〘 :*¨༺ 𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐱𝐲 ༻¨*: 〙

"You said it yourself, bitch."

ᴺᵒʷ ᵖˡᵃʸᶦⁿᵍ; ain't no mountain high enough - marvin gaye and tammi terrell

ᴠᴏʟᴜᴍᴇ : ▮▮▮▮▮▮▯▯▯

if you need me, call me
no matter where you are
no matter how far

ELLIE COUGHED a groan as she rolled onto her side. Tears leaked down her face, smearing the dust further across her face. Her back ached and her head pounded, her lips trembling as sputtered sobs left her. She got onto her knees and crawled towards a pile of sticks.

She cried as she clutched the burnt sticks in her hand, pulling them to her chest. Rocket kneeled down next to her, holding a handful of sticks as well. His ears drooped down as he leaned his head on Ellie's shoulder.

"I called him an idiot." Rocket muttered as Ellie's shoulders shook with her hiccuped sobs.

Xandar civilians crowded around the rubble of the ship, all horrified as Ronan stepped out of the smoke.

Ellie's cries subsided into anger as she turned to Ronan. Rocket doing the same as he stood up.

"You killed Groot!" Rocket yelled as Ellie's hair stood up, blue crackles sparking from her body. The two yelled as they charged at Ronan, who merely blasted them with a wave from his staff making them fly back and hit a piece of the ship.

"Behold! Your guardians of the galaxy." Ronan boomed as Ellie sat up, helping Rocket up as well. "What fruit have they wrought? Only that my father and his father shall finally know vengeance." Ronan continued as Rocket spotted the broken Hadron Enforcer and crawled over to it. Ellie quickly caught on and went over to help him. "People of Xandar, the time has come to rejoice and renounce your paltry gods! Your salvation is at hand." Ronan yelled in a native language as he raised his staff.

Quill stood up and distracted Ronan by singing the pop song that was playing in the distance.

"Listen to these words." Quill told Ronan before he continued singing. "Now bring it down hard!" Ellie's brows furrowed in confusion as Quill started dancing to the song.

"What are you doing?" Ronan asked, very confused.

Ellie and Rocket were able to fix the Hadron Enforcer, Drax putting it on and getting ready to shoot it.

"Dance-off, bro. Me and you." Quill answered. "Gamora." Quill said as he held his hand out to her but she shook her head at him. "Subtle. Take it back."

"What are you doing?" Ronan asked more angrily this time.

"I'm distracting you, you big turd blossom." Quill replied with a smile.

"This is for Groot, asshole." Ellie said before she connected the cords in her fist and sent electricity through it, charging the Hadron Enforcer before Drax shot it at the center of Ronan's staff where the stone was connected.

The staff exploding, exposing the stone, Quill jumped and reached for it, catching it just before Ronan could.

Ellie, Drax and Rocket steadied themselves as they were pulled into the swirl of wind the stone created in Quill's hand.

Quill stood up with the stone in his hand, his body darling and pulling slightly apart as the stone took hold of him.

"Peter! Take my hand!" Gamora yelled as she reached out to him. Gamora yelled in pain as he body jerked up as Quill's hand connected with hers.

Ellie was next, grabbing hold of Quill's other hand that held the stone. Hot tears pooled in her eyes as she groaned in pain.

Drax grabbed onto the young girl's shoulder followed by Rocket grabbing onto Drax's finger. With the power of the stone going through all five of them, the pain slightly subsided, their bodies still intact as they stood strong together.

"You're mortal! How?" Ronan yelled as he looked at them, baffled by their abilities.

"You said it yourself, bitch. We're the Guardians of the Galaxy." Quill said to him before opening his hand with the stone, blasting Ronan with its energy, destroying him. Once Ronan was gone, Gamora captured the stone in a device.

Ellie sighed as she caught her breath and let go of Quill's hand, the purple power wind disappearing around them, revealing the Xandar civilians and the rubble.

"Well, well, well." Yondu said as he approached them. "Quite the light show. Ain't this sweet. But you got some business to attend to before all the nookie-nookie starts."

"Peter, you can't. Peter." Gamora told him.

"You gotta reconsider this, Yondu. I don't know who you're selling this to, but the only way the universe can survive is if you give it to the Nova Corps." Quill said.

"I may be as pretty as an angel, but I sure as hell ain't one. Hand it over, son." Yondu said as he held out his hand. Quill sighed before handing Yondu the device. Yondu chuckled as he held the orb. He waved his hand at the Ravagers behind him and they all turned to walk off.

"Yondu." Quill called quickly before Yondu could leave. "Do not open that Orb. You know that, right? You've seen what it does to people." Yondu nodded with a chuckle before leaving.

Ellie sighed as tears started to spill once more from her eyes. She staggered over to the sticks again and sat down, pulling her knees to her chest. Rocket joined her, sniffling as he grabbed a stick from the ground.

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

"WHY WOULD you even know this?" Quill asked the Nova guards as he looked over a hologram of his nervous system.

"When we arrested you, we noticed an anomaly in your nervous system, so we had it checked out." Dey, a guard explained to him.

"I'm not Terran?" Quill questioned.

"You are half Terran." The Nova Prime replied. "Your mother was of Earth. Your father, well, he's something very ancient we've never seen here before."

"That could be why you were able to hold the Stone for as long as you did." Gamora added.

Ellie entered the room with a pot in her arms that contained a stick from Groot, planted in dirt. Drax and Rocket were on either side of her, as well as a couple Nova guards.

"Your friends have arrived." The Nova Prime announced with a smile. "On behalf of the Nova Corps, we'd like to express our profound gratitude for your help in saving Xandar. If you will follow Denarian Dey, he has something to show you."

"Thank you, Nova Prime." Quill said as he nodded at the woman.

Ellie nodded at her with tight lips before following Dey and the rest of them, Drax and Gamora talking behind her.

"We tried to keep it as close to the original as possible." Dey said as the group walked out to a large platform where a craft that looked like the Milano. "We salvaged as much as we could."

"Wow...Thank you." Quill said as Ellie held the pot tighter to her chest.

"I have a family. They're alive because of you. Your criminal records have also been expunged. However, I have to warn you against breaking any laws in the future."

"Question." Rocket said as he slightly raised his hand. "What if I see something that I want to take, and it belongs to someone else?"

"You will be arrested." Dey answered.

"But what if I want it more than the person who has it?"

"It's still illegal."

"That doesn't follow. No, I want it more, sir. Do you understand? What are you laughing at?" Rocket quickly asked as he looked at Gamora. "Why? I can't have a discussion with this gentleman?" He continued to ask as Gamora led him to the ship, Ellie quietly following behind.

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

"WHAT'S THAT?" Ellie asked as she entered the room in the Milano where Quill was sitting near his big cassette player. She still held the pot in her arms. Quill looked up at her before sighing.

"It's a cassette tape." He answered as Ellie sat down next to him.

"What's it do?" She asked. She shook her head as she caught herself. "I'm sorry to ask questions. I just...I never got to learn about Terra since I don't remember anything about it. A-and I know you're from Terra so I was wondering if you could...tell me about it?" She shook her head again as Quill gave her a questioning look. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be bothering you."

She got up to leave when Quill stopped her.

"Ellie." He called as he put the new cassette tape in. She turned to him but stayed in her spot. Quill clicked play and the music followed suit. Ain't No Mountain High Enough sang through the speakers throughout the Milano. Ellie was taken by surprise by the tune as she looked around. "What do you wanna know?" He asked.

The corner of Ellie's lips turned up, excitement bubbling inside her at the thought of finally learning more about her home planet.

"Anything." She replied.