Hey,... If Ward has powers of his own, here is my take on it. SkyeWard fantasy of course. Since *sniff, sniff* there's none on the series. I hope you like it.
Thank you to annavale23, MythStar Black Dragon, EmmaJMcGhee, AOSshipper, nathy faithy, DeviouslylonelyD, Maddison1803, Awesome Girl, DaynaLewis, Sreya, Fandom8, neeeeeall, Pink Crane, coolgirl786xx, Prawn Crackers, guests and everyone. I know who has been reading my ffs back to back. Thank you.
Also thank you and apologies for all that has been waiting for my Skye and Fury series. I'm still stuck!
Disclaimer : I do not own Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Summary : Skye finds out who Ward truly is.
xox
"Hey Skye!"
"How did you -? Why are you calling me?"
Skye was shocked to hear Ward on the other end of the line. She had thought that being in Afterlife, she would be safe from him. But she had thought wrong. And her instincts were telling her that something was terribly wrong. It was as if she could feel his presence near. Just like it was during their early days together. There was always that strange magnetic feel whenever he was near her.
"Well, I didn't get to say goodbye after Simmons tried to finish what you obviously didn't achieve. So, I thought, I'd give you a ring and ask if you would like to catch up on that drinks we promised. And maybe have a little talk about that 'some day' I once told you?"
"You are insane if you think that I ever want to meet you again! Seeing you again will be too soon!"
"Funny you should mention that," Ward said and after a pause, "Because I am kind of right behind you right now. Turn and wave Rookie."
Skye did an abrupt about face and saw Ward standing several feet in front of her. She immediately raised her hand but seeing her parents suddenly appeared in between her and her former SO, halted her from throwing Ward off his feet with her powers. She was surprised to see her parents stepped forward and blocking Ward from her.
"What is this?" Skye yelled. "Why are you protecting him?"
Cal and Jiaying looked at one another before Jiaying gently told her, "Because he is one of us. Has always been one of us."
xox
"Ward was to find you."
Cal told his daughter who was seated next to her mom. Jiaying took hold of her daughter's hand when Skye shook her head in denial.
"And later," Jiaying gently cupped her daughter's jaw to coax Skye into looking at her before she continued with, "To protect you."
"Why?" Skye kept shaking her head despite her mother's gently hold on her jaw. "Why him?"
"Because it was something meant to be. Still is. You still need protection. Even with your - " Cal began to offer his explanation as he fidgeted across the room. "I found him in the forrest. I saw what he could do. And I knew that he was the one we needed, to find you."
"But you said Garrett left you there." Skye turned accusingly at Ward. "You were alone all that time!"
"He did. And I was." Ward told her flatly.
"Then how - ?" Skye was looking towards the three in the room to search for an answer. "I don't understand. Any of this. Why Ward? What are you all talking about? Mom?"
"Before Raina," Jiaying spoke softly, "There was another that had the ability to see the future. He told us of how we can find you. Our daughter. Our child that was taken from us."
"Where is he now?" Skye asked curiously.
"He is gone. He was young. He was afraid of what he could see. He tried to save his parents from a unavoidable tragedy. He saw them dying in his vision and in trying to think that he could change destiny, he perished together with them." Jiaying tenderly pushed a stray lock of hair behind her daughter's ear as she continued. "Before he left, he told us to find the one that holds fire and he will lead us to you."
"Firearm you mean." Skye dripped with sarcasm as she stared up at Ward who was leaning against a wall beside her. His back was resting on his hands that he kept behind him since the moment they had stepped into the room.
"No. No. Not like that kind of fire," Cal sat on the table in front of Skye and fidgeted before carefully taking her free hand in his. "Not firearm. Fire. Just fire." He then released Skye's hand and stood to gesture towards Ward. "Maybe. Maybe you should, should just show her."
Ward returned Skye's gaze albeit not with daggers as she was throwing at him. He kept still.
"What? Afraid to show what you've been keeping from us all this time besides successfully hiding that you are a traitor to the team?" Skye taunted him.
Ward took a few deep breaths before bringing one of his hands forward. Keeping his eyes steady on her, he opened his fist to reveal a flame burning on his palm. He then mesmerizingly moved his fingers as he caressed the flame into a ball and let it rolled playfully in his hand. A small smirk appeared at the corner of his lips as he watched Skye's jaw dropped. Ward lowered his hand to catch Skye's eyes over the ball of fire on his palm.
"I am on your side, Skye."
xox
"Why did you keep who you are from us?"
"Because secrets are kept for a reason." Ward replied and glanced briefly at her before turning away with a playful smirk. "Didn't we cover that on our first meeting?"
"Don't -" Skye closed her eyes and tried not to blast him. "Why?"
"My orders were to find and protect you at all cost. What good would I be if I'm kept under lock and key?"
Splash!
Skye threw a pebble into a pond with a force that made a loud splash. Ward and Skye had opted to have their private talk in the garden within the protection of her mother's house. Ward leaned against the bridge wall with his arm folded across his chest facing away from Skye. She stood beside him as she tossed little pebbles into the pond under them.
"At the cost of what? Friendship. The team."
"The team was a family to me, Skye. You all were more than just friends or a team. I did everything I could to save all of you. But choices had to be made. Mistakes were made. Choices and mistakes that I regret."
Splash!
"You really think that I'm proud of myself that I've managed to save FitzSimmons from a death sentence? You really think that I expect them to thank me for giving them a chance at survival? You think I am happy to see Fitz the way he is now? Or to see how much Simmons has changed?"
Splash!
"Skye," Ward turned to face her profile. "I know how much you hate me now for what I did to them. I know no amount of apologies from me would ever make up for what I did. What I had to do."
Ward gently grasped Skye's fist when she was about to throw another pebble into the pond. Skye's eyes flashed at him. But Ward was not deterred from what he wanted to say.
"Hate me all you want Skye. But don't change from what you were when I first met you."
"Why didn't you get away from Garrett when you had a chance? When my father found you, why didn't you go with him? Why do you have to make me hate you?" Skye yelled at him and pulled her hand from his tender grasp.
Ward turned around and lowered his body to rest his weight on his arms as he rested them on the ledge. He chose his words wisely because he knew no matter how he puts it, Skye will take it wrongly.
"Because it was all part of the plan to find you. Your parents knew that either Hydra or S.H.I.E.L.D will get hold of you somehow. And they need you to be protected. I had to be in either organizations or both in order to be with you. To keep you safe."
"So, I am the caused of who you are?" Skye hissed. "Have I made you the man you are now? Are you blaming me for you not turning out a good man?"
"I knew you'd see it that way," he sighed. "No. You are not the cause of who I am. Never, ever, think that way."
"But - "
"My family made me what I am. And Garrett molded me to be the soldier that he needed to suit his purposes." Then he added softly, "But the promise I made to your father to find you, was the only factor that kept me from fully becoming the monster that I am supposed to be."
"Why would you want to help my father? Have you ever met him before?"
"No." Ward shook his head. "That one time that I stole food from his car and he followed me was the first time that we ever met." Ward paused as he looked down at the water below him. "As to why I decided to help him? It was because I saw something in his eyes when he mentioned you."
"What?"
"Love." Ward said with a sad smile. "The same kind that I saw in my Grampsy's eyes whenever she was with me."
"Wait," Skye turned skeptically at Ward. "You mean, your Grampsy is real? Not some fictional character or lies you made up during that fake truth serum episode?"
"My Grampsy was real Skye." Ward told her with a sad downcast eyes. Then he turned to her with a bright sheen in his eyes, "If you must know, I inherited whatever I have from my Grampsy."
"Are all your family like you?" Skye asked despite herself. The unshed tears in Ward's eyes was her undoing.
"No." Ward shook his head. "Only me. Somehow, it skipped a generation, that being my father. Non of my siblings inherited my ability. Grampsy knew I had it and made me promise not to tell anyone. I was to keep my ability a secret. I didn't know what she was talking about until that time when Christian pushed my baby brother down the well. Grampsy caught me with just in time before I threw a fireball at the bastard.
"After Grampsy died, and the beatings got worst, I still held on to the promise I made to her. Besides, I kept thinking that I was some kind of a freak. That was until I was sent to military school and found out that the bastard had started to abuse my little sister. I lost it then." Ward's fists clenched at his own words and only continued after a time. "I broke my promise to the one person that ever loved me and stupidly let my father see what I could do."
"So he tried to get rid of you by putting you away?"
"Yes. And Garrett came and gave me a way out from being locked up for the rest of my life."
"So you followed blindly."
"I was fifteen. I didn't want to spend the rest of my life locked up like some animal. I didn't know who or what he was until it was too late."
"He left you in the forest. You could have followed my father when he found you."
"I wouldn't have survived a day if I had done that."
"What do you mean?"
"A gifted that refuses Hydra is a threat. And threats are taken care of quickly. Remember me telling you that?"
Skye nodded slowly before turning to him. Unconsciously, she grabbed his wrist. "Oh Ward, you saying that was what Garrett had over you all the while?"
Ward nodded and glanced down at her hand on his wrist. Skye followed his line of vision and quickly released his wrist.
xox
"What is it, Skye?"
Ward asked Skye when he saw her hesitating in his doorway. He was seated on the two seater as he read a book in his room. Their earlier conversation had stopped when Skye realized that she had touched him with no feeling of animosity. She gone to her room and came out with more questions about Ward.
"Why?"
"Why?" Ward answered her with his own question and gestured for her to elaborate with his hands.
"Why did you leave us?"
Ward closed his book and waved for her to enter his room. He gestured for her to sit on his bed as he remained in his seat.
"The team don't want me anymore. I am the traitor, remember?"
"You are good in manipulations. You could talk your way into anything." Skye asked stubbornly. "So why leave? You wanted in so badly."
"Coulson offered me a deal. I get him inside. Get all of you out safely. And after he do a T.A.H.I.T.I on me, I'm free to go." Ward replied before crunching his nose and shaking his head. "I thought, naaah. It was in my best interest to find an exit before he put me in a cell and erase my memory."
"After what you've been through, I'm surprise you'd still want to keep your memories."
"Even if my memories are erased," Ward leaned forward and steepled his fingers as he rested his elbows on his knees. He then pointed his two joined index fingers towards Skye, "Will you still remember what I did? Will everyone else forget what I did? Will you or anyone that I have wronged forgive me?"
Skye kept quiet. Ward smile with satisfaction albeit sadly at her unspoken answer.
"Besides," he added and waited for Skye to look up into his eyes.
"Besides what?" Skye asked in a whisper as she gazed into his suddenly sorrowful orbs.
"There are some memories too precious to erase." Ward replied after a time.
"Your Grampsy?"
Ward nodded before adding softly, "And you."
xox
As days and weeks passed, Ward and Skye's relationship was still not as what it was before. But Skye was more accepting of Ward's presence around her in Afterlife. One evening, as Ward was reading out on his balcony, Skye came over with her laptop and a paper bag clutched in her arms. She stood by the steps when he looked up at her.
"Hey."
"Skye." Ward acknowledged her greeting and signaled her to the empty rattan seat beside him. "What can I do for you?"
Skye gingerly sat down and placed her laptop between them on the small glass table. She then started to open the paper bag but stopped to look at Ward. She opened her mouth to say something but closed it again, several times.
"What?" Ward asked at her odd behavior.
"Do you want to watch a movie?"
Ward gave her a puzzled look before shrugging his shoulders and said, "Yeah. Sure."
"Great." Skye replied and began starting her laptop and searching for the appropriate movie. "This ok?"
"Yes." Ward nodded at her selection. "You need a drink?" gesturing to a glass of juice on the table.
"I'm good." Skye replied and brought out two cans of cola from the paper bag. "Got you one too."
"Thanks."
Skye the opened the paper bag again and reached in to take something out. But she stopped and turned towards Ward.
"What's in the bag Skye?"
"Look," Skye bit her lip before continuing as she faced him. "I know we haven't really connect as we used to. But I'm just curious as to what you can do with the fire thing that you have. How much control you have over it."
"And whatever you have in that bag is supposed to test my control?"
"Yup."
"Sure." Ward nodded.
Ward wondered if there was some kind of a weapon in the bag. But he was surprised when she took out a bag of marshmallows. Ward couldn't contain his chuckles as Skye ripped it open and skewered the marshmallow balls onto several wooden sticks. She then held it up between them.
"Seriously?"
"Seriously."
Ward held his hand over the skewered marshmallow as their eyes met. Their gaze held before Skye finally let out a smile that he hadn't seen for a long time. The one when she brought them drinks and something about wrong foot. There was only one thing he could say to her when he saw it.
"I'm sorry."
Skye replied with an assuring nod before widening her grin.
"Now, let's see what you've got, Sparky."
THE END
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