Disclaimer: Not mine. I wish of course, but no, just playing in the sandboxes.

AN: I had this idea. And then... TUMBLR MADE ME DO IT!

*The Missing al Ghul*

—
Tibet (Nanda Parbat)
—

"Find her. Bring her to me."

Nyssa's heart hasn't beat in her ears this loudly since the time that same voice ordered her to return with Ta-er al-Asfer or to put an arrow in her lover's heart. She bows just as she did then and leaves.

But the rushing blood is still all she hears.

—
Fifteen minutes later.
Tibet (Nanda Parbat)
—

She places the quiver over her shoulder when the air behind her shifts and she feels Sara's eyes on her back.

"You… have a mission."

There is a waver in Sara's voice, and despite the overwhelming thoughts occupying her, Nyssa nearly flinches at it. That silence between syllables was what preceded Sara's flight from the League in the first place, she does not know herself to be strong enough to let her Canary go a second time.

"Not for a death. I must retrieve someone."

"Do you want me there?"

Finally turning around to look at Sara, she considers. She planned to go alone, some tasks are too important to be left in the hands of the incapable. Nothing can bring harm to her… target, and no one can know of who 'she' is until Nyssa has her under father's gaze. But she trusts Sara.

She nods and Sara turns around to presumably go to her rooms and retrieve her own weapons.

'Sara's rooms.' her eyes are drawn to the dresser and the cabinets she knows are empty - she emptied them herself. And she longs. Longs for the time lost to her now, when Sara's rooms were her own as well. When they shared everything from their nights to their hearts.

Sara is back. But they are no longer each others. And the pain of that is as fresh now as when she realized she had been left without even a goodbye.

But Nyssa does not have the luxury to indulge in her agony. She buries this like she buries everything and instead focuses on a much older wound. A wound that's more than twenty years old.

—
Two days later.
Mojave Desert (inside S.H.I.E.L.D. facility)
—

They're staring at each other. Mere inches between them. The atmosphere is fraught with tension and a challenge. But neither is willing to be the one to give in first and so it continues.

Skye can see her opponent's hazel eyes. Under the warm lighting they almost look golden. She'd think them pretty, but she's not letting herself be distracted. There's too much at stake.

Finally minutes later she feels her adversary weakening and unbidden a grin slips onto her lips, it seems to be the right move because the other eyes suddenly slide down.

"Ha, I win."

Skye's grin spreads into something similar to the smile worn by the Cheshire Cat. She quirks her eyebrow at Jemma in victory.

"But I…"

"You looked away first. I win."

Simmons' sudden pout is almost enough to soften her, but Skye won fair and square and so instead she shifts on the couch and dumps her bare foot on Jemma's lap. Then she wriggles her toes in invitation.

Jemma laughs under her puppy dog eyes but moves her hands around Skye's left ankle anyway and starts working the sore muscles she finds there. Skye almost moans under the ministration but manages to choke the sound down just in time. The skin under the touch of Jemma's fingertips tingles with heat. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

But 'oh' it's such a sweet sort of torture.

She closes her eyes and lets the pleasant sensation drench her senses. Against her will she slips into sleep, and after some time only awakes enough to feel someone sliding a blanket over her and the feel of a hand running over Skye's face in comfort.

Her dreams are hazel.

—
A few hours later.
Mojave Desert (outside S.H.I.E.L.D. facility)
—

"The information given to my father says she's inside."

"This was a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility Nyssa. I think it's time you told me exactly what we are doing here."

The strong tone of Sara's voice tells the assassin that her Canary won't be moving from the spot they were observing from, until she knew everything. Nyssa almost ignores it. What right does Sara Lance have to question her? Except… it's every right, the only right, Nyssa knows.

And she has yet to be able to deny her anything.

"My sister is inside."

"Talia? I thought she was in…"

"Not Talia."

The silence of the rocky desert is absolute. The only sound comes from their breaths and the distant echo of the running machinery from the warehouse they had their sights on.

"Oh."

Nyssa knows that Sara understands then. There was a night years ago, when they had been laying on the floor of the desert, just as they are now, and observing the distant shine of the far away stars. Except it was a different desert. And a different them. Happier them.

She had spoken then. Of the stolen sister. And of the screams and the blood of those who had taken her, once her father found them. Found them, but not the child. Not the baby Nyssa had seen only a handful of times before she was lost.

And now that sister was only minutes in front of them. Somewhere in the darkness of this building was a girl she hadn't seen for a very long time.

—
A half an hour later.
Mojave Desert (inside S.H.I.E.L.D. facility)
—

Skye wakes with a start.

Everything is still dark and she can hear nothing that might have spooked her, but some hidden instinct urges her to get up. Those instincts have kept her alive this far. She listens.

Once she enters the moderately illuminated hallway leading to the hanger The Bus is stationed in, the prickling sensation of hidden eyes on the back of her head strengthens. She feels her spine stiffening, but otherwise shows no outward reaction.

Her steps falter by Jemma's room however. She could go in, wake her, the odds against whatever this turns out to be would be better with two. But right now every bone in her body is telling her that Jemma is safer asleep in her own bed. And Skye would never forgive herself if something happened to her friend because of something Skye did.

She moves on, silently cursing the fact that she didn't head in the other direction from the start, May's room was that way, and if there's anyone who could handle this - whatever this is - it's Agent Melinda May.

No matter. Skye isn't helpless herself. She just needs to get to the guns Fitz keeps stocked away in the hanger bay.

She doesn't get that far.

One moment she is alone, the next there is a woman dressed in black in front of her. Her face is obscured by a veil over the lower half of the face. All she sees is the dark brown eyes staring at her with some kind of hidden emotion Skye couldn't begin to guess at.

She opens her mouth, to scream or to question, she's not sure, but it doesn't matter, because before she has time to blink she's against the wall with a blade by her throat. The threat is clear. No yelling for help.

She closes her mouth and glares.

The knife lingers for a moment longer, but then vanishes as quickly as it appeared.

The woman releases her and steps back. And waits.

"Who are you?"

Her voice is raw from the sleep and the fear, but she's proud when it doesn't shake.

"I am Nyssa. Daughter of Ra's al Ghul. Heir to the Demon."

Skye takes a moment to stare but then can't hold back the disbelieving laughter.

"Wow, you really enjoy being ominous don't you? What do you want with me Nyssa al Ghul et cetera et cetera?"

The woman's, Nyssa's, eyes flicker away and Skye sees the calm mask vanish for a second before returning as if it was never gone. And then the world as Skye knows it crumbles beneath her.

"I've come to take you home."

And those powerful eyes connect with Skye's as Nyssa removes the veil from her face. Now that she can see all of it, the eyes are even more striking. Striking… and familiar.

Skye has seen those eyes before. Every day. In the reflection of a mirror.

She's always dreamed her family would find her - and later that she would find them. Every orphan has that hope. But Skye never knew how she would react if it ever happened. And she doesn't know how to react now.