Spoilers: Up until episode 1x13 - T.R.A.C.K.S., even though the events in this piece are extremely AU (thanks god for that).
A/N1: I don't usually write death fics, but after watching episode 1x14 T.A.H.I.T.I. day after it aired (and thanks to my dark mood during PMS) this happened, and I'm sorry for it. Seriously, I wouldn't read it if I were you, but go ahead if you dare! LOL
A/N2: Fic inspired by the song 'I Will Follow You Into The Dark' by Death Cab For Cutie. I would publish the fic with the lyrics, but I know the site will ask me to take it down, so yeah... No lyrics here.
Disclaimer: I do not own Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Death follows you.
Those were the words that plagued your mind ever since Coulson told you what he had discovered about your past.
The agent that Coulson and May tracked down had pretty much told them that the same thing;
"Death follows her."
You didn't even know he had said those exact words, but you had come up with that same conclusion by yourself anyway.
Ever since you were born, Death did followed you. First your parents and all those people on the village that you were born in, then the agents that tried to save you, and most recently, Mike, almost followed by Coulson. And now Death had got the one person you couldn't possibly imagine your life without.
Death follows you.
As you gaze down at the lifeless body of the girl you loved, you decided that there was only one way of stopping Death from ripping out the rest of the people that you truly cared about...
When that guy had pulled the safety lock of that weird looking grenade, you thought "This is it. This is how I'm going to die trying to do something good for the world."
If only it had been you the one to die there...
That was not how the mission was supposed to go.
You just needed to track down where the package was that Cybertek was taking to Quinn, and your team was going to take care of intercepting that package and capturing Quinn in the process.
Only that things went south. Really south.
The communication had been cut. Coulson, May and Ward were out of reach. You all had been made by Cybertek security men, and without the help of Coulson and the others, you and Fitzsimmons were left to your own fortune. This was supposed to be the team's work, but now you three had to go and get things done on your own.
You were nothing more than a rookie trying to prove your worth to the team. Of course you were going to risk yourself; you always think of the bigger picture. You had to do whatever it takes to stop the bad guys from doing more damage to good people, just like they did to Mike and poor Ace.
You knew something bad could happen with just you three on your own. But you did notexpect that it would have been to her.
Everything happened so fast that you barely had time to register as she appeared out of nowhere looking for you and Fitz, stating what you both knew already - that Cybertek knew you were there.
And then she saw the grenade, eyes going wide with desperation. You saw how worried she was that you might die on that explosion, and before you had time to do or say anything, she had swiftly moved closer to that man just when he was about to throw the artefact at you and Fitz, throwing her arms around his shoulders, clutching on him tight.
In her newest act of bravery after her stunt when infected with an alien virus, she had used her own body as a shield as the grenade exploded between them.
The sound had been deafening, the light, blinding. You almost lost all your senses as you and Fitz were knocked back by the blast. And when you both regained consciousness, the first thing on both of your minds was... Jemma.
Your heart was caught in your throat as you got up on your feet and ran towards where her body was motionlessly lying. All you could hear was the sound of your raged breathing and the loud throbbing of your heart in your ears. As you stood by her side, your heart sank with a heavy thud at what you saw. Blood. All that blood on the floor and on the objects closed by, belonged to that body viciously torn apart in front of you.
Fitz snapped out of his panic first. He threw himself by Jemma's side, taking both of his jackets off while nervously talking to himself and to the unconscious girl as he used his clothing to put pressure down on her very badly injured abdomen to try stop the bleeding.
She wasn't moving and you froze at that terrifying sight before you for what felt like a long moment. But then she was gasping for air - blood gushing out of her mouth - and suddenly your legs were moving towards her again.
You kneeled down next to her, bringing her head to your lap as you pushed her hair off of her distraught face. "Oh Jemma, my god," you shakily whispered, eyes swelling with tears, your hands also trembling as your fingers touched her blood stained porcelain cheeks.
Your eyes locked and hers were just as watery as your own. "I'm... ss-sorry for-" she murmured and stammered before coughing out more blood and taking a shattered breath to continue, "for missing.. our date..."
That date was the lest thing on your mind then, and the fact that she was mentioning it in a moment like this almost brought you humour. She hated missing out on any arrangement, especially one that both of you have been looking forward for so long... The first time you'd have few days off, the first time you'd be able to take her on a real first date.
The thought of having that chance taken away from you right now made you painfully draw in a breath while sobbing. "Shh, don't speak, everything will be okay, you'll- you'll be okay..."
She lightly shook her head knowing that that was a lie.
"Don't worry about our date, okay? We can raincheck. We'll raincheck..." you managed to add through your shaken voice.
The tears gathered in her eyes, now fell freely down her cheeks. "Skye..." she scoffed softly, and whatever she meant to say was drowned by another fit of coughing blood. The words were left implied by the sorrowful look in her eyes as her body started trembling rather violently. She was dying; there was not going to be a raincheck on their date.
You leaned down over her head, lips pressed to her cold and sweaty forehead as you wept clutching at her for dear life, her blood stained hand shakily reaching out and softly stroking your hair in a sad and silent attempts of comfort.
There was no comfort in a moment like this. What would it be of you without Jemma? You once lived without knowing her, without knowing the meaning of true happiness... You didn't want to go back at not having those things now. You couldn't imagine your life without her. There would be no happiness in a life lived without Jemma.
As realization hit you, you told her in a bare whisper to her ear, "I promise we'll have our date, just wait for me, okay? Just wait for me..."
And you cried softly kissing her cheek few times while waiting for her reply that came in her last shredded breath, as she closed her eyes forever.
"I will."
When her heart fade out, Fitz did his best to reanimate her for the following minutes, but it was too late. She was gone. The Jemma you both loved, was gone.
He withdrew his bloody stained hands from her body and hugged his knees to his chest as he loudly mourned for the great lose you both just had.
While you kissed her goodbye, you silently promised her,
"I won't be late. I'll be close behind you."
You thought being shot would hurt more than losing Jemma, but it didn't. If anything, it made you be more sure about what you were doing.
Quinn had apologized as he put you down on the ground after cowardly shooting you twice.That fucking bastard... You only asked for one...
You walked in there resigned to making him pay and suffer for all the harm he had done, but you barely managed to scratch his face before he had shot you down as you planned to happen. At least you knew you could count on May or Ward for beating Quinn to a pulp, or maybe even Coulson.
Coulson... You suddenly felt a pang of guilty for what you were doing to him, to the team. They were going to have to deal with not only one great lose on their team (family), but two.
You had told Fitz to tell them you were sorry before knocking him unconscious with the night-night gun. He will feel the worst, maybe even blame himself for the rest of his life for letting you go after Quinn on your own, but he could've never stop you even if he had tried. You hoped he could forgive you one day.
As you waited for Death to finally come for you, you tried moving closer to the nearest wall, coughing out blood at every short movement as you pushed up your almost limb body in a sitting position, and rested against it.
The pain through your middle was excruciating, but not as bad as the one you have been carrying in your heart for the past hour. You look ahead at the trail of blood you left behind on the ground. So much blood. Almost as much as Jemma's. Oh Jemma...
You closed your eyes letting few tears stream down your sweat cold cheeks as images of her flooded your brain.
Her bright large smile, her twinkling hazel eyes, her nose adorably scrunched up, her pale porcelain skin kissed by so many soft freckles; the smell of her hair and her skin, the feeling of her hair against your fingers, her lips against yours lips, her skin against your skin; the sound of her laughters, the sound of her cries, the sound of her moans; and the sound of her unique british accent that you could hear oh so clearly talking to you right now...
"Come on now, darling, you owe me a date."
Your eyes slowly fluttered open to the sight of Jemma standing right in front of you.
She wasn't glowing, or being shone down by lights or any of those things people say. It was just the sight of her as if she really was right there with you. All in one piece. Beautiful. Flawless. An angel.
You blinked a few times as you noted your vision getting darker in the corners, but that darkness didn't go away, and neither did Jemma.
You could barely believe you luck for instead of having Death itself coming for you, you had Jemma.
"You promised you wouldn't be late." you heard her softly say as she kneeled down in front of you, her hands holding your motionless hands at your sides, but you couldn't feel the touch, you just felt cold and numbness.
"Yes... I did," you reply with your voice getting weaker by the second. Staying awake was becoming difficult now, but you gathered all the little bit of strength you had just to be awake with Jemma for a little longer.
She gazed down at you, a sad smile painted over her perfect face. "Yes, you did. I'm not happy about this, though. You had so much more to live, my darling," she said while slightly frowning.
"So did you..." you stated with a sad strangled chuckle making you point, and to that Jemma just sighed in return. "Couldn't live... without you... Y'know..." You nearly failed at forming a sentence since breathing in was becoming quite impossible with all that blood making its way up your throat.
"I do indeed. I would not bear living without you either," she said reaching a hand to caress your cheek, the absence of the touch made you lean your head to the side, but still you was met with nothing. "It's time to go now."/ she told you lowering her hand and taking yours in a touchless hold once again.
"Good. We... go... together..." the words barely made past your lips as you could feel life running out of you. You knew it was only a matter of few slow heartbeats now.
"Yes. Together." she finally said warmly smiling down at you.
As she started to get up with that gentle smile on her lips, you suddenly could feel her warm touch against your hands pulling you up with her.
In that split second you could've swore she was pulling you up from the ground without actually moving your now lifeless body.
And that was when your vision faded away, and darkness took over.
"I'll follow you into the dark."