[the last day: season 5, episode 8]
*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*

"Oh my god, oh my god," Rose breathed holding onto one of the handles over her head. "Who thought that is was a good idea? We are crashing landing on the surface right now! You know I don't think that a flying car is sufficient enough to be able to fly a spaceship!"

        "Sorry about her, she's bad with flying," Deke said, using his thumb to point back at Rose.

        Daisy eyed the girl, "And you willing agreed to come to the surface with us?" she asked.

        "Well, I assumed that one of you S.H.I.E.L.D. agents would have experience in flying a plane like you guys are secret agents, right? I mean, look at this guy," Rose pointed at Fitz. "He looks like a space ranger if I ever saw one."

        "No, no," Fitz said carefully. "She's bio, I'm tech," he pointed to Jemma and then to himself. "And our pilot is already on the surface, so Coulson is the best we can do."

        "Oh, oh okay," Rose said. "That's not easing my conscience at all right now." She took a deep breath in. "Just time me when it's over, please," she pleaded, closing her eyes.

        Rose did not do well with the landing, she insisted that nobody talked to her until they were safely on the ground. That 'no-talking' rule extended on the walk to wherever the rest of the surface dwellers were living at the moment. Because, every time she opened her mouth she felt like she was going to throw up, and since the air on the surface wasn't exactly breathable, she would end up throwing up in the scarf she used to cover her face. Rose liked that idea less than the whole ' let's fly to the surface' mantra. So, she ended up listening to Deke explain the surface situation to Fitzsimmons.

        "No, you don't understand," he told them, as the group boarded what the agents called 'The Zephyr' "Not just dead. As far as everyone in the Lighthouse was concerned, everybody that came up here was turned to scraps." He continued as the group began to shed their protective garments. "But they're all still alive and living in an actual airplane."

        "Fitz, your design really withstood the test of time," Jemma said, smiling at him.

        Deke looked around, "Oh, you designed this? Damn," he commented. "Can't imagine what it must've been like to fly."

        "Technically, I'm the engineer, I'm not the pilot," Fitz reminded him.

        "Oh, well, obviously," Rose said, finally speaking. "No offense," she added. "Just back on the trawler, you said and I quote. 'She's bio, I'm tech,'" Rose said in a terrible Scottish accent. "So I just assumed that-" her voice trailed off, looking at Deke who was shaking his head vigorously at her. "I'm gonna stop talking now."       

        "Well, that's still cool, I guess," Deke said, addressing Fitz.

        "Holy hell," a voice said from above their heads. "Is that Deke Shaw? Ha! I'll be damned! Thought I was looking at your old man 20 years ago! And I can't forget little miss Rose Valia," he added. "You still look exactly like your mother did! Welcome!"

        Rose and Deke exchanged similar glances of relief and happiness. "Oh, my god, Voss," Deke said as he embraced the two younger adults. "I should've known that even the roaches wouldn't touch you," he said once Voss let go of them.

        "It's good to see you, Voss," Rose hummed.

        "Ha! Never thought I'd see you tagging along with these folks," Voss commented, looking back at Fitzsimmons.

        "It's a long story," Deke answered.

        "Well let's hear all about it, huh?" Voss said, leading both Rose and Deke away from the other agents. "You can tell me whether these guys are the real deal or not. I'm surprised you two are the only of ours to make the trip," Voss continued, leading them into another room of the Zephyr. "And Virgil?"

        Deke stopped to face Voss, "The roaches got him. I'm sorry," he expressed. "We've been playing catch-up ever since. I feel like he could've told me that he was exchanging messages with my dead dad."

        "We didn't know who to trust," Voss said quickly.

        "Apparently not the children of the other elders," Rose said in a hushed tone. She agreed with Deke, the least Virgil could've done is let them know that Deke's father was alive. I mean, he was basically her father figure after her mother and father passed.

        "Clearly," Deke said, responding to Voss' remarks. "So where is he?"

        "Your dad was transmitting from a radio tower a few days out," Voss explained. "He's on his way back now, but- he is gonna be happy to see you."

        Deke scoffed, "Is he?"

        "Deke, he's your dad," Rose said, looking up at the man. "I know you've been through some shit together, but you're family."

        "I know Rosie. Just the way we left things, it wasn't really-"

        "No, no, no, no, listen," Voss interjected. "He never held of any of that against you, alright? If anything is to blame, it's the Lighthouse. That place did a number on all of us."

        Deke nodded slowly, walking off into a separate room of the Zephyr.

        Voss turned to Rose, a small frown on his face. "Just if you were wondering, your parents, they-" he paused, placing a hand on the woman's shoulder. "They didn't make it."

        Rose sighed, "I figured as much. I had a flicker of hope when I heard Deke's father's voice, but then I came to my senses. I'm the unlucky one," she said sadly. "I should go-" she started, trying to make up an excuse to leave. "Should go, find the other agents. Who knows what trouble they could be getting into you know?"

        She walked off before Voss got the chance to speak to her again. She felt like she needed time to process what was going on with everything. As Rose walked through the Zephyr, she saw plenty of familiar faces. She gave them small waves and nods as she passed them. Some even tried to spark up conversations with her, trying to get her to talk about her life on the Lighthouse but she politely declined and continued on her walk throughout the plane.

        Deke was right, it had a nice design to it. Every part of the ship had some symbol on it, an eagle with some lines coming off the end of it. Rose guessed it had something to do with S.H.I.E.L.D. since they were the engineers of the plane. It must give them a sense of home, remind the agents of what they were missing in the past. But for Rose, it was just a reminder that her parents didn't make it to this point. They were the unfortunate ones. Taken by the roaches, one of the successes of Kasuis' campaign to get rid of the elders who believed in the prophecy.

        Rose let herself leaning against one of the crates of the storage room, letting her body slide down the center of it. Rose sighed, she knew she shouldn't be feeling like this. She should feel happy, looking at all the people who had survived. But she didn't, Rose didn't really care that all of these people were able to live on the surface. She just wanted her parents back, even if it was for a second. She needed to see them. Rose let out a dry sob, letting her head hit the back of the crate.

        Daisy looked around from the corner of the storage room, "You okay?" she asked. "That sob sounded more like a cry for help than a release of emotions."

        "I'm fine," Rose managed to stumble out.

        "You know, I'm pretty good at telling when people are lying," Daisy started, sitting down next to the young woman. "And right then, you were definitely lying to me."

        Rose let out a breathy sigh, turning her head towards Daisy. A small tear fell down the side of her cheek. "You know, it sucks seeing all these people here knowing that you should be happy. I really should be happy. But I just can't, knowing that the two people I want to see most in the world, aren't here. They're gone, and they can't come back."

        "Who can't come back?" Daisy asked. "You don't need to answer if you don't want to."

        "My parents," Rose answered quickly. "They were one of the people that Kasius dragged to the surface. They didn't end up surviving. I just, with everyone seeing people that they know. With Deke being able to reunite with his. I should just be happy. I can't though," she said, letting a few more tears fall from her eyes and onto the floor. "And I'm really trying too. But I can't."

        "Who told you that you needed to be happy?" Daisy asked her.

        "Myself?" Rose answered honestly. "I don't know. I feel selfish, being sad about this. It's trivial. There are so many things that can be celebrated, but right now all I want to do is crawl into a ball and cry."

        Daisy nodded, "I get the feeling," she said. "I grew up thinking that my parents were dead, and then when I finally meet them. They didn't turn out to be the people I thought they were. My mom's no longer here, and my dad, well, I can't see him either."

        "I'm sorry," Rose expressed, placing her hands over one of Daisy's.

        "Thank you," Daisy responded, smiling at her. "The point is that you don't always need to be so chipper about everything. A lesson I needed to learn myself as well."

        Rose wiped the rest of her tears away from her eyes, giving Daisy a small smile. "Your so strong, it's hard to imagine that you had to learn many lessons along the way," Rose expressed. "I mean all the agents, your whole group is just full of badasses."

        "Sweetie, no one's perfect," Daisy told her. "But if it makes you feel better. I've known that you are a badass since the day you collided with AC on that roach floor, or whatever you call it."

        Rose let out a quiet laugh, "Thanks Daisy," she said.

        "What can I say? Us loners gotta stick together," Daisy replied, nudging the side of Rose's shoulder.

        "I should really find Deke," Rose said, getting up from the ground.

        "He should be around here somewhere," Daisy said glancing around the small storage space. "I ran into him as well, he was gonna come with me and find Fitzsimmons. And there he is," Daisy said, pointing to Deke who just entered the room. "Let's go, space girls," she said to the both of them. "We gotta go find a way to remove this implant."

        "Space girls?" Deke asked Rose, who just shrugged in response.

---

        Jemma was holding some piece of tech up to Daisy's ear which Rose had never seen before. She was scowling, moving the tech up and down a small patch of Daisy's skin. "That's not a happy face, Jemma," Fitz said, watching her repeat this motion over and over again.

        "Well, the inhibitor's embedded itself in the great auricular nerve," Jemma explained.

        Rose blinked rapidly, none of what Jemma just said made any sort of sense to her. "Okay?" Daisy said, just as confused as Rose.

        "Removing it requires sophisticated tools and a trained neurosurgeon, neither of which we have," Jemma responded. "Even if we did, the slightest error could paralyze you, from the neck down."

        "Okay, so we leave it alone, then," Daisy decided.

        Coulson and May came storming into the room, a small piece of rock in their hands, "We found a literal piece of the puzzle," Coulson announced holding up the piece of stone in his hands. "The monolith, it's been fractured."

        "Where'd you find that?" Deke asked. Rose looked over at him, he had a strange look in his eyes, like he knew what that stone was for some reason. Rose remember that the agents had explained what a monolith was to her on their first day on the Lighthouse. But she didn't know much beyond that small bit of information.

        "Voss had it in his locker," Coulson explained. "The survivors who believed in the prophecy held on to it for years."

        Fitz took the shard out of Coulson's hand and walked it over to a machine on the north wall. "Here," he said, pointing to a broken piece of tech.

        "What are we looking at?" Daisy asked.

        "The shard fits into the machine right here," Fitz explained. Rose looked up to peer at the machine, but she felt a whoosh of wind as Deke passed by her. Rose decided to follow him, against her better judgment. The two slipped out of the room.

        "Where are you going?" she asked him instantly.

        Deke looked back at Rose, "Rosie, you should stay with them," Deke instructed.

        "Absolutely not!" she objected, continuing to follow Deke down the narrow hallways of the Zephyr. "You seemed to recognize that piece of rock when I have never seen it before in my life. So if you are going to talk to someone about it. I want to come with you! And by the way, there's no point in arguing with me, because I was just going to follow you anyway."

        "Fine," Deke said, looking back at Rose. "The shard looked familiar, I thought my dad had something like it when we were younger. Actually, I know he did because that belonged to my mom, and dad always kept it close to him after she passed. I'm gonna go talk to Voss about it. Happy?" he asked.

        "Very, also I'm coming with you," Rose added.

        "Well, I already knew that," Deke said, shooting her a lopsided grin. "That's why you're following me down this hallway."

        Rose scoffed lightly, "You don't know that, maybe there could be other reasons. Or maybe I'm just obsessed with you," she said jokingly.

        "Well there is no other reason because you literally told me that you're coming with," Deke corrected her. "Twice now."

        "Right, well let's just get on with it then," Rose said, as they had already reached what she assumed to be Voss's room. The outside of it definitely screamed 'Voss' in her opinion.

        "Hey!" Deke said instantly upon entering Voss's room. "What are they doing with the shard?"

        Voss looked up at the two young adults who entered his room. "Who, Coulson and May?" Voss asked. "Hell if I know, but if you ask me, they got their priorities way out of wack," he said dismissively.

        "No, that's not what I mean," Deke responded. "That belonged to my mom. Why doesn't my dad have it with him? After my mom died, he always kept it close. He wouldn't have left it behind," he insisted.

        Voss rolled his eyes. "Don't overthink it, kid. It's pretty dangerous out there in the wastelands. He probably just left it here for safekeeping."

        "No. Before the Blues exiled him, I begged him for that stupid rock so I'd have something to remember her by, and he said that he couldn't trust me with it," Deke continued.

        "You need to calm down!" Voss asserted.

        "No, you need to stop lying to me," Deke spat, taking a step closer to the older man. "He wouldn't leave it in your locker. So what the hell did you do to my father?" he asked.

        Voss raised the wretch he was holding above Deke's head, and hit him hard, causing Deke to fall to the ground. Rose jumped back instantly, looking at Voss in shock. "Did you just-" she started, but she was unable to gather any words beyond that.

        "It's a shame," Voss said, stalking towards her. "You guys were good kids."

        Rose reached into her pocket, feeling around for her pipe. 'Fuck,' she thought as she felt around her empty pocket. 'I must have left it on the trawler.' "You're a- a-"

        "Killer," Voss finished for her. "Eventually the Lighthouse will turn you into one, and Deke. I guess he just always has to drag you into his shit, doesn't he?" Voss said before he hit Rose over the head as well, causing her vision to fade to black as she hit the ground with a hard thud.

---

        Rose woke up with an aching pain in her head. Deke looked over at her, "You're awake, finally," he commented, treating his own wound on his ear.

        "Ugh," Rose groaned, flipping over onto her side, to push herself off of the ground. "Voss, he- he killed your dad, didn't he?" she asked, blinking to try and steady her vision.

        "And he tried to kill us," Deke finished.

        "At least we didn't die," Rose said, trying to smile at him, but she couldn't exactly see where she was looking. She could've been smiling at the wall for all she knew. "I'm so sorry Deke," Rose expressed. "You had all this hope and for it to be taken away from you like that, it's not fair. And I'm just sorry."

        "Rosie you don't have anything to be sorry about," Deke reminded her.

        Rose shook her head, remembering how she felt earlier in the day. How she was unhappy with how things were going with the reunion. How she couldn't get herself to feel happy for him. But now, he wouldn't get that reunion that he craved. That they both craved. "No, just Deke please let me apologize."

        "For what, Rosie?" he asked.

        "It doesn't matter now, just know that I'm sorry, and I'm here for you, always," Rose said.

        "I already know that- it's you and me," Deke started.

        "You and me," Rose finished, nodding slightly. "Guess we really took that to heart since we almost died together."

        Rose heard Deke laugh, and then place a hand on her knee. "Look there's something I've wanted to say to you, and this experience had shown me it's better to say it sooner than later so here I go-"

        But Deke was cut off by a rattle of the door. Rose looked up, her vision slowly coming back to her. Daisy was at the gate, tampering with the lock that Voss had put on it. "I thought you two would be dead," she commented, opening the gate for them to climb out.

        "Yeah, I guess Voss didn't want any more of my family's blood on his hands," Deke said sadly.

        Daisy realized what he meant. "Your dad. Deke I'm s-" Daisy was trying to find the right words to console him. "I'm so sorry."

        "I just hope Robin can help you find your answers," Deke said, standing up from the chair he was seated in.

        "I think we're-" Daisy started. "On our own."

        Rose followed Deke and Daisy as they walked back to the control room of the Zephyr. Rose was trying to wrap her head around everything that Daisy had told them about Voss. Not only did he try to murder Deke and Rose, but he also tried to get rid of the other S.H.E.I.L.D agents as well. Voss ended up successfully killing Robin, who Rose had never gotten the chance to meet. Rose would've liked that, from what her parents told her when she was little, Robin was a great woman.

        "So, what now?" Coulson asked once everyone had filed into the room.

        "We live on this crashed airplane until the Kree or the roaches or the gravity storm finish us off," Deke offered.

        "Ah, what a pleasant way to go," Rose added, linking her arms with Dekes, who gave the woman a small smile.

        "I think we can do better than that," Coulson affirmed.

        Daisy looked over at Coulson, "Yeah but at least that way, I don't go back in time and quake the world apart," she said.

        "We go back," May decided for the group. "Robin told me how. We can save everyone. Just one question, though. Who's Flint?"

loving you's the anecdote,
golden ☼

Grace talks ig: I didn't realize how intense this episode was until I started to rewatch it and write this chapter, and I was like, damn. Voss literally tried to kill them.... whelp! Anyways, we got a few good moment in this chapter between the sad bits. Like my favorite friendship: Daisy and Rose! I literally love them so much in this book, they're like soul sisters. Also more Shalia!! AHHHH they are failing in love and I love that for them :)) Thank you all for 700+ reads on this story! GUYS THAT'S LITERALLY CRAZY and I love you all for that <3 don't forget to vote and comment if you feel like it. bye baes!!