Chapter 1: Summer Vacation
A/N: Hello my darling readers! We're finally at the story you've all been waiting for! Hikari is back for another adventure! Will she be able to find her beloved Riku? You'll just have to find out.
This will be the last time that we see Ankoku, but fear not, we may see her towards the ending.
I know this chapter is really long, but I want Hikari be appearing in the next chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts; I just own Hikari, Ankoku, Taiyouko and Tsukiko.
Enjoy!
/
A scattered dream that's like a far-off memory.
A far-off memory that's like a scattered dream.
I want to line the pieces up-yours and mine.
/
Day 1
Ankoku sighed as she sat up in her bed.
She saw more of Hikari's memories as she slept for the night.
She figured it was because she was under Diz's control now and that it was just a reminder of where she has to return.
She looked out of her bedroom window that Diz made her.
Her mind went back to before he brought Roxas, Tsukiko and herself in this data version of Twilight Town.
/
Diz placed an unconscious Roxas on some sort of device before typing something into a computer.
Tsukiko was up against the wall out cold while Ankoku was held by Taiyouko.
The sorceress glared at Diz as he continued to type.
"This is wrong and you know it" she said.
Diz just glared at her.
"Keep your mouth shut" he ordered.
"You have much to blame for this as all of us do"
Taiyouko growled and was about to lunge for him, but Riku held her back.
He simply shook his head.
He still had his hood up, so no one could see his face.
He was too ashamed of what he became.
He looked at Diz.
"Will it work?" he asked.
Diz nodded.
"If we can maintain the simulated town until Namine finishes chaining together Sora and Hikari's memories" he said.
Riku looked at Roxas and Ankoku.
"What will happen to them?"
Diz went back to the computer to type something in.
"They hold half of Sora and Hikari's powers within themselves" he said.
"In the end, they'll have to give it back. Until then, Roxas will need another personality to throw off their pursuers"
Taiyouko looked at him.
"Why change his memory but not Ankoku's?" she asked.
"She has the ability to see into the future" Diz said.
"We'll need that if we want everything to go as planned. She should be lucky that I'm willing to let her keep her memories"
Riku looked at them sadly.
"Poor things" he said.
Diz scoffed.
"It is the fate of a nobody" he said.
He looked at Tsukiko.
"Once I've taken care of them, then I'll start with her" he said.
Taiyouko protested at that.
"You can't do that!" she cried.
Diz glared at her.
"Silence!" he snapped.
Taiyouko bit her lip and took a step back.
The sound of Diz shouting woke Ankoku up.
Her eyes fluttered open to find herself in some sort of computer room.
"Where am I?" she asked.
She saw Roxas out of the corner of her eye.
"Roxas!" she cried.
She jumped out of Taiyouko's arms and checked to see how her twin brother was doing.
She looked at Diz.
"What did you do to him?" she asked.
Diz scoffed.
"I just had to give him false memories to throw off the Organization" he said.
"But don't 'worry', he'll still remember you"
Ankoku nodded sadly.
She figured this was for the best.
If he found out what was going to happen to him, he would flip.
She was Tsukiko sitting next to her with her head down.
Memories of what Diz did to her flooded her mind.
She glared at Diz.
"Why did you drag Tsukiko in?" she asked.
"She had nothing to do with this"
Diz scoffed.
"Oh please" he said.
"That nobody been involved long before you were created. She should never have been created in the first place"
Ankoku growled and rose to her feet.
"What do you mean she's a nobody?" she asked.
"What are you talking about?"
Diz looked at her.
"That is none of your concern" he said.
"Instead of worrying about useless things, try to focus more on returning Hikari's memories back to her"
Ankoku glared at him.
No one told her what to do.
Diz stepped back slightly when she pointed one of her keyblades at him.
Riku was about to stop her, but Taiyouko held him back.
"Listen here, pal" Ankoku said.
"Just because I agreed to return to Hikari, doesn't mean I have to do as you say. I'm not your little slave, so don't boss me around. I deserve the right to know what you meant by calling Tsukiko a nobody. It's the least you can do for me. If you don't, I'll take Roxas with me and I'll hide somewhere where you'll never find me. Then your precious Hikari will never wake up. Do I make myself clear?"
Diz thought she was bluffing, but when he saw her open up a portal, he looked at Taiyouko.
"Perhaps you should tell her, since she is you nobody"
Taiyouko bit her lip and looked at the ground.
Riku and Ankoku looked at her.
"Is that true?" Ankoku asked.
Taiyouko nodded slowly.
"Yes" she said quietly.
"She is"
She looked at her daughter's nobody.
"She was created by me a long time ago. That's all I'm going to say"
Ankoku shook her head.
That couldn't be right.
Tsukiko had a heart, so she couldn't be one.
Nobodies didn't have hearts.
"If she's a nobody, then why does she have a heart?" she asked.
"How can she feel?"
Diz scoffed.
"It's not a real heart" he said.
"It's a fake. An artificial heart that my witch of a daughter created with her magic"
Taiyouko gasped when he said that.
He had the nerve to call his own daughter a witch?
Riku looked at her.
"Taiyouko?" he asked.
Diz looked at him.
"She didn't tell you, did she?" he asked.
"That creating hearts are her sorceress powers? She does have a way with deceiving people. I'm surprised you didn't catch on"
Taiyouko glared at him.
"You monster" she said.
She stormed over to Tsukiko's body and placed her hand over her head.
Her hand glowed slightly before she pulled it away.
Tsukiko's eyes fluttered open and she looked at Taiyouko.
"Taiyouko?" she asked.
Taiyouko smiled sadly.
"Hey, Tsukiko" she said.
"I take it you remember everything?"
Tsukiko was quiet for a moment before nodding.
"Yeah" she said quietly.
"After our world was destroyed…you sent me here to Twilight Town. I didn't know what happened back then because I lost my memories…but now I remember"
Diz scoffed.
"You think by giving back her memories is going to prevent me from returning her to where she belongs?" he asked.
Tsukiko looked at Diz and glared.
She remembered he was the one who tried to take Roxas and Ankoku from her.
"You" she hissed.
She shot up to her feet and summoned her nobody weapon.
Ankoku noticed it was the black and blue scythe that Tsukiko drew in her journal.
Tsukiko went to attack Diz, but he pulled out a remote and pushed a button.
The collar around Tsukiko's neck zapped her and made her dismiss her weapon.
She fell to her knees and grabbed her throat.
Taiyouko rushed to her.
"Don't hurt her!" she cried.
Diz glared at her.
"You stay out of this!" he snapped.
He pushed a button on the computer and activated the device that Roxas was on.
The machine glowed brightly.
Diz shoved Tsukiko onto the device and sent her and Roxas into the data version of Twilight Town.
Diz looked at Ankoku.
She looked like she was about to attack her, but he held up the remote to Tsukiko's collar.
"Unless you don't want anything to happen to your little friend, you'll do as I say" he ordered.
Ankoku growled at him and stormed over to the device.
She glared at him as he typed at the computer.
"I can already see your future and it is not going be a pretty one" she said.
Diz just pushed a button and sent her to the data Twilight Town with the others.
/
So that was how they all ended up here.
Not only was Roxas being forced to return to his old self, but so was Tsukiko.
She couldn't believe that her closest friend was a nobody as well.
If Axel found out about this, he would flip.
Just thinking about the red head made Ankoku realize something.
If he found out Tsukiko wasn't in the real Twilight Town, then he would know something was up.
He was probably ordered by the Organization to track them down.
When she heard the clock tower ring its bell, she sighed.
"This is going to be a fun day" she said sarcastically.
She got out of bed and headed to Roxas's room to wake him up.
/
The twins were at the usual spot hanging out with Hayner and the gang.
Diz made a data version of them so Roxas could be occupied.
Ankoku rally didn't mind.
She always knew Roxas wanted to be friends with them.
She was glad Diz made it that way.
Hayner seemed to be ticked off about something.
"Man, doesn't that tick you off?" he asked.
Ankoku looked at him dully.
It seemed that Diz programmed Hayner to be annoying.
Pence nodded.
"Yeah, that's just wrong" he said.
"Seifer's gone too far this time" Olette added.
Roxas just nodded.
It seemed as if he was in a daze.
"He must be affected by seeing Sora's memoires" Ankoku thought.
Hayner stood up from his spot and looked at the group.
"I mean, it's true that stuff's been stolen around town" he said.
"And we've got a score to settle with Seifer and everything. So if he wants to think we did it, I really can't blame him. See…that's not what really bugs me"
Ankoku raised an eyebrow.
"Oh really? Then what is?" she asked.
Hayner glared at the floor.
"What REALLY bugs me is that he's going around telling everybody we're the thieves!" he said.
"Now the whole town and their mothers are treating us like the Klepto Club!. Have you ever been this ticked off before in your life? Not me-EVER"
He made a fist.
"Now…what to do"
Olette looked like she was about to say something, but then looked at Roxas.
He still looked out into space, oblivious to what was around him.
Ankoku rolled her eyes and smacked him right upside the head.
That got him talking.
"Uh, well… we could find the real thieves" he said.
"That would set the record straight"
Pence smiled.
"Hey, that sounds fun" he said.
"What about Seifer?" Olette asked.
Ankoku stood up from her seat.
"First, we gotta clear our names" she said.
"Once we find the real culprit, everyone will get off our backs"
"Oh, no!" Pence cried.
He was holding up his camera and looked at it.
He seemed upset by something.
"They're gone!" he said.
The group went near him.
"Our -are gone!"
Everyone gasped.
Not only was the item that pence was talking about, but so was the word.
"All our-, gone?" Hayner asked.
"You can't say-" Olette asked.
"Why not?"
Pence looked at them.
"But you do understand what I'm saying, right?" he asked.
"Our -are gone!"
Everyone nodded.
Ankoku narrowed her eyes.
Was this part of Diz's program?
"No" she thought.
"He wouldn't bother doing something like this….someone else is doing this"
Roxas thought for a moment.
"Stolen…" he said.
"And not just the -. The word-! They stole it too!"
Hayner crossed his arms.
"What kind of thief is that?" he asked.
"Seifer could never have pulled that off"
Roxas nodded.
"Yeah" he said.
Hayner pumped his fist.
"All right, time for some recon!" he said.
They all headed out towards the market place to see if they could find any clues.
/
When Ankoku made sure Roxas and everyone else were occupied with their search, she began thinking about what was going on.
There was no way Diz would do something like this, so what was going on?
A vision of Nobodies suddenly flashed into her head.
She held her forehead slightly.
"Even after using my powers for so long, I still can't handle those random ones" she said.
She was thankful that she was able to still use her powers here.
She figured that was one of the main reasons why Diz whipped Roxas's memories clean.
Hayner shouted at everyone to head towards the accessory shop.
"Over here!"
Everyone gathered around him.
The store merchant seemed to be ticked off about something.
"Yo, Roxas, Ankoku" he said.
"I never thought you'd both do such a rotten thing…"
Roxas glared at him.
"We didn't steal anything!" he said.
The merchant shrugged.
"I'd like to believe you, but…who else would steal stuff?" he asked.
Ankoku raised an eyebrow.
"What stuff?" she asked.
She didn't find it amusing that they thought she was the thief too.
"As if you didn't know" the merchant said.
"I'm not going to tell you"
Hayner sighed.
"Let's go ask around" he said.
They went to every shop to ask them about what was going on, and they would give them the same answer of saying Roxas and Ankoku were the thieves.
"Let's go see what's up at the sandlot" Olette said.
"Seifer must know what's going on"
They headed towards the sandlot to see if they could get an actual answer.
/
Seifer was there with his little gang that consisted Fuu, Rai and Vivi.
When they saw the gang coming, they glared.
"Thieves" Fuu said.
Rai glared at them.
"That was low, y'know!" he said.
Ankoku gave them a dull look.
"Are these guys for real?" she thought.
One hardly spoke while the other sounded like an idiot talking.
"Either Diz screwed with creating them or they must really be this pathetic in real life"
Hayner glared at them.
"Oh, yeah?" he asked.
Seifer smirked darkly.
"Nice comeback there, Blondie" he said.
Hayner growled.
"What'd you say?" he asked.
Seifer just crossed his arms and looked at the twins.
"You can give us back the -now" he said.
Rai nodded.
"Yeah! You're the only ones who would take it, y'know?"
Seifer pointed towards them.
"That was undeniable proof that we totally owned you lamers" he said.
"So what did you do? Burn it?"
He shrugged.
"Ha, not that we needed some -to prove that you're losers"
"Replay!" Fuu declared.
Seifer smirked.
"Now you're talking" he said.
He got into a fighting stance.
"I guess if you get on your knees and beg, MAYBE I'll let it slide" he said.
Ankoku scoffed.
"As if" she said.
She saw Roxas walk up to Seifer and stood in front of him before quickly bowing.
"Roxas!" she cried.
Roxas looked at the floor and saw a struggle bat lying on the ground.
He quickly picked it up and pointed it at Seifer.
Seifer took the challenge and pulled out his own Struggle bat.
The two of them faced off in the middle while everyone watched.
"Roxas, focus!" Hayner cried.
Roxas nodded and started his fight with Seifer.
Ankoku noticed that, even though he had his memory swiped, he still knew how to fight.
He got the upper hand and managed to knock Seifer down.
When he fell on one knee, Fuu and Rai stood in front of him.
"Seifer's not feelin so hot, y'know" Rai said.
"Tournament decides" Fuu said.
Pence pulled out his camera and took a picture of Roxas beating Seifer.
When he did, a Dusk showed up and snatched his camera.
Ankoku paled.
What were the nobodies doing here?
Pence watched at the Dusk ran slithered off with his camera.
"What was that?" Hayner asked.
"The thief?" Olette suggested.
Roxas suddenly ran after it.
"Roxas, wait!" Ankoku cried.
She chased after him as he ran through the town.
She didn't know what this Dusk was doing here, but that had to mean bad news.
They chased it through the woods and stopped at the mansion.
The Dusk just moved like a snake as it stood in front of them.
As Ankoku looked at it, she got the vision of a guy wearing an Organization cloak.
She paled.
The Organization was after them.
She went to summon her keyblade, but Roxas went after the Dusk and attacked it with his Struggle bat.
Ankoku grimaced.
The bat wasn't going to do any damage.
"Looks like I have to take care of everything" she thought.
She secretly summoned her keyblade and held it out.
Just as she was about to attack it, the strangest thing happened.
One minute, Roxas was using a struggle bat and then the next he was using a keyblade.
Roxas looked at his weapon when the Dusk was gone.
"What is this thing?" he asked.
He noticed that Ankoku had hers out too.
"Hey, sis, you have one too" he said.
Ankoku looked at her keyblade and nodded.
She decided to play dumb and didn't know what it was.
"Yeah…weird, isn't it?" she asked.
Their keyblades were dismissed.
Ankoku looked at the ground to see photos everywhere.
She picked them up and noticed they were picture of herself and Roxas.
"Let's bring these back to the gang" she said.
Roxas nodded and helped her pick up the photos before heading back to the mansion.
/
Hayner and the others looked through the pictures that the twins gathered.
They figured out the reason why everyone accused the twins for being the thieves was because they were in every picture.
Pence held up the photo of all of them standing in front of the mansion.
Olette smiled.
"It's a really nice photo" she said.
She gasped when she realized what she said.
"Hey! You just said 'photo'!" Pence said.
Hayner looked at Roxas.
"So tell us about the thief" he said.
Roxas shrugged.
"Not much to say" he said.
"The pictures were just lying there"
"Then how to we prove we weren't the ones who took them?" Hayner asked.
Ankoku shrugged.
"Who know?" she asked.
"At least we got them back. That's all that matters"
She wasn't going to explain that the thief was a dusk.
Just then, the evening bell chimed.
"Looks like it's getting late" Roxas said.
"I bet Tsukiko is wondering where we are"
Hayner sighed wistfully.
"You guys are so lucky to have such a hot guardian" he said.
Roxas glared at him.
"Hey! That's our caretaker you're talking about!" he cried.
Hayner just laughed when Roxas tried to beat him.
Ankoku chuckled dryly.
So Diz made it so that Tsukiko would be their guardian here.
How ironic.
Now that she thought about it, she was technically her mother.
If Hikari and Taiyouko were mother and daughter, then surely their nobodies were the same.
She tugged the back of Roxas's jacked and pulled him out of the hangout.
"Come on" she said.
"Let's not keep Tsukiko waiting"
They headed back towards their little apartment while Diz took care of everything in the real world.
/
Diz scowled as the computer read.
Restoration at 12%
"Organization miscreants…they've found us" he said.
Taiyouko stood next to him and gave him a dull glare.
She was still mad that he called her a witch.
Riku placed a comforting hand on her shoulder before looking at Diz.
"But…why would the nobodies steal photographs?" he asked.
Diz just shook his head.
"Both are nothing but data to them" he said.
"The fools could never tell the difference"
He sighed.
"We are running out of time" he said.
"Namine must make haste"
Taiyouko looked at the monitor that held Tsukiko's image.
"I'm so sorry" she said quietly.
/
Back in the data Twilight Town, Ankoku sat on Tsukiko's bed.
Roxas went to bed a while ago, so now it was just the two girls.
Ankoku's pajamas consisted black basketball shorts and a blue t-shirt while Tsukiko wore a purple spaghetti strap nightgown.
The older nobody smiled weakly at her friend.
"Roxas told me you found the thief that was running around town" she said.
"That had to be fun"
Ankoku just scoffed.
"There's nothing fun about all of this" she said.
Tsukiko nodded.
"I know"
She touched the collar that was still on her neck.
Even when she was in this data world, Diz had control over her.
Ankoku looked at her sadly.
It was all her fault that this happened to her.
"I'm sorry" she said.
"You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me"
Tsukiko just shook her head.
"Don't say that" she said.
"I would have found a way to get you both back. Besides, I got my memories back, so that's a plus"
She laughed weakly.
"Who would have thought that I was a nobody?" she asked.
"I always knew that I was different from everyone, but not that different"
She smiled at Ankoku.
"I guess I'll be returning to where I belong too" she said.
Ankoku bit her lip.
She didn't want her friend to vanish.
She was fine with returning to Hikari because that was where she belonged, but Tsukiko didn't deserve this.
"Maybe Taiyouko won't do it" she said.
"She seemed like she was against the idea"
Tsukiko looked at the bed.
"She was, but Diz wasn't" she said.
"He'll find a way to make it happen"
Ankoku didn't know what to say to that.
Tsukiko just gripped her shoulder.
"It's getting late" she said.
"You should go to bed. You'll probably have a busy day tomorrow"
Ankoku laughed dryly.
"Yeah…a busy day living a lie" she said.
She got off of Tsukiko's bed and headed for her room.
That night, she witnessed Hikari's memories of the keyblade.
/
Day 2
The twins walked through the alley way towards the usual spot.
Ankoku noticed that Roxas remembered about the keyblade from his dreams last night.
He picked up a stick and started swinging it around like he did with his keyblade.
He got so caught up in his swing that he let go of the stick and accidentally hit someone.
"Oh, sorry" he said.
Ankoku paled when saw the Organization cloak.
She thought that they found them, but when she noticed it was Riku, she relaxed.
Roxas looked a little uneasy.
Even though he apologized, Riku didn't say anything to him.
He just shrugged and walked away.
Ankoku made sure he was out of ear shot before she spoke to him.
"Diz found out about the Dusk?" she asked.
Riku nodded.
"The Organization is closing in" he said.
"Times running out"
Ankoku sighed.
This wasn't going well.
She looked at Riku.
"He remembered the keyblade" she said.
"At least he's making progress"
Riku nodded.
"But not enough for Diz's standards" he said.
Ankoku ran a hand through her messy black hair.
"Just see how today goes. He might remember some more"
She headed off towards the usual spot.
"I'll fill you in if he remembers anything else" she called over her shoulder.
Riku nodded before heading back to the real Twilight Town.
He couldn't stay away from Taiyouko for very long or else she might kill Diz.
"I wouldn't be surprised if she did already" he muttered.
/
Hayner and the gang were eating sea salt ice cream when they came.
Hayner offered one to Roxas while Olette handed one to Ankoku.
"Thanks"
When Ankoku took a bite from hers, she mentally frowned.
She used to eat this all the time with Roxas and Axel in the Organization.
They would eat it after every mission.
She shook her head.
She shouldn't be thinking about the past.
That was history and she needed to focus on the future and waking Hikari up.
That was her purpose now.
Pence looked up from his ice cream.
"Do you guys s think we'll always be together like this?" he asked.
"I sure hope so" Olette said.
"Well, I doubt we can be together forever" Hayner said.
"But isn't that what growing up's about? What's important isn't how often we see each other, but how often we think of each other"
Ankoku froze midway of taking a bite of her ice cream.
Axel said the same exact thing to her and Roxas a long time ago.
She sighed.
This was like déjà vu for her.
Hayner sighed.
"Man, today is turning out to be a drag" he said.
"Maybe because of the memory thief" Olette pointed out.
Hayner suddenly stood up.
"Nope. You know what it is?" he asked.
"We don't want summer vacation to be over. That's all!"
Ankoku rolled her eyes.
"You just don't want to go back to school" she said.
Hayner waved her off.
"So, how about this? We all go to the beach!" He said.
"And why do we go to the beach? Because we haven't gone once since summer vacation! Blue seas! Blue skies! Let's just get on the train and GO!"
He turned to the group, thinking they would agree with him, but he was disappointed to see they weren't as thrilled as he was.
"Aw, c'mon!" he said.
Roxas stuck his hands in his pockets.
"Maybe you forgot, but we're broke" he said.
Hayner grinned.
"Maybe you forgot, I'm smart!"
He ran out of the hangout and headed towards the market place.
The others followed him closely.
/
Hayner came up with the idea of them doing jobs around the market area.
It would have been alright if he was willing to participate.
Ankoku figured that since he thought of the idea then he thought he could skip out on doing the work.
They all passed a Struggle Poster and stopped.
"Just two days to go" Hayner said.
He looked at Roxas.
"You and I have to make it to the finals!" he said.
"That way, no matter who wins, the five of us split the prize!"
Roxas smiled.
"Ok, you're on" he said.
Ankoku smirked at her twin.
"I know you can do it" she said.
Pence nodded.
"You two are gonna clean up!" he said.
"Go get 'em!" Olette cheered.
Roxas and Hayner pumped fists.
"It's a promise" Hayner said.
With that promise made, they went about doing the jobs that Hayner assigned them to.
Pence was given clean up duty.
Olette had to deliver things.
Ankoku had to deliver mail.
And Roxas had to put Struggle posters all over the area.
They all gathered by the clock tower a half hour later.
"Nice work, everyone" Olette said.
"Added to what we started with, we now have…"
She held up her bulging wallet.
"Tada! 5000 munny!"
"Sweet!" Hayner cried.
Olette handed the wallet to Roxas.
"Let's go get the tickets" Hayner said.
They all started headed towards the station when all of a sudden, they head someone falling.
Ankoku turned around to see that Roxas tripped.
"Roxas!"
She went to go help him, but Riku suddenly appeared and said something to him.
Roxas looked confused by what he said but shrugged it off.
"Roxas! Three minutes!" Hayner cried.
"Ok!" Roxas called.
He went to looked back at Riku, but saw that he was gone.
Ankoku bit her lip.
She knew what he asked her brother.
"Can you feel Sora?"
She quietly went into the station to wait for her brother.
When he finally joined up with them, Hayner was already ordering the tickets.
"Roxas, the money" Pence said.
Roxas went to grab the wallet, but he found out that it was gone.
"No!" he cried.
He went to run out of the station, but Hayner stopped him.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
Roxas looked at him.
"He took it!" he said.
"Remember when I fell? I had the money before that. I bet that guy took it!"
Hayner and the gang looked at each other.
"What guy?" Hayner asked.
"There was no guy"
Roxas looked confused.
"But…"
He looked at Ankoku.
"Sis, you saw him, right?"
Ankoku bit the inside of her cheeks.
She saw Riku alright, and she knew he was the one who took the money.
But she couldn't let on that she knew what was really going on.
She had to do this so Roxas could remember Sora better.
She shook her head.
"I didn't see anyone" she said.
Just then, the train going for the beach went off.
Roxas hung his head in defeat.
"There wasn't anyone…there?"
/
Since they couldn't go to the beach, the group decided to eat ice cream up at the clock tower.
Roxas hardly ate his and let it melt.
Ankoku looked at him.
"It's melting" she said.
Roxas looked at the group.
"Sorry" he said.
Pence looked at him.
"Cheer up already" he said.
"That was definitely weird though" Olette said.
Ankoku nodded.
"Strange" she said.
They continued to eat their ice cream before calling it a day.
/
Back with Diz, Riku stood in the back ground with the wallet in his hand.
He felt bad that he had to take it, but it needed to be done.
The twins couldn't be attached to that world.
He looked at Diz.
"Is it really that hard to make a beach?" he asked.
Diz sighed.
"We'd be giving the enemy another entry point" he said.
Riku held up the wallet.
"And this?" he asked.
Diz shrugged.
"We could always buy some sea salt ice cream" he said.
He went back to the computer.
"Objects from that town must be kept out of the real world" he said.
"You can delete that"
/
Day 3
The next morning, Ankoku woke up to a vision of Namine.
She had met the witch back when she agreed to return to Hikari.
She didn't know why she saw her, but she had a feeling it was important.
She got up for the day to see what Diz had prepared for them.
/
She was heading towards the usual spot when she saw Roxas coming out from there.
"What's up, Roxas?" she asked.
Roxas smiled.
"We're going to the beach today" he said.
"Hayner has it all covered"
Ankoku smiled.
"That's good" she said.
They were heading towards the train station when they ran into Pence and Olette.
"Morning" Olette said.
They started walking towards them when they suddenly froze.
Ankoku raised an eyebrow.
"What the?"
Roxas went up to them but stopped when Namine stood in front of him.
The witch smiled kindly at him.
"Hello, Roxas" she said.
Ankoku's eyes bugged out.
What was Namine doing in the program?
Roxas was about to say something, but Namine stopped him.
"I wanted to meet you at least once" she said.
Roxas blushed a little.
"Me?" he asked.
Namine nodded.
"Yes, you" she said.
She started walking towards the sandlot.
When she disappeared, Pence and Olette started walking again.
"Olette dragged me along to go shopping" Pence said.
Roxas just ignored them and looked where Namine went.
"Did she head towards the woods?" he thought out loud.
He ran in that direction with Ankoku hot on his heels.
This was not going to be good.
/
"Roxas! Don't go in there!"
Ankoku caught up with him and the entrance of the woods and gasped.
A group of Dusks appeared out of nowhere and chased them towards the sandlot.
When they got there, they were greeted by Seifer and his gang.
"Hey, chicken wuss" he said.
Ankoku glared at him.
"We don't have time for this" she said.
But it was too late.
The Dusks surrounded them.
Roxas pulled out his Struggle bat and pointed it at the Dusks.
Ankoku didn't know what to use since she couldn't summon her keyblade.
She just had to stay back and let her brother fail at destroying the enemy.
When it appeared to be hopeless, Namine showed up.
"Use the keyblade!" she cried to them.
Roxas looked confused.
Before he or Ankoku could say anything, they were suddenly thrown into some kind of place where there was a stained glass floor.
The image that was created in it was a picture of Sora at one end while Hikari was at the other.
The islands made up the background while their closest comrades were in the middle.
Donald, Goofy, Kairi, Riku and Taiyouko's images all glowed brightly.
Ankoku looked around.
"What's going on?" she asked.
A stained glass pathway lit up and lead them to an upper floor.
Roxas tugged on his sister's arm.
"Come on, let's check it out" he said.
Ankoku sighed.
"Alright, fine" she said.
She didn't think it would be so bad.
Wrong.
When they got to the top, a giant nobody was waiting for them.
Ankoku summoned her keyblade, not caring that she wasn't supposed to.
It didn't seem to bother Roxas since he summoned his as well.
'I guess Diz made it so he could summon it in situations like this" she thought.
They attacked the nobody with ease.
They let their bodies control their movements and let their instincts drive them.
When the nobody was destroyed they were both engulfed in darkness.
Ankoku held onto Roxas's hand, not knowing what was going to happen next.
When she suddenly saw a light, she opened her eyes.
She found herself in a white room with Namine sitting up on a seat.
Ankoku looked at her.
"What are you doing?" she mouthed.
Namine shushed her, but made it seem like she was shushing Roxas, who was about to speak.
"My name is Namine" she said.
She looked at Roxas.
"Roxas…do you remember your true name?"
Riku suddenly appeared and pulled her up.
"Say no more, Namine" he said.
Namine looked at him sadly.
"But if no one tells him, Roxas will…"
"It's best that he doesn't know" Riku said.
Roxas glared at him.
"Hey! You're that pit pocket!" he said.
Riku gave him a dull look from his hood and opened a portal.
Roxas back away from it, but Riku suddenly appeared behind him and shoved him through.
Ankoku gave him a dull glare.
"Was that necessary?" she asked.
Riku just looked at her.
Ankoku held her hands up in defeat.
"I'm going, I'm going" she said.
She walked through the portal and headed back to Twilight Town.
/
When she came back, she saw Roxas headed out from the usual spot looking sad.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
Roxas looked at his twin.
"Nothing, just a misunderstanding with Hayner" he said.
Ankoku just gripped his shoulder.
"Let's head home" she said.
"You have a big day tomorrow"
Roxas nodded.
"Yeah" he said.
They headed back home, where Tsukiko was waiting for them.
/
Restoration at 48%
Diz scowled at the monitor.
Riku and Taiyouko slowly came up to him.
"Was that Namine made up of data?"Riku asked.
Diz shook his head.
"No" he said.
"Namine hijacked the data herself. Look what she's done now…she's totally beyond my control!"
He slammed his fist on one of the monitors.
"Calm down" Taiyouko said.
"At least she boost the restoration up by 36%. It's better that what you were doing"
Diz glared at her.
"It doesn't matter" he said.
"As long as she accomplishes her goal…we needn't worry about what befalls Roxas and Ankoku"
The three of them just watched the monitors for the time being.
/
Day 4
It was the big struggle match in Twilight Town.
Everyone gathered to see their favorite players compete.
Tsukiko looked at Roxas and smiled.
"You'll just win, I know it" she said.
Roxas gave her a weak grin.
"Thanks"
Ankoku knew he was mulling over what happened yesterday.
Hayner really didn't talk to him after they fought that nobody.
He thought they were hanging with Seifer for the day instead of them.
She ruffled his hair.
"Don't worry about things like this" she said.
"Just go out and have fun"
Roxas nodded.
"Right"
"We'll be cheering for you" Tsukiko said.
They sat on the bleachers and watched as Roxas was about to fight Hayner.
Seifer walked past them and smirked when he saw Tsukiko.
"Hey, Tsukiko. When are you going to go out with me?" he asked.
Ankoku growled.
Did Diz programmed this?
Tsukiko glared at him.
"How about never?" she replied.
"I already have a man, and he's a hundred times better than you'll ever be"
Seifer just snorted.
"If he's so awesome, then where is he?" he asked.
When Tsukiko didn't say anything, he just smirked.
"Once I win this tournament, I win a date with you" he said.
Ankoku growled.
"Beat it, you creep!" she said.
Seifer just laughed as he walked away.
Ankoku looked at Tsukiko.
"Don't pay attention to him" she said.
Tsukiko just looked at the ground.
Her mind traveled to Axel.
Ankoku bit her lip.
This was another reason why she thought this was her fault.
Since Tsukiko was here, she would never see Axel again.
She may have been a nobody, but she was madly in love with the red head.
If she returned to Taiyouko, it would crush her.
"If only she had a miracle" she thought.
When Roxas's match started, she started cheering for her brother.
She had a feeling that Diz would program him to win, but she wanted to show that she supported her brother.
She wanted to make these last few days memorable.
When Roxas won, she jumped up and down.
"Go Roxas!" she cried.
Tsukiko clapped and smiled sadly.
The next match was Seifer vs. Vivi.
Seifer blew a kiss at Tsukiko while Ankoku flipped him off.
When the match started, everyone was surprised to see Vivi have the upper hand.
"How would have thought that such a little guy could have so much in him" Tsukiko said.
When Vivi won, Ankoku laughed as Seifer.
"Looks like you won't be getting that date" she said.
Seifer just glared at him and walked away.
Since Roxas and Vivi were the winners of their own match, that meant they had to face each other.
Vivi seemed to have the upper hand for a while, but Roxas managed to fight his way back.
When he went to land the finishing blow, everything around his stopped.
Ankoku and Tsukiko stood up and looked around.
"What's going on?" Tsukiko asked.
"Is this part of Diz's program?" Ankoku asked to herself.
Just then, Vivi started acting differently.
His body glowed before transforming into a Dusk.
Ankoku and Tsukiko summoned their weapons and jumped on the stage.
Roxas was confused for a second, but summoned his keyblade.
They attacked the dusks that littered the area.
Ankoku noticed that although Tsukiko just remembered being a nobody, she knew how to use her scythe.
When they got rid of the nobodies, they heard someone applauding them.
Roxas and Ankoku turned around to see a guy wearing a Organization cloak clapping .
Ankoku knew right away that this wasn't Riku.
"Roxas, Ankoku. Alright, fight, fight, fight"
Ankoku gasped.
She knew that voice.
Roxas on the other hand didn't.
The man looked disappointed.
"You really don't remember?. But is seems like your sister does" he said.
He pulled his hood back to reveal a head of red spiky hair.
"It's me. You know, Axel"
Tsukiko gasped when she saw her boyfriend.
"Axel!"
The red head looked surprised.
"Tsukiko?" he asked.
"What are you doing here?"
Tsukiko bit her lip and touched the collar around her neck.
Axel looked around the area.
"This town was his creation, huh?" he asked.
"Which means we don't have time for a Q & A"
He looked at the twins.
"You're both coming with me, conscious or not"
He summoned his Chakrams.
Ankoku glared at him and held her keyblade out.
"Go ahead and try!" she said.
Just then, everything started to move slightly.
"Uh oh" Axel said.
Roxas got into a fighting stance.
"All right, you asked for it!" he said.
Tsukiko went to stop them, but was zapped by her collar.
Ankoku looked at her.
"Stay put if you don't want to get hurt" she said.
"I won't hurt him-much"
Tsukiko nodded slowly and stepped back.
Ankoku and Roxas charged at Axel.
The red head just smirked and blocked them with his Chakrams.
"You two are so predictable" he said.
"So are you" Ankoku said.
She kicked him in the chest and jumped out of the way.
They fought for a bit until Diz suddenly appeared.
Axel glared at him.
"So it was you" he said.
He set his Chakrams on fire and threw them at Diz.
They bounced off an invisible shield he put around himself.
Tsukiko couldn't take it anymore and ran towards Axel.
"Axel!" she cried.
Diz scowled.
"You troublesome nobody"
He pulled out the remote and zapped her.
Tsukiko fell to the ground and gripped her neck.
Axel panicked.
"Let her go!" he said.
He summoned back his Chakrams and positioned himself to throw them.
Diz just scoffed and went over to Tsukiko.
He picked her up by the back of her collar.
"I guess leaving you here is too troublesome" he said.
Ankoku glared at him.
"She didn't do anything" she said.
Diz glared at her.
"Keep your mouth shut" he said.
"You need to play your part, or else Roxas will start to remember"
He looked at Roxas, who was quiet the whole time.
"Roxas, this man speak nonsense!" he said.
Axel glared at him before looking at his friend.
"Roxas, don't let him deceive you!"
They continued to call out to him until he couldn't take it anymore.
Ankoku looked at Axel and Diz.
"Just go" she said.
"You're just going to make it worse"
Diz nodded and started dragging Tsukiko back to the portal he created.
Axel growled and went to charge at him, but Ankoku stopped him.
"If you don't want her to get hurt, then just leave" she said.
Axel glared at her.
"So you really have betrayed us" he said.
Ankoku glared back.
"You're one to talk" she said.
"Now leave"
Axel just scowled and opened a portal.
He looked at his unconscious girlfriend being dragged away.
"If he does anything to harm her, he's toast" he said.
Ankoku nodded.
"I'll make sure that doesn't happen" she said.
The red head nodded and walked through the portal.
"This isn't over" he said.
Ankoku sighed and went back to her brother.
Diz must have done something since everyone was back to normal.
She watched her brother fight Setzer and win the champion belt.
/
After the match, the group sat up on the clock tower.
Roxas admired the trophy he won.
"You did awesome, Roxas" Ankoku said.
He smiled.
"Thanks" he said.
He pulled off the crystals that adored the trophy and handed one of them to his friends.
Hayner got the red one.
Olette got the yellow.
Pence got the green.
Ankoku got the white.
And Roxas got the blue.
Ankoku made a face.
"Hey, why do you get the blue one?" she asked.
"That's my favorite color"
Roxas just grinned at her.
"I won the trophy, I get to pick which crystal I want" he said.
Ankoku just stuck her tongue out.
"I got a present for us" Olette said.
She held up sea salt ice cream.
Roxas stood up to grab his, but he lost his footing and slipped off the edge.
Ankoku panicked and went to grab him, but she got dragged instead.
As fell to her probable doom, she saw a vision of a certain girl with maroon hair.
/
On the quiet streets of Destiny Islands, Kairi was walking home from school.
"Kairi! Wait up!"
Kairi turned around to see Selphine run up to her.
The brunette smiled as they walked.
"Hey, do you feel like going out to the island?" she asked.
"Tidus and Wakka are all wrapped up in their ballgame and won't go with me"
Kairi gave her an apologetic grin.
"Not today, sorry" she said.
Selphine looked at her.
"Aw, why not?" she asked.
Kairi looked out at the ocean.
"Do you remember those boys and girl who used to hang out with us?" she asked.
Selphine tilted her head.
"Riku?" she asked.
Kairi nodded.
"Yeah" she said.
"I wonder what happened to him?" Selphine asked.
"I sure miss him"
Kairi smiled softly.
"He's far away" she said.
"But I know we'll see him again"
Selphine nodded.
"Sure. Of course we will" she said.
Kairi looked at the ground.
"And the other two?" she asked.
Selphine tilted her head.
"What other two?" she asked.
"The ones who were with Riku and me all the time-we played together on that island" Kairi said.
She looked at the island that they all played on.
"Their voices used to be there…but now they're gone" she said.
"I can't think of their faces, or their names. I feel awful about it. So I told myself-I'm never going back to the island until I remember everything about them"
Selphine looked at her.
"Are you sure you didn't make them up?" she asked.
Kairi nodded.
"Namine?"
Kairi grabbed her head.
As Roxas and Ankoku were falling, they heard a voice.
"Namine…what's happening to me?" Roxas thought.
Ankoku's head grew fuzzy, but it cleared up when she heard a voice.
She never heard it before, but it sounded familiar.
"Who are you? And that's not my name. I'm Kairi"
Ankoku gasped.
That was Hikari's best friend.
"Kairi…" Roxas thought.
"I know you. You're that girl he really likes"
"And you're her best friend" Ankoku added.
Kairi gasped.
"Who?" she asked.
When they didn't say anything, she spoke again.
"Please, some names!"
"I'm Roxas" Roxas said.
"And I'm Ankoku" Ankoku added.
Kairi sighed.
"Okay, Roxas, Ankoku. But can you tell me THEIR names?"
Just then, two new voices were heard.
"You don't remember my name? Thanks a lot, Kairi" a boy said.
"Yeah. How could you forget about your best friend in the whole world?" a girl added.
Kairi gasped.
The two voices chuckled.
"O-kay, I guess I can give you a hint. Starts with an 'S'" the boy said.
"And mine starts with an 'H'" the girl said.
After they said that, everything went black for Roxas and Ankoku.
/
Back on the islands, Kairi's eyes fluttered open.
She sat up from passing out on the ground and looked around.
Selphine knelt next to her.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
Kairi nodded.
They both stood up and looked at the Island.
Kairi smiled at Selphine and stared running towards the beach.
When she got there, she pulled out a bottle with a letter stuck inside it.
Selphine caught up with her.
"Kairi?" she asked.
Kairi knelt down and dropped the bottle in the water.
They both watched as it sailed away.
"What's that?" Selphine asked.
"A letter…I wrote it yesterday, to the boy and girl I can't remember" Kairi said.
"I said that no matter where they are…I'll find them. One day. And when I stopped writing, I remembered we made a promise, something important. This letter is where it starts. I know it"
Selphine watched as the bottle got smaller and smaller.
"Wow…I hope they get it" she said.
Kairi smiled.
"They will" she said.
She looked at the sand.
"One starts with an 'S' while the other starts with an 'H'" she muttered.
"Right, Sora…Hikari?"
/
Restoration at 79%
Diz looked at the computers.
"Their progress is astounding" he said.
Riku held the crystals that Roxas and Ankoku had from the trophy.
"So what happened?" he asked.
He looked at Tsukiko who was still out.
He scowled.
Taiyouko was going to have a field day when she saw this.
"Namine's encounter with Roxas and Ankoku put their hearts in contact with Kairi's" Diz said.
"And that, in turn, affected Sora and Hikari"
Riku looked at the screen.
"Namine…she's a wonder" he said.
Diz typed something in.
"She wasn't born like other nobodies" he said.
"Then again, neither was Ankoku"
Riku looked away.
He knew very well that she was different.
"If you need me, I'll be with Taiyouko" he said.
He started to walk away, but Diz stopped.
"I wouldn't get too attached to her if I were you" he said.
"She's a sorceress, and they are very dangerous people. Interacting with her will be the last thing that you'll ever do"
Riku glared at him.
How could he say that.
"Don't forget that she's also your daughter" he said.
"Hikari is no different"
He stormed out of the room before he could do anything else.
Diz sighed and looked at the monitor that held Hikari's image.
"I'm well aware of that" he said.
/
Day 5
Ankoku woke up to find herself in her bed.
"Diz must have done this" she said.
She sat up and rubbed her head.
That little encounter with Kairi really affected her.
She was able to finally hear Hikari's voice.
"I think that will be the only time that I'll hear it" she said.
She looked around her room for a moment before remembering that Diz took Tsukiko out of the program.
Thoughts of him sending her back to Taiyouko flashed through her head.
She jumped up and ran out of her room.
She couldn't let Diz do that.
She knocked on Roxas's door.
Her twin cracked the door open and gave her a tired stare.
"What is it, Sis?" he asked.
"I'm going to be busy today" Ankoku said.
"So you go ahead and hang out with the gang today"
Roxas raised an eyebrow.
"What are you going to do?"
Ankoku started walking away.
She didn't have much time.
"Stuff" she said.
/
When she felt that she was in a deserted place, Ankoku opened up a portal.
"It's a good thing Diz didn't swipe my memory" she said.
"Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to do this"
She went through the portal and hoped she would give Diz a scare.
/
Taiyouko was with Namine in her room.
She watched as the witch worked on her latest drawing.
The sorceress smiled softly.
"You're really amazing when it comes to drawing, Namine" she said.
The witch smiled kindly.
"Thank you" she said.
She turned to a certain page in her notebook and revealed the picture that Hikari made for her.
She smiled sadly.
"It's going to be hard when she doesn't remember me" she said.
"I wanted to be friends with her"
Taiyouko placed a hand on her shoulder.
"You want to know something about her powers?" she asked.
"Even if she forgets something, her powers will always remember for her. All she has to do is see you again and she'll remember the promise she made with you"
She smiled weakly.
"That's one of the flaws in her powers. She can remember everything…even things that were best left forgotten"
Namine looked at her confused.
What did she mean by that?
Just then, a portal opened up and Ankoku appeared
Taiyouko looked surprised, as did Namine.
"What are you doing here?" Taiyouko asked.
Ankoku looked at her.
"I wanted to make sure Diz didn't do anything to Tsukiko" she said.
Taiyouko nodded.
Now she understood.
She was upset herself when she saw him dragging her nobody like a corpse.
Riku had to hold her back just so she wouldn't kill him.
"Don't worry, she's fine" she said.
Diz was going to bring her back into the program tomorrow. After all…it'll be the last day"
Ankoku nodded grimly.
Tomorrow she would have to return to Hikari while Roxas returned to Sora.
Taiyouko sighed sadly.
"Frankly, I don't want Tsukiko to return back" she said.
"That's the reason I made her a heart. I wanted her to be free"
She gave her daughter's nobody a sad smile.
"I would do the same for you…but my powers aren't what they used to be"
Ankoku shook her head.
"It's fine" she said.
"It's better this way"
Riku came into the room.
"Taiyouko, Diz wanted to ask…"
He stopped when he saw Ankoku.
"What are you doing here?"
Ankoku crossed her arms.
She still found it odd that she was talking to him.
After his little fight with Roxas, his voice and appearance changed drastically.
He kept hid hood up the whole time because of it.
"I'm just making sure you didn't do anything to my friend" she said.
Riku scowled.
"Just go back to the data world before Diz finds you here" he said.
Ankoku shrugged.
"Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed today" she said.
She went through the portal that she came in and headed back to the data world before anyone found out.
Riku turned to Taiyouko.
"Diz wants us" he said.
The sorceress nodded and followed him out the room.
The mysterious man was waiting for them in one of the rooms.
He looked up when he saw his two colleges enter the room.
He noticed that Taiyouko wore a scowl on her face.
"She still hates me" he thought.
"Are the holes in your memory starting to fill up?" he asked.
They both nodded.
"Yes…the haze is clearing" Riku said.
He sat in a chair while Taiyouko stood.
"The same thing is happening to everyone who had ties to Sora and Hikari" Diz said.
"Very soon, to them, they'll be like good friends who have been gone for a year"
Riku looked at him.
Now that their job was almost complete, he wanted to know why Diz was willing to help them for a year.
"I've waited, and now I want to know" he said.
"What is it you want?"
Diz gave them a serious stare.
"Revenge" he said.
Riku's hand curled around the arm of the seat.
"Revenge?" he asked.
Diz nodded.
"Now, for the finishing touches" he said.
"First, we must dispose of Namine. She did a splendid job with Sora and Hikari, but it's high time she disappeared. Roxas and Ankoku aren't the only ones who weren't suppose to exist"
Riku's blood was boiling.
So that was why he helped them?
He wanted to use Sora and Hikari to fulfill his plans.
Taiyouko was fuming.
"You monsters!"
She stormed up to him and slapped him hard across the face.
Riku shot up and held Taiyouko back as she tried to hit Diz again.
She had angry tears in her eyes.
"I should have known you would do something like this!" She cried.
"I found it strange that you would want to help your granddaughter, after not being in her life for so long. I thought you wanted to help her because she was your family and because you loved her"
Diz gave her a dull look.
"Who could ever love a sorceress?" he asked.
Riku paled.
He knew how sensitive Taiyouko was about that.
Diz looked like he regretted saying that because he noticed Taiyouko's face went blank.
"So it finally comes out" she said.
Diz stood up.
"Taiyouko, listen" he said.
She shook her head.
"You know…if there was one person that I wish perished with our world…it would have to be you"
She had tears running down her face.
"Why did I have to have you for my parent?"
She stormed out of the room and started crying.
Riku looked at Diz.
"This is where I draw the line" he said.
He started walking away before looking back at him.
"Oh, and by the way. I fell in love with a sorceress. Are you disgusted with me?"
He walked away to find Taiyouko.
Diz sighed as he sat back in his seat.
"What have I done?" he asked.
/
Riku found Taiyouko crying in the hallway.
He walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Taiyouko" he said.
The sorceress wiped her eyes.
"He's got a lot of nerve to say that to me" she said.
"He thinks that just because he's my dad, he knows everything about me. Well he doesn't! He never has"
Riku looked at her sadly.
"I wish I could say that I know you better than him" he said.
"But frankly…I hardly know anything about you"
Taiyouko looked at him and gave him a weak smile.
"I figured you had a lot of questions you wanted to ask me" she said.
"But being the gentleman that you are…you never asked"
She started walking towards her room.
She ushered Riku to follow her.
"I think it's time that I told you about everything" she said.
"About myself…and about Hikari's dark past"
/
Day 6
The next morning, Ankoku's body felt really heavy.
All of Hikari's memories had filled her up to the point that she felt like bursting.
Her mind swam with so many thoughts.
To add to her problems, Roxas started to remember from back when they were in the Organization.
He didn't remember all of the stuff, but just the part that they were all friends with Axel.
She sighed as she got up.
"This is my last day, so I might as well make it memorable" she said.
She got dressed and went to wake her brother up.
Her insides twisted as she knew what was going to happen to him.
"I know this is wrong, but it has to be done" she thought.
Before they left, they saw Tsukiko.
The older nobody looked like she didn't get any sleep.
Either Diz zapped her for too long, or she was up thinking about today.
She hugged each of them tightly.
"I'm going to miss you both so much" she said.
Roxas looked confused.
"Why?" he asked.
"We'll be back later"
Tsukiko smiled weakly.
"I just miss you when you're gone" she said.
"I just feel lonely when you're not around"
Roxas hugged her again.
"We'll go have ice cream later since it's our last day of summer vacation" he said.
Tsukiko nodded.
"That sounds nice" she said.
He walked out of the apartment while Ankoku stayed behind.
She gave Tsukiko a weak smile.
"Come on, Tsukiko" she said.
"It won't be so bad. We're finally going to meet our other halves"
Tsukiko wiped the tears from her eyes.
"I don't want you to do this" she said.
"You belong here. You shouldn't go back to this Hikari girl"
Ankoku shook her head.
"This is the right choice" she said.
"It's what my instincts tell me. Since I don't have a heart, I'm just going to follow it"
Tsukiko looked at the ground.
"I should have never told you that" she said.
Ankoku chuckled weakly.
She hugged her friend, for what would be the last time.
"Just remember that you were my best friend" she said.
"Thanks for giving me such awesome memories"
Tsukiko hugged her tightly and cried silently.
"Since you're going to return to your other self, then that means I'll return to mine" she said.
She pulled away and smiled weakly at her.
"Let's meet on the other side"
Ankoku nodded.
"I'll be waiting" she said.
She waved goodbye and ran after Roxas.
When she was out of sight, Riku appeared before her.
"I take it you're here to return me to Taiyouko?" she asked.
Riku held out his hand.
"Just follow me" he said.
Tsukiko sighed.
"It's not like I have anything else here" she said.
She followed him through a portal to face her fate.
/
When Ankoku ran towards the usual spot, she crashed into her brother.
Roxas looked upset about something.
"What's wrong, Roxas?" Ankoku asked.
"It's the gang!" he said.
"They didn't notice me! And when I looked at the pictures of us, we weren't in the group! I don't know what's wrong!"
Ankoku figured that Diz did this.
He didn't want them to be attached to the data friends that he created.
Ankoku sighed.
She knew she couldn't lie and say don't worry about it.
He needed to know the truth.
She gripped his shoulder.
"Roxas, Listen-"
She was interrupted when a portal opened up to reveal Axel.
The red head sighed.
"Look at what it's come to" he said.
"I've been given these icky orders to destroy you both-if you refuse to come back with me"
Ankoku growled.
"I thought I told you to leave!" she said.
Roxas studied him for a moment.
"We're…best friends, right?" he asked.
Axle looked off to the side.
"Sure…but I'm not getting turned into a Dusk for…"
He realized what Roxas said.
"Wait a sec! you remember now?"
Roxas nodded.
Axel grinned.
"Great!"
He studied him for a sec.
"What's our boss's name?" he asked.
Roxas looked puzzled for a sec.
That was all Axel needed.
"Can't believe this…" he said.
Ankoku summoned her keyblade.
"Well you better start" she said.
Axel glared at her and summoned his Chakrams.
He went to throw one at her, but he seemed to have frozen in place.
Ankoku raised an eyebrow.
"Huh?"
Just then, they heard Diz talk.
"Roxas, Ankoku, to the mansion!"
This was it.
Ankoku tugged on her brother's arm.
"Come on, let's go" she said.
Roxas looked startled.
"But"
Ankoku looked at him.
"Do you want to stay here when Axel unfreezes? Let's go!"
They ran towards where the mansion was.
/
When they left, Axel was unfrozen.
He sighed as he shook his head.
"The Roxas and Ankoku I know are long gone" he said.
He looked off into the distance darkly.
"Fine, I see how it is…"
/
As the twins ran towards the mansion, they kept getting attacked by nobodies.
They slashed through them with their keyblades and kept running.
"Why are we going to the mansion?" Roxas asked.
Ankoku looked over her shoulder to him.
"I don't know" she said.
"It's just a gut instinct"
They ran through the woods and made it to the mansion.
They would have gone in, had the gates been unlocked.
Ankoku looked over her shoulder to see a group of Dusks surround them.
Roxas banged his fist against the gates.
"Now what?" he asked.
He looked at his keyblade for a second.
Ankoku came up with an idea and pointed hers towards the lock.
Roxas did the same and watched as a beam of light shot out from them.
The gates opened up for them.
When they ran into the mansion, Riku and Taiyouko stood in front of the gates.
They both drew their weapons and aimed them at the dusks.
"This is as far as you go" Taiyouko said.
/
When they went into the mansion, Roxas looked at his sister.
"I think Namine's room is here" he said.
"I want to see if she's here too"
Ankoku nodded.
They went up the stairs and entered the white room.
Pictures were littered everywhere.
When Roxas came to a certain one, his head started to hurt.
Ankoku looked at him.
"Roxas?" she asked.
When the pain died away, he looked at the table to see Namine sitting there.
"Organization Xlll…" he said.
"They're a bad group"
Namine just shrugged.
"Bad or good, I don't know" she said.
"They're a group of incomplete people who wish to be whole. To that end, they're desperately trying to search for something"
"What?" Roxas asked.
Namine looked at him gravely.
"Kingdom Hearts" she said.
Roxas chuckled weakly.
"You think this is funny?" Ankoku asked.
Roxas shook his head.
"It's just…" he said.
"I think-I've been running from the questions that I want answered: what's going to happen to me?"
He looked at Namine for an answer.
Namine sighed.
"You are…"
As she was about to say the rest, she disappeared.
Ankoku realized she was a data version.
Just then, Diz appeared.
"There's no knowledge that has the power to change your fate" he said.
Roxas glared at him.
"Even if it doesn't, I wanna know" he said.
"I have the right to know!"
Diz scoffed.
"A nobody doesn't have a right to know" he said.
"Nor does it even have a right to be"
"But what IS a nobody?" Roxas asked
Ankoku glared at Diz.
"Come on, just tell him" she said.
Diz glared at her.
"Silence" he said.
Just then, Riku and Taiyouko appeared.
"Diz, we're out of time" Riku said.
"Too many nobodies!"
Another portal opened up and the Namine appeared.
She looked frantic as she saw Roxas.
"Roxas. Nobodies like us are only half a person" she said.
"You won't disappear. You'll be whole!"
Roxas panicked.
"I'll…disappear?" he asked.
Diz glared at Namine.
"No further outburst!" he said.
He went over to her and started dragging her back through the portal, but she struggled.
"No, you WON'T disappear!" she said.
Roxas went to help her, but Riku and Taiyouko blocked his way.
Namine pulled Diz's hand from her mouth.
"Roxas, Ankoku, we'll meet again" she said.
"And then we can talk about everything. I may not know it's you, and you may not know it's me. But we will meet again, I promise"
With that, Diz closed the portal on them.
"Namine!" Roxas cried.
Taiyouko looked at them.
"Go to the library" she said.
"You'll find your answers there"
Riku opened a portal for them and too Taiyouko somewhere safe.
Ankoku looked at her brother.
"Come on" she said.
She tugged him towards the library.
/
When they got to the library, they saw a table with a strange symbol on it.
It was incomplete, but Ankoku got a vision of what the next symbol would be.
When she drew it in, a secret path way that lead downstairs opened up for them.
They slowly walked through the computerized area.
When they got to a set of computers, Roxas gripped his head.
Memories of when he was in the Organization and how he ended up here flashed through his mind.
In his anger, he smashed the computer with his keyblade.
Ankoku pulled him back.
"Roxas, stop!" she cried.
"Smashing things won't solve anything"
Roxas glared at her.
"But I remembered everything" he said.
Ankoku sighed.
"And what good is it going to do for us now?" she asked.
She pointed towards a door that lead further into the room.
"Let's go" she said.
"I have a feeling that we'll find our answers in there"
They walked through the dark room and came face to face with a group of nobodies.
They managed to destroy them all, but they weren't out of the woods yet.
Axel appeared and walked towards them.
"Simply amazing, you guys" he said.
Ankoku sighed.
"You never quit, do you?" she asked.
Roxas looked at him.
"Axel" he said.
The red head smirked darkly at him.
"You really do remember me this time?" he said.
"I'm SO FLATTERED!"
A ring of fire caged them all in.
"But you're too late!" Axel cried.
The twins glared at him.
It seemed like talking wasn't going to get them anywhere, so they had to use force.
They both summoned their keyblades, along with their second set.
Axel looked surprised.
"Two?" he asked.
He summoned his Chakrams and smiled evilly at them.
"Come here, I'll make it all stop" he said.
Ankoku glared at him.
"Give it up!"
They both attacked him without mercy.
They were no longer friends, but enemies.
All of the memories they made in the Organization shattered up to this point.
Axel seemed to put his all in the fight, but it seemed the twins were too much for him.
He couldn't block four keyblades at the same time.
The fires died out when Axel was defeated.
He dropped his Chakrams and let them burst into flames.
Roxas looked at him.
"Axel" he said.
The red head weakly smiled at them.
"Let's meet again…in the next life" he said.
Roxas nodded.
"Sure. We'll be waiting" he said.
Axel chuckled weakly.
"Silly" he said.
"Just because you two have a next life"
Ankoku walked up to him.
She despite everything that happened between them, Axel was still her friend.
She didn't want to leave on bad terms.
"I'm sorry, Axel" she said.
"But this is our fate. We've decided on it a long time ago"
Axel gave her a defeated look.
"You would rather go back to your original self, than to be with your friends?" he asked.
Ankoku shook her head.
"No" she said.
"I'm going back, because I want to protect my friends"
She gave him a serious look.
"Just because we choose our fate, doesn't mean Tsukiko choose hers" she said.
She wanted her closet friend to be saved, even if it wasn't from her.
"Instead of wasting your strength on bringing us back, why not use it to save her? After all, she is your girlfriend"
Axel gave her a weak chuckle.
"I guess you're right" he said.
He gave a weak smile.
"See ya, Ankoku…and…I'm sorry"
Ankoku nodded.
"I'll be seeing you"
With that, Axel vanished through a portal.
Ankoku looked at Roxas.
"Let's go" she said.
He nodded and they headed through the next room.
/
Pods lined the walls of the next room.
As they were walking, they noticed to figures sleeping in them.
It was the duck and dog that they saw in Sora and Hikari's memories.
"Donald" Roxas said.
"Goofy" Ankoku added.
They looked at the door that stood in front of them.
"That's where Sora and Hikari's pods are" Ankoku thought.
So this was it.
This was her final moment as Ankoku.
She looked at Roxas.
This would be the final time that she was a twin.
The final time that she saw Roxas.
"Roxas" she said.
She gripped his shoulder.
"I just want you to know, that no matter what happens, I'll be there for you" she said.
"Since we're twins, we'll do everything together"
Roxas raised an eyebrow.
"What brought that up?" he asked.
Ankoku chuckled and rubbed her head.
"I guess it's my sibling side coming out" she said.
They walked through the door, where they would face their final moments.
/
Diz was waiting for them.
He seemed to look relieved that they finally came.
"At last, they keyblades chosen ones" he said.
Roxas glared at him.
"Who are you talking t?" he asked.
"Us? Or Sora and Hikari?"
"To half of them, of course" Diz said.
"You reside in darkness. What I need are those who can move about in the realm of light and destroy Organization Xlll"
Roxas just continued to glare at him.
"Why? Who are you?" he asked.
"I am a servant of the world" Diz said.
He chuckled a little.
"And if I'm a servant, then you both should consider yourselves as tools, at best"
That tick Roxas off.
"Was that…was that suppose to be some kind of joke?" he asked.
He summoned his keybade.
"Cause I'm not laughing!"
He charged at Diz, only to find himself going through him.
"My apologies" Diz said.
"This is only a data-based projection"
Roxas shouted in frustration.
He slashed through the projected Diz before he ran out of energy.
Ankoku went up to him and gripped his shoulder.
"Roxas…"
He pulled out of her grasp and glared at her.
"You knew what was going on this whole time, didn't you?" he snapped.
Ankoku looked at him for a moment, before looking at the ground.
"Yeah" she said quietly.
Roxas growled.
"How could you keep this from me?" he asked.
"I thought we were twins? I thought we told each other everything?"
Ankoku glared at him.
"Would you believe me if I told you?" she asked.
"Besides, Diz wouldn't let me. It's hard enough on me as it is"
She had tear slide down her face.
"So instead of making me feel worse than garbage, how about you just do as your 'heart' says? I know you wanted to go to Sora. It's the same for me with Hikari"
She held out her hand.
"I said it before. We're twins, so we'll go together"
She thought he would shove her hand away, but she was surprised that he gripped it.
"As if I'd let you leave me alone" he said.
Ankoku smiled weakly.
"Let's go back…" she said.
"Back to where we belong"
Roxas nodded slowly before they walked up to the pods.
They let go when they got to where their other halves were sleeping.
Ankoku looked at Roxas one last time before looking at the pod.
She felt a lump in her throat when she saw it open.
When she saw a slightly older Hikari sleeping, she smiled weakly.
"Hikari…" she said quietly.
"I wish I could have met you when you were awake…but I guess this is good enough"
She smiled weakly.
"You take care now"
She watched as her body started to vanish.
"Looks like my little vacation's…over"
With that, she closed her eyes and returned to her original self.
/
A/N: (wipes forehead) man, that was hard! I apologize again if it was too long. I wanted to get Ankoku in one chapter so we could see Hikari in the next.
I'm sure you have lots of questions about this chapter, like what happened to Tsukiko? Or what did Taiyouko say to Riku?
Those shall be answered as the story progresses.
Please review and tell me what you think.
Bye, Ankoku. We'll miss you!
Ja ne