’ve just been the awful beating he’d had from the Nobodies and whatever darkness possessed Vanitas. But that hopeful attitude seemed bleak now.

Aqua had ordered that Vanitas be taken back home through anything but a dark portal. Ready as she was to give that same order to Roxas, she thought it better to keep the two separated. Vanitas’ prey had been Roxas during his previous outburst. If they couldn’t contain it a second time, with the Nobody in such a weak state now, there’d be no protecting him.

After he’d come back from his venture in past memories, Roxas only stayed conscious for a few minutes before he was falling over. Even Naminé’s safe return was not enough to move him back to full recovery. Rather when he saw his dear friend walk through the door of the mansion with Kairi and Xion by her side, he tripped on his own feet trying to run up to her.

Roxas was sent home, even if his method of travel was still risky at best. The only thing that made Aqua agree in the first place was when Ventus swore he wouldn’t let anything happen.

But something had already happened. Whatever Roxas saw had much more drastic effects than anything before. He’d almost always been willing to share what hazy details he could remember from the dreams and the memories that he glimpsed. But this time, even when Ventus had asked him about it, Roxas didn’t say a thing.

Ventus kept staring at his friend. He couldn’t keep to himself and finally spoke up:

“So what else happened?”

Roxas hardly moved, much less spoke.

“You’ve never been quiet about this before. Was it really that bad?”

Roxas kept to himself for a moment, but only a moment. As if pondering the words in his head before he dared to speak them.

“It’s nothing to do with the memories.”

Ventus blinked twice. He wasn’t expecting that answer. “Then what is it?”

“Vanitas tried to hurt me,” Roxas mumbled.

“Well...yes, he did.”

“But I’m not worried about myself at all.”

Ven’s eyes narrowed.

“Why am I only worried about him?” Roxas’ fingers curled into his hand. “After everything that he did?”

“I don’t know…”

Roxas started to move again, trying to sit upright. His palms pressed against the mattress and he leaned backwards. Still shaky and tired, but he managed it all on his own.

“Is it...what I did for him?” He lifted up a palm and clutched at the front of his coat. “Or what he did to me?”

Ventus knew exactly what he meant. Had his and Vanitas’ union, albeit temporary, truly caused this kind of change? It could explain why Roxas seemed to get over it so fast, or even why he put up with Vanitas at all. It may even explain why Vanitas was suddenly so willing to follow him and Ventus around, or help them with anything.

But the implications of such were harrowing to think of. Roxas was already tempered by his connection to Sora, and now this connection to Ventus. The boy has never truly been just himself. He’s always had bits and pieces of others in there, to influence his choices or pass along certain traits. Maybe even to store memories or keep pieces of a heart safe while it was still recovering.

He’d hardly ever known what it is to be himself. The one thing he must’ve yearned for more than anything, yet bound from him by the cruel fetters of fate.

If it truly was that connection between him and Vanitas that was turning his decisions or guiding his choices, what would that mean for him and Ventus? The two must’ve shared a similar connection. How would that have-

Ventus shook his head. No, that’s not it. Roxas isn’t bound by other people like he used to be. He may still be Sora’s Nobody, but he has his own heart, his own body. He isn’t anyone besides himself.

Ventus would’ve preferred to remember what was said of Roxas and Vanitas’ first meeting, on those dark shores. When Vanitas was drifting away and Roxas refused to let him go.

“I doubt it,” Ventus muttered. “You were there at his side before any of that happened.”

Roxas looked to his friend once, then back down at the floor beneath his boots.

“You didn’t care that it was Vanitas who was on that beach. You just wanted to keep him company, maybe even help him in whatever way you could,” Ven offered a smile. “You’re willing to put other people before your own needs. That’s just the kind of person you are.”

As much as he hoped the words would be of comfort to Roxas, Ven wasn’t entirely sure it worked. His twin kept staring at the ground, deep blue eyes staring at nothing but the dead air between them.

Roxas took a deep breath in and let it out slowly, “Unless there’s-”

Before he could say another word, an armored hand landed on his left shoulder and pulled him away from his thoughts. Roxas looked up to meet Ven’s gaze, who looked a bit more frustrated than before.

“You’re still you, Roxas,” Ventus gave him a shake, pulling his fleeting thoughts out of whatever dark tangent they were going on. “Nothing is going to change that. What you did for Vanitas was your own choice. You could’ve let Terra take care of everything, and then we wouldn’t have Vanitas here at the castle with us.”

Roxas kept staring, already recalling that day. The darkness had been tugging on his very soul. But as soon as he saw Vanitas’ disheveled body, the darkness pouring out of his shattered heart... Suddenly it didn’t matter that Roxas was about to turn into a Heartless. The only thing he cared about was to give any comfort he could to the dying boy.

“You chose to help Vanitas. And I know, it didn’t have much pay-off...but you saved his life. That was all you, Roxas. Nobody else.”

I did save him… That was a choice that I made.

Roxas lowered his head, closing his eyes and taking another, much needed breath of air. As he exhaled, the smallest smirk appeared on his face. “Alright,” he mumbled. “True enough.”

Ventus felt relief flutter through his chest. He stepped away from Roxas, letting his friend have a little breathing room.

Roxas looked again at Ven, but not at his friend’s face. Rather what he was wearing.

“...You have armor?” Roxas mumbled as he looked Ven up and down.

And just as he was regaining hope for Roxas’ wellbeing, Ven felt that hope shatter. Ventus stared at his friend, unsure of how to respond. He glanced down at his attire once, then back at Roxas’ baffled expression. “You KNOW I have armor.”

“I do?”

Ven’s shoulders drooped and his eyes narrowed. “Oh my-” He sighed in such an overly exasperated way. “Alright, I’m healing you myself.”

#kingdom hearts #aar #roxas #ventus #ao3

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nadziejastar · 4 years

Note

Would you say that Saix is also maladjusted?

Saïx was definitely maladjusted. Way worse than Axel, lol. And Axel knew he was maladjusted. Because Isa didn’t get a lot of development, a lot of people got the impression that he was always cold and arrogant, even as a human. As if that was just his natural personality.

But from what I could see, that wasn’t true at all. It was the exact opposite. I hate how people don’t differentiate between Isa and Saïx and even in KH3, they were made out to have the same personality. When I first played BBS, I thought Isa was probably similar to Riku in personality. But now, I have a much different view of him.

Riku and Terra have “Earth” personalities. They’re the disciplined, hard-working, serious types. Aqua and Kairi have “Water” personalities. Ventus and Sora have “Air” personalities. Lea obviously has a “Fire” personality.

Isa must have had a “Moon” personality, which is Water-based. From the little bit of personality we can get of Isa from the official sources, he was a typical Cancer. Extremely sensitive, emotional, empathetic, and insecure. He would have been a lot more emotional than Riku. Because of how he was as a human, Axel was VERY forgiving of Saïx’s flaws. He seemed to view Saïx’s personality as being a result of trauma. It was not just his natural personality. Since Isa was naturally oversensitive, Axel was very lenient with him.

“Yeah. As long as we remember one another, we’ll never be apart. Got it memorized?”

Roxas grinned.

“Who are you, and what have you done with Axel?”

“Hey! I tried, okay?” All that effort to cheer them up, and they just turned it into a punch line. Chagrined, he looked away.

Cancers are the perfect adults. Roxas and Xion laughed at Axel when he said this because it didn’t sound like him. When Hayner said this, it was about growing up. Isa was probably the one who said it to Lea originally. Isa was emotionally mature for his age, but as a Cancer, his flaws were insecurity, moodiness, and dependence. Axel had Peter Pan syndrome. Saïx had, well…the opposite. And Saïx’s syndrome was a LOT worse than Axel’s.

“So, Saïx, what am I doing to—? Oh, boy. Awfully early for such a bad mood, don’t you think?”

Saïx had whirled to face him with a rather pronounced scowl. “…Nobodies do not have ‘moods’ to be ruined,” he said at length.

“Well, sure, technically…” Of course, with no hearts, they couldn’t have moods or fits of temper. If something went frustratingly awry, their faces might reveal shadows of remembered emotion, no more. Still, for a remembered shadow, that was a mean glower on Saïx’s face. “Did I miss something?” Axel wondered.

“Xion has collapsed again.”

Now Axel frowned. He sure had missed something. “Did she get hurt or what?”

“No,” Saïx replied, any hint of expression vanishing from his face. “It’s just that the failure was functioning better than expected until recently.”

Cancers are known for being moody and retreating into their shells.

They need time to themselves if they’re in a bad mood.

Axel seemed like he was very much used to dealing with mood swings. “The Wrong Button” was about Xion’s moodiness, but it sounds a lot like Axel was giving Roxas advice based off of his experience with Isa. Axel thought of Saïx as moody, damaged, and overly sensitive.

“In any case, I don’t intend to speak about the failure.”

“Failure, failure… You don’t have to say it like that, do you?”

“I thought I told you not to get too involved.” Saïx swung his chair, turning his back on Axel. Axel could feel nothing but a will of rejection from that back.

“I’m simply caught up in it. If there’s something, please don’t hide it from me, tell me.” Axel got up off the shelf and put his hand on Saïx’s shoulder from behind, peering into that face.

It’s actually very interesting how Axel always treated him with kid gloves and walked on egg shells not to offend him. Saïx would berate Xion in the nastiest way possible and Axel would chide him ever-so-gently to watch his tone. Axel felt nothing but rejection from him, but he STILL put his hand on his shoulder to ask him what was bothering him. It really spoke volumes about the way he viewed Saïx. He treated him like a kid.

Cancers are calm and serene.

But they are overly sensitive and hold grudges.

Saïx is a pretty sad character when you realize he is not really some huge force of evil—he was just a maladjusted guy with the emotional maturity of an abused child. He was very needy and terrified of abandonment and rejection.

It wouldn’t surprise me if the crab in the above panel was even a reference to Saïx being a Cancer. That’s just my hunch.

“Are you getting enough rest?”

“Rest?” Roxas echoed.

“I mean, are you sleeping properly? Keeping clean, taking care of yourself? Those things are all part of being fully prepared for missions.”

“Um, probably,” said Roxas.

Saïx looked vaguely unsatisfied with this response.

“Being prepared is important and so is knowing your own capabilities.”

Cancers are also very maternal. I’ve said it before, but, Isa was meant to be a very feminine character. A nurturing caretaker type.

“And on top of that, you’re late,” Saïx scolded.

“I haven’t…been sleeping well…”

“You’d better. It’s part of your work,” said Saïx. “You know you need proper rest to carry out missions.”

Axel was very depressed on the vacation when he slept in all day. I think he remembered how Isa used to try and mother him and tell him to get enough rest. Saïx now has a complex where he feels like he has to be hyper competent and independent to distance himself from his past. He doesn’t mother Axel anymore. Axel misses the old Isa. IMO, that’s what we were supposed to learn and realize about Axel/Saïx after seeing their entire backstory.

This is exactly why Axel was so maladjusted. He remembered having a wonderful best friend. That’s what Isa was like when he was well-adjusted. Then, his perfect best friend turned into…Saïx. Axel was extremely traumatized over losing Isa.

I’m sure Isa was very protective of Lea, despite not being a natural fighter. That’s what I think triggered his berserk state in the first place. But the flip side is that Saïx was Super Duper Jealous.

And he became psychotically upset when he thought Axel betrayed him. He was…not very well-adjusted at all. He pushed Axel away because he could not tolerate his emotional neediness towards him. Yet, he became psycho when Axel left him. Axel saw him as a broken person and felt sorry for him. I think this is why he wanted to find Isa as soon as he was recompleted. He was willing to put it all behind him because he genuinely did not think Isa was mentally stable.

And he really wasn’t. If they really wanted to redeem Saïx in KH3 without resorting to the possession angle, they really went about it in the wrong way. None of the crap where Saïx acts totally calm and normal and reveals he was doing it all for some random girl was necessary. They really should have used the insanity plea. Saïx should be forgiven for his actions because he was a miserable person who was not in his right mind.

Saïx really did act like a heartbroken ex when Axel left the organization. I think that’s what he was supposed to be. He acted that way because he REALLY loved Lea when he was human. Isa seemed like he was pretty different from the cool, cocky, competitive, self-assured Riku type. He sounded really sweet and cute, actually. But he was too gay for Square and Disney, I guess…

#kh isa #kh saix #isalea #akusai

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aealzx · 5 years

Photo

Considering how late it had been when Roxas got out of surgery he hadn’t been awake at all until the next morning. Which meant that he was still really groggy even though the sedatives were long gone from his system. It wasn’t that he didn’t do well with mornings, but sometimes it was just a rough day. Especially when he ended up having a day full of stress the night before. Xion was surprisingly awake, but that could easily be associated with her worry for Roxas. But Axel was his typical opposite of sunshine mood flopped on the foot of the bed.

“Here, let me get that,” Xion commented, taking the cup of yogurt that the staff had given Roxas for breakfast. It was strange that they hadn’t already opened it for him since his right arm was completely bandaged up, but maybe they just forgot. Roxas just hummed his gratitude and stared blankly at her as she peeled the foil off the top. He didn’t even realize that she had the spoon in her hand too until it was in his mouth. Hmm. Strawberry. How typical. “Are you feeling alright?”

“Mhmm,” Roxas gave a single nod, and shifted his arm slightly before wincing. “It’s fine when I don’t move it, doesn’t hurt at all. But when I move around it twinges a little.” He had been right, this hospital really did have good painkillers.

“That’s good,” Xion hummed, giving Roxas another spoonful of yogurt. “I hope it doesn’t take too long to heal. Do you know what they had to do yet?”

“Something about putting supports in to hold the bones in place without a cast. ‘Cause they can’t put fiberglass cast on it since they have to change the dressing a bunch.” He’d only heard that right before they had put him to sleep, so he wasn’t sure exactly what they had done to his arm. Not that he really cared, it was going to be fine. “Where’s everyone else?”

“ICU and reverse isolation. Pretty much the only one we can visit freely is you. Ven woke up during the night, so they’re feeling more confident that he’ll be okay. But Master Eraqus and Terra are still asleep. Riku and Kairi are down at breakfast I think. They’re not really sure what to do since they can’t really go home yet, but also aren’t allowed to be with the others. They also didn’t want to make you feel crowded.”

“Oh…. what time is it?”

“About eight.”

“Hmmm….,” Roxas hummed, thinking. So Ventus, Terra, and Eraqus were currently in serious condition, and two of them hadn’t even woken up yet. He spent another moment in consideration, before he started pulling the blankets off his lap and swung his legs over the beside.

“Uhhh, what are you doing?” Xion asked, not sure she needed to stop him. She hadn’t been given any instructions on keeping him in bed after all, but she did at least start slapping Axel’s arm to wake him up again.

“Going to find Aqua,” Roxas answered simply, grabbing onto the IV pole to take it with him since he was presently attached to it.

“..... Why?” Xion asked now and slid off the bed too as Axel lifted his head up with a snort, looking around in confusion.

“Because her three most precious people are in serious states right now. I want to make sure she’s doing alright.” Roxas’ answer was simple, and sounded almost exasperated, but he couldn’t blame them for not noticing that. Aqua wasn’t the type to break down easily, but this was probably still really hard for her. And he still needed to show her that he was okay, even if she was going to lecture him for what he’d done.

_________________________

previous snippet

To be honest I only gave Roxas yogurt because that’s what I remember my mom feeding me after I woke up from wrist surgery. X’DDD Nothing major, I just has a ganglion cyst that they removed.

#my art #kingdom hearts #khau #heart transplant au #htau #roxas #xion

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cloudofash · 5 years

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The Future of the Destiny Islands Trio - Part 2

Please read Part 1 here.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

Kairi and Riku : Now

So this section will be far shorter than the last one simply because, once again, Kairi and Riku barely interact throughout the entire game so there unfortunately isn’t much to analyze. I won’t go too in-depth into Kairi and Riku’s relationship in past games since I already wrote a detailed analysis of their relationship in my Jealous Riku series, but I’d like to highlight some points for those who are new to my posts. For one, Riku and Kairi’s relationship has had some tension since the very start of the series. A few cutscenes into KH1, Kairi suggested to Sora that she wanted to take the raft, leave the island and abandon Riku because she sensed that he was “changing” (which was most likely his growing darkness). On the other hand, Riku used Kairi as a tool to guilt Sora for running around the worlds with his new companions, Donald and Goofy, whom he felt replaced him. The conclusion of the analysis of how they treat each other is that they are in the middle of a silent tug o’ war with Sora in the middle. Silent because they don’t outright say they’re against each other but their actions reveal the truth. There is a lot of evidence to support this throughout the series into KH3, even symbolic evidence which I’ll get to towards the end. We will focus on KH3 for this theory but I will reference past games to show that their behavior towards each other isn’t new.

So in KH3, the first time we know Riku and Kairi interact is during the paopu fruit scene. We don’t get to see them interact directly, but when Sora asks why Riku is all alone Kairi responds that he said he needed time to himself so the two must have spoken. Kairi then uses this time to offer Sora a paopu fruit, leaving Riku out of the equation. If we are to believe Kairi and Riku are good friends, wouldn’t she have wanted to share a paopu fruit with him too? Contrary to popular belief the paopu fruit isn’t just a romantic symbol. The paopu fruit intertwines destinies which can be completely platonic as proven by the Wayfinder Trio, their wayfinder is based on the paopu fruit. Even if she intended to share the fruit with Sora romantically, she could have waited until Riku was done spending time with himself to invite him over so he could also share a fruit as a friend.

Say what you will but this behavior is only present in the Destiny Islands Trio group. Aqua, Terra and Ventus all have their own Wayfinder and they all laid them together on Eraqus’ grave, no one was left out. The Twilight Town gang all ate popcicles together, not just the Trio but Hayner, Pence and Olette as well. They even included Isa after kicking his ass around. Yet the Destiny Islands Trio finally have their moment to share a paopu fruit together and Riku is excluded? This was clearly intentional, it’s further evidence of the hidden strain between Riku and Kairi. They’re barely speaking to one another. Kairi acts like a complete opportunist and waits until the exact moment Riku is by himself to share a paopu fruit with just Sora, which mirrors how she wanted to take a raft and runaway with just Sora. When Kairi gets slashed into pieces by Xehanort Riku gasps but barely moves, yet he leaps into action when Sora is blown back by Xehanort. How are we honestly supposed to believe these two are even regular friends, let alone good friends? The story does not set these two up as friends in even the slightest way, at most these two are associates because they both hang around Sora.

Even after Sora is sent off to Limbo, there is no evidence that these two are speaking much. When Leon asks Riku how the others are doing, Riku tells him about the Wayfinder Trio, Twilight Town gang and even Mickey, Donald and Goofy and literally stops there. It takes prodding from Aerith for him to even speak on Kairi.

This isn’t a small, insignificant detail. Riku doesn’t even think to mention Kairi, could you imagine this happening with any of the other trios? Aqua, Terra and Ventus couldn’t shut up about each other, and neither could Axel, Roxas and Xion once they remembered her. How could Riku “forget” to mention Kairi’s progress, a member of his Trio? These two aren’t thinking about each other at all. We saw Kairi exclude Riku from the paopu fruit scene and now Riku doesn’t even bother to mention her unless someone else brings her up. Aerith isn’t even a part of the Trio, nor has she ever met Kairi in person (that we know of) yet she thinks of Kairi before Riku does? Riku’s connection to Kairi, if there is even one at all, is so weak that characters outside of the Trio seem to have a stronger bond with her than he does. In fact, Riku has a stronger moment with Terra than he does with Kairi. Terra acts like a proud big brother to him when he marvels at how much Riku has grown and that he has gained the strength to protect what matters.

Hell, Riku has a stronger moment with Roxas than he does with Kairi in the entire game - he literally played tag with him and Terra on the beach in the ending cutscene. This comes after he and Roxas beat the crap outta each other in 358/2 Days, and we never really see the two reconcile or apologize but they seem to be okay enough with each other to race and play.

Sorry for the crappy screenshot quality, it was hard to get since they move fast!

These are the kinds of interactions we need to see with Riku and Kairi. It’s not enough to say they’re friends, if they are truly meant to be friends then it’s time to show it.

Riku vs Kairi: The Symbolism in Their Names

Aside from the growing amount of evidence in the games that there is subtle tension between Riku and Kairi, we can also point to evidence in their names. No, this isn’t a stretch. Nomura is very careful about naming his characters and Nomura himself explained that he named Sora as he did because the sky represents Sora as a character and his personality. He named Riku and Kairi “land” and “sea” to go along with Sora’s naming convention and to represent their relationships with Sora.

If we look at the KH3 title screen, we see Sora and Kairi eating their separate paopu fruits and walking off….into the sea. Kairi’s name means “sea/ocean”. What happens when you walk further and further into the ocean? You get further away from land. Riku.

The further Sora goes into the sea, the further he is away from land. The more Sora chases Kairi and centers his world around Kairi, the further Riku is from the trio. And we literally see this in the game. Kairi shares paopu fruits with Sora and leaves Riku out, Sora goes off to save Kairi alone and leaves Riku behind. Both of them have alienated Riku in some way. Riku is accepting this, we see him taking a step back and believing in Sora and Kairi’s relationship.

Riku clearly believes Kairi is what’s best for Sora now, but this goes completely against Riku saying “Sora needs me” in DDD. If we go by the original Japanese dialogue, Riku’s entire journey was finding the strength to protect his “precious person” (the word used in Japanese is “taisetsu” 大切 which can also translate to “someone dear, beloved”. Ring any bells?), not his friends as a whole but a specific person. That person is obviously Sora, Riku’s journey has been centered around saving Sora. Riku is now at a point where he believes Kairi is the one who is better suited for Sora, to protect him and keep him happy, not him. He’s taking this well and not stooping to jealousy like he did in KH1 but this doesn’t mean that Riku is completely happy about being left out. I will go further in depth for the next part where I’ll focus on Sora and Riku’s relationship.

Kairi and Riku : Future

So where does Riku and Kairi’s relationship go from here? It’s honestly hard to say. If Kairi comes out of her sleep and helps Riku look for Sora, then maybe they’ll finally have moments where they talk and behave like friends. This is assuming Riku decides to include her. After you view the Fairy Godmother scene in the LimitCut episode if you go back into Radiant Garden you’ll have a chance to speak with the FF crew. If you speak to Aerith once or twice she will say “Are you going to tell Kairi?” in reference to his dream being a key to finding Sora. This is an interesting piece of dialogue and it begs the question: why would Aerith ask this unless she had doubts that Riku would tell her? Just something to think about.

There are two ways this can go. Either Riku will not tell Kairi about his dreams and go off on his own to save Sora, or he will tell her and the two will go together. In other words we could end up with either a Riku and Kairi game, or a solo Riku game where he goes to save Sora again possibly Dream Drop Distance style. We will have to see. Thank you all for taking the time to read Part 2, Part 3 will be coming soon!

#kingdom hearts #KH #KH3 #kh3 remind #Re:Mind #destiny islands #destiny islands trio #sora #kairi #riku #relationship

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peppermintbee · 6 years

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15 easy changes that would have made Kairi a more compelling character

Ever since finishing KH3 I’ve been completely preoccupied with what a disservice the writing does for Kairi. This isn’t an unpopular opinion; the KH3 tag is full of complaints regarding Kairi’s treatment. I think what’s really disappointing is that fixing her portrayal wouldn’t require that much work. So, if I was Nomura’s co-writer for KH3, here are the changes I would have suggested.

1. Don’t put her in the time chamber to train

Not only does the pocket dimension cause plot holes (Why can’t Sora train there? Why didn’t Kairi and Lea become high level in there?) it’s only narrative purpose was to keep Kairi and Lea out of the story while Sora was visiting Disney worlds. Having her literally anywhere else, where Sora can see and talk with her, would have been better than that.

2. Let her train and travel with Sora

Conveniently, the game is set up perfectly for having Kairi as a team member. Sora starts the game at LV. 1 and Kairi is a beginner keyblade wielder. They could visit the Disney worlds and git gud together. We know team mechanics were programmed for Kairi, since she briefly fights alongside Sora at the end. In the Disney worlds you can have up to 4 team members, so it doesn’t seem like a stretch that at least one of them could be Kairi (and/or Lea). With that, the opportunities for character building are endless: team banter, selfies, special team attacks, commenting on the Disney stories, etc.

3. Or, give Kairi her own missions

Riku and Mickey are off screen because they are trying to find Aqua. Even though we don’t see much of them, this makes them active participants to the plot. Therefore, if she can’t be a team member, have Kairi be on her own important story mission. A really easy one would be involving her in the Twilight Town investigation to find Roxas’ data and/or rescue Ansem the Wise. Maybe one of the turncoat Org 13 members works with Kairi. At some point, Sora and Kairi’s paths would cross, and they’d work together just like Sora and Riku did.

4. Have Sora mention Kairi every once in a while

Honestly, this is such a low bar it’s sad the game didn’t clear it. Sora frequently mentions Riku in the Disney worlds when something reminds him of him, he tries to call him, and he even talks about Riku in the social media loading screens. Kairi doesn’t get the same amount of attention. (Riku also doesn’t talk about Kairi.) It makes it feel like Kairi is not a priority to the characters, which makes it hard to be invested in her while playing.

5. Have Sora and Kairi greet each other when they finally meet

The first time Sora and Kairi are in a room together is after Ventus gets saved and everyone is talking in Yen Sid’s room. During this scene, most of the time Kairi is OFF SCREEN and has almost no lines. When she finally talks, she apologizes to Aqua and says something about saving Namine. Sora and Kairi stand about 5 feet away from each other and he only looks at her when she’s talking. This is dumb, especially considering Kairi and Sora haven’t seen each other in person since KH2 (!!!), a game that she also had very little presence in, and now that she’s finally here, she may as well be a part of the wallpaper. While Sora and Riku are reunited in the most badass way possible (a dimension crossing rescue and summoning of the great rainbow keyblade), Sora and Kairi aren’t even given so much as a chance to say “hi.” Simply include few lines of them being excited to see one another. A hug, a compliment, an “I missed you,” ANYTHING.

6. Just rewrite the entire paopu scene

This scene has such wasted potential. It’s the first time Kairi and Sora really talk to each other, which already starves the scene of emotional impact because their relationship feels underdeveloped and unearned. If this scene had even a little bit of foundation setting (see the above list) it wouldn’t have felt so forced. I’d argue the only foundation their relationship has is from KH1, which not only is over a decade old for players, but the characters themselves have changed a lot since then.

Secondly, it is almost funny that a scene that’s supposed to be about Kairi and Sora starts with Sora talking about Riku. Would it have been so hard to put a scene change between the Riku/Repliku talk and this one and not awkwardly segue from Sora worrying about Riku to Kairi proposing to Sora.

Third, Sora shows almost no excitement about sharing a paopu fruit with Kairi until the very end, which only makes it feel more forced. He expresses shock, confusion, and even insinuates they don’t need to share a fruit since they are together in spirit. He says he’ll protect Kairi, which is kind of a lame promise since Sora protects all of his friends. Instead, Sora should have looked genuinely touched and excited about the paopu thing, and they should have made a promise that went beyond protecting each other, since that’s a given. (I do really like that Kairi vows to protect Sora, but considering what happens later it feels pretty hollow.)

8. Sora should protect Kairi with his keyblade, not a hug

Honestly, this was so dumb I don’t even know where to start. If there’s gonna be a Kairi hug, it should have been when they were reunited, or the paopu scene, or like... any other time. I get that it’s supposed to be a parallel to KH1, but that defense-hug made sense because Kairi was unarmed and untrained. (Plus, Kairi could actually shield heartless-Sora with her body. In this scene, Kairi and Sora are about the same size so it just looks like a normal hug, not protection). Just hours ago, Sora protected Riku from Aqua with his keyblade and it was badass. At the end of this scene, Riku protects Sora with his keyblade, and it’s badass. The hug isn’t badass, it’s stupid and it makes both Sora AND Kairi look incompetent, which it frustrating to witness.

9. Let Kairi literally protect Sora

As much as I like the scene where Riku protects Sora from the heartless cyclone, that would have been a perfect opportunity for Kairi to make good on her promise and protect Sora. We already know Riku will defend Sora, he did that in all the other KH games. Kairi shedding her damsel persona to defend Sora would have been amazing.

10. Play as Kairi in The Final World

If Kairi’s “light” is the reason Sora can persist in the final world, just abandon the whole deus-ex-kairi and let us play as Kairi. Kairi should collect the Sora fragments (or her own fragments), and save at least Sora and Riku’s heart. I think we should have been able to play as Kairi at some point anyway, but this seemed like an especially good time for it. That would elevate her role in saving Sora into something really believable, instead of Chirithy and Kairi just telling us she saved him when it feels like Sora just saved himself and everyone else (as usual).

11. Give Kairi a cool team attack

We only get to fight alongside Kairi for like, 10 minutes. At least give her a cool team attack. I’m not asking for a lot here.

12. Kairi doesn’t get kidnapped (and if she does, she goes down fighting)

Literally anyone else. I don’t care who. In fact, I think Riku would be a good candidate for kidnapping: not only does it subvert the damsel thing, but it would make the bad guys look pretty formidable if they were able to pull it off, and, Riku is important enough to Sora to “motivate” him to rescue him.

I’d rather she not get damseled at all, but if she really has to get kidnapped, it should at least be because she compromised her safety to save Sora or Lea. Then, when she’s grabbed, she should go down kicking and screaming, maybe taking out an Org member on the way out. Instead, the way it’s framed makes it looks like she got kidnapped because she sucks at fighting.

13. Give Kairi’s death/disappearance some real weight

I still stand by the fact that Riku is the one who should have been kidnapped but I digress. When Kairi explodes, Sora gets upset briefly before talking about closing Kingdom Hearts and receiving encouragement from his other friends. Xion reassures Sora that Kairi is fine, likely to justify why Sora gets over losing Kairi so fast. With a smile, Sora goes into the next battle and doesn’t mention Kairi until long after Xehanort is defeated. This makes her death feel like a cheap way to add superficial stakes and write Kairi out of the story (again). This can be fixed by having Sora react like a normal person, such as falling into complete despair or wracked with grief and vengeance, and having the other characters react appropriately too.

At the end of the story, Sora and the gang are weirdly understanding of Xehanort when he gives his sob story, even though he exploded Kairi just a little while ago, and they don’t even demand to know how to save her. It really makes it feel like they forgot about her.

14. Don’t gloss over Sora’s end-game rescue of Kairi

We’re shown that Sora saved her somehow and now he’s gone. That’s all the script thinks we need to know because the next game is about Sora and Riku just like most of the KH games. Not that I really want another game about Sora rescuing Kairi, but the fact that this is barely graced with explanation really makes it clear that Kairi is little more than a plot device to set up the next game. I don’t really know how to fix this other than not fridging Kairi, or bringing Kairi back right after Xehanort is defeated, or making the next game about Kairi saving Sora. Which brings us to my last fix...

15. Send Kairi after Sora, not Riku

Kairi explicitly said she was going to protect Sora. Therefore, she should be the one implied to search for Sora at the end of the game. Having her cry on the beach while Riku went after him was lazy and cheap and everyone knows it. But, I suppose it’s fitting end for a character that Nomura clearly didn’t care enough about to write decent character development for.

And there we have it, 15 ways to make Kairi more compelling. If the game included even a few of these, Kairi would have felt like a more meaningful person and not a watered down version of KH1 Kairi. I can only hope that the next game has some strong female characters that we can all root for, but honestly, I’m not getting my hopes up.

Let me know if you have any other suggestions, I want to hear them!

#kingdom hearts iii #kingdom hearts 3 #kairi #kh3 #kh3 spoilers #now that i finally got that out maybe I can move on with my life #kairi isn't even my fav but she was treated so unfairly i have to speak up #she was set up to have a great comeback but instead we got... this #kairi fans deserve better #kh fans deserve better #rewrite kh #words #kh text

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kingdommad300 · 5 years

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The Hidden Journal

Just a quick fic for SoraXKairi week.

Sora yawned on one of the pilot seats, a seat that is normally occupied by Goofy, before he closed his eyes to try and get some rest before they reached the Eclipse Galaxy. He could only look over to his friend, Riku, who was chuckling at how Sora was stretched out of the chair, like a dog with one leg tucked in and the other one going over the armrest. He sat up and wiped his eyes and looked over to Donald’s seat, only to see Ven occupying the space, reading on the Gummi Phone.

“You know,” Riku spoke up as he piloted the Gummi Ship, doing his part of the journey before Sora, Donald and Goofy take over control when they reach the Eclipse Galaxy. “The whole part of us taking turns driving was so that you could get some rest.” He quickly turned to look at him. “Maybe in your room.”

Sora yawned once more. “Like I can get to it.” He whined slightly. “It’s so crowded on the bridge.” The gummi ship that Sora, Donald and Goofy wasn’t big, it would deal with four to five people at its max. It wasn’t anyone’s surprise when the Gummi Ship had to take off with nine people on board instead of it’s usual three. Since there were only three small rooms, a lot of the team were spread out in the bridge, making it a little cramped. “Besides, I gave my room to Kairi and Aqua.” Sora reminded the silver head.

Ven smiled at Sora’s good gesture. “That was very nice of you, Sora.” Ven said before adding, “It is a bit too cosy down there.” He looked back at the Gummi Phone.

“Well, if you start yawning later when we reached the Keyblade Graveyard. That’s on you.” Riku told him, shaking his head as Sora yawned again. “So, tell me, sleepyhead, what was it like?” He asked as he focused on the path again.

Sora stood up, stretching out his arms before looking at his friend in confusion. “What was ‘what’ like?” he questioned.

Riku kept his gaze on the path. “You know what I mean.” He simply said. Quickly looking the see that Sora still that no idea what he was talking about, Riku gave a blunt hint. “The Paopu fruit?”

“Oh.” Sora took a seat.

Ven looked at the two with curiosity. “What’s a Paopu fruit?”

“It’s this star-shaped fruit that grows on our Islands.” Riku explained. “There is a legend that goes with it. They say that if two people share one, they remain part of each other’s lives no matter what.”

As Ven quickly showed Riku his Wayfinder and asked if the people from Destiny Islands make Wayfinders to, Sora was deep in thought. He had taken a bite out of the star-shaped fruit and it surprising tasted similar to a mango. He wasn’t thinking about the fruit though. He was thinking about the redhead girl he shared it with, the feelings that came during that moment came rushing back to him once more.

“I’ll keep you safe.”

“Let me keep you safe.”

There was something about Kairi that he just can’t put his finger on. Despite all of the doubts he was feeling from most of his journey, just being around her again made him feel at ease, made him feel powerful again. All she had to do was give him that heart-warming smile that she gave him and all of the courage and strength he needed for this final fight came back. She means a lot to him, sharing the Paopu fruit showed that. But what did it mean? His heart feels completely different around her…

…..

Did she……

……

Does he……

“Sora!” The Keyblade Master jumped in surprise as he looked back at Riku, who looked like he had been trying to get his attention for a while. “So, what’s it like?” He asked again.

Sora wasn’t sure how to answer, so he stuttered as he looked over to Ventus. “Hey, Ven! What are you reading?” He changed the subject abruptly, making Riku roll his eyes as he focused on driving once more.

“Jiminy had shared his reports of your adventures on our Gummi Phones so I wanted to have a read before we landed.” Ven showed the reports of his phone before he started to scroll through the reports again. “All this information of Heartless and Nobodies are handy going ahead to the battle.”

“Wait! You never fought against Heartless?” Riku piped in.

“That’s all we mainly fight.” Sora added, surprised by Ven’s statement.

“I had thought them once…. but that didn’t end very well.” Ven said as he held his hand to his chest. “I’ve mainly fought the Unverse.” Ven continued to scroll through the reports. “Sora. I was just wondering. Did you see me appear at all during your adventures?”

“No. Why do you ask?”

“Well, the journal says that you kept seeing Kairi on your first journey.” Ven found the part of the report that he was referring too. “’We went to an empty house to try and find a wizard called Merlin. When we were looking around, Kairi appeared in front of me once more. She was saying that this empty house reminded her of the secret place back home and asked if I remembered the drawings on the wall. ‘” He read out loud.

Sora’s eyes went wide as he pulled out his Gummi Phone. “Oh no.” He looked at the reports only to realise that Jiminy had not just shared his reports and findings to the others. He had also shared Sora’s personal journal. “Nonononono!” Sora started to pace around the pilot room.

Riku looked at him with concern. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Jiminy shared my journal,” Sora said in a slightly panicked voice. “All of my personal thoughts and worries were in that journal.”

Riku looked quite surprised about the journal. “You’re normally open to expressing your feelings.” He pointed out.

“It was just something I could write into so I didn’t worry Donald and Goofy too much.” He explained. When he started his first journey, Jiminy had suggested writing his thoughts on a piece of paper if he wanted to get something off his mind, something that came in handy when he was looking for Riku, Kairi and the King. “And when I was missing you guys.”

“It says here that you thought that Riku was stupid for siding with the Heartless.” Ven pointed out.

Riku only shrugged, “He’s not wrong.”

“Guys. If Ven can read it then the others can too.” Sora explained to them.

Ven looked at him questionably. “Is it that bad?” He asked him. “I get to know you on a deeper level. That and I can connect my dreams to your adventures.” He smiled.

“I think he’s more worried about what Kairi thinks.” Riku chipped in. Ven replied with a simple ‘ohhhh’ while smiling.

“Kairi can read it. I don’t care.” Sora crossed his arms, looking out into space.

“Yeah sure.” Riku huffed on Sora’s blatant lie. “Ven. Is there anything on Kairi?” He smirked as he received a glare from Sora.

Ven scrolled through until he found a section of the report. “Here we go. ‘It started to snow in Halloween Town and Jack had asked Sally to dance with him. As they danced, I started to wonder what Kairi would want for Christmas—”

“Right. I’m outta here.” Sora went over to the hatch door and started to climb down to the bridge, ignoring Riku and Ven’s calls that they were just teasing.

Reaching the bridge, Sora couldn’t help but smile as they saw Donald and Goofy sleeping on the sofa while Axel decided to kip on the floor, half in the kitchen, half in the hallway. He can only assume that Kairi, Aqua and King Mickey were resting in the bedrooms. Being careful not to wake the others up, Sora took a seat by the window as he looked out at the galaxy they were leaving, seeing the colours slowly change. The sight of deep space reminded him of staring out at sea, seeming endless, calm, peaceful. It always gave him some sort of comfort.

“I think this is the first time I found you awake.”

Sora turned away to see Kairi giggle slightly as she leaned against the wall by the window. “You should have come to me ten minutes ago.” He grinned, grabbing a vacant seat next to him and placed it in front of the window next to him. Kairi took the gesture and sat in the vacant chair, enjoying the view of deep space. “Did you get a chance to rest?” He asked her.

She shook her head. “With what’s up ahead, I couldn’t sleep. So, I decided to read some of Jiminy’s reports.” She told him. She turned to him, noticing that Sora was looking intently out into the emptiness. “I didn’t realise how many people you ended up helping while you were looking for me and Riku.” She admitted, grabbing Sora’s attention. “I know from your stories that you went to many worlds but when you actually read it, you take it all in.” She smiled back at him. “You’ve had quite an adventure, Sora.”

“There’s been funny moments.” He smiled.

Kairi pulled out her Gummi Phone and started to read something on her screen. “’Me and Donald had a huge fight today. Why can’t he understand that I just want a five-minute nap!’” Kairi read out before giggling, “Now that’s the lazy bum, I know.”

Sora groaned at this. “So you did get it.” He sighed.

She nodded. “I can imagine you reading it. It’s like having a piece of you no matter where we go.” She told him.

Sora smiled at this. She was doing again. Just being herself and his worries disappeared just like that. “Once we bring everyone back, and I have a long-deserved nap on the beach…” He enjoyed Kairi’s soft giggle to that. “We’ll go on our own journey. The one we always wanted to go on.” He proposed.

Kairi nodded to this, “It would be good to meet all of the friends that you have made, dance in the snow, learn how to fly, see all of the magical things that you got to see.” She smiled. “The three of us. Me, you and Riku.”

“Actually, I asked Riku a while back. He said that he would give it a pass.” Sora told her.

“But he wanted to see the other worlds the most out of the three of us.” Kairi said in disbelief.

“Tell me about it.” Sora said with the same disbelief before he chuckled. “Besides, didn’t you want it to be just the two of us last time?”

Kairi groaned into her own hands. “Don’t remind me.” Remembering her abruptness on her comment on her and Sora taking the raft and leaving Riku behind. She looked back at Sora, smiling at the soft smile he was giving her. “I look forward to our adventure together.” She leaned forward and grabbed a hold of his hand as she turned to look at the view again.

Sora could only focus on the hand that was holding his. This was the first time she has done something like this. Just feeling her soft hand against his rough skin made his heart heat up once more, similar to the evening they shared the Paopu fruit. He wanted to know what this feeling was and he will fight as hard as he can in the battle to come to figure out what it is that he’s feeling whenever he is around her.

#kingdom hearts 3 #sora and kairi #sora #Kairi #ven #Riku #friendship #sora and kairi week #sora x kairi

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derpyslurpy-da-derp-master · 5 years

Photo

@khoc-week Day 3-Friends Or Foes

Welp, this one took a good long while simply deciding which of my Keykids to introduce (along with writing the drabble below that includes the final member of this trio that I didn’t have time to draw) and I finally settled on my actual Main Keykid (my actual Union X avatar) who’s a lad named Kor and he’s basically like a little brother to Chase. He’s also in Ava’s Union just like Chase. He’s smart, a strategist, equipped with good medals, and... Rather timid actually. While Chase doesn’t do the normal missions anymore because there’s just too many to do, Kor is legitimately stuck on his current mission because he’s a completionist and doesn’t want to do a single level without getting all three extra goals finished and that just isn’t possible most of the time. He’s also only an inch or two shorter than Chase but that doesn’t mean Chase isn’t going to lovingly tease him about it. Usually whenever Kor does a mission, Chase will tag along to make sure Kor doesn’t get hurt doing something he really shouldn’t. Kor’s favorite Keyblade is the Starlight Keyblade and he’s upgraded it into the 30′s because he loves it so much for both it’s look and how balanced it is in every element. His favorite medals are a mix between the Foreteller’s (especially Ava/Gula) and this mysterious ‘Xion’ girl, he collects any medal that has the latter on it out of curiosity to learn more about her. The latter also earns him a fair amount of friendly teasing from Chase too. Despite how much Chase teases him, Kor knows that he never intends any harm and Chase never goes to far, it’s more like how an older brother would tease their younger sibling.

Anywho, onto le Drabble!

“Sup Shorty?” Chase grinned as he ruffled his best friend’s already messy, curly hair. Kor gave his usual timid smile and chuckled a small bit.

“Nothing much, I’m just trying to figure out how many Jewel’s I need to get the main medal of this next pull.” Kor replied, returning to his number crunching.

“Let me guess, another Xion pull?” Chase teased, poking Kor’s cheek which caused Kor to shove said hand away.

“Hey, this medal is actually really good stats-wise!” Kor pouted, puffing up his cheeks with a huff as he pulled his goggles over his eyes.

“Riiiight, that’s why you’ve got every other Xion Medal. You just think she’s cute don’t you?” Chase teased further as he sat down, grinning wolfishly at how his friend’s face erupted into a dark scarlet color.

“N-NO! T-THAT’S NOT IT A-AT ALL!” Kor waved his hands in an ‘x’ for ‘no’ frantically as if to physically kick the notion out. Chase broke down in laughter, putting an arm around Kor with a more friendly smile.

“I kid I kid, I know you just want to know who she is. I’m pretty curious about who these people in our medals are too. I mean, there’s two different names for the same guy in different clothes! That’s just weird!” Chase reached into Kor’s satchel sitting on the table where he kept his medals and pulled out two medals, one labeled Roxas and the other labeled Ventus.

“Yeah, that’s pretty weird... Just as weird as all the different ‘Xehanort’ medals. Why would we get medals of the same man in different stages of life? Why is one of them ‘Terra’ but with silver hair? Why is the youngest one labeled ‘Kingdom Hearts III?’ And I swear I saw some guys that looked a lot like younger versions of the ‘Marluxia’ and ‘Larxene’ medals, what could that m-”

Kor’s rambling was cut short by someone else sitting next to them and bopping the top of his head to get him out of said ramble. He glanced up in confusion only to quickly smile brightly.

“O-Oh, hi Anya! I was rambling again, wasn’t I?” Kor chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. The strawberry blonde just chuckled in response, her low pigtails bouncing a bit at the movement, her lavender eyes filled with amusement.

“Yep, you were. I’ve got something for you two actually.” Anya smiled and held up a gift bag, the kind you get from the medals shop. Both boys tilted their head almost in sync, eliciting another chuckle from the girl.

“Chase, this is for you.” Anya reached into the bag and pulled out a rather strong-looking Terra medal, causing Chase’s eyes to light up as she handed it to him.

“Duuuude, I don’t have this one at all! Thanks man!” Chase smiled brightly, checking its stats over before putting it in his pocket along with the rest of the medals he keeps on Moogle ‘O Glory, planning to upgrade and add it onto the Keyblade later.

“And Kor, this-” Anya reached in and pulled out none other than the medal Kor had just been doing calculations to get and handed it to him, “Is for you.”

Kor’s eyes widened then proceeded to dart between Anya and the medal questioningly.

“I did the pull just to get some new better medals, I didn’t really want the main one they were selling since there aren’t any Power slots on this bad boy,” Anya summoned her favored Keyblade, Divine Rose, to illustrate her point. “And I figured hey, if I get it I’ll just give it to Kor. So, there you go little buddy, have fun.” Anya pat his shoulder before taking her leave, probably to upgrade the medals she wanted to keep from the pull.

“Thanks Anya!” Chase called after her retreating figure before glancing at Kor who was still looking at the medal buggy-eyed, pulling his Goggles back onto the top of his head.

“...This is exactly the medal I was missing, not just in my collection but in my Keyblade-” Kor quickly summoned Starlight, taking out a rather mediocre medal out of the power slot directly in front of his already extremely powerful Gula Medal and placing the HD Xion in it’s place.

“...This’ll let me do my second most powerful medal twice. I’ve been looking for a medal like this!” Kor smiled brightly, seeming as excited as a kid on Christmas Morning as he always did when he found medals better than the ones he already had.

“Well lookie there, your obsession with Xion has finally come in handy!” Chase started to tease Kor again but he was too excited to care at all. Chase just chuckled and smiled, leaning back in his seat.

As he sits and thinks a bit, he remembers the three trio’s that always appear in the medals. He definitely gets why they stuck to three, ‘cause while Chase was pretty friendly with pretty much everyone, it was nice to have two close friends too...

#Kingdom Hearts #Kingdom Hearts Fanart #Kingdom Hearts Union X #KH OC Week #Chase KH #Kor KH #Original Art #Original Oneshot

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mimiplaysgames · 5 years

Text

A Good Defense

Pairing: Aqua/Xemnas Rating: T Word Count: 4,996

Summary: She hasn’t been the only person in twelve years to be wasted by darkness and left to pick up the remains alone. It only takes meeting a familiar face on a dangerous stranger for her to realize this.

Read on AO3

Notes: Made for the @khrarepairszine!! Surprise, surprise, I’m sure some of you have never expected me to venture here. This was actually a cancelled fic but this zine gave me an opportunity to bring life back to it again (which is good, what I cancel always threatens me in my sleep). It was tricky writing through a slow burn in such a short amount of words but I hope it’s enjoyable! Special thanks to @lyssala for beta-reading this and holding my hand every time I was insecure about this piece. Also to my boyfriend - without him, I would have made a fool of myself.

***

Day One ~*~

“You can keep it.”

Her answer starts slow and ends with a hiss, and the enigma sitting on a tall, white throne narrows his eyes - it lasts for a mere moment, a smirk drawing on the edge of his lips and she swears he’s thinking to himself that he has something valuable.

Two can play that game.

This is their first meeting, two days after she is discovered on the banks of a beach at night, after someone gives her a black robe to wear and leather gloves to cover the red tips of her fingers, after another introduces her to a familiar face stolen by a stranger.

And he had the audacity to try and give her a new name.

“I am Master Aqua to you,” she says like there’s an expectation to introduce herself as such, and it comes out like an audio recording because after so many years it sounds weird to say. She’s seen herself in the mirror since coming here. She knows how much she’s changed.

“Master Aqua,” he repeats, slowly, as though he likes to hear himself pronounce the syllables. His smile is foreign. “What is in a name, but a powerful congruence of will and faith?”

It’s enough of an introduction and she decides she can’t stand this guy. It’s wrong, he smiles wrong and for someone who thinks so little of such things, he calls himself Xemnas; not a name that should be worn with a face like his.

Day Thirteen ~*~

He catches her wandering the castle by herself, doing nothing but avoiding everyone else - particularly him. It’s hard enough to look at his face without having ugly reminders.

“So neglectful of your commands,” he says simply.

True. She’s been traveling on her own, keeping her hood up and dropping clues to other doe-eyed Keyblade wielders on how they can free Ventus from his deep sleep.

Not because she wants them to know who she is and not because she wants to join anyone who has abandoned her. Ventus will have to suffer enough disappointment with how long she’s taken already, there’s no need to prolong it.

Either way, anything to do with Ventus trumps whatever dumb shit and other shenanigans this Organization tries to throw at her - looking for missing boxes, babysitting princesses, it goes on. Xemnas has even commanded her on a mission to retrieve Ventus from his hiding spot. Her answer: never.

“You can’t make me care about them,” she says with a click of her tongue, too lazy to shrug with both shoulders.

“The cost of such defiance is steep.” His voice is deep and it rumbles even when it sneaks, startling and unnerving like a candle being snuffed out.

It doesn’t take a day to understand what Xemnas is capable of, and immediately she stiffens to prepare an attack, battle tactics and back-up plans coursing through her mind in case he pulls out his sabers against her. She’s still a force to be reckoned with, and he’s an idiot if he’s feeling testy.

Still… It’s not something a face like his would ever say to her. Should ever say. She wants to lunge forward and slap him, lose control and pull the real him out of his body, give him one thousand long lectures about what it was like to wait for him in the darkness, to chase him around worlds, to spend years worrying about him.

“Don’t speak to me that way,” she keeps, her voice as low as it can get before it turns to a whisper.

Xemnas smiles and she almost spits that he should entertain himself rather than bother her.

Entertaining himself indeed, every smile he gives has a double meaning and she’s only lucky to be able to guess what correctly. Otherwise, his eyes act like nothing but glass, doing their best at mimicking.

… It’s a wonder how he does it.

His lackeys give her a lot of comments of what it’s supposed to be like. How a Nobody feels, what her responsibilities are, how to connect to her powers, what to believe, what to expect out of Kingdom Hearts and when. Yes, she has yellow eyes just like the rest of them but that means nothing. It’s only because she’s angry.

Angry enough that she stews in between the grinding of her teeth when he lets her words slide off of him like it doesn’t matter. A perfect Nobody in every sense of the word, non-feeling, non-caring, un-attached… he therefore feels no pain and so he is free. Where does he hide the secrets to achieving such a high?

Xemnas draws a hand in the air, conjuring a dark corridor. “Come, Master Aqua.”

There’s a lot to fear in obeying him, one of which is enduring whatever punishment he’s decided for her. Not that there is a trace of threat in his voice, he’s just mostly amused. Perhaps the worst that would happen is finding out he’s just as bad company as the rest of them. Perhaps not.

She pushes the thought to the back of her mind that she shouldn’t follow a man with no hobbies.

Day Fifteen ~*~

He likes to hear himself talk.

The field trips are a nice distraction but she often finds herself tuning him out when he gets too involved in overblown monologues. She doesn’t spare this kind of time with the other Organization members - she instead follows other Keybearers to make sure they get her messages about Ventus. When he drones on about subjects too big for anyone, she’s afraid to name what she’s looking for in him.

Maybe if she pays enough attention, she’ll find that she’s walking by herself in Twilight Town, leaving him behind at a booth selling souvenirs.

It’s a strange thing to witness Xemnas show interest in something other than the moon. He usually keeps the other members at a far distance, where talks of what he’s like as a person are no more than rumors, and there is a certain… intimacy in being allowed to see him like this.

“A camera?” she asks when he picks one up, equipped with a neck strap and zoom lens, listening to the man behind the counter sell the idea that film photography is superior and can truly capture things as they are.

“As a matter of fact…” Even when he’s teasing, he’s monotone.

At least it’s a healthier pastime for him than sulking.

With his new toy, Xemnas requests a trip on the city trolley, over the sea and up a hill, until they reach a park and watch the sun bathe the entire city in a warm glow. Despite the sun’s reach, she’s cold, pulling on her sleeves to cover more of her wrists, hugging herself because even in thick leather, she shivers. Still, it’s quite a romantic little town, peaceful and vibrant. Nothing like this has ever existed in the Realm of Darkness.

“Does the view please you?” he asks, aiming the lens toward the horizon.

“I don’t care for the ocean.”

It reminds her of sinking, the water frigid and lonely where it’s too hard to swim up.

Learning how to use the camera is slow for him at first. The man has incredible focus though, and she can see the gears in his mind turning as he fumbles with the settings, twisting the lens, turning the flash on and off.

That’s the thing with him, that mind never stays quiet even when he is.

“What are you doing all that for? Art?” she snickers - obviously that could never be the reason.

“This world exists in-between… a ghost warped by the conflict of polarity, both standing in the light yet hidden in shadow. It will not continue to endure after the War. But now I have proof of its existence.”

“So you’re keeping a record for science,” she scoffs. “Such a civil servant.”

Her own words eat her up. A servant to the public would be locked in battle with him, doing all that it takes to put a stop to his very existence, and here she is, by his side, watching him study his camera the same way she used to study her books growing up.

It makes her wonder why a man so enraptured by the clicks of his machine would be so willing to walk into the fire once the end of the world comes.

“Why don’t you care about being swallowed by Kingdom Hearts?” she asks, half-expecting a lie as a response.

The question pulls his attention away. “Only a suffered soul abandons purpose.”

Of course, she should have known than to hope for a straightforward answer.

Finding a bench to sit on, she listens to him click away, each one blanketed by a pause as he adjusts ever so slightly, moving his frame from the town far below to the clock tower far away. This is familiar, like watching a close friend try his best to understand the secrets of a Keyblade, eyes lost in thought, focus spearheaded onto one thing and one thing only.

“A picture is a moment trapped in ink,” he says. “Here, a piece to take with me.”

“Where to?”

“Kingdom Hearts,” he says and it makes his breath swell. “To wherever we shall go when the time comes. When all memory erases and we reset, in a space somewhere my existence will linger so long as I have a memory to hold onto.”

It’s not something she really thought about - him wanting to have something to possess. These people, these Nobodies, give their free will up to Xehanort’s influence, to reduce themselves to puppets. It never occurred to her that the others might have something they cherish and want to keep as well, no matter the reason why they chose to walk this path and give themselves up like this.

“It is beautiful, is it not?” he asks.

If he means the ocean, it used to be.

She cocks an eyebrow. “That’s something that moves you?”

He takes a seat on the bench in front of her, the camera treasured in his hands. “I am only missing a heart, not a mind. Opinions are privileged to me... What we will leave behind here is graceful, as damning as that is.”

“Hmph.” Listening to him speak about absent hearts, that he’s a hollow body, chokes her each time, like she’s facing punishment for her transgressions.

Either way, she can’t let him see her get so affected. She flicks dirt off her cloak, leaning back and crossing her legs.

“Xemnas,” she starts, her tone teasing like a dark thought hasn’t crossed her mind. “Superior of the In-Between, Appreciator of Beauty.”

Titles have a weight to them, some befitting and others suppressing. Xemnas is a man who gives them value, who finds agreement to what she’s saying, testing his new designation in his mind to see how well it suits.

He studies her first. Brings the camera to his face, aims the lens at her. She sees herself in its reflection, gold eyes bright, before the flash captures her.

Day Thirty-Two ~*~

She flips through several developed photos and it comes as no surprise that she’s not smiling in any of them. She can read the timeline as she looks through portraits of herself standing by riverbanks and strolling through souks, her hair whitening by the week.

The two of them meet in secret to look over the photographs when they’re certain no one else is in the castle, and a part of her today hopes that one of them is beautiful enough to bring her some comfort.

Ventus is no longer in Castle Oblivion. Her hints and paper trails have worked and he’s now in the custody of the other Keybearers.

But it leaves her with a sensational loneliness, having no reason to go back and watch him sleep, and she doesn’t have anyone to talk about these feelings with.

It’s hard to tell if she’s doing a banging job at pretending it doesn’t affect her, since she’s grumpy all the time anyway.

Xemnas stands close, looking over her shoulder as she goes through a stack where he recorded a trip they took to a world of mountains.

Some of these photos she was aware of. Others not so much, and one in particular shows her staring at her Wayfinder, blue and powerful, while she ignores the backdrop of clouds cowering under the girth of the peaks behind her. He’s captured her standing so close to the edge yet she doesn’t even remember walking so dangerously near.

He scoffs gently. “Continue to be bound by the chains that drag you, and you will plunge into oblivion.”

She doesn’t know what game he’s playing anymore. Is he just fooling himself at this point? What other reason does he have to always follow her around unless there’s something pulling him?

Maybe it’s time to see exactly what he remembers. She’s had so many wonderful years living in the mountains with her boys, exploring the forests and camping overnight...

“We used to fish together,” she says, and the words sting more than she expected.

“Hmmm,” he sighs. “It was a leisure that came easily to me.”

Her heart skips a beat. Xemnas rambles, Xemnas tricks himself, Xemnas keeps others in the dark, the blind leading the blind.

But this is the truest statement that he’s ever said; she’s never been the best at hunting.

“It was, you were the best at it,” she says, prodding his eyes for more. “There was a river by the closest trail and-”

He smiles, and she almost hates it. It’s not warm, not comforting, just condescending.

“At an ocean that stretched by my childhood home, on an island, stranded in the middle of nowhere, where I fished with schoolmates,” he says.

That’s incorrect…

The lump in her throat sinks, and it’s an emotion called devastation. She’s spent years exploring her memories privately because admitting to them would acknowledge their existence, and there’s something about the dark that makes her question whether she’s making them up. Just like he is now.

She wants to throw his photos at his face, demand that he remembers her, shake him until he gives her an expression in his eyes that actually means he feels.

He pulls the photos from her hand, creased from her holding them too tightly. Whatever stupefied look she had on her face prompts him to say this next: “There is a place I want to show you.”

A single white room void of windows, like a capsule. But what’s inside nearly makes her wonder if she’s been transported elsewhere. There’s a white throne marked by chains and it’s uncanny how much it looks like the one Ventus slept in all this time.

“What’s the meaning of this?” she starts to ask, suddenly terrified that she’s been found out when she spots a mess of color.

Cracked and abandoned, just like her. Her armor in a scrap heap.

And right by it, Stormfall, dusty like it’s been waiting for as long as she has.

“It has not been a very…” He hides his hands behind his back. “Loquacious partner.”

She’s speechless at the idea that all this time the other members think he’s been talking to himself…

And what did he talk about? Why bother to pretend the armor is alive?

It’s enough temptation to try her hand. “Terra?”

If his smile is patronizing, his laugh is worse: breathy, amused, pitiful.

“What is in a name,” he says, “but a hopeful delusion?”

“Don’t mess with me,” she steps forward, ready to jab a finger at his chest. “I’m not in denial. There’s so much riding with me-”

“No.” He shakes his head, so tall that he has to look down. “You have nothing.”

“I’m not like you,” she hisses. “Any of you, I don’t tell myself lies that I am nothing.”

“You cannot claim that.” The confidence in his speech is astounding. “What you have is a star-shaped trinket. A fossil. That former life of yours is dead.”

She wants to spit back. Really, she does. And yet her mouth feels sewn together, too afraid to let toxic words slip out of her mouth, too tired to have to prove herself otherwise. It’s like she’s been paranoid that punishment has been waiting for its chance to pounce, and it’s finally here.

He’s so much larger than Terra that he has to bend over to meet her face, and he’s close enough she can smell his cologne, see the details of his irises and finally witness a spark -

Anger lives behind them, tested, refined, and tamed. Powerful, unlike hers which throws her at whims.

“This room,” he starts, and he pierces her with his eyes, beautiful and messy, “is what I have left. A troublesome reminder that there is something I have forgotten. The chains that keep us bound are attached to an empty void. That is why we are nothing, friend.”

The title feels like a leash and a collar around her neck, like he’s about to grab her. She braces herself for the possibility, and it churns her stomach.

“What I have earned since are the hollow words of a woman who’s told me there was nothing to darkness but hate and rage,” he continues, barely giving her the space to breathe for herself. “So I came here, to ask her time and time again if she still believes I will continue to go astray.”

If there is a memory she ever wished for Terra’s heart to hold onto, it wouldn’t have been those words.

“The fates that have been chiseled for us,” he continues, “were deviant… unnatural… manipulated. We should not have existed, maimed and exploited. Darkness has ravaged us, as much as it has left you destitute.”

What echoes in the silence is the shuddering of her breath, driving her to near-tears when she thought that she wasn’t capable of crying anymore. “I didn’t deserve what happened to me.” She doesn’t know why she needs to say that or what kind of comfort she will get out of it.

His eyes search her face and there’s that feeling in the back of her mind that he’s going to touch her. “I did not think so, either.”

With that, he straightens up, turning over his shoulder to leave her shivering in this cold room.

She lunges forward to grab his wrist - a knee-jerk reaction really. Who can blame her when she’s looking for… someone to tell her it’s not her fault. When he turns to look back at her and she realizes the smile she wants is just a fantasy, she’s reminded:

Xemnas. She has to remember that he is Xemnas and not who she wants him to be.

So she lets him go, to be left in an air-tight container with no Terra to hold her, no Ventus to wake up, and a Keyblade.

It belongs to a Master, to Aqua. And she is Aqua but she is not.

She has been tethered and conditioned since, a dull glory with memories that don’t serve her anymore except to leave her feeling… well, destitute. An Anti-Aqua, a new her with the same name she was born with.

Certainly it feels strange to hold Stormfall again after all these years, and she takes it with her. After all, stealing a Keyblade isn’t that terrible of a crime.

Day Seventy-Nine ~*~

There isn’t so much of a point to being part of an Organization when she’s lonely even around other people. It’s daunting, and if she isn’t around Nobodies that can speak, she’s around monstrosities that can’t.

The World That Never Was is hollow, and the sea of empty hotels and apartments is all just for show, like it’s good enough to pretend to have friends.

But maybe that is definitely the point: keep attachments at bay to make it easier to move on to the other side when the time comes.

Footsteps softly rise as she hears him climb the steps that lead to the lounge where she waits, and it makes her smirk. He walks with the lightness of air; that’s impressive for his size.

“I come bearing gifts,” he announces when he arrives to take the couch across from her, crossing his legs as he makes himself comfortable. In his hand is a white envelope, full enough to have photos she hasn’t seen yet.

Her face goes cold when she looks through them - it’s like he’s throwing more games at her that she’s too tired to play, like he keeps testing her to see when she finally breaks. If he hasn’t figured her out yet, he certainly has now.

Ventus, in all of them. Wandering streets by himself with the curiosity of a toddler. Laughing with Sora. Sparring with Riku.

She inhales sharply. “What do you want with him?”

“Nothing,” he says like it’s his favorite word. “I do not wish to harm him.”

“Stalking and endangering him makes you look bad.”

All Xemnas does is flash her a smug grin, his fingers on his chest like he’s proud of himself. “It appears I am not the heartless one between the two of us, throwing such a blatant accusation against me.”

Being playful doesn’t suit him well but at least she’s fond of it. He lets go of a long breath, the smirk melting away into a faraway longing as he stares at his own hand, those gears of his turning.

It gives her the impression that her reaction stung him, and she wonders if anyone has ever asked him if his feelings have been hurt. If he’s even capable of being offended that way.

Rubbing his gloved fingers against his palm, Xemnas shakes his head. “There was a… an oath made to me long ago, and still I cannot recall the exact words.”

Aqua doesn’t know what to say - Terra and Ventus were like brothers, and sometimes would share secrets and promises without her knowing, so she really can’t help him remember.

She wishes, though, that he’s easier to read. It’s hard to tell if he’s being entirely sincere or if he’s pulling fanciful words to suit her - if he has other reasons not to attack Ventus. Come to think of it, he only asked her to find Ventus for him once… though it’s unsafe to assume too much. Believing that he feels a bond is still a risk, but so long as she can take care of herself, it’s probably a good idea to humor him.

It’s for the best since Ven isn’t something Xemnas should think he can keep.

“How long I have searched for the chamber that kept him locked away for more than a decade,” he continues. “I admit all I yearned for were answers to questions no book can satiate. Now... he simply waltzes out of the castle with nary a helping hand.”

It’s the way he says it that tells her he knows.

She shrugs. “Magically.”

“Magically.” At least he’s amused. “The portraits are yours to keep.”

She takes another glance, petting her thumb on the smooth surface where his cheek was captured. “How is he?”

“He is healthy.” He leans back, one elbow on the armrest. “Rambunctious and eager to fight.”

“Did he see you?”

“No.” He takes one hard look at her. “Will you not meet with him?”

“No.”

He attempts to ask why but she cuts him off. “He’d be very upset if-” Takes a moment. Regain composure. There’s nothing left to cry over, he’s happy and he deserves it. “If he saw either of us this way.”

She adds, “my body is changing.”

The confession is like pulling a stopper, letting the water gush down the drain like a hurricane, where tears do not come out of her eyes but out of the growling in her throat and the fists she makes as she slips off her gloves to show him the red fingertips, the purple wrists, the smoke that poofs out like she’s sweating it.

Nothing could have prepared her for how much his smile falls, completely enraptured with what he sees, like she’s a foreign specimen in need of study.

“To feel so intensely,” he says mostly to himself, leaning over the table in between them to look at it more closely. “That it alters the host.” He frees a hand from his glove, and his skin looks smooth like a human’s - for someone who considers himself a monster, she’s the only one who looks like one.

He reaches over, as if asking for her hand. It has to be the most human thing to be curious.

Meeting him halfway, they press their palms against each other, the rolls that make up the hand and fingers shifting as they fill the gaps. His are so familiarly big, so amazingly warm, and she’s been certain this entire time that she’d never feel hands like these again. It’s pleasant to find some solace from the frigidity of her scales.

Splaying his fingers to meet hers, he plays: first leaning into hers to see how far they can bend, then threading them together one by one, like he understands what it is to hold a hand but has never learned what it’s supposed to feel like.

Intertwined like this, he’s now leashed to her, bound by a chain he can’t break either.

Day Eighty ~*~

It’s hard to count the hours when there’s no sun. It could be late or early, whatever, but either way sleep has decided not to say good night no matter how many times she’ll toss and turn.

Suppose the only question keeping her awake is whether any of this matters. When that heart-shaped moon finally opens and she disintegrates, suppose she’ll become the inky sky that allows the stars to shine in the new world, a ghost so far away and expansive that she’ll stretch forever and witness everything.

Or instead, she’ll turn into a star, a memory of the way things were and she’ll shine brightly to give others hope. Maybe even become the sun and be the source of all life.

She takes her hand, lets her cold, scaly fingers brush her chest first before finding her heartbeat, quiet and calm with the hours in rest.

Still, what is the point if she’s at it alone? Will she blend into other people? Will she reconnect with Terra and Ven? Will she forget about them, about her current life, about pain and loss?

After all, the only way to remove the loss is to wipe away the reminiscence.

With this in mind, she leaves her bed and this empty room.

Whatever she becomes, the least she can have is something to hold onto. She should be allowed to keep the things she’s loved. Maybe nothing will happen - maybe they can run away, abandon crazy prospects and make a life out of what’s left.

Finding herself standing in front of Xemnas’ door, she knocks, somewhere between soft and demanding. When he opens the door, he’s finishing the zipper up his cloak, having just stood from his desk where his camera splays open.

“Don’t say anything,” Aqua says. There’s been enough thinking, enough existential crises tainted by the question of why’s and when’s and what’s.

They’re wasting time and she doesn’t want to be alone when her bones turn to dust.

Xemnas still has his glove-less fingers on his zipper when he steps aside and lets her walk through the threshold into his room, respecting her request to keep silent, a small smirk pulling on his face.

Aqua closes the gap between them, her head leaning against his chest, nuzzling on the leather he wears. He likes to talk big about being nothing, but there it is, his heartbeat, quiet and calm like it doesn’t want to be discovered.

What’s in a name indeed, a man once said to her when his own very name, Xemnas, is a body and a mind. He is someone, and Kingdom Hearts will take him away too.

Hearing its beat lulls her and finally, finally, she thinks she’ll be able to find sleep for this long night. Gripping his leather into her fists, her breath slows and she rests against him, taking his warmth as a reminder that she’s alive for now. There’s nothing else relevant except the lack of rhythm in their hearts and that camera, a small trinket they can take with them so at least they can share a life that isn’t dead.

He helps himself to a lock of her hair as he intertwines it into his fingers, his free hand claiming the small of her back, his warm breath on her scalp as he searches for his own meaning of life.

“It’s magnificent,” he says about whatever it is he’s finding.

She hums, half in contempt that he’s speaking and half asleep, intoxicated by his cologne as she pulls on his cloak, squeezing her fist tighter like tonight will be the last.

“Xemnas,” she calls but does not follow-up.

She was about to say that he can continue to take photos of her, to let her take some of him with her, to liven the mood, to keep her warm because this entire castle is cold… to do something or tell her a story of a world where the sun rises from the west. Maybe they can find it together and gather proof of it.

He’s been wrong all along - there is power to a name and if he wants to deny that, then she’ll have to slap him out of such a problem.

He moves slightly and now his hair covers her face but he grips her tighter. The door to his room closes. He carries her to bed, and she lets herself drown in his mouth as his weight pressures her to sink, down to the depths where they gasp for air together.

#xemqua #aqua #anti-aqua #dark aqua #xemnas #kingdom hearts fanfiction #kh fanfic #AHHHHH i'm honestly deathly nervous to post this #i just don't know what people are going to think eeeeeeeeeeeeek #my fic

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