"You know, I can really get used to this," Akira said with a smile as she stretched out her arms into the air.
Goofy nodded, relaxing his pose. "Yup, this sure is nice!"
"Well, I'm not enjoying this one bit!" Donald said angrily, arms crossed.
Sora laughed at their banter. "So, guys? When do you think we'll, you know, land?"
The moment they arrived on this strange new world, the group found themselves falling into a rabbit hole, and had been softly drifting downwards ever since. The tunnel no longer looked like a tree hollow where a rabbit would live; the further they floated down, the more the tunnel began to look like the interior of a house, brick walls and floating furniture and all. Normally, they'd question such a silly sight. A sight so surprising on the surface, yet showcasing a situation suffused with sprightly, spunky, and spirited shenanigans sure to stimulate a surprise or a smile.
Or perhaps they were just tired of looking for more words that began with the letter 'S'.
When the ground was finally in view, Sora, Akira, and Donald landed softly on their feet, while Goofy landed face-first with a loud thud.
"Are you okay?" Akira asked, stretching her arm out to help him up. But before she could even reach him, her hand was struck away by a small rabbit scurrying between them on its hind legs, in an obvious hurry.
"Oh, my fur and whiskers! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!"
Akira was quite used to talking animals by this point; what surprised her this time was the fact that the rabbit was dressed in a red waistcoat with a tiny pair of glasses perched on his nose. One day she'll get used to talking rabbits with glasses, and when that day came, she wasn't sure if she'd be ready for whatever new surprise she'd find.
"Oh dear! I'm here, I should be there!"
The rabbit pulled a watch out of the pocket of his waistcoat and gasped when he saw the time. "I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! The queen, she'll have my head for sure!"
The group watched in surprise and wonder as the clothed, talking rabbit scurried away through a set of three consecutive doors before disappearing in the distance. Their jaws dropped as they sat frozen in their spots, in complete and utter shock.
"What… just happened?" Sora asked.
"Um, maybe we should follow him and find out," Goofy suggested.
When the group passed through the doors, they were surprised to find that they had hit a dead end. The room they walked into was barely big enough to fit all four of them, with no exit in sight. There was merely a small table and one lonesome chair, along with a fireplace near the wall.
"Now where did he go?" Donald quacked, frustrated.
"Look!" Akira said, pointing towards the floor.
Sure enough, the rabbit they had met earlier was scurrying across the floor, with the only exception being the fact that he was one tenth of his initial size. He hurried towards a small door in the wall, pulled it open, and skittered off, closing the door behind him.
"How did he get so small?" Sora asked as he got on all fours, examining the door the rabbit had disappeared behind. It was barely big enough to fit Sora's head, let alone the rest of his body.
"No, you're simply too big."
Sora fell back on his behind while Donald gasped. "It talks!" he cried.
Sure enough, the door did talk. It blinked its eyes and yawned, using the keyhole beneath its knob-like nose for a mouth. Akira buried her face in her hands. And here she thought Traverse Town was a strange place...
"Must you be so loud?" the doorknob asked, "You woke me up."
"Good morning," Goofy said cheerfully.
"Good night! I need a bit more sleep…"
"Wait, what do we have to do to grow small?" Sora asked frantically, hoping to catch one more answer out of the door before it fell asleep again.
"Why don't you try the bottle on the table?"
Akira followed his instructions and picked up the small bottle with the blue label. "Did he mean this?"
"That must be it," Donald said.
She shrugged her shoulders as she handed it over to Sora, whom excitedly held his hands open for it. If he was so eager to be the guinea pig in this experiment, far be it from her to try to take his fun away from him. He gave his friends a nod before bringing the bottle to his lips, taking a small sip. Sure enough, a puff of smoke instantly enveloped his body and, when it cleared, he was as small as the rabbit was when they found him in that room.
"Wow! Cool!" Sora said excitedly as he examined his small stature.
"What's it like down there?" Goofy asked him.
"Um, bad?" he panicked as he summoned his Keyblade, "There are Heartless here!"
They gasped and quickly scrambled for the bottle, each one taking a sip and shrinking down to size in an instant.
"This world is terrible!" Donald said angrily once the small group of Heartless had been defeated. The group consisted only of the small shadow-like ones and posed little to no threat to them.
"Well, I think it's pretty cool!" Akira said as she followed Sora by hopping off the table. She had to admit, the idea of talking doorknobs was a bit hard to swallow, but the more she took in this world's sights, the more she began to appreciate its little quirks.
"It is pretty different than what we're used to," Goofy added.
Donald crossed his arms. "Well, I don't like it one bit!"
Goofy and Akira attempted to calm the angry duck down while Sora approached them. "Bad news, guys. The door is closed, and he won't let us through while he's asleep. And he doesn't seem to want to wake up anytime soon…"
"Then why don't we go through there?" Goofy asked, pointing to an opening in the wall beside the sleeping door.
The group nodded to each other in unison and made their way towards the opening, hoping to find the elusive white rabbit they had been following…
When the four of them emerged from the opening in the wall, they found themselves in a lush garden filled with green grass. Green hedges lined the walls, and heart-shaped archways made of these same hedges followed a path towards a clearing. Red and white roses were sprinkled across the clearing, where quite the commotion seemed to be brewing. The group were in awe of the beauty they witnessed but quickly found their attention drawn to the hubbub ahead.
A procession of human-like playing cards parted away to reveal a court in session. A young blonde girl in a blue pinafore dress stood at the defendant's table, twiddling her thumbs nervously as she was overseen by a large and scary looking woman at the judge's table. The frightening woman wore a large billowing red and white dress, with various playing card symbols to match the guards that littered the clearing. The small crown on her head indicated she was a queen of sorts, though her demeanour was far from regal.
The elusive white rabbit the group had been chasing had finally made his appearance once more, climbing a podium beside the queen and blowing a trumpet to quiet the commotion.
"Court is now in session!" the rabbit cried.
"Court?" Akira asked herself.
"I'm on trial? But why?" the young girl asked.
"Her Majesty, the Queen of Hearts, presiding!" the rabbit continued, gesturing towards the angry-looking queen.
The Queen of Hearts glared at the girl, gritting her teeth. "This girl is the culprit. There's no doubt about it. And the reason is...because, I say so, that's why!"
"That's so unfair!" the girl cried.
The queen tapped a heart-shaped gavel onto her desk. "Well, have you anything to say in your defense?"
"Of course! I've done absolutely nothing wrong!" The white rabbit gasped at the young girl's bold statement, which only angered the queen even more. "You may be the queen but I'm afraid that doesn't give you the right to be so… so mean!"
"Silence!" the Queen of Hearts yelled as she slammed her fist on the table, "You dare defy me?"
Sora took a step back and addressed the group in a whisper. "Hey guys, we should help!"
"Absolutely not!" Donald said sternly.
"Why not?"
"Because that would be muddling!" Goofy explained.
"Meddling!" Donald corrected.
"So, we just leave her there by herself?" Akira asked in a worried tone.
Jiminy popped his head out from Goofy's hat during their exchange. "We're not from this world. Meddling is forbidden by outsiders since we need to protect the world order."
"What does that even mean?" she asked.
Jiminy hopped off Goofy's head and into the palm of her hands. "The worlds are separated and have little to no knowledge of the the worlds outside their own. We can't just go around doing as we please, no matter how much we want to."
Akira nodded in understanding, but Sora wasn't too keen on accepting his explanation. Surely, they can't simply leave someone who so clearly needs help...
During their conversation, the Queen of Hearts had come to a decision. "The court finds the defendant… guilty as charged!"
The young girl gasped as a group of card soldiers readied their spears and approached her table.
"For the crimes of assault and attempted theft of my heart…"
Sora suddenly gasped. There was only one thing in the world that would attempt stealing a heart, and it was definitely not from this world.
"Off with her head!"
Sora gritted his teeth and balled his hand into a fist. The concept of world order was the last thing on his mind. "Hold it right there!" he cried, running into the clearing.
The rest of them looked at each other wide-eyed, shocked at his sudden reckless stunt. They reluctantly followed him, with Donald quacking angrily in the back.
"Who are you? How dare you interfere with my court!" the queen barked at him.
Sora gulped. Maybe rushing in without a plan wasn't the smartest idea. "Excuse me, but we know who the real culprit is."
Goofy smiled. "Uh-huh! It's the Heartl-" He quickly covered his mouth once he realized his mistake.
Sora sighed. "Anyways, she's not the one you're looking for."
The Queen of Hearts angrily tapped at her desk. "Have you any proof?"
Sora raised his hand into the air to respond but was at a loss for words. The queen took his silence as a resounding 'no' and snapped her fingers. A card soldier quickly whisked Alice into a cage beside the judge's bench, imprisoning her.
"Bring me evidence of Alice's innocence!" she ordered, "Fail, and it's off with all of your heads! Gather all the evidence you please, and report back here when you're done!"
"Nice going," Donald grumbled angrily.
Sora shrugged his shoulders, ignoring the duck as he approached the cage where the girl was being kept.
"Who are you?" she quickly asked once the four strangers closed the distance between themselves and her prison.
"I'm Sora," he said, "And my friends are Akira, Donald, and Goofy." He gestured to his friends, while the young girl waved at them.
"I'm Alice. Pleased to meet you, though I wish it were under better circumstances. I'm sorry you got mixed up in this nonsense."
"So, why are you on trial in the first place?" he asked.
"I should like to know the very same thing! Apparently, I was guilty from the moment I took the stand!"
"That's crazy! So, where are you from?"
Alice shook her head. "Hmm, curious. I can't seem to remember. You see, I found this mysterious rabbit hole. When I tried to peek inside, I tumbled in head over heels... And I found myself here."
The team looked at each other in amazement. Could it mean… "So, you're from another world!" Sora gasped.
"That's funny," Goofy whispered among them, "Maybe you don't need a ship then!"
Akira brought her hand to her mouth in wonder while Donald tapped his foot. "Well, I don't get it."
"What do you mean 'another world'?" Alice asked.
Yet, before Sora could answer, he was interrupted by the card soldier who stood by, guarding the cage. He furiously tapped his spear into the ground. "Enough! The defendant will remain silent!" he cried, glaring at the four of them. Taking it as their cue to leave, the group slowly backed away from the cage.
"But how are we supposed to help her?" Akira asked once they were at a safe distance from the angry soldier, "We can't just catch a Heartless and bring it here, can we?"
Sora scratched his chin. "I don't know, but we have to think of something!"
Donald sighed. "Let's try looking in that forest over there. We're already knee-deep in this mess, so we might as well."
The group nodded in agreement and approached the forest beyond the clearing, hopeful to find some sort of clue on how to use the Heartless to prove Alice's innocence. The Queen of Hearts watched them carefully from her seat, scowling at them as they walked further and further away from view.