If anyone thought that Groundhog Day was the worst thing they could experience, Mickey has them beat. Try Groundhog Day but instead of the same day repeating itself, your life resets every time you die.

And, you remember every single death, every single moment, and every single feeling leading to the final fade to black.

By his fifth iteration, Mickey stopped getting caught up in the nightmares and phantom pain. And while he can sleep soundly now that he's on his 17th, it doesn't mean they've gone away entirely.

A breath heaves deep from within his chest one night, all caution thrown to the wind as the Expendable stumbles out of his cot and onto the flooring of the spaceship. The metal's cold against his bare skin, but it's not enough to ground Mickey in consciousness.

Not like you would, anyway. Through all the reprints, tests, and dying, you've managed to be the main constant in the bender Mickey calls life. Being the odd one out aboard the ship for simply being an Expendable's impacted everyone's perception of him from Day One; he's just lucky you have a thing for underdogs and losers.

Mickey pulls on a shirt before exiting his barracks, moving down the hall quietly to knock on your door. The nightmare he'd had earlier is still fresh,h and the last thing he wants to do is be alone.

"Hey," he mutters when a semi-awake you peeks out from the door, hair rumpled and eyes half-lidded. Of course you'd been asleep— idiot. Now he's gone and ruined your night too. "... Had the dream again."

It's more of a memory than a dream, but it's a dream nonetheless— one of his earlier iterations sitting in a tank and being exposed to Niflheim's noxious atmosphere so the scientists could engineer a vaccine to combat it. However, on rare nights like tonight, you're in his place and he's left to watch you perish from the other side of the glass.

"I'm sorry, go back to bed—"

Mickey sputters as you pull him into your barracks, but follows dutifully once the door's shut. If Mickey's life's bound to be a long, misery-inducing loop for the foreseeable future, at least he's got you.