A/N: Hi! It may be helpful to watch 4x06/4x07 to have better context for this fic. The whole concept of the dark matter dimension and who can hear who is better explained in the actual episodes. If not, I did my best to explain the circumstances. Also, some scenes may seem out of context since I jumped from one scene to another, assuming the reader is aware of what happened in between those scenes within the episode. (This is indicated with the three dots in the text.) Lastly, this will be a chapter-based fic, so please stay tuned for more. Other than that, please enjoy! :)

TW for mentionsof su!c!de later on!

"Turbo, watch out!" Mack quickly lifted his shotgun-axe and aimed it right at Fitz, who ducked just in time. It didn't affect the matter-shifting man, but he did disappear right after.

Fitz was sure the shot didn't hit him, but he felt something touch his arm as a tingling sensation shot through his body like lightning and made his head foggy for a moment. Did Mack miss and hit him instead? Was his body going into shock from the pain? No, Mack couldn't have missed, and even if he did, he would've immediately rushed to Fitz's aid. He looked at his own arm for signs of blood or a wound, but he found nothing. Perhaps it was just his body's reaction to fear. After all, he almost just got shot, and they're dealing with ghosts now, as Mack calls them.

"Non-corporeal beings? Seriously? We can't ever catch a break," Fitz muttered to himself and sighed. He quickly walked over to the computer on the desk and began looking at what Lucy and her ghost buddies had been up to. There had to be a way to manually shut down the electricity using the computer's mainframe, so he had to find it. If not that, then he'd find out how to turn off the machine.

• • •

Once Eli Morrow used the particle generator on himself, a burst of energy in the form of a bright white ring permeated the building, unknowingly consuming Fitz, Coulson, and Robbie.

After learning they must be in another dimension, they made their way to the Zephyr and listened in on the team's plan.

"What about Simmons?" Mack asked from the normal dimension, crossing his arms. "Someone's gotta tell her."

"Wha- no," Fitz started. "No, they're gonna tell her I'm dead! What's Simmons gonna think? Oh, bloody hell..." he hunched over and pressed his hands to his face, as he does when he's stressed. "I have to get back to her, I have to-"

"-we will. We'll find a way," assured Coulson. "But right now we need to find a way to stop Eli."

"The Chinatown gang," Robbie muttered after eavesdropping on the team. He looked to Coulson. "I think May's right. My uncle probably hired them to do his dirty work while he was in prison. If I'm bring dragged down to Hell, this might be my last chance to take Eli with me. Sorry, Coulson." He left the room.

"Fitz. Find where Simmons is. Do what you have to do," started Coulson, placing his robotic hand on Fitz's shoulder. "Figure out a way to communicate with her from this dimension, and maybe she'll be able to help us get out of here."

"Wh- where are you going?" asked Fitz as Coulson turned to leave.

"Robbie's right. We should find the Chinatown gang. Or rather, those of us who aren't in a dark matter dimension should find them. I wanna be there so I don't miss anything important, and maybe I can try and reach out to May. If anything happens, I'll send you a message."

"Send me a message? I don't think that this inter-dimensional, matter-shifting hellscape has WiFi."

"Fair point. We'll rendezvous at H.Q. in three hours. Good luck," Coulson said while hurrying out of the room, hoping he didn't already miss Robbie.

Fitz returned to the conversation playing out in the real dimension with the team, helplessly listening.

"...I know what Agent Fitz means to her," Mace said to May in a muffled voice as he walked away. Fitz heard this and his stomach dropped. They were going to tell Simmons that he died. Where even is she? Fitz followed Mace into a small room a few feet away and listened to the phone call.

"I need Simmons back... What do you mean you don't know where she is? I need her back here, it's urgent... Yes, but where is she??"

Fitz watched in horror as Mace said these things. If the Director didn't even know where Simmons was, how was Fitz supposed to reach her?

"You bloody moron! Where the hell is she?! Where's Simmons! WHERE IS SHE?!" Fitz began yelling at Mace, forgetting that he couldn't hear him from this dimension. His eyes darted past the man he was yelling at and focused on a SHIELD computer. He picked it up, an action that was apparently unbeknownst to both Burrows and Mace, as Fitz's version of the computer was glowing and seemingly devoid of actual matter while the real one remained on the table. He assumed it had to do with being in different dimensions and began searching. If Fitz could hack into the classified operations, maybe he could find Simmons' location and get to her.

After about a minute, Fitz was in the Director's computer searching through all the classified intel. He didn't care about any of it, he only cared about finding Simmons. Her location wasn't in there, so he hunted through Mace's personal emails. Mace was good and tried to cover his tracks, but Fitz was better. He recovered the emails and learned that Simmons was secretly brought to a non-SHIELD facility on some project for... Senator Nadeer. There was no exact location mentioned, so Fitz traced the location of the computer from where the email was sent and hoped that that's where Simmons would be. If not, at least he now had some sort of lead on her. Slamming the laptop shut, Fitz hurried out of the room and made his way downstairs to a Quinjet where he programmed it to autopilot him to the location of where the email was sent from.

After about an hour, he landed, which was completely oblivious to everyone else. The structure of the plane was the same as the laptop; glowing and matter-shifting. The team couldn't even see that the Quinjet had been taken, and no one here seemed to notice that one had just landed. There was, however, another real SHIELD Quinjet just outside the facility, one which he assumed delivered Simmons here. Fitz observed what looked to him like a quarantined site, as the main area was covered in protective plastic, and there were people walking around with hazmat suits on.

"If he put Simmons in danger I SWEAR I'm gonna..." Fitz hung his head and placed his hands on his hips, exhaled, then hurried inside. As soon as he was in, he saw two men in hazmat suits aggressively place a bag over Simmons' head, to which she let out a small scream, and they dragged her to the other Quinjet just outside.

"Hey- HEY! GET YOUR BLOODY HANDS OFF HER! DON'T TOUCH HER!" He yelled at the men, but it was no use. "SIMMONS! SIMMONS, I'M RIGHT HERE!" Fitz chased after her and boarded the Quinjet where there was a pilot waiting to transport her back to H.Q. "Did they hurt you? Are you okay?" He asked as soon as the bag was lifted.

Simmons took a deep breath and closed her eyes, seemingly frustrated at her current situation and completely oblivious to Fitz's presence. She sat down and buckled up, then she tilted her head back against the wall.

"Ma'am, we have Director Mace waiting to speak to you," one man said as the Quinjet started to take off. He handed her a phone and walked away.

"Director Mace? This is Agent Simmons," she said as she put the phone to her ear. Fitz knew exactly what this call was and his heart skipped a beat while his stomach sank to his feet. Mace was going to tell her that Fitz was either dead or MIA.

Fitz couldn't hear the other end of the call, but after a few moments, he watched Simmons' facial expressions slowly drop as she processed the information she was being given. Her face turned to stone, her hands fell to her leg, dropping the phone, and she just sat there silently. Within seconds, tears poured from her eyes as she buried her face in her hands.

"No, NO! Simmons!" Fitz tried to get her attention by standing in front of her and waving his arms, but she couldn't see him. "I'M RIGHT HERE! JEMMAAA! I'M RIGHT BLOODY HERE! I DIDN'T GO ANYWHERE!" Fitz knelt to her side and placed one hand on her thigh and the other to her cheek in a futile attempt to wipe away her tears, once again having no effect on either of them. "Simmons, I need you to listen. Please. I'm not dead, I'm not dead, I'm not-" he sighed and stood up. "MACE, YOU BLOODY SNARK! YOU HAD NO RIGHT!" Fitz didn't know if Simmons was told he was dead or just MIA, but either way, he had to watch his best friend's world crash around her and was completely helpless to do anything about it. He sat down next to her and placed his other-dimensional hand into Simmons', but neither of them could feel it.

An hour later, the Quinjet landed back at HQ. The pilot and the two other men left, leaving Simmons by herself. She cried the whole ride home, and Fitz had to watch helplessly. He waited for her to stand up and get out, but she just sat there. Alone. Crying. Fitz wished more than anything that he could comfort her, but it was no use. He checked his watch and realized it'd been almost three hours, so Coulson and Robbie should be back by now to rendezvous.

"Jemma," Fitz said, aware that she couldn't hear him anyway. "I'll be back. I don't want to leave you here, but I have to meet with Coulson. He might have a way out of this damned dimension, and I promise I'll come get you as soon as I can. I'm not dead. I'm right here." He sighed and hung his head. "I love you, Jemma." Saddened and turning to leave, he heard her say something to herself.

"Fitz? Remember when you told me you're not strong enough to live in a world without me?" Could she see him? Could she hear him? "Well... the same goes for me. I can't live in a world without you. And you're gone." No, she was just talking aloud to Fitz, as she sometimes did, but she was under the impression that he had died on his last mission. "If you're not here, then why should I be? Please. Please come back to me, Fitz. You can't be dead... you just can't be." She buried her face in her hands again and started to sob. Fitz stood there and watched her blankly as tears pooled in his own eyes but did not fall, mouth half open. Jemma Simmons was always the voice of hope and optimism, and she'd lost that without Fitz. What did she mean when she said that if he wasn't here, then why should she be? She wasn't considering... no. No, she'd never... would she?

"Simmons," Fitz said softly as he walked back over to her. He knelt beside her and made an attempt to grab her hand. "Simmons, don't say that. I'm right here. I'm not dead which means you can't be either. Hold on, you have to hold on, okay? For me. Please. I love you, Jemma. Please hold on for me," he said through tears. "I-" he inhaled sharply. "I don't want to leave you, but I can't lose you. I have to find Coulson. He may have found a way out of here, but you have to be patient, okay? Just wait for me. Please. I'll be back soon." He pressed a gentle yet ineffective kiss atop her forehead and turned to leave for the main part of H.Q. to find Coulson.

"You didnt deserve to die, Fitz... but maybe I do." Simmons added quietly as she stared blankly across the Quinjet. Fitz froze in his tracks, turned slowly, and looked looked at her sadly, wiping away his own tears. There was no use in trying to talk to her right now since she couldn't hear him, so he clenched his fists and his eyes, took a deep breath, then went on his way to find Coulson. He was hoping against hope that he'd be able to save himself from the dark matter dimension so he could save Simmons from herself.