Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing within, save a couple ideas and possible OC's, but there's to freaking much to name so just go with that…

NU: Birth of the Seekers…

Chapter 9: Fortress of Doors…

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Normal Speech: "Yo…"

Normal Thoughts: 'Curiouser and Curiouser…'

Demon Speech: "Pathetic Ningen…"

Demon Thoughts: 'I hate this cage…'

Seeker Speech: [Time to Die…]

--

(??)

A familiar old man marches into Radiant Garden, arms folded behind his back as he walks towards yet another Absent Silhouette. This one is the same colors as the last one, only with what look like four knives in the center, lightning arching around it wildly. Grinning slightly as he reaches out to touch the object, the old man watches as he appears in a new area. This time he finds himself standing on a platform in the middle of a vast black void. Standing across from him however is a woman in an outfit identical to that of Axel, though her sleeves bell out at her arms, and her boots had high heels.

In terms of how she looked physically, the woman had very wide and expressive electric blue eyes, with shoulder length bright blond hair styled into a pair of curved antenna that slanted back along her head to the back of her neck, a cocky smirk adorned her lips and her skin was slightly pale.

"Ah yes, number Twelve of Organization Thirteen, The Savage Nymph herself." The old man noted while reaching up to cup his chin as the woman took a crouched stance, a sadistic grin twisting across her face as for yellow knives with blue tips in the shape of crosses appeared in her hands, held between her fingers and angled like claws. "This should prove a most interesting battle, I've never faced a Ninja of your esteemed caliber in combat before… Larxene…" The man noted quietly before reaching to his side, his Keyblade appearing in hand a second later.

In response the woman merely threw her arms to the side, lightning sparking along her knives while two shadows moved from behind her. Two doppelgangers of the woman taking form, instantly all three giggled while lunging forward, swiping their blades at the old man who deftly evaded the weapons. However one of the other versions of her threw her weapons at the old man, lightning sparking along the blades as he quickly flipped into the center of the arena. Laughing lightly the woman suddenly vanished into thin air, the old man grinning as she did so.

'Such skill and power, matched with wits and grace, she must have truly been a force to be reckoned with when she was still whole…' The man noted before flipping back as Larxene came down from above, swinging her claw like knives quickly. Lashing out instantly, the old man hit Larxene and sent her flying into the air. Jumping up a second later the old man grabbed Larxene by her foot as a second came at him from behind. Grinning the old man turned in midair, slamming the two Larxene's together before throwing an Ice spell to freeze both. Landing with a soft plop a second later the old man turned at a giggle and saw another Larxene come at him from behind, swiping her blades with practiced ease and precision.

Grunting the old man vanished as second later as Larxene looked around with confusion before being sent flying forward by a fire spell. "Don't get too cocky girl." The old man said coldly while Larxene dancingly flipped back to her feet with an amused bow at the end. "Your nothing but a memory and some power…" The old man reminded coldly and then cracked his neck. "You don't even have a body to hold you together…" He stated darkly and Larxene seemed to twitch before holding her arms at her side and slamming her hands together, a burst of lightning shooting towards the man.

Holding a hand out the old man surprisingly caught the lightning before somehow throwing it off to the side. Larxene's already wide expressive eyes going wider still, mostly in shock and even a hint of what seemed to be fear. 'These memories are more expressive than their Nobodies were, possibly because they hold more of their memories as Somebody's and their time as Nobodies? Oh well, thoughts for another day…' The old man thought to himself before rolling his shoulders, hearing a crack coming from them before he lunged forward, burying his fist into Larxene's gut and lifting her off the ground a few inches from the force of the punch.

Stepping back a second later and allowing Larxene to fall back on her feet, he watched as she crossed her arms over her gut, eyes wide in pain. Watching the woman stumble backwards for a moment the old man quickly lashed out with a kick to her head. Larxene was sent flying to the side, skidding along the ground before coming to a stop at the edge of their arena. Groaning lightly the blond woman quickly flipped back to her feet, a hand placed onto her stomach with a pained expression.

"Truly impressive my dear, any lesser woman would've never managed to get back up from an attack like that." The old man noted and Larxene's eyes seemed to say she wasn't a lesser anything as she glared at him. "Such beautiful and expressive eyes…" The old man noted while looking at the electric blue orbs. "I wager that, if you had a real heart, you'd never be able to hide a single emotion with eyes like those…" The old man mused aloud and Larxene lunged forward at that moment, teeth gritted in anger and annoyance, splitting into three once more and each lashed out with their knives.

Smirking, the old man vanished before reappearing at the side of their little arena, arms crossed behind his back. "Well now, I do suppose that its time that I truly got serious…" The old man noted coldly as he held his keyblade out, then forced it to turn into a ball of purple fire…

--

(Broken Wonderland…)

Alice and Naruto came out of the portal into a corridor, black and white checker patterned tiles on the floor, twisted and distorted doorways with heavy stonewalls, and of course torches giving the area a rather ominous feel. "I've got a bad feeling about this…" Naruto noted quietly and Alice gave him a look before sighing as she walked down into the Corridor, Naruto following her. Walking out of the corridor, Alice stopped and looked around what appeared to be a maze.

"And I don't even really like mazes…" Alice noted quietly before sighing and turning, spotting a pedestal with something sitting on it. "Curiouser and Curiouser…" She mumbled while walking over to the pedestal, Naruto still following after her.

"Alice, I really don't think this is the best place to be…" Naruto stated while looking around warily, shadows moving to and fro behind the pillars around them.

"Don't worry, I'll only be a moment." Alice stated while walking to the pedestal and climbed up onto it. The odd object she found an oddly designed object, a diamond shape at the bottom, with a square box like shape forming the rest of it, with a cylinder escaping the top that with a ruby at the top, all of which was made of an odd stone with jagged curls forged as a part of ruby red glass, a bubbling red froth visible within it.

"Now what do you suppose this is?" Alice wondered aloud then spotted the Card Guard around her and Naruto.

"Shit! Where did these guys come from?" Naruto wondered as roughly a dozen Card Guards came at him and Alice from the Shadows. As they did, The Cheshire Cat reappeared and then leapt onto the object Alice had seen, instantly the object unfolded, forming several spikes before spraying an odd mist. Alice turned just in time for the strange red mist to spray her before backing up, the object vanishing as Alice fell to her knees, hands over her face.

"Time to raise some Havoc! The Dogs of War are Loose!" The Cheshire Cat said darkly before vanishing as Alice's skin turned a deep bloody red. Meanwhile, as this happened Naruto blocked one of the incoming Card Guards and then twisted on his heel to slice it with his Dark-Heart, a Neo-Shadow popping into existence while two more Card Guards jumped at him from above. Cursing and rolling out of the way Naruto lunged at them once more, lashing out with a kick to knock one back before slashing Dark-Heart through it, another Neo-Shadow popping into existence.

While Naruto dealt with the Cards, Alice grunted and groaned while her left hand morphed, fingers lengthening into long skeletal looking talons, two massive spikes grew from her back to curl over her shoulders, and a pair of curling grey horns sprouted from the sides of her head. Slowly standing afterwards, Alice unleashed a demonic roar while her now coal black eyes looked around furiously, her body giving off an eerie red glow. Turning at the sound Naruto saw Alice and instantly took several steps away from her while she lashed out.

Lunging forward, the girl slashed through one Card-Guard with her clawed hand, then twisted on her heel throwing the Vorpal-Blade at another. Growling the girl narrowed her coal black eyes onto another, only seeing red as she lunged forward and ripped the cards head from his shoulders. 'Kill… Kill… Kill… Kill what threatens or frightens you…' Alice's own voice whispered into her mind as she lunged at another card, grabbing her Vorpal-Blade along the way and stabbed it in the heart before twisting on her heel and slashing another card in half, his legs and torso falling away from one another as his legs continued to run around.

"Shit… someone's having a very bad day…" Naruto noted with wide eyes as the demonic Alice suddenly grabbed a card guard, lifted him up kicking and screaming then threw the Vorpal-Blade into him point blank, sending him flying back and pinning him to a wall to bleed to death. Looking around, Naruto didn't see anymore Card-Guards, thus snapped his fingers, the Neo-Shadows he'd made vanishing into thin air. Upon hearing the sound, Alice's wide, psychotic eyes snapped over to him, before she suddenly started to breath normally as her skin returned to normal, as did her eyes and body.

Panting heavily Alice looked around, watching the Card-Guard's corpses turn into Meta-Essence once more. Looking to the wide-eyed Naruto, she briefly wondered why he seemed so disturbed. Shaking her head of that, the girl walked over to her Vorpal-Blade and pulled it out of the stone and absorbed some Meta-Essence into herself. "Well, c'mon now, we don't have all day to dillydally." Alice stated and then walked off, Naruto slowly following after the girl.

'Wow… well, everyone has their Inner Demons, but with Alice… it can kill you…' Naruto couldn't help but think to himself while following Alice, and also inwardly planning to keep her the hell away from anymore of those odd relics. Following Alice around a few turns, they eventually came to a door with a torch above it. Moving ahead of the girl, Naruto opened the door and frowned when he saw more doors. "This looks like it'll be annoying." Naruto mused before walking forward, pushing upon door after door until finally coming out of the short corridor.

What he saw now however was far worse as the area seemed to be floating in a blue and purple void, a giant doorway opened up before passing over and around them. However, even stranger was the fact that the floor was completely missing, and the next gate seemed to be on the other side of a vast expanse. "Oh dear… this won't do at all." Alice said while walking to look at their newest problem and Naruto sighed before crossing his arms and took a thoughtful expression.

"When in doubt, a leap of faith may show the way to truth." Naruto mumbled to himself before blinking. 'I just channeled that freaky cat didn't I?' He thought with a twitch before walking forward, taking a step off of the floor and felt himself make contact. Opening one eye and looking down, Naruto breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the floor was somehow moving. Looking to Alice he watched her cautiously walk forward before setting foot on the floor with him.

"This is by far the strangest floor I've ever seen." She stated and Naruto shrugged his shoulders before walking forward. Several Pieces of the floor suddenly rising up for them to walk along as they made their way towards the gate. "You know… you sounded like Cheshire Puss for a moment back there." Alice suddenly noted while giving Naruto a look and the blond gave a Cheshire Cat grin in response.

"Really now? I hadn't noticed." Naruto said sarcastically before placing his hands into his pockets as he hurried along his way. Huffing Alice stomped forward and gave the blond boy a sidelong glare.

"You don't have to be so snippy, it was just an observation." Alice stated and Naruto gave her an amused look.

"Observing too much leads to straining your eyes, sometimes its better to leave things be. I for one find it better to leave well enough alone and concentrate on the here and now." Naruto told Alice with a shrug of his shoulders and she gave him a funny look.

"You did it again." She stated and Naruto blinked then frowned.

"Being on this world is turning me into the freaky cat I swear!" He grumbled while coming onto the ground at the other side of the expanse. Seeing the gate the two teens made their way forward and entered, vanishing into its depths soon after. Walking out into a new area, Naruto stopped when he heard three tones suddenly sound. "Did you hear that?" Naruto questioned and Alice nodded her head slowly.

"What do you think it means?" She questioned and Naruto shrugged his shoulders before looking around. They were in another void, another door opening to swallow the area. He also saw another wide expanse before them, making him cringe before noting a small fortress like area as, he also saw a pedestal to the side with a stairway beside it.

"C'mon Alice, lets get through this place before I go crazy." Naruto states and Alice actually smirks towards him as they descended the stairs.

"Oh its too late for that, we're all mad here." She offers ominously before giggling slightly and Naruto gave her a look as they came to a pillar just a ways down the stairs. "Cheshire Puss told me that when I first came to Wonderland. I've always wanted to do it to someone else though." Alice admitted playfully and Naruto rolled his eyes while turning then cursed and backed into the side of the pillar as a pair of Boojums shrieked at them.

"Boojums." Naruto stated with a scowl and Alice frowned deeply.

"Annoying Ghosts, they should learn to mind their own business!" Alice insisted before gripping her Vorpal-Blade's handle tightly. "Now lets go teach them some manners shall we!" Alice then stated and Naruto blinked as she went passed him and then ran towards the Boojums.

"Well… nobody lives forever." Naruto noted before rushing into the fray as well, pulling Dark-Soldier from his back and then throwing Dark-Heart like a boomerang at a Boojum, instantly changing it into a Dark-Ball. As he did, Alice threw her Knife at the other Boojum, nailing it in the skull before quickly throwing some of her cards at it, slicing it into pieces instantly. Finished with those, Naruto resheathed his Keyblades and saw three nearby levers, the Cheshire Cat appearing beside them with his eternal grin.

"The proper order of things is often a mystery to me, you too?" Cheshire questioned before vanishing with a nudge towards the levers and Naruto frowned.

"What do you suppose what all that meant then?" Alice wondered and Naruto crossed his arms and frowned in thought for a moment. Tapping one bicep Naruto walked forward to the lever on the far right and reached out, pulling it, he heard a familiar tone.

"That's what he meant. Each lever makes the same tones that we heard when we first entered. I bet if we use the proper order the next door will open." Naruto stated and Alice slowly nodded her head before frowning.

"But what's the proper order of things then?" She asked with a thoughtful expression and Naruto shrugged his shoulders.

"Not sure, but the lever I just pulled made the first tone, so one of these next two must make the second tone." Naruto stated and Alice nodded her head before looking at the center lever.

"Think it's a side to side order?" She asked and Naruto frowned before shaking his head.

"Too obvious." He stated and she had to concede his point there.

"Then that leaves only the side lever." She stated while walking over to the lever on the far left. Reaching out the girl pulled it down as well, the second tone sounding loudly through the air.

"Nice. Now lets pull this last one and get out of here." Naruto stated before he and Alice pulled the last lever, the third and final tone sounding out. Looking around Naruto sighed before seeing pieces of floor rising up to the floor above them. "C'mon Alice, we have to go back up…" Naruto mumbled and Alice frowned slightly, agitation clearly setting in at this point.

"You'd think that after all this time, Wonderland would become a might bit more simple." She muttered as they climbed back up the stairs and walked along yet another moving floor to the next gate. However at spotting some card guards Naruto looked over to Alice. "What?" The girl asked and Naruto crossed his arms.

"Well you're the only one here with projectile weapons…" He reminded and Alice huffed slightly before walking ahead of him, tossing her Vorpal-Blade into the air and then catching its tip easily. "Damn… girls got skill…" Naruto muttered since it was no easy feat to catch a sharp knife by its tip without cutting oneself. Following after Alice, Naruto watched her flip her knife in hand a few more times before throwing it forward, nailing the Diamond Card Guard he'd seen early between the eyes…

"There, happy now?" Alice asked irritably and Naruto blinked.

"When did you get so good at that?" Naruto had to ask with an incredulous expression on his face and Alice blinked.

"I… I don't know." She admitted with a disturbed expression clearly visible on her pale features. Hastily making their way to the other gate Alice reclaimed her knife before walking into a Corridor with Naruto following behind her. Spotting the next gate Alice gasped and ducked to the side, a Diamond Card-Guard firing red-hot cards at them.

"Great, we don't have time for this." Naruto muttered before pulling Dark-Heart from his back, then lunged out and threw the weapon at the card-guard, slicing through it and creating another Neo-Shadow, the heartless quickly vanishing once it had appeared. Getting back up, Naruto caught his Keyblade and blinked while Alice gave him a dirty look with her arms crossed.

"No projectile weapons eh?" She questioned pointedly and Naruto sighed.

"Mine don't have the range of yours…" He reminds and Alice huffs before making her way to the next gate. "Honestly, there's no winning with this girl!" Naruto grumbled while following Alice through the gate. Both appeared in another room seemingly consumed by a voice, the floor before them suddenly turning before it rose up into the air like several puzzle pieces as the room itself seemed to rise up and grow in height to mock them…

"You know… that doesn't surprise me at all." Naruto noted and Alice nodded her head, long used to the fantastic happening in Wonderland. Carrying on, Alice jumped onto a piece of floor only for Naruto to pick her up. Glaring at the boy as he did Alice clenched her fists.

"Put me down!" She shouted and Naruto gave her a look.

"No can do Princess, I'm not waiting for you to jump and fall all the way to the top. We're going my way." Naruto stated before crouching and lunging forward, jumping onto the next piece of wall as it came up. Turning the blond "Kick-Jumped" for lack of a better word off the side of another piece of the floor and flipped in the air before landing on the next piece. Not wasting a beat the blond then ran forward, kick jumped onto the next piece and then flipped over to stand before the next gate.

Putting Alice down, Naruto noted that the girl had a particularly frazzled appearance about her. "You okay?" Naruto questioned with a raised brow and Alice gave him another pointed look.

"Never do that again…" She ordered before walking down into the next corridor and then straight through the next gate. Sighing as she did, Naruto shook his head and followed after her, walking through the gate and hoping that they'd be done with this crazy place soon…

--

(Radiant Garden…)

Larxene tried to pull herself away from the old man, eyes wide before her leg was grabbed and she was pulled back over to him. Casually, the old man threw the girl into the air and then lashed out, slamming a fist into her gut then kicking her, sending her flying back. Landing in a heap, the beaten, battered and bruised former Organization Member looked towards the old man as he walked over to her, a slim smirk visible along his lips.

"Impressive girl, your durability is to be admired." The old man mused while reaching up to stroke his chin. Truly, that was an understatement, the girl had withstood blow after blow with a surprising tenacity. It was almost like she couldn't stop, like she didn't want the fight to end. 'Perhaps she doesn't wish to return to Darkness… that wish I can grant…' The old man mused before stalking over to Larxene, only mildly surprised when she started to push herself back up to her feet, huffing and puffing for breath.

Pulling her weapons, The Foudre, back out and holding them between her fingers, arms hanging at her sides as she fell to her knees. Chuckling, the old man reached into his cloak while Larxene looked up at him defiantly. "Do not worry dear girl, you won't be returning to Darkness…" The old man said cryptically while revealing the Shock Charm, Larxene looking at it in surprise as it started to glow. Seconds later the woman vanished and a ball of light shot into the Shock-Charm, thus causing it to change as well.

Reaching to his sides the old man caught Larxene's Foudre weapons in his hands and nodded his head before hiding them in his cloak. Seconds later, the world changed back into the Radiant Garden, the old man smirking as he looked around. "There, now I only need to revive you both, so you may aide us in the coming war." The old man said mostly to himself before stopping and looking to one side. "I feel a foul wind is blowing…" He noted and then narrowed his amber gold eyes.

"So… they move to intercept you already Naruto… our true enemy finally approaches. Those Blinded by Light, The Soulless…" The old man said mostly to himself before vanishing into a Dark Corridor…

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TBC…

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AN: Some people asked why I choose the worlds I did, here's my reasoning.

God of War / Hercules: Kratos and Hercules are both sons of Zeus, but while the Zeus of Hercs world cares for his son, the Zeus of Kratos' world hates him. Herc has beaten Hades in a fight, Kratos has beaten Persephone, Ares, and a few others. Herc was a friend of Medusa while Kratos killed her. Herc was friends with Icarus while Kratos killed him and stole his wings. Basically, the two worlds are near opposites of one another, though Kratos' world is more accurate in the depiction of ancient Grecian gods.

Tomb Raider / Tarzan: Honestly, this one was hard to place seeing as there is very few Jungle themed games, that I've played at least. However, I went with Lara because she was raised in civilization while Tarzan was in the Jungle. Lara often kills animals and people when she needs too and will use guns, Tarzan has only ever killed Sabor and Clayton, and he also refuses to use guns. Lara technically steals from ruins in the Jungle, while Tarzan protects everything in the jungles, including ruins. Thus, they seem to parallel one another perfectly…

Prince of Persia / Aladdin: Do I really need to go on about this one?

JTHM / Nightmare Before Christmas: Jack and Nny are similar in a lot of ways. Both are tall, skinny, and have an affinity for the bizarre. However, Jack is the King of Screams, Nny is the King of Killers, Jack loves to cause people fear, Nny just kills people for one reason or another, Jack is respected in Halloween Town, Nny is thought to be a freak and an outsider by almost everyone where he lives. Thus, they are quite probably one another's Other…

Silent Hill / Hallow Bastion: Hallow Bastion is a world that was pulled into Darkness by Xehanorts Heartless AKA Ansem, or Xemnas, the people either escaped or were turned into Heartless. Silent Hill was pulled into the nightmares of Alessa when she was burned alive, the people of the city mostly becoming misshapen monsters. Both worlds were turned into darkened versions of what they were, however, unlike Hallow Bastion which gets better, Silent Hill gets worse as it turns into the Nightmare World seen in most versions of Silent Hill.

Hellsing / Peter Pan: Here's the Reason. Peter is a boy who never wanted to grow up, thus went to Neverland. Alucard however became immortal while remaining in our world, and is full-grown and able to take any form he wants. Peter likes to play the hero and protect his lost boys. Alucard could care less about protecting anyone unless ordered too. Peter won't listen to anyone; he will only ever listen to himself. As apposed to that, Alucard is forced to listen to his Master, Sir Integra Wingates Van Helsing, and others. Lastly, when Peter offered Wendy the option to stay in Neverland forever, she refused and went home. Yet, when Alucard offered Seras the chance to continue on living if he killed her, she accepted.

Disney Castle: Okay, I really didn't mean for anyone to take the Castle Oblivion thing seriously. My reasoning was because both are Castles, Evil "The Organization at least" used Castle Oblivion as a base / R&D Location while King Mickey and his group use Disney Castle for many of the same purposes. I don't know much about Epic Mickey or I'd use it, there's barely any information on it as apposed to Castle Oblivion and I'd be annoyed with myself for making a mistake.