Temporarily stepping out of ff retirement since this won't get out of my head. Most likely a one-shot and definitely probably not a prologue for a longer story.
5x10 Past Life
Everything was coming together. In a few moments they'd be back in their own time where they belonged. But half of them weren't there yet.
Come on, come on. Fitz repeated the two words in his head over and over - a mantra to keep himself together.
The monolith was quivering. Any second now.
"Go - go!"
He could hear them - and not just over the radio. They were almost there.
He could see her now, coming around a corner. A fraction of a second and she'd reach him. He let out a breath. They were going to be ok.
He held out his hand to her and -
...
When Fitz regained consciousness he was on a cold, hard floor, his empty right hand splayed out beside him. He sat up, disoriented. He could see Coulson a few feet away helping May stand. Daisy remained unconscious nearby.
Fitz took two long deep breaths. The others hadn't noticed he was awake yet - hadn't said the words he was dreading. If he stayed quiet, remained on the ground, maybe the little voice in his brain was wrong. Maybe it wasn't real. Maybe Mack and YoYo and Jemma were just hidden by the dull light of the room they'd landed in and they'd pop up at any moment - Mack would pat him on the back and check he was ok while Jemma…
But as he stared at the rough spot where they should have landed, the silent prayer he had been repeating in the last seconds before the monolith activated was replaced by a new, unwanted phrase steadily growing from a whisper to a scream in his head - They didn't make it. They didn't make it.
They didn't make it.