Fast Food Madness: The Epic Return V2

Roxas did as he was told, approaching the couch and grabbing the remote before plopping himself down onto the cushion. He turned on the television and changed the channel to sports, a re-run of another game being talked about on some show.

 

Sora made it to the front door, prepared to face the girls. He didn't know why they would come, but it was fine with him as long as they didn't see anything suspicious. He set a hand on the knob and pulled the door open, shocked at the person he saw standing outside. "Riku?"

 

Riku nodded to his friend, hands in his pockets. "Hey, Sora," he greeted. It may have seemed casual, but by the serious tone of his voice, it was far from it. There was important business to discuss, no matter how happy he was to see his best friend.

 

Sora blinked, still surprised. The voice confirmed that he wasn't just seeing things, and that his best friend really was at his door. "Hey," he said back, trying to recover from his initial shock. "This is...a surprise," he finally said, though that much was obvious.

 

"Sorry to drop in like this," Riku said, briefly thinking of how ironic it was that he was doing the same thing Sora and Roxas did to him a few months ago. "But I really need to talk to you. It's serious." He didn't mean to crush whatever mood was in the air around them, but he couldn't waste time. He had specific orders from the King to get to their destination as soon as possible and stop the threat before it got worse.

 

Sora nodded, his facial expression fading away from surprised to serious. He stood aside and silently motioned for Riku to come in, at the same time speaking. "Roxas is in the living room," he informed his best friend. "Should I send him home or do you need to talk to both of us?"

 

Riku stepped into Sora's house, already starting to take his jacket off as he walked a few feet inside. "I need to talk to both of you, so that's convenient," he answered, hanging his jacket up. He wore a grey long-sleeved shirt underneath, though he started to roll the sleeves up as he turned around halfway to face Sora.

Roxas heard a deeper voice than he expected in the entrance hall, the boy glancing in that direction with furrowed eyebrows. It obviously wasn't the girls at the door, so who else could it be?

 

Sora furrowed his brows slightly as he shut the door, seeing in Riku's eyes that something was seriously wrong. "Alright, then let's get to it," he said with a slight nod. He started towards the living room, trusting that Riku would be right behind him. Whatever was going on, he wanted to know, right away.

 

Riku rolled up the other sleeve to his shirt as he followed Sora, prepared to see Roxas sitting in the next room. He and the Nobody weren't exactly on good terms, but his help was needed anyway. Riku already knew he had to put aside his differences with Roxas for things to go well here, which they definitely needed to.

 

Sora came into the living room first, seeing Roxas looking at the doorway in curiosity. "Riku's here," he informed his friend softly, the brunet walking past him and sitting down on the same piece of furniture so Riku could have his own chair. He didn't know why Riku had shown up today, but he knew he would find out soon enough.

 

Roxas blinked in shock at Sora's words, but sure enough, the silver-haired guy walked in right behind him. This caused Roxas to sit up. "Whoa," he said. Sora hadn't been kidding. "What're you doing here?" Riku hadn't come to New York once, so it was definitely a surprise to see him here now.

Riku's eyes found Roxas as he walked to the nearest chair, sitting himself down. "The King sent me, though I wasn't exactly going to sit around and let this happen anyway," he explained briefly. Even if the King hadn't ordered him to visit Sora and Roxas, he probably would have seeked the assistance himself. With the King's description of what was going on, he knew he couldn't handle this problem alone.

 

Sora arched a brow, leaning forward in his seat as he looked to Riku. "Let what happen?" he asked, not sure what Riku was referring to with his last sentence. Whatever it was, it must have been bad, since Riku just implied that he would willingly ask them for help.

 

Riku's sight darted to Sora at the question and the older boy lowered his eyes to his feet, his arms crossed as he sat in the chair. "Darkness is overflowing in the Realm of Darkness," he stated bluntly. "It's so bad that it's threatening to escape to the worlds." Riku had first been told about it after his third visit to the King once Sora left, but it hadn't gotten bad until a few days ago, which was why he departed Disney Castle earlier this morning.

Roxas's eyes widened slightly, but then his eyebrows furrowed over them. The Realm of Darkness? He was familiar with it, and he guessed in more ways than one. But he wasn't about to go there again; he needed to focus. This seemed important, and dangerous.

 

Sora furrowed his eyebrows, keeping his eyes on Riku at the news. Darkness...bad enough to overflow and threaten the worlds? That was very bad. "When did you find out about this?" he asked, leaving his thoughts behind for the time being. This was a serious matter, and he could think over the details later.

 

"About two weeks ago," Riku answered immediately. Sora hadn't been gone that long, and his visits to the King had been pretty frequent. "It wasn't as bad before, so the King focused on more important things. But a few days ago it got to the point it's at now." His lips were set in a firm line, not happy to be talking about it. "That's when the King got worried, and he sent me to find you two."

"Both of us?" Roxas asked without thought, surprised that he was needed when he was told to leave so early last time. This really must have been serious, and that feeling got worse when he saw Riku simply nod to answer him.

 

"So the three of us need to end this problem, and quickly. Right?" Sora asked, making sure he knew the basics of this mission. Speaking of missions...he thought, recalling the past four months of fighting Heartless. He had to tell Riku about the reason the Heartless were so strong.

 

Riku nodded again, this time to Sora. "As soon as possible," he told both of the people before him. "If we don't take care of it soon, it could get bad. Very bad." He wasn't sure what was causing the Darkness to grow so much in the Realm, but he wasn't going to hesitate finding out and conquering it, with both Sora and Roxas.

 

Sora nodded slightly, Riku's answer confirming his own suspicions. "When do you want to leave?" he asked, getting right to the point. "How long will we be gone this time?" He wasn't comfortable leaving Kairi alone for long, considering what had happened the last time he had been away from home.

 

"We'll go whenever you two are ready," Riku said, answering the first question. He didn't think it would take long for both of them to be prepared, so he wasn't worried about that. As for Sora's second question... "Nobody's visited the Realm of Darkness. It's far too dangerous for just anybody," he explained. "The threat appears really strong, but it shouldn't take as long as controlling the Heartless did." Riku's eyes lowered to the floor at the thought, never having considered how long this could take, but he did have a hunch. "If we get in and handle the problem as quickly as we need to, we shouldn't be gone very long."

Roxas stared down at his lap, surprised by all this. They were being thrown into a mission again? At least this time he knew he was actually needed, unlike last time, when he had just tagged along... No, he wasn't getting into those thoughts again; he needed to concentrate on the problem at hand. He was going to have to leave Namine, and very soon. It was a little unnerving, but she was safe here; the only real threat was Jeff, and he was gone for good.

 

Sora glanced at Roxas beside him, the brunet able to tell what his friend was thinking. "Before we go anywhere, we need to let Kairi and Namine know what's going on," he said seriously, shifting his gaze back to Riku. "Even if we won't be gone long, they need to know about this." Neither of the girls would appreciate being left in the dark about this, so it was in their best interest to inform them about what was happening.