Kingdom Hearts: System X

By Christine Lennoire

Beta: Bakageta

Summery: "Nobodies that heartless.." and no, I didn't make a grammar error. Hearts are corrupted. Heartless nobodies? Who in the hell is System X? It's from the King... But Ansem... Roxas... Sora... But he's my friend! Kingdom Hearts... Keyblade. They're... smart! They came after me... It's him... They're working together... We have to do something...

a new journey has begun

Chapter Three: Radiant Garden Part One

"Well, if that wasn't the most graceful landing I've ever experienced, I don't know what possibly could have been." Lae said, stepping out of the Gummi Ship. Somehow, it managed to stay functional and in one piece. "But... here we are – Radiant Garden. Just as planned." Sora, Roxas, Riku, Kairi, Donald and Goofy were still struggling their way out of the sideways door. Sora was the first one out... then Riku, Roxas, Donald, and Goofy. Kairi was last. It had been a long time since she visited Radiant Garden... It was, after all... her home. Yet, her last visit, and the only one she could remember, was to the castle, and that hadn't been very pleasant at all.

Looking around, Kairi slowly started remembering the town. She knew now what it was like to feel like a runaway finally coming home after spending many years away. "It's... really gloomy." she said, shivering. Just the atmosphere was rather dark and dreary. No wonder people started calling it Hallow Bastion... there wasn't much 'radiance' in Radiant Garden. And the looming castle of darkness in the distance didn't really help the town's already dismal feel.

In a split second, they noticed that they were not alone. "Oh no! It's the Eternals!" Donald and Goofy shouted, being the first to spot the sneaky creature. Now out in the open, the Eternal didn't seem to mind that it had been seen. It continued it's journey – headed straight for Roxas, who still remained separated from Sora. Lae quickly intercepted it and threw the Rising Sun at it. To everyone's shock and appall: it caught the weapon and posed to throw it back. "Shhhhh... RUN!" Lae shouted, grabbing Roxas' arm and dragging him after her.

The others didn't need to be told twice. All together they ducked behind the Gummi Ship and waited for it to throw the thing their way. Luckily, knowing what the Eternal was aiming for, Lae was able to position herself and catch it in mid-air and send it right back at the creature even faster. This time, it couldn't dodge fast enough and was impaled by the weapon: causing it to fade into a silvery dust that was quickly blown away by the wind.

"Let's go now. We don't want the System to figure out where we are now!" Lae said. So they went to Merlin's house, the first place they could think of. Yuffie, Leon, Aerith, and Cid were there waiting. Sora grinned and ran to the front of the group.

"HEY GUYS! WE'RE BACK!" he shouted, waving forcefully. Leon turned slowly, recognizing the voice. The others did too. Yuffie smiled and waved back even more enthusiastically and Aerith just smiled and nodded. Merlin was missing and Cid just waved a hand in their general direction and grunted in his usual fashion. Sora laughed. "These are my friends... the ones I was looking for – Riku and Kairi. And this is Lae, a new friend of ours. And he's my nobody... his name is Roxas." Sora said, introducing each of them.

"Riku, Kairi, Lae... and Roxas... this is Leon, that's Yuffie, and she's Aerith. The grumpy old man back there is Cid. These are all my friends from Hallow Ba... I mean, Radiant Garden. Well, actually, there are more. Tron lives in the computer, Pooh and his friends live in that book there, and Merlin's... not here right now." Sora said, pointing everything out. Kairi grinned. It was like a dream come true. All the stories she heard from Sora about his wonderful friends from other worlds... they were all true!

Kairi ran up to greet them. "It's really nice to meet you. We've heard all about your adventures. Sorry we didn't really get a chance to meet the last time I was here. I'm just really glad I finally did!" Riku nodded and shook Leon's hand. Yuffie hugged Roxas, Kairi, and Riku and then proceeded to glomp Sora, Donald and Goofy.

"We were worried you might be in trouble. Especially when we saw the heartless and the nobodies... and now these new guys? None of us knew what to expect. But we're glad you're all safe. You should go upstairs and rest before we start asking questions. I'm sure you must all be very tired. There are plenty of spare rooms upstairs. Merlin had a feeling you'd be popping in sometime soon and quickly prepared for the occasion. If you need anything, just call us, okay? We'll be here, protecting the house from those creatures." Aerith said.

Lae shook her head. "No, Sora. Something is wrong. We have to go to the crossroads now... we have to close the doors. I don't care how hard it will be, I just have a bad feeling about this... From here we can warp there... yes... let's do that. Come on guys, we can rest once the doors are shut. But be prepared, I have a feeling the System may be lurking." Aerith, Leon, and Yuffie all blinked in confusion. Cid just grunted again in frustration.

Riku nodded. "I got a weird feeling too."

"Good observation. But you'll need to be quicker than that." They spun around quickly to catch the glimpse of a girl in a hooded black robe remove the hood and show her long, straight black hair and piercing green eyes. "Name's Roxie. I think you know why I'm here... Roxas. Come with me and your friends won't be harmed." Lae growled in anger and placed herself between Roxas and the System girl named Roxie. The girl just laughed. "You're just as foolish as he was, girl. We are going to save this world from a future not worth living to see... we have seen it."

Lae snorted and pulled out her weapons. "I'll be the judge of my own future! You can't have him! And once we beat you, you'll let the other's go too!" Roxie laughed and pulled out three kunai, and there were plenty more where that came from. Sora blinked, wondering just where they DID come from. "You just can't win... we won't let you." Sora, Kairi, and Riku all pulled out their keyblades and Donald and Goofy both raised their weapons too. Leon and Yuffie stood in the back with their weapons nearby, but not in striking position.

A well balanced battle ensued. Which was... pretty sad, considering it was one to many. But at last, they tired the girl out. "Ugh. Fine. But you'll see, it's you who can't win. You've already lost. All we need to do is claim our prize. And boy will you be sorry when we kick your sorry butts along the way! Next time, I'll just bring back-ups!"

Then she was gone like the wind – barely a whisper. "Well, that was no good." Sora said. "I must really be out of shape!" he pouted, feeling tired and sore. Riku laughed.

"We already knew that. But... you're right. Either we're really weak or she's super strong. Maybe she's number one? No... that'd be way too much to hope for. She's probably the lamest. Everyone knows they send the weak one's first." Riku said, sighing and leaning back against the wall for support. Kairi had fallen to her knees a long time ago. At this, Lae looked up. She nodded, but then shook her head.

"You're only half right. She's probably the weakest, yes. I'm almost certain of that. If what I heard is true, then there is only five of them. And that means they must all be incredibly strong. But... what you said about the weakest always being sent first, that's not true. People are strong in lot's of different ways. The weakest people are sometime the strongest people. For example, there was this friend of mine... his name was Myed. His father was a huge military man and his mom was a tomboy. But he was super sweet."

"All his life, he just wanted to live his life for music. But his parents wanted to see him enlisted in the army. He could never... but he did. Just to please them. Half-heartedly he fought, and like anyone who only fights half-heartedly, he lost his life and the wonderful future that could have come of it. He lost his life to the first hordes of heartless and had his heart stolen from him. And he became a heartless..."

Sora sniffed. "That was such a sad story." Kairi also wiped away a tear. Riku... had his eyes hidden behind his bangs.

"Well, that's it! Now, more than ever we have to hurry to the crossroads and open the doors. Sora... your heart is your strongest weapon. We have to awaken the four people imprisoned there to close the doors. I don't know how strongly they were bound to the doors. But if the System did it, it's probably really tight. So, be prepared. Once we get to the first door... I think Roxas can handle it..." She winked at him in a strange way that made him wonder just a little bit about what they would find once they got there."

Sora nodded. "Okay, don't worry guys! We'll be back as soon as we get the three nobodies of the strongest hearts to awaken and have them close the doors. Then we can help you get rid of any of the remaining baddies, okay?" he grinned, punching Leon's shoulder playfully. Then they ran... all their friends shouted and waved them off as they got into the poorly docked Gummi ship and took off.

Kairi smiled. "I hope we can come back soon. Your friends were really nice." she said. "And I'd really like to see and know more about my hometown you know." Sora nodded and laughed.

"Of course we will! Just as soon as we help these guys!" He said, turning to Roxas. "Hey, Roxas? Do you know which of the Organization members are the ones with the strongest hearts? Do you know who we'll find there. Roxas looked very pale as he asked that question. He slowly raised his eyes from the ground.

"Sora... I don't know. But I... I've been thinking. Lae? Do... do you have a nobody? Were you... ever a heartless?" She smiled and giggled a little bit although she looked like she was trying to suppress it.

"Oh, Roxas... why ever would you believe that?" but she said it in a way that he almost knew that it was true. He instantly sprung up in a whirl of motion.

"Where! Which door! Lae, you have to tell me where he is!" he blurted out, barely able to control himself. She laughed again. "You don't understand! It's... I made a promise to him. I promised that we would meet again in the next life! This... this is it! My chance... I have to make good on this promise because I... because I screwed up the first one... my first chance..."

Lae smiled. "I know. It's okay. That's where we're going first anyway." Roxas seemed to have calmed down and Sora took this as his chance to speak out now that the excitement was over.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON? Who? What? Why? Where are we going? Who's going to be there? What promise? Huh?" Everyone laughed. It was all the questions all of them had in less than a minute of speech. Lae and Roxas exchanged knowing glances and then Lae turned to speak out.

"You'll see as soon as we get there. I have a feeling you'll have a thank you or two for him as well." she smiled. "Only because you could never truly figure out who I was." This honestly confused Sora and pushed him over the edge. He sighed and fell back against the wall. Oh, and now his thoughts were running wild and he actually shut his mouth.

In his mind:

L – A – E

and an X...

Now the secret was between the three of them, until they reached the crossroads and the road to Twilight... but not until they reached the door...

The next they heard out of Sora came five minutes later... "BUT YOU'RE A GIRL?" and Lae just laughed and shrugged like it was nothing. Sora sat back down and sighed. Then, he smiled contently. He was going to see an old friend again. And who knows, maybe the other Organization XIII members weren't so bad. He'd meet four of them personally so that they could close the doors. It was like they were saving them...

He still had a lot of questions that needed answering. Sora couldn't remember the last time he was so confused. Still, he had his friends with him... old and new. There was still time for the rest to fall in place.

Woo hoo! New chapter. As the plot goes on, it takes me longer. But I think I have it all straight and planned out so far. So thanks for all your reviews, but I WANT MORE. Please and thank you. I love reviewers because they make change for the better. No flames, but constructive criticism. Thank you, and don't forget the REVIEW.

Christine Lennoire