Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or Pocahontas
Back on The Susan Constant, excitement can be felt in the air. The crew has spotted land, and the ship is quickly approaching the shore.
From below deck, Governor Schuester pushes his cabin window slightly ajar and sniffs the air as it comes rushing in. Sighing with content, Schuester begins to talk to Kurt, who is busy brushing Percy's already well-groomed fur. "Look at it, Hummel. An entire New World chock full of gold, just waiting for me."
Kurt continues to meticulously stroke Percy's fur. "And scores of adventure waiting for us, right, Percy?" Kurt finishes brushing Percy and moves on to spray some sort of fragrance on the dog and curious, he asks, "Do you think we'll meet some savages?"
Tilting his head to the side, Schuester says "if we do, we should be sure to give them a proper English greeting."
Unaware that he is implying the savages will be killed if spotted, Kurt lifts up ornately decorated baskets filled with wine and assorted cheeses. "Ooohh, gift baskets!" Kurt exclaims.
Annoyed by Kurt's stupid remark, Schuester rolls his eyes and walks towards some shelves at the far end of the cabin, muttering under his breath "And he came so highly recommended."
Governor Schuester retrieves a map of the area they are about to land on and sits down as his overly sized desk. Percy sits on the desk, on the royal purple pillow directly to the Governor's right. As soon as Schuester unrolls the map, a knock comes from the door. Without waiting for a response, Brittany bursts into the room and heads straight for Schuester's desk.
With an ear to ear grin, Brittany begins, "It's perfect, Governor. The water's deep enough, we can pull right up to shore." Paying no attention to Percy's recently groomed fur, Brittany sticks out her pale hand and lovingly rubs the dog's head "Hey there, Percy." Percy, not at all happy to have his fur tousled, merely lets out a low growl. Brittany doesn't even notice Percy's aggravation and turns her attention back to Schuester.
Not very impressed with Brittany bursting into his cabin, Schuester says "Very well, then. Give the order."
Slightly bouncing on her toes Brittany is quick to reply, "Already done, sir. I've got a crew assembled and they're ready to go."
Rolling up his map, Schuester looks pointedly at Brittany. "About the natives, I'm counting on you to make sure those filthy heathens don't disrupt our mission."
With a small smile on the corner of her lips and hint of arrogance in her voice, "Well, if they're anything like the savages I've fought before, it's nothing I can't handle" she says.
Already bored with this conversation, Schuester pours himself a glass of red wine while saying, "Right. That'll be all, Pierce, there's a good lass."
Happy to get on with going ashore, Brittany gives one last pat to Percy, "See ya, Percy" and turns to join the rest of the crew on deck.
Back on deck, Finn and Sam lower a small rowboat into the water. From behind them, they can hear Quinn's feminine voice yelling for the crew to "Wake up!" and "Shake a leg!" so they can prepare to unload the ship.
With both hands on the railing, Finn takes in the sight of unconquered land before him. "It's incredible" he says with a nod of his head.
His eyes the size of saucers, Sam tries to take in his beautiful surroundings. "And it's all ours" replying to what Finn had just said. "I've never seen anything like it" he says wistfully
From Sam's left, Quinn and Mike are carrying a wooden rope-ladder that will be used to unload the ship's cargo. "It can look like Schuester's knickers for all I care, just as long as we get off this stinking boat!" Quinn is sick of being cooped up with a bunch of smelly men and needs to get off this ship as quickly as she can.
Sensing Quinn's growing agitation, Brittany strolls up to her friend and puts a comforting hand on Quinn's shoulder. "Come on then, we didn't come all this way just to look at it." Brittany, now armed with a rifle, begins the climb down the ladder, followed by Finn, Sam, Quinn and Mike. Once settled in the small rowboat, the five slowly make their way to the riverbank.
The five are quickly making their way to shore when a thick fog begins to creep in around them. Brittany is standing at the front of the rowboat completely fascinated by the sudden fog while her four friends paddle the small boat inland. They continue paddling, desperately trying to not be swallowed by the fog, and Brittany is almost knocked out the rowboat when they suddenly row up onto the bank of the river. Quickly finding her balance, Brittany focuses her attention back to her friends. She is the first to step out of the rowboat and feels her worn out boots sink slightly into the sand as she does so. Narrowing her eyes, Brittany tries to look beyond the fog to get a sense of her surroundings. Something feels different.
Her four friends have gone to work helping pull the ship through the narrowing river, up onto the riverbank. Knowing she too should be helping, Brittany just can't seem to move from where she is. Whether it is the fog that seemingly came out of nowhere or something else entirely, Brittany has a strange feeling in her gut. Not too long ago, she was bragging to Sam about how many "New Worlds" she had been to and how this one couldn't possibly be any different. Now, rooted in the same spot for the past eight minutes, Brittany couldn't help but wonder if maybe she had been wrong.
After seeing the "clouds" coming ashore, Santana quickly says her goodbyes to Grandmother Willow and runs towards the riverbank; Meeko and Flit close behind. She finds a safe and secluded area on the edge of a small cliff just in time to see a small, strange looking canoe coming ashore. Her brown eyes widen and her breath hitches in her throat when she sees a woman step onto the sand of the riverbank. Santana first notices the strange hair color of this woman. Unlike her dark, flowing hair, this woman has hair that looks like it has been kissed by the sun itself and it is unlike anything Santana has ever seen. Her eyes slowly take in the pale skin of this stranger and she wonders how one would even get such a strange colored skin. She has strange clothes that are made out of something other than animal skin and she carries a strange weapon on her back that Santana has never seen before. Santana finally tears her eyes away from this woman and sees four other pale-skinned people getting out of the misshapen canoe. She knows that she should be running as quickly as the wind will take her back to her tribe and telling them of the foreign people who have come ashore. Her muscles have begun twitching; trying to get her attention so she will start running. But despite what her body is telling her, Santana can do nothing but sit there and stare as more and more people come make their way onto the land.
A few more rowboats full of crew members have come ashore to help Finn, Mike, Quinn, and Sam pull the ship up. Finn is calling out orders for them men to keep the rope "taut" and "steady" as they pull. Feeling they have pulled the ship far enough in Mike yells, "Ah, that's far enough! All right now tie her off".
Sam finds himself at the very end of the line and hears the order to tie it off. Tossing the rope that is gathered at his feet behind him, Sam calls over his shoulder, "Here Brittany, tie up this end." Not getting a response, Sam turns slightly and notices Brittany isn't behind him. "Brittany?" he calls out. Hearing leaves behind him and to his right; Sam looks around and notices Brittany is climbing a tree. "Pierce? What are you doing up there?"
Figuring there were enough people to pull the ship in, Brittany decides to try and get a better feel of her surroundings. The fog has lifted and Brittany wants to see what they'll be up against when they start digging. She sees a sturdy looking tree that is partially growing out of the edge of a small cliff and decides to climb it to get a better look. Almost to the top, Brittany hears Sam asking her what she is doing. "Getting a better look" she calls down. Brittany finally steps onto the ledge of the cliff and has to squint against the bright sun.
Little did Brittany know, she was being watched.
Santana slowly crouched back into the safety of an overgrown bush when the strange woman from before had begun climbing the tree. The blonde is looking out at the river so Santana can only see her from the back, but something about this woman has Santana unable to tear her gaze away. Without even seeing her face, Santana can simply feel that this woman is beautiful.
From where she is standing, Brittany can see thousands of acres of forest and hills. Admiring the view, Brittany leans against a sturdy branch of the tree she had just climbed and takes in a breath of fresh air.
Still hidden from view, Santana is peeking through the leaves to keep an eye of the woman standing only a few yards in front of her. Before she can stop him, Meeko has had enough of sitting and is walking out of the safety of the bush towards the woman. Santana reaches out her arm and grabs Meeko by the very end of his tail, but he quickly wiggles out of Santana's grasp. Meeko makes his way up to Brittany and when she fails to notice him, Meeko nips at her boot.
Brittany hears the rustling of leaves coming from the bush behind her, but she keeps her eyes trained forward. Figuring it was just a squirrel, Brittany is surprised to feel something touch her boot. She quickly unsheathes the small blade hidden in her pant waist, and turns around ready to attack any savage trying to sneak up at her.
Finding nothing when she turns around, Brittany nearly jumps when she feels something nip at her boot again. Looking down, Brittany sees a very strange looking creature staring back up at her. Too big to be a rat, and about the size of a fat cat, Brittany doesn't know what it is she is looking at. The animal has grey fur and a black mask-like mark around its eyes, and a tail with alternating rings of grey and black. Even though she isn't sure what it is, Brittany has to admit that it's pretty cute. Sensing that this animal is no threat to her, Brittany re-sheathes her knife and lowers herself onto one knee to get a better look at Meeko.
"Hey! Well, you're a strange-looking fellow" she excitedly says to Meeko. Retrieving a biscuit from her satchel, she asks "You hungry? Here you go, it's a biscuit" she says as she offers the treat to the Meeko, who greedily snatches it out of her hand. As if he can understand her, she continues "It's food…well, sort of." Noticing the way Meeko shoves the biscuit into his mouth, she offers him more. "You like it, huh? Well, try it eating it for four months straight." Meeko finishes off his second biscuit and Brittany notices the way he keeps looking towards the bush near her; almost as if he is motioning to something hidden behind its branches.
Sensing there is something else in the bush Brittany slowly makes her way towards and extends her hand. Grabbing a fistful of leaves and twigs, Brittany slowly begins to pull them out of the way.
Barely peeking through the leaves, Santana watches in horror as the blonde reveals a knife. Relaxing when she puts it away, Santana observes the way the blonde joyfully talks to Meeko and offers him some strange looking food. A slight gasp slips past her full lips when she sees the blonde looking at the bush. As the blonde takes the final few steps to the bush, Santana quickly tries to crawl backwards, only to be stopped by a large rock hitting her back. She holds her breath as she watches the blonde grab a handful of leaves and just as she is about to be discovered by the blonde foreigner, Flit goes flying out of the protection of the bush.
Brittany is unprepared when a strange looking bird launches itself at her. It is the smallest bird she has ever seen, and though it should be cute, it comes at Brittany like a bat out of hell. "Hey, what, what, watch out! No… Get that… Look out!" Brittany cries as she tries to swat at the bird circling her face.
From the riverbank, she can hear Sam yelling that she needs to come back down because the Governor is coming ashore. Still fighting off Flit she says, "All right, all right, I'm leaving." And with that, Brittany slowly climbs back down to join her friends.
Unbeknownst to Santana, she was not the only Powhatan lurking in the woods.
Every warrior in the tribe has gathered in Kekata's, the medicine man, tepee. Everybody is on edge and there are too many conversations going on at once to count. "Did you see their skin? Pale and sickly!" one warrior says to his friend. From across the tepee, another man speaks up, "They have hair on their faces like dogs!"
Not wanting his tribe to do anything rash, Powhatan finally speaks up, "My brothers, we must know more about these visitors. Kekata, what do you see?" He gently asks the elder man.
Kekata, sitting cross-legged in front of a large fire, begins to chant and throw a mixture of spices into the growing flame. "The men are not like us…" he finally says. "But strange beasts with bodies that shine like the sun and weapons that spout fire and thunder. They prowl the earth like ravenous wolves consuming everything in their path. "
Up until this point, Puck has remained at the edge of the crowd and silently observes his fellow brothers. Feeling it is now time for him to speak up; Puck moves to stand by Kekata. "Great Powhatan. I will lead our warriors to the river and attack. We will destroy these invaders the way we destroyed the Massawomecks." Puck speaks with determination and this only encourages the warriors around him to agree.
Powhatan can see the fire in Puck's eyes and sternly says, "Puck, in that battle we knew how to fight our enemy, but these pale visitors are strange to us. Take some men to the river to observe them. Let us hope they do not intend to stay."
The last of the cargo has been unloaded from the ship and the crew has formed a large circle around Governor Schuester. In his hand, Schuester holds a large British flag and sensing he has everyone's attention, plunges the base of the flag into the ground. "I hereby claim this land and all its riches in the name of His Majesty King James the first, and do so name this settlement Jamestown. " With this, the Englishmen begin to cheer.
Now that the men have settled down, Schuester turns to right and directs his attention to Brittany, who is standing a little ways apart from the rest of the crew. He saunters over to her and says, "Pierce! It appears I've selected the perfect location, eh? Not a savage in sight" he adds with a smirk
Without even looking at him Brittany retorts with, "Just because we don't see them doesn't mean they're not out there, sir."
Becoming annoyed with her attitude, Schuester spits back, "Well then, perhaps you should venture forth and determine their whereabouts, hmm? "
Knowing better than to argue with the Governor, yet not one to be bossed around, Brittany just nods once and says, "If there are any Indians out there, I'll find them. "
Growing bored with Brittany, Schuester turns to address the crew. Pointing to a handful of them he says, "You men build the fort." Turning to look at the rest of the crew he says, "The rest of you…Break out the shovel! It's time to start digging."
At the same time, Finn and Quinn "Digging?"
Lifting his arms, Governor Schuester says with excitement, "Why, of course! Let's not forget what the Spanish found when they came to the New World. Gold, mountains of it. Why, for years they've been ravaging the New World of its most precious resources but now… It's our turn." This little pep rally of a speech is enough to encourage the less than intelligent crew to quickly grab shovels and begin their pointless quest for gold. Of course, Quinn, Mike, Sam, and Finn are able to see that Schuester just wants to use them so he can get rich, but nonetheless they all grab shovels and begrudgingly get to work.
Brittany watches as everyone grabs shovels and begins to tear up the soil and quietly slips into the cover of the trees. She figures that now is the perfect time to slip away and explore the area before the men get to tearing down the trees to build the fort. Away from the noise of the men and Schuester's nagging voice, Brittany enjoys hearing leaves being rustled by wind and seeing animals go about their daily lives. Being well acquainted with the workings of a compass, Brittany meanders through the never ending forest and finds herself looking up at an enormous waterfall. Never one to say no to a challenge, she stretches her muscles and begins the treacherous climb up the rocky cliff.
Still safely hidden on her small cliff, Santana can do nothing but watch as an entire tribe of these foreigners begin to dig up the peaceful land. A flash of blonde to her left redirects her attention from the mass of men down below to the mysterious woman who seems to be sneaking off. Santana quickly and quietly makes her way towards the blonde woman, who is walking as though he hasn't a care in the world. Santana is simply intrigued by this woman as she watches her move farther and farther away from the safety of her ship. Always a few steps behind, Santana stays out of sight as she follows the blonde woman. She watches as the foreigner begins a daunting climb up a waterfall, and knowing a faster way up, decides to head off the woman at the top.
Reaching the top of the waterfall well before the other woman, Santana finds a large tree to use to stay out of sight.
By the time Brittany reaches the top of the waterfall the sun is low in the sky. Her skin is slick with sweat from both the climb and being covered in thick wool clothes and metal armor. She instantly makes her way over the one of the small streams on the cliff and dropping to her knees, she removes her metal helmet. Placing to her left, Brittany reaches her hands into the cool water, and lifts some to wash her face. Instantly cooled by the water Brittany cups out another handful but stops when she catches a reflection in the water. Barely moving her hands, Brittany is able to make out the shape of a person, a woman, hiding by a tree that sits on a small ledge a little higher up. Obviously a savage, judging by her dark skin and deerskin dress, Brittany brings the water to her face and gathers her helmet and removes the gun from her back. Eyes almost closed, she slowly stands and begins to bring the helmet to her head. Craning her neck back a little, she barely opens her left eye and catches a glimpse of the savage. She slowly turns her back now to the savage.
Noticing the way the blonde woman suddenly stiffens and stands, Santana fears she has been caught. Unable to leave the strange woman, Santana silently begins to make her way down the small cliff so she can be closer to the mysterious woman. She finds herself close to the small stream the woman was just at and crouches down behind a tall patch of grass. Slowly and quietly moving the blades of grass, Santana peaks through blades only to have lost sight of the woman. Curios, Santana leaves the safety of her hiding place and walks out to stand by the water.
Brittany has moved to the other side of the waterfall. Having slipped through the water, she finds a small hiding place between two rocks and waits. All of a sudden, she sees the figure of the woman standing directly through the water. Keeping an eye on the woman, Brittany loads her gun with gunpowder and prepares to shoot. At just the right moment, Brittany suddenly jumps through the streaming water and lands on a large rock on the other side. She immediately drops to one knee and raises the gun, finger on the trigger.
Santana hears the water hitting the metal of the strange woman's armor to her right and crouches down on the rock she now stands on. She watches as the woman lands on a rock no more than fifteen feet away from her. The woman drops to one knee and raises the strange weapon to rest against her right shoulder. Santana slowly stands to her full height and can do nothing but stare down the barrel of the gun that is pointed straight at her face.
Brittany watches the woman stand but from there she makes no further movements. Slowly, Brittany lowers her gun and she too stands. Now able to clearly see the woman, Brittany feels her breath hitch in her throat. She has the most beautiful olive colored skin Brittany has ever seen and her thick, dark brown hair flows down to the small of her back. The eyes are the most beautiful shade of brown Brittany has ever seen and her tan, deerskin dress shows off her toned arms and legs. She is speechless.
Santana watches as the woman lowers her weapon and stands. She once again takes in the blonde hair and strong body of the woman standing before her. For the first time, Santana is able to clearly see this woman's face and she finds herself lost in the most piercing blue eyes she has ever seen. Unable to move from her spot, Santana just continues to stare.
Not wanting to startle the woman standing before her, Brittany slowly places her gun onto the rock. She crouches down and slowly lowers herself into the cool water. Coming up to her thighs, Brittany begins to wade through the water to try and get closer to the beautiful woman in front of her. She slowly takes her helmet off of her head with her left hand, while beginning to extend her right hand to the exotic beauty.
Never before has Santana wanted to do anything as badly as she wants to feels this woman's hand in her own, but instead she runs.
A/N:I hope y'all were able to follow the different points of view between Brittany and Santana. If not, please let me know so I can find a way to fix it!