A Serendipitous Key of Hope
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Naruto, or other Shonen Jump characters, themes or such and such.
- Omake -
None this time
The XV Keyhole: Shadow Through the Looking Glass, and What Became of Shine
A figure dressed in that familiar black coat stumbles through the halls of a white castle. Despite standing out like a sore thumb among competent fingers because of the clashing colors, the man continues undisturbed. Eventually he comes upon a towering storage room, finding what he's been trekking for.
He holds a hand out, causing dark energy to form into a sphere and blow open the locks. He storms the room, coming across a treasure room. The man steps further inside, coming to a cabinet; black smoke leaks out from the cracks of its doors, as if responding to him. With a single wave of his hand the door opens, and out flies a piece of paper; it is another page of the poem.
"'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wave;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.'" He laughs. "That should about do it. Now for the last." He disappears into darkness with the poem.
Donald and Goofy look up as the light of the new day comes before them. The card guards come to their cell knocking. "Awaken, those of you who has conspired against the queen. You shall all be put on trial, and your fate shall be decided by her graciousness."
"Ah phooey. This isn't fair!"
Despite Donald's complaint, the cards lead them off through the dank hallways. The annoying drips of water does nothing to distract them from their impending doom. The solar sky shines down upon them revealing the courtyard to their adjusting eyes. A whole court full of people, the big headed red queen herself they knocked over, and a tiny male as her consort. And not a sign of Naruto anywhere to be found. Things aren't looking up.
"Almost there, almost there!" A little white rabbit rushes to the court, running up a staircase. He raises a horn and blows a tune. "Your majesty, members of the jury, loyal subjects..." He hears a noise. The small man waves. "And the king... The Queen of Hearts V. Intruders Donald Duck and Goofy!"
The queen steps forward from her podium, "The crime of which you are being accused of is humiliation of the queen, 1 count; barging into my castle unaccounted, 2 counts; defiling my eyes with their horrid appearances-"
"Hey!"
"-3 counts; not revealing the identity or location of their accomplish, 2 counts; being the ones who sent over white roses and attempting to cover it up by painting them red-"
"Wait, wha-"
"35 counts; and causing destruction of the land with your horrid claws and such; well, it all adds up to you being screwed." After her words, she raises her nose over them. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
"You're out of you mind!" Donald shrieks, causing the courtroom, er courtyard, to flinch in terror. "We just got here and all of a sudden you're adding all these charges for things we didn't even do! You're fweaking crazy!"
"Uh, Donald, don't you think that'll be making it worse?" Goofy asks, being able to read the situation calmly.
"SILENCE!" The queen's voice could be heard resonating through the entire garden. Her face, as furious as the color she sports, is fed up with that talking duck. "How dare you defy me!? The courtroom finds you both GUILTY AS CHARGED!
"OFF WITH THEIR HEADS AT THIS VERY MOMENT!"
The card guards gather together before Donald and Goofy, their spears and axes pointed to kill. "Oh no!" Goofy shields himself while Donald squawks.
"Wait, stop!" Out of nowhere, Alice slides in after pushing down the card men. They go down rather easily. "You can't execute them!"
"Oh, you again? Do you wish to share their fate?"
"Actually, there's one piece of evidence you forgot to check." Alice holds up a piece of cake. She then eats it, and subsequently becomes a 50 foot tall woman. The whole courtyard goes into panic, the queen herself shrinking in fear. Alice reaches down and pulls off Donald and Goofy's chains, her strength enhanced by her massive size.
"Don't just stand there! Do something!" The queen orders her men to take action, but at that moment Naruto comes in out from behind her and wham! One strike from the Keyblade and she's out like a light.
"Takes care of that." Naruto then watches as everyone runs away. "... What uh... What are they running for?"
"They're bloody cowards, the lot of them," Alice says before taking a seat on the grass bush wall. "Still, nothing's changed if I'm stuck here."
The queen's body ruffles a bit. They notice this and turn to her. From behind her dress flies out a piece of paper, the last section of the poem. Naruto sees it and reaches out running, but the paper flies away from his reach. "What?!"
The piece flies over in the air, before being grasped by a single hand. The man is revealed to be the one from before, who infiltrated the dominion of white, and holds out a long piece of paper. The poem from earlier merges with it, and floats in the air. Darkness shoots out, blowing away Naruto, Alice, Donald and Goofy. The giant lady shrinks in size to her normal, smaller self, the man cackling with laughter.
"You! Are you the guy who attacked me back on Konoha three years ago?!" Naruto shouts, extremely angry upon gazing at his appearance.
The man ignores him for a great deal of time, giving once second before turning his face downward. "Ah, Naruto Uzumaki, the Keyblade's chosen one. Sorry to say this, but this is our first meeting. Congratulations on escaping your tiny little home, and taking a step out into a much bigger world."
"Cut the malarkey and tell me what you're up to!"
"You should be more worried about the Heartless. Soon, the Jabberwock will take over this world and flood it into darkness." The man disappears into a portal of darkness.
"Blast..." Naruto swears, before turning to the others. "What now?"
"We have to find out where he went!" Donald mumbles.
"Who was that?" Alice asks.
"Don't worry about it; he's probably the reason you've been in this world." Naruto tells her, still wondering what to do.
The trio think of what to do to solve this situation; their puzzling continues until they see a smiling face condense into existence before their puzzlers grew sore. "What the?"
"You seem to be in a bit of trouble." They all know exactly who it is; it's the talking Cheshire Cat.
"Oh, guess we're doing this again," Naruto says with pure and utter annoyance. But that's when a thought enters his mind. "Wait, hold up. Do you know what could be happening?"
"Could be." That toothy grin grows wider. "You might be able to save everyone if you go to that room you were in before."
"Room?" The trio turn to eachother, and come to the conclusion of what exactly that is he's talking about. "The talking doorknob!"
"You better hurry up; they might go after that door too." The cat disappears, leaving a trail of his smoke to lead them back.
"Well, you heard the cat; let's go!" Naruto sends the Keyblade away before running off, holding up Alice in his arms.
They trek through the forest path heading towards the room they entered through. Though along the way, another set of Heartless stand in front of them. This unfortunate group turns out to be two Large Bodies backed by a set of Magic Heartless: Red Nocturne, Blue Rhapsody and Yellow Opera.
"Alice, stay back!" Naruto places the girl beside a tree, summoning his Keyblade.
"Wait! We don't have our weapons!" says Donald in shock.
"Oh yeah, sorry." Naruto tosses over the shield and scepter he carried behind him to Goofy and Donald respectively.
The first Large Body rushes in to attack, sliding on its belly to flatten them. The trio jump away at the last second, Donald and Goofy to the side while Naruto takes directly above. He lands on top of the Heartless and accidentally slips, hitting his face with a thud.
"Naruto!" Donald shouts before using a fire spell at the Large Body. A Red Nocturne flies in the way, absorbing the attack. "Uh oh."
"I guess those guys are immune to fire," Naruto realizes as he recovers to his feet. He then fires a Blizzara shot, but a Blue Rhapsody takes the hit and absorbs it. 'That one works on ice... Then the other one... What's yellow?'
A Large Body grabs Goofy from behind. "Goofy!" Naruto attempts Strike Raid to save him, but it only bounces off its belly. "Blast!"
He runs around to get at it from behind, but the colored Heartless shoot at him with fire, ice and lightning spells. "That's it; Wind!" Using Aero, he gathers them together and blows the Heartless away. He then kicks the Large Body in the back of the head, knowing it wouldn't be carried away, and gets it to drop Goofy. With one strike he knocks it away from Goofy, and then flexes his arm feeling as if he pulled something.
The floating Heartless gather together turning their eyes downward upon Naruto and the gang. "We need to do something about these guys."
"Donald, let's hit them with Aerora together," Naruto suggests holding his Keyblade upward.
Together, they hold their weapons up at once, causing a hurricane to blow all around and suck in the Heartless. The Large Bodies charge in belly forward.
"Uh oh." Naruto cancels his half of the storm to block with Goofy, the former managing to knock him in a twirl. At that moment a flash of insight hits him, one he hasn't felt since the Kingdom of the Sun. He rushes in at the fat Heartless and rapidly bashes the creature's behind, before sliding around and kicking it upward into the hurricane. He then throws the Keyblade into the storm, watching his blade ride the wind and slash through each monster floating in the hurricane.
Donald calls off the storm, his mana almost depleted at this moment, leaving only the Large Body they've largely ignored left alive. Naruto watches as it comes in at them belly ready to crush them. "Naruto!" Donald casts Thundara on Goofy's shield, causing him to toss it away.
Naruto sees the electrified shield, and that same flash of insight calls him to make a move. Without thinking he strikes the shield, sending the spinning weapon forward. This shield moving faster than a speeding bullet easily cuts through the Large Body, despite its fat stomach being in their way in the first place. It explodes, turning into a floating heart.
"Alright, we did it!" The trio give a brief cheer, before immediately moving on with Alice along the path the cat left them. Eventually they reach the ruined forest they stumbled upon on their initial arrival.
"Hey, Naruto," Donald begins from behind Alice and Naruto. "What did you guys do while we were locked up? And why didn't you save us earlier?"
Naruto feels a little guilty for doing that. "Sorry about that. I ran into Alice while running off, and we were going to help. But then we ran into trouble."
– Chain of Memories –
Shortly after their escape from the queen's courtyard, Naruto and Alice make it into the Lotus Forest. Alice rubs Naruto's claw wounds with a wet cloth. "Thanks Alice."
"So, your friends have been captured by the Queen of Hearts? I feel bad for you."
"Queen of Hearts? Wasn't that the Red Queen?"
"No, the Red Queen is out on business. When she's not around she has the Queen of Hearts and the king run the domain, or atleast that's what I've been told," Alice tells him. "There are allot of impossible things here I don't get."
"I don't get this either. Like, disappearing cats? That's impossible!" The blond swordsman sighs before throwing his body back to lay on the grass.
Alice looks down at him, before staring up almost into the distance. "I often think of ten impossible things every day."
Of course Alice's response would promote a queer look in Naruto's eyes as he stares at her. That's just not normal; though as his expression calms and replaces with a smile, he begins to like her. "You're alright. Alright, let's start up a plan to save Donald and Goofy."
"Do you have one?" she asks him, though his response of shaking the head tells him nothing. "I kind of do." Alice digs into her pockets, taking out an enlarged crumb.
"One of the crumbs from that... OH!"
– Memories Return –
"And that's how we came up with this plan," says Alice holding her head. "After all this, I still don't have a way home."
"Alice, we'll get you home as soon as we stop that poem." Naruto looks up ahead and spots the door. "There it is!"
They run up to the talking door and Donald grabs the knob. "Ow! Hey, knock it off!"
"No! Now tell us how to get her home!" shouts the duck.
"Oh, alright! Maybe you can get rid of that thing on the other side." The door opens up, allowing them passage to the other side. Naruto passes through with the others, and promptly return to the room they entered into before.
"We're back..." Naruto looks around before taking up his Keyblade. "But I don't see anything that might be a threat."
"Yoo-hoo! Up here!" The four of them crane their necks to the ceiling, and spot the talking cat on top of a table. "You'll get a better view of what's going on from up here."
Naruto turns to Donald and Goofy, before shrugging. They then work together to climb the chair, and reach the top where the table rests. Alice stays at the bottom. The cat then stands on his tail.
"The shadows will be here soon. If you're not ready, well then too bad." The Cheshire Cat points skyward. Everyone instinctively turn to the ceiling, and out of nowhere a Heartless taller than the table they stood on flips onto the scene. The cat's gone too."
"What the?!" Naruto is utterly flabbergasted. Where the heck did that thing come from? 'We just checked the ceiling earlier; where did that come from?'
The Heartless takes out two maracas and juggles them. Looking at it, Naruto can see that familiar Emblem. "Alright guys, let's take it out."
"Hold it." From a Corridor of Darkness emerges a man in a black coat. "Hello."
"You! You just won't give up do you?!" Naruto shouts, him, Donald and Goofy getting ready to fight.
"Thank you for collecting the pages to the Jabberwock's poem."
"What is the Jabberwock?" Naruto asks him in a threatening tone.
Instead of answering, the man reads off an enlarged piece of paper. THE paper with the poem:
"Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought-
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And as in uffish thought he stood
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe. Let the world find darkness again!" As he concludes, darkness emerges from the paper and surrounds the Heartless, significantly altering its form. "The Jabberwocky was a raging demon summoned to Wonderland years ago. By a man with a key." This surprises him. "This old villain brought the dragon to Wonderland to cause havoc, but then one came upon the demon with the Vorpal Sword and slew it. Its heart shattered into pieces of darkness and expelled into several pieces, which is these poems. Now that they're together, I can utilize their power to resurrect through a Heartless!"
The Heartless fully morphs into a slithering figure, bat wings sprouting taller than the light of the room. Its forked tail slams into the table, bending it down and sending all three flying. Its fangs dripping with purple venom expose, yellow eyes glaring down upon its prey.
"What the heck are we gonna do now?!" Donald shouts in fear, staring up at the purple scaled Heartless.
From the top of the Heartless appears the earlier form's top, still juggling. Naruto sighs. "It's never easy, is it?" The dragon head charges an energy attack of purple lightning and fires, forming Donald to block using his own lightning magic.
"Naruto, Goofy! Do something!" Donald squawks, still tired from the fight earlier.
"Naruto!" Goofy holds up his shield.
However he just stares questionably. "What?"
"Jump on!" Naruto gets it then, and after leaping over Goofy the dog pushes him skyward using the shield. The Keybearer rockets upward at the Heartless, who tilts to the left and avoids him. Naruto gets caught in the wing and tossed aside, hitting his head and back on the stove. "Oops!"
"We need to do something about those heads..." Naruto looks at the top of the Heartless, before looking down at the bottom half that's the dragon. "Hmm..."
Donald gets blown away by lightning. Feeling he has no time to think anymore, Naruto rushes in at the dragon thing on pure instinct. He draws his sword and throws a Strike Raid, which as it spirals ignites on fire. The Fire Raid hits the Heartless, bouncy off it but also igniting it. Naruto then fires Blizzara all over, and the ice melts all over covering the monster in water.
Naruto then shouts, "Donald, now," and the duck wizard sees that all the water has covered the dragon half. Donald fires a Thundara, causing the dragon to fire back. But the lightning spreads all over its body, electrocuting it. Thundara adds to the pain, causing the top Heartless to forcefully pull itself off.
"Yes!" Naruto runs down the table to where Goofy is. "Goofy, remember that shield toss we did?"
"Oh, yeah!" He holds up the shield, and Naruto strikes it hard using Stun Edge. His move sends an electric shield spinning at the Heartless so fast it bisects the two opposing halves. The top Heartless floats to the floor like paper, while the dragon writhes in pain before dissolving into a mass of darkness. Said sludge seeps away through the keyhole of the door.
Naruto gets into a stance ready to cut it down. But then the man lands before the Heartless, protecting it. "What are you doing?"
"I've already lost interest in this world. I just wanted to full this Heartless with darkness, a valuable experiment." He then holds his hand back, causing a hole of darkness to open up and swallow the Heartless. "But whether I stay is not important; this world is still doomed like the rest of them." He then fades into the dark.
"Wait!" Naruto jumps in after him, but fails. "Where do those things go anyway?!"
The door makes grunting sounds. "Sheesh, could you keep it down? What's a doorknob gotta do to get some sleep?" Said open and close wall yawns annoyingly.
Naruto storms over there ready to hit it over the head. "Now look here you glorified shoji!" Naruto raises his Keyblade, but as he does he notes a strange light in its keyhole mouth. "Hmm?"
To his surprise, hs Keyblade shakes and moves in front of the hole, shooting out a beam of light to enter. The light fades, and a strange noise resounds. "What the?"
The door falls fast asleep, and out drops two items: a keychain colored silver with an ace of heart card, and a weird Gummi piece. Donald and Goofy come over, the former asking, "What was that?"
"I don't know," Naruto replies, picking up the two items. "Looks like a chain you put your keys on, and this looks like... I actually don't know what the heck this is."
"Looks like a Gummi piece!" Goofy says as he takes it. "How did a Gummi get stuck here?"
"Well, if that guy left then there's no reason to stay here." Naruto pockets the chain before turning to the door one last time. 'I could have sworn something locked up.'
The trio then look around seeking Alice. "Alice? Where are you?" Silence. Such a lack of action worries them.
Goofy frowns. "Gawrsh, I hope she's okay."
"She must have left during the fight. Probably found her way home," Donald states. "Let's get moving!"
"Shouldn't we atleast take a few minutes to look for her?" Not wanting to answer, Donald eats the crumb and regrows in size. "You guys still had yours?!"
"Uh huh!" Goofy eats his, and becomes normal again. Naruto digs through his pockets in search for his crumb, and after finding it devours the stuff. Goofy then laughs, saying, "Wish we had remembered during the fight."
'I really need to pay more attention.' With this last thought, Naruto and the gang walk out the room towards where they came in. And after one more glance Naruto makes worrying over Alice, they never look back.
The Gummi Ship takes off into space. Naruto look back to the world as they leave, Goofy asks, "Naruto, are you okay?"
"Yeah, just fine. Worried about Alice."
"Don't worry. It's her world isn't it?" Naruto drops his head at Donald's response. "What? You wanna go back?"
"Actually, I really hated that place," says the blond Keybearer. "But I don't want to just abandon people I become friends with. Hopefully she's okay."
"Don't worry too much; it's not like anyone was after her!" Goofy says hoping to cheer them up.
Elsewhere...
Night falls in a kingdom by the sea. Tens of ships gather in this spring world and collect underneath the mountain ringed dome. People collect before the main castle, where many bring gifts and such. In the halls of the most important castle, a girl rushes through happily. "Today's the day! Today's the day!"
She looks around and spots someone in a black cloak walking by. "Hmm?" She follows him down the hall, only to find no one there. "Where'd he go?"
"Princess Anna, come here!" The girl turns around hearing her name be called, and heads in that direction. Her eyes occasionally glance back, still expecting to see someone there.
Back in Wonderland...
"Alice! Alice!" Alice opens her eyes suddenly. She finds herself on the side of a tree, having fallen asleep.
"Huh? Wha..." The little girl looks around, seeing she has returned to her home. "Oh my? Was it all a dream?"
"You again having these silly dreams. You won't become a proper lady at this rate," she tells her, before leading her off. As she leaves, Alice misses the rabbit hole beneath the tree she laid upon. There, disappearing eyes watch her.
Yusei: And that ends this chapter. And the Wonderland Arc.
Manabu: Next up, well, you can probably guess.