The Girl Who Held the Universe in her Hands | marvel [1] ✔

ELEVEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN
' WE DID NOT HAVE IT UNDER CONTROL . '

Ash exploded into the palace, immediately launching a ball of black mist at Ego and sending him sprawling across the floor. She sprinted to Peter, grabbing his face in both hands and shaking it.

"Peter!" She gasped as she noticed a cosmos floating in her brother's eyes. "Peter, listen to me! We need to go!"

"But it's so beautiful, Ash, can't you see it?" His voice was softer than she'd ever heard, and she paused for a moment.

She grabbed his hand and tried to haul him away, but he stood his ground. "Pete?"

"He wants to stay."

Ash whipped around, her eyes widening as Ego moved from where he landed. "You monster-"

"-Now, now," he tutted. "Let's not use such harmful words."

"I saw the bones."

Those four words caused Ego's face to lose the warmth, and a sharp glare replaced his humour-filled eyes.

"How many of us were there?" Anger burst into his face, and Ash fought the urge to take a step back, mist forming in her palms. She swallowed. "How many of our siblings did you murder?"

"I am a God, child. I will not be-"

"-You are no God," Ash shot back, lifting her chin. "You are mortal. You know why? You're cruel and conceited, which makes you no better than us. And you will die... Just. Like. Us."

Ego smiled, and she furrowed her eyebrows. "Oh, sweetheart. You could have the universe in your eyes. You just need to open them." He grabbed her chin, fingers pressing against her cheeks and puckering out her lips.

Before Ash could summon her magic, his other hand touched her temple and her mouth parted with a gasp, the cosmos forming in her eyes. The black mist disappeared from her palms, and her knees buckled, Ego's hold on her face being the only thing supporting her. He tilted his head before he released her, and she fell to her knees in front of him.

He turned to face Peter again. "What is it, son?"

"My friends," he replied, words contorted with childlike innocence.

"That's the mortal in you, Peter."

"Yes. I don't need that."

"What are we?" Ego continued, glancing at Ash, whose head fell back, and she stared into nothingness.

"Forever," Peter replied.

"What are they?"

"Temporary," Ash whispered, voice airy.

"You think you love them, but love is merely an evolutionary trick in the service of reproduction. We are beyond such things," he continued.

"Yes," they both replied.

"Now-"

"-But my mother." Ego looked at Peter with furrowed eyebrows. "You said you loved my mother."

"That I did," Ego agreed. "My River Lily, who knew the words to every song that came on the radio. I returned to earth to see her three times. I knew if I came back a fourth, I'd never leave. The expansion, the reason for my very existence, would be over. So I did what I had to do, but it broke my heart to put that tumour in her head."

"Wh-what?" The cosmos dwindled from Peter's eyes.

"I know that sounds bad-"

Peter pulled out his pistol and fired, and the blasts tore through Ego. He shot him over and over again. The flesh disappeared, exposing the skeleton beneath, but as the charge on Peter's blasters wore out, Ego just looked at him, and although holes riddled him, he had a mere disappointed look in his eyes. Ash remained on her knees, shoulders slumped and breathing heavily through her mouth.