『Chapter Twenty-Two』
『the warning』

⋅⋆✯✼⋆⋅

After the conversation that Peter had with Jace, there was a part of him that wondered whether or not this entire thing was something that he needed to worry about. As much as he loved Jace like a brother would, there was still a part of him that was worried that having Kain here would be something that would ruin Jace more than before. The last thing that Peter wanted was for Jace to be in pain after losing Kain again. It was hard enough before to help Jace through it, and Peter was afraid that Jace might not be strong enough to deal with that loss once more.

As harsh as it might be, there was a small part of Peter which hoped that Kain wouldn't stay here long, he wished that he could drop Kain off somewhere and leave Kain there. Although doing that would hurt Jace, it would be a pain that Jace would be able to recover from—at least that was something that he hoped. Not that he wanted to follow through with the idea, but Peter didn't want to sit by and watch as Jace destroyed himself while being hopelessly in love with Kain even still.

It was a pain to watch Jace look at Kain, to know that the pain that Jace went through after they broke up. As much as Peter knew about everything that happened leading to the breakup and such, and how Jace made that plan to leave Kain in order to protect him, there was still a part of Peter that wished that Kain wasn't staying with them. He wanted to talk to Jace about all of this in more detail, but he knew that Jace would snap at him for such a thing.

The one thing that snapped Peter out of his thoughts was when he heard how a call buzzed its way through the Benatar, followed by a familiar face to all of the Guardians, one of which helped then against Ronan and the person who raised both Quill and Jace. The call was something that Peter hadn't expected at all, there was a small part of him that wondered whether Yondu found out about the small trick that he done with the Stone, though that was something that he tried to forget.

Yondu's blue familiar face was something that shocked them all, they hadn't expected something like this. Peter had been hesitant to answer, though the smaller (much, much smaller) Groot had answered the call for them all. Peter had secretly cussed at that all while an outline of Yondu had filled the screen for all of them to see. There was a small part of Peter that was happy that Jace wasn't here, Jace was still asleep in the same room as Kain which made Peter uncomfortable in a way, not because he didn't accept the relationship but because he was worried.

Peter tried to keep those thoughts to the back of his mind. He shifted on his feet as he looked at Yondu on the screen. There was some form of dread that filled Peter as he stared at the man that raised him, he flet as if Yondu was about to tell him the worst news yet.

"Yondu," Peter said. "What do you need?"

"Is Jace with you?" Yondu asked, not even bothering to question any of them about what they were up to, or how they were. Peter found himself rolling his eyes.

The others and Peter ended up sharing a look with one another. It was Rocket who answered. "No, you blue idiot. He's asleep."

"Good," Yondu muttered.

It was then that Peter noticed the look which presented itself on Yondu's face. It took Peter a moment to realise that Yondu was terrified. That was something that Peter rarely saw on Yondu. He had a feeling that what Yondu was about to say was going to make him hate everything. If this was about Jace, then for a moment, he wondered whether he should wake him up, or is it something bad enough that he shouldn't even consider such a thing?

"'Good'? Yondu what's going on?" Peter asked raising a brow. "Do you want me to wake Jace up? Do you need to talk to him for whatever reason?"

Yondu shook his head slightly. "No, it'll only worry him more. I need you to keep an eye on him—protect him."

That was something that surprised Peter the most. How was he supposed to protect Jace? Of course, that was something that Peter did as much as he could, but if Yondu was afraid enough that he wanted them to protect Jace, it made him wonder whether he would be able to protect Jace. After all, Jace was the smartest idiot that he'd ever met, he knew that Jace would be able to defend himself. Out of the pair of them, Jace was the most bloodthirsty in a fight. Whoever had Yondu afraid made Peter wonder for the safety of them all.

"What do you mean?" Gamora asked, coming closer to the screen. "Protect him from who? Who's after him?"

"All I'm going to say is that an assassin is after him," Yondu explained. "Jace is not safe, he won't be safe anywhere. You cannot tell him, Peter—you know how he gets; you know the issue he has when he joined us."

Peter tensed ever so slightly. Someone wanted Jace dead, for a moment Peter wondered whether or not it was Kain's father that wanted Jace dead though that was something that didn't make sense. Who else would want Jace dead? None of it made sense to him at all. To know that Jace wouldn't be safe anywhere didn't sit right with him at all, all that Peter ever wanted for Jace was for him to be safe.

Peter knew that Jace was already afraid of the powers that he has because of the King that killed his mother, but if this was something that Jace ever found out, he didn't know if it was something that he could help with. As much as Peter hated the thought, he knew that he'd have to keep it a secret from Jace. For Jace's safety and peace of mind.

"Why can't we tell Taylor?" Drax asked. To Peter it felt odd that even Drax was asking something about Jace—Peter thought Drax didn't care for him that much. Though he supposed that the time that they've spent together might've changed that. "What issue?"

Yondu rose his hand slightly. "Just promise me that you won't tell him—all of you."

"I promise," Peter said with some strain in his voice.

As much as he knew that this was something that he needed to keep from Jace, there was a part of Peter that didn't want to keep this secret from Jace, he never liked the feeling of keeping something from his brother. And yet he knew that this was something that was needed to happen. He knew that it was for the best to keep this as much as a secret as possible.

Peter could see it in Jace's eyes that there was a lot that he was going through. He wasn't blind to see the identity crisis that Jace was going through since the Nova Corps told the pair of them that they were half-breeds. Jace thought that he was good at hiding how much it hurt him but they both knew that there was nothing human about Jace to begin with. Peter had wanted to talk to Jace about this but didn't feel as if he should, he wasn't sure how to talk to Jace about any of this. He wouldn't know where to start, there was already too much going on.

Gamora was the one to speak up. "Why is an assassin after Jace? Is it the same spy who is after Kain Barblen?"

Yondu narrowed his eyes, slightly confused. Yet even such, there was this kind of fear which was laced within his eyes. "No, not the Emperor's son. All you have to know is to make sure that Jace is safe—okay?"

"Yondu, why?" Peter pressed. He wanted to know why someone was after his brother. He wanted to know what he should expect if he was meant to protect his brother.

"Trust me, boy," Yondu said. "I cannot speak his name. Protect Jace."

It was then that Yondu vanished from the screen, leaving the group in silent shock and confusion. They needed to know why Jace was being hunted yet they couldn't tell him he was being hunted. It confused them for they wasn't given a name for this assassin, or even some sort of description to even look out for this being. Though the one thing of which played on their minds was wondering as to what the hell Jace had done to ever get an assassin after him.

Peter knew that not only were they going to worry about having Kain on their ship and under their protection, but they now had this. He wondered what kind of trouble Jace was getting them all in. He wanted nothing more than to protect Jace, though he was wondering at what cost it will come to. With assassins coming after both Kain and Jace, Peter knew that this was going to make him lose his mind more than he thought it would.

⋅⋆✯✼⋆⋅

Jace woke up with a pain in his neck, he'd fallen asleep awkwardly on the chair in his room. He was glad that Kain was still asleep given that it gave him time to think over everything when it came to their relationship. As much as Jace hoped to be go back into that relationship, he felt too guilty about what he'd done. He kept that thought to the back of his mind, knowing that now wasn't the time for him to think about any relationship.

He found himself walking out of his room at to where he knew the others would be. As much as he'd want to wake Kain up, he knew that there was chance that they'd have to talk about everything, and that was something that he wasn't sure he could handle at the moment. There was a part of Jace that wondered whether Peter would want to talk to him about all of this more than what they'd discussed, though it was something that he didn't want to think too much about.

Jace paused for a moment, he could hear the other Guardians talking to one another. He could tell by the sound of Peter's voice alone that he was panicking in some way. There was a small part of Jace that wondered what it could be about, he wondered whether he should ask what it was about, though he shook his head slightly, it was probably just something job related. He was sure that someone called for their help, and it was something terrible.

"Can we pack Taylor's bags and send him away?" Rocket questioned after a moment. "We wouldn't have to deal with this and his dumbass if he left."

That was something which made Jace tense for a moment. Did Rocket mean him? Was this something to do with what he did in regards to Kain? He thought that there was a chance that he was mishearing this, he was sure that he was missing out on half of a conversation that he had no idea about. Though he shook his head, knowing that there's a chance that it was nothing.

"Dude!" Peter said. He turned to Rocket. "We are not leaving Jace or ditching him to deal with this himself."

At least Jace could count on Peter to defend him, though he wasn't sure why he'd need defending as a whole. He was still half-asleep, so he wanted to believe that this was all nothing, that his brain was too groggy for all of this too think too much into it.

"Why not?" Rocket asked. "He made that Kain man stay with us, and not all of us had a vote. So, let's leave them both."

Gamora sighed. "We are not leaving either of them to fend for themselves!"

"Who's not leaving people to fend for themselves?" Jace asked groggily, stumbling into the room. When he fell asleep, he'd mistakenly fallen asleep in his leather jacket though changed it into a slightly baggy jumper. Jace had rubbed his eye with the sleeve as a way to help him wake up.

Jace noticed the sad look that Peter gave him. "No one. Just Rocket being a stupid raccoon."

"Don't call me a raccoon!"

"What else would you like to be called?" Jace asked. "A panda with an attitude problem?"

Rocket proceeded to give him a confused look. "What's a panda?" He then shared a look with Drax who had simply shrugged.

They were all silent again. There was this awkwardness to this silence, one of which made Jace unusually uncomfortable. It was unsettling for Jace, he wanted to ask them more about all of this, he wanted to know what was going on with all of them and what they were talking about before he came in, though he knew that it was something that might not happen.

He found himself shifting on his feet, it felt all too tense, though he wasn't sure if it was something that he created when he came into the room. He wondered whether he should leave them to have whatever conversation that they were having, though he was sure that he was just overthinking about all of this. There was a small part of Jace that wondered whether he should say something about any of this though he was sure that it was something that would end up getting brushed off.

Jace looked round to all of them. Drax seemed to look longingly towards the wall of the ship, as if there was a lot of thoughts going through his head. Rocket was sat on a stack of duct tape rolls and playing with his small paws. Groot was in his plant pot in a world of his own. Peter had been staring at the screen and occasionally looked at Jace. Gamora was stood with either hand on the table, leaning against it.

"What's going on?" Jace asked, his voice still quite groggy though when he spoke it came out like a whisper. It made Jace feel like he'd done something wrong. When he spoke again, his voice was more urgent. "Did something happen? Did the people who are after Kain somehow contact us?"

Peter, Gamora, Drax, and Rocket had shared a look with one another. After a moment, Peter had come walking towards Jace with a small smile. There was something about it which made him feel as if there was something that was being kept from him though he didn't want to believe that they'd hide something from him. Jace stared at Peter, silently begging for Peter to be honest with him, though he could feel the way that he was slowly panicking. He hoped that his sleep-filled brain was making this feel more dramatic than anything.

"Oh, please don't say that they wanted me to go as well." Jace said. "I know that the Emperor wants me dead for apparently turning his son, but still, I won't go. None of you bitches are going to make me."

Jace easily noticed the way of which Peter tensed up when he spoke. Maybe it was the fact that he had made Kain stay with them which was why they all seemed tensed. God, he knew that he made this awkward for them as much as it was awkward for him, though even still, he wasn't going to let Kain die by assassins. Though now that he realised, he'd admitted to Peter that he knew that the Emperor wanted Jace dead as well.

Jace shifted on his feet. "This is because of Kain isn't it? If you want me to tell him then I wouldn't mind being the one to stay with him until this all blows over. I could contact you afterwards if you don't want—"

"—Jace," Peter cut in. "It's nothing to do with Kain. Everything's fine. We were just trying to plan out where we should stop off next."

Jace narrowed his eyes slightly. "Okay. So, none of this is because of Kain, right? Because if it is then I'm happy to leave with him if it means that you all aren't at risk of anything."

He knew that it was a lie though at the same time Jace didn't want to press any more into this as a whole. He couldn't deal with this back and forth on what truly is going on. There was too much going on anyway in his mind, whatever they were hiding could be for good reason, though at the same time he felt suspicious on all of it.

Gamora turned to him. "Jace, everything is fine. You and Kain don't need to leave, you're both safe here."

Jace nodded, though he couldn't help but notice the fact that neither Drax nor Rocket hadn't said anything throughout this conversation—though he tried to shrug it off. Maybe it was nothing, maybe it was him overthinking everything. He had too much to deal with, he didn't need something else to be added onto it.

"Go back to sleep, Jace." Peter said, almost demanding it.

Jace hadn't said anything in response, he simply headed back towards the room. He had felt as if he did need another nap—despite just waking up from one, but he felt exhausted. Yet his mind wrapped itself in countless thoughts that there was this deep discomfort within him. He could tell that there was something wrong with all of them and he could tell that they were lying to him.

He wanted to know as to what the hell was going on with them. There was this part of him which maybe thought that they found out that Jace was looking for where his mother might have come from. He didn't know. His tried to tell himself that there was nothing for him to worry about, that they all weren't hiding anything from him. He shook his head slightly, knowing that he was overthinking everything.

When he walked into his room once more, he took notice that Kain wasn't in bed which confused Jace for a moment. He didn't see Kain come out on his way back in. Jace shook his head, he was sure that he was losing his mind slowly with everything going on. He needed to stay focused. As much as he wanted to Keep Kain safe, he knew that he wanted to focus on finding out where his mother was from. He supposed that he could do both.

Jace rose his head when he heard movement. He saw how Kain came walking back into the room while sorting out the waistband of his pants, which was enough for Jace to know that Kain probably went to the bathroom. Kain looked up at Jace with a small, surprised look as if Kain hadn't expected to see Jace there.

For a moment they just stared at one another in silence as if they were waiting for the other to say something. Kain's hair was a little bit of a mess from the way that he slept, he also looked tired still. There was a part of Jace that wanted to hug Kain just to be close to him, but he was afraid that if he were to touch Kain, he'd hurt him once more and that was the one thing that he didn't want to do.

"You stole my jacket," Kain muttered. Kain looked Jace up and down.

Jace looked down at himself, he did steal Kain's jacket that he'd left on the chair Jace fell asleep on. It was easier to wear given that he'd originally fallen asleep in his leather jacket which was rather uncomfortable.

"It smells like you and it's comfy," Jace argued before he could think of anything else. "Plus, it was the closest jacket that I had outside of my leather jacket."

Kain shrugged slightly. "Fine keep it," he then smiled, "but as long as I can keep one of yours."

Jace grinned at that. "Sure."

They stared at one another once more, both of them were smiling. It felt almost as if nothing had previously happened between them. Jace found himself smiling at Kain, there was something about being so close to Kain which made Jace almost forget everything that ever happened. And yet, the pain ate inside of him.

Kain looked up at Jace then, tilting his head. "Is everything okay?"

Jace hummed slightly, realising that he'd been staring too long. "Hmm, yeah, everything's okay."

His prince nodded, though didn't look convinced. The way that Kain looked at him made feel as if he needed to ignore everything that made him feel guilty and to just kiss him, like how Kain kissed him in the shop on Zecon. No, he told himself, if he ever wanted to get back into a relationship with Kain, he'd have to work towards it rather than rush into it without talking about it. But he didn't know how he could talk about any of this with Kain if it was so hard for him to admit the amount of guilt that he still felt for all of it five years later.

"No, it's not." Kain muttered, coming close to Jace. There was a part of Jace that wanted to take a step back, but he didn't. Kain went to touch Jace though stopped himself, a part of Jace wanted Kain to touch him but he didn't say anything. "Is it the things to do with why you were looking into the Nine Realms?"

Jace found himself sighing. He could cover everything up with that. So, he nodded. "Yeah. It is."

Kain nodded. "Do you still want me to help you with it? Searching for it all?"

"Yes please." Jace said with a small smile. "I just feel like that I'd be closer to what my mother would've wanted me to know." He shrugged slightly.

Kain weakly smiled. "I get it."

Jace just smiled back, as much as he knew that he wanted to find out about his mother and where she came from, there was a part of him that didn't want to know. Though, the voices in his head prevented him to do as such, he knew that he needed to know for his own sake than anything else. He wanted to know where his mother came from before it ate away at him. At this point, there was going to be a lot that was going to eat away at him, he wanted to talk about all of it, but for now he knew that it was best for him to focus on where his mother came from and who he was.

If he could find out where his mother came from, he was sure that he could focus on everything else that bothered him in due time. As important as everything else is to him, this was what he felt like he needed to do first. He felt as if he needed to find out what he truly is. As much as he knew that he should accept that he's a demi-god, he felt like it wasn't enough, he felt like there was a reason why his father wanted his mother to talk to him about it.

With the help from Kain, he was sure that he'd find out who he was and where his mother came from. He just hoped that he didn't get his feelings for Kain and his guilt in the way of what he wanted to do.