Amongst the Stars // Peter Quill

Mission on Morag

Mothers Meredith Quill and Jennifer Rivet could never express how joyed they were to find out their own children, Peter and Charlotte, were joined at the hip in the exact way their mothers' used to be as children.

Since the two were born, a mere year apart, they were stuck in a friendship neither one could escape. They were lucky they took a liking to one another; time and time again they were pushed together by their mothers.

At the start of where their simple lives became extraordinary, Peter and Charlotte were slouching in hard hospital chairs directly outside of a room where his mother was slowly withering away. 

"You can come in, baby," Charlotte's mother had whispered.

Charlotte peered into the hospital room where Peter's mother was resting. She watched a group of grown people crying, huddled around the bed, touching any part of his mother they could reach for consolation. 

She looked to Peter. He hadn't moved from his seat since he arrived with his grandfather. His gaze was stuck on the Walkman in his hands. He needed somebody. It was automatically her job to be that somebody. 

As she would for the rest of her life, Charlotte chose Peter. 

Previously, when his mother became ill, he told Charlotte he wasn't going to cry. Puffing his chest out, he claimed, "Peter Quill doesn't cry." His claim kept for longer than they both expected. It was, at long last, close the moment to where he broke it. 

Charlotte took a seat in the chair. She offered a smile to Peter, who hadn't raised his head to acknowledge her at all. She leaned close to his headphones to hear what song he was listening to. 

"10cc. My mom always listens to them," said Charlotte. 

Peter nodded once. 

Charlotte frowned at him. She wanted desperately to do or say something that would make him smile. Nothing came to mind. All the usual things that made him laugh wouldn't, because they were stuck in a situation where everyone's mood was at an all time low. He was incurable.

"Peter," whispered his grandfather. He knelt in front of him. "Come see your mother."

Peter continued to stare at the Walkman in his lap. It was no trouble guessing he didn't want to be near his mother when she finally passed. 

Charlotte placed her hand on his, smiling encouragingly. "This might be your last chance," she offered softly. 

"You don't want to miss out on that, do you, Pete?" wondered his grandfather. 

Peter pulled his headphones from over his hears. Wrapping them in his Walkman, he set it in Charlotte's lap for safekeeping. His grandfather led the way into the hospital room. 

It wasn't long, perhaps five minutes, before loud sobbing traveled to her ears. Her head snapped up just in time to see Peter breeze past her, tears streaming down his face. 

Looking between her quietly crying mother and the door Peter burst from, Charlotte quickly debating who needed her more. She chose Peter, again. Her mother was in a room full of people. Peter was alone. 

Securing her school bag on her back, she clutched the Walkman to her chest, then sprinted after her best friend. She found him in the field behind the hospital. He shouted desperately into the night sky, screaming his mother's name.

Charlotte frowned. She dropped to her knees behind him, then placed her arms around his trembling body.

"Why are you here?" Peter managed to ask.

"Best friends forever, never apart. Maybe by distance... But never in heart."

It was a stupid saying Peter had found, when searching for a perfect goodbye card for Charlotte, who was leaving for Chicago in less than a month. He had given it to Charlotte. Since then, it became something of a motto for their unbreakable friendship.