Chapter Text
Tori:
"So? What song do we do tomorrow night?"
Looking at my friends, we all smiled and nodded at each other in response to the soldiers that just marched into the hotel. As the gang began talking rapidly in discussion, I turned to Sgrodis, who flashed me a quick smile before he began talking and gesturing to the Yerbanian soldiers in their Yerba language. With a few smiles and nods from him, the soldiers turned and marched out from the hotel.
Breathing a heavy sigh of relief with the departure of the soldiers, I stared at Andre. His neck lump seemed to have gotten a third bigger since the soldiers came. "Sgrodis!" I pointed at Andre. "We can't perform without him, please get a doctor!" Sgrodis nodded, and picked up an ancient looking telephone. With Beck's help, we half dragged, half pushed Andre onto the dingy couch in the middle of the room.
"Nggghh oodddd…"
Leaving Beck to hold Andre to ensure he won't fall off the couch, I turned to find the rest of my friends to talk about the song we are forced to perform. Robbie was slumped at the far end of the room, arguing with Rex about whether it's my fault that everyone is stuck in this horrible place. Cat was mindlessly shaking the can of Yerbanian Gravy that she snagged off Sgrodis's crate, while Jade was swinging the lizard she had killed earlier by its tail.
Clearly no one was in the mood for any discussion.
I rubbed my temple, trying to think of a song, any song. Something that would not require Andre to sing, since the state he was in made it unlikely he would be able to say a word, let alone sing. But all I could think of was how it's all my fault that we were now trapped here.
A familiar voice screeched from across the room.
"Oh oh! I know! How about this new hit All I want is everything from Neutronium Records?" The familiar tune played from Trina's Pearphone loudspeaker which I had looped over twenty times on the plane filled the room.
I smiled at my sister. "That's a good idea Treen. Any of you guys know this song?"
"Any of you guys know this song?" Jade used that horrible 1940s imitation of my voice again. "I don't talk like that!" I yelled back at her.
"Whatever" I heard Jade mumble as something from her hand flew at me.
The next thing I knew, a small weighted object collided with my bare skin. Picking it off my face, I realized in horror it was the dead lizard Jade had been playing with. I heard my own scream fill the small waiting room of the hotel.
Jade had a smirk on her face. "Such a good strong voice Vega. You're going to be the lead singer for our little concert tomorrow night." I gave her the most evil stare I could muster as she turned to go back to the girls' shared room.
I watched Cat knocking the can on the floor, trying to get it to open. It was probably a good idea not to let her eat the unknown prison gravy.
"Come on Cat, Treen. Let's try to sleep. We need all our energy to rehearse the performance tomorrow."
Dragging Cat by her hand, I shoved the door of our horribly stale smelling room open. She wriggled out of my grasp, pouting. "I'm not sleeping in this lumpy bed. I am going to sleep on the couch outside."
"Yeah me too. Have fun with Jade." Trina sniggered as she followed Cat out the door.
I let out a huff, looking at the sleeping form of Jade on the large Yerban bed. Deciding to suck it up, I took a deep breath and climb into the sheets.
The pit in my stomach made it hard to sleep. It's all your fault, Tori Vega. You need to make sure all your friends get out alive. The guilt and misery felt crushing. Hot tears began falling off my cheeks, out of my control. I sat up on the bed, holding my face in my hands.
Suddenly, two warm arms wrapped around my waist from behind, as a low, soft voice filled my ears. "It's alright, Vega. Let it out, you'll feel better."
The same arms continued holding onto me as the torrents pour. The usually loud, critical voice in my head was silent as I let the arms guide me back onto the bed and under the sheets.
"Close your eyes", the voice commanded in my ear. My last thoughts were how warm and soft the arms hugging me felt.