AN: I had no idea this many people read this story, let alone bother to review, so thank you so much guys. I would love to see you review again, it really makes my day.

Chapter 14

Santana remembered how when she was little her mother had surprised with a small birthday cake. She was around 7 then, and since this was the first time that she had been treated with a birthday cake, she had been really happy. She remembered eating it, savouring the sweetness on the taste buds, licking it clean when she had finished. She didn't even think to give her mother a single bite, but Maribel didn't seem to mind. She just watched a little Santana swallow bite after bite of sweet sponge cake. She watched how Santana separated the icing from the cake and ate it separately, because the icing was sweeter and Santana really liked it. This was probably the first surprise that Santana had in her life, and probably one of the only pleasant ones. The other surprises that she had were less than present, for example when she realised that she was going to the market for the first time. That had been a nasty surprise. Also when she got hit for the first time. That had also been a bad surprise.

But this? This was a good surprise. Santana had come into the room feeling down and remorseful, and now seeing what she considered a long-lost friend had given her hope.

Brittany's expression said so much. Shock was the most prominent of them, but it also showed happiness and perhaps excitement.

"Santana?" Brittany could barely contain herself. "Is that really you?"

"Yes," Santana felt a surge of emotions wash over her. Was it relief? She had no idea. Her emotions were so heightened, that she was a little confused.

Brittany's lips cracked into a huge beam, and the young blonde surged forward, engulfing Santana in a tight hug. "I can't believe it," Brittany mumbled into Santana's shoulder.

"Me neither," Santana sighed, and eventually the two girls got out of their embrace.

Suddenly Santana had an idea. "Brittany?"

Brittany wiped at her eyes with a finger. It looked suspiciously like her wiping away a stray tear, but Santana didn't question that.

"Yeah?" Brittany said.

"Do you think that we can get out of here?" Santana asked.

"Of course," Brittany replied, offhand. "There isn't really any point though. We'll just get caught and sent back here."

"No we won't," Santana insisted. "If we get out of here, we can just lay low and they won't find us. We can be free."

"We won't be free," Brittany said sadly. "The truth is, and I've come to accept it over the past week, is that we will be slaves for life. If we get recognised, we will just get sent back here. And what, do you really want to stay in hiding forever? I don't want to, that's for sure. Living life in hiding is literally us being fugitives. There is no good way out of this."

"Yes there is!" Santana hissed. "Look, Quinn will help us. We can escape, you're stealthy and I can cause a distraction. When we're out of here, we can run into the woods. I've been here 7 times already, I know this place better than anyone. We can hide in the woods until we aren't being searched for, and then we can go back to the Fabray Estate and Quinn can help us."

"Going back to the Fabray Estate?" Brittany scoffed. "I'm sorry, San, but that is suicide. Russell will see us and we will be toast."

"Quinn will protect us, I promise! Come on, don't you think that this is worth a shot? Isn't this better than being sold?" Santana pled.

"Why do you have so much faith in Quinn? You two fall in love or something?" Brittany half-joked.

Santana blushed and there was silence for a while.

"Oh," Brittany's jaw slackened in realisation and perhaps horror? "Are you for real? Are you stupid?"

"I can't help it," Santana mumbled. "It kind of just… happened."

"Okay, never mind that for now," Brittany shook her head. "Look, I hate to break it to you, but your plan is not going to work. First, it is going to take us forever to get back to the Fabray Estate. Plus, if we get there, you realise that it is close to the city centre, right? There's no way that no one will see us. Also, you don't know how hard it is out there. I didn't either, I was naïve, and I learnt it the hard way. Don't make me go through that again."

"You won't be by yourself," Santana insisted. "You'll have me. Come on, we can literally leave now!"

"No," Brittany shook her head, sighing. She lowered herself to the floor, sitting down against the wall. "It's no use."

"Why?" Santana demanded, starting to get irritated. This was their prime chance! They could get away, just the two of them, and escape the tormenting life of a slave!

"Because, if we leave, all these other people here," Brittany waved her hand in a wide arc to gesture everyone else that was in the room. "Will want to leave too. They will do anything to get out of here, believe me. And, you don't know what happened during the two weeks that I was out there, alone. You have no idea what I went through."

"Then tell me!" Santana pled. "Look, I get that you may not want to try escaping, but is getting raped what you want? Because I can almost guarantee you that is what going to happen when you get sold to your new master. So don't you think that it is worth at least a shot?"

"It is only a matter of time," Brittany pursed her lips. "We will always be a slave, Santana, I've accepted it. So us escaping will not change anything. Please, come and sit next to me."

"Brittany," Santana sighed. "Why are you so stubborn?"

"Why are you so stubborn?" Brittany shot back. "Just come sit. We can talk, while we still have the chance."

"Fine," Santana grumbled. She still didn't get why Brittany didn't want to help her escape. She felt a little betrayed, even though she had no right to. Brittany didn't owe her anything, and besides something must have happened for her to be completely against this idea. What happened, though, Santana didn't know. "At least tell me what happened out there?" she said, sitting down next to the other brunette.

"Yeah," Brittany sighed. "Well first, what did Russell tell you when he got home?"

"Hmm," Santana racked her brains for what Mr Fabray told her. "He told me that he dropped you down a couple of blocks."

"A couple of blocks?" Brittany chuckled mirthlessly. "Hmm, I guess that could be right. If one block stood for 2 kilometres, sure."

"He took you out 10 kilometres?" Santana said incredulously.

"I don't know, I was unconscious," Brittany said spitefully. "I woke up in an empty field in the middle of nowhere. The trees were all wilted, there was barely any grass, there was literally nothing."

"That bastard," Santana gritted. "He was trying to kill you, wasn't he?"

"Probably," Brittany shrugged. "Not that it matters anymore, I'm here and in the flesh, aren't I?"

"Yes, and you don't know how relieved I am for that," Santana said.

"Thanks, that means a lot," Brittany said flatly. "Anyway, there was literally no food, it was an empty field, there was no shelter. It rained, and it was so cold at night that I was surprised to find myself alive in the morning."

"So… what happened next? Did you get hypothermia or something?" Santana asked.

"No," Brittany said. "I got lucky. I started to walk around, trying to get anywhere other than barren grey land, and eventually I found some kind of woodland in the distance. I was so hungry, but I have learnt how to control my hunger ever since I was little, so I forced myself to walk the bit of distance to where the trees were. For the first few days, I refused to eat anything, but I don't know what I was thinking. I couldn't starve forever. So, I started to eat leaves that didn't look disgusting at first, and when that wasn't enough, I started to eat bugs. It was absolutely grim, but I had no choice."

Santana grimaced. "I'm so sorry that you had to go through that. So… what happened next?"

"Well, it had been like 4 days and I literally had no energy left. And then a white eel came. Not literally, but someone was driving around for whatever reason. I thought about ignoring it and staying in the woodland, but I couldn't do it anymore. So I went to the middle of the road and got a lift."

"A lift?" Santana asked. "To where?"

"I didn't have anywhere to go, so they took me directly to their house. They knew that I was a slave, judging by my appearance, so they just claimed me as their own. So, there I had my second master."

"Is that why you're here? So that you can be sold on?"

"Yes," Brittany nodded. "Thankfully, I didn't get raped there, I was actually not in that bad a family. They had someone that was dying of cancer, they were on their deathbed and they just wanted someone to help him, because they couldn't be asked to bring water or whatever to him every minute of every day. So I had to do that, it was more tedious than anything, really. At least I was fed, I guess. Then he died a week later and they decided that they did not need me anymore so they might as well get some money out of me. So they threw me here and gave me a rating of like 95 or something. They really want the money, don't they? They're still in the audience, I think. Well, enough about me," Brittany chuckled. "Why are you here? I thought Quinn was your master."

"She was," Santana sighed. "Mr Fabray caught us… you know. He got really angry and threw me here," she admitted.

"Wait, you two were doing – uh, I don't want that image in my head," Brittany shut her eyes. "He sent you straight to the market? He didn't dump you out there like me?"

"No," Santana shook her head.

"Hmm, I guess that's because he really doesn't want you to see Quinn again. He probably thought that if you didn't have any freedom in the first place you won't be able to crawl your way back to them."

"I guess that makes sense," Santana nodded. "You sure that you don't want to escape? There is still time."

"No, I've accepted my fate," Brittany said dejectedly. "It was nice knowing you, though. Thanks for all your help."

Santana debated whether or not to try and persuade her to try and make an escape again, but she figured that there wasn't going to be any point. So instead, she said, "It was really nothing. Hope your next master treats you well."

"You too," Brittany chuckled sadly. "Although that is incredibly unlikely, from what I have heard you say about your past masters."

"Hope is a powerful thing, Brittany," Santana said. "Without it, we are nothing. Have faith."

As if on cue, a middle-aged man walked in with a briefcase in his hand.

"Who is that man?" Brittany asked, looking at the man suspiciously. "He doesn't look like a slave to me."

"He isn't," Santana agreed. "He's the guy who gives us the injections."

"Injections?" Brittany said, a little fearfully. "What for?"

"It makes us drowsy, so that we don't fight back when we're sold. Don't worry, it doesn't hurt."

Brittany just looked ahead at the man, with an unreadable expression.

"Welcome to the auction!" Schuester's voice cried and Santana just rolled her eyes. She had just been drugged with depressants and she didn't really have that much energy at all, but it didn't stop her from holding contempt to those people who think that they are superior and have the right to sell slaves. Slaves are people, after all. But there was nothing that Santana could do about it.

"Here we go again," she sighed. "Might as well watch it, because it's your first time, right?"

Brittany, who was behind her in the queue to be sold, nodded. "What is it like?" she said, a bit groggily.

"You'll see," Santana said. "It's probably easier for you to watch it for yourself than me trying to explain it to you."

"Fair enough," Brittany mumbled and they fell quiet again.

Santana didn't really pay attention to what was going on as the queue in front of them started to thin, as she had been through this process so many times that it was almost boring.

About a quarter of an hour later, Santana was now near the front, and she could hear the person two places in front of her getting sold for 5 grand.

"Best of luck, Santana," Brittany mumbled, voice a bit shaky. Maybe the fear had caught up to her. Santana could understand. The first time she was displayed like a prized possession on the stage, she had been scared out of her mind too.

"You're scared, aren't you," Santana noted.

Brittany side-eyed Santana. "No…" she said slowly.

"You are," Santana said. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it. We really should've escaped while we had the chance. I still don't get why you weren't willing to."

"Because this is just going to happen again," Brittany mumbled. "Hopefully whoever I get sold to is nice enough to give me food. I guess that's all I can ask for."

Santana simply nodded gravely as the young boy in front of her got sold for 3 grand. "My turn now, Brittany. It was nice knowing you," she mumbled. She had no energy to cry, and even if she did she wouldn't anyway, because she was stronger than that. She didn't want to cry because she was going to be sold to some abusive jerk and her life would be over, no, she wanted to cry because she doubted that she would see Quinn ever again.

She never told Quinn that she loved her. And now she will never get the chance.

"And up here, is a pleasant eighteen-year-old brunette, with a P rating of…" the man squinted at the paper. "Sixty-five? That's got to be wrong. Well anyway, starting price of one grand."

And nearly every paddle in the room rose up. Santana was surprised, she had a pretty low rating, meaning that she shouldn't be sold for that much.

"Two grand," Schuester continued to drawl. "Three grand. Four grand." With each offer, some paddles went down, but there was still about a dozen up.

"Five grand," he called and seven paddles went down, leaving five left. Santana couldn't really see the people's faces, because her vision was a bit blurry, but she could still see the neon paddles, clear as day.

"Five and a half grand," he called and now there were only three paddles.

"Six grand." Still three paddles.

"Seven grand." Two paddles went down, and there was only one remaining.

"Going once, going twice, sold! Congratulations, Mr Lopez!" Schuester announced and there was some applause among the audience.

Mr Lopez? Santana had never heard of that name before, so she didn't know whether that was good or bad. All she knew was that she was being guided off the stage now, and towards her new master, where her fate would be sealed.

She would never see Quinn again.

"Over here, we have a sixteen-year-old blonde, P rating of eighty-five. Starting price at fifteen hundred dollars." Santana could faintly hear Schuester's voice as he started to list out the prices. This was when she realised that it was Brittany that was on the stage now. She prayed that Brittany went to a good family, even though that was quite unlikely.

Mr Lopez came to collect her when she was escorted to the aisle, and that was when she first saw the man. He had dark hair, although there were signs of balding, with dark brown eyes and a kind face. However, Santana took this with apprehension, because first impressions don't tend to be representative of the man's true nature. This man, despite looking gentlemanly and kind, could be just as bad as her previous masters.

"Come," he said with a slight accent, holding out his hand. Santana didn't want to set off on the wrong foot with her new master, so she begrudgingly took his surprisingly warm hand and let herself be lead through the aisles and through the audience. "I have some good news for you," he smiled and Santana frowned slightly. Normally when masters said that they had good news, it was nearly always not good.

Santana, however, did not dare to voice her doubts. She had to remember to stay in line. This was not Quinn, and she had to remember that.

"Come on!" he chastised when Santana fell a little behind. Santana quickly caught up and instead of gripping her hand, Mr Lopez decided to hook his arm with hers instead. "I have really good news for you," he said again, looking down to meet Santana with a warm smile.

She didn't know if she should be happy or disturbed.

But when he led her to her destination, to where he was sitting instead of outside where his car would be, Santana saw a person sat next to an empty seat where Mr Lopez must have sat before that made her heart stop. When the woman saw that Mr Lopez had returned, she stood up from her seat and spread her arms, looking like she was on the verge of tears. "S-San…"

No fucking way.

"M-Mum?" Santana choked.