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Ava frowned at Peter's retreating form, barely registering his cackled quip at the breakfast table. She knew something wasn't right with her leader, his scent was wonky, laced with fear, anxiety and something else that she couldn't quite name. The tigress growled, concern burning in her gut for the person she had come to care for as another member of their odd family. Peter was different ever since the Morlun incident as they had come to call it. He was more distant, often closing himself off to others unless he was in a highly emotional state, usually only after a nightmare.

Speaking of nightmares…Ava sighed as memories from the night before came rushing back to the forefront of her mind in stunning Technicolor.

Last Night….

He couldn't breathe, fire, it burned across his chest scorching him all the way down to his toes. Peter scratched at himself, his mouth caught in a silent scream as he fought to rid himself of the ferocious heat even as he felt it increase to unbearable levels. Tears slid down his cheeks though they did nothing to decrease the agony of the raging inferno. Peter drew in a shuddering gasp, crying out as the flame charred the delicate tissue in his lungs.

The teen kicked and writhed, pleading with someone, anyone to put out the pyre that was cooking him alive. However just as the blaze reached its peak of agony, Peter felt himself being tipped overboard into a pitch black pit. His limbs became motionless as numbness overtook his frame, and Peter felt hysteria overtake his senses. No! Not there! Anywhere but there! He couldn't breathe down there, he'd be lost forever and who would take care of Aunt May? The flames were gone, but now the broken hero was set adrift in a thick darkness that no light could penetrate. He couldn't breathe…couldn't move…couldn't….

Danny rubbed his eyes with one fist as the familiar sound of whimpered sobs woke him from a restless slumber. In the space of time it took him to assess the situation Ava had already entered the room followed closely by Sam and Luke. Pitying looks of concern fell on their leader, the pale spider caught in his blankets, a thin sheen of panic induced sweat glistening on his skin as his voice, nothing more than a mewling cry, begged for help.

"Pl-Please," Peter sobbed "make it stop, I-I'm scared….no…I don't want…not here…can't breathe….can't breathe….I can't…!"

Desperate hands scratched and pulled at his shirt, revealing bloody furrows left behind by his nails. Crimson already stained the material of his pajamas and it seemed that Peter had no knowledge of the damage he was causing himself. Seeing the blood and the spider's frantic state Ava dove forward on the right side while Danny took the left, Luke and Sam stayed at the foot of the bed, fully prepared if Peter needed assistance in a desperate run for the bathroom. The spider sometimes felt sick to the point of vomiting after a particularly nasty night terror, and both had gotten used to helping Peter find his way without injuring himself in the scramble to the toilet. Ava crooned softly to Peter petting his head and running her fingers through his hair, both she and Danny had learned the hard way what happened if Peter was jerked out of a nightmare, and the consequences were more often than not painful. Physically for them, and emotionally for their leader at having hurt a member of his team, regardless of it being an accident.

Slowly both were able to coax Peter awake, the young man opening his eyes with a jerk and sitting up in bed in one fluid motion. Keen eyes used to seeing in the dark darted around, searching for an anchor to reality, some proof that he was not in fact trapped in that endless void deprived of any access to oxygen. Finally his gaze sharpened as the people around him came into focus and the teen hero recognized his friends.

"G-Guys?" his whisper was barely above a weak stutter, his body shaking as shock settled into his limbs "W-Wh-What's wr-wrong? I didn't h-hurt you, d-d-did I?"

"Peter, it's ok, no one's hurt, you were just dreaming" Ava gave a comforting smile.

The young hero sighed with relief before suddenly giving a sharp grimace. Looking down the spider felt his brown eyes widen at the blood staining his chest and the already healing scratches left behind standing as evidence to his nightmare. Eventually his gaze turned to his fingernails and bile rose up in the back of his throat at the blood and pieces of skin still clinging to them. His shaking increased tenfold and Peter barely had enough time to jump out of his bed and to the bathroom before waves of vomit were catapulted into the porcelain toilet. Luke sat on the edge of the tub, rubbing the tension out of his leader's shoulders his chiseled features heavy with sorrow.

Ava retrieved a clean shirt and Sam rummaged through the closet before handing the girl a thick blanket to help ward away the harsh trembling afflicting their leader's limbs. Eventually Peter's heaves slowed, leaving him gasping against the wall of the bathroom, his body trembling pitifully as he shrunk into himself to gather some semblance of body heat. Danny quietly ran a washcloth under hot water and tenderly relieved the spider of his shirt before dabbing at the scratches. Luke gave the young monk medicine to prevent infection, then the duo helped lead Peter back to his room and to his bed.

The tigress quickly covered the spider in a fresh shirt before grabbing the blanket, and Sam merely stood by watching Ava wrap him up in solemn silence "You ok, web head?" Nova eventually queried, his voice uncharacteristically soft towards Peter.

The teen hero tried to shrug off Sam's concern, but his dream came back to him in a tidal wave of memory mixed with emotion. The darkness, the pain the never ending flames it was all too much. He hated being such a burden to them. Hated himself with every fiber of his being for not being a better, stronger, leader. They should be sleeping in bed, not standing by him like a bunch of nursemaids to their one invalid. They shouldn't have to be here. However the thought of them leaving him on his own was just as repulsive. Peter's adrenaline shot up as renewed panic coursed through his system at the thought of being left alone and attempting sleep again. He didn't want them to leave, granted Danny was here, but he hated the horrible loneliness that so often accompanied the night. The spider whimpered, his breath coming in convulsive gasps as he curled into himself, his legs drawing up into the fetal position.

Planting his face firmly between his knees, Peter gripped brown hair between trembling hands "I…I don't know," he muttered in answer to Sam's question.

Sam sat down on Peter's right, Ava still maintaining her position at his left and the two cuddled close to the distraught teen. Though Peter didn't say it out loud, they understood that he needed their presence to anchor him. It was normal for anyone who went through that kind of ordeal to feel the need to have people around them. Eventually though they would need to leave the room so that they could sleep as well, but no one had any idea how to do so without feeling like they had betrayed their spider. Suddenly, in the midst of the darkness Iron Fist spoke, making the room's occupants startle at his soft voice.

"Was it the same dream as usual?"

It was a small attempt in aiding their leader to move past this most recent nightmare, and though the spider appreciated it, he found that even thinking back on the smallest details of said dream made his emotions that much harder to control. Peter released a small hiccup, a sure sign that a possible meltdown was dangerously close to the surface but that their leader was fighting valiantly to keep his emotions in check "Y-Yeah, I don't know why it keeps coming back, I'm so sick of this."

"You know what the doctor said," Luke murmured, sitting down at the foot of the bed "that your dreams are memories from what happened, but it was so traumatic that your brain is having a hard time processing them."

"Yeah, I know," Peter moaned miserably.

"If the nightmares are merely memories from the event," Danny continued "then it is possible for you to overcome them. You made it, you were strong enough to defeat Morlun and survive massive amounts of radiation. Then you came out of your coma with no side effects from the poison in your system. You survived Peter, you are no longer in danger you are safe."

"Try telling that to my subconscious," the brown haired teen sniffled "I know I'm safe, but I keep having the nightmares of burning alive, or worse being cut off from everything."

"Maybe it's time you faced your memories, instead of letting them destroy you?"

Peter gnashed his teeth at Danny's suggestion, fury lighting tearful eyes "I don't want to remember the coma! I don't want to remember almost dying from radiation poisoning! I just…I just want to sleep, is that so much to wish for?!"

That last statement was spoken in a tone that left little doubt in the agony Peter was experiencing. Sam found himself sighing. Though he always teased Peter incessantly before all this happened, the young Nova found he couldn't help but admire him. Admire his passion to protect the innocent and do good where no one else would try. Before all this, Peter was strong, granted he would goof off and be immature but so would they. Spider-man could walk off a battle with ease and few injuries. Not that he ever told anyone about his injuries, Spider-Man was notorious for avoiding the med bay, preferring to nurse his wounds in private. Showing weakness, becoming vulnerable, both ideas were foreign to the Spider, and so his team never associated such things with their leader. Odd though he may be, he was always consistent in never showing weakness to those around him.

At least till now.

"Here, why don't you take the sleeping pills Doc Connors made for you?"

Sam was snapped back to the present by Ava's gentle nudging. The Nova winced, normally they didn't even mention the medication Peter had been put on. Meds for PTSD, meds for sleeping, anti-anxiety pills, you name it, Peter was probably on it….Not that he took them. Thus why mentioning the sleeping prescription written and designed by Doctor Connors solely for Peter's use was usually considered a big no-no. Their leader hated the medication, hated what it did to his head and his reflexes, often complaining that it messed with his spider sense making him feel defenseless. It was only on the really bad nights when Peter was almost inconsolable that they dared mention their very existence.

"No!" Peter shook his head vehemently "If I take them now I'll be groggy all day tomorrow and what would we do if a villain attacks? I won't chance going into battle without a clear head."

"Well if you took them before bed when you're supposed to then maybe you wouldn't have to worry about that." Ava persisted with stern compassion.

Danny and Luke exchanged twin looks of unhappy resignation. Peter and Ava had been having this argument since he was released to go back home. Right now the score was seventy-five to fifteen, with Peter in the lead. Those fifteen nights where Ava managed to convince Peter to choke down his pills were the worst nights by far, filled with them physically having to restrain the spider and cover his mouth so that his terror filled screams wouldn't wake his aunt. That was when he had just come back home from the med bay, his dreams had decreased significantly in their ability to scare Peter senseless, but he still had the occasional night where his emotions were particularly unstable and sleep all the more elusive.

"No," Peter whined "you know I hate having to rely on drugs, I shouldn't have to need them."

"Eventually you won't," Ava retorted in the all too familiar debate "we have faith in you that soon your nightmares will dissipate and then you'll be taken off the medication, but until that time you need to take care of yourself and do what is necessary so you can get some real sleep."

Peter felt his shoulders slump in defeat and Sam smirked as he mentally cut another notch for Ava. Seventy-five to sixteen. "Fine," Peter murmured "but cut it in half, I don't want to be a zombie tomorrow."

Ava grinned triumphantly as she reached for the drawer containing his pill bottles "That I can agree to,"

Sam scuttled from the room, filling a glass with ice cold water and returning so to give it to Peter to aid him in taking his sleeping pill "Now be a good boy and take your medicine,"

"Shut up bucket head," Peter groused taking the cup and then swallowing his pill. The spider grimaced at the bitter taste, before curling up on his mattress with a pout "I hope you're happy now,"

"If it means you sleep the rest of the night without waking up screaming, then yes, I'm very happy," Ava chuckled as she and Danny tucked their leader in noting how he was already yawning from the effects of the medication.

"Get some sleep, web head," Sam smiled squeezing Peter's shoulder softly.

"Yeah, sweet dreams," Luke chorused "or no dreams, that would probably be better,"

Peter mumbled incoherent complaints at their words, but was swiftly being pulled under into the folds of a drugged sleep. Danny merely shook his head and tugged the blankets up a little higher around the teen "Good night spider, sleep well,"

…..

"Are you well?"

Ava shook her head willing the memories away only to face the concerned look of their resident monk "Yeah, just thinking about last night."

Danny nodded his head in understanding "I empathize, it has already been three months since our spider was released from the med bay but to me it feels as if he is getting worse."

"Exactly!" Ava burst one hand gripping Danny's shoulder "Peter's keeping a secret from us, I can practically smell it on him every time I catch his scent. His dreams should be going away, but they're not. I talked to the doctor and he said that they would only be brought on by stress at this point, and as far as we know he has had nothing to be stressed about."

Danny cast a thoughtful gaze to the floor before giving his hesitant answer "So the real question is, what is making our spider so anxious that it calls his worst nightmares to plague him every night?"

"And another good question," Ava sighed her brown eyes melting with hurt and concern "why doesn't he tell us?"

Angst, angst, and more angst. I warned you all, this was going to be dark and rather heavy. I promise to try and lighten it up from time to time, but I really wanted to see this team support and essentially rescue Peter for once.

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