the cat stash

the strength of our hearts

Sometimes, all it takes to cut through the darkness is a connection.

A rewrite of the Kingdom Hearts series after KH2.

general fic info:

main playlist (yes I know it's insanely long at the moment, I'm going to condense it into a much shorter playlist sometime soon so it works better for the entire series.)

the word "rewrite" implies that I dislike KH as it is, which is very much not true. I just had a cool idea and wanted to rewrite the entire series to tell a new version of the story with my idea in mind.

there will be a total of 3 main fics in the series, with maybe one or two shorter ones to fill in the gaps. the first two main fics are already posted and I'm working on them at the same time to maintain continuity, as they are parallel stories and will eventually converge at the end of the first fic. these fics cover the entire story from the end of KH2 to just before the beginning of KH3, while the third fic will focus on KH3 and ReMind.

this story is heavily Soriku & Destiny Trio focused. not to say that the other characters and relationships aren't important, it's just that Sora, Riku, and Kairi are the heart of my story.

Soriku is a veeeeery slow burn in this series. but! it's for a good reason! I'm not going to leave you all hanging when it comes to their relationship and how it develops. it's going to be good, trust me!!

Kairi is aromantic. this is very important for her side of the story. of course, it's not all of who she is. but it affects every part of her life, and her being in the closet makes that much more difficult... and that's exactly what I want to explore in this series. :)

if I list a relationship in the tags, it will be explored in the fic. I won't tag relationships that aren't important to anyone's characterization or development at some point in the story. if I don't tag a major trio or friendship or something, that relationship is still present, it's just not given as much attention as the tagged relationships.

most of the KH3 arc of the story is inspired by Sleeping Realm theory and the posts I've made about that theory. many of the changes I've made for my fic serve the purpose of supporting the topics and themes the Sleeping Realm theory presents. thus, my series puts a lot of emphasis on love (in all of its forms), sacrifice, and the importance of memories.

the strongest theme in my story is that of finding yourself through connection. this is the core of every single character arc in the entire series. I didn't plan for this btw, it just sorta happened. but I really like this direction for KH's story, so it stuck. :)

there are content warnings in the chapter notes & on this post, but the series isn't nearly as upsetting as it sounds. the warnings are only there to tell you what to expect. I promise it isn't too bad, there's just a lot of heavy stuff in the subtext.

when KH4 releases, I'm going to continue this series with a fourth main fic. but I want to finish writing what I have planned so far before I start working on post-ReMind stuff.

WARNING: from this point on, this post contains a bunch of spoilers for future chapters of these fics. tread carefully! if you don't want too many spoilers, but you still want to know what my fic is about, just go directly to the series using the link above and read the tags there.

first of all, the name of the series itself: the strength of our hearts. this is a corny choice, but it seemed right for the overall themes of KH (and by extension, my rewrite of it). this title is not just about Sora, Riku, and Kairi, but everyone else they meet and bond with. strength in connection is the core theme of my series, and I wanted to pick a title that encompasses that idea. also it's not based on any specific lines in KH, I just came up with it on the spot.

for part 1, I initially had the idea to title it once upon a memory after a specific song from the OST for one of my favorite games (To The Moon. it's an amazing game, but if you decide to play it, just be prepared to cry a lot). this was back when I thought I was only going to write one fic and not a whole series. but then I thought about it some more and decided that something referencing Chain of Memories would fit better, which is how I landed on the first half of the title: mend the chains. it's a nod to how the main plot of part 1 is going to be Sora and Riku recovering and repairing lost memories, both from their own hearts and from others. they're collecting links in the chains that connect them to each other and to others, and saving hearts they thought were lost in the process. that latter part is where the second half of the title comes from, (undo the hurt). Sora, Riku, and Naminé are working together to undo the pain and loss that those connected to their hearts have suffered, even though they haven't even met most of them in person yet.

the title for part 2 has a more straightforward explanation. I liked the idea of using another side, another story as the title for Kairi's adventure; all I did to make it fit her better was change it to another side (another destiny). Kairi's journey across the worlds coincides with Sora and Riku's journey in Castle Oblivion, so it just felt right to use this phrase for her side of the story.

part 3's title, elegy of memory, breaks the pattern I established of splitting it into two halves, with the second half being in parentheses. initially this was just because I couldn't think of a fitting phrase to put in parentheses once I came up with elegy of memory, so I just left it like that until I could come up with something that worked. but now that I've thought about what I'm going to name the fourth part of the series, I've decided that this break from the pattern fits perfectly with the story of part 3 when compared to parts 1, 2, and 4. so I'm keeping the shorter title to establish the idea that part 3 is fairly different from the rest of my fic series. and of course, I chose elegy of memory as a reference to Melody of Memory, because the main plot in part 3 is going to be very Kairi-centric for the most part. also, the change from melody to elegy is an intentional hint about the tone of this fic.

and last but not least, the title for part 4: a dream of you (in a world without you). to be honest, because this part is going to focus on KH4, I'm not sure if the title is going to stick after the game releases. but right now, I think it fits the ideas I have for part 4 so far. and of course, I also like this title because it's a reference to one of my favorite opening movies in the series. I think you can guess what this part of the story will focus on based on that, lol. (it's Soriku.)

1: Roxas is awesome, they really want to see more of him (they were delighted to hear that we do, but I didn't tell them what will happen next with him. my poor friend is NOT ready for 358/2 Days, let alone the end of Roxas's summer vacation...)

2: Kairi's new outfit in the opening movie was so cute on her, but also "wtf is up with the zippers" (lol)

3: "wait so do we get to play as Kairi in this game??? :o" "sorry but no, not until KH3." "awww... :("

4: according to my friend, Axel is the coolest character in the entire series (also when he showed up with his hood up during the Struggle tournament the first thing my friend said was "hey wait, I recognize that waist 🤨" and I think I hurt something laughing)

5: "where tf did Sora and Riku go, can they come back please" (yeah me too bestie 😭)

6: every time Naminé showed up, my friend was desperate for her to stay because they love her and just want to see her happy. they're pretending she's part of the Destiny Trio now to cope. so unbelievably real of them. 😔

7: their running theory about Data Twilight Town is that Roxas's relationships with some of the characters are meant to parallel Sora and Riku's relationship back on Destiny Islands. funnily enough this is exactly what I was thinking back when I played KH2 for the first time! I was wrong about the town being a manifestation of Sora's mind, but now I think I was onto something with the parallel theory.

8: "give me your balls" < them throughout the Struggle tournament

so yeah, they've been having a great time with the game so far. next time we hang out they'll probably be back to playing as Sora, I'll update y'all when that happens.