Fast Food Madness: The Epic Return

Sora winced, the memories flickering out of existence. Only blackness was left, showing that he had remembered everything there was to recall. He also thought he heard footsteps reverberating across an empty room. However, he didn't care about that. Kairi...how could I have ever forgotten you? Magic or not, it was actually a challenge for me to remember your name. How could this have happened? He groaned and released his head, hands falling down by his sides as the side of his head leaned against one of the walls.

 

Roxas approached Sora just behind Riku, the two of them casting slight shadows over him. He knelt down in front of his friend while Riku stayed standing. "Sora," he called, staring at his friend. He wondered if he was okay. This was the final floor. Were his memories through?

 

Sora heard the voice, though it was dim in his head. Somebody was calling out to him, but he couldn't respond. His eyebrows returned to their normal positions as the pain faded out of his senses, as well as everything else he sensed, the brunet fading out of consciousness.

 

Riku arched an eyebrow when his friend didn't respond. "Sora," he called, his voice louder and more strict than Roxas's. When there wasn't a response, it was obvious what had happened. "He's unconscious. We need to get him out of here."

Roxas looked up at the older teen. "Where should we go?" he asked. He hadn't an idea on what should happen now, other than that he agreed that Sora needed to leave this place. They all did.

Riku bent down and grabbed Sora, managing to pick him up and hoist him over his shoulder. Standing up straight, he kept a secure hold on Sora. "We'll figure it out," he said, looking at the now standing Roxas. "Let's go." And with that, they started out of the castle in silence, and never planned on coming back.

 

Two Days Later

Sora groaned, rolling over on the soft bed that belonged to none other than Merlin the Magician. Unknown to him, Riku and Roxas had managed to make it out of the Castle with minimal fighting and somehow, Riku had come with the idea to take him to Hollow Bastion. He must have remembered that Sora had many intelligent friends here. After he had passed out in Castle Oblivion, his friends were worried. But he hadn't woken up since then, so that was another thing that he didn't know. One thing that he did know, though, was that his memories concerning the Castle were now complete. And he was wishing he hadn't gone at all, for it had put him and his friends through a lot of pain.

 

Roxas walked through the halls of a strange building of a world he had never been to before. It wasn't until Riku had pointed it out that he knew where he was: Hollow Bastion. When they first arrived, he followed Riku to a place a little farther than the Square. They had arrived in front of a small house and when Roxas knocked on the door, he was greeted by a man with a long white beard. He had no idea who the old man was, but he explained who he and Riku were and the situation, and instantly the man let them have Sora rest in his home. Now, after meeting Leon and Yuffie, and finding out that the old man was actually a magician named Merlin, Roxas found himself following Riku down halls to where Ansem's computer was supposed to be held. "Also known as DiZ," Riku had said. Apparently the computer had some significance to the Heartless situations going on, and Nobodies.

 

Sora furrowed his brows and rolled onto his back, opening his eyes as he set his hands firmly on the bed beside him. He sat himself up, eyes widening beyond their normal width when he inspected the area around him. Huh? I'm in Hollow Bastion. He winced and brought a hand to his head, feeling as if he were in a daze. What...?

"I see you're awake."

Sora turned his head at the voice, seeing a familiar friend sitting at the table across the room. "Leon?" he said, the question already being spoken in his tone of voice. What am I doing here?

 

Riku was pleased to see that no foes had bothered them during their journey through the winding halls to Ansem's computer room. He wanted a break from fighting, even for just an hour or so. The last two days, after bringing Sora to Leon, Yuffie, and Merlin, involved fighting the Heartless; this place was getting bombarded with them as well. Regardless, Leon suggested they check out the computer to see if they could get some help from it. As Riku pushed the door open, discovering Ansem's "office", he hoped the computer would give them some decent answers. He did as Leon had instructed, walking over to the left wall and pressing his hand against it to uncover a secret entrance. He could sense the surprise from Roxas and turned his head to him, smirking. With a "hmph" of amusement, the silver-haired teen continued forward, reaching the computer room.

 

"You passed out in Castle Oblivion," Leon said casually, his voice laid back. "Riku and Roxas brought you here." He leaned forward, arms on the table as he watched Sora from his spot. The brunet didn't appear to be too well, but that was to be expected after being unconscious for the past two days.

"Riku...and Roxas..." Sora said, furrowing his brows at the thought of them. He winced and brought a hand to his head, having a splitting headache. Despite that, he tried to get a better understanding of the situation. "When'd that happen?"

"Two days ago," Leon responded, speaking facts. He had never been one to use ten words when one would do, and that hadn't changed even with Sora. He may have spoken more often and less monotonously with Sora, but old habits died hard.

Sora's eyes widened, the teen gripping his head more tightly. "Two days?!" he repeated, shocked. But it hardly felt as if he were unconscious at all! He had seen the last memory of the Castle, and then...and then everything just went black. And he had found himself waking up here in Hollow Bastion. Unbelievable. But completely true, unlike everything else I've learned recently.

 

"Ansem..." Roxas said, eyes wandering the computer room. He noticed Riku didn't pay attention to the details and instead headed straight for the computer. "He...apologized to me, didn't he?" His small, slow steps stopped in the middle of the room, the blond turning his head to look at Riku, who simply shrugged.

"From what I remember," the older boy confirmed. "I'm not quite sure what for, but my guess was for all he said about you." He stared at the computer in front of him for a moment, slightly confused. He had never really used one of these things before, but being around DiZ...or Ansem...was enough for him to learn.

 

Leon crosses his arms across his chest, staring at Sora silently. that kid was acting a bit panicky, which was unlike him. He rose to his feet, starting over toward the door. "C'mon," he said, motioning to the door with his head.

Sora looked up at Leon, wondering what he had in mind. But Sora had no reason to ask questions; they were probably going to find Roxas and Riku, wherever they were. He took the movements slowly, having a bit of trouble getting out of his dream-like fog. He turned his feet off the side of his bed, looking down and then releasing a breath. Could he even stand...?

"Gotta get back up on your feet sometime, Kid," Leon said, recalling that Sora hated it when he was called anything but his real name. But he needed him to pull himself together; he was the Keyblade Master. And he had a job to do.

Sora gave Leon a faint glare, but the look dissolved in a matter of seconds. He couldn't afford to have any of his friends angry with him; he needed them now more than ever. He sighed and set his hands on the bed beside him as he pushed himself up onto his feet, successfully standing without assistance.

Leon nodded slightly and then opened the door, heading outside. He heard Sora's footsteps behind him and he wore a small smile. It was time for Sora to get back in the game.

 

"And how he treated me," Roxas added, remembering briefly how harsh and degrading DiZ, or Ansem, had been. "I am a servant of the world. And, if I am a servant, then you should consider yourself a tool, at best." The words echoed in Roxas's head, making him frown. "What did that guy have against Nobodies anyway?"

Riku was studying the computer as Roxas spoke, and he didn't turn around to him when he responded. "Nobodies were the enemy and are the enemy," he simply stated. "There's nothing else to it." He started punching in keys but he growled slightly when he saw the message on-screen. He sighed. "It's asking for a password," he said, referring to the computer.

"But...if he knew that I was different," Roxas started, ignoring Riku's last comment as he stared at the ground, "and that Namine was different, why did he treat us so badly? Why didn't he give us the answers we wanted? That I wanted?" He remembered asking Ansem the questions he wanted answered, but he wouldn't give him any. "A Nobody doesn't have a right to know. Nor does it even have the right to be."He made a sound of disgust at the memory.

 

Sora followed Leon out of the home, shutting the door behind him. Hollow Bastion was strangely quiet as they headed in the direction of the Bailey. Leon didn't have his weapon out, so Sora silently guessed that the Heartless were taken care of in this world. If that were the case, then he was happy for his friends. They deserved a time of peace so they could rebuild their home world.

Leon walked a few steps in front of Sora, not bothering to turn back and see if Sora was alright. It may have seemed like he was being rough on the kid, but Sora wasn't a regular kid. He was the Keyblade wielder, destined to save the worlds. And to do that, he had to stop following childish impulses and grow up. Leon appointed himself to help Sora do just that.

 

Riku sighed, finally turning around to look at Roxas. "Listen, I know you want to know more about what happened back then, but I can't give you all the answers," he explained. Just because Riku had been with Ansem at the time, it didn't mean he was completely filled in on everything either.

"Why not? You were part of his plan, weren't you?" Roxas frowned at Riku, who stood a few feet away. "The spy? The one who kidnapped me and made me forget everything about my past?" He was still ticked about that, not that Riku seemed to care at the time. Or now, it appeared.

Riku furrowed his eyebrows at the words. "Would you get off that already? That's over and done with. Let it go," he replied. He turned his focus back on the computer, searching his brain quickly for the password Leon told him to use. When it came to him, he typed it in.

"I may be a Nobody, but I'm not a heartless one," Roxas stated lowly. He glared at the back of Riku's head. "I can feel emotions, just like you. It's not that easy to get over, not when a part of you was lost because of it." That included a lot of things--his life then, his past self, and his best friend.

 

Still, Sora couldn't help but be distracted away from the world he had grown to miss. A lot was wrong...his memories, for exampe. He had acquired false memories and untrue feelings at Castle Oblivion. It was hard to separate them from reality; almost impossible. And he couldn't just let things be sitting around like that. He needed to sort out his thoughts before they moved on. But he couldn't ask his friends to make that kind of sacrifice for him. They had already put their lives on the line for these memories he got. He was already in their debt, and he couldn't bring himself to ask them for any more favors. This part of his journey was all about him, not involving them much at all.

 

Riku stayed silent, for the first time not really sure what to say. He'd been there, in a somewhat-similar way with the place they had just left, Castle Oblivion. It was him a little bit, but more involved his best friend. Regardless, he didn't push it, because Roxas obviously knew that. Instead, he said, "Maybe the computer can help if you're that interested. I got through the security system." He heard Roxas come up and saw him out of the corner of his eye as he stood beside him. Riku looked down at the screen, many files under his control now.

 

"Still with me, Sora?" Leon called over his shoulder, the two of them having just entered the Bailey. It was unusual for Sora to be this quiet. Normally, he was joking around and getting those around him to laugh with him. Today, though, things felt much more serious.

"Yeah," Sora said, nodding even though Leon couldn't see him. After that very short conversation, they walked in silence again. A few minutes later, they came to the cliff overlooking the empty battlefield were Sora had fought a thousand Heartless.

 

Riku scanned the files, locating those of Heartless, Nobodies, Organization XIII, and Ansem himself. He remembered Leon saying something about how Cid managed to recover the corrupted files, all of which had been except for the file on Ansem the Wise. Riku chose the Heartless file first, and began to read over it in silence.

Roxas read the words on the screen next to Riku, interested. It said that the Heartless have been around long before now, about eleven years back in the past. Roxas was slightly shocked by that news, but he caught Riku tense at the information out of the corner of his eye. Apparently Ansem the Wise and his apprentices created a machine regarding the darkness in people's hearts, and a Heartless was formed. The information was quite shocking, and now Roxas realized why Ansem risked his life to stop Xemnas--he created this mess, and he wanted to help end it.

 

Leon silently started down a freshly made path that headed straight down to the old battlefield. It had been created so that they had quicker access to the open area in the case of an emergency. What emergency were they anticipating? A person being down there alone and being overwhelmed with Heartless.

Sora looked down at the path as he followed Leon, feeling a bit cautious. He sensed an unerving amount of darkness in the air, and he knew it didn't come from his own deep thoughts. But Leon still didn't have his gunblade, so maybe he was worrying over nothing. "Leon, do the Heartless still gather here?" he asked, making his voice sound light and casual.

Leon made it to the bottom of the path first and kept walking, only briefly looking over his shoulder when he answered Sora's question. "Yes," he said simply. He kept walking forward, leading Sora to the center of the large area.

 

Riku's curious eyes quickly read over the article, greatly interested in what all had caused this. By the words, it was Ansem and his apprentices. There were originally Pureblood Heartless, and Riku pictured the Shadows and Neoshadows, knowing they were examples. When Ansem messed with people's hearts, he also managed to come up with the Emblem Heartless. It was obvious what those were, Riku not having really recognized the difference between the two types. They were simply enemies to him. Regardless, he kept reading, interested to learn more.