TITLE: Thorns and Thistles Bloom

WRITTEN BY: GreenLeoFiend/WingsStef

FANDOM: Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

COUPLES: None

SPOILERS: Through Season 2: Episode 13: "One of Us"

CALLBACK: Season 1: Episode 5: "Girl in the Flower Dress", Episode 18: Providence

RATING: K+

Her hands clenched around the communicator device, Raina listened carefully. The last few days have been hard, but she she tried her best to adapt. Holding things in her hands helped. It helped her move her hands more gently. The thorns did not pierce her skin as violently.

Her grandmother told her that blue angels from the sky gave her a gift. A beautiful gift that the Diviner would grant her, change her.

Yes. She changed.

It hurt. It hurt to move, it cut her when she moved. Yet with her new help, things were slowly starting to get better.

The first man that guided her after her grandmother died turned her away. Pushed her away. So much she almost took his deadly advice to end her life. Thankfully there was another. The blue light, a blue angel from the sky, came to take her away. Not Kree, someone better. Not actually blue. Someone like her.

...

She thought back to the moment just days before. The realization of what happened, what almost happened was fresh on her mind. It kept replaying in her mind.

The man looked straight at her even though he had no eyes and wrapped his arms around her.
"It's okay beautiful. I'll show you the way," Gordon told her.

And he, they shown her. She was not alone. She was conditioned, yes, but not by someone like her. Sure Cal was married to someone like her but he was different. He had some ability, yes, but it was man-made. He was a fraud. Gordon told her that she was beautiful while Cal was ready to let her die.

And now he was trying to go on a crusade for those that were different?

"I never wanted it to be this way," Raina spoke at last.

"I know," Gordon responded. "Of course you didn't. None of us did. But it is who we have become. It's who we are."

Raina shook her head. "I know that."

She crossed her arms carefully and tried again.

"That's not what meant. I was part of another organization once. I thought it was about gifts and about helping people get to their highest potential. I was so obsessed about the stories my grandmother had told. That I was so blind to see the deception in front of my eyes. Centipede was not who I thought they were. Without even realizing it, I was an agent of Hydra."

Gordon made a half smile. "Most of S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't realize that either. Stop punishing yourself."

Raina opened her mouth to speak, then paused before opening her mouth again. "Was that who almost took me?"

Gordon turned away for a moment before he answered, pondering the question fully.

"One of them," he answered.

"One of them?" Raina inquired.

"Or something like that," he replied.

"Something like that?" Raina thought to herself. "What did he mean?"

She wanted to ask but the words would not materialize, and she was too lost her in own terror to think deeply of anything at the moment.

Raina did her best to gently cross her arms. She often found solace wrapping her arms around herself. Though lately it only gave her pain. Her thorns ripped through her skin. She seemed to heal fairly well in her new skin, yet it did not spare her the pain.

...

Raina blinked a few times, trying to will those memories away as she brought herself back within the present. Her hand was still clenching the communicator Gordon have given her to listen to the outside world while she recovered. As she was still adapting to her new life with the Inhumans. It also helped that having something in her hand, helped her to move her joints more carefully, to hurt herself less.

"Are you okay Raina?" Gordon asked her.

Raina lessen her grip upon the communicator and fought to refocus her psyche.

"It seems that the good doctor is making a lot of noise," she whispered. "He gathered a bunch of people from the index. He says that he wants to bring vengeance to S.H.I.E.L.D. for all the hurt, from all the hurt to people like us. But he…"

"He isn't like us Raina," Gordon interjected. "He never has been. And I agree. He is making much too much noise. This isn't the way. He's not helping."

Raina stepped closer to Gordon, both intrigued and frighten.

"What are you going to do?"

Gordon smiled. "I'm going to give him a little scare, but the rest is up to you."

"Me?"

"Us. But that includes you too."

The End?

Author Notes: It has been a while since I have written a new fan fiction. I finally finished my Heroes story "Obsession" last year after leaving it unfinished for a few years. This is first my time writing for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I hope you enjoyed this short story and would love to know what you think. Thanks! - Stef