Nico Minoru (nicomancer) wrote in momadness_log, @ 2022-01-12 16:41:00 |
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Entry tags: | marvel: nico minoru, ~inactive: karolina dean |
WHO: Karolina Dean and Nico Minoru
WHAT: Phone Call from the Beyond
WHEN: December 14, 2018 (Backdated)
WHERE: The Mortuary, Nico and Karolina's Room
WARNING/STATUS: Low, just sad
The phone buzzed.
Nico ignored it, just like the first three times when the ringer was still on. This was buzz number… six? Seven?
But whoever was spamming or robo-calling or whatever could go straight to hell, because she was wrapped up warm and close in a cocoon with her girlfriend against the East Coast cold. Her lips slid softly over the curve of Karolina's shoulder, now awake enough to possibly do something after falling into an afternoon nap. What that something was would probably be determined by just how annoyed she got by the incessant ringing of her damned phone.
Almost as though it heard her thoughts, the buzzing finally stopped.
Which was when Karolina's went off.
*
Karolina grumbled when her phone started to buzz. Of course she’d heard Nico’s going off and was more than content with ignoring it if her girlfriend was. Being able to curl up and take a random nap was a luxury that hadn’t been afforded to them back home since they were always fighting something. Things were different here and she was determined to take advantage of that, especially since they could always get sent back at any time.
Still, she hadn’t met a lot of people here and if someone was calling her, it might be important. There had been weird stuff happening. Reluctantly, she reached out her arm and grabbed her phone, hitting the answer button and holding it up to her ear even as she snuggled back against Nico.
It only took a few seconds for her entire demeanor to change. Her body stiffened and she sat up abruptly, dropping the phone onto the bed and looking over at her girlfriend with wide eyes. “Nico…” she said, staring at the phone as if it might attack her. “I…” She really didn’t even know how to say it, so she simply reached out and hit the speaker phone button.
*
Before Nico could ask what had happened or what had been said, a voice was coming from the phone now between them. "—ey, Karbear. Is Nico there? I've been trying to call her forever."
Every single part of her turned to ice. She stopped breathing. Amy.
It wasn't possible. The last time she'd heard her sister's voice was in the Dark Dimension. Just those handful of words brought up a string of memories that made the words choke on the way out. All she could do was make a weird, garbled sound for a second. Was it the dimension? Was it some prank? Everything was getting so weird around here, so surely that was it.
"Before you start yelling or break Karbear's phone, yes, it's really me. Hi, Nico."
"You can't," the words squeezed past her throat, tight and sharp. "You can't be, shut up."
The line went quiet for a moment, just long enough for Nico to imagine the call had disconnected, and then her dead sister sighed, and she could almost see it like Amy was in the room with them. "When you were eight, you twisted your ankle bad enough to go to the ER. We told mom and dad it was because we were jumping on the bed and you fell, but really it was because you got the idea that ribbon dancing was cool and tried to do it after watching Britney Spears's Circus video."
Nico could only stare and turn several shades of red. Amy was the only person on the planet who knew that story.
*
Nothing about this made any sense and Karolina reached over to grasp Nico’s hand as they both listened to the tinny voice coming through the speaker phone. Thoughts whirled through Karolina’s head as Amy spoke. Why would Nico’s sister think to call her? They’d been friends, yes, but nothing more when Amy died. If anything, she’d expect Amy to call Alex looking for Nico.
Karolina’s eyes darted to her girlfriend at the story about watching a Britney Spears video. It didn’t sound like Nico at all, but the red in her cheeks told her it was true and she squeezed Nico’s hand.
After a long moment of silence, she spoke up. “Amy? How is this possible?”
*
Always with the more apt reactions, Nico's girlfriend. Whereas Nico was flooded with mortification, one look at Karolina's face told her how absurd she was being. Probably a grief response, she tried to reason with herself. Or it was her own shock manifesting itself in weird ways. It's not like she knew what normal looked like anymore, not after the last year or so of her life—of their lives.
Her hand found Karolina's overtop of the bedspread, and she tangled their fingers together as her sister's voice continued to pour from the phone's speaker. And it was her. Really her. Sweet, bubbly, a little sarcastic, but in a teasing way, not a mean one. Nico often wondered if her own form of sarcasm would have been more like her sister's had she not— well. That. "It's weird, I know. And I wish I could explain, but there's no time. There's never enough time. And it's running out. You have to know. You need to be ready. Both of you. When it happens, when it comes, you need to be prepared."
*
“Be prepared for what?” Karolina asked. “Is this about our parents? We already handled that.” What else could Amy possibly be trying to warn them about from beyond the grave? Or was there some looming threat they weren’t aware of yet? She really hoped not because after all they’d been through, they really deserved a break.
She looked over at Nico again, trying to read her girlfriend’s expression. It seemed to be a mix of shock and sadness tinged with a bit of excitement over hearing a voice that she hadn’t heard in so long.
*
The line went quiet for so long that Nico was afraid her sister had gone. Her mouth parted to say her sister's name, or maybe to scream it, she wasn't sure, but then Amy spoke again, and she sounded distant, almost sad. "No. It's not about our parents. I have to go. Be careful, okay? Karolina, please look out my sister. Nico, I love you so much. So much. Be good to yourself."
"No!" Nico's cry was high and sharp and loud enough to fill the room. She snatched up the phone and held it close. "No, no, no, no! Amy, please! You can't! You can't! Not again." Tears were streaming down her face, and her chest heaved as she collapsed over the phone clasped close to her heart.
The line was dead.
*
Karolina leaned over and did her best to wrap her arms around Nico despite the awkward position. Hearing Amy’s voice had been startling for her and she couldn’t begin to imagine the swirl of emotions her girlfriend was experiencing. “I’m sorry,” she said though she wasn’t entirely sure what she was apologizing for. That Amy hung up? That she gave them a cryptic message? That she wasn’t here?
“Do you want me to go get some coffee?” she offered. “We can just stay in bed for a while.” She was willing to do whatever Nico needed to process what just happened.
*
It took a huge amount of effort to uncurl herself, but the instant she did, she was right back in Karolina's arms and surrounding her with her own. "No"—she shook her head miserably against her girlfriend's neck and tried to pull her head back together; naturally, it was a losing battle—"I don't want you to go anywhere. Not for a long, long time."
Eventually they would get up, get food, and face the rest of the day. Until then, there was just Karolina and Nico and the pain she was so tired of rehashing when she least expected it.