CHAPTER 9: Over the River and Through the Woods

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"

"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to."

"I don't much care where―"

"Then it doesn't matter which way you go." ― Lewis Carroll

Leila hated Wonderland.

Oh, sure, it wasn't a bad world. There were plenty of other worlds that had worse mechanics and storylines, and she knew this, but Wonderland drove her nuts in all the wrong ways. The background music drove her nuts (thankfully absent now, but she could still hear it, permanently engraved in her mind), finding evidence was annoying and time-consuming, said evidence didn't even matter that much considering there was RNG involved at the end and, the coup de grace, the Trickmaster had to easily be one of the most annoying Emblem Heartless in the series.

So yeah, Leila hated Wonderland. Was her least favorite world in the series, actually.

And Donald screeching at them wasn't helping change her opinion. Really, he was only solidifying it.

"YOU!"

Smack.

"Ow! Don―"

"STUPID!"

Smack.

"Ow! Donald, quit it!"

"DUNDERHEAD!"

Sora summoned his Keyblade, blocking Donald's staff. "Donald!"

"Should we stop him?" Leila whispered to Goofy as she watched Donald repeatedly smack Sora's Keyblade with his staff.

"Naw, I think we should just let him burn himself out," Goofy answered. "Unless he really hurts Sora."

Leila nodded, but couldn't help but feel bad for Sora as she watched Donald relentlessly bring his staff down again and again. She pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing tiredly, and decided to look around the area they ran to. Right now, they were in the middle of what was probably Lotus Forest.

Problem was that Lotus Forest was, well, a forest. With Traverse Town, Leila could recognize most, if not all of the areas since they matched the in-game version almost perfectly. The same could be said for the room they landed in, as well as the kitchen. The forest, however, looked like the ones she would find in her backyard, and the most she could see were the various wild flowers arching over her head. There wasn't a well-defined path, any landmarks, or anything that stood out to her.

Which meant that Leila had no idea where they were, where the evidence was, or how they would even get it. Finding evidence was something she still struggled with, often needing a guide to find that last hint. The only thing she could reliably find was the secret passage to the kitchen, which would end with the Cheshire Cat giving Sora the blizzard spell, but even that would be difficult.

God she hated Wonderland. She hated Wonderland with a passion.

"And you!" Donald abruptly broke off hsi angered ranting and spun around, pointing his staff at Leila. "You didn't even try to stop him!"

"Because I agreed with him." Leila argued. "Alice is innocent, there isn't a doubt in my mind."

"But we can't prove it! We don't even know what happened!"

"But we can guess at the very least. Find some small things, fake it 'til we make it, I don't know."

"Do you even know how to run a trial?"

Leila rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "That doesn't have to do with anything. The point is, we did what was right, and that's what's most important."

"The most important thing was to not meddle! That was rule number one! And what is the first thing you do when we go to a new world?" Donald jumped up and down, flailing his staff wildly, not even really aiming at Sora. "YOU MEDDLED!"

"But it had to do with the Heartless!" Sora stood at Leila's side, letting Donald continue to angrily jump up and down, his staff a blur. "I know you said we couldn't meddle, but the Queen accused Alice of something she didn't do, and it was the Heartless' fault. We had to meddle!"

Donald stopped jumping and changed tracks to glare at Sora, grumbling wordlessly. After waiting a few seconds to make sure he'd calmed down enough, Leila spoke up. "It seemed pretty obvious to me that we needed to interfere, Donald. The Keyblade's the only thing that can deal with the Heartless. If they're terrorizing the people living here, we should try and stop them."

"What if it isn't the Heartless?" Donald questioned.

"Well, it's too late now. We have an hour, which isn't a lot of time, and standing here talking about it isn't going to help anyone. We're trying to keep ourselves and an innocent girl from getting beheaded. I don't see a problem with that."

"Maybe the Queen's lyin'?" Goofy chimed in, everyone looking at him in surprise. "She is called the Queen of Hearts. Maybe she's accusin' Alice of tryin' to steal her property!"

Leila pressed her lips firmly together to keep from laughing. Once she was confident the fit passed, she said, "So… Alice, who's probably younger than Sora, is a predatory real estate dealer?"

"Come on, it has to be the Heartless." Sora pumped his arms. "There's gotta be someone around here we can talk to that can act as a witness for Alice."

"But if there are, why didn't the Queen find them?" Donald asked.

"Easy―she doesn't care." Leila shrugged. "All she wants is to make someone's head roll."

"Yeah, ours." He grumbled, walking further into the woods, towards a patch of wilting tulips. "We're going to be lumped into the same group as Alice because neither of you could keep your mouths shut!"

"Oh, did something happen to Alice?" Leila froze as a smooth voice came from above her, and she looked around in confusion. She was pretty sure that the only other person they met here was the Cheshire Cat, but the voice was distinctly female.

"The little weed? What do we care about her?" A haughty woman called out.

"I still think she's cute." Said a nasally voice, and then, to their surprise, a little rosebud unfurled and bent down towards them. "These flowers are cute too!"

Leila refrained from making a face. She remembered that there were tulips that you could exchange items with, but she rarely ever talked to them, considering the trades pointless and a waste of her early-game supplies. Plus, she never liked making the trip back to Traverse Town without the warp drive, as the Gummi Ship sections were torture in comparison to later games, so she rationed her potions and ethers wisely.

In other words, she didn't want to engage with the black market of Wonderland, especially when they were on a time limit. She gently placed her hand on Sora's back and nudged him forward, glancing up at the rosebud. "C'mon, let's go."

"Did the monsters get her?" A pair of violets leaned down, curling in front of them and blocking their path.

Sora perked up and ran up to them, unbothered when they lifted themselves away from the floor, their petals curling back. "You know Alice?"

"We met her briefly." The haughty voice said, and another purple flower appeared, pushing a few leaves out of the way so she could be seen. "But once we discovered that she was a weed, we chased her away. We can't have weeds around us fair flowers."

"And then the monsters came." The rosebud pulled back, its petals curling around her face.

"Monsters?" Goofy asked.

Three tulips curled forward, speaking one after the other. "Since we're flowers, all we had to do was hold still, and they passed right by!"

"There were many small ones who clicked and clacked and clattered."

"And there were the flying ones, as red as the Queen's roses―and about as chatty as they are as well!"

"And there was that big hulking one that nearly trampled the pansies!"

"To be fair, it trampled almost anything." A fully-bloomed rose said, her voice alone silencing the background chatter of the flowers. "But the most terrifying one of them all would be the one beyond our lovely forest. It's only come by a few times, but it smells of coal and embers, and we're deathly afraid."

"Why can't you deal with it?" Donald asked. "Or tell the Queen about it."

"We're flowers, we can't move. Besides, the Queen has many other roses in her domain. One wild rose and her many friends won't make a difference to her." The rose twisted around, one of her leaves pointing at something far in the distance. "The monsters went to visit the Mad Hatter's domain one day, and the next, the fiend appeared, prancing through our fields, terrorizing every living thing."

"So, we should go to the… 'Mad Hatter's Domain'?" Sora asked. "How do we get there?"

"Walking usually does the trick." The haughty purple flower said from above them, turning her backs on them. "I hardly care, so long as you get away from here. After all, you're all common weeds, just like Alice."

With that, the flowers pulled back, making disgusted noises as they moved. Some flowers covered their faces with their petals, while others pulled grass stems in front of them to hide. Donald shouted at them, "Hey! You can't just leave us with just that!"

But the flowers didn't respond, holding completely still, as if to camouflage themselves. Leila sighed and walked away, completely fed up. "Come on, at least now we know the Heartless are here."

Having a time limit made any task hard. Having a time limit of an hour, the clock ticking down while running through a forest they'd never been in before, unable to find any landmarks because they were the size of thumbtacks, looking for a witness to testify when they knew absolutely no one, all while fighting rogue Heartless that just popped into existence right in front of them, made things impossible.

When another series of pops came in front of her, Leila groaned, stretching out her fingers as the boys took out their weapons. Typically, it was a few Soldiers accompanied by some Shadows, which didn't take too long to dismantle. It almost felt like routine: Donald threw out a Thunder, stunning them, and the rest of them darted in and took them out.

This time, however, the group was different. There were maybe three, four Shadows, each one paired with a Red Nocturne, all of them surrounding a Large Body. Leila took a step back, keeping her eyes on the Nocturnes as they flitted about, making a light jingling noise as they moved.

"Uh…" Sora mumbled on her left, then let out a surprised shout as she charged forward.

"Focus on the small ones, leave the big guy for last!" She shouted over her shoulder, grabbing one of the Shadows on the right before it could sink into the ground and throwing it up to hit one of the Red Nocturnes. Both of them evaporated into whisps, the impact enough to take them both out.

Donald squawked, and Thunder rained down around her, hitting the Large Body and stunning it, but missing the agile Shadows and Nocturnes. Sora ran forward, making a large swipe with his Keyblade just as the two Shadows on the left emerged from the ground, killing one and blocking the other's scratch.

Leila was pulled out of her observation when Goofy tackled her to the side, blocking a fireball hurled at her back. The Red Nocturnes circled high above their heads, jingling merrily as the tips of their pointed hats began to glow bright with fire. Panicking, Leila pulled Goofy down to the ground, and he threw the shield over their heads, wincing as they were battered by fire, embers falling around them like rain.

She glanced around, seeing that Sora was preoccupied by the remaining three Shadows, who were sinking and attacking just in time to avoid or block Sora's attacks. Donald ran past them, the Large Body on his heels with its belly jutting out, trying to tackle him. Or, maybe crush him. Could be both.

Biting her lip, Leila looked at Goofy, who was peering around the shield to try and accurately move it to cover them better when the next fireball hit. She tapped his arm as carefully as she could with her claws and asked, "Do you think you can throw me up?"

Goofy put a finger to his chin and made a thoughtful noise. "If you get on top o' my shield, I can probably boost you!"

"Okay, ready?" Goofy shifted his feet before nodding, and Leila rolled out from under the shield. A fireball grazed her cheek and singed a few loose strands of her hair before exploding on the ground just in front of her.

Before she could chicken out, Leila put one foot on top of Goofy's shield and hoisted herself up, arms flailing as she and Goofy adjusted. Her eyes flicked between his shield and the Nocturnes, whose bodies began to glow, embers flaking off them as they shook. "Goofy, now!"

Goofy pushed up and Leila nearly fell off his shield, but managed to jump up high enough to grab two that were beginning to glow. She hissed, the heat searing through the layer of darkness surrounding her hands. She chucked them in the general direction of the Shadows. Once they hit the Shadows, the Nocturnes exploded, taking out the small group and, thankfully, missing Sora.

The improvised move took out the last Shadows, leaving one Nocturne and the Large Body, which was still chasing Donald. Leaving the remaining Nocturne to Sora and Goofy, Leila charged at the portly Heartless, swiping at its back. Her clawed fingers snagged on the tough fabric of its bodysuit, tearing four long, diagonal scratches through the fabric.

The Large Body made a distorted grunt and spun around, it's arms thrown out. Leila had to throw herself back to avoid getting smacked in the head with its fist. The Large Body looked down, tilting its head curiously as she took a few steps back. She might be fast enough to dart around and get a decent hit at its back again, but if she wasn't she'd get hit, or it would simply turn and face her. Plus, it might attack Donald if it spun around to try and hit her―

Sora ran forward with a scream and swung his Keyblade down right on the Large Body's stomach. It bounced off harmlessly, and the momentum threw Sora onto his back, groaning dazedly as the Keyblade disappeared with a flash of light. Leila spared a moment to wince at him sympathetically before the Large Body smacked its stomach and leapt forward.

She barely managed to roll out of the way, making a strangled noise of panic as she did. The Large Body skidded and rocked back and forth on its stomach, giving Leila ample opportunity to raise her hands above her head and slam them down on its back. The Large Body grunted and pushed itself onto its feet, swiping its fist at Leila and clipping her arm as she fell back. They eyed each other up, the Large Body lumbering awkwardly as it adjusted so that, no matter which way she moved, it was always facing her.

"Blizzard!" Donald shouted, and Leila grinned, ready for the Large Body to stumble and turn to hit whatever harmed it.

Instead, it charged towards her, arms flailing at its sides. Caught off guard, Leila crossed her arms in front of her and braced herself as best she could, but it didn't help. It felt like a padded wall rammed into her, the force of the blow throwing her head over heels. Her back slammed into something, knocking the wind out of her and stunning her. She choked on nothing and writhed, unable to breathe. The Large Body lumbered towards her, arms swinging merrily, before it jerked to a stop, the tip of the Kingdom Key poking through its chest before its body dissolved, a crystal heart floating into the air.

Leila grit her teeth and dug her claws into the object behind her, feeling bark splinter under her claws. Sora dismissed the Keyblade and ran towards her, helping her to her feet as she slowly regained her breath. His eyes darted up and down, like he could see her bruises through her clothes, before glaring over his shoulder. "What the heck?"

"What?" Donald called out.

"You were supposed to help Leila!" Sora balled his hands into fists. "She could've gotten hurt!"

Well, that ship's already sailed. Leila swallowed and stood up straighter, already imagining the mottled bruises that covered her back. Donald and Goofy walked up to them, nursing a few scratches and scorch marks between them, the former visibly annoyed.

"Goofy would've been burned alive if I hadn't cast that spell!" He argued.

"Aw, Donald, I think I would've been―"

"And if I hadn't gotten up, the big one would've crushed Leila!" Sora shouted back, interrupting Goofy. "We needed your help!"

"If you can't handle a couple Heartless, then you shouldn't be here."

"You little―!"

"My, my, what a curious group!" Leila jumped at the unfamiliar voice that came from behind her. Turning around, she looked up to see the Cheshire Cat grinning down at them over the tree stump, his tail draped graciously over his head. "You certainly have those boys wrapped around your finger, don't you?"

"I… no? I don't?" Leila couldn't help but turn that into a question, so completely confused by it that she felt like she needed to give her mind a hard reboot.

"She doesn't." Donald snidely confirmed.

"Who're you supposed to be?" Sora asked.

"Who indeed." The Cheshire Cat's head casually rolled off his shoulders, falling over the edge and falling down, stopping abruptly mid-air once it was eye-level with Leila. His body stood up and paced back and forth, scratching at where his chin would be. Leila's eyes flicked between them, unable to figure out where she should look. "Poor Alice. Soon to lose her head, and she's not guilty of a thing!"

"Do ya know who really did it?" Goofy asked.

"And could you act as a witness for Alice?" Leila crossed her fingers behind her back. They had to be past the hour mark at this point, and they'd have to go back sooner or later to face the music, either by their own volition or dragged back by the card soldiers.

"Oh, if only! But, as you can see," Starting at his feet, the Cheshire Cat's body slowly vanished, travelling up until it disappeared completely. His head shook happily. "I'm not all here, nor there."

Leila scoffed, uncrossing her fingers. Sora spoke up besides her, "Well, can you tell us where the Mad Hatter is instead?"

His head bounced over to Sora, his body suddenly darting out of the undergrowth. They both circled Sora, moving against each other, making it impossible to follow both of them at the same time. "The Cheshire Cat has all the answers, but doesn't always tell. The answer, the culprit, the cat all lie in darkness."

Without warning, his head and body stopped, hovering above each other and then snapping together. The Cheshire Cat spun around and pointed off to the right of the group, the long stalks of grass curling as they became covered in a layer of frost. The tips dipped down until they crossed over each other, the frost connecting and creating a tunnel. "Though, I would recommend going in there if you wish to play tag with the shadows."

He snapped his fingers (which looked really freaking weird when done with a tiny cat paw) and disappeared with a cartoonish 'pop.' They stood there for a few seconds, staring at the empty spot where the Cat once stood, before turning their attention to the tunnel of ice.

"D'ya think we can trust him?" Goofy whispered, leaning down to Donald's height.

The Cheshire Cat dropped on top of Goofy, who jumped a foot into the air with a scream. He turned and ran to Leila, jumping into her arms, and she nearly fell down with his added weight straining her bruised muscles.

"To trust or not to trust?" The Cheshire Cat pondered, hovering in mid air where he landed on Goofy. As he spoke, he slowly faded away, his voice echoing slightly. "I trust you'll decide!"

They waited a few seconds to see if he would appear again, then Leila groaned. "Goofy, can you please… get down?"

"Huh? Oh!" Goofy hopped down, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry Leila."

"Should we go in there?" Sora asked, peering into the tunnel of frozen grass. Donald huffed beside him, already shaking his head, but he leaned forward to look in nonetheless.

"We don't have a lot of options." Leila brought up, coming to Sora's side. "We could wander aimlessly until we run out of time, or we could take a risk and hopefully find something for the trial. Seems pretty simple to me."

"Do we have any time left?" Donald asked.

"We couldn't exactly keep track." Leila shrugged and walked past them, turning to face the group once she was in the ice tunnel. "But I don't think we've got a lot left. At the very least, even if we don't find anything, we'd be following a path instead of getting even more lost and getting beheaded."

Donald glared at her. "You're going to go through there no matter what I say, aren't you."

"Pretty much."

Donald pinched the bridge of his… beak, Leila guessed, and waved his hand at her in a "go on" kind of gesture. Leila gave him a toothy grin and turned around, lacing her fingers together above the small of her back as she started walking. The ground, though untouched by ice, was noticeably damp, and her shoes sank in a with a disgusting 'squelch'."

Sora ran to her side, looking around the tunnel. "How'd you think he did this?"

"Who, the cat?" Leila shrugged. "I dunno, how does Donald make fireballs and lightning?"

Sora hummed and crossed his arms behind his head. A few seconds passed in silence, then he looked up at her through his hair. "D'you think we could do that? Magic?"

Leila couldn't help but snort. Oh, sure, Sora could and would learn magic just fine, but her?

…Well, it wasn't impossible. She thought she'd be kicking Heartless and hiding behind the trio for the entire journey, but then she got literal magic hands. It certainly wasn't unlikely, but she couldn't see herself making a chunk of ice out of nothing, or a fireball, or summoning lightning, or… well, anything.

"Who knows." She eventually settled on, looking down at Sora with a self-satisfied smirk. "Maybe when Donald's in a better mood, we can ask him to give us some pointers."

Sora groaned, throwing his head back as his arms fall limply to his sides. "Then we'll never learn!"

Leila couldn't help but laugh, the sound so loud it drowned out Donald's annoyed grumbles.

AN: Me: I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner!
Sickness, job applications, joining an RP server, quitting the RP server bc of stress, life: Hm, well―

A bit of a shorter chapter than usual but trust me, if I didn't cut the chapter off there, we'd get another 5k of words and this chapter would never get out bc I would just be constantly tearing it to shreds jesus christ. I do not like Wonderland and trying to write a VERY game-mechanic-y part of the story into something cohesive for a narrative is difficult. Seriously, some of the evidence you pick up in game can't be… picked up and put in a present box (which is what happens in the trial, SO… I gotta compromise).

I would like to give a formal thank you to the Alice in Wonderland Wiki who provided me a list of all the flowers that appeared in the movie, because without them I would have no clue what any of the flowers (besides the roses) were. Granted, Leila doesn't know a lot about flowers either, but the only one she wouldn't be able to identify would be the… well, the "haughty flower" lol. I still don't know WHAT flower she's supposed to be, but it's the one that has a hookah pipe (?) and is purple. Anyone want to tell me what flower it's supposed to be?

Also! Also also also! There is art! Of Leila! To make a long story short, I won an art raffle, and the wonderful stark-illustrates on Tumblr drew her! I have the link up on my bio, and she's beautiful. Just imagine she's wearing a loose black jacket as well and she's basically wearing her outfit and I'm so! Happy! Art! Exists! Of my daughter! AAAAAAHHH!