The moment I finished this chapter, I knew I needed to make a review.

I loved this fic a whole lot! I think it's probably one of my favorite retellings of KH2 since it took the best aspects of that games and continued to flesh things out more for a great novel adaptation.

Sora's characterization in this story was great, his personality was along the lines of how he acted in some of the older games, which I appreciated since I've never been too keen on the more childish personality he'd been given in games like DDD.

The secondary characters were very enjoyable too, my favorite being Naminé, who's a pretty underrated character that doesn't seem to get too much love in the fanbase.

I haven't gotten around to reading KH Null, but I'm definitely looking forward to reading it soon. I love the idea of a story being based on the limited knowledge we had of KH back in the day, and while I do enjoy games like BBS and DDD, I've always found myself a bigger fan of the 2002 - 2006 era of the KH franchise.

Pete’s a cat, not a dog.

I don't really have much to say but I wanted to leave a comment at the end of this story. I think this retelling of Kingdom Hearts 2 was really amazing. I really love all changes you made and stuff you added. I especially love how you handled The World That Never Was. On this chapter I really love you showing the aftermath of defeating Ansem and hinting at your next AU story. I also love how you are bringing in Aqua, Ventus Terra and more Final Fantasy characters into what I assume is a prequel to your universe you're creating. The way you use these characters is really interesting and I can't wait to see more. I also hope you are at least going to humanize Xehanort which I think you've already started doing. I loved this story and I can't wait for your next one. Do you have any idea how long the wait will be? :-) 3

The sweet bloody heck!? Wow, you completely warped the BBS story origins here. I'm talking am extreme twist with a snapped neck change.

Well, here we are. We are at the end of the second installment of this glorious epic!

First off, FANTASTIC JOB, Mars! Hats off to you! You did it: Congratulations! Aside from a few spelling errors here and there; and those are trivial in terms of the overall results, this fic has done no wrong. Not only did each chapter take advantage of how the game got its hooks into its players' heads, but it doesn't try too hard or lose focus on the story like the game did. Once again, I must applaud you for cutting down on certain unnecessary elements, such as the revisits to certain worlds, (Atlantica, Agrabah) and getting rid of the Pride Lands. Most commendable of all, you also omitted the "Goofy death scene" from the War of 1000 Heartless, and you also streamlined the Xemnas Fight. This is easily one of the most notable features of the epic, in which it cuts down on the unneeded content.

Going further into details, you saw fit to streamline visits to the various worlds, adding more meaning to the various encounters and bringing back the old objective of locking each world's Keyhole. This gave some much needed connectivity to the first story back to KH2, especially seeing as how the events of CoM were erased from his memories. You made sure that the Twilight Town prologue was relevant- and less confusing, thanks to the absence of the whole "stealing a word" contrivance. You also introduced the idea of Sora venturing alone into certain worlds, namely the Land of Dragons and Port Royal. The absence of Donald and Goofy was very noticeable, and the story did not fail to capitalize on it. We see Sora come to his own conclusions and make his own choices without their help, and there is character growth that comes of it. Thankfully, there isn't too much of it, as Sora's personality qualities mainly stem from the Musketeer-style camaraderie. It's something to look forward to in future installments of the epic.

Onto the antagonists: The Organization has gotten itself more involved in a way that makes them more imposing, and by that I mean they appear more frequently, they're not as hesitant to use terms that refer to the deaths of innocents en masse, and the significance of their apparent humanity is not squandered upon like it is in the game. Each member of the Organization gave us an inside look to what their thoughts are: Saix is constantly fighting the urge to let loose and go berserk, Luxord treats his non-existance as a game to compensate for itself, setting up rules and limitations and preventing himself from being overpowered as a result. Xemnas is convinced that he's already right about his state of non-existance, adopting a fatalistic stance that nothingness is the fate of everything and that nothing can be done to stop it. The effect they have on Sora is significant, especially when Kairi gets abducted.

But Kairi doesn't stay helpless for long! No, her Keyblade is promoted from being the bad kind of Deus ex Machina to the good kind, and she wastes no time trying to get used to her new weapon, and she even participates in the final boss fight in a fashion that would make the late Monty Oum proud. She's not the "sit and wait" character that many have criticized her for being over the years in this story, and all I can think is that Sora's one lucky sonovagun, because she's as devoted to protecting him as he is for her. I have to wonder if there's not a sacrifice on Kairi's part waiting for her in your KH3 like how Sora did in Hollow Bastion?

Overall, everything tied together for a fantastic final battle, and we are left with more questions than answers! What was the Cauldron War? What triggered the tragedy of Hollow Bastion? I already can't wait to find out! But for now, we can all rest easy knowing that this strong epic is past the point of a good start; it has gone into full tilt, and it shows no signs of stopping. Thank you, Marsuvees! Pat yourself on the back, because...

YOU DID IT!

Without Wax,

~R

Brilliant set up. Looking forward to it more and more. I'm going to love this story. I noticed you changed the title though. Brilliant fic.

This isn't Canon but darnnit my brain wants to find ways how it could fit into it. Really enjoyed this one, as I've said before Iove how you mixed FF with KH in this series and giving more FF characters a bigger place is great.

Oooh, and on my birthday too!

Prequel! Very nice.

And I can't help but wonder. Who will be the fifth Keyblade wielder in your version?

Until next time,
Hugh D. Martin

Well done.

Beyond awesome here:-). Though I am really curious as to how the shifts here will echo into the next work and if you'll do bigger ones as a result.

And here we are at the end.

It's been a wonderful journey. But now, like Sora, we too are home.

Until your next story,
Hugh D. Martin

Annnnnnnnnnd, goodbye Xemnas! Blast it all, the way you keep dropping hints about what happened in your ethos is killing me! I digress, however, the battle with Xemnas and the subsequent aftermath proceeded smoothly. Everyone's back on the islands, all is well again! Now, Sora can focus on his budding romantic feelings for Kairi, but first, King Mickey's letter has to come, obviously.

In any case, it's obvious that we're not quite done yet with this part of the Epic! I'll try to review the entire epic as a whole at the end of the last chapter to make up for the shortness of this one.

Thank you thus far for this epic!

~R

Not sure how you managed to relay the Xemnas fight so coherently. I still have no clue what he was doing for much of that button masher lol Great job though, even if this wasn't canon when you first wrote it if you squint right you can see hints to Master Xehanort in Xemnas's final soliloquy.
Did a great job of showing that final scene on the beach too, I didn't realize how much I wanted Roxas and Namine to say more until now. The beach comment fit perfectly. Great job, kind of sad to see it ending.

Beautiful. Just... beautiful. Fantastic. I assume there is an epilogue?

How appropriate that the quote for the chapter centered on Xemnas is from the Scottish Play (Act5; Scene 5)

I see you treated Ansem the Wise with the same solemn dignity that I did in my own story.

I liked that everyone got separate scenes in Xemnas' World of Darkness.

Ahh, bringing in the armor right away instead of having that chase scene. (I actually rather like that sequence).

And now for the final battle!

Until your next (and possibly final) chapter,
Hugh D. Martin