Fast Food Madness: The Epic Return V2

Riku met Sora's gaze and simply nodded, his lips turned up faintly. It was easy to see the pain-free look on his face anyway, and the gratitude. Riku wasn't big on the "thanks" though, so the shorter it was and the less sappy it could be, the better. Of course, with Sora, he wasn't so sure if it would happen.

 

"Thanks, Riku," Sora said softly, though he caught the look in his friend's eye that told him a "thanks" wasn't necessary. "I don't know what I'd do without you sometimes." He was a genuine friend, and although he had clearly been shaken up by the events earlier, he pushed it aside for Sora's sake. But he wasn't going to point out anything like that now; Riku hated when things got too sappy.

Aerith smiled softly, silently getting out of her chair to let Sora speak to his friend. She had finished her work here, and the reward was simply seeing Sora without pain. It was interesting, though, how strong the magics were. She would have to make an entry in her journal about this and how to dissolve the spells just in case anything like this occurred to somebody else.

 

Riku simply shrugged, though he had the hint of a faint smile on his lips. It wasn't like he was the only one who helped out sometimes; he remembered how Sora helped him get through a lot of troubles too. In his eyes, they were even.

 

Sora brought a hand to the back of his head, running it over his spiky hair as a sheepish look appeared in his eyes. He looked away from Riku after a moment, looking ahead of him. He noticed Aerith was over by the table writing something in a book, while Leon and Yuffie were just sitting there.

Leon looked at Sora, briefly glancing at Riku before he focused attention on the brunet. "Sora. Riku. Walk with me," he requested, rising to his feet. He had some questions about this Heartless; but for the most part, he wanted the two of them to accompany him to Ansem's computer so that he could input new information about this rare breed. Sora had gone through an awful experience, yes, but they could use it to their advantage now that the trouble was in the past.

 

Riku's faint smile vanished at Leon's seriousness. Regardless, he pushed himself from the bed. Leon wasn't the type to mess around, so he had a feeling that what they were going to do next meant business.

 

Sora looked up at Riku slightly, seeing his friend rose to his feet. The brunet set his hands on the bed and pushed himself up, a little dizzy at first. But he blinked and everything felt fine once again, except for his tiredness. He had been running on adrenaline through the whole thing, and now he wasn't feeling too energized. However, since he could still function, he would do as Leon requested.

Leon headed over to the door, which had been open through everything that had happened. "We're going to Ansem's computer," he told Yuffie and Aerith. "Hopefully it won't take too long."

 

Riku arched an eyebrow slightly in interest. Ansem's computer? This was definitely serious if it involved the device. Riku glanced at Sora before marching forward, following Leon's lead.

Yuffie gave Leon a thumbs up with a smile, the girl happy things were back to normal again. Well, mostly. There were still things that needed to be done.

 

"Be careful," Aerith warned softly, looking over the three boys. Sora was cured, yes, but there were still plenty of things that could go wrong. She hoped her feeling of foreboding was incorrect, but that hardly ever happened.

Sora looked over at the table, catching the seriousness in Aerith's eyes. He nodded slightly, a look of determination appearing in his ocean blue orbs. He wouldn't let anything else go wrong; he had gone through enough trouble lately. He turned and followed Riku out the door, Leon leading them to Ansem's computer.

 

Riku walked alongside Leon and Sora once they were all outside. Things were pretty calm right now, and he was relieved. He hated to admit it, but he was exhausted after the last day or two. Things were rougher than before, but at least he and Sora had the determination to keep going. But a small break, like now, he would take advantage of.

 

Leon turned his head to look over at the two teens walking beside him, figuring he would tell them exactly what he had in mind. This mostly involved Sora, but he felt that Riku would want to tag along after everything hsi best friend had gone through. "Sora, when we get there, I want you to tell me everything you can about the Heartless so I can enter it into the computer." He was always updating the Heartless database on there, and he knew that it would come in handy if anybody ever needed any facts about a certain breed.

Sora looked over at Leon, a bit of confusion in his eyes. "What all do you wanna know?" he asked, uncertain. He had been in so much pain for such a long time, that the details seemed a bit fuzzy now.

 

Riku walked silently, listening to the conversation. It was right of Leon to ask Sora about them, considering he had a very, very close encounter with them earlier. Plus, he didn't really know what had been going on inside Sora's head, and it still caught his interest.

 

Leon looked over at the brunet, his eyes serious. "Anything. The types of attacks they used against you, their strength compared to other Heartless, size, appearance..."

Sora frowned, looking away from Leon. "I couldn't tell you the appearance," he answered honestly. "Riku could say better than I could." During most of his experience, he had viewed the illusion that the Heartless created, not the actual Heartless.

 

Riku glanced at Sora at the words. True, he had been around them longer and overcome the illusions. But still, the breed, much like the other Heartless, was ugly. Thinking of them made him frown in disgust.

 

As they came to the path at the bottom of the Bailey that led to the computer, Sora furrowed his brows. Something had been nagging his mind for a while now, and he immediately recognized it was darkness. He grunted softly and summoned his blade, a Heartless appearing in their path. He recognized it immediately, and his grip on his Keyblade tightened. "Or you could just see for yourself," he said tensely, the surprise of the Heartless appearing being very unpleasant. Though he saw it as Kairi, he knew Riku and Leon probably saw it for what it really was.

Leon's gunblade appeared in his grasp immediately, and he took a step forward, standing in front of Sora slightly. He saw that thing for the beast it really was, and it was hideous. He frowned heavily at it, knowing just how powerful this enemy was because of what he had seen Sora go through just a few minutes ago.

 

Just like Sora and Leon, Riku's weapon came to his hand instinctively at the sight of the Heartless. Riku's eyes immediately darted to Sora, glad to see Leon stepping in. Sora just recovered, and nobody could be sure how he would react now that he met up with the same enemy again.

 

Leon held his weapon in front of him, seeing that the Heartless wasn't attacking right away. Good, that gave him time to say something. "Sora, go back to Merlin's," he ordered, voice calm on the outside but heart racing inside his chest. Sora couldn't possibly handle more pain, and he was concerned about what could happen next.

 

Riku heard Leon's words, instantly agreeing. Sora wasn't in any shape to fight off these Heartless, physically or mentally, again in such a short time. The older teen held Way to Dawn tightly in his hand, prepared to attack if necessary. But he knew two things--one, Leon was most likely going to attack first. And two, the Heartless itself wasn't attacking because it was already trying to cast spells on Sora, again. Riku took a small, slow step forward in caution, his eyes narrowing.

 

Sora glanced at Leon before focusing his gaze on the Heartless again, something snapping in his mind. "No," he said, eyebrows furrowed over his bright blue orbs. He wasn't running away, not this time.

Leon looked over his shoulder at Sora, a look of surprise in his eyes. "What?" He looked at Sora seriously, a deep frown on his face. "Now isn't the time for jokes, Sora. Get out of here!" The kid wasn't thinking straight; he had just nearly been killed by these things, and now he was going to fight one again. He was crazy!

 

Riku glanced at Sora, turning his head slightly. What Sora said... Did that mean he was going to try and conquer the Heartless? By the look on his best friend's face, it certainly seemed like it.

 

"You were the one who tried teaching me not to run away," Sora said to Leon, making his case a valid one. "Right? With fighting the Heartless?" When the older man didn't respond, Sora kept speaking. "Well, I'm done running. I won't be defeated," he said, determination in his voice. He felt the Heartless trying to cast spells on him, but the light in his heart was burning too strongly for him to be influenced by the chains of spells that had held him captive to pain earlier.

"Sora," Leon mumbled in disbelief, glancing at Sora once more before looking at the Heartless. That kid had a solid head on his shoulders, using Leon's own actions against him in a way to prove his point. Now he had no choice but to let Sora face this. But the second it seemed like he was getting hurt by any spells, Leon was taking over.