CURRENTLY, ALL NEW CHAPTERS ARE JUST TO CATCH UP WITH WHAT I'VE ALREADY WRITTEN! THESE UPDATES DO NOT CORRESPOND WITH HOW I WILL BE UPDATING THIS STORY!

UPDATE STATUS: ON HOLD

A DANCE FOR THE UNIVERSE

JUNE 25, 2014
XANDAR — CAPITAL CITY OF THE NOVA EMPIRE

"OOH CHILD" BY the Five Stairsteps filled the crash site of the Dark Aster. The Milano had broken into a million pieces, but Peter's cassette and his player still worked fine as it rolled the tape.

Evan laid on her back as she listened to the dizzying song as it started to roll around her head and stick there until she fell asleep that night. Evan took the song, trying to sing the lyrics as she groaned from the shooting pains hitting her at every angle in every muscle. On her left, she could feel Peter's twitching fingers press into her bicep to get her attention over the ringing in their ears.

"Are you alright?" Peter asked between clenched teeth.

"Oh my God," Evan replied, folding at her stomach. "It's the eyebrow guy," she whispered over to Peter as she had rolled away from him.

The Broker, among other Xandarians, had walked through the wreckage most likely to see if the Kree fanatic set out to kill them over a peace treaty had died.

Peter sighed at Evan's exclamation, annoyed that she hadn't responded, but her lack of response was to avoid the question. Every muscle in her body ached, her head felt like it was about to explode, and she could barely feel her injured leg. Evan wasn't even sure if she still had it or if it had been cut off in the crash. Evan looked down quickly at the thought to see her leg was still there, and she sighed in sweet relief.

"You killed Groot!" Rocket shouted suddenly, and Evan looked up to see Ronan walking out of the Dark Aster unscathed with his staff glowing purple under the infinity stones power.

Rocket flashed across the field and tried to jump onto Ronan in his rage. Ronan barely lifted his staff when the purple stone pulsed, sending Rocket skidding back into the debris of the ship.

Evan warily pushed herself to her feet, keeping herself crouched even though the pain in her whole body was nothing compared to the agony in the shot Ronan had dealt her back on Knowhere, reopened on the Dark Aster and was now oozing with blood beneath her pants; but she had to get to Rocket.

"Behold!" Ronan sneered as Evan made it to Rocket thankful that Ronan hadn't sent his staff at her. "Your guardians of the galaxy," Ronan sneered, throwing his hand towards the group laying on the ground.

Evan kneeled beside Rocket, petting his head anxiously as she whispered, "Are you alright?"

"What fruit have they wrought?" Ronan continued.

"Stay low," Rocket muttered, a piece of the Dark Aster sparking beside them. Rocket sent Evan a knowing look, and she nodded as they both turned to Ronan rant to the present Xandarians, Rocket crawling over to the sparking piece of metal.

"Help me?" Rocket muttered as he returned with the sparking piece, handing it to Evan and moving to gather more pieces for whatever they were building, most likely a gun or a bomb.

"Only that my father and his father shall finally know vengeance. People of Xandar, the time has come to rejoice and renounce your paltry gods! Your salvation is at hand!" Ronan shouted, his head lifted to the heavens as he shouted. Then, he took his staff and raised it above his head as he chanted in his native language, the stone growing brighter.

Evan whistled softly, hoping that if Ronan heard he would think it was just a piece of the dying ship, but it was too familiar of a tune for Peter to ignore. Peter turned to look at Evan who held a chunk of metal in her hands, Rocket still moving around the wreckage. She nodded her head towards Peter and then mouthed 'Grease.'

Peter raised an eyebrow at his sister. Then, his eyes widened, and he nodded his head slowly, pushing himself up on his feet. Peter had the song engrained into his veins, his hips shaking and the words pouring out of his mouth as Ronan chanted still.

"Ooh child, things are gonna get easier. Ooh, child, things are gonna get brighter." Peter shook his index finger at Ronan reprimanding as the man, about to kill them all, slowly lowered his staff and watched the man before him in disbelief. "Listen to these words. Ooh, child things are gonna get easier. Ooh, child, things are gonna get brighter. Now bring it down hard!" Peter shouted, dancing in a way that when Evan looked back up, she could only describe as dad-dancing. "Sun and day put it together."

"What are you doing?" Ronan asked, his voice truly confused in a way more vulnerable than Evan had ever heard in the few accumulated minutes she had known the man.

Peter had started to thrust his hips in the opposite direction of Evan and Rocket, but she looked away then. She returned to the problem at hand, creating a gun before Ronan noticed. She had attached the trigger wires, and Rocket was working on the power source.

"Dance off, bro," Peter was saying excitedly and out of breath. "Me and you." He continued dancing, confusing the hell out of Gamora while keeping Ronan's eyes away from where Rocket and Evan were working.

"What are you doing?" Ronan asked him again, the anger bubbling inside him, starting to boil over into his question.

Evan could hear the shit-eating smile in Peter's voice as he exclaimed, "I'm distractin' you, you big turd blossom."

Evan stood with the gun in hand on Ronan's other side where he turned with eyes as purple as the infinity stone. Drax had tried to get the gun from 'the Quill sister,' but Evan was quick to take back. She had told Drax that he had gotten to hold the weapon while getting Peter back, it was her turn now. Besides, Drax wouldn't be killing Ronan, and she didn't think any of them trusted him not to pull a stunt as he had done on Knowhere. And thus, the big man stood down.

Now, she rested the gun on her hip, in between both her hands as she smirked at the man. Then, she shot at the head of the staff and tore the head apart, the stone falling out along with the rest of the staff.

As if in slow motion, Peter and Ronan jumped forwards toward the stone, their hands outreached and fear pumping through Evan's veins firstly for Peter to get it out of Ronan's reach and then jumping through her desperate screams when she realized he would die within seconds of contact of the stone.

Peter held the stone, the small space the group took up pumped with black smoke lit by pulses of purple electricity. In the middle, Peter screamed in pain as he convulsed just in sight of Evan. Somehow, he was able to pull himself to stand in the middle of his misery.

All Evan felt like she could do was stare after the initial fear had gone from her now. Now, she was frozen.

"Peter! Take my hand!" Gamora shouted.

Gamora's shouts brought Evan out of her daze as she watched Peter stare at Gamora, his skin turning to ash and the stone in his hand crawling up his arm in electric sparks. Suddenly, he took Gamora's hand in her own, and she surged in pain but siphoned some of Peter's pain onto her own.

Evan felt like she couldn't move, she was still on the ground, her leg still injured and felt like it was barely there. She wouldn't be able to stand on her own. To her side, Drax held his hand out to her. She raised her hand to him, the wind pushing it over, but she was able to latch onto him.

Drax dragged Evan to her feet and pulled her up with one arm, so her feet didn't touch the ground. He was able to cut through the damaging winds to Peter and threw his hand onto Peter's shoulder. Both Drax and Evan were struck with the agonizing pain filtering through them.

"You're mortal. How?"

"You said it yourself, bitch. We're the Guardians of the Galaxy," Peter answered him, opening his hand to reveal the stone. The purple energy of the infinity stone moved forward and consumed Ronan in its purple light. It cracked along his body, the pieces slowly emerging before he popped out of existence.

Then, everything was gone. The storms, Ronan, the pain... well, not all of the pain as Evan fell to the ground from the pain in her bones and mostly concentrated in her leg.

Gamora held one of the smaller orbs as the rest of them stood for a moment together, taking in the scene of the world on fire around them.

"Well, well, well. Quite the light show," a rough voice called to the Guardians, coming nearer as they all panted just wanting a moment of damn silence. "Ain't this sweet."

Their guns cocked, and Evan groaned, leaning her head back.

"Yondu, for once in your goddamn life would you just shut the fuck up? For a goddamn second," Evan asked, not once looking over to the man as she had leaned back staring up at the sky.

Yondu's footsteps seemed to echo in the open space, the wasteland deadly quiet after the end. Yondu waited at her feet, waiting for her to look up at him, and when she didn't, kicked her feet to get attention. Evan groaned at the pain shooting up her hips and tingling into her fingers. Her dark brown eyes flickered over to Yondu as she frowned intensely wanting to kick him right back.

"Listen, kid. I don't give one shit what you have to say. Never have," Yondu said to her, keeping his head high as he spoke to her. He turned to Peter with a cocky smile, "We have business to attend to that your sister isn't involved in," he directed at Peter.

Gamora held Peter's arm as she said, "Peter, you can't, Peter."

"You gotta reconsider this, Yondu," Peter tried to sway Yondu, his eyes flickering from the man to Evan on the ground glaring daggers into the back of Yondu's head. "I don't know who you're selling this to, but the only way the Universe can survive is if you give it to the Nova Corp," he finished, solely focused on the man in front of him.

"I may be as pretty as an angel," Yondu began, pushing the back of his coat back to show off his yaka arrow slyly. "but I sure as hell ain't one. Hand it over, son."

Peter took the Orb and handed it over before he could rethink his decision. Yondu grinned and raised his hand, the Ravagers moving out of the wreckage and back to their ship.

"Yondu," Peter called once he had turned from them. Yondu looked to him, quirking an eyebrow. "Don't not open that Orb. You know that, right? You've seen what it does to people."

Yondu stared for a long moment before he turned back and started chuckling in satisfaction.

The Ravager flew out of the Xandarian airspace. Peter walked to Evan, pulling her up and turned so she could climb onto his back. He returned to Gamora who had a small, amused smile at the two siblings. They reminded her some of herself and her sister as she told Evan after they had left Knowhere.

Peter turned to where the ship had been and back at Gamora.

"He is gonna be so pissed when he realizes I switched out the Orb on him," Peter mused, pulling out the real Orb for the two women to see.

Gamora laughed out of relief, and Evan smiled softly, leaning her chin onto his shoulder.

"He was gonna kill you, Peter," Gamora tried to reassure him.

"Oh, I know," Peter nodded, he turned his head to look at Evan out of the corner of his eye. "But he was about the only family we had."

Gamora stared at the Orb in Peter's hand, setting hers on top of Peter's, her eyes flickering between the two.

"No," Gamora assured them. "He wasn't."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Until the next time!