Well, Infinity War nearly broke me (and pretty much anyone else who has seen it), and of course dragged me kicking and screaming back into this fandom. What a bunch of a-holes, giving me ALL the feels.

I needed some therapy after what Peter and Gamora and the rest of the Guardians went through in IW, so here's my attempt at that.

Warnings for a little fluff, a lot of ANGST, hurt/comfort (I'm a sucker for Peter whump tbh), spoilers for Infinity War and of course both Guardians movies.

Hope my characterization is okay, this bunch is not easy to write, and this is my first attempt (well first published attempt at least-hopefully there will be more after this!).

Thanks for reading!

Fictional


One

At the end of everything, it's only natural to look back at the beginning.

Looking back, Gamora knows exactly the moment she implicitly put her trust in Peter, even in those early days of them working together, when taking on Ronan seemed like an impossible task.

It was the exact pivotal turning point in her life that she has not been able to look back from since.

Nor does she want to, if she's being honest with herself.

The Guardians, and Peter, are the best thing that have ever happened to her, and she doesn't have any regrets about that.

Except for Thanos dragging the rest of them down with her.


"So, what is the rest of your plan, Quill?"

Peter sighs at Gamora's question, looking anxiously at the door where Yondu and the rest of the Ravagers are about to come in any moment, to hear how they are going to take down Ronan before he can destroy Xandar. They will definitely be expecting more than 12% of a plan.

He looks over at Gamora, hands on his hips, before turning to face the rest of their newly formed rag-tag team, standing in a circle, Rocket's snark of bunch of jackasses still lingering in the air.

"Okay, if we can figure out how to get on Ronan's ship, there's this device called..."

"The Hadron Enforcer," Rocket interrupts knowingly, jumping off of the box he was perched on and coming closer to him.

"Yeah, as I was saying," Peter agrees, quirking an eyebrow in annoyance, "so we take the Hadron..."

"Wait, what is a Hadron Enforcer?" Drax asks quizzically. "I have never heard of such a device."

"That's because your idea of a plan is to call the enemy to your direct location, throw some fancy knives at 'im, and still get your ass kicked!" Rocket snaps back, evidently still sore about that particular subject.

"You speak of matters of which you do not understand," Drax grumbles in response, standing up taller. "The next time we face Ronan, I will not be defeated."

"Guys," Peter throws up his hands in exasperation now, "we're really getting away from the point of the plan here..."

Gamora looks back and forth as Quill tries to wrangle in the others with no success, and to her own surprise, has to suppress a laugh. What a team they all make. They can't get along for more than five minutes.

But, they may be Xandar's last hope, and even if none of them survive this, Gamora had meant what she said.

She would rather die with these new friends, the only friends she has ever really had, than stand by and watch Ronan decimate an entire innocent population.

She's already lived through that once because of Thanos, and she won't do it again.

"I am Groot," Groot says then with a clearly disapproving tone, chiding Rocket.

"So what if Drax wasn't thinking clearly when he called Ronan on Knowhere, we can't have emotions dictating our moves every time, we've already got to deal enough with that with Quill!" Rocket defends himself, pointing at Peter.

"Hey, wait a minute," Peter protests at that, frowning heavily. "I'm not the one who...you know what, whatever, it doesn't matter, can we just get back to the plan now?"

"Yes," Gamora replies firmly, and he gives her what she thinks might be a look of relief and maybe gratitude. She can't help but smile slightly, giving a short nod of encouragement in return. "Continue with your plan, Quill. The rest of us," she narrows her eyes at the other Guardians, "will listen."

"Thank you," Peter tells her sincerely, if not with a little surprise. "As I was saying, we'll use the Hadron Enforcer to take down Ronan once we corner him on the ship."

"It should be powerful enough to counteract his power with the Infinity Stone," Gamora agrees firmly with his idea. Quill might be better at this whole team-leader thing than she has really given him credit for.

"Yeah, great, there's just one problem with that...how do we get on his ship?" Rocket asks skeptically, crossing his short arms across his chest.

"I'm still working on that part," Peter sighs with a shrug. "But once we're on there, Gamora and I will go left to find Ronan, and Drax and Groot will go right to try and hold off his goons, and Rocket you'll be outside blasting..."

"No," Gamora corrects him quickly.

"What?" Peter blinks at her. "From what we know of the ship so far, Ronan's quarters..."

"Are to the left, yes," Gamora continues, gesturing with her hands, "but the minute he knows we're on the ship, he will activate an impenetrable security door to lock us out. There is a power source across the ship that will deactivate the door. That," she raises a knowing eyebrow, "is to the right."

Peter nods slowly, giving her a wry but amused look. "Okay, okay, new plan. Gamora will go to the right, and deactivate the power source, Drax and Groot will come with me to take on Ronan with the Hadron Enforcer, and Rocket you will stay outside the ship to take out Ronan's guys and keep the Ravagers in line."

"Now that," Gamora looks reassuringly at him, "sounds like a plan."

Peter gives her what is definitely a grateful smile this time, before the heavy metal door suddenly swings open, and Yondu and his men come striding into the room.

"Well, boy," he drawls expectantly, coming to stop next to the Guardians, Kraglin flanking him on the left, "let's hear this brilliant plan of yers. I ain't got all day."

Peter grins confidently, his demeanor quickly shifting to one of someone who knows what he's doing, even if it's barely more than 12 percent. "So here's what we're gonna do..."

Gamora follows him that day, deciding to put her trust in Peter Quill and this mismatched group they call a team, and never looks back.


Part two coming soon!