Lost on Titan

{Part 16}

~Videl~

Videl was sick to her stomach with Sienna's confirmation. She dumped the untouched coffee down the sink, fighting the urge to vomit. After their talk, Sienna lingered as if she were afraid to leave Videl alone, but Videl assured her that she needed some time to process the information. Videl thanked her for coming over right away, and promised to call her soon. Sienna hugged her tighter than ever, before she left. Videl went to the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed as she opened her holo-menu. Her fingertips hovered over Kane's name in her contacts.

"I'll be waiting on that call," he'd said.

Videl knew that she needed to talk to him about Lars. But what if Kane didn't believe her? Would he really take Sienna's words as truth over his own best friend's? It did seem like he already had his doubts about Lars' side of the story. And even though she had only known Kane for a short amount of time, she felt like she could trust him with her life. It felt like he and Dare really cared about her, and she cared about them. She didn't want to risk losing them over a creep like Lars.

She closed her holo-menu, then shook her head at herself, and opened it back up. There was no running away from this - she had to at least try, even if it ruined everything. She tapped his name, and the call icon before she could lose her nerve. It rang twice before his deep, smooth voice met her ears.

"V?"

"Hey," Videl squeezed her eyes shut, silently cursing the tremble in her greeting.

There were background noises that sounded like metal clanging against metal, and faint rock music.

"Give me a second," Kane said.

She heard a whirring sound like an automatic door, and then it was quiet.

"Sorry, I'm at the Gym," his voice echoed slightly, and she realized he must have went to the locker rooms.

"Oh, I can call you later, if you - "

"No, I can talk," Kane interjected quickly. "What's up?"

Videl paused, dread squeezing her heart in a vice grip. "I . . . " She hated that her first call to Kane was going to be about something so awful. She only hoped that it wouldn't also be their last call.

"I talked to Sienna," Videl forced the words out, dangerously close to crying. There was a scuffling sound, and then a short silence. She heard him taking a deep breath.

"I don't want to tell you," Videl's words almost ran together, she was talking so fast. "You're not going to want to hear this, Kane!" She was shrill, and panic wracked her body.

"What happened, V?" Kane demanded, his tone as sharp as a knife. Videl couldn't keep it together anymore. The tears burst out of her, and the confession came tumbling out between ragged gasps.

"Lars tried to - I - the nightmare was real!" V started pacing back and forth. "It really happened, Kane!"

"What. Did. He. Do?" Kane growled, each word stabbing into her.

V whimpered, and finally sobbed, "Lars tried to rape me . . . "

She wanted to beg him to believe her, but she couldn't speak anymore. She was hyperventilating on the edge of an anxiety attack.