Chapter Text
Mutiny. The last thing he needed now.
Yondu snarls and takes one last shot before he can lean against the wall and catch his breath.
The harsh sounds of the ugly fight are slowly fading away as his men succeed in suppressing the riot. Those bloody wankers-if still alive-will get what they deserve, that’s for sure!
But first, checking the most important things for damage.
He is alive, that’s the most crucial. The ship is still in a good condition, perfect. He pats the metal wall with respect and care. Now, that the two most important things are okay, there are two more on his list about he is slightly concerned.
Kraglin is fine, alive and kicking, literally, cause just as he looks down, he witnesses the young mechanic kicking one of the last rioters down into the lower corridors. Nice.
But where is the brat?
No, he is not worried about the little Terran’s well-being, absolutely not. It’s just, he likes to know how things are going on his ship. And whether to count him in the group of survivors or not. It’s just statistics, nothing else.
The brat is not in his cabin, how ungrateful, because Yondu never let anyone else stay there, in his private, for-the-captain-only cabin! But his absence leaves an unsettling feeling in his gut. If those bastards got him...
So he searches, and finally, after agonizingly slow minutes, he hears a sound. A small and weak one, like a young and frightened little animal. It’s the brat. He is screaming, goddamnit!
His legs seem to have a mind on their own, cause he is running, towards the snarls and the screams.
Peter tried to be a good boy, he really tried. He stayed in that ugly cabin as long as he dared. But those nasty sounds were so near and so horrible, and the ground was shaking, and he wanted to run to his Mama and hide in her embrace from those frightening, unknown things happening around him. So when the sounds were too loud and his fear too much, he ran away.
Yes, he ran away, ignoring the previous threats from Yondu. He wanted to be as far from these ugly aliens as he could. When he could no longer run, he collapsed in a corner and hugging himself, he cried. He cried and cried, but eventually the tears have stopped and he started thinking again. It doesn’t matter how hard he cries for his Mama, she cannot help him, no more.
He has to be a big boy and look after himself. So he stands up and as he wipes the snot and tears from his face, he makes a promise. He will look after himself, he will do it for his Mama.
First of all, if he wants to avoid a nasty spanking, he has to return to the captain’s cabin before that ugly blue thing finds out he escaped. The only problem is, he has no idea where he came from.
So Peter randomly chooses a corridor and just as he takes a turn, he runs into one of the crewmembers. A large, nasty looking one, with sharp fangs and claws, not only ugly but also terrifying.
For a moment, he is paralyzed. Then his instincts take over and he bolts into a run, just to be pulled back roughly, as a sharp-clawed paw grabs his collar and yanks him back and up into the air.
He is screaming now, kicking as hard as he can, but to no avail, that cruel paw holding him not even stirs.
"My, my, what have we got here?" The creature’s voice is a cold, sharp hissing, saliva is dripping down its fangs, as it eyes the terrified little human with unsettling interests. "The little snack the captain’s hiding from us."
The creature licks him, and Peter screams harder, trashing erratically in the inhuman grip.
"No! Let me go! Let me go! Leave me!"
"I’ve always wanted to know what Terrans taste like!"
That’s it, the monster will eat him. It will eat him alive.
He wants his Mommy. He doesn’t want to die.
Ignoring his protests, the monster leans towards him and opens its mouth to bite into the tender flesh. Peter sees the yellow, dagger-like fangs, feels its hot, foul breath on his tear soaked face, hears it laughing at his terror, and then feels sharp pain blooming in his arm as the beast bites into it.
As he fights, trashing and kicking and sobbing and screaming, pain so strong and real in his tiny arm, something warm flickers into life inside his chest.
Somewhere next to his panicked heartbeats, from a source unknown, in a blink of an eye; it’s warm, so warm, and it grows, spreading across his terrified little body, and then it’s too bright and Peter sees no more.
Yondu runs faster, as fast as he can, fear making him like fly like an arrow, and the screams grow louder and louder. Taking a sharp turn a scene comes into his sight he will always remember.
Having arrived he just witnesses as the beast bites into his boy’s arm. Anger burns hot and turns his vision red, but before Yondu can do anything, something bright blinds him and out of nowhere an invisible force –hot, almost scorching- hits him, so powerful he flies back and meets the wall with quite a force to be felt tomorrow too.
The screams of the boy and the snarls of the beast die in an instant, as if the brightness drowned them.
Blinking rapidly and ignoring the throbbing pain, the captain jumps to his feet and whistles, arrow springing to life to obey his commands. There is one thing swirling in his confused, worry-filled mind: Peter, Peter, Peter...
After a couple of seconds the bright spots leave his eyes alone, and he has never been more ready to fight, ready to tear that bastard into tiny little pieces even with his bare hands if he has to, but then his glance falls upon... what once his crewmember was. The beast is everywhere, in tiny, meaty pieces, on the walls, on the floor, even smeared onto Yondu himself. It was literally blown into pieces. Yuck.
Yondu shakes himself with disgust and rushes to the boy’s side, who is lying a few meters away, unmoving but seemingly unharmed.
Though unconscious, unharmed he is, even the bitemark nowhere to be found. There is not a single wound on his little body, skin pale but smooth all over. He glows softly, as if his skin was covered with starlight, then it’s fading away, melting into Peter within a heartbeat.
Before Yondu can finish „what the fu...”, realisation hits him almost as hard as the previous blast.
Oh.
Oh!
For the Creator of the Universe! How dumb he was! Yondu feels anger, he is angry with himself. How blind he was! There was a puzzle in front of him, with every missing pieces in his damn hands, but still, he was unable to make it as a whole.
Not now, though. Now he understands.
He has always known that Ego is so much more than he shows himself to be. Yondu can sense false things, he is a man who does them all the time, and he knew that the bastard is not quite the one he wants them to believe. He felt that the man is way more powerful he seems, and it scared him deep inside. Of course he didn’t say it out loud, it was a great business, a profitable one, to search for and bring him the children Ego, the horny wanker, made all across the Universe.
For a short time, Yondu could even make himself believe that he is doing a great, noble act, helping unite torn families. Until accidentally he found the cave, that damn, horrible cave filled with bones, so many, little, fragile bones of children, haunting his nightmares from then on.
All of the children he brought the man lay there, dead and forgotten, killed, for a reason he didn’t want to know. So when he got another job, another child to be kidnapped and sacrificed, something just snapped.
He took the boy, yes, but decided to spare him, to hide him from that monster, and from a fate so cruel such an innocent creature doesn’t deserve.
And now, as he kneels beside this boy he saved, having witnessed what happened moments before, Yondu thinks he found the reason why so many children had to die.
It has to be something related to the blast he saw and felt. Something Peter is capable of doing. Some higher powers running in his veins like blood, unknown from everyone save Ego, and now Yondu too. Contrary to popular belief, Yondu is not an idiot. Just as he thought, Ego must be some kind of a god, strong and powerful. And if it’s true and Peter is his son, then Peter inherited Ego’s powers. Maybe he is the heir Ego has been waiting for all along.
This is why the bastard is searching for his children so hard. For this power.
Great. With his luck, Yondu has just snatched the so wanted child from that maniac’s grasp.
Voices. They burst the bubble of thoughts surrounding them. Yondu shivers, staring at Peter’s tiny, unmoving form.
He has to decide, he knows, in a thing too big for him alone, too fast.
He still can take the child to Ego, and perhaps when the man finds out the boy has powers, maybe he will spare him. But what if other children also had powers but were found too weak for the man's liking? What if even being a demigod won’t save Peter from being killed?
Why does Yondu care about gods and their deeds? Why can’t he just grab the money and fly away, blissfully unaware of Ego’s plans? Just like a bandit like him should do.
Why does he care for this little brat?
It won’t end well, disturbing a god’s plans, still...If he can keep this secret hidden, Peter having powers even from Peter himself...
"Captain! What the...Oh fuck, Captain!"
The surviving members of his crew arrived. Yondu gathers the unmoving little form into his arms and stands up, features annoyed and angry as usual. With the marks from the previous battle and the not too pretty remains of his late crewmate all around, the captain seems more fearsome than ever. He holds the boy just like one of his loots, almost rough, this troublesome little brat, but from now on, his brat.
"Oh, you scum mean this?" He randomly gestures around. "That was me. That’s what happens when one of you try and eat the boy for real."
The crew shivers, pressing back a little, and they seem delightfully frightened. Good.
"Alright, let’s get moving, we’ve got places to be and things to do!"
Yondu can bear one more secret to keep, after all.