Chapter 10: The Sound of the Tides
A/N: Hey everyone! This is where the story starts to lean away from the game line. It won't be that extreme, but just a little for Ankoku's story line to fit in. Hope you don't mind.
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts; I just own Ankoku and Tsukiko.
Enjoy!
/
Ankoku found herself walking along a dark beach.
She never recalled being here before, but she knew the name.
The Dark Meridian.
As she walked across the beach, she saw someone wearing the Organization cloak sitting on a rock.
She could tell it was a man based on its body structure.
The man seemed to know she was standing in front of him since he spoke out.
"You have arrived" he said.
He looked at her.
His hood was up, so she couldn't see his face.
"I've been to see her" he said.
"She looks a lot like you"
Ankoku looked puzzled.
It was as if she knew who this man was, yet she didn't at the same time.
"Who are you?" she asked.
The man simply looked back towards the dark see.
"I'm what's left" he said.
"Or…maybe I'm all there ever was"
Ankoku glared at him.
That wasn't what she meant.
"I meant your name" she said.
"My name is of no importance" the man said.
He looked at her.
"What about you?" he asked.
"Do you remember your true name?"
Ankoku looked at the ground for a moment.
"My true name is…"
Now that she thought about it, what was her true name?
She felt that 'Ankoku' wasn't her real name, but she just couldn't think of anything.
The man seemed to notice this.
"You've been with us for six days now" he said.
He stood up from the rock and removed his hood to reveal himself to be Xemnas.
"The time has come"
He walked past her and patted her on the shoulder.
As he did, he said something to her, but she couldn't hear what it was.
She simply watched him as he walked across the beach and left her.
/
Ankoku was out cold on her bed.
Those images that she saw really messed with her head.
Xemnas and Saix stood next to her bed and watched her as she slept.
Xemnas was mildly surprised.
He never expected both of his keyblade masters to pass out during a mission.
He knew the reason behind all of this.
Saix seemed to know it as well.
"Namine must have begun her work…" he said.
Xemnas looked at his second in command.
"Will she wake from this?" he asked.
Saix nodded.
"I am told she will-provided that Namine strips the princess of all her memories" he said.
Xemnas pondered over this information.
Not only was Ankoku affected by this, but so was Roxas.
"Then much hinges on Castle Oblivion" he said.
"We needn't stop collecting hearts" Saix explained.
"Number XVI has gained power over the keyblades, just as we intended. Xion can fill their shoes for the time being"
Xemnas grinned darkly at that.
So not all was lost.
He looked at Saix.
"And the chamber?" he asked.
"Have you found it?"
Saix shook his head.
"No, sir" he said.
"I would say progress is slow…if we actually made any"
When Xemnas didn't say anything, Saix left.
Xemnas just watched as Ankoku slept.
"So, sleep has taken you yet again…" he said.
As he looked closely at her facial features, he couldn't help but notice how similar she looked to someone he knew.
"How ironic it is that you look exactly like her"
With that, he left her room so she could sleep.
/
Nearly two weeks went by since Roxas and Ankoku went to sleep.
And in that time, nothing really changed.
They still slept in their hibernated sleep while Xion collected hearts for them.
And after every mission, she would come to their rooms and see how they were doing.
Xion was in Ankoku's room while she slept.
She had hoped that she would be up by now, but it seemed that nothing changed.
She smiled sadly at her.
"I went to a new world today" she said.
"Ankoku, you should have seen it. It was so beautiful"
She placed something beside her pillow.
"Well, I'll visit you tomorrow, okay?" she said.
"Bye, Ankoku…"
She left the room and let Ankoku sleep.
What the keyblade didn't realize was that Xion had left a sea shells on her bed.
There was one for every day that she had been asleep.
/
As Ankoku slept, she saw a girl stepping into some type of white pod.
The girl turned around and revealed to have a face similar to hers.
They had the same facial structures, the same green eyes, and the same skin tone.
The only difference was that she had shoulder length brown hair that was pulled out of her face slightly with a red ribbon.
As the pod closed on the girl, Ankoku couldn't help but feel like she knew that girl.
/
Day 50
"I knew that I'd find you snoozing down here"
Ankoku's eyes fluttered opened as she heard someone's voice in her head.
It was some boy talking to her, but it sounded really familiar.
She opened her eyes fully and noticed that she was in her room.
She slowly sat up and looked around.
She spotted the sea shells on her pillow.
"Where did these come from?"
She picked one up and examined it.
As she looked at it, she envisioned a beach that had tropical trees bearing star shaped fruits hanging from it.
She placed the sea shell in her pocket and got out of bed.
"I wonder how long I've been asleep?" she said.
She went out to the main lobby to find the place to be empty.
No one was lounging around, waiting for their missions.
Not even Saix was here.
She rubbed her head in confusion.
This was odd.
"Sis?"
Ankoku turned around to see Roxas coming up to her.
She smiled as she saw her twin.
"Hey, Roxas" she said.
"Do you know what's going on?"
Roxas shook his head.
"No. I just got up" he said.
"Have you been asleep too?"
Ankoku nodded.
She looked around the lobby for a bit before grabbing Roxas's hand.
"Come on" she said.
"Since no one is here, then there's no point staying here"
They walked off and headed to the one place that they could relax.
/
The twins sat in their usual spot at the clock tower.
The sunset gave off a warm glow over the town.
The two of them didn't really say much.
They simply enjoyed the silence.
"R-Roxas? Ankoku!"
They turned to see Xion and Tsukiko standing by them.
Ankoku waved at them.
"Hey, guys" she said.
The two females walked over to them.
Roxas looked at Xion.
"Xion…what happened to us?" he asked.
Xion sat next to him while Tsukiko sat next to Ankoku.
"You were sleeping" Xion said.
"A long, long time"
Tsukiko nodded.
"Yeah, Xion kept coming here by herself after missions" she said.
"I had to keep her company because I just thought it was wrong to leave her by herself"
"Saix told us not to get our hopes up" Xion said.
"That you both might not-"
She looked at the sky.
"Well, you're both awake now. That's what counts"
Ankoku smiled at her.
"I guess you're right" she said.
Roxas rubbed his neck nervously.
"Ugh. I feel like a zombie" he said.
"Guess there's some things a nap can't cure"
The group laughed at his little joke.
Xion pulled out a set of sea shells and handed them to Roxas and Ankoku.
"Here, I brought you this"
They each took a shell and examined it.
"It's a sea shell" Xion explained.
"I've been picking one up every time I go out on a mission. Hold it up to your ear"
Ankoku examined hers.
Her shell was a nice shade of blue that was darker at the top and lighter at the bottom.
She placed to her ear and heard the sound of waves.
She almost felt as if she were by that ocean she had envisioned before.
As she was listening to the waves, she saw the image of a girl who looked exactly like Xion.
The only difference between them was that this girl had red hair and brighter blue eyes.
When she opened her eyes, she smiled at Xion.
"That's pretty cool" she said.
Roxas nodded in agreement.
Xion smiled at them.
"Thanks" she said.
They talked for the rest of the day until it was time to head back to the castle.
Before they did, Ankoku told Roxas and Xion to go on without her.
"I have some things that I want to take care of here" she said.
They both nodded and went through the portal.
Ankoku looked at Tsukiko, who was minding her own business.
She gulped slightly as she watched the older woman.
She just had to let her know what happened at Castle Oblivion.
Even though it might not have been Axel who got terminated, she still needed to know just in case.
She slowly approached Tsukiko and cleared her throat.
Tsukiko looked at Ankoku and smiled.
"Hey, Ankoku" she said.
"What are you still doing here?"
Ankoku dug her hands into her gloves.
She really didn't want to be the bearer of bad news, but she doubt that Roxas would tell her.
She let out a shaky breath before looking at her friend.
"Hey, Tsukiko" she said.
"Did Xion ever tell you what was going on at Castle Oblivion?"
Tsukiko shook her head.
"No, why?" she asked.
Ankoku bit the inside of her cheeks.
"Well…I guess word has it that….someone, although they don't know who...has been…terminated"
Tsukiko's smile fell and was replaced with worry.
"What?" she said.
Ankoku let the hair cover her eyes.
She really didn't want to see her friend like this.
"I said, one of the people who were sent to Castle Oblivion was terminated, although we don't know who"
Tsukiko touched the area where her necklace one stood.
The necklace that she gave to Axel.
"D-do you think it's Axel?" she said in a shaky voice.
Ankoku shrugged.
"I don't know" Ankoku said.
"Saix won't tell us who it was exactly, but he said it was likely"
Bad words to say.
Tears weld up in Tsukiko's eyes.
She held herself tightly as she shook her head.
"No" she said quietly.
"No…there's just no way…there's just no way that he would…"
She fell to her knees and held her face.
Her shoulders shook as she cried loudly.
"NO!" She cried.
Ankoku watched as Tsukiko simply broke down.
She had never seen her act this way and she was starting to freak out.
Why would she act this way?
She only said that it was likely that Axel was the one that was terminated, but she never said that was certain.
She just watched as the vision that she saw weeks before unraveled.
Tsukiko's whole body shook and trembled.
"Why?" she choked.
"Why did he have to die?"
Tears simply ran down her face like little waterfalls.
"AXEL!"
Ankoku slowly walked over to her and knelt in front of her.
She knew there was nothing she could do, but she had to calm her friend down.
She hugged Tsukiko as she continued to cry.
She rubbed her back while Tsukiko cried on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Tsukiko" she said quietly.
As they sat on the deserted streets of Twilight Town, Ankoku hoped that it wasn't Axel that was terminated and this vision never came true.
/
A/N: Poor Tsukiko. She probably just lost the love of her life! Hopefully it wasn't him that was terminated (although I'm sure you already know that)
Please review and tell me what you think, I'm desperate for them lately!
If I don't get reviews, I won't be able to continue on to the next story of the series!
And I'm sure you all want to see Riku and Taiyouko.
Please help me out, please!
Ja ne