Oneshot: Ersatz (Part II)

[minntaka]

Title: Ersatz
Pairing: Lea / Isa
Word Count: 3781
Rating: High T - Mentions of sex, morbidity and suicide.
Disclaimer: Characters are copyright to Square Enix.
Notes: A gift fic to the wonderful synchroshatter for her kind contribution to help_japan. This is a oneshot-turned-twoshot about Isa and Lea, and how they got from A to B.

Comments

[kalypartemis]

This was absolutely beautiful ♥ So much love for this.

[minntaka]

Thank you! ♥ It came out too angsty and morbid for my tastes, but oneshots have never been my strong point XD Many thanks for reading!

[synchroshatter]

Their relationship. Oh god. You just about broke my heart all over again, because as beautiful as it is or could be, it just isn’t enough, and it’s kind of worse because they know that. I kind of want to give them both a shake and tell them to just sort themselves out and communicate, but of course, they wouldn’t really seem like Lea and Isa if they did

[minntaka]

This is the weaker half in my opinion - it's too angsty and not really going anywhere, and I'm not really pleased with it, but I'm happy to hear you enjoyed it! The section with them as toddlers and other events in life was my favourite part to write, mainly because again, I was searching for normality within Isa and Lea, and how messed up they were from the start.

I deliberately made the ending short and abrupt, as a small emphasis on how little they cared for their fate by that point, and also that it was pretty much beyond their control. I dunno, I can never write happy things for these two, can I? o_o I don't think I ever will XD

Can I just say thanks again for reading, reviewing and requesting this fic (a lot of R's, sorry!) - it was a really good exercise for me, and I seem to consider my writing harder if it's meant as a gift for someone else! Thanks so much for reading! ♥

[ketsi_aiita_n]

I know you're not entirely happy with it, but I love it.

[minntaka]

Thanks! ♥ Yeah, I'm not 100% happy with it, but I think I'd just make it worse if I tried to chop and change it XD Thanks for reading!

[akai_gekkou]

Hi! I've been lurking on your journal for some time now but I'm de-lurking to tell you that I really loved this story (even though you're not totally satisfied with it).

It's so amazingly hard to not only find any (seriously, I can't understand why this pairing is so rare) Isa/Lea (or Axel/Saïx) stories but good ones that have some plot besides fluff or smut

[minntaka]

Hello! Thank you so much for your comment - it's a pleasure to meet you! I'm always a bit wary that when I write 8/7, it's too depressing and overly dramatic XD I think I definitely overdid it with this two-shot, but I can't see much good fortune for these two, given that they wind up as Axel and Saïx at the end. I love writing them, though! KH has just so many beautiful tragedies to choose from, but it's Isa and Lea who really do the trick for me.

Haha, I have waay too much head canon for Isa - only because Nomura gave us so little to work with, and we kinda have to fill the gaps in ourselves. I got the idea with Isa being a bit of a techie because Saïx is the one who runs the Organisation / sits at a computer in the novels iirc; and now it's hard to think of him as anything but a bit of a geek with an attitude XD

Anyway, thank you so much for reading and commenting! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thanks also for the friend add - I'm always so happy to meet other 8/7 fans! I'll add you right back :D ♥

[akai_gekkou]

Sorry for the late reply, I was on holiday.

The pleasure is all mine! :D Oh it's depressing alright, but thinking up future happy endings for them gets me through all the sadness.
I agree, too much happy fluffiness in their past would seem somewhat unrealistic considering their Nobodies. They might have hearts, but that doesn't make them suddenly live in the 100 Acre Wood.
That's one of the great things about KH: everyone can choose their favourite tragedy. XD

In a rare case I actually like the amount of canon Nomura has given us for them - probably because I have become way too fond of all that head canon which might be difficult to reconcile with any new official information.

Well, he definitely has the attitude part down. XD You are correct, he does sit at a computer in the novels. (Have you seen this picture?)
Honestly, would the Organisation have managed to do anything without Saïx, well, organising everything? (Alright, I think I've read somewhere that the rough outline for missions came from Xemnas, but bah, details...)

[minntaka]

No worries at all! Hope you had a good break! :)

I'm completely with you re Nomura and his lack of information. Personally, I think there are a lot of writers in this fandom with head canon and theories that have more sense to them than what Nomura actually has intended/planned. But he does strike me as really making up KH as he goes along now, which is kinda annoying, but fun in some way because the guesswork and artistic licence from it makes it quite a playground.

Aaah I know that picture! I'm sad enough to roam pixiv on a regular basis for AkuSai and XemSai XD And yeah, Saix definitely ran the Organisation - all Xemnas did was preach and make grand gestures. Saix is the grease between the cogs, and with people like Demyx, it's no wonder why he's so pissy XD

Haha don't you worry - you can't be any worse than me when it comes to LJ. For starters, html hates me and oftentimes, I forget to update various bits and pieces because my memory is like a sieve :) ♥

[devils_pet]

I finally got around to reading this! And I don't regret it one bit, except for all the tears I shed. XD, but you did tell me that it was angsty, didn't you?

I don't know if there's a whole lot I can say about it, because it seems so different from anything else you've ever written. It seems so raw and passionate. That Lea sees so much, but never does anything about it and that Isa sees so little but thinks so much. Ah, I don't know if I'm making sense, but I loved it. Those boys have a tough time, they do.

[minntaka]

Oh yeah it was angsty :D It's probably my worst one yet! I dunno, it's something about the way I perceive these two - there just doesn't seem to be a true happy ending in sight. I like how you've summed up Isa and Lea there - that was pretty much the effect I was going for - with them seemingly communicating but about the wrong things completely :(

I'm glad you gave this a go and enjoyed it - thanks for reading :) ♥

[devils_pet]

Well, I don't see much of a happy ending for either of them either. Unless you go completely AU crazy or do some sort of reincarnation fic. Which would be interesting all things considered. But yeah, I don't think Nobodies=Happy Endings...Expect for Roxas, apparently.

Oh, I enjoyed it! I'm glad to hear you've gotten over your writers block!