Darkness so deep I'm downing in it, ice fills my veins and fire consumes my lungs. Hushed voices whisper all around me, giving answers to questions I've yet to ask. The more I panic, the quieter the voices become, until I can only feel one, waiting for me, always waiting.

"Who am I?"

"You are the deep waters, the thrashing wave." Its answer is like deep sleep, slipping through me with a feeling of forced submission.

"Why do I feel so violent?"

"Because you are a force of nature, the weapon forged of the sea." It hums while a feeling of urgency bats a tired claw at my mind.

"What am I?"

"Tempest"

With its reply echoing through the dark, I become aware of a new presence. I feel blood dancing through veins as it sings a siren's song to me. A five chambered heart beats fast and loud to my heightened hearing, this one isn't one of mine.

"Kill it!" The voice commands in a now urgent voice.

My eyes snap open to see a pale creature with a stretched diamond symbol on its forehead standing next to the bed. It stands there, clutching its clocked covered chest while staring at me with wide, frightened eyes, and it takes me a moment before I recognize it as one of Ronan's priestesses. The thumping becomes quiet as it slides to its knees, and then the sound of my heavy breathing is all I can hear as it lays on the ground, gasping for breath while clawing towards the door.

"I'm sorry!" I cry out I throw back the sheets and try to reach down to help it. When it recoils from my touch with a screech, I pull back to give it some space. Wide eyes stare at me until it finds its footing and staggers out of the room. Something warm runs down my neck but I don't have to look to know its blood.

I take a moment to work out the kinks I got from sleeping while still wearing the tight uniform Ronan gave me. Worry eats at me even as I walk to the cleaning unit to clean off the blood. I have no doubt I'll have some explaining to do with Ronan when I see him next.

Looking around the room, I have nothing to help me gauge the time, but since my energy is back and my arm is healed, I must have been asleep for a while. With a healthy grumble, I follow my stomachs orders and follow the path I took earlier to get to the dining area.

I'd like to say I was surprised to see a scowling Ronan waiting for me at the head of his dining table when I finally walk into the room, but at this point I think it's just his natural resting face. He sits with his usual perfect posture in the same chair as this morning. It looks like twisted black metal that from afar is totally chaotic but up close makes intricate designs. I have a theory that the chair was put there because of me, since it towers above the other less intricate seats and is boarder line ridiculous, but since I can't really judge if it's normally there, I keep my opinion to myself.

"You failed to tell me about your body manipulation powers"

I hear the anger in his tone but choose to ignore it as I take my seat next to him. My food was delivered after sitting down this morning, but since a meat patty and carrots are already set at the table, word must have gotten around.

I take a bite out of a look warm carrot before answering. "It's not body manipulation, it's a defensive mechanism where I temporarily gain control of someone's plasma." The patty is slightly warmer than the carrot when I pop a piece into my mouth. "But in my defense, your priestess shouldn't have snuck up on me."

I watch him scoop up a spoon full of something that looks like black pudding from the bowl in front of him. It was the same this morning, everything from his food to his drink have been consistently black. I don't realize I'm watching him chew until he clears his throat. His expression stays the same as he puts the spoon down and swallows. "Why did you not use it du-"

"Are your teeth naturally bl-" I stop as soon as I realize I cut him off. "Sorry, please continue."

"First, why did you not use it during practice? I cannot train your properly if you do not show me what you can do."

I open my mouth to reply but close it when he narrows his eyes and continues. "Secondly, she did not mean to startle you, you were in a deep sleep and she meant to wake you to eat. As for my teeth," I watch him pick up another spoon full of his food, "they are indeed stained by the meals allowed only to Blue Kree. The darker our teeth, the higher our status." He pushes his bowl slightly towards me, ignoring my grimace and slightly slanted away posture. "Now that you are my wife, you should work on improving your color."

I use my pointer finger to nudge the bowl back in his direction while fighting my gag reflex. "On my planet, white teeth are a sign of status so I'm going to take a hard pass."

The bowl gets shoved back at me. "Try it."

I shove it back. "Hard. Pass"

"Do not be a child!" The bowl is shoved back to me with a jello-like jiggle.

"How do I know this won't poison me?" I ask with suspicion as I pick up the spoon.

"Would I give you something that I thought would harm you?"

My eyes snap to his face as my eyes narrow. "You broke my arm."

"You healed!" he says it as if I was bringing up someone knocking over my sand castle when I was 5.

Wordlessly, I stick my fork into a carrot. Annoyed about doing something I really don't want, I almost poke him under his nose as I thrust the fork in his direction while raising the spoon full of gunk to my own lips.

"If this turns my teeth orange…" The threat is left hanging as he bites the carrot off the fork. I wait until his second chew before putting the spoon in my mouth. As I run my tongue along the spoon, I take in the smooth yet lumpy texture of the dish. While the texture reminds me of goat cheese, the best way to describe the flavor would be a cross between licorice and kiwi. Surprise has me looking over at Ronan but I stop from saying anything when I see the quiet look of focus set on his face.

It isn't until he swallows that he looks at me. "You actually like this?"

I can't help the small laugh his look causes. "Not really," I chime while leaning farther into his direction, "but it's a healthy food that's supposed to help with eye sight."

"And that?" he points to my now cold meat patty.

I shrug. "Protein keeps you full longer, it would taste better if I made it myself since I add more spices, but you can't be picky in space." I only take my eyes off him for a second to poke the patty, but when I turn back, Ronan's face is much closer than expected.

"Who would tell you such a lie?" The question is asked in a hushed tone right before I hear the scraping of his chair legs on the metal floor and feel the firm pressure of his lips against my own. By the time he pulls away, my clothes feel too tight and I want nothing more than to pull him back to me.

I watch the distance grow between us as he leans back to sit in his chair once again. It takes me a moment to catch my breath before I can ask "What the fuck was that about?" Don't get me wrong, I recognized Ronan as being attractive from the first second I saw his chained up form, but sexual frustration was not what I signed up for. A trump card with S.H.I.E.L.D., yes, mercy on someone I viewed as getting the short stick, check… but not this.

Ronan looks like a cat with cream when he says "You had a point during training, so I decided to research your customs a bit more and found that 'kissing' is a physical contact between couples to show unity and to straighten loyalty." His face turns from proud to serious in a flash. "I also read that the amount of sleep you have consumed is unusual for Terrans."

"What was your source, Wikipedia?!"

I wouldn't be surprised if I look as stunned as I feel. "Ok," I mumble while rubbing my temples, "first off, kissing on the mouth is for couples, but it's more of an expression for…Affection?" I guess that word will do since I can't currently think of anything else. "But for the record, my powers are directly linked to my energy. The less energy the more I sleep."

"You would not have had to use so much energy if you had used your body manipulation during practice."

And here I was hoping he forgot about that, guess I shouldn't count my chickens before they hatch.

"Can't," I forget the fork and use my fingers to pop a carrot into my mouth. "It's a suicide move if done too long, every second I use it is a second I'm causing internal bleeding to myself." I give him a pointed look. "Which means unless I don't see a way out, I don't use it."

"Yet my priestess gave you no way out?" he slowly asks, as if doubting my logic.

"Wrong place, wrong time. I was sleeping and instinct kicked in. Now," I come to a stand, "If you'll excuse me, I still have the rest of my afternoon free and since I can't speak with Paroxysm, which is ridiculous FYI, I'm going to tour your ship." If I don't do it now, I'm going to lose my nerve. Before I turn to leave, I lean down and place a quick peck to Ronan's lips, but as I pull away, a callused hand wraps around the back of my neck and pulls me down for a deeper kiss. It isn't until I feel his teeth pull on my bottom lip that I become aware that I've slipped onto his lap and my hands are wrapped around his neck and jaw. Butterflies dance in my stomach, that is, until I see the look in Ronan's eyes as he traces my lips with his thumb.

"You know," his chest rumbles when he speaks and warm air brushes my lips as he presses his forehead to mine. "This marriage doesn't have to be just political."

The voice of Nova Prime echoes in my mind alongside Paroxysm and all the others who count on me, all of them warning me about not only Ronan, but about how import my role is to my planet.

"I never wanted to be a soldier," I whisper as I allow myself to soak in his warmth, "but we don't always get to be what we want, and we will never be anything more than a political marriage."

I pull away, and as I stand, my body feels the chill of the room that I somehow missed before. I almost feel like an opportunity leaves me with his heat, but dismiss that as a silly thought. Before I have time to stop and analyze the feeling, I turn and briskly walk to the door. I hear the distinct sound of metal bending but keep my head high as the doors up and close behind me.

It isn't until I've made multiple left and right turns and am completely lost, that I allow a shaky breath to escape my trembling lips.

Just remember that his loyalty will NEVER be to you.

Nova's harsh words repeat in my mind, even as I collect myself and continue my search.

Oh wow, I didn't realize how long it's been since I updated, sorry for that everyone!

Importchic- Sorry! I didn't realize how long I've been working on this one, but your review gave me the motivation to sit down and finish it. =)

Bonnie from Freddy's - Thank you so much! The first few chapters were actually my final for an English class, but I had to delete the end since I've gone a very different direction since then. I'm glad you like it so far. =)

Until next time! Please feel free to leave a review (they mean a lot to me)! -Kiwi