The long-awaited Larxene Sequence post. Ah yes. The sequence that starts in Corona and ends in Deep Space. And while I could have talked about it a little bit at a a time in the last two posts I did, I elected not to.
Gosh, I don't even know how long ago it was now. A year, two? But rar was talking about a crack sequence where her Riku (the Riku Replica from KH canon) comes back to the original universe (mine circa pre-3D) to take revenge on Larxene. I saw her talking about it on Tumblr and I was like... "so what were you planning on doing with that?" And she told me and I said "well, how about we just make that canon"
And I'm so glad I did.
I integrated it into the rough outline for Remnants when I made the outline over a year ago. About six months ago (maybe it was eight though, time gets screwy in my head because of how many states I've lived in this year) she and I sat down and really fleshed out what happens when. This is terribly important because we're dealing with cross-universe travel where my universe runs on average three times faster. Which is why we've got Larxene stuff going on in my universe so back-to-back but in hers there were a couple of chapters in between parts.
We elected to each write different POVs of the same things so that way they could be integrated into Remnants and All that Remains. That way we weren't messing with Some Things You Can't Escape and still had coherent story arcs without making you guys jump between fics.
So it starts in Corona. The Namine Replica and the other Kairi show up in my universe. It's decided that Namine, Kairi, and Riku are going to go. Ironically, that makes for two Kairis, two Namines, and two Rikus in the same scene. But hey, it's amusing. My Namine went because I wanted the two of them to interact and her going after him as he's trying to take revenge is much more poignant than her going to rescue him from Larxene. (Heck, that might just be insult to injury.) Riku went because of all the darkness floating around and he's the best one for the job. And who doesn't love two powerousing Kairi's going around?
The counting scene between Namine and the Riku Replica came from another fanfic I read about their time in Castle Oblivion. Though it's not touched on much in either rar's or my universe... their time sucked. It sucked a lot. He got rewritten, a lot. They hid from Larxene... a lot. They came up with tricks to fight through the pain--that's one of them.
The action went into Riku's POV because I wanted a variance of POVs and I knew I wanted Namine for the aftermath. And Kairi was responsible for the Corona POV. So Riku got this bit. But it worked well because then he could see what was going on between Namine and the Riku Replica and he's pretty invested because he's been through CO too. Anyone who remembers CO is changed. Heck, Sora's changed and he doesn't remember it.
I don't know why I write for Larxene so well. But I do. And I hate myself a little. But at the same time I bounce up and down with excitement because yay writing!
She's so messed up from the darkness, too. It's disgusting.
Then we get Namine arguing with the Namine Replica over who should be responsible for taking blows made for Riku. And they can really only agree on "he shouldn't" . Namine and the Riku Replica get to reconcile a bit. Because, she's happy he's alive. She's happy she didn't screw him up. She's happy he's moved on, because she didn't return his affection. (She knew it wasn't real and she didn't really have affection for anyone at that point.) At the same time, she tells the Riku Replica that she's moved on from being afraid of Larxene--because if there's one thing that Namine's done, even since All the Pieces, it's get stronger and less afraid. I'm so happy with her character development. And this scene really encapsulates it.
Then comes the next chapter, which was stuff I knew had to be discussed, but rar and I decided that it didn't need to happen in front of the Riku Replica. And this is the stuff about Namine and shattering. And how she doesn't want to touch Larxene's memories. At all. She's messed with Xehanort's a bit, but she doesn't want to touch Larxene. She doesn't want to relive any of that. She doesn't want to see what happened to her and the Riku Replica through Larxene's eyes. She doesn't want to put herself through that--and I. Don't. Blame. Her.
That whole thing started when rar and I were talking about who was actually going to kill Larxene. Naturally, the idea of Namine shattering Larxene came up. And neither Namine nor I liked the idea. That is why.
The next chapter of this sequence is the Larxene POV chapter. I don't really know why I decided to do that, but Larxene was presenting me with information, so I took it. I took her anger, her crazy, her messed up mind, and I wrote a chapter out of it. She's scared of a couple of things (her emotions included) and angry at everything else. And she's going to take it out on the Riku Replica. Because he started it.
Vexen's bit was great, too. Because Vexen at first is just like "oh, I wasn't aware that we had any Larxene Replicas left" and Riku's like "that's the actual Larxene because I may have tried to murder her in cold blood." But then Vexen gets a golden moment and gets to protect Riku and it's great. Not that it was terribly effective--but he tried!
Then Vexen, Aerith, and Namine show up in my universe and take Axel, Roxas, and Xion with them to go save Riku from Larxene. Axel literally just went because he wanted to mess with Vexen. Because Axel's on his own side. Yup.
Axel and Larxene opposing each other is a beautiful thing. Because they have a history. That whole CO thing. Axel goes into his pattern of lazy defense. And then he goes and forms his specialty of vertical dark corridors to allow Riku to fall through and right into his arms. Because Axel's good at that sort of thing. Oh man, and the whole "got it memorized" thing that he does to Aerith. Golden. Same with him saying that he should have killed Larxene back in CO. Any of the times. Because the last time, he just sent her to Atlantica. And he's probably regretting that right about now. But hey, it's time to finish her once and for all.
I have to admit, Roxas and Xion aren't necessarily out of their league, but they really don't know what to do with Larxene. Neither of them know her all that well. Not like Axel or Vexen who have histories with her. Gosh. The history between the three of them is rich.
"Stop throwing your ice where I'm throwing my fire and we won't have this problem."
Because they would.
Then comes the big reveal of Vexen. I don't entirely remember why I wanted him to keep that secret. Maybe so there could be a big reveal. Maybe because Larxene might throw less hatred in his direction. But he kept it from her and then she got to realize through his caring about Riku who he was. Fun times.
Larxene being distressed about potentially being an experiment of his is a glorious thing.
And then Vexen's the one to kill her. Because rar and I decided that was appropriate. But she talked about that on her blog, so I'll just leave it at that.
And for once, Axel doesn't take all the credit. But he demands that Vexen thank him. And Vexen thanks him without a second thought because Vexen is indeed helpful but "Don't make me say it again, Axel." Because yeah.
Kay, I think I'm out of juice for this, but I did talk a lot. I hope you enjoyed what is probably one of my top three sequences in this whole fic.
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