Prompt: Healing hearts take time to mend, but a new start may be just the solution needed to move on.
Summary:Five years ago Rachel lost someone close to her when he drowned in a local lake, blaming herself for the accident; she lost herself and became a shell of her once fiery personality. When she is thrown into an upbeat society full of new experiences and new friends spent at Rosehill Academy for the Arts alongside her three best friends, she is finally able to let go of her past and move on as a stronger person.
A/N: Beware, long authors note below...
This is, essentially, a rewrite of my previous story Curiouser and Curiouser that was accidentally deleted off fanfiction. (Coughmybrothercough) This version, however, follows a very different path with very few details being the same. I had decided that it wasn't very professional to drop vital plot devices on my readers suddenly having no build up behind them, and I realised I had no intention on finishing it.
If you've been reading my other fic Childhood Games (CG), then you'll notice that Rachel had a brother, he's back in this one, with the same death, explored a little more than the other fic.
I don't expect a huge response to this, it is purely for mine... and your, amusements, While I appreciate reviews I don't need them, a few would make me happy though. All I want to achieve is putting a smile on your face. Really I won't care if this gets no attention at all. I want to improve my writing and this could possibly do that.
I've had some time off from writing so I may be a little rusty. Please be gentle with me if you review. Constructive criticism and your thoughts are always welcome, in fact I encourage it. I am also, currently, looking for a BETA who can put up with my long chapters and extremely slow progress. If interested could you please PM me. I check my messages regularly.
All of the OC's that will be introduced throughout the story are entirely mine. Most also appear in CG, but this time most of them will not be Warblers, they'll be completely independent of the Warblers, who basically don't exist at all... you'll see what I mean. And I finally get to explore the main OCs properly, because being in my novel, I've already built up their pasts and personalities.
I would mention that this is a watered down, glee version of my original novel.
Things to note:
- Being highly AU only Rachel, Kurt and Blaine, who never attended Dalton, will be mentioned to attend McKinely. The other New Directions may show up at a competition or something later down the track.
- Figgins retired before season 1.
- Rachel is still a social pariah, like in the cannon, but has Daniel, an OC, to support her. He will be a main character of the story.
- Rachel's parents are never around and always on work calls.
- Most major cannon characters won't appear in this as I like to focus on minor characters that can be built upon, including the Warblers.
- There will be lots of OC's. If you're not a fan of OC's this fic may not be for you. Or maybe you could give it a chance and see how it turns out.
- I ship Klaine and they will explore their relationship throughout the fic.
- Some of the cannon characters will be OC, but I try to add elements to their personalities and not go too out of character. I need them to fit into the story though, so some of their personalities may be different.
- I like to add in fluff. You have been warned
- This will mostly be set in New York.
I wanted also to mention that not all of the glee characters will be featured. if they receive a mention at all. While this will mostly be centred on Rachel and her POV several of the others will become main pieces for my plot. However I'm not telling you who they will be. You're going to have to read and work that out for yourselves. I'm also going to hint that the main pairing in this fan fiction isn't one of the hugely shipped couples, there aren't any OC's in the pairing, (as of yet, that may be determined to change depending on certain characters receptions) yet they are a guilty pleasure of mine.
I am an Australian writer who has never been to the US, so excuse me if some details and slang are fuzzy or incorrect. Correct me if I am wrong. I don't bite. All of my information is coming from research I did over the internet.
I do not own glee I will be borrowing some of its characters over the course of this story, but ultimately they belong to Fox and Ryan Murphy.
Please Read and Review :)
Enjoy!
xx Rodg
It always began the same, a sickening crack replacing hushed silence.
"Elliot!" Her cry came too late, strangled by a sob. It took several minutes to come to the realisation. She was rooted to the spot frozen in the same never ending fear, unable to tear away from the unfolding scene.
Oh Elliot.
The foreboding water swallowed him whole as an angry wind whipped the murky surface into chaotic waves. He was tossed about like a rag doll trapped in a spin cycle of a washing machine, up became down and left became right. Disorientated he struggled to kick his legs and save himself, panic welled in his chest. Desperately he clawed at the water that slipped right though his fingers, where was up? He didn't even know anymore. All he wanted to do was break through the top of the water, feel the sun kiss his golden skin and suck in one more glorious breath of sweet air. Relentlessly, he was dragged down deeper with shadowy depths slowly rising up around him, his freedom growing further and further away.
Two single beams of white light shone down, twisted by the consuming darkness but sunlight none the less. Together able to provide just enough of an iridescent glow to make out blurred, blocky shadows darting around his doomed form. Must be the fish, he thought glumly.
He hadn't had time to shut his eyes initially and now they were burning, the salt stung his throat harshly as it seeped though his nose and tightly pulled lips. Like a sensation of thousands of tiny needles stabbing themselves into the soft flesh while he swallowed handfuls of nails. Tossed and tumbling, scraping his arms painfully on the carcasses of dead tree branches sleeping in their watery grave, he was hurled from his safety. Traces of hope retreated from his body that was no longer buoyant, as if all of the air keeping him afloat had vanished. He felt as heavy as stone. There was nothing that could save him now. No one would be able to pull him from this inevitability.
Unconsciousness was beckoning closer. Sooner or later his dwindling strength would fail him and he would succumb to its call.
Pain rolled through his limbs in waves, the battle was going to be lost. The dark watery world was fading in and out of blackness as his vision began to pulse. There was a sticky cloud floating around his head like a halo, blood, as a stream of glittering bubbles flittered to the surface. His only connection to the outside world and they too were beginning to decline. Each burst grew further apart, his lungs screaming for oxygen. His upper body felt as if it was on fire, constricting more with each second, much unlike the rest of his body as it dropped in degrees. The water was well below freezing.
How long had he been down there? Time was nonexistent so it was impossible to tell. Could have been anywhere between seconds and minutes; nonetheless feeling more like an eternity. He really didn't have the strength anymore. A fish darted past him, its tail fin almost close enough to slap him back to almost consciousness. Finally he gave up.
'Is this what death feels like?' He wondered, 'Am I dead yet? Surely it will come soon enough.'
His arms folded themselves over his chest protectively. All of the panic he had felt draining from his body instantly. Nothing. He felt nothing but sheer numbness. Admittedly he didn't have the strength to keep his heart beating anymore. It just stopped. His life force seeping out just as the water seeped in. He let himself go limp, staring blankly at the glittering surface. Never again would he return. This was his final watery resting place.
A single surge of air escaped his dried out lungs. The final few bubbles broke through the surface, bobbing over rough waves. Surrounding them, torn up leaves from the looming presence of ominous trees lining the muddy shore were scattered in minute shreds. It was his last signal to onward lookers. His last message telling her what he already knew.
Before he blacked out, however, he acknowledged the piercing cry on the shore.
He would never see the sun again. He would never feel the wind mess up his hair again. He would never smell freshly baked cookies wafting from the oven again. He would never feel the sting of a grazed knee or listen to his favourite bands again. He would never see her again. He would never tell her that he loved her again. And that may have broken his idle heart just a little bit more.
Nothing ever changed.
A lone figure was left standing on the shore line, silhouetted by the rich blue tones transmitting in the sky, her hair whirling around her face to shield glazed eyes. Ashen faced her skin was almost ghostly translucent and icy to touch. She let out a sombre cry as the bubbles stopped coming. No. Not that. Dropping to her knees her head hung lifelessly, tears tumbling into the ground in a continuous cascade. Shapes faded into darkness, despite the radiance of the sun, her world melting away entirely. The left side of her chest collapsed, feeling as though a huge portion had been ripped away. She felt empty; completely and utterly empty.
Worst of all, it had been her fault.