Fast Food Madness: The Epic Return V2

Riku heard Aerith's words and found a small wave of relief washing over him. He lifted his sight and walked over to the table Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith had been sitting at before, pulling out a chair and sitting himself down.

 

Aerith looked at Sora for a second longer after his eyes closed before her own fell shut as well. She focused her energy and her hand glowed with a faint white hue, the brunette entering Sora's mind again. She saw the darkness that surrounded everything, and her magic started to cut through the thick layer of blackness.

Sora's eyes bolted open the moment Aerith's light started to cut through the darkness, instinct taking over as the pain felt like a knife in his head. He lifted a hand and grabbed Aerith's wrist, taking it off of his forehead. And then he lowered his head and gripped it tightly with both his hands, a gasp of pain leaving his lips. What...was that? It hurt even more than what he was already feeling!

Leon tilted his head in concern, seeing Sora end the treatment before Aerith could get too far. Apparently whatever was going on inside Sora's head didn't want to be healed. That would only make things more difficult for them, then. But knowing Aerith, she could find a work-around.

 

Riku had been observing, and he furrowed his eyebrows. "What happened?" he asked, his tone somewhat tense from the scene that had unfolded, and from Sora's current position. He watched as Yuffie patted his back, but he didn't think that would help much. His aquamarine eyes darted to Aerith, curiosity and alarm in his gaze.

 

Aerith looked away from Sora, giving him privacy to get a grip on his pain. She looked over at Leon and Riku at the table, able to tell by Riku's tone that he was very concerned. "The spells themselves are cast in a way so that they're not easily undone," she explained. "There's a lot of darkness that serves as a wall to protect the spells, and when somebody tries to break through that initial wall, well..." she motioned slightly to Sora with her hand. "Something like this happens."

Leon furrowed his brows, looking from Sora to Aerith. So what did this mean? Did it mean that the spells were unbreakable, and Sora would be in pain forever? Or did it mean that there wasn't a simple way (or any way) to cure this? He kept his thoughts to himself, concerned eyes going back to Sora.

 

"So he ends up going through more pain during the process of breaking the spell..." Riku didn't say it as a question, but his tone held disgust. He shook his head. "Figures. The Heartless weren't letting up on him at all." He remembered how much Sora struggled to control the illusion, and even if he did do it once, it came right back even harder.

 

Aerith nodded, agreeing with what Riku said. She had seen how hard the Heartless were on Sora, and she couldn't imagine the pain he was going through. "If I can break through that initial wall, I can undo the chains of the spells that are causing him pain," she continued. She glanced over at Sora then, her eyes showing a bit of hesitation. "...But Sora needs to stay still long enough for me to do that." Clearly that wasn't going to happen, since his natural reflex was to push her away before the true healing could begin. If somebody would restrain him, though, then she could get done what she needed to do.

 

Riku looked beyond Aerith and at his best friend at the words, arms still crossed across his chest. His brows were furrowed in seriousness, but his eyes held concern. He knew how strong Sora was, and he hoped he was willing to deal with the pain to break the spells.

 

Aerith hated to say what she was about to say, but she had no other choice; the longer Sora dealt with the pain, the less likely he was to stay conscious. She didn't know exactly what would occur when that happened, but she had a feeling it would be very bad. "Yuffie, can you switch places with Riku?" she asked the ninja. And then she looked over her shoulder at Riku, her green eyes landing on his aquamarine. "You're going to have to keep him still," she told him softly. "As long as that darkness is in his mind, him pushing me away will be an unavoidable occurrence."

Sora heard the words partially, taking in Aerith's explanations so that he could think everything over later. He wanted to know what was causing him this pain, but he couldn't ponder anything that she was saying at the time.

 

Yuffie nodded wordlessly, pushing herself up from the bed and walking over to the table. She sat in the same seat she had occupied before, her eyes falling on Riku.

Riku nodded once, straightening and walking toward the bed. He sat down where Yuffie had been and reached for Sora's arms, pulling them from his head to his sides. Riku pinned them there, his grip strong on Sora's arms. He looked up at Aerith and gave her a slight nod. "Ready," he said.

 

Aerith nodded in response to Riku, glancing at him before she looked over at Sora. "Sora, this is going to hurt at first," she said softly, speaking to him directly for the first time in a while. "But once I'm past the first layer, the pain should go away. Okay?"

Sora looked at Aerith and nodded, comprehending the words that she had spoken to him. But he wondered which pain she was talking about: the pain of her healing him or the pain of the spells. He didn't have the words to ask the question, so he shut his eyes and exhaled a breath, preparing for the same sharp pain he had felt before.

Leon watched intently from his seat, seeing Aerith set her hand on Sora's forehead. He was sure she would begin again any second now, and hopefully this time, she could finish the healing without any problems.

 

Riku kept his grip on Sora's arms, glancing from Aerith to his friend. From Sora's reaction earlier, he had a feeling that he wasn't going to sit still through the period of pain. The pain darkness could bring was no stranger to Riku; he knew how it felt in similar terms. Regardless, he looked back to Aerith, ready when she was.

 

Aerith shut her eyes once again, her hand on Sora's forehead. She focused her magic and her hand began to glow faintly again, the light attempting to pierce the darkness that was surrounding Sora's mind and partially causing him pain.

Just like the last time Aerith tried to break through the barrier, Sora felt unbearable pain. A ragged gasp of pain left his lips as he opened his eyes, struggling against Riku's grip so that he could take Aerith's hand away from his forehead. The strength of that light against the darkness...it was worse than any pain he had ever felt before. He was afraid he would pass out because of shock, but he somehow managed to keep himself conscious.

 

Riku kept Sora's arms pinned against the struggles. It was obvious that the spell-breaking was painful, but it had to be done.

Yuffie pressed her lips together as she watched the scene unfold before her. There was nothing any of them could do to stop the pain; it was inevitable. Only Aerith could break the spells and rid Sora of the pain for good, but in order for that to happen, he had to endure more of it as well.

 

Sora kept struggling for what felt like an eternity but was really about twenty seconds. He furrowed his brows and clenched his eyes shut tightly at the pain, feeling sweat forming on his forehead. And then, all of a sudden, the pain caused by Aerith stopped.

Aerith exhaled a silent breath, eyes shut as she continued working her magic. She had broken through the outer layer of darkness and now was breaking the chains of the spell. Now that the layer of darkness protecting the spells was gone, she shouldn't have been causing Sora any more pain.

Sora stopped struggling against Riku, his facial expression changing slightly as the pain began to melt away. He wasn't completely aware of what Aerith was doing to cure him, and he didn't care. It was working, thank goodness.

 

After a brief moment of no struggling, Riku slowly took his hands off of Sora's arms, no longer pinning them to his sides. However, he stayed where he was, watching as Aerith continued.

 

Sora exhaled a breath, this one not feeling labored because of pain. All of the excruciating discomfort he felt for the past few hours was melting away, Aerith's magic soothing him and taking away the spells. He felt his shoulders slump and he heard the ringing in his ears fade to a point where they no longer existed.

Aerith easily broke the chains of the spells, the magic disappearing once the spells were dismantled. She didn't have her eyes open, but she could tell that Sora's eyebrows weren't furrowed in pain anymore. She kept her hand against his head for a few seconds longer before she stopped using her magic, able to tell that her work was completed. She pulled back her hand and opened her eyes, gazing at the brunet in front of her.

 

Yuffie remained in her seat, though she was leaning forward in interest. Aerith seemed to be done. Did Sora feel any better?

Riku arched an eyebrow slightly, seeing that Sora appeared more relaxed. Other than that, he wasn't sure how his friend was feeling. Aerith was done, though, so that was a good sign.

 

Sora opened his eyes after a moment, blinking twice to clear a bit of moisture that had gathered behind his eyelids during the procedure. "Thanks," he breathed, looking at Aerith in front of him. She had completely taken the pain away, and he knew that he was free of the spells that had been cast on him.

"How do you feel?" Leon asked from his spot at the table, eyes surprisingly soft as he looked over at Sora. He wasn't one to show gentleness, but after everything, the kid deserved it. He wished Sora hadn't gone through the extreme pain at all, but he was glad he seemed better now.

 

Yuffie smiled slightly. "You look better," she chimed, though Leon's question still hung in the air. But she wasn't lying; Sora really did look like he was in better shape than before.

 

"Good," Sora said, responding to Leon's question. "It's completely gone." He turned to look at Aerith again, giving her a weak smile of gratitude. He was very thankful that she had helped him with this, but she wasn't the only one. He turned his head to the side and saw Riku sitting beside him, the brunet instantly recalling all the help Riku had been.