TO SAY THAT things were awkward between the estranged sisters, after they had abandoned Nowhere and returned to the Sanctuary, would have been an understatement.

Leena's eyes were fixated upon Gamora as they stalked down the empty corridor towards the Throne Room, following their fathers request. He had abandoned them to check on the situation regarding the other two Stones, leaving Leena with the responsibility of ensuring that Gamora stayed on the Sanctuary. The entire interaction between Thanos, Gamora and her Terrain friend, had Leena mulling over her thoughts.

She could barely shift her gaze. It had been four years. Four long years since her sister was within reach. Only a handful of occasions had Leena witnessed her in the Cosmos, from a far distance, but made no move to engage with her.

In the distance, the marching steps of the Chituari guards echoed towards them. Within moments, they had stomped into view. Both Leena and Gamora stepped towards the wall as the guards moved past them, a few snarled at Gamora.

"That's welcoming," Leena found herself mumbling under her breath.

Gamora glanced over her shoulder, "so you can speak. For a moment, I thought Thanos had ripped your tongue from your mouth."

Leena quirked an eyebrow as they rounded a corner, finally cleared from the Chitauri snarls. "I have nothing to say to you."

"You just spoke to me," Gamora retorted.

Leena shot her a look as they stood before the entrance to the Throne Room. Gamora's hand instinctively went to unlock the door with her handprint, and she blinked in surprise when the keypad lit green and the door sliced through the air.

The youngest daughter walked past Gamora who stood at a standstill. "Yeah, he kept your handprint. Don't let it affect your ego," Leena threw her a careless look, "he also kept Nebula's, and we both know how much he loathes her."

Gamora's jaw clenched as she stepped over the threshold. Instantly, they were greeted with the domed enclosure and a small chill nipped at their skin as the door sliced down, and automatically locked.

"How has it been?" Gamora asked as Leena stalked towards the stairs leading up to the throne. She perched herself on the fourth stair, and looked up at her sister. "Following him, doing what he says, and killing without question."

Leena snorted, sarcastically, "what is this? An inquisition?"

Gamora shook her head, a false smile dancing on her face. "No, I'm just curious." Gamora trailed slowly, she tilted her head, "I know that you have followed me across the Cosmos, and yet, you have not turned me in to our loving father. Why, Leena?"

Piercing green eyes locked onto her honey brown as they glinted under the dim light. She picked at the frays from the bandage wrapped around her left forearm. "No idea what you're talking about."

"Really?" Gamora asked slowly, "ninety-seven jumps."

Leena paused her tugging on the loose frays. "You can't say that."

"Ninety-seven jumps." Gamora repeated. Her voice hardening as she stared down at Leena who was tensing her jaw.

"No." Leena shook her head, her curls whipping around her face while she clenched her fists. "That means nothing."

Gamora stepped towards her, "you know it means something."

Her eyes darkened. Black wisps of smoke circled her clenched hands. "I suggest you stop talking before you get hurt, sister."

Gamora barely acknowledged the black trails smoke as she continued advancing towards her sister, who was reaching boiling point. "I get that you're pissed off, Leena. I get it, and I know I can't take back the last four years. I don't want to because I couldn't stay here for another second. Following him, doing what he says, and murdering innocents!"

"They would have been their own downfall!" Leena stood up quickly, her fingernails digging into her palms while her heartbeat increased as she uttered the same words she whispered to herself to numb the guilt.

"Can you even hear yourself?" Gamora asked, incredulously. A cold breeze nipped at their skin, blowing their hair around their faces while Leena's anger teetered at the edge. "You sound just like him."

"As did you, years ago. Don't try and act all high and mighty, now." Leena retorted in annoyance. Black lines creeped up her hands, and under her bandaged forearms before revealing itself on her upper arms.

Gamora shook her head, stepping closer to Leena. "I never wanted this, sister. You knew that. Hell, you were the only one who knew that, just as I know that you don't want this." Gamora's voice softened. She reached her hand out to touch Leena's shoulder, only to pause. She receded her hand. "You were always different from the rest of us. I followed blindly because I was scared, I was scared of what he would do to me if I spoke against him. So I did what he asked. I tortured and murdered thousands. I couldn't do it anymore, Leena, I had to get away from this."

Leena felt her throat tighten as she tried to control her breathing. She turned away from Gamora, staring up at the domed stone above her, momentarily closing her eyes. There was a flash of a Xandarian, the Broker. His slacked face haunted her as he laid motionless in the rubble with blood staining his white robes. She forced her eyes open.

"You always offered them a painless death, Leena. You never tortured them." Gamora continued, she slowly walked up behind her. She decided to place a hand on her shoulder. Leena froze. "He has filled you with lies your entire life, and turned you into a weapon for his own gain."

"I was made to be a weapon," Leena said, quietly. She glanced down at her hands, that were stained with blood, as the black wisps of destiny danced between her fingers. Her eyes slowly lifted to meet Gamora's. "Why does it matter who controls me?"

Gamora squeezed her shoulder, "because you matter."

Leena scrunched her nose, and looked away. "Ninety-seven jumps, huh?" She mumbled. Her throat tightened as she recalled the exact moment that the two sisters made the promise to each other. It was a promise of trust which coiled around them, and one which broke the heavy wall between them.

"Ninety-seven jumps." Gamora repeated with a soft smile. Her green eyes glistened slightly. "Would have been one hell of a way to go, right?"

Leena released a breathy laugh, attempting to clear her tightened throat. "It would have been something," she commented. She attempted to block the image that flashed to the forefront of her mind but the memory was one which had seared itself into her heart and soul.

The two sisters were quiet for a few moments, both turning over their thoughts. Leena's drifted between the mission involving the fateful ninety-seven jumps, and the declarations of love that had been spoken into oblivion by Gamora and her Terrain friend. One that had been by her side throughout the last four years.

"The man," Leena said after Gamora dropped her hand from her shoulder. "If he loves you, why did he try to kill you?"

Gamora's face slacked, she cleared her throat. "Because he loves me."

Leena furrowed her brows, "but why did he try to kill you?"

"Love is complicated," Gamora said softly. Her face lightened infinitesimally as fond memories danced in her green eyes. Her entire body relaxed as she became distracted with the warmth filling her chest. "You would do anything for them."

It was a peculiar image to Leena. Before her was a woman, completely and irrevocably in love with a man that danced in the stars. Leena's chest twinged.

She stared at her sister, her own features appearing to soften for a moment. It was with a heavy heart that she uttered an unavoidable question, for the picture had fallen into place:

"You know where the Soul Stone is, don't you?"

Gamora said nothing, but that was the only confirmation that Leena needed. The younger woman did not probe her sister with any further questions regarding the Stone after noticing her eyes glisten.

"I never told Thanos where you were because he never knew that I was looking for you," Leena admitted, tightly. She glanced over at Gamora who peered through her dark lashes. "You were happy with them."

"I am," she confessed. "They're my family. I love Peter, more than anything."

A small burn sparked in Leena's chest as she glanced down at her black boots. Family.

"We were a family," Leena interrupted. Her eyes flashed.

"We were his soldiers," Gamora shook her head. "We hated each other. We all hated each other because he made us enemies."

Leena scoffed. "So what? We fought, but it never did any harm!"

Gamora looked at her with wide eyes, filled with an overflowing amount of pity. "You know, that if there was a chance that Thanos wanted you dead, any one of them would have killed you. I —" she paused, swallowing a lump in her throat before continuing, "I would have killed you, too, Leena. We were never a family. We were not even close to it."

"What makes that any different to Peter trying to kill you?"

"Because I asked him to kill me, Leena. I asked him to. It was my decision, and no one else's."

Leena fumbled for a moment, her mouth opening and closing while the words sizzled into thin air. She slumped her shoulders and turned away from Gamora.

"I'm sorry, Leena." Gamora whispered, "I'm sorry."

"— It's fine."

"No, it's not." Gamora insisted, her heart being ripped to shreds as she spoke to her sister. "I know that it did change between us."

"But like you said, we were never a family."

"No, we weren't. At least, not with Thanos, and the others." Gamora sighed, "I have spent the last four years trying to pay for my crimes, and I regret everything that happened. But one of the few things that is flicker of happiness in the darkness of my past, is you. I wanted to take you away from this, all of this."

"This is my home," Leena stated, her voice strained.

"No, I want you to look at me and tell me that you believe in this insanity. That you are happy in this hell."

"Gamora, it's my destiny —"

"— To hell with destiny!" Gamora shouted.

Leena tightened her lips into a straight line, her bruised bottom lip tinged with pain. "I don't need to explain myself to you." She snapped, irritably.

"Maybe not to me," Gamora called out as Leena turned to put some distance between them. "But there are people out there, a lot of angry and hurt people across the Cosmos, people that have had their fathers, mothers, daughters and sons ripped away from them because of Thanos. All because of this insanity. He thinks he is helping them by destroying half their world. You owe them an explanation."

Leena gritted her teeth. She could feel her body ripple with burning energy.

"Tell me, Leena, with you being the so-called Saviour," Gamora's eyes hardened. "In what way was the genocide of Xandar helpful?"

"My hands are dripping with the same blood as your own, sister!" Leena shouted, whirling on her heels to face Gamora as sparks lit off her hands. "So I suggest that you mind your tongue."

"You are not a child anymore, Leena. I can't help you if you don't want to help yourself!" Gamora yelled.

"I don't need help!" Leena shot her palm out and a burst of cosmic energy coursed through her fingertips before shooting towards Gamora, and hitting her square in the chest. She fell and smacked the floor with a loud groan. Leena blinked quickly, her eyes stung. She looked down at her shaking hands through glassy eyes.

She breathed deeply as Gamora slowly pushed herself into a sitting position with a grunt. Her wide eyes locked onto Leena's shaking body. A lone tear streaked down her flushed cheeks that were stained with inky lines beneath her freckles.

"I don't need help." She whispered.

Gamora winced as she stood to her feet. She limped towards Leena's shaking form. Once she was within touching distance, she reached her scratched palms out, and placed them against Leena's cheeks, wiping away the lone tear. Gamora's own eyes glistened.

"It's okay," she murmured as she pulled Leena close to her. She wrapped her arms around the shaking girl, while her body ached with pain that she refused to acknowledge. "It's okay, Leena."

She had stilled in Gamora's warming hold while her own arms stayed motionless beside her. She swallowed a lump in her throat and breathed in deeply, leaning her head against the crook of Gamora's neck, her hair tickling her cheeks.

There was a loud bang behind them as the door sliced open. Both the sisters pulled away immediately, shifting their attention towards the daunting figure of their father. His gauntlet glinted brightly as he stalked towards them, his heavy boots thumping loudly.

"My daughters," he greeted with a smile tugging at his lips. He stood in front of them, looking down with knowing eyes. "It brings back fond memories to see you two together again."

There was a burning red light from his gauntlet as a vision suddenly appeared before them. There were two figures, both similar to the sisters, only they were a lot younger. Leena was merely a young child, it was barely after her tenth name-day, while Gamora was a young adult.

It was one of their many training sessions. In the vision, the young Gamora was teaching Leena to sword-fight while their father watched in the background, with his arms folded over his chest. Leena felt her own chest tighten at the memory. She watched a triumphant smile light up on young Leena's face as she managed to disarm Gamora, for the first time. It was a memory that burned brightly in her thoughts.

The vision dissipated, and the burning red orb dimmed. Leena glanced up at her father.

"Child," he said with a nod, "leave us. I need to talk to your sister. You should get some rest before we arrive on Titan."

Leena bowed her head in respect, glancing once last time at Gamora who offered her a small smile. Her fingers were interlocking and unlocking as she made her way towards the exit. The door slammed shut behind her.

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omgg inevitable hit over 200 reads!! thank yoou!! also, #6 in the thanos tag??? that's insane!!

okay so this was probably a hard chapter to write, idk, so i'm extremely sorry if it's super lame, the relationship between gamora and leena is complicated but i hope i did it enough justice. we are nearly at the end of infinity war anywaays, and then it's gets all sorts of crazy, and **enter love interest** which i'm very excited about! can anyone guess who's gonna be the the lucky guy(s)...??

i should probably try and work out a normal update routine but i'm all over the place with work and studying but i can guarantee **hopefully** there will be at least one chapter a week. see you soon! pls lemme know if you guys liked it or hated it thank u