First FanFiction, decided to do some edits of the earlier chapters because I wasn't fond of my format from before:) added a little here and there as well. So I hope you enjoy the story. I have bigger plans for it.


Running for two hours on end was not how I envisioned practice. But of course all it took was a single girl to be out of formation for coach to have a fit. She went on a rampage firing insults left and right about how we weren't good enough to be trained by her and needed a reality check, proceeding to force us to run the rest of practice.

My body was shaky since I hadn't had much to eat today and then running that much took a toll. I could feel sweat sliding down the back of my neck. I usually don't have a problem with coach's absurd training strategies, but today I was wiped out. I had spent most of the night before helping Brittany with her math and history homework, which left my homework forgotten until later that night.

The only good part about practice was Brittany. She wasn't thrilled about running either but she wanted to play games like "I Spy" so it would go faster. I smiled thinking about the things Brittany described in "I Spy", having only to work with the field and teammates around us.

My feet feel like cinder blocks, inching along as I make my way to showers with Brittany next to me. Everything just hurt. It looked like everybody was in pain, except for Brittany of course. She had somehow manages to make the whole 'I've been running for hours and sweating like a pig' look very appealing with her rosy cheeks and glimmering skin. She practically is skipping to the showers while I drag my sore body. She looks like she just came in from a light jog. I was jealous of her physique; don't get me wrong I know I have a good body. I just think she has a better one.

A hot shower has been the only thing on my mind since running. Having hot water cascade over my tense muscles, soothing out the knots. Yep, that's what I want right now. I couldn't care less to talk to anyone since I was so focused on getting in the shower, probably why I haven't heard a word Brittany has said to me.

"Huh? I'm sorry what did you say?" I asked turning to her after opening my locker.

"Oh I was just saying that coach should think about taking happy pills." She said with a wide smile.

"I'd make her take a whole bottle if she never makes us run that long again." I reply with a large sigh, pulling out my towel and removing my shirt. My hot skin was cooled instantly and I had the sudden urge to press my body against the lockers.

"Feel better San?" Brittany asked with a giggle, clearly seeing the relief on my face.

"Yes! The damn shirt was glued to me." I reply exaggerated.

"Oh it wasn't that bad." She said removing her own shirt, which of course hadn't had nearly as much sweat as mine.

"Says that girl who could run for days." I say poking her stomach.

Remember when I said she had a better physique? Well right now seeing how her abs are glaring at me and her toned arms are strong as she continues to simply remove articles of clothing is proving my point. How is it she can eat an abnormal amount of food and still attain a perfect figure? But I am lucky to have a best friend that is so hot, just makes teaming up with her at parties all the more easier to attract guys.

"See you when I get out?" She asked over her shoulder in just a towel.

"Yep, meet you by the doors?"

"Sure thing." She replied with a wink.

I just chuckled laughing at her flirty behavior. That's always been a part of our friendship. It's not ever awkward or weird. It's kind of comforting to have such a strong bond with her that nothing can really faze us.

As I walked over to the shower and turned on the warm water I started to mull over the things that have caused riffs between us before, mainly petty fights involving boys and hanging out, but we managed to march through that just fine. We had sworn never to put boys before each other again. I continued with my shower though with a serene feeling and indulged in the steady stream of water. Not much time had passed before I realized most of the girls left, which was my queue to probably get out.

I changed quickly before meeting Brittany by the doors. We walked to my car in the parking lot, hopping in it quickly to get away from the school. We drove home on the on the main road, littered with houses on our left and right. It was a quiet car ride, filled with a comfortable silence. We linked our pinkies half way to my house, which can sometimes feel like having a silent conversation. I easily smiled and kept my eyes on the road when she would squeeze my pinky.

Finally, we pulled up to my house. After turning the car off and walking up the drive way, I glanced over my shoulder to look at Brittany and noticed she hadn't seemed tired in the slightest. Whatever, she was a bucket of rainbows anyway.

Walking up to my house I noticed the lights were all off, indicating my parents were yet again not home. I guess I have gotten accustomed to it now with them working so much; it just gave me another reason to hang out with Brittany. I help her with homework and she keeps me company, it's a great deal. We walked up to my room once we dropped off our bags in the living room and I had noticed Brittany walking with a slight limp, which I found odd because she was fine earlier.

"Hey are you okay?" I asked curiously. She turned around confused and slightly turning her head in the same adorable way a puppy would.

"You look like you were limping a bit." I said pointing to her foot.

"Oh yeah, no I'm fine. All good." She answered quickly without even glancing at her foot. She abruptly turned from me and went to the bathroom. I shrugged my shoulders because I couldn't understand her sometimes and just accepted her answer.

I tiredly closed my bedroom door behind me and let me head rest against it. I was exhausted. I considered leaving my chores this evening for the morning, it was tedious things like taking out the garbage, doing dishes from yesterday, and doing homework, but still took up time. It all sounded like a mission and a half.

A pair of strong arms suddenly wrapped around my waist pulling me out of my thoughts. I glance over my shoulder to see Brittany resting on my shoulder near my face. Her eyes have always been strikingly blue, but there was something else there I couldn't place while she looked at me.

"You wanna watch a movie?" she asked excitedly, bouncing on her toes in anticipation for my answer.

"Sure" I replied, not really caring what we do as long as we could relax. Just as I'm about to turn around my legs are out from underneath me and Brittany is caring me to the bed, acting as if I weigh as much as a pillow.

"Show off" I mutter under my breath.

"What was that?" She asked giving me a smirk.

"Nothing you just scared the hell out of me. A little warning would have been good." I said giving her a playful glare as she placed me on my side of the bed.

"Oh chill out San, I know you love surprises" She says with a wink and walks towards my dresser where all my movies are.

She always insisted on watching Disney movies so I have a full collection now... along with my horror and gore of course. However they secretly terrify me, I just keep them for image sake.

As I awaited what Disney movie I would endure for the sixth time, I glanced over in Brittany's direction and noticed something strange. She seemed… taller? She has always naturally been taller than me, but only by a few inches. I got off the bed quietly and stood behind her. I looked her up from head-to-toe and noticed it was signifigantly more than a few inches.

But it's impossible to have a growth spurt overnight, I thought to myself sitting back down on the bed. She normally wears shorts and a t-shirt after practice, I've seen her wear this outfit before. A simply grey V-neck with black shorts, showing off her long, toned legs and shaped upper body. It generally fits her perfectly, but now seems a little too snug, as if it were too small... But I don't want to make the mistake of asking if she has gained weight. That has the potential to be very awkward and making Brittany a sad panda.

"Hey Brit, did your clothes shrink or something?" I asked her. She took a few minutes looking through the movies before replying, she must have felt my eyes on her because she started to shuffle her feet, something she does when she is nervous.

"Y-yeah, I think so. My dryer must be on the fritz or something." She stuttered and avoided eye contact. She slipped off her shoes and I noticed some dry blood on the heel, made from blisters… Coach made sure everyone's shoes fit perfectly to prevent any injury. It was weird she was being so elusive with me.

"Brittany, is there something you're not telling me?" I asked her curiously.

"No San, I would tell you if I did. What's with all the questions?" She snapped at me in a stern voice.

"No reason" I replied quietly, knowingly showing the surprise on my face from the nasty response.

"Okay. I am going to go grab something to eat. Do you want anything thing?" She said evenly.

"No thanks I'm good".

As she left the room my mind starting to think about Brittany and her abrupt attitude change. Why was she so defensive about a single question? She had been acting stranger than normal of late. Complaining about being hungry frequently, hardly tired at all, and even staying up well past the night. Even her clothes seemed smaller, but that can honestly be just her dryer like she said, but she still looked taller which was odd.

I shook my head thinking I was over analyzing as usual, but it was nagging at me why she had snapped at me like that. She's never done that except that one time she told me Lord Tubbington was smoking again, to which I responded cats couldn't smoke. That argument wasn't fun.

It's been about fifteen minutes since Brittany left to the kitchen, I wonder what can possibly take her so long. It's getting late and at some point I want to watch a movie because we have school tomorrow.

I open the door to my room to make my way down the stairs to the kitchen. As I make my way into the kitchen, I see Brittany crouching on the floor with her hands on her head, eyes squeezed shut. She is trying to take deep breaths in through the nose and out the mouth. I run over to her and get down to eye level.

"Brittany! Brittany what's wrong?" I asked worried. I grab her face and try to make her open her eyes. She wraps her hands painfully around my wrists. She can barely squint through her eyes and when she does my heart sinks in panic. I don't know what could be causing this much pain to her but clearly it's enough to be excruciating.

She continues to breathe as if she didn't hear me. She starts to shake her head, barely opening her eyes to only shut them again. She squeezes around my wrists tighter to the point it makes me cringe. She kind of grunted a response, clearly too distraught to form words.

"I don't know. It hurts. Everything hurts" She says through gritted teeth. I can see her chest heave up and down trying to stay calm and relax, but she is having trouble. I reach forward to brush the hair out of her eyes and see the pain in her face.

She is shaking terribly and struggling to remain up right, relying heavily on me to support her. I can tell she is scared by the short, fast breaths she is taking. She looks up at me with tears in her eyes and hollers in pain, her shoulders and back contorting nastily, as if to flee from the pain.

I feel completely helpless. I hold her face between my hands steadily and watch as the same emotion plays over and over on her face. Fear, pain, panic. I have no idea what to do and no way of helping her. I can only think of resorting to calling my parents, hoping they may be able to help. Just anyone at this point.

"I am going to call my parents. Just hold on Brit, you'll be okay" As I start to stand, she pulls me back down forcibly, probably more so than intended. I yelp in pain a bit and she looks at me apologetically.

"Don't. Please d-don't." She says looking at me. I reposition myself next to her and she bows her head back down, with a death grip on my wrist. I reach out to place my free hand on her shoulder, gently rubbing up and down her arm to comfort her.

"Brit, something is seriously wrong we need he-"

"No!" Brittany cuts me off.

She knocks me back and stands abruptly. I watch in horror as her body rips from confined, tight clothing and falls to the floor, leaving her standing in just spandex and a sports bra. Her body starts shifting until her arms are as big as my thighs, her legs longer than before. I frantically crawl backwards trying to get some space between us. Her body just continues to change and morph until all the cracks have subsided. She stands taller than my refrigerator at this point. She takes a deep breath through her nose and exhales with a low, but loud growl.

She looks down and spots me sitting against the cabinets shaking uncontrollably. I have my arms braced against the wood behind me hoping I can go escape through them. The intensity in her eyes is intimidating me and I am frozen in pure terror.

She doesn't even need to take a step to reach me, she bends down a bit and directly grabs my throat hard with one of her hands and pins me against the refrigerator. I gasp from the force she used to slam me against the fridge, knocking the wind out of me. I can feel sharp stings around my neck, which I can only imagine are her nail digging a little deeper, squeezing my throat just a little tighter. I'm sure she can feel my erratic pulse under her fingertips.

Her breathing is heavy and I can't even recognize her. Her eyes have turned a dark, hazy yellow. Her lips are turned up in a snarl, effectively showing off the new, sharp canines that protrude over her lips. Anger and pure rage are present in her face, with the addition of a low threatening growl.

I barely have a chance to look at her hand before it flies next to my face to punch the refrigerator, leaving a heavy dent near my ear. I can see in my peripheral vision her fingers have become razor-sharp claws. She uncoils her fist and reveals the claws that drag across the cold metal with piercing screeches.

Yet again her hold on me tightens and I'm nearly choking to death. My feet are dangling limply above the ground as she suspends me in her grasp. When she steps towards me with no room between our bodies I understand how terrified I truly am. A loud animal-like sound rumbles deep in her throat as she continues to stare angrily at me.

"B-britt, p-p-please" I say through ragged breathing and tears. It's getting hard to breathe and her hold isn't letting up. I look into her once blue eyes, begging her to release me, hoping she can read the emotion I can't verbally say. My hands are wrapped around her massive hand, attempting to rip her relentless hold, but it was no using trying to pry the firm grip.

I'm starting to feel dizzy, this isn't good. Clearly I know how to handle intense situations.

"It's me, Santana, please Britt." She eyes me curiously, still unsure of what to do.

"You're hurting me, pl-please". I can feel my vision start to dim and my head loll to the side. What little energy I had to keep my hands wrapped around her has gone and my arms fall to my sides lazily. I snap my eyes open though trying to stay conscious.

I can hear a growl rippling in her throat, getting continuously louder as I watch an inner struggle with her. It's like she is fighting herself and can't seem to make sense of whatever is going on. However her yellow eyes start to soften to blue, like she is coming back to me. The hand on my throat loosens slowly, allowing me to take normal breaths. Her face starts to relax and the first emotion I can read is guilt.

It isn't until she drops me carelessly to the floor that she comprehends what's going on. I begin coughing hysterically trying to take the deepest breaths of my life. I feel my head is going to explode and I feel even worse than I did before. I sway a little before looking back up to Brittany.

She stumbles back away from me with tears in her eyes. She looks down at her hands in horror and she looks terrified of what she had just done. I feel warm, sticky liquid trailing down my neck. I swipe at the clammy skin to find blood on my hand. I quickly touch the places where her claws where, I wince in pain at touching one of the open wounds. I look up to Brittany, she still looks scared and her eyes haven't returned to blue yet. The only thing I can think of is to calm her down, assure her everything will be okay. Even if I don't know it will be.

I stand up shakily to take a few tentative steps towards her. I tense and stop walking towards her when she looks up at me. I can see Brittany's innocence in the yellow eyes staring at me. I swallow hard and lick my lips, daring to take another step to her. She keeps walking backwards until she hits the counter with her thigh, briefly looking down to what's in her way from leaving the kitchen.

"Brittany." I say slowly, hoping she will not attack again. She looks up at me with sad eyes.

"It's okay, I'm okay. See?" I say gesturing to myself. I'm far from okay though, the fact my knees are nearly ready to give out are telling me so.

"I-I'm so sorry San. I don't know what's going on. I didn't mean to hurt you." She looked down at herself frightened.

My heart aches to see her like this, but so did the rest of my body.

"It's fine Brittany, we'll figure it out together." I promise her and feel my body starting to slip into unconsciousness. I grab a hold of the counter for balance.

"Brit, Brittany look at me." She glances up at me and I can see she needs me to be strong for her, to help her through this.

Before I get a chance to say anything else I am falling forward with the impeding doom of hitting the floor face first, but I don't and instead am caught by warm arms. I look up to see concerned blue eyes.

As I resided on the cusp of unconsciousness, I could feel her walking me somewhere, I just didn't know where. I wanted so desperately to talk to her, but I just didn't have the energy to.

I fluttered my eyes open to get a glimpse of my dark colored walls of my bedroom. My body was placed gingerly on my bed and I could hear her heavy footsteps thudding against the carpet walking away. I allowed my body to become limp and was quickly falling asleep.

I felt a soothing relief of my open wounds, like a cold wash cloth maybe. I didn't want to move to check, but I remember a small whimper and whining coming from the side of the bed before drifting to sleep.


My body felt worse than I could have ever imagined. Each bone groaned and creaked as I stretched as best I could without wincing. I rolled over to my side and saw the bed was empty. Last night seems fuzzy. I could recall wanting to watch a movie with Brittany… but then bits and pieces come back as a broken dream, or at least I thought it was. I tentatively get out of bed and go to the closet mirror and examined my neck. I can feel my heart pick up just looking at the deep, small cuts on my neck. They are open and tender with inflamed skin surrounding them. I'll have to remind myself to clean them up, as if the discomfort wasn't a reminder.

I quietly leave my room and approach the stairs. I know the third from the top and last step squeak obnoxiously and try to avoid those two steps in order to remain undetected. I don't want to say I'm terrified in my own house, but I am and can't deny it. I can feel my blood pressure starting to rise just thinking of Brittany waiting to attack me down stairs. And of course I freak myself out, not helping in the slightest bit.

After avoiding the squeaky steps, I peer into the kitchen, seeing no one I continue to silently tread through the house. I start to think Brittany left and take a deep breath finally feeling relieved. Smiling I turn on my heel towards the living room, but stop abruptly in my tracks when I spot Brittany sleeping peacefully on the couch.

I let out a small yelp because I can't believe I hadn't seen her there. I hold my breath for an impossibly long time hoping I didn't wake her. I tip toe over to the couch where I can see her fully. There on the couch is my best friend back to her normal size, no claws, sleeping soundly. Naturally I think I've gone crazy because she didn't appear this way last night. She's still in a sports bra and spandex, docile as a lamb.

She has a blush on her cheeks; her lips parted sending small puffs of air out with each breath. I feel immediately better knowing she is her normal self. I don't particularly want to wake her but need to in order to ensure I don't need to check myself into a looney bin.

I reach out to touch her arm and notice it's hotter than what normal is. Worried, I reach up to feel her forehead, it's also extremely hot. She starts to stir in her sleep and I can't help but jump back in fear. I rolled over the side of the recliner and manage to be loud as humanely possible.

"Son of a... I swear I'm going to kill dad for buying that piece of…" I spit venomously to the recliner.

"Santana?" Bright-eyed and bushy tailed, Brittany leans up on her elbows to look at me.

"Uh, hi." I reply dumbly.

"What are you doing down there?" She asks concerned while rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"I fell over the stupid recliner. I hate the thing." I grumble.

"Well come over here, it's comfier than the floor." She says patting the sofa after sitting up to make space.

I look at the spot skeptically because I can't predict what could happen. Yes it may seem like a simple gesture, but things went horribly wrong last night in a matter of seconds, I don't want to be in that situation again.

I slowly approach the end of the couch and stand there still staring at her. She has a small smile gracing her lips and her eyes are inviting me to sit next to her. She moves a little further to give me more space. I can tell she is trying to make me feel comfortable, considering she may be just as uncomfortable as me, just for different reasons.

"I won't hurt you." She whispers looking down at the blanket she's fiddling with in her lap.

I take a seat very cautiously on the couch. I move as far as possibly to the end of the couch without insinuating I want to be away from her, but I can tell by the hurt that flashes behind her eyes she understands.

We stay silent for a while. She continues to play with the blanket between her hands while I stare blankly at the coffee table. I take an exceedingly large amount of time examining the various scratches and rings left on the table from years of ownership. We are just enveloped in silence and neither one of us knows how to exactly break the tension.

"How do I know you won't hurt me Britt?" I ask abruptly.

"I don't." She says sadly. I bite my lower lip because I don't know what to say to comfort her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so blunt about it." I apologize.

"It's alright." She replied weakly.

Again we were silent, not for nearly as long as before, but enough time to go back to staring at the coffee table.

"I just know I don't want to hurt you, ever. I'm so, so sorry for what I did to you." She begins crying softly.

I move closer to her because I hate seeing her cry and grab her hands, tightly squeezing them silently asking her to look at me. She glances up with tears running down her face. I wipe away her tears with the pad of my thumb and pull her into a hug. She snuggles her head into my neck, sobbing. I just hug her a little bit more to ensure her it's okay.

I could feel her breathing deepen and get shallow as she continued to sob. She had never seemed so vulnerable to me before. She was always so strong; I hadn't seen her upset before. I have never been good with dealing with these things. I'm always so awkward with words and then end up saying the wrong things anyway. So instead of trying to find words to comfort her I pull her closer to my body and lay back on the couch. I gently brush my fingertips up and down her smooth skin, hoping she understood I was trying to comfort her. I don't know how long we were like that, I suppose long enough for her to dry her tears and play with my shirt, drawing small patterns. I pulled back gently to push some hair behind her ear and smiled softly at her. She returned a half-smile and her stomach growled.

"Wanna make some breakfast?" I knew that we had to talk about last night, but not right now. She gave a quick nod and smiled getting up and holding my hand out for her to take as I stood up, which she gladly accepted.

As I made breakfast I couldn't help but think of last night. The way she snapped, the way she looked at me with such intense anger and rage. I went to the fridge to grab eggs and noticed the claws marks near the top left side, I cringed at the thought. I think Brit might have noticed because she looked down ashamed.

"Do you want to crack the eggs for me? I always get the shells in?" I asked in hopes of distracting her from that inevitable conversation.

She quietly got up from the stool she was sitting on and stood next to me. She kept stealing glances at my neck and biting her lower lip deep in thought.

We finished our bacon and eggs in an easy silence, no tension or awkwardness surprisingly. But then again I was focusing more so on my eggs than Brittany and the way she nervously twiddled her fork between her fingers. I know I should say something like "it's going to be okay", but I have no idea what is going on.

"What happened last night?" I asked curiously. I wanted, no needed to understand what had happened.

"I don't know. I went to grab some food, I started feeling funny, and then everything started to hurt. That's when you came down and found me. I have been feeling funny for a couple weeks now."

"Funny how?" I question her. Her definition of 'feeling funny' is being tickled by feathers in her pillow.

"Like I haven't been able to sleep more than a couple hours a night, almost like drinking a ton of red bull. My mom always tells me to grab a jacket before leaving school, but I'm not really cold all that much. Just feeling like my body is pulsing." She mumbles.

"What do you mean by pulsing?" I ask just getting more confused.

"There's a constant humming going on, which generally keeps me up at night. It makes me feel really aware of what my body feels." She uses her hands to try and demonstrate by opening and closing her fists.

"Can you give me an example?"

"Like smelling things for instance. The shampoo you use smells strongly of vanilla and brown sugar with hints of flower." She said quietly.

"Okay? Well you know what shampoo I use." I say defensively.

"But when I take a deep breath in that's all I smell, and it gives me shivers."

It made my stomach twist in an odd way when she said that to me, why I'm not sure. I had rung my hands together trying to come up with an explanation for something so strange. I drew a blank.

"You said you starting feeling weird a few weeks ago?" I asked her, to which she simply nodded yes in response.

"Did anything strange happen to you that may have triggered whatever this is?"

"I don't think so. My family and I took a day trip to go hiking. My parents got tired shortly after an hour and wanted a break so they let me continue on. So I kept hiking and then… oh." She stopped mid-sentence, realizing something.

"What? What is it?" I asked eagerly.

"There was a dog there. It looked really thin and tired and thought maybe someone had lost it. It had been weary of me but I was calling it gently and assuring it I'd find his owners. It got close enough for me to pet, but as I reached my hand out it bit me."

"Brittany I know you care for animals by you must use more caution than that with lost dogs." I say worriedly.

"Well too late now." She replies sarcastically.

"Anyway, did you tell your folks?"

"No. It wasn't that bad of a bite and the dog ran off shortly afterwards and I was too upset with it to go chasing after it."

"You did disinfect the bite at least when you got home, right?"

"Yes mother, I know that much." She replied rolling her eyes with a playful smile.

"But it was just a dog, it couldn't have done this to me, right?" She asked concerned, biting her bottom lip.

I wasn't sure how to answer that question because I was still trying to wrap my head around last night, her shamppo comment, and just in general how things have gone down hill. But the last thing to do is show her how nervous and scared I am about the situation. Sometimes it's necessary to act brave even when you're not.

"To be honest, I'm not sure. But whatever is happening we will figure it out together I promise." I respond reaching out towards her for a tight hug.

"What if something like this happens again though and I really hurt someone? Or even you…" She whispers against my shoulder hugging tighter.

"We don't know if it will and if it does we can keep things under control" I say hopeful.

Brittany pulls back and looks at me. How can something like last night be real if she is right in front of me, innocent, and loving as ever? She lifts her hand up to trace over my neck, over the cuts and bruises.

" I am truly sorry for what I did to you. I felt myself doing it, but couldn't control it. I tried to fight it, but it was as if something in me snapped and then it all felt too good to have that thing released, but when I saw that I was causing you pain, I remembered how much you mean to me and fought for control."

She finished placing her hand on my cheek, brushing the skin underneath it with her thumb.