Sora would admit, he hadn't noticed Riku's panic attack in the beginning.

When Maleficent came on screen, he had felt Riku tense up, of course he had, but he hadn't thought anymore of it.

It was only after Maleficent had come and gone, that he realized that Riku wasn't calming down.

"Riku?" He asked quietly, nudging the boy in the side, as gently as he could. When Riku's breathing didn't slow, if anything it picked up, he turned completely to face the older boy.

"Riku, are you okay?" He asked, louder this time. He could feel the gazes of the others on him but he couldn't look at them. Riku's eyes didn't drift down to him however, he didn't smile his small smile that he used whenever he tried to reassure Sora. He didn't do anything but stare off into the distance and shake.

"Riku?" Sora asked a third time and could hear from behind him that people were finally starting to realize something was wrong. A thump, followed by footsteps, sounded from behind him and a second later, Mickey appeared at his elbow.

"Riku? Can you hear me?" Mickey asked, reaching out to touch Riku's shoulder. And Riku freaked out.

Flinching backwards with a sound that couldn't be considered human, his eyes went wide, still staring nothing, before they slammed shut and he cringed backwards, his hands that were still curled into fists, jumping up for a second as if to protect himself.

A flurry of footsteps came from behind him, but Sora couldn't make himself turn away from Riku. The older boy's breathing continued to pick up and his eyes squeezed tight, twin trails of tears starting to leak from them.

"Sora, move," Terra said gently from behind him, and Sora turned as Terra placed a hand on his shoulder, gently guiding his gaze away from Riku.

"What's happening to him?" He asked, not caring that his voice shook a little. Kairi had sprung from the couch when Riku had flinched and Aqua gently guided her away. Terra took Sora's hand and pulled him from the couch, moving to kneel in front of Riku.

"If I had to guess," Terra responded, looking at Riku with a careful eye. "He's having a panic attack, perhaps mixed with a flashback."

"Panic attack…" Sora whispered out, the words feeling numb on his lips. He knew what they were, he had even seen one before. Riku's mother had suffered from them, and Sora had seen it once when he was ten. It had been scary, but Riku hadn't been bothered. Simply had pulled the drapes shut while his father had gently guided his mother over to sit down. It had been fine, normal, and while scary to the young Sora, he had understood and been reassured that they had ways to help with it.

It didn't feel that reassuring now.

Terra reached out, carefully taking Riku's hands in his and speaking quietly to him. Sora flinched when Riku did, wanting to say something, wanting to help, but he couldn't do anything as Aqua guided him to stand a couple of feet back. Looking to his side, he could see Kairi was just as concerned as he was.

"What's a panic attack?" Xion asked in a quiet voice, drawing the two islanders' attention to the three Nobodies. While Axel didn't look confused, if anything he looked understanding, the two teenagers had confusion written all across their faces.

"It's when a lot of anxiety basically spills forth and the body can't handle it, so the body shuts down," Ven said lowly, keeping the volume of their conversation down as Terra gently spoke to Riku. Mickey had clambered onto the back of the couch and was carefully rubbing Riku's back.

The four teenagers turned to him, and he flushed slightly, looking down. "At least, that was how Terra described it to me," he continued. "I… had them frequently when I was still waking up and getting used to life without any memories." Aqua looked back to him for a second and he smiled at her, silently reassuring her. She smiled back at him, before turning back to watching Terra. Naminé looked concerned about what was happening, but clearly didn't dare to say anything, simply pulling her knees to her chest.

"And they're… normal?" Roxas asked, tipping his head to the side, and Ven made a face.

"Well, no," he replied. "They aren't supposed to be anyway. But there's nothing wrong with having them. Some people have them often, if they have an anxiety disorder, while others can get triggered by certain things, such as small spaces or blood or-"

"Seeing the abuser who tricked and manipulated you into attacking your best friend," Sora cut in lowly and Ven wasn't the only one to wince.

"Yes, that'd probably be one," Ven conceded.

"You know a lot about them," Kairi remarked and Ven nodded.

"Once I started having them, I researched a lot about it," he revealed. "I wanted to know what was happening and thankfully, Master Eraqus had an extensive library. Terra learned about it as well, both from earlier… experience, and he wanted to be there for me. He helped calm me down more times than I can count, both from full panic attacks and the lead up to them."

"Riku, are you back with us?" Terra asked, and all of them clammed up instantly, Sora looking back at the couch. Riku looked more alert than before, at least, and his eyes weren't forced closed, instead gazing at Terra. His hands were still shaking, and he looked like a loose wind could blow him over. "You had a panic attack," Terra continued, and Sora winced at the recognition followed by… some emotion, in Riku's face. "Most likely triggered by Maleficent's voice."

"Oh," Riku said dully, looking down and Sora was tempted to look away. To give his friend as much privacy as he could while he grappled with that.

Sora was also angry with himself. He knew this was going to be hard on Riku, he knew it. Riku had always been so… critical of himself, if Sora could call it that, and he knew, just from the few conversations they'd had since then, that Riku felt very strongly about what had happened due to Maleficent's influence. He had wanted to be there for Riku, he had told Riku that he would be there for him. But now, when Riku needed him, he couldn't do anything.

"Gosh Riku," Mickey said, leaning down to look at Riku more fully. "You sure you're okay?" Sora also wanted the answer. Riku had said he was okay watching the past but clearly, that wasn't completely true.

"Will it… happen again?" Riku asked instead, looking up at Terra, and Sora could see the worry and vulnerability in his eyes.

"I don't know," Terra replied, letting go of Riku's hands, who immediately pulled them close to him. "These things… are hard to understand. But we'll keep an eye on it, okay? Tell us if you fell the beginning of another one coming on." Riku looked down when Terra said that, and Sora felt another stab in his heart. Why couldn't he do anything? He could help everyone else; he saved the world twice over. Why couldn't he save Riku?

"Riku," Aqua said softly as Terra stood, bringing Riku's attention to her. "Are you going to be okay to watch the rest of it?" Riku nodded once, but Sora didn't know if he believed him. But Terra and Aqua clearly decided not to push, so Sora followed their lead, silently returning to his spot next to Riku. He wanted to do something, maybe show his support. But Riku cringed away from him when he sat down and looked away, and Sora couldn't find it in him to push.

A second later, the lights dimmed again, the room deciding that it was time to move on, and their eyes drifted back to the screen.

As the Gummiship flies through space, Sora looks out of the window and asks how the ship works.

"How does it work actually?" Sora asked, turning to look at Mickey. He was very carefully trying to make Riku feel normal again, which included asking questions, even if the only thing he wanted to ask was whether or not Riku was okay.

(Also, he actually wanted to know how the Gummiship worked. It had never been explained to him.)

"Well," Mickey started before pausing. "They always just… worked." He finished lamely. He would admit, he had never placed much thought into it. The ship worked on Gummi. "If you really wanted to know, I bet Chip and Dale would have an answer for you." Sora nodded in response.

Donald says he can't talk right now, and Sora asks if he could fly the ship.

"Sora?" Kairi asked, a hint of scolding in her voice.

"Look, I was fourteen years old and ecstatic about being able to go to other worlds as well as wanting to try everything out there. You're telling me that you wouldn't be tempted to fly the ship?" He replied, giving her a look in return. She huffed but didn't answer.

Donald says he can't and Goofy consoles Sora by telling him that piloting the ship was hard. Sora snarks that he would be better at it than Donald.

None of them could really argue with them, seeing the erratic flying on screen.

Jiminy says that the ship runs on mysterious power and Goofy confirms it's why the ship can fly to different worlds.

Aqua paused, thinking. Was the ship similar to their gliders?

Jiminy explains about how it's made of Gummi blocks, but they're cut off by Donald who sees a world in the distance.

The few of them who had space traveled before constantly found themselves curious and in awe of every new world.

Ah Wonderland, Sora thought in his head. The one world in which I will be happy to never visit again.

The ship lands on the ground and Goofy, Donald, and Sora step out, only to immediately fall down a big hole.

"How did you miss that?" Vanitas cackled, a smile crossing his lips, something that hadn't happened since the silver-haired one had his panic attack. It was too similar, too similar to the things that plagued Vanitas whenever Master Xehanort wasn't around, when he didn't have to control every aspect of himself lest he get himself hurt.

"It just appeared beneath out feet!" Sora exclaimed in defense of himself and his companions. "We couldn't have seen it coming!"

The three of them float down, with Donald and Sora landing softly, while Goofy hits the floor with a thud.

Several people winced at the sound. Both Xion and Roxas were sitting up, however, as they were starting to realize where Sora was.

A white rabbit runs past them, worrying about being late.

"What?" Both Terra and Ven asked while Vanitas and Aqua blinked at it in surprise. Riku felt his eyebrow raise in confusion and intrigue.

Xion groaned, thunking her head down on Axel's shoulder, while Roxas hung his head. Several people looked their way in surprise at their actions.

"You've been there too?" Sora asked, shooting a glance to Roxas and Xion.

"I never want to go back," Roxas groused out while Xion nodded empathetically.

"It… can't be that bad?" Kairi asked, but her voice trailed off when she saw the three looks being shot her way.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy stare at the rabbit in confusion.

It was the reaction that was being copied by several of the watchers.

He runs off, saying that the queen was going to have his head for it.

"The… queen?" Aqua asked, sounding a little scared of the answer. Sora made a face.

"The Queen of Hearts," he explained. "And she's… well, you'll see."

Sora wonders where the rabbit is going, and Donald says they should find out.

"Just like that?" Roxas asked, raising an eyebrow. "What happened to World Order? Weren't they just talking about that?"

"I mean, if a talking white rabbit runs past you in full clothes with a pocket watch, you're telling me you wouldn't want to investigate? Wouldn't that spark your curiosity?" Sora asked, looking at his Nobody, who paused before shrugging.

He would have, probably, but not for Sora's reasons. He couldn't feel curiosity after all.

The three of them follow the rabbit and arrive at a door, which opens revealing another door. It repeats again, before showing a passage.

"Wonderland everyone!" Sora exclaimed, throwing his hands out to encompass the screen. "Where nothing makes sense!"

The ones who hadn't been there were starting to get an idea about why the three Keyblade Wielders didn't like it.

The passage takes them to a pink room, where the rabbit disappears into a tiny door.

"There's no way you fit through that," Kairi said drily, looking at the tiny door on the screen. "Donald, maybe, but no way Goofy did."

"We go through… a different way," Sora admitted, remembering the shrinking potion.

"Did that doorknob have a face on it?" Ven asked blankly.

Sora kneels down in front of the door and questions how the rabbit got through, as the door was too small. The doorknob replies that Sora is just too big.

"And it speaks," Ven muttered. Sora made jazz hands, as if silently saying, Wonderland.

Sora, Goofy, and Donald show shock. The doorknob tells them they woke him up.

"The doorknob… sleeps?" Kairi muttered, trying to find some logic in everything she was seeing.

Sora asks how they got small enough to fit through the door and the doorknobs tells him to look in the bottle.

Bottle? Kairi wondered before looking at Sora out of the corner of her eye. Don't tell me Sora actually-

A table appears with two bottles on it. They realize that one shrinks and the other grows.

Don't tell me he actually-

Goofy wonders if it is safe but Sora says the doorknob said it was fine. Sora drinks from the blue one.

"Sora!" Kairi exclaimed, turning and smacking him on the shoulder. "You don't just drink something from a crazy world because a doorknob told you to! What if it hurt you?"

Sora laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head. "I mean, the doorknob mentioned that we had to drink it-"

"No, he didn't!" She cut him off. "He told you to look at the bottle and you just drank it! What if it wasn't safe to drink like Goofy said?"

"I… took that chance?" Sora defended himself weakly and Kairi sighed, rubbing her face, sounding far too tired for a fifteen-year-old. It wasn't helping his case that several of the adults looked like they agreed with Kairi, Axel being the only one not bothered by it. Mostly because he had seen stupider things done by Demyx and sometimes Roxas.

"I swear, Donald and Goofy need to be better protectors outside of the battlefield," she muttered. "They defend you from Heartless just fine, but they also need to be on the lookout for your own impulsiveness." Sora laughed again but didn't say anything.

Sora shrinks on screen.

"See, it was fine," Sora started but quailed at the look Kairi gave him.

"It's the principle of it," she told him.

Donald and Goofy drink the liquid as well, shrinking down to Sora's size. The three of them look around.

"Different perspective huh?" Terra murmured watching the three of them on screen. Ven looked like he wanted to try it himself. Aqua was silently promising in her head to never let either of them go to Wonderland without someone sensible going with them. So, her or Mickey, and even Mickey was up in the air. Mister let-me-hitch-a-ride-on-a-dying-world-to-find-where-they're-going.

As the three of them jump down, Heartless appears.

"Here too?" Mickey wondered. He knew that Heartless were appearing everywhere, there was no end to them, but at the same time, they had really reached everywhere, hadn't they?

The three of them fight them off and Sora runs up to the doorknob, trying to get through. But he doesn't wake up.

"Rude," Kairi whispered and felt Sora laugh slightly.

Donald notices a tunnel off to the side and the three of them run through. They appear in a garden and Goofy remarks that it looks like the gardens at the Castle.

Mickey blinked. He supposed they did.

The three of them notice the queen, who is sitting on a dais looking down.

Both Roxas and Xion groaned, Xion facepalming, and Sora looked like he agreed with them, even if he didn't completely know what they were thinking.

"Another trial, seriously?" Roxas asked, looking at the screen in shock. "I swear, does she just have trials for fun?"

"She was holding a trial when you two were there?" Sora asked and Xion nodded. "Did it end in-"

"Her declaring the defendant guilty and ordering their decapitation?" Xion cut in with another nod. "Same thing happen to you?"

"Can she… do that?" Naminé asked quietly, watching the screen in fascination. So, this is where Sora got the memories for that one floor of Castle Oblivion. She knew of them, she had seen them briefly while… messing with his memories, but she hadn't looked too deep. It wasn't her mission. But even in that world, there had been a trial against the same girl it appeared to be against now. While that made sense, they were the only residents of the world that Sora knew at that point, she supposed the trial just made that much of an impact on Sora.

"Well, a good ruler wouldn't," Mickey said, slightly offended by the conduct of a fellow monarch. "She would listen to both the defense and prosecution before making the best decision for her world and people. Execution is not a good idea to always go with."

"No, really?" Vanitas drawled, watching the scene. "Who would have thought?" Mickey didn't even look at the boy. It would only either hurt the boy or hurt Mickey. Because while it wasn't obvious when he had, unfortunately, been fighting him all those years ago, it was clear now that Vanitas was just like Riku had been after Hollow Bastion. A hurt, abused boy whose all paths in life were blocked and abandoned to the darkness. He hoped that he could help the other child now, like he had helped Riku. Though, he would first have to, at least, diminish Aqua's hatred of him.

Speaking of, the woman had glared at the boy when he didn't.

The rabbit from before runs up to the top of a tower and announces that the court is in session.

All the people who hadn't been to Wonderland watched the scene with interest. While they didn't doubt Sora, Roxas, or Xion, it would still be different to see for themselves.

Sora asks what a trial is and Donald and Goofy explain.

"You didn't know?" Aqua asked, looking at the teenager, who shrugged.

"It had never come up at home before," he explained. "And there hadn't ever been one that I had seen."

A young girl in a blue dress asks why she's on trial.

"Hang on, the trial is on a child?" Terra questioned, raising an eyebrow. Aqua agreed with him. Regardless of what the girl had done, and that was even if she had done anything, Roxas and Sora had made it sound like the trial wasn't even fair, she shouldn't have to go through all of this.

Riku froze when he saw Alice. One of the Princesses of Heart. One of the girls he had kidnapped under Maleficent's orders. She hadn't even done anything. She couldn't have been older than eight.

Sora saw more than felt Riku going stiff next to him, and his eyes immediately flicked to him, trying to make sure he didn't miss if Riku was starting to suffer from another panic attack. But the older boy was still clearly aware, just uncomfortable and it didn't take long for Sora to remember what had happened there. What had happened to Alice. While he had never gotten a confirmation, it was clear that Riku had kidnapped Alice from the cage, probably because of Maleficent.

Biting his lip, he thought. Riku had been stiff and tense ever since his panic attack and clearly hadn't wanted physical contact, if the way he had been sitting showed anything, but Riku was also clearly upset right now because of being reminded of something. Taking a chance, Sora reached out a hand and placed it on Riku's arm, causing the older boy to flinch minutely and turn to him. Looking into his eyes, Sora moved his hand down to clasp Riku's hand. I'm here, he reminded with his eyes. And it wasn't your fault.

Riku looked away, but he thankfully didn't pull his hand out of Sora's grip.

The rabbit says the queen is presiding and the queen is shown.

Okay listen, Aqua doesn't like to judge on appearances. She does her best to judge on how someone acted. However, that woman looked unpleasant. She just did.

The queen says the girl is the culprit.

"Of what?" Ven asked. "The girl clearly doesn't even know what the trial is about, so how could it be her?" He paused. "What's her name, by the way?"

"Alice," Sora responded and Ven nodded. Naminé had to bite her tongue. She had almost answered herself. She had to be careful. She knew that what she had done to Sora would be revealed sooner or later and while Sora had forgiven and even protected her during the time in Castle Oblivion, she highly doubted that anyone else would. She wondered if they would think her dangerous, like DiZ had. Or if they would even let her explain herself. She wondered if Axel would protect her, though she highly doubted it. He cared far too much for Roxas and Xion to put their lives on the line like that.

The queen says the reason is because she says so.

Several people made faces at that.

"Horrible reasoning," Aqua said blankly, wondering how on earth someone like that managed to get in a position of power.

"I got the feeling that she was just like that," Sora muttered, thinking back to his… less than stellar interactions with the queen. She just seemed like someone who liked getting her way and didn't care who got hurt because of that.

Alice says that it's unfair.

Almost everyone agreed with her.

Vanitas thought she and Master Xehanort would get along well.

The queen asks if she has anything to say in her defense.

Right, like she was going to listen to that, Sora thought, remembering the whole evidence fiasco. She's just saying that to get Alice's hopes up.

Alice says she's done nothing wrong.

"Not going to convince that type, I'm afraid," Axel drawled out, causing both Xion and Roxas to look at him. "She's not going to listen."

Alice says that she may be queen but that doesn't give her the right to be so mean.

Mickey agreed with the young girl and hoped nothing bad happened to her.

The queen slams the table, causing Alice to jump, and asks if she dares defy her.

Axel wasn't surprised. Neither was Vanitas.

Sora says they should help Alice.

Both Kairi and Riku thought that Sora could be too nice and impulsive sometimes.

Donald and Goofy say that it would be meddling, which they aren't allowed to do.

Well… Aqua, Terra, and Ven all thought. They had done plenty of "meddling", as Donald would put it, when they traveled around the worlds. It usually ended up helping.

Terra pointedly didn't think of Enchanted Dominion, and he didn't realize that the other two were blocking it out as well.

The queen says the court finds Alice guilty.

"Wait, what court?" Aqua asked. "There's no jury to be seen."

"The queen's both the jury and judge," Sora said and Aqua sighed. Typical.

The queen says for the crimes of assault and attempted theft of her heart, Alice would be beheaded.

"Oh, it was a Heartless," Xion said before pausing. "Wait, how could she possibly have thought that the small, black creature had been Alice? It was clearly not."

"People like that just what someone to blame," Axel told her gently. "She probably would have accused anyone. Alice was just the unfortunate first person to come into contact with her." Xion frowned.

Sora blinks in shock, recognizing that it had been a Heartless.

"And you guys interfered now, right?" Kairi asked, not wanting Alice to get hurt. Yes, she knew she survived, she had seen her in Hollow Bastion, but still.

Sora nodded.

The cards advance on Alice, who looks scared.

Kairi wasn't the only one who wanted the girl saved.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy run in, disrupting the court.

"Dangerous, but effective," Aqua noted. Kairi thought that the sentence could be Sora in a nutshell. Along with impulsive but kindhearted.

The queen asks who they are, and Sora says they know who the real culprit is.

Axel wondered if that would actually work. People like the queen usually wouldn't listen but this was Sora. He just seemed to emit an aura that had people like and trust him.

Goofy starts saying that it's the Heartless but stops himself. Sora says it's not Alice.

"I don't think that's going to convince her, Sora," Kairi told him gently and he shrugged. It was all he could think of to say at the time.

The queen says that it's nonsense and asks if they have any proof.

"I mean, you didn't need any proof in your conviction, so why should Sora need proof in his defense?" Roxas snarked, getting a poke in the shoulder from Xion, who reached across Axel's lap to do so.

Sora pauses, trying to think and the queen says that Alice is guilty. Sora says they'll find evidence.

"Sora…" Kairi groaned out, but a small smile curled up her lips. Of course, Sora would do that for Alice. He would do that for anyone. It was just part of his charm.

The queen says to bring her evidence that Alice is innocent or she's going to chop all their heads off.

"Good luck with that," Naminé whispered, quiet enough that no one heard her. While she didn't manipulate or even touch Goofy's and Donald's minds as much as she did Sora's, it was still clear in their minds how much they cared for Sora. She doubted that the queen would be able to cut off Sora's head without having to face the full wrath of both the Guard Captain and the Royal Magician.

The guards place Alice in a cage and the three of them approach her.

Riku sucked in a quiet breath. It had been so easy to snatch her from that cage, especially once the curtain had been placed over it. A single shadow corridor under her feet and she was gone before anyone was any wiser.

Sora, hearing Riku, squeezed his hand. He realized that it was all he had been really doing to comfort Riku, but he knew the older boy didn't like big emotional moments, especially when they weren't alone.

Goofy asks if she's okay and says that they'll find the evidence. Alice introduces herself and asks who they are.

"She doesn't look too confused about Goofy and Donald," Kairi couldn't help but point out and Sora shrugged.

"She did just see the rabbit talk and play the horn," he responded. "Perhaps she just thought that it was a part of the world."

"Wait, so she's not from it?" Terra asked, narrowing his eyes. "Did she come from a different world? How did she do that?"

"Apparently, she fell down a hole," Sora said. "Which is what we did too. I think she was from the world above, where we parked the Gummiship."

Goofy introduces them and Alice says that it is nice to meet them, even with the circumstances, and apologizes that they got caught up in the trial.

"It's… not her fault?" Aqua said slowly and Sora shrugged.

"She'd just polite," he said, having gotten that feeling off of her.

Sora asks why she was on trial.

"Sora," Riku said slowly. "You just heard why she was on trial. The queen announced it. Like, thirty seconds ago." Sora looked down as a flush crossed his face but didn't snap back. If anything, he was just glad that Riku was feeling better enough to tease him slightly.

Alice says she doesn't know, just that the queen saw her and decided that she was guilty of something.

Xion couldn't help but think back to how Saix used to treat her. Like she had done something wrong by just existing and daring to take Axel's attention and friendship offer.

Donald says that it's terrible and Sora asks how she got there. She explains that she was in a meadow with some of the older girls when she found a hole and fell down it.

"So just like you three," Mickey said, thinking it over. He hadn't ever heard of a world within a world, but perhaps it was possible.

Goofy says that it had to be the same hole they fell down.

"Except the one that you fell down was huge," Roxas said. "While she found a smaller one, according to her."

"Maybe there are multiple?" Xion wondered. Neither of them knew. They had always portaled straight into the area.

One of the guards shouts that the defendant should remain silent and the three of them move closer to speak quieter.

"Inconspicuous," Vanitas remarked, sarcasm clear in his words. Sora almost caught himself smiling at the other boy. It felt kind of like when Riku teased him. But apparently the boy had done some bad things, at least according to Aqua. Maybe Sora should learn more about that, to tell if he really wanted to be friends with the boy. While it would take a lot to make Sora not want to be friends with him, maybe he had done a lot.

Sora tells her that they'll find the evidence before the guards chase them away.

A couple of people wondered how the cards were even alive but dismissed it as Wonderland nonsense as Sora, Xion, and Roxas would put it.

Donald and Goofy discuss what could be classified as evidence. Sora thinks.

"Thinking hard?" Riku asked him, smiling at the younger boy, small and gentle. Sora beamed back at him.

"You know it!"

Sora asks if their smell and claw marks would count as evidence.

"So, you can think," Axel snarked. Roxas snickered while Xion elbowed him in the side. When he looked to her, betrayed, she simply rolled her eyes. They were trying to convince the Keyblade Wielders around them not to murder them, thank you.

Goofy asks if Sora had ever seen anything like it before.

"That's why he brought it up," Terra muttered softly, feeling the slightest bit of memory filter into his head before he shut it out. No dark thoughts. Darkness is how he got possessed in the first place.

Sora says not around here but shows his sleeve which is torn. He says the Heartless got him before.

Already feeling Kairi turning to look at him, he smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Just my clothes, promise," he told her. She gave him a look but didn't say anything.

Sora says that they could probably find more evidence like it around. Goofy sniffs Sora's sleeve and says they do hold a strange smell.

Don't I know it, Riku thought in his head. Though he doubted they meant it in the way that he did.

The three of them venture further into Wonderland, finding a forest filled with water lilies.

Aqua thought, under different circumstances, the place could be quite beautiful.

A pink, widely smiling cat head appears right in front of them.

Kairi shrieked in surprise, as did Naminé, both Somebody and Nobody covering their faces in fear. Ven sat up in surprise, half falling onto Terra, who wrapped an arm around him on instinct. Both of the older teenagers' hearts had sped up, Aqua's eyes widening. Mickey jumped in his seat and none of the others who had been there could stop the surprise that whipped through them. Even though they had seen it before, it was still surprising. It was only Axel, Vanitas, and Riku who had no overt reaction to it.

The cat head disappears and reappears in several different places before settling on the ground, a headless cat body balancing on it.

"What on earth?" Aqua breathed out, struck speechless. Both Naminé and Kairi had peaked out from behind their hands, and while Kairi dropped her hands and tried to calm her racing heart, Naminé decided it was safer for the time being to hide her face.

"Meet the Chesire Cat," Sora said, gesturing at the screen.

"One of the wackiest residents of Wonderland," Roxas continued, Xion nodding along. "He likes to speak in riddles and pops up every now and again."

"And never stops smiling," Xion finished.

"How…?" Aqua asked, gesturing at the headless cat and the three of them shrugged. They didn't know.

The cat picks up its head and places it back on its neck.

"Okay, you know what, fine," Aqua muttered out, rubbing her temples slightly. She was starting to get why the three younger Keyblade Wielders didn't like Wonderland.

Donald yells out, asking who the cat is. The cat replies who indeed.

"Riddles," Roxas snarked, gesturing to the screen.

The cat expresses sympathy for Alice, saying she's about to lose her head and she's not guilty of a thing.

"He also just… knows things," Sora told them. "Like, this is obvious, but it got really weird later."

He didn't offer anything more than that, so they all just decided to wait for it to be shown.

Sora asks for the cat to tell them who the real culprit is.

Both Xion and Roxas got the feeling it wasn't going to be that easy.

Chesire says that he always knows but doesn't always tell. He says the answer, the culprit, and the cat all lie in darkness.

"He also refers to himself in third person," Sora commented in an aside. Because why not?

The cat vanishes and Sora calls out to him, trying to get him to come back.

"If he had evidence that could free Alice," Sora said, already explaining himself. "I had to try and get it from him."

The cat's voice tells them that they already left the forest, and he won't tell them which exit.

Several people groaned, Sora among them. Even rewatching it made all his feelings of frustration that he had been feeling at the time come rushing back.

Donald asks if they should trust him and the Chesire Cat pops back up, making a quote about trust.

Both Xion and Roxas groaned again. The cat was so frustrating.

Sora says they should go through the forest. Goofy asks if they should believe the cat.

"We had to take the small opportunity that the cat gave us," Sora muttered. "It was the only evidence we had."

Sora says they had to and started leading the way through the forest, destroying Heartless as they went.

"Honestly, how has the queen not noticed those things?" Aqua asked, watching Sora make his way through the forest. "There's so many of them."

Sora shrugged. "I think she was purposefully trying not to look at them," he replied. "So she could keep blaming Alice."

Goofy remarks that they're following them everywhere and Donald reminds Goofy that Aerith said that the Heartless followed the Keyblade Wielder, which was Sora.

Riku conceded that they had been right on that point, even if they had been mistaken on other things, according to Terra and Aqua. Ever since he had been using his own Keyblade, the Heartless had been following and attacking him. Even though he had darkness in his heart, they still followed and attacked him. While it was slightly disheartening that they wouldn't leave him or Sora or even Kairi, now that she had her Keyblade, alone, it was nice to know that it wasn't that there was darkness in Sora's heart that they were attracted to. Sora was too good to have any darkness in his heart.

Sora apologizes for leading the Heartless to them.

"Don't apologize," Mickey told Sora gently, causing the teen to turn and look at him. "It's not your fault that the Heartless are following you. You can't control it."

"I know," Sora replied softly. "I just felt bad. Without me, they wouldn't have been attacked nearly as much as they were."

"But then they wouldn't have you for a friend," Mickey responded. "Some things are just worth dealing with for friends."

Goofy says not to feel bad and that the king sent them to find the key, so they were sticking with him. After Goofy turned, Sora's face fell slightly.

"Sora?" Kairi asked, noticing the change in the onscreen Sora's face. Sora sighed.

"It's just that it hurt slightly to hear that they were only sticking with me because Mickey told them to," he revealed, shifting in his seat and looking down. "I know that Goofy didn't mean anything by it, but… it did."

Kairi blinked at the somber tone that Sora's voice had taken, reaching out a hand to place on his shoulder. He blinked, raising his head to smile at her. Riku, looking down at Sora, gently squeezed the hand that Sora was holding. Sora had done several time to reassure him, so maybe…

"But it's okay," he told them and Mickey. "It took a while, but they're my friends now. And they chose to stay with me, even after everything." While his smile seemed to reassure everyone else, Riku's face darkened slightly.

Did they though? He thought, remembering, with great pain in his heart, the moment in Hollow Bastion, when he had stolen the Keyblade from Sora and left him behind. Donald and Goofy had followed him, walking away from Sora and leaving him defenseless in a world full of Heartless. Yes, maybe they helped afterward and chose to stand with Sora against him, but that didn't change the initial action. Didn't change that they, Sora's apparent friends, had left him behind. If not for the Beast, Riku didn't know if he would still have a best friend.

And wasn't that a scary thought?

Sora gets hit by a Heartless after spacing out for a second.

Both Kairi's and Riku's hands tightened on him.

"I'm fine guys," he said, looking at each of them in turn. "I'm still here."

Goofy gives him a healing potion and they work together to get rid of the rest of the Heartless.

Kairi and Riku relaxed slightly.

The three of them collapse on the ground after defeating the Heartless.

"Are you guys okay?" Mickey asked, worry for both Sora and his friends from Disneytown filling him.

Sora nodded. "We were just tired."

Goofy and Donald comment on how tired they are before a small voice thanks them.

Sora felt a smile crossing his face. The flowers were one of the only good things about Wonderland. Several people focused on the screen in confusion, but not as much confusion as they would have had in the beginning. They had also slowly started to become accustomed to Wonderland strangeness.

The three of them sit up in confusion, calling out to whoever was speaking. The voice identified itself as a flower.

"The flower?" Aqua wondered and Sora nodded. Xion smiled. They were always nice to talk to, when she had the time to stop and chat with them after missions. Which, unfortunately, wasn't that common.

Pollen falls on their heads as the flower opens. The three of them jump slightly.

"Did the flowers do something you?" Kairi asked, hyper aware of everything weird about Wonderland.

"The pollen just made us feel more awake," Sora told her, and she nodded. "The flowers are just nice. There's nothing really nefarious about them."

The flower says that they couldn't open with the creatures around and Goofy almost calls them Heartless before stopping himself again.

"Not that great about upholding World Order, is he?" Roxas asked and Sora frowned slightly at the jab against his friend.

"Maybe not," he conceded. "But Goofy's still been there when I've needed him."

"I didn't mean it as an insult," Roxas responded.

Sora asks them which way the shadows went, and the flower points him in a direction.

"So, much more helpful than the cat," Ven deadpanned, and Sora chuckled slightly.

The flower helps him get up to the spot he was pointing at and the three of them head through the greenery, falling down another hole.

"You did that more than once that day?" Kairi asked and Sora nodded.

"It was a weird day."

They end up on top of the faucet in the pink room from before and Goofy comments on it.

"Oh, you guys are really small," Kairi noted, watching them, remembering how the faucet looked before.

The three of them find footprints from the Heartless.

Several people felt joy in them at that, glad that they found some evidence to support Alice.

The Chesire Cat appears.

Roxas, Sora, and Xion weren't the only ones to groan when he appeared, both Kairi and Ven joined their chorus. That cat was frustrating.

The cat comments on what they found, and Sora says they can save Alice. The cat says that Alice may be innocent but asks about them.

Sora looked down at the ground when Chesire's question was asked. At the time, he hadn't thought much about it, simply brushing it off as another weird part of the day. And even now, he could just dismiss it as the Chesire Cat just being the Chesire Cat but… he couldn't help but think.

At this point, he had destroyed an uncountable amount of Heartless. Yes, they weren't really alive, just darkness molded around broken hearts, but they had been people once. But the big thing that was eating at him was the number of people he had killed.

Ansem.

Xaldin.

Demyx.

Saix.

Xemnas.

And while Mickey made it seem like they were going to become their Somebodies again, like Axel had, he hadn't known that going into it. He had attacked and defeated those people thinking he was destroying them for good. Killing them for good.

And yes, they had been doing bad. They had been hurting the worlds, hurting people. But that didn't change anything.

She may be innocent but what about you? The Chesire Cat's question echoed in his ears.

He didn't know.

Goofy asks what the Chesire Cat means but he responds that he won't tell.

"Shocker," Roxas grumbled.

The cat disappears and Sora wonders what that was about. Goofy gets the piece of evidence.

"And now you go be the hero like you always are," Riku murmured, an unknown note in his voice. Sora tipped his head, looking up at the boy but didn't say anything. He could ask Riku about it later.

The three discuss that they haven't found the Keyhole yet and that they will probably have to fight another big creature.

"Did you have to every time you closed a Keyhole?" Aqua asked and Sora nodded. It was annoying, he would admit.

The three of them head back to the court.

They braced themselves for the fallout. They doubted the queen would take it lightly.

Sora tells Alice that they'll get her out and she thanks them. The queen calls the court to session.

Sora could already feel a bit of frustration sinking into him as he thought about what the queen had pulled. It had made him mad then and it made him mad now.

Sora presents the evidence to the queen who looks unimpressed. She has one of her soldiers bring out two boxes and puts Sora's evidence in one before mixing them and telling Sora to choose.

"She can't do that!" Kairi exclaimed, sitting up in anger and shock, a sentiment repeated by several other people in the room.

Sora shrugged helplessly. "She didn't want to lose," he muttered, crinkling his nose.

Roxas couldn't help but be glad that he and Xion had never had to actually interact with the queen in person. He had a feeling he would have attempted to commit regicide.

Sora walks forward and chooses one of the boxes, ignoring Donald's and Goofy's suggestions. A Heartless springs out of the box.

Several people jumped in surprise. Well, if that didn't convince the queen…

The queen is in shock and Sora says that it's the evidence that Alice is innocent. The queen refuses to believe it and orders her soldiers to behead them.

Kairi scoffed and grumbled something under her breath, snuggling closer to Sora as the cards advanced on them.

"Please tell me you defeated her," Ven asked, and Sora nodded with a smile.

"Don't worry, we did."

One of the soldiers brings Alice's cage up to the top of the tower.

Riku froze, remembering what had happened. It had been so easy to just… It had been for Kairi, for Sora… He didn't know Alice, why should he worry about her?

A second later, Sora's hand gripped his and squeezed it tight, pulling Riku's attention back to him.

"This does not make you a bad person," Sora told him seriously, making several of the people who didn't know what happened look to them in confusion. But Sora didn't offer any explanation so they settled back in to watch, assuming that it would be explained later. Riku looked away, closing his eyes. Sora didn't know that.

Sora and the others fight off the card soldiers and bring down the cage holding Alice. But she's gone.

Riku flinched, holding Sora's hand tight as he tried not to remember. It had been so easy… In more ways than one.

Aqua looked at the screen before her eyes shifted to Riku. She had been able to glean from what Riku had said, from what Sora and Mickey said, that Riku had helped Maleficent for a time, in an effort to save Kairi. It was probably that Riku'd had a hand in kidnapping Alice. It was why he was so distraught at the moment.

Honestly, how much had this boy gone through? She wondered to herself. She had seen him use the darkness to leave Destiny Islands, she knew that it had taken him in one way or another. And while the Master's speeches about the evilness of darkness were continually on loop in the back of her head, she couldn't find it in herself to be mad or scared of Riku. He just looked like a hurt boy, who had gotten used and abused from the second he took a step off his islands and was just doing his best in a horrible situation. So, how could she be mad at him when he was just trying to survive?

She hadn't realized yet that her line of thought could be applied to more than just one person in the room.

Donald realizes Alice must have gotten kidnapped while they were fighting.

Slowly, other people in the room were starting to realize who had kidnapped her, taking Sora's words into account.

The queen says to find who did it, no matter how. The card soldiers run off.

At least they weren't attacking Sora anymore.

As the three of them walk back, Goofy asks Sora why he thinks the Heartless kidnapped her. He asks who else could have done it.

Riku closed his eyes slowly, breathing carefully out through his nose. Sora gave him a look, trying to make sure he didn't miss if Riku had another panic attack.

The Chesire Cat appears, and Sora asks if he knows where Alice is. He says he doesn't, but he did see shadows.

"He's actually helping you?" Xion asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Give it a second," Sora replied.

Sora asks where he saw them and the Chesire Cat gives them a riddle before mentioning the forest.

"Ah," Xion grumbled. Not surprising.

Sora and the others find a tea party that's been abandoned.

"Did the Heartless get them?" Naminé asked quietly and Sora paused.

"I don't know," he replied. "We never found them."

They enter the house, and the cat says that the Heartless are hiding somewhere. Sora and the others fight their way through before ending up back in the room where they first shrank.

"How did you get there?" Kairi asked and Sora shrugged.

The cat tells them they'll get a better view from higher up. Sora and the others get up to the table and the cat says that the shadows would be there soon. A giant Heartless descends from the ceiling.

"I assume that's the big one guarding the Keyhole?" Aqua asked and Sora nodded to her.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy fight the Heartless until it collapses.

"Good job," Kairi whispered to him, with similar murmurs of congratulations being passed around the room, making Sora smile.

Sora mentions that Alice isn't there and wonders where she could be.

"You thought the giant Heartless would have her?" Terra asked and Sora looked down with a nod. Riku looked away.

The doorknob wakes up slowly and asks how he's supposed to sleep. When he yawns, the Keyhole is visible inside.

"Are all Keyholes that… strange?" Aqua wondered and Sora thought back.

"Not as weird but they're never where you'd think they be," Sora responded.

The Keyblade locks it, to Sora's confusion.

Both Aqua and Terra watched in interest. Perhaps that was a technique they could learn.

Sora says that they defeated the creature but didn't find Alice. Or the king or his friends.

Sora took a deep breath. They were here now.

A gummi piece falls out of the doorknob's mouth and Goofy recognizes it as different than the other gummi's.

"What was it?" Ven asked as Sora onscreen picked up the Gummi and put it in his pocket.

"Navigation Gummi," Sora revealed. "It helped us to get to farther worlds."

The cat pops up behind them, calling Sora a hero.

Riku couldn't help but agree with the cat.

Chesire says if he's looking for Alice, she wasn't there.

"And he just now tells you that?" Kairi asked, sounding frustrated.

"Chesire Cat," Sora, Roxas, and Xion all deadpanned.

He says she's gone with the shadows.

Not the shadows, Riku thought. Just one.

Sora asks what he means but the cat disappears, and Sora appears disheartened. Goofy tries to cheer him up by telling him that they could find her in another world.

"Well, we did," Sora snorted. "Kind of." Riku looked away again but didn't pull his hand from Sora's grip. He suspected it would worry the younger boy.

The three of them start heading back but Donald reminds Sora that he can't enter the ship with a frowning face. Sora says he remembers and puts on a smile.

Again, toxic positivity, Aqua thought to herself, grateful for all the hours she had spent in Master Eraqus's library in her younger years, simply reading up on everything and anything. It gave her knowledge now that she might not have had.

Everything that I see, she thought. All it does is remind me of Ven, Terra, and myself. We were thrown into a world we weren't ready for, and we sunk. Hard. I won't let that happen to Sora.

She turned to look at him as the lights went back up, signaling a break.

I promise.