Lines | Guardians of the Galaxy |

Chapter Twelve

Avenna lay on the ground, stunned and disorientated. She briefly thinks she hears pop music playing in the background but is unable to get up and figure out what had happened. She knew one thing, and one thing only: She was alive.

But were the rest of her friends?

The vixen forces herself to get up, the thought motivating her to find out. She can smell something burning, which is not even remotely a surprise. At least it isn't her own flesh this time.

She blinks the dirt out of her eyes and finds that she's laying at the edge of a massive pile of sticks and branches. Groot's remains. The dust is still thick in the air, or maybe her eyes are just blurry... or both. She presses a hand to her forehead and blinks a few times, then watches as she sees Rocket crawling over to some of the sticks with a dejected look.

Drax is laying on the ground, unconscious, and she powers through the confusion and pain, making herself stand completely. She shakes dust from her tail as she sprints over to her friend, gently shaking him, crouching as she does so. He moves a hand and she stops, knowing he'll get up in a minute or two. There are a few heavy sheets of metal on him, and she pries them off, letting them land and fall away from Drax with a loud clattering, breaking the silence. As quiet as this air could be, with the ringing in her ears.

There's definitely music playing. She looks to her right and sees that weird old box that Quill loved so much, the one that made music. The sound is eerie in the silence of the area. She gets back up and steps over to Rocket, feeling a pain in her chest as she watches him pick up some of the fragile sticks that used to be Groot.

"I called him an idiot," he says in a heartbroken tone. Avenna allows herself to rest one paw on his shoulder and he bows his head, not reacting to her touch.

Their group slowly stands up, recovering. Everyone appears to be alive.

Several of the citizens of the Nova Corps are stepping slowly closer, many of them just as baffled and rugged as they were, with dirty clothing, scratched faces, and confused expressions. This ship had just fallen right on their city.

There's a faint thumping noise from the wreckage and Avenna looks over her shoulder. Her heart sinks.

"OH, YOU JUST WON'T STAY DEAD, WILL YOU, YA BASTARD!" she shouts angrilly.

Ronan, completely unscathed, is stepping slowly from the wreckage, a glowing purple light coming from his hammer. The only real mark on him is from when Quill shot him with the rocket launcher that Rocket—ironically—made, and there's not even any wound.

Their foe doesn't answer as he slowly steps closer, causing some of the citizens to let out little cries and back up. Rocket looks over his shoulder and a look of absolute, real fury comes over his face. "You killed Groot!" He snarls. He throws Avenna's hand off and in a fit of rage, he begins to sprint over to Ronan, yelling angrily. The fox chases him but stops halfway, her hands outreached slightly.

All Ronan does is wave his hammer slightly and Rocket is thrown away like nothing more than a sack of potatoes.

Avenna sucks in a breath, taking another step towards the raccoon, raising one hand to her mouth as she reaches out with the other. The fox doesn't move closer to him, but turns her golden eyes onto Ronan, feeling completely and utterly helpless.

"Behold!" Ronan shouts. "Your 'guardians of the galaxy.'" He gestures around him with a look of raw, unfiltered disgust. "What fruit have the wrought? Only that my father and his father shall finally know vengeance."

"Nobody cares about your dad and grandpa, you crusty blue butt," Avenna snarls. "Who cares if he never came home with the milk?" She's definitely taking a risk here, but anything to distract him for a few more seconds. And she'd like to get in her last few jabs before dying.