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Prologue

In some ways, it was expected of her.

She'd always known she wasn't like her peers, that much was clear early on.

Still, she couldn't help feeling at loss after the fateful day that confirmed her parents' suspicions.

I can't be...she whispered to herself the night before her imminent departure.

It was irrational, and crazy.

It was also the truth.


Chapter I: The hero is the villain

Rachel Berry shivered. She wasn't sure wherever it was because of the wind or the enormity of the situation. She settled for both.

She clutched her bag, forcing her hands to cease shaking. A loud metallic voice boomed through the station announcing her train imminent arrival.

Her stomach clenched with anguish. It seemed as if it was all part of a dream, or rather a nightmare. Only a few days before she was normal. Or at least she lived a normal existence.

No time to reminiscence, she willed herself to reach the rails, making sure that she did not overstep the yellow line. Rachel had never been a rule breaker, nothing would change that.

The train arrived a few minutes afterwards, the speed of it made a tangled mess out of her previously neat hair. No time for vanity.

It took two strong tugs before she was able to open her compartment door. She then carried her suitcase and backpacks at her assigned seat. Hurriedly she sat down in her allocated seat. With a huge sigh she waited until the train moved again before taking a look around.

Her mouth formed an "o" of surprise once she realized she was the only passenger of the carriage.

No time for questions.


She'd dozed off soon afterwards. Two days of sleep deprivation catching up with her.

Once awake again she automatically reached for her phone, before remembering it had been reputed as a dangerous link to her therefore taken away from her. She avoided thinking about how long it would be until she would able to hear from Hiram and Leroy. It helped that she wasn't feeling particularly amicable towards them. Don't go there. Yes, no need to further spoil her mood.

Her laptop had also been pegged as a threat, and it now laid abandoned in her bedroom -her old bedroom- alongside most of her beloved possessions.

Drawing a shaky breath as she forced herself away from those kind of thoughts.

For once she wouldn't have minded sharing the carriage with an especially boisterous family. Anything to keep her from brooding over her situation. Sadly, other than a ticket inspector Rachel's journey was a relative quiet one.

No family would go on a trip to middle of nowhere Canada in October.

The further she ventured in her journey, the more anxious she became.

If only things could have been different.

She would be now attending her second year at NYADA, sharing an apartment with Finn.

She didn't know her dream would last only three mere months, and that Finn's death would cause her return to Lima. Her bright promising future vanishing before her eyes.

That had been eleven months before, and it seemed things could go from worse to worser.

Sighing she once again reprised herself from remembering what went wrong in her life.

It was too late now.

The long relentless journey came to a sullen end. Rachel couldn't say how long it had taken, what had felt like days must have been really less than twelve hours.

Outside it was pitch black. The abandoned looking station -it was a stretch referring to it has one- was rather small. Rachel was struck again by the oddity of it all. Had she followed the instructions correctly? Was this the right stop?

She hoped so, her train had just left, and it was freezing.

Soon. They would collect her soon.

So she waited. Eyeing her wristwatch every few minutes. She hadn't been late, so why weren't they there?

Maybe her dads had given them the wrong time. Maybe she shouldn't have bothered obeying them. She should have just run away.

But where?She chided herself. To whom?

You are dangerous. You shouldn't be running free.

Forty freezing minutes later a woman walked into the station. She was wearing a long winter coat and a big hat. In the dim light Rachel couldn't tell wherever her skin was fair or dark. She couldn't really make out much, she did notice her gaze settling onto hers. In response, her body seemed to be enveloped in a cold sweat.

The woman walked towards her while Rachel remained frozen unable to move.

What next?

"Rachel Berry?"The woman asked. It felt like a demand, her accent -Scandinavian perhaps- weighted her name down. It seemed as if the girl in question wasn't Rachel herself.

Rachel licked her chapped lips before answering with a short nod.

The woman waved a gloved hand. At the gesture two men marched through the battered entrance. Both wearing suits and sunglasses. Sunglasses. Dark lenses and all.

The taller one out of the two grabbed Rachel's suitcases. She wanted to complain, but all she could do was tighten her grip on her bag. The man wavered a moment before retracing his steps. Rachel sighed a breath of relief. That bag was a present from Finn, and there was no way she was about to let a mysterious man take it from her.

"I'm Emma." The woman said, her accent seemed to have suddenly dissipated leaving behind a chirpy and youthful voice. "I am a member of the Institute. You must be tired from your journey so it's better if we make our way back."

For some reason Rachel thought the woman would shake her hand, before she noticed that her gloved hands were rigidly still by her sides.

"Come on, it's cold outside."

It wasn't an invitation but an order.

Too late to turn back.


Rachel Berry took orders as quickly as she could. The lunch rush however didn't seem to cease and that was after a very long morning shift. She hated Wednesdays the most. To be fair, she hated every single day of the week. It had been less than a year since she'd moved back to Lima, but it felt like she had always worked at Wendy's. Her once bright future now had diminished to a bleak succession of long and tiring shifts.

"I asked for extra fries!" A young girl complained, her annoyingly nasal voice made her request even more irritating.

"I asked for a skinny not a full fat latte!"

"Is this gluten free?"

"How many calories does it have?"

"I want two extra shots!"

Everyone had become hard work. While working as a waitress, Rachel had quickly become repellent to other people, consequently her social life had been reduced to a brief exchange of words with an old lady who sat down next to her on her bus journey home.

It wasn't all bad. At least while she worked she didn't think about Finn. And she could also avoid her concerned parents.

Once the lunch rush was over things usually were quite slow. She was alone behind the counter when a group of four young people came in. Rachel sighed immediately once she recognized her high school former bullies. Keep it cool Berry.

Karofsky looked as shaggy as ever, his thick arm drooped around none other than just-as-blonde-as-ever Kitty. Azimio's laugh made her want to puke. Yet she plastered her perfectly studied best-waitress-ever smile and welcomed them.

"Berry!"The brunette -Rachel could not recall her name- shrieked before exploding in a fit of giggles. "Oh god!You look as dorky as ever!"

More laughter followed. As if she'd just made an actually amusing joke.

Hilarious. "What can I get you?"

Azimio leaned over the counter, his smirk just as annoying as she'd remembered it to be. "What you doin' here? Thought you were in the big city, living the dream."

David snorted, looking pissed. "Turns out she is just a fucking looser. Still think you are better than us?"

Rachel wished she could ask Tom, her co-worker, to intervene. However he was having his break. "Ha-ha." She forced a laugh, pretending to be at ease. "So, what can I get you?"

"Weren't you dating Finn?Fuck. Now I remember. Still fucking?"

His crude words made her flinch.

Azimio, seeing her reaction, continued. "He still fuckin' you?Not so high and mighty, eh? Fucking cunt."

They were altered obviously. Maybe even high. How else could she explain it?

She didn't believe that they could possibly behave like such animals.

"Can I take your order?"She asked again, hiding her shaking hands in her apron. Just a few minutes… Tom will be back.

"Wouldn't fuck with nobody else but him. Remember Karofsky? She turned you down man!"

David's nostrils flared. Oh yes, he definitely remembered. "Not a star yet? What they saw your ugly mug and turned you down?"They all laughed again. "So what about now?Finn still thinks you are fuckable?!"

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave!"Rachel finally said. "Or I will have to call my manager."

She wasn't sure wherever she would or not, however she could no longer listen to their vulgar slander. "Leave now."

Kitty made a disdained sound. "Make me, bitch!"

Rachel made a move to reach the phone. Just a single step closer to the receiver.

That's when it happened.

Azimio grabbed her across the counter, his fist closing around her arm. He pulled her towards him crashing her body against the worktop.

Karofsky jumped over the surface, and loomed dangerously before her. She called out, for help, screamed at the top of her lungs. The boy however was faster. He was on top of her in a flash.

His whole body crushing her petite frame. He was shouting and laughing, his alcohol infused breath made her gag.

Azimio and the girls soon followed. They all had their phones in their hands, as if they'd shared the same cruel idea.

"Take her clothes off!"

"Not so fucking good anymore hey?"

"Where is your boy now?"

Dead. Buried beneath. Dead. Rotted away.

David punched her, while somebody's foot connected to her side.

Then it was over.

They scattered away. Running to their cars, their roaring laughter echoing behind them.

Rachel stood uneasily, her bruised body screamed in pain.

She knew someone was behind her, although she could not clearly hear or see anymore. She twisted her body, expecting to find Karofsky's bulky figure.

Tom's shocked expression made her realize that something wasn't quite right.

Tom backed away clutching his sides. Blood poured out of his eyes and mouth and nose.

Rachel didn't understand. Why was Tom bleeding out on Wendy's sickly coloured linoleum floor? Why were her hands soaked by his blood?

The following hours passed in a blur. Police, ambulances, noisy people.

And her parents of course.

Great confusion clouded those memories.

In those hours, she was told that she had to leave. Immediately.

Leave before the police could question her.

Or the doctors examine her.

So she did leave. Obediently, she left.

Her numb mind following those orders, without any explanation given.

She knew that Tom was dead.

She also knew that she'd somehow killed him.

Leroy and Hiram did not answer her pleas. They gave her the train ticket, and dropped her off at the nearest train station.

"You can't come back."

"Never?"Rachel stupidly asked, twisting her numb hands in her lap.

Leroy's eyes stayed on the road ahead, his hands tightening against the steering wheel. "You can't stay Rach. You do not belong with us."

No more words where spoken during that drive. Rachel got off at the train station without a single hug or kiss. They dropped her suitcases on the sidewalk and stepped back into the car.

Rachel was alone.

Her clean hands bore no signs of the red fluid that had covered them at the end of her last ever shift at Wendy's.

Still, she could sense it. The stain had tainted them on the inside. They no longer felt as if they belonged to nineteen year old Rachel Berry.

Something wicked this way comes.

Me.


Hope you enjoyed!Longer chapters soon to come!