godless/godfall au; might be prequel to a draft i'm working on
.
.
hashirama laid down her basket of trees and gazed upon the mists. there was someone else here.
in the lowest part of heavenly realm, her fellow gods and goddesses seldom came. the land was lifeless; everything that was here no longer existed due to the foul air from the underworld beyond the liminality. as the goddess of fertility, she was unaffected by it. she also couldn't stand seeing a land so dry and barren, so she tended trees more often there. alone, as usual.
yet today, she saw someone beyond the mists. a silhouette, following the tune of despairing wind, jumping from mist to mist amidst the trees.
"who are you!?" she asked, her voice echoed and her basket forgotten as she chased down the silhouette. "i meant no harm-i just want to see you!"
before she knew it, hashirama had reached the liminality, leaving her young trees behind. the silhouette belonged to a dancer beyond the limits, clad in nothing but his flames. red and blue fires swirled around him whenever he moved a muscle.
their eyes met, and her eternity halted.
his dance changed, he kept making eye contact with her, many times offering soot-covered arm behind the limit, as if he was inviting her to dance. the movements were foreign to the goddess; both terrifying and hypnotizing. the dance was so naked, so honest that she could see the depths of his heart, and her tears turned to rivers on her toes.
hashirama had reached, fingers nearly touching the limit, when she snapped back to reality. she lowered her arm, awash with shame.
what kind of goddess wishing to trespass the limit?
"hashirama."
hearing her name spoken with a surprising tenderness made her surprised. the dancer behind the limit, an underworld creature of fire, now staring at her. his head, crowned with absolute darkness, tilted as he whispered, "dance with me."
"you asked for the impossible, madara."
"you don't have to trespass." his finger trailing up the glimmering limit, nearly touching it. "follow my lead, and heed your body's wish."
at first hashirama merely mimicked madara's movement, but as soon as she got the gist, the goddess made her own dance. completely separated from his, yet complemented his elements. they lingered in either sides of the liminality, never strayed too far from each other, swirling in fire and scorched twigs; in every step she took hashirama felt greater urge to cross the limit-
"let's stop for now." madara took a step back. "i need to return."
"i still want to dance with you," she said, half pleading.
"you can dance with my shadows in the mists."
"it's not the same, it's-"
"then cross."
"can't you-?"
"i don't want to be a thrall among the gods."
"then meet me at the end of liminality, madara. there's a limitless realm. we can keep our raiments."
he was skeptical, like his nature. "how do you know?"
"because i made it." hashirama leaned closer, hopeful. "it's a seedbed for my trees."
madara raised his chin, seemingly satisfied. "alright. i shall see you there."
hashirama bid her goodbye and returned to the upper heavens in joy.
little did they know it was a start of an apocalypse.