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 18th cycle. Now cycle 19!

TV Titles Cycle - So this is Cycle 20! I wanted to do something special, so here we are! Some of you may remember a while back me asking for episode titles from tv shows. I've always found that a lot of shows have great episode titles, so this is how this cycle came to be. Each story will be inspired and titled after an episode from a different show. The influence of the episode may vary from story to story, not seeking to rely completely on it ;) You'll see...
Today's Show/Title: "NCIS" - Bête Noire

A/N: Soooo sorry it's so late, I had a final today and it was a freakin' nightmare! Been studying almost nonstop since Friday... ANYWAY it's out of my hair now, one more final tomorrow and then I'm on hooooliday! *dances*


"Bête Noire"
Brittany + Santana, Mike, Artie, Finn, Quinn, & Sue
Extra-ish to the Sylvesters Series

It started off dreamlike, as most dreams did. She would feel like she was floating on a cloud… or in water, which was probably more likely anyway. She wasn't Brittany either, at least not like she was in real life… She had no name, or maybe too many… But she looked like herself, so she knew who she was. There were other faces she knew in her real life who would appear in her dreams, but they didn't answer to their names either… they had too many, like she did.

That night, she'd found her dream started in a clearing… The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, the gummy bears skipped merrily around their tall green home…

She blinked, then smiled… Good for them. One of them saw her, waving its gummy green paw at her… She waved back, and was about to run over and join them when someone grabbed her hand from behind. She only had time to turn her head and recognize Santana before they were somewhere else… Out of nowhere they had left the clearing and were now in a wooden cabin. They weren't alone.

There was Mike, and Quinn, and Artie – who could walk here, but would always inexplicably fall. Then there was Sue, who was an interesting case in that… well, she had two incarnations… It was complicated, but Brittany just ignored that part and rolled with it.

They were all dressed like… Well, it reminded her of superheroes, or ninjas… or both. "Are you ready?" Dream-Santana would ask.

"Of course she is," Dream-Mike would chime in, throwing her a smile… As soon as he'd do that, his shirt would disappear; it was another mystery… She wouldn't even get started on what happened when Dream-Santana smiled.

Just then, Dream-Finn entered the cabin. "Finn!" Brittany proclaimed, and there was a sigh from Dream-Quinn, or…

"I'm Finn, he's Quinn," she laid out before looking to 'Quinn.' "She always gets it wrong," she shook her head.

"Who wouldn't?" Dream-Artie teased.

"Sorry," Brittany mumbled.

"No matter, did you hear? Are we good?" Dream-Santana sounded like one of those war movie people… It was kind of hot…

"Yes, we have to go soon or…" There was a thud behind them. "Are you okay?" 'Quinn' asked Dream-Artie, who'd fallen down. "Finn, Joey?" he asked Dream-Quinn and what she saw to mean Dream-Mike, "Help him up?" he shook his head… Dream-Finn was also war movie-like… Hardened leader… Also kind of hot, but less so than Dream-Santana. The pair did as told, after which Dream-Artie shook the fall off, almost tripping again.

"I'm good," he promised, nodding.

"Well then let's go," Dream-Britt… No, sheshe spoke up, dashing for the door. The rest of them followed right behind… Of course in this dream she knew what she was doing… as much as could be expected of her… If she ever actually managed to remember as she woke up in the morning… But that wasn't for now.

What was more interesting was, in this world, she had ideas and people listened, didn't question or frown, the way she'd see them do sometimes… They just followed… They did call them 'dreams' for a reason. And now they had jumped places again… time, too. It was night time, and they all crouched in hiding near what she recognized to be the Other Sue's lair.

"Are you sure about this?" Their Dream-Sue asked, and she nodded.

"They have my friend," she pointed out, "Can't let them get away with that."

"Is that right?" a voice came out of nowhere, and Brittany froze, looking at the others, who looked terrified at what they saw behind her.

"It's her, isn't it?" her voice was low and terrified as everyone nodded rapidly. She very cautiously turned her head and saw Other Sue… Evil Sue… Scary Sue… Nightmare Sue. Brittany screamed.

She woke with a start, looking around… She breathed out when she saw she was back in her bed, safe and sound… Just then, without too much thought, she was back at McKinley, walking down the halls… There she was much closer to being her normal self, to the point of general unawaredness in some cases. But even there she began to give a mild frown as she saw some people giving her dirty looks… not just anyone: Finn, Quinn, Artie, Mike, even Santana… She tried to approach her usual partner in crime, but she walked away and Brittany lost her in the shuffle. Her face fell as she stood there, abandoned… What was going on? She spotted Quinn and ran.

"Hey, Quinn? What's going on? No one will talk to me, and usually it's because I forget which of my uniforms is clean or not, but it's okay, I know it is, I smelled it… What did I do?" she begged. "I'll apologize… Just tell me."

"Why would I tell you, if you can't even remember my name?" the girl shook her head, and there was some kind of 'dun dun' sound in her ear, from where, she had no idea.

"What?" Brittany asked, feeling a shiver up her spine with premonition of what could be happening next.

"I'm Finn," she told her before leaning in to whisper. "And you abandoned us last night, now it's followed us here!" she spoke before dashing off. Brittany watched her go, and the chills intensified… Then there was a laugh, loud and powerful… Lights flickered off… She was coming…

"Come with me," Her Sue appeared at her side, offering her hand.

"I can't move," she revealed, scared.

"Yes, you can, take my hand," she promised. Brittany hesitated, then did as told… Her feet worked again, and she ran off with Her Sue, sensing the Evil One, not far behind.

"She's going to get us!" she was scared.

"I'm not going to let that happen," Her Sue promised, right before some kind of arm or tentacle reached out and snatched away Her Sue. Brittany tripped and fell, turning back to look up at the Other Sue, looming over.

"It's just you and me now, Blondie. I'm all you've got…" she grinned evilly.

"No…" Brittany shook her head, shocked. "No…" Other Sue laughed again, launching at her.

She woke up, still screaming. She stopped after a beat… This felt real… more than it had in… She wasn't sure anymore… some of it faded. But it seemed to stick, as she sat there and waited out morning… She made it to school that next morning, and still now she had to… In Glee Club, she stood at the door, called out into the room…

"Quinn?" The girl turned, and Brittany calmed. "Just checking."

THE END


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!