Renegade Rising || Leo Fitz Book Two

Chapter FourtyThree

"So Hunter is really gone?" Asia asked Coulson over a breakfast of bacon and eggs. "Bobbi and Mack said he couldn't handle a breakup and ran with his tail between his legs? And we're believing that?" Her words came out as nothing louder than a whisper. Finding out Hunter had disappeared while she was in her personal prison was like a stab to the heart. But she refused to believe he'd just up and run without even a goodbye. He could be a little on the annoying side, but he would never just up and leave, she knew that.

Coulson bit into a piece of bacon, contemplating her question. "Not necessarily. But right now I'm taking their word for it. We'll have to wait and see."

She nodded with a sigh. "Well. I still don't believe it. But I will do my best to not accuse my teammates of secretly killing one of our other teammates and hiding the body." She gave Coulson a small smile as she casually stole a piece of bacon off of his plate; all of her own had been gone for several minutes.

Coulson noticed her casual robbery, but didn't say anything. "You have your final review session with Dr. Garner today, correct?" He asked, the humor slowly draining from his face.

"Yea..." she muttered, squinting her eyes at the Director, trying to get a read on him. "Why? What's up? You sound like you're about to tell me my cat died or something. Bad vibes, Coulson, bad vibes." She brushed back her hair, partially out of habit, and partially because she needed something to hide her nerves without being overly obvious.

"I want to tell you what's going to happen with Skye today. And it may give you something to vent about during your session." He sighed, shaking his head. "We're sending her off to a safe space. A retreat. To help her get more adjusted to her new life, while we figure out exactly what our game plan is going to be." He could see Asia's face start to turn sour as he spoke, so he continued on, wanting to give a full explanation. "Garner wanted to dismiss her completely from S.H.I.E.L.D. I vetoed that idea. This is just temporary. She will be back."

"I'm going to hold you to that," she replied, grabbing an apple off the counter and heading down the hall. Damn right she would have something to talk about today in her session. Damn freaking right.

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A few days later, and Skye was gone. Just like Coulson had said. He had her pack a bag, climb into Lola, and flew her away, to somewhere where she could relax and get control of her powers, where she wouldn't be a threat to herself or others.

She hadn't even been gone for a day, and Asia already felt a little more empty than she had the day before. Like a little piece of her was missing, now.

And there was still no sign of Hunter, either. She tried turning the Xbox on to see if he had been online recently, but his Gamertag had been inactive for over a week. A pit couldn't help but open itself up in her stomach, threatening to swallow her whole. Something was wrong. Something about this whole thing felt incredibly wrong.

Asia tried to focus on meditating. Tried not to focus on her worry, her worry that she was losing people. That everything was starting to slip away. It was hard, not to lose control. But she was no longer waking up to ice covered walls. She was no longer freezing the pipes.

And Leo still slept beside her nearly every night, though every now and then he took to his own bed. She didn't need his comfort anymore, he said, she had a control on her powers now. She understood it, but it still didn't feel quite as good waking up without his arm wrapped snuggly around her waist, holding her body against his chest, his sleepy breath caressing her ear. But..like she had told Dr. Garner, there was nothing to disclose. They weren't a couple. They just...they just were.