#and think a COAT is more attractive than XEMNAS- IT’S NOT EVEN THAT IT’S XEMNAS SPECIFICALLY | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

imagine-organization-xiii · 4 years

Note

Have you done something along the lines of the org finding out they are intrested in someone who is afraid of them?

We only did one for Xemnas! warning for a few spoilers in xigbar’s, but i’m pretty sure everyone should know about it by now

Friendly reminder to get ready to VOTE

Xemnas - You can find this one here!

Xigbar - you’re afraid of Xigbar because you don’t know who he is. No, really, and Xigbar understands. Sometimes he forgets who he is - from Braig to Xigbar to Luxu to something else entirely that isn’t really any of the three - it’s hard to be in a relationship with someone when you’re so terrified of what can only be described as their multiple personalities. But he’s also a hell of a conversationalist, and he does his best to put you at ease with his naturally casual nature and enticing words. You fall for it, everyone always does, but there will always be something about him that seems out of place to you.

Xaldin - even before he was a nobody, people would cross the street to avoid having to walk near him. He’s an intimidating guy, he gets it, and he’s dangerous and powerful and he can and HAS hurt people. Imagine his surprise when he realizes that, no, it isn’t that you’re afraid of him, it’s more that you liked him almost as much as he liked you and you didn’t want to overwhelm or smother him with what you thought was unrequited affection

Vexen - Vexen gives the phrase ‘mad scientist’ new meaning, so some of his actions make you afraid to be around him. Dabbling with things out of his control, trying to change the forces of nature... it makes you both nervous and intrigued. Vexen is focused on what he’s doing - he’s a single-minded, goal-oriented person, so it takes him a while to realize that, hey, maybe if you tone down the crazy a bit you might get a significant other who could be your partner in all things. It takes an intervention from some of the other members to get him to chill out, and even then, it takes a lot of effort on his part to get you to look twice at him without fear.

Lexaeus - his sheer size alone makes people hesitant to be around him, so he doesn’t blame you for being afraid of him. Your avoidance hurts his feelings a bit, but there isn’t really much he can do about it. He leaves you to your own devices and resolves to not have your affections returned, and it takes the interference of Zexion to reassure you that Lexaeus is nothing more than a giant teddy bear with the people he cares about. It takes a while, but after observing him when you can, you realize that Zexion is right and you take your own steps to get closer to Lexaeus, realizing that he is definitely worth the effort to get to know.

Zexion - Zexion has always been a bit of a weird kid - he was too quiet and he always knew too much and he always stared at people like he knew their innermost thoughts, so the idea that he might know more about than you know about yourself frightens you. He can’t help the way that he is - it’s just part of his personality and he sees things better when he’s observant and silent, not noisy and talkative. You can learn a lot about a person by just watching them, and he’d be happy to teach you if you let him.

Saix - Fear is a valuable thing to Saix. He likes being feared; it makes many situations in life a lot easier than they would be otherwise. You are already wary of him before you meet him - stories and rumors from others about how emotionless he is, how scary and ruthless he can be even with people who can be considered allies, and there is a tiny bit of regret in him because he never wants to fearsome to you, especially when he wants you to be his partner.

Axel - Axel doesn’t really see how he can be scary - he’s friendly and open and funny and he likes it when he can make people smile - but it takes Roxas all but spelling it out for him for Axel to understand what makes him scary - he’s dangerous. In the wild, the predators with the most beautiful coats are usually ones that are the most vicious, so Roxas stresses that Axel shouldn’t hold your hesitation against you. Axel is dangerous, after all, more so than some of the other organization members at times. It will just take a little effort on his part to get you to see that fire can be warm and comforting instead of just burning pain.

Demyx - Demyx thinks that you may be afraid of him because there’s more to him than meets the eye - and that more makes you nervous. There’s a lot that he doesn’t tell other people, but he doesn’t really want to take any chances with you, so he’ll tell you anything you want to know as long as you give him a chance. Just listen!!! He’ll be a loyal boyfriend if you manage to get over your fear of him - and when you find out what he’s hiding, you’ll understand.

Luxord - Luxord is scary because he leaves too many things up to chance. You need reassurance, you need certainty, not guessing and betting. Your fear isn’t necessarily because of him, it’s more of a fear of uncertainty and the unknown. An easy fix, overall, but he’s happy with just being your friend for a while if that’s what would make you feel more comfortable. Once you get used to his own actions and personality, when you’re more in tune with how the two of you work together, that’s when he’ll approach you about an actual relationship - when you’re ready.

Marluxia - Marluxia is a deadly, dangerous flower, poisonous and yet wrapped into a pretty package. He turns on the charm when it comes to you but you’re always worried about some ulterior motive, so you keep your distance. He’s beautiful and wonderful and the idea of being with someone like him makes you uneasy, but you know that he can make you happy - that he can have a significant impact on your life - so you need to prepare him for the time it takes you to get used to being near him.

Larxene - Larxene lives to be feared, but not necessarily by you. She likes you, she wants to date you, and she doesn’t want you to be afraid of her, but your feelings are made pretty obvious when you tend to avoid her more often than not. She wants a partner to be able to stand beside her without fear, not cower in fear somewhere else, so if she kind of begins to lower her guard a bit around you, just so you can see that she isn’t something to be feared by you, then that’s no one else’s business. (and god help anyone who bothers to point it out in front of her)

Roxas - Roxas is sometimes afraid of himself so I mean, can he really blame you? It’s super frustrating at times, but he gets it. However, he realizes that there’s nothing else for him to do except be himself. If you can’t accept him as he is, then your relationship wouldn’t work anyway, right? So he lets you get used to his personality and actions as he is. If it takes a while for you to get used to him, then so be it.

Xion - Xion is actually kind of offended that you’re afraid of her because she isn’t exactly the most intimidating person in the world. You’re hesitant and nervous around her because she’s so quiet, so mysterious, you know so little about her and she knows so little about herself. The mystery makes you hesitant despite your attraction to her, and, okay, maybe she understands that, because it’s better to deal with the devil you know than one that is unfamiliar. So she takes her time, is kind and sweet and tries her best to be herself without being too secretive, and you decide that her sweet-nature cannot possibly be hiding something evil.

#organization xiii headcanons #kingdom hearts headcanon

38 notes · View notes

kingdomheartsmarts · 4 years

Note

Hope you're doing better, love 💕 Looooved the Turn-On's for our Guard Boys but my thirsty ass wants more 😂 Can i ask for unintentional Turn-Ons for Xemnas, Even, Ienzo and Isa? 😘😘

of course~ lol i got another anon asking for Ienzo and Isa, so here they are! thank you for requesting! i hope you enjoy~

smutty under the cutty

Unintentional Turn-On’s for Xemnas, Even, Ienzo, & Isa

Xemnas

If you wear any capacity of lace or light, innocent colors, Xemnas goes slightly insane; the idea of his little minx being so innocent and pure for him to ruin-

Lace for the love of god, even if it’s just supposed to be a soft lace bralette and some panties you find cute, not even thinking that he knows what you’re wearing- he knows and he’s going to use that against you.

Or if you wear your organization coat… and nothing else. Just wearing it around, unzipped, because you can’t find the shirt you were looking for- he wants to ravish you right there

Heels. Strappy, black heels- just. He just loves heels. He will fuck you with them on too.

Even

Biting your lip while you think- it’s hot to him that you’re so lost in thought that you just look like you’re thinking about less than appropriate things.

If you touch him randomly, it just turns him on because he knows your touch- a soft but sure hand on his back to get his attention, he just gets hard right there

Wearing light, pastel blue. He doesn’t know why. He doesn’t even have a favorite color, but if you come in wearing a flowy blue shirt, he just loses it.

Also- if you bat your eyes up at him all innocently, actually trying to talk to him, he just loves it. He thinks you look so sweet. Even ends up cupping your jaw while you continue to talk about whatever, watching your lips.

Ienzo

Holding onto his arm tightly; just the idea that you’re clinging onto him for whatever reason just makes him want to give you more reasons.

Touching his hair and gently stroking it- normally just you holding the back of his head while the two of you hold each other, talking or gently kissing, but if you start stroking his hair he’s gone.

Wearing a very light perfume that’s hard to even detect; he likes you wearing perfume, but he is really sensitive to smells, so if you wear something that light, it gets the desired effect.

Standing beside him while he is sitting down; his mind just starts to wander and by the end he just wants to bend you over the desk and eat you out.

Isa

Wearing just dark enough lip colors to where if you kiss him, it leaves a kiss; he likes if you leave lipstick marks on him, but if they’re a dusty pink.

Just.. being really sweet? Like if you’re dating Isa, you already have to you know, not be an asshole, but he still finds it just so attractive when you’re innocently helping like a shopkeeper.

Peppermint or tea tree; he loves those two smells and they always get to him. He also likes really, really light rose smells, but mintier, earthier but still sharp scents get to him more.

If you’re cooking for him. He knows it’s so basic, but just you being domestic and quiet when it’s just the two of him- he doesn’t even get ravishing horny, he just wants to show you love.

77 notes · View notes

atrashsith · 4 years

Text

Old Flames

Reader had a relationship with Xemnas when they were nobodies and he commanded the organization, so when she sees Terra-Xehanort she thinks she’s finally reunited with her lover.

This is the one-shot that started it all! my current WIP Igniting is a prequel of it, it was written over a year ago

"Xemnas..." I breathed out.

He turned to me. His lips parted, as if he was about to say something, but then they were pressed into a thin line. the first thing I noticed was his hair; it was shorter, nothing like the long strands I used to run my hands through. Then his fitted black shirt with a red X on his chest, it showed off the muscles I memorized after the many late nights I spend in his room. I took a step towards him, ignoring the yells from my new friends. His lower half was covered in baggy brown pants. A piece of armor in his left arm matched the colors of his attire.

"Is it... is it really you?" My voice was so soft I wasn't sure if he even heard me. His golden eyes landed the keyblade in my right hand, then they moved back to my face. I choked out a sob and let go of my keyblade. I ran the short distance between us and wrapped my arms around him in a tight hug.

It's only been months since I last saw him, but I really fucking missed him. Our relationship as nobodies was very complicated. It started off as a casual thing, due to our inability to feel, it was purely physical attraction between us. As the years passed, I became fond of him, I didn't know if I could call it love because I wasn't even supposed to feel anything at all. His personality didn't change one bit when we were alone. He was as formal and stiff as when we were surrounded by our comrades and he barely let himself show any emotions. He slowly opened up to me after a year of our... relationship? Sometimes he just wanted me to hold his hand and I would assure him that I wasn't going anywhere, or the pecks he left on my forehead when he thought no one was looking and whispered that I looked pretty, despite wearing the same black Organization coat every day. I longed for the time we would be whole again, because I knew he would finally love me as much as I loved him.

"I’m not Xemnas, not anymore." Despite his harsh tone, he wrapped his arms around my shoulders and rested his chin on my head. I closed my eyes and relaxed in his arms. It felt like home.

"We're whole again! We can finally be together, like we always wanted." I smiled and propped my chin on his chest to look up at him.

His jaw was clenched tightly as he stared at the ground, avoiding my gaze. I loosened my grip, but it only made him tighten his arms around me. Now this was more like the side Xemnas he only showed me. Suddenly he released me from his arms and dropped to the ground. He held his head and groaned loudly as his knees dug into the dirt. In an instant he looked up at me, his amber eyes widened. I frowned and reached out to him, he grabbed my hands and pulled me to the ground with him.

"I’m not Xemnas. He's possessing my body, leave before he comes back and hurts you."

Tears swelled up in my eyes as I got my arms out of his grip. I crawled backwards on the floor to get away from him. What the fuck was happening? I heard Sora calling my name, then Riku. I thought I could also hear Lea, but I was too distracted with the man kneeling in front of me to make out any of the voices around us.

Xemnas– or not Xemnas– held onto his head again, but this time he actually fell to the floor and writhed in pain. I couldn't do anything other than stare dumbfounded at him, looking for any sign that this was my Xemnas besides his appearance. Riku ran up to me and helped me back onto my feet. I was about to thank him when I felt movement behind me. I turned just in time to see Xemnas surrounded by purple chains, then he caught Aqua, Ventus and Sora with them. I screamed and tried to save them, but Riku held me back.

"They can take care of him. Let's go!" He snapped and wrapped an arm around my shoulders pull me to safety, where the others were waiting for us. I heard another scream, so I tried to turn back, but Riku had an iron grip on me.

"You'll never be able to break these chains." Xemnas chuckled. "They're our bonds."

"Riku, please." I begged as we arrived at the group, Kairi quickly holding onto each side of my face as she tried to talk some sense into me. I closed my eyes and shook my head. Another scream was heard, followed quickly by one of my own. I ripped Kairi's hands from me and I managed to escape before Riku's reflexes kicked in and noticed I wasn't in his arms anymore. Lea called out to me, he had been one of my best friends in the organization, so he knew how much I cared for Xemnas despite the feeling not being returned. I froze on the spot. Lea used the time to catch up to me, he murmured an oh shit when he noticed what I was looking at.

Aqua and Ventus were plummeting to the floor and fast. I choked out a sob and watched helplessly as they fell. A black monster flew in at the last moment and grabbed the keyblade wielders. I recognized it as the Heartless that guarded Ansem. Why would he protect them if he was a being of darkness? It broke the chains and gently laid Aqua and Ventus on the hard ground, Sora following behind quickly. I was left to watch in awe as Xemnas looked visibly irritated at the heartless.

"How?" He yelled in frustration. "You fell to the dark–" A dark orb appeared in his hand, but before he could do anything the Heartless teleported behind him and grabbed his head. "No!" I cried out. Lea held me back as I squirmed in his arms. "He's in pain... let me go!"

"Xemnas never existed! That was Xehanort possessing Terra's body!"

"No... no. That's not true." I stopped struggling at his words. The Heartless ripped the crossed tapes over his mouth and struggled to speak. I couldn't make out the words, my eyes were focused on Xemnas' struggling form. His eyes caught mine and they widened before a blinding light covered us.

What's happening? I panicked as I shielded my eyes. I took the opportunity to blindly walk towards Sora. The light quickly subdued, and I could see Xemnas standing in the middle of the field. No, that wasn't Xemnas. He had chocolate hair and he looked at me with deep blue eyes. They were full of sorrow, sympathy, regret. He abruptly turned towards Sora, who was kneeling beside aqua and Ventus. He quickly took off towards them, leaving me alone a couple of steps away. I couldn't bear to watch their reunion. I was happy for them, I really was. They finally got their friend back from the darkness, but it meant that my lover would never return.

Sora watched me with sad eyes. I shook my head and offered him a fake smile, hoping he would catch my drift and leave me alone. He squeezed my shoulder and walked past me, towards the awaiting group. I sighed and wiped any tears off my cheeks before turning to follow Sora, but someone held me back. I softly gasped as I looked into Terra's eyes, knowing once I looked into them and thought I was in love, then I looked down at his hand holding my wrist. He cleared his throat and let go of my arm when he noticed my eyes had trailed downwards. I quickly snapped them up to his face as I felt my cheeks heat up.

"I’m sorry."

His voice was an octave higher, but I found my breath hitching as soon as I heard it. He brought his hand up to rest on my neck and his thumb rubbed my cheek. My eyes closed as I subconsciously leaned into his touch. This had been all I wanted with Xemnas, small touches like this, but now I would never have it. At least not with him.

"He was so- so heartless towards you." A giggle escaped my lips at his unintended pun. "Sometimes I could take control of my body, I tried to make you feel better. A kiss on the forehead, playing with your hair. You looked so beautiful when your face lit up at those small moments."

My eyes shot open. So, it was him all along? Xemnas only wanted my body, but Terra made up for what he lacked romantically. My bottom lip quivered as my vision began to blurry. "No, don't cry." He held my face with both hands now. "I couldn't bare seeing you falling for him, only for it to not be reciprocated. He didn't deserve your love."

"Nobodies don't have feelings." I repeated the words Xemnas often told the organization. I gasped at the realization. "He used to say that– oh no, he manipulated us."

I couldn't help the tears now. They fell freely down my face and Terra pulled me into his chest. He whispered sweet nothings near my ear and even kneeled with me as I collapsed to the floor. He pressed his lips to my forehead like he always did and pulled away just enough to catch a glimpse of my smile. I didn’t get this kind of moments with Xemnas, but maybe I would get them often now that Terra is back.

#xemnas #terra #terra xehanort #kingdom hearts

21 notes · View notes

oveliagirlhaditright · 4 years

Text

Swallow Part 2

My idea for a Kingdom Hearts IV–that will eventually have all that entails, like Shibuya and Verum Rex and Sora’s PoV–but that deals with the idea of a dark Kairi after everything she’s been through, because this girl deserves to be allowed to feel things. First chapter is from the TV show “Angel the Series”–as it’s Fox and Disney owns Fox now–but you don’t have to know Angel to get it.

Madness Surprisingly enough, it hadn’t been Kairi’s idea for her to train like it was the only thing she had left in the world. It had been Riku’s—as many things in her and Sora’s life had started out with him—as he had thought that she should actually try and do something and have less reason to hate herself that way. “But is that… really a good idea?” Kairi had asked him when he’d suggested it, as she’d sat on the paopu tree—the stupid place she had lost Sora at—and worked on making more lucky charms for him and letters, on the off-chance that one of them would work and bring her boy back to her. “Riku… maybe I just was never cut out for fighting. Sora paid a high price in bringing me back. Do you really think I should dishonor his sacrifice by putting myself into even more danger that I can’t handle?” Riku had looked like he wanted to push Kairi into the water beneath them then—and honestly, she could have hardly blamed him even if he had; she’d been so weak then, and she was ashamed to think of it now—and got right into her face as he said, “That’s not the girl who said she wanted to fight like me and Sora, so we wouldn’t be the only ones getting hurt… or who said that she was tired of getting left behind and that ‘wherever one of us goes, the other follows’. Kairi… you made all of these promises to Sora before the Keyblade Graveyard. Do you really want to go back on them now?” No, she hadn’t. That was the last thing in the world that she would have ever wanted. But the person she’d been a few months ago—who had said so much of that stuff—was so different from the girl she was now. That Kairi had gotten a Keyblade into her hand for the first time and had thought that with just a little training, she would easily become as strong as Sora and Riku were. That wasn’t the part of her that had gotten training and still couldn’t get her body to cooperate… and had had to realize that most of her worst nightmares might actually come true, as Terra-Xehanort had charged at her. And they had come true after that. Oh, how they had. Kairi had had one brief moment of peace and pride in herself—when she had kept Sora from fading away, that had then allowed him to save everyone else—but then it had all gone to hell, like so much of Kairi’s life had, and she didn’t know if she wanted to go there again. “Kairi, the problem is we had you train with someone who isn’t a Keyblade wielder at all… And is actually someone who uses his magic to stay away from enemies, when you—in pretty much using a sword—would be in close contact with people. That was our fault, not yours… I’ll properly train you now, so you never have to feel so horrible again. Just let me.” And that was what started it. Many hours a day—eight or more, as if they were working a full-time job and in Kairi’s eyes they were—Riku was training Kairi in the hours that they weren’t looking for any hint as to Sora’s whereabouts. And while it started out rough, and Kairi had continued to think that maybe she should just work on her light magic because of it, she steadily got better and better and even she could see it—it was nothing like what she had encountered with Merlin and Lea. It was actual tangible progress that she could see in her scars and feel in her muscles. And Kairi took it even further than that. She didn’t tell Riku or anyone about this because she didn’t want to worry them, but in the hours when she should have been sleeping or resting, she would do the familiar drills again until they were completely beaten into her. And then she was taking the gummi ship that Mickey had thankfully left for her and Riku out into the ocean between worlds, to find Heartless or Nobodies to fight: something that didn’t help her that much, because Kairi had been able to handle these just fine in the Keyblade War, but every little bit of actual experience helped. And she’d just hoped against hope that on her journeys she could run into some Darksides or Twilight Thorns, and how happy she was—the first time she’d been remotely that in ages—when she did, and began handling them better and better: with little injuries and destruction to her hair and outfits. And at one point—when Kairi had unintentionally taken a page out of Roxas, Xion, and Lea’s book—and had bested five giant Heartless in one night, she had finally felt good about herself… and that nothing could ever happen to her again. She wouldn’t let it. And that furthermore, she knew that she was going to find Sora and bring him home. But it was just when she was beginning to feel great, that such a feeling of euphoria didn’t last. Kairi heard a Corridor of Darkness open from behind her in Twilight Town—a sound she’d made certain she always knew now, as not being able to recognize it with Xemnas before had led to her death—and who would come out of it but someone cloaked in an Organization robe? Of course. Kairi had backed away from her assailant, growling at them as she prepared to send Firaja after Firaja after them. But first, she’d had to berate them a little bit. “You have got to be kidding! I thought the lot of you had been defeated in the Keyblade War. All that we did—which- which led to Sora’s death—was so we could defeat any of you who would survive to try and get the X-Blade again. So, who are you?! And are you at all connected to Sora’s fate?! Do you know where he is?! Tell me!” “Tsk tsk, little princess,” the attractive voice of a man replied—as he motioned with his hands that Kairi should calm down, in the way that Master Yen Sid often told the Keyblade wielders of the new generation to sit down. “It’s… good that you’re so strong now. Go, you! But don’t you know you’re killing yourself? So much sleep deprivation isn’t a good thing. And I know you’re not eating or drinking much, either. You’re going to be dead as a doornail soon, and your boyfriend’s going to come back to see that he sacrificed himself for you for nothing… or worse. That you’ve become a different person from the girl he loved… There’s blood on your hands now, isn’t there Kairi?” Kairi had wanted to deny this, of course. After all, she’d only been fighting Heartless and Nobodies and that was something that needed to be done! But at the same time… she knew that they had once been human, and the thought made her violently sick on the inside. But even more than that… she was hunting the things as sport now, whereas everyone else had only ever fought the beasts when they’d attacked them on their adventures… and she enjoyed killing them too much. And she kept score, the way Sora and Riku once had with their fighting. Every injury she got was a point against her, but each hurt she gave them was a point for her: especially if she could give them many of those without being touched at all. Kairi wasn’t trying to be quick or end their suffering fast at all, but to just use them as target practice as long as she could. And while Kairi hadn’t yet fought another human since the War, she worried that she would do the same when she faced them because it was such a routine now. Sora had only ever told her stories about how Clayton had wanted to kill the gorillas, but Kairi thought that if she herself ever run into him somehow… she’d fight him the way she was now Heartless, and be thrilled for it—that the fear he’d struck in Terk’s heart she could put in his. So, she was falling. Falling into darkness, it seemed… and this man had known this, and it had been only the start for her. “What do you know about it?!” Kairi had demanded then, furious. Throwing her hand out to the side in a way that Sora had used to when he glared at his enemies. “You know nothing. You don’t know me at all! You’re just a forgotten relic from a cause that’s already seen its best day. Now just tell me what you know and get lost, before I-” “Before you what, Kairi?” the voice had cut her off. And there was a sweet cadence in his voice that she hated, as if he’d talked to someone like her before and was trying to be a friend since he’d apparently cared about this other person. “Do something unseemly to me and make Sora hate you even more that way? He loves his little light princess—that’s why he fights for you so much—so what do you think he’s going to do when he comes back and sees you aren’t like that at all anymore? Do you think he’ll stay the knight in shining armor, or will he move onto something bigger and better? “You’re also angry. So angry. And, hey: I applaud you for it—you’re entitled to those emotions, and I may even have use of them—but Sora preferred the sweet and loving little girl, not the one who’s going to get called to many worlds because of her fury now.” Furious? Was she really furious? Kairi had asked herself. She hadn’t felt it at the time—if torn between “bloodlust” and “fury”, she definitely had thought she was more bloodlust at the time—but the Kairi of the present could recognize how her blood had boiled back then, and continued to do so now. But having not liked what this man had said about her getting pulled into an adventure all about her madness—because that wasn’t her at all—Kairi had tried to backtrack a little. “Maybe… maybe I’ve been a little hard on you. You haven’t really done anything to me. Perhaps if anything, you’re just giving me some… helpful advice. And I guess you don’t have to be with Organization XIII... I know a Moogle has worn the coat before, I mean, and clearly they weren’t one of Xehanort’s vessels. So can you just tell me who you are, and what you wa-” “And how easily you fall back into the Naminé routine. Kairi, did you ever think that maybe the two of you were split for a reason? You may be the Princess of Heart… but you have far more fire to you than your Other did, and there’s a reason for it and you should relish it—you must do so—even if it means you can’t have Sora. You must let him go. Can’t you see that?” This had put Kairi in a horrible mood, and she’d cried. But not because she was sad, but because she waslivid—maybe this man was right about that—as it hit the nail on the head too much on how she’d been feeling lately: that fate was keeping her and Sora from being together. So Kairi made a decision. “Perhaps… perhaps you’re right. Perhaps I should go back to just barely training from now on, and be who I once was. And I will. I won’t fall into your plan, and I’ll be what Sora wants me to be.” And partly to spite the man, Kairi had opened a Corridor of Light—something Master Yen Sid had taught her how to do—and left the guy alone. And she did try to make good on her promise to herself. But it never could’ve worked.. For far too long, Kairi had repressed her feelings… and she was done with that. And she had no idea that trying to force herself to do that again, would send her spiraling over the edge. Author’s Note: I was originally going to have more than just a flashback in this chapter… but since it ended up pretty long, I think I WILL cut it here. Maybe it’ll even work better to have flashbacks and present stuff in different chapters. IDK. But I hope you all enjoyed!

10 notes · View notes

zdbztumble · 5 years

Text

So About That Roxas…

Well, it’s that time - time to invite unholy disdain upon myself for my blasphemous views on fan favorite Roxas!

OK, that’s an exaggeration. I don’t know how unpopular what I’m about to say really is. And to make this perfectly clear up-front - I don’t dislike Roxas. I think he’s a fine character, and his (very) long prologue is one of the strongest parts of KH II. But I do find Roxas more valuable and compelling in how he relates to other characters, and in the fact that he is an aspect of Sora, than in his own right. All on his own, I don’t find Roxas to be particularly active or interesting.

And that isn’t a flaw. Given what Nobodies are (prior to DDD, at least), I would expect that from Roxas. Almost every member of Organization XIII isn’t terribly dynamic or dimensional on their own merits - their personalities are one-note (if that), which can be by turns tragic, obnoxious, or an effective foil for the protagonists. When Roxas draws jealousy from Hayner, general confusion from his friend group, some amount of pathos from Axel, mixed emotions from Riku and disdain from DiZ, and attraction from Namine, he’s a great example of the latter. I never find him obnoxious, and when he is on his own, there is a sense of tragedy with him. Because while Roxas may have agency, and does display a curiosity - almost an obsession, after a while - with gaining answers for the strange things happening to him, he’s ultimately empty. None of his joys, none of his curiosity - and not even his rages and despairs - last. He ends up defaulting, always, into a quiet, resigned, and hollow state, and he doesn’t seem happy about that.

This is true of the Twilight Town prologue, at least. In the brief flashbacks we’re given in KH II, and at the beginning of the Sora/Roxas fight, a different Roxas appears. He’s still empty at the core, but his front to the world is crueler, dismissive even of the words of his supposed best friend Axel, and predatory. We learn later in the game that DiZ altered Roxas’s personality when he dropped him into the digital Twilight Town, and it’s not hard to see why. Even with the altered personality, the strongest display of feeling Roxas can manage is anger. It’s only when Roxas confronts Sora, accepts him as “a good other,” and fully rejoins with him, that Roxas appears genuinely happy and alive in KH II.

But I do have problems with how Roxas is used, in KH II and especially in 358/2 Days. To start with II - there are some pretty big missed opportunities. Roxas was a member of Organization XIII, presumably working toward their goals (to go just on what we see in KH II), and every member of the Organization who sees Sora recognizes Roxas within him. Wouldn’t it have been nice to have someone else do the same? If, when visiting one of the Disney worlds that Sora hasn’t been to before, there was a character who had a negative encounter with Roxas, and therefore fears Sora and the Keyblade?

The lack of any such scene speaks to a larger problem with Roxas in KH II: his limited relevance once the prologue ends. He does come up here and there throughout the play time, which I do appreciate, but he doesn’t really have an impact on Sora before their clash other than as a source of mild confusion. Sora’s reactions to being called by Roxas’s name never progress much past “huh? Cut that out!” and he has no real reaction to learning that his own Nobody was a member of Organization XIII. Had Roxas’s activities over the past year created a negative consequence that Sora had to deal with, that might have invited some internal conflict within Sora’s heart, culminating in a much more emotionally charged clash with Organizers like Xibar and Saix. Hell, even without such a scene, the knowledge that a part of him was a member of the bad guys could have, and should have, made Sora feel at least a little upset. That’s not to say that the absence of such a mini-arc is a dealbreaker for KH II; what we did get works well enough. But, much like Roxas himself, something seems to be missing.

A future game might have been able to address this issue...had it not been for 358/2 Days.

This isn’t a revisit of Days; I can’t very well revisit a game I only ever played the first few minutes of, years ago, before losing touch with the friend who had the DS card for it. You’ll get no views of the gameplay here. But I am familiar with Days; I’ve read the breakdowns, researched its writing, and watched the movie multiple times. And I gotta tell ya - I know the game has its fans, and it may have some strengths and concepts missing from other titles, but I really don’t care for its story. And that has a lot to do with how it mishandles Roxas.

I’ll start with a caveat - I am not the audience for Days. At no point while playing KH II did I ever want to know any more about Roxas or the Organization than that game saw fit to reveal. What we got was enough for them to work as the villains in that story, and that’s all I ever needed them to be. This was always going to be an easy title for me to skip, or at least not take any real interest in. But that’s a matter of taste. Plenty of people take more interest in the backstories of Roxas and the Organization than I do, and this was perfectly acceptable as a subject for a midquel game. But the execution, IMO, is a complete mess. It ignores or retcons several of the snippets we get about the Organization in KH II, to poor effect, and fails to expand on any of the villainous Organizers in a way that might turn them from one-note video game bosses and elements of a hive mind into fleshed-out characters. Axel is given several coats of whitewash, and his history with Saix lacks any resonance when Saix is left as such a hollow villain. There’s no playing alongside Disney characters in a game so given over to original KH lore, and that lore is rewritten in ways I don’t like. The trends of mystery for its own sake and teasing histories and future events at the expense of the story at hand continue, the same few points of lore and logistics are over-stressed, and the dialogue and voice acting just isn’t good (and can anyone tell me why they re-dubbed Christopher Lee in the HD movie version? I mean...it’s Christopher Lee!)

But as I said, the real problem is with Roxas. For a character meant to be the protagonist, Roxas cedes a lot of narrative real estate to new character Xion. Like Days itself, I know Xion has fans - ardent fans. I can’t argue with that, nor would I want to; you can like what you like, and I won’t assess and critique her as a character here. But all I can say about Xion is that, as a writer, she strikes me as redundant. A member of Organization XIII, unusually lacking in knowledge about their life beforehand, wielding the Keyblade, inducted into the Organization within this game, derived from Sora through unusual means, with a connection to Kairi and whose existence arrests Sora’s full restoration from the events of CoM; setting her character aside, Xion’s narrative function is exactly what Roxas’s was established to be by KH II.

One could say that the game makes a point of this, turning it into an orchestrated conflict between the two by Xemnas, but practically speaking, this means that Roxas spends a key chunk of the story displaced. He becomes a friend on the sidelines as the real meat of the story concerns a character who, from the very beginning, anyone who played KH II would know isn’t going to matter past this game. This ends up making Xion more important, and more interesting, than Roxas within Days itself. But almost everything that Xion goes through could have easily been given to him by dint of what we see in KH II. That Sora’s restoration is upset because his memories of Kairi are being absorbed into another being would have been especially appropriate for Roxas, since Kairi’s very name is always fractured in the restoration process during II’s prologue at first, and the process itself is at such a low number despite a year having passed until Roxas is in DiZ’s hands. Those character elements unique to Xion herself, and the conflict between her and Roxas engineered by Xemnas, aren’t enough to justify her presence in the larger KH story IMO, and end up confusing elements of the lore (replicas, memories, etc.) If she had been cut, and those aspects of her story relating to Sora’s restoration given to Roxas, the story and lore integrity would’ve been better for it.

But that wouldn’t have solved everything wrong with Roxas in Days. Let’s look back at what KH II shows us of a pre-DiZ Roxas again. A cold and predatory figure; the Dusks who first come for him in Twilight Town address him as their “liege,” implying that they served him the way other Nobodies serve the Organizers; the Organizers themselves seem to have been quite close to Roxas, taking his betrayal hard and referring to him as “brother.” And Organization XIII, as we see it in KH II vanilla, is a collective, with no real secret about its motives within the ranks - that motive being, in so many words, to let the remaining Heartless continue their genocide across the worlds just so that they can swoop in with the Keyblade, harvest the captive hearts, and offer them up to their Kingdom Hearts in a mad bid to gain hearts of their own.

So why is Roxas so innocent in Days?

That cold exterior, the flashes of temper - that’s not what we get from Roxas here. What we get is a blank slate who becomes a puppy as he strikes up a buddy-buddy relationship with Axel, and who later performs the same function for Xion. He talks about fighting the darkness and asks hopefully if he’s performing “good” deeds. His interactions with his friends show him to be cheerful and open. The Samurai are supposedly under his command, but that’s a detail relegated to the reports. His relationships with anyone in the Organization other than Axel and Xion don’t even warrant scenes in the movie, and nothing suggests that they would deem him “brother;” Saix and Xemnas regard him as no more than a tool . And even though he’s destroying Heartless with the Keyblade, and those hearts are becoming part of the Organization’s Kingdom Hearts...somehow this is a point he needs explained several times? And he and Xion openly doubt why they need hearts at all - a point presented as one to be sympathetic toward, despite everything from KH II and a good chunk of this very game stressing that it is in fact a problem that Nobodies lack hearts?

This is not what was indicated in KH II. What’s worse, it’s boring. A far more effective choice IMO would have been to let Roxas be villainous. Go the dark protagonist route; give us a cold hunter of a character, with the impulsive anger and fractured psyche Sora showed in CoM, fully aware of what the Organization is up to and the price that others will pay for it and still committed to the cause. Then, when the events of CoM play out in the background, and fragments of Sora’s memories find their way to Roxas (assuming we still cut Xion in this scenario), that’s the turning point. That’s when Roxas can doubt the Organization’s cause, when he can begin to question his lack of memories and his true identity, and betray the Organization by setting out to find Sora. Give him two separate fights with Riku, to justify the dialogue claiming such in KH II. Let him develop some awareness of Namine after he gets Sora’s memories; Namine’s dialogue in KH II indicates that they’ve never met before, but a connection at a distance could serve to give more substance to their relationship, and supply Namine with opportunities to develop as a character. Depict the scenes where she first comes into contact with DiZ and Riku, agrees to take on their help in restoring Sora’s memories, and feels conflicted about the moral gray area their harsh but necessary actions occupy. Let her be ultimately responsible for setting Riku on the right trail that ends up bringing Roxas into their hands.

Of course, one reason why they may have opted not to do this is because having a dark protagonist complicit in an evil scheme involving the deaths of countless people may have been difficult to pull off while still earning an E10 rating at most. And honestly, the story told by Days doesn’t strike me as necessarily the best fit for a video game even as-is. They might have been better off with planning it as a proper movie from the get-go, instead of a string of cutscenes divorced from the gameplay as they ultimately presented it in the HD collections.

And another objection to this approach might have been that a villainous Roxas and morally ambiguous Namine might have been less “likable,” and therefore less usable in future titles. To that I say - so what? I didn’t want Roxas and Namine as characters in any titles past KH II anyway - not because they were bad characters, or because I didn’t like them, but because their stories concluded. Concluded on terms they chose, and were at peace with. It was tinged with a bittersweet quality, but they did get a “happy” ending. If a midquel story complicated their morality, that wouldn’t negate the events of KH II or the resolution they received; it would have created a journey to get them to that point, starting from a much darker place, and given more weight to the idea that it was necessary for them to rejoin with Sora and Kairi. I’d argue that would enrich what we see in KH II, whereas the actual route they took in titles like DDD and KH III disregards or undermines everything that made the ending of KH II work.

#z's crits #kingdom hearts #roxas #namine #kingdom hearts 2 #critique #commentary #358/2 days #xion

21 notes · View notes

talinexa · 5 years

Text

Don’t You Remember? - One Shot

I haven’t actually gotten far enough in the series to know Axel’s backstory apart from the fact that he was friends with Saïx but I only know that because my best friend told me so I kinda made this up for the drama. Most of this takes place sometime during Days.

“Axel?” I shouted, running around the castle in a panic. “Axel?!”

A pair of hands caught my shoulders, arresting my momentum. “What’s wrong, Talinexa?”

I shook my head. “I need to find Axel,” I said. Saïx stared at me as I pulled away from his grip and went rushing off. “AXEL!” My long coat flapped behind me as I ran around. Axel’s room was empty. As was his usual hang out spots in the castle. The commons. The kitchen. Sitting on the exposed pipes near the ceiling. “Where could he be?!” I hissed under my breath as I searched.

“Who are you looking for?” a voice asked from behind me. A familiar one.

“Roxas! I’m looking for Axel. Seen him anywhere? He’s not on a mission, is he?”

“No he got back from his mission earlier. Couple hours ago. Is he not getting some rest?”

“If he is, he’s crashed in a corridor somewhere because his room is empty,” I said.

“We’ll find him. Let’s keep looking. What’s wrong?”

“It’s...” I strangled the words None of your business before they could escape my throat. “It’s about my... abilities. Organization members are supposed to have... unique talents. And... I think something wrong happened. Because mine aren’t unique among the Organization.”

“Meaning?” Roxas asked, poking his head into the library as we passed it.

“I can’t really demonstrate inside,” I said.

“Wasn’t asking you to. You can just tell me, you know,” Roxas remarked. I glared at the window at the end of the hallway for a moment, reining in my temper.

“I’m like Axel,” I admitted.

“I hope not. One is enough,” Roxas joked.

“I just mean... I’ve... got... my special skill is fire,” I said. “Just like Axel.” I hung my head as I poked it into another room.

Roxas paused our search. “Seriously? That’s cool.”

“But... without me being unique... it means the Organization won’t have any use for me. They’ll just eliminate me without a second thought,” I said.

“That’s not necessarily true. As long as you’re useful, you should be fine,” Roxas reasoned.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, look at me and Xion. We can both use Keyblades, and that’s our only talent, but we’re both still here,” Roxas said. “Axel? You in here?”

“Heeey, Roxas! Oh. And Talinexa. What are you two doing here?”

“She’s been looking for you,” Roxas said.

Axel eyed me curiously, folding his arms over his ribs and raising one bright red brow. “That right?”

“Uh-huh.” I nodded.

“What’s the problem?” Axel looked... irritated.

“What do you mean?”

“You never come looking for me---or anybody---unless you have a problem. So what is it?”

I sighed. “Axel... I...”

“She’s got fire power too,” Roxas put in.

“Thank yooouuu, Roxas,” I snapped sarcastically.

He snapped a finger-gun at me. “No prob, Talinexa!”

Axel stared at me. “You’ve... got fire powers too?”

I nodded timidly.

With a few exceptions, Organization members tended to resemble their talents. Axel’s hair, for example. Marluxia’s too. I didn’t. I was a brunette. I looked like I’d end up having earth powers. Not fire.

A smile spread up Axel’s face. “This is the best news I’ve heard all week. C’mon, Talinexa. I’ll teach you what to do. How to use it and how to control it.” He beckoned for me to follow him. I did so. We made our way through the castle to a training room. “We’ll start slow, Tana---Talinexa.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t know you knew how to do that.”

That earned me a laugh. “You know me too well,” he mused.

His dangerous, disgustingly smug and wickedly attractive crooked smirk started to form on his face.

I remembered when I was whole---when I had a heart. My previous life, as it were. I remembered the concept of finding someone attractive. Maybe the passion and feeling was gone given my lack of a heart, but it would take a fool with poor eyesight to not realize Axel was good-looking. Because he was. And that bothered me.

“Let’s do this,” he said.

“You don’t remember, do you?” Axel asked as I panted on the floor of the training room, my daggers on the floor on either side of me. I looked up at him tiredly.

“Remember what?” I complained.

He chuckled and plopped down next to me, one leg flat on the ground and the other bent up toward his chest to rest his elbow on. “Your life as a Somebody.”

“I do.”

Axel snorted. “No you don’t,” he said. “If you did, you’d remember something you didn’t mention.”

“Stop the stupid ‘speaking in riddles’ thing and just tell me what you mean,” I snapped.

“You didn’t call me out when I slipped.”

“Huh?”

“I almost called you your... Somebody’s name.”

“Tanalie.” I brushed a hand over my hair, smoothing down the flyaways. I hadn’t heard that name in... I didn’t know how long. I couldn’t pinpoint exactly when I’d become Talinexa. Maybe I should have kept track.

“Yeah. You didn’t ask me how I know your Somebody’s name.”

I shrugged. “I didn’t notice you even said it,” I said. “Was more worried about you charring my eyebrows off.”

Axel snorted. “You can’t worry. We don’t feel.”

“Still. I didn’t want you to char my eyebrows off.” I took a deep breath, trying to ease out of panting. “I guess... now that you mention it I guess I... I guess my... memories of being whole are a bit fuzzy at best. I assume you and I knew each other as Somebodies.”

Axel just watched me for a moment. “Yeah. Yeah we did,” he admitted.

“How come your memories are clearer than mine?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Dunno. Just fought hard to remember them, I guess,” he said. “Didn’t want to lose them.”

I nodded and sat up, tucking my braid back down the collar of my trench coat. “I can understand that. Maybe when I first became a Nobody I didn’t want to---or care to---remember who I was as a human.”

Axel pursed his lips and pushed himself to his feet. Dang he was tall. “Maybe.” He brushed a hand over his hair. “Same time tomorrow, got it memorized? You’ll be a fully-fledged pyro in no time.” He shot me a playful wink and left the training room.

I got to my feet and also walked out to wash off the sweat and go to sleep.

Everyone else in the Organization slept in their coats since the coats were protective. I hated it though, so I always removed it. Choosing instead to sleep in my undershirt and trousers.

I was lying on top of my bed for a full two minutes before I realized I was too wound up to sleep.

Sighing, I slung my overcoat back on and left the castle to wander the town. It was exceptionally beautiful after nightfall. Darkness was healing and soothing. The calm of a sleeping town helped relax me.

“Had a feeling I’d find you out here.”

I jumped a foot in the air and whirled around. “Axel,” I greeted, attempting to save my dignity and failing miserably. Not that I felt any shame. Not that I felt anything at all.

He fell into step beside me. “Don’t you remember?” he asked casually as we walked down quiet streets. The trains and trams didn’t run this late, so we could hop the rails without fear of getting run over.

“Remember what?”

“That we knew each other when we were Somebodies.”

I sighed. “Sorry, Axel. I... I don’t. Were we friends?”

He nodded. “Good friends.”

*****

“Lea, what’s going on with you?” Tanalie asked quietly, trying not to cause a scene.

Lea shook his head. “It’s nothing, Tana. Promise. Got it memorized?” His little catchphrase was half-hearted and Tanalie knew better than to fall for it.

“Don’t give me that. I know you better than that. Something’s going on.” She reached out and set her hand on his upper arm. “Don’t you trust me?” The pleading in her dark eyes made him sigh.

“I do,” he said.

“Please? Please tell me? I can’t help if you don’t let me in.” Her smile was forlorn and heartachingly seeking to comfort him.

Lea sighed. “I’m considering Xemnas’ offer,” he said.

She immediately dropped her hand and took a step back. “What? Lea... why?”

*****

“Tanalie!”

She turned around from where she’d been walking the streets of their town, recognizing the voice. She froze. “What... happened to you?” she asked as her best friend jogged to catch up with her. He smirked that familiar smirk but... something was off about it. Wrong. Empty. Reaching up, Tanalie set her fingers on the marks below his eyes. “What are these? And what’s with the black coat?”

Lea’s smirk stayed on his face. “I did it! I accepted Xemnas’ offer!”

“What? Lea! You promised me you’d tell me beforehand---”

“It’s not Lea anymore! I go by Axel now. Cool, huh? Got it memorized?” He chuckled. “And yeah, I kinda forgot. But, Tanalie, it’s so much better this way! Nothing... nothing can hurt me anymore. Emotionally, I mean.”

Tanalie stared at him, eyes flicking between the marks under his eyes and the long coat. “Were you really hurting that bad? That you felt the need to give up your heart?” she asked quietly. “That you felt like you could... give up... us?! Our friendship? You can’t be friends with someone you don’t like and you can’t like without a heart.”

Lea---no, Axel---grabbed Tanalie gently by the shoulders. “That’s not true! We’re still friends!”

Tanalie shook her head and pulled her shoulders from his grip. “No. I don’t know you anymore. Lea is gone. All I see is Axel. And I don’t know Axel. I don’t love Axel. I just... I...” She shook her head again, turned on her heel, and ran away from him.

“Tanalie! Wait!” Axel shouted, running after her.

But she’d always known the town better than he did. All the secret pathways and hidden cubbies and hidey-holes. She disappeared before he could catch up.

*****

The pain Tanalie felt over losing Lea to Axel was acute and nearing the point of being unbearable. He was her best friend. Indeed, her only friend. She’d never been close to Isa even though they associated with each other through Lea. She cried for hours on the very top of the clock tower whenever it got to be too much. She was small and light enough that Lea---no, AXEL, she reminded herself---would never be able to find her up around the bells since he was too heavy, despite him being built like a beanpole.

He willingly gave up his heart. He threw his friendship with her aside like it didn’t even matter.

And... maybe... it didn’t matter. Maybe it never had. To him. Maybe he only hung out with her out of pity. Pity for the poor friendless girl in his school classes who never talked to anyone and kept to herself due to her anxiety.

Tanalie wondered what she could do to rid herself of the pain and the anxiety. To be numb and dispose of icky emotions---

No. Anything but that.

She was not giving up her heart.

“Tanalie! Come down from there!” Even just hearing his voice sent lances of pain through her heart. He was down below on the ledge just over the clock, lowering his hands after cupping them around his mouth. “I want to talk to you! Please!”

She glared at him, curled up in her position with tear tracks dried to her face from the winds this high up.

After a moment, she slid down the shingles. She was the fool who could rarely refuse her best friend anything. Still, her pain and anger were welling up inside her. When she reached Axel, she slugged him on the jaw.

“Okay. I deserved that,” he muttered. “For not telling you.”

“It’s been ages, Axel!” she spat, snarling his name like it was poison in her mouth. “Why come back now?”

“The Organization is down several members. I’m inviting you to join.”

Tanalie scoffed. “Like I would even consider---”

“You’re hurting, Tana. I can see it in your eyes. And the salt tracks.” He brushed a gloved thumb over her tear tracks. She slapped his hand away. “Just... come with me and all the pain will go away. You might not even remember it at all. It’s difficult to know for sure from person to person, but you can leave it all behind. Trust me.” He held his hand out to her.

It was a moment of weakness. Of sorrow and pain. A moment of her judgement lapsing, that she took his hand.

Darkness swallowed them, and the next thing she knew, she was somewhere else. Someone else, too.

Tanalie was gone---and Talinexa was born in her place.

*****

“Hey, Axel?” I asked.

“Hmm?”

“You’re staring at me.”

“Sorry. Just lost in thought,” he said, shaking his head to clear it. “You know, I’ll be honest with you: I always hoped you’d develop some sort of fire power. Just seemed... fitting, I guess. You’ve always had such... fervor, I guess. Drive, maybe. Kinda hard to call it passion since, y’know, we don’t have hearts or feelings anymore.”

I snorted. “Thanks.”

“We should get back. Get some sleep. C’mon.” He held his hand out and created a dark Corridor. His other hand was extended to me. I took it and let him pull me through. I wasn’t particularly gifted at Corridors myself so I relied on Axel’s whenever I could.

We reappeared just outside my room.

“Get some rest, Talinexa. See you tomorrow for training, got it memorized?”

“Sure thing. G’night, Axel.”

“Night.” He strolled off.

I went back into my room. Our little stroll had tuckered me out. Shucking off my overcoat, I collapsed in bed.

Axel’s voice echoed in my mind. “Don’t you remember? We were good friends...” I wondered if I wished I could remember when we were friends. I guessed we must have been close if we joined the Organization together.

I wondered how close and if there was ever anything... more involved.

Probably not. Axel seemed like the flirty, arrogant, attractive bad-boy type, but he wasn’t. He was dangerous, to be certain. But underneath the cold-blooded killer, hot-blooded assassin he was, I’d also seen the silly, playful, genuine dork that was his true character. Something about it resonated with me, whispering that was who he truly was under the layers. Underneath everything, he wasn’t bad.

Except for the fact I’d literally seen him make people explode.

And he was going to teach me how to do the same thing.

Without a heart I wasn’t sure if I had a moral sense of right and wrong, but I wondered if I’d be squeamish about his spontaneous combustion ability if I could feel. Seemed like something “normal” people would consider “bad.”

Still, Axel couldn’t have been that bad of a Somebody if we were friends. Unless I was... not a good person as a Somebody.

But that didn’t seem right.

Putting my hands behind my head, I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

I landed hard on the ground with an, “Oof!” My daggers clattered across the floor.

“Get it memorized, Talinexa: fire is more powerful than you initially expect and if you don’t learn how to control it, you’ll never be able to be in control of the situation,” Axel said.

I groaned and rubbed the spot where I’d been burned. “Good to know. Thanks.”

Axel sat down next to me. “Tanalie... I mean, Talinexa... I need you to remember your life as a Somebody. I need you to remember our friendship. There’s something about it that I don’t know. But you did. And I need you to remember it.”

“I...”

“I know you can do it. You were always smart. Smarter than me and... your memory was always so accurate. You had such an amazingly retentive mind. Please, just, try. It might help you learn how to use your powers.”

I sighed and pushed my flyaway hairs out of my face. “Okay. How do I do this?”

“Memories are connected in a chain. Start remembering your life as a Somebody and the rest will start to follow. Just sit still and let the memories flow. Let your mind wander down the rabbit hole of your life.”

“That sounds like a bad time,” I said.

“Just do it,” Axel said.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “What am I looking for?”

“Your drive. I joined the Organization before you did. Not by much. But enough. Somewhere in there, you found a powerful drive within you. I think it unlocked your fire power.”

*****

“Hi there! I’m Lea!” the teenage boy with the spiky red hair exclaimed. “This is Isa!”

“‘M Tana,” the girl mumbled, not meeting either of their eyes. “W’ll, Tanalie but no one calls me that. No one... calls me anything, actually.” She shrugged and went back to poking at her lunch.

“Mind if we sit with you?” Lea asked.

“Free town,” she muttered.

Lea sat down next to her, already chatting. It was prattle as far as Tana was concerned.

“What... what was your name again?” Tana asked.

“Lea. My name is Lea. Got it memorized now?”

“Yeah. Sorry. I just... never really talk to anyone.” She shuffled in her seat and took a bite of her lunch. “Hard to remember their names.”

Lea didn’t need to know she was lying. She knew his name. She knew his name, Isa’s name, and everyone else’s names in their class. She sat silent and observed her peers more than she interacted with them. Tana knew his personality and knew how he interacted with Isa. She knew most everyone and how they interacted with their friends.

“Nah don’t sweat it.” Lea waved a hand dismissively. “‘S long as you got it memorized now.” He smirked at her. “Hey. I kinda like that. ‘Got it memorized?’ Catchy!” He laughed. “So. Tana. Wanna tell us about yourself?”

“Not really.”

“Hey, that’s fine too! You don’t have to. Just whenever you feel like it. I’d like to get to know you better. I read one of your essays once in class to peer-review it. It was incredible. You’re so smart. I want to know more about you.”

Tana looked up from her lunch to meet his eyes. They were brilliant green. “Really?” she asked.

“Of course!”

Tana nodded. “Thanks. No one’s ever wanted to get to know me before.”

“Well I do!”

“Thank you, Lea.”

*****

“Tanalie?” Lea asked.

“Yes?” Tanlie replied. The alley was dark and silent apart from the two of them. The narrow gap between the two buildings meant they were standing very close, chests nearly touching.

“Tanalie we’ve become good friends, right?”

“Right.”

“Would it be pushing for me to say I love you?”

“I, uh... I suppose it depends. I love you as my best friend, Lea. I just...”

“I didn’t mean it in any other way!” Lea backpedalled. “I meant that I love you as a friend too! I just... I didn’t know... how you would take that...”

“Aw how touching,” a deep voice said darkly. The two teenagers jumped away from each other, hitting their backs on the walls of the buildings. “Two children looking for something that they can’t find with each other. Your hearts are steeped with darkness, both of you. Desire and longing for more and not knowing what it is. I have a solution. A new purpose for hearts like yours. Give them up. You’ll no longer feel anything. No anger. No hurt. No pain. No happiness either.”

“Thanks, but no,” Tanalie said. “We’re not interested.”

A man emerged from the darkness. He had silver hair and amber eyes. Lea pushed Tanalie behind him protectively.

“I am Xemnas, and you, young man, haven’t said anything yet. Are you interested?”

Lea stared at Xemnas. “I...”

“Lea?” Tanalie whispered.

“We’ll consider it,” Lea said. “No promises.”

“You’ll come to the right decision,” Xemnas said. He vanished into the darkness.

“Why did you say that?” Tanalie hissed.

“That’s how you walk people off. The answer is no but you say maybe to let them down gently,” Lea said.

“Oh. Okay.”

*****

“Tanalie...” Lea whispered quietly. “What if... what if this is the way?”

“It’s not,” Tana replied. “That guy---”

“Xemnas.”

“Whatever. Xemnas doesn’t have the answer. We can’t just give up our hearts!”

“Apparently we can!” Lea threw his hands in the air. At the beginning of their friendship, Tana would have winced away for fear of accidentally getting whacked in the face. Now, however, she didn’t even flinch.

She grabbed his shoulders when he dropped his hands. “No! Lea---our emotions help make us what we are. Even our pain. To live without a heart willingly... isn’t living.” She shook her head. “I’m not going to. But promise me you’ll let me know what you’re thinking, okay?”

Lea reached up and set his hands on her elbows. “Promise.”

“Got that memorized?” Tana teased.

“Hey! That’s my thing!”

She laughed.

*****

Tanalie shook her head, standing on the top of the clock tower and staring off at the sunset. Ever since Lea had become Axel she’d been on a constant mood swing between angry at him, devastated that she lost him, and determined to find a way to restore him to the way he was.

“Had a feeling I’d find you here.”

“Go away,” she spat, not turning away from the sunset.

“Well. At least that fire is better than the cold shoulder,” Axel remarked, coming to a stop beside her and looking out as well.

“Would you prefer the cold shoulder?”

“Nope.”

“Go away, Axel. I want nothing to do with you.”

“You were still my best friend, Tanalie.”

“Yeah. Keyword being ‘were.’ As in past tense. As in, you can’t feel anything, including friendship. So leave me alone or I’m going to shove you off the tower.” She knew she wouldn’t---not really---but the threat did make him pause long enough that she could shoulder past him and head for the stairs.

“Tana, wait!” Axel called, running after her. He caught her wrist. “Please.”

She whirled, ripping her arm from his grip. The setting sun caught her dark eyes and set them ablaze. “Enough! Let me be! If you were ever my true friend you would respect my wishes now and get out of my life!” With that, she whipped back around, her hair smacking him in the chest, and ran down the stairs. Axel didn’t follow her. He’d never seen her like that. She’d always been rather timid and soft-spoken.

He found he kinda liked the strength that came with that fire.

*****

I slumped. I’d been sitting with my eyes closed for ten minutes as the chain of my memories as a Somebody came back to me. “I hated you, Axel,” I said. “I hated you for being Axel instead of Lea. That fire came from being angry at you for abandoning me and our friendship. It came from heartbreak at the idea that you just threw me aside like our relationship meant nothing to you.”

“That wasn’t the case, Talinexa. Our relationship meant everything to me. I wasn’t perfect at being a good friend but I tried and I loved you.”

I stared at him for a moment, deciding what to say next. “I loved you too. Intensely. It broke me when you chose to become a Nobody.”

“It’s a decision I regret. Or... it’s a decision I would regret if I could feel,” Axel said. “Ever since I gave up my heart... I can’t stand this emptiness. Being without a heart---it’s more than I can handle. Even with you, Roxas, and Xion around... as friends... even Saïx... I can’t. The emptiness is driving me mad.”

“What are you saying, Lea? Axel?”

“I’m saying I’m done. I’m done being a Nobody. I’m done being part of the Organization. I’m done being unable to feel anything. I’m done not being able to love you.”

“Axel...” I reached out and set my hands on his. “There’s nothing we can do. We gave up our hearts to join the Organization and made a commitment to be loyal. We have no other choice. Organization Thirteen doesn’t take resignations. We either die as members, or they kill us for desertion.”

“Honestly, Talinexa, at this point, I’d chose the latter option.”

I got to my feet and summoned some fire. “Let’s talk about it later,” I said. “I do believe we have training to finish.”

Axel pushed himself to his feet. “Indeed we do.”

I woke with a gasp. A familiar face was leaning over me. But there was something different. After nine years.

“Tana! You’re alright!” Axel exclaimed.

No. Not Axel.

I sat up abruptly, smacking him in the forehead with my own. “Lea!” I exclaimed.

He pushed my stray hairs out of my face, brushing them back into my braid. “Tanalie... you’re alive!”

“So... so are you!” I shrieked, pushing my fingers into his hair. “You’re... you’re Lea again!” My thumbs brushed under his eyes. The marks that used to be there when he was Axel were gone. I gasped and pressed my forehead to his. “Lea...!”

“Tana... we’re whole again! We have hearts! We can feel!” Lea whispered. “We’re... Somebodies!”

The impulsivity of emotions swept over me. Almost a year of being a Nobody---a member of Organization XIII---with no emotions left me starved for feeling. I couldn’t imagine how much more intense that was for Lea given he’d joined the Organization nine years ago or so. I curled my fingers into Lea’s hair and pulled him toward me.

His lips crashed against mine, the same reckless abandon I felt was surging through him to me and back again.

“Lea?” I asked breathlessly when I pulled away.

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

“Don’t you remember? I love you too,” he said.

I smiled and nodded. “I remember.”

#KH Axel #Axel #Kingdom Hearts #Axel Imagine #Axel FanFiction #Kingdom Hearts Imagine #Kingdom Hearts FanFiction #KH Lea #Lea #Lea Imagine #Lea FanFiction #got it memorized?#Tal writes

12 notes · View notes

gwidener · 5 years

Text

Kingdom Hearts III - Some Thoughts

I am coming to KH3 as a pretty big KH fan. I have followed Nomura's Wild Ride for a long time - multiple clears on KH1, then Chain of Memories KH2, KH2FM+, and BbS all comfortably under my belt. I tried 358/2 Days but it never clicked for me, got frustrated with Dream Drop Distance, and have never played the mobile game (but it looks like everyone is going to be checking it out, so maybe SE got what they wanted!); I am not a speed runner or everything, but have comfortably finished the games on their hardest difficulties and beaten most of the secret bosses (I actually still need to go back to KH2FM+ and finish the Data fights, but I have that save file on PS3, which is kind of a pain to go back to now. ANYWAY)

Going to try to go through gameplay first, then story stuff, so the major spoilers should be backloaded?

One of my better notes is that KH3 plays more like a KH2 than KH2. I stand behind this now, another 10 hours later; KH2 is much more refined and takes the battle system in subtly more interesting directions than 3 does. To beat the hardest fights in KH2 (and also BbS) I sometimes found myself taking combo extensions off and working my way back in the abilities to find which ones were leaving me open to new attack chains from these harder fights. KH3 does not have this. Turn everything on and level a bit and you will get through fine; I need to start running through the gates but from what I have seen this is going to pretty much be the case all around, and that is disappointing from a series that has given high-level combat a puzzle box in the past.

For someone who lost their strength and abilities, Sora is pretty powerful even early on. Formchanges are really good and probably the one thing I think this game handles better than past titles - KH2s forms often felt random in terms of triggering and not always very useful until they were leveled up.

That leads me to the attractions: they aren't really possible to use in a really strategic way other than giving you time where it is hard for enemies to hit you to let your MP recharge. I often used my formchange animations in the same way; free hits from an animation that leaves Sora in an invincible state. These are a big part of why the game feels so easy. (Kupo coins also make the game feel really really easy, but when you can just hit retry on the battle anyway, I don't think it really is actually easier.)

Outside of combat, I don't know how much really needs to be deeply looked at in a wrap-up post anyway: the gummi ship design is disappointingly regressive, but a good source of extra stuff to do; the secret emblems could have been really cool but end up being frustrating and a bad gate to the secret movie; the worlds are mostly really well-built and designed but some are way too long (Arendelle, for example, has a ton of variation in feel and how the player is guided but it is wasted when you are spending so long looking at the same color palette) and some are so disappointingly short - in particular, it is fun to run around in San Fransokyo but it is so small and really should have had a little more to it or been moved back in the game so that you feel more like you accomplished something heading into the game putting you on the track to the ending. Still, though, the worlds are far above what they have been in the past, to the point where I noted the Map Directors name in the credits (shoutouts to Yoh Miyazaki!)

One more thing I think I can get away with without being an explicit story spoiler is after 0.2 and KH3 I never, ever want to fight a Demon Tower again.

Alright, story spoilers follow.

Last warning.

Kairi is completely fucking wasted. I could write at least five paragraphs about how frustrating all the other keyblade wielders not really being a part of the majority of the game is but Kairi's story still being the same as it has been forever despite her being empowered with a Keyblade is just infuriating. Someone slap Nomura for this shit. It is glaringly bad in the face of almost everything else.

KH3 is as poorly paced as any of the previous games, but it is more frustrating here for some reason. A lot of this has to do with how much of this act of the overall KH story being in previous games - Dream Drop Distance and BbS 0.2 really are the first big chunk of KH3, which is extra comical because KH3 opens claiming itself as KH2.9. But really, the player and Sora do not achieve anything until the journey through the Disney worlds is over; the only real reason to have the recovery of these other characters start occurring in the final moments of the game is to stack emotion on top of emotion to ensure the reaction they want from the player. But these moments are going to be stacked with gravity wherever they fall in the game. If Kairi and Axel were to join up with Sora, Donald, and Goofy midway to tackle a considerable enemy or something, it would push the player more while giving them some reward halfway. Ultimately you get sick of the carrot on the stick only being at the very end of this journey.

Speaking of DDD and 0.2, the 2.9 portion of this - and those moments being split into their own games - feel like Nomura way overcorrecting from criticism of the KH2 opening being too long and somewhat boring. It *was* too long and kinda boring but that let Roxas build as a real mystery and something intriguing; KH3 forgoes that, putting those mysteries in other places, so that it can focus on a bombastic opening that draws players in from a gameplay sense. And it works! Olympus is really cool! But it is just one of several long pieces of nothing in terms of the overall story.

Similarly, stacking all of the real boss fights in the endgame kind of cheapens them as characters with regards to 3. I know the fight against Xemnas, Ansem, and Young Xehanort is cool as fuck because I have played the games to know that but if you are just coming to 3, these guys showed up to tease you a couple times and said some vaguely threatening shit in cutscenes. Not giving active confrontation to these enemies earlier on torpedoes the emotional resonance of the fights later, instead of adding to them which could have been the idea behind holding them all back.

So much of what happens in the end is not just predictable but the game straight up tells you it is coming. And any conclusion in this vein will feel like that, so it seems like I am grading it on a curve when I tell you that I did ultimately like the game and how it carried itself despite the above. But if it pulls too many twists on you, it would feel like it is moving the goalposts away from you but both you and the game know it has to go down.

It feels like I am being a little more negative than I mean so let me dive into something real quick that I absolutely enjoyed: the emphasis on Sora, Donald, and Goofy as a team and that being the way you spend the majority of your time in the KH universe. It feels like Nomura and his team read my exact criticism of old KH games for always having a final battle that is so laden with new mechanics and loss of abilities; having Donald and Goofy along when you go to Scala ad Caelum and for the majority of the final run of battles really makes it feel like you have come all this way together and that Sora draws strength from that (which buoys that as a theme as well.)

Finally (for now, I may revisit my notes later) so much of what happens before the credits roll feels kind of crappy. If you have played BbS, you kind of know Xehanort hasn't always been irredeemable shit, but having Eraqus show up and essentially forgive him, and having Xehanort hand Sora the x-blade, put positive feelings on a character that absolutely doesn't deserve it. He has murdered for his goals and had others do the same, throughout fucking time. He is a shithead and him getting to stand up and somewhat willingly hand power over after his defeat knocks the wind out of Sora as the powerful figure he is and should be at this point of his journey. Make no mistake: at the end of KH3, Sora is by far the most powerful character we have seen in Kingdom Hearts. He takes down a Xehanort over multiple forms who has the x-blade and has opened Kingdom Hearts; he reassembles his own consciousness and heart and body which is something nobody should be able to do, according to Chirithy. Xehanort does acknowledge this, but it still plays at deference to Xehanort instead of glorifying Sora and his success.

I know I said finally but secret ending stuff too:

I hope you like long stories is A HILARIOUS LINE in a KH ending. Looking forward to learning why Riku and Sora are in the Shibuya from The World Ends With You and why on earth the dude from Verum Rex and YET ANOTHER PERSON IN THAT COAT are there like what the fuck. Is this the only way Nomura can get to make another TWEWY because *I am okay with this*

3 notes · View notes

plumedesimili · 6 years

Text

Rookie

Summary : When the Organization XIII welcomes their latest member, Number XII, it is Demyx’s job to teach her how missions work. Not that any of them really wanted to team up. Word Count : 1450 Read on FFNet | AO3

Two black figures stepped into the Beast’s Castle, glancing here and there. The silence between the two of them did not last long.

“So, your name is Larxene, is that right? Where are you from?”

She glared at him, but didn’t answer.

“Riiight. I can get that you wouldn’t tell. I mean, you were in such a state when Xemnas brought you… Had a tough life, didn’t you?”

“Listen, rookie, we’re here for a mission. So we do that mission, we come back to the Castle, and meanwhile, you only speak to teach me what I need to know about the specificities of being a Nobody. Got it?”

“Rookie?” He put his hand on his chest in a dramatic way. “You’re the rookie! My name is Demyx, and I will have you know that I’ve been here since…”

“Whatever. Let’s get over with this.”

Demyx sighed, before having a mischievous smirk. “You know what? It’s true that you should learn. How about you take a look inside this castle, while I have a look around it? That way, you won’t have to hear me talk to you.”

She shrugged. “Fine with me.”

He watched her go into the Castle. She had been there for two days only. Hard to forget that haunted look on her face when she was introduced, glancing everywhere as if she was scared, almost jumping when Xigbar gave her a (violent) pat on the shoulder, and putting a knife on Luxord’s throat when he tried to be a bit too familiar with her. Demyx had no idea what her story was, but that didn’t sound really fun. He remembered when he turned into a Nobody, and shivered. He had not slept for a week. But he didn’t worry - soon enough, she’ll feel better.

Making sure she was in the Castle and couldn’t see him, he settled for a nap. He remembered how fast she was with her knives, so there was nothing to worry about. Today’s mission was about doing some reconnaissance inside the Castle, anyway. The rumours had it the Prince living here had a very dark heart, attracting lots of Heartless, so it might be useful for them later on. All she had to do was sneak in, try to find this Prince, see if his heart really was that dark, and that would be the end of the mission.

He dozed off for around twenty minutes. When he opened his eyes, the wind was getting colder, and he sneezed.

“Man, I want to RtC now… Why isn’t she back yet?” With a yawn and a sigh, he decided to see what was going on. Surely, she had not attacked the Prince, had she? That sounded pretty much like something she would do. Demyx always feared she’d slit his throat for no reason.

He carefully pushed the huge door, which luckily didn’t creak. Slowly coming in, wary about any suspicious move, he relaxed when he realised the main hall was empty. He could hear voices from behind some doors, but they were all closed. He was safe.

Looking around, he had no idea where she could have gone. This place was huge, and he hoped he wouldn’t have to look everywhere. He was the lazy one and he had a reputation to keep.

He didn’t even had to push the door to know where she was. The Dancing Hall reeked of Darkness. Whatever was in there - it was bad. It wasn’t a couple of Shadows or other minor Heartless. It was something big. He entered the room, holding his breathe in.

There was a Darkside in the middle of the room. A gigantic Darkside. Demyx scanned the room until he spotted Larxene, sitting against the wall as if she’d been violently thrown against it. The monster prepared its Dark Orbs attacks, and she wouldn’t be able to dodge it.

“DANCE, WATER, DANCE!”

He summoned thirty water clones, distracting the monster and luring its attacks. Demyx dashed to the newbie.

“Larxene, are you okay?”

“Is this… a nightmare?” She groaned. “One you is already too much… So that many…”

He chuckled. “Well, they are saving your sorry life right now, so be a bit more grateful. Can you stand?”

He helped her up, and she staggered. “What is that thing? I threw my knives at it, but it didn’t… Watch out!”

The clones were finally gone, and the monster attacked them instead. Demyx played another few notes on his sitar, summoning waves that attacked the monster.

“Magic works better than physical attacks on them.”

“I don’t know how to use Magic.”

He winked. “Then today’s the best day to learn!” He quickly explained the basics of it. “There are times where magic is the best weapon. I’m specialised in Water-based magic, but here, try different spells!”

He summoned new clones to distract the Darkside while she was trying some spells. She was terrible with water spells, or fire ones. But that Thunder she threw… Demyx let out an appreciative whistle. “Not bad, not bad at all! Electric type, uh? How about we try a little something, then?”

He let all of his clones melt away, so that the heartless was surrounded with water. Larxene, getting his plan, smirked. “Here we go, then!”

Casting her last Thunder spell, she fried the Darkside which finally disappeared into a cloud of Darkness.

“Alright, we’re done there. Let’s RtC. Larxene?” He looked at her and frowned. Exhausted from the fight, and since she wasn’t much used to magic yet, she had collapsed, sitting on the floor.

“Come on. Let’s go back home now. You did well.” He put her arm around his shoulders, lifting her up and helping her to walk. “Here. Take that.” He pulled out a potion from one of his pocket, and she drank it in silence.

“Don’t think that makes us friends.” She finally said, as Demyx had opened up the portal to go back to the Castle.

“Uh?”

“You, helping me. Teaching me. We are not friends. I despise all of you, and I think I despise you the most. So don’t you think we have bonded or anything.”

He shrugged. “That’s fine with me. You are pretentious and arrogant, with too much pride. We are not meant to be friends. Heck, we don’t have a heart, so can we really have friends anyway?” He smiled. “But you still did well today, and I guess I’m glad you are okay. Welcome to the Organization XIII, number XII. Even if you hate me the most, remember that I might be one of the best listeners around… If you ever need to.” He winked, before getting back to his usual bored face. “Alright, let’s go back. I need a nap.”

As soon as they stepped back into the Grey Area, Saïx was there, waiting for them. If he noticed their damaged coats, he did not mention it.

“Demyx, I’ll be awaiting for your report by tomorrow morning. Don’t be late, this time.”

“A report?” Axel snorted from one of the couches behind. “Let me sum up what probably happened. They went there, then Demyx found a stupid reason for them to split up, the rookie did all the work while that lazy guy took a nap! You don’t seriously think he would ever fight, now, do you?”

Demyx shrugged. “Yup, that’s what happened. Since you know it all already, does that mean I don’t have to write that report?”

“What? But…” Larxene frowned, but Demyx smiled at her before interrupting her.

“And she’s pretty good! Found a way to master magic on her own. She even defeated a Darkside by herself. You know, I think you should give her all of my dangerous missions. She’s doing better than I’ll ever do.”

Saïx glared at them. “Report by tomorrow morning. Am I clear?”

Demyx sighed, nodding and pouting. Saïx left.

“Why would you lie about that?” Larxene was angrily whispering. “Don’t you want them to see you as competent?”

Demyx chuckled. “Heck no! Competent means dangerous jobs. I’m cut for reconnaissance. I’ll gladly let you steal all of the spotlight. Enjoy your time here, Twelve!”

She punched him on the shoulder with violence. He winced. “Hey! What was that about?”

“I hate you, and one day, I swear I will kill you. Everything in you annoys me. But… Thanks for today.”

He smiled, shrugging and walking away.

“Whatever. Now you’ll get tough jobs and I can enjoy some more naps. That was just long time investment!’

As he left, Larxene indulged him a smile. Back then, nobody knew how rare these would be… And how ironic she would only give them to the one she had sworn she’d kill.

This is no real surprise to me, but Larxene is confirmed to return in KH3, and I’m super excited. I really don’t dislike her, although I am aware she wasn’t the kindest one around, I still thought she was funny (the mangas might have helped with that). Anyway, the shameful ship is back! (Just kidding I’m not even ashamed of shipping them XD)

#fanfiction #kingdom hearts #Larxene #Demyx #Demxene #Organization XIII #first meeting #Careful who you call Rookie in middle school #funny how she met the same fate as the Darkside #Demyx taught her all she knows #she doesn't know much that is

10 notes · View notes

kingdomheartsmarts · 4 years

Note

Could you do an Even x fem!reader where she a straightforward wielder who's always has a crush on him and isn't afraid to let him know it, but he seems to always reject or avoid the topic bc he's awkward and doesnt believe her- They were enemies at a point in time and one day she kinda gets sad of it and just drops it until fluffy fluff and kisses happen.

oh ho ho this was fun. this got a tiny bit angsty. that’s alright! anyway, thank you for requesting! i hope you enjoy~

Even/Reader | Straightforward Adoration

Even has always been incredibly hesitant of you because you’ve kicked his ass before as Vexen; like yeah it was hot, but it was painful. However, he has always found you attractive

He always believed your flirting to be something that was meant to distract him, never to actually show the feelings you have- and when you flat out would tell him how you felt he was more repulsed than anything

He tends to get snappy if you keep flirting with him after he is finally back to being Even. Even just doesn’t believe you. He knows that he’s done things that wouldn’t warrant anyone, much less you, seeking him.

It makes him uncomfortable because he wants you to mean what you are saying, but he believes you don’t.

Even finally gets really irritated, snapping on you that he doesn’t appreciate what you were doing constantly and that you’re just annoying him- despite that being a lie. He likes that you pay attention to him, just he doesn’t like that he thinks you’re toying with him.

“You do not have to continue your vengeance through lies if that is what you seek to accomplish.”

(that was kinda a xemnas line but oh well.)

It hurts him; he doesn’t want to push you away, but he wholeheartedly believes it’s a lie.

You still flirt with him though. You’ll run a hand down his arm, peer over his shoulder, come to sit with him in the lab when Ansem the Wise and the other apprentices have gone to bed, telling him if you think he looks pretty or you’re impressed by him.

You like to go to him at night; there’s only the two of you, so you hoped that the action of being with him alone would tell him you truly mean what you say

It doesn’t quite work out that way- he simply begins to avoid your flirting all together, even when the two of you are alone, and that’s when it began to make your heartache.

You stopped your direct flirting, but you would sit with him in the lab, silent. Watching him work before reminding him to go to bed before leaving for you to go to bed. Your voice always sounded low and distraught, seeming to only speak because you had to, a certain pain in your tone.

That’s when he notices it. The times where you refused to flirt but still hung around him told him something that he had been ignoring all along- you did like him. You meant what you said.

Ansem the Wise also brought it up to him in private, asking why he always seemed so put out with you. Even told him that you did those things to Vexen to mess up his concentration. Ansem the Wise said if you still did it to Even then something else was going on.

One night when you were in the lab, late at night with him, he completely stopped what he was doing to turn to you. It had bothered him enough.

You heard him walk over to you, but you had your nose in a book and didn’t notice him until he lifted your chin with his fingers, meeting his eyes which seemed to have softened from the usual cutting glare he would give you.

“Why did you stop?” Even bluntly asked you, his face still blank despite what his eyes let off, his thumb softly stroking your skin.

“Because you never believed me,” You said, keeping eye contact despite the ache in your chest.

“But you truly meant it, then?”

“If I was lying I wouldn’t have kept it up for so long,”

“Fair enough,” He quietly said, his eyes holding a look you didn’t quite recognize until his fingers lifted your chin higher while his lips forcefully met yours; one of his hands moving to hold your head while his tongue slowly moved against your bottom lip, teasing your lip before pulling away, his hand still holding your head.

“I am sorry,” Even apologized against your lips before they softly pressed against yours again, your hands pulling him down by his lab coat collar, pulling back breathless before he hastily explained himself to you; apologizing constantly for his rudeness and attempting to explain his thought process of it all just for you to yank him down for another kiss.

“Thank you for apologizing, Even,” You softly said before he softly kissed your cheek, before he moved behind you to hold you from behind, his arms tightly wrapped around your middle

“I think ‘you’re too hot to be controlling ice’ was a personal favorite of mine,” He playfully teased at your flirting from before, nipping at your ear for emphasis.

“Does that mean I can flirt with you again?”

“Please do.”

27 notes · View notes