Better To Have Loved and Lost

Disclaimer: I own nothing. These characters belong to the creator of Glee and Final Fantasy X

Authors Note: This story is based very closely on the storyline of Final Fantasy X a JRPG.

Pairing: Rachel/Quinn

Rating: M

Chapter Two

My New Reality

"Hey, over here!" Sam yelled out to Rachel as she left the temple and started back toward the tent, he was standing in the middle of town square waving a hand frantically, signaling that she should come and join him. She did as she was told and headed toward him only to find herself grabbed by the blonde as she walked by him.

"What are you doing to me?" The small brunette asked, squirming around in his strong arms. There was a hand over her eyes now.

"Wait till you see this!"

"I cannot see anything!"

"Ready?" Sam asked in a sing-song voice, now standing still. Rachel had given up squirming and merely nodded her head. He pulled away his hand and her large brown eyes landed on the summoner.

Despite her exceptional otherworldly beauty, there did not seem to be anything all too special about the scene. The summoner was standing at the edge of the water holding her staff to the side of her body. Hazel eyes closed and her pale face toward the sun, the light reflecting off of her high cheekbones. She was gorgeous. Suddenly, she started to glow and preform a beautiful dance, and then there was a noise from the clouds.

Rachel glanced up in time to see a gigantic bird-like creature swoop down from the clouds and land right before the blonde. She stepped back onto the shore and approached the bird and all that Rachel could do was stare. She had never seen a bird of this sort, it was colorful, beautiful, and terrifying, it almost looked like a monster. But in a way she could feel a strange gentleness from it as she watched the summoner pet its head.

The giant bird cried out loudly causing the diva to cringe at the sound and then with a powerful flap of its wings, it flew back up into the air, disappearing in the clouds.

O

Rachel approached the bonfire in the center of the town; it was surrounded by all of the guardians as well as most of the village's blitzball team. In many ways she felt out of place, but that one sport truly linked her to this world, made her feel as if she were not completely ignorant. In ways she felt that she knew more than they did. Their world was so underdeveloped in comparison to hers, but surprisingly she did not miss the electricity all too much.

When she woke was the strangest time of the day she found, because she was used to a system. She would throw her covers off of her body at six in the morning; they did not have clocks in this world, just generalized time. Then she would normally take her shower and brush her teeth, which they had methods of doing so, but they were not as "luxurious" as hers had been. Finally she would do a two hour work out on her elliptical, and now she found that jogging was just as efficient in order to keep in shape. Still, it was a process.

The nights were cold, but they had fires like tonight in order to keep warm.

"Let me introduce you to the team." Sam said, walking toward Rachel who was staring into the fire with her arms crossed over her chest. The blonde turned to look to the team as did the small woman and he flashed them all that dorky full-lipped smile. "This girl wants into the tournament so bad, so I kinda had to let her on the team." This earned him a playful slap to his arm from Rachel. He laughed. "Just kiddin', her memory's a little messed up, so don't mind her if she says anything strange."

Rachel looked to her feet as the others watched her closely, she did not know what to say.

"Come on dude, just say hi to them."

"Hello, guys, I am Rachel Barbra Berry, the star of The—my team back home, although I cannot currently recall what team that is." She quickly stopped herself from once again saying that she was from Zanarkand. Talking about blitzball caused her to grow confident and within seconds she had lifted her head and stared them straight in the eyes. "I am on your team now, and we have a new goal in mind. What is our goal!" She asked with determination radiating off of her and a bright smile spreading across her face.

"To do our best."

"Nope, we gotta new goal now. Our new goal is—" Sam paused and looked to Rachel who nodded her head at him, telling him to continue. "—is victory! To win every match, to defeat every opposing team! To bring the Crystal Cup back to our island!"

"Victory…" They all muttered looking around at one another, then they smiled and threw up their hands as they began chanting. "Victory! Victory! Victory!"

The chanting drowned out as Rachel caught sight of the summoner across the fire, her beautiful face glowing in the light. Blonde hair swirling around in the wind. She was sitting in front of the fire, surrounded by her guardians as well as a group of small children and elderly men and women. They were chatting about something, but Rachel could not quite hear what they were saying to her.

Standing to her feet, the taller blonde stood from where she had been sitting and started toward Rachel. Their eyes connecting, causing Rachel's heart to speed up and her breathing to stop, she felt faint. It was strange, she never got this way, back home she was confident and she was a star and could easily have anyone that she wanted, but here she was a nobody and with that came this strange shyness.

"Hello there." The blonde spoke to her in a deep soothing tone of voice, a smile on her pink lips. Rachel looked up and she felt even more dizzy as she witnessed that perfect face close up, and those enchanting eyes.

"Hello." She responded.

"I am Quinn Fabray, pleased to meet you."

"My name is Rachel Berry, and I assure you that the pleasure is all mine." Rachel felt a heated blush run along her naturally tan cheeks and over her neck at the wording, she usually did not think this way, but she could imagine that in a certain instance the pleasure would be all hers. 'Especially since this woman is more than likely uninterested in women…'

Quinn laughed a little and shook her head, blonde hair falling in her face. "I just wanted to thank you for your help earlier, Rachel."

The way that the diva's name sounded on her lips was enough to cause her body to warm up and her heart to continue its marathon. "I do apologize for my earlier behavior. At the time I had been thinking irrationally and acting on my emotions, and I suppose that I overreacted."

"Oh, no. I was actually being far too overconfident. I tend to have that problem."

Suddenly one of the small children who she had been talking to previously ran over and shouted out. "Lady Quinn!" He tugged on her hand. "Come play with us some more!"

Quinn nodded and turned to look at Rachel once more. "So, tomorrow, then."

The brunette knit her eyebrows together in confusion. "Tomorrow?"

"Well we are going on the same boat, aren't we?"

"We are?" Rachel wondered.

"Yes, we are." She laughed and smiled brightly. "We can talk more then, you can tell me all about Zanarkand." With that, Quinn turned and ran in the other direction being dragged by the small child. Rachel watched after her curious as to if she had been teasing her about her memories or if she perhaps believed her. 'It was more than likely teasing… who would believe that I came from one thousand years in the past…?'

Suddenly she felt a weight around her small shoulders and looked up to meet green eyes. Sam was standing over her smirking down at her. "She's cute, huh?"

Rachel blushed brightly before casting her brown eyes back in Quinn's direction, watching as she danced around with the children. She seemed to love children. "More than cute, she is stunning."

He nudged her side and ruffled her hair a little bit. "Hey, now, don't be gettin' any ideas now. She is off limits."

"I cannot make any promises." She muttered under her breath and then could feel his eyes on her once more. Glancing up she blushed even more so and put up her hands. "I am not going to force myself upon her or anything of the sort, but if she does happen to show interest in me, I cannot say that I will refuse her."

"That's not gonna happen."

O

Rachel had fallen asleep easily, she was exhausted, but now she found herself in yet another one of her extremely realistic dreams. Only this time she was not in it alone. As she walked the pier near the beach she spotted Quinn Fabray and smiled.

"Where is the boat?" She wondered.

"I don't know. Everyone will find us if it doesn't come soon." Quinn responded turning and looking down at the brunette. Her eyes sparkling and her dress blowing in the wind.

"Are you certain that this will be alright?" Rachel asked.

"Would you take me to Zanarkand?" Quinn asked, reaching out and taking her by the hand, she loved the way that her hand felt in her own. So soft and delicate, yet strong and powerful.

"Hey!" A voice shouted and Rachel turned to look over her shoulder, spotting Brittany who was running up the pier toward the two of them. "You said you'd go with me!"

"Brittany?"

The tall blonde nodded and looked over Rachel's shoulders toward Quinn. "I thought Sam told you not to get any ideas about her…"

"He did?" Quinn asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, so you're coming with me!" Brittany announced running over to Quinn and dragging her off of the pier.

"Hey, Rachel, stop dreaming!" It was her father's voice; this dream was getting more and more confusing by the minute. Turning she looked over toward the shore and witnessed Hiram standing their grinning. "You, dating a woman? You can't even get a man let alone catch a blitzball, how would a woman be interested in you? Oh, what's the matter? Gonna cry again? That's the only thing you're good for!"

"I hate you father." Rachel muttered with tears forming behind her dark brown eyes, but she tried to push them away.

"What did you just say to me young lady!"

"I hate you!"

Rachel woke up in the Lodge and sat up straight in her bed, her heart racing and her naturally tan skin covered in sweat as she breathed out heavily. "I hate you…" She muttered to herself as sobs wracked her body and she lifted her hands, crying into them.

Suddenly her crying was brought to a halt as she heard a woman's voice outside of the tent, it sounded like the Latina who had insulted her earlier, she was fighting with Sam.

"He's dead, okay? Dead! Rachel does look a lot like Blaine. I was shocked at first too, but no matter what she looks like, she isn't Blaine. You shouldn't have brought her here in the first place!"

"Yeah, but she needed our help."

"Bullshit, you know as well as I do that you brought her here for your own selfish ass reasons."

"Yeah, but—"

"That's it. No more goddamn excuses Sam." With that she turned and left Sam standing there. As he turned he noticed that Rachel was peering out of the tent and watching the conversation that he had just been having and he sighed.

Already being caught she decided that it would be pointless to hide and she smiled sheepishly as she exited the tent and headed toward the young blonde man. "She is just a little terrifying if I do say so myself." Rachel muttered looking after Santana who was shouting out profanities in a foreign language and throwing up her hands in annoyance. "So, who is this Blaine?"

"My little brother, Blaine. He looked a lot like you."

Rachel's eyes filled with sadness and her stomach twisted at the announcement, now it all made sense, what Santana had said as well as why he cared so much about her. "He is dead…?" Her voice was almost too quiet for him to hear.

Sam swallowed hard and nodded his head, tucking his hands into the pockets of his shorts. "He was with the Crusaders when they fought Sin last year. He didn't make it. I first heard on the day of the tournament."

"So that is why…" Her voice trailed off and her heart broke for him. She now felt terrible for what she had said on the matter.

"I became a guardian to fight against Sin."

"To seek revenge for your brother, then?"

"Well yeah, that was the idea. And yet, I'm more worried about a stupid game now than avenging my brother. Well, after the next tournament, I'll be a guardian full-time. I know it kinda looks like I'm using you and stuff, but I'm not."

Rachel shook her head quickly and reached out to place a hand on his arm. "Do not worry. I mean, honestly I owe a lot to you; you have truly helped me in many ways. I actually feel that I should thank you, Sam."

He laughed and ran a hand through his blonde hair, a blush covering his cheeks as his full lips twisted into a smile. "Oh come on Rach, stop, you're embarrassing me."

O

The next morning, Rachel walked out into the village square to find Santana and Sam holding a conversation, the latter carrying a long blue sword. The blonde boy smiled when he saw her and ran toward her with the sword holding it out to her. "Hey there sleepyhead! Something I want to give you."

Rachel blinked her large brown eyes a few times as she looked down at the sword. "You are giving this to me?"

"Yeah, 'course. You gotta protect yourself somehow."

"That's the same sword you gave to Blaine." Santana pointed out, making them both feel uncomfortable and uneasy with the situation. She seemed to enjoy making things awkward and pointing out things that would hurt others.

"Well, he never used it. Where's Quinn?"

Rachel's head snapped up as she heard the beautiful blonde's name, it was almost embarrassing how easily just a simple name could make her pay close attention. She knew that she had it bad for her. "We are taking the same ship as Quinn, correct? Why do we have to wait here for her?"

Sam smirked knowingly. "Well, Quinn came to this village ten years ago, when the last Calm started."

"The Calm?" She asked confused.

"Yeah, since then, she's been like a little sister to me and Santana. But she had the talent, she became an apprentice. Now, today, she's gonna leave as a summoner, so we all kinda wanna leave together. You get it?"

Rachel nodded in partial understanding.

She spotted Quinn out of the corner of her eye and her full lips parted as she stared at her. The young blonde woman was lugging along a large box, and it was almost adorable to see her struggling with it. Santana ran up the stairs to her. "Q, you don't really need all that luggage, Geeze!"

"They are not my things. They are gifts for the temples we are going to visit." She said with a soft smile.

"Dude, this isn't a vacation Quinn." Sam said, in a serious tone. Which was strange, Rachel noted, because he usually was very sweet and outgoing.

"I suppose—I suppose that you are right." She muttered, leaving the box behind.

Rachel felt as if she were missing something.

O

Once out at sea, Rachel walked out onto the deck of the large ship. She spotted Sam at the end of the ship, kicking a blitzball around absentmindedly and staring off into the distance. He was actually a rather handsome young man. "He looks a lot like Quinn…" She muttered before blushing softly as she headed over to greet him.

"Hey what's up man?"

Rachel glared at him for calling her a "man" again and he laughed.

"I mean, what's up Rach?"

"Not much, I was simply exploring the ship. It is quite lovely." The small brunette said with a wide smile as she walked to the edge of the ship and lent against the railing looking down into the ocean. Sam joined her, resting his back against the railing and looking over at her.

"Yeah, it's alright." He shrugged his shoulders, but his smirk told her that he knew that it was nice.

"So, where are we headed?" Rachel wondered.

"Oh right!" His green eyes widened. "I haven't told ya where we're goin' yet! Well, first we're heading to Kilika Island, then we change boats and head for Luca. 'Fore that, though, Quinn's gotta pray at the temple. I'll be guarding. We'll be praying for the Aurochs victory, too, so you come along with us too, kay?"

"Wow, that sounds like a great plan." Santana muttered rolling her dark eyes and crossing her arms.

"Hey, it is a great plan!" Sam defended.

Sam and Santana started arguing and Rachel found herself listening in on another conversation between two male passengers. They were talking about Quinn who was off in the distance. "Word is that the summoner's got noble blood." The man said.

"I heard she's Lord Braska's daughter."

"Ya don't say?"

Rachel could recall that name from the temple and she was curious about it, so she turned her attention back to the bickering man and woman she was traveling with and she interrupted them. "Is Quinn's father some sort of royalty?"

Sam was drawn out of his argument and turned his attention to the small diva. "Yeah, you could say that, she's the daughter of High Summoner Braska. You saw his statue at the temple. Lord Braska defeated Sin ten years ago and Quinn is the heir to his great legacy."

She bit down on her bottom lip and glanced to the blonde who was across the deck, her father had been famous. Not for saving the world, for a far more vain reason, but fame was fame. "It is difficult when your father is famous."

Sam looked confused by the statement.

Santana laughed at him. "You gotta explain it a little more clearly; Sam here isn't the smartest kid."

"Hey!" He shouted out turning around and yelling at the Latina.

"Thank you Santana, I will keep that in mind." Rachel said with a smirk as the blonde boy turned and glared at her now with a pout on his large lips.

O

Rachel approached the blonde woman who was standing against the railing on the other side of the deck; she seemed to be lost in thought as her medium length blonde hair danced along her face, shimmering in the sunlight. Her pale skin almost glowed. She looked like an angel. The smaller brunette did not say anything; she merely stood next to her and placed her small hands on the railing looking out into the sea. Watching the waves crashing, as her own long dark hair flew around untamed.

"The wind—" Quinn started. "—It is nice."

Rachel turned to look at the blonde whose hair was now in her hazel eyes and her mouth, her own bangs flying around and sticking up in every direction, and they both laughed. For no real reason, they just laughed.

A few moments of laughter passed and then it died down and they returned their attention to the sea.

"You're a blitzball player, aren't you? From Zanarkand, right?"

"Did Sam inform you of that?"

Quinn nodded her head and smiled softly as she once again looked to Rachel, admiring her beauty.

She knit her brows together in frustration. "Yes, I am. Sadly he does not believe my story at all."

"But I believe you Rachel." This shocked the other woman who now turned to meet her eyes once more, surprised that someone actually believed that she had come from Zanarkand. "I have heard, in Zanarkand there is a great stadium, all lit up even at night. Great blitzball tournaments are held there, and the stands are always full." Her voice cracked with excitement as her smile spread across her face.

"I was told that Zanarkand has been destroyed, many years prior to now, so how do you know about such things?"

"A man named Hiram told me. He was my father's guardian."

Rachel's brown eyes widened at the coincidence, even in the pronunciation of the name. Her muscles tensed at the thoughts of her father that the name brought up and she looked away from those curious eyes. "My father…his name is Hiram."

Quinn's eyes filled with excitement. "That is amazing, Rachel! You know, our meeting like this must be the blessing of Yevon. There are far too many coincidences for it not to be."

"Coincidental, yes, the name that is, but it could not possibly be my father."

"Why not?" She asked with a raised brow that Rachel found unbelievably attractive. Honestly, she found everything about the blonde attractive, but now was not the time for these feelings.

"My father, he died. Ten years ago, off the coast of Zanarkand."

Quinn did not know how to respond. She was not good in situations like this. "I am so sorry Rachel." She said, reaching out and placing a comforting hand on Rachel's arm, noticing the way that she shivered at the contact and smiling just slightly.

"It is quite alright; truthfully I am past his death." Rachel said enjoying the small contact that was made to her arm, probably more than she should. Her heart was racing for a multitude of reasons. "He went out to sea for training one day and he just never returned, and no one has witnessed him ever since."

"Why, that is the day that Hiram came to Spira!" She said, excited again. When Rachel looked at her as if she were insane, she squeezed her exposed arm gently and laughed. "It is the truth. I first met Hiram ten years and three months ago. I remember, that was the day that my father left. The date fits, doesn't it?"

"Yes, I suppose that it does fit, but how would he have gotten here?"

"You're here, are you not?" She asked in a playful tone that caused Rachel to blush. This shy side of hers was nearly getting on her nerves. She was Rachel Berry, a star who could have or do anything that she wanted and yet when around this blonde she was putty in her hands.

The ship violently started to rock as Sin emerged from the depths of the water, flying into the air and hovering close to the ship.

"Sin!" A man shouted out heading to the harpoon.

Sam ran up to the man at the harpoon and shouted out to him. "What do you think you're doing? If you stick a damn harpoon in it, it will drag us under the water!"

"Sin is going for Kilika! We gotta distract it or something!"

"Our families are in Kilika! Forgive us, Lady Quinn!" He shouted out to the blonde and then he did as he was told not to and he shot the harpoon directly into one of Sin's fins, which caused the creature to drag the boat through the waves quickly. Scales flew off of its body turning into monsters and landing on the deck, continuously reappearing after they were killed.

O

When Sin attacked Zanarkand that day, I woke up in Spira.

I kept hoping it would work in reverse, too.

I was just fooling myself.

Maybe it was that day, on the sea, under the burning sun.

I started to give up hope.

I was in a foreign world, I wasn't going home. This was my new reality.

I was stuck in it for good.

O

Authors Note

Thank you for all of your wonderful reviews, I do hope that you like this chapter.

Leave me some more reviews and I will make sure to put up another long chapter very soon.

Thanks for reading.