L&DH: Welcome back to "Heart and Soul"! We've got a new chapter, fresh off the laptop for your enjoyment guys!
Salem: *rain cloud over his head* When am I coming back?
Tegan: Not for a bit, sorry man...
Jade: *smirks* Bloody hell, I forgot you even existed. Or do you exist?
Salem: *glares* No need to be demeaning...
L&DH: ANYWAYS! Angie, do the thing before these two start fighting...
Angelique: L&DH does not own Kingdom 'earts, Final Fantasy, or Alice in Wonderland, which belong to their respective owners. L&DH only owns zis fanfiction and its OCs. Enjoy, mon amies!
"Now what are we going to do?" Sora hissed from his hiding spot on Alice's shoulder.
"Wait for a chance, and then take it I guess." Kairi answered back from Alice's other shoulder.
So far, the group didn't really have much of a plan in regards to rescuing Salem and the Hatter. It had been pure luck that they had even managed to get inside the castle.
After making it across the moat and through the wall around the castle, Alice and the world-travelers found themselves inside a monstrously large garden. One game of ridiculous croquet and a little too much of the weird cake-that-makes-you-grow later, the nine of them found themselves sitting (on a chair being lifted by two unfortunate monkeys) in the great hall. Well, really it was just Alice sitting; the others were hidden here and there since the Princess of Heart was now about twenty feet tall.
"I swear I'm being smothered in lace over here!" Vanitas grumbled quietly, spitting said lace out of his mouth.
"Stop complaining and shut your gob, you twat!" Jade growled back. She didn't particularly like the idea of hiding in all the excess material of Alice's new dress, but she wasn't complaining.
Because of Alice's recent growth spurt in the garden—a moment that left the boys unable to look Alice in the eye without feeling embarrassed—the blonde had to be outfitted in yet another dress. Luckily, she now had the favor of the Red Queen, so yards of the best fabric and lace were put together into an appropriately sized covering. And with all the excess and frills, there were plenty of places to hide.
"It's not so bad," Tegan remarked from her spot inside a pocket. "I kinda like it. If there was more red and less pink, I'd totally wear this!"
Riku stuck his head out of the same pocket and quickly looked around. "We need to figure out where they're keeping the Hatter and Salem. Then we split into two groups. One will stay with Alice, and the other will work on getting them free."
"I volunteer for look for Salem!" Angelique announced.
"No, I think it would be best if you stay to watch Alice." Jade shook her head, the gears in her brain turning. "With your Dream Eaters, you can easily protect her if Alice's identity is discovered. Tegan, you should definitely be on the scouting team, along with Vanitas and…"
"But…" Kairi grabbed the snowette's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
"It's alright, Angie. I'll stay and watch over Alice with you."
"Riku and me too." Sora promised. "Jade, you and Tegan have a better idea of the place, so you should both go with Vanitas."
"Majesty…"
The teens jumped as they heard the voice of The Knave. Stayne strutted out to the Queen's side, kissing her hand while down on one knee. Tegan mimed gagging as the slimy, eye patch-wearing knight shifted his gaze towards Alice.
"And who is this lovely creature?" he asked. The Queen cast a bored look at the blonde, which turned to childish amusement.
"Um, my new favorite." Jade shook her head. It wasn't as if Alice was a toy, for crying out loud…
"Does she have a name?"
"Um."
"I believe your name," Stayne chuckled breathily. "Has slipped the Queen's mind…"
"Her name is UM!" The Red Queen shrieked, earning a few snickers from the unseen visitors. "IDIOT!"
"You got that right, sister…" Vanitas said under his breath. If the Knave was anything (besides a creepy pervert) he was an idiot. With a capital "I".
"Any luck with the prisoners?" The teens tensed.
"They are stubborn…" Stayne drawled. Angelique felt an unusual surge of anger at the way he seemed to brush it all off. She rarely got angry, but this man was pushing her farther than she wished to go.
"You're too soft." The Queen chided. "Bring them!"
As the doors to the Great Hall opened, Tegan and the others strained to catch a glimpse of their friends. The hall filled with the sound of marching and the clank of chains as a troop of soldiers entered, gathered around a figure. The sight of their spear out and at the ready made Angelique nervous as her fingers clenched the hem of her dress.
Please, please be alright Salem…
When the soldiers reached the throne, they parted and a shackled person was pushed forward. It wasn't Salem, but the Hatter instead.
"Where's the other one?" The Queen asked lazily.
"One of our guests took it upon himself to interrogate him personally, Majesty."
Tegan and Jade exchanged worried glances. Guests? Was the Organization here, or someone else?
"I see…We know that Alice has returned to Underland," The Queen returned her attention to the Mad Hatter. "Do you know where she is?"
The Hatter didn't really seem to be paying attention and kept looking despondently at his shackled hands. Instead of answering her, he began to list things that began with the letter "M". Moron, mutiny, murder, malice…
"You're looking for an 'A' word now," she pressed. "Where is Alice?!"
The Hatter glanced at "Um" for the tiniest of seconds before chuckling. "I wouldn't know."
"What if I threatened to cut off your head, and the other prisoner's?" Kairi had to hold Angelique back, who was on the verge of attacking the big-headed monarch. "Would you know then?"
"Angie, please!" Kairi whispered frantically. "We need to stay hidden!"
"But zat…zat monster threatened to kill Salem and ze 'atter! I will cut off 'er 'ead!"
"Angie, that won't help Salem!" Sora reasoned.
CLANG!
For a moment, the sound of metal hitting metal frightened the three. Whirling around, they found instead of a headless Hatter, he was unchained and walking around the Red Queen, discussing what kind of hat would be suited for her "heroic globe"…
"How can there be that many different kind of hats?" Ventus asked quietly, floating behind Vanitas. The blond's head was practically spinning as the Hatter listed off pretty much every hat known to man (minus a top hat or sombrero…).
"Hell if I know." Vanitas answered. "I don't wear the damn things…"
"Leave us!" Alice stood up as the Queen shooed the remaining people from her throne room, obviously eager to get on with her hat planning. As Alice rushed out of the room, making a hasty curtsy on her way out the door, everyone gave a sigh of relief.
"At least we know Salem's still got his head intact." Tegan ran a hand through her bangs, trying to get rid of her pent-up anxiety through movement. "But now we have to worry about where he is…"
Alice rounded a corner and slipped into a small, secluded hallway. Bending down, she deposited all of her shrunken passengers onto a small table holding a vase of roses.
"The Queen's got to have him in a dungeon somewhere," she decided. "If we are going to split into groups, you find out where. Some castles have multiple. I can ask the Hatter and see if he knows where they took Salem."
Riku nodded. "That's a good plan. Sora, Kairi, Angelique, and I will watch your back. Jade, Vanitas, Ventus, and Tegan, you look for the dungeon and find Salem."
"And we all need to keep on the lookout for these 'guests' The Knave mentioned." Jade shuffled her cards and pulled two out. "I'd bet 10 quid that we've got Organization bastards running around the castle. Everyone, be careful."
Angelique held her staff beside her, eyes downcast with a grim frown set on her face. She wanted more than anything to be out there looking for Salem, but Jade was right. There wasn't much she could do. And with everyone in their shrunken states, her Dream Eaters were the only things that could protect Alice properly.
"Find 'im," she whispered. "Please, please find Salem…Oh!" A hand came down on Angelique's head, ruffling her hair. Looking up, she met a pair kind gray eyes.
"On my word, we'll find him." Jade's lips quirked up in a toothy smile. "You're supposed to be the Good Witch, right? Chin up, kid."
Angelique blinked, perplexed by the sudden change in the aubrunette's attitude. But she couldn't help but give a small little smile of her own. She figured that even though Jade could be cold and distant, there was a good heart inside.
"Oui, you are right. But before you go…" Angelique put two fingers to her lips and blew, letting out a shrill whistle. There was a puff of pink smoke and a pair of small birds appeared in front of her.
They were tiny, small enough to fit in the palm of Jade's hand, with round little bodies covered with pink feathers. One feather stuck out on top of each bird's head, tipped in blue, and gave them the appearance of quails. Red feathers surrounded two yellow, oval-shaped eyes like a raccoon mask, and the familiar Dream Eater Spirit symbol was printed on their backs. But most curious of all was a strange, glass-like substance coating each Spirit's belly. Jade peered at the two birds curiously and caught her reflection in the glass. A mirror?
"Zese are Mirror Me birds," Angelique explained. "Take one with you and we can stay in touch with each other. If you learn something, have ze bird connect to me and we will be able to talk to each other."
Jade held out her hand and one of the birds perched on her finger, chirping merrily. "So it's not unlike a web camera. Interesting."
"Alright!" Tegan cheered. "Let's go rescue the idiot!"
…
…
Day turned to night quickly once more, and the rescue team still wasn't any closer to finding their missing companion. None of the four could be sure how much of the castle they had covered, although Jade thought they had gone through at least a few floors (which was a lot more ground to cover than it seems). It was Tegan's idea to climb up into the rafters to avoid being seen. It gave her a chance to practice with her chains, seeing as acrobatics wasn't one of her strong suits. But Tegan found that she could use her chains much like grappling hooks, which was beginning to come in handy.
"Right, onto the next room?" Jade jumped from one rafter to the next, swinging up after catching the edge by tips of her fingers. Unlike Tegan, Jade had taken gymnastics as a child.
"I wish we had a better idea of what we were looking for." Ventus moaned. In a castle full of rooms, looking for one person (or in this case, Nobody) was like looking for a needle in a silo full of hay. Turns out, this castle had FOUR dungeons, not just one, and they were spread out over wings and floors; the illogic of Underland making their job a whole lot harder. If they had been their proper size, it would be easier. And of course, they had to keep a look out for those Organization members.
It had been confirmed that the Red Queen's "guests" were Vessels. While roaming the halls, the four teens had received a nasty shock when they found some of the empty hallways crawling with Heartless. For the most part, it was Shadows and Neoshadows, but every once in a while one of the Wizard-type Emblems would float along the ground. Jade and Tegan mentioned how odd it was that instead of Emblems, Underland had a majority of Purebloods making up the Heartless population. Tegan had wondered if there was some specific reason, but for the life of her couldn't figure it out. She had hoped that by finding the Organization members controlling the Heartless, she'd get her answer.
"Hey, there's a hole over here!" Vanitas called, a few feet away. A mouse hole big enough for them to squeeze through sat nearby. "Let's check it out!"
A few minutes of rafter-jumping (Tegan was close to calling it an official sport by now) and everyone crammed through the mouse hole. And next thing they knew, the girls got a facefull of red velvet curtain. Jade swore low under her breath as Tegan flailed backwards, knocking into the wall behind her.
"Ow…"
"Very graceful, Freckles," Vanitas grinned. "Ten out of ten."
"Shut up…"
"Are you okay, Tegan?" Ventus floated near the redhead, smiling apologetically. Tegan assured him she was fine, but shot a scathing glance at his darker counterpart.
"Oi, look at that!" Jade hissed. The older girl was crouching behind one of the columns that were part of the room. Black, reds, and silvers made up the colors while the décor brought to mind Victorian England, with antique furnishings. The floor was made up of black and white marble, arranged in a checker board fashion, and a large red rug was laid out by the fireplace. It must have been the parlor room of someone's chambers.
"You must find Alice, Stayne. Without the Jabberwocky, my sister's followers will surely rise against me." Suddenly, the Red Queen strolled in, fingers twitching impatiently. The Knave of Hearts followed behind her, trotting at her heels like an overgrown lap dog.
"My ugly little sister," the Queen continued. "Why do they adore her and not me?"
"Oh gee, I do wonder," Vanitas scoffed. "Who wouldn't love a pompous, power-mad bitch with a habit of getting peoples' head cut off?"
"Shush!" Tegan whacked the dark-haired teen in the back of the head, cutting him off before he could go off on some tangent.
"I do not know, Majesty." The Knave twittered on in a breathless way that made Tegan's skin crawl. It was one thing hearing his voice from a TV set. Hearing it was even worse. "You are far superior in all ways…"
"Wow, and she believes that crap?"
"Vanitas," Tegan hissed. "Shut up!"
"I know," the Queen agreed. "But Mirana can make anyone fall in love with her. Men. Women…Even the furniture." The Red Queen cast a forlorn glance at her "furniture", the enslaved animals of Underland made to lift up table tops and chairs.
"Even…the King…"
While Vanitas and Ventus flinched as the Queen defended herself, Tegan and Jade kept their eyes fixed down below. The two could see the White Rabbit carefully make off with the Oraculum and leave quickly, before anyone else spotted him. That was one relief, but Jade kept feeling this anxious feeling gnawing at her stomach. What was wrong with her?
Ever since they set foot inside the castle, Jade had this nagging feeling that something was off. It had her feeling kind of twitchy, jumping at shadows and peering anxiously around every corner. Jade never really considered herself the paranoid type, so this kind of behavior was throwing the Brit for a loop. She only knew one thing. Whatever this feeling was, she didn't like it.
"Continue your search, Stayne," The Queen's voice piped up, dragging Jade back to reality. "Find Alice, and make sure you take off her head. At all costs."
The Knave bowed and exited the room, leaving the Red Queen (and the eavesdroppers) alone. The Queen nodded her enormous head and made her way over to the lit fireplace, taking a seat in an over-gilded chair by the fire. At first, she just sat there, tapping her fingers against the skirt of her dress. Then she reached over the side and dug around in a little woven basket sitting next to her chair and pulled something out.
"Is that a…" Jade strained her eyes, trying to make out the flimsy-looking objects clutched in the woman's hands.
"Looks like a couple of dolls." Tegan mumbled. In the light of the fire, she could make out a simple white dress and long white hair in one hand, and a red dress and short curly red hair in the other. Were those supposed to her and her sister?
"…Off with you head, Sister." The Queen smashed both dolls together and the head of the White Queen doll when sailing across the room with a small ripping sound. The head landed in another small bin with a clang, and Tegan saw it was already full of doll heads. The Queen tossed her now headless doll into the fireplace and returned the other to the basket as if it were completely normal.
"Yikes…" Tegan held a hand up to her neck and gulped. Next time someone told her she had bizarre habits, she'd be sure to bring this up…
"Ah, there you are," The Red Queen's head turned to a dark corner of her parlor where some curtains moved. A figure stirred in the shadows. "How goes the interrogation with the prisoner?"
"He is stubborn, I'll give him that," a bored, feminine voice drawled. "But my associate will break him soon."
Jade twitched. That voice…
The Queen giggled merrily. "Excellent. When I get the information I need, you may do whatever you wish with the prisoner. He's taking up too much space in the West dungeon that I need for other purposes. Though, if you wish to take off his head, do let me know. I love a morning execution."
Tegan and Vanitas glanced sharply at each other. Salem was in the dungeon, now they just needed to find it.
"Thank you, Your Highness, you are too kind…"
"And Alice?"
The curtains rustled again as the figure stepped out into the light. She was tall and lightly muscled, with dark skin and glowing gold eyes. Her hair was thick and black as ink, except for silver tips that shone in the firelight. Her hair had been twisted up into a high ponytail, with a long wavy lock hanging over her left shoulder and bangs falling over her face, hiding her right eye. Her face was pierced, with silver studs through her eye brow and one in her nose. Bandages wrapped around her chest, partially covered by a wide-collared black-and-red vest. Fingerless gloves and red ribbon covered her arms, and she wore a pair of black pants that flared out at her heels, a gray wrap around her waist with a red clothe belt, and heeled gray sandals.
"There is no need for you to worry, Your Highness," the woman replied. "Alice and her allies shall be dealt with. My Heartless brethren and I shall make it so…"
"Holy shit," Vanitas cursed, eyes wide and unbelieving. "She's an Organization member alright…"
"You know her?" Tegan didn't like the way this woman talked about her "Heartless brethren".
"Yeah, she's big trouble, with a capital 'T'." Vanitas explained. "She's been around since before Xemnas' Organization. Karin the Black Flash. Fastest damn Heartless you could ever fight…"
"She's a Heartless?!"
Tegan looked over, panicked, and stared back down at the newly-revealed Organization member. Well, she knew Heartless could have humanoid forms; Xehanort's Heartless is proof of that. But she never expected to see another one.
I guess that explains all the Heartless crawling around, she realized. This Karin girl must be the boss…
"Hey Jade, what do you make of…Jade?" The auburnette hadn't moved from her spot crouched behind one of the banisters. Tegan frowned in concern as she reached out and shook the other's girl's shoulder. Jade started, a smothered yelp lodged in her throat, and Tegan did a double take. Jade looked as if she'd seen a ghost.
"Jade, what's wrong?" Ventus asked hurriedly. He'd seen Jade acting strangely before the others did. She had been staring down into the parlor room, unmoving and eyes wide. She looked shocked and frightened, which was something that seemed out of character with how the girl had been acting so far
"It…It's her…" Jade said quietly, her voice just below a whisper. "She's one of them…"
"'Them'?" Tegan, Ventus, and Vanitas all looked at each other. "What are you talking about?"
Jade's fingers gripped the edge of the wooden rafter until her knuckles turned white. It was only then that her face twisted into a scowl darker than usual. When she spoke, her voice came out in a low growl.
"She's one of the Organization bastards that sent me here!"
"What?!"
"I only got a glimpse of her face when she pushed me through the Corridor, but there is no mistaking her voice," Jade ground out. "Her partner must be somewhere in the castle as well."
Vanitas twitched. "Crap! We've gotta find that idiot fast!"
As the dark-haired teen scrambled up, the others stared back in confusion. Vanitas swore under his breath and jerked the nearest person (Tegan) up to their feet.
"Hey!"
"Move your asses, will you?!" he hissed. "If Karin is here in this world, and her partner is the one interrogating Salem, we need to find him quick!"
"Van, what's gotten into you?" Tegan struggled to keep her footing as Vanitas rushed everyone out the mouse hole and back into the hallway. Running isn't as easy as you'd think when you're four inches high and running across three-inch wide rafters filled with wormholes and cracks. Tegan was a fast runner, but trying to maintain her balance was the main problem. It didn't help that Vanitas kept dragging her along.
"If things haven't changed, which I doubt they have, then there's only one thing the other one could be! She's the only one that can control him, and if she's here…"
"Vanitas!" Tegan's hand whipped forward, making contact with the other teen's face in a resounding smack across his cheek. She dug in her heels, with Jade stopping just short of knocking into her. Stunned, Vanitas stopped dead in his tracks and stared at Tegan in shock. Her violet eyes radiated irritation as she glared into his gold ones.
"Okay, take a deep breath, count to ten, and start again," she ordered. "Now, what are you talking about?"
Vanitas glared back, hand to his injured cheek. His fingers barely covered the red mark that stood out against his pale skin. Tegan quirked her eyebrow expectantly. It was every bit an "I'm waiting…" expression.
"Fine," he grumbled. "That girl back there is a Heartless. If she's part of the same pair that sent Jade here, then her partner is the one most likely beating the tar out of Salem as we speak. Now, when I was still working for Xemnas, they were too. They're known as 'The Heartless Demons'."
"They're both Heartless?" Ventus fidgeted nervously. Ever since he was a student of Xehanort's, and the old man had pulled Vanitas out of him, Ventus had been a little afraid of the Heartless. He knew that without his body, they couldn't hurt him. But he couldn't help the jolt of fear that washed over him.
Vanitas nodded. "Karin is plenty dangerous, but it's her partner that I'm worried about. He's notorious. Not to mention he hates Salem's guts. If we don't find Salem fast, he could get ripped to shreds…"
"Who…Who is it?" Tegan was starting to worry now too.
"Lexsam. The original Salem's Heartless…"
Jade: You made me get kidnapped by some bloody Heartless?!
Salem: *smashing his head into a wall* Why Lexsam...Why did it have to be him?!
Tegan: I take it they don't get along...
L&DH: Well, if you were a Nobody, would you get along with your Heartless?
Tegan: Good point...Now, onto the reviews!
*Little J: Thank you so much! Hope you like this chapter!
*faithful2kh: Ah, the mystery of the glasses is indeed a mystery~ I'm afriad I can't reveal that yet, but I can say, you'll get your answer in the next major world ark. And here's the answer to that other question for you. I'm glad you like Jade, I'm pretty proud of her. ^^
*CatLoverx33: Ah, do you? Well, I hope you can keep this dirty little secret~ *chuckles mysteriously*
*Antex- The Legendary Zoroark: Always good to hear your input, my friend! Here's the next chapter, and I hope you like it!
L&DH: Well, that's it for now. Thanks for reading and go and leave a review! We love hearing what you think!
BYE!