Casey was incredibly confused when he woke up to his usual alarm tone but was in Vera's bed. He didn't remember staying over last night. He had purposely been avoiding it all this time because of Kane.
She was confused by his panic and he did his best to play it cool, not wanting to scare her. Honestly, he was more than a little scared himself. His days blending together was pretty normal but forgetting something as significant as staying the night for the first time? The last thing he remembered was going out to the farmhouse yesterday but wasn't that in the morning?
He thought it blew over until she burst into tears and hesitantly reached out to touch his chest. "Oh, Casey…what HAPPENED to you?"
Casey's scars! The other reason he had never stayed overnight. The light through the blinds had let Vera see them. He had to salvage this! His mind blank with panic, he came up with the worst excuse possible.
"N-nothing! Thish ish nothing."
Idiot! Of course it wasn't nothing! She wasn't blind. The scars were right in front of her in all their hideousness and shame.
Vera only cried harder, hugging him tightly. "That isn't nothing! Why did you feel like you had to hide this from me? I'm not judging you for it! I'm just heartbroken about whatever did this to you."
Wait. She wasn't disgusted with him? She was crying because she was sad about his pain?
"You're not?" Casey asked uncomprehendingly.
"No! Of course not! I love you. I hate seeing you be hurt but that's all."
Vera loved him. She hated seeing him be hurt. He had been right. She would never do what Candy did. She had been wrong. Blood wasn't love at all. Love was caring about someone being hurt, not being the one to hurt them. Love was VERA.
Casey returned the hug desperately as he broke down crying too, unable to do anything but sob her name over and over again. She was his salvation. She had been from the first day they met when she reached out to him and was so unexpectedly friendly. Now here she was, unraveling everything Candy did simply by being herself.
Vera wasn't judging him. She was sad for him because she loved him.
He had to answer her question. No matter how awful it felt. She deserved to know what she was dealing with.
Casey turned around to show her. That would be easier than telling. "M-my shister did this. She always said blood is love. She was all I had so I thought…I thought it was normal. She's the reason I have such a hard time at the farmhouse. The b-barn…that's where she blade me—made me—bleed. That's why I had to get rid of it. Blood isn't love though. I know that now. YOU are, Vera. Love is you."
He had a hard time getting that all out but the last part was easier. The part about her. She was his strength.
Vera cried harder and hugged him from behind, her face in his neck as she sobbed. She was the only person who had ever been sad for what Casey went through. As ashamed as he was that she had to see the ugliest parts of him at all, this meant more to him than he could say.
"I'm glad you know that now. I'll always love you, Casey. Nothing could ever change that," she said fiercely once she stopped crying.
He truly believed that now, though he knew he didn't deserve her love. He had always known that. He was so broken and she was so good. But there was no denying he needed her love to survive at this point.
Casey hugged her arms as best he could from this angle. "I'll always love you too."
He had never told anyone but Candy that he loved them before. He hadn't even thought that would be possible. It wouldn't have been with anyone but Vera. His angelic Vera who refused to give up on him.
He was completely worn out from crying so much and telling the terrible truth but they both still had to work today. No one else could man the shop.
In a daze when he got home to shower and change, Kane called him out on it once he was dressed. "Why are you even spacier than usual? Don't tell me your girlfriend finally did something."
"She saw my scars, Kane. She knows about Candy and she cried for me. She wasn't disgusted at all!"
"WHAT?! How did that even happen?"
Casey explained himself, still in a daze, and Kane shook his head in disbelief. "Wow. She really is different then."
"Yeah. So I'm the one to say 'I told you so' here. She doesn't care about what we are. She still loves me. I told her I loved her too. I think I might actually be able to get better because of her!"
"Really. Wow."
"Is that all you have to say?"
"What else IS there to say? Go live happily ever after with your super weird girlfriend. No one else ever would have accepted you," Kane said with a scoff.
Casey scowled. That was true but did Kane have to be so negative about it?
"THANKS. Just don't bother her if she wants to meet you. At least try to behave yourself."
"I always behave myself!"
Ha! As if.
Casey's prediction that Vera would want to meet Kane was correct. She was initially worried about him being complicit in what Candy did, which made sense. Vera didn't have enough information so Casey had to reassure her.
They made plans for her to come over after work so she could meet Kane. It was better to just get this over with.
At this point, the best Casey could hope for was that Kane wouldn't be rude. She shouldn't have to deal with that. Especially not after crying on Casey's behalf earlier.
When they made it to the apartment, Casey called out to his twin. "Kane! Vera's here! You better play nice."
"I always play nice," Kane said, which wasn't true at all. "That was awfully fast though."
"She wanted to meet you."
"That isn't a good idea. Look at her face. But if she can accept what Candy did, hopefully she can accept this too."
Casey was confused. Accept what? "What are you talking about? She's fine."
He was corrected immediately, seeing what Kane already had. Vera looked about as horrified as she had this morning, though she wasn't crying.
"What's wrong?"
It took Vera a moment to say anything. "Casey…we should sit down."
"She's already taking it better than I expected," Kane mused, which Casey ignored, focused on his girlfriend's distress.
He held her hands once they were on the couch. Kane was leaning against the wall nearby. "What is it?"
"We're the only two people here. I'm really sorry to tell you this but Kane isn't real."
"There it is! Look at that, Casey! She really does accept you!" Kane said in wonder. "She must be as crazy as we are."
Dread filled the pit of Casey's stomach as the implications set in. Vera said Kane wasn't real and he was agreeing with her. Casey wanted to trust her but how could she when she just said something so awful?
"That'sh n-not possible! We've been together the tole whime!" he protested.
"Ugh, you really are slow. YOU MADE ME UP. I've never been anything but a coping mechanism—a bad one, might I add. You needed someone to protect you but no one ever did. I'm just you trying to protect yourself."
That couldn't be true! It couldn't!
Kane had always been there. He had taken care of Casey after Candy hurt them. But if there never was a them…was he remembering things wrong about her too?
He clutched his head in agony as unfamiliar memories began flooding his head. Ones he didn't want. Ones involving HER. "No, no, no, no, no."
Casey huddled into a ball and screamed, unaware of what was happening around him. He continued screaming until everything went dark.