Guardians Of The Galaxy

P1 : C20

Calm yourself child! The pain will be but a moment compared to the future I have planned for you.

He was in my head, rattling against my skull and screwing with every memory I had. I felt him touching the images I held dear and pushing them around to make room for his own intentions. It was painful, like something sharp was stirring my brain into mush. My screams seemed muffled out compared to the noise going on inside my brain.

"Sir, I think that is as far as she can handle for today."

My eyes flew open to a dimly lit room, the walls made of many intricate holes and the door a curtain of beading. Thanos was looking up at me, Kip by his side and Gillian laying on the floor behind him motionless. My belly dropped to my knees in fear.

"Take her down, we will proceed tomorrow morning. No hesitation." He turned and left, ducking low to leave the room.

"Easy does it now." Kip walked over and bent down, releasing the shackles around my ankles, then stood, wrapping an arm around my legs as he removed the shackles around my wrists. I fell over his shoulder and he quickly set me down on the floor. "I'm afraid food and water are not permitted. This part of your upbringing forbids it."

"Upbringing?"

"Yes. Thanos plans on filling your heads with everything he's ever learned, saving decades and precious time that you are limited to. By ensuring you have the same thoughts as him, if he should die, then the power will live on." Kip took a look at my wrists, pulling them up to the light. They were bloody and swollen. "I'll see to these later, just rest until I return."

Kip left before I could say anything else to him. I wanted to ask him so many questions, answer things I knew were impossible to ask without privacy. When he returned he had a silver platter, with gauze, small needles and a square object.

"I brought these along with a communicator. I thought you looked gloomy so I decided to bring you something to cheer you up." He knelt down on the ground beside me and brushed the skirt of my dress away from my feet. "It's debugged and fitted so that it's signal cannot be traced from anywhere in the galaxy."

"You are giving me permission to talk to Peter then?" I asked him, taking hold of the communicator, my lip quivered as I filled with too many emotions. "Why?"

"I recognized a sad face. Your's holds too much beauty to be cast off." he said, wiping blood away as it trickled down my foot. I refused to look at the sight, feeling queasy with just the thought of looking down. "Besides, Peter really wants to hear from you."

"How is it that you would know that?" I asked as he began wrapping. He took the communicator from my hands and turned it on, it buzzed and beeped softly.

"He made contact with the ship two Terran nights ago, wanting to hear from you. Thanos has been making negotiations with him though nothing has come of it. I slipped this off the ship, keeping word between us so that he knows you're doing alright."

"Come in, this is Captain Quill." I heard his voice and like a switch my heart lept out of my chest and into my throat. I couldn't speak but there was so much I wanted to say. "Hello? Someone there?"

"It's me, Peter." Kip chimed in, finishing my ankles and cleaning my wrists. Our eyes met for a moment and he gave a slight grin of reassurance before gently turning my wrists over.

"Oh hey Kip!" Peter sounded upbeat, like his normal self. "What's going on? Any word on Thanos easing up on me?"

"No, not yet. But I have someone here who wants to talk to you." Kip said, meeting my eyes again but this time the gaze was longer, he gave me a nod to go ahead.