Desperate Reflections
May. 18th, 2009 01:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dracoqueen22To keep in sync with my habit of alternating, today I bring you a fanfiction. Yet another one of my completed works. I think I'll cycle through those before I get to the unfinished stuff.
Desperate Reflections was my first -- and only -- full-length Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II fanfiction. With bits of Chains of Memories thrown in to spruce it up a bit. I drew from all the sources I could muster, relying both on my canon and my own ideas to create an after-the-game fic. Originally, it started out as a request from one of my readers, who as of now I can't even be certain ever read the fic because I never heard from him after I started it. Go figure. Anyways, he wanted an after-the-game fic with Axel/Roxas as the main pairing and Axel being the one who's lost his memory rather than Roxas for once. At the time I started it, three years ago, there weren't any Axel-lost-his-memory fics. Kami only knows how many there are now. I'm out of the Kingdom Hearts fandom.
Desperate Reflections is written entirely from Axel's perspective -- though not first person POV -- except for the six scattered interludes which are written from various POVs of the accompanying characters. I borrow heavily from other fandoms. Making them OCs to the KH Universe, but not really so since Square and Disney draw from their own works. So though Vincent, Reno, Kuja, Rude, etc are not in KH explicitly, I use them in the fic. Originally, the fic was supposed to be titled Disparate Reflections, but my beta and co -conspirator at the time reminded me that no one would really get the meaning of the first since she didn't look it up. So I shifted it to Desperate and that's much better.
The pairings represented are: RoxasxAxel, VincentxCid, hinted LeonxCloud, SoraxRiku, WakkaxKairi, RenoxRude, KujaxTidane, TidusxSelphie, KirosxLaguna and others that are more or less hinted or never came into play.
The basis -- and in no ways simple -- behind the story is that certain characters go to another world at the end of their lives. Heartless that weren't killed by a Keyblade master (aka freed) and all Nobodies go to this world, which calls itself a paradise. It's anything but. They always arrive with their memories wiped, except for the select few who have something strong to cling to. Like Axel, who clings to his desire to be with Roxas again, without understanding the romantic implications behind it. Those that do remember are subjected to the Cleaners, memory wiping devices.
The world that he stumbles upon -- Gaia -- is touted as a paradise. They can forget their pasts, move on, become someone else. There is work to be done, but it's not hard labor. Food and clothing and housing are all provided. But in turn, you lose your humanity, your past. Everything. You forget what it is to be human. And in the background, lurks an even more sinister plot. Those who get too close to the truth, disappear.
Axel's goal is to escape from this world in some way, with memories intact, find Roxas again and reunite. He meets Vincent and Reno while on this world, both of whom have the same goal -- to return to their loved ones. In the meantime, Roxas is still a part of Sora though he begins to miss the life he once held as an individual, remarking on the cruelties of a god that would create him, and then state that he shouldn't be allowed to exist.
The plot is slow-paced, more character-driven than action-driven. It revolves around Axel's changing emotions. His feelings for Roxas. His regret for the things he did in the past. A lot of the story is told through flashbacks, either different POVs on a scene recognized from canon or completely original events.
The epilogue to Desperate Reflections hints to there being a sequel. Indeed, I had plans for one. I still have the plot on my computer, and the first chapter written. I lost my inspiration for it, and then, I lost the time needed to write it. I do plan to eventually pick it up again. The sequel was titled Absolute Nexus. The story is much too good to pass up, and I admit that Desperate Reflections is one of my better stories. I plan to turn it into an original fiction someday.
The story can be found on fanfiction.net, adultfanfiction.net, mediaminer.org and of course on my homesite. I also have two AMVs that go with the storyline. They'll be discussed in another post.
Desperate Reflections was my first -- and only -- full-length Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II fanfiction. With bits of Chains of Memories thrown in to spruce it up a bit. I drew from all the sources I could muster, relying both on my canon and my own ideas to create an after-the-game fic. Originally, it started out as a request from one of my readers, who as of now I can't even be certain ever read the fic because I never heard from him after I started it. Go figure. Anyways, he wanted an after-the-game fic with Axel/Roxas as the main pairing and Axel being the one who's lost his memory rather than Roxas for once. At the time I started it, three years ago, there weren't any Axel-lost-his-memory fics. Kami only knows how many there are now. I'm out of the Kingdom Hearts fandom.
Desperate Reflections is written entirely from Axel's perspective -- though not first person POV -- except for the six scattered interludes which are written from various POVs of the accompanying characters. I borrow heavily from other fandoms. Making them OCs to the KH Universe, but not really so since Square and Disney draw from their own works. So though Vincent, Reno, Kuja, Rude, etc are not in KH explicitly, I use them in the fic. Originally, the fic was supposed to be titled Disparate Reflections, but my beta and co -conspirator at the time reminded me that no one would really get the meaning of the first since she didn't look it up. So I shifted it to Desperate and that's much better.
The pairings represented are: RoxasxAxel, VincentxCid, hinted LeonxCloud, SoraxRiku, WakkaxKairi, RenoxRude, KujaxTidane, TidusxSelphie, KirosxLaguna and others that are more or less hinted or never came into play.
The basis -- and in no ways simple -- behind the story is that certain characters go to another world at the end of their lives. Heartless that weren't killed by a Keyblade master (aka freed) and all Nobodies go to this world, which calls itself a paradise. It's anything but. They always arrive with their memories wiped, except for the select few who have something strong to cling to. Like Axel, who clings to his desire to be with Roxas again, without understanding the romantic implications behind it. Those that do remember are subjected to the Cleaners, memory wiping devices.
The world that he stumbles upon -- Gaia -- is touted as a paradise. They can forget their pasts, move on, become someone else. There is work to be done, but it's not hard labor. Food and clothing and housing are all provided. But in turn, you lose your humanity, your past. Everything. You forget what it is to be human. And in the background, lurks an even more sinister plot. Those who get too close to the truth, disappear.
Axel's goal is to escape from this world in some way, with memories intact, find Roxas again and reunite. He meets Vincent and Reno while on this world, both of whom have the same goal -- to return to their loved ones. In the meantime, Roxas is still a part of Sora though he begins to miss the life he once held as an individual, remarking on the cruelties of a god that would create him, and then state that he shouldn't be allowed to exist.
The plot is slow-paced, more character-driven than action-driven. It revolves around Axel's changing emotions. His feelings for Roxas. His regret for the things he did in the past. A lot of the story is told through flashbacks, either different POVs on a scene recognized from canon or completely original events.
The epilogue to Desperate Reflections hints to there being a sequel. Indeed, I had plans for one. I still have the plot on my computer, and the first chapter written. I lost my inspiration for it, and then, I lost the time needed to write it. I do plan to eventually pick it up again. The sequel was titled Absolute Nexus. The story is much too good to pass up, and I admit that Desperate Reflections is one of my better stories. I plan to turn it into an original fiction someday.
The story can be found on fanfiction.net, adultfanfiction.net, mediaminer.org and of course on my homesite. I also have two AMVs that go with the storyline. They'll be discussed in another post.
