Hey guys! This next one came pretty quick. I'm really proud of this chapter, so please let me know what you think!
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Disclaimer: Do I still have to do this? You know the drill.
The next moment, they were blown off their feet.
...
When Simmons woke, she knew she should probably move, but she couldn't find the strength to even lift a finger from the wreckage. She could distantly hear screams coming from all around her and feel the heat from the flames that seemed to be everywhere. Her vision was blurry, with patches of black seeping around the corner of her eyes. She could vaguely remember what happened, but the details were fuzzy, just like her senses.
There was an explosive device, and Leo was holding it…..LEO!
She tried to scream his name, but it only came out as a croak, her throat raspy, unwilling to project her voice.
Where is he? Oh please be ok, her mind begged.
Her mind was thinking far too fast for her body in it's bloody and bruised state. She knew she needed to move, but it's like her limbs were hundreds of pounds heavier than normal.
The edges of black were starting to dissipate from her vision as her eyes searched frantically for Fitz. She could make out a figure a ways away from her that had unruly hair. She'd recognize that mess of hair anywhere and immediately knew it was him. The only problem...he wasn't moving.
He hadn't been thrown as far as Jemma, mostly due to their weight differences, but Fitz had been closer to the explosion, most likely having more severe injuries.
Jemma tried screaming his name again, but no sound came out. Her senses were slowly coming back to her, and when the shock of everything hit her, her system didn't know what to do.
The ringing in her ears from the explosion only slightly masked the hordes of people around her screaming, babies crying. She now saw that the flames were very quickly approaching her, and no one was helping. But even scarier, was that the flames were nearing Fitz, and he had yet to move.
"LEO!" She finally got out. Strangled, hoarse, and dry.
Everything snapped into focus, and she knew she had to get him out of there. So many times he had saved her. Been the hero. But today, it was her turn.
She tried to stand, but couldn't make her leg muscles move. Instead, she crawled, mostly with her arms, trying immensely to drag the weight of her body behind her, and push forward. She gasped, grunted, cried, and she continued screaming his name, begging him to wake up as she slowly made her way towards him. Her legs were starting to get some feeling again, but now all she could feel were dagger-like sensations riding up and along her calves and thighs.
Flames were excruciatingly close to Fitz's body. She needed to move faster. She urged her muscles, all whilst they screamed at her, her head pounding. She knew she was bleeding from somewhere, considering the mass of blood she had left behind, but she didn't know where it was coming from.
She didn't care.
She needed to save him. That's all that mattered to her.
I'm going to save you. It'll be alright. She said to herself as she pushed harder, trying to ignore the chipped pieces of the ferry floor that had started to lodge into her arms.
The ferry was going down. There was a giant hole in the side of the boat, and water was rushing in. People were running all around, jumping into life boats, ignoring them, only to save themselves.
It had always been the two of them. And nothing would change that.
She pushed harder, and screamed as she forced herself onto her legs. She knew this was happening, but it didn't seem real to her. It was as if she was watching the scene from outside her body. She had no idea if she had the strength to do what she was about to, but it wasn't going to stop her.
"Leo!" she yelled as she ran towards him in what seemed to be slow motion. She quickly crouched beside him. He was completely unconscious. She checked his pulse. Heartbeat. Thank goodness. He was most likely just very knocked out from the ugly gash on his forehead.
"Leo please, you need to wake up!" she yelled as she slapped him hard on the cheeks. "Please! I can't carry you! I'm not strong enough!" she yelled as she started sobbing, trying to wake him up.
It wasn't working. He was not waking up. Not soon anyways, and if she waited another minute, his entire body would be engulfed in flames. There was no stopping this fire now. It was raging and uncontrollable, and in the back of her mind, she thought she heard the captain on the intercom instruct everyone to abandon ship, but it didn't quite register.
"Come on Leo!" she yelled again as she tried grabbing his torso to drag him, only to move an inch and fall backwards.
All while crying and yelling, she screamed to him, "When we're out of this, I'm never letting you eat another snack!"
Somehow, something inside her clicked. She's not sure how it happened, even though she knew the science. Adrenaline can be a beautiful gift. It's worked in cases of mothers lifting entire cars off the ground to save their trapped children. People have performed extraordinary acts of strength when in the proper setting. And this was the right setting for her.
Jemma Simmons grabbed Leo Fitz from underneath his armpits, and in one long haul, she dragged him as far away from the flames as she could, and collapsed beside him.
She looked around at their possible exits. There were none. Every way she looked, there were flames. They were trapped between a wall and flames. There was no way out.
Jemma Simmons had a lot of faith, but over the course of time, she found herself losing faith in humanity, from all the things she had seen. Really, she only had faith and trust in her family, her team, and most importantly, the man who was currently laying unconscious in her arms.
She couldn't believe this would be their end, not after everything they had been through. A hostage situation, torture, jumping out of a train, and countless bus and car rides between cities, desperate to get home. It sounded like something in the biggest summer blockbuster, but the sick reality of it was that it had turned into her life. But the saddest thing of all, was that the love of her life had only really kissed her for the first time yesterday. They had so much to look forward to. So much ahead of them, and the weight of this crashed down on her as she held Fitz's face in her hands.
"Oh Leo I love you so much. This can't be it," she cried as she hugged his limp body and held him as close to her as possible.
"Can't be…" sobs wracked her body.
She wasn't ready to die, but she couldn't find a way out of this. The flames were simply out of control, and if she tried running through, her and Leo would suffer a brutal end.
Then she spotted it, then asked herself how she didn't notice it before. This could be their way out.
There was a tiny water fountain in the corner near her. The water systems had most likely stopped running, but if there was water left in the pipes, perhaps she could get some. It would not be near enough water to put out the flames, but it was enough to wet their clothing, giving them an extra few seconds to go through the flames, and hopefully not burn to death. It was their only option, and Jemma would not sit idly by and let the man of her dreams die.
Fire emergency 101: Wrap yourself in a wet blanket and quickly move. Additionally, place a wet towel over your mouth to breath through. They didn't have blankets, but they had sweaters. Not ideal, and they would most likely still get burnt, but it was better than sitting and waiting to die. She had to move quickly. She dragged Fitz towards the water fountain and before turning it on, held her breath, hoping, that there would be water pressure. She turned the tap and breathed a sigh of relief when water rushed out. She had no bucket, nothing to collect it in, so she quickly took off her sweater and sufficiently drenched it, then wrung it out onto Fitz's body, wetting him. She did this a few times to make sure he was fully covered, and turned him over to ensure she got all of him. She turned back to look at the raging fire. It was getting bigger by the second, she didn't have much time. She finished wetting her clothing as much as possible, pulled her sweater hood over her hair, and pulled the drawstrings as much as she could, shielding her face, and giving her something to cover her mouth. Before she did the same for Fitz, she ripped a piece of her t-shirt, wet it, and tied it around Fitz's mouth to shield him from the flames. Then she stroked his cheek, kissed his forehead, whispered a quick, I love you, and pulled up his hood.
She turned to look at the flames.
Ok Jemma, you can do this, she said to herself. This may very well be the worst experience of your life, and it's going to hurt, but you can do this. You need to do this.
If there was any more time, she probably would have cried some more, but perhaps she had never stopped crying, her cheeks felt damp. But one thing about Jemma Simmons that Leo Fitz had always known; when that woman was motivated, nothing could possibly stop her, and when she was motivated, you'd be wise to not get in her way.
She took a giant breath, grabbed Fitz's limp, wet body by under his armpits and dragged him with as much strength as she had, into the flames
It was hot. So unbearably hot. She couldn't think of anything other than the fact that she felt like her insides were cooking, and Fitz. She had to save Fitz. She kept pulling him, trudging through the monstrous flames. The wet clothing was working as best to it's ability, being a buffer between them and the flames, but it was evaporating quickly and they would soon be burnt to a crisp. She kept pulling. How many feet had it been? 10? 20? How much time had gone by? Time ceased to exist when a heat that intense was threatening to kill both of them. When she finally saw a clearing, she gave one last giant tug, and pulled Fitz out with her. She emerged from the flames, coughing, gasping, wheezing, steam coming off her and Fitz, heating the air around them. She quickly beat out a fire that had started on Fitz's leg, that thankfully hadn't burned through. She collapsed on all fours next to Fitz, with barely enough strength to keep upright, and held him close.
"Made it…" she croaked and then coughed again. Her vision was becoming blurry again. She knew it was inevitable that she would pass out, but she knew she had to hang on.
Little bit longer Jemma, little bit longer.
She looked up ahead. There was an opening where she saw a few stragglers jumping off the ferry into what she presumed was the lifeboat. She screamed, no one could hear her. Of course they couldn't. It was utter chaos, and no one was looking back at the flames, everyone was looking towards safety.
"HELP!" she screamed again, trying to pull herself by her arms, but the muscles had decided they'd had enough for the day.
Her eyes were becoming heavier now. She couldn't stop the darkness from approaching, and she needed help to get her and Fitz on the lifeboat. She gave one more blood curdling scream, and she saw someone whip their head towards her. He heard her.
She wasn't sure if she was hallucinating at this point, but she saw the man run towards her and quickly crouch beside them.
"You guys ok?" he said frantically, with an accent she couldn't define at that particular moment.
"Am now…" she said quietly, trying to keep the darkness from overtaking her for another moment. "Please help us…" she gasped, still trying to get her lungs the oxygen they desperately needed.
The man looked between her and Fitz, smiled and said, "Don't worry. I've got you."
Simmons managed to give a slight smile and let out one last question. "Who are you?"
The man motioned for help behind him and others started running towards them.
The last thing she heard before the darkness completely took over was, "Gabriel. My name's Gabriel."
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