Chapter 4

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She stood there, looking at him.

Terrified, feet shaking where they stood, paws twitching and his tail brushed up.

It was him. In the fur, the flesh, the same as he'd been in her dreams…

Eyes too small, the whites shrunk down or browns expanded out, filling the whole eye like he was some kind of feral savage. His torso was the wrong shape. His posture was strange. Features more angular, his feet were far smaller, he almost looked like he was standing on his tip toes, he…

He wasn't a raccoon… But of course he was. He was Rocket, more Rocket than whoever it was she'd seen in that lineup, more…

"You…" He spoke, and she could see his mouth quiver as he sounded the words, a gulp taken down his throat like he'd just seen the gallows for the first time. "You remember…"

She sniffed. "Of course… How could I…"

His face winced up and he hissed, stomping the ground where he was. "No, no, no, no, NO!"

"Wh…" She began, only for him to cut her off.

"You should have got a perfect life!" He yelled out, tears in his eyes. "This city, these others, you… You had a good childhood huh? An actual childhood, birthday parties and sleep overs and all that stuff. You had a life! An actual life with hopes and dreams but no! He had to taint it! He had to put his grubby hands all over you and…" He wiped a tear away with a paw, looking over at her. "You have a happy life, right?" he asked, voice pleading. "Just… Please, tell me…"

"I have," she said, walking forward towards the little whatever he was. "A good life, good parents, a good job. Good friends… It's…" She paused, smiling. "It really is nice to have friends."

He choked out a sob through his grinning muzzle. "It's… It's you, I must sound like a madman right here but…"

"They want to meet you too," she said, softly. He froze where he was, looking at her. "Teef, Floor… They're not called that. Well, Fleur wants to be called Floor so… She remembers the most. She's…" She shook her head. "I think she's the most like what she was, wherever and whenever that was. And Teefs, he's remembering too."

"Fuck this."

She froze where she stood, his whisper echoing around in the air.

"Fuck…" His paw hit the front of his head. "No."

"Rocket?"

"You…" he said, pausing and throwing his arms up and around. "Look at this! Look at what you all built for yourself without that wretch cutting in and shitting up the place. You got your own city, you got your own… frickin' terraforming engines in the middle of it because why the fuck not!" He bent over laughing before looking up at her. "And… And look at you, Lady. You're… You're perfect."

"I'm…"

"No robot arms, no shaved bits of fur, no death switch on your heart or bolted bits of metal here and there. Same for the others. He didn't have anything to do with it…"

"I… I guess he did," she said.

"He didn't make any of this," he growled, "you all did! With your own minds and hands."

"What about the hands that guide the hands?"

He froze where he was, whatever anger and bitterness was in him shocked out as if dropped in an ice bath. "How did…"

"It just sounded like what you needed to hear," she said. "That's a lot of my job, you know. Caring for mammals, telling them that." She began walking forward, closing the distance. "And I think…" She said, beginning to feel her lower jaw quiver. "There's so much more you need to hear."

"You were dead," he whispered. "I was…"

"And…. And we're back again, we're back…"

"In a perfect world, a perfect world that doesn't need anything from him," he growled. "You shouldn't have remembered anything. You should have been free, free from him… You don't need anything from that piece of vermin. You need the life you have away from that. No cages, no pain, no memories of what he did to you. You need the life you have away from that. You're a perfect beautiful real actual otter, you don't need some twisted experiment like me with bits of metal sticking out and..."

Her paws touched his shoulders and held him there, tight.

Even as he buckled. Even as he shuffled away somewhat.

She stood there, heart hammering in her chest as she looked down at him and he looked back. Wide feral eyes tearing over, scrunched up all wrong face just etched with the pain. She felt something against her chest, realising it was bits of metal, grafted and melded onto his fur and into his chest. To make him stand up, exist, survive, this… Was he even a raccoon?

"You get it now…" He whispered. "You all got this perfect world. I'm not a part of it, I'm a freakish cyborg, a monster, a…"

"My beloved raccoon…" And she held him tight against her chest, spinning him around. Even as she remembered the last time. Even as she remembered how it ended. Even as the flashes of her own pain and her own suffering, and hopes and dreams and fears and love poured back in and through.

Echoing around in the distance as she felt his fur, muscle, bones and robotic parts and his heart, his dear beating heart underneath all of it.

She froze where she was and they separated, eyes locked on each other as tears dripped from his eyes. "I… This."

"Don't worry," she said, a claw going up to wipe a tear from his eyes. Even though it was harder to track, she saw his eyes move, saw them glance at it, the webbing between her fingers. She moved it back, letting it lay there, letting him feel how they really were. "I know you don't think it's right, but it is. You've found me again and…" She felt her chest clench, a dawning chilly and giddy and terrifying joyous feeling looming over her like a tidal wave, crashing down and down upon her. Yet she kept herself up, for him. "-And we're going to have our life together," she said, the tears beginning to flow. "We're going to fly off into the great and beautiful sky, and we're going to get the life we always wanted."

"H-how do you know that?" he whimpered, standing on the edge.

And she smiled. "Silly Raccoon… Someone told me it would be okay."

"Who?"

"You." And before she could answer she dove in, her lips meeting his and their tongues clashing like forking lightning. She felt herself crash forward, she felt him buck away, only to turn back towards her and hold on tight. Claws digging into her back and hers gripping on the metal machines grafted into him, as they kissed and kissed and held on, held tight, held like they could glue themselves together and become one. Never to be ripped apart again.

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"I don't think that affected me in any way."

"You sure, Teefs?" Rocket asked. Lying against his chest the raccoon, a pair of shades on to cover his unusual eyes, held on to the walrus's flipper.

"Well, I think in the grand scheme of things," he mused. "If I never got out of that cage or not, it wouldn't have contributed too much to any of the things I've felt since."

Rocket pulled himself up, paw trembling over his heart as he looked up at the much larger mammal. "I… It hasn't hurt you, it…"

"I always thought they were nightmares," he said. "Scary things… Lots of children have them. I never thought any of what happened in them meant anything, until now at least."

"So you had a good life?"

"Given my youth," he smiled, "I'd say it's a bit too early to make that judgement."

"Well, you've had a good one so far, right?"

"Yes, but things change. For one you've introduced a very shocking and unexpected plot twist as it were."

Rocket let out a snort of laughter.

"You could have come earlier though," he carried on, pulling up a sleeve to reveal some faces tattooed on. "You've certainly proven this guy wrong."

The snort turned into a full-on cackle.

"This guy will be very angry."

He began pounding his paw against the walrus's stomach.

"And this guy said he'd kill himself if something like a god figure revealed himself, so I might have to laser him off for the sake of his integrity."

Rocket wiped a paw along his nose. "Yeah… And what… How about you? How are you taking, all this news and stuff? About how your entire people were made and you're a reincarnated experiment. Sounds like you'd make a killing writing a book about it."

"Well, given that ancient alien stuff tends to bring a lot of ridicule, I think I'll pass on that. But you know what, does it change my life? Does it affect the material conditions of what's going on, or the social implications of the life I should live." He smiled. "A lot of people joked that the philosophers I talked about meant nothing in regard to their actual lives… And now in a lot of ways I'd agree." He paused, looking around. While the corner of the park they were in was largely empty, other mammals stood around and mingled in the distance. "What should they think, knowing that all of us were once feral unevolved animals taken from a different world by a mad scientist, and put through rapid evolution as a side-experiment?"

"That they owe the jerkwad who set this all up nothing, and they became the best frickin' thing he ever made, by him just leaving them alone to their own devices."

"I suppose…" He was cut off as a loud call broke through the air.

"TEEF!"

He turned, placing Rocket down and lumbering up to see the oncoming visitors. Lylla, a little sweaty and tired, was pushing a large stroller along, Floor buckled in. The rabbit was smiling, waving about and clapping, only to freeze as she saw the mammal next to her walrus friend. "ROCKET!"

He blinked, smiling as he walked up to her. "Hey there pretty…"

She clapped and smiled, pulling him in as he got closer, the two hugging tight. "Whoah, big hug there little one."

"Floor wait long time hug Rocket."

"Yeah, well you were the one who once hugged me the most."

"That because we share cage."

"Yeah, but no more cages, right?"

"Except when I naughty and wander when try find Teef. But now Teef find me!"

Rocket paused, pulling back, as Lylla leant in and softly stroked the bunny's paw. "Well, they've said that if you're not much of a runaway anymore, they'll let you go back to your old place. That sound good?"

"No. Old place not have Lylla."

"I can visit, with the others."

Floor looked at her, blinking, before turning back to Rocket and pulling him in tighter. She wasn't that strong, but he played the part, letting him hold her against her stomach. "No," Floor said. "Lylla, Teef, Floor, Rocket can go now. Take off into forever sky."

"Uh hu…" Rocket agreed softly. "That you can. You can see so much, I'm gonna show you it all. Isn't that right?"

She smiled, holding him close, tighter, even as the tears trickled off his face and into her white belly fur.

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"I suppose it was too much to ask…" Teef and Lylla turned to him.

"Too much of what?" the walrus asked, Rocket meeting his gaze before throwing a paw back at the stroller.

"She… You two have good lives, you're full, you're free. Free from him. She isn't." He hissed. "She's… She remembers more, and it fucked her up."

Lylla began to say something, only for Teef to cut him off. "Or she's messed up, and that allowed her to remember more."

Rocket looked at him, thinking about it for a second, before a paw on his shoulder cut his attention to Lylla. "She's not messed up. She's happy. Happy every day. And sure, she'll never grow up… She'll never know what it's like to be an adult, and she'll miss on all the joys and grief of that. But instead she'll always be on sugar mountain."

Rocket snorted. "I… I get that reference."

"I…" Lylla began, before smiling. "Right."

Rocket nodded. "The thing is… I wanted to stay here. Steal an identity or something, settle in, or visit… Spend long summers, with you, your lives. But her life… She deserves to see more, see the sky, she…"

He faded out as she held a paw on his shoulder. "And…?"

"I… What, I can't just leave you…"

"Who said anything about leaving us," she said.

He stared at her, blinking, before shaking his head and throwing his paws down. "You haven't thought this through. What about your friends, your family, all your loved ones. I'm not taking any of that away from her, but you…"

"Have you considered," Teef began, "that we do not need to give up one, to gain the other?"

Rocket looked on at him as Lylla moved up. "We're adults, if we move away a lot, that's not going to change much."

"But… This isn't like you're moving to another country for work or something," he hissed. "And what about her?" He pointed back at Floor, pausing as he saw a paw up and waving over the brim of the pushchair. "If I take her, the cops or whatever might come after you thinking you took her. I… -We can't all leave this world, and…"

He was calmed down by a paw on his chest, Lylla coming in and holding him tight. "Rocket, we can work something out. Figure out something or other or… It'll take time, but…" She smiled, hugging him close. "I've waited a lifetime to be with you. One more year won't be much."

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The rain was pouring down her window as she packed her bag up, hauling it away as she made her way out. Her parents were there, her father her size and her mother towering over her. Both looked fearful, concerned.

She couldn't blame them.

Still, it was no more fearful than when Rocket had turned up and they'd seen him in the fur and flesh and metal for the first time. As he'd explained everything. As they'd told them of their plan.

At first her parents had been quiet, reserved.

In all honesty she was sure they were scared he could do something to them with a sci-fi weapon or such.

That night, after he'd gone, she'd heard them arguing.

On and on. About her safety, about what it meant, about…

Everything.

About love.

And she'd gone in and told them that they'd taken a leap for love, and she was doing so too. They weren't losing her, she'd still visit back.

But she had her beloved to be with, and worlds to explore. Who knew, one day she might return to save her own one.

In the end, she didn't know whether they truly felt like it was something that they were okay with, or if it was something that was pointless to resist.

Either way, tears were spilled along the beach as they hugged, promise after promise to stay safe.

Endless I love you's…

And in the end, they left.

She stood there, alone, waiting.

A crunch along the rocks and she saw Teef bounding out of the surf, laying next to her.

Scared.

Excited.

Ready.

She looked on into the black sky, the lights of her home, her city, her Zootopia, rising up across the bay.

Nine months since she met him.

Four since Fleur Lopear, transferred back to her original home, had escaped out into the night and eluded all capture.

Feared dead.

Lylla had been questioned, investigations were taken, in the end she and Teef both had a solid alibi.

While a video camera had seen the rabbit jump into a boat and somehow, despite her disability, hotwire it, racing across into the endless blue only to vanish. How she learnt to, nobody had a clue.

But the evidence didn't lie.

She was lost at sea.

Just like Lylla had taken leave from her grief, planning to go on a long backpacking trip to find herself. And Jonas Isfødt had 'signed up' with a long-range fishing company, taking him away from the city for months at a time.

They waited there, until lights lit up in front of them, air blasting past their faces as pebbles rattled across the ground. Bathed in light, she winced back, only to look on and smile as she saw him at the top of the ramp.

Racing up, she clung on to Rocket and held him tight, only letting go so she could bring Teefs into the hug too.

The ramp closed and they walked up onto the flight deck. All of Rocket's new friends were there. Nebula, Cosmo, Groot, Adam Warlock, Phylla and Kraglin.

And one old friend.

"Lylla, Teef join Guardians in forever sky!?"

"Yeah," the otter smiled, almost thrown back as Floor jumped into her, holding her tight. "Took us some time, but we're here." She looked around at the strange creatures Rocket flew with, all looking on, proud. In the end though, it was Rocket who caught her attention.

"So…" he said, moist eyes trembling above an earnest smile. "The whole of the galaxy… Where too, Lady?"

She closed her eyes, thinking. "We'll have the whole galaxy, but that's not what we wanted."

"Huh?"

"We wanted the sky, silly?" She held his paws, stroking them. "Take us to the aurora! Fly us through them."

He smiled, leading her up to the cockpit. They buckled in, they got to their stations. She was next to him, Floor trying to squeeze through, while Teef took the other side. And, paws on the controls, she felt the great spaceship fly forward. Through clouds and rain, so high she saw the earth bend beneath her, the thin limb of the atmosphere just catching the glint of the dawning sun.

She looked at it, delicate, finite, humbling, beautiful…

"When I got out…" Rocket whispered. "I had to run, I had to steal, I had to survive. Soon I found myself in cuffs for breaking some law I didn't know about, so I broke out. Then it was in, out, in, out, digging myself deeper… If I was stuck on that side of it all, I learnt to survive in it. Then embrace it, and even after making good, I…" His voice cracked, trailing off, as she felt a tear drip down her side for him. "-I never got time to see the forever sky. See it for how beautiful it really was."

And they stood together, holding each other close, as their ship floated in the midst of rippling pinks and blues and greens, shimmering miles above and below them, the lights dancing in their eyes.

On and on and on.

Until the glow of the day shone them away, a stark and primal landscape of whites and greys cast far down below, curving away beneath the shell of pale blue, underneath a forever black.

They all stood there, taking it in, before she looked to him, giving a gentle kiss on his nose. He smiled, paw forward and clicking against the controls. At first, she thought he was warming up the engines. Instead, with a click, the speakers came on, and keyboards rippled like the aurora had, sweeping strings added in.

"This lonely heart's been yearning. The skies above been turning. Feels like the universe just grew. Ah-ah…"

He looked at her, managing a smile.

"I've waited for so long. Ah-ah…"

And she looked at him, forever more beautiful than the sky had been.

"I've waited for so long…"

Their noses touched, their mouths parted, and they kissed.

"Just wanna be with you, always. I wanna be around you, always."

They gripped tighter, arms clutching on like shipwrecked sailors and tongues forking like lightning, ripples flowing down their bodies.

"I just wanna be with you or no one. Making it you or no one…"

Tenderly, they withdrew. "Was that as good for you, as it was for me?" she asked.

He smiled, nodding.

"And when the night starts falling…"

"So," he asked, smiling. "What now?"

"Even the stars are calling."

She looked forward, the earth down below and the inky void of space spanning up and endless.

"Spinning and spelling out your name, Ah-ah…"

They could explore it together, forever. And when their time came? She'd drift on, her soul cast across the endless to do who knew what.

"Now that's what I call faith, Ah-ah…"

And whatever forces gave her this second chance would then pull him back, in their wretched creators futile attempt to reclaw his essence. Pulling him through time and across the void and rebirthing him, giving him the chance of an ordinary life that he deserved too.

"Spelling out your name, Forever and ever…"

And after that? Maybe then they would fly on together, their true one last time. But now?

"Love is a hurting thing, It doesn't go away?"

"-Uh, Lady?"

"Love is a hurting thing, it doesn't go away."

She just smiled.

"Forever is a long time. To wait for you to say…"

Her paw joined his on the engine controls. "Show me the galaxy." She gently kissed him on the nose, as they pushed forward and flew off together.

"I just wanna be with you always, I wanna be around you always. I just wanna be with you or no-one. Making it you or no one…"