25 Unicorn Street- early Thursday morning

[throughaphase]

Kitty hadn't thought much of the nightmares last night. It was weird for some of the stuff to come up after all this time, but she hadn't been that worried about it. Then came tonight (...this morning?), where she'd dreamt of being thirteen and on a table, having her memories removed and replaced with false ones, like everything about her was removed to turn her into a killing machine.

It was invasive, and terrible, and when she woke up she was left with the thought of just how hard it had been to come back from that, how much Logan had had to push her to make her own choices and work past the brainwashing when all she'd wanted to do was run. It wasn't even like she hadn't had to deal with Ogun twice since then, and the randomness and detail of this now actually made her mad.

She sat up in bed, rubbing her face, and apparently she was awake now.


[For the guy in the bed!]

Comments

[so_hawkward]

Clint tended to be a pretty deep sleeper, but not for the last few nights. The feeling of Kitty stirring was more than enough to wake him up, and he turned over, frowning when he saw her sitting up. "Hey, you okay?" he asked.

[throughaphase]

"Yeah," she said, nodding. "Really messed up dream."

You know. Again.

[so_hawkward]

"Want to talk about it?"

Clint sighed and slipped his arm over Kitty's waist, so talking might not have been needed.

[throughaphase]

She certainly wouldn't have gotten into as much detail talking.

Instead, he'd get the full effect of the brainwashing, the feeling of not being Kitty, of being someone who'd been raised specifically to take out anyone Ogun wanted to, including Logan-

[so_hawkward]

As the memory faded, Clint was speechless, and a little nauseous, and he reached for Kitty to pull her against him even tighter. "What the hell was that?!"

[throughaphase]

"That was Ogun," she said, frowning. "Remember when we were in Japan? Where I had ninjas following me around? That's how it started."

[so_hawkward]

"That... that was awful," Clint said. He gave Kitty a soft kiss on the cheek. "I'm assuming Logan stopped you from actually hurting him?"

[throughaphase]

She nodded. "He basically unbrainwashed me. He's the reason I'm me today. Why did you get any of that?"

[so_hawkward]

"I don't know, but I don't like it," Clint said. "Actually, I take that back, I'm almost glad I got to see that so I know more about what you've been through. And I'm so, so sorry, and one hundred percent prepared to make sure Ogun never comes near you again, in case that needs to be said. But that was still really weird."

[throughaphase]

"I don't get why it's coming up again," she said, still frowning. "I was thirteen. I haven't actually dealt with him in like a decade."

[so_hawkward]

Clint sighed, and ran his hand along Kitty's back in small circles, trying to be comforting. "I don't know, maybe something's going on with old memories? I was thinking about the circus," he said. "That was definitely a while ago."

[throughaphase]

She wasn't relaxing at all, but she appreciated the effort.

"Is there a reason you would have been thinking about that?" she wondered.

[so_hawkward]

Clint was used to his efforts not working, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to try!

"Not really. I haven't heard from Barney in a while, that'd probably be the only thing to open that memory drawer up."

[throughaphase]

"Did you have this last night, too?"

Ugh, this island, why.

[so_hawkward]

"Yeah, I just didn't say anything. I thought it was a one-time nightmare," Clint said. "I guess it's been quiet for too long, huh?"

[throughaphase]

"The new mayor did get the timing right," Kitty said wryly.

[so_hawkward]

Clint snickered and gave Kitty another hug. "Do you want to try to get back to sleep? Or do you think you're up for good?"

[throughaphase]

"Oh, I'm done with sleep," Kitty said immediately. "Maybe forever? We'll see."

[so_hawkward]

"Then I say we find something ridiculous and funny to stream so we have something else to think about," he said. "And in case it wasn't clear, you're still the most amazing woman in the world."

[throughaphase]

"I love you," she said, leaning over to give him a kiss. "Let's have some ridiculous."