Chapter Five: Strange Dreams and Ice Cream Screams

Tony sat under the shade of a jacaranda tree, the light flickering through its leaves in slow, sleepy waves. It was peaceful here—quiet enough to think. Quiet enough to remember.

He leaned his head back against the trunk, eyes half-lidded, watching clouds drift like lazy ghosts.

Things had changed so much.

He was different now.

Back at the military school, time had moved like a dull drumbeat. Wake up. March. Survive. Repeat. No one laughed. No one cared. No one asked questions—except for her.

Lili.

He hadn’t thought of her in months. But now, the memory came back with the weight of old rain.

Her voice on the rooftop still echoed sometimes.

> “Please… don’t go.”

He wondered where she was now. If she ever thought of him, too. If she’d be proud of him for making it this far.

I hope so, he thought.

“Hey.”

A voice snapped him out of the quiet.

Tony blinked and turned his head. Ari stood nearby, hands in their hoodie pockets.

“You always sit like you're narrating a sad movie,” Ari said, sitting down beside him, legs stretched out in the grass.

Tony looked away. “Sorry.”

“Didn’t say it was a bad thing,” Ari shrugged. “Just… deep.”

There was a pause. Birds chirped lazily overhead.

“What’re you thinking about?” Ari asked, glancing at him sideways.

Tony hesitated.

“I dunno,” he lied.

Ari raised an eyebrow. “Lame answer.”

Tony picked at a blade of grass. “Stuff.”

Ari gave him a look.

“…What kind of stuff?”

Tony didn’t answer right away. He didn’t want to say my first friend saved me from jumping off a roof, or I spent years being hated for something I never did, or sometimes I wonder if I was born wrong.

Instead, he said, “I don’t really talk much about where I came from. The school before this.”

Ari’s expression didn’t change. “Okay.”

“You’re not gonna ask why?”

“Nope.”

Tony blinked at them.

“People say what they want when they’re ready,” Ari said simply. “You’re not ready. That’s fine.”

Tony almost smiled. Almost.

They both sat in silence for a bit before Ari nudged him gently.

“So. Hobbies?”

Tony tilted his head. “Huh?”

“Y’know. Things you like to do? Fun? Joy? Ring any bells?”

Tony chuckled under his breath. “I don’t know if I have any.”

Ari groaned. “You’re impossible.”

“I…” Tony stopped, then stared ahead at the sky again. “I like… having friends. Is that a hobby?”

Ari blinked.

Something in Tony’s voice made the air feel heavier, more fragile.

“It feels… like a dream,” Tony said. “This. All of it. Like I’ll wake up and be back in that other place. And none of this—Brian, you, Serina—none of it will be real.”

Ari didn’t say anything. Just looked at him for a long time.

Then:

“You’re weird.”

Tony smiled faintly. “Takes one to know one.”

A loud shriek shattered the moment.

“Ariiii!” Serina’s voice rang across the courtyard like a fire alarm. “Come on! Ice cream before the line gets long!”

Ari sighed. “That girl’s lungs should be illegal.”

Tony watched as Ari stood, dusting grass off their pants.

“She really doesn’t like me, does she?” Tony said softly.

Ari paused.

“She doesn’t hate you,” they said after a moment. “She just doesn’t trust people easy. Especially guys.”

Tony lowered his eyes. “Because of something I did?”

“No,” Ari said. “Because of something someone else did. Before.”

A beat of silence passed.

“I’ll tell her to go easy on you,” Ari added.

Tony shook his head. “No. Don’t. If she hates me, she should be allowed to.”

Ari looked at him for a second. Then gave a nod of approval.

“Okay. I respect that.”

They took a few steps, then turned back.

“Oh—and Tony?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re not dreaming,” Ari said with a half-smile. “This is real.”

Then they ran off toward the sound of Serina shouting again, leaving Tony sitting alone under the tree—with a strange, unfamiliar feeling in his chest.

Hope.

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