lady stardust.

15. the show must go on

A day later, they prepped for a funeral for Yondu. Placing his body on a stretcher, covering his eyes with a bandana and lightning candles around him. Surrounding him, they had placed the collectible figurines from his dashboard around his body.

"I had told Ziggy about how when I was a kid I used to pretend David Hasselhoff was my dad. He's a singer and actor from Earth, a really famous guy. Yondu didn't have a talking car, but he did have a flying arrow. He didn't have the beautiful voice of an angel, but he did have the whistle of one. Both Yondu and David Hasselhoff went on kick ass adventures, and hooked up with hot women, and fought robots. I guess David Hasselhoff did kind of end up being my dad after all. Only it was you, Yondu. I had a pretty cool dad. What I'm trying to say here is sometimes that thing you're searching your whole life it's right there by your side all along, and you don't even know it." Peter sniffled.

Ziggy reached out to him, taking his hand. Gamora stepped away after Nebula, who had left the funeral.

"I am Groot."

"He did call you a twig." Rocket confirmed, nodding.

They slowly pushed along Yondu's body, sending him through a tunnel of bright and colorful flames before shooting him out into space.

"Pete!" Kraglin called, turning toward Peter. "Captain found this for you in a junker shop, said you'd come back to the fold someday."

"What is it?" Peter asked, taking the little box from Kraglin.

"It's called a Zune, it's what everybody's listening to on Earth nowadays. It's got 300 songs on it."

"300?"

Kraglin nodded, before turning on his heel and walking away. Peter looked after him before stopping him.

"Wait," He said, and as Kraglin turned around, Peter pulled Yondu's arrow from his pocket. He handed it to Kraglin. "Rocket grabbed the pieces and reassembled them. I think Yondu would want you to have it."

Kraglin's lower lip wobbled as he looked up at Peter. "Thanks... Captain."

Ziggy smiled watching the two, turning to look out as Yondu's body flew out. It was gold speckles across the sky, and she sighed. She wondered how long it'd be before they had someone new to fight, someone worse, and hopefully not a relative.

Out the window, a bunch of ships began to appear in the sky.

"They came." Rocket says, looking out in amazement.

"What is it?" Drax questioned.

"I sent word to Yondu's old Ravenger buddies, and told them what he did." Rocket explained.

"It's a Ravenger funeral!" Peter gasped. Groot jumped from his shoulder to Gamora's as she walked by, and Ziggy stood next to Peter as they all watched out the window. The Ravengers began shooting off fireworks in celebration of Yondu, and Ziggy smiled as she glanced at Peter before looking back out the window.

"He didn't chase them away, even though he yelled at them. And was always mean." Rocket said. "And he stole batteries he didn't need."

"Of course not." Peter says, glancing at Rocket. Ziggy leans against Peter as they watch the fireworks, and Groot hops to Drax.

"It's beautiful." Mantis says in amazement, eyes wide as she watches.

"It is," Drax agreed. "And so are you. On the inside."

The fireworks continued, and the Guardians stood in amazement as they watched Yondu scatter across the galaxy, the fireworks exploding about the horizon.

—

It was a strange transition from losing Yondu to gaining two more Guardians - Mantis and Kraglin - with them being hesitant of Nebula being around occasionally. Ziggy and Peter had finally decided to make themselves official, and they were practically inseparable since.

Peter was obsessed with the Zune, having figured out how to connect it to the sound speakers of the Milano. With way more songs on it than the cassettes, the Guardians were relieved to not hear the same ten songs over and over. While Peter originally had songs from the 70s and 80s from his mother, the Zune included stuff from the 90's and 2000's, which Peter had never heard either. They all sometimes spent a few days just sitting in the Milano and listening to everything.

Peter was playing New York Groove again as Ziggy and Drax were locked in an intense game of cards. She eyed the man suspiciously, suspecting he was cheating. It would be very much like Drax to cheat at a card game.

Then, an arrow came whizzing around the corner striking Drax in the chest. He screamed, clutching the arrow as Ziggy dropped her cards in alarm and stood up. "Drax?!"

Examining the arrow closer, she realized it was Yondu's. "Kraglin!"

He slowly inched around the corner, his eyes glued to the ground. "Hey Ziggy, what's up?"

"Can you try to not hit the crew next time you're practicing?" She demanded, yanking the arrow from Drax's shoulder.

"Ow." He muttered, rubbing the spot.

Ziggy tossed him the arrow and he caught it. "Sorry, I'm just trying to practice."

"Maybe you're not trying hard enough." Gamora spoke, suddenly appearing.

"I feel like I am, though." Kraglin frowned.

"Do you know if Yondu had any specific methods for practicing?"

"He was already good at it when I met him, he never really practiced."

Ziggy frowned a bit. "I'm sure you'll get the hang of it. What Gamora meant was it just takes time to get it right."

Kraglin mused silently as Drax glanced over the table, looking at Ziggy's fallen cards. "I won."

Ziggy looked at him. "Really? That's what you're worried about?"

Drax only shrugged and she sighed.

"How do you control your powers?" Kraglin asked, looking up at Ziggy.

"Me? I, uh... sometimes I don't know. I focus on my feelings in the moment and use it. I absorb it. If you guys are in harm's way, I think about how much I want to protect you and it helps. It's really a spur of the moment thing in battle." Ziggy tells him.

"So I just have to wait till I'm about to die for it to work." He said, a deadpan expression.

Ziggy frowned. "I - that's not what I meant."

Kraglin sighed. "Thanks though, I get it. I'll just try again later."

"Don't give up, okay? You'll get it eventually." Ziggy encouraged. Kraglin smiled weakly at her before heading off to another end of the ship. She turned to Drax. "Are you okay?"

"M'fine." He mutters.

Ziggy sighed and looked at Gamora. "We really need to find somewhere to stay. It's getting overwhelming having so many people on ship."

"Tell me about it." Gamora muttered.