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In one universe Ego spoke the truth and Peter Quill lost his walkman, his father, his dad, and half of himself in the span of one day.
And life went on.
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In most universes Ego lied.
In one universe Peter's heritage kicked in again on Titan, in time to save more than half the universe, but still too late.
Yet life went on.
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In another it never quite kicks in, but it never leaves either.
In this universe Peter doesn't notice his lack of wrinkles, of grey hairs and other signs of aging, until Rocket retires, and then dies.
Doesn't realise until Kraglin gets sick, Gamora passed in her sleep, Nebula's body slowly starts giving out, Drax's death in battle.
Mantis eventually retires, after most of them are gone.
So for a few hundred years it's him, Thor, and Groot. He runs into some other immortals (or close enough) over the years, and a few times they're joined by a mortal or two for a few decades, but it's mostly the three of them.
After 300 years Groot settles down and sends them on their way, an old flower pot pressed in their hands.
This starts a cycle of Groots running with them, some only stay 30 years, some 200, but none as long as the second.
The Groots are all so alike it sometimes aches like a bitch, but are also at their core so incredibly different. (One becomes a rockstar, 'I AM GROOT' will forever be a classic, another was a pyromaniac, one actually liked hats.)
Thor dies while the nineteenth Groot is a teen. Asgardians were gods, and led long lives mortals could barely comprehend, but ultimately only had a lifespan of about 5000 years.
(There were Celestials still living who came into existence shortly after existence became a thing)
Thor doesn't quite make it to 5000, but it still takes Peter centuries to heal, it never got any easier, but it was a good pain, he'd rather feel the pain, than having never met them at all.
Then it's just him and Groot, occasionally someone else, though not a lot.
At this point the whole galaxy knows the name Star-Lord, but only those closest to him (or older than him) know Peter Jason Quill.
And still life went on.
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In a third, Peter Quill's powers kick in on Knowhere, on the skull of another Celestial,
(maybe an aunt or uncle, Peter wondered once, or a great-grandparent, a cousin or not even related at all)
Thanos dies with three stones. Gamora grows old with Peter by her side.
They have a hundred years together. They kick ass, get married, take names, raise kids, and everything in between.
And when Gamora, white-haired, takes his unchanged hands with her wrinkled ones, strokes his unchanged hair with her aged fingers, their love still goes strong.
And they know life will, eventually, go on.
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There is even a universe where, somehow word never got out about a Terran wielding an Infinity Stone, and Peter Quill doesn't know why he remains unchanged, doesn't know why he can't die, loses his friends one by one and doesn't know why aging isn't the same for him.
In this universe when Ego finds him, it's up to the God of Thunder, a tree and a Terran to stop the Expansion. In this universe Peter's mask isn't broken until after Groot has already taken the ship out of the atmosphere.
In this universe Thor isn't quite fast enough to get Peter to the ship, not quite fast enough to the medbay.
In this universe the whole galaxy knows Star-Lord's name.
And that, thanks to him, life can go on.