`` the most magical place on earth...? {open}

[Regina Mills]

What was this horrible place?

Regina wasn't even sure how she'd ended up there. She suspected it might be some trick - some spell cast by Mr. Gold or one of the fairies, or another one of Storybrooke's magic users to subject their worst enemy to this grave form of torture. Bright, cheery music filled the impossibly crowded streets - the same little tune over and over and over again. If it continued, she was almost certain it would drive her insane. The first thing she'd done, naturally, was to approach the first sane-looking individual she'd come across and inquire as to where she was. They'd given her a strange look, and promptly informed her that she was in a place called 'Magic Kingdom'. ...What? And as if that wasn't bad enough, she was beginning to realize that the streets of the place were scattered with...well, as ridiculous as it sounded, imposters.

There was a whole line of children assembled to visit 'Cinderella' in her 'castle', and not only was that one of the most ridiculous mockeries of a castle Regina had ever seen - but she was fairly certain that Cinderella was not sitting up in those towers waiting to give random children autographs. Additionally, a few minutes ago she'd passed a ridiculous man dressed in green, hopping around and pretending to be Peter Pan. Regina wasn't sure whether to feel baffled or offended on behalf of these people who were having their identities stolen - but really, in light of everything that'd been happening recently, she was not in the mood for such ridiculous shenanigans. And she certainly didn't need to waste any more time here. So, gritting her teeth, she'd been just about to slip away to find a dark corner where she could teleport of before she heard the particularly obnoxious voice of a child.

"Mommy! There's the Evil Queen!"

Regina froze where she was as the girl's mother responded.

"Oh yeah, sweetie! ..Mark, hang on, Laura wants to go see Maleficent."

...what...had they just...? She whipped around at once, glaring at the family that was now approaching her. "Excuse me?"

"Well, you know what they say," commented a particularly gross looking passerby with a creepy chuckle. "Love is blind."

[thoe]

Having just arrived from the Velvet Room, Theodore was immediately confused by the human world. He was completely unaware that there were so many bright colors and weird places, like that place where he stood behind someone for an hour and then got into some sort of moving container that brought him into rooms filled with pictures of weird creatures, like the yellow thing with the red shirt that seemed to refuse to wear pants or the striped thing that bounced around. Theodore was entirely unsure what to think of this, but he was interested and very curious as to why the nearby building was considered haunted and what a "Cinderella" even was. Suddenly, a man approached him and spoke.

"Hey, you mind if we take a picture?" He asked, having obviously mistaken Theodore for one of the costumed people roaming around the place. Theodore didn't think his clothes looked like the costumed people... Suddenly, the man held up a black device that let out a sudden burst of light, which momentarily blinded Theodore. "Alright, thanks!" The man said as he took hold of his child's hand and led her away from Theodore. "Wait! What was that odd device...?" Theodore asked himself, watching the man walk away and disappear into the crowd. Now that he'd thought of the crowd, he realized that the human world was absolutely filled with people. They were everywhere! It was nothing like the Velvet Room.

Theodore suddenly turned around and found himself faced with a creepy, stringy-haired man who stared for a moment at Theodore. "...Hello." Theodore said, taking a small step back from the man. "You shouldn't plan so much," The man said, placing a hand on Theodore's shoulder. "It might not come out right ha ha ha ha." With that, the man just... walked away. Theodore slowly brushed off his shoulder and took a step forward... only to knock right into a nearby woman.

[Sora]

Moving from place to place by means of Gummi Ship and magical portals wasn't new to Sora. He'd experienced it throughout his journey with Donald and Goofy looking for King Mickey and Riku. Though this place was strangely familiar, and yet completely alien to the young Keyblade wielder at the same time.

He looked about confused as he found himself in a sea of people. Many pushing children in small strollers, and others running up to his friends asking for autographs. But wait a minute, no, those weren't the characters he knew. As he looked over some of the "characters" running about in his area he noticed "Peter Pan" was taller, and "Alice" didn't sound like herself.

They couldn't be the Peter and Alice he'd met along his journey. Thus assuming that everyone else in this whimsical place weren't the people he knew either.

Though he was caught by surprise as teenagers carrying cameras surrounded him.

"Dude, awesome costume! You must really love the game! You got every detail down!"

"Oh my gosh you even have the Keyblade! It looks heavy, what did you make it out of? And how did you get it through security? Do you work here? Oh my gosh are they starting to bring in Kingdom Hearts characters now?"

Sora just stared at the chattering teens, not understanding what they were talking about. Costume? Security? What did he make the Keyblade out of? And how did they know about Kingdom Hearts? And why did they address his friends as "characters"?

"I think you have it wrong, this isn't a costume it's my clothes...and I didn't make the Keyblade, it chose me, I don't know what it's made of." He replied with a confused tone, only to be responded with laughter.

"Oh I get it, you're really in character! You must take cosplaying seriously!"

After a few more pictures were taken, and he was nearly blinded by flashes, the sea of teenagers dispersed around him.

He rubbed his eyes as they disappeared, granting him room to move now. He was still utterly confused by what they were talking about. "Really in character"? "Take cosplaying seriously"? What did all those things mean?

"I really hope I can find Riku and the King quickly and get out of here...these people are weird...And where am I?"

[Regina Mills]

In order to avoid doing something she'd...well, possibly regret later, Regina ground her teeth together and tried not to glare too hard at the young girl who was making her way over to her. Honestly, the mother hadn't even gotten her name right. But before she had much chance to be indignant about that whole affair, she was distracted by whoever it was who'd suddenly toppled into her from behind. Caught off guard, Regina stumbled a few steps forward, coming dangerously close to knocking into a teenaged boy who was muttering something to himself about Kings (which couldn't be good, but then, given where they were, she could hardly say she was surprised). Only barely managing to avoid colliding with the boy by regaining her own footing, she paused for a brief moment to assess the situation...and then, instead of apologizing, she rounded on the man who'd run into her in the first place.

"I'm sorry, would it be at all possible for you to watch where you're going?" she snapped at him, her irritation and general bewilderment at the predicament she'd found herself in getting the better of her. Behind them, the strangely unnerving man from earlier was evidently getting a kick out of all this. "Ha ha ha ha." he chuckled to himself, wandering over to a nearby food stand before Regina could rebuke him as well. So with narrowed eyes, she turned her attention back to the man who'd run into her, and the boy she'd nearly run into as a result. The former was dressed in clothes that rather resembled a bellhop's, while the latter was carrying some sort of...large, key-like object that made Regina furrow her brow slightly.

Did these two work here, like the other obnoxious, costumed people? She would have assumed so if it had not been for the fact that they generally looked to be as baffled as she was feeling. The Evil Queen was certainly in no mood for games - she wanted to get to the bottom of this quickly. And so, glaring between the two of them and arching an eyebrow slightly, she spoke again after a moment. "I don't suppose either of you know where we are?" The family who'd been making to approach her earlier; 'Mark' and his daughter 'Laura' and the unnamed mother, had paused several yards away. At first Regina nearly assumed that her own display of irritability had made them rethink approaching her, but when she chanced another quick look over to them...she realized that they had stopped to watch, as if this were all some sort of rehearsed show.

Oh for God's sake. Was she going to have to hurt someone?

[thoe]

Oh dear, she was not happy with him. Theodore frowned and took a small step back. He wasn't at all used to this society and he was entirely unsure how to react to someone snapping at him like she had. He blinked, his expression conflicted. "I'm... sorry." He said lamely. Perhaps an apology would be enough to make her forgive him. Theodore didn't want his first impression on a human to be this. He expected things to go much better. In fact, he expected to impress them with his prowess in Persona use. This was the exact opposite.

Before Theodore could say something else, the bizarre man with the long hair spoke up once again. "That's the idea!" Theodore stared at the man in confusion, adjusting his hat slightly as he did so. This wasn't at all what he expected his first contact with this world to be like. He expected it to be much more like the Velvet Room than it was.... Theodore turned away from the man to look back at the woman who the girl called 'Maleficent'. "...I am Theodore, by the way." He said as he regained his composure. "I suppose you are... Maleficent?"

Then, Theodore spotted something. Something very strange that he couldn't identify. It was a box of some sort, filled with small... things with a metallic, three-fingered hand dangling over them. Theodore stared at the box, confused. What was it? Suddenly, the woman spoke up again. "I believe we're on Earth." Theodore said, hoping for his knowledge to impress. He barely even noticed the other boy until he realized that he was holding some sort of key. "...what is that?" He asked the boy, staring at his key.

[Sora]

Sora turned to face the woman that addressed him, noticing that she too looked just as out of place as he did. He tilted his head in a bit of confusion before shaking it, "I've never seen this place before I--" He quickly paused as the other male spoke the name "Maleficent." That threw Sora into a defensive mode. His grip on the Keyblade grew tighter as he looked the woman in the eye, but it slowly relaxed as he began to look over her a few more times.

She didn't look like Maleficent or speak like her. That and she hadn't summoned any Heartless at all. Besides Maleficent couldn't be alive he'd defeated her with Donald and Goofy...he saw her "die."

"Her name isn't Maleficent," He said, addressing the male, "She doesn't look like her and besides, Maleficent is dead." It took him a minute to realize they probably had no idea what he was talking about. "Ah I mean, um...I've fought Maleficent before, this isn't her."

Then he gave Theodore an odd look as he asked about the weapon he held. He was used to people asking about the Keyblade, but usually they knew what it was...at least in all the other worlds he'd visited they knew...and apparently the inhabitants of this place knew what it was...oddly enough.

"It's a Keyblade." He replied.

[Regina Mills]

Scowling for a moment longer, she studied the man’s expression sharply. Well…at least he’d had the decency to apologize. That, and he was beginning to look vaguely distraught – so with a quick roll of her eyes, she allowed the matter to drop with only a short nod that signaled she’d accepted his apology. There were much more pressing matters at hand, anyway, like…well…introductions, apparently. Suppressing a sigh, Regina managed to give Theodore a curt smile as he introduced himself. ..And, naturally, that smile disappeared a moment later when she was called ‘Maleficent’ for the second time that day. Were people incapable of keeping their ‘fairy tales’ straight? She opened her mouth to indignantly correct him – but was beaten to the punch by the younger boy with the strange key-like object.

She found it strange that he seemed to know she wasn’t Maleficent, as if to imply that he’d actually met the Dark Fae before. But she’d been ready enough to dismiss it – perhaps he was just a fan of the ridiculous ‘characters’ that ran around this place – when the boy went on to inform them that Maleficent was dead.

…Exactly how had he known that? The Queen’s entire being visibly stiffened as she looked him over. Years of denying the existence of this sort of thing kept her expression from darkening too quickly when he mentioned that he’d actually fought Regina’s old friend, but…now she was most certainly on her guard. Could this boy be from her realm? She’d never seen him before, not in the Enchanted Forest and certainly never in Storybrooke…but already, she was beginning to feel that he was trouble.

For that moment, however, she bit back any forthcoming demands to discover exactly what this boy knew…and turned her attention back to Theodore as casually as she could. “…My name is Regina, actually. I believe the little girl and her family were confused.” And they weren’t the only ones. This entire situation was completely nonsensical, and Regina didn’t much like being kept in the dark. She quirked an eyebrow at Theodore mentioning that they were on Earth. An…odd response, to say the least. Perhaps there was more to him than met the eye as well. “And I realize that, thank you.” she responded with a slight frown. “I was referring to this place, in particular.” She motioned around them briefly for emphasis.

At the mention of the keyblade, her attention turned back to the strange boy – and the severity of her frown increased a little. “And who are you?” she asked him after a moment’s pause, foreseeing that this was one question it’d be very prudent to get an answer to.

[thoe]

Key... blade? Theodore stared at the oddly-sized key, wondering who in their right mind would take something so simple as a key, which was used for unlocking doors, and make it so large that it was unable to unlock any door. It was preposterous. "...Excuse me, but what sort of door is that made for unlocking?" Certainly no door was large enough for that key to be able to work. And just where did the 'blade' part come in? Theodore was sure he saw no blade on the key. Most keys did have some form of sharp side, but this one seemed oddly shaped, at best.

Suddenly, what the boy said before hit Theodore and he understood the full meaning. Apparently that woman wasn't Maleficent. She wasn't Maleficent because the boy had known someone named Maleficent who he had apparently murdered, seemingly for no reason. Theodore took a small step away from the boy. No doubt that key of his was the thing that had taken the life of the woman. "You... killed this Maleficent woman?" Theodore hadn't known humans to be such a barbaric race before this. Though, one murderer didn't make them all murderers....

"It is my pleasure to meet you then, Regina." Theodore said, turning from Sora and giving Regina a small bow. He was still worried about the presence of Sora, though. Having someone who had apparently murdered some woman for no reason around was worrisome, especially when Regina or even he could be the next victim of this murderer. Theodore briefly wondered how he got away with saying he killed this Maleficent without some form of punishment for this act.

[Sora]

"S-Sora. My name's Sora." He replied, not very much liking the frown upon the woman's face. It made him feel a bit uneasy, especially when he'd noticed the Regina's body language when he mentioned fighting Maleficent. He didn't remember seeing her in any worlds he'd visited--well except at this very moment. He shook it off though, it was rude of him to instantly judge the woman based on assuming she knew much about Maleficent. He knew from experience that a lot of people knew about Maleficent but had never met her.

His mood lightened when Theodore questioned about the Keyblade. The Keybearer couldn't help but grin, he always was a bit...show off-y when it came to the magical weapon he held. "Well it can open really big doors, but it can do much more. It's a magic weapon...it can lock or unlock any kind of lock...as well as other things but I'm sure you're not interested in that haha." He didn't want to bother these two with the thoughts of things like the Heartless... From what he knew, they had all disappeared when he defeated Ansem with the others.

[Regina Mills]

At the moment, sparing much thought for the key-like object Sora was carrying around wasn't a particularly high priority for Regina - not with the question Theodore had just posed. Killed Maleficent? That was impossible - Maleficent could not be killed by some mere child, and...and she'd spent the last several decades trapped in dragon form beneath Storybrooke. Emma had killed her. Regina felt a pang of something like guilt at the thought; she'd trapped the other woman so that the power she possessed would be no threat to the Curse...but killing Maleficent had always been one line she'd shied away from crossing. But now Maleficent was dead - and for what? They hadn't needed to kill her to save Henry's life. Mr. Gold had lied for his own personal gain. Her expression turned icy at the thought, but she quickly masked any signs of anger behind her usual enigmatic expression.

When Sora did not address the question of whether or not he'd killed the Fae in question, Regina found herself speaking up. "Oh, I'm sure that's not what he meant. After all, if the...rumors I've heard hold any truth, Maleficent is a very difficult woman to kill indeed." Though she spoke to reassure Theodore, her gaze rested questioningly, almost dangerously, on Sora until she'd finished. And then, as if the vaguely ominous note that edged her words hadn't been even remotely intentional, she turned to face Theodore again with a polite, practiced smile. "And it's a pleasure to meet you as well, Theodore, despite the circumstances being rather..." she paused to cast a disdainful, and still somewhat baffled look around at their preposterous surroundings. "...unusual."

And now they were back to the matter of that funny object again. Yes, that was all very interesting, but Regina thought it'd be safe to dismiss the matter within the next....

...What?

A magical weapon? Regina's eyes immediately locked on the keyblade, narrowing faintly as she took this information in. Was this boy merely a child with some sort of overactive imagination? Or did his words hold some sort of truth, was his evident association with Maleficent not such a coincidence after all? Her smile widened a bit, although it didn't quite reach the calculating expression in her eyes. "On the contrary," Regina remarked in the false, sugary-sweet tone she'd so frequently used when speaking with her husband and stepdaughter so many years ago. "It sounds very interesting indeed, wouldn't you agree?" She glanced at Theodore for support, her smile almost predatory now. She was going to get to the bottom of this - whatever methods she had to resort to.