"Lena?" Brandon shouted in her face. "Wake up!"

"I was never asleep, just immobilized."

"Great, I guess it's a bit better than I thought."

She got up, feeling a bit green again.

"Hey, how'd you overpower her?"

"I didn't. She disappeared a few minutes after you stopped moving."

"Please don't make it sound like I died."

He smiled.

"But of course, Lady Undead."

"Not funny."

"Do you want my brains or blood? Although I'm afraid you can't have either."

"I'd like for you to shut your piehole!"

"Ice cream hole, Lena, ice cream hole. I don't eat pie. "

Lena rolled her eyes.

"Are we close?"

"It's a twenty-one hour ride, Lena. Still got twenty hours to go."

She sighed. She wasn't sure if she wanted to see her mother. Because although she had given Lena up for what she thought would be a good cause, what she thought would be a better life, the fact remained that Lena had not gotten most of her childhood with her mother, and her mother had agreed for it to happen.

Of course, Lena's mother wouldn't have had the final say in whether or not her three-year-old would go to the "gifted & talented boarding school", but she didn't know that. She could've said no. It wouldn't have effected if she went or not. But Lena most definitely would be more eager to return had her mother fought for her only daughter.

And of course, with these people, it's hard to differentiate between truth and lies. Lena knew that first hand. Didn't stop her from being bitter. They had had a whole portfolio of all the wonderful opportunities Lena would have, so many lovely references. But maybe if Lena's mother had been able to translate dreams into reality, she would have seen that they were nightmares. If her mother could only have seen the truth, Lena would've visited her long ago. But Lena's mother accepted the offer.

Lena had cried for her not to, so, so much. But the thundering tears were silent, and her mother couldn't hear. So as the porter carried her luggage onto the plane, Lena whispered, "Goodbye."

"Lena?!" Brandon panicked and slapped Lena in the face.

"Ow."

"You weren't responding," responded Brandon rather sheepishly.

"I was thinking."

They sat in silence for a minute, watching the outside world fly by.

"What were you thinking about?"

"Things."

She had told Brandon plenty of her mother, but there were things he didn't know. Like the fact that Lena didn't want to go. That her mother was a fool. That because of her mother, she had one more scar that would never heal.

¨Are things also known as Liz?¨ he asked gently.

¨Who the heck is Liz?¨

¨Lena, I know what happened wasn't fair to either of you, but you can't pretend she doesn't exist.¨

She stared at him blankly.

¨Wait... you really don't remember her?

"Who the heck am I supposed to remember? Is this a prank? 'Cause if it is, it ain't funny!"

Lena was quite agitated. By what Brandon had said, she should have definitely known who Liz was. So why didn't she?

"You don't remember Liz. It doesn't make sense. Unless... " Brandon's muttering came to a halt.

"Unless what?" Lena asked, totally exasperated. Had Brandon not realized by now that she was out of the loop?

"No, no, no, no, no. She wouldn't. No matter what. None of us would ever..."

"Ever what, Brandon?"

"I think I know who attacked us. I think Liz is behind all of this."

"Who is Liz?"

"Our best friend no longer."

............................................................................................

"Why? What happened?"

"Er... "

"Why no longer, Brandon?"
"I don't know, exactly."

"I don't need 'exactly'."

"Something happened between you two. You refused to talk to each other and neither of you would tell me anything about what happened. After a few weeks, she left. We never knew what happened- if she was dead, anything. All we knew was that she was gone. And you wouldn't say a word about it.

Lena didn't have a response. She had another best friend that she couldn't remember anything about her? Well, ex-best friend that was attacking the program?

"Did we know her last name?"

"Yes."

This was serious. You weren't supposed to know anyone's surname in the program, so if someone told you theirs, it was a mark of true trust.

"How could I forget her?"

"I'm guessing with the same technology that lets them see memories while you're asleep."

"What was she like? Before she... left."

Brandon could hear the underlying question. What was their friendship like? How could something strong as steel be shattered so easily? But he ignored it, because he really didn't want to think about it. If it could happen between Lena and Liz, then it could happen between Lena and Brandon, too.

"She didn't always seem like the nicest person, but... she really cared. About everyone. She was brilliant, and although she wasn't too obnoxious about it, everyone knew it. But when you guys fought, and you always did, she shut everyone off. At first it wasn't very obvious to me, but then she shut me off. Thatś when I knew it must have been a big argument, and you were actually mad at each other. And I think the the reason she shut me off is because she thought I was on your side. Finally, you decided to try to make amends. Only, you didn't go about it in the nicest way, and you made her out to be the villain. I guess she took your opinion to heart, because look where we are now.¨

¨So... it was my fault.¨

¨Maybe. Maybe you were right. Either way, she was probably on the edge of a cliff. You probably could've pulled her back to us. Instead, you pushed her off into the pit of darkness and despair."

"Why? Why would I do that?"

"I don't don't know. You never told me. You never told us anything."

"I'm sorry," she cried. "I'm sorry."

Brandon wasn't sure what to do. This subject had brought out some anger in him, but now he regretted his choice of words. And even though they'd been best friends since she came to the program, he'd only seen her cry twice, if that.

So he hugged her. Rather awkwardly, but it was what she needed. She couldn't remember anything about her other best friend, not even the color of her hair- so she wanted Brandon as close as possible.

After a few minutes, Brandon retreated back to his seat.

Even though throughout this trip there had been plenty of it, the silence filling up the space between him and Lena was still weird.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" she asked venomously. "This was in no way your fault."

Lena had always hated when people apologized for things they had no control over, but no one knew that, and no one ever would. She had been told from an early age to never show her weaknesses, no matter how small.