A/N: My least favorite part of any story is the end, it's why so many of my stories aren't finished because I just don't want them to stop, I just hate the idea of having to leave them. This is the last chapter of The Truth In Secret and it's a long chapter too. I honestly can't believe it, but here it is. I cannot express how grateful I am to each follower, each favorite and each review for looking at this story and wanting to stick around to see where it goes. Being patient when I went weeks or heck even months without writing, sharing your thoughts and reading each chapter because you too wanted more. I have enjoyed writing this story and will certainly miss it. Thank you all for joining me on this ride, it has truly been amazing.
Summary: Skye has a secret, one that no one else can ever know. As a child, people wanted to exploit her genius. As a teen, they took advantage of her mind. For two years, Skye had been free but, when she gets on Shield's radar, she has to tread carefully or else they might learn her secret and history will repeat itself.
Chapter Thirty
"How do you want to handle this," May asked, her eyes still focused on the young woman.
Coulson pulled out his phone, he typed furiously as he spoke, "We can't lose her now. Not when she's so close. Agent Morse said SHIELD would be trigger, that it would bring her back. Darien can't remove every single memory, but he could alter them. We just have to bring up what happened and it should come back to her."
May frowned at him, a question in her eyes that she voiced, "And if it doesn't?"
Coulson didn't answer her right away. For a moment, the world seemed to freeze as the question echoed in his hears and screamed in his mind. There was a chance that Darien was wrong, there was a chance that Skye was truly lost forever and that they would never get their girl back. Of course he didn't want to think that way, of course he didn't want to believe in the possibility that she wouldn't remember them.
His gaze was back on Skye, on the young woman who had seen as a daughter and the idea of this not working, the idea that she could forever see him as a stranger was enough to break his heart. Skye hated secrets, she hated to have them and she hated when others had them. He knew that she would want to know the truth, she wouldn't want to live her life not knowing and that was why this had to work.
"Then I have no idea what we're going to do," Coulson replied as he pocketed the phone, "Come on, before we lose sight of them."
May grabbed his arm to stop him from moving away, "Phil we need a plan. We can't just march over there and start talking-"
"It's the only plan we have and we may not get this close to her again," Coulson told her, his tone desperate and sharp.
May released a breath, her brown eyes shimmered for a moment as she said somberly, "I want her back too, but we have to be smart about this. For example, we don't know who either of those two are with her and what they know. There's a chance we go over there and they remove her entirely, for all we know one of them is the teleporter."
Coulson visibly swallowed, "We don't know a lot, but that can't stop us now. I have our location pinged, Fitzsimmons know she's here and Morse is on her way."
"That doesn't help us," May protested.
"Nothing helps us," Coulson remarked dryly, he looked back at the woman, "But if we just let her go, we'll miss the only opportunity to bring her home. We can't waste it. We managed to put SHIELD back together at record speed and clear it's name for the most part, but there is still so much more work to be done and she should be there with us."
May glanced away from Coulson to look back at the young woman. In Skye's absence SHIELD had collapsed, her intel about Hydra had rang true and if not for the information she had given to Agent Morse, SHIELD likely would not be standing. Not to mention, SHIELD was not SHIELD without the young woman as far as May was concerned.
When she had been brought back into the field by Coulson, she really hadn't expected to find a family in the group. Coulson back as her partner, Ward as a younger brother to her with Fitzsimmons and Skye as the kids of the group. Without Skye, their little family had been broken and May could never admit how much she hated the sight of it.
For a moment she let herself study the young woman's appearance, taking in the sight of the lost agent that she hadn't seen in such a long time. Her hair was a little darker and shorter, but she had the same light curls that hung loosely to frame her face. It seemed like a lifetime ago when May found Skye in the bathroom in the middle of the night with a pair of scissors ready to cut off all of her hair.
"What do you think you're doing," May asked, arms crossed over her chest.
Skye jerked in surprise, "Jesus, May. Don't sneak up on someone with a pair of scissors. And to answer your question, I just wanted to trim my hair."
"Really," May questioned, "Looks like you're about to chop it off."
Skye snickered, she out the scissors down, "Okay, yeah maybe. You could help me style it? I do need some help."
May made a sour expression at the idea of having to help cut Skye's hair. Not because she didn't know how or didn't like the idea of doing hair, it was just- it just caught her off guard that Skye would even ask her to it. The look on her face was enough to get Skye laughing.
"Okay, maybe not," Skye replied, she looked back at the mirror, "Maybe I'll let Simmons help me with it."
"Preferably not at two in the morning," May remarked dryly.
Skye rolled her eyes playfully, "Sure thing moooooom. See you later."
Before May could respond, Skye was already walking away still laughing. May had stood there for a long time, even if the young adult had been teasing her with the title, May couldn't deny how much lighter she felt in the moment. Skye was like her daughter and a daughter she couldn't have been more proud of.
"Fine," May said with a nod as she looked back at Coulson, "Let's go get her."
Daisy was having the time of her life. Whenever her and her father would go on a trip, it was always to small cities or to the mountain ranges, places out of reach or a bit out of touch. That was excluding the trips to New York and London, but still, the majority of their travels weren't like this. So far this was her favorite trip, hopefully she could convince her dad to take her to Disney World next. Lincoln spun her around, she ducked under his arm as if they were dancing with a brilliant smile.
As Daisy stared up at her partner, she couldn't imagine life being any different. Yet as she looked into his blue eyes, she felt a slight pang in her chest. For the past few months, her nights had been a little more than haunted by eyes. Sometimes they were blue eyes in face she couldn't really see or brown eyes on a different face she couldn't place. Other times she couldn't see their eyes and only heard their voices.
She wanted to bring it up to Darien, see if he could walk through her dreams and help her figure out what was going on, but it had been a new Inhuman named Reyna who told her not to do that. Reyna could see into the future and told her that showing her dreams to Darien would lead to her losing something she already. Daisy hadn't understood why, but she knew that Reyna's predictions were accurate and so she kept quiet.
Daisy shook the thoughts away and tried to ground herself in the present, with a grin she said, "Hey there."
"You seem to be having a great time," Lincoln told her with a soft smile.
Daisy chuckled, "Well obviously. We're in Hawaii, enjoying the scenery and were even able to join the protest on the beach yesterday which was awesome. Plus, I'm here with my dad and you, two of my favorite people in the whole world."
"I'm glad I was allowed to join you," Lincoln grinned.
"Perks of dating Afterlife's princess," Daisy teased with sparkling eyes.
Most days she would have rejected being referred to princess of Afterlife, but she was the most likely heir and her mother was basically Queen, so it wasn't false. However it did bother her to be in a position of power when she didn't earn it, that she hadn't done anything to deserve it. Her hands clasped together behind Lincoln's neck, his hands on her waist.
The pair had known each other for years and had been good friends, but only recently started dating. Daisy would have preferred they started dating sooner, but since she had gone through Terragenesis and he was assigned her transitioner, it made things a bit harder which prompted Lincoln to wait. He wanted to wait until she was finished transitioning, but the two of them were impatient and decided to go ahead with it two months ago.
It was safe to say, the two had never been happier. Lincoln stared into her eyes, how the sunlight seemed to light them up in away that made his breath hitch. Those eyes had hypnotized him since forever and he was helpless. The two hadn't realized they were so close until their lips barely touched others when they heard-
"Hey, hey, none of that," Cal called jogging over to them.
Daisy groaned quietly, "Oh we were so close."
"Next time," Lincoln whispered as he reluctantly pulled away.
Cal stood before the two with a disapproving look, "None of that will be happening, I forbid it. You both are too young to be doing any of that."
"Daaaaaad," Daisy groaned, she ran her fingers through her hair, "It's not a big deal. And you do realize we are both in our twenties."
Cal shuddered, "Don't remind me."
Daisy laughed at him, she was ready to say more when this man ran into her father, dropping all kinds of supplies. A flurry of apologies left the man who ran into Cal. Daisy stood beside Lincoln as she studied the man and now a woman had joined his side, helping to clean up the mess with her father who assured them it was okay. The man and woman seemed familiar somehow, but she had no idea why.
Lincoln would have moved to help them, but Daisy was gripping his wrist so tightly that he couldn't move away. When he looked to question it, the words died in his throat as he saw the confused and slightly horrified expression on her face. The happiness she had radiated had disappeared completely, but he couldn't understand why, unless her powers were starting to act up. Occasionally when Daisy was surprised by something, her powers would respond as if she were in danger and cause a bit of chaos to follow.
There were no tremors, she must be keeping it under control, but he hoped she was doing it the right way and not the one that hurt her arms like before. After a few seconds, she still did not release his arm and she seemed to be more frazzled than anything, but Lincoln had no idea why.
"Hey, you okay," Lincoln asked her worriedly.
Daisy visibly swallowed, her gaze never moved from the man and woman, "Yeah, just got surprised by the, them is all."
The man and woman were now on their feet, their supplies in hand as they spoke to her father briefly, not that she was paying attention to the words. All she could focus on was their faces, nothing else. The human brain cannot make a face on it's own, it was like how in dreams every face there had been seen at one point or another. These strangers here, she had seen their faces before, but had no idea when or where. Not a moment later, their gazes flickered to her and their expressions turned pained for a second.
Blue eyes and brown eyes. As she looked at each of their gazes, she recognized those eyes from somewhere. The pang had returned to her chest at the sight of them, could those be the same eyes that she had seen in her dreams? Was it possible their faces were the ones she hadn't been able to make out before. Only their eyes?
"Truly, no problem, just an accident," Cal said to them with a kind smile.
"I can be such a clutz," said the man with a grin, he extended his hand, "My name's Phil Coulson. And this is Melinda."
"The name's Agent Coulson."
Her father shook his hand, "Cal Johnson. A pleasure to meet you both."
"He's an agent," Daisy whispered so quietly, Lincoln almost didn't hear it.
"He's a what, an agent, are you sure," Lincoln asked softly, his hand squeezed her a bit tighter.
Daisy stared at him, "I, I'm sure, but I don't know why or how I would know that."
"Oh where are my manners, this is my daughter and her friend," Cal introduced with a warm smile.
On most days Daisy would have corrected her dad and said 'boyfriend', but her mind was too far away to care at the moment. She knew these people, yet had never met them in her life. Her dad was giving her an expectant look to say something, but she could not will her mouth to move.
"Skye," the man, Coulson said.
Daisy heard her voice as a kid enter her mind with words she had never said. It rang in her ears, it was loud in her mind and she struggled not to wince at the volume of her words she never said.
Skye. That's what I'm going to call myself.
Skye. Just Skye.
"Daisy actually," she said as she shook their hands, a frown on her face.
The woman, May, said, "You look just like one of our kids, her name was Skye."
Daisy's brow scrunched as she saw a memory that didn't feel like her own, it was something out of a dream. Every other night, Daisy had these dreams of another life, another time. In the morning she usually always forgot it before she could even turn off her alarm, but she always felt like it was important after. The only thing she could remember were the eyes.
"What about the mom and dad fight downstairs," she asked with a frown.
Coulson held her gaze, the man's voice echoed, "That shouldn't have happened either."
Daisy took a quick breath, her heart was pounding too hard and fast, "Guess I have a doppelganger huh, that's pretty cool. I always did like the name Skyler though."
"That's what her name is short for," May told her with a sad look in her eyes.
"Her older sister, Bobbi, helped her come up with it," Phil told them, a sad look on his face as well.
Daisy frowned, that wasn't right, "Brenda, that was the sister's name. No, it was Barbara, but she hated that name and went by Bobbi."
"That's right," Phil said, his eyes widened.
His expression wasn't one of surprise, but excitement. How Daisy knew that, she also had no idea, only that she knew it. Something was seriously wrong and she had to wonder if Darien was pulling some type of trick. When they were kids and he went through Terragenesis too early by mistake, he would mess around with his powers all the time.
At one point, he made her forget everything except how to talk once, it was horrible. He never did it again after the scare it gave her and everyone else, but he still did some tricks from time to time, usually involving other people who were none the wiser. He wasn't on this trip with them, but that didn't mean he wasn't around.
Daisy stared at the man and woman for a bit, shocked and confused. Reyna told her that the eyes would be a clue that the gazes would be able to help her. If these two people were the owner of the eyes she saw, then maybe they would help her find what she lost? However she had no idea what she had lost in the first place and she had no idea who these people were. She could feel pressure building behind her eyes.
"How'd you know that Daisy," Cal asked with a curious look.
Daisy shrugged, "Lucky guess."
Even as she said this, she didn't really believe it. There had to be more to it than that. Voices bounced around Daisy's mind, some of them sounded like her at different ages, then there were voices she didn't recognize and others she knew, but there were so many of them. An airplane over head caused her jerk, the sound of it soaring through air silenced the voices for a moment until she felt herself lose sight of where she was and could only see a different place.
Coulson nodded to the side, a motion for her to follow him to a seat. She got the message and the two sat down at a little table with white seats. The plane was impressive. It had just about everything a person would need in order to be comfortable.
"Sweet ride," She said as she strapped into the couch.
"Sweetheart, you okay," Cal asked, a hand on her shoulder to steady her.
Daisy didn't look at him, she kept her eyes on the couple ahead, "I'm fine. Just, just uh tired is all... I just, my head kind of hurts."
"Maybe we should get going," Lincoln told her.
"No," Daisy said, she straightened herself and stepped closer to the man and woman, "Who are you two, really? I, I've seen you before."
Daisy didn't care if that sounded crazy, she didn't care if the man and woman had never met her in her life and thought she was ridiculous. If there was even the slightest possibility of a chance being that they knew her or she knew them or something, she had to know. If there was one thing she always needed in life, it was to know the answers.
Coulson and May exchanged a look. While he knew that in order to get Skye to remember, they needed to trigger her memories enough that they break through whatever world Darien had invented, the problem was how. They couldn't just say random things and hope that they stick, but could they really just tell her? Would it be that easy?
"Does the name Mary Sue Poots or St Agnes Orphanage mean anything to you," said the man quietly.
Daisy's eyes flashed, "What a stupid name. I hate that name. The nuns gave it to me, no they gave it to someone else. I was never at an orphanage. And that had nothing to do with my question, who are you really?"
"I told you, my name is Phil Coulson," said Phil with a sad look in his eyes, "But you called me AC."
"For agent Coulson," Daisy supplied with a nod, "How do I know that?"
Cal stepped forward, placing a hand on his daughter's shoulder, "We've heard enough of this. Whoever you are and whatever it is you're trying to do, we want no part of it. Walk away."
"I'm afraid we can't do that," said Phil with a stern look.
"You took someone from us months ago," Melinda said, her tone sharp, "We're not leaving without what you took from us."
Cal frowned at them, "We've taken nothing from you. You have the wrong people. Lincoln, Daisy, you should leave while I deal with this."
Daisy shrugged her dad off, she looked into his brown eyes, "No, I'm staying right here. I know these people, from somewhere. I need to know how."
"Daisy, how would you know them," Lincoln asked with a raised brow, "You've never left Afterlife except on these trips and never spoke to anyone."
Daisy glanced at Lincoln with a torn expression. On the one hand, she knew Lincoln was right, but the dreams and the eyes had to mean something. Melinda and Phil might have the answers to what she lost, what Reyna told her about from before. There had to be more to it, there had to be an answer here. For months Daisy had felt this loss, she had felt like something had been ripped away from her and something was haunting her nights, echoing in her mind. There had to be something here.
There were so many voices echoing in her ears, there were so many images and flashes of people she knew, that she was certain she knew, but had actually never before in all her life. These people had to have answers, surely they had to have something if they were still here before her.
"I don't know, but I can feel there's something here I need to know," Daisy said looking at him and her dad with determined look. Daisy turned back to the man and woman, she said softly, "What did we take from you? Your daughter? Skye."
Phil nodded, he spoke clearly, "Six months ago give or take some weeks, the young woman we viewed as a daughter was taken from us. Skye, that's you."
Daisy tilted her head to the side, "I thought we established I was a doppelganger already. You think I'm Skye, the girl you lost."
"We don't think, we know," Melinda told her, "You just don't remember us right now because six months ago something happened, you went completely dark and we lost you and have been searching ever since to bring you back."
"Your brother was the one who told us how, Darien knew that we'd have to in order to bring you back," Phil told her.
Daisy frowned at them, "Why would Darien be involved with Agents from SHIELD? He hates them."
"You're SHIELD agents," Cal said with wide eyes, he moved in front of Daisy, "No more of this. Leave now, while you still can."
"No, not until we tell our truth, Skye always wanted to know the truth," Phil said to Cal before looking to his daughter, "I imagine you want the truth as well. We mean no harm, we just want to try to bring our girl back to us."
Daisy's eyes narrowed as she focused on the beating of their hearts. Usually when people lied their heart would skip a beat, it wasn't always perfect and sometimes her little lie detector test was wrong, but she enjoyed using it at times. When it was clear that Melinda and Phil believed their words, she decided to take that chance with them.
These people seemed to be adamant that she was this missing girl, someone who they valued as their own. All she remembered was being trapped in Afterlife with a stern mother, doting father and sneaky brother, but there were moments that didn't quite add up. When she had gotten so sick as a thirteen year old and went to a hospital, despite having a real healer in Afterlife. How when she was four she had gotten lost in the dark despite their always being light in Afterlife, no matter the time or weather.
One time she remembered running away from Afterlife, being lost in the mountains and found by a blonde woman who looked out for her, yet the event never happened. She never ran away from Afterlife, had never even left the small town besides training and she had been older then. Not a young teen.
"I'll hear what you have to say," Daisy said with a nod.
"That is absolutely ridiculous," Cal hissed, his nostrils flared, "Daisy is my daughter, she's never been taken from us nor has she ever gone by any other name. Daisy, you can't listen to them."
Daisy grabbed her dad's hand, "Dad, listen to me. It's crazy, but you remember what happened six months ago. What if they're connected?"
Cal froze at his daughter's words, he blinked in surprise, "Sweetheart, I really don't think these people would have any answers about that-"
"No one else does," Daisy interrupted with a growl, "This might be it. Aren't you tired of wondering what's being hidden from us, from me? They might have the answers. Dad I have to know what happened. "
Cal felt his shoulders sag at her words, but he nodded nonetheless. Shortly after Daisy had undergone terragenesis, something strange had happened at Afterlife, to the whole place. Everyone had been knocked out for a few hours and there had been an attack by strangers dressed in black. All the strangers had been killed, but it had left everyone lost because when those strangers arrived, everyone had been asleep.
The attack had forced Afterlife to move somewhere else, deeper into the mountain side. The only one who had been genuinely unfazed by the event was her mother. Jiaying may have been leader of Afterlife for all intents and purposes which meant she needed to be a calm and levelheaded leader. Yet throughout the entire ordeal after, Daisy knew her mother was hiding something and lying to her, lying to everyone.
The story was that one of the new Inhumans powers had gone haywire for a moment, then a nearby group had been alerted to the disturbance and attacked them. That was the story, but no one truly remembered much of the attack or who's power caused the mishap. Speculation said it was Darien, but he couldn't remember anything about it besides the black out and waking up to find dead men dressed in black.
Absolutely none of made sense to Daisy when she woke up and had been told the story. Who killed the strangers then if everyone had been knocked out? Who else in Afterlife would have an ability to keep all of them sedated during an attack? Jiaying had claimed it was a new inhuman who went through terragenesis despite not being chosen. Everyone else seemed to accept that, but Daisy could never let it go. Too many holes in the story, too many questions instead of answers and it all lead back to her mother who refused to give her a real answer.
Daisy told her dad about it ages ago and he hated to admit it, but he knew it was true. Ever since that moment, Jiaying had been acting different from the days before, from the times before, when they were all big family. It had been a side mission of Daisy's to figure out what was going on, what her mother was hiding and what happened that day when all of Afterlife went dark. There was more to the story and Daisy was determined to find out exactly what happened.
"You don't even know these people," Lincoln argued taking her hand into his own, "How could they possibly have the answers to this when it was a power mishap and some people finding us? Daisy, come on."
Daisy shook her head, "You know as well as I do it was more than that. Everyone pretends like it wasn't a big deal, that it wasn't the craziest thing to ever happen in Afterlife. They have to know something."
Lincoln scoffed, shaking his head, "I'm calling Gordon, we need to go."
Daisy squeezed his hand, "No, Lincoln you can't. Please, I know their eyes."
"What," Lincoln asked with a frown.
Lincoln only vaguely knew about the dreams Daisy had, he knew they haunted her sometimes and that the only real thing she was able to recall in the morning were their eyes. It had spooked her for so long, and for her to say it was their eyes made Lincoln pause. Studying her face now, he could see how serious she was about this and how much she needed this. He didn't trust the strangers, especially since they were agents of SHIELD, but if they might give his girl some peace, then he would support that.
Wordlessly, he nodded to show his support. Daisy's smile was one of pure relief. She gave his hand one final squeeze before letting go and turning to face the man and woman completely. As she looked between them, she wanted the answer to just hit her, for it to just come right to her, but nothing did.
"You say my name is Skye," Daisy said with a sad look, "Tell me everything you know."
And they did. Daisy listened with baited breath as every word echoed in her mind, leaving a new image, a new memory that was painfully familiar yet so foreign to her. Tears had slipped down her eyes as she began to fill in the pieces, saying things that happened that she just knew, but still struggled to recall. Flashes of herself as a child being forced to endure torture for the sake of an organization called Wade.
How for years she had been placed in orphanage under a name she hated, branded a child genius then taken away from her foster home and brought into a life where the only thing people cared about was her mind. As the story went, a young woman with blonde hair had joined them and Daisy recognized the woman as Bobbi. The woman who saved her when she ran away, the woman who was like her sister.
Daisy had reached for her hand during the story and Bobbi had taken it with relieved yet sorrowful look as it was still clear that Daisy still could not completely remember Skye. When the story had come to an end, caught up to the present, Daisy was struggling to keep herself under control. So many of her memories had been warped around what really happened, she could see the memories in her mind shifting and changing, but she still felt so disconnected from it all. The truth was here, she knew it was all real, so why did she still feel so lost.
"I don't understand," Daisy said at last, "I know what you're saying is true and that I, I'm Skye, but I, I still dont-"
"If it's not clicking, then it must not be true and they have wasted out time," Cal said sharply.
Bobbi shook her head, "No, it just means what we discussed wasn't the trigger. Darien told us that something, one thing would be the switch and it would all come back to you. I just, I don't know what it could be."
"It had to be something that both Skye and Daisy would hold dear, something they were both missing," Phil- Coulson said with a thoughtful look.
Daisy looked to the floor as Lincoln wrapped an arm around her frame, tears still burning her eyes. Learning that her parents had her brother change her mind, take her from her life was shocking. While Cal had been horrified by it, he didn't deny that it is something he and Jiaying would have done if it were true. It wasn't exactly confirmation, but it was enough for Daisy. The agents weren't lying and just wanted their Skye back.
There something connecting it all, but what?
"Reyna told me," Daisy started as she lifted her gaze, "That it was something I lost. What is something I or Skye lost?"
Lincoln rubbed her arm, "I don't know. Skye was always looking for her family it sounds like."
Cal released a sigh, "If what you say is true, then I lost my little girl, I lost my son. It meant that I failed to protect them from harm. You both were alone."
Daisy eyes lit up at that, "Alone, I was alone! I was looking for my family and I found SHIELD. When I found them, I wasn't alone anymore, I had a family. Is that what I lost? A family, a home? Something that was mine."
That was when it flooded back to Skye. The memories she had of Afterlife with her family shattered, the warped memories from Darien faded out and the real ones took their place. The pressure behind her eyes became sharp causing her to gasp in surprise, the ground shook just barely, but she managed to keep it under control. Lincoln and Cal held her up right in concern, watching with their worried gazes.
When she lifted her head, she no longer felt just like Daisy, the Inhuman who was heir to Afterlife. She felt like the orphan Mary Sue Poots who just wanted a home, who knew too much for someone her age. She felt like Mary who was forced to live with Wade and do their bidding, to be the machine and weapon they needed. Then she felt like Skye, a lost hacker looking for the truth about her past and somehow finding a home.
A quiet sob escaped her throat as she looked at Bobbi, May and Coulson. The tears fell faster than before, she broke from Lincoln and Cal and threw herself at the agents, catching May and Coulson off guard, but the agents embraced her just the same as she tried to hold back her cries.
"I remember, I remember everything," Skye said as she pulled back with a watery smile, "Coulson, you gave me a chance after I helped you with Mike and May, you took me under your wing, taught me how to fight and be strong. Bobbi, you were my sister, you protected me. Fitzsimmons, they were always looking out for me and we had so much fun. Ward, even Ward, he was there training me and pushing me to be stronger. I was an agent, I was a SHIELD agent. I had a home, I had a family."
Coulson released a laugh, "SHIELD is your family."
May nodded, "It's good to have you back."
Skye released a nervous laugh as she wiped her tears away. Bobbi pulled the younger woman into a hug, holding as tightly as she could without hurting her. Relief like she never knew washed over her, thrilled to have her little sister back in her arms, safe and remembering exactly who she is and where she belongs.
Skye broke the hug with a sweet smile, but it faded when she looked over her shoulder at her father and boyfriend, both with matching sad expressions and body language. Without a word, Skye made her way back over to the pair until she was standing right in front of them, less than arms length away.
"Papa," Skye whispered as she looked up at him.
Cal cupped her cheek, "It's okay. If you have to go I understand. I may not remember, but if you do, then I understand and I, I am so sorry Daisy. Taking your memories, taking you away from the family you found, the life you built. It shouldn't have happened."
Skye brought her hand to rest on his, "You wanted to give me the life I never had. One where I had you, mom and Darien, having everything my heart desired without any of the pain I endured. I, I'm not angry with you or even mom. But I have to go."
"I know you do," Cal told her.
"What about mom," Skye said with a sigh.
"Leave that to me," Cal said with a weak smile, in a hoarse voice he went on, "I love you so much. Never, ever forget that."
Skye nodded, "I won't."
It broke Cal's heart, it really did, but he knew it had to be this way. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead before she wrapped her arms around his neck, more tears streaming down her cheeks. The worst thing about being a parent was having to let your children go, to let them go into the world without you by their side.
She gripped him tightly, inhaling his scent. It wasn't like this would be goodbye forever, but she had actually never really told him goodbye this way. When she released him, her gaze found Lincoln's who wasn't sure what he should do or say. The two had memories of growing up together, of spending more than six months together yet apparently that wasn't real.
"Lincoln," Skye said, "I, I don't know what to say."
"Say it's not true, say that it's not real," Lincoln whispered.
Skye looked down for a moment, she grabbed his hand, "I can't tell you that. It's all true, every bit of it. My name is Skye, I'm an agent of SHIELD. But I'm also the child genius Mary Sue and the Afterlife princess Daisy. Each of them is me and I am them. I'm still a girl who loves this boy, who doesn't want to lose him."
Lincoln found her gaze, "I love this girl, no matter what name she calls herself. I don't want you to go, we should just go back to Afterlife and live out our days."
"I can't do that," Skye said, her tone leaving no room for argument, "You could come with me. We could help people, more than inhumans and see the world."
"My place is in afterlife," Lincoln told her.
Skye squeezed his hand, "No, your place is with me. By my side. Please come with me."
Lincoln was visibly torn, "I, I don't think I can. At least not yet."
Skye understood that, really she understood that, but that didn't mean it hurt any less. Silently she pressed a light kiss to his lips that he gingerly returned. When she pulled away, she offered him a heartbreaking smile that said goodbye for now.
"If you change your mind," Skye started still wearing that smile.
"I know how to find you," he told her with a weak smile of his own.
And with that goodbye, Cal and Lincoln walked away. Both were hesitant and wore the same sorrowful look, but they knew they had to let her go. It wouldn't be forever, but that didn't mean it hurt any less that she would not be returning with them.
Skye watched them leave, her shoulders sagging as they disappeared into the crowd and out of her sight. For so long she had been at Afterlife, believing something that wasn't true. Her mother would likely contact her about her abrupt departure, but Skye wasn't too worried about that. She fully intended to keep up her pretense of Afterlife's princess, but first she had work to do as an agent of SHIELD. Briefly she wondered about Darien, what he had to say about this, but she wouldn't contact him yet.
She couldn't and wouldn't avoid those conversations, but at this moment she didn't want to think about them, she just wanted to focus on the fact that Coulson, May and Bobbi were here. She wanted to focus on the fact that Fitzsimmons were waiting back at base for her to come back. She wanted to focus on the fact that her family in SHIELD never gave up on her, that they never stopped looking and came for her. That was what mattered to her most, that what she lost was found.
Coulson and May walked ahead back to the quinjet, Bobbi a few steps behind with Skye next to her, filling her in on everything that had happened during her absence. It hadn't been a surprise when she first heard that SHIELD had collapsed, but she was thrilled to hear that her information had made it easier to take down Hydra and keep SHIELD alive. That had been the best news.
And that night, Skye stood in her old room on the BUS with a wry smile on her face. One hand was resting on the window where her little hula girl remained, shaking as the plan flew threw the Skye back to their new headquarters. In Skye's other hand was her SHIELD badge, it felt heavy in her hands, but perfect. To think a couple of months ago she had just been a lost hacker, hiding from Wade, looking for the truth of her past and finding a home in SHIELD. Time was such a goofy thing.
Skye looked at the badge in her hand and whispered to herself, "Welcome home Skye, welcome home."