Fast Food Madness: The Epic Return

Sora summoned the blade away once he was fully upright, turning his attention to Roxas. "I'll survive," he said simply. He was tired and upset and he just wanted to go home, but there was more that needed to be done here. He had some wrongs he needed to make right. "Are you?" he looked at Roxas and then turned his gaze to Riku, clearly being more concerned about Riku for obvious reasons.

 

Roxas nodded. "I'm fine," he answered, eyebrows furrowed slightly after this big situation. He was actually tired and just wanted to rest, but he knew that couldn't be done right now. Instead, he pushed the thought away and turned his head to follow Sora's gaze toward Riku.

Riku summoned Way to Dawn away, a hard expression still on his face after all of the pain and battle he had just endured. Of course, because of that pain, the weakness was still there, but he tried to cover it up. He didn't need pity or worry thrown his way. "I've been better," he answered honestly, his voice strict as he looked at Sora. Riku hadn't forgotten what had been said and done on the previous floor, not that he could.

 

Sora's eyes softened as his gaze went down to the ground, the brunet feeling shame. How could I have been so stupid and selfish? Riku was right; I need to grow up. "Sorry about that," he said softly, genuinely regretful. Looking back now, he would do anything to take back his actions and the harsh words. He didn't care about memories that much anymore. What he really cared about was saving the friendship he had with Riku. If it wasn't already too late to do that.

 

Riku let his eyes wander to the side. "It's alright. I'll deal," he said, some bitterness still in his words. After all of the chaos that had ensued and the memories returned, did Sora still see him as the one who tried to kill him? It happened before, but he had been tricked by Maleficent and under the strong power of Darkness. There had been no way he could have stopped it then, even if he did eventually.

 

Sora shook his head, looking down at the ground. "It's not alright," he insisted quietly. He heard the bitterness in Riku's tone, and he knew he deserved much worse than that for how he had been acting lately. "Everything...It shouldn't have happened. I would take it all back if I had a chance to." Their fight on the last floor, their harsh words in Agrabah...his storming off the Castle Oblivion on his own...He didn't want any of these burdens. But now he was stuck with them, so he had to do his best to deal with the consequences. This time, he would be mature about it.

 

Riku furrowed his eyebrows slightly, still staring at the floor. He closed his eyes after a moment, sighing. "You're right, it shouldn't have happened," he said, his tone still bitter. "If you would have just listened to what I said, there wouldn't have been a problem." Riku lifted his eyes to the younger teen. Sora sounded earnest about what he said. However, with what happened just a floor below, he had been much darker. Riku knew it took some time to turn that mood around. Of course, with Sora, things were always different.

 

Sora kept his head lowered, furrowing his eyebrows over his closed eyes. "I know," he said, voice tight with regret. He didn't care anymore if Riku had been overly rude to him earlier. He was responsible for his own actions, so he wouldn't pin the blame on anybody else. It was his fault, and he would willingly face the consequences of his awful behavior.

 

Riku stared at Sora for a moment, thinking one thing. "You seem different now," he said, voice low. "Does that mean something changed your mind?" He wasn't sure what could have happened on these floors that came back to Sora, because he had never witnessed them. Regardless, there had to be something to change Sora's behavior.

 

"You could say that, yeah," Sora said, keeping his eyes shut and his headed lowered. What had changed was that he saw Riku wasn't lying to him after all, and their fighting was worthless. He didn't want to fight anymore; he wanted his best friend back.

 

Riku crossed his arms and lowered his head, letting the silence linger. He wasn't sure what to say exactly, feeling that maybe Sora had more to say about what had happened. When there was still a silence after a few seconds, he closed his eyes. "You gonna elaborate on that?" he asked, encouraging Sora to continue. He knew it must have been memories, but it wasn't like he knew what exactly happened.

 

Sora opened his eyes but kept his head lowered to the ground, eyebrows furrowed as he spoke. "I should know by now that you're always right and I'm always wrong," he said tensely. There was some anger in his voice, but it was obviously directed at himself. How could I have been so stupid? Riku is always more knowledgeable, about everything. Why couldn't I just trust him instead of believing dumb, fake memories?

 

Riku didn't lift his head at the words, but just stood still. He didn't completely believe that, but something told him to stay silent. So he did, waiting patiently for Sora to continue.

 

Sora shook his head, sighing quietly. "Did you know?" he asked softly. After a moment, he figured that the question was too general, so he decided to rephrase it. "Did you know who I was actually fighting in my memories?" He wasn't sure why it mattered that he knew, but he felt as if he couldn't go on without an answer to that question.

 

Riku opened his eyes but stared at the floor. "Yeah," he answered honestly. He wasn't going to lie about it; Sora didn't need any more trouble. Besides, he had made it pretty obvious that it wasn't him earlier. He had clearly stated that it hadn't been him antagonizing Sora.

 

Sora finally looked up, his fists uncurling and then curling up again slightly. "Riku...Why didn't you at least try to tell me who it was?" he asked. The tone of his voice was one of sadness, not a hint of accusation behind it. He was curious as to why his friend wouldn't share that with him. If he had known, maybe they wouldn't be at this point right now. Maybe he wouldn't have picked a fight. He didn't know any of that now, though, since he was just finding out the truth at this moment.

 

"I tried," Riku answered calmly. "But it wasn't like you would've listened to me. Your determination covered up your sense of thinking logically." He finally lifted his eyes to look at his best friend, letting his arms fall to his sides. "All you could think about was believing your memories, even when you knew that the truth hadn't completely been revealed to you." Riku remembered that he had tried telling Sora that he had no idea what was going on, which was before he realized that it was Repliku who had fought Sora. However, it had seemed as if his friend thought he was lying.

 

Sora lowered his head at the words, realizing that Riku was correct. He hadn't been listening, not really. He had been looking for truth in the wrong places, and now that he knew what the reality of the situation was, he deeply regret it. "Right..." he said, shutting his eyes and letting his hands come uncurled. He could only blame himself for this, not Riku.

 

"Now you understand why I let you go," Riku said, voice low. "I knew that the only way you were going to find out the truth was if you kept going. Even if I hated this place and didn't like what you did to get here, I couldn't find it within myself to stop you." He shrugged slightly, aquamarine eyes on his best friend. "Too much happened here to go on forgetting. I guess, in a way, you made the right decision to come here."

 

Sora shook his head, opening his eyes as he gazed at the floor. "I wish I didn't know what happened here," he confessed softly. "It's only bad...everything that I experienced here was because of fake memories. It screwed me up one time and now it's screwing me up again." He furrowed his brows, his hands becoming fists again. He didn't like the person that he had become to get this point, but it wasn't easy to go back to the person he was before. In fact, it would be impossible to go back. He could only for forward, this time having the knowledge of what happened in this place when he walked out the castle doors.

 

"That's one of the reasons why I hate Castle Oblivion," Riku admitted, the disgust of the place evident in his tone. "It has a negative impact on everyone that enters. Going through the floors a second time couldn't be any better for a person, even somebody like you." Riku was referring to somebody of light. If it had a bad effect on Sora the first time he was here, it wasn't going to be easier the second time around. He himself had been somebody of the dark at that time, and it had been hard on him even then.