'You shouldn't had come!' he bellowed terribly, sending chills into the party. 'You should have forgotten about Wonderland and your past! I shall enjoy making you suffer!'
The Dollmaker raised his arm and brought it down towards the group, forcing the group to run in every directions. The giant monstrous palm slammed into the ground, sending both the group and black substances flying in all directions. Both Sora and Alice managed to roll back onto their feet while Donald and Goofy landed on their bottom and stomach respectively.
Alice pulled out Vorpal Blade and with a cry, she ran straight towards the palm. She underestimated the Dollmaker because he swung his hand towards her, slamming into her. Alice gasped in pain as she was sent flying backwards. Sora made his key-blade disappeared and stood his ground, his hands reached out. He was ready when Alice slammed into him, catching her in his hands.
Alice gasped and turned to Sora, smiling gratefully at him. Before they could exchange words, Sora pushed Alice away and jumped backwards as the Dollmaker's fist slammed between them: sending a shockwave. Alice got onto her feet and dashed towards the palm, Vorpal Blade in hand. She plunged the Vorpal Blade into the white mask that was in the middle of the palm, slashing it into two.
The Dollmaker roared in agonised pain but before he could pull his hand away, Sora summoned Kingdom Key and jumped towards the palm. He brought Kingdom Key down on the palm, leaving a deep slash on it. The Dollmaker roared again and quickly pulled away his palm. The Dollmaker gave a low and grated growl as he lifted his other palm, healthy with another child's face implanted into it.
As the Dollmaker's palm slammed towards Alice and Donald, it suddenly flinched away when a lightning bolt struck at it. The Dollmaker roared at Donald who had his wand pointed towards, still crackling with electricity. With the Dollmaker's healthy palm temporary paralysed with Donald's lightning spell, Goofy pulled his arm back and threw his shield. The shield flew like a frisbee, landing right smack on the white child's face. The shield bounced off the face and the shield had not returned to Goofy's hand yet when the face slowly fell off the hole in the palm, shattering into tiny pieces onto the platform.
The Dollmaker snarled in anger and raised both his hands, stirring the black inky substance spilled on the platforms. The black fluids slowly rise up and formed into Ruins, a dozen Insidious Ruins and two Menacing Ruins. The Dollmaker pointed a bony finger at the party and the Ruins marched forward, growling at the party. Sora and Alice stepped forward with blades raised while Donald and Goofy readied themselves. The lasts of the Insidious Ruins gave agonising screams as Alice's Vorpal Blade and Sora's key-blade sliced through them. A Menacing Ruin roared and pulling it porcelain arm back, threw a fireball at Donald and Goofy.
Goofy hold up his shield and the fireball deflected from the shield, flying back to the Menacing Ruin. The Menacing Ruin raised it porcelain arms to defend itself as the fireball slammed into it, shattering both porcelain arms into pieces. The Menacing Ruin roared and after a few grunts, charged towards Donald and Goofy. Donald pointed his want at the charging Menacing Ruin and shouted.
'Thundaga!'
Lightning fired from his wand and shot towards the Menacing Ruin, striking it to the core. The foul creature screamed angrily as it continued it charge, but slower with electricity crackling through its black body. Lightning stopped crackling around Donald's wand as the mage raised it into the air before bringing it down, pointing at the Menacing Ruin again.
'Blizarga!'
Ice spears materialised just above the Menacing Ruin and plunged into its three faces. The creature screamed in pain and became silent as Goofy slammed his shield into all three faces. The white child-like faces fell off the black block of corruption and shattered onto the pavement, turning into mush as it fell on its back.
Meanwhile, Alice and Sora dealt with the other Menacing Ruin. Using the Hobby Horse, Alice smashed the porcelain arms into pieces and continued into the right bottom face. The Menacing Ruin screamed in anger and raised a black oozing arm to strike at Alice. Before it could even bring it down on the girl, Sora jumped next to Alice and slashed the Menacing Ruin's arm off. The creature screamed again as Alice plunged the Vorpal Blade into the top face while Sora plunged his key-blade into the last one. The screams of the Menacing Ruin filled the air as it dissolved into black liquid, melting on the pavement.
With all of his minions taken out, the Dollmaker roared in anger and slammed both his palms into the platforms. Both of the deformed hands sent shockwave all across platform, sending the party flying backwards. Donald and Goofy fell on their back in a daze while Alice and Sora landed onto their feet. Alice pulled out the Pepper Grinder and turning the crank handle, fired fiery pepper corns at the Dollmaker's hands.
The Dollmaker laughed as the peppercorns were absorbed into its skin, having no effects on him. Alice frowned and stopped cranking the Pepper Grinder, pulling out the umbrella. The Dollmaker grunted and the peppercorns popped out from his hand, flying back towards Alice. Alice quickly opened the Umbrella and peppercorns bounced off it but were slowly driving her back. Sora quickly came to the rescue by jumping in front on Alice and deflecting the peppercorns with his key-blade.
Once there were no more peppercorns flying towards them, Sora charged forward: sliding forward to avoid a backhand slap by the Dollmaker. As the deformed hand flew above Sora, Alice leaped into the air and with a scream: driving her Vorpal Blade into it. The Dollmaker snarled and lifted his other hand, attempting to pick Alice by the scruff of her neck.
Without pausing and pressing onto the balls of his feet, Sora jumped backwards and threw Kingdom Key towards the hand. The key-blade sank into the flesh, driving deeper into it. Closing his eyes, Sora murmured a soft prayer. The key-blade suddenly glowed with radiant light. The light maybe soothing to Sora but it was causing great pain to the Dollmaker who thrashed his hands all over the platform, destroying the two pillars.
Alice quickly pulled out the Vorpal Blade from the hand and jumped off it, landing onto her feet. Then the hand with Kingdom Key stuck in it exploded violently, bits of flesh flying all over the place and blood splattering on the pavement. Sora held out his hand and Kingdom Key returned back into his hand.
The Dollmaker snarled in frustration and raised his other hand, aiming at Sora. Alice quickly pulled out the Hobby Horse and swung with all her might, breaking the Dollmaker's fingers. The Dollmaker screamed as his remaining fingers were crushed by Alice, trying to pull it away to safety. Before he could even do that, Sora leaped into the air and brought his key-blade down. He landed onto his feet as the Dollmaker's hand fell apart into two, turning into dust as it hit the pavement.
The Dollmaker roared, making the platform and the Infernal Train shakes at his fury. He glared at Sora and Alice with his hallowed eyes and growled.
'MAKE BELIEVE AVENGER! YOU SHALL SUFFER FOR THAT!'
The Dollmaker opened his mouth and unleashed a toxic smog, drowning the party in black fumes. Alice and Sora quickly covered their nose and mouth, trying to keep the smog from entering their bodies. At that time, Donald and Goofy woke up with a groan. When he was fully aware what was going on, Donald quickly pointed his wand and shouted.
'Aeroga!'
Wind blasted from his wand and blew away the smog, clearing the platform again. Alice and Sora breathed with relief, breathing in the clean air.
'Thanks Donald!' Sora shouted in gratitude.
The Dollmaker growled and opening his mouth again, he let his tongue rolled out. His long tongue was made out of black fluids and like his hands, white faces of children were stuck on it. Flinging his tongue sideway, it shot out black projectiles at the party. Alice and Goofy hid under their Umbrella and shield respectively while Sora and Donald dodged restlessly.
With the party distracted by the black residue firing from the Dollmaker's tongue, the behemoth creature took this opportunity to release more smog but only at the portion of the platform in front of him. When the smog dissipated, it revealed that half of the platform was melted off. This made it impossible for the party to reach the Dollmaker and fight him in close combat. With a triumphant roar, the Dollmaker continued to bombard the party with more black substances.
The party quickly got back together with Alice and Goofy providing cover for Sora and Donald. Every time a sludge slammed into their protection made them flinched, not knowing when their protection will fail.
'Does anyone have a plan?' Sora asked. 'Donald, can't you fired back with your spells?'
Donald frowned and looked back at the raining sludges. 'I doubt it. With all these things flying at us, I don't think I can even cast a spell. Let alone hit him.'
'I can try throwing my shield at him.' Goofy offered but winced at the impact on his shield. 'But that will leave us vulnerable and we only have Alice's umbrella for protection…'
'No!' the boys jumped slightly at Alice's sudden outburst. 'No more! I'm not going to hide anymore! Not from my crimes, not from my past, and definitely not from some bastard who ruin my life! It's time to finish this once and for all!'
Before any of them could stop her, Alice flung the Umbrella away and faced the Dollmaker head on. One of the sludge was aiming towards and before Sora or any of them could jump to her protection, the projectile hit Alice and enveloped her in smog.
'Alice!' Sora cried out.
As the party stared at where Alice was standing in horror, the Dollmaker threw back his head and laughed horribly. However, the Dollmaker stopped laughing as the smog dissipated. They all were staring in surprise at Alice still standing there and uninjured from the attack. More surprising was that she was covered in radiant light, even with angelic wings made out from light sprouting from her back.
Alice eyes were closed when the residue hit her but when she slowly opened them, a wave of light emitted from her. The wave hot the Dollmaker who flinched and screamed in agonising pain, trying to find something to shield his voidless eyes from the light. Sora, Donald and Goofy continued to stare at Alice's transformation when her words snapped them back to reality.
'Sora.' Alice said in an unexpected gentle tone. 'I'll need your strength one last time.'
Sora, still surprise, nodded dumbfoundedly and stood up with Kingdom Key in his hands. He held out Kingdom Key and Alice grabbed hold, their hands wrapped around each other as well as the handle of the key-blade. With a look of determination on their faces, they lifted the key-blade towards the Dollmaker. The key-blade glowed brightly and making a small pointing gesture, shot out an arrow of light.
The arrow of light cut of the long black tongue of the monster and pierced through his chest, leaving hole. The Dollmaker groaned and moaned in pain, swaying sideways to prevent himself from falling onto the pavement. Alice let go of Kingdom Key and turned to Sora, with a smile.
'Sora, please be a gentleman and give a lady a boost.'
Sora grinned and Kingdom Key disappearing from his hands, he knelt down and cupped his hands together. 'As you wish my lady.'
Alice smiled and placed one foot on Sora's hands, lifting the other foot off the ground. When she was ready, Sora threw his hands upwards, catapulting Alice into the air. Alice, aided by her new rings, sky-rocketed towards the Dollmaker. She raised the Vorpal Blade above her head and with a scream, slammed down onto the Dollmaker's forehead. The Dollmaker opened his blackened mouth and let out a terrifying and dying scream.
'RRRROOOOOOAAAAAAHHHHHHH!'
Then suddenly, the Dollmaker exploded violently, radiant light enveloping everything in its path. Sora screamed Alice's name as Donald pulled him behind Goofy's shield, taking cover from the explosion. Despite being a warrior of the light, Sora still found the light blinding as he had to cover his eyes. They crouched behind Goofy's shield for what felt like eternity. When Sora could wait anymore, he opened his eyes slowly lest the light blinded him.
To his surprise, instead of the platform where they were fighting the Dollmaker, they found themselves in an underground train station. It was dark and dank with two benches and a brick floor. On his right was the rail tracks connecting two dark tunnels. On his left was a stone staircase with light coming from presumably the outside. Sora was relieved that Donald and Goofy were at his sides but could not see Alice. He was about to ask what was going on when he heard Alice's curt voice.
'I'll see you charged. In prison, some half-wit bruiser will make you his sweetheart… And then you'll hang!'
Sora's eyes adjusted to the dark surrounding as he saw Alice but this Alice was different to the Alice he was accustomed to. Her dark hair was cut short to the shoulders and she wore black and white dress with a white apron over it. She was staring angrily at a tall man with brown hair and beard, glasses covering his brown eyes. He wore a black coat and pants with a black top hat on his head, a golden pocket watch hanging from his chest pocket. In his hand was a key and on his face was a sneer.
'Indeed?' Doctor Angus Bumby, Alice's psychiatrist and the Dollmaker in Wonderland, scoffed. 'A hysterical woman, former lunatic, roaring outrageous accusations against a respectable social architect and scientist. My god, Alice, who would believe you? I could scarcely believe myself!'
'You monstrous creature!' Alice continued vehemently. 'Such evil, will be punished!'
'By whom? By what?' Bumby said dismissively. 'Psychotic, little bitch. Your madness will be punished. Now leave. I'm expecting your replacement.'
Hearing the entire conversation and outraged, Sora wanted to knock Bumby senseless. He did not need to. Alice walked forward towards Bumby and snatched the key away from his hand, turning her back on him. To Sora and Bumby's surprise, Alice's appearance changed to the appearance Sora was used to in Wonderland. Alice… Wonderland's Alice… stepped forward towards the surprised Bumby and shoved him onto the rails. As if right on time, a train slammed into Bumby with a sickening crunch: sending his lifeless body into the dark tunnel.
Alice looked satisfied at her deed as Sora, Donald and Goofy approached her. She turned to them, an apologetic look on her face.
'I'm sorry you had to witness that.'
Sora just shook his head. 'You needed to kill that man. He was a cancer to not only on you and Wonderland to the real world as well. Is it over?'
Alice slowly nodded. 'I think so. I felt like a burden have been lifted from my shoulders.' She looked around, disgust appearing on her face. 'Let's get out of here, I need some fresh air.'
'Agreed.' Sora said, holding out his hand.
Alice looked at his hand, arching her eyebrow. With a smile, she took it and allowed him to lead her out of the station. Donald opened his beak to say something but Goofy placed a hand on his shoulder, shaking his head. Donald sighed as he and Goofy followed the pair up the stairs. As they climbed the staircase, they were surprise to see plants growing out from the edges of the staircase and their surprise only increase when they stepped into the light.
It was London but had bizarrely changed. The brick road were carpets of grass and flowers shoot out everywhere. Every houses and buildings, even the Big Ben, were covered with creepers with colourful flowers sprouting from it. Oversized trees and giant mushrooms stood tall and proud along the streets of this new city. Above them stood a clear blue sky with white clouds floating to the gentle breeze and the sun unleashing its radiant rays.
Goofy scratched his head. 'A-hyuk. I didn't that mushrooms can grow in London.'
'Where are we?' Donald asked, looking all over the place.
'Question is: are we in the real world or in Wonderland?' Sora asked, looking at Alice.
Alice smiled. 'It's Wonderland… Back to normal again.'
Out from nowhere, the jumped as the Cheshire Cat's voice echoed in the air: his whereabouts unknown.
'Ah Alice and friends.' He began in his cryptic tone. 'We can't go home again. No surprise, really. Only a few find the way; and most of them don't recognise it when they do. Delusions, too, die hard. Only the savage regard the endurance of pain as the measure of worth. Forgetting pain is convenient. Remembering it, agonising. But recovering the truth is worth the suffering. And our Wonderland, though damage, is safe in memory… For now.'
'Blasted cat…' Alice said without any venom. 'He have to leave me with cryptic messages… I will miss him though.'
'Look!' Donald pointing at a red vehicle constricted by creepers and vines. It was a spaceship, a too futuristic vehicle for Victorian London.
'It's the Gummi Ship!' Goofy cried out excitedly. 'But what's it doing here?'
'Who knows?' Donald shrugged. 'This is Wonderland after all.' Then a big smile appeared on his beak. 'Come on, let's go home!'
'Yeah!' Goofy said. 'Another job well done! A-hyuk!'
Sora grinned and was about to join his friends when he remembered Alice next to him. He turned to face her and his blue eyes met her green eyes, their gaze lingering onto one another. Still holding hands, Sora and Alice stood silent for a very long time. There were no sounds excepts for the chirping of the birds and their friends happy chattering.
Then Alice hugged Sora tightly, burying her face into his chest. Sora gasped slightly and hugged back, her hug warm and comforting. They stood in embrace for another long silence and Sora could hear Alice's whispers.
'Thank you Sora.' Alice whispered, tightening her hug on him. 'Thank you for everything. For saving me… For saving Wonderland and… For being my friend. Thank you.'
Sora smiled warmly as he whispered back. 'You're being too modest with yourself Alice. It was you who saved yourself and Wonderland. Me, Donald and Goofy just tagged along. Although… I did play a big part in it so your welcome.'
Alice gave a choked laugh. 'Stupid idiot… Blockhead…' Alice looked up at Sora, tears in her eyes but she was smiling. 'I haven't laugh for a long time. It feels good.' Then her smile fell. 'I guess you have to go.'
'Yeah.' Sora said apologetically. 'I have a wife waiting for me back on Destiny Island. I don't want to keep her waiting. Don't worry Alice, I will come…'
Alice put a finger on his lips, prompting him to stop talking. 'I understand Sora. And I will be here waiting for your return.' She hesitated and then blushed. 'I know you're married but...'
Now it was Sora's turn to be surprise as Alice pulled his head closer her and their lips met, kissing deeply. Sora, his mind confused at what was going on, slowly closed his eyes as he and Alice continued to kiss. He can hear Donald and Goofy's surprise gasps but he ignored them. Slowly, their lips parted as Alice gently pushed them apart. She smiled at the dumbfounded look on Sora's face.
'I read in a book where a maiden give thanks to a knight who rescued her with a kiss. So… I thought I do the same.'
Sora could only stare at her, mute. Alice smiled .
'Send my regards to Kairi. I'm sure you two will be so happy together. I'll… Will see you around.'
Without another word, Alice turned and ran further into this new Wonderland: the heavy vegetation blocking her view. Sora could only stare as she disappeared from his view, touching his lips in total shock. He snapped back to reality when Donald coughed, causing him to turn to his friends. He could see that both Donald and Goofy were both surprise at Alice's action. Then to his further surprise, grins appeared on their faces.
'Don't worry Sora.' Donald said. 'Your secret is safe with us.'
'Yeah! A-hyuk!' Goofy nodded. 'Kairi won't know a thing.'
Sora let out a sigh of relief. 'Thanks guys. Come on, Kairi is probably waiting for me. I got a long story for her.'
Sora, Donald and Goofy entered the Gummi ship and soon the ship lifted off from the ground, sending leaves flying in every direction. The Gummi Ship lifted up into the air and when it was above the buildings, the engine roared and sky-rocketed through the white clouds: disappearing in a blink.
Alice panted heavily as she climbed to the top of the Big Ben, breathing deeply for air. Sweat were starting to appear on her forehead as she leaned against one of the pillars of the tower. She was just on time to see the Gummi ship lift off and head into the sky, leaving Wonderland. Alice waved as the Gummi ship disappeared from her sight, allowing her tears to flow down her cheeks. She immediately wiped her tears away as she whispered to herself.
'Goodbye Sora. Safe journey back home. I hope to see you again… My friend.'
Once the Gummi ship, with Sora, was truly gone, Alice looked up at the blue sky: a happy smile on her face.
