Peter

Slowly returning back to consciousness I attempt to force my eyelids up, heavy with the weight of the smoke bomb the soldiers infected my lungs with. It feels as though I have been sleeping, but I haven't exactly. The feeling is heavy and sickening in the chest. The dark scenery and unrecognisable blurred voices gradually cleared only so I could make out a few sentences of what they are saying.

"This is all your freakin' fault!"

"Me? You're the one who should have kept quiet!"

My eyelids slowly sunk down in to the darkness and so did the voices. Where am I? Who are these people? It was an effort to open my eyes again, but this time as I looked around everything is a lot clearer and so were the voices.

"Shut up Groot, you're not helping."

"Stop bickering and help me find a way out of here!"

"I am Groot."

Everything returned to darkness once again, and I could actually recognise the irritated voices this time as Rocket, Drax and Groot. It seemed as though we were still in Titan, surrounded by the same cold stone and the blackened blanket of galaxy. Pushing my eyelids open for the last time, everything cleared and the dark silence vanished in one big swing.

"Shh, he's waking up!" Rocket's voice hissed, followed by some obnoxious metal clanking.

I turn my head to where the voices are coming from and instantly recognise the familiar faces, yet I realise something isn't right. Looking down at my wrists, the same vibrant blue circles are cuffed around my arms and restraining me from moving anywhere, just like the one's around their wrists. The glowing handcuffs are connected to metallic poles that are stuck in the ground that are connected to some power source, but I try giving it a hard tug anyway with no luck.

"That's not going to work, buddy. We've been trying for the last four hours." Rocket sighs and jiggles his own cuffs; the same obnoxious metal clanking erupts as the chains hit the pole.

Four hours?

"How long have I been out?" I frown and squeeze my eyes shut as I try to remember, but the memories and thoughts in my brain fuzz dramatically.

"What's going on?" I ask frantically, before they could answer the first question. I look across to Rocket at the far end, then to Drax and then Groot who stood beside me. My eyes flit around scenery, and at this point I realised I wasn't going to get a positive answer. Darkness washed over me sending another chill down my spine. But it wasn't a chill of passion. It was a chill of fear. The same fear I had before I lost my mom.

The stone throne. The steps. The eerie atmosphere. This is definitely the place of the nightmare. What happened?

"You've been out for ages, so we just gave up on you. And isn't it obvious? The smoke bomb, right? We've been kidnapped, but we have no idea what they want with us." Rocket explains from the far end.

"They don't want something. They need something." Drax speaks up, looking towards Rocket.

"Great." I mutter sarcastically. I remembered Thanos's soldiers failing to knock us out themselves so they used that silver sphere, releasing white fumes. They must off brang us back here and locked us up for something. Things are not going to end well, not that it started off well anyway.

"After I was speaking to you and Gamora on the communicator those alien losers got restless and decided to use a third degree sensory unconscious smoke bomb and-"

"Gamora." The name instantly triggers something off in my brain and I watch their reactions carefully. Rocket groans, Drax shakes his head and Groot sighs. "Where is Gamora?" I ask quietly.

"We – we don't know." Drax answers.

"The lot of us were captured together, but Gamora… was taken away." Rocket explains cautiously.

The dread creeps over me like an icy chill, numbing my brain. In this frozen state my mind offers me only one thought. Gamora could be dead, and we don't even know it. Or worse, in the hands of Thanos. Maybe I'm just being paranoid. Maybe I'm not.

Groot laid his wooden cuffed hand lightly on my shoulder, and instead of flinching like I usually did, I was kind of soothed by it. He left his hand there and spoke with such a low and caring voice I felt his words calming me although I don't know what they mean, "I am Groot."

"Thanks, Groot." I try to smile but it doesn't work, feeling too forced. Groot nods and slowly removes his arm.

"What? What do you mean, 'wait'?!" Rocket frowns and peers across Drax to Groot.

Groot doesn't answer and just smiles slightly. I didn't bother to dwell on what he really meant, but it actually kind of calmed me.

I try pushing the worries and concerns of Gamora away but they just won't. All the memories we shared are filling my brain; saving Xander, teaching her to dance, the kiss. I couldn't give up yet.

"We still have a chance." I say, more so to myself than to the others.

"I'm Groot!"

"Whatever the tree said, he's right," Drax says. "We fight to the end."

After a few moments of silence, Rocket says "How the fuck are we supposed to fight 'til the end when we can't even move?"

"Exactly." a low voice bellows and echoes across the sickening silence. "Your attempts are amusing, but I suggest you stay where you are." The stone throne rotates and there sits Thanos with a spine chilling smirk. He wore the same tarnished gold armour, helmet and iron cuffs as he sat firmly on the floating stone chair listening to every word we speak. The image in my nightmare was so correct and clear that it was actually scary.

"Thanos." We say together at the same time, minus Groot for obvious reasons.

"You killed my wife and daughter in cold blood!" Drax yells instantly, tugging furiously on his chains.

"Getting ahead of ourselves are we?" Thanos chuckles lowly, "I wasn't the one who slaughtered your idiotic excuse for a family." He says. "At the end of the day it was the fool Ronan, and you all took care of him for me. Correct?"

Drax clenches his jaw and chooses not to say anything that would throw us in to danger, learning from past experience so instead he musters a furious glare and manages his anger well for a previous psychopath.

"I'm Groot." Groot turns to Rocket.

"Why?" Rocket screws up his face in confusion.

"I'm Groot!"

"Okay, okay…" Rocket mumbles.

I have no idea what they're arguing about this time but I choose not to interfere at this moment, there were other important matters to control.

"And Peter Quill," Thanos watches me carefully, driving his eyes through my skull. "I promised to see you soon." His lips tug in to a sly smirk.

"How did you get in to my head?" I ask slowly. This question left me puzzled after the nightmare.

"With the help of a good friend from the realm Asgard, but that does not matter right now." He answers. Asgard? They don't know sorcery, do they? I thought they strived in combat.

The Collector, dressed in thick furs and exotic leathers, emerges from behind a stone wall with rows and rows of dark alien soldiers following behind him.

Has he come to rescue us? Well, he got us a freaking expensive apartment so I'm only hoping.

"Okay, now what's going on?" Rocket asked and tilts his head.

The Collector simply ignores Rocket and turns to Thanos, "Your greatness," he begins and withers his hands in some of weird and foreign greeting. "I have brought you…the Guardians of the Galaxy after some, difficulty." He says and finally turns to look at each of us with that same boring expression he wears.

Alright, defiantly not here to rescue us.

"You promised the Flora Colossus. The Groot?" he asks and turns back to Thanos, glancing towards Groot for a brief moment.

"Soon enough." Thanos replies solidly.

"I am Groot?"

"You'll have to get past me bastard, if you want him!" Rocket shouts, and attempts against his restraints but ends up falling on to his face, with his paws roughly connected to the chains

The Collector and Thanos chuckle lowly.

"Adorable." Taneleer comments.

"Traitor!" Drax growls and The Collector simply stares at him for a lingering moment.

"I mean, you gotta admit, we had it coming." I say shrug. There was always something fishy with The Collector. And what do you expect someone to do with an Infinity Stone? Polish it? Frame it?

"So does that mean we are not getting any units?" Rocket asks suddenly.

"Are you serious?" I ask.

"Yeah, I mean it's a fairly good question."

"We are in the middle of a crisis." Drax says and stares down at Rocket with disbelief.

"Don't tell me you guys weren't thinking that." Rocket raises a brow.

"We were not thinking about that." Drax declines with a tough frown.

"Oh." Is all Rocket can say.

"Enough!" Thanos excuses loudly, sending ripples of his interruption through the atmosphere. "You must all be wondering what has happened to your beloved friend," he pauses for a short moment and looks at me. "Gamora. My favorite daughter. It was my original plan to slaughter her under her treason but I've come up with something more… creative after this newly found information thanks to Taneleer." He smirks mercilessly.

They are probably torturing her. And that's when everything dropped cold and I couldn't stand it anymore. First my mother, and now Gamora. No, I was not going to let that happen.

"Leave her alone!" I shout and viciously tug on the handcuffs even though I already know it's not going to do any good, panting at the loss of energy.

Ignoring me he goes on, "Do you remember when The Collector's slave, Anaconda, paid you a visit?" he asks and I wonder what that has to do with anything right now, but continue to listen with a glare.

"She hid a form of surveillance in your apartment." He states.

And then everything made sense.

"Nice wallpaper."

"Sincere apologies…for interrupting."

I remember her dropping a bracelet to the ground, and that's when I turned my attentions to Drax and Rocket. When I had turned back she was standing up again and looked slightly anxious but I thought nothing of it at the time.

But why would they need to watch us?!

"I knew that wine tasted off…" Rocket mumbled to himself.

"Apparently you enjoy my daughter's company, Peter Quill." Thanos chuckled deeply and leaned forward.

I tensed my jaw and forced myself to remain calm. "Where is she?" I ask through clenched teeth.

"Gamora!" Thanos calls, yet continues to eye us carefully, especially me.

The familiar figure stands in between a pair of guards as they appear from the stone wall. I'm starting to think that's there's some sort of teleportation portal behind there because they're coming from nowhere and it's freaking me out.

Looking back towards Gamora, I notice she has no cuts, bruises, slices or any sign of pain or torture – her skin is almost glowing and she looks surprisingly healthier when I had last seen her. But something doesn't seem right. She seems distant yet focused, and as she turned to look at us she seemed blank as if she doesn't recognize us.

"Gamora!" I shout, hoping and wake she'll realize it's us.

She slowly turns towards me with a slight glare in her eye. "What do you want?" she asks furiously and I take a step back (a very small step back due to the handcuffs). This can't be Gamora. I take another look at her; her green skin shone with a slight grey undertone under the moonlight, she was wearing her same red leather skin suit, and the deep brown eyes remained.

She turned her head to look back up to Thanos and that's when I noticed. Her eyes seemed to have a blinding blue glint to them, and I wasn't sure if it was just the light playing tricks or it was something else.

Did they wipe her memory or something? I refused those thoughts from my brain and focused. "Remain focused, Peter" I remember how she continued to tell me those words.

"What do you want me to do?" I hear Drax ask quietly and look up to Groot, breaking my levels of concentration.

Groot looks back towards Thanos and turns back, and I see Drax nod as if they were signalling something.

Groot has his legs grown in to the stone, and they seem to continue to be growing in to the ground. What the fuck are those three planning without me this time?

"Why aren't these fools killed yet?" Gamora questionably asks Thanos, stepping around Taneleer and the army of dark soldiers.

WHAT?! Something is definitely wrong.

"I was going to leave that part for you." He answered her menacingly.

"Good." She muttered and unsheathed her two knives from her boot holders as she begun to walk, about to go down the stairs.

Gamora is going to kill us. I expected to die in a cool way, like running from an explosion but never making it. Or sacrificing myself for billions of people. But getting killed by your current…girlfriend…isn't the best way to end your life.

I looked around frantically for a way of escape, but there was absolutely nothing I could do. We're officially and utterly doomed.

"WAIT!" Rocket shouted, and everyone paused to look at him. "I have a confession to make," he began slowly and dramatically cleared his throat.

Thanos frowned at him.

"I actually really do, like fountain water." He gradually finishes his sentence.

After a long and awkward moment of silence, Gamora turns back to Thanos. "Thank you for your…confession." Thanos says quietly.

"You're welcome." Rocket nods.

"Kill him first." Thanos waves a hand away and sighs with irritation.

"What? Rude." Rocket mumbles, but he doesn't seem fazed by the fact that he's going to die first. In fact I don't know if he actually cares that he is going to die anyway.

"WAIT!" Drax shouts as well and glances towards Groot's growing limbs that Thanos doesn't seem to notice. I barely did myself.

"I don't have a confession to make." Drax shrugs after some time.

"No more confessions or last words! I want them dead. Gamora!" Thanos yells with anger and slams his purple fists against his stone throne.

Gamora quickly sharpens her knives, and took her first step down the stone stairs.

"Groot now!" Rocket shouts at Groot then all at once, the stone beneath our feet crumbles and the stone poles come loose and break, the blinding blue light emitted from the handcuffs slowly drain to nothingness and they slump off of our wrists with no power.

The roots of Groot's legs withdrawal back to their normal form and he steps over the crumble of stone threatingly. I must admit, that was a pretty good plan yet I don't understand why they never tell me about these things.

"I AM GROOT!" Groot yells and stands tall.

"I also have another confession. I like watching people suffer." Rocket smirks, reaching for his gun connected to his back and reloading it.

"Time to kick some ass." Drax nods, and then shoots a look at me. "Metaphor?" he raises a brow with hope.

"Uh," I tilt my head to the left and right, deciding if it was good enough. "Close enough." I nod and he grins lightly, pulling his dagger out.

I activate my mask and step through the rubble.

"After them!" Thanos orders and the army rushes forward in a shadowed blur, all yelling angry threats and carrying large guns.

"I have a plan!" Rocket shouts over their threats as they near closer, and he climbs up on Groot's shoulder to get a better look of the crowd.

"Listen, because I'm not repeating myself." He says and turns to look at us all from such a tall height. "Peter and Drax you take the right side. Groot and I take the left. We all take on Gamora, but don't kill her. If anyone shoots you, they're bad. Attack them. Are we all good? Okay, let's go!" he explains quickly and raises his over-sized gun with glee.

I activate my mask and sigh, "Here we go." I mutter under the mask and prepare my two Element guns, beginning to zap every alien that has come forward so far.

There weren't much of them anymore, or so it seemed. From a distance there seemed to be hundreds, but no not so much. Yet it still felt as though I was drowning in a sea of black armed cephoids growling words in a foreign language.

Drax seemed to be okay. Actually he seemed to as though he was having fun as he threw the bodies into a pile behind him. Rocket laughed as he rapidly shot from above, using his machine gun carelessly. Groot whacked the aliens out the way, and kicked the ones who were hacking at his feet, but other than that he seemed to be fine walking through the crowds as if it was nothing.

I managed to throw a dozen off of my back and kick a few that got too close. All was well so far.

After time and two sore arms we finally reached the bottom of the cold stairs. I deactivated my mask to find The Collector and Thanos gone out of sight. It was obvious they had fled the scene and let the armies manage us with failure.

I turned back and all the dark soldiers lay on the floor in piles either bleeding uncontrollably or moaning and clutching a leg or an arm. I clutch on to my Element guns tighter, turning back. Gamora stood at the top grasping her daggers and had a ferocious blue glint to her eyes.

What did they do to her?

"Gamora, it's us." I tell her cautiously and slowly take one step forward on the stairs.

"I know exactly who you are." Gamora seethes and bared her teeth with anger. "Traitors!" she shouts down at us.

"This ain't going to end well." Rocket turns to me.

I choose to ignore him. "How did we betray you, if you don't mind me asking?" I frown.

"You left me to die as we were attacked." She looks towards me. "And all of you. Selfish, greedy, worthless." She scans the other three with a look of disgust.

Groot gasps, clearly offended.

She must be hallucinating because I know for a fact that I would never leave her to die. And yes, the others may be slightly selfish at times (specifically speaking Rocket,) but that doesn't mean that they had betrayed her. Enough to be called traitors.

Gamora slowly makes her way down the stairs with her daggers. "Let us fight."

"We need to knock her out." Rocket says.

"What?" I frown.

He sighs and explains further at a quicker pace, "We need to knock her out to reset her systems. She's under some dominant influential power, similar to the energy source used to power those handcuffs."

"Got it." I nod. It was strange taking orders from a raccoon, let alone a racoon that knows how to speak, wields a gun and makes efficient plans.

Gamora started to quicken her pace and took no time in taking me on first. I grab her fist in mid-air and hesitant to harm her.

"Peter, knock the damn girl out or I'll do it for you!" Rocket sighs.

I sigh, but before I could do any damage she punches me at the jaw with her other clenched fist and then swipes me across the leg with one of her knives, swiveling skilfully around my body. I could feel a stinging wound opening up at my leg and groaned at the irritating pain it gave me. I attempt to shoot at her a few times but was too focused on not killing her. If that makes any fucking sense.

Gamora hooks her leg around one of mine, bringing me to floor. A small amount of pain rushed through my spine and she climbs on top of my body, which I probably would have enjoyed if she isn't so determined to kill me right now. As she straddles me, she raises one of her knives above her head and glares down at me.

"Alright, I've had enough…" Rocket sighs. "Show's over." He says and aims his gun towards Gamora and then shoots, hitting her in the torso and off of my body. She lay unconscious on the floor.

"That's embarrassing." I nod and slowly rise to my feet looking down towards her body. "Why didn't we start off with the gun?"

"Because I enjoy people suffering." He smirks and hops down Groot's shoulder.

I reach down and scoop Gamora's unconscious and limp body in my arms. Her hair lay lazily across one half of her face and she has a small cut against her lip. She nuzzles her head against my chest, which I silently smile too and hope that the others didn't notice.

"Now what are we supposed to do?" Drax raises a brow.

"Who's up for a party?" Rocket suggests eagerly.

"I am Groot." Groot sighs and shakes his hand, covering half of his face with his hand.

"I am not going to get drunk. It's a celebration party, I'm not that irresponsible." He shoots back.

"Oh, really?" I ask sarcastically.

"I'm Groot." Groot smiles, and folds his arm looking down at Rocket.

"I was only joking about the fountain water. We needed a distraction!" Rocket refuses.

A strange sound of electro swooshing filled our ears, and vibrated through our brains and followed by the light thud of feminine footsteps. It appeared as though the sound has come from the wall that everyone has been coming from, the teleportation hot-spot.

I raised a single gun struggling to multitask with Gamora, and everyone else raised their weapons waiting to encounter who was behind the wall.

To our surprise, a petite woman dressed in a deep purple leather outfit with cuffs at her wrists emerged from the wall looking utterly harmless, yet we continued to keep our guns raised.

She inherited long sandy blonde tousled waves that were messy and windblown in a ludicrous mess, curving around her angelic face. Her eyes were a deep blue and her skin was seemingly Terran although it could be mistaken for Xanderian. She seemed to be older than I was yet had this remaining young flare.

"I mean peace." Were the mysterious woman's first words and lowers her gun to the floor slowly.

She could have other weapons, so instead of dropping ours we lower them to our sides, glancing at one another. Where did this woman come from? Who the heck was she? And what did she want from us?

Before we could ask any questions she says, "Peter. Peter Quill?" she raises a brow and hesitantly looks towards me.

"That's me…" I frown and nod, continuing to hold Gamora.

A smile forms on her lips, causing slight wrinkles at her eyes. "I can't believe it." She whispers lightly.

Am I supposed to know her? Oh no, don't tell me she's some fling telling me that I'm the father of her baby or something because I am not in the mood for that type of drama right now.

"You've grown so much." She says and tilts her head, examines me more. Her eyes flit towards Gamora in my arms for a short moment before looking back towards me.

I am so confused.

"Peter. It's your mother."

PLOT TWIST. Obviously it's going to be explained in the next chapter, but for now I hope you like this extra-long one. That's part of the reason why it had taken so long, apart for the excuses of homework which I now have to deal with.

So what do you guys think is going on? Who do you think is Peter's father? Is this too confusing for you?

Thank you all for the reviews, views, follows etc!