Wonderland
First Appearance: KINGDOM HEARTS (2002)
Origin: Alice in Wonderland (1951)
When Roxas first arrives in Wonderland, he has another vision of that boy in red. He sees him standing where he is standing, holding a keyblade. Has the boy been here before? But he is soon distracted by the strange sight of a white rabbit in a waistcoat looking at a pocketwatch and bemoaning his lateness at the top of his lungs. Roxas is not quite sure what he has just seen, but wonders what might be up ahead to make the rabbit react so. When he reaches the next room he sees the White Rabbit again, but shrunken, and running through the door. He wonders aloud just how the rabbit might have gotten smaller, and is answered by the door knob, who tells him to drink what's in the bottle on the table, and having said so fell quickly asleep. Roxas, thinking nothing of it, downs the contents of the bottle, and shrinks to the size of a mouse. It's only then that Heartless appear, and he is able to continue with his mission of collecting hearts. After finishing off a few enemies he sees the chair start twitching. Wondering what it might be he investigates, and it turns into a chameleon! The battle is tougher than the others but Roxas defeats it easily, and completes his heart quota for the day. But he is still curious about that white rabbit...
On his second mission to Wonderland he is sent with Luxord to take out some Pink Concertos. Roxas looks around, thinking to see the White Rabbit once more, but he does not appear. When Luxord questions him about his behavior, he tells him what had happened on the previous mission. Luxord tells him that even small happenings with luck could turn into fated meetings. Roxas looks confused, but the continue on with their mission. During the mission the Chesire Cat appears several time to give cryptic advice on where they might find the Heartless. Roxas asks him whether or not he is connected with the Heartless, but of course the Chesire Cat would not give him a straight answer. On this mission he had several more visions of the boy in red, this time with his friends. How was the boy connected with this place?
A couple weeks later, returning for another mission in Wonderland wih Luxord, they both see the White Rabbit run passed, once again complaining of lateness. Luxord comments that the White Rabbit could be either lucky or unlucky for Roxas, though he didn't know which. Roxas tells him it doesn't really matter, since the White Rabbit is unrelated to their current mission. So Luxord decides that they should follow the White Rabbit. Since the White Rabbit has no bearing on their mission, it doesn't matter whether they follow him or not, it might be interesting to see where he leads. Roxas doesn't argue. So they follow him all the way up to the Red Queen, where he tells her that they have been unable to locate the trio that gave her a shock. She demands that they be found, and the card soliders run to check the one place they haven't searched: The Maze Garden. Thinking that perhaps the three they are searching for are the three Heartless they have been sent to dispatch, Luxord and Roxas take a look at the Maze Garden as well. The card soldiers are everywhere, but by sneaking by them they manage to find and finish off the trio of Heartless. Another vision of the boy in red, before they hear the Queen screaming at her soldiers. Luxord muses that now they'll never find those three Heartless they had been searching for, and it was due to Roxas's curiosity that they managed to find them before the soldiers did. Curiosity opens the road to destiny...
It isn't until several months later that Roxas has his next mission in Wonderland with Luxord. The Queen is still looking for the trio of Heartless, but of course no one has yet to find them. Luxord wonders if luck will be on their side this time, when the Chesire Cat appears to tell them of a new shadow that has appeared in place of the old ones. He gives them a hint that they will find the shadow by turning on the four switches in the Opposite Maze Garden. So they made their way through the garden, avoiding the card soldiers, to turn on the switches. Returning to the White Rabbit's room, the light now makes a shadow on the floor, which turns into the Next Shadow that they had been sent to fight. They took care of it easily, and returned through the Corridor.
A few weeks later Roxas is sent by himself to take care of a mysterious unknown Heartless. But before he go anywhere, the Chesire Cat appears and asks if he is looking for a Heartless. Roxas asks where he could find it, and the cat cryptically answers that it is in the room with the shadows. Roxas asks him just want is it that he wants? And the cat replies that it is whatever Roxas thinks that he wants. Roxas gets irritated and moves past him into the next room, but as soon as he drinks from the bottle, the cat appears again. Are you prepared? He says, and fades away. The Heartless springs from the shadow, but Roxas finishes it off quickly. And then the cat appears again to congratulate him. Roxas asks the cat who or what is he, but the cat only replies that he should believe whatever it is he wants to believe. That lies and truth are the same if you believe in them. He should choose where his heart lies. Roxas says to himself, but I don't have a heart... If I don't have a heart, then what should I believe in...?
That is a question Axel will have to ask himself many days later as he travels to Wonderland with Xion and Xigbar on Day 353. Shortly after they arrive, however, Xion attacks Xigbar, who comments eerily about it being a blast from the past. Out of all the faces he could see, whenever he looks at Xion, he sees 'his' face - Ven's face - a boy who is Roxas's spitting image, dressed in a mixture of regular clothes and half an armor. He glares at Xigbar, who comments it has always been that way. Xion screams at him to shut up and takes him out with one blow. With Xigbar down, Xion opens a Corridor and apologizes to Axel. If she won't go... but before she completes the sentence, she removes her hood, revealing to Axel a face he wasn't used to seeing. He lets her go, and she tells him to take care of Roxas as well as 'thank you' before she runs away.
