The team was silent for a long time when Coulson told them the news.

"Where's Skye?" May was the first to break the silence.

"In her bunk. She needs some space."

FitzSimmons nodded as one, and Triplett stepped back.

"Is she alright?" May was persistent.

"Are any of us?" Coulson asked softly, and May laid a hand on his arm. He wrapped an arm over her shoulder, pulling her closer.

It was Triplett who found Skye later that night.

She was on what had been Ward's bunk once, and she was curled into a ball, holding one of the blankets to her chest.

Trip leaned against the door frame, hesitant. "Are you okay?"

"It still smells of him," she said.

"Coulson told us what you did back there," he said gently. "Saving Ward? That's a call few people would have made."

"I didn't save him," she said. "I just showed him how to save himself."

"I wanted to hate him, you know," Trip said abruptly, looking away. "Both of them. But you managed to find what was still human in Grant Ward, and that's a fucking miracle."

Skye looked up at him, her eyes fierce even as they filled with tears. "He could have been so much," she said softly. "He could have been anything. And John Garrett destroyed him."

Trip looked at her sadly. "Ward made the right choice today, though. Garrett didn't destroy everything."

"He could have been a good man," Skye said. "And Garrett killed him. I'm sure he did."

"Do you want to know for sure?"

"Coulson won't let me look at the satellite feeds," Skye said.

"The place is cleared, but we could go back and look if you want," Trip said slowly. "So you could have some closure."

The compound was nearly empty when the team returned.

No guards, no sign of life, not even any last traps set by Garrett or his men.

Coulson had asked Skye to wait in the Bus until they found something, but she had snuck out while Simmons distracted Coulson and Trip.

It was Skye who found the body.

It was lying near the top entrance, and the last light of the sun touched on his face.

She said nothing.

Didn't even cry.

She just stood, staring emptily at the shell of the man she had known, at the stain of blood spread around him, at his cold face.

Coulson placed a hand on her arm.

"We should go back to the Bus, Skye."

"We should give him a proper burial," she said stubbornly, and then tears were rolling down her face. She stepped forward slowly, and then reached out a hand to touch Ward's body. "Grant," she whispered. "Oh, Grant."

"Skye." It was May who pulled her away, several long minutes later. "It's time to go."

Skye turned wordlessly and leaned into May's shoulder, her body shaking silently with sobs.

They buried him away from the compound, on a hill overlooking a small lake. It was a peaceful place, one of them tried to say encouragingly. He would have liked that.

But the words were meaningless and they all knew it. Knew Grant Ward had never known peace.

The team was silent for a long moment, and then Coulson took May's hand and they turned away. Triplett followed, and Fitz reached out a shaking hand to touch the small wooden marker they had placed over the grave. Simmons closed her hand over his, and then led him away.

Skye stood alone at the top of the hill.

"I had so many things to say to you," she said slowly, her voice quavering. "I was so angry. Maybe I still am. We were supposed to have more time than this, Grant"—

Her voice broke, and she dropped to a crouch, her shoulders bent.

She reached out to carve something onto the wooden marker. A verse. "I told you once that no one deserved the punishment that you thought you did," she said softly. "I hope you believed that by the end."

Skye stood slowly, drawing a shaky breath.

"Goodbye, Grant."

She turned, and slowly walked away towards the family waiting for her at the bottom of the hill.

Behind her, the light of the sinking sun struck the wooden grave-marker, illuminating the words scratched roughly there.

Grant Douglas Ward

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.

But the greatest of these is love.