"Flares" - Chapter Two
by darthelwig
*** I own nothing. I'm just having fun. ***
Wanda/Rocket
They'd stuck Rocket and Groot with a human woman for their end of the mission. Supposedly she was gonna be able to shield them while he set up the big guns for their attack on Thanos' forces. It was a matter of sneaking in, setting up, and staying safe once the shooting started. Easy, right?
They were gonna freakin' die.
He was venting some of his nervous energy to Groot while he assembled the gun he had designed. Sure, mostly his venting took the form of complaining, but Groot understood, even if he was still young and easily distracted.
Currently, Groot was distracted looking back at the silent woman accompanying them. She had said not a word to either of them once given her assignment, simply nodded her head in greeting and given them a grim smile. That was the one thing Rocket could appreciate about her. Well, two things. She was quiet, and she took this seriously. He didn't need some joker at his back. He didn't wanna get dead.
"Ha. They can call me a monster all they like, but I'm a freakin' genius, Groot," he said. "This baby is gonna blow a hole right through Thanos' army. Guaranteed." He patted the gun, proud of himself. Gotta give yourself credit where credit is due. No one else will.
"I know what it is to be called a monster," the woman behind him said, and Rocket jerked as the soul mark on his back Flared to life.
"What the-" He swung around, staring at her incredulously. "What did you just say to me?" He asked her.
He saw her jolt as his words hit her. Her eyes widened, her mouth dropping open. They stared at each other in silence for a long moment.
"My soul mate," she said, her eyes softening as she smiled at him. "I can't believe it."
"Oh yeah? What? Don't wanna be tied to a freak like me?" He couldn't help the bitterness in his voice.
"That is not what I meant. I do not see you as a freak, and as I said, I know what it is to be considered a monster. The people of my planet fear me for what I can do without considering what it is I will or will not do. They fear my strength, and so they make me an outcast. I know what it is to feel all alone in a crowd."
Her words struck a cord in Rocket. He had always felt the same way. There was no one in the galaxy like him, and most people looked down at him for his small size and less than normal creation. He'd had to develop a tough outer shell to protect himself, letting only Groot inside. Groot, who also understood what it was like to be alone in a crowd. Now there was this girl, looking at him with eyes that shone with a pain all too familiar.
He had no defense against her. She was his soulmate. He had, quite literally, been made for her.
"I didn't even get your name," he said. She grinned.
"I'm Wanda. I heard your names, Rocket, Groot. It is my pleasure to meet you." She moved closer, and settled herself down next to him. Her hand came up and stroked his head, and he felt the remaining tension in his body melt away. He looked into her eyes, green and sparkling, and thought he had never seen anything more beautiful or anyone more kind.
Then she was stripping her jacket off. "What the hell are you doing?! It's not safe here!" Rocket said.
"I wish to see my mark. I am curious to see what color we have become. I wish to show it to you as well. It will only take a moment." She held out her arm, and there were his words to her, in the deepest scarlet he had ever seen, but looking strangely iridescent. The color seemed to shift as she moved, like a film had been laid over the words, under her skin. He'd never heard of anything like it. He knew his own would look the same.
"We're not even the same damn species!" he said. "How could this even happen?" He couldn't seem to wrap his mind around this. He had known, logically, that his soulmate would be different from him, but knowing it in your head and being faced with it in reality were two very different things.
"Love is for souls, not bodies," she said softly. "Who is to say? What I know is that we are meant to be together."
"Well, I sorta meant that we can't have sex. We can't be... normal, y'know?" he said, looking away, embarrassed. She had the good grace not to laugh.
"Rocket, my love, whether we have sex or not is beside the point. Souls, not bodies, remember? Whatever will be will be. I am yours and you are mine. We can worry about the rest if we survive this battle, yes?"
"Oh, we're gonna live. I just found you. I ain't letting go now," he said with a little growl in his voice.
Groot had been watching this whole exchange with wide-eyed wonder, and now clapped his hands together in delight.
"I am Groot!"
"Yes, my friend. Even if I die, I will die happy, having known you both," Wanda said, with a small smile. Rocket was only a little surprised, by this point, that she could understand Groot's language. Of course she could. She was his equal, and his other half. Wanda took Rocket's hand, and they settled in to wait for the coming battle, for once content.