Unedited

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Ziana was a tall, slender woman with skin the color of mint and coal like eyes. With a bit of make up and a change of attire she might have passed for Terran, save for the two long lekku head tails sprouting from the back of her head.

She'd always reminded Marisol a bit of the twi'leks or togrutas from those old Terran movies she sometimes watched with her cousin before they'd been taken. Sun Fight? Space Wars? No. Star Wars. That was it.

Though, it was unclear what species she actually descended from, considering Ziana had never known her biological family. (And as far as Marisol knew she had no desire to find out.)

The last Marisol had seen her, Ziana had been a bit of a wreck, and she might have even thrown a glass bottle of booze at her. Though that was likely Marisol's own fault. She had, after all, broken the girl's heart.

However, now, as Marisol stepped off the Milano with the others, she looked perfectly normal -- better even.

There was a soft, genuine smile etched on to her lips, like a perfect oil painting. Her eyes twinkled with the same lightness that she'd always had, that same compassion and virtue she'd always radiated.

Those same aspects that had made Marisol fall so hard for her in the first place. Good. So she hadn't completely broken her.

She was dressed in the standard brown, leather racers uniform; her thick, black boots were zipped all the way up to her knees.

Around her waist she'd clipped a silver belt, and Marisol vaguely wondered if it was some sort of reward for a previous race she might have won.

There were small blotches of motor oil and grease, indicating she'd recently been working on a few engines. Possibly the engine to her own ship.

(Marisol imagined that was why she wanted to race them. She wanted to test out her latest tweaks.) But Marisol thought she looked better that way. She always looked her best when she was doing the things she loved.

Her ship had landed perfectly, gently placed between two much larger ships; Marisol imagined Ziana planned on challenging some more suckers later.

She was standing at the center of the rest stop's lot, right next to the smoking exterior of the Milano.

When her eyes landed on Marisol her smile faltered briefly. Just for a moment, but it returned just as quickly as it had gone.

It didn't seem any of the others noticed, though. Peter was far too preoccupied with looking over his damaged ship to pay attention, and Gamora was still shooting those judgmental looks at Rocket and Marisol.

But Marisol's eyes were glued on Ziana. It had been twelve Terran months since she'd last seen her, but she still looked relatively good.

Not just within her looks either. She looked good. Like she was actually a decent person, like she actually cared about other people. Everything Marisol wasn't.

The sight of her brought on an anchor of guilt, which placed itself roughly upon Marisol's chest.

She hadn't exactly been the best girlfriend to Ziana. Marisol had persistently cheated on her and lied to her on an almost daily basis.

Whenever she went anywhere, Marisol stole her personal items. Once she'd even framed her for a job she and Rocket hadn't quite pulled off too well.

Their relationship had been a toxic one, all because of the things Marisol had done to her, which is why she had to let her go. Ziana was so much better off without her.

But Marisol had broken things off under the assumption she'd never see her again. Now that she was right in front of her... Well, that was pretty hard to swallow.

For a moment, the pair locked eyes, neither saying anything. Marisol's mouth had gone as dry as sand paper.

Her palms were sweaty, even as she whipped them off on her pants; and she felt bile building up in her throat.

She expected her to yell or scream. To throw a punch. Something. Instead, Ziana just looked back at her, smiling that genuine smile of hers.

Somehow that made it worse. Made her miss the days when she could see that same smile everyday, long for the times when they touched, when they laid together...It was all so...intoxicating.

"Hey, Mari." Ziana gave her a small wave, no signs of malicious or vengeful intent. As if they had never even been together at all. It shouldn't have but that sort of stung.

She turned away from Marisol, her smile widening as her eyes rested upon Rocket. "Rocket. You're still not quite fast enough to beat me, I see."

Rocket folded his arms indignantly. "Pfft! I would have beaten you fair and square, if Quill's ship wasn't such a piece of junk!"

Ziana flashed him a coy smirk, placing a hand on her hip. "I think we both know I would have won either way. When it comes to racing, I'm the fastest woman in the galaxy."

Rocket rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you wish!"

She turned away from him, examining Quill's ship. The way her eyes lit up as she looked it over, how excited she appeared to be over it -- that expression had Marisol's heart lurching. "Besides, I wouldn't exactly call it junk. Maybe antique..."

Ziana looked the ship up and down, her eyes scanning over the frame work with a knowledgeable expression washing over her face.

"Falcate couplings. Yttrium engines. Looks like it hails from one of the Ravagers' crews."

She glanced directly at Peter, who looked a little taken aback by her knowledge of the old ship.

(Though Marisol had no idea how she knew he was the owner of the ship. Perhaps, it was the red leather Ravagers coat he was wearing that gave it away.) "Right?"

Peter blinked, nodding a moment later when he apparently realized he hadn't responded to her. "Uh, yeah. How did you --"

"Ships are kind of my thing," Ziana told him. "I grew up around them. So, they're basically my entire life."

"Wow, really?" Peter and Ziana went back and forth for a few minutes, the former testing the latter's knowledge with a series of questions.

Marisol groaned inwardly, putting her head in her hands. She thought, Great, my cousin is flirting with my ex...

Their little chat was only put to an end when Rocket interrupted them, waving his arms around indifferently. "Yeah, yeah, we get it. She's super impressive. Can we move on now?"

"We're not going anywhere after that stunt you pulled, rodent." Gamora didn't look nearly as impressed with Ziana as Starlord did; instead, she folded her arms over herself, narrowing her eyes at her as she explained.

"We were on our way to meet someone, before your race with Rocket destroyed it."

Her voice was laced with venom, but Ziana didn't seem to notice. She had never really been able to pick up on that sort of thing, not the way Marisol could anyways.

Ziana scanned the ship one more time, holding up a thoughtful finger to tap her chin. "You know, I know a pretty good mechanic."

"Who is it?" Drax asked. Marisol got the feeling he hadn't really been listening to their conversation. Otherwise, he surely would have been able to pick up on all the hints she'd been dropping.

Ziana grinned, pointing at herself with her thumbs. "It's me. I'm the mechanic."

Peter looked between Marisol, Rocket, and Ziana, as if he'd suddenly caught on to something. "Wait, you three know each other?"

Marisol started playing with the leather glove around her hand, refusing to meet anyone else's gaze.

Ziana stood near by, awkwardly clearing her throat and looking around sheepishly.

Unfortunately, Rocket didn't pick up on the fact that they wanted to keep their private affairs with one another just that -- private. He pointed between the two women. "Oh, uh, they use to date."

Marisol's head shot up, sending daggers Rocket's way. She hissed out a short, sharp, "¡Càllate!"

Ziana coughed into her fist, shifting her weight from foot to foot as everyone looked between them.

Kale appeared next to her, leaning her back against the Milano's frame, smoking floating right through her form. "Yeah, this is supes awkward..."

Marisol ignored her, partly because she didn't see the point in responding and partly because a moment later the others (namely Quill and Groot) were pestering her with questions.

Groot wanted to know how they met and how long they'd been together with a little, "I am Groot?"

Quill asked stupid questions, like "Who wore the pants?"

Meanwhile, Drax just made moronic comments at Marisol's expense, like, "I don't see it. You two seem like complete opposites." and, "You do not seem like the type to get involved in a relationship."

All the while, Kale kept shooting glances at Ziana and cooing to Marisol. "Awe, isn't she so cute when she blushes? I really missed her!"

Marisol sent a glare her way. It was stupid and irrational to be jealous of her imagination -- Kale was, after all, just a manifestation of her own hidden feelings -- but she couldn't help it.

The only thing that stopped Marisol from murdering them all was Gamora, and that was only because she put an end to their insufferable prying.

Gamora scowled, throwing a scolding hand out at the boys, her voice rigged with annoyance. "Enough. We need to fix the ship and get off this planet. Nova Corps will be looking for us after our escape. We'll be caught if we stay in one place for too long. We need to hurry."

Marisol nodded in agreement. She wasn't sure if she was making good on their agreement to have each others backs when the boys started acting like imbeciles or even she had just grown that irritated. Either way, she was grateful for the redirection.

Ziana tilted her head to the side, looking confused; without her consent Marisol felt a tugging sensation in her gut, the same feeling she had always gotten when she looked upon Ziana. "Why is Nova Corps looking for you?"

"We sort of...broke out of prison," Peter shrugged. From the way he'd said it, it seemed as though he aimed to imply that he frequently broke out of prison with the others.

Marisol scoffed at that, rolling her eyes. Kale shook her head, moving to stand in front of Peter, making a face at him. "Your cousin is an idiota." She had absolutely no arguments to that.

Ziana eyed the six of them for a moment, and Marisol almost expected her to turn them away. But she knew she was much too nice for that. "Wait, if I help you, would that make me your accomplice?"

"Yes, Marisol said bluntly.

In the same instance, Peter tried lying to her about it. "No!"

Ziana scrunched up her nose in a manner that made Marisol's stomach flip. The two cousins shot each other annoyed glances; Kale let out an obnoxious laugh at the scene.

"Just as long as we're all clear on the concept," Ziana said after a moment. Then, she broke out into a huge grin. "Let's go!"

So, a bit of a shorter chapter. Sorry about that. But I hope you enjoyed nonetheless!

And I have to ask: what were your first impressions on Ziana? Do you like her? Hate her? Because I was thinking about doing a Thor: Ragnorok story with her...

Also, if y'all wouldn't mind giving your feedback I sort of have this idea to introduce Captain Marvel to the Guardians in this story? Maybe make it a bit of an au?

If you've read any of my other oc insert fics you know that I love going off book concerning the canon, but I remember hearing from someone that the Marvel fandom doesn't really like that sort of thing so -- how would you guys feel about it? Please let me know!