Chapter 5
Rocket’s mind was past the point of grief over the last bottle of Quanlian vodka. He set it down roughly on the common kitchen area table and blinked in a daze of fuzzy incoherence. In his pot Groot slept in contented bliss, Rocket stared uneasy that he could not even relay on the slow movement of breath to indicate the saplings well-being. He shook his head, paws rubbing at his eyes.
His ears twitched, the white noise of the ship’s engine grating on his already frayed nerves. Should’a bought more, he thought listlessly staring at the row of empties. He turned to Groot once more and lay his head down on his elbows. His best friend was such a tiny thing now, so helpless. Not nearly enough to fill the emptiness in his hardened little soul. But maybe the alcohol could fill it? Rocket had been testing this theory even more as of late, and though it was one of the many things he’d never admit to feeling-he knew it wasn’t working. With heavy lids the raccoonoid reached out, clawed finger tips desperately groping to reach out and tough, with assurance the simply pot where Groot slumbered. Groot, his pounding head echoed the longing of his heart. I am Groot, he hadn’t heard those three words in so long. He wished to cling to that bark once more. To be in that embrace where no scientists, no doctors or night terrors would find him. His claws gripped the pot’s circumference, pulling it toward himself and holding it as snug as he could. Rocket lifted himself from his dizziness, resting the tip of his muzzle on the lip of the pot and feeling the earthen soil. His drunken mind eventually found its way to slumber down an arduous path.
Groot came to with the touch of warm fur awhile later and drew his eyes open, looking down. The furry one, he realized with delight. His thoughts had only just begun to solidify and now he felt that soft, glossiness around him and reached out towards it. The spindly limbs of his arms stretched outward to rest on the comforting coat of Rocket’s head and neck. Groot wanted it nearer, he wanted to be closer to the furry one who doted on him almost constantly, watering him, taking care to care to place his pot so that he could see the others. The furry one made him feel safe in an unsafe and unfamiliar world. The furry one who looked at him with shining eyes and occasionally beamed down at him. “I….I….” Groot tried, but his voice would not come. He let out a frustrated gurgle but spread his arms out. Bending down with what little flexibility his wooden trunk would allow. Still, it was enough to lean fully against the greyish brown of the furry one’s scruff. “I….aaaaa…..amm-m,” he pinched his eyes closed once more, whining in indignation and nuzzled in, breathing that metallic like musk he loved so much. Painstakingly infant grew tiny vines that curled around the fur in joy. He closed his eyes once more, letting the embrace pour into his heart with love and adoration. My forest, “I…am…g…gggrooo,” he cooed, gripping Rocket as tight as he could, and burying his face in further. “Am grooo,” he tried again summoning all the will power he could muster, fueled by the loving embrace all around him. “I…a…am…g…g..grooo….groot!”
Rocket’s ears perked upward,
“Groot?!” Rocket nervously wondered, his heart startling at the sound of those three words he loved so much in all the galaxy. Groot’s small but powerful cutch to his bushy fur made him move slow, picking his head up only just and looked at where the little flora colossus lay on his neck, arms sprawled out. Groot looked at him with all the adoration in the galaxy.
“I….a..am Groot,” the words beckoned tears from deep inside of Rocket he had kept hidden for so long. Tears of unparalleled love. He took the pot in his hands and hugged it close as he sat up. Groot nestled against his beating heart. Their own secret forest.