Disclaimer: I do not own Victorious, for if I do, it would not have ended the way it did. Jori.
A/N 1: This is NOT a standalone. Please read The accused before reading this, otherwise this will make no sense whatsoever. Or you know what, read on anyway. You've been warned.
Despite Cat not being known for telling lies, I decided to tail her anyway. Bibble redemption coupons? Sounds like an obvious fib.
Not that I was being overly suspicious or anything, but Cat did look more skittish than usual. I slipped out of the school behind her, careful to keep my distance as she stomped off.
At least the entire journey was uneventful as Cat headed on the route to her home.
I followed Cat all the way to her front door, hiding behind a short wall. She was opening her front door. Should I make my presence known?
"Cat! Wait up!"
"Tori? What are you doing here? I don't think I want a sleepover today, sorry."
"Well, I just saw you fighting with Meredith in school. Do you want to talk about it?"
Cat nodded, opening the door for me. I stepped inside before her, looking expectantly at her as she bolted her front door shut. She led me upstairs to her room, then just sat on her bed, cradling Mr Purple in her arms. I really hope she starts talking first. Asking her if she lied about the bibble redemption coupons seemed like such a bad idea right now.
"Tori, do you know that Mr Purple is actually a gift from Beck?"
I held my breath. "Beck gave you Mr Purple?"
"Yeah. Just like Mr Long Neck was from Jade."
"But, it's the same giraffe, right?"
"No, it isn't." Cat reached down to a drawer under her bed, pulling out a brown giraffe stuffed toy. "This is Mr Long Neck."
"So… Why did Beck give you Mr Purple?"
At the mention of Beck, Cat started tearing up. I sat down beside her, patting her back. Cat continued sniffling for a while before looking up at me.
"Beck is like a big brother to me. He convinced Jade to get me Mr Long Neck as an apology for ripping up my Sky store catalogue previously. Mr Purple was a birthday present from him."
"So… You don't like like Beck?"
Cat tilted her head up at me. "What do you mean?"
"Like… boyfriend girlfriend sort of like."
Cat shook her head. "No. He was always there for me. Like making sure Jade was around to remind Robbie not to play pirates with me. He is the big brother I never had. Sometimes, I wish that he is my real brother, instead of the weird one I currently have."
She flipped Mr Purple's ear idly before continuing. "One time, he beat up three guys who were trying to peek on me while I was peeing in the girl's bathroom."
"Can you tell me about the bibble redemption coupons? Did he seriously keep those for you?"
"Yea. He said I have an addictive personality, whatever that is. In fact, he was the one who convinced my parents to hire Oliver as my bibble guard. He could not resist me begging for bibble, so he made a deal with the bibble shop to allow me to get bibble once per week with a coupon."
I rubbed my forehead. So Cat did not lie. I hoped she did know something about what happened to Beck. "Cat, since you are so close to Beck, did you see or hear anything suspicious before what happened to him on Friday?"
Cat hugged the purple plush toy close to her chest. "No, not really. He didn't really talk much to me ever since breaking up with Jade. He seems pretty happy with Meredith though. I saw them walking around hand in hand when we went for lunch on Friday."
Her eyes suddenly sparkled. "It's the same thing with Jade and you, actually. Both of you are disappearing from our table during lunch too."
I felt something hot wash over my face. Had we been so obvious? "Well… "
Cat went back to stroking Mr Purple. "Jadey can be mean when she is angry. I just hope she is not the one who killed Beck."
She soon began to cry again. I held her as she cried herself to sleep.
It was almost eleven when I finally reached home. I'm not sure if I made the right decision to talk to Cat. On one hand, I was glad that Cat was definitely not involved in Beck's murder, but it could be somewhat considered a wasted evening since I was nowhere closer to solving the mystery.
My eyebrows rose in surprise when I saw him sitting on the couch, holding the remote in his hand. "Dad? You're home early. I thought you said the earliest you would be back is next morning."
"Yeah, the case is finally closed. I can finally take a day off."
My chest tensed up at hearing that. "The case is… closed? What do you mean?"
"Jade confessed to killing Beck. Said she did it out of jealousy of Beck and Meredith's new couple status. Our good cop bad cop routine worked on her. I knew she would crack eventually."
I fell back on the couch, feeling like I had just been shot through my heart. I failed Jade. She broke under the pressure and confessed. She really became the murderer.
Things moved really fast after that. I pleaded with my dad to allow me to talk to Jade again, but he refused. He said he couldn't let me even if he wanted to, since the case was out of his hands at that point.
Jade's trial date was set for the day after Beck's burial. Henry West refused to represent her in the trial, and she was assigned a rookie lawyer with zero experience on homicide cases.
Jade looked so defeated during her trial. She refused to speak or look at anyone, keeping her head down throughout.
With the intense pressure from the Canadians, as well as the damning character witnesses from all of Beck's admirers including Meredith, the case was quickly concluded. The jury took less than three hours to deliberate over their decision. Jade was found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to death by lethal injection.
I tried to stalk the various people who stuffed their letters into Beck's locker for the following months, hoping to find any clue to help Jade, but they all came to dead ends. It was as if Jade really did murder Beck.
I didn't really stay in touch with anyone from Hollywood Arts after that. My ex-best friend André was especially pissed at me, since I refused to sing the eulogy at Beck's funeral with him, insisting on Jade's innocence instead. I wasn't very sure what happened to Cat, but I heard Robbie ended up with Meredith.
It has been six years since Jade's trial. I haven't seen her at all ever since she got sent to San Quentin. I have been trying all this time to get an approval for a visitation, but she has refused any visitor so far. I tried writing letters to her as well, but I'm not even sure if she was even getting them, since there were no replies of any sort. I heard from my dad that she refused to appeal her death sentence, and was getting into fights all over the place for the first six months in there.
It took over seventy rejections, one for every month, until she had finally agreed to a visit from me. Being a Grade A prisoner, she was allowed a physical contact visitation.
The loud clangs from some metal hitting the floor pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked up to see a pale and sickly looking woman clad in a bright orange jumpsuit, with both her wrists and ankles cuffed together, being ushered into the small grey room.
The skinny woman that stood in front of me looked nothing like the Jade I remembered. Her black hair had returned to its natural brown color, and she was looking at the floor. The familiar aura of Jade wasn't there.
"Jade?"
She looked up at me. It was her, but not her. Her eyes were hollow, all the light in them were gone. It was like looking at a walking corpse of a person.
"You have an hour, West." The officer slammed the door shut behind her.
I motioned for Jade to sit down on the chair next to me. She wordlessly plopped into the chair, looking at the chains holding her wrists together.
She did not resist as I pulled her into a hug. "I am so sorry, Jade. I failed you. I tried looking for clues all over, but I just could not find anything at all."
Jade rested her chin on my shoulder as I held her, never moving the entire time. I could not help the tears falling from my eyes. Her body felt so cold.
We just sat there holding that position quietly, with neither of us saying anything after that. There was a knock on the door as a warden's head popped into the slit of the slightly ajar door before it slammed shut again. "Two minutes, West."
Jade pulled herself away from our embrace. Looking straight at into my eyes, she grabbed my hand, squeezing it slightly. "Goodnight, Tori. Take care of yourself. Don't wait up."
"What?"
She pressed her lips into a grim smile, before releasing my hand. Standing up, she turned away from me, not looking back as two burly wardens dragged her out of the room.
I left the prison, feeling a deep ache I could not lift from my chest.
The news came barely a day later from my father. Jade West was found dead in her cell, her throat slit by her own hand with a shiv made of plastic spoons.
Jade was gone. All because I failed her.
That was three months ago, it was all I could think of ever since. The same thing I can only think of as I stand next to her unmarked grave.
"I am sorry, Jade."
The wind howled behind my back as I look up at the noose tied onto the branch of the big oak tree beside her.
"I'm coming."
A/N 2: This entire fic is inspired by those ancient CYOA (Choose Your Own Adventures) kind of stories. Unfortunately for me, I am unable to do anything else, including a long overdue 600 word essay until I have finished this.
I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Reviews are welcome! Or you can read both endings and tell me which you like better.
Women on death row in California are actually held in CCWF, but let's face it: Everyone knows San Quentin. Who actually knows what CCWF is?
Constructive criticism about my writing skills, or lack thereof, are welcome, as always.
Condemnation of pairings however… Let's not even start sliding down this slippery slope. Just stay far, far away from those cliffs.
Don't like this ending? Try the other one: Path of Meredith
Special thanks to ScottyBGood for your 'Continue'. It helped, kinda. I can't say I'm totally displeased with how it turned out.
Peace out!