A Wake Up Call
The Benatar was flying through the cosmos to their next destination, which was Xandar, yet it was gonna be their first time after the battle of earth. They were all aware that the universe was recovering. They had been in space for around 2 weeks. Nothing was really changed as their supplies were still plenty. Earth sure supplied them good. From food to clothes, even something that wasn’t that important like latest mp3 player that Quill got, although the musics were still around 80’s to early 2000’s.
This last 2 weeks, everyone did their own thing, pretty much... except they knew that something was off. Something that kind of teared them apart for some reason. Some thought that it might be Gamora and they were working on it. Quill being the most enthusiastic about finding her had worked on it since the moment they left Earth. Gathering all sorts of information about her and her association with Soul stone, Vormir, all these information was gathered, though they wouldn’t go to Vormir yet because they knew that there was other Gamora. They were looking for her first and for the last 2 weeks, obviously they didn’t find any information that was relevant to her whereabouts. So they were going to Xandar instead while also gathering more information at some near planets.
This situation alone already made the guardians a bit more apart than usual. It was still not counting other factors as well. Quill’s obsession over Gamora was like no other, Thor still felt like he responsible for everything that happened 5 years ago and was still chugging any kind of liquor he could drink, Rocket seemed more quite than usual, Drax and Groot probably was the most normal than the other. They didn’t change that much. Mantis seemed a bit more... motherly. Along with Nebula who was also friendlier than usual, trying to keep everyone together.
Day after day, these past 2 weeks, that was what happened in this ship. A short time, it seemed, but for them, it felt like forever. The first who realized this was of course Nebula. She just couldn’t handle this for a long time. The guardians had to move on!
“okay, i’m sick of this.” Nebula complaining as she was done with cleaning stuffs in the cargo.
Mantis who was with her replied “but Nebula, you know that they need more time right?”
Nebula who was relentlessly walking to the cockpit stopped for a moment, proceeds to answer Mantis “I guess they already got their time and they have wasted it”. As she pointed to the noises up there.
Nebula continues to go to the cockpit, leaving Mantis behind who was sighing, worrying what would she said to the other.
As soon as she arrived, she immediately punched the wall near the entrance, shocking everyone who god knows what were they doing. The room was just so messy because yeah, they didn’t clean it up yet and it got worse with what they were doing just then. The room smelled like beer and rotten snacks bits. Empty bottles of beer was lying all over the place, along with some broken ones and no one seemed to bother clean it up. Rocket immediately sit back on his seat, Quill was now staring to Nebula along with Thor who was so startled by her sudden presence, still holding his beer, Drax in the corner just stayed silent while Groot was immediately leaving the room.
“Groot, I also want to talk to you” she said it coldly
Groot that formerly just walked with his game then sit back and paid attention to whatever Nebula had to say.
Quill who got his grip again finally spoke “Uh... Nebula, i can explain-“
“You know you can, Peter”. Nebula cut Quill’s sentence. “and i know i had enough”.
“of course you have, you know what happened to us lately, right?!” Rocket interrupted the conversation. Nebula surprisingly went silent for a moment. “I’ll take that as yes and yeah, i also had enough of this depressing bullshit!” Rocket for once spoke after days of being quite. Exclaiming his thoughts to everyone that yes, their condition was getting worse and worse.
Thor finally spoke up “You know what, rabbit? I agree with you”
After that Thor proceeded to finish one more whole bottle of beer. Everyone in the room saw Thor’s throat moving, gulping every single drop of the beer. After that, he looked like he wanted to throw the bottle for a moment, but he put it on the floor instead and proceeded to speak again
“We should move on for what happened back then” Thor was now walking to Nebula’s position “We know that everything is already fixed, we’ve restored what Thanos had done and now we only need to just prepare for what will happen next, right Nebula?”
Thor put his hand on her shoulder sort of putting that they knew each other’s burden. “especially you, me and the rabbit over there.” “Hey, don’t call me that, okay?! I had enough of these nicknames” Thor who formerly looked to Rocket then proceeded to look to Nebula again, smiling like wanting some sort of agreement.
Nebula wasn’t quite agree with Thor here. She brushed Thor’s hand aside and then she said “I know we were doing the mission together back then, but we are not the same. You are still like you were back then. A pathetic, alcoholic fat guy who is supposed to be a god that mourns over his lost with more beer than actually facing it”
Thor stood there annoyed, tried to make some sort of come back, but Nebula added “and you know what? I think everyone agrees on me in this one. You also seems very self-centered, like everyone will like you if you behave this way and if i may add more, even I certainly certain that Quill IS the captain and not you”
After that bomb, Thor just stood there, not moving, looking down like contemplating Nebula’s opinion about him, but Nebula didn’t stop there. “Also Peter-“ The captain of the ship immediately looked at her. “We know that you are very concerned about my sister, but sometimes you just overdo it and make everyone anxious and i know you are also very anxious and i know that in fact you are the most anxious person when talking about her, but it is just too much at this point. You need to know about everyone too”
Quill actually wanted to speak up for a moment, but he thought about it beforehand. Now He lost for words. Not questioning, complaining, even joking about her statement. It was all true. He then went to the back of the ship without saying anything. He even forgot his Zune that was lying on the floor. Thor picked it up, though.
“Drax and Groot” now the two was paying attention even more. “you two need to realize that you are all too passive”
Drax who was kind of displeased whispered “but i am not passive. I am active as i always be...” Groot also whispered “I am Groot”
Nebula continued “Especially you, Groot” Groot was getting more startled “I am Groot?!” Nebula followed “yes, because you just stick to your device for like everytime. You need at least socializing with people” Groot who didn’t like her statement said “I am Groot!”
Rocket who was silent for a while suddenly interrupting while steering the ship “She has a point” After that, Groot also went silent, not complaining anymore. Instead, he went to his room, now for real with no interruption from Nebula.
Mantis who just finished cleaning was now arrived in the cockpit. Complete silence was what she received. Worried, she asked Nebula who happened to be just a step away from her. “Nebula, what did you do?” Nebula went quite, she proceeded to go to her room, but she stopped at the moment she was by passing Mantis, she whispered “some sort of wake up call for all of them” Mantis seemed to understand Nebula’s intent, yet “You need to be worried less and act more. They need it more than they know”
Nebula then went to her room. Mantis who just grasped what Nebula said, turned around just to see Nebula was already closing her room. Instead of upset, Mantis was happier than usual. What Nebula had said to her was a wake up call for her and some kind of trustful statement that she was actually needed in order to make the guardians be their usual selves.
But then, the reeks of alcohol reached her nose, making her holding her breath and asked everyone as politely as possible “Hey, would you all be nice and clean this room up? For your own sake”
No one responded to her, except for Drax. “I can help” Drax said as he reached some bottles and empty bags of chips then put it in some sort of container.
Mantis who got a broom swept the floor to collect more and more broken glasses, dusts, and broken chips in the room. Thor was still standing, staring at dirty floor. Mantis who concerned about Thor spoke to him “Thor, would you step out the room? i need to clean the floor”.
Thor snapped out from his ‘daydream’ then responded “Oh yeah, sure”.
As he walked out, he stopped and turned to Mantis, asking “Is there anything i can do?”
Mantis who was sweeping diligently stopped for a moment, responded to the big guy who looked like he needed to do something. Very obvious to her as she could read people’s emotions and already familiar with their expressions and actions. She asked “you can put those stuffs to the dump” she pointed to the container which was full of bottles and chip bags.
“Alright, Mantis” Thor replied then he brought the container to the dump. Drax who was holding trashes on his hand roared “Hey, come back, Thor!” he then ran to the back, looking for Thor while bringing trashes along with him.
Mantis chuckled at that, but she was worried again. There had to be something happened before Nebula snapped. What was it? Why was it so intense back then and why everyone was just so irritated and ended in bad mood? Nebula’s words were for the better, but some seemed... had enough. She probably had no clue for the moment, but she had to know. For the better of this ship. For the guardians, for the familiy.