There's an angel singing. Quinn strolled through the district whenever she could, the abandoned church a stone's throw from her own house was one of her favourite spots in the district.
The sound drifted through the shattered windows, Quinn inhaled sharply, her eyes fluttering shut for just a second. Just a second and she snapped back to her senses. Why on earth would she stick around to hear Rachel Berry sing?
She's about to turn around, walk away and shut herself back inside her home when she hears that voice again. That perfect voice that stops her in her tracks, makes her body react in ways it shouldn't. She turns and brown eyes, bright and shining, meet her own.
Rachel steps out of the doorway, and towards the oh-so-nervous girl in front of her trying to appear distant and cold.
"Quinn, it's wonderful to see you once again. I do hope this day is treating you well. I have been rehearsing and strengthening my voice as I'm sure you overheard just now, though I don't actually know how long you've been out here listening." she continued to ramble about scales and notes, Quinn's mind already reeling.
She never even got a "hello" or "yes, Rachel, I am fine" into the conversation before the girl started on endlessly about her voice.
Quinn had to admit the way the way Rachel talked so passionately and excitedly about something so important to her, even though she hadn't let the other girl get a word in, was quite adorable and endearing. As much as she wanted to hate Rachel, and oh how she wanted to be able to, she couldn't help but smile.
Rachel finally stopped talking, her cheeks pinker from Quinn's kind smile. Tucking strands of hair behind her ear, she thought perhaps because of the way Quinn looked mesmerised by her, and the fact that she hadn't thrown any abuse at her, whether she would be willing to join her for dinner and post-dinner singing lessons. When she voiced this thought to the taller girl, Quinn adopted her cold, unnerving gaze once again. Like a series of locked walls slammed down inside her, that affectionate smile and mesmerised girl were gone.
Their eyes locked onto each others.
"No. I need to go. Home." Quinn shuffled on her feet, looking away from Rachel. It hurt her to look into those brown saucers any longer.
"We're friends, aren't we?" Rachel's voice was quieter, that intensity and fire in her voice went out.
"Yeah, sure, call it whatever you want, Berry." her body was going into lockdown mode, Rachel could see her muscles tensing up.
"Quinn, why are you so terrified all the time? What is happening that you need to be so scared?"
Quinn felt as if her heart had turned to stone and dropped down to her feet. Maybe through them into the rough ground. It could be falling towards the Earth's core.
"Everything. I'm scared of everything. The future, the reaping… everything going away." she wanted to add that losing Rachel was more terrifying than being chosen as a tribute in the games. How Rachel always got her to stay and talk instead of running away was beyond her.
"You don't have to be scared. You have nothing to be afraid of, Quinn. I know everyone has always told you how beautiful and important you are, and they're right, you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. You're so much more than that, though. You're so kind and smart and you don't realise how awesome you really are. You're so much better than any of them tell you."
That was it, Quinn broke down then and there. How could this tiny, sweet girl Quinn had put all her energy into ignoring and disrespecting tell her such wonderful things? Quinn never believed any of those things, and here was this girl who believed so strongly in her. She bought her hands to her face, she couldn't look at Rachel's vivid eyes any longer, and she didn't want Rachel to see the tears streaming out of hers. She stood there and wondered why she hadn't just turned around and left when Rachel started asking her questions.
"Quinn, why are you crying? Look at me." Rachel reached out and took Quinn's hands from her face, and held them in hers. She brushed away Quinn's tears with one hand.
"Rachel, those things aren't true, you can't run around saying that stuff to me. I don't believe you." Quinn hated herself for being so emotional and crying around the smaller girl.
"You should! You should believe me when I tell those things because they are true and you bring yourself down so much, Quinn. You're so amazing and it's sad that you don't realise how incredible you really are." there was that fire Quinn missed seeing. She let out another sob and Rachel held her hands tighter.
"Why are you so nice to me? All I do is ignore you and when I do talk to you I just snap at you. You shouldn't even be here holding me."
Why was it so hard to look at Rachel and why couldn't Quinn stop crying? What was it about this girl that brought out so many feelings?
Rachel just enveloped Quinn into her arms, despite the fact that she was several inches shorter than the blonde girl, leaving Quinn's head to rest on top of hers.
"I told you already, and I still don't understand why you can't just accept it and believe me, and more importantly believe in yourself. You're so much better than they tell you, they don't realise how wonderful you are. You don't realise it yourself."
"Just stop. I-I can't do this, Rachel." She pushed Rachel out of her arms and swiped at the remaining tears on her face.
"Quinn, wait! I'm sorry, I didn't intend to upset you, don't leave. I know this is the beginning of something good, please don't go."
"I can't, I can't do this. I need to go. I should have left before. Why do you do this to me?" Quinn turned and ran, she couldn't risk staying any longer.
Rachel called out to her again, but Quinn kept going. It didn't matter, she could see those big chocolate coloured eyes breaking in her mind.
You're an idiot, Fabray. Why are you coming back here? Quinn wondered as she took the same path down by the church. She's singing again. Nothing stops that girl. A smile crept onto her face, and she tried to believe it was just admiration for Rachel's passion and talent and not something… stronger.
This time she stepped into the church. It was dark and cool, with the only light streaming in through the shattered windows. Everything was covered in dust and looked as if it had not been touched in decades. Quinn was puzzled by Rachel chose to spend all her time singing in here. Rachel stood in the middle of the auditorium, eyes closed, steadily breathing and preparing for a performance. Quinn took a seat in a pew towards the back so she wouldn't disturb Rachel.
All doubts of why she had gone there disappeared, and she could only focus on Rachel's incredible voice. She sounds like heaven.
"You'll never know just how much I miss you. You'll never know how much I care. And if I tried, I still couldn't hide my love for you." Rachel's closed eyes teared up, and though that happened whenever she sang, performing was not the sole reason for her tears.
"You went away and my heart went with you. I speak your name in my every prayer" she hit every note perfectly, letting her voice soar and fill the entire room. That was why she sang so often in that church, the acoustics were perfect for her performances.
Her eyes were open again, but she had her back to Quinn so she was still unaware of the blonde girl's presence. Rachel touched the old piano and took a seat on the dusty bench seat.
"If there is some other way to prove that I love you, I swear I don't know how. You'll never know if you don't know now." she repeated the last lines again and swiped at the tears welling in her eyes. If Quinn Fabray was going to run away every time Rachel tried to talk to her, she would just have to sing about her love.
Quinn shifted in her seat, trying to recover from the song and Rachel's vocals. The pew she sat on creaked and Quinn wanted the earth to open up and swallow her whole before Rachel saw her. Unfortunately for her, it didn't.
"Q-Quinn." Rachel stuttered and blushed, swallowing hard. She stood there frozen. How amazing it was that one girl could make Rachel's body stop functioning.
"Um, Rachel, I just wanted to, um, apologise for my reaction yesterday." Quinn stood and walked towards the blushing girl. Damn, it wasn't going the way she wanted. She wasn't supposed to have a face as red as Rachel's or stutter when she talked.
What the hell, Fabray, where's your confidence? She frowned at her complete lack of composure.
"You were kinder to me than I ever imagined you would be and I threw that back in your face. That was wrong, I shouldn't have reacted that way. I'm sorry." she continued, all the while walking closer to Rachel, keeping her eyes on her the entire time. Rachel gulped when Quinn stood in front of her. She didn't look intimidating or cold, she looked so… sad, ashamed of her previous negative reaction.
"It's okay, Quinn. Apology accepted. I think I can understand why you reacted that way, I'm sure you're under a lot of pressure. We're… still friends, aren't we?" She stared up at Quinn. Quinn wanted to pull Rachel into her arms and stroke her hair until those big eyes stopped shining with tears.
"Yeah, I guess you could say that." Quinn said with a smirk. Rachel's face lit up. Quinn couldn't help but return the bright smile.
"Oh, that's excellent! I'm so glad, Quinn. I know I can come across as overbearing sometimes but I do enjoy spending time with you, so very much so, and we're finally friends now. I just, I don't want to lose that, I think we can leave whatever negatives experiences we've had in the past and move on with this beautiful friendship. M-maybe we could become closer, although I can understand if you're not ready or comfortable with that just yet."
"Rachel! Calm down, it's okay, you don't need to worry." Quinn laughed, she had to interrupt her or they'd be standing there all day and she wasn't sure if it was possible to be blushing as much as Rachel was.
"I'm here nearly every day rehearsing, perhaps you'd like to come back, it's nice to have an audience again. I could even give you singing lessons, with some training we could strengthen your delicate alto singing voice." Rachel spoke to the floor but there was no hiding her smile.
She shines brighter than the sun