Hey. As some of you know, I'm on a temporary leave from KHI until the end of the first semester. However, I will stop by occasionally to update this fic.
I wrote this while I was sick this week and had a lot of spare time. Hopefully this chapter will turn more people onto this fic.
Chapter Three: Keyhole
How could this be? She should of still been here...I wasn't here to kidnap her this time!
Riku stepped back from the cage apparatus in disbelief. He wasn't the only one that was shocked at this.
"Where's Alice?” Donald said at his left.
"I...I don't know."
The queen turned to her cards, snapping her fingers impatiently. "Guards, go find Alice right now! I don't care who finds her, just do it!"
The cards saluted her as they marched off into the forest, still leaving a fair few number of them behind. The queen then turned to the trio.
"The rest of you, apprehend them!"
The cards started to advance on Riku, Donald, and Goofy. Donald pulled out his staff while Goofy pulled out his shield.
"This doesn't look too good...” Goofy muttered as he got into a defensive stance. Riku reached behind him, his fingers brushing against where he used to keep his Soul Eater weapon. His face slightly fell. He was so used to being able to use his weapon. Instead of pulling out the Soul Eater, gold light encircled his hand and the keyblade appeared in all its glory. He got down into what he assumed was an offensives stance, slightly blanching.
How the hell do you fight with this thing?
The cards started to stab at them with their spears, so Riku resorted to dodging backwards away from them. He awkwardly held the keyblade out in a blocking stance as a spear slammed against it. Behind him, Goofy was plowing through them with his shield, while Donald was casting the cards on fire. Donald looked up from what he was doing at Riku.
"Don't just stand there! Use Fire on them!” Donald shouted, seeing as it seemed setting the cards on fire was the best option to defeating them.
Riku turned back to the group of cards he was fighting. How did he go about using Fire? Did Sora shoot the fire out of his keyblade or from his hands? He supposed that it must have come from the keyblade, since Riku's original Dark Firaga attack had come from his Soul Eater, or sometimes from his hands. He pointed the keyblade at the oncoming group of cards.
"Fire!"
At first, nothing happened. Then he felt the familiar warmth that he usually got when he used Dark Firaga wrap around his fingertips before traveling down the blade of the keyblade until it concentrated at its point. The dark fireball grew, it reflection in his eyes. He couldn't tell, but it kind of gave him an odd manic glow. The dark energy shot from the keyblade and slammed into the cards, bowling them over. If he had put a fraction of more energy into it, the cards would have been cinders.
So I can still use a little bit of my darkness...but...why?
He looked down at the keyblade, which of course didn't give him an answer to his question. If this keyblade was a weapon of the light, why did it allow darkness to wield it? Last time he checked, the keyblade rejected anyone who so much as breathed darkness. Sora had the purest heart, which was why the keyblade chose him as its master. And yet, why was it letting Riku use it and still wield the darkness?
He looked around to see if anyone had noticed his attack, and conviently it seemed that Donald and Goofy had been too distracted with fending off cards to notice.
"There's too many of them. We're just going to have to run for it!” Donald said as the trio headed into the forest, even though Riku thought it was a very cowardly thing to do. But his mind was on more important matters.
Like, if he wasn't the one who kidnapped Alice...then who did?
Alice slumped down inside of the apparatus, wondering when that boy and his friends would come back. She didn't even notice the pool of darkness that had opened behind her. She suddenly felt someone's hand curl around her wrist, another hand placing over her mouth, and without so much as a word to her, they pulled her backwards through the pool. She caught a quick glimpse of spiky brown hair before everything went dark and all was eerily quiet once again.
The group headed down a forest path until they had come upon a quaint cottage. Pushing open the gate, faint music could be heard.
"Happy unbirthday, happy unbirthday to you!"
"Unbirthday?” Goofy asked aloud. The music abruptly stopped as the two figures at the end of the table leapt up from their seats. One was a rabbit with brown fur and a red coat while the other was a man wearing a large green hat.
"Guests? Come! Join us for tea!"
"We really can't..." Riku sputtered, but the group found themselves forcibly pulled to the table by the man.
"Nonsense! There's always time for tea!” he chortled as he pushed them all into various chairs. The rabbit suddenly stopped Riku from sitting down.
"Not that chair! Are you stupid or something!” the rabbit yelled at the man.
"Sorry, forgot about that.” the man apologized as he pushed Riku into a different chair.
"I'm sorry, but who are you people?” Riku asked.
"I'm the March Hare.", the man introduced.
"No your not, I am!” the rabbit said as it slammed a hammer down on top of the man's head.
"Oh silly me, I'm the Mad Hatter. Sorry about that.” the man laughed. The rabbit turned to Riku and the gang.
"So how about that tea?"
"Uh, I'll have some sugar then!” Goofy said, as if not caring about the two weirdoes. The hare took the bowl of sugar, and instead of putting a spoonful in it, it dumped the entire contents of the sugar bowl into Goofy's tea cup. "There you go!"
"Uh...but...” Goofy said, staring at the cup filled with sugar. The Mad Hatter turned to Donald.
"And you?"
"Uh...just half a cup then."
The Mad Hatter pulled a cup of tea towards him and brought a huge knife down on it, splitting it in half, but managing to keep the tea inside as he handed the broken cup to Donald, who was now sputtering indignantly. The March Hare turned to Riku, who put his hands up.
"Sorry, I don't care for tea."
The two stared at him as if he had said a disgusting swear. "NOT CARE FOR TEA! YOU’RE NOT HUMAN!” the March Hare yelled at him.
"Why I never! We try to have civil conversation, you don't have to be rude you know!” the Mad Hatter said with a huff. The March Hare held his hammer up threateningly.
"Don't make me use this on you!” he threatened.
"All right, all right, I'll have a little tea.", Riku said as he pulled towards him a teapot and took the lid off, pouring some tea into a cup, but what he didn't expect was for a mouse to fall out into the cup. The mouse itself looked slightly drunk and was singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" under its breath. The Mad Hatter tutted at Riku.
"You can't drink a doormouse, silly!” he chided as if Riku had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. The Mad Hatter took the cup from him and dumped the mouse back into the teapot, slamming the lid shut. Donald and Goofy were looking at their teacups now, wondering if it was sanitary to drink from them. A pulse mark was throbbing in Riku's temple, especially when all the chairs suddenly tipped forward, causing tea to splash all over the occupants at the table.
"Change places!” the Mad Hatter shouted. As the two scrambled into new seats, Riku whispered to the other two.
"Let's get the heck out of here.” he said as they quickly snuck away just as the two madmen burst into song.
"Those people are crazy! That queen is crazy! Everyone here is crazy!” Donald shouted once they were far away from the Mad Hatter's place.
"But what about Alice?” Goofy asked, now turning to Riku.
"The heartless probably took Alice...” Riku suggested.
"I thought the heartless only attacked people on the spot.” Donald pointed out.
"I'm not so sure about that, but something is manipulating the heartless...something really evil.” Riku found himself saying. Donald and Goofy stared at him, as if seeing him in a whole new light.
"Riku, are you ok?” Goofy asked.
Riku blinked, realizing how weird that must have sounded to them. "Oh, yeah, of course I-AHH!” Riku cut off as a purple and pink face greeted his.
The Cheshire Cat laughed from where it had been hanging upside down by its tail from a tree branch that the group had been about to walk under.
"For cripes sake, don't scare us like that you da-"
"Might you be looking for Alice?” the cat inquired, effectively cutting Riku off.
"Yeah, did you see her?” Goofy asked.
"No."
"Then what do you want!?” Riku asked, highly miffed at the annoying cat. The cat seemed to grin even more at Riku's visible annoyance.
"Well, I know where the shadow is."
"Shadow?” Donald asked aloud.
"You mean heartless?” Riku asked. The cat nodded before disappearing from the tree branch. In front of them, paw prints were forming in the dirt, as if leading them in the direction that the cat wanted them to go. Despite his notions of it being a trap, Riku followed after the paw prints until they lead back to the bizarre room. The cat's taunts echoed from the ceiling.
"This way? That way? Oh where could she be?"
"Damn it, just tell us already!” Riku snapped.
"Does it really matter?” the cat asked, and with a slight realization, Riku noticed that there were no lights on in the bizarre room. It was dark...not a good sign.
"Did you know that..."
A lamp suddenly flickered to life as a long elegonated shadow loomed over the three of them.
"...When you turn on the light, a shadow is made?"
Donald, who hadn't been listening to the cat and had been about to reprimand Riku for his language, held his tongue as a long gangly shadow moved over them. Towering above them was a tall heartless with long paper thin arms and legs and a vibrant purple, black, and red body. It appeared to have several small heads stacked one on top of the other, and clutched in its paper hands were what appeared to be juggling sticks that it was twirling above its main head. The Cheshire Cat was lying nonchalantly on the table above them, hands behind its head.
"Are you prepared for the worst? If you're not...that's too bad!” the cat smirked.
"You...you tricked us!” Donald yelled up at the cat, forgetting completely about Riku's language earlier.
The cat looked genuinely hurt, but Riku could tell that it was a ruse. The cat disappeared from the table and chose a spot out of harms way.
"Tricked you? Nothing of the sort! The Cheshire Cat is always here to help the weak!"
The Trickmaster roared as it struck out at the group with its juggling sticks. Riku quickly rolled out of the way, pushing Goofy and Donald to the side. The keyblade appeared in his hand while Goofy and Donald pulled out their own weapons.
"Fire!” Donald casted at the Trickmaster. Riku thought it would work, seeing as the heartless looked like it was made of paper. But then the Trickmaster crossed its juggling sticks in front of it in a blocking stance, taking the full front of the flames. The flames clung to the sticks, setting them on fire. The Trickmaster pulled them apart, now leering over them with flaming juggling sticks.
"Great job Donald, now we're going to die faster!” Riku couldn't help but snap at the duck.
"Well excuse me for not knowing that setting it on fire would be a bad thing!"
This was bad, as the group was now forced on the defensive. Riku had tried jumping up on the table so that he could strike the Trickmaster, but the table would suddenly collapse quite abruptly every time. All the while, the Cheshire Cat watched on, amused by the spectacle before him.
"This won't do. You'll never make it like that.” the cat chided him. Riku looked around at it as he parried one of the blows from the juggling sticks.
"If you have any helpful hints, I'd love to hear them-on second thought, I think that your help would only make us die more painfully.", Riku muttered. Normally, this heartless should have been no problem for him, but if he was in Sora's memories, then he most likely was acting with the strength he had from back then, not like how he did now.
The cat vanished from its spot and nothing more than its grin was now floating in front of his face.
"You may not be the true wielder of the keyblade, but you should be able to use a little magic, right?” the cat asked. Before Riku could say a word, the keyblade suddenly glowed with a blue light and Riku felt a peculiar sensation enter his body. It felt similar to the sensation he felt when he used Dark Firaga, but much colder.
"Accumulate power at the tip of the keyblader. Concentrate in your mind. Imagine your enemy becoming one big icicle!” the cat hinted before its grin disappeared. Riku pointed his keyblade at the Trickmaster.
"Here goes something! Freeze!"
The cold numbness spread through his fingertips and traveled down the blade of the keyblade, similar to his Dark Firaga. But instead of fire, ice was forming at the tip. Unlike natural ice though, it was surrounded with a dark aura. The ice shot out from the keyblade, but unlike the fire, it wasn't compacted into a ball. It was a flurry that was imbued with darkness. The ice hit the Trickmaster full on in the face, effectively extinguishing its juggling sticks. Riku smirked as he jumped up onto the table, leaping off of it before it could disappear on him. A growl tore from his throat as he slammed the keyblade across the Trickmaster's face.
The Trickmaster crumbled before them, its many heads breaking apart. It fell face forward and crashed, its body dissolving into nothing more than darkness. A large crystal heart floated upward from its body and disappeared into the air. The group was too stunned to say anything, hell, even the Cheshire Cat was at a lost for words; Riku could distinctly hear it muttering something that sounded like, "Oh my..."
"We did it Riku!” Goofy cheered as he wrapped his arms around Riku's neck, practically strangling him.
"For gods sake, get off me!"
A large yawn greeted them and Riku found himself drawn to the talking doorknob from earlier. The doorknob yawned once more before opening its rather larger sleepy eyes.
"Such a racket. How is a doorknob to get any sleep?"
Donald shook a finger at it. "Now wait just a minute! How can you sleep when we're trying..."
Riku ignored Donald as the doorknob yawned once more. However, upon it doing so, Riku noticed a strange glowing light emitting from its mouth.
Eh? Something's glowing?
On closer inspection, there was a tiny keyhole in the doorknobs mouth that was the source of the light.
The keyhole...to the world's heart?
Without warning, the keyblade that was still in his hand started shaking violently. A light began to grow from the tip of the keyblade and it shot forth from it at the keyhole. Donald and Goofy gave shocked exclamations, but Riku noticed something odd about it. There looked like a dark stream that was circling the shaft of light, as if the two elements were combined as it entered the keyhole. A loud click sound resonated in the room and the keyhole disappeared. Riku continued to stare at where the keyhole had been even though the door had gone back to sleep.
A small object suddenly fell out of the keyhole. Goofy noticed it first, leaning down to pick it up and examine it.
"Hey, it's a gummi block! But this one isn't like the others, no sir!"
"Give it here.” Donald ordered, which Goofy obeyed. Donald held it between two feathered fingers.
"You're right. I've never seen this kind of gummi block before. Where do you think it came from?” Donald asked, but before Riku could reply, the sound of applause could be heard behind them. Riku turned, spotting the cat on the table, which was standing on its hind legs and clapping.
"Splendid! You're quite the hero. Really quite excellent! Your power has blossomed! I can't wait to see what you will do next!” the cat said cheerfully, grinning at them as if they had won an award.
" Cheshire Cat...who are you?” Riku asked. The cat turned to look at Riku, smirking even more than before.
"You know who I am, Riku.” it spoke, but it was in a way without its usual charm. And suddenly, Riku remembered something from long ago...
"We should have gotten rid of that cat when he declined to help us."
"You...” Riku whispered. The cat didn't respond for a moment, as if knowing exactly what Riku was thinking. Donald and Goofy looked between the two, wondering what was going on.
"If you're looking for Alice, she's not here.” the cat suddenly spoke up. "My friends, I'm afraid she's gone!"
The cat seemed to have gotten back its slick charm as it said this.
"Gone with the shadows...into the darkness!"
And as it said these words, Riku felt the pit in his stomach grow ever larger.
Sora...where are you?
Somewhere far away, a group of people sat in complete and utter darkness. All were watching a flickering hologram on the table they were seated at, which showed Riku and his new companions standing together, processing the cat's words, which the group had heard every word of.
"That darn cat...it needs to keep its big mouth shut!” jeered one of them, who from the darkness gave an appearance like a ghost.
"We should of finished him off when he turned down our offer to join us.” said one, who appeared to have a hook for a hand.
"Too late for that. Even if we let him live, he can't do us much harm. We could just turn him into a heartless! That would solve the problem real quick!” laughed a female voice. One of the group leaned forward, the staff in his hand reflecting the hologram. The staff was shaped like a cobra.
"But the boy is a problem. Not only has he found one of the keyholes, he's the one-the ah...special circumstance.” the owned of the staff spoke, "We need to take care of this right away-"
"Enough."
The group turned to the new voice. Suddenly, one of the group looked around, as if it had been expecting someone else.
"Wait, where is M-"
"She's attending to other matters. Involving our newest guest.” the new figure dismissed. The figure approached the table, changing the hologram to a different setting, watching it with vague amusement. It was so odd to see this figure command such respect, and yet it appeared to be even shorter than everyone at the table.
"There's no need to rush. It will take him ages to find the others. And he has no idea what is really going on here.” the figure spoke, its voice laced with malicious glee. "Besides..."
The figure leaned towards the hologram, which depicted a scared Alice looking around with fear. As the light of the hologram glowed, the figure’s cold blue eyes were visible.
"The pieces are all falling in our favor..."
