Heroes of the Past and Present

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

A/N:

Chapter 15 (Ambushed)

"How much would money from the future be translated into, I wonder?" Trina eyed a merchant shop in the middle of Hightown, curious as to whether or not she should consider buying weapons. She had no money that would have been worth anything here, so it was a bit of an issue for her. The merchants were waving at her as though they were familiar with her, it was only a slight bit uncomfortable for her, but she had to figure it would be this way considering her wardrobe.

Her ancestor had been wearing Plate Armor at the time, she was wearing a different armored suit that her ancestor had stashed away. This was what Aveline had called Champion Armor, made specifically for Sarah Hawke. It felt weird trudging around with heavy armor plates, greaves, boots. The helmet, she left back home since she wasn't doing any major fighting. As for the reason she was wearing such thick armor, she just wanted to get the feel for wearing this stuff.

Not only was it heavy, but at first she had a hell of a time walking without falling to the ground. How Sarah got around in this, she didn't know. "Champion!" Her ears perked up and she closed her eyes, listening to the woman calling out behind her. At first she wasn't aware she was calling for her, but there really wasn't anyone else around other than the merchants. "Champion please!"

"Oh shit…what do I do? I just wanted to get a feel for the place." Hightown looked like any typical castle town with high grey walls and stone walkways. She turned to the woman and mustered the best smile she could as this woman in green cloth came rushing up to her.

"Champion, someone needs your help! At the chantry courtyard, a child's climbed up into a tree and is scared to get down!" She raised an eyebrow at the woman, resisting the urge to scoff at the cry for help. Was Sarah really reduced to helping children and pets out of trees on her time off?

Now. Which way was the chantry?

She moved her arm up, letting out a slight grunt as her arms worked with the weight. How much was on her? Sixty pounds, maybe? "Lead the way…"

"Oh thank you. Please, hurry!" The woman started running off to the right and Trina quickly followed, glancing over her shoulder. She would have run off to the left, thinking the Chantry would be that way. She looked back to the woman and lifted her eyes skyward, realizing the Chantry was where Sebastian was staying. Why not ask him for help?

Upon further investigation, the woman's clothing consisted of a long green robe with light green gloves. She felt something tighten inside of her, urging her to stop running. The best she had were two cheap ass knives, basic daggers that looked more plastic than sharp. There had to be a reason Sarah kept them stashed away in a storage chest. They were useless. They were the only thing she could find to work with, however.

When they arrived in the Chantry courtyard, she could see no tree with a child nearby. Concerned that she'd been fooled, she stopped running and started to step back, thinking it might be a good idea to flee now while she still had a chance. The woman turned to face her, a new expression on her once frenzied face. There was now present a clear, venomous anger. Tense lines appeared on the woman's nose as her eyebrows created a wrinkle and her eyes narrowed down.

"Champion Hawke…You made the wrong move in siding with Meredith back at the Gallows. You should know she is just going to destroy us."

"Oh shit…it's a fucking ambush!" Great, her first day, and she gets ambushed with little to nothing as far as weaponry goes. To top it off, by a possible mage. This possibility was confirmed when the woman reached into her robe and removed a silver staff. Sweat dripped from the side of her head, her heart began to race. More mages started walking from the shadows, further instilling fear into her. "Shit! Shit, shit, shit! This is what Aveline meant by never walking alone. You don't expect an ambush in daylight, do you?!"

"Have you nothing to say for yourself, Champion?" She lifted a finger, her eyes darted around the area. Her body began to despair and her heart quickly sank down.

"Um…yeah-I…You'd attack me in broad daylight? Really?" There were about five mages surrounding her, each wielding a staff. The woman had blood magic swirling around her body, her lips were stretched into a wide, toothy grin. "Come on guys, this is my day off!" On the other hand, she could tell them she wasn't the Champion. It wasn't a full out lie, but it might not be helpful to admit to anyone that Sarah was in danger herself. "I'm really not in a mood to fight either…"'

"Do you think we care? Kill the Champion!" She rolled her eyes and quickly withdrew her blades, throwing them in front of her face as one mage swung their staff down onto her. She deflected the staff, but was pushed back some by it. The weight of the armor started pulling her back and she quickly had to regain her balance before toppling onto her face. She let out a scream as she did this, finally catching her balance after turning into a full circle. The mages gawked at her and the woman raised an eyebrow. "Are you drunk or something?"

"No, no, it's just…new armor. You know how that goes." She chuckled nervously and closed her eyes, trying to calm down. She was going to have to find a way to ignore the weight of the armor, or at the very least, use it to her advantage. Not to mention, using her martial arts skills as well.

Fighting, Martial arts, it was very movement oriented. It would be necessary to keep a forward movement, and with heavy armor, that would make forward movement even heavier against whatever she was coming up against. It wasn't like she was wearing warrior armor either, she was wearing armor that still enabled her to do certain things she had learned to do in the past, such as performing backflips, or even cart-wheels.

With a subtle smirk, she straightened herself and bounced the daggers in the air. "All right. You want a fight, I'll give you a fight."

"It's strange, something's different about her," One of the mages commented on her appearance, which startled her. She still knew better than to let on that she wasn't Sarah, but it did make her wonder how long it would last. "It could be that she's alone and not with her companions."

"Allies? Yeah…" Well, Sinjin wasn't in Hightown right now, and Tori was still sleeping when she left the estate. As for the rest? Well, she could have gone to Fenris and asked for him to show her around, but then she would have to be in the presence of Beck, and he was one of the last people she needed to deal with. "I guess they're all just busy right now."

"Either way, she's fighting alone, it is our opportunity." The mages charged her once more. Thinking fast, she dodged their attack, moving with her armor and keeping her balance with ease. She countered by swinging her right blade down against the woman's back, but it barely cut into her.

She gasped as the woman twisted around, peering at her slit robe. The woman cracked out a laugh and Trina's confidence fell remarkably. "Serves me right…choosing shitty blades."

"What was that? The Champion has lost her touch!" The mages laughed, further damaging her morale. She shrank back, feeling a lump form in her throat. She started to shout back, but no amount of anger would keep these mages from attacking her.

Suddenly, a shadow fell over them, followed by an arrow that struck the woman in the right shoulder. Trina yelped and looked back to see Sebastian standing on top of a nearby set of steps, his eyes narrow and arms pulling back strongly on his bow. "Step away from my child," he muttered. He released another arrow, snapping it into the woman's forehead. Trina's eyes widened and the mages instantly turned to him.

A rallying cry rang out in the air, startling her and the mages. When she turned, she saw Aveline and Jade, both in Guard Armor, running with Aveline's husband Donnic and the other Guardsman, Brennan. The mages were overcome as swords flew through the air, slashing them. The three women, and Guardsman Donnic forced them into retreat while Sebastian continued shooting arrow after arrow at the mages.

The first thought on her mind was how close she'd come to being killed on her first day here, then she felt a string of envy over the fact that Jade was fighting remarkably well with her own sword and shield.

After the mages were gone, the others turned to her, all a bit a miffed in their expressions. "Are you all right?" Sebastian asked. She pulled her hair back over her shoulders and slowly nodded, glancing over to Jade.

"How on earth is Jade…"

"Oh," Jade motioned to Donnic and Aveline, "My great-grandma and great-grandpa. Aveline put me on Donnic's route last night to give me a taste of the guards. He and Brennan-" Brennan was the short haired brunette standing at ease beside Aveline, "-Showed me how gave me some great tips. We even fought off a couple groups of thugs last night."

"I see…"

Aveline cleared her throat and stepped forward, folding her arms over her chest. "Did I not explicitly say no one is to travel alone? Fenris is right next door. I know you have some grievances with Beck, Jade, and the others, but you are going to have to find a way to put those aside or someone is going to be seriously injured! If I hadn't decided to venture into Hightown at this hour, then look what could have happened! You've got teams, you need to use them, despite whatever upsets you may have with them."

"I just wanted to check out the shops and find out what this place was like, Tori wasn't even awake yet. I suppose I should have waited. Sorry."

"No, I'm sorry." Aveline rubbed her forehead and sighed deeply. "It's just, to state the obvious, people are going to be after Sarah's head. No matter what, someone's going to be after her, whether she had sided with Mages or Templars. No one knows that she's not even here anymore, that she's hidden away somewhere, and right now…you bear a strong resemblance to your ancestor. They see you walking around, especially in her armor, they might attack you. That is why you have your allies with you."

"Power in numbers," Donnic added, "It is better to have more people with you in a fight than to go at it alone. Especially if you are not prepared." He pointed to her daggers and she grimaced. "Those are nothing fancy."

"Nothing fancy at all." Aveline shuddered as she took the daggers from Trina's hands. "Sarah got rid of these as quickly as she could, literally the minute she entered Kirwall, she was looking for better weapons." Trina was embarrassed to the point that she wanted to crawl under a rock. She hadn't listened to Aveline's prior advice and did something so foolish that it literally cost her a life. "I don't mean to come down too hard on you, but you have to understand…you're not equipped or prepared yet, you have a lot to learn before you can just start fighting."

"I know that, I'm sorry…I guess I didn't think about it."

"It's fine. Let's get you back to the estate, I'm sure there's a lot to discuss. The others are probably out training right now and I'm sure your sister's wondering where you're at. The last thing we want is her roaming around by herself."

Her eyes widened and she quickly moved her hand over her mouth, having forgotten about what they'd studied. "Oh god, we read about the Circle last night. We have to make sure she hasn't left!" She immediately started to run off, thanking Aveline for her help, as well as Donnic, Brennan, and Sebastian. Jade simply shrugged off the fact that she didn't acknowledge her, and followed after them.

When they returned to the Estate, Tori was indeed still at the house with the baby. She looked up to the group with a bright smile, "Oh there you are Trina. I was wondering where you took off to."

"Well everything's fine now," Jade leaned against a wall leaning her head back against it and gazing at the wooden stairwell. "Have to stick together though, no one splitting up anymore."

"Sounds good to me."

"We're heading to Darktown soon," Aveline replied. Trina's heart skipped a beat and her lips turned up into a tiny smile. Sinjin had truly been on her mind all night, leaving her unable to sleep without being able to know if he was okay with Anders. Now she could see how he was faring with his first night! "We're going to drop you off with Anders and Sinjin, then all of us will be heading back to the Barracks. I will be organizing a patrol so Trina, you can train. My men will provide you with some more appropriate weapons."

She had no arguments and was ready to go into battle. This was something she was longing for, to get started and to be able to hurry the hell up and get her ancestor home safe. "Aveline, if I can suggest one thing though. Should we at least let Sarah's Uncle Gamlen know what's going on?" Aveline's face softened and her arms lowered to her sides.

"I suppose it is necessary. However, I'm not sure how he would take that news. He may be an incorrigible prick, but he does still love his niece dearly. Sarah and Bethany lost their brother, Carver already as well as their father, and their mother was murdered a few years ago. With Bethany being dragged off to the Circle, I am not sure how he'd take the news that he may be losing Sarah as well."

"We still have to be there for him. I mean…" She moved her hands to her chest, chuckling nervously as she tried to use herself as a point. "I'd think that I, and Tori would be enough to show him things would be all right. We're his descendents. Not that anyone in this day and age would believe it…"

"Actually you'd be surprised what people would believe, with magic such a frequent issue."

"I suppose so, but we still can't leave him out…he needs to know we're doing something to get her back."

"She's right," Jade responded. Trina scrunched her nose and slanted her eyes at the girl, still suspicious of her intentions. "We can't leave him out of the know, not when it comes to his family. I mean…what if something happens? What if we can't make it in time? Are we going to just tell him then and then have him asking why no one tried to do anything to help her?" Jade, surprisingly, had a very strong point. Trina was speechless. "It would be better he know something is up and people are trying to do something for her, than for him to know nothing and think nobody even bothered to save the one last relative he knew about."

Aveline rubbed her chin and began to pace, nodding her head. "Okay, I see your point." She stopped her pacing and stood straight, clearing her throat. "Then our first stop will be to head to Lowtown, it is not far. We'll inform Gamlen what's going on, and let him know that there is still some hope. After that, we're off to Darktown. That's the plan…Everyone, stay together. No exceptions…"

A close call on Trina's part, it is a good thing the others showed up when they did. Well what are you thinking? Your opinions are more than welcome