ic contact; asgard

[mccallmemaybe]

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332, voice

[hollowchild]

Isaac was corrupted. It's all right now, I killed him. He should come back better.

[sophie's voice is soft and strange, oddly nasal and stuffy at the same time, and far, far too calm and even for what she's saying.]

It might take time. He wasn't Isaac anymore, not really.

If you see him before I do, tell him I'm sorry.

[mccallmemaybe]

[ Scott's holding a glass when he's listening to Sophie's message.

It shatters to the ground when he hears Isaac is dead, Scott losing his grip on the glass. He feels like he's losing his grip on everything lately. ]

I-- [ Breathe, Scott, he'll come back. Don't cry. ]

Thank you. [ For doing what Scott wouldn't have been able to do. ]

Are you okay?

[hollowchild]

Mm.

[she can hear the emotion in his voice, but there's nothing in hers at all. maybe it's not calm, maybe it's just lacking inflection entirely. like she's hollowed out.]

That won't matter soon. It's all right. But I promised him that I wouldn't ever hurt him. He promised me.

[and now her sword, her hands, are stained with his blood, and part of her face is charred away in the shape of his hand. scott can't see that, though. scott doesn't need to know that.]

So tell him I'm sorry, and that I understand. Please. He'll know what I mean.

[the connection cuts, and if he tries to call back, she won't answer.]

1/3

[mccallmemaybe]

I'll tell him, but I need to know more. How did you know it was him? What happened?

[mccallmemaybe]

Sophie? Are you there?

[mccallmemaybe]

I need answers. [ For Erica's sake when he delivers her the news.

But when it's clear she's not replying to him, Scott gives up and stops with the messages. ]

335

[hollowchild]

[it's not until days later that he receives another message. she sounds tired, but there's actual feeling there, which is a marked improvement scott is likely in no mood to appreciate. isaac is alive again too, by now.]

What do you want to know?

[mccallmemaybe]

What took you so long to reply?

I want to know what happened. How you knew it was him.

[hollowchild]

I was dead.

[she sighs. she wants to talk about this approximately as much as isaac does.]

I saw him kill a native. Not with shadows, with something else.

[mccallmemaybe]

[ ...Okay, being dead is a pretty legitimate excuse for not getting back to him straight away. ] Were you corrupted too?

Did he have a knife?

[hollowchild]

No, I wasn't one of them. I wouldn't have killed him to free him from it if I was.

It's hardly relevant. He had different powers.

[mccallmemaybe]

Then how did you die? Did he... kill you?

What different powers?

[hollowchild]

He injured me, but that isn't how I died.

[she's just going to ignore the first part of that question.]

Ice and burning.

[mccallmemaybe]

[ He won't pry any further about how she died when she didn't answer the first time. He won't ask her again.

He was desperate for answers but now he has them he doesn't feel better, only more lost. ]

Do you need anything?

[hollowchild]

[there are just too many things going on here that she doesn't think someone like scott needs to know. things he should hear from isaac or not at all, things she doesn't particularly want to tell anyone at all. she sighs softly. sophie has never been any good at dealing with people who are actually good.]

I'll be fine.

...

It wasn't him anymore. But he knew me, so he'll probably remember everything.

[mccallmemaybe]

Do you think he'll be okay?

[ Scott's worried he won't be. Really worried. ]

[hollowchild]

[she's quiet a moment.]

Isaac is stronger than he thinks. He'll learn how to live with it.

[mccallmemaybe]

He shouldn't have to live with it. It shouldn't have happened.

[hollowchild]

Shouldn't is a useless word.

[the words are quiet, brittle, bitter.]

It happened, nothing will change it. We'll all learn to live with that.