A/N: Okay, so this one's based on a song. (This one to be exact: .com/watch?v=sR2uxRQ7Wac) My first attempt at this kind of fic so I dunno if it's any good but here goes…
Somewhere only we know - Glee Cast
I walked across an empty land
I knew the pathway like the back of my hand
Taz stepped off the Starship and onto Mexican soil for the first time in ten years. The town where she had grown up was still intact. No, she reminded herself, it must have been rebuilt. That house was never there, that fountain is new. She hurried through the town centre, out of the village along a path she could still walk in her sleep, after all this time. Suddenly the buildings became broken and trees fell away.
What was once her home was now a wasteland.
I felt the earth beneath my feet
Sat by the river and it made me complete
The enormity of where she was hit Taz like a ton of bricks. For the hundredth time that morning she wondered if she really wanted to see. The path, the river, she remembered it all. Sitting with her feet in the cool water on a scorching summer's day, her Papa teaching her to swim. Memory's hit her from all directions, making her head swim as she took another tentative step.
Oh simple thing, where have you gone?
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on
That was the spot where she caught her first fish, under Papas instruction.
Here was the place she would meet with boys from the village and play 'Rangers', play fighting in the grass and 'rescuing' each other from 'robots'.
There was the tree she would hide in when her Mother wanted help in the kitchen. Taz had never been a good cook.
She stepped over a root without thinking. She had tripped over that root once, landed on a rock, got her first scar. It was lost now, buried beneath the marks of years fighting in wars.
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin
Up watched Taz's retreating back as she walked slowly up the path. He followed at a distance, just in case she needed him. He didn't expect her to just start gushing about it, that wasn't how Taz dealt with things, but he knew how hard this was for her. He had been there too that day.
I came across a fallen tree
I felt the branches of it looking at me
After an agonising walk Taz rounded the last corner. Here the path was blocked by a tree that lay sprawled on its side, like a warning. Screams that were long since blown away on the wind rang in her ears as she took in the frayed and dirtied rope still tied around one thick branch. She had hung from that rope, she knew. Lashing out and screaming at her robotic captors. Taz climbed over the thick trunk and turned her back firmly on it's menacing presence. She was /not/ going to allow herself to be scared by a /tree/.
Is this the place we used to love?
Is this the place that I've been dreaming of?
She saw the house now. The entire right wall had caved in but it was still standing. The pain of what she lost that day had been haunting her, both waking and sleeping, for years, but this? This was a thousand times better and a thousand times worse. Flakes of paint came off in her hand as she tentatively pushed the front door. It opens easily with a creak that made the hairs on the back of her neck prickle. She could have just entered through the gaping hole in the wall but Taz wanted to do this properly. Whatever 'this' is.
Oh simple thing, where have you gone?
Streamers still adorned the walls, decorating a party that was never finished. Broken china crunched under her feet as she turned on the spot, drinking it all in. Taz shut her eyes, relying on memory to guide her. The stairs creaked as she cautiously climbed. Second door on the right. Her bedroom. Her hand hovered an inch over the handle. Did she really want to see?
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on
Twenty five. Ten years to the day she had last entered this room. Where had all those years gone? How had she not noticed them slip past? And why was it so hard to just open the damn door?
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin
She stopped again as she felt a hand on her shoulder. Of course Up had followed her. He always knew when she would need him, often before she knew herself. With newfound courage she pushed open the door and bit back a sob.
And if you have a minute, why don't we go
Talk about it somewhere only we know?
Ignoring the felt-like layer of dust that coated the surfaces, Taz stepped inside. Groping behind her she caught Ups left hand and he followed behind. Taz gazed at everything.
The book that she never finished reading, still resting on the pillow.
The open tube of lipstick that Mama had forced her to wear that morning.
The posters that she had refused to take down, all of them G.L.E.E. recruitment posters.
This could be the end of everything
Taz couldn't look any more. Pulling Up with her she practically ran from the house, hardly noticing the lack of human remains. Perhaps the locals had collected them and given them a proper send off in the little church in the village.
So why don't we go somewhere only we know?
Taz did not pause until they reached the ship. Up muttered to Specs as they passed to take off and keep everyone away from Taz. Back in her quarters Taz flopped face first onto her sofa, pulling Up with her as she still had not relinquished the death grip on his hand. He rolled over awkwardly and pulled her onto his lap. She was shaking but there was a strange calm in her tear filled eyes as she looked at him.
"Feliz Cumpleaños Taz"
Somewhere only we know.
