Heroes of the Past and Present

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

A/N:

Chapter 8 (The Closest Friend)

Sinjin and Trina sat at a table in the university café, she was gazing down at Lindsay's entry in her address book. Sinjin sipped his drink through a straw and Subway soda cup. "You going to give her a call? Her shoulders lifted and her eyes drifted up to him. Today he didn't have hair gel in but cut his hair to short, neat curls. He was still wearing his contacts, which she liked, it made his eyebrows more prevalent without the glasses.

"I don't know. I'm worried…she left me once before, and you know how I am when it comes to trusting people." Trust no one, that was her philosophy. She'd been scorned far too many times by friends, the men she'd dated, and of course, the list of people who were on her bad side was rather extensive. "People lie, cheat, steal, mock, nobody is truly genuine these days…"

"What about me?"

"You're an exception. I know you." Lindsay's innocent question played at her brain, causing her to move her fingers up to her right temple. She and Sinjin had a complex friendship. They were exceptionally close and incredibly comfortable around each other, so much that she could call him up at three in the morning via phone or webcam just to talk, and he could do so too if he wanted. She cared about him very deeply, but she didn't know how she felt about a relationship with him.

It wasn't him exactly, it was the idea of a relationship in general, and Sinjin understood why. Every guy she ever dated had been some narcissistic asshole who never stayed around with her long. If they didn't turn her down after the first date, saying she wasn't 'normal', then they would lie to her or even date other women at the same time.

The exchange with Beck, Robbie, and Andre hadn't helped that any. There was a video footage of that evening, as her dad had video cameras installed in the house. No police officer at his status would not have cameras and security use in his home. However he never saw the video footage from that day, mostly because there wasn't any suspicious activity in the house. She'd shown it to Sinjin.

Sinjin was never one to be angry, but when he was, she could see it in his eyes. Beck restrained her at one point, holding his arms around her while she was kicking him. When she got out from his hold while Andre and Robbie were 'fighting', was when she called her father and ran into the closet. Sinjin saw that happen in the video, and he was fuming. He had managed to remain stoic, but the fire was clearly burning in his eyes.

It was her second boyfriend that made her the way she was, she hated to be restrained and it took a while for her to get over her fear of being touched. That boyfriend had been controlling and abusive, demanding she tell him everything. It was Lindsay that helped her out most here.

Trina started to smile at the memory, remembering the sandy haired woman getting the beatdown on that man.

Fourteen years old, and terrified of her boyfriend, she hugged herself on his couch at home. Michael threw his hand in the air and she slowly looked up to him. She had a bright shiner on her left eye and wanted to go home to cover it up with makeup, she wasn't going to let her parents or her sister see this. She didn't want anything to happen. "I told you to call me if you're going somewhere. I tried to get in touch with you and you were gone."

"I was at the pool with my family, Michael…" Her phone was hidden in her side pocket, she had taken a moment to text Lindsay while Michael had gone to the bathroom. The freckled brunette stared at her with narrow eyes, his voice raising slightly.

"You didn't let me know."

Just then, the door flew open and Michael turned on his heels. Lindsay's foot was leaving the air and moving back to the ground. "She doesn't have to tell you everything, prick!" Lindsay and Salome came charging inside. It was a flash of brown and red running through the room, surrounding Michael. Both girls had long hair at the time, Lindsay with sandy hair and Salome with wavy red hair. They were thin, but strong, both involved in the school's martial arts program.

They knocked Michael to the floor and Lindsay grabbed him up, throwing him against the wall. "She doesn't call you, you hit her-" She threw one punch into his stomach, followed by a swift kick to his chest. "She doesn't agree, you hit her. She tries to leave, you hit her again." This time Salome dealt a swift blow to his jaw. Trina thought she heard a cracking noise and tried in vain to tear her gaze away from them.

"How does it feel, Mikey-boy? Getting beat by a couple 'chicks'?" Lindsay threw him onto his back and put her foot to his chest. He screamed out, his hands flying to her ankle and his eyes looking up, pleading for her to leave him alone. "You're going to leave her alone, this relationship is over."

"When school starts back up this August, you're done," Salome snapped her fingers in the air and threw her hair back over her shoulder. "We're going to tell everybody what an asshole you are, so all the girls will know how much of a dick you are."

"Right." Lindsay moved over and helped Trina to her feet, "Come on, Trina, let's get out of here."She latched onto her friend and let her lead her outside where the boys were waiting. Quentin and Bryan were leaning against their car, Bryan was one year older than Salome and had his license. Sinjin was nearby as well, he draped a coat around her shoulders. Quentin and Bryan opened up the doors as the others helped her into the car. Lindsay sat beside her and held onto her hand. "When 9th grade starts up, Trina…Salome and I want you to join our martial arts class. Okay?"

"Okay." They'd taught her some martial arts moves over the years they knew each other, the seventh grade, but she never took any classes for it and wasn't as great as she could be. She'd be happy to learn and to be in a class with her friends.

That summer, Salome and Lindsay taught her everything they knew about martial arts. Just days before school started up, Michael had come back to try and win her over. He restrained her a couple times when she didn't comply, but this time, she kicked his ass to the ground. He left her alone after that, showing his true colors, his fears of strong empowered women.

"I think I almost hit Beck that one evening," Trina slowly looked up from her phone and Sinjin leaned back.

"When he and the others pulled that stunt on you and your dad?"

"When he restrained me like that, I thought of Michael for a second. If I didn't remember it was Beck, I would have decked him. I know those three didn't mean any harm, but it still hurt."

"I know, Trina…"

"As for Lindsay, I know she was my greatest friend." Also the true longest, because she truly met Lindsay in the fifth or sixth grade while meeting the others in the seventh. "I don't know…how we drifted apart the way we did, or why…"

"I guess Jade was more influential than we thought. Although, I have to be honest Trina…If any of those guys were to come back to you wanting to be friends again and genuinely apologetic for leaving your side, it would be Lindsay. I'd think she, above everyone else, would be the first."

"It worries me, Sinjin. I don't want to call her…only to find she stays away again."

A soft hum left his lips and his gaze drifted to the sub sandwich before him. "What would your ancestor do, Trina?" She tucked her hair behind her ear and chuckled, he always brought up her 'ancestor' when she had to make a serious decision. Of course she'd told him about those bedtime stories that her dad always read to her. He was fascinated with them.

"Those were children's tales, Sinjin. I don't even know if they existed. Sarah Hawke was legendary in her time. You know how legends are, there's no real proof they existed or didn't exist. Besides…elves, mages, manlike creatures with horns sprouting from their heads? Why are they not here now if they existed?"

"Who knows, maybe those creatures you say are called Qunari were wiped out. I know you said your dad always stated how a massive war between the Mages and Templars wiped them out of the world many years later or something. Elves were already a minority, they probably bred themselves out of existence." She smirked at him.

"You're just hopeful that the stories are real." Trina lifted her sub sandwich and bit into it, listening as he laughed. Remembering his prior question, she swallowed her bite and lowered the sandwich. "As for what my ancestor would do, I don't know. It sounds like she was careful to trust just anyone, but she would do the right thing, if she knew what the right choice was. I don't know what the right choice is. I do not trust people, and I certainly don't trust people who have hurt me in the past."

"Arguments caused by your friends are what made you and Lindsay drift apart. She left because she could deal with the arguments anymore, because she herself was becoming too angry with you. She made a mistake, she acknowledged it over there at the museum I think…It's up to you whether you try to renew your friendship with her, but no one's saying it will be without work. There's a trust that needs to be rebuilt, but if both of you are willing to work on it, then you can rebuild it."

"I guess." She turned off her phone and pushed it into pocket. Lindsay would probably be waiting for her to call, but Trina wanted to think about things first. "It just seems like everyone is…I don't know…even my mom lied to us, if you can remember that."

"I know, Tri." She was lamenting now over the divorce that happened between her parents. It was just a few days after the Spanish show that she was on for a little bit, just after Jade and Trina both decided to join her for one episode. When they went home that night, they saw their father sitting on a couch, his hand over the bottom of his face and misty eyes gazing down at a piece of paper. It was a note from Holly.

She'd written to him, saying she was leaving him for Officer Gary, and she didn't think she loved him anymore. He received divorce papers the next morning, and the fights between the two parents escalated each time they met. Neither Tori or Trina wanted to go and be with Holly, both girls stayed with their father, for him and for each other. It was the last they saw of Holly, they didn't talk to her or even visit her, and for good reason. How could they trust her after what she did to their father?

"Well Trina…I have something that will get your mind off all of this." She raised an eyebrow, leaning forward eagerly as he started fiddling around his pants pocket. Much to her surprise, he pulled out two tickets to a Shakira concert. Her eyes widened and her lips stretched into a wide grin. "Two tickets to Shakira, she's coming to LA in a couple weeks. I won these off a contest on the radio."

"Oh my god!" She grabbed the tickets and got up from her seat, running around the table and throwing her arms around him in a tight hug. He leaned to the right, laughing despite her squealing in his ear. "I love you so much right now, Sinji! Shakira!" The people in the café were suddenly staring at the two of them, but she didn't care. She was going to get to see her favorite singer in the world!

"Oh, you love me now?"

Her cheeks flared up and she hurried back to her seat, fawning over the two tickets. "Shut up and let me enjoy my moment."

"Considering it was a radio contest, those tickets are a little more special. Take a look on the other side." She raised an eyebrow and flipped the tickets over, her heart began to beat at a rapid pace as her eyes danced over the word 'backstage'. She began to fan herself with her hand while Sinjin merely smirked. "Those will also let you backstage, you get to meet Shakira."

"Oh…my…god! Sinji, I could kiss you!"

"I wouldn't complain." She laughed again, continuing her laughter for several minutes before finally calming down. She handed him the tickets and his eyebrow rose.

"Hold on to these, I so don't trust myself with them. Put them in, like, your little safe back home." One of his many quirks and habits was that he was very meticulous about everything. He needed everything to be where he knew it, and he had a safe he purchased that he left in his bedroom. Literally everything he had was in there. Including his bug collection. He did have many collections, though not quite as extravagant as most people thought.

For instance, the 'presidential teeth' that he told Robbie about was just for fun. Those were fake teeth that he and Trina managed to get from his dentist. He wanted to see what people would think of him after that. The 'chewed gum' on his locker a few years ago was something that became an inside joke between the two of them. All the gum was hers, she just kept putting her gum on his locker and he decided to stop trying to scrape it off after she kept putting fresh gum over the newly cleansed spot.

He did still have his weird habits and was severely OCD, the gum was intentionally messing with his OCD at first to get him used to disorderly and items that were not clean or perfectly structured. It worked a bit, but he still had to make sure things were clean or neat and orderly. Whenever she visited his house, she never noticed anything out of place. His little sister was even worse than he was about it!

"All right, I'll hold onto them, but don't you forget." He took the tickets and pushed them back into his wallet. "You and me, that Shakira concert."

"Oh you know I won't forget." He moved his elbows onto the table and folded his hands over each other, resting his chin on them.

"Or…you could take Lindsay if you wanted. Wasn't she also a fan of Shakira?"

"She introduced me to her, yeah. I think I'd rather go with you, though…" She'd think on it, it wasn't something she felt like debating at the moment. "I don't even know if I'm going to be talking to her yet." She would consider her sister, Tori, but the girl didn't like Shakira all that much. Tori might not have too much fun, or if anything, make it all about her. Then again, Tori probably wouldn't want to go with her anyway, or even find a way to fish those tickets for herself so she could go and take someone else, making Trina without them altogether. While Tori didn't seem the type to go that far, she just simply didn't know anymore. "Sinjin. You amaze me sometimes."

"Thank you." He ran his hand through his hair, flashing a cocky grin. "I know I do." She closed her eyes and lifted her eyebrows, playfully kicking his thigh. He let out a grunt and bowed his head. "Yep, had that coming."

What are your thoughts on the insights learned here.