Merry Christmas, ishilde!

[ultra_fic]

ishilde - sweetie, I really hope I did your prompt justice here? These wacky crossovers are fun, but I worry about screwing them up... Hope you like :)

Title: Agent Cassidy
Fandom(s): Once Upon A Time / Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Prompt: Neal Cassidy was a member of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Timeline: post-S2 OUAT
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Any and all recognisable characters do not belong to me.

When Neal first landed back in the world he had been born into, he was in a bad way. The gunshot wound mixed with the journey through the portal ought to have killed him and he knew it. He survived thanks to a trio of heroes, hell-bent on ensuring he lived on. Neal would indeed live and thanked Mulan, Aurora, and Philip for their kindness, but in the beginning, he had no idea they were even there.

He existed in a kind of floating consciousness. It was like a string of lucid fever-dreams, crossing over and mixing together. Hundreds of years of memories collided, everything from the innocent child that cried for his mothers loss, to the young man that sailed a pirate ship in Neverland, and beyond to his days in the land without magic.

The face and name he tried to cling onto most was Emma’s own. He desperately fought to stay in those dreams with memories that contained her, be it the first or second time they met. She had been the love of his life, and the time inbetween giving her up and getting her back was a dark space Neal had rather not stray into. Of course, his subconscious mind played on the fear and doubt of that void, those few years when he had been a different man. Same face, same name, but he wore a badge then and worked within an organisation few even knew existed. There was magic in this world, though it went by different names, and Neal was reminded of it full-force as he travelled through jumbled fragments of his past...

“Cassidy,” said Agent Coulson as he came upon his young recruit. “Didn’t we talk about which end of the gun is supposed to point away from you?”

“Yes, sir” he replied with a smirk he couldn’t help. “Can’t imagine how I went so wrong,” he added, tying the knot tighter on the bandage around his bicep.

“You’ll learn” he patted him on the shoulder of his uninjured arm. “That transition from your old life was always going to be tough...”

“... and you’re not from here, are you?” she asked, staring at him like a science project, but Neil didn’t flinch.

“Does it matter?” he replied, holding her gaze, at least as long as he could bare to before his eyes dipped to her scantily clad form.

His question went unanswered. She only tilted her head the other way and looked at him seriously, red hair bobbing around her face. She was completely unmoved by his clear attraction to what he saw. Men were so base sometimes.

“Rumour has it you’re from a land where science and alien technology is called magic,” she said then.

“Well, Agent Romanoff,” he smirked, “you of all people should know that rumours aren’t to be taken seriously. All the stories about you...”

“Are absolutely true,” she finished for him, noting the expected hitch in his breath that came immediately. “Still glad you dropped in?” she asked, head tilting slightly towards the smashed window he’d used to swing into her hotel room minutes before.

Neil wiped a stray drop off blood off his forehead and smiled that roguish smile as his eyes raked over her body one more time.

“Yup.” he told her, “Still glad.”

“Get down!!”

The yell went up, loud enough to be heard in reality as well as through the earbud Neal wore. Agent Cassidy dropped to the ground, fumbling for his gun as he scanned the area. There were no shots ringing out, no sign of projectiles of any kind, but the flash of light was almost blinding and Neal covered his eyes just too late. The next moment he was blinking against spots before his eyes, struggling to figure out what had happened before anything else attacked.

“Ward?” he called into the room that seemed only to be a swirl of greens and purples for the moment. “Ward?!” he tried again when no answer came.

Something moved in the distance, too small and brightly coloured to be his partner on this mission. Neal aimed his gun and fired, once, twice. An unearthly howl rang out, another flash of light, and then claws dug into his back...

The debris rained down, taking lumps out of his flesh. Agent Cassidy tried to ignore the pain as he scrambled to help the civilians all around him. They had no idea who he was, but that didn’t matter. Anyone who wasn’t a monster from the sky was welcome help. He did his part, even as the sky rained fire and a portal from above brought an invasion.

The Battle of New York had quite literally brought hell to Earth. There was no hiding such an event, the whole mission of SHIELD would be torn asunder, and Neal couldn’t take the pressure anymore. He needed out of this place, out of the organisation. It was as if he was being sucked down, down...

“Noooo!” Neal screamed as he sat bolt upright in the make-shift bed.

The last thing he had known as definitely real was falling into that portal. Slipping away from Emma, watching the world grow ever more green and fuzzy as he let her fingers pass through his and he fell. Now here was solid ground, the present day, and friendly faces promising him everything would be okay. SHIELD was a distant memory as it ought to be, missions and battles, all long ago, slipping back into the recesses of Neal’s mind. He focused on Aurora’s soothing tones and Mulan’s good advice not to aggravate his bullet wound.

Neal laid back down, felt the sun on his face and heard the ocean lapping nearby. He was safe here, back where he had come from. This place had rules he knew, had been born to understand. Still, he had to go back, to the land they said held no magic.

He knew better. Not only was there science and technology far more powerful than any spell, but there was love back there. Emma and Henry, as much as they knew of the world, they were in the dark about so much. Neal had to get back to them, to keep them safe from what they could never understand. He had seen it all and more, in that chapter of his life that he had to keep locked away, except for in his darkest dreams.

The End

Comments

[ishilde.livejournal.com]

I am so sorry it's taken me so long to comment! I hope you know I loved it ♥ It's so good that you kept it all tied in with Neal's motivations and it affects the story line and everything (also, you write him super well! My opinion on him has been mixed recently - spoilers so I won't say anything - and you reminded me why I love the character!!!)

Thank you, very much <3

(psst - you should head to the leveragexchange comm *g*)

[ultra_fic]

No worries on the delay, hon, I'm just glad you enjoyed this so much :) Wacky crossovers are just becoming my favourite thing to write lately! lol

YOU wrote my leveragexchange fic?!?!?! OMG, now I'm excited!!! When I get to it, I'm sure it'll be awesome, and there will of course be feedback :)