Heart Write-Up

[hunting]

I understand this heart was way non-conventional and may have been frustrating at times so I'm going to try to explain things as best I can so people know what came out of it and what was actually going on. '-'b


--BACKGROUND--
Here is where I'm going to run down what this heart was actually about for anyone who might not have been around enough for when stuff was revealed or for people who are generally confused. I have long planned for Zero to find out Ichiru was a part of his heart. For this reason, I have locked down any memories referencing Ichiru's death because I was going to use a heart game to unlock that knowledge since it ties directly into why Ichiru is part of Zero's heart. I debated going the traditional scored game route, but I kept slamming into problems with getting enough CR or key CR in his heart. So I opted for non-scored. I am still unsure about this decision, but it did afford me a chance to create my own plot around why people were in Zero's heart and who actually brought them. Later, AJ and I decided that we could incorporate Ichiru's drop into this mess as well, and that was a plot element that was added during the week leading up to the heart run. So yes, A LOT went into the reasoning and concept behind this run. And it's totally understandable if some of that was a bit difficult to wrangle during the actual game.

It's also worth mentioning that due to Ace's severe hatred of heart games and people fucking things up and his ultra-protectiveness of Zero, we could not allow Ace to meet any fellow spelunkers. Ace would not only cockblock other players from doing ANYTHING; he was also very likely to kill anyone he deemed possible and do it in such a way that they would not resurrect until the end of the heart. :x It could have been very messy. And since much of Zero's CR isn't really the... fighting type, we decided it was best not to put them in the same area with a killmeister mid-boss. So this was also incorporated into the plot.

Now we'll get into the plot elements.


--PLOT--
In order to understand the plot behind this heart, I'll need to go over a bit of Vampire Knight canon. First, and most importantly, Zero was born a vampire hunter. Vampire hunters inherit their strength and abilities from their parents and because the power also comes from a very distant tie-in to an actual vampire, the bloodline must be pure. For this reason, Hunters cannot be twins because that would divide the power. In all cases of Hunter twins, one of the twins has essentially devoured the other in utero. Zero and Ichiru are the exception. For this, they are considered cursed. As a result, Zero took all the raw power, leaving Ichiru with nothing, a mere shell and considered useless by all other Hunters. All of his life, Ichiru has wanted to have purpose, to feel whole, to be with Zero.

This mentality gradually twists Ichiru to the point where he allies with a vampire to murder his parents (who were going to separate him from Zero, the only thing he cared about) and turn Zero, then 13, into a vampire. Because Ichiru has a special love-hate relationship with Zero. Ichiru leaves with the vampire and Zero is adopted by a fellow Hunter. They get older and LOTS OF STUFF HAPPENS. But it basically culminates in Ichiru getting fatally wounded and then fatally wounding Zero in return. He then forces Zero to drink his blood as he's dying, which would save Zero's life and unite them forever. A devastated Zero has no choice and does so, creating a sort of... psychic imprint of Ichiru within him. Hino has never defined what this existence of Ichiru actually is. All we know that at times, Zero hallucinates him in a very realistic manner and Ichiru talks to him as though he were his own entity. DO NOT TRY TO MAKE SENSE OF THIS. I interpret as psychic imprint. :|b

What does this mean to Zero's heart game? Well, that imprint has always existed in Zero since he was brought to Aather, but because of the whole Darkness/spell stuff, it has been suppressed to the point where Heartchiru (as I will now refer to him) was essentially sleeping. Then, Aather!Ichiru (as I will now refer to the one AJ played) came to Aather. This did not change things immediately, as Heartchiru was still sleeping. Then came Three's soul-bond game. This deep, metaphysical and emotional link to Zero and Ichiru pretty much woke Heartchiru up. And this is a problem because Heartchiru and Zero were still disconnected because of Aather. And Heartchiru HATES not being connected to Zero.

So he reacted a bit. This reaction took two forms. The first was the threads (much like Three's but colorless instead of black) trying to grab hold of Zero's heart in whatever way possible. But Aather's power was still too much for him and kept him trapped. So his attempts turned into blind grasping. This is why Zero's heart had tangled threads throughout. Heartchiru had no idea was he was grabbing at. He just wanted something. He wanted Zero to know he was there. Because without that connection, Ichiru has nothing and is nothing. And again, pretty much all Ichiru has ever wanted is to be with Zero. So he was desperate. This desperation also manifested in a heart aspect, one that wasn't Zero's but belonged to Heartchiru. This was the possessive need to have Zero's heart to himself, nobody else. We'll get into that heart aspect more when we reach the NPC section.

Anyhoo, the grand result of all this was that Zero was losing touch with himself because everything was getting closed off by those thread tangles and he was losing his entire concept and hold on reality. This was Zero's actual "sickness." His inability to connect with reality caused the dizziness, disorientation and frequent sleeping states. By the time, he finally went comatose, his heart was pretty much a mess, with many things being wholly blocked off, as people saw.

Heartchiru realized he was getting nowhere in his efforts to reach Zero and that Zero was actually getting more out of reach because he was wholly losing who he was. And all Heartchiru wanted, more than anything else, was to REACH ZERO. This was the Desire that got Dream's attention and how he was able to open up Zero's heart to bring in others. Heartchiru planned to use SOMEONE among the mass of people that felt close to Zero in some way (give or take some random snaggings) to help him reach Zero.

So he yanked everyone into Zero's heart and gave them their mission: FIND HIS KEY.

At the same time, Zero's Desire was to stop being a burden to Ace, to stop his suffering. Since Ace was the one ultimately trapped and watching Zero essentially fall to pieces and lose himself. Thus, it was a desperate True Heart that Dream was responding to when he opened Zero's heart for Ace. This happened AFTER Heartchiru had already dragged in the rest.

It's also important to note that because of the messed-up connection, True Heart and most of other heart NPCs had no idea of Heartchiru's presence, let alone his existence. Heartchiru was pretty much running things on his own.

Throughout the heart run, Heartchiru's only concern was reaching Zero--he was only vaguely aware of the threads and only when he heard the players mentioning them since like I said Heartchiru was doing things a bit blind. But Heartchiru could listen. He was also able to place hints, Zero's tattoo symbol, over places of SIGNIFICANCE to Zero because those have particularly strong Zero presence: the Ring and the entrance. The cell and Sakura are connected to Ichiru so Heartchiru has the greatest influence there. This is how he could use those areas to toss people where he wanted them: "Aather". Because he could sense his KEY was in the Ring, even if he couldn't reach it himself due to Aather's power. If Heartchiru knew what was going on (outside of knowledge of Zero's bloodlust effect), it was because he heard people talking about it. He could also sense the spelunkers since he brought them.

I got a bit off-topic there but the point is that Heartchiru wasn't particularly concerned with the spelunkers welfare BUT he would help them if they were in danger of dying. Because, hey, dead people cannot play fetch. So if you got your ass thrown on the beach when your bloodlust was especially high, this is why. But like if an NPC got you... welp, you done fucked up. Heartchiru doesn't really hold any power over the NPCs.

So all that's what was going on throughout the heart run and then we reached the climax. Ruka snagged the gun, which was Heartchiru's key, and used it to free Heartchiru. Aather!Ichiru arrived a little late for Reasons and Heartchiru immediately knew that that problem would also have to be resolved before he could reach Zero. Because Aather!Ichiru's presence would perpetuate this... disconnect. And Heartchiru also being Ichiru, he knew what Aather!Ichiru was feeling as far as... aching. Merging with Aather!Ichiru seemed the only way to fix both pains. And it was what Aather!Ichiru wanted too. So that happened, making the now merged Ichiru (as I will call the merged form) finally have full power back over the heart and healing over much of the disconnect. This is what allowed both Ichiru to block Mikage (and drop Obi out of the heart) and Ace to sever the threads trapping True Heart, now that Ichiru could make them disappear.

After that, Ichiru was able to use the OTHER KEY, his blood, to access True Heart, and, in linking his blood with True Heart (as in canon), completely erase the disconnect. This, in turn, allowed True Heart to finally have a true link to Ichiru and know what he had done. It also allowed him to know what Ichiru knows, which is everything. For OOC reasons, I will not be allowing Ichiru to reveal anything to Zero. He needs to earn those memories back.

And then, the bros had feels. 8(

THAT'S PRETTY MUCH THE PLOT. I guess I should get into the NPCs now that this write-up is already ridic long... Then I'll eventually move into areas and EFFECTS. Maybe those will be a second part. Who knows?


--NPCs--
(Listed in order of area)
**Oh, I forgot the mention earlier that all of the human NPCs that are just aspects of Zero's heart wear masks to indicate this and also that suggest their personality. The only NPCs that don't have masks are Heartchiru, True Heart and Ghost!Ichiru.

Knight!Thorn: Found in Aather (Hall of Doors) and part of the manifestation of Zero's Thorn identity. The knight represents the professional side, though he is still genial with the heroes and eager to help. He loves The Cub, the other half of himself, and has FEELINGS about bbZero because Thorn doesn't want to acknowledge or deal with the fact that his Thorn identity and general openness leaves him vulnerable to a lot of very visible pain and suffering. Thorn wants to just focus on being a knight and helping the heroes. That vulnerable aspect is a nuisance and a THREAT. Also, yes, he is wearing black because Zero has a heavy inclination toward Onyx over Sterling... He has the cub's fur on his clothes from petting him and such.
- Mask: Snow Leopard to represent Thorn's snow leopard form that he uses to be able to interact with the teams during the day, when the heat would normally keep him confined indoors.

Cub!Thorn: Found in Aather (The Maze) and the other half of Zero's Thorn identity. He represents the team dere and the part of Zero that wants only to see the teams happy and that will roll over and show his belly to them at the drop of a hat. The cub loev everyone. Also, unlike Knight!Thorn who doesn't differentiate between individual members of a team and only sees colors and the concept of team must protect, the cub totally recognizes everyone and loev his team friends. This is why the cub calls people by their names, while Knight!Thorn uses team titles. The cub is the part of Thorn that really links with people and seeks to know more about them and be their friend. This is also why you find the cub's basket in the middle of the Hall of Doors, whereas Knight!Thorn is just patrolling outside. Both the knight and the cub are extremely protective of teams.

bbZero: Found in Aather (The Maze) and the manifestation of Zero (Thorn)'s vulnerability. He is found holding the cub because that team dere is the reason Zero leaves himself so open to... everything. He believes that walls will push teams away and then he can't help people. So he lays everything on the line to show he trusts them. Obviously, Zero doesn't spill all his secrets around everyone. But the emotional stuff is usually pretty out there for everyone. And because Aather and all of the losses and helplessness therein is really hard on Zero, bbZero is terribly injured and abused. He lacks any protection (emotional walls) to defend himself and can pretty much just continue to take the damage head-on. While he lets people see his pain, the actually DAMAGE is something Zero hides and tries to deal with on his own. :x All bbZero wants to do is hide in a safe place, where he doesn't have to deal with the pain (as represented by Shizuka's attack and when canon!Zero first started shutting people out), but the cub insists that bbZero stay outside because everything's fine of course the teams are happy this way. bbZero also doesn't really register individuals, nor the Thorn identity. Since he is the most disconnected Thorn aspect, the part Thorn doesn't want people to see. bbZero is lost within The Maze because this is where most of Zero's unsure feelings about Aather go.
- Mask: Duality to represent the mixed nature of this NPC, being that aiding him can be either good or bad, depending how you do it.

Ace: Found EVERYWHERE but first in Aather (Sterling) and the manifestation of Zero's recently growing feelings of self-preservation, as driven by Aather!Ace. He is originally chained to Sterling by a Citrine chain because Ghost!Ichiru jumped him. But also to represent that Zero's self-preservation abilities have been severely hindered by his Ichiru feelings. :x Heart!Ace otherwise has free rein of the heart because boyfriend. He is the heart's chief protector, before Ghost!Ichiru usurps him and is largely a selfish NPC. He only cares about the heart and will kill anyone who fucks with it, without much warning. His selfish desire to protect the heart (and Zero) balances Zero's overall selflessness. As I said, he is a newer heart aspect, as this concept to Zero didn't really exist before Ace started to push it on him. Sterling is his main stomping ground because Zero's strongest feelings of Self-Preservation relate to Ace. :x
- Mask: Wolf to represent the protective and dangerous natures of this NPC.

Dandy: Found in Aather (The Ring) and the manifestation of Zero's guilt. He presents as Dandy because of Zero's lingering guilt at keeping Dandy, despite Dandy's vicious attack on Ace in the past. :x But Zero also feels responsible for Dandy so. Anyhoo, Dandy's whole purpose is to stop people from reaching the Ring, the home of the parts of himself for which Zero is most ashamed and guilty of having. He's pretty badass for this reason. Zero's refusal to let people know about these parts of himself is pretty strong.

The Silver Wolf: Found in Aather (The Ring) and the manifestation of Zero's anger and frustration, particularly toward Kaname and Aather/the Personae/the Darkness. He's chained by a Sterling silver collar and a chain made of team gems (all the teams) because Zero views his duty as a knight and his loyalty to the teams as the reason for which he must always hold back his real anger. He's been taught to believe the way he feels about things, particularly the Personae and, to an extent, Kaname is wrong and bad. So he does his best to accommodate so he can be a good knight. This means he has no real outlet for much of his helpless feelings and they only continuously assault him, leaving him broken and bleeding. Because the silver wolf is pure rage, it doesn't really recognize people beyond "something that Helplesses is also hurting and I can't do anything!!!"

The Black Wolf: Found in Aather (The Ring) and the manifestation of Zero's helplessness and how much it destroys him, while his loyalty for the teams prevents him from really striking out at it. As said, the black wolf looks like the Darkness and sounds like Kaname. He does nothing but attack the silver wolf, further worsening his frustration at being unable to do anything. He also wants to spread helplessness to anyone with a goal, which is why he attacked people going after the Bloody Rose. NO WINNING FOR YOU!!

Lily: Found in Academy (Stable) and the manifestation of Zero's efforts at control, both of his bloodlust and of himself in general. She pretty much wants the apples that act to nourish her strength. She is wearing the blood red key that unlocks the cabinet containing Zero's lust/bloodlust. In Zero's memories, sleeping in Lily's stall helps abate his hunger some and calms him.

Yuuki: Found in Academy (Main Hall) and the manifestation of Zero's devotion. She carries Heart!Ace's sword because they share protection over True Heart, as Zero's heart is most devoted to two people. But because Yuuki is confined to the past, as far as Zero sees their relationship, she cannot roam the heart as freely as Heart!Ace. So while he guards the rest with his guns and such. She guards True Heart with his sword. Because Yuuki represents devotion, she is especially fond of Zero's close CR and friends and trusts them implicitly. But Yuuki can also be dangerous because she is protecting True Heart. She has power over the Academy and can change things that people mess up.
- Mask: Red to represent love and devotion.

Vampire!Zero: Found in Academy (Black Room) and the manifestation of Zero's struggle between vampirism and the need for power to protect people. This is a very manic NPC that shifts through the forms of all the people Zero has drank and gained power from. It is most dangerous in the Kaname/Shizuka/Sara vampire mode and will attack indiscriminately. But in its other forms Zero/Ace/Yuuki/Souya/Chariot, it is only concerned about power and not aware of what the vampire side does. It is surrounded by dead Personae and Kaname artifacts because that's what Zero wants the power to defeat, to destroy, these things that he sees as threats to what he holds dear. But as that power is tied to vampirisim, it is very dangerous. Yuuki recognizes this, though she still sees Vampire!Zero as Zero.
- Mask: Bat to represent VAMPIRE.

Ghost!Ichiru AKA Obi's Biffle: Found EVERYWHERE but first in Academy and the manifestation of Heartchiru's possessive need to keep Zero to himself. He is extremely dangerous and acts as a failsafe for the heart, preventing anyone from making major mistakes, usually by badly injuring them. He doesn't care about anything but the heart. He's also intangible and therefore impossible to fight but he can sure stab you! As mentioned before, once Heartchiru is released, he no longer needs Ghost!Ichiru so this NPC is nonexistent as of the end of this heart run.

Drift: Found in Sakura (Main Level) and the manifestation of Zero's regret. He presents as Drift because Drift represents some of Zero's greatest regrets. Drift killing part of Ace's heart and himself being unable to protect Drift from the Darkness. He does not want to leave his garden, where he is nurturing Zero's worst feelings because this is where he believes he belongs. He also doesn't want to deal with people because Zero likes to deal with his regret by himself. 8(
- Mask: Blue to represent sorrow/despair.

Primrose: Found in Sakura (Sublevel) and the manifestation of Zero's hope, both for him and Ichiru and in general. She presents as Primrose because she is light and she was the way Zero was able to help heal the Book after Ace attacked it. She was locked in a cage at the time of the heart because Zero's hope had been severely damaged by his condition and his realization that Ichiru killed him.

Heartchiru: Psychic imprint of Ichiru.

True Heart: True Heart. o/


--HEART AREAS--

This is where I'm going to go over each of the four major areas in Zero's heart and explain what everything MEANS. At the bottom of each sub-section, I'll include what people changed and what the effect will be. At the end of the whole thing, I'll put an overall effect summary.

I. START
This is basically where everyone begins and kicks off the heart's overall bloodlust effect or as Heartchiru referred to it "your time limit." The idea behind the bloodlust concept was to give the characters a sense of what Zero experiences every day at any given moment but to a quicker degree and how he has to basically deal with that and just keep going. In general, bloodlust was effect by both time (about 2-3 hours of straight play) and certain actions. As we get into items/actions that could increase/decrease bloodlust, I'll point them out. As a note, you could lower bloodlust by drinking blood, but depending how you did this, it could have a more permanent effect on Zero. :x We'll get into that later too. OBI. Most of the lower level bloodlust didn't do much, but once characters passed the midway mark, things started getting more more dangerous. A 6 would leave you dizzy, a 7 severely unwell, by 8 you wouldn't be able to think straight, 9 would have you violently crazy and 10 would kill you. Nobody got past 8 thankfully. |D But I had failsafes in mind for if people starting broaching the 9 mark. Also, because this could be increased/decreased, it wasn't an actual time limit and more a constant force on characters. It was meant to be unnerving and disorienting.

i. The Wall
This is where everyone started and Heartchiru gave them their mission of finding his key.

When everyone first arrives, they notice the wall encircling them is mostly intact with sharp, protective thorns, except for one space that appears to have been eroding for some time and also has a giant hacked opening through it. There are also tiny newer green thorn growths here and there. The Wall represents canon!Zero's emotional walls, his way of totally shutting everyone out and acting as though nothing can touch him. Being brought to Aather and stripped of his memories caused the main gap in the Wall and the actions of others characters caused systematic erosion, as Zero learned to open up more and be generally more honest about his emotions. So in other words, the flaws in the Wall are GOOD and the baby thorns trying to grow are BAD. These represent things that have encouraged Zero to try to recreate his defenses and shutdown, mainly a slew of bad Aather experiences and being hurt/hurting others. Why is this important?

MIKAGE WANTED TO DRIFT NURTURE THE WALL! This would have been a HUGE problem, as the broken wall is the reason people could even access the rest of Zero's heart! Had the wall been regrown, THE HEART WOULD'VE EJECTED EVERYONE. And it would've resulted in some major emotional shutdown for Zero on the outside. :x So yeah, Heart!Ace showed up to prevent this from happening and was dangerously close to killing Mikage for it. Let's not even get into how having REGRET nurture a wall of NO FEELINGS would've been... extremely bad. Yep.

That said, the thorns here would still respond to heroes and try to protect them because all thorns in Zero's heart are about protection. This is a universal theme. No thorn will harm you in Zero's heart.
EFFECTS: Ventus petted the thorns, probably slightly increasing Zero's protectiveness toward him.

ii. The River
Yes, it's made of blood because blood is another huge theme of Zero's heart and if you want to reach any aspect of him, you also have to deal with the fact that he drinks blood. Because Zero himself has to face this part of himself everyday in order to not totally lose it and just give up. Drinking from it would reduce bloodlust by 2 points, and passing through it raised bloodlust by 1 point. Refusing to cross it would both piss off Heartchiru and represent a character's rejection of what Zero is and therefore himself. :( Anyway, crossing it allows people to reach the three main paths leading into the essential parts of Zero's personality.

iii. The Symbol
Zero's symbol is on the ground because Heartchiru is leaving his hints so the characters know what to look for the rest of the heart run. It's also for Heartchiru to ensure people know where they are and to take precaution.


II. AATHER
Aather generally represents all of Zero's Thorn feelings and his commitment to being a knight and everything it means to him. Aather has both really nice places and really dark, unpleasant places because both of these aspects make up Thorn. Bloody Rose (the key item) is here because this is where the strongest aspects of Zero's heart currently lie. It is also the home of the most NPCs for this same reason. Aather is everything to Zero right now so it is the largest and most expansive section of the heart. The overall feeling is a place of acceptance and purpose and good feelings and Thorn. No place in Zero's heart is truly "safe" because Zero, being a vampire, will never be truly "safe," but Aather generally has the safer areas and places characters could relax/recuperate.

A. The Hall of Doors
This is pretty much all of Zero's team feelings. Knight!Thorn patrols here for the reasons mentioned in the NPC section. While he is not aware of what's going on with Heartchiru or other parts of the heart, he's very tuned into Aather and will help heroes in a variety of ways, from giving information to accompanying them to providing blood tablets if their bloodlust is causing them visible distress. The Hall is originally blocked by the threads covering Zero's heart, representing his inability to reach out to the teams because of his condition. The door is also covered in protective thorns because knight.

i. Inside the Hall
Opening the door, people will find the Cub's bed, which is full of fluffy team feelings, especially about Dragonfly because Dragonfly really brings out the true knight in Thorn. The pillow has Zero's memory of comforting Dragonfly after most of Citrine was taken by the Darkness. This is important to Zero because it was a time he really felt like he was able to be a good knight.
EFFECTS: Many people rifled through the Cub's bed, which gives Zero more good feelings about being a knight. o/ Anyone who chatted with Knight!Thorn also boosted your CR.

ii. Team Cabins
This is also where you access most of Zero's team CR through each of the team cabins. I'm only going to list the ones where people did things for now, but if you want to know about CR in any of the cabins, I'll provide a link at the end of this write-up. o/ People visited Sapphire, Kunzite, Coral, Carnelian and Citrine. The extra items related to overall feelings toward the team, if Zero has a particularly strong connection to the team (or several members) as a unit. Extra items usually referenced games Zero has played with the teams or an important aspect of them to Zero.
-- Sapphire included CR for Selenia (real puppy), Apple (medicine), Yuki (white pawn), Mau (coil of rope) and Excel (alligator plushie). It also included the extra item of the Sapphire incest. Zero likes how Sapphire raises its own incests for supply because it makes them independent. Petting the incest would result in RESPONSIBLE FEELINGS and lower bloodlust by 1.
- Kunzite included CR for Ruka (black pawn), Lambdadelta (candy), Kaworu (feather) and Sharon (tea cup).
- Coral included CR for Dragonfly (nail polish), Kit (deck of cards), Shark (cell phone), Cub (plushie) and Mouse (real mouse). It also included the extra item of the smiley face tattoos from Coyote's game. Coyote's game was Zero's first real experience with Coral and centered his perception of them as sometimes annoying fluffies. Using one of these tattoos would result in a tattoo and lower bloodlust by 1.
- Carnelian included CR for Alena (clawed glove), Shuri (knight miniature), Shiny (oppressive light), Ling (chicken leg) and Obi (apple). It also included an extra item of pillows! The pillows represent Zero's respect for Shuri and Alena's wish to proactively do things for others, such as provide a safe landing spot for new arrivals. Fluffing the pillows resulted in GO-GETTER FEELINGS and reduced bloodlust by 1.
- Citrine included CR for Ichiru (empty picture frame), Percy (pirate hat), Riku (Three cookie), Toph (string) and Rubedo (peanut butter sandwich). It also included an extra item of a broken pirate ship. The ship references the Peter Pan game that really brought Citrine and Zero closer. As his relationship with Citrine is a bit strained due to what happened with Drift and now his issues with Ichiru and concerns over Fire, the ship is damaged. Fixing the ship would make one talk like a pirate and reduce bloodlust by 1.
EFFECTS: Selenia petted the Sapphire incest, which strengthens Sapphire respect in general. Ruka fixed the Citrine ship, which slightly mends Zero's anxieties over Citrine. Ruka also put the ship back on the table, which strengthens Zero's bonds with Citrine.

Oh yes, I almost forgot! Selenia tried to place the purple plushie from The Maze in here. THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN BAD because it introduces those dere feelings into the concept of Citrine!Ichiru. As I planned to merge the Ichirus, I could not risk having Zero have WORSE FEELINGS when Ichiru disappeared so Knight!Thorn intervened. Knight!Thorn does not like things being brought into the cabins. :x

B. The Beach
This is basically how Zero relaxes in Aather when things get too much for him. It's his center. It's represented by Three's beach because this is where Jaina used to take him to chill. Now, they just use the Tea Cup. The prints here are larger than the cub's because this is a more weary Thorn but still feeling dere toward Jaina. Obviously, Jaina's are the other footprints. This is a good place. Touching the water heals all injuries and reduces bloodlust by 2.
EFFECTS: Judai brought Primrose/Hope here. Since this is a place of contentment and relaxation, this will slightly enhance Zero's feelings of hope. Ace touching Primrose here will slightly improve feelings of hope toward a future with him.

C. The Rose Garden
All of Zero's feelings toward Onyx are here. His CR toward Maleficent is represented by the rose bush, which is at first covered in threads. It also has his CR for Chariot (Enzio), Sasuke (kunai) and David (David's sword). Generally, there is uncertainty but consideration and longing here, as Zero wonders whether Onyx holds his answers to being a useful knight in Aather.

D. The Forest
This is where all Zero's Personae dere goes. There isn't much, but it's here. This is Brother Deer's forest, not really Beauty's, which is why his voice is here. The Forest is another good place, where Zero feels pretty much at ease, though sometimes fondly exasperated. This section is important to Zero because of how close it lies to The Maze and The Ring, which we'll get into. The CR here focuses on Brother Deer/Ivan (treacle dish and marble), Mother Goose (egg), Coyote (paw print) and Duckling (feather). Touching the marble gives you an animal trait and reduces bloodlust by 2. This is because the marble is related to Zero's quests for blood tablets from Brother Deer. He considers it a good, though sometimes annoying, thing. I meant to have the dish say Ivan's name but forgot. /o\
EFFECTS: Mikage ate some treacle, which I guess... strengthens deerdere? Mikage also brought Drift/Regret here so it's likely Zero will talk more to Ivan when he's having those feelings. :x And since Drift's mission is watching Mother Goose's egg, it's likely Zero may try to respond to his regret feelings by trying to nurture/teach others something.

E. The Maze
So this place is supposed to be ICly disorienting as fuck. That's why you get slammed with FEELINGS. That's right. It's the return of the FEELINGS MAZE. It represents all of Zero's conflicted feelings about Aather, especially in regards to the Personae. None of the Personae he outright wants to kill are referenced here, but all the rest are, especially the ones he has personal issues with as far as Goldie, Peter Pan and Cheshire. I'm not going to go over all the Personae. You can ask if you're particularly interested in that CR. It's right between The Forest and The Ring because it represents the twisted feelings that lie between Zero's GOOD Aather/Thorn feelings and his VERY BAD ones. It also contains Zero's feelings toward Kaname having been in Aather and his originally good feelings toward having a chance with Ichiru here. the Cub and bbZero are also here because of how the mess of Zero's feelings is the reason why bbZero is in such bad shape. :( Oh, I should also mention that petting/touching the Cub reduces bloodlust by 2 points because Zero uses his team feelings to combat bloodlust. And of course, there's threads throughout here to get through.
- The plushie has Zero's memory of Three's game with Ichiru.
- Kaname's page has Zero's memory of Ace's attempt to rip out Kaname's page from Beauty's book. It's important to note that touching this page also reveals Zero DIDN'T WANT TO PROTECT KANAME. Touching the page increases bloodlust 1 point by the sheer rage that the memory evokes. We'll get into connections between bloodlust and rage when we get to the Ring.
EFFECTS: Neji took the Peter Pan's fool's gold from here, but since Neji never placed it anywhere, it returned once the heart run was over. Neji also took Kaname's page... and that will come up later. :x Selenia took the plushie, which will also come up later. |D Ruka took bbZero and the Cub from The Maze. Also, Ruka super boosted his dere by spending time with the Cub. <3

F. Sterling
Obviously, this is Zero's feelings about being a Sterling knight, rather than just a knight. Zero fully identifies himself as a knight, but he doesn't really identify himself as Sterling. Sterling to him is a place he goes, a place he can have some privacy with Ace and sometimes a place where he can find a few friends. But Sterling is not particularly special to Zero. That's why much of Sterling has a displaced atmosphere, indicating that Zero doesn't really feel like he... belongs. But Sterling is also split into two parts: Sterling itself and Zero's feelings toward Ace because Sterling is how they found each other. So Sterling isn't entirely negative to Zero. It has its good and bad points, joint like Aather itself.

i. Main Door
You had to go through the threads to access Sterling because Zero felt cut off from knighting of any kind due to his condition. Heart!Ace was also here, out front of Sterling, also trapped from reaching Zero.
EFFECTS: Ace released Heart!Ace using Lily's blood red key. As mentioned before, this key represents control so it held power over most things in Zero's heart, even over Ghost!Ichiru. Releasing Heart!Ace wouldn't have had an immediate effect on Zero until what came later... But it did allow Heart!Ace to protect the heart fully now and threaten both Mikage and later kill Selenia for messing with things. Heart!Ace and Ghost!Ichiru are/were the most dangerous NPCs of this heart.

ii. Hall
All of Zero's knight CR is here. The bright shiny swords re his strong, positive CR. The duller swords are his less positive, weaker CR. Swords that had wings represented knights that good-ended. I'm just going to link the CR threads real quick since they pretty much explain what all this CR is. The blank spot on the shiny side was Zero's feelings about being with the other Sterling knights, which is mainly UNSURE. Ace's sword represents how much better being Sterling seems while with Ace. It is fake because Yuuki is holding the real one. Also, because Zero knows Ace's knight persona is fake. He's accepted this. The blank spot on the dull side represents Zero's feelings toward Kaname being a knight, which is basically RAGE RAGE HATE and is why the sword has been ripped away. The actual sword can be found later...

Sterling's hall also has Beauty's coffin, which is foggy because Zero is unsure how he feels about being her knight. Yes, the coffin represents knight feelings toward Beauty. Beauty's book represents Zero's feelings toward Beauty herself, which is why it carries Zero's memory of kind of learning respect for Beauty after the ship ride to Wonderland. It's torn because of Kaname's page and because Zero is still torn on his feelings toward her.
EFFECTS: ACE CLEANED THE COFFIN. :) This slightly improves Zero's feelings of serving Beauty. :) THANK YOU SO MUCH, ACE. :) Neji also placed Kaname's page in Beauty's book, which heals it some, meaning improving Zero's CR with Beauty slightly and gives Zero more confidence that Beauty knows what she's doing as far as protecting Kaname.

iii. Zero/Ace's Room
Pretty much moooostly good feelings here since Zero loev Ace. And this rooms is very much about that and how happy and relaxed Ace and being around Ace makes Zero. Not everything was touched, but I'll go over everything. This room introduced another important concept in Zero's heart. That if things were elevated in some way, they were especially important or at the top of Zero's mind. The bed elevates Zero's love for Ace (Ventus' heart drawing for them), Zero's jealousy toward Spitfire :x (the Iolite glass shard)and the relaxation Ace brings Zero (their usual snacks). The drawer elevates Zero's love of hunting with Ace (the harpy sammich) and the drawer with Ace's key in it. ONLY ACE COULD OBTAIN THIS KEY. In order to access it, one had to know the password, which is Zero's full name. Nobody currently in Aather knows that but Ace. This key was left for Ace by True Heart.

There are also A LOT OF MEMORIES HERE. I'm going to cheat and link Ace's run for the memories. Two of the memories were represented by the paintings. The Ferris wheel is Zero's consideration of world-hopping with Ace. :x It's a Ferris wheel because it references the time Zero spoke to Heart!Zero about the future in Ace's heart. The Vivaldi painting is Zero's determination to never let Vivaldi have Ace back. :E And his murderous feelings toward her and pretty much most people in Ace's world (save Alice and Julius). Hence, knife. You cannot remove the knife because Zero REFUSES to let this feeling go. If you tried, Ghost!Ichiru or Heart!Ace would show up and hurt/kill you, depending. The rest of the memories surround the trunk where Zero keeps all the feelings he doesn't really want to deal with. Importantly, Ace's mask and the memory of Zero realizing who/what Ace really is is on the top because Zero fully accepts Ace's murderous past, which Zero mainly blames on Ace's world and how he was raised. But he doesn't hide it from himself. Whereas, his feelings about Ace's feelings toward Brother Deer, feelings toward Ace's viewing his friendship with Drift as a betrayal, feelings toward Ace's animosity about his Ichirudere and feelings toward whether he killed Ace during the Darkness event are all things he kind of does hide from himself... He doesn't really want to face them on a regular basis and they very much cause him to shut down when they're brought up.

The red cabinet is also here. As mentioned in the NPC section, the cabinet contains Zero's lust and bloodlust. These two feelings are heavily intertwined for Zero, which cause some... problems in his relationship with Ace. The floor around it is littered with blood vials (bloodlust) and mistletoe berries (lust) because Zero has no control over either. Placing berries in the cabinet would increase lust, while placing vials would increase bloodlust. Removing the many vials in the cabinet would decrease bloodlust, while removing the single close-jarred berry would decrease lust. However, only the blood red key would let you into the cabinet. Touching a berry would give feelings of lust and touching vial would make you want to drink it. Drinking the blood reduces bloodlust to 0 but IT'S BAD. Oh, and touching the berry jar in the cabinet has a SEXY MEMORY. But as nobody touched it, YOU DON'T GET IT HAH.
EFFECTS: Obi drank a blood vial... This will slightly increase Zero's bloodlust toward him. So. Yep. :x

G. The Ring
THIS IS THE BAD PLACE. It is also the place you need to go for plot since Bloody Rose is here but yep BAD BAD BAD. This is all Zero's angry and unhappy feelings toward Aather, especially the Personae and his inability to wreak vengeance on Kaname while he's safe in the book. Zero HATES the Ring. It is not at all associated with good things for him. Even nice games he considers patronizing, especially when they are used to balance the bad. He hates games! He hates new arrivals being dumped here! He hates everything the Ring represents, particularly the spell and the script of Aather. SO MUCH FUCKING HATE AND BAD FEELINGS.

i. Leading up the Ring
Dandy/Guilt tries to stop you from reaching this place, as referenced in the NPC section. The Ring is preceded by the bodies of people killed during the games. And it drives home the fact that they were killed by PERSONAE, not actions of any of the teams. Because this is how Zero views those games. THEY ARE THE PERSONAE'S FAULT! Basically, a character saw teammates murdered and usually by a Personae that is particularly close to them. Because Zero CAN'T STAND when teams support/trust a dangerous Personae. ESPECIALLY FIREBIRD. Which is why a lot of people saw burned bodies. :x And yes, ripped out hearts referenced Dream. I think Ruka and Selenia both got Jabberwock kills. Ace's watch is also here with Zero's memory of finding Ace dead after Jabberwock's game. This whole section represents Zero's utter fear of what the Personae can do to people and how much they TAKE.
EFFECTS: Ruka brought the Cub here and the Cub fought Dandy. This basically means Zero might try to combat guilty feelings by spending more time with the teams. '-'b Mikage properly tended the bodies, which will slightly alleviate Zero's fear of the Ring. Mikage also cleaned the blood off Ace's watch, which will slightly help Zero deal with the fear of Ace dying in games.

ii. The Wolves
Just entering the Ring spikes hunger 3 points because anger is super mingled with bloodlust for Zero and the more pissed off he is, the more his vampirism tends to consume him. So yeah, you REALLY FEEL IT when you enter the Ring. The wolves are surrounded by ghostly apparitions of the Personae looming over them, as much of Zero's rage and helplessness is directed toward the Personae. You can't touch these apparitions because Zero largely considers the Personae untouchable for fear of what may be done to the teams. The thread wall was here with Bloody Rose tangled up within. Since the Bloody Rose largely symbolizes Zero's feelings of agency, that it was so tangled up in the threads was a super bad thing, indicating how totally helpless Zero felt in his condition and how he couldn't do anything. I've already talked about the warring wolves.
EFFECTS: MANY. I'll just break these into sections for each symbol.

Selenia BROKE THE SILVER WOLF'S CHAIN. This pretty much means Zero will feel slightly freer to express his anger toward the Personae and other things. This could be good, could be bad. It depends! But it's a change Zero DID NOT WANT, which is why Heart!Ace killed Selenia when he tried to break it completely. Mikage took the good route in dealing with the Silver Wolf. He healed the Silver Wolf, which helps Zero deal with his anger in a slightly healthier way, mainly he won't bottle it up as much but he won't let it totally overtake him either. Slightly. As I've reiterated, all changes are just tweaks to Zero's personality, nothing MAJOR.

Ace also shot the Black Wolf. This is BAD because it's an external force solving Zero's problems and thereby weakening his sense of agency toward a sense of helplessness and furthering his frustration. The Black Wolf can be neutralized without aggression by being incapacitated in some way. Ace also wanted to KEEP SHOOTING THE WOLF. As this would've been bad, the wolf started using its Darkness powers to have the bullets pass through it. But yes, Zero will react to helplessness with slightly more frustration and a feeling that he can't do much. :x Heart!Ace prevented anyone from making things worse so he had to be a dick to everyone who would harm either wolf. Also, the consequences of Ace's decision impact Knight!Thorn in the heart, making him unable to enter The Maze once he leaves Ruka to stop Selenia from messing with Citrine.

Ruka got the Bloody Rose to free Heartchiru. o/ Kit gave bbZero to Heart!Ace, after Ruka brought bbZero here. This basically means Zero has a little more inclination to protect himself when he's hurt, even a bit selfishly. Again, could be bad, could be good. We'll see. But bringing bbZero here also means Zero will feel slightly more vulnerable around the Personae. :x


III. CROSS ACADEMY
This area is where Zero deals with his past, his conflict with it, the parts that cling to him and what he can't escape. None of it is really good, but parts of are definitely worst. But this area is also an essential part of Zero, despite everything he does to erase it through Thorn, which is why it's the way to reach True Heart. It also has a direct link to Zero's darkest regrets because so much of the misery that plagues Zero stems from his past. Much of this area is in bad shape and falling part because of how Zero has struggled to abandon his past. The people here are also shadows because, aside from Yuuki, they hold no real grasp on Zero's life. This area definitely has an overall feel of a place one has sought to forget. It's also where the less positive changes to Zero's personality could occur. You pretty much have to cut through threads to reach any door but the cell for all the reasons previously mentioned.

A. Stable
This is one of the few good areas of the Academy. As mentioned before, White Lily represents Zero's push for control. The apples are actually Zero's confidence in believing he can actually secure or maintain control. They start out of Lily's reach because Zero is really unsure about his ability to control himself, especially in regards to his bloodlust. Both Ace and Jaina are represented here through their jackets and footprints since both are critical figures in Zero's work toward control. Ace's jacket is of course on Lily because his reassurance is closer than Jaina. Again, Lily has the blood red key. Feeding Lily the apples also reduced bloodlust 2 points for all of the above reasons.
EFFECTS: Ace gave Lily apples, which boosts Zero's confidence in controlling himself a bit.

B. The Main Hall
Yuuki is here, guarding True Heart. I'll talk about True Heart's door a bit here. Like I said, Zero's True Heart lies beyond both the past and Aather. The door has Zero's symbol emblazoned in Thorns to represent the mingling of the Zero and Thorn aspects. It also has two means of opening it. The first is the key from Zero/Ace's room. The second is Ichiru's blood, which is given through Ichiru gripping the blades in the handle. Almost nobody else's blood would have worked and Yuuki would have just spazzed at you for trying. This is because the blood references Zero draining Ichiru in canon to solidify their union and it's the only reason people can reach True Heart since Zero usually keeps that part of himself from people who aren't Yuuki or Ace. I said "almost" nobody else's blood would have worked because a real Yuuki would probably also be able to offer her blood. :x As it is her blood Zero desires. In addition, Yuuki, like Knight!Thorn, would offer blood tablets if people were visibly in distress.
EFFECTS: Anyone who talked to Yuuki increased Zero's devotion toward them, except for Tyki and Ace. :x It's impossible to decrease Zero's devotion toward you so those two will just result in no change.

C. The Sun Dorm
i. Main Section
This is Zero's hold on his "human" life with Yuuki. Things are dim for the reasons I mentioned earlier in this section. The shadows here are all largely part of the better parts of Zero's life, such as his family figures, more positive considerations of the vampiric Night Class and friends. This is a fairly neutral section with no major opportunities for people to fuck themselves up. Various CR is also represented here, such as Zero's foster father, Cross, (the broken camera because Zero feels betrayed by Cross) and Zero's master, Yagari, (cigarette). We'll get into the cigarette in a moment. More of Zero's habit of elevating certain things is seen here in the candy and the pictures on the desk vs. those on the floor. The candy symbolizes the good times Zero spent with Yuuki. Here is Kit's thread for how the pictures/memories worked and which were originally elevated and which weren't. Basically, mostly negative memories were originally on the desk. Here are the ones Kit didn't touch.
- Memory of Cross revealing that he knew of Kaname's plans to Zero.
- Memory of Kaitou telling Zero he's going to be his insurance and telling Zero he's emotionally unstable.
- Memory of Aidou telling Zero he'll never be hateful like him.
EFFECTS: Obi tossed the cigarette at a wall, which slightly decreases Zero's opinion of Yagari. Obi also TRIED TO CRUSH THE CIGARETTE, which is why Ghost!Ichiru showed up to abuse/stop him. Obviously, crushing the cigarette would have severely damaged Zero's CR with Yagari. :x Kit pretty much moved all the positive memories atop the desk, which will allow Zero to think more about them, in addition to the bad ones.

ii. Closet
The closet is naturally where Zero keeps the part of himself that he doesn't want to deal with. Mostly, it's just a torn Night Class uniform that holds his conflict over his current relationship with Yuuki. In Aather, Zero has worked toward repairing that conflict, which is why there is a needle and some thread around. Repairing the uniform reduced bloodlust 2 points. Because Zero's conflict is tied into his love for Yuuki, there is also a picture with Zero's memory of trying to kiss Yuuki. Nobody found this. :( The closet also has a box on a top-shelf (elevated). The box is held tight with red threads. The threads represents Zero's promises to Yuuki and Ace to live. If you open the box, you found the tiny gun Zero gave Yuuki to shoot him with if he went crazy and some bullets. This box is actually Zero's suicidal urges because of how much he fears himself. If you touched either the gun or the bullets, you would've felt compelled to shoot yourself. :x
EFFECTS: KIT OPENED THE BOX. |D This would slightly increase Zero's suicidal tendencies, which Yuuki tried to mitigate by tightening the threads. :( But Ace also added threads from his own coat. Since one of the original threads is Ace's, his action is probably the only thing that can cancel out Kit's action, though not entirely. So while Zero may have a tad more suicide in him, Ace also has more power to cancel it out. Kit also repaired the uniform, which partially soothes Zero's conflict over Yuuki feelings. Obi also tried to mess with the box, but he had already pissed off Ghost!Ichiru so yep.

D. Moon Dorm
i. Main Area
This area is the flip-side, Zero's darker feelings toward his past, particularly the vampires and the Night Class. This is why all the shadows are glaring and cruel. Kaname's presence is also particularly strong here because that's where much of Zero's negative feelings toward vampires are centered. You have spider webs here to represent the evil vampire Sara, who Zero thinks he might be working for. The dust pile on the ground holds Zero's uncertainty toward killing vampires via his Hunter position, his struggle between wanting to protect people and not wanting to be a murderer. You will also find the chainsaw here for further illustration of Zero's issues with his Hunter occupation and Zero's memory of interrogating Aidou.

ii. Chess Table
But the main feature here is the chess table, which is basically the game Zero is playing and losing with Kaname. It's covered in blood because VAMPIRES. All the white pieces are overturned (save the white pawn), while all the black pieces gather around their king. This largely shows how alone Zero feels in his struggle against Kaname. Which is made worse by how the black queen (Yuuki) is always around the black king (Kaname). This symbolizes Zero's frustration at how he must accept that Kaname will always be part of Yuuki's life, no matter what Kaname has done to him. Touching the black king will show Zero's memory of being forced to drink Kaname's blood. This is a very visceral memory since characters will physically experience it, though there will be no actual injury. It exemplifies Zero's fury and horror are what was done to him and illustrates the severely fucked-up relationship between Zero and Kaname, as the entire time Kaname says he's doing it for Yuuki. This will also spike your bloodlust 3 points and tempt you to drink the blood goblet on the table, which holds a lot of KANAME HATE. Doing so will really make you hate yourself and would be EXTREMELY bad for Zero as far as the power Kaname holds over him. Obviously, upsetting anything on this chess table would change how Zero deals with the Kaname situation. The possibilities are endless!
EFFECTS: Ace petted the white pawn, which gives Zero a bit more encouragement toward his struggle with Kaname.

E. The Black Room
This room concentrates on Zero's issues with power and its relation to vampirism. IT IS A SUPER BAD PLACE and probably the most dangerous of all areas. I've mentioned the NPC that lurks here. While people could talk to that NPC, you couldn't really have much influence on him because he is RAW power and you would only grow ever closer to his dangerous vampiric side. This room is covered in evidence of Personae slaughter, as this is something Zero wishes for the power to do so. Almost all of the Personae who are referenced here are the super dangerous/super negative CR. Kaname's broken sword (yes, the sword that should be in Sterling) is here and also under Zero's boot because Zero also wants the power to destroy Kaname. The sword holds Zero's memory of Kaname telling him how he's using him. Yuuki's bloody Day Class is also here to show one of the worst examples of Zero's vampiric side, the side that attacked and nearly drained Yuuki. This is the most devastating reminder to Zero of the price of his power. The uniform carries that memory.

This NPC is constantly training because he wants to sharpen his skills. You will also find an empty bottle of blood tablets to emphasize the DANGER ZONE of this situation, where Zero is borderline on bloodlust. This room is linked to the Moon Dorm since Zero's original lust for power came from his desire to destroy the vampire that killed his parents and also caused his bitter hatred toward vampires. Note, this hatred is not as vicious as it seems, as Zero can never be a wicked person due to his nature. But he nurses it for the sake of his job. It's also important to note that while Zero recognizes this side of him is dangerous, he also sees it as necessary to protect people. He does not REGRET any of this. And he does want these Personae DEAD.
EFFECTS: Neji temporarily paralyzed the NPC while it was in Shizuka form. This did two things. It further weakened Knight!Thorn and it will temporarily hinder Zero's vampire!mode power for a bit. He will recover gradually though. But yes, this was kind of bad. |D

F. Cell
I think this area was super obvious. Yes, it's Zero's fear of death. His death, since his most recent memory is Ichiru shooting him with his own vampire-killing gun. This area pretty much just has Zero's dead body and the door that links to Heartchiru's area. The link is because of how important this incident is to the creation/existence of Heartchiru, as I explained in the plot section of this write-up. The door is covered in the threads that represent Zero's disconnect and the Darkness that suppresses Heartchiru. Touching Zero's body gives you the memory of Ichiru shooting him and you experience it as with the Kaname biting memory. This spikes bloodlust 2 points.
EFFECTS: Ace moved Zero's body and straightened it. The straightening it will help Zero deal with this fear a bit. Mikage also switched his shirt with Zero's, which idk might make Zero more inclined to discuss this fear with Mikage? \0_o/


IV. SAKURA
This area is pretty much all of Zero's regret, disappointment and self-hatred. It's every failure he's every felt and it's everything he wishes he could change. This is also Shizuka's area since she started the cycle by murdering Zero's parents and making him a vampire. Shizuka's hold on Zero's heart controls the outside and prevents any positive changes, which is why Mikage's snowman crumbled. :( Shizuka is heavily associated with sakura and was near one when young Ichiru and Zero first saw her. She's the flowers-blooming-out-of-season princess. This place is also quite dangerous because of the negative feelings surrounding it.

A. Outside
This is just a cut-scene since it's all about avoiding the Shizuka-tree, which wants to trap you forever in feelings of misery and despair. The point of this was to show Zero's fight to avoid Shizuka's hold on him and what she's done to him. The snow here is mainly because it was a snowy night when Shizuka committed her murders. Note, Shizuka's title again. Also, snow is heavily tied into young Zero and Ichiru's past and in many of their memories.

B. Main Level
i. Garden
Drift is here, as mentioned in the NPC section. The set of roses that he's originally watering hold all of Zero's complicated feelings toward Ichiru. The rest of the rose pots cover all of Zero's CR (team and knight) that have been lost to the book or the Darkness. Touching the flowers shares Zero's despair at not being able to save anyone. As I've said before, Drift is nurturing these feelings because Zero doesn't know how else to deal with these feelings since he feels there's nothing he can really do to bring those people back and can only hate himself for not being able to stop it. Oh yeah, there is no water here for the OOC reason of I REALLY DON'T WANT PEOPLE TO MAKE THESE FEELINGS WORSE. Sob. If you want information on lost CR, I'll provide a place at the end.
EFFECTS: Mikage huggled the Drift. This will help Zero deal with his regret feelings overall, further helped by Mikage taking Drift to The Forest. Mikage took Drift from here.

ii. Bench
Lots of examples of Zero's personal failures. The revolve around the Jabberwock Cry Wolf game (the iron maiden miniature), the broken griffin with Zero's memory of damaging Lark's heart, a picture of Yuuki with Zero's memory of screaming at her for trusting Kaname, Alice in Wonderland with Zero's memory of Drift saying he wants to die and a recently repaired plastic shark with Zero's memory of the aftermath of Shark's first heart game. As said, all of these are Zero's personal failures and things that make him rage against himself for allowing. The Yuuki one is particularly important because a huge motivation behind Zero's adoption of the Thorn persona is to escape the person he used to be, especially toward Yuuki. Thorn wants to be a better person. :(
EFFECTS: Mikage and Ventus both made efforts to repair the griffin statue, which will help Zero deal with this memory and regret slightly.

C. Sublevel
Yep, dead parents. :( This is almost entirely Zero's issues with his parents' death and Ichiru's involvement. This is a very dangerou place for that reason. Touching the dead parents or the sakura gave Zero's memory of their death and being turned. It's another one of those visceral memories that spikes your bloodlust 2 points. Touching Ichiru's sword by their bodies gives Zero's memory of Ichiru revealing the truth behind their parents murder.

You will also find a faded picture of Ichiru here. This is the picture that should be in Citrine, but it's here because of Zero's refusal to really forgive Ichiru for what he did, even though he still loves him and always will. The picture is covered in red words like "stop" and "stupid" since it's Zero snapping at himself for still obsessing over Ichiru when he knows what he did and when, in Aather, it was becoming very clear Ichiru was changing into a person that didn't care about him. Touching the picture gives Zero's memory of comforting a sick Ichiru and shows the relationship the twins used to have before everything went so very wrong. Touching the picture also alerts Primrose/Hope, who announces her presence and guides characters to find her in the back, where she is caged and hiding.
EFFECTS: Jaina tried to feed Zero's dad blood but for my own sanity, I'm not going to do anything with that. |D Judai also released Primrose.

D. Heartchiru's Area
Heartchiru is inside the sakura because of how Zero associated him with Shizuka but also because of how Ichiru associates himself with Shizuka. Like I said, Zero doesn't have a lot of control over Heartchiru or his area. Everything here was done by Heartchiru, including the message to Zero, calling him an idiot. This is basically Heartchiru trying to communicate with the rest of the heart and half-encouraging Zero at the same time. Heartchiru is in a coffin because he is dead. I've already discussed the Darkness that was keeping Heartchiru locked in his coffin, which Ruka destroyed with Bloody Rose. Because this is Heartchiru's area and not Zero's, it reduces bloodlust by 2 points. Mostly, this was a place for people to talk plot with Heartchiru and where the Ichirus merged. It's also where people got trapped if they died. Originally, people would go to the Start, but Mikage's attempt to leave Drift corrupted the area and made Heart!Ace insanely protective of it. :x So Heart!Ace wouldn't risk others wandering around there and you just wound up with Heartchiru.
EFFECTS: Citrine!Ichiru merged with Heartchiru to make a whole Ichiru. Selenia gave the purple plushie to Ichiru, which will probably strengthen Ichiru's link to Zero and his ability to communicate with him. Sorry, Ace...


V. TRUE HEART
Like I said before, True Heart borders both the past and Aather. You reach it through the Academy but it appears as the edge of Aather. It symbolizes the future beyond Aather. That's what the shimmering in the distance is. It's also really bright and difficult to see because Zero sees the future as something almost impossible to see. Almost. Looking beyond the shimmering, things are still blurred because Zero is unsure what his future will be. You also can't pass through the shimmering wall because you are blocked by feelings of free, representing Zero's anxieties over having a future.

True Heart was originally trapped against another sakura tree by what was going on with Heartchiru, but Ace (and people freeing Heartchiru) set him free. As of the end of the heart, True Heart and Ichiru are kind of chilling in this area together, having FEELINGS.

Welp, that's everything. Now I'll just stop my babbling and wrap things up with an effects summary and area for CR questions/questions in general. o/ I hope everyone still had fun, even if things were a bit confusing at times. Thank you for helping me start this new arc with Zero and participating in the plot overall!


-- EFFECTS SUMMARY --
+ Increased protectiveness toward Ventus
+ More good feelings about being a knight!
+ CR boost for everyone who chatted with Knight!Thorn
+ Increased respect of Sapphire
+ Reduced anxiety over Citrine
+ Increased strength of overall bond with Citrine
+ Enhanced feelings of hope
+ Enhanced feelings of hope toward future with Ace
+ Increased dere for Brother Deer
+ Desire to talk to Brother Deer about regrets
+ Inclination to react to regret by nurturing/teaching others
+ Increased dere for Ruka
+ Improved feelings toward being Beauty's knight
+ Improved CR toward Beauty
+ Increased trust in regards to Beauty dealing with Kaname
- Increased bloodlust toward Obi
+ Inclination to combat guilty feelings by spending time with teams
+ Increased ability to deal with people dying in games
+ Increased ability to deal with fear of Ace dying in games
-/+ Increased tendency to express anger toward Personae
+ Increased ability to deal healthily with anger
- Decreased sense of agency toward Personae/helpless feelings
+/- Increased desire to protect self when hurt
- Increased feelings of vulnerabiity toward Personae
+ Increased confidence in controlling self
+ Increased devotion for anyone who talked to Yuuki, except Ace and Tyki
- Decreased opinion of Yagari
+ Increased regard for positive past memories
- Increased suicidal feelings
+ Increased ability for Ace to cut-off these feelings
+ Decreased feelings of conflict toward Yuuki
+ Increased encouragement toward struggle with Kaname
- Temporarily weakened in vamp!mode
+ Increased ability to deal with fear of death
+ Increased inclination to discuss fear of death with Mikage
+ Increased ability to deal with regret
+ Increased ability to deal with memory of damaging Lark's heart
+/- Increased ability to communicate with Ichiru
+/- Citrine!Ichiru merged with Zero's heart



-- CR/GENERAL QUESTIONS --

1. Ask about any team/hero/knight/Personae CR referenced in this heart? This is not a relationship meme, as what I will be sharing is what symbolizes the CR and Zero's feelings.

2. General heart questions?