STARGIRL

eleven.

"I'm here." she said, grasping onto Gamora's hand.

The pain was unbearable. As soon as her fingers touched Gamora's hand, a massive fiery burning sensation spread across her body from her fingertips. Then the burning was replaced with the feeling of thousands of knives stabbing into every part of her body, pulling her organs apart and ripping them from her body one by one. The pain was so unbearable that Eleanor Quill thought that she was going to die right then and there. She thought that her body was going to crumple lifeless onto the floor and that she had done this all for nothing because if she died, Ronan would still be alive and he would have the stone, but that time, there would be no 'guardians of the galaxy' to save Xandar.

Rocket's small paw clasped around Drax's finger. The group looked over at Ronan. Their skin was flaking off and their eyes were bloodshot. Ronan stared at them in disbelief, "You're mortal! How?"

"You said it yourself, bitch," Peter replied, and Eleanor smirked at him using a 'naughty word', "We're the Guardians of the Galaxy." he opened his palm and the power from the stone started to break down Ronan's body. There were cracks along every part of his body, and then it exploded. Eleanor quickly confined the stone, chucking it to Gamora once the purple cloud disappeared.

"Well, well, well," Yondu said, "Quite the light show. Ain't this sweet," a gun clocked, "But you got some business to attend to before all the nookie-nookie starts."

"Peter, you can't," Gamora said, "Peter."

Peter shook his head at Yondu, "You gotta reconsider this, Yondu. I don't know who you're selling this to, but the only way the universe can survive is if you give it to the Nova Corps."

Yondu scowled, "I may be as pretty as an angel," he moved his jacket out the way of his arrow, "but I sure as hell ain't one. Hand it over, son."

He passed Yondu a silver ball. Yondu laughed. "Yondu," Peter said, and he turned around, "Do not open that Orb. You know that, right? You've seen what it does to people."

Yondu smiled and walked away back to his ship.

"He's gonna be so pissed when he realises I switched out the Orb on him," Peter said, bringing out another silver ball from his pocket. Eleanor and Gamora started to chuckle, and Eleanor brought Peter into a hug, "How're you, bean?"

"I'm fine." she whispered into the crook of his neck.

She pulled away from the hug, and left him and Gamora to talk. She spotted Rocket sitting on a piece of stone, sobbing whilst holding a twig from Groot. She shuffled over to him and sat down, and Drax sat down on the other side of him.

"He was a good guy," Eleanor said, as Drax stroked Rocket gently, "He saved my life. I owe him one."

"Why would you even know this?" Peter asked the Nova Corps guards as they were standing in the lobby.

"When we arrested you, we noticed an anomaly in your nervous system," explained one of the guards, "so we had it checked out."

"I'm not Terran?"

The Nova Prime spoke, "You are half Terran. Your mother was of Earth. Your father, well, he's something very ancient we've never seen here before."

"That could be why you were able to hold the Stone for as long as you did." added Gamora.

The door opened, "Your friends have arrived," Nova Prime said smiling, "On behalf of the Nova Corps, we'd like to express our profound gratitude for your help in saving Xandar. If you will follow Denarian Dey, he has something to show you."

"Thank you, Nova Prime." Peter replied, squeezing Eleanor's hand and the two followed after the man with the others behind them.

"Dad," Eleanor whispered, and Peter brought his ear closer to her, "It better not be a prison cell." he gave her a smile and squeezed her hand, "I don't think it will be, bean."

"We tried to keep it as close to the original as possible," Dey explained, as they walked outside. Eleanor's jaw dropped as she spotted her ship in front of them, "We salvaged as much as we could."

Eleanor squealed, tugging onto her dad's jacket sleeve.

"Thank you." Peter said to Dey.

"I have a family. They're alive because of you," Dey said, and Eleanor turned to see Gamora smiling. She smiled too, "Your criminal records have also been expunged. However, I have to warn you against breaking any laws in the future."

"Question," added Rocket, "What if I see something that I want to take, and it belongs to someone else?"

"You will be arrested."

"But what if I want it more than the person who has it?"

"It's still illegal."

"That doesn't follow," Rocket argued, "No, I want it more, sir. Do you understand?" he looked over at Gamora smiling, "What are you laughing at?" she grabbed his little jacket and carried him over to the new ship, "Why? I can't have a discussion with this gentleman?"

Eleanor smiled at him, "What if I need to get into somebody's house because they have something that we need?"

"That is breaking and entering," Dey sighed, "which is illegal."

"Awh, what!" Eleanor complained, "That's bullshit."

"Language!" Peter said, "Go in the ship, Els."

She huffed, said goodbye to Dey and headed over to the ship with a smile and a spring in her step. Gamora helped her up, and Eleanor gave her a hug. She headed over to Rocket who was finding the right place to set his plant pot that held a small growing twig that had belonged to Groot. He decided to have him in front of his chair. Eleanor knelt next to him as Gamora walked over, standing next to Peter. She placed a loving hand on Eleanor's shoulder, and Eleanor looked up at her, smiling. The little twig in the pot yawned, and stretched out his arms.

"So, what should we do next?" asked Peter, "Something good? Something bad? A bit of both?"

Gamora smiled at him "We'll follow your lead, Star-Lord."

"A bit of both!"

Eleanor smiled up at him.

Even though she missed her life being just her and her dad, she was very thankful for her newly expanded family.

END OF ACT ONE.