Guardian Angel (Guardians Of The Galaxy Fanfiction)

Friendships Rekindled

It didn't take too long for Ashen and Grenade to find a den. It was a hollowed out from a small cliff probably by a badger or a wolverine. Ashen didn't mind as long no one beside them was staying in it now. Besides she was exhausted and she knew Grenade was feeling the same way.

Ashen settled into a dusty old nest of moss and leaves. It crunched when she laid down but she was used to sleeping on cement so anything was better than that. She watched as Grenade made up a nest of his own but he wasn't going to be settling down any time soon.

Ashen watched as he padded up to Ashen and looked at her shoulders. He touched it gingerly with his paw and she flinched. He nodded and grasped some freshly picked leaves and began to wipe the blood away. Ashen struggled not to show her pain as she lowered her head into her shoulders and sighed heavily.

"Thank you," she breathed heavily as she watched Grenade tend to her wounds.

Grenade just nodded curtly and once he was finished he chewed some leaves into a pulp and spread them over the wound before he placed more leaves on it. "If it starts bleeding again we'll have a problem but for right now you seem okay."

Ashen looked sideways to Grenade and saw that he wasn't tending to his own wound. "What about you," she asked as she motioned him over to her. "I can help."

Grenade twitched his wounded ear and shrugged. "It doesn't bother me," he muttered as he looked away, swiping a paw against his eyes to try and clear the blood from them.

"Did it hurt," asked Ashen slowly, just trying to stir up some conversation that wouldn't end in one of them going for the other's throat.

Grenade shrugged. "Yours?"

Ashen realized this wasn't going as well as she had hoped. "Look I'm very sorry. I shouldn't have said any of that to you last night," she apologized but Grenade showed no sign in wanting to forgive her.

Grenade muttered into his chest fur and took his gun from his back and set it down. For a heartbeat Ashen was afraid he was going to use it on her. She then watched as he kicked it aside and Ashen let out a breath of relief.

"I know you probably don't trust me anymore but-"

"If it makes you feel any better I never trusted you," meowed Grenade as he began clearing the dirt from underneath his claws.

Ashen lifted her head a bit in shock. "You n-never trusted me," she stammered in surprise and betrayal.

Grenade shook his head. "I don't trust like I used to. Don't take it to offense."

"Uh too late," snapped Ashen as she lashed her tail in rage. "I trusted you!"

"Yeah and look where that's got you," Grenade snorted in amusement as he looked away before settling in his nest, looking at Ashen with his usual cold eyes.

"Grenade you've been through a lot and I understand that but I can't trust you if you don't trust me," Ashen pointed out as she licked her lips in fear.

Grenade chuckled in amusement. "First cat I ever trusted beat me senseless for doing things I don't even know of. The second cat I trusted died when I was very young and the last cat I trusted killed the cat I loved more than anything."

Ashen's eyes lit in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I trusted the leader of my group and he ordered an attack that we were sure to lose," Grenade replied as he curled his tail around his haunches.

"So that's when your mate died," murmured Ashen as she nodded slowly.

Grenade squeezed his eyes shut before he opened them slowly and took in a raspy breath. "My mate was expecting kits at this time," breathed Grenade in agony.

Ashen blinked her eyes in sympathy. "Oh Grenade I'm so sorry. I had no idea."

"No one does," breathed Grenade as he curled closer in on himself. "Soon after that I was forced to leave so I thought I'd have a new life. Little did I know that my past would follow me no matter where I went. Now I'm here and my past is still following me." He tensed his shoulders. "Now I'll always have reminders of my past in my body. What the Terrans did to us can't be undone."

Ashen shook her head in agreement. "True but we can live with it," Ashen pointed out at as he drew a paw gingerly over her muzzle. "It isn't our fault that we're now well freaks but it doesn't have to stay this way. We are not in Terran's hold anymore."

"So what should we do," asked Grenade as he looked up a bit toward Ashen.

Ashen shrugged a bit. "Well I'd like to get off this forsaken planet," she barked as she shook her pelt a bit and instantly regretted it.

"And how do you expect us to do that," inquired Grenade as he spread himself out a bit in his nest to be more comfortable.

"We just need to find a ship that's willing to take up to Xandar," answered Ashen as she spread her wings a bit and then rested them on her aching shoulders.

"Xandar," echoed Grenade in surprise. "Why would you want to go there?"

"I heard from a fox in the lab had come from Xandar. She thoroughly enjoyed it there. I think that it would be a great place to live," Ashen barked as she yawned. "Xandarians aren't like Terrans so we shouldn't have the same problems there."

"Anywhere besides here sounds good to me," Grenade yawned as he showed his large fangs.

Ashen nodded slowly. "We'll always stick together right?"

Grenade's eyes turned unreadable and for a second Ashen thought that he was going to turn her down. Maybe even get up and walk away, leaving her to think about what she had said to him the other night. To her surprise she heard a purr roll in the depths of Grenade's throat.

"Yes we will," agreed Grenade as he suddenly stretched out a paw and Ashen sat it open up a bit, just like a human hand. That was probably thanks to the other enhancements that the Terrans gave him.

Ashen smiled and painfully stretched out a wing since her paw wouldn't stretch that far. One of her feathers grazed Grenade's paw. He clasped it shut and Ashen felt his strong grip on her wings. Grenade smiled slightly and rested his head back on his remaining paw with the other still outstretched, brushing his pads on Ashen's wing tips.

Ashen yawned and rested her head back on her own aching paws and fell asleep.