Okay guys just kind of go with this chapter. I didn't really want to spend a lot of time discussing Ward's past but I found it hard to get around it if there can be any sort of reconciliation with him and Skye. I tried my best when coming up with reasons and explanations through Ward's past. I tried to incorporate as much as I could from the TV, information that we already know about Ward's past (which isn't a lot). I am writing the next chapter now which I think will be much better but Skye and Ward kind of just needed to get their shit out there in the open so good stuff can come in the future. I hope this satisfies people though.
Please Review though I really enjoy getting feedback!
They landed in an open corn field, no sign of civilization anywhere. Ward and Skye were untangling themselves from their parachutes.
"We landed in the southern part of Nebraska, close to the Kansas state line. I think if we head in that direction we should run into a road and we can follow it hopefully to a town." Ward made sure the knife he had with him was tucked safely in his boot and removed the parachute so he had an empty backpack to put supplies in. "We don't have really anything with us, no food or water so we should probably get moving."
Skye remained unmoved, she had her backpack slung across her shoulder but she was turned away from Ward.
Ward was frustrated at her resistance, "Skye! Come on!"
Skye turned to face him, her expression was sad but she had no tears, not anymore. "I am not going anywhere with you Ward. I thought I made my feelings toward you pretty clear last time you had me chained to the bus stairs. You are a murderer, and a manipulative liar and I have no reason to follow you anywhere. Shield is gone, the team is dead, you killed my family and you are nothing to me anymore so I'm going to go, but not with you."
Ward stared at her blankly, he was too drained to be angry anymore. "Is that it then? I shoot Garrett to save your life and jump out of the plane, with you, and now you're just going to leave. You want us to walk out of each other's life forever. Skye I can't do that."
"Well it's not up to you!" Skye shot back, she started to turn and leave but Ward went after her this time grabbing her arm but not letting her go.
"Let go of me!" she yelled.
"No," his voice wasn't angry but strong and determined because he was going to give her the whole story. "No, Skye listen to me. I won't let you walk out of my life until you know the whole story."
She stopped struggling against him and looked up at his towering face. "If I listen to your 'poor pity me Ward story' will you let me leave, alone."
Skye's sarcasm hurt but he nodded, "If you still want to, yeah I will." Skye pulled her arm out of Ward's grip but suddenly remembered her injuries and put her hand to her head.
"Here let's take care of that first, I don't want it to get infected."
Skye scowled, "No story first, I want to leave."
Ward sighed "I can multitask alright?" He found the first aid and searched through for some antibiotic and bandages.
Skye sat impatiently, every time his fingers brushed her face to tend to the wound she flinched. Ward knew it wasn't because of the pain, it was his touch that made her sick.
"I am waiting to hear this story Ward." Ward nodded, he didn't really know where to begin. He knew he couldn't give Skye some tragic story of his life because she had a terrible life too he just needed to tell the truth for once in his life and maybe just maybe it would be enough.
"I am going to tell you the whole story Skye, from the beginning." He looked at her his eyes pleading, trying to tell her that he wasn't going to bullshit her, he was going to tell her the good the bad and the ugly.
"My dad got my mom pregnant with my oldest brother John when she was 16. He was 22 and already an alcoholic. But she from a strict Christian home so my dad was essentially threatened into marrying her. It wasn't that bad though, I think he really did love her in his own way. Anyway she had me four years later. That time of my life was pretty decent I guess I don't really remember much of it. My dad spent a lot of time with John, he took him everywhere with him. I was around my mom more as a young kid. John was 9 and I was 5 when Kyle was born."
"Ouch, damn it Ward" Skye reached for the gash on her head. Ward grabbed her wrist, "Don't touch it, it could get infected you have to let me clean it." She yanked her wrist from his grip but let him continue.
"Anyway, Kyle was born and things went pretty downhill from there. Right around that time my dad lost his factory job. I actually don't think he ever got a decent job since then, but he would walk around ask people if they needed help with their lawns etc. and then spend the night at some bar. You see my mom also had some complications with Kyle's birth so we had medical bills that we just couldn't pay. One thing led to another and bills weren't getting paid and we were swimming in debt. Dad would come home drunk some nights and blame Kyle for ruining the family. I usually just locked myself in my room, but I could hear him yelling in the living room. Dad stopped spending time with John too, but John still idolized him. So it didn't take long for John to start blaming Kyle for his sucky life too."
Ward stopped, Skye's face was cleaned up and bandaged, he touched the bruise on her cheek, this time she winched from the pain.
"I'm sorry," he looked down at his hands and started to put the kit away. Skye remained silent, but he figured it was better than her coming at him with an angry retort.
"I'm still going to tell you the story but I think we should start walking, I know I know you want to walk away and leave me but you can leave me once we find a town that you can actually get a taxi from, okay?" Ward wasn't sure if she would actually go along with it, but she nodded curtly.
"Fine, you can walk and talk but the first sign of a vehicle I'm putting my thumb up and leaving you."
Ward didn't doubt it but scoffed, "Oh, yeah that's safe just hop in a car with a stranger."
Skye shot him a look that would kill, and he realized he really wasn't the one who could say who she would be safe with.
Ward grabbed his bag, "Anyway shall we."
The next couple hours Ward filled the silence with the story of his childhood. He talked about how as they got older his dad became almost non-existent and his mom became the sole supporter and worked all hours. John turned into a bully, whose main target was Kyle and Ward well was left in the middle feeling useless and powerless. He retold how his brother made him beat up his little brother and he told the story of his brother at the well.
"I was twelve years old when Kyle died. He died because he was in the well for too long and inhaled some toxins. My father barely shed a tear and mother I think just shut down after that. My brother told my parents that I was the one who killed him and that I had left him in that well to die, that I had known there were toxins down there. Which wasn't true but it was my fault he died." Ward said it like it was a fact, a fact that ruined his life and the reason why he had so much self-loathing.
"It was my fault." Ward repeated, bitterness and anger in his tone.
"Ward," Skye interrupted, "why didn't you tell your parents that your brother bullied you and forced you to put your brother in that well."
"Because!" Ward said more forcefully then he meant to, "because believe it or not John was in a way the golden child and I was the weird weak child, but really I guess I thought I deserved whatever punishment I got, I killed my brother and I didn't think I was really worth saving."
Skye's voice became surprisingly soft. "You didn't kill your brother Ward, you didn't know that the well had toxins in it."
Ward just shrugged though like he didn't really agree with her. "Anyway after that my parents would never look at me in the face, my brother found other people at school to bully but at home he would just force me to do his chores get him drinks whatever he wanted really. Looking back now I don't know why I was so afraid of him but I did whatever he asked. One thing lead to another I started getting into trouble at school. I became the school bully and I was really terrible to this one kid Jim. I mean I really targeted him every day. I took his lunch money, pushed him against the lockers and said the most horrible things to him, really awful stuff Skye. And then I think he had enough because our sophomore year of high school he switched schools out of the blue. I never saw him again but I think I really ruined his life."
Ward stopped and laughed. "You know here I am trying to get you to understand where I came from and all I am doing is just convincing you of what a monster I became." Skye kind of laughed in return. "Yeah you are Ward."
They both just stood there a moment, looking straight at each. Neither one of them saying a word.
Ward broke the silence, "Anyway I turned to a lot of vandalism and ended up being sent to military school where I just caused more problems. Long story short I was a kid ruining every chance because I was angry. Angry at the sucky life I had been given and angry at myself for being weak. And then Garrett came into my life, he told me that he could show me how to get rid of weaknesses. He would show me how no one like my brother would ever mess with me again. And I took him up on his offer and he trained me. He trained me to eliminate everything that means anything to you because that's what makes you weak."
Silence again.
"That's it? That's your sad story that excuses all the people you've killed. The story that's supposed to convince me that you're not a bad person!"
"No! It doesn't excuse them at all, but it explains why I did what I did. Why Garrett meant so much to me."
Skye was pacing furiously now, "You know I had a pretty shitty upbringing too Ward, being in the foster care system really doesn't give you a whole lot to work with. I never even had a family, so you can say I was pretty weak and vulnerable too but I didn't turn out to be a psycho killer."
Ward took large strides so he was standing close to her. "I know, but you're telling me that at your moment of weakness if had someone come to you and told you that you don't have to be weak anymore and I can be your family and then started calling you "son" you wouldn't have taken them up on that offer?"
Skye became still as Wards words went through her. He struck a nerve and Skye knew that in her moment of weakness she would have ran to anybody who would have called her daughter. How could she blame him for wanting the same thing she always wanted? But she would not let go of her anger towards him.
"Yeah, well I eventually got my family Ward and then they died."
Ward looked at her dead in the eyes, "I know mine died too."
To Be Continued.