𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 , guardians of the galaxy

𝟎𝟎𝟗.

"rocket, look at me! where is he!" more of a demand than a question. get him! find him! what happened to him!

he hums to himself, moreof a grumble, but cassandra only notices groot, or baby groot, sticking his hand out and pointing towards the outside. she shook her head in disbelief. no, no, no! not like this! not like this!

"no. no. i'm not leaving him here."
"cass.." gamora tried to grab cassandra, but cassandra just pushed her away. "no! i am not leaving him here!" she didn't mean to yell at gamora, or anyone, and she didn't mean to become on the verge of tears but oh god she couldn't help it. she couldn't help herself, she couldn't help indulging in her emotions as she watched gamora stand up and grab one of the guns, and cassandra desperately wanted to tell gamora that she was acting irrationally, but cassandra was thinking of doing the exact same thing, and she would have, if gamora hadn't tried first. rocket stunned her to the ground, electric blue surges surrounding gamora as she let out a yell and fell to the ground.

rocket sighed to himself. "i'm sorry.
i can only afford to lose one friend today."

that pushed cassandra's emotions over the edge, everything came undone as she let out a blotchy sob and found that her legs had become weak, and suddenly, she was on her knees, sobbing out blotchy tears and scratchy sobs. rocket slowly made his way over to her and laid a paw on her shoulder, because that was all he could get himself to do.

he slowly looked up. "kraglin, go!"

"wait.." drax's voice called back down.
"is quill back?"
cassandra gagged.
"rocket, where's quill?"
rocket stayed quiet, feeling he could only deal with one grieving person, and the screams that cassandra was letting out into her rosy, bitten knuckles were deafening, and rocket felt like he wouldn't forget them anytime soon. this is what grief sounds like, and rocket wanted to gag just hearing it.
"where's quill!?"

"rocket!"

"where's quill!?"

"where's quill!?"

cassandra sobbed so hard she almost puked, and rocket couldn't find it in himself to stop her, not until her entire body become sore, and she just fell into rocket and cried into his stitch fur until she drifted off to sleep.

-

"cass? cass, princess? c'mon, it's okay, princess-"

she immediately wrapped her arms around him when she saw him, and she broke into a fit of sobs and she cuddled herself so tight into him in a way that, in any other situation, would have been embarrassing but right now she did not care. she only cared that he was here.

he was okay.

her dad was okay. he was okay!

"woah, okay, hold on-" he sighed before wrapped an arm around her back and lifting her, giving her an opportunity to wrap her legs around his waist.

"i got you, it's okay. i'm not gonna drop you, cass." he chuckled, but it came out dryer than he wanted it to. she sighed and wiped her tears away desperately with the palm of her hand, before sending a smack to his shoulder, a weak and dry laugh through her tears.

"you asshole! i thought you were dead!"
"hey, it's okay! i'm here! it's alright!"
to those words, cassandra only wrapped herself around him tighter and sobbed harder into his shoulders, so much so he fell against the wall, but he didn't care. he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her.

i'm here. it's alright.

-

it was the day of yondu's funeral.