Tainted Eyes

Hello again! In case you didn’t see the note at the end of the last chapter, this story is complete! I’m just going to ramble about the makings of the story here. If you haven’t finished the story, I would advise you NOT TO READ THIS!!!! Heck… it’s pretty boring anyway. You might as be doing something else. =)


~*~*~*Characters*~*~*~

RIKU: I made Riku the main character because I thought he was a very strond cnd caring person. I was getting tired of people who acted like he was pure evil, because in my opinion, Riku was never evil. He was never even anywhere near bad. He just made a few bad decisions in Kingdom Hearts, and mistakes will happen. People seem to forget that, and they treat characters like they are tainted beyond redemption. I think almost everyone can be redeemed.

SORA: I was also getting tired of the way that Sora was always portrayed as pure good without a k ofk of darkness in him. So this story has a bunch of hidden messages in it. Sora is overpowered by the darkness here, but because of what we know of him already, we know he isn’t an evil person. It’s too bad people weren’t so understanding when it came to Riku in Kingdom Hearts.

KAIRI: Ah, here enters Kairi in all her glory. I didn’t think Kairi was worthy to be a princess of heart. I thought she was very selfish, and I couldn’t stand the way she ignored Riku’s feelings. And she only seemed to care about Sora since she was her love interest. I thought that if she lost that love for him, she wouldn’t even care about him as a friend. So it seemed as though she was driven by her desires alone, which is shown in much of what she does in this story.

LIVION: I wanted him to look handsome… even beautiful. Especially since some people are so easily swayed by looks.

SEPHIROTH: If we go by FF7 alone, we don’t know much about Sephiroth before Jenova swayed him. I imaged he would be a very tranquil person, and naïve when it came to living as a normal person. He thinks he is tainted because he was created to be the ultimate soldier, but in reality, he always kept his heart pure.

VINCENT: Vincent is dark, but I don’t think “dark” always has to mean “evil.” I think he’d be very intelligent, and hard to get angry at. He has the same dark grace as Livion, and he even as a demon side, but the difference is his good heart.


~*~*~*Changes*~*~*~

*TIFA was originally supposed to be part of the Final Fantasy group. But when it came to writing her lines, I was having a really hard time. I didn’t think she had much of a personality to work with. When you write about someone, it helps to have some strong emotion for them, whether it be love or hate. And I didn’t feel anything for Tifa, so she was taken out.

*IRVINE was supposed to come later to help out, but there was no logical way to get him through the door since he doesn’t have the power that Riku does. I also considered putting ZELL in.

*I’m not as clever as everyone thinks I am. BASTION was originally named after the kid in The Neverending Story. It took me forever to decide on his name. Finally, I remembered Hollow Bastion, and I changed the entire chapter.

*CLOUD was originally going to turn to the darkness instead of Sora. He was then going to act out all of his desires on Riku since Sephiroth was gone. But it made a bigger impact if Sora turned to the darkness. I still made Cloud dark (complete with dark desires) to be a contrast to Sephiroth.

*JECHT and GIPPAL were going to make an appearance in the end since I needed a place for Sephiroth and the others to stay while they were on Destiny Islands. Instead, Ramuh took care of them so I could get the message across that it usually isn’t a mistake that you end up where you end up.


~*~*~*In case you were wondering….*~*~*~

Question: Why wasn’t Kairi slaughtered?
Answer: I really wanted to get the point across that Riku is a creature of light, not darkness like most people perceive him to be. I wanted him to save Kairi. Furthermore, I conveniently left out the fact that this happens before the events of Kingdom Hearts, in which Kairi is alive.

Question: Why didn‘t Livion die a horrible painful agonizing death?
Answer: I wanted Livion to suffer in some way, but I also wanted him to realize what he had done. And it is up to interpretation whether or not his soul was actually saved, or whether he was just purified to the point where he disappeared since he was pure evil. Either way, he felt years of pain for his deeds.

Question: Isn’t Sora also a keyblade master?
Answer: Riku was the original keyblade master, and this story happens before Kingdom Hearts. Many people played the game and ended up thinking Riku was weak. But my point is that he couldn’t have been weak if the keyblade was with him for the majority of his life.

Question: Wasn’t Cloud’s friend a girl? So why was Sephiroth there?
Answer: Cloud’s friend was Sephiroth. Someone pointed out that I worded something wrong when I was talking about Aeris, so it seemed as though Cloud’s friend was female. I corrected that.

Question: Did Livion ever have a body of his own?
Answer: Yes. Livion had a body many, many, many years ago. He became very powerful in the dark arts and started to possess others to keep living. Usually the people he possesses lose their heart to the darkness.

Question: Why wasn't there any Yuri?
Answer: For a future story, I'll consider it. But honestly, it never really interested me. I'd truly have to take an interest in the event before I could write about it. Although, before Tifa was removed, there was supposed to be a Kairi x Tifa scene.

Newly added question: Was Sephiroth able to cast Phoenix?
Answer: Yes. He completed his Phoenix spell and saved everyone. After everyone died, they were brought back to life after falling through the door. Sephiroth died as a result of casting the spell, but because of his strength and massive amount of energy, the spell was able to revive him, but only to the point of barely being alive. When he landed on Destiny Islands, he was nurtured back to health. When the spell was being cast, Livion assumed it was a suicide spell, while the group assumed it was Livion's spell. Therefore, no one questioned it.

Newly added question: If Riku is pure light, how was he possessed by Livion?
Answer: Riku let Livion possess him on purpose. After Livion's soul was inside of him, Riku was able to trap his soul and purify it.


~*~*~*Other*~*~*~

*SEPHIROTH was singing in elvish. I wanted a beautiful language, and that was the most beautiful I could think of.

*At first Livion’s men spoke a different language than Riku and the others, but then they could speak the same language. It was easier to show readers how evil they could be if they could interact better… so I changed it so they could speak the same language.

*The unnamed summon who looks like a cute rabbit with a ruby on his forehead is indeed Carbuncle.

*I had to look up ZACK’s eye color. There are very few official pictures of him, so I turned to doujinshi images. Most pictures portray him as a fun-loving, easy-going, funny, sensual guy. Since there were no detailed pictures of him from Squaresoft, it was hard for some people to guess who Zack was from the hints and description alone, even if they did play the game. ( http://www.btinternet.com/~stardragonsword/164f44f0.gif )

*CLOUD was stabbed by Livion the same way Aeris was stabbed in Final Fantasy 7.

*LIVION was named after the “Oblivion,” the keyblade that is usually associated with Riku.

*The most common question from reviewers was: “When are you going to kill Kairi?”


~*~*~*Thanks*~*~*~
Thank you everyone who supported me and read my fanfic. To be honest, I didn’t know the story would run this long, and I didn’t think so many people would like it. I was so happy to get the reviews I got, and so many of you reviewed more than once! You guys really cheered me on. Don’t think that I read your review and forgot about you. You aren’t just a name to me, and I was so happy to read everything you guys sent. Someone joined just so they could review my fic, and to be honest, that’s how I got started here too! And someone who swore against reviewing reviewed me! I also got pelted with cyber Pocky and I got some cyber cookies. *Big smile* I was hoping that most of you wrote stories also, but some of you weren’t signed in when you left me a review. So please, send me an email with a link so I can read yours also!


If the story pops up at the beginning of the list again, it’s not because I added a chapter. It’s probably because I’m making corrections. So don’t mind it! I’ll also update the questions section every once in a while if something is really making people pull their hair out.

And now… off I am to write another one! Thanks again everyone!

Edit: Please note the change in my pen name. It is now SiriusReborn.


~*~*~*Added*~*~*~
Hi everyone! It's been so long since I've even touched this story! I miss it. Honestly, I still need to go through and fix some errors. I think I'll only make major edits once the next couple Kingdom Hearts games are released (to keep my story accurate if there are huge differences). Anyway, some people are emailing and messaging for a sequel. But I'm against making one until the next games are out. HOWEVER, what some people have asked for is a Kingdom Hearts retelling to pass the time. It would have to be from the points of view from characters besides Sora. I'll consider that, if that's what people want. But for now, I'm working on another story, which some of you found, much to my surprise. :)

I also want to write something a little more relaxed and silly, since some of my chapters are too much for some to handle. But I guess I'm just a dark writer.
Anyway, I can't make another original Kingdom Hearts story until Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories is out. But email me or message me if you want that Kingdom Hearts retelling. Keep in mind that it won't have those cliffhangers everyone adored so much. o_o *Dodges various thrown objects*


~*~*~*Newly Added*~*~*~
Chain of Memories comes out soon! So soon I can make my sequel! I really can't wait! Thank you for all of your comments and emails once again! Maybe I should write something short to pass the time. Ah well. Time to get some of those types that I still haven't fixed. >_<


~*~*~*Newly Added*~*~*~
I had no idea chapters 12 and 19 were glitched!!!! I wonder how long they have been like that. People couldn't finish the story! Oh well. They are fixed now! Thanks for telling me about them!