Kingdom Hearts Dark Road‘s second episode picks up where the storyline of the first installment left off. In Dark Road‘s first episode, Xehanort and his friends set out on their very first mission as Keyblade wielders. Their goal was to locate a group of upperclassmen that suddenly went missing, and their first venture brought them to Agrabah, where they found tentative leads related to what could have happened to their targets. Now, the group plans on exploring a new place for more clues, and it’s led them to the bizarre world of Wonderland.
Kingdom Hearts Dark Road episode 2 is titled “Presence of Darkness,” and it chronicles Xehanort’s encounters with the Queen of Hearts. The title of the episode foreshadows these encounters, similar to how the title of the first episode, Unexpected Departure, foreshadows the several key events that make it up. As a recap of the second episode, this article contains major spoilers.
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The episode begins with Xehanort reflecting on his new life in Scala Ad Caelum. He feels as though something is missing. While he’s happy that he met his new friends and Master Odin, his daily life has become routine, exactly like the one he had on Destiny Islands. The same kind of comfortable days play out, only now he has people. This isn’t what he was expecting when he decided to step through the Dark Corridor presented to him by the Robed Figure. He contemplates that his problem might not lie in his location, but in himself, and how he chooses to interact with the people and the world around him. He then ponders how these interactions, good or bad, can influence and change people.
Xehanort, Eraqus, and Bragi seemingly arrive in Wonderland before Hermod, Urd, and Vor. While waiting for the trio out in Lotus Forest, Xehanort senses that someone is watching him and his group. Eraqus thinks that their friends have finally arrived, but in reality, it’s the Chesire Cat. Chesire relays to Xehanort’s team that waiting for their friends is pointless because they’re locked up. When Xehanort tries to learn exactly where his friends were captured, the cat tells him that the answer will arrive shortly. It does so in the form of Playing Cards soldiers, who accost Xehanort’s group and threaten to arrest them for trespassing.
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Before the cards can go through with the arrest, however, they’re stopped by a higher-up, who tells them a trial is about to begin and that if they’re late for it, they’ll lose their heads. With that, the cards leave Xehanort and his friends alone, opting to instead rush off to the trial. Xehanort’s team decides to follow the cards, believing they’ll lead them to their locked-up friends. The tail works, and the group finds Hermod, Urd, and Vor standing trial in the Queen’s Court. The trio tries to apologize for unknowingly trespassing in Wonderland, but the Queen won’t have it and sentences them to death by beheading.
Eraqus has seen enough at this point and summons his Keyblade with the intent of subduing the Queen and her subjects. Xehanort stops him, however, reminding him that they need to respect the laws of foreign worlds. The trio still crashes the trial but does so by attempting to talk the Queen down. Xehanort tries to reason that the verdict being passed isn’t fair, but this only irritates the Queen. She believes her word is absolute and that all things in Wonderland are under her control. Eraqus proposes that the Queen may just be a bully that rules through fear, which further enrages her. She demands her subjects tell her that she’s nothing of the sort. None of them answer her, and the Queen takes their silence as confirmation.
With that, the Queen calls for the execution of Xehanort and his friends, and the Playing Cards move to carry out the order. Xehanort and the others don’t know how to retaliate, though, as their beliefs won’t allow them to fight back properly. While deliberating what to do with Eraqus, Xehanort notices darkness radiating from the Queen. Said darkness eventually summons a Ferry Reaper Heartless, who’s actions clear everyone except for Xehanort and his friends out of the Queen’s Court. Now that a Heartless is in play, the wielders feel free to draw their Keyblades. Once they destroy the monster, they take the opportunity to retreat into Lotus Forest.
After the group gets to safety, Hermod and Urd express how they never expected to end up in a situation where they couldn’t defend themselves. Fighting Heartless is fine, but they don’t think it’s their place to enforce their will on worlds with rules they disagree with. Eraqus brings up the possibility of the upperclassmen having to face a similar situation with the Queen, and that she may have succeeded in killing them. The group asks Xehanort for his opinion, but have to catch him up on the conversation because he was pondering something else and wasn’t listening.
Xehanort recalls a relevant memory from one of his strange, out-of-body dreams. Someone in the dream had said, “Darkness can hide anywhere. Even inside someone.” Xehanort repeats this aloud, and to his surprise, so does Eraqus. Before the two can discuss how they have the same memory, Hermod repeats the statement in confusion. Xehanort explains that it relates to the Queen. Her darkness has made her so delusional that she believes her subjects love her when, in reality, they’re terrified. Xehanort believes people like the Queen may force them to be more aggressive. The group agrees but also reaffirms that it should make an effort to see the good in people.
Afterward, Hermod suggests that they continue trying to find the missing wielders, and Urd proposes that they do it in some other world. While the group talks among themselves, Eraqus takes the opportunity to privately continue discussing with Xehanort whether they’d be capable of using their Keyblades on people who have no idea how far they’ve fallen into darkness. When Vor sees them talking and asks about it, Eraqus claims they were discussing staying on Wonderland. This lie prompts Urd to suggest that the team split up, and Vor to beg Xehanort and Eraqus to let her tag along with them. Xehanort happily agrees and wishes the rest of his friends “safe travels,” which brings the episode’s present-day storyline to a close.
The storyline of the four-year time skip continues here. Sometime after departing Scala Ad Caelum, Xehanort revisits Wonderland and allows the Playing Cards soldiers to capture him. When brought before the Queen, Xehanort learns that she doesn’t recognize him. Regardless, Xehanort still sees the same darkness from four years ago radiating off her, something he expected. He takes his place upon the stand to begin his trial, ending the episode.
Kingdom Hearts: Dark Road is out now.
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