『Chapter Thirty-Four』
『the magdelorian』

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The Guardians were shown where the Magdelorian was meant to show up, or more accurately, where the guards thought the Magdelorian would appear. They were stood on a platform which was connected to the side of royal blue castle, small towers of energy powered sources stood boldly with gold laced within them, under them was the power core which they had been hired to save. The energy pulsed through the towers in a light blue pulse, it was enough to make Jace a little distracted from everything going on and what might happen.

Jace had his quiver slung over his shoulder and his bow in hand. His stunning gun was held on his thigh, and on his belt was some of the weaponry which he had made. He wanted to make sure that he had enough weaponry on him in hopes that it might work against the demonic creature. Before they left, Jace had left some of the weapons he made and explained to Kain how each worked and how to use them if Kain ever needed to use them, he knew that Kain probably didn't need his explanation, but he was just worried in case any of the Xophelian guards decided to look on their ship.

Jace couldn't help but bounce on his toes, he wanted all of this to be over with already. He wanted to get off this planet as quickly as possible, knowing that he didn't want to run into Aegon or any of the royal siblings. The quicker that they had this over and done with, the quicker they could leave the planet, and the quicker that he could be back in the company of Kain. Jace found himself letting out a small groan as he looked around, he hated being back on this planet—hated the fact that there was a chance of him seeing Emperor Aegon.

"I swear to god, if this goddamn thing doesn't show up, I'm gonna personally fall into a two-day coma." Jace randomly spoke. He wanted to just curl up into a ball and hope that nothing else could happen. He wanted go back into himself and not think about his time on Xopheila and with Aegon.

The Guardians naturally found themselves standing in a circle, so that way it was easier to see where the Magdelorian would appear. Peter had a tablet in his hands which would show any mass of power created by the Magdelorian or any other powered being, for now it seemed as if everything was quiet. The wind around them picked up slightly which sent a small shiver down Jace's spine. It seemed far too calm for all their liking; it was like waiting for a jump scare that would never happen in a game that Jace would play when he was younger.

"Taylor, if you don't shut up then I'll personally be the cause of your little coma," Rocket said. He looked as if he was working on a small speaker. Jace rolled his eyes slightly.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Jace questioned, looking down. Inside their small circle, there was speakers which Rocket was trying to fix, he was just working on the wiring.

"Music," Rocket responded as if it was obvious.

"How is that important?" Gamora asked. "We're about to fight a Magdelorian, and you're working on that?"

Rocket then looked between both Peter and Jace as if it was their fault for all of this. "I thought it would be obvious why it's important, these two fools won't stop listening to tunes no matter what!"

Jace shrugged slightly. "He's not wrong."

Jace liked the thought of having music while fighting against the Magdelorian, it would be a good distraction for Jace's mind from the overwhelming thoughts that he had. The thought of having music while they thought might make all of this more amusing for him, he'd always enjoyed the music that Peter had and also enjoyed showing Peter the music that he'd missed out on while he was in space.

"We could die, and you want to listen to music while doing as such?" Drax questioned as he gave Jace a look.

Jace let out a small laugh. "I mean—"

"—Jace don't answer that." Peter cut off. "Rocket stop with that."

Jace pouted slightly at being cut off. Though, it was already too late for Rocket to stop given that he'd managed to sort out the speaker, the song September by Earth, Wind & Fire bleared out. Peter almost looked a little confused as he tried to register what the song was, he then turned towards Jace who was mumbling the song to himself. Peter rolled his eyes slightly, knowing that it was probably one of Jace's.

It was almost enough to make Jace distracted as to why they were there in the first place, though it was instantly cut short when a dark grey rift broke through by the side of the platform they stood on. A figure glided out, a figure who they had been told would come. The Magdelorian appeared in front of them all, gliding over the surface of the platform as if they never existed or was floating.

Its tentacle arms were stiff by its side; its facial features had been hidden by a hood—they couldn't even get a look under the hood as it drooped over its head. Yet even at the distance, they could clearly tell that it was taller than them all, more bulky than Drax. Its cape-like sheet had covered his entire body almost too loosely as if it was about to fall off, yet Jace was planning to use that to his advantage.

At first sight, Drax had charged for the Magdelorian his daggers in both hands. Peter and Gamora had taken place where the core was placed, Rocket had used a small jetpack as he flew to attack. Nocking his bow, Jace waited for the right moment to release, between Drax attacking the creature and Rocket's shooting—it made it hard for Jace to get a clear shot at the Magdelorian. Jace wanted to make sure that he got a clear shot before he took it.

Drax tried to swipe the creature with his dagger, though at an instant the Magdelorian's tentacle arm had wrapped itself around Drax's wrist and flung him halfway across the platform like it was nothing. It was enough of an opportunity for Jace to release the arrow, yet it never reached its target—the Magdelorian simply moved to the side, watching as the arrow flew past it.

Jace had tried again, drawing the string with an arrow in place and released it. The same happened again and again. Jace grew both tired and irritant at it, there was a moment where Jace considered that there was a chance that the Magdelorian might be telepathic in some way, though he pushed the thoughts aside, disregarding his bow and charged towards the being.

He grasped at the creature when he was close enough, wanting nothing more than land a few punches, yet even at close range the being blocked his strikes. Jace found himself growing more irritant at that. He continued to strike despite his arm starting to ache, the Magdelorian blocked each attack before its tentacle arm grasped Jace's neck. He struggled as the creature rose him up, its piercing purple eyes had stared at Jace almost as if it were trying to understand Jace.

Jace chocked sightly, though he couldn't take his eyes off of the Magdelorian's eyes. He felt like he couldn't, he felt as if everything around him had never existed. A coldness spread across Jace, nothing felt right as the creature bore its eyes into Jace's. Jace tried his best to warm himself up with his abilities, though no matter how much he warmed himself up, the coldness dampened it within an instant.

It confused Jace for a moment, he never thought that his abilities wouldn't fully work, they'd always worked. Jace warmed himself up as much as he could, forcing all that he could muster up, though it was like the Magdelorian was cooling him down or was draining Jace as much as it could. He could feel the way that the creature looked into his eyes, the way that it felt like the creature was reading every single thought that Jace has ever had in his life.

It was then that the creature spoke and when it did, its voice was groggy and slurred. "Disgusting half-breed. You reek of man, filth."

It threw Jace to the side as if he were nothing. Jace gasped for air as his hand reached towards his neck. He had to dampen his abilities, noticing that he was almost glowing, knowing that it was from when he tried to warm himself up. When Jace looked up, he noticed the way that the Magdelorian seemed unfazed by Rocket's blasts as it glided towards where Peter and Gamora stood. Drax had gotten up and charged towards the creature, though as he got closer, the Magdelorian had twisted round and struck Drax down. It then whipped its arm up at Rocket, flinging the poor raccoon down.

Jace tried to stand but his legs bucked, making him kneel slightly. In a way he felt somewhat violated, as if everything had been shared without Jace knowing or every bit of his strength had been stolen from him. He gasped slightly, his throat felt tight, he tried to breath yet even such he felt as if he couldn't. Everything felt almost dreary, like his eyesight was going blurred.

For a brief moment Jace had thought that he went blind. Everything around him and the weapons platform had gone into nothing, there was no shimmer of the sun, no shadow of the castle, no royal blue of the platform they stood on. Everything around him seemed as if it never existed. A thick layer of black cloud covered everything, no sun was able to get in, no light to show the way. No matter where he looked all he could see was the black cloud. He couldn't see where Gamora and Peter stood, he couldn't see where both Drax and Rocket laid, he couldn't see where the Magdelorian stood.

For a moment, Jace thought that he was going crazy, that this was all a trick which his mind was playing. He tried to lighten everything around him with his abilities though there was nothing but darkness. Even still, he could hear the sound of a fight going on, the sound of quad blasters shooting, the sound of Gamora letting out a yell. Jace tried to stand despite the pain which flooded both his throat and body, he had to help, he had to protect everyone, he knew that he was more of use in a fight then on his knees.

He let out a small whimper, everything inside his body hurt more than anything, though he forced himself to continue—he had to find his way and end all of this. He knew that he was strong enough to fight against the Magdelorian, though only if he could find his way, find his way without light. His abilities weren't helping him in the slightest and it was making him panic more than anything. He could feel the way that his panic was something which slowly crawled over Jace, he wanted to panic yet he knew that his panic wouldn't help him.

Jace wanted to call out for any of them, but he felt that if he did such a thing then he would be giving his position away to the Magdelorian. Hell, he didn't even know where he was, everything around him was dark, he felt as if he was losing his mind. There was a part of him that was worried in case that he lost his vision without realising or that it was all a trick in his mind. He knew that he needed to focus but the darkness all around him was making it all hard to focus on anything.

Jace found himself grabbing his blaster from his hip, raising his blaster and pointing it where he could last remember seeing people and shot. He knew that there was a chance that he might miss, but it was risk he was willing to take, he knew that there was a chance that he could shoot someone he cared about, but he had to take it. He had to push down any fear and just shoot.

He moved to the direction which he last saw them all. It pained Jace to move but he had to push down all of that and keep fighting. He knew that he needed to fight, he needed to join the others, he couldn't go down at the first attack no matter how tough it was. He couldn't allow this creature to get its hands on the core and potentially damage so many people and planets. As much as Jace would like to see Xopheila to burn, he couldn't—it would be wrong to see millions or even billions of people die all because Jace's hatred got in the way.

He knew that there was a chance that the others might need his abilities as a last resort. He tried to keep moving as much as he could, his walk turned into a run, he had to stop the Magdelorian from getting the core. Jace tried to use his abilities though even in the dark cloud he was in, it felt as if the light never existed as it ate away at any form of light he created. He knew that he had to help the people that he cared about; he knew that if he didn't then billions might die.

Jace found himself calling out for all of them, not caring if he gave out his position to the creature after all, he couldn't hear anything. Jace couldn't hear any fighting, like everything had went silent. The darkness around him was acting like some form of shield against everything on the outside, it was enough to make every instinct in him tell him that something was wrong, that something bad had happened. Though Jace tried to rid himself of those thoughts, all he had to do was find his friends and hopefully everything would be okay.

He wanted nothing more than to get out of this cloud that he was in, there was a small part of him that wondered whether or not the Magdelorian done something to him, whether his mind had been clouded by the creature to distract him from everything going on. Jace tried to shake those thoughts away, knowing that there was a chance that he was making things up to understand all of this better. He was sure that once he got out of here—whatever here was—that everything would be okay, that there would be nothing for him to worry about.

Jace found himself tripping over a body—or what he thought was a body—it looked like Drax, he laid on his side, eyes closed, and his daggers were either side of him. Jace gasped, pushing himself back up. There was a pool of blood which surrounded Drax's body. Jace felt himself go cold all over. Beside Drax was Gamora, her blade was beside her and shattered completely.

Jace jerked back, tumbling over his own feet before almost stepping on a smaller body. The body being Rocket's. He looked small and delicate, almost cute considering his attitude. Yet even such, he appeared dead. Jace almost chocked on air at the sight. Even the smallest of beings had died. He could feel everything within him break.

Though the one thing that truly made Jace feel lost was the sight which he never wanted to see in his life. Peter was leaning against a pillar on the platform; blood coated his hands as he tried his best to hang onto life just a little bit longer. Peter's eyes found their way to Jace, and they slightly widened as if he was surprised to see that Jace was still alive and unhurt.

"Why. . . didn't. . . you help. . . us?" Peter's voice sounded strained and different. It didn't sound like Peter but in some ways it did.

"Pete," Jace shook, "come on."

"We would. . . be better off. . . without," Peter took in a breath, "you."

Jace found himself almost choking back a sob. The thought that Peter would say that to him was something that broke him, he'd always thought that there was a chance that the others were better off without him, but that was something that he'd never admitted to anyone. To hear that Peter would be better off without him hurt him more than he thought.

He watched as the light in Peter's eyes faded, he felt how limp Peter's hand went in his own. Jace felt helpless, he felt as if he was watching his mother die in front of him, unable to do anything but watch as she died. He wanted to shake Peter awake, to tell Peter to stay with him, but there was something inside of him that knew that Peter was gone, believing that he hadn't done anything to help.

Jace was useless. Always watching the people that he cares about die in front of him, unable to do anything to change the outcome. Was he always doomed to sit back and watch as those that he loves dies? Will he always be this useless to everyone? He thought that he would be more of use now that he knew that he could defend those that he loves, but clearly, he was always fated to do nothing.

He felt the way that his body shuddered, he was still holding onto Peter's limp hand, unable to do anything. He could feel how cold Peter's hand had gotten, it was the only thing that he could fully pay attention to. Jace never thought that he'd lose his brother of all people, he thought that he'd still have years beside him. Peter was his best friend, his brother, and now Jace felt nothing, but emptiness fill him.

He'd lost his brother and his friends because he did nothing, because was useless. He found himself on his knees, staring blankly at the body against the pillar, unable to snap out of the haze he was in. He ignored that little voice in his head that was telling him that this was all fake, that none of this was real. It felt real to him and he felt useless.