Everything Is Okay: Hunter Killer

18 years ago

The young man sat back in a side room, a bottle of cheap wine on the table beside him. He ran his fingers through his hair, trying in vain to ignore the loud shouts of argument from the kitchen. His sisters were arguing, as always, but it was something he'd have to live with. They were family, and behaving somewhat normal enough around them would be key in his future. He needed them to both trust him at least a little bit, regardless of how they felt about each other.

He winced as the door opened and the volume of the cat fight surged for a moment, nursing his headache as the door was quickly closed again and the person responsible sat down across from him. He knew this man, of course. Who didn't? He was a famous, even popular, Huntsman. There were even action figures of him, and not just the cheap kind that were made of Huntsmen like Peter Port. He wasn't just famous. He was famous.

"Hey, Doug. My sister send you to fetch me?"

Doug laughed. "No, not quite. Actually, it's getting quite hectic out there. I was thinking maybe a peacekeeper was in order. My fiancee isn't going to stop on her own, and I don't need her angry at me this close to the wedding. Nothing beats a big brother, though."

He grimaced. "Yeah. You're right. Anyone else arriving soon?"

"I think some of Sif's friends from Beacon are going to be here in a moment."

"Good. I can use that." Standing up and handing over the bottle, Roman headed out into the melee. He left the door open. If he had to walk into this, then Doug wouldn't be allowed to avoid it either. He found the girls in the kitchen, where they'd been an hour ago when this all started. He interrupted without waiting for any sort of pause in their argument, since he knew there wasn't going to be one. "Ladies, ladies, please. This is a time to be joyful. We should be congratulating our sister on her marriage, yes?"

"Zip it, candlestick!"

He couldn't say he didn't see that one coming. "All I'm saying is that you need to present yourself a little better for the guests that are arriving. You don't want them to see you acting like this, do you?"

Sif grumbled, but acquiesced. "Alright, but… wait, who's arriving? Now?" She glanced at the clock. "It's almost midnight."

Roman looked over his shoulder at Doug, who shrugged. "The message just said STRQ."

Sif clapped her hands together happily, completely forgetting any argument that had been going on. "Oh, right! Those Branwens love their late night travel! I'll meet them at the end of the driveway!" And with that, she was out the door.

The younger sister let out an irritated sigh, though it was directed at Roman. "Great. All that to get her to help me wash the dishes, and you come in and ruin it in two seconds."

Well, that certainly explained what they'd been arguing about. "It is her wedding that everyone's here for. You could give her a break on the chores at least for the occasion." When it didn't look like she was happy with this answer, he offered a solution. "Come on, I'll help instead, okay? That sound good?"

Doug gave him a thumbs up. "That's my man! Taking initiative!"

"Don't patronize me. You're the one marrying a girl twelve years younger than you."

"Doh, don't be like that, man."

Sif reappeared just as suddenly as she'd left, shouting loudly enough that everyone in the building could hear it. "And this is my brother and sister! And my fiancee! Say hello everybody!"

There was a chorus of "Hello." as four more people filed into the room. A blonde man who looked like he was on vacation, carrying several suitcases and wearing big aviators, an excited redhead who was bouncing around at the mere sight of the famous Huntsman before them, and two near-emo kids who looked too good for all of this. The guy was wearing a t-shirt that read 'STRQ Industries', where the girl's had 'What color are my eyes?' written across the chest.

Sif started introducing them, pointing to one after the other. "The tall happy one is Tai, the short happy one is Summer, the moody one is Qrow, and the crude one is Raven."

Doug immediately shook Summer's hand, as he could tell a fan on sight. "Nice to meet all of you."

Summer nodded enthusiastically. "Absolutely! Wonderful!"

Tai patted her shoulder. "Calm down just a little bit. He'll be here tomorrow."

"Yeah, sure, but you know it's not every day you get to just meet someone as famous as The Captain!" Summer let out a squee and jumped in the air. "Sif you're so lucky!"

She grinned teasingly back. "Oh? And which one of those three is your date?"

Raven interrupted. "None. We're just here for the cake."

"Now, that's not really true." Qrow wrapped his arms around the two nearest members of his team. "We're here to be a big happy family. Aren't we?"

"Don't even start that shit." Raven shoved off of her brother, heading over to another room and disappearing.

Summer waited until Tai followed her before amending her previous claim and pointing at Qrow, whispering. "This boy right here. That's a secret, don't tell Raven."

Snickering, Sif nodded. "I won't tell anyone." She turned and glared at her siblings. "I'm not the one you have to convince."

Roman held up his hands innocently. "It's none of my business. Besides, I'm helping wash the dishes, so I'm busy." He turned and started getting ready to work away at the chore.

By the time he and his sister had finished the dishes, it was rather late at night and mostly everyone else had gone off to sleep. Seeing his sister off to her room, Roman began to idly walk around the sleeping house. He made his way to the back porch, stepping out into the frosty night. There was someone waiting for him there.

Summer was leaning against the railing, looking around at the forest around the isolated homestead. It was more than a mile to the nearest other building, so there was no light or noise polluting the still and starry night. Her silver eyes scanned the forest and the sky, the only thing getting in her way being the occasional puff of cold breath coming from her own mouth.

Roman stepped up beside her, pointing up at a group of bright pinpricks in the black sky. "See that cluster there? Those aren't actually stars. In fact, it's the remains of a large comet that broke apart thousands of years ago. It'll only be close enough to see for another twenty-one years, and then it goes around its orbit far away from us for about a hundred and sixty years, before coming back again."

Summer nodded, soaking in the information. "I wouldn't have guessed." She paused, then turned to him. "You wanted to meet me here. Why?"

After a moment of silence, with him simply fiddling with some frost that had gotten on the railing, he looked back up at the broken comet. He pointed back at it again. "In about four years, a tiny fragment of the comet will hit Remnant. It happens every once in a while, but this time it'll be different. It's going to hit a small town called Kurotori. That's… where my sister is moving after she gets married. You understand what I'm saying?"

"I think so… but how do you know this?"

He shrugged. "I guess you could say I figured it out after last time."

She looked back up at the cluster of comet fragments. They shined so beautifully in the sky, she almost found it hard to believe they could hurt anyone. But she knew better than to question him. "Last time… the only thing I remember from last time is you telling me to meet you here. Why… how… what do you know about that?"

Of course, she needed to know the right information if she was going to be useful. He had worked hard at figuring out just what he needed to tell her. "Kurotori is going to be destroyed, but I'm going to make sure no one is there when it happens. After that, we have seventeen years to stop that one." He pointed straight up. "The brightest, and biggest, part of the comet. When it hits Atlas, everything on Remnant will be destroyed. We need to find a way to stop it."

Well, that sounded pretty serious. Summer said as much. "Well, that sounds pretty serious."

"It is, but we have an advantage." He turned to face her. "You and I are two of only four people who are aware of this time loop. Meaning we can observe it and learn from it. It may take us several times to beat this thing, but we can use that time to learn. I don't know about you, but I'm perfectly willing to take an entire loop off to become a scientist and find a way to blow that whole comet out of the sky. What I need you to do is protect the people we both care about."

"I can try my best. You mentioned there were two other people who remember these loops, right? Who are they?"

He nodded towards the house. "One of them isn't born yet, but her parents are about to get married. The other… isn't going to help us with this."

There was another moment of silence before she started again. "What happens if we succeed, but it doesn't work?"

"Huh?"

"If we stop the meteor, but time keeps looping anyway?" He looked away, taking his time thinking about that possibility. She couldn't make out where his thought process was leading him, but when he finally answered she began to seriously question their situation.

"If even that doesn't work, we may well have to recruit the… other guy."

She couldn't let that sit any more. "Who is he? If I'm helping, I really need to know."

"I don't really know. All I know about him is that he can survive the meteor, he's not Human, and he knows how to leave Remnant."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Then I really need to meet him. If he's trapped like the rest of us, then we definitely need his help."

"You're probably right on that one."

Black smoke rolled off the creature's body and drifted along the ground. The dark serpent coiled through its lair, between vats of spoils from its journey through the universe. It preferred the relative peace of this place these days, only leaving periodically when it was time to once again play its role in the grand scheme of things. A grand scheme that was seeming less grand each time it replayed, an endless cycle of bad mistakes on all sides. Somehow, it still felt compelled to participate, even though it barely gave any attention to the results anymore.

It wound its way around to a pair of vats, their contents preserved for countless millions of years now. Such was the magic of this place, his lair. No matter how many times the world reset, it was still here, like it had been the time before, isolated from the travesty that reality had become. And the best part of all? His brother was not aware of any of it.

And so the god of destruction went on his way, thinking of more ways to entertain himself in the millennia to come.

Children of Dust, scattered to the whirlwind, one day will settle to the ground. Peace will be found. Grace will be given. And the Destroyer will become a savior.

Next: Salvation