Guardian Angel (Guardians Of The Galaxy Fanfiction)

Comforting A Grieving Friend

Ashen's eyes fluttered open and bright light shined in her eyes. She wanted to just turn over and go back to sleep but she knew that couldn't happen. She knew where she was but she didn't remember exactly how she got there.

When she managed to look around she saw the debris all around her. Several Zandarians were looking at her and a few gasped and pointed at her haunch. She turned her head and looked at her haunch. She cringed at how it looked and knew that it would need some sort of medical attention.

Beside her she felt Grenade stir. She watched as his own green eyes opened and concentrated on her. "You okay," she asked as she sniffed his flank to try and assess if he had any injuries.

He pushed her head away with a paw. "I'm fine! Nothing that won't heal, you?" His voice edged with more concern for her.

She shrugged. "Been better but my leg is killing me," she confessed as her eyes squeezed shut in agony.

Grenade inched closer to Ashen and shoved his nose into her neck fur. "I'm just glad that we're alright."

"Now all of us," sighed Ashen as she lifted her head away from Grenade and saw Rocket. He was crotched on his knees, holding what was once a piece of Groot.

"I called him idiot," he murmured in a breathless whisper.

Ashen grunted as she hauled herself to her paws. Pain surged through her and Grenade tried to force her down but she refused. "I have to do this," Ashen barked to him before she limped over to Rocket.

His ear twitched as she neared and he turned his head to look at her. His eyes were wet with tears but his black mask hid the fact if he was crying. She lumbered over and first touched her nose to his ear. Rocket remembered what Ashen had said about that being a comforting motion and he was secretly glad that Ashen had gone over.

He couldn't contain his grief and threw his small arms around Ashen's neck and sobbed. Ashen was a bit taken aback since Rocket was the last one he would ever expect to act like this. She then rested her head on the back of Rocket's back and wrapped her wings around them both.

"It's going to be alright," breathed Ashen as she rubbed her chin in small circles over his garments. She remembered Somber doing this to her when he was still alive in the lab on some nights and it had always comforted her.

"No it's not," snarled Rocket as his claws dug deep into her fur. She hid her pain as blood trickled a bit from the claw marks. He just held tighter though and allowed the blood to ebb a bit around his claws. "He's dead and it's all my fault!"

Ashen had recalled herself saying the exact same thing but she knew now that it wasn't true. "You know that's not true," she argued at her tail gave a lash. "He made his own choices and you couldn't do anything about that."

That just made Rocket sob harder and his tears flooded into her pelt, making it damp. She really didn't have much more to say since that wasn't her area of expertise. She closed her eyes and continued massaging Rocket's back with her chin.

"You know when my brother died I thought it was my fault," she explained as she felt Rocket's muscles tense. "He died from blood-cough, a sever respiratory infection that he was never going to be able to fight off. There was nothing I could have done but for a while I thought that something I done might have been able to save him."

"What did you do after he died," asked Rocket.

Ashen felt him wrap his small arms even tighter around her neck. She smiled a bit despite that he was basically choking her. She then stretched out a paw and wrapped it around his back and held him closer to her and rumbled in comfort. She decided to continue her story, still holding Rocket as tightly as possible.