CHAPTER ELEVEN
' WE DID NOT HAVE IT UNDER CONTROL . '

Ash exploded into the palace, immediately launching a ball of black mist at Ego and sending him sprawling across the floor. She sprinted to Peter, grabbing his face in both hands and shaking it.

"Peter!" She gasped as she noticed a cosmos floating in her brother's eyes. "Peter, listen to me! We need to go!"

"But it's so beautiful, Ash, can't you see it?" His voice was softer than she'd ever heard, and she paused for a moment.

She grabbed his hand and tried to haul him away, but he stood his ground. "Pete?"

"He wants to stay."

Ash whipped around, her eyes widening as Ego moved from where he landed. "You monster-"

"-Now, now," he tutted. "Let's not use such harmful words."

"I saw the bones."

Those four words caused Ego's face to lose the warmth, and a sharp glare replaced his humour-filled eyes.

"How many of us were there?" Anger burst into his face, and Ash fought the urge to take a step back, mist forming in her palms. She swallowed. "How many of our siblings did you murder?"

"I am a God, child. I will not be-"

"-You are no God," Ash shot back, lifting her chin. "You are mortal. You know why? You're cruel and conceited, which makes you no better than us. And you will die... Just. Like. Us."

Ego smiled, and she furrowed her eyebrows. "Oh, sweetheart. You could have the universe in your eyes. You just need to open them." He grabbed her chin, fingers pressing against her cheeks and puckering out her lips.

Before Ash could summon her magic, his other hand touched her temple and her mouth parted with a gasp, the cosmos forming in her eyes. The black mist disappeared from her palms, and her knees buckled, Ego's hold on her face being the only thing supporting her. He tilted his head before he released her, and she fell to her knees in front of him.

He turned to face Peter again. "What is it, son?"

"My friends," he replied, words contorted with childlike innocence.

"That's the mortal in you, Peter."

"Yes. I don't need that."

"What are we?" Ego continued, glancing at Ash, whose head fell back, and she stared into nothingness.

"Forever," Peter replied.

"What are they?"

"Temporary," Ash whispered, voice airy.

"You think you love them, but love is merely an evolutionary trick in the service of reproduction. We are beyond such things," he continued.

"Yes," they both replied.

"Now-"

"-But my mother." Ego looked at Peter with furrowed eyebrows. "You said you loved my mother."

"That I did," Ego agreed. "My River Lily, who knew the words to every song that came on the radio. I returned to earth to see her three times. I knew if I came back a fourth, I'd never leave. The expansion, the reason for my very existence, would be over. So I did what I had to do, but it broke my heart to put that tumour in her head."

"Wh-what?" The cosmos dwindled from Peter's eyes.

"I know that sounds bad-"

Peter pulled out his pistol and fired, and the blasts tore through Ego. He shot him over and over again. The flesh disappeared, exposing the skeleton beneath, but as the charge on Peter's blasters wore out, Ego just looked at him, and although holes riddled him, he had a mere disappointed look in his eyes. Ash remained on her knees, shoulders slumped and breathing heavily through her mouth.

"Who in the hell do you think you are?"

"You killed my mother!"

Ego transformed into David Hasselhoff. "I tried so hard to find the form that best suited you, and this is the thanks I get? And then, once again." He became his usual form. "You really need to grow up."

A spike of cosmic light shot up and jutted into Ash and Peter's bodies. Her eyes snapped open, and she stared into nothingness, the tendril lifting her into the air with her toes just touching the ground. A whimper escaped through her mouth.

"I wanted to do this together!" Ego continued. "But I suppose you'll have to learn by spending the next thousand years as batteries."

Ego walked beside Ash and regarded her for a moment before lifting a finger and caressing her face. "This is the reason you are remarkable. You see, it's not that hard to be good, is it?" He moved to Peter, snatching the walkman off of him and staring at it.

He could barely speak. "No."

Ego pressed play and looked at Peter.

Brandy, you're a fine girl. What a good wife you would be.

"'My life, my love, my lady is the sea?'" He gestured around him. "Peter, this is the sea." Ego crushed the walkman in his grip as Quill watched helplessly. The power surged from both of them, and Ego lifted his hands, letting the walkman disintegrate to the ground, a sigh escaping him. Ego basked, and he summoned all his energy.

Ash drew in a breath, a scream ripping from her chest, and the spike went black.

A door beside Ego smashed apart where Drax kicked through it, and Gamora, Nebula and Mantis followed behind him. Ash could just about sense them and used the little strength to look toward them.

Ego turned to see them, and then he heard rumbling above him. He swivelled to look at the window, and a giant laser drill smashed through.

"Hey there, Jackass," Yondu greeted.

Ego managed to look surprised before the laser drill landed on him. The tendril retracted from Peter and Ash, and they collapsed, heaving for breath. Ash curled into a ball, her body shaking, and her hands balled into fists. She gagged and coughed, struggling to complete the essential functions due to exhaustion.

The door on the side of the laser drill slid open, and Groot stood there, smiling with a wave.

"Out of the way, dumber, smaller Groot," Drax said as he crawled in. Groot started to punch Drax, but he paid no mind.

Gamora helped Peter up, and Nebula moved to Ash's side, gently pulling her to her feet. She stumbled, but she caught her, a ragged breath escaping her.

"Sorry," she whispered, swallowing and letting out a gasp of breath.

"I told you something didn't feel right," Gamora spoke to Peter.

"I told you so," he sighed. "That's really what I need right now."

"I came back, didn't I?"

"Because there's an unspoken thing."

"There is no unspoken thing."

They climbed onto the laser drill, Ash using the wall to make her way in before she fell onto a chair, trying her best to hide a wince.

"What were you doing?" Drax shouted, glaring at Rocket. "You could have killed us all crashing in here like that!"

"Uh, thank you, Rocket?" he corrected.

Peter scoffed. "We had it under control."

"We did not have it under control," Ash corrected.

Mantis agreed, "That is only an extension of his true self. He will be back soon."

"What's Smurfette doing here?" Peter asked, gesturing towards Nebula.

"Back rubs, dishes, killing gods, whatever I need to do to get a damn ride home."

"She tried to murder me!" Rocket accused.

Ash sighed. "Everyone on this ship apart from me and Groot has tried to kill you, Rocket."

"I saved you, you stupid fox," Nebula scoffed.

"He's not a fox." Gamora reminded.

"I am Groot."

"I'm not a raboon either!"

"I am Groot."

"Raccoon, whatever!"

Drax looked out the window, and Ash followed his line of sight. Tentacle-like strands burst up through the palace flooring and wrapped around the drill. He turned to the others. "How do we kill a Celestial?"

"There's the centre to him," Peter began.

"His brain, his soul, whatever it is, in some sort of shell," Ash elaborated.

"It's in the caverns below the surface," Mantis added. Peter climbed up the ladder.

"Yondu?" Nebula looked at her sisters. "If he's got that fin back, I am so screwed."