fanfiction: leave me your stardust to remember you by
LEAVE ME YOUR STARDUST TO REMEMBER YOU BY
Whatever you do, don't look down. / Or, the end of the world.
Title: leave me your stardust to remember you by (1/?)
Author: seemslikeaporno
Rating: T, (currently) for character death, language, sexual themes.
Pairing(s)/Character(s): Established Beck&Jade; implied Andre&Tori and Beck&Tori (all subject to change). Robbie, Trina, Cat, Rex.
Notes: Post apocalyptic fic. Done because I felt like it, and I kept seeing them floating around. So it happened. Basically, it's my new baby. And you should probably read the ending author's notes to understand it completely.
Disclaimer: Victorious isn't mine.
Extra: If you want to read this story on fanfiction.net, click here.
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What would you do if you knew the world was ending?
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Tori stares at the television without blinking, her knuckles turning white around the spoon she’s holding midway to her mouth.
The News is on, and the reporter, who is a middle-aged woman with blonde hair, talks about the communication with England finally being lost after having it for nearly three months.
Even though she goes on to say that the president and the prime minister had developed the beginnings of a plan for safety, all Tori really hears is, America is next, ringing in her ears. A hand reaches across the screen and turns off the television manually, jerking Tori out of her reverie.
Trina stands there with a serious look on her face, there because she’s taking a “much-needed” vacation from work in San Diego.
“I was watching that,” Tori says loudly, reaching for the remote on the kitchen table to turn it back on.
“Hey, Tori - let’s just leave it off for now.” Trina’s frown is less intimidating than forlorn, and Tori complies with her sisters wishes and instead puts her hand on the edge of her bowl while she drops the spoon back into her fruit loops.
An awkward silence falls between the two sisters; Tori swallows and stands up, the chair growling against the floor in protest. She dumps her uneaten cereal into the garbage can and rinses the bowl off in the sink while Trina watches silently behind her.
“Do you want a ride to school?” She asks once Tori rips off a paper towel to dry off her hands.
“No thanks, I’ll drive.” Tori smiles reassuringly to her older sister and gives her a hug before she grabs her car keys and her bag. “I’ll see you soon,” she promises, blowing Trina a joking kiss before she leaves her house.
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The car ride to school is unusually quiet.
Even though Tori stops by Cat’s house to pick her up, the normally talkative girl doesn’t seem to have much to say. She just stares at nothing and picks at her fingernails, her bright red hair covering her face.
“Are you okay?” Tori finally asks once they’re stuck behind a line of cars at a stoplight. Cat glances at her, smiling quickly to hide the expression in her eyes. Tori raises her eyebrow, and Cat wavers, but keeps her smile in place.
“Oh, I’m fine. I was just…I was thinking about the people in the UK.” Cat furrows her eyebrows and lowers her head once more, “I just wonder what people in France and Spain are doing right now. Since, you know…” She trails off, but what was left unsaid hangs heavily in the air.
“They must be terrified,” Cat finally adds, after a hesitation.
Tori can only nod her head, pushing too hard on the accelerator and almost ramming into the back of the car in front of her. Cat gasps and Tori slams her foot on the break, her heart beating wildly. She lets out a relieved laugh and says, “Close one.” Cat laughs nervously with her.
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There’s an eerie silence in school that day, and Tori can only guess that it’s from the news in the morning; the vivacious morning chatter and the dancing in the halls is minimal, and people are huddled closely together next to their lockers with their closest friends. It happens every time they hear news about another place essentially disappearing.
Tori’s and Cat’s footsteps make outrageously loud clacking noises as they go through the halls, searching for their own friends.
“Cat, Tori!”
The two girls turn simultaneously to see André walking down the hall with Beck, Jade, and Robbie in tow behind him, waving them over.
“Hi!” Cat greets animatedly, walking two steps faster than Tori and reaching the group first, offering a reassuring smile all around even though it feels out of place. The rest of the group returns the hello with the exception of Jade, whose eyes travel to Tori in a glare before she takes hold of Beck’s elbow and looks down.
André quickly gathers Tori and Cat in a hug, and when he pulls away he asks, somewhat seriously, “Nobody lost anyone this time, right?” His eyes twinkle when they both say no, Cat hitting him lightly in the shoulder. “Good.” He sounds sincere.
“Okay, André, you’ve made sure everyone’s alright. Can I go to class now?” Jade asks, her voice coated with annoyance. Beck raises an eyebrow and touches her shoulder, turning to the rest of the group.
“She’s in a bad mood; she didn’t eat breakfast this morning,” he explains.
“She’s always in a bad mood,” Tori retorts, earning her second glare from Jade. Beck hides a smile and rolls his eyes in defense while Jade takes hold of his shirt and practically drags him away from the rest of their friends, heading towards the science hall for their first class.
Robbie is the one to break the normalcy.
“It’s picking up faster than everyone thought,” he says, his voice weary and his eyes tired.
“Don’t say that!” Cat gasps, hitting his shoulder.
“Ow!” Robbie cries, latching onto his arm and taking a step backwards, “What was that for?”
Cat gives puts her hands on his hips and gives him a serious look, “You know what! I don’t really like thinking about it.” Her voice dwindles into a murmur by the end of her sentence, but she perks up when the bell rings, signaling the time for class.
“Let’s go,” Tori says, taking André’s arm and pulling him towards her. She lets go when he falls into step beside her.
“Yes ma’am,” he jokes, smiling despite the looming feeling of fear hanging in the air.
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The group meets up at their normal lunch table, Jade already spearing her salad with a fork and Beck loyally sitting beside her with his BLT when Tori and André arrive, Tori placing her plate of pizza on the table before shrugging off her bag and sitting down on a separate bench than Jade and Beck. André rightfully takes his place beside her.
“Hey,” Beck greets, nodding to both of them with a half-smile.
“Hey Beck,” Tori answers, giving a short wave to Jade that isn’t returned. She ignores it and picks up her pizza, taking a bite and swallowing. “How’s your day been?”
“Decent, despite the situation,” Beck answers earnestly, glancing at Jade while he’s talking and stealing a kiss from her before her food goes into her mouth. She grimaces and pretends to be annoyed with him, turning her back in his direction but secretly smiling behind her hair. “What about yours?”
“Okay.”
“Can’t complain.”
André and Tori share a look, and Tori crinkles her nose. André chuckles and dives into his burrito, the contents spilling out from the opposite end and landing on the table. André grabs a napkin to wipe it up and continues eating.
“Hi again,” comes Cat’s voice from behind Jade. She smiles at everyone at the table and puts her bag on the ground, squeezing into the empty space. Robbie, who had been following closely behind, sits in the third bench with Rex on his lap.
“Hey,” he offers quietly.
“What up, ladies? And you two,” Rex says, motioning towards André and Beck with his head. Robbie scorns him while Jade raises a pierced brow and uncharacteristically skips out on a snide remark.
“So did you hear about Mrs. Alexander?” Cat says, opening her lunchbox and pulling out a tuna sandwich, “Her brother was stuck in the UK. He couldn’t leave when he was supposed to because of weather conditions…” Cat doesn’t need to finish the sentence; the group knows what’s been implied.
They sit in a silence.
“That’s awful,” Tori finally mutters, staring down at her food and feeling oddly nauseas.
“She seemed really torn up about it in class today. She apparently just heard the news when she got to school, from some of the other teachers. I heard them talking about it when I went into the teacher’s lounge to print something out,” Cat explains, taking an unusually small bite of her sandwich, like she’s afraid her stomach can’t hold it.
“Well she lost her brother,” Jade spits, dropping her fork into her salad, “And she doesn’t even know what happened to him. For all she knows, he could have been torn into a thousand pieces.”
“But he could be on a plane back to California right now. Maybe he got out,” Cat points out, forever the optimist.
“Please,” Jade says, “From what we know, every time something goes, there are like, earthquakes and bad winds - and, in parts of Italy, tsunamis. There’s no way he got out in time.”
Cat gives her a horrified look and the rest of the group just stares.
“Jade…” Beck says haltingly, as though she’s a time-bomb just waiting to explode.
She shrugs her shoulders like she doesn’t care, picks up her fork, and resumes eating.
No one really says anything after that, but Cat can’t seem to find it in her to finish her sandwich.
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a/n: WHAT IS THIS? A CHAPTER FIC? OH MY GOD. but, no, seriously, it's here. and i'm actually kind of excited about it; more excited than usual. which means this actually has a chance of getting done. after reading a couple of post-apocalyptic fics in other fandoms, i wanted to try one of my own. so, basically, this is set during the victorious gang's senior year, which just happens to be in 2012. and the world isn't really ending like everyone expects it to; instead of something that happens quickly in a time-span of three-four days, maybe a week, it takes months, almost a year, before it's predicted to be fully destroyed. it started in australia, and instead of expanding both ways, it only went east. so it's basically making a long travel around the world, and UK has just been demolished by whatever the fuck is killing everybody; california, where the gang is, is one of the last places to go (the last heavily populated area to go - since only parts of canada, alaska, and hawaii will exist briefly afterwards).
this fic will include heavy doses of angst, drama, and character death. sorry - apocalyptic fics tend to do that. there are no set pairings; for now, there's established jade/beck, which may or may not change, and implied andre/tori, which may or may not happen. i don't really know yet. hopefully, it will be an interesting enough idea for someone to want me to continue (wow, is that a terribly placed hint?) and before this note ends up longer than my chapter, i'm going to thank you for reading and hope you enjoy! :)