Spirits in the Stars

The Reader is a ghost stuck on Yondu's ship and they meet, and then fluff ensures. Ghostie love between a ghost!reader and Yondu! - Arayta (requested )

The Eclector wasn't a new ship when it came to Yondu, not in the slightest. But it was big, and quick, and tough, and he liked it. And when someone tried to warn him off it with talk of it being haunted, he laughed in their face.

Things got moved in, and shifted around, and rearranged and reorganised. You tried to stay out of the way of it all, with some difficulty. It wasn't long until Yondu met you.

You stood, leaning against the wide window, your back to the captain's chair. You were watching the stars, you could never had said for sure, but it seemed that you could see more, now that you'd passed from life. You gazed out at the colours of the galaxy, watching as stars twinkled in the furthest distance.

"Hey! Who th' Hell are you? Wha' ya doing on ma ship?"

You were vaguely startled by the voice behind you. You turned to face him and watched his expression change from anger to confusion. Yondu Udonta was not a man who'd never seen a ghost before.

"You're the Captain now?" you asked.

"…yeah. And you're…?"

"I'm just here for the ride"

He smiled, and nodded. He'd relaxed now that you'd spoken to him - in his time with the Kree he'd seen many ghosts, most of them were driven mad, they were violent and dangerous. But it was very obvious that you weren't like those - you'd accepted death and moved on with your existence.

"Anything you'd rather I did ta make ya more comfortable?" Yondu wasn't so pleasant with strangers usually, but you were a ghost - ghosts were different, they were the dead, and you respected the dead, all of them. No matter what race in the galaxy you belonged to, everyone did right by the dead.

"Nothing comes to mind - I didn't die here, my body's long gone. I'm just… occupying space, for a given value of 'occupying'" you laughed softly.

He nodded, "D'ya want me to leave you alone?"

"Not really, I like company - the last lot were never very talkative, not with me anyway"

"That's fine, I'll talk yer ear off if y'll let me"

You laughed, "That's fine by me"

xxxxx

The crew had various reactions to having a ghost on board. Most were afraid of you, too unknowledgeable or superstitious to come near you. The occasional few were determined to ignore your presence, but that was fine, you'd had that before. Yondu quickly grew fond of you, as did Kraglin, though you could see him determinedly shaking off the superstition in his mind any time you appeared.

Yondu kept good on his word, and talked with you often. Most of the time he either complained about a job, or the crew or something along those lines, or boasted about jobs well done, treasures stolen and glorious fights. But every now and again, you had moments of serious conversation.

Yondu was set in his captain's chair, doubled over, his elbows on his knees, his head in his hands. You frowned when you saw him, quickly going to his side.

"What's wrong?" He just grunted, avoiding looking at you. "Yondu?" he liked it when you said his name, it made a change from everyone calling him Captain.

He sighed, then slumped back in his chair, "Had a run in with some… Kree"

"I don't understand…"

"Don't like Kree" he mumbled, staring off into space, frowning.

"…why not?"

He glanced at you. "They did this to me" he said quickly, with a vague gesture towards his metal implanted fin. Of course you'd noticed it before, but you hadn't wanted to ask - everyone knew the importance of any Centaurians' fin. "Ma parents sold me ta them when i was a baby, sold me to be a slave, and they did that…"

"I'm sorry"

He frowned, "What you sorry for?" he asked, genuinely.

"That you had to go through that, I'm sorry that happened to you"

"… ain't nobody ever said that before"

"Then I'm sorry for that too"

xxxxx

You watched Yondu clean down the components of his gun. It was calming to watch, and neither of you had spoken in a while - you had more comfortable silences between you these days. It was nice.

So when he asked you a question out of the blue, you didn't actually hear a word he said. "Sorry, what did you say?"

He looked vaguely flustered, "I know yer not meant ta ask, but, how did you… ya know? Ya said before you didn't died here on the ship, so…?"

"Oh"

'Sorry, shouldn't have said nothin'"

"No, it's okay"

He stopped, and turned his head to look at you, "…ya sure?"

"I don't mind. It doesn't hurt" he nodded for you to go on. You shook your head, "It's not an interesting story, Yondu"

"I still wanna hear it, if that's alright by you"

You smiled, "It's fine by me. I wasn't well, no-one knew what was wrong with me - I was sick for months on end. By the time we figured out I'd been born with a heart deformity, that had progressed as I grew up, I was too ill for surgery - I would never have shaken off the anesthesia. It was too late. I lived another few days, and died in my sleep"

He'd watched you talk, transfixed. "How long ago was that?"

"I don't remember… time isn't really the same anymore, it doesn't mean anything to me"

He nodded. In his mind he knew from what you'd said that at the very least, a hundred years must have passed - the technology that would have saved you wasn't anything new.

Neither of you spoke again for some time, and when you did, you didn't talk anything of death.

xxxxx

Yondu lounged sideways in his chair, playing with the newest addition to his trinket collection. You smiled as you saw him.

As you walked over to where he was, the little figure dropped from his hands, and landed on the floor just out of his reach. He huffed, currently feeling too lazy to move and pick it up again. You laughed, shaking your head.

You crouched and retrieved the trinket, placing it, sitting to face him, on his chest. You perched on the arm of the chair.

Yondu stared at you, "How'd ya do that?" you had to laugh, "How'd ya pick it up?"

Of course, Yondu had seen you fail to do the very same thing time and time again in the past, it was fair that he was confused now. "Sometimes the world in which I exist, is closer physically to the world in which you exist - so, on occasions, I can pick up things"

He sat up, a curious glint in his eyes as he asked, "So, right now, you can touch things? Move things?"

You tilted your head as you considered his curiosity, "Yes"

"Close yer eyes"

You gave him a look, "What are you up to?"

"Just close yer eyes… please"

"Well, seeing as you said please" you laughed. You closed you eyes, and sat still.

You heard Yondu move, but you had no idea what he was thinking. That was, until you felt a soft, warm breath against your face. You let out a tiny gasp, and he gave you the chance to move away, before, gently, he pressed his lips to yours.

You leant in, chasing after him as he pulled away. A kiss. You hadn't felt a kiss since before you'd taken your last breath.

"Was that alright?" Yondu asked, quietly.

You smiled, blushing, "That was more than alright"

xxxxx

Time passed and things changed. Yondu adopted the Terran boy, Peter, (who had a very different opinion on ghosts, which you found refreshing) he grew up, moved on. There were the occasional skirmishes between Yondu and Stakar, and the other Ravagers. Occasionally paths were cross with the Kree. From time to time, one authority or another would catch up to Yondu, and he'd wriggled his way out of it again and again.

You were there, you watched on. You were never confined to the ship, you could go anywhere with Yondu that you pleased. You were always by Yondu's side, wherever and whenever he needed you to be.

So when things started to go down hill, when Ego showed up out of nowhere, and the crew mutinied against him, you did all you were able. But Yondu put himself on a path you couldn't get him to turn away from. No matter what you did, what you said, you could see exactly where he was going to end up.

You were there with them, Yondu and Peter, as they escaped Ego's planet. As Yondu decided to secure his fate. "He may have been your father, boy, but he wasn't yer daddy"

"It's okay," you whispered to him, "I'm here, I'll take you both back to the ship. It'll be okay"

Peter's eyes darted between you both. You knew what Yondu was planning, you had to make sure it worked. "What are you talking about?"

Yondu shook his head, ""I'm sorry I didn't do none of it right"

"It's okay," you told him, "I'm ready - I've got you"

He looked to you and nodded, a tear in his eye. Then he turned back to Peter, "I'm damn lucky yer ma boy"

He disengaged the space suit, and breathed out his last breath into the vacuum. You took the disk from his hand, placed it on Peter's chest and turned it on, saving him from the cold of space. Peter was screaming, crying, begging 'no'. But there was nothing else that could be done now. You wrapped your arms around them both and guided them in the direction of the ship,

xxxxx

They held a funeral. A proper, Ravager's funeral.

You had decided that maybe now was time that you stopped. You could do anything, see the rest of the universe, or simply fade into the stars. The choice was yours.

You smiled a sad smile as you watched Peter and his friends send off Yondu's body. Your smiled only widened as you felt a presence come up beside you, and a large, strong hand take hold of yours.

"We should leave them to it" you said, softly.

"Yeah, probably should" he nodded. You looked up at Yondu, and he looked down at you and smiled, "D'ya think ya can put up with me for eternity?"

"I think so, yeah"