Chapter Text
"Ronan has become…unstoppable. All we have to do is get that infinity stone away from him!"
"I hope you got a better idea than that, boy, because ain't nobody stealin an infinity stone from Ronan the Accuser," Yondu shook his head.
"I know, just--give me time. I can figure this out. I can make a plan!"
"You don't have time, Quill. That crazy boyfriend of yours is gonna kill off an entire planet."
"I know! Don't remind me!"
Peter's miraculous plan came to him in the middle of the night while he was trying to sleep. As soon as he perfected it in his mind, he leapt up to alert the others, stepping on Cosmo's tail in the process.
The dog yelped loudly in alarm, leaping up and out of Peter's way as the man went to flick all the lights.
The others who were scattered about the ship in different sleeping positions groaned at being woken up and sluggishly pulled his or herself into a sitting position.
"Peter--what the hell, we're sleeping," Kraglin grumbled, rubbing at his face.
Peter took a seat on the floor and the others all sat up to listen, like a group of children telling stories at a lame sleepover. Cosmo spun around a few times before settling back down (away from the beds) and turning his head to listen.
"I have a plan!"
Rocket, who'd clambered up on to Groot's shoulder, scoffed, "You have a plan? First of all, you're copying me from the other day when I said I had a plan, second--"
"I'm not copying you!"
"Are too!"
"Rocket, 'I have a plan' is not that unique of a thing to say! Everyone always says it! I have a plan!"
"What percentage of a plan do you have?" Drax asked.
"Yeah, what percentage?" Rocket echoed, crossing his arms.
"Uh, I don't know...12 percent?"
"12 percent!? HA!" Rocket erupted into loud laughter.
"That is the fakest laugh I've ever heard!"
"It's real!" Rocket roared, baring his teeth.
"Fake. Totally fake!"
"Quill, that is the most real, authentic laugh of my life because THAT is not a plan!"
"It is hardly a concept," Gamora sighed.
"You're siding with them!?"
"You're an idiot, Pete," Kraglin mumbled, swiping a hand over his face. "A real idiot."
"Not idiot, but not...smart," Cosmo said, curling into a ball and tucking his nose under his tail.
"12 percent? Really?" Rocket rolled his eyes.
"I am Groot!"
"So what if it's better than 11 percent!? What the heck does that have to do with anything?!" The raccoon folded his ears back in annoyance.
"See!? Groot is the only one of you who has a clue! Thank you, Groot! Thank..." Peter stopped talking when he noticed that Groot was munching on the vines that sprouted from his shoulder. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"You realize Yondu expects you to have a plan as soon as we reach the Elector?" Kraglin asked, settling himself back down on the floor against the wall.
"I know! I know that! I was hoping you guys would help me out!" Peter said, feeling his heart beat frantically as the others seemed to give up on him, slowly returning to their sleeping positions. "I need your help..." His hands kneaded at the hem of his jacket, and he nervously glanced at everyone again. "Guys…we could do something. Something that matters. Just...just look at us. We're just a bunch of fuckin' losers."
The others quickly sat up, ready to jump all over him for insulting them.
"I-I mean, like...folks who have lost things. Homes, families, normal lives...things that are important to us. We're a band of losers who have let life take away everything good we ever had, with nothing to make up for it. We could change that. Instead of not caring about anything ever again, we could actually give a shit for once in our lives. Instead of only thinking about ourselves, we could care about other people. There are people out there who are about to lose everything they ever had, their homes, their family, their own lives. People out there who will die, including you, if we don't do anything. The only one who who stands a chance of surviving is me, but I'm not about to stand by and watch as Ronan destroys billions of people's lives without at least doing something about it!"
"You want us to help you stop Ronan... Pete, you know Ronan best, out of all of us. If you aren't sure you can stop him, what makes you think we can?" Rocket asked, draping his tail around Groot's neck. "Stopping Ronan is...impossible. You're asking us to do a job that none of us but you would know how to do. You...You're asking us to die."
Peter gripped the flaps of his jacket tightly to keep his hands from kneading at it and gritted his teeth. "I...I guess I am."
He didn't make eye contact with the others. Instead, he turned his back to all of them, slouching his shoulders and sucking in another deep breath. "It's probably something none of you want to do. I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pull you guys into this mess. It's all my fault...I-I-I...dragged you all in to this. I should have just left you all alone, I could've avoided half of this stuff happening if I just would've stayed put...I fucked up, guys. I fucked everything up. When we get to the elector, all of you can stay there. I'll just...do this by myself."
"Peter...I have spent my whole life surrounded by my enemies. It would be an honor to die beside you. My friend," Gamora said, getting up and moving to sit beside Peter.
"I am Groot!" The tree said, adding his support.
"We all gotta die some day," Kraglin said, shrugging his shoulders. "Might as well do it together. If I remember correctly, there was once a bratty little 8-year-old that thoroughly explained to me that 'brothers gotta stick together, no matter what.'" The older Ravager made his way over to also sit by Peter. They sat back-to-back, with Gamora on Peter's left.
"You have become a great ally, Peter Quill." Drax. "If fighting beside you is what you wish, I will gladly do it. Our chances of survival are low, but I know that is a risk I must take. If things take a wrong turn, I can still find comfort with the fact that In the end, I will see my family again. My wife and daughter will be waiting for me." He, also, sat beside Peter, clapping a hand on the man's shoulder.
Cosmo hefted himself up off the floor and padded over, tucking himself under Peter's right arm. "Cosmo will always help other Earthers, especially you, Peter Quill who is also known as Star-Lord." Peter's hands immediately went up to pull the dog closer, pushing aside the collar of his space-suit so he could hug his neck.
The others turned to look at Rocket.
"What?!"
No reply.
After a moment, though, Rocket sighed and spoke up. "Ah, what the heck. I don't even got that long of a lifespan anyways. What do I have to lose?" He hopped off of Groot's shoulder and trudged over to the group to sit with them. "Look at us, are you happy now? We're just a bunch of jackasses sitting around. I can't believe this!"
"Thanks, guys," Peter said, forcing himself to smile. "It's nice to know I've got people to count on. But...I think the only way to stop Ronan is to kill him." He swallowed hard, possibly to prevent himself from nervously puking. "I guess I'm gonna have to do it. I have to kill my own boyfriend."
----
"The stone reacts to anything organic. The bigger the target, the bigger the power surge." Gamora stated.
"So we do not let Ronan get to Xandar's surface. If he does, anything and everything can and will be destroyed," Peter added, gaining nods from the group of Ravagers.
"Peter will get in contact with one of the Nova Officers that arrested us back on Xandar a few weeks ago and alert them about the situation. Hopefully they'll believe we want to help."
" So this is how it's gonna work. We attack them with the element of surprise. Rocket will lead a team to blow a hole in the Dark Aster's starboard hull. From there, my ship, and Yondu's will enter."
"But...won't there be hundreds of Sakaaran soldiers inside? They don't particularly like us," Kraglin questioned.
"I think of Sakaaran as paper people!" Drax said, flexing his muscles. Kraglin grinned and nodded in agreement.
"Once they know we're on board, Ronan will know we're there for the orb. He'll hide himself behind a security wall which I can disable by dismantling the main power source," Gamora continued.
"We'll make it to the flight deck, where Ronan will be. Now, get this; Ronan doesn't know I'm alive, so--" Peter got a large metal contraption and placed it on the floor for everyone to see.
"The hell is that?" Someone asked.
"Hadron Enforcer," Rocket said, crossing his arms and grinning proudly. "A weapon of my own design. This baby can launch grenades that can blow up entire moons!"
Peter nodded. "And I'm gonna use it to, y'know...get rid of Ronan..."
"Once we get the stone to ourselves, you're gonna want to use these to contain it," Gamora said, taking Peter out of the spotlight and tossing about gray orbs. "Don't let it touch you. If any part of you touches that stone, you will be disintegrated. Understand?"
"Today, life is giving us a chance to be something other than the dirty thrives many people have come to see us as," Peter added. "Today, we get to be the good guys. We get to flash our red coats about and, if we make it out alive, we will be honored for eternity!"
Everyone collectively nodded, then dispersed to get themselves ready for the battle to come.
"Girl," Yondu said, grabbing Gamora's shoulder and forcefully turning her around. "You remember what you promised me. And you," he turned to Peter, "After all this is done, that orb comes to me."
Peter sighed. "I...well...okay. Fine. You can have it."
"You cross me, I'll kill every last one of you."
"No, you won't," Peter mumbled under his breath.
------
"This is a terrible plan!" Gamora shouted over the loud sound of ever engines starting up.
"Umm, you're the one who said you wanted to die among friends!" Peter said, dropping out of the Elector's hangar and towards the familiar dark ship ahead of him.
"Sometimes, we say things we don't mean," Gamora said sarcastically, smiling as she did so.
"You know, Gammy. I, uh, you're my friend. Really. And, uh...the chances of us making it are very slim. But it would make my heart more than happy to know that I died beside you, fighting for our lives and everything we stand for," Peter said, looking away to hide the blush that was creeping up his cheeks. Peter had little to no friends growing up. Having someone, especially Gamora, admit that they were friends made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside. "You look good in Ravager Red, by the way. And--"
What he wanted to say next was interrupted by Yondu's command to submerge their ships underneath the giant battle ship before them.
"Ronan! A Ravager fleet is approaching!" Nebula shouted, moving to face the Kree.
The tall blue man looked down at her.
Ravagers. Presumably here to get revenge on him for (accidentally) killing Peter Quill.
They would not be a big enough threat, though.
"All pilots dive, they're beneath us!" Nebula commanded into her comm unit upon realizing that they were swooping down underneath the Dark Aster.
"There're too many of them, Rocket!" Gamora informed, looking around at the crafts that easily tore through the other ships. They were swan diving themselves straight down toward the city below, hitting M-ships on the way down. "We can't stop them!"
Then, she noticed something. The crafts were being shot down, and it wasn't by the Ravagers.
"Peter Quill," an unfamiliar voice filled her ears and she turned her head toward the small speaker on the ships's 'dashboard', "This is Denarian Saal of the Nova Corps. For the record, I advised against trusting you. You are an idiot, a thief, and you have given us no reason to show you trust, child. Prove me wrong, boy."
Beside her, Peter half-squealed happily, "Gamora! Bro, they got my dick message!"
"I've been hit!" Yondu's voice broke Peter's happy moment. "I'm out of this!"
"No!" Peter leaned over to the left to peer out the large window of the Milano. The wing blocked most of his view, but he could still see the ship spiraling toward the ground below, a flaming mix of red and purple followed by a trail of smoke.
"Quill, now!" Rocket's voice filled the silence of the ship.
"No more games with me, boy," Yondu shouted, to make sure his voice could be heard clearly as he unbuckled himself from the chair's restraints and slid across the floor to grab his parachute. "I'll see you at the end of this!"
Peter did not move. Instead, he continued to watch until he could see the top of the parachute descending toward Xandar's surface. It was hard to spot through the smoke and gunfire of the ships in battle, but he saw it. A black cloud-like shape with three red stripes painted across it.
"Peter! Hurry up!" Rocket said, urging him to get the job done quickly.
With that, he surged the Milano forward and crashed it through the hole, tearing up the wings and scraping the glass above them. Once he spotted the soldiers, he set fire to them, working the ship's guns to their full extent.
"They've made it on board!" Nebula exclaimed, looking to Ronan.
"Nebula...shut up. I have eyes of my own, I can see what is happening. None of this will matter when we reach the surface."
With a roll of her eyes, Nebula turned around to command their soldiers. "Put up the security doors!"
"It's fucking dark in here!" Peter complained, almost tripping over his own feet.
"I agree," Drax said, "I cannot see a thing."
From behind them, Groot wordlessly lifted a wooden hand to the air, giving off miniature lights that floated away and filled the air like a band of fireflies.
"Where did you learn to do that?"
"Im pretty sure the answer is 'I Am Groot'. Now c'mon!"
Peter began jogging, already familiar with the interior of the ship now that he could see exactly where he was.
As they progressed deeper into the ship, Peter's mind began to reel in memories that weren't aiding them in their battle. They ran past a corner, and Peter's mind relayed the time he finally got enough courage to shove Ronan against the wall and kiss the hell outta him. In that very corner.
The hallway they're in was Peter's least favorite. It was always dark and cold. Peter wasn't fond of the dark. This hallway was where he'd link his hand to Ronan's and press himself against the Kree's body to push away the chill on his skin and the fear of the dark.
Peter came to an abrupt stop.
He really didn't want to do this.
"Is everything alright? Are you alright?" Gamora asked, stopping beside him. He looked away from her. "Peter?"
"Has something gone wrong?" Drax asked from behind. It was then that Peter noticed that when he stopped, they all stopped.
"C'mon, Peter. We don't have time to waste. You have to lead us through this; We're following you." Gamora said, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder. "We're following Star-Lord."
With a nod, he prepared to run again, only to be stopped by Nebula appearing out of nowhere.
"Not you!" Peter groaned, watching as the blue woman strode over to Gamora.
"Gamora, look what you have done!"
"Nebula!"
"Guys," Peter interrupted, causing both girls to look at him. "Please don't fight like that. It's gonna give me a boner, honestly."
Both girls rolled their eyes and began to engage in hand to hand combat.
"Follow through with the plan, Peter!" Gamora shouted. "I'll end this quickly!"
Peter nodded, despite wanting to see how close Nebula and Gamora could get to eachother while yelling without actually touching eachother, and began running again, Drax and Groot following behind.
"Wait up! Guys!"
The group spun around to find Rocket sprinting after them on all fours.
"Rocket!" Peter exclaimed, grin growing on his face. "I thought you were out there?"
"They started divebomin' the city," Rocket scrabbled up on to Peter's shoulders and breathed heavily. "Saal and the others had to break formation and move closer to the ground. They're dogfighting out there, and we, uh...we're losing."
Peter heaved a sigh as Rocket leaped over to Groot's shoulder. He activated his mask and switched on the comm unit to hear what was going on outside.
"Star-Lord."
"Finally, someone called me by–" Peter screamed internally, realizing who it was Turning to face Korath, "Why do you people keep coming out of bowhere!? No--why aren't you dead yet!?"
Before the man could respond, Groot extended his arm forward like it was shot out of a canon and wrapped it around the man. With a cry of outrage, the tree swung Korath about, making sure to slam him extra hard into the walls of the ship. The loud commotion drew the attention of several guards, who never stood a chance against the savage Giving Tree.
With that problem taken care of, the last thing left for them to do was wait for Gamora to open the door.
"What's taking her so long?" Rocket said, growing impatient.
Peter shrugged, "I don't know!?" He could feel his chest tightening on the inside. He wanted to pace around like a nervous fox, his hands wouldn't stop trembling, and it took all his willpower not to stutter when he spoke. The anxiety was bearing down on his already heavy heart, and all he could do was wait until the door opened, and then rain hell down on everything on the other side. He didn't want to do that, either, but that was their last option. This sounded so much better in his head.
His eyes stayed glued to the closed door, hands clutching tightly at the Hadron Enforcer that was now being held against his chest. With each passing second, he seemed to be aware of every little thing his body did. He did not like this.
"Hurry up, Peter!" Kraglin's voice sounded through the comm.
"Gamora hasn't opened the door!" He cried out, cringing when he heard the way his voice was pitched higher than normal.
"Well tell her to hurry it along!" Kraglin snapped. "It's gettin' real fuckin' ugly out here. We're already lost so many people. Jaeet, Kala, Horuz…Horuz is gone! We think Yondu made it to the ground, but he disappeared out of sight along with a necrocraft...Peter…"
Peter sucked in a shaky breath. What had he done?
"Peter!" Gamora shouted from down the hallway, "MOVE!"
The universe seemed to move in slow motion after that; Like looking-at-a-slowed-down-action-shot-in-a-movie kind of slow.
Peter ducked as Gamora fired a shot from a large gun she had in her clutches. The door smashed to bits in front of him, and he shot up, slipping on debris to get in to position.
He stood with his feet apart, Hadron Enforcer against his chest. Behind him, Drax and Gamora pressed against him so he wouldn't be thrown back by the force of the shot, and Groot and Rocket stood as tall as possible behind them.
With a grit of his teeth, and his body as braced as possible, Peter fired the hardest shot of his life.
The Kree whipped around faster than the speed of light, mind hardly registering the glowing red eyes. In a quick act of defense, he swung his hammer like a bat, colliding with the blast from the Hadron Enforcer and creating an explosion large enough to destroy the entire inside of the ship, leaving it's burning, heavy shell to crash down to the planet below.
Before any of them realized what was happening, Groot was herding them all in, using every ounce of strength he had to incase them in a cocoon of vines and branches, flickering lights emitting from the bark of his skin.
"Groot!" Rocket untangled himself from where Peter was clutching on to his body (which felt broken all over.) "Groot, no! Don't--what are you doing!?" He knew exactly what Groot was doing though.
The flora colossus outstretched two smaller vines to wipe at the tears forming in his best friend's eyes.
"You...you'll die!" Rocket's voice was hoarse, yet trembling. "No, Groot!"
"I Am Groot." the tree rumbled, extending more vines to wrap around Drax, Gamora, and Peter. Vines caressed Rocket's soft fur, some hugging him tightly, and Groot's deep voice caused them all to tremble from the inside out; "You are Groot."
No one had ever heard Groot say anything other than his usual three-word phrase. Not even Rocket.
Tighter, Groot gripped his his friends, allowing more light to escape from his core. "We," He said, holding them close. "We. Are. Groot."
This was not the ending any of them wanted.
"Behold, your Guardians of the Galaxy!" Ronan's voice boomed and echoed among the wreckage of the ship. "Not strong enough to protect you, like you all thought they would."
He lifted his war hammer high above his head.
"Today, Xandar will parish for what it has done! I shall unfurl thousands of years of Kree Justice upon the surface of this petty planet! You shall feel the burn of my rage, and you will no longer be of existence! Xandar does not deserve to live!"
Peter lifted his head from where it was buried in dust. He peeked over the piece of wrecked ship that kept him hidden from Ronan's line of vision.
Rocket lay several feet away, half buried in a pile of broken twigs. Drax wasn't too far from him, laying face up on a hunk of metal. Gamora was the furthest away, laying facedown and bent up in an awkward position that would never be fixable if she wasn't enhanced.
Ronan's making a long and useless speech, and Peter's extreme parkour skills and surprisingly recently apparent pain endurance kick in and with a jump and a push of his hands, he was up and practically flying over debris in Ronan's direction, like a lion pouncing and going in for the kill.
"I can't let you do this!"
"Peter?! Peter!"
"I can't blame you," Peter said, swiping the hammer from Ronan and scaling a larger piece of the broken ship, keeping a good distance away from Ronan, "--for doing what you want to do. And it's way past too late to even think about saving your mind. Ronan--I don't you what happened to you! And I don't know how I managed to ignore everything you did in plain sight!" His anxiety shot though the roof, firing itself past the stratosphere. He shook his head. He looked down at the hammer and sighed. He needed to set things straight. "I...I love you, Ronan, but...you don't deserve the power this stone has. Nobody does."
Everyone within a 50 billion mile radius seemed to shout at Peter not to, but he reached in to the center of the hammer and yanked the stone out.
Hot energy surged through his veins and he jumped down to the floor, managing a few steps before the power became too much, and he collapsed completely, screams blending with the loud screeches of the stone and anyone who had ever held it before him. Several of them, all different pitches and octaves, blend together with Peter's own incessant wailing, loud and unknown to even his own ears. He writhed on the ground, like a fish out of water, kicking up dust and rocks. His lungs burned for any bit of air they could take in, his eyes went dark as his vision blurred to nothingness, and his body felt as if it was being blended to bits.
This, he thinks, is a trillion and one times worse than death.
"Peter," he hears a voice through it all. Soft, feminine. "My little Star-Lord."
Suddenly, the pain is gone. He can see everything. Every single galaxy and solar system that's out there. He's floating in the middle of all of time and space and he can't feel a single hint of pain. At least, that's how his mind is processing it. Only, it can't really process anything right now. And, walking towards him with a trail of starts and neon, colorful cosmic dust following her in place of her footprints, his mother. Meredith Quill.
"Peter." Her voice is softer than anything to ever exist. Softer than the fluffiest cloud, the softest fabric, the softest sand. Her hair is long and blonde, with tiny flecks of stars plastered all over like glitter. They're in her eyes, on her skin, shining in her hair. She is beautiful.
"Mom," Peter gasps out, forcing his limbs to move so he can reach her.
"Peter," her hand is extended out toward him, and her smile is more than inviting. With each step she takes, stars jump out from beneath her feet, like some high quality video game effect. "Take my hand, Peter."
There are stars in place of his own footprints, and he ignored them for the option of lurching forward toward her, latching his right hand to her extended one. "Mom!"
She pulls him in for a tight hug, and he stoops down and bends his knees so he can tuck his head under her chin, the way he used to when he was little. Tears stream down his face, and he hardly registers that a third person has joined them when he finally pulls away from her, but keep's their hands linked. A man, with his fiery red hair practically glowing atop his head like flames. He's dressed in white, shiny battle armor, with an orange fox right on the front of his chest plate. He's tall, about as tall as Ronan, and he smiles down at Peter.
It all feels so real.
"My son," he says, and Peter blinks up at him.
"Eros?"
"The universe awaits your return, Peter Jason Quill." Eros' voice seemed to surround Peter completely. "Do not make them wait any longer."
"B-but--how!?" He squeezes Meredith's hand for comfort. "What am I supposed to do!? The infinity stone killed me!"
"It did not. You have to let go of the stone," Eros says.
Peter glances down to his right hand, the same hand he grabbed the stone with, and sees this his and Meredith's hands are still linked. Between their palms, he can feel a warm pulsing in the spot where the stone was
"Let go," Eros says again. "Of everything."
After a moment of contemplation, Peter closed his watering eyes, took a deep breath, and let go of Meredith's hand.
The pain came back to him, flooding his body until he went numb. He couldn't feel a thing. His heart was no longer beating faster than the speed of light, he wasn't screaming himself dry, he didn't feel like he was being pulled in every direction and sliced to bits. It was just him. Just Peter, and a void of stars on a black background.
Through the cloud of purple dust and dirt, Ronan watched helplessly as Peter howled with all of his soul. There was nothing he could do about it but watch as the dark cloud engulfed them and blew winds in every direction.
And finally, the dust settled down.
In the space that Peter previously occupied, there was a pile of dark ash.
And,
the first time in his entire life,
Ronan the Accuser took a knee and wept.