A/N: ...Yep... Still don't own anything. No, seriously. I don't own anything

Chapter 1

The choir room was bustling with noise as the glee kids waited for Mr. Shuester. Discussion of what the week's assignment would be, of how to get back at Vocal Adrenaline, of who had a crush on whom, filled the air. No one payed attention to the absence of one of their members, assuming it was just a sickness. Then their teacher entered the room and the kids fell silent.

His face was grave, more upset than they had ever seen it. He stood at the front of the room, looking around. He opened his mouth as if to speak, then fell silent, unable to find words.

"Mr. Schue, what's wrong?" Rachel asked at last, breaking the silence. "Is it Vocal Adrenaline? Did they-"

But he was already shaking his head. "I'm so sorry to have to be the one to tell you this. Principal Figgins decided to wait to tell the students tomorrow, but considering how close you all were, I didn't think that was fair."

A thrill of fear ran down several spines. What was he talking about? Looking around at the confused faces, he cleared his throat and began again.

"I'm sure many of you noticed Tina's absence today," he said slowly.

"Yeah," said Mercedes. "We just thought she was sick."

Mr. Schue ran a hand over his face. "She's not sick, guys. She… she… I'm sorry, I have no idea how to do this." He took a deep breath, steeled himself. "Tina's dead."

Immediate uproar. Disbelief, mostly. Only Artie remained silent, his eyes fixed on Mr. Shue. "What happened?" he asked quietly.

"She was walking home from the mall late Saturday evening-"

"She was there with me-" Kurt whispered.

"When a drunk man lost control of his car." His voice trembled with anger. "She was in the hospital for over twelve hours, guys. She fought hard, but never regained full consciousness."

A strangled sob came from the middle of the room and everyone looked over to see Rachel, biting her lip hard. "I don't believe it!" she exclaimed, blinking furiously. "It's not- she can't be- I don't believe it!" She leapt to her feet and raced out of the room.

Slowly Finn climbed to his feet, looking lost. "I'll go… I'll find her," he whispered over a lump in his throat. "I'm sorry."

Mr. Shuester looked around. "If any of you need to talk, I know Miss Pillsbury's office is always open…"

No response. He glanced over each of the kids, at a complete loss. Kurt was crying now, pressing his face into Mercedes' shoulder. She was shaking with what looked like anger. Quinn was trying not to let her tears show as she rubbed her hand over her stomach. Puck sat blankly, staring ahead. All of sudden there was a loud clatter as Mike leapt to his feet, his chair tumbling off the risers.

"Mike? Are you okay?"

"What do you think?" he shouted, jumping down and storming out of the room. Matt glanced around then silently followed his friend out.

"Her parents are holding an open memorial service tomorrow evening," Mr. Schuester said, his voice even and controlled. "I hope you'll all attend."

Puck got up and left the room without a word. Brittany was looking around, confused. "I don't understand," she whispered loudly to Santana. "Where's Tina?" Santana quickly shushed her.

Quinn glanced over. "Artie?" she asked softly. He didn't look at her. "Are you alright?"

"That's why she never answered," he said at last. "Saturday evening, we were texting. She said she had to go, and the next day, she never replied. I thought it was because I had signed my last text with 'love.' But she never… she never even got it…"

"Artie-" Mr. Schue started, sympathy burning bright in his eyes.

"I'll see you at the service," he muttered, turning and wheeling himself out of the room.

Rachel sat against the row of lockers in the midst of the empty hallway. Outside the window, half of the sun still peered up over the horizon, tinging the sky a bloody red, but Rachel ignored the view, staring down at the linoleum and trying, trying not to cry.

There was a clang as a backpack hit the lockers, then Finn slid down next to her. They sat silently for a moment, both struggling against tears.

"I just can't believe it, you know?" he muttered at last. "I mean, it was only a few days ago that she was here, singing her heart out with the rest of us… I mean, I can't imagine Glee without her."

She nodded, sniffing and he continued. "This is hard for all of us, and..."

"I would really like to be alone now," she interrupted in a quiet voice. He gave her a quick one-armed squeeze and rose to his feet, brushing a few stray tears off his cheeks.

"I'm always here for you," he said softly. She watched as he disappeared around the corner.

Puck stormed down the hallway, kicking each locker he passed. He didn't hear anyone approach, but suddenly, there was a restraining hand on his shoulder. He spun around to see Finn watching him sympathetically.

"What?" he growled. Finn shrugged. "Mr. Schue wanted us to know that her parents are holding a memorial service tomorrow night," Puck told his friend.

"Are you going?" asked Finn.

"Nah," Puck said dismissively, his throat burning. "I mean, I barely knew her. I doubt I said even two words to her."

"She was one of us," Finn said quietly. "And you're just as upset as the rest of us. You put on this macho act, and I really get sick of it sometime. Does it really cost you that much to let your feelings show every once and a while?"

"If you get so sick of it, then what the hell are you doing hanging around?" Puck demanded, shoving past him. "Just leave me alone, dude. Just leave me alone."

Matt had said even less than Puck's two words to her. He knew Tina only as the goth girl in Glee his best friend had a crush on. So he couldn't figure out just why he was so upset as he chased after Mike down the echoing hallways. He wasn't in any of the classrooms, or the boy's locker room, or the cafeteria, so Matt was extremely out of breath by the time he tracked down his friend out in the bleachers overlooking the football field. Wheezing a little more than he would have liked, he collapsed beside him.

Mike sat silently, stilly, not a single tear staining his face, staring out into the setting sun.

"We were walking to math class together, Friday afternoon," Mike murmured at last. "Laughing about something stupid, just the normal stuff. If I'd have known it was the last time I saw her, I would've… I don't know. But it would've been different, right?"

Matt nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

"I mean, you don't think about it happening," he continued. "Not to people our age. People we know. Old people, sick people, they die, sure. And kids in big cities get killed. But not normal kids. Not here in Lima. And not her. She's always been there. I mean, we were in pre-school together."

"Yeah," Matt muttered.

"And she was so good," Mike said. "She was going places someday. She was… she was…" He dropped his head into his hands, crying for the girl who'd never known how he felt. Matt just stared out at the sky.

"Yeah," he repeated. "Yeah."

Quinn forwards to Mercedes. "Someone should follow him," she whispered, thinking of Artie. But Mercedes shook her head, wrapping an arm around Kurt.

"I'm sorry, Quinn," she said. "But not yet. I can't deal with anyone else's sadness. Not yet." Quinn looked around, feeling lost. Mike and Matt were gone. Finn and Puck were gone. Rachel was gone. Santana and Brittany were holding on tight to each other in the corner, trapped in their own bubble, and Mr. Schue had dropped down into a seat, looking exhausted, his body shutting the rest of them out. Shouldn't they all be supporting each other now?

Quinn dropped back into her seat, covering her face in her hands. What was she thinking? Of course they were running off- they had just found out that their friend was dead. Her eyes welled up again at the thought. She couldn't handle this, too. Not on top of everything else.

Artie had no idea where he was going. He just knew he had to get away. Away. That was the only thought pulsing through his mind as he wheeled himself furiously out of the school. He didn't have to think about it anymore. Turn left, down the hall, turn right, right again, down the ramp, around the left side of the school and out onto the street. From there to home. But today he wasn't going home.

He turned right outside the school, silently thankful that there were no pedestrians around, watching with their damn pity. He didn't need it. Not now. Not ever. He just needed to get away. Just needed to escape. And so he rolled and rolled and rolled, heading straight without a destination in mind.

He couldn't have been going for more than fifteen minutes when he reached the end of the suburban, soccer mom houses and started past the farmland. All of a sudden the going got much tougher as his wheels stuck in the gravel, stuck in the mud, stuck in the weeds. But he kept pushing, kept moving forwards, until his shaking arms were about to give out. And only then did he stop and allow himself to face reality.

Tina, his Tina, was gone. Dead. She was never coming back, and there was nothing he could do about it. He leaned over the edge of his chair and was sick into the field. His stomach hurt, his head hurt, his chest hurt. He couldn't breathe, didn't want to breathe. He wrapped his head in his arms and finally let himself sob.

A/N: You know who loves reviews? I DO! Please lemme know what you thought. One more mopey chapter, then guess who's crashing the party...