See? Epilogue. And I didn't even wait MONTHS to post it. Onwards!

The explosion that killed Ward and Fitz was powerful enough to shake the entire bunker. The smoke tower could be seen for miles, and it took the better part of two days to put out the flames. A week to go through the rubble.

Any human bodies were long gone after a fire that hot and that prolonged. Even the shells of the quinjets were hard to identify after that kind of blast.

The only reason both Agents Leopold Fitz and Grant Ward were officially declared dead was the last few moments of security footage Skye managed to hack after their escape. The moment Fitz levelled the handgun at the munitions canister Jemma screamed, clapping her hands over her mouth as he pulled the trigger and the camera was destroyed.

At least they were finally free of SHIELD, and the long arms of HYDRA.

The same could almost be said for Coulson and his remaining team.

Bobbi, Hunter, Jemma, Skye, Mack, and May. That was all that really remained of the heart of SHIELD. They were collecting more and more with every passing month, but Director Fury remained frustratingly silent against Gonzalez and his actions. SHIELD split even further – Coulson trying to retain what he thought was the true meaning of the agency, while Gonzalez used tactics like fear mongering and deep rooted hatred of all things different (because different is dangerous, boys and girls). Gonzalez may not have the actual initials SHIELD in front of his shadow organization, but that didn't stop his recruitment.

More concerning was how effective it seemed to be. No official numbers were known, but at least half of the remaining SHIELD after the HYDRA coup already sided with him, and fear was a more compelling reason to join than the chance to do good in the world. Coulson's team had been lucky to escape in the commotion after the fire and explosion. At least Skye had wiped all of their computers. And Jemma had taken all of their genome profiling from Angela and Ward.

They alone had Adaline's Chimera formula.

But Gonzalez remained in control of the Vault, which meant he had the monster maker himself – Zola. Assuming he'd kept the man alive, anyway.

Coulson sat back in his chair, pinching the bridge of his nose to stem off a building headache.

Most days were good. They were finding more and more Inhumans thanks to the terrigen contamination, and Skye and May were doing admirably well trying to find ways to teach them to use their powers, while Jemma and Bobbi worked on possible cures for the members who didn't want them at all. Mack and Hunter were in charge of recruit training, and Coulson had to fight the urge to laugh every time he saw them break out their 'good cop, bad cop' routine (which was really more Abbott and Costello, but who cared? Dark days needed a bit of levity).

But some days?

Some days all he noticed were the things he lost. The people he'd failed.

The top of the list were Fitz and Ward.

And he hadn't just failed them in the hangar. The list of sins started a long time ago – not noticing how unhinged John Garrett had become. That he'd asked a largely untrained engineer to go into the heart of a HYDRA base because he hadn't wanted to risk Skye – even though she'd had field training and her Quake abilities.

He could understand the choice they made. He'd heard Fitz say it often enough – he would rather kill Ward himself than let him fall back into the hands of people like Zola. Hell, he'd barely stopped him the first time Fitz had tried. Maybe this was the way it was always going to end.

He scrubbed a hand over his face before sifting through the mail – they'd tried to stick to paper as much as possible after Stark pointed out how easy it was for him to get into SHIELD's systems. Not even Skye's net security could keep his sticky fingers out.

As he flipped through the stacks of memos, bills (because not even SHIELD was exempt from paying the electric) and other letters he didn't want to deal with at the moment, a brightly colored postcard fell from the stack.

There was no return address. The stamp had been overlaid several times by courier stamps and marks from various countries. The picture on the front was a non-descript tropical paradise, with crystalline blue waters and grass roofed cabins on stilts over the calm sea.

The only thing written on it, in neat, precise block handwritten lettering, were the words 'you're right – it is a magical place.'

It took a second for him to make the connection. He wondered if it was stupid even to hope he was right.

"Those bastards," he whispered, chuckling as he flipped the card back over again. "They stole my line…"

Author's Note: IT'S DONE. This seriously is a landmark for me - my first long fic FINISHED. This started when I was in the Navy and has dragged on through civilian life. This thing has a lot of personal milestones for me, but really, it's because of you guys that I worked on this. It took so many twists and turns and additions I hadn't planned on - like Hellfire? Totally decided that on a whim. That entire scene wasn't going to exist - it had an entirely different twist it was going to take, but then I don't know what happened, and it just EXPLODED. I was even going to end it waaaay back at like chapter...12, or right after they were rescued and they were sort of on the mend. But nope. Nope. Stupid thing ran away AGAIN. And then I got sucked into writing an alternate series, which wasn't my intention, since this was a one shot. Seriously. That's why the first chapter is first person point of view. But here's the deal - I wanted to finish it. This part, anyway. However - for any future reference, this is totally an open sandbox to play in. If you want to use it as an A/U, go right ahead, just let me know (so I can go and read it). There may, MAY be a sequel in the far and distant future. Many moons ago I mentioned introducing Thomas, but you know what? This thing was already longer than I expected. So he gets reserved for that. Anyway. Thanks for hanging in there, everyone! I love you, I'll miss you, feel free to drop me a line and tell me what you thought!