Xandar, Capital of the Nova Empire

Gamora and Galaxy stood on Xandar, both scanning the crowd. Usually, on the rare occasions that Galaxy helped Gamora on an assignment, the green woman would not look at anything unless it related to the assignment; she would not do anything unless it somehow related to the assignment, really. That was why Galaxy was concerned; Gamora's eyes kept flicking away from the crowds beneath them to her. After the sixth time, Galaxy asked, "Gamora, do you need to say something?"

Gamora sighed and turned towards Galaxy, not even pretending to look at the crowd; Galaxy did the same, staring intently at the woman as she waited for her to speak as she so clearly wanted to.

"Why are you with Ronan?"

Galaxy blinked at the question. She had expected to be ask about her odd behavior; Gamora was not one to fail to notice abnormal behavior, and she knew she had been acting differently ever since they had boarded the ship to Xandar. She had tried to stop, but it was hard not to be jittery as she got closer to the planet that held her brother. She had tried to calm herself by arguing that it was a possibly that it was Peter, but it was no use. By the time the ship had landed she was doing everything in her power to remain still, going as far as to run her fingers up and down her legs as if she was playing the piano.

Of course, this was not normal behavior for Galaxy; she strove to fade into the background, to not be noticed by the others around her. Surely, Gamora had noticed, but why hadn't she asked?

She looked over at Gamora; the other woman was staring at her intently, and Galaxy couldn't help but blush under her piercing gaze. "Ronan has always been kind to me," Galaxy started, "I've known him since I was ten when his father bought me from Yondu-"

Gamora shook her head, "I know all that," she interrupted smoothly, "I know he's kind to you and I know you were childhood friends but…" her voice trailed off as she glanced around, as if suddenly wary of people listening in. "You've seen everything he's done."

"I have," Galaxy agreed, "But I've also seen the way he strives to fix his past mistakes. He'll never be able to truly fix all he's done, but he's trying. I see it every single day and that means something to me. It proves he's still the boy I grew up with."

Gamora was frowning in thought when Galaxy was done. Knowing there wouldn't be a response from Gamora for a while, the woman was the definition of a silent thinker, Galaxy scanned the crowd once more. Peter would stand out as a person who wasn't yellow or pink, the majority of the skin colors on Xandar; he was also taller than the average Xandarian - there was no way Galaxy would be able to miss him.

But it had also been over ten years since she had seen her twin last, and just like she had changed, Peter would have as well. Without truly meaning to, she thought about her childhood, their childhood. Their mom had always said he looked so much like their father, but Galaxy had always thought he looked more like their mother. He had her hair, her smile, her laugh. The only thing Galaxy had gotten from her mother was her eyes.

Eyes that were widening as they landed on a tall, male figure with sandy brown hair, Ravager red leather, and a smirk on his stupidly familiar face.

"I found him," Galaxy reported.

Their earlier conversation forgotten, Gamora leaned forwards to get a closer look at Peter. "He's taller than I expected," she said in a low voice. "And he wears very distinctive clothing." She turned to Galaxy, "I should be the one to speak to him. He would react well to a woman stroking his ego."

Galaxy swallowed hard, harder than she probably needed to. It was odd to think of her brother as an adult, part of her was still thinking of him as her ten year old brother. Of course Gamora's plan was accurate, Peter had always enjoyed anyone stroking his ego, but at the age of ten he thought that most woman were gross.

"He's fast so if it doesn't work, don't chase him, I'll knock him out from up here," Galaxy suggested in a pained agreement.

"How do you know he's fast?"

Mentally, Galaxy cursed. She hadn't want anyway, save Ronan, to know about her relationship with Peter. It was private and something she needed to work on without everyone's opinions on it. She hadn't meant to slip, but with the ways memories were coming up she could easily remember chasing after Peter, being left in the dust despite running as fast she could; their mother's watchful gaze on them.

"Aren't all Ravagers fast?" Galaxy asked Gamora, "Yondu would only take people who could run fast while being shot at."

The trials were probably the only time the Ravager group was serious. Yondu would stand and shoot at the man running; if he didn't die then he would be allowed to stay; if he died...well he would have died anyways. Better by a Ravager then a foe.

"I will keep that in mind," Gamora muttered, frowning as she eyed Peter once more; he was walking slowly and casually to the Brooker's shop. "I should go down there."

It only took a few minutes for Gamora to be in place; the green woman was leaning against the wall with one of her legs propped up so she could lean with her foot on the wall. While walking, she had grabbed some sort of drink and was sipping on it slowly, her eyes firmly on Peter, though he was oblivious from what Galaxy could see. That wasn't surprising, at all. Her brother had never been one to notice something unless it was directly in front of him, and even that had never been fully true.

Shaking her head, Galaxy pulled out the small gun she always kept with her since Ronan had given it to her. It had two settings on it, stun and kill. Galaxy turned the dial to stun, staring down at the words. It was ironic, the gun she had gotten on her sixteenth birthday, the same day she had told Ronan about Peter, was going to be used as an aid to capture her brother. An onlooker could describe it as humorous, but Galaxy did not feel like laughing. Instead, she felt wistful; wistful for a life she never had, an uncomplicated life on Earth with her brother and their elderly mother. This was not the first time she had imagined such a life, and as much as it pained her to think on it, she couldn't stop. Normalcy was intoxicating for Galaxy, or at least the dream of it was. Yet when she thought of Ronan, she shook her head in a physical dispelling of the idea. Normalcy would mean losing Ronan, and she wouldn't have that.

Now pulled out of the dream, Galaxy looked down at the Brooker's shop, wincing as she saw Peter forcibly removed. She clucked her tongue; Peter was not one for research and he had probably mentioned Ronan or someone connected to him to the Brooker and the man had decided that Ronan's possible wrath was worse then Peter's or Yondu's. An assessment that Galaxy would have agreed with had she not known that Ronan wouldn't attack the man. Scare him, maybe, but not harm.

She looked over at Gamora; like a predator, the green woman was eyeing Peter as she talked casually, coolly. She had shifted from appearing bored to interested and seductive - the last description made Galaxy fight the urge to gag. What made it worse was that Peter was acting in a similar manner. He had that stupid smirk on his face, the same smirk he had made when he tried to impress a thirteen years old girl at the age of seven. He leaned against the wall, spinning a sphere in his hands as he talked.

Without pausing, Gamora flicked her eyes upwards to catch Galaxy's gaze. It was far too quick for Peter to notice, but Galaxy did. She didn't bother giving a nod in return, knowing Gamora wouldn't dare to look at her again, least Peter noticed. Instead, Galaxy looked down at the gun to check the setting even though she knew it hadn't changed. With no excuse left, she raised her gun and readied her aim. She frowned, more than a bit horrified at the situation. Her thoughts, all wildly trying to pull her attention away, boiled down to one question: Am I really going to do this? She could almost, almost hear her mother's voice, raised in rare anger, when she had found them playing cops and robbers.

"If you're ever going to raise any sort of gun towards someone, you're telling them that you're okay with killing them."

She shook her head, as if that could somehow dissolve the growing guilt she felt. Their mother had been so sad at the idea of her children hurting each other, imaginary or not. That night, she had sat them down and repeated the sentence in a calmer voice, taking both their hands to squeeze them as she spoke.

It had also, Galaxy remembered with a wince, the first night she revealed her declining mental state to her children by telling them about their father. "He would have been so excited to be with you," their mother had said in a soft voice, her eyes closed. She was sitting in between their bedrooms, allowing both twins to listen in. "But he had to go back to the stars – he said he had work to do."

Even at that young age she had been concerned about her mother's words. She hated that she was right, that her concerns led to tests, which led to diagnosis, chemo, and then her death.

What she hated more was the nagging thought: What would her mother say if she could see her two children now? She closed her eyes, swallowing hard. She knew exactly what her mother would say, and that made her next actions even worse.

"I'm sorry momma," Galaxy whispered opening her eyes and clicking the safety off, her hands steady as she aimed it straight at her brother. Peter and Gamora were still talking, but in a blink – and – you'll – miss – it movement, Gamora grabbed the protective orb and kicked Peter in his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Peter, for his credit, responded quickly. He grabbed some sort of magnetic rope and threw it at Gamora, tripping her.

Frowning deeply, Galaxy readied herself to shoot…and then someone tapped her on her shoulder.

"What?" she snapped, not moving from her position.

"Groot! You're supposed to knock her out, not tap her on the shoulder!"

That complaint made Galaxy turn around. She had just enough time to open her mouth before the tall, tree-like creature in front of her, with an almost comical frown, hit her in the head. Her vision went black and she fell to the ground, losing consciousness as a bag was placed firmly over her head by the apologetic tree creature.

If anyone was wondering, I posted Galaxy's theme song on my tumblr, ultramasterdoctor. Her theme song is Dreaming by Blondie.

This was shorter than I would have liked, honestly. I tried to do a full flashback but that didn't work. I did length some of the sections post-editing though, so I think it reads smoother.

Besides the length, I really love this chapter. I love Galaxy so far and I really connected with the memories of her mom. From the short clips we saw of Meredith, I can't see her wanting her children to fight, even if they're pretending. She always seemed so peace loving to me, that I can see her being horrified at the idea of her children pointing "guns" at each other.

I hope you guys liked the chapter!