Not many people had shown her kindness in life but these people had. Skye felt unbearably sad and ashamed for disrespecting her team. She had gone into this thinking she would never get attached again. Not like the last time she dared to let someone in. She remembered too vividly the pain of having a family ripped away from her. Foster parent after foster parent, no one wanted to keep her. She went through life thinking no one could ever love her until now. Why was it that she always realized the painfully obvious when it was too late? She already had a family, hiding in plain sight. Coulson was the father she never had while Fitz and Simmons were the younger siblings that she teased endlessly. May was the know it all older sister or auntie. And Ward was… What was Ward in her SHIELD family? He wasn't the brother. That just felt creepy. The title Uncle too felt strange on the man she had grown to care so much for. Perhaps he was the loyal dog. It was too late for that now though. Her little game of happy families was ruined. She stared down at the shining metallic bracelet that was stuck on her wrist. She had played with fire and had gotten burnt in the process.
She hadn't left her bunk in over a week, only to use the bathroom. She had no interest in food or water. She would probably be dead if Simmons hadn't been leaving jugs of water and limp sandwiches outside her door. She refused to eat though, it had been something she did when she was younger and in the care system. Whenever she got in trouble, serious trouble, she refused to speak to anyone and holed up in her room for days on end until eventually being put on a drip for dehydration and moved to a care facility that supposedly 'better suited her needs'.
It wasn't just the fact that the majority of the team ignored her that had her so depressed. She no longer had any link to her parents. She knew it was stupid but in a way, all those files she had collected over the years had made her feel close to them. It was like her version of a photo.
'Skye? We've got a mission, come on get up.' Coulson kicked her bed. She moaned and pulled her sheets up over her head to drown him out. He just sighed and grabbed the blanket, pulling it off of her and taking it with him out the door. She lay there on her bed in nothing but a pair of underwear and a bra, wondering how much Coulson saw. Every task she did from dressing to tying her shoelaces, felt like someone else was doing it. Her head felt like it was filled with cotton wool while it took her eyes a moment to catch up with her surroundings if she moved too quickly.
'Well you look like hell.' May said as she walked by. Skye had only taken one step out of her bunk. She went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying while her nose looked raw and her skin looked clammy. She did her best to cover it, putting blush on her cheeks and eyeliner on. Her hair looked disheveled and all over the place but brushing it seemed like too much effort. Her hand rested on the door handle, knowing that once she got out there, she would have to deal with Ward ignoring her. Not to mention the hurt puppy dog looks from Fitz and Simmons. She closed her eyes and tried to find her center of balance. Perhaps she should go grab something to eat, she was so dizzy she might vomit. But if she ate something she was afraid it might come straight back up. In the end May knocked on the door. It turns out they couldn't wait for her any longer and they had gone. Skye and May were to travel to the sight of impact, whatever that meant.
The car ride was quiet, May didn't seem too angry with her but Skye knew better than to ask about the others. It was better to keep quiet on this one.
'This is it.' May stated and got out of the car, not waiting for Skye who had to jog to catch up.
They were on a busy street in India and people stared as Skye got out of the car. It was the only vehicle in sight. Everywhere she looked, people with hollow and vacant expressions haggled and shouted prices and greetings. Children's clothes hung off of their skinny frames while trying in vain to grab a loaf of stale bread from one of the street vendors. Skye pushed her way through the crowd until she found May again.
'Wow. What did this?' She asked in awe.
'A person.' May said. There was a half melted land rover on the street in front of them. And not melted as in it had been set on fire by villagers. Melted as in ice cream on a sunny day. Hardened metal pooled on the sandy floor around the car's wheels. How could a person do this? This had to be the work of a blowtorch. The hot midday sun shone down on the metal and reflected in Skye's eyes, blinding her momentarily. She slipped a little and put her hand on May to stop herself from falling.
'What's wrong with you? You're walking like a drunken person.' May said.
'I probably should have eaten something before leaving.' Skye mumbled. May looked worried for a moment but the expression vanished in a flash. She put a hand on Skye's shoulder firmly but friendly and pushed her away.
'Go get something to eat. There's an outdoor cafe just up the street. You're no help to me acting like a drunk clown.' Skye nodded gratefully and turned slowly to hobble up the street through the crowds, thinking of doughnuts and coffee.
'Coulson? It's me, May. Yeah I sent her to go get food she looked like crap. I am keeping an eye on her! I'm not her babysitter Coulson, if that's why you brought me on this mission then I'm going home.' May talked loudly into her phone. The crowd had gotten rowdier and had started pushing and shoving.
'There isn't any evidence leftover here. I heard one of the locals with a little English say, 'girl of lightening'. God only knows what we're dealing with. Ok, I'll be-' May was cut off by a huge eruption up the street. People were thrown in the air and landed on roofs and on top of other people. She hung up on Coulson and ran into the crowd, toward the explosion and toward Skye.
'Hey, do you sell doughnuts here?' Skye asked the man behind the counter. It was more of a shack with a couple of benches around it but if he sold coffee and sweet treats, she was so there. The man shrugged his shoulders and spoke a foreign language that Skye couldn't catch. She pointed to something that looked sugary and then mimed eating it so he would understand. He nodded and smiled, looking for a napkin to put it in. Skye handed him a bunch of change and told him to keep the rest before she turned to walk away, licking sugar dust off her fingers. The area was very crowded but it was so beautiful. All sorts of coloured scarves and dresses hung from the roofs of street vendors carts while the smell of cooking rose on the air, making Skye's stomach rumble. Just as she was about to take a bite of the glorious smelling treat, she was distracted by something to her left. A man who looked out of place like her, in military gear was running away from an upturned table. Without thinking, Skye grabbed the two children playing in front of her and pulled them toward her so her back was facing the table just as it exploded.
'Are you ok?' She asked the children through coughs. They spoke no English but looked afraid. They ran away screaming while Skye lay on the ground coughing in pain. She barely felt the hand on her neck but screamed in pain when the hand lifted her limp body off the ground.
'You are SHIELD.' The voice commanded more so than asked.
'So what?' Skye spat at him. He took this as a yes and let Skye go. She crumpled into a ball on the ground, moaning as pain immediately shot through her like an arrow. Two sets of hands grabbed her arms and legs and lifted her up. She was thrown roughly into the back of a rumbling vehicle that set off straight away. All she could think of was the sugary pastry that she hadn't even got to taste.