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The kids are in town for a funeral
So pack the car and dry your eyes
I know they got plenty of young blood left in 'em
And plenty nights under pink skies you taught 'em to enjoy
0:00 ─ㅇ─────── 0:33
The base was quiet when Robbie finally made it back across.
He had hoped getting rid of the Darkhold would be easy, but of course, nothing was ever easy with the Rider. He wasn’t sure how long he had been gone, but the eerie silence wasn’t exactly giving him any sort of relief.
The common room was empty. The television was off. Someone had actually put the remotes back where they belonged.
There was no arguing about who had to fill out the paperwork or laughing because Coulson never plays games by the rules.
There were no half-empty takeout boxes lying on the coffee table, no movies strewn across the floor where the team would once argue about what would save the day after a hard call.
Nobody was trying to convince Coulson that Star Wars counted as required viewing.
Robbie kept walking.
The bunks were all empty, no trace that people had lived in them in the last twenty-four hours. Beds that were never made were now spotless; clothes that once covered floors after particularly long days were nowhere in sight.
So clean the house, clear the drawers, mop the floors, and stand tall
Like no one's ever been here before or at all
0:39 ───ㅇ───── 0:50
It wasn’t until he reached the hangar that he realized what was going on. People dressed in black were taking down chairs, dozens of faces he was sure he had seen, but couldn’t remember any of their names.
He knew what was going on.
He just wasn’t sure who it was.
He scanned the room, looking for a familiar face. That was when he spotted Mack, folding tables further toward the back of the room.
“Mack.”
He looked up. He was frozen, the table slipping from his hands with a dull metallic clang. “...Robbie?”
Robbie nodded once, afraid anything else would be too much.
Mack crossed the room in three long strides and pulled him into a hug before he could react. Not that today he would’ve reacted; a funeral was probably a bad time to reject a hug. “You’re late.” Mack scolded as he stepped back and let Robbie go.
Robbie could feel his chest tighten, and he could only manage one word. “Who?”
Mack didn’t reply right away, and Robbie felt like more weight was being added directly on top of his lungs.
Finally, after a minute, he saw Mack’s eyes fix on a point directly past his head. Robbie turned around slowly, and that was when he saw Daisy, sitting alone, cross-legged with her back to the casket. She looked...
Smaller.
Like someone had taken all the fight out of her.
He didn’t even need to hear a name.
He knew who it was.
For a moment, Robbie felt like he couldn’t move, like he had just stepped in 500 rat traps.
The hangar buzzed around him, agents carrying quiet conversations to the sound of chairs scraping against concrete as they packed everything away; like a creepy chorus. But it all sounded muffled to Robbie, his vision tunneling on her.
Daisy didn’t look up.
One hand rested absentmindedly on the casket as if letting go would make everything too real.
Mack cleared his throat behind Robbie. “She hasn't left his side since the service.”
“How long?” He asked, never taking his eyes off her.
“A few hours,” Mack admitted quietly. “We can’t tear her away from him. Him and May were the only family she had, and with what happened to Fitz…”
Robbie frowned. “Fitz?”
Mack rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, exhaustion etched across his face. “It’s a… really long story. Coulson’s gone, Fitz’s gone, the world is ending every other Tuesday. And we just have to…” He let out a humorless laugh. “We have to keep saving it. Like our own world isn’t ending.”
Robbie followed Mack’s gaze back to Daisy. “How’s she holding up?”
Mack was quiet for a moment, then said, “Depends on the day. Most days, she’ll tell you she's fine, then disappear for twelve hours chasing some lead halfway across the country because otherwise, sitting means thinking.”
Robbie could feel his jaw tightening. “She blames herself?”
Mack sighed. “She blames herself for a lot of things. And Coulson… he knew she was going to lose him. He tried to make sure she knew how to keep going afterwards, but.”
“But she doesn’t.” Robbie guessed.
“She’s trying. She could use someone who remembers who she was before all this, though.”
“What do you mean?”
“Lately she’s just… someone everyone goes to when things go sideways. Most days she wants it like that. Keeps her busy, keeps her distracted. But right now, she needs someone who doesn’t need anything from her, who isn’t expecting anything from her. Someone who doesn’t know who she is now.”
“I’ll talk to her.”
Mack nodded. “Just don’t expect her to say too much at first.”
“She doesn’t have to.”
Without another word, Mack gave him one last nod before making his way toward the remaining agents and leaving Robbie standing alone at the edge of the hangar.
He drew in a slow breath. He’d fought demons. He had been face to face with the Devil himself. And yet…
Somehow, walking the twenty feet between him and Daisy wanted to trigger his fight or flight. But he managed, his boots echoing against the concrete.
She noticed him before he even said a word. “I thought I imagined you.” She whispered. Her voice sounded wrong. She was too quiet, tired but not surprised. Robbie stopped beside her, glancing down at the casket before looking back at her.
“You didn’t.”
She nodded as the silence settled between them. He lowered himself down onto the concrete, settling in beside her but leaving enough space for her to not feel crowded. Neither of them looked at each other, not saying a word. They stared straight ahead, waiting the other to break the silence.
“I missed it.” Robbie finally asked quietly.
Daisy nodded. “You did.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I know.”
More silence followed. The kind that most people would’ve found awkward, but not them.
A pair of agents carried the last folding table past them, toward the storage closet. One offered Daisy a sympathetic smile as they walked by. She managed a small nod, but her eyes never left the floor.
If you could see 'em now, you'd be proud
…
Your funeral was beautiful
I bet God heard you comin'
1:03 ────ㅇ──── 1:15
“Coulson would’ve hated this,” Robbie whispered once the doors groaned shut, his eyes falling on the casket again. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the corner of her mouth twitch.
“He would’ve complained about the flowers.”
“He would’ve hated the long speeches.”
“He would’ve hated all the sadness.” She let out something that almost resembled a laugh. “He would’ve hated wearing the suit. Reminded him too much of being the director.”
“He would’ve. He would’ve liked that it was in front of his plane though.” Robbie agreed. He let the silence settle in again for a moment, before asking, “How’s May?”
Daisy frowned. “Working.”
“Today?”
She nodded. “She delivered the eulogy and then…” She made a shooing gesture. “She doesn’t know how else to cope, I don’t think. Just work, distract.”
“And you?”
A humorless laugh escaped her. “I don’t think I’ve figured that part out yet. I don’t know. I guess I just keep expecting someone to tell me there’s another mission.” She rubbed her thumb absentmindedly against the polished wood of the casket. “That one of the satellites picked up something, or Simmons found an impossible solution for something, or Coulson will walk in and tell us to gear up.”
“He always knew what to say.” Robbie agreed quietly.
Daisy smiled faintly, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Yeah. Now everyone keeps looking at me like I’m supposed to know too. Mack’s the director, May’s… May. Simmons is trying to keep everyone together, and me… I’m supposed to tell everyone what’s next, put all the pieces back together and keep the team going.”
“Do you know what’s next?”
This time she really laughed. “Not even a little.” She rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands, before tilting her head up toward the ceiling. “I keep waiting for someone older to walk into the room and tell me what we’re supposed to do. Then I remember we are the older people now, not just a bunch of newbie agents who couldn’t even tell you what color the sky was without looking at it. I mean, back then, you probably didn’t even know what SHIELD was. And now…” She trailed off, going quiet.
“Mack said something about Fitz?”
Daisy closed her eyes. “...Yeah. He died.” She let out a bitter laugh. “It’s funny.”
“I don’t think that’s the word I’d use.”
“No, probably not. But… we spent years trying to save Coulson. We couldn’t and then… and then Fitz died saving us anyway.”
Robbie frowned. "Start over."
Daisy looked at him. “What?”
“When I left, Coulson had taken out AIDA. Mack still hated my car. Fitz and Simmons were still arguing about whether I was possessed or symbiotic, whatever that means.”
“You’ll be…. glad? To know that they settled on ‘it’s complicated,’” she murmured.
“That sounds about right. But I came back and…Mack’s director.”
Daisy frowned again. “He didn't want it.”
“I figured. And Coulson’s gone, and Fitz is gone. What happened?”
“The serum that brought Coulson back from the dead the first time. It caught up to him, the effects of the treatment. He was dying, like he told you. Simmons developed a new serum that could’ve stabilized them, but, um, this general guy that we’ve had problems with for a really long time, he became this… thing that wanted to destroy the Earth. And I wasn’t powerful enough to stop him on my own, so Coulson told Simmons to give the serum to me instead. May spent his last few months with him and went to the real Tahiti.” Her voice broke a bit. “Maybe if I had been stronger, I could’ve saved him and the world, but-”
“What happened to Fitz?” Robbie asked before she could fall down the never-ending spiral of guilt, a spiral he knew all too well.
“A building started to collapse. Mack got stuck and… and Fitz went in to save him. And you can probably figure out which one made it out.”
“He got Mack out, but he couldn’t get himself out.” Robbie guessed.
Daisy nodded. “He got Mack out.”
Robbie didn't ask if she'd made it in time. He didn’t need to.
He already knew the answer.
“Simmons tried everything to save Fitz. She wouldn’t stop. We couldn’t let her. But he knew, before we did. That- that that was it. That there was no saving him.” She blinked back tears. “He just kept apologizing and apologizing.”
“Apologizing for what?” He asked softly.
“For leaving us. For not being able to stop it.”
Robbie let out a slow breath. “That…unfortunately does sound like Fitz.”
She snorted out a laugh. “Yeah. Yeah, it does.”
“What about Simmons?”
“She’s gone.”
“Gone?”
“Not like that. Um,” She glanced at the coffin. Maybe she was trying to decide if she wanted to say this so close to Coulson, in case he randomly decided to wake up. After a moment, she continued. “The Fitz that died was the one that came back with us from the future.”
Oh?
Robbie blinked in confusion. “... I’m gonna need you to repeat that for me.”
“There’s another Fitz.” She repeated like it was normal. Which, given what they knew about the world, probably was their new normal. “The one who froze himself before all this happened. He’s out there still. Somewhere. I don’t understand how it all works but-”
Robbie nodded, understanding. “And so she’s out looking for him now.”
Daisy nodded. “She left three days ago. Took Piper and Davis with her and just…”
“What do you think about it?”
“Everyone keeps saying they’re trying to do the impossible. But … I think it’s hope.”
The word hung there for a moment, like someone had just hung a glass ornament on the very tip of a Christmas tree branch and they were waiting to see how long it would take to fall and shatter. “Do you think she’ll find him?” He eventually asked.
“I think she has to. If she doesn’t find him, he’s really gone. And he can’t be gone.” She replied stubbornly, before her voice softened. “I just don’t know if he’ll be our Fitz anymore. He won’t remember any of this. He won’t remember dying. He won’t remember anything.”
“He’ll remember you.” Robbie reminded her quietly. “That counts for something, right?”
“I hope so.”
Finally, the silence began to get to him, and he pushed himself to his feet. “Come on.”
“I really don’t want to,” Daisy argued, unmoving.
“I know.”
Daisy quietly contemplated for a moment, then asked, “...Where are we going?”
He shrugged. “Don’t know.”
“That’s your plan?”
“What? You said you keep waiting for someone to come and tell you what to do.” She looked up at him, the first time he had really seen her face since he got here, and he met her eyes. “I don’t know what’s next either. But it wouldn’t be the first time we figured something out together. Plus, I think Coulson would’ve yelled at both of us if we spent all night sitting on this concrete floor.”
And for a moment, all the light came back into Daisy’s eyes as she smiled again. “Yeah. Yeah, he would’ve.” She glanced back at the casket one last time. Then Robbie offered her a hand, and this time, she took his hand.
If you could see 'em now, you'd be proud
…
Your funeral was beautiful
I bet God heard you comin'
2:13 ────ㅇ──── 2:25
Daisy was sitting on the tailgate of the Charger, munching away on some french fries. Robbie leaned against the car, next to her. He watched her with soft eyes. “You haven’t eaten anything today, have you?”
“What?”
“I can almost guarantee you haven’t eaten anything today.”
“I had coffee.”
“Coffee isn’t food.”
“It has calories in it.”
“So does motor oil.”
“...Fair.”
The kids are in town for a funeral
So pack the car and dry your eyes
2:36 ────ㅇ──── 2:46
“I’m tired,” Daisy whispered into the sunset, lying out on top of the car.
“I know.”
“I didn’t think I was going to outlive him.”
“I know.”
They continued to stare at the sky. And Robbie made Coulson a silent promise to look out for her.
I know they got plenty of young blood left in 'em
And plenty nights under pink skies you taught 'em to enjoy
2:48 ────ㅇ──── 2:59