Yetta actually wasn't sure how she had gotten here. The Witness loomed over all of them, even the ones that hung back, and the ground had promptly splintered at the start of the fight. And for the life of her, Yetta Toal couldn't actually figure out what had happened to get her here. Yetta struggled to gain her footing, her bow in her hands acting as a good stabilizer when she slipped. "Guardian mine," a new voice cooed over the comms. "You've got a child now."
"Who's that?" Yetta called out, worried. Another enemy was what they didn't need.
"Just an old enemy, Witness first!" Carman replied. Yetta nocked and drew her bow back, loosing an arrow into the Witness's skull.
"Enemy? Perhaps. Today, however, I am a friend. There is, of course, payment to be required for my aid."
"Fuck off Savathun. I'm not interested in your deals."
Yetta slashed at an approaching Taken, clearing its head from its shoulders. "Who exactly is Savathun??"
"Hive god of deception. There is no time to explain!" Yetta nodded, firing another arrow at the Witness, who's movements were starting to slow down.
They were hurt, and badly. They could win this. Carman would deal the final blow and-
Yetta fired one more arrow, everything grinding to a halt as the Witness fell. She looked to Carman as the dust settled. Carman, who couldn't have fired that last shot. Because Carman was finishing reloading her gun. Because Carman was staring at Yetta. And Yetta didn't care how good, or how fast Carman was. Nobody could reload that fast.
She was about to ask what had knocked the Witness down, until a growl interrupted her. "We are salvation!" One of the Witness's hand knocked her back as they yelled.
Yetta tried to climb to her feet, the bow broken beside her. "Carman!" she yelled, hoping for an answer over her comms. The line stayed silent. With a burst of energy, she found her legs, running towards her mentor. A beam of light stopped her in her tracks.
Yetta cowered, hearing the Witness yell in pain. "Mom!" she screamed. The word had just slipped, she hadn't meant to, but she watched the Witness fall back, fading away in both light and darkness. She watched Charon fall. She watched Carman dive for her ghost. "No, nonono NO!" she screamed. If Charon was gone then…
Light obscured Carman, a fog that Yetta couldn't breach.
. . .
She sat on the ground, which was slowly piecing itself together. The Traveler was healing, but there was still no sign of Carman, who was still in that thick fog. Her orange eyes glanced at the small army of their closest allies and friends gathered. They all waited with bated breath, and Yetta took stock of who all they had. Cayde was missing, oddly enough.
Her helmet lay on the ground before her, her legs outstretched as she held Jason close. Crow approached her, sitting next to her. "She'll be alright," he attempted. Yetta breathed heavily, previously unaware of how ragged her breathing was until he wrapped an arm around her.
"Where's Carman?" she managed. "She's supposed to be here by now." He pulled her close, arms wrapping around her tightly.
"She'll be alright," he repeated. But he didn't even sound sure of himself.
So the waiting game began again, but they didn't wait for much long. With a cool breeze at her neck, the fog dissipated, and Carman stepped out, Charon in her hands. Yetta stood up, ready to run to Carman, and offer words of comfort, when Charon floated up again, taking his place by Carman's side. With a sigh of relief, Yetta hugged Carman tightly, the warlock's shoulders shaking in a silent sob.
Carman hugged her back, her fingers digging into Yetta's shoulders. "It's done. It's done."
"It's done," Yetta promised. "It's done."
. . .
It had been a week before Carman told Yetta had had happened in that wall of fog. Charon had died. Carman had been lightless. And Cayde, whom Yetta already missed despite not knowing him that well, had brought Charon back, dying again in the process. They had won. The Witness was gone. But if that was the case then…what was next?
Yetta shook the fear from her mind. They'd won. Crow had become the new hunter vanguard, and that was another dilemma. How were they supposed to be in a relationship if he was her boss? She watched the lanterns fly into the sky, the celebrations lasting for a couple weeks already. The hard concrete ledge of the roof she was sitting on dug into her un-armored thighs.
She looked away from the vibrant sky, looking to her hand instead. A small tattoo of a butterfly, brand new and still in it's saran wrappings to keep it from infections, was barely visible in the night's dark. Jason had offered to heal the injured hand, thus skipping the need for the wrappings. Yetta had gently pushed him away, laughing. She'd wanted to let it heal on its own.
Currently, she picked at the wrappings, sitting in silence. Laying back, she let her legs dangle off of the edge. The one Carman called Savathun, as was explained to Yetta once they had the time, was a Hive god of Deception. Yetta had zoned out, but she picked something up about corruption and she took over Osiris' body for a time, and is now a guardian. Huh. Go figure.
Crow's even and quiet footsteps alerted her. He sat beside her, an arm propped on his knees while he looked at the sky. "You're thinking loud again," he noticed.
"Thinking loud?" she chuckled. "My thoughts are always internal."
"Your face has subtitles. So not always."
"How dare."
Crow laughed, scooting closer to Yetta. She sat up, folding a leg under her as she took Crow in. He no longer had that fringe, instead wearing a little bun with a pick through it. Yetta had called it "hipster" when she first saw it. That wasn't to say she didn't like it. She absolutely loved it. It was so fun to bat at. "Crow?"
She didn't want to have this conversation, but more than that, she didn't want Crow to get in trouble for playing favorites. She was sure Ikora and Zavala had *their* favorites too, she was almost 100 percent sure Carman was Ikora's favorite. She missed Crow asking her what was up, staring off into space as she thought. A soft nudge at her shoulder brought her back to reality. "You ok?" Fuck it. If Ikora could have her favorites, so could Crow.
"Yeah. I'm just glad you're here."