A/N I don't own glee or the characters in it.
If you are hanging from a trapeze
And up sneaks a camel with bony knees,
Remember this rule, if you please—
Never talk to strangers.
It was a strange world that they grew up in; it wasn't quite like the lives of the children they saw on television. Sure they played with toys and chased each other around but they had a strange dynamic to live with. When they finally entered school for the first time, they weren't like the television children, it wasn't just learning about things in books, or about finding somebody to play with. They knew to be wary of each other, they could always hear the voices of their 'families' whispers and hisses of a not far of reality where they'd grow up and destroy each other. Their future played out in many ways in the school, they had mock turf wars and puffed their chest out to see who could look meaner, and it was a pale comparison of the lives of the adults. They didn't understand it so they could go back in between the mock fights to pretending they were friends. But Brittany's voice of reason, her brother, ingrained these realities into her and the stark realities of their future terrified her.
"Brittany" her brother said, sharp and authoritative, her head snapped in his direction, cautious and fearful.
"In a week you're going to go to school, do you remember what I told you about people?"
"Eh..eh" She fumbles for a response, the serious tone of her brothers voice flusters her and she blanks.
"Brittany!" A louder sharp reprimand comes from his mouth
"E-everyone is stuck in a g-game, it's all a-about what you can take from the other person, car-reful with who you t-t-trust."
He clasps her shoulders in his hands, his gaze is intense and his tone is a stern reminder. "Good, you remember that and be careful"
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They live in an island presently known as Bremer. In the 17th century, Baltazar de Cordes, a feared and famous pirate took the island from the East Indies Company; it was a pit stop for East Indies boats to restock. Baltazar revolutionized the way pirates operated, through various means he managed to make many feared pirates work together and through many losses and deals with corrupt politician and merchants over the world became one of the most influential men of his time. Through the years Baltazar brought in an influx of 'talent', mercenaries, pirates, shady merchants and the like from all over the world and eventually the island came to be informally revered as the island of the lost. Presently, the island remains to be a breaming pot of those who live beyond the law.
In one sense they have come a long way from pirates, the island is now separated into several 'families', gangs really, each section carved out into invisible lines, those that have been negotiated between the families and the invisible moving lines that constantly change as the families fight for land. In the other sense they still are like pirates, considering their reputations and the means in with they achieve their ends. The families enjoy different means of generating income, a flurry of what most consider unlawful and/or simply immoral, trafficking of various items, guns, humans, or drugs. Also some are mercenaries, hired out in all parts of the world, may it be the army, the police, gangsters from different countries or simply the rich man that's tired of the competition, be it for his wife or for his company. Some have brothels and all kinds of gambling rings scattered about. Of course in an age of much opportunity, especially for such rich opportunist there are also a multitude of different property, stock companies and the like, but that's not important.
For the families the best possible means for survival and power was control of Bremer. Although it has been many years the island survives in the same way it did in the past. Coercion and corruption, there are layers and layers of different people in different positions scattered about in many kinds of professions and various positions of power, all of whom provide the island and its occupants with the means to do as they please.
There are three principles that Bremer runs by, most of the traditions date back to Baltazar. One is that the island is run by 12 families; the twelve families that own the most land in Bremer are part of a council. They negotiate the terms in which they live and deal with rogue families or people that go against them. They also are the families that hold the most connections to important people in and out of the island. As such control the restrictions in the means in which the families gain their income. Secondly is that children are individuals and cannot be members of a family till their eighteen. Lastly is that Bremer is a utopia of violence and debauchery. With the words of Baltazar, Bremer is freedom, freedom to indulge in chaos and greed, and freedom to understand the undeniable joys of this kind of utopia.
For the families, survival is all about who you know, who you control and eliminating those who wish to steal them from you.
For the young it's about making the right friends, ending up in the most powerful family and trying not to die along the way.
In accordance to Baltazar's second principle, children attended 'preschool' in the area that their caretaker lived, doing basic maths, English, science and history; this was from ages seven to ten. As their caretaker would live in the district that their families controlled, the children weren't in contact with other possibly hostile families. Children start school at ten so that they're physically and mentally more capable to deal with harsher conditions. It was long ago decided that the schools were not to be segregated into the areas that the families controlled, so that children knew how to cope in a hostile environment. They would prove their worth as individuals, in their little mock island of Bremer, the Mckinley. Adults were not meant to intervene in their trifles because there were no favourites on the island just those who survived.
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Today was the first day of school for Santana, Miguel understood that it was good for the children to mix with one another and understand the dynamics between the different families and simply the way people behaved. He remembers the first few weeks of school and getting his face smashed into the locker because he sat with someone different that day. Loyalty and trust was hard to come by, it was of ingrained importance in the minds of those who lived in Bremer and people reacted violently with they felt betrayed. School was going to be good practice for Santana; a bruised face wasn't the worst thing to happen to you on this island. Santana was his daughter, she understood people, and she knew that survival of the fittest was not the hand that attacks but the mind that commands it. She will grow to be great leader; the school will only showcase that.
They were in the kitchen eating breakfast, his wife Sophia was silently sipping on her coffee while staring at Santana with worried eyes
"Mija is your first day today, are you excited?" he receives a smile in response
"Yes papi, I'm Santana fucking Lopez and they'll never forget it"
Miguel smiles, proud and expectant he says "That's right, you are Santana Lopez and one day you will lead the strongest family in Bremer, success is the only option"
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February 1999
Brittany hesitantly walks up to the school, her brother just dropped her off in front of the school. For the very first time she sees the doors of the Mckinley building, she'll spend the next eight years of her life going to school her but she can't seem to bring one foot in front of the other.
The building is tall and imposing, it's a three story building, there's the largest main building right in the centre and there are about four different slightly smaller buildings scatter around each with their own sports field. She remembers Hedrick telling her that she'll start in the building on the left and move to the other ones to older she gets.
Beside a couple of teachers wondering the grounds there isn't anyone here yet, Brittany bites her bottom lip nervously before walking in the direction of the building her brother told her to.
When she nears the building she starts seeing children her age, she grips onto the bottom of her shirt nervously and hears her brother telling her
"You avoid the nasty ones ok? Just walk away, if they bother you, you look them straight in eye and show them you're not scared. If they still bother you beat the fucking shit out of them, understand?"
She falters slightly in her step, but she keeps on walking, "I'm not scared, I'm not scared" she chants in her head. When she gets close enough a red headed woman guides her to stand in a line.
Quietly she stands and looks at the other students standing around her.
"Noah, Give me back my headband!" Screams a short brunette girl with pigtails, a boy with his hair shaven off 'Noah', throws the headband as far away from the girl as her possible can
"Here you go berry"
Brittany cringes at the sight and discretely tries to inch away from him. As this happens the loud screech of a microphone echoes in the courtyard and a voice screams out.
"Listen up you little maggots, there nobody to turn to now, I don't care if you dad is the head of the Blood family, this is my turf now, there is only one family and that's me".
A tall woman with short blond hair stands at the front screaming out derogatory names at the court
"Now listen Brit, the principles name is Sue, she's a tall blond, Sue used to be part of the Sylvester family before they fell. She was an investigator and she tortured people for a living. She's a horrible person, you do the best you can not to make her angry ok?"
A shiver runs down Brittany's spine, it has barely been five minutes and the urge to run is strong. She bends her head forward and does her best to drown out Sue's screaming. For what seems like an age, Sue finally stops, the red head from before guide them into the building with a smile. The red head is strange, her smile looked strained and only gets worse as more and more pass her. To Brittany she looks manic, like the Cheshire cat in Alice in wonderland. The kids shuffle into the building where there are several more teachers with roles, it takes about twenty minutes and the kids are sorted into their individual classes. Coincidently Brittany is sorted into the red heads class; there are about twenty other kids in her class. She sits silently in the front corner with her legs drawn close, body tense, ready to bolt, she refuses to make eye contact with anyone but the teacher.
"Hello kids, my name is Emma Pillsbury but you can call me Miss Pillsbury"
After the introduction she goes through the class and asked them to introduce themselves. Their names pass through Brittany's ears like white noise and her mind is blank till she notice the expectant eyes of the teacher and she squeaks out her name is response.
"Ok then, since today is your first day, we'll start off with something easy, history. Today we will be talking about Baltazar de Cordes. Now Baltazar was born in…."
During lunch break the children have their food in the classroom; it's nothing like preschool, the start of the break mean that kids immediately start chatting. The room is quiet besides the rustling of sandwich papers. Other than that Brittany isn't sure because she refuses to look up. Halfway through her sandwich a soft cough above her draws her attention. There's a tall pale boy with dark hair staring at her, she cringes away from him.
"Hi..My name is Finn" he smiles tentatively at her.
"careful with who you trust"
Immediately she jerks her seat farther away from him and vehemently shakes her head. His smile drops and he linger for a moment before he turns around and walks away.
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The first week of school goes by without issue, in class all they're doing is running through various maths, English and science topics that they should have learned in Pre School. The days go by in a haze as Brittany tries not to attract any attention to her and she does her best to learn the work. She still tenses whenever someone gets too close to her, but as the days pass without incident she learns to relax, till Wednesday happens.
Brittany's walking down the hallway, her head facing downward and she's walking briskly in the direction of the classroom. A phone chimes in the background; its tune is loud and jarring she jumps in shock. In this moment she suddenly collides with another person, she looks up and there's Noah sprawled out on the ground. He's dazed, people in the corridor suddenly stop and stare, a teen in the background sniggers and spits a word out at Noah's direction
"Pussy"
Noah darts to attention he notices the looks and for a moment he sits on the floor and as the seconds passes by the redder and angrier his face gets.
Brittany stares down on the ground in shock, instantly her palms start to sweat and she want to run away.
"Just walk away"
She splutters for a moment before quickly spitting out an apology
"S-sorry" immediately she turns around in the opposite direction and tries to leave but a hand grabs her shoulder. Her body is violently smashed into the wall next to her, her eyes closes on impact and when she opens them, there is Noah inches from her face, seething.
"Did you think that was funny huh? Do you!" He screams into her face, she tries to respond but his hands are shaking her and she can't speak over his screaming.
He gets even closer to her face, she can feel his breath brush over her cheeks, and even at this distance his voice is loud. As if he's trying to project his voice through the corridor,
"You think you can push me around? I'll show you not to mess with me". He gives her another hard slam into the wall before he moves back. He takes a look around the corridor, the children their age stare, equally frightened and curious, most of the older children walks pass the scene without stopping, their expression indifferent. He looks back at her and starts to lift his hand up threateningly Brittany's knees are shaking with fear, and she can't seem to breathe right. For a moment she catches his eyes and even though he's the one about to hit her she sees fear and reluctance shining clearly through. His hand start to come down, Brittany closes her eyes and braces for the impact.
"Hey! The fuck are you doing Puck?" She hears a mild scuffle when she opens her eyes Noah or 'Puck' is slightly off to the left, his eyes still contain traces of the fear she saw but also confusion now. When she turns to the right she sees a lanky girl with long black hair and caramel skin.
"You think you're a big man Puck? Hitting a girl?"
She's different, this girl, she hold herself confidently and proudly, there's no trace of fear in her eyes. Brittany is not sure if she's stupid or brave, but Brittany's definitely grateful for the intervention
Puck hesitates, he looks around once more, the older teen from before has left.
"Go after Ben Taylor, Puck, I heard him laughing at how shiny your head is" the girl says.
He looks at Brittany and opens his mouth to say something, but seems to think better of it.
"Whatever" he mutters to the ground before he heads off down the corridor.
Brittany slumps on the wall and tries to breathe properly, but people were still staring at her
"keep your head down Brittany, people don't hesitate to do bad things"
She closes her eyes and wills them all away, sniffling softly, her mind tells her to run and hide in an empty class room but her legs refuse to move. A soft hand encloses around her wrist, she jerks away but the hand holds on firm but somehow gentle at the same time. She opens her eyes and sees the girl. The girl looks back at her, her eyes are kind, inquisitive and a little wary.
"Come on" she gently tugs Brittany forward.
Normally Brittany would never follow someone she or her brother didn't know, but her hands are warm and her eyes are kind, and Brittany can't remember the last time someone looked at her so gently.
/
Ok, then done! This is my first fanfiction so please be nice. I'm kinda working out the world and the characterisation as a go along so apologies for any inconsistencies. Also I felt I needed you guys to understand the world so there was the large history lesson in the beginning.
The characters have just started school, so they are all 10. I'm entirely sure how smart 10 year olds are but bear in mind that in this world they are forced to be quite 'adult' in some situations.
I hope Brittany doesn't come off crazy, because she's not meant to. In this fic italics will be memories. For the random bits on italics in the fic I hope you guys realised that its Brittany remembering the things her brother tell her.
The bit about camels in the beginning is from a childrens book called The Never Talk to Strangers (Little Golden Books) by Irma Joyce (Author) and George Buckett (Illustrator).
Baltazar is actually a real Dutch pirate that lived in the 16th century- 17th Century, of course he didn't make some crazy island of outlaws, just used his name. This fic is not historically accurate.
Other than that I hope you enjoyed the fic!