Again, it's not as long as I had wanted it to be. Please review. It'd make my day.

Disclaimer: Glee doesn't belong to me.

- One Month Later -

'Fabray, hurry! C'mon you worthless piece of crap!'

Quinn growled but continued to crawl under the net. She tried to block out Mistress Dinam's complaints and insults but it kept getting harder. Jeremy Paine, a relatively nice guy who she had been sparring with lately, was crawling ahead of her. Behind her was Katya Straikovski. The two hated each other equally. She heard the white-haired girl snicker behind her. Her foot shot backwards and the snicker turned into an angered cry. Jeremy slipped out from under the nets and ran to the wall. Quinn followed him. Jeremy held out his hands and the blonde jumped on them effortlessly, swinging herself over the wall. Katya followed seconds later with a bloody nose. Jeremy followed in their tracks.

'Sprint!' screamed Mistress Dinam and the three young adults obliged. Together they sprinted towards the finish line. Simultaneously, their feet hit the white line on the ground. A loud beep sounded. Jeremy grinned at Quinn and slapped her back.

'Well done.' he said breathing heavily. Quinn smiled back at her. Katya was already gone and was back in line for another go.

'Nice work Paine, Fabray, Straikovski.' said Mistress Dinam. Jeremy and Quinn nodded at her before lining up behind Katya, who was glaring at Quinn with all her might. If looks could kill.

'Berry, go to sleep.' Santana whispered. Rachel had been sitting upright in bed for hours and it had kept Santana from sleeping.

'But Quinn's not back yet.' Rachel said softly.

'Quinn hasn't slept or even been here for two weeks, Rachel. Sleep.' Santana said as she pulled Brittany closer. Rachel heard the hurt in the Latina's voice. Santana missed Quinn just as much as she did. The only difference was that Rachel believed that Quinn would come back. Her Quinn. Images flowed through her mind as she thought of who Quinn used to be. Visualizing her smile, tears pricked in the brunette's eyes. Quinn was gone. After a week in Scope, Quinn had been accepted in the Excellence Class and was now being trained to be a commander. The first week, the blonde had still talked to Rachel and all their friends who they had found back. But that had gradually stopped and now Quinn was sleeping in a room with all the other "Excellences". She hadn't looked at any of her friends for over a week. Eight days, fifteen hours and twenty-eight minutes was the last time Quinn had looked at Rachel.

Quinn was gone. There was only Soldier Fabray now. Lieutenant Jackson had seen the determination and progress in Quinn and now she was gone. Slowly a tear rolled down Rachel's cheek.

'Rachel?' Santana whispered into the dark. She had heard the smaller girl's soft sobs. 'Rachel...'

'What...?'

'Rachel, come here. You shouldn't be alone.' Santana whispered. Silently, Rachel rose from her and Q- from her bed and walked over to Santana's and Brittany's. When she sat down, the arms of a sleeping Brittany immediately wrapped around her. Santana's hand found Rachel's and held on.

'Goodnight, Rachel.' the Latina whispered. Rachel buried her head in Brittany's neck, she knew the blonde wouldn't mind, and hummed something as a reply to Santana. There hadn't been any good nights for months and she wasn't sure there were any in the future.

Quinn slowly opened her eyes. She pushed herself up and looked around. Katya, Sylvia and Tess were still asleep. Sylvia and Tess were also in the Excellence Class. Sylvia, a redhead, was more than deadly with a sword and Tess, a pretty blonde, could break your neck with her thumb.

Now that Quinn looked more closely, Katya was awake and looking at her. Her long white hair hid her icy blue eyes but she could see them staring at her. Katya nodded and closed her eyes.

Quinn sighed. How much longer was she going to have to do this? Days, weeks, years? How was she even going to survive that...

'Quinn, come on.' said Jeremy. She had been staring at her friends with a sword in her hand. She was supposed to be killing a dummy but hadn't moved for over a few minutes.

'Dumbass, move!' yelled Katya from behind Jeremy. Her thick Russian accent sounded in every word she spoke.

'Shut up.' She replied. 'I'm... focusing.'

'You're stalling.' said Master Valk, the master in knives and swords. Quinn looked at him and sighed. Her eyes shifted to the dummy in front of her and with a simple thrust, the dummy's head fell off. Master Valk's assistant replaced the dummy immediately with a new one.

When Quinn straightened herself and looked around, her teammates seemed impressed. Even Katya, who was trying to hide it with a huff. Glancing around the room, Quinn caught Rachel's eye. The petite brunette was staring. She and the others were standing at bomb-making. Rachel looked terrified. Quinn's heart ached and she was remembered of how much she missed Rachel and the others. Not that she couldn't let it show. She couldn't afford to let people know exactly why she was working so hard on becoming a good soldier. Tina and Santana joined Rachel.

Quinn turned away and stood behind Tess in the line.

'Well done, Fabray.' said the blonde. Her curls were accentuating her face even more than usual. It had the shape of a heart which made her green eyes look even greener. Quinn managed to smile.

'Thank you.' she mumbled. Her sight drifted back to where her friends were at. A knot appeared in her stomach. Next to Rachel was Jake, talking animatedly to her. The knot tightened when she laughed.

'Bull's eye!' yelled Thom. Quinn glanced at the boy with the black hair. His sword was between the dummy's eyes. It reminded her of the fact that this group she now belonged to, and all the other kids here, were being trained to kill. The thought send shivers down her spine.

After two hours of trying to focus on killing more dummies, it was time to move on. Sparring.

Silently Quinn walked to the area. The racks on the side were filled with weapons: swords, guns, knives, bats. Even more than usual.

To Quinn's surprise, her group wasn't the only one there. There were two other groups. Rachel's and a group of fourteen year olds. Quinn had trouble swallowing. She wasn't going to have to spar with her friends, was she? Sparring in Scope was no fun. Your partner was trying to hurt you. A scar on Quinn's back proved that.

Hazel eyes locked with brown, hurt ones. Quinn averted her eyes. Rachel probably had no idea why the blonde left them and it wasn't like she could explain. Santana's gaze caught hers. The sight took Quinn's breath away. She had seen Santana look cold, angry, broken and downright vicious but this look was new. Santana's dark eyes were gateways to her soul. And her soul was screaming at her old friend.

What are you doing? Come back, we miss you. I miss you. Why did you leave? Come back, please.

Strangely, the hurt in Santana's eyes was even more painful to Quinn than Rachel's. Maybe that was because Santana wasn't the type to let you know what she was feeling and Rachel was. Another blow to Quinn's heart: Brittany wasn't even looking at her. It made the smaller blonde want to run over to her, grab her and apologize for leaving, for not explaining. But she couldn't.

And as much as she wanted to, as much as she wanted to be caught in Brittany's strong arms for a bear hug, as much as she wanted to see Santana's mocking smile and hear a denigrating remark. But most of all, she wanted to look into Rachel's warm brown eyes and see them shine.

But she couldn't. No way. Maybe eventually she would regain their trust. But not now.

'Alright, today we're going to have a different training.' said Mistress Celant. She pushed her rimmed glasses further up her nose and tightened her already very tight ponytail. 'Today, our Excellence Class is going to teach group 104 and 364 a thing or two.'

Quinn frowned. What were they going to have to teach them? Moves?

'Soldier Fabray.'

Quinn looked up at Mistress Celant and straightened her back even more than it already was. 'Yes?'

'You and soldier Paine are going to show the Push.' said her instructor. 'Pay attention 104, 364.'

Quinn nodded. She and Jeremy stepped onto the mat on the floor and took their positions. Right foot front, left foot back. Right hand front, left hand back. Lean back and wait. Jeremy nodded curtly at her; she was going to do the action. She nodded back. Mistress Celant counted down from three and Jeremy lunged at her with his bare fists. She effectively dodged him and grabbed the boy's fist with her left hand. She leaned back and took her right foot off the ground. For a second, she pulled the much taller boy with her. Their eyes locked for a second and the left corner of his mouth tugged up. Quinn blinked and her right hand shot forward in a flat, upright position. It hit Jeremy's chest. She put her right foot down and released his hand. Putting all her strength in her right hand, she shoved the boy over ten feet back where he landed with his back on the floor.

Quinn kept her eyes trained on Jeremy while the two groups to her right gasped. Group 364, the fourteen year olds, clapped. The other group, 104, that existed almost solely from her friends stood their quietly. Jeremy effortlessly jumped back on his feet and grinned crookedly at his blonde teammate. Quinn managed to smile back. She felt the stares of her friends eyes on her. A deep breath and she turned to her instructor.

Mistress Celant's face was judging. She tapped her chin and spoke.

'Terrible.'

Immediately, 104 began complaining. But Quinn knew what the woman meant. She hadn't been focusing enough. Sure, the move had been executed perfectly but her mind had been with her friends. Were they still her friends? She hoped so.

'Shut your mouth.' said Mistress Celant. Immediately, the energetic fourteen year olds did as they were told. 'Paine, return to your spot. Fabray, you're going to do this exercise again.'

Quinn looked at the woman and frowned. With who?

'Who wants to take on Fabray?'

A hand shot up. Quinn looked down the arm and landed her eyes on Jake's gray eyes. Great. It was only now that she noticed that his other hand was on Rachel's waist. Trained soldier, my ass. The Gray-Eyed Monster had just awakened her Green-Eyed Monster. The blonde could barely contain a growl from the back of her throat. Okay, so maybe she liked Rachel. To Quinn, it was no news that she liked girls. She had always hidden it but with Rachel, it was virtually impossible.

Why was Jake taking her on anyway? Quinn's hazel eyes widened when Jake grinned after Celant had agreed. He kissed Rachel's cheek. Quinn stared at the petite girl and felt sick. Rachel avoided her eyes. Fine. Fine! If Jake wanted to piss her off, he had just accomplished her mission. She took her position again.

'Hoggins, is it?' asked Mistress Celant. 'You are allowed to fight however you want. I need this to be a true challenge. Fabray needs to show what she's worth.'

Jake nodded. Quinn's eyes narrowed at the boy now standing before her. The cocky grin on his face made her want to rip it off. Relax, Fabray. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. Just stay calm. Celant counted down. Three, two one... She opened her eyes.

Before she even realized what was going on, something hard hit her head and she fell to the ground. She screamed in pain. She put her hand to her left temple and felt something warm and sticky. Blood.

'Quinn!'

Rachel's voice. More screaming. Santana, Brittany, Mercedes, Sam. So many voices. Come on, Lucy, open your eyes.

With all the effort in the world, she managed to open her eyes. First, she only saw red. The blood was running over her eyes. She wiped it off and slowly pushed herself up to sit. After blinking for a few seconds, she was able to see the worried faces of her friends, most importantly Rachel's. And then she saw Jake. In his hand was a sword from the rack. No wonder she was bleeding like crazy.

She felt two pair of hands on her back lifting her to her feet. She recognized Jeremy's and Katya's hands. Teammates have to help each other. Rule number one. But right now, Quinn didn't want help. She wanted revenge.

She shook her teammates' hands off and forced herself to stand up straight. Jake's gray eyes widened.

'Asshole.' she said as clearly as she could. She was almost able to keep the crack out of it. Almost. Jake stared at her. He probably didn't expect her to stand up.

'Quinn, don't.' she heard Jeremy's voice behind her. 'It's not worth it.'

She ignored him and decided to put her training to use for the first time. She wiped the blood from her face and shook it off. Her eyes were dark with determination. Jake seemed to be preparing himself. It humoured her. How was this guy, an average soldier, supposed to take on her? She'd only been here for little more than a month and was in the Excellence Class.

Within a split second, she shot forward. She yanked the sword from his hands and discarded it on the floor. She didn't need weapons to beat him. She grabbed the collar of his jacket and lifted him off the ground. He gasped and kicked at her. She threw him away and watched as he hit the ground.

He let out a yelp of pain. Weakling.

'Stand up.' she said. The ice in her voice reminded her of the ice in her father's, in lieutenant Jackson's. The fact that that didn't stop her should have scared her but it didn't. She didn't care.

Jake didn't stand up. She repeated her demand.

'Now, Hoggins.'

He just whimpered. She rolled her eyes and picked him up from the ground. She put him on his feet and waited for him to regain posture. When he did after a minute or two, he smirked.

'Is that all?'

A part of Quinn told her to rush forward and rip the boy's head off. Another part screamed at her to stop. She listened to the first part. She had taken one step forward when two familiar arms wrapped themselves around Quinn's arms, affectively pulling her to the body they belonged to.

'Q, stop!' Santana urged. 'Please.'

Quinn struggled, wanting to break free from the only thing stopping her. Until two deep brown eyes appeared before her and a set of full lips touched hers.