SUNSHINE [Frank Castle]

CHAPTER SIXTEEN - NIGHTMARES

"You're a monster."

Her sister's body laid at her feet, her throat slit open. Blood covered her neck. Beside Nat's body was Matt's, then Foggy, Karen, Misty, Luke, Claire, Danny, Colleen, Steve, Tony, Clint, Bruce, Thor, Wanda, Vision, everyone she'd ever known and cared for.

Except Frank, who stood before her. Looking at her with that disgusted look in his eye she hoped he'd never get.

He repeated. "You're a monster. You killed them. You killed them all. How could you, Charlotte?"

"No." She shook her head vehemently. "No, I didn't mean to, I didn't do it!"

But she had. She'd killed them all, each in a different, intimate way. She'd done it, and she hadn't even hesitated.

She was a monster. She couldn't escape it. And a monster didn't get to have family or friends. It would destroy them if it did.

Frank attacked her then, and effortlessly she grabbed him and snapped his neck. He fell to the floor among the others.

She tried washing her hands of the blood, but they wouldn't come clean. They were just red, red, red. Stained.

She woke up screaming. Her eyes flew open as she jerked awake, her entire body trembling. Her throat was sore, a clear indication that moments before gaining consciousness, she'd been screaming. Her head whipped around, eyes wild. She finally figured out where she was and that it wasn't real and calmed down, just a little.

It was an all too familiar feeling. Every time she slept she got nightmares. Every nightmare woke her up screaming, disoriented, and terrified.

Her door flew open seconds later, revealing a very worried looking Frank. His eyes rested on her shaking form looking up at him, terrified.

"What the hell happened?"

"Nothing," she replied, though her mind was clearly elsewhere. "Nightmares. I'm sorry that I woke you. I shouldn't have slept while you were here."

He was frozen, looking as if he had no idea what to do. "Are you alright?"

She only shrugged. "I've got to be."

"No." He shook his head. "No, you don't. I have 'em too, the nightmares. You don't have to be alright. I'm not."

She didn't reply, didn't even look up at him. She just stared ahead at the wall in front of her, eyes empty. "You can tell me about it, if you want."

She looked up at him then. He was so awkward looking, standing in her doorway. He hadn't comforted anyone in such a long time, he wasn't even sure if he remembered how. But he would try, for her.

"Are you sure?" Her voice was quiet, almost timid.

"I'm sure." His rough tone turned soft. It was so out of character for him, it compelled her to tell him. Who knew how long this soft, gentle Frank would last?

He sat down on the edge of her bed, and she told him. "I killed everyone I love. My sister, Matt, my friends." She paused for a heartbeat. "You."

Her eyes dodged his again. She hated herself for it. "You called me a monster, attacked me, and I snapped your neck. There were bodies, as far as I could see. All of them had faces of people I care about. I tried. . . I tried washing the blood off of my hands. But it stained them red. It got into my skin and refused to leave. I still see it, when I look at my hands."

She looked down at her hands in her lap, and true to her word, she still thought she saw red.

"I see my wife," Frank admitted after a period of silence. "I wake up and she's there, her face over mine. Then she stands up off of the bed and a guy in a mask shoots her in the head. He takes his mask off, and it's me."

Frank let out a breath before one last admission. "I still see it, too. The blood."

In a moment of impulse, Charlotte reached over and took his hand in hers. He didn't pull away. "Do you get them every night?"

"Yeah." His eyes flicked down to their hands once, twice, then they stayed and never left.

"Me too."

His free hand came up and brushed her wrist, the skin marred and burned in a perfect circle around it. "What did they do here?"

"They handcuffed us to our beds to keep us from escaping, like I told you. I tried to escape one night, and one man who hated us got his excuse to torture me. He put my cuffs into a fire, then locked it skin tight around my wrist. He let everyone hear my screaming."

His fingers brushed the skin ever so lightly, as if too heavy a touch could hurt her.

Charlotte sighed before standing and letting go of his hand. "I don't think I'm going back to sleep tonight. I'm gonna to go watch a movie or something. I'll keep the volume down so you can sleep. Goodnight."

She left her room and went to the living room. She expected Frank to go back to his room to sleep, but instead he followed her. He sat down next to her on the couch, and watched her put in the movie. The Empire Strikes Back.

They watched the movie without talking or even glancing each other's way, but after a few minutes Charlotte felt Frank slide his hand back into hers.

She fell asleep on his shoulder after the "I love you" "I know" scene, and for the first time in years, maybe ever, her sleep wasn't plagued with nightmares.

A/N: So. . . there's that. I don't know what this is, really. Only that I love it. I hope you enjoyed it and thanks for reading!