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zdbztumble · 5 years

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Kingdom Hearts III: re:Write

In the immediate aftermath of Kingdom Hearts III, I wrote up some thoughts on how it might have been better different. However, that re-write was predicated on accepting the rest of the series as-is, when a good number of KH III’s problems were but the culmination of issues birthed long before. I know I’m not the first person to wonder whether the series really could or should have organically and successfully continued after KH II at all, given how conclusively that game ended.

With the re:Mind DLC due out soon, I thought I’d take another crack at outlining an alternative KH III, under this premise: suppose that, after the release of KH II but before its Final Mix was completed, Tetsuya Nomura was taken off the series. Square turns it over to a new creative director. At their disposal are "The Gathering” from KH II, all the Disney films and Final Fantasy games (which we’ll assume turned out just as we know them) produced up to 2010, and a few scraps of notes left behind by Nomura (in interviews, he has claimed that at least the beginnings of BbS and Days, including the names of the past Keyblade wielders, had been conceived by the end of of KH II’s production.) They would also have the series’ penchant for unexpected directions and jumping onto shiny new ideas well-established (can’t just forget about that), and the change-over in Disney management that happened after KH II’s production. From all of this, a development team spend the next several years hard at work, with no side games on alternate consoles, ultimately presenting Kingdom Hearts III in 2012 for the series’ tenth anniversary.

This is an idea of what it might be.

KINGDOM HEARTS III (2012)

Final Mix: There would, under this scenario, be key differences in KH II FM compared to what we actually got. No long hallway scene, no sequel-bait flashback to the Organizers arguing - and no extra secret ending. Or, at least not one featuring Old Man Xehanort, proto-Vanitas, and the faces of the armored Keyblade wielders. There’d also be no Lingering Will secret boss and no hints to Xehanort’s past beyond what was already in the Ansem Secret Reports.

Background: Just as KH II was set a year after KH I, KH III is set one year after the events of KH II. Mickey’s message at the end of that game wasn’t a warning or a summons for another adventure - it was news that he and Scrooge McDuck were taking another stab at their idea for a transit system connecting the worlds. The downfall of Xehanort in all his forms and Sora’s safe travels through the lanes he found in KH II convinced them it could be done. One year on, all the worlds from the first two games, and a few new ones, are part of this system (this doesn’t mean that every world from previous games would appear, only that they would be nodded to.)

All shops in all worlds are now those of McDuck Enterprises, staffed by either Moogles, Disney characters, or both. No two shops have exactly the same set of merchandise, encouraging exploration and back-tracking to find key items and allowing for wider crossover opportunities. In that vein, it would be absolutely essential that, at some point in the game, a cutscene depicts Scrooge arguing with Moogles over something related to the stores.

Radiant Garden has been almost completely restored to a beautiful pairing of castle, garden, and town. Besides the rebuilt town and full gardens, the entire castle - the chapel and library from KH I and the basement labs from KH II - is explorable in gameplay. In the absence of a sage king, a council serve as stewards of the world. Obvious council members would include Merlin, Aerith, and Leon, who has formed a defense force for the garden - and why not give it the name SeeD? Leon’s also taken back the name Squall, thanks to Rinoa turning up in the intervening year. You can take it as certain that Yuffie (and later Sora) refuse to acknowledge this name change, just to get on Squall’s nerves.

Back on Destiny Islands, Sora, Riku, and Kairi have returned to their normal lives, having plenty of word from their off-world friends but never seeing them or leaving their home. It’s been back to school for them. But the game will feature them as the player’s trio - Riku and Kairi will be by Sora’s side for the vast majority of gameplay, and except when playing as a certain character is mandated by plot, the player will have the option to choose who to control.

Opening: The title sequence would return to KH I’s more impressionistic style rather than a plot recap, juxtaposing Sora and his friends enjoying their peacetime lives with images of mysterious figures battling - figures in armor like that from "The Gathering,” vanishing one by one and leaving their Keyblades in a barren wasteland until only the three from that ending remain.

Tutorial: Of course, we must have a tutorial set in the Dive to the Heart. But this time, instead of Sora (or his Nobody), it’s Kairi who takes the dive, onto her own stained glass. As the least-experienced Keyblade wielder, and the one who hasn’t had a full-fledged adventure, she’s a good player proxy to (re)introduce basic mechanics, though since all three party members will end up playable, tutorials specific to their movesets will appear when appropriate. In Kingdom Hearts tradition, the tutorial will also feature a set of mysterious questions and an option to choose and give up certain abilities (and it will be abilities rather than weapons this time, given the multiple player characters.) Hints of the story to come appear as well, as Kairi ends the tutorial by facing off against a new class of monster - let’s call them the Dream Eaters, and imagine them with the same basic designs as the Unversed from our timeline’s BbS. After Kairi defeats these Dream Eaters, she sees at the end of her stained glass an armored figure, straight out of "The Gathering,” but before any confrontation can happen, Kairi’s alarm goes off, and she wakes up in her room on Destiny Islands, with a voice bidding her to get ready for school as the title appears in-game.

Initial gameplay: The game properly gets underway with a cutscene on the mainland, as Sora, Kairi, Riku, and their classmates file out of school. We got a glimpse of this area in KH II, but now the full scale of it can be showcased. The impact of Mickey’s transit system can be showcased too - the mainland is a place in the middle of enormous change, with building under construction reflecting the styles of all sorts of worlds.

Kairi relates her “dream” of the previous night to her friends. While they take some interest, given their own past adventures, they still chalk it up to a nightmare, and the trio goes into town for the first bit of gameplay, an exploration of the mainland. There’s a great opportunity for cameos here; perhaps Mrs. Hawkins from Treasure Planet has moved from another world to set up an inn, or Fintheart Glomgold is on Destiny Islands attempting to hawk his inferior wares to compete with the McDuck stores. Combat in this section would obviously be limited, but several minigames would be available. Possibilities for such games might include sparring with an older Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie; racing the sailboards from Treasure Planet; and an opportunity to try a test offered by a SeeD recruiter, perhaps Final Fantasy XIII’s Snow.

The day ends with Sora, Kairi, and Riku slipping over to the old island in the evening. That spot, at least, is unchanged. The trio comes here, away from prying eyes, to practice with their Keyblades, and it affords the player the first chance to see how each character handles in combat. In Sora’s case, this would largely be a further iteration on his established moveset. Magic spells would be added, subtracted, or modified by whatever the developers’ fancy, and Reaction Commands could perhaps be a little more involved than simply pressing Triangle. As Sora is older and in need of a new design/outfit, KH II’s in-game explanation for Drive forms would be gone. Perhaps something akin to the Formchanges from our timeline’s KH III replaces it, though maybe without the element of the Keyblade itself shifting form. As a way to keep Roxas active in the series without pulling a mess of plot convolutions, one of the Formchanges could give Sora Roxas’s clothes, and a moveset and abilities similar to what Roxas used in his battle with Sora in KH II FM. Riku’s moveset would be an interation of what he had in CoM, translated to the appropriate consoles. This would mean Dark Mode in place of Formchanges ( (and yes, the ending of KH II implied he lost some of his Dark powers, but he needs something - roll with it) and no magic outside of Dark Firaga, but the trade-off for lack of variety would be speed and raw power. As for Kairi - perhaps her basic moveset is similar to the Wisdom Form of KH II, standard attacks being shots of magic, with a large number of spells surpassing even Sora’s. And she could have Formchanges of her own, including one that gives her Namine’s outfit and Reaction Commands triggering moves based in Confusion or Sleep. For an extra flourish, the animation could be patterned after Namine’s drawings. Eventually, all three characters would gain movement abilities similar to (but far tamer than) DDD’s flow motion.

Besides showcasing the trio’s movesets, this interlude on the island would also cement their new dynamic, which the writing has hopefully built to by now. Riku would still be the most diligent worker and thinker, but his arrogance and sense of entitlement to leadership are gone, and the toxicity between him and Sora is gone too. He’s thinking ahead to when school is done (a year sooner for him than for Sora and Kairi, remember) and he’ll have a chance to set out for other worlds again - this time, with a more selfless aim to learn and help the transit project, and without scorn for his home. Sora, his task as world savior seemingly done, has reverted to being a slightly lazy, fun-loving teen. He’s the most comfortable and at-home in the peace he’s won, and the most content with a simple life on the islands. Kairi could, as in KH I, set the boys to tasks and sass them a little, but per her KH II development, she would be more active and hands-on in what the group does, and probably be the most eager of the three for a new adventure of some kind. She also has some renewed curiosity about Radiant Garden. The attraction between her and Sora would be more blatant than ever, with bashfulness being the only reason it hasn’t amounted to dating yet. This would give each character a different “dream” to pursue - Riku, a worthy cause to serve; Sora, a peaceful life at home; and Kairi, a chance of adventure and answers.

When the sun sets, and the trio head back home for the night, action would cut over to Disney Castle, a world expanded to include Disney Town (populated by Horace, Clarabelle, various DuckTales and Goof Troop characters, and so on.) Mickey is finally seen in in his royal regalia, as he and Minnie receive Aerith as an ambassador from Radiant Garden. They discuss the year-long peace, how the transit system is working out, and the near-total disappearance of Heartless. But Mickey is concerned that there’s been no sign of Maleficent or Pete, despite all efforts to track them down, and he and Aerith both remark on some strange dreams they’ve been having. Word also comes, via frontier scout Max, that trouble is brewing on the outskirts of the kingdom.

This would lead us to another Dive to the Heart, exploring more advanced mechanics. Kairi faces more Dream Eaters, and follows them to another stained glass - let’s say an updated version of Belle’s. She observes that the Dream Eaters don’t consume or destroy the glass, but distort its image from peaceful sleep to bizarre surrealism. Sora and Riku appear by Kairi’s side, and the three of them face the first real boss of the game - one of the suits of armor, which seems very interested in the Kingdom Key. After defeating the boss in combat, a cutscene is triggered showing the armor making it past Riku and Kairi to target Sora and his key, but a light that fills the screen, and segues to Sora waking up.

Setting up story: The next day - coincidentally, the last day of school - we join the trio mid-conversation as they leave for their summer vacation. The shared dream they had has them slightly on edge - Sora more than anyone else - but as their friends call out for them to join in the end-of-term fun, it’s pushed from their minds. This sets up further exploration of the mainland, with new areas previously locked off now open. New areas mean new cameo opportunities; perhaps Sazh and son from FF XIII are townsfolk, or Balthier the sky pirate pops up on the streets. In any event, a mandatory minigame in this section of gameplay would be a second test by Snow, exclusive to Riku. This would take him out of the party; as he completes that task, Sora and Kairi go elsewhere, and the player jumps over to them for more exploration once the test is completed. Minigame possibilities with them could include an island dance rhythm game with cute, awkward interactions. They’d also encounter a merchant selling armor - the armor from their dreams, leaving them both with an uncomfortable premonition.

They would want to discuss this with Riku when they meet up with him on the island that evening, but before they can, Riku shares a bit of news with them: now that school is done for him, he’s decided to join SeeD. Once again, the foreboding from their dreams is forgotten as Sora and Kairi congratulate their friend. It’s clear, though, that they’re sad at the idea that Riku is leaving them. Picking up on this, Riku suggests they use their summer on a trip around the known worlds, visiting old friends and making new ones, with Radiant Garden as both their starting and ending point so that Riku can register on their way back. Sora and Kairi enthusiastically agree. When the time comes to head home, Kairi leaves a little bit ahead of the boys, and Sora slips off somewhere. Riku finds him picking paopu fruits. Sora explains that he wants to finally share one with Kairi on the trip, when the time is right.

Cut to Radiant Garden, where Merlin and Cid are in the library, going over records and arguing with each other. As they snipe, they find something in the records that astonishes them.

The next day, Sora, Kairi, and Riku leave their home, courtesy of a merchant ship (perhaps piloted by Launchpad; so far as interaction/involvement in the game, his role would essentially be the same as Chip and Dale from KH I and II.) Upon landing in Radiant Garden, they’re greeted by Yuffie and Tifa. Perhaps they also meet a SeeD captain - FF XIII’s Lightning, who Riku will be reporting to once he enlists. As they catch up, Merlin and Sid appear with the news they learned the previous night: Kairi is a princess of Radiant Garden as well as a Princess of Heart. It turns out that Radiant Garden was an elective monarchy, choosing sage kings from various families; Ansem the Wise was just the last one elected before the world fell. Kairi is the only surviving member of those families, and thus the only candidate to stand for the throne. When that offer is extended, Kairi asks for time to consider it - this isn’t the sort of adventure she had in mind, but it’s certainly a chance to reconnect with her old home. The fact that she’s considering it at all visibly upsets Sora, though he doesn’t say anything.

As that awkwardness gets underway, we cut back to Disney Castle, in the midst of a siege. Dream Eaters are attacking. As they defeat the Fantasia brooms and the various Disney knights, it becomes clear that the castle will fall. One reason for this - the only weapon that has any effect on the Dream Eaters is the Keyblade. Mickey orders Donald and Goofy to take the Gummi ship and go for help. He hurries them along, and the ship gets away just before the Dream Eaters reach Mickey. A shot would emphasize the Kingdom Key D being thrown from his grip. Another shot would show all the mouse iconography vanishing from Disney Castle, and the entire world distorts into a more surreal, desaturated cartoony landscape, with the face and silhouette seen everywhere being that of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. He is first seen strolling up to the throne, a rather awkward and nervous figure whose crown and cape are too big for him. Flanking him are rows of Dream Eaters.

Naturally, the Gummi ship crashes down in Radiant Garden. Donald and Goofy stumble out and report the fall of Disney Castle. This is an even more serious issue than it looks, because Disney Castle was the center of the transit system. The Dream Eaters can now use those lanes to quickly swarm through all the connected worlds. With Merlin’s magic, our heroes get a look at this in-progress, and observe several worlds disappearing. As three Keyblade wielders, Sora, Kairi, and Riku all promise to stop the Dream Eaters. They take off in the ship they came in on, and Radiant Garden shuts down its transit lanes. Donald and Goofy are left behind this time - at least at first.

Meat of the game: The basic premise is clear now: save the Disney worlds from the Dream Eaters. The Dream Eaters are explained as beings residing in that realm between light and dark, sleeping and waking, life and death - the Dream Realm (this is the reason the Cornerstone of Light couldn’t repel them - they aren’t beings of Darkness). Despite their name, they aren’t naturally predatory and destructive a la the Heartless, and they aren’t conscious agents a la Nobodies. Like the Keyblade, they choose to align with strong hearts, and obey those masters they choose - in this case, the armored figures (who cannot be near the Cornerstone of Light). Defeating Dream Eaters releases no heart or anything comparable; it just destroys them.

The quest through Disney worlds might retain KH II’s episodic quality. Disney characters in any given world would automatically join your party without displacing someone else, though none would be playable. Some of the Disney worlds would have straightforward and story-driven adventures; for example, one of the worlds might be the Dwarf Woodlands, where Snow White has been hiding with the dwarves for years, and the Wicked Queen has entered into a pact with the armored figures to find her in exchange for help in fighting Sora and friends. Enchanted Dominion and Castle of Dreams could fall under this category as well, presumably with post-movie original stories, and Tangled could come in for a loose adaptation as well even if Princess and the Frog is better.

Other worlds might be more lighthearted - “filler,” if you like - for example, Genie turning up to insist that everyone attend the party in Agrabah for Aladdin and Jasmine’s wedding in a loose adaptation of the King of Thieves. And, thanks to the transit system and its implications for the lore, we’d have what we might call shared worlds. As an example: let’s suppose there’s a world named the High Seas on the map. When the trio first arrive, they find themselves on the Black Pearl, roped into helping Captain Jack escape the Flying Dutchman. But it turns out that the waters they’re sailing on are those directly above Atlantica. When you eventually encounter Little Mermaid characters, Triton can once again drop some exposition by confirming that the armored figures are the Keybearers that “shatter peace and bring ruin” in the legends he knows: the Knights of the Key. The boss for this world could be something like a ship-to-ship battle, with an environmental element in the form of Triton summoning storms to aid the player. And, of course, Ariel would become a Summon (though, like with KH II, the lore behind Summons established in KH I wouldn’t be valid here. Perhaps Summons could be a literal summoning of a friend whose heart is connected to Sora’s, Kairi’s, or Riku’s, or at least their spirit and abilities via the magic of the Keyblade. This might let Donald and Goofy remain part of combat too - they could be the first Summons acquired, coming to your side in spirit/heart even as their bodies remain on Radiant Garden.)

Another way to have a shared world would be to take advantage of the settings of certain Disney movies. A world named London could have the riverbank garden from Alice in Wonderland, the Darling house from Peter Pan, Cherry Tree Lane from Mary Poppins, and Roger’s flat from 101 Dalmatians. Or vehicles, like Casey Junior from Dumbo, could appear in the Gummi levels alongside Final Fantasy mech. But whether shared or solo, boss battles on the Disney worlds would be the usual variety platter of Disney villains, special Dream Eaters, and Knights. The Knights prove themselves to be silent figures who, upon being defeated, release both a heart and a white, wispy ghost-like shape. Even as they target the worlds in the transit system via the Dream Eaters, they repeatedly demonstrate clear interest in the Kingdom Key, and sometimes directly target Sora to get it - chasing him, if you will. Like a group of Chasers. (Oh, like the series as-is gave that term any definition at all!) At least one reason for this becomes obvious: while all three of our heroes’ Keyblades will slay Dream Eaters, only the Kingdom Key can sever a world from the transit system and lock it off from encroachment.

It can only do that when the heroes succeed, of course. New to this series is the possibility of a world’s story ending with the heroes failing to save it. When a world falls to the Dream Eaters, it is taken into the Dream Realm, where it is twisted and distorted into a surreal, and sometimes nightmarish incarnation of itself. Places like Wonderland and Neverland - which now can be thought of as pockets of the Dream Realm within London - overrun the world in that case (in that specific instance, since they’re tied to the same London, perhaps they blend together) while a place like the Dwarf Woodlands could come to resemble Snow White’s frightened daydreams from the film. This was the fate that befell Disney Castle, but it is unique among the conquered worlds in that it returned to the Realm of Light after being transformed.

In this section of the game, each of the three heroes would develop, with each of them getting at least a section of a world where they are the required playable character. Riku strives to carry himself as a disciplined, responsive, and military figure, quick to recognize whoever needs help and to provide it; he has an imperfect but broadly successful track record throughout the game. This shows him capable of fulfilling his “dream.” Kairi, the least seasoned traveler, is the most awed, excited, and/or frightened by what’s going on in a given world, and gains an idea of the responsibilities, and the pros and cons, of being royalty. She’s in the middle of experiencing her “dream.” Sora has the easiest time making friends with new and established Disney characters, and is the most consistently (if impulsively) altruistic. But the world-weariness that Sora showed in KH II, and the flashes of doubt he had in KH I and CoM, are more apparent here; for how giving and selfless Sora is, he feels that he and his friends have done their time as world saviors, and that the peace they had won after KH II should have been able to last; in other words, he’s losing his “dream.” He’s also confused and upset at the idea that Kairi might choose to leave Destiny Islands, and struggles to talk to her, something that in turn upsets Kairi. She and Sora both independently talk to Riku about their feelings; he helps them as well as he can, but ultimately, this is a bridge those two will have to mend themselves.

Occasionally, action cuts back there to get a look at Oswald. He’s very quickly shown to be a clumsy and rather innocent “villain” descended from a long-lost line of royalty that ruled over the Disney Castle world before Mickey’s ancestors first appeared. He’s nursed a long-held grudge against Micky for this, but reclaiming the throne doesn’t bring him any joy. It also becomes clear that this new “ruler” is being led and bullied by his vizier - Pete, who moves in with a small battalion of Knights after the Cornerstone of Light is removed.

At the halfway point of the game, a given world falls to the Dream Eaters - in part, because Sora reaches his breaking point with everything going on and fails to do his duty. Being on the world when it falls, the heroes are pulled into the Dream Realm with it, and when they wake up, they’re separated, and the player moves back and forth between their respective journeys through the Dream Realm map, which contains worlds that had fallen and some new worlds unique to it (worlds modeled after Fantasia segments come to mind.) Riku might find himself alongside King Mickey on one world, Mickey having made it off Disney Castle before it was brought back to the Realm of Light and now without his Keyblade. Kairi would meet Queen Minnie for the first time on another world, and realize (if gameplay hasn’t confirmed it by this point) that all the other Princesses of Heart are somewhere in the Dream Realm as well by now. Sora finds himself in the Keyblade Graveyard. At a comparable point in the story in KH I, Sora had the Keyblade forcibly taken from him; in CoM, his memories had been rewritten enough to break him; in KH II, he was subjugating himself before the Organization to try and get to Kairi. In this game, Sora would be suffering guilt for his actions and doubt over his worthiness to wield the Keyblade, despite the Kingdom Key still being in his possession.

(The separation would necessitate each character having a way to travel through the worlds. Let’s suppose one of them is still with Launchpad, another gets a hold of the Jolly Roger after Tinkerbell coats it in fairy dust, and the other gets a hold of a spaceship from Lilo & Stitch. Or maybe there’s some FF mech lying around. Anything that works.)

(This separation, and the trek through the Dream Realm, could also offer an opening for some optional content: the conclusion of Cloud and Sephiroth’s story, with both of them having ended up in the Dream Realm after KH II. Their connection could even be implied to be a result of Xehanort’s experiments, tying him into the proceedings and fulfilling the “Memories of Xehanort” promise from the secret ending without ever bringing him back. None of this content would be mandatory, and the Xehanort connection wouldn’t even have to be explicit, but if the player were to find and complete this material, then it would end with Cloud free from Sephiroth.)

The reveal: While separated in the Dream Realm, the trio each come to learn (with cross cutting to avoid repetition) where the Knights and the Dream Eaters came from, and why the Knights seek the Kingdom Keys. Long ago, in the age of fairy tales, there was only one world, only one realm (of light), and only one Keyblade - the Kingdom Key, which bestowed itself on a chosen wielder to safeguard Kingdom Hearts - the true Kingdom Hearts, source of the light and the final destination of all hearts. In time, some people began to follow the chosen wielder, and became the first Knights of the Key. They made Keyblades in the image of the Kingdom Key, powerful magical weapons born of a strong heart that were surpassed by the Kingdom Key only in its unlimited ability to lock and unlock the Keyholes of worlds, and Kingdom Hearts itself. But some of the Knights began to covet the Kingdom Key themselves, while others wanted to harness the power of Kingdom Hearts, or enter into it. A great Keyblade War broke out, and corrupted Knights became the first Heartless, birthing the Realm of Darkness. By the end of the war, the last chosen one of the Kingdom Key gathered eight true followers, seven of whom expunged the darkness from their hearts. This darkness was joined with some of the Kingdom Key’s power, forming the Kingdom Key D and creating a two-key system as a safeguard for Kingdom Hearts. The seven pure lights could now open the Door to Darkness. Once it was opened, the Kingdom Key passed on to the eighth follower, and the former chosen one took the Kingdom King D into the Realm of Darkness. Together, they all sent Kingdom Hearts into the darkness, out of anyone’s reach, and sealed the door.

The war shattered the world and the light. All that was left of the original world was the Keyblade Graveyard. Those survivors with the strongest hearts - all of them children, none of them Knights - consciously rebuilt the Realm of Light in fragments, and unconsciously created the Dream Realm and Dream Eaters with their dreams and nightmares (the reason why Keyblades work against Dream Eaters is implied to be that, like the Dream Eaters, they are weapons borne of the dreams of the heart.) The seven pure lights continually reincarnated throughout time as the worlds went on. The Knights of the Key still existed, greatly reduced in numbers, still fighting amongst themselves. They fought to harness the darkness that they had brought into the world, or to find the Kingdom Key, which no longer appeared to a chosen one. Their continued fighting ruined many worlds, and opened paths for the Heartless to traverse. There came a point where three Keyblade wielders - Terra, Aqua, and Ven - set out for the Keyblade Graveyard to try and find the Kingdom Key and its counterpart, hoping they could undo the damage the Keyblade War had wrought by restoring Kingdom Hearts. Theirs was a “dream” of restored peace and light.

They found the two blades, and it looked as though they were chosen. But to restore Kingdom Hearts and end the Keyblade War for good, the three friends would need to find the seven pure lights, one of their trio would have to pass into the Realm of Darkness to be on the other side of the door, and another would have to go inside Kingdom Hearts itself to make their desires known. Faced with the possible end of their lives and friendships, the three hesitated, and other Knights began to appear, drawn to the Kingdom Key. Fighting resumed in the Graveyard. The three friends were pulled into the fray, unable to risk sacrificing everything for the greater good and fulfilling their “dream.” But they did use magic to pull the Graveyard, and everyone in it, into the Dream Realm. The Kingdom Keys vanished once again. Cut off from light and darkness, suspended in dreams, the Knights gradually lost their names and voices and bodies; only their hearts and souls lingered inside their armor, keeping the desire for the Kingdom Key and control of Kingdom Hearts alive. The strength of that desire let them bend the Dream Eaters to their will, but they remained in the Keyblade Graveyard, wandering through it in search of the Kingdom Keys.

It was in this state that Maleficent found them. After the destruction of The World That Never Was, she and Pete found themselves in the Dream Realm, and eventually made their way to the Keyblade Graveyard. Though the Knights were mute, Maleficent was able to discern enough to know that they were restless spirits in search of the Kingdom Key, and was eventually able to bind them to her own cause. By her will, the Knights were stirred to leave the Graveyard; by her magic, they were able to return to the Realm of Light through the dreams of Oswald, who was quickly manipulated into serving them. After the Knights overrun all the worlds and take them into the Dream Realm, Maleficent "dreams” of finally ruling over them all, from her newly acquired Disney Castle - once the Cornerstone of Light is removed, and cast into the Realm of Darkness, she moves in and deposes Oswald.

(Some of this information would be revealed piecemeal throughout the game via Secret Reports; rather than written logs, these could be brief cutscenes, flashes of memory from Knights encountered on the journey. Some of it would come out of dialogue with characters like Triton. The majority of it would be revealed after the trio are lost in the Dream Realm, in as elegant a fashion as possible.)

Turning point: Only Sora learns the story of the Knights in full. Riku learns about the Knights’ hunger for the Keyblade and their ties to Maleficent, and Kairi learns about the Keyblade War and the failed mission of Terra, Aqua, and Ven. With their incomplete knowledge, Riku and Kairi get separate ideas of what to do. Riku and Mickey find their way back to the Realm of Light, to Radiant Garden, where they explain what they know. Riku proposes taking the fight back to Disney Castle to win it, and the transit system, back. Squall agrees, and this could potentially open up a way to integrate Gummi ship levels more into story, with ship-to-ship battles around Disney Castle and another gauntlet with the FF characters, this time as Riku. Kairi, on the other hand, gets the idea to try and pull the Knights back into the Dream Realm and find a way to put them at peace. Believing that the Princesses of Heart may be able to do this, she sets out to find the rest of them. On her search, her Keyblade vanishes, and is replaced with none other than the Kingdom Key D, evidently by the will of the Keyblade itself.

Sora, with the full picture, continues to wander the Graveyard, at a loss for what to do. He comes upon a Knight, implied to be the remains of Ven. He wants the Kingdom Key, and Sora recovers enough resolve to stand in his way. At the same time, Riku’s gauntlet leads him to the throne room of Disney Castle, where Maleficent is waiting with a Knight implied to be the remains of Terra, though she disappears immediately; and Kairi, having found all the princesses, encounters a Knight implied to be the remains of Aqua. This triggers a multi-stage boss battle, jumping around among these three conflicts. At the end of one stage, Sora would get Oathkeeper and Oblivion to renew his strength, while Mickey becomes a party member for Riku and Minnie one for Kairi. At the end of another stage, Maleficent could appear in the Dream Realm to join Aqua in facing down Kairi, Minnie, and the princesses, who could (at the very least) be a sideline source of additional power. At the end of yet another stage, the Knights each strike decisive blows, and action moves to the Dive to the Heart, where Sora, Kairi, and Riku form a party against the three Knights. They just manage to defeat them. A cutscene would show the Knights’ hearts and souls being released, and lingering just long enough that their true faces beneath the armor could be seen, smiling and at peace.

Our trio quickly make up and get to the business at-hand. Sora, repentant from his past mistakes, now wants to carry out Terra, Aqua, and Ven’s original plan in full. When they return from the Dive, Kairi is to get Maleficent to cast her and the other princesses into the Realm of Darkness, where they’ll form the Door to Darkness. Riku is to return to the Realm of Light, finish reclaiming Disney Castle, and distract Maleficent and the Knights. Sora will follow his heart to the other side of the Door, and work with Kairi to bring Kingdom Hearts, not into light, but into the Dream Realm, where he’ll step into it and try and find a way to put the Knights to rest and restore the worlds. Riku and Kairi object initially; they have no idea if their group can do any better than the old one, and even if they find Kingdom Hearts and Sora enters into it, there’s no telling what will happen to him. But Sora is determined to do this for the greater good, and the others see no other way to put a permanent end to the danger from the Knights. With great reluctance, they agree.

Riku leaves the Dive first, and Sora and Kairi have a chance to have a heart-to-heart (no pun intended.) They finally affirm their love for each other explicitly, and Sora declares that he supports whatever decision Kairi makes about the Radiant Garden throne - he just wants to be with her. It’s the thing he most values from his “dream.” Kairi feels the same way, and before they leave the Dive, they finally share that paopu fruit.

The initial stages of the plan, at least, go well. Kairi successfully goads Maleficent into opening a portal of darkness that she and the other princesses take (Minnie presumably gets away at some point), while Riku, Mickey, and the Radiant Garden crew draw her attention. (Mickey would also find Oswald, forgive him, and bring him into the Disney fold. Oswald might even be instrumental in bringing Pete into permanent custody.) This could culminate in the answer to the 1000 Heartless battle in KH II: Riku facing a swarm of Knights, Dream Eaters, and Maleficent’s goblins. Sora, searching the worlds for the Door, would unconsciously summon Donald and Goofy, and have their spirits in his party until he finds it. But once the Door is formed, something alerts Maleficent to the act, and she becomes the final boss of the game, with multiple stages that see Donald and Goofy’s summons being blasted away, only to be replaced by Riku’s and Kairi’s. Maleficent would summon goblins, Dream Eaters, and Knights to her side, become a dragon, and if we imagine a post-Eisner, early-stage Iger regime at Disney could be persuaded to loosen the shackles a bit, she could even end up merging with the souls of slain Knights to become a mish-mash of Disney dragon and Square monster before finally going down.

With Maleficent slain, Sora and Kairi pull Kingdom Hearts out from darkness and into the Dream Realm. The trio have what may be their final goodbyes; unsaid would be the fact that they’re all prepared to sacrifice their own “dreams” for the greater good. Sora disappears into Kingdom Hearts. The screen fills with light. Slowly, the worlds are all restored, the Dream Eaters and Knights vanish, and new, solid lanes of land begin to connect the worlds on the map. It isn’t quite the one world bathed in light, but it’s a step in that direction. Kingdom Hearts remains in the Dream Realm, the implication being that, as it’s very much the stuff that dreams are made of, it’s ultimately safer there than in light or darkness.

Doors to Light let the princesses return to their worlds, and Kairi to Radiant Garden. She finds Riku being formally inducted into SeeD, fulfilling his “dream.” The offer for Kairi to take the throne is extended again; she’s more than shown herself worthy of being a sage queen. But Kairi refuses. She’s had a fair share of her “dream;” she’s had an adventure and learned something about her past, and herself. But there’s someone out there who sacrificed his “dream,” that included her, for everyone else, and now her “dreams” have shifted. She’ll be going home to Destiny Islands, waiting for them to come true. Cue the ending song.

Credits sequences: Those Disney worlds that loosely held to their films could show their conclusions; those worlds that went with original storylines could show some additional new footage. A check-in at Disney Castle would show the Cornerstone of Light being restored, and Oswald finding a place in court. A check-in at Radiant Garden would show Riku training, the others living, and Cloud returning. And the closer would be Kairi waiting by the tree on Destiny Islands.

Post-game material: If you manage a certain percent completion, you get a secret ending: Sora turning up on Destiny Islands by Kairi’s side. If you manage 100% completion, you get a secret level: a vacation to Disney Town for Sora, Kairi, and Riku! What, you thought I suggested expanding the size of Disney Castle just for fun earlier? Nah! It’s so you can have a super-special super-secret sandbox of fun, with a bunch of activities and minigames themed after different Disneyland rides!

#z's fics #kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts 3 #fan fiction #headcanon #critique #commentary

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