"Where are you now?" [Akio]

[riku]

Riku had never been to Wonderland before. Or, at least, he had never been to the real Wonderland. He had visited the fake version that Namine had created from Sora’s memories inside of the Castle Oblivion, but that most decidedly was not the same thing. For one thing, most obviously, the version he had visited had been fake and all he had experienced had been the brunet’s own perception of the world. It had been bright and saccharine and more than a bit perplexing, but the overall tone of the experience had been almost sickeningly happy. And why wouldn’t it be? Wonderland was the home of one of the Princesses of Heart. Alice’s power would keep the world pure and whole even with the infestation of heartless, much the same that Kairi seemed to keep the heartless away from the Islands.

Or at least that was what the silver-haired teen had thought. Within moments of actually arriving on the world it became painfully apparent that his assumption had been wrong.

He was standing in the middle of what looked like an outdoor court, an area complete with seats for the defendant, jury and judge, and a podium before it most likely designed for presentation of whatever evidence had been gathered. It was abandoned, though it was clear that the area had been put to… intense use before. The grass surrounding the area was dried and dead, crackling beneath his feet as he walked, and the wooden wall before the defendant’s seat was chipped and stained dark. It was easy enough to imagine why that might have been – “Off with her head!” – and he just shook his head, letting out a low sigh as the keyblader continued to investigate the area. The court was surrounded by a hedge maze, though one of the entrances was blocked off by a tangle of thorns and vines, and a glance through the final archway revealed what looked like an oversized bedroom. A table, a clock, a bed, all drenched in shadows all while he could hear something skittering in the darkness. Most likely the heartless, but it was far too easy to imagine oversized cockroaches roaming around their territory.

Ugh. No thank you. I would rather stay away from the unnaturally large bugs.

He was standing in the court, or at least what had been the court, of the Red Queen. She had been the one who had been trying to remove Alice’s head when Sora had first appeared. His intervention had saved her… The thought ran through Riku’s mind as the keyblader placed a hand on the stained wood. It was far too easy to imagine what had happened next. Sora had saved Alice from the Queen – but Alice had been stolen away by the darkness then. After saving the princesses from Maleficent, however, all had eventually been returned to their homeworlds and Alice would have been offered back up to the deranged woman again, only without the brunet’s protection this time. That… that couldn’t have been what happened though. She’s a Princess of Heart. If something had happened to her then…

“Are you here for the trial?”

Inwardly Riku jumped at the sound of the voice, but the silver-haired teen managed to retain a calm appearance as he turned to see who was speaking to him. There was no one there – no one but an overly large white rabbit. The creature stood about two feet high and was sitting upright, nose twitching in the air. A faded and torn waist coat was buttoned up on him and the keyblader could see a tarnished gold pocket watch attached to its hip. The creature looked like it hadn’t eaten properly in weeks and its fur was matted, dirty, and missing in several places.

“It’s been delayed, you see. The Queen, she isn’t feeling very well.” Aquamarine eyes blinked as Riku saw that yes, apparently it was the rabbit that was speaking to him. Its nose – (his nose?) – continued to twitch to and fro in the air as it spoke. “No one is feeling well in Wonderland anymore.”

“Oh? Is that so?” Riku took a step away from the wooden platform before crouching down, placing his hands on his thighs. He kept a decent amount of space between himself and the white rabbit in case the animal decided to attack, though he couldn’t really imagine it doing so. Pitiful seemed like a better descriptor for the animal, not dangerous. “Did something happen here?” Maybe, maybe the heartless...

“Oh, no no, nothing happened. Quite the contrary, really.” The keyblader frowned as the rabbit’s nose continued to twitch. The creature’s ears dropped in a rather dejected fashion and he had to resist the urge to reach out to pet it. “Nothing has happened in Wonderland, not for a long, long time. It’s all just stopped, you see. Just stopped, no more. I’m sure we’ll be no more soon as well.”

“I… I don’t understand.” Wonderland was stopping? Disappearing? It would explain why it looked so unkempt and neglected, but that did nothing to answer his question of just why this was happening.

“Alice has gone home and I’m afraid she’s forgotten about us.” The rabbit’s ears twitched for a moment as it tilted its head to look at Riku. “We’re nothing without here.” There was a small lapse in conversation as the rabbit looked down and the silver-haired teen bit his lower lip. What exactly was he supposed to say to that? What was he supposed to do?

“… are you here for the trial?”

The rabbit lifted its head and spoke, acting as if the previous portion of their conversation had never happened, and Riku found he could only managed a tight smile and a small nod as a response. Well… then. Something was wrong with Wonderland and it seemed clear that Alice was the source of whatever was ‘wrong’. I need to find Alice… or bring her back… or do something then, don’t I?

Well. At least it was a little different from just having the heartless invade.

Words:: 1013
Notes:: I love this song.

[Akio Nyuhara]

Akio was told by his boss that he was to travel to a few worlds and advertise the Gummi Repair shop. The first world on his radar was a world called ‘Wonderland’. Seems happy enough. When Akio got into the gummiship and turned it on, the gummi ship began humming like a beast. "Atta girl! About time something goes right.” The gummi ship he was on wasn’t anything special. It was just a standard red and yellow gummi ship with a few missiles for protection and a thruster to get out of an intense spot. Akio had the gummi ship lift into the air and head out to the world of Wonderland.

The ride over there wasn’t very exciting. He didn’t even get to shoot the missiles once, and even when he could have shot them, they were programmed to auto fire at meteors. Akio went into the kitchen of the gummi ship and grabbed something from the fridge. It was a bottle of beer with a note. “Take one drink to get into wonderland, take another drink to get out.” Akio shrugged his shoulders and headed back to the piloting station, where he found that the gummi ship had already parked itself on the planet. Sitting in front of it was a large house, so Akio decided he’d walk inside.

The house was abandoned. However, Akio did notice a red and blue bottle on a table. He went over to the bottles, thinking they might be expired something-or-another, but when he smelt them they didn’t smell like they were bad. He shrugged as a cat went over to him. He pet the cat and took a drink of the beer. That’s when he started to feel the affects. His legs, arms, and body all began to shrink. His head shrunk in a bit slower proportions, so for a while he looked like he had a small body and a giant head. However, once he was done shrinking, his once-friend the cat quickly became an enemy. It chased him and to get out he had to run into a hole in the wall. However, once in there, he fell into a hole from below.

He landed in a field of giant mushrooms, by a caterpillar. A giant caterpillar. The caterpillar looked at him, nodded, and started smoking from a pipe. "I’m sorry...where am I?” He seemed to be enjoying his pipe quite well, so Akio figured he wouldn’t disturb him. As Akio was walking out, the caterpillar continued smoking for a bit more before shouting after him.

”Wait! Akio turned his head to the caterpillar. The caterpillar continued smoking, as if he hadn’t said anything. Akio took a heavy sigh, rolled his eyes and continued walking back. ”WAIT!” Once more Akio turned his head, and as if nothing had happened, the caterpillar mimicked the motions of nonchalantly rolling his eyes and turning his head. Again he smoked his pipe.

"I don’t have time for this game. I’m on the clock.” Akio, finally getting to the end of his patience, turned and tried to figure out where he was in his head.

”WAIT! LISTEN!” Akio froze in his steps, slowly turning to the caterpillar, giving a glare that couldn’t be bested. ”Don’t go there. That’s where the queen is.” The queen? She’d probably be a good customer. Though Akio was more concerned with the whereabouts of the princess, the queen would be a likely candidate to do business with as well. Though his boss didn’t really mention anything about the queen. As Akio walked over to the area, he was followed by three more “wait!”s and a few more “hold on!”s. He felt like he was in some weird adventure game, being yelled at by a fairy.

Once he reached the area, he found another person their. This person wasn’t a female, so queen was out of the question, but perhaps king? He walked over to the silver haired boy and spoke, "Excuse me, sir, would you happen to know where the queen is? I’m not really from around here, and between the pot addict caterpillars and the sky-reaching mushrooms I really have no idea what’s going on.”

[riku]

Wonderland is slowly disappearing because Alice has forgotten about it… why do I feel like this has to be related to Sora?

Riku straightened, the fake – and rather tense – smile still playing at his lips as he watched the white rabbit stare at him for a moment longer before turning to bound away. It headed toward the open maze entrance and as it disappeared the keyblader allowed himself to let out the sigh that he had been holding inside. He had gone to this world because it was the home of one of the Princesses of Heart – it was supposed to be safe and free from the influence of the darkness! This was supposed to be a quick and easy job, just simply dropping in to say hi to the natives and chat with Alice, maybe apologize for helping to steal her heart all those years ago, ask a bit about Sora and then boom, back in the air again. A breather, really, in between the worlds that were actually going to take effort.

Instead I get greeted with this. This! And I don’t even really know what ‘this’ is! How could the princess have that much power over a world, and how could Alice ‘forget’ about the place she was living in? Easily enough if she wasn’t actually living here and if it was just a place that she visited, but then where was Alice? Why wasn’t she here?

Maybe if Sora came here, maybe he- Riku didn’t even allow him to finish his own thought before shaking his head. Maybe Sora had been here, maybe he hadn’t. Maybe Alice’s disappearance and her memory issues were related to his disappearance, and maybe it wasn’t. Immediately assuming that everything that happened involved the brunet, though, and that it all could be traced back to him was just dangerous. It was creating a blind spot for the keyblader that he really didn’t need to have to deal with at the moment. If Sora was involved then the silver-haired teen knew that he would stumble upon that fact sooner or later. If he wasn’t Riku also knew he would just waste his time looking for connections that weren’t there.

“Alright, well, I guess I just need to go find Alice then and maybe this will all go back to the way it was before.” Which, if Sora’s memories were to be trusted, was a little too syrupy sweet for Riku’s own tastes, but it was better than what he was dealing with at the moment. A simple glance back to the questionably-stained defendant’s seat behind him was enough to confirm that.

His current goal might have been simple enough but when it came to actually doing it the keyblader knew he was still at a loss. Maybe if I find this Queen and talk with her… Riku’s train of thought was interrupted by the sound of branches and leaves rustling. The sound was coming from the same entrance that the white rabbit had hopped off into, though by the sound of it whatever was coming back through was larger. Far larger.

… man sized larger, apparently. Aquamarine eyes blinked as Riku watched a man emerging from the maze. He seemed to be about the same height at the keyblader with short blond hair. The way the man was dressed didn’t seem to match with the ‘décor’ of the world that the silver-haired teen had (albeit briefly) seen, and when he opened his mouth Riku’s suspicions were confirmed.

“I’m not really from around here-“

Nailed it in one.

“- I have no idea what’s going on.”

Riku shifted his weight from one foot to the other before crossing his arms over his chest. He couldn’t see any weapon on the man, but that simply meant that they just weren’t visible. Not from around here, huh? Neither was the keyblader so it wasn’t like he could really be all that much help to him. That also meant that the stranger wasn’t going to be of any help to him; he wouldn’t be able to tell him where Alice was. But I can’t just not help him.

“… I don’t think Wonderland is a place you want to be right now.” It wasn’t really the answer the man was looking for, but it was the best one that Riku could come up with. “I can help you out of here or back to your ship or however you got here. I would suggest you just turn around and leave. Nothing good will happen here right now.”

Words:: 761
Notes:: Doop

[Akio Nyuhara]

Akio didn't really appreciate the tone of this stranger. It seemed like his powers were being underestimated. "I'm not trying to get out, I'm just trying to find the queen...or king, whichever." He needed to seal this deal before he went to the next world. He started to walk through the area, looking around. He looked up and started to see smoke. It was probably the damn caterpillar again. Akio almost burned him alive last time. He let out a sigh, remembering he was a guest, and that this wasn't a place to be getting angry. "You see, I'm a bit of a business man. If there's one thing that ticks a business man off, it's not being able to talk to a client about a sale."

Akio looked at a small white rabbit that seemed to be focused on a clock. He was hopping back towards where Akio had entered. He just smiled and walked towards what appeared to be an old courtroom. “Hah! I remember these," he mumbled to himself, remembering the horrible trials of Port Royal, “I wonder how many bodies rotted out.." Port Royal was a pretty grim legal place. Pirates went to jail to rot. To Akio, it was a fate worse than death. Knowing you were going to die seemed to be a lot worse than just dieing. He still remembered pirates begging to be let out before they even got in. That's why they took to the seas. They felt safer when they weren't on British soil.

I don't think this stranger is going to be much of a help. Akio walked towards the judge's seat, looking at it with a bit of disdain. Legal figures were always so... what was the word...oh yeah, legal figures were always so self-righteous. The law determines who lives, not them. If a guilty man is let free, the man will be dead. That was Akio's righteousness. Even if it was hypocritical, even if it made him a villain, he would make sure that his justice was carried out. He was above a judge.

"I'm assuming you won't help. I guess that's fine. This is an important client, though. If you try to get in the way of the sale, or if you tell me to go back, we're most likely going to have a problem. I really hate having problems." With that, Akio added in, "If you would like to be more than just a parasite of my time, I would be very happy to have company on this trip."

[riku]

Almost immediately Riku found himself not liking the other man. The feeling had been there even before he had opened up his mouth to say anything to him – well, anything other than to just ask about how to get around – and now that they were really talking the keyblader found himself wanting to do nothing other than get away from him. Something about his attitude was just rubbing Riku the wrong way and it was also setting his nerves on edge. Is there something wrong with you? Heartless, or nobody…? No, he seemed completely human. Just a completely human ass.

Ugh, a business man, really? Riku didn’t even try to hide his grimace as he reached up to press a hand against his forehead. Out of everything that he needed – or wanted to – deal with right now a man here on business seemed pretty high on his list of things that were just ‘do not wants’. At least if he was just dealing with another Nobody then the keyblader knew he could just fight them and be done with it. With this, though… You’re not gonna give up and I’m gonna be forced to escort your ass everywhere, aren’t I?

How. Freakin’. Annoying.

Well he could always just let the strange man wander around the world on his own but Riku couldn’t see any good coming out of that decision.

“Is this business transaction of yours really so important that it’s worth your life?” Riku knew that there was no point in even asking the question because the answer was, without a doubt, ‘yes’. Or at least it was going to be yes for right now. Maybe if they ran across something that really showed just how off the world currently was the man would change his mind, but until then… Until then I’m stuck on stupid babysitting duty. Damnit!

“Look, I have no interest in getting in the way of this sale of yours. What business you have, what you do with your free time and all that, I don’t care. I do care about whether or not you wind up dead here and until I figure out just what is wrong I can’t rule out the possibility of that happening. I mean, don’t you know anything about this place? You have to be able to see that there’s something off here too.” As he spoke Riku stepped forward before gesturing at the suspiciously-stained wooden podiums behind him. He had seen the stranger eying it and muttering it to himself, making it clear that he could see something wrong with it too.

“… maybe we should start off with introductions first. My name’s Riku. Yours is…?”

Words:: 447
Notes:: They keep getting shorter and shorter xD