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Chapter Text

Skye sighed as she entered Coulson's office, wondering just what on Earth he wanted from her. It was the middle of a quiet afternoon, which of fact she had been enjoying. Until Coulson broke the silence.

"What's up?" she asked nonchalantly, plopping down in the chair in front of the Director's desk. "I thought that it was going to be a quiet day."

The Director smiled and shook his head, "Don't worry, no missions today." he began. "But there will be one the day after tomorrow. A recon mission. Sneak into a Hydra base, upload a Trojan Horse program into their servers, and steal the info. It's not much."

"Then why call me in now? Why not wait until tomorrow?" Skye asked.

"Because this mission requires a bit more firepower than normal. The servers are stored in a subzero freezer of sorts and a normal agent can't get into it. It's a form of protection." Coulson explained. He sat a file down on his desk and slid it towards Skye, "I want you to go talk to the agent I want to send with you and Lincoln on the mission."

Skye frowned and picked up the folder, "Another gifted?" she questioned, opening the folder. She came face to face with a picture of a gruff-looking man who looked like he was pissed for some reason. His black hair was spiked slightly and stubble covered his face. Her stomach dropped and she looked up at Coulson, "Wait, isn't this?" she began.

Coulson nodded, "It is, but he's the only guy we have that has the firepower to get into the server room, literally. This isn't his normal kind of mission, so I don't know how he'll approach this." he explained.

Skye read the beginnings of the file: 'Name: Ward, Grant Douglas. Codename: Hellfire'. She gulped and shook her head, "Do you really think that this is a good idea, sir?" she asked. "He's not the most person-friendly guy. There's a reason why the agents on this base call him 'Demon'."

"Don't let their rumors get to you, Skye." Coulson began. "He's not that bad of a guy. Yes, he's rough around the edges and tends to stay away from people. The agents that call him that have had the unfortunate luck of seeing his bad side.

His powers are dark in nature. Some kind of family curse that links his genetics to hell. He's able to conjure hellfire and it runs in his veins. And that, for some reason, gives him one hell of temper. It's not a pretty sight if he's pissed off. He's had to been contained a few times. The only reason why I don't have him permanently contained somewhere is because he's still a good agent. He takes the missions that no one else is willing to." he continued.

"Just talk to him, it's better to get on his good side first. He's loyal. Especially if he takes a liking to you. Just be careful of what you say to him, Skye." Coulson sighed and shook his head, "But I promise he's a good agent. Don't listen to what the other agents have to say about him."

Skye took a long breath before standing up, file still in hand, "Sir, are you sure about this?" she asked. "Are you really sure?"

"Not at all. Just be nice to him and try not to say anything that will set him off." Coulson responded. "Oh, and you'll probably find him where we keep the alcohol. He's always there."

"Yeah, I don't like this."

"Just try, Skye. It might go well."

(Elsewhere)

Grant Ward sat at the small bar, staring blankly at his glass of whiskey. It was quiet, just how he liked it. No one bothered coming in here when he was present, everyone was afraid of him. But at least no one was talking behind his back and calling him 'monster' and 'demon'. He couldn't help what he was and what he could do, it was just that people didn't help.

He continued to stare at the glass until the sound of footsteps and a voice jerked his attention.

"Coulson told me that you would probably be in here, and it looks like he was right."

Ward frowned and looked to see a young woman with about shoulder-length brown hair coming towards him. It looked as though she had some Asian heritage and a file was clutched in her hands. "Who the hell are you?" he asked sharply, upset that his solitude had been broken.

"Agent Johnson." she replied.

"Johnson? As in Daisy Johnson?" Ward asked. He pointed at her, "You're the Director's pet."

Skye cringed at Ward's comment, "You can call me Skye." she said, sitting in the stool a few feet away from the man.

"Well, Skye, what brings Coulson's little soldier to see me of all people?" he asked coldly. "No one comes to see me willingly. No one. You have a reason. And it better be good."

Skye fished for a paper out of the file and handed it to Ward, "Coulson wants you to join me and another agent on a mission."

Ward's face darkened, "He should know that I don't work with others." He practically growled. "I do missions that no one else wants to do. I don't care whether I make it out alive or not. Why does he want me working with others?"

"Read the file." Skye responded. "It's a recon mission to a Hydra base to extract data from their servers."

Ward's eyes skimmed the paper before crumpling up in his hand, "That's not my specialty." he stated. "I do kill missions. I do mission that require destruction."

"The servers are located in a subzero freezer to keep them from outsiders. You're the only one that can get in and out of there with ease. I give you a drive with a Trojan Horse program on it, you get into the freezer and insert the drive into the main server computer, and we get the data from there." Skye explained.

"You just needed a guy that couldn't freeze to death." Ward stated coldly. "Coulson should know that it's big risk anytime I go on a mission. There's always the risk of me losing it and killing people that are our own. There's a reason why agents persist on calling me 'Demon', Skye." There was a broken look in his brown eyes. "Because I essentially become one when I lose it. I work alone and that's it. Tell Coulson that I'm not going." He turned away from Skye.

"Look, it's not that bad of a mission, Agent Ward." Skye began to explain. "There should be minimal fighting if we do it right. I think you'll be fine. It's not that long of a mission. And Coulson said that it was your time for another mission, whatever the hell that means."

A small smirk pulled at Ward's lips and he faced Skye again, "That's because he thinks that it's bad for me to stay cooped-up in this base. But I'm the last resort, like I said. I do the missions that no one else wants to do. Tell me one reason to why I should say yes and go with you?"

Skye detected a hint of self-loathing in the man's voice and she started to feel bad for him. He couldn't help who he was, he couldn't help what his genetics gave him. "To be honest, I don't have a good reason. It's just that you're the man for the job." she admitted.

Ward looked to the side and stood to his feet, "Skye, I'll tell you now that you won't like what you see from me if something happens. I'm a monster."

"And I'm one too."

Ward blinked and frowned, "What?" he asked.

"You should know that I'm Inhuman, that I'm gifted." Skye stated. "That technically makes me a monster too. Your genetics don't make you a monster."

"Yeah, but it's more than that. It's what happens to me…" he trailed off and shook his head. "Never mind, but Coulson may want to rethink his choice for this."

"I think you're a good choice, is that good enough?" Skye asked, smiling slightly. She was trying something to get him to go, but she was starting to become wary of him.

"You don't know me, Skye. You don't know what I'm capable of. But that's probably good. Maybe you won't call me names behind my back and avoid me like everyone else." Ward gulped, "Fine, I'll go. But if you start anything,"

"I won't. Lincoln won't either, he's the other guy with us." Skye cut in. "You'll be fine. And it says in your file that you can fly the Quinjets, is that right?"

Ward nodded, his stomach in knots, "Yes, why?"

"We don't need fifty different people going with us. It's better if one of us can pilot the jet." Skye explained. "Again, it's an in and out mission. There shouldn't be much fighting or anything that will, uh, set you off."

"I hope that you're telling the truth, Skye. I want to at least have one person I can trust. I don't really care for Coulson, but he's the man that keeps me here. If it was anyone else, I would be in a containment facility by now." Ward explained. "You don't know what it's like being ridiculed every day."

"Sometimes I do, Ward. But I promise that you'll be fine. Hell, I'll even make sure myself that you'll be fine. We'll get the mission over and you can be back here to yourself. Does that sound okay?" she asked.

Ward nodded hesitantly, a bad feeling in his stomach. The last person that trusted him this much… He cringed at the memory. The agent ended up in a med facility with severe full-body burns. Ward was surprised that the guy didn't die, but he was horribly scarred.

The thing about hellfire is that it burns hot, very hot, and for a long time at that. It destroyed everything that stood in its way.

"I-I don't guarantee that everything will be okay. It doesn't take much." Ward stammered, trying to keep his hardened demeanor.

Skye realized that the reason why the man was so cold was that he had no one else and he had learned to stay that way. He had learned to distrust everyone, including himself. She took a breath, "You'll be fine."

"And you're foolish to believe so." Ward stated, his voice taking its cold tone again. "Everyone is. People learn, Skye. And that's why everyone knows to stay the hell away from me. The definition of a mistake is thinking that I'll be fine. That's the biggest damn mistake you can make."

Skye took a sharp breath, "Are you coming or not?" she asked. "Coulson needs an answer."

A muscle twitched in Ward's face as he looked Skye up and down. He had never met her personally, he had only seen her around the somewhat-massive base. He had always kept to himself, ever since Coulson had brought him here after the fall of SHIELD. Ward had learned to not trust anyone. Once people discovered that he was the man known as Hellfire, they would flee from him. Or worse, ridicule him in their fear of him.

People became bullies from fear. He knew that personally. His family had treated him like crap because they knew what he was and was afraid of him. He couldn't help that he got the short end of the stick in the Slade family curse. He couldn't help what he was.

He wanted to trust Skye, he wanted to think that she would actually treat him like a person and not the monster everyone thought he was. But in his years of being a SHIELD agent, in his years of being the monster known as Hellfire, he had learned that you can't trust anyone. Fear caused people to do vile things, and he always got the worst of it.

He gulped and saw the light in Skye's brown eyes, a light that told him that he could trust her. She shuffled, adjusting her jean jacket as she waited for an answer. "F-Fine." he stammered. "But I'm not sure of what will happen."

Skye nodded, "You'll be fine, Agent Ward."

"I'm not sure of that."

Chapter Text

(Two Days Later)

Skye and Lincoln sat towards the back of the Quinjet, casting glances at their new temporary teammate every now and then. Ward had agreed very hesitantly to come with them after a lot of protest. Lincoln frowned in the unnerving silence cast between the three, but that just may had been due to Ward wearing comms gear for the jet.

"I don't like this, Skye." he began. "What if something does happen?" He looked uneasily to the jet's pilot and then back to Skye.

"If something happens, it does." Skye replied sharply, keeping her voice down so Ward couldn't hear. "You haven't even been with SHIELD long and you already know of his 'problem'?"

Lincoln shrugged, "Agents do like to talk about it. And Fitz does too. He told me what he could."

"I don't see what Fitz knows other than what Simmons has told him." Skye started. "The only ones that have actually dealt with him before is Coulson, May, and Simmons. Maybe Morse and Hunter. Coulson's told me the stories, and what he says is true."

Lincoln cast another glance towards Ward, "So what's the real 'story'?" he asked. "I've heard like fifty different things."

"There's not really a coherent 'story' about him. SHIELD picked him up out of juvie when he was just fifteen, apparently burnt down his house with his older brother inside. But SHIELD investigations actually showed that was due to his powers coming to life.

SHIELD trained him the best they could, even though his powers separated him from everyone else. And his powers give him some kind of massive rage issue. He snaps easily and when he snaps it's not pretty. He's hurt and even killed agents before in these rages." she continued. "Agents started isolating him, calling him different names, and that's when he became cold and anti-social.

Coulson was quick to make sure he was still in his sights after the Hydra Uprising, Ward doesn't need to fall to Hydra's hands. He brought him to the base and kept him there. He does the missions no one else wants to do. But I think that's due to a suicidal tendency or something."

Skye sighed at looked briefly at Ward, who was fooling with something on the instrument panel, "I don't think he's all that bad. I think it's just the fact that no one likes him, that's all."

Lincoln pursed his lips and shook his head, "It still unsettles me though. What if he snaps and kills us? Does he even remember afterwards?" he questioned. "We're in danger here, Skye. No matter what you say, that man's a disaster waiting to happen. He is a monster."

"Linc, don't." Skye urged. She knew that that kind of attitude towards Ward didn't need to be present. That was the attitude that would set the man off and cause something. Lincoln didn't even know the guy, he was just riding off of what others had told him. "Just be nice."

"Still a monster though."

"Lincoln…"

In the pilot's seat, Ward's stomach churned as he leaned back in the seat, trying to hide himself. Did they really think that he couldn't hear them? He knew that Skye was just trying to make things better, but it wasn't helping. It was only fueling the other Inhuman's ridiculous hate for him. It was only making it worse.

He reached out and switched the controls to autopilot and set aside the comms gear. Regret started to tear at his mind as he buried his head in his hands. He knew that he shouldn't of had come. He knew that it would end badly. A man that he had never even seen before hated him because of what he was.

But wasn't that hypocritical of him though? Ward knew that Lincoln was Inhuman, the same as Skye. Ward couldn't help what his genetics made him capable of, just like the Inhumans. He couldn't help that things weren't to his favor.

He sighed and drug his hands across his face and looked out the Quinjet's window at the clouded sky racing past them. Of course it had to be like this, the ridicule followed him everywhere he went. That's why he did missions alone. That's why he did the missions that he secretly hoped took his life in the end. He didn't know why he hadn't already ended it all. That would've ended the pain and fear he lived through every single damn day.

SHIELD's psychologists had already labeled his as suicidal after a few attempts. That only increased the load on his already-sick mind. They marked him as depressed, they marked him as sick. He was still surprised that he was still allowed out in the field. He couldn't help that there were about a million things wrong with him. He couldn't help that there was no help for him. He couldn't live through the pain his powers caused.

Ward groaned and got to his feet, turning around to see Skye and Lincoln still talking. Still talking about him. He took a sharp breath and approached them carefully, wary of them.

"Hey, we're almost there." he said, trying to speak up. "About twenty minutes."

The two Inhumans' heads shot up and looked towards him, and Ward could see slight fear in their eyes. But more Lincoln's than Skye's. Lincoln looked away, keeping his gaze off of him.

Skye nodded, "Good. I guess that means we need to get ready to head out then." she commented.

Ward's eyes drifted off to the side and he turned around to head back to the front of the jet. Before he walked off, he clenched his fists and decided to speak, "You know that the comms gear isn't soundproof, right?" he asked. "I heard everything you said, I'm not deaf."

Skye's stomach dropped as Ward walked off and returned to his place. She gulped and looked back to Lincoln, who's face had drained of color, "Dammit." she muttered. "Look what you did."

"What I did?!" Lincoln hissed. "I was just talking!"

Skye took a breath and shook her head. She casted a side-glance over to Ward, who of which was staring at them with a spooked look in his eyes. "Dammit. We screwed up."

(Later)

"What do I do?" Ward asked shyly, avoiding Skye and Lincoln's gazes after the confrontation in the jet. He shuffled his feet nervously on the rocky ground beneath him.

Skye bit her lip and handed Ward the flash drive with the Trojan Horse on it. "Get in the server freezer, find the main console, stick this in there and go. It's not that bad."

Ward turned the small, black flash drive over and over in his hand, not saying anything else to them. His cold manner had returned after the jet.

"The server freezer should be located that way." Skye said, pointing to her left. "You probably can't miss it. Lincoln and I will deal with any Hydra goons running around so you don't have to. Got it?"

He nodded, still looking down and avoiding their eyes. He turned around slowly and walked away along the exterior wall of the base, leaving Skye and Lincoln to themselves.

Skye sighed and looked towards her partner, "I know that we screwed up. I just had him okay with us, now he's closed-off again and won't talk. I hope that this doesn't mess things up."

"Still don't see why we couldn't get someone else." Lincoln commented.

"He's the only one that has fire pretty much running in his veins." Skye explained. "He won't freeze to death in the subzero freezer."

Meanwhile, Ward walked in the direction of the servers, paranoia crashing down upon him. He was afraid that something was going to happen now that there was friction between the three. He was afraid of himself once again.

He found his way to the sector marked 'Authorized Personnel Only: Subzero Freezer'. With a gulp, he pressed his hand to the lock and charged it with a blast of flame, causing it to melt away immediately. The door swung open to reveal a hallway that actually led to the freezer.

Ward walked inside the hallway and toward the actual freezer door, to whom of which he did the same to as the outside door. The freezer door swung slowly open, frozen fog swarming out into the warmth of the hallway. He took a sharp breath and allowed the flames to accumulate underneath his skin to warm himself even further.

He knew that this was a risky move in his current, agitated state. One wrong move and the flames would burst out and control him. He had to be careful until he got out of here.

Walking into the subzero atmosphere, he didn't feel the cold. Steam rose from his skin from where the cold met the heat of his skin. And razor-sharp thoughts swarmed in his mind.

"He is a monster… I don't like this… Disaster waiting to happen…. We're in danger here… Still a monster though…"

A growl escaped his chest and Ward swung at one of the metal walls, steam rising from its surface as his hot fist met the frozen metal. Vertigo started to overtake him and he held onto the wall for support, and the metal beneath his hands started to melt.

The smell of the melting metal jerked him back to reality and he backed away and shook his head, running his hands over his face, "Snap out of it, Grant. Not here, not now. Don't let them see what they think you are. I don't want them to run away from me as well."

He groaned and shook his head, trying to return to the task at hand. Find the main console. Just what the hell did that look like? He figured it had to be big and looked like a massive computer. Again, this wasn't his specialty. He did kill missions, he did missions that he had to fight to accomplish. He did missions that he hoped would take his life somehow.

This wasn't that kind of mission.

Walking around the subzero freezer, which wasn't all that big, Ward's eyes skimmed for the console. After what seemed like forever, his eyes met what looked like a computer terminal with several monitors in the back corner of the room. "I guess that's it." he thought. "Hell if I know. Just want to get the hell out of here."

He walked towards it and fished the drive out of his jacket pocket. A slot near a cluster of unmarked buttons looked vaguely like a USB port to him. He inserted the drive into in and a few seconds later, a few strange windows popped up on one of the screens.

Ward nodded, "Guess that's my cue to get the hell out of here and go home." he thought turning around and walking back towards the way he came. "And back to the ridicule of the base. If that Lincoln bastard doesn't say anything else. Why does this crap have to happen to me? I already live in hell."

Chapter Text

Ward spend the next two weeks holed up in his room at the base, hardly even coming out for food or working out in the gym area. He was afraid of running into Skye or Lincoln again. He didn't want to see them after the horror that was the intel mission.

Well, the mission had been a success. Everything that SHIELD had needed from the Hydra base's servers had been extracted. There wasn't even any fighting between them and Hydra. Coulson called it a job well done, but to Ward it was everything but.

How everything had escalated between the three made Ward's stomach churn as he looked up at the bare ceiling of his room. He knew that he had been only steps away from completely losing it and possibly killing them. There was only a thin wall holding back the hellish force of his flames.

"Why do I even bother?" he thought. "No matter who I come into contact with is going to hate me for no reason. Why did I even think that they could possibly like me?"

Ward sat up, groaning as he felt the heat building up underneath his skin. He could never get used to it. It was like a never ending fever, one that proved he was always sick. He swung his feet over the side of the bed, letting them hang there. He held his hands out in front of him to see that they had taken on a reddish hue, the sure sign that the flames were right underneath his skin.

"Damn." he growled, knowing that his current 'situation' had to be dealt with. Which meant he had to go to one of the rooms designated for gifted agents to release their powers. The rooms had been built for agents like him, those who became dangerous if their powers built up to much. As of right now, he was a walking fire bomb.

Ward shook his head and slid off the bed, his boots hitting the ground with a thud. He walked to his small bathroom and turned the sink on, trying to get the water to the coldest setting. Steam rose from his hands as the ice-cold water struck his burning skin. He knew that it wouldn't help the heat, it was only a temporary relief.

More steam rose as he splashed the water on his face and he looked up to his reflection in the mirror, and what he saw scared him. He looked weak, his eyes sunken and hollow, lacking life. He looked practically dead.

"What is wrong with me?" he mumbled. "I look dead, how appropriate."

A wave of vertigo hit him and he grabbed onto the faucet for support. "Dammit." he muttered, shaking his head. He took his hands off the faucet and saw that its metal had been slightly melted. "Dammit."

Ward turned and left the bathroom, his head swarming from the building flames. He headed straight for the door and went out into the hallway, oblivious to anyone else. Normally, people steered clear of this area. His room was isolated and people knew to stay away. Steer clear of the demon was an unspoken rule.

He half-stormed down the hall, agents jumping out of his way. Fear overcame them once they realized who almost had run into them. Whispers of 'Isn't that?', 'It's Hellfire..', 'The monster…', and various other things floated around, but Ward was oblivious to them.

Ward came to a sudden stop as he slammed into something and he looked to see a young agent, whose face had paled greatly in color once he saw who had run into him.

"S-Sorry." he stammered, backing away as he held his hands up. "S-Sorry."

Ward's face contorted into a snarl, a red light shining in his eyes, "Get the hell out of my way." he growled lowly, shoving past the young agent and leaving him cowering in fear.

His head continued to swarm as he found his way to the specialized rooms. He flung the door open with great force and slammed it behind him. A scream echoed out and flames blasted inside of the room. And he was unaware of the watching eyes from the outside.

(Elsewhere, A Little Bit Ago)

Skye frowned, seeing Ward storm out of his room. He hadn't been seen in two weeks, ever since the mission. Coulson had told her that this happened every now and then after something had greatly disturbed Ward. He would seclude himself in his room, not even coming out. And he would become sick afterwards, due to hardly eating and letting his flames accumulate way too much.

Coulson feared that this behavior would end up killing him one day, and he knew that it didn't matter to Ward. This troubled Skye, she actually kind of liked Ward. He wasn't that bad of a guy, it was just how everyone else treated him that drove him to a point of being cold. And she kept this to herself, but he was highly attractive too.

She shook her head and watched as Ward stormed down the hallway and she immediately knew that something was very wrong. Anger spewed from his eyes and his face was pale and weak-looking. She knew that he was sick, and not just in the mental sense of things.

"What the?" she muttered, deciding to trail him from a distance to see what was going on with him. She followed, watching as various agents jumped out of Ward's way. Some even ran from him. She really started to understand his troubles. Everyone treated him like he was Satan himself. He couldn't help what he could do, he didn't deserve to be treated like a plague.

Skye froze when she saw Ward and an agent collide with one another. She watched as the young agent froze up, fear taking a hold of his face. The young agent backed away and looked as though he was pleading with Ward. She could faintly hear Ward growl at him. It sounded as though he said 'Get the hell out of my way.'

Ward shoved pass the agent, leaving the guy quivering in fear. Skye held her breath, starting to regret her decision to follow Ward. But she wanted to figure how what on Earth was going on with him and where he was going. She clenched her fists at her sides and went on, unaware that the agents in the hallway were eying her as well.

She followed Ward to where the discharge rooms were. The discharge rooms were built to accommodate gifted agents that needed to release their powers every now and then. The rooms contained the release of abilities just to the room. Skye was pretty sure that the original discharge room was built just for Ward. Coulson had said that Ward was highly dangerous when the flames built up too much. Ward had gone here to release the build-up, which Skye figured was probably pretty high since he had been holed up in his room for two weeks straight.

Skye watched as Ward flung open the door and then immediately slammed it shut. She approached the glass beside the door that served as a window into the white room. Her eyes widened as she saw and heard Ward scream, something full of pain and fear. Dark red flames jutted out from all around him, spanning out across the floor, leaving scorch marks.

So this was what Ward was capable of. It both amazed her and terrified her at the same time. But she was the one that could basically create earthquakes, so she really couldn't say anything. She continued to watch as Ward flung fireballs at the walls with incredible speed.

She remained there on the other side of the glass, even as Ward stopped several minutes later. He bent over, clearly trying to catch his breath. She saw that he looked weaker than he had before. She could've sworn that his face was covered in sweat.

Ward looked up and over to the door, freezing as he saw Skye standing there. His face fell and so did his stomach. He realized that Skye had seen everything. That she had seen his breakdown. Had she seen him in the hallways? He really hoped not.

Skye slightly smiled at him, trying not to freak him out any more than he already was. Ward shook his head, backing away slowly.

"No, no, no." he muttered. "Why did she have to see that?" Vertigo hit him again, but stronger this time. He fell to the cold, hard ground. Darkness pulled at his vision and then dragged him under.

Skye's eyes widened and she threw open the door, running inside over to Ward's side. His entire face was weak-looking and extremely pale. She didn't know what was going on or what to do. At least he was still breathing, so she figured he had just passed-out.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she asked him quietly. She jumped up and ran off to get him some help.

She just hoped that he would still be there when she got back.

Chapter Text

(Sometime Later)

Ward awoke several hours later, his head in a complete fog. His vision was blurred as he tried to look around at his new surroundings, which he could make out to be one of the infirmary rooms. As he tried to move, he found his arms restrained to the bed. A precaution taken to keep him from hurting himself. Or others.

"Wha?" he slurred out, his speech slightly affected by whatever drugs SHIELD had running in his system to keep him under control. He knew that one of the drugs was an adrenaline inhibitor. Adrenaline was what contributed to his snaps, so keeping the levels under control was a crucial factor.

"Did I?" he thought sluggishly. "Who saw? Who found me?"

Ward couldn't remember much, he was straining to remember bits and pieces of it. He remembered the heat taking him over and then screaming in a big, white room. And he remembered…

"Skye." he breathed. "Oh God."

Horror filled him as he realized that Skye had seen whatever had happened to him. He didn't really remember what had occurred, but he knew that it had to been scary. A tight feeling took hold of his chest.

"Hey. You're awake."

The tight feeling gripped him even harder as the quiet, female voice pierced the stark silence of the room. Ward's face grew pale as he turned to see Skye standing in the doorway, a slight smile on her face. "W-What are you doing here?" he stammered as she walked in.

"I can't come to see how you're doing?" she asked. "I'd thought that it would be nice."

Ward gulped, shaking his head to fight the fuzziness of the drugs, "Look, no one ever comes to see me. Especially after something like that. I don't even remember what the hell happened."

"I'm not quite sure myself. I saw you storm out of your room and you kind of went berserk down the hallway. You didn't hurt anyone though. I followed you to the discharge rooms, where you went crazy. You saw me and stopped, then you passed out.

I got help to bring you back here. You're sick, Ward. Exhaustion, starvation, a few other things. You've got to stop locking yourself away in your room everything something upsets you. Coulson says one of these days you're going to end up killing yourself." Skye explained.

Ward looked to the side before looking down, "And maybe that's what I want." he mumbled. "Didn't you even think of that?"

Skye's face fell, "Ward, that's not…" she trailed off. "Look, I don't know what to say to you honestly because I don't know what goes on in your head. I don't know what you experience, so I really can't tell you what to do. But there are better things than slowly trying to kill yourself."

"What else am I supposed to do?" Ward asked lowly. "I can't even walk around these halls without being ridiculed. People either avoid me entirely or treat me like crap. I've been treated like crap every single day of my damn life because of my so-called 'gift'." He shook his head and looked Skye in the eyes, "You really don't know what I go through every single day."

"You're right." Skye agreed. "You're right. But, I think you need to learn to ignore what others say. What they say about you does not dictate who you are. They're ridiculing the powers, not the person. To be honest, I think you're not that bad of a guy."

Ward's face softened as he looked back up at Skye again, "Is that why you came back?" he asked. "You're the only one to ever come back, other than Director Coulson. Usually, agents run far away after being paired with me.

That's why I work alone. That's why I've learn to distance myself from others. Everyone hates me, Skye. It's not a thing to become friends with the man known as Hellfire. That just doesn't happen."

Skye bit her lip, "You've given me no reason to hate you." she stated. "You're not that bad. A little cold, but that can be worked out."

Ward looked down and didn't say anything in response, only managing to wriggle his wrists out of their restraints.

"Look," she sighed. "I'm gonna tell you a secret. Every gifted on this base is treated like crap by the nongifted agents. I don't know what this mysterious feud is, but it's the truth. It's not just you. Even I'm treated like crap by agents outside of my main team. Normal humans fear those who can do weird things, and that turns to hate. It's not just on you, even though you're at a disadvantage because your powers are darker in nature.

No matter if it's Quake, Hellfire, or, hell, even Sparkplug." she rolled her eyes. "I don't know why Lincoln was given that name." she added. "It doesn't matter, gifteds are always going to be feared by normal humans. That's just the way of things."

Ward swallowed and looked Skye up and down, "Then why was that Lincoln guy afraid of me?" he asked lowly.

"Because he listens way too much to other agents." Skye retorted. "Way too much. He's only heard the stories and your first encounter wasn't the best. But he warms up quickly to people, well if I make him do so."

"What if I don't want to?" Ward almost growled. "He's just like the rest of them, I don't care what you have to say. I'd rather go back to my room and go back to wishing that I was dead." He practically spat out the last part.

Skye sighed, "Look, I'm not forcing you to do anything, Agent Ward." she said, motioning with her hands. "I'm not stopping you from holing yourself back up in your room, but I am making sure that you do stay in this infirmary room for the next few days. Agent Simmons' orders. Apparently you're known for escaping medical care."

Ward began to provide a snide remark, but Skye's glare stopped him from doing so.

"I don't care what you do after you leave this room, but as long as I'm around here you're not moving from that spot unless a med agent instructs you to do so." Skye stated, kind of harshly. She crossed her arms, still glaring at the disheveled agent, "You're not moving."

Ward, once again, didn't say anything back to Skye, he only just kept looking at her. He had to admit, he did find her attractive. And she seemed to be the only one other than Coulson or Simmons who actually cared for him. "Whatever you say, earthquake." he practically sneered, trying to make it sound as though he wasn't completely terrified.

Skye frowned at Ward's sudden cocky tone. She had heard that the man tended to be kind of arrogant and cocky when he wasn't either cold or scared of everything. Either he was just trying to prove something to her or something else, she didn't know.

"Don't call me that."

"Whatever." Ward retorted, crossing his arms the best he could with the IV in his hand. "You know that there's no way in hell that I agree to any of this. But at least this keeps me away from other people. Or you might knock me on my ass if I try to run elsewhere."

Skye couldn't help but to smirk at that comment, "And yes I will, Agent Ward."

"What? No sarcastic comebacks?"

"I'm not like you. At least I have a shred of respect for others."

Ward's face hardened, red fire sparking in his eyes, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he asked.

Skye gulped, "That means I'm not all snarky to others like it seems you are. Are you this way to Coulson or Simmons?" she asked.

He shrugged, "Depends on the day. And I'm only like this towards Simmons because she's the one that sticks needles into me." he retorted.

Skye figured that this was his way of showing fondness towards someone. The more he started to warm up towards someone, the more cocky he became. And it was the complete opposite with strangers or people he disliked, the more cold and isolated he became. And that was towards majority of the population inside of the base.

A smirk pulled at Skye's lips, "I've got worse than needles. So you better watch yourself around me."

Ward snorted, "And I've seen much worse than you. I live through hell every single damn day, so you're not a problem, Quake."

"Don't push it."

Chapter Text

(A Few Days Later)

Skye’s eyes skimmed the small bar area of the base, hoping to find Ward. She had asked him to meet her here, just as friends. But she figured that he wouldn’t come due to his fear of most people and that she would be left alone here with people who seemed to avoid her as well.

And since agents around the base had started to pick-up on her budding ‘relationship’ with Ward, they had really started to turn against her. One agent had even asked how she could be friends with a monster like him. Skye had shrugged this off since she usually kept to the small circle of her team.

Now the team didn’t mind Ward that much. Simmons was probably what you could call one of Ward’s best friends since she was the one who had to take care of him a lot and had taken a liking to him. Fitz usually did what Simmons did and had warmed-up to the gifted. Coulson liked him and May didn’t care. Mack didn’t care either. The only ones that were skittish around him were Lincoln, Bobbi, and Hunter.

Skye shook her head and got to her feet to leave, figuring that Ward wasn’t coming. But she turned around to come face-to-face with him. He gave a slight smile at her, even though his eyes were darting all around the room. Agents had already noticed that he was in here and either had started talking or had left.

“T-There’s a lot of people in here today.” he stammered, now trying to keep his eyes off of the other agents and on Skye.

Skye could feel that his heart was beating extremely fast. He was nervous, very nervous. “That’s why I wanted you to meet me in here.” she began. “I talked to your psychologist. He says that you need to start dealing with this fear of yours. He thinks it’s great that I’m willing to help. Apparently you need someone that you actually like to help you with these kind of things.”

Ward’s face drained of color, “W-What if I don’t want to?” he asked, fear inching its way into his voice. “You don’t understand, Skye. None of these people like me. They want me dead and they have never ever met me. I appreciate that you care for me. But I don’t like this one bit.” He turned around to leave, “I’m sorry. I’ve got to go.”

He went to leave but felt something tug at his hand. He stopped, frowning as he turned around to see Skye holding his hand, “What is this?” he asked, clearly confused by the contact.

“And, actually, your psychologist technically ordered this. So there’s no way out of it. He just wants you to stay in here for at least fifteen minutes. That’s it.” Skye explained.

“I don’t always do what he says.” Ward snapped. “I don’t care what he wants me to do. If I don’t like it, I don’t like it.”

“We all have to do things we don’t like, Agent Ward. Now, you’re gonna stay. You don’t even have to pay attention to anyone else in this room, you hear me? Just pay attention to me.” Skye looked around, taking notice of the glares that Ward was receiving. She didn’t know that it was this bad. Most of these agents haven’t truly even met Ward and they hated him because of one thing about him.

Ward tensed up as he heard someone utter ‘monster’. He looked back to Skye, “Can we please do this somewhere else?” he asked quietly. “I’m afraid these people might actually try to hurt me. This isn’t a matter of me being afraid of people, it’s a matter of these people trying to kill me to get rid of the ‘monster’.

Some of the people are either people I’ve hurt or they know people that I’ve either hurt or killed. And none of it I could stop. Once I’ve snapped, I’ve snapped. There’s no stopping my rage, Skye. I trust you, and that’s a rare thing for me to do. I trust that you won’t hurt me, but I don’t trust these other people. There’s another reason to why my quarters are in a secluded area of the base.” he went on.

A heavy feeling gripped Skye’s chest. People in this base really wanted him to die? All because they blamed him for things he couldn’t help? No wonder why he was scared of distrusting of everyone.

Skye bit her lip and looked to the side as she thought for a moment. She looked back to Ward as an idea popped in her head, “You know, I could probably get Coulson to move you to our sector of the base.” she began. “I know that there are a few spare rooms. Our sector is secure and none of the agents that want to kill you can get in. As far as I know, none of the team wants you dead. And you’re friends with Fitzsimmons, right?” she asked.

Ward gulped and his eyes trailed around the room as he didn’t know what to say. That offer sounded nice, but there were members of Skye’s team he wasn’t sure of. Well, there was Lincoln, first of all. That man already didn’t like him. And that unsettled Ward.

He clenched and unclenched his fists, feeling the flames starting to build-up underneath his skin. His nervousness and agitation was causing an adverse reaction, he had to get out of here soon. He looked Skye in the eyes, “Sure.” he said quietly. “As long as it keeps me safe and away from these… People. Just promise me that I’ll be okay if Coulson does agree to this.”

Skye nodded, “My team is perfectly fine, Agent Ward. I promise that no one is going to hurt you. You’ll be safe, and possibly you can even work with us. I don’t think you need to be working alone anymore. You need someone that you can trust to be by your side and help you if your ‘problem’ appears.”

“There’s no one I trust other than Coulson and Agent Simmons.”

“I thought that you trusted me.”

Ward bit his lip, “I don’t know yet, to be honest. I think I can trust you, I’m just not sure.” he replied, looking at the ground. “I just hope this offer is something that will, uh, help that.”

Skye nodded, smiling even though Ward wasn’t even looking at her, “I think it will, Agent Ward.”

Ward looked up at her, “You don’t have to call me Agent Ward.” he stated quietly. “You can call me Grant, if you like.”

“Well then, Grant, I don’t think you’re gonna regret coming with me.”

Chapter Text

"So, is it a good idea or not?" Skye asked, watching as Coulson shuffled through papers. "I asked you about it three hours ago and you haven't told me anything."

Coulson looked up to the young agent, "That's because I have been talking with people about this. You realize that this is a risky thing with bringing Agent Ward into our sector. There's a reason to why he stays in a secluded area." he explained. "Mainly, it's because that's what he wants."

"Sir, he's afraid. I talked to him and he's scared that someone is going to try and kill him because of what he is." Skye began, crossing his arms. "I know that a good bit of agents on this base do hate him. And I think he does need somewhere safe to sleep at night without the fear of being hurt or killed. He needs somewhere where he actually has someone that cares for him.

I know that you care for him and so does Fitzsimmons. May will do whatever you say. I'm not sure about the others though." she continued. "I know that Lincoln's already not too fond of him."

"And he and Bobbi were the ones that protested against this. I talked to the entire team. Hunter and Mack didn't care." Coulson responded. "The others were fine with it, as long as Agent Ward is watched for a while. Which won't be a problem. Now, his psychologist did think that this is a good thing for him.

Ward is prone to isolating himself, which just makes his situation worse. He needs someone that can keep him away from that state of mind. Because that exact state of mind is what helps fuel the monster within him." Coulson's face darkened, "Now, Skye, you haven't seen that side of him yet. Eventually, it will come out. Eventually, someone's going to get hurt again. It's been awhile since that last happened.

What happened the other day was nothing compared to what his full rage can be." he continued. Coulson shook his head, eyes skimming over the files over in his hands, "The worst time was about two years before the Uprising, when I wasn't in charge of him or this team. He was stationed at a base that kept an eye on the few gifted agents we had then."

Skye's stomach began to churn, "What happened?" she asked.

"Ward had an unfortunate run-in with another gifted agent that tried to kill him." Coulson began to explain. "He almost died that day, but…" he trailed off. "But he lost it. And completely at that. His flames poured off of him, black as the night. Anyone that crossed his path didn't leave unscathed.

Six agents died that day. Ward had to be shot down in order to be stopped. Five bullet wounds to the torso. He almost died again, but was heavily sedated in order to keep that monster from reappearing. I was sent there for the aftermath… It was horrible. They had Ward placed in a special containment facility for months afterward, even after he healed.

That's when Ward's real troubles began. That's when he really fell into his depression and self-hate. He blamed himself for what happened that day, even though there was no way that he had been in control. What was rampant that day wasn't him. But before that incident, he was a kind and caring man, overly protective too. Now…. Now, he's broken and has a hell of a lot of mental issues riding on his shoulders."

Skye gulped, trying to process the story, "And why are you telling me this?" she asked. "Are you saying it's not a good idea to bring Ward here?"

Coulson shook his head, "That's not what I'm saying at all." he stated. "I'm saying that something like this could prevent another incident like that from occurring. He needs someone by his side that cares for him. Someone that can keep him out of that darkness that spawns that monster." he went on. "We just have to be really careful for a while, that's all."

Biting her lip, Skye looked down at the floor before looking back up to the Director, "So I can go tell him the news and bring him here?" she asked hesitantly.

Coulson nodded, "You can. I've already got him a room marked off." he stated. "But," He lowered his voice, "The only one free was the one next to yours. I didn't know what you would think about that."

Skye tensed up a bit, but relaxed, "T-That's fine." she stammered.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's okay."

"Well, if it is, you can go get him so he can move his stuff into the room." Coulson explained. "Which probably isn't a lot of stuff. Probably just clothes, books, and hygiene products. He doesn't own a whole lot."

Skye nodded briskly and left the room, unsure of what she had gotten herself into.

(A Little While Later)

Ward walked slowly behind Skye, carrying a small box that held some of his things in it. He didn't get everything right now, he just wasn't feeling right about it at the moment. His eyes darted around the new sector of the base, one he had never been in before. "A-Are you sure that I'll be fine?" he stammered. "I-I don't like the feel of this."

"You'll be fine, Grant." Skye reassured him, giving him a quick glance. "No one here is going to bite. Well, maybe May or Morse might. But they won't with you. I promise."

"That's… Reassuring…" Ward mumbled, feeling heat rising in his chest.

"We'll meet the ones you don't know real quick before we head to your room. Oh, and your room is right next to mine." Skye continued, keeping her eyes ahead of her.

Ward didn't say anything in response, he only gripped his box tighter as they came into a big common room. They stopped near the door and Ward noticed that there were other people in here. Fear gripped his chest as his breathing increase. He shrunk back behind Skye as she waved to the people in the room.

"And here's our new sector mate." she announced.

Ward peered from behind Skye, looking at the people. He saw Fitzsimmons, who both smiled at waved at him. The others, however, only looked at him. He could've sworn that there was fear in their eyes. And to his luck, Lincoln wasn't here.

Skye started to point at the three people he didn't know, "That's Mack, our other engineer." she said, pointing at a muscular African-American man who gave him a slight wave. "And that's Bobbi and Hunter, please try to avoid them when they're all lovey-dovey with each other."

"We don't get all lovey-dovey!" the man, Hunter, exclaimed. Ward noticed that he was British, like Simmons.

"Yes, you two do."

The woman, Bobbi, stood and came over to them, which caused Ward to shrink back some more. "Don't listen to Lance, he's crazy. Like Skye said, I'm Bobbi Morse." She held out a hand to Ward, "It's nice to actually meet you."

Ward stared at her hand, unsure of what to do. He gulped, shifting the box to one hand. He shook Bobbi's hand gingerly, "N-Nice to meet you too." he stuttered.

"Look, don't worry. None of us bite." Bobbi began. "You're perfectly fine here."

"T-That's nice to know." Ward returned his gaze to the floor, not wanting to talk anymore.

Skye frowned, taking Ward's hand and giving it a slight squeeze. She looked to Bobbi, "I guess I'll show him his room now." She leaned in closer to where she could whisper to Bobbi and Ward couldn't hear her, "Look, he's not that great with social interaction. It actually pretty much scares him. So he may be rough to talk to for a while. Or he may not even be around for a while. Bringing him here was just to keep him safe." she explained.

Bobbi nodded, not saying anything in response. She decided it was best not to.

Skye held her breath and turned to look at Ward again, who was still looking at the ground. "Should we go ahead and get you to your room?" she asked.

He nodded, remaining silent.

Skye gave a brief look to everyone, "See you guys in a bit, I'll be back." she said before leaving the room with Ward in tow.

The whole walk to his room was completely silent. Ward had a spooked-look in his eyes. Skye stood with her arms crossed as she watched Ward start to unpack his one box.

She knew that he was a good man, a good man with a good heart. But all of that was hidden underneath mountains of fear. And that translated to his coldness, his isolation, and his fear of others. All because of powers he didn't ask for. They were more of a curse to him than a gift.

Ward didn't even talk much to Skye, even though he had somewhat warmed-up to her. Skye knew that there were a lot of rough edges to be smoothed out about him. She knew that she would get him back to the man he once was before the incident that had dragged him down into a seemingly inescapable hell. The one that he was currently suffering through every single day.

Chapter Text

(Three Days Later)

Ward looked up from the book he was reading as an abrupt knock sounded on the door. He groaned and placed the book beside him on the bed. "Great, there goes my peace and quiet. It's probably Skye wanting me to socialize. Just because I said yes to moving in here doesn't mean I said yes to talking to other people." he thought as his feet touched the concrete floor.

He groaned again as he reached the door. He forced a fake smile as he opened and saw Skye, of course, standing there with an annoyed look on her face. "What?" Ward asked, frowning and crossing his arms. "What the hell did I do?"

"All of this." Skye replied pointing inside of his small room. "I didn't have you moved here just so you could hole yourself up inside of your room all over again. You need to socialize. You need to exercise your powers. And this isn't me speaking."

"Let me guess. It's my psychologist, right?" Ward asked, a hint of cockiness in his voice. "He needs to be told that there are two things that I don't like doing and those two exact things are it. I can live the rest of my life without seeing another person or using my powers."

Skye frowned, "And that's exactly what gets you into your bad states. Isolation wreaks havoc on a person's mind and the build-up of your powers either gets you sick or it turns explosive. Literally." she went on, basically scolding him. "I'll tell you something, both Coulson and your psychologist put me in charge of overseeing you. They think that I can really work some magic with you or something."

Ward's lips curled into a snarl and he leaned-in towards Skye's face, causing her to shrink back a little, "You can tell Director Coulson and Dr. Wensworth to shove it up their asses." he growled. "If they think they can change me or whatnot, then they're crazy. I am a monster and that will never change. I will always be like this. And nothing will ever change that." His words were harsh and low, basically a beating to Skye's calm demeanor.

Skye gulped, afraid that she was actually causing him to slowly lose it. She knew that, somehow, she had to calm him down, "Look, Grant, and that's why you won't change if you continue like this." she said. "You keep putting yourself in this position, you keep dragging yourself down. Coulson told me there once was a kind and caring man somewhere inside of you. Is it still there?" she asked.

"The monster killed it." Ward hissed, something sparking in his eyes. "He's dead. Why be that way when everyone around you wants you dead and rotting in hell because of a curse you can't help you have? You see why I hate and fear everyone, Skye? I can't live my life being in constant fear that someone is going to take my life or that I'll completely lose it one day and kill everyone around me.

One of the two is going to happen, Skye. There's no way around this hell. I'm better off dead before I end up slaughtering way more than I can count. The next time, there will be no stopping me. Way more than six agents will end up dying. Maybe everyone is right, maybe I should be killed."

Skye sighed, "Grant, please don't do this to yourself." she began, looking into his eyes, which showed anger and torment. "This is exactly what I'm talking about. You can't treat yourself like this. Loosen up a bit. No one's going to hurt you here, I promise. I've even made sure that Lincoln stays away from you for a while." She took Ward's hand, feeling his high body heat radiating off of his skin, "You can't keep treating yourself like crap. That's what gets you into the dangerous situations you don't want happening."

Ward's face softened as his eyes drifted between Skye's face and the hand that held his. There was something about the physical contact between Skye and him that calmed him. It was a signal sent to him that told him he could fully trust Skye and that she cared for him.

He shook his eyes and briefly looked down to the floor before returning his gaze to Skye, "What do you want me to do then?" he asked quietly, kind of ashamed that he had let himself get so heated in front of her.

"Well, if you're not up to more human interaction, there's a gym in here built specifically for gifteds. Mostly for me, Lincoln, and gifteds that pass through here. I think you might want to blow off some steam. Literally." she explained.

"That's not how it works."

"I'm surprised steam doesn't come out of your ears when you get mad. Guess it's not a cartoon." Skye mumbled. "Anyways, are you up to it?" she asked, going back to the subject. "I've made sure that no one else is in there. It'll just be me and you. It'll do you some good to use your powers when you don't feel threatened."

Ward looked at his hands and he clenched and unclenched them, feeling the heat of the hellfire burning underneath his skin. He looked back up to Skye, who just smiled at him in reply, "F-Fine." he stammered. "But, please, make sure that no one else sees me. I'm not ready for questions about my powers. Simmons has seen me, Fitz a little. But I don't want the others seeing me. Coulson and May are okay, but no one else."

Skye nodded slowly, "Just me and you. And you can stop whenever you want. I don't want you overexerting yourself or losing control."

"Please don't mention those options…"

(A Little Bit Later)

Skye watched in amazement as a huge fireball filled Ward's hand. He showed no signs of struggle with his powers and Skye hoped that it stayed this way. It was probably due to the fact that he didn't have any 'threats' in the area that made him agitated or scared. He was able to fully focus on his control.

Ward slung the fireball and it hit the wall, the flames spilling out over its white surface. The flames lingered there for a bit and Skye watched as Ward narrowed his eyes and motioned his hand towards them, causing them to snuff out.

"Did you just extinguish them with a wave of your hand?" Skye asked, looking at what seemed to be slight scorch marks on the wall.

Ward shrugged, "I guess it's all in the control." he stated. "The flames produced by my body respond to my mind. It's almost like a psychic connection between me and them. They actually burn what I see as a threat." he began to explain. "But most of the time, a threat is everything around me. So the flames act like normal flames and destroy everything. But, when my mind's right, like now, I can will them to destroy whatever I want them to. If I don't see something as a threat, they don't affect the object whatsoever."

He walked over to Skye and held his hand out towards her. A small flame appeared in the palm of his hand as he looked at her, "Go ahead, touch it."

"You want me to touch that?!" she exclaimed.

A small smile pulled at Ward's lips, "Just trust me. They're not gonna do a single thing to you. You're not a threat. You're actually the farthest thing from a threat right now." he said. "They won't bite."

Skye gulped, tentatively holding her hand out towards the flames in Ward's palm. Her eyes drifted up to Ward's, "Y-You sure?" she stammered. He didn't respond, he only nodded. She gulped and stuck her hand straight into the fire. And to her surprise, it didn't burn.

Her eyes widened and she looked at Ward with surprise, "It's warm!" she exclaimed. "It's not doing anything!"

Ward chuckled, "Like I said, it's because you're not a threat." he said, watching as Skye pulled her hand out of the flame. He let the flame die out and his hand fell to the side. "I wish it was like that for everything, that the flames didn't destroy everything I touch. But that's my life, Skye. Everything is a threat to me. Everything is something that the flames want to destroy. And that's why I'm like the way I am. That's why I fear and hate people. It's because of the destruction they can set off."

Skye watched as the pain grew in his whiskey-brown eyes once more. Her mind wandered off for a bit until one thought made a slight smile form on her lips, "Yet here you are, talking to me like there's not a problem in the world." she stated. "What's with that?"

Ward gulped and Skye noticed that he was blushing slightly, "L-Like I said." he stammered. "I don't see you as a threat. But, I don't know. There's something about you being here that provides relief for me. I-I don't know how to explain it."

Skye blinked, "Like I calm you or something?" she asked.

Ward nodded sheepishly, "I know I can trust you, Skye. And I do think that it's possible you can keep me from becoming that side of me." He looked down and trailed off, "I don't know how I can explain this, Skye. I-I feel safe when I'm with you."

Skye's face fell as she started to realize the implications of Ward's explanation. Was it possible that the man actually liked her? She figured that he didn't know how to express it since the level of his people skills was about negative ten or so. She scratched at her head as she tried to figure out what to say. But she figured that she should move the subject onto something else as she noticed that Ward was growing highly uncomfortable. "Come on, let's do a few more drills and we can do something else. Okay?"

Ward gulped, not sure if Skye understood what he had meant. He knew that it had come out as awkward and strange, he didn't know how to explain himself to her. He knew that he did like her, he just didn't know how to explain it to her. He had been shut-off from people for so long, he just didn't know how to talk to them.

And he didn't want to get involved with her. He was afraid that getting to attached to her wound be her demise. He didn't want to hurt her.

"Grant? Are you there?"

Ward's attention was pulled to Skye, who was waving at him, "Yeah, sure, a few more drills. That's fine."

Skye frowned, "Okay?" she asked. "Well, let's get started so we can finish up quickly."

(Later)

Skye sighed and plopped down onto one of the couches in the common room after seeing Ward back to his room. And the man had locked himself up in the room again, of course. But Skye knew that he deserved some alone time after that. Hell, she needed it to process what Ward had said to her.

"Long day working with that monster?" Lincoln asked, smiling as he sat down next to her.

Skye frowned and looked over to the Inhuman, "He's not a monster. He's not that bad of a guy once you get to know him." she stated. "You've got to stop calling him things like that."

"Well, I don't plan on talking to the man anytime soon because I don't want my body being a pile of ash." Lincoln retorted. "So I'm not going to be face-to-face with him." He frowned, noticing Skye's worried expression, "Am I bothering you or is there something else on the table?" he asked.

"No, Lincoln, it's not you surprisingly." Skye responded, looking at him. "It's something that Ward said to me, that's all."

Lincoln frowned, "What did he say?"

Skye shook her head, "It was awkward. Something about he felt safe around me and that he trusted me. I don't know. I know that he really couldn't explain himself to me. But I did get one thing out of it though."

"Hmm?"

"I think Agent Ward likes me."

Lincoln's eyes widened and he almost snorted, "That man likes you? I thought that he didn't like anyone."

"He likes Fitzsimmons and Coulson. That's about it. But not that kind of like. The like like."

"Like he has a thing for you type of deal?"

Skye nodded, "Exactly. I think he likes me like that."

"Now, Skye, I'm not the type of guy to interfere with your love life, but that's not the kind of guy you need to be involved with. He may hurt you or even worse, kill you. And he may not even realize it." Lincoln explained.

"All you've heard is stories about him and then that one mission." Skye started. "Grant's not that bad of a guy. Sure he's extremely rough around the edges, fears people, and is in some kind of chronic depression. And demonic fire runs through his veins."

Lincoln raised an eyebrow, "That's what I'm talking about, Skye. He's dangerous. And you're on a first name basis with him?"

"He's a friend. But, Linc, I don't know. He's actually a nice guy once he knows that he can trust you. I just don't know."

Lincoln got to his feet, "Skye, you're my friend. I don't want you getting hurt if you get involved with him. I imagine he wouldn't intentionally hurt you, but if he loses it…"

"I know, I know."

"But do you like him, though? I'm not stopping you from doing so, it's just that I don't think it's a good idea."

Skye gulped, biting her lip as she sought for a good answer, "To be honest, Linc, I think I do like him. It's just that I don't know. I don't know."

"But this connection between you two or whatever it is is something that you have to sort out not me." Lincoln stated. "You've got to figure this out on your own." He walked off, leaving her to herself.

Skye sighed and looked down, "I don't even know if I can figure this own on my own."

Chapter Text

(A Week Later)

Hunter narrowed his eyes as Skye walked by, Ward right on her heel. The Brit shook his head and looked towards Bobbi, "I don't get it." he began. "The man's attached to her like he's a puppy or something. It's strange, and kind of creepy." He watched as the two disappeared down the hallway.

"Hunter, that man hasn't had anyone he could trust for a while now." Bobbi explained. "You would grow attached to someone like that if you were technically in isolation for like three years. He had no one, other than Coulson and Simmons. And that isn't much. I'm surprised that Skye took to him like that. I guess that she could relate in a few ways to his problems."

"Skye's not a monster like he is, Bob." Hunter stated, crossing his arms. "I can't say stuff like this around him, because it might trigger something. That man needs to be in a special facility where he can be watched. He's got mental issues galore. And that added with his demonic powers or whatnot, that just makes for a total monster."

"I don't like this either, but we'll have to put up with it until it's over. Coulson's doing this to avoid that happening. He thinks it can help fix him or whatever. And it may be working." Bobbi explained. "Skye's sure as hell doing something, whatever it is."

"It's love." Hunter responded. "Very awkward love."

"I don't think that Agent Ward has had a significant other." Bobbi stated. "That curse of his probably makes it hard for him to find one. It's good that he met Skye. It's a gifted with a gifted. Kind of cancels each other out."

"So is Coulson plan on having the man stay here for the rest of eternity or what?" Hunter questioned. "What if he loses it or whatever it is that happens to him?"

Bobbi shrugged, "I don't want to find out. Hopefully it won't get to that. I know that you're uncomfortable with having someone like him here, but we'll have to learn how to deal. The guy's nice since he's began to become slightly more social with us. But it's gonna take a while for him to fully break out of that shell of his. He spent three or more years being absolutely afraid of people, he's not gonna suddenly like them again."

(Elsewhere)

Coulson looked up as Skye, still followed by Ward, came into his office. He smiled as he stood up, not trying to spook Ward or anything. The man had made some good progress with his social issues and a few other things, but he was far from being paranoid about everything.

"I-I'm not being kicked out, am I?" Ward stammered, shying behind Skye. "Please don't tell me that I am."

Coulson shook his head as his eyes widened slightly, "No, no. Why would I do that, Grant?" he asked. "You haven't done a single thing for me to even scold you for. You've been great for the past week and a half you've been here. Your psychologist says that you're doing great with your therapy. You're not in trouble. This is about something entirely different."

Skye blinked, reaching behind her and taking Ward's hand, giving it a slight, reassuring squeeze. "And what's that?"

"I've talked to Dr. Wensworth and also May about this. I'm thinking that it's time to have you out in the field a bit. Just a small recon mission. Should be no fighting. And it'll just be you and Skye, which I imagine you don't mind at all." Coulson began to explain. "All you got to do is pilot a quinjet out to an area where a suspected Hydra base is and scout the area surrounding the base. Should be minimal to no fighting, like I said."

The Director studied Ward's worried gaze and the way he was squeezing Skye's hand. He took a breath, "I'm not forcing you to do so, Grant. I thought it would just be a great opportunity for you to get out and possibly exercise your powers without fear of ridicule. You're a great agent underneath all of that fear. You do great on solo missions, but it's time that you at least start working with at least one other person. And it'll be Skye and no one else. Just her. Is that okay?"

Ward swallowed the forming lump in his throat. He was perfectly fine with doing solo missions. The ones that no one else would take because they were too dangerous. The ones that he hoped would take his life in the end. He didn't like working with others due to the fear that he would end up killing whoever it was. And the fact that it was Skye made it even worse.

"I-I don't want to end up hurting Skye, sir." Ward stammered. "I'm fine with the solo missions you send me on. I don't care about hurting the enemy. I don't want to hurt those I have to be around every day, though."

Skye turned around to look at him, "Grant, you'll be fine." she promised. "I'll make sure that you will be. You just need to begin to cope with working with others because it'll help you through your mental issues. Running from your fears isn't going to help. And it's just me. Lincoln's not gonna be with us, nobody else. Just me." She gave him a smile, "Will you do it for me?"

Ward gulped as Skye continued to smile at him. He couldn't help but give her a shy smile back. "Fine." he said. "As long as it's just you."

Coulson nodded, "Good. You two will leave at 1500 hours, you've got two hours to get ready." he explained. He nodded towards Ward, "Grant, do you mind stepping into the hall for a bit?" he asked. "I need to speak with Skye for a minute."

Fear gripped Ward's stomach slightly, "W-What for?" he stammered.

"Just about the mission. She's technically the lead for it."

"O-Okay." Ward replied shakily, headed towards the door. Skye and Coulson watched as the gifted went out of the room and shut the door softly behind him.

Skye turned to face the Director, "This isn't about the mission, is it?" she asked.

"Yes, It's about Grant." Coulson stated. "I just wanted to say a few things without him being in here."

"Like what?"

"Skye, I know that you two are growing quite close already. I know that you trust him. I trust him too. It's just that as he's continuing to go through the process of working through his issues, he may be a little more prone toincidents. His anger may be a little harsher at times. Dr. Wensworth explained it.

As a mind is beginning to cope with issues of the magnitude that Ward has, it can tend to be pretty unstable at times. And with Grant, unstable means prone to more outbursts. More outbursts means a higher possibility of hisother side reappearing, something we don't want." he continued. "He's a nice guy, you already know that. He's trying his best not to lose himself. But he's got the temper equivalent to the Hulk most of the time. His fear is what's currently masking it.

Don't be surprised if the next agent he runs into that even says one bad thing about him ends up in the infirmary. His rage is a part of his powers. Having powers that dark comes with a price. And that rage is what drives him down. Even before the first incident, he was still feared. That was a time before gifteds were really widespread.

We tried to contain him to SHIELD as much as we could ever since we picked him up out of juvie seventeen years ago. He's lived a sheltered life. One where he's never had true relationships. I see that something is budding between you two. And, Skye, you need to watch him. I think that you're his anchor in this whole mess, the only thing that keeps him from losing himself."

Skye gulped, realizing the impact of Coulson's words. She was letting herself fall in love with the practical demon equivalent of the Hulk. Ward was a great guy though, his rage was what dragged him down in the end. She was the one that kept him going berserk? That was actually kind of unsettling. But Ward was the first gifted that she actually liked in a budding romantic way. Lincoln was just a friend. Nothing more, nothing less.

But how could she love a man with a monster hiding inside of him?

Skye shook her head and returned her attention to Coulson, "So what was this about, sir?" she asked.

"Just watch him for the next few weeks as his therapy is going along. That's all I'm asking. And you're the best person for the job." Coulson replied. "Make sure that he actually enjoys this mission and doesn't come back suicidal and even more depressed as he is."

Skye nodded hesitantly, "Will do." she replied, turning around and leaving the office. She met Ward standing a few feet away from the door.

"What was that about?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing much. Just some info about the mission that's all." she explained, taking his hand again.

"And what the hell are we supposed to do?"

"Scout a supposed Hydra base. Maybe you'll get to knock a few head together. I know you've been itching to do so."

Ward scoffed and gave her a sly grin, "As long as it's just Hydra, you know that right?" he questioned. "I don't mind attacking the enemy. As long as I don't go berserk or hurt an ally. I don't care if an enemy gets hurt though."

Skye nodded, pulling at his arm and leading him down the hallway, "Now that's the spirt. That's the kind of attitude you need to have."

"I'm not promising I'll keep it, though. My illness is like a disease you can get rid of. And I'm not talking about my mental issues."

"Your powers aren't a disease."

"I'd like to see the day when they aren't. But today, they're a disease. One that's eating me alive, waiting to kill me."

Chapter Text

(Later)

Skye looked over from the co-pilot's seat over to Ward, who was currently piloting the quinjet towards the coordinates of the supposed Hydra base. Ward's eyes flickered over, his tense face relaxing as he saw Skye's gaze. He pressed a few buttons on the control panel, setting the jet on autopilot. He turned the chair to face Skye.

"Why do you keep looking at me like that?" he asked.

"Like what?" Skye asked, raising an eyebrow. "I was just looking at you, what was weird about it?"

Ward looked down, "Like you're expecting something. Like you think something's going to happen with me." he stated. "Skye, you can tell me if you're worried about something with me." He looked back up at her, "Did Coulson tell you about my growing problem? That I'm mentally unstable right now?"

Skye took a breath and nodded slightly, "He did. He told me that your therapy was causing a few more issues."

"So that talk wasn't about this mission then?" Ward questioned, a hint of irritation in his voice. "It was about me. Freaking figures. Skye, I would like to go one day without being reminded of what the hell is wrong with me. But every single damn day, someone brings it up. It's hard to forget something that people won't shut the hell up about." His voice was becoming harsher by the second, making Skye's fear start to grow slightly.

"Grant, all he told me was to watch you for a while. He just wants me to make sure that you don't go over the edge or anything of the like." Skye explained slowly, trying to keep her voice nice and calm since it was clear that Ward was getting highly agitated.

"I don't need to be watched like a little kid, Skye. I'm a grown man." Ward snapped. "I don't need someone watching me like a hawk 24/7." He took a sharp breath and ran his hands through his hair, "I'm not a child."

"It's not that. Coulson wants to make sure that you're doing well for the next few weeks, that's all. He wants to make sure that you don't snap or relapse into a depressed state."

Ward rose to his feet, towering over Skye since she was still sitting down, "Then why send me on this mission?" he asked, his voice cracking. "It sounds like he doesn't trust me at all. It sounds like he expects me to snap and explode at any moment." Both anger and pain shown in his whiskey-brown eyes, "And that doesn't help me at all."

Skye slowly came to her feet, "Grant," she began.

"Skye, even Coulson, the man who tries his hardest to help me, still fears me. Everyone does. Everyone expects the next major incident. The next time I snap and end up killing multiple people."

Skye looked at him, her face falling and she remained silent.

"You don't understand what that day did to me. I barely remember what I did. Four months of my life I don't remember because I was so sedated for that long. Because I had lost it for that long. I was a monster for four months, Skye." Pain was etched on his face and his voice cracked as he spoke, "And I would love to forget it all. But I can't, because every day someone reminds me of it. And I live in constant fear of becoming that monster again." He shook his head, "This is why I don't want to live, Skye. I rather be dead than live through what I experience every day. I deserve to die."

Skye walked up to him and took his hand, "Grant, you don't deserve to die. And Coulson has told you multiple times that that wasn't you that day. You don't need to blame yourself for something you couldn't help."

Ward looked down, trying to avoid Skye's gaze. He pulled his hand from hers, "You tell me that, but you don't know what I go through every day. I can't help but to blame myself, because I let myself become that monster. I let myself snap in rage because that bastard tried to kill me…." He trailed off and remained silent.

"Then it's that guy's fault. He was the one that released that monster, not you. He's the one to blame."

"And he's dead. Because I burnt him alive." Ward said quietly. "All I do is damage, Skye. They say fire provides life, but that's far from right. It burns and destroys. And it's about ten times worse with hellfire. It's way more destructive."

"Look, Grant, you've got to snap out of this mindset. I promise that you'll be fine. I'm right here with you. And I thought that you wanted to knock some Hydra heads together, right?" she asked, giving him a smile. "Coulson thought that would help. You need to get some time out in the field. This is the perfect chance to do so. And it shouldn't be that stressful on you. You'll be fine."

She watched as Ward took a ragged breath and as his eyes rested on her, dull fire sparking in them. "Are you sure?" he asked. "Because I'm never sure of myself anymore."

"I'm sure, Grant. Now just make sure that we land there safe and sound before the autopilot decides to do something weird."

Ward's eyes trailed to the controls and noticed that they were almost at the coordinates. He took a breath and slid back into the pilot's seat, regaining the manual controls of the jet. "Then take a seat, because I'm probably gonna have to land weird on some rugged terrain."

Skye sighed and took her set once more. Even though she had managed to get Ward back to a semi-normal mindset, she couldn't help but think that something could happen. There was always that chance with Ward.

(A Little Later)

Skye and Ward walked out onto the rocky terrain surrounding the area of the supposed Hydra base. Their eyes surveyed the land, seeing a building off in the distance.

"You think that's it?" Ward asked, his eyes flickering between the building and the gun at his side. Skye had an ICER, but he suspected that it was actually meant for him in case things got out of control.

"Let's see. Weird building out in the middle of nowhere in the mountains… I'd say probable location for a Hydra base." Skye stated, squinting her eyes at the base. "Let's go ahead that way. All we have to do is confirm that it's indeed a Hydra base and then we get back to the jet."

Ward nodded, even though he was extremely nervous. He could feel the flames building up underneath his skin. Even though he did want to fight Hydra agents, he didn't know what fighting in his current state would do. But it was probably good for him to release his powers before the flames built-up way too much.

"I guess." he agreed, following Skye as she started ahead over the rocky terrain. "Did Coulson ever say what he suspected the base was used for?"

Skye shook her head as they went, "Nope. He just knew that there was most likely a Hydra base out here. So we don't know what it's used for. A head could be hiding there or it could be a science base, we don't know."

"A science base? Like the ones used for experimentation?" Ward asked, fear building in his chest. "Then we definitely don't need to be caught out here if it's one of those. I don't want to know what they could do with me."

"We won't be caught, Grant. We make sure it's a base and we get the hell out of here."

"I hope that's all."

The two continued walking for what seemed like an eternity for Ward until they got to a massive fence surrounding the building, one topped with razor wire. Ward squinted and pointed at a sign on the outside of the building, even though the building was still a good bit away from the fence.

"Check it out, Hydra symbol. It's Hydra. Now let's get the hell out of here." His apprehension was clear in his voice. "We don't need to be caught. Please, Skye."

Skye nodded, "I guess this is all we had to do. Hydra symbol means that it's Hydra. Didn't think they would still have a base this nice though. I guess we report back to," She stopped, noticing that Ward had tensed up. "Grant, what's wrong?" she asked.

Ward's body was shaking a bit, "I sense something. Something, no, someone's coming." Fire sparked in his eyes, "A fight's coming."

"Then we fight and get the hell out of here."

"I don't know about getting the hell out of here." Ward stated, panic in his voice as he kept flexing his hands to keep the flames at bay. "I can faintly hear it, an alarm's sounded."

"I don't hear one."

"My hearing's better. Comes with the whole part-demon or whatever thing."

Skye tensed up as she suddenly felt the vibrations of several individuals coming their way. "You're right. Seven men, most likely all armed. We need to go now."

Ward didn't waste no time arguing before he pulled Skye by the arm and the two began to ran back towards the jet. But the seven men came out of nowhere and surrounded them, all armed to the teeth with hi-tech weaponry.

"Seems like some bugs are on our property, and they're SHIELD too!" one of the hawked. "How about we deal with them?!"

With that, all of the weapons were pointed towards them. Skye looked over to Ward and saw that he was shaking. He looked over to her and Skye saw the fire pouring from his eyes. His fear had caused the flames to accumulate way too much. And he was looking at her as though he was looking for her permission to attack. Skye knew that Ward didn't care about these Hydra agents one bit, but she knew that he didn't want to kill them.

She gave him a slight nod, telling him that it was okay. She watched as fire erupted in his palms and quickly travelled up his jacketed arms. The group of Hydra agents all stumbled back in surprise, but quickly regained their stature.

A slight growl escaped Ward's chest as he rocketed forward towards two of the agents and grabbed their weapons, causing them to melt. Skye spun around and sent a shockwave towards another agent, causing him to fly into the air and land on the ground several feet away.

And with that, the destructive forces of fire and earth started to tear up the terrain and the Hydra agents around them.

Chapter Text

The Hydra guards tried to regain their composure as they witnessed the combination of Skye and Ward's attacks. None of them had realized that the two SHIELD agents were gifteds. One dropped to the ground right as a fireball sailed past his head.

"Looks like we have a couple of freaks!" one sneered, aiming his gun towards the demon that was Ward. "How," But he was cut off as Ward slammed into him, without any flames.

The guards stared up into blazing-red eyes and a massive snarl. "Do not call us that." Ward growled, his voice deep and pained. He grabbed the guard by the neck and began to squeeze tightly, "Leave us the hell alone."

Skye was too busy with two more guards to notice that Ward was already starting to lose it. She thrusted out her hands and sent a massive shockwave out towards her two enemies, causing them to fly back in the air several feet. They hit the ground hard and fell unconscious. That left five guards left.

She spun around to see Ward still holding the one guard in a death-grip. Her eyes widened as she saw his hands were glowing. And the guard's head suddenly erupted into dark flames and she could hear the man screaming as Ward slowly rose to his feet as the screams died off. His head lifted up towards Skye and his expression completely terrified her.

His eyes were glowing a bright, blood-like red and his face was contorted into a dreadful snarl. And his hands still glowed with an orange light, and she was surprised that there wasn't any fire on him. Well, yet.

Ward turned around to face three guards that had been petrified by the sight of their coworker's head bursting into flames. All that was left of him now was a shriveled-up head and charred tactical gear. Skye wanted to stop him before he got completely out of control, but a bullet that whizzed by her head caused her to face the remaining two guards.

She could tell that they were about to open fire, so she sent several blasts at them that only disassembled their guns. The two guards stood in confusion at what had just happened and Skye sent them a glare that sent them packing before she could actually do any damage to them.

"Alright, that only leaves," she began in her head, but a sharp grunt from behind her stopped her. She spun around her eyes widened at the sight of Ward lying on the ground with what seemed to be blood blossoming on his shirt. He had been shot.

"Grant!" she screamed, running over to his side and ignoring the three guards that still remained. She reached out towards him, but drew her hand back when she found that his skin was scorching hot. And she scampered back when his eyes snapped open to reveal still-red eyes. She crawled back more as he slowly climbed to his feet.

"Grant?" she asked, her voice soft.

His eyes drifted to her and she could immediately tell that he was pained. Like he was holding back something. Like he was about to snap. "Run." he said, his voice low and laced with pain. "Don't want to hurt you. Please."

His gaze returned to the three guards that were now completely confused at what was going on. Skye quickly jumped to her feet and started to back away as she saw Ward's body shutter and flames erupt from his hands. The flames quickly spread their way up his arms, flattening against his body like armor.

A growl rumbled from his chest and he rocketed towards the three guards before they could even react to the situation. The flames continued to cover his body like hellish armor. He grabbed two guards and they immediately were consumed in flames. They were thrown aside as their bodies became human bonfires. He turned to the next one, but found that he had fled. And all that was left was…

Skye.

He slowly turned around to meet her gaze, even though his body was completely covered in flames. Skye gulped at the sight of the flame-demon that had taken Ward's place. So this is what happened when Ward went too far over the edge. But it didn't look like the incident that Coulson had described to her. So Skye figured that he wasn't too far gone. Yet.

"Grant?" she asked, her hands by her side.

There was no answer from the flaming mass. It only stood there. She assumed that Ward was looking straight at her, she really couldn't tell since she couldn't see his eyes. A growl-like noise echoed from the flames and he suddenly shot towards her with surprising speed.

Skye dropped to the ground and rolled out of the way of the flying flames. It spun and assumingly looked towards her. She jumped to her feet.

"Grant!" she screamed. "Snap out of it! I'm not going to hurt you! It's just me! It's Skye! The Hydra guards are gone! There's no one else threatening you, you're going to be okay. I promise."

The flaming mass inched its way towards her, showing no signs that Ward had actually heard what Skye had said.

Skye gulped, but held her ground. She didn't want to show any signs of retaliation against Ward. "Grant, don't let it end like this. I know that you don't want to hurt me, right?" she asked, holding her hands out towards him. "No one's going to hurt you anymore. We can go back home."

Ward stopped, like he had heard her. And she hoped that he had.

"Grant, please. I know that you like me, and you know what? I like you as well. So don't let it end like this." Skye said, a smile on her face. "The Hydra threat is gone for now. You're okay."

The flames suddenly rippled, diluting in color and intensity. They snuffed out to reveal Ward's unscathed body underneath. He fell to his knees and Skye ran over to him.

She knew that he was in pain both physically and mentally. He needed to be brought back to base immediately. Before something else happened.

"I'm not okay. You know that, Skye." he muttered, looking at the ground and avoiding Skye's gaze. "I'm far from okay. I'm a monster and I let myself become so."

"Hey," Skye began taking Ward's face in her hands and making him look her in the eyes. "You're not a monster. That is not what you are."

His eyes shifted to the side to avoid her eyes, "You saw me, Skye. I almost killed you. The one person I swore to myself that I wouldn't let anything happen to. And I almost blew just that in a matter of minutes." What looked to be tears welled up in his eyes as he did return his gaze back to Skye, "I'm a damn monster and nothing is ever going to change that."

Skye bit her lip slightly, still holding Ward's stubble-covered face in her hands. She shook her head and looked in firmly in the eyes, "Grant, I promise you, you are not a monster. Whatever that was, that is not you. And it will never be you. You cannot relate yourself to that. That thing is something that uses you and you will never be responsible for what it does." she stated. "That is not you, nor will it ever be you. You are not a demon. You are human. You just have powers that make it seem as though you are not. You are not a monster."

She wrapped her arms around the man and Ward's head fell onto her shoulder as he began to sob. Skye knew that he was starting to fall into a bad mental state again and he needed all the help he could get immediately. "I'm so sorry, Skye. I'm sorry. I almost had you killed. You could've died." he sobbed.

"Like I said, it's not your fault. Don't blame yourself." She let go of him and stood to her feet, holding her hand out to him. "Come on, let's go home before Hydra can send more men."

Ward looked up at her with bloodshot eyes and tears on his face, "If anyone finds out about this, they're all going to hate me. Skye, I can't handle anymore." he said, voice weak. "I can't."

"I doubt anyone will say anything, but you need to talk to someone other than me. Please, don't let yourself go into darkness again." Skye said, still holding her hand out. "I will help you."

He looked to the side briefly before returning his gaze to her. He gulped and nodded shakily, taking her hand and coming to his feet. "How are we even going to get back?" he asked. "I-I don't think that I could fly."

Skye squeezed his hand slightly, "I'll find a way. I promise."

"Are you even sure?"

"Yes, Grant, I am."

Chapter Text

(Later That Night)

Skye's eyes snapped open as she could sense a pained vibration coming from the room adjacent to hers. As she sat up in her bed, faint screams could be heard, which gripped her heart in fear.

"Please, no! I didn't mean to! Make it stop!"

Her stomach completely froze over. It was Ward. And it sounded as though he was having a nightmare. She didn't waste any time bolting out of bed and running out of the room and next door to Ward's. Running inside, she approached his bedside and turned on the lamp that sat on his table.

Ward was writhing in bed, sweat glistening on his face. His face twitched as he kept mumbling something coherent over and over. Skye gulped, not sure if she should wake him or not. But she was afraid if she let the nightmare go on that it might trigger something.

She placed her hand on his shoulder and gently shook him, "Grant?" she called out. "Grant, wake up."

Ward's eyes suddenly flew open and he bolted up, causing Skye to jump back. His crazed gaze darted around the room before it rested on Skye. And immediately, his panicked expression softened.

"Grant?" Skye asked. "Are you okay?"

His face paled, the cold sweat still glistening on his skin. He shrugged, pulling his legs close to him, "Yeah. I'm fine." he mumbled. "I'm okay."

Skye frowned and sat on the edge of his bed, looking at him, "Grant, I heard you screaming. You were in distress. You can tell me what's wrong." she said softly, taking his hand.

Ward gulped and looked away from him, "It was just a dream." he replied quietly.

"I have a feeling that dreams aren't 'just a dream' with you." Skye began. "Again, you can tell me what's wrong."

"Fine. It was a nightmare. In it, I completely lost it and went berserk in the base." Ward began to explain, keeping his gaze away from Skye. "People died, a lot of them too. And the last person I killed was you…" he trailed off and shook his head. "Then I snapped out of it. The rest of Coulson's team surrounded me, guns pointed at me. I couldn't stop staring at your remains.

They tried to kill me to end the monster's reign." he continued. "I pleaded with them that I didn't mean for any of it to happen, but they didn't believe me. They thought I was too far gone. You woke me up before it got any further." He shook his head and looked down, and Skye could see tears welling up in his eyes.

"Grant,"

Ward turned his head to look at her, "Skye, this is the fear I've been going through every single day for a while now. I fear the day that I'll actually hurt you. And today almost proved that fear true." He shook his head once again and turned his gaze from her. He buried his face in his knees and pulled at his hair with his hands, "I'm a monster, Skye. It's only a matter of time before I hurt you. It's only a matter of time before that incident happens again. I'm a damn time bomb and there's nothing anyone can do to stop me other than to kill me!"

He broke down into sobs and Skye didn't know what to do. She bit her lip, trying to figure out what to say. "Look, Grant, earlier was just a freak accident, you couldn't help that. Honestly, I do think you were trying to protect me from those guards, but things escalated and you couldn't help that.

You're strong. You can get through this." she continued. "You're not going to hurt me. But you don't need to belittle yourself like this every single night. Even though that monster does exist, I believe it's just mostly talk. Most of it was created by the agents that have seen you snap. And you've made yourself believe that. And even though there have been incidents, it doesn't mean it's always lurking around the corner to drag you down. You're not the monster everyone thinks you are."

Ward sniffed and looked up to Skye with bloodshot eyes, "Do you really think that?" he asked shakily. "I know you've said it about a hundred times, but I have a hard time believing you."

Skye nodded at him, giving him a smile as well, "Yes, I do believe that, Grant. You are not a monster. And I will keep telling you that until you finally believe me." She stood up, "Now, get some sleep. It's late at night and not sleeping isn't going to help you."

Ward gulped, "Please, don't leave me alone." he said softly, looking down. "I don't think I can sleep. And I don't need to be alone with my thoughts." He looked back up at her, "Can you stay?"

Skye took a breath, looking at the broken light in Ward's eyes. It was true, he didn't need to be alone right now. She was afraid that he might try something. But she was hesitant to stay with him. She bit her lip, "Fine, I'll stay." she said softly, sitting back down on the bed. "But just because it's you."

He gave her a weak smile, "T-Thank you." he stammered weakly.

She smiled back at him, "As long as you promise to talk to your psychologist in the morning. You need more help than I can give you."

"I don't," Ward began.

Skye shot him a look, "Avoiding help isn't going to help. You're going to do it."

Ward looked to the side, "Fine. Whatever you say." he mumbled. He looked back to her, but didn't say anything.

"Grant, get some sleep, you need it."

(That Morning)

Ward woke up groggily a few hours later, sleep crusted in the corner of his eyes. A figure beside him almost spooked him, but as his eyes adjusted to the dim light, he saw that it was Skye curled up right next to him. She must've fallen asleep sometime after he did. He appreciated that she stayed to make sure that he actually got to sleep, but it was awkward for him to wake up right next to her.

A slight turn of his head towards his clock told him that it was only four in the morning. He knew that there wasn't anything for them to do today, and he also knew that Skye would probably want him to sleep in after the events of yesterday. Now, he wasn't the type to sleep in, but to be honest he did feel exhausted. So he figured two or three more hours of sleep wouldn't hurt.

He shifted so he was on his side facing Skye and carefully draped an arm around her. The sweet scent of her hair filled his nose and Skye groaned softly, nestling into him even more. He smiled slightly before closing his eyes once more.

And for the first in what seemed like forever for him, Ward actually felt at peace. But as he fell back asleep, he knew that this peace was only temporary.

(A Few Hours Later)

Ward and Skye walked into the kitchen together after they had changed and everything. Skye actually had persuaded Ward to wear sweatpants and a hoodie since they weren't doing anything that day and it was cold out. It took a while between protests of 'I don't get cold.' and 'I look stupid.' to get him to wear that outfit. And Skye was wearing something similar.

Ward stuck his head in the fridge to find them something to eat, "You want pancakes?" he asked. "I'm pretty sure that there has to be stuff for just that in here."

"Sounds good to me. But make some for Fitzsimmons and Lincoln as well. Everyone else is busy today." Skye responded, sitting at the kitchen's bar.

His stomach froze over and he looked back at Skye, "Do I have to make them for Lincoln?" he asked.

"I'm telling you to." Skye said, pointing at him. "And Sparky loves pancakes. So he'll absolutely love yours."

Ward shrugged and returned to gathering the stuff for the pancakes, "Whatever." he mumbled.

"And you're still talking to your psychologist later."

"God, it's like you're my wife or something." Ward grumbled, walking over to the stove.

Skye scoffed, even though she blushed slightly, "Yeah, right. I just want the best for you."

"Do you even hear yourself?"

"Whatever, Charizard."

"What?"

"Nevermind." Skye muttered, watching as Ward began to put together the pancake mix. She thought back to last night. Back to Ward's episode and to the fact that they had actually slept in the same bed together. It was awkward to think about, but not much since it was Ward.

"You know, you're very warm." she stated.

Ward frowned at looked at her, "Excuse me?" he asked. He blinked, then realizing that she was talking about last night. "Oh."

"You're like a heater or something."

He returned to the pancakes, "And that's why I never get cold. My body radiates heat because of the flames. My body temperature is several degrees higher than a normal person's. And that's one reason why I heal fast.

And I'm not affected by heat either. So I can dress however I want in whatever type of weather it is. That's why this hoodie getup is not necessary."

"Well, I think you look cute in it."

Ward blushed slightly and was glad that his back was to Skye. Yes, he liked her and he knew that she liked him, but it still flustered him when she said things like that. And he was supposed to be the stone-cold man that hated everyone.

In a few ways that was true. He was that way to people he didn't know or didn't like. To the people he had warmed-up to, mainly Skye, Coulson, and Fitzsimmons, he was loose and kind of awkward sometimes. Most of the time he was described as arrogant and cocky when he wasn't in a bad state, but he didn't see it.

"How many of these should I make?" he asked, trying to move on from those thoughts.

"Uh, how many do you think you should make? I mean we need enough for the both of us, Fitzsimmons, and Lincoln. And the two of us eat like we're five people combined. So, you need a hell of a lot of pancakes." Skye tried to figure out.

"I don't think I have 'a hell of a lot' of pancake mix, Skye. We'll have what I can make." Ward retorted.

"Even though your snark is a good sign that you're in a good mood, it's completely unnecessary, Grant." Skye stated, watching Ward flip a pancake high into the air and catch it in the pan.

"Excuse me for being myself."

Skye sighed and rolled her eyes, "You can be such an ass sometimes." she muttered.

"What?"

"God, nevermind."

Chapter Text

"What the hell are we doing?" Ward asked as Skye dragged him down the hallway towards the common room. "Skye, please don't tell me your dragging me into another social event."

Skye looked at him and smirked, "More or less. But again, it's just Fitzsimmons and Lincoln, so I wouldn't call it social. Since it's so freaking cold out and we have nothing else to do, Jemma suggested that we have a movie day." she said.

"I don't do movies." Ward grumbled. "And besides, it's not that cold out. I'd rather go for a run."

"Not all of us are our own heaters, Grant." Skye retorted, still dragging him down the hallway. "And besides, give yourself a break. You've been working yourself pretty hard these past few days. Learn how to relax."

"I don't relax."

"Oh, give me a break." Skye muttered, pulling him into the common room and over to a couch. She pointed at the piece of furniture, "Now sit." she ordered.

"I'm not a dog."

"Grant, please. Just do this for me."

Ward snorted and rolled his eyes, sitting on the end of the couch, "Whatever." he mumbled. "I don't do movies."

"Oh, you actually got him to join us?"

Skye turned to see Simmons, along with Fitz, walk into the room. "You would've believe how damn stubborn this asshole is." she stated. "It took everything I got to make him wear a hoodie and sweatpants."

"You do realize that I'm right here, do you?" Ward asked. "'Cause I'm hearing everything that comes out of your mouth. I'm not oblivious!"

Skye motioned towards him, "See? Asshole." she said. She smiled as Ward grumbled and looked away. "Anyways, where's Lincoln?" she asked. "I thought he was gonna be with us."

"I don't know where he's at, but he should be coming." Fitz replied. "Did you think of what movie we should watch?"

"No, I was waiting until everyone got here." Skye replied. She looked towards Ward, "But it's gotta be something that he'll sit through. I don't think he'll sit through a comedy or anything of the sort."

Ward narrowed his eyes at her, but didn't say anything in response. He was telling the truth though. He had never been the one to just sit down and watch a movie. He had always been on a mission or was locked-away in his room during one of his episodes he never really remembered. So he really didn't know what he liked.

A smile pulled at Fitz's lips, "How about something with a lot of explosions and fire in it?" he asked jokingly. "Seems like him."

"Again, I'm still right here!" Ward exclaimed.

Simmons sighed and shook her head, "How about something like the Jurassic Park movies?" she asked. "Seems good enough."

Ward raised an eyebrow, "Dinosaurs, really?" he asked. "I mean seriously?"

Fitz looked offended, "Hey, they're great movies." he said. "Don't judge until you see them."

"They're dinosaurs."

Skye sighed and rolled her eyes, "I think that will be fine. As long as Mr. Party Pooper here doesn't try to ruin the movies for us."

Ward scoffed, "Like I said, I don't watch movies."

"Well, you're about to."

"And how about you two don't bicker like an old married couple the entire damn time." Fitz said, crossing his arms. "It's seriously the only thing you've done lately."

"We don't bicker that much." Skye stated, narrowing his eyes. She looked to Ward, "Do we?"

Ward shrugged, "I dunno." he mumbled. "Can you just go ahead and start this stupid dinosaur movie or whatnot?"

Skye raised her eyebrow and looked back to Fitzsimmons, "Anyways, do we have food and stuff?"

"I'll go get popcorn and stuff." Fitz replied. "Hopefully Lincoln will be here once I get back." The young engineer turned and walked out of the room.

Skye sighed and sat down on the couch, right next to Ward. She noticed that he was kind of tense and she nudged him, "C'mon, Grant, relax. Stop acting like someone is going to attack you at any moment."

Ward looked down, "You don't know that." he muttered. He looked her in the eyes, "You don't know that at all."

Skye's expression softened, "Grant, you're safe here." she said. "There's no need to be worrying about someone trying to kill you."

"Whatever." Ward mumbled, looking away and trying to bury himself deeper into the corner of the couch.

Simmons gave Skye a worried look, but all Skye could do was shake her head. She didn't know what to say, and she didn't want to say anything in front of him. Skye looked back to Ward, who was now staring at his hands.

" Oh God, I hope nothing goes wrong."

(A Few Hours Later)

Ward opened his eyes and the first thing he heard was dinosaurs roaring violently. He looked up and saw that Skye was practically all over him fast asleep. She must've drifted off sometime after he did. He didn't mind it though, it actually made him feel more at ease with her being this close to him.

With a quick look around the room, Ward noticed that Fitz was the only one awake. Simmons was asleep with her head propped on his shoulder and Lincoln was nowhere to be seen. "What happened here?"

Fitz tore his eyes from the dino-fight scene and looked at Ward, "Well, you two dozed-off and so did Jemma. I don't know where Lincoln went to." he replied, looking back to the movie.

"Which one is this?" Ward asked, looking at the TV.

"It's towards the end of the third one. There's one more after this, but I don't think I'll put it in." Fitz explained. "Everyone's asleep. How the hell do you sleep through dinosaurs?"

"I had a rough night last night." Ward stated, casting a side-glance to the sleeping Skye, who was still all nuzzled into his side. "Didn't sleep well."

"You like her, don't you?" Fitz asked, keeping his eyes on the screen.

Ward's heart skipped a beat and he knew that he was blushing, "Uh, what?" he asked.

Fitz turned his gaze to Ward, a smile on his face, "You like Skye?" he asked again.

Ward scratched at his head and looked at Skye before looking back to the engineer, "Yeah, I guess you can say so." he said shyly. "Yeah, I do."

Fitz nodded and continued to smile, "Good. She's good for you, you know." he stated. "I've known you for a while now, Ward, and I've never seen you this happy and calm before. She's really changed you, I think. And that's really good."

Ward blushed again, "You think so?" he asked, looking at Skye, who was still nestled into his side. "You really think that?"

Fitz nodded again, "Yep. You've really loosened up, Ward. You haven't been as closed-off and secluded as you were. It's good to have people that really care about you and to have someone you can actually like." The engineer smiled and looked briefly to Simmons, who was still asleep on his shoulder, "If I were you, I would try my best to keep her close like this. Well, not like you're gonna lose her or anything. I don't think she's ever gonna leave your side."

As if on cue, Skye rustled beside Ward, only burying herself deeper into the man's side. Ward smiled and shook his head, "I think she enjoys the warmth a little too much. She's not leaving this spot anytime soon." he joked.

"Doesn't help that you're a walking heater."

"Is everyone gonna call me that?" Ward asked, leaning his head back and staring up at the ceiling. "Am I the heater now?"

"I think you're more of that to Skye more than anyone else. She's the only one that's physically up against you." Fitz said. "But like I said, I don't think you're going to lose her."

Ward looked back to Skye, cold seeping into his stomach, "Yeah, I hope I don't lose her."

Chapter Text

(Three Days Later)

Ward woke up, feeling a pressure against his side. Normally, he would bolt up and freak out, ready to attack whatever was causing it. But he realized that it was Skye, nestled closely into his side. He immediately relaxed and laid his head back down, staring up at the ceiling.

For some reason, Skye was insistent on staying with him the past few nights. Ward didn't mind it at all, but he still found it kind of strange. He looked over to see Skye all tangled up in his sheets and pressed right up against his side. She must've been right about how warm he was, but he knew it was like below freezing outside so she was just trying to get warm.

He smiled and looked back up to the ceiling. He knew he could get used to this, but he didn't know how long it would last though. Yes, he did love Skye and wanted to do his best to protect her. And he knew that she loved him, even though that was an unspoken thing between the two of them.

There was just this nasty feeling in the pit of his stomach that he would become that monster again. The same monster that could've killed Skye just a few days ago. Ward was afraid that he would lose it one day, and there would be no stopping him. And he was afraid that he would end up killing everyone around him, especially Skye.

He couldn't get rid of the constant fear that plagued him. Even though his time with Skye and the team had helped with some of his issues, the fear wasn't something that could be washed away. He was afraid to forge relationships due to the monster inside of him. Even though there were those who ignored that monster, like Skye, Fitz, and Simmons, there were those that constantly reminded him of what lived inside of him.

And he couldn't help that a monster lived inside of him. He couldn't help that an old family curse practically turned him into a creature of hell. He couldn't help any of it. And he would live with it the rest of his life.

Ward sighed and looked at the clock on his side-table, seeing that it read 5:30 in the morning. It was time to get up for him. He knew that Skye would sleep for at least another hour or so, so he knew that he needed to be careful with getting up.

He took a breath and peeled the covers off of him, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and feeling the cold of the floor on his bare feet. He stood, casting another glance at Skye, who was still asleep. Sighing, Ward walked towards the bathroom, picking up a pair of sweatpants to put on so he could head to the gym.

Slipping off his shirt and slipping on the pair of pants, Ward studied his reflection in the mirror. He noticed that his face was void of that dead look that had been etched upon it for the past two years. There was actually some color to his face, and not because of the fire underneath his skin. He actually looked healthy.

He sighed and froze as he heard shuffling coming from inside his room.

"Grant, what are you doing?"

A smile pulled at Ward's lips and he stood in the doorway of the bathroom to see Skye sitting up in bed, her short hair a mess. "Using the bathroom. I can't do that?" he asked, watching as Skye turned on the light beside her. His smile grew bigger as he saw Skye blush. She wasn't expecting to see him half-naked.

"Uh, why are you up this early?" Skye asked, trying to keep her eyes on Ward's face instead of his torso. "I don't think there's any missions today."

"I always get up this early, Skye. I'm not a late sleeper. I only slept late the past few days because I felt bad." Ward explained, slipping his shirt on. "Besides, the morning is the best time to go and workout."

Skye slipped off the bed and got to her feet, "Mind if I join you?" she asked. "It's awkward when it's just May or Bobbi in there."

Ward shrugged, "I don't mind. I'm gonna try to use my powers some today to release some steam, so it may be good for you to be there." he said. "Go get changed and meet me there."

Skye nodded and began to head out of the room, but Ward's voice stopped her.

"You know, Skye, it's okay to stare."

"Uh, what?" She froze up and started to blush.

"I know you were staring."

Skye put on a fake smile and turned to look at the man, "Staring at what?" she asked, feigning confusion.

Ward raised an eyebrow, "Really, Skye?" he asked, suppressing a laugh. "Your eyes were practically locked onto my shirtless torso."

Skye blushed again, "Can't blame a girl for looking, you know." she replied, quickly heading out of his room.

Ward shook his head and laughed, "What the hell am I gonna do?"

(A Little Later)

Ward looked up from his punching bag as Skye came into the gym, a water bottle in her hands. He stopped and turned to face her as she approached him, "Took you long enough." he stated.

Skye shrugged, "I got something to eat. You know, you should eat before starting a workout."

"I work out, take a shower, then I eat. I've got that cycle set in stone, Skye. There's no changing that." Ward said, turning back to the bag.

"I thought you were going to use your powers?"

"This is just a warm-up. I'll get to it sooner or later."

"You're afraid, aren't you?" Skye asked, catching Ward's attention.

Ward frowned and turned back to look at Skye, "What?" he asked. "What do you mean?"

"You're stalling. I can tell." she stated, setting her water bottle down. "You're too afraid to use your powers."

He looked down to avoid her gaze, "Yeah, you're right. I am too afraid. Especially after what happened the other day. I don't want to get out of control."

"And you'll get out of control if you let your powers build-up way too much, Grant." Skye began to explain. "You need to at least expel them some. A build-up may cause an explosion."

"Is that what my psychologist told you?"

"Maybe. You know, he wants you to use them. Even though that incident happened two years ago, you still need to overcome it. Trying to run from your powers is only going to make things worse."

"Yeah, I know." Ward sighed, walking away from the bag and sitting down on one of the benches. "I still feel so weird using them, even though I've had them for years. I guess that incident changed everything. Made me feel like an absolute monster for having them.

Skye, it's not like you where it's in your DNA. My powers are because of some deal with the devil my granddad or whatnot made and got the Slade family cursed. I'm not even technically a Ward, I'm a Slade. And the Slades are demons. Nothing will ever change that." His eyes adopted a hollowed-out to them. "Try having the fires of hell underneath your skin, it'll take a major toll on you."

Skye sighed, "You've just got to work through them, Grant. Sooner or later, you'll be okay with them. I believe you will."

"Thank you."

"Huh?"

Ward looked Skye in the eyes, "You're the first person in a long time to tell me that they believe in me. Most dismiss me as a total monster with no hope left for me." he explained. "You actually think I'm more. Most think the human in me died when I was fifteen."

"You're still human, Grant. Don't let anyone else's words get to you."

"Only what you and maybe Fitzsimmons say are the only things that matter to me. Everything else drives me crazy. I… I think you're the only one that actually understands what I go through somehow." He trailed off and avoided Skye's gaze.

"Takes a monster to know one."

Ward frowned and looked back to Skye, "What are you talking about?" he asked.

"No, I don't go through the level of trouble you go through. But I know what it's like to face ridicule because of being gifted. I believe you'll be okay." Skye said with a smile.

Ward smiled back and nodded, standing to his feet. He looked at Skye for a while before saying anything else to the Inhuman. He gulped and began to scratch the back of his head, "I-I was thinking…" he trailed off.

Skye raised an eyebrow, "Huh?"

"Do you think you would like to get, uh, dinner later?" he asked, still scratching the back of his head.

The color drained from Skye's face, "Are you asking me out?" she asked, not believing that Ward had to courage to ask so.

Ward blushed and became flustered, "I-I guess so." he stammered. "If that's how this goes."

Skye smiled and nodded, "Yes, Grant, I would love to. But there's no use to be so nervous about it, it's just me." she replied. "You know I'm not going to bite. I'd love to go out with you."

Ward just grew even redder and Skye was afraid that he was going to combust, "G-Great." he stammered. "I-I'll figure something out."

Skye watched as the man walked out of the room. She knew that he probably had problems trusting someone enough to do something like this, but was glad she actually worked up the courage to do so.

"I hope the goof doesn't find a way to make even this awkward."

Chapter Text

(A Few Hours Later)

Skye looked around the small Italian restaurant, an impressed look on her face. She looked back to Ward, "Wow, this place is nice." she commented. "How did you know about somewhere like this?"

"I didn't. Fitz recommended it. Apparently he and Simmons have been here before and Fitz knows the guy that owns it. Fitz got us set up here." Ward explained, a flustered look on his face.

Skye raised an eyebrow, "Fitz knows about this?" she asked. "He knows that we went out?"

"He actually suggested it." Ward confessed, still blushing. "I-I told him how things were going and he suggested that I should try to take it to the next step. Sorry if this feels all rushed. I really haven't gone out with anyone. No one wants to go out on a date with the devil."

She blinked, understanding that he was extremely nervous about this. He had no idea how any of this actually worked. She smiled at him, "It's fine, Grant." she said. "You're doing perfectly fine."

Ward gulped, "You really think so?" he asked, tugging at his shirt collar. "'Cause I feel like I'm gonna mess up at any moment."

"You'll be perfectly fine, Grant. Nothing's going to go wrong." Skye replied, looking at the man. God, the man had worked his best to look good tonight. Ward had his normally-spiked hair slicked-back and his jacket was nowhere in sight, replaced by a simple button-up shirt. She knew that he was uncomfortable like this, so he didn't go all out. Hell, he was uncomfortable being in a small restaurant filled with people.

All Ward did in response was nod, his body incredibly stiff as his eyes darted around the room. He acted as though someone was going to attack at any moment. And to him, that always seemed highly likely.

"Grant, are you okay?" Skye asked, taking ahold of Ward's hand that had been lying on the table.

Ward gulped, his uneasy gaze resting on the woman before him, "Y-Yeah." he stammered. "I'm fine. Just a little uneasy, that's all."

"You don't like being around all these people, do you?"

He shook his head, "No, I don't. It makes me feel like something's going to happen." he began to explain. "And it makes everything feel tight and stuffy." He pulled at his collar again. "And the same reason why I keep to myself at the base."

Skye blinked, feeling for pity for the man, "Grant, no one here knows you at all. They don't know what you are capable of. They don't know what you turn into. No one is going to mock you."

"But what if it happens?" he asked, referring to a potential outburst.

"Trust me, that's not going to happen." Skye responded, giving his hand a slight squeeze. "You're going to be fine and we're going to have a great night."

Ward smiled slightly as she smiled at him. His eyes stayed focused on her, taking in her beauty. Skye's short hair was tucked behind her ears and she wore a simple black dress for the occasion, nothing too fancy. But it was enough for Ward, who smiled like a goof whenever he saw her.

"Yo, Grant, you there?" Skye asked, waving a hand in front of the man's eyes. "Are you still on this planet?"

"Huh?" Ward asked, regaining his composure and blushing profusely. "Yeah, I just zoned out there for a minute."

"Yeah, sure you did." Skye retorted, knowing that he had been staring at her. "You zoned out looking at me."

Ward grew even redder, if that was even possible, and shifted his gaze to the side to avoid Skye's own. Skye was afraid that the man was going to literally burst into flames at any moment, which was actually highly likely for him. She heard him mumbling under his breath.

"It's okay, Grant. You can stare if you want." she said, trying to get him comfortable again. "And look, here comes our food. Let's eat." She was relieved to see the waiter come up with their food and give it to them. At least that got them out of the awkward situation they were in.

She did love Ward, but his awkward nature got their interactions weird a lot of times and then that got him embarrassed for a long time afterwards. She watched as Ward thanked the waiter and as the waiter left them alone. Her eyes drifted to Ward's and he smiled slightly.

This was going to be a long night.

(Later, Back at the Base)

Skye and Ward walked back down the hallway of the base, back towards their bedrooms. Ward spotted Fitz standing in the lab and as the young engineer saw him as well, he gave Ward a thumbs up. Ward nodded back at the agent as he and Skye continued down the hallway.

They stopped just inside of Ward's room and Skye turned to look at the man. "Thank you for a great night, Grant." she said, smiling at him. "I really enjoyed it."

Ward blushed and scratched the back of his head, "Y-You really think so?" he stammered. "I actually did something right?"

"You know, not everything you do goes wrong, Grant." Skye replied, taking his hand. "You did a great job. And nothing went wrong, opposite like you thought it would. Everything went fine."

The man blushed even more, still scaring Skye, "Well, that's good to know. Nice to know that not everything goes wrong."

"You did great. And, actually, I would like to do this again another time."

Ward gulped and raised an eyebrow, "Like a second date?" he asked. "Is that what you're implying?"

Skye laughed and nodded, "Yes, Grant, that is what I am implying. What else would I be?"

"Well, I would too." Ward replied, still scratching nervously at the back of his head. "I think that would be nice." He looked at his watch, checking the time, "Well, it's getting late." he stated. "We should call it a night, I guess."

"You realize it's not like I have to go far or anything like that, right?" Skye questioned, raising her eyebrow at him. "I've either been in here or right next door the past few nights. We don't have to call it quits so early."

Ward's face fell blank, "Then would you like to stay for a while?" he asked. "I don't care what you do since you have been spending the past few nights in here." It was clear that he wasn't prepared for Skye wanting to keep the date, or whatever this was now, going.

"I would love to."

"Well, I'm going to get changed." Ward said, clearing his throat. "I can't stand this shirt anymore. You might as well go change too. I don't think you want to be in that dress all night." He went to turn around, but Skye's hand on his arm stopped him.

"Skye, what?" he asked. "What are you," he began, but was cut off as Skye pulled him into a kiss. His eyes widened as he realized just what was going on and he grew panicked and confused, but soon fell in line with it, taking Skye's head into his hands and digging his fingers into her hair.

They soon pulled out of it and they both looked at each other, both flustered and blushing. Ward bit his lip and nodded slightly, "Does this mean that we're?" he asked, not sure of what was going on.

Skye smoothed back her hair and nodded, "I guess so." she replied meekly.

Ward nodded again and quickly left her for the bathroom, startled by what had just happened. He knew that his and Skye's relationship had just gone up to the next step, but it still confused him. Did that mean she was his girlfriend now and that they were actually together? Hell if he knew.

All he wanted was for this to actually last and that nothing bad would happen. That was all that he wanted.

Chapter Text

The next morning, Ward awoke slowly to find Skye's arms wrapped around him and her head lying softly on his chest, moving up and down with the rise and fall of his breaths. He smiled slightly, adjusting his head in the pillow. His movement caused Skye to groan softly and she buried her head deeper into his chest.

He turned his head carefully so he could see the clock on his bedside table. It read just a little bit after six, so Ward knew he needed to get up. But looking back to how Skye had herself tangled around him told him that getting up was going to be a challenge. He took a breath and worked to wriggle himself out of her hold, trying his best not to wake her. But that was one mission he would fail.

She soon groaned, her eyes fluttering open to see Ward sitting up. Rubbing her eyes, she yawned and slowly sat up, "Grant, what are you doing?" she mumbled. "What time is it?"

"A little after six. You can go back to sleep, I've just got to get up and get ready, that's all." Ward replied, kissing her on the top of the head. "You've got plenty of time to sleep."

"Why do you have to get up? It's cold. Can't you just stay here where it's warm?" Skye asked, wrapping her arms around her torso.

"And by that, you mean that I stay here and literally provide the warmth, right?" he reiterated.

"Well, yeah. Doesn't help when your boyfriend is a literal walking heater. You're warm, nice to be up against."

Skye's use of 'boyfriend' caused a smirk to pull up at Ward's lips. "Well, sometimes your boyfriend may have an appointment he has to get to in a few hours." he said, scratching at his head.

"Appointment?" Skye's face fell as confusion settled in. "What do you have an appointment for?"

"My psychologist. You know, the guy that keeps me from going insane, other than you." he replied, sliding out of bed. "It's that time of the week for me to go talk to him again and make sure I don't have to go back on medicine or anything, in which my psychiatrist gets involved."

Skye looked at Ward as he headed towards the bathroom, "You've been on medicine?" she asked.

Ward stopped and turned to look back at her as she stood to her feet, "Yeah, just some anti-depressants and a few other things. You don't know the concoction of stuff they had me on because of how bad off I was. And medicine affects me differently than a normal human being. My doses had to be stronger, and the medicine, even though it helped my mind, made me weaker in body. So they really didn't help much.

I haven't had to take them in the past few weeks since I've been doing better. Only except for the anti-depressants, but that's another thing." he continued. "And it's up to my psychologist to decide on how okay I really am. I know I'm fine from being okay. Especially since what happened the other day."

"Have you told him that yet?"

"No, I haven't. He doesn't know."

"You need to. That rage is really going to get to you one of these days, Grant." Skye said, coming up to the man.

"You know I really can't help it, Skye. It just comes like a storm and I can't control it. It's out of my grasp."

Skye gave Ward a half smile and ran her hand down the length of his highly-muscular arm, "I know you, Grant. I bet you can get a grasp of it. Don't let it or any of your other issues control you. I believe you can do it."

Ward smiled back at her, bringing her close to his chest and burying his head in her hair, "At least you have some faith in me. Everyone else thinks that I'm still a monster that will kill everyone in this building." he mumbled, taking in the scent of her hair. He could faintly smell her shampoo from the night before.

"And how many times do I have to tell you that you're not a monster before you actually start to believe me?" Skye asked, shuffling closer to him.

"I don't know. That's a really hard concept for me to believe right now. Especially since the other day…."

Skye looked up at him, looking into his soft, whiskey-colored eyes, "And the other day was a fluke. You didn't hurt me, so it's not against you. It's more like you actually protected me than actually even scaring me."

Ward's expression softened as he looked back at the young woman, "You really think so?" he asked quietly. "I actually protected you?"

With a nod, Skye smiled at him, "Yes, you did. Now be quiet and go get ready. We can meet in the kitchen in a bit."

Ward bit his lip and sighed, burying his head back into the top of Skye's head, "I know I haven't said this yet since everything just really started moving yesterday…" He blushed as Skye looked up at him waiting for an answer, "You know that I do love you, right?" he asked.

Skye blinked and blushed as well, taken aback by Ward's statement. "Uh, yeah, I do. And I love you too, Grant." she replied, burying her head in his chest. "Now, do what I say and go get ready. You're not skipping out on this appointment."

With a roll of his eyes, Ward sighed, "Fine, whatever."

(Later)

Skye looked up as Ward came into the common room with his hands buried into the pockets of his jackets. He saw her and smiled, coming over and sitting down next to her on the couch she was on. She looked at him and smiled back, "So, how did it go?" she asked.

Ward shrugged, "Same as always. A lot of questions, me on the verge of a mental breakdown about three times, and him telling me to come back next week." he replied. "Nothing new."

She raised an eyebrow, "He didn't say if you were doing better or anything?"

"He said I was doing somewhat better, but nowhere near where he wants me to be. Apparently I'm still self-loathing, depressed, paranoid, and highly prone to extreme panic attacks." Ward explained, and Skye detected a hint of weariness and hate in his voice. "I'm still broken, nothing's going to fix the damn broken mess I am."

"Grant, please. Don't put this on yourself. Recovery is a long road, especially for someone like you." Skye replied, taking his hand. "You've just got to push through it." She kissed him on the cheek, "And I'm here for you."

Ward smiled meekly in response and scratched the back of his head. Skye had figured out by now that scratching the back of the head was a nervous tic for Ward. "Well, if you say so…" he trailed off and turned his attention to what Skye had been watching on the TV.

Skye sighed and let her head fall against Ward's muscular shoulder and tried her best to get as close to the man as she possibly could. She could hear the rhythmic sound of his respiration and she could feel a calm vibration coming from him. She figured that this meant he was calm and happy, which was good for him.

And she sighed again, letting her eyes fall shut so she could drift off with the warmth of Ward's body radiating against her. But her shot nap was deemed a no-go as she heard Fitzsimmons and Mack come into the room.

She looked up to see the three agents looking at the two of them. To her relief, Lincoln was nowhere in sight. Her friend had avoiding her ever since she and Ward had become inseparable. She had lost a friend as she had gained someone she deeply loved. But was it really a loss?

Mack pointed at the two of them, "So I heard you two are actually together now." he stated.

Skye nodded, briefly looking at Ward, "Yep. As of last night."

Simmons snorted, "As if that actually meant anything. You two have been glued together ever since Ward moved into our sector." she said sitting down in a loveseat along with Fitz. "And I heard Fitz initiated your date."

Fitz frowned and shot a glare to Ward, "What the bloody hell did you say?!" he exclaimed.

Ward shrugged, "Not much. Other than that you helped us get a place where we could go get dinner. That's all."

Fitz sighed and looked back to Simmons, "I recommended that nice Italian restaurant that you like." he stated.

Simmons' face perked up, "Oh! Did you two like it?"

"Yep." Skye said, rubbing a hand down Ward's leg, causing him to tense up. "It was really nice."

"So you two are an actual couple now?" Mack asked, restating his question from earlier. "Like the whole boyfriend/girlfriend type of deal?"

"And why does it matter so much to you, Mack?"

"I just want to know before we have another case of Hunter and Bobbi running around. You two aren't going to be that bad, right?"

Skye shot Mack a mischievous grin as she looked over to Ward, "You don't know what we're planning."

Ward's eyes widened to the size of saucers and he grew a bright red. He elbowed her, "Skye, please. Don't start stuff like this now."

"If he would stop changing colors like a chameleon." Fitz snickered. "I didn't know that you were this bad."

"Please!" Ward exclaimed, putting a hand over his face. "I'm just not used to stuff like this, that's all!"

Chapter Text

(A Week Later, A Few Miles From Hydra Airspace)

"Skye, tell me again why Coulson is sending us on another mission alone?" Ward asked, looking to his girlfriend, whom of which sat in the copilot's seat of the quinjet. "Does he not remember the last mission?"

"Nope." Skye said, popping the 'p'. "He doesn't because I never told him what happened. I told him that the base was indeed a Hydra base and that's it. I didn't tell him that we were attacked and that you lost it. I kept it from him to help you."

Ward gulped, "You didn't tell him so he wouldn't restrict me from missions." he stated. "You knew if he knew that I had gone berserk again, he would restrict me."

"Grant, not exactly that. Coulson just wants to help you. He's afraid for the next time you truly do lose it and can't actually come back from it." Skye explained, looking him in the eyes. "I just didn't want that pressure on you. That weight of the guilt you feel makes your condition even worse. I didn't tell anyone and I'm not. You didn't hurt anyone other than the Hydra soldiers. That's actually pretty good."

He nodded slowly, returning his gaze to the airspace before them, "Coulson still told you to watch me, didn't he?" he asked, absently scratching at the scruff on his face. "In case anything happens."

"He didn't say anything, it's just a silent agreement between us. But, Grant, we're together. I'm always going to make sure that you're okay." Skye explained. "But to be honest, I am nervous about this mission. This is a destruction mission. Coulson chose the two of us to destroy this base. He knows that the both of us can take it down with just a wave of our hands.

But, I don't know what's going to come from this." she continued. "I don't want you to lose control or get hurt. I know you do like a good fight, but hardly anything happened last time before you snapped."

Ward shook his head, "It wasn't hardly anything. You seem to forget that I had gotten shot straight in the chest several times. That's what triggered the incident. It's not really remembered because I almost immediately healed from it." he explained. "I'll be fine as long as the neither of us get shot or anything."

Skye scoffed, "It's Hydra. They're always guns blazing, Grant. I'm not promising anything."

"That's why we need to get in and out. You cause a part of the building to crumble and I'll find the armory or something and set it on fire." he said. "In and out."

Even though Ward sounded confident and brave, Skye could see the fear and pain in his eyes. She knew he was scared as hell that something really bad was going to happen. The fear that he lived through every day would never leave him alone.

"You're afraid, aren't you?" Skye asked after a moment of silence. "Grant, you can tell me."

Ward sighed and leaned back in the pilot's seat, running his hands through his spiky hair, "Yes, Skye, I am. I can't hide it. But you know that I'm always afraid." he replied, taking control of the jet as he noticed that they were nearing the Hydra base. "There's never going to be a day where I'm not afraid of something. Either that be others or myself. Mainly myself.

I have this sense that something is going to go horribly wrong soon. I don't know what and to why I feel this way. I guess it's just my paranoia. It's a wonder that I haven't gone into some kind of panic attack lately. It's just that…." he trailed off and shook his head. "Hell, I don't know."

The jet lurched as he landed it on rocky ground, about a half-mile from the Hydra base. Ward sighed and shook his head as he stood up and faced Skye, who had stood up as well.

"I don't know what it is, Skye." Ward said, shaking his head again. "I just don't know what it is."

Skye stepped towards him and wrapped her arms around him, giving him a quick kiss, "You'll be fine, Grant. We'll both be fine. I promise you. I know neither of us is invincible. We both can get hurt, we both can be killed.

I can't promise that we won't come out of this unscathed." she continued. "Being gifted doesn't mean that we're immortal. Your fear is completely logical, Grant. We are not invincible. But I promise you we will make it out of this."

Ward sighed and pulled away from Skye's embrace, "You know, I try my best to believe you in situations like this." he began. "It's not that I'm afraid of Hydra hurting us. It's just that I don't trust myself. I may be what hurts the both of us." he turned and pressed the button on the control panel that opened the jet's door. "I'm a monster, Skye. A weapon of mass destruction. There's no changing that. I know you love me, and I love you too." Pain filled his eyes, "But you can't trust me, Skye. I'll blow up sooner or later. And that's going to get you killed."

"Grant," Skye began, but Ward had turned and began walking out of the jet, leaving her in the cockpit. She took a sharp breath and slowly shook her head, "Please not now." she muttered. "Not now."

She knew that Ward had started his descent into a bad mental state due to his fear of mainly himself. And from what he said, she assumed that he was even afraid to be in a relationship with her due to the fear of hurting her. And there was no telling what would happen in the heat of battle with him being in his darkened mental state.

With a gulp, Skye followed him out of the jet and towards the base. And not a word was spoken by the either of them. Fear hung heavy over their heads.

(A Little Later)

The two found themselves in the middle of the Hydra base, already exhausted from fighting. To their luck, they had taken down the guards before anyone else had been alerted. They crouched behind some cover before going on.

Skye looked over to Ward, who had slid down to the floor and was gripping his head in his hands. Her heart skipped a beat and she went to reach out towards him, but a quick, low growl stopped her.

"Don't touch me. I'm okay, I don't need your help." Ward growled, surprising Skye with his gruff and rather harsh reply. He looked up at her, his face darkened and covered with blood from the earlier fight. Red shone in his eyes, his battle-worn appearance making him look like a demon. He shook his head, realizing that he had scared her, "Look, I'm fine." he said, pushing himself up to his feet. "You don't have to worry about me. Let's just figure out how to bring down this base. I'll be fine."

As Ward started to walk off and Skye brought herself to her feet, she couldn't help but to worry about the man she loved. It wasn't like him to be so harsh towards her. He was always so awkward and loving to her. He only ever acted like this towards her when they had first met, and that was only because he didn't know her.

For him to be so harsh now was not at all like him. And he was in pain, she could see it. The way he gripped his head showed her that he was fighting back against what was inside of him, against what actually made him a monster. She followed carefully, afraid to say anything that would set him off. There probably wasn't much now that wouldn't do so.

Skye figured that he was like this because he was afraid for her. He didn't care what happened when he was on a mission alone, since there was no one else around for him to accidently hurt. But with her being here, he had to be constantly on edge to make sure nothing happened to her. And that increased the load on his mind, which eventually led to his enraged state. And that wasn't far away.

She heard a shout and she immediately began to run towards it, drawing out her ICER. It didn't take long to reach the area where the shout was heard, which was the area Ward happened to be in, and found a pillar of fire in the middle of the room and Ward standing right next to it. She only knew that the fire had been a Hydra soldier.

"Grant?" she asked as the fire died down and revealed nothing. "Are you okay?"

Ward slowly turned around to face her and she noticed that he was breathing heavily and sweat beaded his bloody face, "You've got to get out of here." he halfway growled. "I don't know how much longer I can last. You… You don't want to be in here when it comes."

"I'm not leaving you." Skye said, putting away the ICER she forgot she had taken out and taking a step towards him. "You don't need to be alone. And definitely not here."

Ward immediately stepped back and gripped his head with his hands, "Get away from me." he snarled. He stumbled over something on the ground and fell to the cold, hard metal. "Get the hell away from me. I don't want to hurt you." He had almost curled up on the floor and Skye could see that he was trembling. "I don't want to hurt you."

Skye gulped and ignored his warnings, going towards him again. But a bullet flying past her head stopped her and caused her to spin around and face about a little over a dozen Hydra soldiers.

"How'd these SHIELD pests get in here?" one asked as they all aimed towards the two agents. "You know what to do, boys." As if on cue, an alarm started blaring throughout the building, and Skye could hear Ward moan in response.

Fear took a hold of her as she backed up. They were outnumbered about fifteen to two. No, she was outnumbered about sixteen to one. Whatever was happening to Ward, she knew that it wouldn't be in her favor. Could this be akin to the infamous 'incident' that had all but broken Ward?

The guards closed in on her as a monster began to stir from behind her and she knew that all hope was possibly lost and that the man she loved was gone. And she didn't even really know what caused it.

Of course they weren't invincible. No one is.

Chapter Text

"Grant! Grant, please snap out of it" Skye cried as the soldiers advanced on them. Ward continued to groan in pain on the ground, fighting back against the growing monstrous force that was his flames. "Please!"

"He ain't gonna help you here, princess!" one of the soldiers sneered. "Looks like he's outta it!"

"I don't need any help!" Skye tried to snap, but her voice was laced with fear, mainly for what was going to become of Ward. She clenched her fists and then thrusted them out towards the soldiers, sending a shockwave that knocked some of them to the ground.

One of the standing few smiled, "And she's a gifted! Even better!" he chided. "Boss will be more than pleased."

The ones that had fallen had stood up and had regained their battle-ready stances. They all moved to surround her and the fallen Ward. Skye knew that there was no way that she could take them all on without hurting herself or Ward in the process. Using her powers on that many targets at once was too great of a danger. And her gun was practically useless against the high-powered weaponry the soldiers had.

In other words, they were both screwed.

And Skye was unsure of what was really going on with Ward, but knew it was related to whatever was really monstrous about him. And she didn't want to know what it was.

Skye took a breath and suddenly slammed into one of the soldiers, knocking him to the ground and taking his gun. She quickly jumped to her feet and pointed the gun at another soldier. But of course, the other eleven soldiers all had their guns pointed at her, so it was no use.

The soldier that had fallen, grabbed her ankle and pulled her to the ground with a thud. He rose up above her, his body above hers.

"And I wouldn't try anything if I were you, babe."

Skye gulped as the air started to rapidly heat up around them, "I don't have to." She kneed him in his balls and rolled to her side, sliding behind a piece of machinery for cover. She heard a groan, more than likely from Ward, and everything suddenly exploded.

Now, if it wasn't for the machinery she hid behind, Skye knew that she would've been engulfed in flames. She wasn't so sure of the soldiers' fates though. It took what seemed like forever for the flames to subside, but smoke lay heavy in the room as she stood to her feet.

A growl was heard from behind her and she whipped around to see the machinery melted to nothing. How was she unharmed? She could tell that bodies littered the floor from the explosion, but one stood in the middle of them.

The smoke slowly cleared, thanks to a ventilation system in the room, and revealed what was standing there. Blood was rushing in Skye's ears to the point where she couldn't hear the alarms that were now sounding throughout the base, signaling for more guards.

So this was the monster that everyone was afraid of, the one that Coulson had warned her about. Ward stood in the middle of the pile of now-burnt corpses, eyes nothing but dark, red flames and flames as dark as the night burning off of his skin.

"Grant?" Skye whispered, her voice failing her due to her now-growing fear. "I-Is that you?"

Ward didn't respond, he only stood there staring at her with his flame-filled eyes. Indignation filled the room like that smoke that just had cleared out. Flames were burning just about everywhere in the room.

Skye stepped back as Ward took a step forward, "Grant, snap out of it. Please, it's me. I'm not going to hurt you." she pleaded, holding her hands up to show him that she was technically unarmed.

But she knew that there would be no reasoning with him. Everything passed over him without a single consideration. In this state, Ward was a being of violence, not thinking. He would kill until something stopped him, and there was no telling to what that could be.

Ward suddenly made a noise that was akin to a growl, Skye was really unsure of just what it was. He spun around and practically flew towards a Hydra soldier that had run into the room to see what had caused the alarm.

Screams were heard as the dark flames consumed the young soldier. Skye didn't know how and why the flames were so black. She had always heard that the hotter the flame, the bluer they were. Maybe they were a reflection of Ward's rage and black illustrated that he was past no return, now a literal rage monster.

The flames left nothing behind as they dissipated as fast as they had appeared. Ward's eyes of fire looked towards Skye briefly before he disappeared out of the room to do God knows what. There was no stopping Ward now, this entire base, including everyone inside of it, would all burn before he stopped.

Tears, mainly from fear, started to well in Skye's eyes as she fully realized of the monster that hid inside of the man she loved. She went to turn around to flee the room, but a sharp, quick pain in her neck stopped her.

Her hand flew to her neck and she pulled out what seemed to be a tranquilizer dart, "What the hell?"

Then everything went black.

(A Few Hours Later)

The team arrived to find nothing remaining of the Hydra base. They stepped out to the sharp smell of burning metal in the air. Coulson bit his lip in worry.

"Neither of them have reported back, and this looks far worse than what the two would actually do." the Director stated. "The quinjet is still in the area, so they haven't left. Something has happened. I'll go with May, Bobbi and Hunter will be together, and Lincoln and Mack will be. Spread out and see what you can find."

The four agents nodded and left Coulson and May. May turned to face the Director.

"What do you think happened, Phil?" she asked.

"I don't know and I don't think that I want to." Coulson replied as they walked towards the burning rubble. "But to be honest, this looks as though Ward went berserk."

May stopped and frowned, "Do you think that that happened to him?"

Coulson shrugged, "It could be likely. And that means that something possibly happened to Skye. He's real protective of her these days. Something happening to her could possibly trigger an incident."

May shook her head and looked back to the rubble, "This place is huge, Phil. If there somewhere under there, it's going to take a long time to find them." Worry filled her voice. "And with something like this, time would be against us."

The two continued towards the rubble, overstepping still-smoldering pieces of metal. Something caught Coulson's eye and made him stop. He turned to see a black flame burning on a pile of metal.

His stomach tightened, "There was an incident." He pointed to the black flame, "That's the mark of it right there. Black flames mean that he went berserk."

May's face paled, "Then where is he?"

"Either far away from here or under the rubble. And we should hope for under the rubble. He's hard to kill, so he wouldn't be dead. But if he ran off in that state and got into a populated area, people will die. A hell of a lot of people.

But since there's been no reports of anything like that, then we can only assume that he's under the rubble." he continued, going towards the flame. "And maybe he's under there, since that's the only black flame burning."

"Be careful, Phil. If he's still in that state…"

"I know, I'm dead."

He made his way to the flame, which snuffed out by the time he got there. And a soot-stained hand was sticking out of the rubble. Coulson ran towards it, "Mel! I think he's under here!"

May caught up with him and the two began removing the rubble from the body to reveal a still-breathing, yet very dirty and probably naked, Ward underneath it. Ward jolted awake and scrambled back, moving over the rubble. Pants still hung on him, but barely.

"G-Get away from me!" he screeched. "Get away!"

"Grant, it's us! It's Coulson and May!" Coulson exclaimed. He turned to May, "Go find the others and see if you can find him something to cover up with." He looked back to Ward as May left them. "Grant, can you tell me what happened?" he asked.

Fear and pain shone in Ward's eyes, "I-I don't know." he stammered, shaking his head over and over. "I-I don't know. It's all blurry… Yeah, it's all blurry."

"Grant, where's Skye?"

Ward's face fell, "I don't know." he said. "I don't know."

"Dammit. He's traumatized again. He may have to be contained." Coulson thought. "And if most of the people in this base died because of him, it's gonna be way worse than last time. And if Skye's gone…"

"Is she under the rubble?"

"I dunno."

"Grant, do you have any idea to where she possibly could be?"

"They wanted her."

Coulson's face fell, "What? What did you say?"

"Saw her fight. Wanted to bring her in." Ward mumbled. Ward's eyes widened as he managed to understand what was going on. His fear-glazed eyes looked to Coulson, "Skye. Hydra has Skye."

Chapter Text

Ward had fallen unconscious soon after they had found him. He was rushed back to the quinjet that they had arrived in and they were soon heading back to the base. His revelation of Hydra taking Skye had rattled the team, but they didn't stay at the all-but-destroyed base since they knew that Skye was no longer there.

Coulson figured that Ward wouldn't remember any of what happened after he woke up, whenever that may be. Ward never remembered what happened in his rages, and since it was akin to the incident, or even worse, there would be no way that Ward would remember. And Coulson knew that he had to be the bearer of bad news to Ward, and that was essentially walking to your own death.

And Ward was immediately placed in a containment room as soon as he was checked out and cleared physically. But that didn't mean that he would be cleared mentally. No one knew what state Ward would be in when he woke. And no one wanted to be there when he did.

It took a full day for Ward to wake up, and he woke up screaming. Coulson ran into the room to find him thrashing in the bed, screaming at an invisible enemy.

"Get the hell away from me!" he screeched, fire flaring in his palms. "Get the hell away!"

"Grant!" Coulson shouting, trying to get the man's attention. "Grant! You're safe! No one's going to hurt you!"

Ward suddenly froze up, his eyes darting to Coulson. He blinked several times as though he was trying to figure out why Coulson was suddenly in the room. He cocked his head, "Coulson?" he asked, his voice hoarse.

Coulson gave him a slight smile, holding his hands up, "Yes, Grant, it's me." he replied. "You're safe. You're in a, uh, containment room back at SHIELD. There's no Hydra going to get you?"

"Containment room?"

"Just as a, well, precaution in case anything does happen."

Ward frowned, a weird light in his eyes, and scanned the room. His eyes rested back onto Coulson, "Where's Skye?" he asked. "Why isn't she in here with you?"

Coulson's heart skipped a beat. Ward didn't remember. The trauma of the episode had wiped it clean from his memory, even though Ward had been the one that had told Coulson what had most likely happened to Skye.

"You don't remember?" Coulson asked cautiously, making sure to keep his distance. "You were the one that told me in the first place."

"Told you what?" Ward asked, his voice taking a harsh tone. "And why the hell are you being so edgy around me? What the hell is going on? Where's Skye?"

The Director took a sharp breath, and a step back, before responding. "We, uh, have reason to believe that Skye was kidnapped by Hydra. Reasons are unknown." he said, trying to keep his voice flat.

Ward's face fell blank and drained of all color, "What?" he croaked out. "Skye's gone? H-How did this happen?"

"You really don't remember, do you?"

"I, uh," Ward trailed off, looking down. There was a big, black gap in his memory. He remembered being in the Hydra base with Skye and then everything started becoming fuzzy. There was a part where Skye asked if he was okay and then a fight with a Hydra agent. Then it all went black until now.

He shook his head and looked back up, "No, I don't." He remained silent until the cold, hard truth hit him. Fear glazed his eyes as he became as pale as a ghost. His weakened eyes looked up to Coulson, "I lost it, didn't I?" he asked, voice barely a whisper.

Coulson gulped and nodded slightly, "And we have reason to believe completely at that." he said.

"What did I do?"

"Ward, that's not of importance,"

"What the hell did I do?" Ward asked, his voice starting to seethe with anger towards really no one. A sign that things in his head were starting to go south. "You don't have to sugarcoat it, Coulson."

"The Hydra base was completely destroyed. Melted to nothing. We have no idea to what happened to the Hydra agents inside." Coulson explained slowly and carefully. "And when we got there, there was a single black flame burning." He looked Ward firmly in the eyes, "Grant, the black flames came back."

Ward started to shake his head over and over, his eyes completely glazing over. 'Black flames' were almost a trigger to him, causing bad memories to resurface and a potential episode to arise. And now it didn't help that it actually did happen again. He started mumbling something that Coulson couldn't hear.

It was obvious that Ward had already slipped into a really bad state of mind. Coulson clenched his fists at his side, trying to figure out what to do and what to say. Anything at this point could make Ward explode, and probably literally at that.

"Grant,"

"Dammit!" Ward screeched, sending a fireball skyward. The flame billowed out across the ceiling, scorching it as it faded away. "Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! It's my fault! My damn fault!"

"Grant, it's not your fault. Calm down."

Ward's eyes shot to Coulson, and they were now billowing with flames, "Don't tell me to calm down." he hissed, sliding out of the bed and to his feet. "Don't you ever tell me to calm down."

Pain shone on the gifted's face. "I made a promise to protect her. And I broke that. I let myself lose it and she got hurt in the process. Hydra used my rampage as an opportunity to kidnap her. Now she's God knows where having God knows what done on her!" he snapped, fists clenched at his side.

"Grant, I promise you that we'll get her back. But you've got to calm down before something else can happen." Coulson said, holding his hands up. "You need to calm down. This isn't going to help anything. We will get her back."

Ward gritted his teeth and sat back down on the edge of the bed, burying his head in his hands. "I failed her, Coulson. I failed her. The only woman I really ever loved, and I put her in danger because I can't control my own damn self." There was a notable crack in his voice. "And now she may be dead or having unspeakable things done to her. And it's all my fault." He looked up at Coulson, tears in his eyes, "I love her, Coulson. But I put her in danger."

"I know you love her, Grant. I know you do. But it's not your fault. Blame Hydra, they're the ones that more than likely unleashed that side of you." Coulson said, trying to calm him down. Ward was switching between rage and flat-out bawling so fast that it worried him. "You couldn't help what would happen."

Ward looked at him, but didn't say anything. He buried his head back into his hands and continued to sob, his chest heaving with each breath. Nothing was said by Ward anymore.

Coulson stood in worry, knowing that Ward was descending into another grave period. But this one would be worse than the one that followed the original incident. Ward had inadvertently harmed the woman he loved and had put all of the blame for it upon himself. It was highly likely that Ward wouldn't make it out of this.

"There's no way that Ward could go on a rescue mission like this." Coulson thought. "He's not healthy enough to do so. A mission will just cause way more harm than good for him. I hate to tell him that he can't help to rescue Skye, but he's gonna have to stay here. Things are about to get really, really bad."

Chapter Text

For the next two days, while the rest of the team was desperately searching for Skye's location, Ward wandered the halls of the sector in a depressed daze. No one dared bothered him, since no one knew what would happen if they did so. Ward didn't seem angry or anything, just flat-out depressed and grieving.

He blamed himself for Skye's kidnapping and he kept convincing himself that he was dead, no matter what anyone else told him. Coulson and Fitzsimmons were the only ones that approached him. Everyone else was just afraid so, but Lincoln was downright furious with Ward, blaming him for what happened.

Ward still wasn't clear on what happened. Everything from that day was just a complete and utter blur, no cohesion to it whatsoever. He remembered flashes of things. But he did remember the Hydra soldiers saying that their 'boss' would love to have her. That was about the only solid thing in his memory.

Now he walked the brick-lined halls of the sector with his head lowered and his shoulders slumped, as if the weight of the world was heavy on him. Nothing else matter to him and now he just felt constantly sick. Coulson was extremely worried about him, he was afraid that it would end up worse than the incident that sent him spiraling into a mental hell.

Grief covered him more now than during that time, and no one knew what that grief would drive him to do. Ward still was mentally unstable and this could be the one thing that drove him completely over the edge, never to return.

Coulson didn't want to end up having to send Ward somewhere after this was all said and done. He was confident that they would save Skye, but he was almost sure that they couldn't save Ward, even if Skye was brought back unharmed. There was honestly no telling to what would come of all of this.

Nothing registered in Ward's mind as he walked aimlessly around the halls, hands stuffed in his pockets and eyes glazed over with grief. Barely audible mumblings could be heard from him, but they were incoherent. Didn't make any sense whatsoever to whoever heard it.

Ward continued his directionless path for what more than likely seemed like an eternity for him, until someone blocked his path. He numbly looked up to see what had stopped. A furious-looking Lincoln stood in front of him, scowling at him

Ward looked at him blankly, but didn't respond. He hadn't talked much the past two days.

"Well?" Lincoln asked, trying to get the man to talk. "You gonna say something or what?"

There was still no response.

"You know, Skye's out there somewhere and you're not helping." Lincoln continued, even though Ward hadn't said anything. "You're the one that got her into this mess anyways."

Ward's eyes widened and his face drained of color with Lincoln's comment. Fire started to spark in his eyes, but he was still too out of it for him to snap just yet.

"You should not have been out in the field. You aren't mission capable yet, I saw that. I didn't want you around Skye. I've known her way longer than you have. You're this newbie that somehow shoved his way into everything. You should not have been out there with her."

Ward stood with his body ridged and his teeth and fists clenched. The fire was really starting to glow in his eyes now, but Lincoln didn't notice it somehow.

"You're a liability. I knew you would cause someone to get hurt." Lincoln continued, still scorning Ward. "You can't control yourself, what makes you think that you can protect others? You can't even take care of yourself. It's your fault that Skye's gone. It's-"

Lincoln suddenly found himself slammed-up against the brick wall of the hallway, Ward's hand closed tightly around his throat. "What gives you the right to say any of that shit?" Ward hissed. "You're the one that gave up on her the moment I came to stay in this sector." Fire blazed in the gifted's eyes, slowly becoming the only thing seen in them. His grip on Lincoln's neck started to grow hot, second by second.

"I know what I am. I don't need your ass reminding me." Ward continued, practically spitting in Lincoln's face. "You think that you can constantly step all over me, just because I'm sick. You treat me like I'm a piece of shit and then expect that I'm going to act like I'm perfectly fine." he growled.

"You claim that I hurt Skye, but look what you did." He tightened his grip on the Inhuman's neck. "You turned on her as soon as she offered to help me. You abandoned her. You think I hurt her? Bullshit."

Lincoln tried to respond, but Ward's grip was too tight. The skin on his neck started to bubble from the growing heat of Ward's hand. He tried to free himself, but he was too scared to even generate electricity.

Ward hissed and threw Lincoln to the ground with a thud. Lincoln groaned out in pain as he felt something crack in his wrist. The now-raging gifted stood over Lincoln, fingers extended and palms turned towards him, ready to actually attack him with his fire.

"Look, I," Lincoln began, but a snarl from Ward made him stop.

Flames flared in Ward's hands and he snarled again at the Inhuman, "I hate you, you know. From the moment you damn called me a monster." he hissed. "I don't care what happens to you. You think I won't kill you?"

Ward loomed over Lincoln even more, but a somewhat-distant shout made him stop and turn.

"Grant, stop!"

Ward hissed as he saw Coulson, along with May, Hunter, and Morse running towards him. "Get the hell away from me." he growled.

Coulson stopped just a few feet away from the raging gifted, "Grant, I know you. This isn't what you want. You don't like hurting people, especially like this. Now, stand down. That is an order."

"You don't tell me what to do."

"Grant, please." Coulson's tone had taken a softer demeanor. "Don't make us have to take drastic measures."

Ward's face contorted into a snarl and the flames in his hands grew larger. He took a step towards the Director and the three agents, "Go screw yourself." he growled. "Leave me the hell alone. I don't," He was cut off as something hit him and he fell unconscious to the ground with a thud.

Coulson's eyes widened and he looked to see May pointing an ICER towards the fallen Ward.

"What? I took care of it before it got out of hand."

The Director sighed and started walking towards Lincoln, who had stood up by now, "May, get medical to come and get Ward." He looked to Lincoln, "My office. Now." he said sternly.

"What? What did I do?"

"I imagine that you provoked him. Ward doesn't snap just out of the blue. Something causes him to do so. And it better not be because you were blaming him for Skye."

Coulson turned, motioning for Lincoln to follow him, "Now's not the time to be provoking Ward. We're up to our knees in crap we can't deal with, just because we cannot figure out where Skye is at." He paused momentarily and sighed, "I understand that you're angry that Skye's gone, but you do not need to be going around and blaming Ward like that. Especially in his current state."

"He doesn't need to be here."

Coulson stopped abruptly and glared at the young Inhuman, "And that's not your call to make. I've known Ward longer than I've known you. I know that he would never do something to Skye like that. He cares for her and he does love her. Hydra's the one that you need to blame, not the man that will literally blow up in your face.

I want you to stay away from Ward until we get Skye back." he continued. "And I want you to follow that order. Do you understand?"

No response.

"Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Because I don't need any more catastrophes happening."

Chapter Text

By the time that Coulson got to the containment room Ward was in, Ward was already awake and sitting up in the bed. His head hung low as the Director walked in. Coulson had spent the last hour or so scolding the hell out of Lincoln for provoking Ward like that. The Director sighed as he stood at the foot of Ward's bed.

"Grant." he said softly, watching as Ward slowly picked his head up to look up at him. Ward's eyes were bleak and red-rimmed, he probably had been crying. ICERs didn't last long with the man, so Coulson estimated that he had been up for a while now.

"I'm sorry." Ward croaked out, his bleak eyes on Coulson's. "I lost it. I almost killed him. I'm so sorry." His voice cracked with grief. "I just snapped. I don't know what came over me."

Coulson took a breath and shook his head, "What Lincoln did was uncalled for, Grant. He should know better to not provoke you, especially like how you are right now. You're grieving. But," He took another breath, but sharper, before continuing. "Grant, you need to control that rage of yours before someone does really get hurt. Lincoln's lucky that all he got was a burn on his neck and a broken wrist. Knowing his biology, he should heal in a matter of no time.

I know that you're hurting, but sooner or later someone's really going to get hurt." Coulson's face softened, "Grant, we will find her, I promise you."

Ward blinked and looked away from Coulson, "Are you even close to finding her yet?" he asked quietly.

"We're close. We have a few locations pinpointed. We'll have her tracked down in no time, I promise."

"I feel like those words mean anything."

Coulson blinked and his face fell, "What are you talking about?" he asked.

Ward's almost-dead eyes trailed back up to the Director, "I honestly think that you believe there's little hope. You probably think that's she's probably already dead. You're just telling me all of this so that I won't completely lose it and kill everyone." His voice was low and pained. "You're lying just to make it seem better."

"Grant," Coulson sighed and crossed his arms. "I honestly do not know what will come out of this. I imagine that she's still alive, but I do not know what Hydra has done with her. There is no telling to that either. I'm going to be blatantly honest with you, I cannot guarantee the condition she will be in."

"Then you lied to me." Ward stated coldly, anger growing in his eyes. "Skye may not make this out alive."

"We will try our best to get her back her unharmed, Grant. But I can't say if that is actually possible at this point. She's been gone for a few days now and we still haven't been able to,"

"Dammit!" Ward screeched, the sheet that covered him catching aflame. "And you're just going to make me sit in this room while Skye's in danger, aren't you?!" he demanded.

Coulson gulped, "I cannot in good faith let you out in the field, Grant." he replied. "Not in the state you're in. I do not want another incident happening. Not now. Yes, you are going to have to stay in here for a while. I or someone else will update you with how everything is going. I'm sorry, but you are going to have to stay behind."

Ward's face drained of all color, the sheet on top of his still burning, "What?" he croaked. "I can't even help save her?"

"I can find you something to do here that will help, but I cannot let you out in the field like how you are now. I shouldn't even have had trusted you enough to go out last time." His voice lowered, "And look where we are now."

"You're blaming me, aren't you?"

"I'm not,"

"You just flat-out said that it was my fault! That I couldn't even be trusted to keep myself together on the last mission!"

"Grant, that is not what I'm saying." Coulson said sternly. "I'm just saying that you shouldn't of have had been out in the field, that's all. You're still not at that capability yet. I know that I trusted you for a while, but your mental condition has gotten way worse since then. And I'm afraid that it's only going to get worse."

Even though anger shone in Ward's eyes, he remained silent and only glared at Coulson. Coulson backed away slightly, growing ever so afraid, "Grant, please, you have to understand why I'm deciding on this."

"Yeah, because you don't fucking trust me and think I'm gonna blow up at any damn moment." Ward hissed, fire blazing in his eyes as he slowly rose out of the bed, the ashes of the sheet dirtying him. "Who the fuck do you think I am?"

"Grant," Coulson warned, backing away more. "Calm down. Please."

Ward snarled, but remained silent.

"I think you're going to blow up at any moment because of how you're acting like right now. You're unstable and mentally ill. And none of this is helping. And like I said, I cannot, in good faith, let you participate in this mission. I'm sorry."

And with that, Coulson left the seething Ward standing alone in the room.

"Dammit!" Ward screeched, flinging a fireball at the door as Coulson closed it. The white-hot flame laced across the wall, fading out as there was nothing to feed it.

Ward's lips curled into another snarl, but he remained silent, only glaring at the door. The woman he loved was in danger, and he was no longer allowed to even help find her.

(Elsewhere)

Skye stared at the blank wall in front of her, sitting on the cot of the Hydra cell. She had been in here for three days now, and nothing had even happened to her. Unseen guards brought her food about two times a day, and that was the only action that she even had seen. And that worried her.

She was afraid to what they were preparing to do with her, and there was no telling to what it exactly was. There was no escape for her since there were some kind of power inhibitors in the cell that rendered her powers completely unusable. She was practically stuck inside of this cell.

And fifty million different thoughts were racing around her head, all about what was going to happen to her, the team, and Ward. Ward worried her the most, other than what was going to happen to her. The last she saw him was when he had completely and utterly lost it and had rampaged out of the room, and then that's when everything went black for her.

Then she woke up in this hell of a cell, unsure of what had happened for a while. She didn't know why Hydra wanted her, but had figured that they hadn't been targeting her. They just had seen her powers and decided to bring her in on the spot. There was no plan to anything.

She figured that this was some kind of science base where Hydra scientists performed unknown experiments on humans and gifteds. Skye just fit the bill and they wanted her then and there. There was no telling to what they would and could do to her, and that's what deeply scared her.

"Shit, I've gotta find a way out of here before they figure out what they're gonna do with me." she muttered, looking down at the floor. "I don't think SHIELD really knows where to look for me and I imagine they have their hands full with Grant if they found him." She scanned the walls of the cell, "Is there even a way out of here?"

Chapter Text

(The Next Day)

" Cannot stay. Cannot stay. Locked away. Locked away. Useless, like garbage. They think me insane. True. True. It may be true. But I am not that word. Useless. That is not me."

Thoughts swirled around Ward's mind as he stared up at the blank, white ceiling of the room he was seemingly locked-away in. The room he was to stay in until Skye was recovered, either dead or alive. The very room that would drive him into insanity.

The thoughts, oh the thoughts that drilled him at every constant moment. Most of them were vivid, and very gory, images of Skye dead in a Hydra cell somewhere, her corpse slowly rotting away. Other thoughts were his caged rage screaming to get out and exact his full potential. Which mainly involved it trying to twist him into something he was not. A monstrous killer.

He may have killed in rage, the monster hiding in his mind. Wrath was his greatest sin, and it drove his very actions day to day. Blood stained his hands, which was always a visible reminder of the chains of wrath that imprisoned him.

Wrath and fire was most definitely a highly explosive combination. No pun intended.

"Do they even care about me? They probably blame me. Coulson's the only one that ever cared. Simmons was just because she oversaw some of my treatments. I'm alone…" Ward's face twitched and he screamed, sitting up and pulling his legs close to his body, "I'm fucking alone here!"

"They think I'll kill them if they say the wrong thing. Lincoln was just a slip-up I didn't mean to. I didn't mean to. Maybe I did? Did I?" He shook his head as rage started distorting everything. "Was his fault anyway. Blamed me for something that I didn't do. Wouldn't matter if he's dead anyway. Monster… Called me a monster. That, that is not what I am."

Ward looked up to the mirror that hung on the wall opposite of him. And he was startled at what he saw. A few days' worth of self-neglect had turned him into someone almost completely unrecognizable. His beard was scraggly and his hair was a complete mess. Heavy, dark bags hung underneath his eyes, a complete contrast to his pale skin. And the worst of it was his eyes. They were still red with fire, something that shouldn't be possible right now. Something was wrong, really wrong. And he didn't know what.

"M-Monster," he began quietly, a bad tremble in his voice. "That is what I am. They're all right."

He buried his head in his hands and he began to sob, everything that had happened in the past few days just completely stripping him down to absolutely nothing. He soon would just be a shell of his former self. His back continued to heave with silent sobs, until he sensed something at the door.

His weak, and red-laced gaze slowly drifted to the small window of the door. A face seemed to float there. He was too tired to try to figure out who it was, but his exhaustion only twisted into rage as he realized that the unknown figure was staring at him.

"What the hell do you want?!" he screamed, rising out of the bed and slowly going towards the door. "Have you never seen someone fucking cry before?!" He got to the door and began pounding on it, the growing heat of his hands melting away at the door's material. Even though the figure had quickly disappeared, he kept pounding, "Leave me alone! Leave me alone!"

A burnt odor hung heavy in the air, jerking Ward out of his 'episode' for him to realized that he was burning the door. Even though the room was built to withstand things such as his flames, it couldn't handle the heat of his very own body. His knees buckled and he fell to the ground, realizing just how easily he lost it. Just because someone had been looking at him.

"I can't… I can't stay here. Someone will die, no, more than just one will die. I can't stay. I can't stay. Skye's in danger. Everyone's in danger. It's all my fault. My fault.

They don't trust me to save the woman I endangered. I can't sit here and rot away, turning into the monster I hate." he continued to mumble at himself. His eyes drifted to the semi-melted door and the darkness of the hallway outside, it had to been night and that figure was just someone checking on him.

Night. It was night. Everyone would be asleep. No one to fight back against him.

A somewhat-deranged smile grew on Ward's face, "Night. It's night." He began to laugh, practically maniacally. "It's night! Night! Night! Night!" he screeched. He stood to his feet and looked at the door, grinning like a madman, "It's night. People are asleep. I can get out of this hellhole and prove I am useful. Make sure no one sees. No one sees."

His grin grew big and wild as he placed his hands on the door, willing heat into them, "And everything's gonna burn. Hydra, the SHIELD fools, all of it. I love the smell of fire." The door started to smolder and burn, its material bubbling up. "The way it burns and destroys. Burns and destroys. Oh, I love it."

(Elsewhere)

Skye tried not to flinch as some Hydra scientist stared her down, as though she was his prey. He had come in the cell and dragged her to some kind of examination room. What was his name? Rodun, that was it. Rodun. Some scientist in charge of gifteds. Well, gifted experimentation.

"You sure are a fine specimen." Rodun commented, dragging a finger down Skye's arm. "You'll be great use of us. But I do have one question though. There was someone else with you. Where is he?"

Ward. They were talking about Ward. And it sounded as though they wanted him. Skye tried her best to feign confusion, "I don't know who you're talking about." she said flatly. "It was just me."

"Stop lying. We know that someone else was with you. We did the research. He's a powerful gifted that SHIELD has had in their grasp for about seventeen or so years now. Hellfire, that's his name. A man born of a demonic curse, set to live out his life with the flames of hell in his veins.

He was with you. He's the man that destroyed that base and almost everyone in it." Rodun drew close to Skye's face, "Where is he? He would be of great use to us as well."

"Oh, I've been in here the past several days, so I have no damn clue to where he could be at." Skye spat. "And besides, he's probably in no condition to be anywhere right now."

Rodun raised a grayed eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"He's mentally unstable. Ill. Should not have been out in the field. And me being here has probably driven him over the edge. He probably thinks that I'm dead and has probably completely lost it." Skye stated harshly. "To mess with him now is equivalent of messing with a high-powered bomb. Or the fire-equivalent of the Hulk. He's dangerous. Leave him the hell alone."

"Oh, is this love?"

"What?"

"I see it in your eyes. This man you speak of, you love him. You don't want us getting him, so you make up some kind of lie to why we don't want him. You don't want him in our hands."

"Okay, so maybe we're dating. But I'm not lying." Skye trailed off and her eyes went to the side, "He's sick. He's gotten worse in the past few weeks. He's losing himself. And me being here has probably made him much worse!"

"Oh, I don't care. A bad mental state will only make it easier to break him. Use him for more, just like we will do to you." Rodun said in a sing-song voice.

Skye struggled against her restraints, "Just wait until I get my damn hands on you, you bastard!" she screamed.

"Yet, you cannot do a single thing. You're useless in here. But you'll soon have your worth." Rodun smiled greatly, "You're worth so much. So, so much. And you'll soon see why. I'll have fun with you."

Chapter Text

An alarm blaring jerked Coulson awake right out of a deep sleep. The Director looked around in confusion, trying to figure out just why the alarm had went off, then it hit him,

"Ward." he croaked out, jumping to his feet out of the bed. "Shit, he's gotten out."

That was the only thing he could think of since Ward had been losing his mind within the containment room. Coulson had feared a breakout from him any day now, just not in the middle of the night. Perhaps that was better, there wouldn't be much activity to disturb Ward and set him off.

But was there really anything left to set off inside of Ward now? Coulson figured not since it had been a few days since he had seen the gifted truly coherent. Yesterday, the Director had tried to stay away from Ward, since feeds showed him really out of it, talking to himself and fighting practically nothing at all.

Coulson quickly made it into better clothes and went for one of the ICERs that he had in the room, not like a measly ICER would stop the raging might of Ward or anything of the kind. He hoped as he ran out of the room and towards the containment rooms that nothing had happened, that maybe it was just a false alarm. But one could only hope. And in today's world, it was hard to hope.

He took a sharp breath, following the acrid smell of heavy smoke in the air. Since Ward's flames weren't earthly, they stunk to high hell, quite literally at that. They smelled of sulfur, which settled into everything around it and left things stinking for days on end. And for some reason, the angrier Ward was, the stronger the sulfur smell was. And now, it was absolutely unbearable.

Coulson ran with a sleeved arm over his nose to block out the horrible odor, and his ICER hung at his side in his other hand. Fear gripped his chest, not knowing just what the hell was going on in that hallway.

He ran until he saw May standing at the entrance of the hallway, which was heavily-filled with smoke, acrid smoke. "May, it's not what I think it is, is it?" he asked.

May nodded briskly, "Unfortunately, it is. Feeds show that he's not even on the base at all. He ran off."

"Anyone dead?" Coulson asked, trying to look through the heavy smoke.

"So far? No. No one on the base is dead. Someone messed with the database though, and judging by the scorch marks on the computer it's Ward." May continued. "Someone's going through it right now to figure out what he wanted."

"I already know. There's no doubt about what he wanted, since we kept it from him."

May raised an eyebrow, looking for an answer.

"Any information we have on Skye's location. Meaning he's got the location of three different bases that she could be at. Three bases that will inevitably go up in smoke if we don't find him."

"They're Hydra bases, what do you care?"

"May, we don't need Ward going around blindly killing people, Hydra or not. This may be where we really lose him. Both him and Skye." Coulson ran a hand through his hair and sighed, "How long since he escaped?"

"Not sure. The alarms only went off once he managed to blow a hole in the side of the building. Nothing went off when he got out of the containment room. And since it seems that he did go through the database, it's been a while. But he hasn't been off the base long, unless his berserk state gives him super speed or something."

"Hell, those flames probably allow him to fly. I wouldn't be surprised." Coulson looked back to the now-fading smoke. "May, find the others and tell them what's going on, if they hadn't already figured it out. We need to track Ward down before he goes berserk in a civilized area. Hopefully, he's just headed straight towards one of those bases. But you never know."

May nodded and ran off in the opposite direction to find everyone else and inform them on the current hellish situation.

Coulson groaned, staring at the acrid smoke, "Damn it, Grant. You couldn't try for just a few more days? Or are you just too far gone?"

(Elsewhere)

Ward stumbled through the trees, his flames faintly burning off of him. Even through adrenaline ran strong through his veins, exhaustion was quickly gaining on him. No, he couldn't let himself fall. Not when Skye's life was at stake.

"Can't fall. Can't fall. Can't fall." he repeated over and over in his blurred mind. The brief state of insanity he had faced earlier had faded, but it had left him muddled and dazed. The only thing that kept him going was the drive to find Skye and bring her back safe and sound.

"But so tired… I'm so tired. Wanna sleep, can't sleep. No time to sleep. Skye's out there. I can find her. I can find her. Show Coulson that I'm useful. I'm not gone yet. I'm still here. I'm still here. I can do this."

He continued to run for what seemed like an eternity, but exhaustion really started to take its toll on him. His legs started to grow heavy, almost feeling like lead as he started to slow down more and more. A burning sensation ravaged its way through his lungs, different from the fire that he felt constantly. Air. He needed to breathe. He just realized that he had been holding his breath as he ran.

A massive root sticking out of the ground proved to be his stopping point. His ankle caught on it and sent him sailing to the ground with a massive thud. The grass around him burned as the flames that still burned off of him started to singe the flora.

Ward struggled to move himself onto his back and stared up at the canopy of trees overhead as exhaustion started to close his eyelids shut. "Sleep. I can't sleep. Not now. Skye… She's…" A wave of pain racked his body and his eyelids started to grow heavier and heavier.

Just when was the last time he slept? He didn't know. The trees overhead became blurred as his vision started to go. Maybe… Maybe he should…

"Sleep… Sleep is good… Then Skye… Find her… And Hydra will all burn in hell. Just where they belong…"

Ward's eyes closed shut as sleep overtook him. He drifted off with smoke slowly rising all around him. The forest would more than likely burn down before he was out of there.

Chapter Text

(A Day or So Later)

Flames billowed high into the air as Ward stared at the blazing remains of the once-standing Hydra base. He flexed his hands at his side, the skin glowing with the unholy light of the fire hiding just beneath the surface. Skye hadn't been in the base, so he had set it aflame just for the hell of it.

His lips curled into a somewhat-demented smile as he watched the flames dance their destructive performance. He loved seeing the inferno devour all that stood in its way. Normally, this wasn't him at all. But ever since the barrier within his mind had collapse, destruction was all that he craved.

Perhaps he was embracing his true nature, feeding the demon hiding within his mind. Or he had already fed it, maybe it had already been released and had overtaken him. This was the monster that had always lurked around the corner, the monster that everyone claimed him to be.

Now he was just proving everyone right, that he was a complete and utter monster. But was that really what he was when his mind didn't respond the way it should? He'd never been right in the head and the past two weeks had been his complete and final breaking point. A sick mind mixed with a dark and destructive power had created a beast that had no off switch.

This Ward couldn't be stopped until he got what he wanted. This was the Ward that truly embraced the darkness that hid within. He no longer cared who lived or who died, there was no filter for that anymore. No morals, not anymore. This was the demon that everyone feared.

But would there actually be a stopping point for him once everything was said and done? Would he have had completely been corrupted by his dark nature by then? Would there only be a killer left in his place? There was no telling anymore.

Ward's lips curled even more as he saw sparks sail into the smoky air. Soot stained his arms and gray t-shit. The clothes SHIELD had put him in weren't very fire-resistant, as for his jeans and shirt had burn holes in them. They would be all but burned away by the time he was done.

Blood rushed in his ears as his blood-red eyes scanned the wreckage. Some form of satisfaction filled him as he saw the result of his rampage. He didn't care who had died. In reality, only a few Hydra men had died. Most of them had managed to get away before the base had gone up in the inferno. As long as there was total destruction, Ward didn't care of the body count.

He didn't care anymore.

How did he get here? He didn't remember, nor did it matter to him. Two things encompassed his mind, Skye and the fire that destroys. Whatever stood in his way between him and Skye would go up in flames, and at this point that even meant SHIELD.

He cocked his head as a smoldering wall fell to the burning ground. Even after so much destruction, more could be made. And that made him happy. It was in his true nature to destroy. He now got some form of a buzz when he destroyed. Why did he run away from this for so long? He should've embraced this darkness long ago.

He didn't care to who called him a monster. He would probably laugh at them and agree, before sending them to their fiery death. That was the kind of being he was now, but for some twisted reason he loved it. For he was the destroyer, and nothing would stand in his way.

With a brisk laugh, Ward spun on his heels and headed away from the burning rubble. He went with his glowing hands spread out beside him, as if to give off a visible warning. Hydra would burn for all that it had done to him. It would burn for Skye. But was Skye even safe from Ward anymore since he now had become something far different from the man she had last seen?

For he was fire, for he was the destroyer, for he was death. And everything would burn that was his enemy. But now everything was his enemy. The whole damn world would burn now.

" I am destruction. And I fucking love it."

(Elsewhere)

"And it was only a matter of damn time." Coulson began, looking at the team. "A Hydra base has apparently been attacked by a lone man. And it's gone up in flames."

"Ward's attacked that one then?" Hunter asked.

"Who else? And we can only assume that Skye wasn't there since the base was totally demolished." Coulson stated. He sighed and shook his head, "Destruction isn't like him. He hates destroying, so I know that he's too far gone."

"This is why we should've done dealt with him when we had the chance!" Lincoln exclaimed, crossing his arms. "He's been too far gone for a long time now. He's the reason to why Skye was kidnapped! Now he's a monster that we can't stop. We're probably all going to die now."

Coulson's face hardened and a muscle twitched in his face, "No offence, but you need to shut it, Lincoln." he growled. "You are not helping here whatsoever. If we are to get the both of them back, no one needs to be acting like this. I know that you are not fond of Ward, but your input is not necessary here. If you are going to help, do not act like this."

Lincoln glared at Coulson, but did not say another word.

"Anyways, we need to get to next base before Ward can get to it. We need to stop Ward and bring him back before he can do anymore damage. I still don't know how he managed to get to the first one so damn fast. It's like a hundred miles away."

"Maybe his fire allows him to go a lot faster?" Simmons asked.

"Hell if I know. But if he's become this destructive, it's likely that he's become what his powers always wanted him to be. You all know he's pretty much half-demon. The Slades are practically demons, that's where his powers come from. So there's a certain darkness to him that he's always been running away from. If he's embraced that darkness," Coulson paused and took a sharp breath, "It'll be worse than the black flames. The black flames are more than likely that darkness peeking through. That's why Ward rages.

If the darkness fully has him, then he's a total monster. Nothing but destruction. Something that isn't going to give a single damn about us." he continued. "It's likely that he's not even looking for Skye anymore. He's just wanting to destroy. Destroy until there's nothing left standing whatsoever. And if any of us get in the way… Hell, I don't want to know what will happen."

"Then what are we supposed to do then?" Bobbi questioned. "If we can't bring Ward back in, what do we do?"

Coulson gulped, "We find Skye before he finds her. Or she falls into his path of destruction." he replied. "Then we get him if possible. I hate to say it, but we might have to put him down."

(Undisclosed Location)

Skye strained to listen to a faint conversation somewhere outside of her cell. She had been in here for a few days and nothing had been done to her yet. Either something had happened or Hydra was preparing to do something huge. Both scared her. The conversation continued, getting darker by the moment.

"I don't know what they're planning to do, man. That monster's probably headed straight towards us."

Monster? What monster were they talking about?

"Yeah, I heard that thing completely burnt down another science base not too long ago. A few of our men died, luckily most made it out. But I wouldn't put it past that thing to kill everything."

Burnt down? Skye's stomach churned, this wasn't sounding good.

"Isn't it that guy that was found with that girl we have here? The one that destroyed the base they were found in?"

"Yep. Apparently the two are inseparable or something. I heard the guy lost it, completely snapped. SHIELD apparently had him in containment since then, but he escaped. That's when he got to the other base. SHIELD says he's crazy, that's probably an understatement with the way he's going.

Skye about threw up. Ward. They were talking about Ward. He had destroyed two bases? Crazy? Monster? Containment? Just what had happened to Ward since Hydra had taken her? None of it sounded good.

Maybe that's why nothing had happened to her yet. Hydra was preparing for a war, all against the lone man that Ward was. Man… No, that didn't sound right anymore by the way the guards were talking. Thing, that's what they were describing.

Ward didn't even sound like the man she loved anymore. Just what had he become? Just what had taken the gifted's place? Oh, she hated to find out.

The destroyer was coming her way, and it would probably plow right through her. She didn't matter to him anymore. Only fire and utter destruction did.

Chapter Text

It took a good, solid day for Ward to arrive at the next Hydra base. But was he really Grant Ward anymore? Could he even be called by his own name now? Grant Ward had been stripped away by the ever-present rage that had taken him over. He was just a nameless entity that was fueled solely by the thirst for destruction. And he wouldn't stop until everything that stood in his way burned to the ground.

He really wasn't even looking for Skye anymore at this point, he was just wanting to destroy. He knew that Hydra was his enemy, and he knew he had to take down these bases. It didn't matter who lived or died in this situation, as long as there was pure destruction.

He had no name he could go by now. He was no longer Grant Ward, but he really wasn't a being worthy of a name. Was destruction worthy of being named? No, it was only a concept, not a being. He was now nameless in his quest for razing everything that he had grown to hate.

The sirens wasted no time wailing out as soon as he stepped foot into the base after incinerating a pair of guards. A single name itched at the back of his mind, something that he was supposed to remember. A girl long gone in the chaos of what he had become. But that didn't matter now. Whoever it was wasn't going to get his help.

Sparks flew off of his body, igniting whatever flammable object they could touch. This base was mainly built out of concrete, made to withstand catastrophes such as this. But could it really withstand the wrath of hellfire? The other base had melted almost immediately since it had been made out of steel. Oh, he loved the way that it had smelled.

A cluster of shining objects caught his eye, and he sent a massive fireball towards them. The objects exploded with such a hard force, it knocked him straight to the ground. He stood with a crazed smile as the lights shut off, as well as the sirens. Shouts filled the air as soldiers tried their hardest to figure out just what was going on. But they all knew, the devil had come for them.

The fire burning off of his body lit his way as he went, showing soldiers scared shitless of the monster before them. He didn't bother with them, he loved hearing their screams of terror as they fled. Now, he didn't even know where he was going. He just kept going, lighting objects up as he went. It wasn't until a particular figure stood in his path and called the name that had lost all meaning to him some time ago:

"Grant!"

Skye bolted up as soon as the explosion sounded and knocked out the power. She could hear soldiers screaming about the 'demon' as they went by. Her stomach churned, they had to be talking about Ward. Ward had come for her, but none of this sounded right. All of this was too violent and extravagant for him. He didn't like all-out destruction, she knew that something had happened to him.

She got to her feet and carefully approached the door. Testing it, she found that the power locks on it had failed along with the power, so it swung open as she opened it. She could already smell the heavy smoke filling the hallways and she took a breath as she ran out into it. Ward had to be here, he just had to. He finally came for her, but was she really ready to face him? Hydra soldiers had said that he really had lost it after their confrontation. They talked about a monster that had all but obliterated another base. And Ward was about to do just the same to this one. Was he really even looking for her at this point? Probably not.

The hallways shone with small emergency lights as she made her way down them. The acrid odor of the flames continued to grow stronger and stronger as she went. And she could hear soldiers screaming in the distance, which she judged to be a really, really bad sign for her. It took every last ounce of bravery she had just for her to continue towards the growing smell of hellfire. Had her boyfriend truly had lost it? She really didn't want to find out, but she had to get the hell out of here before the base went entirely up in flames. Flames that would destroy before they fully stopped.

And where was the rest of SHIELD in this? If it was just Ward, then he had ran from them. They wouldn't have let him go all on their own. But did that mean he had taken them down as well? Hydra hadn't been talking about it, so Skye assumed that her team was completely fine. It was just Ward that was far from it.

Had her disappearance sent him over the point of no return? It sure as hell sounded like it, and she hated to see what he had become. The heat and stench of hellfire grew as she turned the corner and she froze to see what was coming down the hallway towards her.

Ward.

"Grant!" she called, relief flooding over her. But the fear soon came as she saw what had become of Ward.

Flames billowed off of him like a wildfire and a bloodthirsty glare poured from his fire-filled eyes. He took an another few glides down the hall before he saw her and stopped as well. But recognition didn't come across his face. The bloodlust still stood, and he glared at her like she was his next victim. Her rescue had been completely wiped from his mind in his current state of mind.

A monster totally fueled by the yearn for destruction now stood, all remnants of Grant Ward wiped away.

He cocked his head as he tried to make sense of this new figure standing in his way and to why she was calling him 'Grant'. That name made his heart skip a few beats, but it still meant nothing to him. He growled and stalked towards her, the flames growing in size in his hands.

Skye backed away in fear. So this the monster every feared that he would become. The monster he fought so desperately to run away from. This was the demon that everyone said he was. The being of destruction and hellfire.

This was the true legacy of the Slade curse, and it had all but consumed and erased Grant Ward.

Chapter Text

Skye could hardly recognize the man slowly approaching her. The bloodlust pouring from his blood-red eyes distorted him into something far from human. Perhaps this was karma coming back to bite everyone in the ass. Everyone thought him a monster and treated him as so, and that’s what they got in the very end: A complete and utter monster. One that would not stop at anything to get what it wanted, and as of this moment it wanted destruction and nothing more. She was sure that he no longer wanted to rescue her. She was just a target in his razing path.

“Grant,” she began slowly, raising her hands in front of her to show that she was not armed. “Grant, can you hear me?”

Ward stopped and stared at her, the flames still billowing off of him. He remained silent, except for a deep growl that resonated deep from within his chest. Was he even capable of human speech now? Had the curse all but turned him savage and wild? Hell, this was the curse that Ward had tried most of his life to run away from, the curse that had sent his life into ruin just a few years ago. Skye could tell that this was the full capability of the Slade curse, and this was the demon that it had been wanting to unleash for so long.

He cocked his head once more, as if he was trying to figure out who she was. It was highly likely that he had forgotten her. The only thing in his mind was the instinct for destruction, or what the demon craved. No, this wasn’t Ward. This was far from the man that she called her boyfriend. This curse had broken him down and had stripped him away, leaving only a demonic shell fueled by hellfire. There was no telling if he could come back from this, this could very well be his end. Or he had already died and it was only the curse that was keeping his body alive. Was he even in there anymore?

“Grant, it’s me, Skye.” she said softly, giving him the smile that he always loved to see. “Don’t you remember? It’s me. You can stop whatever this is that you’re doing. I’m safe. I’m not hurt. Please. Stop.” She gulped as the smell of sulfur began to grow, signaling that the base would soon be completely up in flames. She had little time. “I don’t know what is going on with you, but you can stop it.”

He continued to stare at her, eyes wide and blazing. It was almost like there was nothing at all left inside of him, only the flames were driving him. His lips parted slightly and a croaking voice echoed out, “No. Can’t. I’ll be dead if I stop.” His voice was low and gravelly, as if the flames were distorting it themselves. “Kill them all before they kill me.” His once blank expression morphed into a jagged smile, not at all him.

Skye stepped back slowly as Ward resumed his approach. She didn’t know what to say or what to do. This wasn’t him, she knew that she had to fight back. But she didn’t want to, not at all. She didn’t want to hurt him. But she didn’t know of any other way to get out alive. It was either her or him.

“Grant, please. I don’t want to have to do something I’ll end up regretting.” she pleaded. “Stop this, now. Please.”

“I don’t want to.” Ward droned on, turning his flaming hands to her. “You’re only in my way.” He began to increase his speed towards her, it was clear that he wasn’t going to let her stop him.

Skye’s eyes widened as she realized just what was happening. He was going to kill he, he was actually going to kill her She flung her hands out in front of her, releasing a massive shockwave towards him. But her stomach churned as Ward walked right through it, like it hadn’t even affected him at all. Her powers weren’t affecting him whatsoever, it was like he was completely invulnerable to her.

Ward continued his march towards her, completely ignoring what just had happened. He was completely and utterly oblivious to anything happening to him, as for his sights were focused solely on Skye. Nothing was going to get in his way, nothing could stop him.

Backing up, Skye firmly realized that there was nothing that she could do to fight against the oncoming onslaught of the Ward-turned-demon. Her powers were useless against him, there was absolutely nothing she could do. She was backed into the wall as Ward came just mere inches from her, the flames jumping at her to attack. But, strangely enough, she felt no heat from this.

A blood-thirsty snarl curled Ward’s lips as he lifted his hands, “I don’t care who dies.” he growled. “As long as it’s not me. This entire world will burn before I fall.” He brought his hands close to Skye’s neck and she squeezed her eyes shut, preparing for the end. But that end never came as he wrapped his hands around her neck. No heat came, no pain came. She didn’t die, she didn’t die. Skye slowly opened her eyes to see the flames billowing off of Ward’s hands, which were still around her neck, but she felt absolutely nothing from them. Only a little heat. They were just warm, just like the time he had her stick her hand in a fireball.

She wasn’t a threat to him, even in his most enraged state. He couldn’t hurt her and she couldn’t hurt him. She didn’t know what exactly was going on, but it gave her a small sense of hope. Even though it was just a tiny sliver.

Ward frowned and brought her hands back, “I-I don’t understand.” he stammered, the light in his eyes dying. It was clear that he was beyond confused to why he couldn’t hurt Skye. It put a clear stop in his tracks and next thing he knew, Skye was grabbing his wrists. The flames snuffed out as he stared at her.

“Grant, you can’t hurt me. You know that you can’t hurt me, you just can’t see it right now.” she said softly, looking firmly into his eyes. “Now, do me a favor and just calm down. Then we can go home. Everything’s over, Grant. I’m safe. Nothing’s going to happen to me or you. You’re fine. I’m fine. That’s all that matters. Just tell me, do you remember who I am?” There was a hint of pleading in her voice, tears shining in her eyes. She desperately wanted Ward to come back.

Ward blinked and the red faded from his eyes, his face relaxing. “Skye?” he croaked. He backed away, looking all around in confusion. She had broken through to him. He looked back to her, “Skye, what the hell is going on? Where am I?”

Skye gulped and came close to him as he dropped to his knees. She crouched next to him, “There was an, um, incident. Unfortunately. I don’t know all the details, but I think you ran from SHIELD in your quest to get me back. You just kind went a little too far.”

His head hung low, “I lost it, didn’t I?” he mumbled, burying his head into Skye’s shoulder. “I fucking lost it.”

“Grant, don’t do this to yourself. Not now. We’ve got to get the hell out of here.”

“What’s the use?” he croaked, his head still in her shoulder. “SHIELD’s going to kill me anyways. I don’t know what I did, but I know it was bad. They probably think me way too far gone right now.”

Skye wrapped her arms around his massive and wearied frame, “They’re not going to do a single thing to you, Grant. They’re just going to be glad that we’re safe and sound.” She stood to her feet and reached out her hand towards him, “Now, let’s go home.”

Ward looked up at her, seeing her soft and warm smile. He smiled slightly back, no matter how much it pained him to do so. He gently took Skye’s hand and he came to his feet. Skye drew him close and his lips brushed her forehead. God, she missed this.

“Come on, Charizard. Let’s go home. Let’s go back to our family.”

“They’re not my family.”

“Trust me, they are. Come on, let’s finally go home.”

Chapter Text

The next few hours were a complete and utter blur to Skye. SHIELD showed up not too much longer after she had calmed Ward. Ward had passed out after he had snapped out of it. And SHIELD had immediately separated them, mainly for their own safety. Skye didn't want to be away from him, she pleaded and pleaded with the medical staff to let her with him.

She was cleared as soon as they got to the base, Hydra hadn't gotten around to doing anything to her yet. Ward, not so much. Coulson had him transferred to his room to have him in a more comfortable environment when he woke. Well, if he woke. No one knew if he would actually wake or not, not after what had happened.

The medical staff had said that he was just physically weaker due to extreme exhaustion, dehydration, and not hardly eating. Ward laid in his and Skye’s bed, unconscious and an IV in hand.

Two days passed before any movement from him. Skye laid next to him, holding his IV-free hand and her head against the headboard. Her heart lurched when his fingers twitched and closed around her hand.

“Skye?” he croaked, his eyes fluttering open. He groaned and struggled to sit up, “Where am I?”

Skye immediately threw himself around him, “Grant!” she screamed. “You're awake!”

“What's going on? How did I get here?” He ignored her, his eyes glazed-over. “What happened?”

“You've been unconscious for two days, ever since SHIELD got me and you from that Hydra base. “Grant, do you remember the past few days?” Her voice was low and calm, but it didn't soothe him at all.

He stared forward, keeping his eyes off of her, “I don't know.” he croaked. “I don't know.”

“Babe, you lost it. Completely. You weren't you.”

Ward's stomach dropped and his eyes glazed-over even more. There was a visible tremor to his body and he shook his head over and over, “No. That's not possible.” His voice was weak and tired-sounding. “That can't happen. That can't happen.”

“Grant,” She reached for his hand again.

He jerked it away and turned from her, burying himself in back into the sheets and trying to hide himself from the world. “Leave me alone, please. I'll only hurt you. Leave me.” His body froze and he remained silent.

“Grant, you can't do this to yourself. That wasn't you. I'm not hurt. None of the team was hurt.” Skye began, looking at his back. “Please don't blame yourself for something that you couldn't help. Please, babe, talk to me.”

“Maybe I don't want to. Leave me alone, get out of here.”

“Grant,”

“I can't be with you anymore. I burn everything I touch, even you. We can't be together. Leave me be.”

Skye's heart lurched again, “Grant, don't be so delusional, please.” Skye pleaded, running a hand down his back.

Ward tensed up, shivering against Skye's touch, “I'm not being delusional. I'm telling the truth. You saw what I'm capable of. You saw what I can become. That will only hurt you. We can't be together. I'm sorry.” Ward groaned as a wave of pain shot through his body and sudden exhaustion got him. “I'm… Sorry..” he slurred, the drugs in his system dragging him down. “Sorry…” His breathing evened out and grew heavy with sleep.

“Oh, Grant.” she said, still running her hand down his back. She knew that he didn't mean any of that. He never would. The trauma of the incident had already dragged him down. And it was only going to get worse.

(Two Hours Later)

Skye looked up as a knock sounded at the door. She saw Fitz standing in the doorway. She smiled and waved him in.

“How is he?” Fitz asked, motioning to Ward, whose head laid in Skye's lap.

Skye shrugged, “He's been way better.” she replied. “He's been in and out of consciousness for the past two hours. The first time he woke, he was already dragging himself down. Told me that we couldn't be together anymore, then he fell asleep again. Woke up again and wouldn't talk, fell back asleep. The last time he woke, about thirty minutes ago, all he did was lay his head in my lap. He's been like this ever since.

Fitz, I don't think he's gonna come out of this. I'm afraid that he's going to try and do something to himself.” she continued. “He’s so bad off, I’m afraid that he’s going to try and take his own life if there isn’t anyone there to watch him.” There was pure fear in her voice. She worried for the man she loved. And she had immediately had gone from fearing from her own life to fearing for his. He was reverting back to how he was when she first met him, if not worse.

Fitz bit his lip, looking to the man who still laid fast asleep with his head in Skye’s lap. There was no telling to the amount of drugs running through the man’s system to keep him under control. And there was no telling to just what that was doing to him. “Skye,” he began. “I’ll keep an eye on him if you’re not able to. I imagine that Coulson’s gonna want 24/7 watch on him now for a long time to come.”

“Has Coulson said anything about this?”

Fitz nodded slightly, taking the chair that sat in the corner of the room, “Not much, only that he fear for him. He fears that Ward’s going to get way worse than he did after the first incident. Now, I know that Coulson’s the only one of us that experienced that, but I know it’s probably going to get really bad.”

He shook his head, “Skye, you don’t know how he acted when you were gone. He blamed himself. He was just completely broken and lost. He almost killed Lincoln during the whole thing.”

Skye’s face fell and she looked down to Ward’s head, “Grant almost did what?” she asked, disbelief in her voice.

“Well, Lincoln was practically asking for it.” Fitz stated. “The bloody bloke confronted Ward while he was in one of his depressed states. Ward snapped and tried to kill him, had to be sedated.”

“Is that why there’s a bandage on Lincoln’s neck and a cast on his wrist?”

Fitz nodded, “Unfortunately. I don’t know why he hates Ward so, Ward’s never done anything to him. Lincoln placed all of the blame of your kidnapping onto him. That’s why Ward snapped.”

“I think Lincoln’s just angry how Grant moved in here and ‘stole’ me away from him. I never liked Lincoln like that anyways, he was just always a friend.” Skye’s eyes trailed off to the side, “Now, not so much. He’s turned nasty since Grant and I got together.” She ran her fingers through Ward’s hair, “I don’t know what it is.”

Fitz nodded slowly and decided to change the subject, “How are you?” he asked. “I understand that you weren’t even hurt.”

“Hydra never got around to doing anything to me. They got distracted with whatever Grant became just befor they wanted to do something to me. I guess Grant did save me, he distracted Hydra with whatever the hell that was. I would like to forget it all though. Hydra, that monster, all of it.” She looked back down to Ward’s sleeping form, “I’d like to move on, try to restart with Grant. Maybe try to make a new life with him.” She shrugged, “Hell, I don’t know. I don’t even know if he’ll even ever get over this. I’m afraid for when he wakes up. He’s so peaceful now, I don’t want this to end.

He was so delusional earlier. He wanted me to leave. But in retrospect, I don’t know if he actually meant that or not. I don’t know if he’s done with us being together. I’m afraid that he’s going to run off and get himself killed. Hell, I’m afraid that’s what he wants. I don’t want him to die.”

Fitz took a breath, watching the sleeping gifted’s body, “Yeah, if he even wakes up.”

Chapter Text

The good thing about being half-demon was that you healed insanely fast. Ward’s physical wounds were healed overnight as he continued to sleep. But that wasn’t to be said about his psychological wounds. He hadn’t even woken up fully yet, so it was hard to tell the extent of his trauma.

Some medical agents believe that he had lost all will to live and just would never wake up until his body gave out and died. They believed that it was possible that it his mind was slowly shutting down in order to cope with the trauma and sooner or later he would be nothing but a shell. That was why he was so delusional that one time he did speak when he was awake. His mind was crashing and there was no turning back.

He was kept to his room to avoid any incidents from happening. Skye was the only non-medical agent allowed in there since her presence seemed to calm him. But he still didn’t wake to a coherent mind. He was either frozen and unresponsive or completely delusional. He was on a path of self-destruction and this destruction couldn’t be rebuilt.

It was two days later when Skye awoke to find that Ward wasn’t in the room. She found his IV lying on the floor, blood splattering the blankets where he had been. Her heart skipped several beats. Ward had gotten out of the room and was somewhere within the base, and probably completely and utterly delusional at that. She ran out of the room and saw that the guards that had been stationed by the door, in case anything went wrong with Ward, were gone. She found this kind of strange since the guards had been there for the past few days.

Skye went slowly down the darkened halls, it was still the middle of the night. The only audible sound was the soft thumping of her feet against the cold concrete floor. She got closer to the common room and could hear a soft voice, it sounded like Fitz. Her heart lurched again once she could hear what he was saying:

“Ward, please snap out of it. I’m right here. Can… Can you even hear me?”

Ward. He was talking to Ward. She quickly made her way into the room to find the young engineer, in his pajamas, talking to a motionless Ward, who stood in the middle of the room and stared off at absolutely nothing. He was just like a statue, and nothing Fitz was saying was getting to him.

“Fitz?” Skye quietly asked to get the agent’s attention.

Fitz turned, smiling slightly at her, and walked over, leaving the motionless Ward behind, “He’s been like this for thirty minutes.” he said quietly. “I got up to get something to drink and I found him in here just standing there staring off into space. He won’t move, he won’t speak. I don’t know what’s going on. He hardly even blinks.”

“Don’t try to disturb him, Fitz. There’s no telling what he’ll do if he freaks. Whatever happened to him severally traumatized him.” Skye said softly, looking at the still unmoving Ward. “Simmons called it disassociation. He breaks himself away from reality to escape his trauma. That’s why he won’t move or talk.”

“Did she say how to break through to him? I’ve tried everything and nothing’s worked. It’s worrying me. Hell, it’s scaring me. He’s like a damned statue, I don’t see how someone can remain like that. Is there a way to get to him?” he asked.

Skye blinked and sighed, “I’m not sure, she didn’t say. I’ll try something. I’ve always been able to calm him down, so maybe I’ll be able to get through to him.” she replied, walking over to the statue that was Ward. “Grant?” she asked softly. “Can you hear me, babe? It’s Skye. No one’s going to hurt you, I just want to know if you’ll be alright.” She turned her attention to Fitz, “Fitz, can you go find Simmons or someone?” she asked. “He might need medical attention after this.”

Fitz nodded and hurried out of the room, leaving the two gifteds to themselves.

Skye turned back to Ward, carefully taking his stiffened hand. His entire body was ridged and tense, like he was prepared for something to happen to him. She gently ran her index finger in small circles over and over on his palm, “Can you hear me? Fitz is going to get some help. You shouldn’t be like this, not for this long. Something’s going on. Fitz is getting you some help. Everything’s okay, I’m here. Just… Just come back to me, please.”

Several agonizing seconds passed before Ward’s lips moved slightly, “Let me die.” he croaked, voice like nails on a chalkboard. “I don’t deserve to live. Let me suffer and die. I don’t belong here. I don’t belong here.” His body still remained ridged and apprehensive. Skye could see tears building in his eyes, he was about to break.

Skye gulped and still continued to stroke his hand, “Grant, you don’t deserve to die. What happened wasn’t your fault. That wasn’t you. But you did save me, you did do that. You don’t deserve to die. Grant, I love you. Just come back to me, alright? Don’t do anything that you’re going to regret.”

“No one will miss me.”

“Everyone will miss you. Me, Fitz, Simmons, Coulson, Mack. Hell, everyone will miss you. You have friends here, Grant. You have friends that are willing to help you. You can get better, don’t let this end in your death. No one wants that. We will all help you.”

Ward remained silent and Skye decided to lead him to the couch, and he actually let her. She was glad that he was now moving and was at least in this world with her, but his thoughts weren’t. His thoughts were still suicidal. He truly wanted to die.

When they got to the couch, Ward leaned his massive frame onto Skye and he began to sob. “Monsters like me don’t deserve to live. Let me burn in hell where I belong.” he cried, his tears falling onto Skye’s pajama top.

Skye wrapped her arms around Ward’s torso, “Grant, sweetheart, you are not a monster. Stop demeaning yourself like this. You are not a monster and you do not deserve to die, you hear me?”

Ward’s red-rimmed eyes drifted to hers, “Do you mean this?” he croaked out between sobs. “Do you really mean this?”

Skye smiled at him, mainly because she had actually managed to break through to him, “Yes, I do.” She looked to the doorway to see Fitzsimmons and a few medical agents standing there. She gave them a thumbs up as Ward continued to cry. “Grant, will you let Simmons and a few doctors look at you?” she asked softly. “She just wants to make sure that everything’s okay. Then we can go back to bed. Everything’s okay, no one’s going to hurt you. Will you let them look at you?”

He nodded stiffly, but kept his head in her shoulder. He remained silent though.

“It’s okay to cry. You’ve been through a lot. But everything’s okay. We just want to help you, Grant. Will you let us?” she asked, pulling Ward to his feet. “Please? I don’t want you to spiral into a place where you can’t get out of. You need all the help you can get now before things can get worse.”

He silently nodded once more as Skye looped her arm around his and began leading him to the smiling faces of the two scientists.

And there was a part of him that believed that there was hope for him, that these three agents were his beacon in the swirling chaos that was his mind. Could he actually be saved and brought back to the point where he was actually himself? And for the first time in a long time, being led by these three agents, Ward actually had a sliver of hope for himself.

Chapter Text

“Grant, sweetheart, we can’t get anywhere if you refuse to talk. I know that it hurts, but you’ve got to push through it.” Skye said softly, running her hand down Ward’s back. “You’ve got to at least make some progress, a little’s better than nothing at all.”

“Grant, she’s right.” Dr. Garner, both Ward’s new psychologist and May’s ex-husband, said. Coulson had called Garner in to help with Ward since he was supposed to be the best of the best. But, Garner wasn’t prepared to deal with a mentally-instable gifted. Ward was a whole other case than what he was used to.

“You don’t have to talk a lot today, just a little. If I see that it’s getting too much for you, I’ll end the session. A little bit is better than nothing at all.” he continued, trying to give Ward a comforting smile.

But all Ward did was stare off into nothing, his eyes slightly glazed-over. His skin was pale and clammy, and there was a visible shake to his body. Skye took his hand and gave it a light squeeze, but didn’t say anything.

“Just tell me, why do you think that you should die?” Garner continued, closely watching Ward’s body language. “Why do you feel this way?”

Ward’s lips parted slightly and all that came out was a croak, “Because I am a monster. Monsters don’t deserve to live.”

Garner nodded slowly to show that he was listening, “And why do you think this?” he asked. “The others don’t think so, they all say that you’re a great guy.” He didn’t mention the others’ fears of him, but those fears were logical. And he especially didn’t mention what Lincoln had to say about him. “Why do you believe that you are a monster?”

Ward continued to stare off into space, “I cause nothing but destruction. I’ve killed too many people to count, and I don’t even remember it. There are flashes of screams and death in my mind. I don’t remember who these people are, but I know that I’ve killed them.” His voice was low and rough, full of pure exhaustion.

“But the others say that wasn’t you, that you slipped away right after Skye here disappeared.” Garner continued, scribbling down a few notes. “They could all tell that it wasn’t you. Coulson claims that was the curse that holds you down. I don’t see how you are at fault here when you weren’t even in control of your own body. There’s no reason to believe that you were responsible for what happened between the time of Skye’s disappearance and Skye’s rescue. So if this is the case, then why are you blaming yourself so?”

The glaze on Ward’s eyes started to grow heavier, he was starting to shut down. Skye noticed that he would do this when he didn’t want to face a problem. His ‘shutting down’ was actually him disassociating and cutting away from reality. He didn’t want to face his traumas, so he ran mentally from them.

“Grant, I know this is painful for you, but you’ve got to try and stay with me.” Garner said in a calm and reassuring voice. “There are things that you’re going to face that are going to hurt, but it’s only bumps in the road to recovery. Now, I’ll ask again. Why are you blaming yourself?”

Ward’s head shook, “I don’t know.” he croaked, his voice like that of a small child’s. “It feels right. I feel responsible. I got Skye hurt because I can’t control what I am. I am a monster.”

“You can’t help what you were born to, Grant.” Garner continued, casting a worried glance at Skye. “You can’t help your ‘curse’ no more than Skye can help her Inhuman genetics. Your genetics are powered, that’s all. You can’t help a powerful and dangerous force runs in your veins. And you cannot help what that does to you. These things are beyond your control.

You do not need to blame yourself for things that are out of your grasp. Focus on yourself, learn to control your powers, do thing that make you happy.” he paused. “Grant, what makes you happy?”

Ward remained silent, he honestly didn’t know what to say. He’d never thought of that one question. He knew that he had a special fondness for dogs and he did love reading. But it was hard to figure out beyond that point. His throat started to grow dry and he was finding hard to breathe. His body began to shake as he couldn’t figure things out. He saw his knees meeting his eyes as he curled up into a ball, trying to escape the question. He didn’t know, he just didn’t know.

And he didn’t even feel as Skye placed her hand on his back, trying to break him out of it. “Grant, babe, are you okay?” she asked softly, taking his hand. She tugged lightly at it to get his attention, “Can you hear me?”

Her voice pulled at him and he looked up, tears staining his face and the red fire shining in his eyes. Skye smiled at him and he actually smiled back at her, even though it was a pained and weak smile. This gave Garner an idea.

“Grant, is it Skye that makes you happy?” he asked quietly, writing down a few more notes. “Is it?”

Ward found himself nodding, even though weakly and tiredly. He just wanted this to be over with. He just wanted to go to bed and curl up in the sheets, hiding away from everything else. But he didn’t give a verbal response though. He remained silent, but still nodded.

“So Skye makes you happy. Do you see her as maybe your lifeline? The only reason that you may actually want to stay on this world? What do you see in her?”

Skye looked at Ward, wondering of his answer. She wondered that too. Just what did he see in her? She was nothing special, but he acted like she was his everything. She had been the one person that he had actually fallen in love with, head over heels at that. What had he seen in her?

Ward’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, despite his dried-out throat. He shrugged slightly, “I don’t know.” he muttered. “She just made me feel safe, like… Like not everyone hated me. I knew that she was actually someone that I could trust, someone that wouldn’t hurt me. There was something about her that would calm me. I… I don’t know.”

Garner nodded, “You see her as a beacon in your current storm. Something that you can attach yourself to as you’re spiraling down to keep you from reaching the very bottom. It’s not common for people while going through bad times to find that one person that they can trust and attach themselves to them. This said person helps them feel better and can help the recovery process.”

Skye blinked, “So you’re saying that I’m what could possibly help him?”

“Yes, basically. A person tends to heal more when they are helped by someone that they actually like. I’m practically a stranger to Ward, but you’re far from so. Skye, you’re his girlfriend, you already love each other. So this isn’t a hard thing, you help him without even realizing it, I think.” Garner explained, setting aside his notepad. “Now, there’s other things that Grant does need other than your companionship. He does need medicine and other things to help keep his symptoms at bay.” Garner looked over to Ward, who had nuzzled himself into Skye’s side. But he could tell that Ward had blocked everything out, since he kept his eyes on Skye’s legs.

“Look, this is a good stepping stone. I do see recovery in his future. He can get over this. He’s got someone that loves him dearly and friends that are more than willing to help him, that’s a very good thing. That will definitely speed up his healing process from this trauma.” he continued. “He can get past this and be as close to mentally healthy as he can be.”

Skye looked over to Ward, running a hand carefully down his leg, “So he’s going to get better?” she asked. “That’s a possibility?”

“It’s not just a possibility, I believe that it’s a given fact. Grant here will get better, no matter how bad it seems right now. Give it a while with some good TLC and meds, he’ll be normal functioning again. He will get better.”

Chapter Text

(A Few Days Later)

Ward readjusted himself so he was sitting up in the bed, right next to Skye He started to stare off into space as a single thought started to nag at him. “Skye,” he began. “Do you think me as a good man?”

“What?” Skye asked back, turning her head to look at him. His question caught her off guard. Why would he say such a thing? “Grant, what the hell do you mean? Of course you’re a good man. Hell, you’re the sweetest guy I know. If you weren’t,” she gestured around them. “We wouldn’t be in the same bed together. Why are you saying this?” Her voice was low and soft.

He shrugged, “I don’t know, it just came to mind.” he replied. “I just wonder sometimes if I’m actually good, if I’m actually a hero. I have a hard time believing so most of the time.” He kept his head down, like shame was weighing down on him. Despite his current environment, his depressed thoughts were coming back. Well, it only had been about a week since the incident, since Skye had been rescued, so there had been little to no progress with his recovery. He lived every single day with his thoughts trying to tear him down and drag him to the point where he wanted to kill himself.

“Just after all that happened, I don’t see how I can do any good anymore. All I do is burn everything I touch.” Ward stretched out his hand, making sure that they were far away from Skye, and sent embers dancing into his palms. “You can try all you want to say that this is a gift, but it’ll always be a curse to me.”

Skye held her breath. Ward really wasn’t supposed to be using his powers right now, since they usually put some kind of strain on his mind. And considering his current mental state, that strain wasn’t needed. But she didn’t say anything about it, she didn’t want to freak him out. “Grant, your powers do not decide who you are, just like how my powers don’t decide who I am.” she began softly. “Curse or not, they don’t define you. At one point they did, but not now.”

Ward let his hands drop to the sheets, looking at Skye with a confused look, “What do you mean by ‘at one point’?” he asked.

She took a breath, “When I first met you, you were probably the closest thing to a demon that I’ve ever met. You were closed off, cold, snapped at anyone that tried to talk to you. I see now that that was all just a defense mechanism just because you were so afraid. But you were letting all that hate and fear shape you into the very thing you were afraid of. At least you’ve learned to be yourself, and that’s a good thing.”

“So you’re saying that I’m a good man now?” Ward asked cautiously, afraid of Skye’s answer. He didn’t want to say it, but she was right. He did remember being a nightmare of a man with how he acted towards everyone around him, but he was just trying to avoid that hate. But did it really make the hate go away?

Ward knew that he had Skye to thank for how he was now. It wasn’t until she actually took a chance with him and stood up for him that his real self started to come out of that shell of a practical monster. There was no one true person to blame to what he had become, everything had contributed to the ‘demon’. But Skye had been the one to break it.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying, Grant. You’ve come a long way from what you were not too long ago.” she replied. She settled in closer to his side, “You are a good man, you’ve got to stop trying to convince yourself otherwise. That’s just only going to make things worse for you. Andrew said it himself, if you want to heal faster, you’ve got to think positively of yourself. I know it’s really hard to do so after everything that you went through, but you’ve got to try.”

He shrugged, staring off into space again as Skye laid her head onto his broad shoulder. He chose to ignore what she had just said as another question came to mind, “Do you think that there’s a future for us?” he asked, his eyes still looking ahead at absolutely nothing. “Do you think that this will continue to work?”

Skye bit her lip, but not moving her head off of Ward’s shoulder, “I’m pretty sure that it will, Grant. You love me, I love you. So why the hell wouldn’t it work? And don’t give me that ‘because I’m a monster’ crap.”

Ward sighed and moved away from her slightly, “Skye, you deserve someone better than me. You deserve someone that you don’t have to take care of like a sick child every single day.” He looked to the side and lowered his voice as Skye looked at him with genuine concern, “I’m not worth it. You deserve someone better than a broken piece of shit like me.”

“Grant, I love you. I really do. I honestly don’t care that I’m gonna have to take care of you for a while. You’re going to get better, you’re going to get stronger.” Skye said softly, taking his hand and tracing light circles onto the surface of his palm. “You’re not a piece of shit. Yes, you may be broken, but you’ll get better in time. But you are not a piece of shit.”

“So you will stay?” Ward asked, voice like that of a small child. He was genuinely afraid. One part of him wanted Skye to go find someone better than him, but the other part didn’t want to let her go. That part was afraid that she would leave him cold and alone.

“There’s not a chance in hell that I will leave you, Grant Douglas.” Skye stated, brushing her lips against the stubble on his cheeks. “You are so freaking paranoid, I’ll never leave you.”

“Can’t help it. I’ve…” he trailed off and shook his head. “I’ve never actually have someone fall in love with me. I never had a significant other. No one wants to be with a demon.

 There’s also the fact that I practically dropped out of high school when I was like in 9^th grade, so I didn’t get that entire experience. So, I honestly don’t know what to do, Skye. That’s why I’m afraid. I don’t know how this all works. But I also know that you deserve better than me.”

Skye’s heart ached for Ward. He was so damned insecure about himself, more than likely a part of his clinical depression. He questioned every decision he made, and he was even questioning loving her. She gave him a heartfelt smile, “Don’t worry, Grant, you’re doing just fine. I love you and I’m not leaving your ass for a long time, I’m sure of that.”

He smiled back at her, even though it was extremely dopey and awkward. But it warmed her heart. He leaned over and pressed his lips up against hers, his stubble stinging her skin. “Thank you.” he breathed. “For giving me an actual chance. No one’s ever done that before.”

“Well, they missed out on a really great guy.” she replied with a massive smile. “’Cause you’re amazing.” Skye shook her head and started to reach over for the lamp beside them, “Now, it’s getting really late and I know you’re a very early riser. We should get to bed.”

Ward still smiled at her, but nodded. He settled down into the sheets as Skye flipped the light off. He felt Skye sink back into the sheets, drawing in towards his side. He turned and draped a muscular arm around her, drawing her close.

“Mmm. You’re so warm.” she mumbled, clear that sleep was already starting to drag her down. “Don’t let go.”

He took in the sweet scent of her hair, “Don’t worry,” he muttered into her ear. “I won’t. I won’t ever let you go.”

She snuggled in closer to him, trying to take in as much warmth as she could, “Night, Grant.” she whispered. “Love you.”

And those two words made something stir deep within Ward’s chest. A smile pulled at his lips as he buried his face into her soft, brown hair. He knew that he finally had the world, that he finally had something right. “Love you too.” he murmured. “I love you too.”

Chapter Text

(Several Months Later)

Ward watched quietly from the shadows, waiting for the right moment as Skye quickly approached their target, a guy that looked normal but was supposed to pack one hell of a punch. This Inhuman, apparently capable to control stone, was suspected of two murders. Skye and Ward were sent to apprehend the suspect, even though Ward was very wary of the situation.

Now, Ward hadn’t been back in the field long. He’d only been cleared for field work just last month. Every move he made worried Skye, she was afraid that he would somehow end up slipping up and spiral once again. He’d fared pretty well on their last two missions, but she could see the anxiety shining in his eyes. He was still afraid of himself.

He continued to watch as the Inhuman spun around and glared at Skye. His chest tightened as the Inhuman’s lips curled into a snarl.

“Who the hell are you supposed to be?” he growled, not wavering underneath Skye’s gaze. His eyes surveyed Skye’s body, “And what’s with the fancy getup? If you didn’t have that circus outfit on, you’d be one hell of a lady.”

Skye internally groaned and rolled her eyes, “Thanks, but ew. One, you’re a wanted criminal. Two, I’ve already have a boyfriend.”

The Inhuman scoffed, “Then what the hell do you want?” he asked. “I’m not playing games.”

“Neither am I. You’re wanted by SHIELD for many different things. I’m here to bring you in.” she said, feigning a smile. “You’re pretty much under arrest here.”

“Do you really think that I’m afraid of you?”

“No, but you should be afraid of him.”

“What?”

That was Ward’s cue to come out of the shadows. He let the flames fill his irises as he tried to put on his best menacing smile. (He really couldn’t be all that menacing in Skye’s presence.) “She’s right.” he added on, dropping his hands to his side as he stalked towards the Inhuman. “You should very well be afraid of me.”

“Who the hell are you supposed to be?” the Inhuman snarled back. “I ain’t letting you freaks take me in.”

“Freaks, really?” Ward asked, raising an eyebrow. “You’re practically a hypocrite there.” He gestured to Skye, “She’s Inhuman as well, I’m…” he trailed off. “Well, I’m half-demon.”

The Inhuman’s face fell as he began to back away from Ward, only to run into Skye. Skye smiled at him and gave the ground a teasing jolt, sending him to the concrete below. He thrusted his hands towards Skye, pulling shards of concrete from the ground and hurling them as projectiles towards her. She managed to block them with a shockwave and a drop to the ground.

Ward cracked his knuckles, still wearing his best menacing smile, and summoned a spark of flame in his right palm. The spark soon morphed into a chain link, which multiplied into a full-length chain of fire. He let one end of the fiery chain drop to the ground, the heat partially scorching the concrete. He then began a slow walk towards the Inhuman, the chain dragging against the ground.

“You know, I don’t want to have to do anything drastic.” Ward began, fire sparking from his eyes. “Sometimes, I get a little too carried away, and you don’t want that. Give up now, and we won’t fight.”

The Inhuman responded by flinging a massive boulder of concrete towards Ward. Ward quickly dropped to the ground with inhuman speed, avoiding the boulder, and swiftly jumped back to his feet. His smiled twisted into a fearsome snarl.

“Wrong answer.” he growled, whipping the flaming chain towards the man.

Skye took a sharp breath. She hated it when Ward went all out, it actually scared the hell out of her. He looked so monstrous as he did so, that she was afraid he was actually losing it. Now, she knew that this was a tactic Ward made up to just scare the target into giving up, he actually meant no harm. Ward’s whole ideal was if he could make himself appear demonic enough, the target would essentially shit their pants and surrender.

It worked the past two times, believe it or not, but it still frightened Skye to look at. Especially since it reminded her of the monster he had become just months before, the monster that he still was recovering form. Ward still had frequent nightmares and panic attacks because of what happened, but they were nowhere near as bad as they once had been. And he still had a long way to go.

She jumped back as the Inhuman shot to his feet and barreled into Ward, knocking him to the ground and sending the flaming chains high into the air, which soon disappeared. Without much thought, she ran towards the now-standing Inhuman, thrusting out both hands to send out a massive shockwave that sent him flying far into the opposite wall. He hit it with a massive crack and slumped to the ground unconscious.

Skye spun and ran towards Ward as he pulled himself to his feet, the fire long gone from his eyes. He brushed the dirt off of his jacket and shook his head, sending his hair into a mess. She raised an eyebrow at him, “You okay?”

He shrugged, “Sore, but better than that guy.” he replied, pointing towards the now-unconscious Inhuman. “Pretty sure that he’s out cold.”

“I’ll go call Coulson for a pick-up team. Ward, make sure that he doesn’t wake back up. And if he does, knock him out again. I don’t care what you do, just don’t kill or severally hurt him. You still tend to get a little carried away.”

“Look, I haven’t used my powers in so long without being completely afraid of them, I know I’m getting a little carried away.” he stated, wrapping an arm around her torso and drawing her close. “Sorry, was just having a little fun.”

“Well, this ‘scare the shit out of the enemy’ tactic of yours is going to give me a heart attack someday, Grant. It makes me think that you’re going to lose it.”

“Look, I’m trying my best to keep myself grounded, and it’s worked so far. If I just focus on taking down the target, then I’m fine. It’s when other thoughts barge that I start to freak out. An one-track mind is the best thing to have when you’re me.” He shrugged again, brushing his lips against her sweat-covered forehead, “I’ll be fine, I promise.”

Skye drew away from him, “And are you sure?”

He smiled, “Yes, I’m sure. I’ve never felt better. Now, go call Coulson before Rocky there wakes up. I’ll watch.”

She reached up and pressed his lips up against his before going off somewhere to call Coulson for the pick-up team. Ward smiled, like a goof, as he watched Skye disappear. He still couldn’t believe just how well he had it now.

He had a loving girlfriend, actually had friends that cared for him, and could actually use his powers without fear of them. His mind was still healing, but was a far-cry from the mess it once had been. And he could actually call himself an honest to God hero now, something he’d never had the courage or the belief to do.

Even after just two major missions, the monikers of Quake and Hellfire were becoming something both to be feared and revered. Ward didn’t know it yet, but they would eventually become two of the most famous heroes in American history (even after starting a family of their own, but that’s a story for another time).

He didn’t know what path he was being led on now, but it didn’t matter to him since he knew that Skye would be at his side throughout the entire journey. He smiled as he saw her face briefly appear, smiling at him as she talked to Coulson. Yeah, you could say that the both of them had it good. And Ward absolutely loved it.

And to think it all started with just a simple recon mission.