Chapter 2
I start to walk home from school one day and walk with my 'friends' as we laugh, just walking down the street for about twenty minutes. We live within a ten-minute walk of each other's houses and talk, making jokes. We get to my house and they stop, looking at it. I was walking backward and turn to see my house smothered in flames. "No..." I breathe and look at them. They watch me and I turn back to the house. I try to run inside to help them and get caught by someone before they stick me with a needle behind my ear.
"It isn't safe in there, kid!" They hiss in my ear and I hit them in the face with my elbow. "Sonuva-" They growl, letting me go, and I bolt.
"Don't let her go in there!" One of my friends yells at the person and he nods a bit.
"Git." He nods his head down the road and all of them look at me before running. He chases after me and catches me right before I can get into the house.
"Let go of me!" I scream and try to get free. He drags me to the back of the house and I see a bunch of people of varying colors, like pink and green. "Let go of me, you... You... You fucking cunt bucket!" I scream and struggle more.
"Wha'?" He scoffs and sets me down, holding onto the back of my hoodie. "Lissen, kid. We here to help ya, so ya mind yerself now." I try to get away and notice he's only holding onto my hoodie, slipping out of it. "Wha'?" He asks, surprised, and I kick him in the shin before running towards the house again, not caring about myself too much right now. I know that my family is dead but I still need to get my medicine and start to open the back door, where there aren't many flames when there's a sharp whistle.
My shirt gets stuck to the door and I reach to try to get unstuck as a thing with blue skin and a black fin on his head comes towards me. I take a deep breath and just slip out of my shirt as I open the door, running inside. "Tha' kid is nuts, Cap'n." The guy that was holding me yells and I run to the kitchen sink, gathering up all of my medicine into my pockets and backpack that I had managed to hold onto somehow. I just sweep everything into it and grab some leftovers from the fridge too with drinks before someone is grabbing me.
"Let go of me!" I scream and struggle, dropping my bag as they throw me over their shoulder. "Shit!" They start to get out of the house and I struggle more. "STOP! Grab my bag! Please!" They pause and go back, grabbing the bag before quickly getting out as flames come into the kitchen, a lot of smoke getting in my lungs. I cough like crazy and they set me down, looking at me. It was the blue thing and I snatch my bag from him, digging through it as I cough more.
"Are ya a'ight, girl?" I shake my head and finally find an inhaler, shaking it before putting the spout in my mouth and breathing in a few puffs of the air before nothing else comes out while I'm still hacking, unable to breathe.
"Fuck..." I wheeze and look in my bag, not able to find what I need as I try to stand back up. The blue guy stops me and I glare at him. "Need to get... Machine..." I cough and shove him slightly as I try to get to my feet again. He lets me this time and I go inside again, quickly yanking my nebulizer off the kitchen table before realizing I don't have the liquid stuff it needs to work. I cough and cover my mouth with my arm a bit as I try to find it, climbing quickly onto the stove to get on top of the fridge.
"Girl! We ain't got time fer yer games!" The blue thing yells and I grab the huge boxes of liquid medicine right before he comes in and grabs me again. "We gotta get off Terra an' back to m'ship!" He makes sure to grab the stuff I had grabbed and gets me outside again before the fire gets to the garage, causing a huge explosion. He just carries me to the crowd of things of all the different colors. I was still coughing and my entire body was moving from the force of them. "Git the Doc ta Med!" He yells to someone and steps onto something that suddenly appears out of thin air.
"My... My hoodie..." I cough and could barely get the words out.
"Krags! Grab the girl's thing!" He yells and the guy who was holding me earlier grabs it, tossing it to the blue guy. He slips it on me and I cough still. He suddenly sets me down on a bed-type thing and something is sliding over my face. I cough and breathe in as slowly as I could, holding the mask to my face. I don't notice anything else happening around me as I try to control my breathing.
After a while of having the mask on, I'm able to breathe normally and carefully take the mask off, looking around. No one was around me and I get off of the bed with some difficulty because it's not set for my height. I move as quietly as I possibly can and see a window. It was dark outside of it and I look out, seeing millions of stars and... Are those planets?! I gasp softly and hear someone coming. I quickly move into the shadows of the hall and around the corner, hopefully out of sight. There's a whistle and something red is right in front of my face.
"Git out here, girl," The voice of the blue guy says simply and I snatch the arrow out of thin air, turning the corner to stab him with it, hopefully. He catches my wrist and takes the arrow out of it. "Thank ya fer bringin' my arrow back ta me, darlin'," He smirks at me and his teeth are as sharp as knives. That's when I remember, I had picked up a pocket knife after school today on the walk home since it was just lying on the ground and quickly get it out of my pocket, flipping it open on the guy. But, since I'm not used to flipping a knife open quickly, I drop it and he kicks it away towards the guy who was holding me.
"Wha's this?" He asks as he picks it up and looks at it, then at me. "Where ya git this?" He narrows his eyes at me and I narrow mine right back.
"Up your ass and to the left," I growl and it makes the blue guy laugh. "What's so funny, Smurf?" I glare at him and he laughs harder.
"Girl, ya remin' me of my other boy." He chuckles and looks at me.
"Well, sure as Hell not in color schemes. I don't look like I just got out of a paint bucket unlike everyone else on this ship." I look at the other guy. "Other than him, I guess." He startles and looks at me. "Why are you here? Did Papa Smurf here kidnap you too?" He looks angry and has a knife off of his shoulder, pointing it at me angrily. "I'm gonna take that as a no." I roll my eyes and cross my arms. "Where am I?"
"Jus' outside of Terra's atmosphere," The blue guy smirks at me and I look at him, confused.
"Terra? The Hell is Terra?" He points out the window and I look out the window following his finger to see Earth. "Earth..." I say softly and back away from the window a bit, back hitting one of them. "I'm in space..." I mutter to myself and one of them scoffs.
"Where else would ya be?" The normal-looking guy asks and I run my hands through my hair, not quite hearing him. I look around a bit and peek inside the room I had been brought to. "Wha' ya lookin' fer?"
"My sister. She would love this. Where is she?" I look at them and they look down at me.
"She ain't here," The blue guy says and I'm confused. "Some Skrulls came an'-" He's cut off when I just put a hand up and he looks pissed.
"She's dead?" I ask simply and they nod.
"Y'don't interrupt me, girl. 'M the Cap'n 'a this ship!" He yells at me and I don't look at him, sorting through my thoughts for the moment.
"Who started the fire?" I ask simply and he looks even more pissed. I look into the room and see my bag, going to grab it. "If you don't want to answer me, fine. But I'm going to go eat something." I walk away and towards some loud noises. I don't hear anyone following me and get to a huge room where there were tons of what looked like people but with varying colors. No one seems to notice me and I look around a bit for an empty table, spotting one on a slightly raised floor. I go over to it and sit in a chair, pulling food out of my bag to eat. I start eating and ignore how everyone's eyes are on me in the now silent room.
I hear footsteps walk in and over to me as I eat, hair in a ponytail. "Hey!" Someone barks but I ignore them, continuing to eat, and there's a whistle as the weird arrow goes under my chin to lift my head where the blue guy was standing with the normal-looking one. "Yer in the Cap'n's seat," The normal-looking one growls and I raise an eyebrow at him as I grab the arrow from under my chin, purposefully nicking my chin with the tip of it before setting it on the table in front of them.
"There's plenty of chairs in here, he can just find another one," I say simply and continue to eat. Someone slams their hands down on the table and I look up.
"Tha' is my seat, girl. Git out of it an' show respect." The blue guy snarls and I slam my own hands down on the table, standing on the chair to be eye level with him.
"Respect?! You fucking cunt buckets are probably the reason my house was on fire! My sister was in there! My family! And you fucking set it on fire and killed them! I ain't gonna show you jack shit other than this fucking bird until I know exactly what fucking happened to my family," I growl the last part to just the two people in front of me and flip them both off before putting the lid back on my food. I stuff the bowl back in my bag and start to leave the room. There's a sharp whistle and I'm eye to eye with the arrow. Some of them start to cheer but are cut off by a barked order from somebody to shut up. I just turn slightly and try to go around the arrow, getting pinned to a wall with it in the hood of my hoodie. The blue guy comes over and grabs my chin to make me look at him.
"'M Cap'n Yondu Udonta. Yer on m'ship, the Eclector an' ya will show m'respect," He growls at me and I glare at him. "Kraglin!" He barks and the normal-looking guy, Kraglin, comes over.
"Cap'n?"
"Show the girl ta her new Quarters." He smiles that knife smile at me and takes the arrow out of my hood, releasing me from the wall. I keep my balance for the most part and glare at Yondu. "Git," He growls at me and Kraglin grabs my arm, dragging me out of the room. He opens a door and gently shoves me in before shutting the door. I grab a pillow off of the bed and throw it at the door with a yell, angry and sad, and a whole boatload of other emotions. I breathe slowly and shake a little bit, trying to calm down. I dig around in my bag and pull out something I swiped from the garage of my dad's, well grandpas. My Mom died when I was three and my grandparents adopted me and my older sister, so I grew up with them as my parental figures but I knew that I used to have a real Mom. My grandparents told me about my birth dad in angry tones and told me his name was Terran and that he left after having a fun night with my Mom then I was born but not much else.
I carefully grab a cassette tape that belonged to him and push it into the Walkman, slipping the headphones on my ears to listen to the mix of music he made for me for Christmas. He told me last night after getting drunk, but I was still happy about it. I sit on the floor against the wall by the door and listen to the music loudly, slowly relaxing. I start to shiver and wrap my arms around me tightly, rubbing my hands up and down slightly. I look at the bed and grab all of the blankets from there, wrapping them tightly around me before I sit back down in the same spot as before. I drag my bag over and take my night medicine. I have asthma, allergies, and some slight anxiety. I have to take two different types of inhalers plus a rescue one, two different allergy pills, and some anxiety medicine if I need it, which isn't often. I take two of the anxiety pills tonight, though, because I want to be able to sleep and they make me drowsy every time I take them.
I sigh softly and listen to the music, slowly falling into a light sleep.
Yondu comes in with Kraglin to check on me and they both see me shivering slightly in my sleep on the floor. I wake a bit to tug the blankets tighter around me and press the rewind then play buttons on the Walkman to start the cassette over again, able to hear them talking before it starts. "Damn. Fergit Terrans git cold easy." Yondu mutters and he picks me up. I open my eyes and push my headphones off my ear.
"You know my Dad?" I rub my eyes and he looks at me with a snort.
"Naw, I don' know yer Daddy."
"You said Terran... That's what my family said his name was..." They look at each other than at me and they set me on the bed, both of them giving me their dusters. I put them on under the blankets and stop shivering.
"Wha's yer Daddy look like, girl?" I try to slide off of my bed to grab my bag but Yondu stops me and grabs it himself, dumping it all out on the bed.
"Hey! Be careful!" I catch my nebulizer before it falls on the floor and breathe a sigh of relief. "I need this in case I have another asthma attack!"
"A wha'?"
"That thing where I couldn't breathe earlier was an example of it. I have a lot of medical issues but they're manageable..." I mutter and see a picture flutter down, catching it. I look at it and carefully trace my Mom's smiling face next to my birth dad before showing it to them. Yondu snatches it out of my hands and tears it a bit, making me whimper softly. "Be careful! That... That's the only picture I have of her!" I look at him and he nods a bit, looking at the man. "Do... Do you know him?" I ask carefully and softly as he shows Kraglin, whose eyes go wide as he looks between me and the picture.
"Yeah, we know yer Daddy. He's my other boy. Peter Quill." He looks at me then grabs my arm through the blankets suddenly and I yelp, trying to get out of it. He lets me go just as suddenly as he grabbed me and narrows his eyes at me. "Wha's wrong with yer arm?" I shrug a bit and he scoffs. "Ya don' know wha's wrong with yer own arm?" I don't look at him and he just suddenly has the blankets and dusters off, starting to take my hoodie off of me.
"Hey! Stop it!" I yell and try to squirm away but he gets it off anyway. Kraglin sucks in a breath at the long line of bruises on my arms and I don't look at them.
"Who did tha' to ya?" Yondu growls and I look at him slightly. "Well?!" He asks impatiently and I look at my lap, holding my Walkman closer.
"Some stupid asshats at school... They make fun of me for not having my parents and the fact that I'd call my grandparents Mom and Dad cuz they were the only parents I remember... My real Mom died when I was three and my grandparents adopted me and my sister... Kids at school make fun of me a lot... And hit me and stuff... So did my grandparents if they got drunk... So... It's a mix of kids and drunk grandparents..." I mumble and fiddle with the cord of my headphones. Yondu gently grabs my arm and lifts me out of bed, handing my hoodie back. I put it back on and put my Walkman in my pocket. Yondu guides me to a room with a huge window in the front of it and goes over to a chair as I go towards the window, looking out of it at all of the planets and stars.
"How old are ya, girl?" Yondu asks suddenly and I blink a bit.
"Ten..." I focus on the view outside again and smile a bit. "This is amazing..." I breathe and someone has their hand on my shoulder. I look up a bit and it's Kraglin. "You guys get to see this every day?" He nods and I look back out the window. "That's awesome..." I hear Yondu yelling at someone and go over to stand next to him, seeing a man that's covered in red markings, a green woman, a woman with antennas, a raccoon on two legs, a tiny tree dancing around, and... "Dad?" I ask very softly and Yondu jumps, looking at me.
"Gods, girl! Yer quiet!" He laughs a bit and looks at my Dad as Kraglin comes over to stand with his hands on my shoulders.
"You have a kid?" The raccoon asks and laughs.
"And you have an adorable raccoon as a pet?!" I gasp and the man covered in red markings laughs while the raccoon looks mad. Yondu gives me the picture and motions towards the screen when I look at him confused. "Oh..." I look at the screen again and see the man was looking at me while the green woman was glaring at him and looking at me as the man in red markings laughs still. I show them the picture and step a bit closer, keeping my eyes on the man.
"This... This is my Mom..." I point to her carefully and he looks at the picture closely. I point to the man in the picture and look at the floor for a moment before looking back up. "This... This is you... Right?" I ask carefully and he looks at the picture.
"Dad, can you send me a picture of that so I can see it more clearly?" Yondu nods and does that. The man looks at something off the screen before looking at me and then back at the thing off the screen. I wait nervously and turn the picture so I can hold it close to my chest, pretending my Mom's hugging me. The man clears his throat a bit and I look up at him.
"What's your name?" He asks and I get mad that he's asking me that before even answering my question.
"Not until you answer my question! Are you the guy in the picture?! Are you my dad?!"
"Calm down, kid. Name first, then I'll answer."
"NO! Listen here, you piece of shit! I've spent my whole life not knowing who my fucking father was and if you are him, you better fucking tell me! If you don't, I'm going to take Yondu's arrow and shove it so far up your fucking ass that your teeth will get knocked out! Now answer me!" I scream at him and they're all silent after it as I breathe heavily for a couple of seconds.
"Yes, I am..." He says slowly and I look at him. "You... You kinda look like your Mom..."
"How would you know?! You left after one night with her!" I growl and he looks surprised, smiling a bit.
"Actually... I was there for a week or so..." He then looks at the green lady and she looked pissed. "It was before you, I swear, Gamora," He says quickly and charmingly smiles at her.
"So... You... You left my Mom to... To what? Date a female Kermit?!"
"HEY! That is not necessary!" He snaps at me and I glare at him.
"You fucking left my mother pregnant and didn't bother coming to check in!" He looks pissed and looks around the screen a bit.
"Where is your Mom?"
"Dead. She's been dead for six years, nearly seven. You'd have known that if you had bothered staying. My sister was right... I should've just forgotten about you... You're just my sperm donor and nothing more..." I snarl and was close to tears, not wanting to cry in front of these badasses. I turn to leave and skirt around Kraglin when he tries to stop me.
"Wait! Come on, kid! Just wait a minute!" Peter tries to call after me but I just slip my headphones on and play my music, running through the ship.
Yondu looks after me for a moment and looks at Peter. "Good job, boy. Yer real good with the ladies," He smirks at him and Peter glares at him.
"Don't..." He looked like he was going to be sick and very sad. "I... I didn't know she was pregnant... I wouldn't have left if I did... She probably would've either told me to go or come with me..." He doesn't look at anyone and moves away from the rest of the group a bit before punching something. "Damnit!" He growls, pissed at himself, and leaves the room completely after saying "We'll be there as soon as we can. Dad, please find her..." He looks at the screen a bit before leaving fully and Gamora ends the call.
Kraglin looks at Yondu before going over to pull up the security feed and starts to look for me. "Should I call fer the crew, Cap'n?" He looks at Yondu and he shakes his head.
"We gotta fin' her, Krags. Ya never know wha' Ravagers are gonna do." Kraglin nods his agreement and keeps looking for me.
"Cap'n! She's at the airlocks!" He says after a couple of minutes and they both run to get there before I can do anything stupid.