I'M BACK! Sorry to keep you waiting! I would've posted this chapter much sooner but first my internet connection acts up again and then the document with the third chapter got lost so I had to type it up again. X( Luck has not been on my side recently…
Anyways, thank you MissBookFan for the review, ciarra halle and zrinnamaria for following and favoring, and RagingStorms7462 for favoring as well. :)
On with the story!
Chapter 3
"I'm telling you, we should go this way," Kaida muttered angrily, pointing to the path on the left.
"And I'm telling you, we should go that way," Riku spat back, pointing to the path on the right.
Kaida scoffed, "What makes you so sure we won't hit a dead end like last time?"
"Look, I'm sure of it this time! And what about you? Every path you picked just got us right back to where we started," Riku retorted.
"At least they got us somewhere! And who died and put you in charge anyway?"
"Hey! Just because you're Maleficent's daughter doesn't mean you're the boss of me. Don't forget who she asked to keep an eye on you!"
Kaida and Riku were sent on a mission to go look for another Princess of Heart in a world called Wonderland. After they landed in a large garden maze, Riku and Kaida had been wandering inside it for a while and got themselves hopelessly lost.
"One," Kaida said annoyingly, raising her index finger, "I'm not saying that being her daughter puts me in charge of anything. And two," she raised another finger; "your little 'job' doesn't really mean you're the boss of me, does it?"
"That's not what I meant," Riku said, but Kaida just rolled her eyes.
"Oh really? Because that's what it sounds like to me," she remarked incredulously, "Tell me, how did your friends handle such a stubborn guy like you?"
"Me? You're the one being stubborn!"
Kaida glared at him angrily and put her hands on her hips. "You know what? If that's the way you feel, maybe we shouldn't be working together on this mission! Why don't I just go find the princess by myself while you go ahead and get yourself lost in this labyrinth?" She stormed off down the left path.
"Hey, get back here! We have to stick together!" Riku yelled, but Kaida ignored him. "Okay fine! Go on and get lost for all I care!"Riku yelled before running off to the right. "Don't blame me when Maleficent finds out!"
Kaida nearly flinched at what Riku said, but she didn't want to appear weak in front of him and kept walking without turning back. Many crazy turns later, Kaida still couldn't find the exit. Ugh! Maybe I shouldn't have strayed away…
"My, my, what do we have here?"
Kaida nearly jumped at the sound of the voice. She got into a defensive stance and looked around. "Whatever is the matter? Are you lost like dear Alice?"
"Who's there? Where are you?" Kaida called out, getting ready to pull out her staff.
"I can be anywhere," the voice said mischievously, "then again I can also be nowhere." Kaida then spotted footprints on the ground going down one of the pathways as the mysterious voice started singing a peculiar song (A/N: the one he sang in the movie). The unusual thing is the footprints appeared as if there was something walking down the path, but the only thing visible was the prints.
"Hey!" Kaida followed the footprints down the path. The prints then started moving faster and it wasn't long until Kaida broke into a run to catch up. She then turned the corner and-
"OOF!"
Kaida collided into someone and landed on her butt. "Ow! What the-?" she said, rubbing her head.
"Hey, watch where you're-Oh, it's just you." Kaida looked up to see a very annoyed Riku sitting across from her.
"What's that suppose to mean?" she asked, just as annoyingly, "And what were you doing that made you run into me?"
"For your information, I believe you ran into me," he stated matter-of-factly, earning an eye roll from Kaida, "and I was following these weird footprints while I was trying to find the way out."
That caught her attention. "Hold up. Weird footprints? Did these footprints seem like they were moving on their own?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Because I was following those footprints earlier before you ran into me."
The same mischievous voice from before then chuckled, "Quite the coincidence isn't it?"
They turned toward where to voice came from and then a pink and purple cat gradually appeared on top of a hedge wall, from its wide grinning mouth and bright eyes to its head and right down to its striped body and tail. "Or perhaps it wasn't a coincidence at all?"
"You're a cat?" Riku asked, looking at said creature in slight surprise.
"A Cheshire Cat," he replied, lifting his ears up with his tail as if it were a hat.
Kaida shook her head. "A Cheshire Cat? Oh man, I thought the talking furniture and talking mice that wear clothing were weird enough…" Riku looked at her in confusion. "Long story. Don't want to talk about it," she told him nonchalantly.
"What is weird?" The cat asked, "Everything is weird and yet not so weird as well."
Riku pinched the bridge of his nose while Kaida rubbed her forehead in annoyance. "Seriously, this cat's giving me a headache," Riku grumbled.
Kira muttered, "At least that's one thing we can agree on for once."
"I believe I heard that you two are looking for young Alice. A Princess of Heart you called her?" the cat asked, gaining Kaida and Riku's attention. "If she is, then Alice is closer than you two think she is."
Kaida groaned, "Ugh! Again with the riddles?"
Before she could whip out her staff to impale the darn cat, a loud voice bellowed, "You dare to object?! Choose now or you will lose your head!"
"Come on, let's go see what's going on. We'll deal with that cat later," Riku said, then grabbed Kaida's arm and dragged her away from the grinning Cheshire Cat.
After walking for a few steps, Kaida suddenly stopped and yanked her arm out of Riku's grasp. "What's the deal? A few minutes ago you didn't care that we split up, and now you're dragging me along with you?"
"Look," he said sternly, "Whether we like it or not, we've got to work together on this mission. Now you may not like the way things are now, but this is how it's gonna be from now on. So here's the deal: if you are willing to work with me on this, I won't tell Maleficent about our fight and we'll pretend it never happened. Deal?" Riku extended his hand out to her. Kaida looked from him to his hand with a scowl, and with an annoyed sigh, she took his hand and they shook on it.
The two soon came to a heart-shaped archway that was guarded by what looked like two card soldiers from the inside. Kaida and Riku crouched down and each went to opposite sides of the arch to stay hidden. Kaida peered inside to see a courtroom filled with more card soldiers along with a chubby, scowling woman wearing a small crown seated in the judge's bench.
Hearing a gasp, Kaida looked over at Riku with a look that read 'What's wrong?' With a look of disbelief, Riku pointed toward the witness stand and she followed his finger and gaze to a young boy with very spiky brown hair. 'Sora?'
Riku nodded and was about to go up to his friend before Kaida motioned him to stop. Kaida narrowed her eyes and saw a duck wearing a blue cap and a dog with a green jacket and orange hat in another witness stand on the other side of the courtroom. 'Who are they?' she mouthed, pointing at them. Riku did a double take and turned to Kaida, mouthing 'Don't know.'
"There's your evidence. Alice is innocent, so let her go!" Sora shouted.
Alice? Kaida looked toward cage that was shrouded by a red curtain and something inside her sensed a heart full of light was in the cage. That's got to be her, she thought.
"SILENCE! Anyone that defies the queen is guilty! Guards, seize them!" the queen yelled at the top of her lungs. The stands suddenly vanished and Riku and Kaida retreated into maze exit just as the archway started to disappear. A small tower popped out of the ground and a card soldier ran up to it and turned a large wheel in the tower, raising the covered cage higher up. The rest of the soldiers charged at Sora and his two acquaintances with their spears and the latters were ready to fight back. The dog pulled out a shield, the duck held a wizard's staff, and Sora extended his hand and summoned a keyblade, much to Kaida and Riku's surprise.
"Another keyblade?!" Kaida shouted in shock, "How?!" Luckily for her, no one else but Riku heard her.
Riku, just as shocked, said, "Your guess is as good as mine. But now's our chance to get Alice."
"R-right," she stuttered out of her shock, "Stay here and keep an eye out. I'll go in and get her."
"Hold up, why do I have to be the look-out?"
"Do you want to waste time arguing again or complete our mission?" Riku opened his mouth to say something, but then decided against it. "That's what I thought." Kaida then quickly opened up a dark corridor and ran in.
A young blonde girl in a baby blue dress gripped onto the yellow bars of the cage imprisoning her. Even though the curtain blocked her view of what was going on outside, the sounds of weapons clashing and voices crying out in pain worried and scared her greatly. "Oh no…please be alright Sora, Donald, Goofy…." she whimpered.
A whooshing sound from behind startled her and she quickly turned around to see a dark corridor open in the wall. Kaida stepped out of it, making the blonde's eyes widen in fright. "Are you Alice?"
"W-why, yes. Who are you?" the frightened youth asked.
"I'm Kaida. I'm here to get you out of this cage."
Alice had her back against the cage bars, still frozen in fear. "What about Sora, Donald, and Goofy?"
"You mean that boy, duck, and dog outside?" Alice nodded. "They look like they can handle themselves. Now come on, let's get out of here."
Alice stayed where she was, still unsure if she could trust her. Kaida closed her eyes and ran her hand over her hair as she gave an exasperated sigh. What am I suppose to do? The raven-haired girl thought when she suddenly felt a sharp pain go through her head.
A little girl with shoulder-length raven hair and wearing a black dress stood behind a tree in fright. Her eyes were fixed on two figures from far away.
"Kaida?" The little girl let out a gasp when she looked to see an older girl with short blue hair standing right next to her. The bluenette crouched down to Kaida's height and asked, "Why are you hiding?"
"I-I'm not hiding," little Kaida said nervously, stepping out of her hiding place and straightening herself.
The older girl chuckled and looked toward the two figures Kaida was watching earlier. "Are you scared of the new student?"
Kaida stuttered that she wasn't, but the bluenette's expression showed she was skeptic. Knowing she can't hide anything from her, the raven-haired girl gave a sigh of defeat and admitted she was scared.
"It's okay to be scared Kaida. But you don't need to be scared once you get to know him."
"I-I don't know…"
"Come on. Let's go talk to him." The bluenette stood up and walked toward the two figures and then turned around to notice Kaida hadn't moved from her spot. She gave the little girl a reassuring smile and extended her hand out to her. "It'll be okay. I'll help you," she said softly.
Kaida looked at the extended hand and then looked at the bluenette. Slowly, she walked toward the older girl and then grasped her hand with hers.
"That's my little Kai." Said girl smiled at the bluenette and they both walked together hand in hand.
Kaida opened her eyes and looked at Alice; for a brief moment, the blonde's appearance changed to that of a 5-year-old version of Kaida before it returned to normal.
"Come on. I'll help you," the raven-haired girl said softly, extending a hand out to the Princess of Heart. Alice stared at the hand for a moment before she reluctantly walked toward her and reached out to grab her hand.
But when their fingers nearly touched, both girls felt the cage suddenly drop. Kaida steadied herself on her feet, but Alice fell back and hit her head on the cage bars, knocking herself unconscious. Once the cage stopped, Kaida noticed the curtain starting to pull away. The raven haired girl quickly grabbed Alice and escaped through a dark corridor just before the curtain could reveal them.
Hope you guys like the chapter! :) Again, I am so sorry for the late update. :( I just hope I won't be so unlucky when I put up the next one…
Please favorite, follow, and/or review. See ya! :)