Splitting Up

----- October 17th, 2014 - The Iron Lotus, Contraxia -----

Snow falls gently over the sleepy, pastel-colored town of wood and stone buildings. 

A bunch of people were at The Iron Lotus, a robot brothel and saloon. 

Many Ravagers, including the one and only Kraglin, as well as some Robotic Courtesans, are drunk and cackling, trying to catch snowflakes on their tongues.

Yondu Udonta is staring out from a window as he puts on his pants. He looks utterly disconnected and alone. 

Behind him are three Courtesans. One pushes a button on her neck and she powers down. 

"Yondu! Come on down!"

Yondu looks down at the street where an older Ravager, Tullk, stands. He drunkenly dances, waving for Yondu to join.

__________

Yondu exits his suite. 

Two bodyguards, Brahl and Half-Nut, salute and follow him as he descends the stairwell. 

At the bottom of the stairs a group of Ravagers in blue uniforms laugh. A gruff older man, Stakar, and a man seemingly made of diamonds, Martinex are among them. 

Yondu stops when he sees them. He's struck by shock, seemingly knowing him and not expecting to see him. 

Stakar laughs as he tells a story, "And I was like, 'Aleta, I love you, but you're crazy now, you always been'--"

"Stakar," Yondu calls out as he steps closer in trepidation.

Stakar looks over at him, finally noticing him. He is surprised to see Yondu.

Yondu continues, "Been some time. I'd--"

"Seems like this establishment is the wrong kind of disreputable."

The blue-coats turn and walk away.

Stakar glances at the proprietor as he passes her, "There are a hundred Ravager factions. You just lost the business of ninety-nine by serving one."

Yondu stands there for a moment, hurt, as they walk away. But, little by little, his hurt turns to rage and he follows after them.

Yondu trots quickly toward Stakar and the others, "You can go to hell then! I don't give a damn what you think of me!"

Stakar turns back toward him, furious, "Then why you following us for?!"

"'Cause you're gonna listen to what I gotta say!"

"I don't gotta listen to nothing!," Stakar retorts, "You betrayed the code! Ravagers don't deal in kids!"

"I told you before! I didn't know what was going on!"

"You didn't know 'cause you didn't want to know, 'cause it made you rich!"

"I demand a seat at the table! I wear the flames same as you!"

"You may dress like a us but you'll never hear the Horns of Freedom when you die, Yondu!.. And the Colors of Ogord.. will never flash over your grave," Stakar pauses for a moment, composing himself, before grabbing Yondu by the collar in a nonaggressive way, "If you think.. I take pleasure in exiling you... you're wrong.... You broke all our hearts."

Stakar and the others storm away. Martinex stays a moment, staring at Yondu, and then moves on too.

Yondu is left alone, shaken as the white snow falls gently on his blue face. 

Nearby, a Monstrous Ravager leans in toward Kraglin and the others. 

As he eyes Yondu, he whispers to them, "Ah, Pathetic. First Quill betrays us and Yondu just lets him go, scot-free. We followed him 'cause he was the one wasn't afraid to do what needed to be done. Seems he's going soft."

"If he's so soft, why you whispering for?," Kraglin asks.

"You know I'm right, Kraglin."

Tullk tells him, "You best watch what you say about the Cap'n, Ta--"

"Who the hell is that?"

They all turn to see High Priestess Ayesha approaching beside them. The Chambermaids roll out a long blue cloth so she doesn't touch 'unconsecrated' ground.

About halfway towards Yondu, one of the chambermaids gets the cloth stuck and tries tugging on it. She looks up at the High Priestess in shame and embarrassment.

The High Priestess doesn't even bother looking down at her. She just breathes in heavily.

Soon enough, the problem is fixed and the cloth is rolled out more, allowing the Priestess to stand just in front of Yondu.

She does her best to force a smile as he glances around in confusion.

"Yondu Udonta," she greets, "I have a proposition for you."

__________

----- Berhert - Night -----

"I hired Yondu to pick you up, when your mother passed away."

Everyone sat around the campfire just outside the crashed Milano. They made food, which Ego was indulging himself in heartily. The only one missing was Groot, who was sleeping in the wrecked Milano.

"But instead of returning you, Yondu kept you. I have no clue as to why," Ego continues explaining.

Peter told him, "Well, I'll tell you why. 'Cause I was a skinny kid who could squeeze into places adults couldn't, It made it easier for theivin'."

"Well, I've been trying to track you down ever since."

Drax eventually pipes up, "I thought Yondu was your father..."

Peter looks at him, confused, "...What? We've been together all this time and you thought Yondu was my actual, blood relative?"

"You look exactly alike," Drax replies as he slurps on what appears to be grub.

"One's blue!," Rocket exclaims, his brows furrowed in shock.

Drax just nods and points at Peter.

"Drax, What color do you think I am?," Y/N asks him.

Drax states, as if sure of his answer, "Grey."

Y/N stares at him and tilts his head. He can't tell if he's stupid or colorblind... Or if he's somehow able to see shit others can't.

Like why'd he say grey skin? Why specifically grey?

"No, He not my father! Yondu was the guy who abducted me! He'd beat the crap out of me so I'd learn how to fight and he kept me in terror threatening to eat me," Peter tells him, feeling the need to clarify.

"Eat you?!," Ego repeats, incredulously.

"Yeah."

"Ohh, That son-of-a-bitch!"

Gamora asks him, "How'd you locate us now?"

"Even where I reside, out past the edge of what's known, we've heard tell of the man they call Star-Lord," Ego says, "Say we head out that way now? Your associates are welcome, even that triangle-faced monkey there."

Rocket glares at him for a moment, before eventually holding his hands up against his face. He was kinda self-conscious about his face.

"I promise you, it's like no place you've ever seen," Ego continues and says to Peter, "And there I can explain your very special heritage, and finally be the father I've always wanted to be..... 'Scuse me. I gotta take a whizz."

Ego scurries away to take a leak in some shrubs. Peter watches him walk away with suspicious eyes.

Peter looks over to Gamora, whispering, "...I'm not buying it."

Gamora looks back at him, then hesitates before telling him, "Let's go take a walk."

__________

Ego was whistling 'Brandy - Looking Glass' as he whizzed into the bushes.

Just behind him, Y/N, Drax, Rocket, and Nebula sat at the fire with the lady with antennae that came with Ego.

"I am Mantis," She said.

Mantis was looking at Drax and Y/N. She was grinning, or at least her best attempt at grinning. 

It's kind of creepy.

Y/N tries his hardest to not break out laughing at her.

Drax blatantly asks her, "What are you doing?"

"Smiling," She explains, "I hear it is the thing todo to make people like you."

"Not if you do it like that," Drax mumbles as he continues eating.

Y/N lets out a few snickers but Mantis didn't notice. Drax, on the other hand, looks over at him. His face was kind of red. 

Drax looks confused for a moment.

"Oh. I was raised alone on Ego's planet. I do not understand the intricacies of social interaction," Mantis explains, still oblivious, but then looks at Rocket cleaning his fur and asks, "Can I pet your puppy? It is adorable."

Drax looks back over at her then glances at Rocket a few times. He then looks over to Y/N, who's nodding his head enthusiastically and mischievously.

Y/N also manages to whisper, in his best Palpatine impression, "...do it.."

Drax turns back to Mantis with a small but still mischievous grin and says, "..Yes."

She goes to pet Rocket but at the moment of contact, startled, he swirls around and snaps at her.

"AHH!," Mantis yells as she pulls her hand back.

Drax and Y/N nearly kilt over in laughter. Mantis looks back at them with the kind of look of a terrified child.

"That is called.. A practical joke!," Drax manages to tell her as he and Y/N continue laughing their asses off.

Immediately after, Mantis, kind of like a crazy person, switches gears instantly and starts laughing too.

"I liked it very much!," Mantis says.

Drax tells her, "I just made it up!"

As the three of them continue cackling like maniacs, Nebula, just next to them and still tied up, just shakes her head in annoyance.

__________

Peter and Gamora enter a decently private spot.. Though as private as one can get with a teammate who can hear miles away. 

The campfire flickers through the trees beyond them.

"Give me a break!," Peter exclaims, "After all this time, you're gonna show up and all of a sudden you want to be my Dad?" 

"I hear you," Gamora tells him.

"I mean, this could be a trap. The Kree purists, the Ravagers, they all want us dead! Hell even the freaking Flerkens tried to pick a fight with Y/N, You remember how many he had to kill!"

"I know, but--"

"But what?"

Peter and Gamora stood just inches away from each other. 

"What was that story you told me about Zardu Hasselfrau?," Gamora ends up asking him.

"..Who?," Peter asks, genuinely confused.

"He owned a magic boat."

"....David Hasselhoff?"

"Right."

"Not a magic boat. A talking car," Peter corrects.

"Why did he talk again?"

"To help him fight crime, and to be supportive," he explains.

"And as a child, you carried his picture in your pocket, and you told the other children he was your father, but he was out of town--"

Peter finishes, "Shooting Knight Rider or touring with his band in Germany. Why are you bringing this up now? I was drunk when I told you that."

"I love that story," Gamora admits.

"I hate that story," Peter tells her, "It's so.. sad. As a kid I'd see the other kids off playing catch with their dads, and I wanted that, more than anything in the world."

"That's my point, Peter! What if this man is your Hasselhoff," Gamora grabs his hands and continues, "Listen, if he ends up being evil.. We'll just kill him."

Peter immediately looks down at their hands. This causes Gamora to look down as well, making her instinctively pull back.

__________

----- October 18th, 2014 - Berhert -----

"You're leaving me with that fox?!"

Nebula was angry.. as always.

She was tied up to the ship as Rocket soldered away at the Milano. 

"He's not a fox," Gamora tells her as she walks by, She continues and says to Rocket, "Shoot her if she does anything suspicious.. Or if you feel like it."

"okay," Rocket mumbles back.

Y/N was knelt in front of Baby Groot, who had tears forming. 

"It's just gonna be a couple days, Bud. We'll be back before Rocket's finished fixing the ship. In the mean time...," Y/N whispers the last part, "You're in charge."

Gamora and Y/N step out from the Milano. One carrying a bag and the other.. definitely not.

Drax and Peter come up from the front of the ship.

"What if the Sovereign come?," Drax asks.

Peter tells him, "There's no way for them to know we're here. Let's go."

"I'm uncertain about parting ways."

"God, you're like an old woman," Peter jokes.

"Because I'm wise?"

Drax follows after the others.

Peter turns to Rocket as Drax, Gamora, and Y/N head toward the ship. He starts to say something nice, perhaps something conciliatory but..

"Hope daddy isn't as big of a dick as you, orphan boy," Rocket tells him.

Peter just shakes his head, "So what's your goal here? To get everyone to hate you? ...'Cause it's working."

Peter turns back to the others and exits The Milano.

Rocket watches them move away. 

"And if you don't love me now
You will never love me again"

Peter, Drax, Y/N, and Gamora approach the oval ship. Ego, with Mantis, is waiting inside. 

"I can still hear you saying
You would never break the chain (Never break the chain)"

Ego smiles and clasps his hand on Peter's shoulder as he enters.

"And if you don't love me now
You will never love me again"

Peter sits back against the wall, alone, nervous. He looks across the way at a sleep chamber, where Mantis helps Ego lie down on a slab. 

She places her hand on his forehead with her hand, her antennae alight. And he drifts off to sleep.

Quill takes a small, folded piece of paper out of his pocket. 

It's the photo of David Hasselhoff. 

"I can still hear you saying
You would never break the chain (Never break the chain)"

__________

----- Ego's Ship -----

Y/N, Peter, and Drax are drinking tea and laughing with Mantis.

"Hey, can I ask you a personal question?," Peter asks her.

Shocked but filled with joy, she says, "Oh, no one has ever asked me a personal question!"

"Your antennae, what are they for?"

"Their purpose?"

Drax tells her, "Yes, Quill, Y/N, and I have a bet.

"You're not supposed to say that," Peter says before he notices Gamora entering the room and pouring herself some of the tea.

"I say that if you are about to go through a doorway that is too low, your antennae will feel this, and stop you from being decapitated."

"Right, and if it's anything else other than you specifically not being decapitated by a doorway, I win," Peter adds.

Y/N also says, "Unless it's what I specifically say it is. Which is that it's used for empathic purposes."

"I don't even know what that means, but I know it's definitely not that," Peter says, "So what is it? 'Not being decapitated by doorways'?"

A few feet away, Gamora smiles, warmed by the good-natured, by-now-familiar bickering between the three of them. Though it's obvious who's always right in those situations..

"They are not for feeling doorways," Mantis blatantly tells them.

Drax groans, "Damn, I just lost my entire life's savings."

Peter fist pumps the air, "Three pairs of pants."

Both Gamora and Y/N await for what Mantis is gonna inevitably say next with smirks. The other too oblivious to notice that neither of them were ever gonna be right.

"But," Mantis starts, "Y/N is right. I think they have something to do with my empathic abilities."

"Again?!" Peter exclaims.

"How does he always know this?!," Drax also exclaims.

Y/N grins at them, "Nice. Three pairs of pants and all of Peter's Credits."

Curious, Gamora asks Mantis, "And what are those?"

"If I touch someone I can feel their feelings," she explains.

"No. Telepaths know thoughts. Empaths feel feelings. Emotions," She looks at Peter, "May I?"

Peter doesn't stop her. Mantis, cautiously, touches him. Her hand quivers as his emotions shoot through her and her antennae alight. 

She is moved by the emotion.

"You feel.. love."

Peter looks at her with widened eyes, "Uh Yeah, I guess, yeah, I have sort of a general, unselfish love for just about everybody.."

"No, romantic, sexual love--"

Drax and Y/N stare at them with agape mouths like little kids in a candy store.

"No, No I don't--"

"For her," Mantis points at Gamora.

Y/N and Drax both sharply turn to look at Gamora with the same expressions. You can tell that Gamora is kind of embarrassed, she's just able to hide it.

"No! That is not--," Peter exclaims pulling his hand away.

Drax and Y/N start cackling uproariously. They were looking back and forth between Gamora and Peter while pointing at Peter. They tried to keep each other from falling off their seats from laughter.

Mantis looks on in confusion at what's happening.

"She just told everyone your deepest, darkest secret!!," Drax shouts.

"Guys, I think you're overreacting a little bit--," Peter tries to say.

Y/N interrupts him, "You must be so embarrassed!!"

Drax slaps his chest repeatedly and says to Mantis, "Do Me! Do Me!"

Mantis touches Drax. 

She grins brightly, "I have never felt such humor!"

She starts giggling and before long Mantis, Y/N, and Drax are once again laughing hysterically. The three of them were pointing at Peter, falling over with laughter. 

Peter's humiliated, "...So unbelievably uncool."

Mantis wipes the tears from her eyes, composing herself. She goes to touch Gamora, who grabs her wrist though her clothes. 

"Touch me. And the only thing you're going to feel is a broken jaw," Gamora tells her.

...Poor Mantis..

She looks like she might cry.

Y/N speaks up, no longer laughing, "You can try me if you want?"

Mantis scurries over to him and places a hand on his shoulder. Her antennae light up.. but she says nothing.

"Your emotions are very hard to understand. It is like.. you are preventing me from doing so..."

Y/N just grins at that.

Suddenly, Mantis's antennae grow twice as bright and it momentarily flickers a dull orange. She takes in a sharp breath as her eyes tear up. 

She stares at him.. Or more specifically through him. Her eyes were glossed over and she seemed out of it.

She looks as if she doesn't know whether to smile, cry, laugh, or grimace.

She eventually speaks, "..Such a lonely little boy. Lonely then and lonelier now.... And soon even lonelier in the end.."

Y/N quickly removes Mantis's hand from his shoulder with a straight face. Peter, Gamora, and Drax stare on in confusion.

Mantis just looks around, not remembering what just happened.

What the hell was that?

Suddenly Y/N turns to the others with a grin, "Well, that sure got depressing. Anyone need any more tea?"

Y/N stands nonchalantly with a.. seemingly fake.. smile.

____________________

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