Title: Dia De Los Muertos

Writer: Invader Johnny

Synopsis: Jade goes to a graveyard, she never expected to see someone else near a tombstone, much less someone who she knew should be dead, or so she thinks.

Disclaimer: I don't own Victorious, simple as that.

Quick note: Today and tomorrow is "Day Of The Dead" or more accurately "El Dia De Los Muertos" for Mexico and e rest of Latin America so I thought of writing something to commemorate the holiday.

This takes place in the same universe as my Apri Fool's Saga, it's a midquel between "Like of Trina" and "Blood Does Not Make A Family" so if u haven't read the saga you might want to do so before continuing down, Kay?

So enjoy.

A lone person entered the cemetery.

"Five minutes till midnight"

The late night breeze tenderly caressed her cheeks but the young woman paid no attention to such a thing, if anything it only served was an unwanted distraction to her goal.

The wind played with her long dark hair and whispered in her ear as if it were giggling softly.

Jade growled in annoyance since it reminded her of the carefree laughter of her childish friend Cat, it was a sound she could barely tolerate when the redhead was with her, hearing it on such a night was almost like the wind was taunting her.

Mostly because the sound of a giggle was only a reminder of what no one has experienced in a while.

Happiness.

The young Goth continued walking however, thinking of the misery of life was no help, then again being in a graveyard because of that past was no better.

There was nothing she could do about the wind, so she simply took ther torturous sound in stride, Jade help a few offering in her hands, in a silver plater, it was nothing extravagant but Jade knew her loved one wouldn't care as long as she was there.

The pale girl had slaved over earlier this afternoon making candy in the form of skeletons, chocolates and even pan de muertos, she even bought a few flowers, not bush daisies but the type of yellow flower known as cempasúchil which was rather hard to acquire, but she didn't care.

Jade just wanted to honor her deceased girlfriend by getting her the perfect amount of offerings, every type that were inspired by the traditions of Dia de los Muertos, where decorated skulls and skeletons are used during the festivities to remember loved ones and ancestors.

A sad smile graced her face, there was no better way to remember Vega than to bring alive the traditions she grew up with.

"This is all for you Tor"

A couple of grim minutes later, Jade found herself at a very specific site of the graveyard she had intended to visit, tonight and tomorrow.

The young woman lowered her head in a mixture of sadness and shame.

It was painfully ironic that it was on this same cemetery that she once sadistically toyed with the idea of burying Tori alive in a time when she couldn't see the other girl as something other than a threat to her reign at Hollywood Arts, thinking it over Jade couldn't help but marvel at how she could've been so petty and cruel to the one girl who showed her so much compassion so being here was as if fate was mocking her.

Or punishing her.

"Now it's not the time to think like that"

Dead leaves were all over the muddy ground, so her boots were getting dirtier and dirtier, not that she cared, she was just making her way around the sea of tombstones, one could think it was endless but Jade knew better, she just continued walking to her destination, holding the offerings in her hands closer to her chest, and headed towards a dried maple tree, knowing she'd be able to find a familiar grave behind it.

Tori loved nature so it made perfect sense that she was buried bellow a tree, it was almost as if her family were giving her a final touching goodbye.

Just as she got closer to her destination, Jade heard someone crying "Por que hay Por que?" over and over in despair. The heartbreaking lament became rather noticeable and filled with anguish with each step she took.

"What the fuck?!"

Needless to say that her curiosity got the better of her.

When she finally reached the aforementioned tree, the goth stared in shock, surprise and unable to believe what she was seeing.

There was no way that she could see a very loud, miserable lonesome figure crying in front of her girlfriend's grave.

"Tori?"

That was made made the whole situation impossible to ignore or even comprehend; the sole fact that this unknown person look almost if not the same as the deceased Half-Latina.

"No... It can't be"

So there was only one alternative; denial.

Jade refused to believe what was right in front of her; she tried to convince herself that it was a trick of the moonlight or something else entirely because seeing her dead lover in front of her own tombstone was just not possible.

But here she was, the... Spirit... Ghost or whatever she was seeing has fallen on her knees and was angrily pounding her pale fists against the unkept grass, her tears glowed rolled down her cheeks, her long hair covered her face.

But most noticeable about the girl was her clothes, Jade knew the pink sweater and cargo pants, they were the same ones Tori used to wear on a few of their dates.

"This is like something right out of my plays" Jade couldn't help but think in awe.

"POR QUE?!"

Jade knew enough Spanish to figure out that this entity was asking "Why?" Over and over again, was she thinking why she had to die? Or was she thinking why she was torn away from her loved ones at such a you my age?.

The Goth girl looked done at her offering, maybe there was more to the traditions of her late girlfriend's heritage, she knew life could be stranger than fiction so the possibility of seeing Tori again on Dia De Los Muertos seemed like it was becoming a real possibility the more the thought about it, plus the sight in front of her was rather hard to discharge as a trick of the mind.

But there was one part of Jade, the rational part of her mind that still did not believe what was going on.

So, there was only one thing to do, Jade was never one to turn away from any situation, much less from a so called entity crying on top of Tori's grave.

"Hey you!" The girl yelled out angrily, "What do you think you're doing?!"

The entity didn't seem to be scared or startled when she turned to face her. In fact, she had a sorrowful expression, stained with tears that wouldn't stop flowing as she met the Goth's dark gaze.

A gaze that turn into one of surprise "Whst the hell... TRINA?!"

As it turned out it was a Vega but not the one Jade expected since last she heard, Trina had to be at the hospital.

"What are you doing here?" The older girl eyes then shifted to the ground.

"What am I doing here?! Jade asked in shock "I should be the one asking you that! What do you think you're doing here in the middle of the night?! Don't you know how dangerous it is?! Specially with your state?!"

"I'm sorry," she practically whispered, though Jade could still hear her loud enough.

"Sorry?" she repeated heatedly as she began to shiver with rage, while doing so some her offerings fell down the floor, the pale teen had to control her anger long enough to put everything on the gro Nd so they wouldn't get destroyed.

After doing that she walked towards the crying older girl, her glare intensified the closer she was to Trina.

"You want to apologize for what exactly?!" Jade asked with mad rhetorically "For sneaking out of the hospital? For ignoring your health?! Or for thinking it was just fine to worry so many people?! Do you have any idea what you started again?! Your parents must be going nuts!"

"They won't know a thing" Trina said tiredly "I paid sine one in the hospital to bring me here"

"YOU WHAT?!"

"Only for an hour" She said meekly. "I wanted more but..."

"It doesn't matter how long you wanted to be here!" Jade interrupted angrily "You weren't allowed to leave the hospital bed for a reason! A good goddamn reason I might add!"

Trina stared at the hysterical pale teen with her weary teary eyes, "I just wanted to say I was sorry"

"You said it enough Trina" Jade spoke sadly as she puts her hand over her eyes "You can't keep doing this"

"Yes, I said it to you, to my parents, everyone!" The older brunette muttered "But not to the one person that truely matters"

The Goth whispered solemnly, thinking she knew what her friend meant "I think you should accept that people are going to think whatever they want to believe, you can't spend the rest if your life wanting to make them believe something they just don't want to see Trina"

"That's now what I mean... I... I came here because I..." She just couldn't finish because soon enough she started to cry again, Trina hated crying since she had done nothing but that ever since her sister died, she was tired of it and simp,y wanted closure abd as far as she was concerned the only way to do so was to ask her sister for forgiveness.

But no one wanted Trina to visit the graveyard for a number of reasons; mostly her health and that of her unborn child, there was also the possibility that she wouldn't be able to handle seeing the tombstone.

Jade was the most vocal telling her to wait until the baby was born to finally visit Tori's final resting place.

Something clearly Trina decided to ignore.

Seeing the pregnant teen crying again, Jade knew what she had to do, she silently reached for the girl, holding her in her arms like the time she found her at the edge of suicide a few weeks ago.

"No! No!" Trina began hitting her chest with her fists, which didn't really hurt or bother the Goth. "I do t want to go yet please I gotta talk to her!" she yelled as she finally fell into her torso, allowing her unlikely friend to hug.

"Shh, it's okay, Trina," the younger teen said soothingly, rubbing her back as she continued weeping.

"I just can't wait anymore" The older Half-Latina said "It hurts too much Jade"

The pale brunette could understand that, after all she was in a similar hell the night Tori was run over but Trina was on a whole different mentality, eventually she would come to terms with her sister's untimely death but would most likely never forgive herself despite the few people in her life telling her it wasn't her fault.

"I… just don't know what I'm supposed to do anymore" She said softly "Only you and my parents tell me to forgive myself but everyone else? They just want me to leave abd never come back, I just want the pain to stop Jade.. I just want to tell my sister how sorry I am in the hopes that she'll listen"

Jade didn't dare to look at her friend in the eyes, in al, honesty her own uncertainty overwhelmed her. The other teenager knew she didn't have a straight answer but, she had to do something because in al, honesty, it was like she was being stabbed in the chest every time she witnessed a scene like this with Trina.

So she tried to reply something to calm her down. "Trina, your life isn't over. You're still here and there's still so much you can do," she said in a comforting tone. "Even if you have a hard time trying to sort everything out, we will always be here to help you through this. Every time you feel down in the dumps just remember that you AREN'T alone anymore, your parents will love you till the end of time and soon enough you'll have a baby who will love you more than you can imagine and you have me around.. I may not be the kindest or the sweetest but I'm always gonna be here and you know why? Because I care"

After listening to such a speech, a small smile appeared on Trina's features, though her grief was still visible, she parted from the hug so she could see her frirnd straight in the eyes.

"Thank you Jade. I guess I'm just going to need some time. Everything's still very weird, even to me."

The Goth nodded. "Don't worry, I understand. But you know what? If you want to talk to Tori then let's do it right"

"What do you mean?"

Jade got up from the ground so she could get the offering she brought so atrina could see them.

"Wow"

"Come on, grab something" She encouraged soothingly "I think you should give your sister something on this night"

Once again Trina cried but this one was filled with happy tears, so she quietly grabbed the flowers to set them in front of Tori's tombstone, Jade followed by putting the pan de Muertos nearby.

Both girls set everything quite neatly, the skulks, the candy, the bread, everything.

"I'm sure Tori would have loved this" Jade said as she gave Trina a one arm hug.

With a melancholic sigh, Trina kissed her fingers and touched the name on the gravestone with them.

Tori Vega

1993-

Friend

Daughter

Sister

Make It Shine

Both girls sat contently as the evening breeze tenderly caressed both their cheeks almost as if someone had kissed them.

Trina puts her head on Jade's shoulder, an action that was meet with a squeeze.

"You do realise that I'm going to be watching you like a hawk so you don't get out of the hospital again right?"

"Yeah I know"

"So, anything to want to tell you sister?"

The wind played with Trina's hair and whispered in her ear almost as if saying that no words were needed, actions spoke louder.

So Trina only held back her tears, her sister was no longer alive but she was never going to be forgotten, that was the reason for this holiday, to remember those who were no longer around.

But despite how at ease she felt like now Trina still couldn't help but to think.

"If only things had been different…"

Notes:

Well, that was my Dia De Los Muertos one-shot so please let me know what you thought.

Originally I had this planned to be a story set in a different universe with Tori returning as a ghost for one night but I think it was more emotional and a little closer to the theme of the holiday if someone in this case Jade and Trina gave Tori one final farewell and unexpectedly it ended up being tied up with my "April Fool's" Saga.

Also it's pretty obvious but in case you didn't notice, Tori was there in the graveyard and gave both Jade and Trina one final goodbye kiss.

This story is dedicated to my Paternal Grandmother who passed away a year ago, one week before el Dia De Ali's Muertos.

Invader Johnny Signing Off.