Hello everyone and Welcome to another chapter of Veil of Shadow. I know it has been forever since I have gotten to write into this one particularly, but I shall try to do a chapter of each of my works, wish me luck.

Disclaimer- I do not own Kingdom Hearts or its characters. I do however own Ryuxen, so if you want to use him, ASK FIRST!

"Speaking"

'Thinking'

"Heartless or Nobody speaking"

And now if out further ado, On with the Show!

Veil of Shadow, Chapter 2- Survival

Ryuxen and Zexion stood back to back as the Dusk circled them slowly. The lesser nobodies stretched their arms as they crouched down, ready to lunge at the two Organization members. Ryuxen grinned eagerly as he spun his dagger in his hand, flipping his sword in a reverse grip. Zexion looked to his partner and sighed as he opened his book, keeping his calculating gaze on the moving Dusks.

"Its times like these I wish I didn't know you Ryuxen." Zexion stated calmly.

"You say that all the time we get into trouble, but you have to admit it" Ryuxen replied.

"...Admit what?" He turned to the raven black haired kid behind him.

"You would have such a boring life without me" He said in a teasing manner, smiling at him.

Zexion grinned back, he was right after all. His life would have been a dull and boring existence if his partner wasn't found and brought into the Organization.

Ryuxen was going to say more before having to duck as one dusk lashed out finally, its arm stretched beyond its normal length. Ryuxen had then rolled out of the way as two more arms lunged for him. The Nobody continued to dodge the many acrobatic attacks from the Dusks, his blades spinning in his hands, eager to cut into flesh. He leaped back away from his partner, not wanting to put him into further harm than necessary as the dusk snaked after him. He smirked as one finally leaped at him, its arms behind it as it prepared to spear him. He quickly sidestepped the dusk and stab it in the back of its head with his dagger. it twitched in pain before going limp, fading into grey smoke.

Two more lunged at him angerly, wanting revenge for their fallen brethren. He flipped over the fading corpse of the Dusk, pulling his dagger out of it as Midnight, his sword slashed outward, forcing the dusk back in fear of being it. He took their hesitation to his advantage as he flipped back in front of them, slamming his hands to the ground. He brought his whole body into a sweeping movement, causing the dusk to stumble as their feet were thrown out from under them. He got into a handstand and flipped, crashing his boots into their backs, vaulting over them as he slashed with his blade, slicing a third dusk cleanly in half through it's mid-section.

"Oh come on now! These guys are pathetic!", Ryuxen shouted, a happy grin on his face, "Whats the matter! Can't you fight better than that!"

Zexion sweat dropped as he swatted one of the dusk away with his lexicon to get some distance. He quickly opened his book as the swatted Nobody recovered and charged at him once more. The Nobody didn't get too close as a sword shot outward from the pages of the book and impaled it through its zipper-like mouth. not thinking, working on instinct now, the Cloaked Schemer of Organization Xlll threw his book around him, making it loop around him as more Dusks were knocked away from him. he leaped into the air and grabbed his book, floating well above everyone as he lay his book open in front of him. The pages glowed bright with power as he lay a hand in the book, his other hand in front of him in a pondering look.

"RYUXEN! GET OUT OF THE WAY QUICKLY!", He gave his partner and friend a quick warning before unleashing the power being built up inside of the lexicon.

Ryuxen looked up as he flipped over a Dusk that was trying to tackle him from behind. He back flipped out of range quickly as Zexion's attack started. The dusk looked at the now airborne Nobody as orbs of dark energy formed around him. each orb then started to glow white before crashing down to earth upon the Dusk. The meteor strike bombarded the lesser Nobodies as their ranks slowly were thinned out as many unlucky Dusk were attacked by the orbs, which blew up upon impact. many were backing away, trying to dodge the blast as they fell down from their random order.

Zexion gritted his teeth, fearing that his efforts wasn't enough. He quickly rose himself and the book higher in the air, spinning once in the air as he did so. A gaseous aura grew around him as the book began to surge with power and energy. The very air around the field began to hum and vibrate with power as the lesser Nobodies looked up in awe and fright, even Ryuxen stopped what he was doing and saw witness to Zexion's gambit.

"Zexion...Ienzo...my friend...don't do this...you might not live through that...", Ryuxen whispered sadly and solemnly as he knew there was nothing he could do to stop him.

"I swear it...I, I won't give up! I WON'T LOSE, NOT HERE! "Zexion shouted out in defiance, more orbs surrounding him, trembling before growing at least several times there original size, catching alight with dark flames.

"I WILL PUT EVERYTHING I HAVE IN THIS LAST MOVE! I! WILL! NOT! FAIL!", Zexion yelled out as he slammed his arms down.

The giant orbs flew much faster to the field as more Dusk arrived, accompanied by several more higher-ranked Nobodies. The sight of and dark Armageddon would be the last thing any of those unfortunate souls would bear witness to. Ryuxen leaped back even farther as he shielded his eyes, forced back more as shock-waves from the impacts of the meteor strikes. Zexion focused on his attack, feeling weaker and weaker with each passing moment. He gritted his teeth as he let go of his focus, cancelling the attack. He weakly closed his book and fell back to earth.

Ryuxen raced quickly to aid his falling friend. Three Dusk, a Dancer, a Dragoon, and a Sniper quickly rushed in front of him, blocking the way.

"Ryuxen-Sama...you will give up now. You have performed admirably and stubbornly to defy The Superior-Sama's rule and orders.", The Sniper told the now former Organization Xlll member, raising its rifle level with his head.

Ryuxen lowered his head, shadows covering his face from view, the three Dusk moving to him slowly, ready to restrain him to return him to their lord for his impending erasing.

"You...you puppets...", he muttered, causing them to stop as they just barely caught what he said.

"What did you just say, No. XV?", The Dragoon asked as it readied its lance to jump.

"You are nothing, nothing but puppets. Empty shells without any free will or thought of your own. You cherish those orders because you know or comprehend NOTHING! I will not give up, I REFUSE TO SURRENDER!", He retorted, shouting in defiance at the last part.

To the surprise of everyone in that field, Ryuxen quickly grabbed the zipper of his cloak and yanked it down, grabbing his cloak and removing it off of him. He was wearing the standard boots and gloves of the Organization still, but now everyone finally saw what was concealed behind the cloak of shadows. He was wearing a black straight jacket fashioned and remodeled into a Chinese shirt of sorts. He had dark grey cargo shorts, his exposed shins wrapped in a combination of bandages and straps. around his waist was several belt Cris-crossing at several angles, all held together in place by a single wire. his golden-yellow eyes burned with a much different fire than usual. the Nobodies in front of him back up, frightened by the intimidating glare from him, making them feel that they were staring at the Reaper himself. He raced at the frightened Nobodies, causing them to panic.

The Dancer was the first to recover and started flipping at him, ready to take his neck. He ducked under her legs and threw his cloak in front of her causing her to panic at the sudden darkness flying into her face. He quickly leaped over the struggling Nobody as he summoned his sword, Midnight, and stabbed straight through her heart. She fell limp before dissipating into smoke, his cloak laying flat on the ground. The Sniper quickly readied his rifle again and fired at Ryuxen. He rolled out of the way of three shots as he leaped at the Dragoon, flipping in mid-air so his boots slammed into the lance ready Nobody's stomach. He slammed his hands to the ground and pushed the Dragoon up, causing it to lose its grip on its lance. Ryuxen grabbed the lance and threw at the Dragoon quickly as he rolled out of the way of three more shots of the Sniper's rifle. The Dragoon exploded into smoke as the lance pierced straight through its master. The Sniper tensed as it backed away slightly, scared as to how swiftly Ryuxen had dispatched of those two. The three Dusk charged out of fear and desperation, throwing caution out the window.

Ryuxen summoned his dagger as well and spun around as the first lunged for him. He moved his foot around in the air as he moved his body behind the Dusk. The lesser Nobody turned in time for the boot to slam into its embellemed face into the ground. The other two whipped at him with their arms as Ryuxen leaped off of the downed Nobody below him and danced around their barrage of spear-like arms.

The Sniper grimaced as he readied his rifle again, training his sights on the dodging Nobody, intending to take him out himself his master's wishes or not. It brought a hand along its rifle-bow as he loaded another three rounds in, focusing as he followed his target, completely unaware of his surroundings. Zexion groaned as he struggled to push himself off the ground, small wisps of gaseous shadows rising from his shoulders as his legs trembled weakly, struggling to support himself. His eye weakly focused on the sniper, following its aim as he gritted his teeth. He was not about to allow it to do what it was planning, not while he still had something to say about it. He picked up his lexicon again as he channeled some of his energy into it. His eye narrowed as he threw the book at the nobody with a weak shout before falling back on his knees in exhaustion.

The book spun rapidly as it grew in size as it approached its target. The sniper was too preoccupied with its targeting to realizes its doom. It heard a growl as it turned too late as a giant maw clamped shut onto its body, the giant mouth shrinking sa grey smoke escaped its sharp teeth as zexion's tattered lexicon fell to the ground where the Sniper fomerly floated.

Ryuxen finally spun around as his boot slammed into the side of the head of the remaining Dusk as he flung it away as he ducked quickly to avoid another spear-like arm from its Dusk growled in frustration as he lanced for him again wildly. The Nobody rolled out of the way for the hand as he stabbed his dagger quickly through the back of its hand, keeping it firmly attached to the ground. It shouted in pain as Ryuxen quickly leaped behind it looping an arm around its neck and snapping it with some difficulty. He breathed out a bit as he gazed at the two downed Dusk that remained as they wobbled back up, gripping their heads in pain.

"You want some too?" He challenged them as he kicked his dagger off the ground up to his hand as he readied for them, " Because I can continue taking you puppets out as much as I wish.."

They swayed as they looked at him panicked before snaking through the air at him quickly in a suicidal charge. He lowered to the ground as his blades crossed his chest as he waited for them to fly closer. They readied an arm each to lance through his chest as he threw his weapons at them, a shadow aura covering them. The blade stabbed into their emblems as the aura sank into them as they both fell to either side of him, writhing in pain. He snapped his fingers as several shadowy spikes burst through the bodies, exploding them into grey smoke.

And with that I will leave it on a cliffhanger. I hate to do this, but I would like to continue this story on a fresher note. I'm extremely sorry for the amount of time it took to update and post this chapter. I do hope you enjoy for what its worth. Feel free to reveiw and tell me what you think. Next time find out what happened. Will Reinforcements arrive to attack Ryuxen and Zexion? Will the Nobody escape or will his friend turn on him as well. Find this and more in the next chapter of Veil of Shadow: Chapter 3 - Aftermath

Until next we meet

~Orochi-no-Tsukiyomi