A/N: Holy crap guys, this one is a long one. Welcome to Wonderland.
Roxas wasn't sure what to expect out of a house called Darkling, but what he found certainly wasn't it. The doors to the mansion swung open with ease and the two men stepped into the rounded foyer, which was empty save for the grand staircase that spiraled away into the distance. The tile beneath their feet glittered and Roxas felt like he was suspended in some kind of limbo. The thought made him woozy and his hand tightened on Axel's, Axel squeezing back to reassure the blond.
The tiles nearest to the walls were made of stone, the spiral after that of rough marble, and then glazed ceramic. At the center of the display was a mosaic made from shards of metal and glass, the color of which shifted in the different levels of light. As Axel led them through the room it changed around them. Stepping from the stone tiles to the marble, the wood paneling of the walls began to glow revealing intricate etchings that seemed to tell a single story and encompassed the entire wall of the foyer. The chandelier that hung in the empty space above the room began to bloom with liquid flame, light erupting out of it like stars to illuminate the corners of the space where curios and antique end tables held glittering, unknowable things: pools of water that rippled in place but did not drip to the floor, a portrait of a crying woman who's tears smeared the paint, a single opal pin containing an entire galaxy visible to the naked eye. But what drew their attention was the light emitting from the floor and they both stopped to stare at it.
The floor was blazing with a radiant fire, pulsing in time to the silent song of the universe, throbbing with life and energy, searing not the eyes but something secret in the soul. A warm feeling settled into their chests and Roxas thought he could die happy in that moment. Realizing that they could easily spend the rest of eternity staring at the floor, Roxas pushed them onto the band of ceramic tile and the room dimmed around them.
The liquid flame of the chandelier became drawn out and stretched away from where it hung in space. The effect it caused was miraculous, the crystals of the chandelier translating the light into a living world of color that shimmered and danced like the northern lights. The inner light of the walls gave way to delicate, incandescent fractures in the wood, smoldering and cracking like the embers of a dying fire. The curios and end tables held different objects in this version of the room: a small silver harp with lines of thin shadow instead of strings, theater masks that shuddered under the weight of their emotions, a thin string of ink which twisted itself into a face and peered out at the two men. The mosaic on the floor withdrew into itself, the vibrancy muted in a faint red sunset flicked with blue and gold that inspired a feeling of melancholy.
Crossing over the center of the room, the pieces of glass and metal in the mosaic flared with a pale cool light that cast all else into shadow and reflected off every surface like a million different stars. Roxas and Axel were lost in their own private universe, a singular nocturne that would not end as long as they stayed in the circle at the center of the entryway. But Axel fought his way out of his dream and they passed into dusk, into dawn and back into the true emptiness of the place.
"I don't like this," Roxas whispered, reluctant to break the absolute silence of the house.
"I can take care of us if anything happens." Axel assured him, leading the blond down a tall, mirrored hallway with flickering gaslights, past oval windows covered in silver latticework and a collection of heavy oak doors. The door at the end stood open, a curved wall of coarse stone panels visible beyond the threshold. Axel led them inside.
"Oh…visitors." An elderly gentleman in a neat suit rose from a plush green leather couch at the center of a magnificent library. The room was entirely round and four stories tall, with each subsequent ring of bookshelves smaller than the one beneath it, leading up to a domed glass ceiling, beyond which the moon hung ominously between the clouds. An ornamented footbridge led from the fourth level to a closed door. Axel paused inside the doorway, subtly pulling Roxas behind him in case of attack. But the elderly gentleman merely bowed and stated, "Welcome to the House of Darkling. My name is Duncan."
"What is this place?" Roxas asked, peering around Axel's shoulder.
"Darkling is one of the properties of The Ending. The Ending is a place for Things Above Death," Duncan answered.
"The Things Above Death?" Axel asked, relaxing slightly as he realized Duncan wasn't a threat.
"You could say that this world holds both your Gods and your Nightmares. Nothing in this world can die; not as long as long as humans exist."
"Ever?" Roxas asked, slightly uneasy at being one of two mortal things on this world. Duncan smiled wistfully, his eyes focusing on something only he could see.
"Death came to The Ending only once, and that was a long time ago. Now, how can I help you gentlemen?"
"We're here for research," Axel explained as Roxas moved out into the open. "My name is Axel Lea and I'm a writer. Roxas is my editor." He gestured to where the blond was reaching for a book entitled 'The Night Circus'.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Duncan warned. Roxas looked at the old man quizzically but withdrew his hand, leaving the book on its shelf. "Darkling is a very different type of house," Duncan explained. "These books don't tell a story. They take you to a whole new world and let you experience your own story."
"Really?" Axel asked excitedly. "That's exactly what we want."
"Then you've come to the right place. I will ask Mr. Whatley for permission to use his books and pictures. I suggest you wait here. The master is still a bit…sore…when it comes to humans."
"Why?" Axel asked casually moving to stand next to Roxas again. Duncan smiled.
"It was a human who bested him at his own game and brought death to The Ending." Duncan bowed again and left Axel and Roxas in the library as he began climbing the steps. Reaching the fourth floor, he crossed the footbridge and disappeared behind the door.
Axel and Roxas stood in an awkward silence for a moment before the smaller man moved to sit on the couch.
"So where did you learn to fight?" Roxas asked, moving over as Axel sprawled next to him.
"Who says I can fight?" Axel questioned and Roxas snorted.
"Well then how exactly were you planning on keeping us safe? By soliloquizing at them?" the blond asked sarcastically. Axel grinned but sighed after Roxas shot him a look of warning.
"I learned to fight in Tortooga. From the pirates."
"Pirates? There are still pirates today?" Roxas asked incredulously. "How did you even come across pirates?" Axel gave him a bemused look.
"Did you never wonder what I did in the four years between my mother's death and when I showed up in Twilight Town with the completed first draft of a novel?" Roxas opened his mouth, closed his mouth, and opened it again.
"I thought you just lived in Twilight Town," he confessed.
"True, I didn't take into account that you had just returned from college. It would be natural to assume I moved there while you were in Hollow Bastion. But no, when my mother passed I took my inheritance and ran."
"So, what, you traveled until you just suddenly decided, 'Hey, I think I'll write a book today!' is that it?" Roxas asked drily.
"Something like that, but not quite. It was…a bit more complicated than that." There was a twinge of sadness in Axel's voice that caught Roxas' attention.
"Axel?" He looked at the taller man, his eyes asking the questions that his mouth couldn't form.
"I joined an organization," Axel continued. "We all believed in the cause but…that doesn't always justify everything." He shook his head and smiled wryly at the blond. "I could deal with my actions; I've got no regrets over anything I did. But I left the organization. Shortly after I left they were disbanded." He shrugged. Roxas wanted to ask what it was that Axel had done for the organization but he had a feeling that now wasn't the time to ask questions. Now was the time for comfort and reassurance and Roxas gave it the best way he knew how. He shifted on the couch until he was sitting next to the red-head, their thighs pressed together, and gently nudged the pyromaniac. Axel looked at him inquisitively but otherwise didn't respond. Roxas nudged him again - harder - and Axel looked at him with a mixture or exasperation and amusement on his face. Roxas shoved him, pushing him off the couch. "Roxas!" Axel shouted, looking up indignantly from where he had landed on the floor. Roxas stretched out along the couch, peering over the side of the couch while hiding his smile in the cushions.
"Yes?" he asked innocently. Axel narrowed his eyes as he stood up and brushed himself off.
"So that's how you want to play?" Axel asked and proceeded to launch himself at the blond. Roxas laughed and the two continued wrestling - oblivious to the sound of footsteps on the stairs.
"Oh, I hope I'm not interrupting something." Duncan stated, pausing on the final stair. Roxas looked at the servant from his spot - pinned between the couch and Axel.
"Duncan," the blond greeted, acting as if being pinned underneath the writer was an everyday occurrence. "Did Mr. Whatley give us permission to use his things?"
"Yes," Duncan stated, moving to stand by one of the many bookshelves. "If you'll follow me I'll show you how to use the books and paintings." The two young men untangled themselves from the couch and joined the man by the books. "The books are simple enough," he informed them, grabbing a book from the shelf. "You merely have to open the book and it will take you to the beginning of the story. The paintings are a bit more complex," Duncan continued, replacing the book and leading his visitors to the fourth floor and across the footbridge. "You step into the painting and you find yourself in the area you were previously looking at. You have to search for the start of your story." Duncan turned and unlocked the door. "This is Mr. Whatley's private picture collection. Or what he's managed to replace of it," he stated, an impish smirk playing on his lips. "You may use any of these pictures and any of the books."
"How do we get back?" Roxas asked, turning away from a picture of a rabbit hole. Duncan smiled.
"You're perceptive," he told the blond. The servant reached into his pocket and brought forth a skeleton key. "Use this in any door and it will bring you back to Darkling."
"This is quite the cabinet of curiosities," Axel stated, taking the key.
"But in a cabinet of curiosities, things stay in place. Here in the House of Darkling, everything is constantly shifting to provide you with the things you most want." Duncan replied before bowing and exiting back into the library. Axel fingered the key before placing it in his pocket and turning to face the blond.
"So, I take it we're going down the rabbit hole?"
The only way Roxas could accurately describe entering the rabbit hole was to say that they 'floated' down. But that was only the beginning of the strangeness. No sooner had their feet touched solid ground than a white rabbit went scampering past them dressed in gray slacks, an orange dress shirt and a red jacket with a dark red bow-tie. He clutched a pocket watch in his hand and as he glanced at it he panicked, muttering to himself, "I'm late! The queen will have my head for sure," before taking off. Silence reigned.
"You saw that, too, right?" Axel asked.
"Yep," Roxas answered. "Feel better knowing that?"
"Not really." They both moved forward and found a doorway set into the earth. Grasping the handle, Roxas pulled the doorway open and both men peered inside. Beyond the doorway was a sparsely furnished room with a pink and red tiled floor. The room had a fireplace and a clock and a bed against one wall. Roxas and Axel just caught sight of the rabbit in time to see him disappear from sight.
"Where the hell did he go?" Roxas demanded, leaving the darkness of the hole and entering the bizarre room. He didn't get far before laughter caused him to turn around. Axel was doubled over, clutching his stomach as he laughed hysterically. "What are you laughing at?" he demanded, annoyed.
"Tail," Axel gasped out. "Ears."
"What?" Roxas asked, confused. Axel controlled his laughter long enough to answer.
"You've got a tail and ears," he stated, wiping away the tears in his eyes before moving into the room. "Your outfit has changed, too." At the funny look on Roxas' face he stopped. "What?" he asked warily. Roxas looked down at his outfit before responding. He was in tan slacks and a red dress shirt with a red suit jacket. A blue collar and orange tie finished his ensemble.
"You've got a hat. A really large hat. On your head." Roxas stated. "Your outfit has changed as well." Axel lifted his hand and felt the top of his head. His fingers brushed against the softness of felt. As his hand explored along the rim of the hat, a cool strip of ribbon touched his skin. Roxas tilted his head sideways. "It's green. It looks kind of funny with your hair color. I wonder what the 10/6 card is for..." Axel didn't hear the blond as he inspected his new outfit. He was in green pants with a blue shirt and a tweed brown jacket. His collar was white and a light blue bow-tie topped it off.
"Aren't we supposed to be following the white rabbit?" Axel asked with a sigh. Roxas grinned and they crossed the room, inspecting the wall to see where the rabbit might have gone.
"Hello, there!" The men paused in their investigation.
"Did you - ?" Roxas asked, but Axel shook his head 'no'.
"Down here!" The voice called again, and both men looked down at the small door in the wall. "Trying to follow the white rabbit?"
"The doorknob is talking." Axel stated.
"How did he get through the door?" Roxas asked, ignoring the redundancy of Axel's statement.
"To get through the door, you must drink the potion." The Doorknob informed them.
"What potion?" Roxas asked. Axel tugged on his jacket sleeve, pointing to the middle of the room where a table and a chair had appeared along with two bottles of liquid. Roxas advanced toward the table, picking up the blue bottle while Axel shoved the bed against the wall. "Why did you do that?" Roxas asked, looking up from his examination of the liquid. Axel shrugged and joined the blond by the table.
"Think it's okay to drink?" Axel asked.
"Well...it's just a drink." Roxas responded, uncorking the bottle and taking a sip. Axel took the bottle from his hands and took a sip for himself. "I don't feel any different, do you?" the blond asked, looking at his companion.
"Not really. But then again, the table is now towering above us." Axel stated drily. Roxas followed his gaze and found himself looking at the underside of the table.
"Are you sure that Duncan didn't just slip us both acid? Cause this is just a little bit ridiculous."
"Come on," Axel stated, rolling his eyes. He led the way across the now gigantic room and they passed through the doorway next to the slumbering Doorknob.
On the other side of the doorway was a giant courtyard with gigantic hedges. Directly in front of them was a hedge entrance shaped as a heart and beyond it was another courtyard where a trial was proceeding. A large rectangular rug had been laid out on the grass, and a card was testifying in a small stand. Directly in front of the stand was an even larger structure, where a woman was sitting lording over the trial. She was a larger woman, with her black hair piled into a bun on top of her head, which was topped with a crown. She was the judge of the trial and queen of this world.
"FIND THE OFFENDER!" she screamed. "I WANT THIS PERSON FOUND AND THEN...OFF WITH THEIR HEAD!" Catching sight of the two new people in her courtyard, she pointed her heart-shaped scepter at them. "CATCH THEM! CATCH THE VILLAINS!"
"Aren't we supposed to be following the white rabbit?" Roxas mocked sarcastically as both he and Axel were seized by spear-wielding cards.
"You're the one who chose the rabbit hole." Axel muttered as they were marched up a string of steps to stand on a platform in front of the queen.
"Can you tell me," the queen began sweetly, "why you...STOLE MY TARTS!" she screamed, her face become red with anger.
"Your Majesty," Roxas stated, giving a short bow. "We've only just arrived in your world. We wouldn't have had time to steal your tarts."
"OFF WITH HIS HEAD!" she cried, but a small, nervous-looking man next to her motioned the guards back.
"Now, dear," he stated in a tiny voice. "Remember your temper. Give them a chance to prove their innocence." The queen paused in her rampaging, taking a moment to consider her husband's words.
"Axel, I swear to God, if you get me beheaded I will haunt the fuck out of you," Roxas whispered.
"I have decided," the queen began, her voice sickeningly sweet again. "To provide you with the chance to prove your innocence. CHESHIRE!"
"You bellowed, your majesty?" A disembodied voice asked. A grin appeared in mid-air and was quickly placed on the floating head of a purple cat. A striped body soon connected to the head, followed by a bushy tail.
"Cheshire, you are to keep these two company at all times. They are going to attempt to prove their innocence by finding 'clues' throughout Wonderland. There aren't any, of course, because they are guilty, but the king feels that by offering this Hatter and Hare the chance to prove their innocence, I will come off as a benevolent queen and my subjects will love me even more." Axel and Roxas exchanged glances. 'Hatter and Hare?' Roxas mouthed. Axel merely shook his head and shrugged.
"Your Queen is all kindness." Cheshire responded drily, floating over to where the two captives stood surrounded by armored cards. "I believe I am meant to escort you," he stated as the guards withdrew their spears. "Shall we begin?" he asked, floating his way toward the back of the court. Axel and Roxas quickly scrambled after him, taking a sharp left and entering a dark forest.
"What is this place?" Roxas asked, looking around and Axel noted with some amusement that his ears twitched in agitation. Though the blond could normally control his actions, the new appendages were beyond his scope. "And what is that noise?"
"This forest has many names," Cheshire responded, his head rolling upside down before continuing until it was re-attached to his neck. "Some call it the Forest of Mystery; some call it Lotus Forest. As for that noise you're hearing, you may thank your newly acquired appendages for your increased hearing." Roxas sighed in annoyance, reaching up and tugging on one of the ears.
"What world are we in?" Axel asked.
"Didn't you hear Her Majesty's shouting? Wonderland," the cat responded, floating in an arc through the forest.
"Yeah? What's so wonderful about it?" the blond asked irritably as Axel scribbled down the name of the world and his impressions of it.
"I believe I found something." Cheshire stated serenely, ignoring the smaller man. Roxas and Axel joined Cheshire on the right side of the forest where the indentations of footprints were visible in the dirt. "Stay here," the cat ordered. "I'll just pop back and tell them to send a few guards to secure the evidence, shall I?" Without waiting for response the cat disappeared, leaving the two men alone in the forest.
"Are they bothering you that much?" Axel asked softly, his hand coming up and rubbing one of the hare ears. The appendage twitched at his touch but Roxas stayed where he was.
"It's getting better," he stated. "It's just a lot of ambient noise. It's not so bad when I can ignore it." Both boys jerked as Cheshire popped back in.
"The king has ordered guards to secure this area. Shall we continue?" The trio broke up and began examining the forest. Roxas clambered on top of a mushroom before jumping to the one next to it. Standing on the second mushroom, he caught sight of a tree he could climb.
"Blondie, what are you doing?" Axel shouted. Roxas ignored him and continued climbing the tree. "Roxas! What am I going to tell your brother and Riku if you fall and kill yourself?!"
"I'm fine!" Roxas shouted, pulling himself up to the top of the tree. "There's a door here! I'm going to go through and see what I can find!"
"Take Cheshire with you! I don't want that crazy queen telling us we planted evidence!" Axel shouted, and Cheshire popped up next to the blond before Roxas could respond.
"You've got to stop doing that," Roxas told the cat before whirling around and passing through the door. Entering the room, Roxas and Cheshire fell onto the stove of the bizarre room. "Ugh, what is that smell?" Roxas asked, bringing his hands up to cover his mouth and nose.
"That is the smell of the loveliest rose," Cheshire answered, his ever present grin widening. He disappeared before Roxas could ask what he meant. "The guards are coming," he stated, popping back in and Roxas clambered down to the floor and re-entered the queen's court. He turned to the right, leaving Cheshire floating in the court and going back to find Axel. He quickly found himself enveloped in a hug.
"Don't do that again," Axel ordered, arms tightening around the blond. Roxas didn't respond with a 'yes' or a 'no', merely led the taller man back to the court. Cheshire flicked his tail and led them directly across the courtyard.
"The very back of the forest is this way," he told them. Entering the clearing there was nothing the men could immediately see aside from a set of three mushrooms. Peering around in the dim light, Roxas could barely make out platforms. He tapped the red-head on the shoulder and pointed them out. Axel climbed onto the smallest mushroom – in the middle – before climbing on to the mushroom to the right. Noticing one of the platforms that Roxas had pointed out, he leaped. Stumbling on his landing he fell to his knees but as he braced his hands on the ground his fingers brushed a small scrap of cloth.
"Cheshire!" he shouted. The flicking tail of the cat appeared and Axel held up the scrap. "You want to take this to the guards?" The red-head climbed down onto the ground and joined Roxas, who was poking around a yellow flower by the entrance. "What are you doing?" he asked.
"Look." Roxas stated, pointing above him. "There's a platform up there, but it isn't raised."
"Maybe Cheshire knows how to activate it."
"I do, but I cannot do it."
"Jesus, Cheshire! Stop doing that!" Axel stated, jumping. "So how do we get up there?" he demanded. Cheshire floated over to the set of mushrooms, hovering over the one on the far left.
"One side makes you grow, the other side makes you shrink," he stated cryptically. The two men joined the cat by the fungus.
"But which is which?" Roxas asked.
"Only one way to find out for sure." The cat stated, grin widening. Axel sighed and broke off a piece of mushroom.
"I'll go first," he stated, nibbling.
"Put it down!" Roxas shouted, realizing that the pyromaniac was shrinking. Axel dropped what was left of his mushroom. Roxas peeled a piece of mushroom from his side, giving some to the red-head and eating a bite himself. Shooting up to his regular size, he froze – not wanting to squish the writer. Axel climbed back up onto the middle mushroom.
"Now what?" Axel shouted. The Cheshire cat disappeared, re-appearing a short distance away on an old tree stump. Roxas followed the purple cat and stepped onto the stump. The overhead platform raised and Axel climbed down from his perch to climb the two mushrooms near the entryway. He jumped from the mushrooms to the platforms overhead and followed them around to a doorway with Cheshire trailing behind him. This time, the two comrades landed onto the faucet of the bizarre room. Axel scanned the room, noticing a shelf to the right. He jumped and grabbed the edge. Pulling himself up onto the shelf, he found a scepter which he handed over to the cat before picking out a path back to the floor. He exited the room and a re-shrunken Roxas met him in the courtyard.
"FINALLY!" the queen shouted as they re-entered her court. "Present all your evidence and I shall present mine!" she stated. "You may then choose one of the five boxes. If you choose your evidence, then you shall be found innocent. But if you choose mine, then OFF WITH YOUR HEADS!"
"Does that make sense to you?" Axel asked the blond.
"Not really, but then again nothing in this world makes much sense to me."
"QUIT STALLING!" the queen shouted and Roxas turned and pointed to the box closest to himself. One of the queen's guards opened the box, revealing a heart-shaped scepter. "OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!" she shouted. "TREASON AGAINST THE QUEEN!"
"Now, dear..." the king stammered, but the queen was having none of his interference this time. Roxas' eyes narrowed as he watched the queen intently.
"Your Majesty," he began quietly and his tone of voice cut the queen off mid-rant. "I would hate to cross anything you might say, but if I could have a mirror, I think I could clear up this misunderstanding."
"BRING A MIRROR!" the queen bellowed, and the white rabbit which had brought Roxas and Axel so much trouble scrambled to fulfill the queen's order. Taking the mirror from the rabbit, Roxas re-climbed the steps to the podium and held the mirror up to the Queen of Hearts. Taking in her reflection, the queen saw what Roxas had noticed moments earlier. Jam was spread around her lips and the collar of her dress was littered with crumbs. The queen sat quietly, but her face turned a deadly shade of red. "I HEREBY FIND," she declared. "THE HATTER AND THE HARE GUILTY! I SENTENCE THEM TO BANISHMENT FROM WONDERLAND FOR ETERNITY!" she shouted, banging her scepter to announce the end the trial and dismiss the court. "ESCORT THEM FROM MY KINGDOM!" she ordered.
Cards immediately swarmed the two men, surrounding both of them and escorting them back to the bizarre room before realizing that they had no idea how to evict someone from their planet.
"What do we do?" the Ten of Hearts asked.
"I don't know," the Ace of Spades told him. "This has never happened before."
"Should we ask her Majesty?" The Ace of Hearts inquired.
"Do you want to get beheaded?" the Ace of Spades demanded.
"Guys," Axel interrupted. "If we promise not to come back to Wonderland, will you leave us alone? We can get off this planet ourselves." The Ace of Hearts eyed the red-head suspiciously but the rest of the cards, eager to prove their undying loyalty to their queen by pretending to obey her order, easily persuaded him and left the two strangers to their own devices. "Well...this was an interesting experience." Axel stated, pulling the skeleton key from his pocket.
"Shut up and get us home." Roxas ordered. Axel obliged, placing the key into the door that led into the queen's courtyard and turning it. A 'clicking' noise was heard and when Axel pulled the door open they were looking into the foyer of the House of Darkling.
"You know," Axel commented later that night, climbing into their hotel bed. "It's too bad you couldn't keep the ears." Roxas's only response was to shove him out of bed.
~Review~