WHO Grant Ward & Daisy Johnson.
WHAT. Arrival + Reunion of old frenemies.
WHEN. December 1 | Before this.
WHERE. Outskirts of town.
WARNINGS. None.
STATUS. Complete.
It was all still a whirlwind. He’d been...gone. It had all ended in a spaceship and he barely remembered anything at that point. The closest he’d come to getting anywhere back to himself was an instant. A moment where that thing...that monster that took him over was caught in some kind of field reliving his memories. And all of a sudden, it was gone. There was nothing of Hive in him now, nothing but memories of the horrible things he’d done. Which on top of the horrible things Grant himself had done was more than he thought he could bear. He thought he would have been happier being atoms. Space dust.
But he was Fallen now. Apparently part of some good evil team up to save the world. He’d have laughed if it didn’t sound so serious. He’d been one of the first brought here. Chosen by the Champion of the Fallen. And she had been a lot.
He’d been walking near the edge of the town, wondering if he just walked into the mists would he become space dust again and then berating himself for being so selfish. Maybe he could actually do something here. Fight a fight that seemed like it could save a lot of people. Make up for….something. Some of it.
He was musing this over when he saw her. And instantly froze. She was the last person he expected to see making her way out of the mists.
Daisy wasn’t sure what she expected as she finally made it out of the mists. How it just randomly appeared on a damn spaceship was beyond her, but after everything she’d seen and experienced since joining Coulson’s team, almost nothing was honestly that surprising anymore.
She had to revise that opinion when she was finally able to see well enough to make out an all too familiar figure. Instinctively, Daisy started to back up, shaking her head. No. It couldn’t be. It sickened her how there was a part of her that still craved that connection she’d felt, even after all this time. For a moment, it honestly felt like she might throw up. Instinct brought her hands up as she tried to use her powers to force him away from her, but she found herself unable to do it. Some strange force wouldn’t let her attack him.
It took her just a moment to really focus on his face, for her gaze to land on his eyes and for her to see past her instinctive fear and revulsion over the memories of her time under HIVE’S thrall. Once she did, it hit her that it wasn’t him she was looking at. She relaxed slightly, but her guard was still up.
“Ward?” she asked incredulously.
He was ready when she raised her hands but when nothing happened he blinked. He should have been thrown away from her but whether she’d stopped herself or something had stopped her he didn’t know. To be honest he supposed it didn’t matter in the long run. She met his gaze and said his name. His. Name. She knew.
“Daisy.” he said, still staying back from her. It wasn’t that he was scared of her, although maybe he should be. But he knew there was still a lot of things between them. “Yeah, it’s me. Honestly I don’t know how it’s me. I don’t know how I’m here and he’s not but I’m not complaining.”
It was still strange to be talking to her like this but there was something he had to say to her. That he’d wanted to say to her for years but had been caught up in the bubbling anger and hate his life had become.
“I’m sorry. I need you to know that. Before anything else. I need you to know that.”
She almost laughed when he confirmed that it was him. It was kind of hysterical that hearing this was Ward was actually a relief. She wasn’t sure how she should feel about seeing him beyond that or about his apology. So much had happened since Maveth. HIVE, losing Lincoln, the Framework, going to the future.
Confronting her emotions, especially the bad ones, had never been easy for her and she decided to focus on the facts, instead. “You remember being […] him?” she asked, barely acknowledging the apology with a faint nod.
"I remember all of it. Stuck inside my own head and not able to stop him. I tried, I really tried but I wasn't strong enough by a long shot."
He needed to explain to her how hard it had been, watching her be used and hurt by that thing, the thing with his face." One minute I was on Maveth, Coulson did what he did and then I was back on Earth. Or he was. And there wasn't anything I could do but watch. It was actually a relief when it was over. But here we are, needed for something else. Why they chose me? I don't know."
He wasn't quite sure what to do next.
Do you want me to bring you to HQ. You'll get a room assignment and job and things, then I'll leave you to settle in."
A brief look crossed Daisy’s face when he mentioned Coulson’s name, but she quickly pushed it back. The letter he’d left her still rested in opened in her bunk for good reason. It had been months, but Coulson’s death was something she still wasn't confronting. She'd kept moving in part to avoid dealing with it.
Conflicting emotions over seeing Ward again weren't any easier to deal with. Hive had worn his face and it was hard not to see it when she looked at him. It was still hard to think past everything he'd done before then, too, but then there was the Ward she'd met in the Framework. Walking proof that maybe him being evil wasn't inevitable. Her experience there and with Hive had given her some perspective, but it was all still a lot. It was a lot she didn't really want to deal with. Daisy never had been very good at confronting complicated emotions in her own heart. Running away was easier and he was giving her the perfect out.
“Yeah, that'd be good,” she said, nodding her head.
“Okay.” he said simply, keeping what he figured was a respectful distance away.
“I didn’t come through the mist. They picked me and I woke up at HQ. I think it’s different when you’re...when you’re not alive back home. I was out here trying to figure out the mists when I saw you. You’ll meet your liason who is, if you can believe it, Galahad.” he said with amusement. “Mine is some crazy Irish lady who started a war over a cow.”
He didn’t say what he wanted to. That the difference was in who they were. What they’d done and why. It had separated them into factions and there was no doubt in his mind that Daisy would be ascended.
It didn’t take them long to get to the town center. Ward pointing out a few important places like the nearest bar and the apartments before they got to the HQ.
“Just in there. They normally like to meet you out of the mists but apparently there’s been a lot of us today.” he said, stepping back to let her pass.
“It’s good to see you again Daisy. Let me know if...if you want to talk or anything but I’ll leave you to your intake talk.” he told her.
Daisy still didn’t know how to process him being here or how she felt about anything he had to say. It was easier to talk shop and focus on taking in her new surroundings, learning about the place she was apparently stuck in now.
Still not knowing what to say as they prepared to part ways, Daisy just gave him a quick nod. “I will. Thanks.”