#I'd love a kairi project

[mythicalartistx]

Endless possibilities for Kairi

Nomura once said the keyblade Riku gives to Kairi and where he gets it will be answered in a future installment.

As he does when he doesn't want to answer something because it will be no point in ever showing it if he just tells people.

He did it when people asked about Demyx's backstory and where he came from. He didn't say anything and he most likely will be in Missing Link and probably 4?

But so much about Kairi is a mystery and at first I thought oh they're not going to do much with her, I don't think in KH4 we'll see much but then I was looking at MOM scenes and KH2 the games where people genuinely think she shines the most.

(personally her in mom doesn't do it for me because she ends up using Sora's form)

Mom is just giving people bread crumbs and it's kinda overpraised. Like you control her for a bit until Sora takes over and then you eventually control Riku. I'll admit the backstory parts were nice. It helped confirm more about the Ansem reports. But it's not really much.

Her entire backstory is so mysterious.

She— a child of Radiant Garden who happens to be one of the princesses with a pure heart was seen by Xehanort and studied on through experiments until she was sent to Destiny Islands through one of the time capsules used in Union x.

Because of Xehanort and the others apprentices were doing unsupervised experiments (not sure if this was before or after they became nobodies), sending her there caused the meteor shower— the same one that happens on destiny islands where Riku makes a promise to Sora to protect him and probably have his signature necklace to him. (Though this is necklace theory it is implied this happens through various scenes in KH and the novels, and manga)

Through this revelation, they can discover and discuss where she came from and how she got to Destiny Islands, by discovering the time capsules they can figure out Union X events. The Wayfinder Trio + Kairi can figure out this information together.

Why the Wayfinders? Because Ven was from the era and it could help get his memories back. Kairi is also going to be training with Aqua after MOM.

But by looking into that stuff they can find out more about her and then come across what happened to experiment X and if she really is Skuld or not (a lot of people think she is Skuld).

And Lea/Axel and Isa/Saïx come in for that part.

But she has so much potential. Like KH is obviously about Sora and Riku's friendship and I think the reason why we seen so little of her is probably because Nomura might just be waiting for a good moment or game to put some backstory for Kairi.

We only got crumbs through the reports, a dialogue here and there, and then the scene in mom. And maybe just maybe we'll get an installment that tells us something extraordinary as KH does.

This is like the fourth analysis post I've done about her. She can be so interesting and so much potential and I'm thinking about another one relating to her. It's involving how the English version of KH makes her worse of a character... You'll see why soon

Post note: before anyone mentions kh3 I discussed in previous posts I didn't like her in that one because she was just training a lot and not really doing much. Then during the battle she eventually dies, well that's the shortened version

[as-above-rp]

💓 their crush/partner. (For Kairi!)

"Oh gosh, where do I even begin?! Crowley, Rachael, Mack--I love them all so, so much~!

Crowley is incredibly silly and sincere. He can be a little all over the place sometimes, but most days I can keep up just fine so I don't mind! They're creative, kind, funny, affectionate--sometimes Crowley does drive me a little bananas, but that's alright! I never let it linger. And they're so smart too! The things he's been able to think up and make all on his own; the mech suits, the drones--his own prosthetics!! I love listening to him talk about his projects, and watching them work. It's embarrassing to talk about now, but I've had a crush on him for the longest time, since I first moved to this part of the kingdom and saw some news coverage of his Hero work. It's crazy to think that we're dating now...!

Rachael is absolutely wonderful. She's funny, and beautiful--and gosh, she's so artistic! Her pottery work is stunning, most of my dishes and mugs are handmade by her in fact! I wouldn't want anyone else's work in my home more than hers. It's so nice to have someone else--especially another girl--who shares my appetite and love of food, too. She's my best kitchen helper and favorite food tester, ehe <3. Rachael is strong, too, and an incredible fighter. She's smart, clever, diligent; it's no wonder that she's the second in command around here! But in addition to how badass and scary she can be, she's also so tender and sweet with me. She's been so patient and gentle with me... [sigh] I adore her~

Mack is just--gosh, he's incredible! Knowing where he started and seeing where he is now? Amazing. He built an entire villainy empire practically on his own, runs his own farm on top of that, and he's one of the best fighters I have ever seen. He's really hard to read sometimes, and for the longest time he really intimidated me. But getting to know him has revealed his softer side! He's very sweet when he wants to be, and he's a great cook. And, legitimately, I think he's one of the smartest people I've ever known. Sure he may not have any diplomas backing him up, but as somebody who's been surrounded by the quote-unquote "best minds in the kingdom"? Half of them combined couldn't amount to a fraction of the man Mack is without their expensive pieces of paper and fancy titles. I don't think I tell him that enough.

I may have only been dating the three of them for a year or so, but I couldn't imagine my life without any one of them. Even if--for some unfortunate reason--it didn't work out romantically in the long term, i'd like to think we'd still stay close as a found family of sorts. They're all a part of me now, and through loving each of them individually and as a polycule, i've learned to love myself too. They mean the world to me.

Gosh, don't go telling them I got so sappy over them! They'll tease me over it, for sure. Try and keep this between us, okay? ;3 <3"

[oveliagirlhaditright]

I saw an article about how one of the things Final Fantasy XVI had in common with some other FFs--to make it a FF (which is still a silly argument that we even need to have to me, but whatev)--is flower importance in the story. And that's certainly true. So I decided to make a post about that... And prepare for the longest post in the history of the world, because I may have gone overboard in screenshotting some of these. I also decided to include Kingdom Hearts here, since it's a Disney and Final Fantasy crossover (with its own story, of course).

We'll never know how similar or not Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy XV's stories are or were to each other (after Tetsuya Nomura, director of Versus XIII, got kicked off the project and the game got a new director and became FFXV, and the story did at least slightly change)--even with Nomura now putting some of his Versus XIII ideas into Kingdom Hearts. It seems here, though, that even when it was Versus and Noctis and Stella, instead of Noctis and Luna, there was at least one flower scene with them. Perhaps this is the aforementioned Noctis and Luna flower crown scene (maybe originally it happened with Noctis and Stella, and that was then repurposed for Noctis and Luna). Like, for whatever reason, something upset Noctis' childhood friend here (the responsibilities her mother had to endure, perhaps, if this part of the story was still very much like XV's. Mayhap that hurt Stella to think about), and Noctis comforted her with the sylleblossom, and then we got the flower crown scene Luna alluded to in XV... or maybe it was something totally different from that with Noctis and Stella. Maybe sylleblossoms didn't even exist in Versus. Like I said, we might never know. But here, at least, was another couple (again: how similar they were to the later Noctis and Luna: who knows?) where flowers were at least important to them for a hot second.

Kairi likes to pick flowers, as we see here and in a scene in the BbS credits (that I'd show, but picture limit is keeping from doing it [I'd show a lot more pictures for a lot of these girls, if it weren't for picture limit)].

She also has a flowery Keyblade, of course, surely because of her love for flowers:

And I guess part of her Keyblade's design is that a king chess piece--which Sora's chess piece was the king one in KHIII, of course--is attached to a red string. And we all know about the red string of fate (I bring that up, because another common theme in all of this, is that all these gals with the flowers are part of a star-crossed lover pairing).

Kairi's heart is also in the shape of a flower in Re:Mind and Melody of Memory?

Yep.

Edit: Oops. I forgot Squall and Rinoa: Squall's promise to Rinoa that if she comes to Edea's orphanage--that is full of flowers outside, giving us our flower connection--that he'll be waiting for her, so she'll find him.

Also, I think Yeul gave Noel a flower in Lightning Returns for some reason? Though I don't remember why. I've only played Lightning Returns once--and only watched the cutscnenes once, in said playthrough--many years ago at this point. I really need to replay Lightning Returns again, as I actually love the Lightning Trilogy and found the gameplay in Lightning Returns very enjoyable. I also know that one of the Yeuls in FFXIII-2 loved flowers.

[sailforvalinor]

Val! I've been playing KHD and just finished up the manga connected to it, and goodness I have thoughts. Conflicting thoughts, mostly about Roxas. So, it got me wondering what your thoughts are on Roxas, nobodies in general, and KH3. The whole storyline feels messy to me, but that probably makes it all the more compelling to me. Why do I do this to myself? Anyway, as you know I love hearing your thoughts on stuff, so I thought I'd ask. I know you're either have already started school or about to, so no pressure with answering. Take your time. I hope you're adjusting okay to your new surroundings and that you're having a lot of fun too. :)

Waugh that's so exciting! I've read the Chain of Memories novelization, but otherwise I've not actually had the chance to read any of the mangas--I'll have to keep an eye out.

As for thoughts on Nobodies, yeah, I agree the storyline does feel messy at times, yet still so so compelling! I think the guiltiest party for me in that respect is how it's revealed in KH3 that Nobodies are capable of regrowing hearts. Because that seems to contradict everything we know about Nobodies from previous games, but if you actually go back and look at those games, there are actually a lot of hints about this--Axel caring about Roxas and Xion at all, "Roxas, are you sure you don't have a heart?", Saix being capable of feeling betrayed by Axel, Vexen displaying panic and annoyance, Namine's entire character arc, Xigbar/Luxu even being capable of playing his long game at all. Some members are more emotionless than others (Xaldin and Marluxia, I'm looking at you), but why would you even want a heart if you didn't feel any emotions? Desires are driven by emotions--one can't really exist without the other.

The terrifying thing about this is that the Organization members seem to rationalize this away (Axel especially) by saying that they are remembering what it used to be like to feel emotions and trying to project that onto their present moment, an idea so specific and bizarre that I can only think it was perpetuated by Xemnas to keep them from figuring out the truth. But of course it's not true--Namine has no memories, how could she feel loneliness?

As for ideas about Roxas, by the end of 358/2 Days he is so attached to Xion, so so angry, so human, that I almost wonder if he hadn't completely grown his own heart by then. He still had to go back to Sora so he could be recompleted, but that explains why he haunts both Sora and the narrative so much, especially in DDD.

I think the same goes for Xion, but perhaps even more so, when you consider that she was never actually a Nobody--just a replica using Sora's memories of Kairi as a blueprint. I suppose that since we know she was created without a heart, she is essentially a Nobody, but I have to imagine that having Sora's memories pouring into her head all the time gave her a bit of a boost. (Wait, does this mean Replica Riku didn't have a heart either? Somehow I've never thought about that.)

I think Axel was also pretty dang close, he was just in severe denial about it, especially now that we know he was burying his grief and despair over being unable to find Subject X after sacrificing his humanity to find her. Roxas and Xion left him just like she did, and burying those emotions and having that ready and waiting excuse that you're not actually feeling them is a lot less painful than having to confront them.

358/2 Days is such a fascinating tragedy, and watching it bleed its way into DDD and KH3 because it's begging to be resolved is just absolutely beautiful. I'll admit the resolution in KH3 seemed a little quick (perhaps because the BBS storyline was also resolving in a similar fashion), but it was great all the same (especially when Sora confronts Xion, my gosh, the fact that he knows her when no one else does). And Hearts as One playing in the next battle, mixing both Roxas and Xion's theme into a joyful and glorious battle theme, makes me absolutely insane.

I know Nomura wants to move on to other things in the next game, but I really hope he doesn't drop these characters. But on the other hand, maybe he should leave them alone? They need to be happy for once.

(Also I think about the scene where Axel looks at Kairi and sees Xion for a split second daily. It *might* be my favorite scene in the entire game.)

[mirror-to-the-past]

Dream Drop Distance is really cool so far! Anyone who's heard me speak knows I love shit with dreams, and I'm glad KH is really throwing itself into that mix now. The intro was admittedly a bit jarring, because I was like... "okay... they're younger... with raft? No Kairi? URSULA?! They're drowning? Traverse town... did I skip a cutscene without realizing?"

But I'm good to go, now! 😆 👍

Except for the phantom Ursula bit... why her? Trying to figure that one out, still.

Anyway, here's where I squeal!

Remember when I said this, one post ago, in reference to Maleficent rhetorically questioning fiction vs. reality:

"Here we go, create new worlds from stories, huh?"

On top of Sora's journal being established as being tied to his very being, and that the two clearly have just as much life within them, and that line, it's an interesting choice that the Dream Drop Distance opening movie shows lots of storybooks with writing within them of places in the games, particularly one of Destiny Islands with the trio within it. The game's going meta, boys... I'm banking on it.

The intro scene with Braig's death and Xehanort's... whatever is going on... so intrigued...

The Dream Eaters are SOOO cute! I love their wonky little faces and weird eyes. A mix of Inception dream diving, KH, and Pokémon? This game is like... scientifically engineered to make me go insane. I immediately went to see if censors were enacted for Dream Eater naming as was the case for actions in BBS, and Riku now has a colorful bat following him around named "FU%K." Truly, I am maturity incarnate.

The addictive card game in Traverse Town is very rewarding as a CoM Enjoyer with how it replicates the gameplay. The entire time I was running around I shared Sora's hyper reaction of "I haven't seen this part of Traverse Town before!!" :D I am Filled with Wonder. Traverse Town's got a whole underground supersized mailroom that reminds me of that one place in Polar Express, holy cow!

The two worlds I've been to are so pretty so far! And AAAA a Hunchback of Notre Dame world, which I have been wanting since the first game, ohmygod, guys! The intro got my hopes up for a Fantasia world, but it could've just been a one-off reference like they've done before, and there's so much in Fantasia that I don't know if they'd actually commit to stylizing a whole world off of it. But anyway, if they did... I'd explode. But I won't hold my breath (I say, coping, setting my expectations to a reasonable level). Anyway, now I can legitimately say "Sora and Riku fight the church lmao" and actually have canon backing for it. My wish came true again. And wow.... the cathedral windows are so purty... I just sorta stared at them for a 'lil bit. Then I fought a frog. Then Sora got profiled by Frollo (that was not on my bingo sheet, but something was both disconcerting and hilarious about Frollo looking Sora up and down and going "I know what you are," *projects discriminated group onto Sora's oblivious being*).

And hoo boy, don't get me started on my little duo. Not half an hour into the game, and already Sora was screaming for Riku at the top of his lungs. That was the true indicator it was a KH2 sequel. And Riku, Mr. 'I-agree-with-the-I-wanna-protect-the-one-thing-that-matters-feeling,' *reaches out tentatively for Sora's spectral face,* and "Wish I could take my own advice?" (In terms of struggling to be vulnerable enough to look for acceptance from those close to him- a theme I hold near and dear to my heart) (Seriously, that Quasimodo and Riku parallel was just *chef's kiss*) These two are gonna be something (and when were they not), aren't they?

Also loved when Riku just instinctually backed up Esmeralda with the 'I am an alien to this world and do not know your slurs, I only know to turn a blind eye when I see someone running from authority.' I lol-ed.

Theory time! I guess not really a theory, but moreso multiple observations. The Dream Eater symbol is really similar to the Unversed symbol, first of all! Which is interesting, but would also make sense, as Nightmares and "Bad, lingering feelings" can kinda go hand in hand. Will that mean something for the plot? I'll see! ALSO I think it's interesting how the story took the time to have the characters be like "woah my clothes are different," so like any self respecting person with eyeballs that work, I looked at the clothes and noticed Riku had a Dream Eater symbol on his back! I checked, and unless it's hidden, Sora did not, so hm.... I mean, all I could really throw out with that is "Riku's a dream eater!" But that wouldn't answer why, how, why Sora isn't one, what it really entails to exist as a dream eater, anyway, so it's not really a theory and instead is half baked speculation. But... neat, y'know?

I'm still figuring out what exactly the Sleeping Worlds are and what they mean for the canon, but ya know I'll get there! It's about the journey, maaan. 😎 But know that so far, I am definitely a happy camper (Playing in Proud mode though, we'll see how long that good feeling lasts, lol).

[madeimpact]

just a headcanon question for you for some deep thoughts, have you ever thought about what happened to sora's parents whether or not they're alive after the events of the first game?

Interesting that you ask this, because this is something I want to explore more and part of the reason I reblogged this meme! I'd like to develop Sora's parents into fully fleshed, named (mayyyybe designed?) OCs / guest muses on the blog at some point, but for now, have me projecting the thoughts that have been knocking around in my brain, in glorious word soup form.

Putting this under a cut because WOWIE it got really long, sorry about that!

We're working with crumbs here, but based one one line of dialogue for each parent, his mother was attentive to Sora's needs and could tell when things were wrong (yes I'm extracting this from "Sora, dinner's ready,") and his father was present enough in his life that he was rowing Sora and Riku to the play island as kids.

So, honestly...I feel like Sora's family is about what one would expect of a happy, healthy family. Mom and Dad in a happy marriage, well enough off to support one kid, loving and doting parents. Nothing really remarkable. The Aono family is just about as standard as standard can get.

And then, y'know, KH1 happened.

Here's what we know:

Destroyed worlds show up in the Realm of Darkness.

Some of a world's denizens are scattered to worlds in the Realm Between, like Traverse Town.

Someone who becomes a Heartless (+optionally, Nobody, if their heart is strong enough) and is then defeated goes to where it originally happened in order to be recompleted (or their heart/body dissolves to darkness to wait for the other component to be freed).

If the world where it originally happened isn't available, they go to a world like Traverse Town.

Selphie, Wakka, and Tidus are all alive and well after KH1, albeit with no memory of Sora.

Knowing ALL OF THIS, I think Sora's parents are alive and well, and may even potentially have some knowledge about their son's world-hopping adventures. It's possible that they appeared in Traverse Town at one point, but we never see them there (this is probably just on account of the game not deeming it necessary, but it's interesting to consider from an in-universe standpoint...). So, I think one of a few things could have happened:

After the Islands were destroyed, Sora's parents ended up in Traverse Town, perhaps in one of the districts that aren't accessible until DDD.

Sora's parents fell with the Islands and were sort of suspended in "sleep" for as long as the Islands were in the Realm of Darkness. They awoke to little to no memory of the Islands' destruction. I imagine something like this probably happens to most whose worlds get destroyed, or there'd be no order to preserve.

Sora's parents were defeated by and subsequently became Heartless during the destruction of the Islands. At some point, Sora defeated their Heartless (knowingly? Unknowingly? Shit, I didn't think about the angsty implications) and freed their hearts for eventual restoration, either in Traverse Town or on the Islands once they were restored. If I were to go with this, the degree to which they remember it all could be up in the air.

One thing I'm pretty settled on (primarily just because I love the angst of this trope, sue me) is that they were alive during KH2, and like Kairi, had only very faint memories of Sora, and even those were starting to fade. But they knew that they were missing something very important. There was an ache in their hearts, a hole whose shape was painfully familiar and yet they couldn't put a name to it...

By the end of KH2, Sora has probably come clean to them about the world-hopping stuff, if they didn't already remember their experiences during KH1. Donald probably objects to this. Sora loves his parents and trusts them to keep his secrets, so lol.

That's kinda all I've got right now and I'd love to flesh them out more / solidify their stories through the meme I reblogged! I'm not 100% married to any of these ideas just yet, but I love piecing things together like this based on teeny tiny lines we get in canon.

Finally, I want to shoutout this artist, who made it excruciatingly difficult to not just steal Eimi (/j) for the blog canon. Seriously, this woman imprinted herself on my brain and now is inextricably tied to the idea of Sora's mother for me, but I'm taking that energy and putting it towards a stab at my own interpretation! Just wanted to shout them out because I love their take on her.

[mydisenchantedeulogy]

True [Chapter One] The Invitation [Bakugou Katsuki]

Summary: Years after the war, Airi Usui is living abroad in America, helping people affected by conflict and natural disasters. She thinks nothing of her former life until an old friend suddenly contacts her. Class A is having a reunion, but Airi is not sure she wants to go, especially after she ended her long-term relationship with Katsuki Bakugou and is nervous about seeing him again.

Will this reunion change her life for the better? Or send her spiraling back into another long year of therapy?

A/n: I'll try to update this story once a week if I'm able to. This idea has been eating at me for a while.

Airi Usui is a character created by me from a previous account that I used to manage. The character of Kairi Kirishima was created by Angelleap77 on AO3, who allowed me to use her. Please enjoy.

Warning(s): OC, aged-up characters, anxiety, reunion, post-breakup, natural disasters.

A new dawn had come and the town of Falmore Tennessee began to slowly heal.

Airi, a woman in her twenties, wobbled down the sidewalk, toting a case of biodegradable bottled water in her arms. She could feel the heat of the midsummer sun beating down on her, but despite the humid weather, and her desire to escape indoors, she still had much to do. 

This time last year, a tornado ranked EF-4 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale touched down in Falmore. The damage, Airi remembered, was horrific. Miles of homes and small businesses had been uprooted and reduced to rubble, seeming more like a landfill than a small rural town. 

As soon as she and ‘Synergos’ (synergy), the organization she worked with arrived, Airi knew the project would be massive. Together with the civil servants of Falmore, they began the clean-up. Then came the rebuilding stage. 

It was impressive in a year what together they had accomplished, Airi noted. Falmore had risen from the ashes like a phoenix into something new; something stronger. Houses were rebuilt. People began to come together and the wreckage soon took shape into an artistic environment with a Southern charm. It was lovely. But there was still work to be done. 

With the case in hand, Airi took it to the site of a local business; Creekview Cafe. It had been uprooted in the tornado, one of the last mom-and-pop restaurants down the several-mile stretch in which the tornado had traveled. She sat the case down on a wooden bench near the growing foundation, then wiped the sweat from her face with a faded rag that she kept in the back pocket of her jeans. 

“Hot day, ain't it?” Asked Samuel Miller as he approached, taking out a pocket knife to cut himself a bottle from the case. 

He was the owner's son. A robust man who easily towered over Airi. 

“I should be used to it,” she admitted. “June and July in Japan are comparable, though I admit I've become a little spoiled driving around everywhere with the AC on.” 

The difference was, in Japan, she either walked or rode the train, having to deal with the heat head-on. Or the cold given the season. 

Samuel guffawed, then raised his bottle. 

“Thanks for the water, Airi.”

She ignored the fact he had mispronounced her name - Air-ee as opposed to Eye-ree - and smiled. It became clear when she first moved to America as an Aid Worker that few would pronounce her name right. After a while, she stopped correcting them.

“Think you can give us a little rain with that Quirk of yours? The season has been a little dry,” He added. 

“I'd like to,” Airi retorted. “But unfortunately it doesn't work like that.” 

Her Quirk, ‘Shape of Water’, was in simple terms just mere water telekinesis. She could move, manipulate, or otherwise interact with matter using water, but she could not naturally will the clouds to produce rain. Drawing water from the air was the closest she could do, but nothing on an advanced scale, not without consequences.

Motioning with her hand, the water lifted from his bottle and mocked her gesture, spinning into a sphere as she rotated her finger through the air. 

“I can't make it rain, but I can soak you head to toe if you want.”

Samuel snorted. 

“Nah, I reckon I'll manage just as.” 

Airi smiled widely, then returned the water to the bottle. She thought so. Samuel returned to his task of helping with the restaurant soon after, leaving her to wander the town. For hours, she aided anyone who needed her, mostly fetching cases of water and attending to anyone showing signs of heat stroke. She was no construction worker, but there were small acts of kindness she could offer. It was her job after all. 

As darkness fell and the street lamps came on, the workers retired to their homes for the night. Those without such accommodations went to the community center, one of the first shelters built. While Airi could afford to stay in a hotel room, she chose to stay at the center to save money. It was easier to help out, providing meals and comfort to those who needed it. 

Aside from the public showers and the fully stocked kitchen, there was a common area, which Airi had to pass through as she strode through the doors. The walls were painted sage, a color that some claimed provided them with comfort and lined with pictures of the town before and after the tornado. Nostalgia, she assumed. In addition, there were also three rooms total; A, B, and C; meant for events and birthday parties, however at the time, they were being used as temporary housing. 

Airi took up residence in room B. When she first came to Falmore, she was living cot to cot with her team and the citizens of the town. The entire population, more or less, was packed like a can of sardines. But with multiple teams working around the clock, some with a multitude of useful Quirks, the numbers soon dwindled as houses were built, followed by several small businesses and a hotel. 

More than a handful of people were still homeless, however. But in another three months or so, Airi hoped to see those numbers diminish. 

Quietly, so as not to disturb anyone who might already be asleep, she crept into the dimly lit room and over to her cot. Her muscles screamed in protest for her to rest, but covered in grime and sweat, Airi yearned for a shower. She gathered a to-go bag prepared earlier with extra clothes and bath products in it, then collected her phone, which had been put away.

On her way to the showers, she cut it on, watching as a multitude of notifications popped up on the screen. It was no surprise that her mother had sent her a message, she always did to see how she was doing. But what shocked her was the voice message waiting in her inbox; a message from someone she had not heard from in years.

Eager to see what Izuku wanted, Airi clicked on the message and lifted the phone to her ear. 

“Hey, Airi. It's Izuku,” the voice informed her. She involuntarily smiled. “Um…so I don't know if you are too busy or not, or if you are still in the States, but I did it. I managed to plan a reunion, with Ashido's help. In a week, the majority of our graduating class is going to be in Japan. If you can make it, let me know. I hope you–”

Before he could finish, the message cut out. He ran out of time. Airi paused, standing in the hall with her phone still pressed to her ear as though at any moment, she would hear Izuku's voice again. But he was not going to say anything. She sighed, feeling a little melancholy. Saying she missed him would be an understatement; she truly did miss her friends. Katsuki especially. 

The last time she spoke to him, things did not end well. How could they? Especially since she broke off her relationship with him. No, she did not do it because she wanted to, or because her feelings for him changed, but the long distance and the conflicting schedules were slowly adding tension to their relationship. Airi had no other choice. At least, she told herself. 

A pang of guilt washed over her, a sentiment she thought she had long since swallowed down. Hearing Izuku's voice brought up so many repressed memories and emotions. It made her feel a little dizzy. Airi clutched her phone and took a few deep, soothing breaths. 

There was a reason she moved on, the trauma was eating at her, and though she would love to reunite with her friends, she was scared of what feelings seeing them would dredge up. 

It was a shame she was too busy. Her work was a good enough excuse, she hoped.

–

In the days that followed, after the voice message, Airi felt conflicted. She was starting to feel bad about her decision, though a part of her was mad at Izuku for reaching out to her. It was terribly unlike her to point fingers, especially when the reason for the issue was because of her. She was wracked with apprehension, and her work ethic was starting to take a toll. 

“Airi. Hey…Airi.”

Jerking in fear, as though she had been physically shocked, Airi darted her eyes around so fast, that they stung in protest. She saw Akinori Chibana, a male with shaggy neon blue hair standing beside her in the common area of the center. He was the project manager, a foreigner, who like her, came from Japan. 

“Are you OK?” He asked, staring at her in worry. 

“I zoned out again, didn't I?” Airi asked. She took an uneasy breath, knowing that she had. 

Annoyed with herself, she ran her fingers through her short sea-green hair, lightly tugging at the wavy strands. It happened to her a lot lately. She was lost.  

“I'm sorry.”

“It's fine,” Akinori assured her. “Look, if something is bothering you, I'm here to listen.”

Airi appreciated his offer. She knew a part of the reason he suggested it was because it was his job, but on the other hand, he was a kind person. She hated to unload on him like this. 

“I heard from an old friend recently. There's going to be a reunion back home and he wants me to attend.”

Akinori hummed. 

“Oh. A reunion sounds nice.”

Once again, she was overcome with guilt. He did not know how much of a blow to the stomach his words were to her. She frowned. 

“Yeah, it does.” 

Taking her grief the wrong way, Akinori placed his hand on her shoulder. 

“You should go if you want. It will be another five to ten years before there is another one if there is a chance for one.” 

“I know. It's just that–”

Akinori interrupted her. 

“If it's about the expenses, I can pitch in.”

It was not about the expenses, she could afford a round-trip ticket. It was about going home. She let him know that she appreciated his offer, forcing a smile.

“I'm nervous is all.” 

Nervous was a loose term. She went through months of therapy to overcome her trauma after the events of her first year at U.A. High. It was why she chose the role of savior instead of fighter; the reason she ran when she had the chance; the reason she ended things with Katsuki. 

To return would be awkward. She was scared her friends would not want to see her again. 

“You know…I admire you Airi,” Akinori admitted. “I was ecstatic when you joined Synergos. I mean you graduated from the hero course. Going home is a walk in the park to someone like you.” 

Her face heated up. She knew what he was trying to do, but it was not so simple. Still, it made her feel a little better. He was right. If only the voice in her head was not conspiring against her. 

“If you aren't comfortable, don't go, but if you want to see them, now is the chance. Don't let it slip through your fingers,” Akinori stated. 

He gave Airi a gentle pat on the shoulder, then left the common area, returning to work. She stood next to the door a moment longer, kicked the toe of her boot on the tiled floor, and then reluctantly reached into her pocket for her cell phone. She was going to call Izuku back. There was no way she was going to think too much about it. If she did, she was scared that she would give in to her fear. 

I can do this. Just call him…come on. 

Airi hesitantly made the call, pressing her phone to her ear, but Izuku did not answer. She was redirected to his voicemail and prompted to leave a message. Her throat felt dry as she heard his voice, and then the line beeped and grew quiet. She considered hanging up then, but she pressed on.

“Hey…it's Airi.” Her voice was broken and hoarse. “You can count me in. I'll see you at the reunion.”

She quickly hung up and then took a deep, uneasy breath. Her body shook in apprehension. There was no turning back now.

[houseofsannae]

For the director's commentary, I think the stories of yours I find most interesting are Turnabout Court Martial and Equilateral.

Since I'm being indecisive, how about you pick whichever one of those you think you can give better commentary on?

:P You know, Anon, you could've just asked for both separately and I'd have never known the difference. That said, I'm going to pick Equilateral, because it's shorter.

Equilateral was written for the Entwined in Trine SoRiKai zine, which was my first time working in a zine project, so that was a new, fun experience.

Out of curiosity, how long after you all got back home did it take for you three to confess how you felt to each other? Aqua asked, drily. “The hard part was getting Riku to admit he liked both of us. We actually had to pin him down so he wouldn’t leave,” Kairi whispered, amused. Literally or figuratively? “Yes.”

This quote in the pre-fic notes is taken from Land of Oblivion, where I first touched on how Sora, Kairi, and Riku got together in KHΨ. It was my first idea for what I wanted to do when I came aboard the zine, and the mods liked the idea of expanding on it as well.

For a second, she thought she saw her face flicker like a skipped frame in a movie. Her purple eyes turned blue, her auburn hair turned blonde. “Naminé?” she gasped, but by the time she opened her mouth to speak, the other girl was gone.

Being as this fic is technically a "prequel" to KHΨ, there are a number of call-forwards to things that happen later in the series. Here, Kairi (and we) see a flash of Naminé in her mirror, indicating that Naminé isn't quite as gone as she wants to be, as we'll see in More Affection Than You Know.

    “I love Sora and Riku,” she repeated, and slumped forwards on her hands. Great. Now what was she supposed to do about this? It would be hard enough telling just one of them she liked them, but both?             She let her face slide out of her hand to land forehead-first on the desk itself.             “Oh, fuck me.”

I had to ask the mods' permission to make sure I was allowed to say the fuck word. Fortunately, they were familiar with the way I write Kairi enough to have been expecting it, and also Kairi spends the entire rest of the fic in the company of either Sora or her father, so she refrains from swearing for the rest of it.

  Kairi busied herself with retrieving the cereal box and a bowl in order to avoid his gaze. “I mean… I know you have experience in the area,” she said, casually.             Her dad laughed. “I’m a little out of practice, Kai,” he said.

Kairi's dad is gay! I've alluded to it several times in other fics, but this was the first time it's mentioned. Kairi's got a gay dad!

“That so?” he asked, teasing. “Well then, purple is definitely more your colour than–”

I stand by this, Kairi does look better in the purple she had in her KH1 design than the pink she'd have in subsequent installments.

“If, hypothetically speaking, it was two boys, would their names hypothetically rhyme with ‘Yozora’ and ‘Miku’?” her dad asked, casually.

Yozora will never appear in KHΨ as anything other than a running gag. I have spoken. ;) "Miku" is both a Hatsune Miku joke and the ship name for Mickey/Riku.

            “Kairi,” her father said, “I’m going to level with you.”             “Dad, please don’t use the ‘public service announcement’ voice,” Kairi moaned.             “Hey, I’m hip and cool,” her dad said, smirking.             Kairi rolled her eyes. “Dad, saying things are ‘hip’ was outdated when you were my age!”

He's hip He's cool He's 45 (or somewhere around there, I don't have a solid age for him) It is the solemn duty of parents to playfully annoy their children.

I think this was the first time I ever had Kairi's dad in an extended scene. Writing the kids' parents is always an exercise in "what kind of upbringing would have resulted in who these characters are and how they act", in addition to any canon facts we do know about them (in this case, that Kairi's parent of unspecified gender is the Destiny Islands' mayor).

“No,” her father said, “We’ll get a huge tub of ice cream and invite Selphie over for a movie marathon.” He leaned over and put a hand on her shoulder. “It won’t be the end of the world, I promise.”

You'll note this is describing basically the same sort of get-together Kairi et al would have in Girls' Night. Equilateral was written immediately after Loose Ends, but I'd had the series ending locked in long before that.

Kairi snickered. “Yeah, but it’s a moot point anyways. Besides, I don’t even like girls like that.” She took a sip from her own mug of coffee and by doing so completely missed the incredulous look that flew over her father’s face.

Again, a call-forwards to the running joke about Kairi being oblivious about her own bisexuality, which her father of course noticed long ago - the incredulity is because he didn't realize she hadn't realized.

Boys, Kairi had decided, were really dumb.

This was the first line written for the fic. It was actually supposed to be the first line of the fic, but the tone it sets isn't the one I wanted for the scene with Kairi in her room - it's too frustrated and doesn't lead into her idly thinking about how much she loves them, only to realize she means it romantically instead of platonically. It got moved down to this scene, which also became the portion of the fic that was taken as an excerpt for the physical zine.

If she were Sora, she’d probably back off, practice for several hours to improve her performance, then come back later.

This is a joke about level grinding in a video game.

            She was trying to figure out what exactly to say to the boy next to her when Sora said, out of the blue, “I heard Selphie has a new boyfriend again.”             “Oh, really?” Kairi asked, at once irritated and relieved for the distraction. “Again? Think this one will last longer than the last one?”             Sora shrugged. “No idea. What was the record again?”             “Her third girlfriend lasted three weeks,” Kairi recalled. “The real question is, how long do you think it’s going to take her to figure out she’s not interested in romance?”

This is the first mention that Selphie Tilmitt is pansexual and aromantic in KHΨ. The idea that Naminé would end up dating her for a week before Selphie realized Naminé wanted a romance she couldn't give her had long been plotted by the time of writing.

            Sora blinked. “She’s not?”             Kairi shook her head. “I don’t think she ever was.”             Sora was frowning. “But… if she’s not, why does she keep trying to find it?”             Kairi snickered. “I don’t think it’s the romantic aspect that she’s interested in, Sora.”             “Oh,” Sora said, and then a couple of seconds later, “Oh.” He reddened, and it was adorable.

Selphie fucks.

            Sora opened his mouth to respond, confident, then frowned, reconsidering his answer. “Oh… yeah. It’s Riku. He’s probably going to panic, and think we’re just humouring him, or something. Good point.”             Kairi nodded. “If we don’t have a plan to counteract his Riku-instincts, we’re sunk.”

I like Riku, but I also like dragging Riku by pointing out how his character works.

            “Right,” Sora said, nodding. His face scrunched up. “Man, I wish there was a way we could send each other messages just between the two of us. Like, a portable phone, or something.”             “Yeah, that’d be really convenient,” Kairi agreed.

I would introduce gummiphones after the timeskip between Seeker of Darkness and Mistress of Evil. This is a joking call-forward to that.

            Sora took a deep breath. He was bad at lying. He knew he was bad at lying.             Unfortunately, his mom also knew he was bad at lying.             Which made it awkward to try to keep secrets from her.

This scene was not in the outline. Sora's mother doesn't realize that he, Riku, and Kairi are together until a ways through More Affection. So she can't find out here that they like each other. Originally I was going to avoid the issue entirely and just not have a scene of Sora talking to his parent, but the fic felt unbalanced without it - Kairi and Riku both talk to theirs, why not Sora? So I decided on this balancing act where Sora goes out of his way to keep the truth from his mother, and while she can tell he's full of shit, she doesn't know how much shit, and knows him well enough to know it's probably nothing bad he's hiding, and he'll tell her in his own time.

            But he had a plan. He’d met Tidus on the way back from his talk with Kairi, and had begged him for help. Tidus had volunteered his services, always ready to help a friend, and had also promised not to say anything about Sora and Kairi to Riku or to anyone else.             Sora figured Wakka would know by the end of the week, but hopefully the older boy would be able to exercise some impulse control over Tidus.

I don't think I had started FFX before I wrote this; this is one of the last times I had an excuse for writing Tidus and Wakka wrong if I had ;)

But he wasn’t sure how his mother would react if he said that he was trying to take things with Kairi and Riku to an even higher level.

Well, Sora, all you gotta do is say the word; you know they'll follow ;) I enjoy putting song lyrics in the narration quite a bit.

            “Does she have a name?” his mother asked.             “Yuna,” Sora blurted, on instinct.

            Several worlds away, a fairy sneezed.

I'm also glad I put this scene in because this is my favourite joke in the fic ;)

That was very sensible, and also not the answer Sora wanted.

No commentary, I just like this line.

            “Oh, one other thing,” his mother said.             Sora jerked up from his thoughts. “Huh? What’s up, mom?”             She leaned over to the fridge and pulled open the ice box. “I don’t suppose you know who keeps eating all my sea-salt ice cream? I could’ve sworn I had more than this.”

And a call-forwards to Roxas (and Xion) borrowing Sora's body every once in a while to watch the sunset, which would eventually be how Sora's mother discovers they exist.

            Riku had had a lot of time to think during his year apart from both of them, but he’d done his best not to. Singular focus on his goal of reviving Sora had been all that drove him forwards; drove him forwards and kept him willingly blind to the effects his actions were having, on Roxas, on Naminé, and on… on…             Riku shook his head, not sure where that train of thought was supposed to be going.

At this point in the timeline, the only person who remembers that Xion ever existed is Naminé (who is trying very hard to pretend she herself doesn't exist anymore).

            Riku declined to comment on the subject. “So I went to see a therapist,” his uncle continued, respecting his silence. “He’s a bit on the younger side, only a few years older than you are, I think, but… The things I talked about with him made a lot of sense. Not just about my relationship with you, but about…” he trailed off, staring at the bottom of his glass.             Riku sipped his own water. “About my mom and dad?”             “Yeah,” his uncle muttered. “He said something like… ‘with all the problems in this world, you’d think there’d be more answers, but there aren’t. It’s not fair, but it’s the way things are.’ And that if I wanted to find an answer, I had to do it myself.”

The quoted sentences here is a direct quote from Final Fantasy IX; hinting that Riku's uncle's therapist is Zidane Tribal, whom Naminé would also start going to for therapy in Whatever Lies Beyond This Morning.

            “I wasn’t going to just bury my head in the sand,” Riku said, defensively.             “Yes, you were,” his uncle deadpanned.

I love Riku, and I also love reading him to filth.

“And it’s a bad idea,” his uncle added. “Take advice from your elders who made mistakes.”

Listen, boy, it's good information from a man who's made mistakes Just a word or two that she gets from you can be the difference that it makes She's a trusting soul, she's put her trust in you But a girl like that won't tell you what you should do

My outline says:

h. Riku’s Uncle: Trust me, trust them i. Riku’s Uncle: And for the love of nonspecific deity(ies), Tell them about it, tell them everything you feel i. Riku: I’m not sure if we’re allowed to print lyrics from a Billy Joel song

Basically Riku needs to give them every reason to accept that he's for real. ;)

His uncle smiled back. “Then all you have to do, is tell them everything you feel. Not,” he added, “that that’s going to be easy.”

Yeah, exactly!

            Even if it might be taking them longer than it’d taken Sora to realize, or admit it. Sora could afford to be patient with them. They had all the time in the world. Kairi’s teasing, Riku’s sardonic smile, their laughter, their faces, everything he loved about them were here to stay.             And, he sometimes thought to himself in the part of his mind that wanted to be rebellious, they both had nice butts.             This was just an objective truth.

KHΨ Sora is an ass man. I have spoken.

Riku sat there, in silence, held down in a patch of sand by his two best friends, unconsciously enjoying the sensation of them pinning him down while consciously trying to figure out if they actually were making his wildest dreams come true, or if this was some sort of convoluted, extended way of letting him down gently.

Riku gonna Riku.

“It’s like a triangle when all the sides are the same,” Sora said. “Equilateral.”

            “An mmf threesome by default,” Kairi agreed, smirking at Riku, who rolled his eyes.             “A what threesome?” Sora asked, looking over at her in confusion. Kairi and Riku met each other’s eyes and privately agreed to do their best at maintaining Sora’s innocence for as long as possible.

And thus began Kairi and Riku's quest to prevent Sora from acting his age, which would eventually come to a head in Adjustments.

            “Of course not, my Princess,” Riku said, taking her hand as she turned bright red once more.             “Nicknames are cheating,” she muttered.             Riku smirked. “Sorry, Kairi.”             “I didn’t say ‘stop’,” she added in exactly the same tone.

This bit is just to point out that while Kairi does get flustered over being called "Princess" as a nickname, she does actually enjoy it.

The news would come out to Selphie, regardless, and Kairi knew there’d be a reckoning if it didn’t reach Selphie’s ears through Kairi’s lips, so she’d taken him up on the offer. Her father was fetching the ice cream, and Kairi was fetching Selphie, assuming she wasn’t busy with her newest partner (Kairi had long since learned to knock before entering).

Selphie fucks.

            The road to Selphie’s house passed by Sora’s, and Kairi was pleased to see the boy himself, sitting on the branch of a tall tree in the yard, watching the sunset. He had a stick of something that was probably an ice cream bar in his hand. Kairi almost called out to him, but something held her back. This moment seemed… private, almost. Like there was a spell over the area that she would break if she wasn’t careful.             There was a brief pulse in her heart, a momentary feeling of warmth. “Naminé?” she asked, placing a hand over her heart, but there was no response. She looked back at Sora, up on the branch.             Slowly, almost mechanically, he took a bite of the ice cream.             There was a strange air of loneliness around him, almost melancholy. But it was private. Not her place to intrude.

And here we see Roxas doing what he'd be doing in More Affection; eating Sora's mom's sea-salt ice cream and watching the sunset. I don't have a set amount of time between Equilateral and More Affection, but you could easily consider it only a couple of days.

And that's everything! This was fun, thank you for asking for it! ^_^

[oveliagirlhaditright]

...

A post I made on my old blog. But since it was on my old blog that I deleted, it's pretty much gone now, so I thought I'd go ahead and make it again.

Parallels between Lunafreya and Kairi/Noctluna and SoKai.

Basically, in the first scene, Gentiana is telling Luna that she, the girl, has the strength, not her role as the Oracle. But Luna sort of doubts that, and doesn't really see what Noctis would see in her outside of her role of the Oracle. Even so, she's in love with him, of course, and in her last moments (because she's dying), to see him once more--and to perhaps even have the wedding they were supposed to have (as they were meant to have an arranged marriage)--would mean the world to her.

The story of Noctis and Luna, is that they met as children, but became separated when Tenebrae (Luna's kingdom) became occupied by the Niflheim empire. Through the years, Noctis and Luna were secretly able to communicate through a notebook they passed back and forth--and fell in love that way--but at least originally (DLC somewhat changed this), it seemed like they were never that upfront about their feelings for each other in said notebook, even though they both truly loved each other (which is why Luna is somewhat unsure of Noctis' feelings for her here). There's a scene in one DLC where a character Sarah tells Noctis that he really should be more honest about how he feels, or he might regret it, and I think that's definitely about Luna's upcoming death, of course. And many theorize that since this story is majorly based off of Hamlet, that Noctis and Luna are also somewhat inspired by Hamlet and Ophelia (as well as Romeo and Juliet): especially since Luna's death scene, like Ophelia's, is tied to water. But anyway.

As for how the Sora and Kairi scene parallels the Noctluna one a bit in my eyes... for those who don't know, Sora and Kairi are the main canon pairing of the Kingdom Hearts series. And before Kingdom Hearts III, though there were hints to the Sora and Kairi ship--and the two may have somewhat hinted to each other that they liked each other at times--it was never concrete until this game. Now Kairi is asking Sora to share paopu fruits with her: where if you share them with someone you really care for, your destinies will be come intertwined, and you'll remain a part of each other's lives no matter what. That's a rather bold way to out of the blue to tell your love interest you like them! In some ways, it's almost like a marriage proposal! (Or at least promise rings, perhaps.) Though we actually see Sora liking Kairi in the series first--by drawing himself sharing paopus with Kairi on a cave wall, no less--I definitely get why he's taken aback by this the moment it happens. But why I think Kairi somewhat acts like Lunafreya here, is because she seems to walk it back from being a romance a thing to me (maybe somewhat in seeing Sora's initial reaction, and doubting herself?): as she's trying to use the paopus as a way to protect Sora in the Keyblade War, and says she just wants to be a part of Sora's life no matter what. And we don't get our true SoKai romance/realization of love scene until a bit later in the game, where Kairi keeps Sora from fading away after he's died and he realizes that that was an act of true love from her.

Edit: And one thing I typed out on my original post--that for some reason, I was thinking of not mentioning again, but I suppose I will--is that both of these stories were, at least originally, written by Tetsuya Nomura. Though Final Fantasy XV did end up changing, of course, when Nomura was kicked off the project and Tabata was put in charge, but just how much changed and stayed the same, we'll probably never know. But interestingly, SoKai in KHIII did parallel Noctluna some. And we also know that Nomura is putting some of his unused ideas from Versus XIII/Final Fantasy XV into Kingdom Hearts now, which is very interesting.

[oveliagirlhaditright]

I Don’t Think Life is Quite That Simple

Summary: While Kairi waits for Sora and Riku a third time, she finds herself thinking that some things don't change at all… but some definitely do. Kairi-centric. Introspective. Kairi character development. SoKai. Riku and Kairi friendship. Post-Melody of Memory. Canon compliant.

I Don’t Think Life is Quite That Simple

In a lot of ways, Kairi found that waiting for Sora—even after he’d faded away—was similar to when she’d had had to hope for his returns before.

For instance, three times now had Kairi found herself standing on some sort of balcony—she was the Juliet in this tale for sure, it would seem.

The first time had been in the Organization's lair of Castle That Never Was, after they'd kidnapped her, and she'd looked down and seen Sora for the first time in a year.

Then during Sora and Riku's Mark of Mastery, when she'd gone over to Riku's parents to give them some moral support by telling them of all of Riku’s triumphs that she knew about (for even though Sora and Riku's parents understood the choices their boys had made, they'd still missed them something fierce after they’d gone to try and save those connected to them), she’d for just a moment found herself creeping out onto Riku's balcony, and wondering in that moment where her best friends were and if they were safe. 

And now the Princess was standing on an embankment jutting out of The Land of Departure's castle—staring at the lovely mountains and waterfalls that she could see from this spot—as she pondered if Sora would ever truly be safe in her arms again.

Yes, some things never really changed, Kairi thought with a deep sigh now—as she fell down onto her bottom, and tried to figure out why she hadn't argued the point more, when both Riku and the Fairy Godmother had recently insisted she stay behind again.

But then again... maybe they did, Kairi allowed, with resolving alighting in her eyes now. Perhaps slowly but surely things changed, but alterations were still made. 

Because her training was coming along very thoroughly; the Princess of Heart was stronger than she ever had been before, and she knew that nothing would ever trip her up again. She wouldn't allow anything to.

Even more than that, however, was that... "Sora, I may have a theory to save you," Kairi spoke now, placing a hand over her heart. And she hoped that her boyfriend could somehow feel this gesture: that some part of him had somehow remained with her, when he'd recently possessed her body in order to save her life from that awful Master Xehanort.

Now walking away from the balcony(ies) that had held her fate for so long now, Kairi continued to voice her thoughts aloud—all the while that she imagined that Sora was beside her, listening to her thoughts here as she said them. She could just picture what his reactions to them would be, too, and it almost brought a smile to her face. Almost. "The X-Blade is often pronounced 'kye,' right? Well... even though the words are spelled differently, that's the same pronunciation as the first part of my name. I wonder if I have more of a connection to the X-Blade than we initially thought... 

"As one of the Seven New Hearts or a Guardian of Light, I'd always be one chosen to help create the X-Blade. ...And in the Keyblade Graveyard, I was the last Key that was used to make the darn thing."

Kairi angrily snapped her fingers at the last thought, as she stopped walking. And she supposed it was her Princess of Heart status that kept her from doing more, like trying to punch through a wall.

She wanted to do more. She wanted to rage about the horrible things that had happened to her there. And it was because of all of that, that Sora had had to disappear. How Kairi wished that she could time travel, or something, to right all of those wrongs.

But knowing those were the kind of thoughts that had led to Sora breaking a nature taboo, so that he then vanished and left his friends here hurting in the process (thought Kairi would never blame Sora for what he'd done for her. Not ever), she nipped that thought in the bud, and instead decided to return to the matter at hand. 

After all, she liked to believe that Sora was here waiting for her to finish her point, and that his head was cocked to the side in the cutest, puppy dog-like way. "And Sora... Riku told me that he thinks... Xehanort bequeathed the X-Blade to you before he died. If that's the case, maybe we both have a connection to it and therefore Kingdom Hearts that way. And I'm thinking I can use that connection to get to you in Quadratum, without having the Power of Waking. And I'm going to do it. 

"I'm through waiting, dangit! With Riku… I just know he's been gone too long now. And I'm not losing him, too. I’m not! And I just know that I'm ready for this! When Aqua began training me, and saw how much I already knew, she actually wondered why I wanted a teacher at all. So, this time... this time I'll win. I'll win everything for you guys’ sake."

And even though Sora had seen Kairi defeat Xehanort alongside him... she thought that if he was here with here now, he'd be looking at her somewhat dubiously at her last proclamation.

Not in a way to hint that he didn't believe in her strength at all, or that he wanted her to stay behind again, but he would be somewhat doubtful, it was true.

But Kairi was done having her skills questioned, when she finally believed in herself. She would do what no one else could—what she had once believed she'd never be capable of—and bring Sora and Riku both back from this world of Unreality. And when she did, everyone would finally see why it was so important to always be true to one's heart.

"I'm coming to save you two," Kairi promised herself. 

And the redhead summoned her Keyblade to hand via a shock of glitter. That, perhaps, with the setting sun lighting up this room in the Land of Departure with the last of its rays, made her blade look a certain shade of green.

Author's Note: The last part can be interpreted as the “sun sets flash of green” thing from Pirates of the Caribbean 3, that—with how much SoKai paralleled Willabeth from that movie—could be hinting that Sora is going to show up right at the ending of this fic, like Will would one day every ten years. Or that Kairi’s Keyblade is turning green like the X-Blade is green, proving her one theory right, or both.

Also, Riku has a balcony outside his room(?), that overlooks the ocean in the KH1 manga, and that helped to inspire this whole thing. Because one night when I was trying to sleep, I thought if I had an excuse to get Kairi to stand there when she was waiting for Sora at one point, then she’s been on three balconies, perhaps, the three times she’s waited for the boys. Because there was the time in the Castle That Never Was, of course and Riku’s, and Land of Departure’s castle has some balconies, too.

Anyway, I decided to write this because I miss SoKai, Kairi, and really just all things Kingdom Hearts--and maybe I'm starting to realize I AM going through a bit of a withdrawal--so here you guys go. LOL

I also thought about introducing my idea for a new Kairi Keyblade "Freedom's Champion" here, but I didn't know if it was the best spot for it, so I didn't. Maybe in another story...

[oveliagirlhaditright]

You know... the fact that the Final Fantasy VII Remake is becoming so different from the original game might turn off a lot of KH fans to the idea of a Kingdom Hearts I remake, on the off-chance the same thing would happen there...

But I think I would honestly be okay with that kind of thing. Because for years, I've loved the idea of a KH AU series eventually happening. Because there are so many cool AU ideas you could work with. Like, "What if Kairi got the Kingdom Key after Sora became a Heartless to save her?" And that's just one of them. There are So. Many. More. that you could do.

If we ever get a Kingdom Hearts I remake, I'd be fine if it was just a 1:1 remake of the original, with upscaled graphics, controls and all that jazz... or if it went in the direction of Final Fantasy VII Remake in changing the story (since we'll always have the original KH story/saga to look back on, if the new direction ended up sucking). Either or.

And like I was saying above... the possibility of a KH AU series could be pretty exciting. Especially if they do it ala FFVII Remake, where it starts off like a perfect remake, but as you get further along you realize it's actually a time loop or something, and thus a sequel--and things are actually going to start to change, as the characters wake up to this fact and want to change their fates. Or something like that.

But I feel like this will never happen, because I think Nomura has enough projects on his plate to pretty much last up until his eventual retirement from Square Enix. And while you could say someone other than him could do it, and maybe they could (for better or for worse), I know he wouldn't want them to, since KH is his baby. Like, I remember an interview Nomura did at one point, where he was trying to think of a way to end the KH series, so no one could ever continue it after he's done with it, whatever that means: everyone dies and the multiverse is destroyed. Please don't let him mean something like that. Okay, I don't think he actually does, but that would be one way to accomplish his want, for sure.

[houseofsannae]

If you're still doing the fanfiction trope ask game, how about stories with mostly-original casts in existing settings?

And for that writing ask thing you very recently reblogged, about about questions 1, 36 and 39?

Sure!

Stories with mostly-original casts in existing settings: F. Not that I hate the concept, but if I wanted to read a spin-off I'd read a spin-off. I don't go to fanfic for stories about other people in the world, I go to fanfic for stories about the characters that canon won't or can't tell me

1. Which of your fics would you keep the basic plot of but rewrite completely?

This is the problem of setting the prompt up to reblog while I'm asleep :P I don't have an answer for this one that isn't the one I already said, which is the early chapters of Kairi and Lea's Excellent Adventure

36. How do you come up with fic titles? What’s the one you’re most proud of?

Quotes and song lyrics! They're generally my go-to for titling, especially if you have something related to what you're writing about. I could go into a breakdown for every fic I've written, and I'd love to, but this isn't the place for it (if anyone wants to enable me, send an ask :P) As for the one I'm most proud of... hmm. I'd have to go into chapter titles for it, but "Unlucky Number Thirteen" in Seven and Thirteen. If you know why, you know why. ;)

39. Wildest AU scenario you have written?

"Have written" is the operative term here. :P By process of elimination, it would probably be Majomonogatari, a side-story for a friend's AU, A Bite In The Dark. It's the only thing I've written in first person, trying to mimic NISIOISIN's writing style (author of the Monogatari series novels). It features Naminé as a witch in a modern setting, with her cat girlfriend Xion. I've also got a One Piece-inspired pirate AU that I've never written anything for, and don't plan on actually writing; too many projects, too little time :P