A/N: Sorry for not updating for a while. Life started back up basically, and I've been swamped with work - and some recent events have put me in a pretty bad state mentally, so I've been trying to balance processing my own emotions with a lot of work and school.

I know this chapter isn't anything special, I'm at a point where this just has to fill in the blanks and tie some loose ends before we achieve the "denouement" so to speak. I have some very specific ideas in mind that I'm excited about. But this one is sort of a "making amends, steps in the right direction, and resolving the canon conflicts" sort of chapter. Which is also why it took so long, and also why I focused on Lovely while I struggled with my own mental health. It's... hard to write a character in the more final stages of healing when you yourself are struggling. So over at Lovely I wrote a lot of angsty gritty things to get out some pent up emotions. Which is funny to me... because Lovely was supposed to be my break from writing angsty gritty poetic prose. But anyway...

Oh also! I changed the name - sorry for the confusion, I just finally thought of a name for this story that just... felt better. To me anyway. I dunno.

So again, sorry, for the wait, I apologize that this one isn't anything special, and I promise you the next one will be better!

4x19 - 4x22: Sink or Swim

Daisy's head was pounding.

Everything since entering the Framework had been an absolute whirlwind - scratch that, ever since Ghost Rider disappeared, everything had been moving so fast and Daisy was struggling to keep up. Everything was changing, constantly moving, and she'd been getting tired of having to adapt.

May was her mother. May had shown her how much she cared about her, how much she loved her. Then May was an LMD, but still May. Then May's LMD betrayed the team, the whole team got replaced by LMDs, and May LMD tried to kill Daisy and Simmons. Then in the Framework, May was with Hydra, and had Daisy locked up and tortured.

And now, May - Hydra Framework May - was sitting in the driver's seat, committing treason against the organization she stood so soundly with just a day ago.

But Daisy had to admit, even if this May wasn't entirely the real May, it was kind of nice to have her mother back.

Fighting side by side again had been... nice. Even if they were fighting for their lives. Daisy and May had always been a good team, partially due to the fact that May taught Daisy everything she knew about combat, but also because they always understood each other, their bond made it easy for them to work together. Though this May wasn't her May, not fully, Daisy still was able to read her like a book, however guarded she was.

They were wanted fugitives now, but they were together again, and May was on their side now. Daisy had to admit, she was slightly relieved. It seemed now like the only one who was going to be difficult to bring out of the Framework was Fitz, but at least it was only Fitz. Coulson and May were on her side, and Mack was at least neutral, as far as Daisy knew.

It wasn't his fault he'd turned her in. She had to remind herself of that fact constantly. Here, they were strangers. He just wanted to protect his daughter.

It wasn't personal.

Not at all.

Though... that shadow of doubt flickered through her mind constantly. Between the leftover buzzing from the terrigen, her mind spinning from all of what had happened, the exhaustion she'd felt from fighting her own mind in prison, and just the general awareness of the Framework, Daisy felt constantly on edge.

She glanced over at May, who hadn't said a word since they got in the car. Her jaw was set and her eyes were narrowed and bore straight ahead. Daisy bit the inside of her cheek, diverting her gaze back to stare out the window, her fingers wrapping around the blade in her pocket. She pulled it out, absently twirling it between her fingers, though it wasn't nearly as satisfying as her knife or her pen was to fiddle with. May's eyes flickered over to her, then back on the road, shaking her head.

"What?" Daisy asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Didn't take you for that type," May said simply. Daisy tilted her head.

"Huh?"

"The self harming type."

Daisy stared at her incredulously, both feeling a bit scrutinized as well as like she'd had this exact same conversation before with someone else at some point. "You got that just from this?" Her mind raced. This felt too familiar.

May nodded curtly. "It's not a weapon, so you can't fight with it. Normal people don't just carry little blades around unless they're for personal reasons."

Daisy frowned, her brow furrowing as she searched her mind for the cause of her deja vu. May just shook her head again, but didn't continue the conversation.

As they approached a red light, it clicked. Ghost Rider.

She'd had this exact same conversation with Robbie, in his car in L.A.

Daisy studied May for a moment - her jaw was clenched, her brow knitted, her eyes narrow. Anyone could have read that as a focused face or a general May stern face... but Daisy knew that face.

It was a guilt face. It was the face she got when someone called her "the cavalry;" the face she pulled when someone spoke of Bahrain.

"Are you good?" Daisy asked hesitantly, keeping her gaze out the window. When she got no response, she looked back over - May nodded curtly. "Something's bothering you."

"How would you know?" It was May's turn to ask.

"It's all over your face." Daisy stared straight ahead as the light turned green. May stepped on the gas - maybe a bit too hard - and the car lurched forward, letting out a growl as they sped down the street. "And you didn't have a lead foot until I asked, so something's clearly bothering you."

"Observant."

"I had a good teacher."

May fell silent again, though much to Daisy's relief she eased up on the gas pedal a bit. So Daisy tried again. "I know it's probably hard to suddenly switch sides... I know that watching the Patriot die was hard and it made you question everything... I don't know, I just..." She was searching for something to say, anything that could make May feel better, but struggled to find the words. "I just want you to know that you're doing the right thing. Even if it doesn't feel like it."

"It's not that." May was quiet - but Daisy didn't interject this time, hoping May would continue. She eventually did. "Well... Not entirely. I... Hydra was brainwashing children."

"Oh."

"And... I'm not sure yet how I feel about Inhumans - no offense - but... they're children. Kids are innocent. I was working for an organization that was hurting and brainwashing children." May gritted her teeth. The car sped up.

"You didn't know," Daisy murmured softly. "You had no idea."

"I should have." May's voice shook a bit. "I was one of Hydra's top agents. I should have known."

"But you didn't. You had no control over it." Something in Daisy's chest tightened a bit. "Look. Once you found out you left immediately, you know? That's what counts. Not the stuff that happened that you had no control over." May didn't speak - she continued to stare straight ahead, holding tension in her jaw. Daisy took a deep breath. "I've... done some things I'm not proud of. But I can't let them hold me back anymore. I've learned..." In, one, two, three. Out, one, two, three. "I've learned that you're worse off dwelling on things that happened. I didn't have control over what had happened, and I blamed myself. I've made mistakes, and let the guilt eat me alive. But regardless of what you did or who's to blame, you need to move forward and focus on doing good for the future. Not dwelling on the past and what you could have done differently. Don't... don't beat yourself up, okay?"

After a moment of silence, May spoke again. "That's very wise."

Daisy shrugged, raising an eyebrow at her. "Again, I had a great teacher."

"They did good with you, whoever they were. You have a good head on your shoulders."

Daisy cracked a bit of a smile, her chest lightening at the rare May compliment. Even if it wasn't entirely the real May.

For a moment the car was silent again. Daisy absently fiddled with the blade in her fingers while May drove. But after a moment, May spoke. "Is that why...?"

"Why what?" But she was expecting it when May glanced over at the blade in her hands, and halfheartedly Daisy gave a nod of confirmation back. "It's not... something I really do as much. At least I try not to. Not anymore. Sometimes though, it helps me to have something to occupy my hands."

"Why'd you stop?" May wanted to know.

Daisy felt that familiar tug at her chest, like she'd had this conversation before. She was almost surprised to hear herself echoing the answer Robbie had given her when she'd asked him the same question, but at the same time it was the explanation that made the most perfect sense. "My family," she murmured, averting her gaze back out the window. She was acutely aware of May side-eying her. "They care... a lot. They were the ones who helped me realize. But... I had to stop. It hurt them to see..." Her voice wavered. "It hurt them to know how much I was hurting from everything."

May thought for a moment. "I'm sure your family is proud of you regardless of what you might have done." Daisy smiled a bit to herself, a bit comforted at the thought. "Are they with the resistance?"

Daisy's heart twisted, a reminder of how far her family actually was. Even though May was sitting right next to her, even though Coulson and Simmons were waiting for her at the S.H.I.E.L.D. base, it wasn't nearly the same. "I haven't been able to be with my family for a while," she admitted, which was more true than untrue.

"You must miss them." May's voice was soft. Daisy bit the inside of her cheek, nodding. "It must be hard not to have them, when they're the reason you keep going."

"Yeah," Daisy said in barely a whisper, her voice hoarse. "It's... it's been hard." She shook her head, straightening up. "But I'll see them soon. I know I will."

"Quite the optimist. How can you be so sure?"

Daisy shrugged. "I'm determined. They matter more to me than anything else in the world."

A small smile played on May's lips. "I'm sure they feel the same about you."

Daisy's heart swelled as she remembered her family and all the things they'd been through together, but at the same time it ached from missing them... and from what Daisy had put them through recently. She remembered vividly the day May and Coulson had cornered her and confiscated her knife, forced her to talk, and set her feet on a new path in the right direction. She remembered the horrified looks on their faces when they saw how attached she was to her knife. She remembered Simmons' visible heartbreak as she did mental health check-ins and realized how much Daisy had normalized her self-harm. She remembered Fitz, although he hadn't come to see her, he was always thinking of her, and how sweet it was that he picked a specific pen that wasn't too sharp so she could draw on herself. She remembered all those days before she'd run away where she'd catch her team watching her through the window with saddened expressions as she slipped deeper and deeper into her depression; she remembered Mack holding her, begging her to stop, to let the light in; she remembered May bandaging her arms and suddenly cracking, letting her emotions take over.

She remembered Coulson patching her up when she'd slipped up. She remembered being so afraid that he'd be pissed at her and think she wasn't trying, that she was taking them for granted. And how... instead, he told her how proud he was of the little progress she'd made.

Her chest ached as she bitterly looked down at the razor in her fingers. She gritted her teeth, remembering how awful those urges had been, how out of control she felt whenever her skin would crawl, whenever her mind would slip into that numb nothingness that made her feel so out-of-body, like she was drowning... and she remembered all the relief she'd feel when she did it. But this choice that she so proudly held in her hands has done nothing but hurt everyone around her - the very people who cared so much, who never gave up on her.

Without a word, and not even really processing what she was doing, she rolled the window down and tossed the razor out.

May's eyes merely flickered over towards her direction, but she didn't acknowledge the action. Or, maybe the corners of her mouth twitched a little. It was hard to tell with her.

The rest of the ride was quiet until they pulled up to the alleyway. Tentatively, Daisy asked; "Are you sure the Patriot's dead?"

May looked at her, a small amount of pity reflecting in her eyes, but she was back to business. "I saw the building collapse on him," she said matter-of-factly. "I have the body cam footage to prove it."

So it was definitely true.

Daisy sighed, following May out of the car. At least it wasn't Coulson or Mack or Fitz or May, she told herself, feeling a bit guilty at the thought. His death still stung though... Even though he hadn't been her biggest fan to begin with, in the end he was rooting for her, and he'd been a really good guy deep down.

She regretted that they hadn't seen eye-to-eye until very recently, and the thought of losing him made her heart ache, reopened that hole in her chest. And while that tiny piece of her was grateful it wasn't someone in her family, she couldn't help the stinging, bitter feeling of failure she felt at losing someone she was supposed to be saving.

Failure. Hopeless. That small voice was back, sneering in the back of her mind.

It's not my fault, she countered, and honestly she might have convinced herself that it wasn't.

She didn't have time to dwell on it though. They were on the move again, and every step she took was going to bring her back to her family.

"We're just gonna have to flip the switch and hope for the best."

Daisy gritted her teeth, frustrated with the broadcasting system. Clearly she was out of practice with tech - Fitz had been right when he jokingly quipped "too much punching and not enough hacking."

Fitz... Her heart ached. God, it felt so long ago at this point - he'd said it early on in her return. And it felt even longer since she'd run from S.H.I.E.L.D. in the first place. How she'd managed to stay away for so long was beyond her.

Ward's voice broke her out of her thoughts. "We can do better than that."

She turned, looking at him quizzically, but her heart skipped a beat when he reached for his gun. "What do you mean?"

"I'll keep the signal going. Hold the fort as long as I can."

Dread drummed in her chest. "No, Ward, you don't have to do that, that's-"

He approached, his hands out. "I know I'm not going back with you when you leave. But I can still help out from the side."

Daisy stared at him, her heart twisting. His expression was so heartbroken, so desperate, so pained... Daisy had to remind herself that he was all ones and zeroes. Still, it stung, especially as she remembered and applied her previous epiphany about him. He frowned as he placed the gun aside and gently rested his hand on her shoulder - unconsciously Daisy's muscles tensed and her jaw set uncomfortably as her gaze shifted towards his hand, then back up at him. Noticing her discomfort, he lifted his hand again, and she couldn't help that persistent flicker of guilt she felt at his sadness, his longing.

"I would hate for you to think that I am anything like the Grant Ward you knew over there," he explained. Daisy's chest ached. He knew he was about to lose someone he loved, and he was still willing to sacrifice everything. "Simmons said he was a real son of a bitch. I'm guessing things didn't end well. He get locked up?"

Daisy was at a loss for words. She opened her mouth to say something - but what could she say? That he'd been killed on an alien planet? That the entire team, everyone he knew here, all of the friends he had in this world, had hated him so much that they wanted him dead at any and all costs? That she'd hated him and shot him with the intention of killing him? That when he died his body was possessed by some parasite that paraded his skin around like a costume as it decomposed, that even though he was gone and his story ended on Maveth that everything Hive had done within his body undoubtedly had marred Ward's image further past what his control? Her stomach rolled and her chest felt tight and she just stared at him, wondering if maybe she'd seen the good in him sooner that none of that probably would have happened.

The twinge of guilt wormed its way in her chest again, and she dropped her gaze, feeling sorry for this man in front of her.

This Ward was good. He was kind and gentle and just wanted to do the right thing.

But realistically, this Ward and that Ward were fundamentally the same. Different outside influences shaped them, but they were still the same.

"Oh... the other thing." Ward looked away, and Daisy could see his mind racing.

It's so much worse than you could possibly imagine.

"Ward, I don't know what to say." Her voice was hoarse with grief and regret, guilt and understanding.

"It's okay." His response was barely a whisper. "No need to explain."

They held each other's gaze for a moment and Daisy could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. The full gravity of the situation weighed heavily on her and she could see so much of the people she loved in him.

She could see so much of herself in him.

"There's one thing I need to know." His voice was soft, and full of hope. "After you're gone... do I get my Skye back?"

That felt like a punch to the gut. Daisy's chest twisted with pain so raw she could have cried. And the worst part... she had no idea what would happen once they left. Would the software and coding of the Framework continue on once they destroyed the hardware? Would the Framework version of her take over once she left? She didn't want to let him down, but she didn't want to give him false hope either. Looking at his face, contorted in so much grief over the thought that maybe the girl he loved was gone forever...

"Honestly... I don't know." Her voice shook with the effort of holding back her tears. He dropped his gaze, processing it. Another thought struck her - that even if the Framework did manage to survive, Daisy had drastically altered their reality. Even if the Framework continued on once they destroyed that hardware... she might have destroyed their encoded relationship, too. "Although... she is Hydra, so..."

Ward chuckled a pained yet hopeful laugh. "Well, every relationship has its ups and downs." More serious, he said softly, "We'll get through it."

He started to turn away, and Daisy couldn't help the feeling that if the conversation ended there, she'd regret not saying what was on her mind. Even if this Ward was just ones and zeroes and zeroes and ones, even if this Ward wasn't real and the real Ward was dead, his rotting corpse floating somewhere in space - with Lincoln's - she owed it to him to say something, say anything to express that she was sorry, that she understood him, that she wished she'd been better.

"For what it's worth-" In, one, two, three, out, one, two, three; "-I didn't... I didn't totally understand him until I met you. So... I guess... I guess there was some good in him all along." She swallowed thickly, blinking back tears. "And I hope that Skye comes back to you."

His eyes were watery as he studied her carefully. Her entire body felt heavy as she dropped her gaze, forcing herself to focus on keeping her breathing steady as they sat together in silence, mourning alone but together.

They didn't have too much time to dwell on it though. Coulson and May walked in, and Ward and Daisy stood to face them. "Well, that's that." Coulson fixed his tie and May looked over knowingly at Daisy.

"Let's get out of here."

In, one, two, three.

Out, one, two, three.

In, one, two, three.

Out, one, two, three.

The back door exit portal closed back up as Daisy stopped using her powers on it. She stared for a moment, catching her breath, unable to even begin to process the mixture of emotions she was feeling. It had been a damn close call but they'd done it - relief flooded through her veins as she remembered the sight of Coulson, May, Fitz, and Simmons jumping through the portal back to their own world.

Who knew what awaited them on the other side.

But at least it was their turf.

She turned around, her eyes full of determination as they landed on Mack, who'd refused to believe in the other world despite watching the Framework world glitch with his own two eyes. His face was twisted in stubborn disbelief, his gaze dubious as he looked back at her. "Now it's your turn," she told him firmly.

But his gaze shifted back down to the portal, and he shook his head, deliberately refusing to believe.

Her heart rate sped up.

"Mack." His eyes were filling with tears as he backed away. "You said it yourself. This world is not real. And in the real world you're in danger. Right now."

Please, Mack.

Please.

Come on Daisy, you have to convince him-

But he just stared determinedly at her. "What about Hope?"

Hope.

Oh God, Hope.

Her stomach started rolling with nausea as a sickening thought crossed her mind.

"Is she in danger?" His voice shook at the thought. Daisy's chest tightened up.

Convince him, come on Daisy you got this far-

She could lie. She could lie. She could say yes, she could trick him into going back. Hell, if she didn't he probably wouldn't-

Say yes. Say she's in danger on the other side. She needs her dad. Get him to jump.

But she suddenly remembered how it had felt when she woke up in the bathtub, when she first entered the Framework, when she thought she'd see Lincoln again. That familiar hollow pang echoed in her chest as she thought of him. She remembered having so much hope of seeing him again, and then the crushing reality that he was gone suffocating her.

And she couldn't do that to Mack.

So all she could do was shake her head. "No," she admitted, her heart twisting, knowing the truth would only solidify his choice. "Things are different there."

He looked at her incredulously. "Different? ...How?"

Daisy gulped. She's fine, say she's fine, she told herself firmly, but she knew that wasn't the right thing to do. The crushing reality started to set in that... that maybe...

Maybe Mack wasn't willing to live in a world without Hope.

She hadn't wanted to live in a world without Lincoln, after all.

Her stomach churned as Mack's worried, watery gaze bore into her. "Hope... isn't... alive... in our world."

Daisy watched the wave take over him.

"I'm so sorry... I-I don't... I don't know what happened... It's not... something you talk about."

He shook his head, heartbroken disbelief etched all over his face. "No... no that doesn't make any sense," he insisted, though his eyes shone with tears that threatened to fall. "She's alive here, why would it be different there?"

"AIDA," Daisy explained bitterly. "She made changes in this world to keep us from fighting back. She fixed your biggest regret."

She watched the realization wash over his face as he processed the information. She watched him start to lose the surface.

He's not going to live in a world without Hope.

He's just not.

And... sure enough, as Daisy had anticipated, he slowly nodded and looked back up at her with so much resolve as he decided, "I'm staying."

Daisy's mind buzzed with static as suddenly she was forced into the riptide, her chest feeling hollow and empty as she stared back at him.

She'd known it. But it still hurt.

"Mack..."

She couldn't lose him. She couldn't lose Mack. God... she couldn't lose Mack.

"Tremors... Tremors please... Daisy look at me... Please..."

The echoes of his voice sounded worlds away. Daisy's gaze hadn't shifted from the floor in an eternity, the rest of the world blurring away and all she thought about Lincoln's body floating up there above them all, his skin blistered and blue and his nose bloodied and his eyes popping out of his sockets and that golden cross floating by his head and it should have been her, it should have been her, not Lincoln, not her Lincoln, God Lincoln, Lincoln, Lincoln-

A sudden gentle hand on her back forced her out of her thoughts. Instinctually she recoiled at the touch, her voice raspy and bitter as she growled, "Don't." But her eyes registered her old partner's kind expression, and she couldn't help but relax the tiniest bit. His soft brown eyes were so gentle as he held out a glass, and without thinking she took it, wondering if maybe she took a sip, he'd feel a bit better and leave her alone. She didn't deserve to eat, she deserved to rot... but Mack didn't deserve to be in pain, he shouldn't be caught up in any of this, so maybe if she took a sip she could make him worry less.

She didn't deserve for someone as good as him to worry about her.

She didn't expect herself to chug the rest of the smoothie down, not even tasting it, and she hated herself for it.

But he looked so happy when she did. She had to suppress that little flicker of pride she'd felt at making him happy.

"I don't want to live in a world without Hope." Mack's intense gaze broke her out of her thoughts. Daisy could feel her chest tightening.

"But... it's not real." She forced her voice not to shake as she tried to reason with him. "You saw it with your own eyes, t's a computer program... all of it."

He shook his head, and her heart sank.

Please.

Please Mack.

I need you to come back with us.

"Even Hope."

But he shook his head again. "She laughs at my jokes," he started, his voice thick with sadness. Daisy's chest ached so much as she watched Mack start to break down at the thought of a world without his daughter. "We watch movies together... When she's sad... When she's sad, I hold her."

"Hey... It's okay. We're gonna work through it together."

Daisy felt Mack's gentle hand rubbing her back as tears rolled down her face. She hadn't wanted to cry. She especially hadn't wanted to cry in front of him. But everything felt so overwhelming and she couldn't stop feeling so numb and terrible and her skin was crawling and she needed to feel grounded and she hated feeling so awful and she just wanted to feel the blade but they'd taken that from her and they were forcing her to find a new way and she didn't want to, she just wanted to cope the way she knew how to and she hated how hard it was-

-but Mack's presence was so comforting... She couldn't help but lean a little bit into his touch. She'd missed him, and she'd been so afraid to ask him for help. She felt stupid for even asking. But he was here and he wanted to help and she didn't want to let him or anyone else down.

She needed to try.

She lifted her head out of her hands, knowing he deserved an answer as to why she was crying like a toddler. Frustration at herself for breaking down prickled in her skin , but his eyes only held concern as he asked her what was wrong. She took a deep breath. She had to meet him halfway. "I... I don't know what to do..." she faltered, but he was patient, and her gaze drifted down to her arms. "Without..."

She couldn't bring herself to admit it.

She knew it hurt him.

"It's okay." Mack's tone was so soothing that Daisy could start to feel her nerves melting away. "Take a deep breath. We're gonna spar, okay? As long as you want. I promise."

"No... she's real to me."

He's not coming back.

Daisy drew a shuddery breath. "I understand."

She did.

If Lincoln had been real in this world... If she'd woken up with him, or if AIDA had created him for her...

Would she have stayed behind?

No, she told herself. You have family. Real family. It wouldn't have been real.

But... it would have been hard.

"I know how hard this is... but you have people who really care about you," she continued, her voice shaking as she couldn't control her emotions anymore. And her face crumpled and her voice broke and her vision started to become blurry as tears blinded her. "Who love you very much."

But he just looked back at her, his mind made up. "Tell them I'm very sorry."

"Mack-"

"I almost killed you."

Her mind felt fuzzy and numb as she admitted it, spoke those four words out loud. She'd almost killed him. She'd stood over his body and honed in on the vibrations - the life - flowing inside of him. The air traversing in his lungs, the blood in his veins. And she'd compressed it, focused her powers on the vibrations around him to compress his airways, watched as he'd choked below her, as his eyes grew wide and panic set in as he gasped for breath.

Mack stood, taking her hands in his. Before she could do anything, he insisted, "I forgive you."

And she fought. She didn't deserve his pity or his forgiveness, and she didn't want him to touch her; she feared she'd succumb to the little voice in her head begging her to go to them, crying that she wanted to be with her family, to cry in their arms.

She didn't deserve that.

She deserved to rot.

But her malnourished body was weak and he easily kept ahold of her, and eventually her muscles felt tight and her mind felt numb and her head was spinning and quite honestly she felt like if she were to keep fighting she'd pass out.

She didn't hear what he said. But suddenly he was rolling up her sleeves and the anger and pain in his voice, whatever it was saying, was enough to make her want to hide. She'd recoiled again, stumbling back to her bed, her mind starting to shut down once more.

God, the pain in his eyes...

He shouldn't care..

She had to do it...

And the sheer hurt in his voice as he came to the realization that, "you stole it."

Good. Maybe he'll finally hate her.

But as she crossed her arms over her chest, hiding what she'd done, shutting him out, she vaguely heard him promise not to give up on her.

And that made her blood boil.

Her breath caught in her throat, and she drew another shaky breath and looked up at him, her older brother who took care of her, who never gave up on her, who showed her that there was still light, even in the darkest of times. "I don't wanna lose you."

But he didn't see her. He didn't know her.

Not here, anyway.

"Good luck," he murmured.

All the times he'd brought her food while she stared at the ground in silence... All the times he'd begged her to eat... all the times he'd patched her up, or checked on her, or was overprotective of her...

It all ended here.

This was it.

Daisy bit the inside of her cheek, unable to look at him without breaking down.

She wanted to cry. She wanted to scream. She couldn't lose him, how could she? She couldn't lose anyone else. She always lost people, God, she always lost everyone she loved...

She opened her mouth to beg him to come with her. She could quake him into the portal. She could grab his hand and bring him with her. But...

It was his choice.

She'd be pissed if someone took her choice from her.

I'll bring you back, she told herself weakly. I'll find a way. Yo-Yo won't let you leave so easily.

She took a step back, processing it all for a moment more before turning and jumping through the portal.