Chapter One (And All You Forgive)
He awoke in a severe fit of dry and hoarse coughing, the light from above seering his eyes. Everything hurt, and everything in his mind was clouded. He had no clue what had happened. He remembered being with Kara and then nothing. It was like everything had gone blank.
The voice came before his eyes could adjust to his surroundings. It came as a surprise to him, the last voice he thought he would ever hear again. Skye.
"Grant?"
Ward blinked and his eyes adjusted to the light. He surveyed his surroundings. White walls surrounded him and he was in a hospital bed, an IV attached to his hand. What happened? This was a SHIELD infirmary room, why was he in here?
He looked over to see Skye standing in front of a chair near the bed, a look of relief and joy on her face. "S-Skye?" he croaked out, his voice dry and raspy. "What's going on? Where am I?"
Why would Skye be in the room with him? Last thing he remembered was that she absolutely hated him. What was going on?"
"We're in the hospital section of the Hub." Skye replied, coming closer to the bed.
The Hub? That didn't sound right. Ward swore that it fell in the Hydra Uprising. Why would he be here?
"Hospital?"
"Grant, you've been in a coma for a while. A month to be exact. There was an explosion during a mission we were on. You got hurt, bad. Doctors don't know exactly what caused the coma, but they think you hit your head really hard." Skye explained. "They didn't think that you would ever wake up."
A hollow feeling settled into Ward's stomach. A month? An explosion during a mission? He hadn't been on any mission with SHIELD. He swore that he was an enemy of SHIELD last time he checked.
"A month? W-What's the date?" he asked, his throat killing him.
"April 9th, 2014." Skye replied.
Ward's face fell, as he still struggled to sit up. 2014? What? Wasn't it sometime in 2015 last time he checked? Nothing was making since, but he really didn't know. His mind was still frazzled from everything.
He didn't say anything about the date to Skye, he thought he was just out of it.
"But that doesn't matter." Skye continued. "At least you're awake. Oh! I need to go tell the others that you're awake. Coulson and May should be together, and there's no telling to where Fitzsimmons have gone to." She darted out of the room, leaving Ward by himself.
Ward blinked, looking towards the wall in front of him. What was going on? He wakes up, only to find that he had been in a coma for a month and that it was a year earlier than he thought. Skye was treating him like how it was before his reveal as Hydra. And where was Kara? And what about this 'mission' they had been on? He wasn't a part of the team anymore.
"Ward?"
He looked over to see Coulson, May, and Fitzsimmons coming into the room. Didn't they have like three other agents with them? Still, nothing was making since.
They all had smiles on their faces, even May of all people. What the hell was going on?
"How do you feel?" Simmons asked. "I know we need to get the main doctor in here to completely check you out."
"Like hell." Ward croaked.
"Well, I'm surprised that you're even sitting up like that since you've been out for a month." Simmons continued. "But you're strong, I don't think that a month-long coma would affect you that much."
Coulson walked over, "Ward, the doctors didn't think that you would ever wake up. They thought you would just stay comatose and die. You beat the odds."
Skye smiled, "Well, he is a robot, so I wouldn't be surprised."
"Was he just recharging?" Fitz joked.
"Most likely." May added.
Ward blinked and frowned, trying to figure out why they were joking with him and not trying to kill him or lock him up. What exactly had happened to him? It still didn't make any sense.
"I don't think I was recharging." Ward rasped, reaching up to scratch his face with his left hand. But he stopped halfway up, staring at his wrist just below the palm of his hand.
There was nothing there. There had been a long, ragged scar there where he had tried to kill himself just months before. But there was nothing there now. It was clear and smooth. No marks, nothing.
"Ward, what's the matter?" Coulson asked, trying to figure out why Ward was staring at his wrist.
Ward blinked and lowered his arm, looking back at Coulson and the others, "Uh, nothing, my head just hurts."
"You probably just need some rest." Simmons said. "Which isn't being in a coma for a month."
"I think I've had enough rest for a while." Ward retorted the best he could through his confusion and dwindling pain. "I-I think I'll be okay for a while."
"I'm going to find the head med agent though." Simmons responded. "You need a full physical eval to make sure everything is okay. No getting out of bed until you're cleared though. Still, I'm surprised that you are talking this much, even if it isn't a whole lot."
And with that, Simmons left the room, along with Fitz, to find the Hub's head med agent.
Ward blinked and looked to the three remaining agents, "Did I miss anything?" he asked.
"Well, not much." Coulson said. "Skye wouldn't leave your side, so she's been in here a lot. We've still haven't figured out who the Clairvoyant is yet. We tracked him to a racetrack in Florida, but it was a bust.
Ward's stomach froze, "The who what now?" he asked. The Clairvoyant? That was a long time ago.
"The Clairvoyant. You know, the guy with Centipede." Skye said.
It hit Ward like a train. This was right before the Hydra Uprising. Before everything went to hell. But what about the past year or so he had experienced? His time in the Vault? San Juan? Kara? Had that all just been a dream?
But it seemed to be way too vivid and long to be a dream. Something seemed really off about all of it.
All Ward could do was nod in response. There was nothing he could say. He couldn't say that he experienced a reality in which he was their enemy, then they would know his secret. And he was starting to feel weird about everything.
Just what exactly was going on?
But for some reason, Ward felt like all of it really happened. Just not now, like it was a glimpse into the future or something. But he didn't believe in any of that, so he just started to believe that it was a really vivid and intense dream. He just wasn't so sure though.
He looked to the three agents standing in front of him. Wait, was Skye even an agent yet now? He wasn't sure. He looked to the wall and didn't say anything.
But then a voice, like a ghost, came out of nowhere. The voice he hoped that was gone forever. The voice of the man that had dragged him down into the depths of hell.
"So, son, I hear you're awake!"
Ward's face grew stark-white as he looked to see Garrett of all people coming into the room along with Triplett. Now Ward just knew that something wa really wrong here, that something major had happened to him.
The bastard that he had grown to hate since his time in the Vault was alive and now he really knew that that year of turmoil he had spent was just a dream. Or was it?
"John?" Ward asked.
"What's wrong?" Garrett asked. "It looks like you've seen a ghost."
"Rather like a demon." Ward mumbled under his breath.
Garrett frowned, "What?"
"Nothing."
Now nothing made sense to Ward. Garrett was alive, the team liked him, and there was no Hydra. Hell, he was still a part of the team. But what he had experienced felt so real, he couldn't believe that it could've just been all a dream.
And as the agents stood around him, smiling, he knew something was off about everything. It was like something was giving him a chance to do something. But, yet again, nothing made sense.
Maybe it all was just a wild dream and he had nothing to worry about. But the threat of Hydra was still there, waiting to strike. And he and Garrett were still technically Hydra, that threat of betrayal was still there.
Maybe what he had seen was true, the future to come. Maybe this was a chance to make it all right, to deter himself from his demise. Or maybe he was just crazy.
But second chances come in the strangest forms, in the ways you least expect. Maybe this was a second chance.
Author's Note: I don't own AoS, Marvel does. New story idea! I hope it works. It's basically where what Ward went through was a dream of the future in his coma and now he has the chance to make everything right before it all goes to hell again. And I'm not sure of the date in the show right now, so I used the current date assuming it's around that and set it back like a year. It'll work for just this. But I hope this works! Keep reading and PLEASE favorite, follow, and/or review! ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.
