~Videl~

Videl was more than happy to have Risa over for dinner again. Videl pulled open her holo-menu right away, to see what she could make for them with the ingredients she had, and told Risa to have a seat on the couch with Belle - making sure not to call the cleaning device by her name, though she felt rude doing so. She hoped that Belle understood that she just didn't want to explain her insanity to Risa - not yet anyway.

Videl prepared a green bean casserole and placed it in the oven, before joining them on the couch. Risa had been chatting with her about the upcoming meteor shower that she had heard there would be a viewing party for next month, as Videl was working on the meal.

"That sounds so exciting," Videl said, as she nestled into the couch cozily. 

"You always did love a good meteor shower, before . . . " Risa trailed off, seemingly stopping herself from ruffling Videl's hair.

Videl wondered if Risa had meant to say "before Cryo," or something else. There was a small awkward silence that followed, and Videl bit her lip. She had more important questions to ask.

"Do you . . . " Videl started, trying to muster the courage to ask the hard questions that she was dying to know the answers to. "Do you think you could tell me about my parents?"

Risa flinched, her eyebrows furrowing.

"Like . . . who they were?" Videl clarified on a shaky exhale.

Risa sat up a little straighter, looking tense, but she nodded, her dark eyes filled with sympathy, and something else that Videl couldn't quite identify.

"Your parents were both gifted engineers."

Videl sat up straighter as well, feeling a rush of adrenaline. She was nervous, excited, and more than a little scared to learn about her parents.

"Wow," was all she could say, with a tentative smile. Risa smiled back, looking as anxious as Videl felt.

"I actually knew your mother from School," Risa admitted, her gaze distant as if she were looking back on the memories. "Your father, too, but less so." Risa added, quickly. "Back then, they separated the boys and girls, so we didn't share classes." She winced, like the sentence dated her as an older woman.

Videl thought that it was endearing. Risa was youthful, her skin was smooth, and the only thing that gave a hint to her age were the silver streaks in her hair that fanned out from her temples. Videl could only hope that she aged as well as Risa had.

"I leaned more toward Human Behavior and Social classes, and your mother preferred Science and Technologies, so we didn't have a lot of classes together." Risa told her, reaching up to smooth any strands of hair that might have freed themselves from her tightly-wound bun. "But I would see her in the Cafeteria, surrounded by books and research papers."

Videl smiled, imagining a younger version of the woman from the family portrait in her bedroom doing what Risa described.

"The only times that she wasn't buried in her schoolwork was when your father joined her for lunch," Risa chuckled.

Videl imagined a younger version of the man from the portrait charming her mother's nose out of a book.

"Your father was training to join the Titan Starship Maintenance Divison, back then. I overheard them talking on more than one occasion about how excited he was to go on his first space-walk, and put his welding skills to the test." Risa's smile faltered, and she glanced away from Videl for a moment. "Your mother didn't share his excitement - she argued that it was a dangerous job, and she worried about him."

Videl nodded solemnly. She could imagine that their discussions had to have gotten pretty heated at times, for Risa to have overhead that much. Videl waited for Risa to continue, and Risa nodded back, clearly realizing that Videl wanted more.

"After graduation, I only saw the two of them together one other time," Risa clasped her hands together and rested them on her lap. "When I went to my first Cotillion." Risa smiled sadly at her clasped hands. "They made a striking pair, those two . . . " Risa allowed herself to stroke Videl's hair affectionately.

"You inherited the best of both of them, you know." Risa told her softly. "Your mother's hair, your father's eyes . . . their stubborn persistence." When Risa said the last part, she squinted at Videl with playfully accusing eyes.

Videl giggled quietly. She didn't think that was something that she had retained from the Cryo-mishap, but she wasn't going to correct Risa on that.

"Anyway, they weren't at the next Cotillion," Risa continued with a shrug. "They were already married by then."

"They must have been so in love," Videl mumbled sorrowfully, knowing that the fairy tale had a bad ending.

"I believe they were," Risa agreed. "They only had eyes for each other."

Videl wasn't sure that she was ready to hear just how bad the ending was, but she asked the question before she could stop herself.

"How did they die?" Videl's voice cracked as she asked, and the pained expression on Risa's face made her wish that she could suck the words back into her mouth.

"Oh, Viddy!" Risa teared up, her words warbling in her throat. "It's like you're 16 all over again . . . " Risa took a deep, steadying breath. "You were too young when it happened. I couldn't tell you . . . " Risa blinked back the tears in her eyes, as she found her voice again. "You always wanted to know. When you were 16, you refused to eat, refused to go to School - you wouldn't let up until I told you what happened to them." Risa sniffled and smiled brokenly. "That stubborn streak, you know," Risa wiped a stray tear from the corner of her eye, and cleared her throat. "Your father, he - " Risa choked up, cleared her throat again and continued. "He was accepted into the Maintenance Division, but he turned it down. He ended up taking a safer job, alongside your mother in the Engineering Lab." Risa looked like she was about to chew on her thumbnail anxiously, but stopped herself, squeezing her hands into fists instead. "I suppose that your mother may have talked him into it, though he might have just wanted to stay close to her, since she was pregnant with you at the time."

Videl shrank into the couch cushions slightly. Her father had given up his dreams for his wife and unborn daughter. She knew it didn't make sense to feel guilty for that, but she did. 

"You were 10 years old - " Risa was struggling to force the words out, and her fists were trembling on her lap. "You were at School when it happened."

Videl stiffened with trepidation. A chill went up her spine, and she fought the urge to shudder as dread twisted in the pit of her stomach.

"An Emergency Ordinance was issued," Risa's voice shook - the pained expression returning. "Anyone who was trained in ship maintenance was drafted to aid the Division. Your father had all the qualifications - he couldn't have refused if he'd wanted to." Risa sighed roughly, the sound scraping across her vocal cords. "An asteroid had severely damaged the South Wing, and they needed all the welders they had to contain the breach, before too much oxygen was lost. As it was, everyone on the Starship would have died from oxygen deprivation within 72 hours." Risa's shoulders sank. "I imagine that your father was excited to finally realize his dream. I doubt he had any fear. Your mother was probably terrified." Videl could nearly feel her mother's terror as her own. Imagining the love of her life, the father of her child, putting his life at risk like that . . . 

Knowing the story ended in his death, a wave of nausea rolled through her. 

"What happened?" Videl's voice was small, like a child listening to a ghost story - hanging on the edge of her seat, scared half to death, but needing to hear the rest. She was going down a path that she couldn't turn back from, and she knew it.

"Your father saved countless lives with the work he did that day. He died a hero." 

It was clear that Risa hated having to tell Videl the truth of that day all over again. Videl felt a pang of guilt for putting Risa through this situation twice, but she needed to hear the truth.

"What happened?" Videl repeated, her tone more shrill with desperation. 

Risa bit her lip, rolling it between her teeth in a way that looked painful.

"The report I was given said that once he'd completed the repairs on the sector he had been assigned to, they were reeling him in, so he could get to Decontamination and rest for a few hours before his next shift. They needed to work round the clock until the hull was fully repaired." Risa rubbed her hands over her face and turned toward Videl with a look of resignation over her features. "But the cable was severed on some jagged metal, and without the tether, he . . ." Risa choked up again, shaking her head. 

Videl couldn't help but imagine her father floating away from the Starship, grasping for anything he might have been able to use to pull himself back in, drifting further and further until he slowly suffocated as the oxygen in his suit depleted.

"No," was all that Videl could whisper, horror gripping her heart. Risa cringed at the pain she must have been able to see in Videl's eyes, or hear in her voice. For the second time, Risa had to break this news to her. And it seemed to sting Risa just as harshly to do so as it must have when Videl was 16.

"M-My mother?" Videl's words came out on a broken sob.

Risa took another deep breath, as if Videl's sob had knocked the air out of her lungs.

"I was assigned to her first Wellness Visit after the incident." Risa looked stricken with guilt, which filled Videl with another flood of dread. What did Risa have to feel guilty for? It didn't make sense, and Videl felt a foreboding chill prickle her skin. "She was catatonic. She wasn't speaking - she hardly blinked." Risa winced at the memory. "She couldn't even bring herself to meet you on the Education Level and walk you back home from School that day. I'm sure that she didn't know how to break it to you - she couldn't even fathom it, herself."

Videl imagined her 10-year-old self, waiting on the Education Level, wondering why her parents hadn't come to get her, and her heart seized for that little girl.

"A few hours after the visit, I received another report . . . "

Risa's expression of guilt intensified into one that Videl could only describe as absolutely haunted. "If I'd have known what she would do, I - " Risa swallowed hard, her expression transforming. She looked bitterly furious with herself. "I would have ordered a Psychiatric Detainment."

"What did she do?" Videl whispered, her heart in her throat. 

The words Psychiatric Detainment  sent another wave of nausea, and a part of her knew what that meant without Risa having to tell her, but she had to hear it from her to know for sure.

"She broke Safety Protocol," Risa could no longer fight the surge of tears, and they streamed down her cheeks. "She went to the Engineering Lab where she and your father worked."

Videl could only stare in horror, waiting for Risa's next words.

"She sent herself through the Emergency Airlock chamber . . . without a suit." 

Videl felt like her heart was just ripped from her chest and tossed to the floor. She fought the urge to throw up. Her mother didn't want to live anymore - she wanted to join Videl's father in the starry abyss. Leaving her an orphan at 10 years old. Perhaps when she had learned the truth of her parents' deaths when she was 16 - the story of the asteroid that had taken her parents from her - was the day that she had stopped enjoying meteor showers, Videl realized bitterly.

~Kane~

Kane glared at the digital clock on his holo-menu, as he stood in front of the Gym manager's desk. He wanted to blame the hologram as if it showed the wrong time. He knew there was no chance that it was glitching, so he sighed. V had been on time every day last week, if not a minute or two early, but it was 6:20 now, and she still hadn't shown up yet. Kane frowned and typed up a quick message.

[Sleeping in today, princess?]

Kane waited another five minutes, feeling the Gym manager staring at him the entire time. There was no reply from V, so he thumbed off his holo-menu begrudgingly, feeling foolish. If she was sleeping in, she would message him as soon as she woke up, so there was no reason to stand around staring at the hologram screen. His holo-menu would pop up with her reply, anyway. He tried to shrug off the feeling of insecurity that niggled at him, the gritty voice in his head that whispered that she was ignoring him. Dare had already finished warming up, and was pumping iron in their usual spot, so Kane went ahead and scanned his wristband. He had wasted almost half an hour, and he needed to get started.

Kane began warming up, flicking a glance at the bench where V normally watched, even though he knew that she wouldn't be sitting there. His gaze fell on the Ava girl who had started joining V last week on the bench. Her sleepy-looking friend was filling the space V would usually be sitting. Was her name Carlee? He couldn't remember, but he gave them an awkward wave and turned back to continue his warm up. Dare had just pulled out an earbud when he asked, 

"No V today?"

Kane managed a shrug, trying to look like it didn't matter to him one way or the other, but Dare had a knowing look in his eyes as he nodded and put his earbud back in. His best friend knew he wouldn't have wasted that much time loitering at the desk if he didn't care. Kane had obviously come to expect her there each morning, like a sunrise brightening his day. And since she wasn't there, he found it hard to focus on his work out. 

Kane hadn't brought his ear buds, because he had accidentally washed and dried them the other day with his gym clothes. He didn't even know if they still worked, so he had just opted to bring his portable speaker instead. He connected the speaker to the playlist on his holo-menu and placed it on the floor by the weight rack. He hoped the music would help him concentrate. It helped a little bit, but he still found himself checking the time after every set, willing it to be 8 o'clock already, so he could be done. As well as checking the message he sent, knowing there would be no reply without the notification. He was finding it difficult to believe that she was still asleep, by the time they finished their gym session. After losing a quarter of his time waiting on V, and being so distracted by her absence, he was kicking himself for his weak performance. He had hardly broken a sweat, he was nowhere near tired, and definitely not sore.

He and Dare decided that they would skip the pool, since V wasn't with them - it had never been a part of their daily routine before she came along anyway. Ava's friend was snoring on her shoulder when they came out from the locker rooms. They were going to head back to Kane's to use the far more efficient showers in his quarters, and Ava's face fell for a second, realizing that they were still wearing their gym clothes and not swimwear. But Dare gave her a wave and said,

"See you tomorrow, Ava."

And her face lit back up with the acknowledgement. "See you tomorrow!" Ava called out, eagerly, probably waving at their backs as they made their way to the exit. Once they were in the elevator, Kane pulled up V on his holo-menu and pressed "call."

"She must be out cold," Dare offered, when it only rang a few times, before an automated, robotic voice claimed the recipient could not be reached at this time.

Kane grimaced as he closed his holo-menu. He couldn't help the feeling that something was wrong. It's not like it was an uncommon occurrence for people to flake on their plans, though Kane didn't think that V was like that. She would have messaged him if she wasn't coming, he was sure of that, so she had to be asleep. When the elevator doors opened up on Kane's Level, he paused.

"I think I'll swing by her place - see about waking her up for breakfast." Kane tried to say casually.

"Sure," Dare nodded and went to Kane's place to grab a post-work out shower.

Kane went to her Level and made his way to her door. He swiped his wristband over the door sensor and stiffened when the indicator flashed red and a discordant buzz sounded.

"Shit," he cursed.

V had only been able to give him temporary authorization the day that they had gotten groceries together and had dinner with Risa. She could type his name into her door panel for temporary authorization, like he had instructed her to do that day when she had asked him and Dare to go with her to the Grocery Level, but she couldn't grant him permanent authorization unless she had asked him to swipe his wristband on her door panel inside, and confirmed it with her own. He imagined that she would have done just that after the dinner, if he hadn't rushed out that night. That is, if she trusted him to have unhindered access. If he was a member of the Council like his father, or an officer of the Security Detail, he would have a Universal Key, and he could walk in anyone's quarters, bypassing security measures. But he wasn't either of those things. He rapped on her door with his knuckles, but the thick, dense metal absorbed the sound like he knew it would. If she wasn't right on the other side of the door, there was no way she could hear him call out to her.

As if answering his unspoken prayers, Sienna exited the elevator down the hall. She must have been coming to visit V as well.

"Hey, Kane," she greeted, smiling brightly.

"Hey," Kane shifted uncomfortably. It still felt weird to see her smile directed at him. "Did V call you?"

Sienna's head tilted to the side curiously. "No, I just thought I would bring her some biscuit sandwiches for breakfast. She made me waffles from scratch, and I wanted to pay her back," Sienna told him, shaking the white paper sack in her hand.

"Oh, did you make them?" Kane asked nonchalantly. Well, at least trying to sound nonchalant.

"Actually, my mom did," Sienna admitted with an embarrassed giggle. "Don't tell V, though."

Kane was relieved when Sienna swiped her wristband and let him in, without questioning why he hadn't let himself in yet. 

"V, you up?" Sienna called from the living room, after the door slid shut behind them.

Kane stood by V's couch awkwardly, as Sienna ventured toward V's bedroom. He hadn't seen her bedroom the day he had visited her place, and he felt weird about following Sienna into it, so he stayed where he was. 

"V!?"  Kane heard Sienna's voice cry out, and flinched at the strange tinge of panic in it.

Screw it!  Kane thought, and he went in behind her. He hadn't really imagined what V's bedroom would look like, but it wasn't this.

It looked like the cutesy, little dollhouse bedroom had been torn apart by a tornado. The bed wasn't made, the canopy above it was torn, a framed picture was face down on the floor surrounded by broken glass, and it looked like someone had knocked all the perfume bottles and trinkets off the dresser haphazardly. V wasn't asleep - she wasn't in her bed.

"What the fuck!?" Kane snapped, feeling his heart twist in a knot. 

Something was very wrong. 

"V!!"  Sienna practically screamed, dropping the sack of biscuit sandwiches as she ran toward the bathroom.

Kane followed close behind, his heart racing. Had someone broken in and hurt her somehow? Did someone take her? 

But V was in there, laying on the bathroom floor - shaking like a leaf in her sleep - with a towel bunched under her head like a makeshift pillow.