Sorry for the long wait. I've been working on my book, as well as getting distracted by the internet. I'll try to find a way to update more often.

I don't own Kingdom Hearts and/or Disney.

Mortem belongs to YamiChaos27

Johri belongs to Flautist4ever. Special thanks for helping to look over the chapter

Chapter 10: Finding Wonderland

MORTEM'S POV

It's been nearly a day since I brought that stupid locket to this guy so he could look over it. He said it shouldn't take long, and yet here I was waiting for him to get back to me. Well, I was done with waiting. IF he wasn't going to come to me, then I would go to him.

As I moved towards his lab, I prepared to blast my way in. However, I heard voices coming from inside. I don't know why, but I paused to listen to them.

"You're sure they defeated the Heartless?" The one who sent me to those worlds was saying.

"Yes." The second voice, feminine in nature, replied. "They think they've won."

"And you've planted the clue?"

"Of course. Those idiots have no idea what is going to happen."

"Excellent. Take a break. If needed, Number Six will deal with them. In the meantime, I must tend to Mortem. He'll be getting impatient by now." Darn right I was.

Right before I could open the door, something leapt on me from behind. With a snarl, I grabbed it and threw it off me. What I saw was some red koala-like creature, with a big nose and long ears. It had four arms, and spikes coming from its back with a couple of antenna on the head. I have no idea what a koala was, but I didn't care. This monster attacked me and was going to pay. "You wanted a fight? You got one." I frowned as I called forth my Keyblade and held it up.

The creature said something I never heard of before, yet understood at the same time. As it leapt at me, I managed to knock it to the side with my weapon. While I gathered dark energy into my hand, it rolled up into a ball and came at me. I fired at it, but it managed to roll out of the way before it attacked me with those sharp claws. Growling in pain, I narrowed my eyes as I felt the dark energy swirl up around me.

Then, the door opened and I found the man in charge standing there. "Mortem. Leroy. What's the meaning of this?"

"Leroy?" Looking at the beast, there was no way its name could be Leroy. Killer, or Psycho, perhaps, but Leroy? No way.

The little thing said something that I could not recognize, and yet I understood at the same time. "Yeah, that's my name. Got a problem with it, big stinkyhead?"

"You take that back, or I'll-."

"Enough." The doctor ordered as he looked at me. "Mortem. I finished looking over that locket you found, and based on the energy output and the seven slots inside I've concluded that it is the solution to your dilemma." Holding the locket out to me, he continued, "This item appears to be an artifact made some time ago to hold the Hearts of Light, as the energy it gives off seems to match the light of the Seven Hearts."

Taking the locket from him, I shoved it into my back pocket while I growled. "Took you long enough. Now to go back to Agrabah and take the heart of the princess."

"I believe there is a better target for you." Taking out the disk thing and pressing it, a holographic map of the known worlds appeared. "Here in this world dwells one of the Hearts, and unlike the one in Agrabah she is not guarded by any beings with or without magic. It should be a simple task for you two to obtain your first heart."

"Wait. Two?"

"That's right. From now on you'll be working with Leroy."

One look and I knew the red koala monster hated the idea as much as I did. "You expect me to work with this thing?"

"Of course. He will be the perfect partner. He is bullet-proof, fire-proof, and processes information faster than the most advanced supercomputer. Equipped with night vision and possessing strength to lift over three thousand times his own weight, it would be foolish not to have him as an ally."

I shook my head. "Forget it. I'm not working with him." The little guy agreed with me on that.

"You two will work together. What's more, I've come across something else that might help you." Holding up what appeared to be a gem, he said, "My expertise is more in the realm of science, but I've picked up enough of the mystic to know this. I believe it is a summon gem, and if you use it you can call forth an ally to help you in battle. However, this particular gem I would advise against using it unless there was no other option."

I could sense a lot of darkness within this thing, so I would not argue it. Taking the gem, I put it in one of my pockets. "What can you tell me about this world I'm heading to?"

"There is no logic to it. It appears to be a place where things happen just for the sake of it. One would almost call it the world of insanity. But those who have visited it prefer to call it Wonderland."

CLAIR'S POV

5 Hours ago...

The Mysterious Tower was incredible. All around I could feel mystical energy, like someone had taken hope and joy, and mixed it together with cool water. This world was fast becoming one of my favorites. "So this Mr. Sid lives here."

"Master Yen Sid." Scrooge corrected me. "And yes. This is his tower. Many times my nephew has come here seeking his advice on how to handle the Heartless with his friends."

"Any idea why it was so urgent for us to meet with him?" Jason asked.

"Only one way to find out." Was the old duck's answer as he made his way up the stairs to the doors with us not far behind. Pushing them open, we found ourselves at the bottom of a spiral staircase. Some vases and benches were around us, but that was it. I had to admit, I was a bit disappointed. You'd think a place of magic would have some more mystical stuff to it.

As we ascended the stairs, we came to another set of doors. However, when we pushed them open, we found ourselves on a platform in the middle of a green space. Not too far away was another set of stairs that led to another door. "Whoa!" I said as I took a step back.

"Oh, don't be silly, dear. This is nothing." Scrooge insisted as he went up the stairs with Jason and I right behind him. Opening the door, we found ourselves in a room similar to the one we just left behind except the place was blue instead of green. Going up the third set of stairs, we found ourselves in a room that was red, with more stairs leading up.

"Just how many of these rooms are there?" Jason asked as we moved up the stairs.

"Oh, we should be there soon." Scrooge said as we opened the door. Inside we found a circular room with windows shaped like moons and stars, and a group of people were waiting for us. The first person I took notice of was a girl a few years older than me. It wasn't because of her pink and black outfit or her red hair or blue eyes. I just sensed something different about her, something pure that… wait. I did sense that before. "Ah, Donald!"

"Uncle Scrooge!" A younger duck said, or at least I think he did. His voice was difficult to understand.

Some strange animal with a big mouth and green clothes looked at his pal. "Donald. Ya didn't tell us yer uncle was comin' too."

"I didn't know."

"Hey there." A guy in red and black clothes waved at us. I noticed his brown hair was spiked. "You must be Jason and Clair. Yen Sid told us all about you."

"And who are you?" Jason asked, and I was sure he was going to take offense.

Instead, the guy smiled. "Oh, I'm Sora. This is Donald, Goofy, and Kairi."

"Welcome, Jason Norman and Clair Fay, and to you Scrooge McDuck." Another voice said. Turning I saw the empty chair behind the desk was now occupied by a wizard in blue robes. His grey beard was forked for some reason, and he was wearing a pointed hat with stars and moons on them.

"Are… are you Master Yen Sid?" I asked.

Nodding in confirmation, he spoke, "I am glad you two were able to make it, for this is of the utmost importance to you." As we all paid attention to him, he continued to elaborate, "Sora, Kairi, Donald, Goofy. As you four know, a few months ago something happened between all the worlds that has never occurred before. Every world was shaken in the event we have come to call the Spatial Tremor. And as you two know, this event ripped you from your home world. But that has become even worse, for even as we speak a new warrior calling himself Mortem is traveling between worlds with the intent of collecting the Seven Hearts of Light."

"News flash: We already know this." Jason said. "What does this have to do with us?"

"Patience, Jason." The old wizard scolded him before continuing, "Kairi, as one of the Seven, that means you are in danger from Mortem as well."

So I was right. Kairi had one of the Seven Hearts, just like Jasmine in Agrabah. Before I could say anything, Sora spoke up. "But Kairi's been training ever since the final battle against Xehanort. She can handle it."

"Do not be so sure, Sora. Mortem is a relentless opponent who will stop at nothing to get what he seeks. Already he has attacked Agrabah for the heart that dwells there. And because of the actions of Jason, it is left unprotected."

I noticed Donald glaring at Jason, which I didn't like. Before I could say anything, Kairi asked, "Master Yen Sid, is that why Lea, Riku, and King Mickey aren't here yet?"

"They are already watching over the worlds where the other six reside." The old sorcerer confirmed. "Their experience as well as yours will prove valuable for Jason and Clair to learn from."

That caught the four of them off guard. "What?"

"You two can both use a Keyblade?" Sora asked us. To answer him, Jason and I both summoned our Keyblades that appeared in our hands in a flash of light. The four of them looked at us with… would those expressions be a mixture? I can't tell. Not very good at reading people.

"This is great!" Sora said. "Don't worry. My friends and I will help you learn to use your Keyblades no problem."

"Good." Master Yen Sid told them. "King Mickey will be waiting for you at Wonderland. See to it that you make haste, for we do not know how long it will be until Mortem finds his way to that world."

Present time…

"This is Wonderland?" Jason asked as we approached from our two Gummi ships. I was surprised that Sora, Donald, and Goofy had a ship of their own, though it was smaller and not as impressive as Scrooge's was. Right now we were outside of Wonderland, and all I could see was a big gaping hole that led down somewhere. Not exactly the most inviting place to see.

"Yep." Sora said with a smile on his screen. "We'll meet you down there." With that, his face disappeared and we saw them emerge from their gummi. I expected them to fall super fast into the hole, but to my surprise they didn't. Instead, they slowly floated down like gravity had been turned off for them.

"What in Gri's name?" Jason asked.

Heading to the door, the seasoned adventurer told us, "Well, come along. We cannot keep them waiting."

"Waiting? They just jumped down a hole!"

"Then we should hurry and catch up to them." Scrooge told us as he opened the door. "Come on, then. Let's not wait until Christmas."

"Until what?" I asked.

"It's a holiday… I'll tell you about it if you hurry up."

If you haven't figured out by now, I was always willing to learn new things and had a tendency to be too curious for my own good. Heading to the door, I prepared to jump out when I made the mistake of looking down. All I could see was blackness in that hole, with no indication of it having a bottom. I ended up taking a step back from it.

"Is there no other way?" Jason asked from behind me.

"Where's your sense of adventure?" Scrooge asked.

I heard my cousin give out a sigh as he said, "Then I guess we'd better hurry this along."

"What are you- Jason!" I cried out as I felt my cousin push me in the back sending me out of the gummi and towards the hole. At first I couldn't help but scream as I fell, but stopped when the effects of gravity slowed on me just like I had seen with Sora and the others. I have to be honest, this was one strange sensation. I felt like I was back in space, outside of the station before I had been pulled from my world.

As I floated down the hole, I noticed an old lamp that was lit, and several pieces of furniture that were all floating in the air. Beds, couches, chairs, bookshelves, tables, they could all be found in this strange hole. I took a book from one of the shelves, but to my surprise it was full of nothing but pictures. No words to be found whatsoever. What kind of world was this?

As I kept on with my descent, I noticed the bottom was approaching, and the others were waiting for me. As I approached, I felt gravity turn back on for me a few inches before I touched the ground. THe effect was jarring, and I almost fell over, but Kairi grabbed me before I could fall over. "Careful."

"Look out below." We heard Scrooge warn us, prompting us to look up where we saw him and Jason floating down. AS we took a step back, the two of them made it to us, though Jason ended up falling over when the weightlessness wore off. "Ah, nothing like feeling light as a feather to start your adventure with." The old duck said as he looked around. "Though I must admit, I've never seen a place this strange before."

"I've heard about this place, but this is my first time seeing it." Kairi said as we started down a hallway. The tunnel was all sorts of colors that shouldn't be used for a hallway, like blue, and green, and had furniture painted into the walls, floor, and… the ceiling? What in Gri's name?

As we turned a corner, we came across a door that just seemed abrupt and out of the blue. Muttering something about strange things, Jason opened the door, except there was another door behind that one! And it was smaller than the last one. "What is going on?"

"Yeah, nothing makes sense in Wonderland." Sora explained to us. "It's pretty much anything goes."

"NOW you tell us." Jason groaned as he opened that door, and found yet another, smaller door behind it. Grasping the knob like he was going to rip it off, he opened it to find a hole. "About time." Getting down, he began to squeeze his way through the hole. Well, that was going to take some time for us to all get through.

A few minutes later, we had all managed to squeeze through the hole only to find ourselves in a strange little room. It was all decorated with a table and chairs, a fireplace to one side, a drawing of a bed into the wall with a hole in the wall and a door with a golden doorknob. I wonder, is every room in Wonderland like this? Eini would probably like this room, even if it was getting crowded with the seven of us.

"Well, on we go." Scrooge said as he moved to the hole.

"Wait." Donald said as he grabbed the back of the old duck's coat. "You can't go through there. First you need to drink the bottle."

Picking up a bottle from the table, my cousin looked it over. "It just says to drink it. Sounds like a good way to be poisoned to me."

"It's not poison. Watch." Taking the bottle, the hero of the Keyblade drank from the bottle, and… holy Gri above! He's shrinking! Kairi then took the bottle next and drank to enact the shrinking process on her. Probably a good idea given how it looked like she was wearing a mini skirt. But who in their right mind would wear such a short skirt? Well, at least she was out of one awkward situation.

One by one we all drank from the bottle and shrunk ourselves down to three inches tall. At least that was my guess. All I know is one minute I was my normal size, the next I was standing next to a table that could've been used by Tetsukyo. Very nerve wracking indeed. But at least I wasn't alone. And I could still feel an assortment of tastes in my mouth, like I had eaten a full-course meal in one drink.

No sooner had we shrunk than an assortment of Heartless appeared. We saw lots of the Shadows and Soldiers we had fought before, but there were also a new assortment of Heartless around. They all looked the same, with tall hats and cloaked bodies that floated in the air. What separated them was the colors they had. Red, yellow, blue, green, and purple.

"Watch out. Those things are immune to certain spells." Donald warned me as he fired a Blizzard spell at one of the red ones, but a blue one took the hit instead. "See?"

"So we don't fight with magic." Jason said as he swung his Keyblade at one of them, hitting it. Scrooge also joined him, whacking several of the floating Heartless with me. However, the ground based Heartless didn't give us any room to breathe as the came forward, slicing at us with their claws. Goofy managed to stop a Soldier before forcing it back with his shield, while Sora managed to take down a couple of Shadows at the same time.

Blasting one of the yellow Heartless with a Fire Spell, I watched as the crystalline heart flew up into the air before I was attacked by one of the blue Heartless. Frowning, I imagined it being set on fire while I pictured the flames erupting from the end of my Keyblade. "Fire!" I cast the spell, only for a red Heartless to take the blow instead. It didn't take much to realize that only made that kind stronger.

"Don't hit that one!" Donald told me while he hit it with his staff before Goofy rammed his shield into it as well. Their teamwork ended up killing the thing, but more Heartless were starting to appear around us. More Shadows and Soldiers, and these multicolor hat things. Realizing my magic wasn't going to be much good against these things, that only meant I had to do what the others were doing.

Leaping up, I swung my Keyblade around to hit one of the green hats, and managed to land a blow. I tried to swing again, but I cried out in pain as I was hit by both fire and ice from these things. Spinning her Keyblade around Kairi came to my rescue, sending the Heartless that attacked me back to wherever they came from.

"Gah!" Jason cried out as one of the Soldiers scratched him with its claws. Swinging his cane, the elder duck knocked it away from my cousin before tripping up a Shadow. Jason then brought his weapon down on the Heartless, destroying it and sending it back into the shadows. That's when I noticed the Heartless seemed to be converging on Kairi. Wait. Was that because her heart was pure light?

Running over to hear, I swung my Keyblade to hit one of the purple Heartless away from her while Sora finished it off. We then gathered around her, resolved to stop the monsters from getting anywhere near her. However, several dark burning objects then flew out, destroying many of the Heartless and freeing the hearts they had captured. There was one Shadow left afterwards, but it was quickly destroyed by a new figure.

"Riku!" Sora named the figure, who had short silver hair, and was dressed in a black leather jacket with matching gloves and boots. His white shirt and blue jeans seemed to convey a sense that he was a seasoned warrior, and anyone who crossed him would regret it. As soon as the thought entered my mind, I knew who would win in a fight between Riku and Jason.

My cousin would lose.

Giving a nod to acknowledge his friends, the guy said, "About time you guys got here. I was having a hard time fighting boredom." Looking at us, he asked, "These the newbies?"

"Yep." Gesturing to us, Sora said, "This is Jason and Clair."

"And Donald's Uncle Scrooge." Goofy added, before getting hit on the head by Donald. "Ow! That hurt!"

"How are things here?" I asked. "Is everything okay?"

Shaking his head, Riku said. "I'm afraid not. While I was doing some reconnaissance, I noticed some card soldiers taking someone prisoner. If we don't hurry, we might lose Alice to the Queen of Hearts."

Blinking, I asked, "Who's the Queen of Hearts?"

JOHRI'S POV

No, no, no, and no! No matter how I try to program this thing, all I get are these stupid error messages! Gri's beak, this was getting frustrating and making me want to smash something with my wrench. What am I talking about? I could never hurt my precious babies like that!

There was a knock on my door. "Come in!" I called, trying to make a patch or workaround or something! Ugh, the only way this could be worse is if... I looked up at who had come through the door. "On second thought: go away."

"What? No 'Hi, how are you?' 'Why did you come to see me?' 'You want to go get something to eat?'" Haman asked as he pushed some of my spare tools off my bed and made himself comfortable.

With a cry, I dove to rescue my babies, but several ended of crashing against the floor while one was spared by my hands. "What do you want, Haman?"

"Now that's more like it." Brushing back some of his red hair, the blue-eyed creep looked at me. "I just want to know what it is you're working on. Day in and day out you keep yourself in here, working on who-knows-what."

While picking up some of my fallen babies, I narrowed my eyes. "You come in here, spill my tools all over the floor, and don't even bring me another bottle of Synthetic Energy? No, I'm not telling you, duh!"

"Is it something for Braxton?" My slight pause gave him the answer. "Ah, so it is. Everyone knows that guy is hung up on finding the two dead people. He really needs to learn to give it up. They're lost to space, if they didn't burn up in the atmosphere."

"So? If Yeller can't find them but I can, do you know what that will do for my prospects?" I frowned while I went back to tightening a screw.

"You seem to have the right attitude. I can see why Yeller chose you to be a part of his little program." Haman smirked. "Come on. Ditch Braxton and his harem."

With a sigh, I gave my answer. "I'd ask if you were jealous, but I'm too tired to validate you like that. Brax is doing what nobody else on this station has the guts to do: He's taking charge to bring our crewmates home, dead or alive." Turning to Haman, I began to push him towards the door. "Now, even I know that whatever happened to them wasn't a fluke, and when I find out what happened and how to recreate it, I'm going to broadcast my discovery live to every holoscreen, hologram, and holoboard back home before pushing you through it if you don't get out of my room five minutes ago. Now GET OUT!"

Either it was the way I was standing tall despite my short size, or the face that I was holding my wrench in a menacing manner, but regardless the flirty nature disappeared from Haman's face and he bolted for the door. When it closed, I sighed and sank to my knees. There go a few precious minutes from my life, thanks to that bozo. And I could've been using them to try and get this thing to work. Oh, all the stupid distractions that could've…

Wait. That was it. Distractions. Maybe I was looking at this all wrong. I was trying to get this thing to zero in on their signals, but what I should've been doing was getting it to filter out other signals first. There might be radio waves or microwaves, but then there might be any sort of waves at all. There had to be something else… sonar! But sound wouldn't work in empty space, so what could I use instead? Photons! They travel at a long distance, and aren't hindered by the vacuum that surrounds this station. Maybe, with the right coding, I could get my device to work on using the photons to find the two missing students.

Pulling up my holo-screen, I got to work on my hopeful new breakthrough.

Yes, Mortem now has a traveling companion. For a while I thought it would be good to have him work with 627 and Leroy, but as time went on I decided Leroy might be better in helping Mortem with his journey. Also, he got a summon gem, but I won't say who it is until later.

I have seen the recent Kingdom Hearts stuff, and I know we're getting new Princesses of Heart. However, even though this takes place after the events of Kingdom Hearts III, I decided to stick with the original Princesses. I was hesitant to bring in Riku as I remember seeing his Keyblade broken in one trailer for the game, but in the end I decided to do it anyway as he'll play a crucial part in Mortem's journey.

Thanks for bearing with me. Like I said, I'll try not to be too long with my next chapter. Oh, and I have started playing Kingdom Hearts on my PS4 and uploading the videos to my YouTube account. Hopefully that won't keep me from updating.