The Black Order: Obsidian Affections - Chapter One
A/N: Warnings for eventual smut and nsfw writing. Chapter-specific warnings for sexual slavery and the purchase of sentient lifeforms as slaves.
It wasn't uncommon for Nila to find any of the members of the Black Order on their own around the compound. Over the years, they had all accepted their roles as her surrogate parents and aunts and uncles. When Nila crawled up Cull Obsidian's shoulder to settle with her legs on either side of his neck and her arms folded on top of his head, the big man barely thought twice about her. "Good afternoon, little swan," he murmured.
"Afternoon, Cull."
He sighed. So much death. "Black Dwarf, child," he said in a low rumble. "Please."
Nila shifted on his shoulders and he smiled when her lips pecked the back of his head. "Good afternoon, Uncle Dwarf."
"Thank you."
"Why does it bother you to be called Cull Obsidian?" Nila asked him.
"Do you know what it means?" he murmured softly.
"Obsidian is another word for black," she said, tracing patterns over his scalp with her fingers. "Like ebony or midnight."
"That's right." Black Dwarf reached up to sweep the little Centaurian off of his shoulders and into his lap. Nila squeaked and let him flip her onto her back, then propped her feet up against his chest while she lay on her back, her crest falling loosely between his thighs. "How about the other part?"
"Maw means a hole," Nila replied, "and proxima means someone who's first. I know a glaive is a kind of weapon and corvus is related to birds somehow. I'm not sure what cull means."
With a long sigh, Black Dwarf offered her his fingers. Nila wrapped her hands around his index and ring fingers before starting to do pull-ups. "To cull means to kill off the weak and the old for the betterment of the entire herd. You've heard of pruning a plant?" She nodded and counted under her breath. "Culling is pruning animals."
"That doesn't seem so bad," Nila said. "Fourteen. Fifteen. It's for the--sixteen--greater good, right? Seventeen."
"Can you imagine why it bothers me?" he asked her. "Compare that name and what it means to the others of our group. Compare 'Black Dwarf.'"
Nila stayed quiet except for her subvocal counting until she reached thirty repeats on her pullups, then changed position to push against his stomach with her legs. "First," she muttered. "A weapon is active. A maw is passive when you throw something into it, though. Culling is active. It's a verb." She counted out a few more repeats, then added, "You're not less than the others."
"I'm aware," he chuckled. "Do you see why it might seem that way, though?"
Nila nodded and counted thirty before dropping back down into his lap and crossing her legs. "Culling doesn't usually kill anyone who's fighting back, right? It's just the sick and old. But you don't. I know you can fight."
Black Dwarf smiled and stroked the back of his finger against her crest. "Thank you, little swan," he said. "Excellent reasoning, by the way. I'm proud of you." Nila beamed back up at him. "I do prefer the moniker 'Black Dwarf,' but names are what they are."
"Dwarves are little," Nila said, her expression thoughtful and her brow furrowed. "Or little versions of something bigger. Why would you want to be known as something little? You're not at all little."
Black Dwarf couldn't help the grin that spread over his face. "What do you know of dwarf stars, little swan?"
Nila frowned. "They're smaller and denser than yellow or red stars. They burn a lot cooler than the brighter stars and they're harder to see."
"What color do they burn?"
"Blue or white," Nila said. "Sometimes they fall in and..." Her voice trailed off and her eyes widened. "Sometimes they turn into black holes."
"The ultimate maw," Dwarf grinned at her.
"THAT'S SO COOL!" Nila shrieked and jumped to hug him around the neck. "I'm never calling you Cull again. That's so cool." She paused with her hands on his shoulders. "You're more maw than Maw!"
"Unlikely, but it's a nice thought," he grinned.
#
Corvus looked up from where he was lounging with a book and watched his brother browsing through the shelves of the library before settling on a book of poetry that all but vanished into his huge hands. "You're looking smug," he observed.
Black Dwarf smiled and shrugged. "I have been talking with Nila. It tends to put me in a good mood."
"As she does with us all," Corvus agreed. "Have you ever thought about wanting one?"
His brother blinked. "A Centaurian?"
Corvus snorted. "A daughter, Dwarf. A child. Offspring. Fruit of the loins." When Black Dwarf rolled his eyes, Corvus grinned and continued, "Small fry. Larvae. Babies. Mid--"
"Enough," laughed Black Dwarf. "I would ask if you had an off switch, but I know you don't. No, I have not considered having a child of my own. Why would I?"
Corvus shrugged, his gaze set into the middle distance. "Just thinking about it, I guess. Between Thanos's obsession with his own progeny and Maw's dogged determination to impregnate his wife, there's been a little baby fever going on around here."
"Have you and Proxima considered?"
"Not where we can hear each other." Corvus refocused and smiled at his brother. "I'll admit to wondering what fatherhood would be like, especially because Nila is who she is. I think I'm just as happy to cheer for Maw and Griega, though. I would rather not be the one required to get up to feed the screaming spawn in the middle of the night."
"Children are fine as long as you can give them back," Dwarf said with a sage nod. He fanned the pages of his book and sighed. "I was going to read and now you have me thinking."
"I would apologize but the brainworks need dusting sometimes." Dwarf glared and Corvus returned his look with a bright, toothy grin. "About what do I have you thinking?" he inquired more seriously.
Black Dwarf closed the book and set it on the small table beside his chair with a sigh. "Ebony Maw has Griega. You have Proxima. Thanos has Terraxia." He spread his hands in front of him, palms up and fingers wide. "Who have I?"
"Do you need anyone?" Corvus asked. He put his own book aside and swung his legs down from the arm of the chair to lean forward and study his brother. "Who would you want?"
Dwarf shrugged slowly. "I don't know. It just seems that I am missing something. Maw has been different since Griega. You are different than you were before Proxima. Thanos changed dramatically after bringing Nila home and his interactions with Terraxia changed, too." He rubbed his palms together, his head hanging down. "What is absent in my experience, Corvus? How am I lacking?"
"I don't think you're necessarily lacking anything," Corvus said. "You have changed since Nila arrived, too."
"You would have me believe what you share with Proxima is measurably similar to what any of us have with Nila?" Dwarf asked skeptically and Corvus shrugged, admitting defeat. "I'm not even sure I understand what's missing, Corvus. It worries me."
"There is nothing missing," Corvus sighed. "Brother, you are who you are."
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
"You have never longed for a partner. You are as content alone as you are in company and the closeness you have with family and confidants is enough to satisfy you." Corvus smiled with a twist of his lips. "I have... more than once envied that about you. You don't seem to be lonely and never have been."
Black Dwarf sat in silence, his hands folded over his mouth and his elbows resting on his knees. "I have never considered other possibilities," he murmured quietly. "This is a door that, now that I've opened it, I can't seem to close again." He looked up at his brother and rested his chin on his folded hands. "Will you help me, brother?"
"Help you do what?" Corvus asked with a tone of helplessness.
"Understand," Black Dwarf said. "Help me find out if there is a gap in my experiences or if this is truly something I am content living without. I feel that I need to know."
"You want me to teach you how to... what, be attracted to someone?" Corvus stared at his brother, eyebrows drawn together and his expression somewhere between a confused smile and a disbelieving laugh. "To want to be with someone? I don't even know where to start."
"Blind dates are a good start." Both brothers looked up as Proxima Midnight came into the library and leaned herself on the back of her husband's chair. "My apologies, Dwarf. I didn't mean to overhear."
"No, I don't mind." Black Dwarf paused, considered, then nodded when he realized it was true. "I only wish to understand."
"Don't say that so loud," Corvus whispered. "Maw might hear."
"If he had ears, they just pricked up," snorted Proxima.
Black Dwarf chuckled and shrugged. "If he wants to help me figure this out, I'm willing to accept any aid at this point. Should we make it a team project?"
"Special Mission: Get Cull Laid," chuckled Corvus.
"Is that what we're trying to do, though?" Proxima squinted seriously at her brother-in-law. "What exactly are you looking for, Dwarf?"
"I think I've made it fairly clear that I don't know," Dwarf replied, his eyes narrowed. "Do not tease me, sister."
"I'm not," Proxima said. "I'm trying to sort out where to start. Are you seeking a sexual experience? Or a friendship? Romance? Partnership?"
"All of the above?" added Corvus.
"Which would be the easiest to arrange?" Dwarf asked with an embarrassed shrug.
"Sex," the couple chorused.
Black Dwarf grinned and sighed. "Then I suppose we start with sex."
#
"Stop fidgeting," Corvus sighed and poked his brother in the ribs. "Just calm down and drink the pink thing with the umbrella. It's good."
"Then why aren't you drinking one?"
"He's allergic to the umbrella," Proxima said without looking away from the stage where several humanoids were being displayed. They were all clothed but only barely, their upper limbs bound and their lower limbs connected to each other in a line. "Do any of these look interesting, Dwarf?"
Black Dwarf looked up at the line of slaves, sipping the drink through a straw that felt too small for his mouth. "In what sense?"
"Do you want to put your dick in any of them?" clarified Corvus. "Or, for that matter, want any of them to put a dick in you. Or fingers or tongue or--"
"Maybe we should have started with porn," Proxima mused, rubbing her chin. "At least we could have narrowed down what you're interested in."
"The Easik," Black Dwarf said, his head tilted to the side.
"Which one, there are three," Proxima chuckled.
Dwarf grinned, his expression almost shy. "Yes?"
"Hell, it's your birthday," Corvus grinned as he pulled up the pricing list. He tapped a few buttons on the digital readout and glanced up at the auctioneer, who nodded. "Mmm. Might have a fight on our hands for one of them."
"Someone is bidding?" Proxima said and her eyes were alight.
"Oh, shit," Corvus muttered under his breath. "Budget, dear. Remember the budget."
Several thousand credits later, the trio stood facing three half-naked Easik, two women and a man. It had been the man who had generated the fierce bidding war and Proxima was studying him with a sly look on her face. "If things don't work out," Corvus sighed, "you can ask to borrow him. I promise."
"Lucky me," she murmured and ran her hand under the man's chin. He stared her down defiantly and she grinned. "He's a fighter, Cull. You may want to watch him."
"I'll keep it in mind," Dwarf snorted. He studied his new slaves and frowned when he saw the mixed expressions on their faces. "Let's go home," he said abruptly and turned away from them.
Proxima and Corvus exchanged a quick look and Corvus grabbed the lead for the chain of slaves before they rushed to catch up with him. "You okay?" he asked his brother.
"Questioning my life choices," Dwarf replied. "I think I need a nap."
"Naps are good for that," Proxima agreed with a nod. "Do you want company or should we put them somewhere else?"
"Somewhere else."
#
Black Dwarf lay on his back in his underwear, staring silently at the ceiling of his quarters. Three days had passed since they had purchased the Easik slaves. He still wasn't sure how he felt about it. The fact that he felt anything about it surprised him and he had spent a lot of time alone in his quarters, considering the sensation. It had taken this long for him to feel ready to move forward and he sat up on the side of the bed with a nod to himself. It was time.
He pulled clothes on, casual clothes without a hint of his usual battle-ready suits. Terraxia, Corvus and Proxima were gone on a mission and Ebony Maw and Griega had just been reunited after almost two weeks apart. It was unlikely anyone would see them for at least 48 hours and even then it might only be for food. Slowly, Black Dwarf walked down the hallway of the compound, his hands folded at the small of his back and his expression turned inward.
A little ways out from the slaves' quarters, he lifted his head and realized he could hear voices. Dwarf edged down the hall and peeked around a corner to see Nila sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the detention field which kept the slaves in their quarters. The three Easik were seated across from her and the four of them seemed deep in conversation. Smiling in spite of himself, Dwarf leaned against the wall to listen. No matter what he did, Nila was always going to be involved in their lives. He didn't mind, but it did make for strange discussions.
Nila was the final ingredient to move the Black Order from being a team to being a family. She united them all, embraced them all equally as the adults she trusted in her life. She knew no fear because there had never been anything in her life to fear.
When she was eight, Nila met another Centaurian. Thanos had consented to allow Terraxia to escort Nila on a basic supply mission, just the pair of them and a half-dozen Kree soldiers as guards. Sanctuary had been in orbit above a pleasure planet for several months to accommodate the Order's need for shore leave: Proxima and Corvus had taken a vacation to one of the more heavily populated cities in disguise with the apparent intention of picking up sex toys. Cull Obsidian had accompanied them for a few nights, then returned with a trio of Easik slaves and a strange sense of shame hovering around him. Maw and Griega had also taken some time to explore the temperate shoreline. They had all decided to rotate their time away and an evening of shared revelry had left the station almost bare of alcohol and Corvus's morning recovery had left the kitchen entirely bare of easy-prep food.
Once they settled in port, Terraxia looked down at Nila and grinned. "So, what should we buy?"
"Cereal," Nila said and nodded decisively. "With the little dried marshmallow bits."
"Sugar cereal, check."
Nila squinted up at Terraxia. "Can we get the little trees?"
"Broccoli?" Terraxia nodded. "I think that can be arranged."
"Not the white ones," Nila said quickly.
"Of course not." Terraxia guided the little girl out into the plaza where she planned to shop. "Just the greens."
"Like Gamora!"
Terraxia grinned. They walked through the plaza and she pointed out which goods she wanted to her guards, who purchased them and shuttled them back to the ship. She was deep in a financial debate with a vendor over the price of his raw protein beans when she realized Nila wasn't standing at her hip. "Nila?" Cold fear washed through her and she stood up straighter. "Nila!?" Terraxia grabbed one of her guards by the collar. "Find her. Now."
"Yes, ma'am!" the guard gasped when she let him go and two of them split off to begin searching the market for Nila.
"Nila!" Terraxia called as she drifted away from the vendor, who looked miffed to have lost a sale to a missing child. "Nila, where are you?" It took all her discipline not to panic as the minutes ticked by without sight of the little Centaurian. "Nila!"
When they found her, Nila stood across a small table from another Centaurian girl about her own age. They were staring at each other like they had never seen another of their own kind before. The other girl whistled a question and Nila answered. Nila clicked and grunted her own inquiry and the girl answered, her expression surprised. Terraxia fought her impulse to sprint down the narrow row of tents to scoop Nila up, instead just letting her talk to this girl who looked just like her. After a few more minutes of exchanged Centaurian, the other girl grinned and reached to pull something from the slitted pocket in the front of her shirt. Nila recoiled in surprise, then leaned forward, clicking and whistling madly. The matter-of-fact answer from her new acquaintance made her sit back on her heels, looking stunned.
"Nila," Terraxia finally called and the little girl jumped. "Where have you been? Didn't you hear me calling?"
"Centaurians can all have pouches, not just the girls," Nila gasped as she ran to Terraxia. "And she says we've got twice the baby-makers inside that you do! Centaurians have lots of twins!" She held up her arms and Terraxia sighed as she picked her up. "Did I have a twin?"
Terraxia glanced at the other girl. "No, baby," she said softly. "Listen, don't run off like that. You scared me."
"But--"
"No buts," Terraxia said and let irritation creep into her voice. "You know what your dad would do to me if I lost you? Do you know what I'd do without you?" Her voice choked a little at those words and Nila studied her with worry, her hands touching Terraxia's face.
"I'm sorry, Terry," she whispered. "I didn't mean to scare you. It's just that I've never seen another Centaurian before. Nebula is blue but she's not Centaurian. It's not the same."
"I know," Terraxia sighed. "Just don't run off like that. Tell me where you're going, wait for me. I don't want you hurt or lost." She ran a hand over Nila's crest and the little girl leaned into her touch. "I love you."
"I love you, too, Terry." Nila snuggled into her shoulder with a sigh. "Are we almost done? Can we go home soon?"
"Soon," Terraxia said and kissed her temple. "I want to get fabric for some more shirts for you. You're getting big for the ones you have. And there's the matter of dehydrated marshmallows." Nila made a little happy sound and wiggled without trying to get down again.
Terraxia carried her like that until they had found everything they wanted. Nila didn't complain once.
#
Gamora jerked awake from a nap she had been taking on the couch in the rec room to find Nila staring at her from the back of the couch. "You know I hate when you loom, Nila," she sighed up at her little sister.
"Sorry," Nila replied, but her tone said she wasn't really thinking about the meaning of Gamora's words. "Did you have a twin, Gamora?"
"Excuse me?" Gamora tried to keep the laughter out of her voice. Whenever Nila asked questions like this, especially if it was utterly out of the blue--so to speak--she had been thinking about it for a long time and was only now putting voice to it.
"A twin," Nila repeated. She rolled herself over the back of the couch to plop ungracefully onto Gamora's stomach, forcing a pained 'whuff' from her sister. "Centaurians have more twins than other species. I just learned that. I wonder what it'd be like to have a twin."
Gamora wrapped her arms around Nila and sighed. "I didn't have a twin. I don't have a twin. I have you and Nebula as my sisters, but that's all." She stroked Nila's crest while the little girl relaxed. "What brought this on?"
"Met another Centaurian," Nila murmured. "When I was shopping with Terry. She was just like me but she wasn't. It was weird. I'm not used to seeing someone who looks like me but doesn't move when I move." She was quiet for a while and then asked, "Gamora?"
"Yeah, honey?"
"Where did I come from? I mean, I know nobody here is my mother. I don't look like anyone and nobody here looks like anyone else. Except Uncle Dwarf and Uncle Corven and even they don't look much alike." She snuggled her face into Gamora's shoulder. "I don't even look like Daddy."
Gamora kissed her forehead gently. "Thanos is your father," she whispered. "He's more your father than he is mine. You might not see how you look alike, but you do. You smile like him. You fight like him."
"That's because he taught me to fight," Nila said dismissively.
"Everyone fights with their own style, even when they make the same moves," Gamora told her. "Thanos fights to win, with all his power behind every strike. He's committed to every strike, every movement. You do the same thing and I know I taught you to temper your moves and so did Proxima." She kissed Nila's forehead again. "You're very much his daughter, Nila. More than you'll ever know."
"What about my mother?" Nila asked in a small voice.
"Your mother," Thanos said and both of them jumped, "was beautiful. She was fierce and graceful and she loved you more than her own life." He came across the room and crouched beside the couch to be closer to Nila. "I will always regret that I could not convince her to come with us."
Nila's bottom lip trembled and she reached up for him wordlessly. Thanos collected her against his chest and sighed, leaning his chin against her as he rocked slowly. "Why did she leave me?" she gasped.
Thanos and Gamora exchanged a long look, Gamora's eyes accusing and challenging while Thanos watched his daughter soberly. "She didn't," he said finally. "I took you." Nila leaned back to look into her father's face and Thanos tucked his chin, looked away. "I wanted you. I wanted a child of my blood. So I came and I took you. I asked her to come with me. I even demanded. She refused even as she beat herself helpless against my guards, trying to reclaim you. I... stole you, Nila."
Nila put a hand on his cheek and tilted his head back so he would look at her again. She touched his face while Thanos closed his eyes, submitting to her touch until she pressed her lips between his eyes. "I love you, Daddy," she whispered. "You promise she wanted me?"
"I promise."
"And you wanted me."
"Yes."
She wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him. "Thank you."
Thanos's face crumpled in on itself as he held her, grief and guilt and relief chasing each other through his expression. "I love you so much, Nila. I will always love you and want you. Never doubt that for a moment."
"I won't."
Thanos and Gamora studied each other again and Gamora looked away when she realized there were tears in her father's eyes.
Thanos watched Nila grow. By the time she was four, she had graduated from basic martial forms and gentle sparring to more serious attempts to actually injure her. Nebula commented that she wouldn't have bet against Nila in a fight with an opponent her own size, but as it was, she was still too short to spar seriously with any of the adults. The knowledge of this could be seen plainly on Nila's face when she fought, a frustrated, explosive anger that no amount of verbal comfort could soothe.
She fought like a whirlwind, but her physical speed paled in comparison to her mind. She was voracious once Griega taught her to read, spending hours in her father's library reading everything from planetary histories to medical volumes to classical literature from a thousand worlds. Not only did she read and learn everything available to her, she asked questions almost constantly. She interrogated Nebula on the nature of her implants. She asked Gamora for the strategic reasons for particular martial moves. She dogged Corvus for almost a week when he refused to answer her questions about what happened to the half of a population given "mercy." Ebony Maw offered to answer any question she asked but quickly rescinded it when Nila perched on his chest in the middle of the night to ask him why light breaks into the spectrum it does and why the colors are always in the same order. Proxima sat with her for hours, mostly reading her stories until Nila fell asleep and then holding her while the little girl snored.
Thanos had been careful about some of Nila's contacts. He had limited her interactions with Maw at first, in spite of the Maw's expressed interest in her--or perhaps because of it. The caution had faded when it became clear that Griega and Maw both adored the little girl and would let no harm come to her. He had also repeatedly assigned Terraxia missions away from Sanctuary. While his female clone knew of his daughter, Thanos worried she would grow jealous of how focused he became when Nila was present. If there was one thing he knew for certain about Terraxia, it was the depths of her insane jealousy.
When Nila was five, Terraxia returned to Sanctuary and Thanos allowed her to stay, if only to introduce her to Nila formally and gauge their reactions to each other. He had coached his daughter about his clone, preparing her as best he knew how before putting them in a room together. Terraxia looked at the little girl, then at Thanos. "Another one?" she asked him in a flat tone.
"This one's different," he replied.
"Why is everyone so freakin' tall," Nila said in exasperation, throwing her arms out to the sides and letting them flop to her hips again. "It isn't fair." She marched over to Terraxia, hooked a leg behind the taller woman's knee and knocked her legs out from under her. Terraxia yelped and went down in a tangle of limbs. She came up ready to snarl but found herself almost nose-to-nose with a five-year-old Centaurian who squinted suspiciously at her before kissing the end of her nose and grinning. "She hasn't killed me yet," she said without looking away, "I think she likes me, Daddy."
"There's still time," Terraxia growled. She started to gather herself to stand up again, only to have Nila wrap her arms around her neck and kiss her cheek. "Get off of me, frogling. You smell like urine and child sweat."
"I do not smell like urine," snorted Nila without releasing Terraxia. "Sweat maybe."
"Sweat definitely," chuckled Corvus as he walked past in the direction of the quarters he shared with Proxima.
"Boooo!" Nila shouted and used Terraxia like a springboard to tackle Corvus. He kept walking like she hadn't just glued herself to his back and turned slightly to drop her off with Thanos before continuing out of the room. "You like me," Nila informed Terraxia as she climbed up Thanos's chest to sit on his shoulders, her legs wrapped around his neck and her arms around his forehead like a circlet. "You might not know it yet, but you do. Everyone does."
"It's true," Thanos said when Terraxia glared at him. He shrugged very carefully to keep from dislodging his daughter. "Even Gamora has warmed to her. She and Nebula are all but joined at the hip when Nebula is here."
"She's blue," added Nila as if this explained everything.
"Stay away from me," Terraxia growled and pointed at the child for emphasis. "I will not harm you if you leave me alone but I make no promises otherwise." She glared significantly at Thanos and stomped off.
"She does," Nila said, her chin resting on the top of Thanos's head. "She just hasn't figured it out yet."
"I know," Thanos chuckled. "Just give her time, child. She'll come around."
Terraxia really did try to keep her hate high when it came to Thanos's child. It didn't last beyond the first week of interactions. When Nila dropped down on her from above only to hug her head and ride her shoulders like she had been invited, Terraxia caught herself smiling and it was downhill from there. She argued with herself that it was because Nila shared her own DNA, that it was a biological imperative that she not harm what was essentially her own daughter. But Nila's natural charm had overpowered everyone in the Black Order since she was tiny and even Terraxia wasn't immune to it.
Just before Nila turned six, Proxima grabbed Terraxia and shared plans to throw a surprise birthday party. None of them had really had a birthday party before and the idea had taken on such a life of its own in the months of planning that everyone was excited about it. Ebony Maw and Gamora decorated a room in the fortress. Corvus made a cake. Nebula and Griega wrapped presents. Thanos spent the afternoon before the party keeping Nila away from the room in question until the proper time and then he steered her inside to the cheers and confetti of the Black Order's first birthday party.
An hour or so into the party, Thanos realized he hadn't seen his clone in a while. Normally, such a realization would not have made much impression on him, but the beauty of seeing his child happy, of seeing all of his children this happy and together made him aware of other feelings, emotions besides selfishness.
He found her standing at one of the viewports, her arms crossed over her chest as she gazed out on a billion worlds orbiting a million suns. "I would give her the galaxy," Terraxia said and Thanos smiled.
"As would I," he murmured as he came to stand beside her, his hands folded at the small of his back.
"What is this feeling?" Terraxia whispered, her voice a hush.
Thanos remained quiet before he reached and placed one hand on her shoulder, then turned her toward him and kissed her. "I think it's love," he said. "The true kind of love that parents are supposed to have for their children."
"It feels strange."
"It does," he agreed. "Perhaps we are not the monsters people name us." He ran his hands down her arms and Terraxia looked away.
"I don't know what to do," she whispered. "I would conquer for her. I would kill for her. I would sacrifice everything I know to keep her safe. I'm not... I was not made for her." She looked up at Thanos again and he smiled, brushing her hair back from her face. "I was made for you."
"I made you to love me, to serve me." Thanos leaned and kissed her again, lingering and holding her close. "What better way to serve me than to love and serve my daughter?"
"Daddy!" Nila rushed up to them and Thanos crouched to face his daughter. "Corvus said he's gonna teach me to bake a cake!"
"I look forward to tasting your homework," he grinned at her and stroked his thumb over her forehead and along the ridge that had risen along her scalp as she aged. Her crest occasionally bounced and moved on its own now though not under her control. Thanos stood and allowed Nila to drag him back toward the party, but not before he reached out and caught Terraxia's hand, pulling her along with them.
Back in the party, Terraxia watched in mixed amazement and confusion as the rest of the Black Order spun a blindfolded Ebony Maw around and around and then dodged out into a circle around him. He blundered back and forth among them until he caught hold of Corvus and patted him over the shoulders and face before announcing, "Corvus."
"Why do we play Blind Man's Bluff with a psychic again?" Corvus asked when Maw peeked at him from under the blindfold.
"Because sometimes he doesn't cheat," Griega replied and gathered her husband close to kiss him.
"Me next!" Nila cried and rushed to them to be blindfolded.
"No running," Cull intoned from behind her as Proxima finished tying off the cloth.
"Join us," Thanos said quietly and took Terraxia's hand to guide her into the circle. "Have some innocent fun. We have all lost much of our innocence and Nila lets us chase it again."
"Speak for yourself," Corvus sniffed. "I'm still as innocent as a babe in the woods."
Proxima snorted as she started to spin Nila until the little girl was giggling and dizzy. "Like Cull said," she reminded Nila, "no running. We don't need injuries tonight."
"Last time, she punched Cull in the unmentionables," Griega whispered to Terraxia as the group started to circle around Nila. "The trials of being taller than the most enthusiastic player."
"And vulnerable," agreed Terraxia.
"Hah!" Nila darted forward and took hold of the edge of Gamora's jacket. She felt along the fabric's edge, then tugged until Gamora crouched and Nila could pat her hands over her face. "Gamora!" she announced when her little fingers found the soft waves of Gamora's hair.
"Got me!" Gamora laughed and scooped Nila up into her arms to dangle upside-down. She handed her off to Thanos before taking the blindfold and tying it over her own eyes. "We should probably find a different game. This one is too easy."
"But this one's fun!" Nila chirped and waved her arms until Thanos put her back on her feet.
"Fun," Terraxia whispered, more to herself than anyone around her. She found herself smiling, a real and true smile like the ones that came when she got to be quiet and just enjoy Thanos's company. "Is that what this is? Fun?"
"Yes," Griega told her and reached to hold her hand as the circle started to spiral around Gamora. "Don't fight it, Terry. Just run with it." The Xandarian grinned and Terraxia let herself laugh.
