Recap / Kingdom Hearts BBS Mission A 12 Final Episode

With Ventus unconscious, Aqua carries his body outside the Mysterious Tower, but has no clue where to go. Summoning his Keyblade, Ven opens a door to the Land of Departure, where Aqua finally sees the ruins of her home for the first time, alongside Eraqus's fallen Keyblade, the Master's Defender. Carrying Ven's body to the throne room, Aqua remembers something Eraqus had told her:

Eraqus: Aqua. Now that you are a Master, there is one secret in particular you must know. Should anything happen to me, and you find the legion of darkness at our doorstep...I ask that you take my Keyblade and use it to lock this land away. Generations of Keyblade Masters have been charged with keeping this land safe. Light and darkness exist in balance here, and there are those who would abuse such neutral ground. This is why our predecessors devised a certain...trick. Just use the key, and this land will be transformed. From that day forward, all who visit this land will be lost to oblivion, none ever able to solve the mystery. None, Aqua, except you.

With his words in mind, Aqua uses the Master's Defender to seal the Land of Departure, transforming the throne room into a white room with chains. She promises Ven that she will be back someday to wake him up after finding Terra. Exiting the castle, Aqua takes one last look at what was once her idyllic, stately home, now a castle of oblivion. Just then, Terra's voice echoes, telling Aqua to put an end to him.

Aqua tracks Terra down to Radiant Garden, but what she finds is not Terra- it's Xehanort, having taken Terra's body for his own. She tries to jog Terra's memory, but Xehanort fully takes over, proclaiming that Terra's heart has been extinguished by his inner darkness. Summoning her Keyblade, Aqua prepares to fight Xehanort in one last clash and return Terra to normal.

Eventually, after a lengthy duel, Aqua manages to prevail, thanks to Terra fighting against Xehanort's will. Xehanort is not having any more of Terra's resistance and brandishes his Keyblade to extract Terra from his body before sinking into darkness. Aqua, wanting to save what's left of Terra, jumps in after him and prepares to bring him out of the darkness. But there is no time left, so she sacrifices her Keyblade and armor to save him. As she falls, she laments not being able to save Terra.

Back in Radiant Garden, Ansem the Wise, Dilan, and Braig discover Xehanort, who can only recall his name. Satisfied, Braig decides to take Xehanort in, ordering Dilan to fetch Aqua's Keyblade and armor.

Within the Realm of Darkness, Aqua keeps walking onwards. Realizing how doomed she is, she decides to let the darkness swallow her, but is rescued by Terra and Ven's Keyblades. She begins to recall all the friends she made on her journey, and proclaims that there is a way to keep living.

At the Destiny Islands, as Sora and Riku prepare to head back home, Sora begins crying without knowing why. Riku explains that someone might be hurting outside, and has Sora call out to whoever is suffering. At his Dive to the Heart, Sora discovers Ven's damaged heart- it was Sora's newborn heart who had saved Ven's four years prior, and it is Sora's heart who has called out to Ven's. Since Ven has to sleep again, Sora offers to let Ven's heart sleep within his, giving Ven a second chance. Back in the waking world, Riku asks Sora if his idea worked, which Sora confirms.

"In time, the worlds would be saved by these two heroes who stood beneath the same blaze of stars."

Tropes:

• Canon Character All Along: If a world counts as a character. Turns out, the Land of Departure is the original form of Castle Oblivion.
• Fighting from the Inside:
  • After depleting enough of Terra-Xehanort's health in the second phase of the fight, if Aqua gets caught by Terra-Xehanort's Guardian and breaks free of its grip, she'll be transported to a realm of light with a stunned Terra at the center while the Guardian still continues to attack her. Aqua must reach the center and help Terra attack the Guardian with the "Dual Limit" deck command, which can take away three-quarters of a bar of Terra-Xehanort's health if the player can get an "Excellent" or half if they get "Good".
  • Terra starts fighting off Xehanort's possession after the battle between Aqua and Terra-Xehanort concludes, which leads the latter to use his Keyblade on himself in a desperate attempt to put a stop to it. This causes Terra-Xehanort to almost disappear into the Realm of Darkness, with only Aqua's intervention saving him.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Aqua sacrifices herself to send her armor and Keyblade to save Terra-Xehanort. Unfortunately, that just leaves the amnesiac Xehanort to start working for Ansem the Wise, eventually leading to the rise of the Heartless and Nobodies.
• Save the Villain: Aqua sacrifices herself to save Terra-Xehanort and bring him to the Realm of Light. Justified, as Xehanort is possessing her friend Terra.
• True Final Boss: Terra-Xehanort is this in the original version. Final Mix adds in one more.