far and away | quill

twenty-three

I know I'm early but I couldn't wait any longer:))

Homecoming.

"No, you said you'd come home. You're supposed to become the boss at the bar; you'll be safe there. With me," James offered. He was sitting on a stray chair with a hand resting on the many elaborate shafts that made up his prosthetic.

"I thought we were going to Nepal. The whole speech about being together? Was it a lie?" Stephen beckoned. He was sitting on the tabletop. Rocket was next to him.

Gamora stood next to Groot. She truly didn't care. She wanted to be rid of Quinn.

Peter put the ship into auto-pilot. They were getting closer to the Collector's planet. As far as they knew, he would be dropped off for proper home burial. But she would be the one to place him somewhere safe enough, he'd get on a ship and leave long after they left.

Peter stood beside her. Quinn watched everyone before answering.

"This is exactly why I'm going to New York. I need a break. I need time to get everything together and decide what I'm going to do. Maybe I'll live with you," she looked at Stephen. "Maybe I'll work with you," she looked at James. "I need time and I need space."

"And us?" Rocket asked. "Would you consider being a Guardian?"

It shocked everyone. Of course, Peter would have loved for her to become one; Drax would warm up to it; Groot would work with her. But Rocket? He would have been the one to be completely against it. Let alone Gamora.

"Yeah," Gamora added. "What about us?" But her addition was the say-no-or-I'll-throw-you-into-space kind.

"I'll consider it," she nodded. Peter left to land the ship as they entered the atmosphere, before long, they were on ground.

"I'll take care of this," Quinn said. She moved to pull the Collector's limp, 'dead' body up.

"I'll help," Peter pulled the Collector's arm over his shoulders. She felt queasy.

The two helped the body off the ship, into the Collection, and onto a table.

"I'll find a contact," she started flipping through an ancient card holder, nervously.

"I know you're not dead," she heard a slap after the statement. She turned quickly, the Aether cowered in her shadow. The Collector's eyes widened, half his face darkening to a navy blush. Peter's body was tense.

"Peter?" she questioned. He looked to her. "How'd you...?"

"I'm not an idiot," an empty explanation.

The Collector sat up, his legs over the side of the table, "Well I should be-"

"Going?" Peter questioned. "Where?"

"Out of the orbit," she answered for him. "Leave."

"Why? What're the strings, Quinn?" Peter asked.

"He leaves and never comes back. I don't kill him. If I need him, I call and he doesn't ask questions. He doesn't talk to his daughter, he's dead to everyone but me," she spoke frigid words to Peter. He looked at the Collector.

"Leave."

The Collector left.

Peter turned to her after the door closed. He walked fast to her, seizing her upper arms and holding her there.

"You lied to us, twice now," he spat out. "How can you do this to your friends? How can you be a liar to us? To that little girl?"

"It's easy. It doesn't hurt me, so I do it."

"Even now, you're lying," he let her go and faced away. He faced her again. He ran a hand down his face, "You and I both know you feel it.  We both know you feel the guilt. We both know you want to be good. We both know you have the capacity to be a Guardian, and that you should be."

"You're wrong, Peter. Because I'm not good. And the Guardians are good guys. I don't fit, I don't match. You guys have morals, you know right and wrong. You live by those morals. You want to know my morals? My code of conduct?"

The two watched each other.

"Kill or be killed. Take or it will be taken from you. Beat or you'll be beaten. You want to know why?" She waited for a moment. The Aether flowed around her like a bloodied halo. "Because not everyone gets to be a hero. Not everyone gets the luxury to choose. I had to make myself. I had to protect myself. At the end of the day, I'm all I have."

She left him. The Aether followed.

She climbed up the ramp and sat on the couch, playing with the dark liquid that favored her. It was a darkness, a plague. It was her's, and she was its.

Peter boarded and went to the cockpit. The ship was dead silent for the rest of the ride home.

They arrived on top of the snow capped mountains of Nepal. Stephen bid them farewell before stepping off. She stood.

"Thank you for all you've done," she hugged Drax, Groot, and Rocket. She nodded a thanks to Gamora. Peter followed her to the ramp.

"You know, you're wrong. You're not all you have. You're not alone, not anymore," he was quiet. Everyone carried on, ignoring the two on the ramp. He watched her.

"Thanks Peter," better. "You know how to reach me if you need anything," she tapped her temple. "Don't hesitate."

"I won't."

He smiled and before she knew it, she was on her toes and kissing his lips softly and singularly. She smiled and stepped off. The Aether pulled her cloak close to her body.

The wind licked at her hair and clothes. The snow bit her ears. She looked at Stephen. The Aether solidified and rested in her pocket.

She paused.

"I'll always love you, Stephen," she admitted. "You were my first love and you kept me alive for so long. Thank you."

"Same for you, my Quinn," his face softened. Both wielders' cloaks flapped with the wind, both stood on a mountain peak of a frigid Nepalese ridge. Both hearts kept them warm as both stones kept them safe.

"I'm sorry for the false hope. But without you, the universe would be imploded. We'd be dead."

"Maybe," he paused. "Don't let that power go to your head. You control it, not the other way around."

She nodded. The ship took off behind them. He put his hands up and together with the ring, a portal was forged. She smiled before stepping through it. The landscape was temperate Time Square. Cars swerved around her. She carefully crossed the road, hurrying into an alley and out of sight.

She hurried through streets and alleys, slipping between the cracks and crevices of the city. She stood in front of a sad building. She smiled at its emptiness. It was the apartment she'd bought when she quit prostitution; before she was arrested for it and before Stephen saved her.

It was in a bad part of town. But she loved it. She opened the door and whispered to the Aether:

"We're home."