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.

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.

Deep Space (various chapters between 70 and 78)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Twilight Town Feels (Chapters 53-57)

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

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

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

Because that is where the Remnant successfully norts Marluxia.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Beginning of the Hollow Bastion Arc (ch67)

Chapter

Tumbl

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.

Developments (62)

Chapter

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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)

Chapter 

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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

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

Chapter

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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!

A Growing Family (ch58)

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

Chapter

(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.

Yup, more letters (ch54)

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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)

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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

Aerith and her Thoughts (ch42)

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So today's been interesting.  I spilled water on my computer and for a bit there, music would come out of both my headphones AND my speakers.  I put it in rice, and aside from what might be a grain of rice in one of my vents... everything's working functionally now.  *knocks on wood*

Oi, I don't have the munny for a new computer right now.

I don't really have much to say about this chapter, if I'm completely honest with myself.  I mostly just let Aerith talk and everything else came along with it.  I do think it's super adorable how she keeps wishing for Zack because she's worried about him (not that she's not worried about Leon... but Zack...) and first Cid shows up and then Zack shows up.   And then she wonders and wishes for Leon.

by Tekesuta on dA

Who, in all honestly, if I could rig that, I'd have him show up right there.  But... it just doesn't work.  For starters, this chapter would have to come later because Leon's STILL dealing with end of time stuff and... yeah... no...

But Aerith's just super worried about everyone and... yeah...

But seriously, that's all I have to say about this chapter.

Have a nice picture of Cid because Cid love!

Though, the image in my head of Zack appearing mid-air and totally being rearing to fight is super amusing and amazing.

In regards to things that relate to more than just this chapter... rar's got me cringing every time one of my characters uses Thunder-magic.  Thank you Riku.  *glares*

I think that's it though.  I won't say anything about how Leon's doing because... well... spoilers!

As usual, have a vid!

Letters Between Aerith, Leon, and Cid (27)

Link to the chapter: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9446325/27/What-s-all-Gone-on-Before

Link to the live tumbl (it was live): http://magiksbrain.tumblr.com/tagged/ch27/chrono

So, I'm not quite sure what gave me the idea to do letters, but I fell in love with it as soon as I wrote them out.  I think it was because I knew that the characters were writing letters back and forth to each other, so why not exemplify that? As the liveblog said, I'm using them to almost summarize things that would take longer scenes to work out otherwise, but I still get a great bit of emotion, because I'm actually in these characters heads.

Yes, this time around, there was a lot of summary involved, but I think that'll change in the future.  I'm intending to write a lot more letters between the characters as the story progresses.

by ~venardhi on dA

And, since I can't really find a good picture of letters, have an awesome cosplay of Cid!

I think this is the first point in which Aerith's initial worry about Zack starts to show.  Because, honestly, she's just sitting off to the side as she's watching Zack cope with both the fact that he killed someone and the fact that his friend is dying.  This is also where Aerith vows to do whatever she can to help Zack.  Because that's who Aerith is.  Also, Aerith's been writing letters for a long while.  She writes to Zack because she loves him, and Leon because she loves him--but in a different way.  She just wants Leon to come home, and at the same time, she wants Leon to follow his heart (especially where Rinoa is involved.)  Aerith's a huge Squinoa shipper.

Leon, of course, responds to every letter Aerith sends, when he gets the chance to, anyway.  He's busy killing Sorceresses! Well, sort of.  Aerith ends up being the first person he admits to that he might actually like Rinoa.  Of course, he hasn't quite admitted it yet, but he's gotten really close.  (While he's doing that, he's being super adorable and it's just so feels-inducing.)  Meanwhile, he's also struggling with his feelings towards his father, and he just wants some answers, which is why he reaches out to Cid.

Cid, of course, never writes letters.  He only wrote one because Leon wanted a response and Aerith pestered him to do it.  This particular letter of Cid's gave me so many feels and it was not okay! Because Cid is a father figure to Leon, it's just not the most obvious relationship in the worlds.  But Cid really does want the best for Leon, as a weird mixture of an older-brother-father-figure-ish-thing.  The age difference is something I haven't quite figured out, but, all the same, ugh, Cid, feels!

I really love how the different styles showed up.  I think I really pulled that off.  Aerith's very detailed in her letters.  She wants to let the people she's writing to know exactly what's going on.  But, outside of that, the letters become a place where she ends up voicing her most inner thoughts.

Leon, on the other hand, doesn't really have a logical order to his letters.  They're very stream of consciousness, because he's still trying to figure everything out as he's writing it.  The letter writing is a way that he organizes his thoughts, which ends up making the letters unorganized.  However, for the things he does know and has figured out, he ends up being very brief, because why waste the time otherwise?

Cid's style is a lot how Cid just talks.  In this particular letter, he was telling a story, so I can't really narrow down if all of his letters are/would be like this.  All the same, he doesn't write letters often, so, he probably has a lot to say (even if it's only one one particular subject) when he does write letters.

Anywho, that's all I have to say. This vid is awesome.

The Fight against the Darkness (21)

I am aware that that blog post title only applies to one quarter of the chapter that I just posted, but it's really the only fight that's going on in this chapter (as opposed to gearing up to the fight against Adel and Cid's fights against libraries and bookstores.  Neither of which make good blog titles.

Link to chapter: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9446325/21/What-s-all-Gone-on-Before

Link to liveblog: http://magiksbrain.tumblr.com/tagged/ch21/chrono

And the truth behind why Rinoa had magic in chapter two comes out.  Adel tried to possess her.  See, when I wrote the chapter, I hadn't quite decided whether or not Rinoa was a Sorceress or not.  I think in my head, I assumed she was, because she needed to be for the chapter for the plot I already had in place to function.  It was only later that I decided that Rinoa wasn't a Sorceress yet because, I liked the transfer of powers idea and there really was no other way (that wasn't ridiculously complicated) that I could work it out.

But, in the game, Rinoa doesn't become a Sorceress until Sorceress Edea almost dies and transfers her powers.  In my canon, here's Rinoa exhibiting Sorceress powers before she'd even MET Edea, so I decided to go with the possession (or attempt of possession) route.  Because, it's so Kingdom Hearts.  It really is.  Okay, well, it's so Xehanort, but still.

The raw magic, as explained by the chapter, came from an attempt of possession by the Sorceress Adel, who was trying to possess another girl in order to free herself from prison.  Rinoa seemed like a good enough candidate because of her connection to one of Galbadia's generals.  However, the full possession attempt fails because of the safeguards around Adel's prison.

Rinoa was then able to use magic for about six months while the residual Sorceress power slowly drained from her system.

Cue everything between chapter 2 and chapter 21.

Rinoa decides that now is as good of a time than ever to mention that she had magic before, answering just about all of Quistis' questions as well as getting some of her own answered by Edea.  Meanwhile, Leon and Zell are just like "okay, whatever".

Moving onto Cid! (I wonder if this is going to be a long blog... probably not... because I really only am going to ramble on and on about the Sorceress part of this chapter)

See, I knew that Cid researched, I just was never quite sure when, so I decided that I would explore in a chapter snippet when he's researching.  So look, there he is researching gummi ships (because, face it, they're more stable than star shards).  This also marks when he decides to start collecting gummi blocks.

So back to the Sorceress plot... Everyone makes plans to fight Adel and while everyone's like "oh, it's a super good idea for Rinoa to do this", Leon's the only one who's like... "Who decided this is a good idea? This is not a good idea! Rinoa, you could die!" (Leon loves her, it's a thing, but he doesn't admit it yet and he won't for a while.)  And then Edea's like, "Well, you're going to need a Knight..." And because Leon's in love with Rinoa, he agrees to it without really thinking about what he's getting into.  And he justifies it by saying he's just trying to keep her from doing something stupid, when really, he loves her.

That's not spoilers, it happens in the game.  The him loving her part.  Not the Rinoa absorbing Adel's powers.  Though... I'm forgetting who absorbed those in the game, I think it might have been Ultimecia... the game was very much like "We have to kill Adel so Time Compression can start" and there wasn't a lot of "who's absorbing that power?"

It was while I was writing this part of the chapter that the lone post on the livetumbl came up.  See, I was plotting things that happen upon Adel's death and I was wondering if I was being a bit mean to Rinoa, but then I figured that a ton of crap happens to the game.  Of course, then I wondered if I was making her character useless, which led to a huge brainstorming session in which I could both be mean, and still have a good character.  Yep.  That happened.

And then, stuck at the end of the chapter, is Cloud's fall into darkness.  I knew from the beginning that it wasn't going to be like other's falls into the darkness.  His descent (because, it's kind of a descent, since he does eventually end up with a shadow (not spoilers, it comes up in Betwixt and Between)) isn't really his fault.  He just wanted to adventure, and then he was unfortunate enough to be on a World as it fell into darkness.  He will then be IN the Realm of Darkness for a while, and he won't be the same when he comes out.  I won't say too much, because I haven't even written all of that yet...

So, yeah, wow, long blog post...

Review Replies!
KKBeckett, I answered most of your review above in my rant lol.  But yes, that's what happened with Rinoa, and yes, he totally LIKES her.
And Cid's feels are so adorable! He's secretly a Zerith shipper.
As for Cloud, and that World being plunged into darkness, I suppose it's technically Xehanort's fault.  Though, I'm pretty sure this one was Ansem or Maleficent.

Have a video! (From Geek Week on YouTube not too long ago)

Leon versus Things he Doesn't Want to Do (ch15)

But he gets roped into anyway.

Link to the chapter: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9446325/15/What-s-all-Gone-on-Before

Link to the livetumbl: http://magiksbrain.tumblr.com/tagged/ch15/chrono

by ~ancientzoidian on dA

Have some Zell! He needs some love:

Anyway, so this is that Leon chapter I'd mentioned in the last blog.  Or last chapter.  Or... something.  I remember saying it, but now I can't find record of it.  *headdesk* Of course.  Anyway! Leon chapter!

I continued off the epic entry introduced last chapter and then just continued it into 'Leon getting roped into things he doesn't want to do.'  Because, in all honesty, he really doesn't want to have to go somewhere else and deal with anyone else's problems, he's got enough of his own as far as he's concerned.  But then something twinges in his heart and he wonders that if he helps these people, maybe he'll feel better about letting Radiant Garden fall.  (He still feels mildly responsible for that, yep.)  And so off he goes, despite hardly knowing these people.  And we call Zack impulsive.

Though, I do find it amusing (but completely rational of him) that he tries to pawn Zack off on the newcomers, it goes back to him thinking that he's got enough on his plate and it's completely logical for Zack to go, because Zack was going to leave anyway.  Plus, Zack calls himself a hero! And that's what they're looking for.  Leon does not consider himself a hero, and probably won't for a while.

Anyway, you'll note that Yuffie still calls Leon 'Squall', mostly because she knows it bothers him.  Which is why she's super quick to tell everyone else what his true name is, much to his chagrin.  Yuffie just thinks this is all great fun.  Leon's going to hate her in a bit when Rinoa picks up on it and insists on calling him 'Squall.'  It's cool though, Yuffie's super annoyed that not only does she NOT get to go and help these people, Leon's going instead.  So, congratulations you two, you've annoyed each other.

To expand on the livetumbl...

I basically explained why Leon is the epitome of 'can't be bothered.'

The continuity errors have to do with what is being blamed for Radiant Garden's fall.  Because in my KH Canon (actually, it could be canon.... i'm not entirely sure...) Xehanort plunges Radiant Garden into darkness about the same time he splits his heart and becomes a Heartless and a Nobody.  To compound the problem, Maleficent added a crapton of Heartless and darkness into the area, which just didn't help matters.  So yes, Maleficent is somewhat responsible and it's completely legitimate to blame her for it.  But, ultimately, like everything else in KH, it's Xehanort's fault.

And yes, Aerith has a look that makes everyone get defensive.  She gives Leon that look when she thinks that Leon might have agreed to let Yuffie go along to help.  Aerith tries really hard to keep Yuffie out of the Worlds' problems and only partially succeeds.  It's cute.

And then Aerith went and gave me feels regarding the fact that she felt every death that was a result of Radiant Garden's dirge.  Yup.  Thanks Aerith, for that.  Really wanted it.

And then there was the Xehanort and Ultimecia post.  It came about because rar and I were discussing how Xehanort and Ultimecia both have a thing with possessing people and I casually mentioned that they should make a club.  Yep.

Review Responses:

SpiritDreamWarriors from Chapter 14: I might be able to add Vincent in there somewhere.  It won't be for a while, because I've got the next long bit pretty much ironed out for what's going to happen.  But I can guarantee you a cameo or three before the fic's end.

KKBeckett: Yeah, if you hadn't read the chapters before this one and only heard about a Sorceress causing darkness problems, you're definitely given the jump to assume it's Maleficent.  I kind of did that on purpose.  Mostly so LEON thinks it's Maleficent.  And then he finds out that it's not.  Heh.  I considered actually doing that, but that would be A) too convenient, and B) Leon couldn't actually KILL Maleficent (because that messes with KH canon--don't get me started on her coming back... she needs to not die...) and I needed to give Leon someone (or two, or three) to kill.  Yup.

Anywho, that's all I have for you right now.

I love this video.  All the fandoms.  Advent Children even appears in it somewhere.  :P