(A/N) so. . . after that last chapter how many of you hate me? Hopefully you don't hate me so much that you won't keep reading and reviewing . . .

Chapter 10

Dark Mind

Raven watched as the three girls left the room. She-who-feared-touch-Emma lead the small group, while She-who-feared-no-thing-Santana followed from behind. The group disappeared down one of the halls. Raven rested her head on her chin. Her eyes remained on the place where the girls had vanished, her thoughts only on the one with hair as dark as her own. She had felt nothing in the girl, she who felt all things, emotions and pain, felt nothing from her. It was as though she was a thoughtless shadow, a being without a soul.

Did such a creature exist? Could she have willingly given her soul to another in the past and now live without emotion? No, Raven did not believe that. She had touched her once as she fell asleep several trials before, she had seen her dreams. Her dreams were strange ones, one Raven was not familiar with. Unlike the other girls in the group they were not of a man, but of a woman, a girl with golden hair and sparkling blue eyes. She knew the face, she had seen it walk away moments ago. But why she had such a dream she did not understand.

"Hey," she felt Never-walk-Artie touch her shoulder. Her mind flashed with visions of dance that were gone the moment his hand left her skin. "You ok?"

"Just thinking." She mumbled seeing no need to explain her confusion over the girl. She had to fear something, and that would become clear when she faced her trial. "Why?"

"You don't talk much." He said, "Don't really do much either."

"Neither do you." She said, "I haven't once seen you stand."

"That would be because I can't." She looked at him, then at his legs. Could something like that be real? Before she could ask him more he had already asked, "Look, how long have you been in this house?"

"I've never seen outside it." She put her chin back on her knees, her eyes fell back on the hall. She avoided Narrow-mane-Puck or Fear-loosing-child-Quinn at all costs. Their minds were consumed with torment, Puck's especially, and it pained her to let her mind dwell on it for more than a few moments.

Their brief time of conversation ended with the sound of a scream that echoed down the halls. At first Raven ignored it, the sound was something she had become used to in this trial. But Artie knew different and he whispered the name of the one it belonged too.

"Brittany . . . "

"You sure?" Too-tall-Finn asked

"I'd know her voice anywhere. The girls, they're in trouble. You have to help them." Raven looked away from the boy. His mind was twisting with such fear and confusion.

"We'll take care of her." She promised and opened the cage door, "Will you be alright by yourself?"

"Don't worry about me." He said, and in that she could hear his certainty, "Just make sure Brittany's alright."

Raven nodded and raced from the cage towards the sound. Behind her Finn followed. Raven ran down the long halls without seeing them. She could only focused on the sound of screams becoming more and more desperate by the moment. Another sound had joined them, the sound of a bull. Raven's stomach tightened knowing the sound. She had seen the beast be used in several other trials in the past. Survival was very slim and, as far as the house of trials had seen, never happened.

The hallway opened and Raven looked for only an instant at the two girls who stood before her, locked in a tight embrace. The smaller girl held her friend tightly, far tighter than she should have. Soft-heart-soft-mind-Brittany wriggled in her grasp. Blood stained the shirt of her uniform where she was pressed against the other. Slowly her cries began to fade, her body no longer able to find the air it needed to produce the sound.

Raven sprang after knowing what she had seen. Her confusion over the dark haired girl cast aside as she found truth. She wrapped her arms around her as she tackled. The three girls were thrown off balance and toppled over the hill. Raven did not feel skin on the girl she attacked, but wood and spikes of iron hidden beneath her uniform. The wood-look-like-Santana did not let go of her prisoner, only gripped tighter to her prey.

The captive's struggles slowed. Her strength was draining. This fight would have to be quick. Raven cast a glance back to the hill they had fallen down to see Finn following after them. But his eyes were not lying on the girls. He looked to the golden bull that stood only a few feet from them. The wide-chest-black-hood-guard that stood beside it strode to meet him in battle.

The wooden girl took advantage of the moment to strike Raven in the side of her head with her elbow. The impact made her brain hurt and her vision blur for a moment. Raven responded with a close-hand-fist to her face. Against Raven's hand the wooden face did not yield. A few flakes of dark paint chipped to reveal her true-color-pale-wood-skin, but it took no more effect.

The girl rolled in an attempt to force Raven away. The action caused Brittany to be crushed under her weight, she spikes driving deeper into her chest. She opened her mouth but this time no sound escaped her.

Raven reached away from their struggle. A grunt called her attention away as Finn was thrown to the ground by the guard. She closed her hand on a clump of smoldering coals that stood beneath the bull. Her hand burned with the pain the second she touched it. Her skin mended itself as quickly as it injured but the ache still remained. She did her best to ignore it as she pressed it into the shoulder of her enemy.

The wooden creature shrieked as the coals touched her. She tried to pull away, but her skin had already started a small flame to form on the surface. It continued to cry out as it grew and expanded over her arm and slowly took over her chest. Brittany's eyes widened as the flames licked at her uniform.

Raven took advantage of the wooden girl's fear of the fire and separated the two. Brittany coughed with pain as she pushed herself into a crouching position. She stared at the wooden version of her friend flailing and thrashing on the ground as the flame spread over her entire body. She continued to scream and Brittany continued to watch. Raven glimpsed her eyes for only a moment as she healed the injuries on her chest with her touch. In them she saw a horror that kept her eye locked on the friend she loved, but now feared, and hated. Raven covered her eyes with a hand, forcing her to look away. With her gaze averted the blond cheerleader clamped her hands on her ears in an attempt to drive out the sound of her friend's cries.

"Raven, you wanna help?" She looked up as Finn called her. He stood beside the fire-belly-bull trying to lift the heavy door. The guard lay slain on the floor several feet away. His head split open and bleeding from a rock. At the top of the hill around long-face-black-heart-judge more dozens more guards gathered. Raven left broken-heart-broken-mind-Brittany to open the side of the bull. The metal door was simply too heavy and their process was slow. It was only when the cries of the wooden abomination died out did Brittany join them and the door was finally opened.

Wide-eye-Emma fell from the metallic beast, her body covered with thick burns and her hair and clothes charred in several places. She almost cried out when she touched the ground, her voice hoarse and pained. She reached to hold herself but when her hands touched the burns on her arms she hissed in pain. Raven extended a hand to her shoulder. The charred skin faded into whole pale flesh under her touch.

"That can wait until later." Finn said scooping Emma in his arms. She winced as he touched her in several pained places but she did not fight him. With her secure he raced up the opposite hill as the guards began to make chase. Raven fled the first few steps then looked back seeing that Brittany was not following. She stood staring at the charred remains of her friend. Her blue eyes rested on the girl's face locked in a distorted expression of pain. Raven took hold of her wrist and pulled her away. After a few steps she realized what was happening and ran along with them. Within seconds the girl had overtaken the both of them.

By the time Raven had reached the cell, Finn beside her, Brittany had already retreated to the back and curled into Artie's arms. He kept his arms around her and put a hand to the back of her head, leaning her face into his shoulder where she cried. The three others entered and closed the door behind them. Finn lowered Emma to the ground as carefully as possible. She shuddered when she touched the stone. Raven touched her, trying to heal anything she touched as quickly as possible.

"Great, now what do we do?" Finn said

"We're going to die," Brittany sobbed into Artie's shoulder,

"We are not going to die." Finn shouted back at her. She only shuttered at his harsh tone. "There's a lot of them out there, but there's got to be something we can do."

"no," Raven said looking up from her patient, "There's nothing you can do."

"What? Why not?"

"Because this isn't your trial." She glanced back at Puck. He remained still in his bindings, his head hanging. As she looked at him, his terrified mind causing her to have a headache, she lost a bit of hope herself. What she said was true: This trial was his and only he could stop the advancing army of guards. But with him trapped there was no way he could stand and fight. She studied him, his body and his mind. He was a strong boy, unnaturally so, and in his mind she sensed bravery and nobility. But he only needed to reach it.

Powerful as lightning, and just as bright, an idea struck Raven as she looked deeper into his mind and left the cell. She crouched before the boy and he looked up. His brown eyes reflected his fear. As his attention fell on her the intensity of his mind grew stronger against her. But she steadied herself and said firmly, "You have to end this."

"I can't . . . "

"Yes you can." She insisted, "You just have to fight."

"Fight? No way. I'm stuck here. I'm gonna die here." Raven almost slapped him as his head dropped, for reasons she wasn't entirely sure of. Instead she chose a different tone.

"Fine. Die here. I'll fight. I'll be free. But see her," She looked up at where Quinn hung, "she won't make it. She'll die here too."

"no she won't."

"And Beth, she'll die too."

"What?" when he lifted his head she saw anger in his eyes as well. "She's not even here."

"And who's to say she won't one day. After all, if we don't destroy this place she might wander in here too." He opened his mouth to say something but hesitated and Raven continued, "Oh, that's right, you were the one who wanted everyone to come here weren't you? So she'll die, they'll all die, and it will be all your fault."

"NO!" He shouted the words just as the guards came into view. Raven backed away a few steps at the sight of them. But Puck's mind was racing. He pressed against his binding with all his strength, more perhaps than he had ever exerted before. The metal, strong as it is, groaned in protest as it stretched millimeter by millimeter. Quinn watched him with eyes wide from both shock and awe. For a moment Raven was greeted with relief as she momentarily forgot her pain watching him.

The band of metal that encased his body stretched perhaps only an inch. But it was enough, just enough, for him to force his way out. When he stood full height he rolled his neck and without a moment to loose sprang. He took from the wall a torch. The handle and basket filled with smoldering wood, ash, and coal, was made of dark, black metal. And with it he struck the head of the first guard who crumpled under the impact. From man to man he flew with inhuman might, adrenaline giving him strength beyond his own. Once he was set back, one of them managed to break the arm that swung the deadly torch. He roared like a lion in pain, then switched hands and continued.

Moments passed in seconds and the glee clubbers watched with astonishment as the last guard fell. Slowly Finn and Emma stepped into the open as the fallen men began to dissapear. Without taking the time to savor his victory torch-warrior-Puck ran to the piquet and cut the rope that held Quinn so high. She fell into his waiting arms.

"There they are." They all turned, their bodies tense and Puck's hand tightening around the torch, to see who had joined them. And there stood the rest of their companions. Immediately know-not-true-fear-Will hurried to Emma. The two looked at each other, neither speaking for a moment as they studied the other's expressions. Then with a sigh he pulled the woman into his arms and she did not resist.

True-life-Santana let her gaze wander the room until she saw Brittany, still cowering in the cage at Artie's side. She ran to her friend, putting her hands on her shoulders in an attempt to comfort her. Brittany shuddered at her touch and clung tighter to the boy. "What the hell happened?" Santana said looking up from her friend. The pain Raven saw in her eyes was a strange one, one that reflected one who had lost their loved one.

"A lot," Puck explained with such detail. Quinn still stood in his arms, her head resting against his chest, "but it's over. Raven, I think this is the part where you show us the way out."

"Let me get Artie his chair," Narrow-eye-Tina said pushing the wheeled chair into the cell. With both Brittany and Santana's help he was pulled into it.

"Is everyone alright enough to keep going?" Will asked looking mostly at Emma, who had parted from him, but casting glances to Brittany and Quinn as well. When he didn't hear anything against he looked to Raven. "Lead us out."

Raven nodded and assumed the role she was starting to become accustomed too. She guided them down the hall they had just come from and past the chamber of the brazing bull. The long-bench-seats were empty now, the spectators gone as the trial ended. She walked past the judges chair and there she found the next door. She opened it without caution and stepped inside.

Instantly she was met with warm, moist air. Her feet did not step on stone or carpeted floors, but a soft ground of soil irregularly coated with patches of grasses and flowers. Thick trees stood on all sides of her thick leaves blocking out the thin light of twilight that fell from above in shafts. Raven's eyes widened at the sight of a world she had never seen with her eyes before, only in her mind as she read from the library.

Had they finally stepped outside?

(A/N) and to answer what some might be thinking, yes. Everything I used in this story is an actual thing. From the brazing bull (used in ancient Greece) to the piquet, the pendulum, and the ravager's daughter it is all painfully real.