The Abyss was silent.

  Not the kind of silence that invited peace, but one that swallowed sound, where even a whisper felt like it might be devoured by the vast emptiness. Coco stood at its heart, a lone figure in an endless sea of black, where shadows moved with no light to cast them. The weight of this place pressed against her skin, curling around her like unseen tendrils, but it did not suffocate her. It welcomed her. Claimed her.

  She did not know how long she had been here. Time did not exist in the Abyss—only the lingering presence of sorrow, the echoes of souls who had long since been forgotten. They drifted around her, shapeless and unseen, but she could feel them. They were waiting. Watching.

  She closed her eyes and listened.

  The whispers were faint at first, but soon they became clearer, curling into the edges of her mind. Some wept, others pleaded, their voices tangled in grief and longing. Each one a remnant of something lost—memories stripped away, names forgotten, identities fractured beyond recognition. Yet they reached for her.

  And she understood why.

  She was their anchor now, the one thing in this abyssal void that was more than just a whisper in the dark.

  Coco took a step forward, the abyss shifting beneath her as if recognizing her intent. With each step, she became aware of something new—a pulse within the emptiness, something alive but incomplete. It tugged at her heart, an emotion she could not name. Not sorrow. Not fear. Something deeper.

  Loneliness.

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  She exhaled slowly. "You're not alone anymore."

  A flicker of movement.

  It was small at first, like the trembling of a ripple across still water. Then, from the darkness, two small figures emerged. At first glance, they were nothing more than white orbs - shifting shapes, shadows without form, but as they drew closer, they changed. One grew round and soft, the other lean and angular, their bodies morphing in response to her presence. Eyes, like distant stars, blinked up at her.

  Coco knelt before them, curiosity stirring in her chest. "Who are you?"

  The two figures did not speak, but she felt their answer in the way they moved. They pressed closer, their forms solidifying—both with an almost feline presence, the other small and mischievous, a ball of soft energy. They did not have names, not yet. But they were hers. Born from the same longing that had awakened her.

  She lifted a hand, brushing her fingers across the round one's head. It let out a pleased trill, while the other simply regarded her with knowing eyes.

  A smile tugged at her lips. "Roo and Rem."

  The names felt right, as if they had always been meant for them.

  Roo let out another happy noise, pressing itself against her palm. Rem, ever watchful, sat beside her, gazing into the abyss as if expecting something. Coco followed its gaze, and her breath stilled.

  The Abyss was changing.

  Where before it had been endless, something new now lurked within its depths. A shift in the current, a tremor in the silence. It was faint, almost imperceptible, but Coco felt it like a whisper against her skin.

  A presence.

  Something—or someone—was here.

  Roo and Rem sensed it too. Roo tensed, ears flattening, while Rem let out a low chitter, tail flicking in warning. Coco rose to her feet, her gaze fixed on the distant black. The souls had always been here, murmuring and drifting, but this was different. This presence did not weep or plead. It did not cry out for salvation.

  It was searching.

  Coco took a breath, steadying herself. Whatever this was, it was only the beginning.

  And she would be ready.