Special thanks to Yami-Black-Chaos for helping to write this, and to Flautist4ever for looking over it.

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

Mortem belongs to Yami-Black-Chaos

Chapter 11: Heart-won pain

MORTEM'S POV

Wonderland…

As I exited the portal with the little red pest, I took a minute to look at my surroundings. This world was unlike any of the others I had visited, as… wait a minute. "Why am I small?" I cried out to the heavens, as blades of grass and stalks of flowers were now the size of trees. How did this happen? I didn't take any potion, or have any spells cast on me. So why the devil was I now only three inches tall?

Growling, Leroy got my attention as I realized the two of us weren't alone. I heard some strange humming that seemed to come all around me, echoing through the trees. Then, out from the grass came a head. Just that. A bouncing head that vanished again and again, like it was trying to play a game with me. Finally, it paused on a bend blade of grass, and I was able to get a good look at it. It was some sort of purple and pink striped cat with a big grin on its face, but the head wasn't attached to its body. Raising an eyebrow while wondering how that was possible, I watched as it picked up its head and placed it back on its body. "What are you?" I asked the freaky feline.

"What am I? Who am I? Why am I?" The cat asked me back. "It really doesn't matter, because in the end, all answers are me."

Rolling my eyes at the absurd creature, I growled, "If I don't get some answers, I might test the theory of cats having nine lives."
"Well, that depends on what questions you have." The cat said while never ceasing its grin. "But remember, the Cheshire Cat doesn't always give the answers."

Ah, so this thing was known as the Cheshire Cat. One answer, now for the biggest one. "Where might I find someone who bears a heart of light?"

"Heart of light, heart of darkness." The feline mused while its face turned upside down on its head. "I have my heart, but the Queen of Hearts owns all the hearts."

"This Queen of Hearts has it?"

"Not yet, but soon. If the trial goes her way, which it always does."

"How do I find her?"

"Well, some go this way. Some go that way. Some even go yonder. But as for me, myself, I prefer the shortcut." Pulling on a blade of grass, the plants parted to reveal a path that led into a hedge maze of red and white roses. I was going to give one final retort to the cat, but when I looked back up the creepy feline was gone. Shaking my head at the absurdity I had seen here and not even five minutes have passed, I passed through with Leroy to these gardens.

Passing by one of the rose bushes, I noticed that some of the roses were dripping something red. Was that blood? Flowers that bleed? That's just messed up… wait a minute. That's not blood. It's red paint. Someone painted these roses red? What was the logic behind that? Unless… there was no logic here.

I started to make a turn, but the red koala monster grabbed the bottom of my jacket. "What? What is it?" I asked the little guy as he pointed in an opposite direction.

"Come this way." He said, though I still heard his jargon of whatever stupid language he was speaking. Shaking my head, I tried to go back the way I wanted to go.

"Yeow!" I cried out as the monster sunk his claws into me. "Why you!" Snarling I tried to hit Leroy with my Keyblade, but the thing ducked down and curled up into a ball to roll in the direction he wanted to go. I swear that there was a god somewhere who had a grudge against me. He only uncurled when he stopped just short of exiting the maze.

As I looked, I saw something that made this even more unbelievable for me. There were cards the size of people, with heads and limbs, and all of them were standing at attention. They came in red and black variety, with their weapons having different designs. The lances the red ones carried were designed after the heart, while the black ones had axes designed like spades. Both colors had floppy shoes and noses that either looked like right side up or upside down hearts. Also, there were lots and lots of them. Enough to make up an army.

My thoughts were interrupted as a fanfare was announced, and from another exit in this huge maze came a white rabbit wearing spectacles and a red waistcoat carrying a huge gold pocket watch. Running up some sort of pedestal, the bunny gasped for breath before announcing, "H-her Imperial Highness. H-her grace, her excellency, her royal majesty, the Queen of Hearts!"

As the Rabbit spoke, I noticed someone coming down the Hedge Garden. She was a large woman dressed very regally. Her gown was red and black with a white lining. The left side of her dress had a short black sleeve with a red cuff, a red abdomen, and the rest was black, while the right side was similar, but with the colors reversed. She even had a second dress with a similar split design, the colors alternating between black and yellow. The right side was similar, but with inverted colors, and the yellow appeared to be more gold. The Queen of Hearts also had a round nose, gold earrings, and a small golden crown atop her head. Her black hair was tied at the back with a red ribbon with a few loose bangs at the front. She also carried a small wand with a big red heart on it. A loud cheer went up from the card soldiers as she made her way up a stand and took a seat.

"Look." Leroy pointed again as I took notice of a smaller pedestal in front of the one the Queen of Hearts was sitting in. In that stand, surrounded by black cards, was a girl who looked to be around eight to nine years old. She was in a blue dress with a white apron, and a black bow in her blonde hair. I recognized her from the files on the Princesses of Heart. It was Alice.

"Court is now in session." The White Rabbit declared as several animals in a box looked ready to take notes. They must be the jury. Everyone was hushed as the Queen spoke.

"Today, we shall finally end this trial that was started years ago." The Queen of Hearts spoke. "You remember the sentence?"

"But there must be a verdict first." Alice protested.

"Sentence first! Verdict afterwards."

"But that isn't the way!"

"All ways are my ways!"

The attitude of this obese monarch was getting on my nerves, and I was tempted to move in and attack her. However, I didn't have to do anything as I heard some familiar voices cry out, "Hold it right there!" I watched as that idiot punk and his accomplice ran forward, with the old duck behind them. However, they were also joined by faces I hadn't met before, but had seen from the files. One of them was the final princess, Kairi. The data proved to be accurate as she was with the ones my files called Sora and Riku, as well as Donald Duck and Goofy of Disney Town.

"And who are you?" The Queen of Hearts asked before she took notice of the others. "You! You dare to show your faces in my court again?"

Looking at his friend, Riku asked, "Something you want to tell us?"

"We kinda meddled with things here." Goofy admitted with a voice of shame. I found myself wanting to know more, but that was no in the cards, so to speak.

"Excellent." The Queen of Hearts said as the guards surrounded the group. "Now all the guilty party is here."

"But we weren't here back then!" Clair protested.

Her words fell on deaf ears as the queen bellowed, "Silence! All parties associated with the accused are guilty! Now your sentences will be carried out. Off with their heads!"

This bloated whale was insane, and I was starting to hate her more than I hated Jason. Whoa. I hate someone more than Jason? How disturbing.

Regardless, as I watched the cards and the Keyblade wielders fight, I decided that now, while all this chaos was happening, was probably the best time to make a move for the younger princess. I also thought it might be a good opportunity to test out the power I had discover back in Agrabah. The Unversed, a horde of fledgling emotions at my command. I gathered my darkness and focused it on my anger. Soon enough, those same creatures appeared before me. It felt weird to have the ability to summon creatures from my own negative feelings, but as long as they can get the job done, I wasn't gonna complain. I mentally directed them to their positions, ready to jump in at my command. However, I found myself face-palming when SOMEONE decided to act out of turn.

Cackling like he was having the time of his life, Leroy leapt out into the fray, pulling down the hat of the duck wizard while giving the tall captain a wet willie. Crying out in shock from that, Goofy looked at the alien life form with wide eyes while he leapt onto Jason and proceeded to bite down on his arm. Crying out in pain, the idiot began to wave his arm around like a fool while Leroy held on tight. Using his keyblade in his other hand, the dummy tried to whack the experiment off. Guess he could think things through.

While that was happening, I took a quick look at the princess, and saw that Sora was making his way over to her, as if he was going to get her to safety. Couldn't have that happening. I chose this time to sic my Unversed into the battle, and summoned a slightly bigger one in front of Sora, blocking his way to Alice.

"What?" The Keyblade's Chosen asked as he looked at the Unversed, but didn't dwell on it long as he got into a battle stance. However, while he was busy fighting it, The Queen of Hearts took action. Ordering some of her cards around, two of them seized Alice and began to drag her away. Great. Now that means I've got to do something.

I summoned two bird-like Unversed to distract the cards and leapt over to them, taking them out. Sending out more of Unversed around I took a look at the young princess in front of me, who stared back at me. Her eyes widened, but then became puzzled, as if she were trying to figure out if I was friend or foe.

"Get off!" With one last jab Jason finally managed to free himself from Leroy, though it wasn't without a cost. Blood dripped down his arm, giving me an idea on just how sharp those teeth really were. The little red guy just laughed at the sight of his handiwork, and curled up into a ball to roll away from him. Intercepting his path the young mage swung her Keyblade like a mallet and sent him flying.

Some of the Unversed were beginning to swarm around the princess Kairi while the Queen of Hearts just kept yelling for people to be beheaded. Sora, who had finally taken care of the larger Unversed I had created, looked over to Alice and saw me. "Hey you! Get away from her!"

Summoning my Keyblade, I replied, "Make me." I then summon another Unversed who grabbed onto Alice, making sure she doesn't get away. Something in the back of my mind was urging me not to hurt the girl, but I ignored it and focused my attention on the veteran Keybearer. Perhaps it was a good idea to see what he could do.

Gritting his teeth, Sora charged at me with his weapon. I managed to parry his blow and force him back, but he wasn't done with me yet. Leaping up, he managed to land a hit with a solid slam of his weapon. I glared at him and then saw he had transformed his Keyblade into a pair of silly looking guns. So he was capable of that too. His experience definitely showed. But I had no time to doddle as I found myself deflecting energy bullets. After awhile I started conjuring Dark Firagas back at him.

A couple managed to hit him, but it didn't look like it did a lot of damage to him. "Why are you doing this?" Sora asked me as he fired again. "You have a Keyblade. You shouldn't be doing this."

"Like you'd understand," I said as I rushed at him. I transformed Vengeful Chaos into its scythe form and started swinging at him. He manage to dodge my attacks left and right. After getting frustrated I gather dark energy through the scythe, and electric energy was charge at the red gem that ornamented the blade. Acting on instinct, I pointed it at Sora and blasted a beam of electricity at him. It was a direct hit as the veteran went flying backwards from the attack.

Smiling in satisfaction, I reverted my weapon back to its Keyblade form as I turned to look at the restrained princess, who looked back at me with fear in her eyes. I pointed my Keyblade at her, but I paused. I wasn't sure why I was hesitating, except for the back of my mind nagging at me that she was just a child. For some reason, I was questioning whether I really should be doing this. But this was the only way I could think of to get my memories back.

"Stop that intruder! Off with his head!" I heard the queen yelling from behind me. Growling in frustration, I turned and prepared to fire a Dark Firaga at the fat hippo, only for someone to grab my arm from behind.

"You can't do that!" Alice said as she held me back.

Turning to her, I asked, "You would risk your life to save someone who would execute you on a whim?"

"She may be a fat pompous bad-tempered old tyrant, but she's still Wonderland's queen."
"This world would be better off without her."

"That is not your decision to make. And if you strike her down, you're no better than she is."

Throwing her off, I turned to her with a growl. I wanted to slap her for her naivety and getting in my way. But somehow I just couldn't hurt the kid. Instead, I told her, "One thing I've learned, is that you don't get what you need by being optimistic." With that, I raised my Keyblade to do what I needed to do. Pointing it at her heart, I focused on it removing it from her body. Once the glowing heart was out, the girl promptly collapsed on the ground. I felt bad for her for some reason, but I pulled out the strange trinket from that ocean world. As soon as I opened the locket, the heart of light seemed to react to it. I could sense an unusual magic emitting from the locket and the heart looked as though it was being dragged toward it until it came in contact and a flash of light occur.

After that flash ended, one of the slots in the locket was filled by some kind of gem. With the heart nowhere to be seen, I could only assume that gem was the heart. After a few seconds of staring, I suddenly felt massive pain in my head, and a high pitch ringing in my ear. Crying out in pain, I then saw several images appearing in my head.

I saw a much younger version of myself in a reflection of a pool of water, probably around the same age as Alice, wearing worn out clothing, and covered in dirt and bruises. I saw myself on the streets of some town, stealing whatever food I could get. However, I also saw myself getting beat left and right be other people.

"Get back here, you filthy thief!"

"Stay away, you… you devil!"

"What kind of a child kills his own mother?!"

"How dare you kill the beloved priestess!"

"Demon!"

And the last thing I saw, was me tied to some kind of wooden post, and being whipped and slashed at. I was surrounded by the people who said all those insults, who had tormented me night and day for something that was out of my control. Strange thing was, I was starting to believe them. Maybe it was my fault. Maybe I truly was a demon, but that didn't mean that I wanted to be one. I looked out with pleading eyes to the murderous horde, but found no compassion or mercy among them. They wanted me dead and were going to get it. One man in particular, who I recognized as my father, brought forward an executioner's knife, and had raised it up to plunge it into my heart when darkness suddenly surrounded me.

Needless to say, those images filled me with so much anger and hate. Back in reality, I was feeling so much pain and agony, and the ones I was fighting were doing nothing to help me keep it under control. As I focused, I saw the duck wizard cast a Thundaga spell that electrocuted me and fueled my rage some more. "Give back Alice's heart right now!"

I did not respond to that.

"Are you deaf? He said give it back!" Jason called out.

Still I did not respond.

Using her Keyblade to clear some of the smaller Unversed, Kairi told me, "Please, Mortem. The Keyblade chose you for a reason. Give the heart back, and we can try to help you."

"You… help me…" My voice came out much colder than I intended, but I didn't care. "It's too late for that. This heart has helped me recover a fragment of my memories, and now that I know the Hearts of Light can do that, nothing will stop me from claiming the rest of them. And yet… why did it have to be so disgusting?" Just thinking about the memories I had reclaimed filled me with more rage than I ever felt, reminding me of when the abuse had reached a boiling point in my childhood, when my innocence had died. I lost control of my darkness, and with a loud shout I accidentally summoned a giant dragon-like Unversed.

"The Jabberwocky!" The rabbit cried out with alarm as the card soldiers just stopped trying to fight and began to run for their lives. Even the Queen of Hearts stopped ordering for people to be beheaded and ran for her life. To do so she ended up flattening several of her own soldiers just to save her skin. Pathetic, but I decided to not dwell on her. My targets were the ones who insisted on getting in my way.

As the dragon-like Unversed roared and leapt at them, I noticed it tried to go for Kairi first. Her friends got in the way, slicing at it with their Keyblades. Their attacks managed to do some damage, but with its long claws it managed to knock them back. Goofy ran in hitting it with his shield, but that only caused the large monster to take notice of him. Swinging its tail, it knocked the captain of the guard back.

"Goofy!" Donald cried out before letting out a ridiculous little rage cry and casting several spells at the creature. Using its wings to deflect, it then sent the duck flying into the elder one, who let out several curses as the younger one landed on him. My anger, however, wasn't satisfied with sending an Unversed to attack my enemies. Holding up my Keyblade, I rushed forward to attack this pathetic group.

Once the old duck got the younger one off him, he prepared to fight me with his cane. Undeterred I knocked him aside with one swipe of my weapon before charging forward. Clair fired some fireballs at me, but they were so weak I almost felt pity for her. Almost. Deflecting them, I raised my weapon to strike her down, but was blocked by Jason. "Don't you dare." He growled at me.

"Move." I told him, though when he still tried to push back I was pleased because it meant I could hurt him. I shoved him back before gathering my darkness. "Chaos Blade!" And I started warping around the brat while dashing into him multiple time, leaving several cuts on his body. I then finished by kicking him in the gut, knocking him onto the ground. I then approached him. "You've been a thorn on my side since the moment we met. Blaming me for something I was ordered to do. Acting like the world should revolve around you. Complaining about the most insignificant stuff. You bark a lot, but you don't even have the bite back yourself up. It's pathetic! You are just a whiny brat who can't handle any situation thrown at you. And quite frankly, I'm sick of you!"

To my surprise he went and kicked me in the last place any man would want to be kicked, even me. Despite this, I was able to convert the pain into rage and channel it into darkness that I used to attack him some more. But that did not make me feel satisfied with what I've done, so I decided to remove this problem for good. Changing my Keyblade back into a scythe, I raised it up to take his life.

"No!" Clair said as she cast another spell, but this one was more powerful than what I had encountered before from her. It seemed like a powerful blast of light that forced me off my feet and sent me flying backwards into the stand the Queen of Hearts used to sit in before she ran for her life. Wood splintering and cracking around me matched my astonishment at the kid's power. When did she get so strong?

Pulling myself out of the wreckage, I observed her leaning on her Keyblade panting heavily. That spell was more than she could handle at this moment. Still, to know that she had such potential as a mage started to change how I viewed her. She might end up posing a threat to me someday. In that case, the best thing to do would be to eliminate her. Noticing I was starting to pick myself up, she held up her hand and tried to cast a Fire spell. However, instead of hitting me, Leroy leapt up and caught it in his hands before throwing it back at her, knocking her off her feet. So this guy could not be hurt by fire? That certainly had its uses.

Calling forth a massive Dark Fireball, I threw it at the girl with no reason to believe that I would miss. However, to my surprise it got sliced in two by none other than the Keyblade Master Riku himself. Holding up his Keyblade, he said, "Enough, Mortem. You have to return the heart."

"Never." I responded as I leapt at him scythe held high. I brought the blade down, but he managed to parry it perfectly. Pushing me back, he fired his own series of Dark Firagas at me. I did my best to deflect them using my scythe, but many still managed to hit me. For some reason, I was glad. The files had warned me that Riku was a skilled warrior, and now I was seeing the reports were not wrong. I daresay I enjoyed the truth here.

Rushing him again, I fired another spell at him. That one managed to hit him, but he refused to give up. Leaping against one hedge bush, he pushed himself off so fast I almost lost sight of him. However, he pushed off against another bush and another until he came at me so fast I had to block with my weapon, and he still managed to push me back a few feet.

Gritting my teeth, I began to push back, but I could feel the strength he had through his Keyblade. Like Sora, he might actually be a match for me unlike those two rookies. Guess I was going to have to bring out the big guns. Forcing him back, I transformed my Keyblade into its bazooka mode and aimed it at the Keyblade Master. First I tried shooting smaller but faster dark blasts, but he managed to dodge or deflect them. Growing anger, I charged a lot more energy into the bazooka. "Chaos Cannon!" and fired a slow but massive projectile as the veteran.

Riku attempted to dodge the attack, but he found himself surprised as it changed course no matter which direction he went it would follow him. Firing more Dark Fireballs at it did nothing to slow it or deter it, so the Master tried to make it so it would hit me as well as him. When I tried to knock him into the projectile, he blocked me with some sort of barrier spell. That ended up costing him as he was hit by my attack.

My victory did not go unnoticed by his friends, who in addition to the Unversed had to keep fighting Leroy. "Riku!" Sora called out as the fatal blow was dealt to the monster as it vanished back into the darkness. I hadn't expected to suddenly feel an intense pain in my chest as the dragon Unversed's darkness flew back into me. I didn't have time to linger on that as the entire group ran over to their injured friend, ready to fight me.

Waving his hand as if to tell them not to worry, Riku told them, "I'm fine." His words did not fool anyone though, as he had third-degree burns all over him, and his clothes were in tatters. Wow. I must've put a little too much energy into that last attack. Still, I proved I was the better warrior after all.

"Heal!" Kairi casted the Curaga spell, healing most of the damage done to her friend. Once that was done, she turned her gaze to me, and her blue eyes ended up sending chills down my spine. "What is wrong with you Mortem? Why are you taking the hearts?"

"What is it to you?" I frowned before looking at Riku. "Well, since he gave me a challenge, I will honor you with an answer. I am taking the hearts because they are the only way to reclaim my memories."

"Your memories? You have amnesia?"

"Unfortunately. And now I know this is the way I can reclaim what I had lost."

Shaking her head, Kairi continued to speak to me. "This can't be the only way. Mortem, if you return the heart, I'm sure Master Yen Sid can help you remember."

Her naivety was so pathetic it made me laugh. "There is one way you can help me, but it is not through anyone else!" I raised my weapon to take her heart, but then the craziest thing happened. For a split second I saw someone else replace Kairi. It was brief, but I remember the details. The hair went from short to long, and turned from red to silver. Looking into those eyes, I could see the person staring back at me, but I could not remember who she was or why the devil I was hesitating! My head was in pain again, trying to remember, but nothing was coming!

"It's not too late, Mortem. You can still make this right." Kairi said. "If you have a Keyblade, then there must be a good person in you."

Ugh. I couldn't handle it anymore. "It already is too late for me to turn back now." I told her as I held my Keyblade up. "I'm done with all of you. I showed you mercy today, but do not expect me to be so generous next time. Any of you cross my path again, I will kill you. And you'd better find a fortress to hide in Princess. Because one day soon, I will come for your heart." With that, I tossed my weapon into the air, and as it came back it transformed.

I heard several gasps as it came down like a tireless motorcycle that I wasted no time getting on. The front was a massive cannon that I remembered from instinct could fire a deadly blast at whatever was in front of it. Three engines in the back was what allowed this thing to move at high speeds. Quick and powerful. Motioning for Leroy to get on, I concentrated in front of me for a dark corridor to open. Once it did, I flew into it with the red monster, leaving the crazy world of Wonderland behind.

?...

With the reacquired memories, and the tangle of emotions they brought to me, I decided not to return to the one who was sending me out. He could wait while I tried to clear my head. I don't know why he was sending me out after the hearts, but I knew he wasn't going to have a chance to get them until I was done with them, and not a second sooner.

"Where are we going?" Leroy asked from behind me, the translation of his words coming to my mind despite the fact that my ears heard his alien language.

"Away." I said. Something in the back of my mind said if I didn't get out of this place soon, Leroy was going to start annoying me. Guess here was a good a place as any to go. Opening a door, I piloted my glider to head outside of the darkness, and into a place that was… Whoa! I had to pull back on the glider as something went whistling past the front of my glider before exploding. "Fireworks? Who the hell is shooting up fireworks?!"

Leroy didn't have an answer, but more fireworks were going off all around us. I swear by anything that if this was because of some reckless idiot, I was going to have their heads. Pulling to the side, I tried to navigate through the fireworks that were going up and off all around me like a rainbow minefield in the sky. Now that was a scary thought.

Feeling clawed hands shaking my back, I heard Leroy exclaim to me, "Look out!" His warning came too late though as one red firework came up and hit the glider, knocking the two of us off it. As my weapon returned to my hand, I heard Leroy screaming as we both plummeted down into the darkness of this world, the two of us at the mercy of whatever strange creatures dwelled here.

Just to clarify, the Unversed that served as a boss for those who did not fight Mortem was called the Mock Jabberwock. Basically, it is based off the Jabberwocky, but its eyes are the Unversed eyes and the claws are also miniature heads of the main one. As for the mouth, it has a pair of pincers like the predators (which I've only seen pictures of). So, long story short, not the real Jabberwocky. And I'm not referring to the one from the live-action Alice in Wonderland. Walt Disney was considering putting in a sequence in the animated film where Alice would've encountered the Jabberwocky, but it got scrapped.

Some of you may find it odd that Leroy became a teammate for Mortem, but I thought he could use a friend. I don't see them as friends right now, but I think it's possible. I was also going to go with 627, but since that experiment is 100% evil I decided against it.

As for the world Mortem and Leroy found themselves in, you'll have to wait until the next chapter.