S P A C E
"And you dumbasses seriously broke the connection before you could find out more? This is about your own sister, Star-Munch!" Rocket groans angrily at Peter Quill as the Guardians travel through the galaxy to reach the destination that Aurora sent them. The location seems odd to Gamora, there are no inhabited planets close to it and it's like in the middle of nowhere.
"I wasn't the one who cut off the line, okay?! I'm as worried about her as you, so stop blaming me!" Peter snaps furiously and throws his hands in the air, pacing around. He's utterly frustrated that he couldn't get more information from Aurora and has been anxious the whole time, scared that something could have happened to her. Aurora has never asked him for help in such an urgent tone, it worries him a lot. Just as it terrifies Rocket, which is why he's snapping.
"Okay, hey, arguing won't help, alright? We need to focus now for Aurora's sake. She's out there and needs our help, not our yelling." Gamora talks some sense into these two and they both calm down, knowing that she's right.
"This is bad." Mantis pipes up and stares at the screen. "The location Aurora sent is the same as where the distress call is coming from."
"What?!" Peter almost shouts, his voice rising. Panic laces his voice and his first priority is his sister. Peter Quill already lost his mother and Yondu, Aurora shouldn't be on the list as well. "We've gotta hurry then, immediately!"
"Peter, you have to try to calm down, okay?" Gamora speaks softly to her boyfriend and holds his hand with a gravely glance. Just with the help of her voice and her gentle touch, Peter manages to slow down his breath and nods. "Pull yourself together for her."
"Okay." His voice lowers and he goes back to the pilot seat, sitting above Drax. Fortunately, they are close to the destination, so they'll receive answers soon. "Sorry for yelling, Rocket."
"Was about time that you apologize." The raccoon mutters with a huff and Gamora shoots him a stern glare.
"Rocket." She admonishes and he lets out a sigh, despising all this emotional shit. It's not in his program, so he obviously doesn't know how to deal with it. Aurora knows that and has always understood him, never pushing him too far.
"I'm just concerned too, y'know." Rocket confesses mumbling, barely understandable for the others but Peter knows what his words meant.
"I do." Peter Quill responds quietly and he finally settles down on the pilot seat, mentally preparing himself for Aurora's state. Will she be captured? Injured? Or worse, even dead? Of what kind of attack was she talking about? He only knows that he will do anything to save her. What leaves him puzzled though is that there's no mention of Loki, which is unusually odd. It's not like Peter has ever liked the God of Mischief, Quill doesn't understand how his sister could choose him as her betrothed one, but he knows how deeply in love they are. Even after all this shit Loki pulled.
"We're arriving." Mantis announces softly and Peter starts to concentrate.
"Alright, Guardians. Don't forget that this might be dangerous, so let's put on our mean faces." While the others silently listen to his command, Groot's noisy Gameboy is still audible and Peter turns around, sighing. "Groot, put that thing away. Now. It's about your aunt, I don't wanna tell you again." No surrender or answer, only resistance and Peter's voice grows more serious. "Groot."
"I am Groot." The tree mimics in a disrespectful tone and everyone stares at him in disbelief.
"Wow!"
"Language!"
"You got some acorns on you, kid." Peter comments sternly and now Rocket glances at his son.
"Ever since you got a little sap, you're a total D-hole. Keep it up and I'm gonna smash that thing to pieces!" He threatens and ignores Groot's glare, the typical glare a teenager would give his parent. The Guardians finally reach their destination and the ship stops, the light atmosphere crushing to pieces.
Dozens of dead bodies float through space along with even more fragments, death has decorated this place like a living room on Christmas. The infinite destruction sends a deadly chill through every Guardian, severely capturing their breath. It doesn't even look like the result of a war, more like the outcome of a cruel massacre. An explosion must have happened and the planter certainly did not care about the fates of these people. The end of all these lives.
"What happened?" Mantis questions carefully, still taken aback by the enormous cemetery in space.
"Oh, my God..." A nauseous feeling settles down in Peter Quill's stomach, still struck by the view of so many corpses. He grew up as a Ravager, yes, but he has never witnessed the result of a dreadful massacre. Whatever he expected when they started to travel to this location, this is so much worse. His concern circles around his sister now. "Aurora... "
Gamora meanwhile remains silent, almost unfazed by the awful sight. She has feared that this day would come eventually, she only hoped it wouldn't happen through this way. But then again– what else should she have expected? The dead bodies floating recklessly through space are just the marks that her father left as always, that's his pattern. Thanos was here and he awaits her.
"Where the hell is Aurora supposed to– " Rocket is cut off when two bodies suddenly collide with the glass pane of their spaceship, the Guardians shrieking in fright. "Wipers! Wipers! Get it off."
"Wait a moment... " Peter narrows his eyes and stares at the two people huddled together in a glitchy and damaged spacesuit, their bodies entirely covered in soot. The muscular stranger doesn't interest him, no, more the red sting of hair beneath the dust of the smaller person. The spacesuit, the hair color... "That's Aurora!!"
"What?!" Rocket's eyes widen and he analyzes the spacesuit. Barely any layers are left, the familiar blue color almost invisible in his eyes but the trails of the former pattern confirms Peter's assumption. This pattern only belongs to the spacesuit that Aurora and Rocket created.
"Drax, get them in!" Peter commands and Drax doesn't hesitate to get up. Gamora and Rocket help him to put on the spacesuit while Peter and Mantis remove all items from the table for the two lost passengers to lay down. Luckily, everything goes fast and without problems, the strongest Guardian manages to pull them in with the help of his strength. Meanwhile the Captain of the Guardians almost feels like vomiting out of overwhelming concern when he has a better view of his sister, now that she and the other man are inside.
"She's alive." Mantis states with relief after eyeing Aurora's flat and weak breath. "And so is the other one."
"Thank God." Peter exhales most of his anxiety and his heart plummets to his toes, watching his unconscious sister on the table along with the stranger. "Rocket, remove the spacesuit... or what's left of it."
As the Raccoon for once does what he's told to, he deactivates the damaged spacesuit and destroys the now useless pin. Whatever happened, their invention saved the two. On Peter's signal, Mantis analyzes Aurora's body, deciding to take care of the blond man beside her later. Aurora's injured but the wounds are not severe, the man must have protected her, whoever he is. As Mantis places a hand on Aurora's forehead, she winces at the overwhelming emotions.
"What is it?? Are you okay?" Drax asks his best friend with concern and the empath starts crying.
"Aurora... she's- she's deeply in pain." Mantis sobs, tears running down her face. It feels like her heart gets ripped apart. "She's suffering, terrified... I- It's too much to bear. Her mind is a mess, there's a dreadful trauma stuck in there..."
"Wake her up." Gamora now speaks up, guilt clinging on her heart. She knows who is responsible for this and although she's just his daughter, it feels like it's her fault as well. Mantis nods reluctantly, swallowing before she focuses.
"Wake up."
Aurora's eyes snap wide open, exhaling a gasp before she gets up and lashes wildly out. The disorientation and state of confusion, as well as the pain, blind her and hot tears burn into her skin. Although she's still clueless about her whereabouts, her mind is centered around a single name, his name. Her heart is aching like hell and Peter has to calm down his sister, grabbing her arms and pulling her back down to the table.
"Aurora! Aurora! It's me, it's me, Peter, hey, calm down! It's me, your brother... " His loud voice sinks when Aurora's arms don't hit him anymore as she consumes his soothing words. Peter Quill looks gravely into her eyes, his hands steadying her safely. "It's me, it's me."
Aurora's whole body is trembling, tears coating her face and she stares at her brother with wide eyes like a vulnerable deer. Her breath staggers between regular and panting and although she now notices the Guardians and Thor around her, the God of Thunder only reminds her of her loss. The last time Peter has seen her close to this state was when Yondu died. His sister appears broken, even traumatized.
"Loki." She mutters like a lost child, holding onto her last hope. Aurora tries her best to focus on words but the whole incident is replayed in her head. All the dead Asgardians, Heimdall's death and then... the way Thanos held Loki like a doll, choking the life out of him until his eyes went red and his skin more pale than usual. Until the nasty crack of his neck was audible. Until he...
"Where is he??" Rocket asks almost cautiously, Groot standing by his side and Aurora squints her eyes to blend out the awful sound of Loki's neck. Her heart races and the beat almost reaches her throat, numbing her mind with pain. A nauseous dizziness spreads through her head and she starts to pant in panic, the air suddenly feeling limited and closed. She can't breathe.
Aurora doesn't waste a second and looks down to her belt bag which has magically survived the whole havoc. With shaky hands, the auburn-haired girl takes out the item she's been looking for, the object that is supposed to give her hope now. Yet, to her shock, the sorcerous hourglass does no longer exist and it's broken into twelve pieces, the emerald sand now filled in the bag like dust. The hourglass is not warm and rather ice cold, lacking of its past magic. Lacking of life.
"No... " Aurora breaks down, sobs wrecking her whole body as the glass pieces lie in her hand. Her fingerless gloves prevent any harm, but it still hurts like hell. Her last hope is gone, and so is he.
"Oh, God..." Peter makes the awful assumption as he stares at the shattered hourglass. Nothing can break it, the magic always kept it safe, unless... unless the creator's sorcery is gone.
"Loki is dead, Peter." Aurora cries and it feels like she falls apart. The pain overwhelms her and she cannot produce a comprehensive thought, the words stream out like a river. "He- he is dead, T- Thanos killed him, he- he killed Loki. He killed everyone."
Peter pulls his sister into a tight and familiar hug, pressing her as much as possible against his chest as if he could cast out the sorrow. The Guardians remain in a dreadful silence and Gamora's guilt increases as she watches the siblings. She hates him. She hates her father so much and she hadn't thought she could hate him any more but now that he harmed Aurora and killed Loki, she can.
"Shh, I'm here, okay?" Peter mumbles into Aurora's hair, feeling incredibly helpless but there's not much he can do right now. He only holds onto his crying sister and is relieved that she survived, hugging her even tighter now. He couldn't have endured her death which she was very close to.
Burying her face deeper into his chest, Aurora continues crying endlessly, the pain pumping through every vein of her body. She hates how she could do nothing to save Loki, how useless she was there. And she hates how he made a deal without her. How he saved her without her knowledge. And she, a naive fool, was mad at him the whole time although he only assured her safety. Although he only protected her.
Everything shall be alright again, you have my word.
His last words run through her mind and that only breaks her more. Loki must have been so scared to face Thanos, to go against the Mad Titan, yet he only cared about her anxiety and was brave enough to stand up against his worst fear. Loki was brave and selfless and he died as a hero. Something he, even after all the years with Aurora's assurance, never saw in himself. Though, Aurora isn't grateful, she can't be. Not now when the sorrow is too great.
You lied to me, she cries and her chest tightens in pain. You broke your promise.
A/N- The Captain Marvel trailer blew me away, omg I legit cannot wait for Carol Danvers to kick everyone's ass!
Also, expect the next update on Saturday already because I'll finally fly to America on Sunday :')