The Little Mermaid

Chapter 13: The Death of Finn Hudson

"I always knew that there was something different about you," Quinn says, pacing back and forth in front of the tub. "The eyes are a dead giveaway, I'm sure that nobody else thinks anything of them, but I knew better, I knew what to look for."

Rachel simply cries bitterly, running her hand back and forth over her tail, not believing that this could be happening. Finn couldn't be dead, he couldn't be, but the other option couldn't be true either. She still loved him so much, she loved him endlessly, as angry as she was with him she still loved him. But maybe it was enough that she was so angry, that had to be it because Finn wasn't dead, even though she couldn't sense him anymore and she always could before, even when she was a mermaid before. But she had to put that thought out of her head, there had to be another reason she couldn't sense him because he couldn't be dead, he couldn't be. Still, she was a mermaid again, and if Jesse was correct, if she only had one shot at being human then everything that her and Finn had talked about was once again impossible. She wished that he were there, there to hold her and tell her that everything would be okay, that she wasn't alone, but she felt so alone, and scared and sad. Thus is what he meant when he said that not all humans were good.

"Where's Finn?" Rachel finally manages to choke out. "Did you kill him?"

"Of course not Rachel," the man from before, Mr. Fabray says. "We would never harm another person, you have our word."

"Are you going to kill me?" she says under her breath.

"If we were going to kill you we would have done it already," Quinn says. "You're worth far more to us alive."

"I want to see him, I want to see Finn, please," Rachel says tearfully.

"That's over now Rachel," Mr. Fabray says. "But don't worry, Finn will be fine."

"He'll come look for me," Rachel says.

"Maybe he will, but he won't find you," Mr. Fabray says.

"She really is perfect isn't she daddy?" Quinn says allowing her father to put one arm around her. "She's everything we've been looking for."

"She's a gift from god," Mr. Fabray agrees. "And we're going to share her with the world."

"Why are you doing this to me?" Rachel sobs.

"Rachel it's not you," Quinn says, almost sympathetically. "It's just that me and my father have been waiting for a chance like this for years. And my mother left us because of it, but this proves that he isn't crazy, soon everyone will know that he was right all along. My mom will know that she was wrong to leave. Because of you my family will be complete again. And think of all the great things you can do for the world by simply existing. Geneticists, mythologists, all of the little girls the world over who will know that they were right to believe in magic, all of those people and more will feel validated by your existence."

"But Quinn, if the wrong people find out what I am they'll try to hurt me, they'll lock me away. You have to let me go, you have to call Finn."

"Why would you want to go back to the boy who betrayed you?" Quinn says.

Rachel swallows thickly at the reminder. "Even if Finn did what you said he did, I have to try to work it out, I love him and he loves me."

"Oh yeah, then why are you a mermaid again?"

Rachel narrows her eyes at Quinn, and it suddenly dawns on her. "Wait a minute, you knew? You knew that I would turn back if I didn't love Finn anymore didn't you? You lied to me."

"I did what I had to do, but none of that matters now," Quinn says, and her voice quavers as she says it, as if she's actually guilty. "Daddy, it's time. Get the camera, we have some footage to record."