NOTE: There will probably be grammar mistakes that I will fix later.

Quill couldn't sleep that night. He just lay on a couch, staring blanky at the ceiling of his bedroom while listening to "Brandy" on his Walkman.

Part of him wanted to believe Gamora that this place was too good to be true, but he wanted to trust Ego; he was his Dad, after all, and he would never intentionally hurt his own son, right?

Just then Ego appeared at the doorway. "You alright, son?"

Quill took off his headphones and looked up at his father.

"I saw your girl stomp off a little earlier in quite a huff," Ego said as he pointed down the hall.

"Yeah," Quill sighed softly.

Ego sat on a chair across from Quill. "It's fortuitous, you listening to this song."

"You know...?"

"'Brandy'?" Ego nodded with a smile. "By Looking Glass? A favorite of your Mom's. One of Earth's greatest musical compositions. Perhaps its very greatest."

Quill nodded excitedly in agreement. "Yes!"

"Peter, you and I, we're the sailor in that song." Ego stood up and slowly walked toward Quill. "He came on a summer's day. Bringing gifts from far away. Like the child I put in your mother or the freedom you brought Gamora. Brandy, you're a fine girl. What a good wife you would be. My life, my love, my lady is the sea."

He sat down on the couch next to his son. "The sea calls the sailor back. He loves the girl, but that's not his place. The sea calls upon him as history calls upon great men. And sometimes we are deprived the pleasures of mortals."

"Well, you may not be mortal," Quill said, "but me-"

"No, Peter, death will remain a stranger to both of us as long as the light burns within the planet."

Quill looked at his father skeptically and scoffed. "I'm immortal?"

Ego grinned from ear to ear and nodded. "Mmm-hmm."

Quill's eyes went big when he realized that his father wasn't kidding around. "Really?"

"Yes. As long as the light exists."

"And I can use the light to build cool things like how you made this whole planet?"

"It might take you a few million years of practice before you could get really good at it, but yes!"

Quill stood up, feeling as excited as a kid on Christmas morning. "What! This is...! Get ready for an 800-foot statue of Pac-Man with Skeletor and Heather Locklear!"

Ego chuckled. "Whatever you want!"

"I'm gonna make some weird sh**!"

"But you know, Peter," Ego also stood up, "it is a tremendous responsibility. Only we can remake the universe. Only we can take the bridle of the cosmos and lead it to where it needs to go."

Quill looked at his father intrigued. "How?"

Ego ignited a little blue light in his hand. "Come with me."

...

The two stepped into the room with all the dioramas that told the origin of Ego.

"Now, you need to readjust the way you process life," Ego explained to Quill. "Everything around us, including the girl, everything is temporary. We are forever."

"Doesn't eternity get boring?" Quill asked.

"Not if you have a purpose, Peter, which is why you're here." Ego led him to the diorama of Ego meeting a life form for the first time. "I told you how all those years ago, I had an unceasing impulse to find life. But what I did not tell you was how when I finally did find it, it was all so...disappointing."

Quill looked at his father confused.

"And that is when I came to a profound realization. My innate desire to seek out other life was not so that I could walk among that life. Peter, I have found meaning." Ego then gently tapped his son's forehead.

Quill gasped softy as his eyes were suddenly filled with endless cosmos. He no longer felt like a puny, weak human with limits. His inner Celestial had completely taken over his entire being and it was incredible. He felt like he could hold the entire universe in his hand.

"I...I see it," he whispered. "Eternity!"

"GET ME OFF THIS RIDE!" Mikey screamed as Yondu's ship continued to go through jump points. His face continued to twist and stretch and he was getting sicker by the minute.

Everyone else was suffering as much as he was and screamed along with him. But after what felt like hours, the ship finally stopped in front of Ego's planet and the entire crew dropped to their knees utterly exhausted. Except for Groot, who remained in his seat and barfed out a green slime.

Mikey was about to throw up, himself, but he quickly swallowed it back down. "Looks like," he panted heavily as he looked out the huge window, "we've arrived at our destination."

Yondu was beyond pissed at Rocket. "What the hell you doing, boy?!" he bellowed.

The raccoon struggled to get back on his feet. "I could tell how much you talked about him, this Ego is bad news. We're here to save Quill."

"For what?" Yondu scoffed. "Huh? For honor? For love?"

"Yes," Mikey said as he weakly stood back up.

But Rocket had a different answer. "No! I don't care about those things! I'm gonna save Quill so that I can prove I'm better than him! I can lord this over him forever!"

Mikey sighed and shook his head. Typical Rocket, always trying to hide his real feelings by acting like the tough and uncaring guy.

Just then Yondu started to laugh, much to Rocket's confusion.

"What are you laughing at me for?" the raccoon asked the blue man.

"Ah," Yondu sighed as he walked toward the window. "You can fool yourself and everyone else, but you can't fool me. I know who you are."

"You don't know anything about me, loser," Rocket said in annoyance.

Yondu turned back to him. "I know everything about you. I know you play like you're the meanest and the hardest, but actually you're the most scared of all."

Rocket was starting to get uncomfortable. "Shut up!"

But Yondu continued on with his lecture. "I know you steal batteries you don't need and you push away anyone who's willing to put up with you 'cause just a little bit of love reminds you how big and empty that hole inside you actually is."

A stunned Mikey looked on in silence. Yondu really did get Rocket better than anyone else.

Rocket was now trembling but he refused to show that Yondu was getting to him. "I said shut up!" he yelled.

Yondu started to raise his own voice. "I know them scientists what made you never gave a rat's ass about you!"

Now Rocket couldn't hold back the tears. "I'M SERIOUS, DUDE!" he screamed.

"Just like my own damn parents who sold me, their own little baby into slavery!" Yondu leaned down to yell in Rocket's face, "I know who you are, boy, because you're me!"

There was dead silence in the cockpit for a moment. Rocket and Yondu stared at each other, their noses almost touching. Mikey wanted to go over to the raccoon and give him a hug, but he decided that it would best to give him some space.

Rocket swallowed and blinked back his tears. "What kind of a pair are we?" he said softly.

Yondu nodded and walked toward the controls of the ship. "The kind that's about to go fight a planet, I reckon." He then turned to Mikey. "What do you say, Turtle? You in or out?"

Mikey smiled confidently and crossed his arms. "You kidding? I'm 100% in! Nothing is too big or too scary for me, not even a..." The smile dropped. "Wait. Did you say 'planet'?"

"Gamora, wait!" Leo tried to catch up with the green-skinned warrior, but he was still weak from the near-death experience in the caverns. Nebula was right behind him and she would help the Turtle every time he stumbled from the fatigue.

Gamora hurried down the halls of the palace until she reached the room in which Drax was staying, and to her suprise, Mantis was there, too. She instantly grabbed the girl by the neck and pushed her against the wall. She wanted answers and she wanted them now.

Leo walked in and was horrified to see Gamora choking Mantis. "Gamora! Stop!"

But Gamora paid no attention to him. "Who are you people?!" she yelled in Mantis's face. "What is this place?!"

"Gamora, let her go!" Drax shouted.

"The bodies in the caverns, who are they?!"

Mantis looked at her with eyes full of fear, then he atennae started to glow. "You are scared," she whispered.

Immedatiely, Gamora let go of her and stumbled backwards, visibly shaken.

A worried Leo gently touched her arm. "Gamora? Gamora, what's wrong?"

Gamora breathed heavily as she looked down at her trembling hands. "What did she do to me?" she whimpered.

Now Leo was even more scared then he was before. Gamora was a strong and fearless woman, but to see her this frightened and fragile...

He turned to Mantis, who was coughing and rubbing her throat. "Start talking!" he demanded. "Or you'll be dealing with me!"

Drax stepped forward. "Calm yourself, Leonardo."

Leo looked at the tattooed man in disbelief, but of course he didn't know about the skeletons. "Drax, listen, in the caverns, there are thousands of-"

"She already told me everything."

Leo froze. "What?"

"The bodies," Mantis said softly, "are his children."

Back in the main hall, holograms of planets were now hovering above Ego and Quill, and each planet had a tiny spot of blue light glowing on one area. There were so many planets and lights that they looked like stars.

"I call it the Expansion," Ego said. "It is my purpose and now it is yours as well."

"It's beautiful," Quill whispered, still in a euphoric trance.

A diorama of a younger Ego planting a strange flower appeared before them. "Over thousands of years, I implanted thousands of extensions of myself on thousands of worlds. I need to fulfill life's one true purpose: to grow and spread, covering all that exists, until everything is...me."

The tiny blue lights suddenly expanded and completely covered the planets.

"I only had one problem. A single Celestial doesn't have enough power for such an enterprise. But two Celestials...well, now, that just might do."

Ego then walked toward another dioarama that portayed his younger self embracing women of various alien species. "Out of all my labors, the most beguiling was attempting to graft my DNA with that of another species. I hoped that the result of such a coupling would be enough to power the Expansion. I had Yondu deliver some of them to me. It broke the Ravager code, but I compensated him generously, and to ease his conscience, I said I'd never hurt them."

He started to scratch his chin nonchalantly. "I mean, that was true. They never felt a thing. But one after the other, they failed me. Not one of them carried the Celestial genes."

He smiled then proudly at Quill. "Until you, Peter. Out of all my spawn, only you carried the connection to the light."

After Mantis told the crew the whole story, Gamora turned to her friends. "We need to find Peter now," she growled, "and get off this damn planet."

"Ego will have won him to his side by now," Mantis informed her. "He has a way."

"Then we just go," Nebula suggested.

"No!" Gamora sternly told her sister. "He's our friend."

"That's right," Leo nodded. "We can't leave him behind, Nebula."

"All any of you do is yell at each other," Nebula argued. "You are not friends."

"You're right," Drax told her, then he turned to Gamora. "We're family. We leave no one behind." He looked back at Nebula. "Except maybe you."

Leo stepped over to Nebula and put his hand on her shoulder. "No, Drax," he said. "That includes Nebula."

Drax glanced away with a pouty expression. "Fine," he grumbled. "The blue whore can come with us."

"Oh, my god," Nebula sighed in exasperation as she shook her head.

As Yondu, Rocket, and Mikey hurried down the hallways throughout the ship, something fell out of Yondu's coat pocket and landed on the floor. Mikey stopped to bend down and pick up, and to his surpise, it was a Troll Doll with orange hair. It had to have belonged to Quill since dolls only come from Earth.

"Hey!" Mikey called after Yondu. "Hey, Yondu!" The captain stopped and turned around. "You dropped this."

Yondu walked back to Mikey and took the doll back without saying a word.

"That belonged to Quill, didn't it?" Mikey asked.

Yondu just nodded as he stared down at the doll.

"You really care about him, don't you?"

There was a brief pause before Yondu shook his head. "Nah. The boy owes me four billion units."

Mikey chuckled. Yondu and Rocket were totally alike. "Yeah, sure. It's just, I keep thinking about what Kraglin said back on Berhert. Quill dupes you all the time, but you keep defending him. And yeah, you may had kidnapped him for money, but then you found out what Ego was up to. You could've just abandoned him after that, but you kept him instead. You took him under your wing and raised him."

"What's your point, Turtle?" Yondu grumbled.

"My point is, Quill had his Dad with him all along, he just didn't know it."

Yondu looked at Mikey surprised, then he chuckled and shook his head. "You're talking nonsense."

"No, I'm being serious. Ego may be his father and all..." Mikey patted Yondu on the arm with a warm smile. "...but he's not his Dad."

Yondu furrowed his brow in confusion. "What's the difference?"

Before Mikey could answer that question, Rocket yelled at them from down the hallway. "Hey! You two idiots coming or what?"

"Coming, trash panda!" Mikey laughed as he walked away from Yondu.

"DON'T CALL ME TRASH PANDA!"

Yondu stayed behind for a moment to look at the Troll in his hand. He thought about the scrawny little kid he abducted over twenty years ago, his eyes puffy and red from crying, holding his Walkman close to his chest. It seemed like it was only yesterday that he was teaching the boy how to fire a gun in the woods of Aakon. Quill had always been a fast learner and a hard worker, and although Yondu would never say it, he was proud of that smart-mouth, music-loving kid.

And now that same scrawny little boy needed him more than ever.

"For the first time in my existence," Ego lifted his head to the ceiling with a triumphant smile on his face, "I am truly NOT ALONE!"

He looked back at Quill, who now seemed sad and conflicted and was staring down at his feet.

"What is it, son?" he asked.

Quill slowly lifted his face. "My friends," he whispered.

Ego nodded, understanding his son's feelings. "You see, that's the mortal in you, Peter."

"Yes."

"We are beyond such things."

"Yes."

"Good. Now-"

"But my mother...you said you loved my mother."

Ego now seemed a bit somber. "And that I did," he said softly as he looked back up at the ceiling. "My river lily who knew all the words to every song that came over the radio. I returned to Earth to see her three times. And I knew if I returned a fourth, I'd never leave. The Expansion, the reason for my very existence, would be over. So I did what I had to do." He then released a heavy sigh and said, "But...it broke my heart to put that tumor in her head."

The cosmos in Quill's eyes disappeared as soon as his father said those horrible words. "...what?"

Ego immediately knew that he mucked up and turned back to Quill with a nervous grin. "Now-Now alright, I know that sounds bad-"

ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!

An infuriated Quill didn't even let Ego explain as he pulled out his pistols and fired at his father again and again. The blasts tore through Ego's body and his flesh started to disappear, revealing the blue glowing molecules and skeletal form underneath. When Quill saw that it pointless to keep firing, he lowered his guns but was trembling with rage.

Ego's body was full of large wholes but he quickly reformed and he looked at his son annoyed. "Who...in the hell do you think you are?!"

"YOU KILLED MY MOTHER!" Quill roared.

Ego then transformed into Quill's childhood hero, David Hasselhoff. "I tried so hard to find the form that best suited you, and this is the thanks I get?!"

Quill just glared hatefully at his father.

Ego could see that there was no point in talking and trying to appeal to him anymore and transformed back to his normal self. "You really need to grow up," he growled.

He lifted his hand and a huge tentacle of pure light furiously came out of the ground. Before Quill could run, it pierced right through his chest and the half-Celestial gasped in pain. He dangled helplessly as the tentacle lifted him up, and he could feel his energy quickly being drained from his body.

Ego stomped toward Quill, his eye twitching in anger. "I wanted to do this together, but I suppose you'll have to learn by spending the next thousand years as a battery!"