The wall was vast, and seemed to go on forever. Coulson ran his fingers across the space, feeling the smooth, cool surface underneath his fingertips. It felt...stark. Empty. LIke the vastness of space. No, he thought, not like space. Space, for all its vastness, is a pretty crowded place. This...this feels more like *before* space. Before time ever existed.
"Let there be light," Coulson declared quietly.
A dry-erase marker appeared in his hand; he didn't look at the marker or question its sudden appearance. He just started drawing. A circle, then a line. Then another. And another...Coulson started to feel like his brain was no longer in control of his arm. Or, for that matter, the rest of his body. He just knew he had to keep going. To keep drawing. The future of all humanity depended on it...
Coulson sat up in bed with a start, sweating and panting like he had just run a 5-kilometer race with an army of Centipede soldiers at his back. He had had many bad dreams in his life, just like any normal person. After joining SHIELD, the amount of experiences that were fodder for his nightmares had grown so exponentially that he needed medical assistance to get to sleep more nights than not. But even that wasn't unusual for SHIELD agents. But this one...this dream was like nothing he had ever experienced. The emotions were overwhelming: anger mixed with deep concern mixed with almost overwhelming terror. He felt helpless and hopeless...and yet was still consumed with an all-encompasing desire to do something. But what he needed to do...
He just could not remember.
#
Raina sat in the center of the ballroom of paradise, stunned into speechlessness.
She wished for the Clairvoyant's compount to be restored and it was. She wished for a whole new wardrobe and got it. She wished for a pile of gold and found herself in atop a small mountain of it.
She had given up so much in her search for her transcendence. When she found HYDRA and John Garrett, it felt like she had had to give up everything to follow them. And what had she gotten back from them in return? Belittlement, mysogyny, death...
But through that death, Raina got the rebirth that she had always dreamed of.
Not only could she feel the universe surround and envelop her in a passionate embrace, but she could mold the very fabric of that universe. Bend it and shape it into whatever form she chose. She felt...
She felt like God.
Maybe...maybe I've *become* God, thought Raina. A rush of energy went through her entire being as a thousand little details clicked into place. Yes, that's it! That's why I've been given this...this wonderful new being. To bring the universe back to where the divine will had always intended it to be.
There was much to be done.
But first, plans needed to be drawn, if the visions going through her mind were any indication. Raina slid off the pile of gold, lifting the coins and merging them into one giant blob of living, breathing, molten metal. A thin strand rose out of that blob, and Raina latched onto it, using the precious liquid to draw lines and circles on the wooden floor of the large, nearly empty room.
Years from now, Raina thoughts wistfully, people will make pilgrimages here. And as they see these plans, laid out in this precious metal, they will see how valuable they are. How much they're worth. How much they're loved by the divine.
And that their deaths will be the sacrifice that brings heaven to the ones that are worthy of it.
#
The morning briefing was often a stale and boring affair. Fallon would request information about any ongoing cases for Director McPherson, then other members of the inner circle would talk about what was going on in their respective departments or neighborhoods. If the world wasn't ending, well...some days it was nice to have a wizard on hand who could refill your coffee cup at a moment's notice.
And yet, some days...some days you started to appreciate why 'they' say it's a bad idea to work with your significant other.
You're serious? Beckett asked throught the bond-link that connected her to her fiancé soulmate. You want to go *this* weekend?
Why not? argued Castle. We have the body of that dead Kree. It's going to take some time for Espo to get the intel we need to go after Doctor Foster's friends. And if we wait...
Beckett sighed quietly. If we wait we're probably going to get delayed by an apocalypse of some type or other...
Exactly. Beckett gasped as the love and sincerity Castle radiated through their bond-link almost overwhelmed her. Kate, I know we're going to have the rest of eternity together. But we've already known each other six years! It's not like we need to figure out whether or not we're right for each other. Beckett smiled at that. Anyway...when someone like me figures out who they want to spend the rest of their lives with, they want the rest of their lives to start as soon as possible.
Beckett wiped away the stray tear falling down her cheek even as she fought the urge to chuckle. So now you're quoting Billy Crystal to me, is that it?
Hey, at least it's not Buzz Lightyear...Castle teased.
"Honored ones?"
Castle and Beckett got out of their own heads long enough to see that everyone at the table was looking to them. "Sorry," Beckett apologized, blushing.
Ryan wasn't about to let them go that easily. "How many times do I have to tell you, no telepathy at the table?" he teased in a very fatherly tone of voice.
Fallon ignored the exchange. "Master Sìfāng," he asked politely, "what I was just saying is that now that we have Doctor Foster here we might be able to use her expertise to our advantage. If she is able to locate the Kree, can you travel there and let them know what happened to their 'brother'?"
"Of course," Castle agreed with a nod.
"Then I guess that's it for today," Fallon declared, effectively ending the meeting. "Thank you, everyone."
Beckett glared at Castle as the rest of the inner circle slowly started to file out of the small conference room. You know, she warned him, when the people in this room find out we're eloping they'll probably kill us. More than once.
I'm willing to take that chance, Castle inisisted with a smile.
Me too. Castle and Beckett turned to find Ryan standing behind them, rolling back and forth on the balls of his feet and smirking. Your thoughts can be really loud sometimes, you guys, he told them through the mind-link. Especially when you're arguing.
So you...? asked Beckett.
Ryan nodded. Look, I get it, guys, I do. You saw the hell I went through planning my wedding. But I *also* know that we want to share this day with you. *Especially* Lanie. If you're determined to go through with this and risk the hell *she's* going to put you through for the next century, then the least I can do is have your back.
Thanks, said Castle.
Anytime, agreed Ryan. Now, are you guys gonna leave Friday or Saturday?
#
"There you are." May strolled down the hallway to the makeshift 'box' created just outside of Ward's cell. She handed Coulson a cup of coffee. "You missed a meeting this morning."
"I did, huh?" asked Coulson, taking the offered coffee. "Thanks. Did I miss anything important?"
May shook her head and shrugged. "We're in a holding pattern until Master Xiānzhī has enough intel to find where HYDRA is holding Doctor Foster's friends." She sipped her coffee and stared at Ward's lifeless form. Her mind wandered to the source of their prisoner's current condition. "Skye did that to him?"
Coulson nodded. "Yep. That was all her."
"And Ward is not dead?"
Coulson shook his head. "Disappointed?"
"I'll get back to you on that," replied May. She continued to sip her coffee as she collected her thoughts. "How long has she had this ability of hers?"
"She was born with it, as far as any of us can tell," Coulson explained.
May's eyes went wide. "So that raid on her village..."
Coulson sipped at his coffee. "She re-programmed anyone who came across her to save her at all costs. Most of them died to protect her."
"Wow," May exclaimed. "And after that..."
"She suppressed her ability until we went to the Guardians to save her life."
"Kinda like you," said May.
Coulson's discomfort with the comment was obvious. "Yeah. Like me."
"How long have you had your abilities, Phil?" asked May.
"Since we went up against Simon Quinn," Coulson replied, clearly blushing. "I should have had them when I..."
"Rose from the dead?" May completed the thought with a smirk.
Coulson nodded, his discomfort growing with every question. "Yeah. But they were repressed when my memories were replaced."
May wrapped her hands around her warm coffee, finding herself unable to look Coulson in the eye. "Must have been scary."
"Not really," Coulson shrugged. "Figuring out the tiger wasn't a hallucination was unsettling. But honestly? Finding out about my resurrection was much harder. But once I accepted that he was going to be a part of my life, the powers were just a nice bonus."
"A nice bonus," May repeated, shaking her head in disbelief. "Only you would look at having superpowers as being 'a nice bonus'."
Coulson put down his coffee and moved toward the observation window. "Here's what I don't understand about all this," he mused. "Why me? It's not like I was an Avenger. I'm just a man. Why go to all this trouble over me?"
May put down her own coffee and followed Coulson to the window. "I don't know why Fury did what he did," she said. She placed her hand over Coulson's, interlacing their fingers together. "But I know if I had had access to what Fury had access to when you died, I would have done exactly what he did."
Coulson turned to face May for the first time since she had brought him his coffee that morning...and stared at her, dumbfounded. "Melinda, I..."
May stopped Coulson before he could go further. "You are the best man I know, Phil Coulson. When you died, it...it almost killed me. It's why I did what I did when you came back." She hesitated as the guilt weighed heavily on her heart once more. "Not that you needed the protection, apparently."
An image flashed through Coulson's mind: a highly organized pattern of lines and circles that he didn't recognize. "Guess not," he agreed mindlessly, nervously trying to shake the image out of his head.
May noticed her friend's distraction immediately. "You okay, Phil?" she asked, clearly worried.
Fury asked me to keep an eye on you, May's voice echoed through Coulson's mind. For signs of physical or mental deterioration... He pulled himself together quickly, turning his attention away from May and back toward their prisoner. "I'm fine."