Part one - And there's no remedy for memory your face is, like a melody, it won't leave my head.

Raina breezed into the dimly lit room for the second time in her life; it was cold and damp just as she remembered. He sat with his back to her, if he was surprised by her entrance he didn't show it, he didn't even acknowledge was usually up on his feet straight way. Raina thought little of it as she self-assuredly sauntered over to the small table that stood beside his chair.

"I know you thought you would never see me again but..." She placed the photo on the wooden surface beside him, "I found your daughter."

There was a long pause as he picked up the picture, "Of course you have," he said with a long suffering sigh, "I knew you couldn't resist meddling, my dear, how did you find out?"

"DNA, I took a sample last time," she looked innocently at him.

"I would appreciate it if you would destroy that evidence now." He gave her a hard look, as she nodded, there was no way he would know of course and in all likelihood she wouldn't. He looked puzzled for a few seconds and then inquired, "Hold on, that doesn't make sense, my DNA, has changed. That's why Simmons never picked it up. The GH-325 changed it."

"I know, but once I guessed what I was looking for, similarities kept coming up."

"And how did you guess?" He questioned.

"Garrett gave me the hard drive from your plane. I started to go through it and got intrigued by some of information. It tied into a story I had heard about a village in China. So I asked Ward about it, but he didn't..."

Coulson made a sucking noise through his teeth as if he was biting into a bitter lemon, "You talked to Ward about this," the anger evident.

"Not about you," she recoiled as if scolded, "it wasn't until after I spoke to him about the girl, that I realised that there might be a connection between you, I remembered it mentioning a monster," she had the good grace to grimace at the words, "after our first meeting I could see what happened to you, that's when it struck me you could be Skye's father."

He gripped the photo she gave him between his shaking, decaying fingers, smiled wistfully at the face captured and whispered reverently, "Skye."

She tilted her head and swallowed as she watched the emotions play across his battered and bloody face. He hadn't gotten up because he probably couldn't, she tried not to wince in the face of his mutilation. It had taken her too long to respond to his call.

She winced not only at the deformed figure in her vision but because he had sat here waiting for her all this time not knowing if she would even turn up, "You should return, you've been here too long already. I'm sorry I couldn't get here faster," she said softly, genuinely concerned at his condition and half intrigued she would admit, as to how long he could continue in this downward spiral.

"I know," he conceded sadly, "Thank you for the photograph, it's something to keep me company," Raina's euphoria from having gotten one up on him disappeared quickly at the melancholy she heard in his voice.

"Will you tell me, about her? About the village?"

His lip curled slightly, but not in a smile, "Another time, perhaps."

She looked disappointed, "What do you want me to do now?" Pretending that finding his daughter had been a task he had given her, which of course, was ridiculous, he knew exactly who Skye was; otherwise he wouldn't have appeared in China all those years ago when she was a baby. She struggled with the concept of what she thought she knew of that encounter, the thing in front of her and the man he had once been.

"Just watch for me," he paused, and then seemingly changed his mind and said sternly, "Actually... please don't go anywhere near her, times will become hard enough for them, they will have to face the loss of everything they know soon enough."

"You found it hard?" she inquired.

He looked to the ground, "It was the end of the beginning," he said cryptically.

It was clear he wasn't going to say any more on the subject, so she tried for another touchy subject. "What's it like?" She asked in childlike wonder, tilting her head. She had, of course, witnessed a few seconds of it when they had first met in this very room. She wasn't sure she wanted that feeling again, immersing herself in the darkness had been the most terrifying and overwhelming thing that had ever happened to her, and it had been only a few moments, to live with that constantly must be… madness.

"What? Travelling through time? It's not time travel though, you know that."

"No, not that," she answered honestly, admittedly she would add that to her list of questions for later if she got the chance, so she said interested, "Although that has its fascination for me too."

"Ah," his face pulled into what was once a smile, "The universe, you want to know about the universe."

"It must be amazing to see and feel and to control everything around you." She said in awe.

"Raina, child, do try and pull in your power hungry urges." He exhaled sharply, "It's not like that anyway, I don't see the everyday occurrences, Earth is but a pinprick in the corner of my eye, it holds..." He looked at her, "obviously it holds a larger place in my heart, otherwise why would I ask you to do these little things for me," he smiled wistfully.

Raina knew she was a fascinating creature, mostly to men, she still wondered however, why he had chosen her. It was possible that it was simply because she was one of only a few that hadn't automatically run from the sight he presented in this world, she could look him in the face without wincing (mostly). He must find it refreshing. He was acquainted with her streak of malevolence, and she guessed he thought he could harness it and turn it into good. It was a single minded streak he had endured from her himself, back when their relationship to each other had been in its infancy.

She pouted, "But... to command."

"I constantly wonder, you know," he sighed, "if I got to you early enough, Raina?"

"I don't understand."

"Can you change?"

"Who says I want to change?"

He wearily said, "You're young and impulsive with an insatiable desire for knowledge, it's dangerous Raina, it could lead you, probably already has, down a dark path. You must fight it, try to be better."

She didn't answer; she didn't have an answer. She just gave him her most innocent look and meekly said, "I asked him what I would become."

"Who?" He asked confused by the sudden change.

"The clairvoyant."

"There was no such thing," he countered angrily.

"I know, but after the formula, he could see."

"I suppose it was you," he made an effort to quirk an eyebrow annoyingly, but it just made the thick red blood pool and clot over the hair above his eye before trickling down the side of his face in a slow lethargic decent, "That injected him with that damn drug?" He accused.

He looked at her as she smiled shyly and nodded. She disappointed him she knew with her constant lack of remorse.

"We will talk about that at another time, rest assured." He said harshly.

"Did you kill him?"

"Completely and utterly!" He smirked satisfactorily before realising he didn't like the reciprocal smile he got back from her, he continues, "Help me up, I need to return, this body is depleting quickly."

She reached over to help him, not quite sure where to touch him, she knew when he looked like this that he would be in pain. She could see the blood staining the shirt underneath the suit jacket in numerous places. She could do nothing but gently take his elbow. It was oddly gratifying to know that when he went back he would be restored and whole again.

"What did he tell you?" He asked casually and brought his hand up to touch her face but sighed as he looked at his fingers and dropped them again.

"He told me I would be a monster." She said seriously then grinned.

His lips curled up into a grin of his own, "I will see you soon, my little monster, please don't get into any trouble."

Raina watched as he began to disappear, his final words whispered through her ears, haunting her. "You asked what it was like, Raina, it's lonely." She wanted to go to him and beg him to take her with him, but he wouldn't allow it, she knew. She didn't want to acknowledge the feelings that this man sent through her, an awareness that had always been alien to her. She was sure he would get a thrill out of that knowledge, that he had planted the seed of it in her, she had a frightening apprehension that it might be compassion.

End of part one.

I would love to know what you think of this, it's a little different for me!