Fast Food Madness: The Epic Return V2

Kairi's eyes stayed on Sora, the girl setting a hand on his shoulder from her place beside him at his sound of pain. She hated seeing him like this, and it was unfortunate who had done it. No, she wasn't going into those thoughts again; she had to focus on right now, and what was happening here.

 

Sora furrowed his brows, popping the other pill into his mouth and swallowing. He held back a grunt, aware that his last one had alerted Kairi to his pain. Obviously he was hurt; he had some injured ribs. But nothing could be done about that, so he wasn't going to dwell on it.

 

Maybe you shouldn't go, Kairi wanted to say. Seeing how injured Sora was, running around the city didn't sound very wise. But the boys had already settled this and made up their minds. She didn't think she could change anything.

 

Sora exhaled a breath, still feeling Kairi's hand on his shoulder. He knew that she was concerned, but things were too dangerous for him to let his injuries slow him down. He turned his head towards Roxas, nodding slightly. "We need to get going."

 

Roxas nodded. "Right," he said softly. He already started to push himself up from the couch, though he didn't put as much pressure on his left arm in fear of hurting his shoulder again.

Kairi's eyes moved from Sora to Roxas and then back again. She hesitated, but then lifted her hand from his shoulder and put it next to her other in her lap. She prayed he and Roxas would be safe, aware that Riku was staying with her and Namine.

 

Sora set his hands on the ouch, one of them enclosed around the cell phone. A soft grunt left his lips as he rose to his feet, his chest crying out in protest. However, he ignored it to the best of his ability, sticking Kairi's phone in his pocket as he looked to Roxas once again.

Namine bit her lip lightly, looking up at Sora and Roxas. She had known that Roxas was injured, but Sora didn't look too good either. She was worried about them, though she didn't say so aloud.

 

Roxas felt two sets of gazes on him at that moment. First, he looked to Sora and nodded once to show that he was ready to go. Then, he turned his eyes down to the girl sitting on the couch just beside him. He gave her a look, his blue eyes expressing that he loved her and would protect her.

Riku didn't say anything, looking at his best friend and his Nobody. He was about to say "be careful", but he was sure they already knew that.

 

Namine smiled weakly at the look in Roxas's eyes, the girl understanding what he was silently saying. After a second or two, though, the smile faded, not that it had been very large in the first place.

Sora shifted his gaze to Kairi and Riku, seeing his best friend looking at him. "We'll call if we find anything," he said with a nod. Riku needed to know what was going on, since he was a part of this too. He was staying back to watch the girls, but that was a very important job.

 

"Alright," Riku replied with a nod, staying where he was. He hoped he wouldn't have to call Sora for anything on his side. Thinking of failure would put Riku in a foul mood, so he dismissed the thought. Nothing would go wrong; he would make sure of it.

 

Sora shifted his gaze to Kairi, giving her a look of reassurance. Everything would be alright; they would find Smith and then kill him before he gained too much power. Failure wasn't an option, not that it ever really was in their lives. He turned towards the doorway, starting out of the room.

 

Kairi caught the look in Sora's eyes before he walked away, knowing that he would be alright. Everything would be alright; things always worked out in the end, right?

Roxas looked away from Namine then, following Sora out of the room in silence. He was ready to hunt Smith down and permanently destroy him, before something even worse happened.

 

Namine looked down at her lap, her hands folded there. She was nervous for Roxas and Sora's sakes; what if Smith really was luring them to him? Would they be strong enough to fight him by themselves?

Sora walked through the foyer and opened the door, going right outside. His hands were clenched in tight fists, and he hoped that the pain medication would kick in soon. Otherwise, he didn't know how he would make it through hours of searching.

 

Roxas followed Sora out, shutting the door securely behind him. The cold air hit him immediately, though he didn't pay attention to it. He had more important things to worry about than simply being cold. They had to track down someone that was cold-hearted and dark, and definitely did not belong in the Realm of Light.

 

Sora wasn't sure what Roxas had in mind for their search; neither of them seemed to be in good enough shape to run to the warehouse. He supposed that they better take it slow; maybe they would see something on the way that would help them track down Smith. At least, he was hoping they would find some clues.

 

Hours later...

Roxas walked down the sidewalk, a few feet away from the path that led to Kairi's doorstep. They had checked out the warehouse, but hadn't found a single thing. Nothing. And they'd looked for hours, trying to locate any signs of Darkness. Roxas and Sora had come up empty after so many hours of searching.

Kairi was curled up on one end of the couch, having fallen asleep as she waited for Sora and Roxas to get back. She'd stayed up with Riku and Namine for the rest of the evening, only recently falling asleep. She had been asleep for almost half an hour now, worry still in her heart even if she was unconscious.

Riku sat on the other side of the couch, not caring that Kairi was taking up most of it as she slept. He was deep in thought, trying to sort out everything that had happened here. New York was obviously just as dangerous as his missions were, except for the Heartless. The Darkness still haunted his friends, which he didn't approve of. Wasn't the life here supposed to be easier?

 

Sora dragged his feet, weary and exhausted after the searching he and Roxas had done. But they had come up with absolutely nothing that would help them find Smith. No traces of Darkness, no signs of life in the warehouse...nothing.

Namine took up half the loveseat, her head on the arm of the couch as she was curled up, sleeping. She had felt especially sick after the boys left, both with a combination of worry and dizziness. She had actually vomited earlier (making it to the bathroom to do that, thankfully), and that had worn her out. She fell asleep two hours ago, and she hadn't changed her position on the couch since then.

 

Roxas followed Sora toward Kairi's house, the blond's eyes on the ground. How could they not find anything? Were they looking in the wrong place? New York City was pretty big. If they had to look beyond the warehouse, which looked like their only option, they had a lot more ground to cover.

Riku had his elbow against the arm of the couch, his fist covering his mouth as he sat in silence. He was used to silence most nights, since he had traveled alone for so long. It allowed him the time to think, much like now. It had been hours since Sora and Roxas left, and they hadn't called once. He wondered if they found anything...

 

Sora bent down and reached under the mat, the teen grunting at the pain it caused him. However, he didn't let it affect him, the teen lifting the key and sticking it in the door, unlocking the door and then pushing it open. He assumed that the girls were asleep, though he hoped that Riku was awake and keeping an eye on them.

 

Roxas witnessed Sora's actions, seeing from around his friend that the only light on in the house was the one coming from the living room. Obviously that was where everyone was gathered.

Riku's thoughts disappeared at the sound of the door opening, his trained ears picking up on it. He turned his head to look in that direction, knowing it could only be Sora and Roxas since the door had been locked, and only they knew where the key was hidden.

 

Sora pulled the key out of the knob and stuck it under the mat again before he stepped inside, his hands in tight fists. The pain medication that Kairi had given him earlier had helped for a few hours, but it had worn off a while ago, so he was back to the terrible pain he had felt earlier.