A
Azrael
Guest
xD
It seemed to me as though the guilt was there from the start, she was just torn between feeling guilty and feeling lonely.
The more Sora fought for her, however, the less the loneliness mattered.
Also, saying that without Axel she'd have done nothing is unfair; we have no way of knowing that, especially if she was as cunning as you first made her out to be (something which seems to have soothed a lot in this post, I must admit. Did I get to you? Did I, Did I?! xD).
Also, albeit shown in the manga, Sora himself said the following -
Doing everything Marluxia told him to do just because Marluxia held Namine captive would not have been upholding his promise to protect her. In other words - even had Sora reached the top, it seems likely he'd have caught onto Marluxia actually holding Namine captive, either by seeing Marluxia and Larxene's behavior towards her, piecing it all together, or even Namine herself admitting so and asking him to save her.
The game could've gone on very differently and yet still reach the same ending, and then you wouldn't have had Axel to "blame" for Namine taking action - only Namine herself.
I said it before many times so I will now - even with Axel, Namine didn't have to go on. She was looking for a chance, Axel merely pinpointed one out.
Also, no one showed her the chance in KH2 for Roxas, as far as we know; that was all Namine.
The Replica was different, seeing how he didn't have too many Memories of his own to begin with. His Memories of Namine and Sora were effectively everything he had in him, thus there was a dangerous risk in removing them.
Also, the whole issue of the Replika's Heart being fake might've played an issue; we don't know.
Then we have the issue of the circumstances - she attacked Repliku, yes, but why?
To save Sora.
And then she was sad and guilty and tried to make things better.
And it's not like they never spoke to each other at all, and as I said before - Sora held the Namine in his Memories dear. What he saw of the Namine he truly met was close enough for him to decide she was worth protecting, being effectively the same person he could care so much about.
Ah, but that's the whole point about both Namine and Anthy, although Namine seemingly had much more of a head start in the conscious department - them evolving and maturing by interacting with their Princes.
It was horrible, I agree, but when it comes down to it I can't help but want to see how they'd have been had they gotten their second chance.
Namine didn't have to be that good and you keep forgetting it. She did a lot for Sora by piecing his Memories back together, especially seeing how the easy way out would've been to rewrite them again altogether.
Then we remember how much danger what she did put her in both in CoM and KH2, and I have to admire her. I'm not putting guilt aside, but I find it hard to believe that was the sole reason for her doing what she did.
Also, there was always the chance of them yes meeting up again, and I have to wonder how any of that would've affected it all.
Whom he arguably knew was Riku.
He felt Rikunort being Riku in the two times he ran into him before. Seeing how he lost his cool in front of Xehanort's portrait in HB, I find it odd to think he'd have been so cool and collected next to him at all. True, he saved Kairi. And yet the Organization didn't seem to mistreat her all that much either. Keep in mind that Xehanort, above all else, would've had the motive to get Kairi, and you'll see why I find it hard to believe Sora simply thanked the man he had the reasons to hate the most.
Unless, of course - he knew this wasn't Xehanort.
The eyes play a major part for both Sora and Riku here - Riku wanted to lie to himself so he covered his eyes.
Sora's eyes were lying by staying open.
He felt it being Riku the two times he met Riku with the hood on, thus hiding his face. Now he had Xehanort's face clouding his logic, yet his Heart knew better, is how I see it.
You can't just say Sora walked up to Xehanort, slapped him on the back and ran off happily, because that's hardly the case.
And that's where I'll put it off as simply disagreeing with you completely. Sora is far more than just a people savor when it comes to the levels of obsession as portrayed in CoM (rivaled only by the HB scene in KH2 against Xemnas, imo). He saves people, yes, but not with that much passion, not with that much fire in him.
Also, his hormones only kicked in in KH2, meaning he wasn't that much of a sucker for a pretty face in CoM (and seeing how Namine and Kairi have the same face, I have to wonder how come Sora didn't show that much panic over Kairi in like forever, but that's a debate I do not want to get into right now xD).
And no, he hardly makes the promises he made to Namine to anyone. The Promises to Namine were special and only to her. Also, those were Promises he was intent to keep and that he yes remembered at the end, as opposed to the Promises to Kairi he seemed more than willing to let go of when he stayed with Riku at the Dark Ocean.
I personally dislike it greatly when people diss Sora as a people rescuer for one person, and yet defend another relationship to the end over just him saving that someone, as is the case a lot of SoKai in my opinion.
The Organization, for instance - they never knew anything about Sora's life save for him going to save Riku and Kairi in KH1. He saved her? Awesome, let's kidnap her because she's important to him.
Could've kidnapped Leon and he'd have gone gong ho over saving him, albeit in a different manner (for Leon is still a grown man as opposed to a girl Sora's age that never seemed able to fend for herself in Sora's experience).
Namine, however, made herself special to Sora, and he kept legitimizing not only his Memories of Namine, but also the feelings that were attached. He met the real Namine once?
I said it before, I'll say it again, and Sora said so himself -
The Namine from the Memories he held so dear was the Namine in front of him. Not saving her, even despite it all, would be the equal of not saving Riku - and we all know how much Riku hurt Sora, don't we?
Sora gives people second chances; he also tried reaching out to Xemnas.
I don't see him so intent on bringing Xemnas home as he did for Riku though, or promising him they'll be friends for real once he regains his Memories as he did for Namine.
That's what makes Riku and Namine special amongst the people Sora saves, thus making him wanting to save them hold far more meaning.
Suffering Angel, I love ya and your ranting =P:toungesmile: