#my poor children...

Iris:

Ohhhh yeah~

Right out the front gate we're starting strong!

Since Iris, thanks to poking around in places she shouldn't, ends up getting smited before the Keyblade War even began, imagine if she kept her nose out of things just long enough...

She gets to know everyone that Alto got to meet, and finds herself having even more things to add to her list of suspicions as time goes on.

She finds out about the Dandelions, about the weird happenings and disapperances, about the fact that the Foretellers are hiding more than they are letting on.

Things start to get more tense, more stressful. Iris grows a resentment for the Union leaders and those they associated with, as the days lead to competition that grows ever more violent.

Her final straw was when Aced dared to strike down Alto, who just wanted to spare two wielders an otherwise fruitless fight near the fountain square. She denounces her Union involvement, essentially going rogue all to keep a protective eye on Alto.

She turns down a spot on the Dandelions only because Alto did, despite her efforts to plea with him so they could leave safe and sound. But she respects his choices, so together they will face the music head on.

Eventually, the Keyblade War swings around. Even though it's a free for all at this rate, she still teams up with Alto to stay close and keep them both alive no matter the cost.

Now, ideally she would get taken away with Alto to the digital Daybreak Town and the two would continue to suffer towards the end of the world, perhaps both finding themselves on a journey to reincarnate in Scala ad Caelum, however the newly uncovered, very hostile Foretellers of the Apocalypse have other plans.

Despite Igni being an angel of the battlefield, at least in the eyes of the wielders she saves, for very interesting reasons never really disclosed she just leaves Iris to die, or rather finishes the job herself. Either way, Iris does not make it out, at least not in an ideal state.

Nobody in the future gets to learn who Iris is despite Alto carrying her memory with him, he had forgotten her just as much as he forgot everyone from that time.

Her Chirithy got to her just in time before she was whisked off to sleep, and she now resides in the Realm of Dreams as a Necho Cat, assisting in keeping that realm and the other lost wielders safe.

♡♡♡

Irene:

Irene also had a strong case of sticking her nose where it doesn't belong, which later ended in an act of martyrdom for two boys that barely gave her the time of day.

This time around, despite her heart telling her to act, she kept to herself and followed along blindly alongside the other castle staff (loyalty to Master Ansem and all that), where it eventually lead to her witnessing all of the horrid experiments happening within the castle walls.

She ends up involuntarily becoming a Nobody, Nexier (it's just Reixen backwards lol), with a healing element, one of if not the only passive member of Organization XIII. While not branded as an official member, she is given her own infirmary quarters in the Castle That Never Was, where the other members are sent to receive mending and care, most likely a hint to all that remains of who she was.

When she's returned to wholeness, she's confronting Sora on his final trek to confront Xemnas. It's more of a mercy upon her granted by Sora, but part of her seems so far gone even when recompleted. She will never be the same, now jaded towards her place of work, yet she stays because where else does she have to go? She needs to be there for the others who also suffered the same fate...

All we have is hope that maybe she could find healing from all this.

♡♡♡

Iliana:

I thought of two for her, so I'll share the less dark option first!

When she takes up a roost with her uncle after the fall of her world, a pivotal point was her choice to leave and seek closure in the depths of space. Here, Russell managed to talk her down from persuing what isn't there, so she doesn't take off on a fruitless chase for answers. Instead she takes up work as Russell's apprentice at his shop, biding her time until she can handle the journey on her own. Or with friends-

She ends up in Sora's mess here anyway, just with less death on her end this time around. Unfortunately, destiny has it out for her either way-

The second option was from before she left her home world.

She had already been actively packing to leave by now, a slow process considering she had to swipe many things from under her parents' noses. Unfortunately, finishing that task couldn't have come fast enough.

During its final day standing as the world was crumbling to pieces, she had tried returning to her home city to grab her brother, the last thing she needed in order to go. The only thing holding her back was swarms of Heartless and, well, the world actively falling apart.

Originally, she realized she was outmatched and decided to flee, since she knew fighting her way through would mean certain death, and with certain death it meant no one would be able to go back and save it later, nor could anyone escape that hadn't tried already.

It was devastating to leave her brother behind, but it was necessary to make sure she wouldn't lose him completely.

This time around, however, she continues to persist, battling through hoard after hoard to reach the city gate... only for the city to totally sink into darkness before she could make it there. Her way back was starting to crumble as well, so she was all but completely trapped.

Of course, Heartless are an inconvenience, so on her furious trek back she nearly makes it to the ship, but! Comes up short as she is taken with the broken pieces of her world to the Realm of Darkness.

Her persistence kept her from being swallowed completely -unless she totally gives up which is possible- nevertheless she ended up finding herself wandering this new realm aimlessly for a couple of years, maybe bumping into Aqua-nort and her mildly unhinged gf, Myst, while she's at it, until by pure happenstance she may be rescued...

By Sora, of course. She can never avoid him-

She doesn't come out of this herself anymore, in fact she's far from the person she may have been, left now to take her time relearning how to be human, and her recovery monitored in Radiant Garden while the Guardians of Light are actively hunting down where Terra ended up.

♡♡♡

Oh, how I love me some angst!

The most heartbreaking part is that if this is all part of one timeline they never get to meet, with the exception of Iliana and Irene I suppose, but they won't click in the same way they do now. Maybe they learn to heal together, but it's so strained that it's best to let them handle themselves separately.

Iliana would also have no reason to take the Mark of Mastery until way later this way, if at all, so she'd never meet Dreameater Iris, alas.

Anywho-

Wowie zowie, we're almost at the end, just one more day!!