[ This one was supposed to be for the “SEND ME “GOODBYE” FOR THE LAST VOICE MESSAGE MY MUSE LEAVES FOR YOURS BEFORE THEY DIE.” meme request I received, but sadly they deactivated, and I didn’t know so I ended up still writing it while I was without internet. I didn’t want it to go to waste because I actually enjoyed writing this one, so lemme just post it here, even just for archiving purposes. ]

Static sounds cradled Grant’s voice as the message played. It was a message sent by the former specialist hours before the battle at Cybertek began. It was a message that, in a few hours, would mark Grant Ward’s last attempt at righting his wrongs.

“I don’t have much time, Skye,” Grant’s voice began and it was obvious in the way it shook that leaving the message, in itself, was a hard deed for him to perform. That wasn’t really a shock, though. After all, no matter his intent and motive, his leaving of this message, his slipping of anonymous intel to Coulson about the location of Hydra’s safe house in Cuba and how to get inside it, they were all signs of his planned betrayal of Garrett. And even though he had done all of it to right the wrongs he’d committed to Skye and his old team, it still didn’t change the fact that by doing so, he was turning his back on the man who’d saved him from a wretched life in prison, the man who’d built him back up after finding the pieces of his identity that his family had shattered. He was letting Garrett down and no amount of self-reassurances that he was doing the right thing would ever make this deed easy. “I know that in a few hours, you and the team would be storming Cybertek to stop Garrett. Hopefully, the intel Coulson had received would give you enough power to take Garrett’s control of Cybertek, turn it around and use it to your advantage.”

Silence reigned a stretch of a moment’s pause before Grant’s voice came back. “When you find them, please tell FitzSimmons that I’m sorry. They’re not dead, they’re floating in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, inside a med pod.  I managed to tag the pod, you can find it by tracking it down. Please tell Fitz I didn’t mean to disappoint him, but there was nothing else I could do. Garrett told me to put a bullet in their heads, but I couldn’t do it. And knowing that Garrett would have finished them off himself if he found out that I failed, I had to get them out of the plane. Ejecting the pod was the only way they could get out of the situation alive.”

There was the sound of incoming voices--as if a group of people was passing by--from the recording that was preceded by another pause, most likely an attempt to hide the fact that the double--triple--agent was contacting the enemy. “I’m not doing this to earn your forgiveness, Skye, I know I don’t deserve it. It’s not an attempt to prove you wrong about your assumption that I’m a murderer, either, because I am. But I just want you to know that I really meant it when I told you that not everything I said, did and felt when I was with you and the team were all lies. It was unexpected and inconvenient for my mission, but even for a short time with you all, I felt like I had a family again. A proper one.” A shaky intake of breath broke the string of sentences. And had it been a video message, the receiver would have been able to see the tears that now streamed down the speaker’s face.

“By the time you’ll be able to listen to this message, the battle would be over. And I don’t know how it would go or what would happen to me, but hopefully, you’re all safe.” Another pause ripped through the message. “Skye, I’m sorry for hurting you. Believe me, I didn’t mean to. I meant everything I said to you in Providence, every touch and every kiss. And not being able to be completely honest with you about my whole past will always be my biggest regret. Goodbye, Rookie. I had the best time of my life when I was with you, and for that, I want to thank you. And I guess, if this is the last chance I’ll have in saying it, then I better tell you... Skye, I love y--” but the three words were cut off by the loud ‘Beep!’ signalling that the limit for the length of the message had been reached.

In the end, it turned out that Garrett had never really intended for Grant to outlive his usefulness. The moment he realized that Grant had shed his loyalty to his S.O. and had chosen to let Garrett’s end approach with the help of Phil Coulson and Nick Fury; the moment Garrett saw in Grant’s eyes that he was done following his orders, the S.O. decided to pull the trigger. Three things happened one after another. Garrett pulled his trigger, the bullet heading straight toward Grant’s chest, and only a split second later, Grant fired his own gun, the shot aimed at Garrett’s neck. And finally, Mike got the go signal from Skye and blasted Garrett with his own rockets from his arm. The thud of two bodies falling to the floor ended the series of shots that rang out.

The last thought that Grant had before his lungs filled up with blood and stole his last breath from him was the completion of the three words he wasn’t able to finish in his message. As his eyes closed for the final time, the whisper of “Skye” flowing past his bloody lips rang with all the strong emotions needed to prove the honesty in his confession.

He might not have been able to finish telling her those three words, but as he died... he proved them...