Disclaimer: Victorious belongs to Dan Schneider and Nickelodeon. Anything in this story that isn't part of the canon universe either belongs to Tsubasa K. Kruger or to someone else who will be appropriately credited in the corresponding chapter.
Chapter 5 – Return of darkness
August 30 through December 08, 2012. California, USA
Almost five months after Jade learns of her heritage, things are so completely calm that her protectors are close to having collective nervous breakdowns.
Jade doesn't understand their worry (not being attacked has to be good, right?) until Cat tells her, in a rare alone moment when Tori's out with her sister and cousin, that Demons have been popping up to have a try at her head at least once a month since she was born.
It's the reason she was assigned a Guardian before she was born, and why she was later assigned a second Guardian in five-year-old Cat, then a third in Robbie at age twelve, and finally (after her first Guardian died of old age) Andre when they were thirteen. It's already rare for a Human to have one Guardian solely dedicated to them (most Guardians "share" areas and everyone living within), Robbie comments, so a half-Demon having three says a lot about how hard is Lucifer trying to kill her and how dedicated is Heaven to keep her alive.
There's been a Demon constantly lurking around Jade for years, and all of them (except the Fallens, who, really, don't count) have always gotten close enough to attempt to kill her before being stopped – or at least tried to get close enough.
One day after high school, Andre explains that the only time Jade's Guardians didn't stop someone after her life was when Tori (Rivot, at the time) attacked her, and no one could ever understand why she didn't kill anyone that night – at least, they didn't understand until they actually met and Tori bluntly told them that she hadn't killed their Guarded just because she'd been pulled from her assignment before she could.
Predictably, her forwardness and indifference didn't help the Guardians trust her – they didn't until after several months of acquaintance, he admits, although having a common ground in Beck at least made them not be completely tense every time they were in the same area and stopped any confrontations.
(That night, Jade asks Tori if Andre's claims are true, and she grudgingly admits that she's killed a few attackers that the others haven't detected. Neither says anything to the others, both feeling that there's really no reason to worry them or hit their confidence.
Besides, Tori says, chance is they would've detected the attackers before they made a move anyways – she just found them first.)
The point is, Robbie interrupts before Andre can further expound on that tangent, that having so many Assassins constantly attacking, then Cat herself being targeted, and then the attacks stopping suddenly... it doesn't look good, and it gives the impression that Lucifer is planning a bigger move than usual.
Tori grumbles at that, as she's far more than pretty sure of the King of Tartarus' intentions and that makes her freak out a little, but she lets it go.
Still, Jade doesn't understand why Lucifer would try so hard to kill one teenager who's never shown the tiniest bit of immortal power in eighteen years of life. When she asks, the Guardians and the older Fallens all shrug and admit they have no clue, and Tori avoids the topic in a way that says she might have some idea, but doesn't want to share.
It's in early October that Jade's living situation is finally (and messily) resolved, in a way that no one had predicted and leaves everyone with a bad taste in their mouth – even Jade, whose initial idea had been more or less in line, but more... controlled.
As Jade had to go back to her parents' house when her father returned to LA in September, the gang had been taking turns to watch over the place when Jade was inside, and often at least one of them went inside under one excuse or the other – almost every time related to school, as that was the one reason they all knew wouldn't be contested.
(Just because Jade's parents don't approve of her schooling or future career choices doesn't mean they're going to allow her to do any less than perfectly.)
On the day in question, both Tori and Cat enter the house, without any excuse needed since Jade's parents aren't expected home until late at night, and hang out for a while until Cat excuses herself to meet with her brother (who's been training her more thoroughly since he came back and found out that the attack that had him out of commission was actually probably intended for Cat), leaving the couple alone.
Almost predictably, as it happens often when they're alone, they end up heavily making out on Jade's bed, neither really knowing when Tori's shirt disappears or how exactly does Jade's bra suffer the same fate.
In a moment of extreme bad luck they hadn't experienced since the trip to Yerba, just as Tori is popping open the button of Jade's jeans and the half-blood's hands grip her girlfriend's ass to pull her closer, Tori kisses her way down Jade's breasts and the older teen moans her girlfriend's name right when the door is pushed open.
Jade's mother (of course, who else was it going to be other than the extremely homophobic Lost Angel, who hates Tori enough without knowing that she's not straight or that's she's involved with her only daughter?) starts screaming as soon as her mind processes the fact that, yes, Jade is all but having sex under her parents' roof, and yes, she's in bed with another girl.
The couple scramble apart, covering their chests with pillows, and Jade barks at her mother asking why the hell she acts so disturbed if she's never cared about her at all and Tori stays back, quietly staring with a look of what-the-fuck.
Soon enough, the woman whirls around and starts to insult Tori, who simply sneers and (in a fit of temper she's never before shown) declares she doesn't understand why the fuck is Jade still living there when her mother is clearly an uncaring, bigoted bitch and Jade not only already turned eighteen but also has several people who would happily take her in, in a way that says, duh, of course she's top of the list.
Jade laughs (partly surprised, because she hadn't expected Tori to drop her persona, partly amused, because finally someone's calling the woman out on her crap, partly annoyed, because she would've loved to be the one to do that, and partly turned on, because damn her girlfriend is hot when she's pissed off), and her breath hitches a little when Tori's fingers brush a weak spot on her side – in a move clearly calculated to further provoke the shocked silent woman.
It works, of course, as Tori's plans somehow always do, and Jade's mother explodes and demands they both get the hell out of her house and no, Jade, don't bother to come back.
Tori just blinks and shrugs, and gets up (without the pillow) to slam the door on her face, audibly locking it. She calls that they'll gladly leave, but there's no way Jade is leaving without her stuff, so if she would kindly shut the fuck up so they can pack?
They don't leave until almost three hours later. The packing isn't what takes them so long (Tori uses her magic to stuff everything in a conjured bottomless trunk that she then shrinks and drops on Jade's school bag), but the fact that Jade is by now so turned on (by their previous activities, Tori's temper and the effortless display of magical ability) that she calmly sheds her remaining clothes and jumps her girlfriend, who gladly welcomes the advance and gleefully helps her defile every inch of Jade's former bedroom just to spite her bitch of a mother.
Tori makes it a point to touch her as much as possible in plain view of the Lost Angel when they leave the room, and Jade drops her house keys, grabs the money off the counter, kisses Tori deeply and flips her mother off before leaving the house.
In a move that they'll admit is solely out of spite (to piss Jade's mother off even more), they spend a minute or five making out against Jade's car, knowing that they're being seen not only by the woman but also by several nosy neighbors, and then they each get inside their cars to leave for the Vega Sanctuary.
(That episode manages to make the couple crack up every time they remember it for weeks afterwards.)
Later, Tori admits that she was just a little bit close to using her magic to silence the screeching woman, but decided to just wait and see. The rest of the gang stares at her in silence for a moment, distracted from their collective effort to arrange Jade's things in Tori's bedroom, and she barely avoids fidgeting as she continues to make some space in the closet.
(It's not as if Jade doesn't already have some clothes there, but that's very different from her whole wardrobe just moving.
They end up having to enlarge it a little with magic, and Tori's effortless demonstration of rune magic, an art that the Guardians admit is hard for them, makes everyone gape in admiration.)
Then Beck barks out a laugh, startled, and congratulates the couple on a job well done.
The trio of Guardians seems a little more hesitant, divided between a similar opinion (literally everyone hates Jade's mother just on principle since they learnt how she treats Tori – not that they didn't severely dislike her before) and a bit of legitimate concern because, excuse you, Tori, you're not supposed to try and curse someone just because they annoy you – and no, that someone not being human doesn't make it any better.
Finally, they all agree that Tori wanting to curse someone isn't anything new, but she's never actually done it, and Jade's mother would've deserved it anyway, so really it's no harm done.
Somehow they make it to the Saturday before the last week of term without any actual issues popping up, the worst event being Sikowitz' almost-blackmail to force the gang to perform at another children's party in November (it's disturbing and embarrassing and the annoying birthday boy's even more maddening brother is very nearly attacked by both Tori and Jade, as he doesn't seem to care that Tori isn't interested), but all in all it's just business as usual – so much so that Jade would almost think that July night just a nightmare, but... it's so painfully real, she can't often forget that the world isn't as she thought it to be less than half a year ago.
It's just the way Tori's skin and eyes ripple with magic, how Robbie speaks up more, how Cat doesn't hide her intelligence, how Beck's sense of humor is sharper and darker, how Andre isn't quite as close with the Demons of the group, how Trina isn't so obnoxious anymore, how Tori seems worried more often and how the cousins conjure spheres of pure black magic whenever the Guardians aren't around.
It's the way the dynamics of the gang have changed so profoundly that she sometimes has to catch herself before she can ask if they're all really friends or just hanging around for her benefit.
It's how her friends are more openly protective of her, but one trio also seems to step carefully around the other sometimes.
It's in the way their eyes flicker another color when they're pissed or upset, how when they're outside the Sanctuary two of the cousins reel back at a tell-tale sign of blue but the other's eyes flash a threatening red.
It's things that Jade notices frequently, now, and she can't help but to wonder if it's always been this way and she was just unaware, blind because they wanted her to be blind.
If nothing's changed, what does that mean for their dynamics as a group?
She's afraid to ask.
–o–
December 09, 2012. California, USA
The beach is empty, cleared of all Human life courtesy of the first oncoming storm that Los Angeles has seen in years, but it works just as well for the gang – wide open places are easy to manage, but crowds make them nervous now that Lucifer's upped his game, and a tucked away stretch of land without any onlookers feels almost like a blessing.
They have been terribly stressed the last few months, tense in anticipation for the next attack to come (because they know it won't be small – it can't be small, and even if she won't say it it's obvious Tori's worried about her ability to fight it off), and they reluctantly agreed to go out for a while to relax.
Most of them seem to be doing a fair job of letting the cold sea air blow away the stiffness on their shoulders, but Tori– she's always an exception, Jade can't help but to think with fond exasperation when she sees her girlfriend hanging back, face set in that perpetual frown that very rarely leaves her, these days.
She got worse maybe a week or so ago, she notes in her mind while Cat chatters excitedly about something she really can't care about.
(Just because her best friend isn't dumb doesn't mean she's not childish. Jade still has a hard time staying interested in half the things Cat says.)
Jade frowns when Tori plops down on a rock and looks at her feet, now completely ignoring the gang. She's vaguely aware of murmuring some sort of excuse to Cat before making her way to her girlfriend, hopping up to sit next to her.
"Hey, Vega," she greets as she places an arm around her waist and tugs her in to kiss her temple.
Tori manages a small smile. "Hey, baby."
"Are you okay? You seem off today."
She sighs, but doesn't try to convince her that nothing's wrong. "I'm sorry, I'm killing the mood, aren't I?"
"Of course you aren't. Do you want to tell me what happened?"
Jade has to ask – because, sometimes, when Tori gets in a mood, it's about things she still doesn't want Jade to know about. She doesn't try to say that everything's alright, but she certainly avoids answering. One memorable time she even pretended her mom was calling her to get away from the conversation– only for Holly Vega to wander by.
Tori stays silent for long minutes, long enough for Cat to convince the guys to build a sandcastle for her, long enough that Jade almost thinks that she's going to change the topic again, but then–
"Do you remember that last play we did for Peterson's class last week?"
Jade nearly rolls her eyes. "The one where we played a couple again, you mean?"
It's almost ridiculous, really, how teachers seem to have taken Jade and Tori's now public relationship as an invitation to have them interpret couples whenever they can. It hasn't even been two months since they came out at school and already they've had to play five previously written couples and create six more.
Sikowitz, at least, has the excuse of being insane.
Tori looks like she wants to smile at Jade's rhetorical question, but for some reason she grimaces and looks away.
"I... recognized someone from the public. Opening night. I–"
Jade kisses her, mostly in part because she doesn't want Tori to keep torturing herself over whatever it was she did to that person – or, more likely, considering the nature of her "job" and her self-confessed proficiency at it, what she did to their loved ones.
She doesn't know if Tori's ever met someone related to one of her... victims, as this is the first time she's mentioned it, but she's sure that no matter how many times it may or may not have happened it's bound to still be very disturbing, to see the indirect results of one of her kills.
Jade doesn't really like to think about it, even though she firmly believes that Tori isn't wholly responsible for whatever number of deaths she caused, having been one of mindless Assassins who only knew to follow the commands of their King. But Tori won't accept that reasoning, not with the guilt that eats away at her, so she doesn't try to convince her.
That's a fight she doesn't want them to have.
She pulls away slowly, caressing Tori's cheek, and then kisses her again just to see red eyes flutter open for a second time when she ends the kiss.
"Hey, lovebirds!"
Jade sighs against Tori's lips, irritated at her so-called best friend, and briefly contemplates deepening their kiss as a passive-aggressive way to tell the youngest Guardian to fuck off, but she feels Tori's tiny smile and sighs again.
She doesn't have the heart to make their friend go away when she helps pull Tori out of her moods.
"What do you want, Cat?"
Just because she's not going to order her to go away doesn't mean that she has to be nice about it.
(These last few months, her quota of "nice" has been filled by helping a self-loathing, probably mildly depressed girlfriend. Cat has a large support base, while Tori only really has her family, their friends –which is more than a bit questionable, sometimes– and Jade.
It's not that much of a competition, really.)
Cat pouts, and Jade sighs again before sitting properly to face her best friend. Tori allows her forehead to drop on Jade's shoulder, eyes closed and body relaxed.
"Jadey," she whines, acting as the kid everyone thinks her to be, "don't be mean. I just wanted to know if you'd seen my bibbles."
Jade frowns, both at the nickname (she hates it) and at the mention of that awful candy.
"Weren't you supposed to have it forbidden?" Tori asks, twisting her neck a little to look at Cat. "How come you managed to get more?"
The Guardian blinks, and promptly smiles in a very obvious attempt to seem completely innocent. Jade's managed to memorize that face, by now – it's a disturbingly frequent expression from Cat, another thing that makes her wonder if she was just blind or her friends have been acting differently.
"Geez, you say the strangest things. Why wouldn't I be allowed to eat some harmless candy?"
"Harmless, she says" Tori mutters, just as Jade rolls her eyes and calls bullshit.
"That trick isn't going to work anymore," she says, "not after you nearly ripped Tori's head off the last time she took a bibble bag from you."
"So she has it?"
"Cat. Not the point."
"Oh, right, I– wait, I said I was sorry!"
"Still hurt – not as much as an Archangel's Holy arrows, of course," Tori comments, "but then again you're only a Guardian."
Cat pouts. "Thanks for that. I'll remember it next time someone tries to kill your girlfriend."
"Who also happens to be your best friend."
The Guardian shrugs, and Jade frowns. "Wait, how do you even know how much an Archangel's power would hurt a Demon?"
"I'll tell you later, if you want – I don't think Cat would manage to stomach that story."
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
Tori's lips twitch at the over-the-top reaction, while Jade rolls her eyes.
"Still," the youngest girl calls after a moment, "I'm curious."
Jade looks at her girlfriend at that, just in time to catch a glimpse of a frown that smooths over for slight confusion. "Are you sure? You have at least some idea of how we Demons are, and I'm sure you know I was worse than most – that story might be a little too much for you."
She shrugs. "Maybe. But you're my friend, Tori, and I'd really like to get to know you better."
"Cat..."
"I'm serious."
Jade frowns, feeling as if she's missing something important, and the two pure-blooded immortals exchanging glances charged with meaning irritates her even more.
"What's going on?"
Cat glances at Jade and back at Tori, apparently looking for some sort of confirmation, which comes in the form of a short nod. When Cat turns to Jade again, she still seems reluctant to speak up.
"It's just..."
"They don't know a lot about me" Tori interrupts before Jade can snap, taking her girlfriend's hand in an attempt to calm her down. "Until you found out about what we are, I hadn't really told them anything. And... I barely talked when it was just us, to be honest."
"We only knew two major things" Cat explains. "First, that she was a powerful Assassin – powerful enough to knock Andre out without him even noticing she was close, and he's the strongest of us. Second, that she was Beck's cousin and was kicked out because she failed to kill you."
"Those are the only important personal things they knew about me, and I didn't even tell them" Tori smiles, almost bitterly. "I didn't really like them at first, see. Beck introduced me to your Guardians a few days after I got settled here, because he didn't want there to be any trouble, and I went along with it only because I didn't feel like fighting for my life, either – even if I was confident I would win. I guess I don't have to tell you that I just barely tolerated them."
Jade quirks an eyebrow, because she'd already deduced that her girlfriend and friends wouldn't have liked each other at first (seriously, an Assassin and the Guardians of said Demon's last target?), and part of her wonders how she hadn't deduced that they must've known each other before she met Tori – precisely because, even if in retrospective Tori was a bit standoffish when she first transferred to Hollywood Arts, there wasn't any of the underlying tension that she'd have expected from their first contact with each other.
"So I guess it took you at least a few months to even talk to them, right?"
Cat giggles. "You should've seen her, Jade, all quietly ignoring us every time we decided to hang out at her place because it's bigger than Beck's RV."
"Because you were too damn noisy and you walked into my room every other day!" she complains. "Half the time I was trying to sleep and the rest I was trying to understand Humans enough to pretend being one – and I wasn't even halfway comfortable here to begin with! And that's not to mention the times I was trying to figure out how to make my homework, after I started school."
Even Jade lets out a startled laugh at that, and Tori scowls.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, you two. Try being a fifteen-year-old Demon recently kicked out of Tartarus, constantly surrounded by Fallens and Guardians and Humans and then tell me if I was overreacting."
Jade smirks, amused, and squeezes Tori's hand to let her know she's only teasing. "So, what I'm hearing is that they annoyed you."
Tori rolls her eyes in exaggerated aggravation. "You have no idea."
"She very nearly tried to kill whoever barged into her room, the first few weeks" Cat confides in a stage whisper. "Thankfully for the guys, I was the one who went there most of the time, and she went easy on me."
The half-blood blinks at her girlfriend. "You, forgiving a Guardian even though they're being completely annoying?"
Tori smiles faintly at that, turning to look at Jade. "They couldn't believe it either the first time Cat came into my room and I only threw her a pillow. The guys' foreheads got acquainted with my alarm clock."
Jade blinks in realization. "So that's what happened? I was curious as to why they decided to take turns to appear with a headache and a bruise."
Tori's grin turns sheepish. "Yeah, well... I'd only been here for a couple of weeks, so I was still trying to get used to the change in atmosphere and the constant use of magic, and they really weren't helping."
"And you didn't do the same to Cat because..."
The Demon frowns at the question and looks away, picking up a small rock and spinning it between her fingers. She rubs the back of Jade's hand with her thumb even as her opposite hand begins to crush the pebble, and she takes her time to answer.
"I'm not sure, I... I think that she might've reminded me a little of my Alumna."
Cat blinks. "Those are the Assassins in training, right? So she was your student?" Tori nods slowly in response, still not looking at them, and Cat voice is soft when she asks "What happened to her?"
Tori shrugs, and it's painful, because it's evident that she's worried about her former student but she's not sure how to feel about the fact that she still cares (or maybe, knowing how Assassins are, that she even ever cared in the first place).
"I don't know. Last I knew, a few days before I left on my last mission, she was gaining respect in her low-rank clan and was being considered to take command of another after her birthday – I was... very proud of her, since becoming a matriarch at ten isn't a small feat. She'd be turning twelve next week. I wonder what happened to her after my expulsion..."
Jade's eyes go to Tori's opposite hand when she hears a faint grinding sound, and is startled when she sees dust falling from between her fingers. The Demon's frown deepens, annoyed and confused and worried and angry, and for a second or two Jade fears that expression might become permanent.
"Tori?" she calls.
Her girlfriend sighs and opens her hand, the pebble reduced to dust. "It's just... when a Demon is judged a criminal, if they're labeled as anything but a petty Delinquent, every apprentice they may have had also become pariahs, weighed down by the fact that their Master broke the Code. Considering how I was judged... my expulsion would've affected her greatly, enough that she may still be a low-rank."
"Even though she has potential to be in the high ranks already? Because I'm understanding that she does have it" Jade asks, starting to feel annoyed. Tori nods, obviously far more upset than Jade and Cat combined, and Jade frowns. "But why would it matter what you did? Surely it shouldn't matter if someone's teacher..."
"It does, in Tartarus" Tori interrupts. "For us, the relationship between a Master and their apprentices is everything, especially in the Assassin class. Just the best of the best become Masters, because the young's education is one of the most important things in the world – right up there with following Lucifer's command faithfully. In Tartarus, the Master is the predominant influence on their apprentices' lives, far above even their own parents, and as such the apprentice is extremely prone to follow every single step taken by their Master. Therefore, if one's Master is a criminal, then surely one is also likely to break the Code."
Jade frowns. "But..."
Tori sighs. "Jade, please, can you drop it? I'm not going to argue this. That's just the way things are in Tartarus and, no offense, but there's nothing you can possibly do to even begin to make Demons rethink that opinion."
"Do you still believe that?" the Demon doesn't answer, choosing instead to focus on another rock, and Jade's frown deepens. "Tori?"
She shrugs. "I... I still believe it. I'm sorry, Jade, I really am, but I was raised to feel that conviction. Even if I've changed most of my beliefs, I can't help but keep others – I did live fifteen years in Tartarus, after all, and, well... evidence doesn't lie."
"Oh, so you still think anyone who isn't a full-blooded Demon is an insignificant fly?"
"You know that's not what I meant."
"Isn't it? But that is what you were taught to believe, right? Isn't that the reason why it never bothered you to kill whoever you were told to, because everyone else is inferior to your people?"
"Don't be ridiculous."
Jade scoffs. "Of course I'm the ridiculous one. I'm a half-blood, after all."
"Jade..."
"Fuck off, Vega."
The older teen knows (she's sure) she is actually being ridiculous, and that her accusations are untrue and irrational and, worse of all, hurting her girlfriend, so she stands and walks away to try and calm down.
But Tori (sweet, beautiful Tori, who never wants to leave a discussion unfinished, even if that means folding to Jade's wishes as she did when Jade declared she didn't want anyone to know of their relationship yet) follows after her, trying to get her to stop so they can actually talk, and eventually she grows tired (because she knows Jade, perhaps better than anyone else, and she knows that Jade isn't going to stop voluntarily) and grabs her arm, whirling her around so they are face to face.
Jade glares at her girlfriend.
"Let go of me."
"Jade, please–"
"Now, Vega."
The Demon glares back, now, and it's all Jade can do to not flinch when a shade of red flashes through her eyes and Tori's already strong grip tightens momentarily around her forearm.
"You're being ridiculous and childish, West," she snaps, and Jade's taken aback because Tori's rarely said her last name and never like that, "so no, I'm not letting go until you shut up and listen."
"Why should I? It's pretty obvious what you think."
Tori scowls. "Stop accusing me of things you have no idea about, damn it! You have no idea how hard–"
"So it's hard to pretend?"
Red flashes by again, and this time Jade can't quite contain her wince – because Tori's looking more like a Demon now than she did even the night of Idvke's attack, and she's obviously starting to lose control of her magic, and also because her grip is almost too strong now and if it gets any stronger it's going to hurt.
"I spent fifteen years of my life in Tartarus," she says softly, in a voice that's somehow worse than a yell, "the place where nightmares are born, where children are prepared from before birth to fight and kill and ruin lives at the orders of the son of a bitch who's our King, to be a mindless killing machine just as thousands of generations before us, just as thousands of generations after us.
"You have no idea how hard it is for me to try and fit in here, knowing that I never will, that I'm too far gone to step out of the dark, that I'm simply not worthy to even walk down a street because I have killed more people than most have ever known– that I'm not and will never be good enough for my family, for those I want to be friends with, for you, because I'm a monster and it's just a matter of time before all of you see it and leave.
"I try, Jade, I really do, but there's some things that can't be forgotten in just two fucking years. I'm trying, but you can't demand I forget everything I was taught, everything I was made to be and believe, exactly when you want me to! I want to change, but you have to give me time if you really want me to, because it's not fucking easy!"
Jade vaguely registers the rest of the gang staring in silence from the distance, flinching every time Tori raises her voice, completely confused because they've never seen her lose her temper this way and it's the first time they've really been confronted with a hint of the girl she was before she was kicked out from Hell, before she was forced to change her identity because there wasn't a place on Earth for the person she was in Tartarus.
"I'm not asking you to do anything but be honest with me for once!"
Tori pales and takes a step back as if struck, and Jade winces thinking that her words finally went too far – because not telling isn't the same thing as lying, and even though Tori doesn't talk about her time in Tartarus by her own initiative, even though sometimes she refuses to answer when Jade asks, she's never been anything but honest.
(Not even when it obviously hurts, when the memories are too painful for her to think about, when all she really wants is to forget.)
It quickly becomes apparent, however, that her words (angry, irrational, completely undeserved) aren't what caused that reaction – and it becomes evident when, after a moment of complete, tense silence, she falls to the ground like a puppet whose strings have been cut, clutching her head like it hurts.
It doesn't even take Jade a second to kneel beside her girlfriend, paler than she usually is, scared and worried and part of her trying to figure out what is happening to Tori even as the rest of her is almost losing the battle against panic.
Beck is at Tori's other side just moments later, turning her to her back and trying to get her to open her eyes or tell them what's wrong. Tori starts to thrash about seconds before the Guardians slam to a stop above them, and Beck grabs his cousin's head just as a pale Robbie tugs Jade away.
"What are you– Let me go, Shapiro!"
"We don't know what's going on, Jade" Cat reminds her, grabbing her hand tightly to keep her from leaving their side and returning to Tori's just as Robbie brings out his beaded bracelet to make a translucent shield around them.
Andre and the Demons stay outside the shield, the Guardian tense and looking around as if he expects an attack to come from any direction – which he probably does.
"Andre" Beck calls, still not letting go of Tori's head. "Harris!" he snaps when their friend doesn't react. "Hold her still."
Andre complies, mechanically and still looking around, but he keeps her head in place as the Fallen stands up and raises a fist up to his chest, covering it with the opposite hand and murmuring a long string of nonsense.
Suddenly, a slight storm picks up around the group, raising the sand until they can't see anything outside the small area, and when the sand falls down it forms a ring on the Vegas' backyard. Beck is still muttering, hands in a different position now, and Cat lets go of Jade.
Still, she doesn't move. "What...?"
"Tori taught him that spell" Robbie explains quietly, eyes going from one Demon to the other and back to Jade. "She was worried that there'd come an attacker that she wouldn't manage to defeat, and she wanted to make sure all of us would have a way to teleport the group away – we do, of course, but Beck... well, he was expelled as a child, so he didn't know anything until Tori came around and taught him some stuff. Shields and teleportation spells, mostly."
"She was planning to stay behind, wasn't she?" Jade asks, feeling self-conscious and guilty and wrong. She wonders how hard has Tori really been trying to keep her alive, and for how long. "When did she...?"
Andre lets out a long breath. "A little over a year ago" he says quietly. "She was slowly getting closer to us, she was trying, and then one day she told us she was going to help us protect you – she'd only been keeping an eye out for Assassins before that, but she was very clear that it was for her own safety, since she was also in danger of being targeted."
"Her main focus was actually to teach Beck and Trina a bunch of spells and how to use them in a fight, and how to fight without magic, so they'd be actually able to help protect you and just fight off Assassins in general– you know, just in case they needed to. She also started to help us plan and train so we'd be better Guardians and story wouldn't repeat itself but with another ending."
Jade sighs shakily at Cat's words and returns to her girlfriend's side, taking her hand and caressing her forehead. "Vega... Tori, baby, please wake up" she calls softly, hand tracing down to press lightly against the rapidly throbbing vein of her neck.
Slowly, Tori opens her eyes (red, so impossibly red) and locks them with Jade, gaze full of pain and face contorted to show the same suffering, eyes glistening with all the tears that a Demon is physically incapable of shedding. Jade can't help it (she doesn't really want to), and tears gather in her own.
Cat kneels at Jade's side, hand pressing against the small of her back in silent support, and it takes all Jade has in her to remember that, in that moment, Tori needs her to not break down against her protector and childhood friend.
"What is Beck doing?" she asks instead, trying to distract herself even as she looks into pained red eyes.
"He's keeping a shield up around us" Andre explains. "Since we don't know what's wrong with Tori, we can't risk to move her inside physically and teleportation just isn't possible, so we need something to stop any first attack to give us time to move you inside if we are attacked."
"Won't he need to stop casting at some point? I mean, isn't he using his magic?"
"No, he feels tired only after he stops casting this shield, not when it's up. This shield is his and Tori's favorite because of that, because it can be kept up for hours. His record is one and a half hours with Tori throwing some small spells at him, and he managed to withstand a moderately strong attack – granted, he almost passed out when his shield fell that time, but..."
"What if a Kalaus comes this time? I mean, Tori said they're crazy strong, and if he can resist just one attack..."
"If that happens," Cat answers, flinching at the thought, "then the guys will cover us while I get you into the Sanctuary, and we'll have to take the risk and move Tori too. But– we'd rather only do that if we are attacked."
Jade sighs and tightens her hold on Tori's hand. Every tattoo is visible now, her control shot to hell by the pain, and Tori briefly returns the grip with just enough strength for Jade to know that she's aware of them and the plan, but not enough for it to hurt.
It figures that the idiot would be worried about her even when Tori's actually the one suffering here, Jade thinks with fond exasperation.
"What's happening to you?" she mutters, brushing her girlfriend's face with the tips of her fingers.
"She's going through a conflict" a deep voice speaks calmly.
Everyone in the group turns towards the threat sharply, with only Jade staying down, and Cat moves around Tori's limp frame to stand between them and the newcomer before they even process who is standing there.
Jade can see the speaker from between her friends' tense bodies, and she takes a sharp breath when her brain catches up.
He's a tall man, with tanned and wrinkled skin, long silver hair mixed with a few black and red strands, red eyes sharp and aware (threatening), and his visible skin bears the same kind of tattoos branded on Tori – only a lot more, and he even has a few marks on his cheekbones (tall, and oddly familiar) and temples. He wears a long black coat with silver and red details that reaches to his ankles and clean black boots, and it's painfully obvious that this is the kind of Demon that terrifies Tori to death.
Powerful, ruthless, loyal, experienced, skilled, dangerous.
The kind of Demon she was before her expulsion, and definitely not someone she'd feel confident about fighting. And with her out of the way...
Jade knows her friends don't stand a chance against this threat, yet she still stands in a futile attempt to feel less like prey, eyeing this Assassin carefully and pretending she doesn't have her heart beating wildly on her throat.
The man stares back impassibly, calm and even a bit bored, his hands still behind his back as he regards a group he obviously doesn't consider a threat.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Jade manages to ask.
(If her voice shakes a little, well, sue her. This guy is intimidating, and if Tori would be worried then she thinks she has the right to feel at the very least scared.)
"I am not here to kill you, Miss West" the man says, ignoring her first question. "Your life isn't in danger from any of His Majesty's servants today."
"Try and convince Tori of that" Jade retorts. "She'd kill you if she could move."
The Demon raises an eyebrow – the first expression to show on his face, even though he still radiates indifference. "You mean Rivot, yes?"
"What do you want?" Andre cuts him off before the stranger can add anything else. "If you don't want to kill Jade, and mind you, that's a big if, then what are you doing here?"
The man ignores him entirely and eyes Beck with something close to interest. "You seem familiar... are you perchance Rivot's cousin? Czebek Threamt?"
Beck stiffens, almost faltering in his chant, but shakes it off and tries to pretend hearing that name (a name he hasn't heard in over a decade, a name he'd probably forgotten) doesn't affect him in the slightest.
"Cut it" Andre snaps, feeling Beck's hesitation. "Answer me."
A tiny, almost imperceptible smile twists the man's expression for less than a second, and a shudder runs down Jade's spine at the sight.
"My purpose is to retrieve Rivot, to return her to her rightful place with the Assassin bai Kalaus under His Majesty's command, as He has wished it to happen."
"She doesn't want to go back" Cat cuts softly.
The man looks at her with contempt. "Well, she is hardly choosing, don't you think? Mind you, I firmly believe she would gladly accept to return by her own will – she's always been one of His Majesty's most loyal subjects, and that is a loyalty that can't be lost. Why would she reject the chance to go back home?"
He looks between the Guardians to glance at Tori, and his expression softens enough for Jade to notice and think that there might be some affection, there, regardless of what Tori's told her about Assassins being little more than emotionless killing machines.
She starts to wonder if this is the man Tori spoke about so many months ago, the Knight she had to break contact with after her mentor's expulsion (she wants to hit herself, because now that she remembers that it makes sense that Tori was so upset about their discussion – she was in the same position as her apprentice), the one for whom she wanted to become a Knight. The possibility scares her, because if he's really a Knight then he's far more powerful than anyone her friends have ever faced.
They're used to fighting Assassins, and not even the strongest ones, but a Knight (a Demon stronger than even a Kalaus, stronger than Tori was when she was ordered to kill Jade) would be so far out of their league he wouldn't even be in the same galaxy.
She wishes, she hopes that he's really not that man, but then he sighs–
"Poor girl. Had I known she was going to suffer this much, I would have asked His Majesty to let me retrieve her before He started this. Pain is always more bearable surrounded by the warmth of Tartarus' magic."
– and Jade's breath hitches, because that sounds almost like a confirmation of her fears, and she wants to tell her friends they have to leave, get inside the Sanctuary where he won't be able to touch them and drag Tori with them if needed, and do it right now, but before she can speak up they're already reacting.
"You can't force her to go back!" Andre snaps. "She broke your law, and Lucifer expelled her as your laws command! Not even Lucifer can go against your Code, Demon!"
It's the first time she hears him say that word as if it was an insult, and she flinches thinking that now it makes a lot of sense that Tori isn't really as close to him as she'd been led to believe.
Angels and Fallen Demons can hardly be best friends when the former looks down on the latter's kind.
The man's face fills with contempt once again, this time directed at Andre, who twitches as if he was trying really hard not to flinch back. "Well, what a rude Guardian. What did Rivot ever see in you escapes my comprehension. Now, be quiet, boy, and let the grown-ups talk."
There is a groan and the gang sharply looks at Tori, who is sitting up and clutching her head. Her eyes are closed and she shakes her head, and the Guardians move around her quickly and move Jade closer to the Sanctuary while Beck takes a few steps closer to them.
Jade wonders why the haste, and she has her answer when the Demon walks closer and kneels next to her.
"Rivot?" he calls, softly and sounding almost concerned. "How are you feeling?"
Tori shakes her head again and looks up, before quickly getting on her knee with her head held down. "Milord."
The gang freezes, worst fears confirmed, and it takes only a moment for the Guardians to stand in front of Jade while Beck tries to tug her back into the Vega Sanctuary, his shield gone, replaced by a barrier made of Holy power that doesn't quite surround them – not when Beck would be trapped inside, weakened and hurting by something that is worse than poison to him.
The Demon puts a hand on her shoulder. "Long time no see, Von Gieri. What is the last thing you can remember?"
"The ninth day of Bijah, on 9997. I was summoned for a mission assignment at the fourth office of the Vaihe district – but I don't remember going to the office, and I don't recall leaving Tartarus."
"Is that so?" he asks neutrally. "That would make more than two years of lost memories, then. A shame."
"Two years, milord?" she asks, somehow not sounding confused or upset or... affected by any emotion, really. She moves her head from one side to the other, still not looking behind her (where the gang waits, paralyzed, terrified, because this isn't Tori – no, this is the Demon that tried to kill Jade, the ruthless Assassin who didn't kill Andre just because it wasn't part of her mission). "May I ask where we are, milord?"
The Knight shakes his head. "I am not at liberty to answer those questions, young one. His Majesty will receive you personally and explain the situation to you."
Her spine straightens at the news, and her voice when she answers sounds strained, as if she was trying really hard not to show emotion. "I am honored that His Majesty would take time off his day to talk to one of his servants" she says, bowing her head.
The man stands up and she follows suit, straightening her jacket almost unconsciously.
"Shall we go, then?"
"Right after you, milord."
The Knight's eyes briefly shine with a smile that the rest of his expression doesn't betray, and he vanishes quietly, soon followed by the younger Demon.
It takes Jade far too long (enough that her friends react, that they pull her quickly into the Sanctuary and call the Vegas, enough that they come back) to process that her girlfriend is now back in the place where she was raised – back to the life she didn't want to remember, the life she didn't want anymore, the past that ashamed her.
It's even worse because her memories are gone, lost, and with them they took the girl she'd become – it's worse because Tori doesn't exist anymore, not really.
But, perhaps, what hurts Jade the most is something more selfish, more centered on herself than on her girlfriend – because, now, the girl she loves doesn't remember her.
The date Bijah 9th, 9997, is the Tartarus-Heaven equivalent of May 1st, 2010, the day when Rivot von Gieri was ordered to kill Jade West.