Oh, you WOULD choose the saddest KH game, (next to 358/2 Days.)

So... When Lea in Isa get thrown out in the credits of BbS, is that... This? :O

Everyone was wonderfully in-character, I really found it funny when Lea mimicked Even, near the beginning, for example XD

I almost forgot about the prompt, until the end.
Why you do this.
Good opening, great story, ending hurt me; perfect Prompt use for Isa/Saix, near the end.

There've been too many sad storieees, what is this...

Good luck on your final Prompt! :D

This. Is. Amazing!

I demand you write more KH fics this very instant, young lady. Yep!

OMG. This was absolutely perfect! I swear while I was reading this I seriously felt like it was canon. It felt like I was playing the game, almost. You just captured the canon, the characters and their dialogue, and the feel and writing style of KH so well. Kudos, Dina. Major kudos.

I'm not going to lie; I don't care that much about Isa. Yes, he's sympathetic and tragic, but IDK. I just care about the other characters way more and Isa's always bored me. I also don't want him to come back, necessarily, because I feel that KH has enough characters to juggle as it is.

BUT I think you just made me fall in love with him and rethink a lot of things. This gave me a lot of Lea/Isa brotp feels and now I'm sadder and more sympathetic for them than ever.

I really love that you wrote this from Isa's PoV. It worked really well and drove home WHY I should like him and consider him more than I do. And I feel like it just made a lot of sense and fit in with the credits scene from BbS so very much. Isa WOULD be the logic man and would be freaked out by the Darkness and stuff.

The part about him not wanting to accept Ven was also amazingly thought out, and I could so see that. Also, points for the Kairi mention. I'm never NOT going to appreciate those;)

But this... this is really sad. In some ways it IS Lea's fault. If he'd never dragged Isa into this, he wouldn't be lost now; I can't even imagine how that must make him feel. Especially since Isa was the one who wanted to be cautious from the get-go, but... destiny had other plans for him, I guess.

And that part about destiny needing Lea to be Dark for a little bit was genius, Dina. So very genius, and also so very true.

And another thing sad about this: you can so see why Isa's unwilling to accept the possibility of Roxas, Axel, and Xion having hearts and being friends because he so much didn't want to accept that kind of idea here. And yet it ended up being true, anyway. His entire life got turned upside down and everything he didn't want to happen did.

Wow. Just wow. I can't even imagine what that would be like; it's so very sad.

Thank you so much for this, Dina! I think it's the best fic I've read in a while. Especially for KH. We all know how awful KH fics can be... but this captured the essence of it beautifully. I might just have go get back into reading more fanfiction now; I've had trouble getting into it for a while, but you reignited the flame within me:)

THANK YOU.

And, yes. Please write for TerQua and some of your other ideas... just write for KH in general. LOL. You're a natural and we need you in this fandom;) You just captured things so well here, and I hope you do well in the contest; you really deserve to... Err, it is a contest, right?

Ah, the irony of Lea's library eagerness and the bit about him only interested in science if he shouldn't be were funny. XP

"Details." Lol, Lea is Hades. XP

The idea of Lea impersonating people is an awesome image, and with Even as the "victim" it serves as a good prelude to Axel mocking him in Chain of Memories. P
(Oh wow; fun fact I misspelled 'impersonating' at first and one of the choices for a fix was 'impregnating.' What a different sentence that would be. _ )

I love when people work an explanation for a minor event into their fics. In Birth By Sleep, Even requires that Dilan and Aeleus stay and guard the castle even when the city's under attack by Unversed. You'd think priorities would be different. But this firework distraction is the perfect explanation. They learned their lesson when they let Lea and Isa sneak in for the first time, and they're not about to make the mistake again. You have explained this minor oddity. You are an awesome story crafter, good madame.

"Now we're talkin'." :P

Lea came here before? Hmm . . . no, I think he would have told Isa. I can't imagine Lea would keep quiet about that. I bet he's just eager enough to navigate the hallways quickly and naïve enough to be confident about it—much like how Riku first used darkness. Well, on the other hand though, Isa certainly knows Lea better than I do . . . if he thinks Lea visiting prior and keeping it secret is a possibility then maybe I should concede on the matter.

I love the way you described Isa's first taste of darkness, especially the [final] sentence about how the well-lit corridors seemed dark. That was great. :)

I'm really sad Isa can't bring himself to go to the library now. :(

Darkness isn't a thing. Worlds aren't a thing. Not existing isn't a thing. Oh Isa, how your perceptions are going to turn upside-down. :( Seriously though, I love this passage you have here. It was written excellently.

"Curiosity that was far too deep and determination that was far too dangerous." Man, that's a nice description too. You really have a way with words.

I like that you mentioned Scrooge. :)

Good scene drop with the prelude to the next castle break-in attempt. :) This scene is always excellent to see because I'm reminded of my feelings first seeing the screenshot before Birth By Sleep came out, and the excitement is undeniable.

Isa is a great friend, not letting Lea go alone even if he doesn't believe it's the right thing to do. :) Reminds me of Gabumon and Matt (and I see from your profile you like Digimon, so I'm sure you know exactly the part I'm talking about ;P).

Oh my wow, the way you had this fate concept come together at the end. Man, your end. That was worded /perfectly/! I mean, man . . . Lea is traversing the darkness, Isa is allowing himself to be engulfed by it; and to think we came to these feels from such an innocent and fun beginning. I really love it. Definitely faving this. :)

BroTP! XD That is an awesome word. Did you make it up? I suppose mine would be Sora and Riku, but Isa and Lea are definitely great too. :)

I'm not familiar with this challenge, but 'Too Far Gone' worked great for both major characters, and even the minor ones (because we all know what happens ;P). Heck, it even worked great for the theme of the fic in general. I say job well done. :)

I wouldn't say it's exactly an angst vibe. Isa's too . . . ignorant of the full consequences, despite being worried of them, for it to be an angst fic. It's more like foreshadowing for angst, and I'm glad you wrote it that way because I don't see nearly as much of that. I think it takes great skill with word choice to write something with that vibe too, but like I said you've got that mastered so awesome work.

Terra-Aqua-Ventus friendship is always an amazing subject as well. :)

The events seemed spot-on accurate to me, and not rushed at all. I was really shocked to read you stating these concerns in your author's notes, in fact. o.o This is hurried and un-researched work for you? Man, I will definitely have to keep an eye out for your next KH fic, if you write one.

Great job!
- Star-Shaped-χ

OH! I see what you did there! Lea's downfall is his own curiosity, but Isa's is his quiet, protective loyalty to his friend. By the time it really is too late to step out Isa's doomed not because he didn't see it coming but because he had something more he wanted to protect. Yes, this fits very much into KH friendshipping trends indeed!

Your ambiguous yet haunting descriptions of the darkness were also quite exquisite. It's not a tangible, explicable sort of fear, It's the kind of thing that gnaws at your heart and you don't know why. The way you got that across with Isa was wonderful.

And yet, despite that, He's still going to stand by and watch over Lea. OH, the friendshippiness! Especially seeing how this turns around years later by the time of 358/2 days ("I've cleared the way for you, just do me a favor and don't trip on the way up!"). Really, you've given a face and depth to a character we're all rather tempted to hate in an effective and undeniable way.

So... yes, you've once again come up with something amazing. Am I surprised? No, not anymore. But does that detract from the worth of the tale at all? Absolutely not! You've consistently produced at an enviable standard. Truly, you'll be the best like no one ever was someday.

Best regards,
-CG

That last line hit me right in the feels. ;_;

BBS and even KH3D never really went into detail about how Lea and Isa ended up becoming members of the Organisation. I could totally see Lea's curiosity though, and Isa simply tagging along with his friend to make sure he didn't get hurt. The two of them had a really complex relationship in the series, which I appreciated, and I'm really glad you decided to tackle it for this theme because it was a perfect fit. Because in the end, Isa was the one who ended up giving himself up to the darkness, and Lea was forced to fight him later on...wow I make myself sad when I read stories like this.

Anyway, this was a wonderful take on the theme - please keep it up!

A great one-shot you've got here!

The transition from 'light-hearted meandering through places that are slightly suspicious' to 'blatantly joining a very shady group of people and maybe turning to Darkness' was extremely well done.

It's also interesting that Lea's concern for Isa is what leads him to follow when he really shouldn't have, and look out for Isa when he should have been wary about himself.

What I really liked is the revelation that perhaps Lea is bound for a greater destiny that requires him to traverse through this Darkness. I think it acknowledges that perhaps Light and Dark aren't the equivalent of Good and Evil, and perhaps both are a necessary part of anybody's journey.

Looking forward to your next one-shot :)

I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN WHEN I SAW THE 8D DINA, also I feel like I'm shouting to much in my reviews for you recently but then again they are deserved. It was semi angst I think I died from my own feels but that being said the last line did kill me.