~Videl~

Videl had held herself together during the dinner with Risa, and although Risa complimented her casserole repeatedly, Videl could hardly taste it. She was barely able to choke down a couple bites. She felt sick to her stomach. She felt numb. Her father had died in such a tragic way, and her mother had been so overcome with grief that she had taken her own life. It was all too much to come to terms with. At some point during the dinner, Videl asked why her parents' bedroom was inaccessible. A week or so after Cryo, she had walked up to the door, and noticed it wouldn't open via a motion sensor like her bedroom door did. Then, she saw a keypad lock beside it that was password encrypted. Risa explained that the Videl had spent a week in there when she was 16, after she told her how they died and when she finally came out, she asked Risa to lock it up and never tell her the password. She never wanted to go back inside. After explaining this to Videl, Risa hesitantly asked if she would like to know the password, but Videl told her she needed to think about it first. It was obvious that Risa didn't want to leave her by herself, but after she had finished her plate and hugged her goodbye with the promise to come again next week and a request that Videl call her if she needed to talk more, the door slid shut behind her. The click of the lock sliding back in place reverberated through her soul.

Alone.

The lock taunted her. The sound seemed to break through the numbness that had gotten her through dinner with ferocity. Her emotions flooded back with such force, she stumbled back from the door. Hot tears streaked down her cheeks as she steadied herself on her feet. Then a tumultuous rage ripped through her body like a wildfire. A strangled scream grated her ears, and it took her a second to realize the sound was coming from her.

She staggered toward her bedroom, feeling like she wasn't in control of her own limbs. She stomped right to the family portrait near her bed and yanked it off of the wall. Holding it in her shaking hands, looking into the eyes of her deceased parents, she sobbed,

"You left me alone!"

Videl was overcome with the grief dripping from her accusation. She threw the picture to the floor, smashing it into pieces, but it wasn't enough to quell her anger. She ripped her blankets from her bed and tore a strip of the canopy to shreds as she screamed with fury. Then, she turned to the dresser and the mirror on the wall above it. Her reflection shouted back at her wordlessly, as she knocked everything off of the dresser with a raucous clatter.

The rage was transforming into something far worse. She pulled at her hair and clawed her fingernails down her face hard enough to break the skin as the deep, soul-shattering agony enveloped her. Her father had put his life at risk, her mother hadn't loved her child enough to survive the pain his death had caused her. That fucking asteroid had ruined everything! She wished the impact had killed everyone instantaneously, so she would have never known the pain of losing them. They would all be floating among the stars together. Instead she was alone. So fucking alone that it hurt.

Why am I alive? What kind of sick joke is this!?

Videl sank to her knees, trembling all over. Then she just cried, each sob tearing through her until her vocal cords were so raw that they could hardly make sounds anymore. She wailed and shouted at nothing and no one - she sobbed until she lost her voice completely, and her screams died in her throat before they could escape her lips. She eventually cried herself to sleep, the tears stinging the scratches on her face as they streamed down endlessly. But her sleep was tainted with nightmares of her parents.

Her father's face turned blue as he gasped for air. He was drifting further and further away from the Titan. The severed tether cable floated in front of him like a headless serpent, taunting him with the broken promise of seeing his family again. The darkness of space wrapped around him, coiling tighter and tighter. Squeezing the last drops of life from him as his vision was reduced to a tiny pinpoint of light. The metallic glint of the Starship in the distance that stretched on and on, separating him from everything he had ever loved. Everything he had ever known. The scene shifted from a pitch black abyss to a blinding white light. Videl was 10 years old, standing in a lab. Her mother's face was cold and emotionless as she walked toward the Emergency Airlock. Videl shouted at her to no avail, "Mommy! Stop! Please!" But her mother couldn't hear her - she just kept walking, her eyes locked on a release catch. Videl tugged on her clothes, screaming as loud as she could. "Mommy! Don't leave me!" Her mother didn't blink, didn't look back. She pulled the release catch and stepped inside. A wall of impenetrable glass slid down between her and her mother, locking Videl on the other side. A mechanical, robotic voice sounded over Videl's tiny fists pounding on the glass, helplessly, as she cried.

"Initiating Emergency Ejection Sequence."

Her mother stared at her with lifeless, uncaring eyes that pierced Videl's soul, as she screeched over the automated countdown. "I need you!" Videl pressed her hands flat against the glass. "Mom!" Her mother looked right through her, as if she wasn't there at all. And then, the airlock hissed as her mother was sucked out of the chamber that opened behind her. She was ripped away from her violently, and Videl was alone. Alone. Alone. Alone.

Videl woke up with a hoarse, anguished moan that sounded more like a breathless squeak of air. She had passed out on the floor, curled up in a ball, with her head leaning against the hard dresser. As she pulled herself to her feet, the memory of her nightmares sent a roll of nausea through her. She knew they weren't real memories, that she hadn't witnessed either of her parents' deaths, but she felt sick from the images in her head anyway. This time, she felt her tongue get hot, and bile rose up her throat. She ran to the bathroom on shaky legs and barely made it to the toilet before she vomited. It was almost pure bile that was purged from her stomach, and she heaved painfully for a few minutes after, tears pricking her eyes. She had nothing left to expel, and she grabbed a towel from the rack to dry her eyes, wipe her mouth, and the sheen of sweat that had formed on her face, wincing slightly at the fibers of the towel scraping against the scratches on her cheeks. She was ridiculously tired, weak and nauseous. She crawled away from the toilet and laid down on the hard tile with her back to the bathtub.

She fell into a dreamless sleep fortunately, after crumpling the towel underneath her head as a pillow. Hours later, she vaguely realized that she was shivering on the bathroom floor, when she started to rouse from her sleep. The tile was cold against her skin. Suddenly, she felt hands shaking her body, trying to wake her up. Half-asleep, she squeezed her eyes shut tighter, attempting to say, "No," but her voice was gone, and it was only a wheezing sound.

"V!" Sienna was pleading shrilly. "Wake up!"

Videl forced her eyes open, blinking her swollen eyelids a few times, disoriented. What was Sienna doing in her bathroom? Videl's holo-menu floated in the air between her and Sienna, showing a missed call from Kane and an unread message she must have slept through. The time showed it was past 8! Videl sat up with a gasp, and winced at the headache that pounded against the backs of her eyes. I have to call Kane - Videl tried to say, but it was an inaudible whisper.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" Sienna asked, deeply concerned. "Are you sick?"

Videl opened her mouth to speak but closed it, knowing she couldn't force anything out. Suddenly, Kane was kneeling in front of her next to Sienna, his silver eyes filled with worry. Videl tried to squeak out his name in surprise. The holo-menu flickered as she threw herself into his arms. He wrapped them around her, squeezing her tight against his chest. Sienna's hand stroked her hair gently.

"I was worried when you didn't show up at the Gym - I tried to call you, but you didn't answer," Kane's voice rumbled against her face that was buried in his tank top. He must have come straight from the Gym to her place.

"I came to bring you breakfast," Sienna added softly.

Kane pulled back enough to look at Videl, and one hand came away from the embrace to graze tentative fingertips over the scratches on her cheeks.

"Did you do this to yourself?" Kane looked stricken as his hand dropped from her face. "Did you trash your room?"

Videl nodded guiltily, tears stinging her eyes.

"Why, V?" Sienna asked, her own eyes tearing up. "What happened?"

Videl swallowed hard, her throat painfully sore from all the crying and screaming the night before. She tried to speak, but her vocal cords were too strained. Kane and Sienna shared a helpless look, seeming to realize at the same time that she had lost her voice. Videl finally thumbed off her holo-menu so that it would stop flickering between them.

"I'll go make some hot tea, and we'll help you clean this mess up, okay?" Sienna rubbed Videl's back sympathetically, before standing up.

Kane stood then, too, and helped Videl to her feet. Videl was suddenly painfully aware of how terrible she must look. Her hair a tangled, matted mess from tearing at it in her fit of rage and grief, eyes swollen, puffy, and bloodshot, face all scratched up . . .

She flicked a glance at the mirror reluctantly, as Kane guided her out of the bathroom by her hand. Yep, she looked truly frightening. As they passed through her bedroom and the catastrophic mess she had made of it, she cringed, imagining what Sienna and Kane must have thought when they had found it in that state. Not to mention, finding her curled up on the bathroom floor like a lunatic. Oh, Stars, I've ruined everything. She started to feel a wave of potentially irrational fear that the people that cared about her wouldn't want to be involved with someone so damaged and dysfunctional.

But the care they had for her seemed to know no bounds, she slowly realized. The way Kane led her to the couch with gentle hands, the way he took the fuzzy blanket from Belle and carefully tucked it around her once she had settled into her corner of the couch. The way he nestled in beside her and pulled her half-way into his lap so that she could rest against him, offering his strong, warm arms for comfort. The way he pressed a soft kiss on her tangled hair.

And Sienna, with her sweet, caring smile as she pushed a mug of hot tea in her hands, and encouraged her to drink - telling her that it would help her throat, and to just rest her voice for now. The way she kindly reassured her that once her voice was back, Videl could tell her everything. Videl offered her a small, broken smile in return and mouthed, "Thank you," before taking a sip. The warm liquid felt so nice and she nodded her appreciation, snuggling deeper into Kane's embrace. The floral taste of the tea helped to wash away the acrid taste left behind on her tongue from the stomach acid that she had retched that morning, and helped to settle the last hints of nausea.

Sienna laid out some sausage-egg-and-cheese biscuit sandwiches on the coffee table in front of them, and Kane flicked the TV on, searching through the channels with the arm that wasn't holding Videl. He found a princess movie for her, and Videl's heart swelled with love. Videl turned her face up to look at him and smiled. She hoped that he could see the love in her eyes that she felt bursting in her chest. I love you, Kane, her heart sang. Kane smiled down at her, his silver eyes swimming with concern and affection. It was a heart-stopping smile.

He brushed a quick, chaste kiss across her tear-burned lips. She didn't care that it stung slightly, she felt all the tension in her body drain away. And the three of them watched the movie in a comfortable silence. The princess was called Rapunzel, and she had hair that was impossibly long. As they watched, Videl sipped her tea, and Sienna munched on one of the biscuit sandwiches. She encouraged Kane and Videl to eat some too. Kane took one and handed one to Videl.

Videl could only eat a few nibbles of it, and Kane sat it back down on the table for her. Videl's shoulders shook with a silent giggle at a funny line from Rapunzel's love interest. Sienna laughed out loud, and Kane's chuckle rumbled in his chest. Videl's heart warmed. She wasn't alone. They weren't going to leave her. No matter how much of a mess she was. About halfway through the movie, Videl felt Kane's fingers gingerly detangling the knots in her hair, as if seeing the long-haired princess brushing out her golden locks had given him the idea. The feeling of it was so soothing, the comfort it gave her lulled her to sleep.

~Kane~

Once Kane had smoothed his hand down V's hair, after removing all the knots and tangles as delicately as he could, he noticed that she had fallen asleep at some point. The scratches on her face tugged at his heartstrings as he gazed down at her. What could have caused her to do that to herself?

When he finally dragged his eyes away, they landed on Sienna who seemed to be thinking the same thing. Sienna bit her lip and then stood up. She took the empty mug from V's limp hand.

"I'll go clean her room," Sienna whispered quietly. "You stay with her, okay?"

Kane nodded somberly. He wanted to help Sienna, especially with the broken glass, but he wasn't about to risk waking V by getting up from the couch, when she was sleeping so soundly. By the looks of things, she hadn't gotten a fitful sleep at all, and she desperately needed it. Kane's jaw clenched as he watched Sienna take the mug to the sink, before heading into V's bedroom.

Now that Sienna was out of the living room, he breathed out a sigh, moved Belle to the floor beside the coffee table, and carefully readjusted their position so that he could lay with V. His thoughts were a jumbled mess. He was out of his mind with worry all morning, and it was only made worse by the fact that V couldn't vocalize to them what happened. But laying with her on the couch made him feel like everything would be okay. If he was with her, she was safe, and he wouldn't let anything happen to her.

When he had chosen that princess movie for her, and she had looked up at him, smiling . . .

Her honey-colored eyes had seemed to be trying to communicate something to him that her missing voice couldn't say. Maybe it had just been appreciation for the action, that she was touched by his kindness, but he could have sworn that it was something deeper than that. And as if she was reading his thoughts, V jostled slightly in her sleep, burying her face in his chest and nuzzling him affectionately. Even muffled by his shirt and in a barely-audible, hoarse whisper, he couldn't mistake the words that slipped from her lips.

"I love you, Kane."

Kane's arms tightened around her as his heart started to pound like a drum. No, he must have imagined it. She was still asleep - her breath rising and falling with the cadence of slumber. Adrenaline coursed through his veins, making him feel like he needed to take off running. But he didn't move a muscle. His whole body was rigid with tension. He tried to tell himself that his mind had just played a trick on him. It wasn't that he didn't want to hear her say those words. In truth, he craved the idea of it he'd imagined days ago. Was he ready for it?

That was a question he couldn't answer. He didn't know. Nothing was more important to him than making sure she was okay, than finding out why she had torn apart her room, than being someone that she could trust to be there for her - to protect her. He imagined that she must have been screaming and yelling for hours to have lost her voice, and imagining that was more than difficult. V was soft, quiet, and sweet. Whatever had happened had to have been horrendous to evoke that kind of reaction from her. Screaming, clawing, and destructive . . .

It didn't make sense. It didn't fit with her character. The old Videl, maybe, but not V.

When Sienna finally returned to the living room, she sat on the edge of the coffee table.

"Kane?" Sienna whispered, her eyes filled with pain.

"Yeah?" Kane whispered back, wincing at how loud his deep voice still was, even in its quietest form as V rustled slightly.

They both waited with bated breath for a moment, making sure that she wasn't waking up. When they were sure that she was still asleep, Sienna spoke again.

"I think I know what happened," Sienna admitted hesitantly.

Kane had to fight the urge to snap upright in a sitting position.

"What do you think it was?"

Sienna seemed to be deciding whether or not she should say it as she stared down at V warily.

"Um, I'm sure you already know that V's parents died when she was 10," Sienna's eyes searched his.

Kane nodded gravely. He knew that much from the day that they had found Risa standing in V's living room.

"Well, when she was 16, she had a freak-out that was a lot like this." Sienna explained, her voice so quiet that he had to strain to hear her.

"Why?" 

"She . . . " Sienna sighed sadly. "She made her guardian Risa tell her how they died," Sienna confessed, looking haunted by the memories of what her best friend went through back then. "And it was really bad, Kane - what happened to them . . . V was never the same, after that."

Kane took a moment to let the information sink in. The old Videl had been so angry, so icy. It sounded like she had reason to be that way. Did that mean that his sweet, innocent V was going to change?

"What happened to them?" Kane asked, but it was obvious that Sienna had seen the question coming, because she was shaking her head before the question even fully formed on his lips.

"It's probably best that she tells you . . . when she's ready."

The sadness on Sienna's face was immeasurable. Her green eyes had a far-away look in them, like she was remembering her best friend going from a normal, happy teenager to one that was broken and miserable, when her whole life was turned upside down. Kane nodded slowly.

"I think I'll head home. Give you two a chance to talk, when she wakes up." Sienna said, appearing to snap herself out of it. She started to stand, then sat back down. "Look . . . she might be depressed for a while. Or angry. We need to keep an eye on her." Sienna looked down at V with a worried look on her face. "If you need to leave, you make  her call me first, and I'll be here in a heartbeat - I don't care what time it is. She can't be alone, right now."

Sienna's words were ominous. She was speaking from experience, and Kane imagined that if it was bad the first time, when she still lived with Risa, how bad it could be this time, with no one here with her.

"I won't leave her side," Kane tried to assure her earnestly.

"If you do, and you don't make her call me first - " Sienna started, an edge of warning in her voice. "Promise me, Kane." Her eyes glittered with an unvoiced threat.

"I promise," Kane swore, as he held her weighted stare.

He meant it. Sienna seemed to relax. She nodded, then quickly scrawled a note for V to call her if she needed anything, and placed it on the table. Then, after one last concerned glance at V, she left. Kane stroked V's hair, trying to calm his racing thoughts. Depressed, angry? He would be there for her, no matter how she acted. She was his.