𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 , guardians of the galaxy

𝟎𝟎𝟔.

"ego?.. grandpa?" cassandra yelled out hesitantly, walking into the room. ego looked back at her, and his smile grew. "cassandra! sweetheart! just the girl i wanted to see!" he laughed, walking forward and taking cassandra's hands in his. his hands were freezing, and cassandra cringed at how they chilled her warm hands. "cass? can i ask you something?"

".. can i ask you something?"

"sure. go ahead. you go first."

"okay.. what are you trying to do here?" cassandra asked, and she cringed at the way ego squeezed her hands slightly. "what do you mean?"

"what.. what is your.. your deal? why are you suddenly inserting yourself into my dad's life?"

"well, how about i show you?" ego grinned, squeezing her hands so tightly she hissed. "dude!"

"i need to do this to charge it up, sorry." ego grinned and chuckled, and cassandra's eyes widened as ego squeezed her hand, and her hands started glowing a faint blue. "what the hell..?"

"just close your eyes. focus on it. on the energy." he encouraged her, and cassandra listened and tightly shut her eyes. "relax." he whispered. "just.. relax."

she relaxed herself slightly, even though she was still tense, and she breathed heavily, shoulders rising and falling as the energy grew, and transformed into an orb in her hands. ego laughed triumphantly. "that's it! good job!"

cassandra opened her eyes slowly, and she looked down at the orb in her hands. "i can.. i can make anything i want, right?"

"yes! if you believe you can." ego nodded. cassandra kneeled down, and she slowly dropped the orb of energy onto the ground. she adjusted herself onto her knees, and ego kneeled down next to her. "what are you doing, sweetheart?" he asked quietly, his breath lingering on cassandra's neck.

cassandra's eyes widened as she reached forward, and she molded the energy. she concentrated on it, and molded it down into the ground. ego furrowed his brows, and he watched as cassandra molded the energy into a stem, reaching up and high, and a bright orchid sprouted from the stem. ego grinned. "amazing. that is just amazing." he rasped, hand snaking around cassandra's shoulder and landing on her arm. "that's incredible, cassandra."

"i guess.. yeah." cassandra whispered. she reached forward and plucked a violet petal off the flower, and she crushed it in her hand and dropped it on the ground, watching the flower bits fall to the floor.

the orchid drooped as cassandra stood up. "another question, before you ask yours, what's your intentions with this?"

"cassandra, i originally didn't really want to tell you, since i wasn't sure if you were like your father and i.. but.. well, you are apart of something far greater. you may even be more powerful than your father."

"what do you mean?"

"well, peter created a measly ball, but you made a flower! you created life! you are meant for something much, much greater than this!"

"..what? what's greater than this?" cassandra backed up slowly, and ego walked forward, arms gestured out.

"us. this." he gestured to them, and then the orchid. "this!" he reached his arms out, gesturing to his planet. "well, let me start from the beginning! or.. a little bit after. but still, when i.. decided that i wanted to find life, at first it was so i could walk among it.. but then i was disappointed. and i realized that.. i didn't want to find life i could walk among and blend in with, i wanted to find life that was like me. so.. i started creating." he gestured to a large sculpture of him, in a more human form, with multiple feminine beings that he created in his mind. "and.. all of my offpsring failed me."

"what did you do with them?" cassandra asked. "did you.. let them go?"

"cassandra, sweetheart," ego turned to face her. ".. i couldn't just let them go. not when they knew that much." he folded his hand, and cassandra tried to think of what to say, but all of her thoughts were clouded by questions of what happened to those children. ideas swirled in her mind, and her feet tensed and she felt her hand twitch slightly.

cassandra felt a pit forming in her stomach, and she backed slowly. "what did you do to them?" she asked tensely, feeling her breathing quicken.

".. it was painless, cassandra."

cassandra turned on her heel, and she ran out the room instinctively, and ego sighed to himself.

maybe she wasn't worthy after all. too kind. too innocent. too inexperienced.

–

cassandra walked through the hallways, and she stopped when she found mantis, who was standing by herself, leaning against the wall in deep thought. she grabbed mantis and pushed her against the wall, causing mantis to squeak out in surprise.

"what the hell did ego do to those kids?" cassandra asked, stepping forward. "give me some answers!" she gritted out. mantis whimpered slightly and she reached up and grabbed cassandra's wrist. ".. he told you. didn't he?" she asked. her antennae glowed as she read cassandra's emotions, and her face dropped.

".. yes. he did." cassandra sighed. she released mantis, and mantis glanced over her shoulders. "i will tell you, but we need to do it later. tonight." she lowered her voice. "when he cannot hear us. when he is sleeping."

"if you don't tell me anything by tonight, i swear to god–" she pushed mantis against the wall. "i'm sorry." she sighed. "i'm just.."

"you are nervous. anxious. scared. you don't know what's happening, and it scares you." mantis reached forward, grabbing cassandra's hands and shutting her eyes gently. cassandra tried to pull her hands away from mantis, but she struggled against her tight grip. suddenly, she felt her muscles untense, and she slowed her actions. she sighed and calmed. "how did you do that?"

"i told you. my empathetic abilities. it's like when i made drax sleep." mantis answered.

cassandra nodded hesitantly, and mantis squeezed her hands comfortingly. "i will tell you tonight. i promise. i tried to tell you earlier, but i am unsure about gamora.. please stay in drax's room tonight, and i will tell both you and drax. i promise."

cassandra hummed unsurely. "are you sure? you're not.. lying?"

"why would i lie?" she shook her head. cassandra huffed, letting go of mantis's hands.

".. i can think of a few reasons."

ஓ๑♡๑ஓ

𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓 ; 1047
sry for the short chapter!!
tysm for reading! any interaction/ appreciation is appreciated!! <3