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princess-of-the-corner · 4 months

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Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix Recap: Hollow Bastion (The Showdown)

“Did it work?” Donald asks as Sora looks at the computer with crossed arms.

“Hey! These things take time, okay?” Sora snaps.

He pokes the keyboard a few times, and a window pops up.

“Woah…” a wowed Sora remarks, “It’s doing something!”

“I think it wants to know what we wanna know!”

Sora pokes a few keys and tries to ask the computer about Riku and Kairi, very clearly STILL not getting how this works.

He gets an error message.

“Even Ansem’s computer doesn’t know…” Sora laments, sulking away from the computer.

Goofy decides to give it a try, and tries to ask the computer for information about the Nobodies.

A report featuring the Nobody Emblem appears in a window on screen, followed swiftly by an error message.

“The data is corrupt,” a computerized voice (not the MCP, Sark, or Tron) announces.

Goofy tries to ask about the Organization.

“The data is corrupt.”

“Stupid computer!” Sora snaps, before mashing the Keyboard.

The others try to calm him down as multiple windows open at odd angles, until suddenly, a picture of a light skinned, blond, bearded man with amber eyes appears on screen.

“Who’s this guy?” Sora questions.

“Welp, I see ya got things workin’!” King Mickey remarks.

“Oh! Your Majesty!” Sora and Donald reply.

The King hushes them again.

“Good goin’,” he praises, “The computer should tell us the things we need to know.”

“But it keeps sayin’ the data inside’s all ker-skuffled,” Goofy replies.

“All we got is a picture of some guy we don’t know,” Sora explains.

The King, however, does know that guy, and leaps for joy.

“Ansem the Wise!” he declares, much to SDG’s confusion.

“Come on, are you teasing us again?” Sora replies.

“Did you forget what Ansem looked like, Your Majesty?” Donald asks.

“Of course I do!” the King replies, “And this is him! I’m positive!”

“Excuse me?” Sora remarks as he takes the King’s hand and drags him out of the computer room, “Could you come this way, please?”

Donald and Goofy follow after him as Hollow Bastion’s music fades out, along with the camera.

When we fade back in, they’re standing in front of the portrait of “Ansem”.

“Look, THIS is ‘Ansem’,” Sora explains, “You know, the guy we all worked reeeally hard to defeat?”

“Oh, that’s right–” the King remarks, “I never finished explaining.”

Fade to black, fade back in to a montage of “Ansem’s” scenes form the final boss and ending of KH1

“Well, the man in the picture is definitely the one who tried to take over Kingdom Hearts – the one you fellas defeated,” King Mickey explains, “But, what you guys actually fought was his Heartless.

“Ya see, he wasn’t really Ansem. He just went around telling everybody that he was.”

Fade back to Ansem’s Study.

“You mean…” Sora’s voice trails off as he shares a glance with Donald and Goofy, before all three say the exact same thing:

“Whaaaat?”

“We went through all that trouble to defeat an impostor?” Sora exclaims.

“Yep. A fake,” King Mickey responds, “But he still had to be stopped.”

“Aw, I can’t believe it…” Donald groans.

“Uh, I’m kinda confused,” Goofy admits, “If he’s a fake, then what happened to the real Ansem?”

“Welp, that’s just what I’m trying to figure out,” King Mickey explains, “Ansem the Wise should know all about Organization XII’s plans, and what’s happening to the worlds.

“I’m pretty sure he’ll give us some help.”

Goofy scratches the side of his head.

“Don’t tell me there’s more!” Sora begs, “I’m lost enough as it is!”

“Well, let’s see,” Goofy opens, “Some feller named Ansem, who wasn’t really Ansem, became a Heartless.

“Does that mean a Nobody got created when that happened, too?”

“Yup!” King Mickey answers, “And that Nobody is the leader of the Organization!”

“Whaaaat?!?” SDG shouts.

“I know I’ve met this fake Ansem before,” the King explains, “and I’ve seen the leader of Organization XIII, too.

“Hmm, kinda felt like being around the same fella.”

“So, where did you meet this guy?” Sora asks.

King Mickey crosses his arms and closes his eyes.

“Gosh…” he comments, “I can’t remember.”

Sora, Donald, and Goofy slouch in disappointment.

“Ansem the Wise – the real Ansem – must know the imposter’s true identity,” King Mickey continues, “That’s why I’ve got to find him and ask him about it.”

Sora, meanwhile, is glaring at the portrait.

“You…!” he growls, “You started all of this! Because of you, Riku and Kairi…” Sora suddenly remembers something. “Your Majesty, do you know where Riku is?”

The King flinches.

“He’s…” he sighs, “I’m sorry… I can’t help.”

Sora looks at Mickey for a second, before pressing.

“Really, Your Majesty?” Sora asks as he walks up to the King and steps around his back and into his peripheral vision, “Are you sure?”

“I’m sorry, Sora,” the King replies as he turns his back to Sora, despondent.

“What about Kairi?” Sora asks, “Organization XIII might’ve kidnapped her.”

“Oh no!” King Mickey whirls around to face Sora, and then turns to the portrait of “Ansem”.

“Sora, Donald, Goofy,” he opens, before turning to face SDG, “I was plannin’ to go get help from Ansem the Wise. But – now I know I forgot the most important thing.

“Helping others should always come before asking others for help.

“We’re safe and sound – and free to choose! So there’s no reason we shouldn’t choose to help our friends!”

SDG nod.

“Let’s look for Riku and Kairi together,” King Mickey proposes.

BOOM!

The entire castle shakes, causing the King to briefly lose his footing until the shaking stops.

“Outside!” Sora shouts.

“Sounds like we gotta start by helpin’ out here!” King Mickey declares as Sherzo di Notte starts playing.

He dashes out into the maze-like corridors to provide his aid, and the cutscene ends.

The Battle of Hollow Bastion has begun.

The battle theme continues playing as you regain control of Sora, and Donald and Goofy are both currently NPC’s you can talk to.

There’s still that Save Point by Ansem’s Computer, and it ISN’T too late to go and finish your business in Agrabah, Halloween Town, the Pride Lands, and/or Twilight Town. You can in fact replay the summer job minigames (even if Sora won’t get paid), or play Struggle by talking to the tournament announcer. (Defeating Hayner 20 times unlocks Setzer, defeating Setzer 20 times unlocks Seifer, and Seifer is by far the easiest opponent in the entire game, even more pathetic than his simulated counterpart was during Roxas’ combat tutorial).

Regardless, exiting Ansem’s Study and going into the Corridors kickstarts the next cutscene.

Survey Robots and Armored Knights spill through a hole in the wall and flood into the Restoration Site, marching into the town and castle.

Exiting into the Corridors progresses the story.

Just outside Ansem’s Study, Maleficent and Pete are leading the Heartless in battle against the Organization’s Nobodies, with the Nobodies gradually thinning the Heartless’ numbers.

“Hear me, my Heartless!” Maleficent orders, “Attack the white husks! Sweep them away!”

“What are you nuts? We’re never gonna win!” Pete declares, “I don’t know about you, but I’m outta here, sister!”

Pete dashes down the corridor, leaving Maleficent to direct the Heartless against the Nobodies.

“You pathetic coward,” Maleficent groans.

In the manga, Pete stuck around throughout the entire battle and risked his life to save Maleficent from a crumbling tower, at which point she berated him for not doing a good enough job in SPITE of her coming out unscathed.

In the novel, she instead stumbles upon Riku’s old room from when he worked for her and starts getting nostalgic, with the implication being that she wasn’t lying when she said Riku was like a son to her. Which, honestly feels like it kinda undermines the moment where Riku stands up to his memory of her in Castle Oblivion.

She then looks back towards the battle, where most of her Heartless have fallen, and the no-longer preoccupied Nobodies have turned their attention towards her.

She also notices Sora, Donald, and Goofy dashing into the room.

She and Sora glare at each other.

With a scoff, Maleficent teleports away, then orders the Heartless to ignore the Nobodies to focus on Sora and his friends.

The Nobodies, who were only fighting off the Heartless to protect themselves, also turn their attention to Sora now that they have the freedom to.

You need to defeat all of the waves of enemies that spawn.

Another new Nobody is introduced in this battle: Dancers. They’re feminine-looking Nobodies in pink, and their swaying and pulsating is a lot more dance-like than with the other Nobodies.

Avoid them at all costs when their hands light up, as that’s an unblockable attack wherein they grab Sora, dance with him for a bit, and then throw him in the air to deal massive damage.

When fighting multiple Dancers, this can easily end in Sora getting stun-locked and killed in a matter of SECONDS.

It is IMPOSSIBLE to escape a Dancers’ grasp once it grabs Sora and starts dancing with him, meaning you are powerless to do anything but WATCH in most circumstances.

They primarily attack through kicking, however, and are weak to Magnet.

The Nobodies in the battle also ALL have more HP than the Heartless, so be aware of that.

The battle ends when there are no more Heartless or Nobodies to fight.

The Gullwings fly into the room.

“Where’s Maleficent?” Yuna asks.

“Looks like she ran away,” Sora answers.

“Well that was PRET-ty lame of her,” Rikku remarks.

“I guess we picked the wrong side,” Payne deadpans.

The Gullwings turn and whisper amongst themselves, and I have no idea what any of them say because they’re all talking simultaneously and it isn’t subtitled.

“Um, hey…” Sora cuts in, “if you’re looking to pick sides, why don’t you pick Leon’s? They can always use help.”

The Gullwings turn to face Sora.

“Does this Leon have any treasure?” Yuna asks.

“Yeah, lots of stuff!” Donald claims. (Note: I read a particularly humorous fanfic, YEARS AGO, where this claim lead to the Gullwings digging through Leon’s or Cid’s sock drawer to try and find the treasure. I sadly can’t remember the name, but it was on FFN.)

“Perfect!” Rikku declares.

“Come on,” Payne states.

“Who ARE you?” Sora asks.

“Oh, we’re nothing worth mentioning,” Yuna claims.

“Just three treasure fanatics,” Payne remarks.

“Later, taters!” Rikku shouts.

The three sparkle away.

“Did Leon… really have any treasure?” Sora asks.

Donald chuckles evilly and runs off, prompting Sora and Goofy to run after him.

In the manga, what prompts the Gullwings to ditch Maleficent is her berating Pete after he risked his life to save hers from a crumbling tower, deciding they had no interest in serving an ingrate.

The game skips straight ahead to the Postern, where SDG are met by three Dusks.

“We don’t have time for you!” Sora declares, before our Junior Heroes proceed to finish off all three in one hit each.

They dash up the ramp to the platform where they spoke with Aerith earlier, only for a beam of light to strike the ground in their path.

When the light clears, Sephiroth emerges from the spot it struck, unfurling his three wings as he rises to his feet and turns to face our Junior Heroes.

“Sora, it’s Sephiroth!” Donald shouts.

“Ain’t Sephiroth the one who’s supposed to be the dark part of Cloud’s heart?” Goofy asks.

“Did Cloud tell you that?” Sephiroth asks, “Then he must understand now.”

“Just what are you gonna do to him?” Sora asks.

“Nothing,” Sephiroth answers, “Cloud is the one who hungers for darkness.”

“He said he’s got a score to settle with you,” Sora remarks.

“I see…” Sephiroth replies, “He wants to meet me again.” He turns and walks away from SDG. “Then I should give him what he wants.” He stops walking. “That last bit of light is always the hardest to snuff out.” He rises into the air and vanishes into a dark portal of some kind before Sora can catch up to him.

Following this is a Final Mix-exclusive textbox cutscene, where the Gullwings fly overhead.

“Huh?” Sora remarks.

“They came from that hole over there,” Goofy points out.

Low and behold, there’s now a gaping hole in one of the castle’s walls, leading to a cavern that was NOT present in vanilla KH2.

“I don’t remember that being there before,” Sora admits, “I wonder where it leads.”

“We don’t have time for that now!” Donald shouts, “We have to go after the King!”

The Postern still has a Save Point, and Donald and Goofy are now NPC’s you can talk to, so no enemy spawns here.

Additionally, that hole leads to the Cavern of Remembrance, a special Bonus Dungeon created for Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix.

Even if you can survive the super powerful Heartless that call the cave home, you CANNOT reach the end until you’ve maxed out all of your Growth Abilities, so don’t even BOTHER going in now.

Instead, progress to the Restoration Site for the next cutscene, where Sora, Donald, and Goofy find Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith battling the Heartless.

“We’ll help!” Sora calls to them.

Aerith turns around.

“Sora! Behind you!” she warns, sounding genuinely worried.

Our heroes turn around to find a bunch of Dancers creeping up behind them.

Welcome to one of the WORST fights in the whole game!

These gals will JUGGLE YOU TO DEATH if you slip up even ONCE!

I struggled HARD on this battle back when I played KH2, and it’s the ENTIRE reason I DESPISE fighting Dancers!

They REALLY needed a Reaction Command or SOMETHING to turn that devastating attack back on them!

After the last Dancer FINALLY falls, Aerith and Yuffie run ahead while Leon tells Sora that the King is in the bailey.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy run straight there during the cutscene.

Upon arrival, our Junior Heroes spot a massive hole in the wall that leads beyond the borders of the town, explaining what the explosion they heard earlier was.

Sora looks out over the battlefield.

An army of Armored Knights and Sentry Robots is advancing through the Great Maw, the LARGEST Heartless army depicted yet in the series.

More Heartless approach from the outcroppings above the valley and jump down to join the assault.

There are enough Heartless that the ground shakes as they advance.

Yuffie catches her shuriken and falls over from exhaustion as the army rushes past her, until Aerith gets her back on her feet with a Curaga, and the two rejoin the fray.

Stitch leaps into action, dual wielding his blasters as he guns down Heartless after Heartless.

Payne lures an Armored Knight to a cliff, allowing Yuna and Riku to kick it over the edge, at which point reinforcements force them to retreat.

Cloud and Leon stand back-to-back on a cliffside path, Heartless advancing from all directions.

“Think you can handle this many?” Leon asks.

“Well…” Cloud replies, “Might be tough if one more shows up.”

Leon chuckles.

“Then that’ll have to be the one I take care of,” he snarks.

“What, you’re fighting too?” Cloud jokes.

Leon chuckles again, and the two leap towards the armies advancing on them, cutting down Heartless after Heartless.

Fade to black.

When it fades back in, Cloud is surrounded by armored knights, when Sephiroth cuts down a dozen in one swing of his sword, Villain’s Vale just barely visible on the horizon as the music fades out.

The camera zooms up to Sephiroth’s face, making Villain’s Vale and the entire crevasse outside of Hollow Bastion look downright miniscule compared to him.

“Sephiroth!” Cloud shouts as he brandishes his weapon, and the Heartless scatter.

Sephiroth takes a handful of steps towards Cloud and points his sword at him.

“I understand that you’ve been looking for me,” the SOLDIER states as he raises his sword.

“Yeah,” Cloud replies, “Once I get rid of you, the darkness will go away.”

“Can you do it?” Sephiroth asks, “That darkness comes from your own dark memories. Do you think you can erase your past?”

“Shut up!” Cloud snaps.

“Face it – you turn your back on the present and live in the past,” Sephiroth states, “Because the light of the present is too much!”

“You don’t know me!” Cloud insists.

“Cloud!” Tifa calls.

A bright flash covers the screen as Cloud shields his eyes.

Sephiroth grins.

“I know. Because… I am you.”

He teleports away, leaving black feathers to flutter away on the wind.

Cloud glances around, then runs off.

“Cloud! Wait!” Tifa calls as she runs after him.

Some Armored Knights make the mistake of blocking her way and surrounding her, prompting her to punch and kick them all to death.

Fade to black as she glares at the nearest Heartless.

We return to Sora’s POV.

“Leon, everybody – hang in there!”

The battle theme restarts. Proceed through the hole in the wall to the warzone outside of town to continue the story.

However, before they can advance to the battlefield, the King spins/rolls through the air and lands on the ground in front of them, albeit facing towards the battlefield instead of towards our Junior Heroes.

“Okay, fellas,” he starts as he spreads his arms out, “you’ve gotta go find Riku and Kairi!”

“But Leon and the others are friends too!” Sora protests.

“Don’t worry,” the King replies, “There’s already lotsa help here.” He briefly glances over his shoulder back at them. “We’ll take care of this fight.”

“But… I promised Leon!”

Donald and Goofy give Sora a sympathetic look.

“Donald! Goofy!” the King orders, prompting both to stand at attention, “Take Sora and get goin’!”

The music fades out as the camera focuses on Sora.

“Riku, Kairi…” he opens, “give me a little time, okay?”

Donald and Goofy share a glance, and nod.

“Your Majesty!” Donald calls as he looks up in the air AWAY from his King and moves rather stiffly.

“We understand,” Goofy continues, doing the same, “We’ll go search for Riku and Kairi!”

“Right. Watch for danger!” the King directs, not even turning to face them.

“You be careful too!” Donald replies, not taking a step to take Sora anywhere.

“Wait, you guys!” Sora protests.

The King continues surveying the battlefield.

“Sora, do as you’re told!” Donald replies.

“You’re comin’ with us whether you want to or not!” Goofy adds.

“C’mon Sora! You gotta be good!” Donald adds, before winking at Sora.

Sora catches on to what they’re doing.

“Gotcha,” he says with a smile.

“Well then, skedaddle!” Goofy orders.

Sora mouths a thank you.

“Let’s go!” Donald declares, and the trio rushes right past King Mickey, jumping over the edge onto the lower outcropping, catching the King off guard.

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty!” Sora calls, before leaping down into the battle.

Donald and Goofy salute.

“Hope you can forgive us!” Goofy calls as Donald jumps after Sora, before jumping after them himself.

The King watches them go, sighs, but still smiles sadly.

Cue a Final Mix exclusive cutscene where a security camera scans Ansem’s computer room and spots the Unknown

It zooms in on him, fails to identify him (even calling him “Unknown”), and is swiftly destroyed by one of the Unknown’s signature energy attacks.

The Unknown slides a disk into the computer, which prompts it to load a password window.

The Unknown types in “ANOTHER” and the computer brings up six more password prompts.

The Unknown types in six passwords, and while all six are shown as asterisks, we can infer what they are from later Secret Ansem Reports.

The computer starts the system and ejects the disk, at which point the Unknown walks out the other end of the computer room and goes down to the room that’s visible from Ansem’s study but you have yet to visit.

Upon reaching the floor, it opens up, and a ramp materializes. He walks down the ramp, which dematerializes as the door closes behind him.

This leads to a spiraling ramp that leads even DEEPER below the castle, as the Unknown has an audio-only flashback about a moment that we’ll see in a couple of cutscenes, ruining the impact of said scenes by dropping the big reveal NOW instead of then.

Once he reaches the bottom, he steps into an eerily pristine and well-lit hallway, full of empty cells where his original self had experimented on Hollow Bastion’s residents. For maximum eeriness, the camera follows him from INSIDE the cells, giving the perspective the false Ansem’s victims would’ve seen all those years ago as he walks past the unlit cells, until he reaches the doorway at the other end of the hall.

He steps through, to a small room with a throne at the center, it’s back to the door.

He sits down in the throne, and the chain-patterns on the floors and walls light up, revealing a battered, blue armor on the floor.

“It has been far too long,” he comments, “’friend.’”

The camera cuts to a view of the armor and zooms out, revealing a thin, blue Keyblade leaning against the wall near the helmet.

Flashback to the Organization’s headquarters, to a few years ago, as Zexion walks across a glass platform in a large, empty room.

“Zexion! Zexion!” Vexen calls

“Right here,” a clearly annoyed Zexion replies as Vexen dashes down the stairs towards him, “What is it?”

“Where is Lord Xemnas?” Vexen questions.

“His usual spot,” Zexion answers.

Vexen scowls.

“The Chamber of Repose?” he questions.

“Yes,” Zexion answered, “Go and see for yourself.”

“That isn’t funny,” Vexen snaps back, “I suppose I have no choice but to wait. But the clock is ticking. Time is running out. What to do?” Vexen stomps off down the stairs past Zexion. “Why is he never around when I need him? It’s almost as if he knows I’m looking for him.”

Zexion tries to make his way up the stairs.

“You know, I don’t like that place either,“ II replies from offscreen.

Zexion looks up to the pipes where his colleague is sitting.

“What about you, Zexion?” II asks from his perch, “What do you think?”

“I think eavesdropping is intrusive,” Zexion replies, “Why are you even here? You and Xaldin were tasked to recruit new members.” II jumps down as Zexion continues. “Have you forgotten, or were you procrastinating?”

“As if! I’m doing my job,” II answers, “I’ll have you know, I found one just yesterday. ‘Mar’ something. That puts the Organization’s count at 11.

“And since I’ve been working so hard, I had Lexaeus take my place for today.

“I want to rest up for tomorrow, so I can wake up feeling nice and refreshed.”

“Is that so?” Zexion questions, “Well, then, I’ll leave you to it. I have work to catch up on. Good day.”

Zexion tries to walk off, only for II to run after him.

“Oh, don’t be like that,” II remarks as he throws an arm around Zexion’s shoulders, “Come on. Stay and talk.

“Isn’t it time you told me about Xemnas’s secret?”

II releases Zexion’s shoulder and walks ahead a bit.

“How long ago was it?” II asks, “When a bunch of warriors wielding key-shaped swords appeared and unleashed a spectacular battle. And when it was all over, all that was left was a man lying unconscious without his memories. Xemnas… er,” II says the imposter’s real name, “was found by Ansem right around then, wasn’t he?”

“Your point?” Zexion asks.

“The Chamber of Repose,” Xigbar answers, “If you recall, that’s where we spent our time researching the darkness that resides within people’s hearts. It’s a graveyard that was sealed by order of Ansem the Wise.

“The first thing Xemnas did once he got rid of him was to undo the seal and build a room in the back. Ever since then, he holes himself in that room when he can, and he talks to someone.

“But who? For all I know, he’s the only one in that room.”

“Need I repeat myself about eavesdropping?” Zexion asks as II approaches him.

“Not eavesdropping,” II insists, “Couldn’t hear what they were saying. Dying to find out what it was though.

“You wouldn’t know anything about it, would you?”

“I know I would very much like to focus on my own duties,” Zexion replies, before continuing past II and up the stairs, “As you should with yours. For we need to prepare the new facility immediately, but there are only 11 of us in the organization. We’re going to need a few more hands on deck.” Zexion continues walking.

“What new facility?” II asks, “Oh! You mean Castle Oblivion?

“What does Xemnas plan on doing with that place, anyway?”

“He already shared his intentions with us,” Zexion remarks as he keeps walking.

“But did you know there’s something he DIDN’T share?” II asks, prompting Zexion to pause once more.

Silence falls over the room.

“The Chamber of Repose is part of a pair,” II explains, “The Chamber of Waking is the other.

“Another graveyard, if you want to call it that.

“It was constructed by someone other than Xemnas himself. And that’s’ where he’ll find it.

“That’s where he’ll find his other ‘friend.’”

Zexion stares at II as the cutscene fades to black.

Hollow Bastion’s battle theme starts playing again as we return to scenes from the base game.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy arrive at the Castle Gates, where Demyx emerges from a Corridor of Darkness as the music fades out once more, an awkard bit of editing brought on by the point the new scenes were added in.

“Hey, you guys are looking lively,” Demyx greets.

“Scram!” Donald shouts.

“Didn’t we catch you messing around in the Underworld?” Sora asks, “How’d a wimp like you get into Organization XIII?”

Demyx flinches and recoils.

“I bet you can’t even fight,” Sora taunts.

“Yeah, but we can!” Donald adds.

“You shouldn’t judge anyone by appearance,” Demyx scolds.

Our Junior Heroes summon their weapons.

Demyx flinches and turns away.

“I told them they were sending the wrong guy,” he grumbles.

“Who is this kook?” Sora questions.

“Remember, the Organization’s made up of Nobodies,” Goofy reminds him.

“Right – no hearts!” Sora remarks.

“Oh, we do to have hearts!” Demyx claims, “Don’t be mad…”

“You can’t trick us!” Donald snaps.

“Silence, traitor,” Demyx coldly replies as he points at Sora.

All of the required Organization XIII battles so far have used either The 13th Struggle or Tension Rising.

For the first time ever, The 13th Dilema starts playing as Demyx forms a dome of water over himself, and summons his sitar to his hand, forming it out of the water.

Cue Demyx’s ACTUAL boss battle.

Demyx opens the battle by shouting “Dance Water, Dance!” and summoning a bunch of clones.

Destroy them all within the time limit, or you’ll get the “minigame/mission failed” game over screen, with Sora looking disappointed.

No in-universe explanation is provided for why failing to destroy all the water clones in time does this, but whatever.

When the water clones are turned into music notes, Sora can use “Wild Dance” to take a lot of them out at once. Be warned that the Water Clone you initiate “Wild Dance” with will not count as defeated until the end of the Wild Dance, meaning that time can run out while the only water clone left is one that you’re spinning around as a flail, and it’ll still count as a failure.

Fire and Limit Form are also good to use, thanks to Demyx and his Water Clones counting as Blizzard enemies.

As soon as the last water clone falls, the fight with Demyx begins proper.

He attacks by summoning jets and waves of water to strike you with, leaping around the arena and calling up geysers behind him as he goes.

He can do this even when knocked into the air by aerial combos.

He’ll even summon blobs of water from above to dump on Sora. He’ll also summon several water spheres around himself and detonate them.

Occasionally, you’ll get the “Show Stealer” Reaction Command. Hitting it will cause Sora to interrupt Demyx’s sitar strumming to stun him.

Failing to hit it will result in a cutscene where Demyx slams his sitar into Sora’s face.

He’ll occasionally repeat his “Dance Water, Dance!” attack, such as when his health drops below half, so try to be quick.

And as you’re outside the town’s limits, the defense system can’t help you.

Wisdom Form, Fire Magic, and Thunder are the best strategies here.

Many people consider this to be one of the most frustrating bosses in the series.

Kinda appropriate when you realize that the Dancers work for him.

Defeating Demyx awards Sora with an Armor Slot and Blizzard Element (boosting Blizzard to Blizzara), Donald with Blizzard Boost, and Goofy with +4 Max HP.

In the post-fight cutscene, Demyx’s sitar dissipates back into water, and Demyx himself wails in despair as he fades from existence, vanishing into a pillar of water.

“Anyone from the Organization who’d like to be next?” Sora asks.

“Hey Sora!” Donald shouts, “Don’t antagonize them!”

“Yeah, we gotta go help our friends out first,” Goofy adds.

“Oh. Sorry,” Sora sheepishly replies.

“Then lets go!” Donald shouts.

He and Goofy take a step forward.

“Aha! There you are!” the King shouts.

He stomps up to the trio and crosses his arms.

The trio have the decency to look guilty, but the King drops the act pretty quickly.

“You sure have lotsa friends to help,” he remarks, “So, I guess we better all pull together and finish this battle for good!”

“Yes, Your Majesty!” SDG chorus.

King Mickey walks towards the trio, unaware of the battle between a Survey Robot and a Dusk on the cliff above his head.

BOOM!

Goofy notices that some of the debris is heading straight for the King.

“Look out!” he shouts, shoving the King out of the way.

The boulder hits Goofy square in the head, sending him sliding across the ground and hitting a rock wall.

“Goofy!” Sora shouts as he, Donald, and the King rush over to him.

“No…” Mickey mutters as he realizes Goofy isn’t getting up.

Sora and Donald run right up to his side.

“Hey! You’re the King’s captain! You gotta get up!” Donald shouts.

“C’mon, wake up!” Sora begs.

“I’m sorry about the ice cream!” Donald adds.

“Goofy…?” Mickey begs.

No response.

“Goofy…” Donald weeps into his friend’s chest.

“This is not happening…” Sora tells himself, “It can’t be happening… It can’t…”

The King’s fingers curl into a fist as his eyes harden into a glare.

“They’ll pay for this.”

He tears off his black coat to reveal his Kingdom Hearts II outfit, summons the Kingdom Key D, and rushes towards the battle.

Donald’s grief turns to rage as he brandishes his staff and charges into battle.

Sora spares Goofy one last look before rushing after him.

The camera lingers on Goofy’s unmoving body for a few seconds, before cutting to Sora running further into the battlefield as the cutscene fades to black.

GOD this is tragic and epic and lore-filled and Goofy fuckign DIES but also I’m laughing because the Final Fantasy Characters /REALLY/ seem to just be doing their own thing with no fucking context why are they here lmao

#submission

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alltheoutsinfreeeee · 2 years

Text

*clears throat*

*taps mic*

*inhales*

CAPTAIN JACK SPARROW SHOULD BE ABLE TO WIELD A KEYBLADE

No, no, come back, please, hear me out--

Okay, so. Text vomit of unclear thoughts incoming.

We know Terra formally Bequeathed Riku the keyblade, officially naming him his successor in all but words.

We also know Kairi got her keyblade from when she touched the grip of Aqua's keyblade, and we also know this happened unintentionally with either of them realizing.

So long as you have the makings, then through this simple act of taking, its wielder you shall one day be.

The only other known variable the Bequeathing needs to unlock the potential for a keyblade is the Bequeathed needs to have the heart for it. (And this is also the only in universe explanation I would begrudgingly accept that goes against my train of thought.)

Now please remember this scene from the end of the second trip to Port Royal in KHII

(i took the screenshots from GamingCanBeFun's cutscene video on YT, sshh, ignore Ultima)

Now. What do we see?

Sora offered the keyblade voluntarily, not unlike Terra did. Jack took the blade, thereby touching the grip which is the key (ha) in the Bequeathing.

(Not sure if this matters or not but in the second picture we can also see Jack took it while Sora still held it, like how it happened for Kairi and Aqua)

So everything is in place for him to have a keyblade, aside from the "having the heart for it" part. This one can be argued both ways.

Arguments for it:

you're telling me the biggest troll in the universe (except arguably MoM), with his maxed out luck stat and int stat of "I actually have the braincell more often than you'd notice" is not worthy of a keyblade?

you're telling me MoM can have a keyblade tHAT SEES THE FUTURE but Jack goes keyblade-less?

if Demyx can have a link to the keyblade (Nomura, I beg, please explain Demyx and Luxord in KHIV) then so can Jack

- -

Arguments against it:

we don't know what having the heart for a keyblade means, but going by existing wielders, they seem to have a noticeable amount of leadership skills as well as certain qualities to them

all the wielders we know either have a set goal in mind (Xehanort, Sora, Lea, etc.) or got their privilege from being linked to another keyblade wielder (Xion, Sora, Vanitas, etc.)

Jack does have certain leadership skills (as he should, he's a captain) but they are rarely visible

and he doesn't seem to have strong convictions or goals, aside from being the captain of the Pearl

Jack is also just a plain selfish ass which is very much a trait for the Not Worthy pile

(but his selfishness stems from the desire for freedom so... the jury's still out on that one)

- -

Uh. Yeah. That's kind of all I have at the moment. An abrupt end to my string of thoughts/theory/headcanon, but what do you guys think?

#kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts theory #kingdom hearts ii #kingdom hearts bbs #jack sparrow (kingdom hearts)#im probs not the only one with this theory and even less likely the first to voice it #but i still wanted to get it out of my brain and share it to see what others think #when a jo speaks

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thatjeanjacket · 2 years

Note

YOUR KAIRI OPINIONS. NOW

kairi

first impression: absolute confusion. i started playing the series w kh3 bc i thought it was the first game remastered and i wanted to know why she was in a forest with a concerningly tall man

impression now: OUGHSJFDSHF *sounds of screaming and crying as i rant endlessly* but i should say most of my loving rants are about manga kairi where most of my frustrated (at the writing) rantings are about game kairi so most of the stuff here will be manga kairi. i will say this is my longest lasting obsession with a kh character, even roxas didnt go as long or at least my feelings weren’t as strong as it went on

fav moment: “sora im still waiting for your reply. still waiting…”, “maybe waiting isn’t good enough”, when she drags sora to riku-that-looks-like-ansem, “no, not this time! i promise i wont get in the way! i’m through waiting!”, when kairi threw her key blade like a boomerang in the manga and she got really happy when it came back, when she defended axel and demyx to riku because he didnt think nobodies had feelings and she said that they were good to her, when she gets pissed that sora told her not to use the keyblade and tells him to “not let the organization abuse him and hes like O.O okay!!!, when she bites axel and scolds him for kidnapping people to ask for help, when she wiggles to convince the nobodies to let her out, when she decks demyx and he starts crying and begging her to let him kidnap her and she has literally the best facials omg it gets me every time, “im tired of waiting so don’t tell me to stay behind! wherever one of us goes the other follows got it?”, and various other moments where she has agency and it results in either a good laugh or me violently screaming and crying

a story: OH TO SEE HER TRAIN.. this was done really well in this comic but id like to see kairi train with aqua and see her break down out of frustration of being alone again/not having a choice in the situation/not feeling good enough or valued n then aqua comforting her and aqua remembering how lost and alone she felt in the realm of darkness and doing whatever she can to make sure kairi doesn’t ever feel the same

unpopular opinion: i dont think there's many popular opinions so i dont think this counts as one but her kh2 outfit kinda ugly ngl.. like girlie what are those SHOES and why do they have less of a red hue than ur dress? ik u havent seen ur two best friends in a year but GET IT TOGETHER !!!!!!

favorite relationship: HER AND AXEL HANDS DOWN i wish i got to see them actually train together rather than just them talking ab training. they ARE siblings it doesn’t matter if its true or not and axel is like a more grown up and mature roderick from diary of a wimpy kid. once again the bite scene is so funny but i rly like how afterwards kairi is still bothered by being kidnaped and scolds him then realizes that they’re both against the organization after empathizing w him missing roxas.

personal headcanon: oooohhh kairi plays an electric black heart shaped guitar covered in stickers. she writes songs in the style of candy pop, frequently covers beach bunny and songs from paramore’s self-titled album, and she likes to sew her own outfits as well as embroider little things on her clothes.

#kh #kairi #asks #ask games #teddy !

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oveliagirlhaditright · 3 years

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Just Square Enix official couples things:

There were actually a few Zerith promises I could have used: them promising to sell her flowers together and see the sky... him promising to try and grant her twenty-three tiny wishes... but I went with the above, because I think him trying to see her (but sadly never making it) is the most meaningful. Especially since what she really wanted was to spend more time with him:(

Snow also promises to love Serah forever when he proposes to her. And then in XIII-2, he promises to find Lightning for her. And they can’t travel together in that game, because Snow can’t go through the time travel gates (Serah’s off on her own adventure), but she promises that she gets tired of all the waiting, she’s still coming to get Snow and he’s thrilled by that.

Sora and Kairi’s real promise to each other is for Sora to come back to Kairi, which is stated at the end of KH1. But Kairi’s being cute here:p

And since we have no idea which, if any, the real Naminé ship will end up being, I’m putting all of them (just not the S*oNami promise, because I’m lazy and this post is long enough as is, this is mostly the official couples and they’ll never become canon, and it’s the same as the Replinami lie that I’m putting below, based on SoKai’s real one). But if someone else wants to reblog this and add that, they can.

It’s kind of too bad that none of the following is real:

The Naminé/Riku Replica (or Sora) fake promise goes like this: when they were kids, they were watching a meteor shower together and it freaked Naminé out. She was like, “What if a meteor hits the island?” And the boy with their toy sword said, “If it hurtles this way, I’ll send it right back into space!” And since they made Naminé feel better when she was so scared, she gave them her lucky charm as thanks. And since she gave them her lucky charm, they promised that she didn’t need it anymore, because from now on, they would bring her luck/protect her.

Funnily enough, Roxas actually tries to do what Xion begged him to do... but he tries to do it too soon and Xion thinks he’ll get himself killed, so she has Riku stop him. LOL. He also tries to bring Xion back, which is sweet and I get (and OTP material right there), but what Xion didn’t want atm. Roxas and Xion (and Axel) also have their promise to go to the beach together, of course.

This doesn’t end up happening, as Shiki is collected as Neku’s entry fee for his next game, but it’s still a beautiful sentiment. And at the end of the game, they do meet up at Hachiko. And looked like they were about to have a date in A New Day.

And while I don’t at all think Epheplayer is meant to be canon, it fit so well, that I still had to include it:

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phoenix-downer · 3 years

Text

Autumn Mending Chapter 3: Firelight Confessions

~1650 words. Romance, Angst, Pining, Mutual Pining, Fluff, Comfort, Healing, Making Up. For SoKai Day 2021.

Sequel to Kisses and Lies because I couldn’t just leave Sora and Kairi hanging, now could I?

Happy SoKai Day!

Summary: Sora and Kairi are still broken up, but with the help of old friends and Twilight Town’s fall festival, the spark between them just might be rekindled.

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3

Sora felt lightheaded from the whirlwind of emotions swirling inside his heart. So much had happened today. Kairi had shown up here on Twilight Town and had apologized for breaking up with him. Was it possible she still loved him? That she still cared?

The way he kept catching her looking at him sure made it seem like she did. And now this hayride. He didn’t want it to be over. He wanted her to be snuggled up next to him, holding his hand, for the rest of his life.

But while his heart and body cried out for joy and begged him to be closer to the one he loved, his brain was yelling at him to put on the brakes, to slow down, to be cautious. What about that guy he’d seen her with? What about the past year and a half of anguish and torment? Could all of that really be forgotten in a single day?

He wanted to forget. He wanted to put it all behind them. He wanted to forgive and move on and mend things with her. Even if it meant risking getting hurt again. The chance of being with her for good was worth it.

So all that kept his mind occupied to the point he was barely listening to the ghost stories. Before he knew it, the hayride was over and it was time to pile out of the wagon. A pang went through him when Kairi had to let go of his hand, and he wondered if she was as starved for his touch as he was for hers.

Hopefully they’d get to talk about it soon. Hayner, Pence, and Olette had rented one of the campfires nearby for the evening, and that was enough to temporarily distract him. Their little group spent the next couple of hours hanging out, cooking hot dogs and roasting apples and making s’mores. Sora loved sitting by the crackling campfire and spending time with his friends, but as the minutes ticked by, his eyes kept wandering to Kairi. She was seated across from him, and she looked really beautiful in the flickering firelight. Their eyes met, and she smiled and looked at him the way she always used to look at him.

“Oh gosh, I almost forgot!” Olette said, clasping her hands together. “Our pumpkins! We should grab them so we can light the tea candles in them.” She stood and stretched. “Hayner, Pence, come with me so we can grab everyone’s pumpkins and bring them back.”

Hayner and Pence finally got the hint and followed after Olette, leaving Sora and Kairi alone. He stood under the pretense of roasting another marshmallow, but really, he just wanted an excuse to sit next to her. He loved being close to her, and her natural scent mingled with the campfire’s smell in a way that reminded him of all the times they’d gone camping as kids back home.

“The embers are best here,” he said to explain his sudden change in position, and she smiled and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

“Oh are they now.”

“Yeah.” A few seconds passed, and he added, “Listen, Kairi, about earlier—”

“I’m still in love with you,” she blurted out, and he dropped the marshmallow and stake into the fire. Didn’t even care about them anymore. Something far more important was at stake here.

“But—I saw you, with that guy—It’s why I left again—”

Kairi shook her head, and her eyes watered. “After our mission, I was hoping you and I could work things out, but I felt like you were avoiding me. I figured you didn’t love me anymore, and I couldn’t blame you. So when that guy asked me out, I thought, why not give it a shot. Why not try to move on and give you your space. But then he tried to kiss me, and I just… I couldn’t.” Her voice broke and she was crying in earnest now. “All I could think about was you,” she sobbed. “How badly you’d be hurt if you knew. How wonderful it feels when you kiss me. And I knew I was still in love with you. I knew my heart would always be yours. I knew it was pointless to try to move on.”

Sora stared at her, his heart pounding in his chest. Kairi still loved him? Kairi still wanted to be with him? That guy he saw her with was nothing more than a quick fling that made her realize the one she truly wanted to be with was him?

She wiped her teary eyes. “Say something, please.”

He gently caught her hand and tugged it away from her face. She searched his eyes, and he smiled and cupped her cheek.

“I love you too, Kairi,” he said, softly, tenderly, then brought his lips to hers. He kissed her with all the pain and homesickness he’d felt the past year and a half, all the pining and aching and longing, hoping she’d realize just how much he wanted this, how much he wanted her. And she kissed him back, so unguarded and wild and joyful that his pain started to fade away. What had happened couldn’t be undone, but it could be mended and healed, could be turned into something beautiful and good, could become another part of their love story.

When it was over, he wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on her head. She leaned against his heart and gently touched where his scar was hidden under several layers of clothes. She knew it so well that she didn’t even have to look to know where it was. And he didn’t have to look to know where Xehanort had struck her down either; his hands had held the very spot countless times before and remembered exactly how to comfort her.

“I love you,” he said, his voice full of emotion.

“I love you too.”

He kissed her head and stroked her hair. “I’m gonna make you a new promise,” he said. “You mean everything to me, and I want to settle down with you, get married, start a family. The past several years, I’ve been saving up munny so we can do just that. Maybe we should go to college first though, that would probably be good. We’ve gotta provide for our family and for each other somehow. And I know it’ll be an adjustment for me. I’m not naive enough to think it won’t be. But you’re more than worth it.”

She sniffled and clutched his hoodie. “I’m sorry for doubting you.”

“It’s okay. You had a lot of reasons to be concerned. I’ve left you behind too many times before.”

“But you always come back to me,” she said as she looked up and searched his eyes.

“That’s right. I made you a promise, to always return.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out her lucky charm.

She teared up again and curled his fingers around it. “Keep it till we get home. For good, I mean. Then, and only then, will I take it back.”

“Deal.”

He tucked it back into his pocket and held her and kissed her and comforted her. He shared his hoodie with her too because even with the campfire nearby, she was getting a little cold. Plus it was just nice to be this close to her. He’d missed her, so much. And something about the fire was cozy and calming and enchanting. He could hold her like this and stare into it forever.

Well, until Hayner, Pence, and Olette returned with the pumpkins. They had big smiles on their faces, and Olette told them to close their eyes. Sora heard the lighter flicking a couple of times as their friends lit the pumpkins, and then when he and Kairi opened their eyes, he could see why Olette had wanted this to be a big surprise.

Kairi had carved the same drawing of him that she’d drawn in the Secret Place when they were kids, complete with the paopu fruit she’d added to it years later. It matched perfectly with his pumpkin because he’d carved the drawing he’d made of her with the paopu fruit too. A big smile lit up her face as she saw the two pumpkins side-by-side, and he grinned and kissed her cheek, only for her to kiss him properly on the lips. There was much whooping and hollering from Hayner, Pence, and Olette, much to he and Kairi’s amusement.

“Operation-get-the-lovebirds-back-together is a success!” Hayner crowed, high-fiving Pence.

Sora raised an eyebrow. “Wait, you guys planned this?”

“Maybe,” Olette said with a teasing lilt to her voice, and Hayner and Pence both had triumphant smirks on their faces.

“I can believe you did,” Sora said to Olette, “but these two interrupted Kairi and I so much tonight I was convinced they were trying to keep us apart,” he finished, jabbing his finger at Hayner and Pence.

“Reverse psychology, it works wonders,” Pence said. “We figured it would get you more desperate to talk to each other.”

“I guess it worked then,” Sora said wryly. “Because as great as that hayride was, it was not worth all the interruptions.”

Hayner, Pence, and Olette laughed, and Kairi giggled and nuzzled his cheek. Sora soon joined in with the merriment. He couldn’t hold the scheming against his friends, especially because it had worked. He and Kairi were together again, and while it would take time to mend all the hurt between them and forge a path forward, he knew they would. Tonight was a good start, and he was determined to make this work and so was she.

When their eyes met, he knew something else, too. He loved her and she loved him, and that was more than enough for them to make their own storybook ending and happily-ever-after.

~~~

A/N: Last year I wrote nine kiss prompts for SoKai based on this list, and I wanted to write one more to hit ten, so, this story fits...

11. ...in joy,

30. ...as comfort, and

50. ...out of love.

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed!

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neoyi · 3 years

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Oh hey, it’s time for another Kingdom Hearts II talking points. This one covers the 1000 Battle of the Heartless.

*FF8′s grand appearance right after FF “Possibly the Greatest Game Ever Made” 7 heralded a lot of Cloud vs. Squall back in the days. This particular moment probably had the fans screaming in their pants (read, me, folks like me); it was clearly an acknowledgement that yes, Square Enix knew about their “rivalry” and had paid tribute by having the two fight together while exchanging light banter.

*Most of the Square Enix characters in the first game fit right into the main plot beyond just their roles as fanservice. I assume it was easier for SE to do what they pleased with Squall and pals since they weren’t restricted by Disney’s mandates.

Kingdom Hearts II falters with a few of them though by adding in mandatory cutscenes and/or scenarios that’s either there for filler or promotion of their current brand. Because what we needed during one of the most pivotal moment in the game is Sora and pals in a forced cutscene because Sephy is back and he’s ready to Dark-Makeout with Cloud again. It sure is a coincidence that FF7: Advent Children came out the same year as this game. Yep. Coincidence.

Yuna, Rikku, and Paine suffer a bit less because they are flimsily tied to Maleficent, working for her before Sora and friends convince them to help Leon (in exchange for treasure, that is.) But their presence is as much of a non-issue to the greater plot - we don’t even see them interacting with Maleficent at any point - and seemingly there to rake up more FF fanservice without feeling earned.

I have no guff with shameless cameos in this game (let's not pretend this game isn't as much a vehicle to get money/promote Square Enix’s brand as it is a labor of love from the creators), but I think I’d have less of an issue with this if the game didn’t already established other FF characters with at least a semblance of plot-relevance (Squall and pals) or kept as unobtrusive cameos (Setzer.) Cloud and the YuRiPa group reeked of them trying both without a good balance, needlessly added in as a Square Enix brand when they already did a particularly good job prior to these shoehorned roles.

*This scene is rare in that no one is speaking, adding to the mystery of whatever the heck this guy is doing to the TRON computer before entering through a secret compartment. What I completely forgot is how long this is. Like this is a good 1:20 seconds after he finished downloading the data and at least a good 25 seconds of him silently walking downstairs while the camera views from overhead. And the last part kills me in a good way because of how unintentionally hilarious that is instead of it trying to be cinematic and secretive.

I love this game. I truly love this stupid game.

*It should go without saying that Xemnas’ main place of rest is called The Chamber of Repose, capital letters and all. Christ, man, you can just call it a “bedroom.”

*I remember Demyx being a much harder boss to fight (”DANCE, WATER, DANCE”). Did I just get better with age or did Final Mix alter him a bit to make it easier?

*Goofy’s “death” was already pointless, but there’s something nice about it giving Mickey and Donald some pathos that isn’t jovial optimism. Plus this entire infamous scene is both a good and bad endorsement of Kingdom Heart’s corniness and that’s beautiful, actually.

*We gonna talk about Serious Shit while I eat my Delicious Sea Salt Ice Cream.

*It goes without saying that the Battle of 1000 Heartless is a monumental moment in the franchise. Whatever I have to say about the series’ haphazard narrative, almost everything that occurs here is presented with such fanfare and urgency. Stuff Happens. Everything from Sora teaming up with the Final Fantasy characters as they individually lend hands, an all-out war composed of thousands of Heartless lead by Maleficent, Nobodies complicating the situation, that Goofy Death Scene (jesus christ), Sora begging Saix to please tell him where Kairi is because goddamn, this kid is a good boyfriend who cares about his girlfriend and dudes should strive to be as devoted as this guy is, Maleficent saving Sora’s bacon and expecting him to stop Organization XIII because the group is hindering both their goals, and eventually a plot twist where every Heartless Sora defeats unleashes its heart, fueling Kingdom Hearts (which I still have no damn clue if it’s metaphysically solid or not) right for the Nobodies to take once, I don’t know, it reaches a certain amount or something.

The last forces Sora into a bit of a mild dilemma because now he has to wonder if what he’s doing is the right thing if it will lead to the Nobodies’ hands (this issue lasts all but five minutes before they decide to keep fighting the good fight because well shit, son, nobody is playing KH to not fight the Heartless.)

And yes, the whole actual Fight of the 1000 Heartless is legitimately still a cool, badass moment where Sora goes King Shit on the creatures. It’s a remarkable part of Kingdom Hearts II and officially heralds the second half of the game, signaling that shit has gone so much worse.

#kingdom hearts #neoyi talks #kingdom hearts II

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whyarewecalledtheshipname · 3 years

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an umbrella kairi ramble:

like, they give us kairi potential—

and then they don’t do anything with it.

they give us some more kairi potential—

and then they don’t do anything with it.

they give us /more/ potential—

and then they don’t do anything with it.

but it’s not “bad writing”. it’s not “nomura hates women”.

IT’S KAIRI.

KAIRI HAS POTENTIAL BUT DOESN’T DO ANYTHING WITH IT. SHE CONSISTENTLY FAILS TO SUCCESSFULLY EXPLORE AND MAXIMIZE HER POTENTIAL BECAUSE SHE AS A CHARACTER IS STUCK.

SHE WAS INTENTIONALLY WRITTEN TO /BE/ STUCK. IT HAS TAKEN HER NEARLY 20 YEARS TO EVEN TAKE THE FIRST STEP TO BECOMING /UNSTUCK/. IT WAS GRUELING AND BORING AND ABSOLUTELY INFURIATING. BUT THAT’S THE TYPE OF JOURNEY SHE’S BEEN ON. And it wasn’t an easy one, for her or the audience.

But the thing holding her back isn’t the writing, nomura, misogyny, or any other bs.

It’s been Kairi herself.

Kairi, being the person she is, having the mindset she has, has been holding herself back. She is her own biggest obstacle, and that’s what I keep trying to explain.

And it’s not that kairi holds herself back by “being a shitty character”. She literally just has a stagnant world view that HASN’T DEVELOPED OR GROWN OR CHANGED SINCE KH1.

That is canonically her role. The one friend who doesn’t want her life, friendships, or world to change. Regardless of the reason, that’s her character. That unwillingness to change is what Kairi EMBODIES.

So it makes COMPLETE sense for people to become frustrated and hopeless. It makes sense that people are “pushing” her, begging and praying that Kairi “do something” already. Because we genuinely want her to succeed.

But think of a person in real life. Sometimes you can’t just PUSH someone to grow when they’re not ready, before it’s their time.

And that’s what i get frustrated with. I completely understand that the role Kairi plays will purposely ELICIT that type of reaction, of pushing and expecting and anticipating and pushing—only to be let down again and again.

But it’s a shame some people don’t realize that she’s been set on this path with no end with /purpose/.

And now that she’s straying from that endless path, people are sighing with relief. “Oh, /finally/, they /fixed/ her.” As if she as a character just happened to be broken and needed mending.

Like, no. She is /supposed/ to be broken. Character wise, and story wise. We even get an explanation for what broke her. But people still act like she’s just been a poorly written, unlucky girl character who got shafted for the sake of the two main characters.

Like, that’s literally the embodiment of her story. She /is/ a poor, unlucky girl who got yeeted from her home and family at like age four and she’s been traumatized and trapping herself in the past ever since.

“Well, her story should be of kairi /actively working through her trauma/, instead of just doing nothing.” Except that’s not how it WORKS. Not everyone will just “deal with their trauma” right away, or even decades after the traumatic event. Many kh characters /do/, but they’re not kairi, and kairi isn’t them. She’s living with her trauma in her own way, and I want people to understand that. Even if it’s unhealthy for her, even if it comes at the cost of making her story “boring” and uninteresting. Trauma doesn’t always have to be packaged as some action-packed superhero story that’s fun to consume. Realistically, it isn’t, and that’s why i think kairi’s way of living with her trauma is under-appreciated. She represents a story that’s underrepresented in media.

But it’s like some people “do not see it” and just, shit on her. Like, fair, you don’t have to love her or even like her. A PERSON LIKE KAIRI can be hard to love to some people. That’s a hard truth. People in real life won’t wait around for you to get your shit together, sometimes. That’s just how it goes.

But I’d like for her role, the journey/story that she embodies, to be appreciated, at least. It’s done very well, and very subtly. She isn’t written to be EXPLICITLY OR EXPRESSLY “the one who falls behind bc of trauma or weakness”. She just /IS/, and that’s why people genuinely don’t recognize that she has a role of her own. A necessary evil, in order for the payoff to be worth it once she does grow out of it.

Like, think of Riku. His necessary evil was falling to darkness. And he worked like hell to climb his way out of it.

The difference between riku’s and kairi’s necessary evils is that Riku’s is more interesting on paper. It’s Riku against an Outside Force, as well as himself.

Kairi has little to struggle with other than herself, her own stagnant character and trauma. It just isn’t as interesting when there isn’t any physical embodiment of her internal struggle for her to physically fight against (such as Riku vs Ansem). Xehanort /was/ both her internal and Outside Force, but he’s been controlling her behind the scenes. It’s all a very good metaphor imo, bc it meant Kairi literally never got to confront him face to face until recently—ONLY FOR HER MEMORY OF SORA TO FIGHT HER BATTLE INSTEAD.

Which is maybe why lots of people hate that fight.

But as with everything, it was definitely done for a reason. We just don’t know why, yet. At face value, it really just seems like Kairi was (subconsciously) unwilling to face her Outside Force, even within her own mind. This was her chance to confront the cause of her trauma face to face, and she didn’t. Again.

See what I’m saying? But maybe now she’s beginning to realize that she has to become stronger, physically and mentally, in order to steel herself against the battles to come, both external and internal.

Anyway, this is all my opinion and personal interpretation. I’m not saying my interpretation is factually correct and that i’m tryna indoctrinate people lol. And it’s only one of many rambles i’ve jotted down 😭😭😭 I just want Kairi’s role to be understood, even if it’s to understand how difficult it is to appreciate lmao.

#kairi #kairi thoughts #and i think a lot of people dismiss the purpose behind her story bc they assume “she’s written badly bc she’s a girl’’#bc girl characters have a bad history of sucking ass and being pointless love interests or damsels in distress to motivate the male mc #but all of the other female characters in kh are great #it’s only kairi facing this ‘problem’ and that lends credit to the idea that she’s written this way on purpose #bc that’s her story. unchanging since kh1 bc she’s scared among other reasons #i ramble all this bc again i just think it’s wack that some people are like ‘i’ll care about kairi when she gets a personality’ and its like #sure kh3 kairi felt kinda bland ngl compared to as recently as 0.2 #but her semi blandness was extra apparent bc they tried to highlight her so much.#they kept putting her and sora at the forefront towards the end of the game and it just feels empty and awkward #bc sora is the main character and we know his eccentricities. and then he gets paired off with kairi who sticks out as an empty shell #in comparison. and i cant say for sure why it feels so hollow but it’s probably bc she and sora’s connection is weakening #which is ALSO AN INTENTIONAL PART OF THE STORY. SEE WHAT IM SAYING???#might ramble about that at some point lol #rip my thumbs

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minijenn · 3 years

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Keys to the Kingdom Preview

HERE YA GO NERDS FUCKIN JOIN IN MY SUFFERING

***

“Xehanort is taking over Sora’s heart!” Ventus shouts, his voice hitching into a sob as this horrendous fact finally, finally forces itself out. Suddenly, all eyes are on him again, shocked expressions across the board as the others all try to make sense of what they just heard. Yet even amidst their shock, Ventus continues, unable to stop himself now, knowing that he couldn’t, even if he wanted to. Not after all this time of having to harbor and hide this. “H-he’s trying to turn Sora into his lest vessel,” he explains morosely, tears streaming down his cheeks all the while. “He’s been filling his heart with darkness for months now. When I was inside of it, I-I… I tried my best to fight him off, we all did, but… it wasn’t enough. Sora’s still… h-he’s being…” Ventus shudders, unsure of even what to say next. Because really, what can be said about a situation that’s so utterly unspeakable?

It ripples through the other lights like a shockwave, the terrible truth far too few of them knew about until this very moment. The study is far more still and silent than it's ever been before, with even the usually calm and collected Yen Sid seems completely bewildered by what’s just been said. Along the far wall, Axel swiftly stands upright, no longer leaning as he’d been before. Aqua draws in a sharp breath she nearly forgets to let out, Terra taking her hand to steady her when he sees her sway ever so slightly. Donald and Goofy fall into the same sort of regretful resignation Ventus has already adopted, while Mickey desperately tries searching for something, anything to say and ultimately finding nothing.

But the ones who are struck the hardest by this heartbreaking revelation are, of course, Riku and Kairi. Ventus’ first sentence alone had been enough to spark starting tears in Kairi’s eyes, but everything else he says is what ultimately makes them fall. She grips Riku’s arm like a vice, practically leaning against him for support as she chokes out a tight, terrified sob. Yet for his part, Riku doesn’t move, doesn’t even look over at her as he instead stares straight at the marble ground before him, his eyes wide, yet his expression unreadable. Kairi is the first to break the longstanding silence by tensely whispering his name, but he doesn’t respond. He can’t respond; all he can do is stand there, frozen in fear and grief and anger, and hope that it isn’t true; it can’t be true, it can’t be, it can’t-

“That… no, that isn’t possible!” Mickey finally speaks up, nearly echoing Riku’s thoughts exactly. “We saved Sora from-”

“It didn’t work!” Donald cries, shaking his head.

“The Organization kept telling us, even as far back as when we started lookin’ for the Keys, that Sora was turning into one of them,” Goofy details anxiously. “But we didn’t believe them.”

“We should have,” Donald huffs, frustrated with just how long it had taken them to realize something was wrong. Because if they had caught onto the problem sooner, than maybe, just maybe, Sora would still be standing here with them now. “There was plenty of evidence, between the X-shaped scar they gave him, and the cracks on his Keyblade, and those new dark powers he started using…” The magician pauses at this, both him and Goofy rubbing the still-sore spots on their arms where Sora’s accidental magic had struck them back in Twilight Town. While they’d mostly healed up from that ordeal physically, the emotional sting of it, or rather, from when Sora had tearfully run from them seconds after, still lingers all the same.

“But we didn’t find out until we saw his hair starting to turn white and his eyes turning yellow,” Goofy glumly reports. “He begged us not to tell any of you--like we said, we wanted to, but… he was so sad and scared, so…”

“So we kept quiet and I cast a glamour spell on him to hide what was happening to his body,” Donald admits, ashamed that they’d even done that much. Because in condoning Sora’s stubborn secrecy, in going to such great lengths to help him keep that secret, they’ve done so much more to hurt him than to help him like they wanted to. And of course, they’re only realizing that now, when it's far too late. “We shouldn’t have listened to him; we should have just forced him to come back here and tell all of you!”

“But we didn’t…” Goofy sighs guiltily. “And we’re so sorry, both to all of you… and to Sora most of all…”

While most of the others have no idea what to even say at this juncture, Mickey is the one to speak up again, his tone and expression mutually disappointed as he looks to his two longtime friends. “Wow, this is… a lot to take in…” he begins, just as overwhelmed as all of the others are. “I really wish you fellas had said something sooner.”

“Yeah, I think we’re all wishing that,” Axel says incredulously. “What I can’t believe is that you three all stayed tight-lipped on this whole thing for so long! I would have thought that Sora at least would have let something slip, even by accident.”

“H-he was scared of what would happen if any of you found out,” Ventus mutters, rubbing his arm as he glances away from the group. “That’s why he asked me to not tell anyone either. I thought he’d come clean on his own sooner or later but…” He sighs, finally realizing that had been too much to hope for. After all, Sora had managed to keep this all so well-hidden even well before he’d even awakened. Why had Ventus ever been foolish enough to think that would stop once he came along? Why had he ever thought that he even had a chance at changing Sora’s mind when it had already been made up from the moment this all began?

“Ven…” Aqua says, her tone torn between stern and sorrowful. “You knew, from the minute you woke up, that this was happening to Sora… and you didn’t once think to tell any of us? Not even me?”

“Aqua, no, I just… Sora asked me to-”

“You should have known better!” Aqua scolds. Her blue eyes blaze with a kind of intense ferocity that Ventus has rarely ever seen, ferocity he’s almost never seen directed at him. “Both of you should have known better! Your heart was inside of his, that means you must have known how serious this was! If you tried to help him from the inside before, then why didn’t you do anything to help him once you were out!? Why didn’t you tell us, Ventus!?”

He flinches, as if physically struck, by the sudden sharpness of her seldom use of his full name. He opens his mouth, only to immediately close it again, any words he might have said, even the apology he wants to offer her and everyone else here, falling short. Aqua’s severity doesn’t even soften when she sees Ventus’ tears begin to fall anew, nor does she turn calm when she feels Terra’s comforting hand find a place upon her shoulder.

“Aqua,” he says, his earnest, steady tone finally diverting her attention away from Ven. “I-”

Before he can get another word out, she suddenly falls apart on him, cutting him off as she throws her arms around him, burying her face into his chest as her shoulders shudder with starting sobs. “We just got you back…” she mutters so quietly only he can really hear her. “I-I can’t imagine losing anyone else I care about to him… not again…”

#hah #i was gonna give ya'll more #but tbh this scene has #a lot going on in it #i wrote all this earlier today #now im honing in on riku and kairi and the wrecks they both are about all this #sora lucky he aint here he'd be in so much fuckin trouble hahah #jen writes #keys to the kingdom #keys preview

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miss-tc-nova · 3 years

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Shared Ailments - Sora x Reader

Okay, I could probably do this better, but I’m brain dead and got other things to do. I was inspired to write something after listening to Yuukei Yesterday but figured the best fit was Sora, which I don’t normally write for but tada! Enjoy.

Music Inspiration: Yuukei Yesterday cover by Jubyhonic

~~~~~

The sun beats down on the defenseless, little Destiny Islands. Citizens are subject to the glaring sunrays but have come to adapt to their harsh heat. I’ve only been here a few years and even I’ve become somewhat accustom to the tropical temperature but I will blatantly state that I detest the sunlight: it’s blinding and burning and ruthless. I’d rather spend my time inside, perfectly content in my own company.

Today offers no relief from the typical threat of sunburn. I only just left school and my body is already starting to feel sticky with sweat. My feet swiftly carry me down the sidewalk towards my home, eager to get someplace cool.

Just as I round a corner, something heavy slams into me. The force throws me to the ground before subsequently squishing me. Pain grates across my arm but I can’t even gripe about it because my winded lungs are busy with a coughing fit.

“Sorry! Are you okay?!”

Still hacking away, I open my eyes to see the brightest blue eyes I’ve ever seen. Despite his concern, the brunette doesn’t seem to think his full weight on top of me is a problem and the proximity sends fire surging up my spine.

“Sora! Get off!” someone else demands.

“Right! Sorry! Let me help you!”

Relieving me from his mass, the boy hops up. He not-so-carefully takes my arm and pulls me off the ground. Hissing at the sting, I immediately rip out of his grasp. It’s not gushing, but the concrete certainly shredded my skin.

“Look what you did,” a third voice scolds, the girl standing behind him.

In this trio, I only know of Riku—he’s my neighbor. However, since I moved here a few years ago, I’ve only seen these three in passing; they seem to disappear for months, sometimes years, at a time before randomly showing back up. I’ve run into Riku a few times, but we didn’t really interact which was fine by me. From what I have seen of his personality, it seemed he wouldn’t be a bother at all, unlike the brunette: Sora.

Sora apologizes again. “I’m sorry. Here, let me help.”

I flinch away from him. “Get away from me!”

“I can help!”

“I don’t need your help,” I spit. “I need you to get away from me.”

“But I can fix it!” Somehow, those big blue eyes get even bigger and something about that look disconnects my brain from my mouth. “Please?”

Whatever he’s done to destroy my defense prevents a response, which brings a giddy grin to his face. The next thing I know, I’m being dragged in a different direction. The entire time, Sora radiates happiness like the sun even though his plans are now to help someone he injured.

I’m still a little hazy on what happened from there. We ended up at Sora’s house, sitting around his living room. I thought he was going to get a first aid kit or something, but he just held my arm. I would’ve jerked away, except a gentle glow seeped from beneath his fingers, distracting me long enough to lull me back into the tedious discussion. When he finally let go, my jaw dropped. There was nothing left behind—no scrape, no scabs, nothing but unmarred skin. It had me stunned and questioning the normalcy of these people, especially Sora. He was able to overcome every habit cultivated to maintain my peace and privacy. I don’t know if it had to do with the stuff he used on my arm—or if that light was some sort of virus or something—but my sharp tongue could not get through his lightheartedness. Still, I was desperate for an escape so I dropped it and left, briefly mentioning that I hoped to never run into him again.

But I did.

Somehow, Riku conned me into hanging out with him—what he failed to mention was that Sora and Kairi would be joining us. I figured it was worth my while to be on neighborly terms with the guy next door, whether it be for favors, friendship, or emergencies, so I thought there wouldn’t be any trouble. Well, trouble was his middle name and he showed up just five minutes after I did.

Unfortunately, that one accepted hang out apparently gave them the okay to bring me along on all their random shenanigans. They would ambush me after school or even straight up kidnap me from my front door. They were harmless inconveniences, so I endured them, but they repeatedly ignored my every attempt to sneak away or shut down another get together. Nothing I did stopped them from showing up later to abduct me again.

Admittedly, Riku and Kairi are nice people that I could get along with pretty easily. Sora—Sora is like the sun; he’s so much for one introvert to deal with. He’s so peppy and energetic, even when he’s being lazy. Sure, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I just can’t deal with that for so long.

To add to the exhaustion, every time I see that guy it’s like my body is trying to shut down. My heart shudders while I start to overheat and I can’t think straight. Sometimes I can barely get a word out, let alone against him. He must be using more of that weird magic or something to make me sick. I’ve considered talking to the other two about it, but as soon as Sora’s gone, I’m fine so I haven’t pressed for any answers yet.

Today is Saturday. I’ve been holed up inside since I woke up, expecting to have the perfect, peaceful day. All my homework is already done, I don’t have any chores except for making food, and I’ve already collected everything I need to enjoy my free day. I’ve been looking forward to this all week.

There’s a knock at the door. I don’t like that knock; I wasn’t expecting anyone today. For a moment, I simply stare at the door, contemplating whether or not I should answer it.

What if it’s an emergency?

A hand slaps against my forehead for such a stupid thought; now I can’t just let it go. Grumbling, I stalk towards the door to see who’s intruding on my respite.

Immediately, I’m greeted with his beaming face. “Morning!”

The door slams shut.

Fuck.

In that short second, my heart stopped and I can feel the blood rushing to my ears.

“Ah c’mon!” he calls. “You didn’t even hear what we wanted!”

“I don’t care what you want!” I shout, thankful I’m not arguing face-to-face with him or I’d never win. “Go away!”

“We know you’re not doing anything today,” Kairi says.

“Exactly! Nothing! And you can’t make me!”

Riku’s with them. “C’mon. We need your help.”

“No!”

I find it suspicious when there’s a delay in their coercion but all hope of them abandoning their harassment is lost when I hear Sora’s voice faint on the other side.

“Really? You think that’ll work?”

I press my ear to the door.

“Of course,” Kairi replies; there’s something in her tone that sends shivers down my spine.

Riku’s got that same note in his voice. “Do you want them to come or not?”

“Yeah, but they already said no.” The brunette is the odd-man-out, sounding more confused than anything.

“Just do it,” orders the girl.

Sora sighs. This time, loud enough that it must be intended for me, he begs, “Please?”

It must be some magic spell because, without first consulting my brain, my arm reaches out to tear the door open. Sora seems just as surprised as I feel, however, when I realize what’s happened, I throw a glare to the smirking cohorts behind him.

“What do you want?” I snap, grateful that this unforeseen circumstance hasn’t yet destroyed my conscience.

This is where it starts to deteriorate. With all that sunshine back in full force, Sora says, “We’re gonna do some repairs on the stuff on the other island and we wanted to know if you’d help. You don’t have to do any of the hard stuff.”

A hand over my eyes feigns frustration; in reality, it’s there to shield me from his cheeriness.

“I just wanted to relax and be lazy today,” I groan.

Somehow, Kairi shimmies past me to nudge me out the door. “You can relax while you keep us company.”

“Uh, hey!”

She drops a pair of my shoes at my feet and closes my front door.

“And hold the nails,” Riku insists, pushing a bucket of metal into my hands.

“I hate all of you,” I growl as the pair continues ushering me out of my yard.

Sora jumps ahead, looking back at me joyfully. “It’s gonna be fun. But thanks for coming; we really appreciate it.”

That happy face—those dazzling eyes, that beautiful smile—is the spell he holds over me; it eradicates all coherent thoughts and causes my stomach to squirm.

Unable to lash out, I drop my gaze. “It’s fine.”

So my plans are effectively destroyed. Once we arrive, the trio gets to work just as they said, fixing up some of the old structures scattered about the place—just a few worn planks here and there. We chatter along as the work goes by and I diligently do my job of providing nails. It’s hot and I’d still prefer to be at home right now, but it’s not the worst Saturday of my life.

I’m not exactly sure when, but Riku and Kairi abandon Sora and I on the bridge in favor of the docks. Riku took with him a handful of nails, essentially condemning me to alone time with Sora. So I sit around, passing nails out, while he attempts to talk my ear off. And no matter what quips or insults I throw at him, he just goes on as if I hadn’t said anything. It’s like he’s impervious—or deaf. Still, no matter how many times I tell him to shut up, I can’t block out a single thing he says. He’s got my undivided attention whether I want to give it or not.

He beats on the board with his hammer. “But I gotta say, being a pirate was more fun than being a mermaid…man…merman?”

Exasperated, I reply, “Sora, if you’re gonna lie to me, you could at least make it believable.”

“But I’m not lying,” he says with a childish pout.

I pass another nail into his open palm. “Really? Pirates? Mermaids? Monsters?! There’s no way you turned into all these crazy things.”

“I did!” he insists, lining the nail. “But you can’t tell anyone.”

“And have them think I’m crazy too? No thanks,” I snark, looking away. Curiosity gets the better of me. “But why not?”

“It’s this whole crazy world order thing. We’re not supposed to tell people about other worlds or it might freak ‘em out,” he casually says as he works.

“Then why did you tell me?”

Ocean eyes lift to ensnare my heart. With a smile more blinding than the sun, he answers, “Because you seem like someone I can trust.”

That’s it: I’m done. Panic takes over while I fight the urge to vomit beneath this woozy feeling. That inexplicable fever begins to run rampant again.

Sora’s high spirits falter. “Are you okay?”

Dropping the bucket, I stand and blurt out, “I’mgoinghome.”

“What?”

“I can’t do this anymore!” I start for the hut, only for a hand to take my wrist.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

“Don’t touch me!” I snap, ripping my arm away. The trepidation prevents me from answering his reasonable questions.

“Wha…Did I say something?”

There is no rational answer. “Leave me alone!”

He slips around to block my path, that worry on his face aggravating my ailment. “Are you okay?”

“Get out of my way!” I demand, my heart thumping so violently I’m sure even he can hear it. “I’m going home!”

“But, why?”

“BECAUSE OF YOU!”

The second I realize what I’ve said, my hand slaps over my mouth. Sora’s surprise turns to horror and hurt. All the disorders in me disappear, replaced with utter dread—I royally screwed up.

“Because…of me?”

The words stockpile in my mouth, random ones falling out. “I-I…you…I can’t…”

“Are you mad at me?” This is the first time Sora has ever taken anything I’ve said to heart. His heartbroken voice and kicked-puppy expression cause a vice in my chest.

“N-No! I just…”

“What did I do wrong?”

“I DON’T KNOW!” I shout. “I don’t know what you did but every time you’re around I can’t function! I’m burning up! I always feel like I’m gonna puke! My brain doesn’t work right and I say stupid things! It feels like someone’s squeezing my heart! I don’t know what you’re doing but it’s freaking me out!”

The sadness I instilled in Sora melts but gives me no comfort. It turns into some sort of revelation.

“You feel it too?”

I hesitate. “What?”

Looking away, he scratches at the back of his head. “Every time I’m near you, I feel kinda sick, like I’m gonna throw up. I feel warmer, I always forget what I’m doing, and I know I talk a lot but, with you, I can’t stop talking—I even tell you things I shouldn’t. Mostly, it feels like my heart’s gonna burst. I really thought I was crazy or something but if you feel it too, maybe I’m not.”

All I can do is stare; he describes it differently, but the basics seem to be there: fever, mild nausea, brain failure, stupid mouth, and a bewildering heart. I would almost consider this some minor illness, but I can’t think of a single illness that muddles thoughts and runs a mouth the way I have.

“But you know,” Sora adds, “it’s also hard to stop staring when I’m with you. And…I can’t stop smiling.” Those are different but I still can’t make sense of any of it. On the other hand, for Sora, it seems like he’s following some train of thought. “It’s actually not that bad. I like seeing you and I like talking to you, even when you nag me. I really like hanging out with you.”

He’s reached an epiphany, the light in his head shining in his eyes.

So happy, yet so gentle, Sora says, “I like you.”

“You…like me?” I whisper, trying to wrap my head around his diagnosis. “You feel it too…and you like me?”

“Yeah.”

The concept rolls in my conscience, taking in each symptom and carefully fitting it against Sora’s conclusion. They all align perfectly. Somehow, someway, I fell for this dork of a man and was just too much of a coward to confront it.

“Oh no,” I complain, hiding behind my fingers. “I’m such an idiot.”

“What’s wrong?” His concern is back.

Looking him in the eye was difficult to being with; it’s damn near unbearable now. The sun is no match against the blood in my veins. Arms wrap around me to contain the anxiety building inside. It feels like an eternity before I manage to voice my problem.

“I…like you too.”

The sunshine that he radiates feels different. There’s nothing different about it by any means, but it represents something different now. It’s not the burning, overbearing brightness that I’ve been trying to avoid; it’s warm and welcoming. It’s still uncomfortable as hell, I still want to vomit, but with a tweak of perspective, it’s tolerable—maybe even enjoyable.

“You do?” he asks hopefully.

I can’t recall having ever smiled like this. “Yeah.”

Sora’s expression blanks, a cherry red blooming across his face.

“Sora?”

Without warning, he grips my shoulders and pulls me into a tight embrace.

“You have the most amazing smile,” he murmurs.

My heart skips and I might be on fire but I don’t want to run away this time. So I slip my arms around his neck and hide my face in his shoulder.

“You goof,” I hum into his shirt.

Then I see them, across the sand, sitting on the docks, with the smuggest grins on their faces. The thought strikes me like a bolt of lightning—they knew. Those two assholes knew everything this entire time and planned this whole thing. As I glare, a pair of fingers wave at them behind the brunette’s back, receiving sneaky snickers in response.

Sora leans back. “You okay?”

I put on a quick smile—he doesn’t need to know. “I’m great.”

A quick peck ambushes my cheek, reigniting the flustering awkwardness.

“Yeah you are.”

#sora #kh sora #sora x reader #gender neutral reader

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casualtheoriesandthoughts · 3 years

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The role of memories in Kingdom Hearts

I recently replayed KH Re:CoM and I have to say it’s one of the more brutal entries in the series, with very little light-hearted letup on the action of the main story. Marluxia and Larxene, more so than nearly any other antagonist (even more than Xemnas imo) in KH, are incredibly cruel. Ansem SoD is literally a ghost haunting Riku and taunting him with his grief (and honestly made me think this is why a lot of fans came to support Riku in the first place).

The scene where Larxene flings Riku Replica to the side? Positively gut-wrenching. Sora being uncharacteristically angry? It honestly made me slightly uncomfortable. Naminé accepting her fate to be forgotten by Sora (despite him promising to meet her again) was super tragic.

But more than anything else, I feel like Re:CoM is a somewhat overlooked entry in the series for its influence on the meta-universe of KH (even if it is a bit of a ridiculous game with the card system). Especially since Melody of Memory has been released (spoilers ahead!), I felt the need to revisit Re:CoM for its lore on the role of memories in KH. Memories are an intriguing dimension of what I’m going to start calling the metaphysics of the KH universe. In this post, I’m going to cover things that memories do in Kingdom Hearts, and the implications it has for Melody of Memory and the ending of Re:Mind (last warning: SPOILERS AHEAD).

Re:CoM - Memories and connected feelings shape the heart

As Sora enters Castle Oblivion, we are told that the deterioration of his memories has already begun. Naminé is actively altering the links in his memory to insert her presence therein (all at the behest of Marluxia, who is manipulating her desire to meet Sora and her loneliness). Despite the creation of false memories in Riku Replica and Sora, however, they still induce people to experience very real feelings. Before his final battle with Marluxia, Sora still feels a responsibility and desire to protect Naminé in spite of the fact he has no personal relationship with her in reality and that she manipulated his memories. He also goes out of his way to tell Riku Replica that his own feelings are real, and that even if the memories are false, his experiences are his own and even possesses his own heart. For Sora and Riku Replica, all feelings are genuine even if they arise from false memories.

It’s worth noting the way memories are referred to in Re: CoM, starting with the title: Chain of Memories. A chain can be either shackling or connecting, as Marluxia and Naminé allude to when speaking about Sora’s memories. Marluxia orders Naminé to control Sora by way of his memories, in order for the latter to do his bidding (help him to take over the Organization, that is). Naminé, on the other hand, refers to Sora’s memories as that which tie him to his friends and loved ones, especially Riku and Kairi. His feelings of friendship and love towards others never fade in spite of his memories being changed, and is even willing to allow Naminé to destroy his heart by erasing his memories.

But that’s where it gets complicated. It is highly implied that memories have the ability to shape a heart, but only at this point is it suggested that the erasure of memories can actually destroy a heart. Marluxia states that if Naminé were to erase Sora’s memories, he would become an empty shell incapable of feeling (which coincidentally describes a Nobody). That said, she doesn’t actually do it, and when she destroys Riku Replica’s false memories, his heart does not disappear. This is why Riku Replica is able to return right before Sora fights Marluxia, his heart intact. This seems to indicate that Marluxia was either speaking in hyperbole, or simply did not know the true relationship of memories to hearts.

It may then be more accurate to say that the destruction of memories traumatizes and numbs a heart rather than destroys it. Larxene comments during Reverse/Rebirth that Naminé’s magic almost remade Riku Replica’s heart by changing his memories, but not quite. In the KH universe, memories seem to be inscribed on a heart rather than fundamentally altering it. Yet, memories also bind hearts to the world by giving them meaning.

Remember that as Sora journeyed through Castle Oblivion, people outside apparently forgot about him and remembered him spontaneously when awoke from his pod in Twilight Town. It’s not just the individual memories that make up a person, but the shared memories and experiences which connect hearts together in a “chain” of memories. In the presence of others, characters acquire purpose and senses of self. In Reverse/Rebirth, Riku rediscovers himself after falling to darkness and battles against his insecurities by rekindling his connections to people like Sora, Kairi and Mickey. This is how he maintains the light within, by dwelling on his memories of his bonds to his friends.

In that context, we might see how memories play an important role in giving rise to new hearts later on.

358/2 Days - The case of Xion

Xion is one of the most curious and earliest cases of a heart being generated seemingly out of nowhere in KH (I’d say possibly even before Riku Replica). Just like Riku Replica, Xion in 358/2 Days is derived from the memories of her original persona (in her case, Sora). She is not a true Nobody, though Vexen muses that his replicas are a special kind of Nobody in the Day 23 Report of 358/2 Days’ Secret Reports. In addition Xion, unlike Riku Replica, actively embodies many of Sora’s qualities while being distinctly aware that she is not truly Sora. It is this crisis of identity which eventually leads her to believe that she must return to Sora, and forces Roxas to defeat her.

After that, people cease to remember Xion after she returns to Sora, a fact about which I’ve always wondered. Consider that Riku Replica, upon returning to Riku (or at least residing in his heart), does not fade from Riku’s memory or anyone else’s. Axel repeatedly doesn’t remember Xion even when hints of her come up (such as the fact that Roxas wields two Keyblades, his knowledge of the Replica Program and his many interactions with Kairi, even during KH3). Yet he clearly remembers Riku Replica as evidenced in the Day 194 Secret Reports from the 358/2 Days. This is well after the events of Re: CoM for both Sora and Riku’s stories, as Xion had already met Riku in his Organization XIII coat.

In theory, one might assume that Axel shouldn’t remember either Xion or Riku Replica because they have both returned to their original forms. Yet objects that belong to them or are about them remain in existence (ex. Vexen’s reports about the Replica Program). Even Xion’s personal memories and those attached to her are sealed inside Roxas’ heart. Presumably because Sora never actually met her or Roxas (a crucial difference from Riku and his replica), and Roxas lost his own memories in his fight with Riku, memories of her became doubly compromised when he returned to Sora. So this begs an important question: what do memories do when it comes to having a heart?

I would say that memories, especially independent ones, allow for the arising of new hearts. Riku Replica may have acquired a heart (and therefore a distinct existence) when he decided to defend Naminé and claim his memories of her, even though they’re not real. In contrast, it is not clear whether Xion has a heart at the end of 358/2 Days, and it is implied that she has one by KH3, and essentially confirmed in Re:Mind.

From where, one can only vaguely guess. Let’s look at other KH beings: darkness is the source of Heartless; nothingness of Nobodies; negative emotions (or rather Vanitas) of Unversed; dreams of Nightmares ,Dream Eaters and Spirits. It would seem that hearts arise from light, or perhaps Kingdom Hearts itself (seeing as it appears to be the bedrock of reality). It makes sense since Kingdom Hearts is composed of all hearts that exist. But crucially, it is memories which give hearts their forms. Xion returns to existence when Sora liberates her memories/essence from within Roxas’ heart during Re:Mind.

Memories clearly play some role in generating an existential niche for hearts. They also may very well be the reason that people can be re-completed: Axel recalls his memories as a kid as he spends time with Roxas and Xion (Day 118 Secret Report). He even says that he feels like he has a heart in the presence of Roxas, Xion and Sora (and very critically, is unsure if he in fact doesn’t have one in a conversation with Roxas). Marluxia seems to recall his memories as Lauriam from KH Union Cross, right as he is defeated in KH3. Terra’s memories occasionally surface in Xemnas, and his feelings of loneliness come up as he dies in KH3.

Sora states in KH Re:CoM that he was able to return to being whole after becoming a Heartless by holding on to his memories of Kairi, and her own ability to free him from the darkness. Roxas, Xion and Riku Replica all develop hearts distinct from their original personas as they experience the world and forge new memories. Xion is primarily able to return to the world because people’s memories of her are restored. Her true consciousness becomes freed through Sora’s actions, not unlike the way Sora’s friends and allies suddenly remember him at the beginning of Kingdom Hearts 2.

From this, we can deduce that memories are critical for three things:

existing as a unique, complete individual

returning from states of incompleteness (such as being a Heartless or Nobody)

verifying that someone actually still exists in a reachable place

The last one is the kicker with Xion, and bears on a working theory of mine about Melody of Memory and Re:Mind’s endings (which I’ll put in another post for clarity). Hope this interests some people, and inspires some discussion about the possible connections between Re:CoM and Melody of Memory!

#khrecom #chain of memories #kingdom hearts #kh #kingdomhearts #khtheories #xion #kairi #sora #namine #kh lore #kh3 #kh2 #kh3 remind #kh meta

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starrattlerofprydain · 3 years

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The Other Girl (Ch. 2)

Summary: What if Roxas met Kairi during his days in the Organization?

AO3 / FF.net

Chapter 2: A Familiar Face (Previous/Next) “Come on, Kairi,” Selphie begged, pulling on the redhead’s wrist. “It’ll be just for today!”

Kairi gave her friend a hesitant look. It’s been a while since the girl had visited the small island where she and her friends always spent their days playing around. She loved it there. However, now that her two closest friends have gone away for some time, Kairi couldn’t help but spend her days waiting there for them to come back.

Day after day, she waited.

And waited.

But no one ever came.

Kairi did this for a while until one day, the memories of her these two friends began to slowly fade away. She could still remember their faces. She knew that there was a silver-haired boy.

Riku, was it? But… the other boy… why can’t I remember his name now?

She wasn’t sure if it was because she was tired after having many sleepless nights, but after spending much of her time waiting and trying to remember the things she had forgotten, Kairi thought it was best to stop going to the island, for her own sake. From there, she went on living her regular life. But somewhere in the back of her mind, she held on to a little bit of hope, knowing that she’ll be able to see those familiar faces again.

Which is why when Selphie tried to convince her to go on this particular day, Kairi felt her stomach flip all of a sudden. Part of her longed to go back, but she still wasn’t sure if it was a good idea.

“I don’t…” The redhead trailed off as she gave it some thought again. It didn’t help that her friend was rather convincing with the puppy-eyed face she was making.

Kairi managed to let out a small laugh at this before she finally ended up giving in. “Okay, fine. I guess it won’t hurt to go for a day.”

“Really?” Selphie’s face brightened as she took both of Kairi’s hands in hers. “Great! I’ll let Tidus and Wakka know so we can start heading over there!”

The redhead smiled at her friend’s enthusiasm, but deep down she hoped that she was making the right decision to go back after all this time.

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“Hey! Wait up, Tidus!” The tall boy called out as he ran after his friend on the island.

The blond looked over his shoulder and laughed, not bothering to slow down. “Try to keep up!”

Behind them were the two girls just strolling by the shore. Normally, they would be spending this time having long conversations about anything and everything, all while enjoying the sights around the small island, but it was quiet between the two of them. Specifically on Kairi’s end, which began to worry Selphie.

“It’s nice to be back, isn’t it?” asked the brunette, in hopes of getting Kairi to speak.

The redhead gave her friend a small smile and shrugged. “I guess so...”

Selphie noticed how off she seemed and stopped walking, turning to look at her with concern. “Hey, is there something wrong?”

Kairi looked at her friend before glancing down to the sandy ground. “I’m fine. It’s just been a while since...”

The girl trailed off just as she noticed some movement from the corner of her left eye. She turned her head in that direction and saw something in black heading towards the secret place. Without hesitation, Kairi left her friend behind and ran after whatever this was. Her stomach flipped at that moment, just like how it did earlier that day as she wondered if there was someone else on the island.

She finally made it to the cave and took a quick glance around to see…

Nothing.

“Is someone there?” Kairi asked, even though she was certain she wouldn’t get a response. She wanted to take a better look around until Selphie called out to her. The redhead bit her lip in disappointment before she began to head out of the dark area. “I’m coming!”

Kairi emerged from the cave within a few moments to find her friend with a surprised look on her face. “What happened? You just ran off all of a sudden!”

A small laugh escaped Kairi’s lips, realizing she must have looked silly chasing after nothing. “Sorry… I thought I saw something.”

Or… someone, she thought.

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After Roxas did what he could to complete his mission, he made his way over to Twilight Town as usual. There, up on the clock tower, waited his red-headed friend who he hadn’t seen since the day before.

“Heya, Roxas,” he greeted with two ice cream bars in his hand. “You made it just in time. Your ice cream’s starting to melt.”

“Oh…” Roxas took his seat next to him and took the ice cream, noticing it began to drip. The boy started to eat it up before it became a mess.

Axel took a bite of his own treat as he looked out at the horizon with a small smile. “So how’d you spend your day off?”

“Not wasting the day away sleeping like you,” Roxas chuckled.

The older Nobody scoffed, playfully shoving Roxas in the process. “Hey c’mon! It’s the least I can do for myself. Feels like it’s been ages since I got a decent amount of rest.”

“I guess so,” the blond shrugged, remembering he didn’t get around to doing much either. “I spent most of the day with Xion. I was hoping she would wake up in time so we can spend it together, but she never did. I guess she still hasn’t woken up today either since she’s not here…”

Roxas looked at his melting ice cream with despair. He was really starting to miss hearing her voice. Axel hesitantly rubbed his neck, noticing the look on his friend’s face

“Just give it some time. She’ll be fine. Before you know it, we’ll all be sitting here together again like the old times.”

“Yeah, I hope so…” Roxas mumbled, looking up at Axel who was now staring out ahead of him. The boy did the same, letting his mind wander.

“I went to a new world for today’s mission.”

“Oh yeah? Where to?”

“Destiny Islands. We promised to go to the beach there together someday, remember?”

Axel glanced over and chuckled softly, “Yeah, of course I remember. I don’t forget things so easily, y’know.”

“Right,” Roxas nodded, looking down to his ice cream. “It’s strange though. Something about that place felt familiar. Almost like I’ve been there or something…” the boy paused and turned to face his friend, “Do you think these are just memories from before I became a Nobody?”

Axel remained silent, recalling he had a similar conversation with Xion one time. Of course that place was going to be familiar to him. He was Sora’s Nobody, after all. He knew that much. He scratched his head and shrugged at Roxas’s question.

“That’s possible.”

“And there was also this girl there who looked a bit like Xion,” Roxas added, vaguely remembering the stranger. “I couldn’t tell for sure but… I just had a feeling.”

The redhead stayed silent again, losing himself in deep thought as a smirk formed on his lips. “A feeling, huh? Seems like you’re forgetting that Nobodies aren’t supposed to feel.”

Roxas can only shrug at this. “It’s just strange, that’s all. Maybe I’m just missing having Xion around.”

Axel lightly patted the boy’s back and chuckled. “You two just can’t stay apart, can you?”

Roxas gave his friend a small smile as he continued to finish up his ice cream. The two Nobodies sat there a while longer, appreciating the sights as they spoke about whatever came to mind before heading back to the castle after their long day.

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Another day, another mission to complete. Today’s mission involved collecting hearts in Agrabah. Not only did Roxas have to deal with the blazing heat from that world, but he ended up getting paired up with Demyx this time around. It definitely wasn’t his favorite combo.

By the time they finished, Roxas had done most of the heart collecting, while Demyx spent most of his time complaining about the unbearable heat. Roxas might as well have been better off on his own on this mission.

“Man, I’m outta here,” Demyx whined as he opened up a dark corridor and disappeared within a matter of seconds.

“Yeah, thanks for nothing,” Roxas grumbled under his breath.

From there, he planned on heading to Twilight Town as usual, but then the thought of going back to Destiny Islands crossed his mind. He considered making a quick stop to pick up some seashells for Xion. And if it were possible, maybe he might see that girl again. But what were the chances of that happening?

Nevertheless, Roxas went through the dark corridor and headed off to his next destination. Eventually he was hit with a familiar sea breeze as he stepped out into the bright, tropical setting. The boy scanned the area before he began to make his way over to the shoreline.

It didn’t take him long to appreciate how peaceful it felt being there on the island. With the sound of the waves filling his ears and the salty breeze blowing through his hair, Roxas felt at ease. It gave him the same warm feeling as sitting up on the clock tower. He could now see why Xion liked coming here. Suddenly, his gaze fell down when he noticed a small object coming into view as the waves rolled out. Roxas bent down and picked up the object from the sand, smiling softly as he gazed at the familiar shape.

A thalassa shell, similar to one of many seashells currently sitting beside Xion. But unlike the blue and yellow colors that he was used to seeing, this particular shell was a lighter combination of pink and yellow. He tucked it away in his pocket, unaware that someone had been watching him from a short distance.

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It was the first time Kairi was glad her friends had been busy that day, since now it gave her the chance to go to the island on her own. She realized this might have been a bit selfish of her, especially after not going back for many weeks, even though Selphie suggested for them to go plenty of times. But a part of her told her to return as soon as possible. Like there must have been something waiting for her there.

Or someone, she reminded herself. Could it be her friends? The ones she’s been longing to see again?

Kairi soon arrived at the empty island, taking in the sights once more. It was bittersweet being there again. The girl truly missed it, but she knew there was a reason for not coming back. However, she tried to push those thoughts away for the time being.

Out of curiosity, Kairi walked over by the secret place, recalling what had happened the day before. She wasn’t seeing things… was she? She took a deep breath and made her way inside the cave again, only to see nothing unusual. It was still the same old cave she remembered from before. She glanced around, looking at all the chalk drawings surrounding the walls. From there, the redhead spotted a particular drawing. One that she hasn’t seen in a while ever since she stopped coming to the island.

It was a messy drawing of Kairi sharing a paopu fruit with someone special to her. Who this special someone was… well, she knew it had to be the boy she waited for all this time. At times it seemed his name would come to her mind, only for it to slip away again. And sometimes she would see a face, but it became too hazy to remember, almost like a dream. Kairi kneeled down as she stared at the drawing with a sad smile, wishing she could just remember his name and face. The only thing that kept her going was something about a promise they made.

“We made a promise, didn’t we?” She mumbled, pressing her hand up against the cold wall. “I know we did…”

Kairi kept her gaze on the drawing a while longer before she shook her head and stood back up, brushing off the dirt from her outfit. She took another brief look around before she decided to make her way back out of the cave.

As soon as her eyes adjusted to the sunlight, she immediately spotted someone by the shoreline. Someone with blond hair and a black coat. Then realization struck her. Maybe whatever she saw just the day before might have been whoever this was. But… who was this person anyway?

Kairi quietly watched him from a distance as he bent down, probably to pick up a seashell lying in the wet sand. He stood there examining it before tucking it in his coat.

He began to walk off until he suddenly noticed her presence.

And he froze.

And she froze as well.

Just as Kairi was about to approach him, he made a quick run for it, leaving the girl wide-eyed. Then, almost as if it were out of instinct, she quickly followed him.

“Wait! Don’t go!” She called out.

Roxas stopped in his tracks, unsure what to do. Though, he realized running away out in the open was probably a useless thing to do anyway. But he wanted to avoid being seen so he thought of the next best thing. Quickly, Roxas reached over his back and brought the hood of his coat over his head.

Kairi caught up to him, cautiously taking a few steps forward as she stared at the now hooded stranger. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before.”

He turned around slightly, keeping his gaze low. “I’m just… visiting.”

“Oh, I see,” the girl slowly nodded, taking a step closer to him to get a better look at his face. “By any chance, were you here yesterday too?”

Roxas noticed how much closer she got to him and took a small step back, lifting his head slightly to meet her eyes. And that’s when he realized…

She really does look like her...

Other than her auburn hair being slightly longer than Xion’s, he can definitely see a resemblance.

The redhead pouted and waved a hand in front of his face. “Hellooo? Are you there?”

Roxas snapped out of his thoughts and gazed back down to the sand, attempting to pull the hood further down his face.

Kairi raised a brow before laughing at whatever this boy was trying to do. At this rate, she gained more courage to take another step closer. With her hands behind her back, she lowered her head and peeked up at him with a grin. “I can still see you, you know.”

He sighed to himself and lifted his head as he listened to the girl giggle.

“Come on, let me just…” Without hesitation, she reached out and gradually pulled the hood off from his head, revealing his blond, spiky locks she saw moments ago. Finally, they were both able to see each other’s faces clearly. Roxas curiously stared at her for a long time and noticed she had been staring at him for a while too, almost as if she had been lost in thought, but he wasn’t too sure.

“What?” He questioned, snapping Kairi out of her thoughts.

It took her a moment to realize she was absentmindedly staring at the boy. She didn’t mean to, of course. But she couldn’t help but wonder...

I feel like I’m connected to him somehow… but I’m not sure why...

She shook her head and took a step back. “I’m sorry. Have we… met before?”

Roxas scratched his head, giving the girl a look of confusion. “I don’t think we have…?”

“Right… sorry,” she looked down and fiddled with her fingers. “It’s just… you remind me of someone I know.”

You remind me of someone I know…

Roxas repeated the words in his head. As if it wasn’t already strange enough that this person looked like his friend, apparently now Roxas had someone who looked like him as well. He was confused about whatever was going on, yet he couldn’t help but laugh about the whole situation.

Kairi looked at him, thinking she might have said something wrong. “What is it?”

“It’s weird…” he began as he rubbed his neck, “You remind me of someone I know too.”

The girl stood there in bewilderment before she found herself laughing as well. “That is pretty weird.”

She continued to laugh at this, causing Roxas to laugh along with her as well. It was strange how comfortable they both felt with each other at that moment. Once their laughter died down, the redhead realized she didn’t introduce herself yet.

“I’m Kairi, by the way.”

Kairi… have I heard that name once before...?

He brushed the thought aside and introduced himself as well. “I’m Roxas.”

The girl smiled and began to walk past him, her hands behind her back once more. “So… what brings you here, Roxas? Are you looking for seashells?”

“How’d you know?” His gaze followed her as she walked over to the shoreline.

She turned back to look at him, the genuine smile never leaving her face. “I saw you picking something up from the sand a while ago. I figured it might have been that.”

Roxas went over to join her by the shoreline and scratched his head. “Well, yeah. It’s for my friend, actually. She hasn't been too well these past days.”

Suddenly, the smile on her face disappeared. “Oh… sorry about that. I hope she gets better.”

“Yeah…”

He stayed silent for a moment before pulling out the seashell he kept in his pocket. “She really likes these though. She brought some for me when I was a little unwell myself.”

Kairi gave him a curious look. “Your friend was here too?”

Roxas nodded at her question, tucking the small object back in his pocket before realizing he lost track of time. Axel was probably waiting for him on the clock tower with his melting ice cream. “Uh… anyway, I should probably get going. I got some place to be.”

Kairi’s heart suddenly dropped just as he was about to walk off.

“Wait! Umm…” She reached out to grab him, only to retract her hand when he turned to face her with a surprised look. A small smile suddenly formed on the girl’s lips as she thought of an idea. “Tell you what… Why don’t you come back tomorrow? There’s something I wanna show you.”

“Okay…?” Roxas wasn’t sure how to respond to this, but he went along with it anyway. Whatever made her happy, he supposed. After all, he was now curious to get to know her more.

Kairi gave the boy a delighted smile when he agreed to return. Though, she noticed the confused look on his face and laughed softly.

“Trust me, I’m sure your friend would appreciate it.”

#kingdom hearts #roxas #xion #kairi #rokushi #rokukai #roxiri #*doesn't write for a whole year*#*suddenly whips all of this out of the blue*#niceeee

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komoryriku · 4 years

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Is Kairi Capable of Mind Manipulation? : Kairi’s Letters and the Power they May Hold

So. I have some personal theories about Kairi that I need to get off my chest. There’s a lot. Above is a scene from the KH3 opening that I will be breaking down later but for now, please keep it in mind as we go… 

First of all, I’m so relieved that finally it’s been revealed that Kairi was a pawn in Xehanort’s schemes, now I don’t have to waste time arguing for that. All I will say is that evidence of this has been here since kh1:

Okay, moving on.

What does Kairi do exactly? Not too much on screen, but here’s what we know so far. -She holds the power of a princess of heart… maybe. -She is sent out to Destiny Islands to draw out the key blade bearer (Riku) -She writes letters to Sora. -She is closely connected to Namine, loosely connected to Xion, and figuratively comparable to Aqua. -She claims her memories of home are a little hazy for her. -She loves Sora as a friend. -She becomes Sora’s Chirithy.

If you want to know ahead of time what my ultimate theory is, here you go: Kairi has magic powers of memory or mind manipulation, and her letters, specifically, are manipulating Sora. If you wanna see me break down why I think this, here we go.

Pre-requisites to this theory:

I would very much prefer not to have to regurgitate certain things that are common knowledge to people in the soriku fandom and kh in general. This analyst is subscribed to the idea that Kingdom Hearts is written with queer coding and gay intent, that Riku is the Light, the Sleeping Realm theory is truth, that Sora and Riku will be romantically linked in the end. My reasoning is based on my own two eyes as well as the meta discourse surrounding these readings among like-minds, so if you have time, please read:

-Obligatory Sleeping Realm Theory Link -The Necklace Theory (Which is just canon but still not explicit in game) -Queer CoM Analysis

Okay, onward!

Parallels:

We do not know much about Kairi as of yet, but what the games do give us is a string of VERY major, obvious Parallels. We are asked over the course of several games to compare Kairi to 3 specific girls: Namine. Xion. Aqua.

Let me break these down. Again, I’m so glad they finally revealed she’s a pawn so this parallel breakdown isn’t even half as long as it would’ve been otherwise hahah.

Namine.

Namine is said to be Kairi’s nobody. There is so much I find suspicious about that but for the sake of staying on topic, I won’t get into it, that’s another theory for another day (though I will flirt with it the speculation section). More importantly, she is objectively, directly associated with Kairi and the plot begs us to draw very close parallels between her and Kairi.

Namine has special powers. She can manipulate Sora’s memories and the memories of those close to him. The characters believe she can do this because she was formed from Kairi’s heart and Sora’s body, and I don’t know if that’s true, but I do take for granted that she is a nobody formed from Sora’s sacrifice and that her powers exist because of her connection with Kairi. Either way, what does she actually do?

Namine spends her days surrounded by white walls, drawing pictures on paper that seemingly have the power to manipulate Sora’s memories. This is a pretty specific skill she has, and if you ask me her art style is pretty advanced for a nobody who wasn’t even formed that long ago. She has the artistic eye to include reflective lighting in her work, which is not only beautiful and colorful but in my experience, it’s something a lot of young artists don’t even think to consider as beginners. If nothing else though, its a very specific style. I will be bringing this back up later for some really fun speculation.

These drawings she does are beautiful but also specifically are tied to her powers to manipulate memories.

What we also know about Namine is that she is being used for her powers against her will. Better analysts have covered this already so I will simply say Namine is a good and caring person who has magical manipulative powers that people were abusing her for. She betrayed her captors by the end of COM by refusing to hurt Sora any longer. All the while being tied back to Kairi. What they were making her do though, was manipulate Sora’s memories to replace all images of Kairi with herself… but also certain memories of Riku. Specifically, the memory of Riku swearing an oath to protect Sora as he gave Sora his crown necklace during the meteor shower (seriously, please read those pre-req theories). And ever since her debut, the games have never allowed us to stray from connecting her back very directly to Kairi. Namine is the most literal of parallels. Please keep all of this in mind for later.

Xion.

Xion, conceptually, is an extremely complicated character. She is tied to Kairi in ways that are not as literal as Namine, but she is still very closely associated with her. Once again, far better analysts can explain her better than I can, but here are the most important notes I will make about her:

-Xion is a puppet containing Sora’s memories. -The memories creating Xion are a complex amalgam of memories related to Sora himself, Kairi, and Riku.

All we really need to note for this Kairi Theory Essay is that Xion is another Kairi parallel that is directly associated with missing/manipulated memories as well. She is inadvertently taking these memories from Roxas, the Sora parallel, whom she is copied from, and these memories specifically belong to Sora. Twice in a row, Nomura has told us Kairi parallels are related to Sora’s memories being affected.

That’s all we really need to know for now, but I will also speculate further on Xion in relation to this theory later.~

Aqua

Aqua is not a literal Kairi parallel the way that Namine and Xion are. Aqua has no direct ties to Kairi the way they do, and her character is entirely original and not related to Kairi. However, Aqua is still figuratively a Kairi parallel, due to the role she plays in her story. I’ve already broken down elsewhere what role she plays that is meant to mirror Kairi, but the tl;dr of that is Aqua was set up as a pawn to observe, draw out her friends, and create a division between them. Like Kairi as well, she is not to be defined by these acts, because she truly loves her friends and dedicated her heart’s power to protecting them and saving them. She protects Ven’s body the way Kairi protected Sora’s bodily form. She also works to keep Ven from breaking by telling him he has always lived here with them and Eraqus, the same way Kairi as a Chirithy works to help Sora by taking his memory of Riku’s sacrifice away. Once again, even with the loosest of Kairi parallels, we see memory manipulation at play with the Sora parallel.

Chirithy

I will keep this short because I hope that you read the Sleeping Realm Theory and I also trust that you have the critical thinking skills to understand this symbolic (and literal) concept easily lol. Kairi is Sora’s chirithy the way Riku is Sora’s dream eater. A Chirithy is a specific kind of dream eater, however. A chirithy is made to follow you as your companion, and they specifically lead you into new timelines, taking away the traumatic memories you gained that caused the timeline to shift. We see this play out in KHUX, and with controversy, as the chirithies themselves discuss whether or not it’s actually morally okay for them to take those memories. Although that is a question, Kairi’s instincts are, in my opinion, purely and sweetly to protect Sora. She promised to keep him safe, (I’ve been supposing at that point in the loop she knew she was a Chirithy, and she most certainly was his chirithy by then either way given the ears on her hood appearing after Sora’s dream drop occurred). She does take Sora’s traumatic memories away, it is her job to do so, and I believe she does this solely because she means well and wants to keep him safe and smiling, as her letter to Sora suggests.

Unfortunately, what this specifically does though, is removes Sora’s memory of Riku’s sacrifice. It is stolen from him in that sense. Not only that, but because Sora’s memory of Riku’s sacrifice was taken, in spite of the event being etched onto his heart, and the pain of it being scarred into it, Sora credits Kairi as the source of the light he is following in the darkness. We know for a fact that that light is Riku’s because we saw the sacrifice, we remember it, we saw Sora call to it as Riku and receive a response, we even see Kairi twirl in front of the light and back away from it to lead Sora into it because it is not her light. Kairi, in a very literal way, has replaced Riku in Sora’s mind regarding who his light is. Kairi herself does not do this, it is Sora who fools himself because his memory was taken, but nevertheless, Kairi has just replaced Riku in Sora’s thoughts regarding this light and erased his memory of Riku’s sacrifice.

I will suggest more Things in the speculation section~

Now that all of that is out of the way, Lets Talk About Kairi’s Letters.

What do they do? Well, objectively, we do not know. That’s why this is a theory lol. But regardless of any magic or manipulation, letters are a means of forging a connection with others. Letters to friends by nature are words from the heart intended for someone you care about.

But literally speaking in the series, Kairi’s letters do something a little more special. In kh2 they forge a literal connection to Sora from Kairi. Sora is “trapped” in the dark realm with Riku, but pretty content to be so. No door opened, and that was the ending they had happily resigned to. It is not until Sora reads Kairi’s letter, emphasized by the camera, that the door to light opens. At the very least, we know for sure that manipulation or not, Kairi’s letters are capable of doing that much…

Kairi also tells us she writes letters to Sora and doesn’t even send them. For whatever reason, however, she sent the letter in Kh2 as soon as she remembered who Sora was post his reconstruction. And this is pretty much all we know for sure.

If I say “Kairi’s letters are manipulating Sora” thats rather jumping to conclusions, cuz obviously there are missing pieces. All we have is: Kairi—>Letters—> ___ —>Sora.

That’s not enough to make the conclusion. But that’s where those handy dandy parallels come in.

Namine—> Drawings—> Manipulate—>Sora Xion—->Memories—-> Borrowed—> (Roxas—>) Sora Aqua—-> White Lies—> Distract—> Ven Chirithy----> Memories----> Taken----> Keyblade Wielder

So as you can see, the missing piece that fits the puzzle, isn’t so hard to theory-craft. Especially between Namine and Kairi. It is a jump to a conclusion, but it is far from a leap. True or not, this is my working theory.

So it’s time for speculation.  Things that I have been exploring on the other side of that “leap”.

Kairis letters

Let’s start with the first letter we get to read from Kairi.

Pretty sweet sentiments right? But here is the thing about some of those lines in particular… “Many worlds sharing the same sky” is something Sora has already heard… from Riku.

Not to mention, something about this dark realm scene in Kh2 always bothered me… Sora is seemingly in utter bliss with Riku in the dark realm.

He does wanna get Riku home but if they’re stuck here, they are not complaining. And then the camera lingers for a pretty long time on Riku handing Sora that letter. That usually means they want me to notice it and consider it… Okay, time to consider it.~

The letter pretty certainly opened the door to light by forging a connection to Sora from the light world with Kairi. Sora was so content that he wasn’t even connecting to home. Not until he read this nice letter from his friend Kairi. There is nothing manipulative about that on its own… but we have been asked by the games to parallel Kairi to Namine so I think it’s fair to suggest Kairi’s creative writing should really be considered thoughtfully the way Namine’s drawings are. The most basic logic is these letters are affecting Sora’s mind in some way. What further leads me to think this? The only thing Sora was even thinking about in this scene before reading that letter was Riku. Riku’s company, Riku’s injury, Riku’s happiness, Riku, Riku, Riku. And then as someone else pointed out here, Sora sees Kairi in the light world after reading this letter and leaves Riku to struggle to shore on his own.

This doesn’t have to mean anything but we know Riku is injured, We know the Sun is Riku’s symbol, and Sora is running from Riku, eclipsing the Sun, and rushing back to shore where Kairi is waiting to welcome him home. It is jarring when you think about it. How did Sora go from thinking about nothing else BUT Riku to leaving him with a probably-broken-hip to struggle to shore on his own? It is no wonder Riku is always left to think he is going to be alone in life and he has no choice but to struggle out of the darkness on his own.

This mirrors something in particular….

The scene of Sora losing Riku to the darkness in the KH1 opening…

Followed by shot for shot re-animation of Sora chasing Riku’s Light in the KH3 Dive to the Heart.

And something about the scene in Kh1 always really bothered me… Sora was worried sick about Riku when he lost him to the sea- only to suddenly be happy and appear blissfully ignorant of Riku disappearing the moment he sees Kairi. As if he just suddenly forgot about him upon seeing her.

And I think the parallels speak for themselves. (Don’t forget about that beach scene in the Kh3 op either... we are getting to that.)

I’m not saying Kairi and her letters make Sora forget about Riku, but…

I’m also not saying Kairi’s letters replace memories of Riku with herself, I actually don’t know that there’s enough here to make that statement likely… So I won’t… say that…

(I hope you read those pre-req’s because I’m going to assume you speak the KH language regarding Sora, Riku, and Kairi vs, water, land and air, vs Light/Dark, the Sun, the Moon, Dawn, Sunset, Night… all that good stuff.)

Now let’s talk about her letter in 3.

Oh this is interesting. Repeating motifs. Almost as though the game is trying to tell us something crucial.

Full transcript of Kairi’s KH3 letter to Sora that she has no intention of sending:

I'm sorry I left without saying good-bye. Did Master Yen Sid tell you? I'm training to become a Keyblade wielder like you.  That's right. No more waiting for you to come back from your adventures.  I want to get out there and do my part to help.  Merlin has used his magic to bring us to a place where time doesn't matter. We can take as long as we need to complete our training. He's an amazing wizard.  Oh, and by "us," I mean me and lea.  He's really sorry for all the trouble he caused. I told him it's fine, but he won't stop apologizing.  I'll admit I was a little scared of him at first, but I've gotten to know him better. All he ever wanted was to help his friend.  Honestly, it's hard not to like him.  Every now and then, I catch him staring at me. When I ask what's wrong, he says, "I'm not sure. I think I'm forgetting something. Don't know what."  Sora, I think it may have something to do with you.  Your journey is all about helping people: some that you've never met before, and some like Lea that you have. They're all counting on you.  It won't be easy, but I hope you'll remain the happy and cheerful Sora I know.  There's no heart your smile can't reach.

In particular, this letter goes on and on about Lea and how he has turned over a new leaf and deserves forgiveness. Personally, I took this to mean Kairi is really hoping Sora will forgive her for the part she was forced to play in Xehanort’s plot, perhaps her writing even influencing his mind to do so via urging him to forgive Lea. You may notice that this would imply that Kairi is fully aware of her role in Norty Nort’s plot. And to that I say yes, it sure would. But not as much as her leading Sora around to her various “heart” pieces like a moth to the wrong flame in Re:Mind.

Anyway, this is not a letter she intends to send to Sora, and she makes a note of this to Lea, even when he tells her plainly that Merlin will deliver it for her. If we keep in mind that Namine’s art doesn’t even need to be seen by Sora for the mind tricks to work, then perhaps- Sora really doesn’t even need to receive this letter for its influence to work. This would rather make her frantic attempt to send the letter in Kh2 a little strange, but consider this: Her close connections to Sora are potentially based very heavily on these letters. Especially if some of her connections are based on making him forget Riku at various points. Having forgotten Sora in Kh2 until he was reconstructed, and considering that Sora barely reacts to her reunion hug with him, it rather makes a lot of sense that Kairi needed to forge a new connection with him, via one of her letters. In that case, Sora needed to actually read it.

KH3 OP

Beach Scene

Now, finally, I want to talk about that part of the Kh3 opening I mentioned at the very beginning. We are back. Once again, I trust you speak the language of Kh symbolism.

This section begins with Kairi suddenly appearing against a bright white background. Forgive me if I suggest hey, that reminds me of Namine’s white walls, or some blank pages... Next, Sora appears in the empty white environment, which remains white until, seemingly, their eyes meet. And THEN, after that delay, the world of Destiny Islands starts rendering in like a game slowly loading a world on a slow engine. Once again, the motif of Sora standing in the ocean, and running up to Kairi on the shore takes place. He is happy to see her. Perhaps he thinks he found the Light that Chirithy told him to search for. Hey this time Kairi is even running into the sea to meet him instead of waiting for him, just like she said! good for her~. Anyway. As they run out to meet each other, however, lightning strikes. Sora doesn’t see it, but he clearly senses it in some way and stops, (didn’t someone once tell Sora to mind what he hears and not what he sees?~). The camera then zooms out to reveal Sora and Kairi as pieces on a chess board in Nort and Eraqus’ game. Now, this essayist takes for granted that Riku is the Light cuz the text says so. Because of that, my first instinct is to say the purple lighting that we saw represents Riku. A forgotten, heartbroken, lonely Riku. Lightning being one of the most destructive forms of light after all, and Riku would be particularly hurt to know that Sora has forgotten him.

Where is Riku?

What is really interesting about this opening is the severe, odd, lack of Riku. He is missing throughout most of it but in particular when Sora is fighting Xemnas. In the opening for Dream Drop Distance, Riku is very much there, and the animations of him harmoniously fighting with Sora, as well as protecting Sora, self sacrificially are prominent, are there because they want you to remember exactly what happened in that scene and what Riku did.

Only for that to be absent from Sora’s boss battle review sequence in Kh3’s opening. At first, I found his absence annoying but now I’ve come to realize there is a reason for it. The popular theory is that it relates to Sora’s memories being taken away. Riku’s sacrifice most certainly was one of them, thanks to Kairi as his chirithy, but that’s not the memory missing from the opening sequence. It’s basically Riku in general outside of the fall of Destiny Islands, the cast shot, and the shot of him walking into the light from shadow. There isn’t a review of previous games in which Riku played the crucial role he did, and nothing from Dream Drop Distance. To that I personally say, this is most likely foreshadowing that Sora will lose ALL his memories of Riku- as his entry fee to play the Reaper’s Game in Shibuya… Oh yes, TWEWY is also a pre-requisite for this theory lol but you should also play it in general cuz it’s a great story and if nothing else is obviously crucial to what comes next in Kingdom Hearts. Highly speculative, but my assumption is that once Sora beats the game and Joshua returns all of his memories, he will give Sora EVERYTHING back, including anything Kairi has removed as his chirithy or anything she has manipulated as herself.

Further Parallel Speculation

Remember when I said I’d love to elaborate? Well here we are~ We’re gonna get super gay too.

Namine:

Namine is a figure that represents, to me, a brilliant use of queer coding about a queer struggle known as compulsory heterosexuality (or comp-het for short as I’ll be repeating this term a lot). If you made it this far and aren’t lgbt savvy then I’ll tell you that comp-het means compulsively feeling attraction to someone of the opposite sex based on heteronormative conditioning. As Sora roams through Castle Oblivion, he is constantly finding himself misplacing memories of Kairi onto Namine followed by eventually memories of Riku onto Namine. This is one of the most literal depictions of the comp-het phenomenon I’ve ever seen, and it is BOLDLY placed in a mainstream video game from the year 2003. It’s quite admirable in my opinion. Namine’s abilities grant us a convoluted plot so confusing that most people will not understand right away, but to the queer eye familiar with comp-het, it provides a strong implication that Sora may be even more confused than we think about who it is he is in love with. To illustrate, it means Sora thinks he likes Kairi romantically cuz society told him being straight is the default way we live. In actuality, he is projecting his feelings for Riku onto Kairi, (with Riku doing the same until COM and onward), and in COM, those Riku->Kairi feelings are projected onto Namine. She creates another layer of distance between them. But even without her presence, Kairi is still there between them, a question that begs to be answered, and yet another extremely common parallel.

Namine is extremely uncomfortable taking the necklace memory of Riku and imposing herself on it. But when you consider Kairi may have been manipulating Sora, it makes me also wonder how many of Sora’s Kairi memories are actually Riku memories, and whether or not Namine even CAN fix those memories… Just food for thought. Speaking of comp-het...

Xion Xion is an even more convoluted character creation, designed to confuse you even more than Namine does. In my eyes, Xion is very literally comp-het personified. Xion, as far as we’ve been told, is a puppet, a copy of Roxas but blank slate. A literal nobody. They are only what you project onto them. And what did Xion become?

Xion became a real confusing amalgam of so many things. -Roxas initially projects GirlTM onto her. Literally. This makes sense since he already has Axel, a male friend, and his instincts coming from Sora’s memories casually assume a female friend is needed to complete their trio. This is because Kairi was that female friend to Sora. -Over time, as Xion craves becoming whole, she inadvertently receives more memories from Roxas (Sora), of Kairi and obtains her face (albeit with black hair, and there are numerous theories about why that is but this essay is already really long lol). -The strange thing is though- despite having Kairi’s face, the hints we get are that Riku memories are zapping into her too. Not only that, but her death grants Roxas Oblivion as she enters his heart. -I don’t think I need to explain what that implies, but to keep it short, Oblivion is representative of Riku’s oath to Sora associated with the necklace memory. Namine was correct to tell Ansem the Wise that the missing memories are crucial to Sora. I have an analysis on Oblivion vs Promise Keeper that I keep meaning to post but the tl;dr of it is that Oblivion has nothing whatsoever to do with Kairi and EVERYTHING ENTIRELY to do with Riku and his oath to protect Sora. It should have no association with her whatsoever. She is also Roxas’ forgotten friend once the memories of her go away the way Sora’s memories of Riku will. -The manga also much more clearly shows us that the feelings Xion is thriving on from Sora are feelings associated with Riku: the empowerment he feels when fighting with friends.

So if I may, here is the returning theme of projection, of misplaced affection, of misplaced memories. This theme is SO CONSTANT with every Kairi scene and parallel we get, and I do not think it is a stretch to say they are not just here to discuss queer themes of compulsory heterosexuality, but are integral to the plot of KH in a very literal, physical way. In other words, it comes up with Kairi way too often to make mind manipulation a leap. It’s still a jump, but it is not a leap.

Aqua

Aqua is not a literal Kairi parallel the way Namine and Xion are, so she does not bring any major compulsory heterosexuality themes to the table, and her “mind manipulation”, if my theory on white lies between the BBS trio is correct, is pretty minuscule as far as we can tell. This does not mean there isn’t anything to speculate on regarding Kairi’s powers though.

Aqua is a gifted mage, and places a protective spell on Kairi when they meet. This is such a sweet and sentimental moment and I love it so much. She also literally gives her friends way finder charms based on paopu fruits the way Kairi does for Sora. So there are some literal parallels to be found there, but the ideas that concern me most are these-

Aqua is associated with magic. Given that Aqua, Namine, and Xion, are all associated with water, like Kairi, (again I assume you speak the KH language of symbolism and metaphor), and some form of magic (Namine with mind powers, and Xion wielding the key blade), is it possible that Kairi is also a mage of some kind? Or at least harbors the powers of a mage, the way she harnesses the power of a princess of heart?

Re:Mind menu screen art

This is an analysis I’ve been dying to post but only since Kairi has been outed as a pawn spy for Xehanort have I felt free enough to do so without going through the trouble of proving her association with the dark side. You are welcome to dismiss this analysis for reading too much into it but if you’re as deep into this as I am then here we go~

First of all, I want to call attention to how beautiful this art is, and how wonderfully symbolic I think it is, and what it actually reminds me of. Do you remember my comments earlier about Namine having a specific art style, which incorporates reflective light in her coloring? Look at the oceanic blue in Sora’s grey pants and jacket. Look at the yellow from sunlight in Sora’s hair. Look at the blue and yellow reflecting in Kairi’s pink dress and her red hair. Look at the tinge of blue from the sea reflecting on Sora’s paopu fruit. I am not saying this menu art is supposed to be literally drawn by Namine, I sincerely do not think it is lol, this is a symbolic image. But I do think it is meant to REMIND us of Namine’s art.

This menu screen, like the blank pages of a sketch book or notebook, like the beach scene in the KH3 opening, begins with a white screen. Slowly fading in, like the beach scene in the KH3 opening, or a game with a slow loading engine, we have a sketch of Sora. Sora’s feet appear already immersed in the water, as he is eating a paopu fruit, continuing his walk out to sea that we have been seeing him take since kh1 with these key arts. Sora is walking out into the ocean alone, and the coloring fades in bringing the scene to life. This is all the menu art is for KH3.

When Re:Mind was released, the menu screen for it evolved. Now, suddenly fading into this pre-existing scene is a drawing of Kairi, inserted into the moment. Kairi is depicted with a paopu fruit of her own, and she enters the scene with her feet standing on top of the water, not immersed like Sora’s the way they should be considering the depth of the water. This could be a mistake and nothing more… except the water has splash animations added around their feet, meaning this is something someone absolutely should have caught because animations are here drawing our attention to it. This would imply that it means something, so- what? Kairi is not immersed in the ocean, (darkness?), the way Sora is. She is walking /on/ water, not in it. I think this may very well be representative of her protecting Sora’s form as he navigates the new timeline in the dream scape, similar to when we see Riku and Sora walking on water in the dark realm. Or it may represent the way she is navigating darkness but is not immersed in darkness. She treads over it, not through it.

We do not know what this menu screen means. But here is my take on it. Because it is meant to remind us of Namine, we should consider mind manipulation is at play. Because Kairi appears here only after Re:Mind is released, in her Chirithy hood and eating a paopu with Sora, we are to recognize this as the second timeline, in which Kairi has been added to Sora’s journey like a figure in Namine’s art. We should also remember that as Sora’s chirithy, she has removed his traumatic memory of the timeline shift and very specifically removed his memory of Riku dying as he sacrificed himself for Sora. As the title implies, the game wants to remind us of what happened: the timeline being rewritten, as well as Sora’s Memories being rewritten, and in a sense, Sora’s MIND being REwritten. So much to do with mind and memory being affected...

A couple more theories as food for thought:

Kairi’s Grandmother:

You may have been wondering how Kairi could be so pure of heart, as far as we are aware, and yet capable of morally grey things like manipulation at best, and outright terrible things at worst? Well, here is my theory: Kairi’s grandmother has been held hostage and used as leverage against Kairi. For as often as Kairi has been used as a catalyst to bait Sora into acting for Xehanort’s schemes, we know Norty and the powers he works for, (Master of Masters), are no strangers to keeping hostages as motivation for their pawns. I’m just going to fill in the missing blanks between “Kairi’s missing grandmother” and “Kairi acting for the dark side”. Remember her letter to Sora that she didn’t send where she told Sora that Lea was just acting out evil to save his friend, and he’s actually a very good guy and a lovable friend you can’t help forgiving?

I think this is intending to draw a redemption arc parallel between Kairi and Lea that is even more literal than you think. Axel was acting out harshly because he would do anything to bring Roxas back, even willing to destroy Sora to make that happen. If Kairi’s only family was being kept prisoner and threatened with death unless Kairi did what she was told, how can you blame Kairi for her actions? Especially when she started playing the role of a pawn as a helpless child. We don’t know what she’s been through, but probably a lot of traumatic experiences. There is no reason to consider Kairi evil, and although you can explain her actions any number of ways, this one seems the most likely to me.

Her parallels likewise have had a reasonable motivation for their actions if they were even willful at all. 

-Namine herself was being held captive, with the organization forcing her to commit acts of violating mind manipulation. Seeing how genuinely kind Sora was, however, she eventually refused to be their pawn anymore -Xion did not even willfully take Sora’s memories, she was a complete victim of circumstance. Even when wanting to run away, however, Roxas simply was not going to live if she were around to continue absorbing his powers. Thus she chooses to return to Sora. -Aqua is not spying on Terra or trying to drag Ven home because she wants to. She is doing it because Eraqus burdened her with this task. She protects Ven with all she has in the end, and sacrifices herself to give Terra a chance at survival.

Do not assume that Kairi being capable of doing these things, or actually doing them makes her evil. KH has been pretty consistent about showing the ways in which women are often forced by the patriarchy to perform various deeds against their will and there is no reason to hate her for this or think the worst of her when she is more than likely just as much a victim of circumstance as anybody else in her position would be. I think it’s very fair to be mad at someone in her position if you were the one being manipulated by her, but never forget to be fair in your judgement of this fictional character being manipulated by the forces of evil in this fictional world which uses her as a pawn. Kairi can still a good person of good intent even if she had to do bad things.  

Time to reach: Ava

Since I’m already several layers deep in speculation I just thought I’d throw this out there as food for thought. It’s a popular theory that Ava, the missing foreteller, is dwelling within Kairi’s heart, which could possibly mean Namine is Ava’s nobody the way Roxas is likely Ven’s, as they were both dwelling in Kairi’s heart and Sora’s heart respectively when Sora sacrificed himself. Ava is particualrly skilled in the art of Illusions, which is pretty relevant to the idea that Kairi and Namine are directly manipulating Sora’s mind. Namine’s powers involve rearranging memories, and drawing new memories illustration what she is creating. She is literally creating illusions in the mind. If Ava is dwelling in Kairi’s heart, perhaps logically Kairi can use these powers but not directly. She cannot create illusions out of thin air, but can play tricks on the mind with them. Namine forming from Kairi’s heart having meshed with Ava’s heart might thus be able to create mind illusions, using drawn illusions. Is Ava the source of Kairi’s powers? Is Ava the princess of heart which Kairi is using to do her jobs? Well, I don’t know lol. It’s just out there as food for thought.

In Conclusion.... Nothing, really lol

All we have to go on are consistent parallels and strong guesses. Kairi may or may not be able to manipulate minds, and her letters may or may not influence Sora’s mind. I don’t know. It is worth considering though, I think. However, I ask that you judge Kairi fairly, open mindedly, and do not underestimate how powerful she may very well be. I cannot wait to see what will be revealed about her character in the future.

#kingdom hearts #soriku #kairi #kh theory #kh kairi #kingdom hearts 3 #kh3

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maddrmatt · 3 years

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Kairi’s Epic Journey: The Quest for Sora

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Chapter 18: A Rift Between Sisters

Arendelle

“You can wait here with the boys for now, Kairi. I’ll be back soon with Elsa after I tell her about you and why you’re here,” said Anna as she led Kairi into a small sitting room in the castle followed by Pluto, Kristoff, Sven and Olaf.

“Okay, Anna,” said Kairi.

“Hopefully she’s finally done with him. Honestly, tomorrow can’t come soon enough,” said Anna bitterly as she exited the room.

Kairi made her way over to a nearby couch and sat down. Pluto leapt on the left side of her and laid his head in her lap as she stroked him gently. Olaf plopped himself on Kairi’s right and smiled at her.

Kristoff sat down in a chair across from them and let out a deep sigh. “Tomorrow can’t come soon enough for me either. I’m just glad this will all be over soon,” he said as Sven sat down on the floor beside him.

“Me too,” Kristoff said in his Sven voice.

“Kristoff? If you don’t mind me asking, who is this Duke of Weselton you’ve all been talking about?” asked Kairi.

“I can answer that question, Kairi. He’s a duke and he comes from a place called Weselton. It’s not too hard to understand, is it?” asked Olaf causing Kairi to smile a little.

“I think she needs a little more information than that, Olaf,” said Kristoff as Sven nodded in agreement. “Well, Kairi, he’s a dignitary from what used to be Arendelle’s closest partner in trade,”

“Used to be? You mean, they’re not anymore?” asked Kairi.

“No. And the reason why is during the time when Elsa accidentally started an eternal winter, he ordered his bodyguards to kill her in an attempt to end it.”

Kairi gasped. “That’s horrible!”

“Yes. So, when Elsa brought back summer, she had the Duke and his men returned to their homeland and cut off the trade agreement between Arendelle and Weselton.”

Kairi looked confused. “But if he tried to have her killed, then why has he been allowed to return here?”

“Apparently, he wants to apologize for what he did, and he believed the only way to show that he meant it was to do it in person,” said Kristoff.

“And do you all believe he’s sincere?”

“Elsa seems to think so. But Anna believes he’s still up to no good. Me? Well, I don’t think he’d try anything especially now that Elsa’s got her powers under control. But I think this whole apology thing is just him trying to get the trade agreement reinstated. All I’m really hoping is that once he’s gone, things will get back to normal between Anna and Elsa,” said Kristoff.

“What do you mean? Have they been fighting?” asked Kairi.

“Not exactly. I mean, they haven’t stopped speaking to each other. But due to their disagreement on the Duke’s visit, things have been pretty frosty between the two of them. Everyone in the castle can all see it,” said Kristoff.

“I still don’t understand it. They’re not just sisters but best friends too. Why would things get bad between them like this?” asked Olaf.

“I can answer that for you, Olaf and the sad fact is, sisters and best friends don’t always agree on everything. And that can sometimes lead to things being strained between them for some time,” said Kairi. ‘I certainly know what that’s like.’

“I wouldn’t worry too much about it, Olaf. If I know Anna and Elsa, they’ll patch things up in time. They’ve been through too much to let something like this split them up again,” said Kristoff.

Olaf smiled. “You’re right! Once the Weasel goes home, they’ll go right back to being best friends again,” said the snowman as Sven nodded.

“I’m sorry that I came at such a bad time. Maybe it’s too much to ask all of you for your help in finding Sora now,” said Kairi.

“Don’t say that, Kairi. You couldn’t have known how things were when you arrived. And if there’s one thing that may ease the tension around here after all this, it’ll be helping you find your friend,” said Kristoff.

________________________________________________________________

Elsewhere in the castle, Anna approached the door to the audience chamber. Pressing her ear to the door, she listened to what was going on within.

“Thank you again, Your Majesty, for allowing me to come to your kingdom as well as accepting my apology. I only wish I could apologize to your sister personally,” said a male voice.

“My sister has made it clear she does not wish to see you presently so I will accept your apology to both of us on her behalf. And I thank you, Duke, for abiding by our conditions as well as not bringing up the subject of trade between our homelands because my decision still stands,” stated a female voice.

In spite of herself, Anna smiled. ‘That’s telling him, Elsa. If that was what he was after all along, then way to beat him to the punch.’

“I assure you, Your Majesty, the thought of that never even crossed my mind. All I wish is for relations to improve between our homelands and hopefully, someday you can both fully forgive my atrocious behavior,” said the voice of the Duke.

‘No chance of that!’ thought Anna.

“We shall see. But for the time being, shall we consider our business concluded?” asked Elsa’s voice.

“Of course, Your Majesty. I shall depart for Weselton tomorrow morning. Once again, thank you for everything,” said the Duke as the sound of his footsteps approached the door causing Anna to move away and flatten herself against the wall.

The door opened and out strolled, with an air of quiet dignity, a short man dressed in a fancy uniform. He wore glasses perched on his pointed nose and he had a gray-haired moustache and matching hair although Anna knew his hair to be a toupee.

Neither he nor the Arendelle guard who was escorting him took notice of Anna. They just continued to walk away until they turned a corner and were out of her sight. She stared in the direction they had gone with disgust as she recalled the moment where the subject of his return had first come up and caused the current rift to form between her and her sister.

________________________________________________________________

Arendelle, A Few Months Earlier

Seated behind her desk in the royal study, the Queen of Arendelle looked over a certain letter for nearly the fiftieth time. Suddenly, a familiar knock on the door was heard.

“Come in!” she called.

The door opened up and in stepped her sister. She wore a look of bewilderment to Elsa’s confusion.

“What is it?” inquired Elsa.

“Sorry. It still feels a little strange to actually be let in,” said Anna with a little chuckle.

Elsa chuckled herself. “Well, if it makes you feel any better, it’s just as strange for me actually doing the letting in.”

Anna laughed and then said, “Anyway, Gerda said you needed to talk to me about something so what is it?”

“Well, Anna, we just received a letter from the Duke of Weselton,” said Elsa indicating the letter in question in her hand.

Anna groaned in frustration. “What does he want? Is he begging you to reinstate trade between Arendelle and Weselton which I hope the answer is no?”

“It’s actually not about that at all, Anna. Why don’t read it yourself and see? It’s actually addressed to you as well,” asked Elsa holding out the letter.

With a look of confusion, Anna walked over to her sister and took the letter from her. She then began to read it over.

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To Queen Elsa and Princess Anna of Arendelle,

I do not know if this letter will be read by either of you on account that I have no right to expect such a thing. But if you are reading this, then I thank you in advance for I have something that needs to be said.

I wish to offer my sincerest apologies for my conduct during my last visit to your kingdom. Having had much time to reflect, I am deeply ashamed of the way I spoke and acted when things took an unusual turn at the coronation.

Please understand that the shocking revelation of the queen’s abilities as well as the possibility of perishing overcame me with fear. And because of that, I acted in a very inexcusable manner and for that, I am truly sorry.

I know my words in this letter will not be enough to convey my regrets. Therefore, if you will allow me to, I wish to travel to your kingdom and offer a more formal apology in person. Only then can I believe my conscience will be truly clear.

Once again, I apologize, and I do hope you will consider my request. I do not wish for there to be any hard feelings between us or our homelands.

Yours sincerely,

The Duke of Weselton

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Anna reread the letter making sure she didn’t miss a single word. Finally, she lowered the letter and burst out laughing.

“He has got to be kidding. He must really be desperate for that trade agreement if he’s pretending to beg for forgiveness now. Good thing we’re too smart to fall for it, right Elsa?” asked Anna looking to her sister who, much to her surprise, wasn’t instantly agreeing with her.

“Elsa?”

“Anna, please don’t overreact to this. But after reading the letter several times, I have been considering granting the Duke’s request.”

Anna let out a gasp of horror. “You can’t be serious, Elsa!”

“Anna, please calm down,” said Elsa rising from her chair and approaching her now seething sister.

“The Duke isn’t one of my favorite people either. But part of ruling a kingdom is maintaining civil relations with our neighbors even those we aren’t particularly fond of. And judging from his letter, it seems that he is sincere in wanting to apologize for his actions and I think it would be unwise to just ignore that,” said the queen of Arendelle.

“So, send him a letter telling him his apology is accepted and there’s no need for him to come in person. Then that’ll be the end of it,” said Anna.

“Anna, it’s not that simple.”

“I don’t want him coming within a hundred miles of us after what he tried to do.”

“No one can defend what he did. But unlike… you-know-who, he didn’t come to the coronation to cause trouble right from the start. When my powers were revealed and I plunged the land into a dangerous winter, he got scared. And having spent a large part of my life afraid of what my powers could do uncontrolled, I can’t really blame him for it,” said Elsa.

“He called you a monster, Elsa! He tried to have you killed!”

“Anna, for the longest time, I myself believed that I was a monster. Hearing it from him was no different. And you can’t deny that my powers are capable of great harm when uncontrolled. You should know that better than anyone. Even if the Duke hadn’t tried to kill me to stop the winter, someone else with better intentions might’ve done the same,” said Elsa.

Anna folded her arms and considered her sister’s words. She could understand why some people like the Duke of Weselton would be scared of Elsa’s powers and make bad choices because of that fear. She had, after all, witnessed the destruction caused by Elsa’s uncontrolled powers and had a close call with death because of it. Still, despite Elsa’s logic, she still felt that allowing the Duke to return to Arendelle was a mistake.

Elsa took her sister’s hands into her own. “I know you just want to protect me from him, Anna, and I appreciate that. But trust me. I’m not going to allow back into Arendelle unless he’s willing to follow certain conditions.”

Anna let out a sigh of resignation. “Okay. If you think this is necessary to maintain good relations, then I guess we don’t have a choice. But I want to help set the conditions, one being that I don’t to have to interact with him anymore than necessary and another being that he is not to bother Kristoff, Sven, Olaf or anyone else while he’s here among other things.”

“You’ll have your say in that, Anna, as long as you remember to be reasonable. But before we start on that, maybe you should calm down a little,” said Elsa.

Anna huffed. “Fine. I guess I’ll go tell the boys what’s going to happen and to prepare themselves for a visit from Weasel Town. I’ll see you later,” she said frostily as she exited the study.

Elsa sighed as she went back to her desk. Before beginning to look over more paperwork, she glanced at a picture on the wall of Anna and herself with their deceased parents, King Agnarr and Queen Iduna.

‘Mama, Papa, I knew when I became queen, there would have to be some tough decisions especially ones that Anna and I wouldn’t completely agree on. I can only hope I’m doing what’s best for us and for Arendelle.’

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Arendelle, Present Time

‘He’d better behave himself for this night or so help me, he’s going to have to answer to me,’ thought Anna before taking a deep breath to calm herself. ‘All right, Anna. I know things haven’t been good between you and Elsa lately. But right now, you need to put that aside if you want to help Kairi.’

Anna immediately entered through the opened doors and into the audience chamber. Sitting on a throne directly in front of her was her sister. Elsa had her eyes closed and looked like she was relieved that the meeting was over.

A feeling of sympathy for her sister came over Anna. ‘I guess the meeting wasn’t easy on her. Then again, being in the same room with someone who tried to have you killed wouldn’t be easy on anyone.’

A few moments passed before Elsa opened her eyes and beheld her sister standing in front of her. “Oh, Anna!” she exclaimed.

“Hi, Elsa. So, is that it? Are we finally done with him?” asked Anna.

“Yes. For now, at least. There may come a time when we have to deal with him again in the future. But it is all in the name of diplomacy,” said Elsa.

“I know. Even if we may not ever be friends, we have to keep things civil between us as you’ve told me repeatedly. Personally, I hope the next time we see him won’t happen for a good long while. But anyway, Elsa, our next order of business has come up,” said Anna.

Elsa snapped to attention with a confused look. “Next order of business? What are you talking about?”

“We have an unexpected guest. And right now, she needs our help,” said Anna

Elsa’s confusion increased. But she paid close attention as Anna related what had happened while she was meeting with the Duke.

________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, back in the sitting room, Kairi was getting to know her new friends a little better. Currently, Kristoff was telling stories of his life before he lived in the palace.

“So, these trolls took you in and made you a part of their family?” asked Kairi.

“Yep. They may be a little overbearing and embarrassing at times. But I wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world. The day they took Sven and me in was one of the best days of my life. And looking back on that day right now, it seems even better,” said the ice harvester.

“Why is that?” asked Kairi.

Kristoff blushed for a second before blurting out in his Sven voice, “It was the day he first saw Anna!”

“Sven!” exclaimed Kristoff pretending as if the reindeer had exposed something he didn’t want to be heard. The reindeer just made a laughing sound.

“Aww!” exclaimed Kairi.

“It’s true. That was the first day I saw Anna. Who would’ve thought that years later, she, a princess and me, an ice harvester, would be a couple?” asked Kristoff.

“I bet the trolls always knew. They are love experts, after all!” exclaimed Olaf.

Kairi giggled. “I guess we have something in common, Kristoff. After I lost my old home, I was taken in by a pretty loving couple who have been nothing but the most wonderful parents I could ask for.”

A twinge of sadness came over her. ‘I can only hope they’ll forgive me for just running away again.’

Pluto sensed Kairi’s sadness and nuzzled further into her lap. Kairi smiled and stroked his head.

“That same day was also when I met Sora. He was the one who found me, and I will never forget how he smiled and held out his hand for me to take,” said Kairi as a little blush appeared on her cheeks.

Olaf giggled. “Sounds like he’s a pretty special friend to you.”

“Yes. Yes, he is,” said Kairi almost dreamingly.

Suddenly, the door opened and in strolled Anna and Elsa. Kairi immediately leapt to her feet as Elsa approached her. The Princess of Heart bowed before the queen.

Elsa smiled. “You must be Kairi. As queen of Arendelle, I welcome you to our kingdom and our castle.”

Kairi rose up and returned Elsa’s smile with one of her own. “Thank you, Your Majesty. This is my dog, Pluto,” she said indicating her companion next to her who barked happily at the queen.

Elsa chuckled. “It’s a pleasure to meet both of you. But it’s not necessary to be so formal, Kairi. You may just call me Elsa.”

“I did say you could call her by name, Kairi,” reminded Anna.

“Did you forget that already?” asked Olaf.

“No, I didn’t. It’s just that my father always taught me to be formal until you got permission to be casual. I just needed to hear it from Elsa herself first,” said Kairi.

“Your father should be proud that he raised such a polite young lady. Now, Kairi, Anna tells me that there is a very important reason you’ve come to Arendelle,” said Elsa.

Before Kairi could say anything, Olaf chimed in, “Yes, Elsa! Sora’s missing and we’ve got to help Kairi find him!”

“What Olaf said, Elsa. I hope that there’s something in your kingdom that can possibly lead me to him. If you could help me find some sort of clue to where he is, I’ll be forever grateful,” said Kairi.

Elsa placed a hand on Kairi’s shoulder. “If there is, we’ll help you find it. You have my word that we’ll spare no effort. But we can start our search tomorrow. Right now, it’s late and Anna’s told me you’re in need of a good meal and a good rest. So, would you and your dog care to join us for dinner?”

“We’d love to. But you really don’t mind having a dog dining with you?” asked Kairi.

“We already have a reindeer usually joining us for meals nowadays so a dog isn’t a too unusual addition,” said Anna gesturing to Sven who gave a big smile.

Kairi laughed before she realized something. “Will the other guest be joining us?”

“No,” said Anna and Elsa simultaneously although Elsa used a calm tone while Anna’s tone sounded as if she had just heard Kairi say something rude.

Elsa gave her sister a small glare of annoyance before turning back to Kairi and saying, “As one of the conditions of his visit here, the Duke is not allowed to dine with us. He must take his meals in his room.”

“Trust me, Kairi. You’ll be better off if you never have to meet him. In fact, we’d all be better off if we’d never saw him again!” exclaimed Anna as she turned around and left the room.

“Anna!” exclaimed Elsa as she turned to watch her sister stomp off. She let out a deep sigh.

Kristoff rose from his chair and walked over to Elsa. “Don’t worry, Elsa. I’m sure she’ll be okay once the Duke leaves.”

“I hope you’re right, Kristoff. I hate that it’s been like this for these past weeks,” said Elsa.

“We’d better go calm her down. We’ll see you later in the dining hall. Olaf, Sven, let’s go,” said Kristoff as he left with the snowman and reindeer following him.

Elsa turned back to Kairi. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

“Oh no. I’m sorry I said the wrong thing. It’s just after what Kristoff told me about the Duke of Weselton, I’m not too sure that I want to meet him myself.”

“I’ve had Gerda make up a room for you in a different part of the castle from where he is and since he is leaving tomorrow, I doubt you’ll cross paths with him. But in the meantime, let me show you to the dining hall,” said Elsa as she turned around and left with Kairi and Pluto walking alongside her.

As they travelled through the halls, Kairi mused on the things she had learned. ‘I’d better watch myself around here while this Duke’s here. After what he tried to do when he found out about Elsa’s powers, I’d hate to see how he’d react if he saw a Keyblade Wielder in action. He sounds like the kind of person who would command the Heartless or worse, become one.’

Kairi then regarded the queen and saw the sad look on her face. ‘It’s so awful that his presence here is making things hard between Anna and Elsa. Seems I’m not the only Princess of Heart having trouble with loved ones.’

Between the search for Sora, the rift between Anna and Elsa and the presence of this Duke, Kairi never imagined a visit to another world would be filled with so much drama. She could only hope that things would improve soon enough.

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Onto the next chapter!

#kingdom hearts #kh fanfiction #sokai #anna #kairi #pluto #kristoff #sven #olaf #duke of weselton #elsa #maddrmatt

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