Chapter 2: Wrapped in Black

Xion took full advantage of her vacation and slept in for hours. It wasn't until eleven or twelve that she finally crawled out of bed and, still in her pajamas - a loose grey shirt and black sweats -, walked out into the living room of her apartment. Her parents had both gone to work around eight—usually she'd see them in the morning, but it was a common occurrence to miss them completely during vacations.

Xion moved into the kitchen and picked up a bowl from the floor. Her body was working on autopilot as she poured some fresh dog food into it; her mind was focused on that stranger last night. He wore black, which made her think of the rumors, but there was no mask. Still, though, the masked man was only the most prominent; other sightings of different black figures had been reported before. Maybe he was another of them. And if he was, what was he doing hanging around outside her building? Xion bit her lip as she set the bowl back down on the ground. She hoped no one who lived here was in any trouble with the men in black.

"Dodger!"

The brown and white dog came strolling into the kitchen at Xion's call. He was always so calm, even when the atmosphere around him was dark. But then, why should he worry? Dodger had a loving family—not just Xion, but all her friends too. They had found him a year ago wandering the streets and Xion, always having a soft spot for dogs, had convinced the group to take him in. Dodger had lived in the Usual Spot for a while, but eventually their parents had found out. Roxas's quick thinking had convinced Xion's parents to let Dodger into their house, and she was always grateful to him for it.

Dodger happily ate the food and Xion stood up to get something for herself. It wasn't anything special, just a quick sandwich. As she leaned against the counter and ate, Xion's thoughts kept going back to the guy in black. She tried to recall his appearance, what he was wearing besides the fact that it was black, but for some reason her mind wouldn't focus. Whenever she tried picking up the details of his outfit she'd instead end up thinking about the lamppost he stood next to, or the orange road under his feet. For some reason Xion's memory was actively resisting showing her the boy.

Something Xion remembered clearly, though, was his blue eyes. Blue eyes weren't unusual around Twilight Town, really; she and Roxas had them too, and that was just a start. But something about the stranger's stood out to her. They were eerily familiar, and that instant he had locked sight with her he looked… so sad… Had they met somewhere before? Since she still couldn't focus on anything about him except the black and blue, couldn't even picture his face, she wasn't sure.

Ringing interrupted Xion's thoughts. She jumped a little in surprise at the noise, since everything had been so quiet, but calmed down when she recognized it as simply a ringtone. Xion turned back down the hall and returned to her room, where her phone was sitting on the nightstand. Roxas was calling.

"Hello?"

"Sorry, did I wake you?" She could hear the ringing sound of a trolley's bells behind Roxas's voice.

Xion stifled a yawn. "No, I've been up for a few minutes. What's up? Are you at the Tram Common?"

"Yeah. Just been doing some shopping, since Christmas is in a week." He paused for a moment and Xion thought the call had dropped before he continued. "Are you coming down soon?"

"Uh, sure. I can meet you down there. Why?"

"We planned on checking out the old mansion, didn't we?"

Xion's tired eyes snapped open. "Oh! Yesterday, yeah, we did. Sorry I slept in Roxas, I'll be right over. Just give me maybe twenty minutes to walk down."

"Don't worry about making me wait, I'm busy looking for something for, uh- for Hayner. No rush."

"Okay, see you soon." Xion dropped the phone onto her bed and pulled her clothes out of the nearby dresser. White tank top, black bag at her hip and strapped across her chest, charm bracelet, hair clip, black and white rings on two of her fingers—she and Roxas had both gotten matching pairs of them as kids. Normally she wore a skirt and leggings with this outfit, but given the temperature outside she put on a pair of pale blue pants instead. Before leaving, Xion stared at the jacket hanging in her closet – a white one with a black hood and pink designs on the front – but decided against wearing it. The jacket was sleeveless, so it wouldn't be much help. She had a heavier coat by the front door anyway.

Xion pocketed her phone and turned to the door before stopping. "Oh, almost forgot." She turned back around and returned to the dresser. Her blue and yellow thalassa shell was resting on top; it was her most precious treasure, a present that Roxas had given her after her first experience with her chronic weakness. Xion smiled fondly at the memory of Roxas barging into the hospital room with the homemade necklace, taking Dr. Sweet completely by surprise and embracing Xion into a deep hug all in one quick motion. She had worn it every day since then.

Xion slid the necklace around her neck and flipped the light switch, heading back out into the front room. Her black coat was hanging on a hook by the front door, same as it always did. Xion pulled it on and zipped it up, then debated getting a scarf too. "Nah, it's not that cold yet."

"Be good while I'm gone, Dodger," Xion said. The dog in question was sleeping on the floor with his front paws crossed under his neck. She could almost swear he had a smug grin on his face. Xion smiled as she closed the door behind her. It would be nice to be like a dog and not have a care in the world, wouldn't it?

Xion looked up at the number above the door as she made her way out of the building. Her family lived in apartment fourteen, but the four had fallen off years ago. "The imaginary apartment" Roxas had called it once, after they learned about the imaginary number in math class. Xion thought that was kind of clever.

Down the thin staircase and out the front door, into the cold noon wins of a winter in Twilight Town. There still wasn't any snow though the forecast said that wouldn't be too much longer. A storm had come close last night, but apparently it only got the forest. Go figure.

Xion took the same path down to the Tram Common that she had yesterday, only this time walking allowed her to take in more details than she ever could while flying by on a skateboard. For instance, the alley between her street and Market Street was dark with the overhanging roofs of nearby buildings casting it into a shadow. Old posters for the Struggle finals or a Powerline concert hung on the brick walls.

As she emerged onto Market Street Xion saw that it was much more active than yesterday. People were moving up and down the slopes, stopping by shops for all manner of things. Someone was performing near the bottom, knocking a ball up into the air as a crowd watched on. One of the people in the crowd looked over at Xion and grinned.

"Hey, how are you today?" Pence asked.

"Good. I was going to meet Roxas; we're exploring the mansion today."

"Again? Man, you guys know that place inside-out."

"Well, not all of it," Xion said with a smile. "Besides, it's your fault that place interests me so much. You and those wild rumors of yours."

Pence laughed. "I guess you got me there. Have you heard the latest one?"

"Masked guy dressed in black and white, right? Or have the stories gone back to black and blue?"

Pence shook his head. "No, they're still saying white. But that's not the rumor I mean."

Xion tilted her head. "There's a newer one?"

"Yeah. People today are talking about some guy about our age who's been hanging around outside apartment buildings at night." All humor was gone from Xion as Pence spoke. "No one knows what he wants, but he doesn't have a mask like the other stories."

"Did they ever mention his eyes?" Xion asked softly.

"Huh? Uh, no, I don't think they have." Pence frowned. "Why? Did you see someone in black?"

She honestly wasn't sure what she had seen since her memory still wouldn't focus on the boy. "…I have to go. Roxas is waiting for me." She turned on her heel and headed down the hill to the Tram Common.

Pence called out after her. "Wait, Xion! I have to know more!"

Xion waved over her shoulder. "I'll see you tomorrow, Pence. Olette wants us at the mall, right?"

She left him to watch the grandstander show after that. The boy disturbed her and she had wanted to just say she had dreamed that whole experience, but obviously that wasn't the case of there were rumors going around. And Pence wasn't just making stuff up—he could always be trusted to pass any creepy stories along to them, and so even if they weren't true he wasn't the one to invent them.

Xion shook her head to chase the thoughts away. Today was supposed to be a happy day, not a brooding day. It had been way too long since she and Roxas had been to the mansion. Pence was right that they knew the mansion inside-out though. Hey, maybe today one of the two rooms on the second floor would actually be open. She could pretend to hope for that, right?

There was Roxas, leaning against the town's outer wall and wearing a brown coat. Xion's face lit up when he waved at her and she quickly sprinted the rest of the way over to him.

"Hey, be careful!" Roxas admonished her.

Xion sighed. "Five seconds of sprinting isn't going to wear me out. I'm not that weak." She did have to stop for a second and catch her breath, but she wasn't leaning over with her hands on her knees or anything.

Roxas rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry. I know I'm annoying you about it."

Xion held a hand up to silence him. "I was just thinking about how today's going to be a happy day. You don't need to apologize, but we're not bringing it up again. Okay?" She gave what she hoped was a stern look, but it just made Roxas break into a laughing fit. "Hey, I'm serious!"

"I know you are, sorry. It's like I said yesterday, though: you look silly when you try to look angry." Xion shoved his shoulder but laughed alongside him. But when the laughter died down she frowned, something was off about this.

"Hey, where are your bags? Weren't you shopping?"

"Oh, I just… I couldn't find the right thing, that's all." Roxas said, averting his gaze.

"I'm pretty sure Hayner would be fine with just a new Struggle bat or something," Xion said flatly. That guy loved the sport.

"Hayner?" Roxas stared at her blankly. "Oh! Yeah, he probably would be. Hayner'd like a new bat. That makes sense."

Why was he acting so weird? "So… do you wanna go buy it now, or…?"

"No, I'll do it later. Come on." He pointed behind him at the large crack in the wall that led out into the forest. Just like no one knew who the mansion had belonged to, no one knew how the crack had been formed. Xion always thought it was weird that the city had never repaired it, but maybe it wasn't a big priority. This near to town there weren't any dangerous animals.

The forest never failed to creep Xion out, though. It was thick as soon as you passed through the crack. This was because Twilight Town had been built not at the edge of the trees, but in a section of woods that had been cleared away. It was nestled in the forest and surrounded on all sides except the beach. But the dense trees meant very little light got through, so it was always dark in here. Despite the assurance from everyone that no bears or wolves ever came near Twilight Town, she was still never completely comfortable until they reached the clearing with the old mansion.

Two chipmunks ran across the branches over their heads, arguing in their chittery language about an acorn the bigger one held. As Xion and Roxas continued to march over twigs and fallen leaves, more and more snow began to appear. It started with a thin layer of frost, then evolved into thicker and bigger piles until they were in a world of white, with snow on all the tree branches and coating the ground in white. Still, it wasn't especially deep and they could walk without trouble despite not wearing shoes designed for the snow.

"This must be from last night's storm," Roxas said. "I wish it had hit town."

Xion looked to her right as they continued walking, where a little brown fawn was struggling across a frozen lake. "Yeah," she agreed. "It's too bad we didn't get any last year. But there will be plenty of snow up in the mountains."

"Oh yeah, we're going to the ski resort in a few days!" Roxas grinned. "I can't wait to try snowboarding." He slowed to a stop, staring at a spot with some particularly deep snow. "Hey, Xion. You wanna build a snowman?"

Snowmen, huh? Wow, she hadn't built one of those in years. Xion loved the suggestion, honestly, but there was a bit of a problem with it. "Sorry Roxas, no gloves. I don't want to freeze my fingers off."

Roxas stared down at his hands and flexed his fingers. "Oh, heh. Well, we have all winter to make one. How about once we're up in the mountains?"

"It's a promise."

They finally broke from the shaded woods and into the sunlight of the mansion. Its courtyard and ruined arches and walls were just as snowy as the forest behind them, which in Xion's opinion made it even more mysterious. And there were indeed no police there today, which made things easier for them.

Now, the average person's first instinct would be to go up to the metal gate and test it out. But Roxas and Xion had both been here enough times to know that the gate never opened. The big keyhole on its front was rusted or something, so it just didn't work. Whenever the police were investigating it they would go around back, but that involved navigating some bushes that just weren't worth the trouble. Instead, Roxas walked up to the brick wall surrounding the mansion and pulled away at some of the snow-covered vines. There was a hole in the wall behind them, one that the two of them had made themselves years ago to get inside. It was tall enough for a full-grown man to pass through if he crouched down, which meant they had no problem at all.

Inside the courtyard Xion looked up at the left second floor window. Behind those white curtains was the room that had taunted Xion her whole life: one of the two locked rooms she had never been able to open. A gnawing curiosity ate at her every time she saw those curtains that moved even when the window was shut and so there couldn't have been a breeze. She had to find out what was in there, just for the sake of learning.

"Xion, you coming?" Roxas was at the front door and holding it open.

"Oh! Yeah, sorry!" Xion hurried over to him and kicked her feet against the walls to shake the snow off. The inside of the mansion was as lifeless as ever, with broken display glass crunching beneath their feet and the only light being what came in through the windows. Xion loved the ruined state the inside of the mansion was in, because just like the question of who owned it all the debris scattered around just added to the mysterious atmosphere.

"Where to first?" Roxas asked. "I mean, I don't think anything has really changed, huh?"

"Well maybe the police have been taking things, or maybe they uncovered something new." Xion made her way up the creaking brown staircase. "Maybe they opened those two locked doors."

"Two?"

"Uh, yeah?" When Xion reached the top of the stairs she turned right. "You know, like the door right… here?" She was facing nothing but a brown wooden wall. "What?"

Roxas walked up behind her. "Xion, there's never been any door here. The only room on the second floor is that one behind the white curtains."

"I could have sworn…" Xion leaned against the railing and stared at the blank wall in complete confusion. She wasn't imagining it, right? There had been a door here before. She had never found a way to open it. Right? Yet… as she looked back, Xion found that in all of her memories the door was blurry while the rest of the mansion was crystal clear. She couldn't quite picture it. Maybe she had just made it up.

"It has been a while since we've been here," Roxas said with a hand on her shoulder. "You're probably so eager to find something new that you wanted to make more mysteries up."

Xion nodded slowly. "I guess… Yeah, that has to be it."

"Can't say I blame you, this place is still fun to explore but it's kind of lost its splendor." Roxas turned Xion away from the wall and held an arm out to the door on the far end of the mansion. "But he, let's try this one."

"We don't have the key, Roxas." Despite her protests though, Xion was walking over to the door. She actually beat Roxas there.

"Not a problem. Hayner loaned me this." Roxas reached into his coat pocket and held up something thin and made of metal.

Xion's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why does Hayner have a lockpick?"

"I think it's better not to ask."

While Roxas kneeled in front of the keyhole and got to work trying to open the door, Xion leaned against the railing and looked out over the lobby downstairs. As the clouds up in the sky passed over the sun the light and shadows in the mansion danced, constantly chasing each other across the floor. Roxas's inexperienced lockpicking skills made the music for the dance.

Xion frowned. There was another noise behind the clicking of metal on metal. A soft tap, tap, tap… It sounded like it was coming from downstairs, or maybe in the back courtyard.

Click.

"I think I got it!" Roxas exclaimed happily, turning Xion's attention away from the other noise. He wrapped his fingers around the rusty doorknob and turned. For a second Xion thought the old knob would fall apart and forever ruin their chances of getting inside that room. She'd probably just knock the door down herself if that happened. But no, the doorknob turned normally and the door swung open with a creak.

The room beyond it was so white that for a second Xion thought she had gone back out into the snow. But no, the walls were just painted white in contrast to the dusty red-brown of the entire rest of the mansion. And speaking of dust, Xion didn't see any; it was all as sparkling as the day it had been built. But that wasn't the weirdest part.

No, the weirdest part was how empty the room was. Except for the curtains – which moved without a breeze as always – there was absolutely nothing in this white room. No furniture, no marks on the walls from nails or something, heck, there wasn't even a closet. It was just an empty white box.

"Weird place," Roxas commented. "Isn't this supposed to be a ghost girl's room or something?"

"Yeah…" Xion stared out the large window. Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw someone in a black and blue suit move, but when she looked closer nothing was there. Her eyes trailed back to the walls. "Where are all the drawings?" As soon as the words left her mouth Xion frowned. Where had that come from?

"The what?" Roxas asked, mirroring her own confusion.

"I… I'm not sure."

"First the door now drawings? Are you feeling okay, Xion?" He placed a hand on her forehead to check for a fever.

"Maybe I should go take a nap or something." Xion moved back toward the door. "Sorry Roxas, this was supposed to be a fun day and I'm ruining it."

"No, it's fine." Roxas sighed despite his reassurance, though. "Hey, do you hear something?"

Xion looked over to the stairs. That hollow tapping was back, and it was louder. In fact… it sounded like footsteps. Who was in here? Was it the masked man from the rumors?!

"Hey, who's in here?" Roxas and Xion both froze at the unfamiliar man calling to them. But though his voice was stern, it didn't really sound mean. "This is Officer Cecil Harvey of the Twilight Town PD. If you come down quietly, I won't hurt you."

Xion and Roxas stared at each other with wide eyes. The police?! He must have arrived after the two of them. "No way am I getting in trouble. Let's just do what he says," Xion whispered. Roxas nodded in silently agreement. The two of them moved forward slowly, walking down the creaking stairs step-by-step. When Officer Harvey saw them his eyes widened and then his face softened.

"You're just a couple of kids? I was worried I'd have to deal with the thugs in black." He brushed some of his shoulder-length white hair out of his eyes and stepped forward. Xion watched his hand carefully as he slipped a gun into its holster. Had he been ready to shoot if they were someone else?

"Wait, so are those more than just rumors?" Roxas asked.

Officer Harvey frowned. "Maybe I said a little too much. What are you kids doing here?"

"Exploring, though we were on our way out anyway," Roxas said. "But… I thought you guys had quit keeping an eye on this place?"

"Look, don't ask any questions, alright? If you two head home right now I won't report any of this. You won't be in trouble." Xion let out a sigh of relief. She really didn't want to deal with any of that. "Although…" He looked out the window, and Xion again thought she saw the figure in black move. "Let me take you back to the Tran Common at least, just to be safe."

"Can I get some answers?" Roxas asked. "Are the rumors about the men in black true or not?"

"…I honestly don't know." Both Xion and Roxas were struck silent by Officer Harvey's response. "Please hurry. I don't want to find out while there are kids to protect."

"Roxas, come on." Xion tugged on his arm and the two of them followed Officer Harvey out the front door and into the snow. It was eerily quiet as they moved through the dark forest, with the only sound the snow crunching beneath them. There weren't any chittering chipmunks or sliding deer this time. As she stared into the darkness around them, Xion could swear she saw neon blue lights for a second. But the light flickered and faded away, and Xion wondered if she had just imagined it like the door from earlier.

No one spoke up as they continued walking. Xion wanted to break the uncomfortable silence, so she took a deep breath and looked up at their escort. "Say, Officer Harvey…"

"Please, call me Cecil."

"Okay, um, Cecil." At least he was friendly. "What do you think about the difference between the black and blue versus black and white rumors? I don't mean any police reports, but you specifically."

"Well…" Cecil frowned. "The truth is department hasn't actually discovered too much, and most of the officers think it's all just baseless. But me personally? I honestly don't know if it's true or not, just like I said back at the mansion."

"Oh…"

"But you didn't ask me that, did you?" Cecil chuckled. "Differences between blue and white? Well, I can tell you that the reports of the man dressed in black and white come from all over town, while the man dressed in black and blue are restricted to the forest, mansion, and every now and then the clock tower."

"So you think it's really two different people?" Roxas asked.

Cecil shrugged. "If there's any truth at all, then probably."

"What about the one without a mask?" Xion asked.

"The one outside apartment buildings? I only started hearing those reports this morning so I don't know much. What I can tell you, though, is that no one seems to be able to remember his appearance." So it wasn't just her? Cecil smiled at them. "I have this friend, Rydia, who is all into occult stuff. She thinks maybe the blue-eyed stranger came from some other world and doesn't belong here, so our minds are trying to get rid of him because he's 'wrong.'"

"Sounds like a bit of a stretch to me," Roxas said.

"That's what I thought, too. But maybe I'll believe it if it happens to me, huh?"

Xion stopped paying attention to their discussion. Someone from another world, and so your memory tries to get rid of them because they don't belong? It sounded preposterous. But it would explain why she just could not focus on his appearance. Xion was so caught up in her brooding that she didn't pay attention where she was going and ended up bonking her head on the wall separating Twilight Town and the woods.

"Ow…" she muttered, rubbing her forehead.

"You okay?" Roxas asked.

"I think I need a nap."

Roxas smiled gently. "Yeah, we already decided that." He turned back to Cecil. "Uh, thanks for walking us back, sir. We'll leave you to do your police-things, I guess."

Cecil tipped his hat and turned back the way they had come to return to the mansion. "Once our investigation's done you're free to explore it again. I can't promise when that will be, though."

"Okay, thanks." When Cecil vanished into the trees, Roxas turned back to Xion. "Do you want me to walk you home? You look like you could collapse at any minute."

"I'm fine. I'll be fine. You go buy that Struggle bat for Hayner's Christmas present."

"Right, Hayner's bat..."

Xion waved goodbye and turned around, but stopped when she felt his hand on her shoulder. Roxas looked like he was going to ask her something. "What is it?"

"…Never mind. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Right, at the mall. I'll be there." They waved again and Xion made her way over to the slope of Market Street. It had only been an hour or so, so the streets hadn't cleared. She passed by Pence, still watching the grandstander show, and dismissed him with a mumbled "Sorry, I'm tired." As she climbed she felt more and more lightheaded, until she had to rest and slumped against the wall of that shaded alley with the old Powerline and Struggle posters.

"What is wrong with me today?" she muttered.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" Xion froze up at the voice. She didn't recognize it, but she recognized the tone. Seifer had used it plenty of times before. It was the tone of someone who wanted something and knew he had the power to get it. She turned around and her eyes widened at the face speaking those words—or rather, the lack of the face. He wore a black helmet. Xion's eyes wandered down to take in the rest of his outfit: it looked like muscle, colored black with a white design on his chest and hands. And was he wearing a skirt?

With a strong hand suddenly around her neck, Xion was slammed hard into the wall. "Is a little girl wandering out all on her own? You should know better than to do that." Never mind the skirt. He was real, not a rumor, and that's what mattered. Xion flung a fist out at his neck, but his other hand caught it and held her arm up. He released her neck, held both arms above her head, and pinned her to the wall by her wrists.

"What do you want from me? Munny? I can pay."

"You have something very special inside you, kid. Hand it over." He held her wrists together with just one hand, moving the other one down and unzipping Xion's coat. After that he held his hand to her side and ran it up and down along her body.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Xion screeched. She was breathing heavily, screaming and thrashing to get away from him.

"Don't bother." He slammed his helmet against her forehead, which in turn knocked the back of her head against the wall again. Xion was certain she was bleeding. "No one can hear you. I made sure of that." As his hands continued to move all over her, he leaned in close and whispered, "Can you feel Ventus?"

Xion didn't know who that was and she didn't care. She was too busy shivering in disgust at the creep's touch. He slowly moved a hand over her chest and, through her dazed and blurry eyesight, Xion thought she saw black lightning sparking at his fingertips. That had to be the head injury. Or her fear. She was going to go with fear.

This couldn't be happening.

"Get off of me!" Xion shouted again as his hands gripped at her. She flailed her legs and kicked him hard in his left shin. The masked boy flinched ever so slightly in the pain, but it was enough for his grip on her wrists to break. Xion took the opportunity and ran. She ran faster than she ever had before.

"You bitch! Do you really think you can escape me?!"

His voice was distant, but not because of how far she had gotten physically. Xion's vision was fading, even going black every second, and her chest felt tight. It was getting hard to breathe.

Damn, she had forgotten to take Dr. Sweet's medicine this morning, hadn't she?

Not here… Not… now…

The last thing Xion saw was the paved road rushing toward her.

I… ahem. *cough*

So… Vanitas is a sadistic monster and I wanted to make that perfectly clear right from the start. It's not just that his heart is pure darkness but he's also an Unversed now, born from his utter hatred for Ventus. There's no case of a misunderstood villain with him; Vanitas is getting zero sympathy points and in a few more chapters' time you'll see just what lines he's willing to cross.

And just to be clear, it's not the line you're probably thinking of given how this chapter ended. Really, I promise. I wouldn't take things that far.

Anyway, if you're new to Remember the Tides, Xion's outfit is based on the one seen on the cover of the last fic, only modified for winter weather. It's a wonderful design by Shiroi-Kamaitachi.