Fast Food Madness: The Epic Return

Namine felt tears reappear in her eyes, proving that her attempt to be apathetic wasn't working. She finally looked over at Roxas, the look of pure sorrow and pain in her eyes. "Please don't talk to me like that," she whispered, pleading him to stop acting the way he was.

 

Roxas looked at Namine in disbelief. "You expect me to be respectful to you when you won't even look at me, Namine?" he said then, eyes bright. "If you think things have changed that much while I was gone, think again. I may be different, but I still believe in fairness."

 

Namine bit down on her trembling lip, only releasing it when she spoke. "Then please be fair to me," she said softly. "...The reason I wasn't looking at you was because you forced the truth out of me and that hurt...You're hurting me, Roxas." She had trouble saying the last few words, because she had never had to say them before.

 

Roxas flexed his jaw and looked away, exhaling heavily through his nose. This definitely wasn't working out in his favor, but did anything anymore? And now he was hurting Namine, something he swore he would never do to her before. But that was the old him, the "fake" him. What would the new Roxas do? This. This is exactly what he would do.

 

Namine looked away when Roxas did, her eyes falling on the couch she sat on. A long time ago, after she had first been hurt by Smith, Roxas had promised to never frighten her or make her cry. He had done both in the span of one night. She kept the sad realization to herself, knowing that she wouldn't willingly lash out at somebody she loved, even if he was causing her extreme pain.

 

Roxas lowered his sight to the floor, realizing one thing. "Seems like I can't do anything right anymore," he said, mostly to himself but he was sure it was loud enough for Namine to hear. First it was how he handled regaining his memories, then it was how he chose to act regarding his anger toward Riku. Then he couldn't "get over" the fact that he didn't have answers to his questions. Roxas was forced to leave, something he was against, and now he was hurting Namine. Fantastic.

 

Namine lifted her gaze to the wall, hearing Roxas' soft words enter her ears. "I know the feeling," she said quietly. Whether the words were spoke to her or not, she had responded, because she knew what it was like to have nothing go right.

 

Roxas closed his eyes, shoulders sagging a little. What was he supposed to do? Supposed to say? This would have been so much easier for the "old" Roxas; he always knew what to do and what to say to make Namine feel better. But now, Roxas wasn't doing anything but hurting her and pushing her away. That wasn't right.

 

Christmas was only a few days away. Namine couldn't have felt more alone. Or more broken. Nobody could fix it, and she wasn't going to put the effort into trying to make things better. Life would take whatever course it would, and it would do it by itself. Namine was done trying to sway fate. If her fate was to be miserable, then she would accept it because she had no other choice.

 

"Sorry...for hurting you," Roxas finally said, finding his voice. He scratched the side of his head. "I don't mean to. I just..." How could he explain what happened? There was no simple way about it, and right now... Roxas didn't think it was a good time to describe anything.

 

Namine looked over at Roxas when he spoke, recognizing that her not looking would offend him. Even if she didn't want to look at him because she feared being hurt, she had to look at him. Because what she felt didn't matter. "What?" she asked quietly, saying the word when Roxas trailed off.

 

Roxas closed his eyes and frowned, running his fingers through his hair repeatedly as he tried to think. "I... While I was gone, I..." No, he couldn't do it. Not now. There was something stopping him, and he wasn't sure if it was the fact that he couldn't come up with the right words. Roxas sighed. "Never mind," he said. He flicked his eyes to Namine's and froze. Those lovely, sky-blue eyes... They weren't the ones he was so used to seeing; they were tainted, broken.

 

Namine held Roxas' gaze for a moment, nodding slightly when he changed his mind. "Alright," she said quietly. She wouldn't push the subject. If Roxas wanted to say something, then he would. He had done it earlier in the conversation, and she didn't doubt he would do it again.

 

Roxas looked away, suddenly feeling very uneasy and even more agitated. "Um...I think I should go," he said softly, letting his hand drop from his head. "I'll...see you later." He glanced up at Namine one more time before walking past the couch and out of the room, approaching the front door. He slipped on his shoes and grabbed his jacket, opening the door and stepping out, pulling it shut behind him without waiting for a response.

 

When Roxas was out of her sight, Namine looked down at her knees, a soft breath leaving her. "Things will never be alright again," she whispered, verbally acknowledging the thoughts she had been pondering earlier. Roxas...She didn't understand. At this rate, she didn't think that she ever would. He had never walked away before. It broke her heart that he had done just that.

 

Roxas's pace didn't slow as he walked to the sidewalk and headed for his house. He slid his jacket on and zipped it up, tucking his hands in the pockets. A heavy sigh left him and he lowered his head. Things are really messed up here too, he thought. Was he ever going to catch a break?

 

Out of habit, Namine rose up from the couch and walked toward the piano. But when she sat down and set her fingers on the keys, she realized she either didn't want to play or she couldn't. Maybe it was both. She stared ahead of her blankly, silence surrounding her. It's over. I don't care. I'm done. She didn't know what she was referring to specifically, but she couldn't face life anymore. It was too hard.

 

Roxas continued walking, turning a corner at the end of the street. Whatever. He'll deal, just like he always did; like he had to do for the last month. Everything had started going downhill the day he arrived in Agrabah, but it was when he got all of his memories back that things truly started to go wrong.

 

Namine blinked when a sound entered her ears. The chime was a familiar one, even if not many people had reason to use the device that made the noise. It was the doorbell. Roxas? Maybe he had changed his mind and come back. He must have locked himself out by mistake...The bond girl rose to her feet, exiting the living room and heading towards the front door.

 

Roxas's feet stopped moving, the boy standing in the middle of the sidewalk. No. He wasn't going to let things end this way. He and Namine never let things go this far, ever. And he wasn't going to lose her because he was being stupid and walking away from this problem, among the many others he had to face. Roxas may have had a different personality, but he wasn't an idiot.