AN: This One-Shot is not at all linked to my 'Restoring Hope' story at all, this is based in a separate Universe within the Framework.

WARNING: This story contains mentions and attempts of Suicide Talk/Attempt, Drugs, and Graphic Content. If these are not things you're interested in, turn back. This Short-Story is not like my other work and is Extremely Dark-Themed.

Salt... It was all Daisy could taste in the air. She remembered she was ambushed by the Russian, after that everything was blank. She struggled as she tried to free herself from the shackles that confined her. Vision blurred and everything felt odd. She was drugged, much like coming down from Hives sway but amplified 10 times. "You... You were certainly the hardest of your team to capture Agent Johnson."

Daisy knew that voice.. "Where..Aida, what have you done?" Her words slurring from the drugs. Aida was smiling the entire time but Daisy wasn't sure. "Well, You and your team have threatened the Framework, which my primary objective is to protect. My most logical course of action was to put you all inside, changing your parameters ever so slightly to make you all happy. Each one of your team members are living their lives with a single regret removed from their real life." Aida paused as she moved to attach a headpiece onto Daisy's head. "You, however. You're going to be a new experiment. A test in programming if you will."

There was no protest, there was no powers, there was just pain. She had failed her team... Again. "It won't hurt." Aida promised with words that mimicked kindness. She was a robot after all, a phony. Daisy couldn't protest as Aida powered up the machine and the blurred world began to fade. "Have fun."

Daisy gasped for breath as she jumped out of... Bed? She was most certainly restrained to a chair.. Her breath hitched as she took a look around, She was in a room, that looked... Homey. "Wha..." Daisy looked around trying to get some kind of semblance of the situation. "Skye?" A groggy voice called out and for a second she thought it might've been Lincoln. "Skye... What's wrong?"

Ward...

Daisy wanted to throw up. Ward... Hive... Lincolns death, it all came flooding back too her as he stood up from the bed, her eyes widened in fear as she put her hand up... Nothing happened, not even a slight shake.

The Framework... this was all Aida! "I was uh.." Daisy looked around quickly and grabbed the picture frame. It was the two of them smiling, that looked like to be in some kind of exotic location. Italy maybe, it was almost as though she could vaguely remember going.. "We should go back there you know. Once you get better of course."

Better? Was she sick in this world?

She knit her brows in confusion as she took a step away from him as he made his approach. "Better? I'm fine." She stated with a firm stance.

"Until you have another episode about how this world is fake. I won't have you hurt yourself again." Daisy looked down at her arms and saw there was in fact scars on her arms. Had she done this? She was again hit with a small dizziness and the slight memory of a blade sliding across her arms, the memory was there but it felt... Far away.

So this was Aida's plan? Make her seem like a nut? But she had to play the part. Find her people while she was stuck here, find a way out. She could do this. She had to do this. "Take your meds." Ward reached for a prescription bottle and handed it to her.

"No." Daisy stubbornly said, both feet planted firmly on the ground. She knew she had to play the part, but she would submit to being drugged.. She wasn't that dumb.

Ward sighed, running his hand through his hair. "Skye.. I know since your mom and dad died you've been different. I mean, I'd be upset too knowing SHIELD killed May and Coulson too, but that's why we are with Hydra. We need to make sure that never happens again. You need to accept their deaths and move on. It's killing me too see you lose yourself more and more every day. I want my smiling, happy Skye back."

May and Coulson were dead here!? That meant she was too late. They were dead in the real world too then. Tears ran down Daisy's cheeks. They weren't official and she had never mentioned it, but Melinda May and Phil Coulson were her Mom and Dad. "No.." Daisy took a step back again. "They... They aren't dead! You're lying Ward. That's all you know! Manipulation and lying! Always trying to find an Angle." Daisy pushed Ward aside and grabbed a pile of clothes on the bed, running out of the room as fast as she could- not even caring about any decency.

Jemma was very clear what would happen if you died here...

"Skye! Wait!"

Daisy ignored his calls to a name she had put behind herself.

Hydra... Why in the world would she be with Hydra?

What happened to Fitz? Simmons? Mack? Mace? Why...? Why was Aida doing all of this?

"Because I can." A familiar voice in her head spoke, with a small cackling.

"Show yourself!" Skye yelled behind the tears on the sidewalk with no one around her. She didn't exactly know where she was walking.

"You still don't get it? I'm in your head, just like everything else. This Skye in the Framework is very sick. Troubled after the tragic deaths of Agents May and Phil her mind shattered into tiny. Little. Pieces."

Daisy shook her head trying to block the voice in her head that was driving her mad. "If you want to know more, just go to the cemetery. I'm sorry Agent Johnson, you're not as strong willed as you think." Aida wanted this, she had specifically programmed this world to start her demise at the cemetery, that's when she would begin to break herself, where Skye and Daisy would become one mind.

Daisy gritted her teeth, unwilling to accept this fate. This isn't real, this isn't real, this isn't real. She kept telling herself as images began to flash her mind... Memories... Of a happy family.

"I see your memories are beginning to meld together with your avatar. Soon my voice will fade and you'll be left questioning what's real and what's not."

It'd been hours since she ran off into this unknown world, a deep yet quiet nagging voice swirled in the back of her mind driving her mad, yet she couldn't figure out what it was saying. Before Daisy knew it she was at the cemetery standing near four graves. Melinda 'May' Coulson, Phil Coulson, Jemma Simmons, Leopold James Fitz. Everyone she had come to rescue.. dead.. Her family gone, in an instant. Gazing at the graves more memories began to flood her mind, and she was left questioning what was actually real. She knew this was all fake, yet she could also vividly remember Coulson and May taking her to her first day of School. She remembered crying and begging them not to leave her.

Daisy didn't even try and stop the tears now. Her mind had shattered the moment she looked at these graves. It's not like she had anything to live for in the real world anyway. Lincoln was dead, and everyone else is now too.

"I knew I'd find you here."

Ward...

Daisy tried not to recoil at the voice but suspected she failed when he took a step back. "How'd they die?" She asked in a weak and course voice and the tears spilled over again.

Ward gave a weak smile and sighed, "you can't remember?"

"If there was ever any good in you, tell me."

Ward put his hands up in defeat. "Shield betrayed them. Once Fury saw his top people were working with InHumans he had them marked off, he even killed all the Avengers. Though Hydra managed to get Cap on our side with a little... swaying."

Sway...? Daisy suddenly couldn't remember why, but that word made her cringe.

"Your Mom and Dad loved you."

It was like every word Ward spoke triggered a memory or a response that further pushed Daisy down the path of losing who she was. She could remember they were driving... They we're going away for a few days after getting approved Family time. Daisy... Skye... And May... Mom... were singing in the car driving Coulson... Dad insane. Of course Skye could match most songs word for word even the ones before her time, it was May that couldn't sing.

Then Skye remembered Lola upside down and the car on fire. She could still remember the smell of the smoke that engulfed the car and filled her lungs. She remembered Mom and Dad dying on impact, her dads head had twisted, his cold dead eyes stared emptily at nothing. When she crawled her way out of the car she saw a QuinJet taking off.

It was like she was seeing the memories for the first time, but she hadn't.. Had she?

"Jemma and Fitz?" She asked, expecting similar news, shaking her head slightly as her lightheaded feeling increased as she felt more memories materialize inside her mind.

"I didn't know them, but after Hydra took control, Rogers killed all of Shield scientists. Jemma and Fitz were the first to be made an example when you refuse to follow Hydra."

"No." Daisy... Skye cried as she collapsed onto the ground, shaking violently. "They can't be gone!" She screamed to what felt like an empty abyss. "Skye.. I'm sorry. You can't stop the pain, but you can learn to manage it." He was telling her what he wanted her to believe. She couldn't trust Ward, but she could. This didn't make sense!

"I don't want too." She quietly admitted behind her sobs. She had nothing to live for. She could end her life right now and end her suffering, and no one would bat an eyelash.

Ward took a few steps forward and knelled down to Skye.. "Don't say that Skye, despite your condition I love you uncontrollably." Those words struck her. Her heart fluttered despite hating this man, it was disgusting.

I don't love you... Is what she wanted to say, but those words wouldn't leave her tongue.

She remembered having feelings for this Grant Ward... Deeper feelings than the real one... Wait, this was real, right? A particularly happy memory of them on the beach off of Hawaii surged through her. They were in their late teens, it was a trip her Grant, Lincoln, and Mack had planned for Months. That beach is where Grant confessed his love for her.

Now... Now Daisy... Skye, had two sets of memories in one brain, and it was overwhelming as they collided and mixed to fight for which memory was real. She remembered hating Ward.. She remembered wanting to rip his heart out for betraying the team. Now she wanted to rip her heart out and just end this pain that waved through her body.

"Come back!" She yelled into the skies. "Bring them back! They can't be dead! They can't!" She was yelling at Aida, she thought anyway. It was surprising how fast she was losing herself. She was trained better than this... Wasn't she? No... She wasn't a fighter, Skye was far too lazy for that. That's why she hated growing up with SHIELD, forever trying to change who she was..

Ward had seen this before, in his mind he was heartbroken seeing the love of his life in so much pain. But that was what his personality needed right now. The knight in shining armor helping the damsel in distress. It was a power play, he had the power.

"You can end the pain very easily Skye." The nagging voice that's been in her head spoke up, becoming more audible for the first time. "Be with your family, it's so easy."

Skye now, tilted her head and knitted her eyebrows at the suggestion. "Skye? Are you hearing it again?"

Her eyes shot toward Ward who was holding what looked like to be a bottle of pills. "I'm not crazy Ward! Keep those away from me!"

"No." He growled "You're taking them, you're in pain."

Skye backed away on her hands and feet until her back hit a grave. When she turned around and saw it was her Moms grave she began crying again. It was in that moment Ward rushed her and held her down. The last thing Skye remembered was pills before forced down before the darkness consumed her.

This was hell.

She couldn't escape.

Her friends were dead

Her Mom and Dad were dead.

She wanted to be dead.

Ward took Skye back to their home, he knew she'd be out for a few hours at least. Grabbing his car keys he made his way out the door, his destination ever so clear.

The building was rundown. An old SHIELD base, locked down for 'potential hazards' but that was all a political move to hide the secrets this base held, the secrets he held.

He flicked on a light as he closed the door behind him and started walking. Every step illuminated a light behind him. This was a routine for him... "You're daughter isn't doing so well I'm afraid Agent May."

Ward pressed a button and turned on a TV screen that descended from the panels above. Skye... sleeping. "This new drug is supposedly going to make her extremely paranoid. We'll brake her piece by piece. And you have no one to blame but yourself."

May struggled in her weak state against the bed that bound her. "Ah ah. You're not escaping this time. I want you to see your baby girl shatter before I slit your throat." Ward grinned with a sinister smile.

"I'd allow you to talk if you wouldn't be so hellbent on screaming. You've been dead for years, no one is looking for you." Ward paused as the TV showed signs of movement. "Looks like she's waking up..." Ward took a few steps and sat at the edge of the bed restraining the deprived Agent May. "Right now, that drug is messing with her perception of what's real and what isn't.. Madame Hydra told me what you did in the real world to me." Ward leaned over the bed fast and grabbed May by the cheeks hard and squeezed with effort, his calm composure quickly warped into an angry demeanor. "Did you honestly think I wouldn't destroy you all? This... This is my reality... Don't worry though, you'll join your husband and beloved friends before long." He let go of her cheeks as she began to thrash around, the binds never loosening, she was being forced to watch her daughter lose her mind every day, nothing hurt more than that.. "Well, I should be going, I think I'll let you watch today.. Have fun Agent May..."

"Stay away!" Daisy... No, Skye yelled as she huddled down in the corner. She had been freaking out since she had woken up spewing nonsense. Her mind was in shambles and she suddenly felt like everyone was out to get her. "Skye-" Ward started to say putting his hands up to show he was no threat, "That's not my name! Stop lying, it's Daisy.. Not Skye!"

"No, it's Skye. Daisy is just someone you made up in your head to cope with your pain.."

Daisy... No Skye.. She didn't know anymore, bobbed her head up at his words. "You are 25 years old, you were born in China. Your given birth name is Skye Coulson. Don't you remember the reason your Mom didn't give you a middle name?"

Skye turned her face in confusion.. "This isn't right..." she admitted sadly. She was so sure earlier that she knew what was what.

This went on for days... Even weeks, her paranoia grew to dangerous levels, at an alarming rate, all while being played by the monster Grant Ward, every day he broke her more and more until she was convinced she was damaged, broken, useless. It grew too much, it gotten to the point where death felt like it'd be a release. Every day more memories flooded her mind, as the real world had began to fade away. Pain grew every day, she cried every day for hours on end. Ward relished in her pain secretly like the monster he was. Bend a spoon enough and it will never go back to its original shape, break a mirror and it can never be the same... The same applies to Skye's mind at this point.

Routine was the same day to day. Skye would wake up, screaming. Ward would spin his web of lies and convince her to take her medicine that just made her feel numb and empty, yet at the same time increased the voices in her head that became louder and louder with each passing day. Her screams would be of the accident of course with SHIELD killing her beloved Mom and Dad, without ever knowing that somewhere, her Mom was alive for the time-being watching as a sick twisted person tore her apart from the inside, pushing and filling the dam until it too eventually fills and cracks.

Grant Ward was playing for the end game, and he was close- she was close, his one Job nearly complete as those weeks turned to Months until she accepted wholeheartedly that she wasn't right in the head, until she accepted she was Skye and that Daisy Johnson was a figment of her imagination. After breaking her down for those months, in a medicated and exhausted state, she sought out an end, a closure. Every day she begged Ward to make the pain stop. "I just want to be with them." she numbly stated from the chair she was sitting in, looking out the window on a cold and snowy winter morning. Winter were her parents favorite time of year after all. She had memories of playing in the snow with her Dad while her Mom made a nice warm meal every night. She was happy then, and she wanted too be happy now. Every day Ward told her how much progress she was making, which in reality made her feel worse. She was sick every morning from the panic of screaming or from the medication, she was tired, underweight- and overall she was done. Skye had no more will left in her, she had no more fight. "You can't, Skye. They're gone- and only when it's our time can we be with the ones we lost, not before then. There's a natural order to things."

Time was a subjective term, it could be anyone's time really, that's what made time so... Unpredictable really, anything could happen at any given point. She could fall down the stairs, or just take a bottle of pills. It'd be that simple. "You're Mom is watching you right now, seeing you every day."

That wasn't a lie, though he had hid the fact she was actually alive. Everyone she loved was dead. "Please Ward, make the pain stop. I want the voices gone." She pleaded behind the tears that cascaded down her face, she had began to pull her hair as she sobbed. Just like every day she pleaded the same request, today appeared to be different. Skye noticed today instead of giving her pills, he had left the bottle with him. Ward never forgot, or messed up, though he seemed off today, though that was probably her imagination too.. "I need to stop at the office, I shouldn't be any longer than exactly one hour."

Maybe it was the paranoia or the voices in her head, but Ward wasn't smiling and was being direct without being... Direct, it was uncharacteristic for him.

"See that?" Ward's frown slowly turned into a gradual smile as he sat next to May watching Skye with the bottle of pills in her hands pacing back and forth across the room whispering to herself. May wasn't able to speak but she could tell how skinny Skye was from her robe, her long hair tangled and a mess. If Phil was still alive he'd be ashamed of what kind of Mother she had become. "I have a guest coming to see Skye. I think you'll both really really like it." Ward grabbed the knife that had been holstered to his side and put it against May's throat. "He should be walking in any second now, and today is the day you all die."

They watched as Skye's movement stopped in the camera. "Daddy?" She called out as a man approached from the doorway. Skye shook her head side to side multiple times trying to shake away what she was seeing. "You're dead.." She said as she began rubbing her forehead with her free hand. "Why...? Why won't it stop.. Please, make it stop. I don't want to hurt anymore."

"I came here to help you with that pain my sweet girl." That was Phil's voice, there wasn't a doubt about it. "I am dead, but that doesn't make me fake. They sent me back to help end your suffering. My sweet Skye, you're holding the answer to your suffering in your hand." Skye looked away from the image of her father with glassy eyes and looked at the bottle. "It doesn't hurt." Phil's voice reassured her, "You just... Go to sleep and you wake up there, healthy... Happy. That's where your Mom and I are waiting, with everyone else." Skye went hysterical, "Why won't my brain stop showing me to you.. I know you're not here."

"Daddy? Why.? Why am I so sick and broken? Why can't I be normal? Everything hurts so much Daddy and I'm so tired."

"I know you're hurting. The accident was something that changed us all. That's why I swapped the pills when I had the chance." Skye looked at the bottle again... they looked like the same ones that made her numb and tired. "They're there to help us get back to the real world baby."

Skye shook her head violently again. "But I made up that world. I need to get better." She recited that last part as though she was being forced. "I know it's hard sweetie, but you know I'd never lie to you, just like when you were a little girl and people were bullying you for looking different. Do you remember what I said that day..?"

"That no matter who judges me or makes fun of me I always have you. You promised to never lie to me."

"That's right baby girl, so trust me. You're holding the answer."and

Ward turned his head and looked at May who was thrashing against her restraints, even with the blade touching her throat. "Astounding is it not? We saved him and completely brainwashed him, the same way we got Cap."

May had stopped thrashing when she looked back at the screen. Skye was downing the entire bottle of pills, whatever they were kicked in fast. She was on the floor in seconds. No sooner than hitting the ground did Phil pull out a gun on himself and pull the trigger.

Ward started laughing like a madman, "I told you, you'd watch her die before I killed you... Goodbye Coulson family." One slick swoop was all it took to slit her throat.

He had won, Skye had lost, forgotten who she really was under the influence of Aida and her test.

Death was her final release.