#everyone) of terra and aqua. but i was never really serious about those to begin with and have let them go. -shrugs- | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

minijenn · 3 years

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Keys to the Kingdom Preview

HERE YA GO NERDS FUCKIN JOIN IN MY SUFFERING

***

“Xehanort is taking over Sora’s heart!” Ventus shouts, his voice hitching into a sob as this horrendous fact finally, finally forces itself out. Suddenly, all eyes are on him again, shocked expressions across the board as the others all try to make sense of what they just heard. Yet even amidst their shock, Ventus continues, unable to stop himself now, knowing that he couldn’t, even if he wanted to. Not after all this time of having to harbor and hide this. “H-he’s trying to turn Sora into his lest vessel,” he explains morosely, tears streaming down his cheeks all the while. “He’s been filling his heart with darkness for months now. When I was inside of it, I-I… I tried my best to fight him off, we all did, but… it wasn’t enough. Sora’s still… h-he’s being…” Ventus shudders, unsure of even what to say next. Because really, what can be said about a situation that’s so utterly unspeakable?

It ripples through the other lights like a shockwave, the terrible truth far too few of them knew about until this very moment. The study is far more still and silent than it's ever been before, with even the usually calm and collected Yen Sid seems completely bewildered by what’s just been said. Along the far wall, Axel swiftly stands upright, no longer leaning as he’d been before. Aqua draws in a sharp breath she nearly forgets to let out, Terra taking her hand to steady her when he sees her sway ever so slightly. Donald and Goofy fall into the same sort of regretful resignation Ventus has already adopted, while Mickey desperately tries searching for something, anything to say and ultimately finding nothing.

But the ones who are struck the hardest by this heartbreaking revelation are, of course, Riku and Kairi. Ventus’ first sentence alone had been enough to spark starting tears in Kairi’s eyes, but everything else he says is what ultimately makes them fall. She grips Riku’s arm like a vice, practically leaning against him for support as she chokes out a tight, terrified sob. Yet for his part, Riku doesn’t move, doesn’t even look over at her as he instead stares straight at the marble ground before him, his eyes wide, yet his expression unreadable. Kairi is the first to break the longstanding silence by tensely whispering his name, but he doesn’t respond. He can’t respond; all he can do is stand there, frozen in fear and grief and anger, and hope that it isn’t true; it can’t be true, it can’t be, it can’t-

“That… no, that isn’t possible!” Mickey finally speaks up, nearly echoing Riku’s thoughts exactly. “We saved Sora from-”

“It didn’t work!” Donald cries, shaking his head.

“The Organization kept telling us, even as far back as when we started lookin’ for the Keys, that Sora was turning into one of them,” Goofy details anxiously. “But we didn’t believe them.”

“We should have,” Donald huffs, frustrated with just how long it had taken them to realize something was wrong. Because if they had caught onto the problem sooner, than maybe, just maybe, Sora would still be standing here with them now. “There was plenty of evidence, between the X-shaped scar they gave him, and the cracks on his Keyblade, and those new dark powers he started using…” The magician pauses at this, both him and Goofy rubbing the still-sore spots on their arms where Sora’s accidental magic had struck them back in Twilight Town. While they’d mostly healed up from that ordeal physically, the emotional sting of it, or rather, from when Sora had tearfully run from them seconds after, still lingers all the same.

“But we didn’t find out until we saw his hair starting to turn white and his eyes turning yellow,” Goofy glumly reports. “He begged us not to tell any of you--like we said, we wanted to, but… he was so sad and scared, so…”

“So we kept quiet and I cast a glamour spell on him to hide what was happening to his body,” Donald admits, ashamed that they’d even done that much. Because in condoning Sora’s stubborn secrecy, in going to such great lengths to help him keep that secret, they’ve done so much more to hurt him than to help him like they wanted to. And of course, they’re only realizing that now, when it's far too late. “We shouldn’t have listened to him; we should have just forced him to come back here and tell all of you!”

“But we didn’t…” Goofy sighs guiltily. “And we’re so sorry, both to all of you… and to Sora most of all…”

While most of the others have no idea what to even say at this juncture, Mickey is the one to speak up again, his tone and expression mutually disappointed as he looks to his two longtime friends. “Wow, this is… a lot to take in…” he begins, just as overwhelmed as all of the others are. “I really wish you fellas had said something sooner.”

“Yeah, I think we’re all wishing that,” Axel says incredulously. “What I can’t believe is that you three all stayed tight-lipped on this whole thing for so long! I would have thought that Sora at least would have let something slip, even by accident.”

“H-he was scared of what would happen if any of you found out,” Ventus mutters, rubbing his arm as he glances away from the group. “That’s why he asked me to not tell anyone either. I thought he’d come clean on his own sooner or later but…” He sighs, finally realizing that had been too much to hope for. After all, Sora had managed to keep this all so well-hidden even well before he’d even awakened. Why had Ventus ever been foolish enough to think that would stop once he came along? Why had he ever thought that he even had a chance at changing Sora’s mind when it had already been made up from the moment this all began?

“Ven…” Aqua says, her tone torn between stern and sorrowful. “You knew, from the minute you woke up, that this was happening to Sora… and you didn’t once think to tell any of us? Not even me?”

“Aqua, no, I just… Sora asked me to-”

“You should have known better!” Aqua scolds. Her blue eyes blaze with a kind of intense ferocity that Ventus has rarely ever seen, ferocity he’s almost never seen directed at him. “Both of you should have known better! Your heart was inside of his, that means you must have known how serious this was! If you tried to help him from the inside before, then why didn’t you do anything to help him once you were out!? Why didn’t you tell us, Ventus!?”

He flinches, as if physically struck, by the sudden sharpness of her seldom use of his full name. He opens his mouth, only to immediately close it again, any words he might have said, even the apology he wants to offer her and everyone else here, falling short. Aqua’s severity doesn’t even soften when she sees Ventus’ tears begin to fall anew, nor does she turn calm when she feels Terra’s comforting hand find a place upon her shoulder.

“Aqua,” he says, his earnest, steady tone finally diverting her attention away from Ven. “I-”

Before he can get another word out, she suddenly falls apart on him, cutting him off as she throws her arms around him, burying her face into his chest as her shoulders shudder with starting sobs. “We just got you back…” she mutters so quietly only he can really hear her. “I-I can’t imagine losing anyone else I care about to him… not again…”

#hah #i was gonna give ya'll more #but tbh this scene has #a lot going on in it #i wrote all this earlier today #now im honing in on riku and kairi and the wrecks they both are about all this #sora lucky he aint here he'd be in so much fuckin trouble hahah #jen writes #keys to the kingdom #keys preview

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phoenix-downer · 3 years

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Love Letter

2280 words. Contains spoilers for Melody of Memory. SoKai. Romance, Angst, Fluff, Pining, Mutual Pining, Valentine’s Day, Valentine’s Day Fluff. Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

Successor of sorts to this story I wrote for Christmas.

The weeks flew by as Kairi’s training continued. Though it was halfway through February now, it was still very cold outside. Snow blanketed the ground, and Valentine’s Day was going to be chilly. Back home, Kairi would’ve made chocolates for her friends and family, so she took it upon herself to make some for Terra, Aqua, and Ven.

Chirithy, unfortunately, got no chocolates, as Kairi figured it wasn’t good for cats of any kind to be eating chocolate. But she made some nice treats for the little cat spirit to substitute.

There was one more person Kairi wanted to make chocolates for. But would it make any sense? He couldn’t eat them, not where he was now…

Maybe it was pointless.

“No, it’s not pointless,” she muttered to herself. “The heart behind them is what counts.” She made those chocolates look as nice as possible and put heart and effort into every single one of them. Added little messages and hearts to them too.

“Those for Sora?” Ven asked when he bopped into the kitchen to grab a snack.

“How’d you guess?” she asked as she put the finishing touches on the last one. She was glad Ven didn’t question the logistics of how Sora would be eating these chocolates or judging her for making chocolates for her sort-of-dead boyfriend in the first place.

“He’ll love them,” Ven said. “They look awesome.”

“Thanks.”

Kairi was quite pleased with the result. She’d been making chocolates for years, and she’d gotten pretty good at it.

Ven took a bite out of the sandwich in his hand. “You know what else you should do? Write him a letter.”

“Oh, I’ve written him lots of letters.”

“No, I mean… A love letter.”

Kairi flushed. “You really think so?”

“Trust me, he’ll love it. I was in his heart for years, remember? I got to hear aaaaaall about how much he wished you would do this and that for him.”

“O-Oh.” Kairi tried to avoid thinking about the full implications of that statement. “And love letters were high on the list?”

“Yep, especially after you wrote him that letter that brought him out of the Realm of Darkness. ‘Man Kairi is amazing, I really wish she’d write me more letters,’ Ven said in a pretty accurate imitation of Sora’s voice. “So yeah. He wants more letters from you.”

She sighed sadly. “I should’ve sent him the ones I was writing to him during my training with Merlin. I kept them to myself instead, and I—”

“It’s okay. I’m sure he understands, and he’ll be happy to get a letter from you now.”

Terra, Aqua, and Ven all knew about how she could contact Sora. And she was the only one who could do it, which led them to believe the legend of the paopu fruit was more than just a legend. Something had changed about reality that fateful day, like sharing the fruit had bound her and Sora together in more than just a metaphorical sense.

She thanked Ven for the suggestion and neatly packaged the chocolates in a little heart-shaped box. With that, she retreated to her room and closed the door. A quick spell ensured a nice fire was going in the fireplace in the corner, and she sat at the creaky desk and pulled out her stationary.

“A love letter, huh? What exactly should I say?”

Sora, she began. “Ummm… What do I say next?” She got all flustered thinking about what to say.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Roses are red, violets are blue,

“No, that’s so cliché!” She groaned and crumpled the letter up. “Here, let’s try this again.”

Sora,

I wish I’d sent you those letters I wrote to you during my training with Merlin. I regret that I didn’t do that, so I’m writing you this letter now.

A blush crept up her face as she thought about what to say. She didn’t want to sound sappy and corny, and in her earlier letters she was only able to be as open as she was because she didn’t send the letters to Sora.

I like you, a lot. I think that’s pretty obvious. But I’ve never sat down and explained why, and you deserve to hear it.

Ever since I first met you, I’ve been drawn to your smile. I always feel better when you smile. It doesn’t even have to be at me, you know? Just seeing your smile warms my heart.

And I can��t mention your smile without mentioning your big heart. You’re so kind and caring, and if it weren’t for you, our friends wouldn’t be safe and whole. I wouldn’t be safe and whole.

She stopped writing. Thinking about his sacrifice still made her emotional.

Sora, thank you.

You’re welcome.

She gasped and dropped the pen. This wasn’t the first time this had happened, but it still took her by surprise. Sora possessing her body at random intervals because he wanted to talk to her, reassure her, protect her.

When she’d collected herself, she brought the pen back to the paper.

Hey, she wrote.

Hey, was the response scrawled on the paper when she let him take over. I know it’s not the same as me being here, but I wanted to wish you a Happy Valentine’s Day.

I made you chocolates.

Really? Awesome! Can’t wait to eat them.

I hope you like them!

I’m sure I will. Chocolates from Kairi? Dream come true.

She knew her face must be turning bright red. The room felt warmer in a way that had nothing to do with the fire.

I’ve made you chocolates before, remember?

Nah, those were giri chocolates. You made those for everybody. These are different.

Who says the chocolates I made you before were giri chocolates?

Oh, they weren’t?

Uh-uh. You just thought they were :P

Well, you gave them to everyone…

But yours were always specially decorated, didn’t you notice?

There was a long pause. Kairi was beginning to think that she’d lost the connection to Sora when at last he moved her hand again.

I did. I just didn’t dare hope you felt differently about me. I wanted you to, but I was too scared to ask.

We both were. Too shy, I mean.

We’re not now, are we? I mean, we shared the paopu fruit. We’re finally on the same page about how we feel.

She sighed and rested her hand on her cheek. Were they though? Sora’s actions proved how he felt, but Kairi couldn’t help but wonder if her feelings were enough. She also wondered if Sora’s feelings were a general “would’ve done this for anyone” or “would’ve done this only for you.”

Something’s on your mind. What’s up?

It’s silly. It’s not something I should be worrying about.

Your feelings are never silly to me, I promise.

I shouldn’t be insecure about this.

About what? The paopu fruit? Kairi, I wanted to share it with you, trust me. I only hesitated because I knew how serious a commitment it would be, and I wanted to make sure I was ready.

No, it’s not that, it’s more… I don’t feel like I’ve proven how much you mean to me. Not the same way you have.

Do you have to?

She sighed. He had a point there. No, it’s something I’ve put on myself.

Why?

I don’t know how else to show you how I feel.

There are plenty of ways to do that. The chocolates, this letter… Trust me, I don’t want you dying on me, even if it is to save me.

She bit her lip. She felt the same way, only it didn’t feel right to tell him she’d prefer him alive and whole. That would be a slap in the face after his sacrifice.

Besides, you’ve already shown me, he continued. You brought me back from being a Heartless. You freed me from the Realm of Darkness. You kept me alive when I should’ve died at the Keyblade Graveyard.

If only I’d been strong enough to keep you from disappearing.

There it was, all her grief and regret and self-loathing summed up in one single sentence. It blurred in front of her, and thick tears fell on the page. She just sat there and let the tears flow until she felt another tugging at her hand. Both her hands. Her right hand went to the paper, and her left hand gently wiped the tears away.

I won’t tell you not to cry. You have every reason to cry, Kairi. I just wish I was there to comfort you.

You are comforting me.

It’s not the same as holding you in my arms.

Then you’ll just have to make up for it the next time we see each other.

I can do that, and I’ll do you one better. When we see each other again, I swear, you’ll be crying tears of joy.

I’ll hold you to that, Sora.

Her hand trembled a little, and she realized she wasn’t the one who was shaking. Sora was nervous? Why?

Kairi, he finally wrote, and the letters were sloppier than normal, I know I show how I feel through my actions more than my words, and when I do say stuff, I tend to beat around the bush. I don’t wanna do that anymore. You deserve to know what I’m about to tell you.

Her heart beat quickly, and she took back control.

Tell me in person, then. I want to find out what you have to say when we see each other again. I want to hear the words from your mouth, from your heart, spoken with your voice.

Whatever he had to say, it would be better if she could see his face, hear his voice, hold his hand. A letter was nice but it wouldn’t be the same.

Okay, but I don’t know when I’ll be back. What if I can’t get out of here on my own?

Riku’s searching for you, and I’m training hard. One of us will figure something out.

I don’t wanna wait, came the words so quickly Kairi could barely make them out. I want you to know. I can’t keep my feelings locked up anymore. Can’t keep them hidden or buried. They’re pounding inside my heart, tearing me open day by day, and it’s killing me. I can’t take this separation anymore.

Then I’ll come for you. I’ll rescue you, and you can tell me then. I promise.

That seemed to calm him down a little, but Kairi sensed he still needed comfort and reassurance. Time to do what she could. She turned her left hand over, palm facing up, and rested the pen on her skin.

“Sora, hold out your palm too,” she said softly. Maybe this would work, maybe this wouldn’t. At the very least he’d be able to see it on her body, right?

“I want you to wait to tell me how you feel about me because I want to hear your voice when you do,” she said. “But I never said I couldn’t tell you how I feel about you. You need this to keep you going. To give you the strength to face each day until I find you.”

Slowly, carefully, she wrote on her skin. When she reached the final word, her hands shook as the full meaning of her message sank in for Sora.

“There,” she said softly. “Whenever you’re feeling down, all you’ll have to do is look at the palm of your hand and remember how much you mean to me.”

In that moment, Sora fully took control of her body. A wave of emotions washed over her that weren’t her own, and he brought her hand to her mouth and kissed it, the closest he could get to kissing her hand himself. She smiled, amazed that her message was enough to get him to react like this. She felt his heartbeat in her own, beating out a staccato as it raced and pounded and struggled to be contained.

When he brought her hand to the paper again, it was to write one last simple message.

Kairi, thank you.

You’re welcome.

Till next time.

With that, he was gone. For now, anyway. He’d visit her again, Kairi knew he would. And she would bring him home herself, just like she’d promised.

She set the chocolates on her bedside table. Time for dinner.

Ven grinned when she strolled into the kitchen. “Look at that big smile. I’m guessing you took my advice?”

“Maybe,” she coyly said.

Ven peered at her hand. “A-ha, what’s that you have written there? A love note?”

She quickly hid her hand. “None of your business.” But her lips were twitching and she knew Ven had probably seen at least part of the message.

Oh well. It didn’t really matter, because the words had their full depth of meaning to her and Sora alone. That was the beauty of her feelings for him. She could express them in a way that only he would truly understand, and it made the message as beautiful as the meaning behind it.

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In a world without Kairi and a reality far from hers, Sora unfolded his hand. Written on his palm was a simple message, simple but heartfelt. It had worked. It had really worked. Kairi’s words were with him, had stayed with him despite the odds, and they made all his fears and doubts melt away.

He rested his hand over his heart and closed his eyes, a soft smile on his face. His voice was hoarse, but at last he could use it.

“Kairi, thank you.”

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A/N: This fic is dedicated to the lovely @angel-with-a-pipette for all her input, feedback, and suggestions! Thank you again for the help!

And a Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone! Thank you for reading!

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mimiplaysgames · 3 years

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Terra Week Day 7 (Bonds/Fave Scene)

Summary: Terra lets his friends love him. | Word Count: 3,462

Read on AO3

A/N: For Terra Week 2021! You can find that account on Twitter!

~*~*~*~*~

At the end of the day, your chains weigh a burden. Share them. At the end of the night, your Bonds make you free. Mend them.

The stars wink sometimes, if you stare at them long enough.

Terra’s been lying on his back at the roof of the residential tower, where the slats are at a gentle slope so he’s not doomed to fall off. A small, square window behind him gives him easy access; he and Aqua used to waste many nights at this spot for years. Here, they can watch the sun rise behind the mountains, so they get the best of night and day.

The sound of the window slipping open means she’s here—he just wasn’t expecting the plop of an open book landing in his face.

“Look what I found,” she says, and he pulls darkness out of his eyes to see detailed drawings of a fox with a bow and arrow, talking to a large bear who is spying from behind a bush. Robin Hood and his sidekick, Little John. They used to role play as these characters when they were children for hours. Aqua lies down on the space next to him, careful not to slide too close to the edge.

“Thanks, I was looking for this earlier.”

“It was in the potions section. Do you remember putting it there?” He doesn’t, and she shrugs and rolls over to her side. “I forgot there was a part where he dressed up as a blind beggar to sneak into the prison.”

Terra flips pages. Many of them have multiple bends, bookmarks to areas of the story that the two of them enjoyed to play with. That is one of his favorite scenes, Robin Hood dressing in a long cloak and dark sunglasses to hide the fact that he is a fox (despite that it’s still obvious), shaking a beer jug for coins. Those goons he fooled are so dumb.

“It’s still kind of funny after all these years.”

“You would do something like that.” She hides her smile behind her fingers. “Dress up to trick the enemy so you could sneak in and save the hungry.”

“You’re making fun of me.”

She slaps his bicep. “I am not.”

It’s the greatest compliment he could receive but it’s also the greatest cringe. He’s always wanted to be compared to his hero... yet it’s still something he can’t quite believe, like there’s a twist to the joke, even though Aqua would never. She’d speak from the heart.

“Dress like this with me”—he shows a drawing of Robin Hood and Little John in their signature thief green tunics and hats—“and I’ll believe you.”

She rolls her eyes. “They don’t have any pants on.”

“That’s the point. We’d be wild.” Terra hides a smirk behind his finger.

“Only if you pay me a thousand munny.”

“... You know, that’s not going to be hard to collect.”

“A bold claim.”

“Okay, but if I end up collecting it all—”

“You’re seeing nothing.”

He laughs and she joins him, warm and painful in the stomach, something that hasn’t happened so sincerely since they have come back. Nights so far have been tight and insecure, as though laughing would expose them to an enemy hiding around the corner.

Out here, graced with the breath of fresh air, they’re safe under the guidance of the stars. It feels like a young night when their dreams for the future come uninhibited.

“I talked to Yen Sid,” she says once she’s able to slow down.

“And?” Terra swallows air down the wrong pipe and coughs.

She wipes a tear from her cheek. “I convinced him to change the standards of your Mark of Mastery.” Picking herself up by the elbows, she sighs. “Though I still think it’s unnecessary, if you want my opinion.”

Terra doesn’t agree, flipping towards the end of the book where Robin Hood and his love are sent off by a carriage, free from persecution. “What are the new terms?”

“Everyone is splitting up to look for Sora and… I proposed searching for him in the Realm of Darkness.”

Terra rolls to his side, dropping the book, all joy that stayed with them minutes before now drained away. He speaks softly. “You want to go through that again?”

She purses her lips. “I don’t want to, but if it helps with finding Sora, then what other choice do I have?”

Terra hums. “I understand. It’s just… you’ve been through so much already, Aqua.”

“It’s crazy it’s been twelve years,” she mutters before perking up and pretending it’s not a heavy subject. “If you survive the Realm of Darkness, then Yen Sid will name you Master.”

Terra sputters. “Are you serious?”

She giggles. “Partially, but that did come out of my mouth in the meeting. Ven would want to come with us of course, but Yen Sid is most concerned about your affinity to Darkness… which isn’t fair.” She brings her knees to her chin. “We all carry Darkness, and you have already shown, twice now, that you are able to face yours and defeat it. So, I suggested you come with me and face the Master of Darkness yourself.”

“What do they look like?”

“Whatever you think it looks like.” She shrugs. “Yourself.”

Terra doesn’t know what to say. He traces the ridges of the slats in front of him. The Realm of Darkness is a different plane of existence entirely, one where the rules of Light don’t apply, where logic makes no sense and there’s only the constant pressure of regret and succumbing, based on what he’s read from the books. From what he’s heard from her, Darkness is the never-ending fight of giving yourself reasons to keep waking up the next day—when there’s no reason to.

“Twelve years,” he muses. “I couldn’t have survived if that were me.”

Aqua sombers, watching the horizon for the outlines of mountains that you can only see in the night if you squint. “It’s not so different from what you have told me.” She looks at him. “About Nowhere and not knowing when it would end. If it would ever.”

Terra rolls back to look up at the stars. Darkness gives them room to shine. “So all I have to do is survive while we search for Sora?”

“When you say it like that,” she says with a mock-wave. “You know, twelve years isn’t that long. How about we make it twelve days? Survive twelve days and you’re Master. That sounds fair.”

He does a double-take. “That’s not funny. What’s wrong with you?”

“I’m taking a page out of your book and making inappropriate jokes.”

He groans. “This is why you’re not funny.”

“I am, you just won’t admit it.”

He shakes his head, but he can admit it brings a smirk to his face.

The window slips open again with a thud, Ven’s golden head of hair sticking out but not joining them. “You two are the most predictable ever. It was easy to find you.”

“You’re predictable for looking for us,” Terra reminds him.

“Did you find the thing?” Aqua asks, her head leaning back to address him.

“We did.”

That’s right. We. They accepted another member to the family the day of the Master’s memorial, when a talking cat-thing appeared out of nowhere and crashed the end of the eulogy. Terra and Aqua haven’t found a trace of its breed in any of the books in the library (five floors of it). They call it Cheers (because “Chirithy” is a ridiculous name; how in any star can anyone pronounce such a thing?), and every time they ask it questions about its past and how it knows Ven, it responds with more vague questions. Otherwise, it doesn’t offer much opinion. Much like that stupid book, Affairs of the Heart.

But Ven inexplicably has a bond to it, and they are simply going to have to trust his heart.

“What thing are we talking about?” Terra asks.

“Can’t tell you,” Ven quips. “Sworn to secrecy.”

“To who?”

“Come with us, Terra.” Aqua stands up, brushing dust off of her drapes and bending to squeeze through the window.

Just when he was getting comfortable.

Lanterns light the way. Aqua likes to be in charge of how bright they get, and tonight they shine for a feast, bright with a cheery kick, glistening the golden halls of the castle as though it’s sitting in daylight. She marches to the entrance hall where they held their Mark of Mastery years ago. Cheers is already here with two books and a bouquet of flowers on one throne and more knick-knacks on another that Terra doesn’t have a reference for.

“What’s this about?”

“An honorary title ritual.” Ven cranes back into his own arms, proud of himself. “We found a couple of books on how they did it in the Age of Fairytales. A lot of it we can’t translate, but it’s pretty cool.”

“A title ritual?” Terra asks Aqua, who is stroking the middle throne where the Master used to sit, eyes closed in prayer.

“An honorary one.” She brings her hands to her heart. “I believe the Master really wanted to name you Master. And I agree. Riku does, too. I know you want to prove yourself and do it traditionally, but we wanted to do a little something special for you. A title that only we know of so you can keep it to yourself and no one else has to find out.” She steps down. “Until you want them to.”

“Aqua…”

“This is my thanks for what you’ve given me.” She summons Rainfell, and it springs in her hand among glowing petals and a swirl of waves, a second quicker to respond than the aged and wise Defender. She’s whole.

“It looks like so much fun, too,” Ven says with puppy-dog eyes.

“You deserve it,” Aqua says.

“Pfft,” goes Cheers.

“We’re supposed to be equals,” Aqua continues, twirling her Keyblade like it’s as natural as wiggling her fingers. “The Master said so that day.”

“Just say yes.” Ven nudges his elbow. “Roxas already calls you Master.”

Terra coughs on a snort. “Does he?”

“He calls all of us Master for some reason.”

“Maybe it’s because he thinks you’re all old,” Cheers mutters but Ven continues—

“When I tell him there has to be official recognition and an exam, he just shrugs.” He raises his shoulders too high to his ears for a good imitation. “He says, What difference does a dumb test make?” Ven is trying to act voguish, but it makes him look dorky instead. “Master Ventus sounds pret-ty cool if I say so myself.”

“Ahem,” Cheers announces, broadening its arms to command attention. All it needs is a conductor’s baton. “Shall we begin?”

“Do it with us?” Aqua pouts and raises her eyebrows, joining Ven in the ridiculous charade of coaxing Terra into playing along.

Terra huffs. “Okay.”

Both of their faces beam, Aqua throwing a sheepish high-five to Ven’s enthusiastic holler, giggling like they’ve won a game. It’s touching.

“I’ll need your Keyblade,” Aqua says, handing over Rainfell. “Trade?”

“Huh?”

“Standing Masters must accept the Blade of the candidate. To bless it,” Cheers says like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“If you say so,” Terra says, straining a chuckle from pouring out in case Cheers gives him a death glare. He summons Earthshaker and lends it to Aqua by the hilt. Rainfell is as light as a feather, as it has always been—he held it when she first called it at the age of thirteen, surprised by the paper-lightness of its weight, wondering How in the stars do you expect to hit anything with this? when he’ll learn the truth later that she hits just as hard as he does.

It doesn’t feel arrogant and big like a Master’s Keyblade. It just feels like Aqua’s, the longest friend he’s ever had.

“Terra. How on earth—?” Aqua grunts and pulls. Earthshaker screeches across the floor, and she takes breaks before inhaling and dragging it more. “So impractical.” She cries a sigh of relief when she reaches the throne.

“Now the masks, in accordance with tradition,” says Cheers, peeking into one of the books.

“Oh.” Ven hurries over to the other throne, grabbing thin, plastic masks Terra’s seen in amusement parks, with the rubber strings that cut into your circulation. “Masks apparently were really fancy in the old days.”

“Yes,” Cheers says. “Made of porcelain and leather. Very tasteful.”

“This is what we got.” Ven showcases three tacky half-face masks of a pig, a bee, and a frog like a deck of cards. “Which one do you want to be?”

Cheers wrinkles its snout in disgust.

“The pig is kind of cute,” Terra says. It’s bright pink, with holes cut out in the eye sockets and a tout nose. The string squeezes him around the temples, so he hopes the ceremony will be quick.

“You be the frog, Aqua.” Ven hands over her mask and dons the bee, complete with springy pom-poms for the antennae.

“Don’t forget the robes,” Aqua says as she slips the frog on, lumpy and shiny, bracing herself so that Earthshaker leans on her hip.

Ven comes back with three of the Master’s hand-me-downs. They smell like dust from a damp dresser. The one given to Terra is too short, and the one Ven is wearing drags on the floor. Aqua’s hangs off the shoulder (We’re going to need to hire a seamstress, she mutters).

“Now we shall truly start,” Cheers says.

“Why does Cheers get to lead this?” Terra asks.

“Because Aqua is the one to honor you and Ven is the witness,” Cheers says. Duh. “Master Aqua, you understand what you must do.”

Aqua holds Earthshaker by the hilt like one of those knights in the attic, its point at the floor. It’s bigger than Rainfell, reaching up to her chest. She gestures for one of the books and Cheers is too eager to turn to the right page and hand it over.

“That book?” Terra rolls his eyes, remembering that no one else can see.

“Yep.” She brings Affairs of the Heart closer to her face, frowning before checking her attitude and reciting:

Thus a wield'r and a cousin, so longeth as thy heart stayeth true, and thy duty vows to who, a mast'r to the endeth, so longeth as thee behold not backeth.

She sniffs and double checks the passage, her chin wrinkling.

“That’s it?” Ven asks. “What the stars does that even mean?”

“You shall also honor your bonds,” Aqua says, whipping her nose out of the book.

“You’re improvising,” Terra says.

“And never scare me again.”

“Mmm—”

She slams the book on his head with enough pressure to make him nod. “Say yes.”

“Yes, Master.”

She chuckles.

“Now we shower the room with flowers,” Cheers says.

Ven gathers up the flowers he plucked—a mix of withering vanity plants, such as tulips, and weeds, such as dandelions late into their development, where they spit white fuzz.

“That’s all you have?” Aqua says.

“It’s late into the season,” Ven says, defensive. “And you didn’t want to wait too long for me to get more.”

He throws them and they droop down to the ground, crinkling on the floor in an unceremonious finish and lack of climax. Terra brushes two petals off of his shoulder.

Cheers stares in contempt. “Well… it is done.”

“Now I call you,” Aqua says, licking her lips as they tremble, and she stops to cup her cheek and compose herself. “Master Terra.”

Master Terra.

He doesn’t know how to feel when she leans his Keyblade toward him. Earthshaker feels the same–not more powerful, not more wise, but a friend patting his back. But what for?

“Has a nice ring to it,” Ven says. “Master Terra.”

“How do you feel?” Aqua says, slipping fingers under her mask to wipe her eyes.

“I don’t know, I guess I expected to feel… something that justifies it all. But I’m still me.”

“Isn’t ‘me’ the person who spent all these years studying for Mastery?”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t make sense in my head.”

“I felt the same way,” Aqua says quietly. Cheers is closing books and picking up dry flower petals, urging Ven to help. “Without you by my side, it just felt… a little empty and confusing.”

“I never congratulated you.”

“I’ll do it first. Congratulations.” She smirks, her cheek wet under the frog mask.

Terra pulls off his mask—ignoring Cheers when it squeaks, Excuse me, but that must stay on for the rest of the night out of respect for your appearance—and studies her. “What’s that look for?”

Aqua pulls hers off as well, her eyes red but soft and happy. “I want to see Yen Sid’s face when he names you Master and I get to tell him that I already did.”

He snorts. “What if he objects?”

“What if he’s too stuck up in past grievances and can’t appreciate you for who you are or what you’ve accomplished?” Cradling Rainfell in the grip of her hand, she nods to herself. “Who gives him a say? I spent twelve years in the Realm of Darkness. Not him. There were some things the Master was wrong about. Do you know why that is?”

Terra wants to say it’s because the Master was afraid, but he won’t speak over her. “Why?”

She looks away at a wall, blinking too much. “I’ll never use it again. It makes me feel like I’m not thinking straight, that I’m too close in making a fatal mistake I can’t take back. But I can’t help but feel there’s a purpose for it. Darkness exists not to put us astray on our path but to help us understand ourselves and our needs better.” When she speaks with this much conviction, Aqua seems the tallest in the group. “Within us, it needs comfort as much as the Light needs faith.”

“That’s what makes the heart strong enough to protect what matters.”

Aqua smiles. “That’s why.” When he’s about to object, she places a hand on his shoulder. “The Master is no longer with us. If you continue like this, who’s to say you’ll be okay with Yen Sid accepting you as well?”

She’s right. “I just think I need to do more to atone.”

“Atone?”

“I faced the Darkness, and maybe I’ve won. Sure.” Terra shrugs, and the change in tone catches Ven attention, who ignores his immediate chores to come close and remove his mask. “But I’m still missing the same Light you have, Aqua. The one that made you, Master, as you deserve. Mine is not that strong.”

Ven sighs.

Aqua opens her mouth to say something but stops herself, searching his eyes with a gentle mix of love and skepticism. “There’s something I never told you.” She rubs her palms together. “In the Dark Realm, I… there were many moments where I wanted to give up.

“I saw you once, a bright light standing in front of me. You talked to me. You protected me from Xehanort, and you told me to never give up.” She breaks, swiping her eyes and sniffling loudly, willing her body to breathe normally.

Terra stares at her. “I thought I made that up.”

“No,” she says, smiling and shaking. “You never stopped lighting me back, either.”

Ven holds her hand, silently crying with her. He looks up at Terra, as he’s done for years, worshipping the ground Terra walks in, thinking he is a prime example of what a Keybearer should be. They did this because they believe in him.

“Thanks for doing this for us,” Ven says quietly, and Aqua nods in agreement. And Terra takes them in his arms, Aqua under his right and Ven under his left, letting them sink their faces into his chest and wraps their arms around his waist.

“Thank you for always being there.” Terra doesn’t know what else to say that would measure what they mean to him. Forgiveness is not a real friend, and they don’t have reasons to give it to him, but he hugs them close without going too tight, his tears falling on their crowns.

“We still have things to clean up,” Cheers mutters.

“Come here.” Ven opens an arm to which Cheers happily accepts, nuzzling its nose into Ven’s neck. It’s only cheerful with him. Terra is most cheerful with all of them. A broken home renovated, a hearth revived, a clear sunrise over the mountains.

Those who know him as Master Terra hold onto him dearly, under a night sky that waits behind stained glass in a moment they keep to themselves, where the future is irrelevant and the past goes to sleep.

#terra #kh terra #kingdom hearts fanfiction #kh fanfic #aqua #ventus #AHHHH it's finally done OMG #i'm so burnt out and tired hahaha #my fic

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khtrinityftw · 4 years

Text

Part [Versus] 13: The Grand Fatality

At first glance, Kingdom Hearts III went about how most people expected it to. Beautiful graphics, fun gameplay, lots of Disney goodness, and a story that was absolute horseshit and nigh impossible to understand but at least was more bearable than Dream Drop Distance. But when you look deeper, you'll find that there are fundamental story problems in this game that go far and beyond anything else in the series.

The game took so long to come out that when it did, it became a natural jumping on point for many new players instead of just an ending to a long-spanning saga. And because the story relies so much upon all the previous games, it constantly takes breaks to go into exposition about things that happened in those installments, and it just feels so awkward and out of place. Riku and Mickey spend a good portion of the game going over things that they already know just to catch new players up to speed.

The story's pacing is among the worst I have ever seen in a video game. I already mentioned earlier that nothing of importance goes down in the Disney worlds, but would you believe that nothing of importance even happens in the periods of time between the Disney world visits as well? Riku and Mickey are dicking around on a search that goes nowhere, while Sora, Donald and Goofy are working on trying to do something that they ultimately play no part in actually accomplishing, and the members of the new Organization XIII just keep talking about what's going to happen during the finale of the game rather than engaging in any active plans in the here and now...or in Ansem's case, he just teases a new story element out of nowhere that is never fully explained and is just set up for future games. There's actually a lot of teasing for the future in this game, which is supposed to be the Dark Seeker Saga's finale. KH2 had way more finality to it than this!

There isn't even a midpoint to the story like there's been in practically every other game. A midpoint and reasons for the main characters to be visiting the Disney worlds was something that even 3D managed to have, and yet this one doesn't! There is a beginning to the story with the trips to Olympus and Twilight Town, and then there's an end from the confrontation with Anti-Aqua and onward. Everything in between is mostly pointless, it's just a bunch of wheel spinning until every resolution to every major hanging plot thread just happens all in succession, usually in the most underwhelming way possible.

And even the game's finale has a needless detour in it! While it's beautifully designed, the Final World has no business being in the story because its presence only happens because of a horribly-written scene where all the heroes behave like idiots and die. It really feels like it was just made for trailer shots that make the situation look hopeless, because it's reversed almost as quickly as it happens. They credit Kairi for this, but she didn't actually do anything other than believe in Sora really hard which is what kept him from dying in a forced retread of the original KH, except that back then Kairi had to make actual choices and take actual action to bring Sora back.

Kairi is honestly the worst treated character in this game. Not only did they learn nothing from KH2 in regards how to pace her appearances since they're paced the same way here, but all personality is sucked out of her, turning her into even more of just a basic love interest. She's three-dimensional in KH1, two-dimensional in KH2, and one-dimensional in KH3! Her design isn't as good as previous ones, facial animation for her is almost non-existent, Alyson Stoner's voice-acting is tepid, and she contributes nothing to the story. She trains as a Keyblade wielder alongside her former kidnapper Axel, is made to service him and his development rather than having any of her own, then shares a paopu fruit with Sora out of fucking nowhere (Sora’s never spoken to or about her since “Blank Points”!), freezes up like an idiot when faced with Terra-Xehanort, dies but is brought back due to that "belief" thing, fights Xion and Saix as a party member for literally one minute before she gets knocked down and then kidnapped by Xemnas, and then Master Xehanort gives her a second death in order to provide Sora with "motivation". In other words, she gets stuffed into the fridge (look it up). Sora brings her back to life offscreen, but he fades away as a result of this due to the nebulous rules of the Power of Waking, and that's where the game just ends: with everyone getting a conclusive happy ending except for the main character and his love interest.

And I know that I already mentioned how Kairi was done dirty by the series in order to pander to the worst kinds of fans, but this time it just feels downright mean-spirited. Since the secret ending of 3D in 2012, Kairi was being hyped as someone who would finally become an active combatant, a Keyblade wielder who could be a party member or maybe even playable. And then when the time to pay that off finally comes, it's the exact opposite outcome, with Kairi being portrayed as every bit as useless as her haters always said she was, and then dying. Oh, and her murderer gets to go to Heaven. No joke, that's how Master Xehanort is sent off: his heart is cleansed by Eraqus and they go off to Heaven together, arm in arm. It's the natural culmination of Nomura's creepy favoritism toward this character, and his blatant disdain for Kairi.

But perhaps the worst part of KH3 in regards to the series going forward is something that seemed to be a joke in the Toy Story world: Verum Rex. You see, for almost the entirety of the time between KH2's release and KH3's, Nomura was at work on Final Fantasy Versus XIII, a spin-off of Final Fantasy XIII that was to branch out into its own series and featured action RPG gameplay like the KH series. But Nomura and his team was so incompetent that they ended up putting the game into Development Hell, so Square revamped it as Final Fantasy XV in 2012 and then kicked Nomura off two years later, replacing him completely with Hajime Tabata. And I can't blame them, Nomura was stalling even the revamped game with proposals like turning into a musical after he watched Les Miserables. Yes, that seriously happened.

Nomura put in so much into Versus XIII that he could not let it go, and so what initially appeared to be a tongue-in-cheek parody of it called Verum Rex in the Toy Story world turned out to be quite serious, as the game's secret ending FMV revealed Sora and Riku in a Shinjuku-inspired city like Versus XIII's Insomnia, with Verum Rex's Noctis-expy of a main character, Yozora, watching from atop a building, and the Master of Masters atop another. The next stage for the KH series is thus, basically, Final Fantasy Versus XIII reborn. Not content with using the series as an outlet for his shonen manga-ka fantasies, Nomura is now using it as a do-over for a game he screwed up and has only himself to blame for its cancellation.

At the risk of my repeating myself: this series started out as a whimsical crossover between Disney and Square, a series of Final Fantasy-style JRPGs set within the world of Disney. Now it's being turned into quite literally a Final Fantasy clone.

#Plinkett-Style #Anti-Series Beyond #Anti-Nomura

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cadday · 4 years

Text

Collateral Damage - Chapter 6

It’s just about around a week later when he thinks about that conversation with Ansem again. He and Lea are sparring, which is a nice way to say he’s throwing random shit at the kid while the kid tries to use freaking frisbees like a weapon. Bizarre brat needs a better weapon, those plastic nuisances couldn’t protect him from shit. Shouldn’t need protection if Radiant Garden doesn’t fall, won’t fall, can’t…

Braig chucks another stick at the kid, mainly because he’s running out of ammo having exhausted the bouncy balls he commandeered from Ienzo earlier. Which were going to be a pain to pick up but maybe he could push that up on the hot head who just got nailed in the head with said stick he tossed.

Eventually they had petered out into sitting and throwing those bouncy balls back and forth while they took a break for lunch.

“So why is someone trying to kill you? I mean I get you’re an ass but like it’s only half the time.” Braig jumped a bit startled, not expecting the question.

“I’m sorry who’s trying to do what?” He looked at Lea like he had two heads. There was no way the kid had just asked him that.

“The guy who's trying to kill you. It’s why everyone’s weird about things right, and what happened to you, you know. I figure he’s gotta be still around right?” Lea shrugs like this was a completely normal conversation to be having after training for the past hour.

“...why do you figure that?”

“Because everyone is paranoid if you run off for like any amount of time. I heard Master Ansem talking to Dilan about how he thinks someone’s trying to off you or something but you like don’t want to tell them or worry them or something.” Lea looks nervous and he realizes he should probably get on his case about spying, but Lea, Axel, Lea was always so very good at deception and snooping, honestly it could come in handy if the kid had practice, doesn’t matter he’s never going to be in a situation to use.

Braig stares at him before looking down to the ball in his hand. He bounces it off the wall closest to him and catches it. He thinks about how to respond and tries for something close to the truth. Lea isn’t asking him this completely off the cuff, he’s pretty sure Master Ansem has been hinting at them to try to get him to talk and he isn’t sure he blames him. He hasn’t been forthcoming with information but if Lea goes and reports this well that might be better. It means he avoids the other’s trying to get him to explain more and Lea doesn’t seem like he is going to push for more.

“I don’t think he’s still around...He could come back though and sometimes I go to check to be sure he hasn’t.” Lea does look startled. He realises that the kid probably was expecting him to either lie or tell him that everyone was just fussy old worry warts.

“So someone is trying to kill you! Dude that’s fu…” Braig waved a hand at the kid to get him to stop talking.

“Watch your mouth kid, lord knows Even is going to give me an earful if he hears you cursing. He about took my head off for that time Ienzo said the F bomb after an experiment backfired.”

“Oh my god, I would pay to hear Ienzo cuss.” To be honest he thought it was pretty hilarious too but technically it wasn’t appropriate for a kid his age to say things like that. If you're old enough to lose your heart, you're old enough to...

“Anyway the guy wasn’t necessarily trying to kill me, it’s complicated. But let’s go with this, if you see some guy with white hair and yellow eyes you book it out of there, just in case…” Lea seems to consider this so seriously that Braig is shocked the kid is capable of it. But then again he’s been accused plenty of times of never taking anything seriously.

“...okay.” Lea nods like it’s some sort of promise, and Braig kinda hopes that if it comes to it the kid takes it to heart and is gone before any crap hits the fan again. Can’t be again if it never happened to begin with.

The bouncy ball he chucks at Lea nails him in the forehead and Braig literally falls over laughing.

Later Braig convinces Lea to help him clean up the training room, because he was using the balls just as much technically and really hadn’t Braig technically been helping the kid out or something.

The kid disappears to probably go find Isa, and stare at him when he thinks Isa can’t see like he’s made of moonlight or some poetic shit. Braig returns the balls to Ienzo who when asked why he had so many anyway was just told cryptidly that they were for ‘science’. While that was ominous he decided the best choice was not to pry or risk that ‘science’ be directed at him in some way.

Braig ends up outside when evening is getting close, partially because he was feeling restless but also he did obsessively check the place Terra had shown up, hadn’t shown up. He wasn’t sure what he would do if he did appear. He couldn’t just leave him, last time the guy had amnesia, maybe he could convince him he was more Terra then Xehanort, not like there was a keybearer around to…

Red hair girl has. will have, had a keyblade. He stops in the square and just isn’t sure what to do with that thought. The girl was like Ienzo’s age, maybe younger, he couldn’t imagine her fighting much of anything seriously. He has a hard time taking Lea seriously as it is. Terra hadn’t shown up though and might not ever, but something in him, his heart maybe, was telling him that for all things changed for him that Terra, Aqua, and Ventus were not likely as lucky. The girl needed someone to train her though at the very least and if Aqua was gone then she didn’t really have any options. None of the apprentices besides him really had any information about the keyblades and what was to come. There was that mouse king but he wasn’t sure where he even was and how to contact him, or if he would believe him to begin with. Keyblades drew heartless to them and that put the girl and radiant garden in danger. There was no other keyblade wielders running about during this time though…

‘i could.’ Oh right, other heart. And wait what did she mean that she could?

‘teach the girl to use the keyblade.’ Really that was, well not the craziest option all things considered but their in itself lay a serious issue one that had him uncomfortable at the thought.

‘no, you would stay in control. i am not strong enough anyway, but i can teach you to then teach her.’ That was an option but would that even work.

‘it will have too.’ Braig nodded and then realized that he was nodding to himself in the middle of the square probably looking like a crazy person. He quickly continued on to check for Terra but already was certain that he would find nothing. If more heartless appeared he would see to that girl learning the keyblade. Who knew really if it would ever even come to that?

It’s late when he gets back and he tries to ignore the way all the shadows look like they're creeping closer to him the longer he is out. If he all but runs inside the entrance to the castle well everyone should just be thankful he didn’t slam the damn door. Braig tries not to berate himself for being paranoid as he heads to his room. In the hall outside his room is Dilan, which I mean it’s kinda late so that’s surprising, he thought and kinda hoped they would all be asleep. Dilan raises an eyebrow but doesn’t ask where he was which is kinda a blessing because he didn’t have the time to think up a lie or even an explanation that wouldn’t sound just as much like a lie.

“Hey, what’s up? Missing out on beauty sleep lurking outside my room you know.” Dilan huffs but it’s more a laugh and Braig grins at little victories.

“I found it.” Braig looks at Dilan super confused because he wasn’t aware anything was missing until he’s holding out a red fabric something and it occurs to him that everyone had said he wasn’t wearing something. Carefully he takes it from Dilan’s hand and isn’t sure why he’s being so careful. He can’t even remember what was important about it.

“One of those things, the little monsters that have been around had it. Don’t know why.” Braig nods stiffly and okay that’s weird he guesses but he isn’t sure what to even say to that so yeah just nodding works.

“Thanks.” Is what he ends up kinda croaking out in a response and Dilan nods slowly but doesn’t really go anywhere. Braig just stares at the fabric in his hand and thinks he remembers it hadn’t always been his, there had been someone else who wore it first, someone important and he realizes suddenly that there's a lot he can’t seem to remember. Because Braig can’t recall how he ended up Ansem the Wise’s apprentice, or what his parents' names and faces were, he can’t remember why this piece of fabric is so important, and all of this has him leaning against his door as he tries to calm down. It occurs to him that either he must have known these things at some point, and his heart and the other heart both agree that somethings wrong. So it’s easy to come to the conclusion that this was freaking Luxu’s fault again. Braig is missing parts of himself, memories of things and he might not be able to ever get them back and he would be pissed if he could actually breathe right.

When he finally calms down somewhat he is aware that Dilan is not only still there but sitting next to him with his arm slung over his shoulder in some sort of side hug thing. He thinks that this is embarrassing for a second then decides he does not give a damn and leans more into his friends side.

“It was not my intention to send you into hysterics.”

“Not your fault dude. Kinda my new normal isn’t it?” He tries to laugh but it sounds so fake even he’s cringing.

“Whatever happens you know I’m not, we all aren’t going anywhere. You're stuck with us I’m afraid.” Braig can’t look at him. That was well rough, because they might not ever go anywhere but Braig had. He had been forced to leave them, and he wondered if they had hated him for it, they had to, for abandoning them, betraying them, lying to them. But he hadn’t done that. It hadn’t happened and wouldn’t happen and they would never know. Except he does. He still remembers and it freaking hurts all the time.

“Dude, feeling particularly sappy today. If anyone’s stuck with anyone it’s more like ya’ll are stuck with me. I’m like glitter, you ain't ever getting rid of me.” Braig is still leaning on his shoulder and neither of them move for a while. When they finally go to bed Braig is still gripping the fabric that had been returned to him and he falls asleep holding it to his chest.

#kingdom heart #kairi #braig #luxu #luxu is a dick #dilan #ansem the wise #aeleus #ienzo #even #isa #lea #au #fix it #ptsd #fanfic

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masterfuldoodler · 5 years

Note

Who’s your favorite character from kingdom hearts? No real reason I’m asking this, just curious.

O_O

Oh man did you ask me that?? Oho oh... man I can't chooooose... I like them all for different reasons...

I really really Sora...but Riku is great too...and Terra... Ugh oh man. Roxas too... Ummmmmm. Oh, oh this is hard...

Sora is the best boi. He's so young, and yet has gone through so much and in the end never turned. His compassion drives him forward and his fierce protection for his friends. His care for those he loves and are close to him is part of what defines him and the choices he makes. He would literally throw his life away for those a cares for. In a heartbeat. He's a little stupid, not the brightest crayon in the knife block, (yes I mixed them all like that on purpose) but he's a loveable idiot. A dork. A sassy boy. His optimistic nature and natural light shines on others and lights the gloom in their hearts, he shares his light, his heart, his happiness. So much darkness and trials have been thrown at him, and yes he struggled, yes he might have stumbled, but he never gave in. (I dunno where I'm actually going with this, but okay let's keep going.) He's stood, and he's fought, and he's guided people back, and all because he cares. Think of all Sora has seen, and gone through. And yet he hasn't let him harden his heart and become bitter or removed. He's still a kid. He makes light-hearted jokes and goofs off. He can be serious when is necessary, but even though he's been in the realm of darkness and killed creatures of pure hate he still goes and plays with Winnie the Pooh. From the very beginning he was pushed into this and had no idea what was happening, and was told very little, but he went ahead and walked the path before him, not because he was strong enough or deserved it, but because he knew it was right. He knew he wasn't strong, he never thought he was and admitted he was weak, but it didn't stop him. He wields the strongest weapon of all, through his friends. He has literally been foiling darkness and saving the light since he was born. There was a broken heart, and dying light, and he saved it. The moment he did so his path was chosen and he became a warrior of light. He saved a life. A baby, saved that life. And would save, many more. He is a hero.

Roxas is a fighter. He's been fighting all his life. Fighting for his friends, fighting for his heart, fighting for the right to live. His whole life people told him what they wanted him to be. No one wanted Roxas to have his heart back (save Xion and Axel and Naminé) in fact, some of them wanted the exact opposite. They manipulated him and told him he wanted what they wanted him to want so they could have what they wanted. And when they didn't want Roxas to live, they simple told him he needed to die. Everything he cared about has been taken from him. His friends, his past, his heart, his life. He wanted his friends and him to be together, all he wanted was to go a pleasant place and hang out with his friends. Is that too much to ask?? Well yeah, when you're nobody and you never were supposed to exist. And so he has been fighting for that right. All he's fighting for is to live. He's alive, he's breathing, he does in fact have the right to stay so. And in the end he gives up everything he has for someone he does not know. Roxas didn't know who Sora was and what he did. He was just a person who use to be alive, and since he was born like a normal person, he has a bigger right to live then himself. And he actually does, give over his life for him. He's not selfish, he's just clinging to all he has and doesn't have anything else. He has a strong heart, and a strong sense of right. And if he was given a life to live he could be a great hero. I like Roxas because he's such a mix of a strong person, a warrior, and a clueless kid who's really just a nice young man.

Riku is a great friend. What he wants is to protect his friends. He cares about them, and wants them to be safe. He's a trusting person who'll see good in everyone, even if it's not there. Because he wants to trust them. He wants strength. Not for strength it's self, but to help his friends. He fell into darkness because he had no one to show him the truth. He was hurt by someone he trusted. All along it had been his role to keep an eye out for his friends, be the leader to keep em safe. And then Sora just goes and gets this keyblade and becomes 'independent'. That left Riku out of a job and he felt kicked out. Well fine, if Sora doesn't want/need him anymore he'll help Kairi. In the end he realizes his mistake and pulls himself out. Puts himself between Kairi and her enemy, holds back the darkness controlling him, and keeps her safe. In his lowest moment he did exactly what he had been wanting to do this whole time. I can't go through his whole story but in the whole thing it's a story of fighting for control. He has strength, he just doesn't know how to control it, and when he can find the light he needs, he can find the strength to protect his friends. He's a guardian, learning how to guard. I love his story arch and what he learns. He's a caring person who's being tough and 'the older one in charge'. I guess what I like is the role he fills and his story.

Terra; he's a nice young gentleman, and like Riku wishes to have the power to protect his friends. He is just a nice guy, misguided because of his desire to trust people. Through his story he's struggling with his inner darkness, but given nothing to fight it with. So left to himself, with his anger to control and a manipulate genius whispering in his ear can we blame him? In the end though he breaks. He's been played and manipulated right into this place and all that anger and darkness he doesn't know how to handle he can't suppress back. Xehanort takes him. But does that stop him? Terra may trust too easy, and he may have more darkness then normal. But that doesn't make him evil, and he will not let someone use him like that. His heart and will are strong, even though he doesn't hold the title he is a Keyblade Master. Xehanort had to tear Terra into pieces and actually run away before he could get full control of Terra. Terra didn't lay down and let him take him, he wasn't lost, he's still a guardian of the light. It's a depressing tale, he fought and lost. But what I like is how kind he is, everything he did he thought was to protect his friends. Never was he greedy or power hungry, he only cared for the safety of his friends and the light. But if Lingering Will could find himself back into the fight he would take on Xemnas again and win back his body and reclaim his heart. Fix what mistakes he had made, and fulfill his promise to Aqua and Ven.

Vanitas has such a pathetic story. It's lonely and depressing. Broken and thrown away, every flaw and everything he hates is all he is. All he can feel is hate and disgust and anything negative. Void of happiness, but he can feel that missing hole. Longing to be a real whole person, with light his own. Given a destiny to be used by another, his purpose to life someone else's gain. Lied to and used. His life is not his own. Xehanort has only used him to get Terra where he needed him, Aqua too, and to eventually become the X-blade for him. How will becoming a weapon of ultimate power fill his inner longing? It's such a sad story, because he's so lost. There's no light to cling to, no future for him, no one who'd care if he faded into darkness. And yet his other self has everything. Poor Vanitas. It's no wonder he hates him. And in the end, the only goal he had, what he lived to get to, was taken from him. Ven killed both of them and now he is completely lost. He resigns himself to his fate, for what else did he have? It's the story of a lost soul longing for love, and never getting it.

So to answer your question: I can't choose. I like them all for different things. And there are others I like too, but I don't have as many points for why. And I don't want ramble about Gula right now, this ask has taken a long time ;-;. So there's my thoughts about these characters and why I like them. Probably not the only reasons either. I'm not sure how understandable this all is because when I just type what I'm thinking....my rambling gets weird....

Also I don't know what you mean by not real??? So I kinda skipped that. :') Thanks for the ask!! This was really fun!

#text #kh #kingdom hearts #thanks for the ask!#ask #sora #riku #roxas #vanitas #terra #characters #rambling #august rambles

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narukouzumakinamikaze · 4 years

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So, as I have decided to replay KH3, but ith context. I'm going to share my first time thoughts before going over my new thoughts because first time thoughts are important. Thought my thoughts are negative, I’m not saying this was a bad game. I did have fun playing it. But the story was terrible, and that’s what I’m focusing on..

First time playing, I liked the combat, and the graphics were pretty. That's enough on that because I dont pay any attention to it unless its brought to my attention. The story wasn't hard to grasp or follow. Some people think you needed to play all the games to understand what was happening, but you didn't. The concept isnt hard and the story isn't hard to follow. There’s a lot of convoluted things in the series, but none of those things are really importsnt to understand the overall picture.

Other than that, my first thoughts on this game was that a lot of stuff felt pointless, it was boring, and the threat never felt like an actual threat. It honestly felt like something was missing with this game, but the game wanted me to believe that it was a full story while setting up for another one.

Sora had to get his power back, but it never felt like we lost any power to begin with. We were beating enemies left and right with no signs of problems.. so now I'm confused as to how weak sora actually is, if this is him being weaker than he was. There wasn’t any explanation either. He just needed the power of waking, so what was the point of saying sora lost his powers, and having people comment on it in the Olympus world if nothing really changed power wise with sora and we only needed the power of waking.

They never explained what Kingdom Hearts is... does it just grant power and nothing more.?

One of my biggest gripes with this game is the organization.. they literally do absolutely nothing this entire game, but they show up at every world. They dont say anything or do anything. They spout nonsense that doesnt matter, and then leave. I hated it so much. It made me hate the organization, and this is my first impression of them. It felt like they were a bunch of lazy villians who said and did nothing.

The worlds were fun(except frozen) but I didnt understand what the point of them were. Arguably, Toybox was the only world that added an interesting element to the world, but it ended up no really amounting to much.

Aqua, Terra, and Ventus felt pointless. I had no idea who these people were and I honestly didnt care to know. They never felt important or detrimental to the story, because nothing was going on for them to be needed. Xehanort was gathering vessels, so Sora needed to get keyblade wielders. But it never felt like something important.

Everyone besides Sora was pointless. Riku and Mickey cant do anything. Aqua can’t do anything. The warriors of light couldn't do anything. It's like, what's the point of them when Sora could have done everything on his own apparently. I didnt understand why we had to care about them because all they did was fail at what they were supposed to do. Go away.

Characters were just so boring. They had nothing going on... I was more interested in what the blue haired guy with the X on his face and his deal, more than I was interested in anything going on.

I didnt understand the point of Roxas and Xion. Why did Sora want to bring Roxas back? I didnt get it. They never spoke like he was someone important to Sora. It honestly felt like a side quest more than something important to the main story. Isn’t sora supposed to be on a time crunch so that he can get his power back to get Aqua or whatever.. why is this roxas plotline in the story when he’s not needed. And Xion was supposed to be a vessel, but she wasnt. But that didnt matter, so why was she even at the graveyard when Xehanort had more than 13.

Xehanort was such a terrible villian. He did nothing the entire game, and didn’t feel like a threat. He was just there to be there. I honestly never felt that his plan was that serious, because we don’t see Xehanort do anything big to show his strength. (Going to the other games here, ansem was more threatening, because his appearance came with the actual destruction of worlds.. Xemnas, though he wasn’t affecting the world, he atleast looked threatening and had a dope ass final fight with Riku.. all we see Xehanort do is mess with Terra, Ventus, and Aqua.. that’s not threatening my guy. It doesn't help that he foesnt look threatening at all, and all his plans failed and hes not charismatic in the least.

The ending was so bad. Why are these characters hanging out when they've never expressed to be friends or even like each other. They all felt like a bunch of random people meeting for the very first time. And I think they were. But why are they even hanging around each other in this ending when it wasn’t earned. They were just a bunch of worl friends. Even without context, I did not like the ending for the blue haired man with the X on his face. It was so extremely forced and made me uncomfortable for some reason.

All in all, without context, this game felt pointless. Everything that was happening didnt feel like it was supposed to happen the way it did. There were big pieces missing from this game that they wanted me to ignore in favor of what was happening, and what was happening wasn’t that interesting.

#kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts 3 #KH3

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keytextsfromkh · 5 years

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Kingdom Hearts 3 - Beginning/Olympus

- Wow, that music does not go with those events

- Alright, it's getting a little better now

- 13 years people, apparently it's been 13 years.

- I like the new version of Dearly Beloved, it certainly has that "complete" feel about it.

- Welcome to Final Fantasy IX

- Holy shit, it's like Greece on steroids.

- But they can never take our marketability.

- Ok, that Roxas/Axel battle scene looked metal as fuck.

- This song is a lot more darker than the previous theme songs, like it knows we're heading into bad times.

- Destati has certainly gone up a few notches this time around.

- Sora has finally ascended into Heaven.

- I've played through 9 of these games and this game has the gall to ask me if I need further help.

- I still wish he was made his vessel.

- How the fuck should I know, I'm no Tom-Tom.

- ....2.9?! This series has more trouble getting to 3 than Half-Life

- Where the fuck are the Fire and Wind Titans?

- Ok, when I suggested that we give Sora a phone, I WAS NOT FUCKING SERIOUS!

- Be thankful I made it to the world in the first place you ungrateful prick.

- Man, even the climb up Mt. Olympus is fucking epic looking.

- I am /this/ close to killing Donald.

- I like how Olympus has an artstyle more accurate to the movie.

- Have you asked Pandora?

- Kassandra's in town, she's just a bit busy.

- Alright, this "Sora's a bumbling dolt" thing from Donald is getting on my nerves, he's not that stupid.

- Olympus: There and Back Again

- I kind of like the idea that the villains are acting a bit more genre savvy this time around.

- Looks like Sora's temper is starting to fizzle out and thank god for that.

- I'm noticing serious Final Fantasy XII vibes in the music.

- I feel if this was Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, she would have offered sex as a reward.

- Nice introduction to Vim & Vigor.

- (Hercules getting crushed) He's fine

- Gothic!Dick Roman! Yay!

- No, he /knows/ he can.

- Christ, Sora's rage-breaking point can't come soon enough.

- Didn't we establish this in a previous game? I thought we always knew Hercules was connected to Zeus.

- Well they certainly made the gate to Olympus look glorious as fuck.

- (Is that the fanfare?) Nope, just the battle music

- Apparently Anti-Form makes a return. What does that imply?

- Sora's kind of a bad guest, he comes into the Home of the Gods and just starts tearing up the place.

- Now /this/ is going to be a titan fight

- They really weren't kidding when they said that 0.2 was the size of one world in KH3.

- Fuck. You. Donald.

- Ok, am I to understand that you're able to equip 3 Keyblades?

- (Pandora’s Box) Hey, I was right.

- ...The fuck?! Are we getting hints that Braig actually /is/ the Master of Masters?

- Oh no, not Aqua again.

- Oh Riku, ok then.

- No shit, a whole bunch of them made Demon Tide and that thing can fuck off.

- Terra? Roxas?

- I think that's the first time we've seen a Keyblade actually break in the real world.

- I want to know what Riku's first thought was with that Aqua/Sora comparasion.

- Riku has a Nobody?

- Starry, Starry Night.

- Hey, I'm all for whacking Sora over the head.

- Jesus! Is everyone a cunt to Sora in this game?

- Saddle up, we're heading to Castle Oblivion.

- I guess the red one is for Lea.

- No please, we don't need any moral support for this mission.

- That's a Dream Eater symbol.

- Oh fuck, I do not need the Dream Eaters again.

- (This is turning into a routine) Yeah and it's seriously unfunny.

- And Ventus.

- Yes, that is mission no.1. We need to get Roxas back.

- Well, that was a short final game.

#Kingdom Hearts #Kingdom Hearts 3 #Kingdom Hearts 3 spoilers #Actual Liveblog

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fandom-rants · 5 years

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Plotholes, Story Rushing, and Shoddy Writing In Keyblade Graveyard, Pt. 1 (p.s. there are SEVERAL issues to unpack here)

~~~~THIS CONTAINS COUNTLESS SPOILERS FOR KHIII~~~~

PLEASE NOTE that this will not be in perfect order; there are so many things wrong with the story in the Keyblade Graveyard that I struggle to balance it all without having a raging meltdown. As someone who adored the Kingdom Hearts franchise (yes, you read that right; past tense) and memorized all the lore and played all of the games (save Coded; I just watched that one because it does not look to be worth it at all) and loved the characters, I can only express deep and profound disappointment in the story. The rushed, chaotic garbage mess of a story.

And those who say otherwise? Have chosen to ignore the story for the sake of the ‘happy ending’ (which is a farce; a happy ending doesn’t include Sora sacrificing himself again for the damsel in distress trope).

If you thought some of my other rants were long, you aren’t ready for this one. It’s so long it needed to be split up into parts.

1. Aqua and Ven

a. Firstly, it’s good to know that Nomura is literally incapable of writing a female who isn’t a damsel in distress. Good to see Aqua go “I’m gonna prove how strong I am,” only to need immediate rescuing. Brilliant.

b. So it’s that easy to wake Ven up, huh? His heart’s been linked with Sora’s for Sora’s entire life, it’s been sleeping in Sora’s for so long that Sora has taken on Ven’s mannerisms, but they can just separate without a single hitch, huh? Just like that, huh? And there’s no problem waking up, it takes no time at all, and he can move in his body without even remote difficulty, huh? Basically, there are no repercussions to any of this, huh? I call bullshit.

c. Going back a page, it’s good to know that these guys all showed up at Castle Oblivion and didn’t even bother clearing the place to ensure there weren’t any enemies around to - /snorts with laughter/ - immediately try to kill Ven while he was still vulnerable. Who could have ever expected such a thing, amirite?

d. Why aren’t Riku and Mickey there?!?!?!

e. This was actually so anticlimactic and boring. Why wasn’t Terranort/wtf-ever there to add some drama and tension? Why was it simply ‘grab Aqua, which can be done merely by having Sora show up and beat her up, even though Riku and Mickey got their butts kicked by her,’ ‘arrive very quickly and suddenly at Castle Oblivion,’ ‘unlock it,’ ‘go inside and wake up Ven’? Why was it so boring? It’s something we’ve been waiting for since 2010, and our reward for waiting 8 years is ‘ta-da! Boom, bam, done!’ Did a child write this?

2. The Requisite Romance Scene Before the Final Showdown

a. We have to really sell this romance, or else people will be pissed about the ending! Quick! Let’s have Sora and Kairi share a paopu fruit and leave their friend completely out of it! Riku doesn’t really matter, anyway. He’s not integral to the entire storyline like Kairi!

b. To make it clear, Riku was integral to the storyline while Kairi was not. Something I’ve already mentioned several times. So why in hell did Sora say he wouldn’t have gone through the things in the games if it wasn’t for Kairi, when that girl hardly entered the storyline at all? It was Riku who started the whole story off, Riku and Kairi both whom Sora was looking for in KH1, Riku only whom Sora looked for in CoM, Riku only whom Sora looked for in KH2, Riku only whom Data-Sora cared to run after, Riku only whose concerns made Sora go through the Mark of Mastery... but yes. It was only for Kairi that Sora went through the things he did. Riku, keep sitting on the sand all night while these two pretend you don’t exist. Perfect.

3. We Arrive and Everyone Fights Against Heartless

a. Is this what we came here for? Is this what Xehanort planned when he told us to come here? To sic a bunch of heartless on us? How does this in any way complete Kingdom Hearts? How does this in any way help Xehanort’s overarching goal? Hell, ignoring that, why would he sic heartless on us when we’ve defeated them a million times? How in god’s name do we fail against them this time????

b. Can I just say that it is beyond suspense of disbelief to have Kairi and Lea finish their fights before Sora? Or that the entire group would finish, see Sora still fighting, and then just run forward without him???

4. Terranort

a. How is he back? No, seriously, let’s look at this. He was brought from the past. But when you defeat Young Xehanort, he says he’s going to return to the past and live his life up to the present. But Terranort can’t do that! Which means Terranort can’t go to the past and stay on as Ansem the Wise’s apprentice. Which means he can’t trick the other students into becoming nobodies - so how is Saix there? How is Axel there as Axel? How do the others retain their memories of being Nobodies? He also can’t become a heartless or a nobody himself, since he’s not returning to the past to do so (because we save him instead of killing him)! So how the hell could Ansem and Xemnas exist??? You can’t argue about alternative universes because those haven’t been introduced in the plotline, and even if they had been, that still wouldn’t explain how this universe had an Ansem who took over Riku and a Xemnas who existed whatsoever. What the fuck.

b. Why in five flaming hells is he just waiting there at the beginning? No, again, I’m being serious. Why? To defeat the seven keyblade wielders? Why? They’re apparently needed to clash with the thirteen Xehanort clones, so why on earth is he there? For sad plotline feels?

c. Even that doesn’t make sense. After all, Aqua had all night to warn Ven about the state she’d last seen Terra in. Apparently, that was not a topic she thought necessary to bring up. Go figure.

d. How the fuck does Xehanort even have him??? All those who played Birth By Sleep, I can only assume you all have dealt with the same frustration and confusion as me. How did Xehanort retain control over Terra’s body after Lingering Will defeated him?? Because I did. Allllll the way back in Terra’s storyline, I defeated Terranort. So how did he show up in Radiant Garden? The blast of light (or whatever) from the end of the storyline should have, at the very least, turned him into a heartless. Right then. From the start. So how did he even survive long enough to get to Radiant Garden, let alone return to the Keyblade Graveyard? What had been the point of that final battle?

5. Lingering Will

a. I was waiting for him to show up. It makes less than no sense to have him only do so at Namine’s behest after Ven has already been KO’d by Terranort. That entire debacle in the Final World should never have occurred, simply because Lingering Will should have shown up the first time.

b. I laughed in disbelief when I saw Terra’s keyblade turn into a hooked whip and then a giant fuck-off gun. I already thought the transformations were pretty random, considering a keyblade is supposed to serve its own purpose and strength without needing to turn into a door or a frying pan or a pair of yo-yo’s, but to see Terra’s do the same thing when no one else’s had? Oof. Painful.

c. Lingering Will was Terra’s mind, but apparently he doesn’t need that to reconnect with his past body! (Even though it was never with said body; it was always separate, so...?!?!?!) Instead it disappears from the plotline (like so many other necessary details) and acted as KH’s version of Fallout’s Mysterious Stranger, apparently deciding to disappear to wherever said stranger goes after doing its duteous cameo.

6. That Entire Debacle With Everyone’s Hearts

a. There’s just... so much to unwrap here. The fact that it even happened, which I’ve already noted the plot failure there. The fact that Kairi needed protecting not once, but twice, only to fall, anyway. Is she even capable of being something other than a damsel in distress? (Looking at the rest of the story of this world, I can do nothing but snort at the fact that I even bothered typing out that question.)

b. The whole shit with Chirithy. We get it, KH. You want to peddle your stupid mobile game. (A game I’ve been playing for over a year now, like a good, dutiful KH player, only to find that the plotline shows up roughly once every 300+ “chapters.”) This Chirithy shit isn’t plot; it’s bullshit. Nice to know Kairi’s heart was definitely lost, though, because bullshit on that, too!

c. Why on earth are everyone’s hearts just hanging out on other worlds? Why are they in worlds I’ve specifically already gone to in this game? Why not any other worlds from any other previous games, or worlds I’ve never been to? Oh, yeah. To bring back the annoying shit from KH1, where you enter fragments of worlds for no reason in order to fight some random heartless. Is this plot?

d. The whole ‘Dive Into the Heart’ thing being the equivalent of ‘the power of waking,’ which is also apparently how Mickey could get into the Realm of Darkness (and here I remember Mickey saying he could only do that by being in a world when it fell to darkness! Silly me). Just admit you had no idea what the hell you were doing when you made up that ‘power of waking,’ Nomura. Shit.

e. Let’s go a bit farther, because the whole “Dive Into the Heart” thing was awful. Why is that a thing? Why do you need to ‘dive’ into a heart (which, he didn’t, he didn’t, he just dove into different worlds to find said hearts, wtf) in order to save it from... what? Death? Darkness?? What the hell even happened here-

f. How is Kairi fine and waiting for us??? This actually made me think Sora had fallen to darkness (or dreaming, or what the fuck ever), because how in hell was Kairi okay? Namine said flat-out that Kairi’s heart had been lost like the others, and that such was the reason why Sora had found her in Chirithy-Verse (it isn’t any ‘Final World,’ just as it isn’t anything I’m ever going to take seriously). So how was she perfectly fine and, uh, able to... uh... meet with him??? In some sort of... Heart Realm Between??? What happened there?!?!

g. I get that this floaty, hand-holding scene was supposed to once again peddle the romance in some last-minute bid to make us okay with the bullshit self-sacrifice move Sora bounces into with all the finesse of a Sequel Coming trailer, but all it did was piss me off (as every romance scene did in this shithole of a game). There has been next to nothing on the whole ‘romance’ thing other than us being told ad nauseum that it is a thing. If you can’t even give me normal, non-romance scenes between the two, then all it’s going to be is forced trollop that you expect me to swallow simply on your say-so. If you can’t give me a lead-up to the romance, don’t be surprised if you fail to sell it to me. And if you fail to sell the romance to me, then why the hell should I ever find any part of that ending all right?

7. The Time Ret-Conning

a. This one’s a minor gripe, so I’ll just say that I despised the multiple times the game acted as if the previous failures hadn’t happened. ‘Here you go; try again!’ It makes no sense when you realize Sora actually did things to ensure we got this second chance, even less sense, somehow, when you see that neither Sora nor anyone else acts any differently to rewatching the same thing happen all over again - like, what the hell kind of time travel bullshit is Nomura writing here? Is there any rhyme or reason to this shit whatsoever?

8. That Entire KHUX Fuckery

a. I honestly cannot believe we had to watch Sora get saved by Ephemer. A lot of people loved the cameo, but the cost to the storyline is far too high. Our main character needing rescuing in his Final Battle is always bad writing; what’s the point of watching the main hero’s growth if it turns out he still needs to be protected? This other character should have been the one we followed, not the one needing rescuing! And hell, what was the point of all that growth if, in the end, it still wasn’t enough? Simply based on storytelling, it was poorly done. But the fact that he got rescued by a long-dead (I hope; everyone has a bad habit of just living forever through Bullshit Time Mechanics) character from another KH game? Disgustingly shoddy. Thanks for nothing.

b. What the fuck was that triangle spam for??? I was there when the challenge came to KHUX, for those with the highest scores to appear in the game. I honestly thought their names would just be in the credits or something, because how could you possibly add them in without making it the most horrendous bullshit possible for a video game? Answer? You can’t. That entire thing is something I’ve been trying to delete from my memory since I saw it. What a fucking travesty.

9. "I Can’t Do This Alone”

a. You are literally talking to someone, your best friend, and saying you’re alone. What the FUCK.

b. What strength did you get from Kairi, you twit? Riku, on the other hand...!

TO BE FREAKING CONTINUED... Edit: I know Nomura is BS-ing some answers to pretend he didn’t fuck up. I don’t care.

#kingdom hearts rant #khiii rant #khiii spoilers #anti nomura #anti bad writing #omg you guys don't know the pain here #although if you see the length of this maybe you will #long post #anti kairi

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kingdommad300 · 5 years

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Best Man

Summary: Riku has only one job. Make sure that Sora is ready for his own wedding. Only to find that he has fallen asleep.

Genre: Friendship

Rating: K+

“There. All sorted.”

I wiped my forehead as all the guests were accounted for. If I knew that I would have to help with sitting a lion next to a deer or making sure that one of the guests wouldn’t bring a scary jack in the box as a present, I am pretty sure that I would have given this job to Roxas. But as I look around at everyone chatting happily to each other, telling each other about the time their have shared with their good friends who have helped them from the Heartless attacks, I couldn’t be prouder of what we have achieved.

So many people from so many worlds, travelling far and wide with the aid of Radiant Garden and their fleets of gummi ships to pick everyone up. There were long awaited reunions for some guests, mainly from the Princesses of Heart, while others made new friends on the day. There was one reason through that every person, animal, toy and monster have travelled out of their respected worlds, breaking the world order for some of them, to be here today.

Today was the day my two best friends were going to get married and I am the best man.

“Hey Riku!” I looked around to see a familiar spiky red hair approach me. A respected fire based Keyblade Master nowadays compared to his days in the original Organization. Seeing him with his spiky hair tied up and in a white shirt and black suit was a strange concept. At least he didn’t come in his old Organization coat. “I’ve been trying to catch you but you’re looking like you’re having too much fun.”

“I am having so much fun, I’m considering hanging up the Keyblade to become a wedding planner.” I joked. After we had stopped Xehanort from bringing a second Keyblade war to all the worlds. I had decided to travel the worlds with my two best friends, like we always wanted to do. After many laughs and memories, we had decided to help Master Aqua find a new list of potential keybladers and teach them about our journey. So, I became a Traveller Master, protecting worlds from new threats and teaching new students about the darkness from time to time. “Then again…” I added. “This wedding stuff is harder then dealing with a horde of enemies in front of you.”

Lea laughs in response. “Yeah, I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes.”

As if at that moment, the two of them could only watch as Roxas and Ventus, both in blue suits with a grey top, try to hand out drinks to the guests, only for Ventus to trip and take Roxas down with him, dropping all the drinks with them. I took a deep breath at this, “We’re going to run out of drink at this rate.”

I go over to help them, but Lea stops me in my tracks. “Terra and I will help them. The groom has requested you.” He tells me. Before I could object, Lea already started to causal jog to Roxas and Ventus’ side while waving to Terra, in the distance, to help them. With a quick glance at everything, I started to head to where I would find my best friend.

As I walk over, I start to think about when they had first got together. I remember catching them in the act of sharing a paopu fruit after the final battle was over, but I pretended that I didn’t know so I wouldn’t crush the excitement in their eyes when they told me. I was just glad that they finally got together after everything. They had gone through a lot together as a couple the last nine/ ten years. Journeying the worlds together, Kairi making the mark, Sora deciding to be a Keeper Master to stay with Kairi, getting their first sets of students together, getting their first place together. I could list so many things, even things they did for each other before they got together but then I would miss the wedding.

I stopped and looked around where I was, realising that I was too deep in my thoughts that I took the wrong turning down the corridor. I could never get used to how big the castle is at Radiant Garden. I was also surprised that they had chosen this world instead of Destiny Islands. There was a couple of reasons to it, one of them being that Kairi’s grandmother couldn’t travel. The other reason was that Destiny Islands will always be their beginnings and with their school and home being in Radiant Garden itself, they knew they wanted to make their oath for their future here.

After retracing my steps, I come across the groom’s door and knock on it lightly. “Who is it?”

“The Best Man.” I answer.

The door opens, and I am greeted by Donald, who is wearing Navy blue suit jacket and grey shirt like Roxas and Ventus. The only difference is that he had a custom made wayfinder charm where the boutonniere flower would go clipped in the buttonhole and his suit jacket was a long coat jacket. Such of an attire for the groomsmen. “Where have you been?” Donald said in a panicky voice, letting me in.

I looked at the mage in confusion. “I was greeting all the guests and dealing with a few things.” I looked around the room. “What’s the big pro----” I stopped in midsentence to look at the sight in front of me. “Oh great.” I frowned.

Sora, my best friend since birth, is half dressed, completely shirtless, asleep on the sofa with Goofy, within his groomsmen outfit, trying to wake him up.

“What happened?” I am looking straight at Donald at this, who looks at me with surprise. “You guys were supposed to make sure he got ready. The ceremony starts in an hour.”

“Well Riku, Sora was trying to finish his speech when he asked us to go get him some water and asked if we could get you to help. So, I had got him some water and Donald had sent Lea to go find you.” Goofy explained to me. Now that I thought about it, Lea was trying to grab my attention for a while I was finishing making sure that all the guests were accounted for. “When we came back, he was fast asleep on the chair.”

“We’ve been trying to wake him up.” Donald glared at the sleeping Keyblader, his brown spiky hair covering his eyes. “I’ve tried magic, pulling him off the sofa, whacking him. Nothing is working.”

I took a moment to think of an idea. From the look of his friend, he was in a deep sleep like when they had saved Sora from Xehanort from becoming the 13th vessel. Remembering when I had to jump into my friend’s heart to save him was a scary moment. But why would he call for me to come help me when he decided to fall asleep on his wedding day? There was only one conclusion I could think of. “Donald, Goofy. Guard the door and make sure that the bridal team don’t get any sight of the situation. We don’t need Kairi worrying on her big day.” I instructed them.

“What are you going to do?” Goofy asked.

I summoned my keyblade and pointed it at Sora, making the two jumps in surprise. “If Sora is going to sleep on the job then I’m the one that can wake him up.” I quickly explained. Sora and I started to glow with a radiant light as a crystalize orb appeared next to him. I could see that the two of them knew what I was doing, seeing that they were there the first time I had to awaken Sora’s heart. “I will wake Sora up. Just make sure the girls don’t find out.” I watched the two of them give me the thumbs up before a blinding light took my vision as I entered Sora’s heart once more.

I shielded my eyes from the blinding light until my eyes adjusted but I didn’t need to see where I was to know where I am. The calm waves and the sound of seagulls was more than enough clues to know I was at Destiny Islands. Just like the last time I jumped in his heart all those years ago, being his personally Dream Eater. Even my appearance had turned back to what I looked like all those years ago with the same Dream Eater symbol on the back. The only difference I noticed once I looked around was that it was midday, the sun high in the sky compared to its sunset appearance the last time I was here.

I didn’t have time to wonder what time of day it was in Sora’s heart. I needed to find the idiot and wake him up. I start shouting his name as I start looking for him. I can only assume that if my appearance has changed into my younger self again after all these years, then I could be looking for a younger, 5’ o clock shadow less friend. I looked around the entire beach, by the paopu tree, in the seaside stack, where we built our old raft. I was slightly at a lost at where he was. I ran to the waterfall to hear someone talking within the secret cave. “Of course.” I don’t even though why I didn’t check here first. I crawled into the hole, something that none of us, except Kairi, should do now with our growth spurts over the years and finally found who I was looking for.

Pacing around the cave, looking like his 14-year-old self, was Sora. He was muttering to himself, writing on a piece of paper before ripping the page out and throwing it on the floor with the other piles of screwed up pieces of paper. He sighed before looking around, only to see myself standing there. “Riku! You came!” he grinned at me.

“Of course, I came.” I crossed my arms, feeling slightly frustrated that I had to wake him up this way in the first place. “You need to wake up and get ready. I don’t want to have to deal with Kairi, explaining why I had to carry you to the alter.”

“I know, and I am sorry that I made you come all of this way.” He looked at me apologetically. “I really needed to talk to you in private.”

“We could have talked in private while you were awake.” I pointed out, looking around the old cave. It has been far too long since I have been in here. But I did question why he did wants to talk in private.

“You say that.” Sora jumped in, “But with how busy you have been helping us set up the venue and everything and having a few people keep coming to my room to remind me how long I have meant that if I had tried to have a serious chat with you, someone will interrupt or their would need your help.” He explained.

I did see his point, I remember our last conversation on how he kept having people knock on his door to ask what they needed to do to help with the wedding, mainly the ushers, leaving Sora no time to sort his speech and vows. “You do remember that you are the groom, right?” I reminded him. He did have to power to tell others that he was having a serious chat with the best man. He clearly shrugs with a grin, showing that he didn’t even realise that option. “Well here we are, back to being teenagers again. What was it that you wanted to talk about?” I asked him, finding myself a seat on one of the rocks.

Suddenly Sora looked slightly nervous, “It’s about me and Kairi.”

“You better not be getting cold feet, Sora!” I warned him. I don’t think that he would do that to her but if he did, I would punch him in the face, wake him up and then punch him in the face again.

“No never!” Sora glared at me for even bringing that up. “I will never walk out on her.” He looked towards the old drawing of him and Kairi sharing a Paopu fruit, one that had become quite faded back in the real world. “We have been through so much together. Heck, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for her. I wouldn’t really know what I would do with her.” He smiled.

I chuckled slightly, “Properly still asleep on the beach.”

Sora shook his head at me. He couldn’t deny it, we both know that he would. “I’m serious, Riku. We’ll about to become married. Husband and Wife. A day that I have been excited for ever since Kairi said ‘yes’ to me. A part of me is still in disbelief that today is the today.” He grinned before he looked at me, a worried look replaces his cheerful one. “Riku, do you think I would any good at this ‘Husband’ stuff?” he asked me.

“Of course, Sora.” I replied. “So long as there is balance in your relationship and you both treat each other right and fair. Then you will be able to live long and happy lives.”

“But what about when we have kids, how would that work? Keeping everything in balance like you said, surely you would need to consider the child as well---“Sora started to ramble on.

The conversion about kids did catch me off guard slightly, surprised that Sora was thinking that far ahead. “Sora. Don’t worry about that for now.” I cut off his speech. “You don’t have to worry about that stuff until you are actually expecting. And who knows when that would be.” I told him. There were Keeper Masters like Master Aqua, meaning that they would stay at their school in Radiant Garden to continue to teach their students. They currently have four students altogether; their longest student has been with them for the last two years. They wouldn’t have the time to start a family at this moment in time.

“You say that….” Then Sora explained the real reason he wanted to have a private chat with me within his heart, and not in his room.

Sora did originally ask Donald and Goofy to get myself as he was having trouble with his speech. While the two were gone, he noticed that they didn’t fully close the door, so he went to close it as he was still shirtless. That’s when he heard Aqua and Naminé, bridesmaid and maid of honour respectfully, talking in the hallway.

“You have to make sure that none of the other boys find out about this. Especially Sora.” Aqua explained. “I know it’s hard but Kairi wants to keep it as a surprise.”

“I know but…” Naminé sounded unsure.

“I’m pretty sure Sora would be ecstatic when he finds out that another person would be joining the family. But if we tell him before the wedding then all he will do is cry for the entire wedding. There will be tears of happiness but still tears.” Aqua explained. Sora’ heart froze from Aqua’s words. Another person joining the family? Is Aqua saying what he thinks she’s saying?

“I just wish that I didn’t have to hide the truth.” Naminé sighed.

“Don’t worry.” Aqua assured her. “Kairi said that she will tell Sora during their first dance, so we shouldn’t have to hide it from long.”

Everything else that the girls said phased out as Sora’s mind when into overdrive with thoughts. At first, he felt feelings of joy, even feeling his eyes begin to tear up but then he felt a heavy responsible rush over him and all he could do was panic for the future ahead.

Once the girls moved on, Sora shut the door before moving over to where the sofa was, sitting down on it as the shock took him. If he doesn’t get this off his chest then it’s going to affect the whole day and the last thing, he wanted to do is worry Kairi. Sora knew that Donald and Goofy would be back with Riku soon but as much as he loved Donald and Goofy, if he mentioned that he would be gaining another family member to them, they would be so overjoyed and properly reveal the secret before Kairi gets too. He needed to talk to Riku alone without anyone questioning what was going on.

“I got it.” Sora clicked his fingers as an idea hit him. He laid on the sofa and summoned the Kingdom Key in hand, pointing it upwards as he starts to cast ‘Sleepaga’. “I know you get what I am doing, Riku. I will explain…...I……prom---ise.” And with that, Sora fell alsleep and his keyblade disappeared.

I could only look at Sora in disbelief. I couldn’t believe what I just heard. I don’t think that it helps when we currently look like our younger selves either. “Sora…...” I tried to form a sentence, but I was just too much in shock. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say.”

“It’s okay.” He smiles grateful. “And there isn’t anything to worry about now.”

Finally snapping out of the shock, I looked back at Sora with concern. “This is a baby we are talking about Sora. There is a lot of work when it comes to a little person. It’s different from being a teacher.”

“I know. It will be hard.” Sora nodded, taking this chance to sit next to his best friend. “With running the school and feeding us and the students, there isn’t much munny left over. It’s one of the main reasons we took a while to actually get married after I proposed to her four years ago. But even if we had planned to start a family in the future, life has a funny way of keeping things interesting.” I looked at my friend to see his face beaming, it looks like he wasn’t worrying about the future anymore.

“Well before you get your hopes up of becoming a father, make sure you wait until Kairi confirms it to you.” I advised him, only for him to look at me with a confused expression. “From what you told me, Aqua or Naminé didn’t actually say that Kairi was expecting during their conversation. So, wait until Kairi talks to you otherwise you might make your first dance awkward.”

“But Riku…”

“Nope!” I pointed at him with seriousness. “I mean it. Keep your excitement in check.” I stood up, lending my hand to Sora to pull him up. “Let’s get you married first.”

“Yeah.” He grinned. The two of us started to walk out of the secret cave when a bright light blinded us once more.

It wasn’t long before I was back in the groom’s dressing room. Just like before, Sora had woken up before me, now back to his fully grown, child minded, 25-year-old self. I yawned as I pushed myself up from the ground and adjusted my own suit and custom silver grey wayfinder on my suit jacket. Sora had finally dressed his top half, having the same colour scheme as myself and the groomsmen with the light grey shirt and the dark navy longcoat, but the wayfinder on his jacket was the same wayfinder that Kairi had made him all those years ago.

“Sora! Why did you fall asleep?” Donald impatiently taps his foot while Sora was looking at his speech again, making last minute edits.

“Yeah. Me and Donald were worried about ya.” Goofy added with a little concern.

Sora looks away from his speech notes and looked at the two of them. “I didn’t mean to worry you guys. All this writing and stress about the wedding made me tired. It was only a little nap.” He proclaims.

Donald seems to get more irritated by this. “We know how long you sleep, Sora!” He argued. “You would have missed your own wedding if Riku didn’t wake you up.”

“Don’t worry.” I spoke, showing the others that I have woken back up. “I would have carried him to the alter myself if that happened.” I turn to Sora. “I believe you needed help with your speech.” I remind him. He responds by handing his speech over to him. I quickly glance through, seeing if it makes sense but also making sure that Sora hasn’t added anything that shouldn’t be mentioned until he has talked to the bride. Seeing that it is safe, I pass it back. “Looks good.”

“It’s not too much?” He asked me.

“Oh its way too much.” I laughed before looking at him and adjusting his wayfinder and dusting off his longcoat of any material that might have been on the sofa. “But it wouldn’t be you if it wasn’t.”

There was a knock on the door. Donald opens the door to reveal Mickey, who was in a smart black suit and white shirt with black shoes. He will be the open to marry Sora and Kairi today. “Wow fellas, don’t you look smart.” He smiled, “If you are ready, come with me to the ceremony. Everyone is being seated now.”

I looked back at my best friend as this overbearing sense of happiness and proudness came. He was getting married. My brother was getting married. “You ready?”

Sora grinned back, “Yeah."

With planning a wedding, myself, I found myself suddenly wondering what Sora and Kairi’s wedding would be like.

Please share and comment if you like want I write and if you have any requests for a story. Let me know.

#kingdommad #kingdomhearts #kh #friendship #riku #sora #sora and kairi #brothers #best man #destiny trio

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minijenn · 5 years

Text

And now, cause im bored, here's every chapter of Keys briefly summed up in just a few words each (possible spoilers ahead??)

Prologue: The Thirteen Keys: MoM fucks with his students, what else is new

Chapter 1: Remaining Recusant: Riku rescues his boyfriend through the power of Gay

Chapter 2: To Guard the Light: Bunch of boring lore but Sokai makes it worth it

Chapter 3: To Seek the Darkness: Organization shenanigans; Vanitas divorces his shitty, abusive not-dad

Chapter 4: Hero to Zero: Uhhhhh fuckin' Hercules or somethin idk

Chapter 5: Go the Distance: Rage Mode angst is Fun

Chapter 6: Wandering in the Dark: Riku gets a haircut in the Realm of Darkness and Sora really needs to stop lying to everyone

Chapter 7: Promising Beginnings: Kairi and Lea are forced to wear a "get along" shirt

Chapter 8: Lazy Afternoon Streets: Sora has an Identity Crisis part 1

Chapter 9: At Dusk: YA STUPID ORG XIII FUCKHEADS BEST LEAVE MY SON ALONE OR ELSE ILL THROW HANDS

Chapter 10: Sinister Whispers: ^^^ BASICALLY THAT AGAIN ONLY I MEAN IT THIS TIME

Chapter 11: You've Got a Friend in Me: Being a living toy has gotta create some sorta existential crisis, right?

Chapter 12: To Infinity and Beyond: JEN IS GONNA THROW HANDS WITH YOUNG XEHANORT I SWEAR TO GOD I AM

Chapter 13: Chase the Shadows: Detectives Mickey and Riku play a round of "Where's Terra?" And fail miserably

Chapter 14: Paradise Found: Fun with Balloons and Grumpy Geriatrics

Chapter 15: Adventure is Out There: Sora may or may not fall to his death from ridiculously high up in the air i dont fuckin know

Chapter 16: Unspoken, Unheard: Kairi writes Sora a bunch of letters cause she loves him so much but wont say it cause she shy ahah

Chapter 17: How Far I'll Go: MOANA AND SORA ARE MY NEW BROTP

Chapter 18: Know Who You Are: Vanitas gets yeeted by the Ocean cause he a naughty boyo

Chapter 19: The Streets of San Fransokyo: Sora doesnt understand how Technology works what else is new?

Chapter 20: Immortals: everything's all fun and games until Sora's dumbass self-sacrifical complex kicks in (again)

Chapter 21: Depths of Despair: LOOKS LIKE I GOTTA THROW HANDS WITH MALEFICENT NOW TOO

Chapter 22: Rise and Fall and Rise Again: Sora and Kairi hang out and DAMMIT JUST KISS ALREADY YOU DORKS

Chapter 23: The Lost Empire: Lingering Will pops in to say hi and also uhhhh whatever the fuck happens in Atlantis goes down idk

Chapter 24: Where the Dream Takes You: Sora may or may not have PTSD, boi should probs go see a therapist

Chapter 25: Drowning in Darkness: Aqua throws hands then proceeds to get Norted

Chapter 26: I See the Light: Basically KH3's take on Corona but things actually make sense this time

Chapter 27: What Once Was Mine: In which that bit from KH3 where Marluxia knocks Sora out actually leads to some legit payoff smh

Chapter 28: Firsthand Experience: Kairi and Lea take a trip to Disney World and yeet Vanitas (again) right the fuck outta there

Chapter 29: The World Es Mi Familia: Being an (unliving) skeleton also is bound to raise an existential crisis, right?

Chapter 30: Recuérdame: I cry while writing this chapter, both for my baby Xion and because Coco is just that damn tearjerking

Chapter 31: Destined Reunion: ALL THE POLY DESTINY TRIO FEELS

Chapter 32: Something There: At this point even Riku be lookin at Sora and Kairi and shouting "KISS ALREADY YOU ADORABLE DORKS"

Chapter 33: Tale as Old as Time: Sora commits an Actual Murder (am i kidding? Who knooooows)

Chapter 34: The Realm of Darkness: DARK AQUA CAN STEP ON MAH FACE IMO

Chapter 35: Rise to the Light: Great, now Aqua has PTSD too, thanks for nothin, Mickey

Chapter 36: Return to Depart: Sora has another Identity Crisis, part 2

Chapter 37: Broken Chains: Vanitas challenges Sora and Ven to a fight in the Denny's parking lot and fucking loses what else is new

Chapter 38: So This is Love: YES THEY FINALLY KISSED THOSE DORKS

Chapter 39: Almost There: Frogs and also like... Voodoo and so many BBS callbacks so damn many

Chapter 40: Dig a Little Deeper: Sora is too damn stubborn to admit he needs help what else is new

Chapter 41: Follow the Light: Wayfinder Family Reunion saves my life

Chapter 42: Solving Mysteries, Rewriting History: Sora and Goofy meet Donalds family (who then proceed to take the piss outta Donald cause this is Ducktales fam why wouldnt they)

Chapter 43: The Other Promise: Sora has yet another Identity Crisis, part 3

Chapter 44: Vector to the Heavens: Sora and Roxas drink their "Respect and Protect Xion" juice

Chapter 45: Another Arabian Night: Sora, Roxas, and Xion fuck around in a B-list Disney Direct to Video Sequel

Chapter 46: Out of Thin Air: GONNA THROW HANDS WITH XEHANORT HIMSELF THIS TIME AROUND GET AWAY FROM MY SON YA OLD FUCKHEAD

Chapter 47: Alone on the Run: Sora has a Bad Time, Riku and Kairi also have a Bad Time, generally everyone has a Bad Time

Chapter 48: Trust No One: Ven and Roxas add onto the never ending Twin Pile that apparently exists in Gravity Falls

Chapter 49: Not What He Seems: I KNOW ITS NOT UF BUT LOOKS LIKE I GOTTA THROW HANDS WITH BILL CIPHER ANYWAY SOMEHOW

Chapter 50: A Heart Torn Between: Vanitas learns that Girls exist while Sora continues to have a Very Bad Time

Chapter 51: Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride: Riku's goin on a twink hunt, and dont think he dont know how to weeeeed em out

Chapter 52: Aloha 'Oe: Sora and Riku get into a bit of a lover's spat dont worry about it its nothin serious dont worry about it

Chapter 53: Treasured Memories: Namine is the Very First Person Ever to tell Vanitas he has emotional issues, its about damn time

Chapter 54: Let It Go: KAIRI'S FUCKIN PISSED SHE GONNA BRING HER DAMN DUMBASS WAYWARD BOYFRIEND HOME ALREADY DAMN also Sora hangs out with Elsa i guess

Chapter 55: Love Will Thaw: KAIRI KICKS EVERYONES ASSES INCLUDING SORA'S CAUSE LIKE I SAID SHES FUCKIN PISSED

Chapter 56: Back Into the Fold: Sora doesnt have an Identity Crisis anymore but he sure as hell has Anxiety now, part 4

Chapter 57: Farewell to the Wood: Absolute tone whiplash, brought to you by Winnie the Pooh and Sora's ongoing Existential Crisis too

Chapter 58: Link to All: Everyone just cries a lot for an entire chapter cause they all know they boutta fuckin dieeeee

Chapter 59: Face My Fears: I systematically rip every single one of our protagonists hearts out and stomp on each of them with no remorse whatsoever

Chapter 60: Fragments of Light: The B-Squad saves the day

Chapter 61: The Thirteenth Vessel: Sora hangs out with his New Fam, otherwise known as Organization XIII, family fun ensues and it totally isnt a massive angstfest i dont know what you mean

Chapter 62: Key to the Heart: Riku and Kairi throw hands with their boyfriend while also trying to save their boyfriend it makes sense if ya dont think about it

Chapter 63: The Final World: Sora is McFuckin dead and chilling in heaven with a cute baby plushie cat (hey its not a spoiler if KH3 did it first)

Chapter 64: At Daybreak: "But Jen, if you hate KHX so much then why do you keep making so many references to it???" BECAUSE THATS WHY NOW SHUT UP

Chapter 65: The Keyblade War: Keyblade Fight Club, either you Die or you DIE

Chapter 66: Clash of Light and Darkness: Bunch of teenagers throw hands with some bald old fuckhead, but in the end nobody wins except me

Chapter 67: Kingdom Hearts: You know you're in for something fucking nuts when the chapter title is named after the entire series

Chapter 68: The King and the Crown: Jen pulls off a plot twist so mind blowingly ridiculous that it would probably make Tetsuya Nomura blush

Chapter 69: Reconnect: Everyone has a happy ending except no not really i lied

Chapter 70: Don't Think Twice: Oops I Lied again :)

Epilogue: Dearly Beloved: Fuck KH3's ending this is my new canon now

#this is such a shitpost #though im not lying about any of this stuff tbh #there are indeed spoilers in here if ya squint #jen writes #keys to the kingdom

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storm-driver · 7 years

Text

The Lost Union Leader and Keyblade War’s Time

Hiya. Back with another one of my lengthy theories. Let’s jump right in, shall we? Oh, fair warning, this is my stringing together 8 different theories into one. It’s gonna get confusing.

SPOILERS FOR KINGDOM HEARTS IN GENERAL: DON’T READ THIS UNLESS YOU’RE UP TO DATE ON EVERYTHING, THAT INCLUDES UNION CROSS.

Ever since the Union Cross update to Kingdom Hearts on mobile, we’ve been more concerned with the Keyblade War than ever. It was assumed that the mobile game had nothing to do with Kingdom Hearts’ true lore, specifically with Sora, Xehanort, etc. It was just a fun spin-off where you got to know how the Keyblade War started and what happened to those who fought in it. We were not prepared for a HUGE PLOT POINT to be dumped on us at the end of the season.

Ventus is chosen to help lead the remaining Keyblade wielders as a Union Leader.

Wha-? Why- NOMURA?!

Ventus, who we ASSUMED to be about 14 years old at the beginning of Birth by Sleep, appears to be MUCH OLDER than that if he was apart of the Keyblade War...

So Ventus is actually like centuries old, from the Keyblade War era, forgot about it, and then Birth by Sleep happened... How does that happen?

Prepare for my really long and convoluted answer, and I do have evidence to back this.

Ventus was banished from/thrown out of the World, into the Lanes Between, which at this point, is just dead space that WILL be occupied by splintered versions of the World.

“Banished? Why would anyone hurt the precious cinnamon roll Ventus?!”

Ventus has shown in Birth by Sleep that when he believes in something, he supports it relentlessly, willing to fight for it. People keep spouting on about how Terra is causing havoc in worlds while Ventus only continues to combat their words by saying Terra would never do something so horrific. He’s willing to fight Vanitas at the very beginning of his story just because his counterpart mentioned Terra being a different person.

When Aqua was about to be struck down by Vanitas, even when Ventus’ body was quite literally frozen and he was unable to act, he mustered up enough fire in himself to break the ice, stand up, and fight. And what kept him going in his fight? His love for Terra and Aqua and need to protect them.

So... when Ventus VERY CLEARLY shows concern over the idea to forget the war ever happened and not tell anyone what happened at the Keyblade Graveyard... you might guess that he continued to disagree.

He’s always one to stand up for what he believes is right. And with how headstrong Ephemera has shown to be, I have a feeling the two have conflicting opinions.

So what happens when Ventus decides that everyone DOES need to know about what really happened? How does Ephemera react to one who tries to break the rules that Master Ava clearly stated? You can probably guess that Ephemera turned on Ventus.

So, Ventus is banished/something or other from the Union Cross realm because he has a disagreement with Ephemera about forgetting the past and acting as if it never happened.

Now, to address an issue we’ve had since the beginning: how can Ventus possibly be ALIVE during Birth by Sleep if he was only about 14 years old then and the Keyblade War was centuries ago?

Look at this screencap, and compare it to others...

Ventus looks awfully young? His hair is much shorter, eyes wider. You can complain that his hair only looks like that because it’s Union Cross graphics but... didn’t Roxas get a model, as well?

EVERYONE knows that Roxas is basically identical to Ventus... so... why aren’t they identical in character models? Well, because at THIS point, Ventus is a CHILD.

Obviously, children can be defined as being under the age of 18, but I mean he looks like he’s maybe 9 or 10 years old. That places this to be at about 4 years before Birth by Sleep even took place.

“WHOA WHOA WHOA, HOLD UP, YOU’RE NOT GONNA-”

I’M NOT. THIS DID NOT HAPPEN JUST AS BIRTH BY SLEEP STARTED, I SWEAR. This is what’s killing my theory, ‘cause I have no definite place for the Keyblade War to be placed. I can’t prove if the war happened 10 days or 10 years before Birth by Sleep started because it... doesn’t make sense? Ventus, if he was conscious, should’ve aged like any other person and should be much older if the case is that this takes place any time relatively near BBS... And there it is.

VENTUS WASN’T CONSCIOUS WHEN HE WAS BANISHED. Something happened to his heart that placed his body into a comatose state, much like it’s in now, so that it would not age. What... what do I think happened?

I think a certain cinnamon roll got into a rough fight with a skilled Keyblade wielder and lost... Ventus wasn’t banished. He had his heart damaged. And to hide the evidence that Ephemera hurt a fellow leader over a disagreement, they disposed of his comatose body, believing he was dead.

I know I’m going on a bit of stretch here, but bare with me. This only starts to make sense.

With Ventus being gone, people of his Union, assuming he even had time to start one, would clearly be concerned. Outbreak and concern for what happened to their leader, their friend. Such a nice person who believed to bring out the good in everyone, where could he have gone?

I have reason to believe that some sort of default in the new Union Leaders led to the real downfall of the World. You can clearly see when Ephemera and company are talking, the World is... still kinda intact? The Keyblade War didn’t cause the World’s to be shrouded in Darkness, but something between the leaders did. What happened rippled through the Keyblade wielders, hurt them, made them lose hope. What could cause so much pain rather than hearing that one of their only hopes of survival was just... thrown to the side, supposedly killed, because they disagreed?

Union Cross has never shown once that the war was fought over the X-Blade, like we’ve been led to believe so far. Rather it was fought because the looming threat of darkness, accompanied by the idea of a traitor, was enough to create conflict and hatred between the Unions.

So when Ephemera learns of this so called X-Blade that has the ability to call upon Kingdom Hearts itself, you think he’d try to use it to restore the World to it’s natural, friendly state, to FORGET the past and act like it never happened?

Absolutely.

And when Skuld and the others tell Ephemera that calling Kingdom Hearts is forbidden, you think they’ll fight him over it?

ABSOLUTELY.

And when that all backfires and the X-Blade is destroyed, plunging Kingdom Hearts and the World itself into darkness, you think that coincides with the story about the X-Blade being the real cause of the Keyblade War?

ABSOLUTELY!!!!

I’m not even done, kids, ‘CAUSE NOW WE’RE ONTO THE TIMELINE.

Kingdom Hearts as a series has done it’s best to state when each game takes place. But for some reason... they left Union Cross out of it? We’re told constantly that THIS era is known as the “Age of Fairytales,” or just a VERY long time ago. But that’s never branched out on... Nothing about years, dates, no reports to back anything. We’re just told it happened and it was a long time ago.

Why is that? Aside from Dream Drop Distance, we’re basically told exactly when everything happens in this series (it’s assumed Dream Drop Distance takes place roughly 8 months after Kingdom Hearts II, since it states Sora is 16 while in KH2 he was 15). What’s wrong with giving us a time span? Just saying a thousand years does a lot for us, but because they didn’t mention it... it’s led me to believe that this game occurs sometime within the past 100 or so years of Birth by Sleep.

I’VE GOT EVIDENCE, JUST WAIT.

Leading bit of evidence that never made any God damn sense to me since I learned about it: how old Kairi is.

That sounds really creepy, but it applies to all the Princesses of Heart. Assuming each Princess is between the age range of 9 to 24, since Alice is one of the youngest and Aurora is the oldest, that becomes... oddly suspicious of when each Princess’ heart was born.

We are given confirmation in Dream Drop Distance that each world runs on a different time-axis. So specific age doesn’t really matter. But isn’t it weird, how if the X-Blade was shattered over thousands of years ago, only just now are the pure light pieces of it being reborn?

Yes. It’s very disturbing, but if you think about it, it works. The World is recovered and the fragments of the X-Blade begin to be dispersed into the hearts of young maidens so that the X-Blade may exist again one day. This should only take, if we think about this, about 100 years if we consider the different time axises.

So the Princesses of Heart are much too young and too close of age for this War to even be a thousand years old. It had to have happened within a lifetime.

SPEAKING OF LIFETIMES, LUXU, HOW’S IT GOING? Yeah, even that mysterious dolt ties into this whole mess! Remember at the beginning of 0.2 where we saw that really cool cutscene of Luxu standing in the Keyblade Graveyard where Kingdom Hearts was being summoned?

Yeah, I bet you-! wait what

Kingdom Hearts.... summoned? When... When did that happen during the Keyblade War? Oh right, IT DIDN’T.

In fact, let’s compare cutscenes for a moment.

I’m gonna give you a screencap of Luxu in the Keyblade Graveyard, spectating a pillar of rock where Kingdom Hearts waits at the top.

Here’s a RATHER SIMILAR screencap of Aqua and Ventus in the Keyblade Graveyard, spectating a pillar of rock where Kingdom Hearts waits at the top.

Are... are you serious? Luxu, or whoever the hell that is, was there when Aqua, Terra, and Ventus fight Xehanort...

“Pffft, bet those rocks were there during the Keyblade War.”

My dear reader, I hate to call you out, but those rock formations weren’t natural... XEHANORT DID THAT.

SO LUXU WAS THERE, WHEN KINGDOM HEARTS WAS SUMMONED BY XEHANORT. How on earth could he be there... unless the events of Union Cross were recent... so Luxu could still be ALIVE.

I’m gonna call myself out before anyone else does, but the one reason this specific cutscene scenario doesn’t work out is ‘cause the Keyblade Luxu is holding is supposed to be Xehanort’s at this point... Besides that one time in 358/2 Days when Roxas summoned two Kingdom Keys at once, I really don’t have an explanation, so I’m sorry if this isn’t satisfying. The only other time I could think of this screencap taking place is during the first summoning of Kingdom Hearts, when the World fell to darkness. But even so, it doesn’t explain the rock formations...

So, that’s my long theory. I did come up with some answers to a few lingering questions:

-What happened to Ventus when his heart was broken?

My guess is that he wasn’t as broken as they thought and he was able to kinda just hibernate until his heart mended itself. He was most likely drifting in the empty void till Xehanort found him and brought him somewhere safe.

-Wouldn’t Ventus remember Ephemera and friends then?

Well... no. A broken heart is gonna have some repercussions on a person. Odds are he forgot a bit about what had happened, so Xehanort just trained him till he remembered how to fight. And then when he found Ventus couldn’t do what he wanted him to, he broke him even more.

-That cutscene’s rock pillar isn’t identical to the other one...

For the love of God, that cutscene is like 10 years old versus this new, 7 month old one. That was the cutscene before they finalized Ventus’ fighting style, since he’s holding his Keyblade in the wrong hand.

-Didn’t Luxu have to pass on the Keyblade?

I had a really long tangent about how he was probably Xehanort and Eraqus’ Master or maybe someone he trained was the Master, and that the Keyblade he passes on wasn’t actually meant to be wielded but Xehanort defied an order and whatnot, but that got really ridiculous. Yes, he probably did pass on the Keyblade, but if that guy isn’t Luxu, I don’t know who it is. And if it is Luxu, I don’t know HOW he has that Keyblade. And if that ISN’T the time when Aqua, Terra, and Ventus fought Xehanort, I really don’t know when...

So, here’s our recap:

-Ventus was thrown out of the Union Cross realm and entered a comatose state in the Lanes Between.

-Ventus had a disagreement with Ephemera over telling the Keyblade wielders about what happened during the War and injured his heart in the process. Because of this, he was thrown out.

-The discourse left behind when Ventus disappeared combined with Ephemera’s desperation to save the remaining Keyblade wielders led to Ephemera trying to use Kingdom Hearts to restore the land.

-When everyone disagreed with Ephemera, the X-Blade was shattered and the World fell to darkness.

-The Princesses of Heart started a short time after the world was restored by the light in the hearts of children. This would allow for the recreation of the X-Blade in time to come.

-Because of this, the events of the Keyblade War and Union Cross had to have happened within a lifetime of Birth by Sleep.

-To further back this, Luxu is seen spectating the fight of Terra, Aqua, and Ventus versus Xehanort and Vanitas.

#THIS WAS A DOOZY #BUT IT WAS FUN TO WRITE #kingdom hearts #my post #theory #kh

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