Drabble 99: Space Between Us

A/N: Hey guys! We're getting so close to the premiere of season five! I can't wait. This drabble is a speculation on the very beginning of season five. Hope you like it.

They must have been kept in a frozen state for some time, unless their kidnappers had a rapid way of transporting them to space. Which was entirely possible of course. They'd managed to completely freeze the agents just to move them into containment before beginning to transport them, so they'd had approximately one minute of awareness before being tuned out again.

When Jemma Simmons finally became aware again, standing in an unfamiliar room, she did the natural thing: she looked around to see where she was, and where the rest of her team was. The room was small and dark, with a large window on one side, offering her a view of -.

Space.

Her muscles tightened, her jaw clenched in sudden fear as she backed up, so she was leaning against the far wall. She couldn't tear her eyes away from that window. That window that showed empty space right outside wherever she was.

She couldn't be back in space. It wasn't possible. Flashbacks to the sky on Maveth overwhelmed her for a few minutes, and she felt panic flood her system as she realized something: she had no idea where the others were, if they were even in the same place she was.

She couldn't do this alone, not again. She had to know, had to find them. She had to find Fitz.

Fitz wouldn't let anything bad happen. What else could happen? They'd already been through everything!

The sound of a door being opened mechanically made her jump, and her scrambled thoughts fixed on the new sight. She ran at the person in relief when she saw who it was.

"Daisy, I'm so glad you're here! I was worried they sent us to different places."

"You're the first one I've found." Daisy said. "Also the first door I've tried, but I've already run into a guard, so we need to move. I don't think I was supposed to be able to get out."

"Right." Jemma followed her quickly, looking around them for any sign of life. She forced her panic and fear deep down. Having a goal helped, and before long they'd found Mack and Yo-Yo.

That was when the swarm of guards surprised them. They were overwhelmed and marched to a large room with work tables and tools. A man stood on a balcony overlooking the work station, and he gestured to them as they were forced into the room.

"So glad you could finally join us. I know the halls can be tricky to navigate. Now that we're all here, get to work!" The last words were screamed at them, echoing in the large room. Jemma and the others were thrust towards the tables and told to start building.

Jemma looked around and saw Coulson and May at the table to the left of theirs. There didn't appear to be any workers besides members of their own team. The man had said they were all here though, yet…

"I can't see Fitz." Jemma said softly.

"What?" Daisy asked.

"Where's Fitz?"

"I don't know. I'm going to talk to May and Coulson, try to make a plan."

Jemma was silent as Daisy slowly moved over to the other table, taking a few minutes so it wouldn't look overly suspicious and handling materials to seem busy. Jemma didn't touch any tools or materials, her thoughts racing. Though she searched every visible aspect of the room multiple times, she saw no sign of Fitz. He had been right next to her in that diner. She knew he had to have been frozen too. So where was he?

After a few minutes, she couldn't take it, and didn't care if it was stupid. Every part of her was burning to know. She looked up at the man in charge and raised her voice to be clearly heard over the light bustle. "Where is Fitz?"

He ignored her, and a guard came up and told her to get to work. That panicky feeling was coming back to her, and she had to know.

She ignored the guard and continued to stare at the man, and repeated her question in a shout when he avoided her gaze. "WHERE IS FITZ?"

The guard shoved her against the table, restraining her at the outburst. Her face pressed against the tabletop, her arms pinned behind her.

"Jemma, stop!" Yo-Yo whispered urgently. "Shouting won't get us any answers!"

She bit inside her lip very hard to keep from shouting more, and dipped her head in agreement.

The guard took this into consideration and released her. The hand that had been forcing her against the table lifted, and Jemma straightened, trying to steady her breathing. "I want to know." She said, looking from the guard to the man in charge, careful to not explode. "You at least owe us that much."

The man seemed to consider her words for a second, and then nodded. "Alright."

Everyone stopped and looked up at him. Jemma felt like she was standing on the edge of a livewire.

"I only collect the people on my list." The man said. "You were on it. Leopold Fitz wasn't. So he was left on earth."

Her vision tunneled, unseeing. He was left on earth. Which meant they definitely were not. That urge to explode that she'd been fighting seconds before flooded out of her, replaced by two emotions. The first only lasted a few seconds: despair. Despair that, once again, she and Fitz had been pulled apart. Maveth, the Framework… maybe Fitz's joke about them being cursed was accurate.

Then the second emotion came into play, and the despair disappeared as determination rooted itself firmly inside her. Yes, they had been separated again. But this was just space.

He'd crossed the bloody universe once. They'd beaten space. She'd hacked into the Framework and brought him back, all while Aida did everything in her power to stop her.

She had no idea if she was in a different universe, and at the moment, she didn't care. They'd been separated like this before, and they'd found their way back to each other. And then, she'd been alone. Now she had most of the team to help her through. But they'd done all this before.

They could do it again.