So, this story was actually available via the Rachel_Quinn community but some people asked if I could put it on fanfiction also. So here it is, I'll be uploading all the chapters at once, so you don't have to wait for them. If you want to check out my LJ it's a-fallenknight . livejournal . com and my tumblr for updates is angelsfallenknight . tumblr . com without all the spaces obviously lol.

"But S, you were suppose to be my ride home, you know my mom is using my car until hers is fixed."

"Sorry Q, but Brittany wants me to go to hers and you know how rare an occurrence that is nowadays now that Wheels is on her case."

"Well can't you take me to mine and then go to B's?"

"You live on the opposite side of town. Do you have money for gas?"

"You know I don't."

"Then don't complain. Walk home, it's such a gorgeous day out!"

"Your sarcasm does nothing for me."

"Deal with it, Q. I'll see you tomorrow."

Quinn Fabray was left fuming as her second in charge turned on her heel, flipping her car keys tantalizingly as she left McKinley High for the day. Of course, she should have known that Santana Lopez would never keep her promise; and where Brittany Pierce was concerned she shouldn't have been surprised. It's not that she didn't mind the walk home; but she was exhausted – Coach Sylvester was working them harder than ever before, that seven consecutive Nationals win so close to her grasp, she wasn't going to let her Cheerio's slack.

Her body ached in places she never knew existed, and carrying her heavy gym bag on her shoulder just made the ache in her neck and shoulders worse. So grumbling to herself, silently contemplating how to make Santana Lopez's life hell, she left school for home.

It was a twenty minute walk, tops, but even that seemed like hours. The sun was already beginning to set, and even though she was seventeen years old, the thought of walking in the dark in Lima wasn't a particularly good one. Lima was full of shifty characters, and Quinn had learnt from an early age to stay far away from those sorts of people. And the fact she was wearing her cheerleading uniform made her self-conscious, pulling down skirt to try and at least cover her thighs, which was altogether futile – Coach Sylvester had made it her mission to make the Cheerio's look as tempting as possible, especially with the news of a 3 out of 4 male judging board at Nationals.

The chill of the early evening began to prick at her skin, and self-consciously she wrapped her arms around herself, "I can't believe I forgot my jacket." She muttered angrily to herself, biting back a shudder as a particularly strong wind shot past her.

She stopped as she came to the end of the main road, looking across the road to where it continued on, but then to her right, where a familiar shortcut stood tantalizingly close. It was darkly lit, but it was a guaranteed route to get her home quicker. Weighing up the pros and cons, the shortcut won - the urge to get warm winning out above personal safety.

She clutched her gym bag closer to her, clutching at the strap with both hands as she walked down the small alley. The sound of her Nike's slamming down on the pavement echoed above all else, and it made her panic. It was too quiet – it wasn't that late at night; where were the usual people that passed by this well known route?

Her iPod. She pulled it from her bag and quickly pushed the buds into her ears, turning on the familiar sounds of Broken Iris to calm her nerves. She sang along to the words of Colourful Mind as she continued down the alley, her nerves well and truly sated. Chucking to herself, she realized what a moron she'd made of herself. It wasn't even that dark to be honest, and it wasn't like there was someone around the corner waiting to kidnap her.

She rounded the corner and smiled, seeing the familiar turn off to her street. Almost home.

Will this be another day of night in here?

The knife's not sharp enough to fear.

If I ever see you in white,

Try to stay.

The room's not light for a gray.

Before she could even contemplate what was happening, a sharp pain radiated through her lower back and spread like wildfire throughout her whole body. Then a twinge, a sharp twinge that turned into a dull throb, painful and everlasting as she collapsed to the floor in a heap.

Her bag lay beside her, the usual white and red WMHS completely red, and as she raised her hand, hoping, trying, praying that she could reach her phone, she heard footsteps thundering away from her.

Vision becoming fuzzy, she felt her eyes droop – the urge to slip into sleep becoming too much to push away. Her stomach felt warm, and as she pressed her cheek into the cold stone of the pavement, she saw the red of her blood spread across the usually pale stone.

Her body ached, and her lungs burned with every breath she took, and with a heavy heave of her lungs, she expelled the last bit of precious air she'd managed to breathe in, and so with it, so did her life.

"You know, I expected you to put up a little bit more of a fight."

Quinn Fabray's eyes snapped open, and the ache that she'd remembered from before seemed to have completely disappeared. She sat up from her place on the floor and ran her hands over her stomach and back, the stickiness of blood was no longer there, and neither was the knife wound that had ended her life.

It had ended it...hadn't it?

"I suppose you would have heard your assailants footsteps if you hadn't had your earphones in, but then again, when should you expect to be stabbed to death as you walk home...?"

The voice echoed eerily throughout the room – which didn't seem to be a room at all. Wooden floors, large insignificant pieces of furniture and antiques lay scattered among half-broken shelves and tables, one large window that seemed to peer out into nothingness – black and bleak – and double doors that seemed to dominate one wall completely.

"You think you're dead?"

Quinn gulped back the urge to be sick as she peered around the room, trying to find the owner of the voice, "This place isn't real, so obviously, I am dead."

The voice laughed mockingly, "Would you believe me if I told you it was real? And that you are dead?"

Her heart plunged deep into her stomach – she was dead. Only at the tender age of seventeen and her life was over. She was still in school, head Cheerleader, on honour roll, a mother that was slowly beginning to be the mother she was suppose to be, and had a loving boyfriend that would do anything for her...would have.

Tears sprang from her eyes before she could control them, and harshly she sobbed into her hands. "Oh God!"

"He won't do anything for you." The voice butted in mockingly, "But I understand why you're crying – you think your life is over, that you won't be able to continue on with everything you had planned."

"Well wouldn't you be crying?" She ripped her hands angrily from her face, staring up to the roof, "I'm dead! I'm seventeen and I'm dead!"

The voice chuckled, and suddenly, it seemed even closer to her, "What would you do...if I told you that you could continue with your life?"

Quinn's eyes narrowed into slits; everything was so weird. How could she believe the word of a person she couldn't even see? The voice seemed so disjointed from reality, a mix between female and male, but it also sounded foreign, like it didn't even belong from that time.

"But I'm dead, how can I just go back to my life?"

"You can, simply with the use of this." A small device clattered seemingly from thin air to the floor in front of her, clatteringly noisily to a stop. She went to touch it, but stopped at the last second, looking up to the air again, "Touch it, I assure you, it won't hurt you."

Slowly, she grazed her fingertips against the rectangualar metal, before eventually holding it. It was small, and fitted nicely against the palm of her hand. There was nothing special about it, it was just a grey piece of metal, no distinguishing marks on it.

"What's so special about this...?" She held the device up.

"That device you hold is called a PAD – Paradox Alteration Device. You will use the PAD to go back in time and change your fate – you see, today, you are destined to die."

"This-this is too weird...how can this be real?" Clambering up to her feet, she felt so out of place in her cheerleading uniform, "You expect me to believe that this... PAD thing...can make me go back in time? And that today of all days, I was destined to be murdered?"

"Bingo."

"I know what this is." Suddenly it became clearer, this was penance for getting pregnant with Beth – God was putting her through this to punish her, "It this because of Beth...?"

"Beth?"

"My..." She gulped back the feeling of vomiting and clutched the PAD tighter in her hand, the sharp edges of the metal pushing deep into her pale skin, "Daughter..."

"Ah, Beth Fabray-Puckerman. No, no...this is not about your daughter."

When her heart clutched in her chest at the sound of her daughter's name, she refused to acknowledge it, "So what is this about? Why me? Why can I go back and change my fate? Why can't anyone else?"

"You're special. You're vital to the bigger picture."

"Huh...?" Suddenly her head was beginning to throb, and she ripped out the tight ponytail to try and alleviate to tension in her head, allowing her soft blonde curls to fall against her shoulders and upper back, "I don't understand."

"The answers will become clear in time. For now, the question is: Do you want to go back and survive? Or do you wish to give up and simply die?"

"I..." She lowered her head, chin to her chest as she squeezed her eyes shut. It would be so easy to just give up; to let all the pain she'd been holding inside to just disappear along with her soul – to forget about Beth and what happened with her parents.

But she had so much to give. She had to finish school, she had to live her life, she had to get married and have children – the right way this time. She was a Fabray; she didn't just lie down and let the world fuck her over.

"Fine. I'll do it. I'll go back."

"Excellent."

"But what's the catch? What do you want? My soul?"

The voice chuckled humourlessly, "Oh please, your soul? In this day and age...? No. There is no catch."

"I find that hard to believe," Quinn muttered, mostly to herself.

"Then do not believe it." Suddenly the dominating double doors swung open, leading in to a black void, "Just change your fate."

"In what...?" Tentatively she walked toward the doors, "In space?"

"Oh no, Quinn. These doors are exactly what your PAD is; a large machine that allows you to travel through time."

"O-Okay..." Suddenly she found herself stood on the threshold, clutching the PAD tightly to her chest, "W-wait! What do I do when I go back?"

"I doubt your assailant would attack you if you were with company..."

And then she was pushed into the void.