Serene, Tranquil. Violent, Hurtful.

"Yetta!" The hunter jostled awake, falling out of her cot.

"What?!" She allowed her haze to fade, before hearing the alarms on her console go off. "Shit. Shit shit!" She ran over, checking on what was going off. Fuel. Of course. She'd forgotten to get her ship fueled up before she went off. And now they were out. Running on fumes, if you would. And the ship, which she had affectionately named Bertha, was going down. Fast.

She typed on her console, bringing up her comms. Selecting Carman and Crow, she sent out a quick distress call. *See you in a bit,* had been the last line she'd gotten through before the console went dark. She held on to the seats as the ground came at her, and closed her eyes, letting the pain wash over her.

. . .

She groaned softly, laying amidst the scrap of Bertha. Jason floated in front of her, scanning over her with Light. Everything hurt, and the more awake she became, the more aware of it she was, until she was screaming.

"Stay still," he ordered. "Your back is broken, as well as your legs."

"The message got out?" she croaked. 

"Haven't had time to check." Warmth filled her body, and she sighed, letting it chase the pain away. 

"That's fine." Feeling the bones in her spine straighten out, Yetta grunted in discomfort. She had never really bothered to pay attention to her injuries, so hearing the snaps and crackles of her legs being knitted back together was a little sickening. When all was said and done, the sun was low in the sky, tinting everything a brilliant orange. "Where even are we?"

"I don't know. But we have a problem. The signal never made it out of the area. We crashed before it could finish sending."

Yetta sighed heavily. Pushing herself to her feet, grabbing her gun, she cracked her neck. "Well…do we have any provisions that made it?"

Jason scanned the wreck. "A couple packets of rations, a few bottles of-no, wait. Those are shattered-." 

"Fun. I guess we're putting all those survival lessons to use." She rummaged, grabbing the food packets, and tucking them into her sack. A growl came out of the forest behind her, and Yetta turned, gripping her gun tighter. "Let's look for a place to make camp, first." Grabbing the emergency blanket, she stalked off into the night, looking for a cave or a clearing. Jason flew close behind her, shaking slightly at the unfamiliar surroundings.

"We'll stay here for the night," Yetta declared, upon finding a cave. "In the morning, we work on getting a GPS signal, and going home." The soft pattering of rain started, growing harsher with every second. Distantly, thunder rolled in the distance. "Well, maybe…"

She herself further against the rock wall, clutching Jason close. Cold seeped into the cave, and she wrapped the foil blanket around her shoulders, tucking herself into as small of a ball as she could. Hearing a howl somewhere in the night, Yetta prepared her gun to shoot, her eyes training on the mouth of the small cave. Distantly, she could hear whispers following her to sleep as her eyes grew heavy.

. . .

Sunlight drifted into the cave, the clicking of a gun, training on Yetta startling her out of her slumber. She stared up at a rugged Zavala, one that was dirty, one who's hand shook while holding the side arm. "Commander?" she blurred, squinting her eyes. Jason was in his hand, shaking. The former commander leaned heavily on the wall, and she looked, seeing only one leg. 

"Yetta. Yetta, don't…move," her ghost warned.

"Yetta is dead," Zavala(was it him?) bluntly informed. "I watched her wriggle, and squirm, before Carman killed her."

Yetta groaned, sitting up. The gun followed her head. "I'm back here again, aren't I?" Her fingers inched towards Exit Strategy. "I am Yetta. Well, a version of her. Not yours, of course." 

"We used to know somebody who talked like that. She claimed to have seen our world a hundred times over, all with the same ending. Then, she vanished."

"I know who you're talking about, and trust me, she's fine." Yetta looked around him. "Please, let go of my ghost. He's really all I have at this point." Jason was let go of, the ghost transmatting away. Yetta sighed again. "And can we put the gun away? I won't hurt you, honest."

"Like you could even land a hit. My Yetta was never good at combat."

"Well, I am. To a degree. Can we talk?"

. . .

She split one of her ration packs with the old commander, chewing on her jerky tiredly. He devoured his share, and judging by the state of him, it might have been the first time he'd eaten in a while. "So, you say you've been here, before?"

She nodded, peeling her gauntlet off of her shoulder. Zavala hummed at the jagged scar, indenting her smooth, blue skin. "I know that injury type. Carman?"

"She almost took the arm clean off," Yetta confirmed. "Back then, I didn't have my ghost. Got sucked into the vex portal before Jason could follow. It seems that some of the energy, on my way out, entered my body. Having a hell of a time with it."

"How so?" Zavala eyed her forehead, which still had a sliver of blood.

"My healing's slower," she said simply, taking another bit out of her tough meat. "So. What's the story with this time line?"

Zavala spent the next five minutes explaining to her. He was in hiding, and Carman had already killed almost everyone. There were still a few civilians left in hiding, but where they were, he didn't know, didn't care. 

"You didn't try to stop her?" Yetta leaned back against the rock, a dull throb in her head. 

"Nobody could stop her. She's a devil now, a creature of our nightmares."

"Then you need to band together." Yetta shrugged, as if her suggestion made the most sense.

"She has killed gods, entire armies before. We don't stand a chance."

"Not alone," she urged. "Zavala, you used to be a commander, one of the bravest ones out there." She fisted a hand. "When did you settle for a cave?"

"That's not-"

"*When* did you settle? What happened to the brave man that was Commander Zavala?"

"You don't know me!" he shouted.

"I do know you! I looked up to you!" she yelled back. "I know you had a wife, a son! I know you lost them both, and *still* kept going, in spite of that hurt!" She stood up, taking Exit Strategy with her. Zavala stared at her, agape.

"I know what you are. You're nothing more than a ghost. A shadow of the past, come to tell me to take up arms again. Well, I won't!"

"Suit yourself, then." Yetta walked towards the mouth of the cave. "But you can either let Carman keep reigning terror, or die doing something about it. Me, personally? I'd rather die standing, than live kneeling." Her voice shook, fear lacing her words. It was too late to go back, however. It was time to face Carman.

Zavala cocked his gun as she walked out, aiming it at her. "She'll kill you. She'll toy with you, and then kill you. Pick your battles, wisely."

"Oh, Commander. You knew me. When was I ever wise?"