thearena | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Who | Peggy & assorted arena 1 avengers
What | Screaming nightmares. Thank you very much.
When | Sometime within week 1
Where | Wherever the Avengers bunked down
Rating | Uncomfortable

Flames shot low over her head, skimming her hair. Pain blistered along her nerves, hair sizzling and falling out in clumps in her hands, sending her crashing to her knees and rolling, rolling, rolling into something solid and warm. The stench of rotted flesh strangled her senses and something sticky and moist washed over her skin, drowning her in a bath of red, red and heat and bone peeking out of an arm cracked off in her arm and Steve's lips were moving over and over against her ear as maggots ate through his tongue and-

She woke screaming.

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Clint hadn't been sleeping, exactly. He didn't much, especially not in the arena. Nor did he make much noise, as that's a surefire way to get noticed really quick. So when Peggy woke herself screaming, he did what his instinct told him to do and clamped a hand over her mouth, leaning in to whisper in what he hoped was a soothing tone. "Peggy. Peggy, it's okay. You're going to be okay."

Tears burned at the corner of her eyes, leaking quietly down her cheeks and against his fingers. Her chest heaved as she fought for air and she couldn't stop looking at Clint's face, gaze brushing over every feature, taking all of him in until her heart slowed enough to hear him. His hand was a heavy weight against her mouth but it was real and solid and alive.

Slowly, she lifted her hand to cover his. If she kept this up, she would get them all killed. And it was a foolish hope to wish that at least one of them might never have to return to any arena ever again, but it was a hope she needed to hold on to.

He kept his hand there until he was sure she was calm enough not to start screaming again, then slowly pulled it away from her mouth, giving her hand a quick squeeze. "You gonna be okay?"

He knew all about nightmares, but there was a time and a place, and this was neither. One of them had to win this arena, and they weren't going to do it drawing everybody's attention to their position.

"Yes," she rasped. "Yes, I'll be fine."

She would have to be, wouldn't she? There was no alternative. Not even death could free them from this place and Peggy was more than aware of the band heavily weighted around her wrist.

But if she were as fine as she claimed, why was it so hard to release his hand?

Hey, if she needed to hold his hand to keep from screaming, she was welcome to it. That was an easy choice to make.

"Good. You think you can sleep again tonight?"

"No."

She rather felt lucky she managed any sleep at all. This place was a waking nightmare of endless color and noise. Peggy ran a hand over her face and let out a low sigh, gazing up at the bright, bright sky.

Quietly, she thread her fingers through Clint's and squeezed. She missed Steve. Missed him terribly. Missed his steadiness and optimism, and the feeling of safety that came from him being within arms reach.

"Have you managed to sleep yet?"

He shook his head. He wasn't likely to sleep any time soon either. He could do this, though, he could try and be steady for her.

"Nah, I'm fine." The noise and the brightness...it was too much to sleep through anyway.

"You'll need to at some point."

Peggy would sit there with her hands blocking his ears if need be. The human body required sleep. Required it. It wasn't optional. It wasn't something that could be ignored. The effects were monstrous when you didn't.

"Yeah, I will." At some point. He knew he'd need it eventually, and he'd want to get some before it got too bad and he ended up exhausted and sleeping through things he shouldn't be sleeping through.

"Not now."

"I'm holding you to that."

She bloody well refuses to watch you slip away in this arena. It was hard enough with the four of them.

"Feel free."

He had no intention of dying until there was only one other person from his world in the arena. Until then, he was going to do whatever it took to help them all survive.

"You hungry?"

"No." She blinks and she can see Steve's dead face, slowly decaying. It makes her stomach twist and roll. "I'm afraid I wouldn't keep any of it down if I tried."

She does try to smile for him. "Thank you."

He nods. That's probably for the best. They had a good supply when they started, but food is definitely running low, and as far as he can see, everything living in this arena is really damn bloodthirsty, which makes hunting...interesting.

He appreciates the smile on a certain level, though he doesn't quite manage one in return. "When you are...well, I gotta sleep sometime, and you gotta eat sometime, deal?"

"I suppose I can manage that. You've got a deal."

The sky here was truly bizarre and far more obvious about the level of control here than any indication prior.

They were in a dome. A glorified zoo.

"Have you ever found the edge of these arenas?"

Yes, she's changing the topic. There was no use in dwelling. It was difficult enough knowing Steve's body hadn't been taken away. It had been left. That was so much crueler than the wrist cuffs had ever dared to be. It was so hard to focus.

They needed some sort of plan. Some kind of direction because this arena had the potential to break them in a very real way if they didn't.

He shook his head, squinting off into the distance. "Just in the Disney one," he said.

It had occurred to him that they were essentially in giant fishbowls whenever they got dropped into these places. He wouldn't mind cracking that glass a little.

"You thinking of looking for it?"

Peggy nodded slightly with a sly little grin tugging at the corner of her lips.

"It's a far sight better than sitting around and hoping not to get attacked."

He huffed out a faint laugh. "Yeah, I think you're right on that one."

He was starting to get antsy, waiting around with no foreseeable end was not the way he liked to do things.

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