#( sora and blade my beloveds )

[myricart]

27022024 — a few jing yuan doodles ( with a glimpse of my self insert ) kjhgvfgbh ( the second one is the result of brainrot after brainrot with @silentmoths on discord so uh...martial god au??? ).

[isatoru]

sora…. who is this genji guy you’re posting about … that green art you reblogged.. hello… im scared /pos

OMGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!! abt to cry that u asked this question omgggggggg this is my loser gamer girl genji main moment... time to shine..... prepare for a yap fest

GENJI SHIMADA IS THIS JAPANESE CYBORG NINJA DPS PLAYABLE CHARACTER FROM THE FPS GAME OVERWATCH!!!! he is my greatly beloved he is the sweetest SWEETEST guy ever omg... hes a huge gentleman he's very traumatized he's actually very babygirl (also very submissive and breedable to me) and canonically so bf material...

he goes on this journey to find peace after he was saved by my beloved wife mercy/dr angela ziegler after he was killed by his older brother hanzo AND after he had to serve blackwatch aka a very bad time in his life bc he killed many ppl </3 (who is even more sexy bc that is a very traumatized kitty trying to find peace w himself too bc he didnt mean to kill genji ITS A WHOLE STORY...) <- these aren't spoilers this is lore u have to look up and find cuz the game barely tells u anything lmaooo.. mostly just random voicelines (that apparently arent even the canon interactions...)... NOW GENJI JOINS OVERWATCH TO SAVE HUMANITY!!!!!!!! YAYYY

BOTH HIM AND HIS BROTHER ARE DRAGONS/HAVE DRAGON ABILITIES HEHE

he constantly needs (emotional) healing and he has one of the coolest ultimates in game ever he has the dragon blade and he goes "the dragon becomes me!".... and also "a steady blade balances the soul" and also his halloween costume is always cyborg ninja

THATS IT PRETTY MUCH!!!! watch this official animated short to see genji and how he sounds like hes so SKDJFHD that man is one of the main reasons why i was off this app for a year LMFAOO

PLEASE PLAY OVERWATCH!!!!!!!!! EVEN THO SUGGESTING IT IS A MISTAKE BC THAT GAME IS RANCID AND IF U GET ADDICTED ITS FOR LIFE LOL SKDJHF

EDIT: HIS FAVORITE ANIMAL IS A TRICERATOPS !! :0

[cq-studios]

We talked about Ven’s dream, but are there any other moments in the series that stand out to you as potential KHUX references?

Okay, so, this is gonna all be from memory — with the occasional reference to the novels (I have bookmarks lol) so take the things I say with a grain of salt…

Also it’s kind of long so, under the cut we go!

The first one that comes to mind is something exclusive to the novels but when Ven and Vanitas re-fuse in the BBS an unspecified voice says this:

Which feels very Darkness coded. The “I’m home” part especially, since it’s most likely that it was removed from him at the same time as Vani (this specifically is also why I still believe Vani and Darkness are separate entities, even if they might share a body).

It doesn’t really make sense why they’d refer to themselves in the third person like this, especially since we do have another plausible explanation.

On a different note

You cannot convince me that it was not intentional that the Dream Eater Theme is one of the only tracks in the franchise to have vocalizations (the only others I can think of would be ML Dearly Beloved and One Winged Angel? Could be forgetting some tho).

Like what kind of twisted foreshadowing is that?

And the fact that it’s so ‘childish’ too. Obviously the Dandelions weren’t that young (like not under 10 I mean) but it still drives me crazy. Just AHH.

I’m not very confident this one is intentional (I have no idea when KHUX started being planned. I doubt it was all the way back pre-2008, but who knows?) but in Days (only the game, not the cutscene movie) both Marluxia and Larxene consider recruiting Roxas in their coup.

I believe Marluxia is the first one to bring it up and I can only imagine that was because of his connection to Ven. Not really much else to say here lol

Last but certainly, nearly, tangentially on topic is the Keyblade War story Yen Sid tells Sora and Riku before their Mark of Mastery Exam.

And like, yeah, no kidding CQ, but hear me out, I think it’s how it connects to Union X that makes it interesting.

So my idea is that the story actually mixes the Keyblade War MoM presumably fought in (the one ‘when he was a boy’ he tells Luxu about) with the one that he made the Foretellers cause (the one in Chi).

Green and Bold are the former

Pink and Italics are the latter

Blue, Bold, and Italics are ones that could plausibly be both

“Long ago, in the age of fairy tales the world was filled with light — a gift, many believed, from an unseen power known as ‘Kingdom Hearts’. You see, Kingdom Hearts was protected by its counterpart, the ‘X-Blade,’ so that none could ever lay hands on its mysteries.

But in time, the world was overrun by legions who wanted the light all for themselves, and the first shadows were cast upon the land. These warriors crafted ‘Keyblades’ in the image of the original X-Blade and waged a great war over Kingdom Hearts. We call this the Keyblade War.

But though the war extinguished all light from the world, the darkness could not reach the brightness inside every child's heart.

With that light, the world was remade as we know it today, with countless smaller worlds shining like stars in the sky.

As for the real X-Blade, it did not survive the battle. The two elements that created it, one of darkness and one of light, shattered into twenty pieces — seven of light, thirteen of darkness.

And as for the source of all light — the one true Kingdom Hearts — it was swallowed by the darkness, never to be seen again. As long as it remains there, even the brightest world will have its dark corners. After all, light begets darkness, and darkness is drawn to light.

For this reason, some decided to use the Keyblade — a weapon designed to conquer the light — to defend the light instead. These were the first heroes of the Keyblade.” - Narration by Yen Sid, Dream Drop Distance Novel, Page 165

So I’m gonna go over each coloured line one by one just to clarify what I think they’re referring to.

Anything said about the X-Blade is automatically about MoM’s ‘childhood’ Keyblade War to me (Green) as we do not see it or hear any reference to it at any point in the X Saga. Not even when MoM is talking to the Foretellers. Hell, I’m not even sure it’s ever mentioned in Dark Road.

The mythos could just be made up. But the X-blade is real and does summon Kingdom Hearts (a real or a fake one is yet to be decided). But also if this was a MoM Keyblade War thing, and he never told anyone about it, how would the rest of Keyblade society know? Maybe at some unseen point during MoM and Xehanort’s meeting he was told. I’m not sure. It’s a little rocky but I’m using what we have to go off of

And I am pretty sure that the X-Blade would be a thing MoM was exposed to considering it’s status as the thing all Keyblades are based on.

For a comment on the first few blue lines. I personally believe this is true for both wars, but that the wording leans a bit more into the Chi war.

The pink lines afterwards are obviously referring to the Dandelions and restoration of worlds

The next blue line…

So, we have no heccin’ clue which Kingdom Hearts is real. Like, is it yellow? Is it blue? Is it the god damn door from KH1? (It’s not the door from KH1. The door from KH1 is the Kingdom Hearts of Worlds and not the one we’re talking about lol) Not even some people working on the games are entirely sure according to one interview lol

And because of that I cannot tell you during which war the true Kingdom Hearts disappeared.

Most people, including myself initially, would assume it was in the war we see in Chi, and, honestly, I don’t think they’re in the wrong for thinking that. I think that’s what we’re supposed to think. But Yen Sid says that “the one true Kingdom Hearts” was “never to be seen again” and all instances of Kingdom Hearts appearing (both colours I mean) have shown up on at least 2 occasions.

In Fragmentary Passage (I think???) there’s a cutscene of Luxu watching the (Chi) war and the Kingdom Hearts shown there is blue. The same blue as in BBS. In KH3 its yellow the same colour as the confirmed fake Kingdom Hearts shown in Days.

If either of those Kingdom Hearts were real then they both would’ve very much shown up again by the time Yen Sid is speaking to them.

The last pink line is most likely referring to MoM taking on the Foretellers as his apprentices and them forming the Unions.

See I spent all that time explaining my thoughts about that Keyblade War legended and now I look at them so unconfidently… but it took so long to write it all out I’m gonna keep it in anyways lol

Anywho, that’s all folks.

Feel free to either add on to my points or tear them to shreds, if you’d like. I love a discussion. And prefer to be corrected if I get something wrong.

[pinkprimrose05]

Uh, hm, my first thought is diluc/blade/kaveh/Yuya/Zarc but why make this easy? Imma go with uh, Kaeya. Or any of the above if you don't have opinions on Kaeya.

Sometimes you are evil to me.

General opinion/How much I care about them: KAE! I care about him so much actually; he's honorary blorbo tier (on the lower end but hey, still counts). The lore is interesting, the relationships more so, and the aesthetic slaps!

(You know me I'm a sucker for starry motifs.)

Sometimes I just want to pick him up, bundle him in a blanket burrito, and then send him to the Dawn Winery and make sure he knows how much his family and the people of Mond (and I) love him. He deserves to have and cherish that knowledge. I want him to smile in genuine joy and contentment more often. Kaeya my beloved lil guy.

A ship I love: Whoops, can't seem to find any.

A non-romantic relationship that I love: Look, all of Mond is family to me, but the specific quartet of Kaeya, Diluc, Albedo and Klee are the siblings of all time. Found family up to 11, immense potential for fluff and shenanigans of all sorts- oh and also this trio would end half of Teyvat if someone so much as breathes wrong in Kaeya's general direction. The reverse also applies in many cases.

The NOTP: Kaeluc. No. Absolutely not.

My biggest headcanon about them: Kaeya is very bad with sweets. Like, very very bad with sweets. One bite of a simple vanilla cake and he'd cringe worse than a child eating a whole lemon. He does his best to not bring this up in gatherings though; can't shove someone's hard work back in their face.

He would not survive a day in Sumeru.

An idea for a fanfiction I would like to write/read about them: Remember the aforemention sibling quartet? Yeah I'd love to write something fluffy with them someday. Sadly I've got nothing in the works, but the thought is there. Oh and did I mention that ragbros reconcilation is one of my favorite flavors of fanfic ever? The hurt/comfort is just immaculate.

Something/someone that makes me think of them: Aquatic flowers, peacocks, ice sculptures, and... Sora. Something something blue bois with conflicting loyalties. Something something very important relationship with a red dude.

[valorxdrive]

“The next Organization member you’ll be facing is Xaldin,” she explained. The early dawn light glinted off the blade of her sword, a metallic glow in the sunrise. “He’s, by far, the most dangerous nobody you’ve faced so far. Make no mistake, if you hesitate — he will kill you, and gladly. No one in the Organization is more loyal, cruel, or skilled than him, besides maybe the Supreme Leader himself.”

Xion set a stance and the aero rose around her, taught to her by Xaldin himself. The wind caught in her coat tails and tore at their hair.

“If you’re willing to fight him, I’ll teach you how to survive.”

(Xion prepping Sora for his KH2 fight 👀)

"My intentions aren't just to fight him." His voice held a different cadence since the eve of the Hollow Bastion invasion. While doubt lingered in how his desire to protect the worlds fell into their advantage, another truth had bloomed.

Only one side was going to remain standing.

"I'm going to win." Eclipsing Xaldin's very life if that's what it takes.

Meeting a specialist in the aspects of Aero was entirely different than the Heartless. For only their foot soldiers and some of their elite had found themselves willing to professionalize in it. Most Nobodies (outside of their top) held magic that wasn't bonded to the elements, instead, utilizing magic in a more pure form or that deceptively high physical strength. Not to mention the way their very bodies bastardized the concepts of physics itself. In short, the practice would be pivotal.

His cerulean eyes were locked firm upon Xion's figure as it ascends, situating in a way that makes her seemingly beloved by the wind, letting her rest within its very fury and now holds as a force upon her beck and call. His own hair bounced along with his wavering jacket. Just the sight of an opponent had stirred natural recognition within the Keybearer's heart, strength gradually tore through a self-made dam as the force of light began to flock to his veins. It whips further free from his body, allowing a gallant glow to draw as lapping flames of light began to dance around his being.

With a whip of the hand, more of that scintillating element found itself burgeoning into reality as the Kingdom Key is drawn, merry music of an otherworldly nature following its wave as Sora draws himself into a familiar fighting stance. "All I've seen from him is someone obsessed with tearing the life out of someone else," There's no pity found in his voice for the one named Xaldin, for that door closed solemnly in that maddened advance gathering an army of power through dissolving the humanity of another.

"Let me show you what I've learned in kind." Through that Heart of Hearts, new strength was welling to the surface due to the focus of his emotions.

@perditos

[goldenchocobo]

Dark Road Thoughts

I’ve been super busy; but I’ve got some time and I’ve digested what happened in DR. I’ll put everything under a Keep Reading for those who use mobile and those who don’t have tags blacklisted.

What I will say here is: good story. I just hope it gets the UX/Back cover treatment. If you are brave enough to read past the Keep Reading; be warned, its very rambly as I’m not great with organising my thoughts properly.

I’m actually really surprised I predicted the story to some extent!

I said in my Dark Road Daemons post:

“Learning that there was a character called Baldr- I think I know where this story is going. Baldr is going to be killed/struck down- and I suspect it’s going to be Xehanort doing it. As it’s Baldr- A Norse god so beloved he’s said to give off radiant light, killed by Loki that brought upon the beginnings of Ragnarok. How Xehanort will do it, willingly or not, I don’t know, but the story of Dark Road is still new, and there’s lots of possibilities.”

Well; it seems that the roles of ‘Loki’/Xehanort and Baldr were somewhat reversed! with Baldr being ‘antagonist’ and ‘Loki’ not. It was kind of hard to watch Baldr being chained up like that, and even more so when Xehanort did strike him down- almost without hesitation it seemed.

The upper classmen were lots of fun too; I think my favourite of them was Vidar. when I saw a name pop up, I googled it to see what Norse myth they were from; with Vidar being the one who will strike the heart of Fenrir in revenge of a slain Odin. I liked that, that characterisation was turned into the Vidar we got, with wanting to purge the world and take vengeance on the Darkness for slaying his friends.

Staying on the Norse theme; as soon as I found out Baldr’s sister’s name, that's when I started to feel nervous, since in the myth its Hoder that kills Baldr by Loki’s doing-- and we almost saw that take place when Hoder placed herself in Xehanort’s heart and confronted Baldr- only then to attack him.

but wow; I’m getting way too excited about Norse myth and Parallels there's a few more I could list off, I think!

I will say; I really, really like Bragi. He was on my team a lot mainly because of his protect ability. I thought he was a cool character...  But as soon as he said ‘As If’ I was ready to throw my phone across the room. I couldn’t believe Luxu hijacked him. I don’t even know if he was Luxu all along or he hijacked Bragi in the world of the dead. Now if there’s a new character I like, I’m going to have trust issues because I don’t know if that’s just Luxu hijacking another person or not, haha... There’s so many moments I liked; from them exploring familiar worlds, to the class interacting with one another; or the constant making-fun-of Eraqus, it was great. I’m not usually an emotional person- but I did have a catch in my throat at the end where Eraqus also bought flowers to the graves... and that Xehanort said that he heard him crying all night for a week... and seeing them all get struck down by Baldr... it hurt, especially Vor, since I grew attached to her; it hurt when she left Eraqus and Xehanort with Vidar, and it hurt when she died.

BUT; getting to a scene I was excited to see- Vanitas actually talking to Xehanort! and it seems Xehanort wasn’t just using Vanitas as a ‘pure darkness’ to make a X-blade, but also to see if he could track the other darknesses down. AND my suspicions are also raised that Vanitas just wants to be his own person; Darkness or not, I hope that means that in the future, he’ll be alongside the ‘Heros’; since it'd be hypocritical for Sora to want Roxas to be his own person, but not Vanitas- just saying. 

There’s a million other things I’d like to type about, but honestly, I think I’ve rambled enough.

One more thing: Master Odin sucks and if he were a better person, Baldr would never have opened his heart to darkness.

[tharkflark1]

Hello yes about the literal sora kingdom hearts post, may i point out that both ultima weapon and the X-blade have sora's crown motif built in to the keyblade

YES tho it should be known that it’s heavily implied that the Crown Necklace is from Riku. And Kingdom Key was originally Riku’s as well

But! Still, crown motifs for Sora my beloved

[fectless]

(This is technically in response to the post right below this one, as world building totally counts for it, right?)

Anywho, more fandom thoughts, but for BLEACH this time. I recently started rewatching the anime again for the nth time as part of my language practice (and having the Japanese subtitles on while watching it in Japanese is an experience) and reached that episode where Aizen and co. get rescued by Menos Grande after declaring their intentions to Soul Society. And then a few things hit me.

The first: Rukia says, the first time Ichigo sees her sending someone on via Soul Burial, that one neither feels hunger nor gets sick in Soul Society. We know that this is false for a few reasons.

Those who can become shinigami definitely need to eat and all souls need water which implies that they can suffer from thirst (and perhaps heat exhaustion).

Captain Ukitake is suffering from an unknown disease that makes him literally cough out his lungs. I’ve read something about it being a defect in the make up of his soul that is only not killing him because of the pact with the Soul King’s arm, but I cannot recall if this was canon or fanon (as the Blood War arc was just like that). If so, does this mean that sickness does occur in Soul Society, but so rarely as to not be mentioned? Or does it occur more in the outer districts? Why does it occur?

Hisana died from a sickness as well. Yes, it’s stated to be exhaustion, but I feel like that doesn’t make sense? Like, the flashback in the anime has her abandoning Rukia after she collapses while carrying her around. And she collapses later when she regrets this and goes to look for her sister. And then she dies.

Seriously, why does it occur? It’s weird. And it cannot be an Aizen thing as I’m pretty sure Aizen is younger than Ukitake. Is it because of what happened to the soul king? Does it have something to do with when people get sent on (like if they were close to being a hollow)? Is it because they died while sick? Is it because of their resolve?

...Do we never see sick souls in Soul Society other than them because they usually just. Die pretty soon after arriving?

And if spiritual power leaking is what causes spiritual pressure, and the “vents” can be closed... do people in the districts sometimes close them by mistake and then blow up? Is spontaneous combustion a thing in the afterlife?

The second: I’m pretty sure “Ichirin no Hana” is a love song that Byakuya is singing to Hisana’s memory.

Someone has probably stated this before, but the lyrics of the song literally say how some one, a “single flower,” is precious and can’t be replaced. How that flower bloomed despite being stuck somewhere dark and how they looked lovely but like they were about to wither away. And that the singer would accept all of their pain if only that person would smile and stay with them...

The title of the song also matches the title of the chapter in which Byakuya reveals to Rukia the secrets he’d been keeping from her about Hisana. He uses the same words, “ichirin no hana” to describe the season in which she died

Literally his whole dilema during this arc, the entire way he interacted with Rukia up to this point, was that he was conflicted between his sense of duty (to his parents, his wife and keeping his word) and his feelings for his beloved Hisana. Rukia’s physical resemblance to her sister is almost uncanny and the lie she is told when she asks why she was adopted was, “You look like Byakuya’s late wife.” How much must he have hated that? A person whom he had sworn to protect that, had she arrived two years earlier might have saved his wife’s (after)life? A person that looks just like his beloved, who reminds him of her every time he sees her (for those first 50 years), but is not and never will be Hisana. And then. To know that she’s going to be executed for crimes, that she felt she could not rely upon him enough to even let him know she’d encountered trouble in the human world when he’s been doing his best to ensure she’s safe (because that is one of the few reasonable explanations for why Rukia hadn’t been promoted yet, and then was promoted during the 3 year gap)? To see her stripped of her rank, her strength even (with that collar and the stone of the prison tower). To see a small form who so resembles his beloved all listless and soon to die, wearing a white yukata like his wife had in her last days...

Watching it again made me feel things, okay? Like yeah, it seems like it’s a stupid dilema from some perspectives. Especially considering Central 46 had a run in with Aizen by then, but. Byakuya was raised in the Seireitei. He was raised knowing that his life was the Seireitei’s tool. That his duty, his reason for existing was for the sake of his family’s honor, so he must be composed, must act as the family and Soul Society bid him. That’s some mighty powerful brainwashing/indoctrination right there. And he broke it once already to marry some nobody from the slums. He did something not only against the norms, but something selfish. Maybe if she’d had high spiritual power this would have been accepted, but she was sickly and likely did not. He went against the clan elders who had probably instilled obedience in him since birth and was afraid of doing it again.

(And if you count the filler arcs, you can bet that they held that one Kuchiki who went traitor against him too. Like: “he married that Hisana girl against our orders? What next? Will he betray Soul Society too?”)

And maybe I’m making a bigger deal out of his upbringing than I need to. Maybe it wasn’t really like this. But I feel like it really was. (Moreso with the filler arcs and what I’ve heard of the light novels.)

Also, this song and the way that the opening animation fit together really solidifies the whole “Ichigo and Rukia were always meant to have a tragic romance” vibe that I kept getting the first time I encountered this series.

The third: Rukia was likely younger than six months (physically) when she was abandoned, but I’m pretty sure that she was older than three months when she and Hisana died.

Her blanket was pink in the flashback.

Sure, the above might not seem to have much significance but it’s been proven in canon that clothes are part of oneself. I reblogged a post a while ago that went into detail, but to sum it up, clothes are part of your self image and your self image determines a bit about what you look like when you die.

Babies are usually no longer swaddled by the time they’re six months old, and some places recommend that you stop by the end of their second month.

Babies have pretty bad vision when they’re born. They take four to six months to reliably track objects in motion and use binocular vision decently. They take about four months to see across a room, and about two months to see farther than maybe 30 cm away. And around the three month mark, they start having decent color vision. Around then is when babies supposedly start showing color preference.

Babies tend to have poor long term memory. (To be fair, they’ve got a lot going on compared to being in the womb and sensory overload sucks.) Their memory by the age of six months is only a few weeks. Two months old had a memory span of a few days.

If she’s been consistently wrapped in a pink blanket, then by the time she’s old enough to see color, she would be old enough to remember what color her blanket usually is— or if it was a different color that particular day.

The fourth: when Gin raises his spiritual pressure on Aizen’s orders, Chad remains standing. This raised a bunch of questions as Gin is stronger than Yammy (to the best of my memory).

Chad remained standing. Yes, his whole fight with Captain Kyouraku was about his resolve and how he would stand by his friends and fight for their safety/ideals but. Like. Earlier that year, his spiritual strength was on par with Yuzu. He’d been friends with Ichigo for years which was why he was even that strong. He’d been in a Hollow attack maybe three times before Rukia was arrested and could only barely see them the time Ishida pulled a stupid and used Hollow Bait. Sure, he has experience fighting and he’d trained under Yoruichi, but it feels sus considering how the others fared.

Orihime fell to her knees pretty quickly after Gin turned up the pressure. She’d also fought against high-ranking shinigami at that point, and trained under Yoruichi, and fought off Hollow (alone even! And she was the reason why Sora moved on, despite Ichigo’s Blade purifying him) before. And yet... It could just be a lack of resolve, as that had come up in earlier chapters but it doesn’t feel right.

Ishida is excused from this due to circumstances.

Tatsuki has been friends with him for ages. Sure, it seems like they weren’t as close after his Mom’s passing, but by then they’d already known each other for quite some time. I’m pretty sure that they were hanging out semi-regularly through junior high/middle school, at which point he got close with Chad and she got close with Orihime. She also has experience fighting (admittedly in martial arts rather than the street fights Ichigo and Chad get dragged into). She experienced at least one hollow attack during Ishida’s Stupid Day. But she collapses as soon as Yammy shows up? That feels off.

In contrast, Ganju was struggling about the same amount. He was born to a noble family— who are known to typically have decently high spiritual power, like his older brother Kaien and his cousin/uncle Issin. He was raised in the Rukongai, meaning he likely came across Hollow attacks. (And those definitely occur.)

Makes me wonder things about Karin’s strength. Like, she managed to escape from the hollow who attacked their house to run for Ichigo’s help (manga) or lived long enough while alone with it that Ichigo and Rukia could come save her (anime), both of which are quite impressive for an eleven year old. She also kept up with Hitsugaya when they played soccer and he’s a captain. Based on Ichigo’s experience, it’s likely that she too will become stronger as she grows up. And does she have an inner hollow too, or is that Ichigo only? If White was simply a parasite and decided to stick to Ichigo I could accept it. But as a hollow Ichigo is a Vast Lorde, and hollows of that level can split into parts (like Starrk and Lilynette).

Does Yuzu not really have any spiritual strength because she inherited more of the Quincy genes from her mom and the hollow genes she inherited don’t balance out that same way it does in her siblings...? Food for thought.

TLDR: how and why is sickness as thing in Soul Society? Byakuya listens to rock music and I’m p. sure the third opening song is him angsting over his wife’s death; it also gave me strong feelings about how he was prolly brainwashed growing up so his angst over Rukia’s fate is not actually stupid. I continue to have IchiRuki feels. Rukia and Hisana died when Rukia was about 3 months old. And I am more confused now about how spiritual power works than I was before I started rewatching the anime for language practice. Also, more questions have arisen about hollows.

[snowflake-of-destruction]

Art credit @shaky-mayhemm circa late April 2020

On the first day of Shaky, my true love got from me....ONE TRUE PAIRING

Dear Shaky,

This is the first piece of art you ever sent me. You asked me to write a caption, and I balked. I was flattered, but I was so intimidated when I saw that crown on Axel's chest. How could I ever write something for your Destiny Kingdom AU? It was your baby. I can't get it wrong. I can do anything else but not that. 

I...still worry about that, but I thought this was a nice full circle move. Thank you for your faith and your friendship. Happy birthday. I hope you enjoy it. Eleven more days to come.

I tried to link to posts of yours I referenced, so others could reference, but I probably missed some

How We Lie

It should have been the most beautiful sunset they'd ever witnessed. Thematically, it would have been satisfying. Their lives were melodrama, the setting was rude not to cooperate and leave them with a final perfect memory to hold onto when the light died completely. Instead, in nights ahead, Axel would be left with the image of a bead of melting ice cream slowly rolling down the side of the untouched bar Roxas held in slightly twitching hands that raced the fat tear carving a shining path that reflected the red-orange light down the duke's cheek. Axel longed to halt the progress of the latter with a swipe of a thumb, and rub it out of existence between glove clad fingers, but he knew that wouldn't take away the sadness that had caused it in the first place. Axel had that power too, technically, he supposed, though to change the course he had committed to now, might cause him to be the one to cry next, and Axel still was selfish enough to want to avoid that.

I can't lose you. I wouldn't survive it. Don't you see that? 

"You promised you wouldn't cry." A royal guard should have enough decorum not to call attention to the duke's lapse in stoicism when it was clear Roxas would not appreciate attention being brought to it. Then again, Axel and Roxas had never been typical guard and royal charge. The tear splashed on the stone of the palace roof just as the ice cream drip splattered onto the webbing between Roxas's thumb and forefinger. Now Axel longed to take Roxas's hand, bring it to his lips, suck away the salty-sweet cream while looking into those lapis eyes he loved so much, maybe take one or two of Roxas's fingers next, swirl his tongue around and up and down the length until his beloved showed he'd forgot his grief and allowed Axel to make up for any offense he caused in one of the only ways of communication he considered himself good at since words constantly failed him. 

"You promised you wouldn't leave," the duke countered, voice thick and warbling, and whether the cause was repressed anger or more oncoming tears and pleas to call his mission off, Axel knew it wouldn't be handled by simple distraction.

"It wouldn't be the first time we broke our promises, now would it?" Axel surprised himself with his own harshness as he gripped his own neglected sea salt ice cream more tightly, though the bitterness was largely aimed inward. He had broken far more promises to Roxas than the reverse had happened. So far he hadn't broken the most important. I will do everything in my power to keep you safe even at the cost of my own life. And he didn't plan on breaking it now. "But I can vow it's the last time I'll break a promise."

"Don't lie to me, not now," Roxas breathed, the sentence seeming to drain the last of his strength. His ice cream was losing its form more quickly now, balance tipped, keeping up its sympathy with the duke about to unravel.  

"I'm not." The words were said firmly, but Axel didn't dare look at Roxas. 

How could he not understand? He grew weaker by the day and Axel was the one in pain. Naminé said she was doing the best she could, but it wasn't good enough. Whatever she was doing didn't even seem to be helping, and Axel had his doubts the witch was even trying. He'd told Kairi, who was going to be filling in for him as Roxas's guard while he was away, to keep a close eye on her. Kairi had assured him that she knew how to deal with Naminé, a hardness in her eye so chilling--though not out of character--that Axel knew he'd selected the right musketeer. 

"Bind the vow with magic." Wisps of darkness escaped Roxas's mouth, but Axel's mind would have explained it away even if he'd been looking. He was acutely attuned to Roxas's fatigue, the way his ribs had started to jut out, the way he winced at bright light, and other distressing signs of the strain that had been placed on him since Chernabog had begun to call for him, but the guard refused to see the darkness in his love. 

"Do you need that?" Axel wouldn't judge if he did. Anything for Roxas. He could hardly remember the day when he had seen being assigned to what he'd called the dumb nugget foundlings when King Mickey had welcomed them into the palace. For as long as had mattered, Axel had viewed that just as Prince Sora had been said to have been formed from clouds, Roxas must have been formed from the blood of Axel's veins, wished into existence from the dreams of his mind, born to love and be loved by him. No sentiment so poetic-and so cloyingly sentimental-- had ever been voiced by Axel though. They fell apart when he tried to make them take form. It's what he meant when he said Ba, you're the best though, and he thought they both knew it. Maybe he should make sure before he left though, if he could and it wouldn't sound too much like I'm sorry I won't be back. I'm sorry that this will end the same as when Riku left. I'm sorry that I can't think of anything more practical than let's send the best warriors in the kingdom throwing themselves one at a time on fate's knife. I can't think straight at all when it comes to you. I should have stepped down long ago when I became so compromised, but we'd be in the same place now. I need to go. If there's even a chance at a solution, I have to try and find it. I can't wait. I can't stay and hold you through the worst because I need it to get better now.

"No." Roxas didn't sound sure, or at least he didn't sound happy.

When Axel said he would break no more promises, it was the truth, not even just in intention, but raw fated truth. No more promises would be broken. There would be no more opportunity.

"I'll come back safe."

It was a lie. They both knew it. It was easy to lie until the lies racked up.

I'll take every precaution even if it slows me down.

I'll take soldiers with me, or recruit hired blades in the next town at least if I think Goofy wouldn't be able to spare men.

I'll turn back if my search takes me into a threat I know I can't handle on my own.

I won't try to take on Chernabog by myself.

One day, I'm going to be the third keyblade master in history to survive using Serenity form.

I'll come home

Everything will be alright.

Stories like ours have happy endings.

The sun disappeared over the horizon more quickly than either Roxas or Axel expected. The red light didn't linger. Red had a long way to travel and it couldn't delay today.

[rapidlychangingfandoms]

Ooogh im sorry to all my beloved mutuals my brain is descending into kh hell and

I just (ux spoilers under the cut)

How is Xehanort somehow so bad at knowing shit, in EVERY ITERATION, yet somehow is kinda on the right track for SOMETHING

Like, mr “oh i shall replay the keyblade war that broke the worlds” and then RE ENACTS THE FIRST KEYBLADE WAR???? THE ONE WE DON’T SEE???? HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO MISS CORRECTLY?????

And this is INFURIATING to meBecause now theres 3? Keyblade wars???? And somehow, SOMEHOW, the second just.Disappeared!

Like, imagine that. The apocalypse happens, and everyone forgets the CHILD DEATHS before like, damn sorry checks notes Aced, your character has been forgotten except for the 1 bastard that survived without amnesia.

AND LIKE??? Don’t get me wrong I LOVE union but………side eyes the keyblade war against darkness and light. Because like, lets be real, there was no darkness in keyblade war two. And even then, some things Master of Masters says about how its been a never ending war. Like??? Is a keyblade war a state of the world? Does like, the world itself have a keyblade war phase, where someone dies under kingdom hearts for D R A M A, everyone fights under kh, and then it disappears again? Or is there an age before the age of fairy tales. (Which like, HOW is it the age of fairy tales every fairy tale happens while Sora is alive.) Does the Book of Prophecies actually pull the worlds from the future, or does it get them from the past iteration of the world. OR is the whole world a loop. Is all of KH paradoxical and the disney worlds the children’s memory of the future projection of the children’s memory.

AND THEN WHY DOES RECODED BRING IN JIMINY “CONSCIENCE” CRICKET’S JOURNAL

Tangentially related, but did people LIVE in the realm of darkness??? Before this whole thing? Did they die? Did they become akin to gods? We know that Xehanort describes the winner of the Keyblade War as akin to a god in bbs report 7 ish, did Darkness lose their form by winning the first keyblade war??? Or did light like. Pull a MoM before then. You know.

AND THEN KEYBLADES OF DARKNESS, ARE THEY ALL THAT REMAIN OF THE PEOPLE OF THE REALM OF DARKNESS?? DOES MICKEY MOUSE WIELD THE DEAD PEOPLE KEYBLADE????? We know that keyblades of light and darkness come from imitations of kingdom hearts, maybe the x-blade split into the keyblade of light and darkness and THATS why a pure light and a pure darkness clashing has the same KH weight as the full on keyblade war??? (Also, the X blade is why the keyholes were open in kh1 i refuse alternatives <3)

I hate this point in KH where we know nothing about where everything is headed, except that everything is going downhill quickly. My mind can’t get off this helltrain.

[shayclov391]

Twisted Hearts Chapter 1

Ok so here is twisted hearts, the story of where Sora found himself at Twisted Wonderland 

hope you all enjoy, fair warning

this chapter is long 

⁺˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧͙⁺˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧͙⁺˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧͙

‘This feels…familiar…’ he thought as he felt himself drifting into an endless abyss, he opened his eyes as he finally felt the ground; he slowly got up as nothingness surrounds him.

“Ah…my dearly beloved”

Sora looks around, searching for the voice. Yet found no one. ‘Another dream?’ he says out loud and starts to walk on the darkness, this feels familiar for Sora but at the same time, it’s also unfamiliar to him.

“A lovely and noble flower of evil”

“Truly, you are the most beautiful of them all”

Sora starts to walk into the darkness to hopefully find something, anything. Soon, he hears horses carrying a carriage, he looks around and sees something in the distance coming his way, he starts to run towards it. As he was getting close, all the sudden heartless start to appear between him and what he can see is a carriage.

“Mirror, mirror on the wall...”

“Who is the most...”

Sora did not listen to the voice as the heartless start to get near him; he summons his key blade, the kingdom key, and starts to fight off the heartless. Striking and slashing the heartless while dodging the heartless from coming at him.

After finishing off the heartless, he noticed something one on the ground at the last heartless he has defeated, hi pick it up in curious, it looks like a pen with a chain that looks like it could be attached to his keyblade, curious, he attaches the chain to his keyblade, the keyblade glows and disappear which made Sora surprised. He tries to summon it his keyblade but nothing happens, which confused Sora, and before he can think about it. The carriage finally arrives in front of him.

A black carriage carrying an ornate circular mirror with glass a deep emerald color, and skeletal horses at the front skeletal horse, it nearly looks like it’s a carriage that goes to a funeral. Sora disperses his keyblade and looks at the carriage warily as its doors open; he looks inside to sees nobody in it, only a mirror. Cautiously, he steps into the carriage.

“Those who are guided by the dark mirror”

“As long as your heart desires, take the hand that appears in the mirror”

As soon as the voice says it, he noticed a strange eerie light coming from the mirror the carriage had, and a hand appeared before him from the mirror. Sora stares at the hand, he could hear his heart beating fast. He slowly takes it.

“For me. For them. For you. We are all running out of time! No matter what, never let go of my hand.”

All of the sudden, the hand-pulled him through the mirror. He starts to lose consciousness, and darkness takes over his vision.

⁺˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧͙⁺˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧͙⁺˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧͙

Sora could hear something banging on something else, he opens his eyes to see that he is somewhere dark, he outstretches one of his arms, only to be met with a wood surface, he starts to feel around and realized, that he is in a box.

He then hears a voice on the other side “Crap, people are coming... Gotta get a uniform while… grrrr! The lid is too heavy!” followed by a rattle from the outside, he goes to knock on the wood.

“Hey, is someone there? Can you get me out?” he attempts to yell, but it seems that the box is too thick, that it can’t be heard from the inside. He thought about using his key blade but, the keyblade would be too big in the tight space that he is in.

“Grrr..It’s no use, time for my secret technique!” Sora then felt the box heating up, he leans to the surface of the box and then it starts to open, making Sora fall off

“Whoaaa!”

“Ffggnnnaaaa!?”

Sora falls to the ground, he groans and looks up to see a grey-furred animal that looks like either a cat or a raccoon, but the creature has blue flames coming out of his ears, it sort of reminds him of Hades from the underworld.

He seems surprised seeing Sora wide awake “Why are you awake? You’re supposed to be asleep!” the cat…raccoon? Creature says.

“A cat?” he wonders out loud, the cat thing? Looks annoyed “Who are you calling a cat! I am the great Lord Grim, y’know!? Treat me with respect, you pitiful human!” Sora tilted his head in confusion as Grim got on all fours “Enough chit-chat! Gimme those clothes! Or else I’ll roast you!”

Sora looks at his clothes, surprised to see that he is not in his regular attire, but in a black robe with gold and purples trim and pattern “Where did I get this?” he checks out his clothes.

“Hey! Don’t ignore me! Fgggnnnnaaaa!” Grim starts to run at Sora, and jumps to pounce on Sora, but Sora side steps, making Grim jump into the casket behind Sora.

“Gyahh!” The demon-cat-raccoon exclaimed when it face-planted to the cushioned casket.

“Sorry” Sora says, but then he starts running away from the room, as he runs, he looks around over where he is ‘am I in another world, that means I can find a way back to Destiny Island’ he thought as he runs through the rather gloomy hallway.

He soon finds himself in a library, where he sees some books are flying “Where am I?” he wonders and soon see a fireball head to his way, but he dodges last second and looks to see that the cat-raccoon animal headed to him.

“Hehehe…you think you can get away from me, you dumb human” Sora looks at Grim and frowns “You again, the cat-raccoon?” he still has no idea what Grim is as he stomps in frustration “How many times do I have to tell you that I’m not a cat or a raccoon, I’m the great and powerful Grim, now gimme those clothes”

“I’m not gonna give it to you, and you're being rude” Sora says, crossing his arms while narrowing his eyes at Grim as the cat smirks “Then it’s time for me to roast you,” the blue flames on his ears begin to grow.

He inhaled and aimed his fire at Sora, but he quickly dodges it and gets into a battle stance but have not summoned his keyblade yet.

“Stop it, you’re gonna burn the place down” he says, but Grim smirks “Then give me your clothes now” he got on all four and jump to pouch Sora again.

And then out of nowhere, there was a sound of a cracked whip. “Eh?! That hurts! What’s this cord?!” Grim cried out, trying to break free from the restraint.

“It’s not a mere cord! It’s the whip of love!” A voice corrected Grim from the shadows. Sora eases his posture and looks behind him to see a silhouette figure that came closer to them.

Sora can see the man up close. He was wearing a top hat that had a little mirror on it; he is also wearing a suit and a cape, on his side has three mirrors and chains of keys, half of the man’s face is covered behind the black mask, but Sora could see the glowing yellow eyes beneath the mask.

“Aah, I finally found you! I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” He sighed, disappointment written across his face. Sora looks at the man in confusion “Umm…I’m sorry?”

The man sighs and crosses his arm, still holding firm to the ‘whip of love’ and look at Grim “Also, having a familiar that you haven’t tamed is against the school rules!” this made Sora and Grim look at each other “He is not-“

“I’m nobodies’ familiar!” Grim looks at the headmaster while continue to struggle “Let me go!”

The man brushes off Grim’s comment “Yes, yes, every rebellious familiar always says that.” He raised his hand which has a golden claw on each finger, he made a zipping gesture “Now, please be quiet and let us have a converse in peace.”

“hhmmpp” Grim’s mouth magically zipped as the man turns to Sora, who just looks confused “However, it is unheard of for a student to be able to open their door by themselves” he looks at Sora with a small frown. “Hold on, I was in there until he opened it by force” Sora says, explaining himself “I see, so the familiar is to blame” The man looks at Grim “Well then, If you brought him here, then it is your responsibility to look after him.”

Sora and Grim look at each other again “But he's not-“

“Ah that’s right. Come, come now the entrance ceremony started long ago! Let us not be later than we already are!” the man says cutting Sora off and ushers the boy leaving the library carrying the still tied up Grim who continues to struggle.

Sora is very confused, where is he? Why is he here? And why did is his outfit change? The last thing he remembers is that he was fighting Yozora in some sort of tower, and then, after defeating Yozora, he finds himself back at final world, but after that it all went blank. He looks to the man in front of him.

“uhh, sir?” Sora called out earning the man’s attention “Where are we exactly?”

The man stops and looks at Sora in surprise “What’s this? Are you still dazed?” he placed a golden claw on his chin. “It appears the teleportation magic has left you disoriented; that is a common side effect; let me give you a brief explanation as we make our way to the ceremony, for I am so gracious!”

Sora tilted his head in confusion as the headmaster continued,

“This is Night Raven College!” he motioned to the school around them. “Magicians that are blessed with a unique aptitude for magic gather from all over the world, here at the most prestigious magical academy in Twisted Wonderland.” He turned back to Sora. “And I’m the headmaster, appointed to take care of this academy by the board chairman, Dire Crowley.” He turned back and continued the way to the ceremony. “Only those magicians seen as worthy by the Dark Mirror can attend this school, chosen ones use the gate and are summoned here from around the world…an Ebony carriage carrying a gate should have gone to meet you as well.”

Now that he mentions it, Sora did remember about something about a carriage in his dream. ‘Or maybe…it wasn’t a dream’ he thought as the Headmaster ushered Sora again; “Come now, we have an entrance ceremony to get to.”

⁺˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧͙⁺˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧͙⁺˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧͙

“—Now then, are the entrance ceremonies and dorm sorting finished?” Riddle says looking at the last first year that has been sorted to a dorm. He stood among the other dorm Perfects as the first years got sorted to their dorm. They’ve already made their introduction of themselves and their dorm.

Riddle looked at Azul who nod and lower the papers that the headmaster is holding “yes, I believe so”

Riddle nods and looks at the new Heartslabyul dorm student “Listen up, new students. I make the rules in Heartlabyul. Anyone who breaks them will lose their heads—do keep that in mind.” He said sternly.

Leona, the Savanaclaw Perfect yawned. “This boring ceremony is finally done.” He placed a hand on his hip as he looked at the first-years. “Let’s get back to the dorm. Savanaclaw, follow me” he said.

“To all the new students, I would like to congratulate you on your enrollment here! I hope each and every one  of you're able to live a fulfilling school life!” Azul says as he took a step forward. He might seem smiling. He folded his arms over his chest. “As the dorm leader of Octavinelle, I will support you as best as I can!”

Vil, the dorm Perfect of Pomefiore look at the others “By the way, where’s the Headmaster? He flew off in the middle of the ceremony”

Azul was about to answer but got cut off by Idia, the Perfect of Ignihyde,  he speaks through his floating tablet “He abandoned his duties…”

Kalim, the Perfect of Scarabia dorm looks curious “maybe he had a stomachache and has to go to the bathroom?” He suggested. But as soon as he says that, the door burst open, revealing the Headmaster.

“Not at all,” the Headmaster says, followed by a student that the dorm Perfects see has a very spiky brown hair. “Oh, he’s here” Riddle says and looks at the boy. The headmaster made his way to the mirror with the boy who looks around the room in curiosity.

“I can’t believe you all, we are missing one new student so I went to find him” the Headmaster says as Sora looks at him ‘wait, student? I’m in a school?’ he thought as the Headmaster turned to him.

“Now, you’re the only one who we have yet to assign to the dormitory. I shall watch over the raccoon, step in front of the dark mirror” he says gesturing the mirror which holds a tight grip to Grim who still trying to break free from the ‘lash of love.’

“Hhmmmpp” Grim muffled as Sora took a step towards the mirror that has a face.

“State thy name” the dark mirror says.

“my name is Sora” he replies, “Sora…the shape of thy soul is…” the mirror says before going  silent for a moment until it finally says:

“I do not know”

“Come again?” The Headmaster says, looking surprised

“Forsooth, I feel a strong wavelength of magic power from thee. The magic that is both ancient but not. The magic that does has been forgotten and no longer exists from this world. Howbeit, thou art’s soul is not eligible for any dormitory.” The dark mirror explained.

Sora could hear many students whispering and muttering about him as The Headmaster looked at the mirror in disbelief “magic that does not exist within this world? How could this possibly have happened?” he wondered; this gave Grim a chance to finally be freed by the lash.

“Then I’ll take their place, I’m even more powerful than some ancient magic, check this out” Grim start to prepare his fire magic “Everyone get down!” Riddle says as Grim start to set things on fire. The fire even hit Kalim’s butt “AH, HOT, HOT, MY BUTT IS ON FIRE” he screams, tries to put the fire out.

Sora quickly make his moves, he uses his hand to use to cast Watera on Kalim and onto the fire to put it out before turning to Grim, “hey stop that!” he says as he uses Stopra on Grim, making the raccoon-cat freeze with a time on his head for around 10 seconds counting down, “he’s frozen in time...” one of the students says, looking amazed.

“only for a few seconds, hurry!” Sora says as Riddle took out his magic pen “off with your head” he raised his magic pen and placed a heart-shaped collar on Grim as the timer reach zero.

“—fgnah Gaaah! What’s this?!” Grim tries to take the collar off, but to no avail.

“Rules number 23 of the Queen of Hearts: You must not bring cats into areas of festivities.” Riddle huffed and crossed his arms looking at Grim. “As you are a cat, trespassing here is a serious rule violation. We will have you leave immediately.”

“I’m not a cat! A cat can’t burn things like-” Sora is getting ready his water spell but pauses seeing Grim fail to start his fire spell. “W—What?! My fire… it won’t work!!”

Riddle just smirk as he put his magic pen away “Until I remove that collar, you won’t be able to use your magic. It will get removed once you’re thrown out of the school.”

“wow, as wonderful as ever, all magic was sealed by your unique magic, Riddle” Azul says praising Riddle “I want it…no I wouldn’t want that cast on me” his tone change midway.

“You must do something; he is your familiar!” The Headmaster glaring at Sora as he groans, “I’ve been trying to tell you, he is not my familiar”

“eh, he’s not” The Headmaster looks surprised but then clear his throat “*ahem* if that is the case, then would someone take it out of the school. We won’t turn you into a stew. For I am so gracious” one of the teacher nods and grabs Grim to take him out.

“Gyaaahhh! Lemme go! I’m definitely, definitely—! Going to become a great mage!” Grim says before the door closes on him, shutting out his complaints.

“Now I kinda feel bad for him,” Sora says feeling a bit guilty “don’t be, with your help, we have stopped the beast from making more damage to the school,” Azul says looking at Sora politely, ‘a magic that able to stop time, what powerful magic he has’ he thought.

“Well…I guess your right” Sora says still looking at the door. “Now that is out of the way, after a whole lot of unexpected events, I shall bring this entrance ceremony to a close. Dorm leader, please show the new students to their respective dormitory”

“Hm? Now that I think about it, I don’t see the Dorm leader of Disomnia, Mister Draconia, around at all” The Headmaster says, looking around for the missing dorm leader. Sora heard many people mutter as the dorm leaders seem to discuss how they forgot to invite Malleus Draconia to the ceremony. ‘Seems like he is very popular’ He thought as one student came up to take the Disonmia first years, and with that, the students, and the dorm leaders left, leaving only Sora and The Headmaster.

⁺˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧͙⁺˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧͙⁺˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧͙

The Headmaster cleared his throat “now then, um…I’m sorry, what is your last name?” Sora look at Crowley and scratch his hair “I don’t have a last name, but it’s fine to just call me Sora” The Headmaster nods “very well then Sora, as for the term on where you shall stay, I’m sure I can figure something out”

“Uumm… actually Headmaster, I think there has been a mistake, I just really wanted to head back home,” Sora says earning a surprised look from the Headmaster “A-are you certain? The Ebony Carriage has never once made a mistake, you are in a very prestigious school where many students can learn very powerful magic, not taking it would be a waste”

Sora nodded firmly “I’m sure of it, I have made my friends worried about me far too much, and while being in this school sounds exciting, I want to go home and get back to my friends”

Crowley looks conflicted, the boy is carrying ancient magic that is unheard of, with him and Mister Draconia in Night Raven College, it would give a very huge benefit for the school. However, by the look of this young man, he seems to be very determined to go, with a heavy sigh he nods “Very well then, The Dark Mirror will promptly send you back home.”

He guides Sora to the platform in front of the Dark Mirror again. Once the boy stood there, Crowley stood behind him, hand still on his shoulder. “Now, visualize your home very clearly…”

Sora closed his eyes and visualized his home, the beach, the Island, where his friends are waiting for him. The mask in the mirror appeared once again from the green smoke. “Now, Dark Mirror! Guide this child back to the place they belong to!”

…

…

The Headmaster cleared his throat in embarrassment. “One more time. Dark Mirror! Guide this-”

“It is nowhere,” The mirror says.

“What?” Crowley drops his hand from Sora’s shoulder as he opens his eyes, he looks a bit worried.

“Nowhere in this world does this one belong. There is nothing.” The Mirror says. Sora sighs, he can’t say that he is not surprised, but he figures that it won’t be that easy. He has disappeared because he used too much of his magic and went past the limit, he figured that getting home would be a challenge.

“Oh my, for all the years that I have been The Headmaster. This is the first time anything like this has happened. I’m not sure what to do...” He looks at Sora “where do you come from?”

“I’m from Destiny Island,” Sora says looking at him “Destiny Island, hmm, I never heard of an  Island by that name before” Sora sighs, “it’s alright, I guess I have to search my way back, I’m sorry for the inconvenience,” he says.

“hold on a second,” Crowley says “there is no way I’m letting a child go on his own, as an educator, throwing out a penniless youth who has no contact with their guardians would just break my heart. Since I am so kind!”

Sora look at him confused “umm ok?” Crowley then says in a bit of a cheery tone “how about you stay in the school for the time being. In the meantime, I will search for anything about your Island”

Sora looked at Crowley surprised. “Really?” The Headmaster nodded, “but of course. Ahh, how kind I am~! Aren’t I such an exemplary educator~?”

‘And as a bonus,  I get to have this student in my school, ah, how lucky I am’ he thought gleefully.

Sora looks at him a bit weird but he smiles, “thank you, I appreciate it” then he looks at The Headmaster curiously “But where can I stay?” Crowley smiles “No need to worry. I know a place where you can stay. It’s a little old, but a tasteful building.”

[minijenn]

I'd like to hear more about that Dearly Beloved AU you came up with for Keys if you can talk about it

Hhhhhhh YES FINALLY time to talk about one of my 50 Keys related Angstfest AUs ahahahahah 

1. Ok so basically the gist of this AU, for anyone who doesn’t know (which is probs like... most of you out there XD) is that its set very late in the game and kind of includes... KEYS SPOILERS so if you don’t wanna be spoiled, back out now ahaha); anyway the gist is that Sora is fully norted and forced into the Organization against his will (which uhhhh may or may not happen in Keys ;3) and Xehanort’s got himself a bit of a... different approach in getting what he wants; basically he invites all of the guardians of light (who are distraught and distressed over losing Sora to the Organization) to this party under the gise of striking an “alliance” or peace or whatever between them and the Org. and the lights are all Hella Sus about this but they go anyway bc they wanna see Sora and try to save him 

2. So when they go Sora is pretty much completely under Xehanort’s control and this old bastard has this poor stressed kid ask Kairi to dance and while that scene is sad and these two are heartbroken even as they do it, it gets even MORE wild when Sora is forced to basically propose to Kairi, asking for her hand in marriage

3. The lights are all like “WHAT?” over this but its tbh all part of Xehanort’s scheme so he’s all pleasant about the idea of the two of them getting married while the lights are highly sus still (and are also like “no they’re too young” but tbh i kinda HC that kids be getting hitched at age 16 back on the Destiny Islands so its not entirely out of the question but it still sits wrong all the same with the lights especially since Sora seems kinda terrified of what’ll happen if him and Kairi get married (ya know, outside of the usual pre-marital jitters) but he’s not allowed to tell them what he knows of his master’s plans so its a very tense situation all around 

4. So things carry on and the wedding (which Kairi herself agreed to in the hopes of somehow freeing Sora through it) commences (the lights and the Org. have to play nice for a day) and there’s a lot of angst amidst all this (and I swear imma draw these two in their wedding outfits in this AU someday) until they say their “i dos’ and thats when Xehanort’s scheme becomes clear

5. Because for whatever reason, instead of a clash between darkness and light in this AU to get the X-Blade to form and Kingdom Hearts to appear, a union between darkness and light is required instead and hey, what’s a better union than a literal marriage between a princess of heart and a seeker of darkness (however forced into darkness said seeker was); anyway that’s all I have figured out for the AU so far but its a strong idea in my mind, I’m gonna write a oneshot or twoshot for it someday because its angst ridden and Sokai flavored and hhhhhh yeah

[chibi-mushroom]

Just as a heads up, I wanted to add a disclaimer. This story is not necessarily canon to my AU's canon. I'm a long way off from these two getting to interact and I still have some things to think through. I also need to decide if Namine's backstory is going to stay the same or if I'm changing it slightly. So please bear with me and enjoy!

It was a warmer morning in Skyhold and for once there hadn't been a lot of snow. Riku and Ava were checking the Inquisition's mail when he heard the smaller girl chuckling a little to herself. He didn't know that he liked the smirk that filled her face.

"Did you get a love letter or something?" Riku inquired.

"Not at all. In fact, I think Namine's going to have quite the headache when she sees it."

"What is it?"

"Oh just another letter from Lord Odin in Kirkwall."

Riku rolled his eyes. Usually Namine handled all of the correspondence between the Inquisition and the noble class. After all, she had a knack for working with nobles, despite coming from a poor Antivan trading family herself. Still, this was the third letter this month from the man. Lea never liked to talk about Kirkwall even though he was a viscount there. Surely Namine would have told him if Odin had been reporting trouble, wouldn't she?

"He's been writing a lot recently. Is everything ok in Kirkwall?"

"As terrible as it's always been." Ava shook her head. "Listen, I have a job for you to do today."

"A job? But I promised Sora and Ephemer we'd-"

Suddenly Riku felt a very sharp point at his neck. He knew without looking that Ava had unleashed one of her daggers with the fancy waves on the hilt. She was good with a bow, but he had personally seen her be absolutely deadly with her daggers. The smirk that had been on her face once was now gone, but she still looked amused. He wondered what she looked like under that fox mask, and whether her eyes shone with good or ill intent.

"Ask Strelitzia to take you to the greenhouse and pick Namine a nice big bouquet of flowers." She instructed.

"You want me to…?"

The dagger pushed a little deeper into his throat. She hadn't broken skin yet, but the blade was really the only thing he could pay attention to.

"Pick the girl some flowers. I'm sure she would be grateful for them."

The bard removed her dagger and beamed at him. She was dangerous alright. He was relieved she was on their side, although there were days he had questioned even that. As she sauntered away with the letter from Lord Ordin, Riku rubbed the spot where the dagger had been just moments before. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see none other than Sora himself.

"So, I guess we gotta take a rain check, huh little boss?"

"I told you to stop calling me that." Riku brushed the Qun's** hand off. "It's Riku."

"Force of habit. No more difficult to stop than Lea and his nicknames."

"I guess. So, what's going on with the ambassador? Ava certainly seems quite amused."

"Namine's got a letter from Lord Odin in Kirkwall. Again. So I'm supposed to go get flowers for her for some reason." Riku sighed. "You have a good idea about how women work; what's all this about?"

"Dunno, I'm not in on the war table conversations." Sora shook his head. "Hey, I've got an idea. I'll go visit Namine and see what's up. That way you can stop being shy and tell her how you feel."

Riku sputtered, trying to argue about the way he felt. They had gotten close, but it was out of a need, not a want, right? The sky was tearing apart and they still needed to find out about so many loose ends that hadn't been resolved yet. Besides, he had no idea how Namine even felt about him. It would make meetings at the war table much more awkward if he couldn't even look at the ambassador.

"I'll take your inability to speak as a yes then. Don't worry buddy, old Sora will figure out exactly what's going on with the woman of your dreams." Sora clapped him on the back.

Sora left behind a still sputtering Riku as he hurried over to the ambassador's door. Ava had just left and Sora took a moment to listen in at the door. He didn't know Namine as well as he probably should have; she was usually working on something at her desk while he was out with his chargers**. She seemed super sweet though, and harmless enough.

He did have to admit that his horns made it hard to actually get his ear to the door, but he managed to hear the faint sound of vellum being shredded while Namine muttered something. There was a movement. She must have been tossing the vellum into the trash. More steps- walking back no doubt. The room was silent now as far as he could tell, although knowing Namine, she was likely writing out some forced and overly polite response. It was how all nobles tended to write. He waited a moment and then knocked on the door.

"Come in." She replied.

"Hope I didn't catch you at a bad time or anything." Sora entered.

"No, just writing a response to a noble in Kirkwall. After that I have a few personal responses to send out. One of which is to my parents. They've been mailing me nonstop since your chargers swooped in and kidnapped my sister on her wedding day."

With a chuckle to himself, Sora crossed his arms over his chest. He recalled how Noctis had asked him for help to rescue his beloved Lunafreya from having to marry a man from some wealthy Antivan family. The chargers had been a little less….formal than they could have, running in while the ceremony was going. But the look of relief that crossed over the bride's face when she saw Noctis made it all worth it. They had even gotten a chantry** brother to marry them in a small but intimate ceremony a few days later.

"That's right; it was a lot of fun. Hard to believe it was only a couple of months ago." Sora smirked.

"No Sora, it wasn't fun. Swooping is bad."** Namine sighed. "It's been a headache just trying to reassure both sides that the other will come around eventually."

She paused.

"Although I'm happy for her. She smiles so much now, and I know that's because of Noctis and the other chargers."

"That's what we do. Brighten the world one smile at a time."

Namine held her tongue. Luna got off easy. Although her parents were fuming, her potential groom found someone to replace Luna rather quickly. The marriage was supposed to help the Montilyet family work their way back into being able to trade in Orlais again. If it hadn't been for that rival family… She breathed out a sigh. There was no way to turn back time. She just hoped when it came time for her own nuptials that she could avoid the worst.

Sora leaned in satisfaction on the table where she worked. Most of the tables here were quite sturdy- none as steady as the table closest to the commander's quarters, of course. But then, that table was hardly ever used for writing these days, it seemed. At least once he had heard some sort of magic being made between the templar commander and their apothecary- but he was just getting off on a tangent. Namine had eyed him as if to ask what he was there for.

"Why don't you give this Odin guy what he wants?" Sora asked, hoping to draw out what was in the letter and change the subject.

"Give him- Sora, this is politics. You can't just give people what they want at face value. There are usually strings attached. Things go wrong when you simply ask for what you want."

"Someone smuggling some ancient book out of Kirkwall again?"**

Namine tilted her head, unsure if she were supposed to understand what he was referring to. He waved off her confusion, looking over her desk. There, sitting on the top of a pile of papers was a letter written in very fine ink. There was a green wax seal on the envelope that held a picture of a lotus. The ink itself was also of a high quality. The letters didn't have an occasional blot from the way it came out of the pen. Someone had spent a lot of money on the supplies for this letter.

"Nevermind." Sora shook his head. "So, this one of your responses?"

One glance at the pile of papers told her exactly what he was referring to. She raced to cover them up, a slight blush on her face from embarrassment. He didn't need to know details of the Montilyet household. He had already learned of her parent's reaction to the scandal that was Luna's wedding. Seeing how everything happened there would likely cause extra precautions when it came her turn for matrimony. She was a caged bird with no hope of escape.

"Hey, sorry, I swear I was just trying to lighten the mood. I know you're frustrated about that Lord in Kirkwall." Sora softened his voice when he saw the way her face fell.

"If you must know, his name is Naveen. He lives in Tevinter and he's the son of a very prominent magister." Namine spoke just above a whisper.

"Is he helping the Inquisition?" Sora looked at her with a cocked eyebrow.

"Not….exactly." Namine responded.

She gripped the letter harder and her hands began to shake while she bit on her lower lip. It was just like her to ruin everything. Sora could likely understand everything now. It wasn't her place to tell about Naveen, and yet there they were. The Qun likely hadn't meant to see the letter, Namine hoped. Sora didn't seem to be the kind to snoop. Still, she hadn't told anyone about this yet and needed a chance to vent a little. The letters were coming more often and Naveen had been speaking more frankly of his heart in them. Whether that was sincere or flattery she had no idea. Namine quickly moved to the entrance. Before closing the solid door, she checked the hallway to see if anyone was coming.

"Hey, I didn't mean anything by it. Sorry, Namine." Sora pouted.

"No, please, it might be better this way." she wrung her hands together. "But anything we say can't leave this room."

"What's going on, Namine?"

"Promise me you won't laugh."

"On my honor as a Qunari"

Namine took a deep breath before sitting down and replacing the now crinkled up letter from Naveen. She wasn't looking at him, but instead at the hands she had neatly folded in her lap. Without realizing it, she was biting her lips again. Slowly, she looked up at Sora who was waiting patiently to hear what it was that she needed to get out of her system. Even if he couldn't tell Riku about the letter, he could at least assure his friend that Namine would be alright.

"Had you ever heard of the Montilyet family before you met me?"

"Well, not really, but I was also pretty busy doing jobs all over for the longest time." Sora shrugged. "Why?"

"Well, a long time ago, our family owned hundreds of naval ships. We protected merchants leaving and coming into Antivan waters. After a scandal, we lost nearly everything and had to settle being small scale Ferelden merchants. We get by, but I can tell my parents miss it." Namine explained. "Then when I was younger, I made some choices I'd rather not talk about before being invited to come join the inquisition."

"But…"

"But in all of this commotion trying to set my family up, I guess...I sort of lost who I am….and what I care for. Now there are important decisions to be made and I'm just expected to sit still and look pretty."

Sora nodded, understanding what it was she was trying to say. She continued on about how she had met Ava when she was younger and learned about the ways of the bard from her. Although Namine was slim on the details, she did mention how much of that training now helped her avoid having to pick up a weapon again. Still, all of that had come to naught, as she still had no leads as to where to find the contracts that would help regain their trade ability. There was a wistfulness that came from her voice; it wasn't about the trade at all, even though she hadn't said it straight out.

"I may not know what path will be best for you, but I do know this: you just keep on trying and you'll reach your goal."

"Do you really think so?" Namine asked.

"Of course!" Sora stood, placing a foot on the seat of his chair. "For the Inquisition!"

She looked at him with confusion. What on earth was he doing? Sora looked down at her in the hopes he could rally her to join him. When he looked down and saw that she didn't understand what he was doing, he held his hand out for her to pull him onto the chair next to him.

"For the Montilyets!"

He placed one foot from the chair to her table. She followed his lead and scrambled onto the table afterward. With more confidence, she repeated her own family name. There was something about Sora and his rallying cry that made her want to believe that she could restore the trade abilities before she would have to face her future.

"For Namine!" Sora raised a fist into the air.

She raised a fist as well, although she kept silent this time. A small smile played on her lips. Maybe there was hope after all. Odin would give up trying to marry off one of his daughters to Riku, and Namine would find a way for her family to trade again. There was hope, there was work to be done-

There were still papers covering her desk.

Subconsciously she had stepped back to get down from where she was standing. It was sort of silly how they were standing on the table, no matter how old and sturdy it might be. Besides, Sora never seemed to wear shirts, even into battle. Instead, he opted for the Qunari vitaar, which was a poison that was fatal if it touched anyone who hadn't been born into the Qun. He wasn't wearing any now, but Namine became aware of just how close they had been standing by the strong smell of the soap he applied to get it off afterward. He didn't want to risk Kairi touching it by accident.

It was the strangest thing. Somehow she felt like she had begun falling in slow motion. As she stepped back there had been a knock at the door. Something registered in her mind that someone had entered the room, and something dropped to the floor. She gave a yelp and closed her eyes, expecting to hit the floor.

But she never did.

Instead, the scent of firewood and smoke crossed her senses and she could feel a strong pair of arms around her, holding her up. She hadn't even fallen very far. When she opened her eyes, she saw the Inquisitor. Her cheeks went crimson and she looked back to Sora who was smirking like a cat.

"Did...I interrupt something?" Riku asked.

"No, not at all." Sora hopped off the table. He picked up the bouquet and turned around before taking a step out the door. "Saving these for anyone?"

"Actually, those are for Namine." Riku responded.

"Aww, what a kindly gesture. You'll have to let her go at some point if you want to give them to her. Unless you *wanted* to hold her this long. Here, I'll leave them here for you both to enjoy." Sora put them down and then headed down the hall a short distance so he could still hear what was happening.

Riku nearly dropped Namine upon hearing that, but after catching her again, he carefully let her down. She wasn't quite ready to stand on her own, so she placed a hand on his arm to steady herself.

So that was the result of so much violence. She thought, which caused her to only glow more red.

"H-here. Ava suggested I bring these over for you. They're from the greenhouse." Riku handed her the bouquet.

"Thank you. I-I'll have to send her my thanks as well."

There was silence for a moment.

"Is everything okay? Ava said you might get aggravated by that letter from Kirkwall." Riku inquired.

"Yeah, it was just another noble. With you being the leader of one of the most influential groups in Thedas**, it only makes sense that everyone wants you to marry their children, but I figured you'd want to focus on the rift for now."

He stared blankly at her as if he didn't quite understand what she had said. Namine looked away and bit her lip again. Maybe she should have just said something to him when she got the first letter. She had learned a lot from her past, but nothing like this was covered in her training. She wasn't sure if she even *should* be feeling anything in this particular moment.

"Namine I-"

Riku was interrupted when Kairi ran into the room, Sora attempting to stop her.

"I heard a scream. Is everything ok in here?"

"It's fine! Nothing going on!" Riku blushed.

"I was just trying to reach something and Riku caught my fall!"

Both spoke at the same time in a rushed voice that Kairi knew as being a lie, but with the way they were blushing and how Sora had been trying to stop her, she automatically understood what was going on to some extent. When she smirked the same way Sora had only a short time ago, the Inquisitor and the ambassador looked to realize that she hadn't let go of his arm since he put her down. Quickly they slid apart, blush laying heavily on their cheeks.

"Sure, sure." Kairi chuckled, now dragging Sora out of the room.

When they had closed the door behind them and walked a short way away, Kairi slipped her hand into Sora's.

"Let's sweeten the pot on our bet, shall we? An extra fifty gold goes to the winner if they get together before the empress's ball at the Winter Palace."

"My dear," Sora smiled as he squeezed her hand "I think you have a deal."

Okay, notes time!

So if you saw my picture for Sokai week, you'll have an idea of what Sora is supposed to look like. For those who haven't played Dragon Age, the Qun or Qunari is both a type of people who are born with horns on their heads (with a few very rare exceptions) and the religious lifestyle they lead. They're super interesting and I love learning about them.

Sora's chargers are his best friends/band of fighters. In this particular au it consists of Mulan, Noctis and the Chocobros.

The Chantry is the major church of the world, and it kind of controls the templars who keep the mages from letting demons possess them. Long story short, a lot of people have lost confidence in the Chantry in telling them the truth and doing the right thing.

For those of you who have played Dragon Age Origins, the 'swooping is bad' line should be very familiar to you. I laugh so hard at it with every playthrough that I was practically contractually obligated to include it.

Can't say too much about the book getting smuggled out of Kirkwall, as that goes into spoiler territory. But just know that the Qun tried asking for their book back and someone ended up dead. (in canon. Not sure what I'll be doing in the au yet, haha)

Thedas is the name for the world in Dragon Age.

[valorxdrive]

It had been her first stint in candymaking. Its evidence most blaring with every back and forth between -- too sweet, not sweet enough, too sweet, too sweet... too sweet! Or perhaps it had been her own taste buds influencing this practice?

In any case, when her finalized batch was pulled from the fridge, she felt she had made an appropriate choice in the variance between heart shapes and star shapes -- finding they somehow suited the intended receiver. Likewise, an overwhelming sense of pride overcomes her when her butler complimented the tidiness of the choco and the care put into wrapping, even offering his finger upon the box when she needed to tie the perfect bow!

Now all that was left to do was deliver the goods to her valentine, and bask in triumph when he could be on the receiving end of her culinary efforts this time around...! Although... he might realize that they were a touch on the bitter side for chocolate.

♡

“Darling...” Cupped within her palms is the product of her labor, with it the bat of her lashes. “This is 本命チョコ. For Valentine's day, I’ve made it just for you...” And, albeit quieter, she adds, “with my love.”

With that she quickly slips the gift in his palm, following up with a chiding wag of the finger. “So don't you dare forget to give me something on white day, a month from now...!”

♕ - Snatching the moment of calm that comes within another day of the Kiryuin moment was another example of heaven sent. Returning for a new day to be spent with her friends, her family, Sora didn’t mind, in fact the exploration of a place labeled as Satsuki’s Earth led to him finding another glorious example of how life was spent all over again. Different possibilities, different circumstances, all of it spiraling together while tapping upon some familiar marks that succeed in reaching a multiversal step. Right now that idea simmers a peaceful wave of calm while his body moved in a series of trained steps, fresh from the coordinated coaching of his beloved, somehow it feels as if she’s guiding him through each practice all over again.

These wooden floors that stretched long, holding a series of training equipment, down to the flicks of sunlight that peered through the open window, so much of it held a particular nostalgia as he trained. By now the awkward transition of stance altering was defeated, opening up the gates of fluid motions, a new form of melody for the Kingdom Key to sing as each exhale and inhale tied the bladework his body performs aptly. “Here and.. A ki stance, a proper way to let the spirit and body align..” Eyes amped by his awareness, another successful flurry was performed as he steps in, the series of devilishly swift sword strikes tearing through the air, carving nothing but his inner light within it’s wake, trained to the needle to stay potently harmless...

Only for that moment to be welcomed by interruption as the rice paper doors slide open. Perking up in recognition, it didn’t even take any focus from the heart to note this present. Easing up, allowing the blade to dangle while he gently lifts his head over, hints of beaded sweat dripped down his face while giving her a flourishing grin.

“Ey there, ‘Suki!” Sora openly introduces, initially caught in the moment of seeing her.. Only for golden spark of her craft to capture his eyes. Part of him thanks the stars he’s luck to dismiss the keyblade as he turns, heart sent with a invigorated beat as he comes to meet her halfway. Was that what he thought it was? Blinking once, twice, soon the gravity of this particular day... From how she held an extra skip to her step, to the sudden whimsy of her determined fire...!

Sora really did forget that today wound up being Valentine’s day! After all the time displaced traveling he makes from cosmos to cosmos, to think there would be a moment it actually aligned, with him having his special someone on top of that!

There it was. That blissful, flower growing, outright sun sparking incantation of a pet name that never failed in making his legs grow weak. As the energized frenzy of warmth captures his face, it leaves him stunned in place during her approach, those irises remaining so staunch in awareness as she comes to deliver him this special holiday gift. Lips briefly agape, something, anything! Any brand of wording that attempts to be made is canceled out by the soothing lull of her voice, down to the way his heart continued to ramp up a frantic series of beats within his chest.

....

And he’s certain if she were to cement the unrivaled warmth of this day, he truly would be knocked out due to emotional drunkenness. Smoothing his thumbs over the contents within the wrapping, exchanging glances between both Satsuki and the chocolates in turn, it was how to switch about the joyful rush as he leans in, following his heart in a moment that deserved it, allowing their lips to momentarily meet in a tender kiss.

“White day.. Uh huh..” He uttered in a dreamily fashion, half-swearing that miniature hearts could be drawing up and popping around his face. Without missing a beat, the excitement of trying her efforts were too good to pass up! That smoothed chocolate heart had a way of gleaming due to the sunlight hitting the room, giving this treat a mythical looking aura that he couldn’t help but challenge head on. Appetite lit as much as his heart was.. he inches forth, the chocolate taken to his mouth!

....

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

KRRRRKRTICH-- SHEEN!

Raw lightning snap, crackled and fucking popped within his mouth the instant his expectations were granted the harshest sense of opposing factor. Charging through his mouth was the a force of power that aimed to utterly annihilate his taste buds, while in some ways familiar, the sugary sweet moment served as the kind of booby trap to offset it entirely. Instance, wild shivers wavered up his arms, shoulders to his head, causing those brunette spikes to stick out even wilder then before.

D.. Did he just wind up a bomb in his mouth!? By now whether that nervous sweat was either from training or the labor of love would have a hard time being discerned. With that opened eyed deer before headlights expression takes over Sora’s face, he chomps, he chews, leading more to that intensely bitter flavor to kick at his taste buds while a warrior will allows for him to gulp it down.

“T.. This is like... the tea...” Just what in the worlds did Satsuki’s tongue come to prefer?! That maddening question slapped to and fro in his mind, but above that, her expectant gaze was only burning a fire within his gut.. Definitely not the chocolates! It only led to one outcome to be the answer. As a swath of gleaming light begins to coalesce around his being, kicking up soft rushes of gust to spiral within the room, determination burned within the eyes of the keybearer as he arrives at his answer! For this smile!!

“HAPPY”

“VALENTINES”

“DAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY”

“SATSUKIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!”

He proceeded to stuff the whole fucking bomb of bittery chocolate perfection into his mouth..

There’s also a very good chance that Sora proceeded to pass out due to the bitter overload fucking with his brain.

@kiryuiegerin

[nadziejastar]

Not just with Kairi, but Square Enix gave all or atleast most thier female-characters from Kingdom Hearts not enough justice. Many KH-fans have awaited for the moment that Kairi would finally stand up as a keyblade-wielder and fight alongside her friends but got soon thrown in the Damsel-in-Distress Trope again near the end (not to mention getting killed for the sake of the plot), especially since she had to be shoved aside to give another character (Xion) all the attention.

Yeah, personally I think ALL the Guardians got screwed over in KH3, Kairi just got it the worst. It just had too many characters. I think if they focused on just the Seven Guardians of Light, they could have done a much better job making each character’s arc feel rewarding. And that’s how the story was set up, too. Every Guardian of Light should have been playable and also had the chance to use the power of waking. Mickey was already a Keyblade master so he would have been the first to use it after Riku was swallowed up by the Demon Tower.

Playing as Mickey, you’d dive into Riku’s heart and probably fight some dark nightmare Riku. It’d be the manifestation of Riku’s fear that he’s still a pawn of the dark. Mickey would deal with all his guilt and everything. Then when Riku wakes up his Keyblade is broken and he says he’ll leave it behind for the “other me”. Meaning he’s finally overcome his issues with his inner darkness thanks to Mickey using the power of waking on him.

Riku is also a Keyblade Master, so he can use the power of waking, too. He would use it when Mickey is swallowed up by the Demon Tower.

Riku would then dive into his heart and fight a boss based on the manifestation of his greatest fear. And for Mickey, his greatest fear was that he failed Aqua and is responsible for her turning to darkness. Riku would defeat her, connect with Mickey’s heart and wake him up while Sora saved the real Aqua. In canon, Riku seemed useless because Sora just jumped in and did everything for him. Ideally, Riku would still have gotten to save Mickey, even if he didn’t get to save Aqua. Their bond would have come full circle since CoM.

Well, Aqua is also a Keyblade master like Mickey and Riku. She can use the power of waking, too, and always promised Ven that she’d wake him up. She said that it was her time to shine and that she didn’t want Sora to see her weak anymore. But then all she did was get her butt kicked by Vanitas. She was so useless. Well, what if Aqua doesn’t get KO’ed by Vanitas? How about she goes to sleep like Riku did at the end of KH3D because she was diving into Ventus’s heart?

Then, playing as Aqua, you’d fight a boss based on the manifestation of Ven’s greatest fear which was becoming the X-Blade. Ven’s heart wakes up just in time to save Aqua from Vanitas, but Aqua doesn’t appear so weak and helpless because you got to play as her personally saving Ventus.

—The story's endgame where all your friends and foes gather at the Keyblade Graveyard was a masterpiece.

Nomura: I know each fan has their own different beloved character, so I wanted to give each one an appropriate moment. But in the end there was too much story that had to be told then, and I ended up being restricted to the minimum necessary to move Sora forward. The truth is, the Keyblade Graveyard was the toughest part I faced when writing the scenario. Shining the spotlight on each character one by one allows you to depict the unfolding developments with time and care, but the flow of the game requires the player to control Sora and fight battles.

Ideally, I should have had characters with connections fight it out one by one and settle things that way, but that would have required too much exposition. On the other hand, I did think of limiting the number of enemies you actually battle and finishing others with cutscenes, but it didn't feel right. At the end of deep worry and thought, I narrowed my aim and ended up with the way it is now, which prioritizes rhythm.

Every character should have been playable and gotten to fight the person they had a strong connection to. Even Nomura admitted that the structure KH3 had was a compromise, not ideal. He didn’t want you to just play as Sora. He wanted to depict each character’s battle with “time and care” but obviously wasn’t able to do that. Nomura didn’t sound satisfied with the way the KH turned out.

Here’s how I think the final battle should have gone. Aqua defeats Terranort one-on-one while Ventus takes on Vanitas one-on-one. Aqua gets the whole Terranort fight to herself and comes out on top, making her not seem so weak and useless. Nomura tried to fix Aqua a little in Re:Mind, but it still wasn’t that great. She deserved to fight Terra on her own.

All the newbies would get to use the power of waking during the final battle. It’s risky for them since they’re not true Keyblade Masters. But for their own development, I still think they should have gotten to use it. Since Xehanort summoned Kingdom Hearts, maybe it allows some miracles to happen, who knows. After beating Terra, they take his body outside the maze and then Ventus dives inside his heart. While he’s unconscious, his body is guarded by Aqua. But then everyone gets swallowed by the Demon Tower.

Playing as Ventus, you dive inside Terra’s heart. Ventus fights the manifestation of Terra’s fears. And Ven gets a whole Terra boss fight to himself. Since Ventus is currently swallowed by the Demon Tide, the boss fight represents HIS fears, too. His fear of not being able to reach Terra and failing to keep his promise to be there when he needs him. But Ven is able to wake Terra’s heart during this fight. Terra immediately rushes to Ven when he wakes up because it was Ven who used the power of waking on him.

Same thing with Isa. Lea and Kairi defeat him. No Roxas or Xion to take the spotlight off of them. Then they take Isa’s body outside the maze. Then Lea dives into his heart to rescue him. And while he’s unconscious, his body is being guarded by Kairi and Riku.

Playing as Lea, you have another boss fight where he fights the manifestation of all Isa’s fears. And also HIS fear which is that Isa hates him because he betrayed him and found new friends. Lea gets to actually be the hero in this scenario. He doesn’t just get kicked to the side to make way for Roxas and Xion. And he gets closure to his arc with Isa. Then when they both wake up, they have a reunion similar to Terra, Aqua, and Ven’s.

And the reason everyone comes back after being swallowed by the Demon Tide is because Kairi was able to save Sora. Playing as Kairi, you use the power of waking on Sora, piece him back together, fight his nightmare self and heal him from his mental breakdown. Kairi is playable and she’s the big hero. The only one that Sora didn’t have to rescue this time. This scenario gives everyone a chance in the spotlight. Then, when Sora and Kairi finally wake up, everyone goes to face all the Xehanorts and they all save the world. Kairi is there, too. She doesn’t need to get killed off to give Sora “motivation”. He has enough motivation already.

[carumens]

“the renegade blade” snippet: after the ability exam

it’s been a long time since i provided any actual content about “the renegade blade”, so here’s a small snippet of chapter five!!!

It has been dark for a long time now —six hours, Iara says— and there’s a chill in the air that has me feeling giddy. My clothes are still wet, and there’s a shiver that never seems to end running up and down my back. I have never in my life experienced the faintest feeling of cold before. It makes my skin crawl, but I welcome it. I don’t welcome the blisters in my feet that wearing my wet boots have provoked, though, nor the dark bruise on my right hip that makes me jump every time I put unwanted pressure on it.

              Only two other candidates make it to the meeting point before the time runs out. One is a boy with broad shoulders and long tangled blonde hair who arrives just some time after the sun has sunk behind the horizon. When he emerges from the forest line, Master Abelardo rummages inside the folds of his robe, and then runs his hand over the length of his cane and then, out of nowhere, there’s a steady fire dancing around his left hand. He examines the boy, who is panting and has an ugly-looking bruise covering the right side of his face, and before he has time to ask for it, the boy shows him the snake’s scale. Master Abelardo nods, shakes his hand once to extinguish the fire and takes the scale.

               The other candidate is a girl, and she comes sprinting out of the forest like a wild animal. I can see her properly because it has been some hours since the sun came out again and woke me up from the dreamless sleep I had fallen into sometime during the night on the hard ground. Her brown skin is flecked with blood, and what must have been a beautiful braid of raven hair is mostly a mess of knots and tangles. She falls on her knees before Master Abelardo and raises her hand without looking at him. Her breathing is a ragged thing. Master Abelardo takes the scale from her trembling hand and observes it silently. Then he nods and mutters the words that still got me light-headed: “Welcome to the Hunt”. The girl blinks once, twice, and then, with a throaty roar, she raises her other hand, with which she’s holding a curved knife I hadn’t noticed her holding before, and sinks it to the hilt in the hard ground.

               This wakes up the curly-haired boy, who had been the only one able to keep on sleeping under the unforgiving hot sunrays. He jolts and looks at his surroundings like a scared animal, and then relaxes when he remembers where he is.

               “The time is up,” says Master Abelardo, raising his cane and hitting the floor with it once.

               The girl, who is still kneeling before him, lets out a breathy whimper.

               “That was close,” whispers Iara.

               There’s a rustle coming from the forest, and then Soma and Sora Kurokawa are trudging towards us with easy and carefree steps. The only disruption to their perfect image is a shallow cut on Sora’s marble forehead, and a blood-stained bandage tied around Soma’s left thigh, which causes a wave of guilty pride to wash over me when I spot it.

               Master Abelardo turns towards us and we all scramble to our feet, except the girl who came last. She tries to stand up, but her knees give in under her and she falls on them again. Iara shifts and so does Samira Chaib, but before either of them can step forwards, Soma Kurokawa is kneeling next to the girl and throwing her arm over his shoulders.

               “I can walk,” she snaps.

               “Then walk,” he snaps back.

               So she walks, leaning on his shoulder and dragging her feet to where the rest of us are watching uncertainly. He leads her to Samira, who has stepped towards them with her arms open.

“I’m sorry,” I hear him say, as the girl grabs Samira’s arm with something akin to exasperation. “I was harder on you than I should have been.”

It surprises me to hear him say something like that, even though it shouldn’t because I know absolutely nothing about Soma Kurokawa.

The girl looks at him with hard amber eyes, and then she says, “I’m here, am I not?”

Soma looks taken aback for half a second, but then he recomposes himself, nods and turns around again. Sora’s looking at him with a raised eyebrow, but she doesn’t say anything to him when he leaves the girl safely tucked under Samira’s arm and goes back to where Sora and Master Abelardo are standing.

               “The Ability Exam is now over,” says Master Abelardo, and only then do I realize that he has been standing for twenty-four hours without sleep. “Out of the nineteen candidates that started the exam exactly twenty-four hours ago, only you seven completed it successfully.”

               He points at the middle-aged man with the twisted end of his cane, and says, “Please, say your name with pride, for you are now a member of the Hunt.”

“Daveed Dewnight,” says the man, voice deep and somehow tired.

               “Samira Chaib,” says Samira when Master Abelardo points at her. There’s a glint of recognition in his eyes as he nods at her. The veil covering her hair is as perfect and neat as it was before the exam started.

               The girl who arrived last is still mostly leaning over Samira, and she’s clutching her side with white knuckles, but her voice comes out strong and firm when she says, “Radha Laghari.” She reminds me of one of those wild striped animals with huge fangs that appeared on illustrations in books I found at the palace library about the fauna of the Kingdom of Garunayda, at the other side of the ocean.

               “Iara Mbayi,” says Iara beside me, and the glint of recognition is there on Master Abelardo’s eyes again.

               I don’t realize I’ve been searching for Sora’s gaze until her dark eyes meet mine. I hope I’m not just imagining the smile on her lips as I say my own name.

               “Ander Mirasierra,” says the curly haired boy, who can’t seem to keep still for more than three seconds. He pronounces his name with a kind of awe, as if he still can’t believe that he is standing right here.

               Finally, Master Abelardo points to the last of the candidates who managed to pass the Ability Exam, the tall blonde boy with a bruise on the right side of his face. “Vanka Ivanov,” he says, chin raised and shoulders squared.

               Master Abelardo looks at each of us once again, slowly and minutely, like Queen Fatimah examined the sorrowful fruits I brought her from the market before sinking her teeth in their tasteless flesh.

               “You should all stand tall and proud,” he says. “You are now part of an organization that dedicates their lives to ensure the safety of others. For two years, you will receive the training necessary to combat and annihilate the horrors that destroyed our beloved land so many years ago. You will suffer and you will learn, and then, you will inherit the will of Yaruma the Creator, who saved us all and laid the groundwork for what is now the Hunt.

               “I trust that you will work hard and continue to honor the labor of so many Hunters before you. Here, under the rays of the sun that the people of Marakahala can no longer see clearly, I welcome you all to the Hunt.”

               He raises his cane and hits the hard ground one, two, three times, and moves his right hand to the left side of his chest, just where the emblem of the Hunt, a red heart surrounded by an ivy, is emblazoned on the black rough fabric of his robe. Sora and Soma do the same.

               “In blood lies the truth,” they all say, at the same time.

               It’s a strange moment, almost eerie: the three of them looking regal and enormous, with their straight backs and their black clothes and their hands clutching their chests. It makes my heart beat faster, and before I realize it, I’m imitating them. Everyone around me does the same, and we repeat those last words too, in unison. Inside me, my blood boils like endless thunder. It’s like we are all the same breathing entity, with the same objectives and the same passion and the same beating heart. I don’t know where this feeling comes from, but I don’t want it to go away.