[OnePassingNight] AU Application

[lockandkeyblade]

Your name: Dee
Your journal: kunoichi_life
Contact: AIM Stitchinthewater
Other characters played at Passing: None

Character name: Sora
Character fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Version: V2
Canon point: Beginning of the game, at Yen Sid's Tower
Importing development from old game? Nope
Canon Background:  [Spoilers for Birth By Sleep]

Destiny Islands, the place Sora calls home, is a refuge. It is a sanctuary of peace and familiarity with a touch of magic that, on occasion, draws otherworldly forces. At the time that Sora was born, a damaged, otherworldly individual known as Ventus (a Keyblade wielder) was discarded on the islands. Through the magic of the world itself, or by strength of heart, Sora’s heart came into contact with Ventus’s. When Ventus accepted Sora’s offer to fuse with him, Ventus’s heart was repaired. Ventus left the islands shortly thereafter. Life went on as normal, and Sora never remembered the encounter.

As Sora grew, he became particularly fond of a set of islands just off shore of his hometown, (where he lived with his mother and father). Often, he would spend his days playing on the islands with childhood friends Riku, Kairi, Tidus, Selphie and Wakka. This continued until he was four, when the events of Birth By Sleep occurred. A damaged Ventus returned to the island a second time. After briefly connecting once more, Sora ended up fusing his heart with Ventus’s in an attempt to repair the damage wreaked on his heart. This time, Ventus remained inside Sora, ensuring his future as a potential Keyblade master, and someone who possessed a stronger heart filled with light as a result.

Life continued until he was 14, when dark forces called the Heartless began to spread throughout the worlds, enveloping them in darkness. Drawn to the island by the darkness in Riku’s heart, Destiny Islands met the same fate. By blessing of a weapon called the Keyblade and by strength of his own heart, Sora survived the attack and awoke in a world called Traverse Town. There, he was briefed by its inhabitants and the loyal servants of King Mickey about the situation involving the heartless and the state of the worlds. Sora took it upon himself to travel from world to world, both in search of his missing friends Riku and Kairi as well as to safeguard the worlds by use of the Keyblade.

Through his travels between worlds to seek out Kairi’s lost heart, he eventually confronted his best friend who had been lured to the darkness and eventually possessed by a man known as Ansem (who was attempting to reach Kingdom hearts, the heart of all worlds). During the confrontation, Sora learned the location of Kairi’s heart was far closer to him that he thought previously: Kairi’s heart was in fact hiding deep inside his own. He sacrificed himself to restore Kairi to her rightful state, losing his form in the process. Fortunately, he was restored by virtue of Kairi’s innate power as a Princess of Heart and he proceeded to defeated Ansem in order to free his friend from possession and stop Ansem’s plot. Unfortunately, his friend Riku and King Mickey were forced to stay on the dark side in order to successfully seal Kingdom hearts. Hence, Sora’s journey continued, swearing to find his best friend and return to the island to where Kairi now waited.

Later, a group of nobodies called Organization XIII manipulated his memories in an attempt to control him. He managed to rescue a young woman in need in Castle Oblivion by the name of Namine, though his memories were altered severely during the journey. Namine, having been freed, willingly spent the next year repairing his memories. That included bringing parts of Sora that had escaped, been stolen, or had separated from him during his ordeals and assimilating him back with his sleeping form.

When he awakens in an abandoned mansion, Roxas is there waiting for him. His destiny diverges from the normal path.

Changes from canon, if AU:
During the final battle of KH1, Xehanort's heartless (Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness) manages to effectively preserve a part of himself within Sora's heart and remains dormant there until triggered in later events. As a result, the assimilation with Roxas at the beginning of KH2 goes awry. In fact, it fails to happen at all. When Sora awakens from his year long slumber, Roxas is waiting there for him in person, an event that alters the very history of Kingdom Hearts 2.

Examples of such event changes may be found Here.

The changes also affect his personality, which is elaborated below in the latter half of the Personality Section.

Personality:

Despite being a keyblade master, Sora in most ways, still acts like a normal boy. Like most others his age, Sora loathes schoolwork (as evidenced in his sometimes less than stellar performance in math class). He’s not too keen on planning ahead and has a habit of putting his foot in his mouth even if he doesn’t mean to. He can be a little goofy, but he means well. As a keyblade master, he has a natural sense of both justice and honor. He’s empathic to the pain of others, even once-enemies if they show a glimmer of something to empathize with. Both of these traits are the reason why he tends to preoccupy himself with the problems of others before he even begins to address with his own.

He will often sacrifice time, effort and other things for the benefit of strangers he’s just met, simply because it’s the right thing to do.Sora tends to live his life according to what his heart dictates, something that comes hand in hand with excessive amounts of enthusiasm and optimism. Confronting manifestations of darkness hasn’t changed his insufferably upbeat attitude, just honed it. What few problems significant enough to affect is attitude are often issued away by the company of friends, or at the very least put on the backburner to deal with later (which may or may not be a good thing). Even in the bleakest of times, he looks to the bright side. And for good reason: most of the harrowing situations he finds himself in are salvaged by the intervention of allies or by sheer will to hope against all hope.

He is an incredibly loyal friend, valuing friendship above all else. For those who have made it into his innermost circle, he will forgive anything, particularly the two who have been with him since the beginning: Kairi and Riku. They are his beacons of light when nearly every waking hour is spent either being surrounded by or being preoccupied with fighting the darkness. Riku brings out the fire of his competitive side, and is the pragmatist to Sora’s idealist. As for Kairi, he holds himself personally responsible for her safety, and he’s already proved himself willing to cross words to ensure her wellbeing and happiness.

Despite having been to numerous worlds from dangerous to beautiful to downright bizarre, Sora is by no means jaded. Sora’s still takes it all in with a measure of wonder and excitement. This is mainly attributed to the fact that Sora is so young . For all his (literally) worldly experience, Sora is still a child both emotionally and physically. For someone who lives life like Sora, he can be a handful to be around. At times, Sora can be quite impulsive. His modus operandi includes jumping first into situations and figuring out how to land after, a trait that often has his friends and colleagues rushing to make up the difference. It’s probably why Donald Goofy and Sora make such a tight knit team- they’re the only ones crazy enough to make it work! In the company of others who are stubborn as he is, it’s just fuel to the fire (Donald, Donald Donald) He’s quick to anger when matters hit close to home, and he’ll often believe things so stubbornly that he’s willing to forge on alone without his partners in crime if his belief in something is strong enough, something his enemies have exploited numerous times in the past.

The lesser of his flaws include an occasionally terrible sense of timing, an inability to steer a gummi ship in a straight line, an absentmindedness for etiquette (especially towards royalty but thanks to Goofy and Donald, he’s getting better! Really!), and an allergy to anything that’s both boring and hard work.

AU Changes include...

  Dependence -  In the game, Sora's primary emotional and physical support in the game is Goofy and Donald.  Several occasions arise during the game in which Sora questions his abilities and or goal in one way or another. Goofy and Donald are always present during these situations,  constantly reassuring him,  issuing away his doubts and even as redirecting his energy into a more constructive attitude. In this universe, Sora spends more of his time attached to Roxas. He becomes more of a partner rather than mentores throughout the course of the journey,and by nature of their very existence, that development eventually leads Sora to think more for himself.

  Shift in Perspective -  In the original canon, Sora views the world in shades of black and white. He rarely questions the absolutes presented to him by two figures of authority he innately trusts, Yen Sid and Mickey: Their explanation leads him to believe that all nobodies are considered enemies, a general guideline that Sora takes as fact. This means that he sees most nobodies (with the exception of figures like Namine, who unfortunately he does not remember) as enemies. After discovering his traveling companion and best friend one of those nobodies (and after a misunderstanding results in which Sora still believes he is a part of the organization), Sora comes to understand that not everything is as it seems. Darkness isn't inherently evil, and that the word of one or two individuals aren't aren't necessarily the end all, be all.
  Relationships - The AU changes have also thrown a wrench into the close relationship he shares with his childhood best friend Riku. While he still treasures his best friend, still holds his welfare above all others, he's bewildered to discover that his other and Riku are at odds with each other, that Riku was quite nearly the reason he never came to meet his other.
  Self Preservation - There's a strange paradox that develops in Sora regarding his own self preservation. Sora eventually learns to value himself. While self sacrifice is a noble endeavor, he now shares a heart with Roxas, his existence isn't the only one who may be at risk he loses his life or his heart. At the same time, Sora also becomes more mischievous and reckless. With someone as closely tied to Sora who can anticipate much of his needs in both battle and in so many senses, Sora unconsciously takes more chances.
  Heartless - Sora's sense of self also comes into question. Unbeknown to the pair, due the additional presence of Xehanhort's heartless inside him, his antiform is exacerbated.  In canon, antiform is a non issue, a side effect of the drive form which gives him many of his strongest abilities. Here, Sora is much more self aware of it's presence. Initially, it's not a problem, or even much of a concern. Unfortunately, antiform eventually becomes a sense of conflict between Roxas and Sora, a hiccup which fosters a slight mistrust and tension between their fledgling relationship, particularly since it happens at the beginning of the journey before much trust is established.
  Attitude - With someone his age on his journey, he finally has someone he can relate to and have fun with. Roxas is his partner in verbal sparring as well as physical fighting.

Abilities:

[Attacks]

  KEYBLADE – Sora has the ability to summon a weapon called keyblade, an item that holds the ability to unlock certain items like chests or locked doors (in some cases, it has even unlock hearts themselves but he's only done it on himself, and the result was not pretty) He can wield two keyblades at once, but only for a short duration.
  MAGIC – Ice, Fire, Thunder, Cure, Reflect
  LIMITS –  Sora has the ability to execute a team-based attack on the enemy. The nature of the attack changes according to his partner's battle style, powers, strength, personality and relationship with Sora. He both amplifies the power of his and his partner's magic, as well as temporarily mimics the others' abilities. The stronger the partner and relationships between them, the stronger the attack. 
  DRIVE FORMS – The ability to concentrate his abilities to a certain strategic attack mode. The modes are as follows: Valor (physical attack based only), Wisdom (magic based only), Master (physical and magical based), Final Form (strongest form)

- There is one more form that is chance based, a form that appears with at a higher frequency due to the overuse of his drive forms. It is called Anti-form, a darkness based form in which Sora turns into a 'heartless.' While the form makes him several times faster in terms of attack and maneuverability, he is unable to cast magic, revert back on his own without running out of drive energy, and he takes more damage. Sora runs mostly on pure instinct in this form.

  PHYSICAL - glide, high jump

[Strengths]
 

  Sora is able to adapt to situations very well, using his surroundings to his advantage (something that manifests in the game as reaction commands.) He’s also a team-oriented fighter, and someone who’s able to slightly alter his fighting style in order to better cooperate in a party. His strength and speed far surpasses that of a normal human, though most of that is simply due to his proficiency with the keyblade.

[Weaknesses]

  One of sora’s strength also serves as his weakness: Sora is primarily a team fighter. While he can hold his own in a one on one fight, he functions best with one or more partners at his side. He has no formal training with the keyblade, and most of what he’s learned has been acquired through (painful) trial and error. Take away the keyblade and he’s significantly handicapped. Abuse of his magic and drive forms results in the increased chance of Anti-form. Not to mention, Sora draws his strength from his friends and the connections he’s made along the journey. Since his power is derived from power of heart – emotional turmoil hampers his abilities. His Drive forms are dependent on the clothes that he wears, so without his special gear and outfit, he is unable to use those abilities.

 

[Other Important Facts]

The very nature of Sora’s heart allows him to make very close connections with certain individuals (and in one rare case, to repair them, as in the case with the comatose Ventus).

He also has an other half (Roxas) which was separated from him at one point by the loss of his heart in KH1.

Sora has no memory of the events of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories beyond vague recollections , a small journal entry entitled ‘Thank Namine’, the various reports,  and the word of his companions (though he remembers a thing or two on occasion.

Writing sample:

The creepiest thing about visiting Roxas inside the mindscape isn’t the shadows. Everyone has them. Ghosts of memory. Things no one remembers. Names, places and feelings that naturally fade with time but the mind still clings to after the fact. They are ideas only half formed, things only half recalled, black blurs against the colorful backdrop of his mind that he dismisses just as quickly as he registers them.

He doesn’t mind them, not really. And after all, in this place, this dreamscape belonging solely to him and his other, it can't be that bad, right?

Sora pushes open the doors of his half-formed city memories, stepping out into the perpetual sun. Just beyond the railing, the rest of the city sprawls out before him, a mishmash of an sleepy island town by the sea caught in perpetual sunset. This was physical space where they could both walk, both remember, both dream.

Which is why he's not surprised the mindscape is a mess after Xehanort's finished with it.

Most of the buildings are empty to begin with. But he knows if he strayed from the main road now, he’d find skeletons of buildings, beams and boards standing upright or twisted sideways, downwards, every which way, as if trying to close the vast gaps in its construction.

Roxas was somewhere down below in the sprawl of the city that belonged to him.

Waiting.

And so Sora wanders along empty streets, stepping over cracked cobblestones and avoiding black spots in on the path, knowing that any careless step might break something or leave cracks in the fabric of their memory. He ignores obnoxiously large gaps in the city blocks, and pieces of the trolley’s missing track. He ignores collapsed walls and piles of rubble and even the faceless shopkeepers in the stalls. Even the sun's position seems precarious, hanging in the sky on fragile strings of color that might snap any small tremor in their world.

Something stirs out of the corner of his vision, somewhere behind him, somewhere he's already passed. It stands like a phantom over the city: The skeleton of a clocktower.

There's movement there, at the highest platform, figures entirely out of place and faceless, muddy blurs of color so sad and decrepit looking that he wonders if it would be him or Roxas that would have to put them back together again.They sway urgently, trying to draw his eyes back, pulling his attention skyward with three youthful.. but still hollow voices. Sora resists.

He'd have to keep Roxas busy working on the city below so he could try and fix those particular ghosts, himself.

By the time he begins to see signs of repair, he's reached the Usual Spot. Roxas’s gentle touch has been left in places around the chained link fences and brickwork. The couch is clean. The ladder is upright. Posters hang in their spots. Inside, he can see that everything is... perfect. The way it should be.

But Roxas isn't here. So he moves on.

By the time he finds Roxas, he's passed the nameless forest outside the abandoned mansion. Roxas is there, resting at the foot of the gates of the mansion, looking like he's missed a week's worth of sleep. But when he hears the shuffle of Sora moving through the grass at the entrance of the woods, he turns with a soft smile. Sora hops over some holes in the earth and comes to Roxas's side. Soft words are coming from his mouth and Sora is puzzled: Who is he talking to?

Sora sees him turn his eyes back towards the gap between the towering walls that line the perimeter of the property. Suddenly, Roxas is holding up the massive front gate, featherlight and seemingly made of paper, trying to connect it into the fabric of their world to stand on its own. Sora understands and raises his hands too, fingers closing around cool metal. When Roxas lower his, Sora takes up the burden and holds it up, himself.

“Why this place first?” Sora wonders out loud. When the gate solidifies, Sora steps away from it, dusting off his hands. “Kinda thought maybe you’d start somewhere more…”

“Important?” Roxas wonders, sounding just as tired as he looks.  “Every place is important.”

Sora peers at him thoughtfully, mulling over the words.

“This place is special, though.” Roxas said, and after some time.

Not as special as some others, Sora couldn’t help but think. The image of the swaying colors atop the clocktower hovered in the back of Sora’s thoughts.

“Is it?”

Roxas nods slowly, and replies simply, “Yeah. It’s where I met you.” And they're both quiet again, surveying their work.

“Saw the Usual Spot,” Sora replies conversationally. There's no outward reaction, but Sora can feel it. Roxas glowers inwardly at the thought, resurfacing memories laced with nostalgia and distant bitterness. Outwardly, he can hear a shuffling in the woods nearby. When he looks, he knows it was a shadow. Another one of those things he can’t quite remember, isn’t quite there, but keeps reminding him it is. The memory has already slipped away, out of sight. The only thing left are some falling leaves and a muffled twig snap further into the woods.

“You know, this place… Our connection… it’s not looking too good,” Roxas told him, placing a hand on the brick and watching as the vines creep up to their positions, the same place that Sora remembered seeing them when he first saw the mansion. “I never knew how bad things got until I saw this place."

Concern. Roxas could probably feel it radiating off Sora in waves, “It'll be okay. We just have to go back  to where we've been before. We can fill in the blanks again,” Sora offers. Roxas  watches him for a moment. Then he smiles.

“Don’t worry about too much, Sora. It's just me thinking,” he says, and he reaches forward to ruffle his hair. Roxas kneels on the ground, tending to a patch of flowers sickly and weakened by a patch of black earth nearby.And the memory that was here before creeps up, a tall, lanky shadow that stands behind them both.

A black blur of a hand falls on Sora's shoulder. He knows this is another shadow, but these hands have weight and they sit on his shoulders like they're trying to convince him they're real.

Roxas’s smile is a strange mix of nostalgic and chiding. “Don’t mess around with him.”

Then Sora realizes that Roxas isn’t talking to him but the shadow. The memory is still a blur, still as formless, but the colors were so deep and vivid that he swears it's conscious, thinking. it's as aware as him and Roxas. He and his other owned the world, but this one revels in it, moving like it owns the place. It was unashamed and guiltless and alive.

It takes Roxas walking past the two of them to remember that it's only a memory. When Sora turns around to look the memory in the eye, it's gone again. He stares down the empty woods, face drawn into a defiant glare, as if this shadow were the one fostering their doubts- even if in all reality, that same shadow was probably only there for company,

“If we work together, I'm sure we can fix it. No matter how broken it looks.”

Sora realizes that Roxas is waiting at the edge of the clearing, and he forgets the moment he catches up with Roxas.

“Yeah. I know."  Roxas says, and they move into town to mend the voids, supposedly irreparable damage."Come on. Let’s finish this.”

The part of Twilight Town that was sleeping began to stir. Three shadows on the skeleton clocktower flicker, clearer than they've been in a long time.

Voice sample:

THREAD - musebox "13 meters" with lockandkeyblade and vacationisalie  - an example of their relationship at Twilight Town.

THREAD - musebox "13 meters" with lockandkeyblade , turntodarkness and vacationisalie - In which Sora and Roxas deal with Xehanort's heartless.