kh luxu

Word count: 1500 (3 to 12 minutes) | Rating: T | Note: Kingdom Hearts Spoilers | Characters: Braig, Dilan, Luxu

Kids weren’t supposed to sit on the fence, or so said all the bossy grown-ups at the orphanage. But Braig was 14, not a lame 5-year-old. So he swung his feet from the top of the stone fence, resting back on his hands. They were still scratched up from his last nasty fall, but that’s how he got to be so tough. Not everyone could be born built like a rock like Dilan.

“You’re going to be in trouble,” Dilan said from the ground, back turned to the fence as he kept an eye out. For the adults, probably. He wasn’t going to stop Braig or encourage him, but he’d dreamt of being a guard since they met as kids in the orphanage… So why not get a head start on his guarding skills by being lookout for his dumbass friend?

“Only if you tell,” Braig corrected him, turning to lie on his back. Perfect, fluffy white clouds drifted over Radiant Garden like they did on most days. What a beautiful paradise. He scoffed at his own thought, rolling his eyes. Yeah, right. If you had connections, anywhere was a paradise. But the little guys like wannabe guards and problem orphans? Nah, they had to work twice as hard to get half as much, and the hot shots took a cut on top of that most of the time anyway.

“Or if they look.” He glared over his shoulder and Braig answered that by sticking his tongue out. What a killjoy, with his common sense and logical talk.

“Whatever.” Braig sat up, planning his jump down to put poor, fragile Dilan at ease. That’s when he felt it. Suddenly, he got hit with this loneliness that usually crept up on him between 2am and 5am, but sharper. With an edge. Ambition, maybe? No, it was hungrier than that. Desperate, almost. He wasn’t a deep thinker when it came to hearts, but… He scrunched up his face, trying to track this weird feeling down.

“What is it?” His friend’s expression had softened to neutrality, a sure sign he was worried. Dilan practiced his resting bitch face, and when it dropped, that was when he meant business. Braig turned away from his friend, staring out ahead at the sun-kissed horizon painters dreamed of.

“Remember that book I told ya about?”

Just from the scoff he got, Braig could tell his RBF was back. “The one you weren’t supposed to read at the castle library trip you weren’t supposed to go on?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he rushed out, waving off the moral concerns he’d had enough of already. What he had to say was way better. “I think it’s got to do with hearts connected across a shared sky or whatever.”

“Someone out there?” He was surprised, sure, but he believed him—of course he did. Dilan always took Braig at his word when it really counted, the poor idiot. He looked down the path to town like he could see a heart waltzing up the lane. “From another world?”

“Yeah, that’s the one.” What were the next steps again? The book was wildly unhelpful. Just said to reach out or something, and he couldn’t believe he was really going to try this—but hey, what’d he have to lose? He took a breath and closed his eyes, chasing that thread of biting loneliness…

Coming to in a dark place where the only light was the stained-glass circle window under his feet. Not the safest structure, so it sure was lucky for him it wasn’t even real. Braig walked to the center, looking around for some reason to be here and hoping he didn’t fall off the fence in the real world for nothing. He lifted a foot and tilted his head to realize he saw Dilan’s face in the pattern of the glass. Beautiful bastard.

“I sensed you,” a voice echoed from above. Or below. Next to him? Braig whipped around, eyes peeled to see someone in the dark. But no, not a soul there but him. “In the dark, I found you.”

“Creepy,” Braig said, wondering where in the book it was gonna mention voices from nowhere. Maybe he’d’ve gotten there if that stingy Even guy didn’t yank it out of his hands and squawk at him about trespassing. “Who’re you?”

There was a pause before the reply, maybe some kind of darkness deal. Or maybe the voice was a jerk.

“Luxu,” the guy answered. “It was your heart that led me here. I was in danger, so… Thanks for the save.”

“Yeah.” Braig relaxed, and he could’ve sworn the light shining from the stained glass got warmer. Was this supposed to be his brainscape or something? He rolled his eyes at the idea. How lame.

“Mind if I take shelter here for a while?” Luxu sounded hopeful and familiar, like they’d been friends for ages. He really had to be desperate. “I have a mission to complete, and the danger hasn’t passed.”

“A mission?” Braig sneered, spinning on his heel to turn away from the voice—he thought. Hard to place a formless sound in the dark. “Look, I’m not signing up for anything ‘til I know what’s in the contract.”

The laugh from Luxu was quiet and not exactly… Bright. “Of course. I’d do the same.” The shadows shifted outside of what the platform’s light could reach, or maybe he imagined it did. Scary as hell either way. Braig tried to watch for it again and keep track of the motion. “My master needs help to see his mission through. Thousands of years ago, he trusted me to watch for the right time to finish the prophecy he foresaw.”

“But I was betrayed.” If he was spiteful about that, it didn’t sound like it. Cool as can be, like he was making small talk. Braig figured from there that Luxu ran into that particular snag more times than he could count. To him, all this was just a Tuesday. “And now I’m missing a key piece. After waiting so long, I would hate to disappoint my master.”

This master business was weird as hell. The only one he knew was Master Ansem—Ansem the Wise—and the Keybearers that carried the title around. Like it mattered to anyone without one of those special weapons. “So, you’re an apprentice? Man, your boss didn’t even give you a good title before he started pushing his work off on you?”

Silence carried on for a beat again. Maybe Luxu was slow in the head.

“This is my trial, actually. To prove myself. So. What do you say?”

Braig glanced over the stained glass again, curious to get a closer look and wondering what Luxu would even do in here. “What’s in it for me? This looks like a pretty important place, kinda fragile, and I’m not gunning for let some random guy in for free.”

There was that laugh again—it was light, but chilling all at once. He’d sooner bite his tongue off than say it, though.

“My master would like you. When his plan is complete, I’m sure he would be willing to pass a Keyblade on to you.”

Braig had to let that one sink in. He was quick on the uptake, usually, but this was something he didn’t even think they could do. Greedy Keyblade wielders kept the rules of their special, one-of-a-kind weapons close to their hearts.

“That even possible?”

“For one with a strong enough heart,” he explained patiently. “I found yours even in the abyss of darkness, so I’m confident you could. Having me here could be enough to tip the scales too. It wouldn’t be the first time,” he admitted. And Braig had to say, there was something fishy going on here. Luxu had to know the power of what he was putting on the table, but he wasn’t acting like it was a big deal to take seriously. Not like the somber, duty-driven Keyslingers back home.

But this practically fell in his lap. He had Luxu at a disadvantage too. Not like he could just hop into any heart, they had to reach out. Braig was his only option, and he wasn’t going to risk him. If Luxu tried anything funny, this wasn’t even his heart to call the shots in. One of the books in the castle would have to say something on evicting people from your heart if it came to that. What Braig knew for sure was that he’d never come across another chance like this. He could be nothing and nobody while Dilan lived it up as a guard someday, or he could be a Keybearer.

“Ah, what the hell, why not?” He shrugged, a smug grin on his face. “You think you can get something out of this shitshow to get your fancy title, go for it. Just remember I did you a favor.”

He got one last cold, joyless chuckle from Luxu. Had to give Braig a sinking feeling for the road.

“Thanks, Braig. I will.”

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So I was doing some thinking on Luxu and Sora, and the parallels between them as protagonists of their own stories (though Luxu doesn’t have a game at the moment, of course)… And how much I’d love to analyze that like the nerd I am. And here we are!

Luxu

Sadly, there’s not much on Luxu himself before he returns as Xigbar. But I can glean some information from The Case of Luxu!

And yeah, he’s not exactly a hero, per se, but he’s got a quest and a mentor and bear with me here

The Gazing Eye

The Keyblade he was given didn’t have a name, but Luxu assumed this was its name. It’s something both literal and philosophical— there is literally an eye in it and it gives MoM the ability to see into the future.

And once he’s told it has no name, he repeats “No Name” with a breathless interest, giving the Keyblade a closer look. It’s safe for us to assume, then, that he’s a philosophical person who looks for deeper meaning in things and that he also reveres the Master of Masters like all the Foretellers do.

Whatever he told Luxu, the seventh member would have been interested and sought depth in the message he was given— whether it was there or not.

EWWW

But when he’s told that it’s the Master’s eye, he recoils and says “ew” immediately. From his voice here in particular, we can assume Luxu was young. Perhaps Sora’s age at Kingdom Hearts 1, but likely a little bit older.

Here’s where it gets interesting, though. When MoM asks him accusingly if he thinks that’s gross, Luxu hesitantly answers, “N-no.” He holds his hand out towards MoM in a disarming gesture, looking a little crestfallen.

So even though he just said Ew and clearly thinks it’s gross, he said he didn’t. Why lie? Based on his body language, he either didn’t want to disappoint MoM or didn’t want to hurt his feelings.

Later in life, I would call that a manipulation, but Luxu’s overall sincerity and inability to hold back his emotional responses here (such as recoiling and saying ew), I think it’s truly a little bit of both.

His Role

When he’s told his role, he makes the connections quickly— his role is what allows the Book of Prophecies to exist. Luxu is smart, but for now, he tends to think in linear patterns. As most people do.

MoM tries to congratulate him on a job well done, but Luxu only said, “But I haven’t done anything yet.” This is a far cry from his actions as Xigbar, who sits on ceilings and casually warps space regularly while also helping out with some heart science and time travel.

The first step of his role was the most brutal, which I’ll expand on in this next section.

Luxu’s Disposition

Given how jumpy he can be, he’s likely kept to himself for the most part in his youth, possibly even being distrusting.

At one point, MoM says bingo and points in Luxu’s face and the younger man jumps and draws back to get some distance between them. This tells me Luxu dislikes sudden movements and people being in his space.

That said, all the Foretellers knew who he was even when he was Xigbar and presumably didn’t look like himself. So they knew him well enough to recognize his heart regardless of its vessel, at least.

His isolation during his role that took literally hundreds of years to see to fruition did not do him any favors in this regard. Especially considering he didn’t want to go alone and asked if he really had to, even wondering aloud what the other Foretellers would be doing.

With that and his eagerness to help MoM when pulling out the box, I think it’s a fair claim that Luxu doesn’t necessarily like people, but he’s loyal to those who are close to him. He dismissed his Keyblade the second he realized MoM was struggling with the box, running over to help him even though the job was mostly done.

And his promise to not open the box if he was told what was inside was softly spoken, but sincere, further cementing the notion that he’s devoted to those he already holds close.

But he’s also very curious and loves to push boundaries. If he’s told no, it just makes him want to do whatever it is more. Like not knowing what was in the box paired with not being able to open it made him really want to know what was inside.

And even when MoM told him what was in the box, he wanted to know why. This driven curiosity carried over to his time as Xigbar in the most destructive of ways, where learning secrets was worth nearly any cost.

His Descent

When he was told to just stand by and watch “as things unfold between the others”, the direct instructions from MoM, it was probably actually difficult to do. See them turning on one another, these people that he cared about and trusted, and worse yet— they were bringing the whole world down with them.

It’s no wonder that he grew to value emotional ties so little. It was those ties, their hearts, that led them so wrong. This affirmed that Luxu was right to distrust people, even friends, and that was the start of his descent down a slippery slope.

And now I draw my parallel.

With Sora!

He’s curious, competitive, thoughtful, and loyal. Sora values his friends above all else and there’s nothing he won’t do for them.

To someone like Luxu, who started his journey by watching his friends destroy each other and the lives of those around him, it must be hard to see someone with a good deal in common with his younger self.

Sora also watched one of his friends turn on him, even going so far as to make him feel worthless.

But he was able to act. He wasn’t confined to a role. Sora stepped in and didn’t lose faith in his friends. Whether Luxu thinks he’s a fool who only put off the inevitable betrayal or resents him for being able to save the people he cared about (or a third option I can’t see yet), Sora is a reminder of how Luxu used to be.

Worse, how he could have been.

Then you get into meta narrative bits, like Kairi and Riku either expressly telling Sora or implying that he should never change.

As Sora battles with his insecurities, especially in KH3, it’s possible for him to go down a similar path as Luxu and lose his hope and optimism. For someone like Sora, that would make him change completely.

I can’t say that Kairi and Riku knew that was a risk or if Nomura is teasing that option with Sora. But I personally find it interesting that Luxu can be paralleled with Sora, at least with how they began their journeys, and I hope it is highlighted in some future game or DLC.

But most of all, I hope you had fun reading this!

Quillful

Writer, cosplayer, content creator