The temple. It was huge, inside and outside, but, of course, the interior, though seemed simple, was more complex.

The ceiling laid above their heads by at least eighty feet. Huge!

Every face of it: walls, ceiling, floors, pillars, were made of the same, greenish-blue material that had a dark aura to it.

There were carvings all around that were sure to tell a story the Guardians simply weren't interested enough to decode.

It was cold inside, a smell they couldn't quite place. The cracks in the ceiling gave limited lighting, but enough to see clearly.

But, the most intimidating trait, was the impending silence that lied within. It gave way to thoughts, thoughts that only proved to be heavy and dreadful. The separation was too much for them, some more than others. It was sudden, unplanned, and didn't exactly happen gracefully.

Drax was constantly wondering what his friends were currently up against, his heart and head heavy with concern.

For so long he'd been alone. He'd found a friend in Peter, someone to argue with, yet relate to, in Rocket, someone to adore and care for in Groot. They were just as important for him as the two girls in his current company.

Gamora was just as concerned, and though she tried to appear calm, to think straight, it was easier said than done.

Ever since that night on Knowhere, her and Peter had connected. Their bond grew with time, and she never quite understood what it might lead to.

Love was something the Zen-Whoberi had never experienced, not from her father, her sibling. No one. The way Peter treated her, though she was no stranger to men's flirting, it was the look he gave her every time their eyes met, a look she'd never seen before. It confused her mind, yet, made her heart dance at the same rhythm the Quill-boy's feet did.

Her rational thoughts boded her emotions and inner-reactions silly, but her heart fought strongly against that, and held onto those emotions and their source with all its might.

He was changing her. One thing was for sure, she would not bear his loss.

But she could not afford to think like that right now.

From behind her, Drax eyes around hopefully. Perhaps the others had already made it into the temple, but there was no one else around.

"Rocket. Come in," Petra tries for the umpteenth time as Gamora scoured around for an entrance underground, hoping the boys had somehow already made it there, what with falling in the tunnel and all. "Damn it! Come on!" the red-head yells impatiently, heart beating like a speedy hammer to a nail, equally as painful.

There was definitely someone at the other end of the line, but the signal was so scrambled and Petra wasn't sure anymore if it was true, or if her mind was just giving in and making her hear what she wanted to hear. The unsureness was driving her mad.

The Quill-girl roughly washes a hand through her loose hair strands, forcing them back in place and away from her view as she tried again and again.

Gamora and Drax turn to her small, terrified figure. They could not even begin to imagine what she must be going through. How hard it must be, not knowing how your only family member was fairing on a death-impending planet. The two were also well aware of her feelings for Rocket, and though Gamora had similar feelings for Peter, she and Drax knew they were not as strong as the bond shared between the group's two master-minds.

However, having observed the temple, unlike Petra, the two had sensed there was more to the three suspicious pillars on separate walls than meets the eye, but they would need their friend's focused and witty mind to help decode it, if only for the sake of grasping at the possibility of finding the others underneath them, a thought that hadn't yet crossed Petra's mind.

"Petra," starts Gamora calmly, as calm as she could be right now, approaching the near-to-exploding red-head, "I need you to listen to me, okay?" she asks. Petra turns her fearful, teary eyes to the Zen-Whoberi. Seeing the Terran like this, it made both companions wince. Gamora inhales and recollects her thoughts. "I know you're worried. Believe me, so are we," she glances at Drax. Petra mentally disagrees. It was her brother, and her best friend. She didn't think it was possible for anyone other than herself to feel as light-headed and heavy-hearted as she felt right now.

"But we have to keep moving because, as far as we're concerned, they could be under us, right now, or headed that way," she points to the ground. Petra eyes her quizzically. "They fell into a tunnel, Tri. I saw them," Petra slowly process this, just now thinking that was important. "And, I mean," Gamora lets out a hesitant chuckle, "it's Rocket, and Peter," she says as a matter of fact, as if it should be obvious that they were most definitely fine, "They wouldn't just be sitting around. They're moving, and wherever the path downstairs is, it needs to be open when they get here. And we need your help doing so," Gamora tells hopefully. Drax nods in agreement.

Petra absorbs the information she was too worked up to see. She takes a shaky breath. Slowly, she settles, her breathing straightens, and her mind clears. 'They're fine. They're fine,' her rational mind continued to imply, grateful that someone other than it was speaking.

"Okay," the red-head utters, nodding quickly and placing the emergency radio back in her pocket, alas, ready to work. Gamora and Drax smile in relief and gratitude. She spares a quick glance around, the other two at either sides of her. Drax then points around.

"These three pillars look oddly suspicious," he states. Petra follows his line of vision. She takes a few closer steps towards one of them. It was of course, enormous. It's shadow equally as big, but, for the red-head, it was easy for her to note that there was more to what lied on top of it.

The Quill-girl fired up her Roosters, hoping the fuel-wasting was worth it. She made it to the top, flashlight on as the other two waited below for her call.

On her way up, Petra passes a huge, gold-made, concave, reflective plate that somewhat perplexed her, but the start of a puzzle was always confusing. Further atop, there was another one attached to the pillar itself, and at the very top, another, attached partly to the ceiling and the wall. Opposite the final plate was a hoop, on the head of the pillar itself. Petra came closer and studied the hoop, the only thing catching interest was the material itself. It was easily flammable for a long duration of at least two hours.

"Okay!" she yells at the others below, "I'm gonna try something! Tell me what you see!" she tells.
"Okay!" Gamora yells back.

Petra wires up her gauntlet, flies a few steps back and to the side, away from the reflective surface. She fired at the hoop, which retorted in an intense, red flame that spread no further than the hoop itself. The intensity of the resulted light reflects onto the tilted lens across it. The light jumped from plate to the last, that set the beam a thin path within a hole in the pillar that was too small for the red-head to notice.

The light hit the ground at a certain point of a circle shaped engraving, two adjacent that drew out a triangle.

"It made a line!" Drax shouts excitedly. Gamora rolls her eyes at him.

Petra falls back down, having unknowingly missed a small detail about the hoop.

She studies the floor with the others, then turns towards the far off, opposite pillar.

"What did you do?" Gamora asks curiously. Petra wasn't in the mood to explain, so she sloppily summarized.
"Shot the hoop thingy at the top," she tells. Gamora is slightly taken aback. Petra was never one to summarize anything complex. They usually fascinated her, but Gamora supposed she would excuse it what with the current, stressful situation.

It takes Drax a moment to comprehend the summary, but when it hit him and he figured it was easy, he decided to do the next one.

"I get the second pillar!" he tells, jogging off in its direction.
"We should get the last," Gamora tells Petra, who nods, and they move as well.

When there however, it was found that the middle lens, the one held into the pillar, was broken, its detached piece on the ground below. And the last thing it was, was light.

It took both Drax and Gamora to pull up the piece and refit it in the right spot on the pillar high up.

When that was done. Petra shot the third hoop, and all three beams of light hit the ground. It began to shake. The Guardians hurried as the floor opened up in a star-like manner, revealing another, large set of stairs to climb down.

All went quiet. The three stood cautious as the pathway remained suspiciously open.

Still in doubt, they enter, in hopes of finding their friends.

"Damn it!" yells Rocket, voice echoing about the dimly lit walls, trying the coms for the fifth time since he and Peter moved through the heat-radiating tunnel-way, alas even getting the chance considering they weren't being chased down.

Peter was beyond anxious for a reply as well, but Rocket's constant swearing and yelling at the device was putting him on edge and irritating the heck out of Groot, who didn't dare say a word, Peter however.

"Will you stop that?! You're freaking me out!" he tells sternly. Rocket snaps to him.
"You should be freaked out!" he tells. Peter rolls his eyes.
"Oh, for god's sake!" he sighs. There was just no talking to Rocket. What on earth does his sister see in him?

"Do you have what I asked for?" asks a deep voice on a com system. Rod smirks at the question.
"We're minutes away from doing so," he replies.
"And the Guardians?"
"We showed them what we're capable of."
"…Good. Report back when it's done."
"Roger that."

Down at last, Gamora, Petra, and Drax are presented with the sight of an enormous cave, lit about by strange green stones engraved in the walls. Many tunnels lay about them, some seen, others shadowed in the darkness.

At the far end of the cave, was a glass-seemingly-made, hexagon contraption, and within it, was most likely what they came for.

It was a small vile, its contents as green and glowing as the stones around. They weren't sure nor cared what it did, after all, they were only here for the Clan that was yet to show.

Familiar voices grasp their attention. The group look around for the source, moving apart. The voices come closer, the three warily pull out their weapons. They had discovered that, in a dark spot, midway of the left side-wall of the cave, was the source of the sounds. They neared it with their flashlights, finding it to be one of the tunnels.

Dim lights emitted from said-tunnel, nearing by the second. The sounds then went quiet and only footsteps could be heard, louder by the minute.

Alas, from pitch-black darkness,

appears Starlord.

Petra gasps in both shock and relief, charging into her equally shocked sibling's arms. "Oh, thank god!" she breathes into his shoulder.

Drax and Gamora smile in relief, the Zen-Whoberi shocked at just how much relief she was feeling at that very moment, seeing him, well and alive.

Petra then pulls back and takes hold of Peter's face. "Are you okay? What happened?" she asked hastily, looking him over for any serious injuries, fortunately, there were none.

In a split second, she snaps, recalling. "Where's Rocket?!" she questions, eyes wide.

"Can't get rid of me that easily, Red," his voice calls, coming up behind Peter before he got a chance to reply. Rocket could not even begin to comprehend the relief he felt, seeing for himself, that she was okay.

The red-head's gaze turns to her furry-friend, a number of emotions overwhelming her fragile heart. She releases Peter and hurries towards him, leaving a slightly offended, mostly irritated Peter behind.

Petra drops to her knees and pulls Rocket into her arms. He is slightly taken aback,

but,

to him,

there was nothing more soothing than being in Petra's loving, caring embrace.

Rocket wraps his arms around her head, clenching red-hair strands into a fist as if to ensure she wouldn't slip away, inhaling her scent, listening to her beating heart, well-aware that his was beating at the exact same rate.

A slight movement in Rocket's pocket makes him pull away. The two look down to see an expecting Groot, smiling at Petra in greet.

Petra is shocked to see him. She felt guilty for almost completely forgetting about him. "Groot!" she exclaims.

At the front, Peter turns to the others, rolling his eyes at his sibling and the raccoon. The Quill-boy was barely able to get one word out before he was crushed by two strong arms placed around him. Peter raises his eyebrows at the smiling Destroyer. "I am glad you are well, Peter!" he tells cheerfully.
"Yeah, buddy," Peter says awkwardly, patting him on the back. "Glad you're okay too," Peter tells, smiling warmly. It was always good to know how much you are cared for.

Drax then releases his friend to go greet his other ones. Peter is finally able to turn to Gamora, his eyes going soft upon landing on her, able to read every single emotion behind her glittering eyes.

She stood shyly, one hand resting on her arm, her mind embarrassed for how relieved she was when she saw him, yet her heart filled with joy. Her inner conflicts reflected on her hesitant reactions when Peter gave a mischievous smirk she figured she would never get used to it, or what he did or said after it.

Peter took threatening steps towards Gamora, confirming that whatever he was going to do, she probably wasn't going to like. Gamora begins shaking her head warningly, only growing a grin on the Quill-boy's face.

"No," she tells as he spreads his arms. He ignores it, enjoying every moment of teasing her. "No. No!" she tries, but it wasn't like he ever listened.

Peter pulls Gamora into his arms, making her sigh in feigned irritancy that he saw right through. Peter was well aware of her inner conflicts, and he sought to win her heart, like she, unknowingly, stole his.

Peter then pulls back, but not entirely. He held her close by the hip, admiring her every feature, and Gamora can't help but admire back, accepting how much she'd missed him in past few hours.

"I'm glad you're okay," she tells, resting her arms on his. Peter wasn't expecting that. He takes it as a step in the right direction and smiles contently.

The group, too distracted by their reunion, failed to notice that, up the stairs, the ground sealed shut, leaving no way back up. What Petra had failed to notice was that the hoops were mounted on a mineral from the planet itself that decreased the duration of the flame to mere minutes.

Which was also why the six friends held no knowledge of the guests upstairs until it was too late.