Chapter One (Falling Inside the Black)

Skye took a step back as Ward approached her with a wild look in his eyes. He had come out of nowhere and had cornered her. She was on a mission, how the hell did he find her?

"What happened to you?" she asked, trying to keep her voice calm.

Ward stopped and smiled slightly, "Why care now?" he asked lowly. "You never did before."

Skye gulped and didn't respond to his question, "W-Why are you here?" she stammered. "What do you want?"

"To get closure. Revenge for what has been done to me." he growled.

"What ever happened to you wanting to help us?"

"I tried being the hero, Skye. It doesn't work anymore. In the Vault, I tried. But you sent me to my asshole brother. I tried again by taking you to finally meet your father, and you left me for dead with four bullets in my side." He twirled the knife in his hand as he spoke.

"Then once more, by helping Kara. I thought that by helping her I could still find something for myself. But that…. SHIELD had her killed. Or made the situation into where I killed her. But your still at fault." he continued. "If I can't be the hero, then why can't I be the villain?"

"You kidnapped Bobbi for God's sakes!" Skye exclaimed. "You almost had her killed because of whatever sick idea you had!"

"It was to get Kara closure!" Ward snapped, gripping his knife. "To prove that Bobbi was really the one that sold her out to Hydra. To prove that she was really the cause of Kara's problems."

"Your idea of closure is a psychotic one." Skye stated coldly. "And how did you find me anyways?" she asked. "Hydra? Why did you go crawling back to Hydra again?"

"First of all, I'm not Hydra. This 'partnership' is only a means to an end. Resources, that's all." he replied. "Resources. I don't believe in their ideals of world domination or whatever. I just want SHIELD dead, and I can't do it alone." he droned on, a wild look in his eyes.

"I needed more people to get the job done. And Hydra… Well, they do things faster than SHIELD does. Figure things out faster." he continued. Hell, I know why there's been such a massive spike in Inhumans lately."

Skye's face fell, "What?" she asked. "How do you know that? What?"

Ward smiled as he reached into his jacket pocket, "Like I said, Skye, Hydra gets things done faster." he teased. He pulled out of bottle and held it to where Skye could see it, "This."

Skye looked at it and frowned, "Fish oil pills?" she asked. "Seriously? You've got to be kidding me."

He smiled, "Nope. Got the info from an Inhuman that was apparently on the ship that you were one during some kind of battle. Let's just say that he's not here anymore."

"Why were you tracking down an Inhuman?" she asked.

He raised an eyebrow, "To try and draw you out, but that wasn't necessary. But like I was saying, I got the info from the Inhuman. Apparently you knocked a Quinjet full of something called Terrigen Crystals into the ocean. They exploded and the fish of the deep blue sea absorbed whatever was released." He shook the bottle, "Hence this."

Skye's stomach lurched at the fact that he knew all of that, "Why do you have that?" she asked.

He opened the bottle and shook out two of the pills, "To prove just how crazy you think I am." he said. "It doesn't matter whether I live or die. As long as you die too."

Skye fully realized that the man that she thought she knew was long gone, replaced by some crazy masquerading as him. Only a broken man with a heart of darkness stood. And he was willing to do anything to get the 'revenge' he wanted. Even if that mean risking his life for the slim chance that he might be Inhuman.

"Ward, don't do something that you're going to regret."

"I'm not going to listen to you. You don't care what happens to be." he hissed. Ward popped the two pills into his mouth.

Skye watched in fear as he swallowed the pills. But nothing happened for a few seconds.

He frowned, "I guess this bottle wasn't-" he began, but he stopped as he doubled over in pain. He fell to his knees as a brown, stone-like substance started to cover his arms. He looked up to Skye in pain, a crazed smiled plastered on his face, "Crazy, right?"

Skye backed up in horror as the stone fully encased Ward. "That's not stone… He's not dead…" she muttered, stepping back more.

After a few seconds, the stone started to crack away with a bright, blinding light. Skye shielded her eyes for several agonizing seconds. The room grew hot for some reason. She slowly removed her hand from her eyes and her eyes shrunk in fear at what she saw.

Ward was standing in front of her, a crazed smile still on his face. And… And his arms were on fire. "I guess… I'm like you…" he huffed, struggling through pain. "We're the same."

Skye dodged as the man flung fire at her, "Stop!" she screamed. "This isn't you! I know that this isn't you!"

"You don't know me!" he screeched.

"The fact that you left every single agent you attacked while after us alive shows that there's still some good left in you. You haven't completely succumbed to this darkness. What happened to the man that loved me?" Skye asked, still in fear of the fire.

She knew that he had lost it. Whatever had happened to Kara had made him completely snap and he was blaming everyone. But what happened to the man that helped the team rescue Mike and Lincoln from the Hydra base? She knew that the man that had stuck by her was still in there somewhere. She just had to find him.

"He died a long time ago." Ward hissed, fire dancing off of his arms. "He was killed by you."

"Grant, I'm sorry. If you would've known that all of this would happen…"

Ward's face fell, "Grant?" he asked. "You called me Grant. No one but Kara has called me by my first name in a long time."

"Grant, this isn't you. I know that you care for me and the team. You would never try to kill us again. This isn't you, and I know that." Skye continued calmly. "You still care for us. You've just let yourself become consumed by this darkness. Yes, we helped to create it, but you've got to fight it."

"All of this is your fault!" Ward screamed. "Your fault!"

"But you have to fight it!"

"Boss! Why the hell haven't you killed her yet?"

Ward's eyes shot over to see his two 'partners' that had come with him staring at him in awe over the flames, "Give me some time." he snapped.

"We're impatient of waiting."

"Give me a damn minute." he growled. "Let her talk." He turned his attention back to Skye, "What the hell are you saying?"

"This isn't you. I know you. Well, I think I do. I don't know. But this isn't you. There's still a good man in there somewhere. It's just hidden under whatever the hell is wrong with you. You're not the villain, Grant. You're just making yourself seem like it. You're just broken. You need help." Skye continued.

"No one ever gave me the help I needed!" Ward screeched, flames jutting out. "You always shot me down! You didn't ever help me!"

"Grant," Skye began.

He snarled and heard a gun being loaded. His head shot to one of his 'partners'. A gun was being pointed towards Skye. "What the hell are you doing?" he growled. "I told you that we're not doing that."

"I don't care what you say." the man growled. "You promised that we would get to kill SHIELD agents. I want to kill her."

Skye's eyes widened, "What? No. Grant?" She backed up.

Ward's face fell and something in his heart and mind just clicked. Why was he trying to kill her? She was right, this wasn't him.

He shot between Skye and the man as two shots were fired. He sent a wave of flame and incinerated the two. The two bullets ripped through his chest and he fell to the ground, flames going out.

"Grant!" Skye exclaimed, running over and kneeling beside him.

He smiled as her, blood blossoming on his chest, "I guess… You were right… I-I don't know what I was doing…. You made me realize that I do still care…I'm stupid. I wouldn't kill you…" he trailed off.

"Hold on, Grant." Skye pleaded. She couldn't believe that she had pulled him out of his craze, but he had sacrificed himself in the process.

"Sorry, I'm paying for everything. I was the fool that let myself go insane." he huffed, fighting for breath. "I'm not leaving here alive. I was never meant to be the hero. Always the villain. No hope for me… I'm sorry…"

"I'll get Coulson, he'll…"

"He won't do anything. He won't help. He'll only put another bullet in my chest. Make sure that I'll die."

Skye shook her head, "Stop being so stubborn."

No response.

Skye looked to see that Ward's eyes had closed, his chest rising and falling rapidly. He was unconscious, but wouldn't be alive for long.

She cried over Ward's body, knowing that he would die hanging onto that small spark of light in his heart. The same small spark that made him realize that he still cares. The small spark that caused him to save Skye from two bullets.

He hadn't fully fallen to the darkness of his heart. There was still a good man in there somewhere.

"Skye!"

She looked up to see the team, minus Fitz, Simmons, and Mack, running towards her. They stopped and their eyes drifted to Ward's bloodied, unconscious body.

"What… Happened?" Coulson asked.

Skye explained everything through sobs what had happened.

"He… He did that?" Bobbi asked. The last time she had seen him, he was crazy and trying to kill them. Now he was bleeding out from protecting Skye.

"Wait, he's Inhuman?" May asked.

"I-I don't know." Skye stammered. "But he was still in there… He hadn't totally lost himself like we thought… Now he's going to die."

"Good riddance." Hunter scoffed.

Coulson looked down at Ward's body, shifting his injured arm in his sling. He couldn't believe that the man that had made a crazy vow to kill them all for revenge had sacrificed himself for Skye. He hadn't totally gone dark. There was still some light inside of his heart.

"What do we do with him?" Bobbi asked.

Something stirred within Coulson. He gulped, "Call in a med team. Make sure he doesn't die."

Hunter's face fell, "You're helping the crazy psychopath?!" he exclaimed. "Even more, he's not human!"

"We'll deal with that later." Coulson stated firmly. "But I am not letting him die here. Whatever darkness had taken him over is gone. And Skye says so. And Skye doesn't lie about something like that. I'm not letting him die."

May hesitated before going off to call a med team in.

Coulson hoped that Skye had really pulled Ward out of his crazed darkness and that he would stay out of it for the time to come. He didn't want to deal with a mess anytime soon.

Author's Note: I don't own AoS, Marvel does. So this is the first part of a really weird three-part one shot. I thought that if Ward really goes dark in s3, Skye would be the one to pull him out of it. (And I threw the fish pills in there for fun, cause you know I just love Hellfire Ward. And I wouldn't put it past him doing something that crazy in s3.) I hope you enjoy this small fic! Keep reading and PLEASE favorite, follow, and/or review! ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.