Fast Food Madness: The Epic Return

Sora released Kairi as well, bringing his hands back to his side. He gave her a very weak smile before turning to look in Roxas' direction, seeing the door to the hangar was open. A soft roar entered his ears and he turned around, seeing the building smoking. Then realization hit him hard: if the floors collapsed, it could crush the gummi ship, leaving them stranded on some strange planet. He didn't bother explaining his thoughts to his friends, knowing that they trusted him completely. He hurried into the building, the ship right where they had left it.

 

Kairi followed Sora without question, knowing Roxas was coming up at the rear with Namine safely in his arms. They were about to leave, and she couldn't wait to get off this world.

Roxas hurried after his friends. He couldn't be patient anymore with waiting to get off this horrible place. He needed to get Namine home, to a bed where he could take care of her.

 

Sora hurried over to the ship, feeling the ground shake slightly beneath his feet. It switched from a jog to a run when he suddenly got a sense that the roof would give out. He opened the side door so Roxas could get Namine in and moved over to the other side to get into the pilots seat.

 

Kairi quickly ran to the ship, but stalled to let Roxas in first. As soon as he entered the ship she followed, shutting the door behind her before getting into a seat and strapping herself in.

Roxas realized by the ground's movement that they needed to get out of here, and fast. He gently but quickly placed Namine in one of the seats next to Kairi and buckled her in. He then took the seat near Sora, preparing himself for flight.

 

Sora finished strapping himself in a moment before Roxas and turned on the ship, the engine taking a moment to start. He impatiently waited for a few seconds before pulling back on the shift. The ship slowly moved forward, eventually picking up speed as it moved toward the exit. But something fell from the ceiling in the room, crashing into the back of the ship. "No, no," Sora muttered desperately, altering the controls to regain control of the ship.

 

Roxas glanced behind him, to the back of the ship. That didn't sound good, and neither did Sora's murmurs. Whatever happened, he hoped it didn't seriously affect their take-off.

Kairi felt herself get nervous, but she had the utmost confidence in Sora. She knew he could handle this situation and take control of the ship.

 

Sora flew the ship out of the hangar a second before the entire building collapsed. He looked at the monitors in front of him, breathing a sigh of relief. Finally, something worked in their favor. Somewhat, anyway. It wasn't all right, but it was good enough. "It broke the warp mechanism," he breathed. "The flight back home will take a few hours. I'm setting it on autopilot." He pressed two more buttons before tiredly leaning back into his seat again, his head pounding from the painful hit he took in battle and the nervousness he had experienced just a few moments ago.

 

Roxas breathed a sigh of relief, closing his eyes. They were out of that place, finally. He turned his head to his best friend, a weak smile coming to his lips. "You did good, man," he told him with a nod, grateful Sora had gotten them all out of there.

Kairi exhaled slowly, keeping her eyes in their closed state. Her heart was still racing, but she was trying to calm it. Everything was alright now. Everyone would be okay... Her eyes opened and she turned her head, finding her best friend unconscious in the seat next to her. Well, hopefully everyone...

 

Sora looked over at his best friend and returned the smile with a small one of his own. "Hey, don't start with that," he said softly, his tone a little playful but serious. "I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you." Back there with Dark Sora...things could have ended very badly if Roxas hadn't showed up. And though he didn't say it in words, he knew that Roxas would understand what he was talking about.

 

Roxas let his smile spread into a grin, trying to lighten the mood a little. After a moment he let it soften into his former faint smile, the boy nodding. He understood and would keep everything wordless until Sora told Kairi what had happened himself.

 

Sora's smile softened at Roxas', the teen understanding why the smile wasn't larger. "It's alright to move around the ship now," he said quietly, knowing who Roxas was thinking about. "You can go be near her--if you want to."

 

Roxas let his smile stay in place a moment longer as he gave his friend a grateful look. He unbuckled himself from his seat and pushed himself up, turning and heading behind his seat to get to Namine's.

Kairi caught the movement out of the corner of her eye, looking away from Namine and to Roxas. She knew the reason for him to get out of his seat, and she didn't blame him; it was tragic what happened to Namine. She was sure she'd be the same way if anything of the sort happened to Sora.

 

Sora silently exhaled, facing forward in his seat again. As he unbuckled himself, he could see the stars clearly as the flew through the depths of space, but they didn't bring him peace like they normally did. The teen came to the conclusion that he was simply tired and allowed his eyes to close. He slumped in his seat slightly, hoping his headache would disappear.

 

Roxas made his way over to Namine's seat, crouching down next to her so he could get a good look at her face. She seemed so pale and tired, weak and fragile. He could only pray she would get better; that was all he wanted for her.

Kairi unbuckled herself and got out of her seat, deciding to go look out one of the windows. She had never really had the chance to enjoy a ride on a gummi ship before, and since there was peace among them, it seemed like the perfect oppurtunity.

 

Sora wrapped on hand around his stomach, but that didn't stop his throbbing, aching injuries from plaguing him. He wrapped his other arm around it as well, shutting his eyes a little more tightly. Maybe he could fall asleep. That would take away the pain for a little while. But then again, he doubt he could, since he wasn't completely at peace with the last things that happened with Kairi. He hated that he had to tell her not to embrace him at that moment--it was clearly what they both wanted. But he also knew that his actions at that time had saved all of their lives.

 

Kairi placed her hands behind her back as she gazed out one of the side-windows. The stars were beautiful, her eyes not able to miss them as they glided by. Now she knew why gummi travel was so common amongst those that were aware of them--it was faster, easier, and it was beautiful. She smiled to herself at the thought of how Sora did this so many times before. Kairi wondered if he ever did what she was doing now, and just watched the stars go by.

 

Sora exhaled through his nose, continuing his thoughts. Yes, his rushing did save all their lives, but it still left a bad feeling in his stomach. But he didn't want to approach Kairi or say anything to her about. Things were bad enough with Namine's condition; he didn't want to make things worse. So he would keep his burden to himself unless somebody directly talked to him and he felt it would be alright to just come out and say some things.

 

Her mind still on him, the redhead turned her head to look at the boy. He was still in the pilot's seat, Kairi able to see the tips of his spiky hair over the headrest. She unclasped her hands and started toward him, seeing Roxas brush Namine's bangs away from her face out of the corner of her eye.

 

Sora inhaled and then exhaled, allowing his arms to lie loosely across him. He kept his eyes shut, tired physically and mentally. The only things he wanted now were rest and peace of mind. And a quick recovery for Namine, of course. That was an incredibly obvious desire.

 

Kairi quietly approached the boy's chair, putting her hand on the back of it as she peeked around slightly, hoping she wasn't disturbing Sora. But when she saw how he was lying and that he had his eyes closed, she smiled to herself. She would leave him to rest.