Fast Food Madness: The Epic Return V2

Roxas turned his head to look at Riku, a confused expression on his face. What was Riku doing? Did he think he could get through to Smith?

Riku only continued to glare at Smith at the words. "I'm not sure which is worse, defending one or threatening one," he replied. "Either way, it doesn't matter, does it? They're still here, even when their original selves are present. It's unheard of, but maybe that's the problem." He looked at Smith and tilted his head to the side slightly. "You're scared."

 

Smith rolled his eyes, the idea preposterous. His expression spoke for itself, though, so he didn't bother expressing that idea verbally. Instead, he took it as an opportunity to taunt another enemy. "You're one to talk of fear," he said, staring at Riku with amber eyes. He knew of Riku's past, and he knew what made Riku tick, thanks to Xehanort's Heartless.

 

Riku only stared at Smith, though his grasp on Way to Dawn had tightened. He knew exactly where this was going, and a part of him was prepared. But the other was wanting this topic to be dropped immediately.

 

"You were terrified of the darkness," Smith reminded him, noticing how the teen stayed silent. "Even if that's in the past, I know what you fear now. You fear normal life; that you can never belong with your friends. That was why you stayed away for so long, battling Heartless and staying by yourself. You're a reject." Some of the things that he said were based off of what Xehanort's Heartless told him, while a lot of it was based off his own speculations and observations.

 

Kairi's eyes instantly traveled to her best friend, only to hear nothing but silence. That couldn't be true... Riku was like her big brother, like family. He was her best friend. He couldn't possibly think that he didn't belong in their lives.

Riku's fingers only squeezed the handle of his blade, the boy lowering his eyes to the ground after a few seconds of staring at Smith. He didn't appreciate how the tables were being turned on him, but he couldn't deny the truth.

 

Sora glanced at Riku, seeing that he wouldn't defend himself. The brunet felt fury at this, afraid that Smith could possibly be telling the truth. "Stop trying to mess with us!" he cried in outrage. "You don't know us!" Smith was always judging them, always trying to make them feel low. And Sora was sick of it; he just wanted to end it right now.

 

Kairi's eyes moved from Riku to Sora, but then she instantly looked away at the emotion in his eyes. Smith was getting to them, all of them. That couldn't possibly be good.

Roxas's eyes moved from Sora to Smith, the boy silently agreeing. But even so, he knew that Smith struck a nerve against a few of them, mainly because he was speaking nothing but the truth. At least, that was the way Roxas saw it.

 

Smith shifted his gaze to Sora, seeing that the brunet was now going to humor him. He was going to have fun with this; he always taunted his Nobody, but now it was time to attack the real person. "Afraid of the truth, Sora? You always were too weak to handle it. You don't share problems with your friends, because as long as you keep it to yourself, you can pretend it didn't happen. Lying to yourself shows the ultimate weakness."

 

Kairi shut her eyes at the words and the grasp the Heartless had on her, uncomfortable under both circumstances. Now she knew why she had Light in her heart: she couldn't handle this torture, this Darkness.

Riku fought to control himself, hating to hear Smith speak of his best friend that way. It didn't matter what anyone did, though; Smith had power here, and he was going to keep that control as long as he could. But somebody had to step in and put a stop to it...

 

"Or maybe I'm protecting them," Sora said in a low tone of voice, not ready to let Smith get the upper hand on him. He hated that this man knew so much, and he hated how he seemed to know how Sora's heart worked.

"Them? Or are you protecting yourself?" Smith asked, tilting his head to the side slightly as he stared at Sora. "As long as it's never mentioned, you can act like nothing happened. You can act like you're not the failure you see yourself as, or that you've got it all together."

 

Kairi desperately wanted to get out of this place as the conversation only continued. She didn't want to hear any of the things Smith was speaking, only wanting to be safe with her friends. That was all she wanted. "Stop it..." she muttered without thought, eyes still closed.

 

Smith glanced at Kairi, hearing the girl speak for a change. However, he ignored her, seeing that Sora looked like he was at a loss for words. He took a few steps forward and to the side, stopping when he was standing a few yards in front of Sora. "As long as nobody knows what's going on inside of your head, you can act like the Darkness hasn't gotten to you."

Sora clenched his hand into a fist, a soft snarl leaving him. Smith needed to shut up, before he said anything else that could bother him or his friends. Smith needed to die.

 

Riku watched Smith with cautious eyes, seeing that he was closer to Sora now. His grip was already secure on Way to Dawn, and he could see that Roxas wasn't happy about things either. If Smith didn't want to be ambushed, he needed to be careful. Very careful.

 

Sora saw the gunblade by Smith's side, but he didn't care if the man had his weapon or not; Sora had his, and he was about to use it. He charged, swinging his Keyblade at Smith with a battle cry.

Smith dodged the attack, having been prepared for such an action. What he wasn't prepared for, though, was Sora's quick recovery. He saw Sora swing his blade at him repeatedly, the man managing to block each of the attacks despite his initial surprise. He grunted when Sora finally landed a vertical hit, following it up with a second one in a move called "Blitz".

 

Kairi squeezed her eyes shut more at the sounds of battle, hating the noise. It only provided her with more fear, which was most likely the plan Smith had by bringing her and Namine here, other than making the boys furious. He was doing a good job, which she despised.

 

Sora stepped back, before he swung his blade at Smith horizontally, seeing the man on one knee. A battle cry left his lips as he swung, hoping to land a hard hit.

Smith lifted his gunblade, his blade coming in contact with the Keyblade before it got close to him. He brought up his empty hand and called upon the powers of darkness, using Dark Aura against the teen who was right in front of him.

Sora felt the fireballs hit him, forcing him to release a cry of pain as he was sent back through the air a few feet. He landed on his back a few yards away, feeling the pain of the three dark orbs that had managed to impact his chest and leg.

 

Roxas saw Sora get hit and that was enough to trigger his feet to move. He raced forward, Keyblades ready at his side to be brought up to attack. When he was a few feet away from Smith, he brought his blades back and swung, preparing to land a hit.

 

Smith spun around, using his gunblade to counter Roxas's Keyblades. He wasn't surprised that the Nobody stepped in; he never did back away from a fight.

Sora rolled onto his side, setting a hand on the ground as he started to push himself up. He had gotten attacked from Dark Aura when he was right near Smith, so that made its impact stronger than any other time he had faced the attack.

 

Riku saw Roxas holding Smith for the moment, and he took that as enough initiative. He kept his Keyblade at his side as he ran to the side, making sure to stay out of Smith's view.

Roxas ground his teeth together as he fought to hold Smith's blade away from him, one of his knees bent while the other foot was behind him to help. He looked into the amber eyes in front of him with his blue, not daring to back down from this fight.

As Riku ran to get behind Smith, he fired off Dark Aura at the man's sides from his distance away, only pausing to do that as he continued to run. If things went as he thought, he would be able to strike Smith from behind as long as Roxas kept him occupied.

 

Smith sensed the Dark Aura attack and he pushed more roughly against Roxas's blades, shoving the teen backwards and casting Reflectga around himself just before the fireballs would have impacted him.