There were many things Rocket disliked, but none of them came close to his absolute loathing of not knowing where everyone was at all times. Some may have called this an obsession, or, like that woman at a bar once said, he's traumatized from his past, but Rocket thought that that was all hogwash. As a genius, he had the right to worry about something others didn't without being judged, which was why that woman from the bar was missing a hand and he was banned from the establishment.

As a prisoner of the Ravagers currently in a cell deep in the ship, Rocket did not know where everyone was. Besides Yondu and Ronan, who were seated in the cell with him, Rocket did not know where the other Ravagers were or where Nebula was. He also didn't know where Groot was, and that was a larger concern for Rocket than a possible triple-spy villain or some stinking Ravagers. He had heard Taserface proclaim Groot was too cute to kill before getting dragged to his current cell, but that was less than comforting to Rocket. How many times had Quill woken everyone from shouting out during his nightmares that were from, though he only said this to Gamora and was unaware Rocket had been standing just by the doorway, his childhood with the Ravagers?

Gritting his teeth, he sent a look at the cause of those nightmares, Yondu. In their new cell, which was surprisingly roomy, Ronan and Yondu were seated on opposite ends of the same all from each other and both were pointedly looking at everything but the other. Rocket had never been the best at reading complex emotions, but he was perfect at sensing tension, something that these two...well, these two were swimming in tension. In any other situation, Rocket would want that kind of tension because it made men stupid, but two stupid men weren't helpful for his goal of getting out of their new cell. He knew that he had to do something, if only because he could see Quill's smug face as he made a witty comment that would somehow burst the tension in the cell and make the two men laugh. Oooh, how nice it would feel to rub it in Quill's face that he could be a good little leader too.

Knowing exactly how to break the tension, Rocket addressed Yondu with a half-growled, "No offense, but your employees are a bunch of jerks."

Quill's smug face was laughing at Rocket when there was no laughter from Yondu and Ronan. Hell, they didn't even crack a grin. If anything, Yondu just looked more defeated as he said in a cracking-voice, "I was a Kree battle slave for twenty years when Stakar freed me. He offered me a place in the Ravagers. Said all I needed to do was adhere to the code, but I was young and greedy and stupid," he paused and squinted at Rocket as if he was seeing him for the first time, "like you stealing those batteries."

"That was mostly Drax," Rocket quickly corrected. Drax would probably agree with him too, even though it wasn't true, because Drax wasn't the smartest.

"Me and Stakar and the other captains…we weren't so different from you and your friends. The only family I ever had, but I broke the code. They exile me. These ones here are the ones who followed, of course they're jerks. Which is what I deserve."

Yondu's voice pathetically dropping off when he was done speaking made Rocket wince and glance over at Ronan. Stupid guy wasn't offering any helpful pep talks as he was too busy staring down at the floor with a frown on his face and a distant look in his eyes. Rocket had seen that exact look many times on many men when they were talking about their sweethearts. All Rocket had to do was replace looking at the "cell floor" with beer and replace "Ravager ship they would die on" with a bar that they would die in, and the image was identical. Those men weren't the smartest either, and if Rocket was concerned enough about Drax to go over a plan with him twenty times, then he was definitely concerned enough about Ronan to consider making some flashcards to quiz him over the plan later. Though he didn't know it yet, Ronan was a very important piece in Rocket's plan.

But there was another much more important piece he had to worry about, so right now Rocket was going to cheer up a blue, finless alien.

"Slow down, drama queen," he said in a practiced comforting voice. "You might deserve this, but I don't. We gotta get out of here." Rocket's mental image of Quill was in awe of this pep talk, as he should be. It was far better than whatever thing he would say, and Rocket hadn't peppered it with phrases from his favorite songs. Did Quill seriously think that they didn't notice half of the pep talks were just song lyrics with the chorus taken out of them?

Blinking dazedly at him, Yondu grumbled out something that might have been "where's Quill?" but Rocket was only guessing. Judging by Yondu's reaction when he answered that Quill was with Ego, Rocket figured that his guess had been correct. Yondu's reaction, however, was concerning. Yondu's eyes widened and he straightened for the first time since they had been thrown into the cell. His hastily asked, "And Ariel?" had a sense of urgency to it.

"She went too," Ronan half-growled in answer. He too, Rocket saw, had straightened himself out of the daydreams of his girl, and while talking about her wasn't much better, it was still something. "If I had known I would not have wasted time at the crash. I would never let Galaxy remain in that danger."

Even though it was clear what the answer to his question was, Rocket still had to hear it to truly accept it. So while the response was obvious to all, Rocket still asked, "So is Ego an asshole with a stupid name?"

Yondu nodded while Ronan answered very firmly, "Ego is a lethal creature that has been hunting Galaxy and her brother like they are prey. He is far more dangerous than just being an 'asshole with a stupid name.'"

The disdain, whether towards Rocket or to Ego, made Rocket swallow a bit harder than usual. For a former Kree Accuser to describe someone as lethal...well, it would be stupid to not be concerned. And Rocket was very concerned, just not for Quill, or for Quill's sister, or for Gamora, or for Drax. Sure, he liked them and enjoyed spending time with them, but his concern would always be about Groot. If the others were killed by Ego, Rocket would be able to move on just fine as long as he had Groot.

Ignoring the slimy lie, Rocket turned his attention back to Yondu to ask him a question he had heard Quill grumble and then answer whenever the mere mention of children came up, "Why didn't you deliver Quill to Ego like you promised?"

"He was skinny," Yondu answered with a shrug. "Could fit into places we couldn't. Good for thieving." None of this was new information since Rocket had heard it word-for-word from Quill, but he still nodded as if it was.

"Why did you bring Galaxy to my father?"

While Yondu had rattled off his answer to Rocket's question in an obviously echoed way, his answer to Ronan was halting and slow, "She was too young…too soft. The Kree would toughen her up," he paused, and his thoughtful frown shifted to a darker one, and his next words were hoarse and grimy. "Some of them liked her too much. Thought there were better things she could do than thieving."

Yondu didn't continue with his reasons, but Rocket found that he didn't want to hear the rest of them anyways. Besides, that would stop Ronan from fully exploding the way Rocket had expected him to since Gamora had always described him as extremely protective of Galaxy. A glance at Ronan told Rocket that he was very pissed, which was all that was needed for the plan, but it was controlled in such a way that Rocket would bet everything on Yondu's answer holding no new information for Ronan.

Silence fell in their cell. Things were still tense, but it had lessened from before. While not optimal, Rocket had dealt with worse atmospheres, Gamora and Drax were prime examples of hell in terms of a team atmosphere, so if those two could work together then Rocket was confident everything would be fine here. His plan was falling into place except for that one critical piece of how they would get out of the cell.

On a silver platter, that was delivered when Yondu said in a rasp whisper, "I got an idea on how to get outta here, but we're going to need your little friend."

Ronan felt as if he had awoken from a long dream when he listened to Yondu explain his plan. It was the accent, Ronan knew, that was the cause of this sudden energy. Shaped while he had been a slave for the Kree, Yondu's accent was very familiar to Ronan and that had consequences few knew about.

Krees had…an interesting response to each other, a response that he had only noticed when he was younger because Galaxy had pointed it out to him when they were just children. Still going by Ariel, she had only been on her new home for a few months, yet she had already become proficient at being unnoticed and in the shadows. She had used the casual dismissal of her existence as non-Kree servant to her advantage, getting the information she needed to survive the new world she lived in. Even then, though, Ronan was constantly aware of her existence; he would enter a room and just know that she was standing in the corner, the shadows keeping her out of sight. He would never give her away, knowing just how much danger her life would be in if his father found her. His reasons weren't completely noble, because selfishly, Ronan had recognized that even then, she had become someone who strengthened him and he wanted to keep that strength with him. Knowing she was there in the room made him feel confident and better. Though he didn't know it as a child, the seeds of his reliance for her were growing steadily.

It wasn't forbidden for the two of them to be around each other, but her status as a servant who wasn't a fellow Kree meant that it was very, very frowned upon. That didn't stop them from seeing each other or being alone with each other, of course, it just meant they had to meet in secrecy and even more intimately than they would have otherwise. In a cramped, unused room, they had met and spoken to each other for years. One night after Ronan and his father had fought in front of the undetected Ariel and he had bemoaned his aggressive response to his father that just made the situation worse, she had remarked with a frown, "It's like being around another Kree makes you more violent than usual."

Ronan had never realized this until she had pointed it out, but he had found it to be true repeatedly with just a casual recall of times when was around his fellow Kree. Ariel and Ronan had theorized about it for hours, coming up with various ideas that never fully explained this response. It was only because of his knowledge of this, however, that he was able to connect some of his buzz with Yondu's Kree-like accent. While the response was far weaker than if there had been another Kree, Ronan was still feeling some of the familiar affects. He felt energized and tight; the surprisingly spacious cell was starting to feel too cramped, and he knew he was only moments away from getting up and pacing. At least he could take some comfort in the knowledge that the response was too weak for his control to slip. When he had taken part in the protests against Xandar, closing his eyes merely brought forth images of violent deaths and never-ending cycles of blood.

The energy he was feeling had the same flavor as the one trigged by his fellow Kree, and Ronan had easily linked that to Yondu, but a large part of the energy was because of someone else. Closing his eyes brought forth one face he longed to see in person. His Galaxy smiled at him when he closed his eyes. Her hair was messy, the way it always was she woke up in the morning, and her face was lined on one side thanks to her pillow. He was sure some would dismiss such an appearance as unattractive, but to Ronan, Galaxy was stunning. More than anything, Ronan wanted that image to be what he would see when he opened his eyes, and he thought about childishly keeping them shut until he was with Galaxy once more, but he had no choice in the matter when Yondu's voice starting the plan filtered into his conscious.

Opening his eyes, he sat down in a spot closer to Yondu and the woodland creature that called himself Rocket. He made sure to keep the creature in between of himself and Yondu, knowing that the peace between them was uneasy at best. Galaxy was the most important person in his life, and he was not going to risk losing her because of past mistakes, especially with Ego's involvement.

He doubted he would ever forget the first time he had met that…creature. Late at night, he was awoken by one of his father's servants and told that he was wanted in the throne room immediately. When he had walked there, his thoughts were consumed with fear for himself and a selfish want that Ariel would be there with him, but he quickly became grateful that Ariel was tucked safely in bed. Ego had smiled at him when he walked in, and every sense in Ronan's body told him to run far away from him, a feeling only heightened when he saw how stiff his father was.

For all that could be said about his father, he was not cruel for the sake of being cruel. Cruelty, for him, was a means to an end and nothing more, so he did not enjoy cruelty. While Ronan would never know his father's thoughts that night, he had always hoped that his father had realized Ego's true nature that loved cruelty and did not want to give a child, Kree or otherwise, to him. It was far more likely that Ego had insulted him through his unannounced arrival and Ronan's father had wanted to make a point that he could not get what he wanted. Whatever the reasoning was, Ego had left empty-handed that night.

Of course, Ego had returned when his father had died. Then a fresh, young adult, Ronan had already fallen in love with Galaxy, and while the two were striving to keep their relationship as private as possible they were young and stupid and passionate. When Ego had arrived unannounced once more, Ronan denied him as quickly as possible. Unlike his silent reaction to his father, Ego had pursed his lips and asked in a mocking tone, "Do you think she will still love you when she finds out that you kept her father from her?"

Ego had been promptly removed by his guards, but the question was still embedded in his mind all these years later. As he watched Yondu and Rocket try to explain to the child-like tree creature that they needed Yondu's prototype fin, Ronan's mind taunted him with Ego's question. He was sure the answer was a very "no," and Ronan could imagine the expression of betrayal and anger and hurt that Galaxy would give him. Lying was not an option, though Ronan knew it would be an easy way to fix the problem. He would have to hope that she would understand why he had kept Ego a secret from her, and he would have to hope that she would forgive him.

He had tried to forget at Ego for the longest time, suppressing him to the back of his mind. He had nearly succeeded until the events on Xandar displayed Galaxy's and her brother's half-human nature. There was a reason why Ego had wanted Galaxy, and Ronan guessed that hers and her brother's ability to directly hold an infinity stone had something to do with it. Hating the secrecy he was forced to work under, Ronan had started to research Ego. His attempts to compile vague mentions quickly led to a trail of dead bodies, but Ronan only discovered how they connected to Galaxy through random luck. A drunk Ravager of a different faction than Yondu's had happened to sit down next to him at a random bar. He had talked at Ronan for hours, but it wasn't until he mentioned that Yondu and his faction had been ousted because they had dealt with children did Ronan pay attention. That small slip connected the pieces in an image that was too precise to be a mistake.

All he could hope was that Galaxy had not received the same fate as her many, many siblings. He doubted her brother would ever let something like that happen to her, but Ronan feared that his strong desire for a father, a desire he had heard from Galaxy's stories of her childhood, would make him blind to Ego's true nature until it was too late. Though it was very likely she would hate him once this was over, Ronan was determined to save Galaxy from Ego.

It seemed that his companions, however, did not share his determination. Ronan had hoped that they would have gotten the fin by now, but when he returned his attention to Rocket and Yondu, he realized that they were far from their goal. The child-like tree creature had returned with a severed toe. "Tell me you guys have a refrigerator somewhere with a bunch of severed human toes," when Yondu shook his head at this, Rocket sighed heavily, "Okay, then let's just agree to never discuss this."

Ronan felt as if he was trapped in some horrible nightmare when Yondu ripped off his Ravager patch, handed it to the tree creature, and explained that the drawer he was looking for had that symbol on it only to have the tree creature place the patch on his head. Repeating the same phase of 'I am Groot' over and over again, Rocket translated that the tree creature thought that the patch was a hat and that he hated hats.

This explanation of the tree creature's hatred for hats dragged on and on, nearly spinning into an entirely different conversation before Ronan finally snapped, "We have much more important things to concern ourselves with than hats!" It was a whispered shout and it made Ronan feel ridiculous, but it got the reaction he needed. The tree creature went away once more while they waited in their cell for the tree creature to return, hopefully, with the fin.

It came as a surprised when the fin was thrown down at Yondu's feet from a height that the tree creature could never reach. Ronan was at his feet in an instant, watching as the Ravager who had thrown the fin down stood at their cell, the tree creature sitting on his shoulder. "I didn't mean to do a mutiny," the Ravager said with his eyes firmly on the still-seated Yondu. "They killed my friends."

There was a long pause that Ronan desperately wanted to interrupt, but he knew that this was an important moment. Grudgingly, he kept silent so that Yondu could order, "Go get the third quadrant ready for release."

With a trembling smile and a proud salute, the Ravager made to leave when Rocket stopped him with a quick, "One more thing." Despite his frustration and desperate want to leave, Ronan couldn't help the small smile at Rocket's request for some of Quill's music to be played. The music was something Galaxy and her brother shared, and while Rocket and Yondu would think about her brother when they were playing it, Ronan's thoughts would be consumed by Galaxy.

Ronan had not heard the song before, but when it started to play, he could imagine Galaxy's joyful reaction to it. She would want to dance to it, and he knew one look would make him join in, holding her and dancing. He wanted to bask in that idea, but there was no time.

This was not the first mass killing Ronan had been apart of, but it was certainly the most unique one. Used to be the leader, Ronan was surprised when he found himself walking behind Yondu, but it was the obvious reaction to the lethal force that Yondu's new and much larger new fin provided. The music gave them away quickly, but the lack of surprise had no effect, exemplified with the quick deaths of their first group of Ravagers. Ronan had seen Yondu's whistle-guided arrow in action before, but that had been nothing compared to what he was doing now. One by one, the arrow went through the Ravagers and sent them to the floor, dead.

It was absolutely glorious; by the time the trio had entered the security dock that was filled with monitors, Ronan had only used his hammer once, and that was only to knock someone off of the walkaway. He had no idea if the man had survived his fall; the nameless, practically faceless in memory Ravager had no place in Ronan's care. His current focus was on Galaxy and getting to her.

All that stood in his way was a ship full of Ravagers, but they were quickly killed by Yondu's arrow as he sent it flying around the ship, killing the various groups coming to the security dock. Perhaps a better man would have felt bad for those Ravagers since they never had a chance, but Ronan was not that better man, and he was glad to see their deaths after he had seen those very same men dragging others to their deaths and mocking their pleas.

Looking away from the carnage displayed on the monitors, Ronan watched Yondu's face. There was a savage gleam in his eyes that Ronan was familiar with – he too had held that gleam when he had killed those that he hated. If he got the chance with Ego, he would hold that look and make sure that Ego knew how much he was despised.

The gleam in Yondu's eyes intensified and he gave a sharper whistle than the previous ones. Turning back to the monitors, Ronan quickly found the source of Yondu's increased anger. Taserface, large gun in hand, was marching towards them. Yondu's arrow soon appeared behind him, and Taserface turned to see it accelerating towards him. Thanks to another sharp whistle, the arrow was engulfed in flames and Taserface, surprisingly, had enough wits and speed to dodge the arrow. Ronan scowled as he watched the man's face morph into amusement as he cackled, but the amusement was soon erased by horror as the flamed arrow hit a tank that exploded. Even from their location, Ronan could feel the tremors running through the ship.

Tremors were the least of Ronan's concern, however, because the explosion of the tank trigged more explosions that were displayed on the monitors as they spread throughout the ship.

"You maniac," Rocket spat out. "The whole ship is gonna blow."

"Not the whole ship," Yondu corrected. He caught his arrow, somehow impeccably clean, and walked out of the security dock with Ronan and Rocket, the tree-creature on his shoulder, following quickly behind.

With ease, Yondu led his two companions to the flight deck of the ship where the Ravager that had helped them was waiting. With a crisp order of, "release the quadrant," the lone Ravager started to pull down various levers, triggering something that Ronan hoped would save them from the explosions Yondu had set off. With no way of helping, Ronan could do nothing but sit on the edge of one of the chairs while Rocket did the same. Yondu had also taken a seat, but he had fully relaxed in it as they waited.

Never was Ronan more grateful for his fears to be proven wrong when their craft detached from the burning Ravager ship just as the ship completely exploded. Now in their own usable craft, they thrusted forwards and were hurtling towards the nearest jump point.

"Where to, Cap'n?" The Ravager asked.

Rocket answered before Yondu or Ronan did. In his seat, he had pulled up a navigation panel, and with a determined growl, he announced their destination, "Ego," just as he set their ship on that course.

"NO, BOY!" Yondu's shout was too late, and they were already starting the jumps necessary to get to Ego. Their ship started to shake heavily as it popped in and out of existence, but the effort on the ship was nothing compared to the toll their bodies were taking as they started to distort and bubble like clay.

"It ain't healthy for a mammalanbody to hop over fifty jumps at a time," Yondu spat out with clear effort in every word.

"I know that," Rocket responded, but Ronan, even with the effects of their travel increasing, could tell that Rocket had not known that.

"We're about to do seven hundred."

The distortions to their bodies increased as they continued to jump through various points. Slowly, their faces and bodies start to stretch out before them, pulled by the increasing gravitational force they were enduring.

On Ego's planet, Galaxy sat on her bed in the sleeping quarters they had been provided. The wind lazily drifted through the room she was in thanks to the open wall covered with light, very useless curtains that were more content with floating on the lazy breeze than blocking it. With every push from the wind, the curtains blew up and allowed the sunlight, still strong in the late afternoon, to blast the room with full strength; when the curtains had finally finished their descent, the sunlight was only barely weakened.

The cycle was never-ending. By the fourth time, Galaxy was wanted to rip the curtains down, but she controlled herself with the distraction of her mother's music. With a huff, she had fallen back on the bed and had placed the headphones over her eyes and closed her eyes. She didn't fall asleep, only because she wasn't actively trying to. She just wanted a break from the world she had found herself in, and the familiar music was the perfect way for her to close her eyes and just float.

She could hear her mom's voice describing the song as she and her brother, just six years old, sat in the back of her car. They were driving down country roads that were framed on either side by corn, and while their route would certainly take them longer than on highways, their mother had guaranteed this route would be much more fun.

"Oh, oh! This is a good one," Galaxy's mom had gasped out. She turned the radio up so her children could fully hear the song, but after only a few moments of listening, she was already talking about the song, "My Sweet Lord by George Harrison," she informed them, "It was on All Things Must Past." From the back seat, Galaxy could see her mom shake her head, "That was a good album."

As the song faded to a close, Galaxy took off the headphones and looked around the room. The curtains were still useless and floating through the air and the sun was still blasting through. On the balcony outside, she could see Gamora fussing with the communications device that was paired to a device Rocket had with him at their crashed ship. She had attempted to use it in the room to talk to Rocket and get an update on the ship, but with a grumbled "no service," she had gone outside.

Getting up from the bed, Galaxy walked out to join her. Gamora glanced up at her entrance, but she quickly returned her focus on trying to contact Rocket. When the attempt failed, she spat "damnit" and gave the device a glare.

"We might be too far away," Galaxy suggested.

Gamora scowled and sent a glare to Ego's palace in the distance. "Or something's blocking the signal," she said darkly.

"Why would Ego do that?" Galaxy asked; she hated the whine that she could hear in her voice to the point that she couldn't help the scowl on her face.

It was a testimony to how distracted Gamora was that she didn't notice in the whine and didn't even eye Galaxy. Instead, she turned away from her too look out at the landscape and shook her head. "I don't know," she admitted, "but you can't deny that something is going on."

Galaxy bit her lip. She thought there was something going on as well, and whatever it was, it was linked to the energy Ego had encouraged herself and Peter to tap into. That tainted part, if she hadn't imagined it, was there for a reason. Surely, it would be right for her to tell Gamora? If she had imagined it then there wouldn't be any harm, and if she hadn't imagined it...

Opening her mouth, Galaxy was just about to explain everything to Gamora, but the sound of Sam Cooke's Bring it on Home to Me and footsteps made Galaxy's words die in her throat and her mouth snap shut as the two women were joined by a very happy Peter. Depositing the source of the music, a speaker he had connected the Walkman to, on the floor near him, Galaxy's brother gave her a wane smile, sent another smile to Gamora, and was then so captivated by the landscape that he didn't notice that his smiles weren't returned.

The silence that followed Peter's arrival was awkward, even with the song providing background noise. After a few moments, Gamora started to fiddle with the communication device and Galaxy, switching her weight from either side, turned around and walked back inside. It didn't take a genius to tell that Gamora wanted to have a conversation with her brother in private, and Galaxy was more than willing to give them that privacy for as long as they needed. That was why she grabbed her own Walkman as soon as she entered the room and left, shutting the door behind her, to sit on the stairs.

Placing the headphones firmly over her ears, Galaxy skipped through the tracks once, twice, and then a third time with mounting frustration. Why hadn't she stayed in bed and floated instead of allowing all the problems to drag her back down to Earth? Concerns about the ship, Ronan, and everything with Ego were swirling around in her head and she was just so tired. Couldn't she have some peace for a few moments?

She went through the Walkman again and found nothing, so she slammed it down on the floor beside her and spat at it, "'Songs for every mood' my ass. Guess everyone forgot about the song for when you're stuck on a planet with your dad who's trying to get you and your brother to use some messed up energy that's disgusting, but no one else seems to notice what you're feeling so you're probably going insane and going to mess up everything and take away your brother's lifelong dream."

The Walkman remained on the ground and didn't offer up any song that fit her rant, earning it a glare from Galaxy. Even as frustrated she was at the object, she still carefully picked it up, rotating it in her hands to make sure she hadn't broken it, and clipped it to her pant. It was so much more than just a music player because it was the only thing, besides Peter, she had of her mom and of her childhood on Earth. Ever since Ego had come into her life, Galaxy had thought more and more about her home planet. What had happened to her house and her family? And they accepted that Ariel and Peter were gone, or had they continually searched for the twins since the night they vanished?

Would they want to know how she was? Did she want to go see them again?

Galaxy wasn't ready to answer those questions, which was why her abrupt draw back into reality by the noise of Gamora storming out of the bedroom and down the stairs without a glance at her friend, was a blessing. Stiffly, Galaxy got to her own feet just as Gamora slammed the door as she left. Staring at it for a moment, as the house still trembled from the force of the slam, Galaxy turned to look at the bedroom where she could just make out Peter sitting on a bed.

Gamora was her friend, but Peter was her brother. Her concerns about anything would always be cast aside for him, and today was no exception. Even though she was exactly thrilled about what she had to do, she still walked into the bedroom, shutting the door behind her, and sat down next to her brother on the bed. He hadn't looked over to her, not even when she turned her head to take him in. She could see the frustration and sadness that were weighing him down, but that was easy to tell from anyone. The other, more important emotions, the ones Galaxy could always see with her brother, were blocked off. The change, while small, was enough to make Galaxy feel more separated from her brother than ever. If she couldn't even understand his emotions, then what connection did they have?

For the first time when it came to comforting to her brother, Galaxy was unsure of what to do or say. So she stayed silent until Peter spoke first, his voice sullen and rough, "She doesn't understand. I finally have my family and she doesn't get why I want to keep them." He shook his head and looked over at her with annoyance. "She thinks there's something wrong with our dad, Ariel. Can you believe that?"

"Peter-"

"I know! It's just so crazy. You'd think that she'd want me to be happy, but all she cares about is herself."

"Peter-"

"I thought that she and I…we had something, but I was wrong."

"Peter!"

Jerking at Galaxy's shout, Peter fell silent as he looked at his sister with a wounded confusion she had seen on his face every time he had gotten in trouble for something but he didn't know why. This was the first time she had received that look from him, and it made her gut clench and her nails dig into her palm. She had to say this though, even as hard as it was to choke out the words, "I know you're thrilled to meet our dad and I am too, but I think-I know Gamora's not wrong and I'm scared that Ego is a part of something just...just wrong. That energy he was trying to get us to use, Peter-"

"It was fine. If you had been able to use it, you would know."

Galaxy shook her head and placed a hand on her brother's arm. "Peter, I could have used it. I can reach down and feel it the same way you can, but I choose not to use it because there was something so disgusting wrapped up in it that everything else had been tainted."

She could see that Peter was mulling over her words and had actually listened to what she had said. She was certain he would say he believed her when he finally responded. That made it only hurt more, to the point that a burning sensation entered her eyes and her stomach throbbed as if all the air had been punched out of her, when Peter took her hand off his arm to squeeze it while saying, "Ariel, I think you're confused."

"What?"

Her choked out question went ignored as Peter continued, "If you had actually felt the energy, you would have felt how wonderful it is. It's special and it's what connects us - you, me, and Ego." His eyes shining with some sort of crazed spark, Peter held out his other hand and a ball of energy floated in his palm. "I can help you make this, Ariel, and then you'll see why there's no way Ego could lie to us."

Galaxy's eyes burned with tears she refused to shed. She wanted to be able to make that ball so much that it hurt, and right there, her brother's hand squeezing hers, it felt like such a simple choice with only one right answer. All she had to do was nod, close her eyes, and conjure up a ball of energy twin to her brother's. He would be so happy and Ego would be so proud and their friends would come to understand the truth in time. Ronan would be happy too, as long as she was.

Would she be happy as Ariel Quill, daughter of Ego and sister to Peter?

Slowly, Galaxy lifted her other hand, but it was only to carefully remove her brother's hand from hers. Peter looked down at the empty hand as if it had been burnt, and when he looked back up to meet his sister's eyes, Galaxy could see that he knew exactly what she was going to say next. But she still had to say it aloud, "My name isn't Ariel, Peter. And I'm not confused about what I felt. There is something wrong with that energy and I'm not going to let it take over and taint me."

She could see Peter's eyes brimming with his own tears, and he swiped at them aggressively as her words hit him. "Are you saying I'm tainted?" he asked with a trembling voice.

Galaxy swallowed hard before she answered, "You've closed yourself off from everyone who loves you and you're fighting them. The Peter I know doesn't do that, and he doesn't call me the wrong name either. Everything you've been doing in the past two days isn't you, and the only thing that's changed is being around Ego."

With a shout of "he's our dad!" Peter got to his feet and started to pace angrily in front of sister. Going back and forth, back and forth, he didn't pause as he continued to speak, "You know how much this means to us!"

"How much this means to you, Peter, not me. Never me," Galaxy responded, her voice trembling as she too stood up. "I never wanted a dad as much as you did. All I wanted was a healthy mom. All I've wanted is a family, Peter."

Peter stopped pacing, but he didn't turn to her. Motionless, he said hollowly, "I thought we were family."

Galaxy could see his figure through her vision blurred by unshed tears. She couldn't see his face, but perhaps that was for the best because the pain from her response would kill her. As it was, she could hardly say, her voice coming out in a whisper, "I thought so too, but if you keep going down this path and you keep changing then we can't be family."

She could see his shoulders slumping forwards and it killed her to see the pain she had caused. She wanted to run to him, hug him, and apologize over and over again to fix all the hurt, but she couldn't do that to herself or him. She loved him, and right now that meant she owed it to him to stand firm in her decision.

She couldn't be around him because it would only take a few minutes until she was trying to fix everything between them. It killed her to walk away from Peter, the bedroom, and the building Mantis had placed them in. With every step further away, the urge to go back shouted at her, but she pushed through it until she came upon Gamora sitting in a field. Practically collapsing next to her, it only took one look for Gamora to wrap an arm around Galaxy as she finally broke down and sobbed.

I am so sorry for this being late! Insanely hectic week but it's over and I'm nearly free! I actually have time to write and edit chapters now, so the next chapter will be post on time on the 24th! If it tells you anything about how much I edit these chapters, I added 2,000 words from when I uploaded it in full to what I'm posting today, so it does take some time for me to get these ready to post.

As for the chapter itself, I'm really happy with it. I liked changing to Ronan's POV since it's pretty different. He's really not an emotional person and I generally write pretty emotional characters. I tried to stay with that while also giving him an emotional drive, which is Galaxy and loving her. Of course, that isn't always the best set-up for an relationship, since Ronan is so dependent on Galaxy that he'll go to a lot of lengths to keep her with him, like keeping Ego away from her.

With Galaxy, I really wanted to make her change her mind about the energy when Peter was offering to help her. I think it would change her character quite a bit since her doubt about her own feelings would be so strong that she decided to ignore what she was telling herself. But I just couldn't see her doing that because it would mean changing herself for Ego, which relates to a lot of the inner conflict she has about this entire situation. Should she change herself so that she can stay alongside her brother, or should she forge her own path? She definitely answered that question in this chapter, so now she has to deal with the consequences.

Not much else to say, so now...review time:

importchic: Thank you so much! I've really had fun playing with energy since we're not really given much information about it in the movie. I kinda equated it to being like a drug with this blissful feeling that's covering up a lot of really bad stuff, so I drew a lot of my inspiration from being around drugs and not taking them, taking them and not liking them, being pressured to like them, and then becoming addicted to it.

See ya'll on Friday!