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13; the fight against ronan

Chapter Thirteen
『the fight against ronan』

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"This is a terrible plan," Gamora stated. She sat in the centre seat just slightly behind the pilot's seats. Drax and Groot where sat behind the green woman staring straight forward.

Jace had his eyes half-open trying his best to keep the illusion up. He knew that he was clenching his jaw, trying as much as he could to hold onto it. Normally when he done something like this, something this intense, he didn't have to hold it for this long and for so many. He'd done it a handful of times before, but they'd always been for people, never for ships and people together. It was almost harder for him to keep up with it, he tried as much as he could to keep the negative thoughts away, knowing that the last thing he wanted was for it to interrupt his concentration on keeping everyone hidden.

"Hey, you're the one who said you wanted to die among friends," Peter commented with a small smile.

"Lay off, Pete," Jace spoke up through clenched teeth. There was still a white glow covering his hands, which was enough to know that it was still working,

Jace could feel the way that Peter looked at him then, as if he were worried just in case Jace faltered ever so slightly. As much as Jace knew that using his powers like this as well as this consistence would end up having some form of toll on him, he knew that he couldn't give up. At least not now. He had to make sure that he kept it up as much as he could, though there was a part of him that knew that there was a chance that if the Dark Aster had any kind of device that tracked ships, that they might already know that they're here.

It took them ten or so minutes to entre Xanders atmosphere, and not long after that to see the Dark Aster approaching just above them. Throughout that time, it felt like Jace's head was ringing, like it always did when he'd use his abilities for this long and this consistence. He tried his best to ignore it, knowing that he needed to keep it up for a little while longer, at least until they got into the Dark Aster. He needed to keep going until then, he had to, no matter the affects had on him. For the safety of Xandar, he needed to do this.

Jace found himself trying to mediate his breathing, trying to calm any nerves that tried to take over his mind, the last thing that he wanted was for this to fail. For a moment, he wondered whether or not his parents would be proud of what he was doing, he knew that they wouldn't be proud of his lifestyle, but maybe they'd be proud that he's doing this for Xandar. No, he shook his head a little, stop thinking about that. Any thought to him was a danger to him not focusing, he knew that he needed to focus on everything happening in the now.

"Jace." Peter said.

"Fire!" Yondu yelled through the comms.

Jace knew what that meant, it was something else that they talked about after they announced their plan. Jace concentrated, in front of the Milano, a ball of light was growing, the more that Jace focused the bigger the ball got and the brighter it grew. He joined his hands together, grasping his hands firm in one another, enough to feel the way that it slowly started to ache. It took Jace a moment to get the ball to the right size before he let it fly towards the Dark Aster, in the process he let out a small groan.

The ball of light covered the Dark Aster's front completely, it was big enough that it allowed the Ravagers to continue just in case Jace was unable to keep up the trick he was doing. The one thing that Jace was surprised about as a whole was the way that he managed to keep the invisibility up on the entire fleet of Ravager ships.

"Cover it down," Yondu spoke, "Submerge!"

Jace found himself hunching back into his seat just as the Ravagers and the Milano dived down. They used the blindness of Jace's ball of light to their advantage, in the process, Jace realised that his ability to keep everyone hidden with the invisibility was failing him ever so slightly, he realised it as they were coming up to the Dark Aster from below. He found himself groaning a little, trying his best to keep everyone hidden.

"Rocket, hurry!" Peter yelled through the speaker to the raccoon. Peter was the first one to notice that Jace was struggling to keep it together. Both Rocket and Kraglin had then flew past the Milano, heading straight to do what was instructed in order for the plan to be carried out. "Jace, let go. You done well."

Jace wanted to keep going, he wanted to prove to himself that he could hold onto it even when he felt as if he was struggling, but he ended up giving in, letting the power fade around every Ravager ship. Jace heard how Peter said something into the comms how the invisibility was something that they could no longer rely on, he'd heard someone—probably Yondu—say something back. The one thing that Jace hadn't realised was how tired he was after using that much.

Normally, he'd be fine after using his abilities, but he supposed that this time was different given that he'd used a lot more of his abilities than ever before. He shook his head, shutting his eyes for a moment, he needed to rid himself of anything of the sorts, rid himself of the thoughts that threatened to consume him. He took in a small breath, opening his eyes once more.

The one thing that surprised Jace the most was when a swarm of Necrocraft was sent down by Ronan to protect himself, Jace wondered whether or not this was because he failed in some way to keep the trick up. He knew that now wasn't the time for these thoughts, Peter tried his best to make a clear path though the Necrocraft and them while the aerial battle continued around them.

Even though he found himself exhausted from the use of his abilities, Jace found himself putting the Milano in a small bubble of light to protect them from everything going on around them. Anything that was shot at them would bounce right off them, back at the ship which shot it. Everywhere around him were flashes of green blasts. There was a small part of Jace that was worried in case someone that he cared about got hurt because he didn't have the strength to keep going.

Jace shook his head slightly. Stay focused. The thoughts continued to grow in the back of his mind though he didn't mind. His main focus was to allow the Milano to remain protected for as long as possible—or until Rocket called for them.

It was as if that rodent could read his mind half-way across the battlefield. Rocket's voice came through the speaker. "Quill! Yondu! Now!"

Both the Milano and Yondu's ship accelerated in order to get to the position that they were meant to be in. They weaved in and out of the Necrocratt's ships, trying not to get in the line of fire, which could fuck up their plan. Anything that Peter shot at would fall, anything that shot at the shield Jace put around would instantly bounce back as if it never hit them in the first place.

Jace shot at one of the Necrocratt's ships, causing it to explode in the path of the Milano, however just as quickly as it exploded was as quickly as Peter avoided it by diving underneath it. Jace found himself smiling to himself, watching as everything happened, it was like chaos, and it was something that Jace liked to watch as a whole.

However, Yondu wasn't so lucky as the Milano was then filled with his voice. "I'm going down, boys! No more games with me! I'll see you at the end of this!"

Shit, Jace cussed to himself, it was enough to make the shield waver and then drop. Despite that, Peter still managed to avoid as many exploding ships as possible. Jace closed his eyes for a brief moment, he found himself playing with his fingers, he was worried that this wasn't going to work at all.

The Milano jerked slightly indicating that the ship was hit. Panic filled Jace as the first thing of which he thought was the fact that they were going to fall. He found himself wondering whether he'd have enough strength to do something despite the already existing exhaustion which filled him from how much he'd used already. He tried to think about what he could do.

All around them were ships that were either getting in their way, shooting at them, or exploding. It was like having an overwhelming sight in front of him, unable to focus on anything in front of him. He tried to take in a deep breath, though it was like nothing would work. Even as he found himself taking control over the guns to shoot their way free of the ships which came at them, it was like the last level of a game designed to overwhelm to the point of insanity.

"There are too many of them, Rocket!" Gamora yelled. "We'll never make it up there!"

All of the exploding ships around them and were getting in the way of the Milano made Jace more stressed despite the fact that he was trying to shoot at them. He tried to focus on the fact that they were meant to be on Ronan's ship by now but realised that it was because of that he was stressing out. The longer that they weren't in Ronan's ship to stop him, the closer Ronan was to destroying Xandar.

However, the one thing that caught Jace's eye was how yellow and blue ships joined them. In fact, those ships surrounded the Milano which was enough to tell Jace that it was the Nova Corps. They'd responded to Peter's message to them. They were here to help them with the overwhelming numbers of Ronan's goons.

"Hell yes!" Jace muttered with a grin. Jace felt like a child at Christmas, excited over something small like this. And by small he meant that he was happy that he wasn't going to die today.

It was Saal's voice that came through the speaker. "Peter Quill, this is Denarian Saal of the Nova Corps. For the record, I advised against trusting you here."

"They got my 'dick' message!" Peter instantly cheered. He was looking over at Jace and Gamora with a grin.

"Prove me wrong," Saal said.

The Milano's engines then revved, shooting them forward and closer to Ronan's ship and the hole that Rocket and Kraglin created. The thought that the Nova Corps were here to help them was enough for Jace to know that there was nothing else for him to worry about, he hoped that it would be enough to prevent Xandar from being impacted heavily from Ronan and the Stone.

Peter guided the ship straight through the hole as the ship had crashed all the way through what appeared to be an odd corridor. The ship shook as it hit the corners and the floor. "Yes!" Drax cheered and laughed as if this was the best thing to happen. Jace tried to not think too much about any of it.

Sakaaran soldiers from either side began to shoot at the Milano from all corners. Both Peter and Jace shared a look with each other as Jace moved from where he sat with one of his bombs in hand. He opened the side window near where he sat, in doing so trying to avoid the blasts, Jace then threw the small bomb towards one of the sides where the Sakaaran soldiers were stood.

It didn't take long for the bomb to explode and Jace took that as his queue to then hit the break for the ship, gliding the ship to a turn as Quill then fired the guns on the ship at whatever Saakarian soldiers were in the way.

Eventually the ship came to a halt as the Saakarian soldiers were dead in the path. A small underwhelming feeling had sprouted inside Jace, knowing that one part of the plan was complete. He wanted more, he knew that he needed more from this. Despite how exhausted he felt, Jace could feel the battle that was about to happen and that was something that he couldn't wait for.

"Yes!" Drax cheered as he laughed, raising his arms as well as if to cheer.

Gamora and Peter both seemed to let out a small exhale. It was then that Jace let out a small sigh of relief which was followed with a small laugh, there was a part of him which was surprised that it actually worked. He knew that he'd panicked over whether this plan would work, he was just glad that the first part of it worked, now all that he needed was for the rest of the plan to work.

"We're just like Kevin Bacon," Gamora stated as she looked towards Peter.

Jace gave Gamora a somewhat confused look, though shook his head slightly. A part of him wondered how she knew about Kevin Bacon, though knew that it was something that didn't matter. After a moment, the group got up from their seats, preparing themselves to leave the Milano and complete the plan.

Peter and Jace share a look with each other, Jace found himself smirking slightly, though his fear was still there he couldn't help but grin. The thought of being able to fight Ronan was something that was slowly exciting him. There was a moment were Jace wondered whether or not he'd have enough strength to do what was needed, but he knew that it didn't matter, they needed to stop Ronan no matter what.

"Let's go," Jace called. Drax picked up a weapon and placed it on his shoulder.

Without another word, the five of them proceeded to walk out of the Milano and onto the Dark Aster. It was dark once the Milano ship doors closed behind them, Jace tried his best to strain his eyes to see where they were going, but alas couldn't.

"I can barely see," Drax commented, voicing Jace's thoughts.

Just as Jace considered to do something, like light up the room with his powers, Groot took over and rose his hand. A bunch of fireflies came out of his arm, lightening up the surrounding area. It was something that Jace didn't expect all that much, he didn't know that Groot could do that. None of them knew that Groot could do that as they all looked around with surprise. Jace found himself smiling though, despite feeling surprised as a whole from it, it amazed Jace how Groot could make fireflies appear from himself.

"When the hell did you learn that?" Drax questioned, looking around.

"Pretty sure the answer is 'I am Groot'," Peter responded.

For a moment longer, they admired the fireflies and the light that it gave them. It wasn't until Gamora spoke to remind them why they were here in the first place. "The flight deck is three hundred meters this way,"

The group followed Gamora to where the flight deck would be. Jace couldn't help but wonder whether this would mean something, he knew that there was a chance that it would, but at the same time, there was this small part of him that was afraid that when it came to it, the Nova Corps would send them back to prison.

He shook his head, now wasn't the time to think about something as selfish as that. He knew that there was more pressing matters at hand like how Ronan still wanted to get to the ground. That should be where his head was and not about his own selfish desires. He took in a small breath, flexing his hands at his side. Every so often, Jace would connect an arrow to the wall as they walked past. They were planning on blowing the ship up at one point once they killed Ronan.

"I want you all to know that I am grateful for your acceptance after my blunders," Drax spoke. "It is pleasing to once again have friends. You, Quill, are my friend."

"Thanks," Peter said.

"Taylor, though you annoy me, you are my friend." Drax added.

"Aw, you think I'm annoying. Thanks," Jace grinned ever so slightly. He moved a part of his bow, the controller that had the trigger for the exploding arrows. It was something that was already attached to his bow, something that he made a while ago.

"This dumb tree, he is my friend," Drax continued as Groot somewhat hummed. "And this green thing is my—"

"—Oh, you must stop!" Gamora cut off.

It was then that a pissed off cyborg had appeared in front of them. She grunted as she landed and for a moment Jace wondered whether he was living in a terminator situation. At an instant Jace grabbed one of his arrows, placing it on his bow and aimed it towards the cyborg.

"Gamora, look at what you've done. You have always been weak. You are stupid, traitorous—" before the cyborg could continue, Drax fired the gun in hand towards her which caused the cyborg to fly back. The explosion caused enough light that Jace covered his eyes awkwardly.

"Nobody talks to my friend like that," Drax stated, not looking towards them. Jace ended up shoving the arrow he got out into the wall.

"Head to the flight deck." Gamora instructed. "I'll shut down the power to the security door."

Jace placed his bow across his shoulder, knowing that he didn't have use for it right now. The four of them—Jace, Peter, Groot, and Drax—separated from Gamora. They ran down the corridors of the ship, Gamora had been gracious enough to give them a map before they left, one that both Jace and Peter memorised in order to get to the flight deck. While they ran, Jace found himself preparing himself as much as he could, knowing that at any moment he might need to use his abilities.

He knew that he could just use his weaponry, but he was saving a lot of them for the blowing up of the Dark Aster. He was saving those for that, meaning that he'd have to rely on his powers a lot more than he would've liked. He knew that it was for a good cause, which was what mattered the most to him.

Just as they turned a corner, they found themselves up against a group of Saakarian soldiers with one who seemed to recognise Peter. For a moment, Jace wondered how one of them recognised Peter, though didn't want to think too much into it, knowing that now wasn't the time or place to consider it.

"Star-Lord," Korath spoke, staring directly at the man himself.

"Finally," Peter said with a grin on his face.

Jace rolled his eyes, knowing how long Peter waited for someone to call him that. Jace had a nickname that he didn't choose, it started going around when he was like twenty, it was something like 'Lord of Light' or something of the sorts, he couldn't remember.

Jace shook his head, blasting one of the Sakaaran soldiers with a beam of light. The others followed suit after Peter was thrown around by Korath—the one that recognised Peter. Jace threw himself into the fight against the Sakaaran soldiers, blocking any punch they tried to throw at him. He'd gotten rid of the weaponry that they carried, knowing that he enjoyed a good fist fight, though when he got bored of that, he blinded them with light and then burned a hole through their chest.

The one thing that surprised Jace the most was when one of the Sakaaran soldiers managed to strike a blow across Jace's face. It was something which caused Jace to smile wide as if he were waiting for someone to punch him. The solider went to punch Jace once more though Jace blocked the blow that was meant for his face and Jace used a lazar of light to cut the soldier's leg clean off. The soldier yelled and fell.

It continued somewhat similar like that, he'd play with the soldier's, make them believe that they were getting the upper hand on their fights and then killing them with his abilities. It was far more exhilarating to do such a thing with his abilities that it made Jace wonder as to why he never done it before. He knew that he could use his Quad Blasters to help him fight but he realised that he liked fighting with his fists rather than his weaponry, especially like this.

Jace managed to kill the last one that came towards him, he found himself looking around only to see how both Drax and Peter were on the floor while Groot was still dealing with a few Sakaaran soldiers. In front of him stood Korath who was looking at him with this look almost as if he were surprised that someone like him had these abilities.

He found himself smiling, shifting on his feet and flexed his hands. The last thing that Jace wanted was for Korath to hurt either Peter or Drax again. Not only that but Jace believed that this would be a better fight than what the soldiers were offering him, it seemed as if Korath was the better fighter out of the ones that Jace faced so far.

"Asgardian." Korath spat as if it was meant to offend Jace.

"Terran." Jace corrected.

Korath didn't say anything to that, though Jace didn't give him the time to say anything given that Jace struck first. He'd gone to punch though Korath moved quicker to block Jace's strike. Where Korath punched, Jace blocked, and where Jace punched, Korath blocked. It continued like that for a moment, both of them managing to match the other's strength. It was like a dance between the two, neither of them backing down and neither showing any signs of weakness. It was a game between them, between the strikes and counterstrikes,' between each block and kick, neither one of them dared to back down.

Jace felt the adrenaline flowing through him, despite how tired his body previously been beforehand, it felt as if all that he wanted to do was fight. It was like this fight meant everything to him just as the fight with the soldiers were. He couldn't explain it, it was like his veins burned and yearned for a fight like it always done when he got into a fight. He didn't need to worry about how tired he was, it was like any worry he ever had just vanished, allowing him to continue when needed.

At one point, Jace made a small whip of light, he'd use it as a way to defend himself knowing that it would leave a mark of burning anywhere it touched. Any time the whip of light touched Korath's skin, he let out a small yell of pain. Korath and Jace got into the rhythm of the strikes and blocks, though the more that they fought, Korath seemed to have learned the way that Jace fought given that when Korath next moved and stuck, the hit landed.

The hit made Jace stumble back ever so slightly, allowing for Korath to get the upper hand between the two. Korath struck Jace across the face and then swiped Jace's feet from under him. It was enough to cause Jace to fall to the ground with a harsh groan. When Jace tried to get back up again, Korath kicked him in the chest which was hard enough to make Jace believe that his chest caved in.

Jace found himself holding his chest, wheezing. For a moment he thought that he might not be able to breath, even as small black spots came into view in his eyesight. He tried to play it off as him being dramatic, trying his best to get his breathing under control. Now wasn't the time for his body to give out on him.

"You will never make it to Ronan," Korath sneered down to the three.

For a moment, Jace thought that he was going to lose his mind eventually because of all of this. Just before Jace could lose himself into his mind, he noticed the way that Drax rushed to his feet and began to attack Korath and not giving up in the slightest. At least Jace knew that he could rely on Drax to be the first one on his feet. Peter was next out of the pair to stand up and went straight back into battle with more soldiers which came their way.

Jace stayed on the ground for a little bit longer, he'd managed to get past that feeling in his chest and was getting up the need to stand up. Though just as Jace tried to stand once more, he felt the way that he was pushed down again by a soldier who held a gun towards his head. Jace didn't dare to move his head, knowing that there was a chance that the soldier would shoot him the second that he moved. Instead, Jace found himself grabbing a small bomb from his waist and instantly wrapping it around the soldier's leg.

Jace sharply turned, knocking the gun from the soldier's hands. He then pointed to the bomb on the soldiers' leg. "Bomb."

The soldier didn't seem to react to Jace's words until a small beep was made which was enough to draw attention to the bomb and made the soldier move back slightly, trying his best to get the bomb off of his leg. It gave Jace enough time to get up and shoot his blaster towards the soldier. The Sakaaran soldier flew back a little, landing into four other soldiers before the bomb went off, killing them all at an instant.

Jace found himself grinning like an idiot at it, it was like some twisted sense of joy that filled him to see the chaos that his weaponry could bring. He stood up, with a quad blaster in hand and his other free to use his abilities, he found himself turning and shooting any of the soldiers that dared to come up to him and face him.

The feel of being in a battle like this made Jace feel free. Any time he used his blaster, his powers, or even his bombs, it was like he was made for this. All of the worry that he ever had felt like it didn't matter nor existed in the first place. There was a small part of him that seemed to forget as to why he was here in the first place. He liked the feel of this battle more than he thought he would, he didn't know why he was so worried in the first place.

The one thing that caught his eye after he killed one of the last soldiers that came at him was the way that Drax pinned Korath to the wall, while ripping out one of Korath's cranial implants in the side of his head. There was something about it which made Jace smirk to himself. He wondered whether or not this entire battle was like free therapy for Drax given everything that Ronan done to him.

"Finger to the throat means death," Drax spoke just as he killed Korath. The recently killed soldier fell to the floor as electricity done the killing.

Both Jace and Peter went over towards him, Jace couldn't help but give Drax a quite confused and surprised look. He found himself smiling at Drax, he wasn't sure if it were in the heat of the battle but there was this strange part of him that found all of this amusing, like there was nothing else that could ever bring him as much joy as this.

Drax looked towards the pair of them. "Metaphor."

"Yeah, sorta." Peter responded.

"Remind me to not piss you off," Jace said with a grin.

Just as they headed towards the corridor that headed towards the flight deck, they saw how a large group of soldiers came running down to face them. Jace found himself letting out a groan, a part of him wondering whether this would end soon. As much as he was enjoying this battle more than he would've liked, there was still a part of him that wished that this would be over soon. For a moment, he wondered how long it will take them to get to Ronan if this fight continues.

The one thing that Jace didn't expect as the soldiers ran towards them was for Groot to extended his arm quite quickly as it cut right through a line of soldiers like a knife through someone's chest, the only thing that connected them together was Groot's arm. Groot proceeded to use his arm with the now dead soldiers on and continually hitting from wall to wall, killing all and every soldier which stood in their path.

Jace, Peter, and Drax all gave each other a look while Groot did this, it was something that took Jace by surprise. After a moment of Groot doing that, he retracted his arm back to its regular size, and then he turned to face the three who watched with wide eyes and smiled to them. Jace couldn't help but smile back to Groot, he'd never thought a tree could be this violent.

They didn't talk about what happened, instead they continued down the hallway. Any time they came upon Sakaaran soldiers Jace would burst them back till they fell unconscious, knowing that they needed to get to the flight deck as quick as they could. If there were any stragglers that Jace missed, Peter would shoot at them. Peter would occasionally pat Jace on the back to tell him to lay off his abilities for a moment.

The four of them just got to the doors of the flight deck when they heard Rocket's voice through their earpiece. "Quill, Taylor, you gotta hurry. The city's been evacuated, but we're getting our asses kicked down here."

"Gamora hasn't opened the door!" Peter yelled. He was by the door now.

"Use bomb, or wait?" Jace asked, looking at Peter while Groot tried to hit the door open.

"Wait, give it a minute. If it's not open in a minute, then try," Peter told.

Jace nodded as a response as Peter started to put the weapon that Rocket made on his chest. For a moment, Jace wondered whether or not he could burn through the metal with his abilities, though realised that it would take too much of his energy to do such a thing. Before he could make that suggestion, the door suddenly opened up, allowing for them to walk into the room.

Sakaaran soldiers turned to face them as the doors opened, though as Jace was ready to do what was necessary, the floor gave out and Gamora was there. Gamora killed one with a gun and Drax killed the other when he was closer.

The group ran to each other, turning to face Ronan who stood halfway down the room. Ronan turned, and as soon as the Hardon Enforcer targeted and locked onto him, Peter shot at him. The Enforcer released a blow which flew to Ronan, causing a blue reaction and a gushing effect which made the five cover their head. It was bright and even Jace found himself closing his eyes, normally he could cope with staring into the light of something.

Jace assumed that the attack killed Ronan, even with all the smoke that covered the air and room, there was a sense of joy that filled him. Did they just kill Ronan? Given that with all the smoke in the air, Jace assumed that the likelihood of Ronan surviving that blast even with the Stone was unlikely. He wasn't sure what he would do if it turned out that Ronan somehow survived.

"You did it!" Drax called, turning towards Peter. Peter's mask was no longer covering his face and he was smiling.

However, Drax's words and Jace's assumptions had deemed a lie, Ronan rose to his feet and the purple Infinity Stone shone throughout the mist and smoke. A sense of dread rose throughout Jace, knowing that his hopes of Ronan being gone was something that he should've wished for a little harder. Ronan turned towards them once more and for a moment, Jace felt as he knew what to expect.

Ronan rose the staff that held the stone towards them, Jace rose his hands, swearing under his breath. Just as an energy pulse came towards them, Jace tried to put a shield up for all of them, though just managed to do one for himself. The pulse knocked the others down and just about pushed Jace a few inches back.

Jace found himself clenching his jaw, though as soon as the shield was down he found himself running towards Ronan. If Ronan wanted to make this difficult then he was going to make sure that Ronan hated Jace for getting involved. Jace could hear Peter call out for him, though he didn't care to listen. Jace brought a hand up, swinging it in an arc and an arch of light formed with the movement and soared to Ronan.

Ronan, however, used the Stone to deflect the attack. When Jace was close enough to Ronan, Ronan used the staff to try and strike at Jace. Any time that Ronan used the Stone, Jace tried his best to deflect the Stone's strength, though it took Jace everything to hold it back. It was like Ronan knew to keep using the Stone's strength against Jace even when Jace used his powers to deflect it.

It was constant between the two of them until Ronan got frustrated with Jace's persistence and used most of the Power Stone against Jace to blast him back to the others. No matter how much Jace tried to block the Stone and its strength, it was like it meant nothing—no amount of light was able to save him against the Stone.

Drax instantly took Jace's place in attacking Ronan. He charged at Ronan to attack, though just before he was able to attack, Ronan grabbed Drax's throat and lifted him up, choking him.

"I was mistaken. I do remember your family," Ronan spoke as Drax struggled, "their screams were pitiful. I—"

Before Ronan could continue, a Starship approached the window which stood boldly and largely out upon Xandar. The Starship crashed its way into the Dark Aster, knocking Ronan and Drax over, along with most of the controls which kept the ship in the air. They all dodged the Starships oncoming storm of destruction. Though, Jace was somewhat unlucky given that he barely had time to stand after the attack from the Stone, so instead he created a protective dome over himself, preventing anything from falling onto him. He watched as everything crashed around him, he tried to shake back the ill-poisoned memories which he often thought about.

Jace could feel the way that the Dark Aster started to decline towards the surface. He knew what was about to happen and that was something that he didn't like the thought of. Jace allowed the dome he created to fade around him as he stood up. Panic was something that filled him no matter how much he tried to push it down. Now wasn't the time for his mind to cause him pain.

The eight-year-old sat in the back of the car as he cried for his parents. The door had been ripped off by the king that killed his mother, smoke came flooding out from the bonnet of the car. Blood poured from the gashes on his face made by the glass of the window. He cried for his mother that he watched get killed, he cried for his father who was still strapped in at the wheel.

No matter how much he tried to reach for his dead parents, he couldn't. No matter how many times he called for them, they didn't respond. No matter how many times he begged them to wake up, they didn't listen. The gods were against Jace Taylor, son of the sun.

Smoke, blood, and tears was all that the eight-year-old was able to taste, and a memory which would scar him for life. He felt his eyelids grow heavy as the fear of dying by burning filled him. No matter how much he tried to stay awake, it was like night was taking over his mind.

Smoke, blood, and tears.

Smoke, blood, and attempted tears was something that Jace couldn't escape from. "—Jace!" Peter yelled, drawing him out of his memories and out of the thoughts which might've swallowed him whole.

Smoke was clear in the air as fire was clear in his sight. He could feel that his head was bleeding. Smoke and blood. Jace shook his head, hurrying towards where the rest of the group was as they all appeared to be round Drax's body which still appeared to be alive. He was glad that they were alive, he wasn't going to lose any of them, at least not yet. He hoped that he wouldn't lose the people that he cared about—he realised within that moment just how much he cared for the others, they were his friends and he'd be damned if he lost them.

Rocket was in Peter's arms, Peter gave Jace a quick nod as Jace knelt beside where Drax laid. Opposite him was Gamora and Peter—along with Rocket—at Drax's head was Groot who kneeled down. Around them the ship was falling to pieces which made Jace's mentality to cave in on itself.

He knew that his mind would take him back to his constant nightmare, so he was somewhat grateful when he noticed the sight of bark forming around him and the rest of the group. In some twisted way, it gave Jace something to focus on. It was something that honestly surprised Jace and yet it gave him some sort of comfort with how the situation could play out.

It hadn't taken long for a thick layer of twigs and such to form a circle around them, some had wrapped their way around their arms for more security. It was a dome, Jace realised just as small lights appeared which allowed them to see. Jace felt safe inside the dome, felt as if he could relax, despite knowing that there was a chance that they were going to hit the ground any time soon. Even some twigs were wrapped around each of them, securing them to the wall of the dome.

"No, Groot!" Rocket said. The racoon had woken suddenly as the layers first formed around them. "You can't. You'll die. Why are you doing this? Why?"

A small twig-like thing had then moved to wipe the tears from Rocket's eyes.

"We. . .are. . .Groot." The tree spoke.

Even through the layers of wood that Groot wrapped around them, the sudden impact that was made when they hit the surface was still something that shook Jace in his mind, so he shut his eyes and held them shut for as long as he could.

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THIS WAS AN UNINTENDED LONG CHAPTER IM SORRY

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