All right, so this is my first fanfic, and I personally don't think it's very good. Any constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated.

I don't own Glee, because if I did, Jesse would've been redeemed somehow.

It hadn't felt like winning.

Jesse knew that Vocal Adrenaline had been amazing- with plenty of thanks to him, of course. Their Bohemian Rhapsody had the crowd and the judges floored. They'd been much better than Aural Intensity (the suck-ups). But neither of them had been better than New Directions.

William McKinley's glee club had an energy and emotion that the other teams couldn't top. They'd been absolutely stellar, and as a star, Jesse should know. He wasn't sure what happened during judging. Rachel had explained to him the evils of Sue Sylvester, so her vote against them was to be expected. He had plenty of respect for Olivia Newton-John from Grease, though, and for Josh Groban as well. Jesse didn't think they would be swayed by obvious brown-nosing.

If it had been any other group, Jesse wouldn't mind. He'd be too proud of Vocal Adrenaline's trophy to worry about unfair judging. (There was no room for morals in this. You could be the shark or you could be the seal, and the moment he saw Carmel High's statue, he knew which he wanted to be.) When it was announced that Vocal Adrenaline had won, and New Directions hadn't even placed, all he could see was Rachel standing in the parking lot, alone and covered in eggs. She had her usual determined expression, but there was heartbreak in her eyes.

Jesse had never felt this before. He assumed it was guilt, an entirely new sensation to him.

He'd lied to them about why he left. Ms. Corcoran, having reconnected with her daughter, asked him to come back to Carmel. He felt like he had a better chance of winning Regionals- and Nationals –with Vocal Adrenaline, and accepted. Besides, his job in Lima was done. Jesse couldn't tell them that, though, because then Rachel would know why he was there in the first place, and that could get Shelby in trouble. None of his old teammates knew the real reason either, so they wanted him to be "reinitiated". Jesse had to help them get at Rachel, or they could deliberately work against him until Ms. Corcoran had no choice but to take him out of the club. So he remembered that Rachel had said she was a vegan.

Yes, it was certainly guilt. There was no other explanation for the sick feeling in his gut.

Jesse saw that not one of the McKinley students present broke down on stage, which defeated teams had done before. They stood there, taking their defeat in stony silence, accepting it. Each one of them was a better person than any student at Carmel High, so used to success. As his team celebrated, he couldn't help but look at their hurt yet silent faces and ask himself: was it worth it?

Vocal Adrenaline won the battle, yes, but New Directions won the war.