Lost on Titan

{Part 14}

~Videl~

Kane's words sent a roll of nausea through her so suddenly that Videl almost wanted to throw up. Vague fragments of her first nightmare out of Cryo flashed through her mind. Enough pieces for her to put them together and form a revolting reel of a horrifying situation the real Videl might have actually experienced. No, no, no! It was just a nightmare! Right?!

"You broke that guy's nose?" Dare whistled, coming closer to sit on the edge of the cast resin coffee table. "Way to go, V! That son of a bitch seemed like he deserved a good ass-kicking."

"I . . . " Videl shook her head, her words getting stuck in her throat. She didn't want to believe that any of this was real. 

"Lars said he'd made an off-color joke, and you just went crazy and smashed a beer can on his face," Kane told Videl, his silver eyes almost glowing white with the intensity in his gaze. "I wasn't there, but he was my best friend, so I believed him."

Videl had to will herself to breathe, leaning forward an inch or two, and then rocking back.

"You weren't exactly fond of us before that party, to be honest. But after . . . well, the next time you saw Lars, you laid into him - you were so pissed off," Kane explained, then turned his gaze down at the empty space between his knees - his expression transforming from one of suspicion and inquiry, to something far worse. He looked like the guilt might eat him alive. He couldn't seem to bring himself to look at her, but he continued. "And I defended him."

Videl bit her bottom lip and shook her head, not really feeling in control of her own movements. A part of her that seemed dormant, like a piece of her old self, wanted to be angry at Kane for defending someone as loathsome as Lars. But a bigger part of her didn't want him to feel guilty for something that he didn't know the truth of. That she didn't know the truth of either, at least not certainly. 

"You hated our guts ever since that day. Sienna, too." Kane grit his teeth, anger bubbling to the surface, mixing with the remorse in a look that made Videl's heart twist painfully. "I'm thinking . . . I'm thinking that maybe something else happened that night. Do you have any idea why you really broke his nose?" He struggled to look into her eyes, and the anguish in his own shook her. Dare peered at Videl, too, with anticipation.

"I . . . u-um," Videl's voice was small, timid, and so quiet that the words could hardly be discernible. "I had this nightmare, my first night out of cryo-sleep . . . "

"What kind of nightmare?" Dare asked, with an audible mix of trepidation and curiosity. "What happened?"

Kane kept his silver gaze locked on hers, and they unnerved her. 

"I don't want to say . . . " Videl's voice warbled as her arms wrapped around her middle, like she was trying to keep herself from splitting in half, and she clenched the fabric of her shirt on either side of her, tightly in her trembling hands. "Not until I know for sure that's what really happened. I - I'll ask Sienna, she can tell me if . . . " She swallowed the bile rising in her throat. "If my nightmare was actually Videl's memory." She winced and amended, "My memory."

Kane nodded slowly. 

"Until we figure this whole thing out, you should stick by me and Kane," Dare declared, his usually cheerful eyes were deadly serious. "We won't let him mess with you again."

Videl gave them a small, wobbly smile. "I don't want to burden you guys." Videl sucked her bottom lip, nibbling slightly, wishing she could just be a normal person with normal problems, and feeling awful that she wasn't. She forced herself to stop worrying at her lip, and breathed out a quick exhale. "And I'm sorry I ruined your steak cook-off."