KINN PAIRING (eventually). FYI.

A/N: I just thought I should mention this is way, way AU. Like... yeah. Anyway, I wanted to write a spacey-science fiction story, which is odd for me. But I thought I'd go for it and see how it goes. Tell me how I do, because I've never done this before.

Oh, and I'm not including Rachel, as of right now, because quite frankly, I don't like her, and I don't think she's very smart. And the idea here is that these are above average children. So yeah. Sorry.

Chapter One: LAUNCH

-v-0-vvv-0-v-

Finn nervously rubbed his hands against his thighs, the rubbery material of his suit making strange little sounds as he did so. He wasn't even sure how he had gotten here. He wasn't ready for this. He wasn't ready for the launch. He wasn't smart enough to go to the space school. What was it even called?

He shook his head, trying to clear his head. He turned his dark eyes to the other people in the room, their ages varying from anywhere between ten and around eighteen. He tried to count them, but couldn't keep track, his mind was racing so fast. He figured there were probably somewhere between fifteen and twenty, though... Some of these kids looked so young to him. Finn brushed a hand through his shaggy dark hair as the thoughts rushed back into his head, I'm not smart enough to be here. Why am I here? Even these little kids look smarter than me...

A small blonde girl with hazel eyes connected with his gaze and gave him a small smile. He tried his best to return it, but felt that his expression was rather dopey and terrified instead. Finn looked down at his feet instead, his heart desperately hoping that no one would come talk to him. He wasn't as smart as them, but if he kept his mouth shut, maybe he could hide that fact.

Instead, he felt the girl's presence move a little closer, but a strong voice over the intercom saved him from his embarrassment of being forced to speak.

"Alright, all you brats. In fifteen minutes, the shuttle will be launching, and when we reach the Academy, you will realize how much you really appreciate home." The woman paused for just a moment, then returned with a bit of amusement creeping into her voice, "You will miss your parents. There will be no one here to comfort you. Eighty percent of you will return to Earth with nothing. This will not be easy. If you don't think you can cut it, you might as well leave right now."

Finn felt as if he should turn and run, but once again, the voice rang clear, but this time, there was clearly intense joy in her tone, "Actually, that's a joke. None of you can go anywhere until we send you there. But here's the deal, children. What you're going out here to learn, it's important shit." A few of the younger children giggled at the obscenity, but Finn just shivered. They were being treated like adults, and many of them were barely past puberty. "These are the first steps in ensuring our planet's safety. Children smaller than you have gone out to space and learned the art of war. Don't consider yourself special, or 'the best' or one of a kind. You're nothing but average here. At least, to start out with," she added shortly, "I'll leave you to yourselves now. Launch in ten minutes." And with that, the voice was gone.

Finn could literally feel himself shaking in his boots. But at least now, he knew he wasn't alone. One of the younger girls was actually crying, but no one went to comfort her. Was this how it was going to be up in space? They were all really going to be all alone, even the children? Finn felt like crying himself, but was able to hold back tears. Instead, he walked slowly towards a circular window and placed a shaking hand against the glass. It was dark out still, as it had to be near four in the morning.

His mother had dropped him off the night before, as had all the others with him. They'd all been placed in a large room with bunks two high covered with rough sheets and thin blankets, not that many of them slept. Each of them had recieved one rubbery uniform to change into in the morning, with instructions that they'd be assigned more once they reached the Academy.

Finn missed his mother already. He felt a burning in the corners of his eyes and forced the thoughts of her back. He refused to cry before launch. There was the loud sound of a buzzer and a door at the front of the room slid open, and all the children looked up and hesitated. A green light was on above the door, and one of the boys was brave enough to venture forward and peek inside. He was slim and rather average height, with chocolate brown hair and smooth, sea colored eyes. He glanced back at the people anxiously awaiting some sort of answer, but instead of giving them one, he simply turned and walked through the door.

Finn frowned, what a jerk. The blonde girl stepped forward as well, but instead of ignoring the people behind them, she smiled and waved her hand to them to motion them in before she entered. When Finn was able to enter the room, his heart sank and his hands trembled. Launch. This was it.

The room had around thirty black seats, all with straps that would go over both shoulders and around their waist. There were heavy padding blocks that would rest on either side of their heads, making Finn feel a bit like he was boarding a roller coaster instead of a space shuttle. Down the middle of all of them was an aisle which led to another door, this one with a red light. Nevously, Finn chose a seat next to the blonde girl in the back and strapped himself in. He double checked his straps and rested his head back and his hands on the arm rests, terrified. The girl beside him reached out and touched his hand, but the blockers on either side of his head made it impossible for him to see her.

"What's your name?" She whispered softly.

"Finn," he croaked, and silently scolded himself for sounding so scared.

"I'm Quinn." She wrapped her fingers around his, and he felt slightly comforted, even if it was by a complete stranger, "See you in space."

"Yeah," he mumbled softly, but his words were drowned out by another buzzer, followed by ten beeps and a loud roar.

What he felt next was a feeling he could only describe as terror. Pure, nauseating, terror. He felt like his entire body was being forced into the back of his seat. His organs felt pressed against his spine, and if it wasn't so much pressure, he would have vomited. After what seemed like eternity, but he knew in his mind it was barely a few minutes, the pressure eased, and he was met with what felt like the polar opposite. Instead of his organs pressing into his back, they felt loose and free inside his body, and at that point, he actually gagged.

The girl beside him squeezed his hand, and he fumbled in his mind for her name. She'd just told him. Could he even talk? He opened his mouth, and immediately closed it; it felt like the vomit would just pour out if he gave it an opening to go through.

He felt that all the others in the room were probably feeling the same as him, though, as everyone was completely silent. For a few moments, it stayed this way, Finn fighting his nausea as he tried to collect his thoughts.

Finally, a voice came over the intercom, different from the last time. This one was kinder, and had an accent of some sort, "Hello, students. You've successfully made it through launch, and for that, you should give yourself a pat on the back. And in order to do that, you should unbuckle yourselves and experiment a little with zero gravity."

Finn wanted to do nothing of the sort, but a few of the others around him released themselves with a loud click of their buckles and stood up to glance around the room. One of the smaller ones actually tried a small jump and hurtled towards the ceiling, only barely stopping himself from crashing by stretching out his arms and landing palms up against the stainless steel above them.

The girl beside him undid her own straps with the same snapping noise and stood to face Finn, "You alright?" She looked a little pale, herself, but she still smiled.

Finn nodded slowly and fumbled around at his waist for the snaps to release himself. Gingerly, he rose to his feet as well and glanced down at the blonde girl. Quinn, he reminded himself quickly. "Y-you okay?"

She took a deep breath, "Yeah. Yeah, I think so. A little rough at first, huh?"

At this, Finn chuckled, "Yeah..." He quickly scanned the room, only to catch his eyes with the same haughty boy that from earlier. The boy narrowed his eyes and hurriedly directed his gaze up at the ceiling before pushing lightly off the ground and catching himself much like the younger boy had before.

Finn shook his head and looked back to Quinn, "Nervous...?"

"Yeah, a little," she admitted softly, "But... this is a big deal. This is a really good thing. We'll be alright. We're the elite of our age, or we wouldn't be up here."

"Yeah..." Finn replied uncertainly. He missed his mother, and didn't feel smart enough to go to the Academy. He must have been picked as some sort of mistake. They would figure that out and send him straight back to Earth, he was sure of it.

The accented voice came over the intercom once more, and all the students stopped to listen in silence, "I see that all of you have successfully unbuckled. But a few of you are still a little uneasy in zero gravity. But don't worry about that yet, there will be plenty of time to practice once you reach the school. Which we will be reaching very quickly now. If you would, seperate yourselves, by age and gender, oldest to the front, males on the right and females on the left, please. Yes, you will have to interact to do this, students. Don't assume you can get through this schooling process without any social skills."

Quinn grabbed his hand and gave it a quick squeeze before seperating and heading towards the front of the left section of seats. Finn watched her for a moment before heading to the front of the right section himself. He assumed he was one of the oldest, as some of the boys looked terribly young to him. There were four seats in the front row, and he debated shortly at which one to take. There were two boys at the front with him, one of them being the boy from earlier.

The other boy had a curly black mop of hair and stunning hazel eyes. He had a goofy sort of smile, and looked rather personable. He held out his hand to Finn, "I'm Blaine, I'm fifteen."

Finn quickly shook his hand, "Finn. I'm sixteen. So I guess I'll sit one ahead of you..." He turned to the snobbish looking boy with blue-green eyes and held out his hand, "I'm Finn."

The gave him an empty stare before sitting one ahead of Finn, "Seventeen."

Finn frowned and glanced at Blaine, who simply shrugged and sat as well, leaving one space in between him and the other boy for Finn.

Finn wasn't sure about much concerning the Academy yet, but one thing was decided. He definitely did not care for that boy in particular.

0-v-0-0-vv-0-0-v-0

A/N: So... yeah. Haha, I like this space thing. And I have a slight celebrity crush on Darren Criss, so I had to add him in. But this will definitely not end with Klaine, I can tell you that much.

Tell me how I'm doing so far.