At Ego's words, Peter quickly grabs his blasters and his walkman to hang on his belt. He is ready to go learn more about who he is and discover his purpose. After meeting you, he thought he had finally realized that you were his purpose because you are the one. Now, after your argument, he has a new path to follow. His father is standing before him and is going to guide him down that path. Throwing on his red jacket, Ego leads him out of his room and into the main building.

Ego waltzes through the large door with Peter following his steps. "Now, you need to readjust the way you process life. Everything around us, including the girl, everything is temporary," he says, making his way over to one of the displaying objects he used to explain his past the day before. "We are forever."

"Doesn't eternity get boring?"

"Not if you have a purpose, Peter, which is why you're here." He stops in front of the screen he used to show how he came upon life. "I told you how all those years ago I had an unceasing impulse to find life. But what I did not tell you was how when I finally did find it...it was all so disappointing." Ego shakes his head and Peter's astonished grin falters. "And that is when I came to a profound realization. My innate desire to seek out other life was not so that I could walk among that life." He turns to face his son now, his eyes passionate and wild. "Peter, I have found meaning!"

Ego taps a finger to Peter's forehead, causing him to shiver in amazement. His head leans back slowly with a gasp and his eyes change from their usual green glow to the stars in the galaxy. Peter can see it. He sees all of it and he understands Ego's meaning for life.

"I...I...I see it," Peter chokes. "Eternity."

Ego makes several images of planets appear around them, filling the room. "I call it The Expansion. It is my purpose and now it is yours as well."

"It's beautiful," Peter mumbles in response, his eyes still full of stars.

"Over thousands of years, I implanted thousands of extensions of myself on thousands of worlds. I need to fulfill life's one true purpose..." The planets in the room are now being overtaken by a blue substance which is presumably Ego. "...to grow and spread covering all that exists until everything is me!"

"I only had one problem. A single celestial doesn't have enough power for such an enterprise. But two celestials, well, now, that just might do," Ego continues, the screen now showing a bunch of interpretations of him kissing different species. Peter wants to think it's gross, watching his dad tell him about he impregnated all kinds of species, but he can't. The power is blocking his logical thought from escaping while he thinks of The Expansion.

"Out of all my labors, the most beguiling was attempting to graft my DNA with that of another species. I hoped the result of such a coupling would be enough to power The Expansion. I had Yondu deliver some of them to me. It broke the Ravager code, but I compensated him generously, and to ease his conscience I said I'd never hurt them. I mean, that was true. They never felt a thing. But one after the other, they failed me. Not one of them carried the celestial genes. Until you, Peter," he says, Peter looking up and right into his father's eyes. "Out of all my spawn only you carried the connection to the light." Peter smiles at those words, his hazy thoughts only allowing him to feel proud.

"For the first time in my existence, I am truly not alone!" Ego shouts. Peter looks down at the floor in dismay. The Expansion and his purpose all sound fulfilling to him at this moment because it's all he can see. He finds a way to rack his brain and remember you. He's in love with you and can't carry on forever with his eternity when he knows he'll have to lose you someday. And what about the rest of the Guardians? Gamora? Drax? Rocket? Groot? They're his family and there's no way he can bring himself to leave them all behind when he cares for them so deeply. Ego starts to feel uneasy about Peter's melancholy expression.

"What is it, son?" he asks.

"My friends."

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

"Yes."

"We are beyond such things."

"Yes."

"Now..." Ego tries to start up again but is immediately shut down by Peter, whose logic is slowly returning.

"But my mother, you said you loved my mother," he states.

"And that I did," Ego agrees, looking off into the distance, reminiscing about his old times with Meredith. "She was my river lily, 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." He hesitates. "But it broke my heart to put that tumor in her head."

Upon hearing Ego's confession, Peter is able to break off his power. The stars retreat from his eyes and what remains is a face of pure anger and hatred as he stands before the man who killed his mother. "What?" he demands.

"Now, alright, I know that sounds bad." Peter yanks the blasters off of his belt and fires at Ego profusely in rage. Every shot hits him, knocking a piece of his human form off and revealing a blue figure. It's the same blue that covered all of the planets in Ego plans to take over the galaxy. "Who in the hell do you think you are?"

"You killed my mother!" Peter screams, the deep pain clearly evident in his faltering voice.

"I tried so hard to find the form that best suited you and this is the thanks I get?" Ego changes his form to make himself appear as David Hasselhoff, reminding Peter of what he used to do as a child. "You really need to grow up." His form changes back to how it usually is as he pulls a glowing, blue tentacle from the ground. It goes right through Peter's chest, lifting him and causing him to shriek in pain. "I wanted to do this together, but I suppose you'll have to learn by spending the next thousand years as a battery!"

Ego struts over to Peter and removes the walkman from his belt. "No," Peter barely manages to breathe out. He holds the device in his hand and presses play, the same song from earlier resuming. The men stare at it, listening to the words as a tear rolls down Peter's cheek.

"My life, my love, my lady is the sea. Peter, this is the sea." Ego crushes the walkman into pieces with just one hand, earning a miserable groan from Peter as he struggles to find his breath and energy. Now, Ego creates more power to run through Peter as he screams, eyes turning blue and his body floating up higher.

He wishes you were here to save him.

-

You, Gamora, and Nebula find your way out of the horrifying cave and dart immediately to where Drax and Mantis are. Entering the room, Gamora charges right at Mantis while screeching. She catches her off guard and pins her against the wall, hand on her throat.

"Who are you people?" she spits. "What is this place?"

"Gamora, put her down! This is not the way to go about this," you argue.

"Y/N is right, Gamora. Let her go!" Drax adds.

She ignores both of you and pushes her harder against the door. "The bodies in the caverns, who are they?"

Mantis brings her own hands to Gamora's wrist, her antennae lighting up. "You are scared," she says. She's dropped to the floor in a second, Gamora backing away from her slowly.

She stumbles backward, and you hold her arms so she can stabilize. "What did she do to me?" she cries.

Drax turns to meet your gaze. "She already told me everything."

You glare between Mantis and Drax. Your hands quiver and you can feel your brow start to sweat. You're so worried for Peter wherever he is right now and you don't want to be away from him any longer. The thought that he has to be okay is all you can repeat in your head right now.

Mantis shakily gets up from the ground, averting her eyes from the floor to you and Gamora. You can tell she is hesitating, nervous just like everyone else in the room. "The bodies are his children," she stutters.

You almost pass out. You had a bad feeling since the beginning about Ego, but you had decided to push Peter toward him anyway. Why did you convince him he needed that man as a father? You're at a loss for words but you know you all need to work together and devise a plan to save Peter and get the fuck out of here.

"We have to go get Peter right now and find any way possible out of here," you divulge to the rest of the group.

Gamora nods. "We need to get off of this damn planet."

"Ego will have won him to his side by now," Mantis says. "He has a way of-"

"Then we just go," Nebula asserts.

"No!" you yelp. "We are not leaving here without Peter, especially if he is in danger."

"He's our friend," Gamora justifies.

"All any of you do is yell at each other." Nebula shakes her head. "You're not friends."

"You're right," Drax states. "We're family. We leave no one behind." He turns to take a gander at Nebula. "Except maybe you."

"Oh my god," she responds with an eye roll.

Loud beeping coming from your pocket, interrupting the silence that followed the heartwarming moment. It's the communicating device! You retrieve it and respond right away. "Rocket!" you answer the call.

"Keep that transmitter nearby, so I can find you. We're in an old piece of construction equipment Yondu once used to slice open the Bank of A'askavaria."

"Ego's a fucking psycho and we need to save Peter," you disclose the updated information to him.

"I know, get ready," he retorts as a final response.

You shove it back into your pocket to keep it on you, following the others out of the door. You all run as fast as you can to the main building where you presume Peter and Ego are. The front door is shut and everything appears locked off, but Drax kicks it in, smashing it to pieces with a loud grunt. Almost on queue with you entering, Yondu and Rocket's expected arrival occurs as they crash the small ship through the window.

"Hey there, jackass!" Yondu calls as he drives the ship into the center of the room, crushing Ego below the heavy weight. You're unsure what kind of foreign object is holding Peter up, it appears to be some sort of blue tentacle. But, you're relieved to watch as it releases him upon the ship's impact on Ego.

You sprint to Peter, sliding onto the ground beside him. He groans as he rolls around in the surrounding debris, trying to get back up. You assist by taking his arm over your shoulder and supporting him while he stands. Before you walk to join the others, you look up next to you and meet his eyes. You shake your head with a laugh. "I told you something was wrong," you affirm.

Peter laughs in return, but lightly as he is still clearly in pain. "Yeah, 'I told you so' is just what I need to hear right now."

"Hey, I came back for you didn't I?"

"Because you love me," he mentions in response.

You bring a hand to the side of his face, examining it further for anything that could be hurt. "I'm worried that something bad is going to happen. I need to know if you're okay."

He smiles, leaning into your hand. "I'll be okay, Y/N."

"Are you sure?" you reaffirm, double-checking for good measure.

He laughs a real, genuine laugh this time, and without missing a beat he pulls you close and smashes his lips onto yours. You close your eyes and fall into the kiss you've been craving since you stormed out of his room this morning. It is exactly what both of you need to calm down amidst the current chaos.

He pulls away, licking his lips and pressing his forehead against yours. "Yeah, now I'm definitely okay."

"Perfect," you say, starting to walk towards the ship. "Because now that we know Ego's a bad guy, we have to go kill him."

"So we're savin' the galaxy again?" he asks.

"Well, duh. We're the ones who are supposed to be guarding it."