Hey there everyone! This is Sammy with Level 6 of "The Keyblade Master Chronicles"! I hope you've all enjoyed the story so far! I really like it as well, especially now that it's been edited and spruced up.
In truth, the plot's pretty extensive, and sometimes I have trouble keeping everything together. But that's okay, because I know that a good pacing session will help out. (smiles)
Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to all the readers! Merry Christmas!
Level 6 – Wonderland
"Don't forget to write," joked Yuffie as the three children walked to their ship, newly fashioned by Cid. The old red Gummi Ship was now as good as new, with even an engine adjustment put it.
"That should be able to get you to any world you want," Cid told them, smiling. "You all need something, just come on back, you got that?"
"Right!" Haru nodded. He turned to Aerith, who was smiling at them. "Don't worry, Aerith. We'll help Cloud out, and find Aece!"
Aerith seemed taken aback, but she simply smiled and nodded. "Yes…thank you. Thank you very much."
"Sorry we couldn't say goodbye to Cloud," Jila smiled. "But we'll see him later, right?"
"Be careful," Leon warned them. The three looked up and nodded. "The Heartless will be after you constantly. Wherever you go searching for Sora, they'll be sure to follow."
"Right, Leon," Rion nodded. "We'll watch our backs." Rion then turned to Aldo and Aldo held up his hand.
"Don't even think about thanking me, kid," Aldo grinned. "You're not bad. Keep up your training. The rest of your magic should come naturally."
"Right!" Rion nodded to his former mentor, then turned to the rest of the gang. "We'll be back once we've found Dad. He should be able to put a stop to this."
"If there's anyone who can help us…" Leon murmured. "It's Sora. He's got to be out there…somewhere."
Meanwhile, back at the Hotel, Cloud slept serenely as usual, her huge buster sword tucked under his bed, Aerith's stool faithfully watching over him.
The door creaked open, and the lights shut off without anyone flicking them off. Cloud, of course, did not react, but the person who had entered the room seemed to have been suspecting this.
He or she took a small step into the room, then another, and another until he or she was situated next Cloud's bed. He or she harshly kicked aside the stool that Aerith usually sat at and moved closer to Cloud.
"Hmm…" the voice murmured. It was the same voice that had attacked the King at Disney Castle. "Out cold are we? I don't blame you. That Heartless attack I sent was meant to steal your heart right then and there. I guess they overdid it.
"But…that attack did prove beneficial to me," the voice laughed. "After all, I did get your daughter out of the deal, didn't I? Anyway, I'd love to stay and chat, but I'm afraid I'm a little busy at the moment."
The figure rose the same long and straight thing that he or she had used on the King, positioned it over Cloud's helpless body, and plunged straight down.
For the first time in over twelve years, Cloud let out a deafening scream and his eyes flew open, revealing blue orbs that were shocked with white from the pain. "ARRRGHHH!" he screamed, grasping his chest.
"No need to make a big fuss!" the voice cackled. "The King was much quieter about it all!" He or she plunged again and Cloud screamed once more.
"Who the hell are you?" he screamed loudly over the pounding in his ears. "ARRGHH!"
The figure pulled the long appendage out of Cloud, and he was silent. Now in the assailant's hand was a tiny keychain that had a miniature Hollow Bastion attached to the end. He or she grinned evilly, their white teeth showing even through the darkness of the room. The figure plucked the Keychain off the end and clipped it next to the Disney Castle keychain that had come from the King.
He or she turned on his or her heel and walked slowly out of the room. The minute their foot left the room, the lights came back on.
Cloud's eyes were fully open, and he was pale and cold. He resembled the King exactly…
"And off we go!" shouted Jila as Rion powered the Gummi Ship up for their take-off. Waving to the group of misfits behind them, the three children blasted off in their newly repaired ship.
They were in space in moments, ready to head onto the next world where they would continue to search for their father. "Set a course Rion!" Haru instructed his older brother, shaking his shoulder.
"Fine, fine," Rion sighed, looking at the destination panel. "Hmm…there's a world coming up pretty close. Can't get a good picture on the screen yet."
"Well, Dad and Mom could be anywhere!" Jila reminded them, pumping her fist. "So we might as well go everywhere!"
"Jila's got a point," Haru smiled warmly at his younger sister. "And anyway, you don't see any other worlds coming up."
"For once, you guys are making sense," Rion joked, earning glares from Haru and Jila. Rion selected to set a course to the world and the three children were cruising along in the Gummi Ship.
"How long should it take us to get there?" Jila asked, obviously curious. She poked her head in between the two front seats to get a better look at the control panel.
Haru, too, looked at the control panel and smiled as he saw the time. "Woah! Only a half an hour! This world must be really close!"
"Don't let your guard down," Rion warned them. "It could be dangerous. Remember when we got attacked by that girl after our Keyblades? It's no doubt that she's still trying to find us."
"I wonder what her name was…" Jila murmured, sitting back down in her seat.
"How about Miss Crazy Woman?" Haru suggested, making a funny face that made Jila laugh. He then did a comical impression of the woman's harsh face, which made Jila laugh even more. "Or Lady Crazilots?"
"Hey you two!" Rion said, alarmed. "Stop fooling around. We've got more Heartless ships after us."
"Oh please!" Haru scoffed, quickly pulling out the shot launcher. "After our first battle, this should be a piece of cake!"
"Right!" Jila nodded, pulling out the shield panel from the back seat. "I'm ready when you guys are!"
"Okay, keep them in your sights and fire when you see fit!" Rion instructed his siblings. "We've got quite a fleet to go through!"
"Leave it to us Rion!" Haru assured his elder brother. "We're not letting a single shot get through!"
"NOT A SINGLE SHOT, HUH?"
The children had little trouble with the first wave of Heartless ships; it had been the second wave that had given them trouble. The shields were running low on power, as usual, and Haru's crazy cocky shooting wasn't helping matters either.
Just as the children had caught sight of a mass that looked like a world in front of them, they had been shot in the tail, and were currently diving towards the world.
"There's been no permanent damage done!" Jila assured her brothers, checking out the shields. "The engines are just in need of recuperating!"
"Yeah, that's great!" Rion snapped, turning around to his little sister. "And meanwhile we're in a tailspin towards the world!"
"Okay, as I see it, the only option we have is to hope we crash somewhere safe!" Haru shouted over the sound of the flying ship.
"Usually, you don't pick where you crash!" Rion screamed.
"Then pull into a landing!" Haru instructed his brother.
"Woah!" Jila gasped in amazement and wonder, and then pointed in front of her. "Look at that world!"
The two boys looked to where their younger sister was pointing to see a perfectly pink world with an odd checked pattern and strange trees everywhere. There seemed to be a castle there as well, but covered in red symbols that they couldn't make out…
"Okay, I'm going to pull in for a landing!" Rion informed his two siblings. "When I say the word, jump!"
"Are you serious?" Haru asked, his eyes wide.
"It's the only option!"
"Fine!" Jila sighed, standing up and grabbing hold of the Gummi ship door handle. Haru and she were on the same side, and would jump out the large door when it opened. "The trees will break our fall, anyway!"
"What about you Rion?" Haru shouted, his voice growing louder as the Gummi ship roared. They were extremely close to hitting the ground now, and the trees could be seen. They were going to crash in a forest!
"I'm staying in the ship!" Rion told them and they looked at him with wide eyes. "What? Someone has to repair it if it's busted!"
"You don't know how!" Haru told him.
"I'll learn then!" Rion grinned. "Now JUMP!"
Jila and Haru reluctantly threw open the door and jumped legs first out of the Gummi Ship while Rion continued to spin off into the strange forest.
"Owwiee…my head…" Jila murmured as she sat up, rubbing her bruised head. She had landed smack dab in the middle of a dense forest. She had missed the hollow log next to her by inches, and Jila muttered a small word of thanks for her luck. However… "Haru?" Jila looked around for her brother, but he was not to be seen. "Haru? You there?"
She stood up and looked around, but still saw no one. It was obvious that she was quite alone. "Haru!" She started to run, but stopped. "Where could he have gotten to? I've got to go find him." Jila sat down on the hollow log, looking around at her surroundings. "I wonder where I am."
"Hello!"
"EEEEEKS!" Jila squealed as she felt her legs being caught by two short arms. She was lifted onto a pair of shoulders, and was about to fall over when her back hit something rather squishy. "Wh-what the?"
Jila gave a rather hard bounce as the shoulders she were on stopped and was bumped into.
"Donk!"
Again, she was pushed back and the squishy thing she was riding on was bumped as well.
"Dink!"
The pattern continued, this time the front pair of shoulders getting bumped.
"Honk!"
Once more, the squishy thing was bumped, and another loud sound emitted from it.
"Hink!"
Jila looked down to see that she was being carried on the shoulders of a very short man with a large belly wearing red suspenders, a beanie with a propeller, and a white collar. The squishy thing holding her up was the head of a man who looked almost exactly the same.
"Let go of me!" Jila shouted, whacking the man carrying her on his shoulders on the head. All he did was emit a loud "Donk!" and kept walking. "Hey! P-put me down you weird dolls!"
"If you think we're fake--" The one carrying her on his shoulders began.
"You've got another thing coming!" finished the one with the squishy head carrying her back.
The two men abruptly dropped Jila on her back, which hurt quite a bit, and lined up next to each other, bumping into each other and making their trademark loud noises once more.
"Wh-Who are you?" Jila asked, her eyes wide. She stood up, massaging her back and stared at what seemed to be embroidery on the collars of the two odd men. "Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum?"
"So glad you could come!" Tweedle Dee honked from his small mouth.
"So great to see someone pass through!" Tweedle Dum added.
"I was going to say that!" Tweedle Dee remarked, hitting his twin on the head, making him emit another "Dink!"
"No you weren't! I was going to say what you already said!" Tweedle Dum replied, returning the favor by bopping Tweedle Dee on the head, making Tweedle Dee explode in a loud "Donk!"
"Y-You don't have to fight!" Jila told them, trying to break up the two.
"But of course we do!" Tweedle Dee said.
"If we didn't, what would there be to do?" Tweedle Dum asked.
"W-well you could…uhh…build a tree house?" Jila suggested, only gaining the idea from all the trees surrounding her. "Anyway, I'd love to stay, but I'm in a hurry."
"A hurry?"
"A hurry?"
"A HURRY?" the two finished, their eyes wide and right in Jila's face. Jila slunked back, taken aback by their reaction.
"No, no, you must stay!" Tweedle Dee demanded.
"We could do tricks!"
"Or sing songs!"
"If you stay we might just battle!" Tweedle Dum suggested, and the two grabbed each other's collars.
"I-I don't want you to fight!" Jila told them. "And I really have to go!"
"Why?"
"T-To find my brother!" Jila told them. "Both my brothers."
"Why?"
"Because they're lost!"
"Why?"
"I don't know!" Jila growled, not wanting to answer anymore of the twin's crazy questions. "I'm curious to find where they are!"
"Ooohhh…" Tweedle Dee shook his head, taking off his hat. Tweedle Dum followed suit. "She's curious…"
Tweedle Dum sighed, "Remember the oysters? They were curious too." The two started to walk away, and Jila turned her head towards them.
"What oysters?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, you wouldn't want to hear!" Tweedle Dee put his hand right in Jila's face.
"You're in much too much of a hurry!" Tweedle Dum reminded her, using cruel irony.
"I-I could stay a bit!" Jila smiled. "Tell me what happened to the oysters!"
"Oh you don't want to hear that ridiculous story!" Jila turned her head and gave a small gasp to see a small girl with blonde hair and a blue dress coming towards her. She had large blue eyes and looked younger then Jila. She was smiling. "It might be entertaining, but you're busy, aren't you?"
"Uhh…yes!" Jila nodded. "Who are you?"
"Well, I'm not quite sure," the girl frowned. "I've been here so long I've quite forgotten myself. But my name is Alice. I'm so glad to find someone else here who has a bit of sense."
"My name's Jila," Jila smiled to Alice. The Tweedles were looking quite put-out that their story had been interrupted. "Alice, where exactly are we?"
"Well, we're in Wonderland of course!" Alice smiled. "A world where nothing makes sense!"
Jila remembered the world that never made sense. Her father had mentioned it during his stories, but he had never mentioned any of the lands he had visited by name. "Except you and me," Jila smiled, laughing slightly. "Anyway, why are you here?"
"Well, you see," Alice frowned. "A few months ago, I chased a rabbit down a rabbit hole and almost lost my head! But well, Sora saved me--"
Jila's eyes widened and she grabbed Alice's sleeve. "Did you say 'Sora'? Is Sora here?"
"Well, if you'd let me finish the story," Alice frowned, shaking free of Jila's grip. "You see, Sora saved me, but I was then kidnapped. But, well, Sora saved me again," Jila nodded, already knowing the details of the Princesses of Heart. Alice must have been one of them, "and just as you'd have it, I returned home only to run after the White Rabbit again!" Alice giggled slightly. "I was just so curious as to where he might be going this time that I came after him!"
"That seems really reckless," Jila frowned, a little uncomfortable about giving advice to someone who was probably only a few years her junior. "You should be more careful."
"That's what I told myself!" Alice sighed. "I give myself such good advice, but I seldom follow it."
"So you're after the white rabbit?" Jila asked. "Well, I'm looking for my brothers, so maybe we should search together!"
"Oh that sounds splendid!" said Alice, clapping her hands together. "It'll be so much jollier to go along with someone else!"
"All right," Jila smiled. "Let's go!"
"But wait!" Tweedle Dee said, scampering up to the two girls.
"You must listen to the end of our story!" Tweedle Dum agreed, blocking the path of the two girls once again.
"I'm sorry, but we really must be going," Alice told them, curtsying politely. Jila, who was dressed in a pair of shorts, didn't even try to imitate Alice.
"I'm late! I'm late!"
Jila looked to her right to see none other then a white rabit wearing a monocle and carrying a huge pocket watch running by them, wiping his brow and looking extremely anxious. He ran straight past the Tweedles and the two girls. "I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date! No time to say hello, goodbye! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!"
"Oh! Oh, Mr. Rabbit!" Alice called to him, already in pursuit. Jila shrugged to the Tweedles and ran through them, following Alice through the forest.
"Man…where the heck am I?"
Haru looked up from where he himself had landed, but saw little forest setting. Instead, he seemed to be in some sort of room and he, himself, was sitting on the floor. He looked around and saw that if he wanted to stand up, he'd be too big. The room wasn't made for a person his size. To the right of him was a grandfather clock with rabbit ears and a bed with a rabbit pattern bedspread. At the bottom of the room was a doorknob with a door that was much too small for him.
"This is so weird!" Haru exclaimed, looking around. "I jumped into the forest! How the heck did I end up here?"
"Well, ask yourself! You're the one who got yourself here!"
Haru looked around for the owner of the voice, but saw no one. "W-Who said that?"
"It was me, dear boy! Down here!"
Haru looked down to see that it was none other then the doorknob who was talking to him! He quickly looked down at the doorknob to make sure he wasn't going crazy. True enough, the knob had a mouth and two eyes and was obviously speaking to Haru.
"Woah! A talking doorknob!" Haru gasped, his eyes wide.
"Did your parents never inform you that it's rude to stare?" The doorknob said curtly, and Haru pulled back.
"Umm…excuse me. I'm sorry, but do you know how I got here?" Haru asked.
"I told you before! Ask yourself, you're the one who got yourself here!" The doorknob told him, wrinkling his knob.
"But I crashed in the middle of a forest!" Haru told the doorknob. "And now I'm in this room. It doesn't make sense!"
"Well of course it doesn't make sense!" The Doorknob chortled as if Haru had just stated a completely obvious fact. "But I can help you get out."
"Good!" Haru grinned. "I need to find my sister and my older brother. Can I go out through you?"
"Don't be ridiculous my boy!" The Doorknob frowned. "Look at you! You're huge!"
Haru looked at himself in relation to the doorknob and realized that this was indeed true. He was much too large to even dream about fitting through the door. "B-but now I'll never get out!" Haru grimaced.
"Don't be so forlorn!" the Doorknob smiled and motioned up towards the glass table in the middle of the room that had seemingly just appeared.
"I-I didn't see that before…"
"Drink the bottle on the table!" The doorknob told him. "And I'll let you through to the forest! That's where you want to go, isn't it?"
"Oh, yeah! Totally! Thank you so much!" Haru smiled, looking at the small bottle on the table. It had a tag that read "Drink Me" on it. Haru smiled and drank a bit of the bottle. "Woah!"
The next thing Haru knew, he was shrinking considerably. The clock and the bed started to grow, and the glass table looked gargantuan compared to the now smaller Haru.
"Look! Very good!" The Doorknob smiled at the now small-enough-to-fit Haru. Haru grinned and clenched his fists in triumph.
"Great! Now I can go through, right?" he asked, reaching for the doorknob which was now the same size as Haru.
"Oh! Oops!" the doorknob laughed. "I forgot to tell you! I'm locked!"
"Oh! That's okay!" Haru grinned, and he unsheathed his Keyblade. The Doorknob looked taken aback, and opened its mouth. Haru didn't waste a second in plunging the Keyblade into the Doorknob and turning it. The Doorknob, who looked rather violated, swung the door open and Haru looked outside to see none other then forest.
"Thanks a lot!" Haru thanked the doorknob, pulling the Keyblade out. The Doorknob spat, as if it had been just forced to take a foul tasting medicine. "Hey…does the door always go here?"
"Of course not, my boy!" The Doorknob frowned. "I can make it go wherever I please, and sometimes, it just goes by itself!"
"This place gets weirder and weirder," Haru laughed, stepping out into the forest. "At least the forest is right sized. I've got to find Jila!"
"Good, it's not too broken."
Rion had crashed in a thicket of trees but had been able to make a pretty decent landing. He was getting better at this, if he did say so himself. After a quick inspection of the engine, Rion saw that the material was already starting to repair itself, probably another addition by the genius Cid.
"Anyway…" Rion sighed, looking up from the ship. "I'd better find Jila and Haru and start searching for clues."
Rion took a few steps forward only to have something catch his ear. When he stepped closer towards the sound, he realized it was music and singing. "People!" Rion grinned. "Great! I can ask them if they've seen Jila or Haru!"
He took no time in running off through the forest towards the sound of the music and singing. It was getting louder, but Rion still couldn't make out what the people were trying to say. Finally, her rounded a corner and gasped inwardly.
Before him was a small, lopsided house with a straw roof and a small door. It was unlike any house Rion had ever seen before, and it seemed to defy physics with its daring structure.
But that wasn't what interested Rion the most. In front of the house was a table that was at least ten feet in length and covered with tea pots, tea cups, butter, margarine, sugar, and cake. Presents and paper lanterns hung from every which way, and the chairs varied from plain wood to pink plush. It looked like a mishigosh party that had gotten out of control.
"A very merry unbirthday! To you!"
"To me?"
"To you!"
"Who knew? A very merry unbirthday to you!"
"To me?"
"To you!"
"You too!"
Sitting at the end of the table were two…people. If Rion could call them that. One was a brown rabbit with an odd hair cut and a red coat. The other was a short man with white hair, a large nose, and a huge hat.
"A merry…merry…very…unbirthday to…" Rion looked down at a teapot to see a small mouse in a coat pop out of it, his eyes sagging, his voice dreary, "you…" He jumped back into the pot, and the two others continued to down cups and cups of tea.
"Oh! What's this?" The brown hare looked over at Rion, his eyes wide. The man turned as well, his smile just as wide as the hare's eyes.
"Hello, hello! Another guest to our party, I see!"
"A-A party?" Rion asked, stepping into the lawn through the small gate. He sat down at a chair near the two at the end of the table. "What for? Is it someone's birthday?"
"No, no, no my lad!" The man shook his head, taking off his hat to reveal a smaller hat, of which he place on Rion's head. He then took that hat off of Rion to reveal an even small hat, which he then took and used for a tea cup. "Not at all! We're having an 'unbirthday' party!"
"An unbirthday?" Rion asked. "Like…a day that's not your birthday?"
"Precisely!" The hare jumped up, his cup of tea leaping over his head and landing on the saucer in his other hand. "You catch on quick! I'm the March Hare, if you didn't already know!"
"And I'm called the Mad Hatter!" The man now known as the Mad Hatter took a very low bow, sticking his nose in a cup of tea.
"Oh…well, this seems cool and all, but I've got to go," Rion told them, trying to get up.
"It's very rude to sit down when you haven't been invited!" The March Hare remarked, placing a cup of tea on Rion's head, making him sit down again. "Introduce yourself, lad!"
"I-I'm Rion," he told them. "And…I guess it's my unbirthday too…"
"No kidding!" The March Hare gasped.
"What a small world!" the Mad Hatter agreed, pouring another cup of tea from a tea pot with another tea pot as a spout. "Well, since it's your unbirthday too…"
"A very merry unbirthday, to you!"
"To you!"
"To you!"
"To you!"
"A very merry unbirthday!" The March Hare put a cake down in front of Rion, and Rion tried to get up, only to be pushed down by four more cups of tea placed on his head. "To you!"
"To me?"
"To you!"
"Wait, who--?"
"To you!" The Mad Hatter finished the song, and the cake promptly exploded in Rion's face, leaving him covered in pink frosting and candles, still not blown out. "Oh! You're dirty! Some tea will fix that!" He quickly poured a cup of tea over Rion's head, and Rion, thinking it would be hot, tried to dodge it. It split over his face, cleaning the frosting and candles, and Rion didn't feel a thing. In fact, there was no tea in this lap either. It jumped off his clothes and back into the tea pot!
"This is crazy…" Rion muttered. "I should stand up and get my blood pumping."
"If you're standing, your feet must be on the floor!" The Mad Hatter told Rion.
"Umm…yeah, I guess."
"Therefore if your feet are on the floor, you must be standing!"
"That's not necessarily true. You could be sitting down and have your feet on the floor."
"If this party is ridiculous," the Mad Hatter continued. "Then all things ridiculous must be this party!"
"There are loads of things that are ridiculous; not just this party," Rion muttered, scratching the back of his head. "This logic makes no sense."
"Tell me, lad," the March Hare murmured, pouring Rion a cup of tea. "Why is a raven like a writing desk?"
"A riddle?" Rion asked, raising an eyebrow. He scratched his head, thinking. "Well…umm…I guess… Let me think. Why is a raven like a writing desk?"
"Raven?" The March Hare gasped, grabbing hold of the Mad Hatter. "Like a writing desk? He's raving mad!"
"But it's your riddle!" Rion pointed out, very confused.
"Out! Out!" The Mad Hatter exclaimed, throwing cups of tea at Rion. "Out of our party! We want no mad people at our unbirthday party!"
"Fine!" Rion shouted, dodging an oddly shape tea pot thrown at him. "I was going anyway! This party is crazy!" With that, Rion jumped over the gate and ran back into the forest, leaving the two mad men behind him.
"Oh dear!" Alice sighed. "We lost him again!" Jila and Alice had lost sight of the White Rabbit after chasing him halfway through the forest. They had arrived at a strange tree with many direction signs nailed into it such as "This way", "There", and "That's the place".
"This is so odd Alice," Jila gulped. "Where should we go now? Do you think we're lost?"
"Oh, I never should have come down that rabbit hole again!" Alice frowned, looking extremely upset. "Not only have I gotten myself lost, but I've gotten you lost as well!"
"That's okay Alice," Jila said, trying to comfort her new traveling partner. "We're not lost. I'm sure someone can give us directions."
"Lost…are we?"
Jila looked up as a mysterious voice that seemed to come from nowhere spoke. She looked up at the nook of the tree they were currently under and gasped at what she saw.
Forming at the top of the tree was a rack of long, smiling teeth. Following the teeth were a pair of small eyes, and finally, stripes that outlines the pudgy body of a cat, which was then filled in with the actual flesh of the cat.
"Oh! Cheshire Cat!" Alice exclaimed, walking under the tree.
"You know this thing?" Jila asked.
"Why, hello there, Alice," the Cheshire Cat grinned, his head spinning one hundred and eighty degrees around his neck. Jila gulped, but the Cheshire Cat seemed unphased. "How are we today?"
"Oh, I'm lost again!" Alice frowned, stomping her foot.
"I see…poor child," the Cheshire Cat continued to smile widely, his voice drawn out and silky. "And who are you, young one?"
"My name is Jila…" Jila muttered to the Cheshire Cat, frowning slightly. "I was wondering if you could tell us which way to go next."
"Well…where do you want to go?" The Cheshire Cat asked.
"I'm looking for my brothers," Jila told him.
"Well…then you should go down the path where they went," he said simply, smiling again.
"B-But I don't know where they went!" Jila told him, and then gasped as the Cheshire Cat's flesh disappeared, leaving only his stripes, smile, and eyes.
"Then you don't know where to go," he shrugged, still smiling.
"That's what I've been trying to tell you!" Jila grimaced, kicking the dirt. "Can you tell me if you've seen them?"
"Hey Jila! There you are!"
Jila turned around to see none other then Haru walking towards her, his Keyblade drawn, a wide smile on his face. "Haru! Did you find Rion?"
"Nah," Haru shook his head. "But I haven't been through this entire forest." Haru looked up at the Cheshire Cat and grimaced. "What the heck is that?"
"Funny question my lad!" The Cheshire Cat laughed. It stood up, returning its flesh, and quickly took off its head. Jila and Haru gasped. "I could be this, or I could be that!" he shrugged, motioning to his smiling head and his headless body. "I think that's for you to decide."
"This thing sure is weird."
"Rion!" Jila smiled as she saw her eldest brother walking through the forest towards her, his eyes on the Cheshire Cat. "Where were you?"
"At my party," he muttered. Jila and Haru shot each other looks, and they both shrugged and returned to their brother. "The ship's fine, by the way. We should be good to leave whenever we want."
"How about now?" Jila asked, shivering. "This place is freaky! And this thing is the freakiest of all!"
"Cheshire Cat, have you seen the White Rabbit?" Alice asked, walking forwards.
"That's Alice, one of the Princesses of Heart," Jila whispered to her brothers. "Seems time here runs pretty slow too. To her, Dad was here only a few months ago."
"I saw him, yes," the Cheshire Cat smiled, putting his head back on and rotating it around. "Why do you want to know?"
"Because I'm curious as to where he went," Alice told him.
"Curious I see," he laughed. "Well, if anyone would know, it would be the Queen."
"Oh, I don't want to see her again!" Alice frowned, stomping her foot. "She almost cut off my head last time!"
"But she'll want to see you my dear," the Cheshire Cat smiled once more, and the three children jumped back as they saw the tree open to reveal a path to the Castle they had seen before. They saw the red symbols were actually hearts. "Do oblige her…or if you wish, don't. I support both and neither."
"This thing is the maddest thing in this world," Rion muttered. "And that's saying something. C'mon, Alice, let's go."
"Hmm?" Alice looked at Rion. "But why? The Queen is quite rude, you know. And violent! She might have your heads!"
"We're looking for something…someone," Rion shrugged. "Do this, for us. We promise that we'll keep you safe."
"Well, if you promise," Alice frowned, then stepped through the tree. "Come! Before the Queen catches us here!"
"Bye crazy cat!" Jila called after the Cheshire Cat as the three children followed Alice through the hole. As they left, the Cheshire Cat smiled, unraveled its stripes, made its flesh disappear, and slowly melted away its eyes. The only thing left amongst the darkness was its wide, mad smile.
"Woah! This castle sure is impressive!" Jila observed. "Does the Queen rule all of Wonderland?"
"I'm not so sure myself," Alice told her. "But she acts as if she does! Anyway, what are you three looking for? The White Rabbit as well?"
"No, not the White Rabbit," Rion shook his head. "Our Dad. And our Mom. And…uhh…something else. And a girl. Should be…about seventeen."
"Well, I've never seen a girl besides myself and Jila here," Alice told them. "In fact, besides the Queen and the King, I've never seen a normal human here! And I don't even know if I could call those two normal!"
"We should see this 'Queen'," Jila suggested to her brothers. "She might know something about Dad or Mom."
"Or the King's Heart," Haru added under his breath to Jila and Haru.
"Aha!"
The four children gasped as they were immediately surrounded by what seemed to be playing cards with faces and spears. Half were black and half were red, and all had surrounded them. "I see you've returned Alice!"
"Your Majesty," Alice murmured, curtsying. The three other children looked up to see a very large, very red, very angry looking woman with black hair and a crown. Her nose was wrinkled.
"Since you were proven innocent last time," the Queen said, holding her scepter above her head. "I cannot arrest you for attempting to steal my heart!"
"I see, Your Majesty," Alice nodded.
"Don't say anything, my dear!" The Queen instructed, obviously not wishing to be interrupted. "As I was saying… I cannot arrest you for that crime! But you are being arrested for this most recent one!"
"What?" the four children asked simultaneously, their eyes wide.
"I received a message of a most alarming nature!" The Queen said, exemplifying the word "alarming". "That the ruler of this world will have their Keychain stolen!"
"A keychain?" Jila asked her brothers. "What in the world is that?"
"I'm as blank as you," Rion shook his head.
"A Keychain, this letter informed me, is an extremely strong heart!" the Queen explained to the children. "That can only be possessed by the ruler of this land!" The Queen's face began to grow red. "Alice, you are obviously the writer of this letter!"
"What?" Jila asked, stepping forward. "That's ridiculous! You have no proof that Alice did this!"
"SILENCE!" The Queen bellowed, knocking over the cards and making the children take a step back. "You are correct! Alice obviously didn't do it alone! You three were accomplices!"
"This is stupid!" Haru objected. He turned to his siblings and whispered under his breath. "This idiot doesn't seem to have a very strong heart. Who in the world sent her this letter?"
"I'm curious…" Rion nodded. "But think about it. The King's heart was stolen, wasn't it? What if his heart was a Keychain?"
"Stop whispering amongst yourselves and prepare to LOSE YOUR HEADS!" The Queen screamed and the cards began to move in. The three children immediately drew their Keyblades and got into a fighting position. "Attack!"
The cards immediately attacked, and the children were forced to fight against the attacking card army. They were constantly deflecting the large amounts of spear attacks, but, for the most part, the cards were easy to defeat.
"Ow!" Jila grimaced as a red card speared her in the back. She spun around and whacked the card into a nearby hedge. "That smarted! These things are tough!"
"Yeah!" Haru nodded, deflecting a blow from a card with his Shield technique and making a quick counterattack. "And there's no end to them!"
"BLIZZARD!" Rion cast a spell to break out of a huddle of cards that had surrounded him. The cards fell back, rolling over one another. Rion immediately gave a nearby card a strike with his Keyblade, making it fall to the ground.
"HYAH!" Jila screamed, whacking a red card to the ground that was trying to attack Alice. Alice was sticking close to the three children, not wanting to be taken off guard by a card.
"Don't lose while trying to kill them!" The Queen bellowed. "Who will escort me to visit my rose bushes if you all are defeated? There are Heartless everywhere!"
"Heartless?" Jila asked, her eyes wide. "Did she say Heartless?"
"So they've invaded this world as well…" Rion muttered.
"Wait!" Haru grinned. "I've got an idea!" He quickly ducked out from behind a Card and made a quick roll towards the Queen, popping up right in front of her.
"You heathen! OFF WITH HIS HEAD!" The Queen shrieked, but Haru simply dropped to his knee, his sword in his hand.
"Your Majesty! We swear to you that we are not behind this travesty," he told her, and the fighting immediately stopped. Both the cards and the children looked on with curiosity and interest at what Haru was proposing. "But we do know who is behind it!"
"HUH?" Jila and Rion asked simultaneously. Haru shot them a look that could be summed up by saying 'shut up, I'm saving out lives here!'. The two other siblings remained quiet as their brother continued.
"YOU know who is behind it?" the Queen asked, narrowing her eyes. "Tell me! Or I'll have your HEAD!"
"We can do better then that!" Haru told her. "We shall personally escort you to your Rose Bushes and defeat all the Heartless in your way!"
"We will?" Jila asked Rion.
"I see…" the Queen nodded, stroking her large chin. "My dear, this is quite a proposition!" she smiled and gave Haru an appreciative pat on the head, her mood now completely changed. "I shall take it! You shall escort me to my Rose Bushes, destroying any Heartless in my way and defeating this letter writer before he or she steals my valuable Keychain!"
With that, the Queen snapped her fingers and the cards quickly jumped into formation once again, leaving the children alone. Haru stood, looked at his siblings, and winked. They smiled at him, and the four children walked to the Queen, kneeling before her.
"We are ready to escort you on your command, your Majesty," Rion told the Queen, acting extremely proper and knight-like.
"I'm ready NOW!" the Queen bellowed, and the children did their best not to grimace. They got to their feet and the Queen immediately began to walk, a few cards and the children following her through a hedge in the shape of a heart.
"HYAH!" Jila shouted as she struck a Soldier Heartless with her Keyblade. The Queen's Rose Garden, she informed them, was on the other side of a forest adjacent to the Castle. This forest, different from the first they had been in, only had a few very tall trees and many gigantic lily pads and mushrooms.
But the Queen was correct when she had reported about the large number of Heartless. There were Soldier Heartless and Wizard Heartless everywhere, but the children had had little trouble dispatching of these weak creatures.
"You make excellent bodyguards!" The Queen announced, smirking and fanning herself with a fan decorated with hearts. "I must say, once we find the perpetrator of that awful letter, I should make you my personal knights!"
"We are not worthy of the honor, Your Majesty," Haru bowed, then continued to walk with his siblings. Jila made sure they were out of the Queen's earshot, and then began to talk to Haru.
"Yeah, what are we going to do when we find the perpetrator?" she asked, narrowing her eyes. "We don't even know who the perpetrator is!"
"Don't worry," Haru smiled. "I'm sure the letter writer is still here, after the Queen's Keychain. We'll be sure to bump into them sooner or later."
"Oh! Another Heartless!" The Queen shouted, pointing ahead of her. The children bounded forward, their Keyblades drawn. In front of the three children was a gigantic Heartless who had a large body, huge muscle bound arms, and a tiny head.
"Man! This one looks tough!" Jila observed.
"It's probably just a sheep in wolf's clothing!" Haru grinned. "Get it!"
The three children ran forward and all three gave the Heartless a resounding slash with their blades, only to be deflected by the being's size. The Heartless then ran forward, blowing the three children back. "Ow!" Jila shouted. "That hurt!"
"YOU FOOLS!" shrieked the Queen. "Defeat that Heartless NOW!"
"But our attacks just bounce off!" Jila said to her brothers. "What do we do?"
"I'll try magic!" Rion told them. "BLIZZARD!" The spell went forward, but the monster seemed hardly affected. "Man…my magic isn't going to be enough to defeat this thing. Guys! Get behind him and attack!"
"Behind him?" Haru asked.
"Maybe if we take him by surprise, we might have a better chance at damaging him!" Rion reasoned, and his two younger siblings nodded.
"Hey, ugly!" Jila grinned. "I'd pay attention to Magic Boy if I were you!" The Heartless seemed to take her advice, seeing that Jila and Haru seemed useless in the battle against it. It ran towards Rion, and Jila and Haru took the opportunity to jump over the Heartless and give it two quick slashes on the back.
The Heartless fell to the ground, and Haru and Jila continued to whack at it with their blades. In a few moments, the Heartless had been defeated and the Queen was once again safe.
"There," Rion grinned. "That wasn't too hard, was it?"
"Good!" The Queen nodded. "Another Heartless defeated. And we're almost to my royal Rose Garden! Tell me, are we getting closer to the mysterious letter writer?"
"Of course Your Majesty," Haru smiled, bowing. "I'm sure that he or she will show themselves soon."
Soon, they arrived at the Royal Rose Garden, filled with bushels and bushels of red roses on differently shaped hedges. The Queen of Hearts immediately moved to observing her roses with her Card Guards, while the children took in the sight before them.
"These roses are beautiful…" Rion murmured, looking around. His hand reached out to one, but was batted down by Alice.
"I wouldn't touch those if I were you," she said. "The Queen will get angry."
"She's right Rion," Jila told her brother. "It would be better if we just let the Queen alone with her roses while we wait for the mysterious letter-writer to show themselves."
"WHAT IS THIS?"
The children's heads turned as they heard the Queen's shrieking shrill from across the garden. They immediately followed the voice and saw the Queen very red in the face staring at one of her rose bushes.
The children looked towards the bush and their eyes widened as they saw none other then a strange Heartless monster with a bucket of black paint. The monster was busy painting the red roses with the cruel black paint. "YOU'RE PAINTING MY ROSES BLACK!" The Queen shrieked. "HOW DARE YOU! OFF WITH ITS HEAD!"
The Heartless' head would have been very hard to cut off. It was seemingly attached to the rest of its body, and got sharper as it moved towards the top. On the pointed top of the Heartless' head were red and black stripes, not to mention the trademark Heartless symbol. Its body continued from its broad chin and formed into what looked like rose petals at the bottom. Its legs were spindly and striped with gold, red, and black, as were its arms.
The Heartless immediately dropped its paint can as the children entered the Rose Garden. It looked over at the three children and then, as if on command, began to grow. The children gasped as they saw the huge monster grow at least ten times its original size. The children were about up to the giant beast's ankle!
"That thing is HUGE!" Jila shouted, her eyes bulging from their sockets.
"Almost as big as Darkside!" Haru gulped. "What is it?"
"It's obviously a Heartless!" Rion explained, pulling out his Keyblade. "And that means we've obviously got to fight it!"
"Rion's right!" Jila nodded, also readying her blade.
"Your Majesty!" Haru called to the Queen of Hearts, who was looking extremely frightened. "Stand back with Alice! This is our perpetrator, and we'll be sure to get rid of it!"
The Queen, for once, was silent. She simply ran back with Alice, lifting up her dress in order to run faster. She and Alice hid at a safe distance from the battle.
"Are you guys ready?" Jila asked, staring at the huge Heartless, its white, shining eyes staring them down.
"You bet!" Haru nodded.
"Let's go!" shouted Rion, and the three jumped into action.
Jila wasted no time in running up to the Heartless to get in the first attack. "FURY STRIKE!" she shouted, hoping to unleash the attack. Unfortunately, the Heartless sidestepped the strike! "What the?" Jila looked over, then gasped as the giant Heartless hit her straight across the face with what seemed to be a huge whip with rose thorns.
"Jila!" Haru called. He turned to the creature and ran up to attack it as well, dodging the rose whip better then Jila had and getting up to its leg. "HYAH!" Haru raised his Keyblade and struck the Heartless straight across the ankle, making it double over, losing its balance.
"Nice job, Haru!" Rion called. "FIRE!" He pointed his Keyblade at the monster and cast the spell straight into its face. The Heartless reared backwards, then swept its whip across the grass, knocking both Rion and Haru to their feet.
Jila got up from the attack that had been dealt to her and ran up once again to the Dark Rose monster. She slashed its ankle with her Keyblade, and jumped over the whip once it was aimed at her. "Hah!" Jila laughed. "Can't hit me! Nah, nah, nah--" Jila was cut short as the Heartless reversed the direction of the whip, knocking her straight in the jaw and making her keel over onto the grass.
"Jila, you okay?" Rion called to her as she slowly rose to her feet, wounded, but alive.
"Yeah! I'm fine!" she assured her brother, spitting at the ground. "But he's practically untouchable with that huge whip! All we can hit is his ankle!"
"If only there was a way to get up higher…" Rion bit his thumb. "But there's no way we can jump that far."
"I know," Jila nodded, frowning. "We're stuck here on the ground while he's up there in the sky!"
"No ladders!" Rion murmured. "And no stairs!"
Haru stopped, looked up, and grinned. "But we do have a rope!"
"A…rope?" Jila asked, her eyes wide. "What do you mean Haru?"
"He's been showing us all this time!" Haru told her, pointing to the whip that Dark Rose was flailing around. "That whip of his can be used as a rope to get up to his face!"
Jila and Rion looked at each other, then back at Haru, smiling. "That's brilliant, Haru!" Jila grinned. "Do you want to be the one to run up?"
"Yeah, it should be me," said Haru. "I'm the one who thought of this crazy idea!"
"And every other crazy idea we've had down here!" Rion sighed, rolling his eyes. "But it doesn't matter! Your last one worked, and this one might too."
"I'll distract him!" Jila offered. "Haru, when he attacks me, you grab the whip and climb up!"
"You've got it Jila!" Haru nodded, then turned to Rion. "Rion, watch Jila's back. Distract it with magic if you have to."
"You bet, bro," Rion nodded, flashing a "thumb's up" at Haru.
"Okay! Operation Crazy Plan, commence!" Jila raised her hand into the air, then lowered it, as if giving a signal.
Haru ran to the left side of Jila, ready to grasp the whip when it came his way. Jila ran up towards the monster, hacking at its ankles as usual. Rion stood in the back, casting magic as to make sure the Dark Rose monster wouldn't get a good shot in on Jila. "Eat this, Heartless loser! FURY STRIKE!" Jila got a good Fury Strike in on the Heartless, and it looked down, its attention now on the tiny challenger before it. It rose its whip into the air, and Haru readied himself to grasp onto the whip.
The whip ripped downwards and Jila jumped straight over the sliding whip. Haru, however, held out his arms and grasped the whip.
"I'm up!" Haru shouted to his siblings as the whip reached the Heartless' shoulder. Haru wasted no time in jumping off and making a shaky landing on the shoulder of the Dark Rose monster. He then drew his Keyblade and rushed straight for the monster's head, impaling it.
The Heartless writhed in pain and let out a wild scream of anguish that the children hadn't heard from it before. Just as before, a crystalline heart rose from the gigantic monster, and, before the children's very eyes, it disappeared.
Leaving Haru in the air.
"WAAAAAAAHHHH!" Haru screamed as he fell back down to the ground. Jila and Rion rushed to their brother, catching him just before he hit the ground. Haru gave a sigh of relief as his siblings lowered him to his feet.
"Well, we did it guys!" Jila said. "We beat that Heartless!"
"You certainly did, my dears!" The Queen of Hearts said, coming out from her hiding spot and applauding.
"A pleasure, Your Majesty," Haru grinned. "Anyway, the letter writer is now disposed of! He was obviously trying to frighten Your Majesty in order to make your heart more susceptible to capture."
"Hey…what a minute!" said Jila, looking alarmed. "Where's Alice? I thought she was with you!"
The Queen looked at where she had been hiding, and the group saw no sign of Alice. She was gone. "She must have…wandered off during the fight…" Haru suggested.
"Wander off nothing…" Rion said darkly. "She was kidnapped. She's a Princess of Heart remember? Heartless attacks, threatening notes? This is no coincidence."
"But that means she was kidnapped right under our nose!" exclaimed Jila. "And who would want to kidnap the Princesses of Heart again?"
"I'm not sure…" Rion shook his head. "But something's up. Something is brewing right beneath us and I have no idea what."
"EXCUSE ME!"
The children sighed to see the Queen screaming once again at them, obviously not wanting to be ignored. "EXCUSE ME! Don't you children wish to be taken back to my Castle to be made my personal Knights?"
"What about Alice?" Jila asked. "We can't just leave her!"
"Alice would have been sentenced to death anyway for being in cahoots with the Heartless!" The Queen told the children.
"That makes no sense!" Haru intervened, only to have Rion put his hand on his shoulder, stopping him.
"Isn't that the way everything is here?" Rion sighed, shaking his head. "Anyway, obviously, there's nothing here of consequence. We know have to find Alice and find out just exactly what's going on around here."
"Rion's right!" Jila told her brothers. "We'd better get back to the Gummi Ship and head out to the next world. We've explored everything there is to here!"
"WHAT?" the Queen roared, growing red in the face. "For this you shall lose your heads! OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!"
"Sorry, we're out of here!" the three children said simultaneously, then ran out past the Queen. They sprinted towards the forest, the Card Guards doing a very poor job of pursuing them.
"I see…three Keyblade wielders. And they defeated the Dark Rose Monster…"
"Hah! A lucky shot!"
"Right! Couldn't have said it better myself!"
"Will you shut up, already? Your incessant banter is giving me a headache."
"What do you think, Maleficent?"
From the dark shadows, illuminated by a green stone tablet showing the three children running through the Wonderland forest, came the dark witch Maleficent, once thought to be destroyed by Ansem's hand. She smiled down at the three children, then touched her staff, erasing them from the tablet.
"Hey! I was watching that!"
"Too bad," Maleficent snapped. "Anyway, these runt Keyblade wielders should prove no problem to us."
"Have you contacted our leader yet?"
"You'll refer to her as 'Mistress' if you know what's good for you!" Maleficent snapped. The others in the room drew back at her harsh tone. "No. I have not yet contacted her. She's currently busy…"
"With what, per say?"
Maleficent grinned, her white teeth contrasting her green skin. "Getting our next piece, of course."
"Heehee…seems Alice is gone…"
Perched in the tree that led to the Queen's Castle was none other then the Cheshire Cat, grinning wildly as usual. "Again! Gone off! She really should pay attention. But then again, attention has so much money already!"
The Cheshire Cat gave a smiling sigh and once again took of his head. "Now that's a load of my shoulders."
"How about a load off your head?"
The Cheshire Cat continued to grin, even as a long, lance like object was thrust through his chest. It made no sound, no cry of anguish, and no laugh of delight. It simply remained silent, even as the object was taken out, a Keychain with a miniature Wonderland perched on the end. The figure then plucked the Keychain off the end and added it to the others amongst his or her collection.
The Cheshire Cat at first seemed no different, but, suddenly, its smile disappeared off its face.
The Cheshire Cat no longer smiled.
OH MY GOSH. That was so much typing! I seriously thought I was going to DIE. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I've always wanted to write a piece of Alice in Wonderland fanfiction, and, well, here it is!
Until then,
Ciao for now!