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 Seven: Radiant Garden Part 2

'Letter to the King'

Upon entering Radiant Garden a second time, and much more gracefully this time, they were met by the smiling faces of all their friends. Yuffie ran up to the Gummi Ship with Leon and Aerith walking at a slower pace, behind her. But Leon was the first to greet them. "Welcome back. It's been quite a while." he said, nodding at Sora who grinned widely. The others were all tired from the long ride, but not Sora – he looked ready for another round yet which made the others groan just thinking about it.

"We thought you should know..." Aerith interrupted, frowning slightly, "that there was a woman here looking for you a short while ago." she said looking around. "Just a tip... you know... in case you didn't want to run in to her." She smiled knowingly. "There's a place you can stay where she won't find you as quickly, where you can stay until you have rested up a bit. It must have been a long and tiring trip – you all look positively dead!" she giggled. "Leon will show you where it is located, won't you?" she asked sweetly, but Yuffie jumped in.

She smiled innocently. "Oh please let me! I know where it is!" Aerith laughed and nodded. "Yay! Let's go, guys! It's a bit of a walk, so we should get started right away!" Sora immediately followed her and the others kind of lagged behind. Lae was trying to keep up with Sora. She tried to listen to what he was saying, but could only nod. All night, she stayed up with the pilots who wanted someone to talk to. She was heartless, but that didn't mean she had to act that way.

But it was coming back to bite her in the butt.

"Have you heard a word I've been saying? I mean – truly?" Sora asked, laughing. She blushed and giggled lightly, shaking her head 'no.' "I didn't think so." he added, looking away so he could see where they were going. "I was just wondering... you said that they needed hearts to keep the doors open, right? Did they take yours, too? Or was it just Axel?" Lae looked up at him and sighed. Who knew that this strange boy could ask such serious questions at a time like this? She groaned and began to explain.

Lae began at the very beginning, having nothing better to do. "Before the Organization was formed, their hearts were taken from them – the hearts that formed – not the original hearts of their others. And then, they erased their memories and placed fake knowledge in their head, telling them that opening the door to Kingdom Hearts would get them their hearts back. Truly, there were only four Organization members they were truly interested in. Those were the nobodies of the four people with the strongest hearts – those who could open the door..."

"Roxas, Axel, Demyx, and..." Sora stopped. "Do you know the other person that's locked up there? I have a feeling you do." Sora said, innocently, staring at her intently. Lae sighed and shrugged.

"I don't remember anything. Roxas left the organization – and therefore, was no longer in their grasp like he had been before. But they figured if they lured you, they could get you both. And so they continued pulling the strings of the Organization. You escaped again – you defeated every member of Organization 13 but 1 I believe, and they said he fell unto ruin somehow other than by your hand. So they changed directions and decided to lure us in. All three of us were captured together..."

Sora gulped. "And they-"

"They took out my heart and the hearts of the two others. They numbed me and locked me away. But they never imagined that I would escape. I couldn't save the others. I had never even seen them before... I did not even know their names. I simply ran to the king and told him what I knew, which was still very little. He promised to help and then – he sent for you. He told me that he had sensed trouble – and that you had the strongest heart he knew, and were probably involved. He told me about Roxas and everything..."

"I see. That's terrible." Sora said, looking back at Roxas, Axel, and Demyx, who were talking amongst themselves. "It must have been so hard for them." he added sadly. Lae nodded, following his gaze.

"All of them have had such a hard time. For a long time, they did not have hearts. But hearts are strong, and since their others had such strong hearts, it was a strong sense of loss. Eventually, though, as time went on, their hearts grew back. It was some kind of miracle. And then System X took them away again. Nasty people... I want to kill them all." she added truthfully. "They are the ones who deserve this pain and punishment, not the Organization!" she sighed.

"We'll stop them. And then we'll make sure that the Organization's name is cleared and everyone can be happy again. Or at least, that's what I'd like to believe. I just have to keep believing. We're gonna win this thing!" Sora said optimistically. "Besides... we can't afford to lose. The entire world is at stake! Who knows what would happen if the System opened all the doors... only they know."

Lae sighed very heavily and shook her head. "No, they don't. Not even System X has the answer to that. I think they are just hoping for the best... or the worst, I'm not sure..." Sora kicked up some dirt, shuffling his feet angrily but didn't say anything. They had reached their destination. Everyone hurried inside, happy to get some rest.

Yuffie grinned. "Well, I guess I'll see you guys later! Just lay low for a while. We'll deal with those weirdos for ya!" she waved as she ran off, back on the same path they used to get there. Sora and the others waved back before entering the small safe-haven. Lae, Sora, Riku, and Kairi immediately got to writing the letter to the king. The others decided to get some rest at least until tomorrow, when they would have to get up and start forming a 'real' plan of action.

Kairi agreed to do the writing and Lae would dictate it to her. Riku and Sora would also give suggestions and then proof read it before they sent it. Lae began thinking as Kairi sat down to begin the letter.

This is what resulted:

King Mickey,

It's been a while, I know. A lot has happened in that time – more than you could imagine. Now we posses the empty shells of two of the other princess. Sora and Roxas are still safe, thank heavens. But we have run into two of the members of System X already. Now time is running thin and we need to know anything and everything. If there is any information you could give us, that would be wonderful. A meeting would be nice, since we do have more to tell you, but limited information must go on this paper. I will be sending this with Donald and Goofy on the Gummi Ship. We eagerly wait for your reply, your majesty.

Signed

Your faithful servant

Lae

P.S. Demyx and Axel are with us. But the third prince yet we do not know. Something strange is going on, but that shall be something we discuss later.

"Perfect." Riku said, handing the letter back to Lae. She nodded and quickly handed it to Donald.

"You know what to do. Inform us immediately if anything goes wrong. Got it?" Donald and Goofy both nodded in unison before running out the door towards the Gummi Ship, which had been brought in by Chip and Dale shortly after they arrived at the small cottage.

Goofy grinned. "Don't you worry a-hyuck! We'll be back, sound and safe in no time!" Donald shook his head in disdain.

"It's safe and sound!" and with that, they jumped into the ship and took off towards Disney Castle. The ship seemed to be moving faster, so they took that as a good sign and settled down a little.

Kairi smiled. "Everything will be okay, you know?" she said. Sora nodded and smiled back. "Still... it will be hard to just sit here and wait for them to return." she said, sighing and looking out the window. They had just moved out of her sight.

Sora laughed. "No it won't! I plan on sleeping the ENTIRE time!" he grinned, jumping onto one of them beds. Roxas rolled his eyes and Axel laughed in his... strange unemotional way. Demyx grinned and took one of the other beds... quietly, for once. Roxas couldn't stand it. This was 'out-of-character' hell, he knew it. These were people he knew well, but... they were so different...

He could only sit back and wait...