A/N: Sooo, here's the start of my multi-chapter fic. It's an idea that's been bouncing around for a while, but I've been having trouble figuring out where to start. So then I wrote this mess and, well, prepare to be confused. Things will be clarified, obviously, so please be patient. Updates are probably going to be irregular and not super quick, life kinda sucks the writer out of me sometimes. Anywho, on with the story. Enjoy and let me know what you think.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Seriously. Nothing.
Fracture
Noah Puckerman is dead.
Rachel knows this, can feel it down to the tips of her toes. It's this undeniable truth that propels her forward, one step after another in a frantic sprint toward an unknown destination.
"If you get the chance, you run. You run like hell and you don't fucking look back."
So she runs. She runs because she's frightened. Because she's alone and there's nothing else she's able to do. She runs because she made a promise and Rachel Berry does not break promises. Even if Noah Puckerman does.
"We're gonna survive this, Rach. You and me, we're gonna make it."
Lying bastard.
Her feet pound against gravel, the sting of rocks and glass slicing bare flesh a welcome distraction from the looming grief. Her legs burn and her traitorous lungs begin to falter. She pushes herself, relishing in the pain clouding her mind, giving her something to focus on beside the now impossible 'we' she was sworn.
She has no idea where she's going and doesn't know what she's supposed to do once she gets there, but she can't go back. There's nothing left for her to go back to.
Noah's dead and she's alone and there are men out there, men with big guns and ugly sneers, who want her dead, too.
The air is humid and thick. She can hear thunder.
Moving is becoming difficult, each step a war, and breathing is damn near impossible. She knows she shouldn't stop, knows that Noah would be disappointed, but her burning legs are not giving her much of a choice. She spots an alleyway entrance up ahead and knows that it's stupid, it's obvious, but her mutinous body makes the decision for her. She rounds the corner and collapses behind the dumpster.
She gasps in the moist air, trying desperately to fill her constricted lungs, as the first drop smacks against her forehead.
She lets out a breathy, bitter laugh. Of course it's raining. How sickeningly cliché.
Another drop hits, followed by another and then another until it's pelting against her, soaking through her shorts and his hooded sweatshirt. She's cold and shivering but doesn't move from her spot. Instead, she closes her eyes, pulls her legs up against her chest, and rests her chin on her knees. She finds a strange comfort in the downpour.
She'll rest a couple minutes, she tells herself. Only a couple and then she'll get up and continue until she's somewhere safe, until she fulfills her promise to Noah.
Noah.
She thinks of him and even though she knows she shouldn't let it, the gravity of the past few hours crashes over her and she breaks.
Noah is dead.
A sob tears from her throat.
He's dead and he's not coming back. No one is going to save her, no one is going to protect her. She attempts to muffle her cries, biting down on her wrist hard enough to draw blood. In the back of her mind, she knows she needs pull herself together. If she doesn't, they're going to find her. They're going to find her and they're going to shoot her and bury her body in the middle of nowhere, no one ever knowing what happened to the two teenagers from Lima, Ohio.
She really is alone.
Something inside of her snaps and her determination to make it, to survive this, is gone. Her cries grow louder and she stops caring. Let them find her. Let them find her and kill her and just let this whole thing be over with.
Dying would be easier than dealing with this without him.
She's not strong enough, she can't, she doesn't want to do this anymore.
Resignation settles over her and she calms. Silent tears still trek down her cheeks and rain is falling harder and everything is so incredibly fucked that she doesn't even have the energy to keep her promise.
She hears footsteps enter the alley, echoing against the walls. She clenches her eyes tighter and allows the rain to wash over her.
Her head falls back against the side of the dumpster and she sends a silent apology to Noah for giving up. Water falls into every crevice of her face, into her nostrils, through the slight crack of her mouth. She wonders if this is what drowning feels like. She revels in the sensation.
"I'll protect you. Promise," he says, holding her shaking form, stroking a calloused hand against her back.
"It's gonna be okay. We'll be okay."
"Liar," she whispers.
The footsteps halt next to her and she's smiling sardonically for a reason she doesn't fully understand. These hellish two weeks are finally over. What a fitting end.
A hand grabs her arm and yanks her up and she's unable to stop the scream from slipping off her tongue. Another hand clamps over her mouth.
This is it.
Rachel Berry is going to die.
-TBC-