riverbank-verse, au but canon-ish
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"you're getting better at spotting the fabricated realities, it seems."
they were on top of a school building, the tallest in the area. their surrounding was a night time scenery of their small town, where most of its inhabitants were asleep within grey buildings scattered about. or so she thought until few minutes ago.
because when she swept her sight around, she found those buildings, the entire town, lacked breath. its people she had been interacting in her whole life too, lacked breath. they didn't breathe the way she did. except one, and he was observing her.
"which makes sense," he continued, turning his head away from the fence, "because back then too, you've trained yourself specifically to face me and my... ah, tricks."
she glanced upwards, to the purple-brown sky. the more she stared, the weirder it is.
"the sky's weird."
"of all the questions..." he nearly doubled over, chuckling. "really, at least praise my paint job. clouds are a hassle, you know."
she blinked. his edges blurred, revealing superimposed images. one was the image she'd known, a highschool teenager. the other was a sinister figure, someone who had made people tremble in fear with his glance, with a whisper of his name.
but not her. she never trembled before him, even now, when she's bleeding from her chest. she's still breathing, and the gunshot wound was fake.
just like this reality.
it flooded back to her, the dreams and visions she once thought as parts of movies or games she consumed. yet they were too real, more real than her friends and families, and as real as him.
"i gave you a life you always wanted so much." he cut the distance between them, hands in his pocket. "yet you keep seeking a way out to hell i've hidden from you. why, hashirama? isn't it your desire for our families to live side by side?"
"not like this, madara." hashirama lifted her hand. her edges blurred too. "you know that. you've heard my reason a thousand times. wake me up."
madara tilted his head, a mocking pity. "there's nothing to see out there."
"i'm serious." hashirama approached until they were only an arm length apart. "wake me-"
a blink, and hashirama was greeted by the darkness of a cocoon.
slowly it opened, revealing a crimson sky and a pair of purple eyes belonged to him. a white-haired madara offered his hand, grinning. "good morning, hashirama. how was your sleep?"
as hashirama took his hand, the third eye on his forehead opened.
then she woke up in a bed, to the ringing of her cellphone alarm.