the War
The sun was too bright. The air was too dry. HIs horse was causing his already churning stomach to twist painfully with every step, and his clothes were so thick they were making him sweat like a dog under the hot desert sun.
Yondu suddenly remembered why he hated drinking.
Sure, it’s fun the night he drinks. He feels loose and playful and, for once, he’s not focusing on all the bad shit in the world. For a few hours, his body is buzzing and warm and he’s not worried about what could be going bump in the night. It’s a treasured relief from the tension he constantly carries with him; a burden that he has to bear as captain.
Then he wakes up the next morning, and everything hurts.
Usually, Yondu would have spent the day in his nice, air conditioned ship with shitty coffee to nurse the hangover, but Terra was not so forgiving. He couldn’t just tell people to leave him alone anymore, and there was nowhere cool to escape to. Now, he had to lead his misfit crew of teenagers, a boy, and his sick mother across the American desert, despite his throbbing head and nausea.
When he looked back, he noticed that Kraglin was slumped against his horse looking much worse for wear while Tullk teased him about how Xandarians can’t hold their liquor. Tullk only left him after Meredith rode her horse over and shooed him off, her hand brushing through Kraglin’s hair with a sympathetic look as she offered him some water. He refused it, saying that he would feel better once they stopped for lunch.
Yondu rolled his eyes. Meredith mothering his boys was doing no good. She was just going to make them soft, and that was going to get them killed.
Then again, Meredith wasn’t exactly the average mother.
At the moment, she was wearing a pair of Niyol’s old pants, which were tied to her waist with a piece of rope from Yondu’s bag- an outfit that a woman would never even think of wearing, according to Yondu’s observations. The only thing he had ever seen women wear on Terra were dresses and skirts, including the little girls. It seemed taboo for women to wear a man’s clothes, no matter how practical it was. However, before he left, Niyol had left her a few pairs of pants, saying that it was too difficult for her to ride and fight in a dress, and he wouldn’t let her refuse, no matter what she said. Everything she said was contradicted with a reason more ridiculous than the last until Peter had just run up and thanked Niyol for her, taking the pants and shoving them in the bag to get them to stop arguing. Meredith, a pretty shade of red from her son’s interruption, had thanked Niyol as well before going behind a tree to change.
Niyol, smirking, had told Yondu that Meredith still needed a shirt, and that Kraglin’s shirts were too low cut for a lady like her. Tullk didn’t have any clean, so it was up to Yondu to give her one of his. The bastard had a plan, Yondu had grumbled to himself many times since then.
Now she was wearing his white button up tucked into Niyol’s pants. They were both loose fitting on her lithe frame, but he’d be damned if he didn’t love seeing her in them. Her hair, which had previously been cascading down her shoulders in waves and curls, was now pulled into a loose bun on the back of her head, with strands falling out to frame her face perfectly. She looked goddamn radiant in that desert sun, and, even though he felt like dogshit, he couldn’t help but look. It felt wrong; he knew it was wrong, but his eyes raked up and down her body twice before he was able to pull his gaze away.
Goddamn, Yondu, get a grip, he told himself. That’s a sick Terran mother you’re eyein’. You’re definitely goin’ to Hell.
He couldn’t bring himself to care as he stole another glance. Just a glance. It wouldn’t hurt.
He was yanked back into reality when a set of hooves galloped up beside him. Peter’s horse was smaller than everyone else’s, young and energetic like his rider, but he treated him just fine. Yondu knew he would, even though he wouldn’t blame the poor thing from bucking Peter every now and then. The kid was always talking to his horse, as if the creature could actually understand him.
“Yondu!” Peter called, causing Yondu’s headache to flare. He glared at the boy, but it had no effect. “Where are we going?”
“Town called Buffalo. We’re gonna meet Niyol there to get an update on Dr. Celeest,” he explained. He was hoping that it would satisfy the kid for a while; at least long enough for his hangover to pass. He didn’t have the patience to deal with the boy while he felt like shit.
“Where’s that? How far? How long will it take to get there?”
Apparently not.
“It’s around 50 miles north of us, about 3 days if we don’t stop and get detoured. Ya satisfied?” he said, hoping the sharpness he added to the last words would scare Peter off. It usually worked back on the Eclector (the ship not the horse) when he was trying to get some peace from his rowdy crew.
Peter just smiled and shook his head. “No, sir. Tullk said that he don’t know any answers to my questions, and Mama told me to stop messing with Kraglin because he don’t feel good,” he explained. “So I figured I could come ask you so that I could help take care of Mom.”
It was a wholesome reason, Yondu had to admit. The boy only wanted to help him watch out for his mother. How was he supposed to be mad at that? Hell, if Aleta and him were in the same position, there was no way in hell he would be letting some stranger take care of her. He would be doing all the dirty work and saying “fuck you” to anyone who thought it was a good idea to disagree with him. It was a son’s duty to take care of his mother. Yondu may not be able to relate to much, but he understood that. He understood the love of a mother, even if his adopted one wasn’t exactly Meredith Quill.
“A’ight boy. I’ll keep you just as updated as I keep the others, but ya gotta stop askin’ so many questions,” Yondu explained.
“Why?”
“‘Cause people start thinkin’ that you’re too dumb to figure things out for yourself.” That’s harsh.
Peter nodded slowly when he said this. “Do you think I’m dumb?”
Yondu shook his head immediately, trying to prevent a meltdown before it could happen.. “Nah, boy. You’re just worried about your ma. Just be sure when ya ask questions, you’re askin’ the right ones to get the most information you can. People reveal more than they think they do,” he explained. Peter was too young for all of this, but it didn’t hurt to start training them early. After all, Yondu hadn’t ever had a Ravager trained from childhood. Maybe, if all of this worked out, he would have a born and raised Ravager on his side.
If all of this worked out… What was he saying? Was he actually convincing himself that he could just take the Quills in and not worry about the consequences? They were Terran, and Terrans don’t leave Terra. They’re too backwater. Besides, Meredith was sick. She needed to be taken care of and left alone to rest, not dragged around half the galaxy on a ship full of rowdy men who barely had enough respect to be dropped off on Contraxia without worry.
“Peter!” Both of their heads turn to see Meredith on her horse, making her way over. “Don’t bother Yondu. He doesn’t feel well either. He and Kraglin had a late night, alright? Why don’t you go play I Spy with Tullk?” she offered, winking at Yondu playfully when she mentioned their late night. He rolled his eyes like it didn’t cause his stomach to flutter uncomfortably.
“Yes Mama,” Peter said, trotting his little horse over to Tullk so that they could talk. Yondu watched him until Tullk realized he was coming towards him. He didn’t want to let the boy out of his sight for a moment. The damndest things happen on roads like the one they were on, and he would die before he let something happen to this boy and his mother.
Wait. When the hell did that happen?
“Thanks,” Meredith said, interrupting his thoughts as she adjusted her horse’s speed to match Eclector’s.
Yondu paused. “For what?” he asked.
She motioned to the shirt he was wearing and he nodded, trying not to look too closely as he flickered his eyes down. How does she look curvy and soft in a man’s shirt? It truly wasn’t fair.
“You’re welcome,” he answered after a moment, realizing he hadn’t spoken. He needed to get it together before he did something that he regretted. Sure, a man had his urges, but this was different. This was Meredith.
Meredith smiled and nodded before turning to look out at the beaten dirt road in front of them, causing Yondu to follow her gaze in order not to stare directly at her. There were wheel marks from when Americans moved West chasing gold, and bullet casings were dropped on the side from shootouts with the bandits that lived in the nearby mountains. People had been using his road for decades, but it was still just as dangerous as the day the first travelers stepped foot on it. Anything goes in the Wild West; that’s why they call it Wild.
And that’s why Yondu loved it.
“How did you get here?” Meredith asked after a moment. “To Earth, at least. Every Offworlder that I’ve talked to has had a different story about what happened to them during the War.”
Yondu raised his eyebrows. “I thought you didn’t get a lot of Offworlders in St. Charles,” he asked with a small smirk. She rolled her eyes.
“You know what I meant.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he scoffed. “Why would ya wanna know a damn thing like that? We crashed durin’ a war and got stranded; there ain’t nothin’ nice about the story.”
She strugged mysteriously, and Yondu wanted nothing more than to get into her mind to understand what she was thinking. Maybe then he would stop finding her so damn intoxicating. “You’re my friend, Yondu, and friends learn things about each other.”
Friend. Yondu hadn’t had one of those in a long time. Sure, he had his crew and his family, but they weren’t friends. The closest thing he had to a friend was Martinex, but he hadn’t been able to communicate with him since he crashed. Hell, he couldn’t even get in touch with Stakar. The only people he had were his boys Kraglin and Tullk, and he was more of a caretaker for them than anything else. They were young, and Yondu was the only one able to control them when they got too rowdy. That’s all.
“Back up in the stars, there’s a mercenary clan called the Ravagers, run by Stakar and Aleta Ogord. I was a Captain of my own faction in this clan, the 99th, with my own ship, my own crew, my own power. I was a force to be reckoned with. My name was infamous and feared across the galaxy, and I only took the best of jobs," Yondu began, a small, prideful smirk on his face. He couldn’t help it; he was proud of what he accomplished back home, even if it wasn’t anything typically labeled as “good”. It was still something. “Every faction is different, of course, but the one thing that the Ravagers all have in common is that we hate the fuckin’ Kree. They destroyed most of our home planets, killed our families. They’re always the target”
“That’s awful,” Meredith said softly. Genuinely. It had been a long time since he had heard that out of a woman.
Yondu nodded slightly. “It is,” he responded. The Kree had turned him into what he was today; a battle hardened man with a will unlike anyone else, but it came with a price. A price no child should pay. He shook himself from his memories and continued talking. “But that meant that every Ravager wearin’ the flames were more than ready to stop the bastards from destroying another helpless planet. The Nova Corps, basically the Space Police, were ready to let Terra be destroyed because it apparently wasn’t worth the resources that it would cost to effectively fight off the Kree. Fuckin’ cowards, all of ‘em.” Yondu could feel the mean look on his face, like he was ready to whistle a fresh hole into someone’s body for disrespecting him. Meredith didn’t look surprised, so he continued.
“Anyways, the 99 clans all got together and we deployed some forces to take care of the Kree. They hadn’t sent out a real big army, so we were sure that we could take ‘em without a problem. Even if they sent in reinforcements, we had some on stand by to back us up. Hell, it was the perfect plan. We had done bigger missions with stupider plans and gotten away with it. No one was worried. The one thing that no one liked was that we were doin’ this without pay, but Stakar told us that we didn’t need to be paid to fight for basic rights. He’s one of them righteous folks, ya know?” Yondu explained, taking a moment to pause. He used to hate the righteous talks that Stakar put him through, but he’d give anything to hear one again, just to know that Stakar was okay. It was an embarrassing thought. “Anyways, shit was goin’ good until the Kree used portals to bring in reinforcements. We weren’t ready for that; our backup took too long to get to us. My ship was shot down. I’ll never forget the first Terran I saw. The fucker shot me right in the leg the moment I stepped out of my pod.”
“He didn’t even offer help? But you guys were on our side!” Meredith cried incredulously. She was so naive that it actually hurt Yondu’s heart. “Maybe he was like us. We just hid in the basement and Daddy went up to get water every now and then and you scared ‘em. Surely he offered you help after, right?”
Yondu laughed harshly when she said this, shaking his head. “Help? All he knew was that I was blue, and the fuckers that were pillagin’ y’all’s homes and burnin’ towns down were blue. He was defendin’ his family from what he thought was a monster,” he explained. She nodded slowly, but she still couldn’t believe it. He could see it in her eyes that she still had faith in people. “Anyways, Stakar realized that we were losin’ and had to use our Plan Z to make sure the Kree didn’t blow up the planet with everyone on it. He told us over comms that he was sendin’ in a bomb that would emit a frequency that would destroy any aircraft in the atmosphere. Somethin’ about an electrical current that traveled through y’all’s ozone layer that would overwhelm the ships’ engines. The ones that were in flight would end up exploding, but whoever landed may be able to protect their ships. He gave everyone a minute to land before he sent in the bomb.”
“The star show… it wasn’t a star show, was it?” Meredith asked, her voice quiet. “It was the Kree crash landin’ around all of us. They were on fire.”
Yondu nodded silently and she rubbed her forehead. How did she not know about any of this? Most of the people she talked to had probably done the same thing she did; hid under their house and prayed that nothing would happen to the loved ones that they weren’t able to get to, but surely there had been wreckage? There had to be Kree that lived through the crash, right? Then again, he hadn’t seen any in a long time. Maybe all of them had been killed off by stranded Ravagers with a thirst for vengeance.
“Well, why didn’t you go back?” she asked after a moment of silence, breaking Yondu from his thoughts. “I mean, your ships were still working because you landed, right? Why did you stay?”
“The bomb was stronger than Stakar originally planned. It destroyed the engines of most of the ships that had landed, and the ones that were able to start managed to fly out with as many people as they could carry, mostly the real hurt ones. Everyone else got left behind until the energy is dispersed back into space,” Yondu explained. “That’s the only reason Stakar ain’t sent a rescue clan, I’m guessin’.”
“What, you don’t know? Don’t ya have some fancy technology to talk to him?” Meredith asked, that same curious glint in her eyes that Peter had. Like mother, like son.
Yondu reached into his saddle bag and pulled out a small black box. It had been pulled apart and put back together several times, but the screen on the front was dark and cracked. The antenna that was sticking up was bent a few different ways, even though it looked like it had been straightened out a little bit. On the side, he had scrawled his name in Universal Common back when he first got it so that no one else would get it.
“This is my communications device. Even if it wasn’t broken during my crash, the energy in the atmosphere cut off the connection. There’s no way that I could have gotten through to Stakar,” he explained. He caught her staring at the writing on the side and chuckled. “That’s my name in Universal Common. Ya can’t read it, can ya?”
Meredith blinked in surprise. “Am I supposed to?”
“Most people can. Damn, y’all Terrans are so backwater,” he chuckled, slipping the device back into his saddlebag.
She narrowed her eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean, Yondu?” she asked, a grin tugging at her lips.
Yondu smirked, unable to resist the playful atmosphere that they had created. He couldn’t remember the last time he was this open with someone. “Y’all don’t know nothin’ about nothin’.”
“Well, I’ll have you know that I do know quite a bit about a lot of things. Probably more than you,” Meredith replied, turning to look straight ahead once again. She had to squint against the sun, but it was worth it.
Yondu couldn’t help it. He took off his hat and dropped it on her head. Sure, it was sweaty and disgusting, but he didn’t want to see her pretty skin burnt from spending too much time in the sun. It was harder for him to burn, so he’d be fine. That, and he really liked seeing her in his clothes, including his hats. “Ya probably need it more than me with that white ass skin out here”
Meredith adjusted the hat on her head. It was too big, but it did the job of blocking her face from the sun. “Ya sure-”
“Shut the hell up,” he said, even though it wasn’t as harsh as it usually was. She smiled.
“Yeah, okay,” she chuckled, adjusting the hat on her head.
Yondu rolled his eyes. “You’re-”
All of a sudden, Kraglin shouted something and Yondu felt a searing pain in his shoulder. An arrow. A long, metal arrow was in his shoulder. Shit, that was a Kree arrow. He immediately turned, tackling Meredith off her horse and protecting her body with his. He looked over to see Tullk and Kraglin doing the same for Peter as he cried out in confusion. When he looked at Meredith to make sure she was okay, he could see that she had no idea what she was going on. There was blood smeared on her cheeks; his blood. Blue blood. At least she wasn’t hurt.
Then Kraglin’s warning started to make sense in his head. Shit.
They were being ambushed.