Lauriam

Lauriam is a Keyblade wielder who appears in Kingdom Hearts Union χ. He is a member of the Dandelions, the older brother of Strelitzia, and the human form of Marluxia.

Before Kingdom Hearts Union χ[Cross]
Lauriam awakes as a Keyblade wielder in Daybreak Town, where he joins one of the Unions under the foretellers. Two years later, and with the Keyblade War looming on the horizon, Lauriam is approached by Ava and asked to join the Dandelions and become a Union leader, explaining the circumstances concerning the end of the world, as well as providing him a rulebook and instructions for what to do after the Keyblade War.

Sometime before they left for the new world, Lauriam and Strelitzia discuss their duties as Keyblade wielders. Although Strelitzia considers him to be a prodigy, Lauriam notes that she is superior in magic compared to him. Lauriam declines Strelitzia's suggestion to team up, but states that he will consider it in the future when she is stronger. Strelitzia confides in Lauriam about her reluctance to join the Dandelions and how she wishes to see Player again, leaving Lauriam to believe that she had feelings for the latter. He encourages her to meet with Player and promises that he will come to save if she is in trouble.

Kingdom Hearts Union χ[Cross]
After the Keyblade War, when the Dandelions had all crossed the world line to escape the destruction of the world, they lost all their memories and had to relive their experiences from the old world until they reach the time of the Keyblade War, at which point they would overwrite the tragedy with new experiences. During this time, a Union χ[Cross] is instituted, allowing the Unions to intermingle for a time.

When the time comes for the new Union leaders to gather, Lauriam is the last to arrive at the Keyblade Graveyard as per Ava's instructions. He apologizes to Ephemer, Skuld, Ventus, and Brain for his tardiness, claiming that he had been looking for something, and introduces himself to the group.

The Union leaders then go to Daybreak Town and enter the Foretellers' Chambers. When Skuld proposes that they choose which Union each of them will lead, Ephemer recommends that they maintain the Union χ in order to prevent the conflicts of the past world, with the other Union leaders agreeing to reconstitute the old system later as stated in the rulebook. Brain suggests that, while the Dandelions are reliving the events of the past, they collect the necessary ingredients to create new Spirits, and sends Ephemer, Skuld, and Ventus to collect the ingredients while he and Lauriam stay behind to make the necessary preparations.

Despite his searching, Lauriam is unable to find his sister, Strelitzia, who was also meant to be among the Dandelions. When inspiration strikes, Lauriam finds Ephemer ruminating about the Shift Pride, which is a friendly competition among the Dandelions. While Ephemer doesn't want to make Keyblade wielders fight one another again, Lauriam is confident that he would find a solution, before attempting to leave to attend to matters of his own. When Ephemer questions Lauriam on this, Lauriam reveals his search and explains that, since the worlds the Dandelions visit in the new world are data backups, every time the Dandelions visit them, their data would be saved as well, thus Lauriam reasons that, if they did make the crossing, this individual would be present in the data. This is later the inspiration for Ephemer to have the Dandelions compete with the data versions of one another in the Shift Pride.

When the data search proves unsuccessful, Lauriam asks that Brain relay that his vote for the Shift Pride would be the same as whatever Ephemer chose, so that he could continue his investigation. Lauriam seeks out Elrena, knowing that she had, on occasion, been in the same party with Strelitzia.

Recalling that her Chirithy was friends with Strelitzia's own Chirithy, Elrena summons it. After her Chirithy reveals that Strelitzia had been looking for someone in order to induct them into the Dandelions, as well as a connection between Strelitzia's last known whereabouts and Skuld, Lauriam parts ways with Elrena in order to confront Skuld. However, having not known Strelitzia, Skuld cannot help Lauriam, and so he assumes that Strelitzia might have chased after the unknown individual she was pursuing and gotten herself caught up in the Keyblade War after all. Brain notes this as being odd, as Strelitzia was pursuing this individual in order to get them to join the Dandelions, despite being hesitant before ultimately joining them herself. This reminds Ephemer of, who was offered a place among the Dandelions, but ultimately declined and battled in the Keyblade War, and so Ephemer agrees to introduce Lauriam to Player.

Though once again, nothing comes out of their conversation. Lauriam asks that Player keep Strelitzia in their heart, before departing in order to reconvene with Elrena. Upon his arrival, Elrena explains that she and her Chirithy had investigated the building where Strelitzia was last seen, where they saw a flicker of Noise that resembled her. Hearing this, Lauriam storms inside, desperately calling out for her to no avail, as Elrena explains that they tried to make the Noise appear by entering and exiting the building multiple times already. Furthermore, Chirithy mentions that Strelitzia's Chirithy had revealed that she was looking for Player in order to save them from the Keyblade War. Though Elrena has no memory of it since crossing the world line, Lauriam surmises that Strelitzia was sure it was going to happen, and questions whether or not Brain knew something more based on what he'd said earlier.

Lauriam returns to the Clock Tower, entering the Control Room alongside Skuld, where Ephemer and Brain explain the situation: a new world that had not existed in their world or time had appeared, and when this world connected to theirs, glitches began appearing. Brain had since managed to stabilize the connection, and Player and Ephemer had gone to this new world to investigate. Ephemer adds that they'd pursued Darklings into this new world, and soon after enemies from their world began appearing in this new world, suggesting that the Darklings were responsible. Along with Ventus, Lauriam also mentions having seen a Noise of Strelitzia as well. With all of the evidence presented, he hears of Brain's conclusion that they must be in the data Daybreak Town, completely cut off from their original world as well as unknowing of its state and with no possible way of returning. Despite suggesting that all this may have been someone else's plan, Lauriam hears his comrade reconfirm his promise to get them out.

Afterwards, Lauriam meets up with Brain and brings up his search for Strelitzia, informing him that he spoke with Elrena. Lauriam tells Brain that Strelitzia seemed certain that the Keyblade War was going to happen and that she was desperate to get Player to join the Dandelions for that reason. Brain asks for time to think and Lauriam agrees, leaving him alone.

Lauriam later discovers Maleficent within the Clock Tower basement. He engages her in battle, but is defeated, and one of the lifeboats is destroyed in the process.

After being knocked unconscious, Lauriam dreams of Strelitzia. He recalls the memory of Strelitzia asking to team up with him, to which Lauriam refused and urged her to get stronger first. In the dream, however, after Strelitzia promises that she will grow strong enough to carry Lauriam one day, she suddenly disappears. A white-robed figure bearing a resemblance to Strelitzia appears before Lauriam and floats into the air before he wakes up.

Lauriam makes his way back to the other Union leaders and overhears them talking about Strelitzia. He demands Brain tell him what he knows and lashes out at Ephemer when he tries to interfere. Ventus arrives and admits that what happened to Strelitzia was his fault. Consumed by anger, Lauriam again demands answers and summons his Keyblade. He nearly strikes Ventus, but is blocked by Ephemer, who summons his Keyblade as well. The conflict is interrupted as Ventus collapses and Darkness emerges from him.

Lauriam asks Darkness why it killed Strelitzia, to which Darkness answers that it was to fulfill Ventus's desire for power and that it could have killed any of the Union leaders, not just Strelitzia. Enraged that his sister died for nothing, Lauriam attacks Darkness, but is easily knocked unconscious.

After waking up, Lauriam accepts that it was Darkness that killed Strelitzia, not Ventus, and joins the fight alongside the others. He expresses confidence that they will defeat Darkness and return to the real world. However, as Darkness is formless, they are unable to defeat it. Ventus wakes up, now possessing a heart of pure light, and says that he will reshape Darkness into a form that can be defeated. Lauriam takes Ventus's hand, telling Ventus he can't lose him too. However, he is unable to stop Ventus from clashing with Darkness and subsequently falling unconscious.

After the battle, Lauriam apologizes to an unconscious Ventus for his actions and wonders if the darkness is truly gone or if it is still inside of him. He is approached by a vision of Strelitzia, who tells him that he needs to let go of his anger and hatred, then disappears. Elrena then arrives at the tower to tell Lauriam that she has new information regarding Strelitzia. Elrena's Chirithy claims to have seen someone that looked like Strelitzia heading toward town alongside someone in a black coat. The news gives Lauriam hope that Strelitzia still exists in some form and that she can be brought back. He then goes with the others to the basement, carrying the unconscious Ventus.

Upon reaching the basement, the group discovers that there are only five working lifeboats remaining. They discuss who should return to the real world first, as the data world is beginning to deteriorate. Skuld urges Lauriam to return to the real world, telling him that he has a better chance of finding answers about his sister there. Lauriam takes one of the lifeboats and returns to the real world alongside Brain, Ventus, and Elrena.

Back in the real world, Brain tells Lauriam and Elrena to take one of the lifeboats alongside Ventus and escape the collapsing Daybreak Town. Brain tells Lauriam to keep his waypoint etched in his heart, to which Lauriam again expresses hope of finding Strelitzia. Lauriam tells Brain he hopes he gets to see him again before getting in the lifeboat. As the lifeboats are launched, a strong tremor shakes the tower, and Lauriam calls out for Brain in alarm before his lifeboat disappears. Later, Lauriam is seen waking up in a bed of flowers in Dwarf Woodlands.

Design
Lauriam has shoulder-length pink hair and dark blue eyes. He wears a large-collared white button up shirt with large cuffs beneath a black vest with tattered ends at either side on the front and a tattered longer coattail style addition in the back. He also dons dark pink pants and sleek black boots.

Personality
Lauriam possesses a polite and reserved disposition. He is shown to be playful and encouraging towards his sister. Underneath, when provoked, he is shown to have a fierce temper as shown when he demands for the others to give him answers to what happened to his sister. He also tends to jump to conclusions, believing his comrades had something to do with Strelitzia's disappearance even though they were innocent. He was so desperate for answers that he was willing to use force to get them, as he nearly struck Ventus with his keyblade and was willing to fight Ephemer to get the answers he sought.

After being told the truth, he becomes very remorseful about his actions towards Ventus.

Abilities
Lauriam wields the third form of the Divine Rose Keyblade. According to Strelitzia, he was far superior in strength compared to her.