#..sora himself is not in the picture by that point because it happens after KH3

[void-kissed]

13 and 15 for the SI Development Meme, for whichever SI you would like to answer those for? (Dragonsmooch)

Sure thing, friend!! Thank you very much for sending these!!~

(question source: "Self-insert Development Meme" by blushpanda)

Hmm.. after taking a look at the specific questions being asked here, I think I will answer these for my Kingdom Hearts self-insert Xiara, if that's alright with you!~

13. What are your self-insert’s goals? Her hopes and dreams for the past/future/present! Does she intend to achieve it no matter what? Could anything stop her, big or small? - Xiara's.. not really the outwardly ambitious type, in all honesty; she can seem fairly content with almost any circumstance and find a way to fit in or adapt. However, one thing that does drive her is knowledge, or more specifically missing information - learning more about those around her, more about the worlds and their natures, and learning about her own self and its nature. After all, while she is certainly assumed to be - and treated as - a Nobody, the fact she lacked any memories of her previous life (unlike most of the other members, save Roxas and Xion) and the fact she's since picked up on what seems like some innate dissimilarity between herself and the others mean she seeks to find answers. Not much could stop her going after those answers if she found a lead, with the possible exceptions being having to harm those she cares about or seriously risk her life to do so.

15. Does your self-insert have any enemies? What’s that dynamic like? Why are they enemies? Did they ever get along in the past? Is patching up differences out of the question for the future? - As a member of the Organisation, Xiara is initially opposed to Sora, because he seeks to defeat the Organisation. However, she holds no particular animosity towards the boy himself, even despite how hostile he himself is by the time she encounters him in Castle Oblivion (she fights him once in the upper floors and is then recalled from the castle, therefore inadvertently becoming the only member other than Axel to survive it). After all, she holds no real loyalty to the Organisation itself - she's with them because that's about all she remembers being, and because she figures completing Kingdom Hearts and gaining a heart of her own might give her the sense of completion that she lacks, but she holds no particular respect for the others' authority or anything. (As proven by her execution of "monitoring Roxas and Xion for Vexen" being "becoming friends with them both and helping them where possible including lying to Vexen's face about their actions", among other things.) And I think Sora would want her to be on his side if given the choice, because he's just sort of like that - so, they would definitely have been able to reconcile and Xiara would have helped him stop Xehanort! ..If not for the fact she is destroyed following her second boss fight with Sora, that is.

I hope that those answers were alright, dear dragon! Thank you very kindly once again for sending these~

[rikusqueenofhearts]

Okay. As much as I wasn't gonna do it, I'll do it. The reason I hesitated is because I have a LOT going on at the moment. Lots of life situations that happened recently. But I suppose I need to have fun just this once if it means taking a relief. This isn't my best stuff nor do I have everything together, but I would like to share. I would also love to thank the mods for this as well. For creating such a wonderful event. Y'all are doing amazing. So let's get started!

Day 1 - Reference Sheet

@khoc-week

So guess who's back? Meg and Cat! And what's this? Catrina is a brunette now? Interesting! Lemme tell you a bit about them.

Megan aka Meg

Age: 14 (kh1), 15 (kh2), 16 (kh3).

Weapon: Red Heart Keyblade

Appearance: in the picture.

Gender: Demigirl

Personality: Meg is a very sweet person. She's very hyper and loving towards her closest friends. She started out as a very childish type, often seen as naive to the world. She's also very excitable. Overtime, she had learned to become more mature and wise for her age. She had learned to calm down but still remains some of her hyper nature. She knows how to handle certain situations now and can hold her own. She also has autism, which often affects her ability to do certain things but does learn how to handle it. She is also VERY sassy when she wants to be.

Backstory: Meg is the grandchild of Xehanort. Born on Destiny Islands, they were raised by adopted parents after losing her birth parents, who were both Keyblade Wielders. Meg was mute at three, but then started talking at last at age four. Then they lost their adopted parents. One died while one ran off. Being alone now, all she had were her closest friends. Excited to leave for other worlds, they did what they could to help their friends. Then her world vanished and she was granted a Keyblade. Forced to do her mission, she tries to do so while searching for her missing friends with Sora.

Riku and Meg go through a series of events that test their relationship. Meg and Sora grow closer, maybe in love, which causes Riku, who was in love with Meg, to become bitter and cold towards the two, jealousy taking his heart. He soon wanted Meg to prove her worth by joining him on the dark side. Refusing, Meg shuts him out. Furious, he declared them an enemy. Then he becomes possessed by Ansem, forcing Meg to fight and save Riku and attempt to save him. Upon defeating him, they then go to search for him.

When she does find him, he tells her to stay away from him, fearing he could break her heart again. So they do. During the time Sora sleeps, Meg had been on the run from the organization, and fighting others to defend herself. When Sora wakes up, Meg, having no idea what happened to Riku at this point, searches for him with Sora. Meg goes through a lot of self growth and learns more of themselves each day, including learning the truth of their family. When she finds Riku, he had become Ansem in appearance, but is still Riku at heart. Meg still loves him and confesses they missed him before he reverts back to himself.

The two train to become Keyblade masters. Meg knows she must face her grandfather and avenge the family she had lost because of him. What happens next is what you'll have to read in my fanfic that is to come.

Now, onto Cat.

Catrina, aka Cat

Age: 14 (kh1), 15 (kh2), 16 (kh3).

Weapon: Scythe Keyblade

Appearance: In the picture.

Gender: Girl

Personality: Cat is a very shy person. She started out as a very quiet person, often referred to as a quiet mouse by her friends despite being called Cat. She doesn't tend to start anything but follows others. Overtime, she had learned to become leader like. She became more aggressive but also more caring towards others. She's willing to help her friends in need.

Backstory: Cat was born with the power of poison. As a baby, she was taken to destiny islands and made to stay there. Cat grows up shy, but adores her friends who accept her. She met Kairi at four, realizing that Kairi is also from another world. She becomes too nervous to leave for other worlds. She is too comfortable with life at home and wants to stay home. Then her world vanished and she is granted a Keyblade.

Cat goes through a series of events with Sora. She does become worried about his and Meg's relationship, but tries to be accepting. Then she realized that Meg's heart belongs to Riku. Cat and Sora eventually grow closer at some point. Cat's poison becomes worse the more she uses it. Sora still accepts her as his closest friend despite the poison killing her. Cat tries to be the supportive friend. When Sora goes to sleep after losing his memory, Cat realizes she's hunted by the organization.

When Sora wakes up, Cat tells him what's going on. The two go through an adventure to find Riku. Cat and Sora eventually fall in love. Cat soon realizes she's the daughter of Ansem the Wise, who had poisoned her as a baby before she was taken to Destiny Islands. Why he did it, she wanted answers for. It's revealed he did it to make her stronger but it failed. What happens next is what you'll read in my fanfic that's to come.

That's about it! Yay :D

[nadziejastar]

Saying that Roxas only sees Axel as a 'casual friend' feels a little weird to say. He must have atleast grown close with Axel, if I remember correct Roxas angrily asked Sora why Axel had chosen Sora over him, I do agree Isa was Axel/Lea's real best friend atleast.

Roxas: I hope we always have each other.

Xion: Yeah...

Axel: What's gotten into you?

Roxas: I just...want these days to last forever. Hanging out, the ice cream, the sunsets...

Axel: Nothing lasts forever, man. Least of all for a bunch of Nobodies. But you know, we'll still have each other...even if things change and we can't do this anymore.

Roxas: Yeah?

Axel: As long as we remember each other, we'll never be apart. Got it memorized?

Roxas: Ha ha, wow, Axel. That sounded ridiculous.

Axel: What? I thought it was pretty deep.

Well, I do think they were close. Roxas definitely wanted to be even closer with him. But there was a pretty wide chasm between them because Axel never told Roxas anything about himself or his past or what he was feeling. Roxas did not understand Axel very well. He saw him as a casual person who didn’t feel things very deeply. As soon as he said he hoped the three of them could always be together, Axel immediately shot the idea down. Now, Roxas didn’t know that Axel had the exact same wish, he was just cynical because of how much Saix had changed. All Roxas knew was that Axel wasn’t very sentimental. When Axel followed it up with something more heartfelt, Roxas just laughed at him and said it didn’t sound like him.

Roxas: It's scary.

Axel: You can't be scared without a heart!

Roxas: If my friends... If you or Xion were to disappear... It's...scary to think of what it would be like without you guys.

Axel: "Scared" is not an emotion that can exist inside us.

Roxas: Well... I am scared right now, for sure.

Axel: Maybe it's just that you remember what it's like to be scared, you know? Somewhere deep inside your memories.

Throughout the whole game, Axel was always telling Roxas that he couldn’t be scared, couldn’t feel love, etc. 

Axel: Listen to you. How come you do that? Talk like you're a real person.

Roxas: Why? What did I say? I don't know how real people talk.

Axel: I mean, sometimes you sound like you really are heartsick or something.

Roxas: When I saw her lying there... I couldn't stop thinking that she'll never wake up.

Axel: She will.

Axel was always dismissive of Roxas’s feelings. Of course Roxas is gonna think that Axel doesn’t feel that deeply about him. That’s why when Axel said the two of them were his best friends, Roxas was confused.

Roxas: Axel!

Axel: Oh, hey, Roxas.

Roxas: Where is she?

Axel: Safe.

Roxas: How could you do that to her?

Axel: Do what?

Roxas: You didn't have to use force.

Axel: Didn't I?

Roxas: No... Of course not! We're supposed to be best friends.

Axel: This isn't about friendship. If that's all, I gotta go.

Roxas: If that's all!?

After Axel attacks Xion, it’s just more evidence that Axel is cold and uncaring. He doesn’t really care about their friendship as much as Roxas does. Later on, Roxas forgives Axel and was gonna give him the ice cream stick. 

Roxas: What happened out there?

Axel: Nothing, really.

Roxas: "Nothing"? Xion's gone! How can that be nothing?

Axel: It's just like Xigbar said. I just sat there sucking my thumb watching Xion run away.

Roxas: I'm asking you WHY you did that, and you know it!

Then the very next day, Axel lets Xion go without trying to stop her. When Roxas confronts him, Axel again acts nonchalant. Roxas has had enough. He says he tried. But Axel obviously doesn’t care, so what’s the point? 

Roxas: But the Organization wanted me out of the picture.

Axel: Yeah... They did.

Roxas: Is it because Xion copied by Keyblade and they didn't need me anymore? And you feel the same way.

Axel: No, you've got that part wrong. You'll always be my best friend.

Roxas: Best friends are honest with each other! Who am I, Axel?

And on top of that, Axel was lying to him. Roxas wasn’t sure if Axel knew that the organization wanted him gone and was actually okay with it. To Roxas, Axel has no deeper feelings. He wouldn’t miss him if he were gone. Sure, we as the audience know that’s not true. But Roxas doesn’t know that. So, during their final goodbye scene, I think it was appropriate that Roxas was pretty casual with him. In his mind, Axel was just a casual friend. And the reason Roxas felt that way was entirely Axel’s fault. That’s why I was hoping there would be a scene in KH3 where Roxas/Ventus and Lea actually have a deep conversation and become much closer friends. Because Lea is a lot more emotional of a person than Roxas ever realized.

DiZ: At last, the Keyblade's chosen one.

Roxas: Who are you talking to? Me? Or Sora?

DiZ: To half of Sora, of course. You reside in darkness. What I need is someone who can move about the realm of light and destroy Organization XIII.

When Roxas asks why ‘he’ picked Sora over him, it’s never really specified who that was referring to. 

Sora: Wh-who are you?

Roxas: Someone from the dark.

Sora: You can't be Riku?

Roxas: Riku? ...I defeated a Riku once.

Sora: You what!?

Roxas: Tell me... Tell me why he picked you!

I actually always thought he was referring to DiZ.

[kitsoa]

KHUX Theory Confirmations

Oh my god so much so much

Alright let me lay out my original theories all in one pretty picture. I subscribe hard to @kingdomheartsnyctophiliac‘s Ava=Darkness theory-- so much that I’m down with the next logical conclusion that Ava killed Strelitzia to make room for Brain, her man on the inside. Ava as the traitor, disguising herself as darkness, basically trying to hatch a coup against the very role MoM had her follow is a great twist and it is still alive. 

Brain’s got the Book

Now in my theorizing I believed the reason why Ava would off Strel is because maybe, Strel was the one circled in red that MoM assigned the BoP to. Knowing the book was selectively granted, the fact that the verified impostor in the group has it means it might have been the very motive as to why her. Now as a reminder, the timeline of this switcheroo is very fast but there is still ample time for this to go down. 

Timeline:

Ava carries out her duty and selects the union leaders

Ava confronts Luxu and learns an unknown truth. She is the traitor. The bell rings and the keykids prepare for war

Strel panics and tries to find player hoping its not too late, walks into the store room.

Strel is killed. The Switcheroo is put into action.

War happens and the Dandelion’s retreat.

According to my reasoning Ava changes gears only after talking to Luxu and triggering the war. If she is the culprit then pre-bell Ava can blindly follow the role and pick Strel and post-bell Ava can then basically back peddle that act in order to sabotage MoM’s goal. 

Now I insist that Brain is pretty innocent in all this. Regardless of his level of knowledge of Ava’s plot he did not dirty his hands with Strel’s blood. There’s a good potential he doesn’t understand what brought him to the seat he sits on at all. Furthermore the information they are currently discovering mainly pertains to MoM’s part of the plot. Aka-The orchestration to put them in a digital bunker-- not so much Ava’s counter plot with Strel’s death. He says he’s not sure how much Ava even knew of the (MoM’s) plot and that could be very true. From this we can assume Ava didn’t actually tell Brain much, but simply entrusted him with the task to change/destroy the program. The exact end that program was aiming towards is something Ava perhaps did not fully realize. 

MoM’s goal.

So this update really helped with my theorized motives here. So I had laid out in a recent post that the entire X, Unchained, Ux stuff appears like a series of experimental trials. The fact that MoM reveals that this war has been ongoing is extremely enlightening. Because that means that MoM’s plot is serving some kind of end in exacerbation of this cycle. That this is something he either wants to discover why the war inevitably occurs or he wants to discover the means to finally prevent the war from inevitably happening again (be that by eliminating the darkness that persists alongside the light or whatnot). Ergo the idea of the MoM creating this closed off ‘bunker’ where he controls the variables makes a ton of sense (and Lauriam even calls it a cage). He’s trying to get to the bottom of it or change it. 

The stuff about darkness changing shape and persisting in the hearts of man is interesting in the interpretation of the cosmology of kh but ultimately I think it’s fancy talk for the darkness of human nature. It sheds light on MoM’s apparent pessimism or weariness of this cycle though. So we have 2 variations of motives for MoM. We got a mad scientist route that paints him more morbidly curious and fascinated by the cycle. This is probably the interpretation Ava discovers prior to hatching her coup. But then we’ve got this martyr route that makes it so MoM is simply try to prevent the war from happening ever again.  

Ava’s Goal

So I refer to the mad scientist route as the route Ava understands because I have long picked up that MoM’s Dandelion plot goes to extreme lengths to manipulate the new variables (the leaders) into the very same positions of tension as the original run in a style similar to an experimental trial. As with the Fortellers there are arbitrary unions (for division), there is a secret chosen leader to have crucial information (the Lost Page and the BoP) and there are mechanisms in place that encourage the building of power, in-fighting, and completely refuse recovery (PvP recreation and memory overwriting). 

Like many watchers of Back Cover, the obvious answer to the question “who is the traitor” is simply “there is no traitor”. The paradox is that very truth creates a traitor in Ava. From my theory Luxu’s conversation with Ava that results in the bell tolling reveals this. Ava acts in initial denial and then betrayal, refusing the role and very quickly hatching a plot to negate that role. 

So MoM simply manipulated the situation to build the tension and made it happen. Now that we know that even before X, the Keyblade War was cyclically occurring to MoM’s witness, and now we have a better perspective to the fact that MoM was clearly invoking the war to happen with his apprentices. But even more, it was a long plot to manipulate the rebirth of the realm. And curious enough, the realm is now of his making. (God mode anyone?).

On that note he calls Unchained the trial and UX the ‘real deal’. If Unchained was basically retelling X, then the fact that they expanded past that telling means that MoM has a very stark interest in making the UX phase of the plot unfold differently (or maybe... simply watching IF it unfolds differently).

Who knows, there could actually be well meaning intentions in all this manipulation, we are at least getting some level of feedback to both of those perspectives. 

DT as a data-world

This is a confirmation that really... soothes my heart. The persistence that the entire Dandelion reality was real was starting to erode the theories guys. I did joss my meta-catastrophe concept that Game Station was actually digitizing the world from the outside but it’s honestly easier to swallow this way. In summary, the leaders insisted that the world they left for after the war was real because believing it was data would key them in too early that they are trapped. Lauriam states that truth just as much. It is a cage. The truth is that if they left to the real world there would be nothing but the ruins of the war they left behind. 

This kinda helps with the concepts of worldlines too. I was originally allowing worldlines to have a definition of ‘real’-- expanding the concept of reality to have multiple planes of legitimacy, but it almost seems safe now to interpret worldlines as entirely fabricated strands of reality. Say, a dream or a data construction. I know this was a movement before, but I held on to the idea that there could be a ‘real’ definition in the worldlines based on Luxu’s Observations of the KHUX happenings. This informs a little more about Sora’s kh3 shenanigans (creating dreams that unfold differently?) and implies a wealth of what actually needs to go down to bring us to Scala and make the leaders time displaced (escape the data world and rebuild atop the ruins of the decimated DT from the X war-- and time doesn’t flow in the dream realms a la ddd so they could leave the dream at potentially wild points in time). 

Keyblade War cycle

On a side note, MoM is very evasive when Luxu is asking clarification questions about the forces involved in his childhood war and even the existence of keyblade-- weapons we know MoM himself devised the crafting of. My thought is that the ‘keyblade war’ is a catch-all term MoM is using to describe a repetitive, endless cycle of world-ending destruction. Basically war in general. The keyblade aspect is potentially an added element of his creation. Potentially. Not entirely positive on that matter.

But essentially I do not think events of X was happening over and over and over again. The Keyblade War took many forms but always resulted in total destruction and was always rebuilt by the survivors. By the time X started MoM was invoking the war and trying to control how it unfolds and again, control the rebirth of the world. 

Finally

I have a few more off-shoots to spin from these confirmations. (Xehanort’s ambition to learn about this war by recreating it echoes MoM so discovering that it’s kinda already been done would potentially halt his actions explaining Luxu’s defensive measure against steering Xehanort away from the past). And there are some questionable reactions in the murder mystery drama (my new Ven sleeper agent theory felt some gooooood support with MoM’s description of darkness taking human shape). But my meta catastrophe is seeing some revisions with MoM still behaving like an author and worldlines asserting themselves as fabricated, but MoM’s origin seems to have firmer feet in the realms of fiction at least for now (though his childhood ‘Keyblade’ War is vague enough to be our form of war you know).

This is just my ramblings. I cannot for the life of me make my khux theories streamlined.

[lyssala]

#Gummiephone

Pairing: Terra/Aqua, Kingdom Hearts

Rating: K

Setting: Post KH3

 Notes: I’M REAL LATE and will keep being late cause what else can I do haha I struggle a lot with getting back into my writing after my whole life shifted this year but if I can do it for anything its my sweetest babus <3 This was my first finished fic in months so I hope its decent enough! 

AO3

The cold didn’t ever bother Terra too much. When he was a kid he found playing in the snow easy even wearing the lightest winter clothes, and while his desire to toss himself in the snow dwindled over the years, his ability to usually stay pretty warm stayed. That even included visiting worlds that were in their season cycle of winter. Admittedly Arendelle was colder than most in their winter, but he still found himself dumping the fur lined jacket, hat, scarf, gloves and every other bit of winter gear Aqua could possibly think of onto one of the ornate chairs in the guest room of the castle. She seemed to forget just because she was always cold didn’t mean he was too.

He stretched his arms over his head, a yawn pulling at his lips as even the soft sweater he was still wearing made him feel hot. Despite the cold stone of the castle and the snow swirling around outside the large window, the castle kept rather warm. He was just about to toss that sweater into the pile too when he heard the soft knock on door frame.

Terra dropped the hem of his sweater, glancing over to the door he knew he left open to see the only other familiar face on this world.

“All set then?” Riku asked. He discarded most of his winter gear, that Aqua also made him take, making him look more fitting in this world in a similar set of shirt, sweater, and pants.

“All set,” Terra said, gesturing to the tossed clothes.

Riku snorted. “She’s just looking out.”

The thought made Terra feel a little bit warmer than he had a moment ago. “I know, but you’ll learn soon enough she worries too much.”

“I think…” Riku said, tapping his fingers on the door frame. “She has every right to.”

Terra opened his mouth, but quickly closed it again. That was fair. It wasn’t like he particularly was fond of leaving her and Ven alone in their home even if he knew it was plenty safe there. Some habits were real hard to break.

“Hey, I’m going to meet with the princesses, I have very specific instructions from Sora.” Riku rolled his eyes though his amused smile was all too familiar. He raised his hand to wave. “Get some sleep I’ll fill you in tomorrow.”

“Alright, see you.”

Riku closed the door behind him, his footsteps soft on the carpet as he walked away. Terra didn’t move until he was sure nothing jumped out to attack the kid; yeah, old habits died hard.

He tossed off the sweater, dumping it with the rest of the winter clothes before looking back to the room around him. Usually he would’ve gone with Riku to make sure everything went okay but since the sisters knew Sora it was decided Riku would probably be best at taking lead on this particular mission. Terra was eager to get back out into the field and do something…do something good like he knew he was capable of but he also could recognize when strategies better fit situations. Plus they had to walk a few miles to even find the town and he was admittedly not exactly back at peak condition.

It was over half a year since everything happened, and despite being back up to regular training and the ability to take and lead missions again he still found himself sore or winded easier than he used to. An effect from what his body went through he assumed, but he wished he’d work out of it so he didn’t feel like such an old man crawling into the large bed to get some rest.

Or he would’ve if he didn’t feel something jab into his thigh.

Terra quickly reached in to grab whatever poked him, only to remember he left his phone in his pocket.

“Why the spikes?” he muttered to himself as he flopped down into the admittedly very comfortable bed. Whoever designed the gummiephones didn’t think about leaving in in your pocket apparently.

He almost just tossed it off onto the night stand so he could sleep but then decided not to. Instead he brought it up to his face, looking over whatever notifications were floating across the screen. He really only checked the mission chat as it sometimes gave them information they needed and may not have started with but he noticed there were other notifications blinking at him.

The dim fire lanterns on the wall flickered slightly but didn’t blow out, still illuminating the room just enough.

There was some sort of group chat but he didn’t even know how he got added to that. Considering the last message was a bunch of winking faces from Xion, Terra was pretty sure he still didn’t want to know. He scrolled down a little bit, seeing some sort of link Sora sent at some point and a message from Lea asking if he could stay at the Land of Departure to get away from Roxas and Xion; both of whom where in the chat too so it was probably just Lea teasing.

Terra did click on the one from Ven, which wasn’t too old, probably just after Terra left for the mission. The chat opened up on the screen, the remnants of the last time Ven tried to message Terra up top but the newer message was a picture. He clicked on it, making the picture of Ven and Aqua making the most dramatic faces imaginable fill up his screen.

Ven: We miss you already, whatever will we do without you

A smile pulled at Terra’s lips. Despite the silliness of it all, it still made him feel a little less lonely. It was nice to know people somewhere missed him, even if they were being ridiculous about it. It was probably late back home but he still tapped in the text box so he could respond; Ven would sleep through it just fine if he was sleeping.

I haven’t even been gone a day. You’ll be fine.

Terra pressed send but lingered on the screen with the picture. It wasn’t the first time any of them left on their own; Aqua took a few missions, as did himself, and while Ven didn’t take any as of yet he was often off visiting his many new friends. Even then it still made a part of Terra wish he was home. He was more than happy to be able to start rebuilding the life he thought he lost, but part of losing that life was losing the people he loved. He had them back now, and even though it was rocky at first to work through old hurt and new pain, home was feeling more and more like home.

He loved being given the change to work on being the peacekeeper he always wanted to be but at the same time, traveling away from Aqua and Ven made him more homesick than it used to.

Terra clicked out of the chat when he was sure Ven was sleeping well enough to not respond. As much as Terra wanted the interaction to feel closer to home, it was more of a relief that Ven was not responding right away meaning he wasn’t laying in bed on his phone unable to sleep. It was an issue for them all at first, but nightmares started to fade and sleep started to come easier for them all. Granted, now he was the one laying in bed staring at his phone.

He pressed on another set of notifications, bringing up pictures this time. He recognized the app as something Ven excitedly showed Terra the moment they were given the gummiephones. It was a way to post pictures and everyone who was connected to your account could see it…or something like that. He sort of just smiled and nodded at Ven as he explained the whole thing.

With a flick of a thumb, Terra scrolled through the pictures, recognizing faces and even places as Riku was one who posted a shot of Arendelle Castle when they got here. There were a few comments; Kairi saying she thought it was beautiful but she wasn’t sure she could handle the cold, Sora immediately chiming in that it was freezing there and what was wrong with Riku that an island boy like him could take the cold so well.

There was also a comment from Aqua, a small picture of her next to her name and text. She wrote about missing the snow covered worlds, and that she’d love to see it. Pretty typical; Aqua loved the snow even if she also was always cold. He was about to keep scrolling but he saw the timestamp next to her post, that it was only made five minutes ago.

She was still awake.

He hesitated, thumb over her picture. He knew enough that if he clicked on it, he’d be taken to the profile she set up and from there he could message her or call her. A part of him wanted to. It was a long day, trudging through the snow and staying in an unfamiliar bed. The other part of him told him he saw her this morning and it hadn’t even been twenty four hours yet so rationally he shouldn’t miss the sound of her voice yet.

Rational or not, he did.

With a groan he pushed the phone down onto the bed, his head leaning back against the headboard with a dull thud. Maybe it was rational; time passing or not he spent a very long time without someone he used to spend everyday with. He barely remembered the time he lived with Master Eraqus before Aqua. She was always there and when she wasn’t…

He closed his eyes, chest contracting at the swirl of dark memories that flooded his mind. It used to be very hard to push them away, choosing to sink into the guilt of what was done but tonight he could open his eyes and remember the past was the past. He was okay, she was okay, just a little farther away tonight. Which wasn’t common, but it also wasn’t uncommon as they started on the path that they were trained to follow.

Still, there was nothing wrong with checking in, right? Nothing weird about just wanting to make sure his home was safe while he was away. That was completely reasonable. Totally normal to call up his best friend in the middle of the night with an excuse he was checking in when really he missed hearing her knock on his door with two cups of tea to share in a quiet moment before bed.

Totally normal.

He quickly picked up his phone, clicking where he last saw her picture. It brought him to a familiar profile layout so he knew where to find the video call button before he could lose his confidence. The ringing noise echoed in the room as his call was going through.

Terra quickly jumped out of bed (not without nearly falling out as his legs got tangled on the blankets in his effort to move fast) to walk over to the window. There was a small place to sit, the moonlight from outside shining in over the cushions and pillows that sat there. He didn’t know why he needed to move, anxious energy he supposed, but the calling screen cut out just as he was sitting down. He held up the phone to try and remember how Ven said was the best way to angle it but Terra’s stomach fell so fast he nearly dropped the phone.

The background of the call was a vibrant blue sky, palm trees scattered around. While blue eyes were watching him, it wasn’t the blue eyes he wanted to see.

“Terra?” Kairi asked, her forehead furrowed slightly. “Is something wrong?”

“Terra?” Another voice piped up from somewhere nearby. “You mean he actually knows how to call someone?”

More red hair filled the screen, so much of it that it nearly covered the entirety of it.

“Axel,” Kairi snorted, reaching a hand up to shove his face away.

Terra wished he could just hang up and pretend this never happened but he could only hope in the poor lighting of the room they couldn’t see how hot his face felt. “Mmm, yeah, I know how to call people.”

Kairi clicked her tongue, a smile pulling across her lips that was uncomfortably like the redhead still trying to squeeze his face in view. “Just not the right people.”

Terra would never say Kairi wasn’t perspective. He must’ve been in such a panic to actually call Aqua, he didn’t check to make sure he was still clicking on the right picture. His phone probably scrolled up when he tossed it and he just didn’t notice. “No,” he tried, but he had nothing to follow that up.

“Nice try,” Axel said. “If Red needed to know anything about the mission, tall, silver and broody would’ve called her.”

“Stop it,” Kairi chuckled.

“What I’m wondering…” he said, tapping his finger against his chin. “Is how you called Kairi, her name should be nowhere near Aqua’s in the contact list.”

Terra really hoped his choke couldn’t be heard over the phone. “That’s not…I wasn’t…” What could he say? That was who he meant to call.

“Leave him alone,” Kairi said, though she was laughing as she tried to push Axel away again. “I assume it’s late there. Have a goodnight, Terra.”

He always knew he liked Kairi. “Yeah, you too.”

“Try searching under A next-” Axel’s voice was cut off as Kairi ended the call.

Terra groaned as he hung his head. He had done some stupid things in his life, he wasn’t sure if he had done anything quite as embarrassing as that. He should just go to bed and call it a night. Yet even despite knowing he’d never hear the end of that especially from Axel, Terra still wanted to talk to Aqua.

This time he did search under A, finding her name and her picture. He pressed the call button, heart still pounding in his chest though whether cause he didn’t know how she’d respond or because of the last call he accidentally made, he wasn’t sure.

This time when the calling screen ended, he was greeted with a familiar background. It was the library in the castle, a place he knew like the back of his hand. Firelight from the fireplace sent a glow onto the well loved couch, Aqua’s face looking more worried than anything when she came into view.

“What’s wrong?” she asked in that tone that meant she was trying to keep calm but inwardly starting to freak out.

He snorted but he felt a smile pull at his lips, warmth filling his chest like he was sitting in front of the fireplace too. “Why does everyone say that when I call them?”

She seemed to be satisfied that him, Riku, or the mission weren’t in danger because she leaned back against the couch. Terra could see the blankets piled up in her lap, the book she must’ve discarded when he called off to the side. “Because you never call anyone.”

“Fair, I guess,” he said. “The castle is huge here, you know.”

“Yeah,” she breathed, tucking her legs under her in an effort to make herself more comfortable. “I saw the picture, it looked beautiful.”

“Its different, you know, different from home. Nice in its own way, but think I like ours better.”

“Are you homesick?” Aqua asked, her tone just slightly teasing.

“Homesick for what? Ven snoring so loud I can’t sleep and waking up thinking the castle is on fire but its just you up at the crack of dawn baking a multi-tiered cake or something ridiculous?”

The answer was yes though and her smiled seemed to know it. “Did you stay warm? In all the clothes you took?”

“Aqua, I could’ve been buried in an avalanche and I still would’ve been sweating in all the clothes you gave me.”

“Huh, well, maybe you’ll be thanking me when an avalanche hits you.”

He laughed and it made her laugh, her eyes curving into half moons and her smile wrinkling her cheeks some. It was so familiar to him. It reminded him of notes passed to her when Master had his back to them during a lecture, silly drawings to make her smile when the rest of the lesson was so dry. It reminded him of warm summer days when he’d jump off into the lake purposely too close to her to make the water splash up to get her wet. Of dessert snuck to her way past bedtime when he knew she was up studying. Of him being pinned to the ground yet again, her leaning over him in victory. Of very late nights outside under the stars with Ven asleep next to them as Terra told her everything he wanted to do in the worlds.

“I miss you,” he said, probably not very gracefully but all the memories, the lifetime of memories that he never thought he’d get back just made it so hard to feel so far away again.

Her face softened as she leaned her head back against the couch. “I miss you too. Home’s emptier without you. It always is when you were gone.”

“You’d like it here though,” he said, clearing his throat. “Lots of snow and frost for you to freeze in and pretend you’re fine but your fingers are turning purple.”

“Lucky for me there’s someone whose always warm and I can shove my hands up his shirt.”

He snorted, though even the thought of her freezing hands against him was a warm thought. “I should’ve expected that.”

She was quiet for a moment, just sort of watching the screen. He almost asked if she wanted to leave so she could sleep but she shifted the phone a little instead.

“Will you take me?” she asked.

“Take you where?”

“To Arendelle, when the mission is done. Will you take me back there?”

“Absolutely,” he said. “Anywhere.”

Her smile had his heart in his throat, so did the thought of going somewhere with her, just her that had nothing to do with missions or jobs.

Aqua looked like she was about to say something but her eyes flickered to the top of the screen for a few moments instead. “Terra?”

“Hmm?”

“Why is Axel asking me if you finally called me?”

Terra hit his head back against the stone of the wall. Embarrassment was there once again, but for once it wasn’t enough to make the comforting feelings of talking to Aqua made him feel. “I’m going to kill him.”

Aqua laughed, and Terra couldn’t remember even why he was nervous to call her in the first place. She was the one person he never needed to be nervous around, someone who accepted him for everything he was and everything he wasn’t.

Well, he was a little nervous at how much his heart skipped when she arched her eyebrows at him, her way of prompting him to tell the story with her usual smile still on her lips. Ven and the other kids liked to tease Terra that he was dense or oblivious but he wasn’t that much so, he was aware of what it meant at least.

That was absolutely not for tonight though.

He snorted instead, holding the phone up a little so he could shift back against the wall behind him.

“Did you know that yours and Kairi’s names are surprisingly close in the contact list?”

She leaned her head back against the couch and he imagined if he was sitting next to her she would’ve nudged her leg over to kick him. “Liar.”

“No, its true, right next to each other.”

“You called her name without even looking to make sure it was me, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, that was it.”

Aqua laughed again, and he never thought he would ever be tired of the sound. “You really need to learn how to use your phone, Ter. It’s important, not just for the kids to post pictures.”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it handled.”

She paused for a second, and he thought she was about to tell him she had to go; the thought alone making him feel lonely again. “I’m glad you called.”

That was enough, that was worth it all. To know on some level she was happy to see him too. Maybe he would make an effort to learn how to use the phone better if it meant he’d get to feel closer to her while they were apart.

“Me too.”

[lightlorn]

Ship bias for your KH Muses! :D

i am a flawed human being. ll accepting.

Aqua:

Terraqua. This ship is part of the reason I kept crying so hard in KH3, now catch me admitting that on the internet. I love the way they are there for each other in spite of their stark differences, and that they have a lot of unexplored, threadable area in both their coming of age and post-KH3 timelines. Plus any ship I can draw a parallel between my fandom otp and another ship is a good ship.

Xemqua. Nomura was setting something up here and he dropped the ball and I will not take that lying down. You’re telling me they don’t even so much as look at each other during the DLC? Dishonorable, Nomura, truly despicable. There’s so much to work with there, what with the armor and the way you can read a lot of Xemnas’ closest allies in the Org being answers to Terra’s inner circle. If Nomura won’t give me their story, then I’ll write it with a partner.

Aqua/Larxene. There’s basically no other adult women in this series and I am a simple dyke seeking the wlw. I think it would make a fantastic opposites attract cliche with the added bonus of someone that won’t take Larxene’s attitude lying down while simultaneously being able to match her step for step. The Taming of the Nymph, coming soon to an AU near you.

Eraqus:

Xehaqus. This is my end all, be all OTP for the fandom. I have spent almost 100 dollars overall at cons commissioning art of these idiots. They are my phone background and lockscreen. I have an entire fic in my head of their apprentice days and frankly if Dark Road does not live up to the relationship development I have hyped up in my head I will go canon divergent. These fuckers are beautiful and heartbreaking and awful and wonderful and I love them. Bring me all the Xehaqus.

That’s it. I’m so disappointing. I have like one or two OC for him ships and I mean whatever happens in RP happens if relationships develop but oh my God. Xehaqus consumes me.

Invi:

Real talk my Invi is a lesbian and my take on the Foretellers is that she sees them all as her siblings underneath all of her posturing that it’s nothing personal, so I don’t even know what the fandom ships for her are. I’m not even sure who is available to ship with her. Throw whatever of age lady muses you have at her, mutuals, and let’s see where this goes.

Isa:

Isalea. Akusai is also good, but there’s something about their life together after the war ends when they are trying to rebuild and find everything they lost that speaks to my soul. I would never say that if I see an Axel/Lea it’s ‘on sight’ shipping because that’s shitty, but I will say I am that Saix/Isa that is always down to discuss your take on their dynamic and see what we can cobble together.

Xemsai. This will never be a healthy ship, I think, based on the fact my Saix is as likely to use his alleged loyalty and affection to try and get some form of control over his Superior, but there’s a lot that could be fleshed out here. Whatever heart he grows will always belong to his oldest friend, but he will do whatever it takes to see his ambitions fulfilled. He’s trying to use the creature that has used him for over a decade. God. The potential.

Xigsai. By the same card as above, I think if Saix clued into Xigbar being more than simply a bombastic menace, he could try and pull the same using sex and false loyalty to obfuscate his true means on Xigbar. The difference being that Xigbar is, at heart, far more deadly and aware than Xemnas is when it comes to the bigger picture. It’d be Saix putting himself in the mouth of the beast willingly, and not expecting how deeply those teeth can cut when they snap shut on him.

Roxas:

Full disclaimer: I am 25 years old and fleshing out the romantic drama of a teenage boy is not something that super interests me. That said, I do like the concept of Roxas and his brand new heart forming all kinds of bonds, and him eventually starting to register feelings beyond the platonic for certain people. So as far as character development goes, i can see him taking interest in the following:

Hayner. There’s something so coming of age adolescent aggression as a front for latent or closeted affection about them in the simulation, and in the real world they have endless potential. I think Roxas could definitely feel safe enough around Hayner to have something more develop feelings wise. Also Hayner has muscles and that makes Roxas 404 error sometimes regardless of shipping, just as a general Roxas thing.

Xion. It’s a cliche, to be sure, but depending on the Xion and their development, I can see Roxas starting to feel more at home in her presence after they’ve had time to heal and become their own people. This isn’t an on sight shipping thing, and in fact I am super selective about this even while shipping it, but there’s groundwork for a good dynamic and a sort of reunion between them as whole people who come to appreciate each other as more than their initial, shallow idea of friends.

Namine. Was not super hip on this as a kid, especially when I was less discriminating in my Xion tastes, but as an adult I can appreciate their bond. They have a lot of the same trauma in terms of being dehumanized and used by two separate factions in setting, and the two take a lot of risks for one another within the data Twilight Town. I think there’s something to be said for them both to have irrevocable individuality and come together and develop as more than friends over the years.

Riku. Is it trashy? Yes. Is Roxas still tied to Sora somehow? Yes. Would it be hilarious to see Roxas turn a would-be rivalry into accidental flirtation because he’s confused about his feelings? Yes. Riku just standing there suffering while Roxas demands they engage in a passionate battle of lips -- WITS. I don’t even know how serious I am in shipping this, but Riku being Roxas’ emotional training wheels amuses me.

Aaaaand you can’t really have biases for an OC because at that point anything with plot potential, chemistry, and aligning sexualities goes so instead I am just going to shout out Kokoro’s established ships + the muns for being so good to my little mary sue.

Xemkoro/Foxhole. I don’t know how me dipping my toe in the water of shipping with Lucky by saying ‘hey my OC and your Xem could have a cool dynamic’ became like... my entire shipping brand, but here we are. Their entire dynamic breaks me, the way Xemnas is clinging to a past that he wants so badly to have been a part of while Kokoro can’t afford to look back anymore, working too hard to meet future goals is... Everything. Especially in the fact she regards him as a person without hesitation or knowing how much that will come to mean to him. There’s so many layers to them, and they truly work to earn their happy ending, and that is everything to me. Here’s to successful risks and their payoff.

Aquoro.  Everything my gay little heart ever wanted: the dichotomy of childhood romantic friendship giving way to adolescent rivalry and a shell of what your relationship used to be that appears so often between girls. That they also represent the Responsible Daughter and Rebel Daughter in Kokoro’s secondary verse, furthering the gulf between them as Aqua continues to follow the Master’s teachings where Kokoro embraces her own ideas about what Eraqus preached is... Chef’s Kiss... And through it all, it’s still Aqua that Kokoro wants to find the most, the one for whom her heart breaks the hardest when she sees what became of her. I owe Lucky my life for giving me this phenomenal wlw content.

Koterra. Kleffy does spoil me. The difference between what Terra dreamed of as a boy and what their reality became, where she is instead his knight and protector while he calls the shots as part of reclaiming his identity is perfect. The way they grow from teenage misunderstandings and dick moves into adults that have a touch more kindness for one another is also good, because it’s all about the character development. Their bond is strong and their support for one another immeasurable. I am heterosexual for one (1) ship. All because Kleffy came up with it on the spot and then put in the effort to make it work, God bless em.

[alphadrg]

Are you guys ready for my hypothetical KH x FF14 event that will never happen? OF COURSE YOU DO! SO STRAP IN AND GET READY FOR THIS EVENT (which is lowkey canon to this blog).

The quest starts out in Gridania from Concerned Woodwailer. He stops you because he wants you to check out something that has to do with ~mysterious cloaked figures~ which have been prowling about Gridania and upsetting the locals. Upon asking what they look like he tells you they are garbed in black with no discernible features, almost as if they did not exist but still do. The WoL, of course, automatically thinks: ASCIANS! But of course! What other cloaked figures are there!? 

So you go out into the North Shroud to investigate this strange occurrence. Upon arriving there you find a bunch of shadows and evil creatures that you can’t kill and... an Ascian! Only... it isn’t? Of course you accuse them of being an Ascian but in reality it’s not. Something feels off about them and... strange. It isn’t right. Immediately you go on the defense while they mumble something about hearts and shadows and finding the heart of light so that they might regain something. You don’t know whats going on but they point to you as a being of pure heart. What does THAT mean? Strange! And just as the “Ascian” is about to attack Sora comes out of the blue followed by Donald and Goofy (YES DID I STUTTER? DONALD AND GOOFY who are literally a dog and duck minion). Sora saves you and the “Ascian” fees before doing anything else. Stating that now is not the right time and that they wish to test the WoL first before anything.

You, of course, are very confused! Who is this kid? Who are these animals? What’s going on! Sora, being Sora, goes on to say that’s Organization 13! You ask if they’re apart of the Ascians and Sora is confused. “Hmm I don’t know who these Ascians are, but if they’re just like these Organization 13 bad guys then they must be as equally powerful. We’ll have to watch out for them. Huh Donald, Goofy?” “AHYUK. We sure do Sora!” Picture WoL confused as hell. “Well since we’re after the same bad guys why don’t you join us! We can use you on our team to fight these shadows!” You, of course, nod your head. 

Then you go on a merry adventure of having to fight these things called Heartless and helping Sora along the way. Eventually you learn he’s from another world! Another shard? You’re mind is spinning with questions and Donald Duck is mad at Sora for letting him spill the beans he’s from another world. But then you tell Sora that you can visit other worlds too! And you both bond on your adventures. Nice kid! You question him about his keyblade too and he tells you how the keyblade choose him!!!! Of course you want to hold it. Its weird! Who doesn’t! So Sora lets you and it stays with you. Kind of weird since keyblades are only for special people but maybe you’re special too!

But of course not everything goes well. The Ascian, who is actually an Organization member, fights you again. Telling you that you are pure of heart and of all light. Sora is amazed that the WoL is a guardian/prince/princess of light. Only keyblade wielders can be guardians of light! But wait! This Org member is about to reveal himself. And you find out.. ITS XEMNAS! AMAZING! The Organization leader HERE? You really must be special! He starts summoning more Nobodies and Heartless because he wants to capture you because you are of a pure light and he needs you for his evil schemes. Whatever that is! But you don’t care because you need to stay HERE on the SOURCE to fix this bullshit! 

Anyway there is a badass trial that needs to take place because you cannot let Xemnas steal you away! You get to fight him AND him as a dragon! Wow! Sora is there giving you help and everyone is here! There’s badass music. Badass mechanics. Lots of clicking! Lots of wipes! 

But then... he captures you! Oh no, how can this be! You cannot fall like this. It’s impossible. You have so much to do.. So much to live for! Your heart, its failing and grows weak. “(NAME)!” cries Sora. The light is fading. “(NAME) you can’t fall here! You have so many people to live for!” The light grows darker. “Just look inside your heart (NAME). The people close to you will give you strength!” The light almost gives out. But.. you cannot fall here! Sora is right! You have to remember your friends! You think of them! Everyone that was close to you. And finally your strength reawakens! A keyblade comes to you. “WHAT!?” Xemnas cries out. “Hmph. You cannot hope to defeat me.”

Yet you can.. with the power of friendship! And you do! “Oh no!” Xemnas cries. But he’s not done yet. He is a Nobody, and they cannot die so easily. And just as Xemnas is about to use one last assault a REAL ASCIAN (WHAT) COMES IN. ITS ELIDIBUS. WOW. “Who’s that!?” Sora shouts. “GARSH. Another Organization member?” cries Goofy. “WAAK that isn’t a Organization member, silly. His robes are white!” says Donald. Xemnas is just as surprised as everyone is. Elidibus, being tired of having HIS WORLD being messed up, gives Xemnas the beating of a lifetime. “I shroud my eyes for but a moment to find one who wishes to consume mine home. Teetering this fragile equilibrium unto disaster.” says Elidibus. “I shall exorcise this disease from this star.” 

This is all so amazing and you’re so surprised that Elidibus is helping you. No one knows whats going on. But Xemnas concedes defeat realizing that this Warrior of Light is already owned by someone else and probably has no bearing to the plot of KH3. Thank god too! And after all is said and done Elidibus tells you that this is the only time he’ll help you because he’s not helping YOU he’s helping this star maintain balance and then goes away. “What was that about!?” asks Sora. You try to explain to him whats happening. “Light and dark huh? I guess too much light OR dark is a bad thing.” 

Sora learns an important lesson about light and dark which will be forgotten in the new Kingdom Hearts game. You all have a big laugh and a sorrowful goodbye as everything is once again right in the world. 

[mellz117]

Mellz plays KH Re:CoM, Reverse/Rebirth (Riku’s Campaign) part 3

Check out parts [1] and [2] if you haven’t seen them yet. Part 1 also has a link to Sora’s campaign

Below the Read More is the endgame and my final thoughts

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Riku is met with Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, yet again, who still can't fathom why Riku's resisting his advances. Close your damn jacket!

Final battle! I lost twice? I think? Not many times but I think it was 2. But god damn not as many times as I lost to Repliku. That sucked. I don’t get mad about dying multiple times in a final boss, that’s kind of the point of final bosses...

Ansem has a great voice btw, like if there’s gonna be a voice for G-Dorf in Breath of the Wild 2, I want Richard Epcar or Dave Boat (Lexaeus) to voice him. I doubt it’ll happen but those are my picks!

This guy sure does talk a lot for someone who's supposed to be dying.

Ansem explodes in a thick fog of darkness that envelopes Riku and Mickey comes to the rescue. Technically Riku won so he’s allowed to relish in his victoy AS WELL AS be carried off my a floating mouse.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

 IDK where the basement is supposed to exist here because the door Riku reaches the ground floor through is the same door Sora goes through to LEAVE the ground floor. Is it like a hill? Gotta go upstairs to go downstairs?

Idk. I wanna see the full interior of the castle, I want blueprints.

“What now Riku? You going home?” Your Majesty. Mickey, my dude. You can’t just GO HOME after killing a man. Riku’s got some shit to go through, he can’t return to a normal life after this. There is so much more tha nthis!

I’m glad a MOUSE can understand darkness is a thing that just exists, can coexist with the light. Good on him for keeping an open mind! It took how long for anyone to realize light and dark are two sides of the same coin? Twilight Princess was all about this. ...Riku is the twilight princess.

Mickey wants to follow Riku down his path of light and dark and they’re friends now. When did they get the time to bond between KH1 and CoM?

How old is Mickey? He’s BFF’s with a teenager now, how old is he? I’m not saying child and adult friendships aren’t and shouldn’t be a thing, I may use Tumblr but I’m not THAT Tumblr. I’m just wondering what kind of grown-ass adult WANTS to be friends with a teenager lol. Mickey tells Riku, since they’re friends now Riku should call him my his name, rather than his title. So... No one else gets this talk? Donald? Goofy? No? OK.

I deadass expected Simple and Clean to start playing after a hard cut to black despite actually remembering the final confrontation with DiZ.

Riku and Mickey don the black coats DiZ presented earlier then they leave Castle Oblivion behind. The duo meets up with him at a crossroads and immediately Riku’s on the defense. I love Riku, he’s tired, he’s annoyed, he knows the world isn’t black and white, light and darkness, and the literal path he chooses reflects that. He’s accepting the darkness and using it to fight for his friends. I’m so proud of him. I wonder where these paths actually lead.

THE SUN IS RISING I DIDN’T NOTICE THIS UNTIL EDITING THIS WHAT?KJVBLSDFKJVBDLJ

NOW Simple and Clean plays, albeit after a fade to black.

During the credits cinematics we see Riku and Mickey travelling through Hollow Bastion, the same location where the 1,000 Heartless battle in KH2 takes place if I recall correctly! That was cool to see. Riku is having a difficult time. Help him.

The next one we see Roxas again. He stops and looks at the Twilight Town gang when they pass him and Axel tries leading him away. I can only assume the following went down:

“I wanna try that”, Roxas says and gestures to the ice cream the aforementioned group was eating. So he and Axel buy some ice cream and go up the clock tower, Roxas seems to be enjoying himself but Axel doesn’t seem to like this treat at all. I think he just eats it now for Roxas’s sake, he pretends to like it to make him happy.

So I don’t know the timeline of this part of the game. Is Roxas not part of the organization yet at this point? Is Axel trying to recruit him? Is this after Roxas defects and is forgetting his time with them?

The third clip we see a very brief shot of Riku a few months later and he’s looking good. Doesn’t cut his hair.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Final clip, after the credits shows Roxas and at this point he’s either friends with Hayner, Pence, and Olette or they’re inviting him for the first time to hang out with them.

“Beyond the path without you is a forgotten promise to keep. We may have walked side by side, but now we go on back to back. And though our paths may not cross, all paths are connected somewhere. When I arrive at where you are, we may not appear to be as we were...”

……………………………………………………………………………………………

So, final thoughts of the game overall. I enjoy longish games but when the length is just padded out with such shallow worlds I get bored really easily. I like to explore the map but I can’t do that in this game. Riku’s campaign is very short in comparison to Sora’s, for better or worse. For someone who just REALLY, REALLY wanted to move onto KH2, this was welcome lol. Sora’s half put me to sleep and I had a hard time trudging through it. Not that the story wasn’t engaging enough for me, I just didn’t want to play.

Didn’t care for the card based battle here. I preferred the combat more in Riku’s half because card management wasn’t really a thing which I ended up growing to appreciate for Riku once I got used to it. All I had to do was level up and get an extra card if I felt like it. The duel system was really fun and made boss battles go quickly, when I actually took the time to INITIATE them. Most of my frustration was just me NOT doing what the game aggressively suggested. At least I admit when it’s me and not accuse the game of poor gameplay like a certain grumpy gamer but that’s none of my business. I think this game may have felt better on the Gameboy Advance, I wouldn’t know.

I wanted to cry. I missed these kids so much. I love them so much. I’m a god damn crybaby now so a lot of moments just ended me and sometimes I needed a moment to sob while I hug my cat.

The (original) characters.

I can feel bad for Vexen to a point, he was a bastard but he just ultimately just wanted to do sciency stuff. A lot of questionable science but whatever. He creeps me the hell out. I know he hated Marluxia but was he really willing to spill Marly’s plans to Sora JUST TO SPITE HIM? Or was he actually trying to help Sora? That might explain some things later on down the road...

Lexaeus was always boring so no comment.

Zexion is a cutie pie, I don’t know why I think this I guess it carried over from 10 years ago. I have a soft spot for him. And I didn’t post a single picture of him so here’s one.

Axel, my favorite bastard. I will always love him. Chaotic neutral. He’s not much of an antagonist in this game, more of an obstacle, but he’s certainly working in favor of his own interests. I’ve been reading Inkheart and he reminds me of Dustfinger? Fire and all i guess.

Marluxia is also a bastard but as an antagonist I don’t dislike him. He mostly has his good looks to help him with that. I’m not sure why he wanted to overthrow the Organization but it got him dead so GG my dude. Not sure why Xehanort invited him and Larxene back.

Larxene.

Repliku. Brat, very much a brat. He immediately had beef with Sora because apparently it’s too unreasonable for Sora to “forget the quiet girl who moved away” when you were four and five years old. I could barely remember this game let alone any memories from when I was 4. I would have liked to see him interact with Riku during the time he thought he himself (Repliku) was the real one. Imagine the DRAMA. I do feel bad for him, his struggles with his identity and his jealousy towards Riku. I love how he is with Namine, so soft spoken and gentle. But we all know that’s based on false memories which is so sad. But like Sora said, the memories might be fake but the feelings are real.

Namine is a very good girl, a victim, a child who, when given the courage to, will stand up against her captor to protect her friends. She’s very sweet and smells like Kairi! (Riku, that’s weird) She’s brave as hell and I stan her. She just wanted a friend.

Sora... He’s so pure, so wholesome. He’ll do whatever it takes to save his friends. He had a little moment of weakness and cast Donald and Goofy aside but he got better pretty quickly. He was willing to give Repliku a chance despite their interactions being negative. He forgave Namine, knowing she had no choice but to do what she was forced to do. Sora. Just Sora. Love him.

Riku. I couldn’t stand him in the first game, he was just a punk-ass teenager (which makes me wonder why he and Sora were ever friends in the first place) with a super inflated ego who just, kinda does a 180 after you beat Ransem and is good? But my god. I just fell in love with this precious bean in Re:CoM. I remember the best of Riku from KH2 (let’s pretend KH3 doesn't exist for a second here because that is in my opinion the BEST Riku) and it was so welcoming and CoM really bridged the developmental gap between 1 and 2. It’s nice to see him struggle with this darkness and then learn to utilize it in a safe manner. We see a lot of vulnerability from him too, when he’s being constantly mocked by Ansem and the few embers of Org13 he meets here, his own doppelganger touting how much better he is, not having his one form of support physically be there on the majority of his journey. Riku’s super snarky throughout the game overall though and I love that. He’s the complete opposite of Sora at this time and he’s absolutely done with everyone’s bullshit.

Ansem is really persistent. He’s the guy who just can’t take a hint, I can’t imagine his dating life is very successful. I don’t like him but I don’t hate him either. He definitely makes more of an impact as a bad guy in this game, frequently showing up to harass Riku. Obligatory mentioning my mistake in saying that HE was guiding Riku in the beginning of the game when it was actually DiZ.

DiZ is formally introduced in this game and he’s cryptic as shit. I dig his design but what the hell made Ansem the Wise take this form? With all those bandages he looks like a burn victim (I haven’t played BbS if this is what happened Im sorry) but the call of fashion still rings in his ears. Why belts on his head though? That was this series aesthetic until KH3 pushed plaid. Anyway he is also a character I don't have any particular feelings towards

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I think I’m going to take a break from KH for a bit. I got the Spyro Reignited Trilogy the other day for XBOne, so I’ll be playing that. I’ve never played Spyro before, I hope I like it!

[ronitas]

Ok welcome to my Kingdom hearts blog where my motto is FDB Kairi, Vanitas and Sora deserved better, Repliku deserved to be with Namine or at least say goodbye to her before disappearing, Sora and Riku shared the paopu first and the ending of kh3 is the result of the paopu gods being pissed because Sora shared the paopu with another and you cant tell me otherwise, Soriku is canon fars Im concerned and every Sokai moment in this game was awkward and forced af, Namine, Roxas, Xion and Ventus all deserved more screentime, we have a million Sora’s but we cant have 2 Riku’s? come on man

So anyway to sum up my main view points

FDB Kairi, KH3 literally made me hate her when before I just simply disliked her

Namine, Xion and Aqua are best gals

Roxas, Vanitas, Ventus and Sora are best boys

Riku’s cool although not my fave he has my respect

Vanitas and Ven should have reconciled in KH3 and possibly reunited, if not then the two should have reconciled and actually had a heart to heart instead of just ‘I am darkness goodbye’ ‘ok’ that is NOT how that should have gone, Xehanort gets to reconcile with Eraqus but not Vanitas with Ventus? gtf outta here man, I didnt expect Vanitas to have some big sappy ooc moment I just pictured something similar to Naruto at the waterfall training with Bee fighting his darker half and only after he learned to accept and embrace it could he move forward, THATS what I expected but nope, what was the point of even bringing Vanitas back if you werent gonna let these two make peace? this whole game has been villains having change of hearts and the worst one of all being Xehanort even has one but Vanitas just goes out as ‘I am darkness’ which makes all the build-up to Vanitas redemption till this point just to have it end like this in the end of the Xehanort saga is a huge slap in the face, so in that regard I guess I empathize with Kairi fans who expected her to do something but did absolutely nothing

Nomura unintentionally confirmed Riku did the paopu ritual with Sora back in KH1 by confirming in this game that the whole sharing of the paopu legend didnt require you to eat it but just giving it to the other person, proven by Kairi simply giving Sora the paopu but neither of them actually eat it yet that was supposed to represent them finally doing the legend thats been built up since KH1 which was supposed to be a huge Sokai moment but it just ended up becoming a huge Soriku one instead lol

Sea Salt trio is best trio next to the Lost trio

Sora and Riku are the best duo

Kairi should have never had a keyblade and not because of my personal bias but because HOW she got to be able to use one shouldnt even be a thing, you shouldnt be able to just touch the handle of a keyblade wielder and be able to use a keyblade no, it should be like what Terra did formally bequeathing Riku that ability the same should have applied to Kairi and everyone else, Sora touching Riku’s light is excusable because the keyblade chose him which is the ONLY other way someone should get a keyblade is if their CHOSEN by the keyblade itself, please tell me why the keyblade would choose Kairi, what has she done to EARN or DESERVE a keyblade? be a princess of heart? shouldnt all of them have keyblade then? no? of course not cuz thats bs, there is no reason thats why she needed just a half-assed excuse as to why and how she got one, hell even Axel had to prove himself to earn his keyblade, Kairi’s literally the only one who it was just handed to with minimal explanation

I love Sora but I swear in some areas in KH3 it felt like I was watching 2 different people, our Sora and whoever the hell that was

Kairi should have stayed dead in KH3 not just because of my personal feelings toward her but because they literally set it up in POTC with Wills death and Elizabeth being strong and going on without him and then Xehanort kills Kairi and although I knew it was unlikely I figured it was even MORE unlikely that Sora would be the one who dies because hes the protagonist and Nomura literally said Sora would continue to be the protagonist in future games so it’d make more sense for Kairi to die and Sora just having to learn to live on without her and accept the fact that no matter how hard he tries he CANT save everyone, but nope Nomura just pretty much tossed that opportunity for growth and development with Sora and just lets him abuse the power of waking and die for some chick who didnt deserve it that he already killed himself once for this SAME person in KH1 only this time it was alot less impactful but just really infuriating and unnecessary and just overall pointless

Kairi shouldnt have been in the final battle, PERIOD, Roxas should have been brought back earlier on and HE be the 7th light needed while Kairi hangs back and keeps training with Merlin, the fact that anybody let an amateur into the final biggest most dangerous fight ever for her first time using a keyblade on the battlefield boggles my danm mind that even Sora or Riku or Yen Sid didnt tell her to sit this out because she WASNT ready or hell Kairi HERSELF saying she shouldnt go acknowledging that she herself isnt prepared for this serious a battle and she doesnt wanna get in their way and risk them getting hurt trying to protect her, the fact that NEITHER of these happened boggles my friggin mind and please dont say ‘well they needed a 7th light and Roxas needed a spark yatta yatta yatta thats why’ because I can make a whole separate post about why thats bullshit and how it could of happened if the writing was actually GOOD and SENSIBLE there

I cant stress this enough but I DO NOT CARE about the pairings in Kingdom Hearts and I wanna be very clear on this

I do not care if Roxas ends up with a friggin tree or Axel smashes a toaster or Riku with Xion or Sora with Isa IDGAF about shipping in KH because there is way more important things going on then to worry about who gets with who, the only reason I care about Sokai is because I love Sora but despise Kairi and think he can do so much better and even if that ends up bein a frog IDC just as long as it aint her so its really not about the ship but more about what a garbage character Kairi is

I have plenty of ships that I like, but I could care less whether or not they become canon because to me thats just a bonus not a necessity I’ll still enjoy the pairings regardless

KH is supposed to be a combination of Disney and Final Fantasy, if Nomura separates from FF hes makin a huge mistake, you cant remove part of what literally started the franchise in the first place

I think thats about it but If I think of anything else I’ll add it here but yea thats pretty much it, those are my basic views for the series so far so either take it or leave it, if you disagree then just agree to disagree Im not tryin to change any of your opinions and you cant change mine, scratch that you cant change my opinion on Kairi but Im open minded on just about everything else so maybe my opinion CAN change in some areas but Kairi is the one area it wont

[angel-with-a-pipette]

So...Uh... Can I say why I'm happy the series is giving Roxas the chance to be his own person? It's because any time KH2 looked at Roxas' situation from any perspective but his own, it always treated it like it's a good thing Roxas was assimilated into Sora against his will, and because he's not a real person, he should be glad that he got the chance to exist even though he doesn't deserve to. It's disgusting. Particularly when Namine losing her selfhood is treated as a happy ending.

Oh, you can always come forward and speak your mind! I’m always happy to engage in a conversation about my fandoms :)

I definitely see where you’re coming from there. Everything is depicted as a happy ending, but it wasn’t necessarily the happy ending people wanted to see for them. But for their perspective, it was.

Naminé never had a free will of her own, first she worked for Marluxia, then DiZ got her and she was pretty much always a tool that could be disposed of any time. Especially DiZ’s words were harsh (please excuse my lack of accuracy here, I only played CoM one time because of THAT CARD SYSTEM and I might have forgotten a lot that happened there) and made her truly believe that she was an abomination. She was called a witch earlier anyway, so she basically believed it and I think she did long for returning to her actual somebody, to end this kind of existence. She speaks to Roxas about being whole again and I think she very much meant it. That was what she learned during her existence and I honestly believe that it was a happy ending from her point of view. She was back where she supposedly belonged. She made peace with that and while obviously the audience could picture her living her own life, it’s likely she couldn’t (to be fair though, we never see her think about anything like that because the game doesn’t focus on that).

With Roxas it’s kind of the same except that he is struggling with the fact that he’s a Nobody a lot and it first takes his inner fight with Sora to come to peace with the fact that he is a Nobody and supposedly only able to exist with Sora. He somehow finds peace after that fight, with himself and with Sora, and again, it is shown as a “good” ending, but I understand when people aren’t satisfied with it and wish for a truly good and happy ending for both of them.

And I see that a lot of that games paint the Nobodies to be horrible creatures, but that was the point.The audience was supposed to thing they were abominations, but we were also supposed to see Demyx, who didn’t want to fade, Axel who gave his life to give Sora (Roxas) a chance and Roxas himself who was so desperate to live, who we had seen making friends, being happy, being a normal human being. We were supposed to question DiZ’s hard words and even Sora’s attitude - the boy who normally makes friends with everything and anything the world throws at him.

We also gotta be fair here that while DiZ and Sora both were wrong, they not only had valid reasons to be angry (DiZ because his apprentices cast him away and allowed for their home world to be destroyed, Sora because they a) keep making trouble for the worlds which leads to Riku still missing and b) kidnap Kairi as leverage over him and refuse to let him see her), but they both corrected their views. Ansem the Wise saw that he was wrong in harboring so much hatred and Sora got to see the other side.

I think they did transport to the audience that what happened might have been better for the worlds since Sora is the one who keeps the light safe, but they were also supposed to see that a lot of wrong things were going on and the Nobodies were treated wrongly. It might not have been executed perfectly, there is a lot glossing over and short deliveries.

So now onto your second part (I thought I’d break this up a little)

There's also the fact that Riku never apologizes to Roxas, or shows regret for ABDUCTING him and seemingly learning nothing from kh1 (and this is from someone who considers Riku his favorite character), even BOASTING about defeating him in kh2. And while Riku gave Xion a chance to say no, he never gives that same choice to Roxas. Heck, Roxas seems to view himself as being subhuman in DDD and I'm so, so GLAD that that's not depicted as a good thing.        

I think Riku’s oppositional treatment of Roxas and Xion probably stems from the fact that 358/2 Days has been released after KH2 :/  Riku had already reacted the way he did with Roxas, they couldn’t take that back and I guess to avoid a repeat of the same story line, they made him go another way with Xion? I can only speculate there, maybe they did realize that his treatment of Roxas doesn’t fit his character arc, maybe they wanted to spice things up, maybe Riku was hesitant to do anything but as soon as he got all of Sora’s memories in one place, he felt forced to finally act, maybe Riku actually had a hard time to do something about Xion because she looks like Kairi and Roxas doesn’t look like Sora (although we are led to believe in KH2 that they are basically twins with different hair, so I don’t really know).

But there’s also the fact that with Roxas, Riku is forced to take action immediately. Roxas was basically on a suicide mission, he wanted to free Kingdom Hearts and go after Organization XIII which would’ve let to his destruction. Riku wasn’t aware of the fact that this would’ve led to the restoration of Sora, so he captured Roxas before he could do so. Though I think we can actually doubt Roxas’s destruction would’ve helped Sora become whole again as his Heartless technically has never been truly defeated.

Aaaanyways, again, I see where you come from and it would’ve been interesting to see Riku react for the first time in one and the same game to both Roxas and Xion. Like it is now, I really find it hard to compare because 358/2 Days messes with a lot of KH2 and frankly, I have huge issues with that.

I do however very much agree with you that I’m glad Sora doesn’t view Roxas (or ‘good’ Nobodies) as subhumans anymore and wishes for Roxas to exist on his own. Hell, I would’ve loved to see the fight and actual struggle between Sora and Roxas from their KH2 fight, Coded and the Dream Drop Distance moment in a separate game actually. I mean I’m glad as it is that it has been addressed (AND THANKFULLY NOT ONLY IN CODED), but... I would’ve preferred that over 358/2 Days? :X I’m sorry, I have too many issues with being underwhelmed with it as a part of the series, as a standalone game, the story would’ve been fine for me xDDD

I hope my ramblings have been somewhat understandable? I do understand the other side too, though, and I am very much on the fence whether or not I want Roxas and Xion (and Naminé, let us never forget about her) to be Somebodies in KH3. I do think that their storyline is finished and all of them found peace in their own ways, but I also see and understand that people wish for them to have more, to have a real chance at life.

[nadziejastar]

What are your honest thoughts on Roxas, Namine, Xion, as well as the Riku Replica, collectively and individually, and how their narratives was handled throughout the Dark Seeker saga, as well as within Kingdom Hearts III itself?

Roxas

— Is it possible that Roxas has a heart?It is thought that it could be Ventus’ heart. In KHII FM there were clues to him having a heart, and in Days we saw Roxas crying proof that he could have a heart. As was said in Question 1, he has taken a lot of himself from Ventus. But perhaps when Sora and Roxas were separated, Ventus’ heart stayed in Roxas.

My opinion on Roxas is based on the notion that he was born with Ventus’s heart, which is what Nomura said way back when the original BBS came out. This is a very simple idea. I liked it. It made perfect sense to me. On the other hand, Roxas and Ventus being totally separate entities makes no sense to me. Never has. It over-complicates an already convoluted story. That’s my biggest issue with Roxas as a character. Not his personality.

Roxas: What makes you so sure? I have a right to know who I am! How did I get here? Why am I special? Where did I learn to use the Keyblade? I deserve those answers!

Axel: Roxas…

Roxas: Are you gonna tell me or not? Axel… Who am I?

I liked Roxas’s personality and his character arc. He wanted to know who he was. He didn’t want to be a Nobody or a shadow of someone else. Axel knew he had a connection to Ventus, not just Sora. I think Roxas would have been happy to learn that he was his own person in a previous life, and not truly the Nobody of Sora. Roxas having Ventus’s heart was a nice twist, IMO. And it explained why Ven and Lea had a special connection in BBS. It was also a nice way to justify Roxas coming back, without having to be stuck as Sora’s Nobody who lives inside of a Replica body. Which is weird.

DiZ: You should share some of that hatred with Sora. He’s far too nice for his own good.

Roxas: No! My heart belongs to me!

As for how Roxas’s character arc was handled in the DSS, I thought it was mostly good (until KH3). Roxas was always adamant that he had his own heart. He wasn’t Sora. He wasn’t as nice as Sora. He had a lot more anger and pain.

Roxas: Sora will find the answer we’re looking for. I know he will.Because, he’s me.

After Sora defeated him in TWTNW, Roxas seemed to accept that he was really Sora.

Roxas: My role was to see if you were ready to take ownership of the hurt inside you. And now that role is done. Nothing left for me to do but…go away.

Sora: Go home?

Roxas: I don’t know if I have one, but…there’s a place I’d like to be.

But he still had pain that needed to be healed.

Roxas: There are so many hearts that are connected to yours. You’re me, so you can feel what I felt.

Sora: No. Roxas, you’re you. We’re not the same. I wanted to tell you that. That you deserve as much as I do to be your own person.

Roxas: Sora, see? That’s why it has to be you.

Sora had a gut feeling that Roxas wasn’t really him. He was unique. He deserved to be his own person. I agree. I think Sora had an intuitive sense that Ventus’s heart was inside of him. I don’t think KH3D proved that Roxas needed to comeback separately from Ventus. Just that Ventus needed to be revived with all of Roxas’s memories and character development. Bringing Roxas back in KH3 made no sense to me. It was confusing and convoluted, and took the focus off of rescuing Ventus.

It would have made FAR more sense if Sora simply focused on bringing Ventus back, and Ventus had the same personality as Roxas. I don’t see the point of having Ventus and Roxas coexist. I see BBS Ventus as simply a lesser-developed version of KH2′s Roxas. If you focus on too many characters, as KH3 did, you don’t have time to develop the existing ones. And KH3 had very little in the way of satisfying development for anybody. The plot was more concerned with coming up with some contrived way to bring everybody back quickly. But the bonds between everyone felt cheapened.

Xion

— Though he’s a member of Organization XIII, Axel is shown in the end of KH Re:coded in the memories of “pain”…

Since healing the necessary “pain” of Axel’s is different than with other people, if he is revived he will take a form like Xehanort’s. In the end of the story, Namine says, “Those whose memories are sleeping inside Sora need relief.” In the KH BbS secret cutscene “Blank Points”, certain characters call out to Sora, however in that scene Axel is the only one who appears and doesn’t say Sora’s name out loud.

Nomura implied that not everyone who needed to be saved needed to take a physical form. Nowhere in Re:Coded or KH3D did it say that Xion’s heart was sleeping inside of Sora. Her memories were, though. Sora needed to call these painful memories to the surface and heal the pain associated with them. That’s what needed to happen with Xion.

— Does Xion have anything to do with Birth by Sleep?

I think although many people want Xion to come back once more, I’m afraid to say that it’s difficult.

I believe that by returning her memories to Kairi, that would have healed Xion’s pain. Kairi would develop a much deeper bond with Lea and Ventus as a result. Kairi would receive better character development and there’d be less individual characters to hog all the screen time. This would have told a better story in KH3. I don’t believe Xion should have come back and I think bringing her back ruined a lot of the emotional impact her story had in 358/2 Days.

Naminé

Naminé: Don’t worry. You might forget about me…but with our promise, I can come back.

Sora: A promise is a promise.

Naminé: Yes. One day the light—it will be ours, and it will bring us together. Til then—I’ll be in your heart.

Sora: Right. Forgotten—but not lost.

Unlike with Roxas, Naminé seemed to always be aware that she was a figment of Kairi. I think she was exactly what she said she was: Kairi’s shadow. Kairi had no darkness in her heart, but Naminé embodied some of Kairi’s repressed feelings. Like her loneliness after being left behind. She was a more introverted and melancholy version of Kairi.

Axel: Go where? It’s not like we have homes to return to. We don’t exist, remember?

Naminé: Yes, it’s true. We may not have homes. But there is someplace I want to go… And someone I want to see…

Axel: Same here.

Roxas was also originally conceived as Sora’s shadow. A more introverted and melancholy version of Sora. The main thing that separated the two was that Naminé didn’t develop a strong identity of her own. The games always focused on her connection with Sora and Roxas, and barely anyone else.

Naminé: I always though Nobodies were doomed to fade back into darkness…

Roxas: Yeah, but you and I didn’t. We got to meet our original selves.

Naminé: So, we can be together again!

Roxas actually had bonds he formed with people that had no connection whatsoever to Sora. Axel, Hayner, Pence, and Olette. Unlike Naminé, it felt convincing that he had his own heart and wasn’t just a figment of Sora. After she was born, Naminé spent most of her time drawing pictures of the people from Sora’s memory. That was it. She really did feel like a figment of Kairi to me. Roxas was out living his life forming deep connections with new people. That’s what made them feel so different. So, I thought the ending of KH2 felt satisfying for Naminé. She’d be happy just being with Roxas every day. On the other hand, I don’t think Roxas would have been happy just being with Naminé.

Sora: Hey, Riku?

Riku: Yeah?

Sora: I wanted to thank Naminé, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it. Not until everything was back to the way it was before.

Riku: Don’t worry. We’ll make that happen. Once this is over, you can thank her all you want.

Sora: Yeah!

Most of the extra scenes with Naminé focused on her finally being thanked.

Naminé: I may be gone, but my promises to him are forever. And anyway…I owe this much. For all the…all those people that I hurt.

Sora: So what happens to YOU–the one that’s right here?

Naminé: I’m really just data made to pass along a message. I shouldn’t…exist right now in this journal at all. And now, the record of me will disappear. But when you pass my message on to the other Sora, just remember to tell him the things that you’ve seen…and that you’ve felt. If you do that, then we’ll be at rest–her, and me too.

Sora: Along with everybody connected to Sora… Naminé, you got it. Oh yeah!

Naminé: Hm?

Sora: I almost forgot. I have a message for you, too. Thank you.

That seemed to be her main unresolved plot. I’ll be honest. I thought Naminé was flat. She didn’t have much depth to her. More focus was placed on her powers than on her bonds. In Days, she was focused on repairing Sora’s memories while Roxas was growing closer to Xion and Axel. In KH2, she was still focused on repairing Sora’s memories, while Roxas enjoyed his summer vacation with HPO. Re:Coded, she was simply the messenger for Mickey to learn about TAV. In KH3, she was the one who brought the Lingering Will to the Keyblade Graveyard. 

Her own personal friendships always took a backseat to her memory abilities. Naminé was just underdeveloped as a character. Even Xion had her bond with Roxas and Axel. Roxas had Hayner, Pence Olette, and Axel. Naminé had barely any personal connection to anyone besides Sora and Roxas. Sora didn’t even remember her. She did have a bond with Riku, but it didn’t get as much attention as her bond with Sora or Roxas.

Sora: Naminé, is that you? Wait! Naminé! I’ve got a message for you. I meant to tell you once this was all over.

Even in KH3D, it seemed like Naminé just wanted to be remembered by Sora and she would have been happy reintegrating back into Kairi. She never asserted her uniqueness from Kairi the way Roxas did with Sora. There was no hint that she had unspoken feelings for Riku, either. She wanted to be with the Roxas she remembered. I don’t think she needed to come back. She didn’t have enough personal bonds with other characters to justify it.

I don’t even know where all of the stuff with her and Riku came from. Now all of a sudden Riku’s the most special person to her and there’s apparently some kind of romance between them? Uh, okay. It was probably something Nomura came up with because she was so flat and had so few personal bonds of her own and he needed something for her to do once she was back. Roxas and Sora had their hands full with the other Kairis. But Riku was still single, lol.

Riku Replica

Riku Replica: So…it’s over. Hmph. Death doesn’t frighten me. Good riddance to a phony life. My heart was never real. I’m sure even what I’m feeling now is probably all fake.

Riku: What are you feeling?

Riku Replica: What happens when a fake dies—one like me? Where will my heart go? Does it disappear?

Riku: It’ll go somewhere. Maybe to the same place as mine.

Riku Replica: Tsk. A faithful replica until the very end. That’s…okay.

Naminé and the Riku Replica were cut from the same cloth, IMO. They were both shadows of other characters. Naminé’s heart went back to Kairi at the end, and Riku Replica’s heart went back to Riku. I never saw that as a sad ending that needed to be reversed. It’s no different than Shadow Aqua going back to Aqua after her defeat. Even Riku Replica said the world already has Riku, so it didn’t need him. Also, if Riku Replica’s feelings can live on through the real Riku, I don’t see why Xion’s couldn’t live on through Kairi. Why should Xion come back but not Riku Replica?

Riku: That was my…my dark side. I gave in to the darkness once. And ever since, it’s chased me around in one form or another. The Seeker of Darkness who stole my body…a puppet replica of the shadows in my heart…and now, I’m facing me.

IMO, neither of them needed to come back. Riku Replica was simply Riku’s dark side. Not his own character.

Riku: You’re Ansem! Why are you here?

Ansem: Your best friend is never far.

Ansem: So sad. The cost of yielding to the darkness.

Riku: You could write a book about that.

Ansem: But I embraced the darkness–and unless you hurry up and learn to do the same, your story will end just like his.

Riku: I walk the road to dawn!

Ansem: Still afraid of the dark, I see.

Riku obviously had an unresolved plot line with his dark side.

Riku: After allowing darkness into my heart, am I still fit to wield the Keyblade? Even after locking you away, here you are, haunting me again. So I get it now. There’s no point in trying to hold the darkness back.

Ansem: At last, you see clearly.

Riku: You know…when I look at you…there’s this memory that flashes back. A secret I said I’d keep when I was little. The main reason I kept dreaming about seeing the outside world…was ‘cause of him.

He should have had some resolution to his character arc where he confronts his dark side. His arc with “Ansem” was clearly not over and there should have been way more story explanation for how he got his new Keyblade in KH3. Not “oh my old one just broke”. Um, no. His old Way to Dawn had some secret meaning behind it, involving his connection with “Ansem”/Terra.

Riku: Can’t use this Keyblade anymore. Might as well leave it here…in case the other me needs it.

I didn’t like the way Riku Replica was handled in KH3. Instead of the focus being on Riku confronting his dark side and finally finishing his extremely long journey to battle his inner darkness, it focused on a random romance between him and Naminé. I don’t like the Riku/Naminé pairing because it’s based on the Riku/Kairi pairing, which was rooted in possessiveness and jealousy. I never liked the Riku/Sora/Kairi love triangle in KH1 to begin with.

[nadziejastar]

That’s exactly how it felt to me, too. KH3 was written with fan desires in mind, so Lea only cared about Roxas and Xion, even though it was out of character for him. Which is stupid and also sad. It spits in the face of all the important themes of the series. I mean, Kingdom Hearts is all about reuniting with lost friends and never giving up. Sora meets Donald and Goofy and makes countless friends in all the Disney worlds. But for all of KH1 and 2, Sora is looking for Riku and Kairi. Nobody can ever replace them. They are his very best friends from childhood. Donald and Goody are great. They always have Sora’s back. He gets the most screen time with them. 

Sora: You can never forget your true buddies.

But…Riku and Kairi were the carrot on the stick. Sora kept journeying to eventually reunite with them. He can make new friends, but they can never replace his old ones. In my opinion, Roxas and Xion were Axel’s Donald and Goofy. They are very important to Sora. But at the end of the day, he’s going home to Destiny Islands with Riku and Kairi, not them. Realistically speaking, Roxas and Xion can’t replace Isa, nor would they want to. He’s known them for a single year. The way Lea and Isa were handled in KH3 was the equivalent of Sora deciding it’s too much of a hassle to find Riku and Kairi and deciding he’s going to forget about them and move to Disney Castle with Donald and Goofy. 

Isa and Lea’s relationship was very interesting to me because they weren’t even part of a trio. They were just a duo. Isa was basically Lea’s Riku AND Kairi. He was Lea’s Riku, his best friend who was lost in the darkness. Sora never gave up on Riku. He was able to see him even when he looked like “Ansem”. Lea left to wield the Keyblade to find Isa, even after everything Saïx had done. He never wanted to give up on his best friend. 

Xemnas: But then, through Roxas, Sora himself began to shape "it" into "her," giving Xion a sense of identity. Our plan seemed like a failure at this point... But then it occurred to me. Xion is keeping Sora's memories trapped by claiming them as her own. Keeping her close to Roxas will ultimately prevent Sora from ever waking. 

I’d say Isa was also Lea’s Kairi. The scene and quote above is from Day 299 ~Sora~. It’s the only scene in Days that took place in the Hall of Empty Melodies, and the scene is framed so similarly to Sora’s reunion. Lea/Isa was just depicted differently compared to all of the other male/male friendships in the game. There was no female in the picture. Isa was the most important person to Lea. In Castle Oblivion, Sora’s most precious memories were of Kairi. These memories are used to manipulate him. Axel’s most precious memories are from his past—of Isa. Saïx took the place of Isa and Axel was manipulated by Xemnas using these memories. 

Axel: Does it hurt, Naminé? Watching your two childhood friends fight all because of you? You have my sympathies. From the heart.

Isa being Norted was important to Lea’s character arc in SO many ways. He was the motivation for Lea to wield the Keyblade and should have been the person he used the power of waking on. But he also was fundamental to Lea’s redemption arc, too. I actually liked the fact that Axel was not a purely “good” character. He had a side to him that was pretty dark. And he’s a better character that way. 

Roxas: Who is Sora?

Xemnas: He’s the connection.

But it only works if he has a very tragic backstory, where he was forced to join the Organization. I mean, he was willing to kill Naminé without hesitation. He knew it was wrong, too. He was just so angry that he didn’t care. Subject X just makes Lea look worse. If he cared so much about a random teenage girl, why did he not care about Naminé, who was just as much a captive of the Organization as Subject X? 

Kairi: Oh, and by “us,” I mean me and Lea. He’s really sorry for all the trouble he caused. I told him it’s fine, but he won’t stop apologizing. I’ll admit I was a little scared of him at first, but I’ve gotten to know him better. All he ever wanted was to help his friend. Honestly, it’s hard not to like him. 

Every now and then, I catch him staring at me. When I ask what’s wrong, he says, “I’m not sure. I think I’m forgetting something. Don’t know what.” Sora, I think it may have something to do with you. Your journey is all about helping people: some that you’ve never met before, and some like Lea that you have. They’re all counting on you.

Kairi is right. Axel is a LOT more sympathetic if you think he was abducted, experimented on, turned into a Nobody against his will, and was just trying to help his childhood best friend the whole time he was in Organization XIII. It’s really easy to forgive everything he did in that context and it’s hard not to like him. Story-wise, Lea’s entire basis for being a Guardian of Light hinged on his connection to Sora. Axel had a lot in common with Sora, and he started to change in Castle Oblivion.

Lea: Promises to keep. I’ll always be there to get my friends back. What, bad timing?

Isa was a vessel. Lea saved Sora from becoming one, because he was looking for Isa. Riku almost became a vessel, too. It’s why he looked like “Ansem”. That provides a strong connection to Sora. Lea’s connection to Sora (and Riku and Kairi) was pretty much irrelevant in KH3. Kairi kinda hinted at something in the beginning, but it was dropped. I do think Kairi was talking about Isa in her letter originally. I’m sure Lea would have told everyone about him after KH3D. Lea’s motivation to become a wielder doesn’t really make sense otherwise. Kairi said that helping his friend was all Lea ever wanted. But Axel only knew Roxas a relatively short time. I’d hardly say that helping Roxas was “all he ever wanted”.

Without Isa, Axel had little excuse for not going along with Roxas when he left the Organization. If he was so lonely, why did he wait until Roxas disappeared to betray Xemnas? Especially after 358/2 Days made such a big deal about how they’re best friends and inseparable. Without Roxas, the Organization can’t actually complete Kingdom Hearts, anyways. So he didn’t even stay because he wanted to get his heart back. Yet, Lea would just give up on Isa so quickly and only care about Roxas and Xion as soon as he learned he was a vessel? It’s so out-of-character, it’s a joke.

Saïx: I passed on the message as you so desired. I told the young Sora to keep defeating the Heartless.

Xemnas: Good. Not only have you the power to inflict pain, you also have the power to plant seeds of doubt in one’s receptive heart. Sora will soon begin to doubt himself. It will cause him to hesitate and that hesitation will turn to anger. That anger will fuel him to get rid of his apprehension and move forward. He will pave the way for the future we desire.

Saïx: There’s something I’ve meant to ask.

Xemnas: About Axel? The poor fool. How long will he keep chasing the illusion of friendship, when he himself lacks emotion? Trying so hard to retrieve what he has lost, when it may never have existed in the first place. He deserves nothing more than our pity.

Almost all the connections between Sora and Axel that had been set up years in advance were wasted. It went back all the way to KH2FM+. Saïx first interacts with Sora in Twilight Town. He was following Xemnas’ orders to inform Sora of their plan. Kairi is also kidnapped after this.

Axel: Hmm, true, but…I don’t think that’s quite the same. I guess the closest thing we Nobodies have got is our past. You know, memories of the stuff we couldn’t bear to lose, back when we couldn’t bear to lose it.

It’s strongly hinted here that Axel was trying to recover his relationship with Isa. It was something he lost but that never existed in the first place. Which is exactly what happened when Saïx called him “Lea” on Day 299 ~Sora~.

Saïx slowly turned and looked down at him. “If it’s Kairi you’re worried about, don’t. We’re taking very good care of her.”

“Let me see her.”

“Is she that important to you?”

“More than anything.” Sora clenched his fists. He had to see Kairi, no matter what it took.

“Show me how important.”

Sora lowered his eyes for a moment, and then quietly knelt down, his head bowed low. “Please.”

“So, you really do care for her,” Saïx mused. “In that case…absolutely not.”

Sora sprang to his feet again. “You rotten—”

The plan was for Sora to channel his anger by taking out more Heartless.

“Are you angry? Do you hate me? Then take that rage and bring it down upon the Heartless.” Saïx snapped his fingers, and an array of Heartless appeared one by one behind him.

And Xemnas’s plan worked. Sora wanted to rescue Kairi, but defeating Heartless was exactly what the Organization wanted. His anger and doubt made him more determined than ever.

The trio quickly assumed their fighting stances, as Saïx went on with a low monologue. “Pitiful Heartless, mindlessly collecting hearts. And yet they know not the true power of what they hold. The rage of the Keyblade releases those hearts. They gather in darkness, masterless and free…until they weave together to form Kingdom Hearts. And when that time comes at last, we can truly exist.”

He almost sounded as though he were reciting an incantation.

Then Saïx says his famous line. Or incantation. “Pitiful Heartless…”

“So it’s a step above best friends?”

“No—it’s not about steps.”

Roxas looked bewildered. As he’d expected, he wasn’t doing a very good job explaining it.

“Not that it matters. We’ll never know the difference.”

Roxas wouldn’t let it go. “Do you think we would, if we had hearts?”

“Once Kingdom Hearts is complete, I bet you’ll be able to figure it out.” The magic words again, Axel thought. It’ll all make sense when Kingdom Hearts is complete. But was that true?

No one had ever seen it happen before. So who knew?

Still, all they could do was believe in it.

Pitiful Heartless, mindlessly collecting hearts…

The Organization was kinda doing the same thing to Axel that they did to Sora. They exploited his doubt during the situation with Xion. And they also exploited the fact that he desperately wanted to see Isa again, like Sora wanted to see Kairi. 

Saïx: Sora knows the truth now. The more Heartless that he defeats, the closer he is to becoming our perfect puppet. This new knowledge will make him that much harder to control.

Axel would channel his doubt and anger by focusing on completing Kingdom Hearts, just as Xemnas wanted. He was doing it out of love. And in the novel, they even used Saïx’s phrase when Roxas and Axel were talking about love. “Pitiful Heartless…”

Xaldin: Our work here is done, Roxas. The beast’s weakness is clear.

Roxas: It is?

Xaldin: To hold something dear is to let it hold you. His heart is in thrall to it, don’t you see? And that, Roxas, is ample weakness.

It was always hinted that Axel would know what Xaldin meant.

Xaldin: Trust no one. Feed your anger! Only anger will keep you strong.

Xaldin wanted to turn the Beast into a Heartless.

Beast: Xaldin… that’s his name. He came from the darkness… He…used my anger to control me. He took all my sorrow, my sadness, my pain—and turned it all into rage. There was nothing I could do… I could no longer see the truth.

He stole what was most important to the Beast to fuel his rage.

Kairi: What are you going to do with us?

Saïx: You’re the fire that feeds Sora’s anger.

Kairi: No… Sora’s in danger because of me…

Perhaps they were going for this idea with Lea, too. Kairi was important to Sora, which is why she was kidnapped. She was the fire that fed his anger. Saïx had Kairi imprisoned, but Isa was just as much a prisoner of the Organization as she was. Isa was most likely the fire that fed Lea’s anger. And Axel had a LOT of anger over what happened in his past. You could see it when he killed Vexen and Zexion. There must have been some backstory to how he became an assassin. Lea’s relationship with Isa fully explains Axel’s rage and hatred, making him easy to forgive. 

Xaldin: You don’t need a heart to know how to manipulate one. Remember that.

On Day 152 ~The Wrong Button~, Xaldin says this in the Grey Room, and it’s probably not just a throwaway line, since manipulating hearts was apparently a defining aspect of Dilan’s character. It’s quite similar to what Saïx said in KH2 about injuring a heart, actually.

He flashed her a smile. “I know we have separate missions, but I bet if we team up, we’ll finish faster.”

Would that work? Maybe it would.

“Well…okay,” Xion replied. “I guess if we get done early, we’ll have more time for our ice cream.”

It reminded her of something. This almost feels like before… Like when I couldn’t use the Keyblade. Roxas is always helping me.

Xion felt weak and useless for relying on Roxas so much. She started to avoid him around Day 152. Eventually she sacrificed herself to protect him.

“Did something happen?”

“Not really…”

He’s a bad liar. I can pick it straight away. But, I guess that isn’t concrete proof that something did happen. Something must have happened that Roxas didn’t understand the reason for either, thought Axel. An emotion somewhere in my memories.

In the novel, Lea said he remembered the feeling of something happening that he didn’t understand the reason for. Maybe Isa thought Lea was in danger because of him and that’s why he asked him not to help him out anymore and started acting weird, like Xion did with Roxas. There’s a lot of hints that something happened where Isa wanted to protect Lea and sacrificed himself for him. It even fits his Mystery Gear, too. Maybe Isa was going to be used to fire Lea’s anger, and Isa was afraid Lea would be turned into a Heartless because of him? Who knows.

“Say, don’t you want to become the real thing?”

The Replica had accepted Axel’s offer, and now they were headed down into the bowels of Castle Oblivion.

Vexen had devised the scheme with the Replica, and Axel still didn’t entirely understand whether it had succeeded or failed. But he figured there would still be some use for the puppet.

Given the right memories, the Replica could mimic the powers of the original. Which meant that if he were implanted with somebody else’s memories, he would, hypothetically, gain other powers. Somebody’s—or maybe even a Nobody’s.

He had one particular Nobody in mind. All the members of the Organization were still influenced by the memories of their human lives.

But I think Xaldin was the one Axel was talking about here. He’s a pretty likely candidate, I’d say. Especially after 358/2 Days connected him to Axel so often. Axel never actually interacted with Xaldin, and Dilan was conveniently absent in KH3D. But he probably was supposed to eventually. They were saving it for later, I guess.

[nadziejastar]

Thanks, LOL! I do want to write one eventually. I want to see what kind of things are in the Re:Mind DLC, though. KH3 had the Subject X stuff which seems to be nothing but a tweaked version of Isa’s original backstory. Maybe the DLC will have something similar for other unused plot lines, like with Xehanort.

“I have nothing to give you to eat but myself!” Then, the hare threw himself into the fire.

Sakra, still disguised as a Brahman, was astonished and deeply moved. He caused the fire to go instantly cold so that the hare was not burned, and then revealed his true form to the selfless little hare. “Dear hare,” he said, “Your virtue will be remembered through the ages.” And then Sakra painted the wise hare’s likeness on the pale face of the Moon for all to see.

Sakra returned to his home on Mount Meru, and the four friends lived long and happily in their beautiful forest. And to this day, those who look up at the Moon can see the image of the selfless hare.

Writing these posts has been a big inspiration. Just as a follow-up to the last question, if I was in charge of the Subject X plot, I would change the girl Lea and Isa were trying to rescue into Kairi, not Skuld. And I would make her story fit their backstory better. Saïx’s Mystery Gear is Moon Rabbit. It’s the story of a rabbit that was so virtuous and good, he was willing to sacrifice himself. I think Isa must have had a very pure heart, like Kairi and Ventus. It’s probably why Axel felt so comfortable with Roxas and Xion.

Kairi looked up at him then. “Aren’t you…a bad guy?”

“I’m not,” Axel replied, completely serious. “But not really a good guy, either.”

“This doggy likes you, though,” she pointed out. Axel dropped his gaze, and indeed, Pluto was right there with his tail whipping back and forth.

“Just because dogs like someone doesn’t mean they’re a good person, y’know. Got it memorized?”

On the other hand, Axel didn’t feel the need to think of himself as a “good” person. Dogs liked him and he liked to help stray puppies as a kid. But he has changed. And if there was one thing that prevented Axel from considering himself a “good” person, it was the idea of self-sacrifice.

“This is right,” Xion said firmly. “It’s better this way.”

Axel hated that argument. Nothing was better any which way. All it came down to was what you wanted to do and what you didn’t. He’d learned that lesson back when he had a heart.

“So it’s better for you to disappear?” he protested. Because she would—they both knew it. No more Xion.

That might be why Axel’s sense of right and wrong became so screwed up. How could he be expected to do the “right” thing if that meant letting his best friend disappear? Of course, in the Moon Rabbit story, the hare survived because of his great virtue. But Lea wouldn’t know this. I highly doubt Axel was concerned with finding the girl that he and Isa were trying to rescue as humans. It’s far more likely that he resented that girl for causing them to wind up in their miserable situation. He probably wished they never tried to help her. No good deed goes unpunished, as they say.

Day 75 ~Inseparable~

Roxas and Xion went on a mission together like Axel suggested. Roxas met Aladdin’s friend Genie during his mission. When Genie attempted to magically repair the damage from the sandstorm, Roxas informed him that Aladdin had said he wanted to rebuild the town without relying on magic. Genie respected his friend’s resolve and decided against using his powers. Roxas reflected on the idea of a friend’s resolve.

Day 75 is about best friends picking up the slack for each other. Roxas was willing to do Xion’s share of the work so she wouldn’t get destroyed. 

“The dirty work doesn’t bother me,” Axel went on. “You just make for the top.”

There was nothing false in that, and he looked Saïx in the eye as he said it. Saïx stared hard back at him.

But what if the work that needed to be done was dirty work? After all, the experiments were to amplify the darkness of the heart. And as his best friend, what if Lea was willing to do the dirty work that Isa was unwilling to do?

“Al said he wouldn’t rely on magic, right? I want to fix it for him, but you gotta respect your friend’s wishes.”

“Your friend’s… wishes…” So, even if you mean for something to be for your friend’s sake, their wishes are still more important?

Lea cared more about his friend than about doing what was right. Isa would sacrifice his life for the sake of morality, but Lea would sacrifice his morality for the sake of his friend’s life.

“That Genie person seemed very worried about that Al person. And then he said that you have to respect your friend’s wishes.” Xion bit her ice cream, swinging her feet.

Axel leaned his head to one side. “Your friend’s wishes, huh…” It feels like I have heard that before, a long time ago, when I was human.

He’d do whatever it took to save his friend, even if he had to go against his wishes. Then the situation became reversed. Saïx was trying to urge Axel to do the wrong thing and Axel went against his wishes. Axel was willing to get his hands dirty, and it’s interesting how often it involved Kairi and her various alter egos. He was willing to take out Naminé when she was in his way. In KH2, his arc involved trying to bring back Roxas, but he had to kidnap Kairi in order to do so. And he almost sacrificed Xion for Roxas. It’d be interesting if young Kairi was involved in Lea’s past in a similar way. She was supposed to be involved with Xehanort’s experiments, after all. That’s how she wound up on Destiny Islands.

Day 353 ~Resolve~

Roxas asked Saïx if he could take Xigbar’s spot, but Saïx chided Roxas, asking if he was powerless without Axel. Roxas saw Xion and Axel off with a sense of unease.

What if Isa was actually ordered to turn Kairi into a Heartless or something? The experiments were to amplify the darkness of the heart. What better way than ordering someone to harm an innocent little girl? And as his best friend, what if Lea was willing to do the dirty work that Isa was unwilling to do? Kairi was the stray puppy they originally were trying to rescue. 

“…You’re sure this is for the best?”

Saïx finally turned his face to Axel at those words. “For you to say such a thing out loud…,” he said.

Such a thing—he must mean the uncertainty I’m holding inside my chest.

Saïx left his perch by the wall and came closer. “Which one is more dear to you? Roxas or the puppet?”

Axel looked away. “Dear” to him? What would he know about that as a Nobody?

But Lea had to make a choice of who was more important to him, just like he had to do with Roxas and Xion. And in both cases, Kairi came up short.

But just because we have no hearts doesn’t mean we feel nothing, thought Axel. We just know that we’re…incomplete somehow. When we were told that what we each lack is a heart, it made perfect sense. Because we definitely lack something.

Maybe this one choice to throw away his morality is what set the tone for Axel’s life as a Nobody. He became emotionally dead and nihilistic. A piece of him died after he made the choice to harm young Kairi, who he originally wanted to set free. This is what Isa didn’t want to happen to him.

“He worries too much. Thinks he has to help Sora do everything…” Axel grimaced in irritation.

“But, Axel, aren’t you the one worrying about Riku and Sora?” Naminé giggled softly.

“Me, worry? You think I need to be worried about those two?” He stretched backward and rocked the chair back and forth, like a restless child. Naminé returned to her sketchbook.

In KH2 Axel’s worrying was also associated with disappearing and doing the right thing. He could relate to Riku being overprotective of Sora.

“Say, Naminé… Are you still going to try to meet Kairi?” Her head snapped up at the unexpected question. Across from her, Axel met her gaze, grave and earnest.

“I have to help her,” she said with a sad smile.

He scowled. “Is that really the best thing?”

“The best thing…?” Naminé set her crayons down on the table, her gaze dropping as she thought for a moment, and then she smiled at him again. “It’s the right thing.”

In response, Axel only leaned back and rocked in the chair again. She took up her crayons. No one could know what was right or wrong. The picture she was drawing depicted herself and Riku and Axel, too, smiling brightly.

Then he immediately brought up Naminé meeting Kairi. He hated the fact that she said disappearing was the right thing to do. Just like with Xion. I think it must have reminded him of Isa.

“And traitors are eliminated. That’s what the rules say!” Larxene chirped from beside him.

She wasn’t wrong. Under their laws, a member who defied the Organization would not be suffered to live.

Axel was a good person, but the organization warped him.

Axel followed his own rules. And Xion had said herself that if Axel hadn’t acted as he did, she wouldn’t have come back. Roxas was still convinced there was another way to bring her home, but maybe that was the only choice back then.

“If you have a dream, don’t just wait. Act. One of life’s little rules. Got it memorized?”

He lived by his own rules. But he never had anybody on his side.

“I don’t get it. Riku and I both want the same thing—we both want to help Naminé. How come we’re fighting? I mean, we’ve argued about stuff since forever, but…”

We’ve fought a million times and made up a million times… Because we were best friends, weren’t we?

“Could be ’cos ya care what happens to each other,” Goofy said, trying to help.

I think one reason Axel empathized so much with Sora was because he was forced to oppose his best friend even though they both wanted the same thing. He hated Naminé for this and was willing to kill her at first. But when he met Xion, he recognized how screwed up he was for thinking like that.

“Namine, you and I have the same goal.”

“It’s the same, but–not the same. But, there’s no time for explanations now. I’m sorry, Axel.”

He said he and Naminé had the same goal, but they didn’t. She thought Roxas was better off returning to Sora. After Roxas disappeared, Axel was willing to take Naminé back to the organization, so he wouldn’t be branded a traitor. Then she decided to go back to Kairi.

“Everything is back to normal. Of course this is for the best, isn’t it?”

The reason I’m unable to answer Saïx is probably because I depend on him, thought Axel.

“Xemnas has also been irritated at the recent changes in plan. Everything has to go back to normal, for the sake of our goal too… Lea.”

Axel originally had a shared goal with Saïx, but he had to oppose him when he realized he was no longer the same person he remembered.

“Don’t you understand, Axel? I can’t keep existing like this!”

“Yes, you can! There’s gotta be a way!”

Xion shoved him with the Keyblade, then leaped back to adjust her stance. “No, there isn’t. And I don’t want to be a puppet for the Organization. I won’t let Roxas be their tool, either.”

“Well then, we’ve got the same agenda!” Axel closed in on her again and surrounded her in a wall of flame.

He tried to help Xion, which is what Isa would have wanted. But then she disappeared. No matter what, he had nobody on his side.

“Well, I got something out of it, too. I learned that you don’t always have to bend the rules to reach your goals.”

“Indeed.” Minnie nodded with a smile.

Terra had been prepared to slip into darkness to complete his mission, but maybe there was a means of doing so without giving himself over to shadow. He embraced that sliver of hope.

Eventually, he decided to do the right thing, even if he had to give up what he wanted. He didn’t choose his best friend if it meant harming an innocent person. He stood up for Kairi and chose her over Roxas or Saïx. Because even after he kidnapped her, she wanted to help him. She had a pure heart. He thought he’d just disappear alone. But that choice allowed him to be reborn with a heart. Sora defeated Xemnas. Lea was able to become friends with Kairi for real. 

Luxord: Perhaps he was ready for it. Perhaps he put his existence on the line and won what he'd been longing for.

Xigbar: Wait a minute. How would that even be possible? We don't exist, remember? What you're saying goes against the laws of nature.

Luxord: Then perhaps he bet his NON-existence. Either way, he came out a winner. Oh, Axel. A grifter to the end.

Doing the right thing would also allow him to get what he wanted, which was to see his best friends again. He would learn that the little girl he turned into a Heartless was actually a Princess of Heart. She didn’t disappear. She went to Destiny Islands and lived a happy life with Sora and Riku. Lea is able to spiritually heal for what he did in the past after being forgiven by Kairi. He’d conquer the darkness inside of himself, finally. I would be more than happy for Kairi to be the female of Lea and Isa’s trio. She’d be like a little sister. She actually fits into the story. Skuld? Nah.

[nadziejastar]

NO FEAR: IsaLea is still subtly canon (ill take what I’ll get) and Skuld comes and they become a platonic trio. No Isa/Skuld or Lea/Skuld (writers could try to flip it on us). FEAR: Skuld eats up all the attention in the trio. Isa and Lea’s characterization gets reduced to one dimensional fanboys. Skuld paired up with Isa or Lea. We stick in forced pairing hell and there will be ship wars.

NIGHTMARE: The writers make Skuld and either Isa or Lea get married and have a kid. I don’t think push it THAT far. I dunno if they’ll truly go through with a romantic pairing. But I’m gonna lose hope and interest if they do. 

Sora: Kairi, I’ll keep you safe.

Kairi: Let me keep you safe.

Well, if you ask me, Lea and Isa were already reduced to one-dimensional fanboys in KH3. Lea was more of a one-dimensional fanboy for different characters, though. And in future games, he’ll probably continue to be portrayed that way. I’ve already lost interest. The only hope I have left is the sick humor I’ll get watching all the characters get destroyed. Lea and Kairi’s role in the final battle was supposed to be saving Isa from Xehanort’s control. But since that idea was thrown in the trash, they had no real reason to be there anymore. Thus, they became totally irrelevant to the plot. Roxas conveniently arrived just in time to take Lea’s place, while Xion arrived to take Kairi’s place.

Saïx: You’re the fire that feeds Sora’s anger.

Kairi: No… Sora’s in danger because of me…

Kairi wanted to prove herself during her training. She wanted to keep Sora and the others safe for a change. And she does! She becomes a real hero instead of a damsel-in-distress. Psyche! She actually regresses to be an even MORE useless damsel than ever before! 

Her new friend Axel doesn’t even react when she’s kidnapped. Kairi, who? Who cares about her? Roxas Stu and Xion Sue are here! Time for a big snuggly hug! But wait. Now there’s more Guardians of Light than necessary. Kairi is superfluous. How can we make her important? Well, I guess she can motivate Sora again? A-hyuk! How does her fight with Saïx go? Exactly like it did before she could wield a Keyblade, of course! She is simply the fire to fuel Sora’s anger…again.

Kairi: I’m training to become a Keyblade wielder like you. That’s right. No more waiting for you to come back from your adventures.

It’s okay. She still has a happy ending! While everyone else celebrates, she gets to imagine Sora is with her while crying to herself. Sure, everyone starts to worry as she’s hallucinating. But it’s okay. Sora will be back. 

Donald: Kairi, you were great!

Kairi: Oh?

Sora: You are different, Kairi, but I’m just glad you’re here!

Kairi: You and Riku never came home, so I came looking for you.

Any minute now. She’ll just wait right here for him to come back.

Lea: Ah, I’ll catch up with ya in no time flat.

Sora: What? You wanna be a Keyblade Master?

Lea: Yeah. I mean, I came here to learn how to wield one.

Lea wanted to prove himself as a Keyblade wielder as well. He put himself at risk using the D.T.D just to find Mickey. All so he could become a wielder and find Isa. He believes that inside people’s memories, he can live forever. He spends the whole game training with Kairi in preparation for the final battle. Yeah…Lea was a pretty cool character. 

Xigbar: Axel!

Lea: Axel? Please. The name’s Lea. Got it memorized?

Xigbar: You’re not supposed to be here!

Xigbar was right. Lea, you aren’t supposed to be here.

Axel: You kidding? Do you know how popular I am? I got loads of people rootin’ for me. Sorry, boss. No one axes Axel. Got it memorized?

That’s better.

Sora & Riku: YOU!?

Lea: Hey, thanks for the vote of confidence. You know, I was gonna come swooping in, Keyblade in hand! But I just couldn’t get mine to materialize. Must be in the snap of the wrist or something.

For some reason, Lea stopped caring about Isa, and his sole purpose in life became…Roxas…again. A character who he has…no ability to bring back, actually. Not even with his snazzy new Keyblade. So, what now? How can he still be useful?

Lea: You had your perfect little script, but you kinda forgot to write the sequel. Now, let’s find out what happens!

Few people realize that Lea—excuse me, AXEL— was breaking the fourth wall all the way back in KH3D. He knew exactly what would happen!And instead of braving the darkness, rescuing his friend, and becoming a hero…Axel gets benched. Literally. He gets to watch from the bleacher seats.

Lea: Promises to keep. I’ll always be there to get my friends back. What, bad timing? 

Well, whaddaya know? It turns out that getting his ass handed to him was just the magic spark Roxas Stu needed to magically arrive and save the day. Axel fanboys over Roxas Stu’s sheer awesomeness! Roxas Stu smiles at Axel with a cool expression. Roxas Stu is back, so Axel has served his purpose. He tells Axel that his five minutes are up now. It’s HIS turn.

Xemnas: Ah, ever the rogue pawn. Knocked from the board early in the game. Utterly useless and forgotten.

Whoa, Xemnas can break the fourth wall, too? He sure called it ahead of time. But it’s okay. He is more than happy about it. He compliments Roxas Stu and Xion Sue for their amazing prowess with the Keyblade! Those two are old pros, unlike him, after all! A-hyuck!

Saïx: Do you know what happens to those who lose their true purpose? Inevitably, they destroy themselves.

This picture is a fairly decent representation of KH3′s Isa. He’s on his knees, alone, being looked down on by everyone. Lea is disgusted with him. He’s lost all sense of purpose…in the story, that is. If you think about Isa’s canon story, he and Lea try to rescue a girl that they barely know, and are not sure even exists. They become apprentices just for her, then get turned into Nobodies. They devote their lives to finding information about this girl, and they conspire to make Saïx Xemnas’ right-hand man. Saïx is so obsessed with this random girl, he drifts apart from Axel and becomes…a sociopath. Yep, that’s all folks. You were expecting a tragic backstory? Nope! There’s no intriguing human experiment plot! Just girl drama.

Maleficent: You see? It’s just as I told you. While you toiled away trying to find your dear friend, he quite simply replaced you with some new companions. Evidently, now he values them far more than he does you. You’re better off without that wretched boy. Now, think no more of him and come with me. I’ll help you find what you’re searching for…

Roxas Stu and Xion Sue observe with pity as Axel’s OLD best friend gets put in his place. As his NEW best friends, they are rewarded with brand-new DLC packs…starring them, of course. They were always special after all. The only Keyblade users in Days. But it wasn’t enough for them to simply steal Axel and Kairi’s first and only fight as wielders. Now they need MORE screen time so we can bask in their glory.

Axel: You let them reduce you to this?

Axel does break the fourth wall a lot in KH3. Well, he was actually doing it here, too. He’s not referring to Organization XIII when he asks this—he was talking about Square Enix and Disney. He’s asking Isa how he let himself get turned into such a pathetic character. And the answer is simple: Axel went off and made other friends. More POPULAR friends. So he got left in the dust. From a narrative standpoint, that’s exactly what happened.

Riku: Take care of her.

Somewhere along the way, Saïx became part-Xehanort. The implication in KH3 was that he willingly became a vessel, since he wasn’t being controlled like Terra was, and Lea was disgusted at how he let himself get reduced to his state. So, he basically sacrificed his humanity JUST to find this random girl. Totally believable actions from a complex and multi-dimensional character, right? Then he became obsessed with power…or something? Meanwhile, Axel makes other friends. Saïx gets jealous and becomes a giant asshole, and now he has to redeem himself by getting replicas for Lea’s NEW bestest friends. 

He then quietly fades away in the background, out of shame. It’s an utterly sad and pathetic story, really. One more fitting for a tragic villain than someone on the side of the good guys. I can’t decide which would be worse. Isa and Skuld actually getting together, and rewarding this horrible characterization…or Isa continuing to degrade himself for her while his feelings go unrequited. I remember how much I despised Riku’s character arc in KH1, and how pissed off I was during his ending scene. I was SO grateful that the future games stepped away from shit like this. But now, it’s back, I guess.

Roxas: You’re me, so you can feel what I felt.

Sora: No. Roxas, you’re you. We’re not the same. I wanted to tell you that. That you deserve as much as I do to be your own person.

Personally I doubt that Isa and Skuld will actually become a couple. I think Isa’s fate is to be the same as the Riku Replica. Naminé brainwashed him, and implanted false memories inside of him to make him think he was in love with her. He became obsessed with a phantom girl to the point where he wanted to kill his childhood friend, Sora. He finds out the truth about how their relationship was a fraud and never existed in the first place. Then he dies.

Then comes back! But…he sacrifices his only chance at having his own life. Like Isa, he did it “all for her”. In a narrative sense, he was sacrificed as a pawn in order to bring back Naminé. She needs the replica more (ie. is more popular) than him. And nobody needs him, since the REAL Riku is already around anyways. A faithful replica until the very end. Isa served the same purpose in KH3. His arc was sacrificed in order to concoct an excuse to bring Roxas and Xion back, and also to put the spotlight on Skuld from now on.

Riku Replica: So…it’s over. Hmph. Death doesn’t frighten me. Good riddance to a phony life. My heart was never real. I’m sure even what I’m feeling now is probably all fake.

Riku: What are you feeling?

Riku Replica: What happens when a fake dies—one like me? Where will my heart go? Does it disappear?

Riku: It’ll go somewhere. Maybe to the same place as mine.

Riku Replica: Tsk. A faithful replica until the very end. That’s…okay.

Riku Replica had a MUCH more dignified death in CoM. He rejected the fake memories he had. He resented the fact that he was a fake replica. He didn’t have to go to the Dark Realm or the afterlife. He was always a part of Riku. So ultimately, he went back to him. They had the same heart—they were the same person. I thought that was a fitting end, and his final words were quite compelling actually. KH3 plays up the fact that replicas are totally unique individuals, yet treats Riku Replica as being even more disposable than before. But it’s okay. He’s happy about it. A-hyuk!