A/N: SPOILERS. MAJOR SPOILERS.

Don't read unless you've watched the movie for this fic contains a LOT of spoilers.

That said, I don't own Guardians of the Galaxy. Neither do I own the image.

Inspired by one of the most emotional scenes in the movie.

There was a time he had always wondered how his father would be like. There were so many things he wished to ask — why did he leave? Why did he not return? Above all, where in the galaxy was he all these years? Those years long past, he had already lost one parent. Then, his own mother's life had to be taken away as well. As if all these were not enough, he soon found himself abducted by those who called themselves the Ravagers, whose leader — a blue-skinned man who called himself Yondu — took it upon himself to make him one of their own.

There was a time he never could look at Yondu in the eye. He knew that he never really cared about him anyway, that he was just a pawn in Yondu's game, a tool to further his own selfish ends. He was after all, simply a 'perfect thief'. Nothing more, nothing less. He spent his days dreaming of the day he would be reunited with his long lost father, wherever in the galaxy he might be.

Over the years, the questions and yearnings for a life he never knew grew, as did the distance between him and Yondu. He knew deep down that no matter what Yondu did, he would never be his real father. Perhaps Yondu knew it too, if the hidden pain that flickered in his eyes when he thought no one was looking was anything to go by. Not that he really cared however — after all, they were not related by blood. So he pushed aside his feelings, focusing them instead on the ideal of a father he never knew. On the adamant belief that someday, he would find his father, and that all would finally be well.

That fateful day came quite unexpectedly, though at a time when his team had needed help the most. Blindsided and bombarded from all sides, he fought down the urge to laugh out loud. Batteries. They were all going to die because of some stupid batteries. And then, as the pounding of the lasers grew harsher and louder, as their intense light almost blinded his vision, an earth-shattering boom shuddered all around them. They watched in askance, as the platoon of pods that had them all surrounded disintegrated in a terrifying explosion.

If the strange man who saved all their lives that day had been anyone but his father, he was certain he would never live down the realisation that someone out there was that much better a fighter than he was.

Their meeting was anything but emotional. It was almost disappointing, really, as they had regarded one another with hesitant trepidation. As if neither could imagine this day would ever come to pass. He wasn't going to complain, however. After all these years, they were finally, finally reunited — and the reality of feeling his touch, knowing that he was still alive — made the fantasy of whatever dramatic reunion his mind could conjure pale in comparison.

He learned much from the man in the short time he spent on the planet. He learnt he possessed some sort of Celestial gene, that he was meant for greater things, that the mortal life he had always lived was simply… temporary. It came as quite a shock indeed, but grasping at straws as he was, he hung on to every word the man said. It was his father after all.

Then, the man told him how he had played a hand in his mother's death. And all at once, everything shattered.

This man, no matter what blood or genes they shared, was a stranger. A father would never willingly cause the death of a woman he loved. A father would never willingly abandon the side of his own child. A father would never wish death and destruction upon everyone else simply to further his own selfish ends.

If the stakes had not been so high then, he would have laughed. How could he have been so blind as to believe that the blood shared between them made whatever bond they shared real?

A sense of calm settled in his heart even as he launched himself against the man. The fight went by in a blur of motion and dancing light. How much time did Rocket say they had? 5 minutes? That he could do. It didn't matter if he himself did not manage to escape in the end. He brought them into this mess, and he would get them out off it no matter the cost.

It was with a touch of surprise when he found the man kneeling before him, his chest heaving with heavy breaths. Gazing at him with panicked eyes devoid of warmth and love, the man made one last appeal, one final attempt to draw him to his side. He bit down a bitter laugh. This was what he had yearned for all these years? This was the man he was supposed to call 'Father'?

As explosions tore into the collapsing landscape all around them, he watched, numb, as the man disintegrated into dust in his hands. The sapphire energy that danced between his palms faded, the last remnants of a man he thought he would love vanishing into nothing but a memory.

The explosions grew closer; he could feel the heat of it all on his skin even as the sounds seemed strangely far away. There was no escape; not for him at least. As he closed his eyes, he prayed that his friends would all manage to escape the atmosphere before the explosion claimed them all.

A yelp of surprise fell out of his lips as a heavy form slammed into him, moments before the ground where once stood crumbled. Looking down, Yondu smiled up at him, the soft gaze of the blue-skinned man locked intently with his own.

"He may have been your father, Quill, but he wasn't your daddy."

The words struck him like a ton of bricks. Even as he opened his mouth to speak, he found them both rocketing high above the planet below. Without the celestial energies that had once sustained its existence, it was now rapidly collapsing in upon itself.

His eyes widened first in confusion, then despair, and then horror as he watched as Yondu began to freeze and suffocate right before his eyes. Too late, he found the spacesuit safely attached to himself.

"No," he whispered, even as Yondu cupped his face with his hands, a gentle smile playing on his lips, those eyes shining with so much love and unsaid words and finality that he had never once realised was there before.

"No, no, no…" he chanted as if it were a mantra, even as his voice turned from horrified cries into desperate sobs, even as a milky white hue overtook the familiar spark in Yondu's eyes, even as his frozen form slowly drifted slightly away from him, those arms still stretched out in front of him in a frozen embrace.

Too late, he realised the one thing he had been searching for all these years was always right by his side.

He was just too blind to see it.

Reaching out, he grasped tightly onto the arms of the man. Silent tears rolled down his cheeks, but he was past caring how he looked like anymore. Lifting a trembling hand, he touched Yondu's face, tracing the wrinkles that lined his cheek. Fighting down the sobs that threatened to overtake him, he closed his eyes and pulled Yondu close in a tight embrace.

"I love you, father," he whispered quietly, the expanse of stars and the dying world below the only audience to the words he wished he had spoken, long before it became far too late.

A/N: thoughts? I was sobbing all the way from this scene till the end of the movie :( It was just so very sad (and unexpectedly so too).

Reviews are loved and greatly appreciated!