Fast Food Madness: The Epic Return V2

Roxas stood there in the freezing cold, watching the two adults in silence. He didn't hear anything, but could only witness it with his eyes. He saw Namine's father open her door and then turn back to his wife, and then he reached into the backseat. Roxas could only remain still, knowing the sight of the third person in the car was going to make him feel pain.

 

Namine felt herself being lifted out of her seat, but she was too out of it to realize that her father had her in his arms and was bringing her out of the car. She tiredly leaned her head against his shoulder, faintly aware of the cool air surrounding her now.

Namine's father had a firm but gentle grasp on his daughter, the man looking down at her for a moment as he held her in his arms. He lowered his head and gave Namine a kiss on a the top of her head, allowing himself to stay in that position for a few seconds. He wished that he could take away all the pain that his daughter was experiencing, and he was doing everything he could to make her feel better as she went through all her troubles. He didn't know details about all of them, but he knew enough to understand that Namine had been going through a lot of awful things lately.

 

Roxas's eyes softened at the sight of Namine, asleep as her father held her. After all the mistakes he made recently, the blond could only wish he was the one holding her. She probably didn't even want to see him after all he'd done to her. He stood there for a few minutes, his eyes locked on Namine in the darkness of the night, before he turned around silently and headed back in the other direction, going home.

 

Namine came out of her slumber a little bit, recognizing her father was now carrying her inside and into her home. Once she was laid down onto her bed and covered with sheets, her parents finished unloading the van, and then went to bed themselves.

 

The next morning...

Roxas waved briefly at his adoptive mother as he passed the kitchen doorway, shoes and jacket already on before he stepped out of the house. He was going on a walk again, but had a destination. Namine's house. It was where he had wound up for the past week anyway, which meant there was something he obviously had to do. He needed to apologize, in person now. The phone calls obviously weren't enough...

 

Namine waved to her mother in the kitchen, seeing her cleaning up from the breakfast they had eaten together as a family. "I'm gonna go to the park for a little while," she told her. "I'll have my phone on." She wasn't expecting any calls, and if they were from a certain somebody, then she would probably just ignore them. But she needed a way to contact her parents in case of an emergency, especially since she wasn't taking Ty, which meant she would be completely alone.

 

Roxas cut across his yard as usual and started in the direction of Namine's house. He had a blank expression, aware that there was no reason for him to be sad. He did this to himself, after all.

 

After another minute or two of speaking with her mother, Namine walked out of the house with a book in large handbag. It was empty, meant to be used as either a journal or a sketch pad. She wasn't sure which she would use it as today, or if she would use it at all. Either way, she wanted to have it with her. She exhaled a breath and walked toward the park, only taking about ten minutes to reach the place.

 

It didn't take long for Roxas to reach Namine's, but it did take him a moment to compose himself enough. After a minute of lingering at the end of the walkway, he sighed and made his way to the porch, skipping up the steps and approaching the door. He rang the doorbell, a little nervous. Calling Namine was one thing, seeing her was another.

 

Namine looked around the snow covered area, her eyes finding the place where she normally went, whether she was by herself or with her friends. She frowned at the memory of her friends, casting away the thoughts. She walked down the path a bit, seeing from her position that the bench was free and wasn't covered in snow.

 

After a somewhat awkward conversation with Namine's father, Roxas found out that she was at the park. He was on his way there now, only a block or two away. He passed people on the sidewalks and heard the cars, but he didn't pay attention to any of them; he was too focused on his thoughts. What was he going to say to Namine? Would she even want to talk to him? To even see him?

 

Namine walked over and then sat herself down on the bench, the area around her pretty quiet. Across her on the other side of the pond, she noticed a few children having a snowball fight. She felt her eyes soften in sadness, the girl recalling a fun period when she, Roxas, Kairi and Sora had a snowball fight. Those memories couldn't be recreated in the present, and that was what made her feel sorrowful.

 

Roxas continued down the street, his ears and nose numb from the cold. But it didn't stop him and make him want to turn around. There was a problem here, one that he caused with his new, darker personality, and he needed to fix it before it became worse. He wasn't sure if that was possible; the problem was already bad enough. The boy crossed the street alongside strangers, a block away from the park now.

 

Namine had a dark purple and scarf on, along with a warm black coat and a pair of jeans. It was cold out, but she didn't focus on that, already in her thoughts. She set down her bag and pulled out her book and a pencil, opening it up as an idea came to her.

 

Roxas reached the park in a short minute, instantly walking along the path that went around the park. His eyes gazed around the park, hoping to see some sign of the girl he had so many strong feelings for. A week ago, they had been negative feelings, but now they were the opposite. He had made a mistake, and that in turn took a toll on their relationship. Hopefully, if he got the chance to talk to her, Namine wouldn't try walking away. That would make him feel so much worse.

 

Namine kept her head down, writing down words that came to her. She liked writing music these days, most of them sounding a bit sad because of everything. But she wrote a lot of songs about losing a loved one, mainly her grandfather. It was like she was mourning for her loss all over again, but this time, she was mourning alone. She didn't let anybody know how much she was grieving except for Chad. But he was states away, so it didn't really matter.

 

Roxas continued walking, still searching. There were hardly any people at the park due to the weather, but that obviously didn't stop some people from showing up; while he looked for Namine, he saw people building snowmen and making snow angels, while others had snowball fights. He was about to smile faintly at similar memories of his own, but he discovered that they didn't really mean anything to him anymore. He had been living through a false identity and personality, which meant none of that had really been him.

 

Namine stopped writing after a minute, setting down the papers and pencil on the bench beside her. She wished that her grandfather was there with her; though she had only known him since she was adopted into the family, it felt as if they were great friends. He had a great sense of humor, and he always had a way of making Namine smile in a way she couldn't with anybody else, not even Roxas. She missed him terribly, and she would do anything to have him back.

 

Roxas stopped short, both his feet and thoughts halting. His eyes gazed off the path and near a tree, spotting the familiar long blonde hair on a bench. He stood there, frozen, not sure what to do. He couldn't get a clear view of her face, only seeing a little bit of the side. It was enough to tell Roxas that he couldn't pester her, not when she looked at peace.

 

Namine looked out at the area in front of her, starting to think. She felt as if she had gotten over the grief of losing her grandfather, but it returned on Christmas day when she realized she had gone a year without him in her life. And now, that grief was holding on. She almost wished that they could switch places; these days, she was the one without much life. Her grandfather, though, had been full of life every day he walked on the Earth. In that way, she was jealous of him, since she always wanted to be sunshine to the world like he was to her.