Yay, I managed to update quicker this time!

Replies to reviews:

LJ717 (CH2): Thanks for absolutely loads of help. I haven't actually, I've just been reading up more about it and hoping I can figure it out myself and using the advice of reviewers too, so yeah, I will definitely not disregard this, it's really useful! I agree that animals are definitely intuitive, however I looked up rules etc. about therapy and I'm pretty sure legal guardians have to be notified - having said that, I'm no lawyer, and some of the paragraphs baffled me. Also, thank you for saying that it was a sign of strength etc. as I am having difficulty believing that sometimes, so that was helpful too. Yoga and Meditation do sound like good ideas, and thanks for telling me how to download it! Writing is definitely very useful and thank you for the compliment! I'm trying my best to remember that, thank you, like you for example, you definitely helped and will be (fingers crossed). Thanks again!

LJ717 (CH3): I'm glad you're enjoying the story and thanks! I will try to continue to update as I like writing this story, however, as you have seen, my updates are not exactly regular :| I'm happy that you think that this story is great, and, well, no pressure then :)

Guest: You're welcome and Thank you too! Well, unfortunately that's not in this chapter, it's in the next, but you will find out what happens soon :)

Disclaimer: I'd like to own Agents of SHIELD, but unfortunately, I don't (if I did, Ward would have been redeemed in episode 22) :(

Also, I'm not sure if there will be any pairings in this, but if there is it won't be for a while, pairings will be hinted at, but at the moment they can be read however you all want to read them.

Lost

The car groaned and shuddered to a stop.

"What's the matter?" Ward demanded.

"We're nearly out of gas," Skye explained.

"And I think the battery died," Fitz added, the mood did not lighten, at all.

"We need to keep moving," Ward looked nervously behind him, gripping his gun tightly.

"So you want us to walk, in the pitch black!" exclaimed Skye incredulously.

"It's quite easy," Ward countered. "You just need to keep moving steadily to avoid tripping, with your arms in front of your face to protect your head,"

"Well of course it's easy for you Agent I-can-navigate-a-forest-with-my-eyes-closed Ward," Fitz snapped back, then regretted it as a wave of memories swept over him.

Ward raised an eyebrow at the comment.

"Okay, say we don't die," Skye pointed out. "What if we stumble unwittingly into Hydra Agents wearing night-vision goggles? As well as broken limbs, we'd be recaptured too,"

"Point," Ward agreed. "But we can't just sit around waiting for them to find us either. It will be fine, I used to do this all the time," Ward had realised what he'd said a millisecond after he'd opened his mouth, but had decided to continue the sentence anyway, figuring that it would be more suspicious to cut off halfway through and that it should be quite easy to think up a lie. "I used to go on camping trips, and my flashlight wasn't exactly the best quality," He said before they could question him on the subject.

"I am not walking out there at this time of night," Fitz stubbornly refused.

"Then can you mend the car?" Ward asked but the scientist shook his head.

"Not when I can't see anything, does anyone have a torch?"

"No," Ward replied. "If we had one I wouldn't be suggesting walking through the forest, you guys would actually agree with the idea and we'd have been on our way already,"

"Then go on ahead, leave us," Skye said spitefully.

"I'm not leaving you two alone to face Hydra," he argued.

"Well, we can't just sit here in the dark, what if something decides to eat us, we don't know what kind of animals live in this forest," Skye reasoned. "Let's build a fire,"

"And what if the Hydra agents see it?" Ward questioned.

"What if they see us with infra-red or night vision," argued Skye.

"Ward, we're over a hundred miles away," Fitz moaned, re-joining the conversation. "I don't want to be captured, but I want to be warm and not torn apart by some wild animal."

"So how are we going to make a fire?" Skye grinned, glad that Fitz was agreeing with her and Ward rolled his eyes, these kids were still so out of their depth; although he had to admit that they'd improved since winding down windows whilst being shot at and bringing sandwiches on secret missions.

"Well, we could start by picking up some sticks," Fitz suggested and there was the sound of the door opening and scrabbling around on the floor.

…..A.O.S…

Two hours later and Skye awoke to the sound of a crackling fire; she looked, bleary eyed, at the sight of Ward sitting on the leafy ground and feeding leaves, pinecones and sticks to the small fire that illuminated him with a slightly eerie glow, a few flints lay beside him.

She slid out of the front of the car and sauntered over.

"I made it for Fitz," Ward explained, not thinking that Skye would take him seriously if he said that it was for her too. "It was true that it could keep us warm and keep the animals away,"

Skye and Fitz had long since given up, and curled up, exhausted, in the car, Skye in the passenger seat and Fitz sprawled out in the back, both too tired to question whether being asleep whilst Ward was awake was a good idea or not.

It seemed that Ward had built the fire close, in order to keep them slightly warm, but not so close as to be a danger if anything set on fire, or if petrol was leaking from the car.

"So, yet another thing you're good at, making a fire in the dark," Skye commented, sitting down next to him and sounding a bit more like she used to, before the incident.

Ward looked uncomfortable, but shrugged. "Basic survival skills," he explained. "All recruits at the academy can do it,"

"So," Skye began, now was as good a time as any, and it might have been the only time she would have a chance to question him on her own. "Why did you choose to follow Garret? I still don't believe and am never going to believe what Fitz said by the way, his theories are built on a ridiculous dream, false hope," she made a noise of disapproval. "I'm a realist, and I know nothing you ever do will ever erase the horrific crimes that you've committed."

Ward seemed to deflate at this point but did nothing except to answer the question in the same way he did every time he was asked.

"I owe him everything,"

Skye rolled her eyes. "Right, sure you do," she said sarcastically. "He became your SO after you'd left the Academy right? He chose you didn't he, why?"

Ward looked uncomfortable. "I don't know," he answered truthfully, because it was the truth, he didn't know why John Garret had chosen to save him when no one else would, it wasn't as if he was worth anything anyway.

"You know, I'm not sensing that's the whole truth or even the truth," Skye observed. "I think he chose you because you were weak," she stared deep into his eyes, trying to gauge some answer from him; unsurprisingly, he stared at her uncomfortably.

"I'm not weak, definitely not since he trained me, I don't blame other people for my failures, I learn from them, I'm strong, I don't give up…or at least I wasn't weak," he admitted. "Not before the team, I'd made sure I'd eradicated all weaknesses in my life,"

"Like you tried to eradicate Fitzsimmons?" Skye demanded angrily.

"I tried to cross them off, but I failed. I'm not going to lie to you Skye, because you don't deserve that, but there's a big part of me that regrets not killing them. But-" he continued before she could interrupt him. "But I couldn't let them die, and letting them die now would feel like murder, how normal people feel about murder anyway," he clarified.

She nodded, but eyed him warily, he was dangerous and unpredictable like an unexploded bomb, the kind of person that if you trusted not to hurt you, you'd die, what he'd just confessed could not be forgotten easily.

"So did you decide to kill them while you were on the plane, or did Garret order you to take them out, or did you both mutually agree that they should no longer live?"

"Ordered." he stared down at the dusty floor, refusing to meet her gaze.

"Why?" her voice was harsh, sharp and unforgiving.

"Fitz used an EMP, causing the system that was keeping Garret alive to fail," and because he knew they were a weakness, he left unspoken.

"So that's why you were so angry at Fitz's EMP button…" she would have mentioned to anyone else how incredibly proud Fitz was at his invention, stating how useful they were, and that he was going to make one for everyone on the team. However she had a feeling that it wouldn't be a good idea to tell this to Ward, who clearly held resentment to Fitz for nearly killing his good-for-nothing SO.

"But that still doesn't explain why you still believe that you owe him everything!"

"He saved me," Ward replied cryptically.

"From what?"

"Hell,"

There was an impossibly long pause. "Your family?" Skye asked quietly.

Ward's eyes widened slightly but he kept his cool. "No, how could he have done?" he argued logically. "Garrett became my SO after I'd left the Academy."

"I bet he met you before the Academy, didn't he?" Skye pressed, going on a whim. "I tried to get back the information about you that I'd destroyed, Ward, there was a gap of about five years,"

"Guess you're just that good at permanently deleting stuff," Ward shrugged.

"Oh yeah, what were you doing then then?" she smiled sweetly, watching him intently and Ward froze, damn it, did Skye know, how could she possibly know though, what was his cover story for that again, what was it about Skye's eyes, god that girl still intrigued him, now what was he supposed to be thinking of? Cover story, right, got it.

"Military Academy,"

Skye gave a derisive laugh. She knew he was lying, damn it, why did he have to get so distracted, wasn't he not meant to panic, ever; what was wrong with him? She squinted at him, like a hunter, moving in on the kill.

"I think Garret was brainwashing you then,"

Ward raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said Fitz's theories were stupid, and that's ridiculous, Garrett would never have done that to me, he helped me for god's sake Skye!"

"So you did know him before, interesting," she commented.

"I didn't say that, I never said that!" Ward said frustratedly, god, his lies were slipping away, being torn apart by the hacker, hacking into his emotions, his secrets, but no, no one must ever find out about living in the woods, Garret would kill him. Would have killed me, he reminded himself sadly, but Garrett's the one that is dead now.

"You were avoiding the question, but I inferred it from your answer," Skye replied coolly, wondering if she was correct, all it really was, was guesswork, and she hadn't been able to tell that Ward was lying when he was part of their team…

"Garrett didn't brainwash me, I'm not weak like that, I was always in control!"

Skye shook her head, smiling sadly. "Ward, trusting him was your downfall, not trusting in us,"

Then she walked back to the car and climbed inside, resisting the urge to pull him into a hug and comfort him, he reminded her of a lost kid, not sure of which way to turn, trying to make sense of everything, but failing miserably and making the wrong choices, like getting into someone's car if they offered him sweets. However, he was a Hydra agent who had betrayed her team, betrayed her, all for some narcissistic bastard, she mustn't lose sight of what she believed in, Grant Ward was evil, right?

I would like to point out that in no way shape or form do I think brainwashing/manipulation victims are weak, that was just what I believe Ward's point of view would be and does not represent the truth, I believe it can happen to anyone, even the people with the strongest will-power.

Please review, I love reviews so much, you guys are all amazing!

Also, question: Should I make Buddy live? Is it realistic, I feel like I need a bit of fluff as well as tonnes of angst which would come with Buddy's 'resurrection' :)