A/N: Happy Easter or, because I myself don't celebrate it: Happy Everything (like Dianna Agron tweeted so gracefully. Isn't she amazing?).

Speaking of her character, Quinn, btw: She's going to be in this story very soon. Quinn's my favorite character so do not worry about her being neglected.

Chapter 12

When I materialize, I immediately recognize the place. I'm standing in McKinley High's schoolyard.

It's late, and there are only a few kids around who apparently just got freed from detention. They look right through me just like usual. Apparently the rules haven't changed despite the fact that I'm now after a human instead of an alien: I'm invisible to everyone around me.

Is she in this building or outside? Why is she still here at all?

I look up and see that the fifth floor lights are still on. The rest of the building appears dark so chances are that Brittany...I mean my target is up there. But if I'm wrong and she's somewhere out here I'll lose the fight and my points.

Finn should be here any second and I don't have any time to waste so I settle for the quickest option: trusting my instincts.

I always get a little excited before consciously using my suit. When I'm already in the middle of a fight and it starts to work I barely notice it, but in moments like this it's different.

I clearly remember the first time I realized how the suit works. I was chasing an alien, or really Nishi was chasing an alien and the alien was chasing me. I ran as fast as I could, but no matter how hard I tried the monster would always catch up.

I've always been a fast runner, but this alien was incredibly fast and I knew I wouldn't stand a chance without a miracle. It was when a long flight of stairs came into my line of vision and I felt my enemy breathing down my neck that I truly panicked.

I started to cry but kept running. The prospect of breaking my neck was too far away in comparison to the monster right behind me. I didn't ponder on my options. I didn't think about if I could make it. All I thought about was that I didn't want to be eaten alive.

So I ran.

And then I jumped.

And I jumped higher than I'd ever jumped before. I jumped higher than humanly possible. I had put all my strength into the jump and I shot upwards at least ten metres high. When I looked down I panicked again, because I've always been afraid of heights. They make me dizzy to the point where my legs shake and buckle, and my breath becomes heavy and yea, well...

You get the picture.

So when I looked down and saw that not only was the flight of stairs was much longer than expected, but also that I was practically fucking flying, I was overwhelmed by fear and temporarily forgot about the monster behind me. Instead I focused on the ground drawing closer and imagined splattered brains and shattered bones. I was terrified.

Instead, I landed on my two feet with one hand on the ground and only opened my eyes when I realized I was still breathing. The asphalt below me had suffered, though and there were cracks in the street around my feet and the spot where my fist had hit the ground. I, on the other hand, was still in one piece.

I couldn't believe my luck and as I examined my limbs, trying to find a single scratch I noticed how big my muscles had grown. It was pretty gross at first, but I got used to it.

Back when I started my missions, only these kinds of extreme emotions would trigger my abilities. It was usually fear or anger and, hell, I have enough anger within me to last two lifetimes.

Emotions used to overwhelm me, mentally and physically. I'd be sucked into this dark pit of pure feeling, incapable of freeing myself. It was like a vigilant coma.

Now it's different. Gantz forced me to take back control over my body. I learned that thoughts control emotions and emotions control my physical state.

Basically I focus on what I want to do and how I have to feel for that. I concentrate on what that emotion feels like in my forehead and then I imitate the feeling. My body usually reacts right away. I've had two years of practice after all.

By now it's pure routine. I've learned how to activate my armour and use it whenever I need it. So I stand back, eyes on my aim. I breathe in a few times.

I start speeding towards the building and hope the run-up will be enough. My eyes are fixed on a window on the fifth floor. I run as fast as I can, bend my knees and jump.

I reach the window easily and smash through it with my fist, landing inside a classroom.

No one's there.

I've got no time to lose so I run across the hallway into the opposite classroom.

No one's there, either.

Damn it.

Finn will be catching up to me any second so I got no option but to search the floor as quickly as possible. As I run down the hall I find most of the doors open, so it's easy to scan the rooms quickly and move on.

Right at the end of the corridor, in the very last room before the door that leads to the stairwell I find her.

She's sitting at her desk, quietly studying some book and taking notes on a sheet of paper in front of her. She's alone in the room and I can only see her back. Her hair's pulled back into a pony tail and her left hand is playing with a lose strand.

I approach her quietly and draw my gun. She doesn't look up. She's completely unaware of the threat. My palms start to sweat and when I blink I realize that my forehead is actually sweating, too. "It's just a target," I remind myself. "Just this one shot and I can go home."

Home.

What is that?

Dad?

Shaking my head, I refocus on my mission. It's simple. It should be simple.

But for some reason it's not.

She's a person, right? I've never killed a person before. Maybe she's not a person after all. With that thought on my mind I quietly step closer towards her. I pull the upper trigger and the screen on my X-gun shows just a normal human skull.

But that doesn't mean anything, right?

I move closer with my finger on the trigger. If I get closer to her, maybe she'll notice me and reveal her true self. Maybe she'll turn into the alien she must be and fight back. She'll give me a reason to shoot.

I stand behind her and my heart starts to hammer and my skin starts to burn just like it did when she touched my arm. I swallow thickly and look over her shoulder. Her notes will surely contain some kind of plan to destroy humankind. She's a fiend, a villain, a target!

Spanish.

She's studying Spanish.

And all her notes are wrong, but that's not the point.

She's human. She's just a student. And Gantz wants her dead.

I know it's no use to ask questions so I grip my weapon tighter and take aim once more. It's just the back of her head and who knows? Maybe she's done something terrible to deserve this. Maybe I'll be the good guy in this after all. Maybe it won't be as hard to shoot a person.

Maybe all those movies and books where killing someone haunts you for the rest of your life are all lies.

My lips are dry and I try to lick them, but it's no use, because there's not the slightest hint of wetness on my tongue either. The dryness has crept down my throat and swallowing has become painful.

It's just one shot. One shot, and it'll all be over. Two years and it'll finally be over.

My hands start to tremble and my fingers twitch. All I have to do is pull the triggers.

I try.

Once.

Twice.

My fingers won't move.

Three times.

I can't.

Defeated, I lower my gun. Who am I kidding? I can't do this. I am Santana Lopez. I'm not a very nice person. I'm a sarcastic bitch.

I'm a lot of things, but I'm not a murderer.

Slowly I make my way around Brittany's desk. She's no longer my target and this is my only chance to look at her without her noticing. It's curiosity that urges me on. Maybe I'll be able to learn something about her this time. When she can't see me, her spell won't work, right?

Her eyes are fixated on her book and her brows are furrowed. "This is too hard," she sighs.

It's actually not, just some really basic grammar stuff I could teach her easily, but she makes a face as if someone had asked her to write an essay on quantum physics. "So they call you 'Brain' to mock you," I mumble.

She looks up from her notes and for a second I'm afraid she heard me. But she only bites her lip and stares right through me, lost in thought and then I see it:

She's not an alien, but she's not an average human being, either. Her blue eyes are full of wonder and somehow make me feel happy and safe in a way nobody ever has before. Her eyes are like windows to a world without all the misery and darkness I know and I'm not trapped in her gaze, because she knows no prison.

No. She's not an alien.

She's not a monster.

She's not a siren.

She's an angel.

"There you are."

Finn's found us way too quickly and he storms into the room with a determined expression on his face.

"What are you waiting for?" he asks, raising his weapon.

"Wait!" I practically scream. "This is a mistake!"

But he only scrunches his face and says: "What kind of mistake should that be? The website said it all: We're given a target. We kill the target. We receive points. We're just fighting an alien, right?" He adds with a grin, "We're protecting mankind!"

And I gotta admit that that's pretty much what you can get from Quinn's website.

"No!" I object. "I mean... I don't know. It's just..."

Finn's too new to this, too eager for me to stop him. I can see it in his eyes; his mind is set on one goal: to win.

"Fine," I say and raise my gun and point it at him.

Finn and I are now both pointing our guns at each other with Brittany, sitting obliviously between us, studying Spanish. It's pretty weird.

For a second everything's quiet; then Brittany sighs and Finn barks across the room: "You know what happens if you kill me."

Crap. He knows.

"Well, you can't kill me, either," I smirk at him and take a step forward to stand between his gun and Brittany.

All I have to do is keep him occupied long enough until Gantz' countdown runs out. I'll lose my points, but I'll be damned if let him win.

"Fine," he says and lowers his gun and storms forward into my direction, tackling me and throwing me to the ground. But my suit is already activated and Finn hasn't figured out to use his yet, so I simply lift one leg, put my foot on his chest and kick him across the room.

When he smashes against the wall, some posters fall to the ground as the bricks shake under the impact.

Brittany screams and jumps from her seat. I can only hope that she's smart enough to run. I can keep Finn in this room for the next hour. I can keep fighting him, but it'd be a lot easier if she wasn't around. The more distance between his gun and her, the better.

But she just stands there rooted to the spot with her eyes wide open in shock and confusion written all over her perfect face. She stands there and Finn gets up and takes aim and I sprint over to him and knock his arm away.

Five seconds pass and the blackboard on the opposite wall bursts into pieces as Brittany screams again.

"Run!" I yell at her, but of course she can't hear me.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Finn snaps at me, before attempting to punch me in the face. I block his fist easily and hold it steady, forcing him to stand back.

His face turns red as he tries to fight himself loose. His veins pop as he clenches his teeth. "Fuck you," he hisses. But as his anger grows so does his suit, and as he's gaining strength he realizes what he's capable of.

He pushes hard and forces me backwards, and all I can do is swing at him with my free hand. I hit him in the stomach and force the air out of his lungs. I smash his nose and hear it crack. He starts to bleed, but doesn't give up.

Finn's becoming mad, really fucking mad and his suit grows stronger and stronger. The giant turns into a beast. The one upside is that he's now more focused on me than he is on Brittany.

I feel a kick to my gut and fly backwards. My head hits the edge of a desk and – shit- that fucking hurts. Not a second passes and he jumps across the room to land on top of me.

"You're dead," he hisses as he lifts his arm to strike.

"You first," comes my immediate response as the chair I reached out for splinters over his head.

I'm back up on my feet only half a second faster than he is. He wipes his nose and rubs the back of his head and yet again launches himself forward against me. It's like he's still playing football; his body is the only weapon he really knows how to use.

He rams into me and I fall backwards against glass. He punches and I dodge; his fist shatters the window and I take the opportunity to strike back. My right fist finds his chin and my left follows just after and a gush of blood sprays out of his nostrils and onto the floor. Just as I'm about to strike a third time he grabs my wrists and knocks his giant forehead against mine.

I manage to kick him back again, but his suit has grown strong enough to absorb the impact and within seconds he's storming back towards me. I try to dodge, but his elbow hits my rib cage and I stumble sideways outside the window.

Fortunately my suit is working overtime as well so it doesn't take much effort to catch the window frame as I fall and swing myself right back in through the next pane, feet first.

Glass shatters and I land right next to Brittany who's only managed to take a few steps backwards and is now frozen on the spot again. "What's going on?" she whimpers and Finn's head jerks up into her direction. Quickly he raises his weapon and just as quickly I push Brittany behind me. She falls, gets back up and despite everything still doesn't run.

"Fucking shit. Get out of here!" I yell desperately.

When Finn tries to tackle me this time I grab his waist and throw him sideways, but he manages to get hold of my neck with one bear hand and pulls me down with him. I roll over my shoulder and we stand in front of each other, face to face, breathing heavily.

It's like a duel in one of these old Western movies where each of us is waiting for the other person to move first. Finn wipes his chin and grins and it's only then that I notice the warmth creeping down my forehead. Two years ago I felt every little scratch, but nowadays I barely feel anything. I wipe at my eyebrows to keep the blood from running into my eyes and ponder my next move.

I can let him attack me again and keep defending myself to keep him occupied. Or I can strike first and maybe knock him unconscious.

He's standing with his back towards the windows now and I squint, because the light's blinding me a little.

At this point I can only estimate how much time has passed, but my gut tell me it's been about half an hour. Only thirty more minutes to distract that scumbag. Thirty more minutes and Brittany will be safe and I'll lose everything.

He bends his knees ever so slightly and I know he's about to attack again. But then he turns towards Brittany and immediately I understand that it's not me he's aiming for this time. Out of reflex I grab another chair and heave it into his direction. He dodges, which throws his aim off, and when I hear the chair crash through the window, I'm already on the floor with him on top of me.

His hands are around my neck. My hands find his arm, but he's strong; his face is red and there's madness in his eyes. He doesn't even care about the rules anymore. He doesn't care if he dies. He will strangle me if I let him.

I feel my heart beat sharp against my temples and gasp for air, but without success. It's actually a familiar feeling, not being able to breathe. It reminds me of what happened before Gantz.

Death doesn't really scare me anymore. Even if I survive, if I win this fight, I'll lose my points. I'll be trapped in this cruel world for another eternity, maybe to die in my next mission anyway.

I close my eyes and hope it'll be over fast. I hope he'll kill us both within the next couple of heartbeats so I can stop worrying. All the darkness surrounding me will fade away. I won't have a reason to hate anymore, or to suffer, or to rage. I'll be free.

Suddenly blue flashes behind my eyelids. It's just a blur at first, but as I feel my life slipping away, the outlines focus to form a picture I hadn't counted on to appear as my last thought: Brittany's eyes. And then she takes a step back so I can see her face. She looks at me, looks right into me like she always does and it's like she pins my soul into my body and forces me to stay awake.

And then I realize I don't have a choice. I have to go on. She won't let me die.

I open my eyes and gather all my strength and unleash it in a single blow to Finn's head. He flies across the room and when I get up, he doesn't. It gives me a second to cough, breathe, and recover. It gives me a second to keep myself from crying and it gives me time to think.

He lies there unconscious and I know I've won and lost at the same time. All I have to do is to wait for Gantz' countdown to reach zero. I'll lose my points, but at least I won't be a monster like Finn.

The transport begins and as Finn starts to disappear I sense that something's off. It's too early for us to be called back.

Oh no.

I turn around and scan the room. Where's Brittany?

Letting my gaze wander through the room I'm desperately hoping to see her cowering beneath one of the desks, but when my eyes catch the broken window a horrifying thought flashes through my mind.

It can't be.

I run to the window and take a deep breath before leaning over to look down. We're on the fifth floor. Please just let her have run away.

But I see her immediately lying down there right next to the chair I threw at Finn. He dodged. She didn't. And that the transport has already begun can only mean one thing.

Without thinking, I jump. I've got no time to lose. I land and the impact makes the ground beneath me quake and crack. She's lying there with her eyes closed as if she was sleeping and for a second I'm tricking myself into thinking that she is. Then I see the blood running from the back of her head, colouring the spot on which she's lying red.

And I want to undo it all.

I want to go back in time and talk to Finn. I want to apologize for dislocating his knee. I want to unsay all those insults and convince him to just let it go. I've killed before, but never a person. Now I'm a murderer.

Life never meant much to me. My life never mattered much.

That's why two years ago I committed suicide.

I died so all this would stop.

And then I fought to make it stop.

But now all I can think about is to rewind this last fight that was supposed to set me free. I want to take Brittany in my arms, put the blood back in, fill her lungs with air once more, restart her heart, repair her skull and neck and let her blue pierce me once more. Take it back! I take it back! Everything I said and thought and did, I take it back. I take back all wounds I inflicted, all the harm I've caused. I give back my points.

Just to un-kill her.

But I already see my feet start to disappear. It's too late.

She's gone.

As my body vanishes I close my eyes and a familiar voice rings in my head: "Do you want to live?"

I don't know.

I open my eyes and find myself back in the apartment. Finn's already there and awake and he's looking at me as if he'd just kicked a puppy. "I don't know what your problem is. It's just a game, right?" he says and rubs the back of his neck.

"No, you idiot. It's not," I snap back at him, but he just furrows his eyebrows in confusion.

"Gantz, you bastard!" I yell as I draw my gun.

"Wow, hold up. What are you doing?" Finn takes a few steps back and raises his arms. Dimwit. I'm not going to shoot him.

"Gantz, open up!" I knock on the ball. "Open up!"

The orb opens and without hesitation I aim at Puck's head and fire. It's all his fault. He tricked me.

I wait five seconds, but nothing happens.

I shoot again. "Die!"

And again. "Liar!"

And again.

And once more.

The orb snaps back shut and Puck is still as alive as he can be.

"Time for the points." Gantz' voice sings.

"Finn Hudson. Zero points. Quit snoozing, start fighting."

Finn looks at me in confusion. But I don't want to talk to him. I don't ever want to see his face again.

"Santana Lopez. 15 points." I almost cry. It's all I wanted and yet, it's exactly the opposite. And Gantz isn't quite done with me, yet: "Your life has ended. What you do with your new life is entirely up to me."

So that's what this was about. It was a punishment for Puck trying to help me out. Apparently I needed a reminder of the fact that I'm not worth shit. A goodbye present from Gantz. Sick bastard.

That's the theory anyway.

How can I go home now? And if my memory is going to be erased, how much of me will really vanish?

But then I realize the 100 point menu hasn't appeared yet and before I start to wonder why, Gantz speaks again:

"Brittany S. Pierce. Zero points. Welcome back."

And another transmission begins.