Nothing's Fair Chapters 6-9

Whoops I really only meant to go every three chapters without a commentary, but I suppose only having four chapters to cover isn't so bad.


Nothing's Fair Chapters

Chapter 6 (tag)

Chapter 7 (tag)

Chapter 8 (tag)

Chapter 9 (tag)


In other news: Please watch this Ocarina of Time video.



Chapter Commentary


Chapter 6

It was, for some reason, initially difficult to figure out timing for this, but that was because I'd initially assumed that Xion met Riku on the same day he showed up, when she could've just as easily bumped into him after he'd been there a few days.
(He had been there a few days, so you're sure on timing.)

I decided to go with Zeta because I wanted it to be Delta, initially, before deciding it couldn’t be a Zexion close to Alpha otherwise Alpha would find out about Xion. Not that I think Alpha would tell, I just didn’t want it to be Alpha, I wanted one new person—of course it also couldn’t be a person close to Alpha because Alpha deactivates all other Zexions assuming they’re with Saix and if he interacted with Zeta at all he’d know Zeta certainly was not and thus not deactivate him SO THERE’S THAT AS WELL.

At first I wasn’t sure how to make Riku come off as an asshole but then decided him actually confronting Xion would about do it—otherwise I was supposed to portray it in his dialogue (in addressing 19 about using CO’s resources to find Sora) and have him come off as,,,,, assholeish and kind of entitled but

It’s also more in his character to investigate if he saw someone so unless Xion had hightailed out of there (and thus losing a chance to see him as an asshole) he’d have found her anyway and.... You see why I went with him confronting Xion.

Apparently Riku looks at Xion and his immediate thought is “if Sora and Kairi had a kid together it would look like you” OR AT LEAST THAT’S WHAT I NOTED DOWN IN THE BRAINSTORM

In the original Nothing's Fair I’m pretty sure Xion said “I’m a failed Replica of Sora” and Roxas at least thought if not said “well that’s pretty obvious” which is REALLY RUDE.
And that's why I had Riku say it instead.

KKBeckett asked in a review what happened in Hollow Bastion but I actually never did cover that.

I thought I did in a later chapter, but it turned out said later chapter was one of the last few (because a Thing happened in Hollow Bastion and Roxas was thinking about previous visits) and I scrapped it because it was killing the flow.

But, basically, all they did was go to the library and borrow a couple of books. They never ran into Aerith/Leon/etc. My scrapped thing said that they went until Maleficent caught them once buuuuuut I'm not so sure Maleficent's place of residence ended up being that Castle again??? it's really unclear which castle she's staying in in KH2 because there's suddenly two.

Though honestly I do think she's staying in the same castle as in KH1 it's just been eaten by the darkness and made irrecognizable because the other castle looks nothing like it and... well... layout leading up to it, y'know? The great maw etc look more like a remnant of the KH1 world Hollow Bastion than the postern. 

I guess.

Chapter 7

I CANNOT TELL YOU HOW MANY TIMES I ACCIDENTLY TYPED “29” ISNTEAD OF “26” OR VICE VERSA

I’m fairly certain this is quite clear but just to be sure

Adding supplemental data to Xion is different from Rewriting Namine in two ways

1) the obvious one, 7 is not rewriting Xion’s data, he’s adding too it. Namine’s data was completely rewritten, so of course her personality changed quite drastically

2) Xion is, in a lot of ways, Kairi, so Kairi data would not make a difference—or not a noticeable one. Using Sora data on her would have the same effect, just no more Sora data is available (at this point, Sora is in the Dark Realm and no one’s going to be able to find him). If we go back to the Namine thing, Larxene is in every way not Namine, and so obviously the changes it enacted on her personality were much more noticeable.

If Xion had been given Larxene data, it would not have been as drastic as it was for Namine (seeing as Xion’s data is being added to, not rewritten, not purposefully changed), but she might have gotten a little crueler.

At first I wasn't going to end this at a cliffhanger

Then I remembered what cliffhangers do for pacing

And since it was already at 2200 words……….

Chapter 8

I found him. I found my Roxas muse.

(This was in reference to a post I made on tumblr where I asked when my Roxas muse would return to me)

I love how 7 just looks at Roxas and waits for him to stop screaming he waits

(Imagine him doing that with furious Larxenes who don’t want to admit to being hurt but do very desperately need the repair program)

Axel’s really honestly just “well I guess I can’t be mean in front of the kid's girl that would be a little too mean wouldn’t it”

At first I didn’t intend for Joseph to show up

Then I thought of it out of nowhere and went yes good

Thiiiiiiiiiis was good but it didn’t make it in unfortunately

“there’s not a problem though everything’s okay” Xion tries to say

“sorry miss commander’s orders” Patrick says with a shrug and a serious face my hands are tied I can’t do anything

“who’s your commander???”

“THAT’S ME” Joseph calls

“Joseph—”

“I GOT IT XION”

Chapter 9

Writing the organizations interacting is pretty interesting tbh??

Also Luxord probably managed to magically save that game of solitaire so he could continue it later

Xigbar’s correcting Saix on how many Replicas were missing is intended to put Saix in his place, to remind him how much he has failed on this matter

I'm not sure if I managed to describe how Demyx was sitting that well with words, and it turns out he doesn't in-game slouch like I described, but:

I was so pissed when they decided to tell Roxas that they’d drag him back kicking and screaming to rewrite him because that’s HORRIBLE but it’s also perfect yanno so of course it’s going in

Tbh, Roxas, Xemnas treats everyone like property, not just Replicas—and Xigbar is just being his normal assholeish self

Comparing Xigbar to a shark was an afterthought inspired by this set of manga panel edits/icons on tumblr in which the comparison was made

Well I didn’t expect to be doing the Riku bit in this chapter, but there was really nothing else to do and why drag things out just to give this its own chapter?

I THOUGHT ABOUT THE FINER DETAILS OF THE BIT WITH RIKU AND THE LARXENE B4  GOING TO BED ONE NIGHT AND SHE DID THE THING WHERE SHE SNAPPED HER FINGERS IN FRONT OF HIS FACE AND I WAS SO UPSET

Laughs actually I thought of it + Xemnas telling Roxas he'd drag him back kicking and screaming on the same night literally right as I was falling asleep and I was SO MAD because it was SO MEAN but also SO GOOD

I’m not saving extra docs like I’ve said a thousand times but this. this is good:

            Regardless riku looks up

Really notices her

Jumps to hide behindthe couch SCREAMING

“WHAT ARE YOU DIONG HERE??”

“uh, well, this is Replica hq”

“????” that is the sound of utter dread as he realizes that there are LARXENE. REPLICAS.

“cat got your tongue”

“STAY. AWAY. FROM ME”

Literally Castle Oblivion functions kinda like “these areas are safe but the rest of the castle will make you hopelessly lost you’re best off using dark corridors to navigate” it is DESIGNED to make people hopelessly lost and while some people (I guess Riku among them) can manage to navigate it alright, it’s certainly not everyone

I'm actually really glad I got to play with Castle Oblivion being designed to be hard to navigate, to be honest.

I waffled for a while on whether or not this scene would be from Riku's or Xion's POV, because Riku's POV meant I could do flashbacks, but Xion's POV meant I could further sully her opinion of him.

I eventually went with Xion's because a) I was trying really hard to largely keep this from Roxas/Xion's POV as much as possible and b) doing flashbacks adds nothing new for old readers, and is spoilers for new readers.

Mainly B, actually. Weird to say that the Riku/Larxene dynamic is spoilers, but, for people actually reading these in order at a later date, it is. It isn't discussed in full in-story until Dead Inside, so....


GOSH I FORGOT TO BRING THIS UP!!! I made a post on my tumblr about "Which Larxene is that? Who knows? Who cares?"

And I just wanted to repeat that here. It doesn't matter which she is, just that she is one. She's most certainly not R or Q, though, and she's probably not L (unless that makes you happy). I'm leaning a little more towards C, if any of them, but, I mean.