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. 

Castle Oblivion (Chapters 94-101)

The Castle Oblivion arc was a rough one in a couple of ways.  Namine's head is always a fun place to be is one of them.  The fact that Castle Oblivion is just an awful place is another.  Granted, my CO has changed a lot since its original in-game incarnation, things are still rough there.  Also, during the stuff at CO, I've also got the Sephiroth battle going on alongside of that.  So, fun times.

Of course, I didn't even start us in CO during this sequence.  I have us in Port Royal with the Wayfinder Trio.  I liked discussing that perhaps Port Royal had forgotten about its magic.  Because Pirates of the Caribbean is a much more realistic movie than the other included Disney movies.  While yes, there are curses and some magic, it's not anywhere near the level that we see in say Cinderella, Aladdin, or Frozen.  So, the "dried up magic/people forgetting about it" was an interesting thing to kind of allude to.  And Aqua would think about those sorts of things, being so much of a heavy magic user.

But, of course, the tranquil ponderings can't last forever.  Let me just dump a Remnant on them.  And then they can fight for a bit, and then Kuin, whose glider is taking her all over the place, can show up and she can help them for a bit.  Perhaps I made you think for a second that he was going to get Ven.  Probably not.  I've made it pretty clear that Ven's about as untouchable as Kairi.  But that doesn't mean the Remnant still can't hurt Ven.

Then we've got Sephiroth showing up.  Well, not quite at the beginning of the chapter, but it's alluded to.  Cid can tell.  Barret's POV is fun to be in though.  Because he's never run into Sephiroth before, so he has no idea what's coming.  Because, when Cid announces it, he really has no idea what to expect.  And whatever he does expect, is not what he gets.

Oh, for the record, that teleportation block? That was Cloud doing things when I wasn't looking again.  That's why Leon had no idea what it was but Rinoa did.

Let the battle with Sephiroth begin.  Of course Cloud and Zack would be in the middle of it all.  Tifa won't stay back forever.  And neither will Leon.  He just gets too itchy about not fighting.  Man though, that battle was hard writing, trying to keep track of everyone.  Because literally, everyone was there.  Except Denzel, Marlene, and Merlin.

And then I've got Namine's feelings about something bad going to happen.  The reason why she's not seeing any images, for the record, is because she couldn't see an image of Xehanort getting into her head.  That's why her mind's drawing a blank.  Fun times.  I think it's completely legit, it also meant that none of you knew that he was going to go for her.  Or maybe you did.  I really just loved Namine's thoughts about talking to Leon about what he experienced inside of his head.  Because, honestly, the two of them would have had the most similar experiences.  (Them and Marluxia.)  Riku and Terra had different experiences because it wasn't a Remnant who originally went after them.  Terra had full-on Master Xehanort and Riku dealt with Ansem.  Also, Namine banishing Xehanort from her heart with a combination of memory prowess and light=beautiful.  I love Namine.

Ah, yes, Cloud regaining light attacks.  Okay, more just like his limits again.  I think that first one he used was Braver.  And he's all like "Aerith, was that you?" and she's just like *shakes head* Because she knows that Cloud is regaining his power again and growing strong.  Because, as far as my canon goes, Cloud had the ability to do light attacks and stuff.  He just slowly lost them as Sephiroth drained on him.  Of course, then the battle gets hairier as Sephiroth literally starts causing despair and Aerith is out of Megalixirs so she has a harder time combating darkness.  (Which causes her to swear.  Yup.)  And then Zackgets skewered.  And Aerith is having none of that.  Absolutely none.  I love the image of her jabbing her staff at Sephiroth.  It's beautiful.  So is Cloud beating Sephiroth into nothingness.

Then back to Castle Oblivion.  Where everyone else realizes that Namine's in trouble and they end up relying on Riku's sense of smell to find him.  I love poking at Riku's sense of smell and Xehanort's stench.  Riku making up swears that Axel doesn't recognize is also a beautiful thing.  Because while I hardly ever use actual swear words in my KH fics to keep ratings down, I can leave that up to your imagination.  Riku and Axel are my biggest swearers.  Namine fighting the Remnant in that form is also gorgeous.

Side note... while I initially wrote that chapter before Monty Oum's passing, it is certainly my tribute to him.  I loved the concept of Namine with all those Keyblades and I loved Dead Fantasy and I'm sad to see that the story will not continue.  RIP Monty Oum.

Now for some timey-whimey stuff.  The Remnant in Port Royal could very well be the same Remnant that showed up in Castle Oblivion.  Could be.  It could also not be, depending on how many Remnants you believe are walking around at the same time.  Kuin, of course, went straight from Port Royal to Castle Oblivion, where she gets momentarily stopped by Axel (really got attached to that lol) and then can't fight the Remnant until Namine gives the go-ahead.

Then we get to do clean-up in Hollow Bastion.  Aerith and her massive need to heal everyone.  Cloud of course, has got it the worst, having just killed his own shadow.  Though, Zack is also not in too great of shape.  Aerith expelling darkness with Rinoa, Tifa, and Yuffie's help was definitely a thing that was fun to write.  Just, the concept of what rar and I figured darkness can and cannot do and it's reactions to different healing magic.  Yup.  And then it's raining, because it's always raining.  But then Cloud wakes up and he's feeling lighter and happier, which is good.  Very, very good.

Then we've got a transitioning chapter out of Castle Oblivion.  This was my chapter 100.  My fluff chapter.  My chapter of: everything's fine at Castle Oblivion, we're all gonna go back to the islands now.  Namine has a chance to recoup from what she just went through, everyone else gets a chance to splash around at the beach, which was just fun and cute to write.  Writing SoRiKai derping around in the water because they're all such Island brats was also great.  *nods*

Then closing off with more of the Wayfinder Trio.  This time, instead of running into a Remnant though, they're on a beach and they run into Xigbar.  Well, not before they have some fun playing with the beach ball.  I had a lot of fun writing Xigbar's dialogue though, because he really just wants to live, but he's slowly coming to the realization that a world with him in it also means a world with Xehanort.  And he's got too much pride to ask the Keyblade Wielders if they can destroy just a part of his heart.  (There's also a good portion of him that thinks his heart is too far gone to Xehanort for that to even be an option.)  Sure, he'll taunt them about it, but he'll do it while he's shooting at them, not during a pleasant conversation.

I remember having a hard time deciding how to wrap this scene up, so I wrote in the two boys with the beach ball (and then also the boomerang) interrupting and Xigbar being like "Nope, not gonna fight a couple of actual kids" and then he leaves.   The kids, btw, are like unofficially my universe's Joseph and Toby.  

That's all for now.

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.

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.  

Corona etc (58-68)

I know that the Larxene Sequence happens in here as well, but I'm saving that for another post because it deserves its own post, not to be lumped in with this one.

Granted, the Corona arc isn't a major arc.  The main event is certainly what's going on with Larxene at the same time.  However, Corona is important.

But, before I talk about that, let's talk about Zack and Aerith getting engaged!

It seems like so long ago that Zack ran off to get a symbol for their relationship.  (Who all guess it was going to be an engagement ring?)  I left it open originally partially because I wasn't sure what the trinket was going to be.  I thought of other things he could get her that would effectively be the same thing.  But I decided that the small ring was perfect anyway.

I wrote chapters 56 (the end of the last arc) and 57 back-to-back within the same day.  The aftermath of Marluxia--excuse me, Marlynort--was exhilarating (regardless of how depressing it was) to write.  And then there was chapter 57 which was all the happy Zerith feels.  I didn't even have to work to hard at it.  The words just flew onto the page.  And now they're happily engaged and all is right with the Worlds.  Or something cheesy like that.

Chapter 58 was a pain to write because after chapter 57, nothing was interesting.  But I managed.  Granted, nothing terribly exciting happens in that chapter, much of it is just Sora's thoughts, but hey, they get to Corona.

I don't remember, but I think chapter 59 was a quickish one to write.  The ones where I split up the POVs tend to happen that way.  Granted, it was all mostly filler: Kuin looking for Xigbar but not actually finding him, Marlene and Barret arriving in Hollow Bastion, Yuffie blowing up something in Cid's workshop and having to deal with it.  Nothing terribly plot important, but did allow for character development.  Mostly for Yuffie though, honestly.  She's been growing up a lot this fic.  And her actually taking responsibility for something without being coerced is good.

Then there's the events of Corona, or at least the first part anyway.  Corona's not a place that's been having a lot of problems.  Things are quiet.  Rapunzel and Flynn are away at the coronation ceremony preceding Elsa's outburst that froze the place.  The King and Queen of Corona are just going about their business when Marlynort shows up and starts to cause trouble.  Naturally, Sora and his friends sign themselves up to take care of the problem.  They take time finding Marlynort because he's a true Chaotic Evil and is enjoying causing a ruckus.  This is where the Namine Replica shows up and those shenanigans begin.

The Cloud chapter makes me really happy.  Because the first bit of it is him trying to figure out what's going on with Zack and Aerith--because they haven't told anybody yet.  (Too much thought of elopement to say anything yet.)  And then Sephiroth shows up and Leon and Cloud fight him and win.  It's great.

And just when you thought I wasn't going to throw a Remnant at you because of Marlynort and Larxene and everything, a wild Remnant appears in Disney Town and tries to go after none other than Demyx.  Poor Demyx.  Not that that's going to happen if Terra, Ven, and Aqua have a say.  And when the going got tough, Mickey and Minnie both showed up and were BAMF.  I love writing for the two of them.  They are amazing and wonderful and my forevership.  I don't remember rar's exact reaction upon reading it, but it was definitely like "YOUREGIVING ME MICKEYXMINNIE FEELS AND I JUST>>> AAAAAAHHHHH...."

Cue battle with Marlynort that's really hard when your forces are cut in half.  (Like seriously, imagine game mechanics where you're FORCED to do that battle halved because the other half of your party is off fighting Larxene.)  (I'd like to think that you could choose the party that went, but for that battle with Larxene (and what follows it) it's kind of necessary that the people that went went.)  And after the battle, cue everyone being uneasy because Marlynort talks a good show.

Then, HAVE SOME MORE FLUFF (which I'm sure is what I said to rar when I sent her the chapter) with Zack and Aerith announcing their engagement and upcoming wedding.

And Corona is quietly wrapped up and the others return and they head off to Deep Space for the next adventure.

Larxene stuff to come.

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

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

Axel and Kuin

Okay, so since Kuin exists only inside of my head and there is no fan art of her and Axel because I haven't drawn it, there won't be any pictures in this post.  But I can't leave this couple unmentioned. 

Now I have to do this without spoilers.  Axel and Kuin's "relationship" is developing all out-of-order in my head.  It's developed differently inside of my head than it has on paper.  And it's developed more on paper than I have actually posted.  Yay timey-whimey stuff!

Hmm... now, what to talk about exactly.  Axel and Kuin are the couple that cares about each other... but doesn't want to admit that they care about each other.  That's a good start.  They're not even a true couple yet, really.  (Which is good, honestly, because they've just met each other...)

However, despite having just met each other, Axel and Kuin are also good fighters together.  Remember the giant Heartless in Enchanted Dominon? Or the time in Twilight Town? (granted, that ended up with Axel injured… but it was a preexisting injury so it hardly counts.) 

They don't have any combos (yet).  A lot of this is because they've only fought alongside each other a few times.  And some of it is because I don't have a complete concept on the extent of Kuin's powers. 

When it comes to light and darkness... Kuin is probably as close to "balanced" as she can be.  She has to be.  It's her job description. 

Axel... well, he's certainly dabbled in darkness (heheh... such a fun term) in the past.  He's certainly done dealing with it though.  (As in, working alongside it.)  His sense of self-preservation has kicked in in that regard.  He won't do anything that's super-uber-obviously detrimental to his heart. 

Hmm... do I have anything else to say...

I don't think so... not at the moment...

Everyone's Ages

The ages of our heroes! (These were quite fun to extrapolate.)

So, let's start with Sora.  He's 15 in KH2.  He's 16 by the end of AtP.  He won't be turning 17 until Book 3, if I get that far. 

Kairi: See above.  She's 16 at the end of AtP and won't be turning 17 until Book 3. (Yeah, I know, it's weird me talking about the next book with this one not even being finished written.  Technically, I have a vague plot for something after that, but I'm curbing Namine at all costs.)

Riku: He's 16 in KH2, making him 17 by the end of AtP and 18 in a potential Book 3. 

Namine:  Assuming that she's 14 in Chain of Memories and 15 in KH2 using that weird logic that she and Roxas aged because they had Somebodies during their existence.  That makes her 16 along with Kairi at the end of AtP and potentially 17 in that potentially next book.

Roxas: See above.  15 in KH2, 16 by the end of AtP and then 17 in B3.

Xion: Here's a fun one.  So, assume that she's 14 in Days, because that's how old Kairi was in Sora's memories when Xion took on that form.  Also, Sora/Roxas were kinda 14 at that time.  Then, she spends all of KH2 not really existing.  (Sorry, Xion.)  So, when Roxas uses his memories of her to bring her back, she's still pretty much that 14 year old self.  Assume she took on some characteristics of the Kairi that Roxas was getting input from giving her a small boost and you have a 15-year-old Xion by the end of AtP.  So, that makes her a year younger than everyone else.  (Well, Riku being the exception.)  And, you guessed it, she'll be 16 in B3.

Ven: Another fun one.  So, rar and I spent SO MUCH time trying to figure out Aqua/Terra/Ven's ages in BBS.  I finally came to the conclusion that for the purposes of my fic, Ven was 16 in BBS.  He doesn't age at all when he's sleeping in the Chamber of Waking (ironic, that statement is, yes.) So, he's still 16 at the end of AtP--the same age as Sora for those of you who are keeping close track.  Congrats Ven, you just shaved twelve years off your life somehow.

Aqua: Assume that she's 19 in BBS when she goes to take her Mark of Mastery.  (rar and I figured that you'd probably have to be at least 18 to take it back then, the prime age being early 20s, but Terra and Aqua were young prospects.)  Assume that time in the Realm of Darkness moves at a tenth of the pace as it does everywhere else.  That means Aqua gains a year and some change to her age.  That makes her 20 at the end of AtP.

 

Terra: Assume he's 19, too, when he takes the Mark of Mastery exam in BBS.  Then, assume that he didn't age at all when he was in Xemnas' heart because Xemnas was a Nobody without a Somebody.  Say Xehanort aged a good 2 years between the time he was around BEFORE he turned himself into a Heartless and then AFTER he reformed.  So, Terra's 21 by the end of AtP.

Axel: Yeah, I spent loads of time figuring this one out too.  Darn them not aging as Nobodies, but still have ridiculously long hair growth.  (Xigbar, Zexion, Saix, Axel).  Assume he's 17 in BBS when he meets Ven.  About the same age, but a bit older.  Say 5 years after BBS, he's turned into a Nobody at the ripe old age of 22.  By the time he gets himself reformed and starts aging again, he wouldn't be 23 until B3 most like.  (And I've just given him a really skewed concept of his own age, because he's been around for nearly 30 years by that point.)

Kuin: She's 9 in BBS, I have determined.  Thankfully, she hasn't been in or out of Nobody status, so that makes her an easy 21 at the end of AtP. 

Disclaimer: Betwixt and Between takes place over the course of several months (I think.  So far I've written about three weeks’ worth of information. (okay, that is disgusting, based on that… it’s taken me nearly a YEAR almost to write one more weeks’ worth of information…. That is…. That has to just be timey whimey.  Granted, the 7 months in Disney hardly counts because I hardly wrote…  MOVING ON)

This time span is not enough for anyone to have aged significantly, like the difference in ages between KH1 and KH2. 

And, that is all I have for you tonight my dearies :)