ATARAXION - contact.

[hostage]

SCI » 008 » 024

_“ Hey, it's me. Wait for the thing. _”

Comments

voice

[amethysts]

Please say something. Just--one word. Fucking please.

[hostage]

[She wants one word? He'll give her one word. It's very quiet, however.]



Libby.

[amethysts]

[Libby laughs--or sobs, or both. Whatever it is, it's broken and exultant anyway.]

Hey. Hey, you.

[hostage]

[Silence again.]

[amethysts]

That's--

That's okay. Okay? Anything you need to do, that's okay right now.

[She's still crying, although almost sober now.]

I promise--no matter what happens, I'm gonna take care of you, 'kay? You're my guy. I take care of you. You don't have to do anything.

[hostage]

[What's he supposed to say to that? The silence stretches out. He doesn't know.]

[amethysts]

[It's okay. Libby keeps talking. Babbling, really.]

I--saw that my old message got through--I'm sorry. I forgot. I was just--

[You were broken. Are broken.]

It's okay. I fucking swear, everything is okay now. I got you back, right? I brought you back. I killed them and brought you back, 'cause--I need you, 'kay? I do. I need you.

[hostage]

[There's something people say to something like that but he can't remember what.]

[amethysts]

Jesse.

Jesse--

I should have killed all of them. I should've. I should have--ripped that fucking place apart--I'm so fucking sorry.

[hostage]

...No.

[amethysts]

[At his voice, she sobs.]

They fucked us. I--Jesse, fucking hells, Jesse, Jesse--

[hostage]

No.

[amethysts]

Yes they did!

[Shrieked, bleeding and awful.]

You think I don't know? I--fuck I know, I know, I know all of it--

It hurts so much. Every time. Every fucking time. Why--

[A sob, a laugh, both the same.]

Why does this always happen to me, huh? Why me? Is this--what I fucking deserve, huh? Do I have this coming?

[hostage]

No.

[amethysts]

[Libby is a wreck, by now, curled up in a corner and sobbing.]

Can I see you? I really--I need to--please, please, please please please.

[hostage]

Yes. Yes. Yes.

[Please. That's what he wants.]

[amethysts]

Where are you?

[She'll run there, to hell with her wounds. None of that matters.]

[hostage]

My room.

[Of course that's where he'd be. Why would he be anywhere else? He has nowhere he's needed.]

voice > action

[amethysts]

Okay.

[Libby is there--so fast. She's been hiding in a vent, but that doesn't matter now. What matters is clawing out and finding Jesse's room.

She pries open the door without knocking, using her lockpick, and flings herself on him blindly.

Then she just cries, for a while, hungover and aching and hurt.]

Jesse.

[hostage]

[He doesn't quite know what to do with the crying body that's now on top of him. Comfort her seems to be the first step, but when he hugs her, it's awkward. He was ripped out of his body and now he doesn't remember how to use it. He doesn't even remember how to feel right. Something important is missing here, but he wants to help her.]

...Libby.

[amethysts]

[The truth is, he could do anything up to punching her and Libby wouldn't care. Even that, she'd forgive. She'd forgive anything, that's what's so dangerous.]

Can--

[Fuck, this is hard.]

Can we sleep in the same bed? Or--

[She looks at him, bleak and strained, and cups his jaw in both hands.]

I could fuck you, if you--is that what you want? I'd do it. I don't care. I just want you to be happy.

[hostage]

[That offer wakes up some kind of horror deep inside him. A wave of nausea washes over him and he swallows hard. And shakes his head, although with the way she's holding him, it's really more of a twitch.]

I don't - I don't want that.

[amethysts]

[Libby lurches forward, unspeakably relieved, and buries her face against his ribs as she shudders. Her hands move to clutch at his back as she shivers, so lost.]

So can I stay anyway? Even--I'll stay on the floor, I just--I can't be alone right now, I--

[Her throat twists.]

I killed all those people--please, please, fuck, let me stay--please, I'm so sorry.

[hostage]

I know.

[There it is. He's finding a voice that seems to belong to him again. His arms wrap more tightly around her and he holds her there against his heart.]

It's okay. You can stay with me. It'll be okay.

[amethysts]

[Libby sobs and climbs, up to wrap her legs around his waist--no intentions, as innocent as a child. She weighs so much less than she looks like she should, shaking and light as a bird as she presses against his heartbeat like it's the only sound in the world.]

I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry--

[And now she just chants it, like it'll undo anything. Like it'll make anything better.]