"He may have been your father, boy... But he wasn't your daddy."

Quill looked to Yondu, the exploding remains of his Celestial father now out of mind.

"I'm sorry I didn't do none of it right," Yondu looked to Peter, serious as he's ever been. "But I'm damn lucky you're my boy."

There was a soft tap against his chest, and there was no time to realize what had just happened. No time to undo what had just been done.

Yondu had given Peter the last projection space suit.

A field of blue hexagons washed over the human, who only now started to realize what had been done.

"What?"

Yondu merely smiled. He broke his gaze and looked upward. He couldn't let Peter see him struggle. He was supposed to be strong. He looked out into the stars, content, knowing that he had done right in the end. He saved his son.

"Yondu, what are you doing?"

Yondu grimaced.

"You can't!" Peter was growing desperate, fully realizing what choice Yondu had made. "Yondu!"

The jetpack finally fizzled out, now that the atmosphere that had been around Ego's planet had also been sucked into the void. There was no oxygen left to fuel the combustion.

There was no air left to breathe.

"No..." Peter protested. "No." His fingers grasped for the device on his chest. He needed to get it off.

His fingers slipped.

He tried again.

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There was nothing to grab. A safety feature to keep him safe.

Yondu kept Peter safe.

"No! Come on!" He clawed at the device desperately, over and over to rip it off of him.

He had to save his dad.

"Come off! No!"

There were so many things he should have done. So many things he should have said. So many things he regretted doing and saying.

There wasn't any time to tell Yondu.

He struggled. He screamed.

He remembered his mother. How he hadn't taken her hand.

Peter forced himself to look at Yondu. This was his last chance. He wouldn't make the same mistake.

One last goodbye.

Light exploded into existence above the duo, a ball of pure energy forming before them. The miniature sun bloomed outward, radiating heat and light and comfort and warmth that seeped into the bones. The frost on Yondu melted away.

He still couldn't breathe.

There was a shove to the back, sending both Yondu and Quill spiralling closer toward that massive ball of plasma and energy.

Then, they stopped.

A field of blue hexagons erupted into existence around Yondu, covering him from head to toe. The Ravager gasped, taking in all that oxygen he had so desperately needed, his eyes regaining their clarity. Yondu kept a firm grasp on his son, fingers tight, body shaking with adrenaline from floating on Death's door.

"Yondu!" Peter cried and crushed the Ravager against him in a tight hug. Screw appearances, nothing else mattered now.

"What in the-" Yondu paused. "What happened?"

"Bark!"

Peter and Yondu both turned their heads toward the source of the noise, unable to fully comprehend what they were seeing.

Amaterasu floated along past the two, paws flailing, spinning in slow circles. She looked at them and gave them both a big doggy grin, completely unfazed by the fact that she was not breathing air, and was floating through space unprotected.

There was a sudden gust of wind. In space! The wolf was sent hurtling in the opposite direction, giving a fading "Awoo!" as she rocketed away, careening toward the spacecraft.

She bounced off the windshield.

The wolf flailed some more, unable to find purchase in the vast emptiness of space. Then, another gust of wind, and the wolf plastered herself to the top of the spaceship, clinging to it with powerful claws.

Amaterasu stood atop the ship, light radiating off her body. She tensed herself up, crouched down, and then raised her head upward, belting out a howl that travelled through the emptiness of space, rattling the ship she stood upon.

"Oi, shut up out there, I can hear you through the hull," Rocket's voice grouched from the ship's communications array.

"...That's a weird fuckin rat."

"Yondu, that's not a rat either."

"What is she then, some kind of goat?"

"No, I-" Peter sighed. "Yes. That is a goat. A Space Goat."

"Woof!"