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Looking back, it amazed her -- the lies they told themselves, each other. About justice and what was right, and how to stop the darkness. It was all so reasonable, so believable and yet...there was poison in the well of their righteousness, enough to choke them all.
And oh, how it did.
Skye became Daisy and left the seeds of whatever might have been behind
along with four slugs to the chest...
She took her pain and channeled it
buried it
forged it into steel
and bled on it every day
to form her team, her warriors, protectors
like he had been
was supposed to be
still was.
And it was that team that discovered their greatest mistake.
Maveth. Death. Death by torture, by trial, behind the face of the man they'd been told was no longer a threat. Slithering beneath his skin, smiling with his dead eyes, haunting her in flesh and bone that should no longer move.
The recognition struck them all one by one, but as the bodies piled against them, it was all too clear.
Grant Ward as an enemy had been nothing compared to Death wearing his skin.
Coulson left them first, his guilt gnawing and clawing in ways they couldn't see, couldn't help. Mack wore the mantle of director like a burden, the difference showing as they turned inward to protecting themselves. For a while, it seemed they were safe, that Maveth
or Ward?
wanted Coulson more than the rest.
But even as they reasoned the vendetta had taken over, Death stalked them slowly, patiently.
He had been gone so long that they tried to start living again, loving again. She guarded herself carefully, jealously, even, but allowed the luxury of affection before too much time had passed. Blonde hair, bright smile, a heart she could hide inside.
The mess wasn't hers to clean up anyway, this time...
Was it?
Maveth roared from hibernation after that, a kiss in the sunlight the kiss of Death to their borrowed peace. Coulson's bleeding body on their doorstep was a gauntlet no one could ignore.
But not dead,
why not dead?
He refused to leave Ward's body, Death coveting the skills and the confusion his host wrought too much to relinquish it.
Maybe the mess was hers after all.
She begged Coulson for a chance, Mack stepping aside to let them handle the Inhuman threat he'd never wanted to touch.
And if she handled it too tenderly, too preciously in the end...
there was enough Grant Ward in that body Maveth had thought was
his vessel
to leave her alive.
The mess, the loss, the lesson,
all hers to bear alone.