I do not own Guardians of the Galaxy or any of the characters. I never understood why Peter had to decide between being human or being Ego's battery. There was always a third option.

Love

Peter sat on his bed, staring at the space between his hands. He took a breath and energy began to flow between them. He was getting better at controlling it. Ego said it would take him millions of years to be on his level and he had no doubt of that fact. But for the time being, he was getting much better at manipulating the energy. He could now form swords or daggers with it, or whips, or clubs. Basic things requiring it to be solid. Mostly what he was training to do was connect to it and control its flow. He figured if he could get that down, the rest would be much easier.

A knock sounded at the door and he stopped the flow then blinked. He felt light. He closed his eyes, focusing. There. There was energy built up inside of himself. He had accidentally stolen it when he had cut the flow. The knock sounded again.

"Coming!" Peter said, hurrying to the door and opening it, finding Mantis. "Mantis?"

"I was wondering if I could ask you some questions," Mantis said.

"Sure," Peter said. "What's up?"

"Well, it's just, I am confused about love," Mantis said.

"Well I'm not exactly the right person to talk to about it," Peter said.

"I don't mean romantic love," Mantis said. "I was sitting with Drax earlier and he was talking about his daughter. And he was smiling. I wanted to feel his happiness, because it is hard for an empath to feel their own emotions, but when I touched him, it wasn't happiness. There was so much sadness that it was suffocating. And there was a loneliness. There was also love but it was a sad, painful kind. And yet, despite all the pain, there was a contentedness. I do not understand. How can someone feel such pain and sadness and yet be so content? How can someone smile if they are hurting so much?"

"Drax loved his daughter more than anything," Peter said. "She was his entire world, along with his wife. But she was killed by Ronan the Accuser. He misses her, far more than he lets on. But, people can feel content even when in pain because of the love, painful or not. He was able to know her, and enjoy what time he had with her. He may miss her, and want her back more than anything else, but he's content because he got to spend time with her."

"But then, shouldn't there have been happiness?" Mantis asked.

"No," Peter said. "Not necessarily. He lost someone he loves deeply. He can't be happy about that. But he can be content."

"Oh," Mantis said. "You lied. You are a very good person to talk to about this."

"Not usually," Peter said. "I'm usually horrible at this. I keep messing up with...nevermind. Listen, if that's everything, I need to get some sleep."

"Oh, right," Mantis said. "I'm sorry for taking your time."

She left and Peter stared at his hands again, restarting the energy's flow, returning what he had accidentally stolen, then experimentally taking more, keeping it inside of himself when he cut off the flow. It wasn't much, but it was there. After several seconds, he began to experiment with manipulating the energy he had inside of himself, rather than the energy in the planet, and soon realized that it was easier to do it that way. But he was stealing pieces of his father, so he eventually returned it and lay down, drifting off.

Peter walked up behind Gamora as Sam Cooke drifted through the air, wrapping his arms around her and taking the communicator, tossing it aside and turning her toward him.

"What are you doing?" Gamora asked.

"Dance with me," Peter said.

"This is hardly a good time," Gamora said, trying to pull away. "I can't reach Rocket on the communicator-"

"This is Sam Cooke," Peter said. "One of the best singers in Earth's history."

Gamora gave him a skeptical look but took his hand, reaching her other hand up to his shoulder, but unsure of where to place it. After a moment, Peter extended his arm over her, Gamora spinning with a practiced ease, never letting go of her hand and smirking. Then, she returned to him in a similar manner, her arm resting on her shoulder and hand laying on his back comfortably now, a small smile gracing Gamora's lips.

"Drax says you're not a dancer," Peter said.

"If you ever tell anyone about this, I will kill you," Gamora said.

Peter smiled as they swayed, eyes stuck on hers. Finally, he hd to ask.

"When are we going to do something about this unspoken thing between us?" Peter asked.

"What unspoken thing?" Gamora asked.

"This...Cheers...Sam and Dianne...guy and a girl on a TV show dig each other but never say it because if they do the ratings would go down sort of thing," Peter said.

"There's no unspoken thing," Gamora said.

"Well it's a catch 22 because if you said it then it would be spoken and you'd be a liar," Peter countered. "So by not saying it, you are telling the truth and admitting that there is."

Gamora stared at him in confusion for a moment.

"No that's not what I've..." she trailed off shaking her head before sighing and stepping back, pushing him away. "What we should be discussing right now is something about this place doesn't feel right."

"What are you talking about?" Peter asked. "You're the one who wanted me to come here."

"That girl Mantis, she's afraid of something," Gamora said.

"Why are you trying to take this away from me?" Peter asked as Gamora sat on the couch, picking up a pistol.

"I'm not trying-"

"He's my father," Peter interrupted. "He's blood."

"You have blood on Earth and you never wanted to return there."

"Again, you made me come here! And Earth? Earth is where my mother died in front of me!"

"No, it's because that place is real, and this is a fantasy!" Gamora stood, storming over to her bag and beginning to dig through it.

"This is real! I'm only half human remember?"

"That's the half I'm worried about!"

"Oh s...I get it, you're jealous because I'm part god, and you like when I'm the weak one."

"You were insufferable to begin with," Gamora said, picking up her communicator. "I haven't been able to reach Rocket, I'm going to go outside, and I'm going to try and get a signal."

"You know what, this is not Cheers after all," Peter said. "This is whatever the show is where one person is willing to open themselves up to new possibilities and the other person is a jerk who doesn't trust anybody! It's a show that doesn't exist! That's why it would get zero ratings!"

"I don't know what Cheers is!"

"I finally found my family, don't you understand that?"

Hurt filled Gamora's face and when she next spoke, her voice was thick with it. "I thought you already had."

Then, she turned, leaving the room and leaving Peter staring after her.

Peter stared into the distance as images flashed before his eyes. His mind was hazy but the images were so vivid, so real, so perfect. Light was everywhere. Covering everything. Every last living thing, every planet, everything was covered with light, shining with it.

"It's beautiful," Peter said.

"You just have to adjust your way of thinking about life," Ego said. "Everything in this universe, everything but us is...even the girl...are...temporary." He turned to Peter, noticing the sad look on his face. "What is it son?"

"My friends," Peter said.

"Oh well you see...that's the mortal in you, Peter," Ego said.

"Yes," Peter said

"We are beyond such things," Ego said.

"Yes...but my mother," Peter said. "You said you loved my mother."

"And that I did," Ego said. "My River Lilly who knew all the words to every song that came over the radio. I returned to Earth to see her three times. And I knew if I returned 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 tumor in her head."

Peter blinked, his words ringing in his ears as the images faded. He stared at Ego in shock, rage filling him.

"What?"

"Now now, alright, I know that sounds bad-"

Peter drew his blasters, shooting Ego again and again, the blasts blowing gaping holes in him, entire pieces of Ego's body being blasted into ashes, and still he continued to fire. It wasn't that easy to kill a god, after all. When he finally stopped, there were gaping holes all over, and Ego's entire left arm was gone, as was the right side of his face. In their place were vein-like lines of glowing blue energy.

"Who...in the hell do you think you are!?" Ego demanded, staring at him.

"YOU KILLED MY MOTHER!"

"I tried...so hard to find form that best suited you!" Ego shouted, his body regenerating then transforming into Hasselhoff, exactly as he was in the picture Peter carried. "And this is the thanks I get?" He transformed back. "You really need to grow up!"

He held out his and and the ground behind Peter exploded, Peter spinning and staring as a massive stream of light reached into the air, extending into a spike then driving itself into his back and out his chest. Pain erupted through his entire body, his strength leaving him as he felt Ego slowly sucking away his energy. Ego was speaking but he couldn't hear. There was so much pain. And yet, he could feel something else. He could feel something getting stronger. Some other thing. The Expansion, he realized. It had begun.

Read and review.