Heroes of the Past and Present

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

A/N:

Chapter 25 (Moving Forward)

"Still despise these things," Aveline muttered while holding onto Jade's cell phone. Donnic was standing beside her, rubbing his chin as he studied the gadget. Jade couldn't help but to laugh, this gave a whole new meaning to the typical teaching grandparents of technology. At least grandparents in her time had some inclination of what technology was. "Look at this, Donnic! The phone makes random noises when you hit one of these buttons…"

Sitting on the couch in their house, Jade held her attention on a book she was reading. It was hard to pay attention to the book when she was listening to them fumble over her telephone, but at the very least, it was amusing. She was reading one of the first editions of a book written in this time called The Master of Game by Edward of Norwich, the 2nd Duke of York, circa 1406 and 1413. It was a book on hunting. Granted this manuscript was written centuries before it was translated into modern English in the 1900s, it still had some pictures that Jade understood rather well. Usually if she had questions, she'd just ask Aveline or Donnic if they could translate for her. Some books they had, she could obviously read and understand. The issue with this was, she was trying to learn to read and translate this old English, and she was starting to understand as Aveline and Donnic were teaching her.

The Master of Game is easily the oldest English-language book on hunting, and is an essay on Medieval hunting. She recalled its mention in history class one day when she heard Theodore Roosevelt rather enjoyed this book. Perhaps no one would believe her if she ever said she read the original manuscripts! It was exciting.

Donnic walked over and sat beside her, chuckling as her eyes scanned the page. "You'd think you would be more lethargic without use of all your modern day stuff." She tore her gaze form the page and shrugged her shoulders. Sure she missed having a television or her laptop, but it was not a big deal to her, she was fascinated enough by all that surrounded her. Like Sinjin, and even Trina, she enjoyed the history.

"I can live without, for a little bit. I've never been much of a reader, though. I'll admit to that. Though, it seems there's not much else to do."

It was an off day for them, and it felt different not having to patrol the city streets in the heavy guard armor. She'd taken to wearing the old style clothing they had, which was nowhere as itchy as she thought the clothing would be. She was wearing a long medieval dress with short sleeves, something she never thought she'd wear in a million years.

She'd taught Aveline and Donnic to take a picture with the phone and had them photograph her in the dress. They accidentally hit a button that sent the picture to Tori and her friends, and since the enchanting of the phones was so successful, they each wrote back with short teases. All except Andre and Sinjin, she had to wonder what those two were up to.

"Haven't seen much of that boy lately," Donnic spoke of Beck and crossed his arms. The man hadn't been happy to hear what Aveline essentially walked in on, more so because it was his descendent, and Jade admitted that her father had no idea it was going on. "What's going on with him, anything?"

"Um…" She moved her eyes back to the book, her lips dipped down and her heart started to sink. "We're taking a break." They spoke about their relationship when the others went to talk with Orsino and Meredith. She didn't want to be with someone that just wanted sex, and he needed to understand that. He also needed to understand that she wanted to be on Trina's good side and wanted him to respect that, but she didn't think it would be good to do so while he had done something so egregious to her as he had in that video. She needed some time to think about their relationship, because she was trying to change. Could she change and still be with him? Would he respect her changes? She didn't know, but she needed to work on herself before she could focus on a serious relationship, and he needed to work on himself. That was what was to be clear. "I'm trying to make an effort to change, and I need some space, some time…to make the changes in myself that I need to. I can't do that and focus on a relationship with someone else that also has a lot of work to do on himself."

Donnic gave her a reassuring smile and pat her shoulder, "Give it time. I think you're right to give it some space to work on yourself. Maybe he'll work on whatever issues he has, and who knows, maybe in the future if things work out…Just, remember, you're not Isabela's descendent." She laughed lightly and shook her head, well aware what he meant by the statement. It was no secret that Isabela was a very sexual person. Even now the ancestors would joke with Isabela about whether or not she was pregnant yet, considering the fact that she does have a descendent. Isabela would often joke back that she probably had more descendents than any of them.

"Granddad, I am not a sexual natured person. I'm still a virgin…for the record. I don't think Beck's the person I want to give myself too, either, at least not right now. I want to wait until marriage."

"That is admirable. Also…can you call me something other than 'granddad', 'grandpa', or any of the forms of 'grand'? I'm not that old!" She laughed and reached over, hugging Donnic. There was no chance in hell she was calling him anything else, she didn't know what else there was to call him.

Suddenly her cell phone chimed and Aveline jumped up, letting out a loud shriek. "I swear to god I am going to shatter this damn thing!" Jade quickly shot up and grabbed the phone, shooting Aveline and apologetic look. Aveline put her hands to her hips and glared at the device. "So which one of them is sending a…um…letter? Call?"

"It's a text message," She replied, glancing at the phone. It a message from Andre. She opened the text and lifted her eyebrows. Andre and Sinjin were in a cave not far out of Kirkwall with Isabela and Anders. "Andre and Sinjin found something out, but they're in the middle of a fight!"

"What?!"

"They're in a cave outside Kirkwall with Isabela and Anders, they were seeking out the last Grand Cleric. They found out who the woman gave the child to, but then the woman transformed into some sort of abomination…Isabela's unconscious and apparently Anders is struggling."

"Shit. Can he tell you the location of the cave?" Already a step ahead, she started to send a message back. As soon as she was about to hit send, Andre was calling. She flipped her hair back and put the phone to her ear.

"Andre what's going on?" Sounds of stone shattering on walls pierced her eardrums. Something was screeching in the background and Anders was yelling while Sinjin was asking what Andre was doing. "Where are you? Where's the cave?"

"Shouldn't be far from you guys! It's literally the first open cave outside Hightown. This crazy woman just transformed into a fucking monster! I'm beginning to see why she was kicked out of the Chantry. Can you get some help? Quickly?"

"Hightown?" Jade looked to Aveline, snapping her fingers in thought. "Where are Trina and Tori? They're not in Hightown today are they?" They were currently in Hightown, but Jade was asking for who they could call for backup.

"No," Aveline replied, "Sebastian said he was taking them over to Ferelden where Sarah grew up in. He was curious if there were any clues there. I believe Merrill said she was going to be in Hightown today to do some shopping at the Hightown markets. I know Fenris is outside Hightown right now, he's been taking Beck around those caves on a daily basis for training."

"Right…So we'll signal Beck to help real quick until we can get there, hopefully we can reach Cat and signal her and Merrill to start heading over. It sounds like they're facing some kind of giant monster…"

"Whatever you do, hurry it up!" Andre pleaded. He let out a scream as something struck the rock above him. "We're fighting a losing battle here."

"On our way."

It wasn't long before they managed to make it, just shortly after Cat and Merrill. Beck and Fenris had clearly arrived first. When Jade and Aveline made it, they were startled to see everyone fighting what appeared to be a twenty foot stone golem. Anders was sitting against a wall, grimacing as he held on to his right arm. He was still able to use his right hand to fire off some shots of electricity. His left hand had a white glow around it, slowly healing his wounds. Isabela lay beside him, unconscious. Andre was running around the golem's legs, slashing with his blades. Fenris and Beck were continually leaping up and slashing at the creature, slowly eroding it. Cat and Merrill were striking the demon with many different elemental blasts as well, so clearly the tide was starting to turn.

Jade drew her sword and watched the golem's fist fly towards Beck and Fenris. The two men jumped out of the way and slashed their swords at the wrist, managing to slice through it. "We need to separate the head," Jade muttered instinctively. "That has to be it." She searched the cave for Sinjin, curious as to where he was. Likely Trina wouldn't be thrilled if something happened to her. "Grandma Ave, do you see Sinjin anywhere."

"Yes. He's up there!" Aveline pointed to the demon's shoulder and Jade's eyes widened. Sinjin had managed to get on the very top of the golem, without it realizing.

"Shit! Sinjin, get down from there! I do not want to have to be the one to tell Trina you got yourself killed!" Sinjin shrugged it off and focused his hands at the demon's neck, his palms facing outwards. The golem stopped it's movements and slowly turned its head towards Sinjin. "Shit! Get down from there!"

She ran for the golem, brandishing her sword in the air. In the corner of her eyes, she saw a strange white light shoot out from Cat and Merrill, the same beam left Anders's hand and struck the golem. Sinjin mimicked this, and altogether, a white aura surrounded the golem. Jade froze in place and watched as the Golem began to tremble. The warriors bolted out of the way as large amounts of rubble and stone began to fall from it.

The mages closed their hands and instantly pulled their arms back. With that, the golem separated into hundreds of rocks. Sinjin quickly began his descent, hopping from stone to stone until he made it to the ground.

Jade was relieved to see them all safe, and watched with great concern as the rocks crashed down onto the ground. Everyone surrounded Anders and Isabela, Aveline immediately wanted to know what the situation was like. Sinjin spoke first.

"We came to see if the former Grand Cleric had any ideas where the son might be, she was living here for some reason and guarded by a bunch of darkspawn. Turns out, she was a demon herself…not pleasant. It's a good thing you guys showed up when you did…Good to know you people have my back…"

"Of course we do," Jade remarked, "What did you think we all followed you guys in for? What did you find out? Are we any closer to finding Sarah?"

"We may be." He crossed his arms and turned down his chin in contemplation. "Has anyone here ever been to Orlais? There was a couple that lived there twenty something years ago named Guillaume and Dulci de Launcet. The Grand Cleric dropped the child off with them."

Aveline's jaw dropped and Merrill put her hand to her forehead, "They don't live in Orlais anymore," Merrill muttered. "The De Launcet family lives here in Kirkwall, but the only son they had was Emile de Launcet."

"A rather sad and pathetic case," Isabela was finally waking. She had her hand on her head and was groaning as Anders attempted to heal her wounds. "We found him getting drunk over at the Hanged Man, his stupidity is more dangerous than he was. He was one of the three mages that were reported to Meredith as being labeled 'dangerous', but he didn't practice blood magic or anything like that. We persuaded him to just go back to the circle, he claimed he only spread rumors about blood magic to look tough. There's no possible way he could be related to Meredith or Orsino, for that matter."

"Are you sure about that?" Beck asked. "How can you know?"

"He looks nothing like Orsino or Meredith," Aveline answered. "He has red hair like his mother and father, looks exactly like Guillaume, and is incredibly moronic. Not to mention, Orsino and Meredith would have recognized him the minute he returned to the circle…Meredith probably, a mother knows her child."

"Not to mention, he's only about eighteen," Fenris folded his arms and lifted his shoulders, "Nowhere near old enough to have been the same child we heard about. However, if that family is the one that the last Grand Cleric gave the baby to, we need to question them. It's possible he left home at some point of time."

"Worth looking around. A great job on the lead…Isabela, can you move?"

Isabela sat up, groaning as she did so, "I can try." It wouldn't be long before she was healed anyhow, Anders seemed to be pretty good in healing magic. Isabela let out a grunt and exhaled slowly, "Just when you thought you were done with the de Launcet family…"

After everyone's wounds were healed, the group started to leave the cave. This was going to be a hellish story for Trina and Tori, but it would be important to let them know exactly what's been going on. Beck pulled Jade to the side, walking with her alongside the others. "What is it, Beck?"

"I wanted to talk…about us, is that all right?" He looked hopeful, and a bit downtrodden. She breathed in a heavy sigh and shook her head. It broke her heart to turn him down, but she needed the time.

"I told you how I felt already, you need to respect that."

"I know, I just…Is there a chance at all for the future? I don't want to lose you, Jade."

"Then you know what's needed. Right now, I just need time to work on myself. I need space…I want to see if you'll do that too…"

"Anything Jade, I'll do anything." She smiled sadly and hugged him, the rest stopped to watch. She stepped back from him, gazing into his sad eyes. "I love you, Jade. I do…"

"Then leave it at that. I love you too, but I need time. We have more important things to worry about right now…maybe after all of this, we'll see what happens…"

She tore away from him before her heart could break any further, and hurried beside Aveline. She felt the woman's hand on her shoulder and glanced over, struggling to keep from tearing up. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine…Let's just get out of here."

So everyone is safe, and Jade's calling it off with Beck for now. What are your observations of this chapter? Everyone came together to help Sinjin, that's got to earn some points for them.