So, some of you asked for it, some of you didn't. In the end, here we are. Half of this fic was planned even before I began writing Bashert, I just wasn't sure how much I was gonna do with it. In the end this was written in two days (I've been working like mad). I just knew I had to finish it before I went and watched X-Men: Apocalypse, my muse has more than warned me what'll be happening afterwards. Bad excuse as that might be, that's also the reason why I haven't really checked this over as thoroughly as I probably should have. Sorry for any possible mistakes, I'll try to clean it up a bit later.
Faith
By: Lalaith Quetzalli
When you believe in something, when you believe something to be true, you follow a rational line of thought; when it comes to believing in people, to trusting them (and yourself), it's not rational at all, it's a release of control, an acceptance of things that go beyond all logic, it's an instinct, it's... Faith.
She's standing there, in the middle of an abandoned alley... except it's not abandoned anymore, and not just because of her, and the people standing behind her who just called her name (is Skye still her name? Yes, it is, though she doesn't quite remember how or why just yet). It's everything around her; the bags in the trash-bins on her left, the voices coming from the apartments in the building to her right. It's not the time she left, the past, but it's not the future (present) she departed from before either.
Finally, taking a deep breath, she spins around, turning to face those who either went there looking for her or have been there since before she left (Did she ever leave? Did changing things mean that she never actually travel to the past? It would be logical, seeing how Kat isn't there, might not even have powers in the changed timeline... but then what is she doing there? What are they all doing standing in that alley in the middle of the night?).
She doesn't quite get the chance to ponder much longer about it, for the moment her eyes lay on them, memories begin bombarding her. Most are easy, mostly unchanged. She remembers the day she left, how Skye recorded the podcast and uploaded it; how SHIELD found her, took her in (still with a bag over her head). Mike, Centipede, Lola... the Team. And then comes another memory, one that is somehow sharper, brighter, the first thing that truly changed:
When she told her past-self to trust, and how there would be people around her to help her, Quake hoped that would somehow be enough for things to be better... at least for her not to feel like the world ended and she was left fighting a losing war. She could have never imagined what Skye... what she (because she is Skye, somehow, still) would do with that piece of advice.
Course had been set for Austin, Texas and the team had split to get ready for the mission. Skye stood in the middle of the Command room, seemingly trying to convince herself to do something, and not do it, at the same time. In the end the memory of her other self, of that girl who looked so much like her, and yet had such sadness in her eyes, that Skye herself had never known, could have never imagined... it was enough to push her into action.
She wasn't quite sure what had come out of her mouth, but she'd managed to convince her SO to leave what he was doing and follow her to Coulson's office.
"Skye," Coulson muttered when he saw her (he hadn't seen Ward yet). "I'm sure that whatever else you need can wait until we land and..."
"This can't wait AC." She cut him off. "It's about Miles Lydon."
That made Coulson turn to face her, and it was also then that he noticed Ward standing behind Skye; looking at her with the same half-concealed surprise that was on the face of the older agent right then. He had no idea what she was about to say.
"I know him." Skye was nervous like never before, but she pushed herself . "I know him as more than just another member of the Rising Tide... He... Miles is the one who taught me all about hacking." The basics at least, before she began discovering more on her own, through trial and error. "He's also my ex-boyfriend."
There were no exclamations coming from the two agents in the room, but she could practically sense their disapproval.
"I swear to you, I had nothing to do with the hack, you can check my laptop and my phone if you want. I'd never put a man at risk like that." Her nervousness began getting the best of her and she couldn't help but babble a bit. "I mean, yeah, I'm all for the freedom of information, but even when I posted that video about Mike, I didn't release any personal information about him. Even what I did give, I thought that if the world knew he existed he couldn't just be disappeared by some shady government organization..."
"We know that." Coulson cut her off. "When was the last time you had any contact with Mr. Lydon exactly?"
"The day of the mission in Peru." She admitted quietly. "He knew I wanted to get into SHIELD. I actually wasn't going to tell him, I didn't the moment I got in... but then I thought, that maybe if he knew, and if he thought I was doing it for the Rising Tide, then he'd leave me alone, and others wouldn't try to hack you."
"They wouldn't want to risk your cover." Coulson finished for her.
She just nodded, not knowing what else to say.
"Is this everything?" She heard Ward's voice behind her.
She hadn't noticed when he was gone, but right then he was back, Skye's laptop and cellphone in his hands, as well as a couple of flashdrives.
Skye took a deep breath, let it out just as slowly, before slipping a hand inside her own blouse and pulling out a micro-SD card.
"You will find nothing there." She said honestly. "Nothing important anyway. This..." She extended her hand, slowly placing the card on Coulson's desk. "This is everything I have."
"On us?" Ward asked, a hint of ice in his voice.
"On me." She corrected him quietly.
That seemed to be enough to shock everyone into silence.
"I was left on St. Agnes Orphanage by someone when I was less than a year-old, no one's ever been able to tell me who it was, if I have any family alive, not even what my real-name is... if I actually have one. I spent the first seventeen-years of my life being moved from one foster-home to another, never staying more than two or three months, no one wanted me. Eventually I ran away. That's why I learnt to hack systems, why I joined the Rising Tide... to find any details that I could about my parents."
As she spoke Coulson had placed the SD card on a reader and the documents had appeared on the screen, one in particular called everyone's attention instantly.
"Miles helped me get that one." She murmured. "My lifelong search lead to a single document, redacted..."
"By SHIELD." Coulson finished for her, seemingly beginning to put it all together.
"So what?" Ward asked, challenging. "You were provoking us, waiting for SHIELD to pick you up, give you a chance to get in?"
"Of course not!" She was actually offended by that. "I couldn't know you would do something like that. I tried to get into SHIELD legally, you know? Become an agent and all that. I was rejected, apparently they don't like their recruits not having legal-records, or, you know, even a real name!"
"You must have had a name..." Ward insisted.
"The nuns at the hospital gave me the name Mary Sue Poots." She practically snapped. "That's not who I am. As soon as I knew enough about hacking I erased everything about me, took the name Skye and made a new life for myself." She let out a breath. "It's not like there was much, really, I don't even have a birth-certificate!"
"We're getting off track." May called from the door.
Skye almost jumped, she hadn't even noticed when Melinda May had joined them.
"Should I lock her up?" She asked Coulson.
Skye winced, but didn't try to defend herself. She'd known they wouldn't take it easy; but an instinct told her it'd have been much worse if Miles had been the one to 'spill the beans' so-to-speak. At least it had been on her terms.
"No." Coulson's decision surprised all of them, then he turned to Skye. "I knew you had a secret. Have known that from the moment I offered you a place as consultant. I also wanted to believe that whatever that secret might be, you wouldn't hurt us."
"Never!" She told him immediately.
"Sir, you cannot tell me you believe her..." Ward began.
Skye would have felt offended by his distrust, but she understood where he was coming from; she could also almost swear there was a hint of hurt in his voice as he spoke.
"Right now we have a man who's missing, who's life might very well be on the line." Coulson stated seriously. "Our mission is to find him." He turned to Skye. "You will help us. But know that Agents Ward and May will be keeping a close eye on you, and if you give them the slightest reason to suspect foul play, you will be taken in as a suspect. Once this mission is over we'll all sit down and talk about this. Understood?"
"Yes sir." She nodded solemnly.
"We're five minutes out." May announced right then.
"We need to get this guy and get him to talk, quickly." Ward stated seriously. "Time is running out for Mr. Chan."
"That is true." Coulson agreed. "Any ideas?"
"If you just go and pick him up he won't cooperate." Skye offered. "Miles... he's a fanatic, I guess you could call him. Living for the 'freedom of information' and all that."
"What do you suggest then?" Coulson sounded honestly curious.
"Let me go..." She began.
"No." May snapped.
"So you can make your escape?" Ward hissed.
"Of course not!" Skye was honestly hurt by that. "I didn't meant that, at all. But if we can set this up to make it seem like I'm siding with him over you... I might be able to get him to talk to me, tell me what's going on. If that fails you can have May or Ward burst into the apartment, make him think that you were tailing me or something."
"Make him think you're on the same side." Coulson understood.
Skye shrugged. She knew it was insane, but it was the only idea she had... she hoped it'd work.
It worked, beautifully. Miles swallowed the whole story, told her almost everything before he even realized what he was doing. He didn't tell her about the money, though. That part she found out afterwards. Coulson went with her plan, sending May in an hour later, making it seem like they didn't trust Skye. Then they returned to the Bus, where she set up several algorithms to trace everything Miles had been working on over the last months, before allowing Ward to put the cuffs back on her and guide her to interrogation room to continue the charade.
It was the second time she had to play a part (the first having been with Quinn in Malta), but it was until then that she actually felt the thrill and the satisfaction. They managed to get to Mr. Chan just in time to save his life. It wasn't easy. Centipede had experimented on him, had taken away what made it so his own fire didn't burn him. FitzSimmons were forced to put him in a coma until a solution was found, and that wasn't easy. But they did it. They saved a man's life... she helped do that...
And that was just the beginning.
She never had to endure the bracelet, as she technically never betrayed the team. Coulson was still taken by Raina and Centipede after the disaster against the wannabe-super-soldiers. Hand kicked her off the Bus and she was the one to find him, on her own (without the bracelet she didn't need to get quite so creative).
A most surprising memory is that of the day she became a SHIELD Agent, earlier than in the original timeline. After Coulson's rescue in fact. Apparently some people decided that the mission she'd taken upon herself proved that she deserved it and was made a SHIELD Agent Level 1.
When Richard Lumley was found and he told the story about China and the 0-8-4 they found there, it wasn't just her, Coulson and May in the know. She'd insisted on the whole team knowing the truth; she trusted them, they were her family. In order for the mission in Italy to work she was promoted to Level 2.
She still got shot in Quinn's villa, almost died, and Coulson moved heaven and earth to save her, eventually finding the GH-325 and using it on her. Also, her actions in Italy (and the fact that they got Quinn) had granted her Level 3 status.
Didn't make it any easier when SHIELD fell shortly afterwards and her status was worth next to nothing... but still, it was nice while it lasted.
The next big change was one she could have never imagined possible, and it was she (or a past version of her) doing the changing!
She wasn't listening to him, not really. He was spouting what she was sure had to be a whole lot of nonsense, trying to justify his actions to her, and possibly even to himself, but how can anyone justify the killing of innocents? The betrayal of good agents, good people, or their team... their family? Such a thing cannot be justified, Skye was sure of that.
"Just gonna kick back and watch me bleed, until it's your turn to pull the trigger." She hissed at him, full of anger towards him.
"You think I had a part in that?" He retorted, voice tinted with disbelief. "That I would let that happen to you? You know how I feel about you Skye..."
"Wait." She couldn't believe she was hearing that, it had to be a joke! Some sick joke... "So even though you've been lying to everyone about everything, you're saying that your feelings for me..."
"They're real Skye." He whispered, cradling her face in his hands. "They always have been."
For all of two seconds she wanted to flinch away from him, she thought she was gonna be sick... and then she really looked into his eyes, beyond whatever mask he might choose to put on, the truth was always in the eyes, she believed that... What she found there was enough to blow the wind out of the sails of her fury, and nearly drop her to her knees in shock. Because his eyes were full of sadness, despair and... love.
"No, no, nonononono..." She repeated, over and over again, in denial. "That cannot be true!"
"It is true, Skye..." He pressed, a new emotion beginning to fill his eyes: hope, it was a very small amount, but it was there. "I swear to you, I care deeply about you, I'd never hurt you."
"What about the team?" She asked, grasping for straws. "You betrayed them too! They're our team, our friends... they're the closest thing I've ever had to family!"
"I don't wanna hurt them." Grant admitted quietly. "I really don't. But you don't understand Skye. John... he needs my help. He's my family, as much as Coulson and the others are yours. You understand that, don't you?"
"He had me shot!" Skye almost shrieked. "I nearly died because of him!"
"He's desperate! He's dying Skye. He needed the drug that brought Coulson back. He knew the team would never let you die..."
"And you?"
"I've told you already I will never hurt you."
"And what will you do the next time Garrett decides I'm more useful to him with a bullet in my gut? Or my brain?"
"That will never happen."
"You don't know that." He let out a breath. "Can't you see Grant? Can't you see what he's done to you? You say that he's to you what Coulson is to me... but AC would never have me hurt you."
"John wouldn't..."
"Really? And what will happen when I keep refusing to give you what you want? What Garrett wants? You and I both know he won't give up. He could order you to shoot me, or order Mike to do the same... maybe torture me some?"
"No! He needs you..."
"He might need me alive, but he doesn't need me whole." And wasn't it morbid to be talking about her possible torture and death with such apparent ease. "And what about you? You think Garrett will not turn against you if it helps his goal? Or if he decides you're no longer of any use to him?" She waved a hand at him before he could interrupt. "If John Garrett cared about you the way you so obviously care about him, he wouldn't have turned you into an assassin, into a machine, he wouldn't make you turn against your friends... he wouldn't have pulled you into joining an evil Nazi organization."
"That's not what Hydra is about. Not anymore." He shook his head. "And it was never about Hydra. It was about John."
"I see... you chose John. You chose him above your family, which, if what you've told me about your brother is anything to go by, was probably only to be expected. You chose him above SHIELD..." She had nothing to say to that, she'd choose AC above SHIELD any day; so that she could understand, at least in essence (she'd never understand why John, but still). "But when it becomes about him and me, who will choose Grant?"
No answer came, there was no time, because suddenly Mike was there, Garrett was getting impatient and the choice was hers to make.
When first comparing her memory of that conversation, with how it went the first time around Skye cannot see how that change is supposed to be important. Mike still attacked Grant, and she still chose to liberate the hard-drive rather than let him die. And then the next memory comes. That same night, a single message in her phone:
I choose you.
She isn't sure what exactly changed his mind. If it was Garrett's obvious disregard for his life (no matter what they might say about having known how she'd react, they could have been wrong... if that had happened when she was Quake they certainly would have) or if something else happened after AC rescued her.
She remember arguing with team, fighting tooth and nail to convince them not to go after Garrett in Cuba. Grant told her he'd give them an opening, and she believed him (even if she wasn't quite sure why, in that moment). Fitz had supported her, and in the end AC had chosen to trust her instincts. Two days later the message came and they were off.
The attack on Cybertech had gone, in many ways, much like the first time around. The fight between May and Grant hadn't exactly been staged, she was still angry with him, for what he'd done, betraying them, but was also willing to give him a second chance (if only because everyone else had insisted so much); so she didn't hurt him as badly as she could have. Then they found Ace, got Mike on their side, and Garrett was history (the only part she regretted was that the bastard died without knowing how his 'weapon' turned on him, out of love).
Everything had gone according to plan... except for the part where Fury made an appearance and turned his gun on Grant... and Skye reacted, driven completely by instinct:
Even Skye wasn't quite sure what had happened, exactly. One moment she's looking at Garrett's smoking remains, the next she caught a glimpse of Director Fury (who, surprise surprise, wasn't dead!) cocking his gun and pointing it at none other than Grant, from the corner of her eye, by the third instant she was standing right before the Director, her body a shield for the man he insisted on calling a traitor (and granted, he might have been, but didn't AC say that they all deserved second chances?). After two consecutive spins the Director's gun (not an ICER, an actual gun) was in her hand, and she was pointing it straight at the older man's head. Not five seconds had passed from start to finish.
"Skye!" Several voices called, though whether in chiding, chagrin or simply worry she did not know (nor did she stop to figure it out).
"He's not hurting Grant." Skye said in a clipped tone. "I'm not letting him."
"Do you realize who you it is you're to defend, girl?" Fury questioned, patronizingly. "A traitor? Are you one as well?"
"I am Agent Skye, Level 3, and I'm no traitor." She retorted, fighting to keep her calm, even as she began realizing who it was she was pointing her gun at. "And neither is him."
"He's Hydra..." Fury began.
"No, he's not!" Skye interrupted. "He's a good man. A good man who made mistakes. Who was mislead, by someone he saw as family. He made a mistake, nothing more. He deserves a second chance, everyone does."
"Ah..." It was as Fury suddenly realized who she was. "Agent Skye... you're the Rising Tide hacker that Coulson recruited."
She didn't respond, didn't see the point. All the same, she didn't move from her spot, not even when May, Trip and even Grant himself tried to convince her. And then FitzSimmons went to flank her, adding themselves to the shield covering Grant.
"Wha...?" Fury couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Are you all out of your minds?!"
"We're not... sir." It was obvious how hard it was for Simmons, to go against the Director of SHIELD, but she still stood her ground. "We're standing up for our teammate."
"Grant's our friend." Fitz added for good measure. "He's protected, saved us all, more than once. It's only right that we do the same."
No one had any words for that.
"And when will you do when he goes back to Hydra?" Fury challenged. "When he betrays you all, again?"
"He won't do that." Simmons said confidently.
"He won't betray us." Fitz agreed in the same tone.
"And what makes you so sure of that?" The Director insisted.
"We're family." Skye shrugged, it was that simple to her, though she knew others didn't see things the same way she did.
"This is all your fault!" Fury practically snapped, turning to Coulson. "With your second chances, and your optimism, and wanting to believe the best of every single person..."
"Maybe," Coulson shrugged, either he didn't care for the accusation, or he was taking it as a compliment. "Cannot say I regret it. They're the best decisions I've ever made." He smiled as he added. "Can't you see it Nick? SHIELD might have fallen, but this time, our team hasn't. And we won't, not ever."
"I suppose we'll see how far you can take that idea then..."
When Fury gave directorship of SHIELD to Coulson they all cheered, loudly. Of course, none of them quite realized at the time the amount of work that would be necessary to actually get the job done, to bring SHIELD back from its own ashes (to make sure they didn't bring Hydra agents in as they rebuilt). Phil Coulson was the new Director and his team acted as leaders of their fields, and a sort-of council, whenever AC didn't feel as confident in his own decisions.
At first Coulson hadn't been too willing to trust those outside of his team, though he put near-absolute trust on those who were a part of it. FitzSimmons went undercover into a lab that was known to be affiliated with Hydra (as much as the mere idea had terrified them all, they knew it was necessary). Skye and Grant were partners, as were May and Trip, and they handled missions, taking down Hydra bases one by one.
Then something went wrong. Something that hadn't happened in the original timeline (mainly because Ward had been locked up in Vault D at the time and Skye had been focused on training under May... thinking it over, they hadn't done so much the first three months or so in the original timeline... still finding their feet after Hydra and the betrayals).
Grant and Skye were on a mission, it was meant to be only reconnaissance. They'd reason to believe there was an important Hydra base in a particular area in Northern Spain, and the two were sent to find out if that was true before getting a team ready to attack... Hydra found them. The fight was long and bloody, and while they managed to escape after taking out at least half of their assailants (and part of the base), they weren't unscathed. Grant in particular took four bullets to his flank... it was a miracle he survived (and comparing memories... Skye couldn't help the shiver of dread inside).
It was awful because SHIELD was supposed to be long gone. Simmons was gone and their resources were still minimum... they also had but one doctor... and Trip. When the doctor told them there was nothing he could do, that Grant had lost too much blood, Skye nearly snapped. It took both May and Coulson to calm her down. Seconds later she was standing in front of the doctor, arms extended. If they needed blood, they could take hers; she was a match for Grant's, she knew because she'd seen all his files.
It wasn't easy, that kind of transfusion, and Skye knows she gave much more than any hospital would have allowed. But she doesn't care, she didn't even back then (even though she had to stay in bed for several days, due to how weak she became), she didn't because thanks to it all Grant had been saved. And that was all that truly mattered.
Still, it was after that mission that Coulson finally accepted that the team and the few other agents that had been vetted simply weren't enough to go against Hydra. So they took more people in, even a few mercenaries: like Lance Hunter and his friend Idaho. And Kebo, a former Hydra operative who apparently decided that his friendship with Grant was more important that any loyalty to a terrorist organization (not everyone was comfortable with him at first, but he'd proven himself eventually).
It was completely insane, and only seemed to get worse the more time that passed. Like when she learned of her father: Calvin Zabo, the psychotic serial-killer some people called 'the Doctor', he'd gone as far as threatening most of her family, and nearly killing Trip once. Christian Ward and his desire to keep ruining Grant's life; until Grant scared him into confessing what really happened when they were children and then Skye posted the video anonymously... ruining his life completely (no one hurts those she loves if she can hep it). And then Raina and her obsession about gifted, and Skye... and then the obelisk and that temple in San Juan...
When the memory of that particular day hits present Skye (Quake... is she still Quake?) she cannot quite believe the images in the back of her mind. Of course, with Grant around, with her in every way that counts, he'd be the one to follow her into the temple when she goes in pursuit of Raina. Too blinded by everything that's going on to realize the potential for disaster. And then when the temple is sealed, the crystals, and the mist and... even seeing Grant Ward standing before her in that moment makes it hard for Skye to believe they all survived the mess of that awful day (because she knows that if Grant had died, especially because of her... if he'd turned to stone and then to pieces like Trip did the first time around... she wouldn't have survived. Guilt alone would have killed her).
Grant Ward was inside that temple, with her and Raina, when terrigenesis happened; yet he didn't die, or change. He wasn't Inhuman, not really... but she had enough blood of one to be able to survive (though they didn't discover that until much later on... how even after all the months that had passed, some of Skye's genetics had fully vanished from his blood, instead they'd become a part of him... Skye had protected him even from inside...).
Following still the idea of trust, of always sharing the truth (the same that had made Coulson tell the team about the carvings, allowing them to help him in every way they could think of, secure in the knowledge that they wouldn't betray him, or think him insane, or unfit to lead); with that in mind Skye called the whole team, even as she still sat in quarantine, and told them exactly what happened, with FitzSimmons revealing the results of the analysis (the true results, rather than the ones they chose to file in, in order to protect Skye).
In the end Skye's change was simply another secret the team chose to share the burden of, at least until the Kree and the return of Lady Sif. Then the threat had been simply too much (and Skye was still learning to control her powers), the truth came out.
Then came the Retreat, Gordon, the revelation of the 'True SHIELD', the Inhumans, Afterlife, her birth-mother... Somehow the new memory of that particular confrontation was even more bittersweet than the original one:
She was so weary, with everything that had happened. SHIELD's arrival, Gonzales being the one leading the group instead of Coulson, and then when her mom was shot, and the firing on the building; the fight with May, the way SHIELD had basically run away, Lincoln's accusations, and finally the conversation with Raina. She wasn't quite sure what disturbed her more about that last part, the insinuation that her mother was the one provoking war, that Raina believed she was her (Daisy's) guardian, or the prospect of one day being the one to lead the Inhumans...
Grant was by her side the moment she stepped out of Raina's rooms. Of course he was. Ever since he was shot, and especially since San Juan, they're never far apart. It's why he was there with her at the Retreat, why he'd stayed with her even after they rescued Lincoln and went to Afterlife, why he'd stayed even when everyone else in SHIELD had run. Most of the Inhumans didn't seem to care about him, the Elders didn't like him much, but then again, they didn't seem to think much of humans in general. Grant had a slight advantage, with what he'd managed to assimilate of her DNA; he wasn't quite an Inhuman, but enough some chose to give him the benefit of the doubt.
"Skye..." He whispered as he held her tightly, offering what comfort he could.
"What am I supposed to do now Grant?" He asked softly, almost brokenly. "Why did SHIELD attack? Why was Gonzales even here?" She shook her head. "AC would have never allowed this to happen. I know he wouldn't do this..."
"No, he wouldn't." Grant agreed, then hesitated for a second before adding. "And I don't think Gonzales did, either."
"What do you mean?" Skye's eyes narrowed as she looked at him.
"Skye, sweetheart." Grant called, completely serious, yet with a hint of tenderness. "I want you to listen to me, okay? Listen to everything I have to say, before reacting."
"Grant, you're scaring me..." She admitted.
"I know, and I don't meant to." He told her. "But it's very important that you listen to me right now." He took a deep breath and dove right in. "I know Jiaying is your mother, and you want to believe that she's telling you the truth. But what if she isn't?" He raised his hand before she could interrupt. "Just listen to me for a minute, please. I'm not saying she's bad, not really. A lot could have happened in that room that we don't know about. One option is that Gonzales played us all and tried to kill her, yes. Another is that she's staging it all, to go against SHIELD, to turn you against them... There's also the possibility that this whole thing is nothing more than an awful misunderstanding. Maybe Gonzales said the wrong thing, your mother took offense and then something else happened, an accident. I mean, we both know what Whitehall did to her; if she was predisposed to seeing SHIELD as the enemy, anything he said could have been taken grossly out of context, easily."
"You don't really think that." At some point during his whole speech she'd managed to calm down, it wasn't easy, but she just kept telling herself that Grant loved her, had proven that time and again, and she needed to give him a chance to talk. "The last part, I mean."
"No, I don't." She admitted quietly. "You remember John, of course you do. I wanted to believe the best of him, and I did, for more than fifteen years. I did a great many wrong things, bad things, because I wanted to believe in him, because I saw him as family, I trusted him. I don't want you to end up going down a similar path, love. You will come to regret it one day, and I don't want that kind of regret in your head, and your heart." He pressed a hand to his cheek, looking so full of sadness, not for him but for her. "Your mother wants war against SHIELD Skye, and she will do anything to get it, anything..."
"So what, you expect me to go against my mother?"
"No, of course not. But can you tell me you're honestly willing and ready to go against SHIELD? Against Coulson, May, FitzSimmons...?" He let out a breath (that in a lesser man would have been a sigh). "Whatever you choose, know that I will stand with you, no matter what. I love you Skye, and I will follow wherever you lead. I trust you..."
Of course it all came down to trust, it always did. But how was trust supposed to help her in that moment? For two years she'd trusted her team, with everything she was, and they'd trusted her in return. It was how they'd become a family, more than just a team. She trusted Grant, it was what had allowed them to move past the mess than was Hydra, his (temporary) betrayal, and everything else. And how could she not trust Jiaying? She was her mother, the woman who'd done everything in her power for twenty-five years to get her back... Then again, Cal had done the same, and in his case that included multiple accounts of murder; being her father, loving her, didn't change that he was a killer.
Who was she supposed to trust? How was she supposed to choose? It was an impossible choice. One family versus the other. It wasn't fair! For most of her life she'd wanted nothing more than to find herself, to find her origins, her family; in the way she'd somehow been fortunate enough to find other people, she'd built a new family around herself, one that might not share blood, but they were all still tightly connected to each other, by choice. And then to find her birth-parents, and have her two families at odds...
What was she supposed to do? And then it came to her, the words of her visitor from the future, of her alternate self:
"Trust your heart Skye." Those had been her words. "In the end that's all the advice I can give you. Trust your heart, it'll never lead you astray."
Skye realized it then. Her future-self had never really spoken about trusting others: the team, or Grant, or anyone else. No, that had been her own interpretation. And it'd been right, in a way; because she'd told her to trust her heart, and that was what Skye'd been doing when she chose to trust her team to understand her, to accept her, to have her back, when she chose to trust Grant to care for her, to love her, choose her over John Garrett despite everything the man had always meant for him...
And that was exactly the point. Trusting her heart, trusting herself... what was her heart telling her? By the time her brown eyes met Grant's whiskey-colored ones, the choice was made.
Yes, her choice had been made, and while she didn't regret it, and never would, that didn't make things any easier. Remembering how things had gone. Her confrontation with her mother. Then the talk on the bridge that night, she and Grant had staged things, had arranged it so Skye could arrive just in time, guide the discussion in the direction they wanted it to go. When Jiaying had eventually lost control, tried to kill Raina, Grant was there to pull her back in the nick of time. And it wasn't just them, all the Inhumans who hadn't been evacuated, who were meant to be Jiaying's army, were witnesses to the exchange, to the true face of their leader.
It wasn't exactly easy. Gordon was too loyal to Jiaying, and a few other Inhumans shared her belief that SHIELD ought to be destroyed, but there were more who were willing to listen to Skye, to fight for peace rather than war. Jiaying and Gordon died that night, two other Inhumans were locked up for their crimes, and Skye was unofficially crowned as the new Queen of the Inhumans, with Grant standing by her side...
"You are our Queen, were always meant to be. At the same time, you were never meant to walk that path alone, he was meant to walk it with you. The Guardian, the Soldier, the Human King of the Inhumans... you two will bring our people together, both gifted and baseline, will make a better world for us all..."
That was what Bashert had said, and that memory, more than anything else, showed how right he'd been when he'd said them.
Of course she couldn't stay. Much as she might care for her people, she was too much of an Agent, and not enough of a Queen. So she'd opened communications with SHIELD. She'd adopted the part of Queen of the Inhumans as she explained to Weaver, AC and the team what had happened exactly, and how things had been solved already. There would be no war. The Inhumans were content to let matters rest, as long as SHIELD didn't try to move against them (and no Index), they all agreed.
With the formalities over Skye had spoken with just her team, apologizing to May for hurting her, and to the team in general for her error in judgment. They all forgave her. Then she 'put down the crown', leaving Lincoln and Raina in charge of Afterlife, and with Grant's hand in hers, went back to SHIELD, back to her family. She'd always care for the Inhumans, always do her best to help them, but she was an agent, and she'd always be.
She wasn't quite sure how Cal still ended going through the TAHITI protocol... but she was willing to believe it was much like the first time around.
Simmons was swallowed up by a Kree monolith, and it took Fitz four months to find the way to take her back. After she opened up to them about it, about Will Daniels, the team had gone to work on finding a way to get the man back; until Raina got in touch with them. Will Daniels was dead and if they opened the portal again all they would achieve was to bring through an evil that was vanished from the world millennia prior, an ancient Inhuman whom their ancestors had feared so much they exiled him (when they failed to kill him). So the last pieces of the monolith were destroyed, and Daisy used her power to collapse the castle where the portal had been opened, to make sure it would never happen again; and the whole team stood by Jemma as she grieved for the man who'd died saving her life.
Gideon Malick was the last head of Hydra, and in the end his fall was completely anti-climatic. The man was such a fanatic he was willing to believe anyone who might come to him with the right story; which was how Grant and Kebo managed to get close enough to him to assassinate him. They made it leek like an accident, of course, the last thing they wanted was for his daughter to take on the mantle after he was done. Hopefully Stephanie Malick would grieve for her father and move on with her life, letting Hydra rest in the past, become history, like it was supposed to be since the end of WWII (though that didn't mean they weren't ready to act in case she decided to do otherwise).
The only semi-serious trouble was when Yat-Sen (one of Jiaying's strongest supporters) escaped the Inhuman prison, taking a case of terrigen crystals with him, and sending them to different locations across the world. While they caught him relatively quickly, his plan still succeeded. The crystals were activated (either by accident or on purpose) in several locations through the globe, causing a number of deaths but, more importantly, a considerable amount of new Inhumans to pop up on the radar (Thankfully Andrew was never one of them).
And so her Secret Warriors came to be. While Mack was never partnered with her (Grant would always be her partner), he was still connected to her team through his post in charge of any strange tech and devices SHIELD might find. Others came and went from the team: Lincoln, Alisha, Joey, Elena, Charles, Kate...
Things were going quite well which of course meant something bad had to happen (at least in her book it did). The Sokovia Accords were announced. Even when her counterpart had never said anything about that, and it happened before Skye had memories of both lives, she knew that nothing would could ever come out of it. She knew that her people would be in a lot of danger if those Accords went through; and not just her people but every single gifted and enhanced on the planet. She needed to do something. She needed to be Queen of the Inhumans, to protect her people... and so she did.
She was standing straight, in her tactical-clothes and short-hair (it'd been a training accident), with a a nondescript background and a touch of tech on her face, just enough to make sure she wouldn't be too easily recognized when out on the streets. Grant was a shadow in a corner, his image unfocused, though still there, letting viewers know she wasn't alone:
"I am Daisy Johnson, I am Quake, I am human, Inhuman, hacker, agent, gifted, daughter, sister, girlfriend, leader, protector, warrior... I am everything most people are, and some most aren't. I am different, but that doesn't mean I'm less. Doesn't mean I'm more either, just that I'm different. And I honestly believe that sometimes being different, helps us in making a difference. And so, here I am, speaking out, to all of you, civilians, and military and world-leaders alike, to tell you this is wrong. Your Accords? They are not going to work. Did we not learn anything from the past? With Hydra in SHIELD, the World Security Council... You want to put all gifted and enhanced under watch, to make a handful of people into our watchmen, but answer me this: Who watches over the Watchmen? Who makes sure they do not become corrupt? That they do not misuse their powers? That they do not try to turn us into their personal army? Or worse yet, into prisoners and lab-rats? No person in this world is free of sins, no one is above reproach, and no one at all is immune to things like corruption, blackmail, fear... I'm not saying measures shouldn't be taken. By all means! Create a Council and offer advice, ask for our help, express your concerns, but do not try to control us. We're not weapons, we're not machines, and we're not puppets. We're people, just like you, and we will fight for our freedom. We will fight because this is our world too, these are our lives, and we have a right to live them as we choose to. You say that there are gifted using their powers to do evil? I say there have always been humans doing the same. That some humans are criminals, doesn't mean all are; the same applies to us. We're not alien, we're not monsters, we're as human as you, just with 'a little something extra'. Most of us want nothing more than to live our lives in peace; some of us are willing to protect those who need to be protected, whether they're human or gifted, whether it is from those with powers, or without. Open your minds, open your hearts and see the truth that is around you. The world is full of wonders..."
The video went viral in less than 24 hours. Unlike her counterpart, the new Skye still had contacts among the Rising Tide and resources. As far as everyone believed, 'Skye' had met with the 'Inhuman Queen' and helped her release that video into the web. It went from there. Soon every gifted and enhanced in the planet was adding their voice to hers, agreeing with her, aligning themselves under her banner.
A week later 'Daisy Johnson' was called before the UN. She arrived, wearing a special mask over her face that while it didn't actually change her, it helped make it so it would be harder for people to recognize her in her every-day life (it also made it impossible for her picture to be taken and added to any records). Grant was with her, of course, playing the part of SHIELD bodyguard. She didn't hide anything, while she was questioned, not really, though she kept a good number of things under wraps, mostly excusing her vagueness as 'SHIELD things'. There were, of course, those that did not trust her, but most saw her already being an agent, having been even before she manifested, as proof that she really only wanted to help.
Then a mess happened in Nigeria, with Brock Rumlow and a group of mercenaries stealing a biological weapon. The Avengers went in, and while they didn't quite fail, things still didn't go well. In the end the day was saved by 'Castle' a inhuman woman with the power to create shields of all kinds, she was the one who created one around the bomb, keeping it from killing any innocents. It wasn't easy, her shields were hit so hard she actually lost consciousness and had to be taken to a hospital.
The story came out afterwards. How one of the 'Elders' of the Inhumans, a woman code-named Angel, had had a vision of what would happen in Nigeria. She was the one to send Castle to help prevent a tragedy. Suddenly the Inhumans weren't threats, or monsters; they were protectors, saviors, heroes...
Even then it took six months before a new set of Accords was redacted. The basics of the Sokovia ones remained: there was a Council, formed by the UN, the people there would oversee the actions of the gifted and enhanced, they had the power to call on them when they considered it necessary, and could disagree when one or more of the heroes wanted to intervene somewhere or with some kind of events... but they had no absolute power. The gifted or enhanced in question could choose to ignore recommendations and proceed at his own discretion; as long as they were ready to defend their actions before the Council, later on. Failure to do so would have them end up in prison; same for any enhance or gifted that might commit a crime using their powers. The prison was also overlooked by the same council, rather than any specific country's military. The most important part, though, was that while half of the Council was formed by high-ranked members of the UN, and another quarter by representatives of whatever countries might be involved in any given situation; the last quarter was formed by gifted, a group that included: Steve Rogers (Captain America) leader of the Avengers, Charles Xavier (Professor X) leader of the X-Men, and Daisy Johnson (Quake) as Queen of the Inhumans, among others.
Skye is still half lost in the memories, some which are the same, yet a few that are so different, and have brought such changes to her, she can hardly believe it; when suddenly he's there, standing right in front of him. And while a part of her cannot help but remember having lost him, over and over again, the pain of a wound that kept scabbing over, only to be ripped open repeatedly; at the first time she has memories of a life when that never happened, when she never lost him, not really... where he chose her, just as much as she chose him. Her lips are upon her in a second, and she barely has time to breathe out his name:
"Grant..."
"Come on guys!" She can hear Lance call out from somewhere to her left. "Get a room!"
"Better yet." Bobbi adds, right beside him. "Quit with the PDA, we're gonna be late."
That's right, Lance and Bobbi are there, two more people she never lost; that none of them ever lost. Without Malick sowing discord among world leaders, and with SHIELD on its way back to the light already by that point, things went very differently in Russia.
And about being late... that one is true as well. The first meeting of the Council is taking place today. Her Secret Warriors will be there, along with the Avengers, and at least one of the teams of X-Men. It's mostly an introductory meeting, to make sure everyone knows who's who and what to expect from each party.
"May has the quinjet ready." Coulson announces. "Lets go."
"I still don't know why we came all the way here." She hears Kebo say in halfhearted annoyance as they're walking through the dark streets. "What's so special about this specific alley?"
"Don't you know?" Jemma says with a smile. "This is where it all began..."
Yes, where it all began, in more ways than they will ever know. It wasn't just that SHIELD found her in that alley, in the back of her van, and brought her into a whole new world (brave new world...) lead her into a path of discovery that gave her both incredibly amazing and terribly horrifying things. No, she also found herself in that alley; and it wasn't just about meeting her counterpart, but also about realizing that as much as she might admire the strength she obviously possessed, she never wanted to see those eyes in a mirror. And she doesn't, that too has changed, thankfully. It's turned out better than she could have ever dreamed...
In the end it was all about trust. Truth be told, there's nothing harder than to trust other people (with objects it's logical, you know when something is good or bad, when it works or it doesn't). That kind of blind trust, of belief without reasoning, without logic... it goes beyond having hope; simply speaking, it's Faith...
And somehow she's managed to make it work. With everything that changed, and everything that didn't. She's Quake, the Queen of the Inhumans, leader and protector of her people; she's Daisy Johnson, agent of SHIELD, leader of the Secret Warriors; she's part of a family by choice that has had their bonds tested by fire and by water and by every force in the universe, and with every test they've come out on the other side stronger; she's Mrs. Ward, wife of a good man, a good agent, her partner in every possible way, her perfect match... Bashert... But most importantly of all, she's the girl who made a life for herself, moving past all the obstacles life threw her way, the hacker who never lets fear hold her back, who never stops believing the best in others, who wears her heart on her sleeve and her face, who believes she can change the world... She's Skye, she will always be Skye.
And that's it! Finished!
I hope you people will leave review. What you liked, what you didn't, what you think I should have added. There was so much in my headed, and I was running out of time. I didn't want to end up like with the CA:CW fic I half planned and never wrote (I lost my inspiration), so I had to do this quick. Also, I briefly considered turning Grant into Hellfire (I like him much better than the canon one), but in the end decided that'd probably be too much. I still needed a way for him to survive him being in the temple (because we all know he'd be nowhere else). I hope you like my reasoning for why certain things changed, while others remained the same. The inclusion of Kebo is completely the fault of Breakingthetide, whose Skyeward fics I was reading at the time when I was writing this. Her Kebo has pretty much become my headcannon, so (though, apparently unlike her, I do like AC still)...
An important part of this fic, this series actually. Was having Skye remain Skye. I think that the show has gotten to a point where there's nothing left of the 'girl in the back of the van' whose greatest wish was to find her parents, who believed she could make a difference in the world, that she could help save it... who believed in heroes... That was the most important part for me, even beyond the Skyeward (which I love, of course). So I hope you like how I spun this all.
As always, full-sized poster can be found on DeviantArt. I hope you've enjoyed this fics, and that I might see you around in some of my other works. See ya! I'm off to see the wizard (or more like the mutants).