Maleficent and Darkness are in Data Daybreak Town; Brain and Ephemer have revealed Ventus as Strelitzia’s replacement, and each group is now inching closer toward their respective goals. Brain, Skuld, and Ephemer might finally find out what happened to Strelitzia through Ven, and Maleficent is on the cusp of escaping the Data World. Of course, there are some minor obstacles: Ven’s memory is of little to no help, and Maleficent finds her path of escape blocked by a rather powerful enemy.
The notable events in quests 925 through 935 of Kingdom Hearts Union Cross act as the prelude to the reveal of Strelitzia’s killer. They also foreshadow a connection between Daybreak Town and Radiant Garden that will come into play after the events of Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory. This writing works to recap and interpret these events to better clarify the Kingdom Hearts Union Cross storyline, so expect spoilers ahead.
Maleficent can’t help but wonder who Darkness really is, as the entity knows too much about the world to be a foreigner. On top of being informed about the Data World and the lifeboats, it also managed to sneak them into the clock tower’s underground waterway because it knew the Dandelions obeyed the “off-limits” rules surrounding it. In other words, it knew that the area would be borderline defenseless. Maleficent’s likely curious to know who exactly Darkness is and what it wants because its intelligence reminds her of Master Xehanort.
In response to who it is, Darkness cryptically answers that it’s an “old friend,” confirming Maleficent’s suspicion that it has a history with Daybreak Town. As for what it wants: It wants Maleficent to act as its waypoint. Like it told her before, a traveler moving forward through time can only regain their body if they have both a medium and someone with memories of them waiting in the targeted period. No one in the Union Cross period has that, but Darkness will if it sends Maleficent back.
Regarding what it wants with the future, that’s not Maleficent’s concern. All that should matter to her is that she gets to return to her time. Maleficent can’t really argue with that, so Darkness drops the subject and opens a Corridor of Darkness, allowing the duo to bypass the security door blocking their way into the lab. The lab itself is heavily reminiscent of the one Apprentice Xehanort used to study the Heartless in Radiant Garden, and the lifeboats are the exact same pods he used to ship Kairi to Destiny Islands.
Darkness opens the middle-most pod for Maleficent to use, but the witch hesitates to get in. At first, Darkness thinks she’s just trying to waste time snooping around, but that’s not it. Maleficent can sense someone about to open the security door, and sure enough, the locks begin tumbling. Lauriam enters the room just after Darkness vanishes, and seeing only Maleficent, tells her to think carefully about her response concerning what she’s doing here.
Unshaken at being caught red-handed, Maleficent banters with Lauriam, only to find out that he really doesn’t know about the room they’re in. He only took the area at face-value, seeing it as nothing more than an abandoned lab. With that in mind, Maleficent explains the room’s significance, trying her hand at diplomacy. She hoped it would allow her to leave without a fight but knew it wouldn’t. Lauriam attacked her as expected, but the fight did not go well for him. For whatever reason, Maleficent managed to leave him unconscious on the battle-scarred floor while she escaped.
Brain believes Ven’s claim that Ava made him a Union leader; he just doesn’t think it was the real Ava. If it had been, she would have ensured Strelitzia’s safety before swapping her out, but whoever Ven talked to didn’t do that. Instead, they intentionally made Strelitzia disappear. They had to have; otherwise, the group would have found something by now that proved she was okay. As for Ava, she would have had to have either abandoned Strelitzia to the Keyblade War or personally eliminated her to be behind this, and she’s not the type to do either.
As for why someone would go after Strelitzia, it has to be because of her position as a Union leader, as they gave it to Ven afterward, and the only logical reason someone would target a Union leader would be to sabotage the Dandelion‘s mission of keeping light alive. If the group can figure out who has such a motive, they’ll have suspects. For Ephemer, the only thing like that to come to mind is Darkness, and Brain agrees. Darkness can hide anywhere, even inside of people, and Brain thinks it planted Ven as a Union leader before deciding to hide in him.
Skuld questions if that means Darkness disguised itself as Master Ava, and knowing there’s only one real way to find out, Brain and Ephemer ask Ven if he noticed anything strange about Ava when they met. At first, Ven can’t think of anything distinct; he just ends up retelling the story he did when they all first met: Ava told him he was a leader, gave him the rulebook, and instructed him to go to the Keyblade Graveyard when the Keyblade War ended. However, thinking harder, he remembers that he also met Ava at an abandoned warehouse.
Ephemer points out that such a meeting contradicts Ventus’ claim that Ava promoted him at the bridge, so Ven clarifies that they met at the house first, then walked to the bridge; he was promoted on the way. The memory is hazy, but he attempts to relay it at their request. Ven went to the house, but it was dark. When he called out, no one answered. Just when he thought he was at the wrong house, someone arrived. After that, all he remembers is walking out of the warehouse with Ava, so he thinks she was the person who showed up. Unfortunately, Ven’s uncertainty doesn’t help Brain discern anything.
Thus, he asks him to think harder about whether Ava really was the person he saw enter the house. This ends horribly. Brain’s question triggers a type of PTSD flashback for Ven: the person who appeared at the warehouse was, of course, Strelitzia, but the memory Ven sees now isn’t of her at the door. It’s her writhing on the floor with her Chirithy asking someone why they would attack them like this. The memory sends Ven into a state of distress, spurring the others to comfort him while also leaving them wondering what he saw. Out of options, Brain decides they should all return to the tower.
Kingdom Hearts Union Cross is available on IOS and Android.
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