The End of Dream Drop Distance and Mickey’s Appearance
This is where Kingdom Hearts 0.2 meets Dream Drop Distance, the most recent entry on the timeline before the release of Kingdom Hearts 0.2. One of the secret endings to Dream Drop Distance is titled Another Guardian of Light and has Yen Sid recount the legend of the Keyblade War to his apprentice, King Mickey. He also teaches him about the Princess of Heart, the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness, and the Seven Guardians of Light. At this point, Mickey realizes that they are short one Guardian, which is when Kairi is revealed to be able to wield a Keyblade, making her a Princess of Heart and possibly a Guardian of Light.
Mickey decides to recount his adventures in the darkness. You may recall that Mickey was in the darkness and helped to save Riku back in Kingdom Hearts. Also, in Kingdom Hearts Re: Coded, there’s a secret ending titled Signs of What’s Next that alludes to Aqua already being found, meaning Mickey most likely encountered her prior to saving Riku. Now that Yen Sid feels that the Keyblade wielders are powerful enough, he allows Mickey to share his tale which leads to the final acts of Kingdom Hearts 0.2.
The familiar hand that pulls Aqua from floating in the darkness is that of Mickey himself. He ended up exploring the dark realm and recognized Aqua who he ran into during the events of Birth by Sleep when he was still just a budding apprentice. He now joins Aqua for the remainder of Kingdom Hearts 0.2 as they explore the Depths of Darkness.
As they fight through, they arrive at Destiny Islands, a location tied to the fate of many heroes. It was the home of all of them at one point, and it’s where she first met a young Sora and told him to watch over his friend Riku. The darkness is strong here and after fighting a powerful enemy, Mickey and Aqua discover a Keyblade, and Mickey quickly realizes what it’s for.
This is the moment where fans will remember Riku escaping from the Realm of Darkness as the door to Kingdom Hearts lay open, allowing darkness to seep into the worlds. Of course, the darkness was after Riku, and it turns out that he was only able to escape thanks to Aqua sacrificing herself for him. Her chance to escape was given to Riku so that Mickey and Sora could close the door.
