A new Niff fanfiction coming for you all :) I am not going to talk a lot, I just really hope you like it and I enjoy writing it!

Shattered

Rated: T [probably change it into M, I am not sure yet]

Summary: Nick always believed in his dreams, no matter how bad the circumstances were. But when he got trapped and people experimented with him, injecting him unknown substances and making him suffer, his hope slowly faded- until a certain blond guy showed up.

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of the mentioned characters. The whole place this story is settled in only exists in my mind.

Warning: Violence, mention of death

Chapter 1:

"I thought it's over! " Nick muttered curled up into a ball in the corner of the room. His puffy red eyes stared on the dirty cold floor, his breath was unsteady. "It was supposed to be over!" A single tear escaped his eye and ran over his cheek, dropping from the edge of his jaw, soaking into his Shirt. The scars on his arms burned, reminding him of what had happened. They had promised him a better life, protection. He believed them, stupid as he was. The day he came here first was burned into the back of his mind and the memory for sure would never go away.

It had been a cold night; snow was falling and turning the landscape into a winter wonderland. Nick ran through the streets of the city, trying to keep himself warm. He knew if he would fall asleep now, it would be his dead. He'd often seen men laying on the sidewalks, covered in snow, their skin so pale. He wasn't sure if they were still alive, but he didn't want to know it either.

So the brunet boy kept on walking, his eyelids getting heavier every second. When he blinked, it took him such an effort to open them again. His stomach made loud growling noises. Nick hasn't eaten anything in the last two days. There was no energy in him at all and he was so tired. But still he didn't allow himself to fall asleep.

He continued pacing through the streets. It was so cold. Nick was sure that he'd do nearly anything to get a hot chocolate or something to eat now. This was his third winter living on the street and the hardest so far.

He heard the car before he saw it- a black van, windows only in the front seat. It stopped right in front of him and the window was opened. On the inside sat two men, smiling. Both wore sunglasses, which slightly irritated him. It was night- who needed sunglasses when there was no sun shining?

Although Nick wasn't able to recall every word they said, he knew it was something about an organization for homeless people, providing shelter and giving them food at least as long as the winter goes on. It sounded like a gift from heaven and without thinking about it twice, he was in the van driving to his new home for the next few weeks.

It has been a lie. A terrible lie, what Nick realized as soon as he came to this place.

Footsteps got him out of his thoughts, causing his heart to beat against his chest rapidly. The footsteps were getting closer, too close.
"Please not again, please!" Nick whispered to himself, keeping his eyes shut, sobbing. He saw the needles in front of his inner eyes, the other people in the same room, the doctors with their perfectly white coats, making details about every reaction of the boys trapped in the room. He felt the pain, the unknown reaction of his body to whatever they injected him, the other guy going crazy, starting to scratch over his arms, screaming for help, yelling, before collapsing on the floor right in front of him, while he cried- because of what had happened, because of the pain and the fear.

A door was opened and a loud scream was heard, full of fear and pain. Nick got chills, shivering. Then the footsteps disappeared along with the scream. It was silent again.

It could have been him, but it wasn't- not this time.

"I thought it was over" he mumbled again, rocking himself back and forth liken a little child, falling into a dreamless sleep.

The next time he woke up, the door was opened and a guy Nick has often seen before shoved a tray in his little room.

His room. Every time he thought about it, he had to stop himself from laughing sarcastically. It was a small little room, the walls consisting of cement just like the floor. There was no window, only a small lamp at the ceiling, spending light and flickering. At least Nick was able to turn it off by himself if he wanted to sleep. What else was in the room? A dirty mattress with a pillow and a duvet. It smelled horrible. And there was a toilet and a sink, parted by a partition from the rest of the room.

The tray that arrived was one of his daily three meals, usually consisting of bread and soup and a bottle of water. Sometimes he got meat and rice too. Today it was just his usual meal.

Nick crawled to the tray on his hands and knees, not bothering to stand up anymore. His body hurt way too much. He took the spoon and started eating the already cold soup- his guess was that it should have been garlic-soup, but it tasted like nothing at all. The two slices of bread were hard to chew on but if you were hungry you didn't bother anymore about how things tasted. When Nick finished eating, he took the water bottle and removed it with the empty one from his last meal. He crawled back to the corner he always sat in, leaning his head against the cold wall. How long has he already been in here? He didn't know. The last time he'd seen the sun and breathed fresh clean air had been before he got into the vehicle.

But how many days or even weeks passed since then? Or was he trapped in here longer than a month already? Because of the fact that he didn't have a regular sleep, he couldn't tell at all.

More tears filled Nick's eyes as he hugged himself and sobbed. "They promised me that the hard times would be over!" He squeezed his eyes tight, knocking his head a few times against the hard wall until the pain took over the sadness and the fear.

He had so many dreams and now he was trapped, probably never going to be free. Even if the situation was helpless, if he lived on the street and was starving since days he never stopped believing in his dream and the thought that it might come true one day. But this here- it was hopeless.

Again there were footsteps echoing through the long hallway in front of his room. For a second he was scared that they came back, back for him to be the next victim for their little experiments. As soon as he heard the screams though, he knew he was safe.

"LET ME GO! MY DAD IS A LAWYER; I'LL MAKE SURE YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR DOING THIS!"

Nick sighed. Silly boy, he'll be dying in here sooner or later anyway and his Daddy will never know where he disappeared to.

Then there was complete silence. They probably knocked him out; it wouldn't have been the first time. If you became annoying, you had to be silenced- that was the simple rule.

Sometimes Nick wondered who was behind this all- kidnapping people, testing stuff on them to see how they reacted. That's how it had to feel like being one of this animals who get tested. Did the government know from all of this? Or was it even the government who ran this place?

Sometimes Nick wondered why he wasn't going insane yet. He knew others already did. When he was dragged into the room where they locked them up to watch their reactions to several unknown substances, he saw them- talking to themselves, suffering from schizophrenia or panic attacks. When he saw them, he just wanted to cry. How long have they already been at this place? Would they survive this experiment and the next one and the one afterwards? Did they even realize where they were? Nick wanted to help them so bad, but he couldn't. He couldn't even help himself escaping from this god damn place. That's when he put up his walls. As soon as he was going to be dragged out of his room, he wasn't himself anymore. He didn't show any emotions, any fear or compassion for the others in the room. That's when he was numb. Looking in their faces when they screamed and cried in pain, but acting like it didn't get to him. He only showed feelings when the pain overcame him, the hallucinations starting to scare him.

When Nick would be back in his room, his body calming down and his brain starting to work again, he would realize what he saw. The pictures would haunt him while he slept, the screams awake him and leave him there- alone in his room, all alone and scared, wishing for company to talk to. That's when he realized how shattered he really was.

Nick started humming a melody, which randomly popped into his head. He remembered the song from his childhood, when he sang it together with his Dad, his mother laughing and shaking her head in amusement while she watched her two men. He used to love that song and tried to remember the lyrics really hard. He only could remember half of them, but it was okay- enough to sing the song. That's what he did most of the time in here- singing songs to make the time go by faster. They helped him to calm down, to forget about the things he experienced and dragging him to the places he wanted to be at.

He sang the words, his voice scratchy and quiet because he didn't really use it anymore- why should he if he didn't have anyone to talk to?

Singing distracted him so much, that he didn't hear the footsteps returning again. He only realized them when it was too late. His door got pushed open, a huge man with tons of muscles standing in front of him; a scar was running over his left cheek.

Nick pressed himself against the wall, whimpering as he saw the guy.

"Stand up!" He yelled and Nick flinched, not making any attempted to move out of his corner. He could see how the face of the man turned red, his teeth gritting together. He saw the anger in his eyes.

The man entered the room. It took him only two steps to stand right in front of Nick, grabbing his wrists and pulling him on his feet. Nick felt dizzy, the whole room started spinning around because of the sudden movement. His breath came out fast and he had to swallow. He didn't want this. A painful sound filled the room as the fist of the man collided with Nick's cheek, making him gasp. Tears stung in his eyes.

"I told you to stand up!" the man screamed right in Nick's face, making the boy flinch.

"I thought it was over!" He mumbled to himself, being pushed out of the room, stumbling and falling to the ground on the hallway, before being pulled up again and pushed against the cold wall.

He closed his eyes, hoping that this would be over soon when he felt his hands being cuffed together. A loud scream hurt his ears and when he opened his eyes again, he saw a blond boy being pushed out of his neighbor room.
"I TOLD YOU TO LET ME GO!" Tears were running down his cheeks as he yelled hysterically.
Nick eyed the boy from head to toe, as the other one got hand-cuffed as well, sobbing and begging for mercy.

Poor boy, he thought, watching him while he put up his walls, making sure that pain was the only thing he showed.

"Help me please!" the blond whined, locking eyes with him. He has never seen someone as scared. They were pushed along the hallway, Nick starring at the floor in silence while the new guy cried.

"Shut the fuck up!" one of the two men behind them yelled and the boy did what he was told to.

Nick's heart beat against his chest, he felt his body shiver. What would they do to him this time? He knew he wasn't ready to do this again, to hear the other people screaming.

He could already see the white door leading to the room they would be trapped in. He didn't want to go in there!

Surprisingly they turned into another hallway, leaving space between them and the room behind the door, in which most of his nightmares were settled in.

Nick let out a relieved sigh as he realized where they took him- it seemed like it was time for a shower. They got pushed into a dressing room along with several other men and without hesitation Nick undressed himself. He took of the dirty shirt, which used to be white one day but already turned gray and the black trousers which were pretty loose around his waist. As soon as he had arrived here, they've taken his personal clothes. The shirt and the pants were like a uniform. That's how he also noticed the blond guy being dragged in here with him was new. He still wore a pair of blue jeans and a red shirt.

Nick didn't care stripping down his boxers, being completely naked in front of strangers. The last time he had had a shower was only a few days after his arrival. It was obvious that they only got the luxury of getting a shower when a new hair shampoo or soap was tested on them. The one time Nick was in the shower and using a shampoo, every part of his skin that was in contact with it stayed red for a long time afterwards and was slightly burning. But it was okay for him, he would accept the burning as long as he would get a shower.

The other men also undressed themselves, not saying a word. They also seemed to know what happened, because everyone of them acted as calm as you could possibly be. Except one guy- a certain blond boy, wearing a red shirt and blue jeans. He looked around anxious and when he felt Nick starring at him, he locked their eyes, a small whisper escaping his lips, his voice trembling: "What is happening to me?"