Hello everyone. I hope you are having a nice Thursday night/Friday.
I'm behind on responding to reviews and I'm sorry. I'll get to them as soon as I can and hope you don't mind if I skip my usual in chapter responses because I want to get this chapter up for everyone. I do read them and very grateful for you taking the time to write them.
For this chapter, Rating: M for Heavy Adult Content (I'm giving you fair warning on this part), Implied Violence, Depiction of Drug Use, Dialogue describing disturbing content/potential trigger words (I'm really warning you about this part).
On with the story.
Chapter 14
Boomerang Theater
1111 South Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, CA
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
The last concert of the tour was mere hours away and the theater was abuzz with activity to make sure everything would be ready for the sold out show. The stage was being set up and torn down and re-set up as Jade sat in one of the auditorium seats and watched as her older self practiced and ran through with her back up musicians and performers literally her whole performance for tonight.
She could see that her older self took her job seriously with the effort she was putting in for the one last rehearsal, especially with the fact that she was actually sweating and looked like she was near the point of collapse several times as she poured her heart out into the songs. She also saw how she instructed the rest to make sure they hit their marks during the performance. She was actually surprised at how little vitriol she directed at them when they were off or messed up, but actually corrected them in a helpful manner.
When they first arrived some of the backup performers and singers gave Jade some questioning looks, but older Jade quickly put that to a stop by explaining she was her younger cousin and that they should drop the matter. Fortunately, they had enough sense not to argue with their boss and just get back to rehearsals. Jade took the opportunity of her older self's intimidation (and behind her back) to make sure to let security know to let the others backstage when they arrived for the show.
As she continued to watch the rehearsal, she couldn't tell if it was Mason's idea or her older self's, but she could see the theatrical influence of Pink and how the stage arrangement was set up and changed throughout the rehearsals. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing as even after two days of spending hours online trying to get familiar with the world, she was still not up to speed of the musical tastes of the culture at the moment. However, she leaned on the side that it must be popular since the tour was such a success and this one was sold out.
Whether or not it was popular now, she was impressed with the dry run through it and she would have paid to see the show if it was in her time. She couldn't deny how well her future self could perform and saw the one positive thing she saw about what she could become in the future.
A few minutes later, the shorter hair Jade finished her last song for the show then took the time to thank the back up band before heading off stage.
She was chugging a bottle of water as Jade caught up to her backstage and asked with blatant concern, "Are you alright?"
Future Jade pulled the plastic water bottle from her lips and frowned and nearly snapped, "Why do you keep on asking that?"
The green streaked hair teenager smirked as she gave a soft, but caring sarcastic response, "This time is because you look like you're going to drop and you're sweating—sweating. When did we start to do that?"
She took a few more breaths then continued, "I know it's still gross, but when you put as much as I do in a show, it happens. One of the downsides of the job. I was going to go rest and relax for a bit, grab something to eat and maybe a nap if it makes you feel any better." She motioned in the direction she was heading before Jade caught her and finished, "I suggest you grab something to eat off the spread in the next room before the show; it's going to be a long night before the after party. You should enjoy it and you can grab the food labeled for me." She turned and walked away under labored breath as she headed for her dressing room without another word.
"Thanks," Jade muttered out as she watched her future self walk off.
Jade West's Private Dressing Room
The shorter haired Jade bit her bottom lip and clenched her jaw tightly to suppress her soft grunts as she wrapped her arms around Moose's bare muscular shoulders as she rode him. The last thing she needed was someone to walk in and interrupt her last minute fun before the concert from her shouting (even if for some reason she couldn't place, it wasn't as an enjoyable experience as usual).
Moose had his back to the dressing mirror, so she was looking herself in the mirror while one of his strong hands held her bare hip while another ran over her black bra covered back, clawing at trying to unhook it and release her so he could have a taste of her before they finished. Instead of her face reflecting the less than usual pleasure she was getting with him hitting all the right spots inside her, she was frowning as her cold blue eyes reflected back on her. She wrapped her arms tighter around his shoulders as she continued to stare at her reflection.
The muscular shoulders and the hands gripping her hip and roaming over her body reminded her of another with a similar build yet far gentler touch. The more she looked at her reflection, the more it somehow seemed to change. Her eyes saw her hair turn darker and her piercing disappear. The back of Moose's head turned from sandy blonde to a rich brunette color and a soft smile formed on her face with her mind drifting to a memory…
Her movement was slower as she set the pace with a strong pair of hands that could easily hurt her, but held her as if she was the most precious creature in the world and touch radiated protection as one rested on her hip and the other between her shoulder blades to make her feel safe and wanted and all the other feelings that they shared for one another but neither could verbalize at the moment.
His lips left butterfly kisses on her right collar bone trying to heighten her enjoyment and purge the memory of the brief, but sharp pain of when they started and replace it with nothing but pleasure and contentment from their act of knowing one another. His lips trailed up her neck then stopped over her right ear and whispered as if the words he uttered were sacred, "Jade—"
"—I'm getting close," Moose's rough voice called out.
She blinked as for a moment her brain couldn't comprehend the change in voice, but then realized that the young man holding her wasn't the brown eyed boy she had shared this act with five and a half years ago in a hotel room far from his home. She blinked again as she felt a tear roll down between her pale cheek and her nose. She took a sharp breath from the realization then frowned as she dismissively commented as she was ready for him to finish and get out, "You're wearing a condom."
He frowned as he apparently didn't particularly like that answer, but didn't complain as his other hand grabbed her other hip and together gripped her hips so tightly that is fingers threatened to leave marks on her pale, unblemished skin and pulled her down forcefully against him. A few grunts later he finished then a few scant moments later, she quickly stepped off of his lap. She grabbed his jeans off the floor and tossed them behind her onto his lap to cover him as she went straight to pick up her clothes.
Moose wore a goofy grin as he eyed Jade's mostly bare back and very bare behind as she pulled on her panties then her leather pants on, giving him a nice show as she pulled the leather pants over her thong clad behind.
She mumbled out as buttoned up and zipped up her pants, "I told you I would make it up to you."
He cleared his throat as he held his jeans in his lap as he didn't want to miss the mini-show of watching her get dressed. "You certainly did… we're still going to get hamburgers after the show, right?"
She rolled her eyes as she pulled her shirt over her head and pulled it down over her abdomen then ran her hands through her short hair. She turned her head just enough to spare a look over her right shoulder to appease him, "We'll see."
She grabbed her prescription bottle off her dressing room vanity then poured three or four pills into her palm then placed her hand over her open mouth and threw her head back to swallow them. She grabbed a plastic bottle of water off the table then took a swig from it to wash them down.
He slightly frowned and questioned with a hint of concern, "What's with the pills?
She shrugged a shoulder and remarked, "You know… just a little pick-me-up to get me through the show."
He laughed, "I thought I was your pick up?"
She kept her back turned to him and rolled her eyes.
Jade had taken her older self up on the offer and spent the last few hours to enjoy the prepared food spread table with no one questioning her about taking food off the trays specifically marked for Jade West and took the time to speak with some of the backup band members and performers. She was impressed with a number of them during the rehearsal and wanted to find out who they were so when she made it big, she could find them to be her backup. She figured she was still going to make it big one day and she literally had all this great talent staring her in the face, so why not take it for future reference and save her the trouble of extensive auditioning?
The show was just under half an hour away from starting and the majority of the audience had already taken their seats while Jade loitered off to the side of the stage that unknown to her was the same area she had (or just might in the future from her point of view) finish getting ready to perform dressed up in her own words 'an idiot' which Tori would later try to reassure her that at least she was a 'pretty pink idiot'.
As she waited, the teenager started feeling pretty anxious as everyone else but the ones she wanted to show up had already arrived and her future self had still not made an appearance. Her loitering soon turned into pacing as she hadn't been this anxious since waiting on her father to show up to see her play 'Well Wishes' and she didn't like the feeling anymore than she did nearly a year ago.
A comforting voice called out behind her as she stopped to look at a convenient makeup table with mirror at a dividing wall to the rest of the backstage, "It looks like someone is freaking out a little bit and you're not the one even going out on stage… yet."
She immediately turned around to see Tori giving her a comforting smile with Beck on her arm.
"Hey," she greeted them with a warm greeting that surprised even herself. She cleared her throat and whispered, "Glad you could make it."
Tori walked over and hugged the teenager. Jade let out a tired breath as Tori thought she could freely hug. Why she thought Tori could do it now was beyond her comprehension at the moment, but she wasn't going to complain.
The lighter brunette pulled back and happily replied, "We wouldn't have missed."
The long haired actor took his turn to hug his ex-girlfriend. She blinked as Beck gave her the hug and realized that this was the first time they had really touched each other since she started dating Freddie other than the time he attempted to drag her to the janitor's closet and Dusty had to put him on the floor.
He added with an awkward and a hint of an apologetic smile, "Yeah… for some of us it's our chance to make up for past mistakes."
"And my chance to stop some before they happen… when I get back, I'm gonna… I'm going to fix things between us, okay? I'm going to set things right."
Beck gave her a relieving smile. "Thanks Jade."
She gave him a bashful smile she hadn't given to him in a while then Tori asked with a concerned tone, "You doing okay though?"
Jade gave her a tired smile as she answered, "Yeah… I'm still here for some reason. I was hoping maybe I'd go back after talking to Freddie. Maybe I need to talk to Robbie and André? Maybe I need to see my dad and Ian. I can't go back until I talk to everyone? I'm just guessing at this point."
The actress confidently smiled and stated completely sure of herself, "Then the first thing tomorrow morning is to get them on the phone and talk to them."
"They might freak."
"Probably, but… it'll be fine."
The dark brunette snorted out a laugh at hearing the never changing confidence her rival had maintained over the years.
Tori looked around the preparation going on backstage for the show was becoming more chaotic as time for the show to start drew closer and casually commented to the pale teenager, "Where's Jade? I mean—"
She smirked as she replied, "She's in her dressing room. She wanted to get some rest after rehearsals. She's probably getting ready—I hope she's getting ready."
Tori nodded then put on a bittersweet smile as she glanced around the backstage. "It's kind of surreal being back here again."
Jade's brow furled in confusion, but Tori was polite enough to explain, "You—she was getting ready for the PMA's and I came back here to cheer you on too."
"Thanks, but that's probably going to change too when I get back. My mom wants me to stay away from Mason and I intend listen to her. He may have made me famous, but…" She shook her head and finished out with a regretful whisper, "…it's cost me too much."
The couple glanced towards one another with supportive glances as they still worried for their friend then back to her. Tori tried to put her best smile on and commented, "It's going to be okay. I know you're going to make." She let out a soft laugh, "I just wonder what poor soul he's going to get to replace me instead of you for the show."
"As callous as it sounds… not my problem. I have too many of my own to worry about."
Beck snorted out and smirked. "Point."
The three let out soft laughs at the absurdity of the topic of their conversation and as they did so, they were surprised by two more arrivals.
The redhead eagerly walked up and pulled Jade into a hug. She let go of the pale girl and giggled out her excitement over seeing her again. "Hi Jad—"
"Jessica," Sam interrupted her in an effort to cover the potential slip up as she was right behind her.
"Jessica, hi Jessica," Cat quickly corrected herself with a bright smile.
"Hey Cat," Jade answered with an appreciative tone. She spared a glance to Sam who for a tomboy from what she had understood her to be from her time had definitely mixed in some femininity into her style in recent years. "Hi Sam… you look… alright." That was the best compliment Sam was going to get out of Jade as there was just too much bad blood between them for the dark brunette to accept that Sam had really changed or gave a chizz that she had changed.
The dirty blonde snorted out and shook her head.
Ava called out as she and Dusty approached from behind Sam and Cat, "It looks like we're here right on time."
"Ava!" Cat excitedly called out to her former classmate and eagerly pulled her into a hug. The equally short girl snorted out a laugh and returned the hug.
She pulled away and returned the greeting to the redhead with a smile, "Hi Cat. You look pretty tonight."
Cat looked down at her pink dress and played with the end of her hair as she laughed out, "Thanks."
Dusty cracked a smile and greeted the redhead with a warm tone, "Hello Caterina."
She gave him a warm smile as she replied with an affectionate tone, "Hi Dustin."
"Are you doing well? Puppet boy too?" he asked with a complete lack of mocking as he described Robbie.
She laughed louder and happily announced, "Yeah, we're doing great."
"I'm glad to hear."
The dirty blonde smirked to the Southern teenager. "Dusty."
His smile dropped as he looked back with an impassive expression. "Sam."
"So you got an invite?"
Dusty smirked. "Yep." He toyed with her with his question as he had a hard time believing yes could be an answer, "She invited you?"
She flicked her brow up and dryly commented, "I'm more Cat's guest."
"Right…"
The pair with celestial parents from opposite sides of Lucifer's rebellion stared at each other for a few moments apparently trying to size the other one up.
Jade interrupted as though it might have been interesting to see the pair actually go at it if it deteriorated to such a point, she couldn't afford a fight when she wanted to present a united front of support to her future self, "Cutting it close."
Dusty looked away from the cambion and playfully teased, "Women always take longer than they say."
Ava threw him a quick disapproving look as she crossed her arms.
He gave her a playful smile then whispered, "You know it's the truth sweetie," and finished with a soft kiss on her cheek.
She cracked a smile at his charms then looked back to Jade and clarified, "That and we drove over and traffic was a mess."
Sam gave the twin of her former schoolmate a perplex expression as she questioned, "Why didn't you just pop over like we did? Saved the headache of security too."
Dusty smirked as he commented, "I like driving."
As the pair was finishing up their soft verbal sparring, Beck called out in surprise as he recognized his childhood friend as he walked out from the end door of the dividing wall and next to the makeup table and mirror, "Moose?"
The question drew the rest's attention to the Canadian born.
"Beck? Hi," he laughed out nervously. "Wh-what are you doing here?"
He knotted his brow and answered with a hesitant tone, "We're here to see Jade's show. What are you doing here?"
The taller young man didn't get a chance to respond as Jade crossed her arms under her chest and frowned as she called out in disgust, "Really? You try now?"
He frowned and took a step forward to look at the teenager. He may have been a very laid back kind of guy, but apparently interrupting his intimate time could annoy the muscular fellow. "She called to make up for you interrupting us the last time."
Tori made a face of disgust knowing what he was referring as she looked away from the Canadian that had been a fortunate distraction to direct some of her romantic energy into instead of Freddie in the weeks following the PMAs. The others immediately realized what he was referencing and put on their own uncomfortable expressions.
Dusty slid between the teenager and the Canadian and cut him off with a sharp tone, "Back up."
The more muscular young man frowned, but the look in Dusty's eyes told him that it wouldn't be a good idea to challenge him along with the fact that Beck had also took a step forward away from his fiancée to let his physical presence be known to him.
Moose turned his attention away from the Southern teenager and smiled at the redhead among the group. "Hi Cat."
Cat slightly frowned and inched her way behind Sam to use the dirty blonde as a shield.
Sam whispered out with a cold tone that showed she had little patience for the Canadian, "She's spoken for."
He stepped around Dusty and motioned a hand out towards the redhead as he attempted to explain to Sam, "I was just being poli—"
Sam grabbed him by the outstretched hand and twisted it to put him in a supinating wristlock and bringing the muscular young man to his knees or she would break his wrist. "I don't like you being 'polite' to her because I know why you want to be polite. I'm not like Dusty… I'm willing to drag out your pain instead of just breaking you as he is and unlike him, I can't put you back together. I highly doubt he would either, so… give me a reason to start with your wrist."
The Canadian was shocked that the dirty blonde could possibly be that strong even when the joint lock didn't require that much force. He desperately looked to the rest to see if they would intervene, but saw none of them had the inclination to do so.
"Okay, okay!"
The dirty blonde pushed him away and let go of his hand, sending the muscular young man on his behind. He rubbed his wrist as he stood up. He shook his head and started walking off, apparently willing to spend the show on the opposite side of the stage's backstage. Watching the Canadian scamper off brought a smile to Sam's face.
Ava leaned over to whisper to Jade, "And that's why he accepts Cat living with her."
Jade flicked her pierced eyebrow in understanding and witnessing that Cat had replaced Carly on Sam's 'do not touch' list.
Before any further comment could be made about Moose's appearance or Sam's handling of the situation, Mason with his entourage entered that area of the backstage from the side entrance hallway and quickly approached them as he recognized the group. He gave them all disapproving expressions.
He questioned his onetime musical protégé with a hint of impatience, "Tori."
Tori smirked and answered back with a teasing voice, "Hi Mason."
"How did you get back here?" He looked to the rest and recognized them then commented, "How did any of you get back here?"
Jade confidently smiled as she answered with a slightly mocking tone, "I invited them. They are her friends and I wanted people here to support her for her last show."
Mason frowned as he dryly commented, "These people are not her friends. They are anything but."
Jade confidently retorted, "Yes they are… she's just being stubborn."
"No, she's trying to protect herself from their jealous ways and I'm going to protect her as well. I'll just call security and have them thrown out."
She shrugged her leather jacket covered shoulder as she retorted, "It could look messy throwing them out on the last show of her tour. You want that as a headline on the entertainment pages?"
"It won't look messy, it'll get pretty messy if you try," Dusty spoke out with a sharp tone.
Sam smirked and passed a quick glance to the Southern teenager. "You're going to cut loose?"
He returned the smirk with one of his own and answered, "If he's going to try to spoil our night, why not have a little fun?"
Sam chuckled along as she could easily get into that kind of fun.
Mason frowned and looked to his assistant for a moment, but she apparently had no advice to offer him. He snapped back around with a deep frown and warned, "Fine stay, but if you bother her, I will have you thrown out and I won't care how it looks." He turned and stormed off to join Moose on the other side of the stage.
Cat spoke up in a whisper, "I don't like him even if he gave me Bibble."
The green streaked hair girl frowned and looked to the redhead to question, "What's Bibble?"
The musician exited her dressing room and cut through the right side of the backstage for her last minute checks, but stopped in her tracks when she saw everyone conjugating and happily chatting with one another.
She took several breaths then glared at all of them as she called out to get their attention, "What are you doing here?"
"We were invited, remember?" Tori confidently spoke up.
"Yes, but I didn't expect or want any of you here," she snapped out coldly. She spared particularly cold stares to Sam and Dusty. "Especially those abominations."
Cat nervously spoke up, "We're here to support you."
Jade frowned as she looked upon the redhead she hadn't seen in years. "You didn't do it last time. Not really. Are you trying to make it up now?" She turned and outright glared at Beck and finished, "Or are you going to trash talk behind my back again."
Beck attempted to speak with a regretful expression, but she cut him off, "You listened to him… all of you and took his side about me stealing the spot from Tori."
A familiar voice called out, "You didn't steal the spot from Tori, just that Mason was wrong in what he did to Tori and using you to punish her because she wouldn't be his toy. We didn't want him to use you like a toy just to make himself more money."
The heavier tattooed Jade took in a sharp breath as she heard the voice of the man she hadn't spoken to or seen in nearly five years. The others waited with baited breath as she turned to face their former friend from Seattle.
Freddie continued with a soft, but confident voice, "We saw what he tried to do to Tori and we didn't want him to do the same to you because we love you… I love you."
The older Jade tried to answer in a menacing tone, but her voice along with the figurative mask on her face cracked, "It didn't seem like it when you were taking Tori's side over mine… wanting me to give up my chance to make it or when you ran out on New Year's for Carly. Why couldn't you pick me over what you thought was right? I know Sam wasn't years ago, but wasn't I worth it? Me… your angel that gripped you tight and raised you out of Hell? Wasn't I worth it?"
Freddie looked down in shame while the others divided their attention between the former couple to direct sympathetic expressions to them.
Jade's shoulders slumped as she saw the potential future between her and Freddie. Had she really wanted him to give up that piece of him just to satisfy her in their relationship? Did she have the right to ask that of him? She was just asking him to do the same as Carly had done last year. She was shocked out of her musings with Freddie speaking up with a regretful voice, "I did pick you though. I was upset that he did that to Tori, but I was afraid of what he would do to you—what he did do to you. I begged you… pleaded with you not to… not to sell your soul to him just to make it, that you could do it on your own without him, but…"
He motioned his hand up and down in her direction and continued with a tired voice, "How much of this is Mason so he can sell more of your records and how much is Jade West? You can't tell me this is all you… I can tell the difference just looking in your eyes. I just hope you can do the same."
She stormed up to him and glared at him trying to penetrate his soul with her piercing blue eyes. "In my eyes? Tell me Freddie, what do you see in my eyes? Huh? What deep spiritual, metaphysical bullshit do you see?"
He paused for a moment to study her eyes passed her cold fury face then whispered, "I see… I still see my Jadelyn."
Her breath caught in her throat and she took a step back from him. He gave her a hopeful expression while she tried to hold back her shock. She finally whispered, "I have a show to put on." She turned and headed for the stage.
Cat eagerly called out, "Have fun."
"Showed the world the real you—they'll love you like we do," Freddie called out.
The show stopping performer paused in mid-stride and for a moment they thought she was going to turn around as she slightly turned to look over her left shoulder. The former couple's eyes met, exchanging heartbreak and regret then she turned to head for the stage.
Jade rested a soft hand on Freddie's upper right arm and whispered, "Thank you for coming, but I thought you wanted me to let you go."
He paused for a moment at seeing that she was wearing another one of his old Penny-Tees then cracked a smile as he tenderly answered, "My girl needed me… in both times; where else would I be? And like you told me one time, there comes a point where I have to stop running."
Jade gave him a curious expression as she never remembered telling him that, but quickly filed that away. She smiled, wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him from the side as she pressed her cheek on his shoulder.
He gave her a genuine smile then looked with the rest of the gathering of friends turned and watched from the side as the present day Jade confidently took center stage and immediately bellowed out the opening lyric of her first song with the crowd instantly cheering.
Cat approached the former tech-producer and hugged him from the other side. He let a soft smile form on his face as he returned the hug with one arm. "Hello Cat."
"Hiiii," she happily greeted her former friend then gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. She took a step back and Sam gave a friendly nod to the man she shared a colorful and conflicted history. He gave her a respectful nod then looked to Tori that approached him.
Tori warmly smiled at her former best friend (besides André) and greeted him with an equally warm tone, "Hey Freddie."
"Hey Tori."
The former best friends shared a hug and held each other for a few moments.
She whispered into his ear, "We've missed you Freddie."
"I've tried not to miss you, but I've failed miserably," he whispered with a mixed tone of levity and regret.
She bowed her head down for a moment to rest on his shoulder to suppress a regretful laugh.
They pulled apart and Freddie gave her a tiring smile as he praised her, "I've seen all your movies—I always catch the first showing on release day. You're great."
The compliment instantly brightened up her mood. "Thanks."
He gave her another nod then looked to the long haired actor and greeted him with a polite tone, "Beck."
"Freddie."
The pair stared at one another for a few moments then he turned his attention to the twin of a former schoolmate at Ridgeway. He warmly greeted her, "Hey Ava."
She answered glad to see the former tech-producer, "Hi Freddie."
He gave a half smile to the Southern teenager. "Dusty."
"Freddie. How are ya doing bro?"
Freddie chuckled, "Do you really need to ask?"
"No, not really. I've been keeping an eye on you from time to time. Making sure nothing too bad will happen to you, but man… your life sucks."
The rest sucked in surprised breaths and put on embarrassing expressions at Dusty being so blunt in his opinion of Freddie.
Freddie slightly turned his head to the side and gave him a questioning look as if he had really said such a thing. "Thanks Dusty."
Dusty chuckled, "Always telling you the truth."
The engineer playfully mocked, "So your life's being going good?"
He shrugged a shoulder and lamely answered, "Ah… I've been doing alright: you might have heard about that Christian film I made that made more money than The Passion of the Christ, my series got a third season pickup and…" He wrapped an arm around Ava's shoulders and smiled down to his loving girlfriend, "…I'm with her. I'm doing pretty well."
Freddie nodded along and was happy that his former friend was doing well. "This coming from a guy who wanted nothing to do with the entertainment industry and be back in Carolina."
Dusty rolled his eyes and flippantly commented, "Yeah, well… trying to cure every disease known to man isn't cheap."
Once the reunion was done, so they all looked on to watch her start on her next song. Beck and Dusty went off to find some chairs for them to sit about fifteen minutes into the concert so they could be comfortable for what was going to be nearly an hour and half concert. As their Jade went through the concert, they were cheering along with crowd and hopefully she could hear them over the sold out arena.
After about three-fourths of the concert was done, the lights in the theater dimmed, returned to normal then dimmed again.
The crowd started cheering louder as they thought it was part of her light show to bath them in darkness, but short haired Jade instantly recognized that there was a problem as she knew every little detail about how the show was scripted and that cutting of the lights at that point was not part of it. She paused only for a moment then started singing again to finish the song.
Sam looked towards the ceiling and upper rigging of the stage asked with a worried tone towards Dusty, "Are you doing that?"
Dusty responded with a guarded tone, "I was going to ask you the same thing… which means…"
Ava whispered out with a hint of fear lacing her voice, "Who's playing with the lights?"
Older Jade finished wrapping up the song and dashed off the stage towards her right side towards her former friends. She shoved her microphone into an assistant's hand then the musician stomped towards Dusty and Sam and shouted out in frustration, "Are you doing this? Trying to ruin my show by playing with the lights?" She directed her harsh glare towards Dusty and shouted, "Is this payback for stabbing you?"
Ava asked in outrage, "What do you mean you stabbed him?"
The musician and Dusty both ignored her as he got up from his seat and the pair the stared at one another with the Southern young man countered with a curt tone, "I'm not doing it and neither is Sam, but I'm going to find out because whoever it is… they have to be close."
Dusty straightened his right arm down and apparently out of nowhere the silver blade that Jade had once saw in his bedroom slipped down his inner forearm and he gripped the leather wrapped handle. He turned and gave Ava a quick kiss on her right cheek then turned to look at the blonde headed she demon and whispered with a cold tone, "Behave or I'll smite your ass."
Sam took a sharp breath as she looked back at him then at nothing between blinks, leaving only a rustle of wind.
Ava slightly frowned with worry as the others remained silent in their concern.
The musician shook her head in disgust then turned to head to change into another outfit for her next act.
Once she was out of sight, Ava looked to the younger Jade and commented, "That could be your ride back home, but…"
Jade remained silent as she saw the nervousness in the girl's eyes.
The lighter brunette Jade retook the stage a few minutes later and finished out the concert without a problem as the other spilt their attention on her and concern that Dusty had not returned. The heavier tattooed Jade was leaving the stage to head for them, but the crowd started cheering and demanding for an encore.
She turned back and walked back onto the stage and quickly chatted with the band. She retook center stage and the band began to play. She started singing a song that Jade had not heard from her collection or during the rehearsals, "You think you know me, but you don't know me!"
"You think you own me, but you can't control me. You look at me and there's just one thing you see, so listen to me, so listen to me!"
"You push me back; I push you back, harder, harder! You scream at me! I scream at you louder, l-l-l-l-louder! I'm dangerous, so I'm warning you, but you're not afraid of me and I can't convince you… you don't know me..."
She subconsciously looked to Freddie offstage. "And the longer that you stay, the ice is melting… and the pain feels okay, it feels okay heeyyy!"
"You push me back; I push you back… you scream at me. I scream at you louder, louder, louder, louder, louder and louder and louder! You push me back. I push you back, harder, harder! You scream at me! I scream at you louder, l-l-l-l-louder! I'm dangerous, so I'm warning you, but you're not afraid of me and I can't convince you… you don't know me..."
She screamed out the final lyric, "You don't know me!"
The multi-platinum musician started desperately trying to catch her breath but she wore a smile as the crowd was on their feet and screaming out their approval of her. They loved her… they had not abandoned her… but… she could hear cheers from her left and saw that the people that she had been through thick and thin with through high school were cheering their hearts out for her. They were here now and they were with her in the audience then nearly five years ago when she first took this very stage to sing to the world.
She subconsciously cracked a smile when she saw Freddie smile to her and mouth, "I know you," and as much as a piece of her stubbornly hung on to the idea that he didn't, the rest of her screamed in her mind after hiding for the last five years that it was the truth.
As she looked to him, their cheers along with the crowds started to dull into white noise as another sound started drowning it out: the sound of her own rapid heartbeat. It started to get louder and faster in her ears until that was then only thing she could hear then it stopped.
Her eyes opened wide as she couldn't hear it anymore.
Her arm dropped and microphone dropped out of her hand. The crowd thought it was her ending with a dramatic motion, but the members of her backup band could see that something was off with her.
The next moment her knees collapsed underneath her then she started falling forward.
Freddie's face fell in horror as he watched the present day Jade's arm drop then tip forward and started tumbling forward down the steps. He didn't even think as his feet moved on their own to move him towards the falling artist.
She tumbled down the few steps and collapsed at the bottom level of the stage. Her arms and knees screamed out in pain from impacting the steps as her body fell, but she had no voice to cry out her pain. She landed on her back to look up at the blinding flashing lights from the ceiling rigging and desperately trying to breathe.
Freddie was next to her at a moment slipped his hand behind her the base of her neck to her head. She looked up at him with complete and utter fear in her eyes as she tried to speak, but couldn't even wheeze.
He whispered without thinking, "You're going to be okay Jade." Freddie realized that she had stopped breathing, so he ignored the danger of moving her after the fall and scooped her up and dashed her off stage to the side preparing area. He gently laid her down as the others gathered around her.
She tried to mouth something to him, but her jaw started to slack and distorting what she attempted to say. Her eyes started to loose focus on him and her vision started greyout.
He covered one hand with another then started pressing on the center of her chest. After several times, he turned to her face and tilted her chin up and pinched her nose to start giving her mouth to mouth.
"Come on Jade!" he shouted in frustration then started back on pressing on her chest.
Beck had reached to the other side of Jade and Freddie looked up and shouted at the actor, "You breathe when I tell you to breathe just like I just did!"
Beck scooted to kneel beside his ex-girlfriend and mimicked Freddie when the engineer instructed him.
He silently counted off then shouted, "Breathe… Where are those damn EMTs!?"
He continued to compress her chest as he shouted, "Dusty! Dusty! Get your ass back here! Don't you dare leave me again! Breathe!"
The pair went through the cycle several times that Beck lost count, but regardless of how many breaths he breathed into her or how frantic Freddie's chest compressions were becoming, she wasn't responding.
Freddie ignored the actor as he continued his chest compressions and breathing for her, but her body remained limp. As every second ticked by, he subconsciously knew she was slipping away and if he could bring her back, she was risking coming back with brain damage.
He kept the CPR up on his own for another few minutes, ignoring other bystanders that watched him until the EMTs finally showed up. He pulled away to give them room as one charged up a portable defibrillator as the other put on a manual oxygen mask over her mouth and nose.
"Clear!" He placed the paddles on either side of her heart then sent the charge through her. She barely jilted from electrical charge, but nothing more.
They all looked on in horror as the EMTs continued for a few more minutes, but the musician failed to respond to their efforts. The one on the defibrillator shook his head as he looked to his partner and pulled the paddles away. He nodded in return and stopped with respiration. The one putting away the paddles looked to Freddie and whispered, "I'm sorry."
They respectfully moved away from her and Freddie slid next to her. He slid his left arm under her shoulders and lifted her up to a sitting position. He gently brushed her messy and sweaty hair away from her cheeks as he cradled her while his first tears started rolling down his cheeks.
Beck knelt down across from him and looked at the former tech-producer with a look of horror and shock. He whispered in a voice he couldn't even hear, "Freddie… she's gone…"
He looked up and stared at his former rival/friend and shouted out with near hatred in his voice, "She's not gone! Dusty just has to get back and he'll bring her back. She hasn't left yet. Where the Hell is he?" He looked up and shouted, "Dusty!"
Beck looked to the man that replaced him in the heart of the girl was his true love with heartbroken pity as his own grief of losing Jade hadn't hit him yet.
Tori covered her mouth with both her hands while Cat turned to Sam and instantly started crying into the crook of the blonde's neck while Sam held her best she could in a vain effort to comfort her.
Freddie pulled her close and hugged her to him then choked out a cry, "Jade… come back to me… please come back to me…"
He looked up to Sam as his tears started running between his nose and cheeks and choked out, "Bring her back… you can manipulate nature—the very fabric of reality. Bring her back. Please Sam… please… I'll sell you my soul if you bring her back."
Cat looked to her blonde with equal fear and hope, but Sam looked on horrified by his request, but more horrified with her response, "Freddie… I… I… don't know how."
Jade took a deep breath and finally spoke in a hushed tone for the first time since watching her future self collapsing, "I'm dead."
Her simple statement drew the attention of the others from her deceased self and towards her. Freddie looked to her with regret and sorrow.
"Yes you are Jadelyn West," a serene voice commented from behind them.
Everyone turned their attention to look at a lovely young woman with straight blonde hair and black rimmed glasses calmly approaching with a leather covered book cradled in her arms.
Jade cautiously asked as she could feel a sense of menace coming off the otherwise pleasant and attractive woman, "Who are you?"
The others seemed to feel it too and took a step or two back with Cat getting behind Sam. The dirty blonde coolly eyed the other blonde and was instinctively expecting the worst.
She gave a soft smile as she answered, "I'm Atropos. I'm one of the Fates… the one that cuts the line to one's life and I just cut yours."
Jade took a step back and whispered, "Fate?"
"Yes… and I've just showed you yours: another drugged out musician that dies too soon because of her foolish choices."
The dark brunette swallowed down her the sickening feeling from watching herself die. "So you're the one behind this? You're the one that dropped me here?"
Ava walked to stand beside Jade and answered as she looked to the blonde haired goddess, "No, she couldn't have brought you here in the first place. She's just a goddess even if she is one of the Fates."
The blonde frowned and turned her attention to the shorter young woman. "Just a goddess little girl?"
Ava smirked as she retorted to the underlining threat, "My boyfriend is higher than you on the cosmic scale… and has little patience for false gods. You're not impressive."
Atropos smirked as she commented, "Yes, your Antichrist boyfriend… he'll play his part soon enough to get the Apocalypse back on track, but…"
The long haired dark brunette gave Atropos a deep frown as the goddess turned back to Jade, "…I have more immediate concerns to be dealt with."
Atropos took another step to Jade and continued, "She is right. I didn't actually pull you here. Mitch helped me out to get you here to get you back on the right path."
Freddie called out as he still cradled the deceased singer, "Why Mitch? Why not Anna?"
The blonde looked to him with pity and answered, "Because he's got a soft spot for Carly since he was assigned to be her angel one Christmas. He was quite happy to help me fix things for you to get back with Carly."
Freddie's brow knotted while Jade looked to the goddess in confusion. He questioned, "Get back with Carly? You said Jade was sent here to get back on the right path."
"Yes, to make her realize what will happen if she stays with you and all the baggage that comes with it… a corpse and look what has happened to you: a lonely, bitter man who debates everyday whether or not he should walk in front of a bus to end his life because he believes the world is out to destroy him and he can't be happy." She frowned as she stared at the engineer and her tone shifted to one of irritation, "I wouldn't even had to do any of this if you would have realized during your trip with Haniel that you should have just gone through your relationship with Sam and got it over with so you could be with Carly the next year. If you would have just stayed after New Year's then things could have gotten back on track."
She looked back to Jade and Beck to continued, "And you two… you weren't supposed to break up until the following February then realize just a few months later that you needed each other. Beck would realize that he missed you and you two would reconnect."
She shook her head, "No, Freddie had to upset the plan. He just couldn't have been a good little boy and played his part and that messes everything else up. He had to go to Los Angeles and meet you!" She looked back to the dark brunette. "And you had to compound the problem. You actually had to fall for him. You don't get back with Beck and don't give your spot at the PMAs back to Tori for Mason to make her famous, but she gets with Beck instead of André."
She glanced around to everyone and shouted, "Look at what Jade and Freddie did! They messed up everything for most of you!" She snorted out with a bit of irritation, "At least I was able to fix Sam and Cat, but that was about it."
Jade let out a disbelieving laugh and questioned her as being insane, "Supposed to? We're happy and they're going to be happy too. Why does it have to be the way you describe?
"Because I said so!" she shouted and subconsciously telekinetically shook the room that added to her point.
Jade took a moment with the rest to steady their feet then gave her a deep frown of defiance.
The ancient 'woman' shook her head and retorted, "I have a job and it's to make sure you follow the script. We all have a script. I work hard and I'm really, really good at my job and I'm not going to let you two mess it up because you decide to throw out the pages and not stick to your parts. You two were never meant to fall in love. Hades, you weren't even really supposed to keep in contact after you first met. You messed up everyone else's paths too."
The green streaked hair girl frowned at her and retorted, "Well too bad. Your little trip failed if that's what you wanted me to learn. I'm going back and saving Freddie, forgiving Beck and getting famous without Mason. We're going to be happy together and so is everyone else with their lives. I'm going to make sure of it."
Atropos slightly bowed her head while glaring and countered with an irritated voice, "You don't get that choice! Carly and Freddie are meant for each other as you and Beck are meant for each other and everyone else is supposed to follow their paths and not be interfered with and that is that."
The pale teenager shouted defiantly, "I do have a choice! This entire trip showed me I have a choice and so does everyone else, just not the ones you like. I can chose to forgive Beck and still be with Freddie. Freddie can forgive Carly and truly be happy with me."
Jade gave her a dark glare as she continued, "No, you don't get to tell me how to live my life or who I chose to love even if you are a goddess. I'll love Beck because I want to love Beck and I'll love Freddie because I want to love Freddie. I chose who I love and they'll love whoever they want to love."
"But if you do…" She pointed to the deceased future Jade, "…this is what will happen to you. This is what will happen, not what you think you can fix with Freddie. Let him go and go back to Beck who still loves you and help Freddie realize that Carly is the one for him as it's supposed to go or you are going to die a drugged out musician. This will happen and you won't escape this fate with the choices you're thinking of making."
Jade nodded along and thought on her words for a few moments then defiantly spoke, "If this is my future for staying with Freddie for even one more day…" She looked to Freddie wearing a tired expression still holding her future self as if she was the most precious thing he had ever held as she continued, "…then I guess this is my future: dying in the arms of the man I love surrounded by people that love me…" Jade smirked and shook her head and looked back to the blonde. "It's not a bad way to go… so I get my way or I get this and Freddie could still find happiness after I'm gone. Either way, it's my choice, not your grand plan."
Atropos slightly frowned as she gave her a death glare. She spoke in a conversational level voice, but her irritation dripped off her words even as she tried to be cordial, "Fine then… I was trying to be nice about this, not make a big fuss over it and work within the system, but now… now I start having to get creative for you to see it my way."
The blue eyed teenager snorted out dismissively, "This isn't creative? Showing me all this? What more can you do to convince me to see it your way."
"Oh, I haven't begun little girl." She squinted her eyes for a moment as she questioned with a dangerous tease in her voice, "Have you seen those Final Destination movies? The ones where you have a bunch people dodged dying then killed off horribly one by one by one until they're all dead in the most gruesome way possible. That's not Death they're talking about, that's me. I'm the one that cuts the string and don't think I can't make it happen to you to fix this mess you and Freddie insist on continuing to make."
The dark haired teenager took a nervous swallow, but held her ground.
She let out a soft laugh, "You know where I'll start?"
She instantly frowned and narrowed her eyes on the pale girl. "I'll start with Sapphire. She's not supposed to exist, so I'll make you miscarry her and any other children you try to have with Freddie until you realize you're not supposed to be with him… and that's if I'm not in the mood to get creative in ending her. I could wait until after she's born. There are so many things little girls face before they even start kindergarten… and all of them tragic and potentially messy ways." She motioned her head towards Tori and finished with a dark tone, "I'll do the same with any Tori and Beck try to have… including the one she's carrying right now."
The younger Vega sister's breath caught in her throat and her right hand immediately placed a hand over her abdomen while Jade took a sharp breath and her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
The glasses wearing goddess continued with an eerily calm voice, "Don't think I can't or won't make that happen to set things the way they're supposed to go. There are a million different ways I can make those happen: you having an allergic reaction eating something that induces labor far too early, sudden infant crib death you humans call it, having her drown when she's an infant, I cause you to look away for a few moments and someone will take an eye to her… oh the more creative the better to break you up and get rid of her out of general principle."
Jade narrowed her eyes and tilted her head slightly down and to her right. She just looked at Atropos in complete silence as the others were silenced by what they saw as an empty stare on the dark brunette's face.
The pale teenager finally whispered softly and surprisingly in a calm voice, "I'm going to kill you, but before I do… I will invent a whole new level of pain using you as my guinea pig… and once I'm done torturing you… you will beg me to end your miserable excuse for a life… then… then I'll start all over again."
Atropos could deny it all she wanted, but the others and especially Jade could see the slight shiver that went through the glasses wearing goddess.
She cleared her throat and responded with a stern voice, but with a hint of fear underneath it if one listened carefully enough (which Jade did as the goddess was her complete focus), "I'm a goddess you foolish little girl."
"I. Will. Find. A. Way."
"If she doesn't, I will," Freddie hissed out.
The mortals and goddess coldly stared at each other waiting to see which of the three would do something first, but a high pitch noise started sounding all around them to interrupt the potential standoff.
Everyone including Atropos instantly looked around to figure out the source of the sound even if it seemed to not have a source. The pitch became louder and everyone covered their ears to the piercing sound except for Cat as her attention was drawn towards the ceiling in child like wonder.
The next moment, it seemed that everywhere was starting to brighten around them in a blinding white light and the ground started rumbling under their feet. They started kneeling down to keep their balance and trying to shield their eyes while still covering their ears.
Freddie leaned over to shield the deceased musician's body with his own in a pointless attempt to protect her.
"Earthquake!" Sam shouted and attempted to grab Cat and pull her down to protect her, but the girl would not turn her gaze away from the ceiling.
Ava shouted as loud as she could manage over the high pitch whine, "It's not an earthquake!"
Sam demanded in return even if she couldn't hear her own words being spoken, "Then what is it!"
"It's an Archangel!"
The audience members in the auditorium started screaming and some tried to rush towards the doors to escape the building as the irrational fear took over them fearing the roof would collapse over them.
Jade opened her eyes for a moment into the blinding light towards the ceiling to see what Cat was directing her attention without any blindness. The pale girl's breath caught for a moment as she was able to see for a moment in a blink of an eye before the light was just too blinding: some creature consumed in fire yet not burning with six red wings: two covering what looked like legs, two that covered the creature's face and the last pair for flight.
The light seemed to gather in one spot at the end of the staging area, bring the surroundings to their normal light levels and the ground stopped shaking.
Everyone gathered their respective breaths and turned their attention to the point of gathered light that ceased moments later to reveal a pale woman with a similar hair color to Cat wearing a white V-neck shirt, long dark blue coat and blue jeans. One last rumbling of the ground accentuated her presence with a flash of light to allowing contrast for a pair of shadow wings behind her then everything settled.
Jade instantly recognized her from the pictures in Dusty's room, the lovely redhead being held by his father and smiling to the camera.
Cat instantly dropped to her knees to bow before her and pressed her head to the floor.
The others looked on in silence and wonderment and fear.
The Fate cleared her throat and took a step back as she whispered out with a clearly fearful voice, "Haniel…"
The redhead gave her a cold stare with an even mouth expression that was a disturbing contrast to her lovely face and refused to verbally acknowledge the goddess. She slowly started walking to Freddie and the fallen Jade. She knelt down to the former couple with Freddie looking to her with a desperate expression on his face. She softly touched her right pointer and middle finger in the center of the pale young woman's forehead and the next moment, Jade sucked in a sharp breath and started rapidly blinking her eyes.
She sat up in Freddie's arms and desperately tried to get her breath and bearings. She looked to Anna with a slightly confused and fearful expression while the redhead warmly smiled in return. The musician looked to Freddie and met his tearful eyes while he gave her a small smile. She started blinking too as tears started running down her face and she recalled the last few seconds of her life as she could hear Freddie begging her to breathe and not to leave him. She raised her hand and thumbed away a few tears under his left eye then he pulled her into a tight hug and started crying into her shoulder. She held him in return.
The redhead stood up and glared towards Atropos to let her know that she was not forgetting her, but she was not at the top of her priority at the moment as she walked to the bowing Cat. The older redhead spared Sam a quick glance as a warning not to interfere with her then knelt down to whisper something into Cat's ear.
Cat hesitantly stood up, but would not meet the woman's eyes. She in returned gave her a warm smile and rubbed the sides of her arms several times then softly kissed her on the forehead.
The older redhead turned away and put back on her impassive expression to finally look to Jade. She finally openly spoke in a whisper, a surprisingly tender and caring voice in comparison to her demeanor, "I got your prayer Jade. I'm sorry it took me so long to show up."
The dark brunette nodded her head in thanks even if she was feeling apprehension from the 'woman's' presence.
Anna looked to Atropos and asked with a cool tone, "What do you think you're doing?"
"I—I went through the proper channels. I cleared it with Zachariah. He's the one that took care of the details with Mitch."
The cold stare the pale redhead was giving her said that it wasn't a satisfactory answer, so she continued, "I'm just showing her the consequences of her choices. She needs to see what will happen and let her know how things are supposed to play out." She cleared her tightening throat. "Freddie wasn't even supposed to come to L.A. Freddie is supposed to still be in Seattle. He was supposed to give Sam a chance just like you showed him and that is how things are supposed to play out just as Beck and Jade are supposed to still be together before they breakup then come back together."
Anna responded with a dark glare. She just stared at the blonde for a few moments and the rest looked on fearfully, not knowing what to expect. The redhead finally whispered out with a cold voice as she focused entirely on the blonde woman, "You do not tell her which is the correct path. You can show paths… which I'm going to have a long discussion with Zachariah and Michael as to why you were allowed in the first place… but you are not allowed to tell which one is the correct one. You do not attempt to take their Freewill from them in which path they have to choose by threatening their children. You do not threaten to murder a baby in cold blood and worst and doing the same to an unborn one because you don't like the choices they make."
Atropos seemed to suppress her fear for a brief moment as she snapped with full righteous indignation in her voice, "I'm just trying to put things back on track. It is the wrong path and the faster she realizes it, the faster things will right themselves and not creating people who will just create more chaos for simply existing."
The redhead looked unimpressed and calmly asked, "Explain to me why I should not turn you into a piece of charcoal for threatening their children?"
The goddess sucked in a sharp breath and actually shivered for a moment as she took a step back from the archangel. She cleared her throat and tried to sound as intimidating as she had with Jade and the rest, "I've… I've got two sisters out there. They're bigger, in every sense of the word. Kill me – Jade and Freddie are target one. For simple vengeance."
Present day Freddie and Jade took in surprised breaths as they finally stood up and stared at the goddess. Freddie's shock quickly turned to anger and was about to snap, but teenage Jade defiantly called out, "Take your best shot bitch!"
The glasses wearing goddess turned her attention to the dark brunette teenager and glared.
Anna cracked a smile, but it wasn't a pleasant expression as one would expect on her lovely face. She called out to the goddess, "I know who your sisters are… and if I decide to smite you… I will turn them into finger-paint before they can touch either of them… and I have ten thousand of my brothers and sisters ready to back me up so they don't frighten me."
Atropos needlessly took a breath as she realized threatening a teenager was one thing, but an archangel was an entirely different matter. "No… your Father won't let you kill me." She shook her head probably trying to convince herself more than anyone else, "Not over just this."
A soft rustling of air and a low growling voice behind the goddess answered, "Maybe not, but I am." She turned around with fear etched on her face and only had the briefest of moments to see hatred on the nephilim's face along with the blood splatter on the left side of his forehead, temple and cheek originating from the corner of his eyebrow before he palmed over her forehead and fingers extended midway over the crown of her head.
She swallowed in fear as she looked into rage filled blue eyes from his natural brown ones. She wanted to be anywhere else in the universe at this moment (and tried to grant herself that wish, but couldn't wink out) as she knew the demi-angel had no problem in figuratively pulling the trigger and disintegrating the equivalent of her brain, eyes and tongue. He was still human under it all with baser instincts and she doubted his mother would intervene.
He whispered out softly with menace dripping off of his voice, "What's the problem Fate? You can't shazzam your way out?"
She whispered out looking for help, "Haniel—"
"I'm the one that has the floor!" he cut her off with a sharp tongue.
She quickly shut her mouth and looked to him with the fear clearly in her eyes.
Dusty clenched his jaw tightly and whispered out through clenched teeth, "You play with my friends like they're toys… you sent that angel to get in my way to save my friend… you threaten their children… I should end you right now then send your sisters to Purgatory right behind you."
If she actually had a bladder, she would have lost control of it. She muttered, "Please… I'll leave them alone. I'll never bother them again. Just… let me go… they'll never hear from me again."
"No!"
Everyone except for Dusty turned to look at Jade. The teenager wore her look of hatred she had formed for the goddess clearly on her face as she continued, "No. Don't let her go Dusty. She wanted to murder my daughter… and worst. She wanted to murder Tori and Beck's child. If you can kill her then do it… please? For my little girl and Tori's baby."
Atropos started quickly breathing and whispered, "Please…"
Dusty narrowed his eyes and whispered, "Goodbye Fate."
The goddess' eyes opened wide knowing she was about to die, but the next moment she was gone with the sound of snapping fingers.
Dusty blinked with the disappearance and looked to the redhead in shock. "Mom!"
Anna bowed her head to avoid the look of anger in her son's eyes.
Jade shouted in outrage, "What did you do?!"
"I sent her back to Heaven…" She looked up to meet Jade's murderous eyes and whispered out, "She doesn't get off that easily with a simple smiting… you weren't going to let her off that easily by your own words and neither is my Father."
The pale teenager wanted to lash out, but the archangel throwing her words back in her face quenched her anger for a moment.
The present day Freddie and Jade finally stood up and she whispered, "Won't she try again? Would she really take my little girl?"
Jade looked to her older self, surprised by the concern that she spoke about a child she had told her earlier that she didn't want.
Anna turned her attention to the shorter haired Jade and answered with a reassuring tone, "She's not going to bother any of you again." She looked back to younger Jade to reiterate. "Either of you."
"What about Carly's angel? Mitch? She said he brought me here."
"Mitch won't…" She blinked as she realized that the other angel wasn't around. She looked to Dusty with a questioning expression. "Where's Mitch sweetheart?"
Dusty smirked and pulled into view the silver short sword into existence and held it up in his right hand. Half of it was covered in blood, starting at the tip. "He's going to be limped wing for a while… do you grow those back when one of these cuts them off?"
Anna blew out disapproving breath.
The Southern teenager bowed his head slightly and narrowed his gaze towards his mother and whispered out, "Jacob wanted a blessing, I just wanted him out of my way… he wouldn't move, so I moved him."
She gave him a warm smile. "It's not you I'm disappointed with."
Dusty took a surprised breath then gave his mother a nod. Ava took advantage of the loll and wrapped her arms around his waist to hug him tightly. He smiled and returned the hug with a kiss on her forehead.
Anna smiled at the reunion, but it was short lived as Jade called out, "Do you promise?"
The redhead gave the younger West a curious expression.
"That she'll never bother us again?"
"Yes."
Jade nodded in acceptance, but warned with a cool tone, "If you don't keep your word… if she does try anything—if she touches my baby girl… after I'm done with her… you're next and I will find a way to kill you."
Anna surprised her with a soft smile. "If it was my baby…" She paused to glance over to Dusty still holding Ava then back to Jade to finish, "…I'd do the same thing, so fair enough."
The green streaked haired teen nodded her head as her word did satisfy her because she did understand what the teenager was feeling.
The pale redhead waved her over with a smile. "Okay, it's time to take you home."
Jade let out a surprised relieving breath as she didn't realize how comforting those words could be to her. She was surprised that Cat suddenly lurched towards her and wrapped her in a hug. "We'll miss you."
The teenager slightly frowned as she pointed out the obvious, "Cat, I'm still here."
"Oh?" She turned and quickly walked over and grabbed the older Jade.
The heavier tattooed sucked in a breath of shock and looked down at the happy redhead. After a few moments, she returned the hug which brought out a happy squeak from the girl then started whispering something into the girl's ear.
Freddie let out a soft laugh at the scene of the friends reuniting.
Jade looked to her former rival and ex-boyfriend as the couple approached her. "Congratulations."
Beck looked to his fiancée with a surprised smile as his anger with the goddess had clouded the joy of finding out he was going to be a father.
Tori softly laughed, "I didn't know." She looked to Anna and asked, "Am I really pregnant?"
The archangel beamed her a smile and whispered, "Do you want me to tell you the sex?"
Tori started blinking as she felt a sudden wave of joy bringing tears to her eyes. The couple turned to one another and Beck immediately pulled her into a hug. While the couple shared their joy of finding out they were going to be parents, Jade turned to look at herself and her boyfriend's future self.
Jade looked to the former couple, reflecting their tired and emotionally exhausted states with her own expression. "You two going to be okay?"
The former couple looked to each other with conflicted emotions from all the emotional baggage of being separated for the last couple of years. Freddie looked back to the younger girl and laughed out ironically, "It's kind of a moot point with you going back?"
Jade put on a smile that couldn't convey the weight she felt on her shoulders. "Just in case I fail?"
Her older self whispered, "I think we'll be alright…" She looked to Freddie for confirmation.
He answered her by pulling her into a kiss that she didn't hesitate in returning. He wrapped his arms around the small of her back and lifted her off of her feet and start slowly spinning in place as they deepened the kiss.
Dusty chuckled as he had slipped up beside her without her noticing him and whispered, "I guess that answers your question."
She smirked and softly shook her head, "I guess it does." She looked to the demi-angel and her eyes immediately focused on the blood splatter on the side of his face. She softly placed a hand on his upper left arm. "Are you alright?"
He gave her a smirk. "You should see the other guy… limping away with only three and a half wings instead of four and a broke beak from his eagle face." He chuckled, "You know cherubim…"
She gave him a soft smile then gave him a hug and whispered the only thing she could think in saying to him, "Thank you."
He pulled her tighter to him and whispered into her ear in a hurried tone, "As soon as you get back you tell me everything and if Fate every shows up, you take the Colt in my bedroom and shoot her. It will kill her. Promise me. Promise me Angel Girl."
The dark brunette blinked in surprise then whispered in return, "I will."
They pulled apart then she looked to Ava. She gave the shorter girl a grateful smile as her statement of a name was a thank you, "Ava."
"Jade," the shorter girl answered with a bright smile then offered her arms out for a hug.
Jade accepted the offer and the pair shared a quick hug. They pulled away and Jade looked over everyone one last time then whispered, "Goodbye."
They waved and Cat shouted her goodbye while Freddie and the older Jade continued to kiss.
The teenager and archangel disappeared from sight.
Mason and Moose had made their way over during the chaos and looked on in shock most of the time at what they had seen. The music producer stuttered out, "Wh—what the bloody Hell was that?!"
Jade pulled her lips away from Freddie to look at the music producer. She confidently smirked and answered, "I quit." She looked to Moose and commented, "And we're done."
The angel and teenager arrived back in Freddie's room, but were still five year into the future from Jade's point of view.
Jade immediately looked to her in confusion. "I thought you were taking me home."
"I am, but I just… wanted to talk to you in private before we go."
Jade let out a soft, ironic laugh, "What is there to say?"
Anna gave her a regretful expression and whispered, "I'm sorry that you saw all of this. You weren't supposed to see this… this 'world', so I'm going to scrub your mind. I'm not going to let you carry all that you've seen in this… world. I'm not going to let it weigh you down or worrying about thinking that Fate will hurt any of your future children."
Jade asked horrified, "Scrub my mind? Make me forget about all of this?"
"Yes."
"You can't, not after everything I've learned about what happens; after everything I know what I have to do to fix everything."
Anna slightly turned her head and gave her a curious expression. "What did you learn that you didn't already know? What's there to fix?
"What?"
The redheaded angel softly laughed, "What did you learn? You already knew you loved Freddie and he loves you. You already knew you loved Cat as a sister even if you won't say it out loud. You knew you cared about André with how you reacted to the news of him making it big. You may not have admitted it, but you want what's best for everyone and hope they're happy. All of that was already inside you."
Jade darted her eyes back and forth as she crossed her arms under her chest. "What about Beck and Carly? I have to know that to fix things for myself and Freddie."
She answered with hopefully a reassuring tone, "How do you know you have to fix anything?"
Jade's brow knotted up as she gazed to the redhead then shouted in outrage, "Because I saw it! I've lived it for the last three days!"
Anna playfully asked, "And you know this is your future if you don't do anything how? You don't think this could just be one big lie to get you to do what Atropos wants you to do? You're determined to change things, but she's got you scared."
The pale teenager took a deep breath then looked back to meet the seraph's eyes. "So this isn't real?"
"Real is a complicated word, but I'm saying that this isn't necessarily your future if you do nothing."
The pale actress was quick to demand, "Then tell me how things are really suppose to be."
"No or… I would just be Fate telling you how things are 'supposed to be'. What is supposed to be is up to you and everyone else's choices. It doesn't matter what angels or devils or gods or fate or anyone else says… this is about you making your own choice and well... Atropos did have a point with all this: you do choose your own path, but I'm not letting you second guess every decision in fear thinking you're going to end up like you did tonight. Your fear alone could turn tonight into a self-fulfilling prophecy, so that's why I'm not going to send you back remembering any of this. I won't let her have that power over you. I won't let her rule over your life."
Jade looked down and thought on the lovely angel's words. She turned away from her and walked around the made bed, briefly glancing at it then stopped in front of the window and looked out. She looked out into the night and thought back on all the fears of the others that she would mess them up trying to fix her and Freddie.
She had spent the last three days trying to figure out what went wrong to try to figure out what to set right on the idea that it was Anna or her ilk behind her to help her, but… it could just be a ploy on Fate's part to get her way. As she thought, she realized that Anna was right: she would second guess every decision and her fear could drive her straight into dying in Freddie's arms.
The dark brunette finally turned to look at her and nodded her head in understanding. "Would you do one thing for me though?"
"If I can."
She hated to show fear, but she didn't believe she had any other choice as she requested, "Besides worrying about Fate, could you… you still keep an eye on us?"
Anna smiled and pulled the teenager into a comforting hug. "I will."
The teenager swallowed down her fear as she felt as safe as she did in her mother's arms. She tried to suppress a laugh as she realized what it felt like to be in the arms of an angel.
Anna pulled away and continued to smile as she raised her right hand and softly touched Jade's forehead.
Freddie glance around the room was a short one since his attention kept coming back to see that Jade was slightly frowning while sleeping, as if she was having an unpleasant dream. He debated whether or not to wake her up, but she took the decision out of his hands by finally stirring awake.
She blinked and looked up at him while still resting on his shoulder.
He whispered to her tenderly, "Hey."
"Hey."
"Can't sleep?"
She snorted out a breath with a hint of sarcasm lacing her voice, "I guess not."
He slightly furled his brow as he asked with concern, "Did you have a nightmare?"
Jade lifted her head off his shoulder to meet his eyes. Her pale brow knotted and deeply frowned as she whispered with uncertainty, "I… I don't remember, why?"
"You just didn't look like you having a pleasant sleep."
"If you say so…" she muttered out. She rested her head back on his shoulder and turned her attention to the television still displaying the late night movie.
Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter and it didn't disappoint. I have an epilogue chapter for the story and hopefully get it posted this weekend.
If you're wondering why Anna is being considered an Archangel it is because in a certain fanbase, her real name possibly could be Haniel and after a little research, I found that Coptic Christians lists her as one of the Seven Archangels. Remember, it is just a story and I'm not making any judgments or voice any personal opinion of who is or who isn't an Archangel.
Special Guest Star Julie McNiven as Anna/Haniel
Special Guest Star Jennette McCurdy
Guest star Katie Walder as Atropos (Fate)