love.
the thing he felt when he saw her for the first time, when he held her in his arms and felt her fingers curl around his, when he first heard her giggle: love.
it was love at first sight, with an inexplicable warmth in his chest when he saw the newborn. a bundle of beauty, that came from him. she was apart of him, as he was apart of her, and he felt an immediate undying connection to her.
and yet, her drunk xandarian mother immediately discarded her, telling him through inebriated sobs; I'm too young for this. I don't love her. I can't love her.
all peter could do was love her, he couldn't look at her and feel anything negative. she was perfect. peter looked at her and only saw perfection, even when she was just a toddler, with messy blonde hair sprouting from her head like strawberry vines, scrapes constantly adorning her knees and elbows, eyelashes large and thick and cerulean eyes sparkling with wonder. she was so beautiful, so perfect, and her smile was exactly like his mother's.
her childhood consisted of piggyback rides, dancing as if nobody else was in the room, sliding into tight spaces as the ravagers watched and cheered, and peter stood back, beyond disappointed in the group of thieves. (terrible influences, terrible.)
years passed, and peter grew from the eighteen year old he was, and cassandra grew from a tiny infant with beady, yet curious eyes, and she became a young girl, and he became a father.
in the process of becoming a young girl, cassandra woke up one morning and stumbled her way to the bathroom, arm wrapped over her stomach, and there was a sudden shock at the sight of blood, scaring her so bad she started crying because she was scared she was dying. (such an emotional girl, always feeling too hard. too frightened by the sight of blood.)
of course, peter didn't really know what was happening himself, but he pushed his own concerns aside and tried to calm her down. yondu heard sobs coming from the bathroom, and he walked into the bathroom and realized what was happening, and he pulled peter aside to have the most awkward conversation of their entire lives.
cassandra grew more, and more, until she became someone completely different from the young baby peter once knew, and instead of being upset that she was growing, and instead of missing that baby, he watched on with awe.
he was so proud of the woman she had become.
( camera recording.
recording from a 1986 sony video camera.
7/13/14, 4AM )
camera clicks on.
the camera shifts from darkness to cassandra quill, her slender legs curled up to her chest, sun-kissed hair tied back in a low ponytail.
she smiles softly to nobody in particular. "hi. i'm cassandra quill, its july thirteenth, and that is my birthday. but you already know that. (you being nobody in particular; maybe the camera.) uhm.. i'm sixteen. and, i've heard that your sixteenth birthday is one of the most important birthdays of a girl's life; a girl becomes a woman, and whatnot.." spoken in a whispered tone, she trails off, chewing on her inner cheek as she temporarily thinks to herself.
"i don't feel like a woman?" she whispers, questioning.
she quickly clicks the camera off.
( two hours later, 6AM)
the camera zooms in on a shaky shot of a man laying in a bed, bedsheet and blanket sloppily thrown over him. her dad, peter quill, lays on his stomach as loud snores erupt from him. it's funny, almost like a large cat, grumbled purrs.
cassandra sees it more like a bear.
she giggles to herself from behind the camera, and the camera shuts off.
( an hour and sixteen minutes later, 7:16AM)
audio trembles and shifts as the camera is lifted from off her lap, and cassandra gives a small thumbs-up towards the camera, and suddenly, she was attacked with sloppy kisses to her left cheek.
a surprised squeal slips past cassandra's lips, and she laughs as her dad pulls away, laughing. "morning, princess."
cassandra furiously wipes her cheek with the palm of her hand.
"ew!" she giggles.
"happy birthday, princess." he smiles as he sits next to her, reaching forward and pulling a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
the camera zooms in on his face, and peter rolls his eyes fondly and pushes the camera away.
"i got you somethin'." he mutters.
cassandra looks over at him as she pulls the camera back to facing her. "what?"
she sets the camera down on her knee, and the camera attempts to focus on cassandra through the trembles of her knees. a present is tossed into cassandra's lap, and she immediately grabs for the poorly-wrapped present and pulls the wrapping paper off and tosses it next to her.
"a box." she mutters, and peter laughs to himself.
she grabs the taped-down wings of the box and her lips part slightly as she reaches into the box.
"dad!" she yells out, tone raised in surprise. she pulls out a gun, the initials C.Q delicately carved into the handle of the silver pistol. she leans into him and leans her head on his shoulder, gazing at the pistol in awe.
"careful, it's loaded."
"wait, really?"
"no. of course not." peter laughs. cassandra hums and points the gun at the camera, before letting out a soft pow!
peter's eyes remain on her, watching as cassandra gazes down at the pistol, thumb running over the engravement of her initials. her stomach tightens, and a choking tear slips past her crystal irises.
she bites her bottom lip, inhaling the tears in, and she turns to him and engulfs him in a hug. he hums softly and wraps his arms around the small of her back, hand immediately engulfing itself into her blonde strands.
"i love you." he whispers, and cassandra responds with a laugh choked out with a sob.
she sobs, a smile cracking through her tears. (always feeling too hard, but sometimes it's nice.)
"i love you too."
trip speaking !!
☆the first rewritten chapter !! I'm rlly proud of this. tysm for reading<3