"After your mother died, I hired Yondu to pick you up from Earth."
In the pitch-black forest, the Guardians were with Ego and the "antenna girl" he had brought along, named Mantis. Well, that was the nickname Star-Lord had secretly given her.
They gathered around the campfire, listening to Ego tell the story of Star-Lord's origins.
"But he didn't bring you back to me. He kept you instead."
Ego wore a sorrowful expression, like a father who had lost his child.
"To this day, I can't understand why he did it."
Star-Lord looked at his biological father, his throat tightening. "I'll tell you why. Because I was a scrawny little kid who could squeeze into places adults couldn't get into. Made stealing things easier."
That was what Quill truly believed. He had always felt he was scraping out a living under Yondu. For twenty years, his adoptive father had repeatedly manipulated him with the same tired old lines.
He would say he had saved Quill, or that his men had almost eaten him back then, as though not eating him had been some great act of kindness.
Quill believed Yondu had made him the Star-Lord he was today. He had abducted him, taken him from his home, and left him without family.
He was grateful to Yondu for raising him, but Star-Lord had long resented him, too.
Hearing Star-Lord say that, Ego's expression softened further. "I've been searching for you ever since."
"And now I've finally found you."
Ego's words deeply moved Star-Lord, who had always yearned for a blood relative. Although he didn't show much on his face, even Gamora could tell that if he were alone, he would probably be crying under his covers.
"How did you find us?"
Gamora wasn't particularly receptive to things like family bonds.