EDITED 6/25/2010
Author's Comments: I'm almost done with revisions! AHH! How am I doing so far?
I just have to laugh whenever I think about this chapter. It's all over the place. It's supposed to be, though, so please keep reading. Thanks for your support of this fanfic!
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, its characters, or its story lines (as noted with an *). I own Imani and Aden. I also do not own any Disney movie story/song lines (which are also noted with an *).
I finally dash out of that maze of a forest and into a room designed to look like a yard outside a house. A long pink table runs with chairs bordering it runs through the space. Teapots, teacups, saucers, spoons, and forks litter the tabletop. Colorful paper lanterns hang from the dark ceiling. At the end of the table, two frames hang on the wall...
My eyes widen and my heart drops. Sora, Donald, and Goofy look out from the one on the left in despair. Riku and the king appear to be trying to break free from the canvas in the frame on the right.
As I near the frames, the stickiness in my stomach returns and I shake my head in disbelief. How did they get in there? How can I get them out?
Don't bother. They're better off trapped in those portraits.
Suddenly, a whistle toots long and loud. Pipes begin to explode noise into the silence. I tear my gaze away from the wall. At the table sits a short man with a big nose and a big green top hat. Next to him, a bucktoothed brown scruffy rabbit pours tea.
"A very merry unbirthday to us!"* they both sing, the steam from the bouncing teapots clouding the air.
My jaw drops. "H-How did you two get out?"
The pair halts in their song and drink, turning to me with wide eyes. "Excuse me? Who are you?"
I wave my hands around frantically. "How did you two get out? You were in a portrait on that wall when Sora and Donald and Goofy last came!"
"How, indeed," the Mad Hatter's eyes cross lazily, his tongue sticking out. "Would you like to join us for a cup of tea?"
"Yes! Join us for a cup of tea!" the March Hare insists, pouring out a teacup (literally) from a random teapot.
"I need to get my friends out of there! Can you tell me how to get them out?"
"We're also celebrating our unbirthday!"
"Is today your unbirthday, too?"
"If so, a very merry unbirthday to you!"
They're irritating me. Leave this place now.
No. I have to get them out. I can't leave them here.
The March Hare shoves the cup into my hands. "Have a seat and celebrate!"
I said leave.
No.
"A very merry unbirthday to me!"*
"To who?"*
"To me!"*
"Oh you!"*
I let you fight the card soldiers on your own. I've been lenient only because your friends have not been present. Leave of your own will and I won't take over your actions.
Subconsciously I collapse into a chair, the tea in my cup untouched. You won't control me if I stay away from Sora and Riku?
I will not.
I glance at the portraits. But I can't leave them here...
Must I remind you what I am capable of?
A chill runs up my spine.
"Drink up! Drink up!" the Mad Hatter urges.
Grinning awkwardly so that I at least seem like I'm enjoying myself, I take a sip.
Choose.
I blink and stare down into my cup thoughtfully before taking another sip. This tea is pretty good. I take another sip and another...and another...
"Look at her go!" both man and rabbit exclaim. "Have more! Have more!"
I slam down my cup for them to fill. The colors in the room blend with each other as the flavor of peaches and spices bursts on my tongue. My lips split into a loopy grin and my chest jumps with a sudden hiccup. Ha ha, hiccup! Loopy! I don't know why but that's so hilarious! Hiccup!
What the hell is wrong with you?
My fingers and arms feel like jelly as I drunkenly swig down my refilled cup—cup rhymes with hiccup!—and nearly fall off my chair. Whoo...pretty colors...
"Have more!"
Hiccup! Ha ha ha ha ha!
I suppose I've no choice but to handle things myself.
"Oh dear me! We haven't even asked your name!" the fluffy rabbit cries.
"Immmmaaaaannnnnnniiiiiiiiiii," I drag out. I can't control my mouth, either! Ha ha! Tea!
Stand up.
"Imani?" they both scrunch their faces like...scrunchies!
"Where have we heard that name before?" the guy with the huge hat muses.
"Oh! Didn't those boys and their friends say something about an 'Imani'?" the March Hare—I think I'll call him Marchie—exclaims.
Stand up.
"A merry very unbirthday to me!"* I sing joyfully, spilling tea all over the table and onto my jacket.
"A very merry unbirthday to you!"*
"Thanks, Marchie!"
Stand up, foolish girl!
He scrunches his face again! Scrunchie Marchie! "Who?"
Giggles bubble from my chest and I sip the deeeeeeelicioussssss tea! If only Sora and Riku and the others were here! They'd love these guys! Hiccup! I should tell them 'cup' rhymes with 'hiccup'! They'd get a laugh out of that!
Ahhh! I forgot! They're trapped in those portraits! Hiccup! Tea!
"W-Where are you going, Imani?" Marchie asks, downing more tea.
No! Don't go over there again!
"My friends..." I stumble over to the wall, nearly smashing my face into one of the portraits. "M-My friends..."
"Oh! Those were the ones who knew your name!" Marchie's friend—what's his name again?—says. "They were trying to find you."
I turn around dizzily. "H-How do I get them out?"
I want to leave!
"How indeed." Marchie and his friend break out into song. "Let's dance and drink tea!"
"Dance?" I perk up. "I love dancing!"
I've never danced before, fool. LEAVE!
I begin waving my arms around wildly and jumping up and down. But I've seen dancing! Demyx makes water dance!
"WAIT!" I trip over my feet and tumble to the ground, bleary eyes wide with realization. "MUSIC! We need music!" I declare at the top of my lungs, throwing my hand in the air and raining a water veil around me.
WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?
Demyx's sitar nearly slips out of my hand as I bust out a solo and shoot water all over the place.
"...ani. Imani."
I yawn, peeling open my eyes. Riku gives a sigh and the king stops shaking my shoulder.
OH! I sit up suddenly, my eyes flying from one person to the next madly. "Y-You're not in the pictures anymore!"
"Thanks to you," the king grins. "The water you were spouting wet the canvases and we were able to push ourselves out."
"Is that how it works?"
"We got out. That's what matters," Riku concludes with a shrug.
"Imani!" Sora rushes over and kneels next to me. "You okay?"
I nod, chuckling a little at Donald's frustrated squawks with the Mad Hatter and the March Hare. "I'm glad you guys are okay. How did you get in those portraits anyway?"
Riku glares at Sora who scratches his chin bashfully. "He tripped and we all crashed into the wall. Next thing we know, we're stuck."
I replay the image in my head perfectly and a laugh breaks out past my smiling lips.
"Imani, your cheek is stained!"
"I was dragged to the Queen of Hearts' court and charged for eating her cookies! I tried to convince her that I was innocent, but I eventually had to fight off her card soldiers and run. I think someone framed me!"
All three of them peek at Donald and Goofy strangely. I follow their gaze, wondering why...
My eyes narrow. Is it the lighting or does Donald's face look a little...mauve?
"I think I can explain." Riku exhales tiredly. "While you were sleeping, Donald found a plate of cookies and ate them all. He was so messy he spilled crumbs and jelly all over the floor. Then, he decided he was thirsty, so he drank from one of the bottles on the table and accidentally enlarged himself. The whole place got trashed. Goofy tried to save you from getting stepped on and you both slid on the floor towards the table where the drinks were."
"And that's how I got crumbs and jelly on my face?"
"That must have been it. Donald shrank himself again with another bottle, but after that, we all got bribed by the doorknob to shrink ourselves even more. The king was about to give you some of the drink, but the bottle was empty and the card soldiers had somehow found where you were and dragged you away somewhere. We'd all shrank by then so we couldn't do anything."
"Ah." How do I react to that? Laugh? Shout? Tell off Donald for eating the queen's cookies?
"By the way," Sora begins, "how come you didn't leave?"
"Huh?" I knit my eyebrows together.
"I mean, Maxiin could've controlled you to leave us behind, but instead, you stayed here and even helped us escape. How come?"
I tilt my head. "I wasn't even aware that Maxiin might've been trying to control me."
I was, mind you, Maxiin sniffs haughtily. I don't know why I couldn't.
"You were acting a bit odd after you drank that tea," the king says. "You couldn't keep your balance."
"And you were hiccupping a lot and dancing," Sora chimes in.
"And you called the March Hare 'Marchie,'" Riku smirks.
Heat flares up on my face and my eyes grow wide. "I what?"
"It must have been the tea," they all deduce.
I chuckle nervously. "I-It was pretty good tea."
Author's Afterthought: I actually haven't seen the Disney cartoon version of Alice in Wonderland. I had to actually look up the song on YouTube. How sad is that? And I call myself a Disney fan...I have seen Alice in Wonderland, though, but it was the live-action version with Whoopi Goldberg as the Cheshire Cat. I loved the Tim Burton version!
So I got a little loopy writing this chapter. I could hardly stop laughing as I wrote this just because there's so much drunken weirdness in it. I suppose the prompt I had in my head was, "Why are the Mad Hatter and the March Hare so strange?" and my answer was, "Tea." Thanks for reading!