Fast Food Madness: The Epic Return V2

Roxas turned around and went to stand next to Namine, looking at her. "Was your walk here okay?" he asked, that protective side of his kicking in again. He had temporarily forgotten it when he was talking with Sora, but now that Namine was here he felt he needed to ask.

 

Namine nodded faintly, finishing with the last button as she spoke. "A little cold, but other than that, it was fine," she said, glancing up at Roxas before she gripped her coat, starting to take it off. The cold weather was to be expected, though, since it was early February.

 

Roxas nodded once in response, glad to hear that nothing had gone wrong. Not that he really expected anything to these days; Jeff was out of the picture after their last conflict.

 

Namine took off her coat and took a few steps forward, hanging it on a hook by the door. She then bent over and unzipped her boots, setting them by the door as well before she turned around to face Roxas once again.

 

Roxas motioned with his arm for Namine to come with him, the boy starting toward the room himself. It was time for Sora to fill both of them in on things they had yet to find out. Of course, Roxas hadn't forgotten the "Heartless" bit. He still wanted answers to that.

 

Namine followed behind Roxas, her arms lightly folded across her chest as she entered the room where Sora was waiting. Her eyes immediately found him and they widened, surprised that he didn't look too great.

Sora saw the look on Namine's face, and he offered her a weak smile along with a wave. "Hi," he said, bringing a hand to the back of his head and running it over his spikes. Obviously he had a lot of explaining to do to her; she looked very out of the loop already.

Namine blinked, looking at the boy on the love-seat. "Hi," she said back, though she didn't only say that. "You alright?" He looked pretty beat up, and since nobody had been in contact with her, she had no clue what happened. It startled her, and she wished that somebody would have informed her before this point.

 

Roxas glanced at Namine over his shoulder when she spoke, approaching the couch. He sat back down where he was before, putting his arm up on the armrest once more. He wasn't sure where things would go from here since Namine arrived, but he would turn the conversation back to the Heartless issue if he had to.

 

"I will be," Sora responded simply, giving Namine a nod. It would take a while for him to recover fully, but there was nothing he could do about that, so he wasn't worrying.

"...What happened?" Namine asked, eyes wide with curiosity and concern. "Is Kairi alright?" If Sora was in bad shape physically, then there was a possibility that Kairi was hurt, too. And that definitely spiked Namine's worry, the girl afraid for her best friend.

"She's not hurt," Sora responded calmly, trying to ease Namine's nerves. She was clearly concerned, and after the cryptic phone call he had with her yesterday, she had a right to feel that way. "Have a seat," he encouraged. "I'll explain everything." Roxas would have to be patient and hear it all again for Namine's sake, but he didn't think it would be a problem.

Namine hesitated a second, looking from Sora to Roxas before she noticed the available seat next to Roxas. She walked around the couch and sat down next to him before looking back up at Sora.

 

Roxas looked from Namine to Sora and nodded, encouraging him to tell her what he'd heard himself. He wasn't sure if Sora would put explain it in a different way for Namine's sake, but he was sure she could handle it; Namine was strong. And Roxas knew he would have to wait until things got to where they were before; he could be patient.

 

Sora took a few minutes to explain everything, starting with the phone call and how it had helped him find the general area. From there, he managed to trace Kairi and Nathaniel to an abandoned building, and so on, until the story was complete. Of course, Sora left out the specific battle, just saying that he challenged Nathaniel and won. And after the fight, he took Kairi home, stayed with her for the night, and then returned to his house when she needed time by herself. It was a complex story, but Sora knew how to explain it thanks to him having already told Roxas anything.

When Namine heard that Nathaniel was a Prince, she brought a hand to her lips in disbelief. "I can't believe this," she said sadly, shaking her head and looking to the ground when Sora was finished. Kairi had been deceived all along. Actually, they all had, but Kairi was much more deeply affected than anybody else. Even Sora.

 

Roxas focused on the floor, a frown on his lips after hearing the whole story over again. Namine's reaction was reasonable; it was hard to believe, especially for her. He didn't remember her ever really saying anything suspicious about him, not the way Sora had the first time he was back. Roxas was just happy the jerk was gone. He deserved Oblivion after all he'd done.

 

"I mean, there was always something...off, about him, but..." Namine trailed off, shutting her eyes and turning her head away from the boys when she felt her eyes get moist. Kairi didn't deserve to go through such treachery, and Namine was so heartbroken for her friend's sake that she felt that she might cry.

 

Roxas turned his head to look at Namine, and he instantly lifted his arm and wrapped it around her shoulders. He could see how upset she was by this, the boy knowing that she felt terrible for what happened. It was nothing none of them could control, though; they had all been fooled in some way. "He tricked us all one way or another," Roxas said softly. "It's just sad that nobody could really see it." Roxas, Sora, and Namine all sensed something off about Nathaniel, but Kairi hadn't. That was the saddest part of all.

 

Namine leaned her head on Roxas' shoulder when he pulled her close to him, her arm going over his stomach without thought. "Poor Kairi..." she said softly, looking down at her arm over Roxas. If Namine felt bad just thinking about it, she couldn't imagine the amount of pain her best friend was in.

Sora nodded softly, clenching a fist and shutting his eyes once he lowered his head. Poor Kairi indeed; she was going through a lot of heartbreak over Nathaniel, and Sora may have comforted her at first, but he doubt that opportunity would come up again. Not after he shared the message Leon forced him into passing on.

 

Roxas rubbed Namine's upper arm slightly, moving his fingers slightly over her sweatshirt. "She's going to need you," he told the girl softly. "This is going to be hard for her." It was hard for him to even think of someone doing that to Namine. His eyes looked over at Sora, the boy not knowing how his friend seemed so calm. If Roxas was this mad because of what happened to Kairi, he knew he would infuriated if something of the sort happened to Namine.

 

Namine nodded against Roxas' shoulder, feeling his fingers running over her upper arm. She would definitely be there for Kairi; she was her best friend, and there was no way that Namine would abandon her in her time of need. Not like she had when Roxas and Sora first left. At that thought, Namine pulled herself closer to Roxas, hiding her face in his shoulder when a tear left her eye.

Sora furrowed his brows, angry at Nathaniel for all the trouble he caused. But Sora knew now wasn't the time for anger, though he had a right to feel it. Roxas was speaking to Namine about helping Kairi, and he agreed; Kairi would need a good friend during this time. At least Namine could be that support for her.

 

Roxas looked back down at Namine, his arm tightening slightly around her. It was reasonable for Sora to stay with Kairi last night, because she probably needed somebody to be there. Even if it was Sora, who had been gone for a long time. He was sure that didn't matter to the redhead; as long as she had support, it would be easier. Like Roxas told Sora earlier this morning, Kairi was going to need all the support she could get, that way she could recover from this.

 

Namine turned her head out of Roxas' chest, that one tear being the only one that left her eyes. And thankfully, it was on the side of her cheek that was still against Roxas' sweatshirt, so neither of the boys would have seen it. She glanced over at Sora, though, realizing that he wasn't lookin in her direction anyway.

Sora stared down at the couch, unaware that he was being gazed at. There were so many emotions in his heart right now, and he didn't like it. He didn't like being the old, emotional Sora. That was one thing that he was glad changed about him in the past few months; he kept his emotions inside, so nobody could gawk at the things he experienced.

 

Roxas rubbed Namine's shoulder for another minute before he rested his hand there, looking from her to Sora. "Nathaniel didn't think every step through in his plan," he started softly, wanting to get back to the conversation. "If he did, he wouldn't have been surprised when Sora got back."

 

Sora heard his name and he looked up, wiping the emotion off his face as he nodded. Like he had said earlier, Nathaniel hadn't expected him to come back at all, because he had been hoping the Heartless would kill him off. Sora was still in shock of the fact that the Heartless had been summoned to lure him away from Kairi. And unfortunately, it had worked.

Namine looked up in time to see Sora nod, the girl able to connect the dots from what she had heard and from what Roxas had just said. Nathaniel hadn't been prepared to fight Sora, which was a little surprising. After all, Nathaniel knew Sora's identity the moment he saw the Keyblades; why hadn't be been ready for a battle?