Hey guys, so here's a short Halloween oneshot for the occasion. It's Brittana in a world you've never seen before.
Warnings of sea creatures, witches, zombies, talking pumpkins, ghosts...all those crazy things. Let your imagination run wild.
Happy Halloween!
Disclaimer: Nothing in this story really exists and I don't own anything but my fantastical ideas.
It happened so suddenly. Neither girl knew what happened until it came up in one giant ball of flames. Then it was a thing of the past.
Although separate and completely disconnected, they heard the same honking, screaming and smashing. They felt the wind leave their lungs, their bodies going stiff on sudden impact, and then it was over. They went at once to a place of silence, stillness and darkness.
All too strangely there was a sound of music. She knew she was awake now because the dead lose their senses and she could certainly hear a little bump and grind anthem going on. If she listened carefully, she might have heard the goings on of a party. There was more than song in the air, there were voices, high pitched and low, synchronizing and jumping out of line.
It was dark. Still, Santana gathered the consciousness and courage to peep out from under her eyelids. She was surprised that rather than lying down with cracked limbs, she was standing upright, and if had she not gone wonky in the head far too much, she would be able to make out a line of people in front, behind, and to the side of her, all headed towards the blessed light.
Directly in front was an open door, the other side shone bright with a light that should have stung her iris to its core. But unlike artificial human light, it did not create that side effect to her anatomy if she was at all still human. One would question how flesh and bone could survive quite a Halloween horror thrust upon them so out of the blue.
Some, she noticed, were hurried through the door while others were pointed in the direction of another door where the light was flashing hue after hue and not all together to create that white effect in the first door.
So that was where the party was in full swing.
She reached the gates of light. She now noticed the particles exuded from 12 giant pearls framing a giant arch. The guards of said door looked positively out of a painting from some chapel – and they were all too white. Santana knew what it meant to pass through those pearly gates and in her heart decided that she did not wish to pass through them just yet. On arriving at that decision, she too was directed to the party hall she had eyed earlier.
Upon entranced, a whole world of fluorescents and flashes opened up to her. In her awe of her surroundings, she was oblivious to the movement passing by and through her.
She was approached by a talking pumpkin, mumbling on its bumbling way. Only in that moment did she question if talking pumpkins had become a part of reality or if she were dead.
If only she knew she was waiting in paradise that place before graduating through the pearly gates never to come out again.
From the moment she had opened her eyes in this strange place where time and weight and the rules of planet earth didn't apply, she knew that she was in some fissure of space, just hovering until it was the right moment to return to whence she came or never to return at all.
And surprisingly enough, in this crack of the unknown, the beings here also celebrated the ghost, creatures of the night, and incomprehensible beings to the minds of mankind. Perhaps they had more reason to celebrate the spirits than earthlings. Here the spirits seemed alive and well and moving to and fro.
Well, Santana decided, if she was going to be spending an undetermined amount of time in this strange place, she was going to make the most of it.
"Miss, which is a better name for a floating pumpkin? Pringle or Pimmply?" Being approached with such a trivial question, by a pumpkin no less, she brushed the orange, glowing, ball aside without a word only to find that in moving forward, she had slipped through the giant vegetable.
With a gasp, she observed her body to find it rather lacking of substance. She was every bit as see-through as her ability to effortlessly walk in one end of the pumpkin and out the other.
So I'm a ghost she thought to herself.
"You are a temporary being," chided the pumpkin who hung around hoping he (it) would receive an answer.
Santana couldn't decide which was more horrifying, that she herself had lost her human form or that the pumpkin could hear her thoughts.
"Not everyone can hear you think aloud," The pumpkin hovered level to her face, "only those who have been here so long – waiting for their verdict into the afterlife – that they've developed the sense. Don't worry, everyone here is a newbie." With that the pumpkin, Pringle or Pimmply, took off without further advice.
Even lacking her human form, this new transparent one still held similar shape to her prior form all for the fact that she was translucent. She was the kind of crystal clear that didn't expose her insides, always a good thing, although it would have made for a wicked Halloween appearance. She now could see that the other entities filling up the room were rather like her in body and state of mind.
Several new borns' were learning to fly or hover or whatever ghosts did. She now could admit that for the time being. Stuck in this frame, she was very much a ghost.
She barely had time to duck when an unruly burst of energy came barreling towards her laughing out a deep echoing sound. It landed somewhat upright and guffawed extremely humored.
"Dude, I know I'm making a fool of myself diving all over the place, but even I know there's no point in trying to get out of the way. You don't feel a thing in this form." It taunted.
Annoyed that this stranger seemed to think it could mock her, Santana turned away.
"Hey, don't be so sour, I was just trying to help you out." The ghost proceeded to run right through her and block, or at least hover, in her path. "I'm Puck, I was at a Halloween party pumpkin boxing and I think I got one too many punches to the head. So now I'm here, but this party is way more awesome."
So is this how introductions go these days? Santana thought.
"Great," she tried for the very first time to speak. Her mouth opened and closed forming the phonemes her ears should have been able to hear. Even the experience of talking was different as no sounds actually came out of her mouth but she could hear everything she was saying and according to Puck's acknowledgements, so could he.
"Nice meeting you Santana," Puck said. This time Santana focused on his mouth to see if there really wasn't anything coming out of it. Nope, but she heard it all in her head if it could be called one. It consisted of nothing different than her so-called body so it was possible there was no difference.
Before she could say anymore, he was gone, flying away to hop through another unsuspecting ghost.
For her own benefit of seeing the big picture, Santana tried her hand at flying high. She found it wasn't all that difficult to hover above the masses of translucent forms with a little concentration. There was clearly a dance floor boxed in by giant speakers to her left. The floor lit up in no particular sequence with colors, some of which she had never seen in her life, pulsing alive. The colors came and went with the rhythm of the music, the intensity shifting high and low and magical.
In another part was a pool of sorts with springs shooting up at random, making a sort of water maze. Every once in a while, someone screamed; with terror or delight Santana couldn't say. It seemed to be some sort of game of chasing shadows.
In fact, Santana saw that the whole west wing was made up of a variety of activities most which required active flying. Those zipping around expertly reminded of the quidditch players in the realm of Harry Potter. The rest of the area was free for roaming. It surprised Santana that there were no seats in the general roaming space. But of course it wasn't needed. Just as Puck had said, these forms bore no physical feelings.
Santana wandered through the collection of forms towards the entrance of the activities wing. She was going to stick to her resolution and have as much fun as possible. Just being here seemed a lot more exciting than the Halloween party she had been driving to when the accident happened.
She got a stamp from a walking skeleton that should have freaked her out but the experience was overall less scary than her encounter with the talking pumpkin.
There were so many of them. She could estimate more than a hundred surrounding her and who knew how many more on the dance floor or in the games?
Walking to the first game, bright banisters of yellow and red hung and flopped to the sides, welcomed all to test their strength. A tall beam held a bell on top and up the pole flashing lights chased up and down like a long, long caterpillar.
Santana absentmindedly rummaged her pants for cash. She forgot her bearings momentarily but came to the realization that in this unearthly place, there was no currency nor did she have pockets.
Trying his hand at the game right then was Puck, the wild mongrel who nearly flew through her head. Besides him was a girl of short stature, not bulky but not lean. Her fringe nearly covered her almond shaped eyes and she wore an adoring smile. Santana followed her gaze to Puck reaching out with a not so subtle attempt to flex his muscles in the girls face. He took the hammer that materialized out of nowhere from a floating pumpkin.
Santana believed them to be the host of this grand party. They were everywhere that someone needed them to be and out of the way when not needed.
The hammer itself was clear and appeared to have no weight at all. However, Puck took great efforts to haul it over his shoulder in preparation to slam it down. He winked playfully at the fringe haired girl who whirled her miniskirt in a timid manner. With a mighty heave, he released the hammer with all his might at the platform below. The bell chimed ding and dong, reverberating with shrill clarity. Satisfied, he sent the girl a smirk and presented her the prize which he had won, a live – or perhaps better described as having ability to move – sausage hound which in its own mischief clambered onto her shoulder and licked her cheek.
She hadn't intentionally cued up, but the line shuffled. Surprisingly, nobody tried to slip through each other to make the head of the line.
She hadn't noticed who was ahead her, only thinking that soon it would be her turn.
"Hey there," The ghost in front of her turned around. She was a pleasant faced girl, thin, lanky, and sporting braids. She was dressed for the occasion in a retro 90's outfit. "What's your name?"
"Ummm, Santana? I'm Santana. Who are you?" For once a normal greeting.
"I'm Brittany S. Pierce." The ghost girl replied
"Who are you dressed as?" Santana asked, taking in the shirt that dropped only past the girl's small breasts and the leather pants that hugged her incredibly long legs. She wondered if the girl looked like this in real life or if being in this other world had enhanced all her best features.
"Oh, I'm Brittany Spears," Brittany S. Pierce struck a pose. Didn't she just say that? She was dressed as herself and shared the name of a pop star? It was all quite confusing to Santana.
The girl didn't give her a chance to make her quarry. She turned around to receive the hammer offered by the orange lantern that had appeared once again. "What do you prefer?"
"What?" The question caught her off guard as did the chills spreading to every part of her body.
"Prizes. It's never fun playing for yourself."
"Oh,"
"Don't think too hard," Brittany chided.
"Okay, I'd like to kiss you." She was shocked at her own forwardness – perhaps she was bewitched. She didn't know she wanted to kiss Brittany till she had said it.
A kiss seemed a suitable prize for her and the winner and a way to mask her sudden affections for the girl. "I'll give you a kiss," she repeated solidly.
"Fine by me," Brittany winked and Santana moved out of the way so as not to make a fool of herself and get hit by the hammer accidently. She didn't need a second knocking out tonight although it felt like the air had been sucked out of her the moment she'd laid eyes on the anomaly of Brittany S. Pierce.
Warming up for the slammer, Brittany smiled at Santana. Then she released the hammer with a force Santana had no idea the girl possessed. The bell sang.
Elated, Brittany flexed and kissed her arm muscles then broke into a victory jiggle. Santana used all her willpower to not appear too eager or smooch the girl senseless.
Santana stepped up to deliver her prize but momentarily stalled. She had not figured out the dynamics of giving a kiss in this form. How would she make certain she wouldn't slip right through the girl when she leaned forward?
"Don't worry your pretty little brain too much," Brittany winked. She leaned forward and kissed Santana on the cheek then disappeared into the crowd.
Santana stood statue still. It felt like a kiss but not like anything she had felt before on earth. It was less about the physical sensation then the lighting of the hypothetical heart in her form.
Was it possible she had fallen in love in those seven minutes of knowing Brittany S. Pierce? Was it the effect of being in this place or had this girl put her under a spell?
She would never know unless she found her again – near impossible in this crowd and her less than outstanding maneuvering skills in this form.
She wandered through the games, keeping her eyes open for anyone hovering just that bit higher. She glided past paintball games, pumpkin carving of the see-through type which put up just as much resistance and even made a little fun out of the carvers by slipping through their hands, bowling games, fire pins spinning in the air, hurdling games – a right carnival of flying pumpkins and spirits between worlds.
After a while, how long Santana could not say as time didn't exist here, she had ended up in front of the geyser maze. The forms of humans were dashing in one end and coming out another.
"You having fun?" A voice came from behind. She turned and found Brittany with her hands on her shoulder.
"How do you do it?" Santana asked. "Kiss me and touch me without falling into me?"
"Who says I haven't fallen into you?" Brittany raised a brow. "And I've been telling you all evening, don't think too much."
"This is all new to me,"
"But you are still thinking."
"How am I supposed to turn my brain off?"
"Kiss me, now." Brittany said. Santana raised a brow but surged forward, not thinking – doing. She had nearly reached the girl when Brittany twirled around Santana, tapping her on the shoulder from behind.
"You'll get your kiss soon enough," she teased. "But if you want to kiss me you gotta catch me first." Brittany laughed spritely like the song of a clarinet and disappeared into the maze of shooting springs.
Santana sprinted after her – doing, not thinking.
In all her life, Santana never wished she could fly. Yet here she was dodging fountains of light at break neck speed. The form of Brittany was before her, zipping left and right changing color like a chameleon as she passed in front of red, green, and maroon, a color with no name, yellow, pink, again something unidentifiable. Santana saw only Brittany's tail and determined not to lose sight of the girl.
The walls of water loomed to her right and left. Dark patches in shapes of monsters and hell's creatures faded in and out of focus. One minute the walls of water were pure and white, another moment poisoned with frightening images.
Water sprang in her face at alarming speed but now that she was not over thinking, she discovered the ability to avoid the spouts at an equally swift pace. She twisted, turned, dived through the water blockades losing sight of Brittany but appearing closer to her once the springs had taken a rest.
"You can't out fly me," Santana said, getting closer and closer.
"But I can disappear," Brittany hollered back and then she was gone.
With a sigh, Santana exited the maze finding that she had merely reached the end of the tunnel. So Brittany had not done some great act this time but she had completed the water course and now waited for her somewhere in the midst of the throngs.
Left on her own once more, Santana flew high in hopes of spotting her friend, her guide, her crush?
"I wouldn't just leave you," Brittany appeared out of nowhere right beside Santana. She wanted to be annoyed that Brittany kept taking off but couldn't find the heart (laugh out loud at that, she was no longer human. Who knows where her heart resides?)
"You've done so before, and I'm not keeping you." Santana shrugged. "You're free to go wherever you please."
"I'm pleased to stay right here thank you very much," Brittany replied and held out a tall cup of something. Santana could see straight through the cup like everything else but could not see its contents. "Oh don't make that face; I'm not going to poison you."
Santana received the cup and peered in from the top, a liquid sea shifted and rolled as an ocean. "What is it?"
"Coke, just like the real stuff," Brittany's answer was less enchanting than Santana hoped. She took a sip and agreed with Brittany – different look but still coke, frizzy and sweet. "Come on, I want to take you to the foam sea."
Santana had never heard of such a thing. But this wasn't earth she reminded herself. Anything could exist in this place. Here, anything was possible even sort of falling in love with a girl you've only known for 30 earth minutes.
The foam sea was as literal as its name and as deep as any ocean Santana could fathom on earth. Its depth was limitless as the sky.
Brittany dove into the sea of spongy white and fearing that she would lose her girl all over again, Santana hurried in as well. It was like swimming but not getting cold or wet.
A hand grabbed hers and Brittany emerged all smiles with seaweed in her hair.
"You got something behind your ear," Santana chuckled and unhinged the slimy green algae.
Brittany guided her lower where the foam was less thick and they could see the floor, a welcome mat of green seaweed. Monsters of the deep roamed, serving out electric shocks to those who got too close. The stinging had seemed to have no serious effect on the afflicted except to make them cackle in the strange sound of ocean creatures.
Tiger sharks actually orange and black swam by, a spooky one eyed fish judged all who dared stare at it, and a manta ray as wide as a Broadway backdrop allowed anyone who could hold on to catch a ride.
"Even the sea creatures have come alive for this occasion Santana," Brittany was delighted by underwater aquarium. There was no need to resurface, breathing was no problem.
Santana didn't think there was anyone more adorable or genuine as Brittany S. Pierce.
The girl grasped both Santana's hands and swam in circles, catching schools of black and white angel fish in their contrived net. She couldn't believe Brittany's enthusiasm for life, no matter if they were half dead, was so infectious. Santana couldn't remember the last time she had just run bare foot on the grass for the sake of running without shoes on.
A being came forward disrupting the school of fish, chasing them away.
"What did you do that for you…" She was going to give the ghost boy a good licking just for ruining her moment.
"Arty! You're here too?"
"We were on the same bus Brittany," The boy with glasses said blandly. Santana was sure that he wasn't the kind of person Brittany would hang out with if she wasn't so friendly with everyone. She was also sure that in the real world Brittany wouldn't hang out with her either.
"Right, well who else made it?"
"I haven't seen anyone else." Arty looked around in case he saw a familiar face.
"That's alright; I have all the company I need. Arty meet Santana."
Santana shared a look with Brittany, oblivious to the boy's formalities.
"…so do you mind if I hang out with you?"
'No' was on the tip of Santana's tongue but Brittany beat her to deny Arty the pleasure of their company.
"Santana and I have a meet for the haunted hayride, sorry," with that they disappeared from the foam sea. They materialized a few meters away but too far for Arty to scout them out. It was the first time Santana had traveled to a new location in the blink of an eye and she still didn't know how Brittany did it. Before the end of the night, she was resolute on finding out.
"Are we actually going to the haunted hayride?" Santana suddenly asked hoping they really weren't. She'd always been scared of it as a child, and now she just hated it because of all the teasing from her family.
"No, I don't even know if they have one here. But I wanted to get away from Arty. He talks too much and I don't feel like blocking him out while I'm with you."
To Santana it sounded like Brittany would rather spend eternity with her and only her.
(She could say it was a dream, pretend there was no one else and that this night would last forever)
"How high do you think I can go?" Santana asked as she viewed the void above her. There seemed to be no limit to the expanse in any direction.
"High enough but you can't leave," Brittany replied, "I tried."
"To leave?"
"To go out into the universe,"
"Is that where you think we are? In some box floating in outer space?"
"As a good a theory as any," Brittany shrugged. "Hey, who are you supposed to be? I never asked."
"I'm not in costume," Santana said, "Was gonna get ready at a friend's house but ended up here."
"You don't think we're dead do you?"
"I dunno," Santana shrugged.
"Hey, want to dance?" Brittany changed the topic to a livelier one. Not waiting for an answer, she led the way and Santana followed without question.
Weaving in and out of bodies towards the synchronized floor, Santana felt more than saw the effect of the lights and beats move together. There was a weird, not uncomely, vibration that overtook her whole frame. It pulsed from her hand in Brittany's, joined without rhyme or reason as they moved in and out of the crowd. Santana had long given up trying to figure things out. All she knew was that holding Brittany's hand was incredibly right.
She shouldn't have been shocked that dancing in this place would be anything conventional. Free from gravity and restrictions of earthly bodies, dancing took on a new form of its own. It was beautiful like silk swimming through needles of piercing light.
"I don't know if I can," slipped from her lips as she watched in awe. A male form did gymnastics in the air surrounded by twirling dancers in skirts that flayed like spinning umbrellas. It was magical and breathtaking and chillingly haunted.
"Are you going to dance with me? If not you might find a partner much less agreeable." Brittany pointed to several human forms unlucky enough to be stuck dancing with headless zombies and broom haired witches.
"Let's go," Santana held onto Brittany's hand tighter less the girl leave her to an undesirable fate. She shot them up to a space in the air unoccupied by other dancers. She was surprised still that she could move so freely with another being in tow and not feel even a strain in her arm.
"So how does this work?" Santana asked without need as Brittany began to float in circles around her.
"You do what I'm doing. Let the vibration take over." Now Brittany turned upside down, now she bopped her head and popped her arms and rolled her body right in front of Santana's nose with a giggle. Santana mimicked her actions and found it less awkward than she believed it would be.
At home, she was a Cheerio so she was trained in the art of flipping and splitting in formation. She set about at once to impress Brittany who had impacted her so many times tonight. She began with a corkscrew aerial, arms tucked to her chest for maximum effect. She spun at a speed that she would never achieve in her mortal form and found the thrill delirious. She did a high split that would have severed her leg completely but found she could bend it nearly 360 degrees and then turned upside down to hang like a bat for the fun of it.
Brittany watched and giggled and finally swooped Santana in her arms spinning them faster than a whirlwind. Santana felt no headache or nausea, only the thumping of her whole body as she was enveloped by Brittany. They were so close Santana dared not breathe less she spark a fire between them.
There were others around them now, Puck and Rachel appeared to be waltzing badly but without care. A B-boy dizzily whirled as an upside down helicopter and then the zombies joined hands and did a dead man's dance. They pulled guts and gore out of their bodies and flung them into the open, smearing blood on people's faces and cracking up at their own antics.
It was more comical than horrifying.
The witches tried a routine of their own but slipped too often on the left over guts to maintain unification. Skirts flew open and screams of delight or terror erupted at the sight of their unclad sexual organs on display. But they danced on with no rhythm or togetherness. They frolicked till the moon called for them and they produced toothpick sized brooms, shrunk in sync and jetted off to answer the call.
When the witches were gone, all returned to its normal state all but for the appearance of the ghosts of people past now gracing the dance floor.
The ghost of what looked like Harriet Tubman glided by in a simple patched up dress. It should have been a harrowing experience being in the same room as the old ones, but it passed for more of a learning experience.
"That's Amelia Earhart, I want to talk to her about the aero dynamics of a small bi-plane." Brittany's aerial enthusiasm puzzled Santana but she had no reason to stop her new friend.
Santana glanced around for someone she might find familiar. There was Whitney Houston fox trotting with Michael Jackson but she wasn't outgoing enough to approach celebrities even in this world.
"My darling Santana," A cigar cracked voice invaded her hearing, "I hoped I wouldn't see you here. Your abuela is quite a disaster right now."
Santana could say the same of the gray haired man hobbling forwards on a cane. "Abuelo," was the only word to escape her.
"Why, don't be in such a sour state," He turned his frown upside down. "For whatever reason, you are here and I've never been happier to see you."
It was strange to be congratulated on death. And why would her own grandfather welcome her so gladly into the afterlife?
"Oh no, darling. You've got it all wrong." Abuelo began a fit of laughter, shucking his cane in circular motion before letting it evaporate in thin air. He walked upright now as he hooked his right arm into Santana's left. "This isn't heaven or hell darling, you aren't dead and you won't be."
That at least made Santana breathe a little easier.
"Now come, tell me how you've been."
"Aren't you a ghost abuelo, shouldn't you be able to stalk me on earth?" And then the implications of her grandfather being everywhere and seeing everything she did colored her face a tomato red. She'd rather he didn't know of the nights she'd snuck out of home to drink.
"No, no I don't have that kind of clearance," He flicked his hands in a no nonsense way. "So?" He looked at her hopefully.
"I've been fine," Santana shrugged, fearing to give away too much in her thoughts. "I'm nearly done high-school and I'm moving to Texas."
"What does your abuela say about that?" Her grandfather raised a thick eyebrow. "She was always one to keep her chicks close to the nest if you know what I mean."
"She'll understand, I can't kick-start a singing career in Ohio. Besides, I'm joining a group of musicians there and we're going to be a band."
"I'm glad to see you so ambitious," her abuelo patted her on the shoulder. "It was nice catching up Santana, but my time here is up and your lady is coming back." He winked which made Santana believe that he was in on her secret.
"Don't worry, I know. And your abuela will come around. My only advice about these things is, if you know she's the one – don't let her go. I didn't."And he was gone with his last words.
"Hey," Brittany returned with an insignia of sorts drawn on her forearm.
"What's that?"
"Oh, I got Amelia's signature. Isn't it cool she also drew me the prototype for her first ever glider?" Brittany showed Santana proudly. She wondered if it would still be there when Brittany returned to earth.
"Do you know how much longer we have here?" Santana asked, the last words of her grandfather running through her mind.
"If I could choose, I'd stay here forever."
"But don't you want to see your family again?"
"I didn't think of that. This place is just so amazing. I love how it's like a fantasy come alive, the pumpkins, the ghosts, the witches, the zombies, the little creatures we don't have on earth – it's amazing. If only Lord Tubbington was here."
"I didn't know you were looking for a Lord," Santana quipped, "I would have asked around. Why would you want to meet this Lord Tubbington anyways?"
"Oh no, Tubbs isn't actually from royal lineage," Brittany explained, "He's just an orphan pussy."
"I didn't see any craven children dressed in rags."
"I don't think they do trick or treating here. And kids usually aren't allowed to be up after nine o'clock."
Santana felt like scratching her head or something. "What are we talking about Brittany?"
"I lost track, hey you know what we should do?" Brittany's voice filled with mischief.
"What?"
"Try walking through those walls." She pointed to a long stretch of blue barrier, not unlike concrete.
"I thought you said we couldn't get out of here." Santana reminded her.
"Those walls don't look like the inescapable void, they are just walls. Come with me." Brittany grabbed Santana's hand and streamlined towards the wall. One instant they were in the party room, the other they were in a hall full of rippling curtains.
"What is this place Brittany? Are we even allowed to be in here?" Santana was scared they had crossed some line and emerged in yet another world.
"Don't worry; the party is just on the other side. Listen."
Santana could still hear the music and chatter.
"Take a peek with me," She joined Brittany in poking her head through one of the several dozen curtains. Two forms, Santana couldn't tell whether they were man and women or both of the same sex, writhed against and into each other like wrestling worms.
"What are they doing?" Santana cringed having somewhat an idea.
"You've never had sex?" Brittany spoke bemused.
"I know they're having sex, but that doesn't look normal."
"You didn't answer my question," the girl pressed.
"Of course I have,"
"With a woman?"
"I've…" Santana gulped. How they got to talking about her sex life she all but forgot. In truth, she had kissed girls before and in her brief time being out to people she had gotten to second base. It didn't seem like such a proud achievement tonight.
"Do you see what they're doing?" Brittany teased. "It's called 69ing."
"Enough!" Santana pulled Brittany away only to be tickled into peeking in another room and another. "Brittany!" She didn't want to admit that watching people going at it had turned her on.
"Do you want to, you know, do it?" Santana was caught in surprise by Brittany's bluntness. If it were in any other circumstance Santana would have backed away but the whole night had been full of pleasant surprises, all which came about because she let things Brittany do the leading.
And if she was honest, she sure felt like doing something with Brittany and to her.
She was already wet for crying out loud!
"Where would we even, do it?" Santana made up her mind. At least Brittany seemed to know what she was doing and who knew how much longer they had. What happened in this other world would stay in this world.
"Are you sure though? I don't want to force you but I want to so bad. I think I wanted to from the moment I saw you." Brittany became shy. She turned, nearly showing her back to Santana.
"Brittany, come on," Santana tugged her by the hand, with the other hand she pushed back curtain after curtain.
The moving became swifter and less controlled. Santana didn't know if she needed to put on the brakes or she if there was some alternate force moving their bodies.
"Santana stop," her blonde ghost squealed. The force pulled them even more.
When Santana could control their movements somewhat, she noticed that they were being pulled in the same direction, not apart.
"I think the party is over," Brittany said over the whooshing of others magnetized in the same whirlpool as the two of them.
"Whatever you do, don't let go!" She shouted but it was all a little too late. Their hands clasped and unclasped only to be secured again after incessant clawing. No matter the effort, Santana felt Brittany slipping away into nothing just as she was.
The tremor or quake or whatever the force was, tried to tear them apart now. It was time. They could not fight it.
But Santana held on with her last surge of strength. She pushed herself or perhaps pulled Brittany into her until they merged together almost one body, one being. There was no telling where one girl ended and the other began.
"Don't go yet. Brittany I…" There was nothing more to be said as her blonde ghost sealed their fate with a kiss Santana would never forget in her lifetime.
"Goodbye Santana," Brittany said with finality and then she let go. She let the winds take her home or to where she was meant to be.
"I don't know where you come from!" Santana's words were lost in the motion of everything returning from whence it came.
As for Santana, the winds did not forget her. They whirled her in the expanse nothingness like wet laundry in the spinner. Everything disappeared from her sight and soon there was nothing to hear but the whirring and whipping. Even she was gone, as if she never existed in earthly form or as a spirit.
She did not know how long she was unconscious.
There was that light again, white and pure and welcoming. It filtered through her eyelids and she felt like she was coming into the world for a second time. But the light was not like where she had been, it was harsh and stung her eyeballs like lasers with immaculate aim.
"Off," She tried her voice. It crackled like an old radio set to a bad frequency. "Turn the damn lights off, they're hurting my eyes."
She tried to move but she was stiff. So it had just been a dream, all of it. She sighed.
Santana was sure she had not made everything up, especially the blonde fairy and that kiss. She could still taste her.
"Santananita!" Her mother came into the room followed by her abuela. They cradled her, one on each side.
"You're alive, you're alive," they chanted over and over. All Santana wanted to do was close her eyes and go back to that place where she had met the girl with blue eyes and the mid-riff, the girl who could dance and knew how to disappear.
In this place, she would have to learn to walk again. Maybe she would be handicapped for life. Just the thought was too tiring and she unknowingly slipped into a dreamless sleep.
The doctors said she was lucky. In a way she was. There were no crippling injuries to recover from, a miracle in the words of her grandmother.
Everything went back to normal, except Santana dreamed every night of the girl she had met in another world and whose name she couldn't remember.
Only her face remained in Santana's memory.
She tried everything to recall the girls name for without it she couldn't find her. She put together small fragments of things which had been said that night.
There was a bus and an accident. She was sure of that and found a report of such an incident. It did little to restore the missing name but she learned that it was a bus belonging to a school in Arizona.
She even checked the map to see exactly how far Arizona was from Ohio. But there was no reason to go. She didn't know who to look for or, if she found the girl, if she would remember her at all.
The most exciting part of her life so far came at last. She had made arrangements with help from her father to settle in Texas. He gave her a pick-up that came in handy moving her things to her new home.
Home was a room above a bicycle shop, rented at an affordable price on a singers pay check. The first six months were covered by her dad but she would have to assume responsibility on the next bill. Santana was perfectly happy with that. She was a grown woman with a job and bills in her name.
Her room was still unpacked when she got a call to meet up with the band she was going to play with. They already had a few gigs booked at several steak houses and by the beer parlors. Santana had been recruited by the band after they lost their lead singer. For the past few months they'd been rehearsing together via long distance teleconferencing.
She dressed in knee-high leather boots that reached just below her knees, a grey t-shirt, black jacket and tucked in a paisley handkerchief in her back pocket.
"Hey Santana," she was greeted with warm hugs by the band she'd gotten to know so well over the internet. There was Andy the lead guitarist, Benjamin the other guitarist, Melly on the keyboard, Mike on the drums and… she nearly stopped breathing.
"Sorry we didn't get to tell you about our new bass player, she's replacing Jonny who's gone off and got married." Andy pointed to the girl. The girl.
She was tall with long flowing hair kept tidy under a straw hat. Her eyes were blue as the sapphire on her belt. It was unmistakably her.
How funny of fate to play Santana this hand again when she had given up hope of ever finding the girl in her dreams. She was here, smiling at her with the same smile she'd given that night.
"I'm Brittany S. Pierce," the girl stepped forward, hand outstretched. Santana didn't know if the girl remembered her at all or if that night had been detracted from her memory.
But Santana hadn't forgotten one bit. All that had been missing was the girl's name. Now she had it and it was the same Brittany, her Brittany.
"Brittany," she said unsure how to approach the subject on her mind.
"Santana, don't think too much." Either it was coincidence or Brittany knew exactly what she was saying.
"How'd you end up here?" Santana asked.
Brittany cocked her head and shrugged, "It felt right, and I knew you'd be here. I had to see you again."
"I told you not to let go," And suddenly it was just the two of them in that whirlwind stepping towards each other.
"I had to, but I came back," Brittany whispered. "I promised myself I would find the girl whose face I couldn't remember but whose name echoed in my ears."
"And I couldn't get your face out of my mind," Santana took a step closer, leaving only a small gap between her and Brittany. "But I didn't know your name."
"I guess that wind knocked something out of both of us." Brittany's laugh fluttered straight to Santana's heart. "You're as beautiful as I imagined you to be. Everything is crystal clear now and I can see your face in my dreams the way you were the first time we met."
"Tell me this isn't a dream," Santana whispered back.
"It isn't. This is real. Do you believe in a butterfly effect?" She teased her lips inches away from Santana's. "Cause I feel it in my tummy right now."