CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:
MAD PUPPY FACE

PUNCHES WERE THROWN BACK AND forth until Sapphire got the upper hand, twisting the woman's arm behind her back before quickly flipping her over, causing her to slam her back onto the mat. Sapphire pinned her down and smirked. She had to admit, she was impressed on how well May had taught the girl.

     Daisy looked at the woman, catching her breath as she smiled. "How'd I do?"

     Sapphire shrugged. "Better than I thought." She looked down at the woman, her heart racing in her chest before she removed herself and stood up, holding out a hand for Daisy to grab. Daisy looked up at her before grasping Sapphire's hand and allowing for the woman to pull her up. Sapphire took a step back before nodding her head.

     "Thanks for the change of pace."

     "Well, I'm always free." Daisy nodded her head. Sapphire nodded before turning on her heel and walking out of the room. Daisy watched her leave with a soft sigh falling from her lips. She could get a good enough read on the woman to know what it was that she was feeling. She almost wished that she had been here before Sapphire had left so that she could actually have a relationship with the woman. She wanted to chase after her, have a chance at a conversation, but she had a feeling that Sapphire had already went to her room.

And Daisy was right. Sapphire stood there, hands clenched against her head as she felt her powers start to try and take over. Her eyes started glowing and she tried so desperately to hold it back. Her hair started changing white, and she slide down the door, frustrated tears in her eyes. She had no idea how to control this power that was so easily taking a hold of her. If she was being honest with herself, she had wanted to stay with Daisy, talk to the girl, try and give another impression that didn't make her seem like such a horrible person.

She held onto herself before her eyes opened and her appearance was completely different. It was like a whole other person, this side of her, but Sapphire was still in control―︎well, mostly. She couldn't control the ice that would freeze the walls or shoot from her hands, but she could still speak her own words, think her own thoughts. Her own thoughts that were screaming at her, panicking, telling her to tell someone what was happening to her.

And she wanted to. She really did. She wanted to tell everyone, but that fear gripped at her body again, and that caused her to just sit there on the floor, allowing the power to take over her until she could gain control again. It seemed like she had been sitting there for hours once the icy-blue faded from her eyes and her hair turned from white to brown. She closed her eyes and suddenly felt tears spring to her eyes. She wanted to cry, but that wasn't who she was. So, she took in a deep breath, blinking away the tears before forcing herself to stand up and make her way out of the room, acting like nothing had happened.

     She walked down the steps, smiling at Jemma as she entered her sister's lab. Jemma smiled at her before turning back to Fitz and saying a lot of giant scientific words that made Sapphire frown in confusion. She turned to look at her sister before saying, "Sometimes I wish I had your brains. But then again, I don't because I don't even want to fathom what goes on inside your head."

     "Put that down." Jemma snatched the item Sapphire had been holding, placing it back down where it belong. Sapphire rolled her eyes.

     "I don't even understand half the words that come out of your mouth."

     "And I don't understand how you can go out and just kill someone without even blinking." Jemma shot back with a sarcastic smile.

     "Gives me something to do." Sapphire shrugged, hopping up on the table.

     Jemma scoffed, her mouth wide open as she narrowed her eyes at her sister who was smirking in amusement. "That's just cruel!"

     "So is you saying giant words that I don't comprehend." Sapphire narrowed her eyes. "You wanna talk about cruelty? Let's talk about how you created half the shit in here, whilst all I can do is shoot a gun. Cruel. You are cruel."

     "Me?" Jemma scoffed in disbelief.

     Fitz just looked between the two and shook his head. "How you two are related is something I'll never know." He looked back down at his work whilst Sapphire took it upon herself to kick Jemma every time she walked past her. She smiled every time Jemma would glare at her.

     "You're just being annoying on purpose now."

     "I'm always annoying on purpose." Her smile widened. "I like watching your face contort into a mad puppy face. It's absolutely adorable." Jemma opened her mouth and Sapphire laughed, pointing at her sister. "There it is! The mad puppy face!"

     "I don't have a mad puppy face!"

     "Fitz, doesn't she have a mad puppy face?"

     "Don't drag me into this." Fitz didn't look up from his work and Sapphire looked back towards her sister.

     "Mad puppy face."

     "You annoy me."

    "I know. It brings me great joy."

     "Out." Jemma pointed towards the door.

Sapphire snickered before kicking Jemma again and then quickly hopping down and running out of the lab before Jemma could throw something at her. She laughed, quickly making her way down the hall. That feeling, that old feeling she used to have all the time before she had been taken seemed to fill her body again. She had missed Jemma so much, and being here, being able to laugh and joke with her, it made Sapphire feel at home. For the first time since she had got back, her shoulders relaxed and a calm breath left her lips. Now HYDRA was something that would always be apart of her, something that would always torture her, but in that moment, Sapphire knew she was actually home.