After many days of wandering through various worlds, we have reached the final part of our Kingdom Hearts recap. This time, we will be focusing on Kingdom Hearts 0.2 and 2.9, which were included in the Kingdom Hearts 2.8 HD Final Chapter Prologue collection on PS4.

Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth By Sleep – A Fragmentary Passage

Sometime after the events of Dream Drop Distance, Master Yen Sid informs the new Master Riku, King Mickey and Kairi about the tragic story of Terra, Ventus and Aqua and that to defeat Master Xehanort they must rescue them. King Mickey tells everyone that he last saw Aqua ten years ago, at the same time that Kingdom Hearts 1 took place.

After falling into the Realm of Darkness, Aqua has spent an undetermined amount of time wandering through phantom worlds that resemble some of the places she has visited. After defeating a shadow version of herself, and finds Terra and Ventus within the dark abysses. They tell her of Xehanort’s actions before Terra is overtaken by Terranort’s influence.

She then discovers that Xehanort is trying to bring back The Land of Departure, which she locked away after placing Ventus’s sleeping body inside for his own protection. Before Aqua is overcome by the darkness once more, she discovers that Xehanort has latched himself onto Terra’s body because of his lingering darkness. As she floats into the darkness, King Mickey finds her and the two have a happy reunion.

The two attempt to get to the Door to Darkness, which is the doorway to Kingdom Hearts which was sealed at the end of Kingdom Hearts 1. They do this in order to lead Aqua and Mickey back to the World of Light. When a storm of Heartless attempts to attack Sora and Riku, Aqua intervenes but is forced to remain inside the darkness with Mickey and Riku as a result, although the latter is unaware of her presence.

Aqua wanders through the World of Darkness, and eventually comes across Ansem the Wise, who fell into darkness after his encoding machine was destroyed in Kingdom Hearts 2. She then learns of a boy who has been helping to restore the worlds to their rightful state and aiding everyone he meets. When she asks for his name, Ansem tells her that it is Sora, and she cries with joy at the realization that someone she helped is saving the world.

Kingdom Hearts 2.9

After Riku and King Mickey leave the Mysterious Tower to rescue Aqua after they have found another Door to Darkness, Kairi has begun to train as a Keyblade wielder with Merlin alongside Lea. There is initially some tension when she realizes that he used to be Axel, but this eases over time.

Sora, Donald and Goofy reunite when Sora returns from a brief absence, unsure of where to go now his abilities have been weakened. Yen Sid suggests that he go and train with Hercules at Mount Olympus, as he has been through a similar experience himself. Eager to succeed, the friends go to the Gummi Ship but are hindered by the fact that the doorways between worlds have been shut following their previous adventures.

After remembering Yen’s Sid’s mantra, “May your heart be your guiding key”, Sora wishes for a portal to the Olympus Coliseum to appear. To his delight, a doorway is summoned. With Donald and Goofy by his side, Sora begins a new journey to restore his powers before the final battle takes place.

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