Heheh,
this part. Yup. I’m evil and awful and I know it.
Because,
I knew from the moment I outlined this that Aerith, Zack, Cloud, and Tifa would
return to Traverse Town in Trouble. (I
love alliteration!)
Also,
the below freaking picture is freaking perfect, and I’ve been saving it for this
chapter since long before I even wrote the darn chapter!
My
outline:
“Upon
arriving in Traverse Town, it is apparent that a large bunch of Heartless have
come to the world. Everyone is
fighting. The four of them join the
others in the battle. Things get
nasty. A canon explodes and in the
blast, Shera is massively wounded.”
Yup. Because I’m evil and awful. But I love it.
I
won’t say much more though, because this chapter is a two-parter,
technically. And everything else is
spoilers. So I might just leave you at
that. Yup.
by Risachantag on dA
BUT THEN THIS PIC! THIS PIC! I've been SAVING this pic FOR THIS PURPOSE. UGH FEELS.
Legit though, I modeled some of the Heartless in the chapter after the ones int his pic. Yup.
Anyway...
Teaser
Quotes:
“My
World fell into darkness.”
“Mine
too.”
“Had
one once, lost it to the darkness.”
“Something’s
wrong. Don’t ask me how I know that.”
“Okay.”
“Right, you live with Aerith.”
“Promise
that if you’re in over your head and need a hand, you’ll let me know?”
“I
won’t have to. We have a spell for
that.”
“Don’t doubt that I’ll come.”
“I
won’t.”
“What
even…? Leon! We’ve been over this!”
“I
made a promise to the King and… I can’t go back on that promise.”
Okay,
so I generally hate having to do separate chapters from different PoV’s, but I
figured that this would benefit from it, so I backtracked a tad.
This
chapter starts out before Tifa even arrives in Hollow Bastion, but rather her
showing up in Traverse Town and running into Leon. I decided it was a good idea, as you can tell
from my Tumbl.
You
can also tell from my Tumbl that Tifa and Leon were talking all over the place
and I had a hard time keeping up. *rolls
eyes* I hate it (and love it) when characters do that.
I
really love the dynamic between Leon and Tifa.
Leon just decides that day that he likes Tifa for whatever reason and
he’s gonna help her. And Tifa doesn’t
complain. It’s great, because this turns
into a friendship where Tifa can look at Leon in the heat of battle, say “I
need a lift” and he uses his gunblade to get her into the air. I LOVE THEIR DYNAMIC. Like, they’re a brotp. End of story.
I
also just made a crapton of references (radiant, shrouding dark cloud, and a
SoKai reference, all for the win!)
by B-AGT on dA
Then
a bit of duplication, except I abbreviated some stuff so it wasn’t a direct
duplication.
Then
the end of that sequence, which was already set to be Sephiroth leaving, saying
he’ll never be truly gone. Then Tifa
embraces Cloud and demands that he tell her what all has happened, but Cloud is
too weak to respond at the moment.
Aerith decides that they should just go back to Traverse Town and deal
with things there.
Well,
that’s the plan anyway. But I shan’t say
more because spoilers. Muahahaha.
Teaser Quotes:
“I
mean, my teleportation spells sometimes have glitches, but I’m getting pretty
good.”
“That’s
highly effective.”
“Not
my most favorite spell, but yes, effective.”
“Odds
Leon managed to cook something?”
“Slim,
but possible.”
“Daddy’s
gotta take care of these Heartless!”
“Who
are you?”
“Nobody in particular.”
Have I mentioned that I love the Piano Guys, seriously... check them out!
MAN
I AM SO EXCITED THAT I’VE POSTED THIS CHAPTER YOU HAVE NO IDEA.
BECAUSE
IT IS RIDDLED WITH THE WORST SPOILERS EVER.
I
mean, granted, you all KNEW I was gonna drag Sephiroth in at some point, but I
loved holding off on the WHEN.
Well,
now he’s here and clearly causing problems.
This
chapter did give me some difficulty when it comes to getting it down on paper,
because what I had in the outline ended up being just enough different from
what got written down on the page. I
can’t even remember why at the moment, but something to changed and it made
things ever so slightly more difficult.
Anywho…
See,
we’re all now well-aware of Cloud being bothered by the darkness in his heart
and him not saying anything.
by FujimiyaRan on dA
Oh,
I think I remember what happened, I definitely added Sephiroth using Cloud to
try and kill Aerith and Zack stopping him, because I’d established in AtP or
BB, one of the two, that Cloud had nearly killed Aerith and it was Sephiroth’s
fault and I decided that now was just a good a time as any to put that in. But hey, I’m still really okay with how the
chapter turned out.
Anywho,
then Tifa shows up and screams for Cloud.
Sephiroth accepts Tifa to be Cloud’s light and states that he is Cloud’s
darkness. Cloud wakes up and slashes at
Sephiroth, demanding him to leave his friends alone. Cloud and Sephiroth fight.
The
usual.
Now
that I’ve got Cloud’s shadow around, rar and I keep having feels about shadows
and their people. Because that’s just a
fun relationship to play with. I’ll be
playing with it throughout the Prequel, and also in B3. Because I’m cool like that.
Also,
I realized that when I was writing the Christmas one-shot, I had to be careful
about what I said regarding the last staff that Cloud got Aerith… because I
hadn’t posted this chapter yet!!! But now it’s posted and I can have some feels
regarding Cloud getting Aerith a staff that LITERALLY saves her life a week
later because Sephiroth decides to show up.
And here he is again, giving her the pieces to make another new staff
and Aerith (and Zack) have to wonder if Sephiroth’s gonna show up again, but he
never did. Like I said before, Sephiroth
didn’t ruin Christmas.
Anyway,
I’m over the feels, I think the chapter basically speaks for itself on them.
Teaser
Quotes!
“Sheesh,
what put you in a mood?”
“Tired.”
“All
you do is sleep, it seems!”
“The
newer recruits get harder jobs than those of us who have been around longer.”
“You
sent Demyx on that mission?”
“I do not have high hopes for the new recruit.
Besides, I have a different mission for you.”
“Oh boy, sounds like fun.”
“Oh
gracious no! I wouldn’t want to be a bother!”
“He’s
rather unassuming for a King.”
“His
wife’s the same way.”
“Honestly,
I’d rather he find Cloud.”
“I
agree.”
I'm kind of attached to this video. It makes me really happy for some reason. So does the song. :)
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)
So,
things I knew: It is into the new year before Cloud, Zack, and Aerith head to
Hollow Bastion. Leon and Cid tell them
that even if Hollow Bastion (Radiant Garden) is still there, it would be
greatly changed and Aerith may not like what she sees. Aerith wants to see new sights, craving
adventure. Leon decides not to mention
that Hollow Bastion really isn’t all that new.
They get there and the world is greatly changed. Aerith is devastated by this. She is angry at herself because she knows
that Leon and Cid had been right. Yuffie
wants to go as well, but she isn’t allowed.
Things
that got added: Aerith being apprehensive about the whole thing. She’s also drastically in denial because
she’s convinced that it will be okay.
Ish. Even though she knows it’s not.
Yup, it’s a psychological thing that happens.
Meanwhile,
Zack’s using this as a way to see what happened to his own world. And Cloud’s just going along for the
ride.
Feels
regarding Leon and Rinoa’s presents! I wanted to include a bit about the rings,
because it’s like a major plot point in the game and also incredibly adorable.
So I decided the two of them exchanged rings as tokens or foci for knowing when
the other one was in danger. And they’d
always know if it were true, and then they could always come to the other’s
aid. I’m not kidding when I say they’ve
literally pledged their lives to each other and not even marriage is going to
change it all that much. Well, they
think so anyway, marriage is to some another great adventure, but that’s not
what I’m talking about here. But yeah,
that’s what went down when he visited her.
by neoangelwink on dA
Everything
following Aerith getting to her house is just a bucket load of feels. I got to explore what a world falling into
darkness could look like. I knew that
Hollow Bastion did survive, because, well, KH1.
But, like, what happened to Aerith’s house? So I explored it. Aerith got lucky that her house was mostly
undamaged. Good thing, too, because
it’ll get remodeled later and be used as base for the HB Restoration Committee
HQ. *nods vigorously*
But
the books, the quilt, the clothes, the pictures…
And
then I throw Heartless at them.
Just
wait until you see what’s coming next!
Muahahaha!
Teaser
Quotes:
“Wanna
help with a science experiment?”
“So
what are we doing?”
“Interested
in making some exploding green goop?”
“Oh,
absolutely!”
“How
about I drop you off at Disney Castle and then head out?”
“I
wouldn’t want to keep you from…”
“I just need to go do some mercenary work.
The last few places we’ve been have been pretty quiet. But I can take you to Disney Castle! Besides,
Disney Town’s got a better stock than this place.”
“If
you’re sure…”
“’Course
I’m sure!”
“Kay,
I’m really leaving this time.”
“I’m
gonna see if I can catch up with him.”
“Tifa
said she hasn’t been able to talk any sense into him.”
Anywho, I"m having a thing with holiday music still. Feel free to ignore me. But the Piano Guys are still awesome.
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
Yup. Shamelessly posting about Christmas. Basically, all I knew was that I was going to have a holiday chapter here. I knew it from the very beginning of outlining that I was going to write and post one. So I did.
Also, ignore the fact that the pic to the left is completely unrelated. I saw it and laughed. Because Squall. I had a better one, but I couldn't find a proper source, so I won't dare put it on here.
Anywho, moving on.
I got really excited when the holiday chapter lined up with actual Christmas. Despite the fact that I wrote it forever ago. :P I partially delayed posting because of that. (The other part was totally still because school was killing me.) But yeah, holiday chapter. Also, I'm aware that I'm using "holiday" and "Christmas" fairly interchangeably. Because, "holiday" is the general term, but like... it's technically the commercial Christmas holiday, there's a tree and presents under it and stuff. *shrug* So yeah... don't hate me.
Zack being able to make eggs got established a couple of chapters ago. And Aerith not being good at bacon just showed up about now. I mean, everyone's got something they're not good at, right? But Leon can make bacon, so it worked out :P
I knew someone was going to be getting Yuffie a shuriken. Despite Cloud being the one thinking about it several chapters ago, I thought it made the most sense for him to give her one. But yeah, everyone else getting Yuffie materia was also just funny.
Anyway, I never did write the bit with Leon going and visiting Rinoa. I mean, the feather is definitely something she gave him to get to her, but he will still use a star shard. I'll talk more about what they exchanged after next chapter though, just so I don't spoil anything.
Teaser Quotes:
"I don't know, but I'm going after him."
"They left."
"Together?"
"No, he left by himself. She followed him."
"Relax a little! You've been brewing potions all day! She's turning you into a witch!"
"But back to the aliens... look at that one!"
"Think of it as a vacation."
"While you're learning, though?"
"Do more squats." "Heh. Yeah, I guess so."
So, technically this is a bit of a filler chapter. As in, it moves us from the chapter involving Gongaga's (and subsequently that entire world's) fall into darkness and into the actual visit to Hollow Bastion. But that's not for a few more chapters yet.
A couple of things changed from the original outline to this chapter. Originally, this was going to be the first time Aerith asked Zack about accompanying her to Radiant Garden/Hollow Bastion. However, I realized that her doing that is a little bit out of character because it's somewhat unsensitive. However, I mostly fixed that by having them talk about it sooner so that when the topic gets brought up, it's somewhat Zack's decision to go. Because he does what to, just to see. Plus, the guy loves adventure and all.
But then (and I always knew this was going to happen) I was going to stick a holiday chapter in right before they could go. And guess what's getting posted in a couple of days?!?
by Gatchacaz
I'm really excited.
Also, this makes me happy:
This person does a lot of videogame-related cross-stitch patterns. If I had more time, I'd probably stitch some myself because they're so freaking awesome. Anyway though.
In other news, I'm finally done with finals! Which, theoretically means I'd be rearing right back up to post fifty bajillion things and keep going at full-tilt. However, I've still got some stuff going on, so posting will still be a bit slow. Plus, then Christmas :P
However, if anyone's interested, I wrote a thing with the three main characters based off of Axel, Roxas, and Xion. I love getting approved for creative works in my major. The premise is clearly different (well, mostly.) But anyway, if anyone's interested in reading a lovely sci-fi short story with three recognizable personalities, just lemme know.
In other, other news, I'm going to be writing a holiday-special for my main KH-fic. I have absolutely no idea the plot of it yet, but it will probably involve everyone I can throw into a room together, well, mostly, considering I operate with a cast of like, 20 people. Regardless, it'll probably be mostly AU, though it might be able to fit in between Betwixt and Between and Book 3, I suppose the holidays could have happened in there. *shrug* Anyway, that'll get posted as a one-shot sometime next week. And that's in addition to the already-written holiday chapter for the Prequel. Holiday cheers all around!
I think that's all I have to say for now. I still have some work today, but once I'm done with that, I'm going to go hang out with my friends and we'll be celebrating the end of the semester!
Review Responses:
No, KKBeckett, you won't know what's going on with Cloud for a couple chapters. Because spoilers :P
Teaser Quotes:
"Rinoa..." "I can do this!"
"Rinoa, I'm the hospital here."
"It's because you're a Sorceress isn't it?"
"Best to learn from the best!"
"I can't have you get hurt! You, or any of my friends."
Have a Christmas Video: (mostly 'cause this little girl is adorable--I love ASL)
Granted, I knew I was going to drop their homeworld into darkness. Because I'm an evil author like that. Plus, it makes it easier for me to do things like that because I know that the minute Sora comes around (though, it'll be a few years) He'll restore all the Worlds. (Remember that I don't follow 3D where there are sleeping worlds.)
So the outline looked like this: Zack (20) and Cloud (18) had been in Zack's hometown, just visiting. Zack had been bragging about his achievements. Heartless in large amounts begin appearing. The world is being swallowed by darkness. Cloud recognizes this and tells Zack what is about to happen. Zack wants to save everyone he can but Cloud tells him that there isn't time. Cloud is becoming frantic at the influx of darkness. Zack hastily takes the two of them to Traverse Town--to safety.
Though, I did add in that Zack wanted to save his parents, because Zack would want to save his parents. But then I made him choose between them or Cloud. And Cloud passed out. And Zack is just like "Grarg! you're making my life difficult!"
Also, this was supposed to be the event that actually got Cloud and Zack to Traverse Town the first time. The materia sub-plot got added in later. Zack and Cloud would have been avoiding Traverse Town before that point because Cloud was being touchy. (Though, how Zack would have managed to get Cloud to Gongaga before Traverse Town is beyond me, good thing I didn't go with that plotline.) Anyway, clearly things changed.
Review Responses:
KKBeckett: No, Cloud's darkness is not happy. Just you wait a few chapters. I'll have another one posted in a couple of days. And shhh! Everyone's mostly fine, you know that! :P
Teaser Quotes:
"I'm so sorry."
"The cannon's overheating!"
"@#%)(&@#%^(()!@"
"Stop talking! You'll only hurt yourself."
"Curaga, Curaga. Curaga! Curaga!"
"Stay awake. Stay with me. I need you awake."
Muahahaha!
I'd give you a Christmas Video... but I love this TSFH song too much...
I'm trying to remember if it was a conscious decision to have the letters be written only by the girls on the cast, or if that is just what happened. And I can't remember in the slightest.
I knew I needed another letter from Tifa, because it had been a while since I'd done one of those and Tifa basically sends a letter to Cloud from every world she stops on that has post (which is pretty much all of them). Plus, it was just fun to have her write one from Traverse Town where he totally was recently. And then make references to everything.
The letter from Aerith was just about necessary. It's furthering the plot where Aerith wants to go see Radiant Garden and has asked Zack for help. I think originally, she was just going to ask him when he swung by next, but that was before I started doing the letters, and it didn't make sense for her to wait, so that got changed. Meanwhile, as I'm writing that, I can make casual references to the holidays. Which I'm doing again, now. Teehee!
Then there's Rinoa's letter, which was also somewhat necessary because I knew Rinoa wasn't going to be able to swing by Traverse Town for a bit because of training. She's got lots to do and she feels she only has so much time to do it, (we've gotten past the point where she's going to burn up from the inside with power, but anyway). Yeah, so there's that letter.
And then, I decided to do a letter from Kairi. Apparently, I have a thing assigning letters to students. I guess it's cause I had pen-pals when I was a kid? Probably something like that. Only because Yuffie had to do one too, but she wrote to Cloud. Kairi wrote to Sora, and was adorable. And I did a picture of her letter, because look at that adorable handwriting! Kairi, in general, is just so darn adorable, sometimes I don't know what to do with myself.
Anyway, so a deeper explanation about how come there hasn't been one big holiday bash together. Lemme take down some current ages in here so I don't have to keep flopping around... Rinoa and Leon are 21, making Aerith 19. Kay. The two major couples at this point, Zerith and Squinoa basically met 4 years ago. For those first two years, Squall and Rinoa were away saving Rinoa's world. Zack was dealing with Genesis during that time. He dropped by to see his parents one year, and ended up spending the other with Angeal. The following holiday is after Angeal's death, and Zack probably forgot about the whole thing entirely. Aerith didn't want to drag him back for the holidays because he was clearing his mind, so the gang in Traverse Town had a quiet one with the addition of Leon now that he was back. Rinoa was busy dealing with excess Sorceress power. And, the next holiday is actually the one that's coming up. Ha! I knew I could figure this all out.
So, if you haven't noticed, I'm going to have a holiday sequence in the Prequel. We're a few chapters away from it right now. I'll post it closer (wow, I almost said close it poster) to Christmas. If I have time (read: when I'm done with the next 6 essays, 1 short story, and 2 finals), I'll do a somewhat AU holiday sequence with Sora and the gang set sometime during Betwixt and Between, probably.
I'm kinda in a super holiday mood, if you haven't noticed from my Axel icon with a Santa hat on Tumblr.
Oh my gosh, my holiday sequence could involve Sora dragging Riku to Christmas Town. I've been meaning to do that. Oooh! That's exciting.
But back to my holiday mood, even my D&D group is doing a Christmas special this coming Friday. (Of course, given how the group is south of the equator, it's totally going to be Christmas in July in Pleasantville (Pleasantville has nothing to do with being south of the equator, just the town we're in...) Anyway, but yeah. This is exciting. It keeps me sane during the last push of school.
I'll be posting a little slower, like every 4 days instead of every 2, only because I just can't keep up with everything I want to do for any given chapter. But, I'll probably pick back up again once the break starts. Though, I'll be wanting to catch up on writing, too, so I'm not entirely sure.
Well, enough of me jabbering.
No spoilers on what's gonna happen for the holiday sequence. :P
Teaser Quotes:
"Fire in the hole!"
"You have got to be kidding me." "You can say that again."
"Stick close. We can watch each other's backs."
"How did it go?"
"It went."
"Can people have darkness?"
"What do you mean?" "Can someone's darkness manifest into its own separate person?"
See, first there's the addition of Demyx to the Organization. It's been a while since any new recruits. The last person anyone found was Cloud, and he was totally still a somebody. Still is. Always will be. But really, the last two recruits added were Saix and Axel. It's been a while. Not that it matters, Xemnas has a crapton of plans in place. *rolls eyes*
Then there's the development in Rinoa's training. Which is going well, I suppose. She just doesn't like fighting everything that's in her memories.
Then there's Leon trying to make that second entrance to the Secret Waterway--an entrance which Merlin puts there for him. And we've now entered the wonderful relationship that is Merlin and Cid not ever getting along. It's so amusing.
And then there's Tifa, who's getting closer to Cloud, but she's still a while behind him. However, I enjoyed making references to all of the people. Though, it's so weird, that Tifa knows none of them. I mean, she will eventually, but she has no clue who any of them are as of yet. And Yuffie's just so incredibly rude.
Anyway, review responses.
KKBeckett: Is Xigbar up to something? Oh, I probably suppose so. I think he's always up to something. :P Why was Master Yen Sid making Rinoa fight out of her memories? Well, I suppose it's because he sees the value of learning from past experiences, and he has the ability to literally make something like that happen. Rinoa, however, does not believe that she will gain anything by fighting Squall, and Master Yen Sid decides he's not going to argue her on that one, because that's not really his place. Rinoa, honestly, should learn to fight alongside him. Which, she already knows, so whatever. Yes, Tifa did see Aerith, but she really doesn't recognize her, which, as I mentioned before, is so picking weird!
*sigh* Another short blog post. I suppose they'll get longer in a bit though :P
Teaser Quotes:
"What's causing all of this?"
"If I knew, I would tell you."
"Stand back, I'm going to call a summon."
"If you haven't noticed, I can't move."
"I'm not going to aim it at you!"
"Do you have a Blizzard materia?"
"No! I can only carry four. And between my Cura, the Steal, and Bahamut, I've only got room for one more. You're lucky I didn't have the Fire equipped!"
"Summoning again!"
"But I want to!"
"Fine!"
"What are those green ones?"
"Focus on those! They can Cure the others."
"On it!"
So, a bit of info, I have basically finished the Prequel. Basically. However, I am nowhere near finishing posting all of it. I've got nearly 50 chapters left to post. Which is both scary and exciting at the same time. I'm trying to keep to a -fairly- regular schedule when it comes to posting, as in, every other day, but even that's a bit timey whimey. So, don't be surprised if there's a new chapter or two! And I know that because I'm posting so fast, I might lose some of you reviewing on every single chapter, but do still leave reviews!
Also, I have 30 chapters of Book 3, but I won't start posting that yet because I want to wait until the Prequel's all posted. However, I haven't written anything else for that since after Nano ended (literally, I got 30 chapters in 30 days--61K words, guys!!). I've been working on essays for class and stuff, though I hope that once I get into the break I can start writing again. Or maybe making AMVs or drawings and designs or something. Never fear, I'm still immersed in this universe!
Now that that business information is out of the way, let's start talking about the chapter!
We are basically halfway between BBS and KH1. (Fun fact, we are LESS than halfway through the TIMELINE of the Prequel, because I'm covering up THROUGH things, not up TO things. However, we are technically more than halfway through chapter-wise because the second half of the 12ish years goes faster than the first half for whatever reason.)
So anyway, having been 5 years since the plunge of Radiant Garden into darkness, Aerith now wants to go back and see what it's like. Leon and Cid both insist that this is a bad idea, but Aerith wants an adventure. They argue, she insists, but they won't go with her. So she decides that she'll wait for Zack and Rinoa.
And that's basically the chapter, once I've included the parts about them not wanting Yuffie to know what they're planning because while Aerith wants to go see what's left of Radiant Garden, she doesn't want to bring Yuffie along.
by ninappe
Insert slightly unrelated picture of Aerith here. But it's so adorable! So I wanted to include it!
The part at the end where Aerith starts writing not just letters to Zack, but stories to him? Yeah, that wasn't planned. She just decided it would be a good idea, so I let her. It's really cute, actually. As for Yuffie writing Cloud? Idk. Yuffie likes Cloud. I'm beginning to wonder if she actually has a crush on him and I just didn't notice. Idk...
But no, I'm excited about the Hollow Bastion arc (as I'm affectionately calling it at the moment. It actually jump-starts another arc with a much more interesting name, but I can't tell you because that's riddled with spoilers!)
The other interesting thing is all the misinformation floating around about the Keyblade. It exists in canon, too. Mostly because I think Square wasn't super sure what all they were doing with the Keyblade lore at the time when KH1 came out, so by the time KH2 came out, they were retconning some stuff because the lore expanded and got tweaked. Anyway, but it's not a huge retcon because it actually would make sense for the FF Gang to simply be missing parts of information because the Keyblade Wielders have all but disappeared! By the time Sora shows up, most of them figure he's the only one around. Mickey's been hiding it! (I totally blew rar's brain when I told her that!) Anyway, that's fun stuff.
Hmm, I think that's all I've really got for all of you.
Teaser Quotes:
"You're not from around here, are you?"
"To be honest, I'm looking for someone."
"Humor me, who are you looking for?"
"For someone who knows every face in town, why do you live in a hotel?"
"Long story."
No, seriously, when did I start shipping Cid/Shera so hard? Like, I KNEW that the minute I was going to include Shera, I'd end up shipping them... but then... I just... started shipping them... SUPER DUPER hard.
What gives?
And they're just so awkwardly adorable. They're not like the teenage awkward that we get with all the other couples because Cid and Shera are adults with their lives a little bit more figured out and...
by MrsKaktus
THEY'RE JUST SO PICKING CUTE.
Literally, this was what was in my outline:
Cid and Shera begin a serious relationship, joking that coworkers should never date, but neither of them care. They also begin to work on ships to travel off-world, because Cid has gained a fair amount of gummi blocks. Their cannon-work is put on hold.
I just don't understand where all the FEELS came from. (Or am I just exaggerating their adorableness in my head? Because that is also completely possible.)
Anyway, I'm gonna stop having feels about this.
Teaser Quotes:
"It would seem that I am not yet on a plane of existence where such a simple thing as magic can harm me."
"I am but darkness. And I can touch that what is darkness."
"I can't let you do that."
"How do you intend to stop me?"
"I haven't figured that part out yet."
"I'd like to wipe that smirk right off of his face."
"Is he going to be okay?"
"If I have anything to say about it, he will be."
{Eheehee, I'm so excited for upcoming chapters!}
Have a Christmas video to get you into the holiday spirit!
This chapter was completely not planned at all. But I wanted to sort of get a first-hand experience of the nightmares... because I'm weird like that? I dunno, there's a part of me that's always been the tiniest bit attached to dream/nightmare sequences and what they can show about a person. I just don't do it frequently because dreams can often be considered a cop-out in writing.
by Wen-JR
But anyway, this was fun, weaving together different scenes that didn't get to happen in Zack's actual life, but could happen in a dream. Most of them were scenes that I enjoyed or found important in Crisis Core and thus I felt like incorporating most (all) of them.
I guess that's really all I have to say. The chapter basically speaks for itself.
Review Responses:
KKBeckett: Are the nightmares omens? I'll let you decide (insert evil smiley face here.)
The good news is, while you don't know where I'm taking this, *I* know where I'm taking this. We're actually a little more than halfway through I would say. Halfway, you say? But we're 60 chapters in! *shrug* I tend to write longer stories once I'm situated in the world. Plus, I'm spanning more than 10 years with this. *dances excitedly* Oh, just you guys wait!
Teaser Quotes:
"People lived here."
"I lived here."
"This was my home."
"The darkness, I can feel it. I don't think it's coming for us. I think it's just here."
"I cleaned out the firdge. And I threw away your science experiments."
"Whatever this is, I will smack sense into you!"
Have some more Zack feels while you're at it! (This post is full of them!)
(no tumblr, I apparently didn't have any tumblr-length thoughts this time around)
Well, this whole sequence ended up being a lot longer than originally planned. And by sequence I definitely mean the "family feels fest in Traverse Town" sequence. Also known as Cloud's first visit slash the visit where Zack and Rinoa are both there at the same time.
I just kept adding things to it, though! And so long as I figured the things I was adding were productive, I just kept adding chapters. Though, this is actually the last of the chapters of this sequence/arc/thingy. Not quite like the "end of a volume" sort of thing, like with what happened by the end of the FFVIII arc, but certainly the end of a longer sequence-arc than just a chapter. I'll stop talking now because I can feel myself make less and less sense as I continue.
by twin-cosplay on dA
Anyway, have a picture of Yuffie because this girl is an awesome cosplayer of her.
Also, I just love how everyone ended up getting divided into chapters. Aerith and Rinoa ended up together, where they kept trying to "out-polite" each other as KKBeckett put it. Aerith does this frequently, she did it at the end of AtP when Tifa and Cloud showed up and it all ended with Yuffie giving up her bed for a bit. (They've since added another room up there.)
Meanwhile, Zack and Leon go inspecting because the two of them get along pretty great. And Cloud's just helping Cid because he can, but he's also betting Yuffie because he wants munny for a new sword. Yup. I just. Yup.
But then Zack and Cloud have to leave because Cloud has to leave because he doesn't want to hurt anyone. Zack has absolutely no idea why Cloud thinks this, but he wants to do what's best for Cloud. Aerith, as usual, is super supportive of the whole thing, but it's sad because they have to say goodbye and *sniffle* my feels.
Review Responses:
archsage: I don't think it's so much as Yuffie has a crush on Cloud, as she admires him for whatever reason. She just decided one day (the day he first showed up) that she was going to like him. She respects him because he's not Leon, he's not cranky-pants (Cid). He's not even Zack, who she has to like because he's an extension of Aerith. And he's certainly not Rinoa, who really just doesn't know how to deal with Yuffie. (And that's probably because Rinoa had her own mischievous days and she's still that way and she really doesn't spend too much time for Yuffie, and her case was already sunk because of Leon.) Cloud actually sort of cares for Yuffie in a way.
Anyway, that was a rant. I appear to have come off as unclear. I haven't actually watched any of RWBY, but it's certainly on my to-do list. I keep seeing it show up on my tumblr dash and I know I just need to start watching it. But, no, right? Kairi! And Rinoa! Ugh! His portrayal or Rinoa is wonderful!
And I kind of feel bad about Kiros and Ward, but I have such a huge cast already that I just... *sigh* I really can't!
KKBeckett: I think I ship Zerith harder than I ship Namiku. And that's saying something.
Teaser Quotes:
"Why can't I go?"
"Because it's too dangerous."
"But they're going!"
"I don't think they should go either. But I can't stop them. They're all adults."
"Well, it looks like it's settled then. You can't go anywhere until you're at least fourteen."
"Don't you even think about using Fire to light the stove. It lights on its own."
"Well, let's head outside. I hate leaving from indoors..."
"There's a difference between knowing and seeing."
And... well... I have feels about this video because it's just so darn beautiful.
