Summoner Hearts-A FFX/KH Crossover

Chapter 7

Chapter 7 and Arisa's journal entries of the main characters.

Yuna

Bio: The only daughter of High Summoner Braska, Yuna is the summoner of the island world of Besaid. After her father's death, she started to live with her cousin and her family. She and Rikku were sent to a unknown world when a swarm of Heartless raided their world. She fight Heartless with her cousin, Rikku, and a mysterious weapon called the Brootherhood to serach for their friends Lulu and Tidus. She shyly summoned her way in our hearts in Final Fantasy X

Rikku

Bio: Rikku is Yuna's younger cousin and one of her guardians. It was Rikku who wanted Yuna to become a summoner in the memory of her departed uncle. When the Heartless appeared, Rikku joined Yuna and they were wrecked on an unknown world together. She first appeared asking a confused Tidus to help her Final Fantasy X

Lulu

Bio: The oldest of Yuna's guardians and her and Rikku's oldest friend. Though Yuna is a summoner and Lulu is her guardian, the two are always competing against each other. Lulu was the one who wanted to build a raft to explore the outside world and has disappeared along with Besaid Island. First appearing as Yuna's 'sister' guardian in Final Fantasy X

Tidus

Bio: Yuna's other guardian and Rikku's best friend, Tidus appeared on the island ten years ago with his wounded father. Though he has no clear memory of his home world, he clearly hates his father. Along with Yuna, Rikku, and Lulu, Tidus built a raft to explore the world. He is one of the best player on the island's Blitzball team and has disappeared along with Lulu and the island. He first appears comforting Yuna in the ruins of Zanarkand in Final Fantasy X

Larsa Soldier

Bio: The young prince from the world of Ivliace and the youngest member of his family's house. Larsa met Yuna and Rikku as it appeared his world was destroyed about the same time with theirs. Larsa promised himself to protect Yuna as he sees in her someone he cares take for and misses from his world. Larsa first appears as Lamont in Final Fantasy XII

Vincent Valentine

Bio: Captain of the Guard on his world of Gaea, Vincent is mostly quiet. Assigned by Kairi's king to accompany her to find the Brotherhood wielder, Vincent went along. Only seeing the court witch as a sister, Vincent often protects her from harm. Vincent is mistakely taken for a vampire in Final Fantasy VII

Kairi

Bio: Court magician of Destiny Islands Castle, Kairi was assigned by King Sora to go with Captain Vincent Valentine to find the bearer of the Botherhood wielder. Despite her younge age, Kairi is very strong and filled with great magical powers. Secretly, Kairi harbors romantic feelings toward Vincent and fears he'll reject her for them. She is first seen in Kingdom Hearts

Arisa Anila

Bio: Here's me, the offical reporter for the journey. Assigned by her highness, Queen Namine, I'm traveling with Kairi and Vincent to record the events of the journey. Before the Heartless destroyed my world, I was engaged to a great man and lived with our team, S.E.E.S. in a special dorm for us. As for my early life, I was tested on and exaimaned as the future subject for Project Nyx.

Shinji Alryn

Bio: Shinji is one of the surviving members of S.E.E.S. and is helping Vincent and Kairi with the mission. Both Shinji and I are wild card, in other words, we have the power to wield and create muplite Persona. While my wild card persona is Orpheus, the perverated Master of String, Shinji has Thantos, the grim-looking Bringer of Death. He's the boyfriend to Yukari Takeba.

Fuuka Yamagishi

Bio: The supporter and tactial adviser for the team, Fuuka is the first of the other surviving members encountered. Her persona, Juno, has gained the ability to scan Heartless for their weakness. We first met her again in the third part of Traverse Town. Fuuka is first encountered by Taratus in Persona 3

Ken Amada

Bio: The youngest member of the team, Ken acts mature, but is always too precatious for his own good. He was captured by Guard Armor when the team was together. Luckily, Yuna caught him and protected him through the whole fight. Ken's choices for weapons is long spears, to make up for his short nature. Ken is first asked to stay in the dorm in Persona 3

Teddie

Bio: A very odd being, Teddie had lived in a world inside a tv for many years. Once his world was destroyed, Teddie appeared in Traverse Town along with Shinji. With his nose, Teddie also has the ability to scan monsters and wields a large claw on his paw in battle. Teddie is seen in Persona 4

Chapter 7
In the Golden Afternoon

Wonderland

“I guess from now on, falling down stairs isn’t gonna be such a big deal, huh?”

Yuna and Rikku began to spin around so that their heads were once again right side up. While Rikku had her arms around Yuna’s neck, she had her arms folded across her chest as the group began to drift slowly ever downwards. Dim colored lights had appeared farther down the hole that they had fallen through, mostly reds and blues, just enough to light the peculiar objects that decorated the interior.

There were mirrors placed askew on the walls, and end tables with small lights perched on them with the entire set upside down. There seemed to be clocks, since Yuna and Rikku could hear them ticking, but they were nowhere to be seen. There were large, antique world maps and various other random paintings.

Nothing made sense in this strange tunnel. Even the large mirror that they had come across was strange, for as Yuna and Rikku fell past it, the mirror showed them falling in the opposite direction. Actually, just the fact that the group was drifting downwards rather than falling was strange.

“What if we fall right through the middle of the planet?” Teddie wondered aloud as he let himself spin around like a pinwheel.

Arisa narrowed her eyes at Teddie as she began to flip forward. “We’ll end up on the other side, where people walk upside down,” she replied mockingly.

Teddie looked over at Arisa, his big eyes gleaming in surprise. “Really?”

“No, Teddie,” Yuna answered, deciding to interrupt before Arisa could even think to continue making fun of him. “That kinda thing can’t happen.”

“Are you sure?” Teddie challenged them.

Yuna laughed as she and Rikku watched Teddie continue to spin about. Vincent merely grunted impatiently, folding his arms over his chest and settling himself down as though he were on a cushioned chair of some kind. Eventually, Teddie lied down as though he were on a bed or a sofa, propping his head up with his arms and crossing one leg over the other.

As for Arisa, Fuuka, Kairi, Ken, Larsa, Shinji, and Vincent, they remained right side up, just in case they finally touched ground. They floated downward slowly, and eventually, caught sight of a floor. Yuna smiled, as he, Rikku, Larsa, Shinji, Arisa, Fuuka, Ken, Vincent, and Kairi set their feet firmly onto the floor with no trouble at all. Yuna turned to Teddie.

“Hey, Teddie, you better…”

She was too late. Before she could finish her sentence, Teddie plopped down onto the red tile floor with a loud thud. Arisa chuckled to herself as Yuna flinched slightly at the sound of impact. She only sighed sympathetically and began to move toward Teddie to help him rise to his feet.

As Teddie peeled his large eyes open, he saw the figure of the rabbit dart by, just a few inches away from his nose. The white rabbit seemed to have gotten even more stressed out since before they had entered the rabbit hole. He glanced down at his large golden pocket watch once again, leaping slightly into the air in alarm upon seeing the time written on its face.

“Oh dear, oh dear oh dear!” the rabbit exclaimed between pants and ragged breathing. “I’m here, I should be there!”

Teddie sat up on the floor and blinked in confusion. The group watched in silent surprise as the white rabbit began to zigzag down the peculiar red hallway and as he finally disappeared around the corner, yelling frantically the whole time.

“I’m late, I’m late, I’m late!” came his voice as it echoed down the hallway. “Ooh, the queen, she’ll have my head for sure!”

Yuna and Rikku turned to look at the others once the rabbit was out of sight. “‘The queen’?”

Somewhat disappointed, Teddie rose to his feet and sighed. “I guess there’s no party then, huh?”

“Looks like that rabbit really does have something important to go to,” Kairi muttered. “We shouldn’t be interfering with his business. That goes against the rules!”

“But aren’t you guys curious?” Rikku asked.

Kairi folded her arms over her chest and raised her nose snobbishly in the air. “No.”

Teddie nodded eagerly at Yuna and Rikku. Yuna could hardly help but smile. They then began to chase after the rabbit, running down the red and pink hallway. Their companions exchanged glances for the second time that day and shrugged. They had no choice but to follow the Key bearer.

Yuna, Rikku, Larsa, Teddie, Shinji and Ken raced down the hallway until they reached a large white door that stretched a ways over their heads. The doorway was at least as tall as Vincent, if not taller.

She peered at it curiously and then turned to check that Arisa, Fuuka, Kairi, and Vincent were following her. As soon as she saw the group turn the corner, Yuna smiled at them and pointed at the door.

“He must’ve gone through here!”

Without waiting for a response, Yuna turned back to the door and grabbed onto the handle. She pulled the white door open, only to find a slightly smaller blue door. Confused and even more curious, Yuna pulled open the blue door by its golden handle, only to see yet another, even smaller brown door. Getting somewhat disgruntled, Yuna pulled open the brown door and smiled when she saw an entry at last.

They ended up in a very peculiarly decorated room. Everything was in the brightest of colors, mostly in shades of pink and violet. There was very little furniture in the room; only a stout green bed with an old, plain white mattress lying on top of it, a small wooden corner table painted a beige-ish pink color with two stout red chairs lined up against the wall right next to it, and a large stone and brick stove that was on the other side of the room, opposite the bed and chairs.

The floor and walls were the decorations of the room, as they had various furniture painted on them, including several clocks, vases, and books. And painted out on the middle of the floor was a white table with two items that looked like bottles on its surface and a matching chair. They were painted in such a way that it made you feel like you were looking down at them from the ceiling.

The group gazed around them, somewhat confused and disoriented by the bright shades of pink. Who could want to live in a room like this? That’s when Yuna saw something move across the floor. At first she thought it was a white rat, but he quickly realized that it was the white rabbit.

He had shrunk! Yuna’s jaw dropped as she watched the shrunken rabbit dash through a small wooden door on the bottom of the wall straight ahead of them, which promptly closed behind him.

Yuna and Rikku moved toward the door and crouched down in front of it. Arisa, Fuuka, Kairi, Ken, Larsa, Shinji, Teddie and Vincent followed suit, squatting down on their knees on either side of Yuna and Rikku and peering down at the small wooden door and its large golden doorknob that had an image of a face carved into its surface. Yuna tilted her head to the side, her eyebrows coming together, baffled.

“How did he get so small?” Rikku wondered aloud as she stared at the tiny doorway.

The eyes of the doorknob snapped open and looked up at Rikku. “No, you’re simply too big.”

Kairi leapt back with a loud gasp, her sliver bracelets practically flying around his wrist in the most cartoon like fashion. “It talks!”

Even Yuna and Rikku jumped back slightly, their eyes widening in alarm and their jaw dropping visibly. Only Teddie did not seem as surprised as his companions. He blinked once or twice in shock with a slight “wow”. Then all three leaned in slightly to gape at the talking doorknob, one of Yuna’s eyebrows arched and raised in confusion.

The doorknob shut its eyes and yawned largely, the keyhole of the knob serving as its mouth. It opened its eyes again when it was finished and stared angrily up at the group.

“Must you be so loud? You woke me up.”

Teddie blinked a few times and then smiled, waving slightly in the air. “Good morning.”

“Good night,” the doorknob retorted, its eyes drooping sleepily. “I need a bit more sleep.”

“Wait!” Yuna yelled out, extending one hand slightly toward the doorknob. She leaned even more forward so that their faces were level. “What do we have to go to grow small?”

The doorknob rolled its eyes slowly. “Why don’t you try the bottle? Over there?”

It used his mouth and doorknob nose to point behind Yuna. Yuna and Rikku looked quickly over their shoulders and watched in amazement as the table and chair that was imprinted on the pink and red tile floor exploded out of the ground and became three dimensional. Sure enough, on the surface of the table were two bottles; one with a red label and the other with a blue one. Yuna was confused.

“What a bizarre room.”

She took one last glance at the doorknob. It had already gone back to sleep. The group rose to their feet and turned to look at the table and the two small bottles on its surface. Yuna moved toward it and picked up each bottle in turn, examining their labels.

Both bottles appeared to have some sort of liquid in it, but the blue label read, “Drink Me”, while the red one had “Eat Me” written on it.

“Now that’s just weird,” Yuna said, showing the one with the red label to Arisa, Fuuka, Kairi, Ken, Larsa, Shinji, Teddie, and Vincent. “If it’s a liquid, why in the world does it say ‘eat me’ on it?”

Teddie chuckled and Arisa gave him a hard elbow to the gut to shut him up. “So which one are you gonna use, Yuna?”

“The one that makes sense, of course,” Yuna said with a smile as she replaced the red labeled bottle on the table. She picked up the blue one and raised it in the air to show her companions, and then removed the cork. She peered into the bottle at the liquid inside.

Yuna had heard somewhere that it was always good to look first. She shrugged. So much for good advice. She put the bottle to her lips and took a sip.

“How’s it taste?” Rikku wanted to know.

“Hmm…” Yuna licked her lips as she attempted to place the flavors. “It tastes like… cherry tart.”

Fuuka gasped in surprise as Yuna suddenly shrunk down a size. The girl didn’t seem to notice as she was still thinking of the flavors.

“…custard…”

It was everyone else’s turn to make a loud noise in shock as Yuna shrunk down another size.

“…pineapple… roast turkey…”

The Al Bhed, all the persona users, and both the court witch and the captain jumped back in shock as Yuna was downsized again. But this time, Yuna had noticed. She could barely hold the bottle anymore as it was almost as big as her. “W-Whoa!”

She dropped down onto her bottom, setting the bottle down as carefully as she could nearby. Yuna looked up at Arisa, Fuuka, Kairi, Ken, Larsa, Rikku, Shinji, Teddie, and Vincent. From this height, they looked like monsters. Yuna’s eyes went wide.

They knew she had shrunk, right? They could still see her, right? Well, they were staring back down at her. So that meant that they wouldn’t step on her… right?

Rikku cupped her hands around her mouth. “Yunie!” she shouted. “Are you okay?”

She grabbed her ears with her gloved hands and braced herself against the force of Rikku’s yell. It had almost knocked her away. As soon as Yuna’s ears stopped ringing, she stomped one boot on the floor, cupped her hands around her mouth, and yelled back up at her monster sized friends.

“Yeah!” she shouted as loud as she could. “You don’t need to yell!”

Vincent looked at Rikku and smacked her arm. Rikku chuckled apologetically as she rubbed the spot on her arm that Vincent had hit. The man bent down and carefully picked the bottle up off the floor. He looked around a few times, holding the bottle in one hand and then looked down at Yuna.

“So how’re you gonna get in?” Kairi asked.

Her voice was still somewhat loud, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as Rikku’s shouting had been. Yuna looked over at the doorknob and approached it, but soon realized that it wasn’t going to open. The doorknob was fast asleep. She could hear it snoring softly.

Not wanting to use her voice, Yuna pointed at the doorknob and shook her head from side to side, crossing her arms in front of her to make an ‘X’. Even though the message was just beyond Rikku, Vincent and the others nodded knowingly.

“So then, how?”

Yuna placed one hand thoughtfully under her chin as she looked at her surroundings. She stared at each visible piece of furniture in turn, looking for holes and cracks that he could probably fit through, since the door clearly wouldn’t open.

Yuna’s eyes caught on a large opening in the bottom of the stove and took a hesitant step toward it, but then shook her head. It was probably just an opening in the stove. And even if it did lead somewhere, it was on a different wall from the wooden door.

That’s when Yuna turned around to look at the wall that the door was connected. They needed to get to the other side of this wall. She examined its entire length, from one corner to the next. She snorted at the door as her eyes passed over it. Lot of help that guy had been. And that’s when Yuna saw a rather large opening in the wall behind one end of the green bed. The bed seemed to blocking the way, but they could move it.

She ran over to the edge of the bed and peered beyond the crack. Yes, this looked quite like a doorway! Yuna grinned, and then cupped her hands around her mouth, taking a deep breath before shouting to her companions.

“Guys! Move the bed away from this hole!”

Everyone nodded in Yuna’s direction and moved toward the bed, Vincent placing the blue bottle back on the table next to the red one before doing so. They grabbed onto its edge and began to try to pull the bed away from the hole so as to make a crack large enough for Yuna to fit through. However, the bed wouldn’t budge an inch.

“Why won’t it budge!” Rikku howled, her face turning red with frustration and effort.

“It’s like its part of the wall,” Teddie commented with a smile, somewhat amused.

“This is no time to be amused, Teddie!” Rikku hissed.

“No, he’s right,” Yuna said, folding her arms over her chest as she thought out loud. “Everything else in this room can be like a drawing on the wall.” She glanced over at the table and chair as examples. “So then, if it can’t be pulled away from the wall, you’d probably have to push it into the wall!”

Yuna thumped one fist into the open palm of her other hand as the idea struck her. She turned toward everyone with a grin, but her face fell when she realized that her voice had been too small for them to hear. They were still trying to pull the bed away; Kairi’s face growing red like her hair.

“Guys!” she shouted with another stomp of her feet.

Everyone stopped and looked over at Yuna.

“Ya can’t pull it away from the wall!” she yelled. “Try pushing it into the wall!”

Arisa narrowed her eyes at Yuna. “Push it into the wall?” she snapped. “Are you crazy? Like that’s actually going to work!”

As Arisa argued with Yuna, Teddie moved around the bed into a position from which he could shove the bed into the wall. He placed his paw hands on each side and gave the bed a small push. The bed almost immediately flew into the wall, making a two dimensional image of a green bed on its surface, painted as it would be seen from the side.

Larsa dropped onto his belly with a small thud as the bed moved swiftly into the wall. Teddie scratched the side of his head and laughed.

“Wow! Yuna was right!”

Yuna folded her arms over her chest and stared smugly at Arisa, giving her her most condescending I-told-you-so look. Arisa raised himself slightly, propping her head up with one arm, her other hand resting on the floor and her fingers drumming the flooring impatiently. Yuna grinned, moving closer to Arisa so she wouldn’t have to yell the instructions.

“Now you guys can shrink down and we’ll all get a move on, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Arisa grumbled as she got to her feet.

The girl flashed a threatening glance at Yuna before taking the blue bottle into her hands. Yuna narrowed her eyes at Arisa. He had been trying to be nice. Yuna sighed helplessly as she watched Arisa take her sip from the bottle and then hand it over to Kairi.

As soon as everyone had shrunk down to size, they hurried over to the hole where Yuna was standing. Yuna smiled as they approached and then led the way into the dark tunnel. The first thing they heard as they approached the exit was the sounds of birds chirping.

The moment they exited the tunnel the world exploded with blues and greens, which was a relief to their eyes after being exposed to only shades of bright pink and violet. They had entered a large garden of sorts, with grass hedges that seemed to stretch toward the blue sky, which looked to Yuna and Rikku like it had been painted by a young artist.

A large white castle could be seen looming over them in the distance. Yuna recognized it as the same one that she had seen when they were approaching and about to land.

But the thing that really caught the attention of the trio was the strange scene that was taking place in the middle of the garden. Standing directly in front of them were six soldiers lined up in formation, facing the group as they entered. They weren’t normal soldiers, however.

They were, in fact, man-sized playing cards with limbs and a head. Their eyes were shielded by their colored hoods, and in their hands they each held a weapon, which varied according to the color and suit of each card.

There were two red guards standing in front of the soldiers, holding their red spears that had heart symbols at the tips as a way of preventing entry into the garden. The guards raised their spears to allow the white rabbit through, who had only appeared a few moments earlier than Yuna, Rikku, Arisa, Fuuka, Kairi, Ken, Larsa, Shinji, Teddie, and Vincent (amazingly).

The two rows of card soldiers folded backwards, allowing the rabbit passage to the front of the garden. As the soldiers opened up, Yuna and Rikku able to see what exactly was going on.

There was a courtroom setup at the other end of the garden. It was incomplete, as all it consisted of was a jury box that stood off to one side, the Judge’s bench with a large yellow cloth bearing a large black and red heart emblem draped over the edge, and a witness stand which was placed in front of the Judge’s bench rather than beside it.

Not to mention that the stand had no chair, which didn’t seem to be very fair for the girl or the other witnesses (standing next to the stand) who was in the stand at that moment.

She was a young girl, probably not anyyounger than Yuna, with long, thick blonde hair that was only held out of her face with a thin black headband with a small ribbon. She wore a light blue dress with puffed sleeves and a large poofy skirt with several layers of white petticoats and long white stockings with a pair of shiny black Mary Jane shoes. She had a white apron on that tied at the back in a neat, almost perfect white ribbon.

On her right side were two girls, both looked like Arisa. The older girl had long wavy dark brown hair with lighter dark cat eat upon either side of her head, a dark pink ribbon on the side of her head. She wore a long black robe, which was sliding down a little, revealing a white polo long sleeve shirt and a sleeveless gray vest, short gray socks with simple black sneakers.

The younger girl had short wavy sliver hair with slivery neon wings like Arisa. She wore an ivory white shirt and a long skirt-like shorts and silvery white boots. (A/N: The people are on trial with Alice are Neko, Yuki, Junpei, and Ryoji from the rpg. Another suprise.)

On the girl’s left side were two boys, roughly around the same age as Shinji, Arisa, and Fuuka. Both the boys had short black hair; one hid his underneath a navy blue baseball cap. One of the boys wore a white polo shirt with rolled up sleeves in an old style pair of overalls and black shoes, a large yellow scarf was wrapped around his neck.

The other wore a black jacket with the cuffs of a blue shirt showing out the ends and black pants and black shoes, a silver chain was on the side of his pants.

As Yuna and Rikku watched, the girl fidgeted, smoothing the hem of her dress and keeping it neat. The girl and the other witnesses turned their heads slightly as the white rabbit ran past her, opening her mouth slightly when they caught sight of him as though they each has something to say to him.

The white rabbit merely ran past them and up a spiral wooden staircase that led to the top of a large wooden tower that made the rabbit level with the Judge’s bench. The rabbit paused, keeling over slightly as he attempted to catch his breath. After a moment he lifted a trumpet to his lips and played a brief interlude. He dropped the trumpet quickly and took a deep breath.

“Court is now in session!” he yelled, doing his best to make his voice sound commanding.

The blonde girl looked over at the rabbit, confused, blinking her blue eyes sadly.

“We’re on trial?” she asked, sounding almost horrified. “But why?”

The rabbit didn’t even look down at the girl. He only made his voice louder as he straightened himself and took another deep breath. “Her Majesty, the Queen of Hearts, presiding!” He then took a moment to make a deep bow in the direction of the Judge’s bench.

Yuna and Rikku looked over to see who the Judge was and flinched in horror.

This “Queen of Hearts” was just about the most frightening looking woman Yuna or Rikku had ever seen in their lives. She was a rather large woman, built something like a large mother grizzly. Her face was most certainly not pleasant to look at in any way. She was wearing a dress that reminded Yuna and Rikku of old illustrations that dead European artists had made of the royalty in their time period because of the large white collar that wrapped about and framed her head and face (though it really wasn’t something that should be framed).

She had jet black hair that was slicked back in a bun, with several tufts of hair sticking out haphazardly around her forehead. The queen had large, intimidating eyes that were currently glaring down at the blonde girl before her as she tapped her red heart-shaped fan on the wooden counter of her Judge’s bench.

After a moment of tense silence, the Queen of Hearts narrowed her eyes at the young girl and the others and leaned forward in her seat somewhat threateningly. “These children are the culprits,” she said, her voice calm with just a hint of anger. “There’s no doubt about it.”

Here the queen leaned back in her seat, fanning herself slightly. The blonde girl looked about her upon hearing the queen’s words, her eyes wide in shock, as though looking for someone who would believe and defend her and the others. Her mouth opened and shut as she contemplated shouting out.

“And the reason is…?” the queen continued, looking back down at the girl out of the corner of her eye. She suddenly leaned forward and slammed her fists angrily on the podium, screaming her reasoning straight into the girl’s face. “Because I say so, that’s why!”

The girl’s face twisted slightly in annoyance as she leaned over the bench of the witness stand toward the queen. “That is so unfair!” she yelled back, extending one hand in plea.

The queen leaned back into her seat and began to fan herself. The girl placed her hands stubbornly on her hips, her eyes still wandering about as she searched for someone who might defend her. After another brief moment, the queen stomped the end of her fan gently on the wooden podium twice so as to make a thudding noise.

“Well, have any of you anything to say in your defense?” she asked with a gesture of her fan toward the girl, her voice lowered.

The girl looked straight into the queen’s face without flinching at the sight. “Of course!” she said, folding her arms indignantly over her chest. “We’ve done absolutely nothing wrong.”

The white rabbit looked first at the defendants and then back at the queen, the expression on his rabbit face growing increasingly more anxious as the girl continued to speak. The queen’s gaze only hardened as she glared down at the girl, tapping her fan impatiently into the open palm of her other hand.

“You may be queen,” the girl went on assertively, “but I’m afraid that doesn’t give you the right to be so…” She paused here, searching for the word. “…so mean.”

“SILENCE!” the queen screamed loudly. She had opened her mouth so wide that a gust of hot air blew into the girl and the others’ faces, coming straight out of the queen’s colossal windpipe. The girl’s blonde hair began to billow behind her and the girl flinched in terror for the first time since she entered the courtroom. The others shook; the boy’s scarf began to billow.

“You dare defy me!” the queen shrieked, slamming her fists angrily on the wooden podium.

Having watched the entire scene so far in complete and utter silence, Yuna and Rikku turned slightly toward their companions without tearing their eyes away from the courtroom.

“Hey, guys, we should help her out.”

Kairi looked up at Yuna, then at Vincent and Arisa. “Yeah, but the...”

“We’re outsiders,” Arisa said, interrupting Kairi. “So wouldn’t that be muddling?”

Kairi sighed, exasperated, and waved her right index finger high in the air to make a point, high enough for Arisa to see. “‘Meddling’!” she corrected loudly.

“Oh, yeah!” Arisa chuckled to herself. “And that’s against the rules.”

Yuna’s face took an almost sad expression as he watched the girl and the other witnesses stand before the terrifying queen, fidgeting slightly as the queen continued to scream. She tilted his head slightly to one side as she watched, letting out a slow, remorseful sigh. If only she and Rikku could do something to help her out. There just had to be something…

The queen adjusted herself in her seat as she decided on her verdict, rising slightly and lifting her fan high in the air in order to get everyone’s attention.

“The court finds the defendants…” She narrowed her eyes maliciously at the girl and the others before leaning forward again and pointing her fan straight at the girl’s face accusingly. “…guilty as charged!”

The girl gasped in horror, putting one hand delicately over her mouth in shock. Her breath began to come in strangled, raspy gasps as she took a single step backwards. Her head reeled in horror and her blue eyes remained fixated on the queen, pleading innocence.

Just then, Arisa walked forward, catching the attention of everyone in the courtroom. She walked in front of the witness stand, the boys and the girls gasped and seemed to happy to see her, looking up at the queen, pointing at her, she said, “Hey, your royal stubbornness. Before you find anyone guilty of anything, look at the facts and don’t falsely accuse people of things. And for the record, the dimwits, the boy and the girl belong to me!” (A/N: Looks like Arisa is reverting back to her own loner self. Well, only Protector would know what I mean.)

Ignoring her, the queen’s expression grew only more malevolent as she settled back in her chair, tapping the end of her fan into her open palm. “For the crimes of assault and attempted theft of my heart…”

Yuna and Rikku’s eyes went wide in alarm and they took a halting step forward. They had to help now! This wasn’t just a domestic matter! This involved the Heartless! Yuna and Rikku turned toward their companions and were about to tell them exactly that, but when he saw them, all they got was a sad shake of the head from Vincent.

The Sword-Key bearer and her cousin took in a deep breath through their noses and looked back at the courtroom. But they had to do something. They couldn’t let this girl take the blame.

That’s when the Queen of Hearts rose to her feet, her black and red dress swaying as the woman shifted her weight almost completely over the edge of her podium. She pointed one massive finger in the young girl and other witnesses’ direction accusingly.

“OFF WITH THIER HEADS!” she shrieked.

Yuna’s mouth went dry and her eyes grew as big and wide as saucers in shock and horror. They were going to execute an innocent group of children! Yuna knew one of her duties as a summoner was to protect the innocent, and this group was innocent of stealing any hearts.

The card soldiers shifted their positions so that they were no longer standing in two straight lines facing each other and were facing the queen. They adjusted the spears and axes that they each held in their grip. They seemed to nod in unison, completely obedient to their Queen of Hearts.

The girl practically jumped onto the wooden bench of the witness stand in protest.

“No, no!” she pleaded. “Oh, please!”

That was the last straw. Yuna and Rikku just couldn’t stay quiet anymore. No matter what Kairi and Vincent said, they simply had to do something. They charged headlong into the courtroom with Larsa and Teddie, pushing through the card soldiers aside. Kairi and Vincent’s eyes went wide as they watched their companions. Kairi slapped his forehead, unable to believe what Yuna and Rikku had just done.

“Hold it right there!” Yuna yelled.

The cards that they hadn’t pushed aside moved to reveal Yuna, Rikku, Larsa, and Teddie as they approached the bench. They glared up at the queen, trembling in both anger and fear as the court’s attention turned on them. Yuna clenched her fists at her sides as she slowed to a stop not far behind the witness stand.

The girl and the other witnesses spun around on their heels to face Yuna, smoothing her apron over her dress. The queen returned Yuna’s glare as she, Rikku, Larsa, and Teddie approached, narrowing her eyes maliciously at them.

“Who are you?” she demanded. “How dare you interfere with my court!”

Yuna swallowed hard. It was one thing to want to help someone. It was another thing entirely to actually try to. That’s when Yuna heard footsteps approach cautiously from behind, and saw Arisa, Fuuka, Kairi, Ken, Shinji and Vincent at either side from out of the corner of her eyes. She took a deep breath, taking comfort in the fact that she and Rikku was no longer on their own, and took one step forward.

“Excuse me,” she said apologetically, not wanting the queen to execute them for interrupting. She swallowed as she sucked up some courage and did the temple prayer. “But we know who the real culprit is!”

Larsa and Teddie nodded in agreement. “Uh-huh. It’s the Heartle...” They stopped themselves before continuing any further, looking over at Yuna and the others apologetically.

Vincent seethed silently in Larsa and Teddie’s direction. Yuna and Rikku looked over at Larsa and Teddie briefly, slightly confused, and then back at the queen. “A-Anyway,” she continued, pointing at the blonde girl on the stand and the other standing next to the stand, “they’re not the ones you’re looking for.”

The queen leaned back into her seat, tapping her heart-shaped fan impatiently against her wooden armrest, leaning on one arm. She rolled her eyes before glaring back down at Yuna.

“That’s nonsense,” she snapped grumpily. “Have you any proof?”

A lump formed in Yuna’s throat. She withdrew her hand slightly, faltering.

Proof? That’s right, this was a courtroom. This was a trial. Evidence was needed. Yuna’s gaze met with the girl’s. Something in her face was almost hopeful. She clenched her teeth as Yuna looked at her apologetically and then lowered her eyes. Her face fell almost instantly.

The queen folded her arms over her chest smugly and then gestured to one of the soldiers. One of the black cards grabbed the girl by the arm and threw her into a golden birdcage that was right next to the Judge’s bench. He slammed the barred door in her face and locked it. The girl grabbed onto the bars, looking out from between them desperately. Yuna clenched her fists as she could nothing more than watch.

“Very well,” the queen said. Yuna’s attention snapped immediately back to the queen. She flinched slightly as she looked straight into her face. She was just so… scary looking…

“I shall humor your claim… Bring me evidence of Alice’s innocence! Fail, and it’s off with all of your heads!” Her voice began to increase in volume and in rage. “Until you conclude your investigations, the court is adjourned!”

With that, the queen slapped the end of her fan against the wooden podium, dismissing the court. The card soldiers relaxed, moving out of formation and heading to different positions around the garden. Even the white rabbit relaxed somewhat, slumping out of his straight posture slightly and pulling out a small handkerchief to wipe away the beads of sweat that had formed across his furry forehead. The queen settled back into her seat and relaxed.

Kairi folded her arms over her chest and tapped one booted foot as she looked at Yuna as the boys and the girls joined them. She cleared her throat, making Yuna turn around to face her.

Yuna sighed, exasperated. “Well I just had to do something, right? I needed to do my duty as a summoner.”

She then looked over at the cage in which the girl had been thrown into and approached it slowly, wary of the ace of spades that stood with a large axe in his hand right next to her prison. The girl had her eyes lowered to the ground, her hands still clasped around the bars of her caged prison. Yuna and Rikku walked over and cleared their throats slightly to catch her attention.

Her eyes turned upward. “Who are you?” she asked almost timidly.

Yuna gave her her best smile. “I’m Yuna; this is my cousin, Rikku.”

“I’m Kairi,” Kairi said gesturing to herself, “and that there’s Vincent, Arisa, Larsa, Teddie, Shinji, Fuuka, and Ken.” Kairi gestured in everyone else’s direction as she introduced them.

“My name is Alice,” the girl said with a slight curtsey and a smile. “Pleased to meet you, though I do wish it were under better circumstances.” She lowered her eyes slightly to the ground. “I’m sorry you got mixed up in this nonsense.”

“Why are you on trial in the first place?” Yuna wanted to know.

Alice’s expression hardened as she looked back at Yuna. “I should like to know the very same thing! Apparently I was guilty from the moment I took the stand!”

“That’s crazy!” Yuna replied sympathetically. She was only getting more confused with every moment they spent in Wonderland. Alice sighed somewhat sadly, clutching the gold yellow bars of her prison. Yuna then took a deep breath and decided to change the subject. “So, where are you from?”

Kairi rolled her eyes as the words came out of Yuna’s mouth and groaned. Yuna glanced back at Kairi and shrugged slightly, as though to apologize for the question’s randomness. The girl sighed and nodded, dismissing it for the moment. Alice, on the other hand, looked thoughtful for a moment before she answered, rolling the question over a few times in her head.

“Hmm, curious,” she murmured. “I can’t quite remember. You see, I found this mysterious rabbit hole. When I tried to peek inside, I tumbled head over heels… And I found myself here.” Yuna nodded. The very same thing had happened to them. Alice sighed remorsefully. “Oh, if only I hadn’t peeked into that rabbit hole. I guess I’m a bit too curious for my own good.”

Yuna’s face brightened slightly the realization came to her and Rikku. “So you’re from another world!”

Fuuka mulled over the idea briefly in her head and chuckled faintly. “That’s funny. Maybe you don’t need a ship, then.”

Kairi shrugged, confused and angry all at once. “I don’t get it.”

“What do you mean ‘another world’?” Alice asked, tilting her head curiously to one side and tucking some of her blonde hair behind one ear.

That’s when the ace of spades stomped one foot on the ground, making everyone turn to look at him. He glared at Yuna, in particular. “Enough!” he yelled forcefully. “The defendant will be silent!”

The group (along with the newly joined members) then backed away, threatened somewhat by the glimmering of the axe’s blade in the guard's hand. With a firm serves-you-right nod, the guard looked away. A

risa, Fuuka, Kairi, Ken, Larsa, Shinji, Teddie, and Vincent turned around and began to walk away. Yuna and Rikku hesitated, leaning in Alice’s direction as he walked away, still facing her. “Don’t worry, Alice,” she told her reassuringly. “We’ll prove to her that you’re innocent!”

Alice leaned forward, her face just about squeezed in between two of the bars.

“Listen!” she called after him. Yuna and Rikku stopped in their tracks, straining their ears to hear her. “I asked this Cheshire Cat how to get home.” Yuna and Rikku nodded intently. “And he told me to ask the queen.” They nodded again. “So I came here to see her, and I was arrested.”

Yuna and Rikku’s faces fell. They didn’t like the sound of that. Alice’s voice began to get shrill, and her words began to tumble over each other as she spoke. “She simply refuses to listen to me. It’s so unfair… I haven’t done anything wrong. What shall I do? I should like to keep my head. Why, if my head and body become separated, nothing I eat will reach my stomach!”

Yuna and Rikku took another step backwards. Now she was just starting to ramble. Alice then shook her head as she did her best to focus on what it was she needed to say.

“That Cheshire Cat may be able to help you,” she said quickly, casting a wary glance in her guard’s direction. “You may be able to find him in the Lotus Forest. That way!”

She pointed off into the distance directly behind Yuna and Rikku, biting down on her lip nervously. Yuna and Rikku looked in the direction she pointed to, committed it to memory, and then turned to Alice and nodded.

“You got it,” she said, smiling. “Thanks!”

The guard slammed his foot down on the ground again and looked in Yuna and Rikku’s direction, adjusting his hold on his axe, his expression hardening in outrage. “No talking to the defendant!” he yelled.

But Yuna and Rikku had already taken off in a run in the direction that Alice had pointed.
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“Why can’t we just tell ‘em that it was those Heartless guys?” Yuna wanted to know.

The group had entered the alleged Lotus Forest and came to know the others who were also on trial with Alice. The boys were Junpei Iori and Ryoji Mochizuki, while the girls were Neko and Yuki Amisa. The four of them know Arisa, Fuuka, Ken, and Shinji as they also know the power of persona, though Ryoji doesn’t have one.

Yuna couldn’t help but feel some connection between Arisa and Ryoji, like Arisa held a part of Ryoji inside her. Everyone looked around at the forest.(A/N: Yuna doesn't know how right she is about Arias and Ryoji.)

To them, it truly was like a large forest, filled with dense foliage that stretched up to the sky. Everything was washed in neutral colors of browns and earthy greens. There were giant lotuses that loomed high over their heads, blocking out the sunlight and giving the forest its namesake.

Yet the more Yuna and Rikku observed their surroundings, the more they realized what exactly this so-called forest was. Every large strip of thick foliage that reached for the sky was simply a long blade of forest grass. The lotuses were not what were gigantic; it was the group walking through the forest that was shrunken and small.

Yuna was leading the way through the forest, walking slowly in a straight line through the unknown territory. Kairi, Fuuka, Ryoji, Rikku, Junpei and Teddie walked directly behind him, while Arisa, Ken, Larsa, Shinji, and Vincent trailed a few steps behind the entire party.

As the young summoner peered over her shoulder toward Kairi as she waited for an answer, the girl’s face twisted slightly in annoyance. After a moment, she took a long, deep breath, and then spoke.

“Because,” Kairi explained, her impatience and anger ebbing slightly away as her voice became more hushed. “Every world is defined by its particular boundaries, within which some understanding of reality emerges as truth. Two truths cannot coexist, and so from the introduction of foreign bodies is conflict and chaos spawned. That’s why we limit our involvement in local affairs.”

Yuna, Rikku, Fuuka, Ken, Shinji, Larsa, Teddie, Ryoji, Junpei, Neko and Arisa blinked in confusion. “Say that again?”

“Indeed,” boomed a tired sounding voice. “Speak again. You speak the truth? I pose that the untruth of this truth upon truths holds truer.”

The entire party stopped in their tracks as they began to look around in alarm. There wasn’t a single soul to be found anywhere. There was only them; fourteen time bombs of anxiety, waiting for the seconds to wind down.

They were silent for a moment, until Yuna finally stepped forward, clenching her fists and taking a deep breath to soothe her nerves. She managed to cry out, “Who are you?” though her voice cracked slightly, nervously, as the words escaped her throat.

“Who, indeed,” the voice said again, its position shifting from one area of the forest to the next.

The group spun about in place as they attempted to pinpoint the source of the voice. As they did so, Yuna caught sight of something fuchsia colored move out of the corner of her eye. She spun around to find it, but saw nothing. Laughter began to echo about the area, followed by the reciting of what sounded something like a song. It came softly at first, but was slowly getting louder.

‘Twas a brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe
All a mimsy were the borrow-groves
And the momeraths out grabe…​

The laughter continued when it had finished reciting. Yuna looked around, getting frustrated. This was just too weird. Just then, a face popped out of the darkness at Yuna, and then vanished just as quickly as it came. Yuna’s eyes went wide as she took a step backwards.

“What was that?”

“What was what?” Ryoji asked, turning around to look in Yuna’s direction.

Yuna shook her head side to side and then rubbed her eyes. She looked around again, to be sure. “I thought I saw something...”

That’s when it happened again. The mysterious face popped out like the jack of a jack-in-the-box and then retracted and disappeared, only to do it again from somewhere else. The third time, everyone saw it. Arisa, Fuuka, Kairi, Ken, Larsa, and Vincent jumped back with a loud gasp of surprise and Shinji, Junpei, Ryoji, Neko, Yuki, and Teddie dropped onto their bottoms in shock.

The face vanished one final time and reappeared hovering slightly over a nearby tree stump of some sort. At first, it was just a large, white, crescent shaped grin, which eventually grew into a whole figure. It was a rather large, chubby, fuchsia colored cat with white stripes running down the entire length of his body, encircling even his arms and belly.

He stared down at Yuna, Rikku, Larsa, Arisa, Fuuka, Shinji, Ken, Junpei, Ryoji, Neko, Yuki, Teddie, Kairi, and Vincent through wide, mischievous yellow eyes, with his two paws supporting the underside of his jaw as he lay on his side. He was chuckling as he watched the reaction of the group to his appearance, his bushy tail wagging lazily in the air.

Yuna stepped forward, pushing away his surprise. “You must be the Cheshire Cat.”

The Cheshire Cat turned his eyes onto Yuna in particular, his large grin growing, as though to confirm Yuna’s suspicions, and then looked at Kairi, Ken, Fuuka, Arisa, Larsa, and Vincent. “You speak the truth?” he asked curiously. His grin grew even more. “The Cheshire Cat knows all truths, and finds as yet no contradiction nor chaos.”

Shinji, Junpei, Ryoji, Neko, Yuki, and Teddie rose back to their feet and joined Yuna and the others in gaping at the mysterious cat. Teddie pointed amusedly at the Cheshire Cat and chuckled, turning to Kairi and saying cheerily, “It’s a cat!”

While Kairi mused over the idea of bonking Teddie on the head, the cat propped himself up into a human-like sitting position. “Poor Alice,” he said with a slight shrug of his cat shoulders. “Soon to lose her head, and she’s not guilty of a thing!”

“Hey!” Rikku cried out, forcing the Cheshire Cat to turn his attention back on her and her cousin. “If you know who the culprit is, tell us!”

The cat chuckled, rising onto his hind legs. He put both paws on either side of his head and removed his head from his shoulders. Kairi and Vincent’s faces went pale and Yuna and Rikku’s eyes grew as wide as saucers. The Cheshire Cat proceeded to place his head gingerly on the ground before him and stepped on top of it. The cat’s yellow eyes then turned to Sora, and he smiled.

“Can you stand on your head?” he asked, a small laugh escaping from him.

Yuna swallowed hard as he watched. “Not like that,” she muttered under his breath.

Donald had just about lost his last shred of patience. The color flushed back into his face as he stomped his webbed feet on the ground and pointed one finger at the cat angrily. “Tell us!”

“The Cheshire Cat has all the answers,” the cat said, stepping off his head and placing it back on his shoulders. And then, turning to the trio and wagging one finger in the air, “but doesn’t always tell. The answer, the culprit, the cat all lie in darkness.”

Then, just as the Cheshire Cat had first appeared, his figure began to fade away. Yuna’s eyes went wide. “Wait!” she cried. “That’s all you’re gonna tell us?”

The white moon shaped smile was the last thing of the Cheshire Cat’s to vanish into their surroundings. Rikku pressed her lips together as she took a deep breath through her nostrils. So much for asking the Cheshire Cat for help to save Alice. As Yuna was about to press further onward into the Lotus Forest, the cat’s voice rang out into the stillness, the source of it still shifting positions as he spoke.

“They’ve already left the forest,” he was saying. “I won’t tell which exit.”

A small pink box then fell from overhead, bouncing off Ryoji, Junpei, and Rikku’s heads and straight into Yuna’s hands. Yuna managed to catch the box clumsily, and then stared at the box, one eyebrow raised in suspicion. She then looked upward, trying to catch a glimpse of where the Cheshire Cat had gone.

“What’s this?”

“Within the box there lives perhaps the truth you seek,” the Cheshire Cat explained. He then chuckled slightly. “Or perhaps there lives not?”

Ryoji, Junpei, and Rikku rubbed the tops of their heads grumpily, muttering several incomprehensible words under their breath as they glared upward. Arisa walked over to Yuna and looked first at the box, and then back at Yuna.

“Should we trust him?” she asked.

“To trust,” the Cheshire Cat interjected, reappearing atop the tree stump, “or not to trust? I trust you’ll decide!” And with that, the cat vanished again.

“Doesn’t look very trustworthy to me,” Vincent growled.

Rikku looked down at the box. “Say, whaddya suppose is inside?”

All eyes then turned onto the box that Yuna held in his hands. It seemed too small to have anything live in it. Yuna examined the box from all sides, inspecting it curiously. It was just a simple pink box, the color of the box matched the dress Kairi wore. Yuna shook it up and down. Nothing happened.

“Open it,” said Ryoji and Rikku.

Yuna turned the box right side up and began to slowly peel the lid open. The lid had barely been opened before a powerful force flew out of the tiny box and into Yuna’s face, forcing her to hold the box farther away. Arisa, Fuuka, Kairi, Ken, Junpei, Larsa, Neko, Rikku, Ryoji, Vincent, and Yuki released loud cries of alarm as whatever was inside the box popped out. As Yuna looked, her eyes grew wide.

“It’s a Heartless!”

The armored Heartless leapt from the box onto the ground just a few feet away from Yuna. It looked over its shoulder at the group, the metal of its helmet and armor clanking loudly and its yellow eyes glowing, before taking off in a run, feet flying, in the direction of the Queen of Hearts’ court. Kairi pulled out her staff and rolled up her bracelets in a gesture of anger and daring.

“Let’s go get it!” she growled before taking off after the Heartless.

The other two nodded in agreement as they pulled out their weapons and chased after the creature of darkness. Yuna fiddled slightly with the handle of her Brotherhood as they ran, her mind uneasy. Why was it going toward the courtroom? It wasn’t like there was anything there, other than Alice, the white rabbit, the strange card soldiers and… That’s when Yuna realized it.

The Queen of Hearts.

They had even said it during the trial, hadn’t they? “For the crimes of assault, and attempted theft of my heart…” Yuna gritted his teeth and pushed herself to run faster. They just had to get to that Heartless before it reached the queen. It would be all kinds of hell for them if they didn’t stop it in time.

They had almost reached the entryway to the queen’s court by the time Yuna had almost caught up to the Heartless. Yuna adjusted her grip on the Brotherhood as she closed the gap between her and the Heartless, passing under a large, grass hedge archway as they entered the courtroom. Several rounds of terrified screams filled the room as the Heartless leapt onto the witness stand, spinning slightly so that it was facing the Queen of Hearts.

“What in the world is that!” the queen shrieked. “MANNERLESS!”

She scrambled to escape from her Judge’s bench, without success. Her scream resonated throughout the courtroom as though it were surrounded by walls. Yuna gritted her teeth as she moved forward as fast as she could, holding the Brotherhood with both hands.

“There’s your evidence, Miss Queen!” Yuna yelled. “And watch out!”

The Heartless glanced over its shoulder at Yuna before it pounced at the queen. The queen recoiled, her deep, enraged voice booming from her throat. Yuna jumped onto the witness stand, rebounding off of it toward the Judge’s bench.

With the Brotherhood clutched in both hands, Yuna took one large, mid-air swing, chopping down the Heartless before it was even able to lay one shadowy claw on the queen. The Heartless vanished in the one hit, dispersing only inches away from the face of the Queen of Hearts.

Yuna planted both feet on the end of the Judge’s bench and then turned to look at the queen, pointing the Brotherhood at her. “There ya go,” Yuna said forcefully. “Still think Alice’s the one?”

She then turned slightly and looked down from the Judge’s bench. There stood Arisa, Fuuka, Kairi, Ken, Junpei, Larsa, Neko, Rikku, Ryoji, Teddie, Vincent, and Yuki, who had just entered the courtroom and were currently looking up at Yuna proudly. The queen ground her teeth together angrily, clenching her hands into fists. She pounded her fists on the Judge’s bench angrily.

“Silence!” she shrieked. “I’m the law here! Article 29: Anyone who defies the queen is guilty!”

Kairi slammed one foot on the ground, equally enraged as the queen. “That’s crazy!”

“Cards!” the queen screamed as she turned to her troops, pointing angrily at the group, her eyes burning with unreasonable rage. She was practically spitting as she screamed.

“Seize them at once!”

Now that some other members of the team have appeared, here's their entries:

Junpei Iori

Bio: The prankster of the team, Junpei's persona specialize in wind actions. He's best friends with Shinji and always food on his mind, it seems. It seems suprisingly he was once in love with a girl, Chidori, who appeared to part of a team to bring about the Fall. But her love for Junpei saved his life from a attack from the others of her team at cost of her life. Her final gift, a very detailed sketch of Junpei, strengthened Junpei's heart and made him stronger. He's first seen talking to the main character of Persona 3

Ryoji Mochizuki

Bio: Though he's appears to come from a wealthy family, Ryoji is actually the father of Thantos, Shinji's persona, and the avatar of the being Nyx. His shadow form, the Death Shadow, rest within my body as it was infused inside me when I was made the subject for Project Nyx. Because of that infusion, he often shares his Nyx powers with me. Ryoji is first seen as the third transfer student in Persona 3

Neko

Bio: A shadow in human form like Ryoji, Neko was created by another member of the team who could create white shadows. Though she resembles me without wings and cat ears and a tail, she's really a big crybaby. Often she says 'Mew' at the end of her sentences and controls the earth. Her persona is more mature than she is and often tries to toughen her up.

Yuki Amisa

Bio: The first being to be tested for Project Nyx. Yuki is really my mother's sister, but she was frozen as she was a failure to the tests of the project and was freed when I arrived with my sister. Like Kairi, she is strong and powerful despite her young appearance. Plus, she seems to know a lot about persona, shadows, and controlling them.


Enjoy!

 

I didn't expect new memebers joining btu ti'xs getting more interesting so please continue!!

 

Chapter 8

The eighth chapter and the end of the adventure in Wonderland.

Chapter 8
Assistance

Wonderland

“Cards! Seize them at once!”

The ace of spades ran to the cage and grabbed hold of a wheel that was hidden behind it. Then, getting a good grip on it, the card spun the wheel as quickly as he could.

A red curtain fell over the cage, and the cage shot up on a rail to the top of some kind of tower that stood next to the Judge’s bench. The queen looked up at the cage with a proud nod, and then turned back to ordering the other cards.

“If they touch the tower,” she shrieked, pointing her fan at them, “you lose your heads!”

The card soldiers immediately leapt forward, landing in a circle surrounding Arisa, Fuuka, Kairi, Ken, Junpei, Larsa, Neko, Rikku, Ryoji, Teddie, Vincent, and Yuki. The two exchanged glances before they pulled out their weapons.

Several cards moved to surround the judge’s bench, holding their weapons and glaring up at Yuna. Others ran up the spiral staircase so that they could jump onto the Judge’s bench. Yuna looked first at the queen, then at the soldiers, and then back at her friends. She shifted her weight onto one leg, ready to jump down, willing the Brotherhood into her hands.

“Hang on, guys!”

Teddie looked up at Yuna, an almost serious expression on his face. “Yuna, no!”

The solemnity in Teddie’s voice surprised almost everyone. Yuna froze in place, lowering her Brotherhood slightly. “Teddie…”

“Go get Alice!” he yelled, before holding his claw up with both paws and barreling into the army of card soldiers.

Yuna took a small step backward, slightly surprised. The cards began to leap from the staircase in an attempt to get onto the bench, some of them failing. It didn’t take long for them to figure out how to make a bridge across out of themselves.

Yuna looked first at the soldiers and then nodded at Teddie (even though Teddie probably couldn’t see it). Withdrawing the Brotherhood, Yuna ran across the Judge’s bench toward Alice’s cage. The queen rose from her seat as Yuna dashed past her.

“How dare you!” she shrieked. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Paying her no mind, Yuna leapt from the Judge’s bench onto Alice’s cage, grabbing onto the sides and clutching it for dear life. The cards yelled angrily from the top of the Judge’s bench, their cries intermingled with the outraged screams of the queen herself. Yuna looked down at the ground and swallowed hard. This was a lot higher than she had thought.

As the cards tried to hook onto Yuna’s clothes with their spears, Yuna forced her weight onto the cage, pushing down so that the cage would be forced to fall back to the ground. The cage rattled. She pushed again and again, the cage jolting violentlyeach time, the hook from which the cage hung weakening with every push. Yuna could hear the enthusiastic cheering of her cousin and everyone from below, but the sounds of the queen howling in outrage easily drowned them out.

It was difficult to simply ignore a voice that loud, especially when it rang almost directly into one’s ear. Even so, Yuna didn’t give up. She continued pushing down on the cage until the beak of the bird shaped hook snapped, and the cage, together with Yuna, slid back to the floor from the top of the tower.

The cage hit the ground with such force that Yuna tumbled from it. She shook her head from side to side, half expecting to be surrounded by the card soldiers. Yet to her surprise, it was as though everything had screeched to a halt when the cage crashed to the floor.

All the cards were looking at the cage now, as though frozen. Even the queen leaned over the edge of the Judge’s bench, straining to see. Yuna jumped to her feet and ran at the cage, grabbing the curtain and throwing it back.

Everyone’s eyes went wide as the red curtain drew back to reveal… nothing. Yuna’s mouth went slightly dry. Everyone moved toward Yuna and stood slightly behind her, gaping at the now empty cage. The group exchanged shocked glances. When did that happen? The cards looked up at the queen as the queen’s face started to turn beet red.

“You fools!” she shrieked, banging her fists on the bench and shaking her fan angrily at the card soldiers. “Find the one who’s behind this! I don’t care how!”

The cards saluted the queen before running about the courtroom in circles. After a moment of mass panic, the cards exited the courtroom. The queen then turned to look at Yuna, Arisa, Fuuka, Kairi, Ken, Junpei, Larsa, Neko, Rikku, Ryoji, Vincent, and Yuki.

“This includes you all as well!” she hissed, waving her fan angrily. “Quit dawdling! Find Alice, or it’s off with all of your heads!”

Yuna jumped slightly as though she had been poked in the butt by something sharp and began to run for the Lotus Forest, with all of her companions trailing hurriedly behind her.

“We’re goin’ already!” Rikku shouted over her shoulder. “Geez!”
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“That queen lady’s totally lost it,” Rikku muttered, as the group trudged deeper into the Lotus Forest. Yuna pushed aside a tuft of tall grass and stepped over it, then held it back for everyone else as they followed her loyally.

As Yuna dropped the grass and moved so that she was instep with, he heard a familiar voice resounding in the air. It came softly at first, humming a semi-haunting tune which gradually turned into a round of soft, echoing chuckles.

Suddenly, sets of paw prints began to appear on the ground as though something invisible was walking around them, circling first Arisa, Fuuka, Kairi, Neko, Yuki, then Ken, Junpei, Larsa, Ryoji, Teddie, Vincent, then Yuna and Rikku. The paw prints then headed toward a nearby tree. Yuna narrowed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“The Cheshire Cat.”

As if on cue, the Cheshire Cat appeared in the branches of a tree a few feet in front of Yuna, his moon shaped smile glowing from out of the darkness of the forest. He was hanging upside down from one of the branches with his hind legs crossed as though he were sitting cross legged on the floor.

“Loooose something?” he asked casually.

“Yeah,” Ryoji said with a slight chuckle, stepping forward with Junpei. “Have you seen Alice?”

The Cheshire Cat blinked slowly, his smile stretching. “Alice, no,” he said. “Shadow, yes!”

“Where did they go?”

The cat shrugged, curling upward so that he could seat himself properly on the tree branch. “This way? That way? Does it matter? Left, right, up, down! All mixed up thanks to the shadows!” His grin grew. “And besides: all ways here are the queen’s ways.” The cat pulled at the fur on his head in order to make himself look just like the Queen of Hearts, an imitation of the tightly bound bun on the top of her head.

Yuna’s spirits fell. “Just great,” she grumbled to Rikku.

“Step deeper into the forest,” the cat continued, “to the deserted garden. You might find shadows in the upside down room!”

With that, the Cheshire Cat once again vanished.

“‘The upside down room’?” Yuna echoed, turning to look at Arisa, Fuuka, Kairi, Ken, Junpei, Larsa, Neko, Rikku, Ryoji, Teddie, Vincent, and Yuki.

They also shrugged. “Let’s just keep going,” Arisa suggested.

And so they did. The group trudged onward, deeper into the forest, mostly in silence. An urgency hung thickly in the air as they walked. All Yuna could think about was helping out Alice. Where could she have gone? She couldn’t have gotten far without anybody knowing.

The only logical thing would be to assume that the Heartless actually kidnapped her. But what would they want with her? As far as they knew of the Heartless so far, all they ever seemed to be doing was attacking them.

“Hey, look there!”

Yuna looked up as Junpei and Ryoji pointed to an open passage just ahead of them. It was where the foliage grew so thickly together that it formed a sort of tunnel. All the light that could possibly filter into the tunnel was blocked out so that beyond the opening nothing could be seen but the black of night. Where it led, none of them could possibly know for sure.

The group exchanged glances before daring to enter the dark tunnel. They walked along slowly, silently, Yuna trailing her fingers absentmindedly on the “walls”. The darkness seemed endless until Yuna bumped chest first into some sort of grass hedge wall.

Somewhat surprised, Yuna dug her fingers into the hedge as though she was making sure it was real. And then, gripping the hedge firmly in his hands, she began to tear the hedge apart to make some sort of passageway. That’s when light exploded into their faces, illuminating the new place unexpectedly.

Their eyes went wide in wonder. “What in the…?”

This new area most certainly surprising. Spread out before them was the layout of what looked like some sort of outdoor tea party. There was a long table with a bright pink table cloth standing in the middle of the area, in front of a large white and pink house with a roof made of hay.

Chairs of all different kinds were lined up along the sides of the table. The table was filled from end to end with teacups, saucers, teapots, spoons, and cups of sugar. The tea party seemed to have been abandoned halfway through, as some of the cups still had tea in them.

Hung on one of the large hedges that surrounded the area at one end of the table was the most peculiar image of two very unusual looking characters; a man in a brightly colored suit with a large head and white hair with a green hat on his head with a price tag that read “10/6”. Next to him was a brown hare in an equally bright suit with a crazy tuft of fur on the top of his head.

They both seemed to be looking out from inside the picture with mournful, anxious expressions on their faces and tears streaming from their eyes, staring at the tea party spread. Or possibly, at the outside in general.

A chill ran up Yuna’s spine as she looked at the picture.

“There’s somethin’ really creepy about this place,” Yuna muttered, turning so that she couldn’t see the picture.

“Whaddya mean, Yunie?” Rikku wanted to know, wandering toward the table and picking up one teacup. He held it with both hands and examined the cup from all sides, the remaining tea spilling out as he spun the cup upside down.

Yuna shrugged, slowly making her way toward the white and pink house. “I don’t know, Rikku, but there’s something about this place.”

“Well, they left all this good tea,” Rikku commented, picking up a teapot and pouring some tea into a cup. “Whoever was here left in the middle of a good tea party!”

Rikku tut-tutted to herself as she set the teapot back down and got ready to take a sip from her cup, seating herself in one of the empty chairs. Arisa moved forward angrily.

“Gimme that, ya little brat!” she growled, snatching the teacup out of Rikku’s grasp and putting it back on the table.

“Seriously, guys,” Yuna said, turning slightly so he could see Arisa, Rikku, and the others. “There’s something…” Her eye caught on the picture on the wall and she turned away immediately. “… weird going on in here.”

Arisa looked first at Yuna and then at the picture on the hedge. She had overlooked it before, and now as she took a good long look at it, she shuddered. “Yuna’s right,” she said, trying to keep her voice calm. “We should just keep going.”

With a shrug of her shoulders, Rikku rose to her feet and followed Yuna, Arisa, and the others toward the white and pink house. Yuna paused before he reached the doorway, taking one final glance at the room. The two figures trapped within the confines of their picture frame seemed to be watching them. Their eyes seemed to be pleading for freedom.

Yuna took a deep breath through her nostrils in an attempt to calm herself. As Arisa, Fuuka, Kairi, Ken, Junpei, Larsa, Neko, Rikku, Ryoji, Teddie, Vincent and Yuki went ahead of her through the doorway, Yuna mouthed the word “Sorry” in the direction of the picture and then followed her companions.

The expressions on their faces seemed to have gotten sadder.

The group had been expecting to step through the doorway of a house, but the moment they passed through it, they found themselves right back where they had started. They were back in the strangely decorated bizarre room. Pink walls, items that could be pushed into the walls, and a large white circular table with two bottles on top. They looked around them in shock, their mouths slightly agape.

‘Twas a brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe
All a mimsy were the borrow-groves
And the momeraths out grabe…​

The voice of the Cheshire Cat seemed to be coming from the tabletop. As their eyes turned toward the table, the cat’s body slowly appeared, lying quite casually on his side, his head propped up with one paw as he looked down at the trio. He laughed lightly, scratching a spot on his belly.

“Fourth verse?” he offered the group.

“No thanks,” Arisa grumbled.

“You vanished on us last time,” Yuna said firmly. “Where’s this ‘upside down room’?”

The Cheshire Cat smiled, amused. “Here.” His smile grew slightly as he stood on his hind legs. “I shall show what shadows lurk in the heart of the world.”

“Where?”

The cat produced a flame from mid-air and raised it over his head as it began to grow. “Patience, patience,” he forewarned. “Want to find the shadows? Turn on the light!”

Suddenly, one of two small lamps on the ceiling turned on, and then the other. The cat smiled as his flame extinguished itself and he lied back down on his side. “Have you heard? Where there is the brightest of flames, there is the darkest of shadows…” He tilted his head to one side. “You’ll have a better view from higher up.” He patted the surface of the table casually, as though inviting them to join him.

Yuna and Rikku looked over at Arisa, Fuuka, Kairi, Ken, Junpei, Larsa, Neko, Ryoji, Shinji, Teddie, Vincent and Yuki. “Should we…?”

“We don’t really have a choice, do we?” Arisa replied, exasperated. “Let’s just go.”

Hesitating slightly, the group moved toward the table and clambered onto the chair next to it, Vincent, Ryoji and Junpei giving Yuna, Rikku, Arisa, Yuki, Fuuka, Ken, Kairi, Neko, Larsa and Teddie boosts to reach the top. As soon as all of them had managed to reach the top of the table, they turned to Cheshire Cat, who was, once again, standing on his head. When the cat caught sight of the group, he merely smiled at them and replaced his head on his shoulders. He then lied back down on the tabletop, stretching slightly.

“The shadows should be here soon,” the cat said somewhat smugly.

Suddenly, the air began to waver. The atmosphere suddenly felt thick and heavy. An unseen force blew toward the bizarre room and began to build. Everything seemed to have dimmed slightly, as though a great shadow had been cast over the room. The room seemed to shake as the force began to build on itself. The group gazed about them warily, their hearts thumping loudly in their chests, the blood pumping in their ears. Yuna clenched her fists at her sides. What was going on?

“Are your hearts prepared for the worst?” the Cheshire Cat asked them. “If not, too bad!”

That was when whatever had been building up to that moment began to take form. A large, monster like creature had taken form and began to loom somewhat malevolently above them. It looked like it had been pieced together from several different kinds of children’s toys; its main body and torso was a proper chest piece, as though it were a part of a set of armor, but the rest of the creature was almost random.

It had two legs that seemed like four at a glance. Each “thigh” was red in color, protruding from the pelvis in opposite directions on both sides. As it hit the “knee”, the metal turned black and folded back until it reached the other side, coming together to form the feet which looked like large black axes. Its arms seemed to be made of long, twisted strips of paper that made a sort of zigzagged appearance.

At the end of each strip of zigzagged paper was a small black paper hand, each holding a large club that had been set on fire, which the creature juggled in the air. Its head consisted of several smaller heads, each of which shared the same confused expression. The smaller heads alternated in color; one would be red while the next would be black. Dangling from one of its wrists, tied to a rope, was a boy wearing a black uniform similar to Junpei; he had short black hair and wore an officer-style cap. (A/N: One more addiation to the team, Naoto Shirogane from Persona 4. Now it's gonna be a while before Suki appears and joins the team.)

The monster looked down from its high place above the tabletop and straight at Yuna, Rikku, Arisa, Fuuka, Kairi, Ken, Junpei, Larsa, Neko, Shinji, Teddie, Vincent, and Yuki. The Cheshire Cat rolled onto his back, his tail wagging delightedly in the air, his smile growing across his face. “Meet the Trickmaster! And our guest, Naoto Shirogane!”

Yuna looked back at the Cheshire Cat, grinding her teeth together and pointing one finger accusingly at him. “You!” she shouted angrily. “You lied to us!”

Arisa looked over at the cat as well, her face turning red and her hands turning to fists, while Rikku, Ryoji, and Junpei was far too busy cowering in horror from the Trickmaster. The Cheshire Cat looked back at Yuna and shook his head sadly, as though he was disappointed.

“I lie, you say?” the Cheshire Cat echoed, as though he had taken offense in the comment. “Nay, I need not. The Cheshire Cat takes heart in aiding those in need.”

The Trickmaster lunged forward, swinging his fiery clubs at the group and tossing young Naoto into the air, missing them by only a hair. Beads of sweat formed on Yuna’s forehead as the fire swept over her and Rikku, the heat of the flame having come dangerously close. Arisa, Ken, Junpei, Larsa, and Ryoji threw themselves down onto the table top in an attempt to dodge, and then each crawled toward the edge of the table and dropped back down to the floor.

As soon as they hit the floor, they pulled out their weapons. Kairi screamed when the Trickmaster threw a club at her, but was protected by Vincent. Fuuka and Teddie prepared to scan for the weakness of the Trickmaster.

“Le-let’s go, Vincent!” Kairi urged, gripping her staff between both hands.

The duo then charged forward, Vincent holding his gun tight in his hands as he barreled into the Trickmaster’s limbs. Kairi jumped backward and shot a ball of fire from her staff, which flew toward the monster’s torso and the rope holding Naoto. As the Trickmaster’s attention shifted to Vincent and Kairi, Yuna rose to his feet and looked at the Cheshire Cat angrily over his shoulder. The cat merely smiled as usual. Frustrated, Yuna willed the Brotherhood forward and watched Rikku run toward the edge of the table top.

Yuna, however, got ready to summon one of her aeons. She raised the Brotherhood above her head, in one fluid movement, she shifted her weight as she slid her right foot behind her, her right hand holding the Brotherhood was flung backwards while her other hand was reached forward. Everyone’s eyes were on Yuna as slowly strange lights formed around her and symbols of magic hung in the air.

The atmosphere seemed to crackle with magic energy and anticipation alike. Suddenly the aura around Yuna sent four beams of light toward the ceiling. Were they met and struck a cloud cover, the ceiling swirled and something soared out of the clouds. (A/N: I tried to remember how Yuna summoned Valefor in the game, making sure her movements are right.)

A large red and white bird like creature appeared, which soared downward and landed in front of Yuna. Red and white feathers covered its chest and body, and Yuna gently stroked its beak. It got down low enough for her to get its back. Yuna smiled and got on its back, grabbing Rikku as it flew to the Trickmaster.

As soon as the Trickmaster was in jumping range, Yuna leapt at it, Brotherhood flashing, swinging her weapon angrily and getting in a decent hit to the lower part of its torso, freeing Naoto. Valefor flew down and caught him.

“Ya got ‘im!” Junpei cheered happily, leaping into the air. “Great job, Yuna!”

Upon hearing Junpei’s excited cheers, Yuna and Rikku smiled inwardly at the idea of her victorious hit. Valefor planted both feet on the linoleum flooring and spun around to see the effect of the blow Yuna had given. The Trickmaster seemed to examine itself briefly before shaking off the hit and resuming its fight. Yuna and Rikku’s eyes went wide in confusion as they stumbled backwards. The Brotherhood had had no effect on this Heartless monster?

“Wh-What happened?” Rikku yelled as she and Yuna was reunited with Arisa, Fuuka, Kairi, Ken, Junpei, Larsa, Neko, Shinji, Ryoji, Teddie, Vincent, and Yuki.

Kairi switched the staff into her right hand as they moved away from the Trickmaster, their eyes glued to the monster’s many faces. “It didn’t work!” she yelled, alarmed.

The Cheshire Cat seemed to smile at the panic that they had been thrown into. Yuna cast one brief, almost frantic glance at her Brotherhood. But wasn’t the power of the Brotherhood its ability to strike down the Heartless where normal weapons may fail? There was very little time for her to think as the Trickmaster swung one flaming limb in their direction. With an alarmed yell, Yuna dropped onto her belly in an attempted dodge, flattening herself to the floor as the flames billowed with a roar overhead.

The Cheshire Cat chuckled amusedly, turning away briefly to examine his fingernails. “It seems you’re in dire need of assistance,” he said as he glanced back at the group out of the corner of one gleaming yellow eye. “Rather a miracle you’ve made it this far.”

With that, the Cheshire Cat gave a small nod of his head in Yuna’s direction as Yuna rose to her knees. A small gust of icy cold wind billowed toward Yuna and struck the Brotherhood with just enough force to push her slightly to the side. Yuna looked first at the cat, and then down at the Brotherhood, which was now emitting a pale blue aura. The metal of the blade suddenly flashed icy cold in his grip.

“It is but a pittance,” the Cheshire Cat went on. “But I shall grant to you what strength you lack.”

Yuna eyed the cat suspiciously. “What do you mean?”

“EEEYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!”

Kairi leapt frantically in the air, smoke billowing behind her in the most cartoon-like manner as the bottom half of her dress had caught fire. She then proceeded to run around in circles, clearly in a state of terrified panic, screaming incoherently.

Vincent, worrying about personally Kairi’s condition, pointed at Kairi’s dress and began to make various terrified and worried noises. Yuna rose to her feet, spinning around to look at Kairi, her fingers tightening around the handle of the Brotherhood.

“KAIRI!”

The Brotherhood flashed a brilliant blue before a powerful icy cold force blew out from the tip of the blade. Yuna yelled in shock as some kind of blizzard billowed out of the Brotherhood and shot in a straight line in Kairi’s direction. She hissed as the Brotherhood suddenly felt icy cold in her grip, yet for some reason she was unable to release it.

Kairi breathed in relief as the magical blizzard extinguished the flames on his dress bottom. As soon as the initial relief ebbed away, a thought crossed Kairi’s mind. She turned around and looked over at Yuna, who seemed frozen to the spot.

“Yuna!” Kairi gasped. “Was that you just now?”

“You’re the one they call ‘the Bearer of the Key’,” the Cheshire Cat said calmly, lying down on his back and putting his hands behind his head. “It’d be a true pity if you didn’t know how to use magic, wouldn’t it?”

Yuna looked over her shoulder at the Cheshire Cat, her eyes wide. “M-Magic?” she echoed. She had almost forgotten about what Lulu could do, perform magic.

“Yuna!” Ryoji yelped suddenly. “Watch your back!”

She spun around in time to see the Trickmaster take one large step forward, its foot slamming into the floor near Yuna and shaking the Earth, right before it took another swing with its flaming limbs. The group fled in all directions in a successful dodge. As soon as the coast was clear, Yuna returned, the Brotherhood flashing brilliant shades of light blue.

“Take this!” she yelled, pointing the Brotherhood at the Trickmaster.

Nothing. Yuna looked down at her Brotherhood, confused. But it was glowing blue! What was wrong? The Trickmaster reared one gargantuan leg back and slammed it hard into the floor, making the ground shake again. Yuna dodged as quickly as she could in a side roll and then pointed the Yuna at the monster again. Still nothing came out.

“You gotta really focus yourself on what you’re tryin’ to do!” Kairi yelled from across the room at Yuna. Yuna hid herself under the table’s legs as she listened to Kairi. “If you’re gonna be channeling magic using the Brotherhood, try and concentrate all your power on it! Imagine your power freezing over your opponent!” This last part Kairi said most firmly. “Focus your heart!”

‘Focus your heart?’ Yuna wondered and it hit her. ‘Like when summoning an aeon!’

Yuna swallowed hard and then looked back at the Trickmaster, which was currently going after Ryoji and Junpei as they ran around in circles, screaming. She closed his eyes for a moment, concentrating, imagining the monster being frozen into a solid block by her magic and the aeon Shiva. There it was, frozen in her mind. (A/N: To tell the truth, Yuna really only has Valefor and the Magus Sisters. But she'll get the others later on. I promise)

Yuna gripped the Brotherhood tighter in her hands. It began to glow more brilliantly than it had before. Yuna opened her eyes and smiled. Running out from his hiding place, Yuna pointed the Keyblade at the Trickmaster, holding it with both hands as it flashed pale blue and turned icy cold. She clenched her teeth together, feeling the presence of the ice aeon.

“BLIZZARD!”

A powerful blast of ice exploded from the end of the Brotherhood and bee lined toward the Trickmaster. The monster barely even had time to react as the icy beam struck it in the head. The ice spread like a virus around the Trickmaster’s body, encompassing it in a thick layer of ice. Yuna’s eyes went wide as she slowly lowered the Brotherhood. A smile slowly grew on her face. Everyone raced over to Yuna, throwing their arms excitedly around her neck.

“You did it, kid!”

The Cheshire Cat’s expression changed to a look of surprise, his moon shaped smile having been wiped off his face for the first time since they had met him. “Wow.”

Everyone watched as the Trickmaster’s frozen body hurtled toward the floor and shattered into thousands of icy shards, each of which glowed softly before dissipating into the air. A large purplish-blue heart appeared among the debris, hovering over the spot where the Heartless monster had been defeated before vanishing in thin air.

Yuna sighed, relieved, as everyone else released Yuna and celebrated amongst themselves. The doorknob then began to moan and then yawned loudly, making the group turn around to look over at him. He opened his eyes sleepily, smacking his lips together.

“What a racket,” he groaned drowsily. “How’s a doorknob to get any sleep?”

The doorknob yawned again, his mouth opening widely. Suddenly, something glimmered from within the depths of the doorknob’s mouth. Yuna blinked, raising one eyebrow in surprise. The entire group leaned forward, all of them having caught a glimpse of that strange something. “Is that a keyhole?”

The keyhole suddenly shone brilliantly from within the doorknob’s mouth. The Brotherhood began to rattle in Yuna’s grasp, as though moving of its own free will, flashing in different colors. Yuna seized the handle with both hands and held on as tightly as she could.

The Brotherhood aimed itself at the doorknob, freezing in place as though it had locked on to something, and then fired a beam of light from its tip. The beam shot through the doorknob’s mouth and revealed a tiny keyhole within. The keyhole shone brilliantly, revealing itself to the group, and then faded away with a loud clicking noise.

The doorknob shut its mouth at last, mumbling something about being extremely tired before falling back into a deep slumber. Yuna readjusted herself so that she was standing firmly on both feet, the Brotherhood dropping as though it had been removed from an invisible lock.

“What was that?” Junpei murmured in shock.

“You hear that?” Yuna asked her companions. “Sounded like something closed.”

Yuna looked down at the Brotherhood in awe. She was learning more about this mysterious weapon all the time. First its ability to affect the Heartless, then magic, and now this, whatever “this” was. Yuna’s attention shifted when she heard something small and light fall to the linoleum floor and slide across the surface.

It was a small diamond shaped block that seemed to be made out of some kind of gummy material. It was colored in shades of yellow and green. It was flat on one side and somewhat rounded on the other, as though it had been cut off from something. Vincent bent down and picked it up. Both he and Kairi examined the item carefully.

“It’s a Highwind block!” Kairi cried out. She chuckled, raising it slightly. “This High wind isn’t like the others. No, sir.”

Vincent peered at the piece curiously, looked first at Kairi, then at Yuna and Rikku, and then took it carefully from Kairi. “Okay, I’ll hold on to it.”

“Uhh… ‘Highwind block’?” Rikku echoed, scratching her head in confusion.

Kairi laughed slightly. “It’s a mechanical part from another Highwind ship, kinda like ours.”

“‘Another’?” she repeated.

“Splendid,” the Cheshire Cat said, applauding Yuna amusedly. All eyes turned on the Cheshire Cat as he stopped clapping and leaned on his tail as though it were a wall. The cat’s smile grew so that it touched from one ear to the other. “You’re quite the hero.”

Yuna gritted his teeth, narrowing her eyes. “Whose side are you…”

“If you’re looking for Alice,” the cat said, interrupting Yuna, “she’s not here. She’s gone! Off with the shadows, into darkness.”

The Key Bearer’s face fell. Her eyes dropped to the floor. “No…”

The Cheshire Cat shrugged his shoulders and vanished, humming his usual tune in the most haunting manner. Yuna shut his eyes sadly, her spirits dropping. Kairi, sensing her companion’s disheartened frustration, placed one hand sympathetically on Yuna’s shoulder.

“Let’s go back to our Highwind ship,” Kairi said softly. “We might find her in another world.”

Yuna slowly turned her eyes upward to look at Kairi. At the sight of the girl’s most sympathetic face, Yuna dragged up the best smile she could offer and nodded silently.

“Yeah…”

Kairi gave Yuna a sisterly pat on the back as she helped Yuna to her feet. The group hurriedly returned to the Highwind ship.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yuna gazed out the cold glass window of her room of the Highwind ship as they sailed away from Wonderland. She lowered her eyes after a moment, focusing on the thousands of distant stars that she could see before her as her thoughts began to drift.

“Didn’t find anyone after all,” she murmured sadly to Rikku, sighing. “Not only Alice… We didn’t even get anywhere with the King…”

Her mind raced, mulling over everything that had happened so far, from meeting Leon and Yuffie, to encountering the Queen of Hearts and the Trickmaster. Yuna released one long, drawn out breath, closing her eyes and leaning her forehead against the cool glass.

“I wonder where Lulu and Tidus are…?”

The words escaped Yuna’s throat in a voice just over a whisper. Images of her two closest friends suddenly appeared in her mind’s eye. She could see them as they had been before any of this had happened, playing, laughing, splashing each other with the cool, salty ocean water. She pressed her forehead harder against the glass. “Where’d you guys go?”

Suddenly, Yuna found that two fingers had lodged into the corners of her mouth and pulled her lips back to forcibly make her smile. Yuna struggled, knocked the hands that had done that to her away and spun around to face her opponent, her back pressing up against the window.

Arisa laughed cheerily, pulling her hands away and taking a few steps backward. Kairi turned slightly in the space of doorway so that she could see Yuna, smiled, and winked encouragingly.

“Nothing to be worried about, Yuna!” Kairi said.

“Uh-huh! We’ll find ‘em, Yuna!”

“There are as many worlds as there are stars,” Kairi continued, a determined twinkle in her eyes. “And if you wanna live to search ‘em all, you’d better cheer up this instant!”

Yuna was taken aback slightly, allowing herself to slump back on her bed. So then that must’ve meant that they were actually worried about her and Rikku. Suddenly, two young people leapt onto Yuna’s lap, both of them staring at Yuna. Rude was still holding a broom in one hand while Reno tapped each of his fingers impatiently before signaling to Rude to make a charge at Yuna’s face. Reno grabbed one of Yuna’s cheeks with all of his available limbs.

“Your depression’s depleting our power supplies!” Reno yelled angrily, straight into Yuna’s ear.

Rude grabbed hold of his broom and used one end to push Yuna’s face into a grin. “Smile!” he chanted cheerfully. “Think happy thoughts!”

Yuna looked first at Arisa and Kairi, and then at Reno and Rude. After a moment, a true smile spread across Yuna’s face. Reno and Rude grinned, glancing proudly at each other as though they had done their job well.

“Guess you’re right,” Yuna said. “No use crying when there’s still work to be done, huh? So, where to next?”

Arisa and Kairi exchanged cheerful glances and then looked out the window.

“To the stars, Yuna!” the girl said with a wink. “Wherever destiny leads us!”


Now that Naoto joined the team, here's his entry:

Naoto Shirogane

Bio: Known as the 'Detective Prince', Naoto is very serious, ready to solve any case. Along with Kairi and Yuki, Naoto is strong and very powerful with his choice of weapon, a shotgun. Sukuna-Hikona, his persona, is small but deadly, as it moves with great speed. There's something really strange about his appearance though. Naoto is seen question Kanji in Persona 4

Here's a hint to the world the team is visiting next. It's the home of the representives for Final Fantasy IX in Dissidia, and no, it's not the world where they were created. Cookies if you guess right. Enjoy.

 

My guess is the Memoria Crystal Room where you fight Deathguise and Trance since in Dissida, that's where Zidane and Kuja battle for the last time since I played FF9 and seen Dissida videos.

Anyway onto the story, there were some changes, didn't expect Naoto to appear but then again, I should expect anything now, I mean, Kh1 for teh 1st three worlds then we get Dissida coming in, what's next? Shadow Hearts? Sonic? Yu-Gi-Oh? Bleach?

 

Where's the next chapter ;-; I'm waiting so excitedly.....if that's even a word.