I should not be doing this. I should REALLY not be doing this. But I literally can't help myself. I promise that Fuickleberry is not abandoned. I'm working on that chapter but the whole story is being difficult, and I HAD to write this. I hope that you forgive me and enjoy.
Misfit Toy Hero Squad
Chapter 1 – "Total Eclipse of the Moon"
On the winter solstice in the year 1638, eight young men and one lone girl travelling to the Plymouth Church from a small, distant village in Massachusetts witnessed an event not to be seen again for another 372 years. These nine teenager' lives were forever changed by what they had witnessed. Their very beings literally evolved due to the events of that night. They were the first. Their children, their children's children, and the children hundreds of years later would lay in wait for another glimpse of the red winter moon that changed those original eight so drastically.
On the winter solstice in the year 2010, seven young men and six young women travelling home to Lima, Ohio from a lovely event in Dalton Academy witnessed an event that had not happened for 372 years. These thirteen teenagers' lives were also forever changed by what they had witnessed. They did not know it yet, but every fiber in their body was changing as they watched the night sky in wonder. They are the second. Their parents, their grandparents and their earliest known ancestors had waited with baited breath for the return of the red winter moon that would change everyone so drastically.
This is their story.
"Goddammit, Hummel. You got us lost!" Noah Puckerman roared angrily as he glared at the boy he used to toss into dumpsters. What Puck wouldn't do for a dumpster right now. They were stranded in the middle of freaking nowhere, eleven members of the McKinley High School Glee Club, plus two Dalton members in Kurt and Blaine. Puck took one menacing step towards Kurt and hissed angrily when he felt a cold, shaking hand on his bare forearm. "Rachel, don't think you could even try and stop me from using Kurt's necktie to strangle the fucker."
"Noah, this is helping no one," Rachel said with as much authority as she could, although her teeth were chattering away, making her sound more like Tina Cohen-Chang in sophomore year. "Besides, Kurt knows cars better than anyone else here."
"You do?" Blaine looked at Kurt curiously, a sparkle of amusement settled into his eyes.
"Dad owns a garage," Kurt shrugged.
"If you can fix the van, Blaine will do you," Puck promised suddenly.
"NOAH!" Rachel swatted at him ineffectually as her body was trembling from the cold so badly that she practically had no control over her higher motor functions.
"Whatever, Hogwarts-dude totally just got pre-wood from the idea of Kurt all greased up in one piece overalls," Puck insisted. He looked down at Rachel and furrowed his brow as she literally shook like a leaf in front of him from the frigid temperatures of the first early morning of winter. He shrugged out of his letterman jacket and tossed it on her haphazardly.
"Noah, you'll freeze!" Rachel squeaked.
"Fuck that noise, I'm hot as hell," Puck promised lazily. He could practically feel Blaine's amused glance bouncing off his badassness and he tossed a sneer the newcomer's way, "I totally blame you if we freeze to death out here. And since you're the new kid on the block, we're eating you first when we need food. Evans is second in line, but I'm really thinking with all the protein powder the kid snorts, he'll probably be really gamey."
"Good to know that you've logically thought about devouring your classmates," Rachel sighed, considerably warmer know that she had secured Puck's jacket around her. It held an amazing amount of residual warmth from his body, although she would never tell him that lest she wanted to listen to him talk about how blazing hot body for fifteen minutes.
"I'm sorry, for what it's worth," Blaine admitted. "I mean, Kurt has been missing you guys. And Rachel and Mercedes seemed to miss him, and Dalton's winter formal was-"
"A lovely event, I assure you," Rachel smiled warmly. "It's just a little car trouble. Kurt will have this fixed in no time."
"Is the car fixed yet?" Finn brought the passenger side window of the large van ever so slightly.
"Working on it," Kurt sighed from underneath the hood. He peered up at the dimly lit night sky and frowned. "If I had more light…"
"Yo, losers! Everyone bundle up and out of the van. Hummel needs light. Bring your cell phones," Puck ordered.
Sam was the first out of the van, which seemed to be the cue for everyone else to enter, holding their cellphones above the exposed guts of the van so that Kurt could see what he was doing. Burt Hummel had already been called and was on his way with a tow truck and extra transport for the teenagers, but they were all freezing, save for Puck and his hot bod and they were all anxious to at least have the van give them a little heat.
"I'll never trust Pastor Wen and his supposedly nice favors ever again," Mike sighed.
"Yeah? I'll never trust Asian people again," Puck smirked.
"You're an asshole," Tina rolled her eyes.
"And you're Asian, so I don't trust what you say," Puck shrugged. Rachel pinched the exposed skin of his forearm between her fingers, astonished to find him still very warm despite the minus 5 degree wind chill they were currently stuck in. The side of his mouth raised in a lopsided smirk aimed right at the tiny brunette wearing his letterman jacket over her own ineffectual winter coat. Rachel's fingers stayed on his forearm and she furrowed her brow in wonder at the scientific mystery that was currently Puck's body. He leaned in and whispered, his breath piping hot against her ear, "You like the hot body, right?"
"How will they get the fire department trucks up there. I'm pretty sure those hoses can't reach," Brittany said quietly, her eyes focused on the night sky. She furrowed her brow in confusion but shrugged it off, pulling away from the huddled group of assorted Glee club members and rushing towards the van's door, where Artie was poking his head out, trying to assess what was going on with the van and his teammates. "Artie, look! The moon is totally on fire!"
All thirteen teenagers looked to the sky in confusion, and there it was, a full, red moon in a completely clear sky. They gaped in awe, Mercedes actually managed to turn the camera of her phone on so that she could record the moment for posterity. Time seemed to slow as they silently watched the celestial phenomena unfold. They would never be able to fully understand what was happening, but suddenly the certain death by frostbite they were sure they would endure disappeared as a warmth began to surround them like a cocoon. Finn actually mopped his brow of sweat at one point as the minutes ticked slowly by in the growing warmth of the winter night.
Rachel couldn't understand what was happening, but she felt Puck's skin, which had been surprisingly and pleasantly warm moments before heat up considerably. Her fingertips felt like they were about to be scorched against his skin and she looked up at him and let out one soft," Oh my."
"Huh?" Puck wondered, looking down at her curiously. He didn't quite understand why she looked like she did all of a sudden. Scared. Astonished. Freaked the hell out.
"Noah…you're on fire!" Rachel breathed in amazement.
The rest of the kids looked to the pair of them curiously, before letting out a perfectly synchronized and harmonized gasp of fear and surprise. Schue would have been proud. Puck looked down at his arm and sure enough, at the place where Rachel's fingertips had been moments before, a considerable flame had begun to burn, right on his skin. He looked at Rachel in stunned amazement. He didn't feel anything. Just sort of warm. And kind of good.
Sam acted first, bending and picking as much snow as his hands could gather, tossing it on Puck's blazing arm. The flames flickered slightly, but did not extinguish.
"Now that's freaky shit right there," Puck surmised in quiet amazement. "Someone figure this out before my brain catches up and I freak the fuck out."
Santana acted next, grabbing the water bottle that was in her coat pocket, uncorking it and jerking her wrist so that it flew from the bottle. Brittany watched in amazement as the water arched gracefully, and it seemed like it was going to miss Puck's arm entirely, until the splash of water seemed to change course very suddenly, landing definitively on Puck's arm. It evaporated immediately.
"Okay, freaking the fuck out now!" Puck growled as he felt another warmth from his other arm. He glanced down in horror and saw that his other arm was now ablaze, still no pain, just a little warmer than he had already been. "Help me out here guys…"
He looked around at the shock on everyone's face and his gaze settled on Rachel finally. They exchanged a look, one that wordlessly seemed to communicate his fear and desperation and dire need of assistance. She bit her lip slightly as the fire seemed to grow larger, spreading down to Puck's hands rapidly, all of his exposed skin was becoming rapidly engrossed in flames. Rachel wondered slightly if it hurt, but she knew intrinsically as she stared at him with wide doe eyes that it didn't. She could tell he was feeling no pain.
"Please."
His one word was directed at her. He sort of felt like Rachel Berry had been his access portal straight to God, as in the past year and half, God seemed to speak to him directly through everything related to Rachel Berry. She took a deep breath as the other Glee clubbers began to stumble backwards and away from the sudden inferno that Puck's body was.
Rachel Berry took one step towards him.
"Noah…I need you to calm down," Rachel said softly, taking one more step towards him.
"Calm down? CALM THE EVERY FUCKITY FUCK DOWN! Rachel, I'm on FUCKING FIRE!" Puck shouted.
"Noah, please, take a deep breath and calm down," Rachel reiterated, taking another step forward even as her teammates took another step away.
"Rachel, get the hell away from me, what the fuck are you doing? I'm on FIRE," Puck reiterated irately, hoping to get it through her skull that he was engulfed in flames. He shook his head as she stepped ever closer. "Get away…you're going to get hurt."
"No. I'm not," Rachel insisted strongly. "Calm down."
"You really are fucking batshit crazy, you're going to light yourself on fire!" Puck desperately insisted. "Back off. I'm going to hurt you…"
"No. You won't," Rachel shook her head resolutely, she was close enough to feel his body ablaze, her cheeks turned a rosy red color from the heat of it, just like sitting in front of a roaring fireplace. She reached a hand up, going to his cheek slowly. "You won't hurt me, Noah. Calm down."
He watched in horror as her fingertips got ever closer to his skin and something inside of him clicked. He felt her cool fingertips against his skin and the fire slowly began to die down, embers floating up into the air as the crackling and roaring sound that was literally his body burning moments before ceased and only his steady, deep breaths remained. Rachel smiled and patted his cheek.
"Better?" she whispered.
"Yeah," Puck nodded.
"What in the HELL was that?" Quinn demanded, gripping Sam's hand tightly as the group slowly inched towards Rachel and Puck once more. "You were on fire."
"You were-"
"I wouldn't make a flaming joke if I were you, Finn Hudson!" Rachel ordered harshly. "I think if he's angry, it'll come back."
"Alright, this is fucked up shit, right here. What's going on?" Santana demanded.
The roaring sound of Burt Hummel's tow truck cut the conversation short. The tow truck was followed closely by an SUV, and all thirteen children suddenly stood shoulder to shoulder, Rachel now gripping Puck's hand in an effort to keep him calm and controlled. She felt someone squeeze her shoulder and threw a smile at Kurt, who was furrowing his brow anxiously.
"I really wish I had gotten the van to work earlier. It might have saved us from all…this," Kurt sighed.
The van's engine, which had been abandoned the minute Rachel had announced that Puck was on fire, suddenly roared to life, sounding better than before. Puck and Rachel looked at each other curiously, while Kurt took a deep, confused breath and said quickly, "I really wish I had a million dollars. Right now."
"Doesn't work that way, son," Burt Hummel laughed as he walked towards the group of teenagers. He looked back to the SUV and shrugged as the driver climbed out.
"Coach Bieste?" Sam furrowed his brow. "What are you doing here?"
Shannon Bieste looked up towards the moon and sighed. She shared a small, conciliatory smile with Burt Hummel. It was never supposed to be them. It was always supposed to be these kids. She surveyed each of them carefully, wondering who had been first. She saw how Puck was distanced from the other kids on the end, with only Rachel clinging to his hand. Figures he would manifest first. According to his mother, he did every major life milestone before his peers, including French kissing his nursery school teacher.
The football coach smiled kindly at all of them and shook her head in approval, "Let's get out of here, kids. We have a lot of explaining to do."
So...thoughts? Questions? Theories? I love action. I love supernatural stuff. I love fun dialogue. Hopefully this story does all that. Thanks for reading, I'd love to hear your thoughts!