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Skye breathed deeply twice as she hid behind the fallen metal table. Bullets whizzed over her head, she gathered herself and remember May's training. Slowing her heart rate as best she could, she waited for that split second lull between shots.
She sprang up firing 2 shots in the general vicinity of the shooter. Jumping over the table, she performed a roll, coming up to the flank of her assailant. A flash of light brown hair was all she saw as the Hydra agent took off down a hallway.
Skye remembered target practice, aiming for the Hydra emblem on the back of the agent's jacket. Heart rate even, releasing a breath, she fired two shots.
Running over, she kicked the gun away. Turning her enemy over, she felt her own lungs collapse in shock. A bloodied, in pain, Jemma Simmons stared back at Skye.
Falling to her knees, Skye's hand ran over shoulders, neck, hair, anywhere she could reach. "Jem...Jemma?"she cried out. "No, God, no." She lifted her upper body to cradle her. "What the hell are you doing here?" she asked, so confused to find Jemma in a Hydra uniform at a top secret Hydra base. She just couldn't process it all.
"Sk-Skye," the scientist whispered, coughing up blood. Jemma weakly lifted her hand. The hacker grabbed it and kissed her wrist before bring the limb to her cheek. She could feel a chill in Simmons's touch. "Ma...sca...g," she tried to say.
"Shush," Skye said, tears falling down her cheeks. "Save your strength." She could hear that May and Trip were on their way.
Jemma shook her head, with her free arm reached up to her tiny hoop earring. Pulling it off, she pushed it into Skye's hand. With her last breath, she gazed straight into Skye's eyes and told her, "Manscaping."
Trip and May slid into the hallway, finding Skye sobbing over Jemma's lifeless body.
--AOS-SKIMMONS--AOS-SKIMMONS--
Coulson stared at the report on his desk. "Was it worth it?" May asked softly, entering his office without knocking.
"The intel is priceless," Coulson replied, meeting her steady gaze.
"It had a price," May countered as she folded her arms across her chest. "Two agents. One dead, the other broken."
"Let's not let their sacrifice be in vain, then," he said. His hand clenched tightly into a fist as he bought it down on his desk in anger.
--AOS-SKIMMONS--AOS-SKIMMONS--
Skye had sealed up shut in her bunk. She couldn't bring herself to care about much of the outside world. Who would really? The hacker turned agent had killed the one person in her life she couldn't live without. They hadn't really put a label on what they had. That's what had hurt the most when Jemma left. That uncertainty gnawed at the back of Skye's mind.
Which is why she just stared at memory chip laying on her desk. The tech people said the micro drive had an audio file on it with Skye's name.
She had been glaring at it for 3 days, 6 hours, and 42 minutes. The guilt ate her from the inside out. Skye didn't deserve to read whatever it might contain. She's the exact reason Jemma couldn't relay the file's contents directly.
Skye would never get to reply.
Finally after 3 days, 6 hours, and 52 minutes, Skye got and plugged the chip into her laptop. A finger hovered another moment before opening the file.
"Skye," Jemma's voice sounded in the quiet room. The brunette's eyes filled once again with tears, despite having thought she was all cried out. "If you're listening to this, something's happened. I'm sorry, Skye."
She almost stopped it right there. How could she listen to Jemma apologize when Skye was responsible for her fate?
"I love you, Skye. And I'm sorry I didn't say it before I left." Her hand covered her mouth, stifling her whimpers. "I love you with everything I am." She could hear the heartfelt emotion in Jemma's voice. Jemma cleared her throat. "Just remember that, no matter what. I love you, Skye."
"I love you, Jemma," Skye whispered to an empty room. The last bit of her heart that had remained, shattered beyond repair.