#sora looks at riku way more than he ever looked at kairi

[ammy246]

People always say Sora gets dumber as the games go on, but Riku was dumb on day 1. He destroyed Destiny Islands by having a gay panic because he thought Sora loved Kairi more than him.

[rikusahoge]

"But be safe. No reckless stunts."

On Sora and Riku's respective recklessness as showcased in the series, and what it means for their relationship

Under readmore because i am going to talk a lot

As an aside: Im going to be pulling from the Japanese text, though I am not a native speaker or really any kind of speaker, so take what I say with a decent amount of scrutiny. I'm more than willing to be corrected on these conclusions!

One line that has stood out to me in kingdom hearts is the repetition of "no reckless stunts!" and similar phrases. If you examine the original text, three slightly different words have been used to mean "reckless", which I'll include below (pulled definitions from Jisho, mostly)

無謀 (mubou): reckless, foolhardy, rash, ill-advised, mad (scheme)

無茶 (mucha): reckless, absurd, unreasonable, ridiculous

無理 (muri): impossible, unreasonable, unjustifiable

Importantly for what i want to talk about is how "muri" is used in situations where a character wants to express that something is impossible (think of a character giving up all hope due to an insermountable obstacle in front of them, they may mutter something like "muri da...") keep a pin in this, it will matter toward the end.

Also note that each of these words starts with "無" (mu), which usually means nothingness or absence of something. The definition of this kanji isnt super important, it's more important that its presence ties these three phrases together in a really unique way as i hope to demonstrate.

what i propose is that both Sora and Riku are depicted as reckless characters, albeit in different ways. The established pattern I've noticed is that Sora: "mucha" & Riku: "muri". I will tentatively refer to "mucha" as "rash" and "muri" as "impossible" (despite that it does also mean other things in some cases! bare with me it'll make sense)

Dialing back a bit, we have seen countless moments of Sora acting rashly. It is one of his key character traits and it tends to get him in trouble. He has a big heart, and is quick to anger.

Sora's response to loved ones and helpless innocents that have been put in harm's way is to repetitively bash things with his keyblade (and ask questions later).

It's Sora's rashness that allows Org 13 to use him to complete kingdom hearts. The extreme end of his rashness is showcased when he stabs himself to release Kairi from his heart.

Tldr. I think it's pretty well established and easy to argue that Sora is one to leap before he looks.

Now, Riku might be a little harder to sell as reckless, because of how well he tends to hide it. He carries himself as a role model for Sora, and tries to be the responsible friend. But if we look at his patterns of behavior, despite how he carries himself, he is quite reckless!

Without thinking of the consequences, he rushes the open door when destiny islands falls to darkness, eventually succumbing to it himself. He lashes out several times at Sora, particularly dangerously when he fires off a dark firaga in Hollow Bastion. He closes the door to darkness with Sora without knowing what would happen to him if he was trapped in the realm of darkness. When Sora is asleep, he sacrifices his form to defeat Roxas, without any assurance that he would ever be able to get his old form back.

We see Riku's recklessness too in the fight against Xemnas. He recklessly throws himself in front of Xemnas twice, hurling Sora away from danger and taking a very nasty blow to the hip. I'd count his dive to save Sora in DDD among these, mostly due to his risk taking behavior when it comes to saving Sora. Finally of course we see it in KH3, with his ultimate sacrifice. (but i think importantly, this scene isn't just recklessness, but I'll explain in a bit)

So tldr. Despite Riku's mask of level headedness and resolve, he has been shown over and over to take massive risks without caring for the consequences. Which is pretty reckless, in my opinion!

Sora and Riku's recklessness, mind you, is also called into question by Yen Sid, who tells Riku the reason he kept Aqua's fate a secret was to keep Riku and Sora from staging a "half-baked attempt at rescue"

He says similar in Japanese, but i want to just note the word he uses when he describes the rescue attempt as reckless (highlighted for ur convenience):

(the highlighted word here is "mubou", it will come back later in an Important way, so keep it in mind)

he's *basically* saying that if Riku, or worse, Sora, knew about Aqua, they would have recklessly marched into the realm of darkness to rescue her. Because he knows they are both ... Like that.

I would be remiss to not mention that Sora's impulsivity and recklessness is something Riku admires! After Yen Sid tells riku not to be rash, and Riku excitedly tells Mickey he's ready to help save Aqua, Kairi observes that Riku has changed, and he's more like Sora. Riku asks if that's a compliment, but I think it's clear that he feels it is. He says it's more Fun to just follow his heart, which is sora-esque. (;_;) This is also something he brings up to Sora when they're on the dark margin together, that he's jealous of how Sora can just follow his heart. It's clear Riku has started to embrace his more impulsive side, to follow his heart like sora does. This is important later!

So now that I have my premise Mostly set up, I'd like to highlight a handful of scenes that I thought were really telling about how Sora and Riku relate to the terms "mucha" and "muri", respectively.

Let's start with Sora and "mucha".

The first instance i have found "mucha" used is in Olympus Colliseum.

lets recall How Herc initially loses his power in KH2, and compare it to the movie.

In KH2, Herc is tricked into leaving the colliseum unguarded by capturing Meg and hiding her in the underworld so that Herc and Sora must go to her rescue. Hades sends a hydra in to destroy the colliseum while Sora and Herc are busy fighting heartless and Pete and rescuing Meg.

Upon seeing the destruction in the colliseum, Herc falls to his knees, and you can visibly see his colors fade to a more ashen complexion, similar to his appearance without his powers in the movie. He calls himself a piece of shit basically and Meg helps him up to limp to safety, leaving Sora to defeat the Hydra (ahem sora helping riku walk in twtnw after xemnas fight anyone)

(Herc even has a second journal entry for his Desaturared form.)

You leave the world after defeating the hydra and jumping up on its back a few times, and after sora d & g are named true heros. Yay. But Herc doesn't have his power back yet, which will later be addressed in the second episode.

Herc's loss of power is much different from the movie. In the movie, he agrees to let Hades take his strength for a day in order to keep Meg from harm, and release her from the contract she had entered with Hades (iirc). This was all so Herc wouldn't get the chance to save Olympus from the titans that Hades revives in order to take Zeus' throne for himself.

Herc still tries to wonderboy his way into rescuing the town, and fights a giant cyclops. While he lacks physical strength and gets pretty much Pummeled, he ends up beating the cyclops with his wit - but in doing so, a pillar is knocked over. It is about to crush Herc, but Meg pushes him out of the way, and is crushed to death.

She gives her life to save him, which in turn returns strength to Herc, because the contract was only good if Meg remained unharmed.

What I'm mostly trying to say here on this tangent is Herc's loss of power in KH2 specifically is very reminiscent of Sora losing his keyblade in Hollow Bastion, which is later echoed in the keyblade graveyard when he feels he loses his strength to fight after losing his friends. I bring up the movie to show how bizarrely different it is from the Kh2 plot, perhaps precisely to make the parallel between Sora and Herc stronger (and the parallel between Herc and Riku, by the way - Herc falling to his knees, losing his power, and giving up, only for Meg to walk him to safety, is a parallel to Riku losing his will to fight and press on after the battle with Xemnas - Sora refuses to let him and in the same Exact way he helps Riku walk on)

So Hercules, when faced with the impossible wavers, and loses his strength and will to fight. This is important so keep it in mind. Impossible/Muri isn't stated here as far as i know, but it's important that he is feeling utterly defeated and unable to win.

The second visit to the world is when we first see the term "mucha"/reckless used as far as I was able to find. Hades casts Meg into the Soul Hole and Herc dives in to save her without hesitating (mechanically to write Herc out of the boss fight, but)

We later see Herc emerge with Meg, his godly aura restored (he is Radiant!) something that *should* have killed him. and should have been impossible. But his desire to save her was so great, he recklessly dives in, without knowing that he will succeed. Luckily, all he had to do to prove he was worthy of godhood and power in both the game and the movie was to use the strength of his Heart rather than his fists, as a true hero does:

Sora scolds him and tells him not to do anymore crazy stunts after this reckless dive to save Meg (screenshot makes it look like herc is saying it sorry lol) and that is where we can see the term "mucha" being used in Japanese:

instead of crazy stunts, Sora moreso says "but don't be reckless (mucha)":

to which herc responds:

"people always do stupid things when they're in love" (note he doesn't repeat reckless, he says "baka" lol)

so here we have a direct link between herc's sacrifice when he dove in to save Meg, the restoration of his power/Godhood, and acting recklessly (mucha), without Fear or Doubt, to save someone he is In Love With. put a pin in this because it's all connected.

Now moving onto KH2.9 and KH3. From the start of the game we are told Sora has lost the Power of Waking, and his Entire goal in the game is to regain it, wake Ventus, and prepare for the battle in the KBG with Xehanort.

The Power of Waking is already a very vague, disney-esque power, essentially the power to free sleeping hearts from slumber (and first introduced to us in DDD, particularly in terms of Riku waking Sora up in a sleeping beauty retelling but I'm getting ahead of myself)

Yen Sid suggests that Sora go to Olympus for clues to regain his power, as Just Like Sora, Hercules also lost his power, but was able to regain it.

It's pretty straightforward, but in the interest of not making this post a fucking novel ill try to keep it short. Herc tells Sora he's not sure just *how* he got his powers back, just that he wanted to save Meg with all his heart when he (recklessly) dove in to save her. The game is trying to tell Sora that it's the Power of Love that brought back Herc's strength, and that Love will be key in bringing Sora's PoW back, too.

Specifically, I think that Herc's story and the other worlds Sora visits are saying that it's True Love that will bring Sora's powers back. Acts of true love in KH3 are framed as courageous, selfless, and performed unconditionally.

Despite the visit to see Hercules, Sora still doesn't gain the PoW. He has an idea of what he needs to regain it, but he has to visit multiple Disney worlds to learn more about the power of true love and sacrifice (well also separation but thats not as important to this post) before he's ready to test it out for himself.

After Arendelle (i think) we get to another important cutscene where Riku, Sora, donald, goofy, & mickey meet up with Yen Sid to discuss the progress they've made on their respective journeys. Sora wants to go to the Realm of Darkness with Riku & Mickey because he's worried, but they Won't let him because he doesn't have the PoW. Riku does the fondest laugh known to man, eliciting a bit of anger from Sora, but explains it's because of what Yen Sid had told him earlier - that had Sora or Riku known about Aqua being trapped in the RoD, they would have recklessly gone in to save her.

he's pretty much directly quoting yen sid here, just like he does in English (saying half-baked instead of reckless too). So basically saying here Sora would have marched into (the dark world) recklessly (had he known where Aqua was) - again using "mubou" like master yen sid.

Interestingly, when we get to Sora telling Riku to not be reckless in the dark world to Riku, he's not repeating the same word for Reckless that Riku is using (Now this might be just a flow of the conversation thing, which i certainly cant confirm as a non-native speaker but i think it's still notable)

Sora says something similar to what is said in English; with a few distinctions. A rough translation would be "but don't overdo it, call me if anything happens" (need I gripe one more time that english localization cuts out sora telling Riku to call him; which is why he spends the rest of the time apart from Riku wanting a call, and why its so unhinged that Riku triangles for sora and basically summons him. I DIGRESS)

This line is translated as "but be safe, no reckless stunts" in English, which serves as a callback to what Sora tells to Hercules in KH2, (further solidifying a herc/riku parallel) but IMPORTANTLY, Sora is NOT even saying the same thing he said to Hercules in the Japanese script. He's saying something else - 無理しないで (muri shinai de), which is usually translated as don't overdo it - but literally means "don't do the impossible". This will be important later when I talk more about Riku so keep this in mind.

We immediately get Donald saying "Sora's the reckless (muri) one" (abbreviating for simplicity) but Jiminy disagrees. In English he says "He's not reckless, he just doesn't think!" but in Japanese he says this:

Which i know im going to butcher any translation I do, but Jiminy is basically saying "[Sora's] not muri he's mucha". That distinction is important enough for Jiminy to make a joke about it. That Riku might actually be the one who is overdoing it/trying to do the impossible (muri), while Sora is the one who runs headfirst into danger recklessly (mucha). Which, i think, is quite fitting, given the actions theyve done through the series.

Importantly we get one more instance of "mucha" which I think really ties Sora's trait "recklessness" together nicely, and puts into perspective what the repetition of these phrases is doing from a story telling perspective.

After Sora finishes up the remaining Disney world visits, S, D, & G find out that Chip & Dale have lost contact with Riku & Mickey. Sora is very upset at this, and is Determined to save them (Riku) (with all his heart). Sora has NOT GAINED THE POW at this point, and they don't know how to even get into the RoD, so Sora opts to "let his heart be his guiding key" to find his way to Riku and the RoD. (Recklessly I might add, he hasn't called or talked to Yen Sid or consulted anyone about it lol)

He arrives at Destiny Islands and mysteriously finds Master's Defender which happens to be the key to getting him into the RoD. Right? Well. We know from the glossary that the established method of reaching the RoD is with a keyblade of darkness, through dark corridors, or with the Power of Waking.

Others have argued this (see SRT) but it's heavily implied that Sora regained the PoW on his way to rescue Riku. That he used it explicitly to get into the RoD is where people tend to be a little caught up in the details, because it *does* seem like Master's Defender plays a role, which begs the questions - is it a keyblade of darkness? What the fuck was it doing there? etc. (literally saw on a kh wiki that sora got into the RoD because Masters defender was a keyblade of darkness, which is unconfirmed currently lol) It's also not traditionally what the PoW looks like. There's a huge door that appears, Sora isn't using the kingdom key, he doesn't burst out of Riku's chest. Etc.

HOWEVER. I think with the context of the narrative arc Sora is going through, the foreshadowing present in the game, and The Reckless Rescue angle can at least prove that he DID regain his power here, regardless of whether or not he explicitly used it to get into the RoD. I'll try to briefly summarize the points I've seen made before I add my own.

After the visit to Olympus, Sora explains to Yen sid that he didn't regain his power but he still learned a lot. Yen sid stresses again that sora needs the PoW, Sora gets pouty, and Goofy cheers him up by saying "maybe something will trigger it real soon". Shortly after a bit of banter, there is a knock at the door, and Riku and Mickey walk in. The camera kmakes a point to show Mickey off to the side, then pan up to Riku as he walks in to close the door, who is centered in the view (almost as if we are watching from Sora's POV, who is anticipating Riku's appearance in the door).

Putting this side by side is a little unfair, since it's not an immediate jump from Goofy saying this to Riku's entrance, but it's pretty in your face about just what (or who) might be key to reawakening sora's PoW.

We also get some heavy handed foreshadowing in the next visit to Yen Sid's tower, right before Sora tells Riku to not overdo it:

Yeah. and he does, importantly, get the power of waking, not BEFORE he comes to the rescue, but BECAUSE he comes to the rescue.

Now for my contribution since I stole the last two/three points from other posts. Just before Sora enters the RoD, he tells D & G to stay behind and that he has to go alone. (Sigh, yes, this scene is a parallel to Riku using the PoW to save Sora in DDD - it *has* to be him, and him alone) D& G protest, but eventually relent. But Donald doesn't let Sora go without saying this:

(In English, Donald says "you promise to be good?" inexplicably) but in Japanese he tells sora (basically) "Don't be reckless" - aka. No Reckless Stunts, complete with the use of "mucha" (recall Donald in the previous scene was the one to call Sora "muri" before being corrected by Jiminy). This is similar to what Sora tells to herc, so we are pretty much full circle on this scene being a callback to Herc rescuing Meg in KH2.

Like Herc, Sora does the reckless thing. Like Herc, he heroically dives into the abyss to rescue his loved one with all his heart.

Like Herc, Sora regains his power the moment he resolves to rescue Riku, even if it is not made explicitly clear to Sora OR the audience (perhaps the fact that he regained the PoW is why he is able to save aqua, too)

I could probably go on about this and what it means for Sora for a long time, but I think it's high time I actually wrote about "muri" and Riku's recklessness, so let's rewind a little.

I've already brought up how Riku relates to Herc in terms of his recklessness and heroics, but theres a few more things to add. of course. I'll recap with pictures of one of the parallels i've already discussed:

So here i think at least metaphorically, we can argue that Riku has lost a bit of his "power"- or rather, his drive. After everything is over, he just collapses, ready to die or be left behind. Sora WONT let that happen. So Riku asks Sora to lead. He confesses to some of the jealousy and superiority he'd been feeling over Sora for the past few years, and seems to be trying to find a new direction in his life, having now repented Quite a bit for the sins he committed in KH1.

Riku's entire purpose for fighting after KH CoM and KH2 was to wake Sora up, keep him safe while he does his keyblade weilder duties, reunite him with Kairi, and send him on his merry way. Sora refuses to let him leave, and demands that he comes home with him. So he does. but without his jealousy over his feelings toward Sora, or without his feelings of guilt and feeling he needs to make it up to Sora, what is left to drive him to keep fighting?

DDD gives him a pretty strong answer - it's where he both rediscovers his sense of purpose and gains the Power of Waking in the process. And his dream eater powers too. btw

Riku's journey in DDD is, simply put, not really about passing the mark of mastery exam and becoming a keyblade master. it's about remembering What he lives for. remembering his promise to Terra, and how those feelings have evolved - from wanting strength to protect the Stuff that matters as a child, to, in DDD, discovering that the "stuff that matters, like his friends" was Sora the Whole time, and that Sora is actually a "precious best friend" that he wants to protect. It's About recovering his strength, like Herc needs to do in KH2.

So how does Riku regain his "strength"? By Sora-style taking a reckless dive into the deep abyss of Sora's heart to wake him using the PoW.

(Not once was I able to find any mention of "recklessness" here, or any particular language that ties this moment together cleanly with what happens in Olympus Colliseum in KH2, but the repetition of diving down into an abyss to rescue someone (with all your heart. etc) is Enough of a parallel to make the connection between this scene and Herc's dive to save Meg)

It is within the deepest depth of Sora's heart where Riku is interrogated by three pieces of Sora's heart about what he's afraid of, what he cares about more than anything else, and what he wishes - All canon answers involve the mention of "precious" - "taisetsu" (sorry im not explaining this one im going to just assume you know what im talking about if you are a soriku that reads meta you should know.) - to lose something precious, my precious best friend (fuck da english localization for this one), to recover something precious that I lost. It is here that we see Riku's simple "protecting important stuff" become "protecting something precious/my precious best friend" (note that this hasn't quite become "taisetsu na hito"/precious person but hes getting there)

Ansem the wise is there i guess and he tells Riku that his 3 answers are what were the key to waking sora up, and I think, importantly, are what give Riku his "strength" back. He has rediscovered his purpose, which is, to him, protecting Sora (with all his heart)

Continuing into KH2.9 we have another couple scenes that will both complete Riku's development from protecting stuff that matters to protecting a precious person and also continue to make a strong connection between him and Hercules.

It's been pretty well established that these two scenes are deceptively mistranslated, but i'll go over it again

Herc here is saying "taisetsu na hito" which is translated to "person I love most"

The EXACT phrase Mickey uses to tell Riku why he's feeling more powerful and fearless in the RoD, in the literal next scene in 2.9. They were supposed to be VERY CLEAR hit you over the head parallels but, well. SENA said fuck gay people i guess.

Riku repeats what Mickey says into his hand ("strength to protect my precious person") and recalls his promise to Terra, to protect the things that matter. (again it's implied it's always been about protecting sora, he just didn't have the language or understanding of himself yet to know how to say it)

There is absolutely no room for nuance here. This is explicitly framing Riku's feelings for Sora on par with Herc's feelings for Meg eg. explicitly romantic. And that it's his ROMANTIC LOVE for Sora that is what gives him his strength - not just to protect Sora, but also to do THE IMPOSSIBLE

phase ??? of my argument will now commence hang on to your butts. (i wrote this all in one night im tired)

Now that ive Exhaustively set that up. lets actually get back into discussing what I initially set up - riku doing the impossible "muri" thing.

As a reminder, Sora tells Riku to not "attempt the impossible/overdo it" in the RoD. And to call him if he needs him.

So Riku, instead of attempting the impossible in the RoD by facing the demon tide, does call Sora, which ends up being what saves the day! Yay!

I have bad news though! Riku is terrible at listening to advice when Sora is in trouble.

Now recall what I mentioned earlier about the fall of the guardians in the KBG and Sora's subsequent breakdown being a parallel to Herc losing his power in KH2. Sora *fails* everyone here, and he explicitly states he is worthless, without strength, when he loses them. It's very in line with Herc losing his powers in KH2.

(just putting these in here to hurt you and myself)

So, we get the Herc parallel, but it stops here for Sora. He doesn't do some grand self sacrifice for Riku to prove his heroism and regain his "power", but i think theres a reason for that beyond it just being Riku's time for the spotlight but I am getting there.

In the english localization, Sora says "we've lost, it's over". It's a subtle change from the Japanese, where instead of "it's over", Sora simply utters "muri da--" ("its impossible") (in the wettest saddest voice you can imagine)

It's at this moment where I do truly think we're meant to make the connection between Sora saying "its impossible" and Sora telling Riku to not attempt the impossible. It fits in nicely with Sora telling Herc to not do reckless stunts, with the slight change in language from "reckless" to "impossible", and with the impending self sacrifice. Riku knows that beating back the demon tide is impossible. But he does it anyway (compare to how, when faced with a much smaller demon tide, and he was losing, he listened to Sora's advice and called Sora for help instead of attempting the impossible)

So we have Riku's ultimate true love sacrifice for Sora, which both takes his life and grants him a spot upon an alter in Olympus, perhaps symbolically giving him some sort of ascension for his heroic deed. And again tying his sacrifice intimately to Herc's.

Because Sora and Riku are both "herc" and "meg" here I am going to make a little bit of a reach. Recall that I went through the effort of recapping the climax of the hercules movie. for no reason. There is a connection though even if it's loose, and i would kick myself for not including it.

In the movie, Meg, like Riku, protects a powerless Hercules from impending danger in her own act of true loves sacrifice. Her death gives Hercules his strength back (partly due to contract BS but it's still a romantic moment). And her death is what drives Hercules to dive into the Soul Hole to rescue her soul at a potentially great cost, which is what ultimately restores his godhood (showing his strength of heart). Riku sacrificing himself for Sora can be seen to be more like the events of the Hercules movie, Riku standing in for Meg - Sora does have to restore Riku's heart after it's been taken by the Lich, after all, much like Hercules brings Meg's soul out from the Hole. And Riku's sacrifice is what gives Sora the resolve to keep fighting. (not arguing with anyone who thinks it was only kairi because it wasnt lol)

So Riku attempts the impossible here, and ultimately he is rewarded. An interesting nuance is that the phrase "attempting the impossible" isn't meant to be taken as a challenge. From what ive read from native speakers, the phrase Sora uses really is better translated as "don't overdo it" as it is less about proving yourself to be able to overcome crazy obstacles and more about keeping your expectations in check. But Riku is reckless, and following his heart, which he learned from Sora.

I hope I've properly illustrated how Sora and Riku are both painted as reckless in different ways, and how the language used in KH3 is making direct references to Herc's reckless heroics in KH2 and in the actual Disney movie. And how these reckless acts are showcasing how much these two love each other, because I still have one more point to make. Namely, how this ties into Cinderella, and ultimately KH4.

In Terra's route of Birth By Sleep, he happens upon a distraught Cinderella, who has had her dress torn up by her step sisters. She was planning to go to the ball, but cannot, because it is "impossible" (muri)

Terra tries to console her. It's all very reminiscent of the scenes of Herc's, Sora's, and Riku's defeats.

After Terra fights off the unversed summoned by Cinderella's negativity (toxic much..), Out of the blue, the fairy godmother appears and makes everything better. She fixes up Cinderella with a dress and a ride to the ball, and sends her on her merry way.

She explains to Terra that she appeared to Cinderella to show her that her dreams *can* come true and that she typically appears only to people that have a strong belief in their dreams. Terra says he believes in dreams but you have to work for them, to which FGM responds that simply believing in dreams is already a difficult thing on its own. (Ventus also compares Terra to Cinderella. btw. because of his strong dreams)

Now. Sigh. Im not the only person that has pointed this out. The FGM quite literally appears to Riku, but only after a year has passed and they have no leads on Sora, and after it's implied that Riku is starting to lose hope.

In the limit cut, you can see Riku's sad wet puppy dog face as he talks about how hard everyone is working, and how they haven't found anything at all. He says "if Sora is really out there, don't you think we would have found something by now?" - Again, he's losing faith in his dreams of Sora's return. This is important.

I do not have the strength to go through and find all the times Riku told everyone to believe in Sora in KH3. It's a lot. And the last thing we hear him say Near Sora, is to let him go on his suicide mission to save Kairi - to BELIEVE in Sora (#wish).

So one, we know the dream Riku believes in is Sora, and two, we know he is starting to lose his belief in his dreams, like Cinderella before the ball, when he dress is destroyed.

Right after it's clear their is no lead through the data from Org 13, FGM appears, just like she did for Cinderella. And she tells Riku that His Dreams Are Literally A Key To Find Sora (that hes quite literally been #dream drop distancing into sora's dreams while hes in unreality is already so much without the FGM being there to explain this to him but KH is crazy!)

One last thing to really drive this home. The FGM brings Riku and Kairi to the nameless star to bring the three keys together.

And what does she tell Riku, before he leaves?

"Be careful. Do not attempt to do the impossible."

---------

if you read this whole thing... well... im proud of you. I know i definitely missed stuff, because it would be so hard to go through all the games and really dig for the use of this term especially when I dont speak japanese at all. and because i wrote this all in one night. But dont hesitate to comment or reblog if you have anything to add. I freaking love kingdom hearts

[thetrashthatsmilesback]

i cannot wait for the next form of anti-form and rage form in the kh4 art style.

i keep having this idea of a scene where Riku finally finds Sora and is trying to get him to listen but just.

"I'm dead Riku."

"What do you mean? You can come back, come with me Sora."

"No Riku, I died. I'm here as punishment. I'm dead, Strelitzia's dead, you can't be here after everything I went through to save you, you can't!"

"Sora, what are you talking about? I'm not dead, Sora. I'm alive."

"If you're here, then you're dead. After everything I did..."

"I'm alive. Sora listen to me, I'm alive!"

Sora looked up at him, a different look in his eyes than Riku had ever seen before.

"Strelitzia and I had a theory. We were going to test it on her - neither of us thought it would work on me because I'm here on punishment, but if it works..."

"Sora, what are you talking about?"

"It makes sense, truly, I wanted to experiment more before trying it but if you're here... you need to go back..."

"Sora, stop, we're both going back, just calm down and listen to me."

"If you die to get here, it only stands to reason that dying in this reality will send someone back to ours."

"What?"

"You'll be sent to the final world, and then you can pass through to ours."

"Sora... what are you doing?" Sora had started walking closer to Riku, splaying his arms out slightly while darkness began to swirl around his feet with each step.

"I'm sorry Riku, but you can't be here. Your heart will be sent to the final world, but then you'll be able to navigate to back through to our reality. From what Strelitzia's contact has learned, the final world acts as the bridge."

"Sora, stop, you're not making any sense, and there's darkness all around you just-"

Sora's eyes flashed gold for just a moment and the darkness began to envelope him the way it did when Xehanort killed Kairi.

"Riku, forgive me." The transformation completed, the dark Sora raising his arms above his head and summoning what looked like the X-Blade but cloaked in the same darkness as the rest of him. His eyes were a brilliant blue. The X-Blade he held split in two as he brought his hands down, the shape of the two shadowy keyblades changing to be reminiscent to Riku and Kairi's new ones.

also yes dual wielding Sora should come back again. I do find Re:Mind's implication that he and Roxas can both still summon Oathkeeper and Oblivion very funny because I'm just imagining them fighting to summon them. Like there's only one copy.

Roxas, in the middle of sparring: take this! *hands suddenly empty* Roxas: ... DAMN IT SORA

Sora, fighting a wave of heartless and nobodies: I need two hands for this *keyblades won't come to him* Sora: what? shit! *finally summons them just for them to be pulled back again* Sora: SHIT SHIT SHIT Roxas, fighting some nobodies: why does Sora keep pulling these!

[holleighgram]

Hold onto your keyboards, cause I'm about to get ✨️controversial ✨️

I'd like to preface this by saying all interpretations/ headcanons/ readings/ etc. Are valid and I'm in no way discouraging anyone to change their ways.

I watched (and enjoyed) Baloney's "The Truth About Kingdom Hearts!" And I absolutely adored their take on the series, but one line stuck out to me that I really want to expand on because I don't see it being talked about as often as it should.

Kairi doesn't like Riku.

And I think this is a very RICH and IMPORTANT aspect of the Destiny Trio dynamic. It adds to the complexity of these characters, but especially Kairi.

(Another shout out to @violethowler and their INCREDIBLE Constructing Kingdoms series. The video on"The Girl Who Never Grew Up" made me like and understand Kairi so much more. Highly recommend checking it out.)

Kairi doesn't like Riku, and with some pretty valid reasons, but I'll get to that after I compile all the evidence towards this:

In KH:

Kairi likes her life the way it is. She doesn't desire change, but Riku wants nothing but change. He wants to grow up and move on and see the outside world.

And because Sora looks up to him, Sora has jumped on the bandwagon too. Kairi is going along because Sora is. But it is clear that for Kairi, change =/= good. So what does she say?

"You know, Riku's changed."

Sora asks her how, and she kinda bites her tongue. Clearly she had opinions, but doesn't want to badmouth Soras best friend to him. Later she says, "Sora, don't ever change."

Later, after everything, when Kairi is restored and in Travers Town, she doubts that Riku can be saved, despite the fact that she LITERALLY saved Sora from being a heartless. She almost seems like she's trying to convince Sora not to go, or to at least let her come with-- not to save Riku but because she wants to be there with Sora.

At the end of the game, she obviously return to destiny islands and draws the paopu.

During Chain of Memories, everyone forgets about Sora, but the memories of Riku stay intact. For a year. Kairi is well aware that her "friend" is missing. In fact, last she knew of him, he was still taken by Ansem and presumably dead or at least suffering. She doesn't know.

She knows she's a Princess of Heart and has powers thay can help (as she restored Sora after being a heartless). But the most we get is "he's far away, but I know we'll see him again." Like, do you?

I mean, SELPHIE is the one that says "I sure miss him." That's way more than we EVER get from Kairi.

So for a YEAR, she doesn't spare Riku a single thought. But the SECOND she remembers Sora, she is willing to do anything to see him again.

Here's a little bit of speculation for WHY she doesn't like Riku:

1) Perhaps when she first met them as kids, he reminder her of Xehenort, who kidnapped her and yeeted her into space.

2) Kairi wanted to be best friends with SORA, but not Riku. She's afraid that Sora will follow Riku to the outside worlds (where she doesn't want to go) and leave her behind. If it wasn't for Riku, Sora wouldn't want to leave at all.

3) He (as far as we know) opened the door and damned their home into Darkness. That's probably a point of contention for her. Even though Sora so forgiving.

4) He hurt Sora in KH1, but Sora is still loyal to him. She probably sees that as him taking advantage of Sora-- the person she cares most about.

5) He's the reason Sora never came home. If it wasn't for him, they would have gone home at the end of KH1 together.

I can't say for sure how Riku feels about Kairi. He DID drag her corpse around and give into the darkness to save her, but that can be interpreted as solely wanting to "beat " Sora at being the hero. Even still, we get moment in COM where he reflects on missing her. We even see Namine come to his rescue in her form. I definitely feel like there is less animosity there, but who knows.

That's all.

Roast me, Kairi stans, but I love the depth this reading gives to the story and the potential for arcs and character growth for her and she is forced to face who she is without Sora.

[phoenix-downer]

The Fisherman and the Selkie Chapter 1

Summary: The fisherman Riku finds a selkie named Naminé washed up on the shore of his island one day, and together they must unwind the mystery of her appearance.

Mythology AU. Angst, romance, fluff. Written for Rikunami Day 2024. Please check the end notes for content warnings.

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The sea was a wild, living creature. Always ebbing and flowing, rising and falling, living and dying. Home to many and a watery grave to many more. It could never quite be tamed, no matter how many fish were plucked from it, no matter how many oars were dipped into it, no matter how much land was reclaimed from it.

Riku lived alone on a small, rocky island and preferred it that way. He was a tall, fit young man with hair as silver as the scales of the fish in his nets. He was never further away than a quick boat ride to the other islands where his friends and family lived, but he liked his simple hut with its warm fireplace, its sturdy table, chairs, and bed, and its ancient chest. The chest had a heart carved into it and was his only possession that could be locked.

It was his only possession that needed to be locked. The key always rested in the pocket next to his heart, and he knew he must never open the chest. He didn't know why, it was just something he wasn't supposed to do.

His haul was good today. The fickle sea had shown him favor. Wiping his brow, he paused for a moment before helping his best friend Sora pull in the rest of the catch. Sora was smaller than him and more wiry, but no less strong. His brown hair could never quite be tamed and stuck up every which way, and his blue eyes were as bright as the sky. He made a good fishing partner. They would sell the fish at the market on the Main Island as they always did, and then Riku would go home as he always did before sundown.

“Really, Riku, it would be so much easier if you still lived on the Main Island like the rest of us!” Sora chided as he and Riku unloaded the boat and his wife Kairi prepped their market stall with fish after silvery fish on display.

Riku shrugged. “I like my home.”

“At least find a wife, then. I hate the thought of you out there all by yourself, especially on stormy nights.”

Riku frowned and scanned the horizon. A storm was brewing to the east. He might have to go home earlier than normal, but this was hardly the first time it had happened.

“I'll be fine,” he said, reassuring them. Besides, there wasn't anyone he wanted to marry. Not anymore. Not after Sora had won Kairi's heart.

That wound had healed long ago, but he felt an ache in his chest, a different ache, and he didn't know what it was. Until he figured that out, he would be content to remain a bachelor.

“Sora’s right,” Kairi said, strands of red hair poking out of her ponytail, her violet eyes worried. She carefully arranged the best-looking fish on ice. “What if something were to happen to you? Say a big, big storm strikes and sweeps your hut out to sea. We’d never know.”

“I'll take my chances. Besides, any storm big enough to wash my hut out would also get anyone living with me.”

They couldn't argue with the logic of that. So instead the three of them focused on selling their catch. Fish was the main source of protein for the islanders, and so the trio always had customers. Their earnings went to buying other food, maintaining their modest homes, that sort of thing, and they always divided it evenly.

At last they ran out of fish. Time to close up shop, which was good because the wind was whipping up.

“Riku, you can't go back in this weather,” Sora said as he brought in the display baskets and signs, his eyes filled with concern. “Please, stay with us for dinner, spend the night. You know there's always a place for you.”

Riku shook his head. “I don't want to intrude.”

Things had been different ever since Sora and Kairi had gotten married a few months ago. Spouses’ priorities naturally shifted to their partners. Riku was happy for his friends, but the reminders of them entering a different stage of life did make him feel a little lonely sometimes. Not because they didn't include him, but because they did and it was another reminder he didn't have someone.

Sora sighed deeply. “Well, I can't stop you. But you better go now before it gets worse.”

Riku nodded. “I'll see you tomorrow.”

With that he said his goodbyes and returned to his boat. The water was getting choppy, and if it was a farther distance away, he would've thought twice about turning down Sora's invitation. But this was manageable. He got in his boat and carefully sailed it back to his island, letting the rolling waves guide him instead of trying to fight them. Just as he was tying his boat up at the dock, the rain really started to pour, coming down so hard it was almost falling sideways. The storm was shaping up to be something fierce. It was as alive as the sea.

Riku retreated into his hut, where he stripped down and set his clothes out by the fire to dry. He put on his pajamas and prepared dinner as the storm raged outside: dried, salted fish, hot, steaming rice, earthy greens gathered from the island, and a slice of juicy paopu fruit plus a glass of milk to top it all off.

He was very warm and very full afterwards. The storm had whipped itself into a frenzy, but he was safe and dry. Yawning, he stretched and went to bed.

Little did he know just how much his life was about to change.

————————————————————————

When Riku awoke in the morning, the storm had finally stopped. As he exited his hut to attend to his morning chores, the sun was rising, and the sky was a brilliant, dazzling symphony of colors without a single cloud in sight. The beach was strewn with flotsam and jetsam as was usual after a storm. He put off the chores for now. There might be something of value to keep or sell.

As he walked closer to the shore, something caught his eye. At first he thought it was an animal of some sort. Sometimes they washed up, injured or dead, on the beach. It was unfortunate, but it was just the circle of life. He tried to help the animal return to the sea if it were still alive, but sometimes it was beyond help and all he could really do was end its suffering and harvest useful parts like blubber, skin, hides, that sort of thing.

But as he got closer, he realized this was no animal.

A woman, the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, was lying on the shore. Her hair graced her shoulders like a golden veil with strands of seaweed woven into it. Her skin was sun-kissed but looked soft to the touch, not at all what he would expect from someone who had grown up on the islands and was used to manual labor. On her chest was a necklace made of carefully-carved thalassa shells with a paopu-shaped charm resting between her—

Riku blushed and looked away. What was he doing, ogling this poor woman? She clearly needed help. Even little kids on the islands knew they were supposed to wear clothes, and she didn't have a single scrap of clothing on, unless you counted the necklace.

Something bad must have happened to her for her to end up like this.

He swallowed and knelt next to her, all sorts of terrible scenarios playing through his mind. “Are you all right?” he asked.

Her chest gently rose and fell, and her eyes fluttered open. They were the color of the sea and absolutely breathtaking.

“Where am I?” she asked, and her voice was as melodic as the waves lapping against the shore.

“You washed ashore on my island. Where did you come from? I don't recognize you, and I know everyone on the surrounding islands.”

Panic flickered through her eyes. “You're a human, then—”

She sat up and clutched at her bare legs, then gasped. “Where is it?” she cried, searching frantically for what, he didn't know.

“Where’s what?”

“My seal skin!” She looked at him and shrank away a little, trembling. “Did you take it?”

“Take it? Why would I take your seal skin? Especially if it was your only clothing.”

Tears pooled in her beautiful eyes. “It's not clothing. Surely you know that if you take it, I can't leave!”

His eyes widened as he realized what she was saying. She didn't mean a seal skin like the islanders occasionally used in their shelters and buildings and clothing. No, this woman meant her own skin. She must be a selkie, one of those mythological creatures who could transform from seal to human at will by shedding her skin. Some of the islanders were even said to be descendants of human men and selkie women. Riku had brushed those stories aside as pure fantasy, but seeing the shaking, terrified woman before him now, he suspected there was no other explanation.

She was hyperventilating now and tried to hide herself with her hands and arms. “Please, don't force me to be your wife, I'll do anything you ask, please, just don't make me marry you—”

He removed his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. She froze for a few moments, eyes wide with terror, but then hugged the jacket close to herself. It was no seal skin, but it would have to do for now.

She met his eyes, and some of the wild panic in hers had subsided a little.

“I would never,” he said softly, and her breath caught. Stories were coming back to him now, stories of men stealing the skins of selkies and forcing the poor creatures to marry them. As soon as the selkie found her skin, she returned to her home in the sea, leaving her “husband” and half-human, half-selkie children behind.

“Has my kind done that to your kind before?” he asked, barely above a whisper. “Are the stories true?”

She nodded, still too frightened to speak.

He felt sick to his stomach. Who could do such a thing to such a terrified woman so far from home? “I'm sorry. I don't know where your skin is, but I promise I won't force you to marry me. As far as I'm concerned, you're just a woman who washed up on the shores of my home and needs help. Please, let me take you to my hut and give you a bath and clean clothes and something to eat. Then we can look for your skin, how does that sound?”

He didn't think they would find it. He didn't see any sign of it on the shore, but this poor woman was so afraid that he wanted to do something to show she could trust him.

“You really didn't take it?” she quietly asked. He realized she didn't have many options. She couldn't return home without her skin, but she also didn't know if he was a man of his word. He didn't blame her one bit for being reluctant and scared. For all she knew, he was luring her inside his hut to have his way with her.

“No. You know what, let's skip the bath. Let me just find you some clothes and give you some food to eat, you have to be starving. I'll grab that from my hut and bring it here to you. After that, I'll take you to my friends Sora and Kairi on the Main Island. Kairi can help you take a bath and get clean. She's really nice. I think you'll like her.”

The woman relaxed a little, hearing his revised plan.

“Wait right here,” he said. With that he dashed into the hut, grabbing a clean shirt. It was sure to dwarf the woman much like his jacket had, and she would have to get some proper clothes and shoes on the Main Island, but it was better than nothing. Then he grabbed some of the salted fish and returned to her. She was still exactly where he’d left her with his jacket clutched tightly to herself, only she had her knees pulled up to her chest as the tide danced at her feet and the sand scrunched between her toes.

“Here,” he said, handing her the shirt. She blinked at him.

“Can you stand?” he asked, realizing a life spent in the sea as a seal meant she might not be used to using her legs.

“I don't think I've ever tried,” she admitted.

He knelt next to her again and, looking to her for permission, gently peeled his jacket off of her, averting his eyes as the heat crept up his cheeks. Then he helped pull the shirt over her head, trying not to stare. She winced at the material, and when he asked if she was all right, she explained her seal skin was much smoother. This shirt was coarse and rough against her soft human skin, and she wasn't used to the texture.

His shirt was also more like a short tunic on her that just barely covered everything that needed to be covered, and so he put his jacket back on her, too. Seeing her in his clothes made him blush. She was so small and delicate compared to him, and no woman had ever worn his clothing before. Kairi constantly wore Sora’s clothes, especially his jackets and shirts, and this reminded him of that.

Hopefully wearing his clothing made the woman more comfortable.

She did seem a little more relaxed now that she had more covering her, and so he gave her the salted fish. She ate it politely, and a little color returned to her complexion afterwards.

“Better?” he asked softly.

She carefully rinsed her fingers in the shallow surf. “Much better, thank you. Even if you have bad intentions towards me, I can't deny you’re going out of your way to be kind to me.”

“I just want to help you, that's all.” Even as he said the words, he knew it wasn't the full truth. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever laid eyes on, and the thought of her leaving made his heart sink. A part of him was glad they didn't know where her skin was. He wanted her to return home eventually, but not yet. Not before he got the chance to know her.

“I realized I don't know your name,” she said, breaking him out of his reverie.

“Oh, I’m Riku.”

“Riku,” she repeated as she pressed her fingers together, and the sound of his name in her melodic voice sent pleasurable tingles down his spine. She rested a hand on her heart. “My name is Naminé.”

“What a beautiful name,” he said, smiling. Something about it felt familiar.

To his surprise, she smiled back. “Thank you.”

They just stared into each other's eyes for a few moments before he remembered himself and offered to pick her up.

“I'll have to teach you how to walk at some point, but for now, I'll just carry you to my boat. How’s that sound?”

She nodded. “Go ahead.”

He gently lifted her into his arms and wanted to melt. Touching her felt incredible, even if it was just to carry her to the boat.

She wasn't tense and didn't struggle at all, just looked into his eyes with a soft smile as he took her to their destination. He gently lowered her into the boat and ran back to the hut to grab a few more supplies. When he returned, she was waiting patiently for him and watched his every move as he prepared to set sail. He kept catching her watching him because he kept looking at her. The key in his breast pocket kept bumping against his heart, but that only drew attention to how his heart kept jumping around his chest.

Now he really didn't want her to leave. There was no denying that he was completely and utterly smitten with her.

And something whispered deep down that she just might be smitten with him, too.

————————————————————————

A/N: Happy RikuNami Day 2024! It’s the 20th anniversary of the release of Chain of Memories in Japan as well as the beginning of Rikunami as a ship.

Content warnings: this story does touch on some sensitive topics due to the nature of selkie myths (in many of them, selkie women are forced to marry human men when the human men steal their seal skins and can't return home until they find their skins), but nothing of the sort happens between Riku and Naminé. It is a concern she has when they first meet due to it happening in the past on their world, and it's why I used the Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings tag. There is also nudity in the first chapter given the nature of the myths.

Thank you for reading! I'm not sure yet how many chapters this will be, but I really love the concept and want to continue. For a couple of years now, I've been trying to write a Rikunami Hades and Persephone AU and keep having trouble, so I looked into other myths I could try to adapt for Rikunami and landed on selkies. Hope you enjoyed!

[a-crack-in-the-universe]

Terraqua Week Day 4 - Free Day

@terraquaweek

It had all happened so quickly. She and Terra had been in the middle of a particularly intense battle with a giant Heartless in Prankster's Paradise, one they hadn’t encountered before. It’d looked like they were winning, when the Heartless had made an unexpected attack that Aqua hadn’t seen in time, having been too caught up in fending off the Heartless’s previous attack. But Terra had noticed, a mere second before her. He’d tried to block it but had failed and been knocked out by the Heartless’ attack.

Once that had happened, Aqua had known that she wouldn’t be able to defeat the Heartless by herself, so she briefly cast Barrier and called for backup using the gummiphone. Sora and Kairi had come within the next ten minutes, as they’d already been close by doing a mission on a neighbouring world. Riku had arrived from Mysterious Tower in the aftermath of the battle, to check that everyone was all right and the Heartless gone.

Of course, Terra hadn’t been all right. No one had been able to wake him, and while Curaga appeared to heal his physical wounds, it also did not wake him up. And so they’d taken him to Radiant Garden, to be examined by Ansem the Wise and his apprentices. Now, they were waiting outside Ansem the Wise’s castle in Radiant Garden, for someone to come out and give them an update on Terra’s condition.

Aqua couldn’t stop pacing. It had been hours since they had brought Terra to Radiant Garden via the Gummi Ship, and Ansem the Wise and his apprentices had taken him into their surgery room to examine and hopefully operate on him.

‘Why couldn’t he just let me take it? I could’ve shielded myself, I could have…’

‘You know how Terra is,’ Ventus said quietly. Ven had arrived quickly, as soon as he’d gotten Aqua’s message about what had happened. ‘He’d die before he let either of us get hurt like that.’

She felt treacherous tears sting her eyes but didn’t try to wipe them away. She didn’t want to bring any attention to them, and besides, maybe she ignored them they would just disappear. One could hope.

‘I know, Ven,’ she whispered. ‘I just… I hate this so much. Terra looks so badly hurt… I don’t know what we’d do without him if he dies.’

I don’t know what I’d do without him. Terra had been a constant in her life since she’d first started training to be a keyblade wielder, at age of ten. She hadn’t gotten along with him at first, finding him annoying and off-putting, but gradually, as the years passed, she began to see the traits of his that no one else save maybe Master Eraqus saw—his warmth, his kindness, his protective nature, his stubbornness and care. And so gradually, over the years they’d gone from strangers to friends to best friends and rivals. And Aqua had realised that she cared for him much more than she could ever say and couldn’t bear to lose him. Her, Terra and Ven being separated for over ten years due to Xehanort had only strengthened her feelings.    

‘He’s not going to die,’ Ven said confidently. ‘Don’t think like that, Aqua. Remember what Master Yen Sid said? It’s important for us to believe. Terra’ll find his way back to us, you’ll see.’

Yes… she remembered. Master Yen Sid had said the same thing when she awakened in the Mysterious Tower with a comatose Ven, so many years ago. It had been easy to believe then, but now she’d experienced too much darkness to ever think that way again.

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

Some time later, Aqua didn’t know when, Ansem the Wise finally appeared outside the castle gates, looking tired with dark shadows under his eyes.

Aqua and Ven, Riku, Sora and Kairi immediately turned toward him. He smiled at them in greeting.

‘I am sorry to have kept you waiting for so long,’ he said. ‘Our examination took us longer than we had expected.’

‘Please…’ Aqua forced her voice to stay calm. ‘Will Terra be all right?’

Ansem looked at her gravely. ‘He will live,’ he said. ‘But his condition is uncertain…’

Her heart hammered in her chest at the words. ‘What do you mean?’

‘It seems that the attack Terra bore the brunt of, infected him with a dark virus,’ Ansem said gently to her. ‘Because of this he is comatose—his mind subconsciously did this in an attempt to protect his heart. He will live, but we don’t know when he will wake up or what his condition will be like when he does.’

‘Oh…’

‘When can we take him home?’ Ven asked him.

‘We want to keep Terra here with us for further observation for another seven days. Then he can go home, provided his condition hasn’t gotten any worse,’ Ansem the Wise said.

‘Great!’ Ven said, trying to maintain an air of positivity. ‘Right, Aqua?’

‘Yes… good.’ She forced her frozen lips to move. ‘Thank you, Master Ansem. You’ve done so much to help us.’

Ansem smiled sadly. ‘It is nothing, Master Aqua. I am happy to help, and so are my apprentices. I, too, have some affection for Terra, and it grieves me that he has been hurt like this. But please be assured that he will recover and wake up. He just needs time.’

‘Thank you,’ Aqua repeated, with tears stinging her eyes, and heard Ven echo her. ‘We’ll stay in Radiant Garden until Terra is ready to leave.’

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

Seven days later, Aqua and Ventus took Terra home to the Land of Departure.

‘Call us if he gets worse or if he wakes up,’ Ienzo instructed them when they were about to board the gummi ship. Aqua got the impression that he, like Ansem the Wise, was also worried about Terra and cared about his wellbeing.

‘Of course, Ienzo,’ Aqua said. ‘Thank you for everything you’ve all done.’

‘It was nothing,’ the man said shyly.

And so they went home. They managed somehow miraculously to carry Terra to his bedroom in the castle, despite him being so heavy, and settled him in his bed. It would’ve made it much easier if they’d had someone else to help them, but Aqua had felt too distraught to really accept any help offered by Ansem and his apprentices.

The next days passed in a painful blur. Aqua busied herself with paperwork, while Ven went on missions to various worlds, usually paired with Roxas or Xion. After all, there were still worlds to protect and the Land of Departure to maintain, and Terra being injured didn’t change that. They went at it with a surprising intensity—neither of them wanted to think too much about Terra’s absence.     

But even with their days being occupied with their respective duties, they still made some time to sit at Terra’s bedside and talk to him about everything that’d been going on. They always had dinner in his bedroom, because Ven insisted that it would help Terra wake up sooner.  

If she was being honest with herself, Aqua thought, she’d insisted that she needed to stay in the Land of Departure to work on paperwork because she didn’t want to leave Terra while he was like this. Throughout each day she sat often with Terra, holding his hand and talking to him, sharing the thoughts in her heart like they’d used to do back when they were kids. When had they stopped doing that? She didn’t know. From time to time, she had a sudden urge to kiss him, but she restrained herself. It didn’t feel right to do it when Terra wasn’t awake to say anything about it.

‘I know you can’t hear me, but… I miss you. I wish you would wake up soon.’   

She refrained from speaking the other, more personal words that were at the front of her mouth. I love you. I need you. I don’t know what I’d do without you.

Her heart clenched at the thought of Terra never waking up. She’d already had to experience that with Ventus, though the younger boy had woken up eventually when Sora had used the Power of Waking to help guide Ven’s heart back into his body. She didn’t want to have to go through that again with Terra.

‘I swear, if you never wake up, or if it takes you ten years, I’ll never forgive you!’

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

Five days after they’d brought him home, Terra finally woke up. Ven was with him at the time—Aqua was preparing their dinner in the kitchen. When Ven had called out to her in such an urgent tone—“Aqua, Terra’s awake!” Aqua immediately dropped what she’d been doing and ran to Terra’s bedroom.

As she burst through the door, she found the sight of Terra sitting up staring at her with tired eyes, but very much awake. She felt as if her heart would burst with relief and joy.

‘Terra! You’re awake!’

Terra snorted slightly, but smiled at her. ‘Yeah… I guess I am.’ Then he rubbed the back of his head and a confused expression crossed his face. ‘What happened? The last thing I remember is fighting that giant Heartless and trying to block that attack you didn’t see.’

‘Well…’ Aqua and Ven glanced at each other. Aqua continued, ‘You were knocked unconscious and we—Sora, Riku, Kairi and I—couldn’t wake you up. We took you to Ansem’s laboratory and he said that you were infected with some kind of dark virus and that your mind put you into a coma to protect your heart. Do you feel all right now?’

Terra looked surprised but answered her readily. ‘Yeah, I think so.’

‘Great!’ Ven said. ‘I’ll call Ansem the Wise to tell him.’   

Terra and Aqua were left alone as Ven ran out of the room. Aqua smiled fondly after Ven, then turned to Terra. ‘We’re about to have dinner,’ she told him. ‘You can join us—you must be hungry after being asleep for so long.’

Terra laughed. ‘I’m not sure I’ll be up to eating dinner. I feel ready to fall asleep again. I’m not sure I can even get out of bed.’

‘That’s okay,’ Aqua said. She gripped his hand and squeezed it gently. ‘You need a lot of rest to recover.’

Later, after dinner, she lay curled next to Terra on his bed, her hand in his, and she said the words that she couldn’t bear to say while he’d been unconscious.

He looked at her, surprised. ‘You really mean that?’

She looked into his tired, hopeful eyes and nodded. ‘Yes. I don’t know what I’d do without you. When the Heartless hurt you and you wouldn’t wake up, it scared me a lot.’

‘I’m sorry,’ he said quietly. ‘When I took that blow for you, all I could think of was that I didn’t want you to get hurt. I thought if anyone had to get hurt, it should be me.’   

‘Why should it be you?’ she challenged him. ‘We’re partners, Terra, remember? We look out for each other. You can’t protect me from everything. There’ll always be a point where I’ll get hurt.’

Terra looked away. ‘I’m sorry,’ he repeated. ‘It was just—instinct.’

Aqua sighed. She really couldn’t blame him for doing what his heart told him to do. It was just that she’d been so scared for him. She didn’t want to feel like that ever again.

‘I know, Terra,’ she whispered. ‘I understand. I just was so scared. Don’t do that to me again. After everything we’ve all been through, I can’t handle another scare like that. I don’t want to lose you.’

‘You won’t lose me,’ he said to her gently. ‘I promise. I’ll be more careful from now on.’

She saw the honesty in his eyes and smiled. ‘Good,’ she said, and kissed his cheek. ‘Now go to sleep. You need it.’

She hopped off the bed and started toward the doorway. When she was almost at the door, Terra called out to her.

‘Aqua?’

‘Yeah?’

‘I love you too,’ he said drowsily.

Then he closed his eyes and slid into sleep. Aqua smiled fondly at him, then exited the bedroom.

[themattress]

Clips from the videos I recently linked to.

Out of all the main characters, Nomura and Oka's writing in Kingdom Hearts III (and the preceding Dream Drop Distance + 0.2 Birth by Sleep for that matter) significantly derailed five of them, four of whom the video above discusses and the other whom I'll bring up myself.

Axel then: A deeply selfish guy whose pursuit of his own agenda above all else puts him into conflict with others, even his own friends. Has a fiery (heh) side but is usually cool and collected, with a dry, sarcastic sense of humor, and is very smart and calculating.

Axel now: Honestly still selfish but in a bratty petulant way rather than a mature interesting way, and the narrative pretends like this isn't the case and portrays him as this great guy and wonderful friend. He's also hot-headed dumbass whose style of humor is more "wacky", based in catchphrases and self-aware jokes. Yes, I'm aware he has a heart now, but that explaining the difference doesn't work when the series is now claiming he had a heart all along as a Nobody anyway! If Lea's gonna call himself "Axel", he oughta resemble him more!

Kairi then: Spunky and sassy. Prone to reckless actions due to following her heart without thinking. Will fight to the teeth against any enemy trying to chain her down and will always use her agency every chance she gets, even if it's simply sending a letter. While she obviously loves Sora, she cares deeply for others too and does all she can to help them.

Kairi now: Meek and polite, a "Yamato nadeshiko" type. Frantic and self-doubting, to the point of freezing up in combat. Greatest contribution is "believing really hard" rather than doing anything, and who will write a flowery love letter for the sake of it but never send it. Her care for others is de-emphasized in favor of her love for Sora, even though he barely if ever thinks or talks about her when she isn't right in front of him, making her look pathetic.

Riku then: Starts out as a rude, arrogant jerk who uses darkness and falls prey to it, ends up a still rude but humbled and considerate guy who overcomes his darkness and turns it into a unique power of twilight. At peace with following his heart more ("which is Sora-esque").

Riku now: Totally polite, nigh-infallible hero who just uses plain darkness, not twilight, without consequence. Acts like a dull stick in the mud who barely shows emotion from the heart.

Sora then: Just a regular kid/teenager. Could be kind of a dumbass but not to the point of chronic idiocy that's always being made fun of. Reacted proportionately to events around him and was prone to bouts of depression that he covers up with his usual cheerful attitude.

Sora now: More childish than he should be at his age. Stereotypical shonen Idiot Hero, to the point of everyone making fun of him for it. Reacts over-the-top and excited to everything, is seldom if ever depressed about anything short of people dying. "Weak" yet OP all at once.

Ansem, Seeker of Darkness then: Profoundly arrogant in order to cover for his insecurities. Feels as though everything he does is justified. Cares for no-one but himself + darkness.

Ansem, Seeker of Darkness now: Will openly admit to his insecurities and stow his pride. Knows and acknowledges what he does as evil. Apparently cares for "Subject X", and Riku to a degree, plus chides Ansem the Wise for his cold treatment of others. Seems on board with Xehanort's plan which evidently is meant to safeguard the worlds against darkness.

[septnanis]

“That’s funny,” Sora says. It’s the first time they’ve been alone since Destiny Islands, before the Mark, before all this.

Riku looks at him. “What’s funny?”

“Your eyes,” Sora says, moving closer to him.

It aches a little, because Riku knows for sure now after what happened on the beach. When Riku saw Kairi try to hide the fruit behind her back, he knew it was over. He excused himself and Kairi let him.

“They’re a different color,” Sora says and points at Riku’s eye. “They used to be blue right?”

Like the water on a clear day, his mother had always said. Blue with a hint of green. Sora has given him pretty stones when they were little the exact same color. They still sit under his bed.

“Huh, that’s weird,” Riku says. “What color are they? Red? Purple?” He almost jokingly says yellow but it catches in his throat.

“Green!” Sora says. “They’re darker than they used to be. That’s kinda weird.”

“You’re kinda weird,” Riku replies with a smirk.

His fingers twitch. He’ll look later.

—-

Later feels like a different life.

The dust has barely settled after Sora disappeared off the Paopu tree. Riku keeps up the smiles until everyone has left. Kairi won’t even look at him.

Shame and failure. He doesn’t blame her.

Later feels like a different life so when Mickey insists he go with him to Castle Disney, it doesn’t occur to him to say no.

Minnie is kindness itself, steering him to a room that she leaves him to without urging him to speak.

He takes his clothes off and folds them neatly, showers and finds clothes that fit him perfectly in their place. The blatant show of the castle’s magic makes him smile.

Finally, he turns to the mirror.

And there they are. No longer blue like the water on a clear day. They don’t look like the stones underneath Riku’s bed.

His eyes are green. A dusty green, like the roots of grass. Like the leaves on a tree at nighttime.

Darkness takes physiological shape first by yellow eyes. He knows that better than anyone. He’d spent his year alone terrified he’d look in the mirror and see them turned.

But green?

Riku puts his hands over his eyes.

“I’m not afraid of the darkness,” he whispers and lifts his hands.

The color of his eyes remains the same.

—-

“It’s been awhile,” Naminé says. She’s up to her elbows in paint.

“Yeah…” Riku says. No one really knows what went on during that year of unfortunate cooperation, except for Lea. “How have you been?”

Her smile is pretty and enigmatic, and Riku doesn’t really smile back. The walls are lined with paintings, from abstract to the same childish doodles she made with her magic.

The little portrait that hangs seperatelty that should be him but isn’t looks at him with bright turquoise eyes.

“Fine,” Naminé says. “I’m sorry we haven’t been able to help you with finding Sora.”

Riku shakes his head. “I’m grateful for anything you do,” he says and means it. “It’s because of Sora isn’t it? Your magic?”

Naminé smiles a little wider. “How long have you been wondering that?”

He thinks about lying and changes his mind. “Took me awhile but it just made sense,” Riku says. “Sora smells like magic. Powerful magic.”

She dips her fingers into a jar of blue paint and brushes her fingers over the canvas in front of her. “It’s true,” Naminé says. “More than he knows.”

“Knows?” Riku asks, trying not to sound too hopeful.

“That’s right,” she says and beckons him over. “But that’s not why you’re here.” Riku joins her with a crease in his brow and watches her dip her fingers into another jar of paint - yellow.

“I may not be able to sense it the way you can,” Naminé says. Her tone is genuine kindness but there’s an underlying feeling of danger. “But I sense things. Light…” she points at the blue on the canvas.

“And darkness,” she rubs the yellow paint over the blue. Gently moving back and forth until the color start to change. “On and on we go, until one day we’re something else. Something new, made up of everything we’ve ever been.”

And there it is. Dusty green, grass on a misty day, not blue like he had as a child, not yellow as he should have had when he fell from grace.

Riku reaches out and touches the canvas. The color stains his fingertips.

—-

“I never know if this is considered really late,” Sora says, ambling into their bathroom at four in the morning. “Or really early. Can’t sleep?”

Riku nods. It was a nightmare but he’s old hat at those, so he decided to splash some water on his face to shake himself out of it.

“Had a bad dream,” Riku explains as he watches Sora hoist himself onto their bathroom counter. “The Graveyard.”

“The storm?” Sora asks.

Riku knows what he means by that even if he has no actual recollection of what happened. “You leaving. By yourself.”

Sora looks immediately apologetic and puts his hand on Riku’s jaw. “Sorry…”

“You’re not apologising for something that happened almost twenty years ago,” Riku says, moving to stand between Sora’s legs, wrapping his arms around his waist.

“If it makes you sad, I will,” Sora says.

He puts his other hand on Riku’s face, runs his fingers over his cheeks and his jaw, his calluses catching minutely on the barely there stubble on Riku’s face.

Riku leans down and kisses him, soft and slow. Deepens it when Sora moves his hands from Riku’s face to cup his neck and jaw. When he pulls away, Sora doesn’t let go.

“Ahh,” Sora sighs. “So pretty.”

“What’s that?”

“Your eyes,” Sora says. “They’re so pretty and green. Green and pretty.” He chuckles because he’s clearly sleepy.

Riku smirks and lays his forehead on Sora’s. “You’re an enormous sap,” he says. “They used to be blue.”

Sora opens his own eyes wide and stares into Riku’s. The angle is odd but Riku can see how blue Sora’s eyes are.

Sora leans back as if to admire him.

“I like them better this way,” Sora says.

Riku blinks. He catches his eyes, blue and yellow equals green, in the mirror.

He looks at Sora.

“So do I,” he says.

[sailforvalinor]

Unhinged thoughts I've had recently about Ienzo/Zexion in no particular order:

We learn from Even in BBS that Ienzo was adopted by Ansem the Wise at a young age after something happened to his parents and he was orphaned. However, for Ienzo's parents to even be mentioned here is really Odd for Kingdom Hearts--we've never seen a canonical appearance of a character's parent in any of the games, and there are only a handful of times they've even been mentioned (Riku mentions that Sora's dad usually takes them out on the boats in BBS, Terra calls Eraqus his father but is not related to him by blood, Sora's mom notoriously calls him in to dinner in KH1, and Kairi had a grandmother in Radiant Garden if you want to count that). The only time we've ever seen the canonical appearance of a parent in the games is Xehanort's mother in KHUX/Dark Road, and that was extremely recent and considered very abnormal. Kingdom Hearts, up until KHUX, was always very unconcerned with the concept of blood family, so the fact that this bit of dialogue was included about Ienzo feels way too out of place not to be deliberate, especially since no other Organization member's parents are ever discussed (even though Lea and Isa were also kids). Given that Nomura seems particularly intent on exploring bloodlines in his current and future KH projects, I wonder if this detail will turn out to be something significant.

The scene in KHII Final Mix where Xigbar interrogates Zexion about what Xemnas is up to in the Chamber of Repose rings especially strange now that we know that Xigbar is actually Luxu (and additionally because the scene was not originally in the game and added to Final Mix, though probably this was to set up plotlines for BBS). What did Luxu think Zexion knew? He doesn't appear to actually glean any information from him--it's Zexion who gets information in this scene, he learns that Xemnas is looking for Ventus. Additionally, if Luxu already knew that Xemnas was looking for the Chamber of Waking to find Ven, he definitely knew that he was talking to Aqua in some way in the Chamber of Repose--my guess is that he was trying to learn from Zexion whether Xemnas had actually captured Aqua herself. (Luxu's ultimate goal here, remember, is to get Xehanort to act as the "scapegoat" and recreate the Keyblade War, and he's trying to keep as close of tabs on his progress as possible. Xemnas was trying to track down more ancient Keyblade wielders at this point--Luxu having just recruited Lauriam--and he likely wanted to know if he had managed to turn Aqua to their cause.) However, as Luxu is almost as inscrutable as MoM himself and his motives are extremely difficult to read, it is possible there's something else that he was trying to learn from him. If this is the case, I'd say that it was probably something that Zexion didn't even know he knew, or else he probably would have told Sora in KH3 if he had deemed it important.

Additionally, this exchange makes one question why Luxu would go to Zexion for this information in the first place, as he had already instated himself as Xemnas' right-hand man and is the person Xemnas would be most likely to tell this information. Nomura has stated in the past that Xemnas and Zexion shared a sort of "master-servant or teacher-student" relationship, which would likely explain this. This also explains why Saix believed that he was a threat to his rise to prominence within the Organization, even though he was a lesser number than him, and had Axel eliminate him in Castle Oblivion. It's kind of a shame that we never got to see this dynamic.

It does seem odd that Xemnas would deliberately mentor Zexion, a non-Keyblade wielder, if he was deliberately looking for Keyblade wielders of old to be his vessels. However, since Ienzo was only around eight or nine years old when he was manipulated into becoming a Nobody (which, side note, that's messed up), it's possible that he believed he might grow to have this potential--or, more likely, he knows what happened to his parents and believes him to have some connection to or be descended from a Keyblade wielder of old.

Zexion is the only Nobody besides Roxas and Namine to have a complete opposite personality to their recompleted self--while Zexion is reserved, terse, manipulative, and delights in cruelty and deception, Ienzo is warm, helpful, and borderline extroverted. While his lack of evil intent and fanatical devotion to the Organization's goals can be chalked up to his being recompleted, just as the other recompleted Organization members are no longer evil, it can't be denied that the difference between Ienzo and Zexion is like night and day. (Take Axel and Aeleus, for example--though they are no longer Nobodies and their goals are different, their personalities remain the same for all intents and purposes.) Ienzo mentions to Sora that they are no longer evil because they were out from under Xemnas's influence, so it's possible that we could ascribe this personality shift to that, especially as we know that he and Xemnas had a mentor-student relationship, and because we know that Ienzo was lied to as a child and made to believe that Ansem the Wise (his guardian) had gone mad and abandoned them (he says that "they" told him this, but it seems likely that this was Xehanort himself, which might be why he became closer to him rather than Vexen). However, as Ienzo does not learn that this information was false until late in KH3, this seems unlikely--and honestly, that drastic of a personality shift still seems unlikely in the short amount of time (at least, to him) between his being killed in CoM and recompleted in DDD. This makes me wonder if, like Roxas and Namine, his transformation from a human into a Nobody was somehow abnormal, though in what way I'm not sure.

Zexion's lexicon is called "The Book of Retribution," and I'm desperate to know why. Retribution for what? His guardian abandoning him?

[oveliagirlhaditright]

Kingdom Hearts 4 Challenge Day 6: A World to Revisit

Atlantica

(So, I swear all of my posts really aren't meant to be about Kairi. Like, I was going to make this cool manip where it looked like Sora was saving Melody from drowning, but my Sony Vegas refused to open for some reason? So I just decided to post these similar images of Melody and Kairi instead. That being said... while I don't need Kairi to be the one to go to a The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea world if we ever got one--I'd be more than okay with it being Sora--that would be cool. I'd love to see mermaid Kairi, since Kairi is named for the sea. And Kairi's name can even mean "melody." And she has a lot in common with Ariel. I even suspect she was somewhat based on Ariel, but anyway.)

The reason I would want Atlantica is honestly just because I would want a pretty underwater world again with the Unreal Engine graphics. And that can be a world that we've never been to before, like, Atlantis: The Lost Empire. But if we don't get a new one, then I would want an old one like Atlantica here. Plus... even though I don't think this movie is the greatest. At all. I feel like it's okay... and depending on how they handle it, the KH writers could potentially make it better, with what they add to it. Also, I feel like if we go to Atlantica one more time--with better swimming controls, and in an attempt that isn't a musical--we could finally redeem the world. And that would be great to see.

And now, for whatever reason, I'm going to list some other worlds I'd be more than okay with returning (even though I think we were only supposed to list one. Shh.)

Wonderland: But only if the world is expanded and it's a "sequel," via it being based on Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.

Deep Jungle: I know this will surely never happen, since I know Disney has lost the rights to Tarzan. But on the off-chance they ever got the rights back somehow, I definitely wouldn't mind seeing this world back again, perhaps adapting some of the stories from the TV show, like the stuff with Princess La.

Agrabah: I definitely want to go here one more time and to have the "Aladdin and the King of Thieves" story depicted. (I probably would even prefer this even over Atlantica, actually, even though I want that pretty underwater level). This was one of the better Disney sequels, after all. And Sora most definitely deserves to be there for Aladdin and Jasmine's wedding.

Neverland: I wouldn't be opposed to the second Peter Pan movie being adapted.

The Land of Dragons: I'd be all for us having Mulan II, actually.

The Beast's Castle: I've always wanted "Beauty and the Beast and the Enchanted Christmas." I want to fight Forte. LOL. While I doubt it will happen, for obvious reasons, I feel like they could find a way to do it: like Belle writes Sora and the gang a part of her and the Beast's story that they don't know about (the Enchanted Christmas story) and sends it to them as a gift (maybe even for Christmas?), and once Sora opens it, he somehow gets pulled into said story.

Pirates of the Caribbean: I wouldn't mind a "Dead Men Tell No Tales" world.

The Lion King II: Simba's Pride would be awesome.

I would also kill for Cinderella III: A Twist in Time.

While part of me is loath to mention this one... I feel like no one was completely satisfied with the La Cité des Cloches world in Dream Drop Distance (because of lack of NPCs and that kind of thing). And there is a "The Hunchback of Notre Dame II" that Disney made. Absolutely no one likes this movie, and for good reason. But I don't know... I would be willing to tolerate it, just to see this world in the quality it deserves. And maybe Square Enix could somehow make it better... actually, surely not. But like I said: I could tolerate this just to run around Notre Dame in pretty Unreal Engine graphics.

I know that originally with DDD, the plan was Sora to go to all of the original Fantasia locations and for Riku to go to the ones in Fantasia 2000. But then they realized there were enough locations in the first movie for them both to go to, and they didn't need to crank out the sequel after all (or something like that). So I certainly wouldn't mind getting Fantasia 2000 now, in KHIV.

Tangled I'd love to go here again, if we get to see some of the cool plots from the TV show, that I've watched on YouTube. LOL

Arendelle We all know we'll be going here. It isn't even a question. I just hope that this time, Disney gives Square Enix much more freedom (let Elsa and Anna be party members, please). Since Frozen II is kind of hit and miss. Square Enix could really make something cool with it--like they could have with Frozen in KHIII--if they're allowed some creativity.

Wreck-It Ralph Because no one, and I mean no one, wanted us to first experience this world in KHUX, tbh.

Radiant Garden I just really want to finish some of the plot threads there that are still hanging.

Destiny Islands I just really want to be able to go back here and play, dangit! And maybe finally get to explore the main island!

Shibuya Just let us meet Neku, Shiki, Beat, Joshua, and Rhyme in their Shibuya (even if it's an in the credits thing), if Quadratum isn't theirs and we're not going to meet them (or the Wicked Twisters) in the game, otherwise.

[strayheartless]

Well here’s a series I thought I had grown out of…

Welcome back (albeit on a new account) to Flo copes! A series where I channel what I’ve just been through into my faves because I’m incapable of dealing with strong emotions on my own!

Todays topic? Panic attacks! And how each character deals with them!:

Sora: simply put, he doesn’t. Sora is incapable of recognising when he needs to stop and breath. Nine times out of ten he thinks a panic attack is his body finally giving up the ghost and he makes himself worse. It usually hits him randomly and any little moments of panic he locks down until it mounts up and makes him cry and throw up and then cry again.

Kairi: Kairi good at managing her emotional well-being, and regularly takes brakes to ensure she’s doing okay. But when it does hit her it usually manifests itself as uncontrollable crying. Usually her panic attacks are more drawn out, their like an all day thing. She will wake up feeling terrible, spend breakfast fighting tears, cry by lunch, then get set off by small stuff like music that sounds sad, cry again around bedtime and end up going off to look for someone to help her calm down (usually Aqua or Axel because they give the best hugs.)

Riku: ah yes, my boy is hyper aware of panic attacks and the minute one presents itself he takes himself off -like a dog in distress- and deals with it alone. It manifests it’s self as intense nausea, swimming vision and shortness of breath. He’s thrown up more times than he hasn’t, and nobody except Ienzo and Even have ever seen him have one.

Roxas: this kid don’t have the time nor the inclination to deal with panic attacks. He knows what they are and that he has them, he just simply refuses to let them rule him. If one starts he goes and plonks himself between Axel, Xion and Isa and stays there until it stops. It usually feels like a overthinking spiral that leads to shortness of breath but he’s never let it get far enough to know if there’s anything else.

Axel: Axel tends to get explosive when he’s having a panic attack -in the emotional sense (although fire has been known to happen too.). He snaps at everyone and starts to get an intense feeling in his chest until he can’t cope and starts yelling in panic. It’s kind of scary to watch him go through it.

Xion: my poor girl shuts all the way down. It’s more like a PTSD episode. She gets this far off look in her eyes and she’ll stay in the same position for a while as her heart races and she tries to focus on coming back. Touching her is not a good idea because she is likely to lash out and then get upset that she’s done it. Which invariably ends in tears.

Ventus: here’s another little fellow who simply shuts down. His ears start to ring, his heart Jack hammers and then he’s somewhere he didn’t remember going and being told he just clocked out. It’s scary because he generally doesn’t know where the time in the middle goes.

Aqua: like sora, she doesn’t realise it’s happening and then it’s on her and she can’t escape. She ends up throwing up a lot of the time, and quite often panic will grip her FAST and then she’s incapacitated by it. Unlike sora however, she doesn’t put it off or try to push it down. She lets it happen and lets people take care of her when it does.

Terra: cries. Uncontrollable, heaving, body wracking sobs, shaking violently, doesn’t know what’s happening, vision goes blurry, the whole nine yards. Terras panic attacks happen frequently and with an intensity that shocks everyone. He ends up feeling literally everything all at once and sometimes he’s been known to start laughing out of sheer fear. Nobody. Likes. Watching. It. Happen.

[blackhakumen]

Mini Fanfic #1215: UNO Shenanigans Vol. 1 (Variety)

Destiny Angel Island Gang

'Silence'

Pit: So.....Question.

Viridi: Hm?

Sora/Kairi/Kirby: Shoot./Poyo.

Pit: You guys ever heard of this game called Dos? (Place his Matching Colored Card Down on the Pile) I saw a pack in the Coin Store the other day and it looks like it's the in the same brand as Uno. (Shows Everyone a Picture of the Dos Pack on his Phone) See?

Everyone leans over to take a more closer look at the picture in question.

Sora: Ah yeah. Kairi and I saw one of these in the grocery store the other day. (Place a Matching Card onto the Pile)

Kairi: (Giggles a Bit at the Memory) We were craving over Riu's cooking so much at the time that we really didn't think much of it afterwards. (Tales a Look at the Four Cards She's Holding Before Clicking her Teeth a Bit) Man.....(Draws Another Card From the Stack)

Kirby: (Turns to Riku) Poyo Poyo Poyo?

Riku: Sort of? From what I've heard you only had to match the numbers rather than that and the colors it's based around. You guys think we should give it a try one of these days?

Everyone: (Happily Nodded) Yeah/Sure, I'm down/Poyo!

Viridi: ('Sigh') If it gives me better luck than it's predecessor, then sure, why not.

Pit: (Smiles Sheepishly at his Girlfriend Next to Him) You're not a fan of Uno so far, aren't you, Vi?

Viridi: I will be once this dumb game stop finding ways to screw me over at the last second. (Angrily Points at Riku) And Mister Sore Winner here quit winning all the freaking time!!

Riku: (Gives Viridi Sheepish, Apologetic Smile on his Face) I'm sure you'll have your win soon enough, Goddess. It's not like I win all time, you know?

Sora and Kairi give their boyfriend unconventional glares and grumbles on both their faces.

Riku: What? It's the truth! I mean, come on, there's plenty of areas you guys beaten me at, even in recent years.

Kairi: Yeah. But that pales in comparison to the amount of wins you've gotten thus far.

Sora: Approximately three hundred and nineteen wins to be exact.

Pit, Viridi, amd Kirby's eyes starts to widen up in shock by the amount of numbers Sora just announced.

Sora: Yeah. We counted and kept score since childhood. That's how sucky it was.

The Smash Trio turn their heads to the silver haired Keyblade Master as he sighs in defeat.

Riku: Okay. So maybe I am bit of a Sore Winner-

Sora/Kairi: (Comically Glares at Their Boyfriend) MAYBE!? BIT!?

Riku: (Glares Back at His Idiot Lovers) You know exactly what I mean! shaddup!

Sora: (Crosses his Arms Along with Kairi) We will if you give us cuddles tonight.

Kairi: (Nodded in Agreement) Mmhmm.

Riku: I give you cuddles almost everyday already!

Kairi: Oh. Well.......W-We want more of it tonight!

Sora: Yeah!

Riku: I- ('Ugh') Fine! More cuddles it is then.......

Sora and Kairi shares a victory high five.

Pit: (Turns to Viridi with a Bit of Puppy Dog Eyes) Hey Viridi, can you give Kirby and I cuddles tonight whether you win or loss please?~

Viridi: Sure, I'm in modd for one. (Forms a Smug Looking Smirk on her Face as She Lays her Card Down on the Pile) Especially now that I got myself an Uno!~ ('Haha') Nothing could stop me now-

Kirby: (Happily Lays Down a Draw 4 Card on the Pile) Poyo!~

Viridi: MOTHERFU-

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

Samus and Daisy VS. Chun-Li and Luigi

Luigi/Chun-Li: Uno Out!~

Daisy: (Snaps her Finger While Groaning in Defeat and Sitting on One Side of her and Luigi's Bed with Samus) Damnit! I thought we had you guys that time.....

Samus: Right? How the hell have you two nerds been able to beat us five times in a round sp far?

Luigi: (Casually Shrugs With a Smug Look on his and Chun-Li's Face While Sitting on the Other Side of the Bed) What can we say?~ Lady Luck has been on our side today.

Chun-Li: (Smiles Brightly) Hey, you made a rhyme just now~

Luigi: ('Gasps') Momma Mia, you're right! (Smiles Brightly as He Sticks his Habd Out to Chun-Li) Up top!~

Chun-Li giggles softly aa she gives Luigi a High-Five right in frond of their girlfriends.

Daisy: Awwwww~

Samus: (Starts Snipping her Finger at her Partner) Hey! Focus back on the game, Mayflower! It ain't over yet.

Daisy: (Pouts at Samus) I know that! But can you really blame me though? They look so cute as team~

Samus: (Stares at her Opponent Giggling Among One Another Before Sighing) Okay, I'll admit. They're adorable. But cuteness could only get 'em so far. Hey! Laughing McGees!

Chun-Li: (Turns her Attention Back on Her Opponent While Smirking Along with Luigi) Oh hi there, ladies!~

Luigi: Getting cold feet over there?

Samus: ('Scoffs') Please. The temperature in here feels too good in here to quit now.

Chun-Li: So one more round then?

Daisy: Yep! (Forms a Cheeky Grin on her Face) But how we make ourselves a negotiable dealhere.

Luigi/Chun-Li: A deal? (Looks at One Another Before Turning Back to Their Girlfriends)

Chun-Li: Okay.....(Raises an Eyebrow) What do you have to offer?

Samus: (Starts Smirking) Oh it's simple really. If we win this round, ypu guys have to go to the Haunted House at town.

Daisy: Alone~

Luigi/Chun-Li: (Eyes Widened in Fear) What!?

Luigi: (Starts Shivering in Fear) B-B-But it was crown as the Most......S-Scariest Attraction of the Whole Town.....

Chun-Li: (Starts Shivering as Well) A-And the ghosts there look.....WAY more terrifying from what I've heard.......You seriously want is to go there!?

Luigi/Chun-Li: (Hug One Another While Shivering) It's Julyyyyyyy!~

Samus: (Chuckles Lightly) Oh will you relax, you big babies? It won't be that bad.

Daisy: (Happily Nodded) Yeah, you two are the strongest, bravest pair we know. You got this!

Luigi: (Turns to Chun-Li) We have faced scarier stuff before.

Chun-Li: ('Sigh') True.....(Turns Back to Samus and Daisy) Alright, we'll accept those terms. (Points at the Ladies with Pure Determination) But if WE WIN, we'll....uhh.....uhhh-

Luigi: (Gimmicks his Partner's Action) We'll be taking you ladies on a one free trip to Pound Town tonight!!

Chun-Li: (Turns Back to Luigi with a Taken Back Look on her Face) Huh?

Daisy: (Giggles Softly) Ohoo!~ Sweetie!~ (Forms a Seductive Smirk on her Face) How bold you've gotten~

Samus: No surprise there. (Turns to Daisy) You've been tainting most of his innocence with your perverted tendencies for years now.

Daisy: (Forms a Proud Grin on her Face) And I ain't sorry about it one bit!~ My baby's almost as freaky as I am these days. (Starts Wiping Away a Single Tear From her Eyes) ('Sniff') I'm so proud~

Samus: ('Sigh'') Whatevs. (Turns Back to Luigi) You sure this what you guys want, Weeg?

Luigi: Yep! (Turns to Chun-Li with a Sheepish Smile) T-That is if it's okay with you, of course.

Chun-Li: (Shrugs with a Smile) That's fine. I could use a bit more excitement in my life. (Whispers into Luigi's Ear) I could even teach you a very special position to use on Daisy if you like~ (Winks at Luigi)

Luigi: (Eyes Widened a Bit) Really? You will?

Chun-Li: (Giggles Softly) Of course!~ We're a team aren't we? Plus, I've used it on Sammy multiple times already and she loves every second of it. (Forms of Smirk of her Own Once She Notices her Girlfriend Panickly Swinging her Hand by her Neck) Not surprising considering how she LOVES the way I take charg-

Daisy: (Eyes Widened in Shock at Chun-Li) WOWOWOAH! TIME OUT! You're telling me that Samus Aran, one if the most ruthless Bounty Hunter in all the galaxies......Is the BOTTOM IN YOUR RELATIONSHIP!?

Samus: NO-

Chun-Li: Yes. A Power Bottom to exact~

Samus: (Quickly Glares at Her Girlfriend While Blushing Madly) WOMAN-

Chun-Li: (Gives Samus a Playfully Motherly Glare) Don't you "Woman" me, Samus Aran!~ You love me every second of me dominating you from start to finish. So much to the point that you started begging for more on ocassions, all while calling me "Mommy"~

Luigi and Daisy stares at an already flustered Samus for a brief second before burst out laughing at her dispense.

Luigi: (Trying his Hardest to Calm his Laughter Down) M-Momma Mia!~

Daisy: My god, girl!~ (Points at Samus While Wheezing) You're even more freaky than we are!~ Maybe even more than Lili if you keep this up!~

Samus: (Comically Glares at Daisy and Luigi) Oh piss off, both of you! I bet you're twice as more Bottom tier than I ever was!

Daisy: On the contrare, Sammy, Weegie and I are classified as "Switches".

Samus: Switches. Really?

Luigi: It's true. There are some nights where I want Daisy take extra good care of me while taking charge-

Daisy: -And there's some nights where I want my man to let loose and assert his dominance. (Forns a Satisfied Smirk on her Face) Gets more exciting every time~

Chun-Li: I think that's something we should try and do for a change, eh, Sammy?

Samus: ('Sighs Heavily') If it helps bring my image back to it's normal glory, then sure. But enough talk. We got a Uno game to finish.

Daisy: (Wraps her Arm Around Samus' Shoulder While Giving her Opponents a Determined, Competitive Smile While Pointing at Them) Better prepare yourselves, sweeties! You may have bested us in those past few rounds, but I have a feeling this last one will be our biggest comeback YET-

Samus and Daisy has lost the final round of 2-v-2 Uno shortly after and are now taken to Pound Town for the remainder of the evening.

Happy 4th of July

@caleb13frede

@ma-lemons

@bestpony666

@tampire

[evaundertale]

My kingdom hearts ships really just have become yes.

I straight up made this list because at somepoint imma draw these ships whether it's aus or not.

I like Sornami this I don't know why but I always felt Sora have more chemistry with Namine even if it's based off fake memories for the first half. But also I'm still slightly prefer them with others as well.

Love soriku there's no question their I reblog it like alot the ship has stuck with me sense kh2. And hasn't ever left. But other than that I'm a sucker for friends to lovers troop and this was the first friends to rivals to enemies to friends to loves. I'm not one who normally like rivals to lovers or enemies to lovers but this ship opened that up for me especially with how Riku tries so hard to redeem himself for Sora when he doesn't even have to.

Sorkai in kh 1 is great but shaky about it later on especially with reading the novels and looking at the translation of kh 3 also cause I think Kairi deserves better than how Sora treats her sometimes. It's like she's an after thought sometimes and it sucks.

Now Kairi with anyone else is higher then sorkai like roxiri, vankai, venkai, namikai, xion x kairi and sometimes and this is really just sometimes Odette x Kairi. I love all the ships and how their concepts could be.

I love namixi, rokunami, rokunamixi (ot3 like I think it'd be wholesome if they all were together and caring for eachother), rokushi these just are wholesome regardless of how you look at them.

Repliku and Namine I don't really ship Riku in Namine because I think Nomura shot that down instantly by changing the cutscene but also I liked the idea of Riku treating Namine, Kairi and Xion all similar sense he tends to interact slightly similar with each of them. But Repliku and Namine is both sad and wholesome it's probably due to the biased I have for liking the fan made trio with her the lost trio.

Vanami and Vankai so I got a reason for liking these two ships one the concept of Vanitas probably seeing Kairi as weak (in his eyes) or something but growing and interested in her for standing up and facing him despite that. Maybe they'd start off at odds not liking eachother or Vanitas being interesting while Kairi just sees him as a threat. The difference with Namine is I think he'd slightly mellow out not to much but find the fact she can manipulate memories fascinating. Maybe she reaches out wanting to help him even if he's full on darkness she probably would want to help like with Repliku but this time she feels she can is in more control to.

Okay okay the ships Namikai so I liked the aspect of how when they connected they have a light connection not to say that means anything but when Kairi needed someone Namine came in kh 2 and understood her like no one else even if she is technically a form of her Namine develops into her own person outside of Kairi and I just think it's wholesome which ever way you see it platonic or romantic.

Xion and Kairi I think in Xions case this ship is interesting to say the least not that it's bad just sense Xion in that weird grey area, she's Kairi, Sora and Riku at the sametime she develops on her own but still was the memories of Sora of Kairi and possibly Riku as well (cause why else did she experience a memorie only Riku has) so I guess she could have feelings for Kairi off Sora's memories of her but then again as she developed and Kairi slowly grow feelings over her seeing Xion becoming stronger despite her struggles.

I weirdly like Kairi and Strelitzia as a concept it's cute and I feel like wholesome from most comics or people who've talked about it. They tend to have wholesome ideas.

Venkai okay this one is just yes for me while her time away from Sora and training with Aqua she could get to learn not only combat but that she doesn't have to mimic others. From Kairi in Melody of memories in the Japanese translation she seems to blame herself slightly about Sora's death but not only that but from her combat in kh 3 it mimics mainly Sora's but with some of Riku. With Kairi's character constantly trying to catch up to both I feel like with time she lost a bit of herself due to that. From not finding her own way to train or fight that's why I think not only with the training from Aqua could she have time to reflect and think but get advice as well. In that time whether romantic or platonic I think Kairi and Ven would interact alot getting to know eachother and it being healthy to see the Wayfinder trios interactions. It might make her miss her friends but also might make her resolve to grow stronger that much firm. Now to the way I see Venkai sense Ventus is treated as the kid within the Wayfinder trio having someone around his age or also treated could lead to interesting bonding or Ventus mentioning how after all they been through Aqua and Terra still treat him like a kid. Kairi who probably doesn't really mind bring treated like she's younger much but might open up a bit more. Maybe over time they both talk about their worries or the events that happen to find some sort of closure. I think even if Ventus and her I think would he cute I also know full well it can be platonic as well.

Roxiri I will die on this rarepair ship. Okay actual reason I just love the concept the struggle with Roxas not knowing if she likes him for technically being a part of him or if his feelings are his own or Sora's (yes Xion probably go through that struggle to) while Kairi might end up hanging around him for see that he feels left behind to. I know Nomura doesn't address it much but from days and both Xion and him wanting to see where Alex went to when Xion forced a fight on him I do think Roxas should have a bit more struggle with those two events especially with them coming back not saying they wouldn't be friends again I just think they should talk about it maybe there's a stiffness in the air till they interact and in this time Kairi who also feels left behind alot probably talk about it growing a slow bond. From Kairi giving suggestions like Roxas talking it out especially sense thats how her and Axel worked it out. And Roxas letting her know that she doesn't have to face things along or feel left behind and to go at her pace. Maybe they could start having small bit training like he did with Xion in-between her training with Aqua. I feel like Roxas though would probably start off a little bit distant when she approaches probably dealing with the fact now that he's out only to find out Ventus is there and he looks like him exactly. Roxas struggles didn't really get addressed much but I do think if they were Kairi might help him out a bit even if it's just advice. The concept just intrigues me and I love it so dear.

Lastly RokuNamiXi I like Xion and Roxas I personally prefer rokunami a bit more but I also love the concept that they would just date together from me shipping all three pairs of Namine and Xion, Roxas and Xion and Roxas and Namine. I didn't wanna just let any of them be a third wheel. I think it'd be wholesome and sweet to see them all dating eachother from having feelings for eachother.

[catncore]

@tidecrux - " what do you like about it ? "

❝ it suits you. makes you look like a real proper guardian.  ❞ he steps back a few paces from riku to give the teen a proper once over before walking around him to see how he stands from the back. the size difference from sora and kairi wasn't much different than that of neku, beat and shiki. it was almost comical, in a way. almost.

❝  yeah. the colours look good to, but you need somethin' that'll really bring more 'you' out an' i might be able t' help with that. s' been a while since i played with keychains. i have somethin' i wanna test if yer willin' t' wait'a bit. ❞ he'd only ever offered to make keychains for sora in the past. keyblades were finicky beasts at the best of times. unpredictable others and while hanekoma's status as an angel is useful; he was very keen not to touch a key-wielders weapon without them being present.

walking back around riku to look him in eye he gives a affirming grin before putting his hands in his pockets. ❝  i have'a feelin' it'll help you get closer to 'that place' where sora resides. ❞ he might not be able to take riku naturally himself, but he could help modulate him and his keyblade closer to getting there. put a bit of soul into it.

❝  it's a good look, but..... not entirely there yet. give it a couple days, think it over. deal? ❞

[sheischerrybomb]

I was just scrolling through Pinterest and I came across some Roger Rabbit art and it got me thinking about how funny it would be if Who Framed Roger Rabbit got some sort of easter egg or cameo in KH4. There's a lot that can be done there I think. It could be anything. Roger could be mentioned by name since he's a well known actor in the plot of the movie (down on his luck but well known) AND Roger knows Goofy so it would be hilarious if Goofy was the one who made some sort of comment- Oh my gosh what if Donald and Goofy were talking about a rabbit they know/knew back in Disney Town and that could easily be a two in one reference where most of the player base would think it's an Oswald mention when it could also be a Roger mention. I really do think if Disney Town ever came back in KH4 they could easily expand the world, make it larger with more districts. Like Roger Rabbit's CarToon Spin is a ride in Toon Town at Disneyland so I pretty sure a reference isn't beyond possibility. Very Unlikely but not Impossible. He doesn't even have to make a physical appearance, it would be cool if he was an NPC or a summon (I personally prefer NPC out of the two). But if he were to make an appearance I thought of a scenario where whomever we would be playing as (Riku, Kairi, Sora yadda yadda) would be in Disney Town with Donald, Goofy, and Mickey (Yeah Mickey be in the damn plot) and the way were reintroduced into the world or new district to the world is by Roger trying to barricade say a fireworks or gag factory saying he trapped some spooky monsters inside and of course something is going to go awry (fireworks exploding or gags breaking down the door) and that's when we see the Heartless (or whatever new enemies we might be getting) are VERY cartoon themed like they were in KH2. Very rubber hose, very silly, looking enemies. After that Roger could easily run and hide or try to help the party fight back the Heartless. It would just be a fun way to introduce not only a bigger Disney Town world, but expand on the character roster and give Roger a bit of love and attention he deserves since he's such a wonderful character. It could just be Roger himself but I personally would also love Jessica to be referenced or show up in some form and I can already hear people saying Jessica would be to sensual for the rating KH has with her dress but to that is silly to me. Like Pirates of the Caribbean is in the KH games Multiple times and it's got WAY more mature content in it than Roger Rabbit if anyone is worried about content in that sense, like Jack doesn't make any 'why is the rum always gone' jokes in game he's just being a pirate, being himself while engaging with his part in the KH plot, so it CAN be done with Jessica. Hell if Jessica was going to show up just put her in a different outfit (Even her detective trench coat if they really have to it's whatevs to me, I would prefer her red or pink dress but if Disney doesn't wanna do that for Kh fine fine whatever blah. A new dress altogether would be really pretty though...). Anyways I think Roger Rabbit being depicted in KH4 would be really really neat and cool and neat and please show this rabbit and his wife some love Disney Thank you for coming to my coffee-fueled Dis-Talk. Expect more in the future when I have more coffee. <3

[drift-compatible-poll]

Preliminary Round: Kingdom Hearts

Sora and Riku vs Sora, Riku, and Kairi vs Larxene and Marluxia

Propaganda for Sora and Riku: "Look. I know that the kh fandom isn’t powerful enough to make them win but I swear they are perfect for this. They worked out like all their issues in the first game through weird villain betrayal arc bs and ever since then, they’ve been hopelessly in gay love and perfectly in sync. As soon as they had their whole reunion in KH2 the game entirely shifted to “let’s demonstrate how close Sora and Riku are in the most blatant of ways”. I’d highly recommend footage of their fight against the final boss Xemnas as proof of this, along with footage of their special duo Limit attack “Eternal Session”. There are multiple point at which they effortlessly hand their keyblades, special magic weapons that manifest from one’s heart, to each other in attacks. Apart from their synchronization in combat, they’re also extremely close as friends/possibly more. Riku is the only one trusted to dive into Sora’s heart to save him at the end of Dream Drop Distance, and in that game he also did the absolutely insane thing that is uh. He subconsciously changed his species to Dream Eater (lil magic dream creatures) (but Riku still looks human) because of his innate sense that Sora was in danger. Riku seems to have a sixth sense for Sora’s emotions in general because he once noticed Sora was crying before Sora even started crying (that was weird. Birth By Sleep) and noticed he was upset without looking (KH3, Keyblade Graveyard take 1). Sora also seems to consider Riku his first priority a lot, even choosing to keep looking for him to save him at the end of KH1 rather than to return to their home islands with their other friend Kairi (who is usually positioned as love interest, but it’s really lackluster and barely happening at this point and she’s just absent a lot and lacks characterization, and Sora seems to think a LOT more about Riku than he does about Kairi) and be safe. Riku’s dedication to Sora is kinda unhealthily dependent at times because he straight up spent a year once being depressed and fighting off possession while working himself to death trying to wake Sora up from a coma and recover his memories. And then spent another year later leading search efforts for Sora when he disappeared after KH3. Lastly, I am of course obligated to mention the Gayblade (no official name, move summoning it is called Nightmare’s End/Mirage Split), which is a special giant keyblade with heart decals and a paopu fruit (fruit that supposedly intertwines people’s destinies when they share one) and it’s like half light and half dark and is just straight up made from the two of them basically combining their hearts, which… if that’s not being in sync, what is? Sorry for ranting. Anyways, Soriku Endgame Actually, and please consider them for your poll."

Propaganda for Sora, Riku and Kairi: "Their Hearts are so connected to each other in so many way that more than once they brought each other back from death, in various combiantions. Also have you seen their combo finishers? They're so good."

Propaganda for Larxene and Marluxia: "(writing it down as Marluxia and Larxene for the sake of the poll runner's organization but let it be known that i also mean them as Lauriam and Elrena) You are not partner in crime for multiple millennias and multiple realities, finiding each other even after being separated by death, without being drift compatible. Also Sterlizia is with them in spirit, since it's her death that brought them together. Fight me on that." "Real ride or dies. They befriended each other while trying to find their missing sister/friend respectively, had to go to the future and (presumedly) lost their memories, and joined an evil organization. Upon meeting again, they decided everyone else sucked and the two of them attempted a coup. It failed and they kinda died. For whatever reason, Marluxia decided to rejoin afterwards and Larxene, who very clearly hates everyone else involved, follows along just to stick with him."