They were five years old. Thanos was raging on a planet. Gamora and Nebula were told to stay near the fountain with the purple water. The two young girls were having fun playing in the purple water.
It had been six months since Thanos had told them they were sisters. At first sisterly bonding did not come easy to the two girls but they were starting to warm up to each other. That day Thanos had told them to stay at the fountain and he would come for them later. Ever since they met Gamora had noticed things about her new sister. She noticed that Nebula was a little slower than the other children she had met before. Her speech was a little scrambled and sometimes she would get frustrated when she couldn't understand something. She noticed she would be more aggressive when she couldn't find the words she needed. She noticed she was aggressive about a lot of things but Gamora didn't understand why. They were easy things to understand. She noticed that Nebula was very good at combat but still hesitated when told to train with Gamora. She had noticed all these things about her new sister.
The water they sat in was warm. Nebula was carefully splashing in the water. Gamora smiles and carefully splashes Nebula. She knew doing this was a gamble. Nebula looked up at her sister and splashed back. Gamora smiles and splashed back harder. Nebula return the favor. The gentle splashing turned into a full fledged splash flight. The giggles turned into laughs and the girls were finally starting to bond.
"I like you Gamora." Nebula says.
"You are scared."
The sudden voice behind Gamora startled the living daylights out of her. Instinctively pulling her sword she stops when she sees Mantis beside her. Gamora had been sitting by Nebula for awhile lost in thought. Mantis sits by Gamora.
"Were you two close?" Mantis asks her.
"We were once." Gamora tells her. "Long ago. When we were children. As we got older Thanos made us fight each other. We started to grow apart. She got more and more aggressive as the years went on. He chipped away at her piece by piece."
She takes a deep breath.
"She let me win." Gamora says gently touching Nebula's cheek. "I didn't understand it until after we left Ego. She would fight as hard as she could but would give in and made sure I won. She took the punishment everytime. So I didn't have to."
Mantis gently placed her hand on Gamora's arm. She felt a strong sadness overcome her. She felt a feeling of helplessness followed by a feeling of guilt. These emotions were so strong that they rattled her. She felt hot tears fill her eyes. They began to spill out. A tear streaked down her face. The emotions began to overwhelm her and she couldn't breathe. She looks over at Gamora who was looking at her sister. In a rare sight Mantis watched as the green warrior beside her let her guard down.
"I told her I hate her." Gamora says. "I told her she meant nothing to me. She loved me. She just wanted to be my sister."
A tear trickles down the green woman's face. She hadn't even tried to stop it. Another one follows it. She wipes it off with the back of her hand. She felt Mantis' arms wrap around her. She couldn't describe how much she needed it right at that moment. She hadn't realized that she had started to cry.
"I'm so sorry Nebula." Gamora whispers to unconcious woman.
"It's not too late." Mantis tells her. "She needs you to be her sister now more than ever."
Gamora nods and looks at her sister.
"I promise you. I'll be there with you until the very end."
"How much further until Terra?" asks Peter.
"About two more days" Rocket tells him.
The two were watching space go by as they traveled through the galaxy.
"I am Groot?" asks Groot.
"I know we said we didn't like her. We still don't. At least I don't." Rocket tells him.
"I am Groot?" Groot asks.
"Because that's what you do for people you care about. You go to the end of the universe for them. Hell you'd even go beyond that. There is no place you wouldn't go if you could save someone you cared about." Rocket explains to him.
"I am Groot?" Groot asks.
"I said I didn't like her. I never said I didn't care about her." Rocket tells him.
Before Groot could ask another question the ship gets blasted with something unexpectedly. The crew on board got thrown aside.
"What the hell was that?!" Peter yells.
"We're under attack. Dumbass." Rocket responds while pushing buttons and taking the ship off autopilot.
Small gold ship surrounded the ship blasting their shield from all sides. They both recognized the ships.
"Not these guys again!" Rocket yells pulling down the machine gun.
He starts opening fire on the small ships taking out as many as he could.
"Just give them back the battery and they'll go away." Peter tells Rocket.
"I can't." Rocket says trying to outrun the small gold ships.
"I am Groot?" asks Groot.
"It's keeping Nebula alive." Rocket tells them. "There's too many of them!"
Rope shots out from the ships and tangles up the ship preventing it from moving. The ships start pulling trapping the ship further. Peter jumps up from his seat and runs down to the medical bay. Gamora was strapping Nebula down.
"Hide the battery." He tells her. "They're back."
In a sudden white flash the ship was moved. A jump in space placed them on the Enclave planet. The ships gets filled with gold Enclave people. They fill the floors grabbing the guardians and pulling them away from each other. Gamora was standing in front of her sister keeping people away from the battery. There were two many of them. While Gamora was kicking an Enslave person another got their hands on the battery. With a yank it came loose from Nebula.
"NOO!" screamed Gamora.
Two guys grabbed Gamora and managed to pin her down. She could only watch in horror as Nebula's system began to turn off. She gets yanked off the ship screaming for Nebula as he gets pulled further and further away from her sister whose body was powering down. Her lights flicker off as Gamora looses sight of her.
"Nebula!"
