Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 63rd cycle. Now cycle 64!
"And What If They Came"
Ewan (OC; Damian McGinty) & Beiste, Glenn/Kathleen (OC), Sugar, New Directions
Beiste & Ewan series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)
He knew it was a dream, right from the beginning, and as wonderful as it was, seeing his parents there before his eyes, alive, feeling so real, he knew it was not real. That had been made infinitely more evident when the next thing he knew he was getting out of a car he didn't remember getting into and found himself standing in front of his Lima home or, as it was here, his aunt's home.
He watched as his mother ran excitedly into the arms of her big sister, who'd been standing outside, waiting for them. Ewan watched the two of them, so excited and moved to find themselves standing in front of one another, for the first time in over a decade, and he felt in his heart like it was nothing more than a cruel trick of fate. His mother and his aunt had never gotten to be reunited. The only thing that had come close was when his aunt had come to Ireland for his mother's funeral. Hold on, both of you. Hold on, and don't let go.
When he had seen his aunt again after all those years, it had been in the aftermath of his parents' death, not the easiest thing to manage for either of them. But here, in this dream of his, they got to meet in much cheerier conditions. His aunt came up, he held out his hand to shake hers, but she went right for the hug, which made him smile into her shoulder.
In his dreams, his mother and his aunt always interacted the same way. His mother would bring out the energy in his aunt, that great joyful laugh, and his aunt would bring out the doting, mothering side in his mother, mixed in with a mischievous kick. Together, they were a force to be reckoned with, the Beiste sisters. His father would look on, leaving the two of them to have their time, knowing how long they had been kept apart by distance. Ewan always wondered what his mother would have done if she hadn't met his father, fallen in love and settled down in Ireland with him. Would she have kept on travelling before eventually returning home to her sister and her family? Would she… still be alive? Some days he swore he missed them so much he would have rather he'd never existed, just so they somehow wouldn't have found themselves on that road where they'd died.
He was brought out of his thoughts when his aunt came to him, saying he should drop by the school where she worked. He'd get to spend time with kids his own age, see what they did… There were some kids in particular she wanted him to get a chance to meet. I think I have an idea who they might be.
Before he could say yes, no, or maybe, like before, he found that he had moved. All of a sudden he was at McKinley High, with his aunt. They walked through the halls, where he saw every last one of those faces, some of them familiar only by that face, others he also had a name for, and then others… Well, he spent a lot of time with those others. Except this wasn't actually his world, his school, his people. To this world, this school, and these people, he was no one. The kids from this class or that class didn't know him, neither did the Glee Club kids, or Mr. Schuester, not Tina, or Mike, or…
When he saw Puck walking through the hall, it was the strangest thing. He was dressed up… if you could call it that… the way he would be when they cleaned pools. Sunglasses perched on his head, no shirt or shoes, he went by, lugging his equipment case and staring right ahead like he didn't see anyone. No one was looking at him either, almost like he didn't exist… more than the rest of the dream people, naturally.
He would see the pool boy do his march down the hall at nearly every turn he took while his aunt walked him through, almost like the ghost Puck was following him. Ewan tried to shut him out, but he was everywhere.
It was all a dream, he had known it, and everything he saw now made it even clearer. Even then, he didn't know how long it was supposed to last, or what he was supposed to get out of it. He wasn't any kind of psychic or seer, but he knew usually when he dreamed about something, especially this vividly, it had to mean something.
Hold on, but I'm not actually dreaming, am I? I didn't go to bed, I wasn't napping. So what am I doing here? He tried so hard to remember, but it wouldn't come. All he could focus on was how many times Puck the pool boy would go by in the halls, and whether or not he could ditch him.
He had split up from his aunt as she let him loose to wander around a bit, and when he'd seen Puck again, he turned the other way, hoping that this time he could get away from him.
When he turned, he ran right into her. The purse was knocked out of her hands, as were her books, and everything went flying. She'd squeaked in surprise, and with how wrapped up he'd been in this dream, and getting away from the vision of Puck, he had never thought he would find her here. But then he'd heard the noise, and he knew it was her, and it made him forget about everything else.
"I'm so sorry about that," he crouched to help gather her things with her.
"Don't worry about… that," Sugar started to say, then paused and looked up at him. She stayed silent, staring at him a while, and he laughed nervously.
"Are you alright?"
"Your voice, it's…"
"I'm visiting my aunt, from Ireland," he explained.
"Your aunt is from Ireland?"
"No, I am, she's… Coach Beiste, do you know her?"
"Coach Beiste is your aunt?" Sugar's eyes went wide, and he nodded. "Wow… I'm Sugar," she introduced herself, smiling, and he smiled back, offering his hand. She stared at it and at him for a moment, but she finally slowly put her hand in his.
"I'm Ewan."
THE END/TO BE CONTINUED (DAY 1351)
A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.
In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are
always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!
