HBWnovel Chapter 343: Pitch Black
Chapter 343: Pitch Black
Chapter 343: Pitch Black
If you want to support me check out my patron at /athassprkr
I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
I would like to thank my beta, Akisu, for his help in this chapter.
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Chapter 342: Pitch Black
16th May 2013, Middle of Space
(Peter Quill POV)
"I may be as pretty as an angel, but I sure as hell ain't one. Hand it over, son."
Peter sighed and handed him the fake orb, making sure to hide the real one from him. After the Ravager Captain left, Peter muttered to. Himself, "He's gonna be pissed when he realizes I switched out the orb on him."
Gamora's smile made things worth it. Yondu was the closest thing that he had to a family, but it was time for him to grow up.
Before he was going to be interrogated by the Nova Corps, Morrigan said, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't say anything about my involvement in all of this. I'd rather keep a low profile."
Peter was confused, "Don't you want to get pardoned from going to jail?"
The Morrigan snorted, "I didn't get arrested, Peter, I broke into the prison. It would take someone very powerful to even think about taking me down."
"Why the hell would you break into a prison?"
"To meet you, of course."
Still, Peter was confused, "Why would you want to meet me?"
"It's because of your father."
These last words rang in Peter's head during all the ceremonial crap he had to go through. Sure, he was rewarded with a medal for saving Xandar, by the Nova Prime herself. The Nova Corps gave them, and the entire Ravager team that helped in the fight against Ronan. Yondu of all people, the infamous Ravager Captain, was now free to walk in the Nova Empire as he wished.
As for Peter and his team, they were starting to get called the Guardians of the Galaxy. The Nova Corps even salvaged what remained of the Milano and rebuilt it from the ground up. It looked almost identical to how it used to be.
It was straight up out of a movie from Terra. He was now a famous hero in the galaxy, leading his team to confront the evil Ronan from committing genocide. He even got a medal like those old war heroes from home. And yet, it all tasted bitter because of Morrigan's last words.
Peter Quill always imagined his father coming and taking him away from the Ravagers, saving him from a life of a monster. And yet he never came, the so-called spaceman, his mother so lovingly described every night.
And for the first time, he had a lead, and the sad thing was that he didn't know if he wanted to know about him, if that made any sense. He did follow through with Morrigan's request to not say anything about her involvement. As far as everyone was concerned, she had perished far away from the excitement, her pod having malfunctioned because of the city's defenses and crashed. He did what the woman wanted and lied, but he didn't even know what he wanted in return. Well, she saved them from Ronan and helped Xandar recover the infinity stone.
Peter had no illusions about the fact that he threw his orb of his own volition. Something moved his hand, made it so that he would throw the orb at exactly the right time, at the exact location it needed to be at. And that wasn't him. Her fellow human had saved his life, and this was nothing more than repaying the favor.
The woman burst into laughter, "Oh, you're so cute. Look, if they wanted a boy from a backwards planet, they wouldn't have picked you, just after your mother died, to take you. No, the Ravagers don't do anything for free, and they were paid to grab you, to bring you to your father. Yondu just refused to bring you to him after he left Terra."
The self-proclaimed Star Lord froze as she finished. This was a fundamental part of him being a lie. He felt burning hatred towards Yondu. That man had raised him as a criminal, constantly scared for his life, and he had done it after refusing to take him to his father?
Peter tried to control himself and just asked, "Why would he do that? Why did he take me away?"
"Because he realized what your father was doing to his children"
"And what was that?"
The woman gave him a grim expression and answered, "He was killing them all."
Again, Peter froze, "what?"
"Yeah, your father, Ego, is a very old entity, part of a race that are not born, but simply come out of existence. They call themselves Celestials, but in many ways, your father was broken, incomplete. Do you remember the giant beings using the infinity stone in the Collector's illusions? Even the head that became Knowhere was one of theirs. Celestials are born with a certain encoded purpose, but your father had none, and it turned him insane. He turned himself into a living planet, with his consciousness being the core, and created an entire ecosystem on the surface."
Morrigan waved her arms and an illusion appeared out of nowhere, of a planet with a face. It looked strangely beautiful.
The woman then continued, "He was alone in the depths of space for billions of years, slowly learning, evolving, until he decided one day that life was just disappointing, that he hated it, and so, he planned a massive undertaking, gave himself a purpose, to unite all life in the galaxy as a single being, him. He called it the expansion, but he wasn't strong enough to power it. He needed another Celestial to help him control the expansion properly, but he didn't know if others even existed, and so, he chose to create his own.
"He traveled throughout the universe, going to one planet after another, getting women pregnant with his seed, while hoping that one of his children would inherit his power. He would overload them with his cosmic energy and hope that they would adapt, that he would unlock their own connection to what he called 'his light'. Thousands of children each born from a mother of a simple species died. He killed all of their mothers, planting seeds of disease in them, waiting for them to die, and then send someone to pick the children up. He hired Yondu many times in the past, to get his children, until one day, he realized what was happening to the younglings he was transporting. When he did, he chose not to give you away, not when your death was practically guaranteed. And so, Yondu chose to raise you, prepare you for the horrors that might await you out there, as repentance for your brothers and sisters that he transported to their deaths. He lived in constant fear that Ego would find him and take you away."
The woman kept showing him illusions of every event she talked about, but something truly enraged him, a deep realization that hurt more than anything, "He killed my mom?"
Morrigan nodded, "He did. He killed countless mothers to take away their children. I imagine he could be quite charming when he wanted to be."
"HE KILLED MY MOM!!" Peter yelled.
Suddenly, Peter felt as if something was unlocked. The entire spacecraft was starting to shake, like it was resonating with his anger. Gamora fell down in shock, and even Hela looked nervously at him. Morrigan though, looked unconcerned, like she expected this to happen. He didn't care, too consumed by his burning rage. It was bottled deep down, trying to escape. He almost let it all go, destroying everything around him in his rage, until the Morrigan just snapped her fingers.
There was noise everywhere, but the snap was somehow deafening. The room then righted itself, the spacecraft stopped shaking, and Peter himself felt breathless for a second, and fell down to the floor.
The woman raised an eyebrow, "Are you done?"
"Who the fuck are you?" Peter gasped out.
"I'm the Morrigan, the last daughter of Atlantis. I am the last defense to the oncoming storm, the end of everything. The multiverse will soon be swallowed in darkness, Peter Quill, and I need your help to stop it."
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If you want to support me check out my patron at /athassprkr
I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.