Reina took a deep breath. It felt weird to say the name of her hometown after all these years.

"Radiant Garden."

Xigbar pretended to think long and hard about the information relayed to him, as if testing out the name of her world as he repeated it a few times. "Radiant Garden, huh? Radiant Garden….Hm…Have I ever been to a Radiant Garden before? Let's see…" He abruptly snapped his fingers as if a thought had just hopped right into his brain. "Oh, wait! I think I do know that one. It's no longer called Radiant Garden anymore, right? It's now just Hollow Bastion. Shit, yeah, I have been there a few times, and I also happen to know a few people that once lived there. Man, what a shithole it became, am I right?"

The hairs on Reina's arms stood straight up at the mention of her hometown's new name. No longer the pretty, colorful world full of flowers and sunshine, Radiant Garden had been dreadfully renamed Hollow Bastion since the royal family disappeared from it. Darkness had eaten away at the city, filling the cobblestone streets with armies of nasty Heartless, and it was said that even the Mistress of All Evil herself, Maleficent, had completely taken control of the world. The castle Reina and her family had once thrived in was now a dark and dreary cathedral with weird machinery that operated in strange ways, and she didn't think any of its former residents still lived there. Most of the residents had flocked to worlds like Traverse Town to find refuge and start new lives since Hollow Bastion had become a hotspot for troublemakers. She had heard all this from Yuffie and the others, and there were even secret talks of them hoping to start up a Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee one day to help restore their home world back to the way it once was, but she wasn't sure how far their plans had progressed yet.

"How long has it been since you lived in Hollow Bast—I mean, Radiant Garden," Xigbar corrected himself quickly, but the sarcasm in his tone wasn't lost on her. "I mean, it had to have been a long time if you still refer to it as its former name. No one calls it that anymore. There's nothing radiant about it."

This is exactly why she didn't want to tell him where she came from. With Xigbar, there was never just one question. He wouldn't be satisfied until he knew everything there was to know about her.

"It's been almost eight years. We left right after my father disappeared. It wasn't safe for my mother and I to stay there anymore," she answered. "We moved to Traverse Town and have been living there ever since." There was of course a lot more to the story, but she hoped her grim expression would let him know she really, really didn't want to talk about it.

"You are your mom are lucky," he told her. "Once a world is taken over by darkness, not everyone makes it out safely. In fact, I heard a rumor or two that the whole royal family of Radiant Garden just kind of vanished, never to be seen or heard from again. Kinda' strange, don't you think? And apparently the king of the world just up and left before Maleficent and her goonies took over, leaving his entire kingdom wide open for an attack. I wonder what happened to him? A bit suspicious, if you ask me. A king who abandons his whole kingdom makes you wonder if he was much of a king to begin with."

Reina stopped walking. Xigbar continued heading down the path until he realized he couldn't hear her footsteps right behind him anymore, and he threw a glance at her over his shoulder. "Something wrong, sweetheart?"

"How do you know that?!"

The icy tone of her voice made him want to rile her up even more. "How do I know what, sweetheart?" He feigned ignorance, eager to see how she was going to respond to everything he had laid out.

Reina's jaw was clenched so tightly that her teeth were grinding painfully together, and her hands curled into tight fists at her side. Her fingernails bit into her skin, leaving crescent shaped marks in their wake, and if her first tightened any further then her nails would end up breaking right through the skin of her palm. She didn't care, though. Her blood was boiling over the nerve Xigbar had to not only insult her home, but the king of Radiant Garden as well was inconceivable, even if he had no idea that the royal family he spoke of actually belonged to her.

"How do you know all that about the king?!" With her heart in her throat, venom dripped from her voice, letting him know he had crossed a very dangerous line. The air was now thick around them, threatening to suffocate the girl as she glared the sharpest of daggers at the man who had dared to mock her father.

Amusement flared up in his amber eye, and he completely turned around to face her to get a better look at the fury burning in her gaze. "I know a lot of things about various worlds, babe. The Organization sends me all over the place to gather information and hunt down Heartless. I've met a few people that lived there a long time ago, like I said, and naturally, I'm going to do my research so I can hand my supervisor a satisfactory report on my findings. Can't go getting a bad grade in my work, now can I?"

She wasn't convinced that he was telling the full truth. Xigbar knew way too damn much about her world, more than any non-citizen would ever know, and that kind of information wouldn't be easy to obtain. She didn't like hearing her father's name slandered so harshly by an outsider, but what could she say to defend him that wouldn't give her identity away?

"He was a great king!" She shouted, unable to hold back her rising anger. "The best there ever was! He didn't just abandon his people. Something bad must have happened to him. Something bad must have happened to the whole family! They loved their people and would have done anything for them! So how dare you say that Ansem the Wise wasn't much of a king!"

Her little outburst brought out a tinge of heat to his steely gaze as he stepped toe to toe with her. There was a small gap of just a few inches that kept their upper bodies from touching, and with him standing so close to her, Reina had to crane her neck up just to look at him square in the face. "You must be a huge fan of Ansem the Wise. Either that, or you must have been close with him since every person I've met from Radiant Garden didn't really have nice things to say about him. So which is it, sweetheart?"

Reina didn't like the way he was trying to intimidate her by using his height and menacing stare to make her want to back down. As much as she wanted to put more space between them, she stood her ground and folded her arms across her chest. This wasn't something she was going to let go of so easily.

"I don't know what people you met that didn't like him, but everyone I knew in Radiant Garden loved Ansem. He was good to all his people," she told him with an angry scowl before brining her gaze down to her feet. "I, uh, wasn't close with him or anything, but I lived there long enough to know he was a wise and kind king." That last part was a lie. Of course she had been close to him—he was her father—but she quickly reminded herself not to accidentally blink four times in between sentences. He had told her earlier that her rapid blinking often gave her away whenever she lied, so as long as she didn't blink at all, he'd have no reason to doubt her.

He studied her face as if waiting for her to blink in succession, but she was keeping her expression as neutral as possible. "As if, sweetheart. The only reason you liked him as your king was probably because you didn't know any better. After all, if you say you're only twenty years old now, that would have made you thirteen years old when you last lived there. I bet you had no clue the kinds of dark secrets that circled around the palace."

Dark secrets? There were no dark secrets. Everything about Radiant Garden was wholesome. There were no turf wars, no heavy taxation on the citizens, no uprisings or revolutions, and everyone lived in peace until the darkness conquered their world. Nobody had any issues with Ansem the Wise, and if the palace had been harboring any dark secrets like Xigbar had claimed, Reina would have known about it, child or not.

"What do you know anyway?" The young woman scrunched up her nose at him as a sense of disdain ripped through her. If he was trying to plant seeds of uncertainty in her, it wasn't working. Xigbar thrived off Reina's flaring temper and got a sick enjoyment out of pushing her buttons. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of succeeding in making her doubt the sanctity of her father's name. "You're not from there. So what if you've researched the place or knew people that lived there? You know nothing of what Radiant Garden was like before."

"You sure about that? I mean, not to toot my own horn or anything, but I know an awful lot. I'm not Number II in the Organization for nothing. I'm very thorough in my research of other worlds." He explained while donning that same shit-eating grin he liked to wear whenever he was about to make another wisecrack. "The whole history of Radiant Garden's royal family is fascinating, really. I heard the queen was kind and compassionate, but I won't lie—I was always more interested in learning about the princess."

Reina swallowed hard before she shifted her weight from one foot to another. His cryptic way of speaking was sending her nerves into a fritz as she wondered what he was getting at. At this point, it was impossible for her to know what was buzzing around in that devious mind of his. Did he know that the girl standing in front of him was, in fact, Radiant Garden's princess, and he wanted to coax the truth out of her? Or was he just grabbing at straws, trying to find something to talk about that would set off another outburst for his own entertainment?

"Oh yeah?" Reina tried not to let her face give away the anxiety bubbling up within in. She even turned up her lips into a coy smile. The real trouble would be for her to try and not stumble over her next words. "What could you possibly know about her that would be interesting?"

He didn't wait before carrying on, using his hands to help add emphasis to his words as he held them out on display. "The princess, of course, was said to be very beautiful and graceful, kind of like a swan. Pure-hearted and dainty; the most polite and charming woman you'd ever meet. With hair as golden as the sun, and silky, smooth skin, I'm sure she had all kinds of suitors begging for her hand in marriage. If I had lived there, I'm sure even I would have been captivated by her beauty as well."

Well, that was the biggest load of bullshit she had ever heard. After nearly choking with a loud, obnoxious snort, Reina realized she had been worried for nothing. This guy may like to boast about his knowledge, but he was obviously just talking out of his ass. This time, it was her turn to be the one laughing.

"What's so funny?" He tilted his head to the side.

"I hate to break it to you, but you really don't know anything about Radiant Garden's royal family." The only thing he had gotten right so far was that the queen was kind and compassionate; everything else was utter drivel. The Princess of Radiant Garden had never been blonde, and furthermore, she had never received a marriage proposal in her life since she had only been thirteen years old when she escaped the kingdom. Reina would know that better than anyone since she was, in fact, the princess in question. She would have definitely remembered if she had been proposed to in the past, and the very notion of it made her laugh even more. "I guess you didn't read the right history books. The princess was a child when she left Radiant Garden and who knows where she ended up after the kingdom fell? How would anyone know what kind of woman she grew up into if no one has seen her since she was a damn kid?"

Xigbar lightly scratched at the scar on his face, pretending to be taken aback by the fact he had actually been wrong about something for once. "Oh, really? Damn. I could have sworn she was an adult when she disappeared from her world. I just heard so much about her in the past. Who knew all this time that the vision I had of a super gorgeous princess was actually about some dumb kid? I swear, rumors these days get twisted around so easily and it's hard to tell what's fact and what's fiction."

He waited for her to finally stop cackling at his ignorance before sliding a cool, steely gaze in her direction, his own smile dropping. "Unless you're the one with the incorrect facts. Who knows? Your memory about your home world might be a little foggy. You could have hit your head or something while escaping your home world."

"I assure you," Reina clicked her tongue in annoyance as she placed both hands on her hips, "I am not wrong about my own world's history, especially when I grew up there myself."

"Maybe you're right," he shrugged, adding an air of nonchalance to his movements by stretching his arms over his head to shake off the tenseness of his muscles. "It does make you wonder what happened to the royal family of Radiant Garden, though. Looks like nobody out there has the real facts. I mean, they could all be dead, for all we know."

His words were like a knife jabbing into an old scar, and the wounds in her heart that she had been working to ignore were reopening again. Xigbar was wrong; there were people out there who knew what happened to them. At least one member of the royal family was gone from this world, and an unwelcome memory crept its way back into Reina's mind. as she recalled being at her mother's side during last few moments, holding on tightly to her soft, fragile hand while begging her not to leave.

"Yeah…Maybe," Reina mumbled as she wrapped her arms around her shoulders to give herself a comforting hug.

Xigbar flicked his golden eye in her direction, watching as her anger from his previous comments finally simmered down. Her reaction had been exactly what he had expected, but now the grief was setting in as the reminder of what she had lost over the years was rising to the surface. He knew when to drop a subject, when to stop pushing, and now was definitely that time.

Pretending to act bored, Xigbar's jaw stretched with a loud, overdramatic yawn as he massaged a particularly tense spot on his shoulder with his left hand. "Enough about those royal pricks and Handsome the Kind, or whatever the hell the king's name was. We're burning daylight here."

Knowing that the touchy conversation was coming to a close, Reina could finally relax again. She hated digging up old memories like that, even more so to a stranger. "It was Ansem the Wise," she corrected him. "And you're the one who brought it up in the first place. Don't go sticking your nose into other people's pasts. That should be the first rule in any traveler's handbook, you know!"

"Whatever," he groaned before continuing on through the woods. "But hey, I do have some good news for you, Hot Stuff."

He had only taken a few more steps before halting. In front of him was a wall of tall grass that blocked his path like an immovable fence. The blades of grass stood over twenty-feet-tall and they stretched around the perimeter to block off any chances of moving forward. They were a peculiar barricade of sorts, and Reina wasn't sure how he could possibly have good news after bringing them to a dead-end.

"The good news is that we're here. The Mad Tea Party is just beyond this hedge." He looked mighty proud of himself as he leaned his shoulder against one of the green stalks. It was as stiff as an actual tree trunk and supported his weight, which only made Reina more annoyed.

"In case you didn't notice," Reina pointed to the wall of unbreakable greenery, "We just reached a dead-end. It doesn't look like we can pass through them, unless you plan on crashing through them like a bulldozer." She stepped forward until she was standing next to him, and she gave one of the stalks a rough shove to see how dense it was. Despite being a literal piece of grass, it was still the size and consistency of a solid brick wall. Would anything in Wonderland ever make sense?

Xigbar chuckled under his breath. "Oh, ye of little faith! You really ought to put more trust in me than that. We're not going to go through this wall or even around it."

Before the girl could ask what the other option was, Xigbar was already scooping her up in his arms princess-style with one arm hooked underneath her knees while the other supported her back. She was extremely light so he had no trouble sweeping her off her feet and holding her against his chest, and it wasn't until he had already lifted her up that she realized what was going on.

"Wh-What the hell do you think you're doing, you pervert?! PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!" Reina snapped with red, glowing cheeks. He had unexpectedly grabbed her without permission and her first instinct was to fight back as she rammed the heel of her palm against his chin.

Being hit square in the chin didn't make him drop the struggling woman, but he definitely contemplated on chucking her off the closest cliff after accidentally biting down on his tongue from her uppercut. "Calm down, woman! For fuck's sake, I wasn't trying to be suave or some shit! We're going to have to cross over this damn hedge, and the only way to do that is for me to carry you, unless you can fly!"

Still being cradled in his arms, the brunette stopped struggling so much but was visibly unhappy about being carried. "You could have told me that first! You can't just scoop up a girl without giving her a warning first!"

"Why not?" He joked despite the stinging of his tongue. He was going to have to pay her back for that later somehow since that shit really hurt. Her physical strength was a lot higher than he initially thought; he'd almost feel bad for anyone that tried to kidnap her in the future. She wouldn't make it easy, that was for sure.

"Most girls would just let out an embarrassed squeal or shy giggle if I tried to flirtatiously pick them up," he grunted. "Fuck, you made me bite my tongue…Not cool, babe. Not cool at all."

"Well excuse me for not wanting some creep to touch me! Now put me down and we can think of another way on how to cross over—"

"Not happening. Just hold on tight." Xigbar bent his knees in a crouch before springing upwards and off the ground in a big, dramatic leap. They were up in the air in seconds with Reina shrieking the whole way, and her hands reflexively jerked up and wrapped around his neck as soon as they neared the top of the grass wall. Reina felt light, almost weightless, as they gravitated upwards, but the rush of it all made her panic as she squeezed her eyes shut.

Flying and levitating in the air was easy for Xigbar since he could control the space around him. He even slowed down their acceleration into the air so he could enjoy the feeling of her arms tightening around him as she buried her face in the crook of his neck, too frightened to look down. Being a little over twenty feet in the air wasn't that high up and off the ground, at least in his mind, but she seemed to be dreadfully afraid of heights. Either that or she didn't trust that he wouldn't pretend to drop her as some sick joke.

"It's okay," he breathed against her, his voice soft and reassuring as he held her closer to him. "I promise I won't drop you."

Leaping up and over the wall of grass didn't take as long as Xigbar would have liked, and soon his feet were planted back on solid ground. With her head still tucked under his chin, face hiding against his neck, Reina showed no signs of letting go. He thought maybe she believed they were still in the air, and he knew he'd have to break the news that their little joyride was over sooner or later.

But ten more seconds couldn't hurt, he thought to himself.

He could smell the sweetness of her shampoo from their closeness, and the familiar smell was making him almost weak in the knees. She was so warm against him, and the way she was lightly trembling in his arms made him want to hold her like this forever. It had been far too long since he had direct human contact with someone like this and there was no denying how nice it felt to have her in his arms. It felt right, like this was the way things were supposed to be with them, but he knew she wouldn't see it that way. Not yet, at least. He needed time. She would eventually realize the truth and then-

"..Is it over?"

Her small, quiet voice let him know he needed to go ahead and put her down. If she realized he was just standing there like a goofball, she'd get mad again and probably give him another punch or two. His jaw couldn't handle another direct hit, he decided.

"Yeah, we're back on ground. Want me to put you down now, or are you going to clutch onto me all day? Not that I mind, of course. I could even carry you the rest of the way, if you'd like." He waited for her reaction, knowing it would be just as overdramatic and loud as all of her other reactions, but it took a few long seconds for her to finally raise her head and take a look at their surroundings.

"We're back on ground," she repeated what he had just said, stating the obvious while still quivering from the jump over to the hedge. She didn't pay any mind to his flirtations.

Xigbar gave her a nod. "Uh, yeah. Been on ground for at least a solid sixty seconds now. You okay to stand on your own?"

Slowly, Reina began to move around against him so he lowered her down to make it easier for her to get back on her own two feet. She was a little wobbly, like a newborn fawn trying to walk for the first time, and her cheeks were alarmingly pale.

"Well damn," Xigbar mumbled. "You really must be really petrified of heights. I guess you were always were a bit of scaredy cat, but I didn't think it was this bad."

Reina could only give him a weak nod before she took a single step away from him, determined to stand on her own without using him support. "Yeah, there are only two things I'm scared of: Heights and dark, enclosed spaces." She tried to shake off her dizziness, a bit irritated he hadn't given her any time to mentally prepare for such a crazy stunt. At least he didn't drop her. That had to count for something. She took a few breaths, steadying herself on the ground, before turning her head to look at him.

"Wait, what do you mean by the last thing you said?" She asked.

Now that she was catching her bearings, she realized Xigbar had been acting strangely. She had heard him whisper something softly in her ear while they were in the air, but she hadn't quite caught it.

His only real response to her question was a shrug of his shoulders. "Ah, don't worry about it. Just rambling like I always do… Hey! Look!" He nodded his head in the direction of a white picket fence that led to a new path. They were at the far end of the woods, and a few trees and bushes towered over the fence, making it hard to see what lied just ahead.

"Mad Tea Party is just through this gate. You ready?"

Reina, however, was still hung up on his previous statement. You were always a bit of a scaredy cat. What did he mean by always? Had he known her before? There was no way. She would have definitely remembered meeting a guy like Xigbar, no matter how long ago it was. He was a quirky character, not someone you could easily forget, and yet Reina still felt that there was something oddly familiar about him.

She was staring right him, gaze sweeping over the black eyepatch and then down to his high cheekbones before finally settling on that jagged scar across his cheek. Yes, there was something strangely familiar about him. Even just standing there looking at his face gave Reina a bizarre sense of déjà vu, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't seem to dig up a single memory involving a man with an eyepatch named Xigbar. Not one.

"What are you staring at, princess? Come on. Let's go. We don't have time to waste." He was already turning his back on her and walking through a white gate underneath a grove of apple trees that lead to a brand-new cobblestone path.

This wasn't the time to dwell on stupid things. She knew without a doubt that she had never met Xigbar before—neither in Radiant Garden nor Traverse Town—so there was no point in letting herself get carried away by her thoughts. This was Wonderland, after all, and maybe her mind was slowly falling down a rabbit hole, making her second guess her memories or believe she had met people in the past when she never did. The sooner she got out of this world, the better.

"Oh, uh, right. I'm coming!"

Reina wasn't sure what was waiting for them at the Mad Tea Party, but Xigbar was right—they didn't have time to waste.