Fast Food Madness: The Epic Return

Sora turned to face the girl beside him, his eyes immediately finding hers. "Yeah, Kai?" he asked quietly, matching her tone of voice.

 

Kairi tucked hair behind her ear, a habit she had recently inherited when she was either nervous or shy. She was pretty sure which one was showing at that moment. "What...exactly happened yesterday?" she asked hesitantly, afraid that the news would be worse than she thought.

 

Sora looked away, his eyes wandering down and then over to the television. "Um..." he started slowly, uncertain. He reached across Kairi's lap and grabbed the remote, which was on the other side of her. He held it in front of him and then pushed the power button, turning off the TV. If Kairi really wanted to know, then he would tell her. But he would tell her with no distractions. "...Are you sure you want to know?" he asked softly, his eyes going up to hers and then back down to his lap again.

 

Sora's hesitance made Kairi feel uneasy. Could it be that disturbing? "Yes..." she answered slowly, eyes softening in more concern. By the way he made it sound, she probably wasn't going to be happy about it, but she felt she needed to know; he suddenly disappeared on her the day before, and it had frightened her. It would only be fair for her to know the truth...right?

 

Sora nodded faintly, not looking Kairi in the eye. He couldn't bear to, knowing that the truth would upset her. But being kept in the dark would upset her more. Maybe, anyway. The truth was pretty bad...Sora inhaled a breath and then started. "I was just finishing hiding the last guard when somebody came at me from behind. He didn't hurt me, he just put a hand across my mouth and a gun to my head. He took me back to this other room where a bunch of men were gathered."

 

The mention of a gun period made Kairi tense. She never did like that weaponry, but she continued to listen, despite her fears.

 

Sora kept his gaze downward, still not daring to look up at Kairi. He wasn't sure when he would feel comfortable looking up at her again. However, he didn't dwell on this--he continued speaking, hoping to get it over with. "They discussed what to do with me--like keep me alive or not--and then the knocked me over the head and hooked me up to this...thing. I don't even know how to describe it." Sora took in a breath, trying to phrase his words carefully. "Whatever it was, it was what they were going to use to take Namine's powers. I'm just glad it didn't come to that for her..." he trailed off, thinking of how excruciatingly painful it had been for him.

 

Kairi felt her eyebrows furrow at the news, the girl gazing at Sora with intensity, wonderment. "What did it do to you?" she asked, unable to identify what tone her voice was taking on. She couldn't even describe the emotions within her at this point.

 

Sora looked up at Kairi, mentioning something he forgot before. "It basically electrocuted me," he said simply, looking in Kairi's eyes before he lowered his gaze again. "Eventually, they turned the machine on too high and..." Sora cut himself off, deciding to say it in a way Kairi would understand. "Kairi...do you remember when we fought the darkness in your heart?"

 

Kairi's eyes represented her sorrow, fear, and concern combined. "Yes," she answered softly, simply. She was too shocked to say much else, taking all of this in, absorbing it.

 

Sora shrugged slightly, clamping his hands together in his lap. He kept his gaze downward, hearing the concern in Kairi's voice. She didn't even know the half of it... "Well," he continued, ending his thoughts. "Somehow the machine overloaded and exploded. And it released a dark version of myself into the world. It wasn't just a battle in my heart, Kai, it was a real battle, right there in the castle."

 

Kairi's eyes widened, her sight glued to the side of Sora's face. "What?" The word just spilled from her mouth; she couldn't control the immediate reaction. A...real battle? His darkside was literally...alive?

 

Sora nodded, shifting his hands slightly. He didn't like what he was about to say next, but in order for Kairi to know and understand, he had to say it... "He had me beat, Kai," he said softly, nearly whispering. "I couldn't defeat him on my own. I was too weak from--" He wisely stopped himself, knowing that he had already said more than he would have liked to have.

 

"You mean...you almost lost?" Kairi checked softly, turning a little more toward Sora. She wasn't liking the way this story was beginning to turn out. It was depressing, upsetting. How...how could this happen? Why did it happen?

 

Sora swallowed, leaning forward on his seat. He let his elbows rest on his knees, his hands still clamped in front of him. "Yeah," he said, having a hard time admitting that. Not only was it embarrassing to lose a fight, but he also knew the seriousness of what could have happened if he did end up failing. He, the real Sora, would have died.

 

Kairi's eyes followed Sora's movement, eyebrows furrowing. "Then how did you beat him?" she asked. She was positive now that her emotions were beginning to show through her tone. It was undeniable how upset she was; things like this never went over well with her--it hurt a lot to hear about it, especially when it involved Sora.

 

Sora unclasped his hands, and then re-clasped them. "Roxas found me," he responded. "Roxas showed up, understood enough of the situation, and then helped me." Sora furrowed his eyebrows slightly, thinking of the wound he got on his side from the flaming Keyblade. I probably have a new scar, he mused, completely unamused.

 

Thank goodness, Kairi thought to herself, exhaling softly. If Roxas hadn't shown up... She didn't want to think about what could have resulted from that. Instead, the girl lifted a hand and set it on Sora's shoulder, not knowing what else to do. Kairi was upset. There wasn't much she could say without making things worse.

 

Sora exhaled a breath at Kairi's touch. "The rest you know, more or less," he said. "Roxas and I eventually took him down; you called, then we came to you and Namine." He blinked, staying in his current position and staying very tense. He didn't like that he had just told Kairi all that, but at least he didn't tell her about the most prominent wound he had. However, since he was always honest with her, he would tell her if she asked.

 

Kairi closed her eyes, squeezing Sora's shoulder. Despite her feelings of curiosity and wonderment, she knew that this story wasn't going to be one to her liking. She brought herself into the emotion-filled mess that she was experiencing now, so she couldn't cry. But that didn't mean she wasn't upset enough to. What had happened to Sora was terrible, and very frightening.