LODESTAR ❥ PETER QUILL

Chapter 12

The entire room glows brightly for a second before mushroom clouding and filling the room with a dark haze. Peter disables his mask and Heather automatically follows suit. Heather peers into the darkness, waiting in anticipation for the dust to clear, with her heart in her throat.

The iron cold fingers of dread clench round her heart when she sees the silhouette of a figure rising.

We . . . failed.

Her knees tremble and she can hardly breathe around the lump in her throat. Ronan lifts his hammer towards the group and turns it like a key. Heather floats gracefully in the air for a second before being thrown forcefully on to the steps. The collision of the steps on her vertebrae makes her cry out in pain and she lies there, paralysed, while her body tries to swiftly correct the damage and her mind screams.

She can only watch in numb pain as Drax gets held aloft by Ronan and a suicidal ravager M ship bursts through the window. Just when all hope feels lost, a pair of strong arms gather her up and carries her into an alcove, safe from the path of the ship.

"Can you stand?" Gamora asks urgently.

"I, I think so," Heather replies.

Gamora carefully sets Heather down and supports her like a crutch when she stumbles. She then leans Heather against the wall before rushing out to pull Drax away from the wreckage. Peter carries Rocket out of the burning M ship and Groot gets up out of his hunched position on the floor to reveal a quivering Kleintje, who immediately runs to Heather.

"Heather! Are you okay?!" he squeaks, close to tears.

She smiles weakly and nods, despite the loss of feeling in her legs.

"Thanks again Groot," she says.

Groot nods and gently wraps vines around Heather and carries her to where the rest of the group has amassed. He deposits her into Peter's open arms.

"Are you okay?" he asks her, holding her to him tenderly.

"My back hurts and my legs are paralysed, but I'll be fine."

The floor lurches and it is only then that Heather realises that the Aster is falling. The realisation doesn't slam Heather into the panic she thought she'd experience minutes before death. Perhaps it could be because for a second there, before the dust cleared, Heather felt like she truly mattered, that she truly did something to be proud of. She wouldn't trade that feeling for anything in the world.

So, is this the end?, she thinks, Well, at least it's not alcohol poisoning.

Groot kneels down and holds his arms out. Twigs start growing from his arms and it is only when Kleintje whimpers and begins sobbing that Heather figures out what Groot is about to do.

"Groot . . ." she begins softly.

She can't finish her sentence as tears threaten to choke her. When the cocoon is completed Groot's fireflies rejoin them. It is at this point that Rocket has fully awakened and has left Gamora's arms. He hurries over to Groot and puts his hands on Groot's chest.

"No, Groot! You can't." Rocket begs. "You'll die. Why are you doing this?! Why?"

Heather buries her face into the crook of Peter's neck to hide her tears.

"We. Are. Groot," he replies.

Those three words make Heather completely lose it.

•* ¨*•.¸¸♪•*¨*•.¸¸☆*･ﾟ•｡.•*¨*•♬✧

Dust and ash cling to the air and the faces of the survivors. Heather sucks as much of the dirty air in as possible and pulls herself from the rubble - her feet are still practically useless, but hey, she can wiggle her toes now.