7I Can Hear Heaven, But Heaven Can't Hear Me
Rating: T
Pairings: ?
A/N: AU Glee verse. This is a mix of the characters and the idea of Dalton Fight Club.
"The only antidote to mental suffering is physical pain." -Karl Marx
xXx
Shelby woke from her deep sleep and sighed as she stretched out her arms over her head. She silently cursed herself for falling asleep again after work, the shifts at the office were getting longer it seemed and even with Beth staying with her sister for a while, the days were hectic.
After pulling on a pair of slippers, she trudged down a flight of winding stairs. She could hear the sound of clinking plates and the soft zip of a bag being opened up.
"Rachel?"
The rustling stopped and then started over, this time a little quicker.
Shelby's brows furrowed at the silence that she was met with. She sighed and walked into the kitchen. Her eyes scanned over the marble island and the steel table set in the corner until she finally saw what she was looking for.
There her daughter was standing, next to the pantry, shoving a mess of items into a sports bag, one that Shelby had been spotting around for a while.
"Honey do you want me to make some dinner?" Shelby glanced at the oven clock. "Though its extremely late for dinner…"
The younger brunette made no sound in response and instead focused on stocking up her bag.
"Where are you going anyways? Its eleven o'clock at night, don't you have tests tomorrow? Shouldn't kids your age be studying now?"
"I guess you don't know anything about kids my age."
"You've been going out every single night ever since…" Shelby trailed off once she realized what direction she was going in. "…Since it happened you've been so much more distant. You know that it's not your fault, right?"
Rachel stood up and slung her red bag over her shoulder. She went to face Shelby, and the woman took in her appearance. It had been a long time since the girl had shown off her horse sweaters, knee socks and Mary Janes. Now the argyle had been replaced with worn jeans, a dark hoodie and a pair of beat up converse. The shoes were doused in mud from the recent storm and the black hoodie covering her torso was about three sizes too big for the petite girl.
"Hiram and Leroy loved you so much Rach," Said girl froze up at the mention of her previous parents. "So please just let me in so we can-."
"I really don't want to talk anymore. Bye."
And with that, the girl pushed her way out of the doorway, bumping shoulders with her birth mom, just for good measure. Shelby propped herself up against the fridge, all she could do was take in the quiet buzzing of the refrigerator and the rebounding noise of the front door slamming shut.
xXx
The air outside was still fresh from yesterdays rain; Rachel stormed from the porch of the house to the smooth cement curb. From a mile away she could tell that her friends were approaching. Before she could even drop her bag down, a medium sized truck screeched to a halt right in front of Rachel. The window in the front rolled down and a dark head popped out. "Hey R." The door opened fully and the lean shadow appeared.
"Hey Warbler. Ready?"
"Yeah, are you sure that you should be coming tonight? The bruise Pierce landed on you looked pretty gruesome last night. In fact why are you not wearing any tape over that?" He pointed to her nose and lightly tapped it. Rachel flinched and frowned at him.
"Shelby didn't even notice. I don't feel like she cares, in fact I feel no bond whatsoever when I'm there. For all she knows, I'm going out to party and do normal teenage things. I need to feel something besides numb," She shook her head. "This is why I need to go out with you there. It's the only place I can feel."
"What exactly do you feel when you're being thrown around like a doll?"
Almost automatically she answered with, "Alive."
Kurt gave her a look of true concern before reluctantly grabbing her things and tossing them into the back of his boyfriend's truck. When Rachel hopped into the back, Kurt ran a hand through his perfectly well done hair, "I'm still not sure why I'm still letting you do this."
xXx
The drive over to Dalton always gave Rachel a stomach full of butterflies. Their wings would sputter and flutter. It was like a whole cage full was emptied into her. She had the directions memorized in her head. Left at the stop sign at the end of her street, drive for six miles and cross the railroad tracks, then all that was left was to drive, drive and drive until a shining black castle shaped area came into view.
If looked at from an innocent passerby's standpoint, there would be nothing to see, just the outline of the only all boy's private school in the district. But to the trained eye there was dim light emitting from the parking lot under the school.
Blaine's truck pulled up to the entrance and after a quick exchange, the gates to the lot were opened. After the vehicle pulled farther in, the two boys guarding the passageway, slammed the gates shut and locked them up. The lights in the tunnel slowly got brighter and the silhouettes of the growing crowds came into view.
The three got out of their seats and Rachel climbed into the bed of the truck and began throwing their gear onto the asphalt of the lot.
"Not too late to back out Berry."
The girl unloading the items looked behind her and then flung herself down off the lift. Standing on the ground floor were three girls. "Fabray. Pierce. Lopez." The girl she first addressed stepped closer and Rachel stood to her full height to stare the blonde's face.
Glowing hazel eyes shot through her like fire and the brunette took in a deep breath. "How's that nose doing Short Stack? My girl B got you pretty bad." Behind her the taller blonde shot an apologetic look while the other girl started to snicker violently.
The three approached closer and Rachel's heart started to beat rapidly, but as soon as they were there, Puck and Blaine were leaning on either of the short girls shoulders.
"Hello ladies! Is there a problem here? Looking fine by the way Fabray."
Said blonde didn't even react to Puck's leer and instead kept her eyes trained on the brunette standing in the middle. Rachel felt like she was under a microscope whenever Quinn looked at her like this.
A few months back, it seemed like more than half of her school had found out about Dalton's Fight Club. Blaine had initially dropped the secret to Rachel and Kurt a long time ago. Kurt was getting suspicious of his bruises and the cuts that were appearing out of the blue.
It sounds like something out of a movie. A bullied student finally has too much of the silent torture of the glares and sneers of his supposed 'tolerant' peers. He snaps and the result is a nightly fight club that rages on during the lights off hours of Dalton.
Originally Blaine had used punching bags from the thrift store, but as more people heard about it, the more intense and dangerous it got. It seemed like a lot of students had beef they needed to vent out with others. Rachel had always thought of it as a bad idea but when Rachel lost her dads she found herself with anger. Angry at herself, her dads, and Shelby. When the rage faded, she couldn't feel anything at all. That's when she turned to Blaine and Dalton. She felt something when she was out there. It was an improvement from the normal numbing feeling.
After a couple of months with them, Rachel noticed more of the kids from her school pooling in little by little. When Quinn, Santana and Brittany turned up, she wasn't that surprised. What did surprise her was the fact that Brittany had a mean left look. But not once did she see the Queen Bee herself lift a finger. All the hazel-eyed beauty did was watch with trained eyes and a seemingly uninterested look on her face.
"Hmm, I think that the Midget's beak looks better this way, it gives much more character. But hey at least it still works. But damn, now she can't inhale the whole river when she goes down for water."
"Did you say something Lopez? I couldn't hear anything over your fake Lima Heights talk," She let a minute of thick silence pass and when steam started to make its way out of Santana's ear she finished up. "Oh also I'm honestly curious, how do you manage to keep up with the other two members of the Unholy Trinity? Your boobs must weight yourself down."
Too far. But Rachel didn't even care; her two friends flanking her sides renewed her confidence.
The fiery brunette launched herself at Rachel and it took both Brittany and Quinn to hold her back.
"See you in the mat Lopez." She gave her a coy wink. "Fabray, Pierce… always a pleasure."
xXx
After the mats were set up, Blaine raised his hands and shushed the crowd.
"Okay, okay! We're going to go over the rules of Fight Club, just-," A few groans were heard echoing within the lot. "Just because I see some newbies here tonight. One, don't talk about fight club. Number two-."
"Don't talk about fight club, yeah we know Anderson, just fucking hurry up! I'm feeling irritable.'
"Isn't that normal Lezpez?"
"Puckerman I swear to God!"
Blaine cleared his throat. "Anyway, like I was saying. Number three, if someone says 'stop' respect them and end the fight. Four, one fight at a time. We only have one set of mats so only one match going a time. Five, we did have a no shirts, no shoes policy but then…" He gestured to Rachel. "So shirts are optional. Six, try to avoid any areas that will show normally. Don't aim for the face… Ehem, Pierce are you listening? We all know what happened last time. Ready? Let's go!"
xXx
The first couple of fights were standard; a couple of hit and one of the people would back out after lightly bruising. Rachel stood on the sidelines of the circle and she could feel the blood pulsing throughout her veins. She was obviously ready to go, her hands clenched at her sides whenever someone took a punch. Santana was eyeing her from across the mat, obviously out for blood.
Matt and Sam KO'd out at the same time, something along the lines of one of them stealing another's girlfriend. After they were dragged off the mats, Rachel automatically stepped up and started to loosen up. Santana immediately followed but was held back by a perfectly manicured hand.
"My turn S."
The rumble of the crowd grew louder as Quinn stepped up right next to Rachel. She also started to warm up. The shorter girl simply gaped.
"Are you actually doing this? You have no experience." The blonde cracked her neck and smirked fully at Rachel.
"You have no idea."
When Puck rang the bell, time seemed to slow for both of them. Rachel shuffled to the left and then ducked Quinn's oncoming punch. Rachel's hands made fists at the temples near her eyes; she kept her brown trained on a deep hazel. A leg swung out of nowhere and all of the wind was knocked out of Rachel's taut stomach, she doubled over and the people surrounding them seemed to move in closer to them.
The heat from all the bodies added to the aggressive skin on skin contact made both girls blood run hot. Their breathing was labored and when Quinn went in for a second kick, Rachel grabbed her leg and twisted her body sideways to shove the pale girl to the floor. Quinn hit the ground with a thud, but she got up nonetheless.
Blood was running down the side of her bottom lip and bruises were already starting to form on Rachel's fair olive skin.
Kurt was grimacing and holding his head in his hands. He caught the wild look in Rachel's eyes and turned around, not wanting to see the rest.
"You're… good Fabray."
"Same to you Short Stack. Almost as good as me," Quinn weaved to the right to avoid the small fist approaching her throat. "But not as a good!"
Quinn landed a direct hit on her and Rachel took a step back to recover from the hit.
"Wow Fabray! Aiming at the face? How sweet," Rachel growled out. "Two can play that way."
She angled her body like she was about to break out into a sprint but instead she brought her leg up directly at Quinn's face. A smack was heard and Quinn stumbled back, Brittany breaking her fall.
Rachel's adrenaline was on a high and when Quinn made a move to get up, all she could do was charge full throttle. But the brunette didn't make it too far into the crowd, Puck grabbed her from around the waist and carried her to the bed of Blaine's truck.
As the high left her body, Rachel was left feeling sore and cold. A rush of pain struck her in the face and coursed down through her until her world faded into darkness.
xXx
A/N: I'm not really sure what I just wrote. It just all came running out.