Night Time (victorious)

Chapter 10

"You're leaving?" Rosie asked, folding her arms. Jade looked up from packing her suitcase.

"Yep." She said simply, going back to packing.

"I never thought you'd be the one to run away like a scared little puppy." Rosie said, raising an eyebrow. Jade glared at her.

"You and I both know that Tori would die if we stayed here. What would have me do?" She demanded.

"Send her away! Cat or Joan could take her into the NeverNever, and you could stay to help fight in the war."

"Yeah, send Tori, the innocent, naïve new werewolf, into the land of the Fey, that sounds like a great plan." Jade said sarcastically. "Besides, what war? The only people staying in Los Angeles are the Witches, the Wizards, and their allies and debtors. Everyone else that knows what's coming is getting out of Dodge."

"If we run now then we're just giving up!" Rosie snapped.

"No, if we run now, then we live to fight another day in one of our cities." Jade said patiently. "Los Angeles has never been one of our strongholds. Everyone else is heading for San Francisco, Chicago, New Orleans, Nashville, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, or New York. You know, the cities that are full of magic and are practically run by magical beings?"

"...You're not changing your mind about this, are you?" Rosie said after a moment. Jade shook her head, exasperated.

"Rosie, I need to protect Tori. Magic increases with time, and magic is strength in a war like this. And right now, Tori is as helpless as a puppy." Rosie sighed and nodded.

"You picked the worst possible time to fall in love, you know that right?" She said with a slight smile, holding out her hand to shake. Jade took it, then pulled Rosie into a tight hug.

"Take care of yourself, okay?" She said, sounding close to tears. Rosie swallowed back her own tears and nodded.

"I survived the Civil War, I'll survive this war." She said, pulling back and giving Jade a small smile. "I cast that spell you requested, so you can leave whenever you finish packing." Jade nodded.

"Thanks." She said pulling Rosie back into a quick hug. Rosie hugged her back, then smiled and left. Jade swallowed again, then turned back to her suitcase and resumed packing.

Five hours later

Tori showed up at Jade's doorstep, carrying two large suitcases. "Is that everything?" Jade asked, opening the door and letting her in. Tori looked down, blushing.

"No, but these are essentials. I wasn't sure how big of a car we were taking, so I left the rest of the stuff in Trina's car." She said.

"Car? Who said anything about taking a car?" Jade asked, raising an eyebrow. "We need to stay under the radar Vega. We're walking." Tori's eyes widened in horror, and Jade started laughing, unable to keep a straight face. "I'm just joking Vega, walking would be way too slow. No, I just wanted to see your face." Tori pouted and hit Jade on the head.

"That's not funny." She complained. Jade just laughed and messed up Tori's hair.

"Yes it was. Now come with me, I want your input on our destination." She said, turning around and heading for the kitchen. Tori followed her, and Jade pointed at a map of the United States. "Alright, now, we only have a few practical options. You see, Los Angeles isn't a magical stronghold, not really. There are a lot of magical beings here, but not as much as you'd think. Most of us need darkness after all, so Southern California isn't a real great option. I circled the cities that are strongholds with red ink on the map." Tori bent down to consider the map, then looked up at Jade, frowning.

"Why do Las Vegas and San Francisco have X's through them?" She asked.

"They're both too close to Los Angeles to be a good choice, but they are strongholds, so we'll go there if you really want to." Jade told her.

"These are all big cities." Tori said, frowning. "Don't we have to worry about people noticing when I turn into a wolf?" Jade grinned.

"Vega, I've been alive since the 1300's, remember? I'm one of the richest people in the planet."

"So?" Tori asked, confused. Jade rolled her eyes.

"Do you really think that I don't have a house in every single one of these cities?" She asked.

"Ohh..." Tori said slowly, nodding. She looked down at the map, then pointed at Chicago. "Let's go there." She said.

"Good choice." Jade said, nodding. "Alright, go get the rest of your stuff out of the car, then meet me in the garage. I've got some cleaning up to do." Tori nodded, and turned around. Jade pulled out a pair of scissors and began turning the map into confetti. She tossed them out the window, then headed for the garage. Tori was already there, staring at Jade's black RV.

"Magical garage?" She asked Jade, who nodded.

"And a magical RV." Jade told her, picking up two suitcases in one hand and snapping her fingers. The doors opened and a small set of steps lowered from below them to allow easier entrance into the RV.

"Fancy." Tori said with a smile. "But couldn't technology do that too?" Jade grinned.

"You ain't seen nothing yet." She said. "Welcome to my goth TARDIS." Tori frowned, grabbed two suitcases, and walked inside. Her jaw dropped, and she almost let the suitcases fall to the ground in shock as she looked around. The interior of the RV was huge, with multiple hallways going off in every direction and a set of stairs leading up to a second level.

"Can it travel through time?" Tori asked Jade as the goth girl came up behind her, the rest of Tori's luggage in hand. Jade chuckled.

"No. Trust me, time travel is something you do not want to mess with. That is one of the basic unwritten laws of the magical community-leave time alone. Now then, ready to go?"

"We've got to take Trina's car back home." Tori reminded her.

"No we don't." Jade said, heading for the driver's seat. "Unless you took off the license plates, they'll eventually find it." Tori frowned and followed her.

"I'm about to leave my family for who knows how long, without any explanation whatsoever, for an indeterminate amount of time." She said. "I just wiped their minds, I am not adding stealing and then leaving it lying in the street for them to eventually, maybe, find to that list." Jade sighed.

"Fine. Go get in Trina's car and drive it back to your house, I'll follow behind you." Jade said, sitting down in the driver's seat. Tori smiled, kissed her on the top of the head, and ran back out.