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guardian-angel12 · 5 months

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Experiment: Flame and Ash

Chapter Four

Previous chapter

Petty lies to everyone In the hopes that I could be someone Heaven talks, but not to me And now I wonder if it's meant to be

Desolation, tragedy Is there nothing good in me? Is there nothing good in me?

Kree slave ship, years ago.

All he could hear was the ringing of metal, footsteps against steel, and voices that spoke in a language he didn't understand barking orders but muffled through the walls.

It mixed with the sounds of crying, both from young and old, panicked breathing and begging prayers from so many mouths.

His heartbeat was in his ears, thundering a pulse, another, another.

Her small body clutched in his arms, limp and heavy from sedatives and still not waking up.

A bang sounded somewhere on the far end of the hall of cages where he was, and he twisted quickly to face the sound with wide eyes, the dull ache in his neck stretching a little with the movement, the rows of foreign language still sitting inside irritated, puffed-out flesh sporting a purple hue.

Those horrible voices filled the air in their full force, loud and threatening, and he shielded the tiny girl in his arms as they stomped down the rows of cages, yanking men, women and children out, snapping shackles on their wrists and shoving them down the row.

She stirred in his arms, and he looked down even though it was too dark to see unless one of the lights their captors held swung in their direction, but at one moment he saw her eyes, opened and scared, then felt her press her face closer to his sternum. "Krags..?" she whimpered, her hands clutching his ripped shirt.

"I'm here, Vera, it's alright, I got you."

She cried softly, burying herself into his thin frame the best she could. "Where are we? What happened to home?"

"I dunno... but it's gonna be okay. I promise. You feel okay?"

"My...my neck hurts..."

"I know, it'll pass."

Screaming came from the cells a few down from them, and Vera flinched hard, trembling against his body as a woman screamed for what seemed to be her child, a shot rang out and the screaming stopped.

"Verie, listen to me," Kraglin put his hand on her chin even if she couldn't look up at him. "When they come for us, don't be scared, I'll protect you, but I need you to stay back."

She shook her head, terrified, but she trusted her big brother, even if he was just a skinny nine-year-old that had only learned to fight from scrapping on the back alleys of Xandar for food, they both knew he would do anything to protect her.

The footsteps got close, so close that he could tell they were just outside of their cage, and then the light shone on the two children, making them grimace from the sudden artificial beam as their cage was swung open.

The guard reached for Vera first, snatching her frail arm roughly and pulling her out.

"No!" she shrieked, hands shooting out for her brother, brown hair falling over her little face as she threw herself forward out of the guards grasp.

Kraglin jumped up, despite his legs feeling numb from hours of them being folded beneath him, and tried to get her back. His fingers grazed hers, but before he could grasp her he was swatted back by a large hand, his body hitting the metal grates of the floor hard.

Vera screamed, her fights barely phasing the guard that carried her off. Kraglin pushed to his knees, a noise of horror coming from his throat as he looked up in the light and two sets of identical blue eyes met one another as he saw his little sister disappear with the female slaves.

"Vera!" he screamed, making to run after her. A loud crack sounded and a hot, sharp pain lanced over his back, making him grunt and land on his knees again, wetness spreading over the skin that still burned.

Someone yelled at him in that horrible language again, but he ignored it, ignored the pain, and stood back up. Only for a repeat to happen but this time he gripped the bars on the wall, turning towards the one who held the pronged whip with death behind his young eyes.

"Don't you think you'll get away with hurting my sister!" he snarled, then made his first of many futile attempts against his new owners. The only end was him to end up in a smaller cage, shackled, bleeding and freezing, but his only thoughts were on his little sister, that innocent, sweet seven-year-old girl, that was all he had in the entire cruel galaxy.

Present Day, unknown freight, unknown coordinates.

The dark was relenting with a fight, feeling like a thick, too-heavy sheet laid over his being as he struggled to come to.

The smell of rust hit him first, rust and stale air and some kind of decay. Cold hardness was under his back, then the warmer, small touch like someone's hand on his shoulder, not quite gripping it but more like just laying on it.

Kraglin groaned softly as he lifted his eyelids, feeling like they were weighted down with how hard it was. The first thing he made out was a dark metal ceiling, a gray that didn't match the Quadrant's mismatched brownish plates. He cocked his head slightly to look behind him, feeling the body heat like they were sitting just above the side of his head.

Gamora sighed with relief and closed her eyes for a moment, shaking her head as she looked back down at him. "You had me worried for a moment."

He squinted like he didn't understand what she was saying, but then it clicked, and he remembered what had happened before he blacked out, making his heavy eyes suddenly go wide as he jerked up.

"Where's—" he hissed in pain at the deep, burning ache in his side, Gamora snatching his shoulders with her hands and stopping him from moving.

"Easy..." she said gently, but with that voice that showed if he didn't obey she would make him.

Kraglin gritted his teeth and looked slowly to the spot on his side, a tear was in his clothes and they were soaked in blood around it, but there was some kind of mark over the wound that made it look like someone had put something on it to stop the bleeding. "Shit..." he whispered, hand subconsciously drifting up to the side of his neck, rubbing over the whorls of ink. All of this too familiar.

"You got lucky," Gamora said, her voice still soft and he wondered if she was trying not to be heard. "There doesn't seem to be any internal damage."

"Yeah, real lucky..." he mumbled, a sarcastic edge in his voice as he finally looked around more, and he realized they seemed to be in some kind of closed-off cargo hold, but there was a black device around Gamora's wrist, making him look to find the same on his. Shock bracelets this time, then. No chains. "You hurt?" he asked, and she shook her head no despite the dried trickle of dark green from her brow. "What happened to the others?"

"I don't know, I was with Peter and the other two, and then... someone came, I couldn't get a good look."

"Did... did you see Tess?" he swallowed after the question, hoping the answer wouldn't be the worst.

"No."

Only a small relief, but there were still so many options to where she was: here, but separated from them, or she was safe... or dead. He didn't let himself think long about the last option.

"Anyone come in? Seen anyone at all?" he asked, trying to check off anything he could.

Gamora shook her head slowly. "It's all a blur, all I know is I was in that city, then here, with you and no one else."

Why they would clearly be trying to get Tess but settle for them was beyond him, unless—

"You saw them coming?" Gamora nodded towards his bloody clothes and no-doubt bruised jaw, snapping him from his thoughts.

"Hear 'em, heard they were lookin' for Tess... dunno what for." he flickered his eyes to the floor. "When I heard it I just... I couldn't think past it, I thought maybe I could stop 'em but I just made it all worse."

She considered this, and sighed through her nose. "She'll be okay." she said, not even needing to hear it to know what he was thinking.

"Never just run into something without thinkin' first, good way to get killed. Ya wanna win a fight, think about it, not like some drunken jackass lookin' to throw fists. Hear me, boy?"

Kraglin blinked back the burn in his eyes at the memory of that lesson, one of the many tactics Yondu had tried to teach him. Now he was ashamed that only a few months without having to endure the constant little lessons and he was already forgetting.

He told himself that his mind went blank for Tess, told himself that he didn't mind to die for her but realized he very well had just put her in more danger than she had been on that planet.

There was a clank of metal somewhere in the dark, like a large gear being turned. Gamora was instantly on her feet, knuckles balled, Kraglin shifting to stand by the time light poured into their surroundings from one open doorway across from them, and a few figures standing like silhouettes against it.

"Hands to your sides, turn around." one of them ordered, but Gamora bristled, eyes scanning for anything to use as a weapon.

Kraglin got to his feet and glanced at Gamora, she did to him at the same time and he realized she was sizing up the five men who walked in, trying to see if maybe they could take them and start to escape.

They were big, about as big as Drax, probably about as strong, too.

But they didn't know the kind of fight that could be put up by the two captives—the lethal assassin of Thanos and a Ravager from childhood.

Kraglin stared at their belts. If he could just get to one of their blasters—

"I said backs to me!"

Gamora was staring at him with an expression that said 'Don't do it', but he knew how this worked, if they moved them there was less a chance of escape.

He gave her a tiny nod, just a barely perceptible dip of his chin, and she shook her head.

A gun raised, "Hands up!"

Kraglin thought about it, and lunged.

Gamora joined him a moment later, clearly having no choice now. He grabbed the gun before it could go off, shoving it up so he could push it out of the guards hand.

Someone else caught his neck as Gamora threw a hard elbow down into one of their backs, driving her knee up to bring them down.

Kraglin grunted with the weight it took to throw them off him, going for the next person, and slamming his arm up against them. "Where is she?!" he demanded, not really believing they would answer but he just needed to know. "What did you do to her?!"

The man he held reached down, and suddenly volts of electricity were surging through him, starting in his arm and flowing up and out into the rest of him.

Gamora screamed as he curled into himself, not yet falling but knowing it enough, and being angry enough to try and walk it off.

She received her own voltage, having forgot about the bands on their wrists completely, the hopes of escaping being dashed at the remembrance.

But Kraglin didn't stop, and went to attack again, suddenly that scared and confused boy in a fighting pit, going against hopeless odds, fueled by the animal instinct to protect his sister of his adult life now instead of his childhood.

Another, harsher wave of electricity stormed through him, and he couldn't stay on his feet, dropping down to his knees with a tight groan through his teeth.

Gamora was panting as her arms were restrained behind her back. "Kraglin, just stop!" she yelled at him, seeing that same stubborn way in him that she had seen in Peter countless times, but she noticed it always worsened when it involved someone they cared about. One of her first impressions of Peter had been him getting himself shocked all because someone was touching his mother's belonging.

This time, his brother was doing the same because someone was touching his.

Another shock was sent through him, and he was sent down to brace his hands against the floor with the violence of it, blood dribbling between his lips to the ground as he panted ragged breaths.

"Restrain that one, too." the one that seemed to be the leader said.

Kraglin didn't fight the tight clasp that was put around his wrists behind his back, still panting, and remembering the first time this had all happened.

He couldn't fight it then, either.

- - -

The amount of jumps felt like all too many, and Tess couldn't even enjoy the feeling of going at light speed through the galaxy like she once did.

"Ninety more to go." Rocket said from the pilots seat of the Terminal, a smaller fighting vessel that the Ravagers had usually used for stealth missions. Tess was now grateful it was one of the couple ships that had been docked on the Quadrant.

She didn't respond, but scrubbed her hands over her face to try and stay awake, her head feeling heavy with sleep deprivation but she would've felt too guilty to even try to sleep now, not that the nightmares would let her if she did manage to.

"Should try to sleep," Peter said suddenly, for a moment she gave him a weird, almost accusing look before she realized he simply could've seen her face.

"I don't want to."

"You're useless half-dead." Rocket said, barely parting his mouth to speak like he was hesitant to butt in.

"You know what'll happen. I don't want to hurt anyone."

"I could sit with you." Drax offered kindly,

"Thanks," the corners of her mouth twitched up in a failed attempt to smile. "But I'm okay."

"Mantis could help you..." Peter added again. The Empath smiled warmly and nodded, straightening up like she would right that moment.

"Peter, I said no."

"Incoming transmission," Rocket said from the pilot's seat, turning his head over his shoulder slightly. "Encrypted."

"Put it through." Tess stood instantly, heart fluttering with expectance. It had to be Martinex, maybe he had found something else that could help them, maybe—

Tess' stomach plummeted when the holographic screen came up, and she made out instantly Kraglin on his knees in front of a few people behind him, all clad head to toe in black that stopped them from seeing any telltale features.

Gamora was kneeling right beside him, looking only slightly less battered, but defiant.

Peter stood from his seat carefully, eyes wide as he stared at Gamora, taking a few steps toward the image as if he could walk to her.

"You must be Udonta." one of the figures said as their head turned towards Tess. A deep, male, rasping voice emanating from behind their mask.

"Who wants to know?" she knew her voice quivered a little, but she had to try to stand strong, had to do as she had learned and show no fear, show no weakness. Otherwise, she had already lost.

Drax was siding up by Peter, tense and staring like he was already imagining exactly how he would kill everyone he saw in that image.

"Heard tell these ones are worth something to you. Worth next-to-nothing to us... we have other assets to acquire." the mercenary said.

"Such as?" she wasn't looking towards the man speaking, but looking down at Kraglin, his eyes barely moved up to get a glimpse at her, and she grimaced on the inside at his busted face and bloody nose.

"You. Alive. But dead could work, too, just so long as your body is mostly intact."

Kraglin flinched at those words. Peter flicked his eyes to Tess, then returned them back to the screen in an instant.

"Done."

"No!" Peter said it at the same time Rocket and Drax did, Gamora and Kraglin both tensed.

"It's my choice." Tess said stiffly, but she didn't look at anyone.

"Not happening!" Rocket almost growled at her.

"I think you've misunderstood the offer," the man said, making everyone fall silent.

"Elaborate." Tess nearly growled through her teeth.

"We are willing to trade, you for one of your choice."

"Why not both?" she asked, even as ice spread in her muscles. A power play. That's all it was. He had already said they weren't worth much to them. This was his way of staying in control.

Rocket bristled, flexing his clawed fingers again and again, but his eyes were welded to the screen.

"One for one. Fair trade, wouldn't you think?"

"Do you know who I am?" a simple, deadly question.

"Fugitive of the High Evolutionary." Her blood went cold, Rocket flinched and she noticed, glancing to him as he looked down. "Had we found you earlier we could have made double, it's a shame your little friends killed your Kree master. Also, ex-Ravager, I would expect you to understand the bargain I'm willing to strike, seeing as you once dealt these same ways."

That wasn't true, they had never trafficked, held for ransom? Sure. But never people who had nothing to do with it. Ignoring the last bit, she asked, "And them?" she nodded towards the image, referring to their captives. She knew the tactics, knew to test the waters and see how much they knew. If they weren't sure who they were really dealing with then maybe there was some chance they could get uncomfortable enough to call it off.

The man chuckled, a sadistic, airy noise as he yanked Gamora back by the top of her head, making Peter clamp his jaw shut, sucking in a strangled breath. "Daughter of Thanos." he said like that was one of the biggest prizes he had ever won. "I'm sure the Titan would be pleased to have her back."

Tess clenched her hands shut, trying to avoid the threats and curses that burned on her tongue like wildfire, raging to pour out in a fury she hoped she could contain for her hands wrapped around his throat.

Mantis looked scared where she stood in the corner, eyes darting to the others as she blinked a few times. And stared, her glossy black eyes conncecting with Gamora's as she wore a surprisingly calm expression, only broke by the heaves of her chest until the man let her go by tossing her forward, her chest slamming to the ground with the sudden force.

"Leave her alone!" Kraglin snarled, but Tess saw that look in his storm-blue eyes that she recognized as a bond of guilt and memories.

The man stepped over to him instead, and shoved an electric prod into his ribs for speaking out, making him coil into himself with a sharp gasp.

Tess neck stiffened so much the muscles in it were all visible, heaving breaths to hold back her tears.

"Wanted in almost every province as protege to Yondu Udonta." their new worst enemy explained. "Specifically the Kree as a lost slave and prized gladiator."

Child gladiator. My brother, beat into that killer he never would have been. Tess' mind screamed with rage. They made us killers.

Big mistake.

"They made their own worst enemies, when they made us slaves."

She felt her limbs go cold with adrenaline when she recalled Yondu's words to her. Before she even knew most of the truth.

"So, which will it be?" the sadist asked.

"You've brought something on you that you will regret." was all she whispered.

"Then trade yourself for your dear brother, and he goes free, the woman... collateral loss."

Her heart flipped over and fell into her stomach. She had no idea how he knew what Kraglin was to her, but now she knew that would be used against her. "Do you know how much of a bounty is on my head?" the words poured out before she thought on them more. "I'm worth more than both of them combined."

"Tess, no!" Kraglin snapped at her, she felt her legs tremble before he was struck with the prod again.

"If you hurt him," Tess said slowly, dangerously, practically growling through her teeth. "Then every single one of you will be nothing more than limbless corpses floating in space." Peter glanced at her once, unsure of what she was playing at. "The Kree, the Skrulls, the Nova Corps, the Evolutionary... they all want me. And that's not everyone. You will gain a bigger sum on me. Maybe even from Thanos. I was supposed to be there instead of her anyways."

Drax leaned his head forward a little, giving a tiny little shake like he was trying to get her to stop. She ignored him. "Be smart about this." Tess added.

"Maybe you're right." the man offered. "But, the answer is no. You can trade yourself over, but only for one."

"You're making a big, big mistake."

"That's to be proven."

"Don't do it!" Gamora pleaded, her voice emotional and thick. "They will kill you!"

"It's worth it." Tess whispered. "I'm gonna get you both back, and I'm gonna kill them all."

Kraglin was breathing heavy where he kneeled, his shoulders curled up and stiff as they trembled slightly

"Peter, Rocket, listen to me," Gamora put her gaze on Peter, then Rocket, then back on her lover. "Don't."

As Peter opened his mouth to reply Kraglin jerked himself backwards, slamming his shoulder up into the leg of the man behind him, then swept his boot under their legs.

Tess' eyes shot wide open, and she couldn't tell if he was actually trying to take them on or if he was trying to get himself killed. She wouldn't have been surprised at either.

He didn't get far without two of the captors shoving their prods at him, increasing the energy to full and forcing him down.

"Stop it!" Gamora screamed at them, moving forward on her knees, jerking her hands bound in front of her as if she would snap the metal restraints off.

Tess bit her tongue so hard the tangy taste of blood filled her mouth, squeezing her knuckles shut so hard she would've broke her own fingers had they not shifted with the surge of anger that stormed through her as Kraglin hit the ground, still shaking from the electric pulses and gagging blood onto the floor.

She felt sick suddenly. "I'm going to kill you." she ground out through her teeth.

"You know our demands." the man snapped his fingers at someone like he was getting them to end the transmission. "I'll wait for you to decide how bloody this gets."

Tess took a jolting step forward. "I swear by the Flame if you so much as scrape them—"

The transmission cut off, and she was staring out of the window into space, hands shaking, chest rising and falling fast and heavy.

Everyone remained quiet, an air in the room so tense it felt like one word would snap it and there would be a fit of anger from every one of them.

Tess turned around slowly, meeting eyes with Rocket beside her even slower. "Do not delay our course."

She barely glanced at Peter and the others as she quickly walked out. And he didn't know if it was by the way she had handled those threats, or the way she swallowed the screaming he knew was inside her or the way her legs moved as she quickly got out of the room, but Rocket couldn't take his eyes off her until she was out of sight, and found himself wanting to say 'yes, Captain' to her when she gave him demands. And forced himself not to see crimson eyes on her face instead of burnished sterling.

- - -

Tess forced herself to work properly long enough to make it into the tiny engine room of the pod and practically stumbled against the wall, her body shaking so violently her teeth clicked against each other.

She was huffing breaths, bracing her hand against the steel bulkhead, her lungs feeling tight and heavy. "I can't do this..." she whispered hoarsely. "I can't." her voice broke with a sob and she slid to the floor, sobbing into her hand as she pressed it against her mouth. "I can't."

She had never felt this kind of aloneness but once in her conscious life, once in the times she actually remembered, and suddenly she was a scrawny living-dead girl curled into the corner of a cold prison, her blood splattered on her skin and body dismantled, broken, exploited... and entirely alone.

Yondu had walked in behind him, held her in his arms, gotten her out... but he was gone. He was never going to be there again with the answers and the reassurance and the protection.

But even if Yondu had been the one who carried her home, it had been him, it had been Kraglin, her big brother, the one she had come to love more than anyone else in her world, who ended that prison both physical and mental when he kneeled in front of her and met her eyes, and now he was as good as gone too.

"Me and Yondu, we had like what you and Kraglin have."

Those words suddenly haunted her, and she wondered if they had been some kind of foreboding, unplanned premonition aligned by whatever forces were crafting fate.

"Don't you dare compare that."

She swallowed, her mouth so dry. She had instantly denied any resemblance to Yondu and Martinex's relationship... but Martinex was brother-less now... and maybe it was because he had left Yondu and further pushed him towards his path of self-destruction.

"It may be too late for you and your brother, but as far as I know, it ain't too late for me and mine."

She broke down with a sob, throwing her head between her knees. Had she not ran off on that planet, she would have been beside him, she would have never let it happen.

She had left. Again. Just like she had on the Eclector, and she had never seen Yondu again.

"I'm sorry..." she whimpered, looking up as if speaking to someone standing above her, or just looking up, looking like she was staring at the stars above. "I'm so sorry, I failed. I failed you, I failed him. Now he's gonna die and it's my fault."

She swiped her thick tears off her face like she was angry at them, and slammed her fist into the wall behind her as hard as she could, barely flinching at the gruesome pain in her natural flesh. "You said you would always be here... I need you to tell me what to do! I don't know what to do, please... I can't do this." her voice was shaking, shuddering from both the rage and fear-induced cold. "I can't do this alone... Daddy... I need you."

28 Years Ago

Big black eyes stared at the orange, yellow and pink hues beyond the framed glass window, dreaming of what life might look like, life that surpassed all of this.

But this was supposed to be omnipotent to whatever meager thing might be across the stars she so rarely saw.

Footsteps clicked against the polished floor, and she turned from her longing stare, instantly getting to her feet to fold her hands before her and dip her chin, awaiting, submitting.

"Come and meet your new sister, child." he said with such a honeyed voice that maybe, in some other life, he could have been what he lied in saying he was to the man who so often came and scowled and suspected and then left.

She nodded meekly, tiny feet obeying as they treaded softly to him.

A hand rested on her thin shoulder, and she involuntarily flinched, but blinked rapidly and hurried along as he led her through the elaborate halls decked in false beauty she secretly repulsed.

They came into the well-furnished room and she looked up slowly at the white-skinned, maroon-haired little girl perched on the cushions. Her eyes were like fire, sitting in molten grace and glitter on her pert little face, but an expression of terror was in them.

"Nylah, I've returned, as promised." he said to her, a cheery tone in his voice that Nylah did not respond too with anything but a questioning frown. He didn't seem to notice or care as he looked down to the girl still at his side. "Mantis, this is your new sister."

Her young heart ached at the sight of her, but she told herself to be brave, and walked up to her new sibling as expected. She looked up at Nylah, and could see the black flecks that dusted her face, the black stripe down her chin, and the delicate point of her ears.

"Why am I here?" Nylah asked in a small voice, Mantis only understood her language because of some Celestial gene she carried to allow it .

"Because Ego has a bigger, better purpose for you here. You are safe."

"No, I'm not. Momma's dead... and those scary people... they took me away before I could say goodbye."

"Goodbye to who, my dear?" Ego asked, folding his hands behind his back.

"To Poppa." Nylah sniffled, tears escaping her flaming eyes. "My brothers!"

"Ah, you misunderstand," he took a few steps towards the girl, who shrunk back as he approached. "I am your father. You are my daughter. You are safe."

"No!" she wailed, and Ego sighed, flapping a hand at Mantis. "Fix it. I'm afraid I'm short on time with this one."

Her antennae curled down in regret, but even as she blinked back her sudden tears she turned around and laid a hand on the other girl. "Ego is your father. And you are safe here."

Nylah faltered for a moment and agreed.

Ego smiled.

Mantis trembled.

Only days later and Nylah was screaming, Mantis was shaking as she watched the blue light engulf her small body and seem to tear through her being, Ego simply stood there and watched with a disappointed expression as the girl seemed to wither.

She had known this fear so many times, and it never got any easier, yet this time it seemed to get worse.

Her throat ached from tightness, and she squeezed her large eyes shut, twisting her head to the side to where a silky curtain of black and green hair was falling over her face.

Her sister kept shrieking, the evil light kept draining her, and Ego... he just kept staring. Doing nothing. Kept standing there. Kept—

"STOP!"

Before she had even registered it, Mantis had screamed the one pleading word, and Ego spun to face her.

"What did you say?"

Her blood went cold, but instead of following what she knew she was supposed to say, instead of cowering and fawning and shriveling up like the insignificant bug she was, she said again: "Stop."

He did not. "And why would I do that?"

"You said you would not hurt them." she said shakily.

"And I haven't. She, like the others, has failed to connect with her true potential. And it's her that's bringing pain upon herself with her failure."

"Please... please, let her go."

"That's enough, Mantis, you have no place to speak on these matters."

"Please—"

Ego made an exasperated expression and turned his head downward, sighing. "Kill her."

Mantis froze.

Ego looked at her. "I said, kill her."

"No." it came out before a thought could form.

"You do not deny me." his once pleasant voice dropped into a tone so icy and soulless, it made her fear for her own life. When she still didn't move, a tendril of blue light grew from the ground, growing and stretching until it pushed her straight towards Nylah.

Mantis started to sob as she was forced right next to her sister. "Please...no...."

"Kill her." his face was twisting into a cold and heartless expression.

"I don't want to!" Mantis sobbed bitterly, dropping to her knees.

"You have no choice!" he screamed at her, and she flinched so hard she jumped across the marble floor a little. "Do it now or I'll make you kill the next hundred that come before I even test them, and you can visit your siblings every night for the next millennia." he spat, knowing her worst punishment was to walk down to those bones and be forced to stare at them.

"Please..." she tried pleading one last time. "Not again... please. I can't!"

"You will. Do it now!"

She bit down on her tongue and curled her fists into tight balls, jumping up and slamming her hand down on Nylah's cold arm, her antennae glowed a dark orange and the tendrils around Nylah suddenly went dark as she went limp, crumpling to the ground as they shrunk.

Mantis crumpled too, and sobbed until she couldn't breathe.

Ego walked away, and she laid on the cold floor, heaving little cries as she hugged her sister's motionless body to her. Apologizing in little whispers she knew would never be heard.

Present Day

Rocket had told them to let her be, told them to let Tess have her space and she would come back when she was ready.

Mantis felt guilty to leave her alone.

She knew what it was like to cry alone like that, to fear so deeply for someone you loved.

And even if she hadn't spoke and she hadn't engaged, Mantis saw the look in Tess' eyes when she saw Kraglin and Gamora, saw that familiar spark of guilt and terror spread over her face.

"Tess..?" she said gently, tapping one finger on the wall outside of the engine room as she slowly looked around the corner. Tess was on the ground, shaking, and she could hear muffled cries coming from her.

"Please leave me alone." came the strangled reply.

Normally, Mantis would have dipped her head, turned right around and left as she was told. Only Tess wasn't demanding, wasn't threatening her, she was asking.

Because Tess wasn't like Peter, and she wasn't like Drax, the two who would take any opportunity to talk and open up and say what that felt. No, she was more like Rocket, more like Gamora. The ones who had snapped at her literally and physically upon meeting her.

"I would like to keep you company." Mantis said in a soft tone, cocking her head a bit.

Tess didn't answer, didn't move, so the Empath took it as a chance to walk to her with little careful steps, slowly getting on her haunches in front of the other woman, then slowly reached her hand out to lay it on her shoulder.

Tess lifted her head from between her legs and grabbed her thin wrist, a soft grip, not aggressive, and slowly pushed it away. "Please don't do that."

Mantis curled her hand in, moving her eyes over her, thick lashes drooping. "I was not going to influence you."

"Peter didn't send you?"

"No."

Mantis had no gull, and Tess knew that, she wouldn't lie to her. The only lies she told were playful, harmless ones that she couldn't play off anyways, as she was still trying to grasp more colorful forms of interaction besides a simple answer and nod.

But Tess had also realized without someone to tell her what to say, more than often Mantis didn't know how to speak and answer for herself.

Tess took a deep breath and ran her hands over her face, smearing her tears into wet streaks against her cheeks and temples, her wet strands of hair pushed back out of her eyes. She sighed, leaned her head back against the wall, and felt her eyes fill again as she looked at the sweet girl in front of her, still crouching there, looking nervous but earnest. "What have I done?" she whispered.

"You didn't do anything wrong." Mantis said assertively, and by the way she scrunched her brow, Tess could tell she was quoting one of the others, besides that, there wasn't even a moment of hesitation before she answered.

Tess laughed a tiny little breath, but there was no joy in it. "I left. Again. I ran off like a damn jackass and he got hurt because of it. And, in the fallout, so did everyone else." she shook her head and leaned it to the left against the wall as Mantis shifted to sit on her right.

"That isn't true. It was not your fault."

Tess shut her eyes tightly and shook her head. "Everything I touch ends up destroyed, everyone I get close to ends up hurt. I'm a walking plague, Mant, and you know it."

She considered that, jaw moving up a little as her eyes drifted down. "I do not believe that."

"You should. It's what I do. It's what I've always done. What I was made for. I destroy, I kill... I leave a path of darkness everywhere I walk and for some reason you all want to ignore that."

"We all have done things we wish to forget, but it does not make us who we are."

Tess lifted her head and faced the empath, seeing she was looking at her lap, antennae curved downward and shifting softly. "How would you know?"

"I've seen. Peter told me I am not a slave, and I believe him. Drax said I am ugly, but beautiful," she placed a hand on Tess chest. "In here."

"Yeah, well I am in and out." Tess mumbled, shrinking away from her touch.

"No. That isn't true. There are always things we do not want on our inside. I think... you are too hard on yourself."

"I've lost everything." Tess' voice cracked with emotion. "Every part of my life that I didn't hate has been taken away." Even if Kraglin and Gamora died, and she was left with everyone on this ship alone instead, she would have lost it all. They would all be shattered and all because of her.

"They are not dead." she said in a firmer voice.

"They wanted me. I'm the reason this all happened, and they'll kill him because of me." a sob broke through and she covered her mouth with her hand again, digging her fingernails deep into her arm with her other hand.

Mantis gently took her hand away, Tess already having broke the skin on her arm, then she just held it between her smooth hands. "You must try to believe it will turn out fine."

Tess suddenly whipped her head to her, tear trails down her cheeks. "What would you do if something happened to Peter?"

Onyx eyes faltered in their stare, and Mantis lowered her head. "You know... Kraglin is my brother, too. As is Gamora. I want to get them back."

Tess couldn't stop the air that whispered through her lips as she looked down, then a tender touch of fingers coaxed her eyes back up.

Mantis gently cupped Tess' hand between hers, antennae glowing softly. "I do not feel only darkness in you... I feel light... goodness, love. So much love."

Tess' chin wobbled, and she sucked in a cut-off breath. "It doesn't make up for what I've done."

Mantis blinked again. "We cannot see light without dark, that isn't who you truly are. If it was, you would not be crying right now."

"Why are you here?" she asked in a breath. "Why do you care?"

There was no offense by her question. "Because you are my sister, too. And I want to help. I love you, and I do not want to watch you suffer."

Tess pressed her lips together, then just dropped her head against Mantis' soft shoulder, sobbing breathily.

The Empath put her hands around Tess' head and back and held her close, tears gathering in her eyes when she felt her pain, felt her sadness.

A shadow cast over the two women and Mantis looked up to the doorway to see Peter standing in it with fading concern, the corners of his mouth raising softly as he watched his little sisters.

There may have been nothing she could do for all of the children Ego killed, all her brothers and sisters that suffered and screamed and died.

But she had no plans to let her new ones withstand the same fate. She was not a slave. Not a pet, she was a sister, and her own person, and she would be there for whoever she had left.

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