Marvel in Quarantine

Nebula and Gamora: Reminiscing

Triggers: Abuse. Ships: Gamora x Peter. Characters: Guardians of the Galaxy, Nebula, Thanos.

It was a rare day off for the Guardians of the Galaxy. It was a Sunday, a day without any jobs or business meetings or bad guys to beat. The day was...theirs. 

As such, Peter Quill, Rocket, Groot, Drax, and Mantis had decided to go visit a busy city on some popular planet. It rated well on what Peter called 'Galactic Yelp' so it was on their vacation list. 

"Are you sure you don't want to come?" Peter had asked Gamora, booping her nose and giving her a bright grin. "There's parks and clubs and shopping and music! I mean, what's not to love?! Plus I can try taking photos on this eye-phone ten Stark got me!"  

Gamora had smiled at him, gently cupping his cheek. "No, I'm quite tired actually. I really do want to stay back on the ship. Have fun, though! And keep an eye on our mix of psychos and cuties." Peter winked, gave her a quick kiss, and got the pod ready for departure. He sang a few lines of Perfect by someone named Ed Sheeran (he had just discovered modern Earthen music) and blew her a flying kiss. Gamora smiled, pretending to catch it, and held her hand to her heart. Rocket made a barfing gesture, and Peter thwacked him across the head. Even as the pod launched into space, heading to the destination planet's atmosphere, Gamora could hear Drax's roaring laughter. 

That was two hours ago, and Gamora was starting to become bored. She had read, flicked through something called Netflix (she liked this one show called Stranger Things), and had thrown darts at Thanos's face (Mantis had drawn him for her). She was feeling...lonely.

Of course, she wasn't actually alone.

Nebula, her adoptive sister, had of course opted to stay back. She still rolled her eyes whenever she saw the Guardians having fun and just acting like one big chaotic family, but Gamora knew it was because she was jealous. Not that her sister would ever admit it, of course.

Nebula had been sitting stoically across the couch where Gamora now sat since Peter and the others had left. As far as she knew, Nebula hadn't even moved. Fed up and desperate, Gamora sat down close to her sister in hopes of finding something interesting to do.

"Hey, Nebula," Gamora started cautiously, feeling her out.

"Hello," Nebula replied bluntly.

"I was thinking...maybe we could hang out." Gamora kicked herself internally, feeling stupid. Nebula evidently agreed because she looked at her sister with a cold and unimpressed face. 

"You want to...hang out."

"Yeah. You know, train, eat, watch TV, something? Anything? Just something to pass the time."

"Why are you being kind to me?" Nebula asked, straight to the point. But there was true curiosity in her eyes.

"Because...you're my sister. And I want you to feel...welcome? Like this can be a home for you, not just something temporary. If that's what you want," Gamora added on quickly, hoping she hadn't overstepped.

Nebula paused for a moment, considering. Then she stood up and walked to the far wall, where a pile of darts sat on the mantle. She studied the target, currently covered with a picture of Thanos's purple, big-chinned face. Nebula stepped back to the other side of the room and wordlessly handed her sister half of the darts. Then, she aimed and let the first one go.

It hit right in the middle of their adoptive father's left eye. "You were never kind to me before," Nebula stated, seemingly trying to start a conversation.

Gamora's dart hit the right eye. "What do you mean?" Gamora asked, confused. "I've tried to invite you to all of our gatherings, the movie marathons and bowling nights and dance parties. But you aren't interested unless it's training day, in which case you just beat everyone up!"