THE fighter

Written by Abigail D'Almeida

Note: This is my very first FanFiction so please be nice! This story is set after both Fantastic Four movies so storyline will change. Enjoy!

"Johnny! Get out of bed, it's really late!" Susan Storm yelled while simultaneously banging her fists on the other side of her Brother Johnny's bedroom door. In truth, it was only 9:30 in the morning but that was like noon to Johnny, since he was always up by at least 7:00, 7:30 latest.

It had been over a year since the Fantastic Four were needed to defend the Earth meaning a lot had changed- Ben and Alicia are now a happily married couple and have recently moved to California. Sue, Reed and Johnny all moved out of the Baxter Building and have been living in a lovely and quite spacious flat in downtown New York. Johnny is now a proud owner of a German shepherd named Sammy- cheesy and common but he loves it.

Johnny didn't reply, though Sammy did and ran up to the door and started clawing at it, trying to get it open from the other side. Sue chuckled slightly, that dog was pretty smart, maybe even smarter than Johnny himself, okay probably not but still. She was about to kick the door down when she heard footsteps walking towards the door followed by the clicking and opening of the door to reveal none other than Jonathan Storm, a very tired-looking, seemingly on the verge of passing out Jonathan Storm but at least he was out of bed.

"Wow, you look terrible!" the older Storm exclaimed, her voice full of concern and amusement at the same time.

"Gee, I love you too Sis" he replied with a surprisingly weak voice.

"Sorry, but what happened to you? You look like you got run over by a car, dumped in a pool of electric eels and then got run over by another car on the way out"

"Lovely description, now if you don't mind, I'll be going back to bed now"

The young man then turned and started walking towards his queen-size bed, Sammy following close behind.

"Oh, no you don't mister, even Reed's up already!" she stated, grabbing her brother's arm, making him stumble slightly and turn around.

"Can't I just sleep in for once? It's a Saturday!"

Only then did Sue notice the tiredness in his eyes which were surrounded by dark circles, something was wrong, though she didn't know what.

"Did you have another nightmare?" she asked, still keeping a tight grip on Johnny's wrist

"Don't I always?" was the simple reply she got from him before he was able to free himself from her grasp, walk back towards his bed and collapse onto the dishevelled covers, taking no notice of Sammy as he jumped in with him.

Not wanting her brother to feel unsafe in the place he called home, she slowly walked towards him and sat down on the edge of his bed. When she noticed his uneven breathing, she rested a hand on his head and gently brushed his blonde hair.

"Want to talk about it?" her voice came as a soft whisper.

The younger Storm mumbled something incoherent and sunk deeper into his pillow, shifting them slightly to reveal a small white object that he had kept hidden until then. His inhaler. Johnny had been suffering from asthma since he was a small child and had experienced severe attacks that landed him in the hospital for days. Had his nightmares been so bad so as to send him into an asthma attack?

"Johnny, what happened to you last night?" She demanded but got no reply in return. "Johnny, look at me!"

She then grabbed his arm roughly, trying to get him to look at her but to no avail. Deciding this wasn't going to be easy, she kneeled by his side and carefully pealed back his hands to reveal the tears that shattered her heart immediately.

"Leave me alone Susie, just leave" came his now shaky voice

"Not until you tell me what happened last night" was her rather stubborn response.

"What do you want me to say?!" his voice rose slightly as he sat up sharply. "I see them Susie, I see them dying over and over again and it won't stop. I wake up screaming every night and I can't sleep after that, I can't coz if I do I'll see them again, I always do. I can't take it anymore but I can't tell anyone coz you guys are gonna think I'm out of my mind and send me to therapy again! " His voice cracked at the end. "I wake up and I can't breathe, no matter how much I try to calm myself down. Is that what you wanted Sue? Happy now?"

Johnny seemed like he couldn't breathe now either, his slight gasps for air were like multiple knives being stabbed into Sue each time. Even though she would hear about this later, she held his inhaler to his mouth and pressed the button once, then twice and a third time until her brother's breathing slowed. Worn out and slightly light-headed, Johnny's head fell against her shoulder, despite the height difference.

"You okay now?" she asked quietly

"I'm an asthmatic 23 year old who just had two attacks in a row and now feels like absolute crap that has been run over by a car, dumped in a pool of electric eels and then run over by another car on the way out, I feel fine really. And yourself?" he replied with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"I'm the sister of an asthmatic 23 year old who just had two attacks in a row and has managed to scare the living daylights out of me in the space of 5 minutes, so ya, pretty good I suppose"

At that exact moment, Sammy decided to jump on both of the Storm siblings, making Sue exclaim in surprise and Johnny fall of the bed. The canine was delighted at this accomplishment and jumped of the bed, onto Johnny and walked calmly out of the room, probably to see how he could bother Reed.

"Stupid Dog" Well, actually he chose a more colourful range of vocabulary and earned a slap from his sister. "Ouch"

"You alright down there Johnny?" Sue asked, peering down at his limp form worriedly. "Johnny?"

"Hey, Susie? You think you could maybe help me up?"