Voodoo Curse

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N:

Chapter 15 (Memories Return)

The sound of hushed whispers echoed like thoughts in her mind, and flashes of light over her eyelids cast an orange glow beckoning her to open her eyes. She could feel the pulses of fear in her veins, and she questioned mentally whether or not she'd become a monster.

The whispers grew louder like a snowball rolling down a hill, and with each utterance they told her to wake up. "There are signs of life," a voice spoke, "But this is a delicate matter." A shadow moved over the orange color before her closed vision, and she started to roll as though wanting more sleep.

"Will they still retain their memories?" Another voice inquired. It was soft and fragile, as though the slightest provocation would shatter it.

"So long as they remain in this house, attached to the things that hold their memories, they will not lose their memories before I can reverse the transformation spell."

Memories?

The wail of an infant flourished in her mind, causing a fluttering in her stomach. Her heart skipped a beat as she recalled feeling the weight of her firstborn being placed into her eager arms.

The infant was clad in a purple blanket, her eyes were closed to the world and her tiny lips were open wide. The puffy arms were stretched out and her tiny fingers were curling in as though reaching to grasp something.

"Hush little one, mommy's here." Jade's whisper seemed to calm the child as the baby's cries began to diminish. She extended her finger and smiled as the baby's hand wrapped around it. The child's beautiful blue eyes slid open and melted her heart.

A soft gasp rolled away from her and tears flooded her joyous gaze. Her husband's arm wrapped around her shoulders and he looked down at the baby with a warm and loving smile.

The world would forever change for him. She delighted in the spark lighting up inside her husband's eyes, and the prideful grin that was spreading across his face. "What will we name her?" Jade asked. "We never decided on a name."

Beck's head rolled to the right and a whisper fell from his lips. "Katrina. After your mother…"

Another…

"Take it back!" Demanded a woman with a deep voice. She had dark brown hair flowing to the shoulders of her velvet power suit, and a sharp glare that was cast onto the bakers bringing in a wedding cake. "My son and daughter-in-law are not getting married with a lopsided cake. It must be perfect."

Jade's shoulders fell as a sigh echoed away from her. Her gloved hands grasped her white wedding dress neatly between her fingers. She peered at the frills on the low-cut collar and grinned at the crumples and pearl embroidery of the bell shaped bottom.

"Everything is perfect, mom." The woman put her hand to her chest and turned around with a smile. Jade always looked up to Beck's mother as her own, and why wouldn't she when the woman had been such a powerful influence on her life. "I don't mind if the cake is a tiny bit crooked."

"Oh I know sweetie." The woman put her hands to Jade's bare shoulders and gazed into her eyes. "But this is your big day. You're going to remember this for as long as you live, you and Beckett deserve only the best."

"Thank you. I know I won't ever forget this day." Just then, Holly came rushing in, holding up the bottom of her pink dress. It was soaking wet and stained with a strange liquid, her hair had fallen in front of her face and was dripping. Jade cupped a hand over her mouth and watched her soon to be mother-in-law look on in terror.

"What happened?" The woman belted the words out between gasps, looking ready to keel over at any minute. "You're the maid of honor, you can't go out in a soaking dress."

Holly shook her arms and looked up with disgust. "I tripped and fell headfirst into the punch bowl."

Beck's mother snapped her fingers and rushed behind Holly. "We'll get you to my tailor right away." Holly's eyes grew and she started to protest as the woman forced her forward. Jade couldn't help but to laugh.

All that is lost return in this home we have built, the good and the bad.

"Old habits die hard, is that it?" A day after her twentieth birthday, a time that should be happy, was filled with betrayal and pain. She shoved her boyfriend back as the tears spilt from her eyes like rivers and mascara dripped like wet paint down her cheeks. "I can't believe you would do that." Her voice rose and trembled like an earthquake had struck.

"It wasn't like that," he retorted back. His hands rose and he turned as Jade grabbed for him. She ended up catching the flap of his leather jacket and tore it off his arm, yanking him towards the ground at the same time. "Jade, listen!"

"I don't have to listen." She huffed angrily, her chest heaved and a sob caught in her throat. "On my birthday. I had to catch you with that-that skank on my birthday."

"It wasn't like that."

"Oh, let me guess, she came onto you and kissed you?" Her eyebrows closed and her nostrils flared as she poked her chest. "I gave you five years. Five years, and this is how you repay me?"

Just then another voice rose above hers, his echo caused both to freeze and turn their heads. "Whoa what's going on here?" Erwin approached from behind, his eyes drifted from Jade to Beck, then back. "This certainly isn't the proposal I was told about." Her heart stopped. Beck pushed himself up and began patting down his jacket. "Jade, Beck didn't cheat on you."

She rolled her eyes and pointed to the man. "I caught him kissing some girl outside his house." He'd always been a playboy, so she could rationalize that those days simply weren't over. "If this is how he treats me-"

"Relax." Erwin shook his head and started to chuckle. "I saw the whole thing too, you didn't give him a chance to explain before running off." Erwin motioned to his best friend. "Beck and I were spending that day looking for rings, and that chick showed up at his house-she's just an old girlfriend of his. One that clearly has never gotten over him."

She crossed her arms and looked away, shrugging. "Not making me feel any better Ernie." She didn't care who the girl was, nor did she want to hear any excuses. Beck tried to reach for her, but she pushed his hand away and turned her back to him.

Erwin sighed and pushed his hand through his hair. "That girl has been following him around for a few months now, knows he's getting married and isn't all that thrilled. She did come onto him, and you ran off before he pushed her off, but that's beside the point…"

The man stepped into her view and flashed a peaceful smile. "Look, Beck may have been an asshole in the past that would date a new girl every month." Beck exclaimed at Erwin while his best friend only smirked. "I should know, I've known the guy since we were kids, but he loves you." She sniffed the air and pulled back the corners of her mouth, struggling to hold back her tears.

"I know he gave up his old ways. He said the day he first laid eyes on you, he stopped being a panty-chaser." Beck shot him a look of disgust and started tapping his foot on the ground. Jade chuckled and looked at her red-faced boyfriend with a subtle smile. "He would never cheat on you, because he loves you. You're the first girl he's ever felt this way for, and I know he wouldn't be here right now begging you to forgive him if he didn't feel so strongly about you."

"I never meant to hurt you," Beck whispered. He walked up to her, looking into her gaze and slowly pulling the hair from her face. "I want to be with you, for the rest of our lives. You, no one else." She felt her heart leap into her throat and pulled her hand over her chest. She gasped out and watched as he reached into his jacket.

When he removed a small box, he moved down on one knee and looked up at her with a sincere and loving expression. Her hands moved over her mouth and when she saw the diamond ring light up in the moonlight, it became the only thing she saw.

"You are the only woman I care for, the only one I want in my life. You've made me the happiest, the luckiest man alive. I can't think of anyone else I want beside me, to share my life with. Say yes?"

Returning to the family home, all Jade could hear was her two year old daughter screaming, crying for her mother as she began to lose consciousness. "You idiot," Holly screamed at David, "This isn't what I wanted. This isn't it at all."

"I didn't think it would do anything," David shouted back. His voice was in a panic, frenzied and unstable as the magic coursing through Jade's body. "What's happening to them?"

"I don't know. Two different spells, two entirely different types of rituals should never be used at the same time." Jade felt her sister grabbing her wrist, crying out to her. "Jade, hold on please." The woman's face was wet and stricken with a grief like nothing before. "I'm sorry!"

David grabbed his hair, cursing as he paced the floor. "How do we stop it? How do we stop it?"

"We can't. It's too late…I can't even see her anymore." Just then a searing wave of heat ran across Jade's body, and Holly's grief turned to horror as she was blown against the front of the house. David ran to her side and knelt down beside her.

Holly's head fell to her shoulder, her eyes closed tight and her body fell limp. "Holly?" David cried. "Holly? What's going on?" Trina's screams intensified, and the sound of an infant in the other room joined her cries. David shook Holly in a desperate attempt to rouse her, but the attempt was in vain. "Holly?"

"Wake up, damn it, wake up!" In her fading consciousness, she watched David fret about and grab a book from the purse that had fallen beside her sister. "Don't worry, I'll fix this. Maybe there's something in your book about this."

Jade opened her eyes and sat up with a start. "She's dead," she said with a sudden gasp. Beck sat beside her, his eyebrow arched and lips parted briefly. Around them were their two daughters, Jason, Erwin and Cat, and Nona. Jade stammered to catch her breath, looking between the group. "What happened? Where-"

"You're alive," Erwin whispered, "The woman's ritual was a success."

Nona threw her head back and poked her chest forward. "Of course it was," Nona replied, brimming with confidence. The woman exhaled and peered down at the two. "Nearly a week has passed, but the two of you are back in your original bodies. The first step is complete. Tell me, what did you see while you were asleep?"

Beck brought his hand to his head and shook his head from side to side. "Memories I thought I'd lost. They were coming back to me."

"Same here." Jade groomed back her hair and looked up at Nona with a racing heart. She wasn't sure what to make of the last one, it had stolen her breath and filled her with worry. "I-I think something else happened the day Holly performed her ritual on us, Nona."

"What is it, dear?"

"I-" Her fingers curled over her collar and she glanced at the relieved looks on her daughters' faces. "I'd rather not say in front of my children." Trina and Tori exchanged glances, then at the insistence of Nona, left the room with Cat. Jade took a deep, slow breath and looked back into Nona's eyes. "I think Holly died that day also."

"What?"

"She…" Jade bowed her head and dropped her hand beside her legs. Beck's hand fell over hers and he looked at her with a comforting glance. "She was grabbing my arm when this intense heat went over us. The explosion of fire, it knocked her across the room. The last thing I saw, she was limp, not breathing, and David was going through her spell book."

"Oh good lord." Nona smacked her forehead and walked to the right, muttering curses under her breath. "Another spell to manipulate the dead. These should not be so readily available that those who know not what they are doing would have access."

"What can be done?"

"Easy." Nona approached and pointed at her. "When I send the two of you back, you prevent that ritual from taking place. If successful, there is nothing I will need to do here as this future may not come to pass. What I must do now is reverse David's spell on you, in order to lock your memories in place."

"You said we shouldn't leave the house. Why is that?"

"Because while the two of you slept I have performed a ritual to cleanse and seal this home. It is a holder of your memories, and as long as you remain in this house while David's transformation spell is active, you will not lose the memories that you have of your lives between the ages of fifteen and thirty."

Remembering correctly what Nona had said prior to all of this, she knew the minute Nona undid David's spell that there was a chance she and Beck would rapidly age to where they were supposed to be.

Nona would have to act fast to get them to where they belonged, and she hoped it would be soon.

Thoughts? All the memories that had been lost have been returned to them, even the very final thing they ever saw before Holly's ritual. Speaking of which...