Fanfic / Kingdom Hearts III Essentially Embedded Existence

Not shown: MANY OF THEM

Xehanort is alive. Sora is pissed and turned himself into heartless. Roxas is angry and confused. Riku and Kairi? Well... After the discovery a certain Keyblade Master, new journey is started, enemies and friends, old and new will gather. While struggling with their own existence and budding romance, a spark ignite the flames of war once again.
— The opening quote

Written by Zero XSEED, this fanfic serves as a continuation to Kingdom Hearts II. The author claimed he might also incorporate some of the elements from Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance].

Xehanort is back, and the first thing he does is kidnap The Hero Sora and corrupt him... by leaking the memories of his past victim. Unsurprisingly, even a Messianic Archetype is still human, and thus, Xehanort succeeds... making Sora enraged with him even more than before. Sora realizes that his state might be dangerous to Roxas, so he removes his heart.

They meet Aqua, and with the Big Bad returned, that means a new adventure will unveil.

---

Tropes covered in the story:

• Action Girl: Aqua, to lesser extent, Selphie too. Kairi is well on her way, while Namine claimed it’s not her style.
• Action Prologue
• Anti-Climax: The prologue end with The Stinger about Sora’s overwhelming worry about what could happen if he revealed what happened to his parents; turns out they don’t mind at all.
• Anti-Hero: Heartless!Sora, he’s very friendly most of the time, but he’s also somewhat snarky, rude and rebellious at times..

• Blue-and-Orange Morality; Data!Sora has little to no qualms in sending Data!Xion into digital equivalent of cyrostasis after her creation, justified that her incompleteness made her vulnerable to dangerous bugs.
• Boom Stick: Kairi's keyblade, in sword form as well but especially in it's Spear form.
• Brick Joke: Kairi claimed Selphie said that she's better when fighting using laundry pole, scenes later, her preferred Key form is revealed to be a spear. Explained (sorta) in chapter 3 where Kairi said pole technique is taught at school.
• Cast from Hit Points: Kairi’s Sacrificial Nova, the second time she casted it, she’s forced into dream state because she almost exhausted the light in her heart.
• Crossover: Sion from The Bouncer is Sora’s Dad
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Sion’s weapon is a very large steel bar, and to normal person, he’s practically The Juggernaut.
• Coming of Age Story: Sort of, since the focus is given to Shipping. Especially showcased by the three main boys, who have different take on emotional maturity. Roxas is the most childlike but also the most dramatic one, Soras is the unfazed if oddly nihilistic one, and Riku is the most mature of them, yet socially awkward.
  • Many of the conversation veering deep into topic of teen sexuality, but kept lighthearted all the time despite the context.
• Competence Zone: Discussed, King Mickey is badass beyond badass, clearly stronger than the youngsters, but he knew very well he, Donald, and Goofy have little room to develop.
• Crazy Enough to Work; Deconstructed with Sora's survival tactic of making himself a heartless and insist of keeping himself that way to add extra manpower, Xehanort did the same thing long ago, and there's a VERY good chance Xehanort will use this to his merit.
• Cutlass Between the Teeth: Sora channeled his Pridelands incarnation as Heartless, but instead of Running on All Fours, he used his free hand for Good Old Fisticuffs.
• Divergent Character Evolution: In-Universe, this is what caused Sora and Roxas’ fusion being incomplete.
• Drunk on the Dark Side: Yen Sid warned Sora about this in Chapter 3, Riku as well, all things considering…

• Evil Makeover: Sort of, as Heartless, Sora has black hair, Supernatural Gold Eyes, and Heartless emblem.

• Fantastic Nuke / Spirit Bomb: Sacrificial Nova, it wiped no less than 3000 heartless in one go, it’s a justifiably costly attack.
  • Charged Attack: The first time she casted it, the ball is much smaller and she’s largely unaffected.
• Fragile Speedster: Heartless!Sora to a T, he's so fast that he can run on a freaking wall and surprise Teleport Spam-happy characters, but Riku summed it best.
  Riku: "Remember Sora, heartless heal fast, true, but they also inherently fragile because they are physical manifestation of darkness, not a solid flesh and bone. There's a valid reason why many of Xehanort's artificial heartless wore heavy armor"
• Gone Horribly Right: Xehanort stimulating Sora’s darkness to grow exponentially, cue Unstoppable Rage toward Xehanort himself. Subverted that Xehanort thought it’s not above his plan…
  • As of chapter 3, Yen Sid and Sora clearly knew the subversion could always happen, it’s Xehanort after all.
• Good Is Dumb: Subverted, Sora is increasingly clever and philosophical as Heartless, but he’s also even more reckless.
• Good Parents: Sora’s parent is extremely open-minded and understood their limit, but probably that’s what makes him a Hero. To a lesser extent, Kairi’s foster father too.
• Hates Being Touched: Discussed and shot down. When Namine refuse to be hugged by The Mayor, Sora and Roxas said probably due to Larxene and Marluxia. In reality, Namine not so much hated it as it was Kairi that's uncomfortable being doted, carried to Namine as the result. In fact, Namine and Roxas is VERY MUCH touchy feely all the time.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Sacrificial Nova, nuff said.
• Hormone-Addled Teenager: Discussed in the third chapter, Roxas is very much horrified realizing that his feelings for Namine (at the moment) are shallow and physical, because Sora carried his feelings of love with him. Riku told him not to do that.
  Riku: “Don’t diss it, human nature”
• Innocent Innuendo: Only from an Old Master to a young teenage girl, makes it all the funnier
  Yen Sid: “The way you handled that spear is quite intriguing”
  *Sora broke into laughter*
• Lethal Chef: Subverted by Aqua, her cooking is horribly feaky, but it tastes good.
  Riku: ”Did that spaghetti just… wiggle?”
• Mind Rape: Sora experienced this in form of Ven, Vanitas, and Roxas' leaked memory, all at once. No wonder he snaps at Xehanort.
• Minored in Ass-Kicking: The parents, while nowhere as destiny-deciding powerful as their kids, apparently hold their own just fine against minor heartless attack.
  • The other island trio as well.
• N-Word Privileges: Sora is this with his status as Heartless, often called out for it. Roxas also do this once in the prologue, only for him to call out Sora in chapter 3.
• O.C. Stand-in: Sora's parents and the Mayor, subverted with Riku's father.
• Precision F-Strike: Roxas deliver a low one in the prologue, realizing the weight of the situation.
• Purple Prose: Subtly mocked in the prologue, when referring to Kairi’s eyes as Orbs, there’s a Trade Snark following.
• Rape as Backstory: Referenced and shot down. See Hates Being Touched, then Sora uncharasterically veer into less than comfortable assumption....
  Sora: "And she loathed sexual offender"
  *everyone looked at him in confusion*
  Sora: "What? Marluxia only pretend, don't you know? Namine had enough experience being touchy feely with the one she don't want to-"
  Roxas: "THAT QUEER IS PRETENDING?"
  Namine: "Well, Sora just exaggerating but Larxie and Marluxia doesn't knew a little bit about personal space. And what do you mean by 'queer'?"
  • All of which aren't that much of a stretch, anyway. Sora simply channel a fraction of the fandom there.
• Schizo Tech: The current Jiminy’s Journal is magical electronic archive that can connect with everything electronics, Sora lampshaded it and complained why Gummi system cannot be integrated if they have the tech.
• Sexier Alter Ego: Sora's mom think Roxas is even cuter than Sora himself.
• Shout-Out: The way Kairi cast Sacrificial Nova is most definitely invoking Starlight Breaker.
• Shipper on Deck: Oddly enough, The other island trio for Riku and Aqua, probably For the Lulz.
  • Subverted by everyone in regards to Sora and Kairi, as Riku said
  Riku: "Well, you can call that, nothing is official by this point, hell, they might not understood it fully, but everyone has the same guess, assuming fate-wrecking, soul-ripping, world-ending, heart-breaking stuff didn't happen, the ending is clear as sea water... it's like a silent agreement that everyone refrain from saying anything more than a friendly tease"
  Riku: "Status quo, pal. No breaking the dynamic, nothing, let that sink if it have to"
• Ship Tease: Sora and Riku, Roxas and Namine… Riku and Aqua?
• Socially Awkward Hero: Aqua, so very much. Riku too, at certain times.
• Split-Personality Takeover: Parodied. In an example where said Split Personality didn’t expect it (much less wanted it), Sora literally evacuate his corrupted heart to become Heartless in the Prologue, letting Roxas to take over his vacant body.
  • In the first chapter, Kairi’s heart went into dream state after her Heroic Sacrifice, letting Namine to take over for roughly two days. This is not so much unexpected for Namine though, but Namine still pissed.

• Sword Cane: The Mayor’s sword is a very thin blade hidden in a Pimp Cane.
• Unperson: Progressively inverted by Xion’s case as the cast tried their hardest to remember her, restoring her identity little by little.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Sora and the Mayor, ESPECIALLY in regards to Kairi.
• Year Inside, Hour Outside: The world of darkness as confirmed by Nomura, Aqua felt that roughly one year or so spent in the place, while outside, 12 year has passed.

---