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.

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

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

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.

The Fight Against Edea (ch19)

Fanfic Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9446325/19/What-s-all-Gone-on-Before

Livetumbl link: http://magiksbrain.tumblr.com/tagged/ch19/chrono

And the truth comes out.  Leon didn't ACTUALLY do anything against Maleficent.  Quistis is a bit ticked (rather understandably), but Leon does his job.  Well, sort of.

It's not really his fault that Edea aimed an icicle right at his chest (ala the end of FFVIII disk 1).  (Excuse my snark, I was reading a snarky walkthrough to ensure that the battle I'm referring to really ended disk 1.  You fight Edea at the end of disk 1 AND disk 2.  Yay.)

But enough about FFVIII the game, back to the story...

I tried not to make the battle sequence too long, but rereading it, I'm wondering if I made it long enough.  Oh well.  There will be more battles.  Trust me, there will be more battles.  It also occurred to me that Leon didn't do much this battle.  Of course, the original plan was to not physically attack her, so he was left with pretty much nothing because Leon actually doesn't know too much magic at this point.  He'll get better.

Well, sort of.  At some point, why do you need magic when Quistis and Rinoa know all the magic? I'm referring to story mechanics, actually... in-game mechanics, I gave Squall loads of spells.  Because, he needs them!

Oh, for anyone new, I tend to use Leon/Squall interchangeably when I'm just talking.  When I'm writing, I try to remain consistent.  As in, everyone calls him Leon except for Rinoa.

Anyway, backtracking, to get back on track...

Leon's all like: "This is your Sorceress? I thought for a moment it might be Maleficent.  Oh well, she needs to die anyway."
And then Quistis is like: "What do you mean you didn't properly deal with your last Sorceress? I thought you knew what you were doing?"

Quistis isn't happy with Leon.

Anyway, they battle Edea and after the whole icicle-through-the-chest thing, instead of being captured and
jailed like in the game, Rinoa basically has a Limit (though she uses Squall's gunblade for it) and nearly kills Edea.  This causes the transfer of powers between the two, instead of the later fight like in the game.  Now that I think about it, I'm not sure why I'm describing what I did versus what the game did.  I know that what I'm doing is different (partially because FFVIII is long and partially because I haven't played it in years and when I wrote the timeline, I was basically going off on memory and wrote a condensed version.  Yup.)  Then there's the fact that I want to add the KH spin to it, hence the possessing and the plunging into darkness motifs.

Actually, I think originally, I wasn't going to use the icicle-in-the chest, so Leon would have been awake to make the executive decision to move everyone off the float, but then I used the icicle thing and Quistis decided that everyone should be awake before they moved.

 by ~tomuyu on dA

So, the two pass out because...well... transfer of powers.  It'll happen every time.  Quistis and Zell are surrounded by two passed-out women and a bleeding-to-death Leon.  Yup.  Quistis heals Rinoa because she knows Rinoa's not crazy (spoilers: at the moment).  And then she still has to have Edea healed to answer questions.  But Edea's fine now because Ultimecia's not possessing her! Woo!

It's about here that I decided that Ultimecia and Xehanort should form a fanclub for possessing and Genesis should join.  What is it with KH and needed vessels? Well, it's mostly Xehanort, but still.

But anyway, Ultimecia's now back where she belongs at the end of time (for now) and she's stewing because her plan failed.  But she's not even a main objective right now, they've got other things to figure out.

Hmm, I'm not sure if I have anything else to say...

Okay, well... video!

Yup.  Another one from me.  I had a thing with this particular Linkin Park album and how it relates to Axel.

Currently, I'm of the opinion that the new FOB album is AkuRokuShi.

Like, seriously....

Cloud versus Everyone at Home (16)

Link to the chapter: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9446325/16/What-s-all-Gone-on-Before

I didn't livetumbl for this one, sorry guys.

Anyway, so Cloud versus everyone at home.  It's one of the main reasons why he wants to leave in the first place.  He feels conflicted regarding Tifa's mother's death versus his father's death; he doesn't fit in, partially because he doesn't want to, but the rest because everyone finds him odd; there's a part of him that thinks about getting involved in SOLDIER, but Tifa's talked him out of that one by now; and the rest of him is just craving for adventure.

by *bloodlinev on dA

So he leaves.  He tells his work, his mom, and Tifa.  He and Tifa make promises to help each other in a bind.  The caveat behind that, however, is that one has to KNOW that the other is in a bind.  And, sorry you two, but your hearts just don't have the connection for that.  SoKai can pull it off... Rokushi might be able to pull it off.  Zerith can pull it off because Aerith is special.  But CloTi? just... *sigh*.

Anyway, but this picture is adorable! It's those moments on the water tower (wow, almost typed Clocktower... Days, much?) that I find so endearing.  They're so cute and young.

And, slight spoilers, they're not going to be that way when they next see each other.  I say only slight because something similar happens in FFVII.  Granted, in my canon, Cloud's not going to try and become SOLDIER and then accidentally become involved in one of Hojo's experiments to the point where he thinks he's Zack.  But Cloud's gonna have some stuff happen to him.  Sorry, ya'll.

I used a bit of a different writing style for this chapter, as you can tell by the dialogue.  I didn't use dialogue markers, hoping that it would be obvious who was talking.  It's easier to read through if you assume that Tifa always talks first (unless otherwise noted).  Because, admit it, Tifa does that.

Review Responses:

Archsage! you're back! *hugs* Thank you so much for your kind words and compliments! I'm glad you're enjoying it! It's a blast to write.  I hope I continue to inspire you!

KKBeckett, Yes, Cloud has left.  *sigh*  As for Tifa following him, you'll see :P  (Spoilers.)

This one's shameless self-promotion.  I made this video a couple of years ago for rar's fanfic otp, Namiku.  Yup.  Check her out if you haven't :P

http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2278897/rarmaster

She would tell you to start with Falling to Pieces, probably.

Rumble Racing and more Fruitball (69)

LightSilverStar on dA

Of course it would be the scene with Terra, Aqua and Ven that gave me trouble.

The one with Sora, Kairi, Riku and Namine was very easy.  I knew they were going to get ice cream and that they were going to run into Max.  Everything after that just seemed to fall into place.

Roxas and Xion’s scene gave me a little bit of trouble at the beginning for whatever reason (I think I was trying too hard to get them to be cute, but once I hit the cotton candy bit it seemed to flow just fine.)

But, naturally, the scene with Terra, Aqua and Ven just didn’t want to work it’s way onto the page.  :( Whether this is because I got sick (like, with head cold) while I was in the middle of it or what... I don’t know.  It got easier once Roxas and Xion entered the scene though.  (Probably because I already had written what happened...)

Regardless, I'm rather pleased with how it all turned out.

A few of you have asked if you'll see more Axel/more of that trio.  The answer is yes.  Soon :)

That's really all I have to say.  *is totally wrapped up in novel*

Cherries Jubilee and Fruitball (68)

So, first I really wanna apologize for the delay in just about everything.  (I feel like there's a delay, maybe I'm just crazy.  I spent most of the last week writing. Except for the past two days, where I've been doing loads and loads of homework (the weekend's not gonna be much better, more homework).)  

Anyway, my notes for the chapter I posted most recently!

The book with the cherries jubilee? Dealing with Dragons.  Good book.  You should read it.  KKBeckett caught onto it.  Seriously though, guys, read it!

art by karudoll on dA

So, the goat in Fruitball is Gilda from Epic Mickey, rar suggested her when I needed a random character.  The cat, however, is no one specific. 

Later, the rabbit is none other than Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, while his competitor is Roxanne (like, Max's unnoficial gf Roxanne.)

Apparently, Roxas wanted to draw his Keyblade as opposed to summon it.  I told him he was bonkers and we moved on. 

Erm, that's all I have... 

Review Responses!

archsage, no, neither me nor rar has played Dissidia.  It's on the "to buy" list, but neither of us really have the funds to buy video games like we were doing a year or so ago.

Dear Guest, my novel is about magik :) That's like... how I describe it lol.  If you check out my other blog, you might be able to get a little bit of a clue about it... maybe.  I dunno.  The protagonist, Kat, is sent to a magikal school (note, magik is commonplace) after being home-schooled her whole life.  In addition to learning new magik, she also learns that there is a family history that her parents were keeping from her.  Then, it's all up to her to decide what she's going to both do with that information, as well as a prophecy that she might just be the one to fulfill.  (Huh, I think I just wrote a pretty good synopsis for this... might need to come back to this post lol.)

Oh, Cookie, you made me smile.  :)  Hang in there.  College is... mean.  I'm glad you've been liking the chapters, though!!

Taking Roxas to Meet Kuin (66)

art by fynnagin on dA.


I don't have particularly very much to say about this chapter.  Chapters with Axel have that effect.  I either have nothing to say, or I have to say ALL THE THINGS.  

And this is a chapter where I effectively have nothing to say..... so... yeah... 
I like writing chapters with Axel because Axel is just rather fun to write.  

Archsage said I nailed Roxas' character.  Why thank you! I am honored by that comment! I think I wrote it in light of rar squeeing a thousand miles an hour about Days.  (She's replaying it.)  So that might have had something to do with it.  

Dear Guest, Axel likes clothes.  He just likes cloaks better!

KKBeckett, yes, I suppose Roxas could use the Keyblade on Sora's locked house.  However, Sora's parents probably don't think like that because they are only slightly acquainted with the idea of the whole Keyblade thing in the first place.  So... yeah.  And yes, Axel has a deadline to his bed.

EDITS! (Because Blogger makes them easy!) Flightfoot asked if Roxas knew that Ven went through a zombie-like experience.  I would say, probably not consciously, since it's never been talked about.  Ven hardly remembers said zombie state himself, only Terra and Aqua would remember that.  However, Roxas might just inherently know because both him and Ven share the link of Sora's heart.

Erm... I could be cool like rar and give commentary on something that I've been doing lately... but that's pretty much already contained in this blog: 

http://writingformylives.blogspot.com/

Rewrites! Check it out!

Angry Darkness (63)

darkness "nebula" made by me on this super-cool website: http://29a.ch/sandbox/2011/neonflames/#

I tried to make it look all angry and mechanized... *shrug*

Anyway...


Ohmygoshcompletelynewbloginterfaceyay!

Now that THAT spazz is over with...

Um, yeah, new blog.  Finishing up this fic to work on my novel... fun times... fun times...

So, about that chapter!

I was talking with rar randomly about what levels each of the characters would be like. (It all started with deciding if I was going to integrate abilities like “scan” in.)  Regardless, I joked that Sora and Riku would be at like 300 something.  Then I decided if Sora was at 300 something, Riku’s probably closer to 400 something  maybe even pushing 500.  Roxas is probably at like 150 ish.  Xion’s gotta be at like 80, close to 90.  Kairi’s probably only at like... 12 or 13 (just far enough to have the Scan ability, actually, based on the fact that she picked the Shield).  And Namine is at 8 (Just under Scan, based on the fact that if she’d HAD a Dive, she would have picked the staff.)  Yeah.  I’m weird.  

Hrm, Axel would be at like... hmm, this has got me thinking.  Is he more powerful than Riku? (That’s what this comes down to, doesn’t it?) Well, I wanna say, given how long he’s been around and how long he’s been fighting, he’s probably at like, level 500 something.  Maybe even 600.  *shrug* Whatever the heck level he is, he doesn’t always choose to show it.  Why would he?

Aqua is probably close to 400 herself.  She just lost all that time when she was wandering around the Realm of Darkness.  Terra’s... okay, I’ve decided I don’t want to try and figure out if Xehanort had an influence.  So Terra’s level is unknown.  Ven’s probably close to 200.  He just lost ALL of that time while he was asleep.

I’m not going to even bother with the FF charrie’s levels.  Too much effort.


Heheh... all of my notes were in regards to that... well... you know... *shrug*


Review Responses:

Peach, you wondered why the room could Cure Riku when Cure's couldn't.  To my understanding, Save Points in KH heal you as well as get rid of status effects (if you get any lasting ones, can't really remember, I've been playing too much Crisis Core where that DOESN'T happen... stupid Genesis.... ANYWAY!).  In my canon, then, Save Points, or rather, Healing Circles, heal status effects.  Riku had some leftover poison from the... oh... what did I call them... Poisonous Poolers! but when he stepped into the Healing Circle, that was cleared.  The potion may or may not have worked by that logic, he may have needed an Elixir or an Esuna.  However, my original theory was what Namine had mentioned, that the Cures couldn't get through the Darkness all the way (not a new problem) in a way that a potion would.  

K.O.D. Lazarus, sadly, I am not (regularly) an artist.  You can find a link to my dA in my profile.  However, I haven't posted new art on there in a while... sorry.... However, I'm glad you're enjoying!!

Guest, I'm rather surprised you read the whole thing twice, it's rather long! (though, some people would say it's a short read) more power to you!! I'm glad you enjoyed it that much to read it again! I shall consider a shattering Limit for Namine.  However, there's another Limit coming up with her and Riku so I may not create anything new for her for a while.  

KKBeckett, yes.  Cliffie.  Sorry.  I'll have another chapter up soon.  (Saturday? Sunday?)

On Keyblades

Sora's got Oathkeeper--the physical representation of his bond to Kairi.  (And they haven't even shared a Paopu yet...) Oathkeeper's form may change a little if I feel like editing how that would look like as they grow older and closer and the bond between them strengthens. 

Riku's got Way to Dawn--the representation of a heart that once fell into darkness, but redeemed itself.  His Keyblade probably won't change until he gets over his dark past.  It's not like he still dwells on it regularly, but it's still there in the back of his mind haunting him. 

Roxas has got Oblivion--representing missing memories.  Yes, Roxas has all of his memories back now.  If someone else gets a change in Keyblade, it will probably be Roxas, because there will come a point in time where Roxas no longer is connected to all of those lost memories.

Kairi has Destiny's Embrace.  This represents her taking on the Destiny set out for her.  If she gets a Keyblade change, it will probably be around the time she takes her Mark.  I don't know, I'm working on ideas for that.

Xion wields the Kingdom Key because, at first, I just wanted someone to wield the Kingdom Key.  However, now I believe we are moving past that.  So why isn't Xion wielding any of the blades seen in Days instead? Well, those are more of representations of Roxas, not Xion.  She's not a copy of him anymore.  She's her own person.  Currently, the Kingdom Key represents the blank slate that Xion was given when she was rebuilt.  As her heart--now free of the entanglements and complications she had as an unstable replica--grows into whatever it will become, her Keyblade will change into something stronger.

SIDETRACK! If you want to see some really cool Keyblade designs, check out CBJ3 on deviantArt.  Some of the weapons that they design are AWESOME. 

Okay, back on track.... Ven's going to get a new Keyblade as well, about the time he goes for his Mark.  Same with Terra.  (When he redoes his Mark.)

Aqua will probably get a new Keyblade as well, while I'm at it. 

Funny story about Aqua and Terra though... they have a spare Keyblade--Master Eraqus' Master Keeper between them.  I'm not entirely sure the semantics of that just yet.  But, they have it between the two of them.  Aqua rightfully inherited it, but Terra has just a bit of Master Eraqus himself inside of him.  So... yeah... happy fun confidingness.  Thank you Master Eraqus. 

Oh, and on the subject of Keyblades, I believe Mickey's the only Wielder/Master I haven't talked about.  He still has Star Seeker, though he can switch to the Kingdom Key-D whenever he wants because he has both Keychains. He's also the King and can do whatever he wants.  His standard Keyblade is Star Seeker though and I'm not messing with that. 

Okay, enough about Keyblades now...

Rokushi

art by semokan on deviantArt

I have always been a Rokushi shipper.  Ever since Days.  (And since I played Days before KH2, I didn't understand the concept of Rokunami until I played through and was like... oh, okay, I get why they ship it, I just won't ship it myself because I think Roxas and Xion have a deeper connection than Roxas and Namine.)  That is my opinion, you are welcome to disagree, but you aren't going to get me to change bandwagons.  Especially since I'm on my sequel and am not going to start shipping Rokunami anytime soon.  Or ever.  I like my pairings the way they are.  And they are happy with themselves too.  (This is not to say that I don’t appreciate or understand fics that ship characters differently, but in my fics, this is how I ship.)

art by Destiny-XIII on dA.

Roxas and Xion are both Keyblade Wielders in training to become Keyblade Masters.  That is their goal throughout Betwixt and Between.  They work well together and train each other when there isn't a Master around to train them.  Which happens, it does.  Especially since Roxas and Xion like going and doing little missions on their own because that's what they're used to from their days in the Organization.  As soon as Axel stops going off and doing his own thing all the time, he'll probably join them and the three of them will be a pretty epic trio of epicness.

Now, Axel, stop butting into Roxas and Xion's post.  You said so yourself that you don't want to be a third wheel to their fluffiness.  So, kindly leave now.

Thank you.

Moving on.

Let's see, I feel the need to give Rokushi's history... but you all pretty much know that.  If anyone hasn't played Days, I will be happy to sum it up for you, so just let me know in a comment.  Post-Days Xion didn't exist, and after the first 'week' of KH2, Roxas didn't exist either outside of Sora's heart.  The journey taken in All the Pieces was in part to restore both Roxas and Xion.  Roxas was separated from Sora and then Xion was recreated from the memories of her (and her actual memories) that Roxas absorbed upon her death.  Then, after that all happened, Roxas and Xion were, well, for lack of better terminology, completely happy to be with each other again.  

Then there was that little scare with Xehanort slicing off Xion's arm and it shattering into data.  THAT pissed Roxas off.

Which, I suppose is a weakness of the two of them as a fighting couple.  (Fighting baddies, not each other.  Roxas and Xion won't do anything else but playful bickering and teasing.  Like, I don't see them fighting anytime soon... or ever.)  Back to my original point, a weakness of them is Roxas' temper.  Which, he has pretty much always had.  Oh, how did rar put it...  It was ages ago, but it's fitting now... Um... Sora's never usually angry--until he's confused, then he gets angry as a way of dealing with that confusion.  Well, as for Roxas, he spent A LOT of his time in the Organization confused because someone (Saix) was intent on leaving him out of the loop on a lot of things.  So, taking a trait from Sora, Roxas was angry when he was confused.  And he was confused a lot.  He was confused in the beginning of KH2 too.  

Granted, he was NOT confused when Xion's arm got chopped off.  He had a very clear idea of what had just happened.  However, Roxas doesn't just get angry when he is confused.  He can get angry for other reasons.  Say, at the guy you really hate chopping off your best-friend-not-yet-girlfriend's arm right after you basically just brought her back from the dead.

And then Xigbar only went and rubbed salt in the wound.  However, Roxas is glad that he didn't kill Xigbar.  

Moving on.  

That really is their biggest weakness.  Xion has a temper, but she has a better harness on it.  She's not in any danger of becoming corrupted data, or being rewritten to kill anyone.  (Been done before, not going there again.)  Well, the being programmed to kill people.  Corrupted data I haven't touched... but I don't want to.  Not in Betwixt and Between anyway, too much else going on.  Maybe if I'm still writing two books from now.  

Roxas and Xion also know how to keep their heads cool in battle.  They have moved past the point of going gaga over each other and therefore aren't at risk of getting killed because of something coupleish.  Think... Wash and Zoe from Firefly.  Oh wait, that's really vague.  Um... I’d say the Doctor and River… but Rokushi is not like DoctorxRiver in so many ways.  Maybe RoryxAmy? That still might be just as vague.  Oh well, moving on.  Well, anyway, they can keep their heads cool in battle, regardless of how much Axel will tease them about it.  (He's never going to let Roxas live down that Lurk Lizard incident.)

Neither of them have problems with darkness taking over their hearts either.  Neither of them are weak fighters.  They're not the strongest--not yet anyway, they strive.  But they're both pretty balanced in those regards. 

Their biggest strength is probably the fact that they are very aware of the other's fighting style and can orient themselves around the other.  They're pretty evenly matched Keyblade Wielders so it isn't one person carrying all the weight of battle.  They don't have drastically different fighting styles that clash.  They are, again, pretty evenly balanced.

Okay, I thought of a bigger strength.  The fact that they can both use light-attacks well to their advantage.  Light attacks come easy to them both.  Event Horizon is one of their combos.  They both become bathed in light and they dash around the enemies killing them easily.  (Or at least, they killed Berserkers easily.)  They have another combo that I haven't written yet called Call of Light, which, I haven't worked out all the finer details yet, but I know it involves summoning plumes/pillars of light to the sky to obliterate enemies where they stand.  

And I have just come to the realization that I don't know everything about them yet.  I haven't written for them long enough.  So, there's room to grow and learn.  I don't think they'll surprise me anytime soon.  I'm excited.  

So, I shall leave you with all of that, and a picture that I won as a prize for a contest.  I requested Roxas and Xion fighting enemies, and this was the result, which I am happy with:

art by demyx100.