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

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

And then there’s this arc (Prequel ch71)

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Heheh, this part.  Yup.  I’m evil and awful and I know it.

Because, I knew from the moment I outlined this that Aerith, Zack, Cloud, and Tifa would return to Traverse Town in Trouble.  (I love alliteration!)

Also, the below freaking picture is freaking perfect, and I’ve been saving it for this chapter since long before I even wrote the darn chapter!

My outline:

“Upon arriving in Traverse Town, it is apparent that a large bunch of Heartless have come to the world.  Everyone is fighting.  The four of them join the others in the battle.  Things get nasty.  A canon explodes and in the blast, Shera is massively wounded.”

Yup.  Because I’m evil and awful.  But I love it. 

I won’t say much more though, because this chapter is a two-parter, technically.  And everything else is spoilers.  So I might just leave you at that.  Yup.

by Risachantag on dA

BUT THEN THIS PIC! THIS PIC! I've been SAVING this pic FOR THIS PURPOSE. UGH FEELS.

Legit though, I modeled some of the Heartless in the chapter after the ones int his pic.  Yup.  

Anyway...

Teaser Quotes:

“My World fell into darkness.”

“Mine too.”

“Had one once, lost it to the darkness.”

“Something’s wrong.  Don’t ask me how I know that.”

“Okay.”
“Right, you live with Aerith.”

“Promise that if you’re in over your head and need a hand, you’ll let me know?”

“I won’t have to.  We have a spell for that.”
“Don’t doubt that I’ll come.”

“I won’t.”

“What even…? Leon! We’ve been over this!”

“I made a promise to the King and… I can’t go back on that promise.”

And then there's this video, which I love.

When did this ship get added to my armada? (60)

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No, seriously, when did I start shipping Cid/Shera so hard? Like, I KNEW that the minute I was going to include Shera, I'd end up shipping them... but then... I just... started shipping them... SUPER DUPER hard.

What gives?

And they're just so awkwardly adorable.  They're not like the teenage awkward that we get with all the other couples because Cid and Shera are adults with their lives a little bit more figured out and...

by MrsKaktus

THEY'RE JUST SO PICKING CUTE.

Literally, this was what was in my outline:
Cid and Shera begin a serious relationship, joking that coworkers should never date, but neither of them care.  They also begin to work on ships to travel off-world, because Cid has gained a fair amount of gummi blocks.  Their cannon-work is put on hold.

I just don't understand where all the FEELS came from.  (Or am I just exaggerating their adorableness in my head? Because that is also completely possible.)

Anyway, I'm gonna stop having feels about this.

Teaser Quotes:

"It would seem that I am not yet on a plane of existence where such a simple thing as magic can harm me."

"I am but darkness.  And I can touch that what is darkness."

"I can't let you do that."
"How do you intend to stop me?"
"I haven't figured that part out yet."

"I'd like to wipe that smirk right off of his face."

"Is he going to be okay?"
"If I have anything to say about it, he will be."

{Eheehee, I'm so excited for upcoming chapters!}

Have a Christmas video to get you into the holiday spirit!

Witty Title! Witty Title! (to the tune of secret tunnel) (ch53)

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I don't know why I keep making references to the Secret Tunnel.  I just do.

Warning: Leon feels ahead. (Not my feels about Leon, but Leon's actual feels, because there is a difference.)

by yukimaria on dA

So, Leon's kind of out of it for this chapter, mostly because he's growing adjusted to living in Traverse Town again and he's writing a letter to Rinoa and he doesn't think he's too terribly good at that and Aerith writes letters like she's breathing and he's a bit jealous that Cid doesn't need any help with the cannons anymore, but at the same time he's kinda glad because he's never been really good at that sort of thing either, he just puts up with it, he's much better thinking about that sort of thing in the theoretical sense, and he's glad for Cid because he has Shera, but he misses Rinoa like Aerith misses Zack, and what is it that Yuffie's up to these days, does she seriously have a friend? or is that just another one of her white lies to keep her out of trouble because of what she's really been doing? but on that vein of thought, what has Yuffie really been doing? he doesn't know...

See, Leon feels. I suppose I should have warned you about that.... *goes and adds warning*

Also, "Am I missing an eyebrow?" -Adam Savage, Mythbusters (but it's totally Cid right now, don't even argue.)

The rest of my feels I think I explained on the tumblr.

This chapter was never actually plotted out, which is why I think it goes a bit all over the place and has a bit of everything, because I only had a prompt to discuss Squall's feels about missing Rinoa and Aerith's feels about missing Zack, which only come up at the very end of the chapter.  But I also got in some Cid and Shera love and another hint at Yuffie's antics, yay!

I will spare you all my feels about how I'm super done with school and really just want to sit and write and do nothing else because that's actually what I want to do with my life but I also have to pay bills and I should finish my bachelor's since i started it and yeah...

That was me sparing you.

Teaser quotes! (which are way more exciting!)

"You don't mind swimming,d o you?"

"Apples are really expensive right now."
"But I love apples!"
"Then you pay for them."
"Fine! I will.  Can I put them in your basket though?"
"Yes, I suppose."

"I've gotta ask, do you get weird looks for the wings?"
"All the time."

"Someday though, someday I'll be a part of the adventures."

"I uh... may have given her a summon materia."

Nifty video!

Cid and Shera (Prequel ch51)

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I can't remember when I decided that I was including Shera, but I don't think it was the first intended outline.  I think that was because I was scaling it to characters I knew I was using in AtP/BB/etc.  However, I'm sure that by the time I was including Angeal and Genesis, I was including Shera.  In fact, I'm pretty sure Shera got included before Genesis, even.  (Mostly because I wasn't sure how I was going to be writing for Genesis, anyway...)

by jameson9101322 on dA

And, about the time I included Shera, I basically started falling in love with the whole Cid/Shera ship.  (As in, I found artwork of it on dA and was like OMGFEELZ.)

Originally, Shera was basically just a stranded scientist who had a large want to get rid of the Heartless.  But then, I started fleshing out her backstory and somewhere in there she ended up being a lab tech at Disney Castle and she's personally worked on the King's ship.  Yep.

But now she's totally staying in Traverse Town for a bit because of a cannon attachment project.  Because, at this point, gummi ships are really only used for travel.  We've got a few more years before KH1 and the addition of weapons to gummi ships.  This is the time for prototypes.

There will naturally be more of Cid and Shera in the future.  Eeheehee.

Also, Shera will appear in Book 3! I just haven't written that part yet.  Well, technically she's in the area, just the POV I was in wasn't going to allow me to introduce her... give me a couple of chapters.  Yadda, yadda.  (My Hades is showing.)

Anywhosawhat... that's all for now!

Teaser quotes!

"I suppose I've just figured that if something were to happen and I were to go crazy or something, you'd be able to take care of yourself."
"And you while I'm at it ... you've gotta stop worrying about hurting other people.  You're not some pariah that everyone hates."

"How do you know this stuff?"
"I met a Sorceress once."

"Shoot, do you need sunscreen?"

"Have you ever been to a beach before this?"
"No."
"Really? You lived fairly close to Costa del Sol, didn't you?"
"There was a mountain in the way."
"Oh, yeah, right."

"Just pretend like you belong!"

And obligatory video! (I love this arranger!) (ugh, can't seem to embed this one, oh well, here's the link.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDfBi-blLFk