Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own character. The rest belongs to Marvel, or whoever it is that owns it. It's just not me.

Also, I originally wrote this in third person then changed it to first person because I'm more comfortable writing that way, so if I missed any pretenses please let me know.

It's rated mature because I like to swear. And maybe things will get steamy. Who knows.

I stood there staring blankly at the mahogany box. It truly was beautiful in all its simplicity. The wood was a deep brown and smooth. The silver accents had been polished nicely for today. The sun that was trying to break free from the overhead clouds would light up the red undertones briefly in a way that I had always been fascinated with. I loved mahogany, just as my mother had. We always dreamed of having a house with mahogany everywhere. Mahogany floors, mahogany cupboards, mahogany dressers, anything and everything you could think of. We would look at home improvement magazines and pick and choose the best pieces for the house we would eventually have. Today, however, I hated mahogany.

"I'd like to thank you all for gathering here today to celebrate…."

I tuned the rest of what the preacher said out. This was no celebration. This was a sick joke. I could feel eyes on me, but I ignored them. I only had eyes for that mahogany box. The box that now held the shell of what was my mother. I hadn't fully accepted it yet, that she was dead. They told me it had been an accident. The other driver didn't see her. Or maybe they were distracted. I didn't really know, nor did I really care for specifics. They told me she had died instantly, there was no suffering. How could they have known? How could they have possibly known what she was feeling in those last few moments before her life got ripped away from her?

The preacher continued to rattle on in the background, and I could hear the sniffles of crying people around me. My father had been watching me closely these past couple days. I hadn't actually cried yet. All I felt was numb. I hadn't spent my nights crying myself to sleep, nor had I gotten angry. I just existed. It was like there was some kind of emotional stopper in me at the moment, blocking my feelings from coming out. As I stared at that mahogany box, however, that mahogany box that would be the only mahogany home my mother would ever know, I could feel anxiety building up inside of me. This wasn't right. I'm only sixteen, for god's sake. There was still so much we had planned to do. She couldn't be..

"Vylit?" someone asked, reaching out to touch my shoulder. I whipped my head to the side, pulling my shoulder from the person's grip. My vision was blurring rapidly as I stared up into the worried face of my father's. "Do you want to say something?" I glanced around then to see that everyone's eyes were on me. I shrunk back a little, a painful anxiety blooming throughout my chest.

"Vylit?" he asked again, tentatively. He reached out for my shoulder again, but I stumbled backwards, shaking my head violently.

"No. I can't…" I started, feeling my voice catch for a moment. "I can't do this," I finished before turning and running away from the crowd of people as quickly as I could.

"Vylit!" I heard me father yell from behind me.

"Let her go, John," a woman said, and I assumed he listened since I didn't hear anyone following me. I didn't know where I was running to, but I just needed to get away from there. I felt tears streaming down my face, and I could barely see, but I refused to stop. If I just kept going I could get away from it all. I could escape from this dream and run right back into reality where my mother would be waiting for me with a smile on her face.

The anxiety caught up to me first. I slowed next to a mausoleum, gasping for air as I leaned against it. I only had a moment to catch my breath before everything I had been holding in broke free. I let out a strangled cry, wrapping my arms around myself as I slowly slid to the ground and let the sobs take over my body. I buried my face into my knees, my body shaking as I let my mind get over taken by the grief I had been trying to ignore.

"Hey, are you okay?" a voice asked from beside me. I jumped and turned to look at the stranger, wondering how long he had been there. I certainly hadn't heard him approach, but then I had been kind of wrapped up in my own world. He looked like he was a few years older than me. He had short, light brown hair that curled a little at the ends, and green, almost hazel colored eyes.

"I.."I started, but couldn't find my words.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I just saw you over here crying by yourself and thought I would see if you were okay," he said, giving me a goofy little smile.

"It's fine," I said quickly, reaching up to wipe the tears, and probably the remnants of my makeup off from my face. "I, um.." just ran away from my mother's funeral. The thought sent another shot of pain through my chest and I felt my eyes start to water again.

"Hey, it's okay," he said, sitting down next to me. "You don't have to tell me. I wouldn't want to tell me either. A complete stranger that just appeared in the middle of a cemetery? Kind of weird if you ask me." I chuckled a little as I looked up to see that goofy grin again.

"Ah, that's what I like to see. A smile on a pretty girl's face," he said, his smile widening.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, straightening up a little as I used the edge of my sleeve to wipe at my face again.

"Uh, well, I'm here to visit my mother," he said, his smile faltering a little. My eyes widened as I clapped a hand over my mouth.

"Oh my god, I'm so stupid! I'm so sorry. Of course, why else would you be in a cemetery?" I asked rhetorically, turning towards him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude," I said hastily.

"It's fine," he said with a little chuckle. "She's been dead for a while. I just come to Ea—here, to visit her every year," he said, hastily, covering up his brief word slip up. I didn't really think about it as I stared at him sadly.

"I.. My mother's.. her funeral was today," I finished, my vision blurring again as I turned away from him, not wanting to cry any more in front of a complete stranger. My body didn't obey me though as my tears spilled over.

"I'm sorry," I heard him whisper, before feeling his arms wrap around me. Normally I would have pushed him away, but this was exactly what I needed right now. I needed this physical comfort, even if it was from a complete stranger. I leaned into him, one of my hands gripping onto his soft t-shirt. We stayed like this for a few moments before I felt him slip something slightly scratchy over my ears. I looked up at him questioningly as I reached up to feel that it had been headphones.

"This was something my Mom made for me as a kid. I always listen to it when I need something to cheer me up," he explained before pressing a button. A few seconds later an older slow song started to play and I settled back down against his chest. I closed my eyes as his arms circled back around me.

I wasn't sure how long we had stayed like this, cycling through crying and silence, but I had listened to quite a few songs before he nudged me a little and started to pull the headphones off. I sat up a little to look at him, when I heard my name being called somewhere off in the distance.

"I think people are looking for you," he said, slipping the headphones around his neck.

"I think so too," I said with a sigh. I straightened up and ran my fingers through my golden brown hair. "I'm sorry for taking up so much of your time. You probably have your own things to do today besides comfort a stranger."

"Oh, don't even worry about it. It would be a crime to let a girl like you cry alone," he said, standing up and straightening out his red leather jacket. I noticed then how weird his clothes were, or maybe that was just because I wasn't used to seeing a lot of people wear leather around here. He reached a hand down to me, and I accepted it with a smile.

"Well, thank you. I really appreciate it," I said as he helped to pull me up. I saw the giant wet stain on his shirt from where I had been crying and I frowned a little. "I feel so silly. I just spend the last like hour crying on your shirt, but I don't even know your name."

"I didn't really like this shirt anyways," he laughed looking down at the spot as well. "My name is Peter. Peter Quill."

"I'm Vylit. It was a pleasure to ruin your shirt," I said, reaching a hand out too him. I expected him to shake it, but instead he grabbed it and lightly kissed the back of my knuckles.

"I'm glad you did. Seriously, this is an awful shirt," he said with that grin again. He let go of my hand and I laughed, feeling a little flustered. He actually was kind of cute, but I really needed to go, or else my father would get mad at me.

"Well, I hope to see you again, Peter Quill," I said, taking a step back.

"Hey, what's the date today?" he asked suddenly, and I frowned a little bit. How did he not know the date?

"Uh, it's the 15th," I said slowly, blinking a little in confusion.

"Okay, good. I hope I'll see you too, Vylit," he said before turning to walk away. We waved awkwardly before I turned completely to follow the voices back to my father. I took a few steps before looking back to get one last look at the mystery boy I had just met only to find that he had already disappeared. I looked around a little before letting out a disappointed sigh.

"VYLIT, WHERE ARE YOU?" my father's concerned voice yelled in the distance.

"I'm coming, Dad!" I yelled out, straightening my shirt and heading for the voices.

Several Years Later…

I breathed in a deep breath of fresh air. It was a beautiful day out, thank god. Everyone had been telling me it was supposed to rain, but as I looked up all I could see was sunlight and blue sky for miles. Not a cloud in sight. I grabbed the bouquet of flowers off my passenger seat, slid the strap to my bag over my shoulder, and smiled as I stepped out of my car, closing the door behind me. Today was an exciting day for me just as much as it was a sad one. Today marked seven years that my mother had been dead. I pushed the button on my key ring twice until I heard the car beep to tell me it had locked. I shoved my keys in my pocket and walked up to iron fence surrounding the cemetery my mother was buried in.

Every year on this exact date I would visit my mother's grave and leave a bouquet of her favorite flowers, tiger lilies. My mother had always said that once they got a bigger house she was going to start gardening, but she would only fill it with tiger lilies. My father had said that if she did he was going to paint the house four different colors until he found one he liked. I laughed to myself a little at the memory as I made my way back to the plot where my mother was. This walk used to fill me with such sorrow. Granted, it still made me sad, but I had finally come to accept that there are things that will happen in life that you'll never be able to change and that you can't let them hold you down.

"Hey, Mom," I said with a smile, kneeling down in front of the gravestone. I brushed some dirt off the top, looking over the words with a sigh. "I brought you your favorite flowers." I set the bouquet down before standing back up. I reached up and ran my fingers through my long hair again before looking to the gravestone next to my mother's.

"I didn't bring you any flowers, Dad. I know how much you never cared for them," I said with a chuckle. My father had died a few years ago of a heart attack. I had been halfway through college when it happened, but thankfully he had left me enough of an inheritance that I was able to get by comfortably on my own until I could find a job of my own. He had been miserable without my mother and had never remarried. A part of me had been happy for that, but if it would have made him happy again I would have accepted it.

I stood there for a few minutes, briefly updating them about the things going on in my life. I had finally graduated college. I was thinking about grad school, but also wanted to take a break. I was thinking about getting a cat, and I thought I was about to get new neighbors. This process had been weird to me at first, just randomly ranting about the things going on in my life to no one at all. Eventually though I found it a little comforting. When I ran out of things to say, I said my goodbyes and walked off further into the cemetery.

With each step I took my smile grew a little wider. Today was exciting because it meant that I got to see the mysterious Peter Quill again. Every year on this date he would just seem to materialize out of nowhere and we'd spend hours together. I'd bring some food and the two of us would sit side by side and talk about our lives for hours. He'd tell me fantastic tales of space adventures and I'd tell him stories from college. I wasn't sure if I believed his crazy stories, but I didn't really mind. It was the one day where I could completely let myself go and just have fun. I had never told anyone about the secret rendezvous I had on this day because I liked it just like that. A secret. I didn't want anyone else to barge into my brief window of living in a fantasy.

"Hey, there you are!" Peter called out, jogging up to me. He was dressed the same as he usually was, red leather with a blue t-shirt, weird gadgets hanging from his belt and bright orange headphones around his neck. He had told me what all those gadgets did once, but he refused to show me. He said I wasn't ready to see that much awesome no matter how much I asked. I just told myself that it was because they weren't actually real, but a part of me truly wished they were.

"Hey, Peter! Usually I'm the one to get here first," I said with a laugh as he stopped in front of me.

"I was in the area and figured I'd stop by early," he said with a noncommittal shrug.

"Uh huh, just admit you were super excited to see me again," I said jokingly, reaching for my bag.

"Alright, alright, you got me," Peter said with a mock heavy sigh, throwing his hands up in defeat. "What did you bring for me today?"

"I brought you—hey, be patient," I said, slapping his hand as he tried to reach for my purse.

"Owww," he whined.

"Serves you right, trying to get into a lady's purse. Honestly. I brought you a burger and fries," I said, pulling out a rolled up paper bag and handed it to him.

"Dude, that is what I am talking about," he said excitedly as he opened the bag. "Earth food is so much different than Xandar's. You have no idea how good this is," he said, shoveling fries into his mouth.

"You guys really don't have burgers and fries? What kind of planet doesn't have burgers and fries?" I asked incredulously as we set up camp next to the mausoleum we met at.

"Mmm dey haf it, ifs shu—"

"Peter, swallow. I have no idea what you're saying," I said with a smile. He held a finger up to me, chewing furiously before swallowing.

"They have it, it's just definitely not the same. At all," he said before shoveling more food in his mouth. I laughed, pulling a water bottle from my bag.

"Here, drink this, before you choke, you glutton," I said, and he gladly grabbed the bottle from my hand. He unscrewed the cap and drank deeply from it, giving me a quick thumbs up.

"Oh god, thank you. You treat me too good. But really, this is fantastic," he said, finally slowing down.

"You should bring me Xandarian food one of these days," I said, raising a brow at him.

"I could. I don't think you'd want to eat it though. They make some weird stuff. I don't know how well it would hold up to this atmosphere," he said, looking around speculatively as if the air had the answer to his question.

"Or you could take me there one day," I said cautiously. I had been toying with the idea for a while. I didn't have any responsibilities here on Earth now. I was done with school so I was in this weird in between stage where you either get a job, go to graduate school, or just veg out until you're forced to get a shitty job to get by. I had always wanted to travel, but travelling the states didn't sound anywhere near as appealing as his stories did.

He looked hard at me for a moment, clearly not expecting the request. I held my breath as I watched him, wishing I could hear what was going on in his head. He looked conflicted, and I felt my hopes drop a little. He probably doesn't want someone barging in on his life. It's not like I know anything about space. I would just get in his way.

"I'm just kidding. I probably wouldn't last a day in space," I said hastily with an awkward chuckle. He looked like he was about to say something, but I didn't want to hear the rejection so I quickly changed the subject. "So, Star-Lord, tell me about your latest adventure." His face instantly brightened at the request and a mischievous smile spread across his lips.

"Well, Yondu sent me to this abandoned Planet called Modag to collect something called the Orb. Really, that's the name of this thing. Super original," he says, rolling his eyes. He continues on to tell me about this machine he used that showed him how the people used to live back then and then lead him to the location of the orb. He told me about the weird rat like creatures that lived there, getting more and more animated as he went along. He told me about the cool machine he used to pull the orb out from where it was, and I briefly thought that one of those sounded kind of handy.

"As soon as I got the orb though, I turned around and there were three men standing there. Well, I can't really say two of them were men. They looked more like weird mutated ninja turtles, super weird. But they apparently were looking for the orb as well. Well, I wasn't going to just let them have it after all that work I did," he said with a scoff.

"No, of course not," I said with a mock frown before laughing softly. I always found myself completely ensnared by him when he told me these stories. He was always such a fantastic story teller, even if there was a chance he was making it all up. This was the part I looked forward to the most when he got here though. I could just lose myself in this made up world and dream that I could be something completely different.

"Exactly. That was my orb. I did all the work, there was just no way. So, I told them who I was, that I was the Star-Lord, and they started to get worried," he continued.

"As they rightly should!" I exclaimed with a large smile, and he smiled happily down at me.

"Right? So, they start to get worried, but the main guy thinks he can take me. His boss wants the orb. Ronan, or something like that. Never heard of him, so he clearly isn't that big of a deal," Peter said confidently, shoving another fry in his mouth. "Well, he lets his guard down and I disintegrate his lackeys with this little light up ball that I have, and he realizes how screwed he is. I give him the option of leaving peacefully and just letting me have the orb, but he refuses and we get into this HUGE fight. It was pretty epic. Blew a hole out of the wall behind me and everything," he says proudly.

"Wow, this thing must be pretty important," I said with wide eyes.

"I guess so. So after I defeat the big guy I wipe out the rest of his lackeys, get on my ship, and came all the way here so I didn't miss our date," he said with that goofy smile I had come to love. My heart fluttered at the word date, and I felt a smile take over my face, but I quickly regained my composure.

"So, wait, you have the orb now? You didn't take it back to Yondu?" I asked, stealing one of his fries.

"Yes, I—hey, those are mine!" he said in protest, but all I did was laugh as I stole another one. He glared playfully at me before reaching behind him and pulling out a silver orb. "You're lucky you're cute."

"Oh, wow, it's beautiful," I said, reaching my hand out. He placed the orb lightly in my hand and I pulled it up to my face, surprised at how cool it was. There was no clear pattern to the design, and yet it didn't look like anything else I had seen before. "What does it do?"

"No idea. We're not generally told much about what we're sent out to collect," he said with a shrug.

"Hmm," I mused, inspecting it for a couple more seconds. It didn't seem like it opened anywhere. Maybe it was just a decorative piece. I handed it back to him, and he slipped it back into his bag. "Seems like a lot of work for just a small little thing."

"You're telling me," he sighed heavily. "Actually, I really should be getting this back to Xandar," he said, frowning a little as he started to get up.

"Already? But you just got here!" I protested as I hastily stood up.

"I know, and I feel like a dick about it. I should have come later. I was just afraid I wouldn't have the time," he said, packing up the left overs of his food. I pursed my lips a little, watching him as I desperately wanted to ask him to take me with him again. At some point through the years I realized I had kind of fallen for him. Probably because he was so mysterious and yet absolutely funny and charming. I wanted to be a part of his world, wanted to be next to him. Clearly there had to be something here or else he wouldn't come to visit me every year without fail.

"Peter.."

"Yeah?" he asked, pausing to look at me. I opened my mouth, ready to ask again, but the words wouldn't come out. After a brief pause I sighed instead and smiled up at him.

"Take care of yourself. And next time make sure you can stay longer! I feel like I got cheated out of this year," I teased, and he shot me that goofy grin again.

"Of course, Vylit. I'm sorry, I really mean it. I know, I'm an asshole," Peter said, reaching out to pull me into a hug.

"It's okay," I said against his chest, wrapping my arms back around him. I hated this moment, when he left. He would hug me and I'd smell him, a mixture of leather and something I couldn't quite put my finger on, on my shirt for the rest of the day. "I suppose I'll forgive you."

"I'll make it up to you, I promise. I'll bring you something really cool next time!" he said, his eyes lighting up with the idea.

"Alright, I'll hold you to that," I said threateningly. He just laughed and leaned down to kiss my forehead before pulling away from me.

"Bye, Vylit!" he called back to me as he ran off in the opposite direction.

"Bye, Peter! I'll miss you!" I called after him, waving frantically.

"I'll miss you, too!" he yelled. I watched him until he disappeared out of my line of vision. I sighed heavily, turning away only to almost walk into someone. Startled, I staggered backwards, almost falling, but I caught myself in time.

"That was the Star-Lord?" asked a deep male voice. At least I assumed it was a man. He wore a weird mask so that I couldn't see his face, but it appeared to be helping him breathe. Over his body he wore some type of weird armor that I had never seen before.

"W-who are you?" I asked, terror bubbling up rapidly inside of me as I hastily stepped back from the man. He raised some sort of weapon in response to my movements and I instantly froze.

"DON'T MOVE. Was that the man who calls himself Star-Lord? Answer me, Terran, or I will kill you here and now," he threatened, and I could sense it wasn't an idle one. My name wasn't Terran though, why did he call me that?

"Y-yes. Yes he is," I stuttered out, my heart beating a mile a minute in my chest. Was this man someone from another planet? Could Peter really have been telling the truth?

"Take her to Ronan," the man commanded, and it was the last thing I heard before pain erupted in the back of my head and darkness took over.