#ephemer i miss you

[hexxter]

Damn 😔

My player

[goldensunset]

brain’s about to get in trouble with whatever stuffy local authority’s in place for saying only ‘ephemer’ as opposed to ‘master ephemer’ because they see eph as being some sort of deity or whatever and he’s gonna be like ‘I Personally Knew The Guy. I watched him light his microwave mac and cheese on fire because he forgot to put the water in it on multiple occasions. you’re descended from him? that’s cute. he and i once rode in a shopping cart downhill and crashed into the fountain together. we had a warrior’s bond. with all due respect i’m not doing the whole formalities thing for him’

[kwoojii]

[blue-eli]

Skuld in quantum design :)

[omnificent-orion]

Regardless of warnings—

Commission Info | Support My Work

[thetwilightroadtonightfall]

NOT SO MISSING ✨ LINK (a Dropbox folder containing images and documents; please don’t forget to read the General info doc) ✨

[jellyfishvibes]

I know the trios are named after their 'thing', the wayfinder trio all have wayfinders, the destiny trio are all from destiny island (they should probably be the paopu trio? like their symbol is the fruit not the island) and the sea salt trio are named after the ice cream they is the symbol of their friendship

Consider the case of the Sunset Trio, inspired by Axel's colour red speech, i just realized he was predicting their fate

Xion is pink/purple, her armour is pink, her half of the missing ache/pain of solitude is a pinksh purple recolour of missing ache, a majority of the shells she collects are pink/purple, when the sun sets the sky fades from bright blue to a purplish colour and then to a pink Xion is the first gone

Roxas colour is yellow/orange, his heart station is orangey yellow, his hair is the most yellow, before it was changed the way you told roxas and ventus apart in kh3 is that ventus had more blond hair, roxas hair was a darker yellow, after the colour of the sunlight and sky blend the sun gives one last burst of colour over the horizon, shining so bright it drowns out the blue and makes the whole sky yellow and then orange Roxas is next, in a blaze of glory

Axel, Lea, his colour is red, the red of his hair, of his charkrams or his flames of his keyblades of the blood he spilt for the organisation, the last colour the sky turns before it fades into the dark deep blue of night, is red Axel travelled the furthest, desperate to find those he was missing, travel all the way over to the other side of the battle field for them The last gone

And when the sun has set, the sky is blue, and the moon rises Only Saix remained, alone in that deep blue sky he was desperately trying to light up on his own But thats ok, the sun will rise another day and if you look, the moon will be up there in the light blue sky right next to it, dimmer, harder to see but still there

Ok poetic stuff over, Axel Roxas and Xion as the sunset trio, it also rolls over nicely from Sora, meaning sky, being the starting point of them, the canvas they were painted on so to say, and a nice roll into the implied trio in the next few games of Lea Isa and Subject x, who probably has a star symbol to go with her, celestial trio? space trio? and it rolls back into (if x is skuld) the daybreak trio of Skuld, Ephemer and Player/ daybreak uhh quintet? of the union leaders Feels good that Skuld, the norn of the future is connecting the daybreak and the sunset

[rosie-kairi]

*Walks in with a slushie* hey so after I sent that ask it made me come up with a whole idea I've come to call the Ghost AU:

Picture this, Ephemer and Brain are the only ones from the original 5 to rebuild keyblade society and live actual lives growing up getting married, becoming masters, and having kids. Yet despite that they're both weighed down by the guilt and despair believing they abandoned their friends to die when escaping the digital daybreak town.

So at the end of their lives all they want is to reunite with their lost friends. When they die Brain and Ephemer do find each other in the afterlife (or the final world) and they're so happy and they missed each other soooooo muuuuuch. Except there's one problem, they can't find the others. So they go searching the afterlife to find them.

This eventually leads them to Strelitzia who goes on to explain that actually they're all still alive. Ven, Skuld, and Lauriam ended up in roughly the same time period just spread apart from each other but worse than that they're all in a pretty bad situation. Determined to right their wrongs Eph and Brain go back to the mortal world to take care of their unfinished business. But of course, being spirits they can't directly affect or interact with anything so they can only do so much.

Ephemer goes in search of Ventus and Brain for Lauriam, and then they plan on finding Skuld together. Ephemer unfortunately finds Ven in the clutches of Xehanort and is helpless to stop the neo shadows from ganging up on him. He reads Xehanorts heart and tries to whisper in his ear this is wrong, you know this isn't right he's just a little boy please don't. Whether Eph recognizes Xehanort as his descendant or not is up to you (personally i think it should be riku but we're not talking about that) but fails to stop the split and can only watch in horror as Ven is ripped apart and left in a cationic state on the near brink of death.

Desperate to save him Ephemer searches for a light strong enough to help, and guess who he finds? On the night of Sora's birth as his heart makes its way to the destiny islands Ephemer guides him to Ven and asks for his help knowing that a pure light will give Ven time to regather his strength. You can also imagine his surprise when he sees Ven dropped off at Eraqus' residence. The only real way for Ephemer to interact with the wayfinders is to go in their dreams and ask them to look after Ven and succeed where he failed. His messages are cryptic on purpose to keep Ven's true identity safe but also forge the subliminal suggestion to keep the younger keyblade wielder safe. And then Ven decides to journey on his own and Ephemer would've had a heart attack if he wasn't already dead and tries and fails to get Ven to go back to LoD. Only to regret that when he sees Eraqus draw the keyblade he once wielded and left to Brain be turned on Ven (it's a real good thing Brain wasn't here for this because ghost or not things would've gone from bad to worse seeing his grandson pull a stunt like that).

All the subliminal messaging pays off when Terra and Aqua go all out to protect Ven but it's still not enough. Ephemer tries to stop Ven from sacrificing his heart in the meta battle pleading for him to stop but if he couldn't stop Ven at 11 he wasn't going to have much luck with him at 16. When the battle draws to a close all Ephemer can do to stop Ven from fully fading away is to once again guide him to a heart that will keep him safe. He whispers to Sora's heart take him and protect him and over the next 10 years visit his dreams encouraging Sora to be strong and save him which unintentionally feeds into his savior complex (whoops).

Meanwhile Brain successfully locates a much older Lauriam but is unable to stop him from becoming a Nobody (and as a ghost he tries to throw hands with Luxu who he clocks instantly but he's dead so all he can do is yell insults and curses). Brain can only communicate with Marluxia when he's standing in front of a mirror or a reflective surface it's the only time he's visible and can get Marluxia to hear him. He keeps trying to get him to remember who he is, a dandelion, a union leader, a keyblade wielder. He tries to apologize over and over for failing to help him when he needed it. For giving Lauriam hope of finding his sister and then not following through with his promise to help find her.

This obviously does not go well for Marluxia too ashamed to fully face what he has become and what he has done. His heart is in turmoil and anytime Strelitzia is mentioned has him storming away or breaking the surface Brain is reflected in. This all comes to a head in CO, where Brain keeps trying and failing to get Lauriam to wake up and stop his schemes, and even though Ven's heart is currently with Roxas at that time the bond is still there and it's the closest Brain has gotten to getting through to Marluxia. But all it does is bring more anger and despair so instead of waking up he buries himself deeper and succumbs to darkness fighting Sora.

Now Ephemer and Brain truly feel like they've messed up. Ven's heart is damaged and not in his body, Marluxia is gone but Lauriam didn't show up in the afterlife so they didn't get him back, and they still haven't found any sign of Skuld. Standing in the CoW even though Ven is asleep and can't hear or feel them the boys can't help but marvel at how big he is now, they smooth down his hair and readjust his jacket and cup his cheek and even though neither can actually feel anything it just feels so good to see him again. Occasionally they both enter his dreams just to check on him and make sure he's okay but they can't bring themselves to actually talk to him.

They realize Ven is likely the key to bringing their lost friends fully back so they split up once again this time Brain trails Xigbar to see what plans he has while Ephemer tracks down Ven's heart and has the talk from the previous ask with Roxas so when Sora wakes up Ven will be safe.

When Marluxia comes back and meets Sora it's much more intense. Even though Sora doesn't remember he now has Ven's heart and his presence is reaching out trying to connect with Lauriam deep inside. Ephemer is still whispering to Sora to free him, bring him back over his shoulder which just confuses Sora. And when trying to unleash the power of waking Ephemer can directly speak with Sora guiding him through the process to release Ven's healed heart. Both Ven and Eph thank Sora for keeping him safe all these years but Sora won't remember that part.

It all comes to a head in the keyblade graveyard where both Eph and Brain try to use their keyblades to divert deadly attacks just off course enough to miss giving the others but mostly Ven more openings to attack. When Marluxia is defeated for a final time he finally remembers everything and the gold bleeds to blue and he smiles and cries realizing that he didn't completely fail and sincerely thanks Sora for "protecting him" which he doesn't understand.

Then the big attack happens with all the keyblades getting launched and Ephemer appearing proper he lends his strength to Sora and again thanks him for "keeping him safe" which just confuses Sora even more (weirdo cryptic guys never explaining anything to him story of his life).

So in the end they finally managed to save Ven so one day two more to go. They now have to find Lauriam all over again because Streli confirmed he's still not dead and he finally got his heart back so he's all complete and continue their search for Skuld. Unfortunately, 5 very unwanted individuals materialize outta nowhere 4 of which should not look like no time has passed for them at all. So despite being departed souls Ephemer and Brain ready themselves to try and stop old enemies from hurting their friends, they somehow have to find a way to make more direct contact and likely jog some old painful memories.

How the rest of this plays out depends entirely on what holes Missing Link and KH IV fills going forward.

Ephemer and Brain when the Nightmare is never-ending.

FR that sounds like it would suck soooo bad for these guys. Universe just does NOT want them to win.

[wasntadandelion]

Ya know, the more I think about the new Missing Link cutscenes, the more I distrust Remus.

First, he is the one who finds up, and the police were looking for someone who started a commotion or something, and player talks about

Second, Player noticed Remus was dirty, like he was in a fight (Like we fought alongside Remus, but like STILL)

Third, when we saw Ephemer's statue, he said "It's not like you knew him personally" haha that's really funny isn't it?

Long story short, Remus is giving me Luxu vibes.

[the-au-collector]

So I just watched the new Missing Link cutscenes (here's the video I watched if anyone wants to see them too) and I am having Thoughts so let's dump them here shall we?

Player is just... confused. They just seem so confused in every scene they're in and I love it

I really want to talk about the Baroque Society. It seems like Square is going for a sort of "underdogs" vibe for them. They're small, they're tight-knit (?), they're clearly looked down upon by the higher ups (those scientists did not seem happy that they needed to be called to action).

I'm having mixed feelings about Neptune (also I'm assuming Nept is short for Neptune). On one hand, I love him so much. On the other hand, he seems just a little shady. What are his motives? I'm reluctant to believe any higher ups in this world have good intentions. Idk, I'm keeping an eye on him for now. That said, I love every scene he's in he's probably my favorite so far.

Freya's Japanese voice is kind of annoying to me, but otherwise she seems fine. She's the one giving all the information, but I do like the billboard she's by. I know Nomura said she's not related to Ephemer (which I still think she is), but I could (also) see her being related to the other silver-haired characters we know, like Riku or Hermod and Baldr maybe?

"You took in another one, didn't you?" Freya said that in the scene where Player joins the Baroque Society. "Another one?" Did Neptune pick up Brain too? Honestly I think it would be a complete mind fuck for Brain if Neptune did because now we have 5 kids running their own show, probably about to cause some big chaos...

On first watch it seems like these Societies act like guilds rather than unions, but when rewatching the scenes I realize the scientists say "the founters' societies" so maybe they're more like Unions than I initially thought. Also interesting they said founders, not founder. Regardless, this begs the question of why the Baroque Society is so small and shabby?

I'm loving the theory that Lea is descended from Remus but I'm really worried about why Remus didn't reappear. We can't get tragic siblings this soon can we?

Society Legal Investigations Committee... wonder what that is

Player is so confused but so happy to be part of the Baroque Society

I don't really have much to say about the scientists themselves, but the fact that we keep cutting to them makes me believe they're going to be very important.

The silver haired strangers... Ephemer's descendants perhaps? I'm guessing since they're very shady that they planted the dark thing Nept got from the guards into the Guards' minds... yeah we're going to have some interesting things going on in this game.

That's all I can think of for now but the gears in my brain are turning so hard, and I have some theories, especially about Remus. I'll spare you the theorizing until I get my thoughts in order though

[timetomarvel]

About the Voices in the beginning of Missing Link

What do you all think who that is and who/what they are talking about?

So the first voices seem to be rather clear I guess?

So I guess the people that are talking are those scientists that also keep an eye on Distortions.

I assume the "one at the connection point" is Brain. Since we know he will be in this game too and he was last seen in the room of Daybreak Town where the lifeboats are. Makes sense that this is the connection point.

That's most likely the lifeboats leaving the simulation, right?

So they try to recover Brain. He also has someone waiting for him in Scala when he arrives, so his arrival seems to be a planned event. But something goes wrong and there is the signature of someone or something else.

That could be us. It is also hinted at because we are the next thing we see in this scene.

Though there might be other explainations.

The signature could be Brain and the second maybe Luxu? In case Brain didn't get body snatched yet. Then again, why should we be able to hear those voices in that case.. So that is rather unlikely I guess?

Or we are the signature and they accidentally free a darkness or two with us? Maybe that could explain the rise in distortions, that are mentioned later, as well 🤔

And then there is this floaty voice that speaks to us directly.

Since chirithy was with us when we died, it is most likely their voice we hear.

But my first thought was Ephemer and that would be so cool! "The power to connect hearts", we are standing right on his chest inside our own heart.. I would really like that.

(But Chirithy is most likely.)

What do you all think?

(And back to the Sora is Player theory.. the door?! Starting the game being woken by a redhead on a beach?? Being accused of slacking off and taking a nap?? Fighting a Darkside that stands behind Player like a huge shadow?? That Door! 😆 (sorry, I didn't watch the footage of the first Beta last year, gotta let it out now xD))

[hexxter]

Ephemer

[goldensunset]

O you, who at the world's far-off end dwell,

I know your wish- it is my wish as well.

[blowingoffsteam2]

not to be that person, but to be that person - do we think there’s a potential for Riku to end up being a “prince of light”? sort of like how the disney princess’ + kairi are referred to as the princesses of light? Basing this off of the “riku is the light” theory as well as the potential discussion of his lineage in kh4….maybe he’s really royalty? OR maybe he’s Sora’s prince of light since Sora pretty much ended up becoming a child of destiny via touching Riku’s light and that’s why Aqua told Sora to take care of Riku when they were kids ? Idk it’s very much giving a prince ( Riku ) and knight and shining armor ( Sora ) vibe. What do you think ?

Oh absolutely there’s potential for something like that. I don’t know if it would be exactly the same as the princesses of heart (could they even use darkness like Riku can?) but I definitely think he’s /something/ special. Seeing as the crown necklace was almost definitely Riku’s- and the Kingdom Key- him being some kind of royalty wouldn’t be surprising at all. It’s just a question of what exactly the sort of royalty are we talking about here? On one hand I think there’s a strong possibility Riku is a descendant of Ephemer, and according to what we know about missing link, his descendants are basically treated as royalty or an upper class at least. But I also think there’s more going on with Riku than just that. His body might be descended from Ephemer but what about his heart? Well there are theories that he is “the True Dandelion”, the child of destiny, even the avatar of Kingdom Hearts itself analogous to Data Riku being the avatar of Jiminy’s Journal. Honestly he could be all of these things.

One mystery that I think could be connected too is the “seven crowns” that were brought up only once in khux. Could it just be a gender neutral term for princesses/princes of heart? Maybe. I’ve also theorized it is referring to the seven pieces of light that were shattered from the original x-blade which iirc are what the 7 hearts of light protect

[yoroshiu]

Moments of Love in KH That Make Me Lose it Just a Little (Only Just a Little I'm so NORMAL About This I Promise) (In no particular order)

Player willing to act possessed by Darkness so they can sacrifice themselves because they KNEW Ephemer wouldn't attack them otherwise. To trap the rest of the Darknesses, they trapped themselves altogether until the end. THEY KNEW WHAT THIS WOULD MEAN FOR THEM.

RIKU DREAMEATER RIKU DREAMEATER RIKU DREAMEATER What do you mean that, EVEN WITHOUT KNOWING, this guy SENSED that Sora was in danger, DIVED into his dreams, and became HIS DREAMEATER, a being that PROTECTS SOMEONE from NIGHTMARES. And I must reiterate that Riku did NOT know until told.

So you're telling me that even though Xion was SUPPOSED to be completely wiped from people's memories, Axel/Lea's grief ran so deep that he still could vaguely recall her and shed tears at just the blurry sight of her. Roxas kinda makes sense since both he and Xion were inside Sora at this point (still hits me like a truck anyway), but something about this happening to Axel/Lea in KH3 makes me tear up a bit!!!

TERRA, through the SHEER WILLPOWER of wanting to protect his friends and make things right (+ Doom Slayer type rage), was able to leave a will that possessed his empty armor and beat THE CRAP out of Terra-Nort to the point of AMNESIA. Not only that, he was willing to destroy his own body if it meant if he could protect Aqua and Ven. Bro endured YEARS of being torn apart and spread to different people and places, but still was able to help others in those times of need (When Aqua fights Terra-nort (though you can defeat him without encountering the Terra thing), when Aqua was in the RoD, when the Guardians of Light were in Trouble, etc.))

And that's not even mentioning what Aqua and Ven did for the sake of the others in their trio. Aqua saving Terra and letting herself fall into the RoD, or Ven willing to completely shatter his heart for Terra and Aqua if it meant taking down Vanitas.

Riku Replica, even though he learned that his own existence and memories were farces, still cared for Naminé so genuinely that he fought to give her a body so she can go on living.

When everything went to crap and Sora and the others pretty much died, Kairi had managed to HOLD onto Sora so he could still remain in the world

Sora is so concerningly self-sacrifical that this guy can easily STAB himself AND break universal taboos that lead to him being wiped by the universe to save his loved ones (he should really stop doing that >.>)

Also Sora telling Roxas that he deserved to be his own person has me going FERAL, I am BITING and SCREAMING. The fact that through EVERYTHING, the reality of the existence of Nobodies hits him, and he takes away that Roxas is his OWN person (and this was right before Roxas dumped all his memories on him) and tells him as such word for word. I AM IN SHAMBLES.

And there's so many examples I could go on about! I've definitely missed a lot of big ones. I promise I'm normal about this series, I promise!!!!

[corishadowfang]

3 or 12?

(For this)

3. A character the fandom helped you appreciate.

Basically all of the Radiant Garden crew, haha. They were less interesting to me compared to everyone else (Braig and Xehanort aside), but the fandom's done a lot of cool stuff with them that's won me over, haha.

12. Compliment someone in your fandom.

I...will not be sticking to just one haha.

@starlightwayfinder You create such beautiful art and amazing fics, and are just a really sweet person overall.

@kicktwine Your art is absolutely amazing and I LOVE your worldbuilding. (My knowledge on FF14 is limited but I still get excited every time I see a spec bio post from you.)

@goldensunset I love seeing your thoughts on the games (they have a tendency to either make me emotional or go feral over how interesting they are, haha). Also, stairposting.

@rosie-kairi SO MANY of your shitposts/memes/etc. make me laugh, haha. Also, your art is fantastic.

@serenedash Good takes and fics and art!! I always get excited when I see something new from you.

@thetwilightroadtonightfall OVERMORROW IS MAKING ME CRY (positive). But also seeing you talk about Ephemer is so much fun because you're clearly having such a great time with it.

@psianabel Your FICS. Man, I love them so much; I have reread many of them several times, they're so good!

@hallowed-nebulae Also an amazing fic writer!! Seriously, I love your prose and how you handle the characters, and your worldbuilding is just so COOL.

@fungeiful Your art is fantastic; I've loved seeing all of the Brain and Player doodles. Also, bagelposting.

@cq-studios You're so enthusiastic about the mobile games and it makes me SO HAPPY. Your art style is also adorable.

@recusant-s-sigil I LOVE seeing/hearing your thoughts about the series; they're so well thought-out and interesting. Also, Scala Ask Caelum is very cool.

@scalacaelumx Amazing art and a very sweet person! I may not see you on my dash as much as some others, but I always get excited when I do.

@chibifightfu You have such amazing art and are just a super cool person in general! I always love talking with you, whether about KH stuff or random things.

@lightwithinthedarknessu You are one of the kindest people I've ever met. Also, I adore all of your writing.

@bookwormally ALSO A REALLY FANTASTIC WRITER and I will be continually impressed by your management abilities. (Also, thank you so much for organizing the World Guidebook Zine.)

@blazernot When I saw someone else was doing Skuld and Brain stuff, I got SO EXCITED, haha. Also, you're just a very cool person, and I love your OCs.

And...and there are definitely people I'm missing, so just know that all of you are awesome and I'm happy you're here!