Chapter 6: Alice In Wonderland
A/N: I feel awful, you guys! Seriously. I took a personal hiatus. A lot of crazy family drama just kinda put me in the pit of despair and now my little girl is sick and has to miss daycare all week, so I am a stay at home mom for now. So I will take this writing seriously for the next few days and spoil all of you! I also became inspired to write a story inspired by the animes of Munto and Inuyasha. Everything is all original characters, but its kind of like a 50 shades of grey deal. A fanfiction of an original work. I named it either Curse of the Blood Moon, or Namie of the Red Moon. I already have the first chapter down. Anyways, enjoy this chapter.
As they stumbled down the dark hole, the group finally managed to reach the end. It felt like they were walking forever! Kari's legs were throbbing from the abuse. They squeezed out of the hole, finding themselves in a vast maze decorated with red rose bushes. "Oh, wow!" Kari gasped in awe. Kari fingered the roses lightly, only to have red paint stain her fingers. "Huh?" She rubbed the paint in between her fingers, seeing underneath the red pain on the rose petals, the flowers were actually white. "Who would paint white roses red?" Sora questioned, tapping the roses with his fingers.
"Odd, isn't it?" Kari hummed in agreement.
"Come on! We got to find that rabbit!" Donald yelled, running off.
"Wait up, Donald!" Goofy hollered, chasing after the duck. Kari and Sora shrugged and followed suit. Eventually, the group found themselves coming upon what seemed to be a court trial. There was a bench where the judge would sit, occupied by a rather large woman in a black and red dress, holding a heart shaped scepter. At the podium was a young girl in a blue dress with a white apron and stockings. She had a long blonde hair held back with a black head band. Kari was more amazed that there were guards surrounding the area were indeed cards. Hearts, spades, diamonds and clubs. "There he is!" Donald screeched, pointing up towards the front of the court room. Kari and the others looked to see the Rabbit running up to the stand, trumpet in hand. Once he reached the top, he cleared his throat and blew into the trumpet.
"Court is now in session!" He called out. The blonde girl gasped.
"I'm on trial? But why?" She asked in a small shy voice. Kari eyes landed on the girl and she couldn't help but feel that constricting pull in her heart. There was something about this girl. A lot like Kairi...
~Flash back~ 9 YEARS AGO, 3 WEEKS AFTER ARRIVAL
"Hikari!" Hikari looked back, seeing Kairi make her way towards her. She stood at the entrance of the cavern she woke up in. The kids called it the secret place because of how well hidden it was. "What are you doing?" Kairi asked, placing her hands behind her back.
"I was gonna explore the secret place. I think if I go in there, I might find something," She replied.
"You think that something will help you remember?" Kairi smiled. Hikari shrugged.
"I don't know..." Ever since coming to the islands, Hikari struggled to fit in. Sora, Riku and Kairi took to her naturally but the other kids didn't seem to. Tidus especially liked to bully her and Selphie didn't like that Kairi already proclaimed her as her best friend. Riku says they were just jealous of her and eventually they will see how great she was. But what was so great about her? Sensing Hikari's depression, Kairi took her hand. The contact made Hikari gasp, feeling a sharp string of electricity in her being. She looked at the red head, seeing she didn't notice a thing. Or she tried to ignore it. "I can help you," Kairi smiled. The light in her eyes shined, showing the pureness of her heart. Hikari stared at the girl, trying to place her finger on why her light was oh so familiar to her? Could it be that Hikari knew Kairi before they both lost their memories? Why didn't she notice it before? Hikari smiled and shook her head.
"Maybe another day," She replied. "Let's go see how Sora is doing,"
"He's lucky! He got ice cream!" Kari grinned.
"If you want ice cream that bad, why don't you get your tonsils taken out too?"
"I'll pass!" Both girls laughed as they made their way to the docks.
~End Flashback~
Kari shook her head and focused on what was happening before her now. "This girl is the culprit! No doubt about it! The reason all of you may ask? Be cause I said so that's why!?" The woman holding the scepter yelled out for the whole court to hear. The guards all muttered amongst each other. Kari noticed that the woman was wearing a crown upon her head. She must be the queen of this world.
"That is so unfair!" The girl cried.
"Have you anything to say in your defense?" The queen asked in a sickly sweet voice, batting her eye lashes.
"Of course!" The girl placed her hands on her hips. "I have done absolutely nothing wrong! You may be the queen but that doesn't give you the right to be so...so mean!"
"You dare defy me!" The queen yelled, making the girls hair fly back. The girl gasped and covered her face. Kari's eye twitched in anger. How dare she treat a child so horribly! Even if she did something wrong, she is still a kid!
"We need to help her," Kari said, forming her hands into fists. Sora nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, but the..." Donald started but trailed off, scratching his temple. He was obviously conflicted with the situation.
"We're outsiders. So that would be muddling," Goofy reasoned. "Meddling!" Donald corrected.
"And that's against the rules," Goofy finished. Kari rolled her eyes.
"And rules are meant to be broken for the right reasons!" She replied, crossing her arms.
"The court finds the defendant...GUILTY! For the crimes of assault and attempted theft of my heart..." Wait, what!? Kari gasped. That would certainly not be the work of a child! There was only one creature vile enough to steal a persons heart and it was the work of the Heartless. "Off with her head!"
"No! No! Please!" The girl begged, her hand clutching her chest, tears filling her eyes.
"Hold it right there!" The room was silent as all eyes fell onto Sora who made his way up to the stand. He stood before the girl, arms out as if to protect her.
"I told you not to meddle!" Donald quacked, jumping up and down, waving his arms.
"Oh, shut up!" Kari scoffed, placing her foot on the ducks head.
"Why you!" He raged, his face turning red. Kari only laughed. The queen stared at the odd group that dared to interrupt her court.
"Who are you?" The queen asked calmly before breaking into a fit of rage. "How dare you interfere with my court!" Sora jumped back a bit, but held his ground. The girl looked up at him with wide eyes, her cheeks slightly pink. Uh oh, Sora. Looks like someone has a crush!
"I'm sorry but you got the wrong culprit!" Sora replied confidently. "Sora, always gotta be the hero!" Kari sighed, placing her hands on her hips.
"Nonsense! Do you have any proof?" The queen asked smugly. Sora rubbed the back of his neck. He obviously didn't think ahead.
"Well...no but-Hey!" Sora was pushed off the stand by the guards. They grabbed the young girl and dragged her to the Judges stand, a large birds cage appearing in thin air. She was tossed inside, the door locking. Kari caught Sora before he fell to the floor, her hands under the pits of his arms. Kari huffed as she tried to hold his weight.
"Your majesty!" Kari yelled, getting the queens attention. Sora gained his balance and stood beside Kari. "Please, let us find some evidence to prove that she is innocent. Like they say, she is innocent until proven so!" Kari growled out the end, a touch of hostility.
"Fine then!" The queen snapped. "I'm up for a game. Find me evidence to prove Alice's innocence. Fail and it is off with all of your heads!" She grinned. Kari glared hard at the woman before looking at the girl whose name was now Alice.
"I will get you out of there, Alice!" Kari vowed, earning a smile from the child.
"Thank you!" She wept, dabbing her wet eyes with her apron.
"This is why we don't meddle!" Donald snapped, glaring at Kari and Sora.
"She could have died, Donald!" Kari snapped back, waving her arm towards the courtroom they just left. They all stood in a valley of tall grass and large mushrooms. They were still tiny. They flowers were taller than them.
"Isn't it our job to protect people?" Sora piped in, his hands behind his head.
"From Heartless! Now, thanks to you two we are going to lose our heads!"
"Donald, you obviously don't have a compassionate bone in your body but if you looked at that girl and saw what I seen; you'd be trying to help her too," Kari growled and kept walking.
"Kari, wait up!" Sora yelled after her.
"Gwarsh, Donald. Kari was kind of right. She is only doing what she felt was right. Alice is after all a child," Goofy said, rubbing his nose. Donald huffed and crossed his arms.
"Still should've followed the rules!"
Kari huffed as she pushed her way through the tall grass. She met herself at the base of a tree that towered way above her. She can barely see the branches.
"Kari!" She looked back to see Sora. She gave a small smile and a wave. "Let's go back to Donald and Goofy,"He suggested and held his hand out to her. Kari shot him a hard look.
"Like I wanna go back to that...that. Ugh! I don't even know what to call him!" She groaned and sat on a rock. "Sora, let's just find the evidence all by ourselves. We don't need them telling us what to do and breathing down our necks," Sora sighed. He wanted to say she was right, but he knew she was dead wrong. They both needed them and she knew it too. She was just mad at Donald for not caring what happens to the young girl. Alice, was it?
"Kari. I know you hate being proven wrong, but we do need them. They have the ship that can help us find our friends," Sora squatted down to her level, his arms resting on his knees. "Look, if Donald says anything again. I'll set him straight," He grinned. Kari gave a small laugh and smiled a bit.
"I guess you're right," She relented. There was really no use to arguing with him at this moment. Still doesn't mean she's no longer mad. Pushing her feelings aside, they have to focus on the task at hand. Evidence to prove Alice's innocence!