Estrangement

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N: I was messaging one of my readers (Invader Johnny) when something we were talking about in regards to the futures of the Victorious crew spawned this plot bunny for a oneshot. It was going to stay a oneshot, but then I felt I could do this better as a story.

Chapter 1 (Still Chasing the Unreachable Dream)

"I'm starting to think my sister was right," Tori sat at the usual booth in the bar, having finished with the song at the karaoke stage. Nearly twenty years had gone on since Hollywood Arts, and Tori was washed up. Her best friend that sat beside her Jade, now married and freshly divorced from Beck Oliver. Jade was a very successful guidance counselor, easily considered one of the best. Tori sipped on her Mai Tai and moved her hands to her head while Jade rubbed her back. "There's nothing in this life."

"Well you keep trying, that's what is important." Tori lifted her lips from the straw and glanced at the woman with mild irritation.

"Even Robbie became something. I didn't go to college because a record producer told me I was going to be a big hit. I wasn't…" She'd been trying to get discovered for her singing voice, and it was Trina that said singing was just a fantasy, not reality. Tori mocked her sister's age old words while absently stirring her drink with the straw. "No Tori, you should go for something you really enjoy, you have to be somebody in this town to become famous." She thought she was somebody, but unfortunately 'somebody' was not Tori Vega of Hollywood Arts. The real world was just shitty. "Maybe I should have listened to her more."

"What did she go on to do?"

"I don't know." Trina left when she got her associate's degree. When she moved, Sinjin moved with her, since they had been dating. She left because she was tired of being injured and poorly treated by not only Tori and her friends, but their parents as well. She told them she was finished and moving to New York. "I haven't talked to her since she and Sinjin moved to New York. God knows what they're doing now." Trina was only twenty then, and Tori had been a fresh graduate. At graduation, they all left about an hour early to make it to the ceremony, and no one bothered to even wait for Trina to get out of the shower. They just laughed and left, and of course, Trina was waiting for them when they got home. She was angry.

"Why'd she leave? I mean I thought you guys had a good family."

"If you remember, we all treated her like the plague, so she cut us all off. We didn't have time for her, she didn't have time for us." Tori straightened herself up and narrowed her eyes. "We live in LA, so why the hell have am I not being discovered? I'm good!"

"You're thirty-four, you live with your eighty year old mother and sing in dive bars like this. And you wonder why you're still single." It was true she lived with her mother still, but she had to take care of her mother. The woman's health had been declining for years now.

"Mom is 72, Jade, you know that."

"She looks eighty."

"I know, she's not been doing well since Dad died." Her father passed away ten years ago while on the job, and Trina was unable to come. It hadn't been her fault entirely, Trina's reason given to her mother was that her boss was crunching down on everyone's schedules and she was not allowed time off.

Tori couldn't blame her, even if it had been her decision. David honestly didn't treat her well enough as a father when it came to security. The most vivid memory that came to mind, only because Trina complained about those to them before she left, were when David chose to believe Beck's little puppet show scheme over Trina after she called for help, and when David and Holly joked about leaving her in that prison overseas.

However, it was a couple years before he passed away that he picked himself up and flew out to try and make amends with his daughter. Holly and Tori never went with him because they had other concerns at the time, but he'd done what he set out to do.

She pushed away thoughts of her past and narrowed her eyes onto someone else climbing the karaoke stage. "I'm pissed off right now. I called in sick to work because I heard a talent guy was going to be here." She was a waitress at some local steakhouse, it paid the bills but she still wanted something more. She'd done a lot of waitressing over the years, but her dream of becoming a singer was the best shot she had. Or so, she thought. "Have you ever been to Manhattan? Pretty sure Trina lives in Manhattan."

"Never been to New York." Other than Trina, Andre also moved up to New York where he did manage to get a record label. He made an album but wasn't as well known as most musicians. He faded out a few years ago, and Tori really hadn't heard much from him. Beck went into the military because he was told by an acting agent that he wasn't cut out for film. He came back and became bald, lethargic, and finally divorced. Jade had no children by him, which was unfortunate for her, but she said she like the party life and children would get in the way of that.

Robbie moved to Las Vegas and got an act as a ventriloquist. As far as Tori knew, he was still going strong. Cat followed him, much like Sinjin followed Trina. Though, there was some indication that Trina followed Sinjin, considering he got some sort of job offered by his Uncle in New York, who was the principal at a high school. "You know how you keep saying I should just call Trina up and ask her for help?" Which wasn't often, since Jade had been Trina's worst critic back in the days, as all of them were. "I'm halfway tempted." Calling Trina would mean admitting her sister was right, and that had never been something she could do.

"Well who knows. Maybe she'd help you. If she lives in Manhattan, then she lives near Broadway. If she lives near there, she could get you a job there."

"She'd probably force me to through college, I'm too old for that…"

"You're never too old. Look at me, I didn't go to college until I was twenty-five." Jade was a guidance counselor these days. "What can it hurt to call her up? Pride? You didn't cut her off, she cut you guys off."

"That's just it. She told us it was because of our ignorance and never giving her time or whatever-and she was right, we didn't do a lot of things we could have done better, and we pushed her away. Yet-admitting that? Come on…I just think-"

"Tori?" She tensed as a man's voice shook her in place. She turned her head over her shoulder and whined when she saw her boss standing before her. She was tempted to ask what he was doing at the bar, but that would just lead to awkwardness and it wouldn't look too well. "You're skipping out on work again, Vega?"

"It's not so much that I'm skipping out on work, I-"

His voice fell flat and his arms crossed over his chest. "You called in saying you had a rash, a fever, and you were throwing up all over the place."

"Okay come on, I heard there was a talent scout here and I wanted to sing and get discovered. All right? Is that what you want to hear?" She actually received the message through the employee mailbox. It was just an advertisement that she thought all the workers were getting. The man closed his eyes and lifted his brow as his chest expanded and fell.

"I planted the message in the mailbox. Since you're always skipping off to start singing in one of these…" The man sneered at the smoky environment, then shuddered. "These places. I wanted to know if you would forgo work yet again. Get it in gear, Vega…how many times have I told you, you are to show up for work. You've used all your sick days already! Signing is just a dream-having a job is the real world! You are not going to become an overnight sensation, and you certainly won't if you keep sacrificing your job to chase a dream!"

"I'm sorry sir, I just…I've always wanted this." According to Trina, she never wanted it until she went to Hollywood Arts. It was true, actually. She wanted to be a veterinarian all her life, or at least, run a kennel. It was the one true goal she had from childhood to her late teens. Then she heard she could make it big as a singer.

"Really? So you would rather sing in dive bars?"

"No! I mean-I need money, I just-I'd rather be a singer."

"Guess what Vega, even the popular singers have to work…" Tori winced and looked over to Jade. Jade was now sipping her own mojito while trying to ignore the Tori's boss. The man was saying the same stuff Trina said to her, and she always ignored It because she thought she'd make it. It was true though, the road to stardom wasn't easy, and truth be told, a part of her still wanted that 'realistic' dream she had. Even that, she couldn't do anymore.

"You're going to get what you want," Trina said as she paced the living room floor. Tori sat in the middle couch cushion as David sat on her right and Holly to her left. Holly was busy texting the man she was having an affair on, and David was looking at Trina as if she were making some sort of joke. Tori didn't know why Trina couldn't just be happy she finally graduated from Hollywood Arts.

"Trina quit complaining like always, I've graduated!" Tori cheered. Trina stopped moving and turned to her, raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms.

"You left me in the shower to go to the graduation over an hour early. I had Sinjin drive me down there because my car wasn't starting, and you guys weren't even there. You were at the damn café laughing your asses off!" Trina snapped her fingers at her mother, growling. "Come on mom, pay attention, pay attention now. How many times do I have to say it? Stop texting the man you're cheating on dad with for five minutes and listen to your goddamn daughter!"

"Oh I'm sure it's very important honey," Holly waved her hand dismissively in the air while Tori glanced over at her mother. She hated that Holly was cheating on her dad, and her dad was actually allowing it to happen now."We were just hungry dear, we decided to go eat and figured if you were hungry you'd make yourself a sandwich."

"You're kidding…You've got to be kidding." Trina's eyes flared up with anger as she threw her hands up into the air. "That's it! This is the last damn straw! You ignore me, you treat me like I don't exist…"

"When have we ever treated you harshly?" David asked.

"All the fucking time-pardon the language-dad!" David winced as Trina took an angry step forward. "When we were in that prison overseas? What was it you guys said? Leave me there? Yeah fantastic. Leave your daughter overseas, no one will miss her. Oh and what else have you done? Well, let's not forget when I called for help when Beck and the idiots were fighting over me, then they made a complete fool out of me, and you believed them over me. Then one of Tori's damn friends cut my rope on the stage and put me in the hospital, no one cared of course." Trina took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She rubbed her forehead while Tori looked between her parents. "Of course you also told me a couple years ago to go to college far away. Well I'm done with my associates and I'm going for my bachelor's degree. You know it's funny, no one showed any celebration for that!"

"It wasn't like that," Tori defended the family but earned a glare from Trina. "It just happened that a talent director was going to be at the mall the day you got that letter. I had to have Mom and Dad take me…"

"That's another thing! Tori!" Trina put her hands to her shoulders and looked into Tori's eyes. "Grow up, Tori. Do you know how difficult it is to become a famous singer or a famous actor? Get a real job! What happened to that goal you wanted?"

"I still want it, I just figure I'd get more money being a singer." Trina groaned as she straightened herself up and looked over to Holly. Holly was back to texting Gary, and David was distracting himself with his coffee mug. Trina let out an angry scream and tore Holly's phone from her, then threw it against the recliner. Holly gasped out and rose up.

"Katrina Vega! Don't throw things! What is wrong with you? You're always acting off base!" Trina stared at her mother for the longest time, her anger simmering and a strange calmness stretched over her face.

Tori reached up, putting her hand to Holly's shoulder, "Mom…"

"What? You say it all the time, your sister acts like she always wants attention when we don't have the time for all the stuff we put up with."

"Really?" Trina narrowed her eyes as David snapped his gaze towards the family. "I'm an annoying attention whore who you don't time for? All right. I got it. I have news for you…" Trina walked over to the end table next to David and used her finger to flick David's coaster off of a paper she'd turned over. "Get your damn coaster off my acceptance letter, dad."

"What?"

"This…" She pulled the paper up and held it before them. "Is an acceptance letter from NYU. New York University. Sinjin will be moving there too, and Courtney is applying to Cornell University. I'm giving you what you want and going far away, right dad?" David dropped his gaze down as Trina narrowed her eyes. "I won't bother you ever again. I won't waste your time with phone calls or anything like that, I'm guessing you won't miss me either, so…fuck you three."

Trina started for the door and Tori reached out, calling out to her, "Trina wait!" Trina opened the door and glanced over her shoulder.

"Unless what you have to say is 'congratulations', I'm done here. I've already packed my bags, they're over at Sinjin's right now. 'Good riddance', I'm sure you think, so have fun living your life. I'm leaving on the plane in three days. You have no time for me, I officially have no more time for you. God willing, I will not darken your doorstep any longer." Unable to muster the words needed to make her sister give it another thought, she could only watch Trina disappear behind the slamming door.

Never before had she seen so much anger in her sister's eyes. Trina wasn't angry with Tori's friends, she made that clear on the texts with Tori on the flight to New York. She was angry with the family. The sad fact was, neither of the three ever asked Trina to come back. She made good on her promise, and never bothered them again. Tori did wonder how Trina was doing from time to time.

So it begins, Tori's still trying to reach fame, but it's costly the price. She may be realizing how difficult a task it really is. Since this is the future.