"Ah..." Sebastian sits up from the warmth of his bed. He hasn't dreamed since he was eight. Not since he saw her.

Ever since then, Sebastian would replicate several drawings of how he pictured that strange little girl so he could not forget the way she looked. The picture was still fresh in his mind, how her skin and bones were tinted and shaped so different from his and yet it was still as beautiful.

He drew her constantly over the years, wishing he could dream again just so he could paint a better picture.

And suddenly, one spring night, there she was.

Sitting by a river surrounded by the forest, Y/n, the Gotoran girl from far away was kneeling over the river, heels planted into the grass as she digs her hand into the water to search through the rocks beneath it.

Her hair was short and wild, unkept and rushing with the wind that flew past her.

The clothes she was wearing were foreign and different from the style in Sebastian's western country. They were wrinkled with proof of distress, probably from running around since Y/n had her shoes propped up on a tree stump behind her.

Her socks were white and dirtied with earth's residue, grass stains painting her hands and knees.

She had several bruises on her shin to her arms, most likely from rushing and tripping over her own feet. Sebastian didn't know her too well. But he surely could guess what she'd been doing before he appeared in their shared dream, if she was even a real person outside of his mind.

"It's you again." He calls out loud enough for her to hear. She perks up at the sound of his voice, turning to look at the source. "You know, I always end up in these places when I sleep. But I've only seen you once before." Y/n stands. She is much more contained than Sebastian remembered.

Something was strange about this encounter.

"You remember me from two years ago?" He asked when she finally stops just a few feet away from him and she smiles, dropping the icy feel from her expression.

All of a sudden, Y/n envelopes him in a big hug, her arms wrapping around his neck to hold him close so she can remember the feeling.

Excitedly, she snickers, fingers pulling at his black tee, "I missed you lots, Bastian."

Her voice is gentle, pulling away when Sebastian pats her shoulder in return. "You did?" He questioned, raising a brow. Y/n takes his hand as she nods, pulling him towards the riverside to show him the shining quartz crystals hiding within a bundle of rocks and pebbles beneath the water. "Of course I did. It's kind of lonely in these places." She stares, looking up at the sky. She lets the cold water of the river rush past her hands, Sebastian's brushing against her fingers to look for his own quartz.

"So since you always end up in these places when you sleep... that means you're also dreaming? Are you a real person?" Sebastian asks, curious as he studies her features, studying every blemish and imperfection in the corners and marks of her skin.

He needed the mental picture. He would finally be able to draw her perfectly again with a clear image in his mind when he thought back to her every part.

"I mean I think... who knows, Bas. We could be from the same world but a totally different reality from each other. Or just a couple million miles apart of however many you need to get over to Gotoro."

Y/n jokes playfully, confusing Sebastian even more. Though she may be telling the truth, Sebastian had no clue whether she truly existed or was just a figure of his imagination, created from childhood loneliness in the depths of his basement.

Puzzled, Sebastian tosses a piece of raw quartz from his hands, watching Y/n curiously as she throws her socks off and pulls her beige, knee-length cargo shorts upwards, so they wouldn't touch the water as she steps into the river. "So you are Gotoran," Sebastian mumbles to himself, watching with amusement when she kicks at the water and hips around. She seemed to be having fun, even on her own.

Though, it was probably very lonely without Sebastian being able to dream very often...

"Mhm! What about you? You don't look like where I'm from..." Y/n says with a toothy grin.

Sebastian finds it strange.

She seemed so interested in his looks. The way his skin tinted pink beneath the sun or in too much heat. The auburn colour of his hair and the way his eyes changed colours depended on the year. Usually, it was a deep brown, but occasionally Y/n could see the hints of green within them, shining against the reflection of the sun.

Her eyes were just dark brown. Stayed that way. Albeit the more visible brown showed when her eyes met with the sun. It usually looked as if they were pitch black.

"Kinda strange to ask that. What kind of white are you, Sebastian? There's soooo many kinds!"

The scoff in his voice was evident, sarcasm dripping like venom from his lips.

Y/n's ears peek at this and she looks back with furrowed brows, her hands tightening on the grip of her shorts. Sebastian notices the way she tries to calm her irritation, her cheeks puffing up and going pink so she turns and releases all her energy through her fingertips.

Then, she turns back around, ready to face his sarcasm. Y/n sighs out, a calm smile on her face as she begins, "Just curious. I guess you're a foreigner then." She's oddly excited, nearing Sebastian with her fists balled up and her shoulder rising higher as she speaks. "Well... not really. This place... isn't... G-Gotoro is it?" Sebastian stammers, looking around.

It's not like what imagined Gotoro to look. The way people have described it in HIS country, it sounded overrun with violent people. He imagined it to be trashy and the air to be oil filled, the grass yellow with decay.

"I don't think so. The countrysides are much prettier than this. Usually, at this time of year, the cherry blossoms are in full bloom and everyone's outside." Y/n explains. She steps out of the water, kicking her feet so the excess water is no longer. "Really?" Sebastian is intrigued. "What about the city?" He continues and Y/n has to think. "There are lots of lights and it always smells good from all the food stalls. On balconies of apartments, there's always plants and some kind of garden. Not everyone is polite but every once in a while, you'll meet a really nice person."

Sebastian hums lightly. People from his country were completely incorrect about Gotoro. It doesn't seem like a violent environment at all. Just the same as theirs, only foreign.

"What about where you come from?" Y/n mumbles. She takes a seat next to him, enjoying the scenery and Sebastian looks over.

"Ferngill Republic?"

"Mhm."

Y/n's hands are planted into the grass like the stump of a tree, the wind blowing past the strands of her hair as she lets the breeze sweep her lungs clean. "In the countryside, there's lots of gardening too. Farms and animals. In the city, there's a lot of people out there but from the last time I went they were too busy to even speak to people." Sebastian stares at her, her eyes torn say from his as she takes in the trees across the river, leaves rustling against each other.

He takes a generous amount of mental pictures in his head, remembering her appearance for later.

"Sounds lonely," she mumbles. Her eyes drift to the running river, dragging from each stone and stick till they finally hit land. Then, her eyes searched for Sebastians.

"Where we come from," Sebastian begins, reading her like a book as her brows furrow and she bites on her bottom lip to keep from interrupting.

"We're at war, aren't we?"

Y/n looks down at her legs, folding them inwards so they're up to her chest and she sighs heavily, exhausted with the topic although it's only started. "I don't understand why..." it's almost like a heavy weight on her shoulders, the war between Ferngill Republic and the Gotoro Empire. She's spent almost half of the beginning of her school years learning practices for when they're attacked, possibly bombed.

Instead of meeting new friends and picking seats and playing, making memories that'll eventually become something she misses. She feels the more her life is dedicated to surviving the war, the more her childhood years are stripped away from her.

She hates watching people struggle, even the ones her country was at war with. So what was the point of fighting when they could be just like she and Sebastian?

"Hey," Sebastian says firmly and Y/n is pulled out of her daydreams.

She doesn't realize but she'd started tearing up. "Ah." she laughs nervously, wiping her cheeks. "Sorry, I just don't understand why we have to fight you know?" her voice cracks into laughter, avoiding tears that may indicate weakness. Sebastian too fears weakness, but he understands the weight of putting up an image and he sympathizes with her. Drowning, he pats her back although physical touch was not his favourite thing.

"It's okay, you can cry if you need to."

She stares at him, his hand still rubbing her shoulder. Her eyes only water more, becoming glassy as if she was a porcelain doll. "Thanks." she crisis out, voice breaking as she lets the tears fall, wiping them away when they do.

She smiles softly, but she still cries. Y/n needed this. She can't remember the first time she cried in front of someone, if anything she can't remember the last time she showed proper emotion like this. She wishes she had more dreams with Sebastian since he only appears every few years.

"I don't quite understand it either." Sebastian starts, pulling away. She glances at him as he does, cheeks a light pink. He was really cute. Very kind too. If she liked someone like him and people in Gotoro knew, she'd be put to shame for liking someone from exactly the country they were at war with.

She lines the crook of his neck, eying the scattered moles dotted throughout his skin. The red in his cheeks, the shape of his ears, the slight ginger colour in his hair. It was much more noticeable beneath the sun, especially the freckles on his cheeks. His eyes were shaped much differently from hers, his eyelashes great long and naturally curled. His lips were a perfect pink she deeply envied and even the way his face was shaped had Y/n wishing he wasn't only in her dreams. Had her wishing he were real...

"If they got along just like us, there would be no need for war," Sebastian mumbles, his knees up to his chest, his head resting on his arms as he catches Y/n's stare.

"Adults a-"

Wait. What?

"Huh?" Sebastian sits up, confused as Y/n is no longer emitting sound but is still moving her lips. "What about adults?" He questions again but Y/n jumps in her spot, jerking backwards as she is no longer able to hear him either. Only seeing him.

She reaches out, worried but Sebastian's vision had blurred too much to the point where he had to close his eyes.

He'd woken up.

"Ah..." he croaks out, sitting from the warmth of his bed to take in the difference of his surroundings.

Things were dark again, back in his room in the basement of his mother's shop. Hurriedly, he turns on his lamp on his bedside table and scurries to the floor of his coffee table, grabbing papers and pencils, different colours to begin his newest vision of Y/n. He finally was able to see her clearly again after years of blurred memories, there was no guarantee he'd be getting much sleep for the rest of the night when he was busy noting all the tiny details of her complexion.

Sebastian was glad he dreamt that night. For he was almost lost in society's new image of Gotorans.

They weren't violent whatsoever, at least from what Y/n had told him. He's hoping deeply that she's a sign of what could be. The idea that maybe Ferngill has misunderstood Gotoro. He hopes it's true. That everything will be resolved soon.

He hopes to see that little Gotoran girl again.