Disclaimer: I do not own any Kingdom Hearts characters nor Disney and Final Fantasy. But i do own my OC
A/N: I am so sorry for making everyone wait. I was having a writer block, wasn't sure on what to write next. But I hope you can all forgive me. As ... I hope this chapter will make it up to all of you. I can't promise when my next chapter will be out but let's just pray. Oh and a merry Christmas to you all. :)
The door to Begining
Chapter 20: A day in Wonder Land (part 1)
It had taken quite a while for Sora to recover and try to figure out the most important parts of his story to tell Jiminy. But now that they had been traveling for quite a while, Sora felt most of his airsickness subside and was able to help Jiminy in his chronicling process.
"Can I, uh, just ask what this is for?" Sora asked when they had finished.
"Well, the queen asked me to do this for her," Jiminy replied as he tucked his notebook and pen away. Sora nodded as though he understood, even though he didn't. Why would the queen be needing this for anyways. He did not know, yet he decided not to push the matter any farther. Jiminy then stood and dismissed himself with a slight bow.
"Sora!"
He turned his head at the sound of his name. Goofy had turned slightly to look at Sora, a wide smile on his face. "Take a look out yer window!" He said.
Hesitantly, Sora spun in his seat to look out the window. It wasn't like there was a sunset out here, or a horizon of any sort to look out to. But the sight through the glass was just short of breath taking. True, it was nothing like the sunset on Destiny Island, all warm and comfy but the sight of the ocean of stars that twinkled brightly, peeking out from within the endless darkness and the large clusters of stars that looked just like the rolling white clouds was still amazing. Sora placed one hand on the cold glass, leaning forward slightly until his nose was only centimeters away and his breath was making clouds of mist on its surface.
"Whoa!" Sora breathed in awe. "Wish Riku and Kairi were here to see this…"
Donald smiled to himself and glanced back at Sora. "We've arrived, kid."
Sora tore his eyes away from the vision out the window and looked over at Donald in shock.
"Eh? Already?"
The duck pointed out his window with a grin. "Wonderland!"
Sora looked forward and saw what could possibly be one of the strangest things he would ever lay his eyes on. Wonderland was right.
It seemed like a small planet, which was growing bigger as they approached its surface to land. Sora could see an unusual looking castle and a heart shaped arch. He could see hedges, possibly forming a labyrinth, spreading out all the way around one half of the world. There was a garden, dusted in the color of dark pink. As Sora looked on, it seemed like that part of the world was inaccessible. The other half, where they were landing was simple grassland. Rolling greenish red grassland and a dirt path that zigzagged across it, on top of which the Gummi ship landed.
Donald unhooked himself from his driver's seat and began to hit the switches and press the buttons, so many that he wasn't sure of they were all there for. Sora could hear the engines begin to hum as they powered down. He spun around in his seat a few times before figuring out that it was time to get off the ship. Goofy leapt from his seat the moment he had removed his seatbelt and turned to Sora.
"C'mon!" he yelled excitedly. "Get up, Sora!
"Let's get a look at this place!" Donald said, tearing himself away from his control panel and making a break for the ladder downstairs.
He would able to see another world. The idea raced through his mind as excitement took over him.
"Right," Sora said with a nod, fumbling around for the release of his seatbelt. He grinned. "Hey, hold on a second!"
As soon as he was free of his seatbelt, Sora hurried to catch up with Donald and Goofy. Sora was just about to run straight for the door and throw it open when one feathered hand reached out and grabbed him by the collar. He was yanked backwards and ended up dropping on the floor with a thud and a groan.
"Don't just jump the airlock," Donald warned, moving toward the doorway slowly. "That's a bit dangerous."
"Yeah!" Goofy pitched in. "Ya never know what's out there, so ya gotta be careful."
Sora rose to his feet slowly, rubbing his neck and fixing up his jacket which Donald had, after all, pulled at it. Donald opened the doorway slowly and poked his head out, looking both ways before he stepped out. He then turned back to Sora and Goofy and motioned for them to come outside, giving them the "all clear".
Goofy stepped outside, Sora following closely behind, and took a look around. The place seemed perfectly ordinary. In fact, it looked almost mundane. All around them was an almost ordinary sight of blue skies and a rolling green field. There were trees speckled across the landscape, and there was a small pond near a field of daisies that bustled with various kinds of birds as they bathed in the water.
"So much for 'Wonderland'," Sora said to himself, somewhat disappointed. This place wasn't anything like he had imagine, or at least able to live up to his expectation. What was so 'wonder' about a rolling green fields and trees speckled across the landscape? He couldn't help but to feel disappointed. This world wasn't as exciting as he thought it would be.
He then raised his arms casually over his head and turned to Donald. "So, what now?"
Both Donald and Goofy looked over at Sora, and then at each other. Goofy shrugged helplessly, and Sora could only roll his eyes.
"Great." Unknown world, unknown what to do, those two things normally don't go well with each other.
Just then, Sora saw something move. He spun around to see what it was and caught a brief glimpse of a short, stout figure running through the bushes. Sora took a few steps forward, following the figure, and then halted. He didn't know whether he should follow it or not.
"What's wrong, Sora?" Donald asked.
He said nothing, but continued to hold his hard gaze. Both Donald and Goofy spun around to look where Sora was looking. Something white flashed over the bushes.
"See that!" Sora yelped, pointing. "What is that?"
The trio waited for a few moments more, haltingly moving in the direction that the creature seemed to be moving, until the creature finally popped out from the bushes and came into full view. Sora's eyes went wide in alarm at the sight of him.
"It's… It's a rabbit!"
A rabbit, it was. A white rabbit, in fact. He ran on his two hind legs and was wearing a bright red tuxedo jacket with a washed out yellow blouse underneath and gray trousers. He held an umbrella in one hand or should he rather said a paw? and a large golden pocket watch in the other. His eyes seemed bloodshot from lack of rest as they stared out through the small pair of horse spectacles that was perched on his red rabbit nose and the fur on the top of his head was ruffled and messy. He kept looking down at his watch, which seemed to cause him further distress, and then continue running.
Donald shrugged, turning away slightly as Sora and Goofy looked on. "Aw, it's just a rabbit in a waistcoat."
Yes, it was just a rabbit in a waistcoat, something Sora found strange if he had not met these two. His eyes suddenly widened, and he took a double take. "And a watch!"
The white rabbit looked back down at his watch and his eyes widened further, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. "Oh, my fur and whiskers! I'm late I'm late I'm late!"
Goofy tilted his head curiously to one side. "What could a rabbit be late for?"
Sora shook his head from side to side, finally snapping out of his funk. "Hey, you! Wait!"
The rabbit didn't stop. In fact, he only quickened his pace. He turned back slightly to look at Sora and shook his head vigorously, pointing at the watch face in a panic.
"No no no no no no no, I'm overdue! I'm really in a stew! No time to say 'goodbye'! Hello! I'm late I'm late I'm late!"
Sora slowed slightly, stunned by how quickly the rabbit was speaking and by his mixing up of the words "goodbye" and "hello". At least, he was pretty sure that the rabbit had meant to say them the other way around. Pushing the thought aside, Sora raced after the rabbit. Donald and Goofy exchanged glances and shrugged, and then followed Sora.
"Ya think he's goin' to a party?" Goofy asked Donald curiously.
The duck merely sighed in annoyance and rolled his eyes.
"Hey!" Sora yelled again. "Wait up!"
With one final glance backwards, the rabbit ducked into a rabbit hole in the side of a small hill. Sora screeched to a halt in front of it and got down on his knees. He peered curiously into the hole as Donald and Goofy came to a stop nearby. Sora looked up at them, and then back into the hole.
"D'you think we should follow him?"
Goofy got down on his knees and looked into the hole. They couldn't see farther than a few feet in. The rest was completely engulfed in darkness. Goofy cupped his gloved hands around his mouth.
"Hey Mr. Rabbit!" he yelled. The sound of his voice echoed back at them. Goofy looked at Sora and chuckled. "That's a pretty strange place to be havin' a party, huh?"
Donald folded his arms over his chest and grunted impatiently. Sora paid him no heed. He looked over at Goofy and nodded silently, as if to say "let's go", and then crawled into the rabbit hole on all fours. Donald spun around and watched amusedly as Goofy struggled to get his larger frame into the hole.
"You know, Sora," Goofy said as he squirmed inside. "We really shouldn't be doin' this."
"Yeah," Donald agreed. "Curiosity often leads to trouble!"
"And we haven't been invited to his party," Goofy continued with a chuckle.
Sora grinned to himself. "Well, don't you wanna know where he's going? And how could we possibly end up getting in troub – bulllll!"
As the last syllable left his mouth, Sora shifted his weight onto nothing and began to fall headfirst into the dark abyss. Goofy fell through shortly after, releasing a round of his trademark howl. Donald hopped around anxiously outside of the rabbit hole, pondering as to whether or not he should try to help them. With one final stomp of his webbed foot, Donald got down on all fours and began to crawl through the darkness, only to end up falling down an unseen hole as his companions had before him.
The trio's screams echoed up from the endless pit…
Wonderland
"I guess from now on, falling down stairs isn't gonna be such a big deal, huh?"
Sora began to spin around so that his head was once again right side up. He didn't like the feeling of all the blood was pouring into his head. It was getting rather uncomfortable and dizzy as well. The teenage boy had his arms folded across his chest as the trio began to drift slowly ever downwards. Dim colored lights had appeared farther down the hole that they had fallen through, mostly reds and blues, just enough to light the peculiar objects that decorated the interior.
There were mirrors placed askew on the walls, and end tables with small lights perched on them with the entire set upside down. There seemed to be clocks, since Sora could hear them ticking, but they were nowhere to be seen. There were large, antique world maps and various other random paintings. Nothing made sense in this strange tunnel. Even the large mirror that they had come across was strange, for as Sora fell past it, the mirror showed him falling in the opposite direction. Actually, just the fact that the trio was drifting downwards rather than falling was strange.
"What if we fall right through the middle of the planet?" Goofy wondered aloud as he let himself spin around like a pinwheel.
Donald narrowed his eyes at Goofy as he began to flip forward. "We'll end up on the other side, where people walk upside down," he replied mockingly.
Goofy looked over at Donald, his big eyes gleaming in surprise. "Really?"
"No, Goofy," Sora answered, deciding to interrupt before Donald could even think to continue making fun of him. "That kinda thing can't happen."
"Are ya sure?" Goofy challenged them.
Sora laughed as he watched Goofy continue to spin about. Donald merely grunted impatiently, folding his arms over his chest and settling himself down as though he were on a cushioned chair of some kind. Eventually, Goofy lied down as though he were on a bed or a sofa, propping his head up with his arms and crossing one leg over the other. As for Donald and Sora, they remained right side up, just in case they finally touched ground. They floated downward slowly, and eventually, caught sight of a floor. Sora smiled, as he and Donald set their feet firmly onto the floor with no trouble at all. Sora turned to Goofy.
"Hey, Goofy, you better…"
He was too late. Before he could finish his sentence, Goofy plopped down onto the red tile floor with a loud thud. Donald chuckled to himself as Sora flinched slightly at the sound of impact. He only sighed sympathetically and began to move toward Goofy to help him rise to his feet.
As Goofy peeled his large dog eyes open, he saw the figure of the rabbit dart by, just a few inches away from his nose. The white rabbit seemed to have gotten even more stressed out since before they had entered the rabbit hole. He glanced down at his large golden pocket watch once again, leaping slightly into the air in alarm upon seeing the time written on its face.
"Oh dear, oh dear oh dear!" the rabbit exclaimed between pants and ragged breathing. "I'm here, I should be there!"
Goofy sat up on the floor and blinked in confusion. The trio watched in silent surprise as the white rabbit began to zigzag down the peculiar red hallway and as he finally disappeared around the corner, yelling frantically the whole time.
"I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!" came his voice as it echoed down the hallway. "Ooh, the queen, she'll have my head for sure!"
Sora turned to look at the others once the rabbit was out of sight. " 'The queen'?"
Somewhat disappointed, Goofy rose to his feet and sighed. "I guess there's no party then, huh?"
"Looks like that rabbit really does have something important to go to," Donald muttered. "We shouldn't be interfering with his business. That goes against the rules!"
"But aren't you guys curious?" Sora asked.
Donald folded his arms over his chest and raised his beak snobbishly in the air. "No."
Goofy nodded eagerly at Sora. Sora could hardly help but smile. He then began to chase after the rabbit, running down the red and pink hallway. His companions exchanged glances for the second time that day and shrugged. They had no choice but to follow the Key bearer.
Sora raced down the hallway until he reached a large white door that stretched a way over his head. The doorway was at least as tall as Goofy, if not taller. He peered at it curiously and then turned to check that Donald and Goofy were following him. As soon as he saw the pair turn the corner, Sora smiled at them and pointed at the door.
"He must've gone through here!"
Without waiting for a response, Sora turned back to the door and grabbed onto the handle. He pulled the white door open, only to find a slightly smaller blue door. Confused and even more curious, Sora pulled open the blue door by its golden handle, only to see yet another, even smaller brown door. Getting somewhat disgruntled, Sora pulled open the brown door and smiled when he saw an entry at last.
They ended up in a very peculiarly decorated room. Everything was in the brightest of colors, mostly in shades of pink and violet. There was very little furniture in the room; only a stout green bed with an old, plain white mattress lying on top of it, a small wooden corner table painted a beige-ish pink color with two stout red chairs lined up against the wall right next to it, and a large stone and brick stove that was on the other side of the room, opposite the bed and chairs.
The floor and walls were the decorations of the room, as they had various furniture painted on them, including several clocks, vases, and books. And painted out on the middle of the floor was a white table with two items that looked like bottles on its surface and a matching chair. They were painted in such a way that it made you feel like you were looking down at them from the ceiling.
The trio gazed around them, somewhat confused and disoriented by the bright shades of pink. Who could want to live in a room like this? That's when Sora saw something move across the floor. At first he thought it was a white rat, but he quickly realized that it was the white rabbit. He had shrunk! Sora's jaw dropped as he watched the shrunken rabbit dash through a small wooden door on the bottom of the wall straight ahead of them, which promptly closed behind him.
Sora moved toward the door and crouched down in front of it. Donald and Goofy followed suit, squatting down on their knees on either side of Sora and peering down at the small wooden door and its large golden doorknob that had an image of a face carved into its surface. Sora tilted his head to the side, his eyebrows coming together, baffled.
"How did he get so small?" Sora wondered aloud as he stared at the tiny doorway.
The eyes of the doorknob snapped open and looked up at Sora. "No, you're simply too big."
Donald leapt back with a loud quack, his blue hat practically flying off his head in the most cartoon like fashion. "It talks!"
A talking doorknob! He supposed animals talking would still consider normally but a furniture? He wasn't sure if he like having that around.
Even Sora jumped back slightly, his eyes widening in alarm and his jaw dropping visibly. Only Goofy did not seem as surprised as his companions. He blinked once or twice in shock with a slight "ahyuk". Then all three leaned in slightly to gape at the talking doorknob, one of Sora's eyebrows arched and raised in confusion.
The doorknob shut its eyes and yawned largely, the keyhole of the knob serving as its mouth. It opened its eyes again when it was finished and stared angrily up at the trio.
"Must you be so loud? You woke me up."
Goofy blinked a few times and then smiled, waving slightly in the air. "Good mornin'."
"Good night," the doorknob retorted, its eyes drooping sleepily. "I need a bit more sleep."
"Wait!" Sora yelled out, extending one hand slightly toward the doorknob. He leaned even more forward so that their faces were level. "What do we have to go to grow small?"
The doorknob rolled its eyes slowly. "Why don't you try the bottle? Over there?"
It used his mouth and doorknob nose to point behind Sora. Sora looked quickly over his shoulder and watched in amazement as the table and chair that was imprinted on the pink and red tile floor exploded out of the ground and became three dimensional. Sure enough, on the surface of the table were two bottles; one with a red label and the other with a blue one. Sora was confused.
"What a bizarre room."
He took one last glance at the doorknob. It had already gone back to sleep. The trio rose to their feet and turned to look at the table and the two small bottles on its surface. Sora moved toward it and picked up each bottle in turn, examining their labels. Both bottles appeared to have some sort of liquid in it, but the blue label read, "Drink Me", while the red one had "Eat Me" written on it.
"Now that's just weird," Sora said, showing the one with the red label to Donald and Goofy. "If it's a liquid, why in the world does it say 'eat me' on it?"
Goofy chuckled and Donald gave him a hard elbow to the gut to shut him up. "So which one are you gonna use, Sora?"
"The one that makes sense, of course," Sora said with a smile as he replaced the red labeled bottle on the table. He picked up the blue one and raised it in the air to show his companions, and then removed the cork. He peered into the bottle at the liquid inside. Sora had heard somewhere that it was always good to look first. He shrugged. So much for good advice. He put the bottle to his lips and took a sip.
"How's it taste?" Goofy wanted to know.
"Hmm…" Sora licked his lips as he attempted to place the flavors. "It tastes like… cherry juice."
Donald quacked in surprise as Sora suddenly shrunk down a size. The boy didn't seem to notice as he was still thinking of the flavors.
"…pumpkin custard…"
It was Goofy's turn to make a loud noise in shock as Sora shrunk down another size.
"…grape… roast turkey…"
Both of the King's men jumped back in shock as Sora was downsized again. But this time, Sora had noticed. He could barely hold the bottle anymore as it was almost as big as him. "W-Whoa!"
He dropped down onto his bottom, setting the bottle down as carefully as he could nearby. Sora looked up at Donald and Goofy. From this height, they looked like monsters. Sora's eyes went wide. They knew he had shrunk, right? They could still see him, right? Well, they were staring back down at him. So that meant that they wouldn't step on him… right?
Goofy cupped his hands around his mouth. "Sora!" he shouted. "Are you okay?"
He grabbed his ears with his gloved hands and braced himself against the force of Goofy's yell. It had almost knocked him away. As soon as Sora's ears stopped ringing, he stomped one sneaker on the floor, cupped his hands around his mouth, and yelled back up at his monster sized friends.
"Yeah!" he shouted as loud as he could. "You don't need to yell!"
Donald looked at Goofy and smacked his arm. Goofy chuckled apologetically as he rubbed the spot on his arm that Donald had hit. The duck bent down and carefully picked the bottle up off the floor. He looked around a few times, holding the bottle in one hand and then looked down at Sora.
"So how're you gonna get in?" Donald asked.
His voice was still somewhat loud, but it wasn't nearly as bad as Goofy's shouting had been. Sora looked over at the doorknob and approached it, but soon realized that it wasn't going to open. The doorknob was fast asleep. He could hear it snoring softly. Not wanting to use his voice, Sora pointed at the doorknob and shook his head from side to side, crossing his arms in front of him to make an 'X'. Even though the message was just beyond Goofy, Donald nodded knowingly.
"So then, how?"
Sora placed one hand thoughtfully under his chin as he looked at his surroundings. He stared at each visible piece of furniture in turn, looking for holes and cracks that he could probably fit through, since the door clearly wouldn't open. Sora's eyes caught on a large opening in the bottom of the stove and took a hesitant step toward it, but then shook his head. It was probably just an opening in the stove. And even if it did lead somewhere, it was on a different wall from the wooden door.
That's when Sora turned around to look at the wall that the door was connected. They needed to get to the other side of this wall. He examined its entire length, from one corner to the next. He snorted at the door as his eyes passed over it. Lot of help that guy had been. And that's when Sora saw a rather large opening in the wall behind one end of the green bed. The bed seemed to blocking the way, but they could move it.
He ran over to the edge of the bed and peered beyond the crack. Yes, this looked quite like a doorway! Sora grinned, and then cupped his hands around his mouth, taking a deep breath before shouting to his companions.
"Guys! Move the bed away from this hole!"
Donald and Goofy nodded in Sora's direction and moved toward the bed, Donald placing the blue bottle back on the table next to the red one before doing so. They grabbed onto its edge and began to try to pull the bed away from the hole so as to make a crack large enough for Sora to fit through. However, the bed wouldn't budge an inch.
"Why won't it budge!" Donald howled, his face turning red with frustration and effort.
"It's like it's part o' the wall," Goofy commented with a smile, somewhat amused.
"This is no time to be amused, Goofy!" Donald hissed.
"No, he's right," Sora said, folding his arms over his chest as he thought out loud. "Everything else in this room can be like a drawing on the wall." He glanced over at the table and chair as examples. "So then, if it can't be pulled away from the wall, you'd probably have to push it into the wall!"
Sora thumped one fist into the open palm of his other hand as the idea struck him. He turned toward Donald and Goofy with a grin, but his face fell when he realized that his voice had been too small for them to hear. They were still trying to pull the bed away, Donald's face growing ever more red.
"Guys!" he shouted with another stomp of his feet.
Both Donald and Goofy stopped and looked over at Sora.
"Ya can't pull it away from the wall!" he yelled. "Try pushing it into the wall!"
Donald narrowed his eyes at Sora. "Push it into the wall?" he snapped. "Are you crazy? Like that's actually going to work!"
As Donald argued with Sora, Goofy moved around the bed into a position from which he could shove the bed into the wall. He placed his gloved hands on each side and gave the bed a small push. The bed almost immediately flew into the wall, making a two dimensional image of a green bed on its surface, painted as it would be seen from the side. Donald dropped onto his belly with a small thud as the bed moved swiftly into the wall. Goofy scratched the side of his head and laughed.
"Wow! Sora was right!"
Sora folded his arms over his chest and stared smugly at Donald, giving him his most condescending I-told-you-so look. Donald raised himself slightly, propping his head up with one arm, his other hand resting on the floor and his fingers drumming the flooring impatiently. Sora grinned, moving closer to Donald so he wouldn't have to yell the instructions.
"Now you guys can shrink down and we'll all get a move on, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah," Donald grumbled as he got to his feet.
The duck flashed a threatening glance at Sora before taking the blue bottle into his hands. Sora narrowed his eyes at Donald. He had been trying to be nice. Sora sighed helplessly as he watched Donald take his sip from the bottle and then hand it over to Goofy.
As soon as both of them had shrunk down to size, they hurried over to the hole where Sora was standing. Sora smiled as they approached and then led the way into the dark tunnel. The first thing they heard as they approached the exit was the sounds of birds chirping.
The moment they exited the tunnel the world exploded with blues and greens, which was a relief to their eyes after being exposed to only shades of bright pink and violet. They had entered a large garden of sorts, with grass hedges that seemed to stretch toward the blue sky, which looked to Sora like it had been painted by a young artist. A large white castle could be seen looming over them in the distance. Sora recognized it as the same one that he had seen when they were approaching and about to land.
But the thing that really caught the attention of the trio was the strange scene that was taking place in the middle of the garden. Standing directly in front of them were six soldiers lined up in formation, facing the trio as they entered. They weren't normal soldiers, however. They were, in fact, man-sized playing cards with limbs and a head. Their eyes were shielded by their colored hoods, and in their hands they each held a weapon, which varied according to the color and suit of each card.
There were two red guards standing in front of the soldiers, holding their red spears that had heart symbols at the tips as a way of preventing entry into the garden. The guards raised their spears to allow the white rabbit through, who had only appeared a few moments earlier than Sora, Donald, and Goofy (amazingly). The two rows of card soldiers folded backwards, allowing the rabbit passage to the front of the garden. As the soldiers opened up, Sora was able to see what exactly was going on.
There was a courtroom setup at the other end of the garden. It was incomplete, as all it consisted of was a jury box that stood off to one side, the Judge's bench with a large yellow cloth bearing a large black and red heart emblem draped over the edge, and a witness stand which was placed in front of the Judge's bench rather than beside it. Not to mention that the stand had no chair, which didn't seem to be very fair for the girl who was in the stand at that moment.
She was a young girl, probably not any older than Sora, with long, thick blonde hair that was only held out of her face with a thin black headband with a small ribbon. She wore a light blue dress with puffed sleeves and a large poufy skirt with several layers of white petticoats and long white stockings with a pair of shiny black Mary Jane shoes. She had a white apron on that tied at the back in a neat, almost perfect white ribbon.
As Sora watched, she fidgeted, smoothing the hem of her dress and keeping it neat. The girl turned her head slightly as the white rabbit ran past her, opening her mouth slightly when she caught sight of him as though she has something to say to him. The white rabbit merely ran past her and up a spiral wooden staircase that led to the top of a large wooden tower that made the rabbit level with the Judge's bench. The rabbit paused, keeling over slightly as he attempted to catch his breath. After a moment he lifted a trumpet to his mouth and played a brief interlude. He dropped it quickly and took a deep breath.
P.S: Please review and tell me what you think. I'll be more than happy to receive words from you all.