DISCLAIMER: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!
SPOILER ALERT! Beware of anything you read if you have yet to read the TYL arc. Also beware if you hadn't read the latest chapters yet.
PRE-NOTES: Stupid title, I know. Can't come up with anything better on short notice. Rated T for maybe one curse word. Small 5927.

He didn't know what happened while he tried to communicate with the Tenth—who was alive. Alive and breathing. He was desperately holding onto the Tenth's shoulders—he could feel his tiny, bony shoulders, shaking in nervousness or was it fear?—and trying to impress the significance to the Tenth of why he had to kill Irie Shouichi when he returned to the past.

He didn't know what happened, but he felt that familiar pull again.

The ten year bazooka was trying to tear him away from the Tenth—who was alive, damnit. You can't take him away from me again.

"Speaking of it, me of this world was also killed."

"No, Tsunayoshi-kun. The bullet used by the Millefiore was a 'special bullet'. I used a bullet similar to that of 'Dying Will bullets' and led you into a death state."

"Then, that coffin is...!!"

"A mist created to hide from the enemies."

"...Tenth..."

"...is still alive?" Gokudera's voice was hoarse and shaky from disuse. His eyes were glued shut, crusty from sleeping for so long, but he didn't dare open his eyes. Not when this dream, this beautiful, beautiful dream was playing out.

It wasn't perfect, but the Tenth was still alive. Still alive and well and breathing. Still with him.

It didn't matter that they were ten years younger again in these dreams. It didn't matter that he kept getting hurt there either. He didn't mind all those struggles as long as the Tenth was still alive, still breathing, still smiling.

This dream was so beautiful that it hurt.

Gokudera didn't want it to end. He didn't dare to open his eyes and face the cruel reality. If he couldn't have him in reality, then shouldn't he at least be able to have the Tenth in his dreams as well? Even if there wasn't any touching, any sweet nothings, any mutual exchanged love, the Tenth was still with him.

He couldn't stress over that fact enough.

But the dream didn't go on.

It faded from his eyelids, from his mind, and he was desperately grasping onto the fragments of the dreams. The colored images, like water, slipped through his imaginary fingers in his mind. If he could've fallen from where he was, he would do so gladly, if only he could reach down and touch those dreams again.

But he couldn't.

For some reason, he was held, bound to something. There was something that crisscrossed over his chest and upper arms, like a belt keeping him in place. His pelvis and thighs were tied to the wall—or was it something else?—behind him. His ankles hung freely, swaying as Gokudera tried to struggle free from this prison.

At least his hands were still free.

Gokudera tried to open his eyes, but it hurt. The crusty feeling in his eyes disgusted him and he stiffly rubbed it away with his fingertips. Once done, he tried to blink in the sudden harshness of a bright light.

Ignoring the dark shadows leftover from the light in his vision, Gokudera gasped to himself. Across from him was that baseball freak, unconscious and bound like he was previously. Next to him was that boxing idiot who hung there like a monkey. Looking around them, he noticed Hibari and Lambo. All of Vongola's guardians, aside from Mukuro who was trapped in a prison, were there. All of them were tied to some metallic wall.

Strange gaps and buttons were on the wall, with outlets near the ground. The wall itself was shaped circular, as if they were all trapped in some round contraption. Confused and with a creeping nervousness, he looked around and tried to find an exit, a door, a hole, anything they could get out from.

There was none. They were stuck and they couldn't get out.

Coughing, Yamamoto awoke with a gasp. He curled in on himself, protecting his stomach. With blurry eyes, he glared ahead of him and was surprised to find the Gokudera from his era in front of him with his leg outstretched.

"Why'd you kick me?" You bastard. He added in his mind.

"To get you awake. Duh, moron." Gokudera sneered.

Yamamoto didn't deign him a response, spatting at the ground in anger. His stomach burned from the kick and his cheek throbbed in remembrance of the younger Gokudera's punch. No matter from which era, Gokudera loved to hurt him.

It stung, knowing that Gokudera is still so unwilling to relent, to be his friend. That idiot who only cared about the Vongola boss, wanted to be the right-hand man, hating any potential rivals. Yamamoto thought he had made some progress in the ten years together, but it seemed that he failed.

Bitter?

No way.

His uncharacteristic anger and bitterness swiftly simmered down. He could feel his eyes burning and he closed them tight to avoid tearing up.

Why did Gokudera wake him up?

He was so close. The end was so near and Yamamoto was so close to finding out if his younger self and the others could get a rematch with Byakuran. So close to seeing if they could defeat him and return the world to normal.

So damn close.

"Damnit." He bit out the curse.

With his eyes stinging, he opened them to glare at Gokudera. "You idiot. I could've found out a way to save Tsuna. Damn it all."

"What the fuck is your problem?" Gokudera grounded out through clenched teeth. "It's not like you had a beautiful dream or anything."

"Of course not, but at least I could see new memories of my younger self. They all just found out that Tsuna of our time isn't really dead!"

"Not dead!?! But—" Yamamoto could see a manic panic rising in Gokudera's eyes, the owner of which suddenly looking at him with desperation. "Y—you mean it's not a dream?"

"No, it's not. It seems that Tsuna and Irie Shouichi devised an intricate plot to bring all of us to the future and what you think of as dreams are actually new memories—"

Gokudera interrupted, "The Tenth is still alive!?!"

"Yes, but—"

"Shut up, you noisy herbivores. Or I'll bite you to death." Hibari growled out, with his eyes closed. Both Gokudera and Yamamoto whipped their heads across and looked at the Cloud guardian, surprised that he was awake.

"Hi—Hibari? You're awake?" Yamamoto asked.

"Your voices woke me up. Consider yourselves lucky that I'm bound here, but I'd be free to bite you to death soon enough. Now let me concentrate." The man gave them a deadly glare before closing his eyes again.

Yamamoto and Gokudera shared a look before glancing back at Hibari. And just like that, their animosity disappeared. It suddenly felt like old times again. With the hope of Tsuna's life, things suddenly didn't look as bleak and they could share a breather. Soon, maybe they could break free and joke and punch and argue like they used to.

Soon, maybe when Tsuna rescued them.

It wasn't a matter of it, but when.

For now, they just had to wake the others and prepare to break out. They had to help their younger selves defeat Byakuran and find Tsuna's body.

Then, their younger selves could return back to the past and everything would right itself again.

A/N: This has not turned out the way I thought it would be. The ending was too quick, I admit, but while I was writing it, I didn't know where I want it to go and I didn't want it to go on for too long. But I felt like I just had to write this scene when I read that Tsuna is not actually dead!