of fire dragons and singing stars
chapter ten
The between fell away, and they found themselves standing in the middle of the choir room, still too dazed and full of adrenaline to even realize that their surroundings had changed.
The harbinger was no more than a memory now, its ectoplasmic form torn apart down to its very molecules. Rachel and Santana found themselves staring at their friends and strangely at a loss for words. The diminutive singer felt particularly awkward at the moment - how could she possibly explain all that had just happened, when she didn't fully understand it herself? Her power had changed these people – her dearest friends in the world - in ways she could never have imagined, maybe forever – and she honestly didn't know how to feel about it. Suddenly she found herself not wanting to look her friends in the face, feeling that if she did, she would start babbling apologies to them without even knowing for what. So she just stood there, blushing, and looked to Santana for help.
Santana recognized the plea in Rachel's eyes, but she was as stunned by everything as the other girl was. This had truly been a day of wonders. She had never expected to see a Trollish mace in the hands of a teenage boy, or a Unicorn with a rider on its back. Nor had she ever imagined that one of the fabled Mortal Swords would appear again in this realm, after being thought lost an age ago, wielded against a Harbinger once more. It was all happening as the Prophet-Seers of her kind had said, but so quickly - more so than their visions had shown, she suspected.
Rachel's power was enormous, and this was only the first time she had truly used it. What else was she capable of doing? It staggered Santana's mind to contemplate the possibilities. This was not the time for it now, though.
They were saved from having to speak by a stream of people bursting into the room, all talking and shouting at once. It was Quinn, Kurt, Mercedes, Blaine, Sam, Mike and Sugar, flailing their arms and crying out in relief that their friends were alive and unharmed, hugging Brittany, Tina and Rachel, then stepping back in disbelief at the sight of Artie mounted atop the tall unicorn, still aglow with white light.
The bespectacled boy couldn't contain his grin as he addressed his stunned peers, enjoying the feeling of being able to look down at them for once. "What? I upgraded."
That bit of levity was exactly what was needed to dispel the tension in the room, as they all shared a tired yet hearty laugh at the joke. As the laughter died down, though, Kurt and Quinn fixed their appraising eyes upon their friends, and Quinn's eyebrow rose as she took in the changes that Rachel's magic had wrought.
"You look...different," the cheerleading captain said, in a familiar tone that told them she wasn't sure whether that was a good thing, and even the taller, stronger Puck cringed a little.
Kurt, no longer able to contain himself, cried, "What the hell happened in here? No, no – let me rephrase – what the hell happened, period. Or, question mark. Whatever. It's like the entire world went insane the minute we set foot inside the school!"
"Insane? More like awesome! I mean, look at these guns!" Puck crowed, flexing his arms, completely ignoring his friend's emotional distress. "And this badass - " he paused, looking at the black iron mace in his right hand, his face taking on an expression of profound confusion, " - what the hell is this thing, anyway?"
Quinn rolled her eyes at him, then shot him her most withering glare as she supplied the answer that eluded him. "It's called a mace, dumbass. So, whatever happened here made you taller, stronger and even more stupid, turned Tina into a witch straight out of Slytherin, and put Artie on top of a freaking unicorn – and no one here has any explanation as to how or why?" She turned her glare towards Rachel and Santana in challenge, one threatening eyebrow raised.
"Rachel. You usually love to explain things. Want to give it a shot?"
Rachel opened her mouth to speak, but Santana waved her off with a curt gesture of the hand, saying, "I got this, tiny." She scowled at Quinn. Who the hell did this bitch think she was, making demands after Rachel had just saved her and everybody else in this school?
Sam tapped Mike on the arm, causing the tall Asian boy to lean down to hear his urgent whisper. "Def-con 5, dude. Things are about to get serious in here."
Mike whispered back, "Twenty bucks says Quinn totally rips the new girl a new one."
"No way. New girl is fierce. There's something seriously up with her. Look at her eyes, man."
Santana stepped forward, into Quinn's personal space. "Okay, blondie, let me set things straight for you here. One, this -" she gestured around the room, taking in the transformed Glee Club members as well as the battered room, with the chairs normally arranged in neat rows strewn all about the floor, and the soundproofing on the walls torn everywhere. " - is the result of things you couldn't possibly understand in your wildest dreams, and trust me when I say that is a very good thing; and two, Rachel just saved your pale blonde ass, and that of every single person in this place, so you need to back the hell off her now. This is me asking you nicely, and I generally don't do that twice. You get me?"
To her credit, Quinn's flinch at the fire blazing in Santana's eyes was almost imperceptible, but these people knew her better than anyone else, even her own family, and to see it actually shocked them. Still, she hadn't risen to the top of the cheerleading pyramid, and the social hierarchy at McKinley, by being easily intimidated; no, she was a Fabray, damn it, and she didn't back down from anyone or anything.
"You've been at this school for what, a day now?" she said in her most dismissive tone. "I'll cut you a little slack because you obviously don't know how things work around here, but here's what you need to know if you expect to survive at this school: I'm the Head Cheerio, which means nothing happens in this place without me knowing every single thing about it. It's one of the perks of being the most popular – and powerful – person inside these walls. I can make or break reputations with a single word, destroy lives in an instant, make people's lives a living hell. I've done it – but not in a long time, because the people in this room had my back at a point in my life when no one else did, and they made me a better person as a result. But if you think for one second that I'm not going to do everything I possibly can to protect my friends from anything – or anyone – I deem to be a threat, you are sorely mistaken. Information is power, which is crucial if I'm going to keep them safe. Therefore, I need answers, and I need them now. So I'm going to ask you again: what the hell is going on?"
The tension that had been broken earlier now returned with a vengeance. Santana and Quinn glared at each other like prizefighters in the middle of a boxing ring, just waiting for the referee to signal for the bell to ring and tell them to start swinging.
"Stop the violence," Brittany murmured, suppressing the knowledge that there were at least fifteen different ways coming to the forefront of her brain to subdue Quinn and get her out of harm's way before the other girl could even blink.
Then Rachel stepped between the two, using each hand to gently but firmly push the girls away from each other. "Stop. There's been enough conflict here today," she said, her voice low and laced with sadness. She turned to Santana, whose expression softened instantly at the weariness in Rachel's eyes. "We don't need to fight over this." And to Quinn, she said, "You're right. You deserve an explanation. You all do. It's – it's just very, very complicated. I don't understand a whole lot of it myself yet, but you can believe Santana when she says there are aspects of what's going on that, if you knew about them, would absolutely terrify you. In fact, you really might be better off not knowing all the details, Quinn. It's admirable that you want to protect us, but we're – I'm – trying to protect you – all of you here. You will get an explanation, I promise...but not – not right now. Okay?"
She held her breath, waiting for the cheerleader's response, hoping that nothing more would happen. She could feel Santana still coiled and seething with anger behind her, even as the challenge failed to disappear from Quinn's countenance.
Quinn's mouth tightened into a thin line as her brows knitted together. It was clear that she wanted to pursue things further, but with a slight nod of her head she signaled that she would let it go for now, and she stepped away, allowing a trembling Sugar to embrace her from behind.
Santana didn't miss the defiant flash of gold in Quinn's hazel eyes that said this isn't over, but Rachel's soothing touch on her forearm enabled her to calm down just enough that her own eyes didn't blaze up again in answer.
The room was silent for a long moment before another voice was heard. "So, um...you're really not going to tell us why there's a unicorn standing in the middle of our choir room?"
"Blaine!" the others groaned in unison.
"Sorry."
The room remained silent for a few tense moments until the irrepressible Sugar Motta looked at Tina, cracked the gum in her mouth, and asked, "So...are you, like, actually a witch now, instead of just looking like one? 'Cause if you are, I would totally pay you for a love potion."
Tina's mouth tightened, as though she was about to let loose with an angry tirade against the clueless rich girl - and then, unexpectedly, she laughed. Long, loud and hard. At first the others didn't know what to make of her surprising behavior, or how to respond to it - but then, one by one, they all caught it as though it were a happy plague set airborne by a mad scientist, and soon the room was filled with a gale of hearty, mirth-filled laughter. By the time it started to settle down, nearly everyone - even Santana - was wiping away tears and clutching their midsections.
"Ah...oh...oh Gods, I haven't laughed like that in ages," Santana croaked weakly, holding Rachel in her arms to keep the other girl from collapsing to the floor.
"Wait – where's Finn?" Kurt said suddenly, a look of fear crossing his face like a shadow, and instantly the mood in the room changed drastically from one of joy and relief to one of doubt and uncertainty. "And...and Kitty?"
Rachel looked to Santana, needing some of the dragon-girl's strength once more to get through, feeling more tired than she ever had in her life. "You...you don't think they...that they could be...?" She couldn't finish the sentence, not daring to say the word she knew everyone else was thinking.
"You'd know if they were. You're bonded with them, with everyone here. Your song made that spiritual connection a physical one. Close your eyes and let yourself feel it. Just let your mind reach out."
Santana's quiet voice let Rachel fall into the half-trance she needed to achieve, and sure enough, when she let her awareness stretch out to encompass the spark of life present in each person in the room, she felt them, all tethered to some part of her soul. Then she spread her consciousness out still further – and she found Mr. Schuester, and Ms. Pillsbury, and Coach Beiste, and her fathers, and – oh!
"They're alive!" Rachel exclaimed with relief. "But...but they're hurt. Mr. Schue and Ms. Pillsbury and Coach Beiste are with them now."
"Where?" Kurt cried out. "Please, Rachel. Wherever they are – that's where we should be now."
She could only nod as she felt the powerful waves of emotion radiating off the sensitive, delicate boy.
Santana and Rachel looked at each other with mirroring expressions of surprise, but he was oblivious to their concern as he pushed past the others to get to the blackened doorway.
An empath? The dragon-girl thought. Things just keep getting more and more interesting around here.
"Oh, hell no - we are not just standing around here!" Mercedes, who had been oddly quiet the whole time, suddenly shouted, snapping the rest of them from their seeming state of shock as they helplessly watched Kurt dash away. "Didn't you hear him? We need to get to Finn and Kitty. Let's go!" She stormed out immediately after that, leaving the others shrugging and exchanging puzzled glances.
"She's right, guys," Quinn agreed. Then she turned to Brittany with soft eyes and said so quietly it was hard to believe it was really Quinn speaking, "Catch up with us when you can, okay?" Brittany simply nodded in reply.
Quinn planted a soft kiss on Brittany's lips, then spun on her heel and marched from the choir room after Mercedes, the rest following right behind them.