A/N: Sorry I didn't update all week, my computer had a nervous breakdown and then school kept me busy all the week.

Disclaimer: I own only the Splices who appear in this chapter, and the design for the Knave of Heartless. Get it? Knave of Heartless, like the Knave of Hearts? Eheheh...

Chapter 8: Madness

September 8th: The Frabjous Day, the Chessboard Desert...

The smoke began to clear, revealing the Knave's transformation. His body gone, his heart had unleashed its darkness, becoming a black-skinned monster twice his original height. Dark fur had grown across his-its?-body, and horns extended back from its head. Its face was wreathed in shadows, letting only the glowing golden eyes of the heartless be seen. Nowhere on its body was the Heartless Emblem, signifying its status as a Pureblood heartless. Small electrical sparks flickered across its body.

The Knave of Heartless drew a sword, and roared. It swung down, and its sword hitting the ground created a shockwave.

"Goofy! Knocksmash!" Goofy threw his shield in Sora's direction, and Sora used the keyblade like a baseball bat to hit it straight at the heartless boss. It was hit right in the face before the shield flew back to Goofy.

"Sora!" Together, they threw their weapons at the Knave of Heartless, knocking it back several yards.

"Fire!" Sora plugged his ears, and Goofy flew at the heartless with a yell of "YA-HOO-HOO-HOO-HOOEY!"

The heartless roared in pain, and swiped at Sora with its sword, now charged with darkness. While he avoided the initial strike, a wave of darkness swept over him from the blade.

"Cura!" Donald cried, and Sora felt his energy restored.

Sora nodded in thanks, and pointed his keyblade at the heartless. "Flare!" An unstable burst of fire magic came from the tip of his keyblade. Even not-quite perfect, it pierced straight through the Knave of Heartless's chest. He pulled out the Chocobo summon charm, to get the summoned one's attention. "Cloud Runner!"

The bright yellow Chocobo came running. "Kweh!" Sora jumped onto Cloud Runner's back, standing in the saddle, and Cloud Runner bucked so Sora could jump even higher, above even the towering Knave of Heartless. In mid-air, Sora threw the keyblade as hard as he could. "Sky Raid!"

The keyblade spun through the air, and wasn't even stopped by the Knave of Heartless's sword, cut in two diagonally. The Ultima Weapon continued through down at high speed, splitting the heartless down the center. It roared one last time, before dropping to the ground.

Sora landed, and summoned the keyblade back just as the Knave of Heartless burst apart, fading back into the darkness. "Heal," he said, and bursts of green magic appeared over his, Donald, and Goofy's heads.

He turned back to his allies in the White Army. He saw Alice's face go from a smile to panic. She, Donald, Goofy, and the Hatter all cried out his name at once. In the next half-second, he felt a sharp pain in his back, and a short feeling of paralyzation, like he'd been struck with a tazer. He was pushed ten feet across the ground by the impact, his entire side getting scratched up from the rocks.

A screeching laughter came the mouth of the wolf-like Splice, Madness. The weapon on his left arm, a metal piece the size of a shoebox, shifted back into place. As Sora stood up, he tried to figure out what it was. Judging by the prongs on the end of it, his best bet was some kind of stun gun that also augmented Madness's strength.

"The leader doesn't want us to kill you just yet, Sora," Madness said, an unnaturally wide grin on his face. "Guess that's his job. But it doesn't mean I can't rough you up a bit. And there's always your friends I could take down."

"I'm not letting that happen," Sora said. He hadn't planned to get into a brawl with Madness or Apathy, but maybe he'd get lucky, and Madness wasn't as strong as Regret.

Madness moved quickly, punching Sora in his stomach, this time not using the stunning function of his weapon. It knocked the breath out of Sora, but he was able to hit Madness in his head with the hilt of Ultima Weapon. Blood streaked down the left side of his face, but he barely made a notice of it, as he brought his leg around, knocking Sora around and making something crack.

"Firaga!" Orbs of flame spun around Sora, and put a large burn on Madness's chest. "Thundaga!" The lightning bolts barely missed Madness.

"No, no, you don't use electricity against me," Madness said, as though scolding a child. The prongs on his weapon became surrounded with electricity, and he punched Sora straight in his chest, throwing the keyblade master back twenty feet and taking the feeling out of most of his body for a few seconds.

"What is that thing?" Sora grunted, though he didn't expect to get an answer.

"This?" Madness held up the steel device strapped to his forearm. "I call it the Dual Hound. I just love it, it's perfect for me." He suddenly turned around to face Donald, now almost fifty feet away, and punched powerfully into the dirt, discharging the Dual Hound at the same time. A wave of earth swept across the land, and would have knocked Donald into the afterlife if it hadn't been for his very quick use of Aeroga, straight at the ground, sending himself straight into the air.

Madness clicked his teeth. "So close!" He turned casually back to Sora, and moved faster than the eye could normally track. He reappeared just behind Sora, and elbowed him in his shoulder blade. Sora fell flat on the ground again. He tried to push himself up, but Madness pushed him back down with one foot.

"Damn, this is the keyblade master?" He casually reached down and grabbed Sora's left arm. There was a sickening crack as at least one bone was broken. "Maybe I should just turn you into a heartless, right here and now." With his claw-like nails, he put four long cuts into his arm. "It'd be fun to watch you kill all of your friends, don't you think?" He leaned down to Sora, so close that the teenage boy could feel his breath on his face. "Who should I order you to kill first? That stupid duck? The idiot dog? The Princess of Heart? Or should I take you back to Destiny Islands and take down those friends of yours there, the traitor and the slutty princess?"

"Stop talking." The pain in his arm and ribcage felt like nothing compared to the anger Sora felt towards Madness right now. "BURN!"

A burst of flames appeared right where Madness stood, shocking him enough to make him step off Sora, who jumped right back up.

"Six impossible things," Sora said to himself. "One, I'm in love with a girl who's a princess from another world." A Reflect Spell barely protected him from getting stunned by the Dual Hound again. "Two, there's dozens of worlds outside of my own. Three, there's creatures of darkness called heartless." The wind was knocked out of him when Madness kicked him with the flat of his boot. "Four," he coughed. "I know how to use magic." A freezing Blizzaga spell swept through the air. "Five, I've saved the universe. Twice."

The Kingdom Key appeared in Sora's left hand, and his clothes turned bright red. "Six: I WON'T LOSE!" Sora swept both keyblades through the air, far faster than before. While he still wasn't as fast as Madness, Valor Form decreased the gap by a large amount.

Madness struck at Sora as fast as he could, as Sora both defended himself and went for any opening he could find. Neither made any notice of it when they were injured. But while Sora's movement slowed down with his injuries-no matter how he tried to do the opposite-Madness only seemed to grow faster and stronger.

Sora threw both keyblades as hard as he could, and to his great surprise (and somewhat disgust), they both landed point-forward in Madness's chest. The Splice had an expression of mild shock on his face, and staggered. "Ah..." He looked right at Sora...and grinned. "You fell for that? Wow, then you're even stupider than I thought." He grabbed both keyblades by their shafts, and tugged them out of his chest. He threw them to the ground, and both vanished in flashes of light. "Heh...you didn't see it?"

"What? High-speed healing?"

"Ha! Yeah, right." All of the injuries Sora had delivered onto Madness were still there, but the Splice acted like there was nothing wrong with him. "You're dog food." Madness moved the fastest yet, and delivered a swift uppercut to Sora's jaw. He grabbed the front of his shirt, and lifted him up easily with one hand. Sora gagged as he tried to breathe.

"Your strength...grows..." Sora choked out.

"Really? I didn't notice." Madness cackled as he spun and threw Sora with all of his strength, straight at the cliff that had been the battlefield between Alice and the Jabberwocky earlier.

"Reflega!" A honeycomb shield appeared around Sora, just as he made contact with the cliff. It took all of the kinetic energy out of it. While he certainly got a shock from stopping so suddenly, it beat getting turned to goo against the rocks. He made a mental note to thank Donald after this for the spell.

Sora slowly pushed himself up, and downed a potion. I'd pay extra for potions if they didn't have an aftertaste that's like vomit. Scrooge would definitely go for that. The Ultima Weapon and Kingdom Key appeared again. He looked up, and froze.

Madness had gone from being almost a hundred feet away, to two yards in just a few seconds. The Dual Hound was charged with power. "I really thought you'd be more of a challenge."

"Y'know, that's really weird," Sora said thoughtfully. "Because I was thinking the exact same thing. Compared to your boss, you're like a fly." He almost laughed. If he'd fought Madness even yesterday, he wouldn't be bantering with him; for that matter, he wouldn't even be conscious at the moment.

"Kyahahaha!" Madness cackled. "I like you! Tell ya what, Sora. I like you so much, you can die last." He punched at Sora with the Dual Hound, but the Ultima Weapon came up just in time.

Sora's eyes burned with loathing for Madness. "I think I could destroy you right now if I really wanted to, Madness. But when you go running back like a dog with its tail between its legs, tell Regret..."

The Splice's Base, Later that Night.

"He gave Madness a message for you, and I thought it best I deliver it," Apathy said half-heartedly. Regret tapped his fingers on the meeting table impatiently. "He said 'I'm ready.'"

Regret considered this. "Given the other information I've received, I fail to understand why you find it necessary to give this message to me. What exactly was the result of this brawl again?"

Apathy snorted.

"Somebody remind me why I joined you idiots in the first place," said a young man with a sickly green tone to his skin.

"Because if you hadn't, I would have used you to practice my illusion-weaving," said another man beside him, one with leathery skin and scaly wings. "Never forget it, newbie."

Regret ignored them. "I expected no different, Apathy. Sora wouldn't allow himself to be beaten again, after the sound thrashing I gave him in both Radiant Garden and Destiny Islands. I assume Madness didn't use that?"

"Of course not, not even Madness is that crazed," said Apathy, now relieved that he wouldn't be dying today.

"I would dispute that, the other day I was able to distract him for almost an hour with a laser pointer," said the young man, whose name was Shame. He then said to the readers "Remember, kids, unless you're a half-heartless monster who can't be killed easily, don't antagonize other half-heartless monsters with a laser pointer, it's dangerous business."

"Do you want me to stab you with a fork again?" said his partner, Suffering. "If not, then I'd have to advise that you stop doing that!"

"I know a really good therapist, senpai, he could really help you with your anger issues."

"I will cut your heart out WITH A SPOON!"

"I once saw him do that to some kid, it was messed up," said Avarice, the Splice who had taunted Riku on Destiny Islands.

"Oh, boys are all so stupid," said an incredibly beautiful woman. Her eyes shined brightly, her skin unblemished. The only part of her appearance that didn't fit was a white feather boa around her neck. "Don't you agree, Misery?"

The woman with the appearance of being part-shark looked away without a word. "Hmph."

"Fine, don't talk to me," she said. "By the way, Avarice, where's Vanity? Isn't like the professional butt-kisser to miss one of her 'Regret-sama's' meetings."

"How should I know? She's my partner in name only," Avarice said. "But what would I give to get close to her, she's delicious." He licked his fangs at the thought of it.

"She's taking care of some business in another world," Regret said simply. "She has her duties, and you have yours, Desire." The beautiful woman gave him a slight salute-rolling her eyes at the same time-before vanishing. "And the rest of you, begone."

Apathy, Suffering, Shame, Avarice, and Misery all left the meeting room.

Regret thought on what had happened, letting one hand play over his features. "I'm ready, hm? I'm so sure, after the sound thrashing Madness gave you."


A/N: Madness's Dual Hound comes from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, it's the weapon that Loz used.

Another half of a chapter in Wonderland, before we move on. Not quite to the next world just yet, but that will be soon.