This fic can be treated as sequel to "Waking Up Is Only The Beginning", but it doesn't require reading it (you'll miss a detail or two, that's it). Some of the scenes from that fic will be covered in here, some questions will be answered, but there will be also a lot of new things.

#1 A butterfly dreaming of being a human

Green grass was everywhere around, everywhere where an eye could reach. Just above the greenest of green fields was pure blue sky, no trace of clouds, only the sunlight brightening it and sending waves of warmth. The ground was uneven, ups and downs, sometimes forcing him to climb, sometimes helping him walk down. The air was warm, always warm and pleasant, smelling of flowers.

There was not a single soul around, not a sound, no buzzing of bees or other insects, even thoughsome part of Fitz knew that they had to be there somewhere. He laid down on the field of soft grass, watching it with a small, blissful smile playing on his face.

"It's nice in here." He heard a voice coming from behind him, forcing him to look back. "Safe. Quiet."

"Not always," Fitz pointed out. "Not when it's windy."

He looked at the face of his companion, but it was not as interesting as the grass and the sky.

"Doesn't it bother you?" the person asked. "The wind?"

"It talks to me," he shrugged. "Sometimes."

"What does it tell you?"

"Many things. In many different voices. Sometimes too quietly for me to understand. Usually to come back or some nonsense. To wake up or open my eyes. Which is ridiculous since I'm awake and my eyes are open. Sometimes it lightly touches my hands or cheeks. Sometimes it's moist, which I don't like. But sometimes it sings." He added with a smile.

"You like it when sings?"

"Well, it's a rather poor singer. But the song is nice."

"So, you like the wind."

"It doesn't fit in here. Like it's not from here. But it's nice, so I'm not throwing it away." Fitz looked again at the person standing close to him. "I can't recognise your face. Usually I don't enjoy talking with complete strangers. Somehow you don't feel like a stranger," he furrowed his brows trying to wrap his mind around the strange ideas that kept flowing around his mind.

"That's true," the person nodded and Fitz wanted to say that that wasn't an answer, but then he remembered that he hadn't asked any questions. It was all very confusing and strangely calming at the same time

"Why are you here?" Fitz asked, trying to find a topic for conversation.

"Because you think that talking to yourself is stupid."

Here he was, trying to be outgoing and friendly.

They were both just sitting there in silence for a while, Fitz averting his eyes to the grass so as not to stare and appear weird.

"It's not moving," he mumbled with surprise.

"What?"

"The grass. It's not moving," he pointed to the field of green, all perfectly still, like a picture. "It should move, it's always moving. Even when there's no wind that humans can feel, the air is still changing and moving the grass. But not in here. I don't remember it ever moving in here."

"If you focus on it hard enough, it will move," the stranger said in a voice that was no different than all the previous sentences. No emotions, calm and steady. "If you focus long enough it can even change into moss if that's what you want. It's reflecting, after all."

"Reflecting what?"

"Reflecting what you need. You wanted highlands, so you got them. Moving grass is just a detail you haven't found important until just now, so it was ignored. But now, that you've noticed, it will reflect on that."

"I should be confused," Fitz looked up, trying to put a name to that face hanging above him. "But I'm not. Something's slipping away."

"A lot of things. The sky for example."

"What's wrong with the sky?" Fitz looked up at the mass of blue, full of sparks of light and occasional bubbles, waving soothingly above their heads. He turned away from it with lost expression. Everything was fine with the sky, it looked just like it always did.

"Exactly," the person next to him shook his head with a slight disappointment.

"Why I can't see your face?" Fitz asked trying to find some constant in this switching face. He knew it was a person and a person has a face and eyes and nose and mouth, but he just couldn't register what they looked like.

"Because it doesn't matter. The time is almost up."

"Time? I wasn't asking about time, I was asking about your face," he whined.

"But the time is what matters. You can't stay here forever. If you don't go now, you won't be able to come back. You'll go forward."

"Are you going too?"

"There's no place for me there. I'm only where I'm needed. But you can go back, you just have to prove it. That you want to. You have to put some effort into it, or you will stay here and then move forward."

"Why is it a bad thing to move forward?"

There was only silence answering his question. He looked expectantly at the other person, waiting for an explanation.

"If you move forward you can't go back anymore. You still have some time left. You could use it. There's no need to hurry with going forward, you can always do that, but going back is not so easy. If you don't do it now, soon you won't be able to. And there are still people waiting for you there. You know that. They keep calling you after all."

Fitz was laying there for a moment, strange thoughts and conclusions rising in his mind. Finally he sat up. The stranger smiled.

"Will it be hard?" Fitz asked in concern.

"Very. But if the price is not high, it's not worth the effort, right? It's easiest to just stay here. You don't have to do anything, in time you'll just slip forward. Sometimes it's worth to choose the more difficult path, because of what's at the end of it. You're not losing anything by trying and you can gain much."

"It will be different," Fitz gulped while rising to his feet, looking around uncertainly. "Everything will change."

"Probably. Everything changes anyway. Sitting in the same place and doing nothing will not stop it. You can go with the flow or against it, but you won't force it to settle."

Fitz still didn't look convinced.

"Do you remember?" he heard the question. "Why are you here?"

"To save Jemma," he answered immediately. "To keep her safe. To give her a better chance. Did it work?"

"That you'll have to see for yourself."

"Will I remember this?" There was a mass of question fighting in his head and he somehow knew that neither of them were the ones he should be concerned with. Something was slipping away from his mind.

"Depends. Do you want to? You can try."

"Am I strong enough to go through this?"

"Of course not. Nobody has. But you are not alone. Nobody is, not truly. No need to be scared."

"I'm not afraid," Fitz replied instantly, because people always, always doubted this.

"Of course you're not. But it's time."

Fitz looked up and noticed that the soft whisper of wind was drowning out in another sound, the one that started as low and weak beat, getting louder and more rapid, until it was resembling a forceful beating of a pump or engine.

"Will it hurt?"

The beat was there, almost shaking the core of the whole world around him. There was a new addition to it now, a whish of air, as if it was going in and out of nozzle. On the edges of the world the sky was gathering its waters into walls, surrounding him, threatening to fall and trap him. He felt a sting of fear when he realised that it had already happened.

"Not as much as the real thing. After all, the memory always fades compared to reality. Good luck," the person said.

"Who are you?" Fitz finally asked, feeling that it's his last chance and at the same time that it doesn't matter at all.

"Instinct of self-preservation" a person without a face smiled while answering.

The sky collapsed on them, crushing Fitz with water. It was everywhere, all around him, with no place to escape. It was trying to drag him down, drown him. He couldn't breath but he heard the beat of a heart, louder and more rapid with each second, he heard the air entering his lungs. He couldn't give up now, he had to fight.

He had to fight to wake up or die trying.

A/N:

Mass thanks to TheLateNightStoryTeller for beta reading and making sure that my English make sense ;)
I can't promise regular updates, but I can promise that this fic will be finished as soon as possible, and since it's a series of scenes, you'll not be left with a cliffhanger, so no worries!
Thanks for reading, please drop a feedback if you have a moment :)