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.

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

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

Overall Post about the Prequel

Yeah, I know, no one's seen me in nearly a year.  Because my life got really crazy this time last year only beginning with my last semester college and deciding to move across the country after graduation.  So, what ended up happening, is I didn't do posts for the last third of the Prequel.

But these are my thoughts (six months after officially completing it.)

The Prequel was actually really fun to write.  I wish I had as much time as rar has to make character pages and all that stuff for all of her characters.  But I don't have the time.  (So enough of your lamenting magik, get on with it!)  So yeah, the Prequel was really fun to write.  It was fun getting to play with the cast as they grew up and became the characters they are in AtP etc.  The Prequel made me really get a handle on the Squinoa and Zerith relationships for sure.  It also made me fall in love with Shera and really have an idea of how Sephiroth was related to Cloud.

cosplay by CanisPanthera on dA

The last chapter (or epilogue) of the Prequel that I posted back in June is (as you've probably already noticed) nearly the same as the first chapter (or prologue) of Remnants.  That was intentional and not because I was being lazy.  I wanted there to be a very specific tie between the two.  It brings together the FF and KH casts beautifully.  Leon, Aerith, Yuffie, Kairi, and Axel are all looking over a place that all of them had called home at one point or another (intentional.)  Not that the latter two refer to it as home anymore.  But Kairi and Axel still want to help restore Hollow Bastion just as much as the others.

The chapter was short and a preview of what was to come, the giant battle of Hollow Bastion that I'd been hinting at since Betwixt and Between but had yet to follow through with.  And I also got in a cute line of Leon telling Aerith that she needs to sleep.  Like the brother he is to her.  *snickers*

I think those are all my thoughts at the moment.  I hope everyone is having a great time of year! I know this time of year can be stressful to students.  So, hang in there!

I'll have a few more posts over the next few weeks and as I finish up Remnants.  I won't do a post every chapter, but every major World I suppose.

Have a good day everyone!

Beginning of the Hollow Bastion Arc (ch67)

Chapter

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So, things I knew: It is into the new year before Cloud, Zack, and Aerith head to Hollow Bastion.  Leon and Cid tell them that even if Hollow Bastion (Radiant Garden) is still there, it would be greatly changed and Aerith may not like what she sees.  Aerith wants to see new sights, craving adventure.  Leon decides not to mention that Hollow Bastion really isn’t all that new.  They get there and the world is greatly changed.  Aerith is devastated by this.  She is angry at herself because she knows that Leon and Cid had been right.  Yuffie wants to go as well, but she isn’t allowed.

Things that got added: Aerith being apprehensive about the whole thing.  She’s also drastically in denial because she’s convinced that it will be okay.  Ish. Even though she knows it’s not.  Yup, it’s a psychological thing that happens. 

Meanwhile, Zack’s using this as a way to see what happened to his own world.  And Cloud’s just going along for the ride. 

Feels regarding Leon and Rinoa’s presents! I wanted to include a bit about the rings, because it’s like a major plot point in the game and also incredibly adorable. So I decided the two of them exchanged rings as tokens or foci for knowing when the other one was in danger.  And they’d always know if it were true, and then they could always come to the other’s aid.  I’m not kidding when I say they’ve literally pledged their lives to each other and not even marriage is going to change it all that much.  Well, they think so anyway, marriage is to some another great adventure, but that’s not what I’m talking about here.  But yeah, that’s what went down when he visited her. 

by neoangelwink on dA

Everything following Aerith getting to her house is just a bucket load of feels.  I got to explore what a world falling into darkness could look like.  I knew that Hollow Bastion did survive, because, well, KH1.  But, like, what happened to Aerith’s house? So I explored it.  Aerith got lucky that her house was mostly undamaged.  Good thing, too, because it’ll get remodeled later and be used as base for the HB Restoration Committee HQ.  *nods vigorously*

But the books, the quilt, the clothes, the pictures…

And then I throw Heartless at them.

Just wait until you see what’s coming next!

Muahahaha!

Teaser Quotes:

“Wanna help with a science experiment?”

“So what are we doing?”

“Interested in making some exploding green goop?”

“Oh, absolutely!”

“How about I drop you off at Disney Castle and then head out?”

“I wouldn’t want to keep you from…”
“I just need to go do some mercenary work.  The last few places we’ve been have been pretty quiet.  But I can take you to Disney Castle! Besides, Disney Town’s got a better stock than this place.”

“If you’re sure…”

“’Course I’m sure!”

“Kay, I’m really leaving this time.”

“I’m gonna see if I can catch up with him.”

“Tifa said she hasn’t been able to talk any sense into him.”

Anywho, I"m having a thing with holiday music still.  Feel free to ignore me.  But the Piano Guys are still awesome.

SHAMELESSLY POSTING CHRISTMAS (Ch66)

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by jsheaisaninja on dA

Yup.  Shamelessly posting about Christmas.  Basically, all I knew was that I was going to have a holiday chapter here.  I knew it from the very beginning of outlining that I was going to write and post one.  So I did.

Also, ignore the fact that the pic to the left is completely unrelated.  I saw it and laughed.  Because Squall.  I had a better one, but I couldn't find a proper source, so I won't dare put it on here.

Anywho, moving on.

I got really excited when the holiday chapter lined up with actual Christmas.  Despite the fact that I wrote it forever ago.  :P  I partially delayed posting because of that.  (The other part was totally still because school was killing me.) But yeah, holiday chapter.  Also, I'm aware that I'm using "holiday" and "Christmas" fairly interchangeably.  Because, "holiday" is the general term, but like... it's technically the commercial Christmas holiday, there's a tree and presents under it and stuff.  *shrug* So yeah... don't hate me.

Zack being able to make eggs got established a couple of chapters ago.  And Aerith not being good at bacon just showed up about now.  I mean, everyone's got something they're not good at, right? But Leon can make bacon, so it worked out :P

I knew someone was going to be getting Yuffie a shuriken.  Despite Cloud being the one thinking about it several chapters ago, I thought it made the most sense for him to give her one.  But yeah, everyone else getting Yuffie materia was also just funny.

Anyway, I never did write the bit with Leon going and visiting Rinoa.  I mean, the feather is definitely something she gave him to get to her, but he will still use a star shard.  I'll talk more about what they exchanged after next chapter though, just so I don't spoil anything.

Teaser Quotes:

"I don't know, but I'm going after him."

"They left."
"Together?"
"No, he left by himself.  She followed him."

"Relax a little! You've been brewing potions all day! She's turning you into a witch!"

"But back to the aliens... look at that one!"

"Think of it as a vacation."
"While you're learning, though?"
"Do more squats."
"Heh.  Yeah, I guess so."

And another Christmas Video!

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!

What is it like? (61)

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So, a bit of info, I have basically finished the Prequel.  Basically.  However, I am nowhere near finishing posting all of it.  I've got nearly 50 chapters left to post.  Which is both scary and exciting at the same time.  I'm trying to keep to a -fairly- regular schedule when it comes to posting, as in, every other day, but even that's a bit timey whimey.  So, don't be surprised if there's a new chapter or two! And I know that because I'm posting so fast, I might lose some of you reviewing on every single chapter, but do still leave reviews!

Also, I have 30 chapters of Book 3, but I won't start posting that yet because I want to wait until the Prequel's all posted.  However, I haven't written anything else for that since after Nano ended (literally, I got 30 chapters in 30 days--61K words, guys!!).  I've been working on essays for class and stuff, though I hope that once I get into the break I can start writing again.  Or maybe making AMVs or drawings and designs or something.  Never fear, I'm still immersed in this universe!

Now that that business information is out of the way, let's start talking about the chapter!

We are basically halfway between BBS and KH1.  (Fun fact, we are LESS than halfway through the TIMELINE of the Prequel, because I'm covering up THROUGH things, not up TO things.  However, we are technically more than halfway through chapter-wise because the second half of the 12ish years goes faster than the first half for whatever reason.)

So anyway, having been 5 years since the plunge of Radiant Garden into darkness, Aerith now wants to go back and see what it's like.  Leon and Cid both insist that this is a bad idea, but Aerith wants an adventure.  They argue, she insists, but they won't go with her.  So she decides that she'll wait for Zack and Rinoa.

And that's basically the chapter, once I've included the parts about them not wanting Yuffie to know what they're planning because while Aerith wants to go see what's left of Radiant Garden, she doesn't want to bring Yuffie along.

by ninappe

Insert slightly unrelated picture of Aerith here.  But it's so adorable! So I wanted to include it!

The part at the end where Aerith starts writing not just letters to Zack, but stories to him? Yeah, that wasn't planned.  She just decided it would be a good idea, so I let her.  It's really cute, actually.  As for Yuffie writing Cloud? Idk.  Yuffie likes Cloud.  I'm beginning to wonder if she actually has a crush on him and I just didn't notice.  Idk...

But no, I'm excited about the Hollow Bastion arc (as I'm affectionately calling it at the moment.  It actually jump-starts another arc with a much more interesting name, but I can't tell you because that's riddled with spoilers!)

The other interesting thing is all the misinformation floating around about the Keyblade.  It exists in canon, too.  Mostly because I think Square wasn't super sure what all they were doing with the Keyblade lore at the time when KH1 came out, so by the time KH2 came out, they were retconning some stuff because the lore expanded and got tweaked.  Anyway, but it's not a huge retcon because it actually would make sense for the FF Gang to simply be missing parts of information because the Keyblade Wielders have all but disappeared! By the time Sora shows up, most of them figure he's the only one around.  Mickey's been hiding it! (I totally blew rar's brain when I told her that!) Anyway, that's fun stuff.

Hmm, I think that's all I've really got for all of you.

Teaser Quotes:

"You're not from around here, are you?"

"To be honest, I'm looking for someone."
"Humor me, who are you looking for?"

"For someone who knows every face in town, why do you live in a hotel?"
"Long story."

"But the letters don't matter now."

"That would be leaving my job."

I think this video is slightly appropriate :P

A Growing Family (ch58)

And not because anyone's getting pregnant! They just keep adopting people! *MINE*

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(no tumblr, I apparently didn't have any tumblr-length thoughts this time around)

Well, this whole sequence ended up being a lot longer than originally planned.  And by sequence I definitely mean the "family feels fest in Traverse Town" sequence.  Also known as Cloud's first visit slash the visit where Zack and Rinoa are both there at the same time.

I just kept adding things to it, though! And so long as I figured the things I was adding were productive, I just kept adding chapters.  Though, this is actually the last of the chapters of this sequence/arc/thingy.  Not quite like the "end of a volume" sort of thing, like with what happened by the end of the FFVIII arc, but certainly the end of a longer sequence-arc than just a chapter.  I'll stop talking now because I can feel myself make less and less sense as I continue.

by twin-cosplay on dA

Anyway, have a picture of Yuffie because this girl is an awesome cosplayer of her.

Also, I just love how everyone ended up getting divided into chapters.  Aerith and Rinoa ended up together, where they kept trying to "out-polite" each other as KKBeckett put it.  Aerith does this frequently, she did it at the end of AtP when Tifa and Cloud showed up and it all ended with Yuffie giving up her bed for a bit.  (They've since added another room up there.)

Meanwhile, Zack and Leon go inspecting because the two of them get along pretty great.  And Cloud's just helping Cid because he can, but he's also betting Yuffie because he wants munny for a new sword.  Yup.  I just.  Yup.

But then Zack and Cloud have to leave because Cloud has to leave because he doesn't want to hurt anyone.  Zack has absolutely no idea why Cloud thinks this, but he wants to do what's best for Cloud.  Aerith, as usual, is super supportive of the whole thing, but it's sad because they have to say goodbye and *sniffle* my feels.  

Review Responses:
archsage: I don't think it's so much as Yuffie has a crush on Cloud, as she admires him for whatever reason.  She just decided one day (the day he first showed up) that she was going to like him.  She respects him because he's not Leon, he's not cranky-pants (Cid).  He's not even Zack, who she has to like because he's an extension of Aerith.  And he's certainly not Rinoa, who really just doesn't know how to deal with Yuffie.  (And that's probably because Rinoa had her own mischievous days and she's still that way and she really doesn't spend too much time for Yuffie, and her case was already sunk because of Leon.)  Cloud actually sort of cares for Yuffie in a way.

Anyway, that was a rant.  I appear to have come off as unclear.  I haven't actually watched any of RWBY, but it's certainly on my to-do list.  I keep seeing it show up on my tumblr dash and I know I just need to start watching it.  But, no, right? Kairi! And Rinoa! Ugh! His portrayal or Rinoa is wonderful!

And I kind of feel bad about Kiros and Ward, but I have such a huge cast already that I just... *sigh* I really can't!

KKBeckett: I think I ship Zerith harder than I ship Namiku.  And that's saying something.

Teaser Quotes:

"Why can't I go?"
"Because it's too dangerous."
"But they're going!"
"I don't think they should go either.  But I can't stop them.  They're all adults."

"Well, it looks like it's settled then.  You can't go anywhere until you're at least fourteen."

"Don't you even think about using Fire to light the stove.  It lights on its own."

"Well, let's head outside.  I hate leaving from indoors..."

"There's a difference between knowing and seeing."

And... well... I have feels about this video because it's just so darn beautiful.

Not technically the mafia... (ch57)

by griffinkhan

Sorry, I was still amused by KKBeckett making the FF Gang out to be the mafia. Because that's totally what they look like, right? (I kid, I kid.)

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I'm pretty sure this chapter was basically intended to be fluff with some minor plot points put in.  As in, Yuffie telling/showing Cloud the secret hideout was the only plot point I had to hit.

However, I also had to include Zack doing squats because it was bothering me that I hadn't been able to include that before.  (No, seriously, it was bothering me a crapton.)  Anyway...

The kissing bit (or them talking about kissing) was totally Yuffie just popping into my head and saying that.  So, naturally, I had to work in the dialogue.  Mostly because it's just all of the #accurate.

Originally, Yuffie was just going to tell Cloud about the hideout, and then someone like Aerith or Leon was going to hear about it, but then it just worked so pleasantly into her showing him it because she trusts him.  And then Leon's watching because he can't stand the silence of the hotel (well, he can't really stand silence, but I'll have feels about that later.)  And then he's all like... what should I do? And he wanders back to the hotel and Rinoa's there waiting for him because he's been writing to her off and on asking her to come visit and she basically just decided one day that she was going to, despite the fact that she probably should be training and stuff.

But no, again, I get to have feelings about Leon... because... well... Idk... that bit about not liking silence because of it reminding him about the end of time and I just... don't even... know where that came from.  And then him seeing Rinoa and having a very typical reaction to seeing the person that you WANT to spend all your time with.... yeah.  And then throwing them in a room with Zerith.  So much win.

Review Responses:

KKBeckett: yes, EVERYONE ships Zerith.  Really, everyone.  Cloud's certainly one of them, because he'd seen how Zack talks about Aerith and then he saw them together and just.  Yup.  Also, yes, that was a reference to people getting new weapons.  Blatantly.  Because I'm cool like that.

Teaser Quotes: (Because I enjoy them!)

"Wha' in'a name'uh all tha's Holy in'a Worlds're yeh doin'?"

"I'll have to get the cot out of the closet."
"I can sleep on the floor, really."
"No, you're sleeping in my bed! I'm sleeping on the cot."
"You don't have to."
"Yeah, right.  It's cool.  I've slept on the ground before."
"I've slept on the ground before."

"Anything you want to talk about?"
"Nibelheim."
"Yeah?"
"We need to go."
"Okay.  Wanna go now?"
"No."
"Okay.  We'll go tomorrow."

"This World is falling into darkness."
"No, there's no... We have to go back! We have to save..."
"There isn't time! If we don't leave now, we'll get sucked in, too."

"Can I have some eggs now?"
"Of course! I'll get you some right now."
"I made them myself."
"Oh, really?"

And then, well, I'm just impressed by these cellists:

Some more family feels! (ch56)

I've given you family feels before, haven't I? If not, I'm surprised.  Rar's been handing them out like candy.

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Also, I hit 100 Reviews! (I'm at 102 right now.)  Woot!

So this chapter is a conglomeration of several things.  First of all, we've got Marlene's birth, which we're in Barret's POV for.  That was fun.

by TaoPaint

Then we've got Tifa's search for Cloud.  And Tifa can use light corridors, which I'm surprised none of you said anything about.  But maybe it's not all that cool.  Which is fine, it doesn't have to be, I just expected someone to say something.  Ah well.  But regardless, Tifa can use light corridors because she's A) a freaking strong-willed person and B) her heart's got enough light in it to manage.  So, yeah.  Fun times!

And then we have the family feels.

See, I knew that Zack and Cloud would end up visiting Traverse Town anyway.  Cloud was going to be super uneasy about the whole deal, because he doesn't like to be around people, but Zack insists that everything will be fine because the people they're around can totally handle weird things.  Originally, this would have been where Cloud told Zack that he had been in the Realm of Darkness (because I'd intended for him to keep that a secret, but he ended up sharing that on their first meeting, so okay then.)  Regardless, even if that conversation had happened around here instead of several chapters ago, Zack still would have insisted that Cloud had nothing to worry about and they'd all help him out.

I thought Cloud was going to throw up a huge panic regarding going and being around people, and I was like, perhaps I'll have to knock him unconscious? Is Zack going to bring someone else to Aerith for healing? But, as it turns out, Cloud is a big boy and sucks up his own worries for a bit so that Zack can visit his girlfriend.  Classic case of characters not behaving in a way in which the author planned.  Because Zack introduces Cloud to the gang and Cloud's welcomed beautifully.

Then we've got the section with Merlin, which ended up tying into the family feels.  I knew Merlin was going to move into Traverse Town right about now, so I inserted him into the chapter.  What ended up happening, was he got caught up in an argument regarding family.  Because Blake is a real person who may or may not have helped Yuffie out with the Heartless occasionally, so she threw out the name as a cover for spending time in her secret hideout.  When she tries to make her cover more real, Blake does the typical thing and says that they weren't really friends so she should back off, but then he also takes things a step too far and insults their family.  (Originally, it was just going to be him insulting Aerith, but it turned into insulting the whole family because it flowed better and I ended up liking where that went.)  But poor Merlin, who gets completely sucked into the whole thing...

But then there's some Cloud and Yuffie bonding, which is super nice! Because... well... idk, people bonding with Yuffie is nice.  She's still kinda young.  And she still lies slightly pathologically (minus to Aerith, if we're not counting the secret tunnel thing.)  But she grows out of that.  I swear.  She's still ornery, but she gets better.

Quick Review Responses:

SpiritDreamWarriors: Of course I shall continue! I'm a little slow at the moment, but I hope to make up for lost time over the holiday.

archsage: Yes! Family is about so much more.  Anyway, I'm not really too into RWBY, but I have seen Dead Fantasy!

KKBeckett: I appreciate your mafia reference.  Also, yes, Tifa's basically just following Cloud around at every world he's been in since coming back from the Realm of Darkness.  Because he's with Zack, he's been to a lot of Worlds.

Anyway, I should be a person and go to bed... so... have some teaser quotes real quick!

"I want to go somewhere, just for a bit.  To see the sights! I'm not weak, I know how to take care of myself. However, you're the one with the star shard."

"I'll stay here and..."
"Take care of Yuffie?"
"No, make sure she doesn't follow you."

"I do want to know why you're doing this."
"Practice.  Training.  Something like that."
"You're bored, aren't you?"

"Why aren't they're any Keyblade Wielders around?"
"They've all but disappeared.  Something's happened and the Worlds have gone dark."

"Who are you writing to?"
"Zack."
"Are you writing mushy stuff?"
"Maybe just a little."
"Ew."

And then... well... good music!

Brotp Feels (ch55)

Because Zack and Cloud are one of my brotps.

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Zack Fair by Ex-Shadow on dA
Cloud Strife by Malindachan on dA

They really are though.  This chapter basically just solidified their friendship for me in my head.  Mostly asthey're derping around in the Shinra building as they're on a mission to get materia.  Because, though they've sort of started to call each other "friend" before, it's in this chapter that it's completely legit.

It's where we realize that Cloud's slightly impressed with Zack's shenanigans, and he'll do anything if he thinks it'll work.  And Zack's like "yes! I like this one! I will keep him!"

Of course, they're not entirely just shenanigans, given how there's the entire discussion at the beginning of the chapter when Cloud's telling Zack how he basically just figured that Zack could take care of himself in the event that anything happened and meanwhile Zack's thinking that if anything were to happen, he'd manage to take care of them both.  (Zack's not going to let anything on the scale of Angeal happen again.)

That picture up there is just so perfect (though they totally didn't take the stairs in my fic, but the elevator), the idea behind it is so accurate.  They're infiltrating the Shinra building! Like partners in crime! I was so happy when I stumbled across it a couple of weeks ago in my image search.

Also, I'm very excited for upcoming chapters because it's when Cloud actually gets integrated into the rest of the group.  Sure, he's met Yuffie and I've made a slight reference to Yuffie liking Cloud (like, doesn't disrespect him) from FF7.  But Aerith! And Leon! And... eeheehee! Can't wait!

Surprisingly, that's all I have to say on my brotp feels at the moment.

But you can have some teaser quotes!

"Who sabotaged my cannon!"

"I didn't do it!"
"I was actually going to ask if this is the last of the milk..."
"Yeah.  Tell Aerith we need more."

"I don't like flying."
"Nobody asked yeh."

"Don't you ever wonder what Radiant Garden looks like?"
"Um, to be honest, no."

"I wish we knew how to fix Worlds."
"That requires something called Kingdom Hearts.  And a Keyblade.  I think."

And then there's this gem!

Yup, more letters (ch54)

Chapter

Tumbl

It occurs to me that my author's note on this chapter doesn't make a whole ton of sense, or it makes sense, it's just highly unamusing.  This is entirely because I was putting the chapter up late last night and I was sleep deprived and working through the medication over the migraine.  (I should have been sleeping, but there was homework....)

So, ignoring the odd author's note, let's talk about the chapter.

I don't really ever plan out the letters chapters.  I never have, I probably never will.  I basically just look at my outline and decide "That looks like a good place for a round of letters" so I put it in.  There have been a couple of times where I elected not to do the letters because I couldn't think of anything to write and I don't want to force the letters.  This was one of the instances, however, where I could better bridge what was going on through letters than anything else.

So, starting with Aerith's letter to Zack, what we're dealing with here is Aerith first trying to help Cid, because Aerith likes helping people in general, and she's been asking around to see what might work best for Cid's cannon prototype.  She asks this of Zack some undetermined time before this chapter and he responds sometime later (though still before the chapter, the last chapter also) about materia.  This is the letter Aerith had written before the start of chapter 53, she finishes the letter to Zack and starts one to Rinoa before going and making dinner, there was her afternoon.  Aerith does the usual thing and tells about how Traverse Town is.  Then she asks about Cloud because she cares.  Then she tells Zack not to be jealous because she still cares for and thinks about him as well.  She tells him her dream (which stemmed from a dream of mine, actually... because I legit dream about this stuff).  Aerith asks about Zack and also what Cloud's favorite foods are.  She makes a comment about wanting to go to festivals, but then ends the letter.  She curiously does not talk too much about herself, not really.  A point I will discuss later.

Aerith's letter to Rinoa is the letter she's writing at the start of chapter 53 when Leon joins her at the table.  Aerith's super awkward in this letter, I realize, looking back at it.  There's an awkward introduction and it just continues being awkward from there.  She talks a bit about herself, but only in the mage-sense to give Rinoa a background.  Then she goes into that whole "nice" thing which just cracks me up.  She's so blunt about it.  Also, she completely rats Leon out and it's amusing.  She asks Rinoa about what sort of food she likes and then what it's like to fly.  Which, is both a reference to Aerith being scared of the sky and the wings Angeal has in Crisis Core.  The being afraid of the sky part comes in where Aerith says how she thinks it would be scared to fly.  Not that Aerith's actually afraid of the sky in my universe, because she's not, she sees the sky as a way to connect with Zack when they're worlds apart.  And then the whole freedom of wings is a reference to Angeal.  Yup.  Then Aerith asks if Rinoa has any suggestions for the cannons in her typical helpful manner and then closes the letter wishing Rinoa luck.  Again, Aerith talks little about herself.  (I feel like I'm writing an essay here, but I'm actually just reflecting on Aerith's character.)

Then there's Leon's letter to Rinoa which he spends most of chapter 53 writing.  Side note, I keep changing what Leon's handwriting is, annoyingly.  I just can't settle on something in my head.  I know it's a bit of a scrawl, but that's all.  Anyway.  Leon's awkward too, but he's always awkward and Rinoa's totally okay with it.  The letter is a whole ton of feels: he is angry at Rinoa's father for not caring about her, I discussed in the last blog post Leon's feels regarding Cid and his current cannon building escapades, then there's the whole Father!Cid bit that I just adore... He misses her, he tells her that he's skeptical of Yuffie, he feels weird being back in Traverse Town, but he loves Aerith's cooking.  A completely normal letter from him.  Completely.  Especially the "Also, I love you" part.  Goodness, Leon.

Then there's Zack's letter to Aerith, which was probably written shortly before this chapter and the one before, but Aerith has not gotten it yet.  Zack's letter actually makes me sad.  He's so happy-go-lucky at the beginning.  He puts the ! after Aerith's name just because.  He tries to describe Halloweentown and fails (funnily enough, the world he's on is super festive and Aerith was talking about festivals, I can't remember if I planned that or not.)  Then Zack starts asking about what to do regarding Cloud's nightmares.  And that question isn't even completely relating to Cloud's nightmares, because Zack's getting nightmares too.  Except, where Cloud's getting suffocating nightmares about the darkness and something following him, Zack is getting nightmares about Angeal.  But then Zack changes the subject by saying that he considers Cloud a friend and he's really glad he met him, but he also misses Aerith and he's torn between the two.  Then he starts asking all the questions that he knows Aerith's going to answer anyway whether he asked them or not, but he ends with an emphasized "PLEASE TALK ABOUT YOURSELF I MISS YOU AND I JUST WANT TO KNOW HOW YOU ARE FEELING".  Sorry about the caps there, it was totally Zack.  And then he admits in the PS that he's getting the nightmares too and my heart simply breaks for him.  *sniffle*

Wow, that was a ton of feels.  I feel a bit bad about that.  Except, I don't.  :P

Teaser quote time!

"Well, then go.  Do whatever it is you need to.  But be careful!"

"I feel like there's more darkness floating around and I don't want you to get caught up in it."

"That, my dear, is a wild ride."

"Everything okay? Or is that a dumb question?"

"What are the odds that we'd end up finding each other? Two country boys who were just off to find adventure."
"You know, I think we found adventure."
"You can say that again."

I LOVE this video.  Just... yes.

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

Chapter

Tumbl

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!

Finding the Secret Waterway (Prequel ch46)

Yes, I know the chapter title on fanfic is obnoxious.  I was like, missing Avatar.

Link to the Tumbl

So I was watching my youngest sister play KH1, (mind you, this was several months ago), but I was reminded of the secret waterway and how sometimes Leon used it to train.  It got me thinking about how they even found out about it in the first place.

cosplay by yu-kisaragi

But of course, the Great Ninja Yuffie would find it.

Young!Yuffie is a bit hard to write for.  I think I've mentioned this before.  For some reason, her head's really hard to get into, especially because there's this whole alter-ego of the Great Ninja Yuffie that is also in her head.  I think this gets better as she grows older, like the different personalities resolve themselves within her.  Regardless, this is the first chapter where I've done an entire chapter with JUST a kid.  (I wasn't even doing full chapters with just Kairi!)  I think it went very well.  It helped that the Great Ninja Yuffie had a mission.

But yeah, as my tumbl says, writing the chapter without being at the leisure of just turning on my PS2 and wandering around Traverse Town made it a little bit hard.  I didn't have access to KH1 at that particular moment, so I was reduced to walkthroughs and the wiki.  And, as great as the KHwiki is, it was failing me for this one, because it failed to mention the entrance to the secret waterway from the alley.  It only mentioned the one by Merlin's house.  So I got SO confused.  It's cool, I figured it out, obviously.

Also, rar and I got into this intense discussion about the locations of boxes in Traverse Town.  Thankfully, boxes are not like buildings and can move around over the years.  Then we also had an intense discussion to figure how Yuffie gets through the bars.  I think we determined there was a hatch for maintenance, but Yuffie's small enough at 10 to just fit through the bars.  Later, she'll probably loosen a bar to move aside as she gets through.  Later, when other people know about it, I think they'd either use the aforementioned hatch or be able to slide through with one of the bars missing (ala the Little Mermaid 2, probably.)  Then, Sora'll show up in, like, 6 years and just break the whole thing with a Trinity because... well... Sora.

Overall, a pretty fun chapter to write.

Yes, KKBeckett, her relationship to school is very amusing.  She really doesn't want to be doing school, but she knows if she doesn't, Aerith will get disappointed, and Yuffie really doesn't want to disappoint Aerith.  So she just keeps going, waiting for the day when Aerith tells her she can be done with school. (Something that is certainly a few years off.)

Here's some up-and-coming quotes:

"If I wasn't sure, I wouldn't be saying it.  Will I miss you? Absolutely.  Do I know that you and I may need to do separate things for a while? ... Absolutely."

"What, no hug?"

"I think my adventuring days are over, I'm getting too old for it."

"I know your family's not technically a real family, but it sounds like a really nice family."

"Cid's asleep! Goodness, how late is it?"

Have a completely unrelated, but slightly nifty video:

And that's all, folks!