FicWad

Linking the Chain

By Pata Hikari

Based off the game Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories by Disney and SquareEnix

Chapter 5: Tricks, Lies, and Everything In-between

Oh man oh man oh man! Sora thought as he somehow managed to block six attacks at once. He and Donald rose up a card, /"Thunder!/ they both shouted at once, bolts of electricity shot down at the cards.

It didn't do much.

"What are you waiting for!?" The Queen of Hearts screamed, "Get them! I want their heads!"

Geez, talk about bloodlust! Sora pulled back as a spear sliced through his clothing. A shallow cut was made. It stung, but it wouldn't hurt him much.

However, it did cut through the pocket holding his cards. They unceremoniously fell to the grass. "Oh man!" Sora ducked down, grabbing the small stack of cards. He kicked away a few more of the large playing cards. "OK..." Sore shifted through the black cards, "Donald! Goofy!" He picked out two cards from the stack, "Catch!" The Large Body card went to Donald, while the Shadow card went to Goofy. He blocked two more strikes.

Donald activated the Large Body card. Previously the spears had been a major problem for him. A struggle to avoid every attack. But after he used the card the spears just bounced off his front. "Heh." Donald smirked as the Cards realized they weren't hurting him. "What spell should I use?"

Goofy slammed away six of the Playing Cards. His strength hugely multiplied by the Shadow card.

Sora glanced down at his cards... there was the blue one Leon had given him... He picked up the blue card. "Power!" He shouted, it floated in the air. Sora tapped it with the Keyblade; it exploded in various colors... a Summon. "I call forth... Simba!"

From the light a lion appeared. A full grown male, its thick red mane shown. Simba glared at the Cards.

"What is it?"

"I think it's a kitty!"

"Stop staring you idiots!" The Queen of Hearts shouted.

Simba leaned back, bellowing out a massive roar. The ground shook... and the Cards were blown away.

"OK!" Sora grabbed Alice's arm, "I think now's a good time to run!"

"Right!" Alice said, and the two dashed away.

"Wait for me!" Goofy ran after them.

"Hey!" Donald spun around, /"Fire!"/ He shot a small knocking the Queen of Hearts' crown off her head. Donald laughed and dashed away.

"Those... those...." The Queen of Hearts' face became red.

"Run away!" A Two of Diamonds shouted, and the Playing Cards left the garden too.

Only the White Rabbit and the King of Hearts witnessed the earth-shattering tantrum that the Queen had.

~-------------------------------------~

"That was a close one!" Alice gasped for breath. They had finally stopped in a very large room. It had a massive table in the center, a huge bed in the corner, and an even larger brick oven on the other side.

"Tell me about it..." Sora sighed, "That lady is nuts."

"She is rather mean, isn't she?" Alice commented.

"Understatement of the century." Donald muttered.

"Yes well, that's quite a good way to stay sane." A voice announced.

"You're back, I see..." Sora groaned. "Come to bug us some more?"

"What do you expect in a world gone mad?" The voice.

"A world gone mad?" Alice asked.

"Oh yes. The voice chuckled, "A world gone mad. Where up is down and down is potatoes. And let's not even start with what right is. The best way to stay sane in a world gone mad is to treat insanity as sanity and to treat sanity as insanity."

"But... that doesn't make any sense..." Goofy said quietly.

A large smile appeared in the shadows. "What do you expect in a world gone mad?" Then eyes appeared, then a pink cats head. Then the tail, and finally the body. Revealing a pink cat with dark stripes on its tail.

"Oh it's /you."/ Sora rolled his eyes, "The Cheshire Cat."

"At your service." The Cat said.

~-------------------------------------~

There was a rush of wind in the mushroom forest, and with it Axel appeared.

"So this is Wonderland." Axel poked a giant flower, "Well, at least Sora's memory of it."

"Hey! How rude!" Axel suddenly noticed that the flower had a face. It was hidden in the oversized petals, but it was there. "How dare you invade my space!"

"What?" Axel stared at the plant.

"Look at him."

"What is it?"

"He's assaulting Daffodil!"

Axel looked around, noticing that he was surrounded by dozens of giant flowers of every type. Each one of them was whispering to the other.

"Look at the brute."

"I'm sure he's of the wrong sort."

"He's giving me the evil eye!"

Am I being insulted by a floral arrangement? Axel thought.

"I know!" A daisy shouted, "He's a weed!"

"A weed!" All the flowers shouted in a panic at once.

"Oh yes." The daisy said matter-of-factly. "I mean, look at him. A hideous black stem, no leaves, and those horrible red, quote, 'petals.' There is no doubt that he is a weed."

"I /am/ being insulted by a floral arrangement." Axel said in total shock. He shook his head, "People! People..." He narrowed his eyes, "I'm no weed."

"OK then, what type of flower are you?" The daisy asked.

Axel smirked, "Well, you see, I'm what they call..." he held up his hand, a sphere of flame forming in it, "...a Fire Flower."

~-------------------------------------~

"What do you want?" Sora demanded, there was just something about the Cat that was untrustworthy.

"I'm hurt." The Cat said dramatically, "I thought we were friends?"

"I don't remember us being friends." Donald folded his arms.

"What do you remember, exactly?" The Cat asked, his head rotating upside down like an owl.

"I don't remember anything, I'm afraid." Alice sighed, "And apparently neither does the Queen of Hearts.

"I remember lots of things." Goofy said, Donald nodded in agreement.

"And you, Keybearer?" The Cat turned to Sora, "What do you remember?"

~-------------------------------------~

"Well, I'm bored." Axel sighed as he wandered through Wonderland. "For such a screwed up place there isn't much to do." He glanced at the empty cup in his hands, "And the tea sucks!" He threw the cup away, "Lousy hat wearing loons..." His ears perked up when he heard a new voice shout:

"Hurry up you fools! We need to find them! Their heads won't cut themselves off!"

Axel turned to spot a very fat woman, being followed by a very small man, a White Rabbit, and a full deck of giant, living cards.

"Salutations!" Axel waved.

/"You!"/ The woman shouted at him, "Tell me which way they went!"

"Me?" Axel blinked, "Which way who went?"

"The ones getting their heads cut off of course!" The fat woman screamed in Axel's face.

"Whoa there lady." Axel waved his arms in front of him, "I'd love to help you... but I don't know what they look like."

"Well." The tiny man said, in a much, much calmer tone, "They look like people about to get their heads cut off."

Real descriptive these people. Axel shrugged, "Wellllll.... They went thata way." He pointed in a random direction. Instantly the entire group dashed past him.

"..." Axel shrugged, "Oh well." He pulled a crumpet out of his coat. "The tea may have sucked, but the crumpets are pretty dang good." He took a bite out of it.

~-------------------------------------~

"Me?" Sora blinked, "I remember my home, my family, Riku, Kairi, and all my friends."

"Oh, really?" The Cat chuckled, "So tell me, how do you know that's actually what happened?"

"Huh?" Sora blinked, "Of course it happened! I remember it, don't I?"

"And /I/ remember being the King and Queen of Cheese. But that doesn't mean I was." The Cat waved his tail mockingly. "I wanted to remember it, so I did."

"But all that stuff really did happen!" Sora shouted.

"Have you any proof?" The Cat said.

Sora clenched his fists, "This!" He snapped, pulling out a card and calling forth the Keyblade. "I have this, so it has to have happened!"

"Ooohhh... that." The Cat nodded, "Well, then, if that's proof enough... tell me, can you remember that?" He pointed to the ceiling.

"Huh?" They all looked up. Swirling above them like a swarm of locusts were dozens of black cards. Instantly the cards began raining down, condensing into a massive sphere of black. A gust of wind blew away the access Darkness.

It was like many black sticks stuck together by twisted joints. Its blood red feet that looked almost like shoes formed the feet. Its head was a spire, red and black stripes stacked on top of each other as if hats. It constantly juggled three flaming torches. Two glowing yellow eyes glared out at them, while the top of the spire leaned down, so one could see the symbol of the Heartless engraved upon it.

A Trickmaster Heartless.

"Good luck, Keybearer." The Cat said, and vanished.

~-------------------------------------~

"Oh dear..." Alice stared at the Heartless, "It isn't here to say hello, is it?"

The Trickmaster stopped juggling its torches for a moment, catching one in its claw, two in the other. It attacked with a wide sweep, scorching the ground as the torches rushed at them.

/"Aerora!"/ Donald's voice rang out, a gust of wind shooting them all into the air.

"Not again..." Alice mumbled

"OK!" Sora summoned Lionheart, pulling out a Fire card as well, /"Fire!"/ He pushed the Keyblade against the card, the burning Key blending with the Fire Magic. A spiral of flame shot out like a bullet, exploding against Trickmaster's head.

Sora landed on his feet, glancing to his side he saw that Donald and Alice had as well... Goofy was not so fortunate. "Get up!" Donald knocked his staff against Goofy's behind, currently where his head should be.

"Protect Alice!" Sora shouted, "I'll deal with the Heartless!"

"OK!" Donald saluted.

"We'll protect you Ma'am." Goofy stood up, his shield brandished.

"OK..." Sora held up Lionheart, "Come on!" He rolled under Trickmaster's legs, slashing at them. The Heartless responded by jumping, its wounded legs still acting as functioning springs. It flipped around, catching all three torches in one hand; it dropped down, the flaming tips aiming for Sora. Lionheart instinctively rose up to block.

Sora felt the entire weight of the Heartless pressing against him, the flames from the torches pushed back by Lionheart's own fires. Something had to break...

The Keyblade suddenly spun out of Sora's hands, his grip lost. It spun through the air, embedding itself into a wall, reverting to a card. Gritting his teeth, Sora pulled out the other card, summoning the default form of the Keyblade, the Kingdom Key. "OK..." He held it up in a defensive stance.

~-------------------------------------~

"Be careful Sora!" Donald shouted.

"Can he really handle that creature by himself?" Alice whispered.

"Of course! He's the Keyblade Master!" Goofy patted the girl on the shoulder.

"Like that's soooo important."

Alice turned around, "Who are you?"

"Axel!" Donald clutched his staff, "What are you doing here!?"

"Whoa there." Axel held up his hands, "Calm down Chicken." He smirked as Donald growled, "I'm just checking up on you three." He looked over at Sora, "Not doing so hot, is he?" He smirked, "I guess I'll just have to check up on him." He vanished.

"What a strange man." Alice commented.

~-------------------------------------~

"Umph!" Sora hit the ground, his face burned from a particularly nasty blow from one of Trickmaster's torches. "Oww..."

"Having trouble Sora? How about a vorpal blade?" Axel's smirk filled his vision, "I hear it works well against Jabberwocks. Perhaps a Heartless would be weak against it too?"

"Whatever..." Sora held up a Cure Card, letting the pale green light sooth his wounds. "I've fought tougher enemies then this!"

"Didn't you fight them afterwards?" Axel chuckled, "You remember this big Heartless being much tougher, no? Sure, you know now that it's easy pickings... but when you fought it, well, it wasn't exactly a cakewalk." He grinned, "But hey, memories are one thing. But the rules of this place... the cards... are a different story." Axel roughly patted Sora on the head, "Try something new with em," He winked, "See ya." Vanishing with those final words.

"..." Sora pulled out the small deck of cards he had been collecting from his pocket. "Try... something new." He looked up, seeing Trickmaster looming over him, its torches bouncing in a twisted circus act. "Blizzard... Kingdom Keys..." He pulled out two Keyblade cards, and a Blizzard card. With a flash of light they linked. "OK!" The Keyblade formed in his hands, glowing with a cold blue light, /"Blizzard Raid!"/

The Keyblade flew out of his hands, slicing through a torch. Instantly ice bloomed around the two cut pieces. Returning to his hand, Sora threw it again.

Raid! The Keyblade slammed into its arm, freezing it in place. Raid!/Just as Trickmaster freed its arm a foot was frozen. /Raid!/Other foot. /Raid! Trickmaster stumbled foreword, another torch being sliced through.

/Judgement!/ The Keyblade flew for one last arc, blue trails of light and ice flowing out like a comet. Exploding against Trickmaster's chest, is pushed against the Heartless for a moment, before blowing clear through. Black smoke poured out from the gaping wound, and solid ice quickly encased its entire being.

"...wow..." Donald said.

Cracks appeared in the ice, a glowing Heart escaping from the remains... and the Trickmaster broke into dozens of frozen pieces, its card flying into Sora's hand.

~-------------------------------------~

"What's going on here!?" A horribly familiar voice bellowed.

"Uh-oh! It's the Queen of Hearts!" Goofy gasped.

"Well!? What's with the Heartless, the ice, and most importantly..." The fat woman took a deep breath, /"Why do you still have your heads!?"/

"Umm..." Donald stepped back slowly.

"Well, don't you remember, Your Majesty?" Alice cheerfully stepped foreword.

"Remember wha?" The Queen blinked.

"You didn't trust us fully, so in your wisdom you decided to test us." Alice winked at Donald and Goofy.

"I did?" The Queen looked very confused now.

"She did?" The White Rabbit asked.

"Oh yes! You told us to get rid of that dreadful Heartless, if we passed the test we'd get full pardons!" Alice grinned widely.

"She did!?" Now the King of Hearts was really surprised, "She, a pardon?"

"I did..." The Queen blinked... "Of... of course I did! Good work!" She pointed to the frozen Heartless remains, "That thing has been a bother for far too long!"

"Nnn..." Sora stumbled over to the group, "What's going- Ack! The Queen-"

"Good work boy!" The Queen petted Sora on the head, "I knew you would pass the test!"

"Um...what?"

"Come! I feel like a game of Flamingo... um..."

"Why not try golf this time?" The White Rabbit suggested.

"Splendid idea!" And with that the Queen of Hearts and her little group left.

"...what just happened?" Sora asked as Alice, Donald, and Goofy burst into laughter.

"Oohh..." Alice giggled slightly, "I just tricked the Queen into letting us go."

"How?"

"It's like the Cheshire Cat says!" Alice nodded, "Just because someone remembers something doesn't mean it actually happened." She smiled, "So, I told the Queen she had given us a test. Of course, she didn't want to be wrong, so she remembered something that never happened!"

"Good job Alice!" Goofy gave the girl a hug.

Alice blushed slightly, "It was easy."

"Thanks. Now we don't have to deal with her..." Sora sighed with relief.

"Come on Sora..." Donald said, "Let's get out of here." He shuddered,. "I don't wanna spend one more minute in Wonderland!"

"Well, goodbye Sora." Alice smiled.

"See you later then?" Sora said.

"Of course!" Alice nodded, "But, I have something for you." She reached into a pocket, handing Sora a red card. "For you." The image on the card was that of the Ace of Hearts.

"Thanks..." Sora held up the card, smiling as a new form of the Keyblade formed in a burst of rainbow light. A short shaft, with a pink handle and a large red heart where the teeth of the Key should be. Dangling from the keychain was an Ace of Hearts.

The Lady Luck Key.

"Thanks Alice." Sora smiled, "This will come in handy."

"Come on Sora!" Donald pointed to a large door, "I think that's the exit!"

"Sure thing!" Sora walked over, waved to Alice, and pushed open the door.

~-------------------------------------~

"Hmmm... to find is to lose..."

They were once again walking up the white stairs.

"...and to lose is to find..."

"Whatcha saying Jiminy?" Goofy asked, the cricket leaning out of Sora's torn pocket as he stitched it back together.

"Just thinking about what that hooded guy said when we first entered this place." Jiminy mumbled.

"To find is to lose and to lose is to find..." Sora whispered.

"Yeah. He did say that." Donald shrugged, "So?"

"I've been thinking. What is it that we're losing, and to find what?" Jiminy pulled away the needle, "Done!"

"Thanks for the patchwork." Sora smiled slightly, "OK... what does that mean?"

"Well, Axel said that we'd find answers." Goofy pointed out.

"And we've been going through memories to find them..." Donald added.

"And... my journal is blank..."

Sora's eyes widened, "Our memories!"

"What?" The others asked.

"Our memories! What we're losing in order to find something is our memories! That's why Jiminy's journal is blank!"

"We're forgetting stuff?!" Donald gasped.

"...Yeah..." Sora sighed.

"Should we turn around?" Goofy asked.

"...no." Sora folded his arms, "We can't just quit... besides, the door vanished, remember?"

"Oh, right." Goofy shrugged, "I wonder what I've forgotten?" He paused, thinking for a moment, "Oh well, can't remember. Must not have been very important if I forgot it, ah-hyuk!"

~-------------------------------------~

"Third Floor" was engraved into the wall. A bench, with a table and some food was laid out in the center of the room as well.

"Food!" Donald and Goofy shouted, somehow instantly moving to the table and devouring the various meats and bread set about.

"Weird..." Sora noticed a small note on the table, "What's this?"

Hey there kid. Figured you could use a break.

Lunch is on me.

-Axel

"...I'll have to thank him." Sora sat down, picking up a piece of ham, "Hmmm pretty good."

~-------------------------------------~

Sora pulled out the four white cards, spreading them out onto the table. "OK! Where should we head next?"

A stone building guarded by two bronze statues.

A giant blue whale.

A graveyard with the full moon shining down

A desert city protected by a giant castle.

"Dunno. We've been to them all before." Goofy shrugged.

"Of course we have! They're Sora's memories!" Donald squawked.

"..." Sora sighed, "OK... let's make it random." He pushed the cards together, shuffling them for a moment, "Pick a card." He held it out to Donald.

"OK..." Donald pulled a card out of the stack, "Here you go."

"Thanks." Sora pocketed the remaining three. "Come on." He stood up, "Let's go!" They walked over to the door.

"Wonder what world we'll head to next." Goofy said.

"Let's find out." Sora held up the card.