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| “ | All that's left in my heart is misery and despair...and now, you can share it! | „ |
| ~ Anti-Aqua |
Anti-Aqua is a minor antagonist and a boss in the 2019 video game Kingdom Hearts 3 and its DLC expansion Re-Mind. She is the physical manifestation of the darkness in Aqua's heart created by the corruption of her body by Ansem, Seeker of Darkness when he came to collect Ansem the Wise from the Dark Margin in the Realm of Darkness.
Biography[]
Kingdom Hearts III[]
As Aqua remained in the Dark Margin with Ansem the Wise, awaiting the time when Sora would come to retrieve her and return her to the Realm of Light, despite it being over 10 years since she was originally trapped in the Realm of Darkness, she and Ansem the Wise are soon confronted by Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. Ansem explains that he is here for Ansem the Wise regarding information on a girl called "Subject X". Despite having no Keyblade or Keyblade Armor to protect herself, Aqua attempts to protect Ansem the Wise, but is easily overpowered by the Dark Figure, who then dangles her upside-down in sadistic pleasure. Not wishing her to be harmed further, Ansem the Wise surrenders to Ansem, asking for Aqua to be spared, but the Heartless double-crosses him, having the Dark Figure blast Aqua with a condensed orb of dark energy, saying it is a little gift from him, sending her flying back over the Dark Margin's waters before she drops in with a resounding splash, to Ansem the Wise's despair. As Aqua sinks into the dark abyss, it is revealed a small shard from the orb had impaled itself in her chest, and was now spreading outward over her body like a corrosive poison, covering her from head to her toes, with her helpless to stop it as it began to mutate her into something representing all those suppressed negative emotions in her heart she had been holding onto for all those years trapped in the Realm of Darkness. Overtime, she becomes fully mutated and brainwashed by the darkness corruption and the negative emotions it implanted in her heart to be a pawn of darkness. Developing a hatred towards Mickey for leaving her behind, the brainwashed Aqua plans to pay him a visit when he arrives.
By the time King Mickey Mouse and Riku arrived at the scene where everything happened, Aqua summons a Demon Tower to ambush them, which disarms Mickey of his Keyblade and subdues him, holding him hostage as Aqua cloaked in a shroud of darkness shoots out from the orb the Demon Tower had manifested and touches down on the sand before approaching Mickey's Keyblade and picking it up to use itself. Her voice is soon recognized by Riku and Mickey, and as the shroud dissipates, it reveals she turned into Anti-Aqua by the darkness that had corrupted and poisoned her, with her sleeves and the cloths draped on her sides now in tattered rags, the fingers of her gloves stained in blood, the rest of her clothing now in shades of dark blue, purple, and black, most of her skin fading from its normal peach color to a malevolent purple or black on her arms, legs, and torso, her blue hair having been bleached to take on a lighter tone almost akin to the silver hair of Xemnas or Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, her kind blue eyes now a malevolent golden yellow like Master Xehanort's, and her voice dripping with malice, hatred, bitterness, and vengeance from its normal kind-hearted tone.
As Mickey and Riku stare in shock and ask what happened to her, Anti-Aqua goes into a tirade at them over how this is her fate because they left her in the Realm of Darkness for over 12 years, and they knew damn well what the effects the darkness would have on her the longer she lingered in there without her Keyblade or armor to protect her from the influence of the darkness on her heart. She had no means of fighting her way back through the Heartless to escape, and they should have known to rescue her sooner before something like this could happen. Mickey offers no resistance to what he hears, taking full blame for Anti-Aqua being born. Having said her piece, and having nothing but despair and loneliness in her heart now, she intends to share it with them, using Mickey's Keyblade to do so.
Riku, however, defies Anti-Aqua, due to having seen a vision of his own dark self, Dark Riku, offering him support, and engages Anti-Aqua and the Demon Tower to help Mickey. Just when it seems they have the advantage over him, Sora, who had found Master Eraqus' Keyblade that Aqua took for her own back on the Destiny Islands, is able to find a way into the Realm of Darkness and arrive just in time to help Riku and destroy the Demon Tower, freeing Mickey. Undeterred by the Demon Tower's demise, Anti-Aqua lunges across the water to strike, but her attempt to strike Riku is blocked by Sora and his Keyblade. Realizing he'll have to fight her to break the darkness' hold on Aqua, Sora engages Anti-Aqua in battle.
Anti-Aqua throws everything she's got as a Keyblade Master against Sora, all the while spurting disparaging words over her condition and other banter to try and break Sora's will, but it proves ineffective. After a difficult and hard-fought fight, Sora finally delivers a powerful blow to Anti-Aqua, so strong that she actually staggers backwards, clutching her head with her free hand as she struggles to remain standing, but the damage is done. Unable to maintain its hold on her, the darkness that gave Anti-Aqua form is expunged from Aqua's body, restoring it to its original form and freeing her from its influence. Nevertheless, despite Anti-Aqua's destruction, the darkness still attempts to do away with Aqua by pulling her back into the Dark Margin's waters to drown, but Sora swims down after Aqua and rescues her, taking her back to the Realm of Light at long last.
However, in the ReMind DLC, when Sora is traveling through the hearts of the Guardians of Light to help Kairi, when he enters Aqua's heart, he sees her stained glass portrait, and what appears to be darkness emanating from where her heart is in the portrait. Returning to the Keyblade Graveyard when the Demon Tide tornado was attacking the Guardians of Light, Sora sees what caused Aqua to seize up in fear in the face of the Demon Tide: She had seen the Shadows in the Demon Tide as a massive storm of Anti-Aqua, causing her to be paralyzed with terror at the thought of becoming Anti-Aqua again, thus allowing the Demon Tide to take advantage and consume her. Sora is forced to fight a manifestation of Anti-Aqua in Aqua's heart to cleanse it of that fear in order to proceed further with helping Kairi. After that, Anti-Aqua is not seen again.
Quotes[]
| “ | What...is this feeling? | „ |
| ~ Aqua's last words before her total corruption |
| “ | This Keyblade. | „ |
| ~ Anti-Aqua recognizing Mickey's Keyblade. |
| “ | Mickey...you're too late. | „ |
| ~ Anti-Aqua's iconic line. |
| “ | You abandoned me, that's what. Left me in this shadow prison for more than a decade, knowing what it would do to me... | „ |
| ~ Anti-Aqua berating Mickey for leaving her behind. |
Gallery[]
