Heroes of the Past and Present
Disclaimer: Do not own Victorious, do not own the video game
A/N: This chapter is going to answer some ongoing questions. It deals with what's going on in present day, and also shows at least one descendent of the companions from Dragon Age: Origins. You remember me mentioning the quote from Morrigan (one of those companions), she's a part of the theory.
Chapter 27 (One Theory)
Back in Las Vegas, David eyed the portal still sitting in his living room. It had only been a day for him, and was currently two in the afternoon. He was tempted to follow through the portal, but had not done so, and nothing had come through. He was trusting his daughters to be safe, and trusting Tori's friends to keep them safe. If they could be trusted with anything, that is, it would be that task alone.
David had been doing some research in his old storybooks and came to the conclusion that at some point of time all these stories had been real. That meant, cattle-like men, ogres, demons, and even elves existed at one point of time. There was a search going on now to find out any information on why these things were wiped out. So far, one person had sent him an email, someone whose parent was recently employed with the law enforcement.
It was crazy to put out any kind of announcement requesting information for something so trivial, and he was surprised to find not many thought he was nuts. He thought it was nuts. As he sipped his coffee, he turned away from the portal and moved towards the couch. His desire for adventure was powerful, almost overwhelming, but he knew he would be a liability if he went through that portal.
The doorbell rang and he got up to answer. When he did, a small group of mothers and fathers walked in. Jade's father, Beck's father, Cat's mother, Andre's grandmother, Sinjin's sister was the only one out of place. Robbie's mother was the last to enter. Each person stared at the portal with shock on their faces. David let out a heavy sigh and walked around them.
Denise Harris was jittery as usual and jumped for the couch upon seeing the portal, the others remained silent. Rebecca Shapiro and Courtney Van Cleef practically fainted on the spot while Henry West and Manny Oliver simply looked to David for an explanation. "You called us here," Henry reported, "What is it? You said it had to do with our children, are they safe?"
"I believe they are…come with me, and stay close. I'm going to show you something…" He wasn't too keen on what he was going to do, but the only way he could explain and have them believe him was to show them himself. He grabbed a rope from the couch and let out a soft exhale. "Tie this around your waists, so we can be sure to stay together. We're going to walk into that portal, while one of us stays out here to make sure it doesn't close behind us…"
"Okay, so how is this going to explain what's going on?"
"You will see."
About twenty minutes later, everyone was sitting around the living room, trembling nervously. No words were spoken, aside from David's announcement that the kids had gone back into that past in order to rescue their ancestor. "When I told Robbie I wanted him to get in touch with his ancestry, this wasn't what I had in mind," Rebecca muttered. The woman had a rag over her forehead, and the water was drenching her curling black hair. Henry closed his eyes and shook his head, mumbling under his breath for a minute.
"You're telling me, my ancestor, Aveline, came here…requesting help from our descendents?"
"Yes. I do apologize for pushing you all through the portal, but I figured you weren't going to believe me any other way." They all shared the similar worry that their children's safety was uncertain. How could they know for sure whether they'd come back safe at all. Sinjin looked after his little sister, who was only four years younger, so she was definitely someone David wanted to make sure would take comfort in hoping her brother would come back in one piece. When he turned eighteen he got a place of his own and she followed, mainly because their parents were somewhat cut off from the world. His father was gone and they never got along well with their mother.
"So what exactly can we do?" Courtney rubbed her neck and glanced mournfully at the large portal. "I'm scared now. Mom lives on the other side of LA, I don't want to have to go stay with her."
"It'll be all right, it's best we just have faith. I also called everyone together because I need to know…it's been confirmed those children stories I used to tell my daughters are very real…"
Henry raised an eyebrow and Manny scoffed, "You're telling me that all that talk about dragons and whatnot…are real?"
"Apparently, I'm trying to figure out that if they were, why are they gone. I received an email from someone who apparently knows, so I'm going to meet with this person. Until then, I wanted to make sure you know what's going on." He paused, turning his eyes to his video monitoring set for a second, frowning as he recalled having been lied to by his daughter's friends. "Manny, there's something I'd like to discuss with you…actually, you as well as you two, Denise and Rebecca."
"What is it now?"
"It's about the boys…and what they did to my daughter. I want to know you'll at least talk to them about their behavior. I wouldn't bring this up otherwise, and my daughter is more than capable of taking care of herself, but I feel you need to see something…" The three nodded and he pulled over the laptop with the video on it. The reason he did this was so they would be able to talk to their kids about not pulling a stunt like this in the future. They could very nearly have hurt Trina, had it gone too far. If she didn't get hurt, someone would have.
After all was said and done, David and Henry went out to meet with whoever had sent the email. They walked into a café, Panera Bread, and were stunned to see Trina's old friends, Bryan and Salome waiting for them at one of the booths. He raised an eyebrow and slid into the booth, eyeing them both cautiously.
Salome had blonde hair now that went down to her shoulders in the form of braids, she wore braces and had a warm smile. Bryan was a bit more muscular than David remembered, his hair was a darker brown color and spiked up some. He peered out from his wire framed glasses and waved to David. "Hey Mr. Vega, do you remember us?"
"Yeah, Trina's old friends. Didn't you two move away a while back? What are you doing here?"
"Funny thing," Salome cleared her throat and leaned back in the booth, "We moved back here about a month ago. I hoped to try and get a hold of Trina, but I couldn't reach her anywhere. She probably blocked us, which I wouldn't blame her for…"
"She's had a rough time since you guys left. Were you the ones that emailed me? What for and how?"
"Our mother works for the police here now, and we saw your email on her computer. She left it open…We recognized some things that our grandma used to talk about all the time.'
He wasn't sure whether to be skeptical or not, at this point he'd take anything he heard whether it was from old friends of his daughter's or someone else. "And here I thought people would presume my question to be crazy."
"Well we won't sell you short," Bryan joked, "We kind of did at first. Then we decided to ask Grandma because she keeps all those old records and stuff. She has a book from an ancestor, and what it tells is very interesting…"
"It was grandma that used to say everything existed that we've heard about in fairy tales." Salome lifted an old and tattered notebook from her lap and set it down in front of him. He gazed down with an intense curiosity, as if the book itself were calling out to him. "She always said her ancestor has the most profitable theory as to what happened to all those creatures, and this book has it all."
"So what is your grandmother's story then? I'm interested in knowing, in hearing any theory whatsoever. I never imagined it all to be real…"
"Okay, so…what we found, and it is just a theory. It's not like there's anything in history books." Salome opened the book and started scanning the pages with her eyes, speaking softly. "Our ancestor was a witch. One who worked with someone that was a part of this organization called the Grey Wardens who fought against demons called 'darkspawn'. They slew a dragon together. Morrigan was her name, daughter of Flemeth, the 'Witch of the Wilds'. In a ritual to save the Warden's life by taking on the essence of the warden, she conceived a child so that the dragon known as the 'archdemon' would not go into him and kill him…so he could live his life with the bard who was also a companion, her name was Leliana."
"Okay…" This was all over his head, yet it still pulled him in. He needed, no, had to know more. "So you're descended from this alleged child that Morrigan had with the Warden?"
"Sort of…Morrigan yes, but not the Warden's child. Rather, the sibling of Grandma always said the story went on that Morrigan disappeared into some portal. In this part of the journal, the sibling writes about what occurs." David nodded his head and exchanged a look of wonder with Henry as Salome went on to read her ancestor's words.
On this day in the year 1524, my mother's plan takes hold now as my brother's destiny unfolds. As I sit here writing this, a force unseen by any humans descends upon the world. My brother, born of the essence of a Grey Warden and of an Arch Demon, leader of Darkspawn has enormous capabilities…I fear this will be the last I see him.
Mother has ordered me stay inside during the ritual, but I cannot. I am watching as my brother's body and spirit rises up into the heavens and forms what is to be a giant spherical shape. So far, humans around me are not reacting, it is as though they are blind to this. What is going on? What is my mother hiding with that serious expression of hers. What is her plan and why is my brother a part of this?
Mother says my fears were correct, after tonight I will no longer be able to see him. She also says that the world shall no longer live in fear, I do not understand. She claims that there will be stories, but there will never be fact. The strongest creatures will devolve, while some will vanish. This was years in the making, a ritual to turn my very brother into a bomb of some sort. I do not understand this…
An explosion happened well over an hour ago, a purple mist cloaked our planet and no one reacted. I saw, with my own eyes, this mist touched and destroyed a tar-like demon. Another, a Qunari, gone in an instant. A mighty dragon that flew in the distance, fell to the earth and changed its shape…perhaps into another type of lizard. What is to go on in this world? I will not understand. All I know is I want to see my brother, to laugh with him and to talk again. Why is this happening? Why does this terror destroy me? Brother, I will miss you.
My mother finally explained what took place two days ago. She said it was years in the making, since she left the Warden's side. She was planning to rid the world of the menace called darkspawn. With the Archdemon's essence, she was able to obtain blood of demons. With the Grey Warden's blood she was able to find a counterbalance that could destroy the demon. She explained to me that now my brother was of a certain age, the potion inside of him would be more than ready. When he exploded into that mist that cloaked the world, it turned anything with demon blood into dust, eradicating even their bone. Certain creatures will cease to exist, no longer made to terrorize the world.
This also affected those with partial mixed blood, apparently. People who walked this earth as Elves now looked more human in form. Their ears retreating and their structure becoming like us. What does this mean for the world? What has my mother done? I do not understand, still, but maybe she's right. Maybe this is a change for the better…or is it a change for the worse? Time will tell…"
Salome looked up and David's mouth hung open. He had no clue how to react to what she'd just read, and he struggled to believe it. It was still just a theory, so there was no shame in not believing it at this point. Though, it was the only theory that explained what could have happened, even if it seemed unlikely.
"I don't know if it's true or not, but it is interesting. Don't you agree, Mr. Vega?"
"It is interesting, that's for sure…"
"Why the sudden interest?"
"No particular reason…" The siblings nodded and shut the book. David had to wonder, was it best for things to remain a mystery? Perhaps that was all this would ever be. "Now…what about you guys, are you still trying to get in touch with Trina?"
"We would like to, but we understand if she doesn't want to talk to us. Is it all right if we give you our numbers? Maybe you can talk to her?"
"I can try…Lindsay spoke with her recently, actually. So maybe she'll get in touch with you. One step at time. Either way, I appreciate you coming out with your grandma's story, it really does shed some light on a possible theory." Salome and Bryan smiled at him and pulled the book away. He'd be more than glad to talk to Trina about getting in touch with them, but he knew she'd need time. Not to mention, he wouldn't be able to do anything at this point even if he wanted to.
Your thoughts on everything?