Peter woke up on a rocky surface, unsure as to how he'd gotten there. The last thing he remembered was leaving the mess hall and crashing on his bed. He definitely did not make any side trip to a planet. He blinked his eyes to clear them and took in a deep breath to wake himself up more. The smell of smoke and things burning infiltrated his nose, immediately putting him on edge. Scrunching his eyes up, he pushed himself off the ground and tried to get his bearings.

He was in a large cavern, with spires of rock rising and falling around him. It was then he noticed the ground was shaking, small pebbles at his knees clattering across the rock he was on. Frowning, he looked up again, and almost couldn't believe what he was seeing.

It was Ego's core. Undamaged and glowing.

His blood ran cold. "No," he breathed.

"Oh yes, Peter."

Peter whirled around where he knelt, almost tripping over himself before spotting the one person he'd hoped never to see again. His father.

"No, no," he stammered, getting to his feet to back away. "You're dead, we killed you."

Ego just laughed like he'd told a joke. "Aw, come on, Peter," he chuckled, stepping forward. The action made Peter flinch away and take a step back himself. "You don't honestly believe that. I'm a celestial, I'm light. Light doesn't just disappear. You of all people should know that." His last remark made Peter shiver and stumble back further. Ego was now strolling confidently towards Peter, who was stumbling backwards even more, feet moving quickly to get away from the man- god- planet- whatever, until he felt his heel meet the edge of the rock they stood on. He gulped nervously and swayed to catch his balance.

"I don't know what you mean," Peter said, forcing his voice not to show how terrified he was. "I saw you die. I felt you die."

Ego just smiled mirthlessly, eyes cold as they gazed down at Peter. "You have so much to learn about your gifts," he sneered. Then he pulled his hand up, which was sparkling with blue-white light. Peter barely had a moment to prepare himself as he drew up his own light to block it, when Ego shoved him off the edge and he hurtled downward.

Peter gasped sharply and jolted awake. Blue light filled his vision and lit up the room before the sound of something exploding filled his ears. Instinctively, he covered himself as smoke and small bits of debris flew around him.

And then it was quite.

Slowly, he lowered his arms and looked around. He was in his room on the ravager ship. No Ego. No light. Just him in his bunk. It had all just been a dream. But then he looked around and spotted a large, smoking circle on the wall in front of him. What the hell?

It looked like something Rocket would have done on accident while playing with his guns. But Rocket wasn't here, it was just Peter.

Taking in deep breaths, Peter swung his legs out over the bed and stood up, walking slowly towards the wall, where the circle was still smoking and the metal glowed hot from the heat of said explosion. Stepping up to inspect it, he frowned. No one was in here except him. And since there was no impact or exit hole, it hadn't come from outside the room. No, it had come from this one, but how?

Suddenly, his door was bowled open and there stood a worried looking Gamora and Rocket.

Rocket, upon taking in the scene, was the first to speak.

"What the hell happened, Quill?" He demanded.

A pause.

"Something exploded," he said dumbly.

"No shit, Peter," Gamora exclaimed. "How?"

"I don't know!" he cried defensively.

"Well, figure it out then!" Rocket shouted.

"How the hell am I supposed to do that?" He shouted back. "I was asleep and then something exploded and this scorch mark was on the wall!"

"What?" The duo asked in synchrony.

"Take a look." Peter stepped aside to allow the two to see just what he was talking about.

They were silent for a moment before Gamora spoke up. "What the hell?" She asked, stepping forward to get a better look at it. "Rocket, did you leave something in here again?" She demanded, turning to face the trigger happy pilot.

"What? No! This is Quill's room. I don't come in here. Don't want to accidentally step in something."

"Really?" Peter scowled.

Gamora ignored the comment and turned to face him. "Do you sleep with your gun? You might have accidentally set it off."

"What? No I don't sleep with my gun."

"What? Really?" Rocket snorted.

"You zip it, fur-face," Peter shot back, pointing an accusatory finger.

"Hey!" Gamora snapped. The two shut up immediately and turned to her, both with almost guilty looks on their face. Almost. "Something exploded in Peter's room and you two are bickering like children.

"I agree," Rocket said almost immediately. Then, in the most fake sincere voice ever, he asked, "Peter, why are you starting to act like me by blowing things up?"

Cue long, drawn out sigh from the other two in the room.

"Okay," Gamora sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "So no one knows how this happened. Fine." She paused, thinking. "One of you," she suddenly snapped. "See if you can get a sample off the scorch mark to see if there's any residue from the blast. Maybe you and Kraglin will be able to figure out what it was."

"Wait, why Kraglin?" Peter asked.

"Because I don't trust you two alone together," she hissed, glaring at them. She turned to leave before stopping herself and turning back to them. "And one of you take Groot. Maybe he'll remind you not to do something stupid." Then with a swish of hair, she out of the room.

The pair stood there awkwardly for a moment in silence. Then, "Sample," Rocket announced, hurrying off to get something to collect it with.

"Groot," Peter called. And the two went their separate ways.