Galaxy
'The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent.'
~'~
You can feel them dying can't you Peter. Feel the life leaving every last one of them.
And he can, he really can. He can feel Rocket's heart beating like a drum in his small chest, feel Groot's fragile body starting to splinter, feel Drax struggling desperately to gasp in air that wasn't there, feel Gamora…
You can't stop it Peter.
"No!" he's not sure if the cracked whisper is denial or acceptance. It hurts so much, the pain coursing through him, the light burning him up from the inside and the voice…his voice…
I can make it stop. They can live, all of them…But you need to make that decision Peter...I can't do this alone…
There was no need to elaborate. Peter saw it all, saw the universe that his father wanted to build. He wanted no part in it…and yet…
I can keep them safe. They don't need to be destroyed, if you love them Peter…I'll keep them safe for you my boy…You need only ask…
He recalled his mother's voice, her final request, 'Take my hand Peter,' a painful whispered caress. He'd made the wrong decision then, a decision he'd regretted every day of his life… He'd turned his back on the thing he'd loved most…He couldn't stand the pain…not again…
"Please…"
His world exploded in light and he screamed.
~'~
It was like looking into the galaxy.
He was looking at her, but was also looking through her, as if he was seeing insurmountable possibilities instantaneously. An infinite gaze.
It would have been beautiful, but for the fact she held the memory of green eyes which only ever saw her…
"Gamora…?" his voice was soft and it was Peter, but not the man she knew. It was full of something he'd never shown so openly before, a raw vulnerability, a raw sadness, a loss of hope…
She stood in front of him, the gun pointed directly at his head, frozen…
"Do it," his voice is soft now, accepting, as he stands before her.
She didn't know when the tears started to flow, but they make their salty tracks down her cheek, stinging the slight cuts from the debris. Her hands are shaking, the gun still trained on him, but she doesn't move a muscle.
"It's okay. You can do it," he repeats in that same soft tone, encouraging now. He opens his arms as if to invite the embrace of the bullet rather than to be annihilated by it.
She's shaking her head, again not sure how it happened, but it is. "No!" she verbalises, denial at his words or at herself she wasn't sure.
"Gamora, you need to do this!" his voice is tinged with desperation now, his hands still held out.
"Not if you fight!" she's yelling now, but she doesn't care. This wasn't fair, his selfishness, his lack of insight. It wasn't fair that she had to be the one…
"I've tried," his voice cracks now, ever so slightly. "I've tried so hard but…he's stronger then me and-…the things he's ma-…the things I've done…You need to end this Gamora!"
"Why me?!"
There's that small crooked smile, just the ghost of it, but it's there as he looks at her, as Peter looks at her. "It's an unspoken thing…"
She holds the gun tighter, steadies her hands and her finger presses against the trigger ever so slightly. He watches on, hopeful, the stars frantically swirling in his eyes, the moment seems to stretch on for an eternity…
"Please…?" his voice breaks now as he waits and she does nothing, his hope slipping away like dust through his fingers…
She drops the gun, it clatters to the ground and she collapses with it, sobbing. "I can't Peter, I'm so sorry, I can't..."
"It's okay," she eventually hears his cracked whisper. "I forgive you…"
There's a feather touch on her hair, she looks up, "Peter," a desperate plea leaving her lips, but she's only met with the swirling ash of the now dead planet surrounding her.
~'~