A\N: This is super super dark. I don't know what possessed me to write it, or even think about it. It might have been the Grey's Anatomy final, but I digress… Anyways, as you will find out this will be a complete AU because honestly, this would never happen in Glee. I guess it's just interesting trying out different genres with the characters.
They were all there for different reasons. Some were fed up. Others were just done with whatever life had given them. But by the end of the day, the four of them would share one thing in common.
They would all be remembered.
Chapter One:
There's a point we pass from which we can't return
It is said that your actions speak louder than your words. Jacob Israel knows this. That's why he keeps multiple blogs, MySpace, and twitter accounts running. The more things he has to say, the greater the chance of someone actually listening to them. But in a social structure that places him at the bottom, how is anything he says ever going to be taken seriously?
William McKinley High School, with its population of over 1,700 students, is no advocate for diversity. The jocks rule the school, while those who are athletically cripple are forced to retreat to the background. He finds it quite cynical that he is in constant terror of a team that shares a name with a breakfast cereal.
Adding injury to insult, he can't even catch the attention of the second least popular girl in school. Rachel Berry's popularity changes so sporadically, it gives him whiplash. One minute, she's dating Noah Puckerman, the next; she's getting a slushy in the face. She's ignored his advances three times now, and it's all for the sake of her image. So finally, it comes down to what Jacob has known all along. If he can't have her, then no one will.
So he steps out of the bathroom cubical and looks at himself in the mirror. For the first time in his life, he feels confident, unafraid. Maybe it's the pot he's gotten from Sandy Ryerson talking, but it doesn't matter. The events that are about to unfold are going to send him into history. People will know his name.
Slowly, he cocks the slide shut on the Smith & Wesson 9mm semi-automatic in his right hand. The gun is heavy, but somehow feels right. In the next moment, he shoulders his backpack full of spare clips that he has gotten on sale from Wall-Mart and heads towards the exit. Heaving a calming breath, he pushes through the boy's restroom door and into the hallway of McKinley High.
With his heart slamming against his ribs, he raises his hand.
For a split second, time marches on as it always has. Lockers shut, conversations continue.
Then there is a sharp intake of breath. He glances briefly to the noise and finds the brown eyes of Quinn Fabray staring back at him. She has outgrown her Cheerios uniform and the hand she instinctively places over her protruding stomach makes him pause. Who is he to end the life of her unborn child?
But then he realizes whose child it is and any remorse he feels is gone. He is empty. Because any child of Puckerman's is going to be hell for future geeks and nobodies. Like father, like daughter. And Jacob remembers all too well what the bottom of the dumpsters look like.
He spies Karofsky to his left, the large footballer eyeing the black handgun with confusion. The idiot probably thinks it's just a fake. Jacob points the barrel with a smile, pulls the trigger and proves the linebacker wrong.
Hell-O McKinley High. Today, Jacob Israel's actions are going to speak louder than any students words ever had.
-XxX-
Sue Sylvester was six feet tall and built like a tank. She was the epitome of efficiency. Every Adidas' sneakered step echoed of expertise and ruthless calculation.
She looked to be nudging thirty. There were irremovable lines on her forehead and it seemed as if the purple bags under her eyes had been there forever. However, her blond hair and feminine features did not and perhaps could not eradicate the measured fierceness in her eyes or the grim solitude in her mouth.
Trained in twelve different martial arts, she could identify and disarm ninety percent of the world's firearms in under five seconds flat. She knew how to withstand physical, mental and psychological torture and was taught to bear starvation and sleep deprivation.
Sue Sylvester had seen it all.
At the height of her career, Sue was the best. Every country, every billionaire, every global organization wanted the uncompromising and unyielding safety that she guaranteed. In the most unpromising of situations, in the most deadly of circumstances, if a nuclear bomb were to drop on you in exactly ten seconds time, nine times out of ten, she would find a way out.
Seven years ago, Sue Sylvester retired from the global security scene. Not only was she not in top physical shape anymore, but she was quite simply tired of the unforgiving business she'd worked her entire life in. It was time to retreat into the suburbs. She chose Lima, Ohio, for its quiet, all-American suburban life, leafy streets and crowded parks.
She took on a job at the local High School as head cheerleading coach. She didn't mean to, but when she realized how talented the girls were, she started pushing them like her drill sergeant had herself. Not that it made much difference. Most of the local high school squads sat around preaching that the sport of cheerleading was simply for 'fun' and 'entertainment'. As Sue found out, suburban life was quiet.
What she wanted was to make life worthwhile for the girls. She knew how much getting out of the state meant to some of them, and though she wouldn't openly admit it, she was going to help them any way she could. So she yelled and made their life a living hell. But she knew once they left her, that they would be ready for the real world. After all, they would never encounter a human being more cutthroat than one Sue Sylvester.
But at exactly seven twenty on March the 24th, when the first shot rang out in the hallways of McKinley High, Sue Sylvester knew what was happening before anyone else. Before the screams broke out, before the six tone lockdown protocol sounded over her walkie-talkie, before anyone could even look out their classroom doors to make sure it wasn't a tractor backfiring. Sue Sylvester was under her desk, calling 911 and telling them to bring in backup from all around the state and be down at McKinley High in three minutes, or so help her God, she would call the President personally and they would all be working night shifts at McDonald's before any one of them could say 'hostage situation'.
When she hears the screams and yells come from right outside her door, her cool and composed exterior falters just a tiny bit. She remembers Columbine and when the Virginia Tech massacre made headlines around the world. She remembers the loss of young life that never should have happened.
As an educator, they are trained to handle situations like this. But never in a million years had any one of them thought that it would actually happen. She knows what she's supposed to do. Lock her door and wait for backup. But when the labored panting of a student reaches her ears, she knows what she must do.
Because before she even opens her door, she realizes who it is. She is not surprised to find Quinn Fabray huddled in the nook of a locked janitor's closet just across from her. The blond, who is usually full of so much spunk, is terrified.
Sue takes in the situation instantly. The teen is panting hard. Her left hand is resting on her enormous stomach while her right is grasped tightly around her right calf, blood sliding from between her fingers. Her ex-captain turned Glee club member has been hit by a madman's bullet, Sue realizes, and she tightens her fist to keep from cursing.
"Coach Sylvester," Quinn whispers and surprisingly tries to get up. Sue almost laughs. Even with a torn up leg, her ex-captain still respects her enough to try and stand.
"Don't kill yourself Q." Sue says evenly. In retrospect, it wasn't quite the right thing to say in the current circumstance, but when was she ever worried about what was right to say? The older woman blinks as another gunshot peppers the background and watches as Quinn's shoulders shutter at the sound. Clearing her throat softly, Sue says, "Are you alright?"
She watches Quinn's hand tighten instinctively over the wound in her calf. The young blond sniffs once and swallows, wiping at the wetness running from her eyes. "Yes," she replies with an air of composure unseen for her situation.
"Can you stand?" It is a silly question, but one that needs to be addressed.
Quinn makes a face, places her foot flat on the ground and stands. She pushes up, her back sliding against the wall until she is semi-standing, semi-leaning. Though tears are streaming down her cheeks, there is a blazing defiance flashing behind her brown eyes.
Sue smiles with pride, for Quinn Fabray has just won a small battle against herself. And if Quinn wins, then Sue Sylvester wins.
Taking no time, Sue reaches into her office and pulls out her national's trophy and grips it in her hands. "Get out of here Q."
"Miss. Sylvester," Quinn places a hand against the wall for support. It leaves a bloody print. "What are you—"
The smallest of smiles twitched across Sue Sylvester's lips. "You think delivering that baby is going to be hard?" She eyes Quinn's protruding stomach and for the first time, is completely, and suddenly protective of it. She thinks of what her sister would want her to do in a situation like this, and understands. For even though Quinn semi-deserted her, getting pregnant wasn't in the plans. And even though the blond looked way better in her Cheerios uniform than the loose shirts and pants with elastic waistbands, the teen was still once a Cheerio. So Sue hoists up the nationals trophy like a baseball bat and locks eyes with her former captain. "I'm about to fight for your right to live, Quinn. Now that's going to be hard."
She leaves Quinn Fabray behind and does not look back.
Sue Sylvester is an educator and a head coach. And she'll be dammed if she lets some maniac hurt any one of her students, let alone her Cheerios. But above all else, she is a human being. And it is wrong for kids so young to go through something as terrible as this. So if she can do anything to stop it, then she will.
And that's how Sue sees it.