#kairi so should have gotten something like this in the games | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

olivemeister · 3 years

Text

OKAY NEO THOUGHTS NOW THAT I’VE BEATEN IT AND HAD TIME TO MARINATE. no spoilers for another day bc i haven’t finished it yet, but i did go “no, why shan’t i? i have the internet” and watched the secret endings on youtube so those and the secret reports will be discussed. yeah. so here’s some thoughts. i’m going to talk a lot about the more contentious things, i think. and again i haven’t finished another day so nothing to do with that, but of course major ending spoilers for the main scenario.

these are my opinions both as a writer and a media consumer, so there’s kinda two levels here. it is very freeform “as i think of it” structurally so my sincerest apologies if it’s all over the place. i am trying to keep specific topics confined rather than splattering the same plot point/whatever all through the post, but it’s not like i’m posting a peer-revied academic essay here. it’s also fucking enormous and i would say sorry but that would be a lie.

the majority of the game, i actually really enjoyed. the localization was excellent and i can’t praise it enough. i know people threw fits over the “horrible overstep” of... teenagers using slang. but did you know, in real life, teenagers use slang? even in japan, there’s slang? wild but true! the dialogue was great, and while i can’t say much re: the jp cast since i played in english, the newcomers for the english cast were spectacular. i actually think the newcomers were, in some cases, stronger than the returning cast. even in characters where i didn’t like the voice (nagi had to grow on me, i admit it), they were a fantastic match for the character’s personality.

the emotional beats re: character deaths, typically, landed the way i think the writers wanted; kanon’s death in week 3 had me devastated even though i could see it coming a mile away. i think that’s a testament to the best parts of the writing; as soon as i understood how the current game was being run, i knew it was fairly inevitable that every other team would eventually lose. odds would be that, barring something like someone changing teams or a team merger, the majority of the other teams would be completely wiped out. i knew far in advance that kanon would likely not make it to the end of the story, but it still fucked me up when it finally happened not just because i cared about kanon, but also because of how much the other characters cared about her. some character deaths affected me far less, of course. i think kanon was the epitome of “this hit exactly as hard as the writers wanted it to”, but i do feel they fell short with others. ayano’s lack of development really hurt my ability to be saddened by her death, especially when it was so clear that she set up her own possession as a trap for shoka. it undermined things for shoka in general, because while she was devastated to lose ayano, the game did a poor job at making their relationship tangible and meaningful. i felt worse (not necessarily sadder, just worse) about motoi’s death, and i didn’t like motoi. speaking of him...

the biggest issue i have with the game is a chronic square enix issue. kubo is the Man Pulling The Strings, whatever, this is fine. the problem is that he, minamimoto, motoi, and arguably susukichi are the only characters in the game with dark skin. they are all morally grey at best. i don’t think i need to elaborate on why this is an issue. we’re not going to pretend that racism and colorism don’t exist in japan. i’m just going to say that all of the dark-skinned characters are either totally evil, excessively violent, and/or morally dubious. this is my biggest qualm, but i don’t feel it needs more elaboration. yes, i know motoi turns it around in the end. yes, i know susukichi ultimately changes sides as well, and he’s ultimately portrayed as sympathetic. minamimoto is........ his own beast. but the fact remains that we don’t get a single major character who’s darker and unambiguously heroic.

second big issue is that while i understand the decision to keep shiki off camera until the very end for emotional impact, i feel like this was to the detriment of the story and to the detriment of said impact. she was mentioned, sure, and she was briefly seen from the shoulders down in a cutscene long before her introduction, but i feel that this was ultimately for the worse. her absence in the plot made her a borderline non-entity that can easily leave the audience going “why should i care about this?” on what’s supposed to be a huge emotional cathartic moment. yes, people should know this is a sequel and neku and shiki’s friendship was a crucial part of the original game, and much of the endgame of neo makes no sense if you’re unfamiliar with the original, but their interactions in the ending felt incredibly shallow. and i think this is because of how little shiki appears and how isolated she is from her other friends. eri is unseen and unmentioned. she doesn’t interact with rhyme. she hardly interacts with beat, using him as a translator at best. her other relationships are just... stagnant at best, ignored at worst, and despite having had just as vital of a role in the first game as beat did, she does nothing of import onscreen. her only narrative actions are “fix mr mew (mentioned but not seen)” and “be sad about neku”. so, functionally...

for some reason (we know why) the story decided that the only thing that was important to shiki was seeing neku. but by holding off on this reveal of her, we lost the impact that their meeting could have had. because the game refused to show her it didn’t show how much his absence was affecting her, which leaves their reunion feeling incredibly hollow. shiki was gone for upwards of 90% of the game. if not for the first game, this reunion would mean nothing; the narrative does a terrible job of reminding the audience that neku and shiki have a strong relationship and i don’t know if it’s that they expected the first game to have done the heavy lifting, or they thought that what neo gave us was good rather than “good enough”. imo this was an enormous failure and i wish we had gotten more for her both as part of the plot and as a character.

this was an issue present with rhyme as well imo, though to a lesser degree. i think they should have given up the ghost much sooner on confirming that the shadowed figure was rhyme; it was obvious by the time they showed us her silhouette, so i don’t know why the narrative held off on showing her. they didn’t have to introduce her to rindo (or give her the name splash screen) yet, but people who played the first game and are paying attention know it’s rhyme, so why bother hiding her? most of what rhyme accomplishes in this game is off-camera as well, but she has double the screen time that shiki gets.

the shiki thing is another symptom of a common squeenix problem these days, which is poorly-handled implied romantic interests. and i think that was also present with how the end of the game treated shoka. rindo and shoka as an implied romance in general did not bother me; more than a lot of squeenix protags, and perhaps primarily because of the excellent job the english cast did, i actually was unbothered by the suggestion of budding romantic feelings because it felt genuine. they actually felt like a pair of teenagers who were starting to be interested in each other, trying to play it cool and prioritize. this, and shoka’s characterization in general, is really helped by the reveal of swallow’s identity; it retroactively heightens her closeness to rindo specifically and offers enormous insight into her decision to help the team covertly. however, i think this budding implied romance was severely undermined by having other characters comment on it, especially because it felt so out of place timing-wise whenever someone commented. it was never warranted; there are times where they seem to be... not flirting, but not doing a good job of pretending there isn’t an interest. this is not when comments come. the comments come when they are having a totally normal interaction that does not suggest any non-platonic feelings whatsoever.

up until the final day, i had fairly ambivalent feelings about the idea of them as the designated hetero pairing. i felt it was a vast improvement from recent shoehorned romances in squeenix properties. the ending made things much more contentious to me, specifically how shoka is vanished by joshua. the audience should at least have the suspicion that he’s reviving her, but the circumstances surrounding it are the problem more than joshua being a deus ex machina. it’s not the first time joshua was a troll re: reviving someone, but the context of why shoka’s revival is necessary is, well... unnecessary.

they barely foreshadow the shinjuku rules re: reapers, and i will freely admit it’s not remotely ooc for shoka to hide something like that until she can’t any more. but they seem to be just a contrived excuse for shoka to be taken away... and from the framing of it, not from the player, but from rindo. which, i don’t know that i need elaborate on why i wasn’t fond of that. and i won’t lie - i know everybody beefed it in those cutscenes, including beat and neku. but when the dissonance noise grabbed shoka it gave me the exact same vibe as the demon tide grabbing kairi in kh3, and i don’t think i need to elaborate more on why that would put a bad taste in my mouth and make me fearful for shoka’s future treatment in the game. i was worried that the narrative was going to yank her away from rindo like a prize being snatched from him, and it did! while i do also think it’s ic for joshua to fuck around the way he did when reviving her, it also seems contrived and brings up a major question.

if shoka is still playing by shinjuku rules, why does shibuya’s composer have the ability to overturn her erasure? yes, i know, shinjuku is gone, but its composer is still active. surely joshua having the authority to do what he did indicates that on a cosmic bureaucracy level, shoka is a shibuya reaper. the secret reports offer a potential that joshua exploited a loophole by waiting until the second after the shinjuku rules resulted in shoka’s soul being dissolved in order to snatch it up, so perhaps the explanation is that her erasure meant she was technically no longer a shinjuku reaper and no longer beholden to its rules. but that doesn’t answer a different question that honestly bothers me more than the admittedly sorta insignificant question of whether or not joshua overstepped in reviving shoka.

shinjuku’s game has ended because shinjuku has ended; why are its rules still in play for former shinjuku reapers? i am aware that shiba is the conductor “legally” and he has made changes to shibuya’s game, but they’re careful to specify that the “ex-reapers are erased at the end of the game” rules are from shinjuku and do not apply to shibuya reapers. is she considered by the higher plane to be joshua’s underling and not hazuki’s? the secret reports confirm that the transfer of personnel from the destroyed shinjuku to shibuya was authorized by the acting conductor (uzuki) and this is standard procedure, everything was done properly. so “legally” the formerly-shinjuku reapers are shibuya reapers, right? hanekoma notes in particular that it’s a culture clash leading to the shinjuku reapers being designated as such and that they’re only nominally shinjuku reapers. why are a defunct game’s rules still active?

the biggest issue is that shoka’s threat of erasure was unnecessary from a narrative perspective, especially given how quickly it’s introduced and resolved. what was the point of putting this in the story if five minutes later the issue is just dealt with, no effort, minimal tension, by a (narratively speaking, don’t come after me joshua fans) minor character who doesn’t even appear until after the plot is resolved? i honestly wonder if it was just the writers deciding joshua needed to do something so that his appearance in the ending wasn’t just shallow fanservice for people who wanted to see the original gang. joshua’s lack of action is also presumably going to be contentious with fans; i’ve read the secret reports, and i don’t feel that they sufficiently justify why he doesn’t make any moves to protect his city despite being positioned both in his own dialogue and the secret reports as someone opposing shibuya’s purification. i will talk about this a little later re: kubo’s motivations though.

i also think it’s kind of stupid that joshua sets up “find her and you win” and then... rindo doesn’t do anything in that regard. he just bumps into her in the scramble. i know i already said i hate the idea of her being a prize to be won in a game but if they’re going to set it up, why make it pointless in that regard? it feels so unnecessary. joshua portrays shoka’s revival/return as something to be earned, and unlike the ending of twewy there’s no recognition that he was actually just fucking with them.

this is similar to my mixed feelings about kubo’s defeat. on one hand, i wanted to smash his face in personally, i have hated him the entire game. on the other hand, having him jesus beamed and rewritten out of existence without any warning or chance to resist was fucking hilarious and i actually laughed out loud. my speculation as to why he didn’t get a boss fight is that developers worried about people having trouble suspending disbelief over the party being able to defeat an angel. ultimately i think the only way this could have been done was to have it be a boss battle where your victory doesn’t matter, like the week 1 fight with susukichi, and have hazuki curbstomp kubo in the post-battle cutscenes. ultimately, i feel like this was a lesser of two evils; i don’t think the “you lose in the cutscene” approach would have necessarily been significantly better than what we got, i recognize that “the battle didn’t matter and you lose in the cutscene after” is a contentious game trope. and i would understand people struggling to accept the cast defeating a being from a higher plane without intervention from said higher plane. the only benefit would be the catharsis of getting to slap kubo around, which admittedly i kind of miss. having him as a secret boss was an option i guess but i think it would bring more questions than it was worth.

kubo’s motivation is also just bizarre; i understand that it’s given as him getting overzealous after carrying out his orders to purify shinjuku, but why? i feel like this could have easily been fixed/rationalized by “shinjuku’s surviving reapers fled to shibuya, leading kubo to consider shibuya to be an extension of shinjuku”, but that’s solely speculation. i do not know why kubo decided to also start an inversion in shibuya. they didn’t give me enough information. his conflict with joshua is inexplicable and almost entirely offscreen via the secret reports. i do not feel like i have a grasp on why the plot of the game even happened. hazuki’s involvement is iffy; i can’t say whether he initially approved of kubo’s overstep and changed his mind, or if he just took his time collecting his errant underling. the secret reports suggest the former, and hanekoma noting that the contentious nature of the previous game’s events gives a speculative explanation for why no action was taken if hazuki was actually making moves against shibuya rather than kubo being out of line. hazuki could damn well have been lying, there’s a precedent for composers being full of shit and telling bold-faced lies to protagonists, though in the previous game these lies were all eventually uncovered. this leaves me to believe that ultimately, hazuki’s statements regarding kubo acting outside of his given authority were mostly honest. but what i don’t understand is why joshua took such a hands-off approach.

yes, he says he figured the main cast had it under control and would have stepped in had things gotten worse, but this appearance and statement comes long after rindo fails and shibuya is destroyed in multiple timelines. why did he not step in in the first timeline? i can speculate, but the game and secret reports do not do a great job in explaining why the proxy vs. proxy game even happened in the first place. kubo is hazuki’s underling, which makes joshua higher in the pecking order than kubo. if hazuki was capable of exorcising kubo instantaneously, why didn’t joshua just flick him off the board like a flea before he even got started trying to cause an inversion in shibuya? in the epilogue of a new day joshua is seen in conversation with hanekoma, who’s taking shinjuku’s inversion seriously, which seems at odds with how easily his fellow composer ends the problem.

retroactively, i guess i could rationalize this as him realizing that either shinjuku’s composer must be responsible for said inversion or that potentially shinjuku’s composer has been compromised in some way. and i can rationalize him failing to immediately jesus beam kubo as well - it’s possible that, as kubo was initially acting under the orders of another composer (assuming hazuki is still technically “legally” one/at the bureaucratic level of one), joshua’s hands were somewhat tied re: what actions he could take without potential consequences. it could be that joshua would get in big trouble if he took disciplinary action against another composer’s underling, but 1. the legal transfer of personnel should mean kubo is joshua’s underling, not hazuki’s, see the shoka problem 2. hazuki’s status as a composer is questionable given that his territory is now purified and its game is defunct 3. given that kubo was acting outside of his original composer’s turf and outside of his initial orders (purify shinjuku) at this point i feel like that isn’t likely. it could be that he was trying to avoid a conflict with hazuki himself. it may be that he considered it hazuki’s responsibility to retrieve kubo, but that’s at odds with him choosing a proxy to combat kubo’s and his claims that he totally would have done something, really, he swears. they don’t give us much info at all as to why joshua entered a game with kubo in the first place. i have reason to believe that something’s fishy in the secret reports, and i would like to see the japanese text, which i’ll mention again in a few paragraphs.

i know the absence of shibuya’s composer is partially, and perhaps primarily, “there wouldn’t be a plot if joshua fixed it”. but it really feels like they just kinda tucked joshua in the corner and hoped fans wouldn’t be like “hey where is shibuya’s composer and why is no one mentioning them?” that part is probably for the same reason we don’t see shiki until the very ending, teasing the audience by holding off on revealing him until the last second, but it’s jarring to me that shiki is mentioned but neither neku, beat, nor any of the reapers (!) think “we should contact the composer”. even if just to say “we can’t contact the composer, he is unreachable”! i guess it’s to avoid people remembering how significant joshua is and thinking too hard about it, because joshua is simply too powerful of a character to be running around freely. the plot falls apart when you have a character who’s so strong and, in his own words, kind of omnipotent, who could trivialize the conflict in an instant if he took action.

i feel like they surely could have given a more explicit reason for him to not be involved in the story, even if it’s a reason like “he’s in trouble with the higher plane”. which could have easily been set up! hanekoma is clear in his reports that shibuya’s impurification is highly contentious in the higher plane; people are big mad about it, potentially people higher in the chain of command than a composer. this could have been easily utilized as an explanation for why joshua is hands-off; he’s on a shit list and needs to step carefully as a result. but it’s just not addressed. hanekoma is unreachable according to his reports, and he notes that people are trying to contact him for help. are we just to assume that people have looked for joshua to ask for help in the past but it was so long ago that it isn’t even worth mentioning now to the newcomers? according to other reports, the higher ups are pissed with joshua about his game with kitaniji and are turning a blind eye to what’s happening with kubo in shibuya as a result. but this doesn’t explain why the members of the shibuya UG never discuss the composer. hanekoma’s reports have him confused as to joshua’s lack of action as well; he knows the context of what’s going on in shibuya but doesn’t understand why joshua is staying silent.

that said! the fact that hazuki’s motive for the destruction of shinjuku is never stated does not bother me too much. he’s placed in a position very parallel to joshua in the first game, and he even says he felt like he was following in josh’s footsteps. when you add his seemingly-genuine inability to understand why people care about shibuya, i feel there’s enough evidence to... not dismiss, but nudge this aside as “He Too is a misanthropic bastard”; shinjuku’s destruction is a parallel to the intended destruction of shibuya in the first game. hazuki just carried on where joshua had a change of heart. the secret reports complicate this; it might be that someone fucked up in transcribing, but the reports i read online state that shibuya’s composer, i.e. joshua, was responsible for the destruction of shinjuku due to a game with kubo. this does not make sense given everything else, including hazuki’s own statements and later reports, so i’m setting that aside for the moment as either an uncaught mistake either in translation or transcription online (most likely) or hanekoma not knowing the actual truth until receiving the post-purification shinjuku reports. hanekoma also suggests that hazuki’s goal was also the purification of shibuya, but as he’s not shibuya’s composer this is certainly not his jurisdiction so i’m curious as to what exactly happened there.

EDIT: i’ve been informed by a helpful anon that this is not a mistranslation, the japanese secret reports do state that it was a game involving joshua that resulted in shinjuku’s inversion. with that in mind, i have figured out how to rationalize this and it solves a lot of problems: if it was a proxy game between joshua and kubo, then joshua must have been the opposition to shinjuku’s inversion. though you could argue that joshua is responsible for the end result, he didn’t destroy shinjuku; his proxy lost, probably because kubo’s had the support of shinjuku’s composer. kubo’s overconfidence in running rampant in shibuya is now explicable and he may have been trying to rub it in that joshua lost.

if hazuki was still backing kubo post-shinjuku, this could explain why hazuki felt he could make decisions about shibuya’s fate and wander around it; joshua had already overstepped onto his turf to meddle in purification, so he was returning the favor. at this point in time, i figure that joshua’s proxy was either tsugumi’s brother (shinjuku’s conductor) or coco (she’s noted to have inexplicable powers for a rank-and-file reaper, but joshua’s opposition to her killing of neku throws this into question), and if we truly had a scrapped “shinjuku’s final game” plot then joshua’s proxy could also have been neku. kubo’s proxy was presumably shiba. this actually answers a few questions that i couldn’t rationalize when i assumed joshua was uninvolved (why would shinjuku’s composer be running a game against kubo when they wanted the same thing?), so i’m gonna chalk it up as an absolute win.

i think hishima as a character was... sort of nothing. he was just there. yeah, it was kinda funny how he dressed shiba down, but i don’t know that the plot needed him. his role in the endgame could have easily been given to tsugumi without much fuss, and i feel tsugumi deserved a much bigger part in the narrative given how much she was hyped up by solo and final remix. she was so prominent and anticipated that the fans called her hype-chan for years before we had a name for her. this could also be folded into the problem with hiding shiki until the very end; it feels like we missed a whole sequence with both of these characters simply because the narrative refused to show us shiki. instead, we’re told that shiki showed up and fixed mr. mew, and somehow this freed tsugumi. i think the fact that they don’t even give a flashback of this crucial event after shiki’s proper introduction is just a questionable decision. the story tells us that tsugumi’s release from the plushie is of the utmost importance and shiba can’t be swayed without her, setting it up as a vital event, but it happens offscreen with no real interaction with the main cast. it also only happens after multiple failed loops, even though rindo’s interference is what prevents the meeting between coco and shiki to repair the plushie. i don’t understand this from a logistical standpoint; if coco isn’t pulled to escort rhyme, she must have met with shiki and released tsugumi in timely manner, but tsugumi does not appear until after you replay to get coco back to her original schedule. you could wave it off as “she didn’t get there fast enough”, but i can’t accept that as a reason given the circumstances; it’s not like she would have to look hard to find shiba. this one’s flawed writing; i know in a meta sense why she didn’t appear, it was to build tension etc etc, but in-universe it’s a plot hole.

coco being so absent from the plot is also somewhat conspicuous. i wonder what reception of her was like in japan and if that influenced her lack of presence in the story. i honestly don’t even know if she was received well by the english audience, all i know is that i did not like her at all in final remix. not from an “i don’t like the villain because they’re doing bad things” perspective, from an “i don’t find this character compelling and i think they’re annoying” perspective. also curious as to whether or not her speech patterns changed in the japanese dialogue since final remix; i found her far less jarring and obnoxious in neo and i think it’s enormously because she stopped talking verbally in internet shorthand. overall, coco’s retool was imo a change for the better, but she’s barely there for me to appreciate how much of an improvement she was. it feels like there’s an entire narrative we were set up for by a new day, yet it’s almost completely missing. the ending of a new day laid out this framework for neku and minamimoto to be forced allies in an unseen future game. i had mixed feelings about this conceptually, but the narrative setup was fairly transparent. not only does this not happen, coco’s motivation in a new day and what ultimately happened were so lacking to me.

i feel like something got lost and we were originally going to actually see and perhaps play the shinjuku game that ended in disaster instead of just getting a summation and brief flashbacks of the survivors fleeing. this kinda ties in with my complaints about how hyped tsugumi was by solo and final remix, and then she turned out to have a very small (albeit crucial, via her trailer ability) and mostly unseen role in neo’s story. retroactively we learn that rindo’s visions are from tsugumi, but this is something she does entirely off-screen. all of coco’s scheming was for nothing, because joshua was a deus ex machina and whisked neku away the second he died. this feels to me like cut content or rewrites; there’s a whole game’s worth of story that just happened off-camera and we got to hear a little bit about it. it wasn’t enough, imo. i think doing it as a midquel is still possible, but it’s a hard sell to create a video game with a downer ending and we know shinjuku’s fate is already set in stone... even though a new day ended on the tragic cliffhanger of neku’s death, it’s a little different since it’s coming as an optional postgame sequel hook after victory rather than the entire narrative you fought through ending in failure. i suppose it could be done with a Distant Epilogue now that we know shiba and most of his surviving reapers will return to rebuild shinjuku. ultimately i really think that if not for the concern about neku overshadowing the new cast, shinjuku’s purification could and should have been the prologue to neo. it would be a tough balancing act, but i do think it could have been done right and it would have done a lot for narrative tension with his absence if we had a prologue following him that ends in a cliffhanger re: shinjuku’s purification. neku’s role in the story was done decently i think re: how big said role was, but a lot of circumstances surrounding his absence, legendary status, and reappearance leave much to be desired.

frankly, i just don’t like how much they glossed over neku’s three year absence. we’re given a vague explanation of what he was doing, but it isn’t actually an explanation. definitely again feels like a plot rewrite situation; there’s this huge blank space of neku doing nothing because there used to be a story that we were going to play through and it got scrapped for whatever reason. overall i feel neku’s characterization was very odd and perhaps a little inconsistent in this game; he didn’t have much of a personality at all, which i struggle to reconcile with the original game. we don’t see how he reconciled with coco, it’s just dismissed entirely as “no we’re good now”. how are we good? why did you forgive her for playing murder games instead of just explaining shit? i know he forgave joshua for his gatekeep gaslight girlboss behavior in the first game, but we had context as to why he made that decision. also what the fuck was keeping him from coming back to shibuya, i don’t feel like that was sufficiently explained either? for someone who was so hyped up by the narrative, i was a little let down by how insignificant neku ended up being to the plot as a whole. and again, his personality seemed very watered down and neutral despite the seriousness of the situation. why was he so mellow? the circumstances of his return i did really like, because... well, we’ll talk about character relationships i guess.

i already summed up my feelings on rindo and shoka and i think i’ll leave them on the note of “unnecessary elements dampened my potential for overt enthusiasm, but overall i feel neutral-positive about the suggestion of romantic interest” which is a lot more than i can say about a lot of (semi-)official pairings. on a broader and more platonic scale? generally i have positive feelings about the new cast and their interactions; i feel like their development is more understated than neku’s in the first game, his character arc is very in your face and the neo cast is not nearly as overt, but you can see the difference in how the team interacts across the three weeks. rindo and fret’s established friendship, not to be dismissive of it, does exactly what it needs to. i mean this in a completely positive way. it’s an established friendship, they feel like friends, and they serve initially as anchors to one another in the beginning of the game as a “you’re the only person i know in this chaos” setup. this contrasts neku in the first game in an excellent way because of how it highlights their biggest character flaws, which i’ll talk about later; it’s important to rindo’s fatal flaw that he has someone to fall back and rely on in the beginning of the game in the same way that it’s crucial for neku’s development that he’s surrounded by strangers who he must learn to trust and rely on in order to survive. rindo and fret can lean on each other in the beginning of the game, and as people who have known each other for some time, are able to recognize and appreciate each others’ positive changes.

i do love the development of nagi’s friendship with fret, particularly how it’s sometimes but not always remarked on when she shelves her initial aloof attitude with him. i prefer when a narrative is more subtle on that kind of thing; pointing it out every once in a while is okay, but i don’t want it shoved down my throat via dialogue that characters are developing an emotional bond. we can see that nagi is slowly becoming more receptive to fret and less likely to dismiss or disparage him. it seems like their initial relationship is that of two people who have opposite struggles; nagi is notably closed off in the beginning, but fret immediately approaches her with an unearned and offputting level of familiarity. their slow and understated (more noticeable with nagi than fret) development towards accepting each other as friends is mutually beneficial to them even outside of the context of their personal relationship; nagi opens up a little with everyone, not just fret. placing two people with very different perspectives on how to interact with new people in close proximity helped both of them grow. i’m sure other people have different perspectives, but i do not feel like they were being teased as a pairing which i enormously appreciate, i am tired of “pair the spares” shit. (minor note: i also appreciate how while fret’s crush on kanon was very overt and strong, she was also fairly clear that she considered him a kid and his feelings were never going to be reciprocated because of that age gap. i know, the bar is low, but thank god.)

i love how, despite nagi now having been confirmed as older than beat, as soon as beat joins the narrative he takes this hard stance of “i’m the one who’s already been in this hellscape so it’s my responsibility to help the newbies”. he really embodies the big brother role so well in this game; he knows a little more about what’s going on, this isn’t his first rodeo even if it’s not exactly the same, so he considers himself to have an obligation to protect the others. he serves as sort of a physical and emotional rock for the team from the second he joins, becoming an excellent support for them both as a combatant and an older brother figure. he has experience in being both of these things, and i think beat’s writing is some of the best in the game.

despite his position as a former player who’s back in the UG, he meshes with the newbies perfectly. he doesn’t overshadow the rest of the team despite having more lived (ha) experience in the reaper’s game, he doesn’t feel like he’s on a different level from them or anything like that. he fits in while serving an important unique role that he can only fill because of his prior time in the UG. it’s completely understandable and reasonable why rindo remains the team leader despite beat’s presence. he’s had a three year gap since his last game and doesn’t even understand how he returned to the UG. he’s not a fish out of water, he knows the UG and the game. but he’s really truly gotta shake the dust off, and he’s trying to figure out what happened to him in the first place because he knows he shouldn’t be in the UG at all. he didn’t have a huge bump in intelligence since the first game, but it’s hard to dismiss him as a complete idiot. he has both large and small perceptive moments where another narrative might have chosen to keep him as the dumb muscle. in fact, his firm convictions serve an important role for the others - beat knows he didn’t die and can’t be convinced otherwise, and his confidence that he’s a living player is part of how rindo and gang realize they also aren’t dead. he’s clearly not simply a comic relief character. another story might have positioned him as more of a mentor figure, but he plays to his strengths and serves to ground the team instead. beat is honestly a highlight of this ensemble cast to me. i’m unsure as to how much of that is simply because he was one of my favorites from the first game, but i really truly love beat in this game.

shoka and neku’s late introductions to the team mean they have far less “we are now firmly allies and friends” interactions with the rest of the ensemble for unavoidable reasons. i will say that the excellent casting and localization for the english version, particularly shoka, has done a lot to mitigate that issue; yes, the plot doesn’t develop her relationships with the team as a whole as thoroughly as some of the others, but the combat interactions with her are so genuine that i found myself shocked when writing this because, well, those combat lines did so much legwork making her role in the party seem earned and cohesive. i had such a strong sense of her place in the team that just isn’t reflected in the cutscenes, and i find that very interesting but i’m unsure as to whether it’s good or bad; i think it’s incredible that the combat dialogue did such a good job fostering this air of “we are a unit” for these characters and it really is a testament to the skill of these actors, but i do wish it was more prevalent in the cutscenes itself. beat’s established relationship with neku and their relaxed nature with one another does a lot to ease neku’s entry into the group; he has an “in” with a firmly established member and a well-written dynamic with him that helps him out here.

as a nekubeat appreciator i feel very fed and i hope there’s an uptick in interest for the pairing following neo. i love how beat, who throughout the game is constantly forgetting who people from 3 years ago are (doesn’t recognize his former superior bc she’s wearing a suit now and can’t even remember her name), immediately recognizes coco despite her changing her entire aesthetic specifically because he’s so angry with her for killing neku. he’s ready to throw down the second he sees her, which gives this feeling of “he’s been waiting for this moment for 3 years”. because the narrative never addresses beat’s change in style, particularly that he wears his hair like neku now, i choose to believe it’s because the last time he saw neku was immediately after coco shot and killed him. it could be that this shit’s been haunting him ever since neku died. my city now, if you don’t talk about it in the game i make shit up. both their cutscene interactions and combat quotes do an excellent job of maintaining the sense that these two have been close friends for a long time and distance hasn’t changed that. they fall right back into old ways with one another immediately.

even outside of the context of me being a nekubeat shipper, their relationship and continued partnership (UG game context partnership) feels very genuine. neku and joshua call each other partner, but it rings hollow. i’m sure it’s partially the lack of screentime that makes it so they don’t feel like partners any more than neku and shiki do, but the game doesn’t even try to push closeness the way it does for shiki - more on that in a minute. beat is the only one of neku’s partners that seems to have retained the same strength in their bond with him despite the three years; shiki and joshua are super absent in the plot, which really undermines their relationships with neku. i’ve already talked about my problems with shiki’s lack of focus and how i feel it harms her relationship with neku, but as for neku’s relationship with joshua, i think neo has taken an interesting approach that i feel will have a mixed reception.

it actually feels like neku and joshua ended this game on worse terms than the first one even though joshua was a far more benevolent figure this time around. neku is very clear about wanting to return to the RG despite this meaning he will have no access to the UG (outside of potentially text-based communication since rhyme paved the way for RG residents to bust into the RNS and... however it was that shoka’s fanGO account worked, since she and rindo were fanGO friends long before his entry to the UG) and doesn’t show any hesitation or reluctance in stating this desire. he seems quite content with not having joshua be a part of his life, as opposed to the first game’s ending where he extends an open offer to joshua to join his friend group. i understand how this would (and will) let a lot of people down, but i actually think it’s for the best. i have no real opinion on neku’s capacity for forgiving joshua after the first game, good or bad, but i think putting distance between them in this game is the correct move.

i take this viewpoint especially given that after the first game, joshua did in fact choose this distance - neku invited him in, and he did not take the offer. it was his decision to not join neku’s group in the first game’s ending and he continued to remain separate from it in the three year gap; he may have masqueraded as a fellow player and peer in age, but joshua is not and has never been an actual peer to neku, shiki, and beat. his life experiences are so different from theirs that i would struggle to suspend disbelief that they have enough in common to maintain a close friendship. he intervened when neku was killed by coco and placed him in a safe area and gave moral support in the ending, and i think this is the most we should expect of a reforming (not reformed but in-progress) misanthrope like joshua. he’s an enigmatic figure sure and largely benevolent if inactive in this game, but he isn’t a good person and he clearly considers himself to be on a different level from neku and his peers. hanekoma notes that joshua’s somewhat reluctant to continue to remain separate from neku’s group, but i think the narrative places him both objectively and in his own mind as someone who is just... from a different world. joshua chose distance, he chose to cut contact, and this is the consequence of that decision. i think that’s a good lesson to teach; it may not be a given, but it’s natural that sometimes a friendship you ignore will fade. it doesn’t necessarily mean the time you spent didn’t matter, but you shouldn’t be shocked if a plant you don’t water wilts away.

i feel like that wasn’t the intended takeaway, that it was just questionable writing that i’m reading too deep into, but that’s how i feel about the situation.

i’m also incredibly grateful that hazuki was introduced as an age-appropriate option for joshua and i hope they’ll draw attention as a bastard boyfriends ship, both because i think it’s very funny and because i have opinions about shipping joshua with the teens. i know it’s contentious and i’m not going too deep into it, so what i’m going to say is this. the secret reports state in plain objective text that joshua downtuning his vibes aged him down and his true appearance is older. neither the narrative nor supplementary info state anything about how old josh was when he died or how long he’s been a reaper/the composer (reapers ageing is ??? as well, we don’t know if it’s not a thing or if it’s optional or what). however, it is firmly canon that he is older than 15. if that canon upsets you then that’s your problem to either work through or ignore indefinitely. suffice to say, joshua and hazuki do not have the schrodinger’s pedophile issue and i wholly support and strongly encourage that over the alternative for this reason and again because i find it funny and think they deserve each other. i hate to say hazuki is a healthy choice for joshua because i think both of them are just walking messes, but they are actual peers on the same tier of the higher plane pecking order and more importantly the disaster they could be as a couple has infinite potential.

on the girls side of things, i am still mad about eri’s absence not just because it’s a relationship shiki had that just got ignored. i know the story wants us to believe that neku and shiki have something but shiki and eri had more. i’m sorry writers you made a more compelling f/f ship by accident in the first game and i am not invested in the one you weakly suggested between neku and shiki here. if you made shiki have more of a role in neo maybe i’d feel differently, or maybe you would have screwed it up worse. we’ll never know. i think it’s a shame that they couldn’t make me care about neku and shiki as a pairing, but it is what it is.

i was briefly worried that the game would try to suggest something between kaie and rhyme because sometimes people lose their minds when a boy and girl stand next to each other, but i was quickly set at ease with that one. they felt like two people who are starting to straddle that line of acquaintance/friend in a believable way despite how little interaction between them we see, and i appreciate that. i was also briefly worried that fret would develop a crush on rhyme based on his initial reaction at being introduced to her, but again quickly dismissed. can you tell i’m a little gun shy about strangled “him boy her girl” romances in fiction these days? yeah. i’ve been let down too much recently by bad writing.

i think all of the party members could have benefited from more development with one another outside of combat lines - i would like to see more interaction between nagi and shoka, or neku and fret, etc - but that would come at the expense of the narrative’s pacing. i think it could have been done by tweaking certain details, but ultimately i can accept this as a sacrifice made in the interest of keeping the narrative from getting bloated.

i wanna talk briefly about the new main cast a little.

rindo’s ups and downs re: development are much more subtle than neku’s were, but with the secret reports in mind i feel his arc is actually pretty excellent. i think we could have done with a little less of fret pointing out rindo’s increased confidence and how he becomes more assertive, i think the audience is smart enough to notice that on their own. but i’m a huge fan of how the narrative quietly places rindo in this position of a leader who fears that responsibility, but nonetheless has to grow and accept it. hanekoma’s reports may spell it out in plain text postgame, but the narrative already told us in our own way that rindo’s development stalled when someone else entered the cast who could take over for him and this is demonstrative of a(n understandable) lack of maturity and failure to grow. neku’s fatal flaw was his rejection of others, and so he was forced by the narrative into a position where he had to learn to trust them; rindo’s is that he relies too much on them and the narrative forces him to stand on his own.

while i think this is a little muddled (he was right in some instances to not make hard solo decisions; thinking specifically of ayano, it was absolutely the right call to ease shoka into this inevitable loss rather than forcing her into the situation unilaterally) and i wish we saw more consequences of his initial waffling behavior, rindo’s indecisiveness is an actual flaw that i think a lot of people can relate to and i think it contrasts him wonderfully with neku without being heavy-handed. rindo working through it from “relying on others to make choices for him -> still valuing the input of others but not wholly dependent on them -> capable of making difficult calls without anyone else to support him” was subdued and while it had realistic hitches in the form of other characters who he could consider authority figures, it was steady and imo very good. he’s a teenager coming into his own, stepping out of this world where others in his life - motoi as an0ther, shoka as swallow, presumably his parents, teachers, etc - have made the big, scary decisions for him or guided him through them, and into a place where there aren’t these people to guide him. he’s surrounded by people who either don’t know anything more than he does, or don’t care about his best interests; he’s clashing and changing and it forces him to grasp and accept his own autonomy rather than falling back and relying on someone else to fix things when it’s too frightening or difficult.

we can talk cultural differences re: the level of autonomy and responsibility that’s right for teenagers but i’m not really interested in drawing hard lines there. this is a coming of age story; as he approaches maturity, rindo is learning how to be an adult. i think that’s a classic and important narrative concept and it’s done well here.

fret, interestingly, is imo a case where the subtlety didn’t work out. to me, there wasn’t a huge distinction between flippant “telling you what i think you want to hear” fret and “genuine” fret. his initial interactions with kanon don’t seem different from their last conversation; maybe he comes off as less initally honest in the jp version, or maybe this one was a writing fumble. maybe it’s just me, and other people don’t feel the same way! he seems to be a far more static character in a strange way; the narrative tells us that he’s developing via other characters’ dialogue, but it doesn’t seem to support that. to me it’s a failure of “show, don’t tell” - i don’t take a hard stance on “show, don’t tell” as some kind of holy rule of writing, there are plenty of situations in a narrative where telling is perfectly acceptable and i think rigid adherence to showing and not telling can result in a bloated narrative, but in this case i feel like that’s where the narrative failed. it failed to support fret’s development outside of other people telling him he’s changed. i like fret, but i feel like in this ensemble cast fret and nagi kinda serve more as nominal protagonists and are more strong supporting characters than true leads.

as for nagi, i love how, despite it being low-hanging fruit, not only are there no real digs at nagi for being a vocal fangirl of a visual novel dating sim, it actually ties perfectly into her character as someone who understands people. dating sims are about people and relationships. how people interact, the importance of conveying your feelings, the consequences of bad communication; that’s what nagi is obsessed with. and rather than this being a detriment and making her avoid others, it ends up priming her to have healthy friendships because her gaming taught her to value knowing other people. it takes her time to actually open up, but rather than the video games closing her off to others they actually set her up to be an excellent friend. elestra in general could have been a subject of enormous mockery, but instead it’s viewed in a very neutral way and is given the implication of universal appeal by fret picking it up in the epilogue. nagi’s not in the spotlight for most of the game, but the payoff of her monologue to fret about being human was immense and was one of the best bits of dialogue in the entire game to me. it’s not going to be as iconic as hanekoma’s “open up your world” and “enjoy the moment”, but i truly think it’s one of the only parts of neo’s dialogue that approaches its level.

shoka is a character that i think is better on the replay, and i say this as someone who was very fond of shoka the first time around. i thought she had a lot of personality in her mannerisms alone, and i firmly appreciate how she wasn’t a one-note tsundere character. she had some of those minor elements, but subdued and with a reasonable context - she’s hot and cold with rindo and his team because she’s supposed to be working this rigged game to erase them, but she’s already rindo’s friend in a different context and is struggling to reconcile these two parts of her life. knowing her motivation as swallow gives so much retroactive depth to her actions; she was circumventing the game itself not just because she was exhausted by it or unease with shiba like some of the other turncoat reapers, but because rindo was her friend from before the story even began.

i will say that i didn’t actually fully call swallow being shoka simply because at first i had the impression that it would be rhyme (before rhyme’s role in the story became clearer), and admittedly by the time the climax hit the mystery of who swallow was had kind of dropped out of my mind completely, but i think it does a lot to develop shoka. whether this development being retroactive is strictly good or bad as an issue is subjective; neo is a game that has a built-in chapter select, so replaying the game and rewatching the cutscenes with the full narrative context is incredibly easy. however, for a lot of players, if you’re replaying the game it’s with a specific goal of getting something you missed earlier in-game, so you’re rushing through those cutscenes trying to get to that completionist bit. i think a line could have been walked re: giving more of a hint that shoka was swallow before the very end without fully giving it away, but i definitely think the rewatch value is more subjective and based on how you specifically play the game. if you’re here looking to watch all the cutscenes again now that you know everything, shoka being swallow is a huge treat regarding changing the context of her behavior - if you’re fast-forwarding trying to find a pig, it’s totally wasted.

i would have liked to see more of shoka’s backstory and interaction with the other shinjuku reapers for sure, and i wonder if this is another thing along the lines of “we were supposed to see more of shinjuku’s final game than we did”; if we’d gotten more of shinjuku, we certainly would have seen more of its reapers. i talked briefly about how i feel like ayano’s death didn’t hit the way i think it was intended to, but if the game had let us see more of her as a shinjuku reaper i feel like the entire plot would have benefited. it would have benefited shiba as well honestly; they tried to have him as a repentant “now i shall fix what i destroyed” character at the very end, but i don’t feel like they did a good enough job portraying that he had changed and he was brainwashed so it fell flat. if we’d seen more of shiba as the compassionate leader who deserved the loyalty of his reapers that they say he was, the contrast would have done a lot to help define the tragedy of his backstory. overall i think this is another “we lost a chunk of the plot in rewrites or something” issue, which i admit is not based in anything like interviews. it’s just my speculation because it feels like something that was supposed to be here got left behind - i can’t say if i’m right, or why it happened if so. it just feels to me like the shinjuku reapers besides shoka went fairly undeveloped not because of writing/lack of screentime alone but because we lost big pieces of shinjuku content entirely. it’s insane that we only learn in the secret reports how tsugumi became trapped in the mr. mew plush to begin with; to me, this screams “we had to cut something”, and the more i think about it the more convinced i am that we were originally meant to see more of shinjuku’s inversion. hell, the secret reports just flippantly inform us that tsugumi’s brother was shinjuku’s conductor and he’s why she survived - but he goes unnamed and unseen, mentioned only in a piece of postgame content that many players may never unlock.

shinjuku’s final game is just left as this incredible story that was never told, with a cast who we barely see. again, it doesn’t bother me that they never explained to us why hazuki purified shinjuku. but i do wish we could have connected with its reapers to see how they reacted to its impending fate; who was on kubo’s side, who was trying to protect shinjuku? who knew what was happening, and who was just swept up in the chaos? how did the purification affect them emotionally after their escape to shibuya? just from the secret reports we see that tsugumi’s brother is this tragic hero of another story, the conductor opposing the executor and fighting to save his city before ultimately sacrificing himself to keep his sister alive. this is enough content that it could have easily been a standalone, but it wasn’t. i think that’s a damn shame. i’m sure there are people who are already chomping at the bit to write about shinjuku’s tragic final game and it’ll make a stunning fanfic in the right hands, but this is a big gap for fanfiction authors to be filling in.

this was mostly a narrative thoughts dump, but i wanna say just a couple of things about the combat: overall i liked it! i was significantly overleveled for the vast majority of the game partially because i was having fun with the combat, i feel gameplay was very intrinsically motivating. because of how the food system worked, being overleveled didn’t mean too much since it only affects HP, but i also was eating constantly so i was in fact just OP for much of the game. so i suppose, take my gameplay commentary with a grain of salt because i was busted quickly. if i hadn’t been such a powerhouse from early on, i expect my gameplay experience would have been much different.

my biggest complaint: there were some significant issues in enemy design related to battles being timed and the timer having consequences. some enemies were a reasonable/intuitive pain, say, elephants being bullet sponges and chameleons having an invisibility mechanic. these things made them challenging, but in a sensible way. like, of course a big honkin’ elephant has a ton of HP. i think that chameleons in particular could have been tweaked; you have to be very close to them when they’re invisible in order to lock on, and i think this could distance could have been extended a bit to minimize frustration. likewise, it felt like party members that get grabbed by a t.rex were trapped for ages; i feel this could have been tweaked as well. i know a lot of people had issues with wolves for this same reason, but their comparative frailty and my pin choices meant that i quickly overcame wolves and they became a minor nuisance at best until endgame introduced a beefier wolf. even then, i found t.rex noise to be much more of an issue because of their sturdier nature and higher damage output. these are minor gripes; i didn’t like seeing these enemies, but i didn’t hate seeing them. no, here’s what i hate: rhinos and pufferfish.

to me, these are the most annoying enemies in the entire game outside of maybe a handful of bosses. i feel they were poorly thought out in general. the tendency for rhinos to put themselves against the arena walls and the delay on pufferfish exploding after their HP hits zero do not mesh well with that battle timer. i find myself very frustrated by these enemies because it feels like i’m being punished not for a lack of skill or bad decisions choosing weak pins, but simply bad luck. very few pins can circumvent the rhino’s front guard and the hitbox for their guard feels enormous, so i can’t imagine i’m the only player having difficulty herding them out of corners to actually damage them or get beat drops. there’s a postgame dive with a big noise rhino, and it was my worst experience with the entire game because it just kept backing into a corner. i quit that dive multiple times because of how much time i wasted with the rhino; i changed my pins like crazy trying to take advantage of elemental weaknesses or use pins that could circumvent the guard. but it wasn’t about what pins i was using, it was just bad luck with hitboxes. when i finally got the gold rank on that dive it wasn’t that i did anything significantly different, the rhino just didn’t park its ass in the corner that time.

as far as i know, and i hope i’m missing something that someone can enlighten me on, there is no way to prevent pufferfish from inflating and exploding outside of a killer remix. i have not discovered any way to make them explode faster. the amount of time it takes for them to blow up seems to vary not by species but by individual, i’m not sure if it’s being triggered by proximity to a party member or what but i know sometimes one of those little shits will inflate and chase me across the entire arena before finally exploding. in a chain battle, that wasted time adds up. the pufferfish issue could have been severely mitigated, if not entirely fixed, if the gap between HP hitting zero and explosion was just the time it took for them to inflate. that would have basically eliminated my needless frustration with them. but instead i just... don’t know how to make them pop faster.

in normal combat, your post-battle score is primarily just bragging rights/making yourself feel good to have gotten a good grade. but when it comes to dives, where the timer directly decides how many of the finite friendship points you get, the appearance of a rhino or pufferfish specifically is something i approached with dread and disappointment. i already mentioned the postgame dive giant rhino specifically being a nightmare, but this was a reoccurring element for me through the entire game with just normal rhinos. i know rhinos are a returning enemy and kept their front-guard schtick, but the shift to a 3D environment has made them a much more (imo needlessly) difficult opponent.

regarding the pin system itself, i was enormously disappointed to learn how the multi-pin input worked. it turns out that you can only have multiple pins using a single input no matter how many multi-pin wields you unlock; gone were my dreams of having 2 Y-input pins and two ZL input pins (i played on switch). the inability to multi-pin wield uber pins regardless of how many uber slots you have filled is also a huge bummer. i feel like in the postgame i should be able to be an absolute god of destruction, but this didn’t pan out.

this seems to be a switch issue, but autosave was the MVP of the game because i had a few cutscenes crash or freeze (the one with kubo’s reveal seems to be a common source of a crash on the switch version as it fails to load the 3D cutscene); this was annoying and needs fixing, but it was slightly mitigated by autosave kicking in immediately after boss battles. i was crushed thinking i was gonna have to go through the shiba fight again after kubo crashed my game, so the relief i felt upon loading up again and going right into the cutscene was immense. don’t get me wrong: cutscene freezes and particularly crashes are a big problem that a game like this shouldn’t have launched with, but at the very least i didn’t lose my progress on that crash. related, i appreciate the ability to speed through cutscenes you’ve already seen, but i do wish we had the option to skip them entirely because that would have saved me from the freezes that i had to manually close the game and lose progress for.

a more minor complaint that i admittedly am unsure as to how to fix (maybe utilizing the d-pad instead of having it be camera/target select alongside the right stick?) is that i do not seem to have much control over which character my camera centers on in combat. typically selecting the pin that’s equipped to them will focus the camera to them, but every once in a while i’ll be locked to someone whose pin is rebooting while my other party members are actively attacking on the complete opposite end of the arena. i have no idea why this happens. if i’m missing something please let me know. the static nature of the overworld camera took some adjusting to, at first i was offput but i got used to it quickly. if camera was fixed position in combat it would have been a nightmare, but it being fixed in the overworld isn’t the same beast.

this has gotten obscenely long, so props and condolences to everyone who has made it this far. i wanna end on a high note because i want to reiterate something: i have so many criticisms here and that’s actually praise. i enjoyed so much of this game that i’m critical of where it fell short specifically because it’s such a strong contrast to how much i felt it did right. the main story was pretty strong in general, though some character interactions were lacking. the plot itself i didn’t talk a lot about because i thought it was good. there wasn’t much to say, they did a good job! the dissonance noise being created from deleted timelines was great, i loved that. i don’t feel like predictability makes a narrative bad, so it’s not like i was upset when it turned out replay was (gasp) part of a dastardly scheme. for me, foreshadowing is an excellent thing even if sometimes i wish it was handled a little differently.

i vastly prefer this game’s vague sequel hook with minamimoto over how final remix ended a new day; that sequel hook i hated and it had me so worried about neo. thankfully a lot of my fears didn’t come true, and i am very happy overall with the game we got. if another game is greenlit, i would hope it progresses with a mostly new cast; as long as we stay in shibuya some supporting characters can and should be staples imo, like kariya and uzuki, and i hope to see more of what’s being set up with minamimoto even if not necessarily with him as a protagonist. but overall i think twewy’s worldbuilding lends itself much more to a rotating cast if it develops into a full franchise; that’s just the nature of the UG, and i would like to see further installments taking advantage of that and allowing characters to have a complete arc and then retire from the narrative naturally.

i’ve got some pigs to erase and some bosses to slap the pins out of, which i’m sure will take me some time. another day certainly has a secret boss and/or time trial boss rush, so i’ll take a look at that sucker soon as well. i’m looking forward to continuing my playthrough, and i expect to sink quite a few more hours into this game. i really truly enjoyed neo despite my qualms, and i’m leaving the main storyline behind for postgame stuff with almost entirely positive feelings and a hopeful stance on the potential future of the series. i know this was a long-ass post, which is why it’s beneath a readmore, but to anyone who cared enough about my thoughts to keep reading the whole thing... thanks for the time you spent, hope you got something positive out of it!

#neo twewy #neo twewy spoilers #this turned into a behemoth. im so sorry #I CHECKED AND IT'S OVER 11K WORDS #I'M SO FUCKING SORRY

16 notes · View notes

neoyi · 3 years

Text

Back again with another Kingdoms Heart II talky time. What is this, the fourth? Fifth installment? Any who, I’m covering Sora’s revisits to Beast’s Castle, Chin- er, sorry, Land of Dragons, Olympus, Agrabah, Halloween/Christmas Town, and Pride Rock.

*I love that Kingdom Hearts Belle is only so restraint with her annoyance over Organization XIII’s bullshit. She’s already pissed when Xaldin interrupts her big ballroom dance out with the Beast (”not tonight!”), then when Xaldin kidnaps her and threatens the Beast, she elbows the man in response (the music even stops just to emphasize the impact of what she’s done), sporting an absolute shit-eating grin in the process.

Belle is Queen Shit.

*I see The Beast has mastered the Team Rocket School of Quick Changing Clothing. He’s somehow able to switch from his dance outfit to his standard tattered cape and pants between Heartless surrounding them and just before they do battle. What talent.

*Having Marluxia’s - that pretentious rose-spewing jackass - insignia inside Beast’s Castle is apropos.

*I get keeping the Organization XIII members in their hoods is to preserve their mysteries and build anticipation (it’s less about Who They Could Beeee as it is wondering what they look like and what personality/skills are associated with them), but as someone who sometimes has trouble distinguishing things, having to parse out who is speaking to who when they all look identical is kind of hard....They really could have killed for more women in the Org, I’m just saying.

*Oh shit, I forgot how hot Xigbar was. In terms of sexiness, it’s a toss-up between him and Luxurd.

*Oh yes, that eye patch does do things to me. <3

*It is super cute that Mulan asked the Emperor if Shang could have a vacation.

*I think it fits that at some point in Hercules’ life, he’s going to feel burnt out from being a hero without any rest. It’s kind of nice to see this game explore that a bit.

*I haven’t played FFX in a long time, but I think some of the dialogue Auron spouts when Sora picks up his Heart Doll doohickey are from or carry shades from his time during. It’s obviously just meant to pay lip service to his canon role, but I kind of like the Don’t-Take-It-Seriously-Theory that the Auron in Kingdom Hearts ended up in Hades’ realm (maybe he took a wrong turn in Albuquerque on his way to Spira’s whatever-the-fuck-metaphysical-afterlife-is.) I guess if there’s one game series where multibverse traverse is logical, it’d be Kingdom Hearts.

I’ve looked at this artwork of Sora many times over the years and this part of his outfit still baffles me. What are those baggy red things attached to his hips? Are they cushioned to protect a part of his body in case he gets tossed by an enemy? Is it the same with his shoulder guards or are those even shoulder guards and not just clothing that happen to look like shoulder guards? Like, are the red bags bags? Does Sora pack his essentials in them? Toothbrush? Snack bar? Keys to the Gummi Ship????

*If Hercules’ doubt is part and parcel of being a hero to many, Sora’s obsession to be defined as one in Olymupus Coliseum feel redundant and backwards. Didn’t the first Kingdom Hearts established that bearing the moniker of a hero is not reflective of your character, but through your actions? Sora’s a goofball, but apparently that lesson didn’t seem to stick, causing him to obsess over labels he only cares about for this world and this world only.

*Revisiting Port Royal and I’m only just realizing Sora can kill pirates in this game. They’re undead, but they’re that way because of a curse, otherwise they were living and have the capability to live again. I don’t know if I can process this kid having murdered like hundreds of Actual, By Technicality, Living Humans.

*I like how Jack describes the audacity of Organization XIII’s motives that it makes pirates look kind and spoke with a tone as if he’s offended. Pirates have a nasty reputation to live for and those jackasses in black hoods are taking all their creds.

*Luxurd is the other Hot Organization XIII member, and he may be my personal favorite. He’s got that sauve, roguish quality I like in a character. In another universe, he might have been a risky, gambling-his-life Lovable Rouge Pirate and damn if I wouldn’t eat that story up.

*Whenever Donald and Goofy is out of your party, they sometimes circle around to each other and chat and I think that’s adorable. Nice attention to detail.

*Tragically, unlike Belle who got a bit more to do in her world, Jasmine’s expanded role in KHII doesn’t amount to a hill of beans. She gets to be voiced by her original actress, but that’s about the extent of it.

*I don’t know if this was an intended foreshadowing or just the product of Cool Boss Fight, but Sora constantly dodging and reflecting crumbles of building away from Genie Jafar does end up coming back in the final boss fight. Arguably cooler than this one, but you can see it as Sora applying what he’s learned since then.

*If Genie is capable of fixing Agrabah and improving on it, then man, I think Aladdin should let him. Like don’t drastically alter it to alienate the townsfolk, but consult with the Sultan and Jasmine and improve the homes of thousands of impoverished people. Come on, Aladdin, you’re gonna rule these people, and you were once a street rat. Use your position for good!

*I’m a tad worried about Sora’s stick arms. Kid, you eating alright? Is Donald and Goofy giving you proper nourishment?

*At the second half of the game, Kingdom Hearts II really ramps up the Sora/Kairi and how you feel about it likely depends upon your preference for the pairing or not. I actually think they’re adorable as heck and I think a lot of why is that Sora, unlike a lot of other shonen protagonist that his archetype resembles, is far from clueless about his affection for her or even dismissive of her. No, he thinks of her all the goddamn time. He’s ridiculously in love with her that an average teenager can give and that’s such a wholesome thing that almost any scenario where he’s thinking of her really shines a spot on his character. This despite the fact that, well, there really isn’t a whole lot of on the Why they like each other, they just do because they’re the main male and female protagonist (which is why I get people rolling their eyes at the pairing, it is a bog-standard heteronormative relationship.)

*I think it's a good and logical point that Simba still carries doubt shortly after the events of The Lion King. Scar's ghost looming over him filling him with manipulative thoughts and his people especially doubting his kingly moniker because he's not the Great Mufasa is something Simba would likely be compared to. However could Simba compete with Mufasa, a beloved and competent King?

*I think this is the first time the game has ever shown a canon Disney character getting the Heartless treatment and man, this is a cool concept I kind of wished they did more of. I mean, maybe they did? I haven’t played any KH game after this. I hear Hans turns into one in KH3.

*There's a mild subplot between Cid and Merlin where they both clash over Technology vs. Magic. I know Disney Merlin did complain about the future (read: 1960s contemporary when the movie first came out) once he finished his brief sabbatical there, but as someone who's aged backwards, you'd think he'd have a better appreciation for tech.

...Then again, maybe he saw how invasive smart devices have gotten in the 21st century in which case, okay, fair, you are right to complain.

#kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts II #neoyi talks

7 notes · View notes

nadziejastar · 3 years

Note

Do you have any thoughts on the KHUX finale?

I have a LOT of thoughts on it. Lots of it was confusing shit. All the data stuff, Book of Prophecies, time travel, waypoints. The fictional world was mentioned again, too, unsurprisingly. Could barely follow any of it, tbh. But in summary Unchained X was the story of Daybreak Town and the Keyblade War. And Union X was the story of the founding of Scala ad Caelum. Okey dokey. Sounds good.

Brain was really Luxu (Or possessed by Luxu.) And Brain was an ancestor of Eraqus. And I thiiiink it was implied that Xehanort was...a descendant of Ephemer and Skuld? Which is...surprising. I guess that'll be covered more in Dark Road. I suppose there did have to be survivors to transform the ruins of Daybreak Town into a new city. Skuld and Ephemer surviving and having kids? I don't really know quite how I feel about the idea, tbh.

I really am curious about Strelitzia's fate. But I really wish that her, Lauriam, and Elrena's past was covered in a different game. They still felt SO out of place in the UX timeline to me. Did they really have to be Dandelions for their story to work? IMO, no, not at all.

Same with Ventus. He barely even did anything in UX. Then he travels to the future just in time to meet Xehanort when he was already an old man and looking for a new vessel.

Elrena, Lauriam, Strelitzia, and Ven should have been regular inhabitants of Scala ad Caelum, and their backstory would have taken place few years prior to BBS. I think Strelitzia may have been Xehanort's prior victim before he met Ven. Maybe she was the Princess of Heart before Kairi was born, who knows. Like with Ven, she was wrapped in the white cloak after he was done with her. But she was dead. Lauriam obviously could not let her go.

Lauriam, in his anguish, lost his hearts and became a Nobody. Elrena, who loved him, followed soon after. Lauriam woke up in the Dwarf Woodlands. And Elrena the Enchanted Dominion. The two worlds with the sleeping princesses. I can buy the idea that Marluxia and Larxene were looking for Strelitzia (or most likely, a way to revive her). And that was their agenda in CoM and why they needed Sora as their pawn.

My favorite scene was "7 and 13" because it was vital to understanding KH3 and the entire Dark Seeker Saga. Finally we learn why the MoM named his apprentices after the seven deadly sins and why he told them there was a traitor. We also learn the origin of the Heartless, and what the Demon Tide really is. It's the collective form of Darkness, the whole. Which is why the Shadows act like a hivemind and coalesce into a tornado.

I've suspected for a long time that Xehanort was just a pawn. And he was. He was a pawn of Darkness. Darkness gave up their physical form. But they realized they needed bodies. Without tangible form, they would lose their individual will.

So they desired to take over bodies with strong hearts. Xehanort thought he was starting the Keyblade War and collecting 13 vessels for his own agenda, to remake the world. But he was subconsciously gathering the bodies for Darkness to inhabit.

The whole “we” thing instantly reminded me of Saïx and this particular passage from the novel. The real "we" was not even the Organization. I think Nomura had this idea for a loooong time. It's such a shame. If Darkness had been introduced before KH3, or even during KH3, Xehanort and Saïx could have gotten MUCH better redemptions. It's easier to accept Xehanort getting a happy ending when you realize he was just a vessel, too.

Saïx may have thought he was trying to get back his heart. But he was subconsciously advancing Darkness' agenda. Darkness were planning for something to happen when Kingdom Hearts was completed, and then they would truly exist.

My guess is they wanted to regain the physical forms they originally discarded. They needed to temporarily inhabit physical bodies (Organization XIII) to form the X-blade and open Kingdom Hearts. And then they could get their true forms back.

#khux finale

9 notes · View notes

turnupswritessometimes · 4 years

Text

Yours, Always - SoRiku

Title: Yours, Always

Chapters: 1 + 2

Word Count: 9381

Summary: The letter seemed to fall from the sky. It was rolled up, into a scroll, and landed right in front of Sora’s shoes. He stopped short, staring at it. Donald turned back, as soon as he realised Sora had fallen behind. He frowned. “What are you waiting for?” “There’s a –” Sora pointed to the letter, then up. There wasn’t even a cloud in the sky. Only paper, apparently. “It came from up there.” *** King Mickey suggests that Riku writes letters to his tie to light. He chooses Sora. As they write back and forth, they start to untangle friendship from something deeper.

A03 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29115582

Yours, Always

The letter seemed to fall from the sky. It was rolled up, into a scroll, and landed right in front of Sora’s shoes. He stopped short, staring at it.

Donald turned back, as soon as he realised Sora had fallen behind. He frowned. “What are you waiting for?”

“There’s a –” Sora pointed to the letter, then up. There wasn’t even a cloud in the sky. Only paper, apparently. “It came from up there.”

“That’s nonsense.”

“It did.” Sora nudged it with his shoe. When it didn’t turn into a heartless, or a monster, he knelt down, and picked it up. It was cold, as though it had been in a fridge.

“But why couldn’t it?” Goofy asked. “There’s plenty of weird things going on.”

Donald turned on him. “Letters don’t just come from nowhere.”

They continued bickering, as Sora turned it over in his hand. There was the King’s seal, on the ribbon, glinting silver in the bright sun. He tried to cover it with his thumb, but Jiminy saw from his shoulder, before he could hide it.

“It’s from the King!”

Donald and Goofy turned to him, a predatory glint in their eyes. They were ready to jump.

“I found it.” Sora held the letter to his chest, protectively.

“You tripped over it,” Donald squawked.

“It’s still mine.” He couldn’t hesitate – he slipped his finger under the seal, and freed it, unfurling the letter and –

He stared, heart thumping. Because it wasn’t from the King.

“Hands off!” He held it high – higher than Donald could reach, and walked backwards. “It’s not from the King – it’s from Riku!”

“Gwarsh, is that the boy that took the keyblade from you?” Goofy asked.

Sora’s stomach clenched. For a moment, it had felt like it had been before. When he and Riku were best friends, and never argued. (Not about anything that mattered, just petty squabbles.) For a moment, he had forgotten Hook’s ship, and Hollow Bastion.

“He closed the door to darkness,” Sora said. “From the other side.” And, at Donald and Goofy’s exchanged, confused glance. “He’s my friend. We’re going to find him. And the King.”

Another exchanged glance. This one with missed pity and understanding. But at least Sora was left alone to read. It was a slightly blocky, awkward script. One that was as familiar as his own –

Sora,

Mickey said I should write this. I suppose you’d call him King Mickey. I try to call him Your Majesty. It feels weird. We’re both – alive. In the Realm of Darkness. It’s not as cold as it sounds, but there are heartless everywhere. Mickey’s good with a keyblade. It looks like yours.

Mine is different.

But, anyway, Mickey said to write to someone who would anchor me to the world of light. That it would help keep the darkness at bay. It looks like that’s going to be a never-ending battle. He said Kairi, since we worked so hard to get her heart back. So she must be important to me. But I couldn’t stop thinking about you, instead. It used to be just us, on the island. Do you remember that? I think it’s because of that, that I can’t write to her. She doesn’t understand, not everything. And I – wouldn’t know what to say to her – after –

You showed her our secret place, didn’t you?

I can’t be angry about something like that. Not after what I did. That’s also why I wanted to write to you, and couldn’t write to her. Because I’m sorry for – all of that. When the island fell into darkness, I woke up at Hollow Bastion, where we met again. Of course I wanted to find the both of you. Maleficent said she could help – but that you’d already moved on. I didn’t believe that, not at first – but, I thought – that I would be clever and double cross her. Pretend to go along with her, just to find you, find out what she was doing, and then stop it from the outside.

Then I found you in Traverse Town. With – Donald and Goofy (? Is that his real name?) – and it felt like what she said could be true. I know you, but that was when she had her hold on me.

Honestly, I wanted to be better than you. Controlling the heartless, and the darkness – I wanted to do it, because I knew you wouldn’t be able to. I thought that I was stronger. I guess I was just like Maleficent, in the end. We didn’t used to be rivals, did we? I don’t want to be, anymore.

I was not manipulated. I chose to take every step.

I don’t know if this will reach you, but I’m glad you and Kairi are safe. Be there for each other, and I’ll be back soon.

Riku

They were all still staring at him. Waiting to see what it said.

Sora thought that his cheeks were hot. He forced himself to smile – it came easily now – and said, “he’s okay! And so’s the King!”

Goofy beamed, and Donald did his best impression to seem unbothered, but it was clear he was excited. He called for them to keep walking, fighting a smile, though none of them knew where they were headed. There was nothing in the distance. Nothing put that same narrow, winding path.

They started again. Sora unfurled the letter and read it again. Someone to tie Riku to the light – his heart jumped and juddered at the thought. Okay. Riku was alive. And okay. In the realm of darkness, but he was strong. Strong enough to get out.

Sora would be there when he did. He wanted to be.

He read the letter half a dozen times before they stopped for the night. So that Riku’s words all but floated in front of him. Every loop of his letters, and haphazard slash across the ‘t’s memorized.

Donald almost burnt their eyebrows off by lighting the campfire. It was enough of a distraction for Sora to find paper and a pencil in their packs.

They ate; fruits they found on the road, and a chicken who’d gotten too close to them. (Too close to a duck for Sora’s liking, but Donald didn’t seem to care.) It was only when Donald and Goofy lay down for the night, that Sora began writing.

“I’m sure Donald and Goofy would have words to add,” a small voice said by his ear. Jiminy. Saying exactly what had been niggling at Sora’s stomach.

“I know,” Sora replied. Looked at the name he had put at the top of the page, and felt his chest ache. “If I get a reply, I’ll tell them and they can add on. It’s just –” That he wanted to be selfish. Just this once. Because it was – “It’s just that it’s Riku. I have so much I need to say. So much that – is just between us.”

His face felt warm, as he glanced over at his sleeping friends. Because they were friends, but what he had with Riku was different. He felt almost – shy – about it. So just this once, he would be selfish.

He wrote, in the soft light of the dying fire:

Riku,

I’m so happy you’re alright! I’ve been thinking about you too – a lot. The Realm of Darkness…if anyone can make it out, you and the King can. Donald and Goofy (yes, that’s his real name) are so excited that he’s okay too. I can’t wait to see your keyblade. I never made it back to the Islands. But Kairi’s there. She’ll be safe, now that the keyholes are sealed.

Of course I remember when it was just us. It felt like the whole island was ours. I thought about that, at Hollow Bastion, after I’d taken… The Beast’s roars reminded me of when we were in our secret place, and you told me the wind was a monster. You said we could beat anything, if we were together.

I still believe that.

Kairi found our secret place, rather than me showing it to her. But you’re right, I let her in. It must have been so hard for her – to be somewhere that wasn’t her home, with strange children, that I thought giving her just a small piece of ours would help. I should have checked with you though – you’re the Captain of the Raft, right?

You never let me finish, in Traverse Town. I was going to invite you with us. Donald and Goofy (yes, his real name), are great – but they’re not you, Riku. I could never think of exploring anywhere without you. I don’t know when we became rivals, but I don’t want to be, either. I prefer being friends.

You did the right thing in the end. And if Maleficent ever comes back, we’ll kick her butt together.

See you soon,

Sora

He slept with the letter under his bedroll. The crinkle of the paper, as he turned his head, seemed to help him sleep.

And when he woke up in the morning, it was gone.

The letter looked like it was shining, in the blackness all around it.

Riku caught it, as it fell. For a moment, he couldn’t believe he was seeing colour. Everything here was dark. It was shadows upon shadows, and even the King was hard to separate from it all, sometimes.

Now here was a letter. And he knew, the moment he caught it, who it was from. No envelope, of course.

King Mickey was ahead of him. Now he stopped and turned back. Smiled. “I told you your letter would make it to him.”

“That wasn’t what I doubted,” Riku replied. He smiled, thumb drawing across the chicken scratch writing. Sora barely wrote, back home. “I didn’t think I’d get a reply.”

Partly because of what he’d done. He would understand if Sora didn’t want to talk to him. But mostly because he’d figured Sora would be busy. Or forget. At least take a day to write back. Unless it had been a day. It was so hard to tell here.

“Well,” Mickey continued. “You must have chosen the right person to write to.”

Riku’s stomach felt strange. Because it should have been Kairi. He’d wanted to save her heart. She was the one he and Sora both – in all of their games, she was the princess in the castle. But he had written to Sora. And it had been Sora’s letter that had made him feel, just for a moment, like he was back in the world of light.

Besides, Mickey said Sora was the right person to write to.

Mickey was watching him. Still smiling encouragingly. He had to do that a lot. Riku’s confidence wasn’t what it used to be.

He smiled back, and went to slip the letter into his pocket –

“I think here’s a good place to rest, for a bit.” Mickey stepped back towards him, and took a seat. He was not subtle.

But then, Riku thought, as he lowered himself to the ground, neither was Sora.

He took a look at the letter – and his heart stopped. “He didn’t make it back.”

“What?”

“He never made it back to the island. But he’s with Donald. And Goofy.”

“If he’s with those two –”

“Then I know he’ll be alright.” They’d done pretty well together so far, anyway.

Mickey nodded at him. Looking almost – proud? It was a strange thought. He nodded back, then turned his attention onto the letter. His heart pounded, slightly painfully, as he read. Which was silly, because it was only Sora. It must have been because he was beyond this, Riku reasoned. To hear from anyone, after being in here, was exciting.

There was not quite an ‘I forgive you,’ but Riku hadn’t hoped for that. The last sentence was more than he deserved. Spoke of moving on, rather than dwelling in what happened. And that was so very him. Kairi would have said that she forgave him, even if she did not mean it, because she’d think it would be what Riku wanted to hear. But maybe that wasn’t what he needed.

Captain of the Raft. That sounded so childish now. They had been stupid to think they could get anywhere on that thing. A pang of homesickness went through him. For the Destiny Islands they both remembered. For being small. For their secret place.

The only way to lessen that ache, was to write back.

Sora,

Where are you? Do you know? If we were still rivals, I’d say race you back home. But we’re best friends, instead, so I’ll say be careful, instead. We’re doing alright. Mickey says we’ll find our way back to the light soon. I hope so. It’s cold here.

I remember that too. You always believed anything I said to you. But that second part, that was probably true. I don’t think anything could win against the two of us. Not now that we both have keyblades, anyway.

I also remember that you were scared of a lot. Like shooting stars hitting the island. And the Kraken. I said I’d protect you. Guess I haven’t been doing a very good job lately.

And I guessed that you would invite me along, when we met in Traverse Town. I suppose that I didn’t like seeing you do so well on your own. We never did anything alone, and it was always you pestering me to go with you somewhere. I didn’t like the thought that you might not need me.

The duck didn’t seem to like me very much, either.

Don’t worry about Maleficent. She’s not going to want to take on the great hero again. (Which pales in comparison to Raft Captain, by the way.) I wonder how things would have turned out, if I came with you. Things would have been easier, I guess. Would I be able to fly, like you did? It looked fun. That puppet would have had an easier time too. How did he have a heart?

Guess I’ve still got a lot to learn, about that stuff. Maybe you could teach

Kairi will be fine. On the island. We taught her how to take care of herself, on there. Though, she will shout at us both if we keep her waiting too long. (You more than me. She’ll worry about you more.)

I’ll see you soon. And we’ll go home together.

Riku

The second letter came in the same way. At least it landed on Sora’s head, as he was just waking up. That was good. It meant that he didn’t have to keep it away from Donald and Goofy – who were collecting berries for breakfast, and having a lay in, respectively.

He read it quickly, and his heart ached. So much that he had to breathe shallowly, to ease the pain. Riku was in the Realm of Darkness. It was cold. And he was full of regret. Must have been thinking of all the adventures they’d missed out on together. Real adventures this time, not just two children running down the beach, and pretending it was a snowy mountain, or the inside of a volcano.

Sora should have told him that he forgave him for it. That he had never stopped believing that Riku would be good, in the end. But he hadn’t been able to write that. Because he still remembered when Riku looked like Riku, but had been cruel. Had set heartless on him, and tossed a wooden sword at his feet.

It was worse, because he had recognised those looks. The narrowing of his eyes and his smirk. For the last year or so, he’d looked at Sora like that more and more. Rivals. He’d been able to see the road Riku was walking, as if it was inevitable that he would turn on him. That he would hate Sora.

The fact that he didn’t. That he still remembered the island, and had still wanted to travel with him, was why his chest hurt so much. Riku was still there. His best friend.

Jiminy had climbed up onto his knee. Watching him.

“I missed him so much,” Sora whispered. And realised that his eyes were damp. “I miss him, now.”

A tiny, green hand, patted him. “I’m sure he feels the same. Otherwise he wouldn’t have replied so quickly.”

Sora nodded. Wiped his eyes and took a breath to dislodge the heavy feeling. He read the letter again. Riku was alive – and worried about him. The thought made him smile.

“Are you going to tell the other two, this time?” Jiminy asked.

Sora paused. It was all so – private. Stuff between him and Riku, from a long ago time. They didn’t need to know. Definitely not about him being scared of shooting stars.

“Sort of,” he managed. “They can write back to the King, but they – they don’t need to know everything.”

Jiminy smiled at him. As though he could guess what he was thinking. Almost, in a similar way, to when Kairi was mentioned. They’d all look at him then. Tease him about his sweetheart.

Sora didn’t know how to say that he had barely thought about her since they’d set out again. It felt mean. But he knew where she was. She was safe.

He wrote back, as they ate breakfast, and managed to smear juice on the page, in several splatters.

Riku,

I’d send you a blanket if I could. Or a jacket. That would be more practical, wouldn’t it? It never used to get cold at home. It’s cold at night, here, and I don’t like it. We don’t know where ‘here’ is. There’s just – a path. It’s very green all around, but there aren’t any trees. There’s just hills for miles. Its not the strangest world we’ve been to. There’s a castle in the distance, we’re headed to. You head there too, okay?

It was definitely you scared of the shooting stars, and definitely me saying I would protect you. But I haven’t done a great job of that, either. (Oh, and the kraken is real, by the way.) Do these letters help? I’ll keep writing to you, if they do.

Of course I need you. I thought of you – everywhere we went, I wondered what you would think of every world we went to. Everyone we met. When we find each other again, I’ll take you everywhere, and introduce you to everyone. You’d like Leon, in Traverse Town. Don’t worry about Donald, he’s a grump, but he’s a big softy once you get to know him.

I guess we won’t be able to, now. We’ll have to go back to the islands.

Raft Captain is not better than Great Hero (which I’m not) – I would say they’re equal. And that Raft Captains can fly. All it takes is faith, trust and pixie dust. And I have faith for you, so that’s one part taken care of. (It is fun! It’s amazing!)

Pinocchio had a heart, because his father gave him one. When he was created, he treated Pinocchio like he had one, so of course he did. What I can’t understand is how the skeleton we met in Halloween Town had a heart? Where would he keep it?

Kairi might be more worried about me, but I’m more worried than her about you, I’m sure. Hurry and come back so that we can beat all the monsters together.

See you really soon, Riku!

Sora

(P.S That’s just berry juice.)

(P.P.S Donald and Goofy have attached a letter to the King.)

Maybe the letter writing wasn’t a good idea, Riku thought. Because now he was constantly on edge, waiting for the next one. A glimmer of white against the nothingness. It wasn’t so much what the response said, as long as it came. That meant that Sora was alright. Alive. It meant that he was as well.

It was so hard to tell how long it had been. They fought, several skirmishes, until there had been enough light from King Mickey’s keyblade to keep the heartless wary of them. At least, for a bit.

Riku’s keyblade didn’t give off light.

They kept walking. As though there was a path in front of them, they simply couldn’t see. Every so often, they would stop, as though they’d come to a fork in the road, and wait for a moment. Often, they would decide on the same way. A slight bit to the left, or right. (Never backwards.) Sometimes, Riku felt differently to the King.

But he’d trust Riku. And follow him.

“The light in your heart is strong,” Mickey said. “It has to be, to have faced Ansem and won.”

It certainly didn’t feel like winning.

When the reply finally did come – he snatched it up eagerly. And his stomach lurched as he saw the stains on it, eyes frantically taking in the letters until he saw, at the bottom, that Sora was just as messy as he’d always been.

“Is Sora alright?” Mickey asked. He must have seen Riku’s expression.

He nodded. Separated the sleeves of paper from each other, and handed one over.

“This is for you.”

The King looked surprised. Then pleased, as he took it.

It was decided that they were in a good place to rest. It was not as though there was anywhere better. Or that they had any kind of camp to put up. So, he sat next to King Mickey, and read the letter. Slowly, and properly.

His heart raced. So fast, that it hurt. That Sora was lost, and not admitting it. That he needed Riku. Thought about him often – whenever he met someone new. Wanted to protect him right back. More than he wanted to protect Kairi. And he wished, more than ever, that he would have stayed where he was at Traverse Town. Said yes to the offer. Kept quiet about Maleficent, or at least said that he knew something about her plan. That would have been enough.

He said as much to Mickey, when they were both done. Still riding on the wave of longing that came from words from a friend, before they could reply.

“I don’t think you’d be with him now, even if you did that,” Mickey said. He held his letter close to his own chest. “In the end, I think you’d always close the door from this side.”

That was something he hadn’t considered before. But now that he did, he knew it was true. Riku would always close the door to darkness from the other side. He’d never have let Sora do it.

But the rest still mattered, didn’t it? It must do, because Sora wouldn’t talk about it. Only what had happened at the end.

At least he didn’t hate him.

That gave him the courage to write back.

Sora,

The letters help. A lot. It’s easy to lose track of things here, when everything’s so similar to everything else. A jacket would be great. I wish we’d thought to pack those before we left home. But the letters are enough. Where you are sounds nice. I’m sure you can use magic to keep yourself warm. You’ve picked up all sorts of tricks.

I think I’d like to meet everyone you met, even if I do have a lot of apologising still to do. Not everyone’s like you. No one is. Even if we go back to the islands, I have a feeling we won’t stay there for long. The keyblade is always needed, even if the keyholes are sealed. And we’ll fly, together, one day. (I trust you, so that’s another part covered.)

Not sure that I get the heart thing, still. How can a puppet be alive? He was made with wood, by a man. I hope none of the carvings we did as kids would ever grow a heart. But a skeleton would still have a ribcage for his heart to be in, dummy. I’m surprised you didn’t need me there for that, too.

Don’t worry about me. I’m doing fine. Take care of yourself first.

I’ll aim for the castle, and meet you there. If we were still rivals, I would say that I’d race you there. But instead, I’ll be there as soon as I can. I can’t promise on anything, that it will be very soon, because I have nothing to give you.

I hope its not too long now,

Riku

Sora rolled his eyes, when he reached the bottom of the letter.

As if holding the promise they’d see each other again in their hearts wasn’t strong enough.

It was over. Another adventure. It mirrored the first, in a way. The adventure was done.

And Riku had been too late. At least, and it was a meagre silver lining, he hadn’t guaranteed he would. He’d missed Sora, completely. Now he was asleep – and who knew if he even remembered Riku?

So it had been better not to promise, after all.

Diz couldn’t tell Riku how long it would be before Sora woke up again. He just couldn’t make a guess. That meant a while. He didn’t want to tell Riku it would be a while.

He sat on the lowest floor of Castle Oblivion – that stupid castle that Sora was so desperate to get to – facing the pods. He could see Sora inside, his lashes casting dark, spidery shadows over his cheeks. He looked paler than usual, in there. His skin almost white, mouth almost colourless. Even his hair didn’t look as dark.

But then, what would he think of Riku? Sat in a blindfold that made everything dark, and difficult to see clearly.

At least he could see well enough to write. It would be messy, but Sora had to know all that happened. Why Riku hadn’t been able to meet him after all, and what the plan was, when he woke up.

And, perhaps it would help. Just like when he was stuck in the realm of darkness, it could help Riku fight the darkness off. Sora had always been his beacon of light.

So Riku started to write to him. And he continued to write. Not everyday. But often.

Sora found the letters when he opened up his pack, to get lunch out. Immediately, he panicked, because it was actually Hayner’s backpack, on loan, and he didn’t want to even accidentally snoop into his stuff.

But then he saw his name. Saw his name, and realised he’d recognise that handwriting anywhere.

Riku. It was Riku. He must have been writing from wherever he was now. Just like before.

Donald and Goofy were busy with their own lunches. Pulling out cheese rolls, apples and oranges, and wrapped ice cream bars.

“They would want to know,” a little voice said on his shoulder. Jiminy. Guessing exactly what Sora was thinking.

“Only if he mentions the King,” Sora whispered, thumbing through the pages. There were a lot. He must have been writing all the time whilst he’d been asleep.

“You don’t really think that.” Jiminy was quiet. But he didn’t shout for their attention, and he didn’t stop Sora pulling the sheaf of letters out. Maybe he also understood that Sora wasn’t ready to share it with them quite yet. There was something about the letters – the fact that they were from Riku – that was very special. Private. They were only intended for him. From his best friend.

So he would tell them later. They had a very long train journey, ahead of them, after all.

Sora,

I have to apologize to you. Again. I made it to the castle. It was where we came out of the Realm of Darkness from. The King and I were at the top and you three were at the bottom. I didn’t get to you in time.

You probably won’t remember what happened there. A girl called Naminé has had to send you to sleep, to put your memories back together. She was forced to alter them in the first place. I think you understood why. She told me as much as she could, about what you did at Castle Oblivion, so I’ve written it here.

It went on for a page and a half, Riku account. A strange, sickening feeling sat in Sora’s stomach as he read, as though he missed a step on the stairs, and was falling down. The feeling didn’t stop, as though his fall wasn’t stopping. He had done those things – the things Riku had written. But he had no memory of them, just like he said. Thinking about them made his mind feel fuzzy. It wasn’t even as though they were out of reach, or he felt a sense of déjà vu. It was just – nothing.

But it had happened. It must have, for him to wake up where he did. His memory had been – changed. By someone he didn’t even remember. Someone he must have trusted. Yet – now – now – now –

“I’ll write it down in the journal,” Jiminy murmured.

Sora kept reading. His heart started and juddered uncomfortably, like a racehorse. He fought to ignore it.

There’s nothing we can do, except wait for Naminé to finish her work. I’ve been travelling to other worlds. Still trying to find a way to conquer the darkness in me. Its harder, without you.

Its not so weird to see you always sleeping. That was how it was on the island, right? Whenever we’d work on the raft, you’d take a nap on the beach. Now, I just keep expecting you to wake up and laugh and apologize.

I want to be there, when you wake up.

Riku

He kept flipping through the letters, in succession, because it was easier to keep reading, keep filling his mind with Riku’s words, than dwell on how he was feeling.

Sora,

I’m still trying to understand the heart thing, like you do. I’ve been travelling to worlds with less humans. More – animals. The kind that talk, like Donald and Goofy. Although I try not to be spotted – Diz says its better that way, to preserve the world order – I’ve met a lot of people creatures friends, you’d call them. I don’t have your knack for making everyone adore you in five minutes, but I think I’m doing alright.

You’re the same. Naminé says there’s a small complication in restoring your memories. We don’t know what that could be yet. It could be to do with when you lost your heart.

Whatever it is, I’ll sort it. Keep slacking off, and I’ll see you soon,

Riku

Sora,

I met a man who’d turned into a bear. He chose to stay that way. Because he met a bear cub. They became brothers. And he knew he had to stay a bear to look after him, instead of transform back. He went back on everything he was taught – everything he believed – because his heart connected with that little bear’s.

I’ve been thinking on transformations a lot. I’m not completely free of the darkness yet. If I’m not careful –

Naminé thinks she knows the problem with your memories. You released your heart from your body, so it stands to reason that you have a nobody. That’s the shell that’s left behind, when heartless are created. We don’t know if you have one for sure. But we’re looking. If there is – and that’s the reason you can’t –

The King is here. He’s a big help. He misses Donald and Goofy terribly. We talk about our memories with you to each other. It is meant to help, but it makes my chest ache.

I also went to a forest. There were hunters there. For the deer. They were scared of me too. They must have thought I had a gun. I didn't chase them. I hid for a while, in the undergrowth, until they came back. And I just - watched. A deer and a rabbit and a skunk all came by. Together. Like they were friends. They played around for a bit, until the stag came. He was - incredible. Silent and graceful and - he looked so powerful. Like the was the King of the whole forest.

You wouldn't have been able to stay still long enough, I bet.

It's weird seeing you so still now. You usually stretch and wiggle and kick out in your sleep. You used to kick me straight out of the bed if we shared as kids. Do you remember that?

I miss you,

Riku

Sora,

You've faced some of Organisation 13 before. I don't know if they'll be there when you wake up. But we think they're the reason you're still asleep. They're up to something. We I'm going to find out what.

If you do have a nobody, and he does get your memories, then I won't have a choice. I'll have to -

I'm still travelling. I try not to go to worlds you've been too. You said we'd go back together, so I'll wait. It's been a while now. Maybe a month. I don't want to count the days.

But I have seen some familiar faces. The Beast (did he ever have a name?) from Hollow Bastion. He has a castle. Its tall and gothic. The kind of place that should have lightning behind it. There are rose bushes around the back. He’s not the strangest one there. The servants – they’re all furniture. It must be hard for them. And him. And the girl who lives there. Belle. She was one of the Princesses of Heart.

I went to other worlds the Princesses of Heart lived in. More forests. The animals seemed afraid of me, in one, at first, but I told them not to be. Apologised, because I look –

They came right up then. Tried to lead me into a little cottage, and I mean a little cottage. I’d have to stoop to get in the door. (I suppose that means you’d get in alright.) I told them I couldn’t. We’re not meant to interfere with the worlds, but I’m not really up to speaking to anyone right now. But I did look in the window. The house was little because dwarves lived there.

There was another forest. In the world Maleficent came from. It seems a lot darker, even though there are just as many animals there, and they’re much friendlier. Maybe it was just my imagination. Knowing that she came from there.

These worlds are okay. But it just feels like I’m killing time. Waiting for you. I wish you were here, so we could go to new worlds. Like we always talked about. Together.

We were supposed to meet at Castle Oblivion. But I was late, that time.

Sleep well,

Riku

Sora,

The Organisation is snooping around Agrabah. Wonderland too. It’s like some strange game. They’re trying not to be seen by anyone, and I’m trying not to be seen by them. Half of them keep their hoods up, so I can’t tell which is which.

You’ve been to both of those places, right? I bet you liked Wonderland, huh? And I bet you loved getting sand in your shoes again in Agrabah. It would have reminded you of home.

I thought about going back. Telling Kairi. But Naminé says her memories got confused too, and it might confuse her. I’m sorry.

Diz – he’s the guy tracking the organisation with me. He knows the King. They’re friends. He can be trusted – he sent me back to the forest that Maleficent came from. There are fairies there. (They know Yen Sid, too. He trains keyblade wielders. And holds the Mark of Mastery Exam for them. Don’t worry, I’ll wait for you.) Anyway, they told me about what happened in their world. Maleficent wanted to destroy it there too. She controlled the Unverse at the time. (They don’t exist anymore.) She put a curse on the Princess – you must have met her too – when she was born, that she would prick her finger and die. One of the fairies changed it, so that she would only be sleeping. And it did happen. But there was a Prince. He kissed her. She woke up.

They were very excited to tell me all of this. And how happy the Princess was now. Because it was all so romantic. I suppose it is.

It made me – not angry – just –

Naminé’s making progress with your memories. She’s working hard. I’m keeping her company, whenever I can, but she likes to work alone. I guess we’re similar that way.

Missing you,

Riku

Sora,

I went back to the forest, with the dwarves. There was a girl with them, this time. Very pretty, like Kairi. They were talking, and I didn’t mean to listen in, but the bluebirds were tugging at my hair, trying to get me to knock, and I just – heard it.

She’d been asleep too. A poison apple, from a witch. A Prince found her, apparently they’d met before, and he kissed her. She woke up.

All these Princesses are falling asleep, and there just always happens to be a Prince who can save them.

Then there’s you. And I know its different, that you’re not under a curse, and you’re not a Princess, but I still wonder –

I mean – does it have to be a Prince? It’s not normally the boys asleep, so if it is him asleep, would the Princess work instead? Or does it still have to be -? I’m not much of a Prince, anyhow. It’s a silly idea, when we know how to make it right. With ‘witchcraft,’ not true love.

Kissing used to seem like a really gross idea, didn’t it? But they aren’t much older than us, and I wonder –

Wake up soon, sleepyhead.

Riku

Kissing. The thought of kissing – Riku was right, it had seemed like a gross, silly thing to do for years. He remembered when they were all small, when Selphie and Tidus pressed their mouths against each others, behind the big tree on the island, just for a second. Comically puckered. He and Riku had pulled faces.

Riku had teased him about kissing Kairi one day. But he knew that Riku didn’t want to. His nose wrinkled, just slightly, when he said it, and it gave him away. Sora hadn’t known what to think. It still seemed bizarre. He supposed he’d thought – when the moment was right – that it would all just click into place. He’d understand.

Maybe he would prefer to be asleep. So that he didn’t need to think or worry about it.

He’d pulled the letters closer to him, so that Jiminy slipped off of his shoulder and couldn’t see. It made him feel bad, especially as Jiminy tapped him with his umbrella, and told him it was important he recorded it all. For posterity.

But Riku was writing – well, Sora’s face felt hot. Because he’d always thought that Riku looked like a Prince from a fairy tale. With his snowy-white hair and green-blue eyes, he just – fit. Especially when those eyes were gleaming, and he was smirking at Sora, offering him a hand up.

If Riku was like a Prince – his face burned – with the thought of kissing –

No. Waking up. Waking up to Riku bent over him, silver hair like a curtain to hide the both of them. Eyes like the sea at home, glinting at him. Laughing, because Sora had been slacking off again.

That wouldn’t be – awful.

It wouldn’t be the same as Kairi.

But he’d feel less embarrassed if it was Riku. He’d known him for so long. With Kairi, he always felt slightly awkward, slightly unsure. As if he had to include her, to make up for lost time, so that she didn’t feel bad.

If it was Riku, they'd probably laugh about it. Joke about how they had always been so close.

But they might not.

They might - have a moment- where they just - looked at each other - and - there would be an - oh - that was how it went. In these other worlds. He tried to imagine that, how that “oh, it’s you,” moment felt. Racing hearts, surely, and happy laughter. The feeling that everything that was missing just falling into place.

His chest did something strange. And he had been thinking of Riku. Not Kairi.

“Gwarsh, should we open a window?” Goofy asked.

They were all looking at him. He blinked back.

“I know who you’re thinking about.” Donald smiled, and they exchanged knowing looks.

But they didn’t. They thought Sora was thinking about Kairi. And he wasn’t. He forced himself to give a meek smile, to let them keep thinking that. He looked out of the window, trying to think of ice cubes and snow, to help him cool down. Trying not to think of Riku.

Yet, he wasn’t finished with the letters. And he had to read them all. They might hold a clue as to where Riku was now. They might be able to find him.

What if he was asleep this time? Would Sora have to –

He turned back to the letters before he could finish the thought.

The next letter was strange. There were gaps. Just plain parchment instead of Riku’s neat handwriting. It wasn’t crossed out, like the other ones. It was simply as though he hadn’t written anything there at all.

He showed parts of this to Jiminy, explaining that the letters wouldn't be helpful towards the journal after all. That got Donald and Goofy's attention. They noticed the letters for the first time.

But they didn't try to snatch them away. They left him to it, after giving him a curious glance, playing I Spy, because good friends knew when others needed space.

Sora still tried to read what he could. His heart had crept steadily, all the way up to his mouth. It stayed there, heavy, as he took in what Riku had written.

Sora,

Naminé has found a problem. There’s a – with your memories. And whilst – has your memories, you can’t wake up. Obviously, we don’t want to hurt –

But Sora, if it comes to you or – then I’ll do whatever I have to. Every time. You’re my best friend. And I can’t leave you like this.

They’re Nobodies. Diz says they don’t have emotions. That they can’t feel. So – hopefully it won’t come to that.

I will save you. I promise.

Riku

The following letters were similar. Missing words. Some whole sentences. But Sora could still get the gist. Riku had done whatever he’d had to in order to wake Sora up. That included hurting others. It gave him that strange, wobbly feeling as reading through what had happened at Castle Oblivion did. A feeling of unbalance. Because that wasn’t like Riku.

Or was it? He’d always been determined. Ready to do whatever he needed to get something done. It was different when it was tricking Wakka into loaning them tools for the raft. But when it was hurting someone – really hurting someone – it was different.

But he’d done it for Sora. To save Sora. Because it was the only way he could see to do that. And he couldn’t hate Riku for caring about him. He needed to tell him that.

He had to find Riku.

There were a couple of pages that had been crumpled up. Scribbled over, so that they were hard to read. They were probably not meant to have been included, much less read. But if they held any clues, then – it was worth a try. There were a lot of 'miss yous.' Sora smoothed out one, bringing it close to his face to read it better.

I know your name means sky but I've always thought you had eyes like the sea. Full of other worlds and possibilities. I keep - thinking about your eyes. I guess because they're always closed. I remember them being big and bright and - so ready for whatever you would find. We lost our home before Traverse Town. Our whole lives were turned upside down. Kairi was missing. But you still looked like you were full of wonder.

Maybe I told a lie before. Maybe I was so angry with you because I was a little jealous. Or maybe -

I liked looking at you. And I knew I shouldn't.

I don't think I can ask Mickey about this.

But I don't know what to do with all these feelings in my chest. They seem to grow and tangle up and get confused the longer you're asleep.

Come back soon.

Riku

Sora's cheeks felt warm. Boiling. So - this was what Riku thought. Of him.

I think I understand how those Princes feel. Only – you’re not a Princess, of course.

But I don’t think I could kiss Kairi. She’s a friend, but –

We’re friends now. Not rivals. And I like being your friend a lot, but I also –

I feel different, when I look at you.

Maybe it’s because you’ve gotten taller. Less of a half-pint, but still not a full one. Your face has changed too. It’s less – roundish – in a good way. Less puppy fat. So you look – cool. Like a keyblade weilder.

Almost. You still have awful fashion sense. And your clothes look a bit small now.

Sora tugged at his shorts, self-conscious. Very self-conscious. Had he really changed that much? He hadn’t even done anything. Just slept.

I miss your laugh too. You always used to laugh like there was nothing wrong, and nothing could ever be wrong. You used to laugh so much, too. And it was so hard not to laugh with you, when you filled the air with your brightness. Your smile was bright too. As bright as the sun. There you are. Sea, sky, sun.

Sounds a lot like home.

We’ll go back there. You and me. I don’t want to make it a promise, in case I can’t keep it.

Yours,

Riku

There was a warmth in Sora. Not the same hot, embarrassed feeling on his face. This was a good warmth, in his chest. In his heart. Maybe that was just how it felt to have good friends. Ones you wanted to see again.

Maybe it was something more. But he didn’t know enough about that to say for certain.

Well, whatever. He could figure it out when he was with Riku. He could ask about these letters, and what, exactly, they all meant.

He was smiling, he realised. Yeah, he’d have a few things to say to Riku.

The end of the letters was abrupt.

Sora,

There's still a lot to fix. I won't be there, when you wake up. But you will. Wake up, I mean. I've made sure of it.

Yours, always,

Riku

That warm feeling grew into an ache. Riku hadn’t told him where he was. He’d gone off, without him. After all of those letters – he was just going to leave.

Fine, then. Sora would just have to find him. He’d keep the letters. Track Riku back down. And tell him –

He would figure out what to say later. When his cheeks weren’t burning, and his chest was not about to burst open.

But he would see Riku again. He would make sure of that.

So much happened so quickly. All in one day, he found out Riku’s appearance, which then went back to normal anyway, then they were all fighting, more fighting – and then the realm of darkness. It was a moment of peace, after a huge storm.

It could have been the right time to ask. But every part of Sora had been throbbing with a dull pain. That last fight with Xemnas had left him feeling exhausted, all the way through. So they’d sat – laid – on the beach, and tried to get their strength back. If it could ever come back in the Realm of Darkness.

And he’d just been about to ask – really – he’d been about to bring it up – when the bottled letter came through. Letters, again. This one had brought them both back to Destiny Islands.

Riku had said it was for him. He wasn’t sure. Maybe he was right. But Kairi had forgotten him once – it hadn’t been her fault, and still –

It could have been for either of them. Or both of them.

In the end, it was a few days after it all, when they were both sat on the beach. Kairi was with Selphie. They spent a lot of time together, now. That was good.

Riku had found a stick. He drew in the sand with it. Keys, crowns, the heartless symbol.

Before – before everything – Sora would take a nap. Now, he’d been asleep too long. He felt like racing, or sword fighting, but that all seemed odd now. Something that children did. Once you’d been fighting for your life, it felt strange to do it on the safety of a beach, where the worst that could happen was a splinter.

So, he sat up in the sand, nudged Riku’s foot with his own, and forced the words out before he could think twice about it.

“I got your letters.”

There it was. He’d started. And he would have to finish.

“My – letters?” Riku looked up. There was a line between his eyes, as he frowned. “You mean from before Castle Oblivion?”

It was understandable, why he was finding it hard to remember. Castle Oblivion felt like a lifetime ago. Sora remembered that part clearly, then there was a muddled gap of half-memories. Things that he knew happened, and if he thought enough, could imagine, but couldn’t be sure were real.

He tried not to dwell on that.

“And after.”

Riku kept looking at him. Unmoving. But the twig snapped in the stand.

“You weren't supposed to,” he said, and Sora could hear just a flash of panic in his voice. “I didn't send those.”

The fact that Riku was flustered too made it easier for him to smile. “You shouldn't have put my name on them, then.”

Riku hid his face behind his hair – and it was so long now that it veiled most of his pink cheeks from view.

“They were just - just a way to talk to you,” he muttered. “Whilst you were...”

Sora shuffled closer. Just slightly. The sand slipped under his fingers like silk.

“Sleeping,” he finished. It was because his own heart was racing, that the rest slipped out. Because it was so easy to tease Riku. “Like a princess.”

Riku stiffened. All of him. When he spoke, his voice was a hoarse whisper. “How much - how much did you-?”

He felt slightly guilty then. There had been a lot on those letters. A lot of feeling that Riku was trying to figure out. But he wasn’t sorry that he’d read them. He knew. And it wasn’t like Riku was ever going to let it slip.

“Once I started, I couldn’t stop,” he said. “So I read –“

“All of them?” Riku sounded mortified.

His own cheeks felt warm, now. “As much as I could of the scribbled-on ones.”

“Sora!”

Riku stared at him from behind his silver hair, eyes wide, cheeks red.

Sora tried his best to look sheepish. “They had my name on.”

“They were private!” Riku pushed his shoulder.

“I had to. I had to find out where you’d gone.” Sora pushed him back. “You say they were your way of talking to me. It's only the same as telling me.”

“I could never say those things!”

Exactly. Riku would never have told Sora how he felt.

“You wrote them.”

“You’re –“ Riku pounced on him, then. Grabbed a shoulder in either hand and threw his weight on top of him, so that Sora went sprawling in the sand. Stuck on his back. So that he was looking up into blue-green eyes. “You’re awful!”

“But you like my eyes.” Sora was smiling. He couldn’t help it. And he’d meant to be completely teasing, but it fizzled out the longer the more he spoke. Became earnest. “And my laugh. And my smile.”

“Shut up.” Riku’s grip tightened on his shoulders. Then he seemed to realise how soft Sora’s voice had gotten. How his hands were only on Riku’s wrists slightly; little finger just tracing the line of his gloves.

He stared down at him, the sun filtering through his hair so that half his face was in shadow, half in light. Beautiful, really. Riku was beautiful, and of course it didn’t matter if he looked like him or Ansem, but he was glad that it was this Riku he was broaching this subject with.

“I wanted to write back,” he murmured. Their legs were tangled together, but neither of them moved. “But I couldn't think what to say.”

It had taken him so long to figure out what that warm feeling was. That it wasn’t the same as how he felt about Kairi. That it was more than friendship. That there were things about Riku he couldn’t stop thinking about. His smirk. The way his eyes glittered. How he was so strong.

“You didn't have to say anything,” Riku said, hastily. He went to climb off of him, but Sora tightened his grip on Riku’s wrists.

Now that he was here, now that he knew how he felt, it seemed to easy. As though he couldn’t just say it.

“Maybe not.” Sora smiled, again. “Maybe all I should do I fall asleep on the beach.”

It took Riku a second. A long second. He blinked, then seemed to get the meaning, and his eyes went to Sora’s mouth. He bit his own lip. “Would you – well, will you –“

Sora couldn’t help a small laugh then. Only because Riku looked so unbelievably stunned at the possibility of his feelings being reciprocated, when surely it was obvious. He’d always thought the world of Riku.

“I think –“ His fingers skimmed past Riku’s hair – almost on his cheek. “I would like to be awake.”

It was Riku’s turn to smirk. Finally. “For once.”

And Sora’s turn to be flustered. “Hey.”

Riku was still chuckling as he leant closer. His hair really was like a veil. Sora’s heart thundered in his chest, seeming to sit on the end of his tongue. This was it. The thing he’d seen on so many worlds now.

Yet, Riku paused. So close that his breath was warm on Sora’s cheeks.

It was up to him then. He leant up, tilting his head just slightly to get the right angle.

They kissed.

It was a warm and bright thing. Like fireworks in the Summer. Or shooting stars. And when they fell away from each other, Sora’s lips tingled.

Riku kept staring at him. This time, like he was something amazing.

Well, he knew that feeling. Sora’s fingers tangled in Riku’s hair, watching the sun turn it into starlight.

Riku kissed him. They kissed each other. Still trying to figure out what to do when their mouths were together, but enjoying every moment.

Sora managed to sit back up. So they were side by side on the beach, the ocean coming in just enough to send a cold spray onto their toes. Just like the realm of darkness. Though know they faced each other, fingers touching in the sand.

Riku brushed Sora’s hair from his eyes. Brushed sand off his neck.

“I missed you,” Sora whispered. Didn’t really realise he’d said it. “So much.”

Riku raised an eyebrow. A smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth, and Sora couldn’t look away. “Now you know a little bit of how I felt without you.”

“It’s not a competition.” But if it was, Sora was sure he’d missed Riku more.

Riku only laughed. He nudged him with his shoulder, and Sora meant to nudge him back – but he found his head resting there, instead. He clutched Riku’s hand, staring out at the horizon line.

Their little world. After their big adventure. Everything had changed, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“I’m glad you brought me back.”

Riku rested his head on top of Sora’s. Sighed.

“Always. I’ll always bring you back.”

“Forever yours.”

And Sora only knew he’d actually whispered it out loud, because Riku’s fingers tightened on his own.

#soriku #kh #kingdom hearts #fanfic #fanfiction #kingdom hearts fanfic #turnupswrites #soriku fanfic #soriku fanfiction #sora #riku

23 notes · View notes

paybackraid · 3 years

Text

Someone’s First Snow

Summary: It snows in the Land of Departure for the first time in a long time and, well, Vanitas has never seen snow before.

Genfic, post KH3, following Vanitas’ inevitable redemption (I promise).

Ambiguous POV. AO3

--------

“Fuck,” Ventus chanted, rubbing his forearms as he shook his way toward the kitchen. The castle was freezing, he could feel it in his toes. It was rarely toasty, but it only ever got cold, when…

One glance out of the window confirmed it. Snow.

Ventus hated snow. He wasn’t a cold weather person. He could handle fifty degrees at minimum, and even that was pushing it. When it was cold enough to snow, then it was just too fucking cold.

“When the fuck did this happen?”

“Ventus,” Aqua scolded from her place at the table, hand curled around a mug of coffee. “Language.”

“It’s below freezing, I’ll say what I want.”

Terra snorted from the kitchen counter where he steeped a cup of tea. “Amen to that. This fluffy white bullshit negates all manners. Hope no one important was coming.”

Aqua laughed and shook her head. “No, not today. Thankfully. I have to go out and see if I can salvage my garden. This came out of nowhere.”

Terra turned to lean against the counter, nursing his mug in one hand and holding out another to Ventus. Yet another sat on the mug warmer, but it would probably be there for a while.

Ventus extended his hand for his mug and melted into the warmth in his hands. It was too hot to drink yet, but this felt too nice anyway.

“So,” he said after a long moment of just existing in something warm, “what’s the plan for today then?”

“Lessons are off,” Aqua immediately said.

“Shoveling,” Terra said with a grimace Ventus could hear. Terra hated shoveling—apparently it messed with his back. Ventus should probably consider helping him.

“You should continue your studies, if you have any bookwork left.”

Ventus grimaced himself, but nodded. He hated bookwork, but Aqua was the Master around here. He didn’t ask about Kairi, assuming Aqua had already told her not to come. “I’ll help shovel, and the—“

Before he could get out his sentence, there was a commotion from the stairwell that instantly had all three of them on edge. Ventus took three steps back to peer out of the kitchen toward the front door, which now stood wide open letting in the cold. That had been closed when he passed it.

Two more steps and much wider vision outside confirmed it. A black mass stood outside in the front yard, surrounded by twirling blue emotions.

What was Vanitas doing up already…?

“What was that?” Aqua asked, coming around to see. Vanitas normally stayed up late and awoke late, favoring the dark. So it was no wonder if she wasn’t expecting him already. Nevermind that he was normally significantly quieter…

“Uh… I guess Vanitas is up.”

Aqua and Terra split a look, but Ventus was too busy watching his other half. Vanitas had been living with them for almost two years now, studying alongside him and Kairi to be a Master. He had mellowed out significantly since being released from Master Xehanort’s control, finding comfort in sullen silences and snarky one liners. He acted aloof most of the time—sometimes he’d show some positive emotion, and he spent enough time with Ventus that he knew what his laugh and amusement and smile was like, but little else.

And this?

This was none of that.

Starkly black against the white falling snow, Vanitas stood out like a sore thumb. His head was pitched to the sky, and when Ventus got closer, he saw his mouth hanging open. He looked entirely astounded. By what? The snow?

“Whatcha doin’, Van?” Terra asked when he squeezed past Ventus, leaning against the door frame.

“Snow,” Vanitas said.

Aqua hummed and stopped just in front of Terra, leaning back against him. “Yeah. We don’t see it often, so this was a surprise. Came out of nowhere.”

“Snow.”

“I see.”

Apparently realizing that he looked like an idiot, Vanitas closed his mouth and dropped his head to the white stuff at his feet. Aqua had gotten him a nice pair of slippers for his last birthday, which were covering his feet then. “I, uh…” he said, scratching at the place that used to be covered by the chin and headguard, in his hair. “Once we were split, I lived in a desert my whole life, and I don’t remember seeing any before that either. Closest I ever got to—“ he put out his hand to catch falling snowflakes, watching them melt in his palm. “Snow, was a Blizzard spell. But now it’s just happening. ‘S like magic.”

“Distinctly not magic.”

Vanitas shot all three of them a soured look. “You know what I mean.”

Terra and Aqua laughed. Ventus stepped inside to slip into his boots and follow his other half. Annoying as it was, there was nothing quite like someone experiencing their first snow. He stopped several feet away from him, knowing Vanitas would get up to shenanigans as soon as he realized what snowy options were available.

Vanitas took a step away, not the recoil it used to be so much as taking back his space. However, his roly poly Unversed, the two Blue Sea Salts having a good old fashioned time in their element, did not expect the movement. One had apparently been having the time of its life, and rolled under his feet in just the wrong moment.

Vanitas tripped and landed in a small snowdrift, his back immediately going rigid and hands flying out of the snow. “C-cold!”

The other three all laughed again, and since Ventus was closer, he neared and extended his hand. The darker boy took his hand and was hauled to his feet, but the shivering didn’t stop. The Blue Sea Salt at his feet crooned, looking ready for death, but Vanitas’ annoyance with the creatures had drained years ago, and he merely tapped his ankle against it as some sort of reprimand, and left it at that.

“Hey, Van,” Terra called from his place by the door. “Wanna know what the best thing about snow is?”

Vanitas turned to him, eyes huge with wonder at the clearly far wiser and much more knowledgeable Master. He shoved his hands into his fluffy pajama pockets to try to warm them.

“Terr—“

Ventus glanced over too late. A snowball pelted him in the face and knocked him off his feet, and instantly Vanitas and Terra were bent double, wheezing with laughter at his misfortune. To Ventus’ mortification, he even heard Aqua’s familiar breathy laughter shortly after scolding Terra.

Helpfully, Vanitas came over and offered his hand, and he didn’t even shove Ventus face-first back into the snow after he helped him up. Instead, the dark-haired teen leaned over and whispered conspiratorially into his ear.

Ventus’ face split into an ear-to-ear grin. He gathered snow and packed it together, handed it to his other half, and watched him vanish.

Seconds later, Vanitas appeared above Terra’s head. Rather than smashing it onto his head, though, Vanitas yanked the back of Terra’s shirt from his neck, and shoved the entire mound of snow down it. Terra yelped and danced away, and Vanitas dodge-rolled away from flailing, frantic limbs.

When even Aqua burst into laughter right away, citing Ventus’ attack as “well-deserved retaliation”, it was war.

Ventus and Vanitas arguably teamed up, packing snowballs and hiding behind heavy bushes, although they spent as much time pelting each other as they did Aqua and Terra. Terra hid behind the banister, collecting his snowballs, and Aqua used her magic to build up a fort of her own.

Aqua won. Naturally. Or at least, she came out of it covered in less snow than the other three. Ventus surrendered to her warp magic pelting him with snowballs on all sides, all while Vanitas valiantly declared, “you’ll have to kill me, I’ll never give in!” Typical Vanitas. A drift of snow had fallen off the roof and coated poor Terra halfway through the game, which gave him more ammo but also set the cold in that much faster. He had been first to fold.

Then, the shivers and sniffles set in, and they decided as a collective to head in. Aqua was pretty sure she saw Vanitas dunk Ventus’ head in snow one more time before running in, but she didn’t comment. They were having fun, and she’d never seen Vanitas have so much fun and act so carefree.

Terra, bless his soul, dumped out all of their chilled mugs of coffee and tea and started on hot chocolate. Aqua went to set a fire in the fireplace, and sent the boys running off to find wool socks and blankets.

“Well,” Terra asked once they were all bundled in. Ventus was sat between he and Aqua, cradling his mug, while Vanitas was wrapped up in no less than three blankets, chin propped on the coffee table. “How was your first snow? Hate it yet?”

Vanitas turned his face to the side and considered it, squashed against the table. He flexed stiff fingers and toes, then looked out the window. The snow was still falling. “Fun. I think.”

“Great. Then you’re going to love the part where we have to shovel out all of the walking paths and the gummi pad. It’s a thrill.”

Ventus groaned, having totally forgotten about the work that came with it. Vanitas groaned in solidarity and flopped back against the couch.

“Great. Can’t wait.”

#creative aces #my writing #khfanfic #vanitas kh #vanitas #idk yall vanitas is just adorable and thats its just not my fault #sorry guys i dont make the rules #dividass

18 notes · View notes

komoryriku · 4 years

Text

Queering KH Part 3: A JoshNeku Aside

An Example In Practice

If you already feel like you understand queer coding then you can skip this but I wanna play here for a minute x). KH as a series is rather subliminal in its queer coding, which makes sense since it was originally released in 2002, which meant its gay story would need to be highly censored. As such, I don’t wanna just jump in without giving you a clear sense of how to decode a queer text and what you’ll wanna look for when queering a text. So let’s do something super fun and easy as fuck. Let’s Queer Joshua! As if he doesn't do that himself already lmao

Joshua Kiryuu is one of my favorite characters- ever lol he is so shameless in how gay he is. But I’m getting ahead of myself here, let’s go back to how we’re gonna decode Joshua as gay.

So Joshua Kiryuu is a- character in The World Ends With You (TWEWY), a game developed by the same team as Kingdom Hearts, and creatively produced by KH’s Nomura Tetsuya himself. Spoilers ahead btw.

Just from looking at him, he isn’t necessarily gay coded. He looks like your stereotypical angelic bishonen but as I said before, that doesn’t mean anything in Japan. Only an American like me would look at this guy and say “This asshole is one dangerous twink” lol. What you should know about TWEWY however is it is a very contemporary fantasy story about dead kids in Shibuya receiving game instructions from (gay) reapers in the form of memes on their cell phones. This may be a stretch, but Nomura’s KH team already has to keep in mind how things come off to American audiences, especially with a game like this so targeted to teens. As such, I suppose it could be worth considering that Joshua was designed to be so feminine looking, on top of everything else I’m about to drop, which would make him seem gay coded to American players. Him displaying feminine behavior in the form of constant wrist flicks sure wouldn’t go unnoticed in America either… intentional or not that’s top tier gay coding in ‘merica right there. But like I said, probably meaningless by Japanese standards.

Here is what clear coding IS given to us though: Joshua’s text.

Joshua spends a whole scene demanding he be given Pink for his code-color during this cute little kid adventure he’s a part of. A menial, fun little task for Kami-Sama in his off time lol.

Pink is also typically a feminine color. This is true in Japan as well, that’s why Eri and Kairi are covered in Pink, as they are femme and it is standard for a girly girl. In America, its also a gay code, though I can’t say for sure if that counts as one Japan. The fact that a male here is actively embracing Pink for his code color still signals a non-normative personality though. And they certainly recognized its place in romantic coded symbolism:

“Blue and Pink go together.” Blue being Neku. See below.

I love reappropriating heteronormative tropes for our own gay agenda~

Joshua insists on going into the tunnel with Neku, and flirts with him in doing so. Yes you heard me, he flirts. Serious or unserious, Joshua flirts with Neku. He says he could never live with himself if he let Neku go it alone, and proposes they “spend some quality time” together.

Shiki and Beat then make the flustered comment that they didn’t realize Joshua and Neku were a couple, embarrassing Neku but amusing Joshua who leans right into it by calling him “dear.” This coding might actually be too easy lol that’s almost just gay text in itself, really. The characters insinuate that Joshua and Neku are a couple, due to Joshua’s unabashed flirting with Neku, and Joshua never once shies away from it.

Neku’s response might leave us rather unsure of his own sexuality or feelings about Joshua, but he hardly fights the assumption they’re a couple beyond angrily shaking his fist at how Joshua just embarrassed him. But even so, either way, Joshua never once gives us a reason to think he himself is not gay, even if he isn’t interested in Neku as a partner. (Play TWEWY so you can learn about how likely it is that Neku actually likes Joshua back though 8)). Joshua should be well aware of how gay he is coming off to these people so if he cared to follow heteronormative rules, he would’ve stopped by now if he wanted to. He clearly doesn’t want to lol. Near-explicit as this may be, it is still text that depended on the Blue x Pink coding of romantic archetypes to be discussed by the characters. The only thing working against the fact that Joshua is gay is that you could argue that Joshua is just flirting with Neku to make him uncomfortable… But even as Yoshiya-, a Lamb of a Boy, a Joshua with no godliness or memories of TWEWY, the meek version of himself, -Joshua is still trying to read Neku poetry as soon as they meet. Reading poetry to someone is typically a signal or code that this character likes that person.

If these two were a boy and a girl, there would be no doubt at this point that Joshua is highly attracted to Neku. Always remember that standard in coding. If it makes sense for a boy and a girl to be romantic based on the coding, then it should and surely will make as much sense for 2 boys to be romantic with the same coding. If Shiki were to read Neku a poem, heteronormativity would assume she likes him romantically. Now, remove that heteronormative lens. If Joshua were to read Neku a poem, queer coding should tell you that Joshua likes Neku romantically.

It’s simple math. Straight: a+b=c Gay: a+b=c Straight: Shiki + poetry = Crush on Neku Gay: Joshua + poetry = Crush on Neku

The only difference being that the gay equations go unrecognized most of the time lol. Shiki is also coded as a lesbian so I hope you can forgive me for just using her as a hetero example.;;

Just as blue and pink go together with male and female, so do they go together with male and male. Blue and Pink are still kinda heterosexual-based symbols though..

But you know what IS definitely a gay symbol?

Rainbow.

As if there were any doubts left about where Joshua’s sexuality lies, he gave us the most damning symbol possible besides explicitly kissing Neku or screaming “I’m Gay”, censors be damned. After all Joshua’s fuss about demanding to be Pink in their group’s color coding, he sees a Rainbow pin and IMMEDIATELY demands to be the Rainbow Pin. MVP Chef Doi making the rainbow pin just for Joshua specifically is so sweet too<3

And that’s not even covering the subtext about Joshua in the rest of TWEWY, (I didn’t even mention the Ramen Date he took Neku on), or even in Dream Drop Distance (didn’t comment on the longing he expresses to be with his friends, to be with Neku again). These are just some of the most explicit codings I know of for him. Hopefully you can agree with me when I say in the end, despite how much straight players might try to dismiss Joshua as gay, it is honestly just easier to believe he is gay, loves being gay, and actively wants to be with Neku.

So now we’ve gotten through the preliminary, back to KH. The reasonI had us do that is that Kingdom Hearts, while still very gay, relies a lot harder on subtext than Joshua gives enough of a fuck to bother with. So I wanted to exercise us in some easy coding that is much harder to get past a straight pair of eyes before going into KH in which trained eyes are a greater requirement for finding and analyzing the subtext in various places. Fret not though, because this is Kingdom Heart’s secret weapon: the overt gay is so well hidden that the straight people who would cancel the gay agenda simply Cannot see it. Cannot touch it. Cannot stop it. Thankfully, WE will have the tools and power to uncover the gay subtext within. Now let’s deep dive into Kingdom Hearts.~

See you in Part 4 for Dream Drop Distance fun~

#kingdom hearts #twewy #the world ends with you #joshua kiryuu #joshneku #nekujosh

136 notes · View notes

atomic-taco-muffin · 3 years

Text

KH x Danganronpa Part 7

Warnings: You can tell from the gif below

Rating: SFW

In a Secret Forest, Kairi was writing a letter to Sora as the evening sun washed over her.

“I'm sorry I left without saying good-bye. Did Master Yen Sid tell you? I'm training to become a Keyblade wielder like you. That's right. No more waiting for you to come back from your adventures. I want to get out there and do my part to help. Merlin has used his magic to bring us to a place where time doesn't matter. We can take as long as we need to complete our training. He's an amazing wizard. Oh, and by "us," I mean me and Lea. He's really sorry for all the trouble he caused. I told him it's fine, but he won't stop apologizing. I'll admit I was a little scared of him at first, but I've gotten to know him better. All he ever wanted was to help his friend. Honestly, it's hard not to like him. Every now and then, I catch him staring at me. When I ask what's wrong, he says, ‘I'm not sure. I think I'm forgetting something. Don't know what.’ Sora, I think it may have something to do with you. Your journey is all about helping people: some that you've never met before, and some like Lea that you have. They're all counting on you. It won't be easy, but I hope you'll remain the happy and cheerful Sora I know. There's no heart your smile can't reach,” she wrote. She heard footsteps and looked over to see Lea.

"What's wrong?" she asked. He broke his stare after a moment and tried to shrug it off, turning away.

"Huh? Nothin', sorry," he said.

"Lea," Kairi said, admonishingly.

"What? I am." He scratched the back of his neck. She giggled, and he sat on a rock opposite of her as she continued writing.

"A letter?" he asked.

"Yup," she replied.

"To Sora?"

"Mmm, technically yes. But I won't send it. It's more for me."

"Ask Merlin. He'll deliver it for you."

"Yeah, but it's okay. I just like talking to Sora, even if it's on paper. Hey, maybe you should write one."

"Huh?"

"To Nagito and your daughter." (I'll explain who his daughter is after this chapter.)

"I-I don't know. I don't even know if she's alive. It's been so long."

"Do you remember what happened?"

"All I remember is the Remnants of Despair, including Nagito taking her. She must be so scared right now."

"I bet she's really brave. Just like her dad."

"Like her three dads." The two of them chuckled and Lea remembered something.

"Oh!" he said. Kairi tilted her head, puzzled as Lea pulled out two sea-salt ice cream bars.

"Here," he said.

"Ice cream? Really?" Kairi asked.

"Yeah, I asked Merlin to pick these up." Kairi smiled. "Ya know, we did both summon Keyblades. Gotta celebrate."

He handed a bar out to Kairi, who took it.

"You're sweet, Lea. Did your daughter like this flavor?" she said.

"Naw. She was more of a cookie dough fan."

"What was she like?"

"She was the sweetest little girl ever. Every Christmas, she would run up into my room at 2 in the morning and wake me and her other dads up."

"Wow? 2 in the morning? That's gotta be rough."

"Eh, you get used to it." The two of them chuckled and Lea watched Kairi take a bite, zoning out again.

"What?" she asked.

"N-nothing, I just..." he said as he averted his gaze.

"You're trying to remember what you forgot?"

"Well, I, uh... Yeah... Yeah." He looked out at the sunset as his words trailed.

"So tomorrow--you and me in the ring. You ready?" Kairi said.

"'Course," he said as the sun started to get into his eyes.

"Don't hold back, Lea. Promise?" In the glare of the sun, Lea thought he saw a different girl in Kairi's shadow. Her black hair swayed softly in the breeze as she held her ice cream with a smile. Lea's emerald eyes welled up with tears and he dropped his ice cream bar in shock. Unable to contain his feelings, tears streamed down his face.

"Huh? Are you okay? Lea!" Kairi said. He quickly tried to wipe them away as Kairi got closer to him.

"Yeah... Sorry..." he said.

"You're crying. What's wrong?"

"Something in my eyes," he sniffled.

"Lea..." Lea stood up.

"I'm...gonna go. Sorry," he said.

"'Kay, but stop apologizing," Kairi said.

"Fine...on one condition."

"What?"

"Call me Axel from now on. Got it memorized?"

"Yeah. Okay, Axel." He walked away, leaving his ice cream bar in the grass.

~~~~

Mukuro, Ansem, and Xemnas were walking along the streets of the destroyed Towa City, Shirokuma following close behind. Just being in this city made Mukuro sick to her stomach.

“You okay, love?” Xemnas asked.

“Yeah. I just hate seeing this place torn to pieces,” Mukuro said.

“Y’know, there’s a resistance to try and stop this mess,” Shirokuma said.

“I didn’t ask for your opinion!”

“It’s not an opinion! It’s a fact!”

“Yeah, but I don’t trust you. So shut up and let us handle the situation.” Shirokuma stopped talking and followed them quietly.

“So what happened to this city?” Ansem asked.

“Junko created this killing game all because she was bored. She forced me into it because she knew of my skills. But when I broke one of the rules of the game, she killed me,” Mukuro said.

“Damn....”

“Yeah. Junko brought me back for the war but I know she’s gonna try and kill me again.”

“SOMEONE HELP!” someone screamed. Mukuro squinted in front of her and saw a little girl being chased by a group of Monokumas.

“Shit!” she said as she grabbed one of her guns. The little girl ran past her and she shot all the Monokumas.

“Not even children are safe here,” Xemnas said. Mukuro looked behind her and saw the little girl shaking in fear. She walked over to her and knelt down in front of her.

“You okay, sweetie?” she asked.

“I-I think so. That was so scary,” the little girl cried.

“I know. But they’re gone now and they can’t hurt you.”

“Wait, Sky? Is that you?” Xemnas asked.

“Uncle Xemnas!” Sky ran to Xemnas and he engulfed her in a hug.

“Who is this?” Mukuro asked as she stood up.

“This is Axel and Saïx’s daughter, Sky. The Remnants and Junko must’ve brought her here,” Xemnas said.

“T-they did! Along with daddy Nagito!” Sky sobbed.

“We should get out of here. Before more Monokumas show up,” Ansem said.

“Agreed. It’s gonna be okay, Sky,” Xemnas said. Ansem opened up a corridor and they all walked through it except Shirokuma.

“Dammit! That girl was supposed to die!” he said.

“You and I both know that she is more powerful than the Remnants,” a familiar voice said. From behind Shirokuma was Xehanort.

“Gah! My prince of despair! How are you, my love!” Junko(Shirokuma) sighed.

“What the fuck did you do?” Xehanort asked.

“I simply extracted a part of myself and created this to try and manipulate Mukuro. But she’s tougher than I thought.”

“Well, you did murder her.”

“That’s true. But now, I need to focus on killing that little girl. She has way too much hope in her.��

“Well, whatever you do, do it quick. I still have Kingdom Hearts to complete.”

“Of course, my love! I would never want to disappoint you.” Xehanort scowled and walked away, reminding himself that he’ll get to kill her soon.

#kingdom hearts #kingdomhearts #kingdom hearts 3 #kingdom hearts imagine #kingdom hearts imagines #kingdom hearts iii #kh #kh iii #kh 3 #kingdomhearts imagines #kingdomhearts imagine #kingdomhearts iii #kingdom hearts au #danganronpa #danganronpa imagines #danganronpa au #danganronpa remnants of despair #remnants of despair

2 notes · View notes

oveliagirlhaditright · 11 months

Text

Can I be honest?

I really do not care about Missing Link.

I'll admit that the most recent trailer probably made me more interested in it than I ever have been before, but even then I'm just kind of like... ehh.

And this is for a few reasons, I think.

A large one being that it's a mobile game. And I shouldn't have to explain why that's a huge reason as to why that's helping to kill my interest in this game, even though it looks like this game should be a lot better than KHUX and Dark Road, thankfully (but I'm also somewhat reserving judgement on all of that until we get it).

The fact that it's a game like Pokémon Go was also sort of ruining things for me, since I really can't walk well anymore. But according to the trailer and Nomura, it seems like that you don't really have to travel in order to do things in the game. So we'll see how that pans out.

But I guess I'm just getting to the place where some casuals were before, were--in some ways--if it's not about our main cast, I almost feel like I can't be bothered (and I do feel bad about that, in some ways).

I'm somewhat tired, I suppose, of having to play a million different games, in order to understand the next mainline installment. And I know this is just one between III and IV (if you don't count the Re:Mind DLC and Melody of Memory), but it does sort of feel a bit like "same old, same old" to me.

I also just... I don't know. Really feel like we didn't need this part of the timeline filled in? And I would almost prefer if that wasn't happening, so it could be a mystery and we could imagine it for ourselves? I feel like the only reason it's being filled out now is because of the Scala ad Caelum stuff in KHIII. And probably because this next saga is partly going to be saving the people from the KHX saga. But if we didn't get Missing Link, that plot point could have been delivered in another game.

Now we're just going to get more characters introduced, and clutter up the roster even more, and gah!

I know this game is surely to partly tide us over until KHIV, which is definitely nice. But IDK. I, personally, would have rather had one of the plot lines they teased at the end of Re:Mind as a game (Kairi's training with Aqua, Mickey in Scala, the Wayfinder trio in the Realm of Darkness, or Naminé looking for clues about Sora's whereabouts in Roxas and Xion's memories). Or waited a bit more and just gotten KHIV and then the Verum Rex game (both as console games, of course), because you know they have to be making both of these games right now.

I really don't mean to complain. Because I know a lot of time and work has surely gone into this. And it's something. And I'd rather take something over nothing (for the most part. Don't start giving me KH NFTs, Square). But unless something changes, there's nothing about Missing Link so far that's really grabbed me, personally.

And maybe it will. I'm sure it will, eventually. It won't take much to do it. But the fact it's a mobile game will always hurt it. It's weird to say, but I kind of miss the days of the handheld KH games. At least they were better quality. Oy.

Edit: And back to my one point, I feel Missing Link is going to add even more to the KHIV stuff now, when there's already so much it needs to conquer that I have no idea how it's going to do it all. Like, I was thinking that maybe some of the point of Missing Link was to flesh out this new saga... but there's already so much going on here.

Edit 2: However, Missing Link, and all the stuff with the story of Scala ad Caelum, seems to be a story Nomura-san wants to tell. And that is most definitely his right.

#like. i'll be honest. i feel like that my initial reaction when missing link was announced was 'great. another 'tween game' says a lot

9 notes · View notes

mythicalartistx · 10 months

Text

The Reason Destiny Trio friendship Fails...

There are some things that are so much better in fanon than canon

This doesn't mean the canon source is bad it just means it's not elaborated on enough

An example would be the relationship or friendship of the destiny trio. In canon the three of them are barely seem to be friends, usually it's two sided. And it's not like Riku and Kairi aren't friends either. They both care for each other such as how he spent his time trying to find her in KH1 (though I personally believe he did that to prove something to Sora)

Still in the second game he goes to make sure Kairi is alright and tries to help her. If you read the KH2 novel it's done so well. He Axel and Naminé team up to try and help her.

Even in the first game prologue it seems to show that Riku Kairi and Sora are friends and you can tell. But after this prologue the three of them NEVER talk amongst themselves really again. It's not shown. The only other time is when Kairi shows Sora and Riku the bottle from Mickey at the end of 2.

And they probably could have been close then but it's not shown.

Even between Kairi and Sora it gotten awkward between them for being far apart for so long. During their reunion in kh2 their conversation and hug is awkward way more than it should be. By the time KH3 comes around it's less awkward but they're still trying to redo their friendship.

Sora and Riku have the best friendship amongst the trio. Through out the games it shows their relationship and how it grows. In BBS it shows how they've been friends for so long and Riku would even want to get strong to protect his friends which shape the way for him.

In kh1 they're at opposite ends but at the ending where they are separated Sora rekindles Riku and how he misses his friend. In COM Sora goes to look for Riku and in 358/2 days Riku makes his way to wake his friend up. In 2 Sora is still searching for him and he really misses him that he doesn't care what he looks like and their reunion is honestly touching. He just missed him that much that he's crying.

At the end of 2 they work together to fight Xemnas even to the point where Riku take hits to protect Sora. They even stay amongst themselves and are okay because their friends are okay and are fine being with each other as friends.

Sora and Riku's friendship is honestly the best between the three. Nomura and several others have stated Kingdom Hearts is about them growing up and the friends they drift from. It's probably why Sora and Riku are shown to grow closer and Kairi is often left to the side.

Now I'm not saying this is right and honestly she deserves better that what is shown of her.

But it seems this is the story Nomura wants to tell and honestly it is relatable people move on with their friendships and unintentionally leave others behind or they just grow apart.

And Sora still wants to rekindle that friendship and doesn't want to leave her behind in KH3 as she is still one of his close friends along with Riku.

But I kinda hope they will have more interactions with the three of them or even Riku and Kairi since they're both not shown interacting as well....

28 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!)

71 notes · View notes

yzafre · 3 years

Text

when we stood on the skyline (there was no turning back)

AO3

Sora is born into a world where your heart has wings.

Unique to the person, tuned to their soul, the wing-shaped embodiment of your being sprouts from your back in a shimmer of lights.

Sora loved his Mom’s wings, a pale brown with white undersides that appear in a spiral of green. They were super soft, and she’d use them to shield him from the rain or even the sun on particularly hot days. Sometimes, she’d give him her dropped feathers to play with. He’d carry them around in his pockets to pull out while waiting in line at the store, carefully separating and smoothing out the barbs.

He couldn’t wait for his wings to come in. One evening he spent hours focused, trying to replicate the bright flash he’d seen others use to pull out their wings. For all his efforts he got nothing, not even the barest burst of sparks like Riku sometimes showed when he got excited.

“A person’s wings aren’t quite strong enough to spread on their own,” Sora’s mother consoled him later as she tucked him into bed, “We all need a little bit of help, the wind beneath our wings to hold us up. That’s what your Flight is for.”

“Like you, and Uncle Dylas, and Auntie Emi?” Sora asked.

“That’s right. And once we bonded, that's when I manifested my wings.”

Uncle Dylas lived three houses down in a house that was smaller, but had a giant tree and a truly spectacular tree-house out back that he and Riku played in after Uncle picked them up from school. He made perfect cookies, taught them all the card games there were, and sometimes snuck them dessert before dinner.

Auntie Emi didn’t really have a home, at least that Sora had seen, or maybe her home was their home, or maybe Uncle Dylas’s, whichever she preferred on any given day. He couldn’t figure anything else out since that’s the only place he’d ever seen her sleep.

She also left a lot, though she’d always make it home in time for the big holidays and Mom and Uncle Dylas’s birthday every year. Mom said she had a big job that took her all over the world, and Auntie did bring home really cool gifts whenever she came back every few months. Once she even got him a pocketknife with a big, bold pattern – which was so cool because not even Riku had gotten a knife yet – but Mom took it away and said he could have it back in a couple years.

All of that to say that Mom and Uncle and Auntie were pretty much the coolest people ever, and always seemed to know what each other was thinking, and got to be around each other basically whenever they wanted. If that’s what being part of a Flight was like, then that seemed pretty cool. He’d certainly like to see Riku whenever he wanted.

More than anything, though, Sora just really wanted his wings.

“When will I get my Flight?” he whined.

“Give it time,” his mother laughed, “You’ll meet plenty of people, and when you’re older you’ll find the right ones.”

“Of course we’ll be in a Flight together,” Riku said when Sora brought it up, “Who else is going to make sure you’re okay?”

“Hey! Who says I won’t be looking after you?”

“Anyways,” Riku continued over his protests, louder than before, “We’ll just have to find our third, and then we’ll bond.”

“Yeah! But, Mom says it can take a long time to find your people. She didn’t meet Uncle and Auntie until she was twenty.”

The two grimaced at each other, because that was forever to wait.

“You’ve got a point,” Riku said, “And we already know pretty much everyone on the island. It’s not like we can take just anyone. We’ll have to wait until we can go over to the big island ourselves, at least.”

“Yeah. What do you think they’ll be like?” Sora mused, and their conversation turned to guessing at all the qualities of their future partner.

Their answer came in the dark of the night, in the form of a falling star.

Kairi entered their life between one day and the next, blown in with the tides.

It’s Tidus that introduced her to them, helping her off the boat and onto the beaches of their play-island. She was quiet, watching everyone with foggy eyes and hovering on the edge of their games. She answered Selphie’s questions and smiled faintly at the boys’ competitions and flinched if you approached too fast.

Sora thought she was nice. Riku, he could tell, pretty much wrote her off by the time the second week was over.

It was during the third week, as they were arguing over how to retrieve the ball Sora and Selpie had gotten wedged up between a hut and a particularly large branch, that things changed.

Riku was insisting he could retrieve it himself. He had recently managed to pull out his ghost-wings, glowing spectral shadows of the wings he’d someday have. Like all ghost wings, they could only be pulled out for a few seconds at a time, but he decreed they could give him enough of a boost to help out. He was explaining how he could shimmy up the corner, one side on the hut and one on the cliff, when Kairi cut in.

“Don’t be silly, all you’re going to do is break your neck.”

They all turned to her in surprise to find her frowning up at Riku with her hands propped on her hips. She seemed to waver for a second and then –

Sora watched as a light seemed to flicker on behind her eyes, like a new lightbulb slipping into place, chasing away all the fog keeping her trapped. Rather than giving in, she tilted her chin up and firmed her stance.

“Alright then,” Riku scoffed, “How would you do it?”

Ten minutes later Kairi stood smugly over her spoils as Riku eyed her with grudging respect. From that day on, everything was different.

Kairi fit between Riku and Sora in a way Tidus and Wakka and Selphie never quite managed.

Riku liked that she could keep up when they ran races and got Sora to stop napping. He said she’s cooler than Sora ever was, and smarter too. Sora figured she must be, because Riku listened to her when she told him his plans to supply food for their raft by building in a mini mushroom shed were stupid.

(Later, Sora thanked her profusely for this, because no matter what Riku said mushrooms were slimy and gross, and if he had to live off them he’d die. Kairi giggled and told him he’s also very silly, but she still supported him on the mushroom front, so that’s okay.)

Sora liked being around Kairi because she was warm. She was bright, too, not quite like the sun, but in a way that said everything’s going to be alright, and you never had to be scared of the dark because the light would still be there, even then.

“Like if the sun was a nightlight,” Sora explained to Riku.

“What,” said Riku, from where he’d been drawing raft plans in the sand. After a moment he rolled his eyes, dismissing the remark as more of Sora’s nonsense, and went back to his sketch.

“She is pretty cool, though,” Riku agreed later, “Maybe - maybe she could be our third.”

It didn’t take long for the three of them to agree that they definitely wanted to be a Flight together. When Sora got home, he immediately asked him Mom how they could make it happen.

“Ceremony?” his Mom questioned, turning away from the papers in front of her.

“Like, if you get married there’s a ceremony, right?” Sora asked, “So what about when you become a Flight?”

“Oh! Oh, well, no, there’s nothing like that. A reception later, sometimes, but no ceremony. Why do you ask?”

“We’ve decided we’re gonna be a Flight together – me, and Riku, and Kairi. Now we’ve just gotta make it happen!”

“Oh,” she blinked down at him, spinning in her chair to face him, “Well, like I said, there’s no ceremony. It’s just something that… happens, when you’re ready. Besides, no one bonds at your age. You need time to grow up and find the right people.”

“But why wouldn’t it be Riku and Kairi?” Sora pouted up at her, “They’re my best friends! I’ll never find anyone better than them.”

“It’s not quite that simple, I’m afraid. I met a lot of people I thought were the right ones before I met your Aunt and Uncle.”

“Well, how did you know they were right, then?”

“I suppose it’s like how I knew I was going to marry your father,” his Mom mused, “Only… more. You turn and look one day and realize this is it for you.”

“But I know I want them now, so we should be bonding, right?”

“Perhaps ‘know’ isn’t quite the right word,” she corrected thoughtfully, “It’s more like ‘understanding’. You understand how they’re already a part of you, and the act of understanding makes it real, and suddenly they can’t not be a part of you anymore.”

“What? They become a part of you, but they’re already a part of you? I don’t get it,” Sora grumbles, pouting down at his plate.

“You’ll understand when you’re older.”

#kh #kingdom hearts #sora #riku #kairi #fanfiction #wingfic #wrap your wings AU #Yza writes a thing #I've been working on this for months #so excited to finally begin posting

1 note · View note

forestwhisper3 · 4 years

Text

Welcome back to the SI/OC series, where I introduce my various brainchildren. This time around, though, we’re gonna do something a little different. Apart from giving you a couple of pics, I’ll also give you snippets that I’ve written out. This is mostly because I have nothing near resembling an actual fic and have literally just written segments.

It’s kinda long, so click the expand to read on.

So...this SI/OC is one that I’ve had in my head for a while. I mentioned her in one of Klonoadreams’s streams and figured I should probably mention her in this SI/OC series too. She is one of two for the Kingdom Hearts fandom, and when the mood strikes, I try to flesh out her story a little more. Maybe one day I’ll have something publishable. For now, here’s Ignis, a fellow student of Master Eraqus, along with Terra, Aqua, and Ventus:

This is her before everything goes to pot, however. The thing with this SI is that, despite her knowledge of the games, and despite all of her efforts to prevent the events of Birth by Sleep, she still fails. Master Xehanort is not a man easily defeated, after all. So, it is a weary, heartbroken Ignis that finds herself on Destiny Islands after she loses everything yet again...

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

'This is...'

I smiled, knowing it was a bit wry in nature. After all, whenever I'd given the thought to being here, I'd never quite pictured it...like this.

"Whoa, you were right! There is another weird person here today!"

I found myself laughing at the comment without meaning to, the reaction startling me and filling me with sorrow all at once. It had felt like ages since I'd laughed so freely...

"Hey...are you okay?"

I looked at the two boys before me, ready to assure them that everything was fine but...the words just didn't want to come out.

"You're crying..."

Fingers touched my cheeks, only to come away wet. How did I not realize...?

I gave a start when I suddenly felt small arms wrap around me, the warmth of the action seeping into the chill that had seemed to settle in me these past days.

"Don't cry," Sora pleaded, his own eyes staring earnestly into my own. "Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?"

If my next laugh was mixed with a sob, I didn't think any of us would tell.

"You already have," I told him once I'd calmed down, making sure my smile was gentle.

"Really?"

"Yes. I think a hug was just what I needed. Thank you."

"Oh! I'm glad! I don't like seeing people sad."

I smiled, the warmth continuing to spread as I studied him. I'd thought...it would be strange to see them as children while not being the same age, but...this felt right.

Suddenly, I knew what I had to do.

"My name is Ignis," I began softly, "and I come from somewhere far from these shores."

"I knew it," Riku piped up. "You're from the outside world! Just like-...uhh..."

I chuckled a bit at his attempts to back up, clearly not wanting to break his promise.

"Going by your comment earlier, I'll have to assume you've met Terra or Aqua?"

"Yeah! Miss Aqua was nice!"

"Terra was too," Riku added.

"And he left you with something special," I finished.

"Err...yeah."

"What?! He gave you a present!? No fair!"

"Hey now, don't get upset. What's your name?"

"Sora!"

"Sora..." I put my hand out, smiling at his gasp when my Keyblade appeared. "Terra entrusted your friend with something very special because he must have seen something in him...just like I see it in you."

It wasn't just because I knew what was to come. Riku's light was...amazing- there was no doubt about that. But Sora-...Sora gave off his own light too. A light so warm, and loving, and kind that it chased away the darkness and made me feel safe. I know the games had always made Sora's light out to be something special, but...Being able to feel it, and knowing that both Aqua and Terra had passed him up for one reason or another made me want to cry all over again at the injustice of it all.

Sora would not be the backup plan. Not if I had anything to say about it.

"In your hand, take this key..."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"Master!/Master Ignis!"

I groaned, turning over in my cot and doing my best to block out their yells and subsequent pounding at my door.

"Master!"

I yelped when a large weight practically threw itself upon me, sighing at the sound of Sora's giggles and Riku's snickers. Still, it wasn't quite enough to stop the smile that tugged on the edge of my lips.

"Alright, alright, I'm up. What are you two doing here so early anyway?"

Sora propped his chin up on his hands from his position on top of me and grinned. "It's not early. You just slept in!"

"Yeah...I thought adults were supposed to be responsible and stuff."

Riku laughed when I threw a pillow in his direction.

"You're lucky I like you," I said without any real heat.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"This form was a particular favorite of Master Eraqus," I began, smiling slightly when I saw how much Sora and Riku were struggling to remain in position. "Not so much one of ours."

"I-...I can't feel my legs!"

"Don't tell me you-...you can't handle it, Sora!"

"Your legs are shaking too!"

I felt a laugh bubble up. God, those two really were like-

A sharp pang shot through me, and despite my best efforts, it left me feeling desolate all over again.

'I'll see them again. I know I will...but...twelve years is a long time.'

And I would be the only one to actually age.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"Kairi, I understand that you don't like fighting like Sora and Riku do. Really. But...Keyblades don't just go to anyone- you have to be chosen. The fact that you have one...will you at least learn the basics? You don't have to use them, but you'll know them. Just in case."

She mulled it over for a while, before nodding.

"Thank you," I sighed out with a relieved smile.

"It...means a lot to you...doesn't it."

Despite my efforts to the contrary, the question made me freeze. By this point, the boys had given up any pretenses of being busy and were watching in unabashed curiosity. With a welling sadness that hadn't really dulled these past years and an ache in my heart, I nodded.

"It does," I confirmed quietly. "But more than that, I just want you three to be safe. To know how to take care of yourselves if-...Anyway, this is the best I can do."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"Master Ignis, when-...when is Master Terra coming back?"

The question, sudden and unexpected as it was (though I really should have seen it coming), hit hard. All of a sudden, it felt like there was a vice-like grip around my heart, and I flinched so violently that there was no way I could have hidden the reaction.

And Riku- who was so clever and so observant that I was constantly reminded of Aqua -didn't fail to catch on.

"...He's not coming back. And...Master Aqua isn't either."

There was a deep hurt in his eyes, and hints of betrayal. All three of them were aware of how the relationship between Masters and students worked by now, which meant that they knew that despite the fact I was teaching all of them, only Sora was my true apprentice. The rightful heir of my teachings, so to speak.

"Oh, Riku," I breathed out, feeling that all too familiar twist of my heart, though this time, it was accompanied by the sharp sting of tears. "They-...They can't."

Riku blinked, the hurt look being replaced by a questioning one. A few feet back, Sora and Kairi watched on, too hesitant to get closer, but not enough to leave their friend completely.

I sighed, and if there was a breath of a sob mixed in, well, no one would know but me.

"Come on...I think it's time I told you."

They were young yet, but if I didn't tell them now, I didn't think I'd ever work up the strength to do it.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"...When I finally managed to get back to Radiant Garden, there was no sign of Terra or Aqua- the only hint of their fate being the lingering chill in that courtyard. I-...I can only assume they were dragged into the Realm of Darkness. I spent the next few months searching for a way to get to them, as well as keeping an eye out for Ventus, but..."

"...You didn't find either," Riku finished sadly.

"No. Eventually, I found myself here, on these islands. When I saw you, I-...I knew that I couldn't leave. It would have been the height of negligence and cruelty to move on- to leave you ignorant of the legacy you bear. I knew Terra well enough to say that he had every intention of coming back for you, but since he can't, I will do my best to train you in his stead."

He was silent for a while, mulling it over. Finally, he nodded.

"Thank you for telling me, Master Ignis."

"What about Kairi?" Sora asked, his head tilted. "If Mister Terra chose Riku, and you chose me, who chose Kairi?"

"That would be Aqua," I told them. "Just like I could feel Terra's claim on Riku, I can feel Aqua's on Kairi."

"...I don't remember," Kairi said.

"Perhaps it's one of the things you've forgotten," I told her gently, even though I knew that even if she had remembered her meeting with Aqua, she still wouldn't have known when she was given the power. "But even if the mind forgets, the heart remembers."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

The stars were disappearing.

I looked up at the night sky, unease settling in my stomach as I watched another one blink out of existence. It was the third one this week, and while I now knew that some stars actually were just stars in this universe, I also knew that those weren't what was going out.

Xehanort was on the move again.

I'd been wondering about it for a while- mostly since the finer details of the games had slipped from my memory as the years passed -whether or not his plan had some sort of deadline he needed to meet. It seemed I'd gotten my answer. The question now, however, was how were things going to play out.

I was under no delusions that I hadn't derailed things. I had not only trained Sora, Riku, and Kairi, but I had actively done my best to keep them hidden. My unease mostly stemmed from worry over whether it had been enough. If it hadn't, then odds were that Xehanort was going to be paying a visit to the islands soon.

Just the thought of it made my blood run cold.

Ten years, and it still didn't feel like I'd had enough time. I had known what was going to happen, and I hadn't been able to stop it. It had taken everything Terra, Aqua, Ventus and I had had to fight him, and we'd still lost. This time, I was alone. If he came-...

If he came, I probably wasn't going to make it out alive.

I swallowed, feeling my eyes burn as I continued to stare up at the sky. Years ago, that was all I could have hoped for. Anything to escape the agony brought about by losing everything yet again. Now, however...

"Miss Ignis!"

"Master Ignis!"

"Master!"

I found that...I didn't want to go.

"Master...?"

I sighed, a small, wry smile making its way onto my face at the voice. He would be the one to run into me tonight, wouldn't he?

"You should be asleep, Sora," I scolded, though anyone could tell it was halfhearted at best.

"I can't," he said, settling down next to me.

"You should at least try," I told him. "You've got a big day tomorrow."

His grin was just as bright now as it was when I'd first met him.

"That's exactly why!" he exclaimed, turning his gaze up to the night sky. "We've always heard the stories, but to know that we'll actually get to go out there! To see other worlds! It's amazing!"

I couldn't help the fond smile that slipped onto my face at that. He was so much like them, and yet, the warmth he always seemed to instill was unique to him alone.

I hoped that by nurturing it in him, I'd thrown Xehanort's, and even the mysterious Master of Master's, plans awry.

"But," Sora continued, his much more subdued and hesitant tone instantly drawing my attention, "there's...something I've been meaning to ask."

"What is it?"

"If-...If Riku hadn't been chosen when you first got here...or if Kairi had already been with us and not chosen by Master Aqua...would you have still chosen me?"

I blinked, honestly taken aback at the question. "What?"

He seemed a bit more embarrassed now, but the question still seemed to be weighing him down. "It's just- since you've started teaching us how to sense light and darkness in others, me an' Kairi noticed that Riku's...bright. Like, really bright. Then I noticed later that I couldn't sense any darkness in Kairi, and I just-...I couldn't help but think that-...that I-..."

"That you were chosen only because they were first."

He winced and I felt my heart twist painfully at his small nod.

"Sora, no," I told him, perhaps a bit too vehemently, but maybe that would make him listen more. "No, that's not it at all."

I placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and waited until he was looking back at me to continue. "Sora, even if I'd had the option, I still would have chosen you. Precisely because you are you."

"Because...I'm me?"

I smiled. "Maybe Riku's a bit brighter, and maybe Kairi's a bit purer, but you...You want to know what I see when I look at you?"

He hesitated for a moment, probably afraid of what I might say, but nodded in the end.

"I see a warm light. Soft and gentle, like a sunset on the beach. It was that very light that reached out to me ten years ago, and pulled me back from the abyss I could feel myself starting to slip into. Sora, I wasn't kidding when I said your hug was just what I needed. That warmth- your warmth -kept me from ending up just like the others."

He blinked rapidly, his eyes becoming glassy with tears, and I sighed softly before throwing an arm around his shoulders and pulling him close. Even after all I'd done, Sora had still ended up doubting himself and his place as a Keyblade wielder. Still, at least this had happened now, when I could set him straight, as opposed to later, when I...might not be around.

"...Do you really mean that?" he asked quietly.

"I do," I reassured him. "Never doubt yourself, Sora. If you ever find yourself feeling low just remember this:

I chose, and would always choose, you. Not Riku. Not Kairi. You. Because you are kind, and cheerful, and strong- even if you may not believe it at times. You also have something special that they don't: a warm light that welcomes all. A light that shelters and heals. I know, without a doubt, that you will do great things. Amazing things." I smiled down at him, my heart lightening at the small smile on his face as he looked back. "And you trust your master, don't you? So trust in me now."

"...Okay."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Sora watched with growing concern as his master paled. His gaze fell onto the figure behind her, his eyes widening when he realized it was the man in the cloak he'd spoken with just yesterday.

"I must admit to some surprise," the man continued, seemingly unaffected by the storm that raged around them. "I thought I'd gotten rid of all of Eraqus's pupils, yet here you are- with students of your own, no less..."

She stiffened, finally whirling around to face him with a glare. "You will get nowhere near them, Xehanort!"

Suddenly the gravity of the danger was clear, and going by how Riku and Kairi seemed to freeze right next to him, they realized it too.

Xehanort. The man who was responsible for all of the bad things that had happened to Master Ignis and her friends. Because of him, Mister Terra couldn't be here to teach Riku, and Miss Aqua and Ventus were lost somewhere.

It was because of him that his master was so sad and lonely.

Even his laugh was sending chills down his spine. "Is that so? You may have ten more years under your belt, girl, but you're still nowhere close to my level."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

...To be continued?

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this! Maybe I’ll post snippets of my other, as of yet, unpublished SI/OC fics if you all like this well enough. I leave you with a picture of how Ignis looks at the end of these snippets, or rather, at the beginning of the events of KH1:

#SI/OC series #Ignis #Hearts- fanfic #Yeah I have a title for the fic despite not having much of a plot #Story snippets #Storytime with ForestWhisper3 #Brought to you by my brain

6 notes · View notes