Sunlight streamed in through an open window, drawing golden bars across the bed. Kairi opened her eyes and stared outside. How long had she been asleep? She forced herself out of bed and stumbled across the floor towards a washbasin on the other side. Cold water lay inside a white jug, and she poured this into the basin, scrubbing at her face and driving away any remnants of drowsiness that might have remained.

Drying her face with a towel, she paused to look at her reflection in the liquid. For a moment, she saw only what she had expected to see: a russet-haired teenager with a mop of bed-hair. She passed a hand over the locks ruefully, and reached for a brush. The reflection shifted, and she found herself looking at someone very different but quite recognizable: a young man with long hair like silver and eyes that glowed a bright, disconcerting yellow. A drop of water fell from the edge of her face and splashed into the basin, destroying the illusion.

So Riku hadn't escaped the darkness after all. Not completely.

~I can see something that you can't- I can see the light of your heart shining from that key.

After Riku had removed his blindfold, the strangest thing had occurred. She remembered everything darkening and changing. It was if she had been looking through Riku's eyes; escaping the darkness, only to find herself surrounded by it again. Flares broke through the eternal night every so often, but quickly faded. She could hear the sounds of people living, working...

Why couldn't she see any of it?

A voice broke through the darkness.

"Kairi!"

She felt someone's hands on her shoulders, shaking her. The vision shattered and she was looking into Riku's worried face. He had covered his eyes again with the blindfold.

"Maybe this it too much for you in one night." Riku said uncertainly. "I really think you should get some sleep."

"What?" She put a hand to her face, trying to will herself back into reality. "Oh, okay."

Had she really been seeing into Riku's memories? Or had it just been a dream?

~I shouldn't worry too much about these things now- maybe this will all make more sense later

She dressed and left her room, vague thoughts concerning things like breakfast and finding the kitchen now becoming predominant in her mind. Riku wasn't there when she arrived, or in the living room for that matter but Sei was. He was staring outside into the blue sky, leaning on the back of a chair. The light through the glass panes danced in the faint, buttery highlights of his hair and on the smooth skin of his face. Sitting there, he looked somehow familiar. She wondered if she had seen him before, somewhere in Traverse Town or perhaps another world. He was very thin, she noted, with prominent cheekbones displayed beneath eyes like shining bits of amber. His eyes were starkly set on a pale face, just the slightest honey-tone in his skin to suggest the potential for a brilliant tan.

He turned to face her, the movement causing any signs of familiarity to vanish. He smiled faintly and said, "Riku told me tell you that he'd back in a little while- probably a half hour at most. There's cereal in that cupboard if you want any, and bowls in the shelf next to that. Spoons are in the drawer to the left of the sink."

Kairi nodded her thanks, and began rummaging in the indicated places for something edible. The only sounds in the room became that of the closing and shutting of drawers, and then the clink of cereal and milk into a ceramic bowl. She settled into a chair on the other side of the table from Sei.

"So, who are you really?" Kairi asked after the first few bites. Sei looked at her blankly for a few moments before she clarified herself. "I know your name, or your alleged name anyway, but who are you?"

Sei didn't react immediately. Then he shrugged.

"No one of consequence."

Crunch. Crunch. She was suddenly aware of how loud one could sound when eating.

"I'm just someone...someone searching for their light."

Crunch. Trust him to be so completely obscure.

"Your light?" She asked. "A person?"

"I...don't know. Maybe."

She thought his answer strange, but didn't say that. The sound of the front door opening ended their short conversation, and they both looked up as Riku entered the room.

"Good morning Kairi. Sei. Has everything been going okay here?"

What he really meant of course was "did Sei cause any trouble for you?"

"Everything was fine." She took the empty bowl to the sink. "Where have you been, by the way?"

Riku sat down at the table.

"Checking out some places that I hope may be our way off this world."

"Way off? How?"

Gummi ships were out of the question. What could Riku have found that would help them?

"It has to do with your heart, Kairi."

Kairi was surprised to see that it was Sei that spoke this time.

"There is a lot more to the Princesses of Heart than anyone had guessed. Together, their hearts form the keyblade to open the Keyhole to darkness. Apart, these maidens hold lesser magics of the heart, although they are not unimportant or powerful in their own rites by any means."

"One power was made obvious when you summoned up a key and made your way across the worlds to Traverse Town. That key is nothing more than a physical extension of your heart, with capabilities as both a weapon and as a means of channeling the power of one's heart to travel the worlds."

"But it's not that simple, is it?" Kairi asked, then clarified. "To world travel I mean."

Sei shook his head. "Of course it isn't. The walls dividing the worlds are still up and there's not much we can do about that. However, they are seriously weakened; you can see that by the darkness that is slowly beginning to creep back upon the worlds. One world has already succumbed to its power; a meteor shower appeared in the sky just yesterday."

"However, you, as a Princess of Heart, can use specific weak points in the walls to get through. Traverse Town is connected to all the worlds simultaneously; as a result, we will be able to get to all those worlds if we need to."

"How can we find these weak points? What do they look like?"

"This is where Riku becomes important. We had been discussing that just before you arrived, and then more this morning. With the eyes of a Heartless, Riku can see faint glimmers where the walls are weakened. You should be able to use these 'glimmers' to our advantage. I knew you would come here after Riku described you to me; it would only be a matter of time."

Kairi recalled the first words that Riku had uttered upon their meeting last night.

~What took you so long Kairi?

"So that's what Riku meant!" She suddenly blurted.

Riku looked confused by this outburst.

"What?"

She flushed in embarrassment. "Oh, uh, never mind."

"So where is our first door?" Sei asked.

"I found one located at the back of a flower garden just a few blocks from here."

"Wait a minute," she interrupted. "How do you know where these doors are going to lead? We could end up anywhere..."

"We'll just have to take a chance now, won't we? Besides, where's your sense of adventure?"

Kairi shook her head in exasperation. "I just hope you don't end up killing us with your 'sense of adventure'."

Riku merely grinned in reply, plucking an apple from off the table, and waiting for her to finish her bowl as she ate. Before they set off however, Kairi asked to rummage through Riku's closet for something suitable to wear. As she had pointed out, her skirts were certainly good enough for island living, but probably very impractical for whatever world traveling they would be doing. Until she had more time (and more Munny) to spend on shopping, any of Riku's old clothes would have to do. Most of his stuff was a little large for her, but she finally settled on a pair of jeans and a large white t-shirt with dark blue bands around the sleeves and collar.

"Look, I don't care how silly you think I look." Kairi cast a vague frown at Sei, who was watching her from behind as she tied back her hair with a black elastic band. "But I refuse to wear a skirt when we might end up trooping through a jungle or something. It'd be stupid, not to mention senseless."

"I wasn't going to say anything about that (although that shirt *does* look a size too big on you). Actually, I had been wondering if you were planning on just wearing your other clothes."

Kairi eyed her reflection in the mirror critically, brushing back a stray strand of hair behind her ear with a careless sweep of her hand

"There was still mud on them from yesterday anyway."

"Ah."

Riku was already ready and waiting for them. They left as soon as Kairi was done.

Traverse Town looked very different in the bright spark of day's light. The buildings she had seen the night before, the newer editions to the city, had lost some of their cold atmosphere; reaching towards the sky, constructed of metal, glass, and concrete, at least their faces were no longer overshadowed by the gloom of the night and the artificial glow of electric light. That there were more people populating the streets than then at that earlier hour helped some as well. Kairi found that it was a lot easier now to make out old landmarks that had made Traverse Town familiar to her in that first time that she had been there.

It did not take long for them to reach the place that Riku had referred to. They stood out in front of a homely three-story brick house with black tiled roof and curling iron grating around its windows. A bright peeking of color could be seen off to the side and behind the building where Kairi supposed were the garden and the opening to another world.

"I'm not sure that this building's owner is going to appreciate our trespassing."

She watched as her two companions unlatched a wire gate to the side of the house and entered the enclosed area.

"Oh, I wouldn't doubt that." Sei held the gate open for her as she slipped past him. "But we shouldn't be here long. Besides, this is for the welfare of the people of the worlds; they should be grateful that we're risking our necks to save them from the Heartless."

She didn't look completely assured but followed them in quickly. Riku was busily examining the empty space behind a decrepit stone fountain and some rows of tulips.

"So where is it?" Kairi asked.

"You don't see the flicker in the air?"

She shook her head. "Sorry."

Riku placed his hand over the space.

"See what you can make of this."

Kairi still couldn't see anything, even as her heartkey appeared in her hand. She tried closing her eyes and clearing her mind, opening it to their surroundings...

"...there!"

A white light shot from the end of her key and forced a gap between the worlds to show itself. Its appearance was exactly the same as the door she had seen in the Destiny Islands.

"Are you ready Kairi?" Riku asked after a moment. "Sei?"

Kairi shook off her surprise at what had just occurred and walked past both of them through the door.

And fell.

Although, to tell the truth, the falling didn't feel normal. She felt she would have screamed had this been a normal drop-the height that she was at was no joke. As it was, her descent was slowed down in a way that she knew that when she hit the bottom she wasn't going to end up hurting herself. The things that she passed on her way down were peculiar: clocks, framed pictures, and various pieces of furniture, hanging on the walls or floating around her...Kairi almost laughed at the absurdity of it all. What had she gotten herself into?

She landed safely on the tiled floor, and watched as Riku and Sei settled after her. Riku regarded the area with recognition.

"I know this place. It's a bizarre world, really, where Maleficent had captured Alice. It's known as Wonderland."

Kairi examined an ornately decorated timepiece on the wall (it seemed to be broken) before turning her head to look back at Riku.

"So co you think that we'll find anything here?"

She saw that the silver-haired youth had already begun to lose interest in the room and was proceeding forward.

"Haven't a clue," he admitted. "You never know what will turn up around here."

They walked through the hall and towards a round door at the other end. Sei opened it, only to find another behind it. The blonde-haired started, before opening this new door to find another. And another, and another...each was smaller than the last, and of a different color and design.

"Wonderland, huh?" Sei asked.

Riku smirked at Sei's mounting irritation. "As I had said before, this world isn't exactly what you would call 'normal'."

"Go figure." Sei pried open (finally!) the last door. "Our first world and it's a complete loony bin."

They ducked through the opening into another room. This one might have passed off as ordinary, if not for the even smaller door at the other end with a snoring face for a doorknob.

"Don't even try it," Riku advised when Kairi leaned down for a better look.

"I can tell you right now that it won't wake up for anything or anyone."

He scanned the room, racking his memory. His gaze stopped on Sei perched on the side of a small bed, humming a little tune under his breath.

"Sei, could you push that bed aside?"

Sei nodded and did as Riku had asked, still humming. His actions revealed another exit that had been formerly hidden.

Kairi felt obliged to point out the obvious.

"It's a bit...small."

"I know." Riku went over to a table in the center of the room, reading the labels on two small bottles. He picked one up, shaking it slightly and smiling in satisfaction at what he felt. "Looks like there is still some left."

"Riku, what are you-"

She trailed off as Riku took a sip of the contents in one of the bottles, and began to shrink.

"Riku!"

He stopped when about the size of a small doll.

"Don't worry. All this stuff does is change your size, and you'll have to if you want to get any farther."

Sei picked up one of the bottles, undeterred by any possible side effects of drinking unknown substances in the dubbed 'loony bin'.

"Was it this one, Riku?"

"Yes; the other one makes you larger."

Kairi watched dubiously as Sei took a swallow, and then picked up the bottle herself. There was very little left and she downed the amount quickly. Everything rushed *up* with a sudden whoosh. She shut her eyes against a wave of dizziness, and then slowly opened them again when all movement had halted.

"Nothing looks quite the same, down here does it?" Sei asked in amusement as Kairi joined them.

Kairi nodded. "I hope we don't have to stay here long-this is just too weird.

She licked her upper lip, still tasting the liquid's sweet, vaguely cherry flavor.

"What's our first goal?"

Riku glanced back to make sure Kairi and Sei weren't too far behind.

"It's probably a good idea to see if we can find Alice; as a Princess of Heart and acquaintance of Sora's, she might know something."

Bright light met them outside, and then they were facing two paths. One led to a rose garden and spacious courtyard, in which several bodies could be seen moving about. The other had a sign that indicated its path led to the "Lotus Forest". Kairi looked up at Riku, taking note of his hesitancy in choosing their next course.

"Someone in the court of the Queen of Hearts may know where she is. But-"

"But...?"

"The Queen of Hearts is a very unpleasant and unreasonable woman. I'd rather that we not get ourselves mixed up with her if we can help it."

Despite Riku's warning, Kairi was already looking past the hedge walls into the garden.

"She can't possible be all that bad."

"You'd be surprised at some of the people who live here."

It was finally decided that they seek help from someone within the court, regardless of any of Riku's misgivings.

A motley collection of Wonderland's residents had begun to gather in the open yard, milling about in conversation or taking seats in elevated stands that had been set up on the sidelines. Only one or two humans were present-the majority of Wonderland's locals were comprised of animal-types in clothing, with some others that probably could have been categorized as 'other'. Rows of black and red people/playing cards stood at ready with spears to uphold whatever it was that passed for order in their peculiar world. Upon entering the area, the trio passed several lines of newly planted rose trees. If inspected, one would find that half the blossoms were a silky white. The other half had been sloppily painted red, the wet ink even occasionally dripping onto the clipped lawn.

"I wonder what's going on?" Kairi asked, half to herself.

Riku appeared unperturbed by the activities taking place.

"Another of her court trials it looks like, probably over some trivial annoyance of hers."

"Then I don't suppose we should stay very long then, should we?" Sei remarked. "I haven't heard very positive things about these so-called trials."

A white rabbit paced in agitation near where they stood, pausing only a few times to take out a gold pocket-watch from his vest and peer at the time, muttering all the while about "being late."

"Excuse me sir," Sei had taken the liberty of closing the gap between himself and the albino animal. "But my friends and I were wondering if you might know the current whereabouts of a girl name Alice?"

The rabbit blinked, his hand still clasped on a watch that was dangling half-in and half-out of his vest-pocket.

"Alice? There aren't any Alices here."

He paused, and then seemed to think it over again. "Then again...I believe there has been someone like that description... one rude little girl that we had on trial some years ago for trying to steal the queen's heart. I think her name was Alice, but we haven't seen her since that whole mess."

Trumpets blared in herald of a new arrival, and the rabbit looked past Sei at someone towards the front of the yard.

"Of dear! Now if you will excuse me-"

The rabbit ran past Sei, and could be heard yelling as he ran past the card-soldiers.

"All stand and hail... the Queen of Hearts!"

The three young outsiders turned their eyes to where the court proceedings were beginning to take place. A large woman in red, black and white colors was taking her seat while graciously waving to the cheers and whistles from the crowd. More easily missed was her dwarfish husband, standing at her side on the top of his seat.

"...and the king."

The latter was received with noticeably less applause.

Kairi felt a hand on hers as the two royals sat down, and order was called for in the court.

"We'd better get going." Riku whispered. Kairi nodded and followed him outside back onto the path. Sei was waiting for them, forming some passes with his keyblades. His expression was wry when their eyes met.

"Well that was a waste of time."

Sei set down Oathkeeper and leaned on its slender white length.

"Are you planning to continue?" He gestured with one hand back towards the court as he continued to speak.

"That rabbit is a very well-informed citizen of this world's news. I doubt there are many others that could tell us anything new."

Riku looked noncommittal as he listened to Sei.

"Perhaps..."he agreed, "and perhaps not. I think, that as long as we're here we should make sure that we've covered everything and everyone. What about you Kairi?" Riku asked, startling the girl. "What do you want to next?"

Kairi bit her lip. "I agree, and say we keep going, even if for just a little bit longer."

She turned a questioning glance towards Sei as she finished. Sei had only an amused expression on his face as he picked Oathkeeper up from the earth, the weapon disappearing in a trail of glittering light. Oblivion followed after its twin in a fan of dusky smoke.

"Then it's settled," Riku concluded.

The three set down the path among the massive plants of the Lotus Forest.

"I had forgotten that we had even changed size after we had seen the people of the court."

Kairi spoke these words as she looked up the leafy green canopy that now seemed to make up the sky. The trees had become larger than even any of the buildings of Traverse Town, with even the grass and the toadstools that stuck up from the earth dwarfing them.

"But now...I feel like a bug. Any minute now a giant foot is going to come plunging out nowhere and then-"

She trailed off expressively, still looking up. Then she turned her gaze back to the ground level and Sei, who was walking just a little behind her.

"I'm sorry," she said with a laugh. "That comment wasn't helping things much was it?"

Sei smiled, and his reply was teasing.

"That's true. Are you're thoughts always this pleasant? If that's the case, I'd like to hear what you have to tell us if we ever got stuck inside Monstro."

Kairi considered this. "I don't think that's going happen with the way we're going to be world-traveling." She paused, and then added with feeling, "at least, I hope so."

"It's not," Riku commented upon joining the conversation, "an experience you'd find pleasant, I'm sure."

Kairi looked at the older teen thoughtfully.

"That's right, you were in there once, weren't you? So, what had it been like?"

Riku shrugged.

"It stank, for one thing. It was slimy and wet (and not just from sea-water). The walls were composed of living flesh that moved, with often dark veins just beneath the surface of the clear membranes with red and blue blood running through them, and-"

"-and it sounds like it was really gross." Kairi abruptly finished for him, making a face. "All right Riku, I get your point. I think that's more then enough for me now."

"Are you sure?" Riku asked in a mild tone.

"Yes!" She exclaimed with vigor.

That having been said, the conversation soon shifted to far more pleasant subjects.

They'd travel in the Lotus Forest for some time, passing oddity after oddity, before coming upon anyone else of any help. It wasn't quite so strange then, when this person first introduced himself as an unseen voice from the trees.

"Going somewhere, young other-worlders?"

An eerie smile appeared in the air, followed by spiraling purple strips and the face and body of a cat.

"The Cheshire cat." Riku said with derision. "What a surprise to see you here."

"Only so much surprise as to see one scarred by the Heartless, yet still living as a human."

The cat disappeared from its perch on the trees, and reappeared on a tree stump in front of them.

"You won't find who you are looking for here." It said, lying on its belly with a demure little smile.

"How would you know who we were looking for?" Riku demanded.

The cat eluded the question.

"Often, the things you seek are hidden where you least expect them to be: right beneath your very noses." He cast a glance at Sei, then added. "As for you, bearer of the keyblades, I suspect he will be calling for one of those you hold very soon."

Sei appeared somewhat surprised and confused, but also relieved.

"That is all I have to say. To the four of you, good fortune on your journeys." Having bid them farewell, the cat vanished.

"What did he mean by the four of us?" Kairi wondered out loud. "Do you suppose that he meant we will find Sora soon?"

Riku was still nettled by the cat's sudden appearance. "Come on; let's go before anyone else decides to surprise us by showing up."

"You're going to listen to what he said? About Sora not being here?"

"That cat may be a pain, but I've never know him to lie. At least not about things of this importance."

"Are you sure?" Kairi asked.

"Absolutely," Riku replied with assurance.

They turned back and began to walk out of the Lotus Forest. Kairi's mind kept wondering back to the words the cat had spoken.

~ Often, the things you seek are hidden where you least expect them to be... I suspect he will be calling for one of those you hold very soon.