Disney Castle Arc (Chapters 10-17)

Interesting, the first arc took 8 chapters, so did the second arc.  Anyway.

The Disney Castle arc was a combination of several things that I had set up for myself in Betwixt and Between and due to horrible planning, wasn't able to complete until Remnants.

from the Disney Wiki

First of all, I had this desire for Hades to attack Disney Castle.  It stemmed from a game called "Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom" in the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World.  It's basically where Hades decides that he wants a new summer home and the castle in Magic Kingdom is going to be it.  So he contacts his favorite villain friends (Maleficent, Doctor Facillier, Ursula, Jafar, etc) to rampage around until he can claim the castle for his own.

I fell in love with the idea and wanted to included it, replacing Cinderella's Castle with Disney Castle itself.  Plus, it gives me more of a chance to play with Mickey, who's always a fun character to write for.  I set it up in Betwixt and Between with Namine, Kairi, and Aerith learning of Hades' plot, but I never enacted it because I stopped Betwixt and Between before I wrapped up all of my plotlines (with the full intention of I'd wrapping it up in Remnants.)

The next thing included (at least in chapters 8 and 9) is the idea that Sora and the gang would all be chilling on Destiny Islands, and then be summoned promptly elsewhere.  Granted, given my canon, I'm sure that sort of thing happened all the time, with Cid or Mickey calling one of them up and being like "Hey, can you take care of such-and-such Heartless problem for me" and them being like "Yeah, sure, totally on it!" But I wanted to write it out, so here it was.

Though, as a side-note, originally it was that Aerith was in trouble that pulled them all away, back when I was still trying to incorporate FF7 into my fic like I incorporated FF8 back in the prequel.  I scrapped that idea because it's a fic in and of itself practically (or at least a huge chunk of one) and I didn't want to do it.  (Mostly because I didn't want to kill Zack or Aerith.)

Oh yes, and then comes Axel starting to read through Saix's journal.  Which will have important information in it.

Of course, as all of that's going on, I have Cloud and Tifa off on their little adventures (which happen periodically through half the fic).  Because they're in Agrabah at the moment because Cloud thinks Sephiroth's going to show up there.  Spoiler alert, he does.  I think I stuck them in Agrabah because I liked Cloud's dynamics in Agrabah from rar's fic.  But ignore me.

Tifa using corridors of light is just something so neat.  Since I gave her that ability in the prequel, of course she'd still be able to use it now.  And Cloud's just now learning about it, because she's kept it secret for so long.  But Cloud should know.  And meanwhile, Rinoa's just like, if Sephiroth comes after me, I will fight him.  Okay, kay?

by rongs1234 on dA

I love Mickey fighting.  He only does it when he feels he has to, but Hades attacking Disney Castle kind of gives Mickey reason to fight.  And Hades going after Minnie was just dumb, because the whole "let go of my wife" thing is just beautiful.  MickeyxMinnie is my forever ship.

Oh look, ZackxAerith in chapter 14.  Shameless and I don't care.  But gotta include life in Hollow Bastion even when the action is elsewhere.

And of course, even after they've dealt with Hades, I'm going to also make them deal with a Xehanort Remnant.  (Hint, they'll do that a lot.)  And I loved being in Xion's POV for this because Xion thinks faster than everyone else because she's got a computer for a brain and so she strategizes and then spends the remaining time figuring out how she's going to enact said strategies--in the same time everyone else is still figuring part  a out.

Riku is officially the first person that the Xehanort Remnant tries to go after.  And of course that fails miserably because Riku has actually built up a tolerance to that sort of thing.  And then he's just an ass and he makes everyone believe for three seconds that Xehanort might have done something, before just being like JK NOPE SUCKERS!

Cid and Shera love.  This is me, reintroducing her to the story, because she wasn't around in AtP or in BB.  And now she's back.  And I'm totes cool with that.  I don't know if I ever mentioned it, but I did actually intend on killing Shera in that massive cannon blast in Traverse Town, all that time ago.  She was supposed to die and it was going to freak Aerith and Cid both out.  It would also solve the "where has she been" problem.  But then I decided I didn't want to kill her (especially since she survives in the FF7 timeline--she and Cid quietly get married, even!) So I decided that she went back to work for the King.  But anyway.

Things I'm really okay with:
-Everyone on Destiny Islands being ready to help
-Xion reading upside-down
-Xion giving absolutely zero cares regarding walking in on Axel
-Aerith's hunches and sending the appropriate people to help
-Ven using shotlocks
-Tifa being able to use corridors of light
-Rinoa being like "ima punch Sephiroth if he comes after me"
-Rinoa's dynamic with Cloud and Sephiroth in general, I guess
-Mickey fighting Hades
-Hades out-hotting Axel
-Xion's computer-like battle planning because she's a Replica
-Everyone protecting Ven from Neoshadows
-Namine shattering things and then conveniently not talking about it

Hollow Bastion Arc (Chapters 2-9)

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

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

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

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

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

by Hikaru-Ryuuen on dA

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

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

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

by Risachantag on dA

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall Post about the Prequel

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

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

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

cosplay by CanisPanthera on dA

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

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

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

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

Have a good day everyone!

And then there’s this arc (Prequel ch71)

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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.”

And then there's this video, which I love.

Tifa is Cloud’s light, you can’t tell me otherwise (Prequel ch 70)

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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!

The Hollow Bastion Arc becomes the Sephiroth Arc (ch69)

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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. :)

Snippets here and there (ch68)

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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)

Beginning of the Hollow Bastion Arc (ch67)

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

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

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

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

by neoangelwink on dA

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

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

And then I throw Heartless at them.

Just wait until you see what’s coming next!

Muahahaha!

Teaser Quotes:

“Wanna help with a science experiment?”

“So what are we doing?”

“Interested in making some exploding green goop?”

“Oh, absolutely!”

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

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

“If you’re sure…”

“’Course I’m sure!”

“Kay, I’m really leaving this time.”

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

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

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

ANOTHER SHAMELESS CHRISTMAS POST!

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by LynxGriffin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Teaser Quotes!

“Then what?”

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

“I miss you already.”

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

“Were you expecting a letter?”

“Um, I suppose so…”

“I see you’ve met my Knight already.”

“Who’s powers did you inherit?”

“It’s a bit of a complicated story.”

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

SHAMELESSLY POSTING CHRISTMAS (Ch66)

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by jsheaisaninja on dA

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

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

Anywho, moving on.

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

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

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

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

Teaser Quotes:

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

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

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

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

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

And another Christmas Video!

Plotting (Ch65)

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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)

Darkness Falls (64)

Yay for a lack of original titles.

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by gyokuto

Look at these adorable boys!

And I'm so awful to them :(

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...

Letters from the Girls (63)

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I'm trying to remember if it was a conscious decision to have the letters be written only by the girls on the cast, or if that is just what happened.  And I can't remember in the slightest.

I knew I needed another letter from Tifa, because it had been a while since I'd done one of those and Tifa basically sends a letter to Cloud from every world she stops on that has post (which is pretty much all of them).  Plus, it was just fun to have her write one from Traverse Town where he totally was recently.  And then make references to everything.

The letter from Aerith was just about necessary.  It's furthering the plot where Aerith wants to go see Radiant Garden and has asked Zack for help.  I think originally, she was just going to ask him when he swung by next, but that was before I started doing the letters, and it didn't make sense for her to wait, so that got changed.  Meanwhile, as I'm writing that, I can make casual references to the holidays.  Which I'm doing again, now.  Teehee!

Then there's Rinoa's letter, which was also somewhat necessary because I knew Rinoa wasn't going to be able to swing by Traverse Town for a bit because of training.  She's got lots to do and she feels she only has so much time to do it, (we've gotten past the point where she's going to burn up from the inside with power, but anyway).  Yeah, so there's that letter.

And then, I decided to do a letter from Kairi.  Apparently, I have a thing assigning letters to students.  I guess it's cause I had pen-pals when I was a kid? Probably something like that.  Only because Yuffie had to do one too, but she wrote to Cloud.  Kairi wrote to Sora, and was adorable.  And I did a picture of her letter, because look at that adorable handwriting! Kairi, in general, is just so darn adorable, sometimes I don't know what to do with myself.

Anyway, so a deeper explanation about how come there hasn't been one big holiday bash together.  Lemme take down some current ages in here so I don't have to keep flopping around... Rinoa and Leon are 21, making Aerith 19.  Kay.  The two major couples at this point, Zerith and Squinoa basically met 4 years ago.  For those first two years, Squall and Rinoa were away saving Rinoa's world.  Zack was dealing with Genesis during that time.  He dropped by to see his parents one year, and ended up spending the other with Angeal.  The following holiday is after Angeal's death, and Zack probably forgot about the whole thing entirely.  Aerith didn't want to drag him back for the holidays because he was clearing his mind, so the gang in Traverse Town had a quiet one with the addition of Leon now that he was back.  Rinoa was busy dealing with excess Sorceress power.  And, the next holiday is actually the one that's coming up.  Ha! I knew I could figure this all out.

So, if you haven't noticed, I'm going to have a holiday sequence in the Prequel.  We're a few chapters away from it right now.  I'll post it closer (wow, I almost said close it poster) to Christmas.  If I have time (read: when I'm done with the next 6 essays, 1 short story, and 2 finals), I'll do a somewhat AU holiday sequence with Sora and the gang set sometime during Betwixt and Between, probably.

I'm kinda in a super holiday mood, if you haven't noticed from my Axel icon with a Santa hat on Tumblr.

Oh my gosh, my holiday sequence could involve Sora dragging Riku to Christmas Town.  I've been meaning to do that.  Oooh! That's exciting.

But back to my holiday mood, even my D&D group is doing a Christmas special this coming Friday.  (Of course, given how the group is south of the equator, it's totally going to be Christmas in July in Pleasantville (Pleasantville has nothing to do with being south of the equator, just the town we're in...) Anyway, but yeah.  This is exciting.  It keeps me sane during the last push of school.

I'll be posting a little slower, like every 4 days instead of every 2, only because I just can't keep up with everything I want to do for any given chapter.  But, I'll probably pick back up again once the break starts.  Though, I'll be wanting to catch up on writing, too, so I'm not entirely sure.

Well, enough of me jabbering.

No spoilers on what's gonna happen for the holiday sequence.  :P

Teaser Quotes:

"Fire in the hole!"

"You have got to be kidding me."
"You can say that again."

"Stick close.  We can watch each other's backs."

"How did it go?"
"It went."

"Can people have darkness?"
"What do you mean?"
"Can someone's darkness manifest into its own separate person?"

AND A CHRISTMAS VIDEO!

Developments (62)

Chapter

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by fortisisimo on dA

See, first there's the addition of Demyx to the Organization.  It's been a while since any new recruits.  The last person anyone found was Cloud, and he was totally still a somebody.  Still is.  Always will be.  But really, the last two recruits added were Saix and Axel.  It's been a while.  Not that it matters, Xemnas has a crapton of plans in place.  *rolls eyes*

Then there's the development in Rinoa's training.  Which is going well, I suppose.  She just doesn't like fighting everything that's in her memories.

Then there's Leon trying to make that second entrance to the Secret Waterway--an entrance which Merlin puts there for him.  And we've now entered the wonderful relationship that is Merlin and Cid not ever getting along.  It's so amusing.

And then there's Tifa, who's getting closer to Cloud, but she's still a while behind him.  However, I enjoyed making references to all of the people.  Though, it's so weird, that Tifa knows none of them.  I mean, she will eventually, but she has no clue who any of them are as of yet.  And Yuffie's just so incredibly rude.


Anyway, review responses.

KKBeckett: Is Xigbar up to something? Oh, I probably suppose so.  I think he's always up to something.  :P  Why was Master Yen Sid making Rinoa fight out of her memories? Well, I suppose it's because he sees the value of learning from past experiences, and he has the ability to literally make something like that happen.  Rinoa, however, does not believe that she will gain anything by fighting Squall, and Master Yen Sid decides he's not going to argue her on that one, because that's not really his place.  Rinoa, honestly, should learn to fight alongside him.  Which, she already knows, so whatever.  Yes, Tifa did see Aerith, but she really doesn't recognize her, which, as I mentioned before, is so picking weird!

*sigh* Another short blog post.  I suppose they'll get longer in a bit though :P

Teaser Quotes:

"What's causing all of this?"
"If I knew, I would tell you."

"Stand back, I'm going to call a summon."
"If you haven't noticed, I can't move."
"I'm not going to aim it at you!"

"Do you have a Blizzard materia?"
"No! I can only carry four.  And between my Cura, the Steal, and Bahamut, I've only got room for one more.  You're lucky I didn't have the Fire equipped!"

"Summoning again!"
"But I want to!"
"Fine!"

"What are those green ones?"
"Focus on those! They can Cure the others."
"On it!"

More Christmas Videos!

What is it like? (61)

Chapter 

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

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

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

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

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

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

by ninappe

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

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

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

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

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

Teaser Quotes:

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

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

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

"But the letters don't matter now."

"That would be leaving my job."

I think this video is slightly appropriate :P