Verde was nine when he opened his eyes to an unfamiliar room in an unfamiliar couch.
It was a green room, with a lot of green things, in different shades of green.
Overhead, a bold 'Verde' suspended in thin air was written in black.
He blinked.
Then he woke up back in his father's lonely hovel.
_
Luce was nine when she fell asleep and dreamed.
And that was odd enough. Because Luce only ever dreamed when she was awake.
Never of the unrealistic, senseless, magical dreams others talked about though. Hers were always so entrenched deep in reality.
She sometimes hated it.
Not this time though.
Her dream was of a room, painted in a balance of orange and green that was somehow, miraculously, still maintained an artistic class to it. Not that Luce knew that yet.
She was nine.
There was a sound of surprise and she looked around the chaise and found herself staring at an older boy huddled in a corner of a green couch with a shock of green hair, an open book on his lap. Floating on top of his head was a word that spelled 'Verde'.
"Orange?"
Luce blinked.
"Why are you in my dream?" She asked curiously.
The boy's -green- eyes flickered to her in surprise.
"... Why are you in my dream? Not that this is a dream." He added.
"I don't know. This is the first time I've ever had a dream."
She shrugged, smiling
"How don't you dream?"
"I dream only when I'm awake."
"How odd." He glanced her up and down and said, "I'm Verde. I'm twelve."
Luce opened her mouth but then he pointed above her, "That's your name here."
She cranes her neck and saw that a word like his too was hovering over her.
"Luce... my name is Luce?"
"Yes."
She met his gaze and beamed.
"My name is Luce. I'm nine."
_
Reborn stirred to a pair of voices talking.
A male and female and he instinctively shifted towards them, "Maman... Papan... hush."
A pause. Then a giggle.
"Yellow, wake up."
"Or should it be sleep up?"
"Don't speak nonsense Luce."
And it was then that he realized that the voices were too high to be his parents. And also he didn't have parents.
He shot up, a hand swinging in an arc around him as he surveyed his location.
A room, with an empty fireplace across the couch he was lying on, in a blend of orange, green, and yellow.
"Hey! Why did you try to punch us?"
He blinked at a girl around his age, in a puffy hat and black dress. A boy stood beside her, with odd green hair in worn out clothes.
"I'm dreaming." He said with confidence.
He clearly recalled falling asleep. And he could just tell, instinctively.
The girl eagerly nodded with a smile, seemingly having already forgotten almost getting caught by his fist, "Yup. We're all dreaming. That's your name here."
He looks up at where she's pointing and sees a 'Reborn' floating in mid air.
"Why Reborn?"
"Dunno." The boy, Verde, shrugged.
"... I'm Reborn. I'm nine."
_
"I'm Lal and I'm nine."
The room was simple and circular with an empty fireplace even though it was warm. It was a mixture of tones of green, orange, yellow, and blue.
She especially liked the comfy loveseat.
And the other three seemed friendly.
She gave a shy smile.
_
"Uh... Colonnello. That's so mouthy." He pouted.
He was cradled in a Bergère chair.
"This really confirms it. Nine year old. I still wonder what this place is though."
"Isn't this just my dream room? With my dream friends?"
Reborn snickered, "That's also another trend. No one here has friends in the real world."
The blue seemed to take center stage now.
_
Fon liked the name he had in this place.
"You look tired?" Lal asked.
He grinned sheepishly, nose wrinkling.
"Ah, I fell asleep while training."
He sat on the ground, in a pile of red pillows, legs folded in front of him. Bold red accented everything.
_
Skull cocked his head, "This is so cool. I know we're speaking different languages but I can still understand you. And my name's cool too."
"Yeah, Skull is like an overlord's name." Fon agreed.
Skull looked down at his purple recliner and he must say, the room was really colourful.
_
Indigo bloomed on everything and Viper blinked at the seven people swarming them.
"Um... who are you?"
"Oh. An esper like Reborn." Verde habitually pushed up his glasses.
"Would you stop that? You're fiddling with your glasses too much. It's annoying" Lal huffed.
"Hey," Reborn smiled, "You can speak here, you know. And that's your name there."
"Viper... I am speaking."
"Don't you know how to move your mouth?" Fon asked curiously.
"Like this?" they opened and closed their mouth appropriately.
"Um.. No?" Skull chuckled
"Wait, so you're talking to us with your mind, in your sleep? That's so weird." Colonnello grinned.
Viper scanned the crowd curiously, blinking.
"Hello. I think the room looks pretty."
Everyone grinned.
"It is, isn't it?" Luce chirped.