Kingdom Hearts
Wonderland
Ch. 13
The Queen of Hearts
The two friends stepped through the end of the tunnel inside the tree. On the other side of the shortcut light shined through. They walked straight through finding themselves in a beautiful garden like hedge maze. Sora and Alice surveyed the area while making their way down the path. They looked around to see the hedges covered in red roses. The two friends were strolling down the maze like brush coming to a right turn.
As they peered the corner, a figure appeared a distance away. Walking down the path was a 6 of hearts, not a man or card but both. Its figure was printed on its body with a pair of arms and legs pervading the corners. It had a stubby head and a rather large nose. It carried a red axe reminiscent of its color. It walked away before Sora could get its attention. Alice wondered if they should get its attention. Maybe it can help them find there friends. They continued down the path following the figure with a strong pace. As they trailed the previous card Sora and Alice found him talking to a club of eights.
"Hi there. Can you help us. We're kind of lost," Sora shouted waving his hand. The two guards looked around to see the two children come their way.
"Trespassers," cried the club. He took out a whistle and began blowing it loudly.
The other charged at them pointing his axe shouting "You're not supposed to be here."
Sora and Alice now realizing they got into some more trouble became frightened. Sora summoned his keyblade and defeated the soldier rather quite easily. Flopping the card man in the air with his weapon. He grabbed Alice's hand as the two ran back to the door they entered. But they learned after returning the door that brought them here had disappeared. Alice panicking a bit tried desperately to find a way out feeling around the tree hoping to open the door back up.
From a distance Sora heard more guards coming. "The card must have called for reinforcements," he realized.
Sora and Alice quickly ran down the other path as 50 some cards came running after them like a tidal wave. They dashed through the maze trying not to be caught. They made rights and lefts at every turn while sometimes they went straight. They didn't know how far or close to the barrage of cards they were.
Sora led Alice to a dead end in the maze trapping them. They flew their hands on the green brush frightened. "Oh no Sora, what do we do?" she pleaded with him. Hearing the cards approaching Sora decided to think of his options. Then he reached out and touched the shrub that blocked his path then came up with an idea.
He remembered earlier when he was fighting heartless with Donald. The duck would scream "FIRE" before using his magic. "But can I do this?" he thought.
"Sora they're coming," said Alice frantically as the shadows of the cards were becoming visible.
Sora lifted his keyblade to the hedge and sounded "FIRE." From the keyblade a burst of flames spit out the weapon and blazed them a trail. The fire spell burnt through several shrubs in the maze. He took Alice's hand and dashed down the new trail he created. Their shortcut eventually ended when the fire spell burnt out. Another hedge laid in their way. Sora did the same technique again casting another fire spell to hit the bush moments before running through it.
The fire spell burnt through all the way to the edge of the maze letting Sora and Alice escape. They finally looked around to see they made it out of the maze. Their feet slid on the burnt ashes of the shrubs before stopping.
Alice jumped into Sora's arms as he spun her around laughing. "We did it," they said relived until they looked around to see several onlookers staring at them. They appear to have just crashed a party. Decorations were placed around the small gardens like confetti and ribbons. Food and tea were being served by card butlers all of which were staring at the party crashers.
The strange guests just stared at Sora and Alice with uncomfortable silence. They looked around to see some familiar faces. The ugly woman from the old house as well as the Dodo seemed to be attending this gathering.
After a little silence Sora and Alice were startled by a loud scream. "WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?" Soon the little white rabbit from before came running in carrying a trumpet. Alice gasped seeing the White Rabbit appear before her. He blew the trumpet standing up straight before proclaiming "Presenting the Queen of Hearts!"
A group cards came by surrounding a large woman with a crown on her head. After that a small man with a big crown on his head walked towards the rabbit tugging on his coat. The rabbit turned to him unenthusiastically. "And the king," he said with little vigor.
"What's this?" the Queen of Hearts screamed. "What happened to my tarts?" she said furiously stomping the ground with her feet. Sora and Alice looked around noticing upon the ashes were broken tarts on the ground with a shattered dish and burnt wood.
"Oh no," said Sora covering his face. Alice not knowing what to say nervously spoke "Why I'm terribly sorry your,"
"SILENCE!" shouted the queen even more frustrated. As the Queen shouted a shadow began to circle around Alice as a little familiar twitching sound began to be heard. Soon more began to follow suit until several shadows were circling Alice's dress.
Sora looked down and noticed the shadows. "Heartless!" shouted Sora.
Alice stared down realizing all the shadows moving around her. She screamed as the shadows rose up in its base forms. Winds blew up her legs forcing Alice to hold down her dress to hide her underwear. The creatures stood next to Alice facing the Queen. The Queen not backing down stood her ground as the creatures appeared.
When they all appeared, they lunged toward the Queen and her guards. She screams as the Heartless takes out all her guards but one. Sora summons his keyblade to defeat them. He swung his keyblade at one only for the creature to be destroyed before he hit it. The creature disintegrated into to black smoke with only an 8 of spades piercing the ground. Sora looked over to see a figure with five sharp cards in between his fingers. He threw each card with one swoop hitting each target with no effort at all. More heartless showed up as they all tried to attack him. But armed with an ace up his sleeve which he wielded like a knife. He took his card and swung his arm around destroying all the heartless in the process.
The heartless threat has been neutralized, the man stood up and slid his card back into his sleeve. "Are you alright my Queen?" he asked in a calm and sincere voice. He bowed his head with a hand on his chest.
"Oh Hal, what would I do without you?" said the Queen gratefully.
"Guards off with her head!" she shouted to her card soldiers that just arrived through the burnt holes in the hedges. The soldiers surrounded Sora and Alice as they pointed their axes at them.
"What's going on?" asked Alice scared out of her mind.
Hal spoke up for the Queen "You girl are being charged with the crime of trying to steal the Queen's heart. If you didn't already know."
"Hey, she didn't do anything," said Sora desperately waving his hands.
"Hmm liar, we have several witness that saw the crime take place," proclaimed the Queen refereeing to the party attendants. Everyone listening instantly nodded their head speaking "Yes."
"OFF WITH THEIR HEADS! Ace come forward," called The Queen. At that moment Sora and Alice began to hear footsteps from a distance. Coming into the clearing was a giant card with the insignia of ace on its body. It had a black mask on like most executioners do. He carried with him a giant sliver axe which he held up on his right shoulder.
He came before his Queen and bowed before her. He then began to speak in a slow and dead voice. "Whose head do you wish for me to take today my Queen?" She pointed towards Sora and Alice by the hole in the hedge.
Sora and Alice's face froze unable to speak not wanting to make the situation worse. Ace took his axe and let it hit the ground. He dragged it as he walked towards his next to victim.
"W-wait you can't kill me just yet, I haven't had a trial," explained Alice trying to spare time.
"A trial?" said the Queen scratching her chin.
Alice continued "Yes and if I'm found innocent, you'll let us go. But if I'm guilty you take my head. That's how it's supposed to work."
The Queen began to think about the proposal. Then the king tugged on her dress to get her attention. She leaned towards him to hear what he has to say. "A… my Queen, a trial would be a different change of pace. We hadn't had one in a while. After all we have a perfectly good court room. Let's not waste it."
The Queen stood up straight and agreed to the terms. She called out to all the attendants around. "Postpone her execution. We're having a trial to decide the fate of the culprit." Everyone around nodded in agreement hoping not to upset the Queen. Ace not too happy with decision stayed silent not wanting to disobey his Queen. He breathed slowly glancing at the young blonde girl. He took his axe and walked away.
Sora took a deep breath before grabbing Alice's shoulder. "Do you know what your doing?" he said horrified.
"But I gave us a chance to save ourselves," she said to him.
"Don't you get that this woman's mad; don't you remember everyone's mad here. How are we supposed to prove we're innocent to a whole group of mad people?"
The realities came to her making Alice really worried again.
"HAL!" shouted the Queen from a distance "Escort the defendant to the court room." They both turned towards the boy with a heart shaped eye patch before them. Alice pondered whether she's seen this person before but couldn't put her finger on who.
Back at the rocky beach, the Mock Turtle finally finished its story much to Donald's relief. A few tears fell from Goofy's face. "Gee, what a sad story." He reached for a handkerchief and blew his noise with it.
Well that's the end of my story," said the Mock Turtle.
Donald dazed from the amount of time they spent listening to that stupid story. "Well I don't know about you, but I think your story was amazing" said Donald sarcastically. He got up patting his knees and turned towards Goofy "Well time to go Goofy, we have to find Sora." Goofy got up and waved goodbye to the Mock Turtle and began to walk off.
The two left together as the Mock Turtle began to sing "Beautiful Soup, Beautiful Soup." He continued to sing as the two wandered off. They walked through the wet sand past the rocks and pebbles until the sound of the Mock Turtles song fell silent. They walked for a bit more until there were no more rocks in their way. They came to the end back near the cliff and looked around.
Goofy leaned towards Donald and says, "Donald I think we're still lost?"
"I know," cried Donald angrily. They looked around without a landmark in site. Just wet sand and rocks can be seen.
"Oh what do we do now?" asked Goofy.
"Shut up. I'm trying to think," said Donald while tapping his foot and folded his arms. His usual stance while thinking. He stood there thinking while Goofy waited. After a few minutes of nothing happening a familiar voice broke the silence.
"Are you trying to get somewhere?"
The two turned around to see the Griffin perched on a rock. "Well yeah we're trying to find our friends Sora and Jiminy. Have you seen them?" asked Goofy.
The Griffin shoke its head and said "Sorry, I haven't but I have a good idea where they will show up."
"Really where?" said Goofy excited.
"Yeah they'll probably be at today's trial. Every once in a while, the castle holds a trial to decide the fate of a citizen in the land. The entire country comes to court to witness the execution er-hum trial," proclaimed the Griffin changing his choice of words.
"Execution?" said Donald. They both became more concerned.
"Can you bring us there?" they both asked.
"Okay but we are a bit late I don't know if I can get you there before it begins?" it said.
"That's okay we just want to meet up with are friends" Goofy explained.
The Griffin conceded and came to them. It landed on its four feet and bent down to let them on. They both climbed up hopping on its back before it took off. It spread its golden wings and flew off in the air at blistering speeds. The wind blew through Donald's and Goofy's face having their cheeks flail behind them. The griffin flew back above the cliffs and over the trees. They came upon the Lotus Forest looking down seeing all the crazy critters roaming through the woods. They looked on to see a giant red and white castle in the distance. It had a giant red heart at the base with a tall tower proceeding from it.