How did I end up here?

How did I end up here?

HOW DID I END UP HERE?!?!?

It's the end.  The END.

I mean, I knew this was coming.  I knew I was going to end it with a wedding.  I've known that for five years.  Okay, maybe four.

BUT I PLANNED THIS OUT FOUR YEARS AGO.

I knew, that the end of everything, I would end it with a wedding.  And that Xigbar would crash it.  But that was all I knew.  Rar and I joked about it.  Because after AtP, when Xigbar was still alive, I joked that he'd come back and crash the wedding at the end of the next one.

Because I'd only ever planned on writing two.

Look at me now, I've written four.  Five if you include Can't Escape.  (I don't count Plan Beta as anything but drabbles and fun experiments in plot.)

When I sat down and outlined Remnants, when I had a pretty solid idea of who my main enemies were (how Xehanort was back, what was going on with Larxene and Marluxia, what Xigbar was up to), I planned it out through the end.  Yeah, I changed out a couple of worlds here and there, electing to include Corona and Arendelle instead of recycling Atlantica and Beast's Castle.  But I knew there'd be a wedding.

Initially, and I might have said this before, but I might not have, it was supposed to be Donald and Daisy's wedding.  Because they were the only couple who I figured would be getting married.  (I hadn't really considered much about the FF characters.  I had always entertained the thought of continuing on and writing FF7 as if the KH characters might be a part.  But that got scrapped sometime when I was writing the prequel and struggled to rewrite FF8 and KH1-2 and make them interesting.)

For the record, I changed the wedding-to-be-crashed to Aerith and Zack's wedding about when I realized Zack was going to propose to Aerith.  I liked the way it was going to flow.  Let's see, do I still have the original conversation with rar...

Oh look, I do! And it involves Cloud/Hades stuff as well.  Bonus!

rar: i feel like us discussing potential Cloud and Hades ideas requires something more in depth than tumblr, so I'm messaging you
magik: probably
rar: I mean i still replied to you on tumblr but idk if we need to go more in depth
rar: anyway i'm cool with you using the idea {for Hades to send hellhounds after Cloud}
magik: woo! i just think... hades is the type to hold a grudge and Cloud did blow him off
rar: yeah exactly
magik: and now that Hades doesn't have Maleficent in his hair and pretty soon, he won't have Disney Castle, either
rar: yup
magik: and especially if Cloud shows back up in Olympus, Hades will be reminded of his grudge
rar: yuuuuuuuuup especially since he's LOOKING for like something to do or someone to use now that his plans have failed, right?
magik: yeah.  i am loving this Cloud arc that i'm putting together.  Cloud'll have to deal with Heartless and hell-hounds
rar: oh yeah
magik: because while Hades may be bound to Olympus, his hell-hounds won't be
rar: nooope they won't

So that's that... and here's some stuff as to other characters that were getting included

magik: and of course, i'm going to incorporate Denzel here pretty soon
rar: OOH!
magik: which may have nothing to do with the hell-hounds
rar: of course
magik: and i may have to drag vincent in because i love this line i just got: "These ones aren't too bad, some of them have three heads."  "A three headed dog needs a three barrelled gun"
rar: that's perf, you may have to drag vincent in... just for that
magik: yeah

And now for the wedding part:

magik: i'm contemplating Zerith disappearing for a bit
rar: ye?
magik: and then coming back and they've actually eloped... and everyone's all like...
rar: AHA
magik: "And I wasn't invited?"
rar: man I feel like Aerith would've wanted a ceremony tho... tho maybe not? mabye she is the kind of person who'd wanna not make a big deal out of it?
magik: i think that's exactly it.  though at the same time... UGGGG everyone's just geting married at the same time!!! aslgdkasdgh;
rar: IDK??? WHAT TO DO
magik: what if... i could replace donald and daisy's wedding for Zack and Aerith's....
rar: you could maybe do that
magik: their wedding was technically a place-holder... i just needed a huge ceremony...
rar: mmm
magik: the thing with donald/daisy was that i wasn't going to write the ceremony... just the reception... i could do that still with zerith
rar: you could
magik: aerith would alternate between wanting everyone in the ceremony and thus she'd have no one in the audience
rar: she would
magik: or only having one person in the ceremony so that there could be an audience... and zack's just like "I don't care, I could marry you on the moon with one witness and the justice and i'd be happy"
rar: he would
magik: hmm... if i did that... and xiggy crashed it i... heh... if he actually showed up during the ceremony... i think Aerith herself would murder him
rar: uhoh... that's not a good thing?
magik: it's amusing
rar: but probably not good for your plot
magik: honestly... it's like having your riku murder larxene... just so long as there's a remnant left to vessel or not to vessel sora, i'm good

Ima pause there for a second... This was EARLY in the planning stages.  I was still writing the Disney Castle sequence.  Pretty sure Rar was still working on Dead Inside.  We hadn't begun to write the Larxene Sequence.  Rar also didn't know all of my plot yet, as you'll soon see....

magik: honestly tho, i think xiggy would just sit in the back because "why would i want to interrupt a show like that?" {which got changed to:  "Snuck in quietly and didn't want to ruin the show.  Good show, by the way! Wouldn't interrupt that for the Worlds!"}
rar: that's good. and he probably would. (everyone would notice tho) also you're norting Sora???
magik: he could cloak himself.  idk about norting him yet
rar: oh you did say "to not or not vessel"
magik: maybe there's a way xigbar could mask the smell of darkness that lingers
rar: (I missed it) yeah maybe?? he'd probably have to... tho i think canon says the org cloaks help hide your "scent" in general but whether or not that's true
magik: darn Riku and his sense of smell
rar: yeah unfortunately i can't remember if--oh yeah it wouldn't work... he definitely says "you reek of darkness" to one of the Org members (i think Vexen ha) and they were wearing the cloak so... the cloak wouldn't do it
magik: he'd have to have a special cloak
rar: yeah
magik: or something like it... some sort of spell he bought off the blackmarket labelled with "protection" so it would end up blending with the ones that Aerith and Rinoa throw up

I realize now that Xigbar totally still managed to sneak in and see the wedding and no one noticed him.  Probably because everyone was too distracted.  But I was still in the planning stages at the time of this conversation.  I also will mention that at this point, I was still anticipating that the wedding would happen and then I'd nort Sora (assuming I norted Sora, which I did end up doing obviously).  Because the plan was: wedding, Xigbar fight, Xehanort fight where Sora gets Norted.  I changed it to Sora getting Norted beforehand, then six months later wedding, Xigbar warning, and Xehanort fight.

magik: Rinoa: "you're the bride, stahp!" Aerith: I'm not letting anything happen to my wedding!"
rar: yeah this could work
magik: but anyway... i think i like this idea

I'm actually gonna stop talking/ranting/reposting convos at the moment.  This post is getting long and I have more to say about the wedding that's gonna take more than one post apparently.  I'll come back tomorrow and post more, yeah?

Olympus Coliseum (Chapter 25-33)

And now 9 chapters for the arc, making up for the 7 last time *looks strangely at chapters*

Because what's a KH fic without going to Olympus Coliseum (and getting really sick of the music... or is that just me with the games?)

Hmm, upon a deeper look it occurs to me that Chapter 24 could have fallen in the TWTNW arc because while they're just sitting outside Olympus Coliseum, they don't actually leave, they just all realize that it's Xigbar they're looking for.  Which means I'm still on the 8-chapters-an-arc thing.  (Why do I care about this?!?!)

Oh man.  Zack and Olympus Coliseum.  Did I drag Zack and Aerith to Olympus Coliseum on purpose, just so Zack would have to deal with that? Yes.  Yes I did.

Olympus, the only world where they've turned Heartless killing literally into a sport that anyone can do.  And then Phil's just all super happy when actual warriors (not Herc) show up and steal the show for a bit.  But like... no one ever seems to be in the audience.  Not even when I envision it.  What's up with that? I mean, I'm sure there's an audience.

Meanwhile, Aqua, Terra, and Ven are getting into Xemnas' room for the journal.  And they run into a Remnant, who's mostly just there to mess with them than anything else, because he feels he has better people to vessel.  (That's totally a verb now.)  (From the tumblr post "that's my vessel you're vessling").  Wait... no... that was earlier.  I thought I'd already written about that, but I thought that maybe the post didn't save.  But I'm leaving it for the vessling comment.  Nope, instead they ran into the darkness in TWTNW collapsing in on itself.  Fun times.  That place is condemned.  And Larxene and Marluxia are still there.

And then Hades just goes and whips everyone out of the fighting arena... except Aerith, Kairi, and Namine... who he has sort of a personal vendetta against at the moment.  Considering they were the ones who tipped Mickey off that Hades was even going to attack Disney Castle in the first place.  Though, why he would bother going up against Namine when the last time she started messing with his brain is beyond me.  Axel's basically right when he says that that combination of women is scary.

I love Denzel and Yuffie bonding.  Party because Yuffie's been the youngest one there up until now, and then here comes Denzel and he's someone that Yuffie (not necessarily has to but) feels she needs to keep an eye out for.  And he's not feeling too well, but he's sort of interested in her tennis ball, so she'll play nice because that's what Aerith would want her to do.  (Yuffie's head-Aerith voice is very strong).  And then Denzel snaps out of it and starts talking about rescuing the other kids from the slums and Yuffie gets to have an adult moment when she calls Cloud out on his crap.  "Go deal with Sephiroth, Cloud.  Quit being a worry-wort.  Don't pretend I can't see that. Gosh."

I love the battle-scene with Hades.  I love how Aerith thinks during it.  I love Namine and Kairi's fighting-styles.  I love Tifa's reaction when she and Cloud show up to the party.  Tifa and Cloud's quiet little conversation.  Aerith screaming at Hades that picking on Cloud was not what she meant by telling him to find a new hobby.   Zack screaming at Phil to take the barriers down.  Trivia: After the one battle with Angeal, Phil fixed it so that there was an override on the barriers to prevent things like this from happening.  Except Hades is overriding it.  And then Namine impresses upon him that he needs to go the heck away.

Then a Remnant shows up.  And this is the closest that Zack is going to get to one for a while.  Though then Sephiroth shows up and starts dealing with the Remnant because how dare the Remnant try and hurt Cloud.  This was like, the day where everyone tried to go after Cloud and failed day.

Things I'm really okay with:
-Xion singing a song for Demyx's not-so-useful journal
-HB being some sort of base that everyone keeps coming back to and it being this constant in and out of people
-Kairi and Namine using their telepathy for simple things like, "eh, I'll let you know if anything exciting happens where I'm at, kay?"
-Xion not having all of the appropriate social cues and being horribly rude on accident
-Rinoa insisting to Denzel that she won't let the Shadows hurt him
-Shera and Yuffie's relationship to each other
-Denzel playing with Yuffie's tennis ball and Yuffie telling herself that Aerith would tell her it's a good thing
-Denzel playing with Yuffie's tennis ball
-Aerith taking the battle with Hades in stride
-Aerith creating a Barrier with a very Avatar-Aang-type move.
-Cloud telling Hades good luck on getting his soul because Sephiroth's laid a pretty big claim on it
-Cloud trying to figure out how Tifa and Vincent know each other
-Cloud saying he should help Sephiroth defeat the Remnant because he's less of a threat
-Riku teaching Namine to drive

The World that Never Was (Chapters 18-24)

Darn, broke the 8 chapter an arc thing.  (It wasn't going to last anyway.)

The World That Never Was arc was to wrap up a few more things started in Betwixt and Between (and referenced in Can't Escape) that (again) didn't get finished.  Mostly it was the large amount of darkness that was running rampant around, and the fact that TWTNW also had a DCP running.  That Larxene managed to stop.  Go her.  Except, don't root for her.

pretty sure this is from the novelizations

Plus, I had to have somewhere that Larxene and Marluxia had been camping out that no one's noticed.  And they're still around and need to be dealt with.  Unlike Luxord and Demyx, who have basically turned good and can just continue doing what they're doing.

Organization XIII roll-call!
-Xemnas (Xehanort): Oh look, blasted little Remnants running around.
-Xigbar: Location unknown
-Xaldin: Deceased as of the Badlands in AtP by Sora's hand
-Vexen: MIA--currently running around rar's universe
-Lexaeus: Killed by Xehanort in Hollow Bastion when the Org had control of the castle
-Zexion (Ienzo): Running a shop in Hollow Bastion town
-Saix: Ruined by his own darkness (not helped by Xehanort's) at the end of AtP in Castle Oblivion
-Axel: With Roxas and Xion.  Get it memorized.
-Demyx (The Great Demetrius): Running around doing concerts on his sitar
-Luxord: He's Demyx's manager
-Marluxia: Causing trouble
-Larxene: Causing trouble
-Roxas: Does this even count?
-Xion: See above.

Meanwhile, Aqua, Terra, and Ven are trying to track down pieces of Xehanort's past.  Starting in Castle Oblivion clearly wasn't a bad idea.  Especially because Aqua at this point knows that it was once the Land of Departure and it's a pretty safe bet that even if I didn't write it in (I can't find it, but I'm also not looking terribly hard) that she told Terra and Ven that they're walking around their home.  Oh wait, she did.  Because Ven wouldn't be asking about their rooms otherwise.  This particular mission is them getting the remainder of the journals.  And then determining that they need to go to TWTNW because Terra thinks he can get into Xemnas' bedroom.

And them of course they run into a Remnant.  But the Remnant didn't bother them.  (This won't be the first time that the Remnant's like... eh, I'll bother you later.)  He wants to be ready to make a vessel.  And when he ran into the three of them, he really was just messing with them.  And trying to plant seeds of hopelessness.  Because those are important.

Besides, then he went to go and try and make a vessel out of Roxas.  Not that that worked.  Roxas was a little winded, but no major damage was done.  

from Advent Children Compete

Meanwhile, Cloud and Tifa are in Midgar, getting maintenance done on Cloud's bike.  I love the whole scene of Cloud and Tifa in the diner.  With Zack calling them and everything. And then they find Denzel.  Because I wanted so bad to include Denzel (I hinted to it in the Prequel.)  And I just love how Cloud and Tifa just pick Denzel up and are like "nope, keeping you."  I kind of modeled it after how Cloud finds Denzel in Advent Children, but obviously this isn't Aerith's church (Aerith doesn't really have a church in KH canon, the one in Traverse Town is probably the closest, but hey.)
Then we've got the journals.  In which Xigbar's journal is actually the most useful.  Because he's the one that remembers everything.  I believe that Xehanort's brain is a bit holey.  But Xehanort was really good at starting to make clones.  He was super successful with Xigbar and Saix--especially after Saix was marked as a recursant.

And then we get Cloud and Tifa returning to Hollow Bastion with Denzel and everyone being like "no one wants to call Aerith, so let's deal with this without her here because she needs a vacation gosh darnit"  But it's cool, they managed.  Plus, because it's mako-poisoning, Aerith actually has less experience with that because she didn't grow up anywhere near Shinra.  Cloud, Tifa, and Zack did.  Fun fact.

Things I'm super okay with:
-Xion flipping the lights on and off in the gummi ship to wake people up
-How everyone wakes everyone up in general
-Riku's fierce protectiveness of Namine regarding Larxene
-Xion knowing how to break into nearly everyone's rooms
-Demyx's door
-Finding Larxene's journal in a book about torture
-Roxas showing off against Neoshadows
-Xion and Roxas using each other's Keyblades periodically
-Axel saying that Xehanort was rude for going after Roxas' heart
-The FF7 Character's interactions with each other.
-Xigbar realizing that he's part Xehanort
-Saix's behavior after being marked as a recursant

Proof of Omega (ch37)

Link to Chapter

Link to the tumbl

I wanted to include a battle against the Omega Weapon for two reasons, one because I made reference to it here. And there is just so funny, because everyone's talking to Aqua, Terra, and Ven, about how Rinoa and Squall are just so epic fighting together.  And Rinoa makes mention of the "Ultima Weapon", though that is an error, it should have been "Omega Weapon" because that's the one in the game that has the attacks that I'm talking about.

official render from ff.wiki

Because this ugly dude is... well... ugly.

The second reason is that I had such an interesting experience fighting the Omega Weapon myself, that I thought to include it in my writing.

So, sidetrack for a second, while I mention a random factoid... It was established in AtP and BtE that everyone called Leon "Leon" except Rinoa, Quistis, and Zell.  My original reasoning being that they all originate from FFVIII, so that name would stick.  However, as I wrote the prequel, it became established that the only person who called Leon "Squall" was Rinoa, because she liked the name better and was too stubborn to listen to him telling her to call him Leon.  Quistis and Zell would respect his decision to be called Leon.  So, my options now are to either retcon that, or just say that after years of Rinoa referring to him as "Squall" they picked it up and he didn't feel like correcting them.

Anyway, moving on from that.  So while I was fighting Omega Weapon in FFVIII, I didn't happen to kill him before he started his epic-beam-of-light-that-deals-9999-damage-so-you-die attack.  I'm plugging along, using a ton of Life's and Full-Life's and trying to keep Squall in a state where he can use his Limit because Renzokuken! At some point during the battle, epic-attack-of-doom kills Rinoa.  Literally, as soon as it works its way back to Squall, I get a limit and for the first (and sadly only) time in the game, I get the finisher of Lion Heart (as opposed to any of the other finishers).  Naturally, the Omega Weapon didn't survive that.  So, yeah, the experience was so amusing in my head, that I ended up including it here for you guys.  Sorry about that lol.

I think mostly everything else was explained in the tumbl.  So perhaps I'll leave it at that.

Have a Vocaloid video.  Technically, it's an Akiakane and Yuyoyuppe cover.  Because well, they're amazing.

Permanent Pages are up!

I have transferred over all the permanent pages that will sit on tabs at the top of my blog.  I've got the old FAQ page, as well as the Trivia page.  And last, but not least, the All the Pieces story page (modeled after the one(s) rarmaster is doing for her fics.)

The FAQ/Q&A page is, at the moment, all stuff from All the Pieces.  However, as I'm transferring things over, I'll update it.  And then I'll continue to update it as questions are asked.  (Though, I will probably address most questions first in a post on the home page like I've been doing on Posterous.)

The Facts/Trivia page is pretty much in the same boat. Though, there is some information on that one that is applicable to Betwixt and Between currently.

The All the Pieces page is literally just transferred over from Posterous with nothing changed.  I should do more story pages...  later, when I have time...

I did not, however, transfer over the soundtrack page.  I grew increasingly unhappy with my soundtrack that I had for All the Pieces.  I need to go through and redo it pretty much.  And then get one for Betwixt and Between.  I probably will upload a list of themes that I've gathered for the couples and whatnot.  *shrug*  I've got more important things on my mind though at the moment.