Author's Note: This story contains slash- and lots of it. It's rated M for sexual content in later chapters.
Pairing: Akuroku main, and Cleon on the side.
Roxas barely registered the fact that he was moving. He was falling steadily through a black abyss, where it seemed time ceased to exist. Minutes, hours, and even days could have just flown by, and he wouldn't even know it. His perception of everything around him had diminished. The only thing he was vaguely aware of was the constant pressure of air against his back, and the gentle whistle of his body moving.
His blue eyes darted around the darkness before him. He saw nothing, nothing but the darkness and a few objects falling alongside him. A playing card was falling at the same pace as him; he tried to grab it, just so he could feel something solid. To his dismay, it was slightly out of reach, and not nearly as close as he thought it had been.
His eyes fluttered shut, as he waited - patiently or impatiently, he wasn't sure - for the abyss to take him where it pleased.
*
He landed with a thud.
His eyes remained closed for a bit, savoring the feeling of solid ground beneath his back. His hand reached out to touch the surface beneath him with an innocent curiosity. His eyes popped open, and he began to survey his surroundings. Exotic vegetation surrounded him- a spotted mushroom here, a larger than life flower there. From somewhere near him, a stream of water could be heard, but not seen.
Someone was making their way towards him, as Roxas could hear the steady rhythm of their foot steps. He pulled himself up into a sitting position just as a tall, red haired man neared him. He was clad in a maroon suite, with a top hat to match. He stared up at the man with wide eyes, not sure if he should be scared or excited to see another person in this strange forest. He wracked his brain for something to say, but couldn't come up with a thing. The environment around him was too distracting; the colors and sizes of everything around him clashed and contrasted.
The man didn't say anything, just stared down at Roxas. He watched the boy try to form words with a slight smirk. After a few agonizing moments, Roxas spoke.
"Where am I?" The confused blonde breathed, blue eyes focused on the man towering over him.
"You're in Wonderland," the man with sanguine colored hair said from above the boy.
"I'm sorry... where?" The boy asked again, not quite grasping what the taller man said. Wonderland... wherever it was, it wasn't anywhere near Twilight Town.
"Wonderland. W-O-N-D-E-R-L-A-N-D. Got it memorized?" And as soon as the words left his mouth, a small blonde girl was pushing past him.
"Axel, please," she said, stressing the last word. "Save your antics for later. The poor thing is probably disoriented and confused." She bent down to his level, and offered him her hand. Roxas eyed it skeptically, but placed his hand on top of hers, none the less. "I'm Alice," she said, her voice just as soft and sweet as her smile. "Can you tell me your name?"
"I... I'm..." The words just wouldn't come out. They were there, right on the tip of his tongue, but damn, he was just too confused to form a coherent sentence. He was beginning to regret standing, because now he felt dizzy - after affects of the fall, no doubt.
"Oh dear," Alice murmured, wrapping an arm around the blonde in front of her in an attempt so steady him. "You can remember your name, right?"
He nodded. "It's Roxas."
She nodded in response, and started to guide Roxas down a cobblestone path. "Come, Axel. I could surely use your help in explaining this," she let the arm she had around Roxas fall, and instead used it to gesture wildly around them, "to Roxas."
*
At first glance, Alice's house was the definition of quaint. Simple wood planks covered the floor and walls, and a grand wooden staircase was nestled nicely in the corner of her square kitchen. Upon closer inspection, though, Roxas noticed that things were not how they seemed. Paintings were upside down, some doors seemed impossible for a person of normal height to enter through, and was that a face on the door knob?
He blinked a few times, not sure if his imagination was playing tricks on him. His eyes opened wide when he looked up the staircase. "The... the second floor is upside down!" He stuttered, pointing up the stairs.
"What's that?" Alice asked, her gaze following Roxas's arm to the staircase. "Oh, yes, upstairs." She giggled quietly. "You'll have to get used to that. Things here in Wonderland are a bit... odd to people like you."
"How do you get upstairs? Do you walk on the ceiling? And... and just what do you mean by 'people like me?'" He copied Alice's behavior and took a seat at the kitchen table. Axel, who - to Alice's delight - had remained quiet so far, sat down next to Roxas.
"You don't use the stairs to get upstairs." She shrugged, and placed her hands on the table. "You enter through some where else."
Roxas stared wide-eyed at the girl in front of him. What purpose does a staircase serve when you don't use it?
"I don't mean to offend you when I say 'people like you.' By people like you, I mean you and Axel; those who weren't born in Wonderland."
"What do you-" He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence, as the tall man sitting next to him spoke.
"Roxas, was it?" The smaller boy nodded, and focused his attention on Axel. "I think it would be best if you just listen to Alice. Save your breath, because she's already going to answer the questions you want to ask."
Alice stood from the table, and walked to the kitchen counter. "Thank you, Axel." She turned her head slightly. "Would you like some tea?" Grabbing the kettle off the counter top, she began to fill three tea cups. She handed each of the men sitting at the table a mug, and kept one for herself. Sliding back into her seat, she began her explanation. "You and Axel weren't born in Wonderland, though I'm sure you know this. You've come here because... Well, Roxas, this might be a bit hard to believe, but, in your world, you're in a coma."
Roxas looked up from his tea cup, and stopped sipping at the warm beverage. "What do you mean, I'm in a coma?"
Axel looked down at the younger boy next to him. "Shh, shh. Let Alice talk."
"Basically," she took a sip of tea, "you have three lives. Your heart, your mind, and your soul. Each of those are very much alive. While you're in a coma, your brain is well, sleeping. Your heart is still functioning, because it's keeping you alive. Your soul, however, plays no part in the healing process that your body must undergo to get you out of your stupor. So, your soul wanders aimlessly until it happens upon another realm or world. It just so happens that your soul happened upon Wonderland. It brought you here, for the duration of your coma."
Axel decided to chime in, saving Alice from the boy's questioning and confused stares, as they were now directed at him. "Don't worry. You won't stay here forever. When you wake up in our world, your soul automatically goes back to where your brain and heart are."
"So..." Roxas spoke softly, still having a hard time processing everything he had just been told. "When will I leave here?"
"No promises on how long you're stuck here for. You'll be here a few months, at the very least." Axel replied, placing his empty tea cup on the table before him.
"Months? People don't stay in comas for months, and if they do, they're usually taken off life support. So how, just how, do you expect me to believe I'll be here for months?"
Alice made a sort of 'tsk' noise, and began yet another explanation. "Axel failed to tell you that time here is different. One hour your time is equal to a full day here. That means a day in your world equals about a month in this world. That makes a bit more sense, does it not?"
Shaking his head no, Roxas spoke. "I guess... but, how does that work? Why did my 'soul wander aimlessly'?" He asked, drawing air quotes around the phrase.
"You've got to avoid the hows and whys," Axel replied. "A lot of things in Wonderland don't have answers, like upstairs. Who knows why everything up there is upside down? That's just how it is, and you've got to get used to it. This phenomenon of us coming to Wonderland is another thing you have to learn not to question. It's hard, yeah, but you've got to give Alice some credit. She can't have the answer to everything. It's a wonder she even knows anything about how we get here."
Roxas remained quiet even after Axel finished speaking. How did Alice and Axel expect him to just sit there and take everything they told him? To believe everything word for word, and not question it?
"Well then," Alice said, getting up from her chair. "I'd better get going. It's the Mad Hatter's unbirthday today, and he's invited me over for a tea party. Axel, I trust you'll take good care of Roxas." She patted down the front of her icy blue dress, and was out the door in no time.
Axel stood up from his chair as well. "Let's get going then," he said. "We can't stay at Alice's after she leaves. It's a bit rude, don't you think?"
Roxas followed him out of the house. Even though he had already seen the odd scenery once before, his eyes still widened in amazement when he stepped out of the house. "Everything looks so... peculiar here. It's nice though... strange, but nice."
An 'mhm' was Axel's only response, as he walked down the windings paths of the forest. Roxas followed along, tripping over things every so often. He wasn't used to such terrain, and it sure showed.
"Where are we going?" He asked, his voice slightly monotone. His mind was still turning over the ideas that he had been told be Alice, and Axel.
"My house, well, more like out house now. You'll be rooming with me." He paused his steps, and turned around the face the person trailing behind him. When Roxas caught up to him, he pat him on the back. The blonde haired boy was sporting a spiritless expression. "Hey, don't look so alive, kid." When his comment elicited no response whatsoever from Roxas, he bent down to his level, placed his hand in front of the boy's face, and snapped. "Come one, snap out of it. I know it's a lot to take in, but I can't have you walking around here like a zombie. Not only is that dangerous for you, it's dangerous for me too. I mean, a zombie on the loose? No thank you."
A small smile played at Roxas's lips. "I'm not a zombie."