What's up, guys! Hope you enjoy this next chapter. The idea came from Serenity Shadowstar. Thanks for all the reviews, follows and favorite's so far. You're all spoiling me with them! (That said, still keep them coming!)

Also, I'm thinking about posting a teen skyeward fan fiction soon, where Coulson gets to Grant before Garrett, and Coulson's hacker niece is very much interested in this new kid...I'll put a note here when I post it, so check it out if you want to!

Happy Thanksgiving, for my american fans!

Enjoy, and don't forget to review!

CHAPTER THREE: BREAKING HEARTS

Grant

I hear footsteps on the stairs, but I don't look up. I don't want to see anyone: especially Skye. Especially after what I told her. I told her how weak I am. If Garrett was here, he would of given me a good cuff over the head. Weakness is for the weak, boy. I can almost hear his voice telling me. Are you weak?

"No." I whisper. The footsteps stop and then the wall fades away, revealing to me Skye. Her large chocolate eyes smile at me.

"Ward." She says softly. "I have- have to tell you something." She comes closer to the wall. I back up, so my back's against the far wall. Every nerve in my body screams out for her touch, my only light in my darkness, but I can't be close to her, even if a wall separates us. It hurts too much.

"Go away." I growl, unable to speak her name.

"I like dogs too." She blurts out. I stare at her, finally meeting her eyes. Has she gone insane? Dogs? What do they have to do with anything?

"You said that you liked dogs." Skye explained. "When you had to write an application to join the Academy. They asked you what you liked, and you said dogs."

"You read my file." I state, my throat hurting from all the talking. But somehow, I can't stop it. Skye's presence forces me to speak to her.

"I'm sorry. But I had to understand why you did what you did. You were manipulated-"

Suddenly, I'm on my feet, striding over to the wall that separates us, almost grazing it with my nose. Skye stares up at me, taking a step back. Her eyes are large in her face.

"I was not manipulated." I hiss. "I chose this life, Skye." I know that what I'm saying is one big lie. Of course Garrett played me! He found my insecurities, and used them to shape me into a weapon. A weapon he could use at any moment. But I have to destroy her. I have to destroy Skye, because I don't want her help. I want to die, down here in this cell that reminds me of that well. The well my brother was in, all because I was weak and a coward. I couldn't protect him from my weakness. But it's not too late for Skye.

"You were brainwashed-" Skye tries again. For the first time in months, I feel a ray of clarity in my mind. I know what I have to do. I have to cut her off.

Garrett would of been pleased. A voice inside my head tells me. Finally, you're doing what he's always wanted you to do. Cut off all connection, no matter your feelings.

"I chose to follow Garrett, Skye." I force her name past my dry lips. "I chose to kill all those people. I chose to shoot Hand for him. I chose to bring you in for him. I chose it all."

"But he left you in the woods when you were just 15!" She yells. "15! You were only a kid, and he left you in the woods to survive. No wonder you're so messed up, Grant!"

"And I could of left at anytime!" I yell right back. "Skye, I chose to stay with Garrett. I owed him everything, and the woods," I struggle to get the words out. "The woods helped me realise that I was weak. That I needed to get strong."

"But Ward-"

"And I don't love you, Skye!" I yell suddenly. I don't even realise what I'm saying until it's out of my mouth.

Skye's eyes break. I see her soul crumble to pieces right there in those chocolatey brown depths.

Compartmentalise, Ward. I tell myself.

"And I was just about to tell you that I forgave you." She whispers before turning heel and running out of Vault D, in her hurry forgetting to blank out the wall so I can watch her as she heads out of the dark and into the light. Away from me.

I feel cold after Skye leaves. A deep, soul wrenching cold that chills me all the way through.

In the dark, the coldness stays, and I want to curl up into a ball and hide away like a little kid. But I can't do that. I'm not worthy of that. I have to face the darkness and be consumed. I hurt Skye, just as she was going to forgive me. Not matter if it was for her own good. I hurt the girl I love.

"Who are you, boy?" John Garrett's words bounce around my head. Time after time, he'd ask me that, and time after time I'd have to respond, saying that I was Grant Ward, loyal to him as I infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Who are you, Ward?" Coulson's words from long ago haunt me next.

I give in to my desire and wrap myself up into a ball on my bed, closing my eyes tight. Even before Garrett I was twisted, selfish, a coward.

"Grant!" My little brother used to cry, begging to be let out. And instead of rescuing him or taking his place, I obeyed my older brother out of fear. Fear that I would be the one at the bottom of that well.

So I left him there, alone.

The darkness surrounds me as a stifling blanket, and I surrender to the pain of my memories. After all, I deserve it.

Skye

The tears start to flow the moment I get out of Vault D.

"Stupid, stupid!" I lean against the wall, the tears rolling down my cheeks. I was a fool to believe that Ward was the product of what I found in his file. The years of abuse at his brother's hands, the injuries that mysteriously appeared, obviously inflicted by Garrett, the 5 years he went missing. The 5 years I know that he spent alone, with only a dog for company, after watching Ward's interrogation tapes where he admitted that Garrett left him all alone out there in a secluded woods.

But I still love him.

My feelings for the serial killer man downstairs were still very much alive, even after a year. I still wanted Grant Ward. I needed him, like I needed to breathe oxygen.

And he had just broken my heart all over again.

"Yo, Princess!" I hear Hunter call as he walks towards me. Quickly, I wipe away my tears and plaster a smile on my lips.

"Yeah, Hunter?" I say in a bright tone. Hunter frowns at my red rimmed eyes.

"What's wrong, love?" He asks, concerned.

"Nothing." I attempt to laugh. "Just Ward, and everything."

Hunter nods, understanding.

"Well, anyway, we have to go. A mission, from the big boss." He says. "HYDRA."

That one word he says is enough to convey the seriousness of this mission.

"Let's go." I say, shoving my feelings about Ward deep down. I'll think about that later. We have more important things to think about right now.