Once Upon an Avenger

Chapter 10: Melinoe...

"Rise and shine, matey!" Hope shouted as she jumped on Sam's bed. She said it with such joy and in an extraordinarily strong British accent.

Sam rolled over, throwing his pillow at her. "This is not becoming a regular thing, Swan, man's gotta sleep."

"And woman's got a plan, so get up!" Hope ordered, still sounding very British.

He reluctantly sat up and moved over so that she could sit next to him. "What's so important? And why are you talking like that?"

"I'm part pirate remember... it's just the way I talk." Hope shrugged, her accent weakening a little.

"Still thinking you're a fairy-tale character I see." He tried rubbing the sleep from his eyes but it was without success. "Look, Swan, I know how much you want me to believe your nonsense but it's too early."

"Sam, it's seven a.m. It's hardly early."

Sam sighed. "Precisely, seven a.m."

"And it's not nonsense, that's why I'm here, I can prove it..."

"How are you planning on doing that exactly? By showing me your magic hand again?"

"Shots fired..." Hope hit Sam with the cushion he had thrown at her. "All the Avengers have been having nightmares, except you."

"What are you going on about, Swan?"

"The other night when I told you everything, not that you believed me, but anyway, before I had a shower, I said something about you having nightmares."

"Yeah, and I told you that I hadn't had any recently..."

"That's because you love me; I'm the cure, the rest of the team doesn't love me yet. I mean, they might, but love is nothing without trust, something we haven't properly established yet. That's understandable though, I haven't been here that long." Hope could see the blank expression on Sam's face. "Look, what I'm trying to say is everyone on the team apart from you and me are having nightmares. But, because the people in this place are all so stubborn and independent, they haven't spoken to anyone else about it."

"How are you so sure of this? Surely they would have mentioned it..."

"Like I said, Wilson, stubborn and independent!" Hope smirked. "I can tell from the look on their faces, I had the same look on mine every morning for two and a half weeks, until I learnt to love myself..." Sam went to say something but Hope quickly cut him off. "Once again, you aren't going to believe me! That is why we are going to go and sit in the lounge and do a little experiment."

"Experiment?" Sam asked as she dragged him to his feet.

Hope ushered him down the stairs. "We're going to go sit there and watch as they come downstairs. Pay attention to the expressions on their faces, it'll look like they've seen a ghost, or they might seem a bit sweaty. Something like that, trust me..."

The two of them sat on the couch waiting for the others to come downstairs. First came Natasha, as per usual; shortly followed by Tony.

"Did you see?" Hope whispered to Sam so that they wouldn't hear.

"They just looked a little pale, it's normal. As I said, it's first thing in the morning."

"Fine. Wanda is usually the one that struggles to hide it the most, wait until she comes down."

Clint and Bruce were the next two Avengers to emerge, both of them sporting pale faces and heavy bags under their eyes. Hope looked at Sam with a smug look on her face; she could tell he was beginning to believe her, at least about the nightmares. When Wanda finally came downstairs, her face didn't necessarily show much; over the past week she'd mastered keeping a neutral facial expression, but her fists were clenched, and her breathing slightly laboured.