Thank you all for reading, this chapter isn't nearly as dense as the last two because I wanted a small breather before I get into the two parter in CH4 & 5. Enjoy these stupid teenagers doing stupid stuff in the meanwhile:)
The Girl in the Mansion
With a click of the lock and a trip downstairs, Xion was back in the Twilight Town streets. Though she wasn't interested in seeing the same shops and buildings she always saw whenever she took a walk and decided instead to take a trip into the dense forest that surrounded the old, abandoned mansion. Usually not one of her favorite places to be, but it beat getting seen walking alone by one of her classmates, or worse yet, Roxas.
The forest was a peculiar place, where the light of twilight clawed through the crevices between the flat oak tree leaves to shine down on the forest floor. A single, worn path led to the mansion, it was littered with used magic orbs and food wrappers, sometimes, Xion would even find discarded clothes near the bushes for some reason. Straying off the beaten path would lead into knee-high, thick patches of dark green grass and the occasional mushroom that poked out between the blades of grass.
The thick vegetation was home to hundreds of animal and bug species Xion couldn't help but be fascinated by. She recalled back in her earlier years when times were simpler, all she would do was sit in the forest and investigate the life brimming on the ground beneath her feet. Rumors of ghosts and monsters were what kept her away after all these years and now, she was back.
According to urban legend, the mayor of Twilight Town tried multiple times to mow the law, but each time a team of mowers attempted to tackle the outgrowth, they would mysteriously disappear. Personally, Xion believed the mayor was just too busy blowing the budget on struggle games and alcohol to bother.
"Roxas thinks he's so cool." Xion muttered. "Well I'll show him, I'll be stronger than he ever could!"
Xion approached a lone tree, then reeled her arm back and punched the tree as hard as she could. "Ow-ow-ow!" She fell down on the ground, wincing in pain. 'Guess I have to actually be good at something for me to better than him.' Cusping her hand over fist, she applied cure ointment on the bruise, then stood up.
'Ugh, that was so stupid, it looked a lot easier on TV.' She reached for her bag, prepared to leave the creepy forest, however, something caught the corner of her eye. Something within the mansion. 'Is someone in there? No, I was probably just seeing things.'
Just as she was about to head out, she heard the sound of footsteps echoing from the clearing and quickly hid behind the tree she punched. 'Please don't be people I know!'
Roxas along with a few of the cute boys from her school, walked past, holding their own personalized skateboards and talking about typical things teenage boys talked about.
'Why can't I ever catch a break?!'
"And this is the creepy forest, we hang out here like all the time. Can't believe you never been here before," One of them said. "You hear the rumors about this place, when it's really late out, you can see a girl in the window sometimes."
"That stuff is so not true man, it's just a bunch of ghost stories people make up to sound cool." Another said. "But I got cool stuff that's real and not lame ghost stories."
"Yeah, like what?" Roxas asked.
"Like third tier magic. Since like, no one goes here, it's the best place to use magic."
"'Use magic''?"
"Yeah, yeah, it's technically illegal since you're only supposed to use magic for boring stuff, but that's why it's so fun!" He pulled out a box package labeled 'THUNDAGA—For Industrial Use Only'. "My brother works at a power plant and he was able to get me a few, check this out!"
The boy threw the yellow orb on the ground and it produced a ferocious, powerful flash of lightning that charred the ground black. His friends chuckled with amusement meanwhile Roxas got his classic smirk on his face. "That's nothing compared to actual magic, I'll show you how a real Thundaga is done!"
While her classmates were distracted with Roxas' display of magic, Xion took the opportunity to head in the direction of the creepy mansion in order to distance herself from them, she gave a passing glance to the boys and she went inside. 'Boys can be so stupid sometimes, then again, here I am in this haunted house.'
The mansion emitted a sharp, eerie moan as she closed the giant, wooden doors. Outside was pretty ghastly, but the inside was even worse. Splintered plywood boards lined the floor and shards of glass gathered below the tall window panes where the light of twilight shone through. The infrastructure was still relatively intact, but she could tell no one had stepped foot inside the old manor except for the very brave or the very stupid, and Xion was firmly in the latter category.
'I'm here now, let's see about this urban legend.' Xion made her way up the creaky steps, pushing away the cobwebs that stood in her path, then traversed down the second floor. So far, every room she peeked inside was empty and covered in a thin film of dust. She approached the very last room on the second floor, and much to her surprise, the room was completely white.
Her curiosity pulled her inside the white room, such a jarring contrast from the warm browns and oranges she was so used to seeing. However, the most interesting thing had to be the dozens of pictures taped on the wall and littering the floor, providing the only color in the blank room.
"Do you like them?"
"Aaaaah- oh my god, you scared me!" Xion exclaimed, clutching her chest. "Wh-who are you?"
"Naminé, what about you?"
"Me?"
"Yes, I do believe you owe me that much. Barging in here and everything, have you ever heard of knocking?"
"Oh did I intrude? I'm so sorry for bothering you, my name is Xion."
She laughed. "Relax, it's not a big deal. Let me guess, did someone dare you to come inside? See if there really is a girl in the old mansion?"
"No, I came in myself. I was...bored."
She laughed again. "I'd love to know what you do when you're not bored!"
"Well, I'd like to know why you're here. Don't you have somewhere to be?"
"No, should I?"
"Yeah, you have parents, don't you? They're probably worried about you."
"I think you have to actually have parents for them to be worried."
"Sorry...I guess you're alone too."
"God, I wish, but unfortunately I'm always being hunted down. I hope you can keep our meeting a secret."
"Don't worry about it, I'm good at keeping secrets!"
"Maybe, but you're a terrible liar. You should work on keeping a straight face, you're here because of those boys, isn't it, you didn't want to be seen by them all by your lonesome."
"How did you guess?"
"I'm pretty good with reading people, you could say, and I saw you, I mean, I've seen you around this mansion for a long time now. I've always wanted to meet you, but going out in the open is too dangerous. So I guess you could say today is my lucky day." At the spur of the moment, Naminé took Xion's hands and gave them a tight squeeze. "I'm super glad me and you finally met!"
"Me too... so all you do here in this mansion is draw?"
"Pretty much, it's my one true passion in this world."
"I wish I could draw like you could, or do anything really good."
"Then why don't you try it out, drawing I mean. I'd love to see what you can do."
"...If you say so."
Naminé led Xion to the long table in the center of the room, practically every inch of the table was covered in unfinished drawings that—as Naminé put it, 'didn't get the memory quite right'. Naminé pulled out one of the white, blocky chairs near her end of the table and welcomed Xion to sit down.
She grabbed a few of her mess-ups, then turned it over to the blank side. "I've only ever seen my own dusks draw, so I'm excited to see a real person try it for once. Trust me, whatever you do will be at least be ten times better!"
"That's kind of a lot of pressure, so what should I draw?"
"Good question. You start with something easy—like me! And after you draw me, I'll draw you, fair?"
"Yeah, just don't look or I'll get really nervous."
Naminé nodded, closing her eyes. Xion picked up one of the pencils from the table and started drawing. It was only when Xion got a chance to draw her did she really see who she was; a thin, petite girl, who wore a short, white dress with matching white sandals. Her complexion was very pale, almost sickly looking, a trait that carried over to her platinum blonde hair that was long enough to be swooped past her shoulder, but it barely reached her back.
In a way, she embodied the white room itself, the playful innocence, the blank slate, the mystery. Naminé was the white room and the white room was her—unfortunately Xion couldn't communicate any of her thoughts into an artistic expression and the end product of her drawing looked like someone trying way too hard to avoid the fact that they were bad at drawing.
"Done." Xion muttered. "Sorry, it's not...good."
Naminé took the drawing without as much as a word, her still face soon widening into a beaming smile. "Are you kidding me? This is great Xion! You even gave me a big chest, I'm so keeping this."
Xion's face reddened. "Wha- I didn't mean to draw you like that...ugh, see what I mean?"
"Ok so maybe you're not great with realistic proportions, but what makes it so good is the effort you put into it. I can tell you tried, that's what makes it special to me." Naminé grabbed a paper herself. "I promised I'd draw you too."
"Good ahead, I won't look either." Xion closed her eyes, then not a minute later Naminé sung the word 'done' and she was treated to Namine's own interpretation of her. As she expected, it was stunning. A near perfect drawing, down to minute details, like how one of her eyebrows was shorter than the other and the faded scar on her left cheek from a biking incident, the problem was what Naminé added.
"I was just returning the favor," Naminé supplied when she noticed Xion's face twisting into an awkward expression. "Make sure to show it to all you friends so they get super jealous, you can even pretend you drew it!"
"Uhh, I don't think I want to take the credit from you, but seriously, this is amazing Naminé. Thank you so much."
"Don't mention it..." Naminé abruptly stood up, shaking the table in the process. "Sorry, but I have to leave, I can feel another presence."
"That's ok, I won't let today be our last, I'll come back whenever I can. Maybe you can teach me how to actually draw next time."
"I'd love to, for sure. Just so you know, I wouldn't let anyone else come into this mansion again. My dusks will eat them alive, but I made a special exception for you~"
"Oh uh...thanks." She said quietly, not sure whether to feel flattered or terrified by the strange girl.
Naminé created a dark portal beside the table and Xion watched, mesmerized, as the girl in the white dress merged with the darkness that at some point brought her to the white room, though her presence could never be separated from it.
'If she can do that weird darkness thing, then I guess she's like Roxas. In fact, he's probably the presence she felt, it would be just my luck.' Xion ran out of the room and sure enough Roxas was there, protecting his classmates from disfigured white creatures, which she assumed were the dusks Naminé mentioned. Unlike the heartless, the dusks emitted no such dark energy, no proof of existence at all, it was as if they didn't exist.
A state Xion wish she could be in so the boys wouldn't notice her.
Xion clutched the railing, racking her brain of ways to escape unseen other than to just wait it out with the rats and spiders in the corner who were beginning to become impatient. Kicking away the rats nibbling at her heels, she crept down the hallway, careful not to stir the sounds of the old manor.
"Ok." She crouched down by the banister. "Now I just have to wait."
"Yo dude, you see that girl up there, I think it's the girl from the mansion, bro!"
"Yeah, yeah, she's on the second floor!"
'Never mind about waiting, I'll just have to hide somewhere.' She slipped into the room behind her.
After defeating the final dusk, Roxas turned around. "—What are you guys talking about?"
"Oh huh, she's gone, let's go check upstairs to see if she's there! Maybe she's hot..."
Roxas held out his arm. "Wait up, there could be more monsters up there, I'll go clear them out first." He walked up the stairs, dragging his keyblade along the floorboards. He checked each room for any sign of dusks, then came upon the library. "Xion...what are you doing here?"
"You know, I was here, hanging out with..." She stopped herself. "With me, only me."
He approached the white table where Xion was sitting. "Yeah, I can tell. Didn't know you loved to read so much, hey uh...and another thing, I'm sorry I left you alone like that. It made me feel...bad."
"You don't have to be, I guess I was just being a little selfish to you earlier. I think it's because maybe..." She went quiet, averting her gaze away from Roxas as embarrassment took its toll.
"C'mon? You can't leave me hanging like that!"
"Nooo! I don't wanna say it anymore, you'll think I'm weird or something!"
"I won't—I won't, unless it's like really weird, but even if it is, I think between the two of us, I'm still gonna out-weird you any day."
"Fine, just don't say anything." She breathed out a long sigh. "...I don't really talk to anyone else, you know more about me than anyone in the entire school, this entire world. I Know we haven't known each other very long, and it's not like we can trust each other with our lives or anything—not yet, but Roxas..."
Xion shifted uncomfortably in her seat, a soft blush creeping up her cheeks. "You're my first real friend...that's all I really wanted to say."
"Well you're only my second, so I guess we're both pretty much on the same boat." He smiled at her. "I know, me and you should do something, just the two of us, no stupid boys with us either."
Xion let out a small chuckle. "And what would that be?"
"Maybe like get some ice cream at your place."
"That sounds great, I just hope you're not going there to see a certain someone."
"No-no, why would you say that? I promise we'll be in and out."
"Right, I'll hold you to that."
"I won't let you down, so you ready now? Come on!"
"Ok, I'm coming!" When she walked towards him, Naminé's drawing slipped out from her school blazer pocket and it landed right beside Roxas' feet.
The two stared at each other for what seemed like hours, even though it only lasted a few seconds at most. Roxas pressed his hand on the door while Xion drowned in the embarrassment that washed over her body. The humiliation affecting every limb and organ stiffening her movements, she mechanically picked up the drawing, then tucked it away behind her growing bookshelf.
"Nice picture," Roxas finally said.
A/N: To clear up any confusion, in this world, magic is like a household item, that's how commercialized it is. Using magic for anything other than its intended purposes, especially as a weapon is completely illegal because it's still hella dangerous
And another thing, the real in game twilight town is pretty small, so I've expanded the world a great deal so it feels like a real actual town. While there's probably not a skatepark or anything in the real twilight town, in MY twilight town, anything goes.
