13Blues: Good afternoon Victorious fans. As promised in the last chapter of Beneath the Mask, the remake of Beneath the Mask is coming but I wanted to start with a different fic. So let me introduce Beneath the Mask: A Darker Shade of Brown So let's start the show.
Title: Beneath the Mask: A Darker Shade of Brown
Summary: After a cruel action causes a frenemy ending argument between Hollywood Arts most infamous duo, Jade finds herself at odds with her waring emotions in regards to her rival and it only grows worse when a new face appears that sends her image of Tori into a tailspin. Jade will find herself facing down the mask of her rival but will she find herself drawn to the person beneath it or will she find herself longing for the mask?
Pairings: Jade/Tori.
Genre: Romance/Drama
Rating: T-M
Disclaimer (Jade): If Rain didn't own us, what makes you think Blues does?
Beneath the Mask: A Darker Shade of Brown
Prologue: Done with you
"You've gone too far Jade!" Tori exclaimed in fury as she walked behind her, her eye blazing as the taller teen sauntered at an easy going pace.
"Come on now, I thought the color matched your clothes. I guessed wrong apparently," Jade replied with a bored tone but the playful spark in her eyes told her otherwise.
"You've done a lot of shit to me but dumping a bucket of applesauce on me has gone too far!" Tori shouted in fury.
"Well you know what they say, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" and from the amount of sauce I gathered, you won't need to see the doctor for a year," Jade replied, her head twisted to the right just enough so she could see her from the corner of her eye.
"Besides, I was sick yesterday so I didn't get a chance to prank you. You should have known something was coming," Jade added with a small smirk as she turned to face her fully but that smirk fell away when she saw how truly furious Tori was at her.
Jade didn't see why she was so insulted. It was their thing.
She pranks her. She gets mad then she gets even. Moment of understanding one another then the cycle begins anew the next day. It was like clockwork and she looked forward to it. She enjoyed the challenge she presented her day in and day out with.
But when she looked into those darkened brown eyes of her rival's, she saw anger in them that she had never seen before it made her take pause.
Had she gone too far?
But before she could speak a word, Tori shut her eyes and took a small breath and asked her "Do you hate me that much?"
Jade blinked.
"What?" Jade asked with a tilt of her head, unsure of what she had just asked.
Without opening her eyes, Tori slowly repeated "Do…You…Hate…Me…That…Much?"
Now Jade was concerned.
No matter how pissed Tori had gotten, she had never asked her that question before. She could feel the room begin to fade away, leaving just the two of them alone. She opened her mouth for a moment, a lie dancing on her silver tongue but then she closed it.
No…something told her that it wasn't the time to lie.
Jade looked rival dead in the eyes and answered with "I don't hate you. I hate the image of you."
"The Image of me?" Tori repeated, an unsure tone dancing in her voice. "Are you serious?"
"You asked and I'm answering," Jade told her. "You are such a perfectionist."
"So you do these cruel things to me because you think I'm a perfectionist?" Tori suddenly asked, her eyes becoming sharp.
Jade felt as if she was in one of her dad's court trials but Jade stood firm before her but she was not going to show weakness now.
"I mean yeah," Jade told her in a flippant tone. "You walk around like you own the joint. Hell, you kind of do. You have everyone around your finger and it's sickening." The more Jade spoke, the more conviction she found in her words.
Yeah, that was why she continued to mess with the Latina.
"I mean look at you," Jade said as she motioned to Tori. "Your doe-like eyes, your Looks, your voice, your attitude. Hell, even your smile…too perfect. It's like you were made out of a Disney princess machine for all the tweens to gush over. Hell, you even act like a Disney princess with that "Never say die" Attitude."
Jade could see the anger growing in Tori's eyes but she couldn't stop now.
In for a penny, in for a pound.
"I mean, at this point, you're nothing but a machine sprouting empty platitudes of friendship. Hell, do you even have feelings of your own?"
The slap was so sudden that Jade actually saw stars.
Jade fell to one knee with a hand on her left cheek in muted surprise.
She had no idea that she could hit that hard.
Jade shook her head and stared at her with amazement but as she stared back at her, she saw a renewed flame in her in Tori's eyes but the flame wasn't the one she was used to.
The flame was getting ready to burn her alive.
"How dare you?" Tori whispered to her, her chest heaving and her left hand shaking, as if she was going to strike her again. "You think I'm some unfeeling, uncaring robot?"
Jade could only stare up at her. It was strange to her how she didn't get up and attack the brown-eyed girl but the look in the other girl's eyes rooted her to her spot. There was a fury in them she had never seen but there was also remorse and…self-loathing?
Tori lowered her hand and said "You know what? I'm done with this. I'm done entertaining whatever the hell this is between us."
Jade then watched as she took a step away from her and told her with venom in her voice "All you've done is hurt me with your words and hurt me with your pranks. You torture me day in and day out with no mercy when I have done nothing but try to be a friend to you. I thought there was something good in you but in the end, I was wrong. There is nothing good in you Jade West."
Jade had never heard her say her name with such malice before and she found that she truly hurt to hear her say it like that. But she wasn't done yet.
"You hate how perfect I am? Then here is your chance to live without seeing that perfection because I am done with you. I am done with your life. I am done with your pranks. I am done even saying your name. We may share the same friends but there is nothing between you and I from this moment on."
Jade felt her heart stop from her biting words but she wasn't still wasn't finished with her yet. Jade was sure that her goal for Tori was for her to feel all the pain and humiliation she felt today.
"Stay the hell out of my life," Tori finished before she turned and walked away.
No one breathed a word as Jade rubbed her cheek and shook her head before she noticed Andre, Cat, Robbie and Beck looking at her but without a word, Jade walked off in the opposite direction Tori had gone.
Blues: So a different start we have compared to the last one. I hope you guys enjoyed the prologue. The first chapter will come soon so take care and have a nice day!
