Golden Horns and Red Thorns

Welcome to the Freakin' Guardians of the Galaxy

     I hugged him until my arms became sore. Thor was the first one to pull away from me, looking into my eyes when he spoke.

     "I didn't even have time to think you dead." He chuckled.

     "Yeah, well, I did. For both of us. I thought I ended up in Hel." I laughed with him, my voice raspy and strained.

     "You could never."

     We were interrupted by someone clearing their throat. I turned to look at the people surrounding us.

     There was a man that looked similar to us, borderline tan skin with scruffy facial hair accompanied by short brown waves. The twinkle in his green eyes reminded me of Loki immensely. No matter what mood Loki was in, there was always that spark of mischief.

     Behind the man, there was a tree from the Floral Colossus species poking his head around, curiously peering at us. A green-skinned woman with red hair stood besides the tree, and besides her an alien with antennas and pale skin, raising her hand up to shyly say hi.

     I looked to the other part of the ship, the ones I attacked were against the metal wall. A large... man with gray skin and pale red markings that covered his entire body in intricate designs stared me down, a knife in hand, ready to fight once more. His eyes were a bright periwinkle color. I took a sharp intake of air, becoming uneasy. My eyes then traveled down to the creature besides him at his feet, making me giggle. A rabbit. Well, a raccoon that didn't like being called a rabbit, so I call him one.

     "Rocket Rabbit." I stated, a smirk coming across my face.

     "Raccoon! I'm not a damn rabbit." the animal muttered.

     "You two know each other?" Thor questioned.

     "Well, not directly. I've just heard a lot about him." I said, letting my eyes travel up and down Rocket. 

     "All good things, I hope."

     "No. Not at all." I replied bluntly. "He's always somehow interfering with Asgard's weapons trade." I took another look at everyone. "How did we get here?"

     "Well, big guy has been here for about ten minutes. We were passing through the wreck. You hit the windshield, just like he did. Told us to bring you in." The regular looking man answered.

     I looked behind the group, outside the window of the small ship. The dead were floating along with the debris of the vessel. I squeezed my eyes shut, turning my head away to look back at Thor. When I opened my eyes, tears threatened to spill out once more.

     "What's the plan?" I questioned him. He stood up, putting the blanket that was around his shoulders on me, handing me a bowl filled with some soup. The green-skinned women spoke before he did.

     "Thor thinks Thanos is headed to Nowhere."

     "That sounds about right. He already has two stones, the other two are on Earth. The Soul Stone is nowhere to be found, for the moment at least. Sif and Volstagg brought the Reality Stone to Nowhere. We need to get there before he does." I voiced out loud, putting together small bits and pieces.

     "She's right. We have to go to Nowhere, now." She said, turning away from us and walking towards the controls of the ship.

     "Wrong," Thor stated. "Where we have to go is Nidavellir."

     "That's a made up word!" The gray-skinned man exclaims. I laugh. He seems so excited and oblivious to many things, but serious all the same. It's hard to comprehend.

     "All words are made up." I turn to smile at him. 'He seems nice' I thought.

     Rocket chimes in, "Nidavellir is real? Seriously?! I mean that place is a legend! They make the most powerful, horrific weapons in all the universe! I would very much like to go there please."
    
     "What? No. No way, man. You'll screw this whole thing up!" I voiced. This dude was obsessed with weapons of any kind. The ones on Nidavellir would only tempt him.
    
     "Tera... The rabbit is correct! And clearly the smartest among you," Thor said, turning to look at the others. I sighed, knowing that only Thor can make the decision here on who he brought along. Rocket glared at me when he realized that Thor had called him a rabbit. "Only Eitri the dwarf can make the weapon I need. I assume you're the captain, sir?" Thor asked Rocket.

     "You're very perceptive." 

     "You seem like a noble leader," the King declared. "Will you join me on my quest to Nidavellir?" 

     "Thor, wait, we should think this over-"

     "Well, let me just ask the captain. Wait a second, that's me! Yeah, I'll go." The raccoon exclaimed, grinning. 

     "This could either end very bad, or very, very bad." I mumbled. 

     Thor walked onto the part of the ship that broke off into a pod. The tree named Groot sat next to him. I reluctantly walked to stand behind the seat Thor sat in. Rocket said a short, sarcastic goodbye to the man named Peter Quill and Gamora. The pod closed off, and we were gone. 

--

     Time always got mixed up when you weren't on a set planet in space. I didn't know how long we've been in the pod or how long we had left until we got to Nidavellir, but I was losing my mind.

     Thor was up front talking to the raccoon, while I took his seat next to Groot. I didn't trust Rocket. What I've heard about him from Odin and Loki was just how untrustworthy he was. We never got involved with Rocket Raccoon and we always tried to keep him from meddling in Asgard's weapons trade. Almost all attempts to keep him from fucking things up was unsuccessful. Loki had taken a small liking to Rocket, despite all of that. He enjoyed how mischievous he was. Go figure. Thor always had a pretty good idea on how to act after first impressions. I was just hoping he was right with this one.

     The constant beeping of Groot's video game was what was really ticking me off. I enjoyed Rocket's humor, but I could never stand when this type of tree species was in their teen ages, even on Asgard. No matter what was at stake, if you come across a Floral Colossus when they're a teen, you're screwed. 

     "So, I thought these guys were extinct." I hollered to Rocket, interrupting his conversation with Thor. He turned his head to me confused, so I pointed to Groot. 

     "Ah, yeah. He was the last one." He hollered back.

     "Was? Are they not anymore?"

     "Kind of a long story. There was an older Groot, but he died saving me and the other Guardians. This Groot right here - that WON'T GET OFF OF THAT DAMN GAME - is his offspring." Groot's playing stopped for a second, as he looked up at Rocket glaring, and then went back to it. "Wow. Just wow."

     "So, this Groot, he's the only one left?" I questioned.

    "Yeah. Just him." He answered sorrowfully.

     "Kind of like Korg..." I trailed off, staring at nothing. Thor looked at me with pity. 

     So much has happened in the past day, I was beginning to think I was going insane. I couldn't comprehend anything that was going on. As soon as one thing sinks in, another thing happens, over and over and over again. 

     My mind wandered to Loki. His final expression before the Bifrost swept away. His anger at how we both played him, and his disbelief at the words I had voiced. I felt so guilty for doing what I did, but there was no other way. What if I never pushed him into the Bifrost and Thanos actually killed us all? The universe wouldn't have a chance - it barely does now. 

     It was hard to have faith in something that could go wrong in many ways. It was hard to believe that we, as a small group, could defeat Thanos.