"Shit!" Yondu cursed, hitting out the walls of the cell, "Shit, shit, shit!"
"We need to find a way out of here!" Kraglin was panicking behind him, "What about Peter?!"
"Worry about us first!"
….
"There…" Ego brushed a lock of hair away from Peter's face as he lay unconscious on the bed, "… it's as if this never happened."
He headed to the door, tightening the chains, still talking despite Peter's lack of consciousness. "I'll make your favourite, even though you don't deserve it…. I tried to tell you Peter. You can't say I didn't try to warn you."
…..
Less than half an hour later, Peter groggily woke up, pushing himself into a seated position as he blearily tried to remember what happened.
"Yondu..." He whispered, "... Kraglin, Mantis!"
He buried his face in his hands, shaking his head in dismay at the familiar feeling of the chain around his ankle.
He was so close to seeing his mother again... he was so close. He could have been home by now.
He was so close.
…...
Yondu hated feeling like this.
They needed to get out of here, and soon.
…...
There was the sound of chains rattling violently in the other room, causing Ego to sigh wearily.
"Peter?" He called out, "Peter, you won't get free, you know this. Why waste your energy like that?"
Silence.
"Peter?"
Slowly, Peter emerged from the room, limping heavily with his face pale.
"Peter, what are you- "Ego stopped in his tracks, eyes finally noticing the sickening angle of Peter's ankle, watching it pop back into place, the bruising growing and then fading.
"I'm not doing this anymore…" The young man muttered, "… I'm not letting you control me anymore!"
Silence.
"Did you hear me? It's over!"
A couple of seconds passed, before Ego straightened up, the horrifying half-face twisting in anger, "Well… look who grew a backbone."
"Hey, I always had one!"
Ego moved closer, "I am trying to protect you Peter… I am trying to make the galaxy a better place, and I can only do that with you!"
"No, you're trying to control the galaxy! Big difference!"
"Peter- "
"- For ten years, you've been using me for my powers!"
"PETER!"
"Well in the words of Yondu, fuck you!"
Ego growled, "You really think your mother will just accept you with open arms? You're an alien Peter, a freak! You have no place on Earth. And you're too human to fit with Udonta and his crew! Admit it… you'll never fit in anywhere you go, except for here… with me."
"My mom won't give a shit!" Before Ego could touch him, Peter grabbed his wrist, "She'll be waiting for me. She's waited for all these years, and she'll wait for as long as it takes!"
Ego pulled his wrist away in fury, stumbling backwards, "You want me to be the bad guy…" He hissed, "… fine, now I'm the bad guy."
….
"Come on Kraglin, hurry up!"
"I'm trying!" Kraglin hissed back, arms awkwardly angled through the bars of the door, "I don't see you helping!"
"I'm the plan guy, you're the lock-picker."
"I'll show you- " Kraglin paused as he swung forwards with the door, feet dragging along the floor. Slowly, he looked up, to see Mantis staring at him, head tilted to one side in confusion.
"- I stole the keys." She whispered, sounding more than a little thrilled at her own act.
"Good girl." Yondu smirked, "How did you do that then?"
"He invited me into his room." She didn't notice the looks Yondu and Kraglin shot at each other.
She might not have known the reason behind being pulled into the man's room, but they did.
"I made him fall asleep and took them." Mantis finished, "Where's Peter."
"We're going to get him now, along with a new ship."
…..
Proud of himself for putting a small tracker on the kid, he, Kraglin and Mantis… acquired another ship, and set off after them.
It was a shock to see the ship parked out in the middle of space, but Yondu wasn't going to say anything against their sudden stroke of luck, parking their ship alongside them, using masks and boot thrusters to travel the rest of the way.
"Come on." Yondu muttered, "They've got to around here somewhere."
This ship was too nice and neat.
Yondu was used to rougher surroundings.
They saw Peter on the floor, and Yondu would never admit that his relief over-took his senses, meaning that he didn't properly look at the scene.
"Shit kid, what the- " He froze when he saw that there were glowing restraints keeping Peter tied to the ground… and there was a gag in his mouth.
BANG
The first blast hit him in the leg, sending him to his knees as he pushed Kraglin away, hoping that it was enough to get him out of the way.
BANG
Another blaster shot hit him in the chest, sending the breath from his lungs before he could summon his arrow.
"Look what you made me do Peter…" sneered a familiar voice, "… don't worry, our secret will die with them."
Yondu grimaced, hearing Peter cry out from behind the gag, as equally glowing restraints grabbed Kraglin and pinned him up against the wall.
They didn't touch Mantis though.
There was still a small bit of hope.
"We are going somewhere, where no-one will ever find you again!" Ego snarled, the glowing restraints pulling Peter closer as he struggled, "Peter! Enough! Stop fighting me!"
With a little more effort, Peter managed to displace the gag, before glaring up at Ego, "NO! I won't stop!" He snapped, "For every minute, for the rest of my life, I will never stop fighting you! I will never stop trying to get away from you!" He took a deep breath, "But… if you let me heal Yondu, then I'll go with you. I won't fight, I promise! But let me heal him!"
"Peter…" Kraglin whispered, "… Peter, no!"
Yondu agreed with the sentiment, even if it would cost him his life.
Peter ignored them. "I won't run… I won't try to escape. If you let me heal him, then-then we can be together forever. That's what you want, right? Just let me heal him!"
Ego stared at him for a few moments, before rolling his one whole eye, "Fine."
He released the restraints on Peter, watching as the younger man raced over to Yondu, wincing at the sight of the wounds, "Oh, oh, oh okay! I-I'm sorry! Everything's going to be fine!"
Yondu grunted, trying to push Peter's hands away, "S-stop kid- "
"- No, you need to trust me. I promise- "
"- No Peter!" Yondu winced at the exertion, "I can't let you do this!"
"... And I can't let you die."
"If you do this, YOU'll die!"
Peter shrugged, as though he didn't care, despite the tears building in his eyes, hands hovering over the more serious chest wound.
Yondu wasn't going to let him do this.
Pushing Peter back with the last bit of strength that he had, he collapsed to the ground as the blackness crept in.
...
Peter didn't know what was happening.
His back hit the ground hard, as Ego suddenly collapsed along with him, the glowing restraints that held Kraglin against the wall disappearing. He looked around, seeing a tearful Mantis kneeling beside Ego, one hand on the remnants of his head, whispering the word 'sleep' over and over again.
"Mantis, you- "
"- I-I can't do this-" She cried out, cutting him off, "He-he's fighting me!"
"Can you do it long enough for us to get him into one of the escape pods?" Kraglin asked desperately, "If we fire him off into space, we might stand a chance at getting away!"
"I-I don't know!"
"Try!"
Yes, Kraglin's tone was harsh, but warranted. They needed to get Ego as far away from here as possible.
"I'll put in coordinates for a jump." Kraglin ordered, "Send Ego off in the OTHER direction!"
Scrambling to his feet, Peter rushed to help Mantis.
….
They'd only just managed to shoot Ego off into space, before the ship made the jump to another sector of the galaxy, his screaming face at the small window as he raged at them.
Yes, he could get out of there.
Yes, there was a chance he would find them again.
But they had the head start that they needed, and Peter would be ready for him next time. Him and-
No.
No!
Yondu!
He raced back to where Ego had attacked them, seeing Yondu lying on the floor…. deathly still.
"Yondu?" He placed a hand on the older man's chest, wincing when he didn't feel it rising or falling, "No, no, no!"
He heard Kraglin appear from around the corner, the other man falling to his knees at the sight. "No… no, no!"
"I should have healed him!" Peter felt like he was going cry, "I-I should have healed him before-before- "
"It's not your fault." Kraglin whispered, "I-I should have- I loved him and I just left him to- "He turned away and punched the wall of the ship, collapsing to his knees and buried his face in his uninjured hand, "Can't your healing powers- "
"- I can't heal the dead." Peter whispered, "I just can't."
"… How do you know?"
Peter didn't answer, lifting Yondu's head into his lap.
Could he raise the dead?
Was that possible?
Humming some old tune that he remembered from his childhood, Peter closed his eyes and pleaded. Pleaded for his powers to actually be used for good for once. He couldn't stop the tears from welling up behind closed lids though.
With his eyes closed, he failed to notice his hands glowing, the colour coming back to Yondu's skin as the wounds started to close up.
It was impossible to miss what happened next, however.
When the intensity of the light grew too bright to ignore, Peter leant back, mouth gaping open in shock as blue rays emerged from the wounds, lighting up the small area as they all quickly covered their eyes to avoid being blinded.
The whole process must have only lasted a minute, but to Peter, it felt like hours.
Eventually, the light disappeared, and Peter immediately started to examine Yondu's wounds, quickly realising that they were all healed up… but did that also mean-
"Is he alive?" Kraglin whispered, moving to kneel beside Peter, looking just as stunned, "Did you just- "
"-I-I guess so?" Peter whispered, "Or-or maybe I just healed the wounds and- "
Yondu sucked in a desperate breath, back arching as his eyes flew open, "Shit!" He gasped, clearly shocked to be alive.
"Yondu! Yondu, are you okay?"
"…. Did ye just- did ye just bring me back from the dead?!"
"A-apparently?"
Kraglin let out a cheerful whoop of glee, wrapping his arms around Yondu before pulling him into a kiss.
"Yes, yes, yes!"
Sitting back, Peter watched them, looking over and gesturing for Mantis to come closer.
He needed a hug of his own.
…
It was a shock to see the ship landing on the edge of her property.
Meredith Quill had been dodging her father's call all evening, knowing that it would be just another round of complaints about she needed to give up on Peter.
She was never going to give on him though, and she was fed up with arguing with her father about that.
The shock of seeing the ship soon passed, as she raced out of her back door, not even bothering to grab her coat as she did so. Seeing the ship doors open, she skidded to a halt, freezing when she saw who was leaving the ship.
She would know that face anywhere, no matter how long it had been.
"Peter?" She whispered, as they slowly moved closer to each other, the young man's face looking just as stunned as she felt. They examined each other for a few moments before, in unison, they practically lunged at one another, arms wrapping around shoulders and chests in a hug.
"You're back." She whispered, "You made your way back to me!"
"Mom!"
After a few minutes, Meredith glanced up from the hug and spotted the three figures still hovering near the ship entrance. Slowly, she beckoned them closer.
The girl with the odd antennae was the first to accept the hug eagerly, whispering the word 'happy' over and over again.
The two others hung back a little, shuffling a little closer when Meredith gesturing for them to do so. As soon as the blue one was close enough, her hand darted out to grab his long red coat, yanking him down and into the hug. From there, the other man followed.
"Mushy stuff." The blue one muttered, making Peter chuckle a little wetly.
"Just accept it Yondu."
…..
What happened next, no one expected.
It was clear that Peter was destined for more than life on a farm, and honestly, Meredith had been thinking the same for years now. So, that very same night, Meredith was packing her bags and joining the makeshift family for their journey into the stars.
Yondu would never say it out loud, but Meredith Quill was the scariest Ravager on his ship.
And that was a fact.
Ego wouldn't know what hit him if they ever met again.