#had vexen's plan with her actually worked | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ultraericthered · 5 months

Text

Terranort Speculation

It is known by know that when Birth By Sleep entered its earliest stages of conception and development (in 2006), Terra's story was thought out first (because Revenge of the Sith), followed by Ven's second and Aqua's last, explaining the recommended playing order. It's also shown in how in KHII FM, released in 2007, every single hook for BBS concerned Terra and his story - those horrendously misplaced scenes with Xemnas, Aqua's armor, Vexen, Zexion and Xigbar, the secret boss fight against Terra's Lingering Will, and the secret ending video where the climax is a close-up of Terra's face as his eyes morph into the "dark" golden eyes, or "Nort eyes." Then in 2008, early on at Jump Festa and later in at the Tokyo Game Show, the beta trailer footage for the former was only of Terra and Ventus while the latter added Aqua to the mix. And this was also the same time we got the 358/2 Days trailer and wow, between these teases and Coded starting up late into the year, 2008 truly was a year spent preparing the KH series for the plunge it was going to end up taking!

But I want to touch on all that early footage because it makes me speculate and believe that there was a slightly different plan set for Terra's story being developed at first, and that Terra himself was conecieved as a far darker character than what we ended up getting. Prior to contributions from Daisuke Watanabe and Masaru Oka, Nomura had every inclination to push as hard as possible with the "Anakin Skywalker" route for Terra, essentially taking what he had at first likely envisioned as being Xehanort's forgotten origin story and rewriting it with Terra in place of a younger Xehanort, making enough modifications to service the end point of Terra losing his heart and body to Master Xehanort, who'd lose his memory soon afterwards.

The thing about the beta trailers is that scenes that ended up occurring in the final product are played out in backdrops that were not intended to be the locations those scenes would actually play in (like, why's Xehanort confronting Ven at Olympus Coliseum? Why's Terra protecting Ven from Eraqus at the Great Maw? Why's Ven asking to be killed on Destiny Islands?) So while Terra's meeting with Maleficent was never meant to take place with thorns all around, what's really notable about how it's depicted here is...well, this:

Maleficent clearly has a proposition for Terra, and Terra gives an evil Xemnas-y face in response. To me this suggests that in the initial plan, Terra at the start of the game was going to be like Riku was in the midsection of KH1: very easily allured by the power of Darkness and willing to dirty his hands while working with unsavory characters towards some goal he believed to be righteous and worth it for him.

Just as interesting, the second trailer has this next scene with Terra and Maleficent, as the latter exposits about the Princesses of Heart.

Literally nothing is different from the final scene except Terra's body language. In the final version, his head is titled towards Maleficent. But in this initial version, his head is tilted towards Aurora. Later in that same trailer, the last scene played sets up Aqua and Maleficent's later interaction different. Rather than ask "what did Master Xehanort tell you?", Aqua (with no Prince Philip there yet) asks "was what you said to Ven a lie?" And then Maleficent answers her straight up:

And yes, Terra's embrace of darkness during his confusion and rage over Eraqus' strict, abusive teachings of the supremacy of light over darkness does happen in the game, but it's framed as him getting tricked into it and extracting Aurora's heart by mistake, which is then later backtracked with Xehanort indicating he'd set up Aurora's heart to be extracted, making him the true culprit. I think in the original pitch, Terra was going to deliberately embrace the darkness and turn his Keyblade on Aurora's heart. He'd immediately regret what he did when he sees Maleficent claim the heart, but it would have been a far more willful mistake, which is why he'd be racked with such guilt over having done it. For a moment, he'd have crossed the line and done something evil, which someone who values heroism and protection of others like him would find completely antithetical to himself.

So then rather than further self-damnation like Riku in KH1, we'd see Terra walking back from the abyss in the next worlds he visits, giving us hope that he may yet avoid succumbing to the darkness within himself. .... And then the events at the Radiant Garden would occur, to set him down a different, even more insidious road to darkness.

Some time well afterwards, after he's come to blows with his friends and is in conflict with his master's agenda concerning him, after he's once again channeled his darkness and taken out Braig's eye, after he's been talked up by Master Xehanort, stirring within him the craving to seek more power, achieve more heroic exploits using that power, and wanting to protect his friends while also prove his master wrong and assert himself as the decider of how the trio should conduct themselves as Keyblade Wielders, and after he's far more willingly indulged his darker nature by working with more villains he'd always be dead-set on backstabbing whenever it's convenient for him and his "noble" goals to do so, we'd be treated to this moment:

This plays much differently than anything we actually got from the stupid "Terra on Destiny Island" scene in the finalized game. To me, this is more like the also stupid first scene of the game with Young Xehanort, standing on the shore in contemplation as the bright sun sets over the horizon. Terra stands in solitude, away from the light, and when he sees the kids play-fighting on the beach, the sun is shining down and bathing them in light. Symbolism is clear; these are innocent hearts who belong to the light. Terra is no longer one such heart. He stands away from that brightness, away from light. This could've been the moment of realization from Terra that he needed to turn back from his darkness entirely, to head towards that light.

But alas. thanks to fucking Xehanort, this would follow instead:

This encapulates everything that Terra's character could've been. In the actual scene, the line is translated as "You may be my master... but I will not...let you hurt my friend!", to the response of "Has the darkness taken you too, Terra?" from Eraqus. But in the beta version, the wording suggests that the unseen Eraqus asks that question of Terra first, and Terra says "I don't care if you are my master! This power... I use it for my friends!" Conveying a full-on disowning of Eraqus as his master and a rejection of all that he'd taught him about light versus darkness, and an embrace of the power his darkness grants him to use for the sake of his friends. As in the final game, I think Xehanort would be the one to come in and kill Eraqus (gotta do the Mace Windu thing, after all), but in this version it would've been more clear that Terra was absolutely willing to kill his master here.

Beta Terra was meant to embody the absolute twisting of every positive value the KH Trinity showed us into a negative for him. "My friends are my power!" "My strength to become a True Hero comes from my friends!", "Our hearts are always connected", "No matter how deep the darkness, there's always a light at the end: keep your gaze towards that light even as you endure and exploit the powers of darkness from your own heart!" - Terra would showcase how you take those in the wrong direction, a callow young man ready and willing to try any measure, no matter how dark, in his pursuit of the "strength to protect what matters", his desire for self-actualization beyond what his master's expectations of him, and his committment to his more altruistic, heroic resolve (woah, major Alain flashbacks here!) We even see a carryover of this idea in Blank Points, where within Terra-Xehanort, Terra's heart tells Master Xehanort's heart that he's willing to get cast down into the deepest darkness and have his heart fully possessed by Xehanort so long as he feels certain that Xehanort will end up being the one to fade away into the darkness while Terra ends up returning to the light, and he does feel certain that this will be so for as long as he keeps sight of the cause he fights for: to return to his friends and make right what he'd helped set wrong, his heroic willpower embodied by that sentient armor spirit he'd left behind. But the follow-through on that is barely existent.

And the result is a man torn between himself: the man with the unbreakable will that desires to do good for the worlds and people he cares for (pure Terra, the Lingering Will), and the man who recklessly and selfishly embraces the heart's darkness for self-empowerment (Terranort, who'd later become a Heartless and create his own Nobody in doing so). By picking Terra to become his vessel, Master Xehanort would've basically ended up getting swept up in Terra's wild ride, as by becoming Terranort, he too became a fractured person, split into Ansem and Xemnas. Terranort was to be the ultimate villain because the "Terra" mattered as critically as the "Xehanort".

Tl:dr: I really like Terra, but at some point in his story's development he could've and should've been far more than a big dumb-dumb!

#Disney #Kingdom Hearts #Birth By Sleep #analysis #opinion #criticism #disney villains #Terra #Xehanort #Master Xehanort #what could have been #they wasted a perfectly good character #they wasted a perfectly good plot #anti birth by sleep #anti nomura #anti square enix

9 notes · View notes

miss-tc-nova · 1 year

Text

Org. XIII Awful Co-Workers?

“Interview” #2 I did for the Kingdom Haute zine. I had a lot of fun with this one.

~~~~~

Have you ever looked at the sassy, confident, admittedly-sexy Organization XIII and wished you could stand among their rank? Don’t we all? Well, according to our newest source, you may want to think twice before donning that black coat and giving up your heart in servitude to Kingdom Hearts.

We at Kingdom Haute were recently contacted by a reliable, anonymous, member of the Organization itself who has done the honors of ranking who’s the worst of the worst to work with.

13. Xion – The Secret Manipulator

“By far, Xion is the easiest to get along with, but you can bet you’re a** she’s not innocent. Deny that girly what she wants, she’ll guilt you with the biggest puppy eyes you’ve ever seen. And if that don’t work, she’ll turn on Lexaeus and I don’t think he’s ever told her no.”

12. Lexaeus – The Guilt Tripper

“Man’s got a stony disposition. Won’t say anything if you do something wrong, but he just stares until the guilt eats you up. He’s got a soft spot for the younger ones though and they’ve all learned how to get anything from him, even at the expense of others.”

11. Xemnas – The Judgmental

“Boss-Man himself is probably one of the more bearable ones. Still, he’s as bad as Lexaeus if he catches you slacking off. The way he stares is unnerving, like a cat watching their next meal.”

10. Zexion – The Emo Teen

“That guy knows how to brood. Everything that comes from his mouth is some soliloquy of how existence sucks. I’m like ninety percent sure he only became a Nobody to add to his tragic backstory.”

9. Xaldin – The Nice Guy

“I thought them d*mn Pot Scorpion were toxic, but Xaldin’s got some issues. Guy’s just nasty and pessimistic all the time. I like taking candy from kids, but he takes it to a whole ‘nother level, you know. Not satisfied until the kid’s already got thousands of dollars of student loans in pre-school.”

8. Luxord – The Game Freak

“You ever had to pee so bad only to have someone stop you to guess what number they’re thinking of? No? Lucky you. Everything is a game to Luxord, even walking down the hall. And he cheats. But if you don’t play, you get to spend the next hour as one of his stupid cards, so I hope you didn’t have any plans.”

7. Demyx – The Man Child

“Demyx is actually pretty chill, but he’s got a whole bucket of loose bolts if you know what I mean. Man can burn toast and you can’t leave him in charge of anything. Xemnas must’ve been desperate to let him join the Organization. But he acts just like the kids, even cheering if he hears the words ‘ice cream.’”

6. Roxas – The Angry Puppy

“Speaking of ice cream, this kid’s got an enormous sweet tooth, but he’s definitely not made of sugar. He’ll fight you about everything, even if he’s completely wrong. I once watched him jump out a third story window because Saïx told him not to. Gotta give him props though; he told Saïx to go to hell and didn’t hesitate for even a second.”

5. Vexen – The Nagging

“I’ve gotta give it to this guy: he makes walking around with a stick up his a** look easy. You’d think that he made the rules around here. To be honest, he probably did since Xemnas doesn’t really give a hoot as long as our work gets done.”

4. Axel – The Bad Influence

“Xion and Roxas are pretty manageable, even together, but you throw this hot head into the mix and something is bound to end up on fire. I don’t think Saïx is ever gonna let him live down the time he accidentally set Vexen on fire with actual flaming Ch**tos.”

3. Saïx – The Kiss A**

“That brown-noser is next by the way. I swear he’s got some sort of crush on Xemnas. He’s like some sort of love sick puppy, following the leader around and enforcing the rules harder than Vexen, especially if Xemnas is around. Good luck enjoying anything with him around.”

2. Larxene – The B*tch

“Crossing that viper is one of the last things you wanna do. But at the same time, when aren’t you crossing her? You so much as sneeze and she gets all ticked off and threatens to stab your other eye.”

1. Marluxia – The Big B*tch

“Yeah, the other half of the B*tch Duo. He’s the worst of ‘em all. Walks around like he owns the place and we’re all just side characters. Everything is beneath him and he gets what he wants when he wants it. He once dragged Demyx out of the bathroom by his hair because the idiot forgot it was Marly’s shower hour. And you can forget about asking him to clean his hair out of the drain. He’s nasty and demanding and he knows it. But d*mn if he doesn’t look good doing it.”

#novas nonsense #zine feat nova #xion #roxas #axel #saix #marluxia #larxene #demyx #xemnas #xaldin #vexen #lexaeus #luxord #zexion

33 notes · View notes

shitpostingkats · 2 years

Text

Organization XIII, ranked by their titles

Roxas: The Key of Destiny Nice and epic. The good double meaning that he wields the key, yet also is the key to the organization plans, turned and manipulated to unlock a door with no will of his own. The organization sees him as the key to their destiny, but really, Roxas is the key and the bearer, and through his arc, learns to be the keeper of his own fate. 1000/10

Demyx: The Melodious Nocturne Rolls off the tongue in a pleasant way. You might think, “what the heckity is a nocturne? It sounds cool as heck.” Well, a nocturne is (what a surprise), a musical term. But specifically, it is a word used in both art and music, to describe a piece evocative of night. A cool sounding term for a fantasy character that, when you google it, actually means something interesting and thematically relevant? what a rarity/10

Larxene: The Savage Nymph Now, the usage of ‘nymph’ might take some points off this one, being more befitting a character with nature powers, like Marluxia. Or, she could be using nymph in the more entomological definition, meaning young insect, like a wasp or a hornet, something with a bit more ‘sting’ to it. The real confusion of the second part keeps her from the top slot, but the delicious zeugma of the first half makes up for it. #savage/10

Axel: Fury of the Dancing Flames Ooh. What a wonderful epithet. There’s such a nice prose to it, not found in any other members of the evil squad. On top of that, it covers all the bases that we as the audience need to know about Axel. What is he? Angy. How will he express that? Fire. Like, boring, non-dancing fire? Nope. Sick-as-hell dancing fire. Axel should get to dance too tho/10

Xaldin: The Whirlwind Lancer I’ll say, I tried to keep personal opinions of the characters out of this ranking. It’s pure coincidence that some of my favorites have the dopest names. And nothing proves that more than Xaldin’s placement here. Do I like this man? Nah. But, I have to admit, his bossfight in Two is really artful. Someone had to sit down and ask themselves “How do we make the wind intimidating?” And their core concept started with a whirlwind, lances, and terrible sideburns. The sideburns didn’t make it into the name, and thank the stars for that. But the rest is very nicely menacing. 7/10

Xemnas: Superior of the In-Between Another name that says what it does on the tin. Xemnas is constantly getting referred to as “The Superior” instead of everyone just calling him “boss” like a normal person. It’s got more than a hint of over-dramatic edginess to it. But that is one of the reasons we love Kingdom Hearts. Same thing goes for the audacity Xemans has to call him realm “The In-Between”, which sounds way better than “Our neo-neo-gothic nightmare pocket dimension with Escher-esque skyscraper clipping” drama queen/10

Zexion: The Cloaked Schemer “Cloaked” and “Schemer” describe approximately 90% of the organization. It’s like if your job description at the office was “Guy who has hair and opinions”. Zexion isn’t even the schemer-iest egg in the carton! Fine name in most other evil friendgroups, just not this one. come on Zexion you can do better than this/10

Vexen: The Chilly Academic I really appreciate that, despite roughly 4/13ths of this emo dream team having a background in science, Vexen is the academic. No one else. Nope, not even those three other guys who worked in the same lab as you. Nah Vexen, science is your thing, we’re not gonna step on your gimmick. Like we’ve come to expect, 'Chilly’ here pulls double duty as both a literal descriptor of his powers and a more metaphorical adjective about the villains temperament. Though, I don’t know it you can in good faith call someone who spends so much of his screen time either shrieking or giggling “chilly”. 5/10

Saix: The Luna Diviner You know, I always thought Saix’s title was the lunar diviner, but nope, I’m looking at the wiki right now. It says Luna. Which kinda cuts the pacing of the title right through the gut. I much prefer his japanese title, Demonic Dancing In The Moon, which has the benefit of 1) Matching with Axel, and 2) Being metal as hell. Also, diviner??? When has Saix ever delivered a single prediction in the entirety of the series, other than the usually correct “I am going to go absolutely apeshit now”, which any good scientist will know, is a variable controlled by the tester and thus, suffers greatly from confirmation bias. moon moon/10

Luxord: The Gambler of Fate Most of these epithets follow a very simple pattern; adjective, what-they-bring-to-the-company. Roxas breaks the rules because he’s important, Xemnas does it because he’s the CEO, and Axel does it because he is simply The Best Boy. But nowhere, in any game we have received so far, is there reason to believe Luxord is special enough to similarly defy the mold. We didn’t even know how his regular name was pronounced until kh3!!! Luxord smacks of someone who doesn’t know how much of a background character he really is. I mean, come on, the gambler of fate? Mi amigo, you show up twice and keel over to a child beating you at go-fish. We’re not exactly dealing with the grand machinations of the cosmos here. Nomura, if you give me reason to, I will consider adjusting this rank/10

Xigbar: The Freeshooter Again with shirking conventions! However, I will give credit where credit is due, Xigbar seems to have the narrative weight to deserve it. Which is where my actual complaint comes in: you go out of your way to stand out from the pack, and the best you can come up with is freeshooter? Boring. No pizazzle, no flamboyant adjectives, just blunt as lead and twice as clunky. Man is a hundreds year old ceiling dwelling sniper with an eyepatch and a surfer accent, there’s gotta be something more interesting than freeshooter. Xigbar I had such high hopes for you/10

Marluxia: The Graceful Assassin Graceful, I’ll give you. No one goes harder on the pastel instagram aesthetic than Marluxia. But ‘assassin’ seems a weird choice. Especially for the guy who was put in charge of hiring new assets (Sora) to the Council of Depressed Queers. That is literally the opposite of assassinating. I mean, Axel’s killed like three of his coworkers, and this femme king gets to be called the assassin? I’m sorry my gay, but pink glitter and a weird mech does not instantly make you a bringer of death. let Marluxia commit homicide/10

Lexaeus: The Silent Hero/The Taciturn Stalwart Dude has a completely different title in Remix and no one noticed because he’s just that Boring. 0/10

#kingdom hearts #kh #essays #rankings #rambles #organization xiii #organization 13

48 notes · View notes

tina-nina · 2 years

Note

Do you have any ideas about your fanfics that you really want to talk about? Like, headcanons, character relationships/interactions, backstory and stuff? Thank you very much!!!

Okay first im SOOOOO SORRYYYY this took me a year to actually answer this, i swear i thought about it at least once a week this whole time.

I was originally gonna get into my headcannon/AU version of how the Radiant Garden Political system works, but I wasn’t feeling very inspired, and so instead im gonna share something I wrote for the lovely @sekhmet-rye, because she loves Xallux and i just had to spoil her. Most of this is canon to my AU, though whether those two are actually gonna be shipped together explicitly or not is something I'm still deciding, since I’m planning on keeping my series pretty much exclusively Gen.

With that said, enjoy!

~~~~

One of Roxas's earliest memories is Axel walking with him aimlessly through the sprawling corridors of the Castle That Never Was, chattering about the day to day

"-don't question that rule, Vexen will make you regret it. And Rule Number 3: don't question whatever Xaldin and Luxord have going on."

Roxas had blinked in confusing because um? What? But Axel had waved him off and he had been left wondering.

Now, months into his service, he got it.

If Xaldin wasn't ranting and raving while Luxord calmly sipped a cup of tea until the taller man ran out of steam (always one, as if the man had timed it down to a science, rarely two but always no more and no less than that), then they stared at each other at the weirdest times, or made faces at one another in meetings while Xemnas politely pretended not to notice (there was no way he didn't notice, Roxas didn't know much, but he liked to think he was good at reading his colleagues, and The Superior sometimes got a lost, wistful look in his eyes when he saw them like that, before it was gone, and he ignored them).

Roxas rounds a corner, on his way to the kitchen to get something to eat, but has to stop when he sees the two, Luxord against the wall, arms crossed, a calm and smug smile directed at the man looming over him, Xaldin snarling in fury.

Roxas blinks, evaluates the situation like Vexen had taught him all those months ago, and spins on his heel. "Remember rule number 3, Roxas; you don't want to know"

Unfortunately for Roxas, he finds that he does, actually, want to know. Xion is right behind him in that regard, and they've put their heads together to try and muddle their way through describing just what it is Luxord and Xaldin have "going on"

--- They do what they do best after fighting. Observing.

Every world, every mission, they make it their mission to watch everyone around them.

And they slowly, slowly, start to understand.

It's the way Jasmine and Aladdin hold hands, the way Alice gushes about her sister in the same breath she complains about how she drives her "madder than the Hatter!", the way Beast looks at Belle and the way Belle looks at Beast.

It's the way the kids in Twilight Town chase after each other and share ice cream at the end of the day, it's the way Axel's eyes get distant and soft in the rare times he talks about when he and Saïx were younger, the way Vexen had clucked over Zexion and Zexion had pretended to be bothered by it. The way Lexaeus had placed warm blankets on the two or bullied them into resting.

It's the way Xemnas is always searching for something he cannot remember, and the way Xigbar barely holds himself back from something he does.

---

"Xigbar?"

"What's crackin' kiddo, poppet?"

"What's love?"

"....it's a million different things. It's different for everyone."

Silence. Two pairs of eyes meet, and a thousand words pass without a single sound leaving their throats. Twin, sharp nods.

"I think we get it."

Xigbar watches the two retreat and says nothing.

---

The next time Roxas and Xion catch Luxord and Xaldin doing their thing, they understand.

They love each other. It is as simple as that.

#what makes a heart verse #xallux #please save me they're so cute #LOOK AT ROXAS AND XION BEING SMART COOKIES #my children

10 notes · View notes

slusheeduck · 2 years

Text

Partners In Crime (Or Coups)

[I]

“Could you tell me why I’m getting complaints about you?” Marluxia whispered to Larxene as they reached their mission location. Larxene puffed away a strand of hair.

“Probably because most of our members would shrivel and die if they had to speak directly to a woman,” she muttered.

“You know what I mean, Larxene.” Marluxia’s voice was, as ever, quiet and even. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever heard it change, but she certainly had heard the strain in it every now and again to keep it that way; she could hear it now as he tried to tamp down his exasperation.

She was at her two week mark now–past the point where Marluxia should still be responsible for her, but it worked for the both of them: Marluxia looked like a hard worker eager to prove himself as he rose up the ranks, and Larxene didn’t have to deal with the more annoying members when they were displeased.

“Who complained this time?” she asked, pulling up her hood. “Was it Vexen? The old man is senile, you know this, so don’t believe him.”

“Yes, Vexen. And Saix.”

“Of course Saix.”

“And Xaldin.”

“He has no flexibility, that’s why.”

“And Xigbar…” Marluxia paused. “Well. He sounded impressed, actually.” He looked to her, delicately wrangling his hair under his own hood. “I can’t be upset, you know this. But…”

“Oh my god, are you going to pull the ‘I’m just disappointed’ card?”

Marluxia’s face was covered, but despite his best efforts, she could hear a smile in his voice. “No. I’m curious about your process. The others are calling it ‘brutal’, after all.”

Larxene rolled her eyes with a huff. “I don’t see the problem with being brutal. We’re the bad guys, aren’t we?”

“Light and darkness isn’t as cut and dr–”

“No, stop. Marluxia, stop.” Larxene huffed. “The thing is, all of them get all…esoteric. They pose all these bullshit philosophical questions, and it takes forever, not to mention it’s boring. Meanwhile, what I do is…” She trailed off, then suddenly tapped his arm and pointed silently. She’d spotted their target: a man, relatively normal but definitely the adventuring type. The file said he was strong-hearted and determined, but his obsession with treasure hunting had led him to dark acts, namely stealing important artifacts: ergo, ripe for the picking. Silently, a kunai materialized in her hand, and she aimed right for his heart. One expert throw, and the man fell–a Shadow and Dancer rising in his place. She looked up at Marluxia, raising her hands in a silent question of Was that so difficult?

Marluxia was silent. It was already hard to read his silence when his face was bared; it was impossible with the hood.

“I see the efficiency,” he said after a moment, with all the diplomacy of an actual leader-in-training. “But the end result is…lacking.”

“Lacking? We got what we wanted!”

“Could you have made him stronger?”

Beneath her hood, Larxene blinked. “What?”

Marluxia gestured to the remains of the target. “Both of those are pitifully low-level, especially for the type of person the missive said he was. Darkness is born of extreme emotions, better still if they’re struggling against their natural inclination toward the light. It’s how we were made, even if we don’t remember it.”

“You wanted him as our Number Thirteen?”

“No, of course not. But we could have had something more substantial than a Dancer to work with.” He tilted his head back just enough for Larxene to catch him tapping his lip. “Here. We can get a headstart with my next mission; I’m supposed to take Demyx, but I’m…not keen on it, and I don’t think he’ll mind.” A corridor of darkness opened beside him, leading back to the castle. “Come with me. We can start planning.”

And holy shit, did they plan. Excessively, in Larxene’s opinion. Marluxia did a full analysis of their target (a pirate, operating under false pretenses, with a crew just on the edge of mutinous due to his mismanagement and distraction via a sudden attempt at pseudo-parenting), laying out what his weaknesses would be and how to best utilize them. Then he drew up a plan. Then, finally, days later, they went to their location. Marluxia insisted Larxene hang back and watch. Not her assignment, so she might as well.

It started off really strong, she had to give him that. Marluxia played the pirate like a fiddle: preying on his concerns for the boy he’d taken under his mechanical arm, the fury of his crew, a well-slipped “black spot” (whatever that was), and finally an offer of power that no one, no matter how good originally, would be able to resist. Darkness was practically radiating off of him by the end of the mission.

One problem.

This guy, while reformed when they first arrived, was already bad. And rule number one of getting power is to do away with the person who gave it to you. So Marluxia was now faced with a recently-tapped torrent of darkness who wanted him dead, who was already a murderer before they came onto the scene, now bringing out every new bell and whistle he had in a fight.

Needless to say, it was not a pretty situation Number Eleven was in. But…he did say to hang back, and for the moment, it looked as though he was doing pretty well on his own. Really well, actually; he clearly had the upper hand, the former clumsiness with his scythe replaced with graceful arcs and deadly swipes. It was actually very exciting to watch, from Larxene’s perspective.

Finally, the target went down, and Marluxia raised his scythe for the finishing blow. He held his pose…then kept holding it. Larxene at first thought he was trying to be dramatic, but a closer look showed her how his arms shook, how his pose became unsteady. He stumbled back as the target rose to his feet, aiming up his own finishing blow as Marluxia balked. The target raised his mechanical arm, gears whirring as a canon formed from it. He took aim at Marluxia, plasma gathering, and…then his arm dropped, three kunai suddenly embedded in his chest. When he looked down, a blast of lightning finished the job.

The target separated neatly into a heartless–one that looked remarkably like a cyborg, they were always on the nose–and a large Phantom Nobody that zipped off. There, mission done. Larxene dismissed her remaining knives, waiting for a thank you from Marluxia. And she kept waiting. Finally, she looked over at him.

“You’re welcome?” She crossed her arms. “You could have been a goner if it wasn’t for me. A little gratitude would be nice.”

Marluxia didn’t speak. Finally, there was the clatter of his scythe hitting the ground before it disappeared in a flurry of petals. With his hood up, there was no way to gauge his expression, but Larxene caught the quick rise and fall of his chest and the stiff hold of his shoulders. She hesitated, then pulled up a corridor before grabbing his arm.

“Come on. We’re done, Marluxia,” she said. Her voice wasn’t gentle; she didn’t think it could be. But she did try to soften it as she tugged him back to the castle.

Ordinarily, reports were supposed to be made immediately upon returning, but she blazed past the Gray Room, dragging Marluxia up to his own. He offered no resistance, going silently to sit on a vine-covered seat. Larxene kept her hood up as she hesitated; even with a heart, she was pretty sure she’d never been good at comforting. She definitely wouldn’t be any better at it now. For a long moment, they were silent; Marluxia sitting very still and Larxene awkwardly shifting her weight between legs as she crossed her arms. But the quiet was deafening, and she couldn’t stand it.

“So…flowers,” she finally offered as she took off her hood. “Any reason that’s your thing?”

“What?” The opening of Marluxia’s hood turned toward her, voice vague. She shrugged.

“Y’know, like…like why your powers are all flower-based.” She walked over to a few that had climbed up his wardrobe, pink petal’s delicately opened toward her. “Vexen, before he chewed me out on our one mission so far, was going on and on about some theory he had about how our powers relate to some…core part of ourselves from before.” She shrugged, then held out her hand, little bits of lightning dancing around her fingertips. “It was boring to listen to, but I did start wondering. I think I…I mean, if I had to guess, I think I always wanted to show everyone what I could do, and it was…pent up enough that it comes out now as lightning. But who knows, right?”

Marluxia didn’t answer, hood still up and body very still. Larxene glanced back at him, feeling very far out of her depth. Ranking and order aside, Marluxia was the more experienced of the two of them, even if only by a few days, and he’d been nothing but cool and collected. What could have made him choke?

“There was a field.” The hollow reply made Larxene startle in surprise. “Of flowers.”

“From before?” He didn’t answer. “So it was important, I guess.”

Marluxia continued to stay quiet, then finally shifted forward, arms resting on his knees as his head drooped. Finally, very quietly, he asked, “How do you do it?”

“Do…what?”

“Work so clinically. You didn’t even blink when it came to finishing off the target.”

Larxene’s brow furrowed, and she shrugged. “I dunno. It just…doesn’t bother me?” She looks over him for a moment. “It bothers you a lot, though.”

“No, it…I mean…” He let out a sharp breath as he held his hooded head. “It shouldn’t. It hasn’t before, but in the other missions, our target was already lost to the darkness. This one could have been saved. But we don’t have…guilt now, and we’re doing what we must to regain what we lost. It shouldn’t matter what he was on the cusp of. But…” He curled into himself, so tense his arms trembled, and his voice dropped to a whisper. “But I kept hearing someone as I was about to deal the final blow. Just…‘what happened’ and ‘good and kind’ over and over and I couldn’t…”

The shaky breath he let out was far from emotionless. But Larxene wasn’t going to tell him that. Instead, she plucked a flower from the wardrobe, lightly running her gloved finger over the edges of its petals as she thought.

“I bet you were good,” she said quietly. “Before this.”

The hood looked up. “Clearly I was not.”

“Maybe not by the time you lost your heart, but I bet you were before.” Larxene traced the delicate veins in one of the petals, then sharply plucked it away. “I don’t think I was. But I don’t think I was bad, either. Just…I didn’t care.” She continued plucking away, petals dropping onto her boots. “I don’t care who it is we’re getting. We could…go after one of those Princesses of Heart and I’d be fine zapping her heart right out. If anything, I’d want them to put up a fight just so it wouldn’t be so boring.” The last petal fell, and she was left twirling the now sagging remains of the flower between her fingers, only looking up when Marluxia pulled off his hood.

“Help me,” he said quietly, still looking at the ground.

“What?”

“I don’t want to hear that voice again.” His hands curled into fists against his thighs. “I’m starting to see what I need to do to get us ahead of Xemnas. As Nobodies, we have a unique capacity to do what we need to without letting emotions get the better of us. What I’m fighting is the memory of emotion, and if I’m weak to it, I’ll slip and be destroyed.” He looked up at her, emotionless mask breaking as desperation filled his face. “That can’t happen. So help me, Larxene.”

Larxene pressed her lips together, then glanced away. “It’s not something I can teach,” she said, dropping the stem to the ground. She set the toe of her boot over it, crushing it down into the stone floor. After a moment, her eyes flicked up. “But we’re partners. If you can do what you did with the last target, I can finish the job.” She half-smiled. “Maybe we’ll even rub off on each other with enough time–though you’ll have to kill me yourself if I start doing a bullshit lecture on the nature of light and darkness.”

Clearly, Marluxia was still shaken, because he actually smiled at that. She’d wondered, idly, what it would look like if he ever actually did, and what really shocked her was that she felt as if she’d seen it before.

“You gave me hope for the first time since St–”

She shook her head as another half-memory played in her mind, playing it off by going to drop down onto Marluxia’s bed.

“Anyway, I still expect a thanks for saving your ass.You can do the report for both of our missions. Try not to be too wordy in mine.”

-----------

It was already claustrophobic the first time they’d used the lifeboats, but now they felt like a tomb. “Let your heart be your guiding key,” Union Leader Brain had said, as if it could be a comfort after being told that she was going to be launched off to a place and time that he didn’t even know. Her heart couldn’t even guide her in Daybreak Town.

“I’m sorry.” The voice beside her was as soft as ever, nearly drowned out by Brain’s frantic typing. “This isn’t much of a thank you for helping me, is it?”

She let out a strained little laugh. What an understatement. She swallowed as a hand reached into her lifeboat, the angle awkward. Almost instinctively, she grabbed it, squeezing hard.

“Are you scared?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Don’t be. You’ll have a friend out there, even if we’re far apart, and hearts have a funny way of leading us back to each other.” His hand squeezed hers tightly. “So thank you, Elrena, for being my friend. I’ll see you again soon.”

She swallowed, eyes starting to sting, and her voice shook as she whispered back, “See you, Lauriam.”

The lifeboats’ hydraulics gave a hiss, and the hand pulled away just before the lids came to shut over them again. She heard a great crash, and the building shook hard enough to throw her around the lifeboat. The last thing she felt was her head slamming against the door, and then she was swallowed up by the dark.

-----------

Marluxia didn’t look at her.

His eyes–golden, like hers were now–were fixed on the horizon, and he was silent as she stepped onto the rock tower beside his. Before, she would have been able to greet him first, possibly rib him for standing oh so dramatically in the desert sun. But things weren’t the same now.

Xemnas–Xehanort–whoever the bastard was had taken her heart, as promised, and she was Larxene again. But there was something…odd in her brain now; rather than the half-memories she’d been plagued by, she was distinctly aware of thoughts that didn’t belong to her. A desperate need to tap into Kingdom Hearts, a near-manic desire to collect the Thirteen Pieces of Darkness and Seven Pieces of Light, a hunger for power unimaginable–all of those were definitely not from her.

It was annoying, being privy to some geezer’s thoughts. But what was worse was that this time, she remembered. She knew who she had been, she knew what she had been like. And she was willing to bet it was the same for everyone in the Real Organization.

So now, they weren’t just Larxene and Marluxia; no matter how much she wished she could ignore it, they were Elrena and Lauriam as well, and the old timidity of being near her superior stilled her tongue and tightened her throat.

“So, why are you back?” His voice was soft and flat, same as ever.

There was a brief moment where Larxene wanted to scream. Why else would she be back? Did he think she wanted to be a…a heart tank for a megalomaniac old man? Her lack of a heart, at least, managed to temper her.

“Nice way to greet your old partner in crime.”

Marluxia puffed out a breath, lips curving up, but he stayed silent. Internally, Larxene felt her stomach flip. Even as Elrena, she’d never been in the situation of being with a long-lost friend. Was he content enough not to say anything? Was he unhappy to see her, considering how badly things had ended?

“So why do you think the old geezer took us back?” Her tone was playful instead of strained, but that was a difficult trick even without actual emotions. “He must know we backstabbed the Organization when Xemnas was running it.”

“Xehanort doesn’t care about you or me.” Why wasn’t he looking at her? “To him, we’re nothing more than empty husks.” Why didn’t he look at her? “The old Organization was the same. Xehanort needs thirteen vessels to hold his essence.”

So many questions bubbled up in her throat. How did he find this out? Had he known this when he agreed to come back? Were they still…whatever they were before? Why wasn’t he looking at her?

“Husks? Not me,” was what came out instead, flighty and playful. Elrena hid behind aloofness; Larxene, it seemed, hid behind being flippant. Had she ever noticed that while she was in the Organization? She set her hand on her hip, giving Marluxia a smile. “You up for another coup?”

“Oh please,” came another voice before Marluxia could answer, and Larxene whirled around to sneer at Demyx. He had golden eyes, too; lucky for him, because otherwise she would have eviscerated him for getting in the way. But the damage was done; her temper got the better of her as she berated the others as they appeared, and any attempt at digging deeper with Marluxia was gone.

And when they all stepped away, he hadn’t looked at her once the entire time.

#kingdom hearts #fic #fanfic #larxene #marluxia #elrena #lauriam #organization xiii #friends

11 notes · View notes

imagine-organization-xiii · 4 years

Note

How clingy are our org members with a s/o?

Another one from Sam who did this when shE SHOULD HAVE BEEN SLEEPING

Xemnas - In the public eye, Xemnas does not enjoy mundane physical displays of affection minus the occasional touch. But that does not mean that he isn’t clingy. In fact, Xemnas prefers to have his S/O in his sight at all times. He doesn’t like losing sight of them. And when you’re home alone, he quite likes allowing you to rest your head in his lap and running his fingers through your hair and massage your scalp.

Xigbar - Oh man if you are within grabbing distance, Xigbar's hands will be all over you. Around your waist, over your shoulder, on your ass, don't worry those grubby mitts get around. As much as Xigbar likes acting like a big man on the block with a pretty thing on his arm, there is also something about having the physical touch that he longs for. Not that he would ever admit it.

Xaldin - He is not aloof, but Xaldin often is not a ‘clingy’ type of partner during the day. He often had a busy schedule planned out including completing his missions and actively training in his off time. And while you sometimes were welcome to join, this was often a solo activity. But after a hot shower to wash away the grime of his day, Xaldin quite loves curling into a soft bed with his partner and holding them close under the blankets. It is a very quiet affair, often involving Xaldin resting his head on your chest or stomach while you read a book and stroke his cheek with a free hand, but it is certainly your favorite part of the day.

Vexen - Vexen is, if anything, entirely self sufficient in this regard. He does not feel the need to cling to his S/O. He trusts you, and knows that you are not going to wonder too far, in fact, he almost encourages you to wander off if he is particularly engrossed in his work. However, in the few off hours where he is not in his lab, Vexen likes to try and make up for his aloofness with small acts of affection like rubbing your shoulders or scratching your head.

Lexaeus - At first, you thought that Lexaeus with his deep silence, was fairly independent and wasn’t much for clinging. But as you grew closer and more intimate, you started to notice how often Lexaeus liked being in the same room as you when he wasn’t off on his own duties. He commonly would appear in the Kitchen or common room some time after you were already there and use the space in some capacity. Sometimes you conversed, sometimes not, but no matter the situation, you tended to really like when Lexaeus appeared to make your day a little brighter. It wasn’t until one conversation with Saix that you found out how often Lexaeus would return from a mission and immediately ask where you likely would be. When you brought it up to him, he didn’t say anything at first other than his face flushing red but admitted to how much he longed to spend his free time with you but didn’t want to be a burden. From that moment on, you both agreed to just plan where to meet at the end of the day, and it was wonderful.

Zexion - Growing up in a castle full of very busy adults, Zexion is usually fine with being on his own. If he has a good book or a task to complete, he usually has no problems. However, he also has found that completing these tasks with you by his side is immensely more enjoyable than doing them alone. So more often than not, Zexion likes to ask for your company while doing chores around the castle or simply when he retreats to the library to read. Does he need you there, lest he stop breathing? Well, no. But he has certainly grown spoiled to the great joy he feels when he is with you, even in utter silence.

Saix- Saix is not a man of physical affection in the presence of others, but also is possibly the most clingy of the organization. The man almost refuses to allow you out of his sight if he can help it, and when you are away, he becomes incredibly irritable and on-edge until you return. He also is one for leaving love bites visible so others see that you are spoken for.

Axel - Oh man you know this boy loves throwing his long-ass arms over his S/Os shoulders!! Walking through Twilight Town is always a treat with his arm pulling you close into his side as you step through the busy streets. Sometimes you even like to bump into him with your hips and it quickly devolves into a hip checking contest, or you end up sneaking a hand around to jab him in his ticklish sides. Everything seems to become a game of some sort, and most of the others just think this sickening sweetness is gross.

Demyx - Oh man, this boy.. Demyx is not one for traditional boyfriend clinginess, like draping his arm over your shoulders, or PDA. No no. Instead, Demyx often is found running to you like you are his mother hen, crying out to you for help or for a moment of your attention. “Y/N!! Check out this new song I’ve been working on!” “Y/N! Please explain to Roxas that cereal is a SOUP.” “Y/N!! Xigbar keeps shooting me!!!” Needless to say, it’s never a dull moment!

Luxord - Luxord LOVES toting you around as his beloved love, bringing you to different corners of the universe and showing you everything each world has to offer. And when you are amidst your travels, Luxord tends to make sure you never leave his gaze for fear of anything that can happen to you. But when you are in the safety of the castle, Luxord is much more at ease and clings to you less than he would in other circumstances, though he quite loves delivering surprise pinches to your bum when you’re not looking. Wherever you may be in all the worlds, that is something he never tires of.

Marluxia - Marluxia, though you may not expect it, is actually pretty independent when it comes to clinging to his S/O. He knows not to possess them and fully trusts his S/O wherever they may be. And on top of that, he knows that you have important things to take care of as well. But of course, when you come back to him, whether it be from a long time away or even after not seeing each other all day, Marluxia makes sure that your reunion is sweeter than any other pleasure on his earth. The moment you return back to his sights, his gaze softens immediately. And the moment he pulls you into his embrace, you feel as though you could fall into his arms and melt into him; as if his being and your own melded into one. Like two halves into a whole.

Larxene - When in public, Larxene tries extremely hard to not cling to her partner. She is independent. She doesn’t need anyone. In fact, the only time she may cling to you in the presence of others is literally to show off. Once you two are alone, however, she still tries to act like she doesn’t need you, but certainly follows you around, waiting for you to get close to her. But if you bring it up at all, she will vehemently deny it. But if you just come up to her without a word and just hold her? She will absolutely melt into you and love every second of it, just never bring it up, or she will punch you.

Roxas - At the beginning stages of your relationship, Roxas will likely avoid clinging to you too much to give you your space and not seem overbearing. But as you two grow closer and closer together, small displays of affection like holding hands and gently hugs become more and more common. So common in fact, that other members ( Xigbar) will start to tease Roxas for always being your shadow. And you don’t mind that! But you tell Xigbar to fuck off anyway.

Xion - oh man Xion loves to cling to her S/O. She just adores being close to them, and the feeling of having someone she loves in her grasp. She often is found wrapping her arms around her S/O by the waist and pressing her face into their back or shoulder or just holding their hand in hers. Its just.. NICE to be held. And she loves every second of it.

#nopantssaturday #angst headcanons #organization xiii headcanons #kingdom hearts headcanon

86 notes · View notes

shortredselfships · 3 years

Text

Selfshiptober Day 3: Formal

Prompt from @bee-ships

Pair: Xemnas x Xalya

It's been three months since Xalya was inducted into the Organization as its fifteenth member. Since then, there were four revelations that came to the forefront.

First, Xalya was just a regular person with a strong personality and will. So she had absolutely no idea what was going on, what exactly Heartless are, or the concept of Kingdom Hearts. Fortunately, she's a quick learner.

Second, she wasn't underage. In fact, she's old enough to drink, participate in politics, and has had advanced schooling. Several members found out what college was that day. Thanks, Vexen.

Third, following up with the schooling part, she may not be familiar with the way their worlds worked, but she was by no means stupid. Actually, she's about as smart as she looks. Which means, she makes logical conclusions that Xemnas can't afford to let her experiment with. Not if The Plan was to go as scheduled.

And finally: She did not like him. Now normally, this would not be of any concern to him but even Marluxia and Larxene interact with him, even if it is on a surface level of politeness. With him, No. XV is formal, polite, but cold. It would be fine if she was like this with everyone, similar to Saïx. But no.

"No. XV, a word." Xalya was with Demyx and Axel, talking about something or the other. He turned to head back to the Round Room, but not without hearing both men snicker and jeer.

"Ooh, someone's in trouble~!"

"Would you like to be buried or cremated, Xalya? Shall I call your next of kin?" (What he didn't see, was Xalya mouth "fuck you" to Demyx and Axel while they were walking away.)

"Sir, did I do something wrong?"

"No, but I have several questions about your behavior. It seems your memories have come back to you in these past few weeks. Knowing now that you are a being with no emotion, why do you still operate as your old self?"

"I... have absolutely no context for any of this so I am going to stick with "I don't know, I've never been part of a cult before". And in the absence of having a heart, my memories help me navigate this new life based off similar situations in my past."

"We are not a cult." For a moment, he sees her smile a little. She's been around Xigbar too much.

"Okay."

"This is the most informal you have been since we met. Is there an issue we must sort out?"

"Huh?" That sounds less like a huh and more like a duck call. He looks down at her as he finally makes it plain.

"Do you dislike me?" Xalya looked around as if she cannot believe she just heard that.

"No...? Do you want me to like you?" Xemnas says nothing. "I mean, you're my boss, more or less. I'm not supposed to get attached. The people who tell you what to do are not your friends. Learned that the hard way. Besides, it's not like we have emotions to even try getting attached, right?"

"That is correct."

"If you're not a jerk, I might crack a joke or two to you in particular. Until then, I will maintain this be as... whatever this is, as possible."

#self ship #selfshiptober #shot in the dark; xemnas x xalya

4 notes · View notes

sheep-sorbet · 3 years

Note

These are... a lot I’m so sorry I just have a lot of feelings

-I think Zexion and Xemnas acting like siblings is absolutely hilarious. Xem is serious superior man until the rest of the org leaves and then he tries to gently bludgeon Zex because the bastard threw a book at his head earlier

-Zexion was the only one not afraid of Larxene who had her grudging respect-He can shoot a gun. He was raised by Braig.

-He can use a sword. He was raised by Dilan.-Ever since he was little, he was fascinated by weird creatures and would bring them home. Even drew the line at the giant snake (he hated the spiders equally though). He still does this at 20-something only now the warriors of light are in on it and they’ll occasionally bring him even weirder things

-no he doesn’t experiment on them he just thinks they’re Neat

-Zexion occasionally comes out in Ienzo’s personality, usually when he’s mad at one of the apprentices. He’s very petty.

-Even as Ienzo, he can be really unsettling sometimes. He can just kinda... snap to being happy and pleasant at a moments notice and his smile never wavers... he moves like a predator even if he does his best to mask it. And yet he’s still really easy to let your guard down around

-he was raised in an emotionless cult and it shows. He’s just... off. And absolutely despises showing ANY weakness (I mean, he was the smallest, physically weakest, youngest member in the org practically his whole life). He will walk on a broken leg without giving anything away and it’s driving the apprentices insane

-He is the apprentice’s secretary at this point. Everyone always go to him when they need something because the others are... themselves

-he doesn’t put up with any of the apprentices bs. If one of them is being rude, he will absolutely grab them by the ear and drag them off, size difference be damned

And finally, consider: Ienzo accidentally adopting a bunch of gremlins (Vanitas, Repliku & 3ku). By that I mean they follow him around everywhere and hiss at people and Ienzo’s just like “yeah they’re not socialized yet but I’m working on it :)” and 3ku bites his arm

DO NOT APOLOGIZE THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I ASKED FOR :D 💙

-i never considered the idea that they'd act like siblings; i personally always thought ienzo (or ig zexion, at the time) would have.... secretly harbored a grudge, now that i think about it. he remained as close as possible to xemnas, both because he wanted to keep an eye on his actions, but perhaps also because a part of him truly believed in what xemnas was doing, reaching for. after all, he was the only one freaked out when the org13 members started killing each other - it must have been jarring because at that point, that was the closest thing he had to a family. he wasn't close to everyone, and certainly not as a nobody- but he WAS manipulated by xemnas, and i feel like once things started going bad, the rose-colored glasses came off, so to speak, and he probably realized just how badly he'd been deceived. of course, that was only the beginning, too ;_;)

-yeah, there's no way he was afraid of larxene. annoyed by her attitude and upset with her eventual betrayal/plan to overthrow the organization, but never scared of her. in fact, i'd argue ienzo wasn't scared of anybody in the organization until vexen was assassinated.

-either he CAN use normal weapons like guns and swords and just chose to use a fucking book instead, OR he can't use any traditional weapons and got a book as consolation. i can't tell what's funnier honestly

- WEIRD 👏 KID 👏 IENZO 👏 yessss. i love the idea that he'd sneak off for however long and by the time anyone noticed he'd gone missing they'd find him on his way back with some sort of fucking creature. and now that i think about it, that would explain why he didn't seem to be afraid of the heartless at all in BBS- at that point he'd likely not seen one yet, and must simply have thought it was another fun creature to put in a box and watch SHSJHAHAJS

-hm, i personally think it's less like zexion "comes out" in his personality, and more that they're the same person, and that any habits he formed as zexion were/are hard to shake. if you play/watch in japanese, you see he's actually rather polite, even as a nobody; and is VERY good at hiding snark behind faux politeness.

-HDMSNMSFNNSNDG "sorry even i'd love to help you, unfortunately i'm in a call with sora right now because SOMEBODY WOULDN'T ANSWER HIS PHONE"

-i personally see it less as him being unsettling, and more like it's just very blatant that he spent his entire adolescence being gaslit to believing he couldn't feel anything and is now learning how to deal with emotions for...... the first time in his life, cuz he wasn't exactly expressive as a kid, either. his emotions, when he's able to stop dissociating for 5 seconds, are probably all over the place. i agree with you tho that he can put up a mask like it's nothing- but others would probably find that more concerning than scary.

-idrk what you mean by "moves like a predator"- he's analytical for sure, and hyper-aware of his surroundings most times, and that may be unsettling for other at times. deep down the other apprentices + ansem know it's a trauma response, and probably blame themselves for it. especially now that he knows that literally ALL of the people closest to him lied, tricked him and used him, for basically his entire life..... trusting, being comfortable, is hard for him. but he tries his best, and deptite his inherent pettiness, almost disallowes himself to be upset by it or hold it against them. he struggles a lot with guilt and he knows the rest of them do, too. he doesn't understand that it's okay to be in pain, and feels just as responsible as he feels they were- so it provably feels, to him, that if he were to deny them forgiveness or even allow himself doubt, then he'd be a hypocrite for wanting that same forgiveness. i can personally see lea making some sort of fuss about the way ienzo was treated as a kid and ienzo to actually be the one to tell him to shut it. but..... more on that later ¬w¬

-it took me a moment to remember who tf 3ku is and jfc there as so many rikus so fucking many. so many. but also he'd be an awful babysitter and they'd all love him for it GNDMDNF

#long post #THANK U FOR ALL THE THOUGHTS..... much to think about #ienzo #zexion #kingdom hearts #answered #asks #sheep speak #also sorry if it seems like im disagreeing w u a lot!! everyone has their own hc's and it's valid i just also have thought about him So Much #and my thoughts. they need to go SOMEWHERE

19 notes · View notes

razorblade180 · 4 years

Note

Ok I gotta ask this now since I just saw your post. How would you have written ddd and kh3 to make it a tighter more impactful plot? (Also would love to know how you would write narusaku or any other naruto ship

[please comment below. This took so much time and it would suck if no one read this😭💀]

I can already tell this will go beyond the line limit so buckle up everyone. We’re only focusing on KH right now. Let’s start with DDD

Dream Drop Distance

Let’s get the major change out of the way, Kairi is on this adventure. Why? Because there’s two previous games where they express how she wants to actively help and KH2 has lines of her saying she refused to be left behind anymore. This works out just fine for Yen Sid, since this test is supposed to be a relatively safe. Sora and Riku are officially taking their mark of mastery exam but for Kairi, this serves as a hands on learning course. Going the sleeping worlds together for them to learn proper keyblade wielding sounds perfectly fine. All three get out on the island, fight Ursula in the tutorial, and then Xehanort starts his shenanigans just like in the game. Here’s the difference! Sora and Kairi are still together, while Riku still accidentally dives into Sora’s dreams.

Immediately the trio would know something isn’t quite right but the only option is press on start figuring things out while completing their task from Yen Sid. This is where gameplay is now a bit different. You play as Sora with one dream eater and Kairi as your support characters while Riku plays the same. The drop system is still the same everything. Sora and Kairi go through worlds together and get to interact. At the beginning Kairi doesn’t know much but gains abilities/confidence as you progress. Sora ends up serving as a mentor for her and guides her through the troubles of going on your first adventure. It’s a good way to put Sora in a more mature role. He’s forced to keep his wits about in order to keep Kairi safe because he doesn’t know the organization is actually after him.

We get a couple of scenes of Kairi getting better and helping Sora through the worlds which still play out the same basically. Bad guys show up and say mysterious things before leaving and the two deal with Disney problems. Riku’s doesn’t change at all because. Things only start to get really different after Symphony of Sorcery. Young Xehanort shows up at the very end of it and goes after Kairi to bait Sora into rushing to save her. Sora ends up getting hurt in the process and Young Xehanort kidnaps him here and immediately leaves before Kairi can do anything. She’s now angry at herself for not being able to apply what Sora had taught her when it truly mattered. She couldn’t protect him or herself. Kairi almost wants to give up but meow-wow lifts her spirits and she finds the resolve to fight before. Sora would never give up, especially when it came to saving his loved ones. Kairi is now a playable character and able to do all the commands that aren’t character exclusive. His dream eaters stick around and become her party members.

You go through The World That Never Was as her back in KH2 attire, fighting her way through it and she’s the one that gets told how the organization has been tracking them and all the other plot things; including why they want Sora. Kairi ends up being the one to have to fight Xemnas and even though she’s outclassed, she’s gonna give him all she’s got. On Riku’s side he sees all the weird dream imagery in Sora’s head since he’s in Sora’s dreams with the added glimpse of Kairi trying her best against Xemnas; motivating him even further to hurry up and make it to her. He still confronts Ansem and makes peace with himself. Riku finally makes it out of Sora’s dreams but retains his dream eater powers like in the game and rushes to help Kairi. He makes it half way through the fight and Kairi tells Riku to back her up. The two of them fight together with you still playing as Kairi and manage to push him back. Riku is extremely surprised by her progress and both of them go together to save Sora because he knows telling her to stay back is not an option. Riku and Kairi both fight Young Xehanort together.

Everything is mostly the same after that in terms of plot and everything that happens in the cutscenes. Including Axel showing up. Riku convinces Kairi to stay when he jumps back into Sora’s dreams, telling her someone has to make sure everything goes fine in the real world and that person has to be her. Riku comes back out after is boss fight and those cutscenes and he sees those two slackers having a tea party. Yen Sid commends all three for their bravery, especially Kairi. He also apologizes. Riku gets named a master, Sora doesn’t. Sora thankd his friends and told Kairi he was proud of her before he left to go thank the dream eaters. Even though she did well, Kairi knew without Riku, the dream eaters, or Sora, she wouldn’t have lasted as long as she did. She wanted to be strong enough to protect herself and others. So Kairi asked Yen Sid if she could have further training. Yen Sid told her and Lea about the dimension where they could train and they both accepted. Riku asked what he should do now and then the 0.2 conversation happens off screen. Boom, DDD rolls it’s credits.

Kingdom Hearts 3 [internal screaming]

Okay! So I gotta tackle this one a little different. First of all, let’s live in a world where ReMind came apart of KH3 (as it should’ve) now let’s put the cutscene between Luxord and Xigbar where it belongs at the beginning of the game, and then let’s put the cutscenes of MoM/ the organization discussing the members somewhere in in middle of the game. Like after Monsters Inc. Because that information had no reason to be hidden. It reveals nothing, but explains how people are back which is important. This knowledge doesn’t even spoil the Luxu reveal!

Second, I have to explain my two major problems that really hurt this game for me. Plot pacing and only setting things up halfway or not at all. So I’m going to tell you what changes narritive and gameplay wise I would’ve changed. Then I’ll go through the game including those changes.

Sora getting his power robbed consequence will be in every world and weigh on him.

The time characters get rescued/revealed

Ventus and Roxas’s heart influence

Isa’s plan

Aqua’s trauma

Xion, Vexen, and Demyx appearances.

Multiple playable characters.

Kairi and Lea contributions.

Also if I don’t mention something then assume it happened just like in the game.

Okay, let’s get started at Olympus. Everything is the same except one thing that I will continue to do for the other worlds. Sora will try to be proactive in stopping an Organization member, triggering a 1v1 boss fight. He’ll fight Xigbar and lose so bad that his friends have to save him. This puts in perspective that Sora really has lost his powers and is frustrated about it. This will do two things. One of them is make him slowly get more upset when someone brings up him failing the exam, being a half pint, or not being able to do things on his own. I’ll come back to the second thing later. Sora is order to continue to gain the power of waking while leaving finding Aqua to Mickey and Riku.

Twilight Town is also basically the same. However, the Demon Tide really roughs him up. Ansem and Xemnas bring up how they hope Roxas didn’t get this weak as well just to anger him. Sora wants to put them in their place but is convinced not to by Donald and Goofy. Now he’s doubting himself internally a little. Also Merlin shows up now instead of later. The trio bump into him and He tells Sora that Lea and Kairi actually are almost done training because they trained in a place where time didn’t matter. The moment they went in should’ve technically they came out but I’m being generous. Sora is shocked to realize his short time at Olympus might’ve equaled months of training for Kairi or even longer.

Toy Box is the same with the addition of fighting Young Xehanort and losing to him before a gigas piloted by his friends intervene. We still get the comment about putting hearts into vessels of their pleasing. When the world is over Kairi calls to tell him she’s finishing training and wants to see him back at Yen Sid’s tower.

Kairi and Lea are both really jazzed about how strong they’ve gotten and ready to help. Before they do, Kairi asks for a friendly spar against Sora. While he does win, he is amazed by how strong she’s gotten. Kairi comments on how she’s still lacking the real battle experience and skill he’s gain over time and he actually starts to feel better, until she asks if she could go to a world with him to get it. He wouldn’t mind it if wasn’t for one thing, he’s worried he might not be enough to save her if she needs help. Not with all his strength gone. He keeps this to himself and Kairi and Lea end up tagging along to Kingdom of Corona. On this world you get the option to be Sora with Rapunzel Flynn has mandatory party members and the choice to choose Kairi and Lea or Donald and Goofy; Or you can play as Kairi which automatically makes the party during gameplay Flynn, Rapunzel, Sora, and Lea. This works out fine because half this world has Rapunzel and Flynn leave your party so the other two characters can fill in during those sections.

So the Disney plot in this world doesn’t have to change one bit. The changes that happen all occur with all the Kingdom hearts characters. For example, Marluxia now meets Sora, Lea, Kairi, Donald and Goofy when he first reveals himself. We get sassy and rude dialogue between Marluxia and Lea about being alive and who’s actually the traitor this time around. Lea can also fill Sora in on CoM since no one does it. What makes this scene important is the moment Marluxia directs his attention towards Kairi, she starts getting really nervous and Namine’s voice comes out unexpectedly, telling him to stay back. It’s Namine who’s actually nervous, terrified even. Sora might not have the memories, but the entire exchange is enough for his heart to remember the intense desire to protect Namine from Marluxia. Sora and Lea get in between the two. Marluxia only looks at everyone and can’t help but get a little nostalgic. “The more things change, the more they stay the same. Except for one...” he says that vague response referring to how Lea and Rikuplica switching sides, then he leaves.

The next major change is Soar and Kairi spend time at the festival together and share a moment during the lantern scene. It’s at this time Sora expresses the doubt he has to protect her and the others with his current strength. Kairi tells Sora that he can do anything he puts his mind to and to never lose that smile of his. She tells him how they will protect each other and that his heart will never steer him wrong. This touching moment is ruined when Donald screams off camera. The Nobodies shown up. Everyone quickly jumps into action when another hooded figure appears. Sora goes off to pursue them triggering Lea to follow him. Sora is evenly matched with the figure back and then hood falls off. It’s Xion. Immediately seeing her causes an intense reaction from Roxas’s heart that screws up Sora in the fight and he his taken out by her. Xion planned to take him but Lea intervenes, causing both of them to get a painful reaction to each other. Marluxia shows up to retrieve Xion, who was sent there for a test run and leaves Axel in pain because Kairi caught up to protect both of them despite the fear from earlier. All he can see is Namine finally taking a real stand against him before finally going. Sora wakes up that morning on the outskirts of the kingdom where he sees Flynn riding Maximus with Lea still out of commission. Donald and Goofy looked after him while Kairi helped resuce Flynn. He tells Sora about what’s happened to Rapunzel and they all go rushing to the tower, except for Kairi who’s understandably tired, and chooses to look after Lea since he’s also still recovering. The rest of the world stays the same.

Sora and the gang try collecting their thoughts and info while in the gummi ship. So many things were happening so fast. Sora tried to apologize to Lea and Kairi but they told him there was no need. They end up going to Yen Sid again for answers to things like the new seven princesses. While there, Donald ends up taking another jab at Sora for still not having the power of waking. Sora actually gets fed up this time around, frustrated with himself mainly. He yells how he’s doing the best he can and it’s not like Donald is being of any real help either. Sora claims that he can do this on his own and takes off to the Gummi Ship before anyone could really get a word in.

Monster Inc ends up being the next world he finds himself in but not by choice. Sora had been so worked up he had forgotten the ship ran on smiles and crash landed to the nearest world. That’s not all, Kairi had actually manage to sneak aboard by surprise. Now he felt bad about endangering her but didn’t get to apologize before Kairi bonked him on the head. She reminded Sora about their conversation on the pier and expressed how determined she was to knock Sora out of his funk. They’d be stranded here otherwise. Through all of that it slipped their minds that they were monsters now and decide to look around. One thing that immediately stirred something within Kairi’s memories was the unversed which convinced them that this place was now definitely worth looking around. The plot points of this world are pretty much the same. As you go through the factory making Boo laugh. Sora is also gaining his cheerfulness back and opening up more to Kairi about how down this situation had gotten him. He was happy she was here to cheer him up. Vanitas shows up and still gets thrown through doors. Sora wonders about his desire to save Aqua so quickly stems from the possibility of Ventus’s heart sleeping in his. Kairi tells Sora about how Namine’s heart reacted to Marluxia which only made his thought more valid. He tells Kairi how he really thinks he can save her and Kairi agrees, but tells Sora it would be easier with more people. He needed to make up with Donald and to some extent, Goofy. As if on que the gummi phone rings with Chip and Dale telling Sora that they’ve lost trace of Riku and Mickey in the Realm of Darkness. What’s worse is Donald and Goofy acted rashly at the news and took Yen Sid’s star shard, sending them to who knows where. It was possible that they actually got sent to the Realm of Darkness! Sora calls Ienzo to ask if he knows a way there but he only knows about the corridors of darkness.

Kairi tells Sora that he really is connected to Ventus then maybe he can open a gate. Even if he can’t, Sora’s connection with his friends might do something. He just has to do what he did to get to Olympus. Sora opened a gate that brought him and Kairi back to Destiny Islands where they found Donald and Goofy. More importantly, an unfimiliar keyblade. Sora uses it to create a door and heads off. The others try to follow him but he tells them that they need to stay behind just in case. He also apologizes for his outburst which prompts Donald and Goofy to apologize for not seeing how much the teasing was getting to him. Kairi tells him to be safe and Sora smiles truthfully. He just has to believe in himself like she said. He can do this. Sora goes through the door.

Sora drops right in the middle of the Riku vs Aqua fight and things play out normally until the halfway point where the darkness in her becomes almost too much for Sora. Just like with Vanitas, Ventus’s heart starts to react to seeing Aqua in such a state. Suddenly Sora summons Master’s Defender again and holds it back handed. Aqua is left shocked, she can only see the friend she promised to wake up. With a heavy heart she manages to ask for help and Sora nods. You play the remainder of the fight with attacks and even a command style used by Ventus. He’s calling the shots now. You beat Aqua and she gets saved. Everyone’s happy, everyone’s crying.

Aqua takes Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Kairi to go wake up Ven while Riku and Mickey rest up. Sora gets more strange feelings at the sight of Castle Oblivion. He can’t help but think of Namine, as well as fuzzy memories of Marluxia and a few other people but he keeps it to himself. Aqua remakes the Land of Departure and they make their way to Ven. Vanitas shows up and Aqua challenges him alone. Instead of her loosing because she blocked a fireball with her body, We get Aqua losing because she’s still very tired and the PTSD she has from the realm of darkness. Everyone panics. Sora activates the power of waking to wake Ventus (I’ll cry when he thanks Sora) and he saves Aqua. Vanitas leaves.

Everyone regroups at Yen Sid’s tomorrow again. Finally, progress is being made in collecting guardians. Ventus and Aqua need more time to recover and choose to rest. Kairi keeps them company to learn more about them, her past, skills, and also take a break. All this adventure has gotten her really exhausted. Mickey goes looking for Ansem the Wise and Sora manages to convince Riku to tag along with him. Maybe they’ll find Terra? Onward to frozen!

Sora and the gang meet else Elsa and Riku empathizes with not being able to control power and being scared of hurting people close to him. Sora emphasizes with Anna when it comes wanting to help someone important to you but they keep running away and create things that make it harder to reach them. It’s one big moment of reflection and growth in this world. Larxene still shows up and Sora knows her by name surprisingly. The feelings of anger he gives her is all he needs to know that she cannot be allowed to do whatever she pleases. He tries stopping her but fails. He’s not too upset though. His previous accomplishments and encouraging words from Kairi push him forward. Unknowingly, Vexen shows up and has an argument with Larxene. She complains about why he’s heat and he tells her that he heard memories are extremely malleable here (trolls) and he’s come to look into it before leaving Larxene to her own devices. Elsa starts really thinking her powers are nothing but darkness but Riku convinces her otherwise. Elsa thanks him but that moment of weakness creates the boss of this world. Sora and Riku fight it with Snowball while Elsa goes to save Anna. Things work themselves out the same from there. Riku and Sora feel closer than ever and Riku tells Sora he’s a master in his own right which makes Sora’s day. Vexen got valuable data.

Ventus finally felt like his body was used to moving again and was ready to start getting back in the swing of things, but Aqua was still feeling down. The guilt of taking so long and trauma was weighing on her heart. Kairi tried everything to cheer her up but nothing helped. Kairi has no choice but to pull out the big guns. She called Sora. Through lot of persuading, he convinced her to tag along with him and Ventus to go traveling with him to get them up to speed. Part of the agreement was Riku and Kairi go finding more clues about Terra’s whereabouts so they stayed behind. Checking Radiant Garden again seemed like a good idea. Kairi hadn’t been so it would kill two birds with one stone.

Pirates world was next on the list. This time we there’s four organization members! Luxord goes looking for the box and Demyx is forced to help because Isa wants him to prove his worth or why even be around? They’re on the water so he should be decent muscle. Vexen is intrigued by Davy Jones but also dropped Xion off with Luxord to see if his recent research on memory would have her perform better than earlier. Aqua and Ventus marvel at the stars, thinking of Terra. Sora told the two of them about the first adventure he went on to look for his friends. Sora praises both of them by telling him that he was at least half as skilled as they were back then, telling them that they’ll find Terra way faster than he took finding Riku and Kairi. They came across the waterfall fell. Aqua nearly panicked at the thought of being trapped when they woke up in Davy Jones’s locker but Ventus calmed her down. Sora needed to find a way to build her back up. The plot of this world doesn’t change but gameplay does a little. Ven and Aqua will grant the pirates ship most of its abilities by controlling the wind and sea while Sora navigates. More fights by boat grant them more abilities and gets them back into the swing of things. Ventus and Sora team up during the air skirmish against the flying heartless. This invigorates Aqua not just because she wants to protect them, but they looked like they were having some fun. Yeah they were fighting a heartless but they were doing it together and trusted that they had each other’s back. Aqua had missed that feeling, it had been so long since it wasn’t her vs everything. She quickly got her chance to be apart of a team again in the underwater fight. Her nerves weren’t completely calm but Sora taking her hand and being excited about getting the treasure pushed those feelings away. She had friends again, friends that wanted treasure and to sail the seas with her. How could that not be fun. Sora happily let Aqua take the lead and supported her alongside Ventus.

The crew bumps into Luxord and the black box conversation happens that leads into the race but with the added wager of Luxord willing to tell them about Terra if they win. The race has still has the heartless boats but as well as the water nobodies to personally attack your crew and hinder your abilities. After you win, Luxord still cheats and you have that boss fight. Things change when you board the boat. He still leaves but Demyx and Xion stay behind with some Nobodies to by time. Halfway through the fight, Xion starts clenching her head again and Sora does the same with his chest. Seeing Ventus’s face and feeling Roxas’s presences is just too much. Luxord takes the opportunity of the chaos to nab is companions and attack the ship. Fortunately Aqua was able to protect everyone. Vexen orders Demyx to take Xion back and that he might as well not come back either. Demyx really doesn’t want to face Isa since he was basically told not to comeback without anything useful. So he drops Xion off and plans to avoid him altogether.

After the ship is repaired and Phantom Jack leaves, Aqua takes a minute to think. They were about to head into what sounded like a war. Their fun treasure adventure had turned a serious matter. She confessed that she might not be up to the task. This one, or even the keyblade war. Ventus pulled out his wayfinder and told her even if she decides not to go, she’ll always be fighting beside him as long as he had this. He believed Terra was still fighting and got his strength from them. Aqua pulled out her wayfinder and simply held it to her chest. He wasn’t wrong. All that time in the darkness and a piece of her never felt truly alone as long as she held this. Their unbreakable connection to her friends was something Aqua would never doubt. To top it all off, Sora had remembered he still had Kairi’s good luck charm from before the exams. He said he couldn’t count how many times this simple thing had driven him to keep going. Aqua joined them on the boat. It was only after seeing the other pirates did her resolve really hit its peak. All of them were ready to face staggering odds to fight for what mattered most to them, despite the fear. Aqua was sure of it now, she’d stand with her friends when the fated day came. Aqua raised her keyblade a creates the whirlpool for the Kraken fight. For the first time since she arrived, she looked at Sora and completely immersed herself in the moment. She calls him captain, and says she’s ready whenever he is. He couldn’t be more thrilled and Ventus was happy to see Aqua ready to go. The rest of the world plays out the same all the way until the very end. I would personally add a scene though of three sailing alone for just a little longer. Sora can’t help but think about how this was his dream with Riku and Kairi once. He wondered if is the only one who even rememberers or cares about a thing like this. Suddenly another ship Sails by them. They get ready to fight until they sea a papou fruit flag. Riku and Kairi unexpectedly reveal themselves on it with smiles on their faces. Apparently the gummi phone had really included all of information Jimmy had written. Riku explained that he just knew without question Sora would come here of all places to try and cheer someone up. Riku and Kairi told Aqua they hadn’t found much info on Terra but they did find her armor and keyblade thanks to Kairi’s foggy memory of certain places and Ienzo’s participantion in those lab areas. They all were about to continue their journey but since they were here, something had to be settled. Sora wanted another race to decide who would be captain. Riku laughed and told him they both have ships and that didn’t matter. However, he vaguely mentioned another reason to race, the real reason Sora tried so hard that day on the island. Riku pointed at the symbol on his flag and Sora immediately pouted. He grabbed the wheel of the ship and told Kairi to countdown for the race. No one knew what they were racing for except them and a giggling Kairi, who had a pretty good idea on what it was about. She says go and then the cutscene ends.

Big Hero Six is exactly the same except Sora sees Riku Replica and is pretty sure he’s from castle oblivion. Vexen uses the knowledge Rikuplica favs him about making Baymax filled with suffering so he can fix Xion to her absolute peak. When he’s done, Isa informs him that a Demyx has ran off and orders Vexen to go bring him back. Which is actually code for “good job, now escape while you still can.” Vexen informs him that it would take an extremely strong connection for Xion to have any “unfortunate” memories of the past to resurface. Things play out normally until Zexion meets Ansem the wise. What happens this time? He tells Sora and friends that he’s back with Vexen. (That’s kinda important.)

Everyone rests up for the final battle. The Sora and Kair scene on destiny islands is now longer. Kairi asks if Sora is feeling like his old self again. Sora tells her that he is thanks to her never giving up on her. Both of them get quiet for a moment before Sora speaks again. He does confess that he’s still worried a bit. Every word he went to had one thing or another that ended up being too much for him alone, and couldn’t help but feel like it would’ve been different if he truly regained all of his power. Kairi tells him that he isn’t alone but he shakes his head because she’s missing the point. Sora wasn’t scared of the organization overwhelming him, but he was terrified of that he’d try protecting someone and fail. He admitted he was scared of losing her. Kairi admitted that tomorrow scared her too. Every adventure they went on together was filled with so many enemies and left her exhausted by the end of it. Now she was joining the war. Kairi felt more than a little unprepared despite all the prep she tried squeezing in. Sora tried asking if by any chance at all that she could wait here one more time and she refused outright. No matter how nervous she was about the whole thing, Kairi told Sora that she would never wait again. That they will protect each other no matter what. And for added luck, she hands him a papou fruit. Sora was shocked. Kairi simply smiled and placed it in his hand before grabbing another one. Sora pulled out her good luck charm to give it back but she said it’s basically his at this point. The two smiled gently and finally shared the fruit. You get OathKeeper

Keyblade war time! Woo! This is by far the easiest to put into words. Riku and Kairi are your party members for the 10,000 enemy battle because it’s a literal crime that the Destiny trio didn’t work together. You get past that and Terranort still bodies half the team. Aqua’s resolve starts the crumble as she races to Ven, he isn’t moving at all. Sora is left in a state of disbelief as Goofy and Mickey try getting Donald up, and Kairi checking on Axel. In no time at all, his fear seams to be coming true. They need to regroup. Unfortunately the demon tide appears and blocks the exit. Riku gathers the remaining forces to try and fend it off but seeing Ven taken out by Terra really shook Aqua. We see the shadows turn into Anti-Aquas as the real Aqua starts to slowy panic. She doesn’t even hear the others screaming her name, telling her to look out before Mickey and Goofy try saving her, but they’re all swept up. Now it’s the Destiny Trio vs the Demon Tide in a fight the player is forced to fight, but can’t win. No music plays, just the sound of the fight and the sight of the organization watching from above. Eventually Kairi slips up due to the overwhelming odds. Sora quickly tries to outrun the Demon Tide coming towards her but can’t. Sora screams for Riku’s help but turns to see nothing but his friends hand reaching for him before being swept away. He can’t hold it in anymore, Sora drops to his knees and screams. He wouldn’t have made it this far without all of them, but now they’re gone. Sora drops his keyblade, then is swept away.

He arrives in the final world and gets his task from chirithy. In the beginning he feels so defeated, then encounters Namine. Instead of her telling him that Kairi is keeping him together, Namine says that she can feel everyone connected to him doing their part. Sora has done so much to try and keep everybody safe and spent all this time with them during their adventure that it’s only natural that they would believe in him. Now Sora feels a twinge of guilt, he gave up way too soon. No way he can let that slide. He was going to make it up to them for this second chance. Sora tells Namine about all of these flooding emotions he’s had involving her and everyone else in castle oblivion. Namine is genuinely shocked. Despite the chains being broken, Sora retained the key events. He didn’t look at her like he did back in The World That Never Was. Sora had been talking to her like an old friend he hadn’t seen in years. Sora told Namine that he was going to save everyone, including her. He promised that they were going to get her a body and she had to wait just a bit longer. Namine believed him and said she will try to get in contact with Terra. For a moment it felt like Sora could actually see Namine smile at him instead of just being a star. Sora smiled back and told her thank you, for everything. He ran off to do his job. Namine simply watched and tried not to cry. Their promise really found a way for them to meet again in a way she would’ve never dreamed of. Instead of it fading away. You get oblivion.

Before Sora really starts piecing himself together, he encounters the mystery star, and then an extra star. This extra star follows him around and surprises Sora when it reveals himself to be Roxas. He tells Sora he should’ve expected this since Sora was barely hanging on himself! Sora sheepishly apologizes but Roxas isn’t too bothered by it because he knows it’s temporary. What bothers him is Xion. He tells Sora who she is and the reason he feels hurt when they’re around each other is because of Xion’s connection to himself. Roxas asks Sora to face Xion and embrace that hurt so they can save her. Sora agrees but wonders if he can handle it. So far all fights against her didn’t go well. Roxas tells him not to worry. All he needs Sora to do his try his hardest and Roxas will make up the difference. Sora has no doubt Roxas will and thanks him before heading off. Roxas continues to follow you just so you have someone to talk to. Sora puts himself together and opens a gate to go find the others. Chirihy tells Sora that for future reference not to use the power of waking like he’s about to and explains how incredibly dangerous it is. Sora nods and leaves.

Sora beats up The Lich like usual and Young Xehanort calls him dumb. Everyone gets rescued from the cusp of death, now thoroughly frustrated by how sloppy they were. They’re going full throttle this time.(Oblivion obtained!) The team runs towards the fight again. Aqua and Ven are ready for Terranort but Lingering Will beats them to the punch, taking Terranort away as they fight. The Demon Tide arrives again with heartless and you fight it with the Destiny Trio. The fight has custom team attacks and even a trinity limit. You win and it turns into the hurricane again. Union X keyblades show up. (It’s so cool.) Ventus puts his hand on his heart. He feels oddly happy. All the scenes leading up to the boss rush are the same.

Sora and Riku vs Xigbar and Dark Riku goes off without a hitch. Nothing changes with Xigbar but Dark Riku is different. The original Riku Replica takes over the vessel. It’s clear the other’s could use the help and Vexen is on the good guy’s side so they can make more, is his reasoning. The original Riku goes off to chase Ansem while Rikuplica stays with Sora. He tells Sora it’s nice to see him again and Sora couldn’t agree more. The two of them don’t even have to speak to know exactly where to go next. They rush over to help Mickey, swiftly beating Luxord and freeing him so he can go after Xemnas. Suddenly the war feels like an old grudge match. Sora and Rikuplica vs Larxene and Marluxia. The heroes point their weapons at their foes and tell them this one is for Namine. Marluxia is actually happy Sora finally remembers him. It makes this fight all the sweeter. The fight ends with the heroes win, but at a price. Larxene and Rikuplica had struck each other down at the same time. Sora rushes to his friend who was starting to fade. Rikuplica told him not to feel bad about it. He planned on giving up this vessel after the fight anyway. The only reason he took it was to make sure those two wouldn’t hurt Namine and to fight by Sora’s side again at least once. Rikuplica tells Sora to take care of her before fading away, leaving the vessel. Sora finally remembers Castle Oblivion in its entirety. He simply clenches his fist and accepts the hurt before pressing on.

Ventus and Aqua catch up to Vanitas and Terranort. Aqua demands to know what happened to the armor that appeared earlier and Terranort simply laughs. Enraged, Aqua summons Master’s defender and rushes in to fight. Ventus follows her lead and Sora joins in a few minutes later. While that’s happening, Riku rushes through the maze towards Ansem until he hears a familiar voice. It leads him to dark chains that suspend and crush Lingering Will until he cuts them. The armor is cracked but still functioning. He thanks Riku and starts heading off before Riku stops him. Riku hadn’t told Ven and Aqua but he found something else at Radiant Garden. He pulls out Terra’s wayfinder and gives it to the armor. Riku tells him to go protect what matters and heads off. Things aren’t going to well back at the battle. Terranort manages to break Ven’s keyblade and Vanitas rushes in after Aqua as she tries to save Ven. Sora is quick enough to try and take the hit for both of them but Lingering Will swoops in again to save them. They’re all stunned to see him. Terra thanks Sora for looking after his friends but he can take it from here. Sora nods and manages to escape the battle. Terra tries to convince Ven and Aqua to leave too but they flat out ignore him. They pull out their wayfinders and each one starts to glow. Aqua tells Terra from this point forward they fight as a team. She tosses Ven Master’s Defender and summons her original keyblade. Her and Ventus bring out their armor and stand beside Terra. Now the real fight begins. The fight gives you the same team attacks from the Mirage Arena and each character gets their original command style that transforms into their character exclusive one from bbs. Wingblade, Ghost Drive, and Rockbreaker; while Terranort uses Dark impulse and Vanitas loses his mask and fights like he does in the final phase against Ventus. Vanitas is the first to fall. He nearly beat a Ventus until the boy gained a boost of strength from seemingly nowhere, his swords of light turning into starlight keyblades and striking down Vanitas. He simply laughs, giving Ventus no answer to his many questions about Vanitas. The entire wayfinder trio is know souly focused on Terranort. Refusing to give up, the man summons the chains again and captures them. He goes after Aqua first who almost managed to break free. The others scream her and The Guardian rises from the shadows to save her. It breaks the chains and rips off the bandages. Ven quickly uses the keyblade to wrap Terranort in chains while Lingering Will holds his body down for The Gaurdian to fire his heart out. A massive beam of light shoots up before fading and only leaving the armor. Ven and Aqua are speechless until the armor lifts its helmet to reveal Terra underneath in tears. Ven and Aqua throw their helmets off too and ran into their friends arms. All three of them hugging and crying.

Sora runs right into the middle of Saix and Xion fighting Axel and Kairi. Instinctively he screams out Xion’s name and everything goes quiet. Axel is confused by the name until she finally takes off the hood to reveal the white hair and yellow eyes. His memory starts to reform bit by bit and he grabs his head. Sora and Kairi’s chest both feel heavy but for the first time, Xion doesn’t react. Because of all the experiments, the only thing she has is broken memories and the suffering from them. You begin fighting her alone but to no effect. Sora rememberers Roxas’s words and lets in the pain. Xion comes at him again but stops at the sound of her name, this time with Roxas’s voice coming out of Sora. Xion’s head gets a little fuzzy but it doesn’t break the rampage. Kairi and Axel manage to endure the pain as well and stand with Roxas/Sora. If one voice isn’t enough then they’ll all try calling to her as they knock some sense in into her. Sora/Roxas summons Two Become One. The three are ready. It’s now or never. After an intense 3v2 fight, Xion starts to mentally down in the middle of combat. Then the standard cutscene happens where Xemnas shows up. The only difference being Axel’s keyblade doesn’t break. Xemnas grabs Kairi with his lightning instead of her wrist and leaves. Sora tries running after her best Saix gets in the way until the Seasalt trio pushes him back. Roxas tells Sora to go after Kairi and leave this fight to them. Sora runs off and you basically play the Remind fight but with no Xemnas. It ends the same though.

The battle against the Nort court is the same. Kairi getting shattered is the same, as well as getting into Scala. Xion tells Sora she can still feel Kairi and for him to remember her words. The thirteen armors and Xehanort boss are all the same as well. The only difference I added was a clash that sent both Sora and Xehanort flying backwards. Sora gets up first and has the chance to end it but realizes the good luck charm had fallen to the ground in front of him. Sora picks it up and all the pent up anger frustration he has from Xehanort ruining his and his and friends lives gets put on a leash. Sora remembers Kairi’s words about never losing his smile. He can’t help but get emotional and once again asks Xehanort what was the point of any of this. Xehanort gives his speech about balance and the entire scene and plays out like normal. Next major change is the end. Riku and Mickey convince Sora to not use the Power of Waking right off the bat, fearing the consequences. Sora listens to their idea to see Yen Sid but even he isn’t sure how to get Kairi back but they’ll do their best to find her. Sora leaves to get some air outside. Riku can’t help but follow him outside minutes later and finds Sora looking at his keyblade. He calls out Sora’s name and the boy turns around and does a smile similar to when he released his heart in Hollow Bastion. Riku knows Sora better than he knows himself. He doesn’t even try to stop Sora, but tells him to be careful. Sora puffs out his chest and says he’ll be back with Kairi in no time at all. Sora asks Riku to tell the others thanks and not to worry before opening up a gate and walking through. The ending sequence plays out the same and then the credits roll.

ReMind is a bonus episode after getting the secret reports and nothing in it changes because it’s perfectly fine. The only added thing we get is Sora giving back the lucky charm before he fades away, telling Kairi to be sure and bring it back to him. Limit cut and secret episodes are DLC or more extra stuff but yeah, I’m done.

In Summary:Kingdom Hearts 3, but the characters interact with each other and are allowed to feel multiple emotions at a time for extended periods of time. I know I sound like I’m punching down on this game but I genuinely do love this franchise since forever and I have strong feelings about almost everything to do with it. Which is why I’m bummed that KH3 is like my least favorite kingdom hearts game. It has good things in it but falls short on so many scenes and opportunities. This soft rewrite was literally me taking 92% of what the game already had in it and rearranging it to create various new situations that inevitably end the same way it does in the actual game. So yeah I give this game a 7/13 I’m still buying every game though 💀 (I’m not getting into any of my ideas of how kh3 could’ve gone before we knew too much about it. Now that’s a rewrite!)

68 notes · View notes

minijenn · 4 years

Text

Actually, while I’m looking at this old list of Keys plot ideas, I gotta say some of this early stuff i had planned out is waaaaaay different than what’s actually in Keys. Soooo allow me to indulge you all with some commentary on Beta Keys to the Kingdom, if you will (under the cut bc of potential Keys spoilers):

Ok, so far so good, generally the same as what I’m sticking with in Keys, fun fact, the title “Keys to the Kingdom” didn’t originate until I came up with the idea of the 13 Keys. It’s original title was “Reconnect”

LOLOLOL Aquanort showing up in the very next chapter I’m boutta write would like to have a word with 2018 MiniJen

Ok, generally on the level (though the focus did sort of shift from the Heart Squad when I eventually came up with the whole Keys idea, but tbh Sora spends a lot more time in Keys trying to get those three out than he does in KH3, that’s for fucking sure)

Love to see that each of these plot points were pretty early ones I came up with; We may not see a lot of Vanitas’ redemption arc until way later on in Keys but its something I had in mind since almost the very beginning

Ohohoho that last one is interesting, huh? Almost like I’m a sucker for parallels or something ;)

Yeah this is pretty on the mark with what Keys’ second half is gonna look like imo

Oof that second one tho, i mean its not like Kairi doesn’t wanna help Namine but this girl’s got a lot on her plate already with her runaway boyfriend XD

Lol you can clearly tell that first one was concieved way before I fucking started planning the Beauty and the Beast chapters XD

Ooo and then i wrote a few preliminary notes for some of the Disney worlds so let’s take a look at those, starting with Beauty and the Beast:

RIP in pieces the idea of Gaston and Maleficent working together, i don’t even know what I was thinking with that XD

Kinda went soft on that theme of “what makes a monster” in the actual chapters, but its there if you squint I suppose. Also “should fall relatively early into story” lol ok fam (proceeds to put it almost halfway through the story)

Then we go onto the notes for the Moana chapters and yeah this is all pretty on the mark tbh not much to say here:

Then we get to my Tangled notes and WOW what a huge difference we have here:

First of all, set during the series, how fucking interesting. Second of all, I guess I just forgot to include Cassandra in that list??? Third of all, Xehanort why you keep recruiting fucking twinks to your evil bidding????

Not gonna lie tho, Sora bonding with Varian would have been sweet and pure

And ah boy some pretty somewhat spoilery Gravity Falls world notes:

First of all, I’m still very keen on the idea of Sora basically just adopting the Mystery Twins bc they’re pure and innocent ahaha; second of all, lol Bill working with Xehanort? Fuck no to that, what was I thinking XD Bill is an agent of his own chaos, that fucking triangle flies solo (but will still 100% manipulate my poor son, he just gotta do it, whether its in UF or in Keys)

Then I also made a list of things to keep from KH3 and things I wanted to change so for funsies lets look at stuff I wanted to keep:

Yep yep these are pretty much on the mark, yep (especially that Sora sass XD)

LOLOL RIP IN PIECES THE DEMYX AND VEXEN REDEMPTION ARCS WHOOPS NOT IN MY KEYS XD

Speaking of stuff not making it in, here are things i planned on changing:

Several things here: 1. I guess i didn’t focus on Riku and Mickey’s search for Aqua that much after all (didn’t want the story to be bloated, it already has so much going on in it); 2. Following the plots of Tangled and Frozen, yes, but what I failed to put in there, is allowing the KH characters to be more involved in those plots which is what KH3 should have done

loloolollololo its almost like you can tell I’m salty about how KH3 ended or something???? idk hahaah salty about plenty of other things in KH3 too, I fucking went off here

Again its almost like I’m salty about certain things in KH3 like no Destiny Trio interactions or Kairi’s arc being fucking botched and wanted to fix shit in Keys whoops XD

And finally we have stuff I wanted to take out of Keys from KH3 entirely:

Lol I’m lying about that last one aohohohohohohohohohohohhohohohoho

Several things here but most importantly, was there really ever a point that I considered killing Kairi off in Keys? Because if so I’m a fucking moron. Same with considering giving Xehanort any kind of redemption, that old fuckhead is gonna fucking die the death he deserves in Keys. Also not really including any replica stuff at all; But RIP in pieces Re:Coded and Verum Rex, ya won’t be missed, at least not by me

#wow its almost like some of this stuff shows my love/hate relationship with kh3 #the rest is just plot bunnies i had and then left fallen by the wayside #there were like 2 or 3 things in here i didnt include bc of spoilers #but the rest is pretty fair game #jen writes #keys to the kingdom #planning stuff

8 notes · View notes

floriswrite · 4 years

Text

Vexen had not expected to meet Luxord and Larxene in the kitchen. What more he had not expected Larxene to still be drinking. Had she gone to find Luxord after Marluxia left? Or had they been drinking with Luxord as well and Marluxia just left that out? No. He was positive they had been alone.

“Hello, Vexen.” Luxord greeted him.

Larxene lifted her head from the table to stare at Vexen and scuff a little. “Seriously, what does he see in /you/? Broke his heart and all his sense of taste with it.”

“Oh?” Luxord grinned “What is she referencing?”

“It’s none of your business.” Vexen replied sharply. “Larxene’s just mad she’s not getting sex.”

“Nah, sex-sex has been off the market with him since the start. Haven’t done that since we had hearts. Or something.” Larxene mumbled.

Vexen stilled in getting a cup down. “What?”

“What~?” Did he forget to tell you that~” Larxene laughed. “It was just once. Mourning and junk. This is why I don’t get drunk, Luxord. Makes memories way too clear.”

“...Mourning.” Vexen echoed. “Doesn’t matter. I’m just here for water. If he wants to talk he can talk.”

“He sobered up by the time you got there, didn’t he?” Larxene’s eyes were fierce.

“Apparently.” Vexen shrugged and brought the cup down. “Said he had been drinking with you. Didn’t give a time frame.”

“Luxord?”

“Yeah, yeah, he can take it.” Luxord conceded the bottle of gin.

“Here. He’ll totally refuse at first but he still has way more unwinding to do.” Larxene held the bottle out to Vexen.

“He already refused to drinking with me.” Vexen walked over and took the bottle anyway. “Is there something specific I’m supposed to be working with?”

“What happens when a World falls?” Larxene sighed and looked at Luxord.

“Everyone dies and becomes a Heartless.” Luxord replied casually. “We all live with that.”

“Yeah, we do,” Larxene bit her lip “Mar and I, we just idly drink for a bit, numbs enough to help, and I mighta been extra sappy tonight so he left. You... You need to get him actually drunk. Get him talking. Probably write down anything he says. Deal with the fact he’s so going to try and sleep with you and have a crisis over that.”

“Write it down?”

“Yeah. Mar’s real good with handling his alcohol but his memory is a whole ‘nother story.” Larxene waved a hand at him. “That’s the end of my help. Why am I even helping? She’d want that. Probably. Yeah. That must be it.”

“I didn’t ask for help.” Vexen replied and finally filled the cup with water.

“Yeah, yeah.” Larxene set her head back down. “Whatever.”

Vexen left with that.

“Why are you helping him?” Luxord’s voice was solid sound from the kitchen as Vexen walked off.

“Who knows. She’d want Mar happy. He might be able to do that.”

Who was Marluxia mourning?

~~~~

He did return to Marluxia asleep on his bed. The Assassin had told him to wake him...

Vexen set the glass of water and bottle of gin down beside his bed. He could look at Marluxia properly then. At the puffiness of his cheeks that had been worse earlier. At the fact his hair was rumpled. At the shallow movement of his chest.

He did not want to make Marluxia’s sadness worse. But would he not feel better after talking? Did they work like that? Could a Nobody ever escape the sadness of their Somebody? Vexen had shoved his sadness into science. Into a lack of morals. Into the fact that his ‘family’ was still beside him.

He gently traced his fingers along Marluxia’s cheek. Could he make Marluxia happy? If he could get him /happy/ maybe than they could drink together. Had he ever seen Marluxia truly happy? He smiled at him, small and reserved, but never full. Never true. Maybe his memories did not allow him that fakeness of emotional show.

Marluxia made a small noise and shifted his face. “Brain?”

Vexen flinched and tried to not let bitter dread set in. They did not have hearts to feel love with. All they could do was pull on the memories of their Somebodies. Marluxia had already admitted that his mind was elsewhere.

“Marluxia, I brought you water.” Vexen stated and bit his tongue as blue eyes blinked at him.

“Oh, thank you.” Marluxia pushed himself up.

Vexen moved away to grab the cup. “I ran into Larxene and Luxord in the kitchen.”

“Is Larxene okay?” Marluxia questioned and accepted the cup.

“She said I should get you drunk, actually drunk, and we should talk.”

Marluxia took a sip of water “That’s not necessary.”

“The drinking or the talking?” Vexen sat down on the edge of his bed.

“Yes.”

“Okay.” Vexen sighed. “She said she was mourning.”

“Yes.”

“Who?” Vexen’s hands curled into fists. He never expected to know anything about Marluxia’s past, but now that his curiosity had been peaked there was no stopping it.

“Strelitzia,” Marluxia whispered. “I really don’t-”

“What was she? Your girlfriend?” Vexen felt spite rise in him.

“She was my sister!” Marluxia’s voice rose steadily. “You’re not the only one who failed to protect who matters most.”

Vexen slowly looked over his shoulder at him. “Your sister?” his anger died instantly.

“Yes.”

Vexen turned slowly, pulling his legs onto the bed. “You were drinking to forget your sister?”

“Well, sex doesn’t work, so it seemed a viable option.” Marluxia let out another one of those broken laughs. “Maybe we should drink. Would you be a gentleman and care for me when I’m crying?”

“Of course.”

“Mm, what did you get from Luxord?”

“I, uh,” Vexen looked over at the bottle “Gin, apparently.”

“Apparently, he says.” Marluxia laughed “Did they just shove it off on you?”

“Larxene asked if I could have it...”

“Okay. I guess if that’s what the queen wants I might as well. I’m way too sober now.”

“How long had you been waiting for me?”

“No idea. Was asleep at some point. I think I was hoping you’d wake me up with your cock.” Marluxia shrugged.

“Right, because that’s the kind of person I am.” Vexen rolled his eyes. “So, to getting drunk and talking about the past?”

“That seems to be the plan. Tell me about your parents?”

“Pass.” Vexen scooted down his bed to get the bottle. “But I’ll tell you about Lord Ansem if you tell me who ‘Brain’ is.”

Marluxia moved to sit back against the headrest. He heaved a sigh “That sounds fair.”

“That bad?” Vexen asked and sat down beside him. “I should have grabbed glasses...”

“Ever been in love?” Marluxia took the bottle from him. “You really think I care about glasses right now?”

“...Yes...” Vexen whispered and stared at him. “I suppose I can’t complain about us sharing germs...”

“No, no you cannot.”

Marluxia learned a few things very quickly about Vexen. The main was the fact that he could not hold his alcohol. The second was that it made the blond very warm and he was finally removing his pants and joining him on the bed in only his underwear. The third.

The third was the one that Marluxia needed to put an end to.

“I’ve said please four times.” Vexen mumbled into his shoulder as his fingers traced over Marluxia’s legs. “You came here saying you wanted sex.”

“I also-” his breath hitched and he grabbed Vexen’s hand before it could go any higher on his leg. “Said I was not in the shape to.”

“Mm, would you if I was Brain?”

“There’s a solid 25 years between you two.” Marluxia laughed and shoved Vexen’s hand away before he took another sip from the bottle that they kept between the two of them. “Aren’t you,” he paused, tried to not focus on how Warm Vexen was, “Supposed to be taking care of me?”

“Won’t let me.” Vexen replied.

Marluxia had pictured Vexen as an angry drunk, but then again Vexen was always a bit horny around him so this should have come as no surprise. “A gentleman.”

“You be a gentleman.” Vexen retorted.

Marluxia laughed a little. “I am. So talk. Ansem.” He shoved the bottle into Vexen’s hand. An unspoken drinking game.

“You asked about parents. He was like a dad to me.”

“Mm, like a dad or a daddy?” Marluxia leaned his head against Vexen’s shoulder.

Vexen sighed and rubbed between his brows. “You have been talking about your teenage years. I outgrew him.”

“That all?” Marluxia hummed.

“That’s all.”

“How boring.” Marluxia pouted. “I want to hear all about your sex life.”

Vexen’s face went red. “Wh-what?!”

“Mmhm. Since you like to focus on our age difference.”

“Well, yes, it is basically Zexion’s age.” Vexen coughed softly and played with the bottle and took a long sip. “I experimented a lot in my twenties. Got it out of my system and devoted my life to science.”

“Mm, am I science?” Marluxia teased.

“Only if I write it down.” Vexen teased back easily. He did write almost everything down.

“Yeah? So what’s your hypothesis, doctor? How broken am I?”

Vexen’s stomach sank. “You’re not broken.” They were all broken in someway. If he was honest. But it hurt to hear.

“Mm, feel broken.” Marluxia held his hand out in front of him, petals danced around it for a moment before he dashed away the urge. Wrong.

Vexen frowned and curled his left arm around Marluxia. Forever thankful that he was ambidexious. “You’re hurt. It’s not the same.”

“Mmm, maybe.” Marluxia whispered and leaned a little heavier against Vexen. “I think I used my tears up on Larxene.”

“Are you trying to cry?” Vexen placed his cheek against pink hair. “Mm. So, Brain?”

“I might have a thing for intelligence.” Marluxia sighed. “I have no idea what befell him. What befell anyone else.”

“But you know your sister is dead.”

“My sister was murdered.”

“Oh. Shit.”

“Shit indeed.” Marluxia gave a small nod. “And now I’m here. Like this. Everything is so /wrong/.”

“Xemnas will fix it.”

Marluxia’s response was a laughter that disrupted Vexen. He’d never seen or heard Marluxia laugh with his whole person.

“Your laughter is-”

“Sorry, sorry.” Marluxia shook his head. “Your tone was so-” he paused, tried to find the right word “Trusting.”

“You do not trust Xemnas?” Vexen whispered. A part of him said he should write this down. That these were the kinds of comments that Marluxia would not remember in the morning.

“Can I trust you?” Marluxia questioned, tone overly sober, before he started to laugh softly again. “Xemnas will fix it, he says. How long until he does?”

Vexen wanted to say yes. He willed his mouth to say yes. “I don’t know.” His mouth settled on. “I don’t know, Marluxia.”

“Exactly.” Marluxia closed his eyes and placed a hand on Vexen’s thigh. “Our lives have both been laced with betrayal. So forgive me for finding difficulty in blind trust.”

“That’s fair.” Vexen frowned and slowly put a hand over Marluxia’s. “So, no sex?”

“Are you even horny? Do you just sniff me and get horny?”

“Maybe.”

“Terrible. No.” Marluxia huffed. “Do I need to take your hands away?”

“I’m into restraint.”

“What /aren’t/ you into?” Marluxia scuffed but turned to bury his face in Vexen’s shoulder and breath in his scent. “I like your smell more.”

“Listening to Larxene.”

Marluxia laughed. “You two would so get along in bed.”

“Shut up.”

“Nah, I mean it.” Marluxia purred. “Let Larxene peg you some time.”

“Did you just suddenly get way more drunk?” Vexen scuffed.

“High, maybe.” Marluxia mumbled. “The chemical smell of the lab followed you. But underneath that is you.”

Vexen sighed and curled his other arm around Marluxia, tangling it in his hair. “Your smell is way more intoxicating.”

“I know.” Marluxia hummed. “We should- should lay down.”

“Mm, I do have to be a gentleman and tuck you in.” Vexen mumbled. “Need more water...”

“Ice cubes. You could make them.”

“You... want me to use my magic right now...?”

“Yeah.”

Vexen wasn’t sure he could. But Marluxia’s smile was so clear against his shoulder bone. He could at least try. He detangled himself from Marluxia to reach for the cup.

Marluxia scooted away to watch him with big blue eyes.

Vexen swallowed and willed his magic to be small and controlled. Two things that alcohol and Marluxia’s gaze did not help with. He just needed a few chunks of ice. His magic could surely function for such a small period of time. He breathed deeply and settled his hand over the cup, willing his magic to work for only a few seconds. It was enough to make ice at least appear in the cup, more shards than cubes, but he could work on that later. Just like he had worked on coating Marluxia’s roses with a small frost.

Marluxia started to clap when Vexen held the cup out to him. “You really are amazing.”

Vexen smiled over the praise. “I’ll work on it.”

“I know you will. You’re always up to the challenge.” Marluxia grinned and took a bit of ice from the cup. It was not the safest shape but he still dragged his tongue over it just for show before sucking on it.

Vexen quickly diverted his eyes. “You’re- staying, right?”

“That is part of the morning sex agreement, yes.” Marluxia smirked at him around the ice. “Might wake you with it. As a warning.”

Vexen swallowed. “R-right.”

“Mmhmm. You should have water too.”

Vexen’s mouth was quickly going dry. He moved the bottle to the side table and turned back to Marluxia.

Marluxia held a bit of ice in front of him, expression expectant.

Vexen opened his mouth and accepted it.

“Good boy.” Marluxia smiled and slowly laid down. “My gentleman.”

“You’re never letting that go, are you.” Vexen sighed and took the cup from Marluxia.

“No, because I’m usually the gentleman.” Marluxia hummed and rolled off the bed to stand.

Vexen couldn’t deny that as he stood and set the cup on his side table next to the mostly empty bottle of gin. “Marluxia?”

“Mm?”

“Do you- do you feel any better?” Vexen questioned as he faced him. “We could talk more...?”

Marluxia responded by moving the blanket out of the way and sitting back down on the bed. “I’m fine.”

Vexen swallowed and waited for Marluxia to lay down. “Okay.” He didn’t necessarily believe in.

Marluxia slowly laid down and patted the bed next to him. “Let me hold you.”

Vexen gave a singular nod and laid down, scooting close to Marluxia until his arms curled around him. “I-” he tried to will his mouth but the words would not come.

“Mm?”

“I wanted to say it first. For once.”

“Ahh.” Marluxia tangled a hand in Vexen’s hair and breathed in his smell as the man used his pec as a pillow. “Take your time.”

Vexen opened and closed his mouth a few times. He felt the words. Honestly and true. But- would Marluxia even remember this in the morning? He needed to write things down. He needed- “Marluxia.”

“Sorry.” Marluxia laughed a little and stopped stroking his side with his thumb.

He needed to relax. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

#*Vexen #*Larxene #*Luxord #*Marluxia #floriswrite #long post

4 notes · View notes

what-demyxs-name · 4 years

Text

OrgXIII Personality Swap

And the other members reactions!

The rule is that only one member can have their personality switched at a time! Meaning there will be double personalities in the Organization.

- Xemnas's personality is switched to Marluxia. He becomes manipulative and seductive, which works on only a few people because he actually looks good. Larxene and Marluxia are the first two to notice, and immediately regret ever wishing for this in the first place. Next would be in a meeting where Vexen, Saïx and Luxord realize what is happening and cancel it almost immediately thanks to Saïx's high ranking. The others figured it out due to that, but Axel and Demyx figured it out last (because they doesn't like being around Xemnas so they never really noticed). Xemnas is the first to have his personality switched, no matter what.

- Xigbar's personality is switched to Xemnas. He becomes awkward, cryptic and mysterious. The first to notice is Demyx, because of how often he talks to him. The riddles threw him off and he then linked it back to other personality swaps. The next is Lexaeus and Zexion, and not too soon after is Marluxia. The last person to figure it out is Larxene, who thought Xigbar was just pulling a prank on her (she learned her lesson and will never assume that again, Xigbar-Xemnas's glare is not a pretty sight).

- Xaldin's personality is switched to Demyx. He becomes non-violent and now sings a lot more, though he sticks to just humming when anyone else is around that he is aware of. The first to notice this is Larxene, who has memorized what Demyx is like just to pick on him. She informed the others from there, because two musical idiots would be too much for her.

- Vexen's personality is switched to Lexaeus. He becomes a lot more caring and father-like, sometimes going as far as to apologize to Zexion for his bad parental skills when the other was growing up. The first to notice is Zexion, due to said apologies, and Marluxia. Next is Xaldin and Lexaeus, because of Zexion telling them something was wrong. The last person to notice is Luxord, since the two don't talk to each other as often as they do with other members.

- Lexaeus's personality is switched to Vexen. He becomes a bit abusive with his strength, and rambles about little things. The first to notice is Xemnas, since he heard the first rambling of Lexaeus's, and immediately brought him to Vexen. From there, Marluxia found out and informed everyone else. The last to be informed is Saïx, since his mission had taken a bit longer than normal.

- Zexion's personality is switched to Luxord. He becomes cunning and sneaky, often engaging in games where he would lose, and has become distinctly skilled at ones he was already good with. The first to notice is Luxord, because Zexion challenged him to a game. From that, Luxord invited Marluxia, Axel and Xigbar, and told them about it. The last one to figure it out was Vexen, only because he both keeps his distance from Zexion and doesn't like playing Luxord's games.

- Saïx's personality is switched to Xigbar. He becomes more laid-back, usually putting his missions off until he feels like doing them. The first to notice is Axel, who had originally planned to try to annoy Saïx into letting him say yes to something, only for Saïx to say yes straight off the bat. The next would be both Xigbar and Xemnas during a private meeting with higher ranks. The last to notice is Demyx, who usually avoids Saïx if he can.

- Axel's personality is switched to Zexion. He becomes the quiet, bookworm type, and he stays in the Library after hours. The first to notice is Zexion, who realized he was in his own little space in the Library. Next would be Saïx and Demyx, Saïx because Axel didn’t talk to him the entire day and Demyx for reasons unlisted. The last to notice is Xemnas, who doesn’t pay much attention since Axel is pretty much invisible for him now.

- Demyx’s personality is switched to Larxene. He becomes ruthless, cruel and extremely violent, often beating people close to death once a battle is initiated between them. The first to notice is Xemnas, who took note of his attitude when he received a mission. When he was out, Xemnas informed everyone. The last to be informed was Larxene, who went on the same mission with him. Xemnas thought about retracting the mission, but Xigbar thought it would be funny so he convinced Xemnas to let it slide (Larxene and Demyx nearly killed him after).

-Luxord’s personality is switched to Axel. He becomes self-destructive and seeks ways to destroy things for entertainment. The first to notice is Xaldin, whose quarters was the one Luxord wanted to destroy first. After that, Xaldin informed Lexaeus and Zexion the moment he had the chance. The last to notice was Vexen since, again, he doesn’t like playing Luxord’s games.

- Marluxia’s personality is switched to Xaldin. His personality doesn’t very much change, save for the fact that he’s less manipulative and uses brute strength a bit more than usual. It’s tight saying who noticed first, but it’d have to go to Xemnas. When everyone noticed was during a meeting, where Marluxia had the ability to take control of something, but he didn’t accept the offer. After Xemnas figured it out, he told everyone, and thus everyone else found out at the same time.

- Larxene’s personality is switched to Saïx. She becomes slightly classy with her movements and speech, also more observant and drastically less rude. The first to notice is Marluxia, who she spends the most time with. After him would be Luxord and Xigbar, during a game they invited her to play but she declined. The last to find out would be Lexaeus, who doesn’t spend much time around Larxene, because he doesn’t like the unnecessary violence towards everyone.

27 notes · View notes

beastenraged · 4 years

Note

It's been a while since I played or watched all of CoM back to back, but I get the impression that Xemnas didn't want the Basement Boys taken out. One of them had already built Xion for him and Xemnas had probably put in orders for more replicas. And given that all three were allies from the apprentice days and pretty close-knit with each other (at least in terms of office politics), I feel like they weren't a threat to Xemnas. But they were threats to Saïx and Axel.

Yeah, that fits my read on the situation as well. It makes sense that Basement Trio had more to offer Xemnas but stood as threat to Saix’s rank-climbing (which Axel supported cuz friends and all).

I’m curious, actually, to how the mission to Castle Oblivion was planned to go? What it originally was supposed to accomplish before Marluxia and Larxene decided to get smart and started manipulating Sora to their own ends.

...Probably just trap and eventually take out Sora, since Xemnas was aware that Sora was wandering around after the KH1 Secret Boss battle between the two of them and probably didn’t want to risk him reuniting with Roxas.

Basement Trio were doing Replica related work most definitely, with how quickly Vexen whipped that Riku Replica out.

The really sticky part is that I don’t know the deal with Naminé is. Frankly, her power with Sora’s memories is really too powerful to just...let her go. Or let some obvious traitors use to their own ends. Did Xemnas and the rest of the Organization even know what Naminé could do? Or was that just something that came in with the reports after the entire mission blew up?

Thanks for the thoughts!

#Answering asks #jcmorrigan #kh chain of memories #my kh thoughts #just gonna tag this #MOOP verse #as well

2 notes · View notes

goldenchocobo · 4 years

Photo

Organization XIII Daemons!

Names and animals are listed on the images if clicked on, but I’ve also done a more detailed description in the read more below.

I’m surprised how naturally these Daemons came to me. Some were obvious- like Vexen having an owl as a Daemon. The only one I struggled with was Lexaleus. I knew he has a Canid Daemon, but not sure which until I read about bush dogs. It’s almost comical that this mountain of a man has a tiny corgi-sized Daemon. I did actually think my choice was wrong, so I looked to other animals including cervids, felines and even equines, but nothing else that fit well with him, so left him with a bush dog.

Vexen

Settled: Northern White Faced Owl Daemon Name: Res Looks: a Light grey owl with dark wings that end in dark blue primaries. Her face is crested by slight-blondish feathers, and she has larger-than-average green eyes.

A very uppity-owl, but a thorough one, making sure everything is in the right place. She often reminds Vexen of things that he may have forgotten and urges him to check things twice through. Despite this, she has a soft side for Zexion and his Daemon Paenula.

Symbology: Owls are an almost universal symbol for Intelligence and Wisdom, which Even and Vexen seek by being scientists. The White Faced Owl, however is unique in that it transforms its appearance to deter predators which shows that it is a smart thinker. ‘Res’ is the Latin word for ‘Knowledge’.

Zexion

Settled: Chinese Water Deer/Vampire Deer Daemon Name: Paenula Looks: A grey deer with longer fur near her neck and face, large ears and blue eyes.

Paenula is an almost clingy Daemon, she never strays far from Zexion’s side. She remains suspicious of many of the Organization’s members and keeps a close watch on them from afar. She can use her keen sense of smell to tell Zexion about the darkness of another’s heart.

Symbology: Water Deer are small cervids that hide themselves away among the tall reeds of shallow waters, much like how Ienzo and Zexion hid themselves away within the books that they read. Water deer are also deceptive as the buck have large fangs instead of antlers. Paenula means ‘Cloak’ in Latin.

Xaldin

Settled: South American Bush-Master Viper Daemon Name: Ormr Looks: A purple-tinted snake with arrow-shaped patterns on her back and lighter purple dots along her side, her underbelly is pale and her eyes a shade of violet. She is long in length but robust.

Much like Xaldin himself, Ormr is a straight-to-the-point kind of Daemon who has little time for nonsense. However when things interested them, she has the patience of a saint, though her quick temper and attitude makes it hard for her to sit still at times.

Symbology: Vipers are quick striking snakes that are patient enough to line up and execute a precise shot. This can be correlated at how Xaldin worked on his side project of Beast, where he was patient enough and saw through his plan until thwarted by Sora. The word ‘Ormr’ is a type of Lindwyrm.

Lexaleus

Settled: Bush Dog Daemon Name: Imperdia Looks: A small brown dog with wavy fur and deep blue eyes. She always looks as if she’s scowling.

Imperdia is as Silent as Lexaleus, her sturdy nature making it so nothing phases her at face value. She rarely speaks, but can be seen talking to Paenula, Zexion’s Daemon. While small in stature, she can take a hit and often deals back twice as much.

Symbology: Dogs in general are seen as hard working loyal companions, and Aeleus is no different. Bush dogs are wild dogs and are often loyal to very few much like how Aeleus and Lexaleus seem to be very loyal to Ienzo and Zexion. Being pack animals, they work together and need to be coordinated. Lexaleus seems displeased at how fractured the Organization had become shortly before his demise.

The name Imperdia is a corruption of the Latin word for Impenetrable.

#Kingdom Hearts #KH #His Dark Materials #HDM #The Golden Compass #Organization III #Vexen #Lexaleus #Zexion #Xaldin #Daemon #Goldenchocobo's art

55 notes · View notes

palizinhas · 4 years

Text

A Heart Is So Much More Than Any System - An analysis of Nobodies and Hearts in Kingdom Hearts

One of the most common topics in Kingdom Hearts is the nature of hearts, and what it means to live without one. From KH1 to DDD, the way the characters look at hearts changes, but did it really?

KH1

Kingdom Hearts is the most simple game in the series, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t explore hearts. In fact, one of the best quotes about hearts in the entire series is here.

Sora: Although my heart may be weak, it’s not alone. It’s grown with each new experience, and it’s found a home with all the friends I’ve made. I’ve become a part of their heart just as they’ve become a part of mine. And if they think of me now and then...if they don't forget me...then our hearts will be one.

Something that we learn about hearts as the series goes on, is that it can be created as you make new memories. In this, Sora claims that a heart gets stronger by having a connection to others, which is expanded upon in Days, coded and DDD, but is also clear before that. It also foreshadows (even if accidentally) how important to your heart your memories are, which is further explored in future games, like Chain of Memories.

Outside of that, KH1 also introduces us to the first KH character that is looked down on for not being “real” - a Disney character, of course, but DDD brings him back just to make the point that he’s not so different from Nobodies.

Riku: What? You’d rather fight me? Over a puppet that has no heart?

Sora: Heart or no heart, at least he still has a conscience.

Riku: Conscience?

Sora: You might not hear it, but right now it’s loud and clear. And it’s telling me you’re on the wrong side!

Pinocchio may have lost his heart, and he may be a puppet, but Sora recognizes right away that as long as he has a connection to others (namely Jiminy), it’s still wrong to hurt him.

CoM

Chain of Memories introduces Nobodies, so of course this game is very important to what we see in the series from this point forward. When it comes to heart in this game, there are three main threads - Axel, Naminé and Riku Replica. We’ll talk about all three of them.

Axel

We later learn in Days that it’s Axel’s experiences with Sora in Castle Oblivion that starts to shape who he becomes afterwards. Axel’s main point in CoM is that he’s playing pretty much everyone in the Castle, and it’s something he does under Saix’s orders, but there is one specific moment where it becomes more than that.

Axel: Hey, wait. I'm enjoying this. You guys ARE something else!

After Axel frees Naminé, he actually laughs. And not out of memories from what he used to be, but because he’s genuinely enjoying himself. While it’s not exactly a positive thing he’s enjoying, and he’s still acting out of self-interest, it’s more than he has felt in almost a decade, and it’s clear that what happens in Chain of Memories helps shape Axel into the person he becomes in KH2.

Naminé

There is one main reason Marluxia’s plan doesn’t work out, and it’s Naminé. The idea of what she’s doing is technically simple, she needs to shape Sora into their weapon, but it soon becomes clear that she both wants and doesn’t want to do that. Naminé’s reason for wanting to is simple, she’s lonely and has no one, and the idea of Sora caring more about her than anyone else is something that she longs for.

There isn’t a character that shows the importance of memories for your heart quite as much as Naminé. By changing Sora’s memories, she makes herself into the person he loves the most, breaking the chains of his memories to everyone else in the process. But the heart may forget, but the memories aren’t gone. Sora manages to remember Kairi when he tries hard enough, and Naminé’s understanding of that connection is what leads her to believing that one day her promise with Sora will be fulfilled.

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

Sora: A promise is a promise.

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

Sora: Right. Forgotten---but not lost.

Riku Replica

Repliku is the main source in Chain of Memories of the idea that people who aren’t real can become so, before we even fully learned that Nobodies aren’t supposed to have hearts. His main conflict comes from fake memories being put into him, and shaping his forming heart into something new, quite similar to what happened to Sora. Riku Replica doesn’t know he isn’t the real Riku for a part of the story, and when he does learn that, he reacts by realizing that if nothing he remembers is real, then neither is he.

But Sora once again doesn’t accept that.

Sora: Wait! Who cares if someone created you? You are you and nobody else. You have your own heart inside you. Those feelings and memories are yours and yours alone. They're special!

Sora once again recognizes that even if someone isn’t “real”, they are still important due to their feelings and connections to others.

Riku Replica ends up trying to hard to be “more than a shadow” (which is also how Naminé sees herself in comparison to Kairi) that it results on his demise, though this isn’t the last time we see him.

Chain of Memories as a whole is one of the best characters explorations in the series, and its use of hearts and memories is a huge part of that.

KH2

Chain of Memories may have introduced Nobodies, but KH2 gives us our first official explanation of what they are - but both the base game but especially Final Mix asks us if that explanation is right.

Here’s what Yen Sid has to say:

Yen Sid: An empty vessel whose heart has been stolen away... A spirit that goes on even as its body fades from existence---for you see, Nobodies do not truly exist at all. Nobodies may seem to have feelings, but this is a ruse - they only pretend to have hearts. You must not be deceived!

Between this and what Naminé says earlier in the game - that Nobodies are only half a person - the answer behind what Nobodies are seems clear, but there’s more to it than that.

The main examples of it are Roxas, Naminé and Axel. Because the other Nobodies in the game are only villains, we don’t get to see much of them, but of those three we do see. And it’s not just our observations of the characters that matter here, because even Ansem the Wise - the biggest detractor of Nobodies - comes to admit otherwise towards the end of the game.

Ansem the Wise: A heart is so much more than any system. I saw it when Roxas and Kairi crossed paths. I knew. But I was too stubborn to accept it.

This is the core of this analysis - a heart is much more than a system. Even so-called experts in the matter of the heart don’t understand everything. Ansem the Wise was so caught up in his revenge against his former apprentices he was willing to consider all Nobodies being without hearts, but he also recognizes, during the Roxas prologue, that what allowed Roxas and Kairi to make contact was their hearts connecting.

And maybe that doesn’t make complete sense - but does it have to? A heart is more than any system, after all.

There are several comments throughout the game that hint at there being more to Nobodies than what Yen Sid told us, such as Axel saying Roxas and Sora made him feel like he had a heart, but the biggest example was added in Final Mix... and actually asked that question directly.

Axel: You know, I've been thinking about something Naminé said. Roxas... are you really sure that you don't have a heart? Is it possible that we all have one? You, me, her... Or is that just wishful thinking?

The issue with exposition in games is that we often take what we hear from trustworthy characters at face value, but people can’t always be right. And by raising a question fans had already been wondering, KH2FM tells you to understand that there is more to the story than that.

Days

As Days is the only KH game to star a Nobody, we learn much about Nobodies through this game, both through Roxas himself as well as Xion - who may not be a Nobody herself, but doesn’t Vexen call Replicas a special type of Nobody?

Days often goes to the question of whether Nobodies can feel anything, and when Roxas is reminded by Axel that he’s not actually feeling things because he can’t, that makes you wonder whether that’s not just what they think.

Roxas starts out without a heart or memories - two very important things that are established in past games as making people who they are. As such, he starts out as a “zombie”. But he doesn’t stay that way. By interacting with Axel and Xion, Roxas becomes more than that. Your connection to others shapes you, and that’s what it did to Roxas.

Memories shaping you is also a theme with Xion, but in a much more literal way. It’s taking memories from Sora that make Xion who she is, but she also grows beyond that due to her friends.

Roxas isn’t Sora, and Xion isn’t Sora, and that’s because they formed connections and memories that are unrelated to Sora. They both wanted to become their own people so hard that that’s exactly what they did.

Re:coded

Data-Sora also isn’t a Nobody, but he’s also a being that grows beyond his initial programming. Data-Sora was created to solve the message in Jiminy’s Journal, and he was given a fake Keyblade to go along with it. But after it gets broken, his connection to others becomes so strong he can make his own, despite that being seemingly impossible.

This game brings back Ansem the Wise’s line - a heart is so much more than any system. Even being part of that system doesn’t mean your heart can’t be more than that. Data-Sora becomes more than the system. His connection to others also helps him understand hurt, and accept the hurt of others into himself - with someone else’s help.

Memories and connections are more important to a person than the way they were born, after all.

DDD

DDD has the huge “revelation” that Nobodies can grow hearts, but if you’ve come this far into the series, is it really a surprise?

DDD brings up the question of what makes people real several times, and when it comes to the question of Nobodies, there are three most important ones.

The first is when Sora meets up with Xemnas inside Pinocchio’s world, and this exhange happens:

Xemnas: My my, a hollow puppet that's managed to grow a heart. Just imagine that.

Sora: Pinocchio isn't anything like you Nobodies. But if Pinocchio could be given one--shouldn't you be able to have a heart inside you, too?

Pinocchio has been around since KH1. His existence already established this all the way back in the first game. Days was originally going to feature him to drive home his connection to Nobodies, even.

And of course, there is the reveal itself.

Sora: You know, right, because you all have hearts! Axel and Roxas and Naminé, and that other girl. I felt what Roxas felt and...they laughed together, got mad, and they grieved. You have to have a heart to cry.

Xigbar: It's about time you noticed.

??????: Indeed.

(Xemnas appears behind them)

Xemnas: A heart is never lost for good. There may have been variances in our dispositions, but a number of us unquestionably showed signs of a burgeoning replacement. Once born, the heart can also be nurtured. Our experiments creating Heartless were attempts to control the mind, and convince it to renounce its sense of self. But understand, one can banish the heart from the body, but the body will try to replace it the first chance it gets, for as many times as it takes. And so I knew, even after we were divided into Heartless and Nobodies, it was just a temporary separation.

Sora had already reached the conclusion that Roxas deserved to be his own person by this point, so it should come as no surprise that just like he questioned whether Roxas being trapped within him was right, he also questions something he fully believed in KH2 - whether Nobodies can have hearts.

In addition to Xemnas’s explanation, we also get Ansem the Wise’s.

Ansem the Wise: Yes. A clue, I hope, to finding yourselves or your lost friends in your hour of need. The heart has always been quick to grow. Each exposure to light, to the natural world, to other people, shapes this most malleable part inside of us. Nobodies are not different from us in that manner. Sora was the only one able to return to his human form without destroying his Nobody. That is a statement to the love in his heart for other people, and the bonds that tie them together. Perhaps...he has the power to bring back the hearts and existences of those connected to him-- to recreate people we thought were lost to us forever. Our most precious treasures--even an empty puppet--the trees of the forest, and the petals on the wind--there are hearts around us everywhere we look. And it does not take superhuman powers to see them. Surely we remember as children the way our hearts made everything seem so shiny, and perfect. Sora has a heart like that--uncorrupted, willing to see the good before the bad. When he sees the heart in something, it then becomes real. When a connection seems broken, he may have the power to mend it. He has touched countless hearts, he has accepted them, and he has saved them. And some of those hearts have never left him--whether they fell into darkness or were trapped there-whether they sleep in the darkness of Sora's heart, or were welcomed into its warmth--they can be saved. All Sora needs to do is be himself and follow wherever it is that his heart takes him. It is the best and the only way. The rest is in there.

This moment is Ansem the Wise recognizing that there is more to a heart than what it starts out as, and the main point for it is the connection people form with one another.

In general, the way KH treats hearts is that what matters isn’t who you are in the beginning - it’s only through new experiences, through meeting others and making memories with them that you become who you are, who you can be. And all of these things were clear within the first two games.

#kingdom hearts #kh meta #mine #this is ridiculous too long and makes no sense #but oh well

23 notes · View notes