Yes I finally updated. Let me just say that these last couple weeks have been busy. Got back from con, got con flu. Helped my dad with the car. Got put on weight loss pills cause apparently I need to lose weight and some side effects of the medication are anxiety/hyperactivity, perfect thing for writing. Concentration problems, great for writing. And sleeping problems. Wonderful. Also my laptop charger decides to stop working, so I order another one to find out that it doesn't work. Come to find out that its not the charger that's the problem, its the charging port itself that's bad. So yeah busy.

Anyways onto the happy stuff.

Thank you to v.t.7 for leaving reviews! I feel you on the school thing, and even though you don't enjoy the pairing I'm so happy that you keep reading! Thank you for being able to over look the paring and enjoy the story! And I wish I could say that I was sorry that I made you cry...but I can't because at least someone else besides me cried while reading it! Some background info on this story, the first idea I had of this story was Riku dying like that. I formed the rest of the story around that idea. And I did watch a little bit of TMNT but I don't think I saw that episode. And Sora will still have some moments of slipping back into the stages of grief here and there, once some of the action dies down. Trust me, I'm horrible to characters. Also you make me blush every time you review.

Enjoy!


Alice wasn't lying when she said that Wonderland had changed. She only failed to say how much it had changed. The moment the trio stepped out of the portal the putrid smell of pollution and waste hit them like a train. Never had Wonderland smelled this rotten.

Sora and Kairi gagged at the smell, eye's watering as their food threatened to force itself up their throats. Cloud seemed the least affected out of the group only needing to cover his nose and mouth. Sora managed to wipe the tears from his eyes long enough to look around.

It was a scene like no other. The bright and colorful Wonderland was gone. No green grass or odd giant brightly colored flowers could be seen. Scorched and crumbling remains of buildings surrounded them. The fire that had destroyed this part of Wonderland could be seen in this distance. The new victim of the fire was what appeared to be a castle which burned brightly against the dull gray sky.

Sora was at a loss for words at what Wonderland had become. If he had come to this world not knowing what it was he would have never been able to guess that it was Wonderland. Cloud stepped forward, his hand fell from his face. A wet squish broke the stagnate silence around them. He grimaced as he looked down at his feet. An oil like ooze coated the bottom of his shoe, seeming to cling to it even as Cloud flicked his foot in the effort to free his shoe from the filth.

"Reminds me of Midgar before it fell." Cloud said, walking the area around them. The ooze poured out of the burnt buildings and seep up from the ground below them. "Wonderland is in deep trouble if it is already at this state."

Kairi, finally used to the smell, stood next to Sora.

"What does that mean for Wonderland?" The slight tremor in her voice gave away her uncertainty.

"It means if we have less time than what we thought. If we don't find Alice and get Wonderland back into the light soon this world is as good as dead." Cloud said, pulling out his sword.

"Let's move. I'm sure we are not alone."

So the three trekked on, on guard with weapons in hand. They passed through the remains of the town which was starting to remind Kairi and Sora of 17th century London.

More and more burnt buildings passed them as they walked down the cobbled road. The three saw no signs of life as they traveled through the town. No papers, no furniture, not even any sort of personal belongings could be found in the rubble.

Kairi kept her eyes glued to the buildings, she could almost feel eye's watching them. So focused on an enemy she couldn't see, she lost her balance and tumbled the remains of a building.

"You okay Kairi?" Sora asked, suddenly in front of her, his hand extended out to her.

Kairi nodded and graciously took his hand as she stood.

"Thanks Sora." Kairi said as she brushed the dirt off of herself. She noticed something about the shallow indentation she fell into. Standing on the outside of the pit she took in all of what she saw.

"It's a footprint." Kairi said in disbelief.

Cloud, who had been standing watch fell in behind the two keyblade wielders.

"What do you think made this?" Kairi asked, imagining the height one would have to be to create a footprint this large.

"I have no idea." Sora said giving a slight shrug. "Heartless don't leave footprints."

"Last time I saw a print this big was when I fought a Behemoth." Cloud said offhandedly.

"Well whatever it was it looks like it was heading that way." Sora said, pointing to the burning castle in the distance. He walked through the crumbling house and looked around trying to find any other footprints. It wasn't easy due to the state of the buildings around them but he managed to spot another.

"Hey, there is another one. It seems that whatever made this was definitely heading to the castle. Maybe Alice was there too." Sora pointed out before jogging softly to the other footprint. Cloud and Kairi reluctantly followed behind him.

To follow the footprints wasn't an easy task since all the buildings were a crumbling mess. The buildings creaked and popped as if threatening to fall on top of them if the wind would blow hard enough. Cloud and Kairi could swear that they were hearing a deep rumbling off in the distance. Yet Sora would deny to hearing anything. He was too focused on following the footprints.

As far as the others were concerned they should be heading in the opposite direction of them. They really didn't feel the need to find out just what caused them. They had yet to see any proof that the Princess was anywhere near where they were heading. But Sora was stubborn and wouldn't listen to any concern they had.

Soon the burning castle loomed over them as the footprints ended. Whatever had made them seemed to have disappear in front of the castle. Deep grooves were carved out of the land around them as if something had drove through the land.

A distance rumble could be heard once again.

"Well this is where they stop…" Sora said, seeming disappointed by the fact.

Kairi nodded, eyes constantly scanning the area around them. She swore that she could feel something moving.

"Let's spread out. Maybe we will find something that will either lead us to Alice or prove that she was here." Cloud ordered.

The three set out on their own, going through what appeared to be a battle field. Searching for what felt like hours yielded nothing in return. Cloud and Kairi met up again as they neared the castle. The two agreed that following the footprints had set them back in their mission to find Alice.

"Unless you found something Sora, following these footprints has got us nothing." Cloud said when they returned to the castle.

Sora, the one who started this whole goose chase, ignored them. He seemed to be focusing on something else.

Kairi nodded, her hands clenching and unclenching around the hilt of her keyblade.

"Cloud is right Sora, we've wasted enough time following these footprints and got nothing from them. We need to find Alice before the world falls, and falls with us still in it."

Sora acted as if he hadn't heard a thing Cloud or Kairi said. To be honest he probably hadn't. The fire raged loudly in front him as he walked closer to the castle. Through the flames and smoke Sora saw something laying in the fire. He couldn't tell if it was human or not.

"Sora what are you doing?" Kairi shouted as she watched Sora walk closer to the flames. "That building could collapse at anytime!"

Sora waved Kairi off, if anything went wrong he could handle himself. It wasn't like he was a defenseless kid anymore. Besides, the closer he got to the flaming castle he could swear he heard a faint scream. It sounded like it was coming from the burning figure. Sora took a step back when the smell of burning flesh assaulted his senses.

"Guys I think there's someone in there!" Sora shouted, pushing himself even closer to the burning heat.

Cloud barely heard the sound of metal and stone breaking above their heads. One of the once elegant towers had finally gave way under the heat, sending it plummeting to the ground.

"Sora! Damn it!" Cloud swore before dashing to Sora. In the short moments Cloud had as he grabbed Sora he could spot the burning figure, he too heard its screams. They were too late for whoever that was. Tapping into the Mako in his blood and blasted away from the castle just as the tower slammed into the ground. Cloud and Sora landed hard and rolled a few feet away from Kairi.

Cloud let go of Sora as his body dealt with the effects of using the Mako in his body. He rolled onto all fours, dry heaving as Kairi checked on Sora.

"What were you doing Sora!? You could have gotten yourself killed!" Kairi scolded.

Sora's eye were still locked onto the castle, onto the burning figure. The last time this happened, he never saw anyone die. Not like this. Now it seemed like that wasn't the case this time.

"Th-There was someone in there...they were still alive! And on fire!" Sora sputtered out. "I could hear them! They were screaming…"

Sora suddenly felt so lost. He didn't have to deal with this before, he didn't know how to handle it. First Riku, now that poor person in the castle, how was anyone able to handle something like this?

The ooze that seemed to constantly flow around them solidified into bulbous baby doll faced creatures in front of them. And what looked like bloody demented playing cards appeared behind them. They were surrounded. Cloud grunted as he stood using his sword to help him up.

"That doesn't matter anymore Sora, they are dead and there is nothing we can do for them now." Cloud said, swinging his sword up, ready to fight. "Right now we need to get out of here!"

Sora and Kairi sprang to their feet, standing back to back behind Cloud. These things weren't Heartless, he had no idea what they were. He vaguely remembered the playing cards, but they were never this distorted. The other must be a new enemy of whatever this Wonderland was.

Sora's eyes danced back and forth between enemies.

"Hey Cloud, you said that Midgar was like this before it fell right?"

"Not exactly like this but close enough. Why." Cloud said, watching the enemies closely.

"Did you ever have enemies like this?" Sora asked, hoping that at least one of them knew how to deal with these enemies.

Cloud shook his head.

"Nope, majority of my enemies were human."

"Alright then how do we want to deal with them?" Kairi asked, keyblade held at the ready.

"Hit them enough and hope that they go down?" Sora suggested. Cloud and Kairi both agreed. At this point that was all they could do.

"On three." Sora said, tightening his hold on his keyblade. This was going to be a very interesting fight. He hoped that someone in the group had a Light Crystal, if this was going to go bad they would need a way out. And fast.

"One."

The enemies seemed to be studying them, trying to pick out the weakest one.

"Two."

Kairi zoned in on her group of enemies. They were going to have to go down and go down fast if the others would need help

.

"Thr-" Sora was cut off by a horse neighing and a girl with dark brown hair, wore an outfit similar to Alice. She rammed into the first group of baby doll faced monster with what looked to be a head of a horse. They disappeared instantly. The remaining card and doll faced monsters ran at them. While it seemed that Sora and Kairi were struggling with the new monsters this new girl and Cloud seemed to breeze through them.

Within minutes the monsters were gone with the help of the girl and Sora had no idea how to thank her. Maybe she could tell him where Alice was, or at least what had happened to Wonderland. The girl brushed her hands off before looking at the group, her hand placed firmly on her hips.

"Well it's about time you got here Sora." The girl said, throwing Sora off. How did this girl know him? He had never seen her before.

"Wait-wait. How do you..?" Sora began, puzzled on just who this girl was.

"As you can tell, Wonderland is not in the same shape it was before. I now know that a certain doctor of mine is behind all of this doom bringing." The girl continued.

"I've been seeing those nasty Heartless all over this place. Which is making it even harder to get rid of these creatures."

Sora took a closer look at the girl. The outfit was definitely like the one Alice wore. And even with the hair being a different color it was the same length. And for her to know who he was and what the heartless were there was no one else she could be.

"Alice?" Sora said, not believing it himself.

Alice looked him square in the face. "Well of course who else would I be? I know I'm going mad but I didn't think you would. I hope that stupid cat didn't do anything to you."

Sora blinked a couple of times, still not believing what he was seeing. What happened to her? When did it happen to her? What was going on?

"Alright Alice. Since you are the Princess from this world just what were those things?" Cloud asked.

Alice looked at him as she talked, even she started to creep Cloud out.

"Nasty thing those are. Little monsters that I apparently created. I don't see how I could have done that. All they do is destroy Wonderland, as you can tell all around us. I suspect that they are the ones responsible for that tower falling off and almost killing you."

She looked back to the burning castle. "I came here hoping that the Queen would be able to help me in ridding Wonderland of the Heartless. Along with some other problems of mine. But she wouldn't listen and it was too late, the train brought the fire here before I could stop it."

Alice started pacing. This wasn't the Alice Sora remembered. The Alice he knew would never hurt a fly. She was just a Princess of Hearts. He had never seen her pick up a weapon, let alone use one.

"Alice, what has happened to Wonderland? Things were never like this before." Sora said.

"Well I believe all of these problems are being caused by that horrid doctor of mine." Alice said, her voice filled with enough venom to kill.

"What doctor? I thought doctors were suppose to help you get better. And how could he cause all of this?" Kairi asked. She only met Alice briefly when all the Princesses regained their hearts. But she was nothing like this.

"That is the part that is eluding me. It must be the Darkness." Alice said.

The ground shook violently under them. Giant cracks were forming around them, the ground pulling itself apart to reveal a black void below.

"Alice! What's going on?" Sora shouted. He had never been on a world when it completely fell. Destiny Island was different. He was gone before it completely fell.

"It's that train! It's destroying Wonderland, killing it and I still haven't found a way to stop it." Alice said, acting like it made perfect sense.

The castle in front of them finally collapsed in on itself as the ground shook. Pieces of the ground fell into the void, taking the castle with it.

"Hold on tight!" Alice shouted managing to grab onto the trio. There was a burst of light and suddenly the polluted air was gone only to be replace by another less potent polluted air.

Sora groaned as he sat up. He took in the area, expecting to be still in Wonderland. Yet his hopes were dashed when he saw cell bars. He looked over at Cloud and Kairi who's outfits had changed. Cloud's pants had stayed the same but his shirt was replaced with a dirty white striped shirt. A small cap also rested beside his head. Kairi's dress seemed to mimic Alice's new dress. Instead of a gray dress with gray strips like Alice, hers was a dull pink and pink strips. The others were up in no time.

Cloud and Kairi both seemed to freak a little when they saw their new outfits. They had no idea how their clothes were able to change like that. Sora couldn't help but chuckle at their reactions. Looking down he saw that his pants had changed into overall, while his shirt was like Clouds and his jacket was just a tattered piece of black cloth.

Alice jiggled the bars.

"Drat, locked." She said, looking around for the guards. Even though the thought of three people just appearing out of nowhere didn't seem all that mad to her. She didn't think the guards would overlook the fact that she was put here alone and suddenly three more people were in her cell.

"That's not a problem for me!" Sora grinned summoning his keyblade and pointing it at the door. A small beam of light shot out and a soft was heard. The cell door swung open with a small creek.

Alice stepped out first, making sure that the halls were empty before she let the others know that they were safe to come out. The three stepped out of the cell and quickly followed Alice, who was half way down the hall. Kairi and Sora felt like stepped back in time as they stepped into the outside worlds. Old buildings and equipment surrounded them. People that passed them were wearing clothes that they had seen in a museum.

"Alice where are we?" Sora asked.

"More like when are we." Kairi said, which Sora swiftly agreed with.

Alice gave them an odd look as she marched ahead of everyone. For being short Alice was a fast walker.

"We are in London of course! Where else would we be?'' Alice said matter of factly. "And to answer your other question, the year is 1875. Not much time has passed since our previous encounter. Yet much has changed in such little time."

"I can tell. Maybe we can find a place to talk and you can tell us what has happened. We don't have much time to save Wonderland." Sora said.

"We don't need to find a place to talk, no one around here cares what you have to say. They only care if you have money, otherwise they'll watch you die on the street before uttering a single word to you." Alice said rather bitterly.

Sora raised an eyebrow at the response. Never had he heard Alice talk in such a way. She was always so kind and soft spoken.

"But if it makes you feel better," Alice turned sharply into an alley. "No one in their right mind would come down here with all of us here."

Alice traveled farther into the alley before stopping abruptly to lean against the soot covered wall.

"After our little adventure four years ago I told my family what had happened to me. How the Darkness was destroying all of the world's. The Heartless killing and stealing hearts also how I lost mine." Alice crossed her arms over her chest, a deep frown on her face.

"They didn't believe me, claiming that I had gone mad. So they sent me to the horrid Doctor Angus Bumbly. He told me that none of that had ever happened and that I needed to forget everything. But I refused to listen to him."

She took a deep sigh before continuing on with her tale.

"Then one night I heard someone in the house. I wanted to go to my parents and let them know but I was so scared. So I stayed in bed. Next thing I know I see someone passing my room and going into my sister's room, I heard her cries but I did nothing."

Alice looked down as if ashamed by her lack of action to help her little sister.

"Eventually he came out, I think he knew that I saw it was him because soon after he left the house was on fire. I was able to escape but the rest of my family was not so lucky. They all perished in the fire."

She grinned in an almost sadistic manner.

"But now I know that it was the Doctor that hurt my sister and killed my family. Now he is the one that is destroying my Wonderland. He is the one that needs to be stopped."

Sora had no idea how to respond to such a story. When Alice starting her story he never thought something like that would come out. He never knew that Alice had a family that would turn their backs on her so quickly.

"Well I've told you everything that has happened now what are your plans." Alice said, impatient that no one was saying anything.

"Oh uh, right. Well if your doctor is behind everything then we will need to figure out how to stop him. And then reverse all the damage that he has caused Wonderland." Sora said.

"I already know how to stop him." Alice said, that wicked grin returned.

"And how is that?" Kairi asked.

"I'm going to kill him."

That rocked the three. Was a Princess of Hearts able to keep her status as a Princess if she was planning to kill someone? Let alone kill someone!

Sora stepped closer to Alice,

"Look Alice I don't think that would be the best way to handle this. I'm sure that we can figure something else out."

Alice shook her head. Too much in her life had changed and changed her. She was no longer a meek child, she had seen and dealt with too much to keep that innocent outlook on the world.

"I'm sorry Sora, but he is a wicked and evil man who needs to be stopped before he harms anyone else." Alice said walked away from them. "No one else will suffer at his hands any longer. I need to do this. For my sister."

With determination set firmly in her heart she ran from the group.

"Alice!" Sora shouted before they chased after her. Alice had the upper hand though. They had never been to this world before and didn't know their way around. It wasn't long before they lost sight of her.

"I guess we are back to square one…" Kairi said her chest heaving, shoulders sagging in defeat.

The question that weighed heavy on Sora's mind was what would become of Alice if she would succeed in her quest to kill the doctor. Would they lose a Princess due to the Heartless, or would it be Alice causing her own undoing?


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