#sora and kairi are truly good people | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mythicalartistx · 4 months

Text

Kairi probably has Trauma and her reasoning why she is with Sora and Riku

Ansem the Wise is not a good person

He experimented on children and even fed them to the heartless.

Saïx/Isa often heard screams from the Ansen's study and when he and Axel/ Lea snuck in, it's no wonder they tried to find X after she went missing. No wonder why Saïx was so obsessed with finding her because Ansem the Wise does this stuff.

In ff7 nobody likes Hojo and he's seen as a bad person. Ansem kind of does the same thing except people are supposed to feel bad for Ansem and are like he's good now because he regret it??

The thing is we don't see why he regrets it or anything. And we just see he feels bad about Roxas and Naminé. We also see that he only stopped because he took it too far?

But this is the stuff Ansem did and his apprentices continued, or at least Terra-Ansem.

And Terra Ansem was interested in Kairi because she was a princess of heart. He kidnapped her and then he probably did experiments on her.

She probably has trauma. Then he sent her with that pod to Destiny islands because that's where a key blade wielder is at and whenever a pod is used a meteor shower happens.

And then we get to the start of KH1 and there's some things I've noticed. When Sora asks Kairi what her old home was like, she says she cannot remember. Sora asks “nothing at all?” and she makes this interesting expression. Before answering she frowns before quickly changing to a smile when she says, nothing.

What if she does remember and could be lying here because the experience was so traumatic and does not want to share what happened. However, she barely remembers it and could repress what happens, so she could remember it being bad but says nothing because she truly can't remember because of trauma.

No wonder she seems content on the island. Everyone is nice and she has fun with Sora and Riku. Nobody is trying to experiment on her.

She then goes along with it because they want to. People say she doesn't want change and yes that is true because of the trauma she faced. She's scared to go out into the world because of what happened.

When she talks with Sora later she reveals that she was hesitant at first, but now she's not. She probably was hesitant because of the fear that people like Terra Ansem are out there and might experiment on her. Then knowing that Sora and Riku really want to and they all can go together, she wants to. She is with them and isn't alone. She relies on them when doing things and bases everything on them.

However, that doesn't happen and her heart goes inside of Sora's. Riku's darkness gets the best of him and he believes Sora doesn't care about him anymore and is getting left behind, something he always feared.

And during the games going forward she always focuses on Sora and Riku. She mentions how they left her behind in kh2. She has changed and tried growing as a person but she still relies on them.

When Sora and Riku get the letter from Mickey, Kairi seems sad because they will leave again.

Then in kh3, she is keyblade training. She cuts her hair like Riku did. In the novel she wonders if Sora likes short hair and does it because of Riku. She then grows close to Lea / Axel someone who once tried to kidnap her for his own gain. Then she realized he was hurt and was trying to see his friend again and that isn't something that bad. But above all, he is sorry about everything.

She is often left behind. Unless she is in immediate danger, she isn't really thought of. Sora's mind always goes to Riku and what Riku is doing.

In kh2, he keeps trying to find Rikuand only focus is on finding him. It isn't until someone mentions Kairi that he thinks of her. In kh3 he talks about wanting to call Riku and that he wants to show how cool the MH6 world is to Riku. When he sees Kairi in kh3 that's when he realizes oh, you're here too.

She constantly wants to be with them fuelled by both trauma and friendship, However they're constantly leaving her behind.

Tetsuya Nomura once said that Kingdom Hearts is about the friendships that change alluring to how destiny Trio dynamic changes where Sora and Riku aren't as close to her.

In re:mind / mom Kairi falls asleep, hoping to be useful and wake Sora up so things can be like they have always been between the three of them.

Then when she wakes, she and Riku go to try to find Sora and realizes she must stay behind as it is Riku's part not hers. Kairi must grow on her own and not with other people that constantly held her back and left her behind.

I don't think she should be friendless but I think she should grow without them because they hold her back and she is left behind a lot. She is constantly relying on Sora and Riku.

Also it would just be interesting to see her with other characters as it could be an interesting dynamic. I would have loved to see her with the sea salt trio + Twilight gang. Her interacting with Vanitas would also have been great (though not sure if it's possible since he went away).

22 notes · View notes

howdomaddie · 3 months

Text

on sora’s time in the sleeping worlds and coming to terms with other’s pain

so, i was recently rewatching a playthrough of the kingdom hearts series from a YT channel i particularly enjoy and had some thoughts when it came to dream drop distance. the player had quite a bit to say about the overall plot of that game, and that seems to fall in line with how i’ve seen a lot more people than i thought view DDD as well--that it’s not that great? i totally get being frustrated with the real organization shenanigans because the planned time travel was a bit much but…idk, i’ve never really been into KH for the villains and their schemes. DDD has always kind of been one of my favorites, so as i was rewatching this playthrough of it, i was thinking over why it gets the flack it does story-wise, and why i still think it’s good beyond that.

i’ve always loved riku’s arc, and i loved sora in DDD, but i was honestly “meh” on it until this current rewatch when i was thinking over it all again, and keeping in mind other things in the series better. and now i think i’ve cracked it--i figured out a nice little piece for why sora’s arc works, even if it’s subtle and possibly not fully intended.

and…bear with me here…but it’s partially because of re:coded

STAY WITH ME, I PROMISE I HAVE A POINT!!! it’s below the cut since this will be long, but hear me out: sora in DDD is going through the same things that data sora did in re:coded, and proving that he will always come to the same conclusion about how to handle the pain the others in his heart have gone through (maybe someone’s discussed all of this before, so sorry if i’m just rehashing a well-known point, but…wanted to share my thoughts, haha)

okay. so, in order to really talk about this, let’s revisit what are probably the most important sections of re:coded, and what they do well on a story-telling level.

in the last quarter or so of re:coded, data sora is brought back to help mickey and friends find the meaning of the second message that’s appeared in jiminy’s journal: “Their hurting will be mended when you return to end it.” data sora ends up arriving at an illusion of castle oblivion, and is goaded along by a data version of roxas to go deeper into the castle. this data roxas taunts him about how he’ll never remember the people he encounters in each part of the castle, poking and prodding data sora along through all the revisited worlds.

in one of the earliest rooms (destiny islands i think), data sora has a conversation with the data version of riku that has turned up. data riku shows him a vision of riku and kairi from the events of KH1. afterwards, data riku asks what data sora would have done if he’d known this. and data sora answers immediately:

[ ID: an image of data sora from kingdom hearts re:coded. he has a determined expression on his face, and his clenching his fist as a show of conviction. the subtitles read: "I would’ve helped you, of course. Both of you! I’d’ve figured out how to undo the hurt." End ID. ]

data riku seems pleased with this outcome, and he eventually goes on to say: “Just follow your heart, and you can change the lives of not one, but many.”

as data sora goes deeper into this version of castle oblivion, he only comes across more pain in his heart as he forgets the people he meets. he may forget the people themselves, but the doesn’t forget that he met someone as he goes through the castle.

[ ID: four images from kingdom hearts re:coded. data sora looks sad and pensive as he says this to data roxas, placing a hand over his heart: “But still, I’m frustrated that I’ve forgotten them. I feel moments of loneliness. You said there would be no hurt feelings, but I AM hurting. When the memories are gone, they just leave a hole. And having that longing inside me hurts.” End ID. ]

data roxas eventually confronts data sora about what he’s come to terms with in the castle: that some of that pain he’s feeling is what helps him connect with others, to truly empathize with them. data roxas sees this as a sign that data sora passed his test, to see if he could come to terms with the pain in the hearts he’s most closely connected to.

data namine soon confirms that the real sora carries around a lot of pain that isn’t his own inside his heart--and that he’s found a way to face the suffering all of these disparate parts of himself had to endure. he’s already equipped to face it and help those he’s met that have been lost.

something that i think i’ve come to appreciate more is that as he’s gotten older, sora has ended up becoming really emotionally intelligent. he’s an extremely empathetic character, and always has been. after all, he gave a piece of himself to someone to fix their broken heart when he was still an infant.

[ ID: an image from kingdom hearts birth by sleep. a four year old sora looks upset as he holds ventus’s heart in his hands and asks, “Are you sad?” ]

we all know that his empathy and ability to connect emotionally to others is kind of sora’s whole thing--his friends are his power! but it makes sense that sora’s able to face the pain and suffering characters like xion and ven went through because he is such an open and caring person.

what struck me as critical in all this as i was thinking over what sora goes through in DDD are the instructions namine gives for how to handle the pain of others that sora is holding onto.

[ ID: three screenshots of data namine and data sora from kingdom hearts re:coded. data namine explains to data sora: “There’s only one way to deal with that [pain]; you face it head-on and then you accept it. And if it happens that the hurt is too great for you to bear it alone, well, then you turn to a friend close to your heart.” End ID. ]

this is less a “do this thing for the first time” to me--it’s data namine reinforcing something that data sora (and the real sora by extension, obviously) already knows very well. there is strength to be found in the bonds you share, and that if you need it, you can always rely on the friends you’ve made. this was made apparent through the entire series but this serves as a reminder that yes, sora has been doing the best thing he can. he has remained true to his heart, and is willing to rely on those he cares about.

we know that being alone and only relying on yourself is not the best thing to do in the series--it’s part of what drives riku to darkness in KH1--so that’s why this is a reassurance that sora already knows how to face this sort of pain.

so. WHAT on earth does this have to do with dream drop distance, you might be asking. well, it all stems from the YT channel i was watching this series playthrough from. the channel is PlayFrame (highly recommend looking at their stuff!) and dan, the one playing through the series, had a good take on re:coded's story: he liked the general themes being played with at the end of re:coded, but was upset it was not happening to actual sora. and that sentiment stuck with me as i got to DDD in the series playthrough, and that’s the lens that i viewed sora’s side of the story through.

anyway. let’s dive (ha) in, shall we?

at the end of re:coded, king mickey writes that letter in a bottle that gets to sora in the post credits of KH2 to explain the revelations from the end of re:coded. sora knows now that he’s the thread that will save people like roxas and xion and aqua and ventus, and he knows what data namine was wanting him to eventually face.

at the start of DDD, sora is aware that he needs to face the pain of others that is currently residing in his heart and find a way to save those that have been lost. he is primed with that knowledge, and likely wants to face it the way data sora did.

why do i think this? well…it's in the true secret ending of BBS, first off. sora acknowledges the contents of the letter (likely mickey explaining re:coded and asking him and riku to meet with yen sid), and knows that he was shaped partially because of the BBS trio and the pain he has in his heart from others.

[ ID: screenshots from kingdom hearts birth by sleep of sora speaking to kairi on the destiny islands. he says, "I have to go. I am who I am...because of them." End ID. ]

i think that the mark of mastery exam in DDD was really a chance for sora and riku to do some self-reflection and consider what may or may not be holding them back from becoming classical keyblade masters. in BBS, master eraqus says this of the mark of mastery exam:

Today you will be examined for the Mark of Mastery. Not one but two of the Keyblade's chosen stand here as candidates...but this is neither a competition nor a battle for supremacy--not a test of wills, but a test of heart. [...] Remember, [ for Aqua and Terra's duel ] there are no winners, only truths, for when equal powers clash, their nature is revealed.

eraqus's words are admittedly more specific to the exam aqua and terra had, but the idea that what's being tested is the person's heart seems very relevant to sora and riku in dream drop distance. they both have a chance to reflect on themselves, and who they truly are.

we know how riku’s arc goes: he finally realizes that he does have the power to protect what matters to him, and that darkness in his heart is not something to fear. it does not make him any less worthy to wield a keyblade, nor does it keep him from being a keyblade master.

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of riku and sora. sora’s arm is slung over riku’s shoulder and he is beaming. riku doesn’t seem to believe what he’s saying: “Really? I’m a Keyblade Master?” ]

but what about sora? first off, i do agree that first and foremost sora never really cared about the results of this mark of mastery--he's never needed the "master" label, nor does he think riku needs it. but he goes through with it especially to help riku finally overcome what doubt he still has.

anyway, outside of Overall Series Plot happening to him in this game and the contrived reason he isn’t also named a master, what does sora come to realize? well, it’s what data namine wanted for him: to face the pain inside him head on, and to rely on those close to his heart when he couldn’t do it alone.

what do i mean by this? let’s go world by world to see.

starting with hunchback, since we visit traverse town twice:

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of sora, who is looking at the camera. he appears thoughtful as he says of quasimodo: “He can’t let his heart be a prison.” ]

sora realizes that quasimodo is putting up walls in his heart that keep him from being hurt--walls that, in turn, are becoming something of a “prison”. they’re what keep quasimodo safe, but also keep him disconnected from others and is an excuse for why he doesn’t leave notre dame cathedral.

at the end of sora’s time in this world, quasimodo has opened himself to others, and decides to not keep his fears from holding him back. as sora processes this information, of course, we have the villains telling him that his own heart is now a prison for someone else--ventus.

i don’t think this is true for sora and ven’s situation, and that the organization is just trying to make sora question himself. sora welcomed ven into his heart willingly to keep ven safe--it’s been a very long time, yes, and sora will eventually need to help ven return to his body, but sora’s heart isn’t a prison.

sora opened his heart when he was very young to ventus--and he has continued to be open and compassionate to basically everyone else. he sees the good in people, and believes in them far longer than others. it can make him too trusting at times, but it undeniably saved ven.

after hunchback, we have the grid and prankster’s paradise, and these should be easy enough to figure out.

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of sora and quorra. sora is holding quorra back from attacking, and quorra says to sora of rinzler (originally sora’s friend tron), “He’s a program, Sora. Programs don’t have hearts.” End ID. ]

the grid for sora is all about his relationship to tron and making rinzler remember who he truly is. quorra is pretty quick to throw in the towel on sora’s attempts to reach his friend’s heart, but sora keeps trying--and eventually, he does manage to have a breakthrough. he helps tron fight off his reprogramming, and remember their friendship. he’s able to touch tron’s heart and remind him of what’s important--he just has to give tron the time he needs, and eventually help him regain his sense of self.

my, that sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts three of sora, xion, and axel. sora has his hand on xion’s keyblade, and is persuading her not to hurt her friend axel--trying to remind her of who she really is. ]

there’s one quote from the jeff bridges character that i feel is important to note here:

That’s the thing about programs. Mess with the code just a little, and their whole nature and memory can change.

sora’s time in the grid helps him understand a bit more of what “copies” of him can be going through, and honestly is an important part of why he is able to help xion and roxas in 3 (at least to me). xion’s suffering is tied to how the organization used and abused her, and them tampering with her memories is why she starts off on their side in 3. but sora, good boy that he is, manages to break through to her with a little help from roxas--just like he needed the right thing to reprogram rinzler and help him remember that he was tron all along.

as for prankster’s paradise…

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of sora and xemnas confronting each other. sora looks determined as he exclaims, “But if Pinocchio could be given one (a heart)--shouldn’t you be able to have a heart inside you, too?” End ID. ]

the fact that nobodies do actually have hearts is confirmed towards the end of the game, but it’s clear sora has already mostly figured it out on his own. i’ll touch on it a little more later on, but sora knows that roxas has his own heart, living on inside his own--it’s a reminder of how roxas still exists, and how much of his own person he is outside of sora. he respects roxas's sense of identity as of the end of KH2, which leads him to act the way he does when faced with xemnas here.

xemnas is still putting on the show here that nobodies are beings without hearts, and sora knows that is blatantly untrue--why else would roxas feel the things he did if that was the case?

the other three worlds--traverse town, the country of musketeers, and the symphony of sorcery--do the same thing that data namine did in re:coded. they reinforce the things sora already knows about connecting with others, and relying on their strength when he can’t do things alone.

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of sora talking to neku in traverse town. when talking about neku denying that he said he needed shiki, sora says, “What? Why? You said you need her. That’s a good thing.” End ID. ]

sora says it directly to neku in the revisit to traverse town: it’s good that neku admitted to needing shiki around. sora has always trusted in people to rely on him and to return the favor, so he sees none of the shame that neku feels in admitting that he needs other people.

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of mickey and donald. mickey looks to the camera as he says, “Goofy’s right. As a team, we can do anything!” End ID. ]

the recurring musketeer motto of “All for one, and one for all!” when sora joins mickey, donald, and goofy in protecting princess minnie is another reminder of all this: sora knows the true value of teamwork with his party members, and how important donald and goofy are to him. they are his friends for life, and they’ll be at his side the way he’s at theirs. he reassures them the way they reassure him and always have.

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of sora, looking wistful as he talks about riku: “I’ve got a friend out there who will help. He’s always picking up the slack for me.” End ID. ]

sora’s belief in riku is something that’s shown throughout the entire game, and the symphony of sorcery is just one example of many in truth--but sora has never doubted riku or even kairi and the others. even if he can’t see riku, even if his friends are a million miles away, sora knows that they have his back.

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of sora in traverse town, looking happy and patting his chest as he says of riku, “Don’t worry. He’s with me--even when it might seem like he’s not.” End ID. ]

for the Overall Series Plot happening in DDD, this is very good for sora to remember--riku becomes a dream eater to protect sora in this game, so a friend helping from afar is quite literal. (i think it’s also important to remember this when thinking about the ending of kh3, and where sora has found himself. he still has people who love and care for him, even if they’re a million worlds apart from each other.)

anyway, now we come to the heart of the matter. has sora ended up in the same place as data sora? can he accept the pain the different pieces of him went through, and help them? as of kh3’s ending we know he’s helped them, but what about DDD? had he done it by the end of that game?

[ ID: three screenshots from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of sora and xion. sora asks who xion is, but trails off before he finishes asking. in the final shot, sora sheds a tear over xion. End ID. ]

sora comes face to face with namine and xion, and while he doesn’t connect with them, really, he does seem to feel their pain.

the most apparent interaction that leaves its mark is, of course, when he encounters roxas.

[ ID: screenshots from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of sora speaking to roxas, saying, “Roxas, you’re you. We’re not the same. I wanted to tell you that.” End ID. ]

at the end of KH2, sora has accepted that roxas had a clear sense of self, and was his own individual in spite of being sora's nobody. because sora is fully aware that roxas has his own heart and strong sense of, sora can firmly insist that roxas is his own person. roxas respects this, and opens his heart to sora, to share the truly terrible things that happened to him. and sora faces it, the way he needs to.

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of sora, where sora looks angry and upset about what happened to roxas. He clenches his fist, and asks, “Did they cause all this pain?” End ID. ]

sora has faced roxas’s pain and suffering, at least. sora knows how the organization used and abused him, and how diz did the same. and sora is ready to face the pain the others in his heart are carrying--or, at least, that’s what i believe.

when riku encounters ansem the wise in sora’s heart at the end of the game, what ansem says is something i think kind of ties everything together:

Sora was the only one able to return to his human form without destroying his Nobody. That is a statement to the love in his heart for other people, and the bonds that tie them together. Perhaps…he has the power to bring back the hearts and existences of those connected to him--to recreate people we thought were lost to us forever. [ … ] Sora has a heart like [ a child's ]--uncorrupted, willing to see the good before the bad. When he sees the heart in something, it then becomes real. When a connection seems broken, he may have the power to mend it. [ … ] He has touched countless hearts, he has accepted them, and he has saved them. [ … ] All Sora needs to do is be himself and follow wherever it is that his heart takes him. It is the best and only way.

after the opening section of kh3 in olympus colosseum, what’s the thing that sets sora off on his journey?

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts three of sora, donald, goofy, and jiminy cricket in the gummi ship cockpit. sora looks determined as he says, “The others are following Aqua’s heart, so I’ll follow Roxas’s heart!” End ID. ]

his desire for roxas to truly be his own person. during DDD, sora came to truly understand just how hard roxas fought to be his own person, even moreso than knew at the end of KH2, and wants to follow through on what he said to roxas directly. roxas, to sora, deserves to be his own person as much as sora does. and so, following that desire, sora sets out on this final leg of the Dark Seeker story arc.

so many people move mountains to make roxas beign his own person a reality. not even just roxas, actually, but xion and namine too--all because sora understood that roxas had his own heart, memories, and history. he saw roxas’s suffering and still pushed through to make sure his nobody got the life he deserved.

sora faced what pain he could, and did everything in his power to undo the suffering the people connected to him were feeling--and when he couldn’t do it himself, he let others help him. just the way namine (and her creation, data namine) wanted.

im sorry this is so long and kind of rambly--but i feel like i finally get sora in DDD outside of the organization’s plans for him, and that the off hand comment from this lets play i’m rewatching actually ended up being true. if you made it this far down in this silly post thanks for reading, hope you're having a good day ;u;

#kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts meta #sora kingdom hearts #THIS IS LONG IM SO SORRY #I ALSO HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO TAG IT...#dream drop distance #re:coded #kh ddd #kh 3d #kh recoded

10 notes · View notes

phoenix-downer · 9 months

Text

Compelled to Act

3325 words. Sora/Kairi. Post-Canon. Kairi POV. Grief/Mourning, Survivor's Guilt, Angst, Romance, Hope. For SoKai Day 2023: The Future.

Summary: As Kairi grapples with her grief and guilt, she has a dream about Sora in Quadratum. She might not be able to speak, but he has so many things he wants to say.

What if we don’t succeed?

It was a thought Kairi hardly allowed herself. They would save Sora. They had to. It wasn’t a question of if, but when. To admit otherwise would mean she would have to face her grief, that she couldn’t keep running and hiding, then sleeping and searching, and now pouring herself into her training instead.

“There is no right way to grieve,” her mother had told her the morning after Sora’s disappearance, when she was crying so much she thought she would break into a million pieces and never be whole again. How could she be whole when she’d lost the person she was supposed to spend the rest of her life with? She knew she and Sora were young, that the adults would patronizingly tell them to wait a few more years and see if they could really go the distance with their infuriatingly smug smiles. Young love, it never lasts, they would say. Except sometimes it does. Sometimes you meet the right person young and get to enjoy growing old together. She knew she and Sora truly loved each other and would’ve gone the distance.

“You have to grieve on your own terms,” her mother had said the day after that, when Kairi still didn’t want to get out of bed. “The pain will never fully go away, but it’ll get lighter. You’ll learn to live with it.”

Well, Kairi didn’t want to learn to live without Sora. That was the entire point. And while she knew plenty of people felt irrational guilt over the death of their loved ones, her guilt was entirely rational. It really should have been her instead. The only reason it wasn’t was because Sora had intervened and substituted himself in her place instead.

The tear-streaked faces of their friends made her question his decision. Everyone would be happier if it were me and not you. So why did you do it?

She summoned her Keyblade and focused on the nearby dummy Aqua had set out. A cool evening breeze tugged at her hair and clothes. The Land of Departure was beautiful with its ponds and starlit skies and sprawling castle halls full of history, and she enjoyed living here. It was just strange how the entire universe kept chugging along like one of its brightest lights going missing wasn’t a problem.

A wall of red-hot flames erupted from her Keyblade and struck the dummy. All of her anger and rage at Sora’s disappearance (she couldn’t bring herself to say death) channeled into a nice clean burst of flame. The dummy was well and truly charred afterwards, as was the nearby grass. She examined her handiwork with grim satisfaction. So much for having only a heart of pure light. More like an existence that brings total destruction and death.

That’s all I’m good for, getting the people I love hurt and killed. She was training further so she wouldn’t be such a burden, but what was the point? Even if she did see Sora again, he was better off without her. If he got too close to her again, he’d just get hurt and tormented and tortured and killed. Again.

She lifted her Keyblade once more. It was a good thing Riku was the one who had gone after Sora. He was actually good at saving him. At helping him. For all his issues with darkness, Riku was much better at healing and restoring people than she was.

She smiled wryly. If Riku was what monsters feared, if he was the one who consumed Sora’s nightmares, then she was an angel of death, a siren luring Sora to his doom. Looks and appearances were deceiving. Everyone thought Riku was the villain, the problem. All along it had been her.

A moment later, water shot out of her Keyblade and doused the charred dummy. She absently wondered if all her tears for Sora would match the amount of water that had just swallowed the dummy in its relentless onslaught. There had been so many of them and they’d come in powerful, intense bursts until she’d gone to sleep to search for clues as to his whereabouts. Now that she was awake again, there wasn’t as much crying anymore, but grief bursts still hit her every now and then. Still engulfed her in their powerful waves and cast her adrift until she found something to cling to, something to ground her.

She reached into her pocket and grasped the Wayfinder that Aqua had given to her. It was pink and purple and made with care, and feeling its smooth glassy surface kept her in the moment.

Did Sora still have her lucky charm? She could only hope so. Did he even remember who she was? Who he was? That was the question. He was in some other realm, but what was his existence even like? And how was it any different from death, really? Torn apart from all the people he loved and separated from them by a wide gulf. That was what death was, separation of the soul from the body, of the self from one’s loved ones.

She assumed his soul and his body were still one, but he was far from them, so while he might not be truly dead, it didn’t seem like he was really alive, either. And even if Riku did find him, how in the worlds was he supposed to bring Sora back? Sora had broken a nature taboo, and she doubted Death would relinquish its prize without a fight.

Riku, don’t do anything stupid, please, she silently begged. She knew Riku was careful and a lot more measured and guarded than she and Sora were, but she still couldn’t help but worry.

After another round with the dummy that left it electrified and then frozen solid, she decided to give the poor thing a break from her wrath and call it a night. Dinner had happened hours ago with Terra, Aqua, Ven, and Chirithy, so it was time for bed now. She stopped by the castle’s kitchen briefly to grab a quick snack and then trekked up the old, winding stairs to her little room on the second floor.

The extra practice had another purpose beyond honing her skills. If she was tired enough, she would fall asleep quickly instead of tossing and turning for hours on end as sleep eluded her and her fears and regrets haunted her instead.

Of course, sometimes dreaming wasn’t much better. Her dreams, when she remembered them, were either fragmented and disjointed or disturbing and dreadful. The others had had dreams of Sora, and she’d had that single dream that gave them the clue they needed to continue their search. But ever since then he had been absent from her dreams, or if he’d visited, she couldn’t remember upon waking.

Still, that was better than not being able to sleep at all. Thankfully, exhaustion won out tonight, and she soon slipped into sleep, hoping that she wouldn’t remember any of her dreams and would just be able to escape for a little while.

A big, modern city with soaring skyscrapers and winding streets. Water drip, drip, dripping as the light rain covered everything in a wet film. Red and green and yellow lights reflecting off of puddles.

Kairi moved through this realm as if she were floating. There was no sense of time or space, just moving over the pavement without any contact with it. A sign she didn’t belong in this place, perhaps, that to the people she passed she was simply a fiction, a ghost. When she tried to touch things, her hands moved right through them, and when she tried to speak, no one was able to hear her.

The experience made shivers run down her spine. She missed having a body that could interact with the world around her, that could touch and taste and test, feel and sense and caress. She really was beginning to wonder if she was a ghost. Of course, if the people in this realm tried to come to hers, they would probably seem like the ghosts. She sensed some great barrier that was nearly impossible to pass, though Riku had succeeded and Sora had been brought here unwillingly.

Or was it willingly? He had willingly given his life for hers, so it felt strange to speak of him coming here against his will. And yet she couldn’t help but think such thoughts. She knew Sora didn’t want to be apart from her any more than she wanted to be apart from him.

Her wanderings eventually led her to a coffee shop situated in a four-story building with the number four in the address. It had space on all four floors, too. Four, four, four. Everything here reminded her of the unlucky number that sounded like death.

The first floor was where people ordered their coffee from the hard-working baristas, the second and third floors were where they could drink the coffee, either alone or with friends on various tables and couches, and the fourth floor was a rooftop area with a few more seats and a view of the nearby scenery.

She almost didn’t notice him at first. He was seated at one of the tables, an untouched cup of coffee steaming in front of him as he stared into the horizon. His hair looked different, lighter and much less spiky than before, and his back was turned to her and his clothes were more muted, more like what normal people wore. But then he stiffened and glanced back, and his searing blue eyes gave him away.

“Kairi?” he murmured, looking right at her as if he could see her. Gosh, he was more handsome than ever, and he looked older and wiser and world-weary but still with that spark of Sora compassion in his eyes.

Well, she supposed it had been a year. She’d changed and so had he.

So had he. Relief flooded her at the thought. Dead people couldn’t change and grow. Only the living could.

She tried responding, but of course he couldn’t hear her. She was a ghost in this realm. But then how had he sensed her presence? Perhaps it was that gift of his for seeing hearts wherever he went.

His expression softened. “You can’t speak here, can you?” he gently said. “I can’t speak when I visit you in your dreams, so I guess it makes sense the reverse is true too.”

He had visited her in her dreams since that time she’d confronted Xehanort? If only she could remember.

He patted the chair next to him. “Have a seat.”

She floated over and “sat” down as best she could, but of course all she could manage was sort of hovering over the chair. But it wasn’t uncomfortable, and if she really tried she could imagine she and Sora were grabbing a cup of coffee together like they’d done so many times at the cafe on the beach back home.

“There’s so much I want to tell you,” Sora said, his face serious in a very un-Sora like way, like this place dragged his spirit down despite his best efforts. “Even with all the time we got together before we were separated, it still wasn’t enough.”

She agreed. It didn’t matter how much time you got to spend with your loved one before you lost them. The loss still ached like a deep wound that would never fully heal because that person was never meant to be torn from your side like that. She’d often thought to herself, if only I could speak to Sora again. If only I could have just a few more minutes with him. But even if she’d gotten her wish, it would be like sticking a bandaid on a gaping, gushing wound. Because the time would still end, the conversation would be over, and it still wouldn’t be enough. She’d still long to see him again after that.

No, the only true remedy for grief was an eternal reunion. A promise that she’d get to be with him forever. No more separations and sadness, no more sorrow and pain, no more tears and tearing apart of their shared heart.

She hoped the afterlife would be kinder than this life was.

Sora frowned. “I can tell you’re sad. I’m sorry I haven’t found a way back home yet. I’m trying, trust me.” He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “It’s just a lot more difficult than I’d like.”

She scoffed. He was apologizing to her? It should be the other way around. She would say as much if she had a voice in this world.

Whatever expression was visible on her face seemed to upset him. “Kairi, I know we kinda avoided certain topics before I…you know. I didn’t want you to be sad. But I’m worried about how you’re handling all this.”

She carefully avoided his gaze. Not well. But was there a “good” way to handle grief? It was like her mother had said. There was no “right” way to grieve. Just whatever helped you get through the next hour, the next minute, the next second. Grief was like an unwelcome, unwanted acquaintance she couldn’t get rid of. The best she could do was learn to deal with its constant presence. She’d lost her birth parents and grandmother ages ago, so it wasn’t like she hadn’t dealt with grief before. But every grief is unique, and the grief of Sora’s loss still felt so raw and fresh and wrong.

“You don’t blame yourself for my death, do you?” Sora asked, his voice pained and his eyes anguished as he cut through her thoughts.

She would’ve been silent even if she could’ve spoken to him. He knew her all too well.

His face went pale. “You do,” he said, barely above a whisper. “Kairi, it wasn’t your fault.”

Yes it was. If she hadn’t been so weak, she wouldn’t have gotten kidnapped, and if she hadn’t gotten kidnapped, she wouldn’t have been struck down, and if she hadn’t been struck down, then Sora wouldn’t have had to abuse the Power of Waking to save her.

Honestly, he should’ve just let her be lost forever. She would’ve preferred that to this.

“You don’t believe me,” he said, his voice breaking. He reached for her hand, but of course his hand went right through hers. Frustration and pain flickered across his face, like he couldn’t bear this physical separation any more than she could.

“If you have to blame anyone, blame me,” he said. “I was the one who was reckless with my own life. But I wasn’t reckless for the sake of being reckless. There was just something so much more important at stake.”

Tears blurred her eyes. She wouldn’t be able to shed them or express them here, but they were there all the same.

“I couldn’t abandon you,” Sora said, his eyes filled with tears. “I couldn’t leave you trapped in Xehanort’s grasp forever. Don’t you see? I had no choice but to rescue you. I wouldn’t be myself if I left you to your fate just like you wouldn’t be yourself if you’d let me die at the Keyblade Graveyard. It’s true that we could’ve made other choices, but we never would. That’s what…that’s what love is, Kairi. Always wanting the best for the other person to the point it compels you to act.”

Sora was right. She would never let him die. Except that she had. And she knew how he felt about her. She just felt utterly and completely unworthy of his love because of her failure.

And yet…if she told him that, how would it make him feel? Like she was spitting in his face and saying his sacrifice wasn’t worth it? That he wasn’t worth it? She could never. She struggled to like herself, but Sora she loved with all her heart. Maybe…maybe if he really did see something in her worth loving, then there was something about her worth loving.

“I wish I could hear your voice,” he said sadly. “Your laughter. I really miss your laughter. Your smile, too.”

It struck her that he hadn’t smiled this entire time either. She missed his smile so much.

“I know now’s not really the time for smiles, but maybe…when we meet again…”

She nodded. She didn’t feel like smiling now, but if she could be reunited with Sora in the flesh, she might feel differently.

“I think you’re gonna wake up soon,” he said. “You’re flickering. But this won’t be the end, I swear. We’ll meet again. Either I’ll find a way home or you’ll find a way to me, I just know it.”

She nodded a little more confidently this time. The future was so uncertain, but this strange dream had given her fresh hope.

“Until then,” he said, then leaned close and gently kissed her cheek.

Kairi’s eyes fluttered open. A quick glance out the window told her it was still dark outside, and the flames in her little room’s fireplace had been reduced to glowing embers. She was cold, and yet her cheek felt so warm.

She touched it. Faint memories of Sora flickered through her mind, but they were already slipping out of her grasp. She grabbed the little diary next to her bed and jotted down as many things as she could remember. But it wasn’t much. Just a big city, his blue eyes, a steaming cup of coffee, and a soft, gentle kiss on her cheek.

Well, and one more thing. In her diary she added: I don’t remember the exact words, but I have this deep, lingering sense of peace. Like he loves me and promised we’d meet again. Maybe it’s just my own foolish imagination, but if it helps me feel better, I think it’s okay.

With that she closed the little book and rolled over onto her side, pulling the blanket closer for warmth as she took a few more minutes to rest before getting up. She wished she could remember more details from the dream, but the fact she’d dreamed about him at all brought her great comfort.

Maybe…maybe we will succeed. Maybe I will get to see him again. I just need to be patient and make the most of my life right now.

She was tired of just existing. She wanted to live again. Wanted to enjoy all the little things and appreciate the people in her life right now. And even if she got Sora back and they got their happily ever after, one of them would still outlive the other. There was a phrase that got omitted from modern fairy tales, “until their deaths.” “They lived happily until their deaths” was how the stories always used to end, but at some point someone had decided the “until their deaths” part was too sad to include, so everyone removed it from the ends of stories and replaced it with “ever after” as if that would remove death from reality.

Kairi was beginning to think this was a grave mistake. Pretending death didn’t exist wouldn’t help kids deal with it better. And death was no respecter of persons. It came for the young as well as the old, the healthy as well as the sick, the strong as well as the weak. Might as well help people prepare for that and make the most of the time they have in this life and the most of the time they have with their loved ones.

Sora, if we do get a second chance to be together, I promise I’ll never take a single moment with you for granted again. And I’ll do everything in my power to help you come home.

Satisfied with her promises to him, she got out of bed. Enough waiting and wondering. It was time to act.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: Thank you for reading! I wanted to explore Kairi's survivor's guilt and grief in more depth, including the different facets and expressions of it. I wanted her to get to be angry and frustrated and sad and hurt, and it was cathartic to write.

I always thought it was interesting how death in the KH universe is defined as the soul (tamashii) and body (nikutai) being separated. Your heart (kokoro) and your body can be separated and you'll continue to exist (granted as a Heartless + Nobody), but if your soul and your body get split up, you'll die for real. (This is all delineated in Secret Ansem's Report #4). So I tried to incorporate that bit of KH lore into the story.

As always I enjoy delving into fairy tale stuff and researching the ways different languages handle the start and end of stories (English of course has the classic "Once upon a time…they all lived happily ever after" formula, but there are other variants like the "they lived happily until their deaths" one).

And then what would one of my KH stories be without an exploration of free will, the nature of existence, and various metaphysical ponderings? That stuff just always slips into my KH fics these days.

Happy SoKai Day!

#kingdom hearts #sokai #sokaiday #sokaiday2023 #sora #kairi #sora x kairi #sora/kairi #kh fanfiction #phoenix writes #phoenix-downer #long post

18 notes · View notes

goldensunset · 8 months

Note

What do you think of Kairi, Xion, Naminé, and Aqua? Just general feelings, nothing too detailed if you don't want to-

like as a team, or individually?

as a team: oh how i WISH we could see it in canon. even if it were to end up borderline tokenism-y like with marvel. i would love to see the girl power squad idc i think they should hype each other up their color schemes together would be so pretty

kairi: my dearly beloved. yes the writers need to treat her better but so do the fans. she does have clearly defined character motivations and it’s weird to act like she doesn’t just bc they’re not ones that people like. she just wants stability and a home after having lost her memories and crash-landed somewhere as a toddler. she’s afraid of change but will do anything to stay with her friends in the midst of a fast-moving world because she’s lost them too many times. she’s a bit out of touch with them and sometimes clearly doesn’t know the right thing to do or say. i hope kh4 treats her kindly and gently and gives her more agency without trying to flatten her into a hashtag strong independent woman. i have high hopes for my little strawberry and wild daydreams about what i would love to see as her precise role in coming games. wrote some stuff in the tags here. i swear i thought i had more pre-written essays to draw on than that i know there’s so much i’m leaving out but i think i got the main points

xion: truly i will never be able to get over her story and especially her theme. what an incredibly well composed piece of music. honestly she and her theme were like a major factor as to me getting into this series. i’m very happy she’s alive after all that. i said a lot about her here already recently so i won’t burn myself out going into detail again. even that i feel like is a minor weak attempt at fully conveying my emotions regarding her. oh and a few more thoughts here

naminé: tbh thinking about chain of memories reduces me to a puddle but like in a bittersweet way as opposed to the pure bitterness of days. like sora’s interactions with her… their relationship even if it was brief and based on an illusion…the writing and animation and voice acting was legit so good man. i’m a wreck. nami is so beautiful and strong and horribly horribly sad but she gets overlooked… the thing is that even if she has people who love her she’s still nobody’s first choice. she doesn’t have her own place to go. she’s still lonely…

aqua: MAN she’s so interesting.. the way she’s carrying on eraqus’ legacy in both good and bad ways… the way she was corrupted after wandering a distorted world alone for a decade… the way she’s headstrong and determined and fights so hard yet can hardly make a difference as her world falls down around her… the way she’s incredibly strong and proud yet you see her once-firm core begin to shake as time passes on… not entirely related but i hope we get to see her (and the other two) (and kairi as her student!) visit the ruins of scala ad caelum bc they’re the last ones carrying on that legacy

#sorry if this is lazy lol i’m tired #sometimes if i Said It Well Before i’m like eh why bother rephrasing when i could redirect you to it #i mean you did say not too detailed #the answer is i love them all i love every kh character…#asks #thanks anon #kingdom hearts #kairi #xion #naminé #aqua #mine: kh

16 notes · View notes

nadziejastar · 7 months

Note

Absolutely love your akusai analysis stuff its so good omg.

Do you have any more thoughts on them?

Thank you for the kind words, I really appreciate it! As for my thoughts on Akusai, well, after beating Fire Emblem Three Houses recently, I do have a few thoughts. I know, I'm late to the party on 3H. (I actually loved 3H and would love to write metas about those ships lol). But anyways, regarding Akusai. It's a bit of a rant and there's minor spoilers for FE3H, so I'll put it under the cut.

Okay, so Sylvix felt like it was everything Akusai was supposed to be. It touched on all the same themes, too. In 3H, you've got a childhood friend trio. The standard two males and a female. On the surface it seems like the girl and the outgoing redhead goofball are a thing. But they treat each other more like bros. He and the quiet blue-haired sword guy had a much more intimate bond with each other, complete with a special promise™ to always be together and redhead being protective of blue. The redhead never wants to grow up and change because he doesn't wanna fulfill the heteronormative life script of getting married and having kids.

He is longing to go back to his childhood days but is sad at how much blue has changed since they were kids and has apparently outgrown their closeness. He hides his angst behind a smile and womanizing. Blue was once a meek clingy crybaby but now he is surly and obsessed with growing stronger. Deep down he is still an uke who secretly longs to be redhead's waifu. But he has a lot of shame related to his sensitivity and gender nonconformity. He distances himself from others, but boy does he get irritated if redhead flirts with anyone else.

I do wish the game would have just come right out and tell you that they're gay for each other (and so does this gaming site). I get why it didn't. Still, it didn't really hide it too much. They have a paired ending where they spend their whole lives playfully teasing each other like just when they were kids, never get married, and die together in each other's arms. It's the most romantic ending in the whole game, if you ask me. And Sylvix is SUPER popular and well received by the fandom. Both in Japan and the West. They have soooo much fan content. There are still some dudes who say they're just friends because ew icky gay. But most people in the fandom are able to tell they're queer-coded and are fine with it. In fact, the fandom was so fine with it that they released an overtly queer dude in the DLC, strictly due to popular demand.

3H is not a slam dunk with gay romance since much of it (particularly MLM) relies on subtext. But it still had more balls than most JRPG series and it definitely was a step in the right direction. We all know that Soriku is the most popular ship. The end of KH2 was total fujoshi fuel. But Soriku never had any chance in hell of being canon. KH is a video game shonen anime. Sora/Riku bromance is "safe". They can capitalize on shipteasing them to their female fans, but they won't alienate their male fans because Kairi is still very obviously the love interest for Sora. I found Akusai to be a lot more compelling because it was legitimately queer-coded.

Axel was queer-coded from the very beginning. His close friendship with Roxas in KH2 made people question his sexuality all the way back in 2006 and Akuroku rivaled Soriku for a time. And I do think that Axel always meant to be queer. Although personally, I did not get the impression that he was in love with Roxas. I got the sense that he probably had a best friend back when he was a human. And it was this dead best friend that he truly yearned for. The sweet and innocent Roxas reminded Axel of his human best friend and he latched onto him to help him forget the memories of days long past. That was my headcanon back in 2006 when KH2 first came out.

So, I was really happy when Days/BBS came out and it basically confirmed my theory that Axel was truly hung up on his human best friend and saw Roxas as a kind of replacement for him. And Isa was also very queer-coded. BBS!Isa has a more distinctly feminine design than any other boy in the series. He had very girlsh eyes and lips, small hands, long hair. And Saix's Mystery Gear is very cutesy-looking. Traditionally, the moon is viewed as a feminine symbol. And Saix's weapons in 358/2 Days were named after moon goddesses. They could have easily picked male moon gods, but they chose female goddesses like Selene and Artemis. It signifies to the player that, "Hey, this character does not follow the conventional gender stereotypes."

When you play 358/2 Days, and you get to the part where Axel is talking about love, you realize he's talking about his most precious memories from his human life, just like with all the other stuff like summer vacation and the red sunset. Akusai was not just superficial fujobait. Even if it was all subtext, it was a genuine depiction of two queer male characters who loved each other romantically. Axel is not straight. That’s a big reason why I was so mad that KH3 pushed their relationship off to the side and treated saving Isa as so much less important compared to saving Roxas. And it was so annoying how Saix had to mention Subject X whenever he might have seemed a little too obsessed with Axel otherwise.

Last year, Nomura said that he intended to show more of Lea and Isa's backstory in the future, so I've just been waiting for more content. I hope that we can get their story without Subject X overshadowing them like she did in KH3. I'm...cautiously optimistic. I expect this subplot to be included in Missing Link, since it is quite literally a missing link of the story. Axel is super popular and a queer-coded backstory with his childhood best friend would be very well received by the modern KH fandom, IMO. People are a LOT more accepting of gay content than they were in 2006. We've come a long way. And personally, I just love the idea that the tough cold asshole Saix's human self was actually a super sweet cutie who was in love with Lea. I really think the KH fandom would love that idea, too, if the writers were ever allowed to actually explore it. And a niche mobile game is probably a safer medium for that type of content than a mainline console game overseen by Disney, I guess. At the very least, if they ever put an Isa figurine into ML, I will whale for it if I have to.

#kh akusai #kh leaisa

9 notes · View notes

agentperezbian · 7 months

Text

I think the reason people focus on Kairi fighting and want her to be more aggressive and active is because she was given a keyblade in the second game and then proceeded to not really be allowed to use it for a long time. And when she finally does she still doesn't really get to shine as a keyblade wielder until Re:Mind. And I think it's important to note that other, MALE characters are allowed to be gentle, caring and naive while also being competent fighters - Ventus is a good example of this type of character. But Kairi is the only fighter who is still treated as too weak to hold her own. I don't think you can really ignore the misogyny in how Kairi is written in the series, and while overcorrecting to make her more aggressive or a "girlboss" might be overkill, I think it's just fans trying to give her equal treatment to the boys.

It should also be mentioned that most people who want Kairi to be less "kind" or "gentle" just want her to act more like her KH1/manga appearances, where she was still kind but more fiery. She was sarcastic and poked fun at Sora and Riku. It really seemed like she softened up through the series, and I truly don't believe it was simply character growth, it really seems like watering down her character to make her fit the mold of the "sweet girl."

#kingdom hearts

7 notes · View notes

mejomonster · 1 year

Text

saw a kingdom hearts reaction where the person said kingdom hearts is about childhood and growing up and losing innocence, and childhood trauma

and like 1 yeah they hit the nail on the head. it makes you feel like a kid again, but also reminds you that life is heavy and complicated and these things that remind you of an innocent time before it all will always be touched by the present now that you are no longer naive and now that you’ve started your journey into adulthood (like Sora leaving the islands). it reminds you of what you miss, of what you hope for, some of the most impactful lines in kingdom hearts 2 are when hayner says (and axel reaffirms, and truly so Many character stories echo) “we can’t be together forever, it’s not about how often we see each other, but how often we think about each other. as long as we have each other in our hearts then we’ll still be with each other” those ideas i think most people eventually will relate to. so much of the kingdom hearts story is about best friends, making friends, valuing friends, and how the world and the passing of time pulls people apart. how to stay close to them, how to get back to them again, how to grieve when we can’t, when we don’t know the future, how we have to move forward every day because life doesn’t stop, the circumstances tomorrow are not guaranteed to be like they are right now this minute, and we have to cherish what we have while it’s here. hold onto it in our hearts when it’s out of reach, and try our best to remember it and what it’s done to change us forever. every friend we make is a part of us, every precious memory changing us and our entire lives even when the connection gets lost or strained, even when our lives change completely in ways we could have never predicted or stopped. the desire to keep things as they are forever, when they’re good and we have our loved ones, and how as much as we may want that and strive for it and sometimes do achieve it life is going to constantly surprise us and we can’t control what tomorrow will bring. “hold me, whatever lies beyond this morning is a little later on, regardless of warnings the future doesn’t scare me at all”, “when we get older you’ll understand what i meant when i said no things aren’t quite that simple/things Are Quite that Simple.” Utada Hikaru’s absolutely lovely main songs have lyrics which really hammer home the themes of kingdom hearts.

just. yes on one level its an absolutely bonkers crossover visually, conceptually, in execution, in experimenting with combat and combination, and it’s wild it got made because who knows if it even could’ve existed if someone tried to make something like this today in the 2020s. but also it does have a heart at the center of it, an emotional thread that connects to everyone growing up and who already has, and it hits you right through to your core and it’s the reason the endless tragic arcs of the characters make so many people bawl their eyes out. yes its a sad story, many sad stories trying hard to fight to get a happy ending and reunite with their friends again one day. but its also a really, really, simple story. its a story we all go through. its covered in all these words like darkness, hearts, light, etc and this bonkers lore nomura keeps intensifying and piling on. but at the core of it all kingdom hearts is about our friendships and loved ones, about growing up and the passage of time changing everything, and how to bear it and go through this endless journey we’re all on. it hits extra hard to some (like me) because the childhood disney and final fantasy elements remind us of exactly when this reality starts to set in for us growing up, we were children, often surrounded by friends and family, and then one day people moved and died and school was over and nothing was ever stable again in that sort of concrete childish way when the world is only as big as your backyard and childhood home (like Sora, Riku and Kairi the world is only their tiny play island - they know nothing else, never had to be apart, and they wonder what’s out there... and we all find out eventually in life what’s beyond that small initial world we had). that’s the part of the story that hits.

and then like i said, 2 she mentioned its about trauma and childhood trauma. i’m burning out of steam here but that streamer absolutely gets it. 358/2 Days is about 2 children who are raised by a cult (which is also a toxic workplace - oh no childhood home of safety they start out already in a workplace nightmare where their work is their entire life and they’re easily replacable if they aren’t “productive” and their entire existence depends on being valuable to the boss, they’re disposable, they’re told their feelings and wants don’t matter and YET they develop them anyway and DO find each other to love and make life bearable. they do make a family out of their friends, people they want to live for, live to see, love to have in their lives, people and connections that matter more than their job). 358/2 Days is about adults who once had lives they loved and valued, people they cared about (Axel and Saix being particular highlights of that), who were crushed by their jobs and the passage of time destroying their old lives and old safety, the whole world fell apart on them and they died and all that’s left of them are echoes of their old selves who grew apart, now adults and part of the very kind of system of adults destroying things that once upon a time destroyed their old world and old lives. Axel knows the reality that he’s a part of the destruction, and yet when he connects to Roxas and Xion he wants to badly for them to NOT lose their loved ones and precious lives they care about. To NOT be crushed by the very awful situation they’re in, to help them, to try and protect them but knowing in the way he knows because he’s been through it... that they can’t be saved, that time will pass and change things, and he thinks the evil he does is better than the worse alternatives he knows could happen. And they all break apart. And i think a lot of older people can see younger friends, younger loved ones, children they have, going through their own versions of these things. the naive idealism of childhood, of the safe world they’ve managed to have or carve out or temporarily found, and the looming awful reality that there are things out there that can and do destroy that ‘safety’. that nothing is guaranteed to be forever. you’ve got traumatized adults who already went through awful stuff, children being traumatized who can never find real safety and will eventually have even that ‘good thing’ thrown into danger they can’t stop. Riku, Sora, and Kairi went through their own version in kingdom hearts 1. Riku wanted to see other worlds, wanted to protect the friends he loved from all the looming dangers he figured ‘might’ be out there because he was older and growing up and realized before Sora and Kairi that their safe haven might not always be safe forever. He leaped without looking, and got into danger over his head and instead of learning about it so he could protect sora and kairi, he ended up damaged by it first and used by it as a tool to hurt his own loved ones. and so many of the kingdom hearts games explore this idea. Ventus, Terra, and Aqua also have a situation with 2 of them young adults trying to pass their exam that proves they’ve ‘graduated’ to adulthood, aware of the real potential danger and impermanence of the world in a way Ventus the younger kid whos still a teen is not. And Aqua and Terra go out trying to protect those they love (and the whole world from being hurt by the same things), and instead get used, instead even when they try their best it’s not always enough. Though it is enough to one day find each other again, to help some people on different worlds even if it’s not going to be their own loved ones for a long while, and so it was worth the effort. Their only options were to stay on their isolated world and be attacked one day by the reality of time passing, or go out, and no one will ever be ready for it. No one’s ever ready to grow up, no one can stop it and we’re all forced to go through that journey someday. And Ventus - he already comes to the world damaged, traumatized, already forced through pain despite his young age, already forced to have been used. In kingdom hearts, they just do not sugarcoat this. Ventus (in BBS) didn’t have any safe childhood or loved ones to cling to originally, he was alone and suffered and sometimes children do, sometimes any person does. He eventually does find a respite - a sanctuary with Terra and Aqua living with them, that he treasures and has made into his home. Axel makes that as an adult, Ventus makes that as a teen, Sora and Riku had that with each other since children. (I could probably argue somewhere in there that Eraqus and Xehanort once were each other’s home, sanctuary, and their growing up also meant that was lost and longed for one day again some how which is maybe why KH3′s ending made me cry despite me thinking i didn’t care about those two characters lol). My point is plenty of the characters are traumatized before and as the stories kick off, or through the stories, and i very much feel people who consider it a major theme of kh.

#kh #kingdom hearts #meta

8 notes · View notes

valorxdrive · 1 year

Note

❝ i just…i just want her to be safe. ❞ [ ill let u decide who they talkin bout B) ]

In a rare way it feels like he's learning something new about Riku of all people. The one his younger self aspired to learn from and chase after, who became not only a great rival at one point, but genuinely one of the best friends he could truly ever ask for.

He realizes just how many years have passed since they've actually got to spend time together.

For an instant Riku's heartfelt sentiment prompts him to bring his gaze towards the shore side, where a proud, cerulean lash of waves continues to lap at the shoreline. A mercilessly rush of the sun brings iridescence to an almost fantasy like scale laying like a gentle embrace over their home, and in particular, to a certain Kairi who found herself whisked away in watching their old stomping grounds upon a different shore.

He doesn't bring any hesitation in letting his hand reach over, to settle a supportive balance upon their back as her boys studied the sight firsthand, countless tales of thoughts hidden in the heart and mind billowing forth akin to a rush of steam. Seeing these days have a promised frame of the future, to let their efforts allow frivolity to never be an essence lost to the trials awaiting them.

Would this be a simple matter of him projecting? Or did.. by chance he shared this thought too? Any initial uncertainty was short lived as his best friend's presence made those mute worries. "I do too. ...And y'know Riku? I think in wanting that, I really have come to see a lot.."

In moments that were too painfully sparse. The way she allows fiery red hair and the bravery of her being steel the expression on her face. How she never falls back on speaking her mind on her concerns, a spitfire way for her to lead the charge on her life. It was such a vivid change from the internalized frustrations to the soft, but caring resignation she had for his wishes once upon a time.

He wanted to keep her safe too.

Yet.. that safety?

It felt like it was a mistake the day a cataclysm fell upon their heads. Where the dark, poisonous wrath of Kingdom Hearts contained no less fell upon them, where an embodiment of the end days have taken the nigh lifeless forms of Xehanort, and of the thirteen.

It was a form of Kairi he genuinely never knew existed.

A new way that she took the boundless power within, fashioning to with raw mettle and a heart full of resolve, equally determined as their united hearts to show that even this apparition that takes a form of death would be denied. Sora found his heart truly relishing in that wonder that stormed through him then, in allowing that undeniably faith that ran within her to be shared. For him to truly stop holding back on those doubts due to very real fears of losing her.

"What does it really mean to keep them safe?" It was a spark of clarity that bloomed. In many ways, the keybearer didn't think an answer could be so quickly found through words alone.

For it to be meaningfully ingrained, what they need is experience.

Only then would Sora's head drift in order to glance upward, allowing for the fire in soul to keep his eyes focused, to truly peer towards his companion's heart through the eyes in this moment.

"I've.. felt like I've been holding her back a good deal. And it might've put her into a lot more trouble than she would've been in otherwise. Kairi has a lot of incredible things that she's hiding.." And this wasn't strictly being spoken from a degree of smitten sentiment, though it certainly plays a part.

"Maybe there's some new ways we can learn how to keep someone safe."

@litoredeem

#litoredeem #| Bottle Mail #| Meme #so this was cooking in my head for a hot minute #since the Re:Mind walkthrough #some secret talks they would have

2 notes · View notes

maddrmatt · 2 years

Text

The Gift From Beyond (SoKai Week 2022)

New to this fanfic? Click here to properly begin!

Greetings readers and fellow SoKai fans! Thanks again for coming back for the next instalment.

I hope you have your tissues handy because, like I said, you may end up crying after reading this one.

Regardless of that, enjoy!

________________________________________________________________

Chapter 6: A Hurt Worth Having

Radiant Garden

As she laid her head on her father’s shoulder with her eyes squeezed shut, Kairi soaked up all the warmth and love she could from his embrace. From the smile on her face, she was wishing it would never end.

“Kairi?” she heard her grandmother’s voice ask.

The Princess of Heart opened her eyes. She saw her grandmother, mother and husband approaching. They all had somber expressions on their faces.

“It’s time,” said Lillie.

Kairi’s face fell. Grant released her from his embrace, and she saw that he was wearing a similar expression like the others.

Kairi then walked over to her grandmother until she was right in front of her. She sniffled as tears, ones of sadness this time, fell from her eyes.

“I can’t do it, Grandma! I don’t want you, Mom and Dad to go!” she cried.

Summer cupped her daughter’s cheek and wiped away some tears. “We know, darling. We know.”

“Trust us, there’s nothing more we’d wish for than to stay and be a part of yours and Sora’s lives. But we all know that isn’t possible,” said Grant.

“Our time in this world expired long ago. We have to go back to where we belong now. And you and Sora need to move forward with your own lives now,” said Lillie.

Kairi sniffed. “It’s just so unfair!”

Lillie took her granddaughter’s hands into her own. “That it is, my child. But life seldom is, and it is unfortunate that our family has had to learn that hard lesson many times over.”

Sora hung his head. ‘How very true that is. Kairi and her family are such wonderful people. It’s not right that they’ve had go through so much hardship.’

Then Sora smiled at his wife. “But life isn’t always unfair as well. Besides how we always came back to one another even when it seemed impossible, Kai, look at what’s happened here tonight.”

“Your husband’s right, Kairi. While the place we came from was a paradise, it wasn’t easy not knowing what truly became of you. But that will no longer be the case after tonight,” said Lillie.

“Yes. We would’ve had to wait for you to join us someday, which hopefully won’t be for a very long time. Instead, we got this amazing opportunity be a family again, no matter how brief it was,” said Grant.

“When we go back, we’ll have joy in our hearts because we got to know so much about you. We learned what kind of person you grew up to be, everything about your life before, the good and the bad, the man you gave your heart to, and what you plan to do for your future. Knowing all that will outweigh any pain we feel from being separated from you again,” said Summer.

Kairi looked around at all the smiling faces from her family. Finally, in spite of all the tears still coming from her eyes, she smiled herself and held open her arms.

“Who’s up for one more family hug?” she asked causing everyone to laugh.

Then Lillie wrapped her arms around Kairi tightly. Summer then came in from the side and embraced Kairi by her side. Grant then held all three of them in his arms just like they did earlier.

Then Grant looked over to Sora. He was smiling at the sight of familial love in front of him.

Raising his arm away from the embrace, Grant beckoned to Sora. Realizing what he was being asked to do, the Hero of the Keyblade walked over to them. He then wrapped his arms around his wife’s other side while Grant placed his arm on his back.

“I love all of you so much! Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Sora!” exclaimed Kairi.

“And we love you too, Kairi,” said Lillie.

Grant looked down at his son-in-law. “And that goes for you too, Sora.”

“Although we only had this short time together, we couldn’t love you any more than if you were our own son,” said Summer.

“Or grandson. We could never have imagined a better man to be our Kairi’s husband,” said Lillie.

Sora chuckled. “Thank you, Grant, Summer, Lillie.”

Grant laughed. “Please, Sora. Call me Dad.”

“And Mom,” added Summer.

“And Grandma,” added Lillie.

Sora laughed himself. “All right, Dad, Mom, Grandma,” he said flashing one of his trademark smiles.

The family stayed in each other’s embrace. After a short while, they came undone.

“All right. It’s time to call Joshua,” said Lillie.

Sora looked skyward. He was about to call out to the Composer when he felt something touch his shoulder. He turned to see Kairi with her hand on his shoulder.

“Let me do it, Sora.”

Sora gave to a nod to his wife. The Princess of Heart then gazed up into the sky.

“Joshua! You can come now! My family is ready to go!”

A few moments passed. For some strange reason, Joshua hadn’t shown up yet. All of them looked around for any sign of the Composer. But there was nothing at all to their confusion.

“Where could he be?” asked Grant.

“Maybe he wants to make sure we actually mean it after the near false alarm last time,” said Sora.

“Joshua!” Kairi called skyward.

“I am here,” said the Composer’s voice from behind.

They all turned in the direction of the voice and saw its owner leaning against the same wall with his arms were folded as he had been earlier. But this time, Joshua’s face didn’t have his usual smug expression. This time, he looked almost remorseful.

Sora had an idea of why he was wearing that expression. ‘I guess he’s not looking forward to what he’s come to do. Although he has to do it, what he’s doing is essentially tearing a family apart and no one ever wants to be a part of that.’

Joshua approached the group. “I trust you all had a very pleasant visit.”

“We did and we’ll treasure it always, thanks to you, Joshua,” said Summer.

Joshua then looked to Sora with a small smile on his face. “Well, since Sora did me a great service for me in the past, I knew I needed to do something very special for his and Kairi’s wedding day.”

“I did something for you, Joshua?” asked Sora.

“Yes, Sora. Do you not recall?” Joshua asked causing Sora to shake his head.

Joshua then turned to the others. “In the Realm of Sleep, my friends were given the mission of destroying a Nightmare. Failure would have meant erasure for them. Unfortunately, it escaped Traverse Town before they could succeed. But Sora, who had befriended them, pursued the Nightmare to another Sleeping World and destroyed it himself. By doing that, he gave them more time to survive until I could restore their world and bring them home.”

Sora then realized what Joshua meant. “Oh right! I did do that! I had completely forgot about it because, after destroying that Nightmare, I ended up in trouble with Xehanort’s Organization. Well, I’m certainly glad that I helped like that.”

“So, I guess, in a way, Sora is also to thank for us being able to come here tonight,” said Summer.

“That’s true,” said Grant.

“In that case, thank you, Sora. Not just for all you’ve done for Kairi, but for setting events in motion that made this visit possible,” said Lillie.

“You’re all very welcome,” said Sora.

Kairi went over to her husband’s side and took his hand, intertwining their fingers. ‘It never ceases to amaze me how much Sora’s selflessness always seems to come back in many good ways,’ she thought as she smiled at him with boundless affection.

“So, are you all ready to return?” asked the Composer.

Kairi’s family nodded. “We are,” said Grant.

Grant then took his mother’s left hand with his right one and then he took his wife’s right with his left. Though there was a hint of sadness in their eyes, they still wore their smiles.

Joshua moved until he was in a position to the side of Kairi’s family. He then raised his right hand with the palm facing them. The hand then began to shine with a glowing light and the auras around Kairi’s family started to glow brighter.

Tears started to well up in Kairi’s eyes again. But through it all, she held onto a smile on her face.

“Kairi, Sora, we wish you well for all you do in the future. As leaders of the Infinite Union. As owners of your future business. As parents to any children you might have. But most of all, as a husband and wife whose love is greater than any force in all the worlds,” said Grant.

“Thanks, Daddy!” called Kairi.

“There will come a time when we will be all together, and nothing will ever separate us again. But until then, we’ll always pray that the two of you will live a long and full life together where the happy moments will always outweigh the bad ones. So, always continue to keep your promises to each other and the bonds your hearts share will never be broken,” said Summer.

“We will, Mom!” called Sora.

“Kairi?” asked Lillie.

“Yes, Grandma?”

“Care to hear one last bit of advice from your grandmother?” Lillie asked causing her granddaughter to nod in response.

Lillie then raised her free hand and pointed toward Kairi’s chest, specifically where her heart was. “Always hold those you love, both who are with you and who are not, within your heart. That is the one place you will never truly lose them.”

Kairi looked at her grandmother. She then looked over to Sora who gave an encouraging nod and smile to her. Then she recalled what she once told Sora long ago when they were in Traverse Town’s Secret Waterway before he left for Hollow Bastion.

‘Don’t ever forget. Wherever you go, I’m always with you.’

Her words may have been different from her grandmother’s. But the message behind them was the same.

“I will, Grandma. Thank you. Goodbye!” Kairi called.

“Goodbye!” Sora chimed in.

“Goodbye to both of you!” called Summer.

“Until we meet again someday!” called Grant.

“And never forget, we love you both dearly,” said Lillie.

“We love you too,” said Kairi.

The auras around Kairi’s family soon overtook them until they glowed so much that Sora and Kairi had to shield their eyes with their hands. After the light died down, the newlyweds lowered their hands and saw that all that remained of Kairi’s family were three glowing balls of light.

The balls of light then began to rise into the sky. The sight reminded Sora of the time he witnessed Master Eraqus and Master Xehanort do the same as they passed on years earlier. But now, unlike the mixed feelings he felt at that time, he felt only sorrow to watch them leave the world of the living forever.

“Goodbye,” Kairi said quietly as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Sora and Kairi never took their eyes off the balls of light. They continued to watch them until they had risen so high, they could not be seen anymore.

Sora then looked to his wife. “Kai?”

The tears were flowing harder now from Kairi. With a mournful sob, she threw herself into Sora’s arms and continued to cry against him.

“It’s okay, Kairi. Let it all out,” he assured her as he stroked her comfortingly.

Joshua watched the sight of the bride crying in her groom’s arms. A regretful look came to his face.

“Kairi, if my gift has upset you so much, then I am truly…” began Joshua.

“No, Joshua,” Kairi interrupted without turning to face him from her place in Sora’s arms. “You have nothing to be sorry about. What you did tonight, I will never forget, and I will always be grateful for it. Thank you.”

Joshua gave a small smile. “Well, in that case, you’re very welcome, Kairi.”

The Composer then looked to Sora. “Well, Sora, this where we part. Give my regards to Riku, Neku and the others.”

“I will. Will we ever see you again?” Sora asked.

Joshua gave his usual smug grin. “Maybe we will. Maybe we won’t. Who can really say? But right now, you just take care of that wife of yours and see that she takes care of you. Be seeing you!”

Suddenly, a pair of white wings erupted out of Joshua’s back. Following the path that Kairi’s family took, he rose up into the sky. Sora’s eyes followed him until he was completely out of sight.

Now that it was just the two of them again, Sora then turned his attention to his wife who was still sobbing. “That’s it, Kairi. Cry as much as you want. There’s nothing wrong with the way you’re feeling right now.”

“My heart is aching, Sora. It hurts so much to know that this night, I got my grandmother back and got to meet my birth parents for the first time, only to have to lose them all over again,” said Kairi between sobs.

Then Sora felt Kairi smile against his shoulder. “But it’s a hurt worth having. I wouldn’t be feeling this way if I didn’t know how much they loved me and how much I love them.”

Sora smiled. “That’s right, Kai. Heartaches are never easy to bear. But one good thing about them is that they’re a sure sign that you genuinely have a heart.”

The Hero of the Keyblade then backed away so he could tilt the chin of his wife up so he could look into her eyes. “And you want to know another good thing about a heartache?”

“What is it?” asked Kairi.

“As long as you have someone who cares about you, you never have to carry it alone,” said Sora with one of those smiles Kairi loved so much.

Kairi smiled back before returning to resting her head on Sora’s shoulder. “That’s very true. And it always makes me so happy knowing that you’re here to help me through times like these. Sora, thank you. I love you.”

“And I love you, Kairi. Always have. Always will.”

Sora continued to hold Kairi in his arms. The Princess of Heart still had many tears to shed over the departure of her birth family. But in the comforting arms of her beloved Hero of the Keyblade, the loss and the pain would be so much easier to bear.

________________________________________________________________

Notes from the Mad Doctor:

Told you it was going to be a tearjerker. Fortunately, I hope that last sweet exchange between Sora and Kairi mitigates a little.

I had Kairi’s grandmother’s last advice in my head for a long time before writing this. It was only until I started writing that I realized how the message of it is similar to what Kairi told Sora after giving him her lucky charm. Thus, I had Kairi observe that in story.

I give my thanks to whoever reads this chapter.

I also give my special thanks to @fandomchanger for liking the previous chapters as well as @sokaiweek for reblogging the previous chapters.

Comments, likes and reblogs are much appreciated! I know this seems like a good spot to end it now. But I have one more chapter before we can officially call this story concluded so stay tuned!

________________________________________________________________

Onto the next chapter!

#kingdom hearts #kh fanfiction #sokai #sokai married #sokaiweek #sokaiweek2022 #kairi #kairi's parents #kairi's grandmother #sora #joshua #maddrmatt

5 notes · View notes

oathofpromises · 2 years

Note

❛ i felt your absence. ❜ [ for kairi ! ]

Kairi froze for a second, not because she didn't believe Riku's words. She knew the older boy was always honest, especially when it came to Sora or her, but there was a tiny part inside the young girl's heart that felt like maybe he hated her. After all, it was only because of her that Sora ended up fading from this world, who wouldn't blame her...she hated herself for it. Her hands slowly tightened at her skit, as so many thoughts filled her head.

Ever since the journey had started, the two of them had hardly gotten a chance to talk. Some people probably even wondered if they still cared for each other. Maybe the red-haired girl felt like all of this was her fault. Xehanort had used her to find the keyblade wielder, and thus this whole adventure started with their islands falling to darkness. It didn't seem fair that Riku and Sora both suffered because she was unable to keep them safe.

"I missed you too, Riku..I know I probably wasn't the best at showing it.." whispered Kairi, as her blue eyes looked sad. She truly cared for both Sora and Riku so much. Those two had shown nothing but kindness to her since landing on the islands. They never once treated her badly, but thinking back on it. Maybe she had hurt Riku. Not that the others would ever out rightly show it. He was too good sometimes at hiding those deeper emotions, but the more she reminisced about their childhood days. It was starting to piece together that perhaps she had made RIku feel unwanted at times.

"Riku..did you ever hate me?" Her voice seemed to break slightly at the question. It wasn't easy to ask, nor did she ever believe he truly did, but past memories made her feel like maybe she had hurt him. It was something they certainly needed to talk about. To finally have that heart to heart conversation.

Kairi paused before continuing, " I don't think you did..you're not that type of person, but when we were kids..at first it felt like I was maybe hurting you. You and Sora were so close and when I arrived it felt like maybe I was getting in the way of that. Please be honest with me Riku..I know we haven't had a chance to talk but I missed you just as much as Sora. I don't want you to feel like I hated you or that maybe didn't care as much."

That wasn't the case at all. The young girl had written Riku plenty of letters too, but she never had a chance to let the others read them. It seemed like something she wanted to let them read but also each letter was written during the time Sora and Riku were away from the islands. The two already had enough to worry about. If anything, the young girl wanted the two to lean on her more.

"I know that I still have work to do..to catch up to both of you, but I am right here. I just wish you both would understand that it's hard to be the one always left behind...trying so hard to catch up but feeling like no matter how hard I try, the result always turns out the same. I know you've been worried about Sora too, and because of that, we haven't had time to really talk to each other..Riku, I care about you as much as I do Sora. You're both my best friends...that hasn't ever changed and I'm sorry if it ever felt like that wasn't the case. "

Did it hurt to say all those words..a bit but it felt like it was needed. Riku had gone so long trying to handle stuff on his own. Kairi just wanted him to know that she was also here for him. That nothing had ever made her look at him differently. Slowly her hand reached over to touch his, a gentle smile forming across her face. This was hard on both of them and all she wanted was get past whatever they had weighing on their hearts. Even if it took time, she was willing to wait.

#starcracker(rp meme)#You've Always protected me(Riku)#one sky one destiny(Main Verse)#ooc; I know this got really emotional but these two need to talk things out #I got too many feelings about how these two care for each other so much but haven't had chances to show that as much

3 notes · View notes

empyreasheart · 5 months

Note

18, 32, and/or 35?

18.favorite game in the series

ohhh thats so hard. well i love kingdom hearts 2 especially! i know thats a fan favorite but it truly is such a good mix of fun gameplay, nice graphics and a good story. i love a lot of things about kingdom hearts 1 but the gameplay is so frustrating which is why its not necessarily my favorite game. i also found days really fun, a lot of people complain about the mechanics but i might just love ds games lol .

32. favourite outfit

KAIRI'S KH1 OUTFIT!!!! Its SOOO cute and shows her personality perfectly. And its PURPLE!!! Seriously peak kairi im sorry. I love her kh2 outfit but it just doesnt encapsulate her spunky attitude the way kh1 did AND i miss the purple -- i love pink so much but purple symbolizes kairi as a princess of heart so nicely and i wish purple kairi would return to us...

35.favourite scene

I really like the end of kh2 with the cgi cutscene. Its just so sweet and when you see naminé and roxas through kairi and sora... oughhh

#ask

1 note · View note

kitkat-the-muffin · 1 year

Note

When someone makes posts only addressing Sora and Riku's relationship it isn't an attack towards Sorikai or a Kairi erasure, sometimes people just like the individual ships (Soriku,Sokai,Rikai) on their own and want to show appreciation for the dynamic between these two characters! im a Sorikai shipper and i also do that. That's why all of them, Sorikai/Soriku/Sokai/Rikai have their own tags. I hope that explains it!

Don’t worry about explaining it, I understand completely!

The reblog I made was during a period of “ship dysphoria” (which is the only way I can truly describe it) and I guess I just felt underrepresented

But thanks for going out of your way to explain it anyway, it’s good to remind myself of the truth beyond my biased lens every once in a while

#gasp an ask

0 notes

bellapinkpen · 1 year

Text

I’ve been thinking about this for a while…

I was watching “THE TOYS THAT MADE US: Star Wars,” episode for the 19th time— and I got hit with a stupid idea for a title for a story, Toy Marker’s Sky.

And the idea kept. Growing…

Flash back to earlier that day— I was binge watching Kingdom Hearts cutscenes, videos about its lore, and looked at fan art.

Truly a rabbit hole that exists. But I wasn’t bored, in fact, enlightened. I don’t know how or what knowledge I’ve gained, but I gained it!

Flash back even further— the night before, I was reading Humans are Space Orcs fanfics.

All these forms of media pulled a mitosis on me, connecting and lighting my brain strings together, all in order to fit this new title and create a story.

And boy— did a story happen…

Premise:

In modern day, Sora is a toy makers apprentice under Geppetto from Pinocchio (the older movie). Geppetto owns a small shop in a simple town. He is the only toy maker who still uses wood— yet, his toys are the most complex, durable, and lively out of everything on the market.

Sora lives with Geppetto— and has been for years, because he has no parents. Geppetto took him in like the god he is. Infatuated by the man’s work, Sora asked to learn how to make toys, and the two’s bond was forged. They live with Figaro the cat and Cleo the fish, life is good. Yet, once in a while, Sora catches a flash of loneliness in the old man’s eyes

Sora makes friends with a punk looking kid with a smart mouth named Riku, and a bright pink kid with an overly enthusiastic personality named Kairi. Kairi’s father works for NASA and she dreams to be an astronaut. While Riku wants to find his purpose in life. Sora just wants to make people happy and create toys, like his mentor.

Sora wasn’t great a woodworking at first, but years of practice, determination, and love for the art has him almost considered a pro (if he isn’t already).

Kairi works her butt off and signs up for the space program. While Riku learns martial arts and other forms of training. The three chat weekly about life and cartoons, despite living different and busy lives.

One day, NASA gets attacked by a mysterious force, abducting scientists and students in the program— all on live television due to a scheduled launch. Perfect timing!

At the same time, Geppetto vanishes along with the fish and cat. Sora can’t get ahold of anybody, shit is hitting the fan! Then, someone breaks into the shop. More aliens have come to visit, but why?

This is all just a word dump, but I would like to make this into a fic. This is all just word vomit. :P

Edit: I wrote this at 12:00 am. Sorry if the grammar sucks.

#kingdom hearts #fanfic #aliens #word dump #word vomit #story ideas #story #story things #games #sora #riku kingdom hearts #sora kingdom hearts #kairi kingdom hearts #disney #fantasy #sci fi writing #writing #ao3 writer #writblr

1 note · View note

phoenix-downer · 2 years

Note

Howdy. I recently became a fan of Kingdom Hearts despite being familiar with the name for a long time, so I'm still learning about the franchise and awaiting the release of KH4. One thing I wanna know is: Was Yen Sid's determining of Sora' assessment of the Mark of Mastery Exam fair? I've seen a lot of debate on this, with mostly the blame going to Sora for easily letting himself get manipulated by Young Xehanort and his own Darkness, which is true to some extent but still. What do you think?

Oh nice, hope you've been enjoying your KH journey!

You bring up a really interesting question. I've seen a lot of debate about it as well and I kind of wonder if it's because the concept was good but the execution was bungled.

Because Sora failing to pass the exam? And all because of his pride/hubris leading to overconfidence and risky behavior? That's an interesting concept, especially after KH2 where he won, where he succeeded.

And his temptation in DDD was handled very well too--I find it just as compelling for a character to be tempted by good things obtained the wrong way, as it is for a character to be tempted by bad things. It was the way Sora was trying to reach Riku and Kairi that wasn't good, not wanting to reach them that wasn't good. And that is why he was led astray--his heart and love for his friends wound up being his downfall in a way that mirrors Luke's downfall in Empire Strikes Back. Xehanort very cunningly exploited a deep-seated fear Sora has that stems from past trauma thanks to all the times he's been separated from his friends and took advantage of how much he loves them:

Again, really good stuff. I do think the writing could've more strongly established that Sora's arrogance led to his downfall because that part of the execution is a bit weaker (though he does have a brief line at the beginning of the game alluding to this), and I wonder if it's because Nomura and/or Disney didn't want the protagonist going too dark, but I digress.

I think the part of the execution that's really bungled is Yen Sid's explanation for why Sora failed.

First of all, when Sora asks about the results, Yen Sid tells them they both performed admirably. Maybe it's to spare Sora's feelings or whatever, but it's already kind of setting up a discrepancy between his words and what actually happened during Sora's exam:

Then, he talks about how he's glad Sora and Riku are both safe and grateful for Lea's help. He also apologizes for what happened which hey, I'll give him credit for that, but if the test was rigged against Sora, why would you still count it? Your pupil was set up for failure and you're just... gonna... roll with it? He doesn't strike me as a very good teacher lol:

Then he talks about how the test revealed truths about the future clash etc. and says he wants a Keyblade Master who will have a useful power for the future battle. Again, no problem with that, but a good teacher would've revealed the parameters of the test ahead of time and not after the fact. It's just wildly unfair to switch how you're evaluating students after they've taken the test, and I think this is where people started to get irritated with the explanation. Everyone's had a crummy teacher who graded them unfairly on an assignment, and that's how Yen Sid comes across here:

Then, he says this. If Sora had truly failed, Yen Sid should not have said this. It would've been better if Sora didn't deserve to be made a Keyblade Master yet than for Yen Sid to say, "You deserve to be one but because Riku got an A+ and you only got an A, he passes and you fail." Again, I think people got irritated by this because it's just so blatantly unfair and doesn't track with Sora failing:

Again, I think most people would've had no problem with Sora failing and Riku passing if Yen Sin's explanation had been handled well and if either Sora's arrogance had more directly tied to his downfall OR if Yen Sid had clearly spelled out that Sora's greatest strength is his greatest weakness, he needs to temper his heart's urges with the wisdom of experience, and he needs to grapple with his darkness and master it like Riku has.

As it is, we see Sora show a little cocky arrogance at the start of DDD, he's tempted by his good side, and then... he's ambushed, sabotaged, and kidnapped, nearly losing himself and control of his own heart to the villain in the process. And he fails, not because of his own choices which led to his heart getting captured, but because... he got an A and Riku got an A+? It just doesn't make sense, and that's what bothers me about it.

Hope that helps explain where I'm coming from more. Of course, all of this is my own interpretation, but it's definitely why I didn't really buy what happened at the end--the reason Yen Sid gives for Sora failing doesn't track with what we actually saw happen in the game.

Thanks for the ask!

Screenshots are from here.

#kingdom hearts #kh #sora #riku #yen sid #kh analysis #ddd #dream drop distance #khddd #kh ddd #phoenix-downer #long post #division9scientist

71 notes · View notes