Fast Food Madness: The Epic Return

Sora exhaled a heavy breath, feeling his weak body but feeling as if he had no strength to move a muscle. He could open his eyes, at least. He took in a breath before trying and got his eyes open a crack before they fell shut again. He opened them again and blinked a few times when everything was fuzzy. The first thing that came into focus was the face of the girl above him, and her bright blue eyes. Kairi.

Namine released a breath in relief, a small smile appearing on her lips. She was so incredibly thankful Sora had finally woken up; she was really worried about him.

 

Kairi's weak smile immediately grew into one of warmth and relief, her eyes a little teary from what she'd just experienced. But she was thankful to see that the boy she loved was awake. "Sora..." she said, moving her hand atop his head to his forehead, brushing his bangs out of his eyes.

Roxas smiled slightly at the sight of his friend's eyes, thankful he was finally awake. He had to admit, he was pretty scared before. But now that fear had gone away, replaced with relief.

 

Sora saw Kairi's concern, which he instantly wanted to clear up. "I came back," he said softly, a grin appearing on his lips. That was one of the last things Kairi had said to him, and he thought it would be humorous to state the obvious. However, he didn't count on his voice sounding so tired.

 

Kairi's smile grew as soft laughter left her lips, the girl glancing up at her two blonde friends on the other side of Sora before looking back down at him. "Yes, you did," she replied with a soft smile. She squeezed the hand she had a hold of without thought, happy that he was with her again.

Roxas caught the look in Kairi's eye when she made eye-contact and he immediately recognized ease. It was obvious how she felt about Sora's awakening by look on her face.

 

Namine smiled softly, Sora's light joke making her feel reassured that he was alright. That was typical of Sora--always cracking a joke whenever things were too tense.

Sora felt his grin turn into a weak smile as he shifted his gaze, seeing Roxas and Namine right by him as well. He recalled that they needed an explanation and he turned serious again. He took his free hand and lightly set it on the ground, a soft grunt leaving him as he tried to sit himself up.

 

Kairi took her hand back that was resting on Sora's head when he moved, but she kept it up in case he fell back while trying to sit up. As strong as he was being after all of the intensity, she could tell he was worn out.

The small smile that had found a place on Roxas's lips began to slip away when he saw Sora's serious expression. He watched as his friend started to sit up.

 

Sora was finally upright again, but he had to blink twice to keep things from spinning in his vision. When things cleared up, he looked over at the blonds, since they were naturally in front of him. "He never had Riku," Sora said softly, his voice just loud enough to be heard.

That was something Namine hadn't expected. How was that possible, though? A few days ago, Sora had been absolutely positive that Riku was Johnis' victim.

 

Kairi instantly frowned at the words. All of this, for nothing? She squeezed Sora's hand as she looked at him, feeling bad that he had gone through all of this stress and worry when Riku really wasn't in danger.

Roxas saw his friend's expressions, but he grew angry. "So it was all a trick?" he inquired, obviously knowing the answer but feeling he needed to ask anyway.

 

Sora nodded, propping himself up a little more. He let out a small hiss in pain, but he contained it quickly. "Yeah," he forced out. "And since he knew I didn't know, he was just going to use me as bait for Riku. He lured me here 'knowing' that nobody would care if I was gone," he said, thinking of how Johnis had Sora break-up with Kairi for that reason.

Namine looked down at the ground, sadened and alarmed by all this. Sora had been put in an impossible mission. Here he had thought his childhood friend was in trouble, when really, he was the one in danger. It didn't seem right...

 

Kairi bit her lip as she looked ahead of her and at her two blonde friends. It was a shame that this was all a trick and a lie. She had been so scared for Riku, and for Sora. But at least they were both alright now, somewhat...

Roxas turned his head to look at the girl next to him and he instinctively put a hand gently on her back at her expression. She seemed effected by this, and in truth, they all were. Everybody was effected by Johnis's actions.

 

Namine felt comforted by Roxas' light touch, even if she didn't show it at the time. She looked up again, hearing Sora start to speak once more.

"He didn't plan on you, though," Sora told Roxas, a weak smile appearing on his lips. Without the help of his friend, he would have been a goner; simple as that. Thankfully, Roxas had known when he needed to step in.

 

Roxas smiled a little, chuckling once. "It showed," he informed Sora. "But you did a good job at bringing him down. He put up no fight against me." Even so, Roxas had still released his anger toward the man. It was what he deserved, anyway.

Kairi smiled weakly at Roxas's small laughter and words. She hadn't been paying attention to the fight, but now that she thought about it, there hadn't really been one to begin with.

 

Namine smiled softly in agreement; she had seen bits and pieces of the fight, and from what she had seen, Roxas had no difficulties at all bringing things to a close.

Sora smiled at Roxas' words, a few chuckles leaving his lips. the last laugh turned into a cough, and that was followed by two more subtle coughs. "Aw man, I wish he could have seen it," he sighed. He would have loved to have been able to finish what he had started, but that hadn't been possible for obvious reasons.

 

Roxas shrugged. "Don't sweat it. It wasn't anything like the fights in the past," he admitted, thinking briefly to past encounters but immediately came back to the present. Things were better than that time, and now they would get a little more fortunate for them after this experience. They just needed to get Sora home and get him healed up. As far as Roxas knew, everybody else was perfectly okay.

 

Namine looked down at the ground for a brief moment before she lifted her eyes again. Thoughts of previous battles came to mind, well, the few that she had witnessed, anyway. Those were unpleasant thoughts, so she pushed them away quickly.

Sora nodded once, glad to hear those words from Roxas. He knew his friend wouldn't downplay a battle for him, so he knew that it really was nothing. That was one thing he appreciated about Roxas: His bluntness.

 

Roxas looked at Sora for a moment and then his eyes found Kairi and Namine. "What do you guys say we get out of here? This place kinda gives me the creeps," he admitted with a lopsided smile, his sight darting around the abandoned skating rink around them.

Kairi nodded with a small smile. She was ready to get out of here, too. This place didn't hold good memories for her, and Roxas was right--it was kind of scary.

 

Sora chuckled weakly, a grin finding a place on his face. "You're definitely right about the creepiness," he said in agreement. Seriously though, this place was eerie now, especially because their voices echoed a little bit. It wasn't too comfortable on the ground either, for that matter.

Namine smiled softly, nodding once in agreement. She was glad Roxas had made the observation, because it had been resting on her mind for quite some time now, and she had been wondering if she was the only one who thought it was creepy.

 

Roxas laughed a little, nodding. "Well, let's go then," he said, glancing at the girl beside him. Besides, they needed to get home anyway. Surely Sora wasn't in the best of shape right now, or feeling that great. He'd been in that position in the past, and all he had wanted was to lie down at home.

Kairi nodded in agreement, starting to push herself up with her free hand. She wanted to get Sora home anyway, seeing how worn out he appeared. She began to wonder how okay he would be on the way home. She stood up and turned to Sora, prepared to help him up. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Roxas standing as well.

 

Namine stood herself upright and wiped off her pants without thought. That place sure was dusty...she was surprised none of them had a sneezing fit yet. But she supposed that they had been distracted the whole time they had been here, so nobody had a chance to dwell on anything of the sort.

Sora gave Kairi's hand a light squeeze and then gently slid his hand out of hers. It would be easier to hold onto something definitly sturdy when he tried to stand up, so he would use the wall beside him. He turned his body slightly and reached out a hand. He grabbed on and started to pull himself up, but the moment he did, he felt as if his arm would fall off. An involuntary groan left his lips as he forgot about getting up, his right hand moving to his throbbing left shoulder.

 

Roxas moved forward automatically at the sight of his friend's trouble. "Easy," he said, having his hands out in front of him as if to signal Sora took it slow. He supposed by the pain Sora was in, he would need some help getting up.

Kairi bit her lip at the sound of Sora's pain, not liking to hear it. She had instinctively done what Roxas did, and stepped closer to him for help. As much as she knew Sora would try this on his own, she could see he wasn't in any shape for it.