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Chapter Text

Just a few hours ago Gamora saw half her planet being murdered by a self-proclaimed savior. And now she was sure she would never see any of them again.

My mother...

She couldn't even say goodbye.

Something in her chest constricted, it hurt. She wasn't breathing properly, just sobbing in the corner of that huge and cold ship.

Because they took her. He took her from her home.

Her half-dead home.

Gamora heard horror stories about Thanos, and she and her friends loved to play and joke about it.

She never in a billion years would have imagined that… monster would come and destroy everything she ever loved.

She kept crying silently in that same place hugging her knees, at times she saw the Titan speaking with his henchmen; if the stories she heard on her home planet were real.

That ship was way too big, grey, and cold. How could someone live there? The answer was clear, only someone without a single piece of soul in their body.

As soon as the Titan brought her there she thought maybe if she behaved, he would let her go back home. But as hours passed, she was seeing how unlikely that was to happen and her hope wavered each second.

One of the few things she could make up from their conversation once her heartbeats weren't as loud, was that the slim guy, Maw, if she heard correctly, was worried they were being followed.

"How big it is?" Asked the purple Titan.

"It's a ravager ship," replied Maw, "not too big, but it can make considerable damage if they decide to attack us."

"Why would they be so stupidly impulsive? Do they have a death wish?" Asked the only woman in the group.

Thanos was clearly analyzing the situation, trying to think of a reason for the intentions of that ship. Finally, he turned to the woman, "Proxima."

"Father?" She said, bowing to him.

Suddenly the Titan's eyes looked at her and Gamora felt her heart stop for a second, then it started beating faster and harder.

"Take our little guest in the escape pod to the nearest desert planet." He said forming a ghost smile, "I think she has witnessed enough. For today."

"By your word, Sire," she said respectfully, then raised to look at Gamora and extended her hand to her, not as an invitation to take it, but as an order "Come on," she said with a dry tone and a slight irritation underneath.

Shakily, Gamora held her hand, and even when she didn't want to, she felt the need to look back at Thanos, who was still looking at her before the doors closed in front of him, as she was taken to the escape pod Gamora wondered if what he was saying was true.

He wouldn't say that only to get rid of her, would he?

Of course, he would! He kidnapped me! He's going to kill me! Tears were threatening to stream out of her eyes, and only her fear of alerting Proxima was stopping them from going out, still, Proxima must have noticed her tension when she felt Gamora hardening her grip on her hand, so as soon as both arrived to the escape pod she threw Gamora inside.

But to her relief, Proxima climbed inside too.

It took way less than she thought to land on that planet. She noticed immediately very dark clouds making a huge storm.

And when she exited the pod and felt the heavy rain on her face, all the horrors that tormented her were gone for a moment. The difference between that planet compared to hers was like night and day. The weather on her planet was almost completely dry, this one had fresh land, and was raining. Heavily. to the point where she couldn't see beyond her nose. She couldn't even remember the last time she saw rain on her planet.

But Proxima seemed bothered by it, covering her head with her hands, she was quick to complain about it.

"Oh, this is terrible, I shouldn't be here, I should be serving my master right now in the--" Gamora jumped and let out a scream when Proxima looked like she was having a seizure while still standing up and a huge electric wave surrounded her body.

After that, she fell to the ground. Unconscious, splatting a huge water puddle.

From the rainy fog emerged a horrible creature, a Xandarian, with a red jacket and holding a stunt gun in his hand.

When he saw her, he smiled and reached his hand to her shoulder, bringing her closer and forcing her to walk alongside him.

As scared as she was for this new threat, his time she didn't put up a fight.

Not a big one at least.

Still wet from the rain, the Xandarian made her board another escape pod of his own that took them to another ship waiting for them outside the planet, this was a smaller one and even dirtier and less maintained than Thanos', at the entrance was a Centaurian waiting for them, even though he was miles different from Thanos, Gamora immediately recognized him as the captain of that group.

After he spoke to her asking for her name as well as introducing himself and starting the trip back to a safe place, Gamora finally was able to speak since she arrived on the Titan's ship.

"Why did you take me?"

Yondu only looked at her once, and then went back to look to the windows where he could see where were the pilots heading he replied,

"Ya wanna question it? Be glad we saved yer life from that jackass, kid!"

Whatever intentions the Centaurian had for "saving" her from the Titan were definitely not genuine, Gamora still was confused and stressed to know what exactly he wanted, but she wouldn't find out today, and probably not in a lifetime either, now she realized she was a property and not a person anymore, no matter who wanted her, she would mean nothing to no one.

That was confirmed by the captain when he gave the order to one of the crewmates to take Gamora to her new room and not let her out until he said so.

When they arrived to that room Gamora noticed it had a horrid smell, it was clearly a cleaning room before becoming a bedroom, and that bed looked heavily uncomfortable and made without any care for her as a guest, she didn't get to know her new "bedroom" in Thanos' ship but she was sure it had to be better than this one, or at least, cleaner.

As Gamora sat on the border of that rock-hard bed she started to question if all of this was in any way an improvement over what was waiting for her with the Mad Titan and the Black Order. The ship seemed even worse, smaller, probably with less food and not nearly as decent, and the captain was not treating her any better than Thanos.

What did she do to deserve this?

She was not a perfect daughter. She probably wasn't even a good one, and yet she got the worst punishment.

But they would not win. She would not be broken, not like this.

Thanos was not pleased with the stunt those ravagers pulled. More than not pleased, he was angry with himself.

He put a bounty on her of course, and although he knew from the start it would be useless, this could provide him with the information needed to find her.

But if he had to give something to the ravagers it was that they knew how to hide perfectly. That lowered his hopes.

Still. He was robbed, and it would make no good for his reputation with future alliances if he allowed himself to be robbed by a small group of pirates.

But not too long after he put the bounty for the Zehoberei girl Maw informed him of something that picked his interest.

"Sire, we have a transmission."

"Was she found?" He asked, approaching to the screen that Maw was handling.

"No, but the contact names himself Ego. He said that the girl is his daughter. He offered the ravagers that took her a generous reward, but they have not shown up on his planet to deliver her." Maw explained.

"So what do we have here then? Is she special in some way?" Thanos was aware of how unlike him his voice was sounding.

"Oh, she is. I investigated on my own," Replied Maw typing on the holograms, showing several images related to the information that was being displayed, "and trustful sources told me that he is a celestial, a living planet. This means the Zehoberei is half celestial too."

"Hm..."

"And there's more, he offered a deal," Maw said, waiting for his master's reply to continue.

"He wants us to take her back," Thanos guessed, "and then deliver her to him for a bigger reward. Killing the ravager crew and their captain in the process."

But he clearly was in the wrong, as Maw explained the true intentions of the living planet.

"He doesn't seem all that worried for her. In actuality, he wants us to retrieve another of his offspring. A Terran one. He says his mother just died, he believes there's something even more special with this one if the way he spoke about him is anything to go by."

Interesting he thought.

"Will we accept?" Maw asked.

For a moment Thanos thought about something, he couldn't trust the living planet to make good on his word. And this was now something personal. Those ravagers took from him something bigger than just another potential warrior. They took something he never saw in any other being he ever knew. The future of his cause. That was something unforgivable.

But maybe, the reason why the girl was so special to him in the first place was not a coincidence, and her half-brother could be just as valuable, if not more.

"Tell him we will. That Centurian is probably looking for him too, but his ship it's not as effective as ours. Maw, set the direction of our ship to Terra." He ordered.

"By your word, Sire."

Thanos and Maw arrived at Terra in a small ship while his other children stayed covering for him in important deals and missions. They managed to track down the Terran boy in a local medical facility where his mother was giving her last breaths. He waited for hours, hearing with the radar on his ship how the Terran kid was screaming and fighting his grandparent to stay a few seconds more with his mother.

A small part of Thanos felt bad for him, but it was for the best, every sentient being in this universe should learn that life is not perfect, it'll never be, but it can be fulfilling, only if you're willing to achieve such a feat.

The way he was defending himself from someone that was his family… he had the same spirit as his sister, even bigger if his father himself saw something that special in him.

Maybe it was a celestial thing.

Maybe.

He didn't have any more time to think when Maw informed him that the Terran child escaped from the facility, running, sobbing, and throwing himself to the ground.

His signal to finally take him.

And just as Thanos figured he would, the kid screamed and got away from them, trying to defend himself with whatever tools and movements he could find in the ship, almost ignoring the fact that it was his very first encounter with creatures that were non-native from his planet.

"No! Leave alone! I want to go with my mom!" He kept yelling time and time again, once he calmed himself enough to listen, Thanos spoke to him softly.

"I'm afraid that's impossible, little one, your mother is now gone. But you have us now, and, trust me, you will become something better than what you could ever dream of. You will make your mother proud." He said with a small smile and putting a hand over his shoulder. He thought about giving him a special object as he did with his sister, but that would feel insincere.

The kid didn't say anything, but it was clear he still was scared and about to sob again while still looking him in the eyes.

"Now tell me, what's your name?" He said, trying to encourage him to speak, even though he had great potential, he was more fearful than his sister.

"P-Peter... Peter Quill." He replied shivering.

Thanos' smile widened, reached his hand to the minuscule one of Quill, and the kid, who was nothing but a shaking mess, reached out to hold it as well.

He had doubts before, but now the decision was clear as water to Thanos.

"Maw," he said, pulling the kid closer to his side and rising, "cut every communication with the celestial. We are not returning him."

Maw was clearly bewildered by that decision and he didn't hide it.

"Sire, you cannot be considering this. He is a Terran, one of the weakest creatures in the galaxy."

"A half-celestial Terran, I see in him more potential than his half-sister. With the appropriate education and... modifications."

Maw bowed again and did as told, unsure, but deciding to fully trust the Titan, in all the years he spent serving him he wouldn't question him, his results always shut his mouth in the early days of their alliance and ever since he learned that golden rule.

Chapter Text

On the planet Korbin there was a massacre going on, or as Thanos called it, cleansing. It was hard work fighting with the guards, but Peter was only concentrating on the song playing on his music player while he was shooting at them in the head, penetrating their armor.

While he went through those defenders that might as well be blind, he spotted Nebula in the distance being overpowered by one of those guards.

He sighed to himself. Couldn't she train harder to not be such a burden to him?

He launched at the guard, throwing him at an active flame, burning him to a crisp while Nebula, who remained on the ground where the guard threw her to, just stared at him and sighed in defeat, lowering her head.

Once Peter confirmed there was no threat around, he looked at Nebula while lowering his orange headphones to his neck, and seeing as Nebula didn't say a word, he said with a playful tone, "Yeah, you're welcome."

"I didn't ask for your help, Quill." She said with a bitter tone.

The nerve… Was that her gratitude for saving her ass once again?

"Uh-hum, just like the last… seven times?" He said counting with his fingers.

Nebula kept glaring at him and then lowered her head again, Peter lifted an eyebrow, taken aback by this.

Was she having a bad day? It wouldn't surprise him. Lately, that's how all days went for both of them.

He reached a hand to Nebula to show some compassion, but she slapped it back.

"Okay! I get it, you're not in the mood for some sibling bonding today." He blurted out snickering.

Little moments like those made clear to him that this was the closest to having siblings he could ever get.

As a child, Peter wanted a brother or a sister with all his heart, along with the company and guidance of a father. When he asked his mom for the former, a sister if possible, her face lit up slightly and she immediately replied "When your dad comes back, we will give you as many siblings as you want."

But his dad never came back, and after Thanos picked him up, he told him they were hired to take him to his father but he backed out on the deal, so the Titan adopted him, and as consequence, he also gained siblings, with Nebula being the only little sister he got.

As well as his lifetime wish to have a "father". Not that Thanos' was ever worthy of that title.

Some nights while laying on his bed with cracked bones, bruises, and memories of the faces of the horror of his victims, Peter wondered if it was worth it. All the training, enhancements, the lives he took, how his life would've been if Thanos never picked him up... If he asked anyone in the Sanctuary, everyone would say he got spared from being just another insignificant and weak Terran.

He pushed away all those thoughts. None of that mattered now.

The only thing that ever mattered to him was his mother, and she was gone, the only thing left from her was his music player, and lately, even that wasn't enough to keep the last piece of him that wasn't corrupted functioning.

"...Quill, are you listening?!" Nebula's voice got him out of his thoughts, she already was standing up so he must have spaced out for some long seconds.

He immediately stood straight again and regained control of his facial expressions, remembering the reason why he went to look for her in the first place.

"Yes, Father wants us back on the ship."

"Why?" She asked apathetically.

"He's found an infinity stone."

Back in the Q-ship where Thanos had called them, Nebula next to Peter was looking with attention at the holographic image of the planet where the infinity stone was found.

"Where?" She asked.

"On a planet called Morag."

"Father's plan is finally in motion." She said with anticipation, like a brief excitement and dread at the same time.

Her words hit him like nothing and no one ever has done.

Because it reminded him of all the deaths that Thanos and his children have caused, with his help, he admitted; and even so, all those lives… were going to be nothing compared to all the damage he could make with the stones.

"One stone isn't six, Nebula." He said, more to himself than to her.

"It's a start. If he gets all of them…"

No. No, no, no, no. He didn't want to think about that.

Halving planets being forced by Thanos is one thing. But actively helping him become the most powerful being in the universe to erase half of it… was something completely different.

He couldn't let this happen… he already caused a lot of damage.

But what could he do?

All those thoughts were racing through Peter's mind when the sound of Thanos' arrival made them turn around.

Peter immediately hid his music device, even though Thanos let him keep it as a condition to always excel at the tasks he was given, time showed him it was better to keep it hidden while in front of him or the rest of the Black Order.

"Ronan's located the power stone. I'm dispatching you to his ship." He said with his calm but imposing tone.

"He is already displeased by that, I... don't want to imagine his reaction, having a Terran working with him," Peter said, it was a well-known fact that Ronan held a special grudge against Terrans after one of them defeated him blowing his entire float of ships.

"His alternative is death." Thanos replied, "Ronan's obsession clouds his judgment".

Peter smirked internally. Clearly, Thanos already had a conversation with Ronan and made him clear that Peter would be respected as his son.

It almost made him forget about the situation for a moment. But then he came back to his senses.

While Nebula walked in front of him and bend a knee bowing to him with her swords, Peter just sighed and remained standing up.

"We will not fail you, father." Said Nebula with the utmost respect.

"No, you won't," Thanos said looking at Peter, instead of Nebula.

This made her lift her head to look at him in the eyes and say almost like a whisper, "I swear… I will make you proud."

Yeah yeah... sure you will Peter thought.

Half an hour later Peter and Nebula were being transported to Ronan's ship, and during the trip, Peter's mind was going miles per hour. Time was running out.

He needed to steal that thing and hide it where no one could ever find it, especially Thanos or any of his children.

But how was he going to do it? There was nowhere he could take and hide the stone!

Or himself.

Maybe if he destroyed that thing he could escape and erase his tracks, but what would he live off of? He had no units to survive long enough, and everyone in this galaxy knew his face and his name, NO ONE in their right mind would give him a hand or provide him with a way to make enough units for himself without being exposed.

Even with his advanced survival skills, he wouldn't last that long out there. Thanos would follow him and torture him in the same way he did with his prisoners.

This plan, or whatever he was thinking, was insane.

Still, he refused to just let Thanos win like he always had.

If he wanted a chance to be forgiven by his mother, this was it.

Please mother… give me wisdom, I swear… I know you would disapprove of everything I've ever done, but… I will try to do the right thing anyway.

That moment reminded him of Nebula. This was probably the same way she felt toward's Thanos. She didn't know anything else. He couldn't blame her for being keener on getting his approval than him.

But there was nowhere to go!

Nowhere...

Knowhere! That's it! Tivan, would no doubt make a deal with him, Peter would have no idea where the stone would end up, so Thanos will focus his attention going after him first, and Tivan would give him enough units to live and trade.

Through an encrypted communicator he built for himself in the years he spent learning to build them, thanks to his walkman ending up destroyed, one way or another, he made contact with The Collector, watching his back in that ship, if anyone ever heard him, it was his end.

Morag was an abandoned planet, but what made this different from any other Gamora ever visited was how rainy and deserted with active geysers this was, fortunately, she knew where to step with her mask. Didn't make it less annoying though.

Some days before Yondu was going up and down making a deal with Brooker to deliver an orb that would make the ravagers live like kings for months, so obviously, she had to take it to Brooker first.

She got close to the location where the orb was supposed to be under heavy protection, Gamora took a device from her pocket that could guide her to the entry, while scanning what that planet once was, several people living there, walking without a worry, part of her was afraid of knowing that he hell happened there.

Finally, the device located the correct route she should follow, it led her to the entrance of what seemed like ancient ruins. Just like Brooker told them.

Gamora turned off the device now that she was where she should, but before returning it to her pocket she paused and stared down at it for a moment, knowing that Yondu gifted it to her long ago the first time she got lost on a planet while the ravagers were on a mission, it was several hours before Yondu found her, and the day after he threw it at her so she would not cause trouble again, and the ravagers were angry, for that was a tool that not just any of them had, not even Kraglin enjoyed that privilege.

And once again, she hesitated about what she was about to do, the plan to which she has been gathering the necessary assets for months, now it was the day, and still, she asked to herself, was she really doing this? Betraying her captain who saved her from the biggest genocidal of the galaxy?

She shook her head, chasing away that rose-tinted guilt.

Yondu may have given her a new life, but that wasn't an excuse for all the things he put her through. She deserved a life of her own, and this might be her only chance in life to get it. As soon as she heard about the orb she jumped at the opportunity.

She started her pace, carefully, and entered watching everywhere, registering anything that could look like a threat.

The whole inside seemed just like the outside, ancient ruins from a temple. Not bad for a place that was abandoned years ago.

Gamora expected some enemies looking for that orb, but she hasn't encountered any so far, aside from some Orloni creatures that were always trying to bite anything that looked alive, honestly, if they were any bigger they could be a true threat to the whole Galaxy.

She winced distastefully when she noticed some of them trying to jump at her.

She shot the first ones with her blaster. Some more launched at her. This time she used her feet, all without interrupting her pace.

Whoever was Broker's informant, they were good, most likely top-secret, a part of her wondered why would that contact trust some ravagers with such a valuable object that no one else was fighting for.

But she brushed off that thought immediately, she was getting paid big money on this, and she had no need for more details.

And Gamora just realized she answered herself, ravagers didn't ask questions, they just did the job, got paid, and it was over. They were trustworthy enough for the code they have and not afraid of getting their hands dirty, really, really dirty.

She shouldn't give it a second thought anyway, this was her exit ticket from that life to a new fulfilling one.

Gamora saw at the very back of the place the doors that were surely guarding the orb. With no effort, she forced them open with her picklock, and as she saw them opening side to side, revealing a purple light glowing in the background, that was what she was looking for, and smirked.

A metallic sphere with some holes to breathe surrounded by a protective glowing field. This was gonna be even easier than she thought. It was almost surreal.

She got even closer and put a magnet from her pocket on the floor, when she activated it, the device pulled the orb outside of the magnetic field.

Finally, it was all hers. She lifted it in her hands.

"Drop it!" A voice behind her commanded.

Gamora rolled her eyes and turned back. Of course, this wasn't gonna be THAT easy.

But when she did, her eyes flew open, as she recognized immediately the man behind her. Korath the Pursuer, who, from the intel she received and her deep research, was one of the latest recruits of Ronan, who by now was well known for working with...

She forbade herself from saying that name, even inside her head.

Korath said something to the other two that accompanied him, Kree, definitely. Two of his guards walked marched behind her, to surround her and prevent her from escaping.

Her blood pressure rose, regretting for just a moment to take it upon herself to pick the orb, wishing for Yondu to be there and take the easy way out.

As things were going... She had to exit there, otherwise they might take her captive and take her to Ronan.

Who would then take her to Thanos.

Shit! Her head suffered a headache by mapping out the place, searching for any sign of weakness or an open to get the hell out, if she didn't find any, she would have to force her way out with her usual ace up her sleeve, and that just gave a chance to her enemies to prepare for her tricks so the next time they wouldn't work on her.

"Hello," She said, making the faintest surprised reaction, but the fear inside her burned, what was that guy even doing here!?.

"Drop it, now!" He said again.

Gamora was tempted to fight them right then and there and sprint away, even... even if they killed her, it didn't matter, anything was better than being taken by them. The only reason she hadn't was because they had an advantage by pointing their guns at her. She opened her hand holding the orb so casually and it dropped on the ground, the round object rolled on the ground until it stopped in front of the feet of Korath, who picked it up immediately with a threatening and concerned expression.

"Who told you about this?" The leader said.

She couldn't tell them about the buyer or where she got the information from if she wanted him to keep his part of the deal, and at this point, she had so much adrenaline that she couldn't even think about a well-crafted lie, so she resorted to the excuse Yondu taught her to use since she was a child.

"I have no idea what that is! I just collect any kind of scrap and junk I can find." She said shaking as one of them got too close to her and shoved her.

"You don't look like a junker. You're wearing a ravager garb."

Shit.

She should've known this got too old to keep using. And just the day she planned to leave them and get rid of those old-fashioned rags.

"I found and took it for me." She said, trying to keep her nerves in check, the alien poking his gun at her wasn't helping.

"What is your name?" He shouted.

"Gamora." She said quickly and loudly, putting heavy emphasis when the two guards tried to take her.

"Move!" He said after the two guards took her by the arms.

"Where!?" She shouted back.

"To Ronan. He will have questions for you." He said.

Hell. No. Those words triggered her fight or flight response, and she would honor both. Gamora. kicked the magnet she used to get the orb towards the krees behind her, disintegrating them, after that, she knocked out the Kree warrior with her blasters.

She made her way out there, fortunately, many of the fighting techniques Yondu and Kraglin taught her, along with the self-taught ones she came up throughout the years, were more than useful to make a clean exit. A part of her felt an exhilaration of joy at knowing she outran those guys, that she escaped that purple Titan once again, and this time, all on her own. Proving just once again that she was making the correct decision, she could make her way on her own, regardless of what Yondu said.

Yondu... Well, hopefully after hearing the news, he wouldn't be too mad at her.

"Gamora!"

Oh, he was. At least for what she could see on the screen. Why in the damned Galaxy had she picked up his call?

Deep down she knew, she was pretty much declaring her emancipation from the ravagers with that action, the wise thing to do would be to cut all communication.

But a part of her felt… guilty.

"Yondu." She crossed her arms facing the screen displaying the Centaurian, for even with guilt, she couldn't let that facade slip.

"I'm here on Morag," Yound spat annoyed, "Ain't no orb, ain't no you."

"Well, I was close to the planet and I thought you would be glad if I saved you some energy. You lately seem tired all the time."

"Well, where are you at now, girl?"

Gamora frowned, this was going to get gross soon.

"You know by now I won't tell you."

"I slaved putting this deal together!"

"Slaved?" She actually snickered while he was talking over her, "Making a few calls is Slaved?"

"And now you're gonna rip me off! We do not do that to each other, we're ravagers, we got a code."

"You disrespected the code long ago, I'm not dumb! If you don't want to oblige to it, why should I?"

"Do not forget that Thanos abducted you…"

Oh for fuck's sake! This was really getting old.

"Right…" She said biting her cheek.

"...and WE came to rescue you, I saved you! You're alive because of me! I will find you, I will…"

She didn't let him finish and cut the transmission.

Gamora then sighed and went to sit at the small table, was she really doing a bad thing?

No. She wasn't, she knew how much Yondu loved to use that excuse to manipulate her into doing whatever he pleased, she was just setting boundaries now. She never wanted this lifestyle.

But then again, what lifestyle did she want then? On her planet full of people that were not her people? Where she would still be a cheap attraction for others?

Damn it, every single day, every damn day she regretted not going back as soon as she had the chance. To escape on a ship from Yondu's grip as soon as he taught her to pilot and see her people before inevitably they all died due to the circumstances following the visit of that maniac.

Curse him and all his existence, all his followers that stole her family from her, leaving her alone, with no one but two people that could've meant something to her and yet didn't, because of their attitude that they had to keep up when the other ravagers complained that she was receiving special treatment.

She turned to look at the stone she was holding in her hand, feeling reassured for her decision.

However, whatever it was, if Ronan wanted it desperately, it couldn't be good, even if she felt a pang of pride for halting whatever sick plan he had to for that, she also had to make sure it was delivered quickly to the Brooker.

Something inside her felt empty at it, but hopefully, she could cover it up with all the units that would fill her pockets for months, maybe even years. Now stars were the limit, every time one died, another more beautiful shone. A new sun that she would witness every day, on her own, maybe alone, but not dependant on anyone.

Peter was shaking with all the thoughts on his head as he and Nebula arrived at Ronan's ship. Tivan already answered, he was more than eager to make a generous offer for the Infinity Stone, the deal was made. The only thing he needed was to get his hand on the orb, make sure no one followed him, and run away as fast as he could to Knowhere with it.

He knew it wasn't gonna be easy, but when Korath, one of the henchmen from Ronan, returned with news that the orb was stolen he knew it was going to be even more complicated.

"Master, she's a thief, an outlaw named 'Gamora'. But we discovered she has an agreement to retrieve the Orb for an intermediary known as The Broker." He said to Ronan, who was listening in a big chair with Peter and Nebula standing beside him on opposite sides.

"I promised Thanos I would retrieve the orb for him. Only then will he destroy Xandar for me."

Aaand there it was, his clouded judgment that his fa... that Thanos was talking about.

"Nebula," said Ronan "go to Xandar and get me the orb."

That! That was his opportunity! And he gave it to Nebula?

"It will be my honor." She responded smiling proudly.

Usually, Peter disliked walking over Nebula. That always made her resent him for days, sometimes weeks, and when that happened Peter felt even more lonely and bored than he usually was.

But this time there was too much at risk, too much at stake to worry about that nonsense, he would miss having Nebula around, but that was the price to prevent Thanos from getting his hands on that orb.

"Come on Ronan," Peter said, "you know I'm better at everything, I know you hold a grudge against humans, but will you sideline the obviously better option because of that?"

"How dare you…?" He snapped with that hate.

Peter would have none of that. So he got closer to him, standing still and borrowing Thanos' stoic expression.

"If you let this happen again, you'll be facing our father without his prize." His palms were sweaty, but he knew playing by his same prejudiced side against Xandar was the way to get through him.

Nebula was now looking at Quill with an expression filled with resentment.

"I'm a child of Thanos, just like you." said Nebula. She definitely knew Peter was up to something.

"But I know Xandar," said Peter.

"Ronan has already decreed that I..."

"Do not speak for me" said Ronan with a more commanding voice, interrupting Nebula.

Yes! Peter thought. This was it.

Ronan stood up from his seat and got face to face with Peter.

"You know how important this is for me, Terran, you will not fail."

In these kinds of situations, he usually had a cheeky reply, but he had to be careful with his words right now.

"Have I ever?" He smiled, letting him see a flicker of intimidation to play now to his ego.

And so he did, Ronan's expression softened. A sign of approval. Perfect.

Several minutes later Peter started heading to the ship that was waiting for him following Ronan's guards that would assist him in the mission, but suddenly he felt a painful grip on his arm that forced him to turn around.

When he did, he saw Nebula with an angry expression.

"You think I don't know?" She whispered. That made Peter widen his eyes for a moment.

What? Did she overhear him talking to Collector?! When!?

"Sister?" He played dumb, hopefully, he could find a way out of this.

"You would keep me from advancing" Peter winced at the grip of Nebula cracking his bones, "You would have Ronan tell father only his 'Star Lord' furthers his great plan."

Something inside Peter boiled when Nebula dared use that name to connect him to Thanos.

That was the name his MOTHER gave him, and that's one of the few things he could do to honor her memory.

Peter slapped her hand and pushed her away, keeping his smugness.

"Not at all, this was about keeping you alive, dumbass."

That angered Nebula again, and she got painfully closer to his face, looking at his eyes.

"Compassion. What would Ronan say to that?"

Peter internally winced at those words but managed to keep his emotions in check.

Because it was true, his compassion was his downfall.

Thanos made an impressive job at making him insensible to atrocious things, every time he showed compassion for any living creature as a child he was punished and forced to kill them in an even more horrific way than anticipated.

And still, the memory of his mother always tried to gain control of his conscience. He knew his hands were practically tied, and still, he felt guilty for all the things he did merely to survive and avoid the Titan's rage.

"C'mon, Nebula. You know me since we were kids. We fought together in training, in modifications, in battle…"

"I have stood behind you when I am every inch the warrior you are. The screams of my victims fill every field."

And there was again, it was getting tiring hearing the same story every time, if, according to her, she was at the same level as him why was she always bested? That's something Peter could never understand.

"That's because you take too long to kill them." Low blow, he admitted, but that should shut her up about her claims of him being compassionate, even the slightest suspicion could ruin everything.

But all that hesitation on Nebula turned into a rage once again and she attacked him, Peter was faster and grabbed her wrist with one hand and her neck with the other, pushing her to the nearest wall.

With that action, Nebula slapped his arm once again. But this time, Peter didn't feel the slightest bit of fun.

He looked at her for a moment, looking at her expression full of fury but also of something he couldn't quite put his finger on, he admired every single detail of her face to remember her. If there was something still stopping him from stealing that orb and abandoning Thanos, was Nebula. Peter felt like a true traitor once it dawned on him how alone he was going to leave her.

But he knew Nebula didn't share that same feeling, in the last years they became more and more cold and merciless with one another, and now she would get rid of him if given the chance.

And yet, he was ashamed to admit she was a weakness to him, not long ago he would have given everything for her.

But now it wasn't enough anymore, or at least, not enough to justify killing uncountable lives. The deal was made, and Peter was going to do his part.

I'm sorry Nebula. He thought. At least you'll be Thanos' favored child now.

Thanos would be so disappointed in him that Nebula would stand out as the loyal daughter that will not have to live up to his standard anymore, everyone would win in that situation.

Goodbye, Sister.

He boarded the ship and waited until they were far enough from the ship, then he waited for them to set the course.

Peter just stared out the window for a couple of minutes, contemplating the sight of the immensity of outer space, wondering how long has it been since he was taken from his planet. As a child, when he arrived on Thanos' ship for the first time and began the training and modifications, he thought several times of escaping, but there was always that fear of being nothing without him, without the Black Order, then was the threat that Thanos might kill his planet in retaliation, the planet where his grandparents and family he barely knew but loved nonetheless was living.

All those memories that kept him with the hope of one day seeing them and his planet again seemed so distant to him, now it was useless to think about it. Who would even feel pity, compassion, or love for someone with the past he had?

"Course set for Xandar, Starlord." said the leader of the Sakaarans that were accompanying him on the ship.

Peter did his best to not let that name annoy him, this was the decisive moment and the only way to deal with the growing pressure of what he was about to do, how, and when.

He just nodded in response and kept looking outside when the leader started talking again, "And might I say, it's an honor to be serving with Ronan's hand himself."

Peter held more tightly his blade, it was now or never. Before arriving on that ship, he thought about every movement to easily take them out and escape with the orb, but now the plan seemed insane.

"My brothers and I look forward to our triumph."

Then it dawned on him again.

The triumph of the horrors that so many living beings would endure. These creatures were soulless.

That gave him the courage he needed.

"Yes," Peter replied, "though it's a shame about the casualties we're about to incur."

And before those Sakaarans knew what was about to take place, Peter got rid of them one by one.

Now truly there was no going back.

Chapter Text

"Ms. Gamora." The Broker greeted her when she entered his place.

"Broker" She greeted him back rather fast, pulling out of her pocket the orb and placing it carefully, but firmly, on the crystal counter, "here's the orb, just as commissioned".

"Where's Yondu?" He asked with curiosity.

Her face flickered for a moment, but she composed herself immediately to reply.

"He couldn't attend, another deal took his time, so I came in his place."

The Broker scoffed, whether he knew she was lying or not, he didn't mention it. Good.

Her foot was already tapping with impatience, just like her fingers on her leg. She was just a few moments between this deal and her forever freedom. He just had to extend his hand with the units and no more Ravagers. No more Ronan.

But something about the orb was drawing her attention, something hypnotic maybe, a feeling of curiosity got over her and she asked almost unconsciously, "What is this, by the way?"

"It's my policy never to discuss my clients or their needs." He said dismissively. That made her frown, was this guy really not aware of the effort in getting that thing?

"I almost died getting it for you, you could at least…"

"An occupational hazard, I'm sure, in your line of work." He said, Gamora almost felt he was mocking her.

At that moment, however, she realized she was asking way too much and that could end Brooker's patience.

Didn't mean she couldn't negotiate a little better, considering he knew damn well this thing was way more valuable than what he would be paying for it, he probably knew the type of people she would have to get through to get it.

Or he didn't know, and perhaps this new situation could convince him to seek a better deal for it with their buyer, which meant a better deal for Gamora.

"Well, I just hope you would add perhaps another zero to the unit considering I had to face Ronan's henchmen to get it."

The Broker's attention snapped back to her.

"Ronan?"

Xandar vas a very populated place. It was hard for Peter to maintain cover, he was sure at least someone passing next to him thought he was familiar. But he didn't care, he would go into hiding anyway in a couple of hours. No point in being so cautious.

That Broker's office was on the other side of the place he arrived, on an elevated floor covered by a crystal platform. This could be an advantage if things went south. He made the calculations on where and how to take down the Zen-Whoberian in any type of scenario, fast and precise.

But that was only the contingency plan, for as much as he wished to barge in and grab the orb, he had to take precautions this time. He had no backup and if he drew even the slightest bit of attention from local authorities, it could be his end.

His patience was rewarded when he heard screaming inside and then the door opened, and that Zen-Whoberian came out, or more likely, was kicked out by the Brooker.

He analyzed her quickly, didn't seem too threatening to him, but he had to be cautious, she was an experienced thief still.

"Farewell, Ms. Gamora!" The voice inside shouted at her and closed the door in her face.

"Broker! We had a deal! You can't just...!" She didn't finish her sentence when she noticed his presence.

"Umm... is everything okay?" He said, hoping to not set alarms on her.

But she raised an eyebrow and took a closer look at him.

"Do I know you?" She said suspiciously.

"Doubt it, I would remember meeting someone like you." He said with a soft smile.

But he apparently was more popular than he thought, realization dawned on her, she widened her eyes and hid the orb behind her back, starting to walk backwards.

"I know you…"

"Really?" He said, almost bored but still threatening, and slowly closing the gap between the two of them.

"Star-Lord. One of Thanos' Warriors..."

Peter spotted her green hand reaching for her blaster in the pocket of her pants, he interrupted her with his voice.

"Look, You really don't want to do this. Just give me the orb, and you'll never hear from me again. I can assure you, this is way out of your league of thieves. If you keep that thing, something even worse than me is going to come after you." Her breath became slower but deeper, and her whole body started to tremble, perfect, "And you know me, so you know who I am talking about" he finished.

That proposal went as well as one could guess. The Zen-Hoberian immediately turned around and tried to run away, but Peter shot her in the legs to make her trip and drop the orb. He ran towards it and picked it up, but then she gripped his ankle and made him trip too.

How was she so strong?

He didn't have time for this. They started trading their punches on the same ground they were both laying. With Peter gaining the upper hand.

After a moment he spotted her hand reaching for a gun in her hips once she realized she wasn't going to win, for being a thief, she seemed like someone you could easily scare.

He put his knee on her hand, which gave him the window to draw his blade.

"Sorry, this wasn't in my plan" He lifted the blade to get rid of her completely, but then he was tackled to the ground by another force that made him groan in discomfort.

"Put her in the bag. Put her in the bag!" Said the voice of whatever creature tackled him down.

When Peter recovered enough to look at it, he saw that it was a small… Raccoon?

He then felt a bunch of ropes surrounding and pressing his body while he started to force them to break free while the raccoon climbed and tried to take control of his head.

He had dealt with assholes trying to abduct him several times in the blink of an eye, but this was NOT the moment.

"No! Not him, her! Learn genders, man." Said the raccoon.

Peter struggled and yelled against the ropes in his body and the creature in his head.

In a desperate attempt to get free, he bit the paw of the raccoon, to which it grunted.

"Biting? That's not fair! Take it easy..."

But his struggle was giving results, he managed to break the ropes in his body, now noticing they were branches, and took the raccoon into his hand to throw him as far away as possible.

With the raccoon no longer being a problem, for now, Peter's eyes looked for the girl, and between the crowd, he saw her running away with the orb in her hands.

He reached for his gun and shot another blast at her, but that barely did something to her aside from throwing her to the ground and making her drop the orb to the ground level.

Peter jumped immediately to that ground level and picked up the orb, but she jumped too on top of him and snatched it away again while lowering her tone and getting closer to his face, with an expression that almost looked like fear mixed with anger in a low and calm tone that for a moment gave him the creeps.

"I don't know why your father wants this orb, but I know that it can't be good."

Those words...

Peter's expression immediately turned to fury and punched her in the face, half knocking her out to the side and making her groan in big pain. On top of that, the raccoon and the three-meter tree threw a huge bag on her, apparently to abduct her.

He would've happily let it be, but it was not over, he approached the group while pointing at them with his blaster.

"You won't take her, that orb is mine," Peter said.

While keeping an eye on the raccoon and the huge three, Peter took his blade and ripped the fabric of the bag to set the girl free and take the orb back, but the kick in the face he got when she got out of that bag was something he truly did not expect.

He didn't remember anything else after that, aside from hearing some nova corps arriving and a force lifting him from the ground.

The prison of Kylin was the one that guarded the worst kind of criminals, Yondu told Gamora some stories about how a big part of the Ravagers that worked for him came from there, but since he had a tendency to run his mouth to look more menacing than he actually is, Gamora didn't take him seriously, how wrong she was.

The guards took mugshots from them and registered their names and criminal history by the time Star-Lord recovered consciousness.

After that, he was silent the whole time while they were in line to be dressed and put with the other prisoners.

Still, Gamora couldn't help but be intrigued and intimidated by him at the same time.

If what she overheard Yondu tell the other ravagers was right, he was adopted by Thanos around the same time as he did with her, before Yondu rescued... no, before Yondu took her.

Yondu...

Her thoughts again drifted to him, why did that always happen, it was starting to drive her crazy, she wouldn't last a day after her emancipation from the Ravagers if she allowed her conscience to play these kinds of mind games with her.

Still, she couldn't help but ask herself…

Was she such a bad person for abandoning him? What Yondu saved her from was no small thing, and seeing with her own eyes the result of being raised by the Mad Titan himself… she couldn't imagine growing up to be like him.

Maybe she could.

"Why have you been staring at me like that?" Star-Lord said raising an eyebrow, clearly annoyed, which made Gamora come back to herself. She just shook her head and lowered it. She really should be more cautious.

"Why wouldn't she?" Said the talking raccoon, "It's not every day you see the offspring of a genocidal maniac. And what name is Star-Lord anyway?"

Star-Lord glared at the Raccoon, but this time he decided not to bother and looked up again.

While they were in line to be guided to their cells by the guards, Gamora made a few too-casual questions to get to know more about Star-Lord without him noticing, even so, his patience with her was wearing thin.

But after several questions, one more personal than the other, Star-Lord finally snapped and asked her what the hell she wanted to know. And after some more questioning, Gamora managed to get through to him.

He ended up confessing he was actually planning to betray Ronan and deliver the orb to a safe place, although no one aside from Gamora herself believed him.

That was the icebreaker for her. And the conversation between her and Star-Lord...

No, between her and Peter ensued.

In the brief time she could truly get to know him, from the basic information he had no problem disclosing, she realized how much he despised working for Thanos. He never stated it loudly, but she recognized that look in his eyes. Whoever he was before the Mad Titan abducted him, that person remained there. And it wasn't a weak piece of a memory of when he had humanity once, no, it was a soul still hoping for one day breaking free.

But every time she asked for more details about his previous life, previous to Thanos, he refused to disclose them.

Still, Gamora knew enough, he was basically raised against his will by some maniac and still managed to keep a conscience if his way of speaking about him was anything to come by.

When he mentioned Thanos, his voice had a worried tone underneath, clearly, to this day the Titan scared him.

And that made her remember how scared and horrified she was just those couple of days Thanos abducted her.

Although she wanted to, Gamora didn't dare tell him how close they were to share the same fate, because it would inevitably come the awkward moment when she would tell him that she was spared a life of torture while he wasn't.

From a very young age, Yondu warned her to NEVER say to anyone what happened, some part of her could understand, Thanos might trace her and want his revenge, but she was an adult now, and from what she knew, Thanos only abducted young children.

She wondered, if she did share the same fate as Peter, would she be able to get away from the Titan as he did?

But there was something else that worried her, something she would ask Yondu once she got out…

"Hey! Put that way, hey!" The voice of Star-Lord took her out of her thoughts again and she saw him practically jumping inside one of the side rooms in the hallway they were walking.

Apparently one of the guards who supervised their belongings took one weird device from him that Gamora didn't recognize.

"Listen to me, you big blue bastard! Take those headphones off! That's mine, those belong to impound." His tone was an angry one, but also worried, and almost begging for mercy as if his very life depended on whatever he was shouting for.

"Peter..." Gamora warned him with a soft tone when she saw the guard getting hostile.

"That tape and that player is mine! AHG!" He groaned in pain when the guard shocked him.

The raccoon, Rocket was his name, was snickering and spoke to her.

"Heh, it's hysterical isn't it, seeing someone so formidable acting like a bratty little creature?"

It wasn't even the slightest bit of fun to Gamora, who just watched the spectacle gaping at it.

Minutes later, the bath Gamora was forced to take to get dressed and finally put with the other inmates was humiliating. She wondered if Yondu would laugh at her and say that she deserve it or if he would be uncomfortable and angry at them like some years ago.

Probably not, she wasn't a kid anymore.

Just a few months after being abducted by the centaurion, another ship of delinquents abducted her when she got separated from them on one mission, they stripped her naked, forcefully bathed her when she refused to, and put her in weird clothes to sell her as a Kree slave, Yondu found her in time. He was willing to only break every bone in the bodies of her captors and run away with her from there, but then she told him what they forced her to do and what they were planning to do to her.

There were unrecognizable once he was done with them. She even remembered Kraglin forbidding her from entering that room where Yondu took all his anger out with those slavers.

The other ravagers always were angry when she got scot-free from several duties or punishments while they didn't. And as she grew, the resentment in the ship against was growing as well.

Another reason why she needed to leave, no matter how much it annoyed Yondu.

Once she entered the main general room of the prison, she encountered Peter again already dressed in those same yellow clothes that she had, all of them took their sleep bags and one of the guards approached Peter before they entered.

"Mister Quill" At the mention of that name, Gamora wondered if being the only one calling him Peter would be weird, "you will be assigned a private room, but make no mistake, this is not a luxury. It's a measure to prevent bloodshed on both sides. Don't make us regret it."

Peter just lowered his head without breaking his stoic expression and kept the same pace she and the other two had.

The four of them entered the main room of the prison with all the inmates. All kinds of terrifying creatures wearing the same yellow stupid costume were looking at the four of them.

"Ow!" One shoe was thrown at the side of her face, she turned to see on the second floor several inmates shouting insults, profanity in several languages and death threats she thought were for her, but she heard several of them screaming the name "Star-Lord"

"Murderer! Murderer! You'll go first" Several of the inmates kept shouting at him.

"We're coming for you first, Peter! You're dead!"

"You're scum! you're scum!" One of the inmates alarmingly close to her was throwing food at him.

When she turned back, she saw Peter just flinched and took it. He probably knew he wasn't a rival if he attacked all of them in any way.

Gamora was feeling some constriction in his chest, something she hadn't felt since…

Since the day Thanos told her she was gonna stay with him and be trained by him.

Suddenly the fear of Thanos ever arriving at Kylin to look for his son took over her, like a cold knife stabbing her back, because he might recognize her and he might try to take her again.

Her chest was deflating, she had trouble bringing air to her lungs and it hurt her.

But she composed herself after a few seconds and then saw that Peter still walking, ignoring all the shouts and objects thrown at him.

Again, that feeling she had when Peter talked to her for the first time about the Mad Titan was getting bigger, even deeper.

Peter may have done terrible things, but she wondered how many of them he was actually forced to do by his father.

She also wondered how none of the inmates felt the slightest hint of sympathy or at least understanding for him as she did.

But maybe it was just her projecting onto him, the wonder of what would've been of her if she remained with Thanos... it would've been exactly this, no chance of ever living in peace after running away from the person that ruined your life and turned you into something you hated.

Well, it's true that Yondu did that to her, but now compared in full light to this...

"Man, I thought he would be safe here," this time it was Rocket's voice that got her out of her thoughts, "but now thanks to his affiliation with Ronan he'll last a day here, tops."

Just like that? She almost asked out loud with a concerned expression.

Instead, she went for something more casual.

"The guards will protect him, right?"

"They're here to stop us from getting out, they don't care what we do to each other inside."

That sent chills down her spine. She had to do something about it.

"Don't look so worked up, Gamora," said Peter, "none of this compares to what I've been through." He said with a smug grin, but Gamora knew that was only a facade, he was clearly scared and on guard.

"I'm not… worked up about you." Was the only thing that came out of her mouth.

"Sure you aren't." He then walked past her to his room, while a lot of inmates kept shouting insults and following him.

Maybe she was right, and she was projecting into him too hard.

Maybe it was just pity since she saw him getting shocked for something he clearly had an emotional attachment to, it was like a weird connection they had, and she wondered if Peter felt it too.

Ha! Sure he would...

Out of all the groups of inmates welcoming them, one of the biggest and most monstrous approached them, getting close to her.

"Check out the new meat." that monster said, caressing her hair and face, Gamora couldn't help but feel gross, and she started shaking,

"Please don't..." He ignored her and kept going.

"I'm gonna slather you up in gunavian jelly, and go to town..."

He couldn't finish when Groot pushed two of his arm branches into his nose, lifting him up and making him scream bloody murder.

"Let's make something clear." Rocket said in a voice that could be heard all over the place, "This one here is our booty. You wanna get to her, you go through us. Or, more accurately, we go through you."

Groot threw him to the floor just as Rocket finished his threat to the whole prison, the scary inmate now was on the floor crying about his bloody nose while all the other inmates were quiet and looking at him.

"Um, right, I'm with them," Gamora said with the rest of the inmates.

At least she would be safe, for now.

After his 8th birthday, Peter was listening to music with his mother, lying on the floor of a park on a blanket. This was one of the few times she was allowed to leave the hospital.

She sit on the floor and looked at him with a smile. Peter smiled back.

But then, concern crept through her face, and then she looked horrified, finally, she started gasping like she was running out of air.

"Mom! What's wrong!?"

That's when Peter saw blood leaving her mouth. A lot.

After a few horrifying seconds, she dropped to the ground, dead. Showing a giant blade in her back.

"Mo...mom…!" Peter screamed at the top of his lungs, moving her desperately.

That's when he saw Thanos behind her, retrieving the blade from her back with a sadistic grin.

Then, the hand of Maw covered Peter's mouth from behind to abduct him.

Peter struggled, screamed, and kicked, but it was all useless. Then he felt a blade on his throat.

Several seconds of fuzziness after Peter snapped his eyes open and came back to where he was, it was still in Kylin prison, no mother, no Thanos.

However, the hand on his mouth and the blade on his throat were still there. Being held by one of the inmates making a gross grin.

Shit!

There were at least four inmates that forced him to get up in a group. And when they got out of the room he saw the guard that was in charge of the locks of his room opening it from the panel.

"Take him down the showers," he said, "it'll be easier to clean up the blood down there."

"YOU MOTHERF..." Peter couldn't finish his sentence when they took him in the direction the guard told them.

Gamora couldn't sleep. It could be because of the smell of the other female inmates that were laying all together and had no respect for her personal space. But there was something else.

When her thoughts weren't with Peter, they were with Yondu, the more time it passed, the more guilt she was feeling, like she was being an ungrateful brat. Her decision was done, but the guilt grew every time.

Fortunately, a distant voice that she recognized was heard at a distance, a good distractor from all those feelings she wasn't ready to deal with yet.

"Y'all are going to regret this! Leave me...!"

She heard it again at the distance from the cells of the opposite side, it was the voice of Peter, and he seemed to be in trouble.

She went out of her room and saw from the male dorms several inmates dragging Peter with a blade on his throat.

Before she even thought about it, she went out of her room and sneaked into the guys' dorm area.

Maybe she was going soft for him. Maybe she was stupid for being the only one who cared for the son of a mass murderer, and again, projecting herself onto him.

But maybe there was more to it, and Gamora finally figured it out.

This would be something she would've wanted someone else to do for her if she was in that situation.

And had it not be for Yondu, she would be, maybe those inmates would be taking both of them.

She tiptoed in the hall in front of the guys' dorms, she wasn't expecting to wake anyone up, so when she heard a whisper calling out her name it almost gave her a heart attack.

But when she turned to look at it and saw it was just Rocket she let out a sigh of relief and kept walking.

"Where are you going?" She heard him still whispering behind her.

Ignoring the second time Rocket gasped her name with a more concerned tone, she continued to where the inmates were taking Peter, the showers. Of course.

She took some time following them, but when she arrived she saw those inmates pinning Peter on a wall, just before another inmate bigger than the rest, but not as tall as the jerk that Groot gave a lesson to, approaching them.

"You slew dozens of Ronan's minions…" It was the only piece of a conversation that she could hear the other inmates saying with a scared tone.

But that was enough to know exactly who this guy was.

"Drax..." She whispered to herself. Ever since she could remember, she kept mental notes on every enemy and ally of Thanos, and every enemy and ally of those enemies and allies, in case she ever got to meet one of them.

Drax took threatening steps toward Peter, ignoring the other inmates.

"Ronan murdered my wife, Ovette, and my daughter, Camaria. He slaughtered them while they stood." He suddenly started shouting and turned to one of the inmates, making him flinch to the ground "And he laughed!"

For the first time, Gamora actually felt sympathy for the inmates, all that rage, grief, frustration, and thirst for justice… fueling a whole prison of dangerous criminals…

Still, she couldn't let Peter be murdered like that.

"His life is not yours to take. Ronan killed my family. I shall kill one of his in return." Oh oh, mistake, Drax. She thought after hearing him say those words to Peter's face and just watched what she knew would come.

In a second, Peter became aggressive, punched the two of them holding him against the wall, and pointed their knives at Drax and the other inmate that held the knife in front of his throat the whole time.

Yup, don't talk about Ronan or Thanos as his family, noted.

"I'm no family of Ronan or Thanos." Said Peter, after a few seconds he withdrew the knives from their throats.

Gamora couldn't help but feel some twisted pride for him.

What is wrong with me? She wondered with a soft smile.

"I'm your only hope at stopping him," Peter said.

Drax didn't take that well and grabbed him by his throat against the wall again. Peter groaned furiously.

"Boy, your words mean nothing to me!" He said with a new level of rage.

Gamora had to act now!

She jumped out of her hiding place.

"NO! WAIT! STOP!"

All of the presents looked at her. That made her feel nervous. But she couldn't show fear now.

"You live for killing Ronan, right?" she continued with her hands lifted, "And you choose to waste your chance at doing so to kill someone who probably means nothing to him and actually wish he was dead?"

"Are you not the woman this pig attempted to kill? Why are you defending him?" He asked him dumbfounded, keeping his strong grip on Peter's neck.

Gamora couldn't help to make an I know, ironic, isn't it? smile, because it was completely reasonable for him to ask that. It seemed she was the only one in this Galaxy concerned for Peter's life right now.

"He wouldn't be the first to try it, and by the way, he was at least a gentleman doing so." She rambled if anything just to give her time to think of a better argument to convince him to spare his life.

And she finally got it when he gave her an almost concerned look as if she was a puzzle he was trying to decipher.

"Look," Gamora continued, "He betrayed Ronan, and with his added hate for Terrans, he will definitely come back for him. That's when you will get your revenge. Killing him…"

Gamora turned to look Peter in the eyes, he was giving her the Really?! look.

But she responded to him with an It's okay, I got this one.

"Killing him would just make Ronan move on with the next thing on his top list. I swear. I studied him." She turned again to look Drax in the eyes. He was seriously considering it. Great.

Drax then looked at Peter for several seconds.

And he dropped him, leaving the shower with the rest of the inmates. Peter started coughing desperately to finally fill his lungs.

Returning to the front of his room, Peter noticed that Gamora started following him, it looked like she wanted to say something, Peter had an idea of what, and to put a stop to it once and for all, he turned around to face her.

"You really have bad taste, you know?" He analyzed the expression on her face after he dropped those words.

It was of genuine shock that she barely managed to suppress, and then she seemed offended, it was amusing to see.

"What!? I didn't save you for that!" Gamora replied angrily.

She seemed like she was saying the truth, maybe he just had a huge ego.

But that still bothered him. It almost frustrated him, even if she had a self-interest that he could provide her, he wanted to know. Peter wasn't into mind games. Thanos' ones were bad enough for a lifetime.

"Then why stick your neck out for me? Why?" He was in her face, asking for a genuine answer.

What he saw instead was hesitation on Gamora's face. Like she was carefully crafting a lie, but his radar of lies wasn't perfect, so he let it be.

"Simple, you know where to sell the orb." She said almost immediately.

Ah, so there it was. Peter thought.

She really wasn't brilliant, was she?

"Um, if you haven't figured it out," Peter replied, "we're still in prison, and the orb in custody."

"Rocket," Gamora said, turning to the Raccoon, "you mentioned you've escaped from 22 prisons. Or was that an exaggeration?"

"Oh, we're getting out." He said with his arms crossed, "And we're headed straight to Yondu to retrieve your bounty."

Gamora turned back to him as if she didn't listen to what the Raccoon just said.

"So, what is the price of your contact for the orb?"

It was Peter's turn to hesitate.

If he told them, it might get him into more trouble than he already was. He had to evaluate all risks.

Ah, what the hell? Gamora saved his life after all, and he didn't believe the "I just want the money" excuse she gave. He was determined to know her intentions. But not now.

"Four billion units." He blurted out, and the reactions on their faces were a huge reality check for him of the gamble he was taking with those two.

"Yeah yeah," he said, "that was my plan to escape from Thanos and Ronan... not so brilliant, but… you were right, I won't last a day here, at least not against hundreds of them." He said, looking at the rooms of the other inmates who were still sleeping.

And then Peter contemplated all the alternatives.

But the best, or at least less bad of them, was obvious.

"Help me get out of here, and I'll take the three of you to the guy, we'll split the profit." Gamora now would owe him, since it was no longer necessary for the Raccoon to return her to her daddy.

"I am Groot." Said the walking three in the room that was watching them.

"Asleep for the danger, awake for the money, as per frickin' usual." Said Rocket.

Yup, it was a huge risk, but Peter guessed it was way better than staying there to rot. And one billion units are still enough to survive for a long time.

Rocket promised Gamora they were going to escape.

And they were almost there. But the talking three had to mess up.

After that, everything they planned just became a messy disaster that ended up with the whole place destroyed, without energy, and the control room ripped from the ground.

On top of that, Drax tagged along, apparently, he hasn't forgotten about their deal. All he knows is if he remains close to Peter, he would get to Ronan soon.

It was just a matter of time. The alarms were all set, but they had time to go back to retrieve their belongings.

While they were at it, Gamora observed the window to look for the bigger confiscated belongings.

"There it is! My ship. Red, and green." She said.

Gamora, Drax, Rocket, and Groot took their belongings and ran from the room, impatient to wait for Peter, who was getting upset about something as he looked inside his belongings shaking.

Guessing what it was, she told him immediately, "Peter, I have the orb here, let's go." She said.

"Wait wait wait," Peter said desperately again.

"What?" Gamora asked, getting worried again.

"That guard didn't put it back!" He said looking for something desperately.

"Put back what?" She asked raising her tone.

"Go to the ship. I'll be right back."

"Back from where? Peter! Where are you…?"

"Just keep the ship close by!" That was the last thing he said before he took off.

Gamora went running to the ship with her heart in her hand. If Peter got himself killed after all…

"Where's Peter?" Asked Rocket once she entered the ship.

"He went to retrieve something. He didn't say what."

"And how's he gonna get to us?"

"He didn't tell me that either," Gamora said coldly, looking for Peter outside the window.

"Well, you should've asked him! He is the one who will lead us to those units!"

Gamora knew he was right, but she was barely listening to him, still concentrating on where the hell could Peter be.

Minutes passed, and nothing. They all were ready in their seats, just waiting for any sign of Peter.

"If we don't leave now we will be blown to bits." Said Rocket.

"I said no! I'm not going back to Yondu, we need those units!"

Without them, she didn't want to know what kind of punishment Yondu would have to put her through.

Suddenly, something caught Drax's attention from the side of the window.

"There he is." He said.

And yes, there he was, exiting the place with a stolen ship that quickly got connected to hers, the signal for them to open the entrance for him.

After Peter was inside the ship recovering, Drax said, "I have to admit, you have spirit."

"What were you retrieving?" Asked Gamora.

Peter just looked at them and showed them the same small old device he got shocked for when they arrived.

"Imbecile." Said Drax after watching it, Gamora felt inclined to agree. Maybe Peter wasn't as formidable as she thought if he was willing to risk the mission for something as inconsequential as that thing.

Officially, Gamora was in over her head with those guys.

Chapter Text

"Hey! Don't touch that" Gamora heard, when she turned around, she saw Peter snatching the weird-colored box that Rocket found in his belongings from his paws.

As relieved as she was that Peter hasn't betrayed them, she still couldn't trust him blindly.

"Peter," She approached him, "I need the buyer's exact coordinates."

Peter looked at her and took the orb that was on the table in his hands.

"We're in the right direction. When that changes, I'll tell you, don't worry."

That pissed Gamora for some reason, but she tried a reasonable approach.

"Hey, if we're gonna work together, we need trust."

Probably the only good lesson Yondu taught her is that you need to trust in your crewmates, otherwise, you'll end with a blast in your neck and not even your body will be found.

"I don't know… would you be able to trust me as much?" He asked with a smug grin.

"Just as much as you telling me what this actually is." She took the orb in her hands and analyzed Peter's reaction

Fine, at least he trusted her enough to take the orb in her confined ship. To reciprocate that trust, she put it on the main table again.

"If you ask me, I would guess this is a powerful weapon. Or something that can build a powerful one."

Peter flinched. Huh, too close. Gamora thought.

"I don't know what it is." He said, but Gamora could tell that was a lie, she didn't mention it though.

However, Drax decide to take the orb in his hands as well.

"If it's a weapon, we should use it against Ronan."

"Put it down, asshat, before you kill us all." Peter said.

"I have no hat of ass!" said Drax, "and the only one I'll kill is you, murderer!" Drax replied.

"I let you live once, big guy manchild!" Peter got close to his face with aggression, time to intervene again.

"Knock it off!" Gamora shouted, "I don't want corpses in my ship. They are a pain to clean up! Whether you two like it or not, we need to stick together, at least until we get the money, is that clear?"

Peter didn't say anything, he just looked at Gamora, probably contemplating how much pleasure he would get for verbally stomping Drax, but he was smart, clearly he didn't want to ruin the temporal truce between them, not if he wanted to escape with the units.

"I have no interest in money." Drax threw the orb at Gamora's hands.

"Thanks." She said sarcastically, "More for the three of us."

Groot immediately made a concerned expression.

"Yes, for the four of us, sorry. Partners." She said in a more quiet tone.

"We have a deal." Peter said, "But we won't be partners after that. Or ever for that matter. I'll tell my contact we will be arriving soon."

The coldness of what Peter said made Gamora flinch for some reason, but that feeling was taken away when he turned back again to talk to her.

"Oh, and by the way, the blood wouldn't make your ship look any more ugly." With that, to finally go to the upstairs of the ship.

Gamora was sure her expression lost some brightness, but she should have guessed whatever her expectations were for Peter, they were far too fantastical for them to be true.

And she would probably be better if she assumed he meant every single word he said. The sooner she accepted it, the better.

Peter explored the spaceship. It was just as filthy as he expected from a Ravager vessel. Or, well, former Ravager, considering that, like him, she had walked away from the people who raised her.

If Peter refused to get closer to her, it was because what she was doing felt too familiar. It struck something in him. Something old.

But there was something else, too. She seemed too informed. She knew things about him, about Drax. She even made offhand comments that felt too precise, too timely. Almost like she'd studied them for years, like she had an obsession with them.

It was that gnawing feeling that led him to snoop. She hadn’t even locked the storage room properly. The door slid open with barely a touch, revealing what was probably a personal stash. Stuff she meant to use later.

He stepped inside and checked behind him. No one.

The lights turned on automatically as he moved through the narrow space. He scanned the room quickly. On the wall was a weapons rack with only a few things left on it. A pair of holsters, a sheathed blade, and some tools with clearly improvised attachments. There were empty hooks, like things had either been taken or never returned.

Above the rack were old scraps of digital maps. Some had names and coordinates.

A cramped cot took up one corner. The blanket was shoved to the side. A couple of folded clothes sat in a messy pile on top. Beside the bed was a small stack of data drives and a cup crusted with something dark and dry.

He moved to the first crate in the corner. Inside was a dismantled comm unit, a few nutrient packs, and a battered guidebook from a remote system, written in more than one tongue.

He paused, glanced back at the open crack of the door. Still no sound. Still alone.

He kept going. Opened a narrow cabinet and sifted through what was clearly backup gear. A second pair of boots. Cleaner than the ones she wore. A cracked mirror. A pouch holding assorted currency tokens.

Behind another panel he found a medical kit, mostly used. Next to it were a portable rebreather and a set of field tools, all laid out in a way that suggested routine. The kind of gear someone on the move kept within reach.

Shit, was this the kind of life she lived? Hopefully her cut for the stone got her a ship nicer than that.

Most of the stuff, however, was junk. Scraps, clothes, a curious stone that shimmered strangely under the room's cold lighting.

Peter was about to give up, and then, he saw it.

His breath caught. A weapon lay half-buried under the rest. Red with streaks of silver. Its surface almost seemed to pulse.

He reached for it slowly.

When he picked it up, the weight was instantly familiar. A collapsible bone hilt with twin blades that extended on either side.

Peter stared at it in silence.

He didn’t need time to figure it out. He already knew what this was. And who it came from. He turned it over in his hand, recognizing every detail. The pattern etched into the grip. The curve of the blades. The brutal symmetry.

“Who are you, Gamora,” he whispered.

He pocketed the blade and left the room at once.

Back in the main chamber, the orb for a moment seemed to pulse, but he knew he was now imagining things, especially as Peter wasn’t looking at it anymore. He was looking at her.

The Zen-Whoberian caught his eye and immediately approached. Her expression shifted, just enough to register interest.

“Something wrong?” she asked. Her tone was mild, almost casual and with an edge of though challenge. But there was something in her eyes. Something alert.

Peter hesitated. For a second, he thought about confronting her, throw the blade on the table and demand explanations from her about where she got it.

But the others were there. Watching. Talking. No way she’d give anything up now.

“Your bathroom stinks,” he said. “If you really want to prove you’re done with the Ravagers, maybe stop copying how they live.”

She rolled her eyes slightly. “Ha. Ha.”

Not now. But soon.

Maybe she’d let something slip.

Though he doubted it.

He would just have to be patient.

Several minutes after, the sight of the void of space became a beautiful but frightening sight of a giant skull.

Amazing...

"What is it?" Gamora couldn't help but ask.

"Knowhere," Peter replied, "The skull of a once celestial. We must be wary when we enter. Cause' once inside. There are no rules."

Once they got out of the ship to go on foot to the place where the contact would meet them, Gamora realized the place wasn't all that unfamiliar for her. There were streets and the feel of an industrial place.

While Peter was guiding them, he told them a little backstory from that place.

Apparently, hundreds of years ago, the Tivan Group sent workers in to mine the organic matter within that skull. Bone, brain tissue, and spinal fluid, all rare resources. highly valued across the galaxy.

"So, this planet is for dangerous and illegal work, huh? Seems something only suitable for outlaws," said Gamora looking around at the black market they were passing by.

"Well," Peter added, "I come from a planet of outlaws. Billy the Kid, Bonnie and Clyde, John Stamos."

"Sound like a place which I would like to visit." said Drax.

That innocent comment made Peter stop for a moment, but he recovered fast.

"Yeah. You should," was the only thing he said, sounding suddenly apathetic, like those words brought him bad memories, even though he was the one who brought up his planet.

That sent Gamora memories of her old planet again.

If what Peter said was true, and they would never see each other again, maybe she could tell him about Thanos.

Why was she so worked up about this anyway? It's not like she cared about his opinion. She didn't even do anything wrong.

The answer was clear, she established a weird bond with Peter that she wanted to maintain.

Her thoughts were interrupted again when a group of kids approached them asking for spare units.

Gamora wouldn't normally give units to them, Yondu scolded her several times when she was young for it, and with good reason, many of them were skilled thieves that robbed anything they got in their bags.

Finally, they kept walking until they arrived at what seemed to be a bet place.

"Is your contact in there?" Gamora asked curiously.

"Nope, here is where his representative will meet us."

The five of them entered the place. Drax, Groot, and Rocket decided to make themselves comfortable by playing and betting on the games. They were around a table cheering with a multitude orloni, it seemed like Drax was winning and he could barely contain his joy.

Gamora also enjoyed the casual games, but she wasn't passionate about them since Yondu always warned her about betting, saying that if she became obsessed and started betting more than she could earn on her own, he would disown her and kick her out of the Ravagers.

That thought scared her senseless when she was young. Right now, she would just roll her eyes, now realizing that most of them were empty threats, it was clear that Yondu wouldn't let her go, ever. She was basically a prisoner from the Ravagers.

And she still wanted to talk to Peter when she saw him leaving for a quiet corner of the place on a balcony that let the beautiful colors of the night be seen. There would be no better moment for this than this one.

She approached him quietly from behind.

"I genuinely fear I will spend all the promised units here simply by recharging fuel. The prices are criminal." She said as an icebreaker.

"We weren't supposed to be waiting for this much. Sorry about that." He said in a not-so-sorry tone.

"Yondu taught me about these negotiation tactics, making the other side of the deal wait to make yourself look more important. I became an expert on that one."

Peter let out a snort.

"How much of an expert?"

"As much as yours with all the stabbing first and never asking questions." Gamora observed that he was finally smiling, and she continued more confident in herself, "Which is funny because my father never stressed diplomacy."

"Well, that is to be expected from a Ravager," Peter said, finally looking at her with a softer expression than usual.

What? Gamora stayed silent for a moment analyzing every letter of the words he just said.

Oh. Right.

"Yondu is as much my father as I assume, Thanos is yours." She blurted out, which made Peter snap his head at her.

Crap! She hadn't meant to bring Thanos up again. They were supposed to forget about him. And be free.

And here she was ruining it again.

Suddenly a hole in her stomach and throat took place. She started feeling sick just by remembering the Titan, she had permanent scars thanks to him even though she only met him for what seemed like a couple of hours now, how could Peter not have his spirit crushed by him in all these years?

Peter just shook his head miserably.

"You're right. Thanos is the last thing it comes to mind when thinking about a father, he..." Peter's voice became distant, but at the same time sounded like he was searching for a buried feeling, "he tortured me, turned me into a weapon, he told me he wanted to turn me into the best warrior in the galaxy."

You shall not fear, little one. I see great potential in you, you were quite the fighter, and I will turn you into one, you'll become the fiercest woman in the galaxy.

Before she could stop it, silent tears were rolling shamelessly like two unstoppable rivers over her cheeks.

Because now she understood everything.

Peter was more than just what she could've become for just a difference of days, he was also a broken soul just like she was. He represented her worst fear.

"When he..." Peter continued, not noticing her tears, "... when he said he was gonna destroy an entire planet for Ronan, a planet which death could cause a war and more than billions of deaths…" he hesitated, Gamora knew he wasn't being sincere about something, but she didn't want to pressure him.

Peter stayed silent. Looking again at the front.

Gamora caught a glimpse of the weird device he had in his waist with the rest of his weapons. She knew it was invading, but she couldn't avoid it and took it in her hands slowly, to take a better look at it.

"Why would you risk your life for this?" If it was that important, and it wasn't a weapon, transponder, or anything that could help in battle, then it had emotional value. Was it from…?

"My mother gave it to me," Peter said, Gamora snapped her attention to him subtly.

Oh... she didn't know…

"My mom liked sharing with me all the pop songs that she loved growing up. I happened to have it on me when I was… The day that she… You know, when I left Earth."

Earth? But wasn't he Terran?

Oh... Right, Earth is the name the natives give it.

But again, that realization made a chill run again on Gamora's spine. She really should control her mouth.

"What did… Thanos thought of it?"

A cynical smile formed on Peter's face. Like remembering a painful memory that he tried to suppress with humor.

"Thanos wanted to strip me from any Earth attachments, but then he saw that my walkman could be useful to manipulate me better, so he returned it to me, with the condition to be the perfect and fiercest son he could ever wish."

Her hands started shaking, Gamora felt she was really close to a meltdown, and holding such a valuable object when she was so close to losing control was a terrible idea, so she returned to him almost aggressively.

"I think it's useless. And by the way, I should go back inside." She said quickly, trying to hide the uncomfortable feeling from leaking into his throat and words, Gamora started walking to return inside.

It was better to leave it like that. She was already getting too attached, feeling that need to protect him at all costs.

That was dangerous, even more so before parting ways and never seeing each other again.

"Gamora" She heard Peter call from behind.

That made her stop without turning around.

"Yes?"

Peter seemed to be hesitating.

"There's something I've been wanting to ask you."

"What?"

She should just run now, this wasn't going well.

"When did you meet Thanos?"

Gamora could swear she almost lost consciousness from her freezing blood. Her legs were already shaking and threatening to fall.

Her heart was pounding so strong that it might as well rip her chest open and fall on the floor.

But after a few seconds of forcing her nerves to calm down, just enough to turn around and face him and ask him how did he find out...

Her eyes immediately fell on Peter's hands, which held the switchblade she threw away somewhere she would never have to see it. Damn it, Peter!

"Peter..."

She didn't even know what to say at that point, she wanted to yell at him and snatch the blade from his hand, throw it away like she should've many years ago.

"That's also why you recognized me immediately, right?"

Gamora turned around completely and looked at him, that sweet, painful, and serious stare went right through her heart.

"Yes. Thanos took my homeworld, he killed my parents right in front of me. I didn't want to mention it because I moved on. As much as I could at least."

"And?"

"And what?"

"Why do you have this? Obviously you couldn't have stole it. Which leads me to believe...

Gamora hadn't expected that one.

Then again, Thanos probably trained him to detect lies, so she shouldn't be surprised.

There was a silence before Gamora gained the composure to talk again, and started walking toward him slowly.

"You said Thanos abducted you as a child, didn't he?"

"Yep. 26 years ago."

Gamora was close enough to him that she swallowed hard. There was no going back from this.

She just hoped Peter wouldn't see her differently now.

"...he abducted me 26 years ago as well. He wanted to raise me as his daughter, as a living weapon. Just like you. He gave me this to distract me from the massacre of my people, to try and indoctrinate me with his genocidal ideology."

Peter's face decomposed itself. Obviously wanting to hear the rest.

"But apparently Yondu was passing by when he saw Thanos and the rest of his Black Order distracted, he thought it would be easy to take me from him, but when he found out my family was dead and there was no reward for me... he kept me and raised me as a ravager instead so I could be worth the trouble. I kept the switchblade because... well, probably as a trophy of some sorts, Yondu didn't complain, he also wanted me to remember who he saved me from."

There. She said it.

She didn't even have the courage to look him in the eyes, so she kept her head down.

That silence that could be interpreted as Peter just processing the information unnerved Gamora, until she just heard him say,

"Why didn't you mention it before?" His tone was still soft. Like crunchy leaves falling to the ground.

Gamora shook her head, emanating sadness from every part of her body. She didn't even know what exactly she was saying "no" to.

But it seemed like Peter already figured that out for her.

"Did you think I would send you back to him?" Peter still kept his soft tone, but there was something new underneath.

Gamora shook her head, answering that question.

"Then why?"

Why was now he obsessed to know? It was stupid. She could have hundreds of reasons to not say it.

The more Gamora thought about it, the more she felt she was being interrogated like a 9-year-old that stole some candy.

She could just lie. But she was way too anxious to craft a believable lie. And it didn't feel right to lie to him, not when he was being this vulnerable and open with her.

"I didn't want you to resent me..."

Peter's expression changed from pitiful curiosity to confusion.

"Resent you? For what?"

Crap! Maybe Peter never even thought about it. But now that she mentioned it, he would.

If she were in his place, Gamora would wonder every day and night from now on why, why, why. What did she do to deserve that? And what he didn't do to be rewarded like that?

"For being spared a life with Thanos while you weren't. Yondu told me a Terran boy named Peter Quill was abducted just a week after he abducted me." She said, still not daring to look at him in the eyes.

There was an even longer silence.

Gamora expected everything, from screams, cries, yells, even a punch.

Or simply him cutting ties forever with her and leaving them just to be thrown into an existential crisis.

Instead, he said like the most normal things in the world, "I don't resent you."

Gamora snapped her head up again.

"What?"

"I... I have several siblings, but we were never close, the only one I was ever close with, was Nebula. And... trust me, I'm happy that at least someone was spared of that."

Oh...

Wow...

Gamora knew Peter, but she never imagined she would get right through him.

That warmed her heart, she was worrying for nothing.

With a sigh of relief, looked at him and smiled. Peter smiled back at her.

"And," he said with a higher tone, "now I get why you were so protective of my in Kyln."

She gave him a lopsided smile.

"Being raised by Thanos is punishment enough. I wanted to give you a second chance away from him like it was given to me."

"And still you are running away from the man that gave you that chance."

Again, Gamora entered into a type of shock state every time Yondu was mentioned. Like a tiny needle buried in her lower back.

But she had to face it once and for all.

"It's not for him… it's for the rest of the ravagers. Lately, they have been growing angrier and angrier towards Yondu. And he has become more and more aggressive towards me, to keep them happy. I can't tolerate that any longer. So the first chance I got to escape, I took it." She said patting the bag where she was keeping the orb.

More silence settled, but this one wasn't a tense one, no, it was one full of understanding, a newfound peace and serenity between the two, and right after, Peter held the blade towards Gamora, who took it just as tenderly and pocketed it again.

Now that all was out, Gamora felt bold enough to ask:

"What you said about not being partners ever. Did you really mean it?"

Again, there was that hesitation from Peter.

"Yes, but I also lied, it's… it's not about you personally. I... I thank you for saving my life." Peter said with a faint warm expression.

Gamora was overwhelmed, and before she thought about it, she let words fall out of her mouth,

"Can I give you a hug?"

Clearly, Peter wasn't expecting that at all, he seemed frozen in place, already backing out from her.

Stupid! That was way to invasive.

"Sorry," she said quickly, "I don't know what was I thinking, not even ravagers hug each other. Much less you."

"Actually… well, you're right. I only have memories of Nebula hugging me as children when we were going through those modifications… no, torturing sessions. Or when we both thought we were going to die on our first missions, it was good, but our rivalry grew as we did."

Another stab in her heart. Honestly, Gamora couldn't help herself and let out a yelp with tears as she threw her arms around Peter, resting her head between his chest and shoulder.

Hesitantly, she felt Peter's arms on her back. Patting her briefly.

"Y'know? There's another reason I'm glad we didn't get to grow up as siblings." She heard him say over her head.

"And what would that reason be?" She muttered, having a small idea of what was coming next.

But before Peter or Gamora could say something else, they heard a huge fight taking place behind them.

When they both turned back and looked inside, they saw Drax tackling Groot over the bet table.

"Oh, why…" Gamora said, and they both entered to put themselves between the two to stop them.

Chapter Text

After they stopped the fight that was started by Rocket, who threatened all of them after crying about the names everyone has been calling him, they had to calm him down.

Rocket accepted the deal of four billion units they still had. However, Drax was also losing hope of ever encountering Ronan, and he left them.

Well, it was his loss.

After waiting a while, The Collector's representative came in, it was a Krylorian girl with a white dress and pigtails.

"Milord Peter, I'm here to fetch you for my master." She said politely.

The group followed the girl until they arrived at the place, it had the weirdest species, including sapient ones and old relics. It was chilling, but Peter wasn't fazed.

That is until they reached a guy with white hair, the representative made the honors to the rest of them in reverence.

"I present to you Taneleer Tivan, The Collector."

Tivan observed them, gave a few steps to Peter, and took off his glasses.

"Oh, my dear Quill. How wonderful to meet you in the flesh." He said in a raspy voice that Peter was sure it weirded out the rest of them. It didn't help that he took Peter's hand and covered it with his other one.

"We don't have time for this, Tivan. I brought it to you."

Tivan seemed more focused on looking at someone behind Peter, and after a moment of silence, he opened his mouth.

"What is that thing there?" He asked slowly and carefully.

"I am Groot." Replied him.

Tivan approached him, inspected him, and after a small discussion of paying Groot for his dead body and a discussion with Rocket for calling him his pet, Peter interfered.

"Tivan, we have been halfway around the galaxy, retrieving this orb."

"Very well, then. Let us see what you brought."

Peter looked at Gamora, who pulled the orb out of her bag and gave it to Tivan.

He took it in his hands and approached his desk in the center to put it in a machine.

"Oh, my new friends. Before creation itself, there were six singularities." He said activating the mechanism to start opening the orb, and instantly, a series of holograms appeared on their heads showing several stars moving and exploding.

"Then the universe exploded into existence," Tivan continued, "and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated ingots. Infinity stones" The images were now showing six glowing stones, like invaluable minerals.

"These stones it seems can only be brandished by beings of extraordinary strength. Observe."

One of the images showed a celestial with a scepter holding a purple stone, destroying people who were running away from him in horror.

"These carriers can use the Stone to mow down entire civilizations like wheat in a field."

"Well, that explains the price." Said Gamora in a scared and unsure voice.

"Once, for a moment a group was able to share the energy amongst themselves, but even they were quickly destroyed by it."

The orb finally was open, and a huge purple glow came out of it. There it was, the infinity stone, the Power Stone he was talking about.

Peter knew it was one of those, but... he didn't know it was one so fragile, so powerful, so...

"Beautiful." Said Tivan, even he was getting shivers from that much power, "Beyond compare."

Those were not the words Peter would use.

"Blah blah blah," Said Rocket, "We're all very fascinated, whitey. But we'd like to get paid."

"How would you like to get paid?"

"What do you think, fancy man? Units!"

"Very well then." Tivan approached his desk and opened a drawer where he surely kept his units.

Peter for a moment felt this wasn't a good idea, but he couldn't back out.

Until Gamora started shaking his arm.

"What?" he asked her.

Gamora didn't say anything, she just pointed in front of them, that was when Peter saw the Krylorian girl who introduced them to Tivan, she was approaching the stone, so close that it was alarming.

"Oh no..."

Tivan noticed too.

"Carina." He said. "Stand back." He said in a commanding tone.

But she made up her mind.

"I will no longer be your slave!"

"No!"

And then they saw it, the Krylorian put her hand on the infinity stone.

"Peter!" Gamora yelled as she pushed him to the lower ground for cover, just before sparks and purple flames started exploding all over the place.

It would be a miracle if they survived.

A second after that, they heard the horrid and agonizing screams of the poor girl.

That's when the worst part of the explosion happened.

Neither Peter nor Gamora had words for what they just saw. The entire place exploded in a matter of seconds.

Peter immediately went out and ran to the desk where the orb was. And closed it.

"Sorry, Tivan, no deal." He said keeping the orb in his hands and running away from there.

Gamora barely could understand what was happening, she started just following him out of instinct while Peter was muttering things to himself. Until finally she heard something clear from him.

"How could I think Tivan could contain the stone!?"

"Hold on, you thought!? As in past? As in 'I already knew this was an atomic weapon and I lied'?" Gamora asked angrily.

"What do you still have it for?" Rocket said coming back to them after he ran away.

"We can't leave it in there!" Peter replied.

"I can't believe that you had that in your purse!" Said Rocket.

"How could I even know about it?!" Gamora replied angrily.

"There's no other option. Only the Nova Corps can contain this." Peter said.

"Are you kidding me?" Snapped Rocket, "We're wanted by the Nova Corps. Just give it to Ronan!"

"He will destroy the galaxy if we do it!" Said Gamora.

"What are you, some saint all of a sudden?" Asked Rocket, "What has the galaxy ever done for you? Why would you wanna save it?"

"Because there is no other galaxy for us to live in!"

"Gamora," Peter said, touching her arm, "I made a mistake, I lied to you, and I'm sorry, but now I ask you to trust me, we cannot let Ronan nor Thanos get near this stone. We have to go back to your ship, now and deliver it to Nova."

"...And the money?" She asked in a soft tone with a pained expression, what the hell was happening to him now? "The Nova Corps will capture us on sight and won't believe us..."

"None of that matters! The whole galaxy is at stake! We have to do something."

"There must be someone else who can contain it and still pay us... We are escaping our miserable lives only to end up in worse ones?!"

"And what!? Are you really willing to let Thanos and Ronan kill billions of people so you can retire young?" Suddenly a new anger she has never seen before in Peter.

That actually made her mind shut down for a moment.

"...Peter..." was the only thing she could say.

"Save it. It's clear that you are even worse than me. And by refusing to do the right thing you're disrespecting your own people, your parents! I've had the horrible privilege of witnessing the worst of Thanos, and ever since I regretted being part of it." Peter said, clearly making is best from not crying in anger.

"...You're... it's just..." Gamora felt so pathetic at that moment, like her mind suddenly stopped functioning.

"Forget it. I'm..." Peter's attention snapped to the sky, and then his angry expression became a concerned one, "Oh no..."

It was Ronan and his ships.

"At last!" They heard a cheering voice. Drax's voice, looking at the sky and laughing, "I shall meet my foe and destroy him."

"You called Ronan?" Gamora yelled incredulously.

"Gamora! Don't you move, girl!" Gamora's blood froze, she could recognize that voice in a million.

"Yondu..." And she caught a glimpse of him and the rest of the ravagers, stomping between the multitude, running to get to her.

They immediately run to the side where there were escape pods. Rocket and Groot followed them.

Following them, Gamora, Peter, and Rocket jumped into the ships, with Groot staying behind.

They were located immediately and the persecution started. Making tons of shots, and destroying parts of the buildings.

"Rocket," Said Gamora over the comms, "keep them off Peter until he gets to the Milano."

"How? We've got no weaponry on these things" She heard over the comms while watching Rocket in the pod next to her.

"These pods are industrial grade." She said, "They're nearly indestructible."

"Not against necroblasts, they're not." Rocket said.

"Who said something about necroblasts?"

"Oh!"

And so, Rocket crashed the small pod against the two ships following Peter, making them crash against an industrial building.

Immediately after, he went through one of them, making it explode.

After another more seconds of the chasing. She heard Peter on the comms.

"Gamora, I'm trapped. I can't make it to the Milano." He said grunting, "I have to get out."

"Peter, wait! These things are not suitable to exit the atmosphere! Peter!"

But it was too late, Peter had already gone away.

The only thing she heard over the comms was one feminine voice.

"You are a disappointment, brother." Nebula? Gamora guessed, "Of all our siblings, I hated you the least."

She sure sounds like a charming lady. Thought Gamora.

"Nebula, please..." said Peter, "If Ronan gets this stone, he'll kill us all."

Those words that should've sounded desperate, sounded more like pleading.

Gamora had no idea why Peter was trying to reason with her.

Maybe he saw something in her. Empathy for the lives they took, maybe?

Maybe they were just closer than she thought. And he doesn't want to lose faith in her?

"Not all," Nebula said, "You will already be dead."

Or maybe I was completely wrong. She though.

But when Gamora thought it was over… it happened.

Nebula shot a necroblast at his escape pod.

A chill ran through the spine of Gamora, seeing the escape pod explode into millions of pieces and spread into outer space. Floating around the greenish intoxicating exo-sky.

And there, she saw Peter's body, laying unharmed, but also lifeless, surrounded by all those pieces.

A light ray from the ship abducted the orb and then flew away.

They were alone now.

"Peter..." Gamora muttered, on the verge of crying.

"Gamora, come on." Said Rocket in a voice softer than usual, "His body mods should keep him alive a couple more minutes. But there's nothing we can do for him."

Gamora shook her head softly. Refusing to believe what she was watching.

This wasn't fair...

"These pods aren't meant to be out here. In a second, we're gonna be in the same boat." Said Rocket.

She faintly heard Rocket's engineers flying away.

After all the shit he went through... he still grew the courage to escape from Thanos...

No, she was wrong.

He didn't want to escape, not like her.

She could imagine him too scared to run away.

He escaped because he wanted to do the right thing.

She escaped because of a whim.

Yondu was always a jerk, and yes, he definitely abused and manipulated her.

But he also cared for her.

Thanos never cared for Peter, he was tortured. Modified to the bone. And she could easily imagine that monster feeling proud, seeing it as a necessary measure.

Yondu only forced her to fight and steal because he wanted her to survive on the ship and in the Ravager world.

And the closest thing to a modification was the surgery to implant her that translator. A surgery that he supervised.

If anyone deserved to live...

Without realizing it, her hand crept to the comms, activating them, and dialing Yondu's contact.

What was she doing?!

Was she crazy!?

Well, Yondu wouldn't kill her, right? He specified in the reward he wanted her alive.

But even if he does...

She's not even sure she will get past what she was planning to do right now.

"Gamora?" Asked Rocket.

But it was too late.

Gamora activated the communication.

"Yondu! This is Gamora!" She almost screamed in the comm, to make sure he could hear her clearly.

"Gamora. What are you doing?"

Gamora ignored Rocket and kept taking over him.

"My coordinates are 227K324. Just outside Knowhere." She said in a rushed tone.

This was madness.

But it was the last thing she could do to amend things.

"If you're there, come get me." She said.

And for good measure, she closed her eyes to what she would say next, the last nail in her coffin.

"I'm all yours."

Gamora activated her mask. And opened the door of her pod. Exiting with her jet boots to boost herself to where Peter was still floating.

"Gamora, don't be ridiculous!"

She heard Rocket on her mask as she finally had him close to her, her arms holding his body.

"Get back in your pod!"

Gamora touched him, his abdomen, his arms, his face…

He was so cold… and yet felt like her blood was boiling.

You won't die like this, Peter.

"You can't fit two people in there. You're gonna die!"

Gamora was no longer listening to him, he was merely background noise, all she could care about in the galaxy was the man in her arms.

"You'll die in seconds..."

Gamora removed her mask, holding her breath, which was useless, but it was all she could do now.

Because I already enjoyed a life free from Thanos.

And you deserve to live yours too.

You deserve it more.

She put her mask on him.

And she could feel it.

He was breathing again.

That's the only thing that mattered now.

Now came for her the horrid sensation of her entire body burning, her organs collapsing and going blind...

And then, everything became numb.

Chapter Text

The first thing he felt, was the need to cough.

And he did it.

He wasn't dead.

Yet.

When Peter opened his eyes, he saw the blurry green skin and reddish hair of Gamora, observing him.

"Gamora...? What happened…?" he asked groggily.

"You were right, Peter..." He faintly could hear her voice.

"Really?" He asked in a weak but slightly smug tone. If anything to hide the growing pain in his gut.

"I had to save you. Because you…" it took a few blinks for him to go back to his senses, "You are more worthy than I am."

What?

Was she being serious?

"Gamora, I..." He wanted to answer something appropriate, but then it came back to him the memory of his last encounter, "Wait! Where's the orb?" He demanded, but in a less commanding tone.

"It's... they got it." She said, ashamed and looking to the side.

"NO!" That was what fully kicked him back to his senses.

A door opened next to them, to show a group of ravagers pointing guns at them.

"Welcome home, Gamora." Said one of them with a smile that wasn't in his eyes.

"Kraglin... wait…" She said, rising her hands.

From behind them, crept the figure of Yondu, and wow, he looked even more threatening than in the few pictures Peter has seen from him.

"There you are... ya' little brat!" The anger from the captain of the ship was on another level Peter that even Thanos never had. He jumped to grab Gamora from her arm and hair, forcing her to stand up and hauling her to the inside, both of them screaming profanity after profanity at each other.

"And look, Capt'n, she brought a boy toy." Said one of the ravagers who grabbed Peter by the arm to take him too while the other ones were still pointing their guns at them.

For a moment, the screaming match between Yondu and Gamora stopped, and the centaurion paused to take a deeper look at Peter.

"Peter Quill…" Yondu said, with a regretful and raspy voice, "Son of Thanos."

"Yeah, Gamora and I already sorted this out," Even in moments like these, Peter couldn't help his sarcastic tone. "Oh, and thanks a lot for rescuing her from Thanos but not me, by the way."

But the Captain was not amused. Instead, he turned to Gamora.

"Where did ya' met this guy?"

"Outside Broker, he stole the orb from me, went to prison, then to Knowh... Ough!" She complained to Yondu tightening his grip in the back of her neck and her arm, "Then this happened…"

Yondu looked it him like a puzzle he was trying to resolve.

"I swear…" Peter said, lifting his arms as well, "I want to do the right thing, I abandoned Thanos to prevent so many deaths. I'm on the good side!"

"Well, that's unfortunate," Yondu left Gamora to he be held by other two ravagers, approached Peter, and held him painfully by the chin, smiling with his horrible teeth, "'cause we're not."

"Capt'n What are we going to do with him?" asked one of the Ravagers holding him.

Yondu looked at Peter as if he was contemplating his options.

"Hold him for now, I still have to take care of another thing." He looked back at Gamora, "You know where to take her."

What… is he talking…?

Did she surrender herself to save his life?

The other ravagers took Peter too if only to watch.

Gamora was finally pinned against a wall in the main room where, Peter assumed, it was the place the centaurion punished ravagers who stepped out of line.

All of that reminded him that Thanos had a similar room, but it was more of a ritual room than a punishment one.

"Alright…" said Gamora, who had Yondu in front of her, "whatever you have to do, just… !!!"

Gamora couldn't finish her sentence when Yondu already slapped the hell out of her.

"No!" Peter roared and tried to intervene, but he was heavily held back by the rest of the cheering ravagers that were enjoying the display.

"Ya' betray me?!" Then Yondu threw a punch at her stomach.

She groaned in pain.

The other ravagers were roaring and cheering harder.

"Steal my money!?" He threw an even bigger punch in the same area.

"Don't do it! STOP! She doesn't deserve this!" Peter screamed to the point his throat ached.

All of them ignored him.

"When Thanos picked you up as a kid," he said, face close to Gamora, "you was sentenced to death; if not for me you would be way worse than this Terran right here, I saved you…!"

"Shut up! That doesn't work anymore with me! all these years using that to manipulate me into doing your bidding is enough! if I'm such a burden then you should've let Thanos keep me!"

All the ravagers murmured oohs and were encouraging, almost demanding the captain to respond to that insult.

Peter saw the slight hesitation in his face, and then there was rage, but a different one that he couldn't quite put his finger on to. This was miles different from what he was always expecting from Thanos.

"Ungrateful brat!" He slapped her again, "Ya' wouldn't last a week with that giant purple murderer! because you're soft in here." He patted aggressively his chest with his two hands, "Here, right here!" he said while becoming aggressive toward her again and grabbing her by her shirt.

"Yondu!" Said Peter, "Listen. Ronan has an infinity stone, it's a source of…"

"I know perfectly what he's got, boy." He saw looking at him briefly and then returning his gaze to Gamora.

"Then you know how much damage he can cause! We have to stop him before he wipes out Xandar... or at least warn them before billions of people perish…"

"Is that what he's been using to get into your panties, girl? Sentiment?" He slapped her once again, but compared to the last ones, he barely touched her, then he cupped her face aggressively, "Eating away your brain like maggots?"

Finally, Yondu let her go, and he had a regretful expression, something he didn't want to do.

"That's it." He opened his red coat to whistle, commanding an arrow to fly to Gamora's throat.

"No!" Peter yelled again, hurting his voice even more than it already was.

No... Gamora... please don't tell me you knew this would happen and your plan was to sacrifice yourself for me...

"Sorry girl." Yondu continued, "But a captain's gotta teach his crew what happens to those what cross him."

"Captain's gotta teach stuff!" Said the second mate.

All the other ravagers made sounds of agreement and nodded their heads.

He would feel miserable if that was what was going on because…

Because I can't help you like you helped me when I was in your situation.

"Yondu, if you kill me now, you are saying goodbye to the biggest score you have ever seen." Gamora said.

"The stone?" Replied Yondu, "I hope you got something better than that. Cause' ain't nobody stealing from Ronan."

Gamora hesitated, "We got a ringer."

"Is that right?" Yondu asked.

"He knows everything there is to know about Ronan." The arrow in her throat came closer, pressing it, and glowing even more than before in that sickening red glow, "his ships, his army…"

"He's vulnerable," Peter said immediately.

"Please, Yondu, it will be like when I was a youngen, you and me? fighting side by side…" Gamora actually started to chuckle as much as the pressure in her throat allowed her to.

Yondu retrieved the arrow back to his belt.

And then he and the rest of the ravagers started cheering.

He let one arm on Gamora's shoulders.

"Ya' always did have a scrote, girl!"

Knowing that whatever they were playing at was over, he forcefully freed himself from the other Ravagers holding him.

"That's why I kept you on as a young'un"

Even with all the cringing on his face from the weird customs of those Ravagers, Peter still felt something was missing.

Gamora went to her room to change her clothes and cure the wounds Yondu caused. No long after that, he entered the room.

"Did I made you threw up your guts?" He asked.

"It's fine. I know you didn't have a choice," replied Gamora.

She was sure Yondu didn't go to her room only to check on her, otherwise, he would just send someone else.

And she was right, he invited himself to enter and faced her to ask her something.

"And the boy, what? Is he your lover?"

That actually made Gamora raise an eyebrow.

"...Why do you care?"

"Answer the question, girl."

Gamora didn't know what he was playing at, but ultimately, it was only her business. So she had to say what could get rid of Yondu faster.

"I have no idea, not even what we feel, I think he was about to confess an attraction in Knowhere, but I'm not sure…"

Instead of making him scoff or anything remotely natural, he actually got more serious and crossed his arms.

"Look, obviously ya' took pity on his sorry ass, you don't have to run behind him and call it attraction."

That comment was what made Gamora frown.

Yondu clearly was up to something, and she would would not be having it. Not anymore.

"Yondu..." She warned.

"I just think you should stay as fr'ends, dating him or even just sleepin' with him…" Yondu cringed, almost like he didn't want to complete that sentence.

Well, seems like it was her turn.

"Since when you get to decide who I sleep with? I thought that phase of yours was over when I castrated a Kree after he was stepping out of bounds."

"Yeah, ya made me so proud I could've cried right there and then."

"So what's actually bothering him? You know he has better morals than I have."

"That's not what I care."

Yondu was acting more and more unlike him, and more than irritating Gamora, it was annoying her.

"Then what is it?"

"It's just... not going to work."

Usually, Gamora would just ignore him, but there was something else that bothered her from that statement.

"You don't know that."

"I know more than you. Whatever it's happenin' between the two of ya, you better break it now before it's too late."

Oh no, he was definitely hiding something, Gamora could now see it clearly.

"Late for what?" She put emphasis on that question.

"Non of your business, just listen to what I tell ya'".

Clearly, Yondu would not reveal on his own what was bothering him, so Gamora had to apply some pressure in the only way she knew.

"No! you don't get to decide my relationships forme! One thing is staying in this filthy ship the rest of my life and another one is having control over my every move, Yondu!"

And it was working, Yondu was also losing his cool.

"I'm not sayin' I decide! Just not him."

"What's so wrong with him?"

"He's not a good sport for ya'"

"Why not?" She really had no time for this, she needed to get to the bottom of it before they moved on with their next plan.

"He's not, and don't argue again girl unless you want another beatin'!"

Wow… Yondu was either truly desperate or truly clueless if he was using again that same threat from when she was a child.

"Oh! too late!" she said, "either you tell me what's going on or I'll ask him on a date as soon as this is over!"

"You can't!" Yondu snapped, starting to look aggressive toward her.

"Why not?" She asked, now trying to stay calm herself.

"Because… he's not…"

"He's not what?!"

"Just stay away from that area? Is that too hard to understand?"

"Actually, it is, I'm tired of you getting to decide about my life."

"I told you! you can have anyone, but not him,"

"Why not!"

Finally, Yondu didn't have any more words, and he just resolved to scoff and get out of the room.

"I'm talking Yondu, why not!?" she screamed while he was starting to leave.

After he didn't listen to her again, she was the one who became aggressive now and held his arm, forcing him to face her again.

"Why not!?"

"'Cause he's your brother!"

Chapter Text

Peter went into shock at what he just heard.

Just a couple of seconds ago, he went looking for her to start to discuss the plan, but before he entered her old room he heard the ravager captain telling her they were siblings.

"What…?" Asked Gamora, probably in the same shock as him. He could see her from the half-open door sitting slowly on her bed.

"Well, half-brother to be specific, but ya' get the point". Said Yondu pinching the bridge of his nose like he was regretting already revealing that information.

Gamora was speechless, for a couple of moments that felt like hours she was silent until she was able to mutter a few words.

"I... no... that can't be true, how…?"

It was clear she wouldn't give Yondu much to work with now, so Peter had to barge into the room keeping his cool as much as possible, and failing nonetheless.

"Yeah, how!?" Peter said.

When Gamora saw him, she stood up and called his name shakily, face full of guilt.

Peter wanted to feel bad for her, but she was also pathetic for believing the ravager captain so easily.

"How can you believe that shit?" Said Peter, "It's impossible, it's…"

"Ya' two share the same daddy. That's how." The centaurian said.

And suddenly, that possibility became more and more plausible to Peter.

The back of his mind was making a deafening noise that wasn't allowing him to think straight, which meant Gamora was the one to speak again, half lost in her own mind doing the math of that statement.

"So... he's half Zehoberei?" Gamora asked.

But no matter how she tried to make things make sense in her mind, nothing at all did! Her father never abandoned their planet, and she doubted a Terran would come to visit their planet, seeing as it was forgotten by almost everyone.

She turned back to see Peter, who had a frown and his arms crossed, which told her he wasn't buying it either.

No, more than just not buying it, in his mind was impossible, Peter's mother always talked about how genuine and endless the love of his father was for them.

The face of Yondu almost looked like he was regretting revealing that information, but still kept his almost mocking tone.

"Well, boohoo, life is not always what you expect. And no, he isn't a Zehoberei. Yer REAL father hired me and the crew to pick him," Yondu pointed at Peter, "But then I got another call, sayin' that a little Zehoberei got visited by Thanos and killed her momma. Along with half her people and asked if I could pick ya' up as well."

"So... that's why you took me from him?" Gamora said, gaping at the new information revealing what she knew all her life to be a lie, "but what I don't understand is…"

It suddenly hit her, and moved her hands to her mouth, not even daring to look at Peter.

"Yondu..." she said as faint as a whisper, "You stole me from Thanos... and in retaliation he…"

"He stole Mr. Quill and then disappeared from the radar. Peter was the first on my list to pick up. You, Gamora, was a last-minute decision to save up sum time and double the reward…"

Something constricted in Gamora's chest once again.

It seemed like Peter shared that same feeling, the color drained from his face and clearly fighting that sensation.

This was too much from Yondu, somehow all of this had to be his fault, and she was not afraid to call him out, not anymore.

"Why did you never tell me!?" Gamora snapped.

"Ya' never asked, girl."

"Yondu!"

"Look! I already said what I had to, as much as I wanted to pick both of ya', I couldn't…. aight'? Get ready to explain yer plan to the rest of the crew. At least you won't die in a lie."

After that, Yondu had the audacity to exit the room, even after Gamora called his name a couple of times to demand more information about that mind-blowing revelation that shattered everything they believed in, leaving the two of them alone.

Those new moments of silence felt even longer than the ones before. But after some painful attempts Peter and Gamora slowly established eye contact, looking like they didn't recognize each other.

The judging face of Peter was what was breaking her heart, she had to say something to him.

"Peter... I... I don't know what to say..."

"Do you honestly believe him?" He interrupted, "He seems like the guy who would lie to you about everything."

But Gamora knew the way the asked that wasn't one of disbelief, but a plead, one last attempt to cast doubts on that revelation, and as much as Gamora wanted to calm him and tell him that he was lying for the sake of everyone, she couldn't, Peter didn't deserved that.

"No... Yondu lies about many things, but this isn't something he would just lie about, even if he just didn't like you as a potential…" Gamora decided to keep the last part to herself.

Peter finally snorted a mocking laugh, and let himself fall into Gamora's mattress.

"So..." His tone sounded defeated, slow and faint, "Yondu is the actual reason why Thanos kidnapped me, huh?"

For a moment, Gamora didn't know how to react, so she just stood there, looking at him with a guilty expression, but the way his tone was getting, she knew something dangerous was approaching.

And her suspicions became true once Peter let out a scream filled with anger and frustration, and threw away several things in that room, Gamora shouted his name several times, trying to get him to talk to her but also staying away from his path of destruction.

But she knew it was useless, his rage was unmatched by anything she's ever seen in her life, even Yondu's.

And once those yells revealed tears from the same burning anger, Peter let out some words.

"All those years of torture! The pain and suffering!..."

The deaths he caused. Being separated from his family. Living in a world he never wanted…

All inside him was now boiling.

It was several minutes before he managed to calm himself enough to take a breath and sit on the ground next to a wall.

Then a couple more minutes he kept on breathing, slower and deeper breaths until the red around him died down.

"Peter..." Gamora said, approaching him now that she deemed it safe, "I don't know what to say… I... I feel so bad for this…"

And truly, what else was there to say from her? Nothing she could ever say or even do would make up for occupying the place that belonged to him.

She was meant to be in his place. And him in hers.

Peter took both hands to his face, looking at her now with frustration, and of course, traces of anger still in his expression.

"Peter..." Gamora tried one last time.

"What is there to say!?" He snapped at Gamora, pointing with his arm to where Yondu went, "He made it clear, every single word, I was cargo, but he got greedy, chew more than he could bite, and only got you instead."

"Peter..." Gamora approached him to touch his arm, but he rejected the touch.

"So who's our real father?" He asked with a more composed tone, but still filled of tiredness and exasperation.

"I... I don't know. This is all so confusing! Because sharing the same father means that my mother…"

When Peter took several breaths, he saw the realization that now dawned on Gamora, and he said with the most normal voice he could have at the moment, "Yeah, she wouldn't be the first one… and... I think deep down my mother was more in love with him than he was with her. I guess that explains why he abandoned her to raise me alone."

Oh no... Gamora thought.

If Peter didn't resented her before, he would definitely resent her now.

She wanted to act like a saint by saving Peter, bonding with him, making him come out of his shell, but in reality, it was just her responding for the mistakes of her guardian. Just great.

"I..."

The moment between the two was interrupted again by a shake in the ship.

Both Peter and Gamora exited the room and went to the pilot's room, once they arrived, they heard one of the co-pilots say, "It was a warning shot."

"What's going on?" Asked Gamora.

"Seems like we're being rescued," Peter said sarcastically, looking at Rocket, Drax and Groot outside about to blow the ravager ship to pieces.

And, seriously, Rocket had a talent for interrupting important moments between them sorting their shit out, just great.

A couple more minutes later, the five of them were sitting in circle in a room for them to speak privately, Peter and Gamora filled the three of them in all there was to know.

"You two are siblings!?"

"Yeah, we're still..." Peter said, avoiding to stare at her, looking at the ground, the other two, the roof, anything except her, "processing it" he finished.

"And you call that 'figured out'?" Rocket asked, "We're gonna rob the guys who just beat us senseless?"

"Senseless is what you two tried to do to 'save us'." Said Gamora face to face with Rocket.

"What's so wrong with that? We were only gonna blow you up if they didn't turn you over!" He said like his plan was a flawless rescue technique.

"You were already counting to five before they could even answer!" Gamora said.

"Guys, guys!" Peter said, asking for the attention of everyone, "Please remember there are more important things, we have the ravager ship to our disposition, an opportunity to aid Xandar."

"So we can give the stone to Yondu who's just gonna sell it to someone even worse?" Asked Rocket.

Everyone stared at Gamora, acknowledging Rocket was right, making her feel obligated to answer to that.

"I'll find a way to make him understand, he is not that unreasonable. The ones I think will be the problem will be the rest of the ravagers."

"For now we must focus in stopping Ronan." Said Peter.

"How?" Asked Rocket.

"I have a plan." Said Gamora.

"You've got a plan?"

"Yes, shut up and listen," said Gamora quickly, hoping Rocket wouldn't interrupt her again "It's not complete yet, but I have the first and... half the second part figured it out…"

"What percentage would that be?" Asked Drax, Gamora was about to reply to him, but Peter did it before she could.

"You shut up, you have no right to even speak after the shit you pulled on Knowhere!" Peter pointed at him.

"I just saved Gamora." He said with absolutely no regrets, as expected.

"You almost killed me!" Gamora snapped, "And Peter is right, you make everything worse when you run your mouth!"

"What percentage, then?" Asked Rocket.

"It's impossible to give an accurate estimation" said Gamora, but after a glance from Quill, she let out an exhale. "But it's the first step of a 8-step-plan."

"So twelve percent?" Rocket asked before starting the fakes loud laugh Gamora has ever heard.

"Rocket, please!"

"What? it's genuinely funny because it's an utter joke that you don't have a plan."

"It's merely an idea." Said Peter distanced himself in his thoughts.

It was clear what the root of all of that awkwardness was, and Gamora wondered if it would ever end.

By now, she had to focus on the present and on the imminent threat of Ronan.

"Guys, please…" Gamora tried one last time, walking towards Peter with a pleading tone, "look, Peter, you heard him, Yondu will enter here any moment expecting to hear about our plan, and you know how little patience he has."

Peter was still silent, giving her the cold treatment, and to Gamora it was clear that if he didn't supported her, no one would.

"Please, I need all of you…" she said, her voice already starting to break.

Maybe Peter would support her if the growing tension between them wasn't put in there by the revelation of Yondu, but they wouldn't get anywhere like this, she had to tackle that issue right there, right now, and walked as softly as she could to Peter, until it was impossible for him to ignore her.

"Peter, I know you are still conflicted, and I know that you don't have me in your best opinion anymore, in fact, I don't even think you ever had." Finally, Peter stared to her, realizing that he couldn't ignore it.

That gave Gamora the motivation to talk to everyone in the room.

"Everyone in this room have suffered from something, we lost our homes, our peace, people we loved, our lives wasted into something we never wanted to become… and I know life seems to have it out on us, but at least now we have each other to share that burden, together, life it's giving us a new opportunity today, to actually care, and feel. For the people that we can STILL save from a genocidal maniac. To prevent them from ever experiencing what we did." She looked at Peter back again.

Peter bent his head down again, but now in shame rather than coldness, a couple of moments later he lifted it again to look at Gamora, who had tears forming in her eyes.

The opportunity he always wanted to have, Gamora was giving it to him.

It seemed like at the end of the day she was his guardian angel. In some way.

But the more he thought about it, the more he realized it was easier said than done.

And Rocket seemed to agree.

"But, Gamora, stopping Ronan... it's impossible. You're asking us to die." Said Rocket in a down tone.

Peter saw how the last remaining light of hope in the pleading eyes of Gamora was fading. Her spirit was now fully broken.

No matter what, they were not going to win this. It was a lost battle. Why keep fighting? They had no plan.

They could even make things worse, cause more lost and ruined lives.

"Yes... you're right…" She finally admitted, turning herself to the wall, not wanting them to see the tears finally falling from her eyes. Her lip was trembling.

However... something about all that didn't felt right. Something inside him moved when he saw Gamora in such a vulnerable state.

Moments after, he realized what that feeling was, guilt.

Maybe it was his brother instinct that Thanos was never able to crush with Nebula, that made him stand up, walk to Gamora and take her hand, this time, in a more caring way. Peter called her name softly.

Gamora turned around to look at him in the eyes, still with her half sad expression, and half surprised for that gesture, especially when Peter took her hands.

"You gave me a chance, several times, when everyone else didn't. And I don't blame you for what happened to us. I won't let it go now that life has brought us together. We're brother and sister. And I want it to be that way till the end. Finally having people who I would gladly die for and in the most honorable way."

The sadness on Gamora's surprised face became happiness, relief, joy, all the emotions came in those tears previously there, like a weight has been lifted from her shoulders.

And finally, she smiled. A really bright, relieved and painful smile, and it gave even more encouragement to Peter, who now felt safe to let go of her hands.

Drax stood up too.

"You are an honorable woman, Gamora. I will fight beside you. And in the end, I will see my wife and daughter again."

Groot stand up too.

"I... am Groot."

Everyone looked at Rocket who was the only one with doubts and even a Are you serious? expression.

He reluctantly stood up too, just in time when Yondu arrived, he reunited all ravagers and the groups explained their plan to them.

Gamora was making the strategy plans while Peter was giving them inside info, both realizing what a good team they made.

At times, Peter could see Gamora glancing over her shoulder and looking at Yondu, seeking his approval, which he only gave by nodding or pinching his chin analyzing Gamora's strategies.

At the end, once they retrieved the stone, they would put it on containers. After everyone got their part clear, Gamora contacted the Nova corps to warn them to evacuate Xandar and give support to the battle against Ronan.

However, before leaving, Yondu gripped at Gamora's shoulder, and told her at the ear, "Remember girl, at the end of all this, I get the stone, ya' cross me, we kill y'all."

She nodded, distrusting of that. It was his way of telling her that they would force him. It was a warning that he himself dreaded.

Not long ago, she would be have to stick her tongue out to his back, but now, with her new family at risk, she would take no chances.

Besides, there was little opportunity for them to come out alive, she wondered if Yondu would find a way to revive her only to kill her himself.

Peter was dealing with his own parental issues as well.

Not regarding Thanos, of course, but his mother.

Today I'm redeeming myself mother, I hope this will make you proud...

That thought made the image of Nebula came back to his mind. Maybe there was hope for her as well, even after all that happened, maybe he could talk some sense into her, if he gave her the chance to have a life away from Thanos, just as Gamora gave it to him.

Chapter Text

Gamora never thought her plan would work, she was used to something always messing things up. But not this time.

This time everything went according to plan, for that everyone was glad. The Nova Corps were already aiding them, fortunately, the officer that arrested them the first time believed in Gamora's words, and after blowing up a hole on Ronan's ship with the help of the Ravagers, Gamora, Peter, Drax and Groot flew inside, while Rocket was outside in a ship helping citizens of Xandar.

This day was full of surprises.

However, all of that was the easiest part. The shaking and the landing inside the hole of Ronan's ship caused the three of them a huge concussion that made their heads spin, there was so much darkness and cold, especially for Gamora.

Once they recovered, they got out of that ship while pointing their weapons everywhere, wary of any attack that could come by surprise, fully aware that by now Ronan knew they were there. Hopefully, the other ships would gain time so Gamora and the rest could deal significant damage. But the tension was broken once Drax started to complain about barely seeing, it was bad, sure, but nothing they couldn't handle with their flashlights, but once Gamora was starting to take out a source of light, a bigger, warmer one, lighted up the dark place, Gamora turned around and saw Groot lifting his arm, from where glowing spores of warm light were emerging.

Even Peter seemed astonished by the spectacle, it almost made them interrupt their pace to admire it.

"When did you learn to do that?" Asked Drax.

"Pretty sure the answer is I am Groot." Said Peter. A brief moment after he looked at the end of one path of the ship and said, "The flight deck is 300 meters this way."

The walk was a little too long, but it was better like that, Gamora thought, that way the might even have the element of surprise to their favor.

In all that boring ambiance, Drax spoke again. "I want you all to know that I am grateful for your acceptance after my blunders."

Well, Gamora couldn't complain, it felt nice, she admitted, to have Drax realize his mistakes, so she restrained herself from shushing him.

"It is pleasing to once again have… friends." Drax continued, "You, Gamora, are my friend."

Internally, Gamora felt something warm on her chest, she turned around to face him.

"Thank you, Drax." She replied with a side smile that she cleared from her face a moment after.

"This dumb tree, he is my friend." Drax said, Groot hummed warmly in response.

"And this Terran wretch, he too…"

"For fuck's sake, be quiet!" Peter snapped, typical of him, Gamora shaked her head with another soft smile. However, Drax didn't had time to answer when a storming noise from upside revealed an angered Nebula that fell in front of them threateningly.

"Quill, look at what you have done." Nebula said, there was an undertone of anger but also frustration, and she wasn't done yet, "You have always been weak. You stupid, traitorous…"

An explosion that sent her flying backwards erupted. When Peter and Gamora looked at the source, they saw Drax, calm as always, lowering the bazooka he just fired.

"Nobody talks to my friends like that." He said.

Something warm stirred in Peter's stomach, a silent, blink-and-you'll-miss-it, thank you, that was replaced with a, "Head to the flight deck, I'll shut down the power of the security doors." from him.

Peter hurried his pace, he knew it wouldn't be easy, but it was about to become harder.

Nebula was blocking the path while putting herself back together, quite literally, as the explosion deformed a significant part of her artificial body. Oh boy, she was angrier than before, he was tempted to just snap at her, maybe even kill her after all the shit she put him through, but Peter knew better than that. Bad influence from his newfound sister.

"Nebula, come on…" he said in a begging tone.

But Nebula wouldn't listen and attacked him immediately, he dodged. Peter made a few moves against her, reminding himself that his biggest priority was to shut down the energy cell, and so he abandoned the fight once he got a window of time to go to the power source a few steps from them.

He pulled down the container, seeing the glowing green energy cell, but before he could break it, a sudden current traveled through his whole body. He turned around to see Nebula.

So this is how you want to do this, fine! He thought.

And another violent lethal fight just like the ones they always had, began. And for a moment Peter wondered if this was it, if this was the moment he would need to kill the sister he grew up with. That sentiment was weighing harder every time in his chest.

With every clash of blades, every kick and movement, his muscles started to ache. As he has sweating, he was more and more sure one of them wouldn't make it out alive.

And just when the scenario couldn't point out to that unfortunate outcome anymore than it already was, an explosion made a hole in the wall just in front of them.

As Nebula saw it, her attacks turned more aggressive, as if she was trying to lead Peter to that unforgiving fall, for even with all his enhancements he wouldn't survive landing at such a high height.

And Peter was sure he would regret heavily what he was about to do.

But he had no choice.

After a lot of fighting, most of which he got the upper hand, he kicked Nebula to that hole. Hoping she would hold from the border with her hand.

And she did.

But as soon as he approached and saw Nebula looking down, he...

He just couldn't do it.

Nebula was right about something, he had compassion...

Even more than he ever thought.

And Thanos was never able to crush it, it was always inside of him, thanks to his mother, and now Gamora.

So he offered her a hand one last time to spare her.

"Sister, help us defeat Ronan, you know he's crazy."

But Nebula turning on Ronana to aid them was nothing more than wishful thinking, even after she tried to kill him.

"I know you're both crazy."

And just like that, she chopped her hand with her blade, sparks emerged from it and Nebula let herself fall.

"¡NO!" Peter screamed, even after Nebula landed relatively safe to one of the Nova Corp ships, flying to an unknown location, away from Ronan, but also from Thanos.

And that gave Peter just a little bit of solace.

Maybe she would get better with time.

Goddammit, that wishful thinking about his old family was going to be his death. He had to focus on finishing the handmade weapon to help the allies that still were with him and forget about Nebula, it was clear that he would never have again the sister he grew up with. She made her choice.

As he was finishing the weapon, something stung in his chest. That sensation accompanied him while he stood up, walked to the power cell, broke it and ripped some cables from the inside with all that frustration boiling inside him from the lost of one sister, no matter how much he grew fond of Gamora in the little time they've met each other, one sister would never replace another.

And just as he was thinking of Gamora, he heard in the next room the doors opening.

His cue to immediately shoot to the floor above him to distract the enemies with the weapon he just made.

That was when he saw his friends on the other side of the door, his mind went immediately to be at their side, all together to face Ronan, who was exactly at the other side of the giant room, looking through a window.

All of them pointed their guns and blasters to him just as he turned around.

It took Gamora a few seconds to aim to his chest, and before Ronan could do anything, she pulled the trigger, making her go backwards from the spark that was fired from the cannon.

In a fraction of a second a thunderous noise expanded trough the whole room, combined with a expansive wave, and finally, a huge blue explosion.

"You did it!" Drax said from withing the smoke that was still blocking most of the vision of the four.

Gamora smiled in relief. Her family was safe.

So were the people.

But as quick as the relief came to her face, it was gone.

After the smoke in the whole place dissipated, she saw the purple light of the power stone moving. And then, Ronan was rising as well, as if the shot at his chest only stumbled his balance. Gamora's face immediately went to Peter's, who was just as flabbergasted as her. They only saw Ronan pointing his scepter at them and a wave sent them flying backwards, making their chests and limbs feeling like they were crushed, one second after there was the acute pain of their bodies striking the ground and walls, especially the pointy ones.

Gamora only heard the angry grunts of Drax and his steps running towards him, she only lifted her head to see Ronan grabbing him by the neck.

"I was mistaken," he said as Drax was kicking and trying to scream to escape from his grip.

Gamora tried to scream Drax's name, Peter as well, but this was it from him.

A small part of Gamora wondered if he would reunite himself with his wife and daughter. She was too sore for the recent impact to even try to crawl to help him, and she turned to Peter, seeing he was in a similar state as her, but still trying to rise.

"I do remember your family." said Ronan to his face, Drax still grunting.

And that was the last straw for Gamora, even if it killed her, she had to do something, Drax deserved more than a death like this.

"Their screams were… pitiful. I..."

Before Gamora could do anything, another thunderous sound of a ship flying nearby distracted Ronan.

And for a brief moment she saw what that was.

It was Rocket flying inside a ship directly to Knock Ronan out.

The group had only a couple of seconds to move out of the way so that they wouldn't get caught between the explosions and rumble falling down.

A death by suffocating and then burning alive was one of the most frightening thoughts that ever went through Gamora's mind, it was NOT how she wanted to go, nor how she wanted Peter, or even Drax and Rocket.

That impact was way worse than the one when they entered for the first time that ship.

As soon as she recovered, she looked at Peter again, who was looking in a worried manner to Drax's body, who was not moving nor making any sound.

Then he looked at her just as worried, and finally, looked behind her.

When she did the same, she saw Rocket unconscious as well. And she hurried to take him out before that thing exploded, and carried him to the place where there was less destruction and smoke.

They had to come up with something, anything to get out of there.

But the ship was already crumbling from the ground, and her mind was full of loud warning noises without any kind of escape idea of this situation, so she looked at Peter one last time.

"Peter... what are we going to…" but she couldn't finish that sentence when she saw that Peter looked to her in the same way.

He was looking up to her, expecting her to save all of them.

And she has failed them all.

But Peter didn't look disappointed as she expected, instead, he gripped his music device against his chest, and a moment after, he took her hand, while circling around Rocket and Drax.

Gamora then closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable to happen, she just hoped the death would be quick and painless, but that was asking too much.

Until a couple of moments after, something was looming over them, Gamora opened her eyes, and she widened them at the sight that surrounded her.

It was a cocoon of branches embracing the four of them, and the source of it was Groot, shielding them of the falling rubble and possibly even the bigger fall that was awaiting for them.

Drax didn't wake up, but Rocket did, and when he did he hurried to Groot, who was now fully shielding them inside the sphere.

"No Groot! You can't, you're gonna die..." he ten reached to cup his face in his paws, tears already forming in his eyes "Why are you doing this? why!?"

Groot only wiped away Rocket's tear, and only answered, "We. are. Groot."

That's the last thing they heard, before bracing for the impact that now was not looking so deadly, but it more than compensated with painfulness.

Chapter Text

Gamora had no idea when the ship even reached the floor, she suspected the long trembling and explosions around them as the branches surrounding them were crushed and burned were part of that landing.

The next sensation were her back laying on the ground, her vision was bright but blurry, her left ear was just ringing, but the other one barely captured the sound of something burning, damn but everything else in her body hurt!

As soon as she recovered part of her conscience, her first action was to sit abruptly and look for Peter, scanning the whole place around her where Xandarians were already gathering to watch what was going on.

Lastly, she saw Peter's body unresponsive a couple of meters away from her.

"No...! No, no, no, no, no!" Gamora rushed to him half walking half crawling while her bones were screaming her to stop, yet she didn't.

Gamora nudged him from the arm, first concerned, then angry with herself for allowing this to happen to him.

"PETER, don't leave me now!" Yelled Gamora.

The burning frustration and anger at Ronan inside her was dampened as the man in front of her moved and coughed.

Only then Gamora could breath again, relief washing over her.

But that relief was gone again when Ronan appeared once again between the smoke, unharmed and walking like he didn't just fell inside a crashing ship, and Gamora hadn't felt such a urge to launch against someone as she had it now.

"YOU KILLED GROOT!" Rocket shouted, and hurried towards him.

Ronan sent him flying backwards with his scepter, it was so chilling to Gamora how fickle every creature alive there was against such an entity.

She never regretted allowing him to get that stone like she did now.

Peter was right, and she had failed him.

All because of a childish whim of being set free from a danger that was never there.

Yondu probably rubbed off on her more than she would ever admit.

"Behold! Your Guardians of the Galaxy!" said Ronan to the crowd of Xandarians "What fruit have they wrought? Only that my father and his father shall finally know vengeance".

How much she wished to take her brother's hand one last time...

Was Peter older or younger than her?

"People of Xandar" Ronan's voice snapped her out of her thoughts once again, "the time has come to rejoice and renounce your paltry gods! Your salvation is at hand."

Just as Gamora thought everything was over, that she had failed not only her friends but the whole galaxy, she heard Peter standing up.

No, Peter! Whatever you're going to do, please don't! It's not worth it! she thought. He was only setting himself up for a painful and meaningless death.

And her worst fear, above dying, above going back to her old life, above being a lifetime slave to any Kree, above Thanos, was watching another one of her family die in front of her eyes.

But ever since she met him, Peter was full of surprises and unknowns. Instead of doing anything even remotely sensible, he started… singing!?

He started singing, and then dancing with movements that no other being in that galaxy has ever seen before, but there was no way they were appropriate, even in his own homeland. If they were, then she wasn't surprised why everyone saw them as creatures worthy of such low respect.

She wanted to snap at her brother, but Ronan himself voiced her thoughts, "What are you doing?" he asked with an expression so bewildered that it might as well be confused with one of genuine concern.

"Dance-off, bro! Me and you." Peter said and kept dancing, then he turned to Gamora and extended a hand to her, "Gamora?"

No way, what was he up to!? From the shock, Gamora could only shake her head at him.

"Subtle." Peter said in response, "Take it back."

Gamora's mind was once again racing, trying desperately clutching at straws of what she was watching at the moment.

"What are you doing?" snapped Ronan once again.

That was the moment it hit her like a sudden lightining, Gamora's heart dropped to her stomach, but it was too late when Peter voiced his intentions.

"I'm distracting you, you big turd blossom." Peter said, just as he and Gamora saw Drax holding the super weapon they re-built with Rocket's help.

Once Drax pulled the trigger, Ronan's scepter shattered into a million pieces, freeing the stone, glowing as strong and purple as the moment Gamora saw it for the first time.

"NO...!" Gamora said as she saw Peter jumping to grab it before Ronan did, and the very moment the stone touched his hand it sent huge spiraled waves around them of it's power, like being inside a permanent storm that was trying to rip them all apart.

Gamora's senses were now all over the place, like a thunder permanently sounding in his ears, making them burst, and that horrid wave circling around her brother was keeping her apart from him as well.

She shouted and yelled for Peter, several times.

But her brother gave no answer.

Gamora once again wanted to cry in frustration, there was no way he could be saved, she was going to lose her brother that same day she met him, and after she did, Ronan would rule all over them once again.

She should've been the one to hold that stone! She should've seen it coming.

When will you stop crying over such useless matters, Proxima's voice resounded in her head once she had a couple of days in Thanos' ship, If you loved them so much, you would've done something to prevent their deaths. You have no one to blame but you.

She was full of shit, that was for sure, but there was just a tiny bit of truth in it.

She couldn't save her family once again.

But she could go down with him, if only, to lessen his pain and make his last breaths not so unbearable.

"Peter! Take my hand!" she said, extending her hand to him, hoping, just hoping there was still enough "Peter" in him to listen to her, just for once.

She kept shouting and shouting, she wouldn't give up.

Until, finally, he extended his hand as well, and not even a split of a second he touched her, the worst feeling in her body made everything inside it want to explode and be over with it. The noises around them became a hundred times louder, and the tremor inside that energy cocoon turned into ten earthquakes inside one.

Gamora thought burning alive would be the most physically painful death she could ever have, so many ravagers have told her so. But this…

If she burned to death right there and then, it would be mercy.

But if it made Peter's demise and hers less painful, then so be it.

Barely, with what was left of her hearing, she heard the grunts of Drax, and suddenly, the wave of unbearable pain no man should ever know turned into just an excruciating one.

After what it felt like minutes, maybe even hours, she heard Rocket's screams of pain as well.

And suddenly, the pain turned into just the feeling of an electric circuit going in circles around her body, everything around became all the more clear, and the first thing she and her friends saw was Ronan, standing with absolute shock on his face.

"You're mortal! HOW!?"

"We're the guardians of the galaxy," Gamora said with her last remaining forces, "that's how, Ronan."

Together, they channeled the power of the stone towards Ronan, and in just a breath, he was no more.

Just in time for Gamora to take out the safeguard of the stone and smash it onto Peter's hand, sealing it for good.

As soon as she did that, the purple chaos around them dissipated, allowing them again to see the sky, the faces of the citizens, to touch the ground, and feel the natural wind around them.

They did it!

Gamora still couldn't believe it. But they did it.

As she locked her eyes with Peter, Gamora saw that he was going through the same thought process as her.

But as every single moment of relief life gave her, it was cut by Youndu's voice creeping behind her along with the rest of the ravagers,

"Well, well, well. Quite the light show." He said chuckling, this chuckle, however, was not the one Gamora knew all her life, "Ain't this sweet. But you got some business to attend to before all the nookie-nookie starts."

Before she could answer, she felt a soft grip on her arm, as she turned around, she saw Peter's concerned expression, "No, Gamora... you can't."

And he was totally right, she learned it the hard way before, how could Yondu not see it as well?

Was he that clueless?

Welp, it was time to beg now.

"Yondu, please," She implored, as serious as she could, "Whoever it is you're selling this to, it's going to end up horribly wrong. Please, the Nova corps are the only ones who can keep it safe. You already saw what just...!"

"I may be as pretty as an angel, girl," Yondu interrupted, "but I sure as hell ain't one. Hand it over, tot."

That old nickname that Yondu hadn't used for ages gave pause to Gamora.

But at last, much to Peter's reluctance, she gave it to him. Yondu then smiled and turned around to leave.

"Yound," she warned one last time, making him turn to face her one last time, "please, what we felt when we opened that thing was the worst things in this galaxy, and I mean the worst, please, never open it."

Yondu chuckled to himself once again, and then turned around to leave for good.

And as soon as the ravager ship was out of sight, Gamora took out the real orb.

"Things will be tense between us once again when he finds out I switched the orb." she said, making Peter let out a huge relief sigh.

"He was going to kill you, Gamora."

"Maybe," Gamora admitted with her head low.

Yondu was going to kill her as well if she didn't gave him a reason not to when she and Peter were rescued as well.

Even after everything they've been through…

Well, she couldn't exactly expect him to choose her above his whole crew. But still.

"Considering what I would have been through, Yondu was not a bad mentor to hold onto, after Thanos took my family, my whole people…" she once again lowered her head, but this time she didn't evade Peter's stare, "he is the closest thing to family I have now. The only one as well."

"No, he isn't" for once, Peter genuinely smiled at her and hugged her.

He actually hugged her by his own, and that was all Gamora could think of at that moment, she only let herself go into that embrace, smiling with tears of happiness.

***

As expected, the Nova Corps took them to their main offices once they told them about the Power stone. Probably the only thing preventing them from just being sent to Kyln again.

Peter had to admit, it was surreal being treated as a here after a lifetime of being cursed and attacked by so many of those same people, they were even given a tour around there as well, and even though the information from the leader was boring, Peter couldn't help but ask for more information about his and Gamora's true heritage.

Just a couple hours ago he was out of his mind with that revelation, hoping it wasn't true, for if it was, it would forever twist his impression of Gamora. And he couldn't bear that feeling, not after how many things they've been through in such a short time.

Now, he was pleading for it to not be a lie.

And it wasn't.

"We're not natives of our planets them?" he said, watching the hologram of both their DNA's with big letters in a square over it saying "MATCH 25% - SAME FATHER. NAME: UNKNOWN. SPECIES: UNKNOWN"

"Only half of both of you, the other half is something ancient we've never seen before. We're so sorry we can't give you a more accurate answer."

"That explains then," said Gamora, "why we were able to hold the stone without killing us in the process."

Peter gave her a supporting bump in the shoulder once again, which she still had trouble to recognize as a Terran sign of affection.

Just a couple moments after, they saw Drax and Rocket entering the headquarters.

"Your friends have arrived" said the Nova Prime, "on behalf of the Nova Corps, we'd like to express our profound gratitude for your help in saving Xandar. If you will follow Denarian Dey, he has something to show you."

Gamora thanked him, and exited along with Peter through the big door, while going out, he approached Drax, it was time to fully bury the hatchet once and for all.

"Your wife and child shall rest well knowing that you have avenged them." he said, giving him a soft smile, lately, he found himself giving a lot of them.

But to his horror, he only answered, "Yes. Of course, Ronan was only a puppet. It's really Thanos I need to kill."

And any newfound peace Peter had, came crushing down once again.

Either Drax truly had no idea what was he facing, or he simply didn't care of dying in the process.

But at last, Peter tried to ignore that feeling once again, hopefully, he would find a way to talk Drax out of it.

The Nova corps rescued Gamora's ship and rebuilt it the best they could, once they shared their goodbyes and thanks to them, they all boarded the ship.

It was still surreal for Peter to think he finally had a new life, a new purpose, and a new family.

He knew very well he probably didn't deserve it, everyone would more than agree to let him rot and have his spine removed in jail.

Everyone except Gamora.

And he was forever grateful for that.

After a couple of hours flying the guardians stopped to recharge fuel for the first time, and while the rest of them went out to eat, Peter took out something he had been putting off for a long time.

His mother's last gift to him. A small box with a cute ribbon, and a note that Thanos ripped long time ago, yet the letters were still fresh in his memory.

<< Peter, I know these last few months have been hard for you. But I'm going to a better place and I will be okay. And I will always be with you. You are the light of my life. My precious son. My little Star-Lord. Love, mom.>>

"What's that?" Gamora's voice made him jump in surprise for a second, but then he looked once again at the present in his hands.

"My mother's last gift to me, I... I planned to open it once I went on my first halving, but after all the atrocities I committed I just felt…" He closed his eyes, not finding the right words that would make justice to what was stirring in his chest once again.

"Unworthy?" asked Gamora.

He just nodded. How could she make things so simple?

Peter finally gathered the courage to open the present, after he did it, he saw it was another tape, one that his mother prepared with several songs that she choose for him to cope after her passing.

So many of them, of a new life, of finding his own at the end of a tunnel, after so much grief and nightmares, finally being in company of a true family.

That tape couldn't have arrived at a better time, as the ship was fully refueled and ready for some action and Gamora was sitting on the captain seat, she asked them, "What should our next adventure be? Something noble? Something outlaw-ish? Maybe a juicy combination of those?"

"We'll follow your lead, captain." Peter said with a smile, which Gamora returned.

"Roger that, Star Lord."

Chapter Text

A relatively short time passed since their group got together, and they haven't been short of assigned missions, sometimes in the form of bounties, the morning of that day they received a message from the Sovereign, a group of planets and homeworld of people with the same name, making an offer that they could not reject.

The task was simple, kill a beast called "Abilisk" that has been trying to devour the planet's power source. Anulax batteries, Rocket called them enthusiastically. In exchange, they would give them Nebula. After a brief confirmation that they, indeed, had her as their prisoner, the guardians accepted.

Damn, that Luphomoid. Peter told Gamora that she had a tendency to do her own thing whenever possible to prove herself, and if she managed to do something to anger the Sovereign then she must've been pretty desperate, or pretty hungry, considering Ronan was dead along with his henchmen and she, just like Peter, decided to go on her own, away from Thanos' influence.

Gamora shook her head when she though a small growl entered the surface of that planet where the power source was, but it was again her imagination. Still, she needed to keep the rest vigilant because maybe it was the instinct talking.

"It's coming," she alerted them, looking around for it with Rocket, Drax and little Groot behind her. "The beast will be here any moment now."

Gamora looked at the later endearingly, the little guy came from the seed Groot left them when he saved them. Whether he retained his memories, or had to re-learn stuff, or anything in between, they would be there for him to help him every step. For now, they would milk every sweet moment of the innocence he kept.

That, of course, meant taking him with them to missions as dangerous as that.

"I almost feel bad for it," Peter said, charging a rifle, "I heard this thing hurts a lot when used on big creatures."

"I thought your thing were the daggers and swords... Peter" said Gamora to him, almost calling him brother.

One of the things those months have taught her was that Peter got uncomfortable at best, and downright hostile at worst when Gamora called him brother. She tried not to take it personally, after all, he still had siblings during his time with Thanos, and being called that name probably brought back bad memories with it. She would for sure feel sick if Thanos told her those wackos would be her siblings, she would despise that name too.

That had to be the reason, because the other one would be...

"We've been hired to stop and interdimensional beast from feeing on those bateries' energy and I'm going to stop it with a sword? Do you hear yourself?"

That he didn't really care about actually having a sister anymore. And the name family could very well be the name of a best friend, of a crewmate like the rest of them.

"Okay, okay, whatever, focus!" she said, no space for second guessing at the moment, that could come later, "that goes for you, Rocket. What are you even doing?"

Rocket, who was working on a pair of speakers wired to Peter's walkman, said, "Blame Quill! He's the one who loves music so much."

"I agree with Gamora, actually," said Peter, "this mission takes priority at the moment."

"Oh, sure, okayyy Quill." Rocked winked an eye at him.

Gamora rolled her eyes, just as they all heard a strong growl at the distance.

Then came a larger crack, and they saw it. a hundred foot long monstrosity broke through the interdimensional rift, kaleidoscopic and deadly, slatter matter pulsing from its maw.

Gamora cringed, gross.

"Showtime." Peter said.

And that was how most of their battles ended up, chaotic, thunderous, destructive; but that's how Gamora met them, and being honest, she wouldn't have them any other way. Not that she would ever admit it, otherwise she would just be adding fuel to the fire.

Besides, the music Peter brought was making it easier to deal with. Like a melody that lifted spirits and held out hope that bright things awaited them far beyond.

As soon as the beast was dead, the group got on their way to the lair of the high priestess of the Sovereign, Gamora watched Peter, looking for signs of anticipation, eagerness, suspense, dread, anything that would resemble the feeling of a man about to see the sister he knew his whole life again.

But nothing, his face looked like it did in any other of their missions.

As they arrived, the high priestess received, sat regal and proud on her seat among her fellow Sovereign. A group of golden skinned people, all with the same hairstyle, it was eerily creepy, but she wouldn't dare question it.

"We thank you, Guardians, for putting your life on the line," the priestess said. "We could not risk the lives of our own Sovereign citizens. Every citizen is born exactly as designed by the community, impeccable, both physically and mentally. We control the DNA of our progeny, germinating them in birthing pods."

Internally, Gamora rolled her eyes, as if they haven't heard that story a million times before.

"I admire the time and dedication put into the delicate craft of your people," said Gamora, appealing to the pride of that woman, such allies might be annoying, but their aid in any time of crisis would be invaluable, "much more effective than our status quo."

"You are speaking about the archaic ways of our ancestors," she declared, not budging a little, "Perhaps I could offer you an enthusiastic volunteer, so you can give us a history lesson along the whole process"

Gamora could hear a snort from Peter behind her.

But no, no way.

"Such an honor that would be," said Gamora, "however in my line of work it would be highly inconvenient, and dangerous, for everyone involved, including the future progeny. I am deeply sorry, High Priestess."

"Didn't consider it before," she said, "in such case, your half brother could be the voluntary to give me the history lesson, for academic purposes, so I can ensure the safety of the..."

"Take no offense, High Priestess," Peter said, cutting the conversation short, earning a glare from Gamora, "but we have more important matters, your people promised something in exchange for our services. Bring it, and we shall gladly be on our way."

The High Priestess nodded, just as the guards next to her brought a hooded figure into the courtroom and threw her on the ground, pulling back her hood, Gamora saw Peter lift an eyebrow at Nebula's state.

"Lovely." Said Gamora, placatingly.

"I understand that she is your sister." said the high priestess.

"She’s worth no more to me than the bounty due for her on Xandar." said Peter, looking at her in the eyes.

As Drax and Rocket approached Nebula to take her to their ship, the High Priestess asked another question.

"What is your heritage? Both of you, Mr. Quill, as well as yours, Miss Gamora."

Was this a probing question? Gamora couldn't tell. Yet she replied, "Well, my mother is from Zen-Whoberi. And... my brother's is Terra. Earth, I mean," It was hard to get used to the actual name, but everyday she tried to get used to it, Peter deserved as much.

"Although I assume your concern lies with the father that connects us." Peter added.

"Very perceptive of your, Mr. Quill." said the Priestess, a displeased tone starting to creep into her voice.

"We have no idea who he is," Peter said, "and honestly, it's the last of our concerns right now…"

Gamora jumped once again to interrupt him, before he got them in an uncomfortable situation, "It's not negligence to know from our part, our father's origins are so deep hidden it's next to impossible to unravel such mystery."

The High priestess seemed to agree.

"I see it within you," she said, "an unorthodox genealogy. Not one, but two hybrids, both that seem particularly… reckless."

The implication of those words wasn't miss to the Guardians of the Galaxy, but out of all of them, only Rocket replied to it, which clearly offended the sovereigns. If it wasn't for Drax, who carried him out, things could've escalated to a degree that, for now, none of them were ready.

As soon as they were in the ship and Nebula was secured in the spot for prisoners, Gamora went to Peter's face.

"I told you, several times, several, to not override me, I am the voice of this group in these ocasions."

"It is you the one who doesn't understand. You need to put yourself at the same level of them, otherwise you will receive no respect as captain."

Gamora's face heated from the embarrassment and her eyes were bright with anger, but Peter continued.

"If you're not convinced yet, ask Nebula. Maybe you'll become friends with her," he said as he kept tightening her handcuffs.

Then, Nebula spoke to him, a tired, irritated tone.

"I see how easy if for you, Quill, to expend sisters like they are nothing," Then her head turned to Gamora, addressing her. "But now that you know him, you'll see why his abandonment meant nothing to me. You're not special to him either, Zen-Whoberi, not even because you share blood with him while I don't."

Gamora knew Nebula was just trying to get under her skin, especially with the spite those last words were pronounced. She knew perfectly well that Nebula wanted to set Peter against her so that she could have an opportunity to escape.

Well, it wasn't going to work.

While it was true she only had a couple of months knowing him, the whole adventure with the orb made them closer than ever.

Although, as they've been getting used to their lives as heroes and living together, Gamora did started to feel how closed off and quiet Peter acted as his natural self. While she understood each mission took a lot of their time and left all of them with barely any for themselves, she couldn't help but desire a better opportunity to get to know Peter a little more, have deeper conversations like the one they had on Knowhere, the few free moments they had together there was little to no time to truly connect to him.

And the few times Gamora actually managed to get a moment alone with him, he shot it down, "I don't think it's the right time to talk about that" was always his answer.

But she could trust him, with her life, after all they shared so many similar experiences, she really shouldn't be greedy and ask for more, that was who he was, and she wouldn't have him any other way. That's how she accepted him ever since she saved his life in prison, all differences included.

Even their similar upbringings before they were taken differed a lot. Even if Gamora had a close relationship with her mother, Peter's connection with his ran even deeper, probably more than anyone in that universe, and that place could never be taken by anyone else, it was somewhat a taboo to even make a comment about it.

Their fathers were an entirely different thing, while rough on the edges, the father that Gamora knew since birth loved her like nothing else in that Galaxy, always showed her off to his friends and mined with sweat and blood every single resource and unit he could get to put food on her plate first, and then his and her mother's.

The last time she ever saw him was when he left their house to go to work once again, then Thanos arrived.

She touched her hands, rubbing them a little, and brought one to her cheek. To that day she still cherished that last touch of her father before he left.

Proxima made sure Gamora saw his corpse once everything was over, if just to ensure Gamora wouldn't try to run back to her parents.

But after months of hearing Peter rant time and time again about each of his "siblings", she wouldn't put it past her to have done it just to satisfy a sadistic urge of hers. Maybe a twisted sense of jealousy for losing her position as the only daughter of Thanos.

At least Peter was spared of such an image.

"I’m hungry" Nebula's voice creeped into Gamora's bitter memories, she looked at the food they left on one of the small wall shelf, "Hand me some of that yaro root."

"No way, it's not even ripe yet, and I hate you." said Peter.

"You hate me?" replied Nebula, "You left me there while you stole that stone for yourself. And yet here you stand, a hero."

"You could've chosen our path as well," said Gamora crossing her arms "this is your doing."

Both Nebula and Peter looked at her like she intruded in a private conversation.

Nebula ignored her and looked at Peter again, "I will be free of these shackles soon enough, and I will kill you. I swear."

"You'd wish" said Peter, "You’re gonna live out the rest of your days rotting in a prison on Xandar, dreaming of the day you could"

That tense moment was shut when an alarm sounded in the front seat, Gamora sprinted there to see what it was.

"This is weird," she said, "we got a Sovereign fleet approaching from the rear."

"What?" said Peter, sitting right behind her on his seat, "and why would they do that?"

"Probably ‘cause Rocket stole some of their batteries." said Drax, making Peter and Gamora snap their heads at him and then at Rocket, neither hid their disbelief.

Both Drax and Rocket tried to handwave it away, but it was the lamest attempt ever. After asking Rocket why would he do that and giving an answer just as lame, the group started a huge bickering that Gamora herself had to interrupt.

"We don't have time for this!" she said, settling on her station, "we need to lose them or they'll blow us to bits."

After a big battle and some problems dodging, Peter had to look for a planet, one called Behert popped up that was 47 clicks away, but to get to it they also needed to go through a quantum asteroid field.

"Gamora," said Drax, "to make it through that, you’d have to be the greatest pilot in the universe."

Gamora smirked, "Lucky for us..."

"I am" said Rocket over her.

Just before Gamora had time to react, Rocket flipped the pilot controls between them so he could pilot the ship now, what was he doing!? Was he trying to kill them all!?

The Milano dived into the quantum asteroid field, swooping in and around the swirling stones, just barely missing them. Gamora flipped again the controls to regain the control as soon as Rocket wasn't putting the integrity of her ship in danger.

"What are you doing!?" he asked.

"Rocket," said Gamora, sighing internally, "I swear, one more word and I'll...!"

The ship shook violently, nearly knocking everyone unconscious, the ship spiraled out of control, sending everyone inside reeling. Gamora's eyes darted to the screen in front of her, revealing a large asteroid that had smashed through the stern of the Milano, tearing away a significant chunk of the rear of the craft.

Through the surveillance of the back of the ship Nebula screamed. For a moment she thought Nebula would get sucked into the void. Fortunately, her tied hands kept her anchored in place long enough to activate the protective energy shield amidst the chaos. The ship's wild spiraling slowly subsided, the energy shield stabilizing their trajectory.

Phew, that reward was still intact.

As the ship's systems regained control and the interior calmed, making the Milano easier to maneuver, Gamora heard Nebula's muffled voice cut through the stillness, "Idiots!"

"Well, that’s what you get when Gamora flies." said Rocket.

At that moment, Gamora just kept looking to the front, internally taking back what her words when they fought that beast that got them into this situation in the first place.

"There's still a Sorvereign craft behind us!" said Peter.

Gamora tried to activate the weapons, but thanks to that asteroid they were down.

The moment the pilot from the remaining Sovereign craft took out another part of a wing with a blast and the Milano trembled again, they knew it was time to do something drastic if they wanted to make it out alive.

And so, Drax went to the back of the ship where Nebula was, grabbing a cable on a spool attached to the wall and hooked it to his belt. Just as he pulled the disk that created force-field spacesuits over the body and slapped it between his shoulder blades.

After their little near-death experience in the exo-sky, one of the first things Gamora insisted to always have available in that ship was one of those emergency space suits.

"We're still fifteen clicks away!" said Peter, as another blast from the Sovereign craft hit them.

Drax finally grabbed a huge rifle, punching the buttons next to him on the wall, making a second protective shield open up behind him, just in front of Nebula, as the first one in front of Drax opened, and the battle that ensued between him and the remaining craft, culminating into the later one exploding made Gamora smirk again.

Once again, she took back her words from just moments ago. Her brain seemed to have a on-and-off switch lately.

"Five clicks!" informed Peter.

But just when they thought they were in the clear, dozens of crafts pulled around them, on both sides

"Those bastards..." Gamora clenched her teeth, "they went around the field!"

"Shit!" exclaimed Peter.

All the guardians braced for the inevitable. Sparks flew everywhere around the ship, each blaster impacting all around it.

Just when Gamora thought this was it, something else happened.

A big explosion from a mysterious force blew to bits all the crafts around them without the slightest inconvenience. Gamora looked for that source, finding its origin, a big, oval-shaped scpacecraft.

Gamora turned around to look at Peter, who directed his bewildered gaze right back at her. None had an explanation to what just happened.

Then, Peter looked at his own screen again, "One click!"

Gamora snapped back to her own as well before Rocket could tamper the pilot controls again.

"What is that?" asked Rocket.

Gamora was about to echo the question when she saw the flickering framework in the middle of the sky of their jump point.

"Later, Rocket, the jump point is right in front of us!"

"It's a guy." Rocket observed, Gamora had no time to look at it as they were in for a bumpy landing, to say the least.

And it was, only the crash inside Ronan's ship could compare to that harsh landing, as it entered that new atmosphere half of the ship burst into flames to finally be teared off. On top of everything, Peter had to go back to help Drax land along them without killing him in the process.

The easy stuff.

And now they were stranded in a planet, an earth-like one, as Peter described it, with only half her ship smoking, Nebula along them.

Oh, Yondu would be so disappointed if he knew Gamora just wrecked her ship again in such a short time-spawn. One of the few things she could admit he taught her well was to take care of her toys. Lately, that habit seemed to go away, as she gave up any illusion of keeping control over her team.

Her little, found family...

"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT" she snapped at them as she looked at the remannts of her ship, "WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY SHIP!?"

"Our ship," Peter remarked.

"Rocket!" Gamora said, "Don't you realize you could've killed us?!"

"Me!?" asked Rocket, "I was the one who got you out of that quantum field! You would've never..."

"We're speaking about the stunt you pulled with the Anulax batteries!" Peter said, arms crossed and getting behind Gamora.

"They’re called Harbulary batteries." Drax said.

"No, they're not!" said Peter.

"Do you know why I did it, Zen-whoberian?" said Rocket.

Gamora fumed at that name, clenching her teeth again, "I've told you, Rocket, several times..."

"I did it because I wanted to. "

Peter rolled his eyes, as Gamora and Drax started another argument, getting slowly sidetracked by useless comments and banter. That was usually how all their days went. No wonder she could never have a serious conversation with any of them.

"Someone followed you through the jump point," Nebula informed, making Gamora look back at her, she saw her gazing at the sky, just in time to noticed a huge spaceship hovering overhead.

Immediately, Gamora drew her weapon, she didn't need to look at her sides to know her group did the same, forming a circle back to back.

"Set me free. You'll need my help." Nebula demanded.

"Do you still think I'm an idiot, Nebula?" said Peter. "You'll attack us as soon as we let you go."

"I won't." she said plainly.

And, wow, who did she think she was fooling?

"How come you served the most evil Titan in the galaxy and didn't learn to lie properly?" asked Gamora.

"You should know by now, Zen-whoberian, even just four days could be enough to learn a thing or two from him."

Those words cut through Gamora like blades, she looked at Peter, eyes widened.

He shot her a I didn't tell her, I swear, look.

Gamora made a mental note to question about this later, then she focused again on the ship that was already landing, crushing in its way all of the trees around it.

Then, after several anticipating seconds, the spaceship opened its front door, showing behind it two figures, one of an old man, looking eerily similar to a Peter, but considering their location, a Xandarian was the safest guess. The man stepped out of the ship, closing his distance a little with the guardians, the woman behind him, a somewhat creepy figure with antennae followed him.

As he looked at them, the man smiled.

"After all these years, I've found you both."

"And who are you suppoused to be?" Asked Gamora.

"I figured my rugged good looks would make that obvious." he said with a hint of playful smugness, "Peter, Gamora, my name's Ego, and I'm your dad."

Chapter Text

They built a campfire as night fell on the planet. That man, Ego, who just dropped the biggest bomb on Peter and Gamora now sat comfortably with them around the flames, sharing stories about him travelling across the galaxy, but both siblings could tell he was keeping the truly relevant stuff for himself.

And that was frustrating for her—his secrecy was no more reassuring than Yondu’s when he finally let the truth about Peter and her slip and then refused to let anything else out.

Still, she had to give him credit. For someone with as few morals as Yondu, at least he’d had the decency to be honest, even if it meant throwing himself under the bus, in some twisted attempt to look out for her.

But the question that both Peter and Gamora had was simply, why did he send someone to deliver them to him instead of going himself.

“I was in the midst of an outlandish adventure at the time, battling demonic forces to save this dimension or some such nonsense - I can’t quite recall, it all bleeds together after awhile.”

Peter lifted an eyebrow, he definitely wasn't buying it, and when he looked at Gamora, she felt confident enough to express through her frown that neither was she.

She would press a little for the information:

“Right before the battle Yondu revealed to us the truth, but he refused to explain anything else beyond outing my mother as a liar, I was hoping you'd share more of it.”

Ego smiled with a sad expression.

"I hired Yondu to rescue the two when your respective mothers passed away, a sad coincidence,” he looked at Gamora, “But instead of returning you, Yondu kept you.”

"Really?" Remarked Peter, "because what happened was that she was kidnapped by Thanos after he halved her planet. Yondu told us you hired him to pick me up around the same time, but then you made him deviate to save Gamora from Thanos, and in revenge, he took me."

Gamora didn't miss the heavy way he delivered those last words. It clearly was resentment, a demand of something deeper than he probably believed.

"Yondu was supposed to deliver her to me first, yes,” Ego said, “but he didn't. And when I found out Thanos took you... my heart broke into a million pieces.”

That man's expression shifted as he said that, a deep regret in his face. Clearly losing Peter hurt him way more than losing Gamora, she tried not to take it personally, Ego was probably aware of the fate that awaited his son under Thanos’ care, if it could even be called that.

"All of these issues…” Gamora muttered, "I can't believe Yondu doesn't feel an ounce of regret over this, of separating me from you…”

She expected a remark from Peter, a “didn't I told you?” at being proven right about Yondu.

Instead, he said nothing, seemingly too deep into thinking and introspection.

"To this day I have no clue as to what went through his mind when he did it,” Ego said.

"I do know," said Gamora, "he saw me as a skinny little kid who he could use to make his missions of stealing and thieving easier. He told me it was my way of paying back to them for rescuing me from Thanos back then. He probably had the same destiny in mind for Peter if Thanos didn't take him before."

"I thought Yondu was your father," said Drax suddenly, snapping the attention of everyone to him.

"What?" asked Gamora, "All this time together you've been thinking Yondu was my actual, blood father?!"

"You look exactly alike," he said, chewing his food.

"One 's blue!" replied Rocket.

Drax only pointed at Gamora, as if her green skin color was enough to explain.

"No, he's not my father,” she snapped. “He was the man who beat me senselessly so I’d learn how to fight, he kept me in terror, threatening to return me to Thanos. "

"Return you!?" said Ego, "That son of a bitch…”

"And despite all that,” she added, “I was still luckier than Peter."

Peter only looked at her, deepening his frown, and quickly changed the subject. Not a good sign.

"How'd you locate us now?"

"Well, even where I reside, out past the edge of what’s known, we’ve heard tell of the man they call StarLord."

Now it was Gamora’s turn to frown. Ever since he sat to dine with them, her new father stared at Peter way more than he glanced at her, clearly, he had a personal investment in him. She wanted to believe it was only because he could relate better to a son, being him a man himself, and perhaps he was cautious how to approach her. But she just knew something was missing, and it probably had to do with their respective mothers and how each of them got to be born into their respective worlds.

That point gained support when Ego stood up, handing his plate to Gamora without looking at her, eyes fixed on Peter.

"Say we head out that way now?” Her father said, "Your associates are welcome, even that triangle-faced monkey there."

Rocket frowned, feeling his nose with his hands.

Then he turned to face both of them with something akin to awe to their faces.

"I promise you, it’s like no place you’ve ever seen. And there I can explain your very special heritage, and finally be the father I’ve always wanted to be."

Finally, Ego excused him to go answer nature's calling, leaving the group on their own again.

Gamora's eyes kept following him, even as he lost himself in the darkness, until Peter's voice brought her attention back, "You're not seriously buying that crap, are you?"

Gamora sighed, "I think we should take a walk."

The siblings walked to a more private stop among the trees, not too far away from the campfire, where they started discussing their next course of action, Gamora being the first one to express her willingness to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"Give me a break! After all this time, he just expects to be our father all of the sudden?! And you think we should go with him?"

"Peter, please listen to me," she said as she cupped his cheeks, "I'm not sure if we should trust him either, not with how conveniently everything is falling in place. But we can't turn our backs on this either, this could be an absolute turning point for us, we can..."

We can actually be siblings, she wanted to say.

Perhaps another reason to give that man a place in her lives would be to give Peter a taste of normality, of let him know what it meant to have a father when he never had a real one.

That was an irreplaceable role in the life of any child. One that was stolen from them, but mainly from Peter.

Both of them receiving that guidance again would be invaluable, he could even join their group and do a bigger good in the galaxy.

"For all we know it could be a trap" he said, backtracking from her touch, "the Kree purists, the Ravagers, now the Sovereign. We have too many enemies to risk it, Gamora."

"I know, but..."

"But what?"

"I lost my father, there are many things I forgot about my planet, about my family, but I remember his warmth, all the things he taught me, he was gruff and a little strict, but he had a golden heart, and whether he suspected I wasn't his blood daughter or not, I never doubted his love for me."

Peter looked at her, a swift moment of understanding seemed to dawn on him.

"Do you think I can have that with Ego?”

Gamora nodded, smiling.

“I want you to experience at last what it is like to have this. I miss that feeling every day.”

"I bet you do."

Gamora didn't miss the question hidden inside that statement, and she said,

"I want to experience that again. Ego will never replace the father that I always knew, but that doesn't mean I have to settle for one father in my life. I want to find once again that that was stolen from me,” Gamora said as she took his hands, in an echo of the day of the battle of Xandar, right before they thought they would plummet to their deaths. "From us."

For once, Peter didn't retreated his hands, but he did lower his head,

"You know, when I was on Earth, as a child I used to look at my classmates, seeing their fathers go to their school plays, play catch with them in the park, and I remember hating it, especially when they asked me questions about my father. So I started to carry a photography of a celebrity there named "David Hasselhoff", and told everyone he was my father but he was out of town shooting Knight Rider, touring with his band in Germany."

“Really? You never told me that.”

In fact, there were many things Peter never told her about. Only that his mother died on Earth due to a devastating disease and some details surrounding it, he seemed to focus too much on his life when it took a turn for the worst, while disclosing very little about the good things he had, his remaining connection to Earth that he expressed through his music that even she had come to enjoy, as well as the transmission he used to watch.

She could only hope with time, and with the help of a new father figure, he would begin to heal more and more about it.

"You say we don't have proof that he's telling the truth,” Gamora said, “but we don't have proof that he's lying either. And, Peter... I would hate for you to let go of a chance like this.”

It took only a couple moments of hesitation, and then Peter formed a ghost smile.

"Hm, I guess you're right, besides, if this guy turns out to be evil, we can just kill him."

Gamora smiled in return.

That day moved so fast, one moment they were discussing if they should even trust a word of what that man said, and the next one Gamora, Peter and Drax were already on his ship, right after saying goodbye to Groot and Rocket to watch over Nebula.

The whole trip was more or less okay, there was a weird vibe with so many bright, white colors, but that was just her father's style, Mantis told her.

The most interesting sight was looking inside one of the sleep chambers where Mantis was helping Ego lie down on a slab while placing her hand on his forehead as her antennae shined with a bright light, a way to help him drift to sleep it seemed.

Behind her, Peter saw it too, and when she looked at him, he made a face of distrust, and of course, Peter didn't wait to question Mantis about what he saw, asking about the purpose of her antennae, for a moment, it looked like he was about to turn it into an interrogation, but Mantis didn't seem to mind.

"I use them to feel emotions, and to alter them, to some extent.”

"How so?" Gamora asked with enthralled curiosity, interrupting any hostility that could be perceived from her brother.

"If I touch someone who is sad I can ease them into contentment, for a short while. I can make a stubborn person compliant. But I mostly use it to help my Master sleep."

"Why?" Asked Peter.

"He lies awake at night, thinking about his progeny."

That seemed to be enough to put rest to any concerns Peter might have.

***

Ego's planet was like nothing none of them have ever seen.

All of them, Peter included, were overwhelmed by transcendentally splendid surroundings, all the beautiful plants and flowing stuff surrounding them looked like a paradise that they always belonged to.

All constructions there were just as breathtaking. All of them seemed to have a purpose.

During a part of the trip, her brother started playing with some of the hues around there, he burst one of the materials floating towards him, and it divided into several, little ones that floated in all directions.

“You own a planet,” he said once they arrived to the place Ego promised to take them, “and can destroy two dozen spaceships without a suit. What are you, exactly?”

“I’m what is called a Celestial, son.”

That was enough to give both of them pause.

“A celestial… like a God?” she asked.

“Small “g”, sweetheart,” Ego replied, "at least on the days I’m feeling as humble as Drax.” he chuckled and walked inside enormous, golden doors that led to a place like a palace full of more statues and beautiful construction, and his claims about being a celestial became more and more believable.

They followed him to a capsule similar to the ship where he brought them there, but this one opened and created beautiful visuals that looked as real and alive as themselves.

With the help of those visuals, he explained in detail the very mystery of his origins. He had no idea how or when he started to gain conscience. It almost felt like a presence that shouldn’t have become self aware, but it did, and developed that state of mind until he created the very planet they were standing on.

Finally, he got to the part that both Peter and Gamora were dreading, the moment he conceived them both.

He spoke in a tender way how he loved Peter’s mother with all his might, and Peter understood the implications of that for Gamora.

But something in the casual way he expressed that felt… wrong. And despite herself, she asked him:

“Why not tell the story of how you met my mother.”

There was a small flicker of hesitation in his face, perhaps she caught him low-guard, perhaps it was regret, or even annoyance at her for bringing it up, but the next instant it was gone, and he explained just as casually:

“In my search for meaning, for a purpose, I looked for different people that caught my attention. And in a way I looked for something more, a challenge.”

“By that you mean a married woman?” she asked.

“I’m not proud of it, Gamora,” he admitted, she could feel Peter scoff at that. “But I can’t deny it either, as soon as I found out about you, I wanted you by my side as you were always meant to be. I looked for both, and when I heard of a duo, a brother and a sister, who together held an infinity stone without dying… I knew you were my two beloved children. One of them, the one who took the first step, the one of the woman I loved.”

Gamora huffed to the side, fortunately, no one seemed to notice.

No one except Peter.

Without breaking eye contact with Ego, he asked, “If you loved her, then why did you leave?”

When Ego was about to reply after a long pause, Peter interrupted him, “How can you expect me to believe in someone who pursued a taken woman right before going for my mother?”

Peter didn't say anything else, and he didn't need to, the hurt in his face spoke for itself.

He then ignored all of them and exited through the same doors. For a moment Gamora wanted to go for him, but considering his state, it was better if he thought things through on his own.

Chapter Text

Ego went to look for Peter in the main garden, leaving Gamora alone with Drax and Mantis. A part of her felt stung by that. Logically, she understood it was because she was still willing to listen to him and accept his words,, while Peter couldn’t even entertain the idea. Ego’s priority was having both his children reunited, it wouldn’t help if one stayed close while the other pulled away.

Besides, Peter clearly resembled him, even physically.

Gamora… not so much.

According to Drax, apparently, she looked more like Yondu. Maybe it was the similar skin tone that was only different by a few shades of yellow and the red on both their heads.

And maybe he hadn’t meant just appearances.

Gamora herself would admit that a big chunk of her personality and way of conducting herself was shaped by Yondu, and how wouldn't it? He pretty much forced her to adopt a hard shell if she wanted to survive in the middle of that ship with those bloodthirsty psychos that would have torn her to pieces if it wasn't for him establishing he had the maximum authority over her and her punishments, and then double down threatening her with something far worse than what the other crewmates were willing to do to her.

Why, oh why, would he take on such a heavy burden he clearly had no real investment in, and then lie about it? All those years he let her believe her whole family was dead and that he did her a huge favor by rescuing her from something even worse, and turns out she did have a family remaining that he kept her from her! And all to use her to enlarge his scores.

And to think through the months after she left him she started to warm up to their old memories together, even going as far as considering him something even remotely similar to…

To… something eerily, frighteningly, similar to…

"You're grieving," came a weak, shaky voice from behind her. "Beautiful memories, tainted by betrayal. Your stomach's churning too."

Gamora turned to see Mantis, her hand resting gently on Gamora’s shoulder. Her antennae glowing, and her expression mirrored the one Gamora would be wearing if she wasn’t keeping such tight control over her emotions.

Gamora scowled and yanked herself free.

"Quit that! Seriously, you're getting on my nerves."

That was enough to make Mantis bolt a little, and then she looked embarrassed.

“Sorry. I just wanted to make you feel better, I know how scary it can be the first time here.”

Gamora and Drax glanced at her for a brief moment, but she shook her head, she didn’t have time for that, she had to go and find Peter before he did something to shut Ego out completely and ruin the chances of finally getting the fatherly figure he deserved, out of fear of ending up hurting even more.

A part of her, however, told her to not interfere, it was clear Peter wouldn’t appreciate It; it was for her, after all, that he was on that planet with them at all, and he might be lenient with her in times like those, but he definitely didn’t like being pushed around.

Still, she had to at least act as a mediator in case the situation got out of control, or at least to do damage control with Ego.

As she tried to leave, however, Mantis spoke again to her back.

“Are you close to your brother?”

Gamora froze in place, and then turned around lifting an eyebrow, “What do you mean?”

Mantis now had a look of curiosity, but also of submission, that immediately rubbed her the wrong way.

“How was it?” she asked, barely above a whisper. “When you found out he was your brother, were you happy?”

For a moment she wanted to ignore the question, tried to, but on the other, that sole question brought to the front of her mind all the feelings that the revelation has caused and still is.

Out of the two, Peter was the least happy about it, and who was to say that the only reason he snapped her out of it was for the sake of the people on Xandar and potentially of the whole galaxy? After all, if Gamora stayed sulking on Yondu’s ship, without Peter's encouragement, who knew what would’ve happened.

Even in the prison, he found her presence repellent when she attempted to get close, he stayed with the group out of convenience, and only truly bonded with her over an experience they shared, only to be shattered by the discovery of being related through DNA.

“It felt… distressing.” Gamors said distantly.

“Oh… really?”

“It was revealed in a tense moment where it only did more harm than good. I'm sure Yondu would've kept it a secret if he didn't get weird ideas about Peter and I.”

After that, Gamora left, not Mantis nor Drax made an effort to follow her.

She walked through the beautiful gardens, and not long after, she found Ego, he was walking back to the place where she came from with his head low. Clearly things didn't go well with Peter, he probably didn't even let him talk.

So she approached him, perhaps she would have to make an effort herself to get closer, who was to say Ego even knew how to with a daughter, contrary to a son.

“He's already been very disappointed by a father figure in his life.” Gamora said. “He's not ready to accept a new one, but perhaps he will, with time.”

Ego looked at her with a sad smile, and Gamora offered him a reassuring one.

Then, Ego stepped closer.

“And what about you?” he asked.

Gamora was aware of the myriad of questions hidden beneath that simple one, and she had to tackle each one.

“I know my mother was just as responsible for her actions that led to… to me. But the thing is, I knew her, and I don’t know you, she stayed, and you didn’t. You left her all alone and… I don’t know if my father knew I wasn’t his, but he and my mother were very much distant in every memory I have of them, despite everyone saying they were completely in love before I was born.”

“It wasn’t my choice,” said Ego with a sad tone. “Your mother asked me to stay away and never look for her or you again, she promised me you both would be happier without me.. I respected her too much to disagree and take you from her, or her from the life she knew, to ruin the family she preferred to have.”

Well, that seemed truthful enough, and definitely something her mother would do.

What a bust that Thanos (or even Yondu) didn’t have the same respect for her.

After that silence, Ego spoke again.

“There are many things only I can teach you and your brother, if you just let me. Being celestials might give you the power to do incredible things, I tried asking my son, but he wouldn't even try."

“Well, perhaps I can. What sorts of things I could learn from you?”

“As of now, we can channel our celestial energy, you just have to put together your hands and try to channel that energy in them.”

A part of Gamora was skeptical about the whole thing, surely, if she or Peter possessed such abilities, they would’ve discovered them during their years alive, right?

But Ego did say it was an ability that had to be taught.

So, trusting for once, she did it, she put her hands together, leaving a spot inside them to harbor the energy.

Minutes passed, and she did feel a surge of… something, but at the same time it felt like nothing truly changed, and that Ego was getting impatient, perhaps even disappointed.

But suddenly, a blinding light sparked inside her hands, making Gamora flinch in surprise, but kept channeling that energy.

“Yes!” Ego cheered with energy, sighing in what seemed to be relief.

Gamora then met his eyes, smiling in exhilaration, and finally, she earned a look full of pride from the man in front of her, with the same fondness he so far reserved for Peter.

“There’s so much we need to discuss, my child. So much to learn, and to plan.”

And she believed him, after what she just witnessed, it was clear that having celestial ancestry could only improve both their lives. Peter would eventually come around and they could both figure out what they were capable of once and for all!

A part of her, though, brewed anger at the thought that she could’ve had that so much time before, she and Peter, at the same time. They would be growing in their father’s planet as little kids, being the siblings they were meant to be, away from Thanos’ or Yondu’s grasp, away from so much destruction, evil and trauma they both had to endure, and even worse, inflict, while being a little more than glorified hostages.

She wouldn't be dealing with so much coldness and indifference from Peter because of a relationship that exists and yet was never nurtured before, turning them into complete strangers at the eyes of the other.

She would never forgive Yondu for it, NEVER! He took that away from her, from both of them, just because he was an asshole who cared only about himself.

Ego could’ve protected them both from the Mad Titan much, much better than Yondu could ever, obviously. And his house was so far away that the former would’ve never find it.

Even knowing she and Peter were safe, the fear Yondu instilled in her kept crawling back at the back of her mind from time to time, especially during the sleepless nights. She had nightmares that one day Thanos would find her, would take Peter from her, and would destroy everything and everyone she held dear now. Entire planets and people she helped save, even former loved ones, especially since Drax wasn’t letting go of his personal vendetta against him, she had to be ready, they all had to, and the only way was to strengthen themselves as much as they could, as a family.

***

After talking for a long time with Ego near the fountain, Gamora planned to go to sleep and seek Peter in the morning, when his grievances regarding Ego had lessened and she wasn’t as tired just from learning the first thing about her half-celestial DNA with the help of Ego.

Ego had personally guided her to her room, a beautiful space he claimed to have designed just for her.

It had everything, a bed like a silken cloud, tapestries evoking her homeworld, and an open balcony view of a starlit horizon no one but her would appreciate. It should’ve felt special. But then her eyes landed on a small statue near the corner of the room, a little statue resembling Peter.

She figured the room was probably intended for him initially, but Peter must’ve rejected it.

Or maybe it was simply part of the décor, a thoughtful touch meant to complement the balcony’s beautiful view. She hadn’t hidden from him the fact that she sometimes felt neglected by Peter, and perhaps this was his quiet way of giving her something to soothe those feelings.

As she took in the first moments alone in that room, she strode to the balcony and smelled the fresh air, the opportunities to do that were almost non-existent with the new line of work she built with her friends.

For once, life seemed to offer her a moment of pure, true gentleness.

At least until a couple of hours later, when Peter knocked on her door and called her name. She answered without hesitation.

“Ah, Peter,” she said, relieved, inviting him to enter with her hand, “I was going to look for you. You have no idea what just happened, I managed to channel my celestial powers.”

“Oh.” Peter didn’t look particularly impressed, as if his mind was tangled elsewhere. “So that explains the sudden spark of energy I felt vibrating in the bones of my hands.” He said as he walked in, showing her his back.

Gamora blinked. “You felt it?”

He nodded, even when she couldn't see his face, he seemed distant.

It took a couple of moments, but he turned back to face her with a mix of curiosity and something bordering on rebuke, this was heightened by the way he crossed his arms.

“So you accepted him completely as your father, just like that?”

Oh, it looked like Peter's anger was still brewing.

She took a deep breath, and explained, “I know this is a difficult situation, but I have to make the best of it. And honestly, I think we’ve got a fair chance for our best-case scenario to become true. If we learn to master these powers, we might actually protect the galaxy from something even bigger. You know the kind of threat I mean, right?”

A flicker of something unreadable passed through Peter’s face. Her brother had become increasingly difficult to decipher, which made their interactions exhausting, frustrating.

This was exacerbated by the fact that he completely ignored her question, and said:

“There’s something seriously wrong about this place.”

That took her off-guard, and she asked:

“What?”

“I talked with Mantis while you and Ego were having your little chat. She seemed… off, like she wanted to tell us something about this place but got cold feet, and then, she started asking me weird questions.”

“What kind of questions?”

“Picture your annoying self back on Kyln when we first met, but double the nosiness.”

Gamora laughed inwardly.

“You did tell me almost everything about you, though. How much did she get out of you?”

“Oh, don’t worry. I learned my lesson the first time with you. No way I’m letting that happen again.”

Again?

She wasn’t sure if he was joking with that dark, cutting edge he sometimes used, or if he was subtly hinting at his feelings now. Trying to slowly, over the course of the time, build back distance among them.

“I think we should go back to Rocket and Groot,” he added, tense, “Come back once we know more about this place and about Ego.”

Something in the tone struck her. This wasn’t just suspicion in his voice. There was fear.

“What do you mean? I didn’t notice anything wrong with him,” she said, a trace of worry coloring her voice.

“In case you forgot,” Peter stepped closer, “he’s half the reason I ended up with Thanos. All the things that I endured, and worse, the ones I did, all were because he never bothered to truly look for me. Even when my face was all over the galaxy. Don’t you think it’s odd that he claims he couldn’t find us, when I was known everywhere as the favored son of the most murderous maniac of the whole galaxy?”

“Peter, even as a celestial, it would’ve been reckless to approach Thanos’s forces to take you. Especially if his life force depends on staying on this planet.”

“Oh, so he fed you the same line…”

“And maybe by the time he heard of you,” she continued, “he thought you were already too far gone. He wouldn’t have been the only one to think it. Maybe he waited for the right moment, once you were out of Thanos’s grip.”

"He had plenty of opportunities, it's not like Thanos was hovering over me all the time. There's just no good of an excuse to me, Gamora. I don’t know what kind of lessons Yondu taught you, but trusting someone like Ego this fast? That’s poor leadership.”

“Now you’re doubting my capabilities?” she asked, hoping the indignant tone didn’t come through.

But from the posture Peter took, a little more defensive, it definitely did.

“I’m warning you of a potential threat to our group. And all I get are excuses for someone who could still be lying to us. So, yeah, forgive me if I’m not exactly trusting your judgement right now.”

Gamora's jaw clenched, but she tried to keep her tone neutral.

“They’re not excuses. They’re logical guesses. Even if back then Ego had a window to get to you, maybe he feared rejection. And considering how hostile you’ve been since we got here, you’re not exactly proving him wrong.”

“So you’re just going to defend him? For what? To chase the delusions of a father that will never be the same that you lost?"

“You know it’s a delicate matter for me, I was denied twice the chance to truly enjoy the presence of a parental figure in my life, of my people in general. I'm sorry if for once I try to enjoy one of the little good things this universe is offering me.”

“You’re not the only one who’s been through that, and you know it.”

“Of course I know!” she snapped. “But if you can’t see what a gift this is, then don’t blame me for trying to hold onto it. He might be the only connection I have left after my people were wiped out.”

“So we’re not enough? Drax, Rocket, Groot, me, we meant nothing this whole time?”

“You know that’s not what I meant!”

“That’s what it sounds like.”

“Well!” she said sharply, “It’s not like you made much effort to nurture that bond in all this time, so don't act like I'm being the unreasonable one now . Every time I tried to get close, you shut me down. The only times you open up are when you’re drunk.”

That comment was what seemed to surprise Peter enough to lower his guard, but then he doubled down:

“Because I only ever drink with people I trust, and that’s a damn short list. I never drank with Nebula, who was probably the closest thing to a trusted ally I had. If you took the time to notice these things you would know just how much space I give you in my life. It's not my fault that you are too pushy."

Even if he was telling the truth, and if she regretted it, she couldn't stop herself from opening her mouth with something close to spite.

“Maybe that’s why Ego could be good for us. A real father figure to replace the ones who failed us.”

“I never had one in the first place, despite how much I came to care once about Thanos in my first years…" something close to vulnerability grew in his expression, and then turned around again, "I’m not ready to rewrite what everyone has meant to me.”

Then, he started walking away from her, towards the exit.

At any other point, Gamora would give him time for himself, but she couldn't let him go anymore without at least tying the loose ends of the day.

“Peter," she called, and surprisingly, he paused.

“If you don’t truly want to be my brother," she started, "if you just want to sever that connection, then tell me. Is that why you want to leave? Because now Ego is the physical manifestation of that uncomfortable truth? Do I really repel you so much?”

“Don’t be stupid,” he said with a new softness among the bitterness. “If you really disgusted me, you’d never have made it to Kyln alive.”

There again, his own brand of humor that sometimes put her at unease, “Ah, right.”

That probably should've been enough for her, Peter gave her as close of an answer as she could've gotten from him. So she went to her bed and sat at the edge of it, looking again at the window.

But then, she felt a new weight settling next to her, she didn't face him, sometimes it seemed like Peter was better expressing personal things when the scenario itself was less personal.

It took some time, but eventually, he spoke.

“I already have the family I need. Blood means less to me than connection. I don’t have space for anyone else at this point in my life, even if a blood connection shoves it in my face.”

Gamora nodded quietly, it wasn't the moment to reply, but to understand, especially now that she indirectly demanded such answer from him.

But a memory rose. One of the last times Peter got too drunk and overshared.

The day he was taken by Thanos, it was because Peter exited in a frenzy the hospital where he watched his mother die, unable to truly face the whole thing, trying to hide in denial.

And in that memory he shared, there were still people, Earth people, who tried to return him back to that reality, relatives, people who cared for him. People who right now were probably still grieving both their daughter and their grandson, aching to know what happened to him.

“And what about your family on Earth?" she asked, "Why haven’t you ever gone back to them?”

She expected a scoff. Instead, he looked down, voice softening again.

“Do you really think I could just show up and say, ‘Hey, I’m back. Your grandson turned into a mass murderer of millions. But I saved a fraction of that people too, so that evens it out, right?’_”

The hint of sadness, but also of longing was there, and something moved inside of her, an urgent need to now occupy the place of those people, not only in bond, but by trying to return him to reality, like she did the day he held that infinity stone.

“Well, if my people were still alive,” she said, tears prickling, "I would've definitely gone to them as soon as I became old and independent enough to do it," something again tightened her chest and had her letting out her tears again, "they would've understood, the half of the family I still had left. But... but it’s too late, they're all gone by the time I dared to search for them again, so please, Peter, I'm asking you to take the chance now that we have it. Or you might regret it forever, you don't know what that feels like."

Peter didn’t answer, but he did lay his hand on her shoulder, to give it a little pat. She responded by putting her own hand over his and returning the gesture.

It was ridiculous that the only way they could bond was through cracked, melancholic memories of the harm this universe had done to them, and barely anything good to share, if not for some banter, and Peter's music, their relationship would’ve shattered long ago.

One last time, against her expectations, Peter opened his mouth again after a drawn out silence.

“And what about Yondu?

“What about him?” she asked.

“You once said he was the closest thing to a family you had.”

"He was the one who took me from Ego, all of that is long gone now."

“Maybe he regretted it.”

Gamora arched her brow, “Now who’s making excuses for broken fathers?”

"It's just the way you two struck me, after I gave it a thought through all this time, ever since he laid eyes on you when we almost died, he looked concerned for just a brief moment, and then, instead of executing you on the spot or forcing his henchmen to do carry you to the room he would do it, he grabbed you by himself in areas that might not be painless, but also a far cry from where it would actually hurt you."

"Really?" she asked, not hiding her absolute refusal to believe that, other than with an edge of sarcastic humor.

"Besides," he continued, "he wasted too much breath, making too big a spectacle of punishing you, getting into a yelling match, almost like he was stalling, giving you as much time as he could so you would figure a way out. Nothing in the way he spoke or acted screamed like someone for whom you just were an asset, or even cargo."

After all that sank in, all the memories where Yondu took her to places he never showed to any other crewmate, other than maybe Kraglin.

And the times he seemed way too soft, only to harden again when another ravager came close...

Was it all that really worth losing?

“Maybe you’re right,” she said at last.

Peter nodded, then gave her a rough side-hug before heading off.

As she nestled under her sheet, more memories that weren't so unpleasant surfaced, especially from the moment Peter referenced, when Yondu confronted her.

Even after everything, he checked up on her and tried to drive her away from forming a way too close relationship to Peter, still attempting to keep the truth buried, shielding her from the emotional minefield of discovering her blood tie to him, and by extension, of her mother’s murky choices. He might have kept it secret forever, had Gamora not cornered him with the threat of actively seeking Peter out in that way just to contradict him.

Ugh. The memory still sent a shiver down her spine. Thank the stars Yondu had some scruples despite his own history.

Very well, Peter was right, despite how offended and hurt she felt, she probably should message Yondu to ask all about it, a quick "I know about Ego, you owe me another explanation", and if he refused, blocked her, or the most realistic option, flared up for the little trick she pulled on him with the empty orb...

Well, at least she would have the confirmation of his flawed character and she could happily blame him for everything that went wrong in her life, including her crappy decisions of the present and the events of the future he would've never been able to predict, much less prevent now that he was absent from her life.

With that extra calmness brought by her own brother, Gamora finally drifted into sleep.

Chapter Text

As much as Peter wanted to, he couldn't stay in that room, in that space that Ego made for him.

He had set it up too perfectly, his music already waiting on a turntable, like some twisted attempt at nostalgia, and Peter didn't buy it at all, it was like Ego was trying to mold the past into something convenient. Too cloying, so much so that he had to leave.

So he did. Slipping out of the building, away from where Gamora and Drax were asleep, he just kept walking. The landscape unfolded the farther he went, the only things that didn't change were the stars, shimmered unnaturally above, lights painting the sky like a dream too vivid to be real. And for a second, he saw what Gamora had seen in it. A pull, peace, something close to home she could never have, even before Thanos turned her life upside down.

Shoving away that thought, he kept going until a jagged ditch carved a stop into the ground, too wide to cross. So he decided to settle there, to lay down on the ground, looking at that sky, and make that place his bed, he'd slept in worst places after all, but the music coming from his headphones made the rocky place felt like the softest pillow in the world.

He woke up several times during that night, trying to make sense of the words Gamora said to him, but as much as he tried, nothing could convince him of trusting that living planet even remotely, how did he enchanted Gamora, he truly couldn’t tell.

But he didn't fool him.

Peter had been watching Ego from the moment they met, and Ego had definitely been watching too, but not with the awe or curiosity that would come from being reunited with a long-lost son.

Contrary to the first time he actually spoke with Gamora in Kyln, and then after the Centaurian revealed the truth to them, there was no warmth in his stare, no hesitation, no faltering joy, no stifled tears, not even awkwardness.

His mother, once when he was little, screamed bloody murder after Peter got lost for a few minutes in a selling market, and cried in relief when she found him again, hugging him and kissing him, and that was just after a few minutes missing him.

With Ego, there was no regret or sadness over all the time that Peter and Gamora spent away from him, or about his chances missed, in fact, he looked at both of them like something he was heavily invested into, as if Peter was something to be measured, studied, appraised, like a long-lost artifact finally recovered and now under assessment for condition and value.

He never once asked them about their lives until they brought it up, he didn't seem touched, or concerned, or distressed about even just the thought of what had they gone through, who had they become in his absence. No apologies for not being there, even if it wasn't his fault in mere technicality.

Granted, Peter wasn’t exactly qualified to define what made a good father, not after Thanos had distorted that image beyond repair, but he’d learned enough under him to recognize a bad one when he saw it.

Ego clearly came with an agenda, not to fit into their lives. He came to reshape theirs around his. And he expected that to be enough.

That's what Gamora refused to see, too enamoured with the idea of living in the past and not in the present with him and their friends.

Now, Peter wouldn't say he didn't drift in the past too, at times, but he never allowed himself to sink into it too deep, just enough to give his reality a spark of hope that things one day would be as good as they were before, learning to hold dear those memories with love and not with regret or nostalgia, so he would have the courage to fight for a better present.

But perhaps what Gamora meant was that he wasn't fighting enough.

'It’s not like you made much effort to nurture that bond in all this time'

So what did she want, exactly? For them to hold hands and jump around? Had she really forgotten all the times he went out of his way to teach her skills she’d definitely need, things she once claimed to want? Or those quiet moments when he let her in, shared his music, the one piece of himself he didn’t offer lightly?

He even taught her to dance! And despite her complaining that it was no use, she sure seemed to have a lot of fun during it.

And now, after all this time, she still had the audacity to think he was the one putting distance between them. Even after the silent promise they shared when they almost died holding that cursed stone together.

"Damn it..." he murmured.

Could there be something wrong with him?

Why would he even ask that? The answer was obvious, but a long time would pass before he could figure it out, for now, he had to rest just a tiny bit, and enjoy for once what was around him. The fresh air, the warm caress of the sun on his skin, and the new silence after he crushed a couple of weeds that made an annoying noise.

That silence, however, didn’t last longer than a couple of minutes, as a faint, rhythmic hum, like a distant whisper threading through the stillness, bled into the quiet.

He turned, eyes scanning the sky for the source. The hum grew steadily clearer, until the shape of a ship emerged from the sky.

A ship coming straight at him.

Peter jumped and ran as fast as he could from it, looking for a way to avoid its line of sight, but when the ship got close enough, he recognized immediately the holler inside it and the reckless maneuver, Nebula, dammit!

Peter bolted the instant he saw the ship descend. No plan, no grace, just raw instinct kicking in, zigzagging as much as he could, speeding even more as the roar of the ship’s engines grew louder, eyes fixed on reaching the ditch as chunks from the ground blew all around him.

Finally, Peter reached the ditch and leaped into it, landing with a painful thud as the deafening sound of the ship flew right above him.

"You little...!"

Peter saw the ship banking hard and swinging back toward him. Without hesitation, he sprang to his feet and tore along the hillside, gunfire erupting behind him. His breath hitched as dirt and debris exploded at his heels even stronger than before, then he spotted it: a dark opening carved into the slope ahead.

A cavern.

He dove in it, running down the cavern, not resisting anymore the need to glance back over his shoulder, finding that Nebula, still driving like she absolutely lost her mind, continued flying towards him, going as far as entering the freaking cavern, despite knowing very well it was too small for it and would destroy that ship.

And it did, he didn't see it, but he heard and could perfectly visualize the cave ripping its wings apart, he just had to run further, further, further, outrunning those blasters.

Good thing Nebula always had a crappy aim.

The blasts tore the ground apart beneath Peter’s feet, sending him crashing through one level, then another, before slamming hard into the floor below.

For a second, he truly thought that was it, but he wasn’t out yet. Debris rained down after him, pieces of the ship smashing along the cave and crashing into the far wall in a thunderous, metal screech.

This was it. His opening.

Frantically scanning the wreckage, he spotted a massive blaster, one of the ship’s, still latched to an ammo rig.

He grunted, shoved through the pain, and summoned every bit of strength he had, lifting the blaster onto his shoulder with a growl that echoed through the cavern, Peter opened fire.

Sparks tore across the wreckage. The ship's front buckled under the assault, erupted in flame, and dropped to a lower cavern level in a blazing collapse. Peter reached the edge just in time to witness the final burst of his handiwork, blooming in fire and smoke.

That should’ve been it. A satisfying end, a surge of relief at the thought that she wouldn't be getting to him anymore.

But she did.

Not with strength, because she had none left, but with her screams, her ragged breathing, the desperate noise of someone clawing for life.

She was a wreck. Just like always.

He heard her gasping, choking, and it snapped something in him that had him charging into the flaming remains, he tore through scorched metal, pried apart what he could, clawed through the wreck until he carved a way to her. Then, with no ceremony, no hesitation, he hauled her out of the wreck.

And before he had the opportunity to toss her to safer ground, an explosion threw them backwards.

Shit!

Everything blurred for a moment, then the next one he was lying next to Nebula, not bothering anymore to keep his guard up, too annoyed and feeling rather disgraced by what he’d just done.

Because just when he’d convinced himself she didn’t matter anymore, he found the truth in his hands, in his own coughs, but worse, in the ones next to him that shouldn't have been there in the first place.

No matter what, he was still tethered to her. Even now, he couldn’t help but look after her, even when his lungs were the ones suffering the most, even when Nebula was easily healing herself back, cracking into place, while he had to deal with any injuries the explosion did to him.

That should’ve been all, after all, Nebula also knew when to call things off, when to draw a tie.

Dumb he was for forgetting this was Nebula, not Gamora. As she immediately hollered back and attacked him again, managing to get on top of him and grab him by the neck.

“Are you fucking kidding me!?” he snapped under her.

Well, no more Mr. Hero, it was over, he slammed her arm and started fighting her back with the same energy he did during their last confrontation in Ronan’s ship, and yet he didn’t feel with nearly the same rage and determination he had back then.

Perhaps all that time around his new friends, his new family softened him, and as such, Nebula finally managed to get the upper hand, managing to steal his blaster, pin him again with one hand and hovering over him, charging it, ready to pull the trigger.

Just… just do it then. He told her with a single stare, while his instincts still had him trying to set himself free, and feeling his grip falter and his brain get dizzier each second.

He didn’t even had the courage to look her in the eye and see her smug satisfaction, so he turned his head to the side, trying to stay awake through the grip.

But it took too long.

So much so that he barely heard the frustrated shout of Nebula before feeling the grip on his throat disappear, a fit of cough was the only thing he could do to slowly regain his clear thoughts and the air taken from his lungs.

He didn’t need to see her to know Nebula was hovering over him, watching his struggle to cough some oxygen.

“I win,” she declared.

When his mind cleared itself a little he propped himself up on one elbow to get a better look at her, “I win. I bested you in combat.”

With a raspy voice, he retorted, “Uh, no, I just spared your life, I…”

“You were stupid enough to let me live so…”

“You just did the same, idiot!” he snapped, “How can you say…?”

“I win, Quill!”

Great, now she looked like a spoiled child who would threaten to stop breathing, he so didn’t have time for another fit from a sister who thinks she knows best.

“Look, I just don’t have the time to deal with this nonsense now, my day has been crappy enough before you even arrived, I don’t need to…”

“ I don’t need you always trying to beat me,” she interrupted.

That was enough to send him over the edge.

“WHAT!?” he shouted in disbelief, then in an almost mocking tone he said, “I’m sorry, maybe I’ve been thrown in a world where everything is backwards, but who was the one who took a spaceship from who knows where and flew all the way across the universe just because that creature wanted to win a stupid prize.”

“Don’t tell me what I want!”

“As if I need to tell you, you just made it pretty obvious, you…”

“YOU WERE THE ONE WHO WANTED TO WIN, I JUST WANTED A BROTHER!”

Every retort, every other snark he could direct back at her died in his tongue at the seriousness and desperation that Nebula uttered those words, and then the shame in which she stared at the ground.

Lying was the one thing they were never good at, and that’s what struck the hardest, the impossibility to brush that off as an attempt to get the upper hand again.

"You were all I had," she said, softening her tone to a degree he never heard before, or at least not that he ever remembered, "I knew it from the moment I met you, I didn’t want to be left alone again, to let him destroy you, so I let you win the first times we were put against each other…"

What? Was this some kind of joke?

"Sure you did, and not even once thought of making a draw instead?"

"No," she spitted, venom leaking again in each word, "because then father’s little Starlord got all the enhancements he could ever dream of, and instead of returning the favor now that you were the stronger one, you got drunk with power and took every chance to win, you always needed to win."

That couldn’t be true, it could not, every single fight he won fair and square.

There’s no way Nebula would’ve let him win the first times, why would she do that for a stranger she just met?

That was until he remembered, he took a look at his pocket where his walkman was.

Destroyed.

He could repair it as he did many times before, sure, but the pieces of it brought a memory of the first time Corvus destroyed it when he had just a few weeks of being brought to Thanos' ship, Nebula was already around, but she seemed younger than him.

That day, after the pieces of his walkman were thrown at his feet, Peter shouted and screamed at the top of his lungs, lunging at that monster.

By then Peter had already realized the nightmare he was thrown into, how little tolerance was there for anything even remotely similar to insubordination, and the absolute torture he submitted everyone to when they didn't fall in line, and yet those words couldn't do justice to all the stuff he went through that day under the black order and Thanos.

Later in that dreadful night, when he was still connected to several machines, and being fed from a tube, Nebula came to him with the device in her hands, sloppily glued together again, whispering so low that she was definitely going at everyone's backs. She told him she would give it back to him if he told her what it was and how to use it, probably thinking it was a weapon to escape from there, or a device that enhanced him, she probably noticed that after hearing it, Peter would improve his humor and do better during the first trainings.

But after Peter explained its purpose and tried to introduce her to the best music she would ever hear in her entire life, she just scoffed, calling him a name in her language that was the equivalent of a loser, the pathetic type, and just warned him to keep it hidden.

Then, in their first fight together a few days after that, she seemed about to defeat him, but when Peter grabbed her hand, suddenly it was like her strength failed her, and he managed to overpower her, claiming victory for himself in front of Thanos and their other siblings.

That happened several times during their first weeks together, and yet…

How could he never notice?

"Nebula," Peter said, softening his tone, "you never told me… you never asked me to..."

"I shouldn’t have!" she exclaimed, then her stare turned sharp, but something hurt was in it too, "You should’ve known from the moment Thanos pulled my eye from my head, and my brain from my skull, and my arm from my body…"

Nebula interrupted herself, lowering her head as though everything had come together too quickly for her to process. Her voice dropped as she spoke, eyes locked on the ground.

"And even then, I still thought I meant something minimal to you, only to realize none of that mattered because you replaced me with that… Zen-Whoberian."

So that was what had been bothering her all along?

Even after they'd parted ways completely and cut each other off, she still held on to some of their shared memories.

Only a monster would look back on those and treat them like they meant nothing. Peter had always believed she was the one who’d changed, who took the turn for the worst. But now, seeing her this honest and vulnerable...

He had played a part in it, without ever realizing it.

That’s what Gamora had been referring to, then.

Maybe Gamora didn’t understand his way of showing affection, but if Nebula, someone who had known him for years, didn’t either, then the fault was probably with him.

So, one last time, he extended an olive branch, and with it, the whole hand that held it.

"The years I grew with you as a child," he said, "are something I will never have with Gamora, not anytime soon. Or ever, for that matter. Those are years that, for better or for worse, I can never have back or rewrite."

Not when his inner child had died, and Nebula had been there to witness it, to mourn it in her own way. To be his only anchor in every disgrace.

That was when their relationship began to break, when he started to take her for granted. And yet, despite the resentment Nebula carried all those years, she never abandoned him like he had abandoned her.

He didn’t regret that choice, not one bit. That choice was the only thin strand keeping him from falling into the kind of darkness that no one, not even his mother, could have forgiven. Nebula should’ve known that.

And perhaps she did. But in that moment, all she had felt was that her brother was leaving her behind, abandoning her to Thanos, who would only tighten his grip, scrutinizing her for signs of disloyalty, as she had always been the one standing closest behind Peter.

He wouldn’t have grown up to care about anything, or anyone, if it hadn’t been for Nebula. Even if just a little, she had lightened those days.

They were truly damaged, and the wreckage beside them served as physical proof of the destruction embedded in them, of the hatred, the pain, and the resentment.

"Yes, that’s true," Nebula said, letting the weight of defeat creep back into her tone. "But considering how little you could stand each other, I’d say she already has a pretty good idea: getting used to the version of you that walks all over those beneath you and gives nothing nearly of equal value in return."

That was the answer he had been looking for.

That was how Gamora saw him.

If she asked for more, it was because giving in was her form of bonding, her way of offering trust. And the familiarity Peter showed her, that was what she read as him opening up. Only for him to shut that door in her face every time he stepped back.

Asking too much and giving nothing in return. Taking them for granted. Assuming that what he gave was enough, because it would be enough for him, feeling superior...

"Perhaps you’re right," he said.

He needed to find Gamora, to set things straight. To compromise, or at the very least, to explain himself. That was the least she deserved.

She wanted to trust him, as she trusted all their friends. But he had stayed shut, buried in the shadows of his past, and ignoring them at the same time, to a point that Gamora saw no parting point among them.

He had to undo all that too, somehow, but how?

"Let’s just get out of here," Nebula said.

Well, one thing at a time.

"Right," Peter replied, glancing up toward the level they had fallen from. It was too high to reach, the ship wrecked beyond repair. They were stuck.

"Any idea how?" she asked.

He turned, scanning the area. The cavern stretched into a dark tunnel, winding further into the planet. He moved toward it, but Nebula caught his arm.

"We’ll get lost going in deeper," she warned.

Peter scoffed again, “Well, if Ego’s money is where he puts his mouth regarding the wonders of this planet, this tunnel should take us to another exit.”

He stepped forward, and Nebula followed.

As they walked, brushing dust and grime from their faces, stretching their aching limbs, something glimmered ahead, small, but sharp enough to stand out in the dim.

It wasn’t daylight. The closer they got, the more it became clear: this was a light coming from within, phosphorescent.

"What’s that?" Peter asked. Nebula didn’t answer, but followed cautiously, drawing her blade.

The glow grew harsh, nearly blinding the deeper they went.

Peter almost wished it had blinded him completely.

For a moment, Peter wished it had, because what he saw inside that cave mirrored the nightmares they had endured for years, only now intensified beyond recognition, amplified to a scale his mind struggled to grasp.

"Holy shit," Peter breathed. "No way, there’s no way…!"

The sight that greeted them was made of piles and piles of skeletons of various species, thousands of them, seeming to go on forever in that place that looked like an abyss in the form of a wider tunnel.

"I knew something was wrong here!" Peter shouted.

"We need to get off this planet." Nebula agreed, as she started sprinting back where they came from.

"Not without Gamora and Drax," Peter said, stepping in front of her, blocking her path. His voice was resolute, his eyes locking with hers again.

Nebula's jaw clenched, but didn't back down, "Don’t be stupid, Quill. They can’t help. None of them know what you got yourselves into."

Jesus, as much as he wished to retort, he had to admit she was right.

He was in too deep. Whoever Ego truly was, he wasn’t the benevolent father figure he pretended to be. Nothing could excuse what they had just witnessed.

Peter’s chest tightened with dread, then flared into anger. That damned celestial was probably whispering more poison into Gamora’s ears. touching her shoulder, her face, her red hair, saying just the right things to crack her foundations.

If he didn’t make it back in time, those lies would break her. A violent surge of heat pulsed through him and exploded from his hands in a flare of energy.

Nebula flinched and stepped back instinctively, eyes narrowing but clearly caught off guard. Her stance shifted subtly, more alert, more cautious.

As the energy faded, Peter forced himself to lower his hands, steadying his breath.

"Not them," he said. "But I know who does."

That Insectoid had known something. She’d tried to warn them, her nervous glances, her too-specific interest in his and Gamora’s bond. Peter had brushed it off then, but now it was obvious: she was gathering intel for someone. She had a reason to be scared.

And she didn’t speak up when it mattered most.

If something happened to Gamora or Drax... he wouldn't forgive her. Not ever. She was in it as much as that living planet was.

He sprinted again, feet pounding the ground harder than before, urgency tearing through his veins.

Chapter Text

Morning light crept across Gamora’s face, pulling her from her sleep. She blinked at the ceiling a moment before rising and stepping into the corridor, where Drax, along with Mantis, were already waiting.

“Do any of you know where is Peter?” she asked, voice still husky with sleep.

Drax mentioned he never saw him come back.

Her usual instinct kicked in, go after him, drag him home if she had to. But this time, she didn’t move. The silence stretched between them, and for once, she decided it was best to let it be.

What was the point anymore?

After breakfast, she tried contacting Rocket, but no reply came from him either, though that shouldn’t surprise her either, that little raccoon could hold petty grudges against her that lasted weeks.

“What if the Sovereigns caught him by now?” asked Drax, and for a moment real worry came over Gamora, but she let it go immediately, Rocket would easily get rid of all of them now that he was waiting for them, and if any issues arose on the planet where her ship was, her father would’ve told her, he seemed to have a special connection to track those things.

When they encountered Mantis, she asked once again for Peter, and was only told that Ego “felt” him resting on the other side of the planet.

Alright, if that helped him relax, it was fine by her. After asking Mantis where her father was, Mantis actually told her he was resting too and that he would find her later that night, advising her to enjoy the views of the planet and relax, because he had a surprise planned for her and needed time. The whole promise made a bit of excitement flare in her, and being honest, it also left her kind of impatient, but when Mantis and Drax offered her to hang out with them, she gently refused, saying she had something to do.

She returned to the main garden, letting the soft splash of fountains guide her steps, and before long she found herself once more at the base of the statue, Peter’s mother. If the carvings truly did her justice, then it was no wonder that this woman had been a beacon of life.

Maybe she still was. Maybe, like she had done for Peter when he felt small or broken, she could guide Gamora now, when she felt nothing at all.

Lowering herself at its feet, she sat in silence, and with a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding, Gamora activated the communicator, sending to Yondu the text where she explained as short as she could that she knew the full truth, and telling him where she was now.

But at the end, she didn’t demand explanations, she pleaded for them, told him she was giving him one last chance to prove he wasn’t the monster all fingers now pointed at him to be.
But nothing, not a transmission, or a text back, all was static. The silence wasn’t loud, but it was hollow.

It shouldn’t have hurt. Yondu should’ve been by now a part of a life to outgrow. And yet, the absence struck worse than she expected, like she was losing him again, only this time with no one to blame.
For a moment, that made her breath catch.

Maybe it stung more because of how different things used to be. Back then, during her time as a Ravager, Yondu replied to her messages almost absurdly fast, so long as they were short, direct, and business-related. But most of Gamora’s weren’t like that. Her messages always stretched themselves to walls of texts, no matter how hard she tried, she always had something else to say.

She would write them late at night or in the quiet between her first tasks and then early little missions, delving into how tired, irritated, restless she felt. Most were nonsense: long rants about irritating crew members, lack of hygiene all around, Others stealing her stuff, strange planets, ration packs that tasted like wet dust. Yondu constantly complained. Said he deleted them the second he saw how long they were. Said she was wasting memory space with “pointless rambling.”
And she believed him. Fully.

That made those messages safe.

So, when she was angry, angry like… truly seething, she vented into them. And when she was desperate to say something she didn’t know how to say aloud, she buried it there. Between lines about thruster diagnostics and moldy laundry. Sometimes as catharsis. Sometimes as a calculated weapon if he ever complained she was keeping things from him:

What?! She would’ve said, I didn’t keep nothing from you, it was all there in the texts I sent you! It’s not my fault you decided to never read them

And she truly, never thought he actually did.

Not until she found out in the most humiliating way possible, after she already spent a few good years as an official Ravager and transitioning into adulthood.

After a particularly grueling mission, Yondu had taken the whole crew to the Iron Lotus to blow off steam. And it was there that Gamora finally had her first intimate experience with a man. A local Contraxian.

She’d been nervous. Not ashamed, but... cautious. She didn’t want the whole crew knowing. Especially not Yondu. So she did what she always did, she hid it.

The day after, when they were all back onto the ship, still jittery from it all, she let out the confession between a rambling debrief about the mission, three paragraphs in. Just one line:

By the way, I finally slept with someone. A Contraxian. Did you know most of them don’t even like going to the Iron Lotus? And then buried it again in longer text walls where she went over the same boring points Yondu would delete on sight, over and over until she ran out of sentences and her fingers ached.

Not even five minutes after she sent that lengthy message, Yondu summoned her to the bridge.

He wasn’t amused. Not one damn bit, to that day she still remembered the harsh grip on her arm and their conversation that day:

“Do you want to get yourself kidnapped, huh!?” Yondu said to her face, “That’s exactly how traffickers snatch girls like ya’. And the last survivor of a dead species? Kid, you have no idea what some people would pay for that.”

“My people aren’t dead!” Gamora shot back, trying to push away with her feet and failing, her hair falling messily across her face, and yet useless as a shield from that nasty sight. “And I didn’t just ‘disappear.’ I told Kraglin where I was going and what I would be doing.”

“Oh, don’ worry. He’ll get what’s coming too.”

“Yondu, no!” she said, her voice caught somewhere between a plea and a demand. “Listen. I just… I needed to know what that felt like. Just once. That’s all. Now I do, and it’s really not a big deal.” She lifted her hands in a placating gesture. “I was careful. I promise.”

“I hope so, girl,” he growled, eyes narrowing. “Because if this lil’ escapade of yours ends up with another mouth to feed aboard this ship…”

“Of course not!” she snapped, cheeks flushing.

At that, Yondu abruptly let her go. She let herself collapse into a sitting position on the floor, watching as he sank into his chair and turned his back to her.

His furious tone faded into something calmer, though no less severe.

“Out of all the creatures in the galaxy,” he muttered, “ya’ picked a Contraxian? What the hell kinda taste is that?”

Trying to reclaim a bit of her dignity, she stood and brushed the dirt off her clothes. “Considering the guys I see on a daily basis, my standards aren’t exactly set high.”

He grunted, and she could tell a pessimistic, amused grin was forming. “Yeah, guess that’s true.”

Then, quieter, still firm, he said, “And Gamora… if you ever think about pulling something like this again, you better report it to me first. That understood?”

She scoffed. “I’d rather go celibate for the rest of my life.”

“Good!”

And that should have been the end of it.

But it wasn’t.

Because a couple of months later, she did it again.

And this time, when she and her second partner stepped out of the room, Yondu was already there, waiting, hands planted firmly on his hips like the galaxy’s most judgmental statue, the same one he wore when he rescued her and Peter from the outer rim of Knowhere before they got frostbitten by the space.

After that second encounter back then, everything changed.

It became a strange, uncomfortable age for her, those in-between years where Yondu suddenly thought he had the right to insert himself into her personal life. Not just once. Not even just sternly. He acted like every glance, every laugh, every fleeting crush had to pass through him. If she breathed too close to someone, he had to stick his nose in it.

And when she finally let her guard down and crossed paths with a real trafficker, someone slick-tongued and smooth-faced, and Yondu had to step in, he clung to it like a lifelong told you so and didn’t let her hear the end of it for months. He brought it up at breakfast, in front of the crew, in casual conversation, like it was a lesson she needed tattooed behind her eyes.

So she did what any self-respecting, furious, cornered girl would do. Double down.

The next one she picked wasn’t subtle. He was a Kree, sharp smile, sharp stare, predatory from the moment they met. He didn’t wait for her to be completely vulnerable to show his hand. Didn't even bother pretending.

So she did what she had to.

By the time Yondu kicked the door down, the Kree was separated from his only worthy weapon, both on the floor, him crying and curled up. Now she was the one resting her blue-splattered hands on her hips, making eye-contact with the Centaurian.

“There,” she said, nodding towards it, “A token. In case you’re still worried about what I can handle.”

His expression was still very present in her memory, it was the first time she impressed him, and she wouldn’t let that go. Such a memory brought a smile to her face right at that moment, only to disappear when minutes passed and there was still no answer from him.

She sighed. After that particular event where she proved herself, her relationship with Yondu stayed more or less the same, but there was a new ease to it, something unspoken that made things flow a little better between them. A couple more “wonderful” years followed, until the rest of the Ravagers, and even Kraglin, began to notice, and worse, to resent it.

Part of her always tried to blame the crew for forcing Yondu to go back to being the old, crueler self she had met on her first day aboard and now without any exception for her for being just a child. But at the same time, she couldn’t entirely blame them. It was true, he did treat her differently. If she were in their place, she probably would’ve complained too.

She had almost done the exact same thing just the day before, with her own brother.

Her second sigh came out heavier, dragged down by a quiet groan. There were better things to fill her head with. She had an entire paradise around her now, and a warm, attentive father who treated her gently and wasn’t under a constant social threat nor had any though image to keep up in front of people under his charge, and yet, here she was, sitting there in the quiet, sulking, chasing the past.

It would take way, way longer than she thought to truly put Yondu past her.

To distract herself, she went back home, hoping Peter had returned.

He didn’t, she passed next to Drax’s room, where he was clearly sleeping now, until she reached Peter’s room, she entered, but it was empty, his bed still perfectly tucked from the lack of use.

The furniture looked oddly similar to her own room, and it surprised her to realize his room was roughly the same size and length as hers, almost replicated, the only difference standing out being a brand new device on the little seats next to the window.

She didn’t remember the name, but Peter did teach her how to use it. And when she touched it to see if she could activate it, soft, energetic melodies emerged from it.

So she sat to listen to them, in an attempt to get to know the mind of her brother a little better, perhaps there she could find the answer when not long ago she ignored it thanks to how enthusiastic Peter could get when he really got into them.

She wouldn’t deny that many of those songs were enjoyable, but dancing to them was a completely different thing. She was used to her crewmates and Yondu to cheer and bob at the rhythm of some of the songs they got from Xandar, mainly, but actual dancing was a completely different concept to her. Though that had much more to do with her not taking a particular liking to pleasant sounds, and focusing more on pleasant visuals all her life.

So she stayed there, trying to visualize all the images that those lyrics evoked, but some of them were too confusing, not helped by the fact that her translator several times mispronounced or left some of them blank. Other times they didn’t have a translation and just were said directly.

Perhaps Peter could teach her more when he came back.

She almost thought he did when she heard someone entering, but instead of Peter, it was her father. So her smile faded a little.

“You all right?” he asked her.

“Yes, sorry, I was just expecting by then Peter would’ve come back. I really thought he would come around.”

“Ah, yes,” he said, “me too. I have no idea where he could be right now.”

Gamora perked up her head upon hearing that, “What do you mean? Can’t you feel his energy now?”

“Not right now, I can’t. I admit that has me a little concerned, but I trust my son as much as you do. He will be fine wherever he is. I like his spirit, to be honest, even if I don’t understand it.”

Gamora could tell that the last part was a little dishonest, but he probably said it for her own benefit, so she just smiled.

“I think so too.”

The room fell silent again, being filled by the music playing currently.

“It’s fortuitous,” he said, stepping closer and looking at the device playing it, “you’re listening to this song.”

Gamora nodded, “I always had trouble understanding these, and honestly Peter also has trouble explaining them to me. The lyrics should mean something, but… so far I don't get much out of them. To me, the true magic comes from the tune, the melody, the rhythm. Peter taught me to dance to them, it was after all a dance that saved us from Ronan.”

“Perhaps I can help,” Ego said, sitting beside her, “in this song in particular, the three of us are the sailor.”

Then, while looking at her directly, he started echoing the lyrics of the song:

“_’He came on a summer’s day, bringing gifts from far away’ like the two children I had, that your mother, and Peter’s gave me, as well as the connection and meaning you brought to him, that at the end, led to me finding both of you, the freedom you gave him, the second chance.”

She wanted to feel flattered, openly loved and praised, damn well she needed it, but she also couldn’t take the glory for Peter’s accomplishments or even the credit for bringing them to fruition.

“I don’t think it was all me,” she admitted, putting a hair behind her ear, “I mean, Peter did run away, he was always going to do the right thing, but then, my selfish desires almost made us lost everything, had it not been for Yondu deciding to spare me, and to help me, risking the wrath of his whole ship, his whole line of work of years…”

Before she could continue, deepening the invisible scar in her chest, Ego said,

“He was a selfish creature, you said it yourself, he terrorized you, kept you away from me. With his sloppiness he caused me to lose Peter too. Didn’t you say he was still hunting you because of the infinity stone you stole from him?”

A new, unknown, wild part of her flared, like a weird protectiveness she still felt towards Yondu. But the rational part of her realized he was right, it was of no use to contradict him on that one when he was just telling the truth as it was.

But she didn’t want to admit it either, much less ignore it, so she settled to set straight facts, while lowering her head so her father couldn’t spot her true feelings at that moment.

“He didn’t reply to my message.”

“Of course not,” he said, suddenly putting a hand over her shoulder, “you are now surrounded by the protection of your true family. Me and your brother, who I have no doubt will come around, somehow.”

Gamora chuckled, “I think we will be waiting for a long time, I’ll be dead by the time he does.”

At that, Ego hardened his touch a little, and let her go.

“You won’t,” he said, “and neither will he, Death will remain a stranger to the three of us as long as the light burns within the planet.”

Her heart for some reason thumped stronger, almost like a knot settled in her throat after such a revelation. Like her father had dropped the whole knowledge of the universe on her.

And yet, she could only utter a simple reply,

“Really? Are you serious,”

Ego smiled warmly and nodded, “As long as the light exists, so you see, there’s time enough for that. Millions of years for you two to outgrow and make up, live with each other, the three of us here, and fulfill our bigger purpose beyond everything you’ve ever known.”

Gamora couldn’t help turning around and walking towards the window to stare at it, imagining just in that short time all the possibilities, all the chances, the limits she could surpass with the people she loved.

“So…” she said, “we will be able to make the light we did, and so much more?”

Ego then put his arm around her, and then held her arm gently to look her in the eyes.

“You will. However It is a tremendous responsibility, Gamora. Only we can remake the universe. Only we can take the bridle of the cosmos and lead it where it needs to go.”

“How so?” she asked.

Ego didn’t speak. He simply raised his hand, fingers outstretched, and summoned a soft flame of white cosmic light.

Gamora understood.

She lifted her hand to mirror his, her fingers aligning with his height. A smaller flame bloomed at her fingertips, but she focused, letting it grow.

Then, with a flicker of control, she reached across the space between them and reignited the flame in his hand.

And this time, she matched him, light for light, hand to hand.

More than satisfied and swelling in pride, he told her with something new in his voice she couldn’t decipher:

“Come with me.”

Chapter Text

Peter and Nebula finally arrived back at Drax’s room, and, as expected, Mantis was there with him. The moment Peter saw her, the fury that had been simmering beneath his skin surged forward like a reflex.

He stormed across the room without a word, grabbed her by the neck, and slammed her hard against the wall. He didn’t give her the mercy of letting her feet touch the floor. Her legs dangled midair, kicking instinctively, trying to find ground that wouldn’t come.

“Who the hell are you? What’s going on in this place!?” he barked, the heat behind his words unrelenting.

“Quill!” Drax’s voice rang out behind him. “Let her go!”

Peter only tightened his grip, muscles in his forearm straining as his anger funneled straight through his clenched hand. His eyes locked on hers, making sure every ounce of his fury seared into her memory so she wouldn’t forget this moment, so she wouldn’t dare try to bullshit her way out of what she’d done, or what she knew.

“We saw the skulls in the caverns,” Peter snarled. “Tell us who they are, right now!”

Mantis choked beneath his hold, her breath catching in broken, strangled bursts as she clawed at his wrist, scrambling for air.

Then, her eyes met his, heavy-lidded, and her antennae glowed.

“You are scared,” she gasped to him, and as soon as the words left her mouth, a sudden, catastrophic collapse of everything that held him together manifested inside his chest and mind, making the grip in his hand tremble, letting go of Mantis.

Mantis dropped to the floor, coughing hoarsely, but the sound barely reached him. It felt muffled, even more so as Peter staggered backward, nearly tripping over his own feet as he put distance between them. His hands wouldn’t stop shaking.

There was no escape, and nowhere to run, nothing but chaos screaming in his head. Like something enormous and final had already happened, and he was just now realizing it. He now knew, without reason, without detail, that everything was wrong.

That everything was lost, that the impending doom would swipe all of them and none would be able to do something about it.

Only Thanos could strike such fear in him, stupid, stupid him almost forgot what that felt like…!

How dare she!?

“What…” he tried to channel with all his might his severe voice again, but among so many tremors and the weight of the world falling upon him, it came out as shaky and cornered as it never had since years ago, “What did you do to me!?”

“She already told me everything,” said Drax.

At Peter’s confused expression, trying to hide the panting in his breaths, she explained:

“Ego wants you for his plan,” Mantis said, “he calls it ‘The expansion’, he will grow parts of himself in every planet, and only needs one other celestial to put it into motion.”

“Goddamnit,” snapped Peter, pacing around a bit, “what’s the obsession of mad guys like him to mass kill around the galaxy!?”

For some reason it seemed he couldn’t escape them, damn it, Gamora!

“And the bodies?” asked Nebula.

“The bodies… are his children.” she said while bracing herself, her stare lost and haunted.

“WHAT!?” Peter snapped.

“Yes,” Mantis admitted, “Ego had children with hundreds of thousands of species, maybe more, hoping that one of them would carry the powers of the celestial gene.”

The whole load of information made a new headache form in Peter’s head.

And somehow, he knew it all along, and just underestimated the greater scope of it.

“So all that spiel about my mother, hers too, was all a lie…” something inside him contorted, still not looking Mantis in the eye.

Noticing that avoiding posture, Mantis decided to get closer to him, and to speak to generally all who were in that room.

“He… he kills the mothers of the children not long after they are born, and when they’re dead, he hires all types of people to bring them to him.”

Peter turned to look at her, finally.

His face, pale and tight with fury, was barely holding its shape together. Fists clenched so tightly the knuckles were drained of all color. Drax and Nebula were both still, but even they seemed to register the storm about to erupt inside him. Nebula took a step back, eyes narrowing. Drax moved forward.

“How?” Peter hissed through his teeth, dragging the words out like they hurt to say. His voice was still shaking, but his spine was locking back into place.

Mantis’ voice came quiet, still weak, but not shaky. “He usually does it by giving them lethal conditions that are common in their homeworlds.”

Peter’s eyes widened, pulse spiking.

“So the tumor in her head…” he stopped himself mid-sentence, already seeing the answer spelled across Mantis’s lowered expression.

“He did it,” she confirmed.

Something inside Peter broke open as soon as those words sank. The air left his lungs all at once. The grief, so old and heavy, twisted into something unbearable, an animal sound clawed up his throat. He almost launched himself at Mantis.

But Drax was faster.

“Quill!” Drax shouted, wrapping his arms around him and pulling him back.

Peter thrashed in his grip, vision tunneling. “And you’ve been helping him this whole time, haven’t you!?”

“Quill, focus!” Nebula called behind him.

But he didn’t listen to anyone, at that point, nothing mattered anymore. The only thing he could think about was his mother, the woman who had meant everything to him, whose memory carried him through every dark corridor of his life. The woman who loved him when no one else did, who even now made an almost-forgotten childhood feel like it could still matter. She had been the last, pure anchor he had to anything good.

And he… that thing… took advantage of her, led her on, used her, and then killed her just for a twisted, selfish pursuit…

He was going to kill that bastard!

Peter shoved against Drax’s hold again, but suddenly his body gave out. A throbbing wave ripped through his skull, burying itself deep between his eyes. He collapsed, first to his knees, then his hands, panting, trembling as the world around him twisted at the edges.

His surroundings bled away. The walls, the floor, the voices, all of them vanished, drowned beneath a blinding cascade of stars and color.

His vision stretched into something too large, too impossible to grasp, like staring into the shape of the universe itself.

It pulsed in his head, beautiful and cruel at the same time, a perfect trap cloaked in light, sweet poison folded into something ancient and vast and alive.

Then he felt it… like a whisper inside his very bones, a wordless, thoughtless warning that screamed at him to bolt and stop it, with a tinge of familiarity.

When he realized what it was, he just shouted:

“Gamora!”

The name tore from his throat before he even realized he’d spoken it. His hands, flat on the floor, began to glow. Light bled out from his palms, and his breath hitched again.

Because it wasn’t the planet calling him. It was her.

Something in her was reaching for him, pulling him toward her like a flare fired from the deepest part of her being. The last scream of someone slipping under, too far gone to speak but not yet fully gone.

Peter scrambled back up on his limbs, until he was standing again, being helped by Drax and Mantis too.

“We need to go get Gamora and get the hell out of here!” Peter said, recovering his voice tone, already replaced by the real, validated fear of losing one of his sisters.

“Ego would have won her by his side by now,” said Mantis, “he has a way of…”

“Then we just go.” said Nebula.

“I said no!” shouted Peter, “I’m not losing her, she’s my sister, she’s my friend.”

“Your relationship with her is no better than the ones before,” said Nebula, “your only connection to her is that celestial. You said it yourself.”

“Please, Nebula, not now with this…”

“You had no problems leaving me with Thanos, why is it any different with her?”

Peter was about to let his silence speak for itself, when Drax interfered.

“Because family is the one you choose, we leave no one behind. Except you.” he finished, looking at Nebula.

Not ready to deal with that yet, Peter turned to his communicator from his pocket and, as if he was suddenly struck with luck, Rocket’s voice finally came through.

“Keep that transmitter nearby so I can find you. We’re in an old piece of construction equipment Yondu once used to slice open the Bank of A’askavaria.”

“Great,” Peter said, “because Ego is a fucking…”

“I know,” Rocket cut him off, “get ready.”

After Rocket cut the transmission, Peter just stood there, silent for a long moment, the rest of his company just looking at him expectantly, and to an extent, losing patience.

He wished he could just snap out of the reel of his mind right at that moment, but his thoughts were now just fragments smashing into each other, spinning too fast to hold still. Something inside him collapsed. Like the core of a black hole sucking in every piece of happiness that had flickered to life only moments ago.

It was all moving too fast. Too much at once.

He had to calm the fuck down. Because if he didn’t, he was going to break something. Like the insectoid still staring at him with anxious eyes. There was fear in them, but also a type of alert.

Peter met her eyes briefly and then turned away, jaw tight. He would figure out what the hell she was about later, after his whole family was safe and found the way to burn that thing and turn the entire planet into a mush like the one he was planning on expanding through the whole galaxy.

His fists clenched at the mere thought of him planning for years to take his mother from him and then crafting the perfect lie with a smile on his face. He stole her life, and by extension, a part of his, that day in that hospital where she was giving her last breaths, fighting to keep awake and lucid.

Ego was the actual monster who tore him from her arms before he ever had the chance to say goodbye properly, left him to become the worst version of himself in a world where for years he roamed, looking for meaning, and yet unable to, because the immediate threat of his life, and worst, his integrity, being on the line, had him doing egregious things, dreaming that one day he would be free, or at least would one day get used to everything so it would hurt less, only to wake up again and realize things could always get worse.

All because a thing like Ego put his fate willingly in the hands of Thanos, because of course he would, why didn’t he think about it sooner?

Thanos could’ve only known about him if Ego gave him all the information there was to know about him, always depositing his hope in Peter, being sure he would one day become something greater despite everyone around him contradicting that theory with the most solid evidence possible.

And yet, he always felt like he could never live up to whatever arbitrary standards Thanos set for him no matter what, there was always a new bar to reach, and every time with shorter, metaphorical legs, thanks to the slashes he endured.

And Gamora… she only survived his fury because Yondu kept her off the radar all those years, being overly controlling of her and keeping her under his thumb. Never letting her forget the danger she barely escaped from thanks to him, to the point that she researched on a scarily deep level every piece of information she could get of Thanos’ and his associates, just so she could learn how to avoid them all.

He could still remember the day he rescued them both, the way she taunted him, telling him he should’ve simply returned her to Thanos since he seemed to care nothing about her…

Unknowingly, it seemed, she struck a nerve in him, which explained the big pause, almost shock, before slapping the shit out of her at that moment.

It was a miracle that Yondu allowed Peter to make it out of that Ravager ship alive, considering his sole presence could be interpreted as putting Gamora directly in harm's way, on Thanos’ direct line of sight.

He could almost imagine how different things would’ve been had Yondu somehow managed to rescue both.

He even made a sarcastic remark about it in front of the Centaurian back then, poor man was probably shook on the inside when he saw him for the first time, confronted by the undeniable fact that he only completed his mission halfway.

But he misplaced that guilt. Now he knew who the true culprit was, who took him away from the only family he had and destroyed the scarce things he knew in life, and now, he was going to do it again if he didn’t put a stop to it.

And this time he wouldn’t just take Gamora’s life, or even her spirit, but everything she was: her conviction, her fire, her memories. The bond they had only just begun to rebuild, the same one neither of them knew how to express or even deal with, but that Yondu noticed right away when he saw them together for the first time.

The fire spread up his arms, quick and hungry, and just like the previous times, it didn’t hurt, didn’t even sting, on the contrary, it reminded him he was still alive.

And so was she. For now.

That gave him the conviction to lead his family outside that place to go directly where Ego was keeping Gamora, to hell with being half-celestial, with sacrificing their only chance to make an even bigger difference, and protect them from Thanos, or from anyone else. If he had to burn down the whole planet, and his father by extension, to keep his family safe, then so be it.

Throughout the whole walk towards the palace, his step didn’t falter, and neither did the energy emerging from him.

As soon as they were close enough to it, the building burst with cosmic light, way more blinding than anything they’d ever seen, so much so that all of them had to shield their eyes.

Right after he did, he noticed his hands shone even brighter, to the point that now all his body felt like burning from the inside. They were running out of time.

He growled, and filling himself with determination, he rushed to reach the door and without a second thought he kicked it, taking advantage of the new force his powers were giving him.

He found exactly what he expected to, Ego revealing his true nature, subjecting Gamora to what it seemed an incredibly painful and de-humanizing arch, being held by light tendrils that looked disgusting, stealing the energy coming from her body.

Expecting such an image didn’t make it any less shuddering and infuriating, especially because Gamora clearly was suffering under that hold.

Instincts flared, he was about to charge at the celestial, when the rumbling of something new was heard above them all.

This distracted the living planet once again, forcing him to look at the window on the palace wall behind him, when a new type of red light flooded the place, coming from a laser drill that smashed through that same wall.

That laser drill landed on Ego, ending up squashing him. Peter’s overly optimistic side hoped for good.

Right after that happened, the tendrils retracted from Gamora and she fell, trying desperately to breathe again.

And despite his anger, despite how determined he was to unleash his fury against that man, all he could think of at that moment was to go to her, rushing into the crumbling palace and the falling debris to get to her.

***

Gamora could barely feel a thing, not too different a sensation from the numbing she felt on the outer rim of Knowhere, but now her whole energy was sucked out of her, and the moment an angel came from the sky to free her from such miserable life sentence, she dropped to the ground, all senses foggy and body too heavy to even move.

The only thing her sight could catch was a silhouette hovering over her. And even with the ringing inside her ears, she heard Peter’s voice, probably throwing hundreds of words at her, each being just his little version of an “I told you so!”

Although she felt the shift in his position when he noticed Gamora couldn’t hear him. As her vision cleared itself, she felt Peter’s hands going through her arms, turning her sideways, probably to check on her for injuries.

She was so dumb for trusting Ego… for putting them all in that situation, for not listening to Yondu, for… for…

“Oh please,” was the first thing she heard clearly from her brother, “not now with this, Gamora.”

Great, so her mind was so far gone still that it was coaxing her to mumble all her thoughts…

Once she recovered enough strength to move her fingers and arms, she felt Peter’s slip beneath her, one beneath her legs, the other tugging her upright and rather harshly against a chest, and her body slumped into the pull of gravity and his grip. Her head tipped against his shoulder, and her hair slid messily into her face, but she couldn’t push it away, her arms weren’t strong enough yet.

The curve of his forearm pressed against the backs of her knees, the other braced behind her shoulders, keeping her from sagging further. His grip was tight, maybe even bruising, but she barely registered pain, too distracted with the heat that just a couple of moments before she was sure she would never feel again, as well as the rush of breath from his chest, in the pounding of his heart, as Peter rushed his pace, she had no idea where, but she wouldn’t question him ever again on these matters.

And of course, despite that display, Peter wasted no time calling her out like he has never done before, and at a perfect time when her brain was waking up more and more, making his words be heard by her clear as day.

“Why didn’t you listen to me, are you an idiot or what?” he snapped, but despite being truly charged with frustration, it held no real anger.

“Peter,” Gamora panted, still struggling to even summon the energy for it, “do you really think it’s the time… for this?”

“Oh, you haven’t heard the end of it, sister.”

At that, Gamora just let out a big puff of air from her mouth, unable to hide her guilt.

“He…” she managed to say to his shoulder, “he killed your mother… I’m… I’m so sorry…”

That seemed to give him pause and he slowed his pace to look at her with a stare that passed for uncertainty on how to reply, and a tinge of guilt in it.

“Yeah,” he said in a much, much softer tone, before resuming his speed again and giving slight caresses to her shoulder with the arm holding her back.

When Gamora recovered just enough to stand and walk on her own, Peter let her go so she could keep walking the last steps onto the… whatever it was that just rescued her and trapped Ego underneath it.

“What are you doing?” she heard Drax say, “You could have killed us all crashing in here like that!”

Once all her sense were pretty much restored and she was able to stand up effortless, she saw Rocket on the front of the ship, glancing at them over his shoulder, “Uh, ‘Thank you, Rocket’?” he said.

“We had it under control,” Drax said.

“We did not!” Mantis interrupted him, “That is only an extension of his true self. He will be back soon.”

Ah, great, exactly what they were missing, when she was finally standing without needing to support herself from the walls or other solid objects around her, she saw a new face in there, the face of Nebula.

“And what is she doing here?” she asked.

“Whatever I need to do to get a damn ride home.”

“She tried to murder me!” snapped Rocket.

“I saved you, you stupid fox.” replied Nebula.

“Wrong animal type, but not bad for being your first try,” said Peter.

After some more bickering, Drax finally interfered by asking the actual, important question that fully snapped Gamora back to action.

“How do we kill a Celestial?”

“There’s the center to him,” said Gamora, “the most important part of himself, which without its nothing, Mantis, do you know where it is?”

“It’s in the caverns below the surface.”

“Great,” she said, after looking around and spotting the stairs that led to the upper rooms here she would be able to control and get a better look to that ship, but despite being able to think, talk, and stand clearly, she still stumbled when she tried to walk to the ladder and climb it.

Peter immediately supported her, then he climbed the ladder himself beneath her to help her reach the upper floor.

The fact that Peter came back for her, getting into harm’s way and tenderly looking out for her in such tiny details was already overwhelming in a good way by itself, it also made her feel a little ungrateful and clueless for ignoring all the good he did for her all that time spent together.

But before she finished climbing the ladder so she could turn to him and thank him for all that, swearing she would never doubt him again, she saw Yondu sitting on the control panel.

“Yondu!” she exclaimed, but the moment she tried to take a step towards him, her muscles gave a twitch, making her trip over herself, face to the ground.

“Stars help me, girl, what did he do to you?” Yondu said, looking back at her.

Gamora removed he hair from her face, resting on the ground for a moment.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, less demanding and more surprised.

“Retrieving my cargo, what else?” he said, nodding towards the seat beside him, Gamora immediately followed, standing up and sitting on it.

Yondu yanked the controls hard, thrusting the ship upward. For a second, they lifted cleanly. Until thick, pulsing tentacles burst through the rubble and coiled violently around the hull.

Without warning, they were wrenched back down.

The ship slammed into the floor, the impact ripping through the foundation of the palace. The entire structure tilted, destroying bit by that all that fake palace, being made as an illusion to steal them in more ways than one.

Inside what Gamora now knew it was the laser drill, everyone was thrown forward. Panels sparked. The deck trembled beneath their feet.

"Thrusters are out!" Yondu barked, gripping the controls.

Gamora’s hands stumbled toward a console, already prying open a maintenance hatch and reaching inside to rewire the circuits. Her fingers moved fast, too fast, guided by pure desperation and adrenaline.

“Ah yes, of course, I guess, to a weird extent, I should be glad your greedy ass saved me from being killed without a second thought by this thing!”

“You still reckon that’s the reason I kept you around, you idiot?!”

“What other reason could there be!?” She snapped, “I sure as hell know children didn’t figure in your plans.” even if at times, it felt like it, she almost said.

“Once I figured out what happened to them other kids, I wasn’t gonna just hand you over.”

For a moment, Gamora stopped her frenetic handling of the controls and cables, and despite herself, she turned to look at Peter, who didn’t seem surprised in the least bit by that revelation, and just nodded to her.

She then looked back at Yondu, who kept handling the equipment and pulling levers in front of him as if he didn’t just drop the biggest bomb charged with sentiment Gamora ever heard. If she survived, she wouldn’t let him hear the end of it.

It was after all those brief moments of pure warmth that almost always made her forgive and forget the bad stuff, so much so that Gamora had to keep a reminder of all of the things that bothered her while living as a Ravager, and repeat it three times a day to convince herself that leaving Yondu was absolutely the best decision for both of them.

And now, that image just shattered into a million pieces.

“Wait a second, then what the hell were all those threats about returning me to Thanos!?”

“Oh, don’t tell me you were dumb enough to believe ‘em,”

“I WAS A CHILD! OF COURSE I DID!” she burst out.

From below, she heard Rocket say, “You people have issues,”

“Of course we have, Rocket,” said Peter, while pointing at the front, where a creepy figure of the disgusting skeleton of Ego was materializing again, “that is our freakin father!”

“Thursters are back up!” Gamora said, as she slammed the thrusters forward.

However, the ship didn’t rise.

Instead of rising, the ship lunged forward, straight into the half-formed body of Ego. The impact shattered the skeletal figure instantly, sending fragments of bone-like material flying as the vessel ripped through that alleged man.

Only the momentum carried them down the steeply sloped floor, the drill skidding across the uneven stone, metal screeching with every forced movement. The force of the descent vibrated through the hull, making it harder to control with every passing second.

They were gaining speed, perhaps a bit too much speed, when the massive window at the end of the chamber loomed into view, but it turned out in their favor, as a heartbeat later, the ship slammed through it, and glass erupted in a storm of razors.

Now airborne, the ship plunged into open air, only to find its path aimed directly at a jagged crack yawning open in the planet below.

That’s when the descent turned chaotic.

Inside, every passenger clung to whatever they could to save themselves from feeling the worst effects of the blind speed and the roar of collapsing ground.

“We should be going up!” Yondu shouted, gripping the side rails.

“We can’t!” Gamora snapped, eyes fixed on the terrain ahead. “Ego wants to eradicate the universe, we have to stop him first!”

The crack below was far too narrow for the ship to pass through, at least not without clearing the way.

“Rocket!” she yelled, barely audible over the rising shriek of wind and proximity alarms.

Already anticipating the need, Rocket launched for the weapons console. “On it!” he barked, fingers flying across controls. Twin bursts of laser fire exploded ahead, tearing chunks of rock from the mouth of the fissure just in time.

The ship slammed into the gap, scraping violently against the edges. Metal buckled, sparks flew, but it fit.

Barely.

The tunnels twisted immediately. Gamora wrestled the controls, keeping the vessel angled through hairpin curves and deadly drops. Rocket stayed locked on the guns, blasting out protrusions and walls seconds before they would've become tombstones.

Amid the chaos, Yondu shouted over the din, “So, you find out why Ego wants you two here?”

“He needs our connection to the light,” Gamora said between sharp turns, “to power his destruction of the universe.”

Peter’s voice came from behind, just as urgent. “He tried teaching me to control it. Did the same with her.”

Yondu grunted, and then acknowledged both, “So, could you?”

“A little,” Gamora said, “I made… a rope, Peter?”

“I don’t know. Mine just… triggered when hers did. It felt like we were connected somehow.” Then a sudden idea struck him, getting closer to Gamora, slightly shaking her shoulder, “Gamora! Maybe if we team up, we’ve got a shot to “1v1” him.”

Yondu scoffed. “With a rope and some sparkles you can’t summon on command?”

“Hey!” Gamora snapped, “We’ve only been here a day. Ego’s had millennia! That rope drained everything I had on my brain, my head felt like it was on fire.”

Yondu chuckled dryly. “Hah! You think I use my head to fly this arrow?”

“What do you use then?” she shot back.

Yondu was about to reply, but right after, the ship jerked violently as Gamora and Rocket, focused too much on each other, failed to see the jagged rock ahead. They crashed into the overhang, the side door ripping itself away, creating a vacuum into the cabin and scattering debris as the Laser Drill scraped its way through a narrower tunnel and burst into a massive hollow deep within the planet.

The Guardians leaned toward the gaping side of the ship, gazes fixed on the breathtaking sight before them. The hollow was vast, majestic in its eerie glow, lit by the branching white veins of Ego’s lifeforce stretching across the walls.

Mantis, pressing against a small porthole on the other side of the craft, pointed urgently. "There! That’s Ego’s core."

Down below, embedded in the heart of the planet, the Self Chamber pulsed faintly. Gamora banked the craft toward it in a careful spiral.

"Rocket, we’re gonna need the big laser." She said.

Rocket nodded and flicked a set of switches. The smaller side-lasers retracted and converged, locking together into one massive unit, the Mega-Laser.

"We must hurry," Mantis warned, eyes darting. "It will not take Ego long to find us."

"Keep it steady," Rocket called.

Gamora gripped the controls tighter as the massive drill began to burn into the planet's surface, the ship groaning under the strain. Vibrations rumbled through every bolt and beam while molten rock spat and hissed away.

However, things clearly would never be easy, and Gamora found another reason to be mad at Rocket. Those damned batteries that got them into all that trouble in the first place being the cause for Sovereign ships bursting through the fractured ceiling above like a swarm unleashed, weapons already blazing.

Yondu cursed both for him and for Gamora, as the Sovereign descended in perfect formation.

Even with way too much maneuvering just to avoid being hit, one of their blasters got ripped through the side of the ship, Gamora barely managed to make it a couple of seconds before the vessel spun violently, sending all of them flying into open air without warning.

Of course things would never be easy.

She had to find Rocket to rib him for it, and also to find a way out of all that.

***

Deep beneath, the spectacle created by the ships of sovereigns flying all around created a messy image that Peter, had him, Mantis and Drax not being in the middle of it, would have considered artsy.

However, they had more urgent matters to pile up onto their already stretched alerts. The ground convulsed under their feet, and despite his own adrenaline pulsing through him to do something, he could only fixate himself further towards Mantis, who looked like a lost a deer in the headlights with the chaos around them, chamber trembling, walls pulsating with energy, and rock formations mutating and shifting, every time louder.

"He’s coming," she whispered.

"Didn’t you say you could make him sleep?" Drax asked.

"When he wants! He’s too powerful! I can’t!"

"You don’t have to believe in yourself," Drax said calmly, "because I believe in you."

A shudder came over Peter when the thunderous growl echoed through the cavern, materializing the huge, inhuman form of Ego’s face emerging, howling in rage. His scream transformed into a physical force, a torrent of rock barreling toward them.

Just before it reached them, however, he heard Mantis exclaiming “Sleep!”, and… suddenly, the core dimmed, making the rock beast collapse just before reaching them.

Peter breathed out in relief, just as Drax made a remark contradicting his previous words of encouragement toward Mantis, while she was still shaking, stating her doubts of being able to keep him sleeping for long.

He would have to take advantage of that time, and bolted to look for his sister.

“Wait, where are you going?” asked Mantis, letting the fear seep into her voice at being abandoned by him to keep Ego at bay and in the middle of so many exploding ships that could turn to attack them at any moment.

“I need to go for Gamora!” he said while still running, ”We can’t do this without the other”

And he didn’t mean it just for their current misadventure that would literally need the power in both their blood. But just… in an all-encompasing way, from then on.

He followed the sounds where they grew louder, but of course, he had to take down a few Sovereign ships himself if he wanted to open his way through them.

It didn’t take long, thankfully, and soon enough he found Gamora descending on him through her aero rig, urgent tone in her voice.

“Peter! Do you happen to have any tape?”

“Uh? Tape…” he trailed off for a moment, taken off guard by the question as he had to hunch to dodge one of the explosions of the ships, “No! Why would I carry that?”

“Rocket needs it,” she said, “he’s planning to blow up Ego’s core with a bomb and a timer, but Groot has issues to identify the correct button, so…”

“I’ve got nothing,” he replied.

“Oh, great!” she snapped, and then ran off to the opposite side, propelling herself up with her jetpack, “I need to check if we have any remaining in the ship!”

Peter bolted behind her, “No, Gamora!” he yelped, but it was of no use as some more shots fired around him, so he refocused on taking out with his blasters as many ships as he could.

But nothing prepared him from the spectacle that would unravel before his eyes, coming from the ship Nebula and Yondu were in.

In a matter of seconds, it made some strange noises, and then, out of nowhere…

Crap! In the second that it took Peter to turn around briefly, it glowed like a huge disco ball, shooting its bright red lasers everywhere, and slicing like butter every single envoy around them.

And also them, of course, Peter had to leap out of the way to not get graciously sliced in half by one of those.

“Idiot!” he yelled, knowing damn well Nebula would hear him from where she was.

Several flaming chunks flew in all directions and though that was to be expected, a particularly worrying sight that made his heart skip a bit was the one that flew directly to the ship Gamora was in, towards the shipping engine that was dripping fuel.

And just a couple of moments after, the laser drill exploded in a million pieces.

Stricken, Peter yelped his sister’s name.

His eyes lingered on the explosion for too long, until he saw a figure emerge from the smoke and flames.

His other sister fell quick and in one piece in front of him. Despite his attention focused on Gamora being possibly hurt from the explosion, a wave of relief came through him at seeing Nebula safe too, despite knowing she could withstand much more than that.

And yet, she seemed to recognize his worried expression, and looked upwards, guiding him to look too.

As he did, he could see clearly through the figure of Gamora flying from the explosion on her aero-rig, while Yondu held onto a flying arrow, one arm up, and his heels touching.

For a moment that made him snicker, reminding him of an old familiar character he grew up with on Earth.

“What’s so funny now?” Asked Nebula beside him.

“Oh, you wouldn’t get it.” he said, looking at her briefly, and turning his attention to Gamora again.

Even in moments like those, Gamora had that glint in her eyes of absolute awe when looking at the Ravager Captain, he could tell it brought back pleasant feelings from countless adventures spent together throughout the years.

A part of him felt a sense of longing, like this was something he missed for so much time, something he was owed.

Back on Knowhere, he did conceal a lot of truths to spare Gamora's feelings. He just told her he was glad at least someone lucked out of the life he was forced into, but she was right to guess that the realization of how, for want of a nail, things turned out vastly different for both of them, would make Peter harbor some type of... tiny envy, or perhaps a spiral of "why me, why me," thoughts.

But now, seeing the joy it brought her, and the one she expressed when she finally turned to glance at him, smiling both through her teeth and eyes, shining, made it all worth it.

That's when it finally struck him, that now, faced with the choice, he would gladly go over that life again as long as he got to see that smile in her again. That was what made it all worth it, what he was doing this for. So that warmth in the galaxy would remain alive and present.

As they landed near them, for a brief moment they felt exactly how they should, like the invincible heroes they presented themselves as. A strong unit that not even the deadliest force in nature could defeat.

Until, of course, a flying piece of debris Mantis got down, incapacitating her from still using her powers to keep Ego sleeping.

And it all went downhill from there again.

The entire hollow began to rumble, the floor shuddering beneath them and the walls rippling like liquid stone, alive, all of it, reacting violently to the sudden loss of control.

Drax went to her side and checked on her, while reminding them that she was just unconscious.

Gamora then turned to Rocket, “How long before the bomb goes off?”

“In the unlikely event Groot doesn’t kill us all,” Rocket muttered without looking up, “about six minutes.”

Yondu pressed the comm on his collar. “Kraglin. We need the Quadrant for extraction in T-minus five minutes.”

“Aye, Cap’n,” Kraglin replied quickly.

The planet groaned again as the surface slowly began to peel open, letting streaks of bright sky cut through the dark above them. Gamora’s gaze lifted, then swung to Drax. “Someone needs to be up top when Kraglin arrives. Drax, take Mantis.”

Without hesitation, Drax nodded, bent down and hoisted Mantis effortlessly into his arms. Gamora unclasped the aero-rig from her own back and strapped it onto Drax’s, the mechanism snapping tight around his chest automatically. Drax winced, then yelled, “Ahhh! My nipples!” before launching upward in a blaze of thruster fire.

The ground around them split apart with thunderous force, enormous cracks snaking outward in every direction. Nebula’s eyes darted to one of the fractures rushing toward her and Peter like a living threat.

He barely had time to turn toward her before the ledge beneath her feet gave way entirely. Her side of the platform crumbled, and plunged into the darkness below.

“Nebula!” Peter screamed, lunging forward instinctively and on time to hold Nebula's hand.

No one would get left behind. And despite Drax’s words, not even her, especially her.

But gravity pulled him forward as he lost grounding from the edge, he was about to fall alongside her when a grip on his feet, that he could tell was Gamora’s, pulled them back to the safer ground.

And instead of his usual quipping, he helped her get up, not giving her time to reject such help like she always did with his showcases of compassion that she mocked as weakness. Perhaps because the few times Nebula, herself, showed it, it only brought her misery and torture.

And yet, she endured most of them in their early years because of him.

He owed her just about that much, and those feelings must have betrayed his face, because Nebula just said, “Oh, get over it.”

Before she could say anything else, he told her, “You need to go to the Quadrant with Rocket, but he needs to look for Groot before, I’ll stay with them, go!”

Nebula just nodded, and left as fast as she could, but Rocket seemed hesitant to.

Peter called him out on it, urging him to leave right that moment, but Rocket made him and Yondu get closer as Gamora ran away from them, guarding the group from the threat looming over them, he reached for something in his pocket and said, “We’ve only got one spacesuit and one aero-rig. So only one of us has to stay.”

Wait… so that meant…

That meant he couldn’t stay with Gamora to face Ego on their own, they would be caught in the center of the explosion, and only one of them would make it out alive.

It was either that, or leave Gamora to face Ego alone, as it was her who had more practice with her powers, but a terrible feeling warned Peter that such an option was bound to result in failure, she needed him beside her to have a chance against him, for one to distract him, to stab him on the back so the other could punch him without him being able to defend himself.

“That’ll do,” said Yondu behind him, and strangely enough, those words made sense and brought the noise of his mind down by quite a bit.

He looked at the timer, they still had time enough so they both could weaken Ego, strike as one, then he would be able to leave, along with Yondu, to give Gamora the opportunity to deal the final blow and escape unscathed.

Or in the worst of cases… he would slyly shove it on her before the explosion went off.

That thought should’ve scared him. But then he remembered the feelings he expressed during the battle of Xandar, where as long as he got to die surrounded by the people he considered friends, family, he would die in peace, knowing that even if he was saying goodbye to them, he still had another family waiting for him wherever he would go.

With that new determination, Peter took the two objects and pocketed them as he saw Rocket fly away, looking for Groot before leaving too.

But just a couple of seconds after they were out of sight, all around them, the planet seemed to convulse again. Massive bursts of earth erupted from the ground, towering plumes of debris and stone shooting into the air around them.

Then came the next horror, colossal tentacles of rock and root, formed by the planet itself, uncoiling and hurtling toward them with completely predatory intention.

Gamora and Peter fired relentlessly at one of the incoming tentacles, the blast from her gun tearing through its pulsing, sinewy mass, right next to her, Yondu’s whistle sliced through the chaos, guiding his arrow through the writhing limbs of the planet, cutting a path around them.

But even with all their effort, it was clear they were losing ground. The tentacles were multiplying in strength and speed, and it wouldn’t take long before they all got overwhelmed.

Then, the Celestial siblings turned to one figure that made both their faces pale, the blood run cold and the fear come back ten times stronger, many differences they had, and yet this was the one thing they were perfectly in sync.

Ego was coming.

He descended toward them like some ancient nightmare, no longer hiding his true form. His body glowed from within, a horrifying skeletal frame of radiant bone and pulsing light. The very land around him peeled back as he moved, parting as if it was the Red Sea, revealing stone and dirt rearranging at his feet. The particles of the planet twisted upward, assembling organs, tendons, flesh, a heart that beat like thunder, forming him piece by piece.

It was like watching the devil carve himself into flesh, look it in the eye, and then remember you came from him. That you are his child, meant to strike terror across the universe.

Gamora yelped when she saw a tentacle whip Yondu from his stance and slam him into the ground. It curled over him, engulfing him entirely beneath its mass.

And then Ego stood before them, but especially her. Fully formed in his alien nature that he chose to display.

“I told you,” he said, voice calm, almost tender, “I don’t want to do this alone.”

Gamora’s breath caught, not daring to speak, while Peter just glared as hard and mean as he could, but before he could reach his blaster, one tentacle grabbed his hand and forced it to the ground.

“You two cannot deny the purpose the universe has bestowed upon you!” Ego said again, louder now, almost triumphant.

In a moment, he saw the light tendrils growing again from the ground and piercing her from behind as she barely gasped, being thrusted to her knees, while other tendrils smaller stabbed other parts of her body, Peter screamed Gamora’s name once more, desperately trying to focus on his free hand to summon that energy.

That was until he realized the tendrils were engulfing him too, searing him and piercing his skin with the most painful burn he ever felt.

“It doesn’t need to be like this, my children,” came Ego’s voice, echoing like a wind from nowhere.

From beneath the looming self-chamber, the ground trembled as Ego descended, glowing and monstrous. His steps cracked the stone with each echoing impact.

“Why are you destroying our chance?” he called out again, fury beginning to harden his tone. “Stop pretending you aren’t what you are! One in billions... trillions... more!”

Peter struggled to lift her gaze, limbs weak, mind hazy from the energy that had already been drained. Ego’s body was still forming as he approached them both, still changing his form.

“What greater meaning could life possibly have to offer?!” Ego cried.

Peter wanted to yell at him, to cry out, to leave Gamora alone and keep him if he really wanted it.

But a voice beside them did first.

Yondu writhed beneath the crushing grip of a tentacle, turned his head toward her, managing only a fractured breath. “I don’t use my head to fly the arrow, girl,” he muttered, a faint smirk on his cracked lips, “I use my hear…”

The earth swallowed his face before he could finish, however, as Peter slowly, painfully, turned to see her, he saw all the weight of his words sink in her.

Like it fractured something inside her, and from then on, he knew all fog in her mind clouding and burying deeper her feelings about her past cleared itself, now that she realized that her family was where her heart was too.

He saw it in the clench of her fists, as well as felt the vibration once again in his own.

It started at her core, a small ember reawakening. It flared through her arms, her legs, her chest. The earth around her began to swirl, rock and dust pulled toward her as if compelled by invisible gravity. They rose in spirals, trembling with power, clinging to her limbs.

Ego’s eyes narrowed, confusion replacing certainty as the ground shuddered beneath his feet.

Gamora rose, steady now, standing tall in defiance.

And when she spoke, her voice no longer belonged to just her, it roared with the fury and depth of the cosmos. It thundered with Celestial fire.

“You will regret doing this… all you did to us… to our mothers.” she said, as she managed, finally, to command the earth itself to propel her in what seemed like a tornado made of rocks and ground towards Ego, flying upwards with him.

And in that same instant, the tendrils that had pierced and held Peter's body went slack.

They fell away with a wet hiss, vanishing into mist before they even touched the ground. He dropped hard onto the rocky floor below, gasping, aching, but free, his limbs finally his again.

As he looked up, coughing through the dust, he caught sight of Yondu’s prison of rock beginning to crumble. The stones that had started to encase him, ready to crush and consume, now trembled, loosened, some scattering apart.

Just in time as he saw the cosmic light emerging effortlessly from his hands, and now, reminding himself of what he was fighting for, what he looked forward to, he managed to make the light grow bigger.

He turned to look to Yondu, who gave him that stare of encouragement he probably gave Gamora several times without her realizing. Peter nodded at him, as sign of a newfound respect for the Ravager Captain, and summoned his own energy to follow the figure of his sister, and help her defeat their father.

Just in time, as Ego was creating his own molecular tornado, striking back at his sister, and slamming her against the wall, dragging her face along with it.

That sight along made him grunt and lunge forward. As Ego kept tossing her to yet another wall, he interfered, striking him with the same force, until he disoriented the planet once again.

That window gave time to Gamora to bring her arm that she filled with the light away from the wall, causing a wave of the same light and rock around the interior of the hollow, with the intention to fly to Ego and knock him aside.

“Peter!” she said, with a slightly urgent tone in her voice, “go help Yondu get back to the ship, and you get in there too with the others.”

Then hardening her voice, and fixing her glare on Ego, she growled in a whisper, “I got this..”

Peter nodded, trusting for once her word temporarily, and letting the light guide him back to where the Centaurian was, shielding himself from all the wreckage falling.

“This planet will blow up in no time, you have to leave at once,” he said.

“Go ahead yourself, boy.”

Understanding dawned on him, and he immediately said:

“I can’t leave her alone, she will still need to get out of here safely.”

Yondu cracked that grin Gamora always described as awkward but weirdly comforting, and said, “That’s what I thought, glad to know despite it all, you turned out well yourself.”

“Save the praise for later, man, and go to the ship now.”

But Yondu didn’t move. Not even by a bit.

“I ain’t done nothing right my whole damn life, boy. You need to give me this.”

Just as he feared, as soon as the word left his mouth, Peter replied, “No.”

Gamora would never forgive him for it.

Or who knows, perhaps she would, but knowingly leave and let Yondu sacrifice himself for her, putting her through so much distress and be forced to watch her go through with it for the rest of her life…

How could he do something like that?

“Hey,” Yondu said again, “let me do this, not just for her, but for you, that’s the least I can do after failing you.”

Just those words took all the breath out of him, replacing it with something threatening to rise painful and clawing from his chest, almost making his breath hitch.

“Let me have this,” he insisted.

Peter, letting a hitch come from his breath, just nodded, and accepted to leave just like Gamora told him. Because… yes, she took so many chances to keep him alive and kicking, would it really be fair for him to throw it all away?

Would she ever forgive him if he did go through with it?

He was selfish for even thinking about it, as always. Never considering the pain he would cause on Gamora, and the fact that he would leave Nebula alone too, with no other place to go to, and no one else who could understand and share with her what they’ve gone through.

He had to grow the heart to actually stay and be there for them. Leaving was just too easy.

So he gave Yondu the spacesuit and the aero-right, before he started to take off with the powers the planet generously offered him, glancing at Yondu one last time, close enough that he heard him say:

“You promise me… that you will care for her, keep her safe like I never could. If she means half as much to you…”

Peter knew the strain that came from those words, so he said with conviction, “I promise,” before making the Ravager salute just like Gamora taught him.

Then, he took off.

***

The battle between Gamora and her father had raged like a storm. Ego, drawing on the planet's core and bending it to his will, had summoned walls of stone and light to crush her, each blow more savage than the last. Gamora, bloodied and breathless, had fought back with every ounce of strength she could gather, channeling her rage into raw energy.

They had collided midair, powers crashing together. The impact shook the ground beneath them, and when they fell, they fell hard.

Now, the fury was beginning to wane, replaced by a breathless stillness.

Gamora let out a low, guttural breath and hurled him backward, sending him sprawling across the rubble. But he crawled back to her, desperate, latching onto the front of her jacket with trembling hands, eyes wild.

“No,” he gasped, reaching for it, “we need to stop it!”

Gamora let out a low, guttural breath and hurled him backward, sending him sprawling across the rubble. But he crawled back to her, desperate, latching onto the front of her jacket with trembling hands, eyes wild.

“Listen to me!” he begged. “You are a god! If you kill me, you will lose your brother, you will be just be like everyone else!”

Gamora’s eyes locked with his, wondering where the heck did he get the idea that such a scenario would be even remotely bad.

She sure as hell knew Peter would never want that now, and finally, she understood why too.

“Good,” she said, in the same tone Yondu used when she decided to begrudgingly do something that aligned, for the wrong reasons, with his own agenda.

Ego stared at her in disbelief, truly afraid now.

“No…” he whispered, but his voice cracked into silence.

That’s when she knew the time came.

Gamora closed her eyes, feeling herself get engulfed in the chaos of the world around her falling apart.

Walls of fire erupted, stone crumbled like paper, and the ground tore open beneath her feet.

She could only stand frozen in the chaos, but with a sense of relief knowing her true family was safe outside.

The light in her hands started to fade, until merely a speck from her fingers, weaker than the light of a candle, came out of them.

So that meant death could claw its pointy nails in her like nothing.

She simply lowered her head, breath steady, quietly accepting it was closing in.

And then something slammed into her from the side, making her yelp.

When she reached to feel it, she felt the hands that held her, and by her side, she saw Yondu holding her tight.

He grabbed her hard, lifting her in a jolt as his aero-rig flared to life, pulling her up and away, keeping her safe from the fire and the collapsing planet below them.

The wind and heat chased them skyward, debris and flame licking at their backs as the ground gave way far below.

Everything was a blur, but then his voice cut through.

“He may have been your father, girl,” Yondu said, struggling for breath, “but he wasn’t your daddy.”

Gamora stared at him, dazed. “What?”

“I’m sorry I didn’t do it right. I’m damn lucky I had you with me, my little tot.”

If there was a single, remaining memory in her mind that would whisper into her ear to keep Yondu at arm’s length, it completely vanished at that moment, after seeing his expression as soft, true and warm as she ever saw it, filled with the pride she still remembered from the family she loved back in her home planet before her life got flipped upside down.

Now that he let it all out, she would never, ever let him live that down, he had no excuse anymore to hide away or put on his tough persona, she completely saw what he was, and at that very moment, she realized he was indeed the closest thing to a parent that life had offered her after having hers taken.

But all of it vanished as he reached out and slapped a small device to her chest. It hissed, and a shimmering field of protective light wrapped itself around her body.

“What…?” she barely got the words out.

Yondu exhaled deeply, the last of his air leaving his lungs, and when they punched through the last layer of atmosphere, into the silent, searing cold of open space….

No…

No, no, no, no, no, NO!

Her body, realizing what was happening before her mind did, tried to wriggle out of his grip, heart beating out of her chest, but he wouldn’t let her go from that harsh, protective form of embrace.

“Yondu! Don’t do this! I swear to the stars…!” she cried.

Could she de-activate the space suit and give it to him? She tried to, but the damned thing was a single use only, and despite everything her fingers still tried by all means to take it off, to find a way to miraculously pass it along, back and forth, so both would make it out of there.

She could save him like she had with Peter, she had to, she HAD to!

But as the aero rig died and they were left levitating on that sky, the harsh reality struck her like the worst punch she’s ever felt, letting out the rawest tears she ever got.

This was her fault! All her fault! Yondu would’ve never had to come and rescue her if she wasn’t so insistent on trusting Ego in the first place, if she…

The hands cupping her cheeks, however, brought all those thoughts to a halt, and with nothing more she could do, she just brought her forehead to rest on his, letting out her sobs and yowls.

She kept at it, until the hands disappeared again from her face.

Despite the gut wrenching feeling that threatened to tear her heart open, she looked up to his face again, seeing his expression slack, body going limp, and finally, drifting through the space, lifeless.

That’s when the void left from the planet also settled inside her, as if she never really left, the only sound around her being the one of her own distress that she could not control, that she might never.