"Rachel" Quinn whispered, staring at the back of her lover, wanting so badly to run her finger tips over the smooth skin on her shoulder blades like she had million times before.
She admired the way the light reflected over the blonde's pale skin, the moon so bright in the sky it lit the entire campsite. Rachel didn't respond to her.
"I've missed you." she said gently, hoping to get at least a grunt or movement from her ex(?)-lover. She knew Rachel wasn't asleep, she never slept after they spent the night together unless she was curled up against her, head on Quinn's chest and arm wound around her waist.
"You're usually not one for poor bedside manners..." this time the blonde brushed her nose along the base of the brunette's neck. She inhaled her sweet but oddly musky scent, like wild flowers and tree sap. It was intoxicating and heart-warming.
Quinn had never felt lonelier in her entire life.
Rachel sat up, never turning to look at her last night's companion. "We need to get moving." Quinn looked down at the ground as she too sat up, feeling her heart drop to her stomach. "We find what we've been looking for and we bring it back to Noah and then-"
"Then you leave with Puck, Mike, and Brittany...and I never see you again."
"Yes."
"But what if it didn't have to be this way?" they both stood at the same time, Rachel turning to face Quinn, confusion and curiosity twisting her features. "You could come back with me, Rach. We could be together, fight at each other's side like we used to. Together we were once unstoppable," the blonde purred softly "we could be again." she cupped Rachel's cheek gently "I've missed you so much, Rachel." she breathed, running her thumb along her cheek bone. "and, even though you'd never say it out loud, I know you've missed me too."
Rachel stared straight into the stormy hazel eyes of the woman she'd grown up with, the woman who knew her better than she knew herself and felt a swell of adoration squeezed her chest. She had missed Quinn, more than she thought she could ever miss or long for anything, let alone another human being. The thought of being with Quinn again was far more than irresistible. And yet, feeling herself slipping away into the thunderous irises before her, she placed her hand over Quinn's on her cheek and held it tightly, pulling it from her face. She intertwined their fingers, never breaking eye contact but pulling out of the storm.
"You're on the wrong side, Quinn" she muttered more harshly than she'd meant to "I've seen the light, Puck, Mike, and Brittany have opened my eyes to what the world can be for me, what I can have if I want it. But you..." she saw the hurt already surfacing in the blonde's body language. Rachel squeezed her hands, trying to get her to understand. "Coach Sylvester has you blindfolded in the shadows, Quinn. She wants nothing for you but to turn you into a mindless killer. It is a waste of a brilliant mind and a beautiful soul."
"A beautiful soul." she scoffed, turning her head from Rachel. "They took that from us long ago, even I know better than to think I have any good left in me."
"I can see it in you Quinn, I can feel it in your touch," this time it was Rachel's turn to hold Quinn's cheek in her hand an try too sooth away the doubts and sway her opinions. "Soulless things don't love, Quinn, not the way I know you do." Rachel turned to look at Quinn, her eye glistening. The brunette kissed her forehead gently, using both hands to gently guide her face down to lip level and planting a small butterfly light kiss on her nose and then her lips.
"So what am I supposed to do, Rachel? Run from the only thing I've ever known?"
"You come with me."
Quinn's eyes widened. "What?"
"Come with us, help us defeat Sue and the evil in this world. Get out of the Cheerios while you still can. Be with me, Quinn. Like you said, we were unstoppable once, but this time we can be the heroes, not the villains." Quinn bowed her head, gently gripping Rachel's forearms with her hands. If only it were that simple. If only she could walk away from her life and start anew with these people, with her love. It was against everything she'd been taught to fall in love. To have feelings that gave you a weakness, a soft spot. She couldn't just throw away an entire lifetime of strict obedience.
"I don't know how to be the hero" she admitted, feeling something weigh down the black hole that'd been her heart for many years. Shame? Guilt? Regret? Quinn couldn't tell what emotions had begun to stir with in her "I don't think I am good anymore..." She shook her head hard but didn't resist the brunette's arms pulling her into an embrace.
It didn't last long.
Quinn pushed Rachel away and closed her eyes, turning her head in the opposite direction, trying desperately to hide the tears that were beginning to force their way from her eyes. "Leaving Coach Sylvester and fighting against her are two completely separate, yet equally difficult things." she said after a long moment of silence. "Things that we aren't all lucky enough to accomplish." she turned back to look at the brunette, her signature neutral expression masking any emotions. "But if you were to run with me...if you were to leave this whole thing behind with me, I'd leave right this second."
"Quinn..."
"I mean it Rach, you are the only person who I am more loyal to than Coach Sylvester" she slowly lowered herself to one knee, planting a small kiss on the knuckle of her ring finger, like she was in the presence of a queen. "I would follow you to the ends of this world, through the fires of hell and back. I would give my life to you if you wished it from me. Anything for you, Rachel." she whispered softly "Everything I have is, and always has been, yours."
They stood there silently for what had to be the hundredth time that night. Rachel's knuckles pressed tenderly to the smooth skin on Quinn's forehead. She stood after a moment, dropping the hand with a stern, determined look in her eyes.
"I can't fight against the woman who I've sworn to serve. But if you come with me, we can start our lives anew in a land where no one knows us. Where we can be just Quinn and Rachel."
The brunette blinked once before turning away.
"No." she said evenly. Overwhelming despair tore its way through Quinn's heart. "Just as you have sworn your life to me, I have sworn mine to Puck and his cause. I won't abandon them now. Not when they need me the most." She turned back to Quinn, her own kind of pain shone in her eyes. She fixed the slightly off pieces of the brunette's attire.
" I wish you'd come with us, fight with me again. Next time we meet, I may have to kill you."
"Is it that easy for you to take my life?"
"Nothing is to interfere with my mission, not even you."
Quinn stepped away from the blonde as she reached to straighten a buckle on the front of her outfit, a look of pure betrayal and agony shone in her eyes. "You best wake Mike, the sooner we find what we came here for, the sooner you'll be rid of me." with that she turned away from Rachel, already heading away into the woods.
Rachel didn't try to stop her.
