Fast Food Madness: The Epic Return

Sora squeezed Roxas' shoulder in a friendly way, keeping his concerned blue eyes on his best friend. It seemed as if this wasn't over, though he desperately wished it was. He hated seeing Roxas in pain, and whether Riku approved of it or not, he would do anything to keep his friend out of pain. He'd go as far as to die for Roxas, and the silver-haired teen must have understood how serious he was when he said that earlier.

 

Roxas closed his eyes for a moment, squeezing them shut tightly once the words disappeared. What was that? Everything lately... It was just so weird and confusing to him! But one thing was solved in this, and that was what involved Riku. Riku... Roxas lifted his head then, releasing it from his hands. His eyes immediately found the teen only about two feet in front of him, just staring down on him. He was going to pay...for everything.

 

Sora's hand fell off Roxas' shoulder when he moved, but he kept his gaze on him anyway. "Roxas?" he said quietly, worry evident in his voice. Whatever Roxas had just seen must have made him upset again, though that had never really changed. He looked pretty ticked off now, though...

 

Riku continued to gaze down at the blond boy in front of him. He saw the expression on his face suddenly turn toward anger, and Riku furrowed his eyebrows.

Roxas suddenly brought one knee up, planting his foot on the rocky ground. He grunted at the stiffness in his legs, but his eyes stayed on Riku. He glared up at him, his blue eyes sharp with fury. He then continued to push himself up, and as he began to bring his other foot up he summoned Oblivion to his hand. Roxas growled in anger as he stepped toward Riku, the soft sound ending in an infuriated cry as he swung the weapon at him angrily.

Riku's eyes widened once he saw that Roxas was going to swing at him, and he jumped back just in time to dodge the Keyblade. When he landed, he was higher up on the rock, having jumped up the next inclination to the level ground.

 

Sora took in what was going on with wide eyes, the teen rising to his feet without thought. "Wha--Roxas!" he cried, taking a step forward without thought. What was going on?! He may have been angry with Riku earlier, but now he was enraged. This is so bad...

 

Roxas's free hand tightened into a fist as he exhaled heavily through his teeth, the sound coming out as a hiss as he glared at Riku. He heard Sora, but didn't acknowledge him, too mad to really take in anything except for what was going on here...or what had happened a while ago.

Riku summoned Way to Dawn to his hand. It was evident Roxas was ready for a battle, and it was against him. Whatever Roxas had seen, it obviously involved him. "What are you waiting for?" he taunted with a slight raise of his hand and Keyblade, just like he used to do to Sora.

 

"R-Riku!!" Sora hollered in disapproval, hearing the taunt. He could easily foresee what was going to happen here, and it wasn't good. In fact, things would turn out very, very badly. No...No, this can't be happening. My two best friends...two GREAT fighters...This isn't going to end well.

 

Roxas gritted his teeth, growling slightly before he suddenly sprinted forward. He brought his Keyblade back in ready position as he raced up the inclination of the rock. His eyebrows were turned down over his hard eyes, focusing on his target. Riku.

Riku got in his stance, waiting for Roxas to reach him. If a fight was what the Nobody wanted, a fight was what he was going to get.

 

"No!" Sora shouted, standing helplessly where he was. He couldn't even believe this was happening...What triggered this? And what could he possibly say or do to end it? It was at that moment that the answer came to him: Whatever it took. He needed to stop this before something terrible happened.

 

Roxas took one more step before he jabbed the Keyblade forward, a sharp cry leaving his lips. His blade made contact, the earsplitting sound of metal on metal letting him know. Roxas twisted his blade, raising it up along with Riku's, and then swung again. Riku, however, jumped back. He landed gracefully a few feet away before Roxas caught him closing in on him fast.

Riku charged forward, his jaw set. He let out a deep roar as he swung at the Nobody, only managing to have the attack blocked. He spun around quickly in a three-sixty to try and catch Roxas by surprise, but his attack was blocked once more by the blond's Oblivion Keyblade.

Roxas pushed against Riku's blade and noticed that the silver-haired teen was putting forth equal force. Regardless, Roxas pushed harder and managed to get him away. But Roxas didn't hesitate; he immediately swung his Keyblade at Riku's chest, only to see that Riku jumped back slightly to avoid the hit. Roxas didn't let up, continuing to slash at the other Keyblade Wielder with cries of fury.

 

Sora stood there with hands loosely by his sides, his face turning pale. How could this have happened? He knew then that he couldn't move or speak, let alone stop the horrifying fight in front of him. The sight of seeing two of the most important people in his life going at it trying to hurt each other (or worse) was enough to set him in a state of shock.

 

Riku had to dodge each attack, aware of one thing: Roxas's skills had improved considerably. He'd gotten faster, stronger, and his defense was better. What was bad for Riku, was that last time he couldn't defeat Roxas without turning to the darkness. What did that mean for now? Riku suddenly winced at the pain that suddenly came from his upper arm. Briefly glancing down, he noticed Roxas had landed a hit, and Riku hardly ever got hit.

Roxas had noticed that Riku's speed was lagging, so he took advantage of it. He swung at the silver-haired teen and managed to slice him across his arm, and he noticed the shock that came across Riku's face. Roxas let out a cry as he swung Oblivion up, aiming for Riku's torso. However, the silver-haired teen seemed to be on high alert now that Roxas had actually injured him, and he dodged it.

 

Sora's lips parted, the teen trying to find his voice. Whenever he tried to speak though, nothing came out but dry air. No...he thought, spirit sinking. He leaned his side heavily against the wall, sorrow and discomfort reigning in his heart. How could he end this when he could hardly bring himself out of this shocked state?

 

Riku jumped up, flipping over Roxas. As soon as he landed on the other side, he spun around and swung his blade, only to hear clashing metal. He blinked, astonished at Roxas's speed. The blond was turned halfway around, Oblivion blocking Way to Dawn once more.

Roxas smirked in his anger. "Hmph." He immediately shoved Riku's blade away and stepped to the side to swing his own. Riku dodged again and Roxas saw that he jabbed Way to Dawn in his direction, and he ducked down at the last minute, briefly glancing up to see that Riku's blade was stretched out right where he had stood. Roxas gritted his teeth and roared in anger as he swung Oblivion from his spot on the floor.

Riku jumped up, leaping over the attack before he landed back in the same spot, bringing Way to Dawn in a downward arch. He saw Roxas roll out of the way of it but he quickly stepped forward to swing down on the blond again. Riku heard the clash of metal again and saw that Roxas was holding his blade away.

Roxas used both hands to fight off the blade with his own, the tip of the Keyblade inches from his face. He felt his arms shaking from the force of both him and Riku putting their strengths into the block. With a grunt, Roxas managed to force the blade away enough to guide it to the ground beside him. He quickly rolled in the opposite direction, immediately getting to his feet.

 

"S-stop!" Sora cried, the word sounding hoarse. He slunk down against the wall, his eyes staying on the battle. If either of them got hurt more than they already were, then he would take full responsibility. He should be in there, breaking them up himself. But he couldn't...After a moment, he felt something warm touch his hand. Instead of being alarmed at the sudden presence of another person, he turned his head and saw a female lion looking at him with concern. He recognized her as one of Nala's good friends.

 

Roxas took note of his surroundings quickly, seeing Riku pulling his blade back up. His back was to the base of the large rock, and Riku was standing in the middle. Behind him was a part of the rock that grew thinner until it jutted out over the lower level. Other than that, there was a pretty big and open space for him to battle.

Riku stood calmly in his spot, breathing heavily. "You must really recognize me now," he said with narrowed eyes. Roxas had just taken in another memory, and by the way the Nobody was attacking him, it obviously was about him.

Roxas glared at Riku, leaning forward slightly as he hollered back. "You ruined everything! You should've let me do what I wanted!" He had stopped him from pursuing Sora and Kingdom Hearts himself, and captured him, making him believe that this life was real, when it was really fake.

 

Sora listened into the conversation, though none of it made sense to him. His mouth was open slightly, the dry air making his tongue stick to the roof of his mouth. Beside him, he felt the lion keep her head against his hand. "What do I do...?" he thought aloud, speaking very softly.

 

"Going after Kingdom Hearts would have resulted in nothing but your death," Riku replied in the calmer tone he was known for, though he still spoke with some hostility. "I told you that once before."

"So what?" Roxas hollered, eyes full of fury. "If you hadn't stopped me, Axel and I would still be together!" He gripped Oblivion so tightly that his knuckles were white, his other hand in a fist. "If you would have just stayed out of it---"

"You wouldn't be here if I did that," Riku said. "Sora wouldn't either. He'd still be stuck in the pod, sleeping. And if that happened, the Organization would have succeeded in their goal." He stared at Roxas in disgust. "Don't you get it yet? You were a tool to them, even if you were one of them, even if you did belong with them. They would have destroyed you once Kingdom Hearts was completed."

"Shut up!" Roxas screamed, gripping Oblivion with both hands as he raced forward, charging at Riku. He reached him quickly and swung as hard as he could, however his blade only came in contact with air. Looking up with angry eyes, he saw that Riku landed just a few feet in front of him.

 

Sora looked back up, hearing the words. So, Roxas had wanted to go after Kingdom Hearts himself? That didn't make much sense to him; there must have been something missing he didn't now about. At this point, he was getting used to it. Something he could never get used to, though, was his friends fighting nearby. They were both in serious danger of hurting each other, and both of them were too furious to see that this fight was unnecessary.

 

Roxas's eyes widened in shock when he saw how fast Riku was closing in on him, and the next thing he knew, he rammed into him. Roxas grunted from the force of impact, and then winced when he felt the back of his head bang into something hard. In his daze, he noticed that he was being held against the base of Pride Rock by Riku, the blond somehow having brought his Keyblade up to keep Riku's from touching him. But it wasn't working so well, because Riku was holding him back, blade on blade.

"The only way to get Sora's memories back was getting you," Riku told Roxas darkly. "And that's exactly what I did. He couldn't exist without you, and I wasn't going to let my best friend die because of some selfish Nobody and his naive plans to go after something that would only result in death."

"Shut up!" Roxas hissed, the haze in his head beginning to clear. "You don't know what I had to give up for that, or what I was risking. You don't know anything about me! Stop acting like you do!" Roxas gritted his teeth and growled as he began to force Riku's blade off him, and after a few seconds, he succeeded. The force of the shove caused him to step forward as Riku jumped back.