||Episode 3 - Part III: Evidence for Alice||
"Oh, dear..."
Her hand flew to her mouth as the Queen of Hearts wandered from her throne. Alice began to worry exceedingly as the wicked and misguided ruler muttered and grumbled all sorts of words regarding the brave guests out searching for her way out of her cage. They did look like a capable bunch, so her eyes could tell. It was the girl's heart that decided for her to put her trust in them. However, no matter how much she put in, nothing could quell her desire for the queen to spare them.
An unfortunate circumstance that the four of them were unaware of. The girl wished dearly that there was something she could do to overturn the action. If she wasn't in that cage, then she could run and get help. But... Alice was devastated to be trapped.
"They are taking far too long!" shouted the Queen of Hearts as she paced across the field. Several of her cards were following as they were ordered, but some were unfortunately in her way and were trampled underfoot. "I cannot wait a minute longer!"
"My queen!" a guard came running from the castle doors and hurried to the Queen of Hearts. Tapping her heart wand impatiently, the queen huffed and awaited the news he had to bring. Her impatience had to be satisfied or else she would burst from all the pent up rage within. "We've received word that those children have made it to the lotus forest. What should we do?"
Alice, listening to the interaction between the queen and her men, shuffled closer to the iron bars to view them. What was that? She could have sworn that the queen grinned darkly at the announcement of their whereabouts. It was a wicked grin on that plump face of hers. Something bad was afoot.
間
It took some time, but our searching made a little bit of progress. We found our first piece of evidence while looking through all of the forest, and it was in a rather obvious spot. Where the trees opened up, there was a small clearing hidden away from the rest of the forest. These footprints meandering through the area were suspicious and did not belong to any human. Too big to belong to that girl back at the court. What was more- strange black wisps were rising from around the edges of the imprints in the ground.
I knelt down and examined the evidence. My head rested on my right hand, whereas my elbow was propped up on my knee. It was tempting to reach down and touch the unusual substance, but I refrained from doing so. Who knew what would happen if I tried to? What I did know was that, when hovering a hand over the footprints, there was a cold feel in the air.
"Think that's from the Heartless?" Donald asked. Shrugging his shoulders, he used his magic to contain the piece of evidence in order to bring it back to the Queen of Hearts anyway. "I'll keep it with me so it doesn't get lost."
A barrier of some kind formed around a chunk of the earth, trapping within it the evidence. Sora and I were amazed to see Donald using his power in a more unorthodox method, and he was able to keep from disturbing the footprint, too. That's the first of it. Now we just need a little more to save Alice. I smirked at the thought of defeating that obnoxious queen at her little game- whatever that was.
"I bet there's more evidence somewhere else in this forest," Sora said. "We'd better split up to cover more ground."
"Good idea, Sora!" Goofy nodded his head repeatedly. Tapping his palm on Donald's shoulder, he smiled happily and gave a thumbs up. "Us two can check around this place for more."
"Guess that leaves you and me," I turned to Sora as Donald and Goofy went off in search for more evidence.
So, we traveled away from the others with the hope that we'd be able to find something solid. Much of the time was spent chattering about random topics floating around in our heads. The small conversation made up for the tediousness of our task and made it so we weren't too bored with it until we found what we needed. I found it helpful in getting rid of some of the pent up stress caused by- well, everything we went through since coming to this world. It was like a weight was beginning to lift from my shoulders. The burdens I knew were there had somehow been lightened. Of course, that did not mean that they were all gone. Just made easier to deal with than before.
I smiled softly and glanced over to Sora as we climbed up a large tree. In part, it was thanks to him for the relief, so it would be appropriate to express my thanks in that. Pulling myself onto a sturdy branch big enough to stand on, I helped Sora up and admired the sight of the forest floor. The view I could see was unlike anything ordinary. Everything looked so huge compared to what I had seen before. The trees and shrubs, such as the big one we were standing on now, were behemoth in size.
"What the-" Sora got to his feet and looked down at what I was seeing. "Did we shrink?! I can't see Donald and Goofy anywhere!"
"I think so," I said, trying to spot the other two somewhere in the mix of forestry. It was just as we were thinking. We had somehow shrunk down, like when we were back in the bizarre room. Or, perhaps we had always been this small. I doubted that drink actually wore off. "Anyway, we better look for the evidence."
"Right," Sora nodded. "That way! Or... that way?"
Not very many places to go up in a tree. I sighed and rubbed my temples as Sora pointed in two different directions. We had no time to wonder which way to go, so a random route was taken. Further along through the trees and into a dark tunnel of branches was the way we went. It winded back and forth, sloping downward and sometimes upward. What's that? It looks like a light. Something was brimming up ahead. One last time, we climbed down a slope until the tree tunnel straightened out. Then, I could see that there was a light at the end of it.
Sure enough, when we got closer to the light and stepped through to the other side, we found ourselves at the end of the winding path. Where Sora and I ended up took us by surprise. My mind ticked, trying to make something out of the peculiar mapping of Wonderland. There might not have been any logical explanation for us ending up back at the bizarre room.
Weird... I thought as my feet touched down on the creaking wood of a bookshelf overlooking the bizarre room. The way back to the forest was still behind us, so it was possible to regroup with Donald and Goofy. This world is really puzzling.
"Lu, look!" Sora called out to me. Spotting him on the other side of the shelf, I could see him holding up a black stick of some kind. A stick radiating with the same kind of darkness we saw with the footprints! I hurried over to Sora to get a closer look at it. This was definitely not a stick. Taking it into my hands, I examined the crooked object that was unusually smooth to the touch. "What do you think it is? I feel like I've seen that thing somewhere before."
"Um..." I tried to figure out why it was so familiar. "A piece of the Heartless? I think it might be an antenna."
But, how could that be?
"Very clever, children!" the Cheshire Cat appeared atop one of the large books. "Is a little piece of something whole enough to save the girl? Try putting it all together. The queen might believe you then. Or, maybe not."
"You!" Sora pointed his finger at the striped cat. "What are you doing here? And what do you mean?!"
"Cheshire Cat means a lot of things!" he responded lightly. Swishing his fat tail around, the Cheshire Cat chuckled and wiggled a finger at us. "As for you children... what are you? I'd be careful going back to the castle, too. Good or bad? Light or darkness? The queen doesn't discriminate."
"Are you... telling us that the Queen of Hearts is up to something?" I questioned.
"Am I or am I not," the Cheshire Cat went on. "Better check on your friends on the way. Those cards are looking rather angry."
"That doesn't sound good," Sora blurted.
"Before you go, take this present!" Cheshire Cat tossed something at us, but it was no giftwrapped box. It was a ball of light that divided into two. One plunged into Sora's chest and the other circled around me before doing the very same thing. Suddenly, a chilly feeling came over me as the light glimmered around my body. It faded away after a brief moment. "Whether it helps or not depends entirely on the two of you. Ta-ta!"
Cheshire Cat was gone again, and we were left wondering what it was he had given us. That was until Sora threw his hand behind him. A thick block of ice shot out from a flash of light that sparked from his hand. The block crashed into the wall, splattering and freezing where it had hit.
"Whoa!" he exclaimed. "Did I just do that? He must've given us some magic, Lu."
"Yeah," I breathed out. To test out the power myself, I held out my hand to shoot another block of ice at the same place Sora had. The ice shot out and refroze the wall, coating it in thick ice. A new gift of magic and another piece of evidence were pocketed. Now, we had to go and regroup with the other two. "Okay, so that'll help a lot. Come on, Sora. We need to go find Donald and Goofy."
I tried my best to hurry through the tunnel, but the branches were too weak to support my rush. Sora was able to get through just fine even with his big shoes, but he was a bit lighter than me. That couldn't have been the problem, though. My weight was supported before. Ugh... I yelped when my foot fell through. Part of my leg was ensnared by the branches, making it extremely difficult to get back up. Darn it! I was being way too careless. Now I'm all stuck...
My foot wouldn't come free no matter how many times I tried to yank it out from the tangled branches. Maybe they were actually twigs considering our presently small size. Either way, I was caught in a situation that wasn't too good. It became increasingly bothersome each second I struggled. My clenched fist lightly pounded a thick piece of wood as my aggravation increased. Should've been more careful!
"Lu!" I glanced up in time to see Sora climbing back down to me. The growing anger subsided as he grabbed my arm to support me, but my leg was unable to be freed from its trap. "I-I can't get you out of there. What's up with these branches?! It's like they're moving on their own!"
He did have a point about that. It seemed like the more we struggled against them, the more they winded around my leg. This was no good. At the rate things were going, the Queen of Hearts would probably move forward with punishing Alice. We were taking too long- I was causing a problem. That meant only one thing for us. Sora needed to hurry on ahead and present the evidence with Donald and Goofy to get the queen's forgiveness. I needed to stay behind and not slow them down. At least I could catch up to them later.
"Take this," I handed the crooked antenna to Sora, which he reluctantly took. This was the best idea I could come up with at the moment, but we had no other options to work with. "Get to the others and stop the queen. I'll make my way there once I get out. Got it?"
"But, I can't just leave you here..." Sora shook his head. "What if those cards or the Heartless find you?"
Fair point. I sighed and looked around the area. Creepy sounds from everywhere. There was no telling what was waiting to pop out from the shadows. It could have been anything, even a Heartless. Then... "Then, I'll fight my way out. Just get going!"
間
"Hey, what do you think you're doing?!"
Donald shouted at the top of his lungs when a spear nearly came down on his head. It was an uncalled action in his book, but the cards were not so quick to listen to his protests. Using his staff to knock one of them back, the royal wizard hopped back to stand with Goofy while the squadron gathered around. They were surrounded by the queen's pawns and there was no way out of the trap.
"Oh, no!" Goofy whimpered, blocking another attack from an axe-wielding card. "These guys sure mean business. What do we do?"
"We have to fight our way out of here, Goofy!" Donald ordered.
They made the move to fight, but it was no use. Too many cards came in at once, forcing the duo to surrender to them. Donald lost his staff, and Goofy his shield, when the cards restrained them. It was back to the castle without the rest of the evidence. All that had been collected was dismissed by the cards during their return. Being guided to the queen's domain, they noticed that Sora and Luxe were still missing.
"Do ya think they'll be okay?" Goofy whispered to Donald on the way.
"I sure hope so..." Donald whispered back. "We'll have to wait it out until they come back."
Domed cages awaited Donald and his companion. Like sacks of wheat, the cards tossed them inside and closed the doors to prevent their escape. Alice, distraught upon seeing her hopeful heroes arrested, slumped at the base of her own prison. All of them, save for the queen, were at a loss for words. None did see the wicked grin forming on the face of the Queen of Hearts, nor did they see the sinister shadow lurking behind her throne.
Back within the mysterious lotus forest, Sora was running as fast as he could to the queen's castle. He saw tracks belonging to his new friends, but they were mixed with those belonging to others. The tracks led all the way to the forest's exit, Sora realized as he approached familiar signs.
"Hold on, you guys!" Sora gritted his teeth and bravely departed for their rescue without looking back. Of course, he did feel bad for leaving his friend behind like that. Surely she would be fine. She was always fine, even during the hardest of times.