Okay, yeah, you guys are probably going to kill me but whatever! Again, all my other stuff WILL BE UPDATED. Promise. Literally, this prompt-based story thingy is a dumping ground to clear my head. Any number of stories or prompt-based shorts will be put under this heading. Also means this will not be updated regularly but in segments or when the mood strikes.

This is also a challenge for me to attempt to actually keep people in character. Well, kinda. I don't know, I'll see what happens. Don't expect refinement or complexity in anything posted in this story space. Also, don't expect continuity.

Anyway, onwards.

Once again, nothing in this is mine.

Enjoy,

- Illusinia

Prompt: Nightmares

From: avengers-tables .livejournal under 50-word prompt (yes, I do intent to use all 50 words)

Any number of things could have been responsible for her awakening. It seemed like there was always noise coming from somewhere in Avenger's Manor. Still, Darcy's sudden draw from sleep was disconcerting. Especially given the silence that met her ears.

Half an hour later, she was still tossing and turning in a vain attempt to return to dreamland with no results.

"Damnit," muttered Darcy as she again counted the imperfections in the ceiling. There were exactly 32. Sighing, she rolled over again and fell promptly out of bed. "Shit."

For a moment, she considered just remaining on the floor. Then she remembered that time she'd passed out on the floor of the living room during movie night and quickly stood. Yeah, floors so weren't meant for sleeping.

With another sigh and shake of her head, Darcy stumbled from her room and headed towards the kitchen. Maybe water would do the trick. Or alcohol. Beer didn't sound so bad right now.

The light flooding into the hallway from the living room which the apartment-style rooms all branched from drew her attention to the fact that, no, she was not the only person awake. Apparently, whatever had woken her woke the rest of the mansion too. Or maybe Stark had just stumbled in for the night. If that was the case, Pepper was likely to kill him. It was what, 3 am? Yeah, she'd murder him.

Stumbling into the living room, Darcy found herself face to fact with all the current residents of the Manor, looking about as awake as she felt. Except Steve, who looked shaken to the core. Huh. Maybe Steve was what woke her up earlier.

It took her brain a moment to actually catch up to the fact that someone had apparently spoken to her. It had been so quiet in the room while she was in the hall. Or her ear's weren't working. That was possible too. Wasn't there some correlation with loud music and hearing loss? She'd have to look into that when she was more awake. Digressing.

With a shake of her head, Darcy refocused as Jane apparently repeated her previous question. "What are you doing up, Darce?"

Darcy shrugged mildly and stretched. "Eh, don't know. Somethin' woke me 'bout an hour ago. Just wanted some water."

Steve's face reddened a little. "I'm sorry about that Darcy."

"What are you sorry for? Not like it was your fault," pointed out Darcy with a shrug.

Jane touched Steve's arm lightly as he continued. "Actually, it kinda was. I sorta, well-"

"Steve had a nightmare," cut in Natasha. "His shout woke the rest of us."

"Oh," replied Darcy, again with a shrug. "Whatever, no big deal."

"Darcy!" exclaimed Jane unhappily. "That's rude!"

"Huh?" Her sleep addled and confused brain couldn't quite seem to catch up to Jane's super-fast one.

Even Pepper bristled a little. "Show some sympathy."

"Sorry," muttered Darcy. "Wanna talk about it?"

"Darce!" shouted Jane.

"That's even worse," grumbled Tony. "I mean, come on, who wants to talk about a nightmare."

Darcy rolled her eyes with a slight growl of her own. "Well, how am I supposed to know?"

"Try to imagine how you would wish to be treated if you had a nightmare," suggested Natasha from her place beside Steve. "Then, exhibit that same behavior towards the good Captain."

"Indeed," agreed Thor. "Terrors of the dream can be quite difficult to handle at times. One must show support for a brother or sister in arms who suffers so."

Darcy sighed heavily and leaned against a wall with a slight growl. "Well, excuse me for not knowing how distressing a dream can be."

Everyone blinked at her a little and Steve raised his head to stare at her in awe. Clint, who'd been standing in a shadowed corner the whole time, raised a disbelieving eyebrow at her. "You've never had a nightmare."

"Nope," replied Darcy as she straightened again to enter the kitchen. There was some sputtering behind her, and she looked back to see everyone staring at her like she'd just announced that Loki was her father. "What? Its not that weird."

"How can you have never had a nightmare?" asked Tony with the same disbelief that Clint had displayed. "What, has your life been that sheltered?"

She snorted again. "Look, I've just never had a nightmare. Its not a big deal."

"Yeah, it kinda is," pointed out Clint mildly. "It means your nuts according to the shrinks."

"Actually, its not," corrected Jane soothingly. "Its abnormal, but not directly disconcerting. Some people just don't have nightmares. Though, I have to admit Darcy, I wouldn't have expected you to be one of them."

Darcy shrugged. "What can I say, I aim to confuse. But its too early in the morning for this kinda shit, so I'm going back to bed. See you guys in a few hours. And Steve?" Steve looked up at her words, still red faced but looking curious none the less. "Try watching a happy movie or focusing on good memories. A friend of mine in high school suffered from chronic nightmares and that always helped her get back to sleep."

"Thanks," muttered Steve. "I'll try that."

She nodded and disappeared into the kitchen, got her water, and left again to return to bed.

Three weeks later, Darcy found herself sitting bolt-right up in bed and panting heavily. Her whole body shook with nerves and for a few moments she was pretty sure her legs would not hold her. Again, her mind was a confused mess, though she knew she was safe in her own bed.

Slowly, she lowered her feet to the ground and padded out of her room towards the kitchen. It was 5 am, so making coffee and breakfast wasn't completely out of the question. Still, the normally familiar movements didn't sooth her unsettled mind, even as she poured the coffee into a mug. Half an hour later found the remaining residents of the Manor traipsing into the kitchen to find Darcy with her head on her arms at the island.

Hearing their entry, she lifted her head to turn bleary eyes on the group. "So, gotta retract that statement about nightmares I made a few weeks back."

"Oh Darcy," muttered Jane, apparently forgiving Darcy's earlier lack of sympathy for Steven. Or maybe she just felt bad that Darcy had never faced any of this before. "What happened?"

Darcy sighed and sat up more in the seat. "Well, it started with this brightly colored field filled with pink bunnies..."

"...then the bunnies started singing this song and the next thing I knew, I was shaking hard and sitting up in bed," finished Darcy. "Seriously, I don't know where any of that even came from."

She was getting that 'did-you-just-say-Loki-is-your-father' look again. Seriously, why were they looking at her like that now? "What? You guys asked what happened."

"Uh, Darcy, that isn't really a nightmare," soothed Jane slowly. "Usually, nightmares are a little more, well-"

"-Violent," cut in Natasha. "Or distressing. You had a normal dream."

Now Darcy was giving them the Loki-is-your-father look. "Uh, no, pretty sure that wasn't a normal dream."

"Uh, pretty sure it was," replied Tony with a snort. "Unless you usually dream of blood or zombies or stuff like that. Then that totally counts as a nightmare."

"Wait, most people don't dream about zombies, blood, and death on a regular basis?" asked Darcy. "What do they dream about then? Pixies and butterflies?"

Again, she was getting that look. From everyone. Sigh. Couldn't they just express their disbelief another way?

"Wow, you're fucked in the head," commented Tony. "Most people don't consider dreams about zombies normal. Well, unless you're a super-villain. Then maybe zombie dreams are normal."

"Loki often dreamt of the dead rising to his command," offered Thor helpfully. "Perhaps such things are not abnormal."

"So, wait, you're sayin' that zombie dreams aren't usually considered dreams?" asked Darcy, clearly confused.

Clint shook his head and ruffled her hair a little. "Nope, those are usually nightmares."

Darcy nodded slowly. "So dreams filled with blood, violence, the sensation of being watched..."

"All nightmare material," confirmed the archer mildly as he refilled her coffee.

"Oh." She paused for a moment, taking in everything that she'd been told. "In that case, invert my previous statement. I have nightmares every night, but I never had a dream until today."

Yeah, so I completely know how Darcy feels with the whole 'don't have nightmares' thing. Admittedly, I've actually had one nightmare that I can remember as being a nightmare, but that was since I was 8 when the 'end of the world' dream I used to have repeatedly stopped.

Thanks to my friends who were patient enough to answer my questions about what people actually have nightmares about what you do when a friend has a nightmare. Seriously, I would be lost without them.

Also, forgot to mention: This story isn't being submitted as an actual submission for the prompt-competition. So please, if its not okay to use the table (for some reason) without submitting anything formally to the table makers, let me know. I don't want to step on anyone's toes, but I don't want to actually participate in the prompt competition things they do out of shear lack of time.