Chapter 15

Despite her system being riddled by depressants, Santana felt her adrenaline levels start to build up again, her breathing starting to get fast and rapid, her heartbeat increasing in pace. Her gaze stayed fixed on the deep mocha ones that looked so much like hers, but so much older, so much wiser. She looked at the contours on the woman's face – even though it had only been four years since Santana last saw her, it felt like an eternity. She noticed how to worry lines on her mother's face had disappeared, and her skin looked a lot smoother and the constant anxiety that was on her mother's face had gone. She looked completely at ease.

On top of all of Santana's awe however, she was confused. How was this possible? Why was her mother in the slave market, and not being put up for sale? Was she going to be on sale in the auction soon? What?

"Santana," Maribel stepped forward and placed a warm hand on Santana's cheek. Her fingers were trembling a little bit. "It's really you," she breathed, expression saying nothing but wonder and love. "Look at you, baby, you're so beautiful now, all grown up."

"M-Mum," Santana let a tear come out of her eye. "I-I don't understand, how is this possible?"

"I'll explain later," Maribel smiled softly. "You don't know how many times I've been here, just wanting to catch sight of you."

When Maribel turned her head to look at the stage, Santana suddenly jolted with the realisation that Brittany was still being sold. Schuester was still listing out the prices, and right now it was at four grand, and there were still quite a lot of competitors.

"How do you know Mr Lopez?" Santana asked, turning to her mother again.

"Him?" Maribel's expression changed slightly to one of ease and love. "He is my husband."

"Y-Your husband?" Santana choked. "I don't – what?"

"I'll explain later," Maribel promised. "What about him?"

"Oh," Santana fidgeted with her fingers a little bit. "Um, don't worry, he seems pretty nice."

"He is," Maribel said dreamily, and that was when Santana turned her head back to the stage, seeing Brittany still up there on the stage, looking more than scared out of her mind.

Santana prayed that Brittany was going to go to a good family. Even though she wasn't as close to the younger blonde as Quinn in more ways than one, she knew that she was still going to miss her. She knew that there would be days where she'll be concerned about her safety, wondering whether or not her new master would treat her well.

Then an idea struck her. Mr Lopez just bought her, right? Did that mean that he was rich? Did that mean that he could cash out on one more slave?

But then Santana shouldn't push her luck. She was lucky enough to be bought by a good master. Mr Lopez was a man that she didn't know, so she shouldn't request him to buy Brittany as well.

With that in mind, Santana let her shoulders sag slightly as she continued to watch Brittany, helpless on the stage.

"Do you know that girl?" a voice suddenly appeared to her left, and Santana jumped. When she looked over, she saw that it was only Mr Lopez, and she let her guard down slightly, but was still cautious.

"W-Who?" Santana asked.

Mr Lopez nodded to the general direction of the stage. "The one on the stage," he replied. "I don't know, you were just staring at her as if you were worried or in deep thought."

"Well," Santana drawled, feeling her heart start to accelerate as she started to feel nervous. "Yes, I do. She's the one that lived in the same estate as me the past few months, she's my friend." Her voice trailed off slightly in the end.

"Hmm," Mr Lopez frowned slightly. "She looks really young," he said.

"Yeah, she's two years younger than me," Santana said. "Um," she started to fumble, unsure whether to push her luck or not.

"Do you want me to buy her too?" Mr Lopez asked, as if reading her thoughts.

Santana looked up in surprise. "H-How did you – um, well, if it really isn't any trouble –"

"Your expression kind of said it all," Mr Lopez gave a small smile. "It's okay, I can afford another one… hopefully…"

"Thank you so much," Santana gushed, feeling a rush of extreme gratefulness through her system. Maybe, Brittany would be kept safe now. Hopefully, her going price is not that high. "Mr Lopez, you don't know how much that means to me."

"It's no biggie," Mr Lopez shrugged. "And please, call me Miguel."

Schuester called out the next price, which was five grand. Mr Lopez retrieved his paddle which was set down next to him and raised it.

There were still four people who were bidding for Brittany, and Santana feared that the price would get high enough that Mr Lopez wouldn't want to cash in so much money on someone that he didn't necessarily need. Santana wondered what she was going to do now that she had been bought by her mother's family. It had been an incredible stroke of luck, but she wondered if she was still going to do chores. She was still a slave, after all.

Which brought her to this. Her mother was still a slave, right? So how was she able to get married to a non-slave and come here, to buy slaves off the market? How was this even possible?

"Going once, going twice, sold! Congratulations, Mr Lopez, again!" More applause resonated across the whole place.

"You got her?" Santana asked in awe.

Mr Lopez nodded. "Yep."

"F-For how much?" Santana asked, feeling nerves start to bubble in her blood again.

"That doesn't matter," he replied.

Santana didn't really want to push the matter. "You don't know how much that means to me," Santana said, feeling a tear collect in her eye. "Thank you so much, Mr Lopez."

"Miguel," he reminded.

"Miguel," Santana corrected herself. "Thank you."

Mr Lopez simply smiled again and left for the stage to collect Brittany.

When Mr Lopez was gone, Santana turned to her mother, who was seemingly watching the whole exchange between her and Mr Lopez. "I still don't understand, how are you allowed to marry a non-slave? I thought that it was forbidden."

Maribel smiled. "I'm also a non-slave now," she said.

Santana was taken aback. "What? H-How?"

"You know how I served my master for over twenty years? He decided that he was going to free me instead of killing me. He said that he didn't think that he would be able to live with the guilt, and he didn't want to sell me because he didn't think that he would make much from it. So he said that he was going to free me, allow me to live the rest of my life in peace, away from the torture that comes with being a slave."

"But… how does that work? Brittany got freed, yet she got caught and sent back to the market," Santana said.

"Brittany, the girl on the stage?" Maribel asked, and Santana nodded. "Well, my old master signed some documents that meant that I was no longer legally bound to be a slave. So I have an ID now, so I am now allowed to buy slaves."

"Wow…" Santana said, surprised but also impressed. "W-What about Mr Lopez?"

"Well," Maribel's lips rose into a smile just at the thought of him. "I was released two years ago, and since I didn't really have anywhere to go, this man found me and took care of me. We just fell in love along the way, and the rest is history, I guess. He is so amazing."

"So much has changed over the past four years," Santana breathed.

"That's right," Maribel smiled. "I still can't believe that I found you. You're so pretty, all grown up, San. I hope that the past few years haven't been too hard on you, I prayed every night for your safety, you know."

"Well, your prayers have been answered," Santana smiled softly. "I managed to find a very special someone too," she said.

Maribel side-eyed her daughter. "Really? Who is he?"

"It's a she, actually," Santana chuckled when Maribel's eyes widened. It wasn't in judgement, but simply in surprise. "Her name's Quinn. She was my master until this morning."

"Don't tell me you fell in love with your master," Maribel said exasperatedly. "It will never end well."

"It didn't," Santana sighed when she recalled the memory of Mr Fabray bursting into their room. "She's amazing, though. She doesn't believe in the slave trade, she fights for our rights, she is genuinely the best person I've met. It's a shame that I don't think that I will ever be able to see her again," Santana mumbled, casting her eyes down.

"Hey," Maribel put a finger under Santana's chin, lifting her head up so that their eyes were now meeting. "We'll find her, okay? You know where she lives, right?" Santana nodded. "We'll go there, and we can look for her, I promise."

The sound of Brittany's voice broke them out of their bubble.

"Let go of me!" Brittany cried as she got dragged into view.

"Brittany!" Santana called, rushing forward to calm the blonde. "You're fine, they're good people! Don't fight them!"

Mr Lopez simply shook his head as he walked by Santana and made his way to Maribel, leaving the two girls alone.

Brittany shook her head. "You said that there were no good people out there!" she said vehemently.

"Trust me, these people are good," Santana said. "I got him to buy you."

"Huh?" Brittany said, bewildered.

"Look there, that's my mum," Santana said, pointing to where Maribel was sat. "These are good people, I promise."

"Y-Your mum?" Brittany parroted, sounding confused. "What do you mean?"

"It's a bit of a miracle, really. I'll tell you more later."

"Girls?" Mr Lopez' voice called over Schuester's still droning voice, listing prices. "That's it, right? Let's go home now, shall we?"

The car ride home was unlike any other Santana had experienced. Truth was, she had not been in any car rides except for to and from the market. Actually, she had not been outside her master's house at all in her life, except for of course the car rides to and from the slave market, and the trips that she and Quinn had made to the night market and the shops over the past few months. These fun trips were far and few in between however, as Mr Fabray was rarely out for more than six hours and they did not want to risk him coming home early to find an empty house and that would be quite bad. Brittany had actually tagged along once, and Santana had a feeling that Brittany enjoyed it even more than Santana had the first time round. Probably because Brittany had a thing for French food or something. Santana would watch in disgust as Brittany would swallow snail after snail, or the posh way they say it, 'escargots'.

While Santana was ecstatic that she had been bought by a good master (oh who was she kidding, this was the best possible outcome for her. She found her mother again!), she was still a little sad at the prospect of Quinn. What was Quinn doing right now? How would she react when she found out that Santana had gone? Would she think that Santana got thrown out into the wild just like Brittany did? How would she react?

And there was of course the possibility that Santana would never see Quinn again. She was going to see her again, right? Her mother would surely let her go back to the Fabray Estate and find Quinn. Although what she would do when she found her, she had no idea. Because Mr Fabray will most definitely do anything to stop them from interacting, and… it hurt Santana's head to think of all the possibilities. There was still the problem of her being a slave, but apparently that can be fixed, as her mother was no longer a slave. Would Mr Lopez free them? Would he be willing?

This was the first time that Santana felt anything other than hatred for her biological father. He must have had some heart in him to free his long-serving slave. Yes, he was really abusive, but at least he let Maribel live to see her daughter again.

The car journey was serene. The side window was open slightly, letting a little bit of wind come inside, which ventilated the insides of the car well so it was quite comfortable. With that, Santana started to close her eyes and let herself relax.

"Let me see that," Brittany said after a while, making Santana jolt. Brittany was sitting next to her at the back of the car, and she wasn't wearing her seatbelt.

"You should probably strap that on," Santana croaked gesturing to the seatbelt that hung limply on her side.

"Strap that on?" Brittany smirked. "Wanky."

"Oh, stop that," Santana rolled her eyes. "Just put it on."

Brittany did as Santana said, and then she leaned forward slightly. "You're hurt," she said.

"I'm fine," Santana insisted, covering her left cheek with her hand and away from view.

"No you're not," Brittany said, taking Santana's hand off her cheek. Santana didn't know how her cheek looked, but judging by the constant dull pain that it was in it probably looked quite bad. "I don't think that I've ever seen you battered and bruised before," she noted.

"Quinn treats me well," Santana replied. "And, yes you have. When I first turned up."

"Hmm, I guess yeah," Brittany shrugged. "If I have to be honest, I really hated you."

"Why?" Santana said, exaggerating hurt by putting both hands on her heart. "What's wrong with me?"

"I told you before, I was really jealous," Brittany shrugged again. "You got the good master. I got the bad one. But it all worked out in the end, didn't it?"

"I guess it did," Santana said.

"Well, we need to put ice on that when we have some," Brittany said. Then she poked Santana's stomach, which evoked a yelp from the older brunette. "Yep, and we need more ice for your stomach."

Santana was walking down the desolate street. It didn't take her as long as before to realise that this was the street that had the night market when all the stalls were set up. It was a little windy, and the sky was a dark purple colour.

That's a weird colour for a sky, Santana thought as she started to walk down the pavement, allowing the bitter wind to whip her face.

She had been walking for a short period of time before she realised that there was a person lying face down on the other side of the street. This person had long blonde hair, and a body shape that Santana had come to know so well.

"Quinn," Santana whispered, letting her legs break out into a full fast run towards the blonde. Within no time, she was by her side. She shook Quinn's shoulders vigorously. "Quinn, what's wrong? Wake up!"

When Quinn showed no signs of waking up, Santana decided to flip the blonde over, because it must be uncomfortable to have your face glued to the dirty ground. But when her hands started to make a rotating action, trying to flip her body over, it suddenly started to move of its own accord.

Quinn sat up, back facing Santana.

"Quinn?" Santana said tentatively, poking the blonde's shoulder with a finger.

Her head turned around, but it was not her face on the other side.

"Surprise," Russell smirked.

Santana jumped so hard that her head hit the top of the car. She rubbed the slightly painful area, and then started to wipe at her eyes to get rid of the residue of sleep. What the hell was that dream? Was it trying to say some kind of message to her? She kind of missed the days when she didn't have dreams. She didn't think that she has ever had a good dream before, and if she did it was so long ago it would've been already forgotten. A good dream would probably be like… a date with Quinn in a fancy restaurant with candles. They had never done that before, because they never had the chance to. Maybe in the future they would be able to, provided that Santana found Quinn again, and if not, perhaps in an alternate universe. Santana believed in them, because if the only world in the universe was one that was led under a dictatorship with the slave trade being legal, then God was more messed up that she thought.

"You good there?" Brittany said worriedly. "Bad dream?"

"Yeah, you can say that," Santana sighed, blinking a few times to clear the haze around her vision.

"Well, you woke up just in time," Brittany smiled. "I think that we're here."

Brittany was right. As the car turned into a smaller road, Santana could see a nice neighbourhood filled with semi-detached brick houses. She assumed that her mother lived in one of them. It obviously wasn't anything like the places that she stayed in before, because all her previous masters were pretty wealthy and could afford much bigger property, but this place looked quite nice, nonetheless. It was peaceful and cosy, as well as modest.

If Santana was going to be honest, she no longer knew how to act around her mother anymore. She had matured so much over the past 4 years. Before she became a slave for other masters she found herself to be quite needy and clingy, but now she couldn't see herself being like that.

This may be a good thing, however. This meant that she was now an adult, both mentally and physically.

When the car finally stopped, Maribel looked back from the passenger seat and smiled at the girls in the back seat. "We're here."

The house looked just like the others, and when Santana set foot into it for the first time, she wasn't disappointed. Even though the place wasn't really large, the organisation and the sheer tidiness of the place made it seem really big and comfortable.

"Is this where we're staying?" Santana turned and asked her mother.

Maribel nodded.

"Look, I know that I shouldn't be asking this when I just got bought, but we really need to find Quinn. She's going to be so worried about me," Santana said.

"We will," Maribel reassured. "But first, we need to get you and Brittany freed. And before that, we need to put ice on your face," her face scrunched up slightly in worry. "That looks really painful, San."

"It's fine," Santana insisted. "Wait… did you just say freed?"

"Yes," Maribel said. "You two are no longer going to be slaves. Now let me patch you up."

"Okay," Santana sighed.

"I'll go get some ice," Maribel informed. "Just sit down and I'll be back soon, okay?"

Santana nodded and Maribel started to make her way out, but before she could get far, Santana spoke up again.

"Mum?" she called.

Maribel turned around. "Yes?" she said.

"Just… thank you," Santana said quietly.

Her mother simply smiled, giving a small nod and left the room.