Author Note: I, KingdomHeartsNerd, have discussed things with DarthKingdom, ShireFolk and my fabulous and brilliant beta, Goldpen, before starting and posting this story and I am grateful for their help. Hopefully my story will be as good as their stories are. I will see, won't I, by the reviews that you give me.

Disclaimer: I, KingdomHeartsNerd, do not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square Enix, Namco Ltd, 20th Century Fox, Insomniac Games, Sony Computer Entertainment, Universal Interactive Studios, Traveller's Tales, It's a Laugh Productions, or anything that you recognise. The only things that I own are the plot and the O.C.s, unless, of course, I state otherwise.

Review Replies: Spatterson: I did indeed - I have plans for a version of Regina at some point in this story.

Teddybowties: my run-ons run on to run-ons exactly as run-ons should run on to run-ons, dear.

Guest: Indeed. Narnia.

Jext: I'm sorry - I couldn't help myself, I laughed so much!

Guest: Unicorns are manly; they kick major ass!

Duckey of awesom: What made no sense, dear?

Rumblefan: I adore Mickey and Minnie too - they both have a story to play later so there'll be lots more of them.

Taeniaea: Thank you!

Note(s): Bonjour, darlings! I am sorry that I am so late with this update - do you have any idea how annoying life can be!? - but here is a large update to tide you over. Staring Riku. And mud. And a bathtub.

Special request(s): Vote on the poll on my profile please. Your votes will help me decide, and, once I have decided, I can write, and upload, quicker.

May The Strength Of The Keyblade Protect You.

Birds twittered as they flittered between the trees that shook gently in the breeze. Teal eyes blinked open. The sky above, and now in view, was full of stars; they twinkled and glistened in the inky blackness of the night sky.

"Where... am I?" wondered Riku as he sat up. He was sitting on a bed of grass; in the distance, long thin grass trails spread out in front of him for as far as the eyes could see. The same process was repeated on the otherside - and there... asleep... was that...?

"Sora!" shouted Riku, across the large inky black gap in between both sides. "SORA!"

"He can't hear you, so don't waste your breath."

"Huh? What?" Riku whirled around at the sound of the voice; his Keyblade appeared in his hand immediately after he caught sight of the person sitting in the nearby tree, "You?!"

"Yes," said the person. "Well, no. Not technically me - just a databased projection... of sorts. It's a more crude version of Ansem the Wise's technology. I, Riku, am here to guide you throughout the Realm of Sleep."

"And why should I trust you?"

"You shouldn't," said the person, sliding gently down from the tree. "But, apart from His Majesty, who had an unfortunate incident here a few decades ago which I will not go into, I am the person who knows the most about the Realms of Sleep."

"What can you tell me about this place then?"

"This place is called the Hall of Doors," said the person, waving a hand around the area. "This, if you will, is a hub - you are safe here from Heartless, Nobodys and whatever else has made its home here over thousands of years. That, conveniently enough, brings me to my next point: the dangers here, both to you and to Sora, are very real and very dangerous. If you die in this world, or get trapped here, then you will be erased from the minds of everyone who ever knew you - friends, enemies, lovers, all of them. Not one of them will remember you and everything you ever owned will fade from existence."

"Fade from existence?" questioned Riku.

"Yes," said the person. "Be on your guard. Never let your guard slip - ever. It could be the difference between life and death."

"Why are you telling me all this, James?" asked Riku. "Why help me?"

"Because I can - and the name's not James; I use that around Maleficent - I'm Antioch. But, enough about me. You surprise me, Riku."

"I do?" asked Riku. "Why?"

"Because, you haven't once asked me about Sora yet."

"I haven't?"

"No," Antioch smirked, crossing his arms. "This, I assume, was just a moment where you forgot, but I'll ease your mind. Your friend, the Keyblade Bearer Sora, is perfectly fine; at this moment in time, he is receiving instructions, like you, from a databased projection of me - in fact, he is hearing exactly the same as you, just with words changed."

"Can I communicate with him?"

"Not now, no," said Antioch. "But at times, yes, you will be able to communicate with him. The Realms of Sleep put you both into sleep, but two different versions. Yours and his only occasionally overlap. At those times, you can talk - apart from that, you are alone." Antioch fizzled and then frowned. "Oh, it looks like this databased projection is about to reach its end; good luck, Riku - the realms of sleep are counting on you." He waved a hand and a large white door appeared. "Your first world, Riku, is through there. Good luck."

"Thanks," said Riku, pushing open the door; a bright white light shone out from the doorway as he passed through. He stopped for a moment, involuntarily winced, and then finally pushed his way truly into the new world.

The door swing shut; Antioch laughed and vanished with a small pop.

Riku emerged, his hand blocking his eyes, to find himself in a forest.

"Where am I?" he asked, looking around his surroundings as he summoned his Keyblade; the forest seemed to be thriving. Birds chirped in the trees, rabbits hopped about with their babies. Then, something hard hit him on the back of the head and a waistcoat wearing something or other came bouncing by.

"Hey! Come back!"

Riku set off in a run after the thing that had passed him; up the hill, through the bushes and along a winding dirt road he followed it, until he came to a large, twisted tree stump, which seemed to have been smashed in a storm. A hole filled the grass between two of the branches.

He knelt down, leaning over the hole and stabilising himself with both hands which he placed on either side of the hole, and called "Hello?" into inky blackness.

Seconds later, he heard something crack on the ground behind him, caught sight of a familiar black cloak and felt pressure on his back. Before he could move, something came crashing down onto his back, knocking him into the hole.

Down, down, down, he fell -

- And onto a bookshelf with a cry of pain: "Oof!"

He glared up at the hole, just into time to see the dark blackness of the hood disappear as the hole closed above him. A small trickle of dirt rained down onto the bookshelf, and almost like a trebuchet, it fired with a wooden thump, throwing Riku high into the air and then down another hole.

A piano floated nearby, as did a vine. He reached for the vine and caught it between his fingers; it slipped, sending him shooting downwards at least ten feet, before he managed to grip it again.

"Phew!" he breathed. "That was close."

Then, a noise that made him look upwards as quick as he could, echoed through the hole; there was one disadvantage to his more muscular frame: He was heavier.

The vine couldn't take his weight, snapped and sent him tumbling down once more, just as the piano fell from it's above height; it seemed to be playing itself - an eerie tune that reflected the feel of the hole as he tumbled down, down, down.

A football wearing a bowler hat zoomed past him, followed by a picture frame with arms wielding a pipe and a lamp, a rubber duck wearing a pair of incredibly stinky trainers, an opera singing bathtub holding an umbrella while water gushed from its taps, a book on sailing wielding a sword and sporting a peg leg, a falcon transforming into a writing desk, a banana doing the splits, a puppet doll tearing it's own face off, a living teabag yelling at a teapot which was whistling angrily sending puffs of red smoke into the air, and a conga dancing fridge wearing a hula skirt. Then, he landed on an old, springy bed, was ricocheted into the air and flew down an old metallic pipe.

He smashed through a concrete wall, a tiled roof and a wooden floor, and with a soaked sopping splat, he landed on something wet and squidgy. His head throbbed and his entire body ached. In his bleary state, he was able to just about take in his surroundings. He was in a forest, which looked to be in decline: flowers rose high into the sky in all directions and the ground below him was cracked and war beaten, yet squidgy and rain soaked. The sky was a faded blue and looked like all life had been sapped from it and huge topiaries of birds, giraffes and squirrels filled the horizon for as far as he could see.

Then, suddenly, the trees burst open; animals of all kinds, lions, tigers, bears and even a monkey - which was oddly wearing a tutu and doing the can-can - came running past him, one of them pointing behind him and screaming "THE BANDERSNATCH!" as a massive white creature littered with black spots and sporting the head of a mane less lion came bursting through, it's teeth barred and saliva dripping from it's open jaw.

He was on his feet, running, before he knew what had happened. As an army of red cards wielding spears burst through the surroundings behind him, he tripped on something on the ground and went tumbling to the floor, his Keyblade flying through the air, bouncing several times on the floor and landing in front of a leather clad, heart shaped eye patch wearing man. As he landed, Riku managed just to see the man take a few steps before everything went black.

Thunder was the first thing Riku heard as his eyes blinked open. The room he was in was cold, dark, bricked and barred; only one small barred window, which allowed a small splatter of rain to enter the room, allowed any light in at all. Rain thumped down onto his hair and he shook his head, splattering himself and the walls with rain.

He did not realise that he couldn't move until he went to move his turquoise blue hair out of his face.

"What the-? Aargh!"

He was tied, with two thick chains, onto a wall; his Keyblade, he noticed, was nowhere to be seen, and for some reason he could not summon it. He began to move forward, pulling at the chains on the wall and they began to rattle and shake, sending dust flying high into the air.

Rain splattered harder and harder onto his back, but he didn't stop; hour after hour past and he became wetter and wetter and was ready to give up his fight, when the chains snapped, flailing behind him as he stumbled forwards onto the ground.

As he stood up, he groped around in the darkness, finally finding something different to the cell; a large wooden door, also barred, loomed out of the shadows as he pressed himself against it and peered out of the bars on the door.

A blonde girl, maybe only a year or two older than him, was staring around one of the hallways; to Riku's confusion she seemed to be wearing a curtain, pull strings and all.

"Hey!" he hissed, causing her to look at him. "Let me out! Please!"

She looked around, making sure that no-one else was around, and then darted across the hallway to his cell. She reached out and shook the door; it didn't budge.

"There!" said Riku, nodding to the wall. "They keys are up there! Get me out of here, quickly! I can hear footsteps!"

He was right; marching footsteps made their way down the hall. The girl leaped into the air, grabbed the keys, and pushed open the door. He grabbed her, pulling her inwards and slamming the door. As she began to grumble, he hissed "Shush!" and pressed his back against the wall as guards marched by.

"Phew," he said, relaxing to himself. The girl grumbled again, and he released her; to her credit, she didn't look frightened as he turned to him and asked "Who are you?"

"I'm Riku - and you are?"

"Alice," she said, holding out a hand to introduce herself. "Alice Kingsleigh."

"Nice to meet you, Alice Kingsleigh," he said, shaking the hand politely as the chains on his wrists rattled. "Where are we?"

"The Red Queen's castle; Salazin Grum," she replied. "I'm looking for something called a Vorpal Sword. Have you seen it?"

"No," admitted Riku. "I've been in this cell since I came to the castle - I was unconscious at the time - but perhaps my weapon is with the one you're looking for. Come on," he added, glancing through the window in the door. "The guards are gone."

And so, down the hall they went. Two fat dwarves, wearing striped shirts and looking identical, were stood at the end of one hallway.

"Tweedles!" Alice greeted them, as she and Riku made their way towards them.

"Alice!" cried the one on the left, as the one on the right said. "How'd' you do again?"

"Where's the Rabbit?!" she asked, ignoring their question.

"How is it your so great big?" asked the Tweedle on the left.

"She ain't great big!" corrected the other. "This is how she normal is!"

"I'm certain she was smaller when we met!" said the first to the second; both were utterly ignoring Alice now, even though she was the topic of their conversation.

"She drank the Pischalver to get through the door; recall it?"

"Oh, yeah," grunted the first, in reply to the second.

"Where's this damn rabbit?!" snapped Riku.

"Oh, yes!" they both said, pointing in opposite directions.

Riku sighed. "Can't you just take us there?"

So, both the Tweedles led them down the hall, where, to Riku's surprise, a mouse and a rabbit - presumably the one they were looking for - stood.

"What're you doin' here?" squeaked the mouse, who was dressed in a costume covered with hearts and wielding a sword.

"Rescuing the hatter," said Alice.

"I'm rescuin' the 'atter!" twittered the mouse, angrily.

"He told me that the Vorpal Sword is hidden in the castle along with some black blade sized key!"

"My weapon!" trilled Riku, happily.

"Help me find it!" ordered Alice to the Mouse.

"I don't take order from big, clumsy, galumphing-"

"Shoo!"

The mouse scrambled off. The Rabbit stood there, twiddling it's fingers together; Alice leaned down, slowly and carefully, and asked, "What is it, McTwist?"

"I know where the Vorpal Sword is," he clarified, "and your weapon, good sir."

He led them through the castle, past several sets of guards - which required them to hide - down another corridor, through a courtyard, down a small alleyway and into another large courtyard, in which resided a massive shack.

The two scrambled across the courtyard and peered in; inside, sleeping, Riku's Keyblade hanging on the wall, was the Bandersnatch.

"Well, this is going to be difficult."

To Be Continued