Heroes of the Past and Present

Disclaimer: Do not own Victorious, do not own the video game

A/N: A little insight on how the others are handling things this chapter, mostly because not everyone is going to be around in every single chapter.

Chapter 14 (Ancestors' Words of Wisdom)

Beck searched Fenris's mansion with a feeling of pity in his heart, there was little light in the gloomy place. His ancestor remained in the living area upstairs with a fireplace behind him. He moved to the room Fenris was in and sat down in the chair across from him. "Would you like some wine?" Fenris asked, holding up a bottle. Beck was uncertain in his answer, considering he was only eighteen, hardly of the legal limit to drink. Did it matter, though?

"I'm underage."

"Underage?" Fenris raised an eyebrow and his brow furrowed as his left hand tapped gently onto the arm of his chair. "What the hell does that even mean?" He rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders. He'd forgotten he was in a different era, and there really wasn't such a thing as 'underage drinking'. Although, he still wasn't feeling like drinking any wine at the moment. If any at all. "Well regardless. I'm surprised you're not…my species."

"I don't really know what to make of this either, to be honest with you." He was having a difficult time taking his eyes off the strange silver markings on Fenris's arms, or even the sharp ears that he had. These were things he thought were dreams. "They said you were a former slave?"

"I was. My own sister almost sold me out to Danarius when they found me here. Shamefully, I never actually saw her since we were children…for some reason, the dwarf and Sarah decided I should let her live."

"She was your sister? Don't know if I would have killed her." He leaned forward and clasped his hands together between his knees. A hardened expression swept over his face as he recalled Jade's anger with him over that video. The look on her face was enough to instill fear into him. He fucked up, he knew he had, and Jade seemed to be undergoing some sort of strange change in her own belief system. Where were they headed now? Trina was right about him being narcissistic, everything had to be about him, and he rarely thought before he acted.

His eyes flicked upwards to see Fenris staring at him. The man's white hair seemed to bounce before his sharp eyes. "What's the matter, Beck? Why do you seem so upset?"

"It's nothing, I'm just…I don't know what I'm doing here. Jade called us all to action and told us we were going to come here to help Trina." Fenris smirked and closed his eyes, muttering something about Aveline. Beck rubbed his neck and shook his head. "The thing is, Trina was right about me. I'm an ass, a vain narcissistic asshole. I didn't mean to hurt her. I didn't know people screwed her over before. How was I supposed to know she'd been abused? I restrained her because I didn't…I didn't really want her to call her dad while we were…" He covered his face and groaned as his head began to pound. "Jesus that was stupid of us…"

"What did you do." Fenris sipped his wine and leaned back in his recliner, staring Beck in the eyes. "Did you crush someone's heart? Were you forced to pillage a town? Sink a ship?"

"Worse, I think. I think I shattered someone's trust. I went behind one of my friends' back and humiliated her sister, who now hates all of us. I never told anyone. It wasn't even worth it either…but I may as well have crushed her heart…" He leaned up and broadened his shoulders. His lips formed a thin line and his eyebrows dipped into his eyes. "Trina was just being stupid, or maybe it was an act or something, I don't know…she told someone that I asked her out, when I didn't, and that person went on to spread some sort of rumor. I made up a scheme with Andre and Robbie…we went to her house and got into this big fight with one another, at some point of time I restrained her…don't remember why, but I did. She totally freaked the fuck out, but we continued…" Fenris bowed his head and moved his hand over his mouth and chin, staring out as if in deep thought. Beck ran his hand through his hair and started to chuckle, it was devoid of emotion. "She called for her dad to help. We ran behind the couch and pulled out these puppets when her dad started asking what was going on…we lied to him, rather brazenly. We left, felt no fucking remorse whatsoever…but now…" He pointed to his right temple, remembering the disheartened, upset, hurt, and angry look on Trina's face. Her cheeks had been swollen and red, her eyes were misty and her body was heaving as if she were ready to pummel him. Even days after that, every time they ran into Sinjin, he looked like he wanted to kill them. "I can't get the image of her after all of that out of my head, it's burned there."

"You know what you did. You not only disrespected her, a woman, but you disrespected her father. You disrespected her sister, her family."

"I know!" He buried his head into his hands, feeling a terrible amount of pity coursing through him. Had he been this depressed before? Why was he so upset now? Was it because he was in a place he didn't know, feeling confused and upset over his sins? Was it the gloominess of the house? He didn't know.

"So…Make things right. I see you're apparently dating Aveline's descendent? I have to say…I never thought any descendent of mine would be with one of hers. But that's nothing compared to Anders's descendent with Sebastian's and Hawke's."

"Jade found out about that whole thing that happened, Tori told her. She looked ready to dump me at that."

"Wouldn't be surprised if she did, to be honest." Beck was stunned, he couldn't fathom Jade leaving him! How many times had they broken up? His heart started to crack and he felt his chest threatening to tear open. "If she's anything like Aveline, she'll be loyal, fierce, and honorable."

"Well…She's trying to be that way. I think. She really wants to make things right with Trina and Tori, she's done a lot of messing up too…" Fenris rubbed his chin and dropped his hand to his knee, sighing heavily.

"I don't know what things are like in your time, Beck, but I can tell you what is expected of people in this time. Something I would hope would be there in the future too…we hold our women to the highest respect. Women are not confined to their homes, like the common slave. They are incredibly strong people. Why, even the Templar knight commander is a woman! That being said, we respect and we cherish them like a human being. Their father is the one person that preludes them, he is beyond recourse. The head of the house, he holds all power. If you disrespect his wife, his daughter, his sons, anybody, he reserves the right to make sure you never show your face again. Do not lie to the father, do not even attempt to deceive him. If Trina, Tori, and their family forgive you…then you better do your best with the second chance you're given, otherwise you won't get another."

A lump formed in his throat and sweat began to form at the top of his forehead, dripping down only to be absorbed by his thick eyebrows. "I'll try to keep that in mind…"

"One more thing." Fenris tapped his fingertips together and Beck lifted his gaze up towards his ancestor. He had a sorrowful feeling stirring inside of him and was nervously awaiting Fenris's next words. "You know Aveline told me what she popped in on you and Jade doing, and I have to say, I disapprove of it as well."

"Oh? Is it because we're not married?"

"Not necessarily. It has more to do with you pressuring her into the act in her father's house, which I am sure the man did not realize. In doing so, you disrespected and disgraced her father, as well as her family. You have to be more respectful to women, Beck, it's just common sense."

He bowed his head and tried in vain to swallow the rising guilt. He never looked at any of these situations in such a light, and surely he never meant to disrespect Trina, Jade, Tori, or their families. "I will try…Honestly, I will." A hard promise to keep, but he'd manage. He had to figure something out.

In the Hanged Man Pub, Robbie and Andre sat at the table in Varric's private room. Varric and Isabela were telling them everything they could think of about the place and its people. "Lowtown is an interesting place," Isabela nodded, "Just don't go walking around at night. There are definitely people out there that will try and rob you blind."

"They do that in the day too," Varric corrected. Andre and Robbie bowed their heads. Nothing was really getting understood by them. Andre came in after Tori, he and Robbie both did want to try and become friends with Trina in the end but neither thought it would happen. Especially not after all the shit they put her through. Andre had wanted to ask Tori out, but was starting to feel it wouldn't happen.

Both of the men were a little distracted by their thoughts, which made listening to their ancestors a living hell. Andre was impressed that his ancestor was such a powerful pirate captain. He was inspired by her, and already she'd begun showing him tricks with her daggers. Though, the bartender didn't want them practicing in the bar. Varric had been going over his bow with Robbie, seeing as how Robbie didn't want to mess around with daggers and swords.

"So the bow…" Robbie pointed to 'Bianca' and Varric glanced down at his bow. "I shoot from a distance?"

"Yeah, I'm going to start teaching you target practice tomorrow morning." They all agreed to stay in for the night, considering the apparent risks that they had to deal with outside. Neither Varric or Isabela wanted them attempting to fight the thugs yet. "You're going to need a lot of sharpshooting skills when you get out in the field. However, if Trina is anything like Sarah, she may use you less often. Usually Isabela here travels with her, same with Merrill. She often takes either Aveline or Fenris with her, depending on how she's feeling. Sebastian and I stay back unless she actually needs us for something."

"I doubt Trina would have need for us," Andre joked. He looked over to Robbie and smirked as the boy shook his head. "We kind of screwed things up with her. I'm pretty sure she hates us. Sinjin's the only one she'd deal with."

Isabela folded her forearms over on the table and leaned forward, staring directly into Andre's eyes. "Well she's going to have to work with each of you at some point of time. All of you need to be in the field gaining some experience in battle. Only because we have no idea what's going to happen and eventually your expertise will be needed."

"That's just it, I have a feeling Trina will do everything in her power to avoid us. If she doesn't, then Sinjin will definitely have some pull in keeping us at bay."

"You're going to have to stop thinking that way," Varric lifted his bow and started rubbing the side of it with a rag. He narrowed his eyes and glanced idly towards them. "Get in your head that you're a team. If you didn't think you were going to work well with her or her sister, then you shouldn't be here. What the hell are you trying to prove?"

"Repentance," Robbie confessed. "I don't know, it's just we want to show both Tori and Trina that we're not full of shit. We want to keep Tori's friendship and we also want Trina to realize that we're not all full of crap." Andre nodded as Isabela and Varric glanced at one another. Isabela's lip turned into a smirk and her eyes peered at them from the corners of her eyelids.

"I'm guessing you did something to make her realize your friendship was full of shit? Perhaps a typical guy move?"

"If you want to look at it that way. We've all been a bit cruel to her. So I think maybe we just…need to change?"

"Probably work on whatever it is you're dealing with. There are times we may not be able to be around, so you may have to travel with the sisters. If that's the case, then that means quite simply: You're going to have to put aside your differences. Regardless of how bad things are. Of course if we haven't made it clear enough…" Isabela turned to them and leaned forward, her cold eyes burned into them like a dangerous fire. "Maybe you're not friendly with the sisters, that's okay. Maybe you wouldn't help them…but we are relying on you lot to help our friend. Sarah's in danger, we need to rescue her, and the only way to do that is with Tori and Trina. So you guys are here to give strength in numbers. Push aside your differences. It's the least you can do."

She had a point, neither of them could argue with her. At the same time, the shiver of fear caused them to not bother with disagreeing. The woman didn't seem like she'd take kindly to that type of negative reaction in the first place.

Merrill's home was lit up with candlelight, creating a warm feeling for Cat. She was amazed to find some enjoyment over this time period, despite the lack of working technology.

Currently Cat was busy practicing spells that Merrill was teaching her, she nearly froze her ancestor on accident and then set fire to Merrill's hair. "Let's take a break, shall we?" Merrill suggested upon putting out a fire on her bed.

"Sorry…"

"It's okay." Merrill reminded her a little of her nana, but that shouldn't really be a surprise. She was just starting to get used to the whole ancestor to descendent thing. While they were coming home, they saw a handsome looking merchant that Merrill stopped to talk to. The merchant looked remarkably like her grandfather, so much so that she just had to comment on the resemblance, embarrassing Merrill at the time.

"I still think that merchant looked like my grandpa."

"Well I wouldn't know. Though he is rather handsome." Merrill rubbed her chin and walked over to the makeshift bed on the other side of the bedroom. This was to be where Cat would stay for a while. "Anyway, you seem to be making headway with the magic, that's good. How do you know Sarah's descendents?"

"Oh I met them a couple years ago." She sat down on the bed, watching Merrill fluff the pillow for her. After she was done, Merrill moved to her bed and laid down on her side. Cat mimicked her and gazed at her ancestor. "They're great people! I don't know why, but Tori's sister really doesn't like us. I mean I know why but I don't get why because I think my friends should treat her nice."

"It's hard being the outcast, and I should know. My clan cast me aside and Sarah took me in. At first, it was hard for me to be accepted, but they accepted me."

"That's actually how it was like for me, not for like, Trina. Everyone just started treating her badly. I think Jade wanted to work on it." She didn't want to talk about Tori and Trina, she wanted to talk about this place. It was so amazing that she wanted to explore! However, she wasn't able to do so. "Why couldn't I go and explore?"

"Because, I don't think you're ready to be out here at night. It's dangerous, there are bandits that prowl the streets at night. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Oh…I guess that makes sense. I like it here though, it's warm…"

"I'm glad. You know we have a big day tomorrow. We have a lot of training to do, none of us want to send you guys out to look for Sarah without knowing that you can fight. We'll have to stay at your side."

"I see…" Everyone was to have different posts as well. She and Merrill were going to go to Sundermount, where Merrill used to live. It was a mountainous location just outside Kirkwall, large and open, simply perfect for practicing magic. She didn't know where the others would be stationed though. "Who all goes where?"

"I think Aveline said it would be a good idea for her guardsmen to help Tori and Trina. Trina gets to work with Aveline and the guards while Tori's going to go with Anders. She doesn't really want him working with Sinjin only."

"Oh? Doesn't Aveline trust him?"

"To a degree, but he still has been acting suspicious lately. Fenris said he's going to try and take Beck out to the Wounded Coast. There they'll do some practicing with the sword. I'm not sure what Varric plans to do with Robbie, I think he and Sebastian will do some work together. Isabela says she's taking Andre out to the Docks. Aveline's going to try and see what Trina wants to do weapon-wise. Sarah fought with knives, but Trina seems built for a sword if she wants to go that route."

"Yeah we'll see. I hope everyone is going to be okay. I really do want to find their ancestor."

Merrill turned onto her back and moved her hands behind her head, sighing as she gazed up at the ceiling. "Sarah is my best friend, they're all practically my only friends." Cat slowly nodded and glanced down at the floor. It seemed they had a lot to learn from their ancestors, maybe they'd be able to pick up on it all. "We all have our reasons, but we rally behind her because she cared for each and every one of us when we needed her. Now she needs our help…"

"She'll be okay Nana Merrill. I promise…I have a good feeling."

"I hope you're right, Cat. I really do."

What are your thoughts on each of the talks with the ancestors? Fenris had a few heavy hitters, that's for sure. Merrill and Cat at least had a calm moment. Tell me your thoughts, do you think there's any chance for Tori's friends to actually make a comeback? At least the guys have a difficult time ahead of them.