Hat-Trick Darcy Lewis Challenge #Fourteen:

Character: Erik S.

Song: It's A Beautiful Day ~ Sarah Brightman

Genre: Drama/Friendship/Tragedy

Spoiler Alert: Nothing really, this is Avengers AU and not Thor 2 compliant as I've yet to see the movie…and this makes me very, very sad.

Rating: M

! ! ! ! ! ! ! TISSUE WARNING! ! ! ! ! ! !

Beautiful Day

The plastic the bouquet of flowers were wrapped in crackled in Erik's hand, his fingers flexing in nervousness as he made his way down the hall. It had taken him awhile to gather his courage enough to come; he was frightened by what would happen when he knocked on that door. He hated to admit it, but he was scared, more so than he had ever been in his life.

His feet shuffled after he stopped at the large wooden door, the numbers two-twenty glued in cheap black plastic on the wall between that door and the next. He straightened out his clothes, smoothed down his hair; he did everything he could think to do in order to stall. Finally when he realized he could do nothing else without looking like a fool, he raised his hand and knocked….

The heavy door cracked open before opening fully. Erik smiled at the middle aged woman who had answered; her long brown hair a tangled mess. She bore such a striking resemblance to Darcy that Erik couldn't breathe for a moment. He hadn't met her before, but he had seen her picture once when Darcy had dropped her bag and a few things spilled out. Darcy really did take after her mother.

"Jane said you were coming today, come on in she is just finishing her lunch." Darcy's mother gave a wan smile and stood back so her daughter's friend could enter.

Erik took a few steps inside, but stopped before he could fully clear the door. He felt his heart jump into his throat and lodge itself there. His fingers curled even more tightly around the flowers in his hands, so much that he could feel his nails digging into his palms. The slight pain centered him again, and he took a deep breath before stepping fully into the room.

"Hey Erik…Oh are those for me?" Darcy smiled brightly at the man standing nervously in the room, his hair combed back with entirely too much gel. She laughed, though it was a weak, breathy sound.

"Oh, um, yeah. I wasn't sure what you would like, so I sort of just brought you a mix of things." Erik practically shoved his hand out at Darcy, his hand trembling as he watched the young woman grab a hold of the strange bunch of flowers. There were roses, daisies, lilies, and an assortment of random flowers he didn't know the name of. When he went to the florist to buy them he just sort of grabbed at random.

"I love them, thank you. Why don't you sit down, you look like you're about to collapse." Darcy sighed, she was getting used to the reaction, but it didn't mean she liked it, even if she did understand it.

"Right." Erik grabbed a chair and lowered himself on it. His bones creaked and popped, but he ignored the slight pain that age brought as he looked around him. The two of them were alone, Darcy's mother most likely allowing her daughter a bit of privacy.

"Thank you for coming, it means a lot." Darcy leaned over and set the flowers on the table beside her, the movement causing a sharp pain to move from behind her right ear, straight down to her hip. She grunted, but otherwise tried to hide it. She didn't want any more pity than she already got.

"Of course, I couldn't not…well…Darcy…" Erik felt his eyes well with tears as he looked at the normally vibrant young woman. She looked so different from how he was used to seeing her. Her skin was pale, almost translucent, all except where great purple bruises blossomed. Her eyes, once bright and full of life, had become dull and bloodshot. And the most shocking of all, he thought, was the fact that her once beautiful chocolate hair was gone.

He wanted to rage at the tubes in her nose, at lines that ran down into her arms and neck, at the machine on the other side of the bed that recorded her vitals. He wanted to scream at the world that they had the wrong woman; Darcy was too good, too alive to be this sick.

The beep of the machine grew a bit faster as Darcy watched the tears in Erik's eyes, her own filling with the accursed things. Hadn't she cried enough? Hadn't she yelled, and screamed; tore her apartment a part, prayed and begged, and cried until she thought she couldn't possibly have any more in her? How was it she was once again crying?

"Hey, enough of that now, alright? I'm fine." Darcy tried to sound confidant, but it was hard with amount of pain in her body. She was so tired, and so very, very scared.

"No, you're not…I don't understand." Erik wiped away at the tears that were falling down his cheeks. He had promised not to cry, he didn't want to, for his sake and hers.

"I don't either. It doesn't make sense, it's not fair, and I hate everything and everyone right now. Why me, why me Erik? Why do I have to die?" Darcy bit her lip, regretting it the minute she did it as she could taste blood on her tongue. She was angry, so very angry. This wasn't supposed to happen to her, she wasn't even thirty yet, God damnit!

"I wish I had an answer." Erik felt so helpless, for all their advancements, everything he had seen through SHIELD, there was nothing he could do.

"I'm so angry, and I shouldn't be. Everyone keeps telling me to just be glad I got to spend so much time with my family, and that I knew in advance so I was able to prepare. I'm supposed to be happy and grateful I've lived this long. But I'm not, I'm pissed the fuck off!" She grabbed a pillow off her bed and tossed it across the room as far as she could. Tears came then, hard and fast as she collapsed back down, that one small action enough to drain her. Each day it was getting harder and harder to stay awake, to continue to hold on. The only thing that held her together was the fear of what she knew was inevitable.

"You can be as angry as you like Darcy, you can scream and kick, curse all you want. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. What do they know? Not one of them is laying there….laying there…"

"Dying, you can say it. I'm dying, and….and I'm so fucking scared Erik. I'm scared and all I want to do is go home. I want to go home so fucking bad…only I'm not going to; am I?" Darcy covered her face with her hands, tears slipping from beneath her fingers. She wanted home.

"Hey, hey, look at me." Erik stood up then, leaning over her and peeling away her fingers. When her eyes were finally on his he cupped her face and held her there.

"Please don't be scared, we are all going to be here for you. There is nothing to be scared of."

"How can I not be scared, I'm going to die. Tell me how not to be scared, please."

Erik didn't take a second to think before he sat down on the bedside and pulled her as much as he could into his lap.

"You are just going to go to sleep, that is all. You are going to go to sleep and when you wake there will be no more pain. You are going to be healthy and perfect. So don't be scared, you are going to be in good hands, you will be taken care of." He pressed his lips to the top of her head and just held her while they both cried.

"What is it like outside? Mom said it was sunny when she got up, it hasn't started to rain has it?" Darcy pulled away; her fingers quickly wiping away the tears that made her cheeks feel tight.

"Sunny and warm, perfect picnic weather. It is a beautiful day." Erik stood up only to return right back to the chair he had occupied earlier. He reached over and grabbed her hand, holding it tightly in his own.

"Good, I would rather it be a sunny day than a rainy one. That just wouldn't do." Darcy looked over to where the window was. The curtains had been closed for days as her eyes couldn't take too much sun, not without giving her headaches.

Erik's eyes went where the young woman was looking and he was glad that she couldn't see the rivers of raindrops he was sure covered the windowpane.

It wasn't until several hours later that Erik truly understood what Darcy had meant. Not until Darcy, surrounded by her family and friends, closed her eyes and quietly slipped off to sleep. Never to wake again.

A.N: So this is probably one of the hardest things I have ever written. I was crying through it all, as I remember my sister telling me she was scared and pleading to go home. And there was just nothing I could do about it. So, this is a bit of a personal piece. I guess I just needed to get this out.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.