Title is from "The Queen of Peace" by Florence + the Machine

GotG belongs to Marvel

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Chapter 17: The Queen of Peace

Peter was so distracted by the morning's news he nearly forgot about breakfast entirely. He was so excited to get to work that he had to be all but dragged back to the greenhouse room and shoved into his chair before he was allowed to begin training. There, he shoveled an entire plateful of food down so fast he didn't even taste it.

Marlowe and Cosmo had informed Peter that they would need more time to speak to Saal and the council about their options before any moves were made. They wanted to be cautious, and Peter found he couldn't blame them. But by the sounds of it, the temptation of retrieving living members of Xandar was too great to pass up, and the Nova Corps was in a position where the Guardian's help in the matter was needed badly enough that even the more grudge-bent members could be swayed to want them on board. For now, the Guardians would stay remanded to the planet, but Peter intended to use the remaining time as effectively as he could.

Ego surprised Peter by waiting for him in the courtyard outside the dining room.

"We're going to do something a little differently today," Ego told him. "We'll need a second body for you to spar with." His gaze swept across the gathered Guardians, settling on Nebula who was standing off to the side. "You. Blue one. Why don't you join us in the court today?"

Peter glanced back at Nebula, half-expecting her to laugh at being ordered around and refuse. Instead, she shrugged her shoulders and agreed with a disinterested "Sure."

Ego nodded and turned to make his way down the path to the seafoam court. Nebula broke from the group and followed after, leaving Peter scrambling to catch up.

"Will I need a weapon?" Nebula asked as she matched stride with the Celestial.

"I will provide one," Ego told her, and suddenly Peter was a little nervous about what he was getting into here.

In the court, Ego paused to address Peter.

"I think, if you're going to insist on following through with this stupidity, that it would suit you to know how to wield the Light in a more... aggressive fashion than the creation we have done so far. This is much earlier than I had hoped, but you will just have to make do. Focus on drawing and shaping the Light faster." Here he considered Nebula for a moment before holding his hand out, in it formed something that strongly resembled a broadsword, but its edges were terribly blunt, even from Peter's point of view. The whole thing appeared bulky and heavy. Small designs that matched Ego's clothes decorated the blade and handle. "Try not to do anything permanent," he sighed as he handed it over.

"You're not going to give her a shield or something?" Peter asked as Ego turned to leave.

"Do you really think I'll need one?" Nebula asked offhandedly as she tested the weight of Ego's sword, not looking the least bit concerned for her own safety.

Peter glanced down at his hands. His powers were still pretty unpredictable. "Well, I mean, I don't want to hurt you."

Nebula's lips pulled into a smirk and she gave her new weapon a meaningful swirl.

"And I really don't want you to hurt me," he finished.

The assassin darted forward and the next thing he knew he was staring up at the sky, his shin bone ringing from where she had swept his legs out from underneath him.

"Then I suggest you stop worrying and start paying attention."

She stepped aside and allowed Peter to pull himself up and dust himself off.

"What's your strongest element?" she asked, a wicked glint to her eyes as she began circling him. "We'll start there."

Stone was probably the easiest for him right now, but he wasn't sure how exactly to weaponize it at this stage. Lightning or fire would probably work better. As he raised his hands up to begin summoning the Light, Nebula stepped in close and cracked the blunt blade across his shoulder, knocking him back.

"Ouch! What was that for?" he demanded, rubbing at the stinging spot on his shoulder.

"It's too obvious what you're doing." Her lips were pulled into a disapproving frown. "You're never going to get anything done like that."

Peter wrinkled his nose at her. "It's how I summon the Light," he told her, raising his hands back up and stepping quickly backwards out of her reach.

"It's cumbersome and unnecessary," she answered, darting forward again and striking his wrist this time. The Light he had gathered fizzled back out.

"Stop it!" he snapped, shaking his hands and dodging away from her again, trying to buy enough time to summon the energy he needed to form any sort of elemental help. "Aren't you supposed to be helping me practice using the Light 'more aggressively'?"

"I am." Nebula wasn't even breaking a sweat as she kept up with Peter's dodges, snapping the blunt sword against his arms and wrists every time he tried to pull out the Light. "But any tricks you manage to pull of with this new power of yours are worthless if you're dead before you can use them. Do it without that stupid ritual."

"I need the 'stupid ritual.' That's how it's done."

"No you don't. Ego doesn't do it." She paused in her assault long enough to wave a hand at his father who was standing off to the side, watching their exchange silently. "And you had no trouble summoning the Light without it the other night."

"Oh yeah..." Peter had forgotten about their argument when he had failed at waiting up for Rocket. How had he done that? He held up his hands to stare at his open palms again as though they might provide an answer. He tried to remember what it had felt like but it had happened so quickly, and he hadn't even realized that it was happening at first. He'd just been angry and it sort of... happened without his thought or knowledge.

"I don't remember how I did that..." he murmured.

"Then you'd better figure it out." Nebula returned to her assault with a greater energy, swinging the blade for his shoulder so deftly he could hear it 'swush' through the air as he barely managed to dodge in time.

"Hey! Ouch!" Every strike he managed to avoid was followed by a handful that struck true. While he hurriedly back peddled about the court, his arms were kept too busy protecting his face and body for him to gather any Light. "Stop it! This isn't helping!"

"If you want it to stop, then stop me." Nebula made it sound so easy as she battered him and drove him across the courtyard.

The weapon struck him in the hip and he tripped over his own feet, sprawling back on the hard stone once more and scrambling desperately back up. The blows weren't actually that hard, Nebula was obviously holding back, intending to keep him off-balance, not hurt him, but they were relentless and stung where they connected against his joints and less well padded bones. His arms and ribs were going to be practically tie dyed in bruises at this rate.

"I mean it, Nebula!" Between blows, he snatched at the Light. Once or twice he thought he felt the hum of energy gathering in his veins, but it always flickered out as soon as she struck him again. She had driven him nearly a complete lap around the court. Without a weapon or shield of his own to so much as buffer the blows, and the Light's blatant refusal to come to his call, his frustration was rising.

Nebula darted around him and swung the sword in a backhanded arc, aiming a brutal looking swing down on his already sore shoulder blade. Peter felt a flare of panic and tried desperately to twist around and throw his hands up in time. "I said STOP!" There was a burst of light and the air crackled around him, and suddenly the relentless blows ended.

Slowly, Peter cracked an eye back open, worried that he might have overdone it.

Instead, Nebula was standing just off to the side, leaning easily on Ego's sword with a smug quirk to her lips.

"Well that was... something."

"You're enjoying this way too much," Peter grumbled, wiping his hands on his pants in an attempt to rid them of a weird buzzing feeling that was crawling through his veins.

She just sighed and let her bored gaze wander around the court. "'Enjoyment' may be a bit too strong of a word," she mumbled.

Peter let out a scoff, and she hefted the sword back up. "But it is nice to stretch my muscles, even if I've fought against Orlani that were tougher than you."

"Hey-!"

His shout was cut off as she rushed him again.

-x-

"Uncle!" Peter gasped out as he flopped backwards, spreading his arms out onto the cool marble beneath him. His sweat-soaked shirt bunched under his back uncomfortably. "I call uncle! Just-Just give me a second. I need a break."

A shadow passed over him as Nebula loomed above, blocking out the sun while she frowned down at him. "You still can't summon your Light quickly enough," she told him. "Get back on your feet."

"I just need a minute," he panted out, watching little spots dance across his vision and wishing for something cold to drink. "I'm getting better. I almost had it right off the bat last time. I'm sure if I rest I can get it."

"It's not even mid-morning," Nebula told him, kicking him sharply in the leg. "Up."

"That's enough for now," Ego interrupted, and Peter was never so glad for his meddling. "Go ahead and take a break."

The assassin turned her frown on Ego, but she stepped back with no further argument.

"Oh thank god!" Peter heaved his sore body up into a sit. "I need some water before I pass out."

He could hear Nebula's derisive snort even over his own panting.

"Fine." A sharp crack made Peter jump, and he looked up to find she had driven the point of the dull sword straight into the marble. "Take your break." She released the sword, which remained standing on its own, and turned to Ego. "Will you be needing me again later?"

"Yes. Someone at least. It doesn't matter much who, I suppose."

She nodded and turned to leave.

"Ah!" Peter struggled to surge to his feet. "Wait for me!" His legs trembled underneath him, but held his weight. "I'll need someone to drag me back if I collapse on the way."

The assassin pursed her lips into another frown, but she waited for him to catch up before continuing on.

"Thanks."

"You're pathetic."

"No, I'm awesome. And I know you agree, or you wouldn't be willing to drag me back."

"I never said I'd do anything like that," she protested, then, a little quieter she muttered, "Maybe I hit your head too many times."

"You could have been at least a little softer," he confessed.

Again she snorted.

-x-

Peter managed to stumble his way back to the greenhouse, where he went straight to the sink in the storage room and chugged about four glasses of water before shoving his whole head under the tap.

"Ah, that feels much better," he sighed, slicking his wet hair back as he wandered his way back out to collapse onto his stomach on the top of the stairs. From here he could watch Mantis's training in the court below while he caught his breath, and the stone was still just cool enough to be nice against his overheated muscles.

Nebula was already sitting on the stairs, close to where he had chosen to collapse. Drax was standing on the steps some ways below so that they were more or less matched in height. They were probably discussing what had occurred in the court. Upon Peter's return, she rose and turned towards the nearby forests. "I'll return when you're ready to get back to work," she promised.

"Okay," Peter mumbled into his arms which were pillowed under his head. "Thanks for seeing me back."

Her footsteps were already fading away. "Whatever."

In the court below, Groot was standing in the center, his long limbs held up to swat lazily at Mantis, who was practicing stepping in to strike and retreating under Gamora's careful eye. From his position atop the stairs, Peter watched Gamora's face as she schooled Mantis's steps and adjusted her timing, and tried to ignore the churning in his guts.

The longer he spent in this twisted universe, the more real it began to feel, and the more muddled his excitement over abandoning it entirely became. The timeline needed to be righted, he was sure of that, and there was no doubt in his mind or heart that Thanos needed to be defeated before any of the Universe, especially his loved ones, could be safe again, but things were becoming drastically less black and white with each new discovery he made. Here, the Nova Corps had burned, entire swaths of the universe with it, and the Guardians had individually suffered even more under Thanos's hands than before. It was bad. Terrible.

But also here, Yondu was alive, and all the Ravagers that had made up his family for all these years in space, and Gamora's parents as well, by all accounts so far. Even Saal was a dead man walking again. How could he just condemn them all back to death? How could he condemn Gamora back to a universe without her parents when he knew how much they meant to her?

These thoughts had been simmering in the back of his mind for some time, but now threatened to boil forth. He shoved them back as he had many times before, having no satisfying answer he could give them, and tried to distract himself with thoughts of what Gamora's parents might be like once they'd rescued them. He'd never met them, of course, beyond the glimpse he'd caught in her shattered mind, and his own Gamora claimed to only have the faintest of memories the one time Peter had dared to ask, drunk and hurting after the recent loss of his own father of sorts.

The sun was warm on his back and he drifted to sleep with thoughts of how Gamora might finally smile again once they found her parents and rescued them. He dreamed of returning to his universe, to his own Gamora, with the news that her family had been saved, her parents in tow behind him, and Yondu with them. In his dreams he thought he saw Nebula as well, this Nebula, the one who his brain was bold enough to call 'his Nebula' when all others claiming that title belonged to the other timeline. She stood among the rest of the Guardians from his own universe like she had always been there.

Some time later, not too much, according to the ache in his muscles, he was being gently shaken awake.

"Peter," Mantis's soft voice called out to him. "It is time to wake up. Ego wishes to return to work."

Peter blinked his eyes open and stared up at her blearily. "So soon?" As his vision cleared, he caught sight of Gamora, standing at the foot of the steps, probably waiting for Mantis to finish waking him so they could return to work as well. "Alright, I'm getting up. Thanks."

He rose and gave a languid stretch, wincing at the way his muscles had already begun to tighten. "Have you seen Nebula? She said she'd come back when it was time head back to the court."

"I believe she is already there waiting for you."

It turned out Nebula was, in fact, already in the court. When Peter found her, she was in possession of the dull sword again and appeared to be in some sort of conversation with Ego. The Celestial was holding one hand out, a ball of Light rolling elegantly between various elements in his palm as she stared at it intently. As Peter drew near, however, the Light vanished and they fell silent.

"Okay, so... round two?" he asked, as he clapped his hands together, trying to shake some life into his muscles that he didn't think had ever stopped aching since coming to this universe. He was going to be so ripped by the time he got home.

Nebula moved to meet him in the middle of the open court, but rather than attack like before she took up a defensive stance and waited. "I'll let you go first this time," she promised.

-x-

"Okay, okay, are you ready? Stand back, I don't want to hurt anyone!" Peter glanced over his shoulder to make sure the other Guardians were a safe distance behind him. After a very late lunch, -more of an early dinner, really- delayed by the second session with Nebula dragging on until Peter could not only summon the Light without gathering it for an inordinate amount of time first, but could do it reliably, he was eager to show off his new skill.

Satisfied that everyone had done as asked, he turned back to the fountain. The metal fish swirled in lazy rings above the water, and that's where he decided to aim, raising his hands up and shaping them into finger guns. There was a crackling hum running down his arms, and a moment later an arc of electricity burst from his fingertips. The metal where it struck lit up and the water spilling around it fizzled and steamed. Peter pulled his hands back, tipping one hand up to blow at his fingers as though they were a smoking gun and trying to hide how hard he was breathing now.

"Wonderful!" Mantis was clapping frantically. A bright smile lit up her face as she bounced on her heels.

"I am Groot!" Beside her, Groot raised one arm to give Peter a thumbs up, a gesture he had already re-learned from his human companion.

The other Guardians were less vocal in their response, but Drax had an approving smile settled on his lips, and even Gamora was looking between him and the fountain with what appeared to be approval.

"You have made such marvelous improvements, Peter!" Mantis told him, making a blush rise to his face as he reveled in her unabashed praise.

"Thanks." Peter rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly feeling a little undeserving of so much enthusiasm. "Nebula helped a lot."

"Yes, she must be a wonderful teacher," Mantis said shyly, glancing at the blue assassin as though worried she might somehow offend her. They hadn't really interacted much beyond their first meeting, and the Empath remained largely scared of the younger sister.

At Mantis's praise, Nebula straightened up a little and shot her sister a smug look from the corner of her eye.

"Perhaps you could help teach me some time as well?" Mantis's voice had grown quieter still as she ventured the offer, like she half-expected to press her luck too far at any moment, but her eyes were bright and hopeful.

Nebula opened her mouth to say something, but Gamora's voice overrode her answer.

"Maybe later. You need to finish learning the basics first."

As quickly as it had come, Nebula's smile vanished, replaced with a deep frown. "What's the matter? Afraid I might put a scratch on your precious new student?" She looked past Gamora and met Mantis's eyes. "I'll spar with you."

"I said she's not ready," Gamora insisted, stepping in front of Mantis.

"Well, why not? It's been days. She should be more than ready by now, but you've been babying her!" Nebula spat out. "You're the one that wanted to teach her something in the first place, so she could stand a chance in a real battle. She's about to be, from the sounds of it, so shouldn't we test her skills here, first?"

"We're being careful."

"That's not really your style," Nebula hissed, and Gamora looked for a moment as though she'd been slapped. In her moment of stunned silence, Nebula reached forward and snatched the diamond and wooden staff from her hand and turned to the open part of the court, motioning for Mantis to join her. "Why don't we find out if this new 'careful' Gamora is worth anything?"

Mantis glanced nervously between the sisters, but picked up her own staff and stepped forward to meet Nebula in the center of the court, away from the other Guardians.

"Nebula." Gamora's voice was dark with warning as she watched the two square up.

"Relax, sister," Nebula called back. "I'm not going to throw her over the cliff or anything." Under her breath, so low that Peter could barely make it out, she added; "That's really more your style, anyways."

Again Gamora looked like she'd been struck by her sister's words. She almost looked sick as her lips pressed into a thin, pale line and she fell silent.

The ominous promise didn't really make Peter feel any better, and he found himself suddenly worried he was going to be diving over the cliff edge to catch someone. He really didn't think Nebula would do that to Mantis, but whenever the sisters interacted there was always a threat of violence lurking just under the surface.

Nebula allowed Mantis enough time to settle into her own defensive stance and then stepped forward, staff swinging in a fearsome arc. From his experience with the younger assassin Peter could easily tell that she was, in fact, taking it easy against her current opponent. As easy as he had ever see her be, at least. Mantis even managed to meet the first several blows, though they still left her stumbling back from the sheer force behind them. An underhanded strike caught the empath straight in the ribs and she let out a yelp of pain, redoubling her efforts to block the strikes before they could make contact and stepping back just a little faster as Nebula pressed after her.

Within moments it became apparent that Mantis was terribly outclassed, even with Nebula aiming the worst of her assault at her opponent's weapon rather than her body. Her frantic efforts to match Nebula's blows began to fail more often than not and a panic was slowly taking over her face.

"Nebula, stop this!" Gamora demanded from her spot on the sidelines.

A sweeping blow knocked Mantis' legs out from underneath her and she landed hard against the stone beneath. Peter winced in sympathy. It was the same move she had used on him several times today already.

"Do you want to stop?" Nebula asked, pulling her staff away and holding one hand out. Mantis took it and Nebula yanked her back to her feet.

"No," Mantis panted, sounding uncertain as she readjusted her own staff and found her balance again. She appeared to be favoring her left leg now. "I am alright. I can continue."

"Good," Nebula tossed a victorious look at her sister and returned to their spar.

"That's enough Nebula!" Gamora stepped into the circle. "I said stop!"

"It is- alright," Mantis panted out between strikes that knocked the breath from her.

Another blow glanced off her emerald staff and cut down onto her shoulder, eliciting a gasp of pain.

"Stop this before you really hurt her!" Gamora lunged forward, grabbing the diamond staff.

"So what if I do!?" Nebula shouted, twisting around to face her sister and trying to yank the weapon back. "That's how she'll learn!"

"It's not right!"

"You never had a problem with it before!" Nebula raised a leg and kicked Gamora in the gut, ripping the staff from her sister's hands as Gamora doubled over.

Mantis gave a squeak as Nebula returned to their spar, barely giving her enough time to bring her own weapon up to block the next blow. Nebula hardly got a second strike in, however, before Gamora drove her shoulder into her sister's back, swinging a leg under to hook Nebula's ankle and send the blue assassin stumbling forward.

This time Gamora managed to successfully grapple the diamond staff from her unbalanced sister's hands. There was another gasp from Mantis when the Blue assassin lost her balance completely and crashed into her.

"I said stop." Gamora held the staff away from her sister. "This isn't accomplishing anything."

Nebula gave a low growl of frustration, yanking the emerald staff rather viciously from Mantis's hands as she untangled herself from the empath and leaped back up. "Why are you being so soft on her!?" she demanded.

Gamora opened her mouth, but after a moment closed it again, her eyes flickering from anger to something pained.

When it became apparent she wasn't going get an answer, Nebula gave another snarl and swung her staff at Gamora this time "Just tell me!"

The sound of their staffs cracking together echoed through the court and over the canyon as the sisters lost themselves in a violent spar. All the anger that Nebula had been holding on to these last few days had finally found a way out. Her blows were nothing like the animalistic rage that had taken over her in the Milano's engine room, but they were serious. She was clearly not holding back anymore, now that Mantis wasn't her target. Gamora refused to be cowed, however, and pushed back against her sister's onslaught.

"Hey!" Peter shouted and waved his arms, trying to catch at least one of the sister's attention.

Mantis, still struggling to find her feet when the sisters fell into battle, was quickly caught up in the storm of their rage. Nebula's staff caught her a couple times in the back swing and Mantis gave up trying to flee and instead dropped to the ground, covering her head. "Please stop!" she begged, but her voice was lost in the chaos of ringing blows.

"Guys, hey!" Peter stepped in, circling the furious assassins and trying to find a way in beyond the whirling weapons.

A hard shove sent Nebula stumbling back again where she tripped over Mantis, still huddling on the ground, practically trampling the terrified girl in her efforts to keep her feet and return her sister's next blow as Gamora stepped in after her.

Suddenly Mantis found herself trapped between the two warring sisters, a terribly dangerous place to be.

"PEACE!" she cried, reaching up and grabbing them both by the wrist as her antenna glowed a brilliant white.

The effect was immediate. Nebula jerked back as though she'd been burned, ripping her arm from the empath's grip and retreating across the court, staring back at her in wild-eyed disgust. Gamora froze in her tracks entirely, her own staff clattering to the ground as it dropped from her hand.

Panting and trembling, Mantis released Gamora's wrist and carefully stood. "I am sorry!" Her voice was a loud, squeaking gasp as she frantically apologized, turning to Nebula and reaching a hand out. "I panicked, I did not mean to-"

"Just stay away from me!" Nebula snarled.

Mantis flinched back and ducked her head, her hands raised up as though prepared to shield herself from a blow.

"Fine. Have it your way, sister." Nebula's voice was low and furious as she threw the emerald staff across the court where it clattered across the stonework and bounced against Mantis's legs. "But it'll be your fault when she's slaughtered like some hapless animal the first chance an enemy gets. I suppose your conscious can't get much dirtier than it already is, anyways, so what does it matter?"

Gamora barely seemed to register what her sister had said in her stupefied state, but Peter could swear he saw something like a tear shining in the corner of her eye, and as she raised her hands to stare at them, they were shaking much like they had been when her mind had been stripped on knowhere.

Nebula gave a final disgusted roll of her eyes at her sister's state and stalked up the stairs, probably heading out into the canyon to walk her frustration out.

Mantis chewed on her lip as she took a step after Nebula then seemed to think better of it and turned to Gamora instead. "I-" She stilled when Peter placed his hand gently on her shoulder, turning her wide eyes on him. "I did not mean to upset them. Is there anything I can do?"

Peter did his best to give her a reassuring smile. He was just wondering the same thing himself, however.

"I am Groot," Groot spoke up tentatively as he stepped in.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Peter agreed. "Why don't you guys go take a break?"

"Yes," Mantis wiped at her eyes and pulled her lips into a rough attempt at a smile. "I can show you the water gardens with the Andrean Lily's," she offered. When she pulled her hand away from her face, her knuckles were wet with tears.

"Are you okay?" Peter asked, suddenly worried she'd been hurt more than he realized.

"I am fine. They are not my tears." Mantis took his hand in hers and leaned in to whisper, low enough that Gamora could not hear. "She is filled with such sorrow, and regret. It causes her great pain. It is... agony." She gave his hand a light squeeze then released it to join Drax and Groot who escorted her from the court.

Peter heaved a sigh as they vanished from sight as well, leaving him alone with Gamora. When he turned back, he found that she had moved to sit at the edge of the canyon, her legs hugged loosely to her chest and her chin resting on her knees.

"Hey." Peter joined her on the cliff, dangling his legs over the edge. "Are you... okay?"

There was no answer, but the threatening tears seemed to have vanished from her eyes and the trembling had stopped.

"Gamora? Please say something."

"It's... too late isn't it?"

"What?"

"She was right. Her whole life, I've done nothing but hurt her. I don't-... I don't think I even know the true scale of what I've done anymore, but what I do know is more than enough. There is nothing I can do to fix the space between us. Every time I try, I just make things worse."

"Come on, there must have been something, some good memory the two of you have together? I mean, she's your sister. You always loved her, right?"

"I don't know." Her voice was hushed and she stared over the canyon with empty eyes. "I remember loving her- I do. I swear I always did, but... I also remember nearly killing her over and over and over again. I don't even know anymore, how many times Thanos had to put her back together... just so I could do it again. I remember throwing her over that cliff the first time our father pitted us against eachother. She was so much smaller than me and I- I think I did kill her that time. He still brought her back... How could I have done that to someone I loved?"

"You were... trying to stay alive. And I think, they had you convinced you were... helping her somehow," Peter ventured carefully, feeling hopelessly out of his element. He knew very little about their past together, and what he did know only made him glad to not know more. He found himself echoing the words he'd heard in her mind. In the room where someone had been screaming in such horrific pain on his way back through, that even now the thought made his skin prickle.

"She was just a kid," Gamora lamented, drawing her knees tighter. "She was just a little kid."

"So were you."

"I was older. I was stronger, and faster, and she never stood a chance against me. Never- why couldn't I see that? If I had been smarter- If I could have seen through what they did to me-"

"It wouldn't have mattered," Peter told her, and she finally turned her head and let her gaze meet his. Some miserable mixture of doubt and fear and dread swirling behind them. "It ended the same in my timeline. Her head, her eye... her arm. She had all those modifications the first time I met her, in my universe, as well."

Gamora's shoulders slumped and she turned her face back to the canyon. "Do you know what happened to her arm?" she whispered. "Did anyone ever tell you how she lost it?"

"Thanos took it right?" Peter asked, really, really hoping that she was going to nod and affirm that, but knowing already that she wouldn't. "That's what she said, more or less."

"We were searching for the Orb, and she became entangled in lazor-thorn wires. They cannot be severed with a metal blade, and once they're hooked in like they were, removing them is hopeless, so I gave her my knife and I left her to carve off her own limb and the corner of her face, and crawl back home on her own."

Peter couldn't help but wince at the gruesome thought. A burbling rage for what Thanos had done to both of the children he had stolen and called his daughters threatened to fill his chest and choke him. He did his best to shove it aside and focus on the here and now.

"Thanos gave me my orders, and I saw them through without question. I never even looked back."

Peter didn't know what to say here. He lifted a hand and reached for Gamora's, then pulled it back, not knowing how to give her any sort of comfort she would accept.

"So you're taking things so slow with Mantis because-"

"I don't want to make the same mistakes all over again."

"You won't."

Her brown eyes flickered back to stare at him from the corner of here vision, glowing a warm amber with traces of gold in the bright sun.

"It's not you," Peter told her. "It was never you. You're not like that. You're the kindest, most amazing person I have ever met, Gamora. The Guardians of the Galaxy wouldn't exist without you. You're like our moral compass. When the rest of the Guardians start falling off track, you're the one that always pulls us back and reminds us what we're here for."

Beneath a thousand layers of guilt and misery and trauma, Peter thought he saw a spark of hope somewhere in the depths of her eyes.

"You inspire me, Gamora. You make me a better person every day. I'm not just some outlaw now, I'm a hero. That's because of you. No matter what the universe threw at us, and it threw a lot, you were always steady and brave and there to help. When Ego told me he killed my mother, and then Yondu died in my arms, you held me together. Peeled me and Rocket up off of I don't even know how many bathroom and bar floors, made sure we didn't do anything too stupid. When Groot burned up on Xandar, you helped raise him again, watered him, played his music, and looked after him when things got hairy. He even called you mom. He threw a big fit when Rocket had to explain you weren't actually his mom. Whenever things get really bad here or feel impossible, I think to myself 'what would Gamora do' and then I do my best to do that.

"I know you don't remember any of that because, here... it never happened. It never had the chance to happen. Thanos made sure of that. But that's the Gamora I know. That's the Gamora I fell in love with, and that's who I know you are, beyond everything that twisted Titan did to you. If you can't be the moral compass of the group right now, that's fine. Maybe it's time for me to step up and return the favor. I can totally be the 'bigger person' here for the team. I've got this. So you just sit back and focus on saving your parents. I'll take care of everything else."

Gamora regarded him silently for a moment, then the faintest traces of a real, honest smile crossed her face. "Thank you, Peter."

"Any time."

They sat in silence after that, watching the canyon glow gold then fade to scarlet as the sun set behind them. Peter tried not to think about Nebula, as a kid, laying dieing at the bottom of a cliff, -one probably just like the one they sat on now- long before she had the augmentations that could have saved her, and Gamora standing at the top, so twisted up by the only guardian she had, that she had thrown her own sister over. Neither of them ever had a chance.

End

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Chapter 18 Preview: "...He finished a lap around the meadow and stared into the shadowy forest, his hands on his hips as he debated the safety of wandering in without his mask to see in the dark. These seemed much thicker than the forest in the canyon, which allowed plenty of starlight to filter through, and Rocket could have easily set all manner of less technical traps to ward off Peter's attempts to pursue a conversation.

"Come on Rocket! We're leaving soon! Now or never, man!..."

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The part about the razorwires and how Nebula had to cut off her arm and the side of her face with Gamora's knife is from the comics. And the part about Gamora throwing her over a cliff when they were kids is from the comics, too. If I remember right, that's how Nebula got the metal implant along the top and back of her skull.

I went and saw Endgame! I won't put any spoilers here, but keep your eyes open for a short Endgame inspired ficlet!

Anyways, I hope you enjoy the new chapter! I've been excited to get to this once since FOREVER! And now it's finally done! Now we get to get the ball rolling into the next arc!

Thank you for continuing to read and support this fic, and for being patient with my very erratic update schedule.

-OMaM