far and away | quill

five

Trees.

She opened her eyes to see branches. Birds sang, squirrels stirred, undisturbed by her presence.

She sat up, looking around in confusion.

"Come on Quinn," a feminine voice brought her back to reality. She looked up to find the woman Peter so dearly loathed for.

"Gamora," she breathed.

"Get up. Time to go," she said, pulling her up by the arm and her hood fell down. Gamora began walking through the shrubs, cutting at ivy when needed. Quinn followed.

"Where are we?"

"Eerie," she said with a grunt as she cut off an obstructive branch. They reached a large opening, a meadow.

"Eerie? Good God, I didn't think it looked like this-"

"Like what?" She paused, and Quinn had been in line with her.

"So," she looked around, "Beautiful."

"It's not beautiful. It's disgusting, it's a trap," she was looking in the distance.

"How so?" Gamora looked at her like she didn't understand the question.

The two were facing each other now.

"People come here, searching for lavish items, expensive items," she played with her knife's point out of habit and watched the sun shining on it, "And they all die. It's the greed that kills them, natural greed gets them killed."

Gamora looked up at Quinn.

"You hear voices, you've heard my thoughts. And Peter's. Now tell me, Quinn, does he think about me?"

"Like crazy," she didn't even question as to how she knew this about her power, but she gave the honest truth.

Gamora smiled sadly.

"Now my turn to ask a question. How'd you find me?" Quinn asked softly.

"You were unconscious and they must've gone out to scope the land. I knew how to get in, I was part of his crew," she said sadly. "And I took you away."

"Oh," she said. After a few minutes she spoke again, "Ready?" Gamora forgot for a moment where they were going. But remembered and led the way without a word. "Where are we going, exactly?"

"To find the Ruby, of course," Gamora answered.

"How do you figure everything out about me?"

They were walking at the same pace now.

"James," she shrugged.

"What'd you do to him?" She tensed up, the voices began to creep into her thoughts again.

They were alive like bees in a hive.

"Nothing, I found him and he told me that some grey guy abducted you. I'm guessing that was Drax. And I asked him anything else I should know, he told me, I told him I'd find you and bring you back. But we're going to find the Ruby first."

"You better not be lying. If you laid a finger on him, I will kill you," she paused, remembering the assassin's weakness, "And Peter."

Gamora turned to her and pushed her against a tree, using her forearm to cut off the air pipe. She held the knife's point to her stomach.

"If you hurt Peter in any way, I will kill you and your precious James without a second thought. I'll find your family, your relatives; I'll kill political leaders," she grit her teeth, pushing her arm more and more into the girl's throat.

"Gamora?" A voice broke their deadly silence. She turned to see the man Quinn had threatened.

"Peter," Gamora breathed, her voice sounded so empty.

"What's all this talk about killing people?" He looked between them, a line formed between his eyebrows. Quinn leaned back against the tree, hunching over and gasping for air.

"Let's go and get this over with," Quinn took the lead, regaining her height and image. The two followed behind, at a distance.

"What're you doing here?" Peter asked Gamora.

"Getting the Ruby," she gave a short answer. He was watching her closely, studying her face for any changes from the time he missed.

"How'd you find her?" He was whispering and Gamora didn't understand why.

"I found your plane and broke in," she said simply, then cracked an innocent smile. This loosened the stiff air between them.

They reached a clearing. Rocket sat on a tree stump, with his head in his hands as his legs dangled. Drax had been humming something quietly. Groot pet the stump Rocket was sitting on; he had a sad look as he pet the dead tree.

"Let's go," she commanded, bringing the three back to reality. She was irritated with the whole situation.

She was abducted by the woman that was giving Peter poisonous feelings, in turn, affecting herself and her own wellbeing.

And the bitch of it all was that Peter had taken her back like it was nothing, he'd seemed to have forgotten whatever tragic memory he'd locked up and tucked away for a rainy day.

The three joined the group as they carried on through the shrubbery and woods.

There were weird sounds in the forest: scurrying, climbing, ominous rustling. And even weirder thoughts. The two lovebirds' thoughts were sickening to her, too mushy and cushy.

"So why are you in such a bad mood?" Drax asked lowly, he'd caught up to her. They were a good twenty feet ahead of anyone else.

"I want to go home," she said simply, not bothering to look away from the beaten path.

"And?" She looked at him.

"And I have a hole in my leg that you gave me. I'm tired as hell, I've got a splitting headache, and I'm just plain sick of it all."

"What all?"

"You people," she started, "You judge me because I sin differently than you, and your little relationship problems are disgusting, and it's all too," she paused, her mind blank, "Too much."

Her voice cracked between the two words.

She wiped her mouth with her cloak sleeve. She looked back to the path, watching her feet, scolding herself for allowing weakness.

"Too much? But it doesn't affect you, cupcake."

"Yeah it does."

"But you're not part of it," he insisted.

"You don't get it do you?" She looked at him again, "I hear voices, Drax, people's thoughts. I hear them, I feel them, I don't want to but I do. I hear the judgement, the wrath, the pain, everything. And I can't turn it off."

He watched her and was quiet.

"So yeah, I kind of am a part of it," she looked at him again. It was his turn to watch the ground. "Let's just find the damn stone. That's all your crew wants from me anyways."