#I never hear this about Sora and Kairi | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

tennelleflowers · 1 year

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Hey, just here to fuel your Dark Fiagra about Riku being gay and the Light.

In KH2 when Sora and Riku are in the Realm Between the portal to the Dark Margin doesn't open until Sora and Riku have the first part of their "heart to heart". He's literally being vunerable in every way and Sora just shows him patience and understanding. Then the portal opens.

Then on the Margin, Riku opens up once again. I think the reason that Riku wasn't the one to open the Door to Light was because Sora confirmed that he was happy to stay in the dark with Riku.

This part is a stretch but I think, maybe, Riku hearing Sora wistfully reading the letter may have opened the door. Or you know, Maybe it was Kairi. Riku is under the impression that Sora is the Loght because Sora is HIS light, which is why he tells Sora that the door to light was his heart.

Who knows, maybe Soras heart DID open the door, but imo, Kairis letter wasn't romantic. It doesn't even make much sense pertaining to the story.

You're so right. You want to know the funny thing tho? In the character files, there's a short story from Riku's pov about their conversation at the Dark Margin at the end of KH2. It's the same one where Riku says that he used to try to act like Sora's older brother as a kid, but doesn't think of their relationship that way anymore.

To tell you the truth, Sora...I was jealous of you.

As I sat on the dark shore next to Sora, I wondered when I began to feel that way.

Was it when Sora became a Keyblade wielder?

Or was it all the way back when we were children on the islands?

It wouldn’t be strange for me to think I was better than Sora. After all, when you’re a child, a year is a big age difference, so I played the older brother and took Sora around with me everywhere. When did that change?

And then, when it gets to the part where Kairi's letter is supposed to come in, it's just completely omitted???

“I wished I could live life the way you do. Just following my heart.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve got my share of problems, too.” Sora responded, staring at the horizon.

“Like what?” I asked Sora, smiling a bit.

“Like...wanting to be like you.”

“I see.”

That made me a little sad, so I responded with as cheerful a voice as I could manage.

“Well, there is one advantage to being me..something you could never imitate.”

“Really? What is it?”

“Having you for a friend.”

Sora was surprised for a moment. Then, he exhaled a bit.

“Then, I guess...I’m okay the way I am. I’ve got something you could never imitate too.” Sora responded with a smile, and he looked off beyond the horizon, at the moon shining faintly in the sky - at the world where we would meet our end.

We both had our own things that the other couldn’t do. Our hearts, each just like the other, were both filled to the brim with happy feelings at that moment.

I was glad to have been Sora’s friend.

“Light.”

My eyes instinctively narrowed at the sight of the bright sun-like light that appeared right before us.

“The door to light...we’ll go together!”

Sora stood up and offered his hand to me.

“Yeah.”

I responded and began to walk with Sora.

LIKE? Hello? Look at this thing just directly implying that it was actually Sora and Riku's hearts opening up to each other that opened the Door to Light??? Skipping Kairi's letter entirely??? (why do they keep doing this lol just let Kairi HAVE SOMETHING sakdfljsd)

Now, like I've said before, stuff in the novels/characters files are SECONDARY canon, so it is canon that Kairi's letter in a bottle shows up and Sora reads it, and then the Door to Light appears. But with this added context I wouldn't say it's a reach that the Door to Light opening to them probably has more to do with them than Kairi's letter specifically.

#riku is the light #kingdom hearts #kh2 #character files #riku #soriku

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evenmorebeetles · 7 months

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KH is my newest interest, so I wrote a short thing about Riku being sleepy and sappy over his partners xoxo

Fandom: Kingdom Hearts (no spoilers for any specific game)

Relationship: Sora/Riku/Kairi

Additional Tags: Domestic fluff, Riku POV

Rating: General Audiences

Wordcount: 585

Sora was probably the deepest sleeper Riku had ever met. Once his head hit the pillow, everything around him ceased to matter, and he was out like a light. From there, it was near impossible to wake him without liberal use of pots and pans or, on one occasion, a trumpet. On days where they had somewhere to be, this was exasperating at best and at worst made Riku want to rip his and/or Sora's hair out.

But that morning, there was nowhere for them to be. Of course, that didn't stop Kairi from abandoning them in favor of finding something to eat, but it left Riku and Sora in bed for the time being. Riku had been awake for a decent while, not quite one to rise with the sun but leagues ahead of Sora, who was still drooling on Riku's arm. Riku wouldn't miss the chance to mock him for it later, but in the moment, it just made his heart clench with an impossible fondness.

How could it not, when the sunlight filtering in through the curtains turned Sora's already tanned skin golden? When his face was slack and peaceful in rest? When, despite how utterly conked out he was, he still occasionally nuzzled into Riku's embrace? Riku really never had a chance.

He lifted his arm from around Sora's waist to swipe the pad of his thumb across Sora's cheek, the movement steeped in reverence. From there, he cupped his palm around the side of Sora's neck, feeling Sora's hair between his fingers and his steady pulse under his skin. Riku dipped into the pool of his collar bone, caressed the ridge of it, trailed over the freckles on Sora's bare shoulder and arm. When his hand caught the edge of the blanket, fallen to Sora's elbow, he pulled it up to protect Sora from the slight morning chill.

"You're still in bed?" Kairi asked from the doorway. She clicked her tongue teasingly as she entered their bedroom and took a seat behind Riku on the bed. "And you call us lazy."

Riku elbowed her gently, causing her to fold in on herself with giggles. "Shut up," he muttered and scooted closer to Sora in an attempt to hide his smile.

Kairi took the opportunity to fill in his voided space, stretching herself along the line of his back and surrounding him in blissful warmth and the fruity scent of her soap. She propped herself up on one arm so that she could lean over Riku's shoulder and rest her cheek on his. "He's so pretty, isn't he?" she asked dreamily as she reached out with her free hand to brush back a lock of hair that had fallen over Sora's nose.

Maybe a little, if I squint, Riku would have said if Sora could hear him, just to be able to laugh at whatever insult got thrown back at him. It was just him and Kairi, however, and maybe Riku could be a bit of a sap when he himself was still decently sleepy, so all he said was "Yeah," in the same tone that she'd asked the question in before grabbing Kairi's wrist and drawing it to his chest to hoard more of her touch to himself. He felt the edge of her smile press into his face, but she made no comment as she indulged him and they both pretended, just for the moment, that she wouldn't snitch the entire gooey-sweet interaction to Sora when he woke up.

#welcome to the last two and a half weeks of my life where I've thought of nothing except them #if folks could refrain from putting anything spoilery in the tags or replies that would be really appreciated cuz I only just finished 2 #and haven't started days yet #but I just love them so much I've cried over sora twice now #kingdom hearts #kh #sorikai #destiny trio #riku #sora #kairi #kh riku #kh sora #kh kairi #fanfic #mine

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howdomaddie · 25 days

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on sora’s time in the sleeping worlds and coming to terms with other’s pain

so, i have recently been rewatching the kingdom hearts series through a youtube channel i follow that’s played through all the games, and i just finished dream drop distance in that rewatch. the player had quite a bit to say about the overall plot of that game, and that seems to fall in line with how i’ve seen a lot more people than i thought view DDD as well--that it’s not that great? i totally get being frustrated with the real organization shenanigans because the planned time travel was a bit much but…idk, i’ve never really been into KH for the villains and their schemes. DDD has always kind of been one of my favorites, so as i was rewatching this playthrough of it, i was thinking over why it gets the flack it does, and why i still think it’s good beyond that.

i’ve always loved riku’s arc, and i loved sora in DDD, but i was honestly “meh” on it until this current rewatch, when i was thinking over it all again, and remembering what had happened most recently to him. and now i think i’ve cracked it--i figured out a nice little piece for why sora’s arc works even if it’s subtle.

and…bear with me here…but it’s partially because of re:coded

STAY WITH ME, I PROMISE I HAVE A POINT!!! it’s below the cut since this will be long, but hear me out: sora in DDD is going through the same things that data sora did in re:coded, and proving that he will always come to the same conclusion about how to handle the pain the others in his heart have gone through (maybe someone’s discussed all of this before, so sorry if i’m just rehashing a well-known point, but…wanted to share my thoughts, haha)

okay. so, in order to really talk about this, let’s revisit what are probably the most important sections of re:coded, and what they do well on a story-telling level.

in the last quarter or so of re:coded, data sora is brought back to help mickey and co find the meaning of the second message that’s appeared in jiminy’s journal: “Their hurting will be mended when you return to end it.” data sora ends up arriving at an illusion of castle oblivion, and is goaded along by a data version of roxas to go deeper into the castle. this data roxas taunts him about how he’ll never remember the people data sora encounters in each part of the castle, poking and prodding him along through all the revisited worlds.

in one of the earliest rooms (destiny islands i think), data sora has a conversation with the data version of riku that has been helping us so far. data riku shows him a vision of riku and kairi from the events of KH1, with the warning that it’s something data riku wants data sora to see and feel. afterwards, data riku asks what data sora would have done if he’d known this. and data sora answers immediately:

[ ID: an image of data sora from kingdom hearts re:coded. he has a determined expression on his face, and his clenching his fist as a show of conviction. the subtitles read: I would’ve helped you, of course. Both of you! I’d’ve figured out how to undo the hurt. End ID. ]

data riku seems pleased with this outcome, and he eventually goes on to say: “Just follow your heart, and you can change the lives of not one, but many.” as data sora goes deeper into this version of castle oblivion, he only comes across more pain in his heart as he forgets the people he meets. he may forget the people themselves, but the doesn’t forget that he met someone as he goes through the castle.

[ ID: four images from kingdom hearts re:coded. data sora looks sad and pensive as he says this to data roxas, placing a hand over his heart: “It’s like you said; everyone I met I can’t remember. But still, I’m frustrated that I’ve forgotten them. I feel moments of loneliness. You said there would be no hurt feelings, but I AM hurting. When the memories are gone, they just leave a hole. And having that longing inside me hurts.” End ID. ]

data roxas eventually confronts data sora about what he’s come to terms with in the castle: that some of that pain he’s feeling is what helps him connect with others, to truly empathize with them. data roxas sees this as a sign that data sora passed his test, to see if he could come to terms with the pain in the hearts he’s most closely connected to.

data namine soon confirms that the real sora carries around a lot of pain that isn’t his own inside his heart--and that he’s found a way to face the suffering all of this disparate parts of himself had to endure. he’s already equipped to face it and help those he’s met that have been lost.

something that i think i’ve come to appreciate more is that as he’s gotten older, sora has ended up becoming really emotionally intelligent. he’s an extremely empathetic character, and kind of always has been. after all, he gave a piece of himself to someone to fix their broken heart when he was still an infant.

[ ID: an image from kingdom hearts birth by sleep. a four year old sora looks upset as he holds ventus’s heart in his hands and asks, “Are you sad?” ]

we all know that his empathy and ability to connect emotionally to others is kind of sora’s whole “thing”--his friends are his power! but it makes sense that sora’s able to face the pain and suffering characters like xion and ven went through because he is such an open and caring person.

anyway, there’s another thing from re:coded that struck me as i was thinking over what sora goes through in DDD, and i think it’s critical. it’s the instructions namine gives for how to handle the pain of others that sora is holding onto.

[ ID: three screenshots of data namine and data sora from kingdom hearts re:coded. data namine explains to data sora: “There’s only one way to deal with that [pain]; you face it head-on and then you accept it. And if it happens that the hurt is too great for you to bear it alone, well, then you turn to a friend close to your heart.” End ID. ]

this is less a “do this thing for the first time” to me--it’s data namine reinforcing something that data sora (and the real sora, obviously) already knows very well. there is strength to be found in the bonds you share, and that if you need it, you can always rely on the friends you’ve made. this was made apparently through the entire series but this serves as a reminder that yes, sora has been doing the best thing he can. he has remained true to his heart, and is willing to rely on those he cares about. we know that being alone and only relying on yourself is not the best thing to do in the series--it’s part of what drives riku to darkness in KH1--so that’s why this is a reassurance that sora already knows how to face this sort of pain.

so. WHAT on earth does this have to do with dream drop distance, you might be asking. well, part of that is inspired by this lets player i was rewatching (it’s dan form playframe, by the way, in case you’re wondering): he liked the general themes being played with at the end of re:coded, but was upset it was not happening to actual sora. and that stuck with me as i got to DDD in my rewatch, and that’s how i viewed sora’s stuff in that game.

anyway. let’s dive (ha) in, shall we?

at the end of re:coded, king mickey writes that letter in a bottle that gets to sora in the post credits of KH2 to explain what they discovered in the data version of jiminy’s journal. sora knows now that he’s the thread that will save people like roxas and xion and aqua, and he knows what data namine was wanting him to eventually face.

at the start of DDD, sora is aware that he needs to face the pain of others that is currently residing in his heart and find a way to save those that have been lost. he is primed with that knowledge, and likely wants to face it the way data sora did.

why do i think this? well…i think that the mark of mastery exam in DDD was really a chance for sora and riku to come to terms with what is still somewhat holding them back in their hearts, and do perform some true introspection.

we know how riku’s arc goes: he finally realizes that he does have the power to protect what matters to him, and that darkness in his heart is not something to fear. it does not make him any less worthy to wield a keyblade, nor does it keep him from being a keyblade master.

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of riku and sora. sora’s arm is slung over riku’s shoulder and he is beaming. riku doesn’t seem to believe what he’s saying: “Really? I’m a Keyblade Master?” ]

but what about sora? outside of Overall Series Plot happening to him in this game and the contrived reason he isn’t also named a master, what does sora come to realize? well, it’s what data namine wanted for him: to face the pain inside him head on, and to rely on those close to his heart when he couldn’t do it alone.

what do i mean by this? let’s go world by world to see.

starting with hunchback, since we visit traverse town twice:

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of sora, who is looking at the camera. he appears thoughtful as he says of quasimodo: “He can’t let his heart be a prison.” ]

sora realizes that quasimodo is putting up walls in his heart that keep him from being hurt--walls that, in turn, are becoming something of a “prison”. they’re what keep quasimodo safe, but also keep him disconnected from others and is an excuse for why he doesn’t leave notre dame cathedral.

at the end of sora’s time in this world, quasimodo has opened himself to others, and decides to not keep his fears from holding him back. as sora processes this information, of course, we have the villains telling him that his own heart is now a prison for someone else--ventus.

i don’t think this is true for sora and ven’s situation, and that the organization is just trying to make sora question himself. sora welcomed ven into his heart willingly to keep ven safe--it’s been a very long time, yes, and sora will eventually need to help ven return to his body, but sora’s heart isn’t exactly a prison. he just doesn’t really know that he still has ven with him, since he probably didn’t know what happened with ven when he was little.

so this is something sora still has to come to terms with: is his heart a prison for someone else? how does he set them free?

after hunchback, we have the grid and prankster’s paradise, and these should be easy enough to figure out.

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of sora and quorra. sora is holding quorra back from attacking, and quorra says to sora of rinzler (originally sora’s friend tron), “He’s a program, Sora. Programs don’t have hearts.” End ID. ]

the grid for sora is all about his relationship to tron and making rinzler remember who he truly is. quorra is pretty quick to throw in the towel on sora’s attempts to reach his friend’s heart, but sora keeps trying--and eventually, he does manage to have a breakthrough. he helps tron fight off his reprogramming, and remember their friendship. he’s able to touch tron’s heart and remind him of what’s important--he just has to give tron the time he needs, and eventually help reprogram him.

my, that sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts three of sora, xion, and axel. sora has his hand on xion’s keyblade, and is persuading her not to hurt her friend axel--trying to remind her of who she really is. ]

there’s one quote from the jeff bridges character that i feel is important to note here: “That’s the thing about programs. Mess with the code just a little, and their whole nature and memory can change.”

sora’s time in the grid helps him understand a bit more of what “copies” of him can be going through, and honestly is an important part of why he is able to help xion and roxas in 3 (at least to me). xion’s suffering is tied to how the organization used and abused her, and them tampering with her memories is why she starts off on their side in 3. but sora, good boy that he is, manages to break through to her with a little help from roxas--just like he needed the right thing to reprogram rinzler and help him remember that he was tron all along.

as for prankster’s paradise…

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of sora and xemnas confronting each other. sora looks determined as he exclaims, “But if Pinocchio could be given one (a heart)--shouldn’t you be able to have a heart inside you, too?” End ID. ]

the fact that nobodies do actually have hearts is confirmed towards the end of the game, but it’s clear sora has already figured it out on his own. i’ll touch on it a little more later on, but sora knows that roxas has his own heart, living on inside his own--it’s a reminder of how roxas still exists, and how much of his own person he is outside of sora.

xemnas is still putting on the show here that nobodies are beings without hearts, and sora knows that is blatantly untrue--why else would roxas feel the things he did if that was the case?

the other three worlds--traverse town, the country of musketeers, and the symphony of sorcery--do the same thing that data namine did in re:coded. they reinforce the things sora already knows about connecting with others, and relying on their strength when he can’t do things alone.

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of sora talking to neku in traverse town. when talking about neku denying that he said he needed shiki, sora says, “What? Why? You said you need her. That’s a good thing.” End ID. ]

sora says it directly to neku in the revisit to traverse town: it’s good that neku admitted to needing shiki around. sora has always trusted in people to rely on him and to return the favor, so he sees none of the shame that neku feels in admitting that he needs other people.

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of mickey and donald. mickey looks to the camera as he says, “Goofy’s right. As a team, we can do anything!” End ID. ]

the recurring musketeer motto of “All for one, and one for all!” when sora joins mickey, donald, and goofy in protecting princess minnie is another reminder of all this: sora knows the true value of teamwork with his party members, and how important donald and goofy are to him. they are his friends for life, and they’ll be at his side the way he’s at theirs. he reassures them the way they reassure him and always have.

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of sora, looking wistful as he talks about riku: “Don’t worry. I’ve got a friend out there who will help. He’s always picking up the slack for me.” End ID. ]

sora’s belief in riku is something that’s shown throughout the entire game, and the symphony of sorcery is just one example in truth--but sora has never doubted riku or even kairi and the others. even if he can’t see riku, even if his friends are a million miles away, sora knows that they have his back.

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of sora in traverse town, looking happy and patting his chest as he says of riku, “Don’t worry. He’s with me--even when it might seem like he’s not.” End ID. ]

for the Overall Series Plot happening in DDD, this is very good for sora to remember--riku becomes a dream eater to protect sora in this game, so it’s quite literal. (i think it’s also important to remember this when thinking about the ending of kh3, and where sora has found himself. he still has people who love and care for him, even if they’re a million worlds apart from each other.)

and so, now we come to the heart of the matter. has sora ended up in the same place as data sora? can he accept the pain the different pieces of him went through, and help them? as of kh3’s ending we know he’s helped them, but what about DDD?

[ ID: three screenshots from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of sora and xion. sora asks who xion is, but trails off before he finishes asking. in the final shot, sora sheds a tear over xion. End ID. ]

sora does come face to face with namine and xion, and while he doesn’t connect with them, really, he does seem to feel their pain.

the most apparent interaction that leaves its mark is, of course, when he faces roxas.

[ ID: screenshots from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of sora speaking to roxas, saying, “Roxas, you’re you. We’re not the same. I wanted to tell you that.” End ID. ]

because sora is fully aware that roxas has his own heart, sora can firmly insist that roxas is his own person. roxas respects this, and opens his heart to sora, to share the truly terrible things that happened to him. and sora faces it, the way he needs to.

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of sora, where sora looks angry and upset about what happened to roxas. He clenches his fist, and asks, “Did they cause all this pain?” End ID. ]

sora has faced at least roxas’s pain and suffering, at least. and he’s ready to do the same for the others in his heart--or, at least, that’s what i believe.

when riku encounters ansem the wise in sora’s heart at the end of the game, what ansem says is something i think kind of ties everything together:

“That is a statement to the love in his heart for other people, and the bonds that tie them together. Perhaps…he has the power to bring back the hearts and existences of those connected to him--to recreate people we thought were lost to us forever. [ … ] Sora has a heart like that--uncorrupted, willing to see the good before the bad. When he sees the heart in something, it then becomes real. When a connection seems broken, he may have the power to mend it. [ … ] He has touched countless hearts, he has accepted them, and he has saved them. [ … ] All Sora needs to do is be himself and follow wherever it is that his heart takes him. It is the best and only way.”

after the opening section of kh3 in olympus colosseum, what’s the thing that sets sora off on his journey?

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts three of sora, donald, goofy, and jiminy cricket in the gummi ship cockpit. sora looks determined as he says, “The others are following Aqua’s heart, so I’ll follow Roxas’s heart!” End ID. ]

his desire for roxas to truly be his own person. so many people move mountains to make this a reality not just for roxas, but for xion and namine too--all because sora understood that roxas had his own heart, memories, and history. he saw roxas’s suffering and still pushed through to make sure his nobody got the life he deserved.

sora faced what he could, and did everything in his power to undo the suffering the people connected to him were feeling--and when he couldn’t do it himself, he let others help him. just the way namine (and her creation, data namine) wanted.

im sorry this is so long and kind of rambly--but i feel like i finally get sora in DDD outside of the organization’s plans for him, and that the off hand comment from this lets play i’m rewatching actually ended up being true. if you made it this far down in this silly post thanks for reading, hope you're having a good day ;u;

#kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts meta #sora kingdom hearts #THIS IS LONG IM SO SORRY #I ALSO HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO TAG IT...#dream drop distance #re:coded #kh ddd #kh 3d #kh recoded

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eradicatetehnormal · 27 days

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an acquaintance made this point in the server I'm in. I personally wouldn't mind Kairi being a pawn because it's a good way for her to have to explore her character as she tries to break free for the sake of her friends.

What I don't like about this theory is that people use it to say that Kairi is a sort of "false light" for Sora. Her being a light in the darkness and a princess of heart is pretty much all she has right now, and if that's taken away from her, what does she have? Jack shit, or at least nothing that would be satisfying for her character.

If this theory holds any merit, it would risk being narratively misogynistic. The idea that the mere existence of Kairi is meant to be a deception put there by the master of masters. It's also contradictory to the point of Sora's character as well. "Kairi was put there to distract Sora from his true light." So he is special? He was fated for something. Part of the intrigue of Sora's character is that he's an accidental hero. He was never supposed to wield a keyblade and only did so either because Riku's light transferred to him or because the keyblade chose him after seeing the darkness in Riku's heart, depending on your interpretation.

To clarify, even though the person in the image is talking about Sor1ku, this would still very much risk being misogynistic without a romantic love interest for Sora to fall for. The idea that Kairi just exists or is in his life purely to distract him from being the best he can be, sounds like some awful incel shit you'd hear on an Andrew Tate podcast. "Oh don't let a bitch weigh you down. She'll take all your money and hold you back." Like, damn.

#I feel like two things can be true at once #He'll we know it can #When aq/ua was alone in the darkness ven and terras light came to help her #S0ra can have two lights #Kingdom hearts #Hey if I'm wrong go ahead and tell me

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tharkflark1 · 1 year

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Okay so hypothetically if someone was to write something based on your Whaleshark Riku AU, what would the hypothetical time-line of events be? You know, hypothetically, of course

Well, hypothetically, if someone were to write something based off the AU, uhhhh

- Sora meets Riku accidentally while playing on the Play Island. They’re essentially BBS ages and stuff so like little babbies.

- they quickly become friends (Sora’s kinda a weirdo so while he’s good at making friends, he doesn’t have any like friends friends if that makes any sense. Until like, Kairi comes along but anyway) and Sora keeps his new friend a secret

- after a couple years, Riku suddenly disappears and Sora is devastated. (I don’t exactly have a reason why he disappears? My friend suggested he’s a sea god of sorts that can purify water so he was drawn elsewhere? But you can think of whatever I suppose)

- 10 or so years pass and Sora’s kinda chalked up Riku to being an imaginary friend. He’s volunteering at the local aquarium (he’s studying to become a marine biologist <3) when he hears about some new creature coming in. The place doubles as a clinic for marine life and Sora also helps out there too as an intern.

- However, the staff are kinda bein hush hush about it and Sora super sus of that.

- He ends up sneaking in (somehow) and discovers Riku (he’s REAL holy shit) but now he’s massive. Easily the size of a bus or more. (Riku’s also injured but I dunno by what so more flexibility there and that’s why he’s at the clinic)

- Sora manages to get Riku’s attention (he also does something here that would let Riku know it’s Sora definitely but I dunno what that is so use ur imagination)

- Riku’s ecstatic and they end up just hanging out for a few hours until Security finds out Sora’s there

- There’s a scuffle where as Sora’s getting taken away, Riku flips out, slamming against the glass. The overnight staff are able to sedate Riku enough before he can actually hurt himself and Sora’s taken in for questioning

- The staff review the security footage and they end up getting Sora to stay on the floor (he gets paid money too don’t worry) as whatever Sora’s doing had improved Riku’s mental state drastically. They’d never seen him that content or relaxed before (my man’s got depression and it’s not helping his injuries heal)

- l really have nothing past that? Like, Sora’s there and most of the staff are super nice and stuff. U can add like “evil people wanna use the Sea God for evil purposes” or something here I honestly don’t care what cha do here

- but eventually Riku, with healing both mentally and physically, figures out that he can become human temporarily (he had to change back like, once a month for a day) when something happens to Sora and Riku is too big to follow and help

- and I dunno! Go crazy with it

#whale shark riku!!#kh #kingdom hearts #riku #Sora #soriku #tharky thambles #Riku can talk but he’s very slow at it. And Sora’s attempts at whale sounds #while adorable to Riku #don’t mean anything #Also Sora knows Rikus name cuz Riku can make clicky dolphin noises too and they can make a ‘Riku’ sound pretty easily

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strayheartless · 9 months

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Something we don’t talk enough about is the fact that the folklaw of the paopu fruit isn’t inherently romantic (And before I go any further I want to make clear that this is not trying to discredit ships or claim kairi and sora are not in love. You ship what you ship and I’ll ship what I ship and never the two shall interfere.).

The fact of the matter is, that what we hear about the folk law of the fruit is this:

“If two people share one, their destinies become intertwined. They’ll remain a part of each others lives no matter what.” - Riku, KH1

NOW! I am aware that within the context of the scene rRku is teasing sora over his crush on Kairi - anyone with eyes could see that. However, despite the obvious romantic ideal of having a shared destiny, it is not a wholly romance based idea.

You could share the fruit with just about anyone you knew if you wanted to be in their lives forever. Say, a best friend or a family member, or a particularly precious family pet.

Anyone you wanted to stay with, you could share one with.

Which raises a question about this mystical fruit. Is it’s sharing symbolic in KH law or is Namora really out here basing the entirety of sora’s connection to his friends on the basis of -what essentially boils down to- a magical star shaped mango?

The way I see it is that Sora’s intention to share the Paopu with Kairi can absolutely be read as romantic. The narrative clues are there, we can see them. However, arguably Sora has just as much reason to share the paopu with all of his friends as he does with her.

His fate is so intrinsically intertwined with that of ventus, Roxas and Xion, That he could share one with them. He has deep connections with Donald and Goofy, that he holds incredibly dear to him. After all his friends are his power, his strength to carry on. So he could share one with them.

He spent so long looking for, finding, loosing, and looking all over again for Riku, that he has every reason to share one with his best friend, even if it simply means never loosing sight of him again.

Sora’s motivations to share one with kairi may stem from romance, but that doesn’t make the law of the fruit specifically romantic.

In a way the paopu fruit is a bit like a pinky swear. It’s a promise to never loose sight of the other person and to share their destiny with the other person.

Perhaps the magic goes simply as deep as the intention of sharing one or the visualisation. Perhaps in simply handing a person the fruit with the intent to share is enough to bind one another.

The only three people that we ever see holding the fruit are Kairi, Sora and Riku. Perhaps that is where the bond starts.

In KH 1 Riku throws the fruit to Sora, who catches it. That is, in itself an act of sharing. In the cave sora draws himself feeding kairi and she then draws herself feeding him. That is an intent to share.

Therefore, by this logic, Sora is inextricably linked to both of them. Because they, all three, passed the fruit/ visualised passing the fruit to another.

And I can hear you say, ah yes, but flo, Riku and Kairi never shared a paopu in any capacity. And, dear reader you’d be right. However, they both shared one in different capacities with Sora, and thus are both linked to him, and by extension each other.

Now, Riku and Kairi are a odd little conundrum that has often bothered me. They are friends, they obviously care for one and other. And in KH1 it’s clear that there’s a little bit of show boating going on between the boys as to who can impress Kairi more.

Its something Naminé plays on in CoM, and it’s obvious that at one point or another, Riku’s priorities were the same as Sora’s. Protect Kairi. Yet, there is an extremely noticeable point at which that changes.

That place being Rikus journey in CoM. It is here that Riku shifts his focus from protecting Kairi to protecting Sora.

There are many reasons and possible theories for this. If your are on this app as frequently as I think you are then you probably know about most of them. So I’m not going to delve too deep into that one.

The point remains though, that Kairi and Riku’s destinies both diverge/ and converge at the same time. On the one hand, they diverge as Riku moves his focus from protecting her and making up for his actions as Ansam’s puppet; while simultaneously converging on one single fixed point that is their only meaningful connection to each other for the entire story.

Sora.

He is what binds them together, he is their destiny and he is what intertwined their destiny’s with each other.

Sora -as mushy as it sounds- is their star shaped fruit. They chose to share the paopu with him and thus inadvertently shared him between them. They both hold a piece of his destiny and his heart. Regardless of what you ship that can’t be denied.

Because the folk law of the paopu fruit is not an inherently romantic.

#kingdom hearts #kh1 sora #kh1 riku #kh1 #kh1 kairi #paopu fruit #paopu theory #soriku #I guess #but also #sorkai #too #chain of memories #kh2 #kh3 #riku #sora #kairi

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mr-deblob · 4 months

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Hear me out on this: I honestly think Kairi could be the main playable character in Kingdom Hearts 4

Or at least a significant playable one.

I know that it sounds ridiculous to entertain the idea, especially with how badly she's been sidelined for the past 20 years. But taking into account the structure of mainline games and the current locations of our characters, it starts to look likely for both narrative and game design purposes.

Sora and Riku are stuck in Quadratum

First things first- there's no way in hell Nomura's letting Riku rescue Sora in the beginning hours of KH4. They definitely won't just hop back to the Realm of Light when they find each other. He might make questionable plot decisions, but he's not gonna pass up a chance to torture the two of them even more, especially since *something's* going on with Yozora and the Master of Masters.

In a GameInformer interview he gave, he was asked about how much time we'd spend in Quadratum.

I think it will be a pretty good amount of time since it is set as the initial base within the game. You spend time there and then go to different worlds and then go back there. Because the graphics are more realistic this time around, I feel like there’s more of a realistic daily life aspect to Sora’s life. You can see him go in and out of his room and spend time there. I feel like players will get to see more of the day-to-day routines he goes through.

It sounds like Quadratum will act more like an interlude between worlds, where the developments that happen in the Realm of Light (or wherever else) will cause more troubles to pop in the city. We've already seen Sora fighting a giant Heartless(?) that just showed up out of nowhere. There might be more events like that, or even encounters with the mysterious figures staring down from the rooftops. And when nothing's threatening the world, Sora might simply be living daily life with Strelitzia.

I'm uncertain on how much we'll actually get on the nature of Quadratum since it is just Tokyo, but part of me is feeling like the story beats will be more important than the setting on this side.

Kairi can have a blank-slate start

I'm sure everyone who picked Kairi in that final fight was a bit surprised by how aggressive it was. A strike raid teleport and a barrage of light flooding the battlefield were amazing to see in her first time in the spotlight. We know she can fight, so wouldn't those skills carry over to her next game?

But she's been asleep for a whole year to have her memories explored. They could easily explain the loss of former skills. Besides, the reasons for Sora always resetting to Level 1 are basically on the same scale. If you wanted more reasoning, then maybe Aqua's training is having her develop her own fighting style from scratch. It's very obvious she's trying to emulate Sora in her stance.

We also know that Kairi has her own unique combat pose. They've shown it to us at least twice in DDD and the KH3 opening, but we've never seen her actively using it in-game AFAIK. It sure would be an opportune moment to have her adopt it to signify her becoming her own person independent of Sora and Riku.

If the training time with Aqua seems like it would be too short to warrant Kairi going off on her own, keep in mind that we don't know how much time disparity there is between Quadratum and the RoL It could be synched up or be off by weeks, even months, more than enough to get her through the fundamentals.

Also, a mini-timeskip would give Nomura the chance to give the Destiny Trio new designs again. How Riku gets a new outfit and hairstyle while looking for Sora, I don't know, but he already pushed him through the Shadow Barber Shop. He can probably come up with something.

We still gotta have different Keyblades

Straight-up the title of this section. It's incredibly unlikely that Nomura would cut these, but as before, it's equally unlikely that Sora will get out of Quadratum into the RoL. Disney worlds are confirmed, and unless all of them are entirely new, I don't think there's a satisfying way to justify why he couldn't get help from the inhabitants, try to get off-world, or at least get in touch with someone if he still has his Gummiphone.

So if anyone else could go around to these worlds and collect these keychains, Kairi seems like a good candidate for that.

"But what about Destiny's Embrace?" Fair point. It's still got sentimental value to her and has familiarity. They wouldn't just dump it entirely.

However, I believe (and earnestly hope) that Kairi finally gets meaningful character development now. There's so much we could delve into (and we will later), but her current goal of growing stronger seemingly stems from a desire to determine her fate. For so long she's been carried by the tides of chance, waiting for what will happen rather than actively reaching towards her goals. In the end, it brought her down the path that led to Sora's disappearance, so she can't keep placing her faith in destiny.

Kairi might temporarily retire Destiny's Embrace, or perhaps her new mindset will trigger something in her Keyblade. We've seen that with Riku and the Way to the Dawn. It might be a more basic Keyblade like Braveheart, or she could end up wielding an iteration of the Kingdom Key to represent herself starting anew. Hell, maybe Sora fighting in her place in MoM passed it on to her, or she manifests it from her memories.

It'd be a convenient way to keep giving out new keychains while still making it feel like Sora experienced actual consequences for his misuse of the Power of Waking. They could even have Sora gain access to them through Kairi. His temporary possession of her at the end of MoM could be used as an in-universe way to hand-off the main PoV in a natural-feeling way, and she might be able to send him manifestations of the keychains as memories or something else that could cross over to Quadratum.

Masters and Maleficent will go wild

The KH3 ending brought back the Lost Masters through some unexplained mechanic. It also implies that they'll be the main antagonists of the new arc, but they're currently in the Realm of Light. I don't know how much Sora could do from the other side of reality. Not to mention Maleficent making even more schemes.

So the Keyblade wielders and their allies will have to defend against them and whatever other enemies crop up in their wake. But why would Kairi be the one pursuing their main goal? Why not Master Aqua, or at least one of the battle-hardened wielders?

Depending on the numbers, it'd be easy to say the other wielders are busy defending the worlds from the new threats, that they're spread too thin to take up whatever role Kairi would theoretically take. Maybe her status as a Princess of Heart could come up as another reason why it'd have to be her.

In any case, whatever Luxu has in that mysterious box spells bad news. The fact that there are going to be five ancient Keyblade Masters carrying out the Master of Masters' plan spells catastrophic news. Perhaps the missing Master Ava could work from the shadows to stymie them or to help Kairi on her quest.

Also, the Heartless are still gonna be wreaking havoc even if the Masters aren't. That will practically always be true, especially now that Xehanort's not controlling them all. Maleficent is going to do what Maleficent does best and use this to her advantage. With all these potential villains in the RoL, someone's gotta take care of them.

New worlds can develop Kairi further

Now that KH3 is finished and out of development hell, they're now free to consider new Disney properties, even those beyond 2014. And there's quite a few that could easily be connected to Kairi's desire to grow beyond her past and choose her own path:

Moana - Island girls who want to seize their destinies to see what lies beyond everyday life, both struggling with self-doubt. Also have grandmas who know more than they let on.

Coco - How memories connect us, that we can be together in heart when apart, the pains of love and separation. Fighting for your dream even when you're alone.

Encanto - Especially heavy exploration of breaking from the roles others place on us and that we take on, acknowledging and expressing emotions we hide from others.

Brave - "If you had the chance to change your fate, would ya?" Besides that, accepting that people can grow apart, that we each take our own paths, that it doesn't need to break our bonds.

WALL-E - Be open to change, don't let familiarity keep you stuck. Trust in the future, trust in yourself, break through the limits of your past. Go on even when all seems lost.

Frozen 2 - Self-determination and independence, grieving what has been lost, righting the wrongs of the past. Pain is a fact of life, do not let your fear of it keep you from doing what is necessary.

There's likely other films that could fit or other themes of these movies that parallel with Kairi, but these are rife with potential. Plus, the trend of female protagonists with little to no romantic storylines could let Kairi be perceived as more than Sora's love interest or someone to be saved.

Kairi is finally free to change

I don't think it's controversial to say that Nomura really mishandled Kairi's role in the series up til now. She's been stuck in character limbo, and even if we know more stuff *about* her since KH1, we haven't really gotten much *from* her. She's never had enough focus to really showcase her inner world, but I don't think it's due to disinterest on Nomura's part. Instead, I think that it was a result of very poor planning of her arc and his weakness at indirect characterization.

From the start, he probably had an idea of where he wanted to take Kairi's character. He must've, at minimum, pinned down the major strokes of her backstory involving Radiant Garden given the brief mention of her not remembering her home and the flashback with her grandma in KH1. KH2 and BBS both manage to flesh her out a bit more, and even her portrayal in the first game seemed to hint at something going on beneath her surface. Even so, she still outwardly appears as the same cheerful, kind, caring girl from the beginning of the series. I don't think Nomura decided to completely rip those seeds of growth from her character, but he has at least stifled them up til now.

In comparison to all the other main and supporting characters in KH, Kairi is noticeably lacking in any major character insights. From what I've seen, even people who dislike how the female cast is written can tell that the story is practically avoiding any chances for Kairi to verbalize her emotions. The conversations we do get with her almost always shift focus to the other person's feelings. If it does focus on her, the thoughts she does express tend to explore her relationships with other people instead of letting us know more about Kairi herself. As to why he'd make this writing choice with her, there's two possible answers beyond him just not wanting to deal with her.

The first is that he's trying to characterize her through her lack of characterization, that she's a people-pleaser who tends to put others' needs and wants before her own. We've already seen shades of this in KH1 on the dock and when Sora tells her to stay behind in Traverse Town.

In the former, it comes across as her trying to convince herself to go along with the plan about the raft, telling herself that she's ready to go wherever and holding onto the idea that she can always come back to Destiny Islands. Even so, you can hear a hesitation and uncertainty in those words. The only parts where she lets her fears bleed through are when she tells Sora not to change and arguably when she jokes about just the two of them taking the raft. Kairi tests the waters to see if Sora would be willing to go along with her alone before backing down. I don't think she'd actually go through with it, she's not that type of person. I can't say for certain that she hasn't entertained the thought, even if only half-seriously, but it's clear that she said it to avoid her thoughts on how Riku's changed. Kairi doesn't want to show Sora her doubts, especially when they're so close to setting sail. The only assurance she allows herself is asking Sora not to change, to stay her familiar friend, before shifting to expressing apparent excitement at setting sail.

When Sora and Kairi make their promise with the Wayfinder, she's afraid of how their friendship with Riku will have changed if he comes back. Still, she's willing to go help save Riku after seeing Sora's resolve to do so. When he tells her no, she pushes back, telling him that they have to stick together. She only starts to relent when Sora tells her that they won't be alone even if they're apart, then gives up entirely when he says she'd be in his way. Her laugh almost seems like an automatic response to cope with the hurt that statement would naturally provoke. Before he goes, she makes a compromise between their wants, getting Sora to promise that he'll return her Wayfinder to her- that he'll come back after everything's done. Then she tells him that she's always with him wherever he goes, taking Sora's statement and using it to reassure herself more than him. She doesn't want to inconvenience the ones she cares for, so she changes herself, adapting to their desires and opinions to ease any friction between them.

The other answer would be that Nomura's plan for her required her to retain her starting character traits until certain conditions were fulfilled. From where we are in the story, I'd wager that he she needed to be separated from Sora and Riku and for her to gain a meaningful motivation get stronger, at least according to Nomura's standards. The first half of that has been true for almost the entire series, as sad as it is, but we've only just now fulfilled the second. It's possible that he underestimated how long he would need to keep Kairi relatively unchanged for whatever he had planned in the future, causing her to be a static character for all this time.

Now, she's had to confront her fears head-on, needed to acknowledge the feelings of weakness and inferiority getting shattered by Xehanort gave her. It's Xehanort's fault that Sora disappeared, but she might partly blame herself for needing to be rescued rather than saving herself. Her tendencies of staying out of everyone's way and going along with their plans wasn't enough to keep Sora out of harm's way, to protect him. That failure can drive her to grow strong, to realize that valuing herself doesn't mean having to devalue others, that caring for yourself is an act of kindness for those who care about you.

I will acknowledge that even if these answers are accurate, reasonable intentions still don't excuse a sloppy execution. Nomura has skill in weaving a character's motivation into their actions and personality to add depth. However, he often relies on the characters voicing these out loud instead of letting the audience draw their own conclusions from what's presented. While this works well-enough for the series, it means that any indirect characterization he tries to do often ends up falling flat. Aqua at the Keyblade Graveyard is the biggest example of this. It's clear now that her time in the Realm of Darkness left her with some serious PTSD and that the massive storm of Heartless caused her to freeze up at the sight, but the way it was shown pre-Re:Mind ended up frustrating more people with her inaction instead of having them understand why she didn't act.

I'd argue the same thing's been happening with Kairi throughout the series up until now. A character like Kairi isn't inclined to express their unfiltered thoughts, leaving her to rely on indirect characterization to be fleshed out. Combine that with a weakness at subtle storytelling and a severe lack of focus and screentime, and you'll leave your audience almost nothing to discern about her character without close examination. Not to mention, any frustrations or disappointments or boredom regarding her character would only serve to make people even less willing to engage with her, especially stretched out over two decades.

Hopefully, Nomura feels free to put his plans regarding Kairi into motion now that she's gained the space for agency beyond Sora and Riku. I even think Nomura himself is aware of his struggles with nuanced character writing, something he hopes to fix. If you haven't heard, he brought on Akiko Ishibashi, the writer for Neo: The World Ends with You, to help write KH4. Anyone whose played that game can tell you about the amount of depth and complexity the cast of that game had, and her ability to transform one-dimensional archetypes into fully-realized people. I have little doubt that she'll breathe new life into the world of Kingdom Hearts, and I think that we'll see the start of this change through Kairi first and foremost.

In the future

This all sounds like wishful thinking, and it is, but I hope that it's not entirely unfounded. I'm mainly making this before any major trailers drop because, if this does happen, I can't imagine them hiding it for too long.

Maybe Nomura will finally give Kairi the screentime she deserves, and if he doesn't... well, guess we'll go through even more years of rightful disappointment in Nomura's handling of her.

#kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts 4 #kh #kh4 #kh4 speculation #kairi #kh kairi #kingdom hearts theory #kh meta #character analysis #character writing #fan theory #speculation #game theory #akiko ishibashi #tetsuya nomura #please please please Nomura #don't prove me wrong here #let us know you care about Kairi

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pred1059 · 8 months

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A King's Thone - Sokai Day 2023

Kairi had a comfortable chair in the Mayor’s office. She’d replaced the old one when she was elected, her father’s seat having long since passed its prime. Her new one had a sturdy frame, but also cushy padding, perfect for Kairi to work through the day. The swivel was set just right, rotating as needed so someone could turn their attention to anything on the desk with ease. Even though he’d only sat on it a few times since it was brought in, Sora swore it was one of the best seats he’d ever sat in.

Sora had his own work as her secretary answering questions and listening to the people’s feedback that kept him from her office normally. As comfy as his own chair was at first, all too quickly it became mundane. The routine work wearing out the initial novelty. Not that he was too jealous. Kairi’s work was busy enough with hearings and committees that she had the privilege of using the chair whenever she wanted it or needed it.

Of course, he was probably more drawn to Kairi herself when work was over, rather than the chair. The smile on her face after work made everything worth it. Even the few times she had to make him wait while she was on a meeting call were filled with anticipatory glances at him. He just knew it was the same way for her as she could hardly wait to join him.

Both of them looked forward to two of them walking home hand in hand, talking about their day or their plans for the evening. Plans for dinner, for trips, or nights spent together whispering sweet nothings. All the things a couple dearly in love after years would do.

After everything they had been through, being torn apart, flung across worlds, fighting with their keyblades to protect all they knew and loved, Rescuing one another, they had certainly earned that much at least. On one hand Sora was certainly happy for the freedom to live their lives together. And yet…

As he saw the empty office, Sora’s smile fell as he realized he had to wait. One of Kairi’s hearings probably was taking a little longer than expected. He moved behind her desk and sat down, sighing at the plush feel of the cushion. Given how hard he worked, the comfort of a fine seat was appreciated. Even if desk work wasn’t as demanding as fighting with a keyblade

Not to mention a faint but familiar scent he cherished: a hint of Kairi’s perfume, stirring up memories of moments together. Of reunions, of dates, of a long awaited wedding. Memories that Sora wouldn’t trade for the world.

Even if there was one he might have liked to have. A small silly idea, not worth really getting bent out of shape over. Honestly, it was something that would never really happen no matter what he did.

Still…

“Look at you, sitting there like you’re king.” Kairi’s voice roused him from his thoughts as he met her own adoring gaze. She was standing in the doorway in her violet suit with a smirk.

Sora shrugged and shifted himself up from the slouch his daydreaming left him in. “You’re the mayor, I’m just married to you.”

Shaking her head, she walked up to where Sora was seated and brushed her fingers against his. “Don’t sell yourself short. You do a great job figuring out what people need.”

“Thanks Kairi.” Taking her hand, Sora caressed it as she gave a light giggle. Though the comment earlier stuck slightly in his mind. As it was a bit closer to the mark than he would have expected. Still, if anyone would figure out his unspoken fantasy it would be Kairi. Sora looked to the side with a sigh and a smile. “Still, after everything I’ve been through with an adventure involving saving a princess…”

“Usually that’s the point where the hero becomes King.”

Kairi hit the nail on the head with her guess as Sora mused, “You hear so many versions of the story growing up, the idea sticks with you a little bit.” Bedtime stories of the hero returning triumphant over his trials, wedding the princess, and ascending the throne as the new king. “I can’t say I didn’t think about it when I first got the keyblade. Learning you were a princess of heart also didn’t help.“

Kairi giggled as she leaned forward. “Sounds like the perfect setup if you ask me.”

Sora’s smile fell as he gave her hand a tight squeeze. “But I wouldn’t want you put in danger just so I can get a reward.” Sora never wanted to see Kairi’s life put in jeopardy again after what they had been through. “Not to mention how everyone else was at risk too. It wasn’t just us.”

“But we made it,” Kairi said to him as she reached out with both hands to gently stroke his cheeks. “You did save everyone, and we finally got home.”

“I know. I’m not complaining too seriously,” Sora whispered as he relaxed at her touch. “A title might be nice, but living with you is more than enough.”

Kairi gave Sora a pat on the cheek as she offered, “You know, people would say being mayor is more or less royalty, and we are married.”

Rolling his eyes with a smirk, Sora pointed out, “But I don’t have royal blood. So even if you were queen, I'd be…some title.” He furrowed his brow with a nervous smile as he tried to recall the proper term…

“Prince Consort.” Kairi nodded at him.

Yes, that was it. Sora shrugged with a grin. “Doesn’t sound quite as impressive,”

Kairi moved closer to Sora as she murmured, “Well, you’ll always be a king to me.” With that proclamation, Kairi met Sora’s eyes with hers and whispered, “My king.”

Smirking, Sora ran his hands up Kairi’s arms and murmured,“Then will the queen kiss his majes-” Only to stop as he stumbled on his words, looking aside and muttering, “Your majesty? Her majesty?”

Giggling, Kairi turned his face back to hers and answered, “Yes, she would.”

As his lips met hers, Sora’s heart couldn’t help a small flutter. Years had done nothing to dull the love between him and Kairi. A content hum came from them both, as Kairi gently sat on his lap. He didn’t need to be told to hold her closer as they continued to make out.

Pulling away however, Sora saw that Kairi’s smile had taken on a more wistful look. “I get it, you know?” She gave a small sigh as she recalled, “We pretended who knows how many times that I was a princess to be saved. Learning I was a real one made me think of it.” Leaning her forehead against his, Kairi mused, “Living in a castle, ruling wisely and justly. The king that saved me at my side.”

Sora closed his eyes as he simply felt the warmth from her. “You’ve saved me just as much, you know.”

Kairi let her hands fall from Sora’s face as she agreed, “There’s a lot that goes into a happy ending that stories and games can’t quite get across.” The trials and tribulations they both had faced had pushed Sora and her to the brink. Hugging Sora, she leaned her head on his shoulder. “I’d make you a real king if I could. After everything you’ve done you’ve earned it and more.”

Returning her embrace and patting Kairi’s back, Sora assured her, “Hey, I’m the one who recommended you to run for mayor. You’ve got more of a head for administration and paperwork than me.” Title or not, he couldn’t regret the decision for their campaign as Mayor of Destiny Islands. Not when they worked so well together.

Sora couldn’t see her face, but could imagine the smirk Kairi had as she chided, “Don’t you think home would be a better place to sweet talk me?”

It was a fair point, the sun was already beginning to set. Though Sora couldn’t help himself as he began to grin. “But you’ve got such a nice chair.”

Pulling back in their embrace, Kairi grinned at Sora. “I’m sure we can find a more suitable throne at home, my king.”

Sora nodded as he gave her a gentle squeeze. “Then lead the way, my queen.”

A/N: Special thanks to @currantlee for taking the time to beta read this!

#Kingdom Hearts #Sora #Kairi #Sokai #sora/kairi #sora x kairi #kh sora #kh kairi #sokai day #sokai day 2023 #my fanfiction #kh fanfiction #sokaiday2023

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sailforvalinor · 8 months

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Val! I've been playing KHD and just finished up the manga connected to it, and goodness I have thoughts. Conflicting thoughts, mostly about Roxas. So, it got me wondering what your thoughts are on Roxas, nobodies in general, and KH3. The whole storyline feels messy to me, but that probably makes it all the more compelling to me. Why do I do this to myself? Anyway, as you know I love hearing your thoughts on stuff, so I thought I'd ask. I know you're either have already started school or about to, so no pressure with answering. Take your time. I hope you're adjusting okay to your new surroundings and that you're having a lot of fun too. :)

Waugh that's so exciting! I've read the Chain of Memories novelization, but otherwise I've not actually had the chance to read any of the mangas--I'll have to keep an eye out.

As for thoughts on Nobodies, yeah, I agree the storyline does feel messy at times, yet still so so compelling! I think the guiltiest party for me in that respect is how it's revealed in KH3 that Nobodies are capable of regrowing hearts. Because that seems to contradict everything we know about Nobodies from previous games, but if you actually go back and look at those games, there are actually a lot of hints about this--Axel caring about Roxas and Xion at all, "Roxas, are you sure you don't have a heart?", Saix being capable of feeling betrayed by Axel, Vexen displaying panic and annoyance, Namine's entire character arc, Xigbar/Luxu even being capable of playing his long game at all. Some members are more emotionless than others (Xaldin and Marluxia, I'm looking at you), but why would you even want a heart if you didn't feel any emotions? Desires are driven by emotions--one can't really exist without the other.

The terrifying thing about this is that the Organization members seem to rationalize this away (Axel especially) by saying that they are remembering what it used to be like to feel emotions and trying to project that onto their present moment, an idea so specific and bizarre that I can only think it was perpetuated by Xemnas to keep them from figuring out the truth. But of course it's not true--Namine has no memories, how could she feel loneliness?

As for ideas about Roxas, by the end of 358/2 Days he is so attached to Xion, so so angry, so human, that I almost wonder if he hadn't completely grown his own heart by then. He still had to go back to Sora so he could be recompleted, but that explains why he haunts both Sora and the narrative so much, especially in DDD.

I think the same goes for Xion, but perhaps even more so, when you consider that she was never actually a Nobody--just a replica using Sora's memories of Kairi as a blueprint. I suppose that since we know she was created without a heart, she is essentially a Nobody, but I have to imagine that having Sora's memories pouring into her head all the time gave her a bit of a boost. (Wait, does this mean Replica Riku didn't have a heart either? Somehow I've never thought about that.)

I think Axel was also pretty dang close, he was just in severe denial about it, especially now that we know he was burying his grief and despair over being unable to find Subject X after sacrificing his humanity to find her. Roxas and Xion left him just like she did, and burying those emotions and having that ready and waiting excuse that you're not actually feeling them is a lot less painful than having to confront them.

358/2 Days is such a fascinating tragedy, and watching it bleed its way into DDD and KH3 because it's begging to be resolved is just absolutely beautiful. I'll admit the resolution in KH3 seemed a little quick (perhaps because the BBS storyline was also resolving in a similar fashion), but it was great all the same (especially when Sora confronts Xion, my gosh, the fact that he knows her when no one else does). And Hearts as One playing in the next battle, mixing both Roxas and Xion's theme into a joyful and glorious battle theme, makes me absolutely insane.

I know Nomura wants to move on to other things in the next game, but I really hope he doesn't drop these characters. But on the other hand, maybe he should leave them alone? They need to be happy for once.

(Also I think about the scene where Axel looks at Kairi and sees Xion for a split second daily. It *might* be my favorite scene in the entire game.)

#i have a love/hate relationship with nomura's retcons because you go back and realize it wasn't actually a retcon at all and then you have #to rethink everything about what you thought about the world #anyway thank you for the ask!#oh and thank you I'm adjusting pretty well actually!!

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rosie-kairi · 6 months

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Other possibility of the Lauriam and Ven travel together AU so like a different branch if you will.

I personally love the theory that Kairi's grandma is master ava (I also make Lea Kairi's older brother and a keyblade wielder already I love tragic siblings what can I say) so when Lauriam gets blasted off he ends up in Radiant Garden and meets up with his old master.

Ava has tried to live a peaceful quiet life and so when she has a daughter she purposely didn't make her a keyblade wielder, teach her about light and darkness or the keyblade war. She wanted her daughter and by extension grandson to live in peace. However things go wrong when she's pregnant with Kairi and goes into labor. Her pure light attracts all sorts or heartless and darkness trying to snuff Kairi's light before she's born. Ava has no choice but to fend off the attack leaving a 12 year old Lea to be midwife and deliver his sister. Unfortunately the strain of the attack and darkness trying to extinguish light means his moms light get taken instead. Her heart passes moments later. Ava blames herself, had she not let fear take hold in her heart perhaps her daughter would have been able to fend off the darkness and not leave her children orphaned. After checking over kairi Ava realizes she's one of the 7 pure lights and realizes in despair she'll be hunted down by darkness. With little choice she tells Lea about her past and begins training him do he can protect his sister.

Lauriam shows up not long after. He fills Ava in on what's happened and the two start piecing things together. Ava realizes MoM orchestrated all this and she was too blind to see the red flags. She promises to help find Ven and properly train Lauriam.

Lauriam becomes a master in those 4 years and looks high and low for Strelitzia and Ven as well as any of the fore tellers and Xehanort but they all seem to be hidden well. He starts hearing rumors of 3 keyblade wielders traveling the worlds and tries to track them down but he's just one step behind.

Lea is getting ready to take his own mark of mastery, he and Lauriam have formed a close friendship, he remind him of Ven and watching Lea take care of Kairi reminds him of being his own sisters caretaker.

By the time Lauriam makes it to the keyblade graveyard the battle is over. Frustration builds he doesn't understand why all his loved ones are out of his reach.

Over the next year he hears Lea and Isa talk about a girl and hope flares that maybe it's skuld. But before he can properly investigate xehanort plunges the world into darkness. Ava teller Lauriam to take the kids and run while she holds off the heartless but even he knows she'll be overwhelmed. He tells Lea and Isa to take Kairi (sadly their 3 fates are sealed) and run but he ends up running into Luxu, same thing happens as before Luxu has been keeping an eye on Lauriam waiting for the right moment and now here it is. He doesn't beat him in a fight Lauriam is much stronger here but he leads Lauriam to think Ven is tied up in the basement. He desperately goes to find him but it's a trap and gets attacked by terranort. As he's becoming a nobody all he can think about is how no matter how strong he gets it's never enough.

Marluxia has only one name in his head that he can remember, Ventus. He doesn't know why being around Roxas is familiar and painful. Being at CO however ironically stirs up his forgotten memories and while he can't find Ven hidden in the chamber he just knows he's there and suddenly understands why Xemnas sent half of them here. So Marluxia purposely plays the villain he doesn't trust himself to protect Ven this time and thinks being killed will be the better option. Sleeping away Ven's heart inside Sora responds to Marluxia making Sora very confused because he hates Marluxia but he also has a deep longing to be with the lord of the castle. Marluxia's final moments are praying Ven and the others are safe and silently apologizes for all his failures.

He has zero memories at the keyblade graveyard it's not until his second death does he remember and thanks sora for "protecting him when he could not" once again confusing sora.

MoM is watching all this and is like hmmmm that Ven and Lauriam maaaaaay be of use to the next phase of my plans. (He's such an asshole).

Basically what if Lauriam went to RG met up with Ava and even though he gets stronger it's still not enough and he's still chasing ghosts and being a step behind just a minute too late to make a difference.

Anon, if you're going to hurt me like this, I'd much prefer you come to my house and shoot me directly rather than torture me psychologically over tumblr asks.

(That is to say, this is great keep it coming)

#ask rosie a question!#kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts union x #khux #anon ask #kh lauriam #kh ventus #lauriam #ventus #windflower family fun times!

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dominicsorel · 10 months

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Hey can i hear abt ur passed pawn duo/sora kairi bbs theory pls im rlly curious

AAAAAA IM SO HAPPY U ASKED OK so for me i think they’ve been dropping hints in each game for a very long time but it’s easy to miss them.

The biggest one as of recent is in MOM where Kairi tries to find Sora in her memories. She might have thought he returned to her like Vanitas had Ventus’s past memories after being split from him in the way they were (KH3 novel states this) so that’s why I believe she chose the memory search method. She thought it’d be the most productive way to save Sora because he’s not just a product of himself but the old Kairi as well. He had her old memories for a very long time and it helped shape who he is even if it was on a subconscious level. Xehanort says those memories long gone and that implies Kairi’s old memories went SOMEWHERE.

But why do I think this? I’ve got a few examples.

Kairi didn’t want to leave the islands but Sora held an interest in Kairi’s home world. “Xion came from Castle Oblivion. That’s probably why she was asking about the place.” Riku runs operations for the Sora search out of Radiant Garden where Kairi is from. Ienzo states he hasn’t seen Sora since the castle but…he never saw Sora at Castle Oblivion. Sora also is the one to help restore Radiant Garden. And a small note I enjoy is Sora apologizing for lying to Ariel about not being from another world. Ariel isn’t mad and states if he can visit other worlds, maybe she can too. Reminds me of Sora looking like he thinks Riku is talking to him when he’s telling Kairi it’s thanks to her he thought of trying to go to another world. He might’ve gotten credit if he was honest about who he used to be. If he even knows. Shang also gets upset at Mulan for lying about her identity and Sora even expresses he can relate to her in the manga version.

(Maybe for different reasons but the reading of what gender you view him as is up to you. Personally, I read him as a trans guy.)

Sora makes the difference in helping save Aqua. Aqua stated she felt like she met Kairi for a reason and Sora helping save her after ten years of suffering in the Dark World sounds like a pretty big reason to me. He could also use her weapon Master Defender which Kairi touched Aqua’s weapon when they met and people have theorized that’s how Kairi can use Destiny’s Embrace so…wouldn’t the same be possible for the old Kairi?

Xion looks more like Kairi but she has a lot more similarities to Sora in her personality that Riku himself can’t help but notice in the Days novel. It wasn’t just him seeing Xion as Sora. He felt like he couldn’t lie to her because of how much Xion and Sora had in common. She also stays at Hollow Bastion after running away. From this, I think she’s supposed to be a hint that the old Kairi has been Sora right under our noses this whole time. Xion also expresses worry about Kairi in the Days novel that’s very reminiscent of Sora’s care for her. Namine actually keeps her promise to be real friends with Sora through Xion too. My favorite indication of this is Data Sora asking Data Namine if she kept her promise “to the me I don’t know”. That’s why them talking happily in the KH3 ending is even sweeter.

That’s just some of my reasons but I’m out of energy so we can continue this in another ask later if you’re interested! I’m really happy to know people are curious about this because it feels like it’s becoming more and more real with each game.

#didi speaks #text #sora is bbs kairi theory

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memorystormsanctuary · 9 months

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Day 7~ Happily Ever After...?

The final day of @khoc-week and we come to the prompt of Happily Ever After. Unfortunately for Y, there's still a lot that stands in the way of her ending whether it be a happy one or not. Due to a series of events during KH3, Y doesn't get to see the ending. And even if she did it wouldn't really be over until Sora came home. So, instead I chose to focus on the beginning of her end. Finding a new dream to aim for in all the chaos.

***

It was strange.

Try as she could, Y could think of no other way to describe the situation to herself. She had thought she would be more excited when the time for it came. After all, when it had been decided she would be taking her Mark of Mastery it was in the middle of a discussion involving just about everyone preparing to fight Xehanort. She hadn’t even had time to think about it before demanding to be allowed to take the exam. All she had at the time was outrage she wasn’t allowed to help find Aqua. Her best friend. All that talk about needing a connection to her but since Y wasn’t a Master she couldn’t help. So Y sought to fix at least that problem. But now that she stood once again in front of Master Yen Sid she still wasn’t excited.

It was strange. Nothing about this moment was at all like she had imagined it. Everything seemed to have changed from years ago when it had been all she could dream of.

This had once been her dream. The same dream shared by Aqua and Terra and Ventus too. To become a keyblade master. To be ready to take their tests. The excitement that had filled the Land of Departure as Aqua and Terra’s exam had approached. Y hadn’t even been taking the exam and she had barely been able to sleep the night before. She had snuck out to stare at the stars rather than stay in bed. And that night she had been joined by the other three. Aqua had given them their wayfinders. Lucky charms.

It was the only thing that even came close to her dream. The glass clutched tightly in her hands.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

Y wasn’t supposed to be alone. She was supposed to take her exam alongside Ven. They would be able to laugh and joke and lean on each other if they needed to. They would be able to face whatever the exam threw at them, so long as they were together.

It wasn’t supposed to be Master Yen Sid in front of her, rattling off the rules and requirements. Y had already long tuned him out. It was supposed to be Master Eraqus. He would have seen Y lose interest and scolded her gently. He would remind her of the importance of the exam, and what she needed to know. Y could hear Ven snicker as if he really were with her. Master Eraqus had promised he’d see her become a master. But now that wasn’t possible. All because of Xehanort.

Y wasn’t supposed to stand alone, with no audience. Aqua and Terra had promised too, that they would watch over her Mark of Mastery. And yet here she was, about to embark on a journey completely alone. None of the others were ready for their Mark of Mastery yet, at least according to Master Yen Sid. Sora had failed his, so it was not wise to ask him to complete the same task a second time. Yuki had no interest in becoming a Master, perhaps the smartest move any of them had made. And Lea and Kairi had only just begun learning how to wield a keyblade. As much as Y understood, it still left her feeling more alone than she had since first losing all her friends.

It was strange how dreams never were quite what they seemed.

“Do you understand?” Y looked up at the Master seated before her. She hadn’t realized he had been going on for so long. She knew parts of it. Something about sleeping worlds and searching for truths to wake them. Maybe a mention of companions she would meet there but she wasn’t completely sure.

“Um, sorry, I kinda got lost in thought,” Y said, rubbing the back of her head. “Could you go over that again?”

“And what has overtaken your mind so strongly?” Master Yen Sid asked. Y hesitated to speak. As kind as Yen Sid had been to her, allowing her a place to stay when there was no home to return to, she wasn’t sure he would understand.

“It’s just, I always used to dream of my Mark of Mastery,” Y admitted. She watched for his reaction as she spoke, carefully testing out her words. But there was no reaction, so it seemed. His face remained unchanged. “Everything is wrong about it. And, if I get my dream here, I don’t know where to go next. If this what a dream come true is, why bother dreaming?”

Master Yen Sid’s face softened, or at least, Y thought it might have. His intense gaze seemed a little less so and the lines in his face were a little shallower.

“It is unfortunate, that these are the circumstances in which we find ourselves,” Yen Sid said. “That you stand before me alone, and with so little as once planned. But, to give up on dreams would take much of your power from you. There is more to follow this exam, and should all go well, new dreams will perhaps spring.”

“New dreams?” Y echoed. What was left for her to dream?

“Yes, believing in what might come after Xehanort is defeated,” Yen Sid said. “And once our goals have been accomplished.”

Y frowned. The threat of Xehanort had hung over them for so long. She had forgotten he would be gone. If all went well. If all went well, then she wouldn’t be alone anymore.

If all went well, Aqua would be back, able to stand beside her and scold her when she didn’t listen to Yen Sid prattle on. And even with her scolding Aqua would be smiling, laughter in her blue eyes. She would correct Y’s stance and suggest different types of magic that might have worked better. She would read out stories from inside the library and make sure Y had eaten in between her hours spent researching. Though, with Aqua back there would be no need for Y to research anymore. She could spend her days outside, racing with Ventus.

If all went well, Ven would be back. He would huff and cross his arms that Y had beat him to becoming a master. He would pretend to be angry at her, for maybe a moment, before he demanded to hear the details of the exam. To know what Y had learned that had helped her. And then he would claim stories weren’t the best way to learn and Y would just have to show him. And they would spend hours sparring, until they could sit outside under the stars and make jokes. Maybe Y would be able to tell more stories. And maybe they would be joined by Terra and Aqua.

If all went well, Terra would be freed from Xehanort’s clutches. Y would once again hear his laughter as he watched Aqua try to reign in Ventus and Y together. And he would help the two get into more trouble the moment Aqua’s back was turned only to be the next one scolded. He would be the strong pillar to lean on when things got overwhelming, always having a wise word and warm smile. He would do everything to help with whatever crazy plan Y had at the moment, be it finding the materials she needed or search the books in the library for the answer she didn’t have the patience to look for. He would be able to see how far Riku had come and feel the same pride Y did seeing all he had overcome. He would be able to truly step into the Master title he had been wrongly denied.

If all went well, there would be one more night underneath the same stars. There would be hundreds more.

And all her friends would be together, not just those from the Land of Departure. Yuki and Kairi would be able to learn from Aqua, though Yuki might struggle with the magic. And Riku and Terra would be able to compare stories and struggles. Sora and Ven would become fast friends, Y was sure of that. And Lea would be able to spar against Ven again, maybe standing a chance this time. Roxas would be his own person, his sarcasm and sass paring well with X. And though welcome X would stand off to the side. He would until he could prove his change to Aqua, Terra, and Ventus. But his apology would be enough of a start. With time they would become real friends. And X could smile again, without the guilt resting on his shoulders.

“Do you understand, now?” Yen Sid asked, pulling Y from her thoughts. For a moment all she could do was stare blankly. She hoped he hadn’t gone over all the rules again. It would be awkward to have to ask him to repeat once again. “There is more to come.”

Y let out a relieved breath. She smiled and nodded.

“Yeah, lot’s to come,” she agreed. Her eyes moved from the Master to the sky through the window behind him.

There would be more nights under the stars. She would make sure of it.

She would get the dreams she deserved.

A happy ending.

***

As always thank you to everyone who checked in everyday! I have so much fun with this every year and I love seeing everyone's characters. Everyone is so creative and the characters are all so amazing, I'm impressed by every single one. Thank you to the mods for putting this together and running it! You all work so hard for this amazing experience. Thanks again! I can't wait to see what happens next year!

#khocweek2023 #khocweek #Y #kingdom hearts oc #original character #kh #i seriously have so much fun with this #its always a good time

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