More Plotting

So I left off yesterday after some reposting of an old conversation between me and rar.  I thought I might continue what I have of that for your guys' benefit.  Because, honestly, there's a lot of good stuff about how the whole idea for Zerith's wedding came up.  

Though, tbh, I almost wished I'd remembered this whole conversation when I wrote the chapter of Aerith's wedding day, because that first line there is beautiful! Then again, I do like it better where there's some week-before set-up, and the line wouldn't have flowed with all that leading into it.

magik: "it was in a church--Aerith's doing... Zack didn't care (would have married her on the moon for all he cared)" nice, simple... She'd probably settle for Yuffie, Tifa, and Rinoa for the bridesmaids.  Zack would have Cloud, Leon, and I'd think of a third person

rar: shoot since when were there THREE flies?? sorry i just, we had two and killed one but now there's two

magik: they do this thing called breeding. I'm channeling hades, apparently. 

rar: yeah but they're all big and have only been around for this afternoon??

magik: I"M NOT WRITING FOR HIM TOMORROW DARNIT< I"M WRITING CLOUD AND TIFA

rar: I'M SORRY

magik: and sephiroth

rar: THAT'S FRUSTRATING

magik: i need to get in a sephiroth mood

rar: write Hades anyway??? ??? just write it now. go back and do cloud later

magik: no, because then i either A) have to get into Mickey's head or B) have Aqua hover over his shoulder. the time for hades will come. he just needs to hush.

rar: okay, just trying to help

magik: but i need to deal heavily with mickey for that chapter

rar: riiight

FYI: This was the Hades' attack on Disney Castle sequence.  Just for anyone wondering.  I changed Donald/Daisy's wedding into Zerith's wedding very early on into Remnants.  But I am SO SO SO happy with that change.  

This here is some more plotting for the Cloud arc:

magik: hmm... do i want to throw Cloud into Agrabah?

rar: idk? you could

magik: thank you, Tifa, for that line

rar: what line? 

magik: "Cloud, we are wandering around in the desert, and for what?"

rar: stick 'em in Agrabah then

magik: because like, he'd park his bike, and then just start wandering aimlessly, though Tifa knows it's not aimless

rar: how'd they get back to the bike?? he should not lose track of it. just saying, that'd be bad

magik: Tifa can get herself right to it.

rar: goooood point

magik: Cloud just doesn't ask. Tifa's "job" is to go get the bike and save Cloud's butt.

rar: ha yeah 

Because that was before Tifa'd really revealed to anyone that she could form light corridors.  Not that it's a huge deal, but as a point of reference. 

And this upcoming bit was some plot arc that I'd intended on using for Sora.  It kind of made its way in, but not entirely.  

magik: spam you some feels about charrie development: because Sora... Sora's got a darkness problem. not huge, but it's there. because he no longer has so much light in his heart. yup, it's a thing. and while it's not a "problem"

rar: oh yeah, now that Ven's gone

magik: it's a problem in the fact that he has NO IDEA how he's supposed to take care of it, so he has to learn

rar: thaaaaaaaaaaaat's true

magik: and Riku and Kairi have to help him through it, once he admits he needs help. I think it's the only topic he and Kairi fight on, actually. And Kairi... Kairi's learning how to wield a Keyblade, and that's all find and dandy. but then there's Xion, and Xion's just amazing because she's a perf replica

rar: of course

magik: and kairi knows that xion and roxas technically wielded before her and it shouldn't matter, but it does. And Roxas, who just spent a year training and that's all he did. and Kairi's just like... "why can't I be that good?" and then there's Riku... 

rar: (they do have like a year on her tho. both of them. I GET KAIRI'S FEELS I'M JUST SAYING)

magik: shh... it shouldn't matter but it does to her, anyway... but then there's Riku who's kinda just quietly bettering himself

rar: that's Riku for you

magik: he's over most of his demons/skeletons. he's coping. except for when he's not. he and Namine get locked in this "you need to stop being so hard on yourself" thing, because they're both struggling with it. and idk about Roxas and Xion's development at the moment, outside of them wanting to become masters. it'll come to me

but then there's Axel, who gets a double-whammy of character development. first of all, because he's finally coping with everything that involved Isa/Saix, which is huge and major. then he thinks that it's weird that he's included in Sora's friends because, sometimes, he sees himself as the enemy, still. anyway, i'm sorry, did I saw two, i think I meant three... the third one involves Kuin but not in a romantic way, in a "i need to respect you" way, because that whole thing with Xehanort and she has to come to terms with that, and apologize, and realize that she can't do it alone. And Axel can respect her for that

Wow, that was a lot of character talk.  As you can see, a lot of that made it into the 115 chapter monstrosity that is Remnants.  Some of that didn't.  

I never really did deal with Sora's darkness problem.  It came up a bit.  Here and there.  But not overly so.  I think I'd wanted to include it because I knew that Ven was no longer in Sora's heart anymore, and Sora had less light to combat the darkness--plus, Nomura had hinted at stuff like that for KH3.  Well, it didn't make it in to the extent that I'd originally thought it would.  Sure, in my headcanon, he and Kairi probably do argue about it a bit.  I just never wrote it because it never really seemed to flow.  Sora's optimistic and happy, and he wants the best for everyone.  When he worries, it's not because he has darkness problems, it's because he's trying to figure out how he's going to kill four people--all of whom he's killed before and now he has to kill them again.  He's afraid of Xehanort getting one of them and it never once occurs to him that Xehanort'll come for him, too.  At least, not until Xehanort does do that.  

Meanwhile, Kairi's apprehensions about Roxas and Xion being amazing do show up, when it comes time for them to take their Mark exam.  But even that worry was lessened because Kairi is reminded that different people are good at different things.  

Riku and Namine do have this "you need to stop being so hard on yourself" for literally everything.  But, honestly, the best interactions between them are when they're dealing with the aftermath of her shattering Marluxia and her throwing Xehanort from her head.  Good, solid, conversations.

Roxas and Xion are quietly adorable on their way to becoming masters.

Ah yes, and Axel and Kuin.  I'll talk about that now.  Sometime during Betwixt/Between, I realized that trying to pair Axel with Kuin just wasn't going to work.  It might have worked in someone's vague crack-fic after AtP had BB never been written.  But Axel being who he is and Kuin being who she is meant that that two of them would never be a healthy relationship.  And I wasn't in the mood to write an unhealthy one.  So I turned them into rivals and acquaintances, who'd never pursue anything romantically.  It felt better that way.  

Also, it let me subtly ship Akurokushi.  One of my biggest OT3s as of late. My final chapter does contain a reference to that.  

I'll continue in another (and probably final) blog about wedding traditions. 

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.

Traverse Town AKA Mark of Mastery (Chapters 79-88)

This sequence started out more as a concept than anything else.  I wanted there to be another Mark of Mastery (ever since Betwixt and Between).  But I never got around to writing it because of how epically Betwixt and Between failed in so many ways.

But I still wanted to do the Mark of Mastery exam.  Traverse Town seemed to be as good of a setting as any, so I went with it.  The biggest question for me I suppose then was when I was going to put it.  The sequence as a whole got moved around several times for various reasons.  I didn't want to have it too early, to give the characters more reasonable time to be prepping for the exam (even if they didn't know it.)  But I also didn't want it to be the last thing because, for me, it didn't really seem like an end-game sort of plot arc.  So I wanted it in the middle.  I do know it got pushed back a little because when rar and I cemented the Larxene sequence of events, it was happening right in the middle, and I couldn't have half my cast go gallivanting off while they were supposed to be taking their Marks of Mastery.  So it got pushed back in that regard.

But overall, I'm fairly happy where it takes place.

I struggled a bit with pacing and POV.  I wanted to keep things interesting and do a mixture of POVs from the scenes, but I also didn't want anything to come off as repetitive.  There were a couple of near-entire chapter rewrites I think.  But you all seem to like it, which is good!

The first stage of the exam was very much like Aqua and Terra's first stage.  Yay element balls.  And since that was overall self-explanitory and not much more interesting than comments on particular fighting styles, I was able to have Riku, Sora, and Namine catch everyone else up with what else had been going on.

Then, to break up the narrative, I stuck in the scenes with Mickey and Xigbar, and Marlene in Hollow Bastion.  I wanted Mickey to run into Xigbar ever since the whole Xigbar arc got put in place.  And I'm really happy with how that turned out.

The bit with Marlene was more because I wanted to include something from Marlene's POV than anything else.  Because her and Denzel are such cuties.

 But back to the exam... The second part was Master against student.  Kind of like how Aqua and Terra fought each other, but at the same time, not really.  I paired who I paired very intentionally, trying (obviously) not to pair couples or close friends.

Aqua versus Kairi was very much me experimenting with different fighting styles.  I know I somewhat fell into the "Kairi as magic user" trope, and I should have had her do more power-house moves.  And I kind of regret that.  I don't regret Kairi just unleashing light when she feels like it though.  It really was an exercise in fighting styles.

Riku versus Ven was also fun.  Even more so because I told the whole thing from Aqua's POV.  Riku's tank versus Ven's lightweight almost Airbender attitude.

Then came Marlynort bothering Hollow Bastion.  That scene pretty much speaks for itself.  Things I'm super in love with is Denzel and Marlene's attitudes toward everything, Pi standing up to Marlynort, and Barret calling Zack impulsive.

So Terra versus Sora.  I wanted these two to spar because Sora brings out the best of everyone.  And Terra could use that.  (Sure, he's already gotten rid of some pretty nasty parts of his heart, but a little extra boost can't hurt.)  Sora's thought process through that entire thing was great to write as well.  Sometimes, Sora's hard to write for because he's so dang nice.  Sometimes, he's super easy to write for--because he's so dang nice.

Then we got Ven and Kairi's thoughts thinking back on the exams, because I wanted to get more rounded scenarios.  (I think these were some of the parts I had to rewrite, but maybe not.  I honestly can't remember.)  Through Kairi's POV we also get to see Aqua sparring with Xion and Kairi feeling a little like she's not all that great.  But then Sora reminds her that she is fantastic and he's such a cutie.

Then Riku versus Roxas.  And I couldn't resist a "Roxas-breaking-Riku's-hand" reference.  Because I just love that whole exchange at the end of Days.

Ah yes, then the Leon chapter.  This was one that I definitely rewrote a lot of to prevent being repetitive.  The first part not so much because it was stuff before the exam even took place.  Because the HB gang was at one point a Traverse Town gang and them wandering around seemed necessary.  But then I refined and condensed things from the exam that Leon could gloss over because you all had already read it.

And then comes the final portion of the exam.  I took inspiration from KH3D and had a little bit of a "dream-drop" sort of thing where they all fight something inside of their hearts.  Sora and Riku pretty much take it in stride but then Aerith gets super antsy.  So Namine starts delving to check.  And then... well... Xehanort.

Because when else would he show up.

Ah yes.  Then it was the chapter of Cloud doing things that I didn't plan on.  Which is fine... I just... didn't plan them.  Like the whole thing with the Hero's Medallion taken from Zack.  I didn't plan that.  Cloud went and did that on his own.  Like I wasn't watching or something.  But yeah, Cloud's done dealing with Hades.  Did Herc help him? Yeah.  But half of Cloud's character development right now is Cloud accepting that he can't do everything on his own.

 Then comes Rinoa during the Xehanort fight.  One of my favorite lines is "Was that a pattern they were in? How many times had they done this?" Because, Sora and Riku have done this.  A lot.

Mmmmm.  Ah.  Yes.  Leon almost getting Norted.  That one surprised everyone.  Including I think rar.  Because it's just so unexpected.  I wanted there to be one that came out of nowhere.  Because Nort going after Cloud almost makes sense.  In my notes, the Remnant tried to go after Rinoa first, but she's got so much power and even levels of light and darkness that he decided it wasn't worth it.  So then he goes after Leon instead.  And he gets close.

Then Rinoa is forced to fight Leon possessed by Xehanort much like Squall had to fight Rinoa possessed by Adel... and Ultimecia...

Then I switched gears and went backwards a bit into Namine's POV.  Namine drawing stuff going on in everyone's hearts.  And then Namine and Aerith coming to the same conclusion at the same time.  Aerith needed to be in Traverse Town.  And Aerith standing up to Yen Sid is a beautiful thing.  Because Yen Sid's such this aloof character that nearly everyone in all of Disney reveres and Aerith's just like "not taking your BS, send me where I need to go"

But then Namine is just like "take my star shard, it'll be fine."

Okay, granted, I was jumping around all over the place as far as time is concerned... but Leon and Rinoa proposing to each other.  Because Leon's been thinking about doing it for some time now, but he doesn't even get the chance to get all of the words out and Rinoa actually proposes first.  It's great.  And Aerith knows what's going on, but she just quietly gives them space.

Then we've got some wrap-up on Hollow Bastion's end.  But that's pretty much it.

Larxene Sequence (various chapters between 61 and 78)

The long-awaited Larxene Sequence post.  Ah yes.  The sequence that starts in Corona and ends in Deep Space.  And while I could have talked about it a little bit at a a time in the last two posts I did, I elected not to.

Gosh, I don't even know how long ago it was now.  A year, two? But rar was talking about a crack sequence where her Riku (the Riku Replica from KH canon) comes back to the original universe (mine circa pre-3D) to take revenge on Larxene.  I saw her talking about it on Tumblr and I was like... "so what were you planning on doing with that?"  And she told me and I said "well, how about we just make that canon"

And I'm so glad I did.

I integrated it into the rough outline for Remnants when I made the outline over a year ago.  About six months ago (maybe it was eight though, time gets screwy in my head because of how many states I've lived in this year) she and I sat down and really fleshed out what happens when.  This is terribly important because we're dealing with cross-universe travel where my universe runs on average three times faster.  Which is why we've got Larxene stuff going on in my universe so back-to-back but in hers there were a couple of chapters in between parts.

We elected to each write different POVs of the same things so that way they could be integrated into Remnants and All that Remains.  That way we weren't messing with Some Things You Can't Escape and still had coherent story arcs without making you guys jump between fics.

So it starts in Corona.  The Namine Replica and the other Kairi show up in my universe.  It's decided that Namine, Kairi, and Riku are going to go.  Ironically, that makes for two Kairis, two Namines, and two Rikus in the same scene.  But hey, it's amusing.  My Namine went because I wanted the two of them to interact and her going after him as he's trying to take revenge is much more poignant than her going to rescue him from Larxene.  (Heck, that might just be insult to injury.)  Riku went because of all the darkness floating around and he's the best one for the job.  And who doesn't love two powerousing Kairi's going around?

The counting scene between Namine and the Riku Replica came from another fanfic I read about their time in Castle Oblivion.  Though it's not touched on much in either rar's or my universe... their time sucked.  It sucked a lot.  He got rewritten, a lot.  They hid from Larxene... a lot.  They came up with tricks to fight through the pain--that's one of them.  

The action went into Riku's POV because I wanted a variance of POVs and I knew I wanted Namine for the aftermath.  And Kairi was responsible for the Corona POV.  So Riku got this bit.  But it worked well because then he could see what was going on between Namine and the Riku Replica and he's pretty invested because he's been through CO too.  Anyone who remembers CO is changed.  Heck, Sora's changed and he doesn't remember it.

I don't know why I write for Larxene so well.  But I do.  And I hate myself a little.  But at the same time I bounce up and down with excitement because yay writing!

She's so messed up from the darkness, too.  It's disgusting.

Then we get Namine arguing with the Namine Replica over who should be responsible for taking blows made for Riku.  And they can really only agree on "he shouldn't" .  Namine and the Riku Replica get to reconcile a bit.  Because, she's happy he's alive.  She's happy she didn't screw him up.  She's happy he's moved on, because she didn't return his affection.  (She knew it wasn't real and she didn't really have affection for anyone at that point.)  At the same time, she tells the Riku Replica that she's moved on from being afraid of Larxene--because if there's one thing that Namine's done, even since All the Pieces, it's get stronger and less afraid.  I'm so happy with her character development.  And this scene really encapsulates it.

Then comes the next chapter, which was stuff I knew had to be discussed, but rar and I decided that it didn't need to happen in front of the Riku Replica.  And this is the stuff about Namine and shattering.  And how she doesn't want to touch Larxene's memories.  At all.  She's messed with Xehanort's a bit, but she doesn't want to touch Larxene.  She doesn't want to relive any of that.  She doesn't want to see what happened to her and the Riku Replica through Larxene's eyes.  She doesn't want to put herself through that--and I. Don't. Blame. Her.

That whole thing started when rar and I were talking about who was actually going to kill Larxene.  Naturally, the idea of Namine shattering Larxene came up.  And neither Namine nor I liked the idea.  That is why.

The next chapter of this sequence is the Larxene POV chapter.  I don't really know why I decided to do that, but Larxene was presenting me with information, so I took it.  I took her anger, her crazy, her messed up mind, and I wrote a chapter out of it.  She's scared of a couple of things (her emotions included) and angry at everything else.  And she's going to take it out on the Riku Replica.  Because he started it.

Vexen's bit was great, too.  Because Vexen at first is just like "oh, I wasn't aware that we had any Larxene Replicas left" and Riku's like "that's the actual Larxene because I may have tried to murder her in cold blood."  But then Vexen gets a golden moment and gets to protect Riku and it's great.  Not that it was terribly effective--but he tried!

Then Vexen, Aerith, and Namine show up in my universe and take Axel, Roxas, and Xion with them to go save Riku from Larxene.  Axel literally just went because he wanted to mess with Vexen.  Because Axel's on his own side.  Yup.

Axel and Larxene opposing each other is a beautiful thing.  Because they have a history.  That whole CO thing.  Axel goes into his pattern of lazy defense.  And then he goes and forms his specialty of vertical dark corridors to allow Riku to fall through and right into his arms.  Because Axel's good at that sort of thing.  Oh man, and the whole "got it memorized" thing that he does to Aerith.  Golden.  Same with him saying that he should have killed Larxene back in CO.  Any of the times.  Because the last time, he just sent her to Atlantica.  And he's probably regretting that right about now.  But hey, it's time to finish her once and for all.

I have to admit, Roxas and Xion aren't necessarily out of their league, but they really don't know what to do with Larxene.  Neither of them know her all that well.  Not like Axel or Vexen who have histories with her.   Gosh.  The history between the three of them is rich.

"Stop throwing your ice where I'm throwing my fire and we won't have this problem."

Because they would.

Then comes the big reveal of Vexen.  I don't entirely remember why I wanted him to keep that secret.  Maybe so there could be a big reveal.  Maybe because Larxene might throw less hatred in his direction. But he kept it from her and then she got to realize through his caring about Riku who he was.  Fun times.

Larxene being distressed about potentially being an experiment of his is a glorious thing.

And then Vexen's the one to kill her.  Because rar and I decided that was appropriate.  But she talked about that on her blog, so I'll just leave it at that.

And for once, Axel doesn't take all the credit.  But he demands that Vexen thank him.  And Vexen thanks him without a second thought because Vexen is indeed helpful but "Don't make me say it again, Axel."  Because yeah.

Kay, I think I'm out of juice for this, but I did talk a lot.  I hope you enjoyed what is probably one of my top three sequences in this whole fic.

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

The World that Never Was (Chapters 18-24)

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

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

pretty sure this is from the novelizations

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

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

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

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

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

from Advent Children Compete

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

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

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

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

Hollow Bastion Arc (Chapters 2-9)

So everything led up to a giant battle in Hollow Bastion.  And rather than postpone it any longer and have it be some sort of climactic event, I just decided I'd start with it.  And I think it really set the stage for what all was to come.  And I was going to continue there, but I realized that it's spoilers for stuff I haven't even posted yet.  So nevermind on that one.

I actually had it pretty worked out in my head (and on several diagrams) what all happened and who all was where.  The strategy for the characters of course being to get someone into the computer in Hollow Bastion castle that could start the DTP (darkness termination program.)  People would have to hang back places to literally fight endless streams of Heartless to prevent those ahead from getting swamped from behind.  But hey, I have a huge cast to play with and plenty of heavy hitters.

As a side note, I remember Aerith's house giving me so much trouble because I could never remember just how many bedrooms it had.  I'll argue it again some more later in the fic.  Until eventually they're just done expanding it.

I also tried to get a good balance of different POVs for this whole sequence.

Roxas' was fun because he's generally pretty practical and it's not unusual for him to just know what Sora's up to, so I'm not losing anything there.  Roxas also just sees lots of other things and I can do Xion and Axel dynamics as well.

by Hikaru-Ryuuen on dA

Rinoa's POV is amazing because I love Rinoa omg.  Especially with her in the first chapter and all of the "oh just leave my dog alone she's old" and then her huge arsenal of magic that she'll cast.  And her good observations.  Yes.  Rinoa is amazing.  She also flies, which means she can see a lot of everything that's going on and it's completely reasonable.

And then what's a huge Hollow Bastion battle without Riku? I love him and Namine fighting alongside each other.  Riku getting shanked by Master Form is also something that I will never not be amused by.  Especially because Sora remembers to ask Sora, Kairi, and Xion.  And Roxas just basically already knows.

Riku was also a good POV to be in when they got into the castle and ran into the leftover data memories that bothered everyone who's even the smallest bit Replica.  Because then Riku can see what's going on and be strong for Namine and all that and yeah, that was fun to write.

by Risachantag on dA

And then back to Kairi's POV, even though I was in her POV for the prologue.  But Kairi also was one of the group to make it farther.  Though, because of everything that happened during this chapter, it wasn't so much of Kairi's thoughts, but Kairi seeing shtuff hit the fan--like a Xehanort Remnant showing up.  But hinting at Sora's anger problems was certainly easier from Kairi's POV than Sora's.  Because Sora would deny them and you know it.

I love Aerith.  I just love Aerith.  Aerith feels when the Remnant shows up, but she can't put her finger on what exactly it is.  Aerith has connections like Namine has connections.  She just has them for different reasons.  And she wants to be everywhere to help, but she can't.  But she tries and it's amazing.

Namine's POV is another POV that I have a really easy time with.  Namine's really cerebral... she thinks a level or two higher than everyone else because she can just see those parts of the pictures, like Aerith.  And neither of them hold it above anyone else, because then it wouldn't be cool.  Something I am sad about is that I didn't necessarily keep Namine using her knife as a magic wand.  I like, added that in, and then forgot about it until literally just now as I'm writing this up.  And that's sad, because I'm not going to get a chance to include it really.  *frowny face*  Oh well, it's still canon.  She'll do it.

Tifa is a fun POV to be in just because Tifa is so no-nonsense that there aren't any unnecessary tangents.  It was also good to be in her POV for this chapter because as everyone learns about the Xehanort Remnant, Tifa doesn't get all shouting angry.  In fact, she's the one to tell them all to stop.  Tifa's the one telling them to shut up and pay attention to what really matters.

Chapter 8 was a mixture of POVs because I had lots of little snippets of conversation that needed to happen but I couldn't necessarily devote individual chapter to them.  But I think it turned out okay.  Aqua, Terra, and Ven were naturally all shaken up about it and Mickey is the perfect person to tal about it.  Zack is so determined to KILL ALL THE DANGER.  Kuin and Axel fighting is something that needed to happen.  Rinoa and Squall planning out courses of action is great.  Sora talking with Riku and Kairi about his potential darkness problem.  Also Cloud and Zack arguing how about how much they care about friends.

Dynamics I'm really happy with:
-Leon attempting to be a leader and not being all that bad at it
-Roxas and Xion taking this whole thing as part of their training to become Keyblade Masters
-Sora getting to fight with Donald and Goofy
-Sora periodically calling out Drive Forms
-Namine quietly being seemingly everywhere in the battle
-People being weirded out by Sora, Roxas, and Ven
-Aerith just healing everyone she can reach on the battlefield
-Namine and Riku talking casually about crisis levels
-Experimenting with data and memories
-Xion hacking computers
-Xion picking up new words and phrases from people she meets
-Mickey insisting on being called... just Mickey
-Aerith knowing things
-Rinoa showing Namine how to use her knife like a magic wand to channel magic
-Tifa and Cloud.
-Breaking the no battle planning at the table rule because Xehanort Remnants are Very Important Problems
-Zack insisting that he will kill a Remnant
-Kuin and Axel fighting
-Casually talking about how Xehanort smells
-Rinoa and Squall having a history they can refer to
-The friendship of SoRiKai
-The Cloud and Zack friendship

Snippets here and there (ch68)

Chapter

Tumbl

So, like, I can’t say too much about any of these because ALL THE DARN SPOILERS.  You’ll find out in a couple of chapters.

But let me tell you, all the Heartless in Traverse Town is NOT A GOOD thing.

Meanwhile, Luxord has been found by the Organization and Vexen’s contemplating a Replica Program. 

But THIS PART.  I can say stuff about this:

Cloud is bothered by the great amounts of darkness in this world.  He can almost feel the darkness growing.  In addition to the darkness in the world growing, he can feel the darkness growing in his own heart.  He doesn’t want to say anything about it, though.  If it were just him and Zack, he’d say something, but he doesn’t want to worry Aerith, so he keeps quiet.  (Originally it was he didn’t know Aerith all that well, but then things changed, so it’s mostly that he just doesn’t want to worry her.)  Anyway, the darkness in the world continues to grow as they wander around.  Heartless begin appearing.  Zack and Cloud draw their swords and Aerith pulls out her staff to fight.  As they’re fighting, Cloud becomes in pain.  Zack assumes that something has hurt him, but this is not the case, Cloud is in pain because something inside of him is stirring.

BECAUSE I HAVE HAD MOST OF THAT PLOTTED OUT FOR FREAKING EVER.  Just WAIT until you see what happens NEXT.  *nods excitedly*

by Namineh on dA

And then, simply ending that there and doing a cute little snippet on Destiny Islands.  I try to do one of those periodically enough so that way you can tell how they’re growing up and whatnot.  And Riku totally has a crush on Kairi, but he knows Sora likes her too, so he doesn’t do anything, especially because Kairi doesn’t appear to like either over the other.  (There’s a part of me that wonders if he likes the Namine part of Kairi? But I really haven’t thought about that too much.)  Anyway….

Yeah, I think I’m gonna stop there before I end up giving away some awful spoiler.

Teaser Quotes:

“You’re the last person I expected to walk through that door.”

“Here.  Eat.”

“The spell works better against dark forces, I’ll admit.  But you’re getting the hang of it with just the furniture.”

“Tell me about where you’re from.  I always love to hear stories.”

“Ooh, that Maleficent is a horrible witch.”

Last Christmas Video guys, promise: (because I love the Piano Guys)

ANOTHER SHAMELESS CHRISTMAS POST!

Chapter

by LynxGriffin

No specific Tumbl for this one.  There’s a particular post that relates to this chapter that I have a link to below, however. 

I know no one's reviewed this one yet, but I don't really expect you to have because holidays and all that stuff, but I hope this is some more holiday cheer for you as the holidays come to an end. 

I also know that the picture over there has hardly anything to do with the chapter, but OT3 forever feels!

I got really excited about the holidays, okay? I did a holiday chapter in the Prequel, but I wanted to do another one in line with AtP and BB.  The only person who didn’t get included this time around was Shera, and that’s because Sora and his friends don’t meet her until later, like it’s set for B3 and everything, and there’s a part of me that while I know that this is AU, I want the ability for it to be canon if I get around to declaring it canon.  Because, I’m the author and I can do that.

I wrote the chapter the other day because I really didn’t have plot for it until then.  Mostly I was busy with school work, those of you who have been following any of my progress (or, simply reading this blog) know that I’ve been superbusy and it’s kinda disgusting.  Regardless, I finally got onto break and I wrote this little one-shot up. 

Things I love about this chapter: Tifa telling Aerith to go to bed because otherwise Santa won’t come.  Because Santa’s real in the KH universe and that makes me really happy. 

I also made it a thing about how everyone’s trying to give Aerith a day off and all Aerith wants to do is help.  Yup.  Aerith wants to cook and help clean.  Because she just does. 

Aerith’s favorite song? Probably “Na Hu O Ho” by Fiona Kennedy.  Rar I think said something about that.  But, yeah.  Aerith likes Irish music.  *nods vigorously*

There was a part of me that wanted to do this whole tangential thing where Sora takes Riku to see Santa.  But then I didn’t, because I was already set on the Aerith plot and the Riku meeting Santa thing just didn’t flow.  Also, Namine’s got a point, he’s probably on vacation.  I can do a little snippet in B3!

And, good news! Sephiroth didn’t crash the party! Yup yup!  I did reference the Spring Dance (or whatever it was called) that was put into Plan Beta.  Because Sephiroth did crash that and no one’s forgotten about it. 

Then there’s the whole thing where Zack gives Aerith a ring.  Rar threw a fit about it.  It was cute.  No, he’s not proposing.  Zack honestly just saw a beautiful piece of jewelry and bought it for Aerith because it matched her eyes. 

Though, off-scene, Leon’s thinking about needing to talk to Zack.  I should probably do a post about that.  Oh wait, I did.  {link}

Anywho, that post basically was all the rest of the feels, so I guess I’m done. 

Teaser Quotes!

“Then what?”

“I hadn’t thought that far.  Whatever it is, I want to do it with you.”

“I miss you already.”

“Don’t.  Wait ‘till you’re gone to miss me.”

“Were you expecting a letter?”

“Um, I suppose so…”

“I see you’ve met my Knight already.”

“Who’s powers did you inherit?”

“It’s a bit of a complicated story.”

Also, I'm going to a Lindsey Stirling concert in May and I'm so excited because I've basically gotten all my friends to go, too :P

Magik, you should be in bed right now (Prequel Ch52)

Chapter

I don't have a tumblr for this one because I didn't make one for some reason...

The only note I really took as I was writing it was "oh look, another mini feels fest"

Mostly because it's another step in Zack's healing journey... and I'm having problems making notes live about those because of all the raw emotions.

That said...

This is a picture of Zack and Cloud as wolves.

photo by kimikow1

I just... it's adorable.  Anyway.

My original notes for this chapter were: "Zack and Cloud find themselves in Olympus.  Zack is so upset he nearly throws the star shard.  Cloud convinces him that they must be there for a reason.  Zack finds his sword hanging as a trophy-momento.  He turns it into a memorial."

It didn't change much from that, really, it just got expanded a whole heckovaton.  I kinda feel bad for Cloud, though, because he really has no idea everything about Zack and Zack's past as it relates to Angeal is loaded.  Cloud's tragic backstory is at least fairly simple... he got sucked into the darkness.  (Well, okay, I said fairly simple.)

Anyway, but I love the brotp that is Zack and Cloud.  Almost as much as I love the brotp of Riku and Sora.  Almost, but not quite.

Basic general update... I'm sorry when I fall behind, even though my average is every other day, so when I fall behind I doubt it's noticed too much, but I do still feel bad when I fall behind (like now.)  School, however, is trying to kill me and plus, I'm writing book 3 for nano (or at least a large portion of it because I can guarantee you it's going to be more than 50K (though it may not be 80K like my novel was at the end of nano last year)).  But I do like interacting with you guys and I know you're all busy too, but if/when you have a moment, I love it when you drop a line!

Teaser Quotes:

"That could have gone really poorly."
"Yeah, but it was the first thing I thought of."

"Just, go in there, say you don't feel good, faint, then I'll nick some materia, grab you and go."
"Are you sure?"
"Do you have a better idea?"
"No."
"Here goes."
"Someone help! I think I've been Poisoned!"

"Midgar? What was he doing here?"

"I punched him because he said we were weird and weren't a family."

"Zack, what...?"
"Squats! I do them sometimes."
"He does them a lot.  When we're not killing Heartless, that is."
"How have I never noticed?"
"Usually, when Zack's here, he's either injured, with someone who's injured, or kissing you."

Appropriate Video:

Namine... you didn't want to do that (Can't Escape ch64)

Chapter Link

Rar made fun of me for revealing all of Vexen's passwords.  To which Xion says:

His passwords all have the word 'replica' in them.  Except the once that was 'scienceiscoolxiii.'  Vexen can just hush about that one, okay?


Sometimes, I think I have too much fun with talk sprites.

Anyway, first of all, my Namine was totally thrown for a loop when Riku showed up.  Like, we all know Riku practically had a panic attack, but it basically fried her brain, too, note how she's being super slow? I don't even remember intentionally planning that.  But this is Namine.  And Namine does things like that.

Additioanlly, she can nearly vicariously have a meltdown if she pries into Riku's memories too hard.  Like, Namine, you know that's going to hurt... she could have pried farther, but I made her stop because that's a headache (for both her and me) that I don't want to deal with.

So this conversation happened:
magik: no swearing, sheesh
rar: sorry? who's doing it?
namine: unstable memories...
repliku: no shit, sherlock
rar: ...
rar: OMG NOT WHAT I WAS EXPECTING

by forbidden siren

And, apparently, that conversation where Namine offers to fix Namine's meltdowns did actually happen
(how did I forget?!?!?) it just happened here instead of two chapters ago.  But instead of Riku having a panic attack when she mentions it, he actually goes and considers the possibility.  Like, wut? Charries, you ok?

And, I know that the picture there is totally NaminexRepliku, but I just... the picture is so good... and... I have to share... yeah.

Also, another random conversation that I feel like sharing:
rar: QUICK NAME ME A WORLD THAT ISN'T HALLOWEENTOWN BUT THAT ROXAS WOULD GO TO
magik: AGRABAH
rar: OKAY THEN I GUESS THAT WORKS
magik: CHINA
rar: ... we literally just had the same thought process here
magik: lol
magik: hawaii?
rar: like I was like "not halloween town ... agrabah!"
rar: "I don't like agrabah... CHINA!"
rar: yeah
rar: idk
magik: lol
magik: Xion is having none of your crap, Vexen.

Kay.  Yeah.  Have a video now.

Crossover Continued (Can't Escape ch63)

No, I'm not spamming you with chapters and posts.  not at all.  

Chapter

So, originally, the whole crossover was supposed to take place during Betwixt and Between.  It was during the whole "restoration and rebirth" kind of thing that I had going on, and the crossover was a part of that.  But then I wrapped Betwixt and Between up sooner than originally intended, so it got put after Betwixt and Between but before my Book 3.  (Like, literally, a couple of days before.)

by veritas-project

I remember using this image a long time ago (back when we were all still on Posterous) during the chapter where Namine and Riku ended up running into Shad.  Don't ask me why I used this picture then, but I did.  But now I'm using it again.  It's more appropriate, even though Riku and Repliku aren't going to be fighting each other.  Like, ever.  Alongside, maybe, against, never.

Man, I'm not quite sure where the "comparing injuries" conversation came from, it was probably Sora's idea.  Regardless, it totally happened and it flowed, so we kept it.

Eheheheh... the Larxene stuff, gets me every time! Oh, just you wait.  It's awful spoilers.

Man, does this group go off on all the tangents.  But, what can you do? It's a combination of them all talking about Xehanort/Xemnas/Ansem.  Which rar and I knew was going to happen, because there's the whole thing where Riku's like "man, I gotta deal with these guys again?!?!"

This is also the conversation that spawns Namine desiring to literally summon her sketchbook like a Keyblade.  Yup.  It's a thing.  Well, it'll be a thing.

Oh, this conversation happened:
rar: IS RIKU'S WRIST STILL BROKEN
magik: DEPENDS
magik: WHEN ARE WE TALKING ABOUT?
magik: ARE WE TALKING CROSSOVER
rar: YES
magik: UGH, LOAD THE SPREADSHEET COMPUTER

Riku's wrist is still braced, actually, sometimes.  (He never actually got it set the cocky-butt, and then Xaldin did drive a lance through that same hand, so...) Heheh.  But I had to load the darn spreadsheet just to check.  By now, at least, Sora's hands are both functioning... remember Xehanort breaking his wrist during the battle of Castle Oblivion?  Anywho.

I think that's all I've got for now.  Except this.