Hi everyone! Hope you are all having a lovely week. I'm so sorry for not updating sooner, life has gotten totally crazy! I started a new AoS fanfic, Dear Jemma (the first chapter is posted, and I'm working on the next one!) I'm also finishing up the first chapter for a third AoS fic that I've been working on for a couple of months now (I think I mentioned it in a previous chapter of this fic). Obviously, I'm very good at starting projects, but I'm hoping they'll actually get finished!
It's kind of crazy to believe we're already on Chapter 11! I have so many things planned for this story… *evil laugh* The updates for this story will be less frequent as my life is extremely busy right now. Nonetheless, thank you so much to everyone who has stuck around this long!
Trigger Warning: a short, non-graphic description of blood being drawn (if this bothers you, stop reading at "Give me your arm" and resume at "Hold that there" - very generic blood-drawing lines, haha)
I don't own Agents of SHIELD, if I did we'd all need therapy
A low hum of electricity filled the room, and candles flickered in the low, warm light. A gentle breeze flew through from somewhere in the windowless room. The walls were unpainted and ancient-looking, and there were what appeared to be Chinese symbols written on them. The ceiling was low with exposed beams, and the entire room gave off a strange feeling.
Maggie sat on the bed, which just so happened to be the only furniture in the room, her knees pulled to her chest as she surveyed her surroundings and tried to figure out where the hell she was. Maggie looked down to examine her clothing - a sheer, strapless white dress that flowed loosely down to her ankles and felt like a cloud against her skin. Her long brown hair was in two complex braids that had been pinned in buns on her head. Maggie ripped out the pins and ran her fingers through her wavy locks, drumming her fingers on her knees as she tried to figure out what to do next. She'd woken up only minutes before and was debating whether she should stay and wait or try to run. After a few seconds, she made her decision.
As soon as her bare feet made contact with the cold, smooth floor, Maggie bolted for the large wooden door. Throwing it open, she poked her head out into a dimly lit hallway and went right. She needed to find Skye. Her feet pattered on the dark wooden floors as she ran wildly down the vacant hallway. Just as she was about to give up, Maggie saw a door at the end of the hallway. Something inside of her knew that Skye was behind the door, and she sprinted to it and barged in.
Sure enough, the hacker was laying on a cloth-covered table, needles poking out of her. Maggie gasped in horror and ran to her. Skye's eyes were closed, and her face was gentle and peaceful. Maggie stroked Skye's hair, unsure of what to do.
"You aren't supposed to be here."
Maggie whipped around to see a tall, frowning man standing in the threshold of the door. He looked around mid-twenties or so, and he had light brown hair and a full beard. "You shouldn't be here," he repeated, stepping toward her. The teen instinctively jumped in front of Skye.
"What did you do to her?" she snapped, her voice rising.
"Please, just calm down," he pleaded softly. "I can explain."
"Why is my friend naked on a table?" Maggie asked, balling her fists.
"Her body is weak from her transition," he explained, his voice remaining quiet and calm. "She'll be out for a couple more days, at most. She needs time to rest and heal."
"And what gives you the authority to stick needles all over her?"
The man sighed. "Like I said, we're healing her."
"Who's 'we'? Where the hell am I?"
"Look," he answered, getting slightly frustrated, "it's Margaret, right?" Maggie's face remained emotionless, and the man ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm Lincoln - Lincoln Campbell. And right now, I need you to trust me. You two told Gordon-"
"No-Eyes Guy?"
"He prefers Gordon. As I was saying, Gordon told me that you wanted him to get you out of your situation. You were being hunted, remember?"
Maggie nodded, wincing at the memory.
"Now, we know that Skye has transitioned already, from the damage that Gordon saw back in the woods. We assumed that you haven't transitioned yet. Is that right?"
The teen's eyes widened. "You thought- I'm- No!" She laughed out loud. "God, no. When Skye was getting her powers, I was in surgery getting a vertebra removed."
Lincoln looked shocked. "So, you haven't gone through the mist?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Maggie replied, confused. "I'm not- She's the only one of us like that on the team."
Lincoln's face lost its color. "A-are you even one of us?"
"What the hell does that mean?"
"Give me your arm." His voice became cold.
"No thanks, I'd like to keep all of my limbs."
Sighing, Lincoln turned and strode over to a cluttered table in the corner of the room. He grabbed a small object and a blue cloth and walked back to Maggie. Before she could react, he plunged a syringe into the crook of her arm. It began to fill with her blood.
"Ow!" Maggie glared at him. "Let me go!"
Lincoln didn't answer, he simply watched the syringe fill up before pulling it out. Immediately, he covered her arm with the cloth.
"Hold that there," he instructed, returning to the table. "Go back to your room and wait for me."
Part of Maggie wanted to fight back or make a run for it, but she was scared, tired, and her arm stung. Defeated, she clumped back down the hall to her room. Gingerly, she sat down on the edge of the hard bed, her feet dangling off the end. Hot tears pricked at her eyes and she wiped them away. This wasn't the time to be an emotional mess - Skye needed her. And Maggie still had no idea where she was.
After a couple of minutes, the brunette calmed down and started to devise a plan. She couldn't just grab Skye and run, but she couldn't sit and wait around either. Maggie jumped off her bed, threw down her cloth, and ran out the door and down the hallway, this time turning left. She was led down a maze of lefts and rights before finally arriving at a large set of double doors. She threw them open and her jaw dropped to the ground.
Maggie was standing in a cobbled brick courtyard filled with benches, trees, and small shops. People of all ages were milling about, chatting with each other as if everything was normal. Behind the pagoda-style buildings were the tips of ginormous grey mountains topped with snow.
"Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore," Maggie muttered bitterly, anxiety rising in her chest. She jogged up to a twenty-something-year-old red-haired woman who was talking to another girl. Both of them stared at her in shock, and Maggie remembered she was basically wearing a long, thin towel.
"Hey- can one of you tell me where the hell I am?" she asked, tapping her foot.
The two girls shared an amused look, and Maggie rolled her eyes. The redhead finally answered her in a thick German accent. "The Afterlife."
"Can you be more specific?" Maggie begged. "What country are we in?"
Both girls shrugged. "We don't know," the redhead answered. "No one does."
The other girl said something to her in rapid-fire German, and they both laughed loudly and walked off. Maggie cursed under her breath. She racked her brain, trying to remember where the major mountainous regions of the world were. The pagodas suggested somewhere in Asia, but Maggie knew there was no way to know their location solely from the building style.
"Margaret!"
Maggie whipped around to see Lincoln running toward her. Realizing she had nowhere to go, she held her hands up in defeat.
"What the hell?" Lincoln snapped, leading her back inside and checking cautiously over his shoulder. "You can't just run off! I told you to stay in your room."
"First of all, it's Maggie," the teen corrected as they hurried through the hallway, Lincoln holding her arm. "And second, I had no idea where I was! You can't blame me for trying to find out."
Lincoln abruptly stopped walking and knelt down in front of her. "Look, I'm sorry for snapping, Margaret- Maggie, I mean. But right now, we have more pressing matters at hand. You need to come with me." He stood up and strode down the hall, and Maggie had to jog to catch up. She had a million questions, but she knew Lincoln wasn't going to answer them right now.
They arrived at the door to her room, and he led her inside. Standing in the center of the room was an Asian woman with thin scar lines covering her face. Her long hair fell down her shoulder in a braid, and she wore a long-sleeved black dress that brushed the floor and had buttons from the end up to the collar. Her face was kind, and she bore a sad smile.
"There's our runaway," she greeted. Her voice was gentle, but Maggie could hear a hint of frustration as well. The woman's soft eyes made Maggie want to apologize profusely and beg forgiveness, but she stubbornly held her tongue.
"Maggie, this is Jiaying," Lincoln added from behind the teen. "She's the one in charge here."
"You run Afterlife?" Maggie asked, and Jiaying's face fell.
"You've already learned the name, I see," she remarked, her melodic voice laced with cold. Maggie's heart seemed to be attempting to break out of her chest.
"When can Skye and I go home?" she whispered, her voice faltering.
The woman's face was full of pity. "Skye is free to leave whenever she pleases, though I have reason to believe she'll want to remain here. After all, these are her people."
"W-what about me?"
Jiaying pursed her lips. "When Gordon rescued you two, he did it on the assumption that you were both being hunted - that you were both gifted like us," her voice rang out, echoing in the small room. She stepped toward Maggie, cocking her head slightly to the left. "However, when Lincoln took a sample of your blood and injected it with Terrigen crystal, he quickly realized that isn't the case. That you were only with Skye as…" She tucked a strand of the girl's hair behind her ear. "…a tagalong."
Maggie swallowed hard, lifting her chin in an attempt to hide her terror. "What are you going to do to me?"
"I was planning on letting you go, but you've figured out our secret. You know that this place exists, that we exist. You'll spill our secrets and bring the world here. My people will be slaughtered, tortured, studied, held hostage, experimented on… the list never ends. You must understand that under no circumstances can I let that happen, Margaret."
"Maggie," the girl gritted.
"I can't trust you," Jiaying continued. "You've disrupted the balance of Afterlife, tried to jeopardize Skye's healing process-"
"That's total bullshit, and you know it. I didn't do anything. You chose to take me in."
"We didn't know you'd be the liability you turned out to be," the woman answered. "If we'd known, Gordon would never have saved you."
"This was never about saving us, was it?" Maggie spat. "It was about gathering new powered people for your collection."
Maggie's words seemed to have struck a nerve with Jiaying. Her face crumpled, and she looked near tears. "There's so much more you don't know, Margaret."
"It's Maggie, goddammit!"
The woman ignored her. "You may not be gifted, but that doesn't make you any less dangerous. I'm afraid I can't let you leave."
"Ever?" Maggie whispered, her voice all at once losing its power. Jiaying gave a small nod.
"So I'm your prisoner forever?"
Jiaying gave her a sympathetic smile, but Maggie could tell it was feigned. "Lincoln will show you to your room. If you try to escape, just remember what the Terrigen did to that little drop of your blood."
Maggie's mind flashed back to the images of Trip's body, turned completely to stone and in crumbling pieces. The scream that emitted from the girl was gut-wrenching. Maggie dropped to her knees, violently shaking as she sobbed. "Please, don't do this!" she begged, looking up at Jiaying helplessly. "There has to be another way!" Maggie turned to Lincoln, who looked torn. "Lincoln- please- don't do this. I'm- I'm just a kid, dammit! Lincoln!"
Jiaying gave Lincoln a stern look, and he put his hand on Maggie's shoulder. "Let's go." He began to lead her out of the room, but Maggie shrugged him off and whipped around to face Jiaying.
Through the tears streaming down her face, she shouted, "Skye will never stay here if she knows what you've done! She'll-" Before she could finish her thought, Jiaying looked at Lincoln and motioned to Maggie. He nodded, touched her shoulder, and Maggie dropped to the floor, convulsing and screaming for a few seconds before falling quiet.
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