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 Nine: Rescue Mission! Trust the Newbie!

Zexion jumped up as soon as Disney Castle came into view. They would be there in mere minutes. He walked over to Sora. "Just how attached are you to this ship?" he asked, motioning to the flying craft they were currently riding in. Sora followed his arms as he motioned to the Gummi Ship. He had been using this thing for a long time. It was the same one he first received when he started out on his mission to stop the heartless and Ansem, years ago.

'What's this guy planning?' Sora asked himself, confused and just a little bit worried. "Well... I mean... if it's for the King and my friends, do what you have to. This ship means nothing to me if I can't save them!" Sora admitted, completely forgetting about all the things he though earlier. This... Zexion... he was their only hope of coming out of a very one sided battle on the winning side. Sora knew he would have to trust him if he ever hoped to save Donald, Goofy, King Mickey, and Queen Minnie.

With another quick thought, Zexion began to pace. Then he nodded and turned to Demyx with the lightest of smirks. It was a step up for him, Demyx knew and grinned. "What can I do?" Demyx asked, reading the look on Zexion's thoughtful face. And the smirk grew a little wider as he walked over to Demyx and motioned for him to follow him to the cock pit of the Gummi Ship, where Chip and Dale were flying the vessel very carefully and without mistake.

'No...' Zexion thought. 'That just won't do.'

"Excuse me. I have an order from the others and ourselves." Zexion said, speaking politely to the two pilots. He would have liked to just throw them out, but he knew that was not an option, and would be a pretty rotten thing to do, even for him. So he kept on smiling. Dale jumped out of his chair, leaving Chip do take care of the Gummi ship while he acted as ambassador for a moment. Zexion was eying the controls and watched as Chip flew, taking notes mentally and storing them for later.

Dale bowed quickly. "What can we do for you? We aim to please – Chip and Dale at your service!" he said, also mentioning his teammate and co-pilot, Chip. Zexion smiled back, trying to hide his reaction to the obvious annoyance of Dale's high and chipper voice going off in his head like a bell.

Zexion grinned. "We need to let him pilot the ship for a while." he said mischievously. Chip and Dale's eyes both became wide and 'shocked beyond all belief' came to mind when seeing the looks on their faces. This only made Zexion grin more. Not to mention the look on Demyx's face: pure fear and nervousness. There were many gasps and choking sounds before Dale found the will to speak again.

"Huh? But... but why? Is our driving insufficient?" he asked almost frightened. After all, both of them were the king's men, so they must have been used to high standards. That's why they flew so well – to avoid getting hollered at by some of the nasty people they flew to and from the castle at the king's request. High standards... hah! Zexion sighed.

"No, not at all. Quite the opposite, actually. What I want you to do is go out to the others and tell them to hold on for their life. We're going to get rid of the heartless surrounding the castle." Sure enough, the heartless could be seen in a huge swarm outside the castle. Seeing all those heartless and too scared to fight anymore, the two pilots nodded and rushed off to tell the others what Zexion had just told them. "Alright, Demyx. I would tell you to crash into them all, but..."

"I don't think I need to tell you to crash. I know you'll do just fine. Just ram all those stupid heartless. Well... try to avoid the castle if you can..." he added as an after-thought. He dictated all the things that he had learned earlier from watching the pilots, and Demyx took off.

For once, Demyx kill a lot. And he didn't need any help to do it. Zexion knew he was perfect for the job. His reckless flying and wild nature had the Gummi Ship ramming and destroying every heartless waiting outside the gate. The stupid things were too dumb to even run. All they could do was watch as they got a huge ship dropped on them, had it run over them, or had it run right into them.

Zexion was proud of his plan. It worked like a charm. Of course, when they disembarked, they themselves had taken quite a shaking from the battle, but being able to stand on solid ground for a while let them catch their breath and set themselves straight. Kairi looked quite disheveled and her cheeks were a bright red. Wearing a skirt while being tossed all around was not a good idea. She was quite embarrassed and stood there, holding her skirt down the whole time, while trying to get out the wrinkles.

And best friends of course – Riku and Sora – they of course laughed their heads off at poor Kairi's misfortunes.

Sora grinned, finally able to choke back his laughter. "Alright, Zexy! Worked like a charm, but what now? Brute force?" he asked, looking at the front gates that led to the castle. Zexion shook his head and pulled back both of his sleeves, revealing that both of his arms were wrapped up all the way to his elbows. And slowly, he began to unwrap them with care. Sora and the others watched in awe as he moved with grace and purpose.

"No... save that for System X... you'll need it." Zexion muttered. Finally, both of the wraps dropped from his arms, leaving some strange black symbols open. "Open the door... and then... get as far away from it as you can!" Zexion shouted, slowly raising both of his arms. Sora and Riku did the honors. Taking Zexion very seriously, they opened the doors and ran.

At first, the eternals just turned to look. It was all they would have have time for anyway.

From Zexion's arms poured darkness – the same darkness they had spotted coming out of the door to dusk earlier. Demyx, Axel, and Roxas were all taken aback. This was the same boy who – in the Organization, refused to fight. Now he too was slaying every eternal that came in contact with the darkness flowing forth. 'People change...' he thought to himself spitefully. Ever since he learned the truth... he knew that he had to fight, because it was important... to him, and the other Organization members. Some of which, he hated to admit, weren't so bad...

The attack killed every last eternal, but left Zexion a crumpled heap on the floor: a total mess. Demyx ran to his side and Axel, Sora and Roxas followed. Lae who had been quiet until now, sighed. "He used all that energy to keep the System out of the door to dusk, and didn't have much energy left. That attack took almost all of the energy that he did have."

Demyx shook him by his shoulders, praying that he would wake up. "No... Zexy..." invisible tears were shed from his missing heart.

"D-don't... call... me that." Zexion grunted, forcing himself to sit up, only to be 'glomped' once more, and land on the ground with a truly happy Demyx on top of him. Well... he would have been happy if he could feel happy... Zexion groaned. "Can we have a warning for that from now on?" he asked, pushing Demyx off of him. Demyx grinned sheepishly and nodded.

Sora laughed. "Alright! That just means the rest of us will have to fight and you have to lay low. That's fine. You did a great job. Your planning was perfect, and your fighting was even better! So the least we can do is give you a little break." Sora added, helping him to his feet. "You could hide out in the Gummi Ship remains!" he chuckled, glancing at the destructive pilot.

"No... that's not necessary. I may not be able to fight anymore, but I am not running away." Zexion muttered. "I'm tired of running away. That's why I'm fighting. Because... there is something worth fighting for. And if I can't fight, I'll be your tactician..." he smiled, completely shocking the other nobodies. Zexion never smiled... well, he never used to anyway. He was the kind who would say it's pointless to smile if we cannot feel happiness, and therefor cannot use the feeling that tells you there is something to smile about... but he had changed. Demyx liked it...

Riku grinned. "You're starting to sound like Sora, yeah?" Everyone laughed along with Sora. It's true. Sora was their optimist after all.

"Yeah, sure! I mean, if I don't trust you by now, I never will." Sora said, patting Zexion on the shoulder. "Let's all go together, then! We can do it! Do you know where they are hiding out?" he asked Zexion, who seemed to know so much about the situation earlier.

He nodded. "Yeah. Do you remember the secret room and the secret chamber?" Sora, Riku and Kairi all exchanged glances and nodded. "Well, your friends are in the room, and the king and queen are in the chamber. I know one of the members was in the room, and I could hear two voices coming from the chamber, but that's all I know." he added.

"Good enough. It's more than we knew before. Thank you!" Kairi said. "SO... let's go!" and together, they charged their way through the castle, straight towards the secret room, where they had been briefed almost a month ago on System X and the princes. Now they were actually going to fight the System. This could be the end of their fight, or not. It could be coming to a close, or it could be a long time yet. None of them knew or cared, because... things were looking up for them.

Next chapter... DONE!

I'm working really fast now. But that's only because once I had the idea for Demyx's flying, I couldn't stop there. I hope you like it and please review!

The tray of cupcakes is still there!

I like the semi-cliffhanger. You don't know if the next chapter will be the last, or if there will be about ten more. hahaha. I know... I'm evil... ZEXION DID IT TO ME!

. So thank you all my fans. Now... push the button that says 'review story'

You know you want to!

Christine Lennoire