Kingdom Hearts II The Untold Chronicles

Chapter Seven – Truth

"Shuku, you did say you two are the key to Kingdom Hearts?" Riku asked.

"Of course we are. Ashley just hasn't sprouted her wings yet. As you can see, I have mine." Shuku bragged.

"Yes, yes. I know the bearers of the key are branded with wings." Riku said.

"And?"

"The Kingdom Millennia Crystal is in your bones so it can't be extracted."

"Good boy. But how do you know so much about it?"

"Jack was right. The key is legend, but everyone thought it was just that. You two were forgotten when Organization XIII stole you two from the castle." Riku said. Shuku glared. Riku knew what had happened to them and hadn't come forward until now. She was pissed, but not too pissed to listen.

"We were taken… Master tried to save me…" Ashley's eyes filled with water.

"Whoa, slow down, Ashley. Don't start the waterworks yet. Riku, you got some explaining to do." Shuku threatened.

"Two years ago the key, you two, went missing with out a trace. The only lead we did have was a rumor that Organization XIII might have been behind the theft. It wasn't until half a year ago; I went undercover and infiltrated Organization XIII's labs." Riku said.

"Didn't you see us?" Shuku asked, wondering why he didn't help them.

"No. You guys were locked up tight. Stupid lackeys of Organization XIII boasted about how well the key research was going and that once they had extracted the key from your bodies—they would end you both. King Mickey made it top priority to shut down Organization XIII and get the key back. I was taken away from the lab facilities to be the king's body guard. Then I just never got around to it."

"You left us for dead?" Shuku was becoming enraged.

"I was reunited with Sora. I wanted to sit back and chill with Kairi, the girl who I thought loved me. Could you blame me for wanting the simple life for a change?" Riku sighed, looking down to Ashley. This part of the story wouldn't be what would break her heart.

"You said… Theft. Are we not people now?" Ashley asked Riku, hurt.

"She makes a point. I wasn't that focused on your terms of words—but theft? We were kidnapped!" Shuku shouted. Riku handed over the wheel to Tidus.

"Could you navigate west for me?" Riku asked, unable to concentrate.

"Sure." Tidus said.

"Look, if I had known that the key was invested into you two, I would have done something about it." Riku said.

"Shuku, tell me about Xehanort. It might help me jog my memories." Ashley asked. A smile came to her face when she said Xehanort. Riku winced.

"Ashley… It's best if she doesn't tell you." Riku said.

"Why not? I only have pleasant memories with our master." Shuku stated.

"I want to find him. Once we find Sora, we'll go to him." Ashley said.

He held back his anger. Ashley was falling out of love with him. He had to act quickly. Shuku was manipulating her with bias memories. Riku didn't want to mess up his approach but his anger was going to make him act unprofessional about it.

"Xehanort is dead!" Riku shouted. "He died sometime ago…" His voice softened.

"He what?" Shuku couldn't believe it. She didn't want to see the toll of the words on Ashley.

"Shuku, I thought you remembered. You didn't know he died?"

"We were locked up at the time, stupid!" Shuku argued.

"Riku, what happened?" Ashley asked.

"Some traumatic event caused Xehanort to give his heart to darkness two years ago. He gave up the name Xehanort and called himself Ansem. He became a Heartless and Sora had to vanquish him." Riku said. "Strange thing is… I knew Xehanort very well. When he wanted to put the worlds into darkness, I worked with him. I, too, submitted my heart to darkness."

"Oh, I see." Ashley said with tears streaming. "It's a shame I couldn't say goodbye."

"The traumatic event had to be us being taken away from him." Shuku said. Riku nodded.

"Without a doubt. He never told me why he submitted his heart to darkness. But I caught him many times watching fires. And now I know why…" Shuku smirked.

"Heh, she was always his favorite even though Master babied me more than her." Shuku said. Ashley stood up and slumped away. "You shouldn't have told her." Shuku said when Ashley was out of sight.

"She has a right to know." Riku used as an excuse.

"I suppose your right." Shuku said.

"Aren't you sad about Xehanort?" Riku asked.

"Nah. In times like these I'll probably see him again." Shuku said. Riku thought about it.

"Do you mind, once we leave this world, if we could head north-west?"

"I don't mind. Why do you ask?"

"There is an underworld 'guardian' I need to speak with. Maybe he could let Ashley say her goodbye."

"I wouldn't do that." Shuku warned. "It could be the death of her. If she saw Xehanort and was unable to have him, it would tear her to pieces—unless that's what you want! So you can be a shoulder to cry on!" Riku didn't deny it or confirm it. Shuku gave her famous catty grin. "That's a horrible thing to do to a girl's heart. But all is fair in love in war, right?" She nudged Riku, egging him on. Shuku could tell that Riku liked Ashley a lot. And now that Xehanort had been introduced into the picture Riku wanted to still better his chances. It would be a disaster in the history of love if Ashley left Riku for a dead man.

"You're always behind." Xehanort said to Ashley. Ashley was reliving one of her memories. It was a rare event since she believed she was unable to use her psychic powers on herself. Perhaps, she was just starting to remember her side of the story.

"I am not!" She pouted.

"You're cute when you pout." He smiled at her.

"If some one, other than Shuku, were to find out what was going on between us, would you get in trouble?" Ashley asked snuggling close to Xehanort.

"If the king found out, he'd have my head."

"I don't want him to ever know!"

"He won't, my sweet." Xehanort touched her cheek. They shared a kiss. There was an explosion.

Riku touched Ashley, waking her from the self-induced coma. She jumped.

"What were you thinking about?" Riku asked, sitting next to her. Ashley realized she was in her quarters, sitting on her bed.

"I can't remember everything like Shuku can. Riku, forgive me. I know that's why you're here." She looked away.

"It's okay. I'll take you to see him. It's all I can do to ease your pain." Riku put his arm around her. Ashley felt dirty.

"You'd do that for me? Even when I told you I'm in love with this person?" Ashley slanted her head. It was like a fairy tale to her.

"What are friends for?" Riku smiled to comfort her.

"I've betrayed you for this figure in my past! Don't you hate me?" Ashley's eyes were wide.

"You didn't know better and that's the truth." Riku said. Ashley put her arms around Riku.

"I knew I believed in you for a reason." Ashley said. Riku's heart skipped a beat. He stroked her head as she drifted to sleep, her head in his lap.

The party left the ship on a random spot of land. Riku pointed at a rectangular space ship. Like greedy children, they booted out the passengers and hijacked the ship. The space ship was part of a long line of ships to travel across the worlds called Gummi ships. From pirates of the sea, they turned into pirates of air and space. It was still Ashley's idea even though she sank into a mild depression.

Ashley, overall, had been acting suspicious. She wore a cloak all the time since her little talk with Riku. She refused to take off her eye patch in the Gummi ship when asked to. Shuku was becoming worried about Ashley. Shuku gathered Tidus and Riku to have a secret meeting, without her.

They drank instant coffee as they were all awoken from their slumber by an alarm clock. They sat at a plain circle table in the Gummi ship's 'break room'.

"Still so difficult to know if it's day or night in space…" Tidus groaned.

"Riku, do you notice something different about Ashley?" Shuku sipped in between words. Riku licked his lips.

"Well… She's been pretty distant lately. She's be looking out the windows of the Gummi for hours at a time. It's been three days already, and almost four, yet she hasn't taken off her cloak not even to go to sleep. It's cute but the cloak is getting kind of stinky." Riku smiled a little.

"She purposely stepped on my foot. I think she broke my pinky toe." Tidus said. Shuku pondered.

"Strange, I told her to stop the pirate gig and take of the patch. She took a swing at me. Luckily, I avoided it and told her to stop horse playing." Shuku threw onto the table. "This is strange indeed."

"Has she ever acted like this?" Tidus asked.

"Of course! She doesn't have people skills. But she's never acted this way towards me." Shuku said.

"What do you think is wrong?" Riku asked.

"Well, I was going to ask you that, Riku. She started acting this way after you were with her." Shuku implied it was Riku's fault. He scoffed.

"Maybe if you taught her people skills she wouldn't be this way!" He countered. Shuku stood up slamming her hands on the table.

"Maybe you broke her heart again!" Shuku accused.

"WELL MAYBE SHE BROKE MINE!" All was quiet. Riku had lost his temper. "No one has even thought about how I feel, about this. It's always about how she feels. Or what's wrong with her! I give her credit because she doesn't remember her past, but this is just walking over me! And you do it to Shuku."

"I don't walk over you!" Shuku calmed her voice, but it still had a kick to it.

"Ugh! Fine. Whatever. You two are stupid. We wouldn't be in this mess if it weren't for you two!" Riku crossed his arms, the anger still building.

"I knew it!" Ashley stood in the door way. "I just knew it!"

"It's not like that." Riku said, not even looking at her. "You're gonna get all fussy over this. My words are pointed at the situation. And you two are still stupid."

"Aw snap." Shuku said moving her chair away. "This is going to get uuggglllyyy." She said, taking her coffee with her.

"Should I move?" Tidus asked.

"If you don't wanna get hurt…" Shuku watched, sipping her coffee.

"Damn you, Riku!" Ashley turned, and stormed away. Shuku almost dropped her cup.

"Well, this is interesting. Right then, she would have kicked your ass to kingdom come. She must really be depressed."

"I know…" Riku said, confused. "I was ready to do battle."

Ashley hurried in a corner filling trash bags with black matter. There was knocking at her door, but the door was locked.

"Just a moment!" Ashley panicked. She tied up the four trash bags then opened the door. It was Riku.

"I was little out of line earlier." He had come to apologize. Ashley sighed with relief as if he had come to do something else. "But you have been acting weird!"

"I suppose…" Ashley said, sounding distant. Riku wanted to punch her.

"We called lots of places of where Sora could be. We got in contact with Hollow Bastion an hour ago. Fortunately, Sora was still hanging out there being a procrastinator as usual. Shuku told Sora to meet us at the Underworld Entrance. Then she stayed on the video-phone with him for a while. I think they are catching up…" Riku explained. "So, what were you up to?"

"Spring cleaning."

"Oh." Riku said. "Can I help?"

"Alright." Ashley said. "How far are we from the Underworld?"

"We have a few more hours." Riku said.

"Well I have four trash bags, two for each of us." Ashley pointed them out.

Riku and Ashley went to the trash compactor located next an S.O.S pod dock. They stuffed the trash bags into the compactor and watched as they faded away. Soon, the dock door opened, and the remains of the trash bags were shot out into space. Ashley watched the stars float by.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Riku smiled to her. Ashley pulled off her eye patch, but her left eye was sealed shut. Riku's brows began to fall. Ashley watched the patch with her 'good eye'. She began to cry, the tears only flowing from her right eye. Riku didn't know what to do when Ashley started to wail in turmoil. He pulled her close and held her as she threw the patch to the floor. She clutched Riku tightly and he clutched her back. He could feel more bulk on her. Riku didn't want to say anything about her putting on pounds. He guessed that's why she was crying. Riku asked anyways. "What's wrong, Ashley…?" Her words rang true.

"I'm royally fuc…"

They were there. They all got off the stolen Gummi ship and had stood in front of the Underworld Entrance. Sora was already there waiting. He waved to Shuku and she waved back shyly.

"Ashley, you ready?" Shuku asked, holding her hand. She nodded solemnly.

They proceeded into the Underworld, fighting off monsters to get to Hades' Chambers. And there he was. Calm and cool, being his blue self. Hades put on a smile.

"Ah Riku, my favorite Heartless, what brings you here?" He asked.

"I need a favor, Hades. And you owe me BIG." Riku said with no emotion.

"I, the Lord of the Underworld, owe you a favor? Haha, kid. Your funny. You made me laugh and you should leave with that." Hades said, sitting down into a chair.

"I nearly hand fed you Xehanort's soul!" Riku reminded. Hades sneered.

"Look kid, death was coming for that guy if you had become a Heartless or not. I don't owe you squat." Hades turned. Ashley walked forward with Shuku.

"Please, I beg of you. Please show me Xehanort. Just to… Say goodbye." Ashley pleaded. Hades eyes widened.

"The key!" He exclaimed. "Even I thought you two were dead!"

"Yeah well, we bypassed death." Shuku smarted off.

"You two, do know you aren't supposed to be in the same place?" Hades stood up in a cloud of black smoke. They stepped back. "For example if some one like, little ol' me wanted to open the door to Kingdom Hearts to take all the ripe pickings for minions… I'd be able to because I have the lock and key." Hades looked at them with wide eyes.

"You wouldn't dare, you low-life!" Sora said ready to summon his Key blade.

"Yeah we know." Shuku boasted. "But we don't really care. Show my friend Xehanort." Ashley coughed violently.

"Please… I don't have much time left." Ashley said. Shuku was alarmed.

"You're going to die?" Shuku's eyes started to burn with tears.

"She's not going to die. I can tell you that much." Hades said. "Well, I suppose I can do just one favor for Riku." Hades said, heading out of his room.

"What's wrong with you?" Riku asked Ashley.

"I don't wanna talk about it!" She yelled, quickly following Hades.

Hades lead them to the River of the Dead, Styx. Hades reached his hand in, feeling around for a while.

"Nope. Nope. No way. Negative. Man this guy is hard to find." Hades said. "Bingo." Hades pulled up Xehanort. And he appeared the way he did before he was a Heartless. Ashley pushed Shuku into Sora. Sora caught her, keeping her from falling.

"Ashley! What's with you?" Shuku said unable to believe that Ashley would deliberately hurt her.

"Xehanort…" Ashley walked to him. "Why did you have to die?"

"Why did you have to leave me?" Xehanort asked.

"I didn't want to go." She reached for his tented green figure. Her hands went through him. "I didn't want to go."

Riku, Tidus, Sora, and Shuku watched the soap opera unfold from the side lines.

"Don't you like her, kid?" Hades whispered into Riku's ear.

"Yes. But this must be done to get it out of her system so then we can…" Riku turned red.

"You know you can never replace Xehanort in her heart." Hades filled Riku's head with lies.

"I'm past your mind games." Riku said, putting his hands behind his back.

"Xehanort, I'm afraid you'll be ashamed of what I've become." Ashley looked down.

"I'll love you no matter what." Xehanort said. "You're my inspiration to love you for eternity…" Ashley winced and removed her cloak. Everyone gasped. Shuku fainted.

It was quite obvious why she was acting so weird. Her wings had come back. Well, in this case wing. Not only did one wing come back to her, it was tainted black.

The wing was spouting from her left side. She slowly opened her left eye and her pupils were cat like and her iris was aqua blue.

"Look what has become of me! What am I supposed to do? I don't have the power of the key anymore… I don't know what to do!" Ashley cried to Xehanort. "Please help me, I…" Ashley began coughing again. She opened her mouth wide and coughed harder. Blood rolled down her chin as something big was lodged in her throat. She gave one final cough. And she coughed out her half the Kingdom Millennia Crystal. All eyes became wide and Shuku was coming back from fainting.

"My love!" Xehanort called out. He couldn't bear to see her in pain. "There is only one person who can help you now. You must go see him. You must go see Sephiroth. It is your destiny as an One Winged Angel. He will determine if you were meant to have two wings like Shuku, or be cursed with your one wing—incomplete and filled with malice."

"Where can I find him?" Ashley was pleased to know that she wasn't alone.

"Hallow Bastion, The Grand Maw. He waits there all day and all night for Cloud."

"That's enough!" Hades said pushing Xehanort back into the River Styx.

"Ashley!" Xehanort reached for her. She smiled back.

"I'll be alright now, farewell." Her lip quivered. He was gone. Hades turned red with anger.

"You don't ever go see Sephiroth! He's eluded me for too long!" Hades yelled.

"Seems like you care…" Sora smarted off. Hades turned back blue regaining his composer.

"Ashley…? Is this why you've been acting this way?" Shuku asked, walking towards her. Ashley turned her back to Shuku.

"Xehanort may have favored me, but I'd rather have destiny favor me like it favors you!" Ashley said to Shuku. Shuku stopped advancing.

"You don't have to do this alone…" Riku offered.

"I know it's my destiny. I wasn't cut out for this job after all…" Ashley said with a sigh. "O Bahamut, I summon you. Fulfill your obligation to me and appear before this spiritual offering! Incrementum Incendium Deus!" The fire beast rose and Ashley mounted Bahamut's head, riding bare back.

"Where are you going?" Riku didn't want her to go.

"Shuku… I'm so sorry." She said as she pulled Bahamut's mane. "KYAAH!" She called and Bahamut sank into the ground, taking Ashley with him. She was gone to find her destiny.

"Don't be sorry, you idiot! If you were really sorry you wouldn't leave!" Shuku yelled at the floor. Her voice echoed. It was an awkward moment. "That bitch thinks she can up and leave me with the responsibility to Kingdom Hearts, she's got another thing coming!" Shuku said grabbing Ashley's half of the Kingdom Millennia Crystal.

"What are we going to do?" Sora asked. Everyone was pretty confused about what happened.

"We're going to find that bitch, and shove this crystal back down her throat!" Shuku shouted at the floor again.