PrismRain13: Hey guys! Here's the next chapter!
Maleficent: Yes, children, you now get to read something a random person wrote. Isn't it wonderful?
PrismRain13: sarcasm? *Maleficent nods* ... Can you just do the disclaimer? *innocent voice* And please don't hurt me?
Maleficent: your child-like attitude is terribly annoying. *sigh* Prism does not claim ownership of Kingdom Hearts or anything else she uses. They belong to Disney and/or Square Enix. She only owns the plot and her original characters.
PrismRain13: I should also mention, that italics in this story are either going to be thoughts, dreams or flashbacks.
Chapter 2: A Nightmare and a Wonderland
Riku was running. Running harder and faster then he ever had in his life. His island home was crumbling around him, darkness spreading everywhere, heartless monsters clawing at his legs. But now, that didn't matter to the teen, all that mattered was the voice that was calling him.
"Riku! Riku help us!" Kairi's voice screamed in the distance. Hearing her voice call for him again made Riku push himself even harder. He knew he was getting closer to where she was. Finally, she became visible upon the few remaining pieces of their island. She looked toward him with pleading eyes. Sora was standing beside her, looking just as scared and desperate as she was.
"Kairi, Sora, hang on!" Riku told them, but, before he could move any farther, a dozen shadow heartless appeared out of nowhere, attacked Riku from behind, and fell to the ground. The same thing had happened with Kairi and Sora. The heartless continued to pile on top of them until the two teens were no longer seen. Riku desperately tried to free himself from the dark prison he was in, but no matter how hard he tried, it was useless. He watched helplessly as his two best friends completely dissapeared from under the pile of heartless. Riku cried, knowing that they were gone.
"This world has been connected," A deep voice echoed through the world that was still in the process of being destroyed, "Tied to the darkness, soon to be completely eclipsed," suddenly, a dark portal appeared and a hunched-over figure in a hooded dirt-colored cloack that was covering his entire face, with two dark red and silver straps crossing over his chest. Riku had wanted to ask 'Who are you?', but something was preventing him from speaking. The figure looked directly at Riku and continued to speak, "There is so very much to learn, you understand so little," The figure walked closer to the still-trapped Riku and raised a hand that was coated with dark energy, "One who knows nothing can understand nothing," and then he pointed his hand at Riku and the dark energy fired at him.
~*KH*~
Riku immediately opened his eyes and sat up on the bed, panting and sweating in shock and fear. The events of his nightmare continuously replayed over in his head. Who had that hooded man been? And why had he seemed so familiar? Riku shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind. He stepped off the bed and stretched. Riku then looked at his reflection in a nearby mirror; for one moment, he saw his own face, but then that changed to the same cloaked man from his nightmare. Riku quickly looked away from the mirror and rubbed his eyes. When he looked back at the mirror, he saw his own reflection again. What was wrong with him lately? There was a sudden knock at his door that inturrupted his thoughts.
"Come in," Riku called in a voice that was still shaky. The door opened, and the flame-haired man from the other day walked into the room.
"The boss lady wants to talk with ya. She said she knows where to find one of the princesses," the man told him. Riku nodded.
"I'll be right down," he told him. The man gave a short nod, then walked out of the room. Riku looked in the mirror on last time, half-expecting the hooded figure to show up as his reflection again, when it didn't, Riku let out a sigh of relief. "might as well get this over with," he sighed as he walked out the door.
~*KH*~
Riku walked down the halls and arrived at the castle chapel. All the people he had met the night before were standing around a circular table. As soon as they realized he was there, Maleficent looked up from the table and smiled at him.
"Riku, dear, wonderful to see you. How did you sleep?" Maleficent asked as she walked over to the young man and placed her arm around him.
"Fine," Riku awnsered, not wanting to get into full detail on his nightmare, "You said you found another of the princesses?" Maleficent nodded and led him over to the table. She waved her hand over it, and a small hologram of a young girl appeared. She had long, blonde hair pulled back with a headband and was dressed in a cute light blue dress with a white apron. Riku couldn't help put notice that there was an aura of innocence and purity surrounding her.
"This is Alice," Maleficent said, "we believe that she is currently wandering a world known as 'Wonderland'. I want you to find her, and bring her back completely unharmed." Riku nodded his understanding, still keeping in mind that right now, this was the only way to find Sora and Kairi. "wonderful, now, I have something for you," Maleficent raised her hand, and a few whisps of darkness appeared. The darkness moved underneath her fingertips, until it began to make a shape; a large bat wing. In a few short moments, the darkness dissapeared, leaving behind an indigo and red bat wing-shaped sword. The witch took the hilt of the blade and handed it to the young man. The name Soul Eater instantly filled Riku's mind as soon as he had grasped the hilt. "Use this blade to defend yourself and defeat your enemies. I must warn you, that the heartless may not consider you an ally just yet; they will attack you and espessially Alice and the rest of the princesses because of their light. Do not hesitate to destroy the creatures if they attempt to do you harm. And in the meantime, we will begin searching for your friends."
"Got it," Riku nodded, "So how do I get to this other world?"
"It's quite simple," Maleficent smirked as she raised her hand again, and a dark portal appeared in front of her, "This corridor will take you to Wonderland. Once you have Alice, simply call out to me, and I will provide another corridor for you that will lead you here."
"Yeah, we'll be watchin' ya kid," the sac-like figure said, "so, ya better make a good impression!" Riku nodded, then walked through the corridor of darkness. The same figure turned to the witch, "so, how do we know we can even trust this kid?" Maleficent laughed.
"I assure you, Oogie Boogie, he will do exactly as we tell him. It's like you said; we'll be watching his every move," She told the group of villans as the image on the table shifted to Riku arriving in Wonderland.
~*KH*~
Riku stepped out of the corridor and walked into a clearing with giant flowers. And when I say giant, I mean giant! They were at least three times the size of Riku himself and the few bugs that were flying around were about the same size as an average dog back home was.
"What's going on?" Riku snapped outloud without meaning to, "How did I get so small?"
"Oh, being small is nothing to be ashamed of, dearie," a forigin voice spoke. Riku raised Soul Eater in defense and looked around the space.
"Shh! He could be a weed!" another voice scoffed.
"He doesn't look like a weed, he looks quite handsome!" another voice giggled uncontrollably.
"Who said that?" after a few moments of silence, Riku realized that he was the only person there. The teen lowered his weapon and looked around the space again. Who had spoken to him? A small part of Riku thought that it was the flowers, but Riku himself rolled his eyes, "Flowers can't talk," Riku scoffed. He was, however, proved wrong when a nearby rose lowered itself to his level and started talking.
"But of course we talk, dear," the rose said kindly.
"If there's anyone worth talking too," a purple flower scoffed in a snobbish tone.
"Or about!" a daisy giggled, "And we sing too, would you like to hear?" Riku shook his head.
"Sorry I don't have time; I'm looking for a girl named Alice," Riku explained.
"What in the world do you want with that filthy weed?" the purple flower snapped.
"It's none of your business; have you seen her or not?" Riku retorted.
"She went by here not too long ago," the rose told him, "She went to speak with that catarpilar over there," the rose pointed over to a nearby mushroom that had a blue catarpillar.
"Thanks," Riku nodded as he started walking away.
"Do come back soon, handsome!" the daisy giggled and waved. Riku moved over to the mushroom and looked at the catarpillar. He was looking off into the distance tiredly and smoking a hookah. Riku stood there until the catarpillar finally noticed him.
"Who are you?" the catarpillar wheezed as colourfull smoke came out from his mouth.
"I'm Riku," Riku coughed as the smoke came near him, "have you seen a girl named Alice?"
"Perhaps," the catarpillar replied while he smoked more. Riku paused, expecting the catarpillar to tell him where she was. When he didn't, Riku spoke again,
"Can you tell me how to find her?"
"Yes, one side will make you taller, the other side will make you shorter," the catarpillar replied. Riku raised an eyebrow.
"The other side of what?"
"THE MUSHROOM OF COURSE!" the catarpillar snapped and then walked away. Riku looked down at the mushroom quizically, then ripped off a strip off both sides. The teen looked at both the peices in his hands, trying to decide which would make him taller. He finally decided on the piece in his left hand and nibbled a piece off. As soon as the silver-haired teen had tasted the mushroom he instanty grew to his normal size. Riku looked down at the two small pieces of mushroom and pocketed them, then began walking down a dirt path.
PrismRain13: Hope you liked this chappie :) next chapter, we meet Alice!
Maleficent: *sigh* ...you're so terribly childish.
PrismRain13: This has been your friendly neighbourhood nerd, Prism :) Later Taters!
