Lost on Titan

{Part 25}

~Videl~

A chiming sound woke Videl from whatever hazy dream she had been having. She hadn't suffered anymore nightmares, and she figured that the effects of cryo-sleep were gone from her system. The past few days she had much better sleep, and what little she could grasp of her dreams in her morning-fogged mind before they faded, were just bleary snippets of possible memories. A younger version of her best friend laughing, a flash of a bird flying into the wall of the elevator from the Aviary/Arboretum, the sound of footsteps echoing down a long, eerie hallway. The images and sounds were harder to hold onto upon waking than the strange emotions that tended to linger as she would muddle through her morning routine. Mostly anger, which was fairly foreign to the new Videl, and uncomfortable to experience. But even harder to cope with, was the deep sadness.

The emotions didn't feel like hers, and Videl didn't enjoy the déjà vu that accompanied them, so she would quickly try to brush them off, and start her day. That morning, she opened her eyes to the light of her holo-menu bleeding through her covers. As she pulled her arm out from beneath her blanket, the hologram screen flickered, before settling in front of her. She had to squint against the light that was almost blinding in the dark of her bedroom. What time was it?

5:45 a.m. - the digital clock face floating at the top of her holo-menu displayed. She didn't have a moment to be annoyed by being woken up so early, seeing that the chime that had brought her out of her dream-state had been a message from Kane. Yawning and stretching, she sat up and opened it.

[Want to meet us at the Gym? We'll be there at 6.]

Videl smiled, sleepily. She knew they liked to go early in the morning, but she didn't know they liked to go at 6 a.m. ! She felt another twinge of guilt for sleeping in after the movie night, and hindering their usual daily routine. As quickly as she could manage with her fingers that were still uncoordinated from recent slumber, she typed her reply, and as she hit "send," she got up and made her bed.

[Sure! I'll get ready, now.]

Videl was brushing her teeth in her quaint little bathroom, when the holo-menu popped back open with a chime.

[Cool. Bring a bathing suit, if you want to swim.]

Videl nodded at Kane's message as if he could see the gesture, and thumbed off the holo-menu. Once she finished refreshing herself, she told the bathroom light to shut off and returned to her bedroom. She wondered if the real Videl had even owned a bathing suit, and where she would have put one, if she did. She hadn't looked through all the drawers in the dresser, yet, but she figured that now was as good a time as any. She didn't need to search for long before she found the right drawer. Within the drawer seemed to be her odds-and-ends that she must not have had reason to wear often. An ugly Christmas sweater, something that resembled a fuzzy animal that Videl concluded was a costume for Halloween, a tangled-up wad of belts and scarves, and on top of an itchy-looking, sequined ball-cap, was a neatly-folded, lavender bikini top with matching bottoms. Videl liked that the bottoms had an attached over-skirt with a ruffled hem that matched a similar ruffle on the edge of the bikini top. The real Videl must have been fond of ruffles, and she was glad to have something in common with her. Although - Videl thought to herself - while she absently stroked the lavender material - since she had kept the suit in the drawer that seemed to contain things that had little use, it was probably safe to assume that she had rarely worn it.