Hey guys! Guess what? I'm NOT dead! College enrollment and things like that ARE happening though, WITH the occasional writer's block of transitional things, but we all good! Remember! I don't own Kingdom Hearts! But wouldn't it be cool If I did?
"So, the Soldiers are the knight-like Heartless?"
"You bet!"
"And you named the bigger ones Large Bodies."
"Exactly!"
"In a way, all of these names will be easy to remember."
"Well thank you Migaru! I work hard to make just that possible."
"Oh, and one more thing?"
"And what would that be?"
"How long have we been falling?" My tone changed from interested to distress as I snapped back to reality from Jiminy's journal, huffing at the fact that we've had yet to land on solid ground. I cast my gaze downward, looking to the groundless bottom, then looking up, finding that I couldn't even see the Gummi ship anymore.
"You have me there." Jiminy laughed nervously, noticing the frustration building throughout the group, or rather everyone but Goofy.
"Too long!" Donald took the liberty of answering as he flailed his arms. Goofy yawned, having a better time out of all of us as he took this time to catch up on his sleep. Suddenly, we all flipped against our wills, having a chance to see the floor below.
"The floor?" I repeated verbally, the three of us glancing back down to find that there was indeed a red carpeted ground.
"I thought I'd never see that again." Sora breathed as we all landed on our feet one by one, feeling the gravity returning as soon as we hit the ground while Goofy fell flat on his stomach. I had to stifle a chuckle while Sora flinched and Donald shook his head in disappointment. But at that moment, a clothed white rabbit walking on its hind legs ran past us from seemingly nowhere. Taken aback, I looked around the circular room to see nothing but pictures and paintings resting on a brick wall.
"Oh, my fur and whiskers!" It yelled, holding up a gold pocket watch. "I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!"
"Where did he…?" I whispered to myself as he continued to panic, running down a hallway as fast as his short little legs could carry him.
"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! I'm here, I should be there." Goofy managed to pick himself up as he Sora and Donald continued to watch him. "I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! The queen, she'll have my head for sure!"
"Um, Migaru…?" I heard Sora behind me as I proceeded to lightly knock on the wood and brick of the walls.
"Yea?"
"What are you doing?"
"Finding out where exactly that rabbit came from." I told him, sighing when I searched the whole perimeter. Finally, I turned to Donald and Goofy. "Do you guys know where he could've come from?"
"Why would we know that?" Donald asked suspiciously, folding his arms.
"Well, you and that rabbit a-" I decided to shut my mouth, rethinking my theory before I would get shipped right back to Traverse Town. Besides, we floated down here for an uncertain amount of time; I'm sure something like that shouldn't bother me much. Noticing Sora had gone ahead, we followed, finding him at the end of a hallway, opening a door…to reveal another door.
"What?" The brunette asked in confusion, prompting Donald to open the second door.
"Hey!" Donald yelled at the third door, tapping his foot soon after. At last, Goofy opened the third and hopefully last door, showing the opening to another room. Going through without much of a surprise this time, we made it to what looked like a kitchen. I decided to study the room, realizing that there were tables, vases, and even teddy bears simply painted on the ground, instead of the real thing. The only real piece of furniture was a small bed on the side in the corner of the room. Walking up to it, I patted the mattress, discovering that it was bare.
"I found him!" Sora called as the bed disappeared in a cloud of smoke, sinking into the wall, much to my surprise. Slowly shaking my head, I turned my attention just in time to the surprisingly small white rabbit run into a closing door. Walking to the door, we all bent down to somewhat make eye contact with the knob. "How did he get so small?"
"No you're simply too big." I had to immediately refrain from looking around as I saw the doorknob speak, trying to figure out if there could be some other owner of the voice.
"It talks!" Donald yelled as they all flinched in surprise. The knob proceeded to yawn lazily before speaking again.
"Must you be so loud?" He complained, his eyes drooping further at each word. "You woke me up."
"Good morning." Goofy greeted him cheerfully. Unfortunately, he wasn't very keen on waking.
"Good night! I need a bit more sleep…" With that said, he started nodding off.
"Wait!" Sora pleaded, reaching out to the now animate object. "What do we have to do to grow small?"
"Why don't you try the bottle… over there?" At once, the four of our attentions were drawn to where the knob pointed.
"What bottle?" I asked in mid-turn, remembering that there was nothing but painted-on floors and walls. At least, that was what I thought before a table materialized in a puff of smoke, equipped with a matching chair and differently colored bottles. "Never mind…" I sighed, wondering why I was even surprised.
"Now what do we do?"
"What?" Sora turned his attention to me and my question, looking confused as we stood on the now large table.
"It's great that we're that rabbit's size and all, but the door…" I jerked my thumb over to down below to the snoozing door. "I don't think we should wake it up either…"
"I think you're right." Sora nodded his head in agreement, placing his bent index finger on his chin in thought while Donald folded his arms, tapping his foot repeatedly.
"Where do ya think that leads?" At once, every head turned to Goofy, who pointed to a large opening near the bed painting. "Should we check it out?" I asked the three. At once, they all nodded their heads, seeing as there was no other place to go. As we all jumped down the now large table, no one could take a step before a swarm of Heartless appeared. Soon, my three experienced comrades bounded off into action, leaving me to look frantically look around. I had a portion fighting experience, only sparring with Sora on very rare occasions added to my run in with the Heartless in Traverse Town. Even then, I had never managed to pick anything up from my 'lessons.' From the corner of my eye, I noticed a familiar figure winding up to attack. Panicking, I threw my hand up skyward to punch it away. Unfortunately, my timing was less than good, for my arm was already up as the Soldier Heartless leaped into the air at me.
Suddenly, the Soldier bounced back unintentionally, hitting seemingly nothing before Sora ran to finish it off. Blinking twice in confusion, I hadn't noticed the Shadow creeping up to my left before a blast of fire disposed of it, courtesy of Donald.
"Stay close to me!" Sora instructed, knowing full well of my lack of experience. "Don't wander off, ok?"
"R-right…" I stammered, continuing to wonder how the Soldier was blown back in the first place. After all the Heartless were dealt with, the four of us proceeded to exit the kitchen area, where we found something entirely different on the other side. A cloudy sky with corners with what looked like a hedge maze now came into view, forcing me to look back at the now black opening from where we came. The drastic change had to be one of the more outrageous happenings since we had made it to this world, but even so, I kept my cool, not questioning the complete change in setting. Turning my gaze forward, I found what seemed like an outside court house beyond a set of people resembling cards. At the podium stood a small girl, her back faced to us, in a blue dress and a black bow attached to her mid-back length blonde hair.
Dashing to a set of spiral-like stairs, the white rabbit from before took a breath before blowing on his trumpet, letting out a breath once more as he finished.
"Court is now in session!" The rabbit bellowed, his voice cracking somewhat.
"I'm on trial?" The young girl asked, her confusion evident in her tone of voice. "But why?"
Ignoring her, the rabbit went on. "Her Majesty, the Queen of Hearts, presiding!" The four of us looked forward to see a closed-eyed woman on the judge's bench, wearing black and red, a crown adorned on her black hair and a heart shaped scepter in her hand. Immediately after her introduction, her eyes shot open, looking at the blonde with an accusing countenance.
"This girl is the culprit." She began confidently, leaning in the direction of the prosecuted girl. "There's no doubt about it."
"I wonder what she did…" I mumbled, prompting Donald to shush me.
"And the reason is…" I leaned in slightly, taking in the buildup. "Because I say so that's why!" I might as well had fallen forward at how awful the reasoning of that accusation seemed.
"That is so unfair…" I mumbled at the same time as the blonde, the she rather yelled it. Surprisingly, the queen was passive enough to give the girl a chance.
"Well have you anything to say in your defense?"
"Of course!" The girl took her chance to make her point, making the motion of folding her arms. "I've done absolutely nothing wrong!" Against anyone's better judgment, she continued. "You may be queen, but that doesn't give you the right to be so…so mean!"
"Silence!" The now enraged queen barked, making the girl's hair fly back. "You dare defy me!?"
"This isn't going well…" I commented under my breath, shaking my head. From the baseless accusations to the anger being harbored inside that woman, I found that there could be no reasoning with her.
"Hey, guys," Sora piped up, a discontent look present on his features when I peered over to him. "We should help her out."
It seemed like Donald was a bit torn as he replied, "Yea, but the-"
"We're outsiders," Goofy interrupted, further explaining. "So wouldn't that be muddling?"
"Meddling." Donald corrected.
"Oh, yeah. And that's against the rules." As Sora cocked his head to the side, I could see that he was weighing his options at the moment. Humming in thought, I decided to voice them.
"Besides," I began, getting his attention. "We don't exactly know what she did or didn't do." No matter how unjust the queen sounded, the girl was on trial for a reason, that much was certain."Maybe-"
"The court finds the defendant…" The queen continued, cutting off my train of thought as the trial continued. "Guilty as charged!"
"But do you really think a girl like that could do anything this bad?" Sora pleadingly questioned me.
"As bad as a court having to fix it?" I asked to his now nodding head. "No, not really. But-"
"For the crimes of assault and attempted theft of my heart…" The last reason had caused my eyes to widen mid-sentence as Sora gasped, shocked. Attempted theft of her heart? Now I knew that it wasn't the girl the queen was searching for, but I simply wondered what verdict an unreasonable queen could make. "Off with her head!"
"Oh no…" I uttered regretfully as the girl pleaded for her life. Her attempt was futile as she noticed the spear-wielding cards behind her become active after being dormant all this time.
"No, no! Oh please!"
"Hold it right there!" It seemed as though my friend's feet moved faster than him mouth, for Sora raced forward then proceeded to yell. Soon, Donald, Goofy and I caught up behind him.
"Who are you?" The queen yelled angrily, less than happy to see someone interrupting her court. "How dare you interfere with my court?"
"Now what…?" I whispered, now finding that the four of us were now targets for the queen's fury.
"Excuse me…" Sora had hesitated only a fraction of a second, but strengthened his resolve as he stepped forward. "But we know who the real culprit is!"
"Uh-huh." Goofy chimed in. "It's the Heartle-" One look from Donald had the dog covering his mouth as Sora continued, trying to play off Goofy's mistake.
"Anyway, she's not the one you're looking for."
"We last saw them out of this place." I pointed back to the kitchen, trying my best to help out the situation.
"That's nonsense." The queen impatiently tapped her heart-shaped scepter on the wooden stand in annoyance, looking at both the blonde and Sora. "Have you any proof?" At that point, both Sora and I faltered. I didn't have any spare Heartless parts to give to the queen and I was positive that neither did the rest of the party. With that, the girl was taken to a cage next to the queen before it was locked, sealing her inside without warning,
"Bring me evidence of Alice's innocence!" The queen instructed us. "Fail, and it's off with all of your heads!"
"I figured as much…" I sighed, the stakes now higher than before. Sora, Donald, and Goofy could protect themselves just fine, but how would they fare with helping both Alice and I?
"Report back here once you're ready." With that final instruction from her majesty, Sora had decided to talk to the Alice girl while the rest of us waited for him.
"Say, Migaru." I turned to the sound of the voice to see Goofy as chipper as ever. "Do you think this place rings any bells?"
"What are-" Then I remembered. Though I wanted to help Sora find Riku and Kairi, I was also on a journey to find my home world, and that was something I couldn't forget.
"No," I answered after a moment of silence. "Nothing's coming to me." I was rather glad that nothing did. I didn't think I would've been able to handle a place like this.
"Let's find it soon." Donald huffed, more than happy to be able to get rid of me.
"You guys!" We heard Sora call over Donald's continuous grumbling. "I've got a lead on where we could find some evidence!"
"Oh?" My attention was definitely on him at the moment. Any clue leading to Alice's innocence would complicate things much less.
"Yea, but it turns out that Alice is from another world!"
"Her too?"
"She said she was following that rabbit when she fell into the same hole as us. She says she doesn't remember her home world though."
"How strange…" Another girl with amnesia? I honestly didn't think it was that common, what with me and Kairi having similar situations.
"She told me that we could probably find some clues in the Lotus Forest." With that report, Sora pointed to a small opening near one of the guards. "We should search there first."
"Anything else?"
"No, one of the guards sent me away before I could ask anymore. But we should be just fine with what we have!"
"If you say so." I said, peering over to the dark opening. I would have rather liked to be away from the queen, being as though if we were to stay, she might give us a time limit.
Just as we made it through, the scenery changed significantly yet again, giving off an autumn-like feel. As I noticed a painted in pond at my side, something pink from the corner of my eye caught my attention. Turning my gaze in front of me, I saw the head of a smiling cat, and only the head of a smiling cat swing itself from side to side. Although it appeared directly in front of me, which would have sent me jumping back and screaming, I developed a bored look on my face as I crossed my arms and stared at the figure until it vanished. With all the things that have happened throughout this world, I had more than gotten used to any other surprises, though the headlessness of it all may have thrown me off.
Soon, the cat reappeared above Donald, at Sora's feet, and beside Goofy before settling itself unto the log to my right, its body stepping on itself before getting off and placing its severed appendage back where it belonged.
"Who are you!?" Donald yelled, obviously more than deterred.
"Who, indeed?" The cat's smile never seemed to fade as it spoke, answering the duck with a slight chuckle. "Poor Alice. Soon to lose her head, and she's not guilty of a thing!"
"So you know she's innocent!" I accused the now shrugging feline, taking an angry step forward.
"Hey," Sora put his arm in front of me, lest I pick a fight. "If you know who the culprit is, tell us!"
"The Cheshire Cat has all the answers-but doesn't always tell." He continued. "The answer, the culprit, the cat, all lie in the darkness." And with that final sentiment, he disappeared into thin air.
"Wait!" Sora urged, throwing his hands up in defeat.
"Why am I not surprised?" I asked myself dully. To our surprise however, the cat's voice could still be heard on the stump he previously stood on.
"They've already left the forest." It said, giving us its version of a hint. "I won't tell which exit. There are four pieces of evidence in all. Three are a cinch to find. The fourth is tricky. Big reward if you find them all."
"Should we trust him?" Donald asked, finally recovering from his tantrum.
"What choice do we have…?" I asked, sighing at the fact that our lives were in the hands of a riddle-making cat.
"To trust, or not to trust?" The Cheshire Cat reappeared before our eyes, his grin widening even further as he answered. "I trust you'll decide!" With that, he finally disappeared, making the six of us five once more.
"This place is a mystery I don't think I want to solve…" I muttered to myself, clearly tired of the place.
"Let's just keep going guys." Sora bounced back from the encounter first, taking the lead as I heard Jiminy scribbling furiously into his journal, taking notes on everything that had transpired. A few steps along, and a group of Heartless appeared before us.
"The culprits." I glared accusingly at the creatures before us as Sora took his position in front of me.
"Stay behind me, alright?" He instructed, watching both of our backs.
Stepping out of my stance in surprise, Sora continued to slash away at the Heartless, leaving me to look around at the surrounding Heartless being slain by everyone but me.
"Don't worry Migaru." I heard Jiminy from my shoulder. "These three are here to help!"
Looking down at my gloves, which shone its glowing violet color, I sighed after a moment. "Right…"
"Useful is a feeling you don't feel at the moment." Turning my head, I noticed the head of the Cheshire Cat float around me. I would've jumped had Jiminy not done it for me. We had all chosen to split up to find all four of the clues, leaving Sora and Goofy to venture off alone and Donald to be partnered up with me. After the ill-tempered duck cleared the path of Heartless, staying close to the box of footprints we found first, I was free to climb a few lily pad stalks to get my pink boxed clue; antennae. "The power you have was made to help you, yet your inexperience hinders you."
I chose to ignore the circling head, lest my mind get filled with even more incomprehensible riddles. Picking up the salmon-colored box, I took my first step away from the creature.
"The drive is there, yet the visualization is a bit lacking in my opinion." I heard the purple creature directly behind me as I took another step. It was like I could hear the cat sniggering at my expense as it hovered to my line of sight- its wide smile prominent among its features.
"Visualization…" I murmured after a moment, halting in my third step.
"Such as," He continued, its body becoming visible with its head as it laid in the air in a leisurely manner, twiddling its paw back and forth. "What motion does fire make? What would I use to go about protecting others? Why am I-" At that moment, the pink and purple feline stopped in place, soon turning to me with an even wider grin than before. It spoke once more as I raised a brow. "It seems like another solution has spurred another problem. Congratulations on finding all four clues." With that, he faded away.
"H-hey-" I tried calling before it disappeared completely, leaving me to look around for him. "What motion does a….what…? I knew I shouldn't have listened to that thing." I muttered dully as I jumped off of the lily pad stalk, box and all.
"Maybe it's his way of helping you." Jiminy went on, implementing his optimism over me.
"If he wanted to help, he would tell me." I told the cricket with a sigh. Catching up with the regrouped four, a familiar face caught my attention as it trotted over to Sora.
"Nice going." I was close enough to hear the Cheshire Cat say.
"Now we can save Alice!" Sora cheered excitedly.
"Don't be so sure!" The creature said with a grin. "She may be innocent, but what about you?"
"Us?" I asked, raising a brow as I stepped up beside Sora. "What about us?"
"What do you mean?" The brunette boy questioned, prompting the feline's smile to grow even wider as he walked closer to the both of us.
"I won't tell. But I'll give you something." At that moment, the Cheshire Cat put his paw on the guard of Sora's Keyblade. Soon, the start to the end of the weapon was engulfed in a blue wind before dying out. Soon, he levitated over to me, putting its paw on my gloved palm. A few seconds later, the violet key on my backhand shined a bright blue as a cold sensation tingled through my fingers.
"What was…" I trailed as Donald squawked, inspecting Sora's Keyblade.
"The power of ice."The cat 'explained' to the two of us. "Quite a treat really. Now you may want to find Alice instead of dawdling. The queen hates waiting."
Cautious looks to one another told us that the after seeing the Queen, she wasn't a very reasonable person. Soon, the five of us rushed back to the courtyard, pink boxes in our hands.
"Are you ready to present evidence before the queen?" A red card questioned, stepping up to us as soon as we were in sight. I looked to Sora, who had a determined look on his face before he answered,
"Yea, we have everything we need."
"Very well. Counsel step up to the podium." The card's expression had little to no change as he urged Donald, Goofy and I to the peanut gallery, two other cards leading Sora to take the stand.
"Now," The Queen raised a brow, tapping her scepter unto the table with a scowl. The woman was obviously in a bad mood. "show me what you have found." At once, the boxes in our hands disappeared in a blinding light, causing me to shut my eyes out of discomfort as they reappeared to the front of the court. In response, her majesty's scowl lessened into more of a pout. "Well, that's certainly a lot of evidence, but I'm still not impressed."
"It must take a lot to make her happy." I mumbled, a dull look taking over my features as I gripped the edge of the podium we stood in.
"Cards!" She bellowed, thankfully not hearing my remark. "Bring forth my evidence!" In a small flash of light, a box identical to ours dropped perfectly beside the four others. At that moment, the pink cubes melded into each other before splitting back up again.
"What-"
"Checking all five would only be a waste of time." The woman uttered with a frown. "All right then. Choose the one you wish to present. I'll decide who's guilty based on that evidence."
"What?" The brunette on trial protested, either not hearing or not acknowledging the protests from the peanut gallery. "After all the trouble of collecting it?" He was right. would the outcome have been different if we had come sooner? We had one box of shuffled evidence to choose from, and who knew what the Queen's box held?
"You dare object!? Then you will lose your head! Now choose! One box!"At that point, it seemed that the boy had no other choice then to step down and choose carefully. Well, we had four, and she had one; our chances were pretty wide. Weren't they?
As Sora edged over to the box at the far right, Donald was practically at the edge of the podium while Goofy calmly looked on. I folded my arms in anticipation as the boy stepped over beside another box, finally halting at the second to last on the left. "I choose this one."
"Are you certain?" The Queen asked. It was almost as if she was urging him to take his time, but patience was something I found she lacked. "No second chances!"
"Yea, I'm sure." Sora stated, returning back to the podium, a determined look adorned over his features. He seemed so certain…would it pay off?
Sora took his last step to his stand when the box seemed to rattle, opening up in a puff of white smoke as we all urged ourselves further to get a better look. What we saw was…
Donald.
Ah, the dreaded cliff hanger. Fear not! I'll try to definitely update faster! I'll need to gauge your reactions and excitement so please review if you feel like it! _ Chained. OUT!