Aaand here's the next part. Apologies for the delay.

Also this was in no way written with the event of Vol 2 in mind. This baby's from 2015 or so.

Thanks again to the wonderful and unexpected reviews! Here's to: DelerpTurtle, pattersonfan, CreedmasterNeo (2), AwesomeMan327, and tanithlipsky! I appreciate every word.

Headcanons galore.

Chapter 3: no power on earth

Andy's at work the next day, despite his rather traumatic adventure the previous afternoon. He doesn't think alien abduction is a good enough explanation for not showing up for work when they're in the middle of planning a festival that Leslie is up the wall about. Besides, it's none of their business. So he assumes.

But it seems not to be the case because when he steps through the doors, Ron casually walks out from his office and says he's pleased the aliens did not perform scientific experiments on him.

"Sorry, I sort of called Leslie when you went missing," April admits. "I didn't know what else to do." And Andy hates the thought of her feeling helpless, so he accepts the apology and tries to move on. It's hard with his coworkers making little jokes and comments all day. It's while he's in a meeting with everyone that he snaps.

"Look, yesterday, some people I used to know came by the house. They LARP and they tried to take me with them to jog my memory, and that's all that happened! So stop talking about it!"

A pause at his unusual outburst of anger.

Tom opens his mouth. "Why would they need to jog your memory?"

Andy shifts a little awkwardly. "I kind of have complete amnesia except for four years ago."

"What!" Leslie exclaims.

"You have got to be kidding me," Donna says skeptically. Jerry looks gobsmacked, and Ron's eyes actually widen with surprise.

"You never told us you have amnesia!" Leslie says (accuses).

"Bullshit. You're just messing with us." Tom snorts.

"As the nurse that treated Andy, I can promise you, he's telling the truth," Ann says from her seat at the conference table.

Tom goes quiet.

"It actually explains a lot," Ron says before turning back to the docket.

Leslie is still spluttering at the front of the table. "You have amnesia?!"

"It's not that big of a deal," Andy complains, trying to end the situation. He really does not want to be talking about this in front of everyone.

"Oh yes it is!" Leslie cries.

He winces. She's actually the last person on the earth who he'd want to know something like that. 'Cause she just gets so excited about everything. Ann pulls Leslie aside and says some things quietly and Andy is just grateful when she leaves him mostly alone.

His energy has left him so he spends the rest of the morning on the ground behind his desk, reading files and avoiding Leslie's probing questions he can't answer because he doesn't know the answers. He still hears all the comments flying above his head, or whispered not-quietly enough. Hopefully it'll go back to normal in a couple days. That's what April says when she slinks up next to him on the ground during lunch. They have a make-out session and she feeds him brownies. He's feeling a lot better.

Until Tom leans down to ask,

"Hey, Andy, did you say your friends were LARPers?"

"Not in the mood for a joke right now, Tom," Andy snips as April rubs his shoulders.

When a familiar female clears her throat, Andy jolts up and hits his head. He groans and rubs his forehead before he turns to the right and sees Gamora and Drax standing there, looking incredibly out of place amid the federal office and its workers. Tom blatantly ogles Gamora, and Jerry just looks frightened. Donna is scoping them out critically, and Andy is too grateful that Leslie is at a meeting.

Andy quickly gets off the ground.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he demands. Both take his words in stride.

"We came to talk to you. We feel as though we left things unfinished last time," Drax says.

April stands up and grabs him around the waist.

"You aren't kidnapping my fiancé again," April says darkly.

"We left Rocket and Groot behind this time," Gamora assures him.

Andy snorts. "Like you or Drax couldn't carry me out if you wanted to."

Tom starts snickering while Donna fans herself, looking at Drax.

"Why do you think I could lift you?" Gamora asks suddenly.

"I dunno, you're strong." Andy shrugs.

"I am." She nods, looking pleased about something.

"Are you okay, Andy," Ann asks, peeking out of Leslie's office. Andy doesn't know so he shrugs.

"You know, I don't usually do role-playing, but there is an exception to every rule, and I think that it's you in red leather," Tom says.

Andy has to laugh for some reason, not because Tom is ridiculous (he's used to and immune to that), but because he said it to Gamora. He doesn't know why it tickles him pink, but it does. He's the only one laughing, but Andy never minds that.

"I believe Rocket may have a point about the sense being dislodged from Peter's mind upon crash landing," Drax says.

Gamora nods, looking at Andy with a raised brow.

"What?" Andy asks.

"Nothing, Peter," Gamora says.

"And if you want to call me Peter, I'm cool with that. I role-play. I'm flexible in a lot of ways and I can do any role you want. I own a little business called Rent-A-Swag. Maybe you've heard of it," Tom continues.

"We have not. And it would be unwise to have both of you have the same name." Drax nods to himself.

"Your name is Peter? That's a nice name. Is Andy your middle name?" Garry asks Andy.

"Shut up, Terry, or I'll cut your brakes, lock you in your car and set it on fire before rolling it down a hill towards your house," April promises.

That's right, his name is Larry. Andy is always forgetting. April's so smart to remember though.

"It is not Andy; Peter Quill is his true name," Gamora says.

Andy's coworkers exchange glances with each other. Ann and Donna look at him to confirm or deny, but Andy's getting a little turned around at this point so he settles an arm over April and plays with a loose thread at the collar of her shirt. They should go shopping. Actually, they should go shopping and he'll sneak into the changing stall and they'll have sex and she can play dress up and he'll tease her the whole time and she'll smirk and it'll be good.

It seems that Drax hasn't quite moved on from his last thought. He tends to space out, Andy knows for some reason.

"If you do share the same name, a modifier must be added at the end to eliminate confusion. Where I am from, no one has the same first name and modifier. For example, there is Drax the Glassblower whereas I am Drax the Destroyer," Drax explains.

There's a pause.

"I can work with that," Donna says. Tom makes an 'ooo' sound from behind his hand.

"I do not think being coworkers together would be wise," Drax replies.

Andy is spared the explanation for Drax's behavior by Ron, who opens his door and stares for all of three seconds before clearing his throat.

"Either Leslie has managed to shanghai performers for the girl-scout rally or you two are past friends of Andy."

"You send girls as your scouts?" Drax asks. "They are small and therefore quick, but very vulnerable. I find you choice unwise," Drax says.

"These aren't performers," April says, glaring at Drax and Gamora. "They're stalkers and they're trespassing on private government property. I think we need to escort them out. Using guns."

"It's a public building, actually," Garry says.

"Shut up, Harry, or I'll kill you," April says. "Andy is my property, so it's still trespassing."

Andy kisses her like she's oxygen.

"Is this normal here? I feel that this workplace is very unprofessional," Drax says, watching them.

"You have no idea," Ron agrees. And the image of Drax and Ron together is almost enough to crack Andy up again. He can see them drinking scotch and criticizing things together in their dry manners. April is insistent though, so he keeps sucking face.

"Peter, we actually came to discuss things with you," Gamora says, clearing her throat to make Andy break away from the kiss. April follows his face aggressively, making him lean further and further back until the two fall onto the ground. His foot catches on a chord and brings a computer monitor crashing down to the floor with them.

Ron sighs. "That's eight, Andy. If you reach fifteen, I will no longer allocate government funds for the monitors you destroy."

"Sorry," Andy says, picking himself and April off the floor. He doesn't bother trying to clean up the mess. Kerry will probably do that because he doesn't have anything else to do with his life except to wait for death, or so April often says. Drax and Gamora are staring him like he's an alien, which is pretty funny considering the circumstances.

"Ron, can I talk to them? It's important, probably," Andy asks.

Ron stares at him. "You are asking if I will let you waste government time and money while you discuss things with past acquaintances."

Andy blinks.

"That's a yes," Ron says explicitly. "Use one of the other conference rooms if you must. You're distracting everyone else, and if we don't accomplish something, Leslie will likely have a panic attack or something equally unappealing."

Andy nods and totes April, Drax, and Gamora to a conference room down the hall. It's empty with nice, spinney chairs that Andy immediately slides into and tries to make himself sick on.

Gamora breaks his ride suddenly by grabbing the chair arms, and getting sick becomes a very real possibility.

"May we speak alone, without April?" Gamora asks. But she isn't asking April, she's asking Andy. He can't help but find it funny that she thinks he has any say in what April does.

"No," April answers. Gamora stares April down, and April just stares back. Andy shrugs.

Everyone is still standing and it makes Andy think that maybe he should be standing too, but he doesn't because he's just got comfortable.

"Wanna sit down to talk?"

Andy knows the answer from them is a blatant no, but Drax nods and takes the seat on Peter's left, Gamora his right. April grabs a chair from the lower end of the table and drags it until it's astride Andy's own chair. She takes his hand below the table.

"We just want to see if we can jog your memories is all," Gamora says.

"That is not my aim," Drax says plainly, and Andy can sense the tension between the two. In fact, they glare at each other across the table, and Andy thinks maybe the fact they didn't sit next to each other was more purposeful that he thought.

He doesn't want to spark anything, so he focuses on Gamora.

"I don't really want to," Andy says.

"Why not? You'll have all your memories back, you'll remember your childhood, your friends, adventures, you mother." Gamora says all of this matter-of-factly.

Andy's breath almost hitches because that is really tempting. Mostly the part about his mother. He doesn't remember anything, but there is this aura around the subject, around the title that draws him in with melancholy and fondness and love.

"He's fine without them," April glowers. Andy shakes himself from his distant thoughts.

"And I like being here," Andy adds.

"And if after you remember things you choose to stay here, we won't do anything about it," she says. Andy believes her because she looks so pained and sad behind her eyes.

"We don't want to hurt you, Peter," she says lowly.

Andy squirms at the name.

He believes them. He doesn't know why, and the not knowing part is beginning to bother Andy. As a guy who relies on his gut impressions, he's finding this whole situation getting confusing. He knows implicitly that he trusts them with his life. He knows he cares about them. How that happened, is in the 'do not know' category. He does know he wants to be around them. He does. They are all really neat people, if rusty on some sides and awkward on others. But he also wants to stay away from them because things and people and situations that make April uncomfortable or unconfident don't fit in with who he is and what he does, which is be an awesome person. The primary task in that is being an awesome fiancé for April.

He thinks, slowly, that he needs to maybe understand a little bit better so he can remedy these two parts of him. It sounds like a good idea in practice, but he'll just have to see if it works in theory. Wait, no, if that's practice, then he'll see it in game, not theory. He's pretty sure that's the right metaphor.

"Okay," Andy says at length. Gamora exhales and manages a tight smile while Drax merely snorts. "What do you have in mind?"

"First I want to check something." She reaches towards her jaw and something clicks. "What's your favorite food, Peter?"

"I told you my name isn't Peter, but it's probably brownies. How is this supposed to help?"

"Andy!" April shouts.

"What?" he asks.

"Speak English!"

"I am?"

"You're speaking Xandarian, or Common. Many people in the galaxy speak it." Gamora frowns. "It seems your other mental capacities are unharmed."

"He is well within the realms of sanity to be making choices," Drax says, and it makes Gamora glare daggers at him.

"Am I stuck this way?!" Andy asks. "Will I have to learn English again?!"

"Just concentrate, Peter," Gamora says. She clicks something below her skin again. "Listen and copy my pattern.

"Oh man, I am so getting fired for this." Andy puts his head in his hands. "I can't work a job without being able to speak English. Unless I learn Scottish."

"Babe," April says sighing. She's relaxed, so Andy chances a word.

"April?"

"I can understand. You're speaking English again. I guess now all those times I thought you were talking nonsense in your sleep, you were actually speaking another language." April rubs her thumb over his knuckles.

Andy sits up and rubs his eyes. He… he didn't like that at all, it was disorientating. April, ever aware of his mood and how it can flag when he's anxious, smirks.

"Hey, babe, this is pretty cool. You can put you're bi-lingual on your resume now and I bet we can really freak people out with this. You can teach it to me and we'll have our own language here because no one else can speak it. We can pretend to curse people and be in a cult and put alien curses on Terry until he dies," she smiles and he can't help but smile back.

"Babe, I don't even remember how to speak it," Andy says half-heartedly, a small smile building.

"We'll figure it out."

Gamora clears her throat before they go to make-out again.

"I think you have chosen a fine mate," Drax says. "She is violent, possessive, and cruel. Wonderful qualities in any spouse."

And he really does think that, Andy can tell.

Gamora makes a displeased sound when Drax gives her a look.

The tension between the two is really getting on Andy's nerves for some reason. If they don't get along, then why are they on a crew? Wait, why would Peter know them to begin with. Their prison story is more complex when he considers it was probably a prison in space… He was probably a space-outlaw which is all kinds of awesome.

"How did I even end up in space," Andy asks. "I mean, I don't know anyone else who has, and astronauts don't speak Zanbarbian."

"Xandarian," Drax corrects. He looks to Gamora whose eyes slide away from all of them. Andy wonders if he swore her to secrecy or something. Since she's telling him though, it's probably alright and if he remembered her, he'd forgive her for the circumstances. He likes to think he isn't 100% a dick.

Eventually she clears her throat and meets his eyes.

"When you were nine standard Terran years of age, your mother died of something you called 'cancer,'" Gamora explains carefully at length. Andy's heart hurts a little, so he's glad that she's going slow.

"You were at the hospital and she gave you another mix-tape, different than the one I showed you. Something she said upset you that day."

'Peter, take me hand. Take my hand, Peter.'

The words echo somewhere in his mind and Andy shudders. The soft voice is sad, but not scary, and when it fades, he finds himself missing the presence already.

"You ran out of the hospital and was picked up by the Ravagers, who are generally scum," Gamora continues.

"Percolating pond matter is not similar to the Ravagers," Drax says.

"Metaphor, big guy," Andy murmurs. Both Gamora and Drax stare at him, but he isn't paying that much attention to them. Because the word 'ravager' elicits an image of red leather…

"I do not know what you were doing for those years, but twenty some Terran years passed and then we met in some rather extraordinary circumstances," Gamora continues.

Andy stares for a long moment. He was in space that long? It's a strange story that is almost frightening in how real it feels to him. Space seems vast and wide and like it might swallow him up if he let it. Getting kidnapped and taken up there, far away from this place makes his heart-rate increase.

That scariness has his asking his next question.

"If I did used to hang out with you all… you know, up there, then how did I end up here? Are you sure I wasn't trying to go back home?" Andy ask.

"I am sure," Gamora says.

"As am I." Drax nods.

On this Gamora and Drax are completely aligned.

"You did not identify this planet as home any longer," Drax says. "The Milano was our home."

Andy doesn't miss the use of our. It weighs heavily on his mind the way things normally don't. They make it sound like he had a family and life set up there too. Maybe not as polished, nor as easy, but a life, scrappy and genuine the way Andy has always tried to be…

He can almost taste it, that life. Flying among the stars, the music and fighting and laughter and weapons and rare dancing and skirting the law like the dust from planets and food from a processer that made things from carbon cubes and holster rockets for emergency escapes and red leather given to him from someone important and—

Andy feels a little dizzy. He leans his head against his arms on the desk. His head hurts.

April is immediately there.

"Andy." She shakes him. "Andy!"

"Friend Peter, are you alright?" Drax queries.

Andy shakes his head once, twice and waits for the world to move back into focus. It doesn't completely though. It remains a little dissonant. He can't deny the question anymore, about whether it ever will regain harmony after everything he's learned.

But it doesn't up-haul who he is. As April stares at him, he knows there is nothing he can do but cup her face and smile.

"Maybe I should get new eyes from our free health card. I'm getting headaches and all dizzy all the time."

"They let you purchase eyes here?" Drax asks. "New colors may be a pleasing change."

Andy laughs at that. The sound comes a little slowly to him but he means it. Gamora's emotions are locked away, and Andy knows she's upset.

"That all sounds really cool. I'm glad I had cool friends like you all up there." Family is the word he knows is right, but won't say. "But I'm really happy here. I'm okay."

"So you really, truly are happy here?" Drax asks, but mostly says.

"Of course," Andy says, a little offended.

"And you would be unhappy to leave?"

"Well, yeah."

Gamora grinds her teeth, and the sound is a little like cogs mashing together wrong.

"This is not an informed decision, and you know it, Drax." Gamora stares at Andy imploringly. "You should remember your history before you make a decision."

Andy is frustrated and at a loss. He wants to soothe her and push her away and hug her and cry all at the same time.

"I don't even know what I was like before!" he exclaims eventually. "What decision would I even make then?"

Gamora leans back. "You were the stupidest, bravest, kindest man I ever knew. You were an incurable flirt with a knack for quick-thinking and, as you would say, 'weaseling your way out of things.'"

That doesn't sound like Andy at all. The stupid and brave and kind parts all make sense, but no one has ever accused Andy of thinking quickly. Even now, he's struggling to muster some kind of response.

"Oh," he manages. It's the best he can come up with.

He's saved from any kind of answer by the opening of the door a little, and then the shutting. Then cracking open.

"—only have ten minutes." That's Leslie. The door shuts.

"We can be quick, this room is always empty now. Besides, don't tell me you've never thought about it before," Ben slowly opens the door again and Leslie enters the room backwards, eyes still on Ben.

"Well, usually only during Labor Day—"

That's when she turns and sees the four of them sitting there. Leslie gives a little shout.

Ben enters and echoes her surprise and then the two of them stare at Andy, Gamora, April, and Drax for a long, long moment.

"Are you the performers for the girl-scout rally?" Leslie asks.

"I thought they were coming at three," Ben says.

"Oh no, are all the clocks in the building off by an hour? I changed them all by hand last week for day-light savings. Of course, if they do get off, then all of them will be off. We would have noticed by now though, right? I would have noticed," Leslie babbles as she checks her phone.

"We are not performers," Gamora says.

"I still do not think your idea of sending girls to be your battle scouts is wise," Drax says.

Leslie and Ben stare again.

"Are you Andy's friends?" Ben eventually asks.

"Yes," Gamora answers.

Leslie makes some kind of high-pitched noise of excitement. Gamora stares, uncertain at the bright smile being directed her way for no reason at all. Andy gets that confusion. It's just Leslie, no drugs or psychotherapy stuff, but it took a while to work that out.

"It's a pleasure! I'm Leslie Knope, City Councilwoman and deputy director of the Pawnee Parks Department."

"I see. My name is Gamora. A pleasure for me as well," Gamora says. She looks as strong and confident as ever, but Andy know she's super uncomfortable.

"We heard you kidnapped Andy yesterday," Ben states, putting a hand on Leslie to keep her a little back as he eyes Drax's imposing stature and Gamora's multiple, albeit currently empty, weapons pouches. Andy snorts a little. It's not like Ben can know she has six or seven knives at least hidden elsewhere on her person.

"I am curious about the application of 'kid' in regards to our apprehending Quill. Is he not of standard adult age here?" Drax says.

Andy can see Leslie and Ben's brains working as they parse down Drax's speech. Andy's usually the slow one when it comes to understanding things, but Drax he gets loud and clear, for whatever reason.

"I just meant that they took you without his consent," Ben says slowly. "That's what April said anyways."

"Oh. That is true." Drax smiles.

"Right…" Ben shifts, and Andy sees Leslie's smile shifting into something a little more tight. Ben touches shoulders with her before looking to Andy. "Do you have those pages I asked for on the accounting sheets for March?"

Andy refocuses his mind on work and gives what he hopes is a convincing nod.

"Uh, yes."

"Uh, yes?" Ben echoes. "Is that so?"

"Yes..?"

Ben sighs. "Let's go see, then. Did you put it in your pinball file instead of the documents after you downloaded it? It's there or the H:drive."

Andy feels a little warm. Maybe it's just because he's predictable, but just like he knows what Gamora and Drax mean with little words and phrases, Ben and April and everyone knows what he means when he stutters and pauses. Maybe Gamora, Drax and the others were his family in the past, but now, the ones he really wants to have this with is everyone in Pawnee. He doesn't even care if Ben will be giving him disappointed looks all day, he just smiles.

"We aren't done," Gamora says voice sharp, and eyes pleading.

"I have work," Andy says, and he starts heading out the doors back towards their office in the hopes that he can outrun the conversation. Gamora and Drax easily keep pace.

"We should leave him be if this is what he wants," Drax says as they go into the doors.

Everyone in the office, which now includes Chris, likely because of the hubbub, turns to face their party. Andy ducks his head a little and scratches the back of his neck. He winces as Gamora turns on Drax and growls,

"But we can't know if this is what Peter actually wants!"

Distance is good. Andy goes to his computer and focuses on pulling up the 'game' folder to see if he can find the file. April tags along, hand on his back. He wonders if he can hide underneath her shirt, like she hid when he protected her from the bees, but honestly, his head is probably too heavy for that.

"You are in denial!"

"You are projecting!"

"Hey, hey! Not to interrupt when you're being all whiny," a voice calls from the entrance. Andy jerks his head up and sees Rocket walking in with Groot. "But we got an issue."

Where Gamora and Drax got admiring, somewhat weirded out looks from Andy's coworkers, Groot and Rocket get dumbfounded stares.

"What's the issue?" Gamora asks.

"Are— are these the girl scout performers, Leslie?" Garry tries, a smile half-quirking from his stunned expression.

"What the hell kind of performers do you humies have if we fucking fit in."

"That's not—" Andy groans and rubs his head.

"Rocket, focus. What's going on?" Gamora presses again.

"I am Groot."

"Keep your pants on Gamora, I'm working on it. And Groot, I'm just saying I've seen some shit, but girls as military scouts performing for some adult humies— that ain't even up to my taste."

"Jesus, Rocket, can you just chill the hell out. Stop the—" Andy cuts himself off, because Rocket's staring at him with a rough smile, Gamora looks almost hopeful, and April looks the teensiest bit scared. "Am I not speaking English again, April? Aww shit!"

"You have an accent," Ann says, filling him in as he stands up straight in confusion. "I never knew you had an accent."

"I don't have—" He hears it. The light lull in his tone, different emphasis. It sounds southern. Grandpa Quill lives is Missouri, but Grandpa Quill said Andy grew up in Indiana, away from the rest of their family which is why no one really knew him. Then again, Grandpa Quill said Andy's name was Andy, but he seems to be changing his mind on that, so who knows anyways.

Rocket snorts. "Yeah, you try to hide it, but it's real thick when you ain't paying attention."

Rocket goes to his desk and pushes Andy away with surprising strength. He hooks something into the monitor and it flashes. A holo-screen pulls up, making Tom let out a high-pitched moan of excitement.

Andy wraps his arms around his mid-section. He doesn't know anymore. He doesn't know. April rests a hand on his forearm.

"Got it."

Rocket drags the screen up, and the image spreads over the air-space, showing a downtown city with a smattering of chaos and extraterrestrial destruction; ships are pouring out of a hole in the sky, laser beams shot from above, and giant alien creatures roar mutely from the screen.

"Oh my god, oh my god." Leslie starts doing her deep breathing exercises, which sums things up for the Parks department. April and Andy tighten their grasps on each other.

"That's New York City!" Tom exclaims, voice hushed and thin.

"Why didn't you open with this," Gamora says, sounding irked of all things. She stalks closer to take in the details. Rocket obligingly zooms in so she can get a better look all while sneering.

"Well, excuse me if I was going at my own pace and you were too busy having a pissing contest with Drax to give a shit!"

"No piss was shed," Drax says.

"I am Groot."

"Exactly, and never say shit like that again," Rocket says. "What're we dealing with?"

"Looks like Chitauri," Gamora says.

Andy's stomach clenches, like he knows it's bad, but can't pin down why.

"Fuckin' A."

"What shall we do?" Drax asks, and he steps forward. All of them are now in a circle, like the people whose office's they've taken over are now a part of the furniture. With the dumbfounded stares at the holoscreens, they may well be. Andy has his eyes on the four strategizing though.

"I am Groot."

"I know, but let it be said that I wanted to leave," Rocket says.

"You brought the Milano?" Drax asks.

"Just outside."

"Very well then, let's…" Drax trails off as his eyes land on Andy, who feels sudden and complete terror fill his body.

"No matter how this goes down, this won't be remotely friendly airspace for the next couple decades," Rocket comments.

"Peter, I know you're nervous, and scared, but this may be the last time we'll be able to see you for the next decades," Gamora says. Andy knows she means ever. She means that if he doesn't come with them now, he will never see them again. Dread and uncertainty wrack him, but he knows that the mess on the holo-screen, the blasters and destruction, that isn't for him.

"No… I… My name is Andy."

"Dammnit Peter, this is the last time we'll ever see you unless you get your ass in gear now!" Rocket shouts.

"I'm not Peter!" Andy shouts. I don't know how to be that person. This, all this scares me to death. I can't deal with that, and I can't be Peter for you, I'm sorry, but I won't."

All of them have recoiled, even Drax, who holds a stony posture, but turbulent eyes.

"I am Groot." Softly spoken, melancholy.

"Yeah, whatever. Who needs him," Rocket says as he yanks his attachment out of the computer and brushes past Andy. "Have a nice life, meat-bag."

Drax looks about to say something, but closes his mouth last moment. He tilts his head like a nod.

And then it's Gamora who looks at him, the only one left who isn't right by the door, about to step out of his life forever. She begs him, silently, to say something else, offer a contradiction, but no surprising accent, no unknown language will be enough to stop him now. She seems to understand it, as a bitter twist turns her lips.

"It was nice knowing you, Star-Lord," Gamora whispers before turning to leave. Andy doesn't register the pain in her eyes, the flicker of red and black hair as she faces away from him, the tears that aren't visible but he knows exist—

No, Andy is consumed by that single name.

Star-Lord.

Star-Lord.

Star-Lord.

He falls into space.

And he sees a boy holding his mother's hand, eating strawberry shortcake with her. He sees her long blonde hair, and sees the boy follow after her with the widest eyes of adoration. He sees a boy near the bed of his sick mother, trying not to cry, trying not to feel, trying not to see as she stretches her hand out to him. He sees the boy running fast, running away. And he sees the boy get taken. He sees the creatures, who seem like monsters at first glance, that take him in. They threaten and tease him into a Ravager. He sees the boy, almost man picking up a girl for the first time, the anxiety, and relief that comes when his lines work, and she smiles before leaving.

He remembers his mixtape. He remembers his mother's mixtape. Listening to it throughout star systems, until the songs have embedded themselves into his marrow.

He sees a man now, he sees the boy still in the man, still struggling against what happened all those years ago. He sees a green-skinned warrior, a cybernetic raccoon, a tree, and a big angry guy. But then he spends time with them, trying to save the galaxy, and he sees a brave woman he admires who kicks ass, he sees an experiment trying to find its way in the world, so caustic and clever and charming, he sees a parent without children, a husband without a wife, a family man without his family, and he sees Groot, and finally he sees the guardians. And all that they are. He sees solar systems with them, the boy, now a man, truly, and the guardians, his friends and family. And then he sees a firefight, a decision, and a crash...

Peter shudders into reality, skin cold, and eyes covered with black spots. It fades though. It fades and he sees his family around him, eyes worried, strained. He reaches up and grabs Gamora's hand.

"Star-Lord," he exhales aloud.

"Peter," she says, worriedly.

"Gamora," he says. "Drax, Rocket, Groot."

And they all know, they all realize that he remembers who he is.

With help from his family, Peter gets to his feet and sees the world through new eyes. His coworkers are there, but they don't seem like his anymore. No, they belong to someone else, but then his eyes land on April, who's scared, who's alone, and his heart aches. Before he can go to her, hold her, tell her, without knowing, that things will be alright— the seriousness of the situation hits him and he nearly jumps where he stands.

"Shit. We have to stop the Chitauri," he manages, still weak from the suddenness of his realization. "Terra doesn't have any spaceships that can fight theirs. They'll fuckin' die."

"Quill?" Rocket asks, though Peter knows he knows.

"Yeah, it's me buddy."

"I am Groot!"

"I agree!" Rocket shouts, little tears on edges of his eyes, "It took you long enough, you prick!"

"Sorry," he says. "We gotta get back to the Milano before anything happens. I need to suit up and get my weapons and, and—" He runs out of breath, realizing how fast the world is changing around him.

He stares at the collage of his two families, both fucked up, both together, and both (literally) from different worlds. He stares a second more before turning to April.

"Babe, I—" And his mouth falters because words have never been invented for this kind of situation no matter what language.

"Whatever, just go!" she urges. Her words are so rude, but he sees them for what they are. He grabs her and kisses her passionately, hastily, before he and his group start running from the office.

"Ron! I have to leave early!" he calls back. "I gotta go to New York to stop an alien invasion!"

He leaves the building, snickering lightly, breathless from it all, and intent on getting back to the Milano, which it feels like he hasn't seen in ten years. But he has, just the other day. But was that him? He doesn't know.

Doesn't have time to think about it, what with an alien invasion.

.

.

.

Thank you for reading. Feel free to review if so inclined.

More, including the battle of New York... eventually.