Notes: For my dear Anon who prompted me with May and Coulson on a mission and almost falling from a bridge and May letting go and then Hydra taking her and brain washing her. I've kind of taken it and put my own spin on it so it's going to be a bit more Winter Soldier AU instead of a Deathlok because I think May would be unbelievably awesome as a take on the Winter Solider.


It was a simple mission, nothing should have gone wrong. A straight forward in and out. Some things you can't control, and sometimes everything just goes wrong. No matter what you do, nothing can go right. Today was one of those days, and it cost Phil Coulson the thing that mattered most to him. Melinda May.


The sound of gunfire was ringing through the trees as they ran, weaving and dodging, the sound of the pounding waterfall near them almost deafening combined with the loud sounds of gunfire..

"Bobbi, what's your ETA?!" May called over the comms as she and Coulson ran trying to dodge the bullets of their pursuers hot on their heels.

"Ten minutes," was the short reply. "Hang in there."

Coulson panted, breathing heavily as they stopped briefly under the cover of some bushes, the spray of the waterfall cool on his brow. They were outnumbered and outgunned. There was no way they were going to win in a firefight, their only chance was evasion.

Moving out again, they moved quickly but quietly, hoping to lose their pursuers. They both froze at the sound of heavy boots on the ground, staying low to avoid detection. May signalled Coulson to stay down as she moved forward to scout ahead. He waited with baited breath as she finally returned gesturing for him to follow. Footsteps were heard again, but they were too close to hide. Dashing forward May took the guy down with ease and then the enemy force was suddenly appearing from nowhere and everywhere. Joining his partner in the fray, Coulson and May fought back to back as they tried to hold off the enemy force.

"Bobbi!" Coulson called as he fought desperately beside May.

His speech was quickly cut off as he witnessed his partner airborne, fly across the clearing towards the cliff's edge.

"May!" He screamed as she lay on the ground. The enemy blocked him from her as he fought desperately to reach his partner. He saw as she fought back against a man twice her size, her movements slower than usual as she stumbled back. She was still trying to recover from her unexpected flight and she was probably concussed.

Finally free from his attacker, Coulson ran to help his partner as she continued to block and retreat, stumbling backwards onto the rope bridge at the edge of the cliff. A solid punch to the guys spine and a couple of hits to the temple left him an unconscious heap on the ground at Coulson's feet. May's eyes widened as she felt the old wood of the bridge give way beneath her. Diving forwards he caught her left hand in his right, as he clung desperately to the rope remains of the bridge. The sound of the rushing water was nothing compared to the deafening sound of the bridge creaking and the rope swishing as they hung precariously, the rope so close to snapping as he desperately gripped its frayed end.

"It won't hold the both of us," May called as she looked at him with a sort of sad resignation.

"No May! It will! I refuse to let us die today," he called back. He couldn't lose her.

"I'm sorry," she said barely above a whisper but so clear to his ears.

After that it all happened so quickly. Slipping a knife from her pocket she sliced the back of his hand, not enough to seriously injure, but enough to make him release his hold of her just the slightest. Her fingers slipped through his like the rushing water beneath them. A whisper dancing over his fingertips as her hand slipped from his, her body plummeting towards the pounding water of below, a sad smile gracing her features as she looked at him for the last time. There are worst ways to go she thought as she stopped fighting and allowed the water to rush over her body.

He watched as she fell, slipping through his fingers. He called out after her, screaming her name and then just screaming as her body disappeared from his view, succumbing to the watery death sentence below. His mind didn't register as the team arrived, pulling him up from the remains of the bridge, fighting him onto the plane as he remained hysterical, screaming and crying, refusing to leave the cliff's edge. He couldn't leave May, she was down there. She needed him, he couldn't go. The had to get her. Melinda was down there. He couldn't leave her.


He wakes to pounding headache as he resurfaces to consciousness. He must have been taken out by an ICER he thinks, probably the team trying to subdue him. It all suddenly hits him like a truck as he almost falls out of his bed in his haste. Wasting no time he runs to Melinda's room throwing the door open. The bed is made and the room is tidy. Rushing to the gym and then the kitchen, he finally ends up in the hallway outside his office as the reality hits him, he couldn't find her. May is gone. Melinda is gone. She's not here and she's not coming back. She's really gone.

Slamming the door of his office shut he stumbles towards his desk and sees her sitting on the edge of it, smiling at him with a scotch in her hands. All he can hear is the shuddery sounds of his breathing and the silence. Melinda always did like the silence. He cries then. For her, for them, for what could have been. He misses her and he just knows that everything is going to remind him of her. He sees the desk that she had claimed as hers sitting near the window, some paperwork piled on top of it. She always did hate paperwork. Angry and sad tears track down his face as he thinks about it all. Why did she have to be so self sacrificing? Why did it have to be her and not him?

The silence of the room surrounds him, almost as if it were wrapping him in a bitter sweet hug. Melinda always was his silence. He stands, encased in his own torment as the silence hugs him, like a last hug from Melinda. A last wish, as his heart beats to the sound of silence.


A/N

If you're reading this you made it to the end! Congratulations! Thank you for reading and please just take an extra moment to leave a comment, it only takes two seconds and it makes my day ^_^

This chapter was largely inspired by the song Sound of Silence sung by Dami Im. It's her eurovision song for this year and I fell in love with it.
Chapter 2 should be up soon.
Feel free to prompt me or message me if you just wanna fangirl about AoS my tumblr account is hardcore-evil-regal