Prewrite: Let's get the ball rolling. I prepared myself for this one. I read the original "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" yesterday. This one is gonna fun. For me, anyways.

Disclaimer: I own Daniel and his story. I do NOT (notice the word not in capital letters) own Kingdom Hearts.


Chapter 9: A Wondrous Welcome

Landing the ship on the world's surface was the easiest part of the journey. As for the journey itself, Daniel counted himself lucky that he'd finally figured out the controls. Of course, it had taken him almost the entire flight, and the ship needed a bit to cool down.

Jumping down from the ship, all he could see was a wide open field with a large open hole in the center. He cautiously approached the hole and peered down into it. It was pitch black inside, and there was no way of telling how deep.

"Oh dear! I'm late!" came a voice from inside the hole. The sudden noise shocked Daniel, knocking him off balance, and sending him tumbling down.

He panicked at first, but then realized that he seemed to be falling very slowly. As he looked around, the darkness gave way to a bit of light, and quite a peculiar sight. As Daniel fell, he saw clocks, bookshelves, and various other furniture seemingly built into the walls. As he passed a shelf, he pulled a jar off and gazed at it. The label read, "Marmalade." Marmalade? Who eats that stuff anymore? He set the jar back down on another shelf he passed.

After another minute, he finally touched down at the bottom. Looking around, he saw only two ways out. There was a hallway leading away from the room, or…back the way he came. Gazing up, he realized he couldn't even see the exit anymore. That just leaves the hall. With a sigh, he headed down the hall and opened the door at the end.

Then opened the door behind that.

Then the one behind that.

He finally went through, already sick of this place.

He came into another room, with a fireplace and a small door, and a glass table in the middle. Looking on the table, he saw a bottle that said "DRINK ME" sitting next to a small key. He took the key and tried to open the door with it – only to have the doorknob protest!

"Can't you see I'm trying to sleep here? Have a little consideration…" The door yawned. Daniel was speechless for a moment, then said, "But you're a door! Opening up to let people through is your job!" "You're too big to fit through, anyway…unless you drink from the bottle…"

Daniel caught on right away. "You're just going to go to sleep while I'm getting the bottle, aren't you?" Giving him an annoyed look, the doorknob replied, "Of course not…I'll be right here…" he yawned, "…wide awake, to open up for you…" Daniel decided to give the doorknob the benefit of the doubt. He went to the table, key in hand, and drank from the bottle. He felt himself shrinking, while the key remained the same size. After he was small enough to fit through the door, he went back to it.

The doorknob was, of course, asleep.

Muttering angrily to himself, he beat at the doorknob with the key to try and wake it up, to no avail. He flung the key at the door out of frustration, and that had no effect either. It was then that Daniel noticed the mouse hole over by the bed painted on the wall. He headed to the mouse hole, figuring he could go through the wall to the other side of the door.

However, this was not to be.

He emerged into a crossroads, the walls made of hedges. "What the hell…?" he muttered aloud. The exits to the left and right were blocked off, while the exit straight ahead was unguarded. There was a sign above the exit before him that read, "Welcome to Wonderland!"

"Ugh." was Daniel's only visible reaction. This place was strange, and had a name that underrated that strangeness. If it weren't for the fact that – as far as he knew – Riku and Kairi might be here, he would have left right then.

Instead, he headed for the exit directly ahead of him. He had no idea that things were about to get much stranger.


Postwrite: Theeeere we go. A nice, decent-length chapter. Anyone catch the reference to the original novel I made? If so, send me a message. I might have a crappy prize for you! Maybe. More to come either tomorrow or Friday. Depends on whether I feel like writing tomorrow. If not, you'll get it Friday for sure. That's how I roll.

– DC