She's making lasagna when she gets the call.
She rushes to answer it and is out of breath when she finally reaches it.
She should really go to the gym.
She's too busy poking her stomach to hear what the caller says.
"I'm sorry what was that?" She asks.
"Are you Rachel Berry? Finn Hudson's fiancé?"
The voice is so cold, so impersonal, that it give her shivers.
"Yes, she is speaking."
"Finn Hudson has recently been named missing in action. He was patrolling a city when a bomb went off. His whole team of thirty people have died but his is the only body that is currently missing which is why he is not yet claimed dead."
Yet.
"What?" she gasps.
She's hyperventilating, and she can almost feel the caller roll his eyes.
"He's supposed to be coming home in less than week! Two days after Christmas! Why would he even be going out there?!" She cries.
"He volunteered."
"No! No! This can't be happening! Noah, Puck? Is that you? If that is this is a sick and cruel joke!" She yells into the phone.
She's started crying because even the thought of anything happening to him makes her want to die.
"I'm afraid this is isn't a joke ma'am."
He told her he would come back-he had promised her that he would come back.
She spends long minute letting out ugly sobs before he interrupts her.
"Well if that's all,"
"No! No! Wait! Wait! You said that he was missing in action right?"
The caller sighs.
"Ms. Berry I wouldn't have any hope of it. His body was most likely blown to pieces in the explosion. In fact, the only reason they are still looking is for his remains."
His remains. He's not even a person anymore.
She screams and throws the phone to the ground, watching it shatter into pieces.
The screen goes black and the caller is cut off.
She goes on a rampage then, breaking everything in sight, letting out these humongous sobs.
She falls to the ground after an hour and then hugs herself, rocking back and forth.
She can't get through with this.
She won't get through with this.
She goes to the pantry pulling out the bottle of pills, ready to take each and every single one of them when Kurt comes home.
"Rachel! What the hell happened in here!"
She swallows as many as she can before they are taken away.
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His coworkers gasped at him as he walked through the doors in all plaid and a puffy vest.
He had held his head up high and ignored the fashion team as he walked to his tiny office.
So what if he had started wearing his brother's clothes?
Kurt had always put his emotions into his clothes.
And right now, all he was feeling was Finn.
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Puck couldn't wait. He had meticulously organized his collection of XBOX games and stored his pantry with junk food of all kinds.
His best friend was coming back today.
Finn had promised that he'd only spend five hour macking with Berry and spending time with his family before he came here.
Thirty more minutes!
He hadn't seen Finn for more than a year and he was excited.
In a girly jump up and squeal excited.
Of course, he could go over to their house and meet up with him but then they'd have to stay there and eat dinner and talk instead of playing video games...
They needed some bro time.
7:00! He was going to be here anytime now!
He started up the XBOX and put in Call of Duty.
He set out the junk food neatly and felt a lot like a housewife or something.
He sighed and checked the clock.
7:30! He was all for helping a bro get laid, but seriously he needed Finn to be here. Now.
He played a game by himself and then checked the clock.
It was fucking 9:00.
He grabbed his keys and speeded away to Rachel's apartment.
He was mad.
He opened the door with the key that he had been given and yelled into the quiet house.
"Come on Finn! You've been banging for like seven straight hours! Where's that bro time you promised?"
Rachel came out then, wearing one of Finn's shirts.
He rolled his eyes, his best friend was probably naked in there.
What surprised him though, were the tears in her eyes.
"Gee Berry, I gave you seven hours. Don't start crying because I took away your Finny."
She started sobbing then and he went to comfort her.
He put his arm awkwardly on her shoulder and hoped that Finn would come out soon.
Because this was weird.
"Fi-Finn!" She sobbed.
God had Finn already messed up with her?
"Need me to go kick some ass?" He asked.
Ha, as if he could ever take out army Finn.
Who had basically quadrupled in size.
She shook her head and sighed.
It had been a week. She should not be crying every second of the day and she should not have a bed made of his clothes that she buried herself in every night.
But she did.
She cleared her throat.
"F-Finn has recently been claimed missing in action. H-he is most likely d-d-d," she couldn't say it.
Puck's face was shocked as he took in the meaning of her words.
"B-but Finn." His voice cracked on his name.
His best friend, his wingman.
Finn.
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Santana Lopez did not cry.
Okay, well there was that one time with Brittany, but other than that, Santana Lopez did not cry.
Which is why she surprised everyone when she actually did.
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First loves are forever.
Or at least that's what she told Finn when they had gotten back together.
She realized now, that she had been right.
Her heart wouldn't break this much for someone that she didn't love.
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He had stolen his girlfriend and then accused him of cheating with her.
Finn Hudson was still the greatest man he had ever known.
It didn't surprise anyone when Sam broke down into tears.
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"He isn't really dead." Brittany explained when the news had reached her.k
They gave her one of those, Oh Brittany, looks and she shook her head again and then said the most un-Brittany statement ever.
"I know that I'm wrong all the time, but this time, I'm not."
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She had sworn off her all black goth girl look a long time ago, but right now, it felt wrong to wear anything else.
They were just the losers of the school before he had joined. She was just an Asian girl with a stuttering problem and no friends.
But that was before him.
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"Guys, don't do this." He had said, stopping his friends from knocking down the Port-A-Potty.
Finn Hudson had basically saved his life.
He had always pushed him around in the wheelchair, doing what others never did.
If that didn't summarize Finn Hudson, he didn't know what did.
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Finn Hudson was probably the worse dancer in the world.
But it had been fun trying to teach him how to dance.
Emphasis on trying.
They were on the football team together.
Those pep talks? Those pep talks were what got him through his high school career.
Those pep talk were what got him through his life.
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She had been appalled when he had joined.
Because hell, she was Beyoncé, she ain't no backup singer.
Singing to the sonogram of his baby?
That, she thinks, was when she fell for Finn Hudson.
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When he had told him that the only reason he had been so cruel was because he was jealous he almost died of laughter.
Finn Hudson was jealous? Of him?
Please, Finn Hudson was perfect. Completely and utterly perfect.
Not in the normal way, he wasn't good with school, or with dancing, but regardless of anything anyone said, Finn Hudson was perfect.
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He hadn't expected to break down in front of the whole class.
They hadn't cared though, they were all in their own little sad bubbles.
Finn Hudson had changed this school, he realized as he sobbed on the piano.
Finn Hudson, had changed the world.
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He was so, so confused.
All he knew was that his name was Cory Monteith and that he was being sent home.
Wherever that was.
A/N: Okay, I don't really know why, but I'm so much more affected by Cory's death after the tribute episode, than I was when it actually happened. It might have something to do with the fact that I've just come into realization that it's true, that he's gone.
But here's a little story that I've had in my head. Don't worry, updates will come soon!