*DISCLAIMER: I don't own Romantically Apocalyptic, or any of the characters.*

I decided to write this on a whim. I'm not sure how I feel about this yet, and I'm not quite sure where it's going to lead. Let me know how it is and if I should continue! Be brutally honest, I can take it. Thanks for reading!

I didn't need ANNET to have nightmares. Even with the absence of communication towers, dark figures and eerie wails made their way into my dreams. I often woke up in the middle of the night, a cold sweat soaking my skin and blood stained clothes.

Tonight was different. I jolted awake, as usual, after a particularly horrible nightmare about the Cancer incident. My hands were white-knuckled as they gripped the sides of the half-rotten sofa I called a bed. Indifferent moonlight filtered through the multiple cracks in the ramshackle walls of the one-room shed Captain called "Headquarters". Nobody here in this wasteland slept very well, but I seemed to be the only one awake. Engie was slumped over the kitchen table, snoring softly. Pilot had wandered off somewhere to sleep, claiming that "dirty shoes" like us couldn't be around him while he slept. He didn't trust us. Can you say "Mentally unstable"?

Captain, on the other hand, rarely slept. I wasn't all that surprised to see him lounging in a threadbare recliner, calmly watching me as I recovered from whatever the hell I had just dreamt.

"What do you want this time?" I growled. I didn't exactly enjoy having Captain watch me sleep. But I didn't hate it, either.

"I've noticed my Sniper doesn't sleep very well." His normally flamboyant and self-important voice was quieter and more sheepish.

"I'm touched." He has to be up to something.

"I just vanted to make sure mein Snippy was alright…"

"I'm fine. Go to sleep or something."

"You don't seem fine, Mister Snippy." Even though his face was concealed by his usual gas mask and goggles, I was sure he looked concerned. Since when did Captain care about anyone? Since when did Captain care about me?

"I'd be fine if you'd let me sleep, Captain."

Even Captain knew when enough was enough. "Alright, Alright. I vill see you in zee morning, Sniper of mein. Good night."

"Mmmph. 'Night."

The last thing I heard before drifting off to sleep was the soft thud of Captain's boots as he walked out into the night.