Empatheias App

[rekindled_flame]

⌈ PLAYER SECTION ⌉
Player: CS
Contact: Plurk: pocketnoivern | Discord: pocketnoivern#5883
Age: 26
Current Characters:
Ana Amari - Overwatch
Marinette Dupain-Cheng - Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir


⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉
Character: Lea
Age: Unknown; appearance-wise I would argue early- to mid-twenties (25-ish?)
Canon: Kingdom Hearts
Canon Point: End of Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance

Background:

Lea's KHWiki page

Lea's story begins in Radiant Garden, where he is first seen as a cocky, smug teenager, prone to childish antics and half-cocked schemes. When he is first introduced, he and his best friend Isa had committed themselves to a rather foolish endeavour: sneaking into Ansem the Wise's castle. While the precise reasoning of why he wanted to sneak into Ansem the Wise's castle is unknown, Ansem the Wise was the sage-king of Radiant Garden, so it's quite possible that Lea simply wished to do so to sate his curiosity, or for the sheer glory of it. Right before their attempted break-in, they stumble across a curious blonde boy named Ventus. Lea, seeing the boy down in the dumps, ribs at him and taunts him into getting into a sparring match. Though Ventus beats him quite swiftly, Lea doesn't seem to mind; in fact, the entire scenario had been an attempt to both pull Ventus from his apparent slump, as well as to cement himself in Ventus's memory. Lea wanted everyone he met to remember them, and out of a desire to "live forever" in people's memories had developed a habit of following up his introduction with the phrase "Got it memorized?". Though Isa teases him about losing and about his habit of "picking up stray puppies", Lea views this meeting as a positive one. It is never shown how successful they are with their attempt; the last we see of the two as teenagers, they were being thrown out of the castle's gates by two of Ansem the Wise's apprentices.

We don't see Lea again until he is an adult, and when we do, both he and Isa are shown inside Ansem the Wise's computer room. How exactly they got in has yet to be revealed; whether by one of Lea's wild ideas or tricked inside for nefarious purposes is unknown. But while inside the two undergo a gruesome fate: becoming consumed by darkness and losing their hearts in an unclear event involving Lea, Isa, and Ansem the Wise's six apprentices: Xehanort, Braig, Dilan, Aeleus, Even, and Ienzo. Exactly what happens is unclear at best, but during this event their hearts were consumed by darkness and transformed into Heartless. Heartless are beings created when a heart succumbs to darkness and is consumed by it, creating a being of pure darkness devoid of light. Most people would cease to exist when they become a Heartless, but if a person with a strong will is turned into a Heartless, their bodies and souls will continue to exist as its own entity called a Nobody. This was what happened to Lea and Isa, becoming the Nobodies Axel and Saix.

While I feel like including Axel's story would provide some clarity into some of Lea's development, especially involving his time with Organization XIII (a special group of Nobodies who seek to gain hearts of their own by any means necessary) and his friendship with Roxas and Xion (special Nobodies with connections to Sora, the series protagonist), I also feel that it would make this section far too long if I included it all. Instead, I will provide a link to Axel's KHWiki page for ease of those reading this app.

In the end, Lea's story ends the same way as the other members of Organization XIII: his Heartless, whatever it had manifested as, was destroyed somehow (the exact time and method being unclear), and his Nobody, Axel, ends up sacrificing himself in order to help Sora advance on his quest to stop Xemnas, the leader of Organization XIII, from summoning Kingdom Hearts, which is the heart of all worlds and the source of ultimate power and wisdom. This should have been the end of Lea's story.

Except, it wasn't.

When a Heartless and a Nobody are both destroyed, the lost heart seeks out the body it had left behind, and when they rejoin the individual becomes a person once more, reawakening in the spot where they had been separated. This is how Lea is reborn. He reawakens in Ansem the Wise's computer room, disoriented, confused, and vaguely recalling a dream of himself (as Axel) eating ice cream atop the Twilight Town clock tower while Roxas reminds him of his promise "that you'd always be there... to bring us back." He reawakens with Ansem the Wise's other apprentices - Dilan, Aeleus, Even, and Ienzo - and marvels at how he and the others are human once again. He also makes note of the lack of triangles under his eyes, which were a trademark of his Nobody. But he and the others are quick to notice that two of their number were missing: Braig and Isa. After conferring with Aeleus and Ienzo about whether or not Braig and Isa could have been "blasted off to some other world" rather than reawaken with the others, Lea decides to leave Radiant Garden in the hopes of bringing them back.

While on his travels, Lea uses the Corridors of Darkness (the pathways between worlds that most Heartless and evil-aligned people traverse with) and arrives at Disney Castle. In doing so, he manages to thwart the attempted hostage situation that Maleficent and Pete had attempted, allowing Queen Minnie to escape and for King Mickey, Donald Duck, and Goofy to fend off Pete and Maleficent. Once the danger has passed, Lea reveals himself to Mickey and the others, and when Mickey thanks him for his help and calls him Axel, he corrects him by saying "My name is Lea. Got it memorized?"

While at Disney Castle, Lea discovers a new lurking threat; Sora and his friend Riku, who were both undergoing their Mark of Mastery exams to see whether or not they could gain the power needed to become full-fledged Keyblade Masters, were in terrible danger, especially Sora. Master Xehanort, an old Keyblade Master who believed that light and darkness should exist in balance but that the "tyranny" of light had caused a drastic imbalance by destroying too much darkness, had set in motion events that have been years in the making and are soon to culminate into his inevitable return, as well as the pursuit of his ultimate goal: to have light and darkness clash in a foretold Keyblade War so that he could obtain the power of Kingdom Hearts and recreate the Worlds in own vision. In order to do this, Xehanort was planning to gather thirteen 'vessels' to fill with darkness and infuse with a fragment of his own heart, and had infiltrated Sora and Riku's Mark of Mastery Exam with the intent of using Sora as his final vessel. Wanting to stop Xehanort from completing this goal, Lea travels with Mickey, Donald, and Goofy to see Master Yen Sid, a powerful sorcerer, the one who had both granted Mickey his status as Keyblade Master, and the one who was currently overseeing Sora and Riku's Mark of Mastery exam. Lea approached the old sorcerer and asked to be given the skills and training to wield a Keyblade himself, much to the surprise of all those present. Though warned that it would not be easy to accomplish, Lea remained steadfast, agreeing to 'jump right in' despite the difficulty. Thus, he is then sent to Merlin, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, a wizard and three fairies who have helped train Sora in the ways of the Keyblade in the past. Together, they combine their magic to help create a space of compressed time to allow Lea to complete his training in time.

When his training is complete Lea sets out to assist the others in stopping Master Xehanort, and he arrives in The World That Never Was to put a stop to Master Xehanort's plans. As it turns out Master Xehanort had brought Sora there to join his other vessels, most of whom had their hoods up to conceal their identity, but some had their faces visible; most notably, Xigbar (the Nobody of the previously-missing Braig), Xehanort's younger self (brought there through time travel), Ansem, Seeker of Darkness and Xemnas (Master Xehanort's Heartless and Nobody, respectively). They only had a brief period of time during which they could transform Sora into a vessel, and thus Lea and the others had to act swiftly. Lea arrives in the nick of time, stopping Sora from becoming Master Xehanort's final vessel. This comes to a shock to all present, as they hadn't anticipated Lea's return at all. After taunting Xehanort about how he "had your perfect little script, but you kind of forgot to write the sequel", he, Riku, Mickey, Donald and Goofy briefly clash with the other vessels and buy enough time to halt the gathering and save Sora. However, during this clash, Lea realizes that his old friend Isa (or, at least his Nobody, Saïx) was also one of Xehanort's vessels, and was unable to strike him down after this realization.

With Xehanort's plans thwarted, the group returns to Master Yen Sid's tower and manage to reawaken Sora, who had been pulled into a deep slumber by Xehanort's meddling. After a brief celebration, Lea comments about how he had planned to "come swooping in, Keyblade in hand", but couldn't get his Keyblade to materialize. But after trying once more he finally manages to summon it forward, shocking everyone in the room (including Master Yen Sid himself).

Afterwards, Lea commits himself to continue his training so that he could properly wield a Keyblade and assist Sora, both in stopping Master Xehanort's scheme as well as bringing back his old friends.

Personality: The first thing that can be garnered from Lea's personality is his cocky, confident, and carefree attitude. He is always quick to come up with a witty or sarcastic remark, and seems to always take things with an air of casualness despite the situation. However, despite how casual and jesting he may be, he possesses a cunning tact and fierce determination, especially once he sets his mind on a task. This is prevalent throughout his life, such as his determination to 'live forever' in people's memories as a teenager, and even to his persistent quest to restore Roxas to his own being again and see his best friend once more. His cocky attitude also manifests in a competitive streak, which is prevalent both in his youth and as an adult. Despite losing badly to Ventus Lea was still acting as if he had the upper hand, bragging how he was "willing to call it a draw" despite being the one on the ground and out of breath. He is not above taunting people into action, and even went so far as to taunt Master Xehanort, asking "What, bad timing?" when he made his sudden appearance to save Sora.

When Lea had become consumed by darkness and transformed into the Nobody known as Axel, his personality became quite different. Since he lacked a heart, and thus lacked the hindrance of emotions, Axel had become cold, calculating, and unpredictable in his endeavors. He possessed the memories of his old emotions that he felt as Lea and did sometimes exhibit them, such as taunting Sora's faltering memories during his time in Castle Oblivion and asking Sora to "give me one hell of a show", but because of his inability to actually feel emotions the act comes across as sarcastic, or in the case of when he had been sent to eliminate Vexen and interrupted his pleas of mercy by saying "goodbye", mercilessly ruthless. Though amicable enough with the other Nobodies Axel was described as the hardest person to understand since no one knew where his loyalties truly lay, and his cocky, sarcastic jesting hid the fact that more often than not he had thought farther ahead than most anyone else. He always kept his cards close to his chest, and what might seem like a sudden, reckless risk was more than likely a carefully and quickly-calculated move that was planned a step or three before and acted upon quickly. This made Axel the perfect candidate to seek out and eliminate the traitors in Castle Oblivion who had been plotting to overthrow Organization XIII. These traits have been passed down to Lea, though much less pronounced since he had regained his lost self. Still, Lea is shown to possess the unpredictable nature of his Nobody, such as still using the Corridors of Darkness despite a lack of protection from the darkness and by shocking everyone by demanding to be taught how to use a Keyblade. If anything, his Nobody helped put a sharper edge to emotions he'd already possessed, giving his competitive streak a more calculated intent and his cunning tact a more callous edge.

One of his most defining traits is his strong dedication to those whom he deems his friends, and the lengths he goes to in the name of those friends. Even after just meeting him, Lea could see that Ventus was struggling with something and used the mock spar and teasing to pull the blonde out of his slump and get him laughing again. His Nobody had become close friends with Roxas, and after Roxas had left the Organization he had gone to great lengths to try and return with his friend. This desire to reunite with his missing friend still remained with Lea after becoming whole again, showing just how much he truly cared for the blonde. Even after he loses his memories of Xion and becomes whole, he still remembers his promise and intends to keep it, showing his fierce loyalty to those he considers his friends. This could also be seen as a weakness; he still expressed concern for Isa even after his friend's personality had changed so much since becoming a Nobody, and even after he discovered Saix had become one of Xehanort's vessels he was unable to strike his former best friend down. Ultimately, his main driving force since joining with Sora and the others is "Promises to keep. I'll always be there to get my friends back."

Abilities: Lea's abilities primarily revolve around fire and fire manipulation. He can do almost anything if it involved fire, from summoning pillars of flame to cloaking his weapons in fire, even being able to create rings of fire which he can hide within and strike from. These abilities were obtained by his Nobody and have been retained since becoming human again. His two primary weapons are a pair of chakrams named Eternal Flames. These chakrams can be used as melee weapons or hurled as projectiles, and can even be used as shields against oncoming attacks. He uses these chakrams with great skill and in conjunction with his fire abilities, such as the aforementioned cloaking in flame before striking, making up some devastating attacks. After becoming human, Lea reveals he has obtained the ability to wield a Keyblade like Sora and the others. His skill with a Keyblade is still fairly new, even with the magically condensed training sessions he had received to be able to wield it efficiently. He admits to not being able to get his Keyblade to materialize during Sora's rescue mission, and only manages to actually summon it when they are safely back in Master Yen Sid's tower. He is still training with the weapon, but is getting stronger with each session.

Aside from his magic and his weapons, Lea also possesses a quick wit and a cunning tenacity when it comes to a mission, personal or otherwise. Despite complaining about often getting 'stuck with the icky jobs' or act in ways that others may deem rash or reckless, almost every action he takes has been thought through and decided on carefully, he has the wherewithal to determine when would be the best time and place to strike, even at a moment's notice.

Alignment: Piphron. Lea's greatest strength (and in some cases greatest weakness) is the trust and loyalty that he has for those he deems his friends. As a teenager he had a very strong friendship with Isa despite their polar opposite personalities, and he constantly wanted to meet new people and 'live on in their memories', adopting his catchphrase "Got it memorized?" as a desire to be remembered by all those he meets. During his time as a Nobody, his friendship with Roxas and Xion was what stirred long-forgotten emotions and made him feel like he had a heart, and his friendship with Roxas was such that it eventually prompted him to betray the Organization and go rogue in an attempt to get his friend back. After being reborn as Lea he put his faith back in Sora and his friends, both as a means of getting back at Xemnas and due to Roxas now being reintegrated into Sora's heart, but was unable to strike down Isa during their rescue of Sora due to their past relationship. His trust in his friends has remained a constant and highly influential facet of his personality, from teenager to adult and even despite a lack of heart.

Other:


⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉
General Sample:

Lea on the June TDM

Emotion Sample:

Sample 1:
Lea's Emotion thread on the June TDM

Sample 2:
This should have been the best case scenario for Lea. He was alive and kicking with his own heart firmly lodged in his chest, there was no Organization XIII or other evil entities to worry about (save for that strange kid, Vanitas, but since he was alone here Lea didn't really count him as a huge threat), and above all, he had been reunited with his best friend, Roxas. Roxas, who had apparently been here for years and had even managed to grow an inch or three. Really, Lea should have been on cloud nine, happy as anyone could be.

But he wasn't. It wasn't like his reunion with his best friend wasn't a happy one; they'd hugged, smiled, laughed. But then Roxas had called him Axel, and he opened his big mouth and corrected him. Right away, Lea knew something was wrong, given the way Roxas's expression shifted slightly. He was still happy, sure, but Lea could see a tightness in his face, one that lingered for days after that first meeting. They were still friendly, still goofed off together when given the chance, but there was certainly a shift in the atmosphere between them. More than a few times, Lea caught Roxas frowning when the blonde thought he wasn't looking. He'd wanted to ask what was wrong, but Lea had a feeling he already knew: It was that he was Lea, and not Axel.

He'd tried to convince himself that he was just overthinking things. That Roxas wasn't that shallow. After all, why should it matter whether he called himself? Heck, Riku had kept calling him Axel and he'd just shrugged it off, relenting to the silver-haired boy's instincts. It might have been a bit annoying, but it didn't eat at him the same way that this did. As he pondered more and more, he wondered if, maybe, Roxas didn't think of him as the same as his Nobody had been. Maybe he preferred his Nobody? But, Lea knew, Roxas hadn't had much time to adapt to him being human again, and so probably just needed some time to get used to things, right?

So then why did their relationship seem... different?

As if his own doubts weren't enough of a plague for him to endure, this world saw fit to rub salt in his wounds whenever he got too deep into these thoughts. Over the past couple of weeks since arriving here he'd been forced to deal with the sudden onset weather changes that affected him whenever he thought too deeply about his 'problem' with Roxas's behaviour. One day it had been a gust of wind that had chilled him to the core. Another day, he spent much of the bright sunny afternoon scraping frost that had stubbornly begun to build up on his coat and made his boots stick to the ground. The final straw had been when a perpetual storm cloud had followed him halfway across the city, and when he'd yelled at it in frustration all he ended up doing was causing the gloomy little rain cloud to rumble with tiny bolts of lightning.

Finally, he'd decided enough was enough; if the world itself wouldn't let him brood in peace, then he was going to do something, if only to save his sanity. At least, that's the reasoning he tried to use to convince himself to make the trek over to Roxas's home, the rain cloud drifting casually in his wake. He figured he probably looked like a drowned rat when he pounded a fist on Roxas's front door, and guessed he looked it when the blonde stared at him with a bewildered expression upon opening it. All he could do was glance off to the side and scratch the back of his head.

"Hey... can we talk about something?"

Questions: My biggest concern about Lea is in relation to his connection to Axel, Lea's Nobody. I know that another player had reserved Axel, and while Nobodies and their Humans are technically separate entities (I guess they can sort of be seen in the same vein as the different forms of The Doctor from Doctor Who in a way), I'm not 100% sure if Lea and Axel are distinct enough to be considered separate characters or not. They have their own wiki pages on the KHWiki, and have differing personality traits, but I'm not sure if that is enough to differentiate the two. As such, I'm not 100% sure if this would be considered a Challenge Application or not in regards to the Axel that had reserved, and decided to leave it up to mod discretion. I am fine with whatever the mods decide, and would even be ok with having both of us in the game, but I thought it would be worth mentioning!