-that would probably scare Grim more if she had any true idea what being thanked meant. Would probably scare her more if she hadn't already spent her life at the capricious whims of a man who by rights should have cared for her more than what Thanos has shown her.

She shrugs, tilts her head slightly, doesn't seem to have a verbal response.

"Nebula." For a second, Thanos is at a loss. He considers all he's just heard, delays processing it emotionally in favor of attempting to suss further truths from it. He can see written clearly on Nebula's features that she abandoned any pretense of obfuscation. This is not the time for him to flinch, this is the time to press forward. "What, exactly, have you been covering for?"

"Gamora. She hates you. She's been thinking about running away ever since she was old enough to, though she's never quite gotten up the nerve." Nebula laughs bitterly. "I would always catch her sneaking around, and she'd swear if I didn't tell you she wouldn't cause trouble again..."

Gamora's silence, in this moment, says rather a lot.

-this could cause trouble. But Grim doesn't know the story well enough here. Isn't sure how to handle it.

She settles back on one heel, waiting.

"Is this true, Gamora?" Thanos is having more and more trouble favoring truth-finding over emotional-processing right now, but he continues to manage. "Do you hate me?"

"You've hurt a lot of people." She holds back fearful sniffling, and makes eye contact with her father in the way he expects her to. "You've hurt me. You snatched me away from everything I knew before... killed half my old family, and I don't even know for sure which half..."

...valid reasons, really, for hatred. If Gamora's family was...different, like what Grim supposes families are supposed to be like. Kind, not using you as a weapon...

(Things Grim knows she'll never have.)

He had good reasons, for everything he did, but he isn't going to argue that point right now. Not a useful avenue.

"I wish you hadn't kept these feelings from me."

"Wish I hadn't covered for her at first. Wish you'd paid attention to the signs when I stopped covering for her." A small, bitter voice. "If you really cared about us all equally, like you claim to, you would've known."

(Except would he have? People often ignored things they didn't want to be true. And if Nebula was right, and Gamora had be Thanos' favourite...

Although that didn't answer the question of him caring for them all equally.)

"She's right." He doesn't turn back to face Nebula, keeps his eyes on his youngest daughter. "I failed you, Gamora. I let myself be blinded by kindness. I'm sorry."

"That isn't even remotely what I want an apology for!"

The shadows close tighter around Grim, she starts to fade into them-

-Thanos doesn't notice this. Gamora has his full attention in this moment.

"You don't get to decide what apology you're owed. I gave you so much. Balance. Structure. Purpose. You had none of those things on that hellhole I rescued you from."

Oh. He stops. Realizes he's arguing something that he'd just told himself a minute ago that he Would Not Argue.

"I need some time to think this over."

Gamora. Nebula. Grim. Three daughters. Half his children. Misjudged. Untrustworthy.

He's not ready for this. He couldn't possibly have been ready for this. He will step away and not come back until he's properly processed everything he's just learned.

"Corvus. Cull. Keep an eye on your sisters. Proxima, shut all exits once I leave."

Grim sinks down so she's sat cross-legged, rests her hands on her knees, and closes her eyes, not bothering to try and keep the shadows at bay any more, too tired to fight the need to be unseen.

Sympathetic rumble.

Cull reluctantly places a hand on Grim's head. He can see she wants to disappear right now, but keeping track of his sisters is a Mission That He's Been Given and he will not shirk it.

-Yeah, that's- surprisingly okay. She doesn't flinch from him.

Thanos leaves.

"So, who wants to stage a mutiny?"

Nebula, still literally pulling herself together, emits an ill-humored laugh.

"Shut up. Not funny."

It really isn't, and yet-

And yet the gallows humour can almost be admired.