Quill and Mantis stepped off the Benatar onto the misty surface of Vormir.
"We sure this is the place?" Quill asked, taking the planet's readings.
"Yes," Mantis confirmed. Through the mist they approached a hooded figure. "Peter, look."
The figure seemed to sense their presence. It edged closer to the pair and spoke, tone hushed and somber.
"Peter, son of Ego." Quill winced. "Mantis, daughter of Uemer." Mantis looked down. "What you seek… lies here."
As he spoke the figure removed his hood, revealing his red skull. He led Quill and Mantis to the edge of a planetside cliff, where they stared down into the dark pit below. This was where they would find the soul stone.
"Down there? Sounds easy enough…" Quill let his mask close over his face and started up his rocket boots, hovering a few feet over the ground. "I'll just dip down there, grab the stone, and dip back out."
"It is not that simple," The Red Skull objected.
Quill and Mantis looked at each other. Slowly, Quill touched back down to the surface.
"What must we do then?" Mantis asked.
"The stone requires a sacrifice. A soul for a soul."
A chill ran up Quill's spine. "I don't like the sound of that,"
"In order to take the stone, you must lose that which you love."
The two Guardians felt their hearts drop in unison. They looked at each other. Time seemed to slow to an agonizing pace. Quill retracted his mask. He clenched his fists and looked ahead, determination in his eyes. Mantis didn't need to touch him to know what he was thinking.
"Peter, no!" She grabbed his arm. "There has to be another way!"
"I really feel like there's not, sis." Quill held Mantis by the shoulders. "Nothing's happening to you if I can help it. I'm the only option we've got."
"I won't let you."
"Mantis…" Quill sighed.
He took her hand. Touched his forehead lightly to hers. Her antennae twitched, brightly aglow as all Quill's fears, regrets, and guilt flooded through her. His grief was heavy, but somehow his love was heavier. It always had been. Mantis felt tears sting at her eyes, unsure where Quill's ended and hers began.
"My fuck-up was what caused this," Quill breathed, voice breaking. "Let me do right. Let me fix it."
"I have done wrong, too, Peter."
"Not like me."
Mantis couldn't breathe. She let her brother hug her. Let him kiss her head. As his hand slipped from hers and he approached the cliff's edge, she felt a fury like none she'd felt before burn through her. Fury at Thanos for everything he'd taken from them, fury at Vormir for wanting to take more, fury at Quill for expecting her to stand by and watch as he ripped himself from her. From their family.
"Look after them for me, okay?" Quill said, smile weak, his boots grinding into the rock of the cliff.
The fury was a fire inside her. Mantis was not going to let this happen.
"No!" She screamed, rushing the cliff.
She yanked Quill back from the edge and pressed her hand to his temple. Her panicked cry was enough for him to crumple to the ground. She dragged his partly-conscious body away from the edge.
"Mantis…" Quill reached for her weakly. "Don't."
"Your family needs you."
Quill fought Mantis' power to stumble to his feet. "They're your family, too."
Mantis didn't look at him. She squeezed her eyes shut, threw her arms out, and let herself fall backwards off the edge of the cliff. Instantly Quill found the willpower to move.
"Mantis!"
He closed his mask and rocketed off the cliff after her. He fought to keep up as she plummeted towards the bottom, just barely managing to scoop her clumsily from the air before it was too late. Holding her tight so she couldn’t break away, he flew them back to land. Once on solid ground he didn’t let her go, his embrace bone-crushing and dripping with fear.
Life was never kind to the Guardians for long. No matter what they did, how happy they allowed themselves to be, something would come and rip it away eventually. After everything they'd already lost, everything they were already carrying, Mantis and Quill both knew none of them could handle another loss. Not like this.
"Neither of us are going over that cliff, are we?" Quill asked after a moment.
Mantis shook her head. "Peter, we need the stone. What are we going to do?"
Quill sat back with a sigh. "We should've gone to Morag. At least that would've been fun."
The two Guardians sat for what felt like hours, contemplating what to do. They wouldn't give each other up, and it wasn't as though they could just trade missions with some other team. No, that would be a dick move, and Quill had already established he was not 100% a dick years ago. Vormir was their burden to bear, and they had to find a way.
Mantis found herself convinced they were never going to leave this planet.
Quill's fingers grazed the Zune in his pocket as he searched for a loophole, some way they could get out of this. His subconscious seemed to reach the answer before he did, his hand grabbing for the Zune and pulling it out.
"Mantis," He said, batting at her shoulder. "Mantis, I got it."
"What?"
"'That which you love.' The stone doesn't specify a person."
Mantis studied the Zune, her expression puzzled. She looked back at Quill.
"You think… that will work?" She asked.
"I love this thing more than I love most people, everyone knows that. It's worth a shot."
Quill got to his feet. He approached the cliff's edge, grip on the Zune so tight his knuckles went white. Mantis watched from a ways back, recognizing he'd need his space. He reached his arm out over the pit, eyes squeezed shut, suddenly realizing how much he didn't want to do this. He shook his head, reminding himself of the bigger picture. It's just an object, he thought. But it wasn't, that was the whole point. Everything's on the line here. The alternatives are dying or losing your sister. It's just an object, just an object…
He thought about his mother.
He thought about Yondu.
He thought about Gamora.
For a split second, he felt them all with him. Rocket and Drax, too. His strength returned, and he let his hand open shakily. The Zune fell from his grasp and into the misty darkness.
After a moment he heard a distant clack as it broke against the ground below.
When Quill opened his eyes, he was lying on his back in a shallow pool of water. He felt something in his palm. He pulled his hand slowly from the water, a soft orange glow spilling through his fingers.
He was holding the soul stone.
He pulled in a surprised gasp and suddenly found himself back on the cliff, the stone closed tight in his hand.
"Peter?" Mantis stepped towards him.
"It worked," He breathed and turned to face her. "Mantis, it worked! I got the stone!"
The two Guardians rushed to each other and collided in an embrace. They clung tight to each other, sharing the joy of just being able in an empathic feedback loop. There was a pang of sadness in Quill's chest, but he'd take it in exchange for this.