Vexen in Wonderland

I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Alice in Wonderland. Kingdom Hearts belongs to Disney and Square Enix. Alice in Wonderland references are used from both Lewis Carroll and Disney.

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"The queen!" A startled cry rose.

The card soldiers immediately began scrambling to hide the buckets of paint and paintbrushes.

"Cards!" Yelled a familiar voice. "Number up!"

The cards responded immediately, standing at attention on either side.

"Ace!"

"Two!"

"Three!"

"Four!"

"Five!"

"Six!"

"Seven!"

"Eight!"

"Nine!"

"Ten!"

"Jack!"

Vexen stood at attention, too, lining up beside an Ace, paintbrush clutched behind his back and dripping onto the grass. Between the lines of cards came Roxas and Xaldin, arm in arm, regally strutting down towards him.

He had to keep from laughing as he watched. Xaldin was wearing a high-collared dress that fanned out behind his head and puffed out tremendously from the bodice. The bodice of the dress was scarlet, a color reminiscent of fresh blood. While the remainder of the dress was black with scarlet heart designs skillfully embroidered in gold outline. A gold crown was perched on the top of his head and combed into his black dreadlocks.

Roxas, on the other hand, was wearing a fur-lined robe, heart motif shirt, puffy red pants, and black leggings. A smaller crown rested upon his head.

So it was the King and the Drag Queen of hearts, then.

Vexen pursed his thin lips, trying not to laugh as Roxas passed by him.

His cheeks puffed out, threatening to explode.

Xaldin noticed immediately. He turned his fierce violet eyes towards him.

"Who are you, and HOW DARE you make a mockery out of my Card Soldiers?" He demanded, getting right up in Vexen's face.

Vexen released the air from his cheeks and took in a deep breath, dropping the paintbrush on the ground behind him.

"I mean you no disrespect, your majesty." Vexen managed in reply, smiling.

"You've addressed me wrong!" Xaldin fumed, crossing his hairy arms over his chest. "Say it with more emphasis."

"I mean you no disrespect, your majesty." Vexen repeated.

Roxas kept moving down the line, until he saw something among the rosebushes.

Vexen could see it out of the corner of his eyes and his face paled to a pasty white.

It was a rose… with only half of it painted red.

"My Queen!" Roxas announced, drawing Xaldin's attention away from Vexen.

"What is it, dear?" Xaldin asked, walking towards him with a rustle of his dress.

Dear?! Vexen thought, grinning.

"YOU WERE PAINTING MY ROSES!" Xaldin yelled, ripping off the rose from the bush. "GUARDS! OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!!"

More Card Soldiers emerged, roughly grabbing all of the other Card Soldiers and Vexen.

"Leave the blond one!" Xaldin commanded.

Vexen was roughly let go while the others were dragged away, towards a guillotine, the blade gleaming menacingly in the distance. He turned away when he saw the blade drop.

"So, what is your name?" Xaldin asked, putting his hand on Vexen's back, leading him towards a pavilion.

"Vexen." He shifted uncomfortably under Xaldin's hand.

"Would you like to play a game?"

"An excellent idea, my Queen!" Roxas chirruped. "We could play something relaxing… like croquet!" He suggested.

"Fuck croquet!" Xaldin exclaimed. "I want to play my daily knife-throwing game!"

"But my Queen!" Roxas protested feebly.

"No 'buts,' dear!" Xaldin replied. "CARDS! GET THE GAME SET FOR TWO!"

The Card Soldiers scrambled about frantically, scurrying to get the game set. Two wooden wheels were set up, a set of long, thin knives were brought out, and two people were dragged out.

Vexen recognized them instantly as being Zexion and Luxord, who were quivering in their suits.

"I don't care much for this bloody game!" Luxord wailed as he was strapped onto one of the wheels.

"I never tried all of the types of tea!" Zexion cried as he was strapped to the other wheel.

One set of knives, ruby inlaid hilt, was given to Xaldin, while the other, pearl inlaid hilt, was given to Vexen, set down on the set up table to his right.

"Do you play this game?" Xaldin asked, examining the knife by lightly putting the point on his finger tips. A scarlet drop of blood welled out before dripping into the grass.

"N-no." Vexen replied, paling in the face.

"The rules are simple: Throw as many knives as you can without hitting the person." He grinned wickedly as the card soldiers spun the wheels, Zexion and Luxord spinning slowly.

"I'll let you go first." Xaldin said.

Vexen held up his knife, taking a deep breath. The wheel in front of him contained Zexion, and he had no ill will against him. He shut an eye for aim before expertly throwing the blade.

The tip was imbedded into the wood, just below his elbow.

Xaldin, being much more experienced, threw the knife quickly, and in one fluid motion.

Luxord whimpered as the tip almost grazed the skin of his neck.

Vexen picked up another knife, biting his lower lip as sweat trickled down his brow.

He threw it, and the point embedded itself in the middle of Zexion's rabbit ears.

"Surely, you've played this game before." Xaldin said, throwing the knife. It landed right between Luxord's legs.

"You almost got my manhood!" Luxord wailed, turning slightly green as he continued to turn.

The Card Soldiers turned the wheels, making them spin slightly faster.

Vexen looked at his knives.

Eight more to go. He could do this!

"I've never played this game." Vexen replied, taking another knife with a little more confidence.

"Hmph. Beginner's luck, then." Xaldin replied, already picking up his next knife.

"Dearest! We don't need any more blood today!" Roxas called, fingers intertwined in his hair due to anxiety.

"Not now, dear! I'm playing a game!"

Vexen just couldn't help but smile as he threw his knife.

It was then Zexion let out a high pitched screech.

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Cliff hanger! Anyhoo, I'm sorry that I didn't update last week! I was busy. Blame my mom. Xaldin as the Queen of Hearts? Yes. Now who guessed right?