A/N: Guess it's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. depression day for me. Although, it's McFly's fault. I was listening to "Lies" when the idea came to me, and it was either writing it or lying in bed all day thinking about it and dying internally once more. Hope you like it!
Lies, Lies, Lies.
Living in a fantasy,
Don't even know reality.
When you start talking, I start walking.
—"Lies," McFly.
When Skye had been looking for Eric, she hadn't expected to find him dead. Especially not the way she'd found him, blood dripping on the pad she was holding, looking up only to find his dead body.
And Skye brought her hand to her mouth, not managing to stifle the gasp that came, but successfully stifling a scream. She started breathing heavily, panicking, looking around looking for the culprit. Her brain was working faster and harder than ever. Who had killed Eric? Where was that killer now? Was he still in the base? He might be, she decided, but she couldn't think about what she would do.
She looked down at the pad in her hands, and saw Ward coming closer. There didn't seem to be anyone else in the base, not that the pad could tell her, but May was gone, and the rest of the team was on a mission. Ward was the only one that had been here with her. By ruling out the suspects, Ward was the only one left. Which meant, Ward had killed Eric.
"Ward," she whispered his name, realization dawning on her. She hurried to the door, closing it, her back against it. "No," she whispered. "No, no, no." She turned around, now facing the door. Then she made a step away from it, running her hand through her hair, heavy breathing, trying to accept what turned out to be true, because she couldn't believe it. "No." She turned around, putting the pad on one of the shelves, her hands coming to her face, trying desperately not to cry. "No," she repeated. "Oh no." She was shaking. Ward? Why would he even do that? He wouldn't... Unless he had orders. Unless he was HYDRA.
"Skye?" He heard his voice, and she gasped, turning quickly to face the door. "Skye!"
Oh God, she thought, what am I going to do?
So, don't forget your seatbelt,
Don't you think of picking up the phone.
Better say your prayers, 'cos you're never gonna make it home.
—"Lies," McFly.
"What I want is to stay here with you, and imagine the world outside doesn't exist," Ward said, looking straight into her eyes. Skye didn't know whether that was true or not, but she decided for the latter. She couldn't afford to doubt his every word, not when he was HYDRA. She had to assume everything he said was a lie. Yet, for the sake of survival, she smiled slightly at his words, looking down. Ward looked down as well, before looking back up at her. "But the world outside does exist. I just got word from Fitz. They need our help. Bus is filled up, ready to go." He started to walk away, and Skye knew it was a lie. He didn't speak to Fitz, he couldn't have, right? Maybe he got word from one of his HYDRA buddies. The thought made her sick, and filled with terror.
She turned around to face him. "We should tell Koenig."
"I just did," he lied. And she knew he was lying. She hoped her face didn't reveal that, her jaw slightly dropped. He was lying to her. That's what he was after all. A liar. Liar, liar, liar. She was suddenly filled with hurt, fear and anger. "He's headed outside to open the hangar doors, we're in a hurry," he told her. Yeah, of course he is, she thought, because he's not dead or anything.
"I just gotta grab a couple of things, I—" She started walking away, but Ward grabbed her arm, and she stopped right in her tracks, her heart beating faster and faster. She just hoped Ward didn't realize how damn scared she was.
"Hey. We need to go, right now."
She didn't know what to do. She didn't know what else to say without looking suspicious. So she did what she did best, and faked a small smile, hoping it looked genuine. "Of course we do." She glanced down at her arm, his hand wrapped around it, then glanced back up at him. "Lead the way."
Ward let her go, and he started walking. She followed him, and as they walked, he took her hand into his. She wanted to take it off, to step away from him, but she didn't. For the sake of keeping her newfound knowledge to herself, she let him take it.
As soon as they got on the plane, Skye knew she'd have to trick him, to find a way to contact the team, or anyone really, so she would be free from him. Because if she didn't come up with a good plan, she was afraid she would never be going back home, to her family, Coulson and his team. Because that's what they had become. At least so she thought. And clearly, she'd been wrong, at least about Ward. But the others weren't HYDRA, they couldn't be. Skye hoped the rest were still the family they'd been back when S.H.I.E.L.D. was up and running, even if now she knew Ward had probably been lying to her, to them the whole time.
She'd found a new family, but her family had been broken from the start.
So do us all a favour,
Would you find somebody else to blame?
''Cos your words are like bullets and I'm the way your weapons aim.
—"Lies", McFly.
As soon as Deadlock left them alone, they went into a staring contest.
"I can explain," Ward said. She approached him, and pushed him back.
"You lying bastard!" She punched him in the face. "You son of a bitch! You lie—" And then they started struggling, but it didn't matter. She wanted to get her revenge. She wanted to make him suffer, the way she'd suffered when she'd found out about him.
"Stop! Okay? It's over, you can't win," he told her. She stopped struggling, and gave him her best glare. "Okay?" No, it's not, she thought, but she didn't say anything, gritting her teeth as she punched him in the face once more.
"Stop," he said, pressing her against the staircase, and cuffing her to it. He walked away, grabbing a cloth, pressing it against his face.
"All this time, everything we've been through..." She trailed off. "Why?" She demanded answers. She needed to know, even if part of her didn't want to. "How could you?"
"I was on a mission." He shook her head. "It wasn't personal."
That made her want to laugh, though she felt as if someone had stabbed her in the heart. It was worse than when Quinn had shot her in the stomach, and that had hurt like hell. It wasn't personal. Of course it was personal, damn it. To her, it was. To her, everything done against Coulson and his team was personal. They were a family after all.
"It wasn't—" She cut herself off, not able to finish that sentence, or to look at him, so she looked away, at the staircase, before snapping her head back towards him. "You did not just say that! It wasn't personal?!" She didn't care if she was screaming. She needed to let it all out, to show Ward how betrayed, how hurt, how angry she felt.
"Skye, listen to me," he said, but she didn't want to.
"God, you do actually believe that. You—that—that is the twisted logic they teach you when you sign up to be a nazi!"
"Stop, wait. I'm not a nazi," Ward protested, but in her mind, he was. Everyone in HYDRA was.
"Yes, you are. That is exactly what you are. I've seen the S.H.I.E.L.D. handbook. Chapter one, the Red Skull, founder of HYDRA, was a big, fat, freaking nazi!"
"That has nothing to do with today," Ward reassured her, waving it off, as if it weren't important.
She ignored him. "You know, you always said that Hitler, you—look, truth is, it's really not that surprising."
"It's not like that," he stopped her rant. There was a tense pause. "I'm a spy, I had a job," he tried to explain. Do you have any idea how cold you sound? Skye wanted to shout. This is not the Ward I know! Then again, she reminded herself, the Ward she knew had been a lie, a fiction created by the real Ward, not an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., but an agent of HYDRA.
"You killed I don't know how many people! You're gonna kill me now?" She made a step back.
"No, I would never hurt you," he said, sounding truthful, but Skye knew she couldn't trust him anymore, so she did not even considering the fact that he might be telling the truth. She didn't want him to hurt her anymore than he already had.
"Once I crack the drive, are you just gonna shoot me, like you did with Thomas Nash, or are you gonna have someone else do it?" She asked him. "Like you did with Quinn."
"I didn't know that was gonna happen," he protested, but Skye didn't believe him anymore. "That was all Garrett."
"Oh, of course that was Garrett's fault," she said, sarcastically. "It was part of the mission, right? You're just gonna kick back, and watch me bleed, until it's your turn to pull the trigger!"
"You think I had a part in that?" He sounded genuinely hurt that she would think something like that, but she didn't care. She didn't care anymore, she didn't want to care. "That I would let that happen to you?" Honestly? She didn't know anymore. He wasn't the Ward she trusted, but she still had feelings for him. Not that that mattered anymore. "You know how I feel about you, Skye." He made a step towards her, and Skye was frozen in her place. No, she didn't want to believe him. She didn't want to, 'cause that would only bring her more pain.
She looked away. "Wait," she breathed out, looking back at him. "So, even though you've been lying," she paused, "to everyone, about everything," another pause, "you're saying that your feelings for me—"
"They're real, Skye," Ward assured her. "They always have been." He brought his hands to her face, cupping her cheeks. Skye was on the verge of tears.
She took in a deep breath. "I'm gonna throw up," she whispered, stepping away from him, and walked to the other side of the staircase.
That obviously frustrated him, not that she cared. "Do you think this has been easy for me?" He paused. "Do you have any idea how hard it was?" He demanded. "The sacrifices, the decisions I had to make, but I made them. Because that's what I do. I'm a survivor."
"You are a serial killer! And you know what?" Tears filled her eyes, blurring her vision, but she refused to cry in front of him. "You were right about one thing." She shook her head as she said, "I wouldn't like the real you."
No more excuses,
No more running,
Only God can save you now.
'Cos I know the truth,
Time is running out.
—"Lies," McFly.
