Sanctuary

Yetta cracked her eyes open, groaning softly. She could hear something at her side, beeping. There was a weight at her side, and she reached with her arm to smack it. Turning her head, she inhaled a mouthful of black hair, sputtering. The weight moved, and got off of her bed, taking her hand. "Yetta?" It was just Crow. She sighed in relief.

"Here," she croaked. "Present." Fully opening her eyes, she looked around the room. "Where are we?"

"The hospital closest to the tower," he said. "We were both in pretty bad shape."

"Our ghosts?" she turned her head. Yetta wasn't even going to try sitting up. Not with how her side was pulsing. "Where are they?"

"Doing their best," he said softly. "I was able to get healed by Glint quickly."

"What are you still doing here then?" She sighed softly.

He sat on her bed again, still holding her hand. His thumb rubbed circles into the skin, and Crow brought her hand to his lips, kissing it softly. "Because," he started.

"Don't start on some 'jurisdiction' crap," she moaned. It wasn't meant as a barb, but in this time line, she was his responsibility, because the Vanguard was still active here. She didn't feel like listening to the reminders.

"Because I love you," he pressed. "Not responsibilities. Just love." He chuckled softly. "I had a thought."

She hummed, fully listening. "Continue?"

"Be my second in command," he offered. "You don't have to make choices for other hunters, not if you don't want to. But I want you on my fire team, and I want you by my side, for as long as we can."

"If I didn't know better, I'd say that sounds like a marriage proposal," she laughed gently.

"Not yet." Crow smiled at her, laying his head on her arm. "Let's sort everything out first. Then we can talk."

. . .

Crow stayed in her room, close by. Jason was still trying to heal her, knitting the skin together now that she was awake. The popping of threads from her side seemed to echo in the quiet room. Once it was done, however, they let her walk out of the hospital. Yetta was gone before they could even get the wheelchair into her room. 

The instant she walked into the waiting room, Carman had enveloped her in a hug. "You're ok," she whispered. Elsie placed her hand on Carman's shoulder, gently. The hunter hugged back, just as tightly.

"I can take people with me," she announced. 

"What did I tell you? Walking Vex portal." Elsie chuckled. "Thank you, for coming home safely. Carman was just about to set fire to the tower when we got reports of you both landing somewhere in the EDZ. Devrim was the first to send reports. He's been worried."

"He did finally come down off of his perch, however." Carman ruffled Yetta's hair, letting her go. "He wanted to investigate. You both worried the entire tower."

Yetta sucked in an anxious breath. "It's not a secret anymore, is it? If the whole tower's worried…"

"You've made a name for yourself. Be careful walking around right now. People are…" Elsie waved her hand, looking for words. "They don't understand. Crow's trying to mediate, and doing damage control. You have a lot of hunters asking for your exile."

Yetta snapped her head up. "Exile? No, no I'm home here!"

Carman placed her hand on Yetta's shoulder. "They see you as a danger. They did this with Osiris, and they tried to do the same with Crow. This will blow over. I'll make sure of it. You just lay low for now."

. . .

Yetta watched as Bethy shoved a hunter back into her seat. The titan didn't understand fully what was happening, but she wasn't about to let somebody bad mouth her friend. There was a meeting on the course of action, and of course, Yetta had to attend. Her hands were folded in her lap, and she swallowed down the anxious bile in her throat. Crow placed his hand on her shoulder as he yelled for everybody to quiet down and listen to Yetta. "The floor is yours, hun." He gestured to the stand. "Make them listen."

Yetta took a deep breath, and stumbled up to the stand, placing her hands on the counter in front of her. "My name is Yetta Toal," she began. "And a lot of you want me gone, when you didn't even look twice at me before. I wasn't important then." She floundered for a second, trying to find the words to continue. "I didn't want this. I was fine living in the shadows. But then, a year ago, I got pulled into a Vex portal. It was my own fault, of course. I was curious, and wouldn't listen. I still don't." A few scattered chuckles came out of her audience, mostly from the other hunters who understood the dislike for commands and rules.

"I thought it would spit me out in an area full of vex, something I could get rid of easily. Before I continue, let me clarify something." She looked at Elsie. "You've all heard Elisabeth's stories, right? Of other timelines? That's where I had ended up. And there, I was hunted for sport, by that timeline's Carman. She toyed with me, dug her sword into my shoulder, almost ripped my arm off. By the time I was sent home again, my arm was hanging on by a *thread*.

"I have lived with that for a while, but I didn't think anything of it until I learned Vex energy had entered my body. It's slowed down my healing and revivals, and now I'm blipping in and out of timelines. We know that part." She took a breath, holding up the notes Osiris had given her. "I'm connected with that portal. And the corrupted Carman is using that connection to pull me back at her will.

"This is not my choice, and taking Crow with me to that timeline wasn't my choice, either." She watched Crow nod, solemnly. "So, I plead my case against exile."

Crow took a stand beside her, hand on her shoulder. "I would also like to announce," he started, finishing Yetta's story. "That I have given her a place as my second in command." Yetta looked at Zavala and Ikora, both of whom looked interested. "Yetta is my closest friend." Ouch, okay that stung a bit. "And more than that. She needs help, and my hunters are trying to get her exiled, to deny her assistance. So let me begin by laying this down. I will not tolerate ganging up on any single hunter, regardless of who they are. 

"This is a city of Fairness. If we can give the Cabal a place here, when they were seen as dangerous and deadly, which they are. But if we can give them a place here, we can be fair to ourselves."

The room went silent. "Crow, Yetta, is that all you have to say?" Ikora spoke up from her seat, smiling softly.

"That's all, Ma'am." Yetta was quiet, while Crow simply nodded.

"Then in that case. Warlocks! You are dismissed," she ordered. "Go about your business."

"Titans!" Zavala yelled. "Dismissed. Don't let me catch a word against what was discussed here today." He was ghostless, but his presence still demanded respect, and the titans left the room, Bethy and Saint clapping Yetta on the shoulder. 

"Next time you warp," Bethy whispered. "Take me with you. I'd very much like to snap this bad Carman's neck."

As the warlocks filed out, Yetta watched Carman grab her own neck, rubbing it carefully. Her mentor pulled Yetta into a hug. "We've almost made a stable portal to that timeline. Next time you go in, we'll be ready."

"Hunters," Crow called out while the mentor and student talked. "You are dismissed."

The hunters shuffled out, some of them fist bumping Yetta in a silent approval, other glaring heavily at the awoken woman. "This won't end well," Yetta fussed as the last of them filed out.

"It'll most likely end the way it did when I came here. You'll get the people that hate you with every fiber of their core, and you'll get people who are willing to snap a few necks for you. It'll burn out with the next big threat to the Sol System. Well, our Sol System." Crow shook his head. "This timeline thing is fucking with my head. How do you manage it?"

"I try not to focus on it," she said, flipping through Osiris's notes. Crow took the paper out of Yetta's hands, wrapping his arms around her.

"Set that down for now," he ordered. "Don't worry about that. Just focus on resting for now."

"But-."

"I'll rest too. Both of us just need a small break from everything."