Young God | L. Laufeyson

40. Broken

"They are. But if I don't save her, she'll die of blood loss or malfunctioning organs. Hold her still." Although Loki is already weakened by the exhausting fight against Ego, he still refuses to let her die. Glancing at her with endearing eyes, he smiles sadly. "Everything's gonna be alright, love. I shall see you safe."

When his hands start glowing in the familiar green light, Aurora starts to scream in pain through the towel. Biting into the cloth, tears run down her cheek and she continues to cry. Her body feels like it's on fire and she has never gone through so much pain. Just hearing it makes Loki, Gamora and even Nebula flinch, definitely not enjoying the suffering of the demigod.

Gamora is the first one who notices the beads of perspiration on Loki's forehead while he's mumbling incomprehensible words, appearing clearly overstrained. Just when the sorcerer starts to tremble and to pant, she steps in. "Loki, stop it! It's enough."

But his mind is somewhere entirely else. It's with Aurora, back to their time in the dreadful cell. It was not exactly a paradise, but they were safe and together and that's the only thing that matters to him. Her safety. He would do anything to keep her alive. This strong feeling doesn't go unnoticed by the two sisters and they realize how much he has changed. He's become human.

Only when Loki's legs are about to give in and Aurora's scream turn into silence, Gamora pulls him away. He almost collapses, so she has to support him to the chair next to Aurora. "Fool, you should've listened."

"Is she well? Has it worked?" He only wants to know, sweat covering his face and neck. With a sigh, Gamora glances at Aurora who is deeply asleep now, her injuries looking better.

"Yes, it has. You need to rest."

As Loki closes his eyes, Rocket enters the ship with Groot on his shoulder, devastation lingering in his dark eyes. Something is wrong.

"Where's Peter?" Gamora asks him with concern, her voice rising when her friend doesn't answer and rather glances at the ground. "Rocket, where is he?! Rocket?! Rocket, look at me! Where is he?!"

It hits Gamora's heart when the raccoon shakes slowly his head and Groot points with a sad look outside. The message is more than clear. Peter won't make it. Her heart shatters into a million pieces as panic and sorrow start settling in her stomach, her breath quickens. She cannot lose him. Not after everything they've been through. Not as long as there's the unspoken thing between them.

"I'm not leaving without him." She decides with determination and picks up a riffle, cocking it and preparing herself to fly down again. Before she's able to leave the bay door, an electrical blast suddenly hits her from behind. Shock and pain overwhelm her and Gamora drops unconscious to the ground.

"I'm sorry. I can only afford to lose one friend today." Rocket says contritely as he lowers the gun. Now he has to make the hard decisions. No longer wasting any time, he informs the others through the comm. "Kraglin, go!"

The ship starts to fly off and the bay door slowly closes, Rocket's look still hanging on it. In the background, Drax's voice rings through the comm. "Rocket, where's Quill?!"

No answer, just a dreadful silence. Drax soon starts to realize what that means but he refuses to believe it. He refuses to believe that their friend will die like his family did. "Where's Quill?! WHERE'S QUILL?!"

Quietly, Rocket just sucks up the tears.

***

Pain. That's the first thing that shoots through Aurora's consciousness. Way too much pain. Her bones feel heavy like lead and make it even more difficult for her to move. She needs more strength. Her eyelids still bother her view, too tired and exhausted to let them see the light. Every single breath stabs her lungs, making her almost not want to breathe anymore. Just when her ears start to work properly and hear the voices, she has enough strength to wake up.

"Oh, God. I'm so sorry, Peter." Gamora's voice. Then a little sob. Peter's. Whispers and mumbling words. What's going on?

Slowly, Aurora manages to open her eyes, the bright light greeting her. Her whole body still aches but it's less bad, she's in recovery. As her hand twitches, not able to use her voice for the moment, Loki notices that she's awake.

"Aurora." His voice is filled with sorrow and he immediately helps her to sit up before he pulls her into a hug. He was so scared to lose her, to be forced to live without her. She leans against him for a long moment, still in need of rest and she's more than relieved that he survived. This catches the attention of the others and the Guardians stare at them.

"Wha.. What did I miss?" Aurora croaks out, catching Loki's pale face and the looks of the Guardians when she pulls back. "Is everyone okay?"

"I do not wish you to see this. Look away." Loki tries to block her view to protect her from the traumatizing sight but he fails. Standing slowly and carefully up, Aurora's eyes are attached to the blue body on the ground behind her half brother, her breath captured by her lungs.

"What... what is this?" She mutters in disbelief as the shock creeps beneath her skin, her voice shaking. Tumbling weakly towards the blue body, she ignores the pain in her bones and the offer of help from the others. Her mind is scattered and overwhelmed by emotions as an awful assumption grows on her. She would recognize this blue everywhere.

Rocket attempts to step in, but without success. "Aurora— "

"What happened— Oh, my God." Sinking to the ground, Aurora finds herself next to Yondu's dead body. Her chest tightens as it feels like her heart has stopped working, breaking into a million pieces. She's trying to process his condition but she can't, it's too much. Everything's gonna be alright again. I promise. "No... I- I don't understand... How..."

Yondu's body is pale, his blue skin possessing a lighter tone and his eyes are empty and dead. It's nothing more than a shell. Trying to find a pulse, any sign of life, Aurora's breath picks up its pace when she doesn't succeed. No more life has remained. Her father is dead. This realization strikes a nerve and the shock vanishes into seconds, only to be replaced by the wave of emotions that hit her harshly like a storm.

"No! This doesn't make sense!" She screams with a painful devastation as she holds onto Yondu's body, tears streaming down her face. "Please, don't let this be true! Please, NO! This can't– Please, we have to– we have to help him, please, help him! How could this happen?! How can he just be– be dead?!"

Loki presses his lips together, hating how much she suffers. "We cannot save him anymore. Aurora, please, try to calm down– "

"But Yondu is dead!" She shouts and looks completely lost, sobs wrack her body as she continues to cry. "I-I can't believe that Ego killed them both, my mom and my dad! He is- he's dead, I just- I can't do this, I can't— "

Aurora buries her face into Yondu's chest as she sobs against it, holding onto him tightly. The pain is unbearable and breaks the girl, she cannot handle it any longer. "We wanted to catch up on, we- we were supposed to be a family again... I didn't want any of this... Please, dad, open your eyes, I'm begging you, please, don't leave me... I'm not ready to lose you..."

Her voice is torn apart by sobs, almost choking on them as they're stuck in her throat and she refuses to let go of him, still crying into his cold chest. Suddenly, she feels a pair of arms around her and to her surprise, it's Peter. Her half brother is crying too. Although they barely know each other, it feels familiar and right.

And he's the only person who understands her pain and loss.