A/N: I don't own Glee or any of the characters. Believe me, if I did, "Goodbye" would NOT have ended that way and made me depressed for a full bleeding week! Also, I would have kept the actors in their swapped roles for a two hour episode because it was just so enjoyable to see! This is my first fanfic (and first long writing project in forever), please be gentle. Any similarities to other fanfics out there is purely coincidental and not meant to plagiarize another author's work. Any references to pop culture I don't own anyway, and are usually unintentional. Except maybe chapter headings. I love making chapter headings from song lyrics and hey...this is Glee!

Chapter One: Someone To Watch Over Me

Rachel was a young maiden of sixteen in the small village of Berry in the kingdom of Lima. Her father Hiram was the lord mayor and her mother Shelby, it has been said, was the most gifted singer and healer in their village. Her parents seemed happy to the citizens of the village, but behind closed doors was another story altogether. When the young Shelby married Hiram (ten years her senior), and came between him and his most trusted advisor, Leroy, the rumors flew that she bewitched him and tricked him into marrying her. A year later, they were blessed with their only child. The only thing keeping the couple from killing each other was their precious little star, Rachel. They had to keep up appearances for the sake of their child and Hiram's political career.

It was rumored that Shelby was a sorceress. No one would speak of that fact, however, for fear of the repercussions. Healers were respected in the village and revered by the people. Sorceresses were hated and feared due to a long-standing feud between warring factions–Novum Directionem and Vocalis Innixi. Shelby was a high priestess in the Vocalis Innixi coven and her second in command was Jesse of St. James. Their rival was William of Schuester, high priest of Novum Directionem, who wanted her young daughter's talents for his coven. William knew that Shelby and her coven were into darker endeavors whereas he and his coven used their magical gifts for good only. He had hoped to lead the girl towards the side of good rather than that of evil.

There had been rumblings of late in the village that Shelby had been teaching her young daughter the healing arts and that the girl had become quite skilled at it. Shelby also was beginning to teach Rachel the darker arts–to protect herself from her enemies, she told her child. The truth was, Shelby wanted her daughter to take over the coven and marry Jesse. Jesse had been in love with his mentor's daughter since they were small children and he felt protective over the girl. He wanted to marry her now that she was of the age of consent. For him, it would be a marriage of convenience and would strengthen their coven. He knew that she did not love him, but had eyes for another–Noah, the blacksmith's son.

Noah was a boy that Rachel had been in love with since the first time they met in the village square when they were five. Rachel had liked him then, but they had grown apart in the last eleven years. He had gone off to train for the king's army when they were thirteen and she had retreated into herself. Fearing that she would never have the true love she so often dreamed about, Rachel shut herself up in her family's home and studied the darker arts. She had recently perfected anti-love spells and had placed one on herself, making any many who fell in love with her feel physical pain. So far, Jesse had found some way to get around that (or he had a ridiculously high pain tolerance) because he had not let up on his pursuit of the high priestess' daughter.

Rachel had been in the marketplace picking up some supplies for her healer's cupboard when she spotted the familiar head of curly dark blonde hair. She had the hood of her cloak pulled up over her hair which was braided and ended in a bun at the base of her neck. Rachel did not want to see Jesse this morning of all mornings. She'd heard rumors in the village that he was going to ask her father for her hand in marriage and it was only a matter of time before Hiram would consent to let the young man marry his only daughter. After all, Jesse did come from nobility and would give Rachel the life that she'd always dreamed of.

Rachel liked Jesse well enough, but his ambition made hers look completely inadequate. She didn't really want to be a high-ranking member of Vocalis Innixi, thinking of it as more of her mother's coven than her own. Rachel wanted to be part of a traveling troupe of performers and more importantly their star performer. William of Schuster and his Novum Directionem coven actually were traveling performers as well as witches and warlocks. She had wanted to seek them out, but was afraid of the wrath of her mother and Jesse.

"Rachel!"

Hearing her name snapped her out of her daydream and she turned, realizing too late that Jesse's was the voice she'd heard. She blushed fiercely as her hood fell off. "Hello Jesse," she said, picking up some of the herbs she needed and giving the woman in the booth some money for the supplies. She was doing her best to ignore him, but she knew he was annoyingly persistent.

"Rachel," Jesse said again, touching her shoulder. "Why do you ignore me so?"

"I'm not ignoring you, Jesse. I have business to attend to and I need to get back home before Papa sends out one of his guards," Rachel replied, still not meeting his gaze.

"I'll walk back with you," Jesse said.

"That won't be necessary," Rachel said, moving past him and exiting the marketplace.

Jesse grabbed for her arm. "Rachel...please," he said.

"What do you want from me?" Rachel asked, glaring at him.

"I wanted to talk...about our engagement," Jesse said, rubbing her arms and attempting to pull him towards her.

"There is no engagement," Rachel said, trying to pull free from him as his grip tightened.

"Yes, my love, there is," Jesse said, lifting her chin towards him with one finger while maintaining his grip on her other arm. "Your father has given us his blessing...and your mother has agreed to perform the ceremony at the next full moon."

Rachel cringed at his touch. The spell she had cast upon herself seemed to be backfiring and he was more in love with her than he had been before she cast it. "What if I say no?" she asked quietly.

Jesse chuckled. "Why on earth would you do a thing like that?" he asked, stroking her cheek with his fingers.

Rachel closed her eyes at his touch. "Because I don't love you, Jesse," she said quietly as tears came to her eyes. "I don't and I never will...my heart will always belong to Noah."

Hearing his rival's name, Jesse released her harshly and growled. "He will never love you the way I do! And he will never be able to provide you the rich life you deserve! You should marry me and allow your mother to step down as high priestess. Your talents are everything our coven needs to stand a chance of winning this war between us and Novum Directionem and I wish you could see that, Rachel!"

Rachel stared at him. All he cared about was being the winner. He didn't really care about her as a person, just as a powerful witch who would bring his coven to glory. Rachel could care less about that. She wanted love...more importantly, she wanted Noah. She had tried scrying to find her lost love to no avail and figured that it was because she wasn't focusing hard enough on him. "Hear me now, Jesse of St. James. I will never love you. And I will never marry you."

Jesse glared at her and made a motion to slap his beloved. He stopped short of her cheek and held it there. "You will marry me one day, Rachel of Berry, whether you want to or not," he said before he stormed off.

Rachel watched him leave and sighed. "Noah...I wish you would come back to me," she whispered.