Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Everyone was in shock. Half the universe was gone and Thanos was dead and now the Avengers had to take care of it all.

Danvers left almost as soon as they returned from "The Garden", as Nebula called it.

"There's more than just Earth in this universe, you know." she rolled her eyes when asked where she was going. "I have to help these other planets."

Nebula and Rocket sat at a couch at the corner of the lounge together, both mourning the only family they ever had.

Thor had stayed completely silent after they disposed of Thanos' head. No one could look at it without their stomach rolling in disgust and nausea swirling around their head.

They burned it in a fire at The Garden. No one spoke a word.

Tony sat with his head in his hands whilst Pepper tried to coax him to speak, move, anything, she just wanted confirmation that he wasn't completely empty on the inside.

Natasha was pacing the room, phone in hand, trying to call Barton, her cool, aloof exterior shattering into shards of worry and regret.

Regret that she didn't try hard enough to win. Regret that she didn't call to check if Clint was okay and thisismyfaultohmygod-

Steve placed a steadying hand on Natasha's shoulder in an attempt to ground her.

She didn't look at the phone for days after that.

Steve was just as bad, if not worse, there was still shock behind his eyes. Shock and fear.

Bucky's voice as he uttered Steve's name before crumbling to dust in the wind was going to haunt Steve until he died, he was sure of it.

And Sam, Steve never even saw Sam fade into the wind at all, he was just there and then he wasn't, and that terrified Steve. The fact that you could see them one minute, and the next minute they were gone, striked true fear in Steve.

Bruce had ran off just as quick as Danvers, they all knew that they weren't going to see him for a long time.

Everyone was bruised, bloody and broken, that was the only sure thing they knew.

They didn't know anything else, only the past and it's haunting memories.

Everyone they loved and cared for, was gone.

Faded into dust.

Chapter Text

Loki was bored. Plain and simple.

He'd been sitting here for hours and his neck hurts like a bitch. Maybe that's from Thanos crushing his windpipe with his big ugly hands but who the fuck knows.

All Loki knows is that his throat is throbbing with the pain, he's bored and lonely in this strange world and he's dead.

Great. Just what he needed.

Loki sighed and placed his head in his hands, elbows resting on the knees of his crossed legs. He stayed like this for hours, pondering and recollecting his long life.

Born as a Frost Giant, kidnapped by Odin as a baby, growing up with Thor(he sniffed at that one), finding out he was a Frost Giant, attempting to banish Thor from Asgard, attempting to kill Thor, falling from the rainbow bridge right into Thanos-

Some memories, Loki decided, are best not to be recollected.

And so he thought of his mother, Frigga, of Thor, of the Warriors Three and of Lady Sif.

After hours of just him and his thoughts, Loki heard another voice.

"Hello?" the voice was feminine and raw and shaky, as if the being had just screamed their lungs out.

Loki stood up to inspect the being, a green-skinned woman, with dark hair and sharp eyes. He did not get long to analyse before he was spotted.

"Who are you?" the woman demanded, her voice still shaky and slightly hoarse.

"I am Loki of Asgard, I mean no harm-" Thor would be proud "-may I ask who you are?"

"Gamora." she gave a sharp and quick reply. "I don't think I could harm you anyway."

This answer left Loki curious, what did this woman know of this world to think that?

"How so?"

"Well. I am dead, so it would most likely be a good guess to say that you are dead, too." Gamora explained with sadness in her eyes.

"Well, how did you die?" Loki sat back down on the ground and looked up at Gamora expectantly.

Gamora pondered the question for a moment, staring behind Loki with blank eyes, before sitting down with a sorrowful look.

"Thanos.. He- he pushed me off a cliff for the soul stone." her voice cracked in the middle of the sentence, but Loki was too busy trying to swallow the rising panic at the thought of Thanos getting another Infinity Stone.

"Uh- Oh." Loki stuttered out dumbly, for once he was at a loss for words.

"How did you die?" Gamora asked quietly, looking at Loki with interest.

"Thanos strangled me after-" Loki stopped himself before he could finish the sentence, not sure how this woman he will be staying with for who-knows-how-long would feel about what he did, especially with her clear opinion on Thanos.

"After what?" she asked, slightly tilting her head to the side.

"After I- After I gave him the tesseract." Loki softly admitted, but Gamora heard and straightened up with fire in her eyes.

"What!? Why?" her voice was a mix of disbelief and anger.

"He was going to kill Thor.." Loki paused before sighing. ".. My brother."

Gamora's anger drained in a minute and morphed into understanding and sadness.

"I did something similar for my sister, Nebula.." her eyes shone with tears. "I led him to the Soul Stone so she would stay alive."

Loki nodded in understanding, despite all of his insults and fights against Thor, he still loved him. And as much as he would loathe to admit it, he would have done, and did, something similar for his brother.

The two sat in companionable silence after that until they heard another voice.

"Wanda..?" they asked to no one in particular. Loki and Gamora turned around to see a red skinned man with a giant hole in his forehead looking at them, they both struggled to read his calm face.

"Who are you?" he asked quietly, surprisingly calm considering he was most likely dead. Gamora spoke first.

"I am Gamora, and this is Loki of Asgard." Loki gave Gamora a hard glare, offended that she introduced him as if he wasn't capable of doing so.

He could introduce himself perfectly well, thank you very much.

"I am Vision." Vision said, seemingly oblivious to the annoyance of Loki. "I suppose you two are dead, too."

"Is Thanos winning?" Loki asked, suddenly remembering his death and who had killed him. Vision's pained face said all that they needed to know.

"The stone that is- was in my forehead, was the last stone he needed.." Gamora gasped softly, understanding what that meant.

Thanos was going to win.

Loki hoped Thor was okay, but shook away that thought immediately, he didn't want to get the mess of emotions he had.

The three sat in silence, praying that, somehow, Thanos had lost. They sat in their hope for just a few minutes before they heard another voice.

"Steve..?" The trio turned around to see metal-armed man with dark hair that reached his shoulders.

And that's when the crowds and crowds of creatures of the universe started filling up the world.

It fit billions and billions, half the universe, really, into the world. Big, small, blue, pink. It had every species of the universe.

Some stood in shock of what happened to them, some of them felt around themselves as if they felt as if they were not real, some just sat and sobbed.

It didn't matter what they did, who they cried for or where they ran to. Only one thing was clear.

They were all dead.

Truly and utterly dead.

Chapter Text

Rocket had never really liked Nebula.

He never liked her soft, whispery voice or her sadist outlook on the universe or anything about her, really.

He had only ever tolerated her because she was Gamora's sister and Gamora loved her.

But Gamora is gone now, so is Groot and Peter and Mantis and Drax. There is only Nebula and Rocket left.

Stark insisted that everyone stay for a few days after the confrontation with Thanos, no one complained or disagreed.

After a while, Rocket knew he had to figure something out rather than sit around moping until either something happens or he dies.

Rocket asked Nebula to come with him, Nebula gave him a tiny smile and agreed.

After all, they were all they had left.

Just 24 hours later, the duo waved off (what was left of) the Avengers and got themselves settled into the spaceship.

"Where to?" Rocket asked as he fiddled with the controls.

"Anywhere but here?" Nebula suggested, half-jokingly.

"Anywhere but here." Rocket agreed seriously as the controls lit up and the spaceship hovered up.

Just the two of them.

--------

For the first few weeks, Rocket ran on auto-pilot, never fully "in the moment".

It wasn't until a meeting with the Nova Corps set him off.

An officer had came up to Rocket to offer his condolences.

"I'm sorry about the tree, by the way, you two seemed quite close." the officer had said.

"The.. Tree?" Rocket had abruptly broken out of auto-pilot.

"Yeah, the tree!" the officer repeated. "What ever you called him, fruit or Toot or whatever."

"Groot.." Rocket mumbled.

"What?" the officer asked, not quite hearing what Rocket said.

"His name was Groot and he was the closest family I ever had." the words came tumbling out all at once, the tears almost did too but Rocket stopped himself. He would never cry, no matter how much his body willed him too.

"Oh-Oh.." the officer replied eloquently, he then gathered himself again and awkwardly patted Rocket on his furry back. "I'm... Sorry about that."

"It's okay.." Rocket murmured non-committally.

Everyone else kept their distance for the rest of the night.

--------

The only being really involved in Rocket'life was Nebula, and Nebula had her own problems too.

Sometimes the two of them would stop the spaceship at a random planet and just lie on the ground and stare at the sky.

Usually, they would sit in silence, but on one particular day Nebula broke the silence.

"Have you ever thought.." Nebula stopped for a moment, clearly afraid to say the wrong thing "Have you ever wondered if we'll get them back?"

Rocket continued to stare straight ahead, mulling over the words.

"I hope so." he replied after a moment of thinking. "Hope is all we have."

--------

When Natasha first contacted Rocket and Nebula about a chance to get everyone back, Rocket was sceptical.

"Are you absolutely sure this will work?" Rocket had repeated a good amount of times during his conversation with Natasha. At least, enough for Nebula to roll her eyes good-naturedly and give him a light smack on the head.

"We'll be there soon." Nebula confirmed to Natasha whilst Rocket moaned about the tiny smack in the background.

"Oh shut up, you big baby." she rolled her eyes again, this time a little more irritated then good-natured.

When the two arrived, lots of things were already set up, including the equipment, they just needed a plan and a place to get the stones.

Rocket had been the one to suggest the place for the Power Stone, he remembered a conversation he had with the other Gaurdians when they all discussed what they were doing before they made their little family. Quill, of course, bragged about his 'sick dancing skills' when stealing the Power Stone.

Rocket closed his eyes as he thought about Quill and his notorious adoration for his music.

When he opened his eyes again, everyone was subtly glancing at him. No one mentioned it. They all understood.

When Nebula mentioned Vormir and Gamora while they were on the topic of the Soul Stone, Rocket realised he and Nebula never really had a full-on discussion about their family and what had happened.

For a good reason, Rocket supposed.

A few minutes before their time heist, Nebula pulled Rocket to another room.

"What's wrong?" Rocket asked at the sight of Nebula's unsure face.

"I.. I don't have a good feeling about this.. Time heist thing." Nebula admitted.

"Okay?" Rocket wasn't sure what to say or how to help.

"I just..." Nebula paused, clearly nervous. "I want to say thank you for sticking with me this whole time and dealing with my shit."

"I should say the same thing to you." Rocket smirked, but Nebula knew the sentiment behind it.

The heist went fine, as far as Rocket could tell. The lady(Jane, he think he heard Thor call her) was a bit of a struggle to disconnect the Reality Stone from whilst Thor fucked off doing whatever.

But everything was fine and everything was gonna be fine.

He was finally gonna get his family back.

--------

Nothing was fine.

He was about to drown, first off, and the giant purple asshole was back again.

"I never get a fucking break do I?" Rocket grumbled as everyone got into position for battle.

Yes, everyone.

Banner snapped everyone back and all of them were now exiting the portals the sorcerers had formed with their magic.

After losing Nebula, Rocket mostly fought beside the newly revived Gaurdians during the battle.

And it felt good.

The joy and freedom Rocket felt while blasting the Chitauri after years of meaningless travelling and aid was amazing.

He was almost sad when the battle ended.

"I am... Groot?"

No, it couldn't be.

"I am Groot!"

It could be

"Groot!"

Rocket is not a sentimental person, no matter how much Gamora used to insist and trade him about it, but the day he got Groot back, got his family back, something changed.

Yeah, he decided, I could make a little room for sentimentality.