Listen to the wind blow
Watch the sun rise
Run in the shadows
Damn your love
Damn your lies

"I can't believe you brought that up."

Tessa sent Peter a dirty look, despite the fact that she was wearing her mask and he wouldn't be able to see a thing. The pair avoided multiple shots from Sovereign fleet as they made their way across the battlefield towards their ship.

"Well, I can't believe you would be such a freaking douchenozzle," she replied, ducking under a ship and shooting up to wreck it.

"I'm a douchenozzle?!" Peter replied, outraged as he dodged a piece of debris "You're a douchenozzle!"

"How am I a douchnozzle?!" Tessa demanded, their ship in sight now "Because I didn't return your creepy advances?"

"No!" Peter replied "You're-You…"

"Ah-Ha!" Tessa said, looking over at Peter "You don't have any-."

A sudden blast from a ship made them both dodge, throwing them off of their course and sending them slamming inside of their ship.

It was quiet for a moment as both turned off their masks, regained the bearings, and realized that they were unharmed.

"You just flew away when Rocket said he loved you!" Peter suddenly announced, sounding surprised himself "So, you are the douchenozzle!"

Tessa's eyes grew wide before they narrowed dangerously.

"Screw you!"

She leapt across the space separating them and grabbed Peter by the lapels of his jacket so she could shake him furiously, Peter responding in kind by shoving at her.

"If the two of you don't knock it off, I'm gonna come back there and whip both of your asses!"

The roar from Yondu caused the Terrans to separate, but didn't keep them from glaring at each other, at least, until something else caught their attention.

"Let this be a message to all those tempted with betraying us: don't screw with the Sovereign."

The ship shuttered horribly as the Sovereign held nothing back; levying it with hit after hit. It was a miracle they lasted as long as they did, long enough for there to be a sudden influx of power and multiple lasers to burst from the ship. Every one of the Sovereign fleet took a hit and exploded into almost nothing; they'd defeated an army.

But, as Tessa and Peter noticed, there had been some consequences to that battle strategy.

"We're gonna blow!"

And if, you don't love me now
You will never love me again
I can still hear you saying
You would never break the chain
(Never break the chain)

"You look like Mary Poppins."

Despite the fact that Tessa was still pretty pissed at Peter, she couldn't help but laugh at the comparison. Unlike the other two, who were using their rocket boots, Yondu used his arrow to lower himself to the ground slowly, which did make him look quite a lot like that.

"Is he cool?" Yondu asked, the two Terrans forgetting their rivalry as their eyes met for a brief second.

"Hell yeah he's cool," Peter said.

"Kicked ass," Tessa supplemented.

"I'm Mary Poppins, ya'll!"

The smile Tessa wore was one of the more genuine ones she had in the past few days even though they were surrounded by utter chaos. The three touched down on ground alongside the rest of the team, including Nebula and Mantis.

And Rocket.

The man in question was doing everything in his power to not look at her, which made her stomach twist in uncomfortable ways.

She'd already blown it, hadn't she?

"Rocky-."

There was a loud thump and a grunt and Tessa turned to see that Mantis had been nailed by a piece of debris, which knocked her unconscious. Which meant she wasn't using her powers.

"Mantis, look out!" Drax warned, way too late.

"Rocket," Tessa called as the ground began to shake, signifying that the planet was starting to wake "How long do we have?!"

"Assuming Groot doesn't kill us all, about six minutes," Rocket replied, now electing to act like nothing had happened. And for a moment Tessa thought about just yelling it, right now. In front of everybody. But, before she could do it or psyche herself out, the planet cracked open above them and the daylight shined down.

"Drax, take Mantis!" Peter commanded, putting his space suit on his back and Drax launching off.

The ground shook violently and split, Gamora falling down into the abyss. But, before Tessa or anyone else could do something to help her, Nebula jumped after her. And, their attention was soon grabbed.

"Peter!"

The tendrils of Ego reappeared as well as his face ingrained in the very planet. The light attacked them and each member of the group fought back in their own way: Peter with his guns, Yondu with his arrow, Tessa with the Hadron Rifle, and Rocket with multiple weapons all of which were probably banned in most systems.

"What kind of father would I be if I let you make this choice?" Ego's omniscient-like voice called as the tendrils regenerated faster than they could wear them down "Soon, Peter, we will be all there is. So stop pissing me off!"

Suddenly, one of the tendrils wrapped around Tessa's ankle and threw her up into the air. As she fell back down, her hands scrambled but she managed to knock her boots on and the rockets slowed her descent. But, the same tendril grabbed her again and slammed her down into the ground; a sickening crunch coming from her right arm.

The light reared back and even through her immense pain, Tessa realized what was about to happen.

"ROCK-!"

Before she could even finish his name, she was being buried by the stone and light. And even though her voice had made Rocket's entire being go into panic mode, he couldn't get to her, because he wasn't fairing much better than she was.

Listen to the wind blow
Down comes the night
Running in the shadows
Damn your love
Damn your lies
Break the silence
Damn the dark
Damn the light

"Hey."

Tessa looked up from her tablet to watch Peter enter the room. The two Terrans exchanged a smile before Peter started messing with whatever he'd come in the room for and Tessa returned to reading her Xandarian romance novel. She started the book two months ago, before the whole mess with Ronan, and she hadn't been able to get back to it due to the upset on the Milano.

Their new shipmates were people of varying ethics and personalities, which made for a bit of tension when they started living together. Sure, both of them loved having more people, it filled the silence that was so often found in space, but sometimes they both wished for the calm that they'd had before.

But, neither of their minds were on that right now; Peter was busy gathering up his stuff while Tessa was focused on whether or not the protagonist would choose to move to Hala with their lover. Right as they were about to announce their decision, Peter leaned to grab his favorite mug off of the table Tessa was sat at.

"Oh my god."

Tessa looked up to see Peter's eyes were on her lap; he must've not realized that the Terrans were not the only people in the room.

"What?" Tessa said, knowing why he'd reacted that way but deciding it was best to pretend that nothing was weird about this "He fell asleep."

As Tessa spoke, she ran her fingers through Rocket's fur, which didn't wake him but did make his ears and tail twitch.

"How—Why—?" Peter started, giving her a look that conveyed that he didn't understand how she even got into that position in the first place. Thankfully, she could pretend like she didn't know what he was trying to ask and so she didn't have to answer.

She didn't have to explain that maybe she and Rocket didn't have so much of a problem with each other. At least, not all the time. She didn't have to explain that before Rocket fell asleep, he'd been sitting her lap; working on what was probably a bomb. And she certainly didn't have to explain how she'd absentmindedly began to scratch him behind the ears and he completely relaxed against her before his breathing became heavy and Tessa realized what she'd done.

"He was tired," Tessa offered, hoping that would placate Peter. Thankfully, he didn't ask about how the pair had ended up here. Instead, a sinister smile spread across his face. One that made Tessa wary.

"Remember when we stopped at the place in Contraxia? The one with all the different races of women stripping," he said.

"And they tried to hire me?" Tessa replied, deadpan as she remembered how much she'd been enjoying watching all the different body types when a couple of bouncers led her to a skeevy looking guy who tried to convince her that this establishment was the place for her.

"Yeah, and that Shi'ar chick gave you that thing of glitter for punching her boss in the face," Peter said, his smile growing wider as it occurred to Tessa exactly what he was proposing.

"Peter, no," Tessa said, making her best friend immediately indignant.

"What? C'mon!" He announced, louder than he should "I had pink glitter in my hair for weeks after that. Imagine what it'd be like in fur."

"C'mere," Tessa said, her voice not raising in the slightest. Peter frowned before walking over to her side of the table. Once he was standing next to her, she looked up at him with a smile.

"What?" Peter asked, Tessa flashing her eyes down to where she was still lightly running her fingers through Rocket's fur "You're kidding."

"This is your only chance."

Peter and Tessa exchanged a long look before the former broke the eye contact and sighed. He leaned down slightly and Tessa moved her hand so Peter could slowly put his on Rocket. He held his breath like he half expected his eyes to snap open and for him to bite him or something. But, Rocket continued to sleep and Peter began to gently pet him. Rocket tensed like he could tell the person touching him was different from before, but soon enough he relaxed back into Tessa.

"I did not expect his fur to be this soft," Peter admitted in whisper, Tessa nodding.

"I know."

"But, you know what's interesting?" Peter asked, Tessa sending him a look "He isn't as nearly as soft as you are when it comes to him."

Tessa reached and shoved Peter, who chuckled lowly before hopping up to leave the room. She just rolled her eyes as she listened to him whistle that familiar Elvin Bishop song.

She looked down to see Rocket curled up and still fast asleep on her lap. She returned to her ministrations as she thought; Peter was right about her being soft. And maybe that was bad, like Yondu would say, but… It felt nice to be soft like this.

She knew that Peter had only been whistling that song to get a rise out of her, but as she looked down at Rocket's sleeping form, she figured that he wasn't that far off.

Suddenly, the light and rock that had been smothering her pulled back, Tessa taking a gasping breath as she held her arm.

And she had no way of knowing that it was memories like that that had just saved her.

And if you don't love me now
You will never love me again
I can still hear you saying
You would never break the chain
(Never break the chain)

Tessa gave an agonized sound that drew the two other people that had just been freed from Ego. Yondu took her busted arm in gentle hands that always surprised people while Rocket looked over with worried eyes.

"Hey, Blondie, you okay?" He asked, tucking a piece of the aforementioned hair behind her ear.

"Naw, it's broken," Yondu informed them before turning to Rocket "Go and find the twig."

"But-."

"Now."

Rocket gave Tessa one last look, which she returned with a small forced smile, before he launched off into the air to go and find Groot. Once he was gone, Tessa dropped the brave face she'd put on and hiccupped slightly as her eyes began to overflow.

"Hey, none of those tears," Yondu said, slowly moving her arm so she could hold it "You're gonna have to fly up to the ship."

"I'm not sure-," Tessa started as he helped her to her feet.

"You can do it," Yondu said, putting on of his hands on either side of her face "'Cause you're my girl and my girl is tough enough to do anything. Got that?"

"… Got it," Tessa said, nodding and smiling slightly, which made Yondu grin and before he took his hands off of her.

"Go on, Kid."

Tessa smiled one last time before blasting off and flying up to the surface, not knowing that Yondu watched her until she was out of sight.

And if you don't love me now
You will never love me again
I can still hear you saying
You would never break the chain
(Never break the chain)

"We're about to blow!"

Rocket leveled with Yondu's height, taking note that Tessa was gone, which meant she was on the ship. That knowledge made him drop from panic mode to just your everyday we're all going to die.

"Get to the ship!" Yondu yelled.

"Not without Quill!" Rocket found himself saying, despite how he knew he should be leaving that no good Terran in the dust if he wanted to keep Tessa. But, a smaller part of his brain pointed out that Quill was still her best friend and it didn't matter that she was angry with him right now, she loved him one way or another. And he couldn't just let him die.

But, he certainly didn't care about what happened to Quill outside of how it affected Tess. No siree.

"You need to take care of the twig!"

"Not without you," Rocket said, this time every part of him agreeing on that.

"I've done a lot of bad in my life," Yondu said "It's time I did some good."

Rocket felt everything inside of him drop at those words; he knew what Yondu meant to do. It was quiet between the two, despite the fact that the planet around them was crumbling apart. Finally, Rocket reached into his pocket and pulled out the last two of each, cursing he hadn't brought extra.

"A space suit and a Aero-Rig."

He passed them to Yondu, who took them before looking back up.

"You take good care of my girl, got it?"

"Forever," Rocket promised, feeling his throat tighten as silence fell over them; no one quite sure what to say.

"I am Groot."

"What's that?" Yondu asked, Rocket wondering how a baby had managed to figure out how to say all the things he'd wanted to say.

"He said 'Welcome to the freakin' Guardians of the Galaxy.' Only he didn't saying freakin'."

And if you don't love me now
You will never love me again
I can still hear you saying
You would never break the chain
(Never break the chain)

"Are you sure you're doing this right?!"

Gamora sent Tessa a dirty look as she continued to work on setting her arm. It was makeshift, to say the least, but it was better than nothing. Even if it hurt like a bitch. Suddenly, there was a sharp jab in her neck and she looked to see Nebula with a needle.

"What was that?" Tessa demanded, rubbing the spot that Nebula had injected her.

"It'll help with the pain," she replied coolly before sitting back down.

"… Thanks," Tessa muttered, surprised.

"You're whining annoyed me."

Before Tessa could come up with an answer that was both a retort and nice because Nebula did help her, there was the sound of familiar rockets and she felt a smile grow across her cheeks as she watched him land.

"Rocket," she said, relieved for a brief moment before she caught sight of his face.

"Where's Peter?" Gamora asked, it occurring to Tessa that two people weren't on the ship. Rocket didn't reply, just looked down at his hands. Tessa felt that growing sense of dread fill her completely "Where is he?"

Groot pointed back to the planet.

"No," Gamora said, standing and grabbing a gun "I'm not leaving without him."

She headed back out to the planet, but before she even stepped off the ship, Rocket suddenly fired his taser at her; knocking her unconscious.

"What the hell?!" Tessa yelled, scrambling to her feet "I know you're mad at him, but Jesus Christ! Leaving him to die?"

"Tess…"

"I'll go and get him," she announced, heading the way Gamora had.

"Tessa…"

"And don't you dare shoot me with that-."

"Theresa! Will you listen to me?!" Rocket's exclamation made her falter, but she continued to walk until she had one boot on the planet.

"Please."

She stopped, but didn't turn away from the planet, she just waited.

"I know you love Quill. Probably more than you love me. But, that doesn't matter, because I love you. And I know I don't act like it, but… Being with you is the only thing that's ever made me feel like I might not be a monster. Because how could I be if you were willing to be with me? And I know I've hurt you, Tess, and it eats me up that I can't stop doing things that hurt you. But, the reason I keep doing it is because I know you could never love a thing like me as much as I love you. Maybe not even at all. But that doesn't matter either, because I'm not asking you to love me more than Quill. I'm not asking you to love me at all. I'm asking you to think about how much I love you. And I'm asking you to understand that I never want you to be hurt or upset."

"So, please, Tessa? Please don't go out there. Please know that I'm not asking you to stay because I hate Quill. I'm asking you to stay because I love you."

It was dead silent for a moment, Rocket holding his breath as she stood stock still.

Tessa lifted her foot and placed it back in the ship.

Chain keep us together (running in the shadow)
Chain keep us together (running in the shadow)
Chain keep us together (running in the shadow)
Chain keep us together (running in the shadow)
Chain keep us together (running in the shadow)
Chain keep us together (running in the shadow)