AN: Dear All. Thank you for taking the time to read my first foray into fanfiction. I have always been a big Faberry fan and have read countless of amazing Faberry fanfiction that sooner or later I knew that I would have to give it go too.

This is a light fanfic based in an Alternate Universe (AU) and the characters are somewhat similar to what we see on Glee but I can't promise anything yet since this story-line actually crept up on me when I was trying to think of what to write for an original fiction story. I'm not even sure where this would go as this fanfic seems to have a life of its own.

I look forward to reading your reviews and constructive criticism as English is not my first language.

And now, without further ado, I present to you, "The Knight and her Princess"

Chapter 1: The Little Knight and her Little Princess

It was a busy day at the marketplace. Merchants and craftsmen were calling out to the commoners to buy their wares. Fruit sellers hollered out their fresh fruits for sale. Enticing smells of freshly baked bread and pies wafted through the air, contrasting with the strong smells of animals, sweat, and earth.

A little blonde girl dashed across the muddy road, narrowly avoiding being trampled over by a horse. Slipping into an alleyway, she leaned against the wall to catch her breath, occasionally peeking around the corner. Feeling for a roll of bread in the right pocket of her grubby trousers, she crouched down and bit into the roll moaning at the delicious taste of the still warm bread. Beads of sweat trickled down her forehead, evidence of her exertion from earlier on when she and her partner in crime sprinted away from a bellowing baker who had been robbed off three loaves of bread, a roll and a small hunk of cheese. A quick exchange of looks was all that was needed between the two little street urchins before they split up and disappeared into the crowd.

The girl used the sleeve of her tunic two sizes too large for her, to wipe away her sweat. She will be meeting her partner at their hideout when the sun goes down to divvy up the food. Although her loot was considerably smaller (her partner was the one who made off with the three loaves), it was her who acted as a decoy since her partner had poor control over her social skills. The baker had a fondness for pretty little girls and while she played the wide-eyed innocent little lost girl, her partner managed to steal the loaves of bread and when the baker finally realized and turned to pursue her partner, the little girl managed to grab whatever food that was at hand and sprinted off.

Grinning at her success, she allowed her gaze to wander around the alleyway, coming to a halt on a pile of discarded wood on the opposite wall across from her. Certain that her pursuer had given up the chase, she let her guard down and stood up, slipping her half eaten roll back into her pocket. Grabbing her newsboy hat from her back pocket as she made her way to the pile of wood, she positioned it on her head, concealing her fair hair.

Whistling softly, she rummaged among the pile and let out a small squeal of delight when she found a piece of wood with a length and width that was to her liking. Swinging it this way and that like a make-believe sword she began to softly recite her favorite story.

"The fearless knight drew his sword as he entered the cave, feeling the dragon's gaze upon him waiting to strike"

She gripped the end of the piece of wood with two hands, staring down the alley at her imaginary foe. Oh, the dragon was crafty, hiding himself behind that pile of rubbish but she could imagine his tail sticking out, twitching with excitement. She slowly crept up to the pile of rubbish, out of the dragon's sight. If she was going to be able to rescue the princess in time, she would have to kill the dragon as fast as possible. Just as she was about to launch her attack,

"HELP! HEL-"

A scream for help that was cut off, stopped her in mid swing. She looked around to pinpoint the source of the cry and realized that it was coming from over the wall at the end of the alley. Imaginary dragon forgotten, she hurried over to the wall, scrambling up to the top and peeked over the ledge.

A man with his back facing the wall was clutching a struggling little brunette girl who looked to be about her age. A grimy hand was over the brunette's mouth to prevent her from calling for help again.

"Lookee here young miss. Ye better stop yer wailin' if you don't want tha' big nose of yers to be broken eh?"

The brunette girl struggled free from his hand covering her mouth and turned her head to glare up at the man.

"The King will have your head once he captures you and charges you for treason and kidnapping" she growled.

The man threw back his head with a loud "Hah!" and slapped his hand over the little girl's mouth again, crushing her back to his chest to prevent her from struggling further.

"The King?! 'By the time 'e sends out a search party, ye would be on yer way ter another kingdom! Now, quit yer strugglin while we wait for my friend ter check tha' the coast is clear"

The blonde girl perched on the ledge rolled her eyes. As if the brunette would obey the kidnapper's orders! She nodded with respect as the brunette struggled even harder and bit the man's hand that was covering her mouth, drawing blood.

The man let out a yelp of pain and roughly turned the brunette to face him and slapped her hard across the face. The brunette gasped at the shock of the impact and looked up at the man with fear in her eyes. But, facing him gave her a full view of what was behind him and her eyes widened when she saw a blonde girl perched on the wall behind him, with a finger to her mouth signaling at her to keep quiet and a thumbs up, indicating that she had a plan. The brunette gave a slight nod of understanding and before the amazed eyes of the blonde, she transformed into a brave little girl to a weepy, sniveling mess.

"P...please let me go sir," cried the brunette, sobbing to distract her kidnapper from the girl behind him.

The man smirked with delight as he watched his victim give up in her attempts to escape. Unknowingly behind him, the blonde girl was loosening a brick from the old wall of her perch. Finding the brick to be off suitable weight, she slipped her wooden stick through her worn out belt to free her other hand and raised the brick above her head. With a huge heave she threw the brick down at the man's head with as much strength as she could muster. The force coupled with gravity and luck knocked the man out cold by the time his body had hit the floor.

The brunette gazed wide-eyed at her fallen kidnapper, her mouth o-shaped in surprise. Her gaze switched to her blonde heroine who had leaped down from her perch and proceeded to squat down and rummage through the man's pockets, pocketing a silver coin she found and shaking her head in disbelief at the lack of weapons he had on his person.

The still shaken brunette prepared to thank the blonde for rescuing her but took a step back when the girl stood up and finally made eye contact with her. Hazel eyes bored into her own chocolate ones as they appraised each other taking in each other's state of dress and stance. The blonde smirked as she took in the frills and laces on the dress of the brunette.

"What?" asked the brunette self-consciously, forgetting her attempt to thank her rescuer.

"You can't walk around out here dressed that way miss" said the blonde smiling at her.

"Excuse me?" said the brunette mildly insulted on behalf of her best friend Kurt who had suggested the dress in the first place.

The blonde shrugged.

"Don't you own a cloak or something? That dress is practically displaying your riches for everyone else to see and take advantage off" she said indicating towards the fallen man behind her.

"Oh... oh well I did. I mean I did have a cloak but I left it behind with my... my nanny when I decided to...explore"

For the first time in her life the brunette was scrambling for words to explain herself to the mysterious girl before her, blushing at her sudden ineptness of speech.

Rolling her eyes at the thought of the brunette still having a nanny, the blonde dropped her easygoing expression when she saw that the brunette's hands were shaking. The blonde felt concerned since it was obvious that the brunette has never been out on her own before.

"Are you badly hurt?"

The brunette blinked at the change in manner of the blonde.

"Um... well my cheek is rather sore from where he slapped me" said the brunette shyly.

She took a sharp intake of breath when the blonde suddenly invaded her space and gently lifted up her chin to survey her face with serious hazel eyes. She noted with a little annoyance that the girl was already taller than her despite their similar age, whose blonde hair was sticking out from underneath her hat. Even though there was dirt smeared on the blonde's face and clothes, she could tell that the blonde was already very pretty.

A low whistle snapped her out of her musings as the blonde let go of her face and looked thoughtfully at her.

"What? What?"

The blonde shook her head still looking at thoughtfully at her face. The brunette felt confused. Is there something on her...oh no.

"Oh sweet heavens! Is it my face? Is it disfigured? Oh why did I decide to explore on my own! I should have never left Kurt with Miss Pillsbury. What am I going to tell Daddy?!"

The brunette began to ramble pacing back and forth, wringing her hands in despair.

The blonde was amused and started to giggle at the shorter girl.

The brunette swiveled around, hands on her hips, ready to reprimand her blonde savior.

"I do not appreciate your glee at my current plight. I'll have you know that when my Daddy finds out that my face has been scarred for life, he'll…"

"It's fine" chuckled the blonde. The brunette paused mid-rant.

"What?"

The blonde reached out and gently poked her cheek and the brunette winced at the pain that came with it.

"Your face-it's fine. It's just going to be bruised that's all"

Relief flooded through the brunette. Before she could say anything, the forgotten kidnapper let out a groan of pain, reminding the two girls of their current situation.

"Let's get out of here before he wakes up or his friend gets back" said the blonde girl dragging the brunette by her arm towards the wall that she had jumped down from. The brunette looked warily at the wall looming above her.

"How am I going to get up there?"

The blonde shrugged and got down on one knee and cupped her hands.

"I'll give you a boost"

The brunette hesitated. Never in her life has she done anything like this before! First she was kidnapped, and then rescued by this blonde girl, and now she was about to climb up a wall. Palace life was dull in comparison to this. Already distracted by this blonde, her hands had already stopped shaking.

"Are you sure?"

"Hurry up!"

The brunette tentatively placed her foot unto the blonde's waiting hands and squealed when the blonde gave her a boost over the wall.

"Oof someone's heavy" said the blonde, her voice muffled by the brunette's dress in her face.

A gasp of outrage from above the blonde's head was heard.

"I am not heavy. How dare you…"

The blonde already having been exposed to the now familiar rants of the girl, grinned as she expertly tuned the girl out and took a couple of steps away from the wall.

"What are you…"

The blonde took off with a sprint towards the wall and launching herself with her left leg, managed to scramble up the wall, getting a grip on the ledge and pulling herself up. The look of wonder she received from the brunette perched beside her tempted her to jump down and repeat the stunt again that was taught to her by her partner Santana. Winking at the brunette, she dropped down lightly on the other side of the wall and waited for the brunette to join her. After a little hesitance the brunette jumped down from the ledge albeit a little less graceful than the blonde but it was a start, the blonde nodded with approval.

"So, what's your name?" asked the brunette curiously as they made their way down the alleyway.

The blonde raised an eyebrow at her question.

"What's yours?" she asked back.

The brunette hesitated for a moment.

"Rachel. My name is Rachel"

Rachel. The blonde mulled over her name for a moment before nodding with acceptance.

"Interesting"

"What? Why?" said Rachel suddenly nervous. Did the blonde recognize her name and realized who she was?

"I thought your name would be something else. Like… Tiny," said the blonde smiling cheekily back at her.

She made a face at the nickname, while considering giving one of her infamous speeches in defense of her height. Surely, one must know that one should not judge someone's height when they are just ten years of age.

"I happen to still be growing. After all, I am only 10 years old" said Rachel in a know-it-all tone.

"Ahh" said the blonde, nodding sagely.

"What?" asked Rachel, annoyed.

"We are of the same age and yet," the blonde indicated at their height difference where she was at least half a head taller than Rachel, "I am taller."

"You'll have a lot of catching up to do," she continued, patting Rachel on the head.

Rachel huffed and tried to change the subject. She was still shaken from her near kidnapping attempt and was not mentally prepared to debate on the subject of height with the blonde.

"You still haven't told me your name yet," she pointed out.

The blonde gave her a contemplative look before giving her such a pretty smile that nearly knocked the breath out of Rachel.

"Quinn. My name is Quinn."

End of Chapter 1