moarhearts

There were those who thought that the world would end in fire; others said ice. But when the curtain call came its silent armies draped the world in shadow.

Welcome to the Kingdom Hearts themed Open Post, a post all about hearts and the theft of them, timed specifically for a post-Valentines release, because there's no better time to harvest hearts than when they're full of all those delicious feelings! For those of you unfamiliar with the franchise, the essentials are as follows:

Every living thing (people, animals, and even worlds) is composed of a body which acts as the vessel for a heart and a soul. Within one's heart one's memories, feelings, and a precarious balance of light and darkness exist. Should this fragile equilibrium become too skewed in darkness' favor, that person's heart will fall to darkness. This corrupted heart becomes a Heartless . At the same time a Nobody is also created from the separated body and soul if the victim possesses a strong heart and will. Heartless go on to act as a force of darkness intent on consuming more hearts.

A group of exceptionally strong Nobodies known as Organization XIII banded together in order to try create an object known as "Kingdom Hearts," the titular but mysterious object thought to be the source of all hearts. It is a much-coveted source of power that can be created by gathering multitudes of hearts. Another way of accessing it was to unite all the Princesses of Heart to reveal the Door of Darkness, behind which Kingdom Hearts was traditionally hidden. However, defending the "heart of all worlds" are those individuals who wield the keyblade , a key-shaped weapon that possesses the unique ability to combat darkness and free hearts from Heartless. Traveling world to world, it's your duty to protect the Princesses of Heart as well as the hearts of the world and the natives from invading Heartless forces.

It's worth noting that one of the hallmarks of the franchise is the return of familiar faces in new roles. Although basic personalities are never entirely compromised, people you might swear you've known your whole life could be living out entirely different lives on different planets, fighting heartless or building Gummi ships or just being the average person they always wanted to be. In fact, you might find out you yourself have a doppelganger or two walking around.

So! Having survived the end of the world, which side are you on?
( more details under the cut )