Hi everyone! Sorry for the late update, but in my defense, I have friends who just bought a house with a pool. So yeah, that's where I was this weekend instead of doing the very little bit of editing this chapter needed. This week's chapter is one that I really like (though it's pretty sad). I wrote it a long time ago: seriously, I wrote this about two years ago, a few weeks after I saw GotG for the first time. This is the kind of thing that I'm hoping we'll see in GotG: Volume 2, because I really want to know more about Gamora's relationship with Nebula, and their life with Thanos. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you again soon!

Gamora

They were almost kissing. His mouth was so close to hers, and she was about to lean forward, to press her lips to his, when she took a breath and stepped back. She didn't let go of his hands, but kissing Peter Quill—today or any other day—wouldn't be wise.

"Okay," he said, smiling at her. "You didn't put a knife to my throat this time, so that's a good sign, right?"

"Not exactly," Gamora said quietly, looking down at their hands, still entwined. "Peter…this is a bad idea."

Peter nodded. "Yeah, probably. I mean, I'd probably screw up if we...well, screwing up is kind of my thing when it comes to romances that last more than a few days."

Gamora shook her head. "That's not what I mean. I…it's a long story. Besides, we're friends. That alone is more than I deserve."

"What happened to 'no one deserves happiness?'" Quill said. "And what's a long story?"

She bit her lip, not wanting to say it, but it was the only way to explain. "When Nebula and I were a few years out of childhood, Thanos began to give us more freedoms. I suppose he did it to measure what we'd learned from him—he sent us all over the galaxy on different errands. Sometimes we had to find something, or perform some act of courage, and sometimes…we were tested.

When we were nearly adults, he sent us to a planet call Keeon, where there were two young men that Thanos had trained as he had Nebula and I. At first, we were rivals. They were brothers, and we were sisters, so we fought for our 'father's' approval. But for a long time, we were left alone on Keeon. It's a barren planet—not much there but rocks and a few small forests, and eventually, we had to work together to survive.

By the time autumn arrived, we were allies, struggling to secure enough food to make it through the coming winter. We had no ship, no means of communication, so there was no leaving the planet—and by the time winter turned to spring, the four of us were the best of friends. More than that, actually.

Nebula's favorite was named Ushar. Even then, she had cybernetics—to Thanos, they were a sign of weakness, a means of forcing her to never forget her mistakes—but in Ushar's eyes, she was perfect. They were in love, I suppose. The other, Kin, was even more serious than his brother, and I was always so proud when I could coax a smile from him. We were happy, for a time. I liked Kin, and we had fun together the way any young people would while stranded together on a deserted planet. But for Nebula and Ushar, it was different. They wanted to leave together, to find a new life far away from Thanos.

So of course, that was when he returned for us. We woke up one morning to find Kin and Ushar gone. They were outside, a few miles from our shelter, and Thanos had already wounded them both. I don't know why they went alone—why they didn't wake us. Maybe Ushar snuck off on his own, thinking he would steal a ship from some foolish traveler, then make good on his plan to escape with Nebula. And of course Kin went with him, because they were brothers—they protected one another.

Thanos gave us a choice then. He told Nebula and I that we could either kill our young lovers, or that he would kill us all. We did not try to beg, or bargain—we knew it wouldn't do any good. Nebula attacked him then, and I followed her, but only to try and hold her back, to convince her that it was useless. Thanos only smiled at me as I tried to stop her—maybe somehow, he knew what I would do even before I knew myself.

She nearly landed a blow on him, once. And he would have killed her, I was sure of it…so I threw a dagger, and hit Kin between his eyes. I cared for him, but…perhaps that was why I could do it. Left to Thanos, we would have all died slowly and painfully. Kin was a warrior, but he was kind and intelligent…and I wanted to give him the only thing I could: a painless death. Then I drew another dagger for Ushar, knowing that Nebula wouldn't be able to kill him.

When Nebula saw what I'd done, and what I was about to do, she drew her own dagger and stabbed herself in the heart. Her cybernetics saved her though—she was badly hurt, but Thanos took her back with us—and Ushar—and healed them both. He wanted to teach her a lesson, to show her the futility of love…so he made sure she lived to see him torture Ushar. She thanked me once, for trying to do what she could not. Nebula never told me how he died, or how long it took, but I knew from then on that love…it destroys people, in the end. That's why I can't…I don't think we should be anything but friends."

When Gamora finally met his eyes again, Quill looked like he wanted to hit something. "Okay. I'm with Drax on this. If we ever run into Thanos, we're gonna kill that bastard."

Gamora smiled sadly. "You can't. Even with all of us together, it would be impossible."

"So was stopping Ronan," Quill said, squeezing her hands. "Gamora, I swear to you: someday, we're gonna destroy that guy. For you and for everyone else he's hurt."

Gamora shook her head. "It doesn't matter. What matters is that I barely deserve your friendship, let alone…deeper feelings."

"Deserve?" Quill repeated. "Okay, I'll admit that I'm bad at this, but I'm pretty sure that's not how it works. I'm crazy about you—the real you. I know what you used to be—I know you've done bad things, things you aren't proud of—but so have I. Then you decided to change who you are, to risk your life to save other people. Gamora, if I'd gone through what you have, I think I'd just hate everybody—I'd hate the whole damn universe, and I wouldn't care about anyone anymore. The fact that you still give a damn: that's amazing. And even if you didn't impress the hell out of me, I would still like you, just because you're funny and smart and beautiful, and you can kick my ass. I don't know why exactly that last one is so great, but somehow it is."

"Bad things?" Gamora repeated quietly, suddenly close to tears even though she couldn't keep from smiling at his words. "That's a bit of an understatement."

"I just…" Peter shook his head. "I'd never bring this up again if right now you said that you didn't want to kiss me. But saying that you don't deserve to kiss me…I can't be okay with that. You deserve…to kiss way cooler people than me."

Gamora shook her head. "The problem is that I do want to kiss you, Peter."

He nodded, somehow looking more kissable than ever with his mouth hanging open. "Okay. So what do you wanna do?"

Gamora looked down at her hands, which were still holding his. "…I don't know. Maybe…ask me again when this job is done?"

Quill smiled. "Sounds like a plan. Now all we have to do is catch a billion unit asteroid."

Gamora smiled wryly. "And what could possibly go wrong with that plan?"

As it turned out, many things.