I'm glad that you confirmed for yourself that Mickey and Yen Sid knew that she was out there somewhere. That's the basis of my opinion. They knew she was out there and achieved nothing. Sure, there's a cutscene that confirms that they made no progress between BbS and KH1 which IS understandable because, like you said, they had no clue where she was. But what really nails in Aqua's point is that after he met her and KNEW where she was... he didn't do anything or even attempt to help her until more than a year later. He rather have Sora toy around with Jiminy's journal or run around in a hood giving vague answers before disappearing instead of finding a way back to the Realm of Darkness. Sure, maybe he didn't have a way to the Realm of Darkness... oh wait, Riku, Namine, and DiZ are all able to (at least at the start of KH2) open Corridors of Darkness. Wouldn't a Riku fully submerged in darkness (ie the Riku for most of KH2) be able to just stroll into the Realm of Darkness and find Aqua easily?
So yeah, after meeting Aqua it SEEMS like Mickey abandoned her for about a year or so because he didn't want to tell Sora/Riku so that they could -- you know -- actually go save her. I mean, Aqua's not privy to that knowledge, but the fact that she met Mickey and then he vanished for another year or so could probably give off the impression that she was abandoned. I mean, she didn't even think of Mickey as hope for escape, but SORA who she heard about vaguely from Ansem The Wise. I think that pretty much explains where her mind is (basically given up on Mickey coming to save her).
Even though Aqua was wrong about the decade part (specifically putting the blame on Mickey for being there for a decade), she was right about Mickey abandoning her there for at least a year. Mickey even admits in that scene that it was all his fault. I mean Mickey and Yen Sid apparently spent about 10 years looking, but made no progress... then when they FIND OUT WHERE SHE IS THEY STOP THEIR RESCUE EFFORT COMPLETELY FOR LITTLE OVER A YEAR!? If that's not being abandoned then I really have no idea what being abandoned means.
Nice. Very strong response. And yeah, I can't disagree with a lot of this, lol.
So to start.. *facepalm* I knew- I KNEW I was forgetting something important about this topic, and that was it. I forgot Mickey was aligned with several people across the series that could've helped him to access the RoD, and rather than make use of them, he instead opts to continue waiting. Not just with Riku, Namine, and DiZ, but also Lea during the events of DDD. He even said to Riku at the end of the game that if he gets trapped in the abyss with Sora, he'd use the darkness to bail him out. "Afterall, dark rescue is my middle name." Yikes.
I mean can at least understand why he hadn't done anything during Days, as he was investigating the Organization at the time along with Riku (even if we only get one cutscene addressing his involvement), but it's shocking no one ever brought this up to Lea. Then again, maybe they just didn't think he was formidable enough to fight off the forces of the RoD? I mean, he did wait till Riku became a proper Keyblade Master, and Aqua herself (our only real example of someone successfully fighting through that realm) was also a Keyblade Master. Considering Mickey had experience fighting heartless in the RoD, maybe the implication is that he didn't believe they'd have the combined strength to make it very far once they got in. That said... I
really don't wanna dip into KH3's iffy handling of this scenario (because it's not very consistent with what was established in the series), but if we look at that game, the diologue heavily implies Riku and Mickey had not run into a
single heartless until they got all the way to the Dark Margin. If we take that seriously, despite the extreme unlikelyhood of such a thing occuring, it's not wrong to say it theoretically should have been possible for any of the people with access to dark corridors to have simply followed Mickey to Aqua's location and bolted back out of there before they encountered any heartless. Still, that's a hard gamble that could've easily backfire. Especially with the looming threat of the organization during KH2 and Days.
Thinking on this all over again, and I'm glad you brought this back to my attention, I can still see, at least somewhat, why Mickey ultimately opted to pass on those opportunities, but I do think that if he really were that concerned about everybody's safety, he should've had Sora and Riku take the exam much sooner. If another chance presented itself, it'd make logical sense to have all their ducks in a row so they could head out as soon as possible. So yeah, I'm not gonna defend Mickey there, he definitely lacked urgency and proactive thinking. Still, he clearly never stopped planning and wishing to get her out; things just weren't ideal enough for him to get the go ahead from Yen Sid (who forbade him from telling Sora and Riku, so clearly the idea was discussed at some point well after KH1 and Re :chain).
In terms of Aqua and her perspective on things, remember that she already learned from Mickey that it wasn't easy getting into or out of the RoD. She knows that Mickey and the others had searched for her the last time they were separated without warning, so they obviously care. She also learned from Ansem The Wise later on that the Realm of Light had been in crisis since she was away, and though she wished she could be there to help, she now knows that the friends she had helped before (more specifically Sora) were defending it in her stead. Why would Aqua, knowing all of this information, not just assume: "Hey, they're carrying out their literal duty as Keyblade Weilders and defending the RoL. I'm sure they're doing their best and will rescue me when the time comes." She already expressed in the end of 0.2 that she was willing to extend her stay in the darkness (even going so far as to say she wasn't afraid), so she knew exactly what she was getting herself into, unlike back in BBS. And despite it being over a year in the RoL, that's still a mere fraction of the time she had already spent enduring there. Not only that, but this time she knows Terra is fighting, she knows Ven's still safe, and she knows her home is still being defended (which were pretty much her main doubts prior to the end of 0.2, and all of them were put to rest), so she essentially feels obligated to do her part and survive till she can be rescued. In the mean time, if anyone ended up there in a similar manner to her, she'd be present to help. That's pretty much the mindset she has going into that last year prior to meeting Ansem, and once she starts to question things again, she gets her spirits re-uplifted by her new companion (whom she fails to so much as mention during her rant to Riku and Mickey). Her final word on the whole matter before she gets anti-fied is: "I'm staying. Someone will come for me." That's pretty much the
exact opposite of what she claims as Anti-Aqua, so even saying she was thinking the worst of them isn't accurate anymore.
As for Mickey's own feelings and expression of guilt, like I said before, Anti-Aqua was over exaggerating, omiting crucial details, and falsely accusing them of certain things. He was just emotionally caught up in her half-truths unfortunately. It's definitely not
all his fault the way he thinks, as it was Aqua's own failures and decisions that led her to being thrown into the abyss.
Overall, while I certainly don't think Mickey handled the situation quite as well as he potentially could have, I still don't think he completely abandoned Aqua. He just, in his own eyes at least, couldn't get there sooner.