More Plotting

So I left off yesterday after some reposting of an old conversation between me and rar.  I thought I might continue what I have of that for your guys' benefit.  Because, honestly, there's a lot of good stuff about how the whole idea for Zerith's wedding came up.  

Though, tbh, I almost wished I'd remembered this whole conversation when I wrote the chapter of Aerith's wedding day, because that first line there is beautiful! Then again, I do like it better where there's some week-before set-up, and the line wouldn't have flowed with all that leading into it.

magik: "it was in a church--Aerith's doing... Zack didn't care (would have married her on the moon for all he cared)" nice, simple... She'd probably settle for Yuffie, Tifa, and Rinoa for the bridesmaids.  Zack would have Cloud, Leon, and I'd think of a third person

rar: shoot since when were there THREE flies?? sorry i just, we had two and killed one but now there's two

magik: they do this thing called breeding. I'm channeling hades, apparently. 

rar: yeah but they're all big and have only been around for this afternoon??

magik: I"M NOT WRITING FOR HIM TOMORROW DARNIT< I"M WRITING CLOUD AND TIFA

rar: I'M SORRY

magik: and sephiroth

rar: THAT'S FRUSTRATING

magik: i need to get in a sephiroth mood

rar: write Hades anyway??? ??? just write it now. go back and do cloud later

magik: no, because then i either A) have to get into Mickey's head or B) have Aqua hover over his shoulder. the time for hades will come. he just needs to hush.

rar: okay, just trying to help

magik: but i need to deal heavily with mickey for that chapter

rar: riiight

FYI: This was the Hades' attack on Disney Castle sequence.  Just for anyone wondering.  I changed Donald/Daisy's wedding into Zerith's wedding very early on into Remnants.  But I am SO SO SO happy with that change.  

This here is some more plotting for the Cloud arc:

magik: hmm... do i want to throw Cloud into Agrabah?

rar: idk? you could

magik: thank you, Tifa, for that line

rar: what line? 

magik: "Cloud, we are wandering around in the desert, and for what?"

rar: stick 'em in Agrabah then

magik: because like, he'd park his bike, and then just start wandering aimlessly, though Tifa knows it's not aimless

rar: how'd they get back to the bike?? he should not lose track of it. just saying, that'd be bad

magik: Tifa can get herself right to it.

rar: goooood point

magik: Cloud just doesn't ask. Tifa's "job" is to go get the bike and save Cloud's butt.

rar: ha yeah 

Because that was before Tifa'd really revealed to anyone that she could form light corridors.  Not that it's a huge deal, but as a point of reference. 

And this upcoming bit was some plot arc that I'd intended on using for Sora.  It kind of made its way in, but not entirely.  

magik: spam you some feels about charrie development: because Sora... Sora's got a darkness problem. not huge, but it's there. because he no longer has so much light in his heart. yup, it's a thing. and while it's not a "problem"

rar: oh yeah, now that Ven's gone

magik: it's a problem in the fact that he has NO IDEA how he's supposed to take care of it, so he has to learn

rar: thaaaaaaaaaaaat's true

magik: and Riku and Kairi have to help him through it, once he admits he needs help. I think it's the only topic he and Kairi fight on, actually. And Kairi... Kairi's learning how to wield a Keyblade, and that's all find and dandy. but then there's Xion, and Xion's just amazing because she's a perf replica

rar: of course

magik: and kairi knows that xion and roxas technically wielded before her and it shouldn't matter, but it does. And Roxas, who just spent a year training and that's all he did. and Kairi's just like... "why can't I be that good?" and then there's Riku... 

rar: (they do have like a year on her tho. both of them. I GET KAIRI'S FEELS I'M JUST SAYING)

magik: shh... it shouldn't matter but it does to her, anyway... but then there's Riku who's kinda just quietly bettering himself

rar: that's Riku for you

magik: he's over most of his demons/skeletons. he's coping. except for when he's not. he and Namine get locked in this "you need to stop being so hard on yourself" thing, because they're both struggling with it. and idk about Roxas and Xion's development at the moment, outside of them wanting to become masters. it'll come to me

but then there's Axel, who gets a double-whammy of character development. first of all, because he's finally coping with everything that involved Isa/Saix, which is huge and major. then he thinks that it's weird that he's included in Sora's friends because, sometimes, he sees himself as the enemy, still. anyway, i'm sorry, did I saw two, i think I meant three... the third one involves Kuin but not in a romantic way, in a "i need to respect you" way, because that whole thing with Xehanort and she has to come to terms with that, and apologize, and realize that she can't do it alone. And Axel can respect her for that

Wow, that was a lot of character talk.  As you can see, a lot of that made it into the 115 chapter monstrosity that is Remnants.  Some of that didn't.  

I never really did deal with Sora's darkness problem.  It came up a bit.  Here and there.  But not overly so.  I think I'd wanted to include it because I knew that Ven was no longer in Sora's heart anymore, and Sora had less light to combat the darkness--plus, Nomura had hinted at stuff like that for KH3.  Well, it didn't make it in to the extent that I'd originally thought it would.  Sure, in my headcanon, he and Kairi probably do argue about it a bit.  I just never wrote it because it never really seemed to flow.  Sora's optimistic and happy, and he wants the best for everyone.  When he worries, it's not because he has darkness problems, it's because he's trying to figure out how he's going to kill four people--all of whom he's killed before and now he has to kill them again.  He's afraid of Xehanort getting one of them and it never once occurs to him that Xehanort'll come for him, too.  At least, not until Xehanort does do that.  

Meanwhile, Kairi's apprehensions about Roxas and Xion being amazing do show up, when it comes time for them to take their Mark exam.  But even that worry was lessened because Kairi is reminded that different people are good at different things.  

Riku and Namine do have this "you need to stop being so hard on yourself" for literally everything.  But, honestly, the best interactions between them are when they're dealing with the aftermath of her shattering Marluxia and her throwing Xehanort from her head.  Good, solid, conversations.

Roxas and Xion are quietly adorable on their way to becoming masters.

Ah yes, and Axel and Kuin.  I'll talk about that now.  Sometime during Betwixt/Between, I realized that trying to pair Axel with Kuin just wasn't going to work.  It might have worked in someone's vague crack-fic after AtP had BB never been written.  But Axel being who he is and Kuin being who she is meant that that two of them would never be a healthy relationship.  And I wasn't in the mood to write an unhealthy one.  So I turned them into rivals and acquaintances, who'd never pursue anything romantically.  It felt better that way.  

Also, it let me subtly ship Akurokushi.  One of my biggest OT3s as of late. My final chapter does contain a reference to that.  

I'll continue in another (and probably final) blog about wedding traditions. 

Destiny Islands (Chapters 102-106)

I suppose I knew from the beginning that at some point I was going to try and Nort Sora.  And I had to wonder where the best place for that showdown--the penultimate showdown--to take place.  I eventually decided that Destiny Islands would be perfect for so many reasons.  Destiny Islands is home and Xehanort is really hitting close to home here.  Plus, it ruins their vacation because I'm mean like that.

I started out the arc calmly enough, with Riku and Namine talking to Riku's mom about what was going to happen next, and then comes the word from Kairi that something's going on.  And, at this point, Sora is still fine.  Because you don't necessarily know yet that he is who Xehanort is going after.  But you can probably guess through process of elimination.

Riku, Roxas, Axel, Xion, and Namine have already been attempted.  Kairi is untouchable.  That leaves Sora.  Sora, who Riku explains does not have the immunities to darkness that other people like Riku himself and Axel have had time to build.  And poor Sora is so oblivious to it all, because to him, the Remnant is going to go after Riku again, because that's who he's always gone after.  But not this time.  But as soon as he realizes that it's him the Remnant is after, he's still fired-up to protect himself because he's not stupid.

So how do you start the norting process of the most fun-loving and optimistic kid ever? You start planting seeds of despair in his friends, who he relies on for power.  And then you give them despair, and you do it better than Sephiroth.

I goofed a little, because right after that chapter, I had some daily life going on in Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden.  And it wasn't even that whole contrast thing, it was legit I wasn't thinking about the overall flow, I was just braiding arcs together and I sort of goofed that one.  So, after that whole crushing despair you've got Rinoa and Squall fluff, Denzel life, and Yuffie stream of consciousness.  The chapter was there to symbolize a little bit that life in HB/RG is getting better and their all planning for their futures.  And it gives a background to the following chapter from their arc when they all realize that something horrible is going on, I just feel that I might have placed it wrong and it should have gone before the chapter on Destiny Islands.

Because now, back to Destiny Islands and that crushing despair.  I chose Kairi's POV because I felt that she would give the best portrayal of literally how awful it is that Sora's about to be norted.  Riku was good for the first chapter, and now it's Kairi's turn.  Because those three. Are amazing.  And so interconnected.

Some of Kairi's Princess of Heart perks come into play as well, with her being light in the darkness.  And then she has the task of convincing everyone else that Sora is worth saving and dismantling the lies that the Xehanort Remnant is feeding them.

Then Kairi faces Norted Sora. And it's disgusting and horrifying, but she stands her ground.

Kudos a bit to me for the whole "stopping" thing, because that's a bit of a reference to Rinoa in the Prequel.  And funnily enough, Kairi had just been thinking about Rinoa.  I have a thing.  Sorry.  Moving on.

I am also completely a fan of the line "I suppose I should help, little shit did save my life once or twice" from Axel.

And then, instead of doing the whole they fight Nort in Sora's body on the outside while Sora fights Nort on the inside, I decided to go for them all just fighting Nort on the inside for something different.  It's not like they're not all connected or anything.

Switch gears to HB/RG again.  The first bit is a bit awkward again with Shera and Cid.  That probably should have gone in the previous chapter with the HB gang.  I like seriously wasn't thinking very hard on that.  But for the moment, enjoy all of that Cid/Shera fluff.  Because they're cute.

Then we get into Cloud's healing, followed very closely by everyone feeling Xehanort Norting Sora.  And how much a person was affected is directly correlated to their connection with Sora.  So someone like Rinoa or Zack, who has minimal connection with Sora, only feels it a little bit, where people like Aerith and Squall feel it a lot more.  And someone like Ven practically collapses with it.

Then, Roxas' POV for the rest of the battle.  Brief mention of Xigbar being allowed to escape the battle of Castle Oblivion, because had he been killed they theoretically wouldn't be in their current predicament.  Riku and Xehanort bantering like old rivals is a disgustingly beautiful thing.  And yeah, they kind of are still fighting Xehanort in Sora's body in Sora's heart, but it's another layer still.

They knock Xehanort out by reminding Sora who his friends are. Terra, Aqua, and Ven join them.

And, I don't really know what to say about Sora casually having a Keyblade through his chest.  It's a wonderful thing.  But how I wrote it is probably the best explanation you're going to get.  And so they banish him from having a Keyblade and Sora surrenders him to the darkness pretty much.

And then Xigbar shows up.  I don't remember exactly if I had planned on Xigbar showing up from the beginning, but I definitely decided somewhere in there that having Xigbar showing up and shooting Xehanort in the face was a really satisfying way of doing things.  There's some other stuff that went into this, but I can't talk about it just yet.  But it has to do with Xigbar.

And, I'll think I'll leave it at that for now.  Not very many chapters left anymore.  It's weird.

Halloweentown (Chapters 89-93)

So this whole section starts with Axel sitting in the Gummi ship as they're all on their way to Halloween Town.  Yes, they're totally on their way to Halloween Town to go to Christmas Town so that Sora can prove to Riku that Santa exists.  That whole thing started as something that I honestly think was suggested in a review in AtP and I literally did not get around to it until now.  (Yet again a thing that was supposed to go in Betwixt and Between but didn't.)

The arc obviously expanded out after that.  It got placed this far into the fic because it wasn't a huge major plot point that needed to happen any specific time, and especially after I decided that this was where Marlynort was going down, that influenced my decision to put it here.

So, Axel on the gummi ship.  I think one of the most interesting things that came out of this chapter was Axel contemplating what time had done to him versus Leon.  Leon's still on everyone's minds after almost getting Norted in Traverse Town.  This gets the wheels in Axel's brain turning a lot because he's had several close calls with Xehanort as it is already.  Plus, he knew Leon from when they were kids on Radiant Garden.  So that's gotta be trippy.

Giving everyone new outfits for Halloween Town was interesting.  I wish I could draw better to do those... but it literally takes too much effort for me to do that right now.  Sad day.  If only I had more time.  If you want to do that though, feel free.

Anyway, then the HB gang talking about going and getting kids for the school.  Denzel is adorable.  Just saying.  Also, sticking Yuffie on a team with Leon is just amusing.  Because Rinoa's obviously not going to go because her arm hasn't quite healed yet.  Plus, Yuffie deserves to go places, I've been writing this whole thing so long where she always gets told no.  Denzel knows she gets told no a lot.  But here we go, Yuffie getting told yes.  Yay!

And then, Aerith and Zack discussing wedding plans.  And Yuffie just quietly listening in, kind of grossed out by the whole thing but at the same time rooting so hard for them it's not even funny.  And Denzel's just so surprised at how many Worlds there are.  And I actually think Yuffie does go and travel the Worlds a bit after Hollow Bastion is restored.  Not that I'm going to write that far.... (I say that now... and then we'll see where I am in two years.)

And then MINNIE AND MICKEY FLUFF which is honestly what I live for sometimes oh my gosh.

And then we've got Terra, Aqua, and Ven getting a nice break and a vacation.  With Ven all like "This isn't quite the life that I dreamed of... but this is basically the life I dreamed of."  Beautiful.  I love giving them a break because they've had such a hard time.  My babby's oh goodness.

And then we're in Christmas Town.  With new outfits again (though these one's you've probably seen examples of all over the interwebs.)  And then, they don't see Santa for long when Marlynort shows up.  And then things get real.  The line "Well, Santa, either we destroy your entire office, or we break a window" is probably one of my favorite lines.  And Santa's just like "Oh break the window."

Cue fight sequence.  It surprisingly wasn't a long one.  I could have probably made it longer, but I always struggle with whether or not it's good to write long battles with loads of detail, or shorter ones with a comparable amount of detail.  I don't want you guys to be reading battle forever.  So, I settled on a shorter one with a few Combo name drops and the whole focus being on whether or not Namine was going to be able to Shatter Marlynort.

But she was.

A++++++++ to Namine.  Overcome girl!

Then, switch gears to Cid and Shera talking about rebuilding his workshop.  Bringing back loads of things.  Woot.  Tifa and Aerith talking some more about the wedding because that's what happens when there's a wedding on the horizon.

Ah yes, then Kuin running into a Remnant.  That obviously wasn't going to be a big huge deal because the Remnant knows he can't get Kuin because of who she is--flexor, perfect balance of light and darkness--so he doesn't try.  He honestly just wants to stay clear of her because he knows she wants him dead.  But they have a little battle and then he disappears.  I wasn't super clear on whether or not she killed him--but you can assume she didn't.  Because the Remnant's a jerk.  Not that it'd matter, because he'd just respawn.

And then Marlene's first day of school and running into the Moogle Girl! I couldn't resist!

Then we have aftermath of Namine shattering Marlynort.  And I tried to do a good job showing what it would have been like for her... but honestly... *I* don't know what that would have been like.  It's not like I have those powers or anything.  So I (like every other writer) made my best guess.  Based on what I've described Namine's powers as... it did require her to be picking and prying through the memories enough to have a good grasp to shatter.

I decided that Namine shattering him was an appropriate way for him to go.  After their history in Castle Oblivion and what Marluxia has become and who Namine has grown into.  It was fitting.  So hey, Marlynort is gone.

And I know I'm halfway through a chapter here... but the next bit goes straight into Castle Oblivion.  Which is the next arc and thus next blog post.  So I'll see you for the next blog.

Larxene Sequence (various chapters between 61 and 78)

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.

Deep Space (various chapters between 70 and 78)

Let's talk about Deep Space and not about Larxene, kay? Because I want to give the Larxene post a ton of justice and Ima put it off for one more post, kay?

Deep Space kind of got overshadowed by the Larxene sequence, but it's still just as vitally important.  It's not like Corona, which was kind of just there because the whole plot of that was Marlynort causing trouble while action was elsewhere.  There's a major plot point in Deep Space which is Xehanort attempting to Nort Terra.  Which is a Big Deal.

 But unrelated to even that at the moment, is how in Hollow Bastion, Aerith's house is FINALLY done expanding.  For once, I actually know how many bedrooms she's got there because I redid the entire top floor and just added more bedrooms because I knew they were going to need them.  (Simultaneously, Zack's changed the plans so that one of the bedrooms can become his and Aerith's room when they eventually get married.  Yup.  That happened.)  Also, Cid and Shera are adorable and it's great.  They'll be together working on crazy projects forever and I love them.

ALSO ALSO is Leon asking Cid for relationship advice because he doesn't have anyone else to ask and he just wants to know what to do with Rinoa.  And it makes me think back to in the Prequel where Cid's watching Zack and Aerith be all lovey-dovey and he has a passing thought that Leon'll never get a girlfriend and then Rinoa shows up and BAM, Leon doesn't know it yet, but she's gonna be his girlfriend.

And Cid as everyone's father figure even though he didn't want to be is just another level of great.

Anyway, so Deep Space.  More like, LILO AS A SPACE PILOT.  I read a headcanon on Tumblr a while ago that included that and I was just like... I NEED TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN.  So, uh, I did.  Her age is really something that I never ironed out, but whatever, she's still the youngest pilot ever amongst a whole ton of aliens and it's Super Cool.

And then Namine, Vexen, and Aerith show up and Axel's like: "Heheh, you're the real Vexen, I'm coming along to mess with you!" And then he volunteers Roxas and Xion while he's at it for maximized amazingness.

And THEN we have Ven, Aqua, and Terra showing up, which is just all sorts of beautiful because of their previous relationship with Deep Space and all that went on there.  And the glorious reunion that gets to happen (as a couple of you have mentioned.)

Stitch's language was fun, because I actually went to Disney's website for Tantalog: http://stitchdatabase.wikia.com/wiki/Tantalog_language and got all of my information from there.  It was a bit interesting working on sentences with structure that had all the appropriate words in them.  But it was a fun experiment.

And mixed in with all of this is Tifa trying to figure out what's up with Zack and Aerith but also a great fight with Hades.  I love integrating Tifa's future plans, because now that Aerith's house is done, everyone gets to think of the next projects and I'm setting things up for the end here.  Also, small commitment apples are something that my Hapkido instructor called small apples (or pears) and I just had to use the phrase.

I really loved the image of Cloud and Tifa barreling through the Betwixt and Between trying to get rid of Hades' hounds.  I think I got the idea from rar... But anyway... I realized that I couldn't really do it justice because I couldn't think of a way to write it that wouldn't be boring.  So instead I just had Cloud blame it on being old and then impulsively go and fight Hades.  Granted, he ended up with the Hero's Medallion on his own.  I remember writing that sequence and Cloud's like, yup, got it from Zack and I'm like "WHEN?!? I didn't write that!!!"

But anyway, back to the Remnant trying to destroy Terra's life.  I wanted a Remnant to try and Nort Terra from the very beginning, just not AT the beginning.  Because I wanted it to be one of the stronger ones... I wanted Terra to be stronger and I wanted the Remnant to be stronger.  The Remnant was probably banking on Terra's being successful, so he didn't try initially.  Terra, meanwhile, had more time for his heart to grow and recuperate.  And so then we get the really epic conversation in Terra's heart where he's trying to banish Xehanort.

But the line "How many times have you reincarnated yourself?" is just so amazing, because it's followed by "Only the one boy.  If it had been more, rest assured you wouldn't be here right now." "You'd better not be lying!" "I assure you, if I had more practice, you would have remained a vessel."

Xehanort is just so dang cocky! But he's also matter-of-fact and that whole scene just gave me shivers.

And then we've got Kuin actually running into Xigbar.  Xigbar who, before this, has literally just been beach-hopping and staying under everyone's radar.  He managed because most people forgot that he didn't survive the battle of Castle Oblivion.  I loved putting Kuin up against him because we've got two gunners who are full of themselves in different ways clashing and it leads to beautiful things.

Then we've also got Mickey going up against Marlynort.  Because Mickey's been up to a lot of things, which is what this chapter was supposed to address from the beginning, but then I figured that Marlynort should also be up to something, so hey, why not make a few things line up.  So Mickey fights Marlynort and gets an idea of what everyone's up against.

And then Xion, Axel, and Roxas return just in time for Terra to finish off his inner Xehanort.  And he's rid of Xehanort for good.  And all is well for Terra.

I feel like I should have more to say and I know I've done more in the past, but that's all I've got for right now.  Prepare for a Larxene Sequence post in the next few days.  

Twilight Town Feels (Chapters 53-57)

I'm breaking off this arc at 56 and not 58 because of what 57 is.  Jsyk.

I think originally, the Twilight Town arc wasn't going to be anything big.  Like, it was initially just going to be amusing because Cloud and Tifa are there on business with Barret and Marlene and Sora and the gang end up interrupting.  And it would all be fun and games.

And then I was putting in the Remnant's side of the story and placing important bits of the Larxene Sequence that I'm sure you're all dying to hear my thoughts about but I won't say anything about yet (I have things to catch up on!)... When I started placing the villains' sides of the story I realized that Twilight Town was going to be so much more.

Because that is where the Remnant successfully norts Marluxia.

And I don't care if you saw it coming or didn't see it coming.  I like the way it all played out.

Because first we've got the funsies of Cid building them a new ship.  (not initially planned, but then that blizzard in Arendelle happened and it just sort of went from there.)  This is then followed by the mundane act of clothes shopping and then food and chatting with Hayner, Pence, and Olette.

Then we have Cloud and Tifa going to talk to Barret and Marlene.  I almost forgot to include Denzel in this scene, and had to go back and rewrite the first half of the chapter to include him! I felt so bad! But he needed to be there and the scene certainly benefited from it.  Denzel and Marlene's interactions!

And then we've got Axel's POV with a really blase attitude towards the Remnant battle.  That is, until the Remnant goes for his heart.  And this isn't the first time that Axel's had his heart played with by Xehanort.  Xehanort played with Axel's darkness levels back in AtP.  Axel knows what's going on, but he doesn't even have room to be scared.

But Axel is saved because Larxene and Marluxia show up and the Remnant picks a new target.  Axel's a stubborn target for a plethora of reasons.  And Marluxia proves to be an easy target.  And the success of the norting gives everyone else a feeling of hopelessness.

Then, we interrupt that programming to see Aqua, Terra, and Ven in the Pride Lands.  This chapter was literally designed to give Aqua some time to think about what Xehanort had done.  That, and suggest that Xehanort is the reason why Scar turned into the person (lion) he did well before the fic's events.  'Cause it was fun.

Then I switch to Xion and the aftermath of Marlynort's existence.  I don't know where the name Marlynort came from, but I probably coined it in a conversation with rar and then it stuck.  Then Xion got to be the one to name him.

And then we get into the seriousness that is basically them all saying if they're nort, they need to die.  Like in a zombie film or something.  There's not much to say about that.  I think it speaks for itself.

A+ tooting my own horn:
-Riku saying they have enough munny to buy a house
-Kairi keeping everyone on track
-Roxas worrying about weird things because he's trying to be all normal when he knows he's not
-Roxas knowing more about Twilight Town than anyone else because he has data memories of growing up there that while aren't real, give him a pretty nice layout of the place in his head
-Tifa and Cloud being intentionally vague about their relationship
-Barret yelling at Sora and friends because they're "annoying teenagers"
-Barret saying that Leon's got a bad business model
-The line "The reason for Hollow Bastion's problems and at least thirteen other ones"
-Roxas being protective over the residential district and Cloud being protective over his bike
-Marlynort
-Larxene calling Marlynort a bastard
-Marlynort monologuing

Arendelle (aka Frozen) (Chapter 41-52)

My longest sequence yet, pretty much entirely because I split the group in two and did alternating POVs within the main group to get more story.  I had story with Elsa and also one with Anna.  I split the group firstly in the most logical way I could think: Kairi, Namine, and Roxas with Anna; Sora, Riku, Xion, Axel with Elsa.

First I wanted to split up the couples because there always is someone who freaks that their counterpart is not there.  I wanted to send Axel to Elsa because of the contrast in ice and fire.  I also wanted Riku to have the opportunity to talk to Elsa about dark pasts.  Sora's great at bringing even the most stubborn person to a place where they'll talk.  And I couldn't just have all the boys go one place and the girls another, so Xion went with them.  Plus, that enabled me to have fun with the Xion-Axel dynamic.  I love their friendship.  It's fantastic.  This split allowed Namine and Kairi to become suspicious of Anna's "I just met him but I want to marry him" antics, and also allowed them to be terribly suspicious of Hans, but Roxas, who misses those social cues, would be rather oblivious to it.  It also allowed for Roxas and Kristoff to kind of bond in a weird way over how women behave weirdly.

Of course, after they all meet up in Elsa's ice castle, everyone gets to talk to everyone.  Namine and Elsa talking is particularly a necessity.  (That and Namine fixes Anna's memory issue--something that I didn't think solved in the movie.)  Then, when the guards come in and everyone gets split up again, it doesn't stick with the original splits, because I thought that would be weird.  Granted, Namine and Xion were the only two that swapped, but that's how the battle ended up lining up.

Me doing a Frozen story was in part because I knew Frozen was popular and it fit well into the Kingdom Hearts universe.  The other reason I did it was because I thought that the original story of Frozen had a lot of plot holes in it that putting it into the bounds of Kingdom Hearts could fix (granted, the movie itself could just have parts rewritten to be better, but this was my golden opportunity so I took it.)  And I stuck pretty close to a story that Kingdom Hearts got a hold of.  The most major difference I think was Hans' ability to use Fire.  Something that I added because I saw a tumblr most months ago postulating that Hans might have fire powers, due to him always wearing gloves and how that would make for an interesting plot twist.

The biggest things that I chose to "fix" were Anna and Elsa's relationship to each other, the events in the ice castle, and Anna's trip to the trolls.  I wanted some real stuff to be solved in the trip to the ice castle, not a whole bunch of people not listening to each other.  Namine fixing Anna's memory and informing Elsa about it was also part of it and obviously something that can only happen in my canon.  Even without that, some sort of explanation about why Anna can be told now would have been nice as far as the actual movie went.  I took out everything unnecessary regarding the trolls (which was most of it as far as the middle of the movie was concerned.)  All that needed to happen was the bit about true love--no obnoxious shipping songs, no bunny trails, just straight-to-the-point moving the plot forward.  Fluff is nice, obnoxious shipping songs are not.

And I'm sure ya'll hate me now because I've critiqued Frozen.  But I don't care.  I rewrote this to make myself feel better about some SERIOUS issues with the writing.  Come on, Disney, you're better than that.

And during all that I also have Cloud being more of a reasonable human being instead of his broody self.  I'm not sure why he started acting happier, but he did.  He started taking blows as they came instead of worrying about the next sixteen of them.  Even Hades' hellhounds didn't put a damper on his mood.

Then I also have Terra, Aqua, and Ven poking around on Kuin's homeworld.  I was thinking of a place that they could go to learn something about Xehanort and I remembered that he'd taken particular offense to Kuin's people so there was as good a place as any.  They also had the overlaid negative feelings because negativity was a motif for this part of the fic.  And Terra being able to recognize them was great.  And then they run into Kuin--they run into Kuin more than anyone else this fic, go figure--and they talk some sense into her.  Kuin's not been doing so hot because the events of the past 20 years are catching up to her.  And the three of them are so great, they convince her that working together is better than not working together.

Ima take a moment and talk about Axel's relationship with Xion.  I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but I'll mention it again anyway.  I love their friendship.  It reminds me of me and a friend of mine actually.  The age difference (his and mine and the apparent age difference between Xion and Axel) is definitely something fun to play with.  It's almost brother-sisterly, but at the same time it's very much friendship based.  And they just poke so much fun at each other it's great.

I also love Xion's reactions to the World around her.  Because her time in the Organization didn't really give her a good idea of what any of that was.  And then she went to Riku's place and spent all the time that anyone else would be sleeping reading books and so she has a bit of a skewed sense of reality and it shows up in funny moments.  Like when the trolls started mentioning true love.

And just when you thought we weren't going to deal with a Remnant for a while, I throw one at you and he tries to Nort Aqua.  Obviously it's not effective because Aqua's heart is strong and she puts up a great struggle (and Kuin very nearly becomes a huge coward) but Aqua now has a bit of Xehanort's memories to paw through and a lot to think about.

Then I've got quiet expansions in Hollow Bastion.  Not taking too much time out of the story to go over minutia, but the school foundation has been found, Space Paranoids is being expanded (I half wanted it to include something like int he world of Wreck it Ralph, but I didn't have the time to do that in the fic as a whole.)  Additionally, the magic is returning to the place, and everyone's quietly taking bets as to what Zack is up to.  Oh, and Cloud's perkier.

Things I'm down with:
-The idea that there are some Worlds not touched by Heartless
-Sora channeling Goofy
-Riku insisting to Elsa that he's seen worse
-Xion being blunt
-Sora, Riku, Xion, and Axel helping Elsa get control of her powers
-Cloud getting better
-Cloud trying to get rid of the hellhounds by stopping random places inside and outside the Betwixt and Between
-Kristoff being shocked that Roxas, Namine, and Kairi have seen worse and weirder than his current situation
-Terra's ability to recognize that negative feelings were probably a result of external forces
-The line "butt singed through the ice yet?"
-Axel flipping Xion off
-Namine downing an ether before she gets down to business
-Axel setting fire to a staircase
-Aerith just casually saying Denzel can stay (but meaning it very seriously)
-Yuffie telling Denzel that "they'll tell you when you're older"
-Sora somehow managing never to wake up in prison until Arendelle and Riku's bafflement about that
-Xion wondering why Kairi uses "perhapsy" words
-Xion expecting Anna and Kristoff to kiss because that's what happens in the books
-Kuin deciding to go after Xigbar with utmost determination
-Xion correctly assuming that the others are in prison though having no way of proving it until later
-The line "Hey Sora, how about you come find me and save me the trouble of finding you."
-Axel telling Elsa that not feeling is not cool, because he would know
-Them all poking fun at Hades

Disney Castle Arc (Chapters 10-17)

Interesting, the first arc took 8 chapters, so did the second arc.  Anyway.

The Disney Castle arc was a combination of several things that I had set up for myself in Betwixt and Between and due to horrible planning, wasn't able to complete until Remnants.

from the Disney Wiki

First of all, I had this desire for Hades to attack Disney Castle.  It stemmed from a game called "Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom" in the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World.  It's basically where Hades decides that he wants a new summer home and the castle in Magic Kingdom is going to be it.  So he contacts his favorite villain friends (Maleficent, Doctor Facillier, Ursula, Jafar, etc) to rampage around until he can claim the castle for his own.

I fell in love with the idea and wanted to included it, replacing Cinderella's Castle with Disney Castle itself.  Plus, it gives me more of a chance to play with Mickey, who's always a fun character to write for.  I set it up in Betwixt and Between with Namine, Kairi, and Aerith learning of Hades' plot, but I never enacted it because I stopped Betwixt and Between before I wrapped up all of my plotlines (with the full intention of I'd wrapping it up in Remnants.)

The next thing included (at least in chapters 8 and 9) is the idea that Sora and the gang would all be chilling on Destiny Islands, and then be summoned promptly elsewhere.  Granted, given my canon, I'm sure that sort of thing happened all the time, with Cid or Mickey calling one of them up and being like "Hey, can you take care of such-and-such Heartless problem for me" and them being like "Yeah, sure, totally on it!" But I wanted to write it out, so here it was.

Though, as a side-note, originally it was that Aerith was in trouble that pulled them all away, back when I was still trying to incorporate FF7 into my fic like I incorporated FF8 back in the prequel.  I scrapped that idea because it's a fic in and of itself practically (or at least a huge chunk of one) and I didn't want to do it.  (Mostly because I didn't want to kill Zack or Aerith.)

Oh yes, and then comes Axel starting to read through Saix's journal.  Which will have important information in it.

Of course, as all of that's going on, I have Cloud and Tifa off on their little adventures (which happen periodically through half the fic).  Because they're in Agrabah at the moment because Cloud thinks Sephiroth's going to show up there.  Spoiler alert, he does.  I think I stuck them in Agrabah because I liked Cloud's dynamics in Agrabah from rar's fic.  But ignore me.

Tifa using corridors of light is just something so neat.  Since I gave her that ability in the prequel, of course she'd still be able to use it now.  And Cloud's just now learning about it, because she's kept it secret for so long.  But Cloud should know.  And meanwhile, Rinoa's just like, if Sephiroth comes after me, I will fight him.  Okay, kay?

by rongs1234 on dA

I love Mickey fighting.  He only does it when he feels he has to, but Hades attacking Disney Castle kind of gives Mickey reason to fight.  And Hades going after Minnie was just dumb, because the whole "let go of my wife" thing is just beautiful.  MickeyxMinnie is my forever ship.

Oh look, ZackxAerith in chapter 14.  Shameless and I don't care.  But gotta include life in Hollow Bastion even when the action is elsewhere.

And of course, even after they've dealt with Hades, I'm going to also make them deal with a Xehanort Remnant.  (Hint, they'll do that a lot.)  And I loved being in Xion's POV for this because Xion thinks faster than everyone else because she's got a computer for a brain and so she strategizes and then spends the remaining time figuring out how she's going to enact said strategies--in the same time everyone else is still figuring part  a out.

Riku is officially the first person that the Xehanort Remnant tries to go after.  And of course that fails miserably because Riku has actually built up a tolerance to that sort of thing.  And then he's just an ass and he makes everyone believe for three seconds that Xehanort might have done something, before just being like JK NOPE SUCKERS!

Cid and Shera love.  This is me, reintroducing her to the story, because she wasn't around in AtP or in BB.  And now she's back.  And I'm totes cool with that.  I don't know if I ever mentioned it, but I did actually intend on killing Shera in that massive cannon blast in Traverse Town, all that time ago.  She was supposed to die and it was going to freak Aerith and Cid both out.  It would also solve the "where has she been" problem.  But then I decided I didn't want to kill her (especially since she survives in the FF7 timeline--she and Cid quietly get married, even!) So I decided that she went back to work for the King.  But anyway.

Things I'm really okay with:
-Everyone on Destiny Islands being ready to help
-Xion reading upside-down
-Xion giving absolutely zero cares regarding walking in on Axel
-Aerith's hunches and sending the appropriate people to help
-Ven using shotlocks
-Tifa being able to use corridors of light
-Rinoa being like "ima punch Sephiroth if he comes after me"
-Rinoa's dynamic with Cloud and Sephiroth in general, I guess
-Mickey fighting Hades
-Hades out-hotting Axel
-Xion's computer-like battle planning because she's a Replica
-Everyone protecting Ven from Neoshadows
-Namine shattering things and then conveniently not talking about it

Hollow Bastion Arc (Chapters 2-9)

So everything led up to a giant battle in Hollow Bastion.  And rather than postpone it any longer and have it be some sort of climactic event, I just decided I'd start with it.  And I think it really set the stage for what all was to come.  And I was going to continue there, but I realized that it's spoilers for stuff I haven't even posted yet.  So nevermind on that one.

I actually had it pretty worked out in my head (and on several diagrams) what all happened and who all was where.  The strategy for the characters of course being to get someone into the computer in Hollow Bastion castle that could start the DTP (darkness termination program.)  People would have to hang back places to literally fight endless streams of Heartless to prevent those ahead from getting swamped from behind.  But hey, I have a huge cast to play with and plenty of heavy hitters.

As a side note, I remember Aerith's house giving me so much trouble because I could never remember just how many bedrooms it had.  I'll argue it again some more later in the fic.  Until eventually they're just done expanding it.

I also tried to get a good balance of different POVs for this whole sequence.

Roxas' was fun because he's generally pretty practical and it's not unusual for him to just know what Sora's up to, so I'm not losing anything there.  Roxas also just sees lots of other things and I can do Xion and Axel dynamics as well.

by Hikaru-Ryuuen on dA

Rinoa's POV is amazing because I love Rinoa omg.  Especially with her in the first chapter and all of the "oh just leave my dog alone she's old" and then her huge arsenal of magic that she'll cast.  And her good observations.  Yes.  Rinoa is amazing.  She also flies, which means she can see a lot of everything that's going on and it's completely reasonable.

And then what's a huge Hollow Bastion battle without Riku? I love him and Namine fighting alongside each other.  Riku getting shanked by Master Form is also something that I will never not be amused by.  Especially because Sora remembers to ask Sora, Kairi, and Xion.  And Roxas just basically already knows.

Riku was also a good POV to be in when they got into the castle and ran into the leftover data memories that bothered everyone who's even the smallest bit Replica.  Because then Riku can see what's going on and be strong for Namine and all that and yeah, that was fun to write.

by Risachantag on dA

And then back to Kairi's POV, even though I was in her POV for the prologue.  But Kairi also was one of the group to make it farther.  Though, because of everything that happened during this chapter, it wasn't so much of Kairi's thoughts, but Kairi seeing shtuff hit the fan--like a Xehanort Remnant showing up.  But hinting at Sora's anger problems was certainly easier from Kairi's POV than Sora's.  Because Sora would deny them and you know it.

I love Aerith.  I just love Aerith.  Aerith feels when the Remnant shows up, but she can't put her finger on what exactly it is.  Aerith has connections like Namine has connections.  She just has them for different reasons.  And she wants to be everywhere to help, but she can't.  But she tries and it's amazing.

Namine's POV is another POV that I have a really easy time with.  Namine's really cerebral... she thinks a level or two higher than everyone else because she can just see those parts of the pictures, like Aerith.  And neither of them hold it above anyone else, because then it wouldn't be cool.  Something I am sad about is that I didn't necessarily keep Namine using her knife as a magic wand.  I like, added that in, and then forgot about it until literally just now as I'm writing this up.  And that's sad, because I'm not going to get a chance to include it really.  *frowny face*  Oh well, it's still canon.  She'll do it.

Tifa is a fun POV to be in just because Tifa is so no-nonsense that there aren't any unnecessary tangents.  It was also good to be in her POV for this chapter because as everyone learns about the Xehanort Remnant, Tifa doesn't get all shouting angry.  In fact, she's the one to tell them all to stop.  Tifa's the one telling them to shut up and pay attention to what really matters.

Chapter 8 was a mixture of POVs because I had lots of little snippets of conversation that needed to happen but I couldn't necessarily devote individual chapter to them.  But I think it turned out okay.  Aqua, Terra, and Ven were naturally all shaken up about it and Mickey is the perfect person to tal about it.  Zack is so determined to KILL ALL THE DANGER.  Kuin and Axel fighting is something that needed to happen.  Rinoa and Squall planning out courses of action is great.  Sora talking with Riku and Kairi about his potential darkness problem.  Also Cloud and Zack arguing how about how much they care about friends.

Dynamics I'm really happy with:
-Leon attempting to be a leader and not being all that bad at it
-Roxas and Xion taking this whole thing as part of their training to become Keyblade Masters
-Sora getting to fight with Donald and Goofy
-Sora periodically calling out Drive Forms
-Namine quietly being seemingly everywhere in the battle
-People being weirded out by Sora, Roxas, and Ven
-Aerith just healing everyone she can reach on the battlefield
-Namine and Riku talking casually about crisis levels
-Experimenting with data and memories
-Xion hacking computers
-Xion picking up new words and phrases from people she meets
-Mickey insisting on being called... just Mickey
-Aerith knowing things
-Rinoa showing Namine how to use her knife like a magic wand to channel magic
-Tifa and Cloud.
-Breaking the no battle planning at the table rule because Xehanort Remnants are Very Important Problems
-Zack insisting that he will kill a Remnant
-Kuin and Axel fighting
-Casually talking about how Xehanort smells
-Rinoa and Squall having a history they can refer to
-The friendship of SoRiKai
-The Cloud and Zack friendship

Letters from the Girls (63)

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I'm trying to remember if it was a conscious decision to have the letters be written only by the girls on the cast, or if that is just what happened.  And I can't remember in the slightest.

I knew I needed another letter from Tifa, because it had been a while since I'd done one of those and Tifa basically sends a letter to Cloud from every world she stops on that has post (which is pretty much all of them).  Plus, it was just fun to have her write one from Traverse Town where he totally was recently.  And then make references to everything.

The letter from Aerith was just about necessary.  It's furthering the plot where Aerith wants to go see Radiant Garden and has asked Zack for help.  I think originally, she was just going to ask him when he swung by next, but that was before I started doing the letters, and it didn't make sense for her to wait, so that got changed.  Meanwhile, as I'm writing that, I can make casual references to the holidays.  Which I'm doing again, now.  Teehee!

Then there's Rinoa's letter, which was also somewhat necessary because I knew Rinoa wasn't going to be able to swing by Traverse Town for a bit because of training.  She's got lots to do and she feels she only has so much time to do it, (we've gotten past the point where she's going to burn up from the inside with power, but anyway).  Yeah, so there's that letter.

And then, I decided to do a letter from Kairi.  Apparently, I have a thing assigning letters to students.  I guess it's cause I had pen-pals when I was a kid? Probably something like that.  Only because Yuffie had to do one too, but she wrote to Cloud.  Kairi wrote to Sora, and was adorable.  And I did a picture of her letter, because look at that adorable handwriting! Kairi, in general, is just so darn adorable, sometimes I don't know what to do with myself.

Anyway, so a deeper explanation about how come there hasn't been one big holiday bash together.  Lemme take down some current ages in here so I don't have to keep flopping around... Rinoa and Leon are 21, making Aerith 19.  Kay.  The two major couples at this point, Zerith and Squinoa basically met 4 years ago.  For those first two years, Squall and Rinoa were away saving Rinoa's world.  Zack was dealing with Genesis during that time.  He dropped by to see his parents one year, and ended up spending the other with Angeal.  The following holiday is after Angeal's death, and Zack probably forgot about the whole thing entirely.  Aerith didn't want to drag him back for the holidays because he was clearing his mind, so the gang in Traverse Town had a quiet one with the addition of Leon now that he was back.  Rinoa was busy dealing with excess Sorceress power.  And, the next holiday is actually the one that's coming up.  Ha! I knew I could figure this all out.

So, if you haven't noticed, I'm going to have a holiday sequence in the Prequel.  We're a few chapters away from it right now.  I'll post it closer (wow, I almost said close it poster) to Christmas.  If I have time (read: when I'm done with the next 6 essays, 1 short story, and 2 finals), I'll do a somewhat AU holiday sequence with Sora and the gang set sometime during Betwixt and Between, probably.

I'm kinda in a super holiday mood, if you haven't noticed from my Axel icon with a Santa hat on Tumblr.

Oh my gosh, my holiday sequence could involve Sora dragging Riku to Christmas Town.  I've been meaning to do that.  Oooh! That's exciting.

But back to my holiday mood, even my D&D group is doing a Christmas special this coming Friday.  (Of course, given how the group is south of the equator, it's totally going to be Christmas in July in Pleasantville (Pleasantville has nothing to do with being south of the equator, just the town we're in...) Anyway, but yeah.  This is exciting.  It keeps me sane during the last push of school.

I'll be posting a little slower, like every 4 days instead of every 2, only because I just can't keep up with everything I want to do for any given chapter.  But, I'll probably pick back up again once the break starts.  Though, I'll be wanting to catch up on writing, too, so I'm not entirely sure.

Well, enough of me jabbering.

No spoilers on what's gonna happen for the holiday sequence.  :P

Teaser Quotes:

"Fire in the hole!"

"You have got to be kidding me."
"You can say that again."

"Stick close.  We can watch each other's backs."

"How did it go?"
"It went."

"Can people have darkness?"
"What do you mean?"
"Can someone's darkness manifest into its own separate person?"

AND A CHRISTMAS VIDEO!

Developments (62)

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by fortisisimo on dA

See, first there's the addition of Demyx to the Organization.  It's been a while since any new recruits.  The last person anyone found was Cloud, and he was totally still a somebody.  Still is.  Always will be.  But really, the last two recruits added were Saix and Axel.  It's been a while.  Not that it matters, Xemnas has a crapton of plans in place.  *rolls eyes*

Then there's the development in Rinoa's training.  Which is going well, I suppose.  She just doesn't like fighting everything that's in her memories.

Then there's Leon trying to make that second entrance to the Secret Waterway--an entrance which Merlin puts there for him.  And we've now entered the wonderful relationship that is Merlin and Cid not ever getting along.  It's so amusing.

And then there's Tifa, who's getting closer to Cloud, but she's still a while behind him.  However, I enjoyed making references to all of the people.  Though, it's so weird, that Tifa knows none of them.  I mean, she will eventually, but she has no clue who any of them are as of yet.  And Yuffie's just so incredibly rude.


Anyway, review responses.

KKBeckett: Is Xigbar up to something? Oh, I probably suppose so.  I think he's always up to something.  :P  Why was Master Yen Sid making Rinoa fight out of her memories? Well, I suppose it's because he sees the value of learning from past experiences, and he has the ability to literally make something like that happen.  Rinoa, however, does not believe that she will gain anything by fighting Squall, and Master Yen Sid decides he's not going to argue her on that one, because that's not really his place.  Rinoa, honestly, should learn to fight alongside him.  Which, she already knows, so whatever.  Yes, Tifa did see Aerith, but she really doesn't recognize her, which, as I mentioned before, is so picking weird!

*sigh* Another short blog post.  I suppose they'll get longer in a bit though :P

Teaser Quotes:

"What's causing all of this?"
"If I knew, I would tell you."

"Stand back, I'm going to call a summon."
"If you haven't noticed, I can't move."
"I'm not going to aim it at you!"

"Do you have a Blizzard materia?"
"No! I can only carry four.  And between my Cura, the Steal, and Bahamut, I've only got room for one more.  You're lucky I didn't have the Fire equipped!"

"Summoning again!"
"But I want to!"
"Fine!"

"What are those green ones?"
"Focus on those! They can Cure the others."
"On it!"

More Christmas Videos!

Xiggy gets away with stuff (Prequel ch44)

Chapter

Tumbl

I thought up this idea over the summer when I wasn't quite sure how I was getting Cloud out of the Realm of Darkness.  I was going to go with having the Sephiroth part of his heart (because that exists) decide that he'd get Cloud out of the darkness for some reason, but I couldn't think of a good reason why Sephiroth would bother with such a thing.  I wasn't really sure what else would work.

cosplay by thru-apeture-eyes
photo by AfterlifeUSEC

And then this idea with Xigbar happened.  Xigbar basically just took over.  And he gets Cloud out of the Realm of Darkness because he thinks he's a Nobody because he's not showing too many emotions but he's totally still a somebody (yeah, that's kind of a jab at Cloud I suppose), and yeah... The banter between Xigbar and Xemnas is just beautiful, mostly because Xigbar's the only one in the whole Organization who can get away with saying such a thing.  And he takes the whole situation well, basically just saying "well, okay, whatever" because he's Xigbar, and that's Old Man Xehanort in a different body.  All the same, Xigbar does what Xemnas says and just leaves Cloud on some world.  And no, I'm not telling you which one it is.  rar was able to guess, you could probably figure it out.  (Yes, I'm mean.)

Also, this cosplay is fairly renowned on tumblr for being awesome, just saying.

Anyway, one last thought ('cause it's late and I want to keep this short).  The person they're waiting for is Larxene.  Which, I've mentioned before.  But I just love the idea of them keeping tabs on her because they KNOW she'll make a powerful Nobody and it's only a matter of time.  Heheh.  But, we're a long way away from that if the last people to be added were Axel and Saix, just sayin'.

Anyway, not saying what's following Cloud either.  Muahahaha!

This is the other half of the video I posted the other day.  It's originally sung by Gumi, but she's not designed for English, so this is a pretty nice cover:

Fight Against Larxene (ch31)

Because yup, that definitely happened.

Link to the chapter: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9446325/31/What-s-all-Gone-on-Before

Link to the livetumbl: http://magiksbrain.tumblr.com/tagged/ch31/chrono

by ~StrawberryKestral on dA

So, somewhere along the lines, I decided I wanted to include a chapter that had pre-Organization Larxene (I guess Arlene?).  Mostly because I happen to like the canon where the Organization is just WAITING for her to turn into a Nobody because she has so much potential.  But she's doing pretty good as a Somebody.  So good, that she landed herself the second-to-last spot in one of the Olympus cups.

I thought about Xigbar being the last person in the cup, because he's keeping an eye on her, but then I figured that would be too much, so I cut Xigbar and threw in a Guard Armor, because it didn't really matter anyway, because that's the battle Angeal comes and helps with.  (Which is why Larxene wasn't last.)

So anyway, I started writing backstories and stuff for her and it was not okay.  I'm not even sure how she wormed her way into the story at all (as the livetumbl will attest to.)

All I had originally planned was Zack looking for Angeal and he winds up in Olympus Coliseum because that's where Angeal's gonna be and Phil ends up forcing Zack through a cup because that's what Phil does.  That's all I knew.  But then all the Heartless battles would get boring and monotonous, and then Larxene happened.

Fun fact, Zack saying "bitter taste" upon finding Angeal missing and his mother recently having passed away is a direct reference to Axel saying the exact same thing after the final battle in All the Pieces and Saix dying.  I'm not sure if it was intentional, but I definitely realized it after the fact and figured I'd make mention of it here.

Another fun fact, what Zack's got equipped is the exact same thing that I had equipped when I was going through Crisis Core as I was simultaneously writing this chapter/playing the game.

Also, rar went through some cups in Olympus in KH1 to help me determine just how easy certain Heartless would be for Zack.  It was pretty amusing and fun.

The Crisis Core soundtrack was super helpful for me when I was writing this chapter.  It's super handy for just about the next several chapters I write with Zack (having all of them written, I can say this with utmost confidence.)  You'll hear more about it, I'm sure.  Or you won't, 'cause I'll have forgotten.

Also, Zack was giving me feels prematurely and it was not okay.

Review Responses:
So Zack has exactly what he needs... for now.  At the moment, at least.  And yes, yes, that is Larxene.  Most definitely.  I don't know how, it just happened.

Have a very Zack-related video! (for some reason, it won't let me embed it, but Tto12 is awesome (so is ARS), so you should click on it.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbai1xKfLSg

Rinoa's Inner Fight (26)

Well, I'm not behind on homework anymore.  But I'm certainly not ahead either.  Oi.

Anyway, link to the chapter: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9446325/26/What-s-all-Gone-on-Before

Link to the tumbl: http://magiksbrain.tumblr.com/tagged/ch26/chrono/

So, once again, I've got a chapter that's split up into four sections.  The FFVIII arc takes up half of it, then I have Denzel's birth slid in as well as the ending sequence involving Lea and Isa (now Axel and Saix.)

I do feel bad for Zell, because he's kind of just standing there awkwardly while everyone else figures out their next move.  Laguna's super apologetic after what happened and he wants to make it up to Leon and Leon's just like "go away, I never liked you anyway."

So, this is where I start being super mean to Rinoa though.  Originally, Ultimecia was supposed to come and absorb Adel's powers before Rinoa could get to them.  This would then of course spurn a ton of "oh crap, we have to kill her before she kills us all now!" But as I was writing, I got to thinking that I liked the idea of Adel trying to make Rinoa a vessel again.  I thought "oh crap, that's mean", but I just couldn't resist! Once I had it worked out, I was super in love with the idea, so it stuck.  It spawned this in my outline:

"Before they even leave Esthar, Rinoa suddenly loses control of the second set of Sorceress' powers.  Adel's consciousness overpowers her and Rinoa is essentially possessed by Adel.  She starts destroying Esthar.  Esthar police come and lock Rinoa up in the containment facility."

So, yup, that happened.

Outside of that, I decided to give the chapter with Denzel's birth as a marker for where we are in the timeline, more than anything else.

by ~G-a-t-i-n-h-a on dA

Same thing goes for Lea and Isa.  Though, they have a little bit more plot involved.  This marks when they're found by the organization, specifically Xigbar.  I also tried to show Lea's apprehension about the whole thing.  Lea and Isa's friendship is still intact though, at this point.  For now, at least.

Anyway, let's do review responses.

archsage from chapter 25: Yes.  Oh dear is right.

From chapter 26: I'm glad you're finding things to be getting more and more interesting.  To answer your question about locations of other people: Marlene isn't born yet, Vincent and the others are around.  (I know, so specific, huh?) Other than that, no, I haven't read that particular fic, maybe I will when I get a chance.

KKBeckett: Yes, Leon would really like it if Laguna stopped helping.  Not that that's going to happen anytime soon.  And, yeah, Axel's a little over it all.

Anyway, this video is just for fun and giggles.  There was a post on tumblr that highlighted the piece of music (one that my cello teacher had hanging on her wall for laughs).  My friend (who doesn't play music) was talking about how that should be possible.  But... it's not.  It's just... not.  Not for one person playing everything.

Hey! There's a Can't Escape Chapter up! (61)

First of all... new blog theme.  I was getting tired of the old one.  And these colors are a nice change.  However, if it's hard for any of you to read it, just let me know, I'll make adjustments.  The blog is for you to read, after all.

Anyway, so, I posted a Can't Escape chapter yesterday.  Super fun!

Here's the link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6902839/61/Some-things-you-just-can-t-Escape
(Sorry, that used to go to my ff profile, it's fixed now.)

No livetumbl for this one though.  Sorry guys.

Anyway, my thoughts, (I'm sure rar will post hers separately. or maybe she has already)

Anyway, I vaguely remember her discussing how she needs to get Riku's arm injured and then we discussed dislocating, and how he'd almost fall off a cliff and all that jazz.

by =SaiyaGina

And while he could have hauled himself back up, I remember mentioning in passing something about vertical dark corridors.  (Which, somewhere along the lines became my Axel's specialty).  So, I casually joked about sending my Axel over there.

And so it happened.

Idk, I really enjoyed this.  It was a bit strange, trying to figure out where this plays into my universe, considering I'm working on a prequel.  And it had to be believable, and there needed to be a reason for Axel to be going to ANY Hollow Bastion in the first place... (however, this didn't turn out to be very hard at all.)  Once all that was taken care of, it was really easy for the starshard to take him to the wrong universe.

And Axel's not dumb, he figured it out pretty quickly.  Mostly because he ran into Riku.  And Riku looks super different between universes.  Considering there is now close to a 2-year age gap going on.

Cue Axel saving Riku's butt and it's now super awkward.

Yes, Peach, I can guarantee you that it was awkward.  Probably for both of them.

Honestly, I'd suggest checking out rar's fic's blog (http://rarmastersftpverse.tumblr.com/) for other interesting information (including character interactions) regarding this chapter and the sequence going on in her fic in general.

And yes, KKBeckett, wouldn't it just make things so much easier if they were to meet? *laughter*

But yeah, this sequence was fun.  Axel is so much fun to write for.  I don't really get a chance with the prequel, because that's all boring Organization stuff and I'm mostly focusing on the FF cast as it is.  But getting back into the swing of Axel and making loads of references and little jabs was fun.

Rar's surprised I didn't censor them.  Please, Riku and Axel? Yeah... uh-huh.

Anyway, I think that's all I have to say on that.

As usual, have a video!  (I found this one when my roommate said that this song would be really good a capella.)

The Fight Against Edea (ch19)

Fanfic Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9446325/19/What-s-all-Gone-on-Before

Livetumbl link: http://magiksbrain.tumblr.com/tagged/ch19/chrono

And the truth comes out.  Leon didn't ACTUALLY do anything against Maleficent.  Quistis is a bit ticked (rather understandably), but Leon does his job.  Well, sort of.

It's not really his fault that Edea aimed an icicle right at his chest (ala the end of FFVIII disk 1).  (Excuse my snark, I was reading a snarky walkthrough to ensure that the battle I'm referring to really ended disk 1.  You fight Edea at the end of disk 1 AND disk 2.  Yay.)

But enough about FFVIII the game, back to the story...

I tried not to make the battle sequence too long, but rereading it, I'm wondering if I made it long enough.  Oh well.  There will be more battles.  Trust me, there will be more battles.  It also occurred to me that Leon didn't do much this battle.  Of course, the original plan was to not physically attack her, so he was left with pretty much nothing because Leon actually doesn't know too much magic at this point.  He'll get better.

Well, sort of.  At some point, why do you need magic when Quistis and Rinoa know all the magic? I'm referring to story mechanics, actually... in-game mechanics, I gave Squall loads of spells.  Because, he needs them!

Oh, for anyone new, I tend to use Leon/Squall interchangeably when I'm just talking.  When I'm writing, I try to remain consistent.  As in, everyone calls him Leon except for Rinoa.

Anyway, backtracking, to get back on track...

Leon's all like: "This is your Sorceress? I thought for a moment it might be Maleficent.  Oh well, she needs to die anyway."
And then Quistis is like: "What do you mean you didn't properly deal with your last Sorceress? I thought you knew what you were doing?"

Quistis isn't happy with Leon.

Anyway, they battle Edea and after the whole icicle-through-the-chest thing, instead of being captured and
jailed like in the game, Rinoa basically has a Limit (though she uses Squall's gunblade for it) and nearly kills Edea.  This causes the transfer of powers between the two, instead of the later fight like in the game.  Now that I think about it, I'm not sure why I'm describing what I did versus what the game did.  I know that what I'm doing is different (partially because FFVIII is long and partially because I haven't played it in years and when I wrote the timeline, I was basically going off on memory and wrote a condensed version.  Yup.)  Then there's the fact that I want to add the KH spin to it, hence the possessing and the plunging into darkness motifs.

Actually, I think originally, I wasn't going to use the icicle-in-the chest, so Leon would have been awake to make the executive decision to move everyone off the float, but then I used the icicle thing and Quistis decided that everyone should be awake before they moved.

 by ~tomuyu on dA

So, the two pass out because...well... transfer of powers.  It'll happen every time.  Quistis and Zell are surrounded by two passed-out women and a bleeding-to-death Leon.  Yup.  Quistis heals Rinoa because she knows Rinoa's not crazy (spoilers: at the moment).  And then she still has to have Edea healed to answer questions.  But Edea's fine now because Ultimecia's not possessing her! Woo!

It's about here that I decided that Ultimecia and Xehanort should form a fanclub for possessing and Genesis should join.  What is it with KH and needed vessels? Well, it's mostly Xehanort, but still.

But anyway, Ultimecia's now back where she belongs at the end of time (for now) and she's stewing because her plan failed.  But she's not even a main objective right now, they've got other things to figure out.

Hmm, I'm not sure if I have anything else to say...

Okay, well... video!

Yup.  Another one from me.  I had a thing with this particular Linkin Park album and how it relates to Axel.

Currently, I'm of the opinion that the new FOB album is AkuRokuShi.

Like, seriously....

New Story! (Prequel ch1)

Hello everyone! Likely you're hardly paying attention to this blog anymore, since I've been dark since January.  (However, I seem to have a lot of pageviews over the past couple of days, so maybe you all have been watching it.)  Anyway, I have a new story! It's a prequel for everything, tracing the Final Fantasy charries through... well, snippets of their lives.  (Ugh, I use the word tracing like an English major--I mean, I am an English major, but it sounds super like language for my thesis.  Meh.  University killed my darlings...) ANYWAY!

Convenient link to the chapter: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9446325/1/What-s-all-Gone-on-Before

So, I started off this whole thing with Leon, because I adore him.  I appreciate his character immensely.

As I was initially writing the plans for all this up (which was initially just a huge timeline that I was gonna post on the blog, but then I did a poll and most of you wanted to see it in story form, so here we are) it wasn't that hard for me to determine that Squall, Aerith, Yuffie, Lea, Isa, and Kairi would have all been in Radiant Garden all at the same time.  I figured that people had probably seen others at school, honestly.  Thus the setting for this first snippet was born.

Then, I connected Squall to Cid, which I greatly love what happened with their relationship.  The interactions between the two of them now COMPLETELY set up how Leon can be "Gosh Cid, why don't you just..." one second and "DARNIT CID" the next.  Which brings me to this image:

Art by GaarasGirl86.  The description is lovely.  Check it out: http://gaarasgirl86.deviantart.com/art/Cid-going-to-work-again-67963380

Squall and Cid have a HISTORY now.  And it makes so much more sense for their characters, honestly.

Yes, I am aware that Cid's age doesn't fit into anything.  I've decided he's timey-whimey like Donald's nephews.

General comment, to new readers who find my stories and find plot points/character names/etc that conflict with things brought up in KH3D, keep in mind that I started AtP before KH3D was announced, so many things that were introduced simply do not line up with what I'm writing.  Hence, my canon.  (I say this mostly because of the large amount of reviews I still get saying I should have used names like "Lea", "Isa," and "Braig," instead of "Axel," "Saix," and "Xigbar."

Review Replies:

From ravyncl:  I can definitely say that there will be some pairings going on.  Just you wait and see.

Exodin: I can't say too much about who is going to be interacting with whom.  Spoilers!

Cookie: How long do I think this'll be? Well, hopefully not longer than AtP, and if it DOES get to be the length of BB, then hopefully not as draggy.  (Bleh, kinda embarrassed for that one.)  It will go through Radiant Garden's plunge into darkness, my plan is to take it right up to KH1.  So, ten years to cover.  Ish.  And... um... Ansem's title.  Well shoot, I don't know.  Whatever his title is.  It's such a small detail in my opinion for this story.  *shrug*

In general, I'm glad you guys are enjoying this so far and are waiting to see what comes next! Should have more up soon.

Also, I have a video to share here (I think I'm turning into rar) .  I have an obsession with the song below.  I even can sing it.  (Well, as well as I can hit all the notes that Len sings.  It's disturbing when he can sing higher than me.  I mean, I know why he can, but still!)

And, I think that's all I have for you.

Ciao!