#i love sora and riku and their bond and how much they mean to each other | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sensitive-charmy · 2 years

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I really want to share my experience with KH and how I got into it since I know everyone’s stories are so unique. KH is the one and only passion I’ve had that carried from my childhood well into my adulthood. There are things I liked as a kid that I still like now. But nothing touched me to the degree that KH has. And it’s amazing to me just how long it has stuck with me. It’s amazing to me that I still think about it literally every day of my life. So here’s my very long, unnecessary, personal story.

I had just started middle school and became very close with my new friend (we’ll call her Jessica for the sake of privacy). Jessica lived right up the street from me, and we would go over to each other’s houses every single day after school and play video games. I wasn’t much of a gamer myself. I always had video games growing up, but I was never really good at them and didn’t take it too seriously. Jessica had a burning passion for video games, though. And that’s just how we bonded.

Jessica had Sora’s crown necklace. And one day, I asked her what it was. And I guess she had the realization that we play video games together every day, and somehow, I didn’t know about Kingdom Hearts. She demanded I go over to her house and play because “it’s a Disney game,” and I was “sure to love it.” Once Friday hit, I went to her mom’s house and started playing. I had very little experience with Japanese culture or anime. I was never allowed to watch or play Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Dragon Ball, Naruto or anything of the sort. I had a very toxic impression that anime was “bad” and therefore, I was highly disgusted by Japanese animation. When Simple and Clean started playing and I had to sit through that trippy opening sequence, I was very turned off towards KH. I thought this was gonna be about Disney movies? I thought this was about Disney princesses? Not anime boys. I voiced my discontentment, and Jessica’s mom said to me, “Just play until you meet Donald and Goofy. That’s when the game actually starts.”

I don’t know if it was the combination of both Jessica and her mom forcing me to play or if I genuinely enjoyed playing it or if I just felt pressured to say I liked it. I don’t remember exactly what I was feeling after having met and Donald and Goofy. But apparently, I told my dad about it, and he immediately bought both KH1 and KH2 for me.

I remember really struggling to beat Riku in the race and thinking I had to win. It was very difficult for eleven-year-old me who was (and still is) very bad at video games. It took me about two years to finish KH1 simply because I milked it for all it was worth and really took my time exploring every single inch of every world. I loved that game. And it holds a very, very special place in my heart considering it was the first video game I ever completed by myself. In the time that it took for me to beat KH1, Jessica moved out of the city and we lost touch. I never got the chance to tell her just how much Kingdom Hearts meant to me. We barely had the chance to bond over it at all since I fell in love with it in slow motion. But I still think about her every now and then, think about how much this silly little game still means to me, and I wonder if she still loves it too.

It took me about a year to finish KH2 for the same reason. I played and played and played those games like I’ve never played a video game before or since. Neither one of my sisters played Kingdom Hearts. And none of my friends did either. I had absolutely no one to talk to about it, which is really why I remained oblivious to any “spin-offs” that had been or were currently being made. I grew up in a very sheltered home where YouTube and the internet was not allowed to be explored (not to mention that YouTube barely had much footing at the time).

I had made my own binder cover with images from KH and paraded it around school proudly, waiting for the moment that someone would recognize it and strike up conversation with me. It finally happened one day around 2012 when someone said, “Have you played Birth By Sleep?” I said, “No…?” because I had never heard of that. And they said, “Oh, that sucks. I guess you’ll never know who Roxas really is.” (Because people were theorizing that Roxas was Ven’s Nobody at the time.) Of course, I freaked out, and decided to look up this stuff on my own. I found that Chain of Memories, 358/2 Days, and Birth By Sleep had all been released and that I had no clue what their stories were about at all. Panic set in as I realized they were all on different consoles. Even though I already had a GBA, a DS, and a PS3, my silly child brain thought it was completely illogical to ask for video games. I never brought it up with my parents. And I basically forced myself to suffer. I thought, “I have to know these stories. But I can’t play these games. I’ll have to just watch cutscenes and read Wikipedia articles.” And that’s exactly what I did, lol. I braved the world of YouTube and looked up KH cutscenes and consumed the games in that fashion, especially since Let’s Plays were still a very new and foreign concept. (And people who did Let’s Plays were typically very vulgar and inappropriate, and I was a good child, lol.) The exact same thing happened when Dream Drop Distance was released. I remember walking around Best Buy with my dad and seeing the poster. He said to me, “Do you want that game?” And I didn’t want to be a burden. I didn’t want my dad to have to spend $60 on a video game plus however much the 3DS was. And I knew I wouldn’t play any other games on the 3DS except DDD. So I said, “No, it’s just a spin-off. It doesn’t matter to the story. And 3D makes me sick.” So he didn’t buy it for me. And I forced myself to suffer in the same way, watching cutscenes on YouTube and silently wishing I could’ve just played it myself.

In 2013, the only thing that mattered to me was the official announcement of KH3. Honestly, that announcement rang so loud it my ears, it drowned everything else. I somehow managed to miss the fact that 1.5 was released even though its trailer was coupled with the KH3 announcement. I literally didn’t even realize 1.5 was a thing until the end of 2013. And I had this incredibly dumb thought that it was gonna cost hundreds of dollars because it was “three gaming experiences in one package.” Stupid dumb little Lea who had no idea how to navigate the internet or any information. I still had this idea that the KH “spin-offs” were unavailable to me due to money (even though I already had a PS3. Seriously. Stupid dumb little Lea.) So once I learned about 1.5, I decided the best way to consume it was once again through YouTube.

Enter: SkywardWing

I found his Road to Kingdom Hearts III series and watched the hell out of it. Every morning before school while eating breakfast, I’d watch the most recent episode he uploaded. Finally, I got to see what Re:Chain of Memories gameplay looked like. Finally, I got to the heart of 358/2 Days. Finally, I was able to live vicariously through Sky. Finally, I had someone else to “interact with” about KH. Even though I am a very passive lurker and rarely comment on videos or interact in large ways on the internet, I felt like Sky was a friend. I’d readily consume every single theory or fun video he’d make leading up to KH3. And of course I watched the other Key Keepers as well, but none hit as close to home as SkywardWing. Without him, I genuinely wonder if my love for Kingdom Hearts would’ve eventually tapered off. Waiting for KH3 was such a long process, I wonder if I would’ve eventually lost the love and passion if I didn’t see his videos on my feed every day.

In April of 2014, I was having a very bad week. It’s a long story and not worth telling here, but the tipping point was when my friend was trying to help me out and asked if I wanted to go to a drive-in theater with her and her family to see the new Captain America movie. Captain America is my favorite superhero, and I always wanted to go to a drive-in, but this week in particular, my mom had an iron grip on me and told me I couldn’t go. I genuinely don’t think I’ve ever been so mad at her, especially considering I was plenty old enough to make my own decisions. My dad must’ve felt really bad for me because he went out and bought 1.5 for me completely unprompted.

When 2.5 released later that year, I didn’t have to ask my dad for it. He knew how much I loved 1.5. Of course, KH2 got put on the back burner. I played BBS first. Do you know how long I had been waiting for the opportunity to play that game myself? Aqua, Terra, and Ven felt like old friends who I hadn’t seen in years. That’s still one of the most magical memories in my life.

Some time passed, and my sister’s husband introduced me to his friend who really loved Kingdom Hearts, and he became my boyfriend. Kingdom Hearts was the glue that kept the two of us together. The relationship was not healthy, but I really clung to the fact that he liked Kingdom Hearts. I didn’t have any friends who played these games. I didn’t know anyone who cared anywhere near as much as I did. It was so important to me that my boyfriend played them and enjoyed them as much as me. I didn’t wanna let that go, so I held on much longer than I should’ve. We were dating when 2.8 came out, so he came over to my house and played with me because we were both incredibly excited. My boyfriend and I broke up shortly after (thank goodness). And cue more impatient waiting for KH3.

By 2019, I was dating a different boy. He had never played KH a day in his life, but he respected that it meant so much to me. He came over on release day and happily watched me play KH3 for hours. I’d give him the controller during the mech segments in Toy Box because he loved first person shooters. That day will forever be etched in my heart. That was the day I had been waiting for for so long. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it and all its emotions.

I look back and find it silly that I was dating one boy when 2.8 came out and then a different boy when KH3 came out and now I’m not involved with anyone. I sometimes wonder if I’ll be with someone else whenever KH4 finally releases and I laugh to myself. I can count on one hand the amount of people I’ve personally met who have played these games. And none of them had long-lasting impacts on my life except for Jessica and my initial introduction to the series. I am once again at a point where I don’t have anyone in my personal life to talk to about it. But making this blog and reading y’all’s posts has been monumental. I love hearing what everyone has to say, everyone’s experiences and opinions. This silly little video game means so much to me. And I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who feels this way.

#doubt this will get any notes but here’s some personal info about my life and kh experience #maybe I’ll make a follow up to this post because I really didn’t even say half of what I wanted to #no joke y’all this silly video game changed my life #kingdom hearts #kh #long post #personal story #personal

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themelodicenigma · 1 year

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So just so I can understand really in laymans terms when I read your post on the arendelle section of kh3 pertaining Sora and Riku, your objective view is that it was more intentional from a writer's side of things in a voice/intention outside of the character for the audience to glean "comparing himself and riku to elsa and anna means sibling vibes" as opposed to Sora's intent in the scene being understanding the nature of the bond and understanding love in a matter he had never given thought to and questioning IF that term/situation is what they have going on? Im not a shipper and I find it VERY interesting that someone my agree with my view on this scene as well because I read it the exact same way: that the writers/Nomura themselves are basically saying "from here on out this is what you need to think back to because Sora really gave this a lot of thought and never denied it in the end." Plus the whole message of Frozen 2 being very likely how he will view his own situation with Riku-apart taking care of different realms but united by their (brotherly) bond and if Frozen 2 IS in kh4 it very well could cement that for Sora. Atm tho outside of the writers literally being like HINT. HINT. H I N T. Sora hasnt *officially* put a label on Riku besides his best friend.

Thanks for the ask! That was this post, right? I almost forgot about that. lol

your objective view is that it was more intentional from a writer's side of things in a voice/intention outside of the character for the audience to glean "comparing himself and riku to elsa and anna means sibling vibes" as opposed to Sora's intent in the scene being understanding the nature of the bond and understanding love in a matter he had never given thought to and questioning IF that term/situation is what they have going on?

I definitely agree with you, though well, instead of the two points being opposed to each other, I think both authorial intent/implication and Sora's intent are both happening, and work in tandem with one another. That is, Kanemaki purposely writing Sora actively thinking about what a sisterly relationship is like by using his own relationship with Riku as an example of Elsa/Anna's bond is very congruent with the idea of establishing a sibling connotation between Sora and Riku as an author.

Of course, you can make parallels of specific things between two different relationships without equating the relationships themselves—I think the 1st parallel in the game has that leeway, actually, as Sora is comparing Riku's actions to Elsa's actions, which can simply happen with so many relationship types. It's not about a specific relationship type, but actions (which actions can be indicative of strength of bonds/how much someone cares, yeah).

But in the case of this 2nd parallel, the way it's written is much more direct about the relationships themselves, in creating the idea that the two sets of relationships have the same bond and connection. Sora's not just talking about actions, he's comparing what it's like "to be" something. It effectively has Sora thinking "two people fighting or being apart, but knowing they're still connected no matter = me and Riku's bond (sure about) = Elsa and Anna's bond (wondering about)" In which we as the audience, also know that his train of thought of what a sisterly relationship [can] be like is absolutely true, especially for Elsa and Anna. We know it's not something that is limited to sibling relationships, of course, but this context chose it's, well, context. It's a pretty classic author move—all Kanemaki did was double down on a parallel already made, but chose to be more specific to the relationships themselves.

The only thing I think is contrasting to any of this is the idea that it means he doesn't understand his relationship with Riku, which...doesn't make sense to what is written. I can only assume it's a misunderstanding from a misread.

This actually reminds me of a Roxas and Xion debate long ago. Kanemaki does something similar in the Days novel, to where, not once, not twice, but THREE times, does Kanemaki basically say "Roxas and Xion's relationship = Sora and Kairi's relationship" by having other characters (Riku, Namine, and Axel) directly making this parallel by their observations of Roxas and Xion.

The split for fans was whether Kanemaki is saying Roxas and Xion have the same relationship of friendship and romanticism just like Sora and Kairi do VS if it was just a way to emphasize that Roxas and Xion cared about each other a lot just like Sora and Kairi do, without a reflection of equating the entire relationships to each other. Of course, people have personal motivations to go one way or the other (or both, I suppose), but just like with Sora and Riku, it's one of those cases where you look at author intent and the way it's written + the characters thoughts themselves, and ask yourself "if it wasn't meant to mean this, would it have been written this way?".

#sora #riku #elsa #anna #kingdom hearts #frozen #roxas #xion

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oathofpromises · 2 years

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Ten Q’S:

1. when are you usually online?

I try and be online when I can but lately it’s been really hard due to health reasons. I normally am online eastern time. There isn’t a certain timeframe that I’m always here, but I do my best to answer messages and threads when I can. I do appreciate the patience when answering asks since there are some weeks I simply am not up to writing. I’m trying take my time with each thread and answer so they all get equal amount of detail and attention.

2. what verses are you involved in outside of this page?

I have a ton of verses tbh and most of them are with @codebestowed muses. I know we have a pirate and navy au with our Sora and Riku. A fatal frame au with Yuri and their Data Sora. We also have a royal au too and a mermaid au with Sora and Kairi. I know they haven’t been on their Sora blog for a bit for reasons, which I respect and understand but all the Au’s I have with Artemis mean the world to me.

I love Au’s so if there’s ever time our muses have a good relationship and you’d like to toss an au idea at me please feel free to do so. I get to point with Au’s that I make playlists for them too.

3. what is your biggest RP pet peeve?

I have a few Rp pet peeves: The first one is one that I’ve seen also bother others. Is when people have this certain fanon for a character and kind of push that as the canon. Like don’t get me wrong it’s cool have fanon ideas about your muses or characters you love but please don’t push those ideas onto how someone else writes the same character. A big example of this is I tend to write my Riku as being bi. I love shipping him with either Sora or Kairi but not everyone likes seeing me write either ship and that’s completely okay. However, I had a experience once where I was writing with @codebestowed Sora and a few people decided to try and mock my Riku being gay. They were trying be very vague about it but I could tell it was directed at a thread I was doing. It’s just disrespectful in general to try and make someone feel bad for the way they write one of their muses.

I would never go up to someone else that also writes same character and say they need to do it a certain way. We all have ways we write our characters and that should be respected.

Another big pet peeve of mine is when I feel like people try and be very mean in character to certain muses I write for. The biggest example is my Kairi. I love this character alot and she was the first one I wrote on this account. However, there are times on different platforms when I wrote for her that I felt like people were trying take their dislike for her character out on my muse. This isn’t okay and I honestly won’t put up with it. If your character is type to be mean I get that but there’s difference between that and being downright hateful.

4. are you drawn to specific types of muses?

I think there is a pattern with me with muses. I tend to write characters that I have things I can related to and overall love and most of time it seems to be good muses. I have written some villain's before but most of them are typical what people would see as protagonist or heroes.

5. are there recurring themes in your writing that people might not notice?

I really try and get inside my muses minds. To dive deep into those emotions that perhaps we noticed but didn’t get to see as much yet. A good example of this is my Sora, I have alot of thoughts about how much this boy has had to take on and sacrifice over the course of the series. How some of those things have really weighed down on him. However, he isn’t the type show this to just anyone. You have to have a close bond with him for the boy really open up about those deeper emotions. To lean on you, which is why anytime he does it’s around either Riku or Kairi. Those two have seen him at his weakest and have never once judged him for it.

So I guess sometimes I do write a lot of angst but I also write fluff and happy threads too. However, I just really like thinking about how certain situations really made any of my muses feel.

6. what are your favorite RP trends?

Hm..this is hard one because I haven’t been around as much this year because of the previous job I had and other health related issues but I really do love the blockquote type icons that a lot more people seem to be using or commissioning. I do also make graphics myself so if anyone ever wants icons or stuff done I might make a post for that. I also love how unique each person icons are with all the different styles. It really shows love each writer has for their muse.

7. what is your process for starting a new story with someone?

Well I usually like to do a few shorter threads first just to get a grasp on how someone writes their muse. To see if our characters really click well and after that talk to them about maybe idea for a longer thread. I’m not the type rush on longer responses because those take me a bit to write up myself. I want to hear the other writers ideas too.

For example, if they really have an idea they want to do for a thread. Run it by me and I can see if I’m comfortable with it. Most of the time I am but if it’s about something I’m not up for writing I’ll probably not be for it but this is rare.

8. how do you feel about duplicates?

I love duplicates actually, I’ve run into the issue where people in past refuse to write with me if we have the same muse. Which I get why some people feel that way but to me I love seeing how different people will write the same muse. It’s refreshing to see what are the similarities and differences. If you write same muse as any of ones I have and want to write with them please let me know because I would love see the interactions between the two.

9. how long have you been involved in roleplaying?

I’ve probably been roleplaying on and off for at least five years at this point. I started writing on a site called Amino. I ended up leaving that app because nothing good really came out of staying there aside from meeting a few people I’m still friends with.

I say on and off because there are points where I do get drained and need breaks away. I love writing and creating threads with people but like I stated earlier I want to give each thread my all and not feel like I have to push replies out when I feel crappy.

10. is there a muse or verse you wish you could write in, but haven’t?

I actually have to add a new muse to my list soon and that’s Ellie from the Last of us. I actually think it would be interesting write an au based around the whole concept of those games too. More of modern setting, which are things I don’t get to write as much. I also really been into the whole slice of life recently. I know maybe it’s cheesy but I really would love seeing some of my muses in a school setting or just modern.

Tagged by: @litoredeem

Tagging: Whoever would like to do this, Just say I tagged you.

#Gummiphone(Dash Games)#ooc: Sorry that I've been gone for a few days..just a lot going on right now

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nebuvoid · 6 months

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i think what truly bothers me is how amatonormative the supposed hierarchy of love/relationships is. your romantic partner is at the top and everyone else is below that and youre supposed to have all your needs fulfilled from only them

and to apply that to kingdom hearts. almost every group teaches you the value of equal love and bonds between several people. hell even someone "outside" the group, like say sora to ven when ven is in the wayfinder trio, doesnt mean their bond is any lesser.

and so the idea of a romantic relationship within the destiny trio, and i mean either duo, kinda bothers me unless the person outside the romantic relationship is still just as included as they would be otherwise.

and thats the thing about the destiny trio in general. its whats always irked me and kh3 really hammered it home. even if its in purpose its not shown well. every other trio is balanced. but with sora riku kairi its always either LOOK AT SORA AND RIKU or NOW ITS SORA AND KAIRI and it just ughuguhgughhhh i really need a job no person should waste so much brain power thinking on this shit. like the worry that if either ship ever gets confirmed with a hard line, the third person will be waysided. riku "giving them space" and always putting his happiness behind theirs? gag. kairi "finding her spot somewhere else" like just fucking migrating to RG or something? gag.

you can really tell that kh1 as a one shot started of as one concept and then the series spiraled into something completely else, the destiny trio is the outlier for that exact reason. we have never seen the trio in full harmony like the others. even at the start of kh1 theres tension and divisiveness. and even if nomura has some grand plan i am begging on my knees he gets some co writers that guide him on how to do it right. if he wants to do the whole grow apart thing he at the very least needs to give us a flashback of them before the kh1 conflict were they supposedly were all besties. because kh2 DOES show us that riku and kairi care about each other. (im not counting kh1 as much since it might be a relic of the whole "riku also has a crush on kairi and is thus soras rival" thing. hilarious)

hell you have the whole gang in khux and theres none of these problems there either. pulling my hair

oh god and now we will have khml which will have ancestry and actual blood relations. meaning romantic relationships. ghruhuheiuehuhubhwuvah

#kh talk #yayyy morning venting

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tomyo · 7 months

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Kingdom hearts 3, finally finishing it 4 years later

A game I honestly didn't think would be off this list for a while. I bought the game when it came out and then never finished it because I was using my roommate's PS4.

Recently a friend lent me his PS4 now that the PS5 exists and after months of con season I finally sat down with it. I had intended to start from scratch until I learnt the several hours I played on the guest account where erased and my sanity would not allow several hours of tutorial again.

In the end, I bought a psn membership and reached out to that old roommate which was a nice experience. I missed them but have always just been to much in my bullshit to reach out until apparently *this*.

Maybe the funniest thing to say about all of this is this is my first and only time I've played a kingdom hearts game meaning my gameplay expectations were average. I had a goofy fun time after not having to play Olympus a third time and I relate to smooth brained Sora a lot, vaguely I get what's going on but I don't give too many shits. Yeah the start of the key blade war was a mess but my little gay ass cried at every XIII trio and co moment. That ending CG cutscenes was too short but I could easily wax on about how these characters have constantly sacrificed and gone through tragedy often in the name of each other and the hope that those in front of them could move forward. The prequel trio went through tragedy, the main trio constantly just out of reach from each other, the XIII trio stuck in an amnesiatic limbo and so forth. The fact most of them got to literally do fun kind shit together was a nice miracle.

Also bawled at the union cross cameos even though I barely played it. I love tragedy and I did earlier this weekend stop to let my avatar cry scared at their own death in the middle of war so the idea that maybe some actual users got to see their names on screen attacking the enemies but hard. Even though I haven't played the series, it's a permanent part of my life just from the cultural zeitgeist it caused in my adolescence. I wish they gave it more impact if anything but I get it, it wasn't something everyone was for.

Obviously though the biggest issue is Kairi per usual. Utada's song are sort of like a thematic tone to each chapter in the series with a theory that Kairi's designs being inspired from Utada's image at each point. Chikai is not just a love song but a wedding song, the progression from an immature and insecure relationship in the first one to one stubbornly proclaiming it's now or never with your devotion to me. It's a song meant to stand at the end of everything, it's someone waiting for you to meet them in the distance. I remember desperately trying to avoid spoilers for these past four years but being suggested from what I couldn't avoid that Kairi had proposed marriage to Sora at the end. It's also usually Kairi who gets a lot of attention in the CG openings and endings. The natural idea of this all is that it's sealing the idea of Sora and Kairi recognizing each other as a couple and potentially a maturing relationship from when they were children even though like, I don't even think two years have passed in world??? Either way she gets worse than nerfed at the end. You don't get to play as her, she doesn't get to do A N Y T H I N G aside from being said to still believe in Sora and be his emotional angst. And then she is kidnapped and killed. The worst is it failed to make it matter to me. The are a lot of reasons why everything with Kairi just did not hit any emotional level whatsoever as a Kairi stan. Riku had more romantic tension with himself on the beach honestly. And yes, I acknowledge there was literally a gay rainbow bonded key blade. I didn't really ever ship anything with kingdom hearts but I now believe in Sora and Riku I guess. Also the old dudes probably making out. Yeah, wasn't even pissed at that anticlimactic heel turn with the big baddie. Side note, buying the game was 100% worth it to have the immersive experience of Goofy and Donald call out for my from the controller. A+. Just, man, Kairi was more blank than wood this game despite them trying to say she was important. I think for a series so central on the bond of it's trios, keeping her out of the main fights was such a bummer.

Also I am not paying $30 for the dlc when I have already given the game $70+ of my money. I will absolutely watch a video of that instead.

Either way I'm happy I can finally watch videos that sat in my YouTube watch later since 2019 and I happily look forward to KH4. Bitches who know me know I'm a sucker for Shibuya and honestly I should have bought the world ends with us in the ds when i had the chance. Might come on my lists because street style is so big in that game.

With that one of the two most intensive games on this list can be crossed off. The other being GTA 5 but I also don't really plan to jump on that anytime soon. More concerned with playing the Kinect games on my 360 lmao.

#kingdom hearts 3 #tomyo's backlog adventure #backlog

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xxxmasterkali · 2 years

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Hikari University Update!

So I think I’m coming out of writers block on this one BUT, with what I have materializing in my head, that means I’ll be completely REDOING it. Which I think I’ve said that before so that was kinda always the plan but now I think I know exactly what to do and how to continue the story. That also means, I will actually be doing a “prequel” to it before I start redoing it. So I’ll keep videos up for it for now until I start to redo it. The prequel will be the KH characters set in high school and then they will be attending college. Certain elements in Hikari University reflected real shit for me. So the high school series & the college series will be slightly based on certain things that have happened in my life or things I wish had happened. The reason I started to do this is because… well….

Here’s my story. I’m not gonna get into too much detail here but each time I go back to watch Hikari University, I noticed something. I made these videos about a year ago now, before my husband died and when I was kinda going through a mental crisis on my own. I felt kinda dead inside. I had been through a lot in my lifetime & I didn’t realize how much it all affected me until my husband’s death, when I suddenly wasn’t so dead inside anymore. When I was forced to feel. As the passed year has gone on, more feelings became unraveled. I realized how much shit hurt me in the past that I’ve blocked out. Or at least I thought I blocked it out. The abuse Kairi deals with in HU, the relationship between her and Sora in HU, it mirrors my life in a way. I didn’t realize I was writing about it. I’m not gonna get into the abuse, I don’t really want to talk about it. But I will say the relationship between Kairi & Sora, I realized it mirrored a relationship I had. & it wasn’t my husband. I have heavily compared myself & another to Sora & Kairi’s relationship ever since I got into KH. It was A LOT like them. Best friends who ended up falling in love. Became each other’s first EVERYTHING. I knew him since I was 10. I moved across the street from him and another boy our age. So there’s the Sora/Riku/Kairi dynamic. We were all best friends & grew up together & just like the Destiny trio, they were best friends before & then I moved to town. I was the new girl. So me & this boy; we just had a connection I can’t even begin to explain. A bond I’ve never felt with anyone else. He just understood me on a level no one else did. He’s actually the one who got me into Kingdom Hearts. He hand made me a paopu fruit for my 13th birthday, sewed and stuffed it himself. So when I look back at Hikari University & even some points in Ever After, I realize I’m actually writing about myself & him. What COULD’VE been. I don’t regret marrying my husband at all. I have two beautiful children with him. There are things I learned from being with my husband, that made me a better person. My husband & I shared so many good times together. I don’t regret it at all. What I DO regret is letting the boy go. I left town & didn’t even say goodbye. I realize one of the reasons why I’ve held onto Sokai for years upon years and maybe even more so recently because it’s all I have left of him. I should’ve never let him go. So yeah, that’s kinda where a lot of elements in HU come from. My own daydreams & events that have taken place in my life. What if he knew about the abuse I had been through? What if I didn’t take off & leave town, when that was going on? Would he have reacted in almost the same manner Sora does in my story? What if we saw each other now after all this time? Abuse hasn’t been a stranger in my life. I wasn’t abused as a child but it was a factor in my home & it left me scared at times. He was there for me then. So how would he react when it was me being abused, if I allowed him to be apart of my life at that point? What if he saw the marks on my body, the bruises on my face? Would it hurt him to see that? So the high school & college stories will mostly be inspired by my own life. I hope anyone who reads this, learns from my mistakes. Don’t leave things unsaid, keep your friends as close to you as possible. Because one far off day, it’ll just hit you, that you let someone that was truly important in your life, someone who meant the world to you, go. I hope someday, we find our way back to each other.

#hikari university #update #sharing a bit of my story here #first love #best friend #Sokai #Sora #Kairi

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mushroom-winners-proof · 2 years

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thinkin bout how while riku was being consumed by the darkness on destiny island in kh1 and sora was reaching into the darkness for him, he came into contact with the small amount of light riku still had in his heart and was given the keyblade

#snap chats #if you saw me rt this post on twitter no you didnt #its the kh3-scene post all over again i wanna talk about it :(#that shit fuckin magical bro sora really could've just melted into the darkness with riku #but because he touched what light did remain in riku's heart he was given the keyblade what the fuck #also love the fact that this also means that riku wasn't totally consumed by darkness #i mean i always knew that wasn't really the case entirely- riku wasnt a bad guy he was just 15 LMAO #but still its always nice to get that confirmation that at his core riku's always been a good kid #just a bit misguided and like. jealousy issues oops #he grew out of it its ok point is this series makes me vom (affectionate)#i love sora and riku and their bond and how much they mean to each other #that is nice tho that theres an explanation for how sora is able to have the keyblade #fun how that all worked out huh. couldnt tell you how far they planned the kh lore when they were starting out #but its cool things fell into place in the long run- for the most part

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goldensunset · 2 years

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So the more I’m thinking about it, I realized I love each member of the destiny trio individually, (and Sokai of course), but I feel like they're not really the best, most cohesive trio at the moment. I think maybe Wayfinder trio actually is the best, most cohesive, functional trio right now? Anyway.

I’m wondering if maybe the weirdness between the destiny trio in kh3 was intentional, and not the result of rushed development or something, as I keep assuming. Because they took the time to give every other trio special moments, but we didn’t get anything like that for SKR. Even the very last scene in the game mirrors the paopu scene: it’s sora and Kairi alone, and Riku separate from them. He's smiling, he's happy for them, but still, it's a clear separation of Sora and Kairi from everyone else, and Riku especially. I feel like remind could have been an opportunity for them to give even one memory or flashback or moment between the three if they wanted. It just feels like the devs only ever put sora and Riku together (like the ending of kh2, or ddd), or sora and Kairi (end of kh1, end of kh3/remind), but not all three anymore (secret ending of kh1 with the letter in the bottle). Sora vanishes sitting alone with kairi. At the end of the credits, the final image is the one of her and sora on the tree. Look at remind, it’s Kairi on the title screen. And like, if it were a fluke of 3’s development, why did it persist in Melody of memory? They could have had Yen Sid tell Kairi to stay home. The fact that it was riku just hurts so much more.

I don’t really have an answer but I just wanted your thoughts. Is this so they’ll reconcile later? Or as Nomura said in that interview:

"Nomura hopes its depiction of their bonds can offer a realistic sense of how friendships evolve and change over time. "{Kingdom Hearts is] not too realistic, but I do want my players to grasp a sense of reality from it as well," Nomura said. "For example, I'm sure you had friends when you were young, a good group of friends, but as you grow older things change and it doesn't always stay the same. I think all I can say is please play to the very end and see what happens. But I think [Kingdom Hearts 3] does depict how each character feels about each other in this new storyline."

It's intentionally vague, but like, does that mean the trio is coming apart? is it just sora and kairi getting closer from here on out? I just don’t know what the series looks like if they’re estranged from here on out. But to be honest, I sort of felt like sora and Riku weren’t even getting along that well in 3. It was weird almost bullying at times against sora. But they did have that “you don’t believe that” moment too, so idk man. Am I just reading way too much into this (probably)? Also, do you REALLY think they might be setting up a Kairi protag arc, or are we being set up to he let down again? I want her to be equal to/save her boys so bad, but it’s hard to hope for it after MoM…

sorry for this stupid long ask, but I would love to hear your thoughts :) also when you said "I risk my life every time I say it but riku's arc is done" I really felt that

*cracks knuckles* aight it’s time

*sniffles* so i didn’t know about that interview where nomura said that… *lies down definitely not crying* might explain a lot…

man i…i’m torn. like a part of me thinks kh should ultimately come back to the destiny trio as a group of friends because from the beginning they were established as the main characters. and to lose sight of that is to lose sight of kh’s heart. play up the nostalgia factor for the first game back when it was so simple and magical. something something disney magic power of friendship everything should work out in the end. it’s a feel-good fantasy where the power of love can always save everyone.

the other part of me…thinks exploring this concept of growing apart from old friends is very good. very painful, for sure. but who says disney should be all sunshine and smiles all the time? change and pain are part of life. and kids aren’t idiots. they’re no strangers to sadness. narratives that can handle this without making it awful and grim are very touching and valuable. but i would love for this specific type of pain to be addressed because it’s an issue very near and dear to my own heart.

my first ever friends that i knew and loved when we were toddlers are all gone from my life now. and from what i hear they’re completely different people now, people i would never want to be friends with. plenty more people have come and gone since, and i get debilitating anxiety about the relationships i still have, just in case i’m a hair’s breadth away from another fallout or distancing. the truth of it is that you can’t take anything for granted in life.

when you’re that close with someone, you think it’s gonna last forever. because you love them now, right? why would you ever stop? you want to live in the disney movie forever. you want the credits to roll and have everything freeze. when you get older, you want to live in the past because the past is comforting. but the truth of the matter is, it isn’t a reality anymore. and it hurts to open your eyes and acknowledge the evidence that things have changed.

as you’ve said, the destiny trio are certainly the least cohesive trio at the moment. i don’t think anyone can argue otherwise. which is ironic, given how in the past, they were the only ones who got to come back to each other, while the others were tragically separated. in and after kh3, the opposite happens. the wayfinder and sea salt trio reunite, while the destiny trio have drifted apart.

but the issue isn’t merely their physical separation. something has changed internally. too much has happened for them to go back to being the simple island kids they used to be. you could pluck sora out of quadratum tomorrow and give him right back to his friends but their reunion would mean next to nothing if the three of them didn’t do some soul searching individually.

which is why i’m hoping that they actually don’t rescue him right away. if he had to spend some time alone, and probably meet up with the new and strange folks in quadratum far away from anything or anyone familiar, he could reflect on his life and grow as a person. it’d be like in kh1 right after losing kairi riku and his home. sora was kinda mistreated in kh3 and made to feel like he was nothing on his own. the ‘my friends are my power’ thing really isn’t cute anymore if he’s saying it because he hates himself. our boy is strong and he deserves more respect!!!

like on the one hand if his friends came to rescue him it would be a nice demonstration of how much they care about him, esp after all he’s done for them. healers need healing too. on the other hand if he had to save himself he’d prove his worth once and for all and they couldn’t bully him by calling him useless on his own anymore (they never should’ve been doing that in the first place!!)

and it would be especially boring if it was literally just riku the hero saving him yet again. (*gets killed by majority of followers*) DDD already gave us ‘mister obsession and abandonment issues coolguy riku saves useless naïve clownboy sora’. i’ll put up with it once bc good for riku but i won’t put up with it again. it should be kairi, or riku and kairi, or the entire main cast. like maybe riku jumps in alone and kairi and/or the others have to jump in after him and have their moment to shine. at some point kairi’s like ‘ok now i REALLY have had enough of this’ and abandons her training to go after the boys (this is how kairi stans post-mom can still win-)

and if they all reunited after all this, having done some soul-searching? could they ever be the same? of course they could still be friends. but i really feel that we’ve crossed a point of no return for them. the other trios have changed as individual people, sure, but their group dynamic is the same as always. at this point, though, the destiny trio as we knew it in kh1 has all but dissolved. i wonder if any of them have started to think about this or not, to question what they still mean to each other in the context of their new lives and new friends. because when a relationship starts to dissolve, it might take a while to notice it, and a very long while to acknowledge it. and sometimes you can reform it into something new, but sometimes you have to let it go.

and i do think we’re moving towards sokai and i want that for them bc they deserve to be together at last but also like. having riku awkwardly third wheel is kinda?? i want to see him loving and being loved by sora and kairi too. he’s their best friend too. or at least he’s supposed to be. (truth is there was always tension in the group i think. oh the problems with a love triangle. they’ve kinda never really been a cohesive trio but that’s an essay for another day.) even if things aren’t the way things were when they were little anymore, there is absolutely no way riku can fade into irrelevance.

if i had to guess i’d say they’re probably gonna resolve this by writing naminé into a love interest for riku. which i wouldn’t mind if they like. did it really really well? they’d have to give her lots of great screentime first. but -understatement of the century incoming- it’s gonna make a lot of people really angry and i fear being on the internet that day lol. (plus there’s just the question of what group should naminé be a part of? should we really turn any trio into a quartet and alter the dynamic of the bonds that have been around for years? but she needs her own place to go and aaaahhhhh. girl has had so many different one-off 5-minute boyfriends lol)

this is a very long post uhhmm in conclusion:

they should all remain a part of each other’s lives forever in some way but it’s ok that things aren’t the way they used to be. the past is full of lovely memories but you can’t live in it forever. it hurts to think about but separation and/or change are part of life and i’d love to see them address the reality of this painful topic.

#aaaaaand post #if anyone else is seeing this please don’t derail with negativity or other ships btw!#enjoy your stay on my blog but know that it’s mine and for my takes #<- hate that i even have to say that #i’ve dealt with some frustrating situations in the tags of my reblogs before #kingdom hearts #mine: kh #sokai #destiny trio #asks #kingdomholly #is this even longer than my sora reapers’ game ask response?#you know you sent a good ask if i wrote a genuine essays’s worth of words in response lol #also how come if kairi does something we don’t like it’s ‘kairi is a bad character’#but if riku does something we don’t like it’s ‘this is poor writing i know the real riku is a great guy’#the dual standards in criticizing their characters…one is watsonian and one is doylist smh #can’t we have faith in them both #or is it just bc riku has had a proper positive character arc #well regression is a thing too just saying it could happen #not saying i want it #and he’s not a bad guy but he’s definitely never been uh. wholesome lol

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embraceyourdestiny · 3 years

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Oh my god I just had a thought about Xion.

It’s never really explained why she has such a fascination with shells and yet it’s such a prominent part of not only her personality but also her relationship with Roxas. And we know not every aspect of her personality belongs to her so the place we have to look back to figure out why she likes shells so much is the source; Kairi. Specifically Sora’s promise to Kairi to bring back her lucky charm.

We all know about the legend of the thalassa shells but a reminder doesn’t hurt.

Kairi tells Sora that with the thalassa shells, her, Sora, and Riku will always be together.

Now to Xion. Xion is a creation from Sora’s memories of Kairi, and so often she is represented by thalassa shells, the shells Kairi said would keep her and the others safe and always let them find each other.

When Roxas faints and sleeps for weeks, Xion gives Roxas a thalassa shell and hopes that he’ll wake up soon and that they’ll be together again.

And Roxas returns the favor to Xion when the same thing happens to her.

Remember Sora and Kairi’s conversation after they return from Hollow Bastion, the one where Kairi gives Sora her lucky charm?

I find it so interesting that despite Roxas and Xion coming from Sora and Kairi and obviously paralleling them, they do so in the complete opposite way. Sora and Kairi tell each other they’ll never forget one another, yet Roxas and Xion are forced to. Sora tells Kairi that she helped pull him out of the darkness, yet in all the time they were together the darkness just kept getting worse and worse in Roxas and Xion. Sora says Kairi can’t help because it’s too dangerous, and Roxas and Xion both fight and in the end they end up fighting each other, to the point that Xion dies. “Finally we’re together, Kairi,” when Roxas and Xion were forcibly ripped from each other. It’s like looking into a mirrored image, altered almost beyond recognition, but the most important parts remain, the parts that make both Sora and Kairi and Roxas and Xion the people they are, even if it is in different ways.

The lucky charm means so much to both Sora and Kairi and that importance gets passed onto Roxas and Xion. They don’t want to lose each other and some part of them remembers a promise that they never made and tries their best to keep that promise despite the fact that they never can (in Days, at least.)

If Sora and his friends represent the light in the deepest darkness, Roxas and his friends serve as a reminder that even in the brightest light there will always be darkness, and Xion and Roxas give each other shells because in all the time after KH1, Sora longed to be with his friend again and that longing made its way to Roxas and Xion. Even if they didn’t know why, some part of them didn’t want to lose the other and the shells seemed like a perfect way to keep that promise, because that’s what Sora was trying to do; keep his promise and return the thing that kept him bonded to Kairi back to her.

Additionally, I always wondered what the purpose of this shot in the opening of KH2 was for.

Kairi sits at a beach by herself, playing with her thalassa shell, and the shell gets washed away by the ocean. This scene could obviously represent a lot of things; Kairi losing her memories of Sora, Sora losing Kairi, etc, but it could also represent the loss of Xion. Days takes place before Kingdom Hearts 2, so it’s entirely plausible that even before we knew about Xion we were already being told from the beginning that we were going to lose her. Just like the memories of her in Roxas and Axel’s heart, the thalassa shell gets washed away by the sea, alone and forgotten.

The more you learn and realize about Xion, Roxas, and everything about Days, the more tragic it gets. It’s almost like by having positive experiences, Sora and those he’s connected to condemned those created from them. The things that happen to Roxas, Xion, and Naminé all directly parallel the things that happened to Sora and his friends but on the opposite end, in darkness instead of light. I feel so hard for those three especially, they really didn’t deserve the things that happened to them and did nothing to even cause those things, but at the same time despite actions beyond they’re control they’re still able to use the things from their Others’ lives to help them, like the thalassa shells and drawings of memories, to keep themselves whole.

I’m not sure how much of this stuff is intentional or not but the fun part of kingdom hearts is theory and analysis and sometimes the pieces line up just perfectly to be so deep and it adds to much more to the universe, I love being able to come up with stuff like this so much it’s so fun.

#kingdom hearts #kh #kh1 #kh2 #kingdom hearts 2 #xion kh #namine kh #naminé kh #Roxas kh #Kairi kh #sora Kh #kingdom hearts theories #kingdom hearts theory #theories #analysis #og #this feels messy but shrug

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daylighteclipsed · 2 years

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re: the "head full" comment, i was mostly just joking about how after kh1, sora thinks about riku, like, all the time, not really about any smooth progression lol (evolution/change would have been a better word)

although now i wonder if the sora&riku childhood memory scenes in kh1 are actually supposed to signify the characters remembering them like the scene with kairi's grandma, or just for the audience

I gotcha. But there does have to be some smooth-ish progression in KH1, I think, in the sense that you see Sora realize Riku’s not infallible or impossible to lose, since he does start out assuming that Riku can take care of himself and that their friendship is always guaranteed.

Sora’s oblivious to how hurt Riku is by his nonchalance and (arguable) negligence, until Riku is pretty much spelling it out for him. Until they’re enemies — something Sora never thought possible. Sora can’t imagine Riku would fall prey to manipulation or rely on the darkness — cause Riku’s too strong, too smart, too capable; he’s the best, and that’s why Sora admires him — until it happens. Until Riku needs his help.

That’s what sets you up for Sora’s growing need to reach Riku in CoM and KH2 — the realization that Riku can’t do everything by himself, that the gap between them — in age, in skills, in wisdom — is not as wide as it seemed, and that there’s no guarantee Riku’s always going to be there. Sora doesn’t realize how much Riku means to him until there’s a very real possibility of losing him and his love. Distance makes the heart grow fonder, essentially, but cranked up a notch or five.

I think something similar could be said for Riku after he loses his body. He’s always known Sora means a lot to him, but I think this is when he realizes that the hatred he’s been feeling doesn’t overshadow his love for Sora. All he really wants is to see Sora again, be by his side again. Riku misses him. They miss each other, and that’s a feeling that only grows stronger the longer they’re apart…

Geez now I want to break down the whole evolution of their relationship, but I should really finish KH3 and the two games after that first lol

As for the KH1 childhood memory scenes: I’m pretty sure they signify the characters are remembering those moments… Like, just skimming the game, we get that flashback of little Riku and Sora deciding one day they’re gonna leave Destiny Islands and have real adventures together, because Sora’s knocked out — he dreams of this memory before waking up in Monstro. We see a little more of that memory but from Riku’s perspective after Neverland — little Riku noticing the keyhole in the secret door after Sora walks away — before it cuts to current Riku breathing heavily with his eyes closed. So, I’m assuming this memory’s flashing through his mind.

The little montage in sepia after they close the KH doors is less about Sora remembering those specific moments, I think, and more communicating to us what he’s feeling then and the bond, the love, that still ties Sora and Riku together, ties their hearts together, despite everything that’s happened — it’s how they’re going to find each other again. But I could be wrong.

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minijenn · 2 years

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Hello! I'm new in this blog and I am currently trudging through the 60+ Keys to the Kingdom chapters and can I just say... besides a lot of other stuff I could gush about I just wanna say I adore how you wrote Kairi and Riku and Sora's relationship? And this is coming from somebody who actually enjoyed KH3 lol

I know it's only a small aspect of their relationship but I always crave for good polyamorous portrayals anywhere (being ome myself), and Kairi/Sora/Riku is one I for some reason didn't thought of for somw reason, maybe it's cause of very early KH Fandom shipping wars between SoKai and SoRiku, but going fuckit and showing how equally important BOTH are to Sora and to each other? My heart is melting!

Thanks for that so much, I love it, I haven't fully caught up yet but I am gushing so hard, but this is the first thing I felt the need to send and ask to you about. Just... Hnnnnnnnng thanks so much!

Welcome! So glad you're enjoying Keys! Especially the bond between the Destiny Trio. I've been shipping those three ever since I started playing KH a few years back, and KH3 left me starving for content, so I decided to make that content myself! I mean after all, Sora's heart is way too big and full of love to keep that love contained to one person, and as for Riku and Kairi, well they do care about each other just as much as they care about Sora (even if the games rarely ever care to show that, frustratingly). But anyway, if you like what I've done with those three in early Keys, just wait until you get caught up. Some of what I've done in more recent chapters, what I'm planning for future chapters I haven't written yet, and what I have planned for Keys sequel are especially full of that Sorikai goodness... :3

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snowflake-of-destruction · 4 years

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Imagine Roxas’s reaction to seeing Axel shirtless when he started getting buff for the first time

Enjoy the distraction of the evening and Roxas and Sora bonding, and be warned of language and reference to adult situations.

"Can I complain to you about Riku for a second?" Sora asked. It was perhaps not the ideal time to start a new conversation as Roxas was in the process of landing the gummi ship in a clear spot of grass in the courtyard outside the entrance to the keyblade academy at the Land of Departure, but that was how Sora was, keeping things in and then letting them explode forth at times that often seemed odd to others, but were simply the breaking point to him.

"No, I require at least ten minutes of complaining about Riku every week,"Roxas deadpanned, guiding the ship down between two others already parked. "You know the time table. Three minutes without air. Three days without food. Seven days without busting Riku's silver dusted balls."

"Gold," Sora chirped, unbuckling his restraints and going for the door.

"I'm going to regret this," Roxas sighed, half to himself as he followed suit, "But...what?"

"Gold medal," Sora grinned. "Everything in that area is nothing less than first place."

"Strongly disagree." Roxas screwed up his face in exaggerated disgust.

"You have no way of..." Sora complained as they started up to the castle.

"Please, can we get to the complaining?" Roxas cut him off.

"It's official even. The council of judges, me and Data Sora judging pictures saved on my gummi phone, awarded him the blue ribbon. I tied it..."

"I will give you all the munny in my munny bag not to finish that sentence." It was pretty clear to Roxas that Sora was torturing him on purpose for crimes of his past lives. Sometimes he still hated his other.

"Then I suppose you don't want to hear about the ribbon cutting ceremony either? Or, well, it was more of a ribbon untying ceremony. I'm not usually good at tongue tricks like the cherry thing so I was kind of proud of myself that I managed to..."

The pattern of hasty interruption of an oblivious or happily malicious Sora continued. "For the love of sea salt ice cream, Sora, I'm begging you to stop before I hurl."

"What were you talking about before?" Sora blanked and grasped at straws of stray thought. "Tortillas?"

"What? Why would you think that?"

"It was taco night when I came up with the ribbon ceremony."

"You were going to tell me how much Riku was annoying you."

The enlightened glow of remembrance entered Sora's eyes, but the spark of happiness at conquering his brain only lasted a moment before Sora was collapsing against the doors of the castle academy, playing up the drama of whining, "Riku is driving me crazy!"

"That's more like it! Tell me all about it." Roxas was perhaps a bit overzealous in his support, judging by the look Sora shot him, so he tried a more nonchalant and less gleeful tone, "You'll feel better."

"He keeps looking at me like I'm going to disappear in front of his eyes. He's woken me up in the middle of the night to make sure I'm still breathing. He keeps tripping me up in battle because he's started diving between me and the Heartless, like all of a sudden I can't take care of myself. I know why it's happening, and I know he means well, but I'm not sure how much longer I can take it. Do you have that problem with Axel?"

Now, he and Axel had to work through some anxiety about being separated again. It had taken a lot of long talks, time, and trust exercises, to work through them, but now Roxas could help Sora with Riku's issues from the point of view of someone who had been there before and gotten out. Or he could just make a joke. "Well, I'm afraid he'll get caught in a strong wind one night and snap in half, but I'm trying to keep myself rational. I mean I can stick unwound hangers in his clothes to try and create a brace from something more substantial than his limbs, and I can put a bell on him so I don't lose track of him when he turns sideways, but after we take all the precautions we can, all I can do is tell him to be careful lifting his keyblade so it doesn't break his arm, and look at the positive. He and Jack Skellington wear the same size jacket and being able to trade clothes with the King of Halloween is pretty cool."

"What are you talking about?"

Roxas steeled himself to be drawn into a serious talk anyway, taking a spot leaning against the doors alongside Sora and putting a hand on his shoulder, dearly hoping someone didn't open the door from the other side and send them sprawling. "Listen, I picked a ridiculous example, but the same principle applies. Take measures to keep each other safe--simple ones that don't stop you from being able to do your job-- talk about what his fears are, and then just try to find silver linings and agree to live your lives. You guys are going to be okay."

"Oh yeah, I know that," Sora dismissed, shaking off his hand. "I was just letting off steam. Riku's actually being really sweet. I just need to make him realize what he's doing before he finds a way to sacrifice himself again to keep me safe. What you said about Axel doesn't make sense though. He's ripped."

"He's a twig," Roxas countered with a scoff. "He's got the muscle mass of the jelly creature from Monstropolis, and looks like it the time it let me suck it into a large straw to make Boo laugh. I love him but he's a scarecrow. My stickman scarecrow, and I love him, but let's be realistic."

The light of dawning realization lit Sora's eyes once more, and Roxas found it a bit unnerving. He was definitely missing something. "...Haven't you visited Axel since he started training with Terra?"

"No, this is my first visit, to see Terra confer the master title on him." Master ceremonies had become a big thing now, a little pomp and circumstance to make it seem more important, Roxas guessed. Riku had missed out. Too bad for him. "He was on a journey of the soul as well as the body...Whatever that means. Terra didn't want me distracting him."

"That's what makes it more fun. When I went to retake my mark of mastery at Yensid's tower...Wait a second, Terra ordered you to do something and you just listened?" Sora's pursed lips and glaring eyes spoke more of tantrum throwing toddler than betrayed friend.

"He's a master," Roxas answered simply, though it wasn't respect for orders of a master that held him back. He could have been a master too, if he wanted, if he felt like he needed the validation of being recognized by the others and wanted to jump through hoops set up by Yensid or Aqua or even worse options. He had been named master of the keyblade by the Organization, that was enough. He and Axel had agreed they would help guard the worlds but they wouldn't play into the ranking game. Axel had changed his mind, and Roxas respected that, but he felt no compulsion to join him.

"You never listen when Riku tells you to do something. He's a master too."

"Master, my ass."

"No, master of my..."

"Why do you have to be like this?" Roxas groaned, sliding to the ground.

"Don't get pissy just because you haven't gotten laid in months."

"I didn't visit because Axel told me not to. We've been doing the long distance thing. We've done it before for stretches, like when he and Isa were working on their first book,"Roxas answered Sora's original question, loudly, to change the subject.

"But you've talked on the gummi phone?"

"Every night."

"With video?"

"Is this going back to a weird place you never leave?"

"I live in the gutter now!" Sora confirmed happily, before going back to neutral. "No, it's a serious question. Have you gotten a good look at Axel recently?"

"Same loveable bozo sleeping in a fuzzy zip up adult onesie that makes him look like a Meow Wow he's always been. "

"You haven't seen him out of the onesie?" At Roxas's exasperated look, Sora defended himself once more. "Legitimate question."

"Some nights I don't even see him take down the hood. He has a voice for Meowaxel."

"And you were griping about the ribbon ceremony. Your sex story is much weirder."

"We don't have phone sex," Roxas's pining despair outweighed his distaste for discussing this kind of thing with Sora who was a dog that never let go of a bone without making a joke about boning. "We have an agreement. He almost crashed a gummi ship once."

"You...while he was driving?" Sora looked impressed and Roxas felt a rare flash of shame.

"New idea?" He pushed through and said the words as if they were a crack of his own.

"Great idea!" Sora's face split into a wide grin and Roxas apologized to Riku internally, the only way he ever did so. Sora grabbed his former Nobody's arm and dragged him to his feet. "Come on. We're going to spy on Axel sparring with Terra. They have a routine. Terra wouldn't deviate from it even knowing people are arriving for the ceremony tonight."

"I am always down to see my baby light someone on fire," Roxas followed Sora down the hill, pliable and, frankly, excited to see Axel as soon as possible.

"Baby? Blech." Sora pulled a face that lasted maybe half a second and rang false while it did, thrilled and supportive as always to see Roxas showing a soft spot, but attempting to play some of Roxas's own attitude back at him.

"Your pet names for Riku are worse...and you should not prove it by listing them." Roxas tacked on the latter part hastily, leaving no room for Sora to start his reign of terror anew.

" There are several riffs on Dream Eater that would make you wish you were as smart as me," Sora huffed, "But that's not what we're here for." He held Roxas back for a second with a thrown out arm, and glanced around the last bend in the hill. Roxas could hear sounds of exertion. Satisfied with what he saw, Sora withdrew the restraining arm in favor of waving his hands like a cheap magician as he ordered Roxas to, "Feast your eyes!"

Roxas ignored Sora's theatrics and stepped around him, only to stop short when he ended up following the other man's order despite himself. His eyes were feasting and there was an entire buffet in the form of Axel, stripped to the waist and hair up in a messy bun with damp loose tendrils stuck to the back of his neck, twisting away to avoid a strike by Terra (in his weird black spandex shirt like always, showing off for who the hell knew or cared) and using the momentum to whirl the rest of the circle and carry out his own blow, the flex and spring back of newly defined muscles Roxas had missed the development of covered by freckled skin that didn't quite make the definition of tan but had been cultivated into a tone more golden than ghost pale translucent on display. The first dish was broad shoulders that had always been there, but no longer existed just to make clothes hang smoothly like they did on a clothes hanger now that they were attached to the freshly carved meat station--arms that bulged and Roxas was going to declare illegal to ever hide under bunched neon fleece or a thick black coat again. He'd call Axel's new abs the salad bar because he wanted to charge like a bull and then start grazing, but they could also be the drink station because there was definitely a six pack there much more appealing than the beer Hayner had developed a fondness for, and Roxas was remarkably thirsty looking at them. Axel's waist was still comparatively small (Dorito. Delicious. More buffets should include snack food on the side. Jokes weren't over. The man was a snack.) but then there was perhaps the most shocking addition of all had popped into existence below it.

"Bite the buns and have a popsicles for dessert," Roxas whispered under his breath, awed, unable to even be embarrassed by half consciously daydreaming out loud because his eyes had continued their journey and found out there was now meat on the stork (too long to be chicken) drumsticks Axel walked around on.

"Think he's safe from the wind now?" Sora taunted.

"Time for you to leave." Roxas shook himself out of his daze to return fully to the present.

"What?"

"Run up to the castle," Roxas gave the same order in new phrasing as he walked on ahead and waved to Terra, yelling, "Time to leave."

The scene that ensued was bordering on comical as Terra froze, caught off guard and was smacked full in the face with head turning force by the flat of Axel's keyblade, an act that was accompanied by an apologetic, "Oh shit!" and widened eyes that spoke to Axel trying to cut his actions short but being unable to stop the blow, just lessen it. Terra stumbled and Axel reached out to steady him, but then appeared to change his mind or become irrevocably distracted halfway through as Roxas's presence sank in fully. His keyblade disappeared in a shower of sparks, Terra fell, and the lovers ran to be reunited.

Roxas found himself lifted off the ground like he weighed nothing and his soul left his body, leaving him not responsible for the happily sighed word that he used to greet Axel, "Arms."

#akuroku #soriku #snippets #fanfiction #Anonymous

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paintedwithapalette · 4 years

Text

SoKai Week Day 1 - Paopu Fruit

Word Count: 4, 054

--------------------------

To Sora and Kairi, it was like being on an emotional high.

Through time, their bond had hardened like concrete—impenetrable. It was beyond latent feelings at this point, it was a harmonious compound of encouragement, support, admiration, and most of all, trust.

With their hands intertwined and legs dangling as they were bundled together close on the paopu fruit tree, these emotions ran rapid with just a single touch. The salty air and the seagulls squawking overhead was nothing short of the pleasantries the two had become familiar with. Though, it would’ve meant little if they didn’t have each other.

“I don’t think I could ever get tired of this place,” Kairi said, closing her eyes and allowing the wind to gently caress her face. “I know in my heart that this isn’t where I come from, but to me, this is home.”

“It always has been,” Sora validated.

“You think so?”

“Of course! This place wouldn’t be the same without you, you know?” Sora sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. “And hey, I’d be a total wreck without you. Do you know how many times I probably would’ve fell to darkness if it weren’t for you being by my side?”

“True. You’re pretty much hopeless without me,” she teased.

“Hey!” Fabricating a look of hurt, he pulled her in closer with one swift motion and sent Kairi into a fit of giggles all the while. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I think even you can figure that out, dork.”

Another five minutes passed as they wrestled, mostly consisting of Sora trying to pull Kairi in close while she pretended to reject his advances, no matter how much she loved every second of it. As their laughter died down, they settled into a comfortable embrace; the warmth of Sora’s arms encompassed around her petite frame. They sat in a comfortable stillness, no words traded between them as neither broke eye contact until Kairi tucked some hair behind her ear with a soft giggle.

“What’s that goofy look for?” she asked.

“Sorry,” Sora apologized insincerely, putting on a grin. “Guess I just don’t want to forget that I’m the luckiest guy in the world.”

Kairi’s blush intensified along with the ends of her lips. “You’re such a cornball.”

Sora chuckled nervously as he scratched his cheek as he imagined how much Donald would tease him if he heard that one. “Yeah, well…”

“It’s okay,” Kairi said. “I like how cheesy you are.”

“Well, there’s plenty more where that came from!” Sora pulled her in with an even tighter embrace, once again making Kairi burst into laughter.

When it died down, she rested her palm against his face and used her thumb to travel across the texture of his soft skin. “Looks like you really never did change,” she said.

Sora smiled, tenderly taking hold of her hand. “Of course I didn’t.”

Their smiles were radiant, weaved with affection as a sheen of desire shimmered over Kairi’s eyes when she noticed Sora looking at her lips. Their anticipation surged as their proximity decreased, their faces inching closer, closer, and closer...

“Sora!”

A yelp escaped them both as whatever tension there may have been dissipated and they held each other even tighter. Their nerves settled as Donald and Goofy entered their light of vision, the voice clearly belonging to the former of the two.

“Donald? Goofy?” Sora asked. “What’s up?”

“Riku and the King wanted us to tell you about the bonfire tonight,” Donald explained. “Since we’ll be celebrating the return of a half-pint like you, Sora.”

Goofy took note of the fact that neither of the two had let go of the other since Donald spooked them. “Gawrsh, I shore hope we aren’t interruptin’ you all.”

“Uh, no, of course not!” Sora gave a sheepish grin as he rubbed the back of his head.

“Gee, then how come your face is red, Sora?” Goofy asked.

“Awwww, isn’t that sweet?” Donald teased, clasping his hands together and bringing them up to the side of his face.

“Could you cut that out?” Sora clenched a fist as Donald burst into laughter. “No offense, but can you two buzz off? Kind of in the middle of something here.”

“Guess we oughta stop meddlin’ then, a-hyuk,” Goofy said with a chuckle as he made his leave with his usual gangly walk. Donald didn’t stray too far behind.

“And remember to behave, Sora. Mind your manners,” Donald joked.

“Knock it off!” Sora shouted as his friends entered the seaside shack. “That’s it. He’s gonna regret this the next time I see him alone with Daisy.”

Kairi found Sora’s frustration amusing as she placed her hand on his cheek, directing his focus back to her. “Well, don’t worry. We still have plenty of time to ourselves, right?”

It wasn’t long before whatever Donald had said before became irrelevant as Sora fell into a goofy smile. “Yeah, you’re right.”

At least, so he thought until a frisbee smacked the back of his head. “Ouch!” Sora cried as he massaged the tender spot and turned around to spot Lea catching the frisbee just in time. Sora should’ve expected as much since it wasn’t uncommon for Lea, Isa, and Ven to have their fairly regular frisbee games around this time. Still, wasn’t it odd that it somehow hit his head?

“Yo! Sorry ‘bout that,” Lea called, waving.

“Aww, no biggie,” Sora called back. He returned his focus to Kairi once again but it didn��t take more than a few minutes before the frisbee hit him in the back of the head again. This time, Lea received a frown.

“Sorry, butterfingers!” Lea said, though this time Sora noticed Ven covering his mouth with both hands while Isa rolled his eyes.

Sora slowly turned back around to face Kairi, giving him an understanding smile. “Think maybe we should find a different spot?”

Sora shook his head. “No, it’s fine. I’m sure it’s just an honest mistake.” Despite his words, his eyes narrowed as if he were waiting. Ten minutes passed and nothing occurred. The three seemed to continue about their own business. Sora let out a sigh of relief.

“Now, where were we?” Sora said, his usual smile returning before it was derailed less than a second later when the frisbee came hurtling right into the back of his head.

“Sorry again!” Lea apologized through the laughter he was failing horribly to stifle. “M-My fingers slipped!”

Sora growled, having had more than enough as he pushed himself off the tree, helping Kairi down all the while, as he took her hand and marched towards the seaside shack. Kairi had no objections but was left wondering where their next destination lied. “Where are we going?” she asked, tilting her head to the side.

“Away from those jerks,” Sora said vaguely.

When Sora and Kairi exited the seaside shack, Lea and Ven were quick to catch up to them.

“Aww, where you goin’, buddy?” Lea asked, draping an arm around his shoulder as he pinched Sora’s cheek. “We didn’t mean to interrupt you guys. Was I disrupting the mood? It’s just that you two are just so darn cute.”

Sora grumbled under his breath but ignored Lea as he led (pulled, more accurately) Kairi inside the Secret Place, ignoring the howls of laughter from Lea and Ventus echoing in the short distance.

When Sora and Kairi made it inside, the former scoped the place out in search of any unwanted souls in the area. Thankfully, it looked empty as Sora let out a relieved sigh and smiled. He loved all of his friends dearly, but even he wanted some space every now and then to be with the girl of his dreams. He looked back at Kairi, their hands still attached.

“Think the coast is clear?” Kairi asked with a cheeky grin.

“Yeah, I think so.” Sora rubbed the back of his head. “Sorry about that. Hope I can at least make it up to you.”

Kairi shook her head softly as she wrapped her arms around the base of his neck, momentarily catching Sora by surprise before he carefully held her waist, bringing their foreheads together. “You already did.”

“I did?”

“Yes,” Kairi answered without hesitation. Her eyes traveled over to the drawings they made as kids handing each other a paopu fruit. “By just being you. I told you before all of this that I wanted you to never change and you haven’t. That’s more than enough for me.”

“Kairi...”

Before their lips could seal the deal, they heard a sharp squeal in the short distance. They immediately detached themselves from each other and scoped out the area.

“Who’s there?” Sora asked, returning to his previous look of defense.

Kairi narrowed her eyes, taking mindful steps as her eyes wandered over the cave until she heard hushed voices.

“I told you not to freak out over this, you dip,” said a hushed male voice.

“Shut up! They’re super cute! What do you want me to do?” asked an equally hushed female voice in return.

Kairi was able to pinpoint the voices from behind the large rock with a less than flattering face drawn on it. Making sure not to alert whoever happened to be back there, she tiptoed over until she looked behind the rock to find nothing. She raised her eyebrow.

Meanwhile, Sora turned around and saw two individuals making a poor attempt at being stealthy as they tried to crawl out of the Secret Place unseen. “Hey!” he shouted.

The two culprits, a.k.a Tidus and Selphie, looked up like deer caught in the headlights. The former of the two bumped into the rear of the latter, sending them both to the ground.

“Tidus? Selph?” Kairi voiced as she emerged from the other side of the rock.

Selphie scrambled back up to her feet, knocking Tidus back down in the process as she approached her best girl friend. “I-It’s not what it looks like!”

Tidus rubbed the sore spot on the back of his head. “Except it’s totally what it looks like.” The comment earned him a scowl from Selphie.

“Were you two spying on us?” Kairi asked.

Selphie bit her lip and averted her eyes. “W-Well, that’s uh...”

“It was her idea,” Tidus accused with a sharp finger pointed at Selphie, though the brunette didn’t deny it as she fiddled with her fingers.

“Selphie...” Kairi admonished.

“I’m sorry! I just heard you two like to come here a lot Lea and, uh... I dunno, I was a teeny bit curious to see how far you guys were gonna go. And you’re just soooo cute!”

Sora sighed as he shrugged defeatedly.

“That’s... sweet, Selphie, but boundaries would be nice sometimes, you know?” Kairi chastised kindly.

Selphie bowed her head in shame. “Yeah, I know...”

Sora crossed his arms. He was beginning to think this island was too crowded for his liking. “Well, uh, we’ll leave you two to it then,” he said somewhat hastily.

Kairi was caught off-guard when Sora moved past Selphie and took her hand in one swift motion as he hurried out of the Secret Place.

“W-Wait!” Selphie said, reaching out for them. “I just need to know if you guys have gotten to third-ba—”

Tidus covered Selphie’s mouth and pulled her back before she made the situation any more awkward than she already had.

“Just don’t, Selph.”

After having to feel the brunt of Lea’s teasing once again, Sora led Kairi to the wooden door leading to the cove. Sora and Kairi briefly examined the area before hopping across the broken bridge that led to the other side.

“Watch your step,” Sora warned.

Kairi puffed out her chest. “Hey, don’t you worry about me, I think by now I’ve learned a thing or twoowhoa!” she sputtered as she nearly tripped over herself when she landed on the other side before Sora caught her in the nick of time. He carefully brought her back up to her feet.

“You okay?” Sora asked with genuine concern.

Kairi found the will to stop ogling and cast him a smile. “Yes.”

They stood in a comfortable silence before they heard feet pattering against the sandy surface in the short distance.

“Woof, woof! Woof, woof!”

Before he even had a chance to react, Sora was tackled to the floor by Pluto and it only took a second longer for his face to be submerged in the dog’s drool.

“Aww, Pluto,” Sora whined, though Kairi couldn’t bite back the laughter that escaped her even if she wanted to. Once Sora’s face was appropriately drenched, he moved over to Kairi and would’ve nearly pounced on her as well if Kairi didn’t catch him in time. She still gave him plenty of chin scratches and pets to assure him his appearance wasn’t entirely unwelcome.

“It’s very nice to see you, too,” Kairi greeted. “How’ve you been, boy?”

“Gosh,” said a familiar high-pitched voice. “Sorry about that, you two. You know how Pluto can get sometimes.”

King Mickey approached them along with Riku. The latter chuckled as Kairi took a handkerchief out of one of the pockets of her pink shorts, dabbing Sora’s face once she was free from Pluto.

“Sorry, were we interrupting something?” Riku asked, a sly grin on his face.

Sora cleared his throat. “Uh, well...”

“Yes, you are,” Kairi answered boldly, though her words betrayed the smile on her face.

Riku raised his hands in defense. “Don’t mind us, we were just trying to get a little training in. But if you needed a little bit of privacy, then by all means...”

Riku stepped out of the way, presenting the rest of the cove to them, empty and barren for their disposal. Kairi sent an appreciative smile while Sora bashfully scratched his cheek.

“Thanks, Riku,” Sora said as he and Kairi moved past them. Riku playfully saluted while he and Mickey shared a chuckle. They were about to leave along with Pluto before they saw Lea charging in hot.

“Hey, Sora! I got somethin’ for ya,” he cried.

Riku calmly grabbed the back of Lea’s shirt before he could get any closer and yanked him back. “I don’t think so.”

“No, but it’s really important! I swear,” Lea said.

“What is it?” Mickey asked.

“I’m locked out of my house and I need his Keyblade to unlock it.”

Riku and Mickey shared a look. “You do realize more than half of us have Keyblades, right? Matter of fact, don’t you have a Keyblade?”

“And don’tcha live in Twilight Town?” Mickey added.

“I… I just moved here?” Lea gave a sheepish grin. “Today, actually. Crazy coincidence, am I right?”

Riku and Mickey shared a look of disbelief before nodding to affirm they were on the same page. Despite his protests, they grabbed Lea by his shoulders as they dragged him away from the scene.

Sora and Kairi were left to themselves as their eyes wandered the cove, a wave of nostalgia flooding over them both as memories lurked in every nook and cranny of this area of the island.

“Hey, remember when the raft used to be here?” Kairi asked as she wrapped her arms behind her back. “It’s almost like... this is where everything started.”

“How could I forget?” Sora asked with a chuckle. “We worked so hard on that thing. It’s a shame we never got to give it a try.”

“It’s a nice thought, wondering what would’ve happened had we been together the whole time setting sail on the sea. But honestly...” Kairi walked towards the shore, her arms tied behind her back as she looked to the sky wistfully. “If I could go back and change how everything went down, I don’t think I would.”

“Really?” Sora tilted his head.

Mm hm.” Kairi nodded, pursing her lips into a tight smile. “It may not have been ideal, but being able to go inside your heart, being able to see things through your eyes and feel the things that you felt... how much you cared about me and wanted nothing more than to make sure I was safe... maybe we’re this close because of that. And ever since then, no matter what, we always find our way back to each other again.” She turned around and faced him. “I wouldn’t trade that for anything. Not for one second.”

Sora was left speechless for a moment until a certain warmth washed him over. “Kairi...” he said quietly, his eyes trained on the sand. “I guess sometimes I just wish I could’ve done better for you. You spent all that time having to watch from the sidelines, waiting for me to come home because I kept leaving you all alone. I guess sometimes I wish I could’ve done better for you.”

Kairi sighed, but she settled into a gentle smile as she carefully approached him in good spirits. “Sora, go into your back pocket for me please.”

Sora raised an eyebrow. “Uh, sure.”

He did as told and dug into his back pocket and retrieved the good luck charm she had given him all those years ago. Since then, she wanted him to keep it permanently as a reminder of the bond they shared. Sora had come to treasure it deeply.

“Even if we’re apart, we’re not alone anymore,” Kairi said. “Remember that?”

Sora looked over the charm and the face, his own face, she drew grinning back at him. His eyes shimmered as the memories came back. “Yeah,” he said. “We made a promise.”

Kairi nodded. “We did. No matter what happens, no matter how far apart we are...”

She took Sora’s hand and gently closed them around the good luck charm.

“We’ll always find each other,” she said with a soft smile. “No matter what.”

After a moment of silence, Sora nodded. “You’re right.” He gripped his lucky charm harder. “I don’t think I would trade anything in the world for that either.”

“So, don’t worry about that stuff. In the end, I think it made me stronger. Not just me, but you too. And besides, I love you just the way you are, no matter how much of a hopeless goofball you are.”

“Thanks, Kai—hey, wait a minute! You take that back.”

Kairi giggled as she ran away. “But it’s the truth! You said it yourself.”

Sora grinned. “Okay, you asked for it!”

Sora chased Kairi all over the cove, leaving no stone unturned as they playfully teased each other all the while. Sora could have easily caught up to her before, but after all the training Kairi had received, she was a lot trickier to catch these days. Their misadventures ranged from running behind the coconut trees to splashing each other in the sea.

At one point, Kairi was running away after she casted Waterga magic on Sora (which Sora thought was cheating but at least he had an Aeroga spell to dry himself fast).

“Now, you’re really gonna get it!” Sora declared as he chased after her.

“I’d like to see you try!”

Sora looked ahead and put on a look of surprise. “Oh, hey Riku!”

Kairi stopped in her tracks. “Riku?” Before she had a second longer to react, Sora grabbed her by the waist from behind.

“Gotcha!” he said, a toothy smile as Kairi kicked her legs out.

“No!” she said in-between her giggles. “Lemme go, you lazy bum!”

“Nuh uh, I need my revenge.” Sora put on a malicious smile as he began tickling her sides. Kairi howled with uncontrollable laughter.

“Sora…! I-I can’t!” Kairi sputtered.

“Ha! Not so tough are ya now, huuuuhaaaaah!” Sora couldn’t finish his comment before he tripped over himself while backing up. He fell to his back, taking the brunt of the fall while he caught Kairi in the nick of time as she fell on top of his chest. They landed in the middle of shrubbery and gorgeous flowers that bloomed brilliantly near the ladder that led to the zipline.

After a brief stint of silence, they ultimately laughed at the situation at hand. This felt right. This was how it should’ve been. The stars had aligned and the universe was finally working in their favor. So it seemed, at least. Kairi wanted to last forever.

But she knew deep down all good things must come to an end.

“Hey,” she said suddenly. “I have a surprise for you.”

Before Sora could question her, she went into her back pocket and pulled out a paopu fruit. How she was able to carry that back there, she wasn’t sure but neither of them questioned it.

“I know we’ve already shared one before, but... I kind of want to relive that moment again,” Kairi admitted.

Sora didn’t say anything. He only offered a smile. A smile that communicated everything it needed to. He told her that she was safe, secure, and free of judgment. He told her that she was the apple of his eyes, the girl of his dreams, and his destiny. He told her how happy he was the first time she asked him to share one with him and he wanted nothing more than to do it again. All with one smile.

“You know I’ll come back to you, right?” he asked. “I won’t give up. I’ll never give up.”

Kairi’s smile turned solemn. “Promise?”

“Promise.”

Sora took the paopu fruit from her possession and gently grazed his teeth on top of one of the spikes. Kairi took the initiative to nibble the other end, but before either could bite down, she cupped his cheek with her hand. Sora responded by using his index finger and thumb to carefully hold her chin.

The way he looked into her eyes with such a focus and confidence, it was enough to make a tear stream down her face. No matter what the situation, he always assured her that he would come back.

They both simultaneously bit down on the paopu fruit, solidifying their destiny to find each other once again, and in a turn of events, the fruit dissipated into sparkles that twinkled against the setting sun. They were still and locked firmly in the moment as they looked into each other’s eyes, her hand and his fingers still attached to each other’s faces, quietly admiring each other until Sora ended up being the first to break it.

“Don’t ever forget,” he said. “Wherever you go...”

Then Kairi woke up.

Reality settled as the memories slowly drifted back as she studied her room, the morning sun peeking through the slits of her blinds and its warmth faded from the translucent curtains. Eventually, she remembered it had been a year and a few months since Sora disappeared. She and the others were still hard at work looking for a way to bring him back home. But for a moment, she was relieved of the pain of her own uncertainty of his whereabouts and her lack of ability to see his kind smile beyond distant memories. It reminded her of the time when she first returned to the islands without Sora or Riku, except it was even more painful because her memory was fully intact.

He was there. He was so close. She could feel his touch. Everything felt so natural and real. Perhaps, in its own roundabout way, it was?

Maybe, just maybe... Sora was trying to communicate with her. Perhaps he wanted to assure her that he was okay and that he would return to her, but they could only meet in a dream. As the dream was nearing its end, she did recall her memories slowly rematerializing in the back corners of her mind and she had to assume the same could’ve been said for Sora as well as their fun-filled day on Destiny Islands without a care in the world came to an end. They both remembered that Sora still had to come back and he made sure to promise that he would.

Yes, it had to be him. Even the impossible couldn’t keep him away from her for long. No matter what the circumstances, Sora found a way.

Tears welled up in her eyes and they gradually slid down her cheeks as she looked out the window at the bright, morning sky.

“I’m always with you,” Kairi finished.

Credit for both of these amazing art pieces goes to my super talented friend, @amyhayanora!

#sokaiweek #kingdom hearts #sora #kairi #sokai

199 notes · View notes

jcmorrigan · 3 years

Note

001 - Kingdom Hearts

Favorite character: On the villain side: VEXEN IS BEST ORGANIZATION XIII MEMBER. Shoulda stayed evil, though. I like it when he complains and screams about everything and hates everyone. He's one of my favorite villains, just, like...in general. So fun to write. Also attached to Demyx, but I actually liked him more in III than II because it reminded me of my rawr lolspeek weeb days when I f/o'd him without knowing what f/o'ing was and then transitioned this to shipping VexDem like heck. On the hero side: MY GIRL KAIRI! But honorable mentions go to Sora, Riku, Aqua, Ven, Terra, Xion, Roxas, Lea, Ienzo, any Disney character I loved beforehand (this is way too fuckin many to list), Merlin (OKAY I WILL SINGLE HIM OUT), Yen Sid (I'LL SINGLE HIM OUT TOO), you know what let's also single out the Mickey+Donald+Goofy power trio...just...any KH hero who isn't part of the Yozora stuff or the KHUX stuff. ...Except I also LOVE Strelitzia, and she is the only KHUX-exclusive kiddo I care about but I care about her MANY. (Oh, and there's a least fave I have who's a "hero" but that's a debatable label). I would go on about why I love all of them but...that's too many characters to elaborate on

Least Favorite character: See, I think the real answer is Yozora, but the thing is I just tend to forget about him or not care (unless I'm doing a weird AU where he's Noctis' bratty Nobody, don't ask). He kinda represents the Shark Jump and I don't like watching that scene where he literally petrifies Sora for not being strong enough. But again, I can just kinda forget about him if he's not fed to me through a social-media unit. The one I LOVE TO HATE is Master Eraqus. The man actually triggered me back in the day. He is purity culture. He is the overbearing parent who will not accept you unless you are perfect. He is by and large the reason VAT didn't communicate with each other properly. He was the one who taught Aqua to think in absolutes. He lied to Ventus for years and then insisted to kill him was the only option, and then, when Terra tried to defend his brother figure/friend without knowing WHY Eraqus was doing such a thing, Eraqus didn't offer an explanation and instead switched targets to Terra citing that the problem was Terra's lack of OBEDIENCE. Eraqus is just very "my way or the highway" and uses his moral high horse to justify doing things that utterly lack compassion in any regard, which is something that GETS to me on a deep level, and let me tell you, I hated him for so long until I realized he was actually a super fuckin fun guy to imagine as a Bigger Bad in AUs that either have the KH protags teaming up or have villain protags needing a "greater good lawful evil" figure. And I just have found too many good memes about him cheating at chess and killing children. I have to laugh. Making fun of him is fun. He's a ridiculous character. That said, this recent trend of "erase everything bad he ever did and paint him as the ultimate hero of the saga" makes me raise eyebrows for SEVERAL reasons

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): VexDem, SoRiku, Kairi x Jaune Arc (RWBY), Aqua x Rosalina (Super Mario Galaxy) x Bayonetta, IsaLea, Ventus x Papyrus (Undertale), that was six but they all needed to be mentioned

Character I find most attractive: Ienzo. HOO BABY he is adorable. I saw someone make a Valentine's Day gifset of KH and FF characters shortly after III dropped and seeing his smiling face paired with a romance quote made my heart FLUTTER

Character I would marry: Probably Ienzo, see above. He's also a very kind guy. Favorite redemption in the modern era.

Character I would be best friends with: I hope the Destiny Trio would adopt me into their friend circle the way they've tended to do with every other inter-world denizen they've come across. I would love to have them as my positivity squad. Or, y'know, two positivities and one "it's okay to screw up" guy. Just. I would love to hang out with them. I often worry that I'm unlikable to my faves, but even though I would usually prefer to hang with the villains, I can pretty much guarantee these three would be open-minded about me. (Do I kiiiiinda wanna be friends with Vexen though? Of course I do. He'd hate me but maaaayyyyybe he would see me as one of his pet idiots who makes him look smarter, and we could bond over our fragile egos?)

a random thought: You ever think about that one NPC lady in Traverse Town who refused to tell you where she was from because it was none of her business? You ever wonder where she WAS from? What her world was like? How she ended up being the survivor of the Ansem Apocalypse when it hit her? All I know is that when I read her lines out loud (I used to read KH speech balloons out loud all the time), I gave her a Southern accent for no discernible reason and I stand by it. That woman has a twang.

An unpopular opinion: I don't want KHUX to be canon because I feel it's smaller-scale and takes a lot of mystery out of the worldbuilding. I always assume that the KHverse just includes ALL worlds in fiction, and that includes their thousand-year histories, meaning the Age of Fairy Tales should've happened long long long LONG LONG LONG ago and not five generations. And whatever screwed up the world should've been more than just five people having a fight, and whatever saved it should've been more than just five people getting along, and Daybreak Town really suffers from having to stick to mobile-friendly graphics and therefore is the least aesthetically attractive KH town ever, and I don't like that Lauriam and Elrena used to be such selfless people. I do still love Strelitzia because she's shy and relatable and quirky (sitting on the roof) and she questions authority and if you go with shipping subtext she's probably bi (or pan?), but I don't like the "Lauriam's dead sister for his arc's drama" bit. I liked when Marluxia was angry because he wanted to run Organization XIII but it was in the hands of an idiot who wasn't him. And more than anything I just like imagining that the Age of Fairy Tales was something bigger, further in the past, and more mysterious than something designed for a mobile game. Scala ad Caelum, however, I like a lot better because there IS a lot of mystery there and also it's a very pretty town with an amazing design.

my canon OTP: I really only count the Disney couples as the "canon" ones, so this is a question of picking my favorite Disney couple that shows up onscreen. I hope I'm not forgetting an important one, but I think the title has to go to Aladdin/Jasmine, which is always perfect in everything. (This would be an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT STORY if KH had ever adapted Treasure Planet, and if it ever gets the mind to adapt Treasure Planet then even if I don't care about that game I will immediately declare that Amelia/Doppler takes the KH canon OTP crown. *taps watch* Get on it Squenix)

Non-canon OTP: SoRiku, which I counted as "basically canon" after DDD until III decided it wasn't sure. But I'm just a sucker for how DDD is the two of them all "HE'S GOT MY BACK AND I'VE GOT HIS AND I'D DO ANYTHING FOR HIM SO LONG AS HE'S HAPPY." It's just the best kind of Friends-to-Lovers, except when you take all canon into account it's Friends-to-Rivals-to-Enemies-to-Friends-to-Lovers and that's a very juicy dynamic. BUT ALSO: VexDem, which is a nostalgia ship SO STRONG I had to accept that it eclipsed my former Vexen ships by a mile and I wanted to go back to my roots. That one, I have a much longer essay about that I'll just have you refer to so I don't repeat myself for pages. To make a long story short, their scene in III was JUST DELICIOUS.

most badass character: OOF THEY'RE ALL BADASS but in the end it's between Sora and Aqua, because Sora gets the widest RANGE of abilities across the series that he masters while Aqua gets the most POWERFUL abilities due to her Mastery (Command Styles seem like they'd be the most OP things ever in-universe and I'm here for it because flashy battle moves make brain go brr).

pairing I am not a fan of: SOKAI, Xehaqus, RikuNami, Vanitas/anyone not evil

character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): OH BOY. KAIRI THE MOST. YOU ALL KNOW WHY: lack of screen time, Fridging for drama, forced romance to invite death flags (they really wanted to milk that death to get people talking didn't they?), giving Alyson Stoner ZERO direction to actually follow up on Hayden Panettiere's performance. But then I remember that they made Vexen redeem and lose his entire personality and I just...uuugghhhh. I can't believe he died twice in this series. And then Demyx is FUN but also I know he's flipped sides as well, which means he won't be fun much longer! Xehanort seems to switch motivations to whatever makes him the biggest threat (and several of Eraqus' old flaws seem to be mysteriously glued onto him), Sora isn't a motormouth anymore, Riku just doesn't get anyone who cares about him anymore because everyone's distracted by Sora and Kairi, IS ANYBODY GOING TO ADDRESS THE ACTUAL ISSUES THAT DROVE THE WAYFINDER TRIO APART, oh God Marluxia and Larxene you're good guys now what have they done to you

favourite friendship: I really like each of the trios. But you know what's even BETTER than the trios? If you put...all of the trios together...meaning Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Aqua, Terra, Ven, Roxas, Xion, Lea, Hayner, Pence, Olette...and then you added Isa back in there...and you gave them Ienzo...and you brought back Naminé...and you say that Subject X is Strelitzia and you have her turn back up so she can have justice done...AND YOU HAVE AN ULTRA KEYBLADE GROUP OF FRIENDS. As for Vexen, any purely platonic relationship I have for him is a crossover but trust me I have many crossover pals for he

character I want to adopt or be adopted by: See everyone I listed above in the friendship question. They can either mentor me or let me be their big sis/mom. But also, I will GLADLY be Merlin or Yen Sid's daughter. (But also would I kiiiiinda wanna be a VexDem daughter? This is the worst idea. Still wanna try)

#kingdom hearts

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