So, I had this idea; I was listening to Emperor's New Clothes by P!ATD and thinking to the scene where Jemma says this is hell, and this idea came to me. I kinda have a trilogy planned, but it depends how much you guys want if I write all three... I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading.
It had been 4,722 hours since he had last seen Jemma Simmons alive.
4, 722 hours since that Monolith had taken her.
4,722 hours since she had said yes to him.
To a date with him.
But now a new count down had begun.
0 hours since the scroll had said that she was dead.
0 hours since Coulson had said that he was going to make the trip to Sheffield.
To tell her parents that she was M.I.A.
And Fitz couldn't cope with the rage of emotions that was currently flowing through him.
The Monolith itself was the thing that received the brunt of his anger.
Eventually, after the anger eventually turned to pain (he wasn't going to grieve for Jemma Simmons, not yet).
Sobs torn from his body as he slumped against the thing that had so cruelly taken her from this world (from him) before his world eventually faded to black.
When he awoke again, he wasn't in the container with the Monolith.
Neither was he anywhere on the base.
Standing up, he stretched, allowing himself to look around.
This certainly wasn't S.H.I.E.L.D.
He was in a vast cavern, the ceiling not visible from his point on the ground, and the walls seemed to be just as far.
There was a dampness to the air.
And it was hot.
Extremely hot.
"Fitz?" a voice called out. Daisy.
He turned to where the noise was coming from, turning to look at his friend walking towards her.
She threw her arms around him, pulling him into a hug.
At this point Fitz concluded that he was dreaming, and decided that because it was a dream that it was safe to explore.
Because if you die in a dream, you wake up.
Don't you?
"Where are we?" Daisy asked, looking around, fear and confusion gracing her expression.
Fitz shrugged. The ground beneath their feet was a black rocky terrain, and it was damp with a dark liquid. Something that he hoped wasn't blood.
Walking around this nightmarish world, this hell, Fitz decided that it truly was hell, truly a nightmare. Jemma Simmons wasn't there.
And that's what his reality would soon be.
A nightmare.
Hell.
For he truly wasn't sure how he would survive a world without her.
She lit up the world, she made it a bright happy place.
But without her, it would be a dark barren wasteland.
Much like where he and Daisy where now.
Well, except for that giant palace made of a black marble that was now looming in front of them.
"Should we?" Daisy asked, looking towards the engineer.
Fitz shrugged. "What's the worst that could happen?"
Daisy gave a quick smile, she seemed somewhat excited to explore this place. At least, Fitz thought, his dream self was able incorporate that element of her into the dream/nightmare.
Upon entering the palace, Fitz decided that this truly was hell.
The first room was a throne room, the walls tall, with iron chandlers hanging from the ceiling, the last stumbles of the candles burning low. And upon the throne, polished black, sleek with a red velvet lining, sat...
"Jemma," he breathed, setting forward to meet her.
Rising from her position, she ran to meet him half way and his arms engulfed him.
It didn't matter how many times that he had dreamed of moments like these, of being able to hold her, they always brought joy to him.
"Fitz," she whispered, after they pulled apart, letting her hand trail down his face. "I'm so sorry."
He shook his head, and began to explain that this was a dream (can you explain that you're in a dream, when you're in a dream?) but she interrupted him, a tear glistening in her eye. "It's real," she whispered, looking him deep in those blue eyes. Those blue eyes that she thought she'd never see again. Those blue eyes were now full of horror, of confusion. "Come," she said, offering him her hand. "Walk with me."
He shot a glance over his shoulder at Daisy who gave a shrug, and then gestured with her head, prompting him to go. When Fitz was still reluctant to go, Daisy shouted up to him. "Go! I'll just chill here. Can you chill in hell?"
Jemma gave a laugh, pulling away from Fitz and going to Daisy, pulling the other woman into her arms.
"I miss you," Daisy whispered into her ear.
Jemma nodded, allowing the scent of Daisy's hair to consume her. Wild flowers. "How did you know?" Jemma asked.
"Inhuman legacy. I've been reading up. I didn't tell Fitz, I didn't want to, not until I was sure. I didn't want to break the news to him. How could I?"
Jemma nodded, and allowed Daisy to pull away. "Go," she said, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear, a strand hat had come loose from her up do. "Go. See your boyfriend."
A laugh erupted from both girls, and Jemma didn't bother to correct her. Yes, Daisy was wrong, they weren't a couple, and after all that had happened, it was unlikely that they would be, but that didn't mean that Jemma couldn't hope. As a wise man once said, "I am and always will be the optimist, the hoper of far flung hope, the dreamer of improbable dreams." And if she couldn't live by that, what else was there to live by (not that she was living anymore, but she appreciated the quote).
Walking hand in hand, Jemma explained everything to Fitz, about how an hour on Earth was equivalent to one year in hell.
"4,722 years," Fitz muttered, in complete and utter shock that Jemma had spent all this time alone, all this time without him. All alone in hell.
"2,212 of them I spent being tortured," she whispered, as if reliving past horrors that she didn't even want to thing about. She sighed, composing herself. "That's the thing," she whispered. "They show you your worst fears, your nightmares..."
"What did you see?" he asked, interrupting her.
She shook her head, dismissing him. "It doesn't matter, but I'm stuck here now."
Fitz wanted to press the issue but decided that he shouldn't; Jemma obviously didn't want to talk about it. That being considered, he had an idea of what she saw, and it made him sick to his stomach. So he changed the issue and asked "How?"
She let a breath out through her nose, giving a slight laugh. "I gave in. To the torture. I became a servant of hell. Didn't stop me working my way up though."
Fitz stared at her, trying to take in all that Jemma had suffered in that time period. "I made myself a queen," she continued, letting her head rest upon his shoulder and he placed a kiss on her head, and she savoured it, knowing that that was likely the last time that she would ever experience that again,
"Then leave," he told her, as if reading her mind.
"I can't. I can never leave. The only reason you and Daisy are here is because you're dead."
"Oh," was all Fitz had to say about that.
"Oh?" she asked, eyebrow raised. "Fitz, you're dead."
He shrugged as if death were nothing. And it wasn't. Not really. Not if it meant that he could see Jemma again. "So? Let me stay here. Let me stay here with you."
"No." She wanted to stay yes, to spend all of eternity with Fitz. But she couldn't. He wasn't destined to die. Not now. And he wasn't damned to spend the rest of eternity here. Where as she was. This had always been her destiny and always would be.
"Why?" he asked, stopping and lifting her head so that she could look at him. "Why? What's left on earth for me without you?"
"Everything. A life. There is so much left for you there. So much that you can do, so much you can experience. You can do all that. You have to do that." I can't, she wanted to say, but she remained silent. Knowing that those words where better left unspoken. It would just cause more pain, more sadness, adding to that that was already forming between them.
"I don't want that. Not without you!"
"But I'm here, and I will be." She sighed, knowing what was coming next was going to be hard to say. "I should have been here years ago. I shouldn't even have met you!"
"What?" Fitz asked, his voice breaking, "Jems, what do you mean?"
She looked him in the eyes, tears filling her own. "I should have died years ago, I keep avoiding death. This... this has always been my fate."
"The Academy?" he whispered, thinking back to that day, that horrible, horrible day.
She nodded. "I'm sorry, but I can't keep you here..." And she wouldn't. She wouldn't damn him to this fate, not when the life that he had left to live was so much more interesting. Not when he deserved so much more than this, so much more than her.
He placed a kiss on her forehead but she didn't allow him to pull away, and let her lips dance across his.
"I love you."
He nodded, before repeating the words himself. To Jemma's mind, she would never hear those words again, not from him.
"Before you go," Jemma said, a smile now gracing her face. "All those HYRDA agents that are dead?"
Fitz nodded. There had been a number of deaths within HYDRA ranks, something that Coulson had been finding suspicious. Jemma didn't need to finish her sentence, she just raised one side of her mouth, a knowing smile.
And Fitz smiled back.
Waking up back in his body, what would be a fraction of a second after the darkness had claimed him, after he had died for those brief moments, after he was able to see her again, Jemma again, he took a deep breath in before rising and removing himself from the cage that held the Monolith, closing it once again.
Looking at the rock, he felt determination now flowing through his veins.
Yes, Jemma may be dead.
Yes, her body may be trapped in the Monolith and her soul in hell.
But he wasn't going to let her stay there.
The door to the room opened and Daisy entered.
Fitz turned to face her, and the look on her face explained everything that he had needed to know.
She had been to hell with him.
She had seen Jemma also.
They knew where she was, the main factor in any rescue operation.
"Are we going to do this?" Daisy asked, already knowing the answer.
Fitz nodded and a smile of renewed strength spread across the Inhumans face.
They were going to do this.
They were going to rescue Jemma Simmons from hell.
Some clarity about hell that I couldn't word into the fic: Its just souls that go to the version of hell in this story, and parts of it are going to vary from person to person. Jemma's body is stull trapped in the Monolith but her soul is queen of hell (cause she's a BAMF). Fitz knows this, as this was explained during their romantic stroll. Hope this clears anything confusing up and feel free to comment any queries, I just didn't include it in the main dialogue.
Would you guys want more? I totally would be prepared to write more if you want. Thanks for reading, Marvel owns all and the title comes from P!ATD "Emperor's New Clothes". There was also a Doctor Who quote in there, cookies for those who spot it.
